‘No fairness in tennis’: Kyrgios slams Sinner deal
‘No fairness in tennis’: Kyrgios slams Sinner deal
Jannik Sinner could lose his coveted world No.1 ranking during his three-month doping ban — but the punishment has still been slammed as far too lenient, with Nick Kyrgios again leading the backlash.
Australia’s 2022 Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios declared on Saturday that “fairness in tennis does not exist” after learning of Sinner’s deal with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
WADA had originally sought a one-year ban for Sinner’s failed doping tests but the 23-year-old *********** Open champ has agreed to accept a shorter ban, knowing he’ll be back in action in time to play the next grand slam, the French Open, which starts at Roland Garros on May 25.
The decision did not just prompt Kyrgios’s wrath, with the Novak Djokovic-founded Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) citing a “lack of transparency” in the system while three-time grand slam winner Stan Wawrinka posted on social media: “I don’t believe in a clean sport anymore …”
Kyrgios posted on X: “Obviously Sinner’s team have done everything in their power to just go ahead and take a 3 month ban, no titles lost, no prize money lost.
“Guilty or not? Sad day for tennis. Fairness in tennis does not exist,” Kyrgios added, while writing in another post: “Dodgy as …”
WADA had challenged last year’s decision by the International Tennis Integrity Agency not to suspend Sinner for what the ITIA adjudged an accidental contamination by a banned anabolic steroid last March.
Sinner’s explanation — that Clostebol in his doping sample was due to a massage from a trainer who used the substance after cutting his own finger — was accepted.
But the PTPA criticised all the tennis and anti-doping bodies involved in the decision – the men and women’s tours (ATP and WTA), the grand slams, the ITIA and WADA.
“The ‘system’ is not a system. It’s a club. Supposed case-by-case discretion is, in fact, merely cover for tailored deals, unfair treatment, and inconsistent rulings. It’s not just the different results for different players. It’s the lack of transparency,” the PTPA said on X.
“The lack of process. The lack of consistency. The lack of credibility in the alphabet soup of agencies charged with regulating our sports and athletes.”
Kyrgios has been vocal about the Sinner case from the outset, saying back in August when news broke of the Italian’s two failed tests: “You should be gone for two years. Your performance was enhanced. Massage cream… Yeah, nice.”
It’s possible Sinner’s huge 3195-point advantage in the live ATP rankings could disappear during his absence as he can’t defend his points from last year, including his Miami Open title defence worth 1000 points.
He’ll miss Indian Wells, where he reached the semi-finals, and the clay-court Monte Carlo Masters and Madrid Open, leaving opportunity for No.2 Alexander Zverev and No.3 Carlos Alcaraz to cash in.
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Saros is a roguelite: "Permanent resources and progression" make "every death valuable"
Saros is a roguelite: "Permanent resources and progression" make "every death valuable"
Housemarque revealed another dark and twisted bullet hell shooter at PlayStation’s State of Play show, confirming that Saros is building off of Returnal’s fast-paced action and die-die-learn-die-succeed cycle.
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3 men claiming to be from DOGE show up at San Francisco City Hall, demand records
3 men claiming to be from DOGE show up at San Francisco City Hall, demand records
Trump orders agencies to comply with DOGE during White House meeting with Elon Musk
Trump orders agencies to comply with DOGE during White House meeting with Elon Musk
07:50
San Francisco city officials are investigating after three men who claimed to be from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) showed up at City Hall on Friday demanding records from offices before fleeing.
According to the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office, the men, who were dressed in “DOGE” shirts and hats with the pro-Trump slogan Make America Great Again, arrived at City Hall around noon. The men entered several offices and demanded employees turn over digital information “related to alleged wasteful government spending and fraud.”
Around 12pm today, three men dressed in DOGE shirts and MAGA hats entered various offices at San Francisco City Hall, demanding that employees turn over digital information related to alleged wasteful government spending and fraud. The employees refused their requests, and called… pic.twitter.com/bCtsNlgL7U
— SF Sheriff’s Office (@SheriffSF) February 14, 2025
In response, the employees refused their requests and called sheriff’s deputies. The men had left City Hall before deputies arrived.
“We do not believe the individuals requesting access to City files were representatives from DOGE,” the sheriff’s office said Friday.
Deputies said they are reviewing surveillance footage and using other investigative tools to pursue leads.
Led by billionaire Elon Musk, DOGE was created by President Trump through an executive order he signed shortly after his inauguration, with its mission to slash federal spending.
According to social media posts from the task force and Musk, DOGE is seeking to identify federal contracts and spending on issues that don’t align with Mr. Trump’s policies, including DEI and foreign aid.
The task force has also attracted lawsuits, claiming it has violated the law. California Attorney General Rob Bonta was among 14 attorneys general who filed a lawsuit on Thursday challenging Musk and DOGE’s authority to access sensitive government data.
“DOGE’s ransacking of federal agencies has sown tremendous chaos, instilled distrust among the American people, and has caused deep harm to our country,” Bonta said in a statement. “Like a bull in a china shop, Mr. Musk is wielding an enormous amount of illegitimized power over sensitive systems and important government programs that are vital to the American way of life.”
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Tim Fang is a digital producer at CBS Bay Area. A Bay Area native, Tim has been a part of the CBS Bay Area newsroom for more than two decades and joined the digital staff in 2006.
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Bank of America says growth stocks are in a bubble exceeding the ‘dot-com’ and ‘nifty fifty’ eras — and warns they could take the S&P 500 down 40%
Bank of America says growth stocks are in a bubble exceeding the ‘dot-com’ and ‘nifty fifty’ eras — and warns they could take the S&P 500 down 40%
US growth stocks are in their third bubble in the last 60 years, Bank of America warns.AP/Peter Morgan
Bank of America warns of a bubble in US growth stocks echoing the “Nifty Fifty” and “dot-com” eras.
Concentration in US stocks is significantly above historical norms, BofA said.
Investors should consider diversifying and focusing on quality stocks to mitigate risks, BofA said.
If you listen closely enough, amid all the investors cheering on AI, echoes of some of the great bubbles in history are starting to reverberate through the narrow canyon of skyscrapers on Wall Street.
That’s the warning Bank of America strategists issued to clients in a note earlier this week.
As investors continue to pile into growth stocks, sometimes passively, the market has started to resemble the so-called “Nifty Fifty” and “dot-com” bubbles in the 1960s and late 1990s, respectively, the bank said. And while stocks could still rise in the near-term, outcomes after those famous bubble periods suggest trouble could be coming.
The argument was based on concentration levels in the market. The market cap of US stocks compared to the rest of the world is 3.3 standard deviations away from the historical norm.
Bank of America
Within the US, the S&P 500’s largest five stocks are now 26.4% of the index.
Bank of America
And the market cap of “new economy” stocks in the S&P 500 also make up more than half of the index’s total value, a record high.
Bank of America
Part of the reason the market has gotten so concentrated is because of passive investing, where investors shovel money into indexes indiscriminately, Woodard said.
“Passive funds dominate with 54% market share,” he wrote.
“Passive disregard for valuations & fundamentals means big upside from innovations,” Woodard continued, “but big risk in a bust cycle.”
These concentration levels could mean a long ******* of pain ahead for investors — like it did after the “Nifty Fifty” and “dot-com” bubbles.
“Momentum reversals are becoming unusually sharp. A 50%+ ‘new economy’ drawdown (smaller than dot com) could drag the entire index down 40%,” wrote Jared Woodard, and investment & ETF strategist at Bank of America, in the February 11 note.
“If the eight sectors outside ‘new economy’ darlings were to rally 10% and the handful of mega cap tech stocks fell 10%, the index overall would still just be flat,” he continued. “Not very healthy or diversified.”
Bank of America
Woodard’s warning of a difficult decade ahead for investors aligns with views of strategists at other major Wall Street banks in recent months. Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson said in December that the S&P 500 would see a decade of “flat-ish” returns ahead, and Goldman Sachs’ David Kostin said the index would return 3% annually, on average, over the next 10 years.
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The bank did lay out a playbook for how to avoid a potential bear market and “lost decade” ahead.
First, Woodard said to watch when the S&P 500 equal-weight index starts to beat the cap-weighted index.
“The equally weighted S&P 500 index has outperformed the market cap-weighted index by 1ppt/year since 1958. There have been five periods when the cap-weighted index outperformed; those typically lasted 16 quarters,” Woodard wrote. “Today, the cap-weighted index is 2.5 standard deviations overbought relative to the long-term trend.”
Bank of America
Second, consider investing in baskets of quality stocks with lower exposure to the Magnificent Seven stocks, Woodard said. Some examples of funds that offer exposure to quality stocks, the bank said, include: the Pacer US Large Cap Cash Cows Growth Leaders ETF (COWG); the iShares MSCI USA Quality GARP ETF (GARP); and the WisdomTree US Quality Growth Fund (QGRW).
And third, diversify. Woodard said Derek Harris, Bank of America’s head of global wealth and investment management portfolio strategy, recommends keeping each holding in a portfolio under a 15% weighting.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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Murkowski: Trump’s mass firings ‘do more harm than good’ – The Hill
Murkowski: Trump’s mass firings ‘do more harm than good’ – The Hill
Murkowski: Trump’s mass firings ‘do more harm than good’ The HillFederal workers express shock, anger over mass firings: “You are not fit for continued employment” CBS News
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Looting reported as rebels advance on DR Congo city
Looting reported as rebels advance on DR Congo city
Chaotic scenes have been unfolding in Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as the M23 rebel group continues its offensive in the region.
On Saturday there were reports of sporadic gunfire and widespread looting in the city, including at a World Food Programme depot, with residents sheltering in their homes.
It follows conflicting reports about whether the Rwanda-backed rebels had entered the key city of Bukavu, after advances in the region. On Friday M23 fighters seized Kavumu airport, north of Bukavu.
The UN and the European Union have voiced alarm over the worsening conflict.
A threat by Uganda’s army chief to attack a Congolese town has sparked fears the conflict could flare into a wider regional war.
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres told an African Union summit on Saturday a regional escalation must be avoided “at all costs” and there was “no military solution”.
“And the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected,” Guterres continued.
The European Union said it was “urgently” considering all options following the news from Bukavu.
“The ongoing violation of the DRC’s territorial integrity will not go unanswered,” it warned.”
The Congolese government accuses Rwanda of sowing chaos in the region in order to benefit from its natural resources – a claim Rwanda has denied.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes in recent weeks as a result of the rebel advance.
On Saturday, the streets of Bukavu were deserted as residents hid in their homes.
One woman in Bukavu told the BBC people were avoiding going outside as gunfire rang out in the city and youths looted and destroyed shops.
“I only have enough food for three days. As a woman it is difficult for me to go outside because I could be ****** [by the looters or the armed groups]. We feel abandoned by the authorities.”
The looting included the World Food Programme’s depot in Bukavu, which housed 6,800 metric tons of food, a spokesman for the UN aid agency told the Reuters news agency.
Claude Kalinga said the stealing of supplies would deepen the difficulties faced by those in need. The agency had already suspended its activities for weeks due to the deteriorating security situation.
There have been conflicting reports over whether M23 fighters have entered Bukavu, as the group claims, and to what extent.
Two residents of the northern Bukavu suburb of Bagira said they had seen rebels on the streets and no sign of fighting.
However, an M23 source, two Congolese army officers and multiple Bukavu residents, on Saturday told Reuters that the rebels had not yet entered the city centre.
The capture of Bukavu, a city estimated to have an urban population of more than a million people, would represent an unprecedented expansion of territory under the M23’s control since the latest insurgency started in 2022.
Bukavu, which borders Rwanda, is on the southern tip of Lake Kivu and is an important transit point for the local mineral trade.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, the chief of Uganda’s defence forces, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, said in a post on X he would attack the town of Bunia, also in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, unless “all forces” there surrendered their arms within 24 hours, igniting fears of a wider conflict.
The threat by Kainerugaba, whose father is the president of Uganda, adds to fears that the region risks slipping back into a broader war reminiscent of conflicts in the 1990s and 2000s which killed millions.
Uganda’s military since 2021 has supported the Congolese army in its fight against Islamist militants in the east, but UN experts say Uganda has also backed the M23 group.
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Award-winning 27-inch 360 Hz OLED gaming monitor at all-time low $649!
Award-winning 27-inch 360 Hz OLED gaming monitor at all-time low $649!
If you’ve been looking for a top-of-the-line gaming monitor, now is a fantastic time to buy one without going broke. The Alienware AW2725DF OLED gaming monitor usually costs around $899, but according to data from Camel Camel Camel, it’s currently discounted at Amazon to just $649—its lowest price to date. It’s AMD FreeSync Premium Pro certified for performance, and in our experience, it’s one of the best monitors you can get your hands on right now.
We had the opportunity to review the Alienware AW2725DF and ultimately gave it a rating of 5 out of 5 stars which isn’t something we hand out easily. Our biggest complaint was its lack of audio support but everything else about the screen was just absolutely stellar and blew us away. If you want to get an idea of how this screen stacks up against others on the market, check out our list of best gaming monitors. This display comes in just behind the Asus ROG Swift PG27AQDP as our top recommendation for OLED screens.
The Alienware AW2725DF OLED gaming monitor features a 26.7-inch quantum dot OLED panel with a QHD resolution of 2560 x 1440px. The refresh rate can get as high as 360 Hz when using the DisplayPort input and is paired with an extremely short response time of just 0.03 ms.
This gaming monitor can reach a maximum brightness of 1000 Nits and covers 99.3% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. There are a few USB ports to take advantage of, including three USB Type-A ports, one USB Type-B port, and one USB Type-C port. You get one HDMI 2.1 port to use alongside two DisplayPort 1.4 inputs.
Visit the Alienware AW2725DF OLED gaming monitor product page at Amazon for more details and purchase options. As of writing, it’s unclear how long this discount will be available.
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Hospitalised pope won’t lead Sunday prayer: ********
Hospitalised pope won’t lead Sunday prayer: ********
Pope Francis, who is receiving treatment in hospital for a respiratory tract infection, will not appear in public to lead his usual Sunday prayer with pilgrims, the ******** said.
The pontiff, 88, has been suffering from bronchitis for more than a week and was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Friday morning.
“To facilitate his recovery, the medical staff prescribed complete rest,” said a statement released late on Saturday.
The pope’s treatment on Saturday was “slightly modified based on further microbiological findings”, the statement said.
“Today’s laboratory tests showed an improvement in some values.”
Earlier, the ******** said the pope would remain in hospital as long as necessary for his treatment.
“We will see how he reacts to treatment,” said Matteo Bruni, director of the ********’s press office.
“I don’t have a precise date (for his release).”
The later statement said Francis “did not show any fever” during the day on Saturday. It also said the pope had received Communion, a central part of Catholic worship, and had then “alternated his rest between prayer and reading”.
Gemelli hospital, Rome’s largest, has a special suite for treating popes, and is known especially for often treating the late Pope John Paul II during his long papacy.
Francis spent nine days at Gemelli in June 2023, when he had surgery to repair an abdominal hernia.
Outside the hospital on Saturday, groups of people were gathering under a famous statue of John Paul II to pray for Francis.
“We found out yesterday morning, with sadness,” said Giovanni Di Muro, an Italian who was visiting his son in hospital.
“We hope it’s nothing serious, and that everything will be fine.”
Francis, who has been pontiff since 2013, has had influenza and other health problems several times over the past two years.
As a young adult he developed a case of pleurisy and had part of one of his lungs removed, and in recent times he has been prone to lung infections.
Francis has been suffering with respiratory issues since mid-December. He begged off reading statements at several of his public events in January and February, attending the occasions but asking aides to read his prepared remarks.
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Monster Hunter Producer Embracing PC as Key Platform Is a Lesson Square Enix Needs to Learn
Monster Hunter Producer Embracing PC as Key Platform Is a Lesson Square Enix Needs to Learn
Releasing a video game on multiple platforms, especially simultaneously at launch, has its own advantages; a simple yet effective strategy that some studios still can’t seem to wrap their heads around, including the likes of Square Enix. Fortunately, Monster Hunter Wilds is here to balance it all out and make sure the harmony stays.
Monster Hunter Wilds will be released on PC | Capcom
The tradition with Japanese studios, especially with the creators of Monster Hunters, has usually been to release their game’s PC version months after the title rolls out on consoles. Fortunately, this will change for good with the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds.
PC Gamers are the path to success for Monster Hunter Wilds
The studio has finally realised the market potential of PC gaming in Japan | Capcom
The PC gaming industry is a multi-billion-dollar market, and launching Monster Hunter Wilds out on all platforms with crossplay ensures the franchise doesn’t miss out on a massive audience. Talking about how the PC gaming section of the market remains essential to the success of Monster Hunter Wilds, its producer, Ryozo Tsujimoto, stated the following in an interview via Games Radar.
Yeah, there are more players than ever playing on PC, including in Japan, so we definitely see room for the series to capture new players who haven’t tried it before if that’s their chosen platform.
Tsujimoto essentially reveals that with the growing number of PC players in the console-dominated market of Japan, it undoubtedly remains the best decision to release the upcoming game on all the platforms at the same time. This will further allow the franchise to attract new players who haven’t tried it before.
Why PC gaming remains dominant
Monster Hunter Wilds releasing on PC is a ******* deal than many expect | Capcom
When it comes to gaming, it always comes down to what platform you get to experience it on. Since forever, the users have been divided into two groups, one that games on PC and the other that likes the simplicity of consoles. The latter also branches further into more groups that aren’t important to discuss right now.
What matters is how many gamers lately have been opting to try out multi-platform gaming, with more people also permanently switching over to PC as their primary gaming station because of its multiple use cases and features, such as Xbox Game Pass.
Capcom with Monster Hunter Wilds has set the blueprint for success: day-one PC releases, crossplay, and an inclusive approach to gaming. Square Enix can either learn from it or continue to miss out on potential revenue.
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Couple Checked into Hotel for Birthday Celebration Before Woman Died and Man Disappeared on Lake: Police
Couple Checked into Hotel for Birthday Celebration Before Woman Died and Man Disappeared on Lake: Police
New details are emerging after a woman was found dead and a man remained missing after their boat was found empty on a Georgia lake.
The body of Joycelyn Nicole Wilson, a 49-year-old instructor at Spelman College in Atlanta, was recovered on Sunday, Feb. 9 in Lake Oconee, officials with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources previously said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.
Her body was located after the boat was found circling near Wallace Dam on Saturday, Feb. 8, authorities said. A second person, identified as Gary Jones, a track and field coach for a local private school, remained missing.
Jones and Wilson had checked into a hotel near the lake for Jones’ birthday that Saturday, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said, according to NBC affiliate WXIA-TV.
A childhood friend of Wilson’s recently told CBS affiliate WANF that the pair attended Clark Atlanta University together and had gotten engaged after reconnecting.
Related: Missing Woman, 29, Found Dead in Water After Vanishing in Freezing Weather Conditions: Police
The couple traveled about seven miles in the 12-foot boat, which was found by other boaters in the middle of Lake Oconee’s river channel, Sills said.
The boat was later found to have struck a dock, he added. The next day, civilians located Wilson’s body a half mile away.
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Lake Oconee in Georgia, where Wilson was found dead on Sunday, Feb. 9
Jones’ shoes were reportedly floating about 15 feet apart near the shoreline on Monday, Feb. 10, according to WXIA-TV. The search for him remains ongoing.
A cadaver dog trained to detect bodies underwater was expected to be deployed on Friday, Feb. 14, Sills said. The dog previously found remains 50 feet below the surface, Sills said.
Related: Human Remains Found in Submerged Car Identified as Utah Man Who Vanished on the Way to Family’s Cabin in 2004
“In my career, I’ve never seen this many people searching on Lake Oconee or Lake Sinclair,” the sheriff added.
An investigation into the incident is also ongoing. A cause of death for Wilson has not been released.
Read the original article on People
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Helldivers 2 Rejects the Idea of Collaborations to Make Place for Home Grown Weapons and Armor
Helldivers 2 Rejects the Idea of Collaborations to Make Place for Home Grown Weapons and Armor
Recently, Helldivers 2 players got some unique items as a part of Helldivers 2 x Killzone collaboration. Players loved the crossover and even suggested that Arrowhead Game Studios should work with Saber Interactive to give players a Helldivers 2 x Space Marine 2 collaboration, but now, it seems like players don’t want those expensive collaborations.
Helldivers 2 players want to see a collaboration between SEAF and Helldivers (Image via Arrowhead Game Studios)
A Helldivers 2 player pointed out that Arrowhead could explore its own sci-fi universe instead of working on collaborations with different IPs. A SEAF-themed Warbond is a great starting point as SEAF are known to be Super Earth’s most fearless soldiers, after Helldivers of course.
Arrowhead Game Studios needs to give Helldivers 2 players a SEAF-themed Warbond
The SEAF has played a prominent role in the Galactic War as they have been cleaning up after Helldivers on numerous occasions. It seems like the Helldivers 2 community is slowly growing jealous of SEAF’s unique suits because a viral post on the r/helldivers2 subreddit has requested Arrowhead Game Studios to give players a SEAF-themed Warbond.
Comment byu/Yurishenko94 from discussion inHelldivers
Comment byu/Yurishenko94 from discussion inHelldivers
Comment byu/Yurishenko94 from discussion inHelldivers
Comment byu/Yurishenko94 from discussion inHelldivers
Comment byu/Yurishenko94 from discussion inHelldivers
Many Helldivers 2 players still don’t know that SEAF and Helldivers are two different divisions. In simple words, Helldivers are sent in to slow down the enemy forces and once they’ve been crippled enough, SEAF moves in to hold the ground. Compared to SEAF, Helldivers are more versatile group of soldiers because their job is much more demanding.
Arrowhead is currently doing a great job with the Warbonds as the latest Servants of Freedom Warbond features a secondary weapon that inflicts 4,500 damage, making it capable of taking out Detector Towers, Jammers, Science Labs, and Fabricators in a single shot.
Helldivers 2 needs some more collaborations
Fans received some items from the Killzone x Helldivers 2 collaboration for free (Image via Arrowhead Game Studios)
The Killzone x Helldivers 2 collaboration was quite exciting as it introduced some unique weapons, armors, capes, banners, etc. When the first set of items were released, there was a lot of critcism over the pricing, but Arrowhead swiftly responded to it by giving away the next set of items for free to all the players. The studio is currently following a new strategy that saved Helldivers 2 from dying. Players feedback is crucial to the studio, so there is a possibility that it also gives players the SEAF-themed Warbond.
Recently, a Helldivers 2 player also pointed out that Arrowhead should work with Saber Interactive to give players a Helldivers 2 x Space Marine 2 collaboration. Due to their similar gameplay, the fanbases of both of these games often engage in debates online, but this collaboration will put an end to all the conflicts. On top of this, it would boost the popularity of both the games, which will generate more revenue.
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As Trump Slashes Federal Jobs, Alabama’s ‘Rocket City’ Braces for Impact – The New York Times
As Trump Slashes Federal Jobs, Alabama’s ‘Rocket City’ Braces for Impact – The New York Times
As Trump Slashes Federal Jobs, Alabama’s ‘Rocket City’ Braces for Impact The New York TimesThe Federal Employee Red Wedding The American ProspectHere are the agencies purging federal workers The HillVA employees feel impact from policies shaking up federal workforce, despite exemptions Federal News Network
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PJ Harvey at Perth Festival: As she returns to the stage, the English music icon reveals her retirement plans
PJ Harvey at Perth Festival: As she returns to the stage, the English music icon reveals her retirement plans
Utterly exhausted after a decade of touring two albums about war, award-winning English artist PJ Harvey seriously contemplated retirement before finding fresh inspiration close to home.
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IRS will lay off thousands of probationary workers in the middle of tax season – The Associated Press
IRS will lay off thousands of probationary workers in the middle of tax season – The Associated Press
IRS will lay off thousands of probationary workers in the middle of tax season The Associated PressI.R.S. Expected to Lay Off Thousands The New York TimesLayoffs to hit IRS as DOGE targets tax collections The Washington PostIRS employees accept OPM federal worker buyout; How the 2025 tax season may be affected USA TODAYIRS prepares to lay off thousands of workers Reuters
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Mother, child die from injuries in Munich ramming
Mother, child die from injuries in Munich ramming
A 37-year-old woman and her two-year-old daughter have died from injuries they sustained when an Afghan national drove a car into a crowd in Munich, ******* police said, the first fatalities from the incident.
Prosecutors had said on Friday that at least 39 people were injured, some of them critically, when the car ploughed into trade union activists demonstrating for higher pay on Thursday.
The mother and child succuumed to their injuries on Saturday.
Authorities have said they were treating the incident as a religiously-motivated attack.
The attack has brought security issues back into focus in campaigning for Germany’s federal election on February 23.
The attack also came hours before the arrival of international leaders in the southern ******* city for the annual Munich Security Conference.
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A Tahoe snowboarder was ‘buried alive’ on the slopes. Lawsuit says the resort is to blame
A Tahoe snowboarder was ‘buried alive’ on the slopes. Lawsuit says the resort is to blame
In late February 2023, a major blizzard dumped several feet of fresh powder across Northern California’s mountains — dream conditions for many experienced snowboarders like Wesley Whalen.
Instead, it turned into the worst-case scenario.
Whalen, 46, suffocated to death underneath the deep snow at Heavenly Mountain Resort in Tahoe on March 1, 2023.
His widow says the resort is to blame.
In a recent lawsuit, Chanel Whalen claims that Heavenly made the extreme conditions even more dangerous and failed to warn visitors or increase safety patrols, causing her husband’s death, which the complaint called an “unnecessary and preventable tragedy.”
The lawsuit, filed last month in El Dorado County’s Superior Court and first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, claims that Heavenly increased the risk of sinking into the loose, deep snow by triggering an avalanche not long after the blizzard. The suit alleges that “blasting” the snow to spur controlled avalanches — a regular practice at ski resorts — not only increased the amount of powder, but also hid the natural signs of a loose snowpack by creating the appearance of a solid top layer of snow.
“Combining this freshly loosened powder with the practically unheard of levels of precipitation created a significant increased risk of cave-in,” the lawsuit said. “Heavenly further failed to warn guests that they had blasted, meaning that even skilled and experienced skiers and snowboarders would have no reason to believe the sink risk was as high as it actually was.”
The wrongful death lawsuit claims the resort was negligent and demands unspecified damages.
Ashlee Lamber, a spokesperson for Vail Resorts, Inc., which owns and operates Heavenly, declined to comment on the case, saying that the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
On the day he died, Whalen — who was described in the complaint as a “skilled and experienced snowboarder” and active in the U.S. Deaf Ski and Snowboard Assn. — was going down a single ****** diamond trail when he pulled over to the side to stop, the lawsuit said. The attorney representing Whalen detailed what occurred after reviewing footage from a GoPro-style video camera Whalen had on him.
“He started to slowly, but consistently sink into the snowpack” with “snow collapsing on top of him,” the lawsuit said. “Wesley was buried alive.”
The lawsuit called the snow that day “deceptively loose” and also said that there was “insufficient ski patrol coverage.”
Read more: How L.A. snowboarder, with no phone and wearing a hoodie, survived 2 nights in frigid mountains
The complaint noted that some reports after his death indicated that Whalen fell into a “tree well,” a dangerous dip in deep snow that is known to trap skiers and snowboarders. But the lawsuit said “there were no warnings anywhere about the dangers of tree wells and cave-ins” and the resort should have installed temporary fencing and warning signs, if such dangers were present.
The National Ski Areas Assn. warns that skiing off groomed trails increases the risk of having a deep snow or tree well accident, which can be deadly. But the suit claims that where Whalen pulled over was “well within the open trail,” and how he died is not part of the inherent risks associated with snowboarding.
“Being swallowed by snow as if sinking in quicksand is not intrinsic in snowboarding,” the lawsuit said.
“Wes was a leader in the deaf community and his wife, Chanel, was his entire world,” Mike Guasco, the attorney representing his wife, said in a statement. “His death is an immeasurable loss, one which the community and Chanel still feel acutely. Worse, his death was entirely preventable.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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Mother and child die from injuries in Munich car attack – BBC.com
Mother and child die from injuries in Munich car attack – BBC.com
Mother and child die from injuries in Munich car attack BBC.comA driver plows into a demonstration in Munich, injuring 30 people The Associated PressMunich car ramming: What happened, who’s the suspect, what’s next? Al Jazeera EnglishMunich Car Attack Injured Dozens: What We Know The New York TimesGerman car attack may have been religiously motivated, prosecutors say Reuters
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Domestic violence survivors fear facing perpetrators at WA’s overstretched, ill-equipped court facilities
Domestic violence survivors fear facing perpetrators at WA’s overstretched, ill-equipped court facilities
Despite record investment in family and domestic violence prevention, victims across WA are often too scared to seek protection from the courts because the very place they need to go for help feels unsafe.
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These air fryer breakfast muffins are tastier than anything I’ve had from Starbucks – here’s the recipe
These air fryer breakfast muffins are tastier than anything I’ve had from Starbucks – here’s the recipe
If you’re only using your air fryer to cook chicken and fries, you’re missing out – it’s also an excellent tool for small batch baking, and absolutely perfect for whipping up a quick batch of breakfast muffins. These particular ones are a favorite in my household, and you can jazz them up by swapping the sultanas and seeds for other dried fruit, or even chocolate chunks. For double chocolate muffins, switch the fruit for chocolate and replace a tablespoon of the flour with cocoa powder.
The recipe is similar to banana bread and is a great way to use up fruit that’s gone overripe. If you notice that some of your bananas are starting to turn brown, toss them into your freezer. The night before you want to make your muffins, take some out and leave them to defrost overnight. The skins will have changed color, but that’s fine. When you’re ready to begin baking, cut the top off each defrosted banana and squeeze it into a bowl. During freezing, the water in each banana will have expanded and broken the cell walls, making it soft – it’s still perfectly good, and super easy to mash with a fork.
I baked the muffins using a Cosori TurboBlaze 6L air fryer. If you’re using a different model, you may need to experiment with tweaking the temperature and time slightly, but the recipe is quite forgiving and you don’t need the best air fryer in the world to get good results.
When I asked Margaret Rewers, R&D Culinary Supervisor at Cosori, for some tips on making cakes in an air fryer, she recommended using individual cupcake cases rather than a pan. I used BPA-free silicone cases (you can find similar ones on Amazon for $6.99) which have the advantage of not needing greasing before use.
Ingredients
4.4oz / 125g wholemeal flour
4.4oz / 125g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3.5oz / 100g dark brown sugar
1 handful sultanas
1 handful sunflower seeds
3.5fl oz / 100ml vegetable oil
4 mashed bananas
2 beaten eggs
2 tablespoons milk
Method
1. Prepare your air fryer and cases
Start by putting the crisper tray in your air fryer and pre-heating it to 280F / 140C. If you’re using silicone muffin cases, preheat these as well to make sure the bottom of each muffin gets properly cooked. Don’t squish too many cases into the air fryer drawer, otherwise hot air won’t be able to circulate properly. It’s much better to bake in small batches.
(Image credit: Future)
2. Combine ingredients
While the air fryer is heating, prepare your muffin batter. Put all your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar, sultanas, and seeds) into a bowl and mix well, saving a few seeds to decorate the tops of the muffins if you like. Then put the oil, mashed bananas, and beaten egg into a second bowl, and mix thoroughly.
(Image credit: Future)
3. Mix wet and dry
Pour your wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix with a wooden spoon until they’re just combined. You shouldn’t be able to see any lumps of flour but don’t over-mix the batter, or gluten will start to develop and the muffins will be tough.
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(Image credit: Future)
4. Fill your cases
When the air fryer has finished pre-heating, carefully remove your muffin cases (hold each one using an oven glove or towel) and spoon in your mixture. Allow a little space at the top of the case for each one to rise. If you reserved a few seeds, sprinkle them on top before putting the filled cases back in the air fryer drawer. Don’t be tempted to fill the cases while they’re still in the air fryer; any mixture that gets spilled will bake onto the inside of the drawer and be a hassle to clean.
(Image credit: Future)
5. Bake your muffins
Bake your muffins at 240F / 140C for 15 minutes. If your air fryer doesn’t have a window, don’t be tempted to open the drawer and take a peek partway through – the muffins will collapse. When the time is up, check to see if the muffins are cooked by poking one in the center with a clean metal skewer. It should come out clean, with no more than a few crumbs on it. If it comes out with batter stuck to it, put the muffins back in for another five minutes, then check again. When they’re done, remove the cases using oven gloves or a kitchen towel over your hand, and put them on a wire rack to cool.
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Tear gas fired at Hezbollah supporters protesting Lebanon blocking Iranian flight
Tear gas fired at Hezbollah supporters protesting Lebanon blocking Iranian flight
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Lebanese army fired tear gas on Saturday at Hezbollah supporters protesting around Beirut airport against Lebanon blocking an Iranian flight to Beirut this week after the Israeli military accused Tehran of using civilian aircraft to smuggle cash to Beirut to arm the Lebanese group.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah called on the army to hold those who fired at the protesters to account.
The Lebanese army and government “should have held immediate meetings to prevent the Israeli enemy from imposing its dictates on the airport and from continuing its occupation of Lebanese territory … instead of using force against a peaceful sit-in on the airport road,” Fadlallah added in a statement.
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Iran barred Lebanese planes from repatriating dozens of Lebanese nationals stranded in Iran on Friday, in a standoff between the two countries following what Tehran described as an Israeli threat to attack it.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi spoke to his Lebanese counterpart by phone on the matter and both “declared their readiness for constructive talks,” state media said, without elaborating.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Friday had said that Israel had threatened a passenger plane carrying Lebanese citizens from Tehran, disrupting flights to Beirut airport. He condemned the alleged Israeli threat as a violation of international law.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam and Ahmed Tolba, Writing by Enas Alashray, Editing by Deepa Babington)
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Box Office: ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Inaugurates a $40 Million Opening Day – AOL
Box Office: ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Inaugurates a $40 Million Opening Day – AOL
Box Office: ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Inaugurates a $40 Million Opening Day AOLView Full Coverage on Google News
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Trump threatens a 100% tariff on ‘dead’ BRICS group if they ‘play games with the dollar’
Trump threatens a 100% tariff on ‘dead’ BRICS group if they ‘play games with the dollar’
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday once again threatened countries with steep tariffs if they think about playing “games with the dollar,” the world’s reserve currency.
Responding to a reporter’s question about the prospect that BRICS, a growing counterweight to the West, might establish its own currency, Trump declared that “BRICS is dead” since he first threatened tariffs against the group earlier this year.
“If they want to play games with the dollar, they’re going to be hit with a 100% tariff,” he said, ahead of his meeting with Narendra Modi, prime minister of India, a founding member of BRICS.
Trump has floated steep tariffs on the BRICS group before. Last year, he threatened countries with a 100% tariff if they backed “any other currency to replace the mighty U.S. dollar.” He repeated that threat again in January, soon after taking office.
BRICS nations currently say they have no plans to pursue a common currency. In January, Russia said that talks on a common currency “have not taken place and are not taking place now.” Instead, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that BRICS nations were focused on joint investments.
Brazil, currently the BRICS president, won’t push for a common currency, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing unnamed government officials. Rather the group will try to lessen members’ dependence on the U.S. dollar by making international payments in other currencies easier.
What tariffs has Trump imposed?
Since taking office in January, Trump has imposed several new tariffs in a bid to reshape the global trading system.
On Thursday, Trump ordered a study of new tariffs on a country-by-country basis to rebalance U.S. trade. The study could evaluate not just a country’s import duties, but also its other economic policies, like subsidies, weak intellectual property protections, and even value-added taxes. Trump’s pick for U.S. Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, said he plans for all studies to be completed by April 1.
Last week, Trump imposed an additional 10% tariff on goods from China. Then, after the weekend, Trump hiked tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 25%.
What is BRICS?
Brazil, Russia, India, and China formally launched “BRIC” as an international organization in 2009, becoming “BRICS” a year later with the addition of South Africa.
The group has slowly built up its institutional capacity, including a development bank launched in 2014.
There’s been a marked interest in BRICS in recent years, and 2023 saw the addition of four new member countries: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. Several more countries, including Southeast Asia’s Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, are “partner countries,” a stepping stone on the way to full membership.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, joined BRICS as a full member in January.
Analysts suggest that countries are now interested in BRICS as a “counterweight” to the U.S.-led economic system. Membership might also give countries like Malaysia better access to economies like China. (It also helps that BRICS does not place strict requirements on its members, making it a relatively easy geopolitical play.)
Yet the group also contains some stark geopolitical divisions, particularly between China and India. The U.S. is deepening ties with the South Asian country to balance against Beijing. On Thursday, Trump announced during a meeting with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India will soon get access to the F-35, currently available only to NATO allies, Israel, and Japan.
Why are countries interested in moving away from the dollar?
Countries have often chafed under the U.S. dollar’s premier status in world economic affairs. Just about every international transaction, even those involving two non-U.S. countries, is denominated in dollars. The European Union, Japan, and China have, at times, pushed for greater international use of their national currencies.
Grumbling intensified after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Washington used access to the dollar-based financial system to ensure global compliance with its sanctions program, even if national governments still wanted to do business with Russia. That led to more transactions being denominated in the ******** renminbi or Indian rupee to facilitate trade.
Higher U.S. interest rates made matters worse. Traders flocked to the dollar to take advantage of better yields in the U.S., strengthening the dollar and putting pressure on economies that relied on dollar-denominated imports. Yet if central banks increased interest rates to lessen downward pressure on their national currencies, they risked dampening economic growth.
In 2023, Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for a new common BRICS currency to replace the dollar. “Why can’t we do trade based on our own currencies?” Lula said during a visit to China.
Yet most economists dismiss the idea of any currency, let alone a BRICS currency, replacing the dollar anytime soon. One issue is that most countries will only accept dollars for trade; while the yuan might be useful for trade with China, no other country is interested in it.
A BRICS currency is “just ridiculous,” said economist Jim O’Neill, who coined the term “BRIC” in 2001, soon after Lula’s comments. “They’re going to create a BRICS central bank? How would you do that?”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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Scientists Intrigued by Nearby Planet That Could Potentially Support Life
Scientists Intrigued by Nearby Planet That Could Potentially Support Life
Astronomers have detected a relatively close exoplanet orbiting in the habitable zone of its star, where temperatures are just right to support liquid water on the surface.
As detailed in a new study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the planet, dubbed HD 20794 d, is suspected to be what’s referred to as a super-Earth, possessing around six times the mass of our world. Promisingly, it orbits a star much like our own, and resides just twenty light years away. That makes it one of the closest potentially habitable worlds that astronomers know of.
There’s still some major questions to be answered about the planet, and it’s too early to outright say if it’s capable of supporting life — but habitability certainly looks possible.
“For me, it was naturally a huge joy when we could confirm the planet’s existence,” said study coauthor Michael Cretignier, an astrophysicist at Oxford University, in a statement about the work. “It was also a relief, since the original signal was at the edge of the spectrograph’s detection limit, so it was hard to be completely convinced at that time if the signal was real or not.”
And because it’s so close, he adds, there “hope for future space missions to obtain an image of it.”
The presence of exoplanets in the star system was first detected in 2011, but data at the time was lacking. It wasn’t until 2022 that Cretignier and his colleagues stumbled onto something more substantive: they noticed a “wobble” in the light spectrum of the host star.
One way astronomers look for exoplanets is via gravitational clues. Just as a star’s gravity pulls on a planet, so does the planet on the star, and that can cause the stellar body to “wobble” out of its expected position. As a result, when the star moves closer or farther away from us, its light slightly shifts in color, which astronomers can spot.
Still, to confirm the detection, the team had to sift through decades of data, including imaging by the exoplanet-hunting ESPRESSO instrument on the Very Large Telescope in Chile.
“We worked on data analysis for years, gradually analyzing and eliminating all possible sources of contamination,” Cretignier said.
The planet’s star, 82 G. Eridani, is a yellow dwarf like our Sun with about 80 percent of its mass. It’s older than our Sun, however, and perhaps showing its age, is also a tad fainter.
That’s encouraging, but as for its newly confirmed planet, a few details remain a bit dicey. HD 20794 d’s orbit is elliptical, not circular like Earth’s, so the distance it keeps from its star changes dramatically as it revolves. That could make conditions on the planet’s surface pretty volatile, with dramatic temperature swings; at its farthest point, the planet gets chilly enough for water to freeze.
In fact, there’s a chance that HD 20794 d may not be a super-Earth as suspected, but instead a what’s known as a mini-Neptune, or an icy world similar to the one in our solar system but lesser in mass. Nonetheless, there’s little doubt in the astronomer’s minds that we should be paying close attention to this intriguing celestial neighbor.
“With its location in a habitable zone and relatively close proximity to Earth, this planet could play a pivotal role in future missions that will characterize the atmospheres of exoplanets to search for biosignatures indicating potential life,” Cretignier said.
More on astronomy: Strange Signal Coming From Dead Galaxy, Scientists Say
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