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Our favorite Super Bowl 2025 commercials so far – Yahoo Our favorite Super Bowl 2025 commercials so far – Yahoo Our favorite Super Bowl 2025 commercials so far YahooSuper Bowl 59 live updates: Nike, DoorDash, Tubi and other star-studded commercials CNBCSuper Bowl commercials rely on comedy and nostalgia to avoid potential missteps The Associated PressHow much do 2025 Super Bowl commercials cost? Here’s the price tag on ads this year. CBS NewsBest 2025 Super Bowl commercials: Ranking the best and worst ads – The Athletic The Athletic Source link #favorite #Super #Bowl #commercials #Yahoo Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Whistleblowing reform urged to prevent dark chapters Whistleblowing reform urged to prevent dark chapters Australia needs an independent whistleblower protection authority to help guide those who expose wrongdoing through a fraught legal system, crossbenchers say. Source link #Whistleblowing #reform #urged #prevent #dark #chapters Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

I’m 64 and Worried About RMDs. Should I Start Converting My $650K IRA to a Roth? I’m 64 and Worried About RMDs. Should I Start Converting My $650K IRA to a Roth? You can reduce the impact that taxes have in retirement by converting pre-tax savings into Roth assets. Doing so not only unlocks future tax-free growth, but also helps you minimize or avoid required minimum distributions (RMDs). However, converting a large IRA balance like $650,000 all at once would trigger a significant tax bill in the year of the conversion. Instead, you may be able to reduce the overall tax burden by gradually converting your IRA over several years. This won’t eliminate taxes, but it can give you some control over the timing and amount of taxes you pay. It can also be useful for estate planning, since your potential heirs would inherit tax-free assets. Consult a financial advisor to determine whether a Roth conversion strategy makes sense for you. Anyone who saves for retirement using a traditional IRA, 401(k) or similar pre-tax account must begin withdrawing their money after they turn age 73 (75 for people who turn 74 after Dec. 31, 2032). While RMDs are mandatory for pre-tax accounts, some retirees would rather not take them if they don’t need the income. That’s because when the income from mandatory withdrawals is added to their other income, it can push them into a higher income tax bracket and increase their overall tax bill. For example, say that you have $650,000 in a traditional IRA at age 64. If your account grew at an average rate of 7% per year, it would be worth approximately $1.37 million by the time you hit age 75. As a result, your first annual RMD would be around $95,000. But if you have $75,000 in taxable income from other sources and your tax filing status is single, your $95,000 RMD could push you in from the 22% tax bracket to the 24% tax bracket and increase your income tax liability. A financial advisor can help you plan for RMDs and explore other tax planning strategies for retirement. Converting a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA can unlock tax-free investment growth and help a retiree avoid or reduce RMDs. SmartAsset and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below. Since Roth accounts are not subject to RMD rules, converting a traditional IRA into a Roth account is one way of avoiding RMDs and the potentially burdensome taxes on unwanted income in retirement. But a Roth conversion can also be expensive because the money you convert is treated as taxable IRA withdrawals in the year that the conversion is completed. For example, converting a $650,000 IRA to a Roth all at once would automatically increase a single filer’s tax rate to 37% – the highest marginal tax rate. Converting $650,000 alone would trigger an income tax bill of approximately $193,000, not including any other income tax you may pay. Story Continues You may be able to manage and potentially reduce these taxes by gradually converting your pre-tax retirement savings over the course of several years. The idea is to convert just enough pre-tax money each year to keep your taxable income within your current marginal tax bracket. For example, if you have $75,000 in taxable income, you are likely in the 22% bracket as a single filer. If you convert $28,350 from your IRA, that would increase your income to $103,350 – the very top of the 22% bracket for 2025. Of course, while you are gradually converting your traditional IRA into a Roth account, the funds remaining in your IRA would continue to grow. By the time you reach age 73, your IRA would still have a considerable amount of money in it. However, your RMD would be reduced, giving you more tax flexibility going forward. If you’re unsure of how much to convert and when, talk it over with a financial advisor. A retiree meets with his financial advisor to discuss Roth conversions and their impact on RMDs. Conversion is a potent tool. Among other benefits, once you convert funds from your IRA into a Roth, you can pass them to heirs tax-free. Still, you can’t completely avoid paying taxes on IRA withdrawals using Roth conversion or other means. Roth conversion can only help you manage and potentially reduce the income taxes on withdrawals from your savings. Any Roth conversion strategy also makes a number of assumptions that may not turn out to be accurate. For instance, tax brackets adjust annually, so the tax brackets when you start taking RMDs will be different. Similarly, investment returns fluctuate and may not be generated as expected. The five-year rule for Roth conversions is another important consideration. The rule dictates that you must wait five years after a Roth conversion to withdraw the money or you’ll face a 10% early withdrawal penalty. Then again, this provision wouldn’t apply to you in our hypothetical scenario, since people who are 59 ½ or older are no longer subject to early withdrawal rules. Finally, Roth conversions may make the most sense if you expect to be in a higher tax bracket after you retire. If you’ll your marginal tax rate falls in retirement, you may be advised to keep the funds in your IRA and pay taxes on the withdrawals later on. That’s where working with a financial advisor and planning ahead can potentially pay dividends. A strategy of gradually converting funds from an IRA into a Roth account can help you manage and minimize the taxes you pay on the conversion. The basic idea is to convert enough money each year to raise your taxable income to the top of your current tax bracket, but no more. This avoids the big one-time tax hit of converting the entire IRA at once, while moving as much money as possible in the Roth account where it’s not subject to RMDs. Avoiding RMDs is one benefit of Roth conversion, but the strategy also can potentially help with estate planning. To calculate your RMD, you’ll first need to look up your account balance (as of Dec. 31 of the previous year). Most people will then divide that value by the “life expectancy factor” that corresponds with your age. You’ll find this figure on the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. For example, a 73-year-old has a life expectancy factor of 26.5. As a result, they would divide their account balance by 26.5 and get their RMD amount for that particular year. Meanwhile, SmartAsset has an RMD calculator that can help you estimate how much your first RMD will be and when it must be taken. When you are planning how to avoid RMDs, a financial advisor can be an important source of information and insight. Finding a financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can have a free introductory call with your advisor matches to decide which one you feel is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now. Keep an emergency fund on hand in case you run into unexpected expenses. An emergency fund should be liquid — in an account that isn’t at risk of significant fluctuation like the stock market. The tradeoff is that the value of liquid cash can be eroded by inflation. But a high-interest account allows you to earn compound interest. Compare savings accounts from these banks. Are you a financial advisor looking to grow your business? SmartAsset AMP helps advisors connect with leads and offers marketing automation solutions so you can spend more time making conversions. Learn more about SmartAsset AMP. Photo credit: ©iStock.com/FG Trade, ©iStock.com/zimmytws, ©iStock.com/PeopleImages The post I’m 64 With $650k in an IRA. Should I Start Converting to a Roth to Avoid RMDs? appeared first on SmartReads by SmartAsset. Source link #Worried #RMDs #Start #Converting #650K #IRA #Roth Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Travis Kelce emotional on Chiefs sideline after Patrick Mahomes' pick-six changes Super Bowl 2025 – New York Post Travis Kelce emotional on Chiefs sideline after Patrick Mahomes' pick-six changes Super Bowl 2025 – New York Post Travis Kelce emotional on Chiefs sideline after Patrick Mahomes’ pick-six changes Super Bowl 2025 New York Post View Full Coverage on Google News Source link #Travis #Kelce #emotional #Chiefs #sideline #Patrick #Mahomes039 #picksix #Super #Bowl #York #Post Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Taylor Swift, Jay-Z and Donald Trump among stars in New Orleans Taylor Swift, Jay-Z and Donald Trump among stars in New Orleans 7 minutes agoThomas Mackintosh BBC News, London Reuters Taylor Swift – pictured in between two of the Haim sisters – watching boyfriend Travis Kelce’s Chiefs at her second Super Bowl appearance One of the biggest sporting events in the world is under way in New Orleans as the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles in this year’s Super Bowl. The event has not just brought out the best the NFL has to offer this season – but plenty of Hollywood A-listers, musicians and US President Donald Trump have been spotted in the stands of the Superdome. Actor Jon Hamm introduced the Chiefs while Bradley Cooper brought the hype for the Eagles. Below are a selection of images of celebrities at this year’s Super Bowl. Follow live updates as the Eagles take first-half leadReuters Actor Bradley Cooper joined young fan Declan LeBaron (right) to announce their favourite team – the Philadelphia Eagles Reuters Although Beyoncé was not seen at this year’s Super Bowl, her daughters Blue Ivy and Rumi were in attendance along with their father Jay-Z Reuters Jay-Z took a few photos of Rumi jump next to one of the endzones as Blue Ivy watches on Getty Images Donald Trump became the first sitting US president to attend a Super Bowl. He was accompanied by a large entourage, including his daughter Ivanka (right) Reuters President Donald Trump salutes as the national anthem is sung by Jon Batiste Getty Images Jordon Hudson (left) – the girlfriend of former NFL coach Bill Belichick – posed next to Golden Globes host Nikki Glaser Reuters Actors Pete Davidson and Kevin Costner were spotted sharing a laugh ahead of the game kicking off Reuters Singer Taylor Swift whispered to musician and actress Alana Haim in the stands as the Chiefs struggled to get points on the board in the first half Reuters The half-time show opened with Samuel L Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam Getty Images During the Super Bowl Half Time Show, Kendrick Lamar performed Luther, his chart smash hit, with R&B singer SZA New OrleansSuper BowlDonald TrumpUnited States Source link #Taylor #Swift #JayZ #Donald #Trump #among #stars #Orleans Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Drunk driver caught almost seven times over the limit after ****** Drunk driver caught almost seven times over the limit after ****** A man who caused two crashes with almost seven times the legal limit of alcohol in his system is facing multiple charges. Source link #Drunk #driver #caught #times #limit #****** Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Never seen before quantum state discovered in graphene could advance computing Never seen before quantum state discovered in graphene could advance computing Graphene, also known as the wonder material, continues to surprise scientists. This time, it has revealed new quantum states. A team of researchers has found peculiar topological electronic crystals in twisted graphene layers. Their study highlights a special way to arrange electrons in graphene, where they freeze into a perfectly ordered pattern. Surprisingly, while staying locked in place, all the electrons spin together like ballet dancers performing synchronized pirouettes without moving. This unusual quantum behavior allows electric current to flow smoothly along the edges of the material while the interior remains non-conductive because the electrons are stuck in place. In the future, such quantum states can be utilized for the development of energy-efficient electronic devices and fault-tolerant quantum computing applications. The significance of topology Topology is the study of shapes and spaces that don’t change even if they are stretched, twisted, or deformed—without cutting or gluing. “An everyday example of topology is the Möbius strip—a simple yet mind-bending object. Amazingly, no matter how you try to manipulate the strip, you cannot untwist it back into a normal loop without tearing it apart,” the study authors note. A material exhibiting topology is of great importance because it has the uncanny ability to remain unaffected by external factors. Such a material can demonstrate robust quantum behavior, as its quantum states in such material are immune to small disturbances. For instance, topological electronic crystals like the one mentioned in the current study are quite special. In these unique crystals, electrons move in a very stable way, no matter if there are small defects or impurities in the material. What makes them special is that their stability comes from the material’s internal structure and not from outside influences like temperature or pressure. However, these crystals are rare because only certain materials have the right atomic arrangement to support topological electron behavior. Finding topological electronic crystal in graphene The study authors began with two thin layers (flakes) of graphene, a material made of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern. Normally, electrons in graphene move freely, similar to how they do in metals like copper. Next, they stacked the two graphene layers on top of each other but rotated one slightly. This small twist created an interesting pattern called a moiré pattern, where some carbon atoms from both layers were aligned perfectly, but others were misaligned. When electrons moved through this twisted structure, their behavior completely changed. “For example, the electrons slow way down, and sometimes they develop a twist in their motion, like the vortex in the water at the drain of a bathtub as it is draining out,” Joshua Folk, one of the study authors and a physics professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), said. This behavior resulted in a strange electronic effect. Inside the material, electrons became frozen in place, making it act like an insulator. However, along the edges, electrons moved effortlessly, allowing electricity to flow without resistance. Generally, when electrons freeze and settle down such a structure is called the Wigner crystal. However, in this case, the rotational motion of electrons along the edges resulted in something different — the topological electronic crystal. “The rotation of the electrons in the crystal is analogous to the twist in the Möbius strip and leads to the remarkable characteristic of the topological electronic crystal never before seen in the rare cases where electron crystals have been observed in the past,” the study authors said. This rare discovery could contribute to the development of highly efficient electronic and quantum computing applications. The study is published in the journal Nature. Source link #quantum #state #discovered #graphene #advance #computing Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Who's performing at Super Bowl 2025? Halftime show artists for Chiefs vs. Eagles game – CBS Sports Who's performing at Super Bowl 2025? Halftime show artists for Chiefs vs. Eagles game – CBS Sports Who’s performing at Super Bowl 2025? Halftime show artists for Chiefs vs. Eagles game CBS SportsKendrick Lamar takes the field for his Super Bowl LIX halftime show CNNKendrick Lamar’s fierce Super Bowl halftime show elevates Drake feud, makes history USA TODAYWho Is Performing At The 2025 Super Bowl? Every Artist Confirmed So Far ForbesThe meaning behind Kendrick Lamar’s jacket during the Super Bowl halftime show The Hill Source link #Who039s #performing #Super #Bowl #Halftime #show #artists #Chiefs #Eagles #game #CBS #Sports Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

LIV star sympathises with Aussie golf’s ‘rough ride’ LIV star sympathises with Aussie golf’s ‘rough ride’ Ian Poulter is happy to forgo the hometown advantage to Cameron Smith’s Ripper GC in Adelaide as the English star sympathises with *********** golf’s previously “rough ride”. More than 100,000 people are expected through The Grange gates from Friday when LIV Golf Adelaide returns for a third act, this time much earlier in the breakaway league’s fledgling season. Almost 80,000 came for season one before 94,000 turned up last year, Smith and Marc Leishman providing the theatre in a historic play-off as the all-*********** squad won the teams event. Teammates Lucas Herbert and Matt Jones had done their bit earlier in the day, the quartet lapping up the win in rare scenes that Majesticks star Ian Poulter couldn’t help but admire. “Home support is everything but what they did last year, credit to them and the fans for getting behind them the way they did,” the former world No.5 said. “For being able to step up and deliver the way they did; it was impressive to watch and great for *********** golf and LIV.” Poulter copped plenty of criticism and ridicule as one of the first to jump from the PGA Tour to the rebel league in 2022. It’s partly why those Adelaide scenes stick with the charismatic Brit, who is aware of the lack of opportunities for *********** golf fans to watch the world’s best players live until the Saudi-backed LIV Golf arrived. “If you look at *********** golf, they got a rough ride,” he said. “It makes a lot of sense (to come to Australia); if you look at *********** golf through the years, it hasn’t been supported enough. “To bring such a great product, so many of the best players in the world … the fans have embraced it. “And Adelaide themselves to have that recognition as well. It’s great for us, great for the *********** fans.” The season began under lights in Riyadh last week, Poland’s Adrian Meronk a two-shot winner with Herbert the best of the Australians, three shots back in equal fourth. The Jon Rahm-led Legion GC won the team’s event, with Ripper GC equal second in a positive start to their squad’s title defence. Source link #LIV #star #sympathises #Aussie #golfs #rough #ride Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

What Is Dark Matter? What Is Dark Matter? Physics is unique in the scientific world, in that its reliance on math means it can come to a broad consensus on matters with very little evidence available. In Earth science, a veritable mountain of evidence can’t fully bury the issue of global warming, and even with the vast majority of scientists now convinced, a vocal ********* still dissent. Yet in the case of physics and dark matter, a substance defined as being virtually immune to observation, there are no meaningful dark matter deniers left standing. So what is dark matter, and how has physics come to such a powerful agreement on the idea that it makes up the vast majority of matter in the universe? Matter, the regular kind that makes up the atmosphere, the Sun, Pluto, and Donald Trump, interacts with the universe in a number of ways. It absorbs, and in many cases emits, electromagnetic radiation in the form of gamma rays, visible light, infra-red, and more. It can generate magnetic fields of various sorts and strengths. And matter has mass, creating the force of gravity, the effects of which can be readily observed. All these things make matter convenient to study, in particular its interactions with light. Even a ****** hole, which emits no light, blocks light by sucking it in — but what if the light coming from behind a ****** hole simply passed right through, and on into our telescope lenses? How would we ever have proven the existence of a ****** hole, in that case? In 2009, the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search published evidence of direct observation of dark matter, but the results are not definitive. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search. That’s the situation physicists face with dark matter. Dark matter does not seem to interact with the universal electromagnetic field in the slightest — that is, it does not absorb or emit light of any kind. In fact, dark matter seems only to interact with the universe as we can observe it through a single physical force: gravity. So, in the case of our invisible ****** hole, we might have been able to notice it by seeing how light coming to us from a certain section of sky was bent relative to our expectations, knocked slightly off course by passing close to an object bending the surface of the spacetime it’s traversing. Adding up enough light-bending observations, scientists could probably figure out the position and even mass of the invisible singularity. However, dark matter is harder to study than even that, because it does not come conveniently clumped into super-dense ****** like stars and ****** holes — that would be far too easy. Instead, the primary theory of dark matter says that it is made of hypothetical particles called Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), which are about as well understood as their catch-all name implies. WIMPs don’t even seem to interact with each other through anything more than gravity, meaning dark matter does not fuse to form larger or more complex molecules, and remains in a simple and highly diffuse gas-like state. Thus, dark matter’s gravitational impact is extremely spread out and, it turns out, can only be observed when we look at the large-scale distribution of visible matter in the universe — things like galactic super-clusters, and the corresponding super-voids. It’s theorized that after the Bing Bang, the properties of dark matter would have led it to settle down far more quickly than regular matter, going from a totally uniform gas-cloud to a somewhat clumped network of smaller clouds and connecting tendrils. These tendrils can stretch across the universe; the distribution of dark matter soon after the Big Bang is thought to have directed where regular matter eventually collected, and thus where and how galaxies formed. A simulation of the distribution of dark matter, made and rendered by a supercomputer. A simulation of the distribution of dark matter, made and rendered by a supercomputer. So, not only is it invisible, but the effects of dark matter’s gravitational potential are so physically sprawling that they’re hard to measure. The light from a single star won’t be measurably bent by dark matter in reaching us, as it was in passing our invisible ****** hole; that light might very well have originated, travelled through, and arrived all within the reach of a single universal super-thread of invisible dark matter. So: how did physicists come up with the idea of dark matter in the first place? The answer is that gravity affects everything, at all scales, according to the same basic formulae. So, scientists started to notice that as they took at larger and larger-scale looks at the universe, these gravity formulae delivered increasingly wrong predictions. As early as the 1930s, Fitz Zwicky discovered that galaxies in the Coma cluster were moving as though they were subject to far more gravitational force than could be explained through a simple accounting of the normal matter we could see. Decades later, Vera Rubin famously noted that stars in spiral galaxies rotate around the galactic center far faster than they ought to, leading to later studies showing that spiral galaxies must be made up of about six times as much dark mass as the regular kind. A map of the universal Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. A map of the universal Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. But the really compelling evidence didn’t come about until the advent of techniques like weak gravitational lensing, and the ability to read the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. Gravitational lensing allows a super, super, super large-scale version of watching light bend around our invisible ****** hole. It gets around the scale issue with… more scale, watching how the collected light from billions of clustered stars bends as it travels across large fractions of the diameter of the known universe. And a number of increasingly accurate CMB maps made between the 1960’s and the 2000’s confirmed similar discrepancies in the movement of mass early in the history of the universe. Direct observation of WIMPs has been attempted, but never confirmed. In 2009, the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search published evidence of direct observation of dark matter, but the results are not definitive. All the evidence says right now is that something very much like the modern conception of dark matter has to exist. Calculations of exactly how much of this something would be necessary to create the observed discrepancies have produced some… impressive figures. By modern estimates, the universe is only about 5% regular matter and energy, and about 27% dark matter, or more than five times as much. The remaining 68% of the universe is thought to be dark energy — a topic for another day. The point is that our universe hasn’t just been adjusted by the impact of dark matter, it’s been defined by that impact. The Milky Way is what and where the Milky Way is, due to the early gravitational influence of dark matter. ATLAS is definitely the most visually imposing of the LHC experiments. An upgraded LHC is our best bet to understand dark matter. Of course, things are turning out to be slightly more complex than described above. Just months ago, one team announced that dark matter may have been observed to interact with itself in some way during an enormous multi-galaxy collision event. This could imply a much more rich sort of dark physics, perhaps even so far as to create some sort of dark chemistry! Some physicists use the phrase “dark world,” or even “dark sector,” to describe this super large-scale alien universe that seems to exist almost in parallel to our own. The most likely candidate to produce further insight into dark matter is the Large Hadron Collider, which recently reopened after significant power upgrades. With experimental energies now exceeding 13 tera-electron volts (TeV), the new and improved LHC might just be able to smash particles together violently enough to provide real insight into WIMPs, or perhaps even disprove their existence. Finding dark matter was one of the main motivations for the upgrades; it’s an important area of study in physics, as astronomers continue to produce evidence that our world is only a fraction of creation. Check out our ExtremeTech Explains series for more in-depth coverage. Source link #Dark #Matter Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Taylor Swift’s Reaction To Booing At Super Bowl LIX Goes Viral – Deadline Taylor Swift’s Reaction To Booing At Super Bowl LIX Goes Viral – Deadline Taylor Swift’s Reaction To Booing At Super Bowl LIX Goes Viral DeadlineTaylor Swift Reacts to Getting Booed at Super Bowl 2025 — and Then Gets Support from Serena Williams PEOPLETaylor Swift booed at Super Bowl 2025 — watch her reaction Entertainment Weekly NewsLive: Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl, her outfit, plus Ice Spice, Kelce fam, others in suite. USA TODAYTaylor Swift hears loud boos at Super Bowl LIX after Trump gets raucous cheer Fox News Source link #Taylor #Swifts #Reaction #Booing #Super #Bowl #LIX #Viral #Deadline Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

‘Park House School in Grimsby has turned our lives around’ ‘Park House School in Grimsby has turned our lives around’ BBC Ellie Newport had a number of suspensions during her school years Park House in Grimsby teaches some of the area’s most disruptive students. It’s known as the “naughty school” because the majority of its 63 pupils have either been permanently excluded or were at risk of suspension previously. But, as the BBC discovered, it’s turning many of those lives around. “They’re not naughty; they just need to learn differently,” says learning lead Angela Connell, who helps teach cooking and hairdressing. “We’ve got these fantastic facilities and we give them that opportunity to do it a little bit differently. “We’ve had children from all backgrounds come in, and they say ‘I’m never going to get anything or do anything’ and they do, they go out there and flourish and that’s the absolute pride to us here.” Angela Connell says the key to the school’s success is in alternative learning Two of Angela’s students are Summer and Destiny. Summer was permanently excluded from school – or “permoed” as she calls it – for bad behaviour and fighting, while the final straw for Destiny was when she set off a school fire alarm. “When there are loads of people and only one teacher in a mainstream school, you don’t get the help you need,” says Summer, 14, who is aiming for a career in hairdressing, which she feels would not have been possible without the help of the school. Destiny agrees: “There are less students here and there are more teachers, and it’s smaller, so you get more help than you do in mainstream.” Destiny and Summer struggled to settle in mainstream education but are benefiting from their time at Park House School On a nearby cooking hob, Brogan is making a chicken curry. He wants to join the Army and is now looking forward to taking his GCSEs. “I was just getting excluded and that’s how I’ve come here. I was fighting too much, and in class I was having flip-outs,” he says. “It’s a big change for me. I just want to do my work when I’m in class now.” Students are surprisingly open about why they were excluded from their original schools, but most have a similar story about why they are now getting their lives back on track. “I was never in any of my lessons and then I started to fall behind a bit, and then when I was in, I didn’t know what was going on, so I just thought ‘I’ll sack that off’,” adds Katelyn, another of the students. “I didn’t like the way teachers spoke to kids, and so I used to always just scream back, kick off, or when a teacher was telling another student off, I would get involved,” explains Talisha, 15. “There are so many students in mainstream schools, it’s hard for them to keep an eye on just one of them, and they don’t really notice until they are too deep in.” Talisha, centre, and Katelyn, right, have a new lease of life A report found 23 school years were lost to pupil suspensions in North East Lincolnshire in 2022-23 and 55 students were permanently excluded. Almost half of those exclusions were for students with special education needs or disabilities. Park House, which offers alternative provision, is part of Phoenix Park Academy and run by Wellspring Academy Trust. It has a gym, a newly renovated outdoor area, a workshop and hair salon to offer hands-on training and inspire careers. While days can be challenging with issues of bad behaviour and, at times, a battle to keep some children in lessons, school leaders put their success down to developing caring and effective relationships with students based around social, emotional and mental health support. “I think there’s another way, and what we have is a very consistent approach that works for a lot of young people when that mainstream setting doesn’t work for them,” says head of centre John Mansfield. “We’ve had one student that’s gone on to Oxford University. We have other students that have set up their own businesses. “It gives you a great sense of pride and makes you realise you’re doing the right thing, and you really are supporting students with their outcomes and their next steps in life.” Head of centre John Mansfield says the school is proud of its success rate Nineteen-year-old Ellie Newport is one of those success stories, now running her own dog grooming business alongside a second job. After a number of suspensions during her school years, she says she owes everything to the academy. “I still think back to the school and the teachers every day, because I owe them everything. “It’s said it’s the naughty school, but it’s not, it’s here to help you. “It turns everyone’s lives around, even if you don’t get to where you want to be, you’re always going to be a step further than where you were at. “These schools definitely save a lot of kids.” Josh Greaves, deputy CEO of Wellspring Academy Trust, says permanent exclusion from a mainstream school has a significant knock-on effect in terms of opportunities in life. “What we’re about is making sure that you get a great start and can step on from here into something really optimistic and engaging, so that they can live a meaningful, happy and long life.” Source link #Park #House #School #Grimsby #turned #lives Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

House GOP continues to squabble over tax cuts as lawmakers enter a critical week House GOP continues to squabble over tax cuts as lawmakers enter a critical week Prominent House Republicans are privately warring over how to advance tax cuts that are expiring and President Donald Trump’s long list of other tax demands — with Budget Chair Jodey Arrington and deficit hard-liner Rep. Chip Roy locked in a struggle against Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith and other senior Republicans. The dispute is hindering Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to advance a budget blueprint this week, as different GOP factions continue to squabble over the costs of the tax plan, how to offset them to reduce their deficit impact and possible cost-saving changes to programs including Medicare and assistance for low-income Americans. Johnson confirmed Sunday that Republicans were continuing to work through several issues, again delaying his ambitious timeline. Despite progress last week, one of the major hang-ups in negotiations over the GOP’s sweeping policy bill is that Arrington, fellow Texan Roy and other budget hawks are still scouring for additional and highly controversial spending cuts. They are also pushing for changes to a critical piece of the complex process: the so-called “budget reconciliation instruction” for the tax writing Ways and Means Committee, according to two Republicans and another person familiar with the discussions who were granted anonymity to discuss the ongoing talks. That instruction dictates the maximum amount by which the committee can increase the deficit, as lawmakers take into account a full extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and the implementation of his other priorities, like exempting tips and overtime pay from federal income tax. Smith (R-Mo.) presented a number at the GOP’s retreat in Doral, Florida last month — around $5.5 trillion — that reflected his committee’s understanding of how much it would cost to implement Trump’s priorities, after spending reductions and other revenue raisers Ways and Means can pull together. Arrington, Roy and other fiscal hawks are trying to further constrain that committee’s deficit spending but are not on the same page as Smith on the reconciliation instruction. Other senior Republicans are worried they won’t be able to cram all of Trump’s tax demands into the package. The number that lawmakers had tentatively settled on last Thursday — around $4.7 trillion — would make it virtually impossible to implement anything above an extension of the expiring tax cuts. House Republicans agreed during their White House meeting last week that they would permanently extend the 2017 tax cuts, which are estimated by Congress’ official accountants as costing $4.6 trillion. The $4.7 trillion figure “is an implicit acknowledgement that something will have to give,” said Liam Donovan, a Republican strategist, in an interview. “[T]here will absolutely have to be trade-offs. You simply can’t fit it all into that,” Donovan said. Republicans have been discussing shorter timelines for some of Trump’s other tax priorities. Arrington outlined to reporters last week that there were essentially two ways to adjust the cost of the GOP’s policy package. “You got the tax dial and you got the spending reduction dials,” Arrington said. But a senior GOP aide familiar with the discussions, granted anonymity to discuss the private deliberations, pointed out that “dials can only do so much.” Johnson, Smith and other GOP leaders are generally pushing to achieve all of Trump’s broad tax goals. Roy also recently told reporters that if Republicans didn’t achieve deep enough spending cuts, then “we’re gonna have to be thinking about shorter-term tax rates or…which ones we’ll be able to address or not.” Meanwhile, anger is rising across large pockets of the House GOP, who believe lowering the cost number would make it impossible to advance Trump’s tax priorities, including the extension of the expiring cuts and his add-ons “Roy and Arrington will make the tax cut portion not passable,” said one GOP lawmaker. Republicans will then be “facing the largest tax increase in history” or be forced to strike a bipartisan tax deal with Democrats before the current policies expire at the end of the year, the GOP lawmaker added. The two Texans, the lawmaker said, should “listen to” GOP leaders and Smith. The unrest is reigniting House GOP leaders’ concerns that Roy and other hard-liners are trying to burn time to undercut the leaders’ preference for a single bill that would include taxes, border policy, energy provisions and national security measures, according to two Republicans familiar with the conversations. The Senate favors a two-track strategy, that would include the border, energy and defense measures in one bill and leave taxes for later, in a separate bill. Roy, Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) and other hard-liners favor the two-bill approach and have been back-channeling with Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) as he prepares to mark up his budget plans this week in committee. Centrists and even some more conservative Republicans are also increasingly alarmed that Arrington keeps raising Medicare reforms as a potential spending offset, according to three Republicans familiar with the ongoing talks. Trump made it clear on the campaign trail that he doesn’t want to touch Medicare, but Arrington has suggested a variety of changes to the program that would lower costs in the Ways and Means’ jurisdiction. House Republicans from corn-growing states are also infuriated that Arrington has his eye on slashing tax incentives for biofuels, after a similar move almost blew up former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s 2023 debt ceiling deal. Many agriculture-state Republicans are already irritated at Arrington for declining to help them press the Congressional Budget Office for additional revenue for the farm bill last year, and tempers are flaring again. GOP leaders are also planning to use tariff revenue to help pay for the massive bill, even though many Republicans are skeptical of such a move. Trump said Sunday he’s planning to announce new levies this week. Republicans are also planning to include enacting the first-ever work requirements for Medicaid in the package, according to two people familiar with the ongoing talks. They’re also planning to expand work requirements for SNAP food aid benefits that help feed more than 40 million low-income Americans and a smaller cash assistance program known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The work requirements can be adjusted depending on how big of a funding gap they need to fill, according to Republicans involved in the discussions. For example, they can increase the age range of the additional work requirements if needed, along with plans to rescind the ability of states to request federal waivers for SNAP work requirements for certain individuals and other flexibilities in the program. Source link #House #GOP #continues #squabble #tax #cuts #lawmakers #enter #critical #week Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Ponga explains All Stars stance after Kangaroos saga Ponga explains All Stars stance after Kangaroos saga Kalyn Ponga says he wouldn’t be playing in the NRL’s All Stars fixture if he hadn’t taken the decision to rule himself out of Australia’s end-of-year Test squad. Newcastle fullback Ponga is set to play for the Maori for the first time in four years, giving Saturday’s fixture against the Indigenous All Stars at CommBank Stadium a significant increase in star power. Three of the NRL’s biggest Indigenous stars; Latrell Mitchell, Josh Addo-Carr and Nicho Hynes are all unavailable due to injury or suspension, sparking fresh debate over the game’s position in the calendar just weeks out from the start of the season proper. Canberra captain Joe Tapine and Melbourne’s Jahrome Hughes are both out for the Maori. “With our game in Las Vegas and all the travel… the All Stars means so much to me but I had to listen to the body,” Tapine said. “Being captain, I want to put my best foot forward for the Raiders – the (Maori) team still looks solid.” Ponga said he would likely have joined the list of unavailables for the All Stars fixture, were it not for the fact he felt fresh after standing down from Kangaroos selection prior to last year’s Pacific Championships. Ponga’s decision to turn down an *********** jersey – in order to focus on his club commitments with Newcastle – was met with scorn. But the livewire fullback believes the refresh has given him the chance to represent his culture again. “I haven’t had a full pre-season with the Knights in like four years,” Ponga told AAP. “I’ve always had a disrupted start to the year and I got to the end of the year with no injuries and, maybe because of the way we (Newcastle) lost (in the finals), my mindset flipped straight onto this season. “Getting that pre-season under my belt was important and I thought timing-wise, I haven’t connected with my culture in three or four years and I feel good. “I feel comfortable going into this camp and I know what I’ll get out of it. “If I hadn’t had a full pre-season or was carrying ******** I wouldn’t have played… in terms of when it’s best to play (the All Stars game)? That’s not for the players to determine.” NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said the fixture, which is expected to draw a crowd of more than 20,000, remained “incredibly special”. But he said the NRL was open to debate about when to schedule the match. “There are pros and cons for thinking about moving it to a different representative window,” Abdo told AAP. “The (ARL) commission is extremely focused on growing the international game, so is there an opportunity to think about that international window in October? “We want to continue that conversation with the players and all the stakeholders.” Source link #Ponga #explains #Stars #stance #Kangaroos #saga Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Taiwan’s legacy chip industry contemplates future as China eats into share​ Taiwan’s legacy chip industry contemplates future as China eats into share​ By Wen-Yee Lee TAIPEI (Reuters) – When Taiwan’s Powerchip Technology entered a deal with the eastern ******** city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access the promising ******** market. Nine years later, however, that ******** foundry, Nexchip, has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localisation call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for ******** flat panels. Nexchip is among ******** foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial $56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy or mature node chips made on 28 nanometre technology and larger, a trend that prompted the Biden administration to initiate an investigation and is alarming Taiwanese industry. These ******** foundries, which include Hua Hong and SMIC, are threatening the long-held dominance of Powerchip, UMC and Vanguard International in the market for chips used in cars and display panels by slashing prices and embarking on aggressive capacity expansion plans. Taiwanese foundries are then forced to retreat or pursue more advanced and specialty processes, executives in Taiwan said. “Mature-node foundries like us must transform; otherwise, ******** price cuts will mess us up even further,” said Frank Huang, chairman of Powerchip Investment Holding and its listed unit Powerchip Manufacturing Semiconductor Corporation, which the company was reorganised into in 2019. UMC told Reuters that the expansion of capacity globally had created “severe challenges” for the industry and that it was working with Intel to develop more advanced, smaller chips and diversify beyond legacy chipmaking. Trade tensions between Washington and Beijing may ease the pain a bit, executives in Taiwan said, as companies hoping to secure supply chains and seek chips made outside China. U.S. President Donald Trump, however, has said he plans to impose tariffs as high as 100% on semiconductors made outside the United States. Vanguard International declined to comment. SMIC, Nexchip and Huahong did not respond to requests for comment. CHEAPER, MORE AGGRESSIVE Blocked by the U.S. in recent years from pursuing high-end chip technology, ******** foundries doubled down on legacy chips and have undercut Taiwanese rivals on price because of strong funding support from Beijing and their embrace of lower margins, Taiwan chip executives say. ******** companies dramatically increased legacy chip production capacity in recent years. According to TrendForce, in 2024, China’s share of global mature node manufacturing capacity was 34%, while Taiwan’s was 43%. Story Continues By 2027, China’s share is projected to surpass Taiwan’s, while South Korea and the U.S., with single-digit shares, are expected to decline. Consultancy SEMI forecasts that out of 97 new fabrication plants starting production from 2023 to 2025, 57 are in China. Although Taiwanese foundries can still compete on factors such as process stability and better production yield rates, one executive working at a Taiwanese chip designer said ******** foundries had since 2023 become more aggressive in pitching business. That person, and a second one working at another Taiwanese chip designer, said ******** customers – especially in consumer-focused sectors such as panels – were increasingly asking Taiwanese chip designers to hire ******** fabs to make the chips, in line with a call from Beijing for ******** companies to localise supply chains. Both people declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. ******** government-related companies, such as China Mobile and China Telecom, have also been issuing stricter requirements on using China-made components, they said. China Mobile and China Telecommunications Corporation, and China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, did not respond to requests for comment. THE TRUMP EFFECT Galen Zeng, a senior research manager at global market intelligence firm IDC, said Taiwanese chip designers and foundries were likely to specialise their processes and diversify away from legacy chips, although their profitability would still be hit by ******** competition in the medium-term. Powerchip’s Huang said they plan to reduce their work on display driver and sensor chips, which are largely used in the ******** market, and shift focus towards 3D stacking, a technique that integrates logic and DRAM memory chips to improve computing performance and reduce power consumption. The company remains Nexchip’s second-largest shareholder, with a 19% stake, but does not play an active management role. “For chips that will be used in China, we won’t be able to do the business… We must exit, otherwise, there’s no way to survive,” Huang said. Some respite could come from efforts by Washington to curb China’s chip industry growth, alongside worsening relations between Beijing and other countries that force customers to split supply chains into China-for-China and non-China networks. Huang told Reuters that they were already seeing some orders that would have gone to China being directed to their Taiwan sites and expect that to accelerate. An executive from a chip design company in Taiwan, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said they had been receiving more orders from international customers asking to make chips outside China since 2023. “Some customers will tell us that no matter what, they don’t want us to tape out chips in China; they don’t want ‘Made in China,'” the executive said. (This story has been refiled to say ‘specialty’, not ‘speciality’, in paragraph 5) (Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee; Editing by Brenda Goh and Gerry Doyle) Source link #Taiwans #legacy #chip #industry #contemplates #future #China #eats #share Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Eagles up 17-0 after Cooper DeJean pick-six – NBC Sports Eagles up 17-0 after Cooper DeJean pick-six – NBC Sports Eagles up 17-0 after Cooper DeJean pick-six NBC SportsSuper Bowl 2025: Chiefs vs. Eagles score, live updates and highlights Yahoo SportsCooper DeJean intercepts Patrick Mahomes and returns for TD, extending Eagles lead vs. Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX | NFL Highlights FOX SportsHighlight: Cooper DeJean takes the interception of Patrick Mahomes to the house on his birthday! PhiladelphiaEagles.comCooper DeJean gifts himself birthday present with Super Bowl LIX pick-six ESPN Source link #Eagles #Cooper #DeJean #picksix #NBC #Sports Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump wants to end birthright citizenship. Where do other countries stand? Trump wants to end birthright citizenship. Where do other countries stand? Luis Barrucho BBC World Service Getty Images The US gives automatic citizenship to anyone born in the country, but this principle is not the norm globally President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship in the US has sparked several legal challenges and some anxiety among immigrant families. For nearly 160 years, the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution has established the principle that anyone born in the country is a US citizen. But as part of his crackdown on migrant numbers, Trump is seeking to deny citizenship to children of migrants who are either in the country illegally or on temporary visas. The move appears to have public backing. A poll by Emerson College suggests many more Americans back Trump than oppose him on this. But how does this compare to citizenship laws around the world? Birthright citizenship worldwide Birthright citizenship, or jus soli (right of the soil), is not the norm globally. The US is one of about 30 countries – mostly in the Americas – that grant automatic citizenship to anyone born within their borders. In contrast, many countries in Asia, Europe, and parts of Africa adhere to the jus sanguinis (right of blood) principle, where children inherit their nationality from their parents, regardless of their birthplace. Other countries have a combination of both principles, also granting citizenship to children of permanent residents. John Skrentny, a sociology professor at the University of California, San Diego, believes that, though birthright citizenship or jus soli is common throughout the Americas, “each nation-state had its own unique road to it”. “For example, some involved slaves and former slaves, some did not. History is complicated,” he says. In the US, the 14th Amendment was adopted to address the legal status of freed slaves. However, Mr Skrentny argues that what almost all had in common was “building a nation-state from a former colony”. “They had to be strategic about whom to include and whom to exclude, and how to make the nation-state governable,” he explains. “For many, birthright citizenship, based on being born in the territory, made for their state-building goals. “For some, it encouraged immigration from Europe; for others, it ensured that indigenous populations and former slaves, and their children, would be included as full members, and not left stateless. It was a particular strategy for a particular time, and that time may have passed.” Shifting policies and growing restrictions In recent years, several countries have revised their citizenship laws, tightening or revoking birthright citizenship due to concerns over immigration, national identity, and so-called “birth tourism” where people visit a country in order to give birth. India, for example, once granted automatic citizenship to anyone born on its soil. But over time, concerns over ******** immigration, particularly from Bangladesh, led to restrictions. Since December 2004, a child born in India is only a citizen if both parents are Indian, or if one parent is a citizen and the other is not considered an ******** migrant. Many African nations, which historically followed jus soli under colonial-era legal systems, later abandoned it after gaining independence. Today, most require at least one parent to be a citizen or a permanent resident. Citizenship is even more restrictive in most Asian countries, where it is primarily determined by descent, as seen in nations such as China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Europe has also seen significant changes. Ireland was the last country in the region to allow unrestricted jus soli. It abolished the policy after a June 2004 poll, when 79% of voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring at least one parent to be a citizen, permanent resident, or legal temporary resident. The government said change was needed because foreign women were travelling to Ireland to give birth in order to get an EU passport for their babies. Reuters Rights groups had feared a constitutional court ruling in the Dominican Republic would strip tens of thousands of citizenship, mostly of Haitian descent One of the most severe changes occurred in the Dominican Republic, where, in 2010, a constitutional amendment redefined citizenship to exclude children of undocumented migrants. A 2013 Supreme Court ruling made this retroactive to 1929, stripping tens of thousands – mostly of Haitian descent – of their Dominican nationality. Rights groups warned that this could leave many stateless, as they did not have Haitian papers either. The move was widely condemned by international humanitarian organisations and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. As a result of the public outcry, the Dominican Republic passed a law in 2014 that established a system to grant citizenship to Dominican-born children of immigrants, particularly favouring those of Haitian descent. Mr Skrentny sees the changes as part of a broader global trend. “We are now in an era of mass migration and easy transportation, even across oceans. Now, individuals also can be strategic about citizenship. That’s why we are seeing this debate in the US now.” Legal challengesReuters President Trump’s executive order is already facing legal challenges Within hours of President Trump’s order, various lawsuits were launched by Democratic-run states and cities, civil rights groups and individuals. Two federal judges have sided with plaintiffs, most recently District Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland on Wednesday. She sided with five pregnant women who argued that denying their children citizenship violated the US Constitution. Most legal scholars agree that President Trump cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order. Ultimately this will be decided by the courts, said Saikrishna Prakash, a constitutional expert and University of Virginia Law School professor. “This is not something he can decide on his own.” The order is now on hold as the case makes it through the courts. It is unclear how the Supreme Court, where conservative justices form a supermajority, would interpret the 14th Amendment if it came to it. Trump’s justice department has argued it only applies to permanent residents. Diplomats, for example, are exempt. But others counter that other US laws apply to undocumented migrants so the 14th Amendment should too. Source link #Trump #birthright #citizenship #countries #stand Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

How Spain’s economy became the envy of Europe How Spain’s economy became the envy of Europe Guy Hedgecoe Business reporter Reporting fromSegovia, central SpainGetty Images Spain attracts the second highest number of overseas visitors after France It’s a chilly mid-winter afternoon in Segovia, in central Spain, and tourists are gathered at the foot of the city’s Roman aqueduct, gazing up at its famous arches and taking selfies. Many of the visitors are Spanish, but there are also people from other European countries, Asians and Latin Americans, all drawn by Segovia’s historic charm, gastronomy and dramatic location just beyond the mountains north of Madrid. “There was a moment during Covid when I thought ‘maybe tourism will never, ever be like it was before’,” says Elena Mirón, a local guide dressed in a fuchsia-coloured beret who is about to lead a group across the city. “But now things are very good and I feel this year is going to be a good year, like 2023 and 2024. I’m happy, because I can live off this job I love.” Tour guide Elena Mirón is upbeat about the strength of the Spanish economy Spain received a record 94 million visitors in 2024 and is now vying with France, which saw 100 million, to be the world’s biggest foreign tourist hub. And the tourism industry’s post-Covid expansion is a major reason why the eurozone’s fourth-biggest economy has been easily outgrowing the likes of Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, posting an increase in GDP of 3.2% last year. By contrast, the ******* economy contracted by 0.2% in 2024, while France grew by 1.1%, Italy by 0.5%, and the *** by an expected 0.9%. This all helps explain why the Economist magazine has ranked Spain as the world’s best-performing economy. “The Spanish model is successful because it is a balanced model, and this is what guarantees the sustainability of growth,” says Carlos Cuerpo, the business minister in the Socialist-led coalition government. He points out that Spain was responsible for 40% of eurozone growth last year. Although he underlined the importance of tourism, Mr Cuerpo also pointed to financial services, technology, and investment as factors which have helped Spain bounce back from the depths of the pandemic, when GDP shrank by 11% in one year. “We are getting out of Covid without scars and by modernising our economy and therefore lifting our potential GDP growth,” he adds. Carlos Cuerpo focuses on the country’s economy being well=balanced That modernisation process is being aided by post-pandemic recovery funds from the EU’s Next Generation programme. Spain is due to receive up to €163bn by 2026 ($169bn; £136bn), making it the biggest recipient of these funds alongside Italy. Spain is investing the money in the national rail system, low-emissions zones in towns and cities, as well as in the electric vehicle industry and subsidies for small businesses. “Public spending has been high, and is responsible for approximately half our growth since the pandemic,” says María Jesús Valdemoros, lecturer in economics at Spain’s IESE Business School. Other major European economies have seen their growth stymied by their greater reliance than Spain on industry, which, she says, “is suffering a lot at the moment due to factors such as the high cost of energy, competition from China and other Asian countries, the cost of the transition to a more sustainable environmental model and trade protectionism”. Since Covid, the other major economic challenge for Spain has been the cost-of-living crisis triggered by supply-chain bottlenecks and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Inflation peaked at an annual rate of 11% in July of that year, with energy prices hitting Spaniards particularly hard, but by the end of 2024 it had fallen back to 2.8%. Madrid believes that subsidies it introduced to cut the cost of fuel consumption and encourage public transport use were key in mitigating the impact of the energy price rises, as well as several increases to the minimum wage. At the height of the European energy crisis, Spain and Portugal also negotiated with Brussels a so-called “Iberian exception”, allowing them to cap the price of gas used to generate electricity in order to reduce consumers’ bills. Mr Cuerpo argues that such measures have helped counter Spain’s traditional vulnerability to economic turmoil. “Spain is proving to be more resilient to successive shocks – including the inflation shock that came with the war in Ukraine,” he said. “And I think this is part of the overall protective shield that we have put in place for our consumers and for our firms.” The country’s green energy output is seen as another favourable factor, not just in guaranteeing electricity, but also spurring investment. Spain has the second-largest renewable energy infrastructure in the EU. The latter is a boon for a country that is Europe’s second-biggest car producer, according to Wayne Griffiths, the British-born CEO of Seat and Cupra. Although Spanish electric vehicle production is lagging behind the rest of Europe, he sees enormous potential in that area. “[In Spain] we have all the factors you need to be successful: competitive, well-trained people and also an energy policy behind that,” he says. “There’s no point in making zero-emission cars if you’re using dirty energy.” Despite these positives, a longstanding weakness of Spain’s economy has been a chronically high jobless rate, which is the biggest in the EU and almost double the block’s average. However, the situation did improve in the last quarter of 2024, when the Spanish jobless unemployment rate declined to 10.6%, its lowest level since 2008. Meanwhile the number of people in employment in Spain now stands at 22 million, a record high. A labour reform, encouraging job stability, is seen as a key reason for this. This reform increased restrictions on the use of temporary contracts by companies, favouring greater flexibility in the use of permanent contracts. It has reduced the number of workers in temporary employment without hindering job creation. Also, although the arrival of immigrants has driven a fierce political debate, their absorption into the labour market is seen by many as crucial for a country with a rapidly ageing population. The Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has been outspoken in underlining the need for immigrants, describing their contribution to the economy as “fundamental”. The European Commission has forecast that Spain will continue to lead growth among the bloc’s big economies this year and remain ahead of the EU average. However, challenges are looming on the horizon. Getty Images Protests against tourist numbers have taken place from the Canary Islands to Majorca The heavy reliance on tourism – and a growing backlash against the industry by local people – is one concern. Another is Spain’s vast public debt, which is higher than the country’s annual economic output. María Jesús Valdemoros warns that this is “an imbalance that we need to correct, not just because the EU’s new fiscal norms demand it, but because it could cause financial instability”. In addition, a housing crisis has erupted across the country, leaving millions of Spaniards struggling to find affordable accommodation. With an uncertain and deeply polarised political landscape, it is difficult for Sánchez’s ********* government to tackle such problems. But, while it attempts to resolve these conundrums, Spain is enjoying its status as the motor of European growth. Read more global business and tech stories Source link #Spains #economy #envy #Europe Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Aussie shares dip as Trump vows to impose metal tariffs Aussie shares dip as Trump vows to impose metal tariffs The *********** share market has fallen after US President Donald Trump fired another salvo in his budding trade war, although the losses have moderated as trading continues. At noon AEDT, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 21.2 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 8,490.2, while the broader All Ordinaries was down 22.2 points, or 0.25 per cent, the 8,759.9. The ASX200 had been down by as many as 66 points, or 0.78 per cent, in the first few minutes of trading, after President Trump told reporters he would impose 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports to the United States. Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda said it was a truism during Mr Trump’s first term that market participants would lighten up on risk going into the weekend, because they never knew what the US president might say between the Friday of one week and the Monday of the next. For a second week in the row, this had proven true during Mr Trump’s second term, with price action in markets suggesting there could also be tariffs coming for the Eurozone and Japan. At midday, five of the ASX’s 11 sectors were lower and five were higher, with property basically flat. Tech was the biggest mover, falling 1.6 per cent as Wisetech Global retreated 4.3 per cent after the logistic platform’s board said it had received two confidential complaints against its founding chief executive, Richard White, currently in a full-time consultancy role. The complaints were being considering as the ongoing board review, the company said. In the heavyweight mining sector, BlueScope Steel was up 2.8 per cent, with traders apparently betting its US operations would let the steelmaker escape the tariffs. Fortescue was up 0.6 per cent, while BHP was down 0.3 per cent and Rio Tinto had dipped 0.1 per cent. Goldminers were higher as the safe-haven asset changed hands at $US2,875 an ounce, just $US5 below its all-time high set late last week, amid the trade tensions. Evolution was up 1.2 per cent, Northern Star had climbed 1.0 per cent and West African Resources had added 3.0 per cent. The Star had soared 15.9 per cent to a 10-day high of 12.75 cents after the beleaguered casino operator said it had received non-binding proposals from its joint-venture partners to buy out Star’s half-stake in their new Brisbane hotel-casino. So far those proposals have provided sufficient value for The Star, but negotiations continue. Ansell was up 6.4 per cent to $37.15 after the glovemaker reported it made $127.4 million in earnings before interest and tax in the first half, up 20.2 per cent from a year ago on a constant-currency basis. JB Hi-Fi was down 2.1 per cent after the consumer electronics retailer reported that sales growth had moderated slightly in January after climbing 9.8 per cent in the six months to December 31. All the big four banks were lower, with NAB down 0.7 per cent, Westpac dropping 0.4 per cent, ANZ dipping 0.5 per cent and CBA retreating 0.6 per cent. The *********** dollar was buying 62.63 US cents, from 62.80 US cents around 5pm on Friday. Source link #Aussie #shares #dip #Trump #vows #impose #metal #tariffs Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump says US might lose patience with ceasefire deal over Israeli hostages’ appearance Trump says US might lose patience with ceasefire deal over Israeli hostages’ appearance By Joey Roulette and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Trump on Sunday said he was losing patience with the ceasefire deal between Israel and ****** after seeing footage of the ************ militant group release Israeli hostages over the weekend, whose appearance he compared to Holocaust survivors. Trump’s reaction to seeing images of the three hostages, who appeared gaunt upon their release on Saturday, brought fresh uncertainty over the deal’s fate before all remaining 76 hostages are freed and came days after the president called for the removal of Palestinians from the enclave and for the U.S. to take control of it. 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. “They look like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. “I don’t know how much longer we can take that … at some point we’re going to lose our patience.” “I know we have a deal … they dribble in and keep dribbling in … but they are in really bad shape,” Trump said of the Israeli hostages. Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, who were taken hostage from Kibbutz Be’eri during the ******-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and Or Levy, who was abducted that day from the Nova music festival, were led onto a ****** podium by gunmen on Saturday ahead of their release to Israeli authorities. The three men appeared in worse condition than the 18 other hostages previously freed under the truce, which was agreed to on January 15 months into the war. Many ************ prisoners freed by Israel have also appeared thin and emaciated. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday the sight of the frail hostages was shocking and would be addressed. In exchange for the three men, Israel freed 183 ************ prisoners on Saturday. Trump also told reporters he remained committed to having the U.S. buy and take ownership of Gaza after Palestinians leave or are removed from the enclave, a surprise announcement he made February 4 during Netanyahu’s recent visit to Washington. He said other countries may take part in rebuilding sections of Gaza. “As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it, other people may do it, through our auspices. But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that ****** doesn’t move back.” (Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Stephen Coates) Source link #Trump #lose #patience #ceasefire #deal #Israeli #hostages #appearance Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Kendrick Lamar Set to Perform at 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show: Live Updates – The New York Times Kendrick Lamar Set to Perform at 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show: Live Updates – The New York Times Kendrick Lamar Set to Perform at 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show: Live Updates The New York TimesKendrick Lamar takes the field for his Super Bowl LIX halftime show CNNWho Is Performing At The 2025 Super Bowl? Every Artist Confirmed So Far ForbesSuper Bowl halftime show live updates: Kendrick Lamar, SZA set to take stage USA TODAY Source link #Kendrick #Lamar #Set #Perform #Super #Bowl #Halftime #Show #Live #Updates #York #Times Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Sydney suburbs warned to stay indoors as major storm hits Sydney suburbs warned to stay indoors as major storm hits A huge storm is battering Sydney, with the State Emergency Service warning residents of several major suburbs to stay indoors as conditions worsen. The Bureau of Meteorology issued a sevceere thunderstorm warning for Metropolitan, Central Tablelands and parts of Hunter, Illawarra, Central West Slopes and Plains, Lower Western and Upper Western Forecast Districts about 11.20 on Monday morning. “Thunderstorms are forming on a surface trough in a moist unstable air mass in inland NSW, assisted by an upper trough moving across the state,” the warning read. “Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding, large hailstones and damaging winds in the warning area over the next several hours.” Gosford, Sydney, Orange, Katoomba, Dubbo and Parkes are all in the firing line, with the SES telling residents to avoid leaving their homes if they could. In Sydney, a stay at indoors warning is in place for Horsley Park, Liverpool, Erskine Park, Leppington, Fairfield, Penrith, Richmond, Campbelltown and Sutherland. More to come. Source link #Sydney #suburbs #warned #stay #indoors #major #storm #hits Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump repeats pledge to take control of Gaza even as pressure mounts to renew ceasefire Trump repeats pledge to take control of Gaza even as pressure mounts to renew ceasefire MUGHRAQA, Gaza Strip (AP) — New details and growing shock over emaciated hostages renewed pressure Sunday on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend a fragile Gaza ceasefire beyond the first phase, even as U.S. President Donald Trump repeated his pledge that the U.S. would take control of the ************ enclave. Talks on the second phase, meant to see more hostages released and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, were due to start Feb. 3. But Israel and ****** appear to have made little progress, even as Israeli forces withdrew Sunday from a Gaza corridor in the latest commitment to the truce. Netanyahu sent a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator, but it included low-level officials, sparking speculation that it won’t lead to a breakthrough. Netanyahu, who returned after a U.S. visit to meet with Trump, is expected to convene security Cabinet ministers on Tuesday. 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. Trump weighs in on Gaza again Speaking on Sunday, Trump repeated his pledge to take control of the Gaza Strip. “I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza. As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it. Other people may do it through our auspices. But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that ****** doesn’t move back. There’s nothing to move back into. The place is a demolition site. The remainder will be demolished,” he told reporters onboard Air Force One as he traveled to the Super Bowl. Trump said Arab nations would agree to take in Palestinians after speaking with him and insisted Palestinians would leave Gaza if they had a choice. “They don’t want to return to Gaza. If we could give them a home in a safer area — the only reason they’re talking about returning to Gaza is they don’t have an alternative. When they have an alternative, they don’t want to return to Gaza.” Trump also suggested he was losing patience with the deal after seeing the emaciated hostages released this week. “I watched the hostages come back today and they looked like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated. It looked like many years ago, the Holocaust survivors, and I don’t know how much longer we can take that,” he said. Israel has expressed openness to the idea of resettling Gaza’s population — ”a revolutionary, creative vision,” Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday — while ******, the Palestinians and much of the world have rejected it. Egypt said it will host an emergency Arab summit on Feb. 27 to discuss the “new and dangerous developments.” Trump’s proposal has moral, legal and practical obstacles. It may have been proposed as a negotiation tactic to pressure ****** or an opening gambit in discussions aimed at securing a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia condemned Netanyahu’s recent comment that Palestinians could create their state there, saying it aimed to divert attention from crimes committed by “the Israeli occupation against our ************ brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are being subjected to.” Qatar called Netanyahu’s comment “provocative” and a blatant violation of international law. Hostage families say time is running out Families of remaining hostages said time is running out as some survivors described being barefoot and in chains. “We cannot let the hostages remain there. There is no other way. I am appealing to the cabinet,” said Ella Ben Ami, daughter of a hostage released Saturday, adding she now understands the toll of captivity is much worse than imagined. The father of a remaining hostage, Kobi Ohel, told Israel’s Channel 13 the newly released men said his son, Alon, and others “live off half a pita to a full pita a day. These are not human conditions.” Ohel’s mother, Idit, sobbed as she told Channel 12 her son has been chained for over a year. Michael Levy said his brother, the newly released Or Levy, had been barefoot and hungry for 16 months. “The decision-makers knew exactly what his condition was and what everyone else’s condition was, and they did not do enough to bring him back with the urgency that was needed,” he said. On Saturday, as Israelis reeled, former defense minister Yoav Gallant said on social media that the deterioration in hostages’ conditions was something “Israel has known about for some time.” The ceasefire’s extension is not guaranteed The ceasefire that began on Jan. 19 has held, raising hopes that the 16-month war that led to seismic shifts in the Middle East may be headed toward an end. The latest step was Israel forces’ withdrawal from the 4-mile (6-kilometer) Netzarim corridor separating northern and southern Gaza, which was used as a military zone. No troops were seen in the vicinity Sunday. As the ceasefire began last month, Israel began allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to cross Netzarim and return to the north. But the deal remains fragile. On Sunday, civil defense first responders in Gaza said Israeli fire killed three people east of Gaza City. Israel’s military noted “several hits” after firing warning shots and warned Palestinians against approaching its forces. Cars piled with belongings headed north. Under the deal, Israel should allow cars to cross Netzarim uninspected. Troops remain along Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt. ****** spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said the troops’ withdrawal showed the militant group had “forced the enemy to submit to our demands” and thwarted “Netanyahu’s illusion of achieving total victory.” Israel has said it won’t agree to a complete withdrawal from Gaza until ******’ military and political capabilities are eliminated. ****** says it won’t hand over the last hostages until Israel removes all troops. During the ceasefire’s 42-day first phase, ****** is gradually releasing 33 Israeli hostages captured during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 ************ prisoners and a flood of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Israel has said ****** confirmed that eight of the 33 are dead. Families of the hostages gathered in Tel Aviv to urge Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire, but he is also under pressure from far-right political allies to resume the war. Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to take control of the Gaza Strip may also complicate the situation. “They are dying there, so we need to finish this deal in a hurry,” said Ayala Metzger, daughter-in-law of hostage Yoram Metzger, who died in captivity. The war in Gaza, sparked by ******’ attack that killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not differentiate between fighters and noncombatants in their count. Much of the territory has been obliterated. Violence in the occupied West Bank Violence has surged in the occupied West Bank during the war and intensified in recent days with an Israeli military operation against ************ militants in the territory’s north. On Sunday, the ************ Health Ministry said Israeli gunfire killed two women, one of them, Sundus Shalabi, eight months pregnant. It said Rahaf al-Ashqar, 21, was also killed. The shooting occurred in the Nur Shams urban refugee camp, a focal point of Israeli operations. Israel’s military said its police had opened an investigation. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday announced the expansion of the operation that started in Jenin several weeks ago. He said it was meant to prevent Iran — allied with ****** — from establishing a foothold in the West Bank. ___ Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Isabel DeBre in Ramallah, West Bank, and Darlene Superville, traveling aboard Air Force One, contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP’s war coverage at Source link #Trump #repeats #pledge #control #Gaza #pressure #mounts #renew #ceasefire Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Donald Trump to announce raft of new trade tariffs including on steel – BBC.com Donald Trump to announce raft of new trade tariffs including on steel – BBC.com Donald Trump to announce raft of new trade tariffs including on steel BBC.comAustralia’s BlueScope Steel rises on hopes of Trump tariffs boosting its US ops ReutersTrump says he’ll announce yet another new tariff Monday CNNTrump Administration and Elon Musk News: Live Updates The New York Times Source link #Donald #Trump #announce #raft #trade #tariffs #including #steel #BBC.com Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Why more young men in Germany are turning to the far-right Why more young men in Germany are turning to the far-right BBC “What my parents taught me is that they used to live in peace and calm, without having to have any fear in their own country,” says 19-year-old Nick. “I would like to live in a country where I don’t have to be afraid.” I meet him in a small bar on a street corner in the ex-mining town of Freiberg, Saxony – where he is playing darts. It’s a cold, foggy night in February with just over two weeks to go until Germany’s national election. Nick and his friend Dominic, who is 30, are backers or sympathetic to Alternative für Deutschland – a party that has been consistently polling second in Germany for more than a year and a half, as the far-right here and elsewhere in Europe attracts an increasing number of young people, particularly men, into its orbit. One particular reason why Nick – and many other young ******* men – say they are afraid is the number of attacks in Germany involving suspects who were asylum seekers – most recently, the fatal stabbing of a toddler and a man in a park in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg. Immigration is now Nick and Dominic’s main concern, although they don’t oppose it in all forms. “The people who integrate, who learn, who study here, do their work – I have no problems with them,” says Dominic, though he is critical of anyone he sees as taking advantage of the asylum system. “But these days such statements are seen as hostile,” says Dominic. “You’re called a Nazi because of Germany’s past.” While not against all immigration, Nick and Dominic see it as their main concern, especially after a series of attacks in Germany allegedly involving asylum seekers The AfD – which has long been accused of anti-migrant rhetoric – is celebrating endorsements from tech billionaire, Elon Musk, who owns the social media site X. He has hosted a live discussion with party leader Alice Weidel on the platform and dialled into a party rally. Now, as Germany waits to see just how well the far-right does in the upcoming election, the question is why so many young men in particular are being drawn to the far-right and what the consequences could be for a country that’s deeply conscious of its Nazi past. Young men swinging to the right Pew research in 2024 found that 26% of ******* men had positive views of the AfD compared to 11% of women, and the share of men holding this opinion has risen 10 points since 2022. In the elections for the European Parliament in 2024, according to ******* exit polls the number of under 24-year-olds, both male and female, who voted for the AfD in Germany rose to 16 per cent, up by 11 points from 2019. This comes at a time of rising general anxiety among young people according to a recent study by the ******* Institute for Generational Research. In a sample size of 1,000 Germans aged 16 to 25, anxiety levels were the highest amongst respondents who class themselves as far-right while they were the lowest amongst people who put themselves in the middle of the political spectrum. Women were more likely to be concerned for their rights and those of ********* groups while men were found to be more worried about conservative values that are less based around rights. Getty Images AfD supporters often reject the “far-right” label, including party leader Alice Weidel, who describes the party as a conservative, libertarian movement Dr Rüdiger Maas, from the ******* think tank the Institute for Generational Research, says parties on the left often focus on themes such as feminism, equality and women’s rights. “Overall, men don’t see themselves in these themes,” he tells us. “That is why they have a tendency to vote further right.” Hard, populist right parties have also done well in countries such as France, Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Italy. “Sixty per cent of young men under 30 would consider voting for the far-right in EU countries and this is much higher than the share among women,” says Prof Abou-Chadi, in analysis drawn from a subset of the 2024 European Election Study. Message spreaders As well as gender, migration and economic issues, social media is playing a part. Platforms like TikTok allow political groups to bypass mainstream, traditional media, which the far-right regard as hostile. It’s clear that AfD “dominates” TikTok when compared to other ******* parties, says Mauritius Dorn from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). It has 539,000 followers on its parliamentary account, compared to 158,000 for the SPD who currently have the most seats in the ******* parliament. And it isn’t just official accounts but a “considerable number of unofficial fan accounts also help to disseminate the party’s content”, says Mr Dorn. Through setting up 10 “persona-based” accounts with different user profiles, they found, “those users who are more on the right-wing spectrum… see a lot of AfD content whereas users from the leftist spectrum see a more diverse set of political content.” TikTok has said it doesn’t “differentiate” between the right, left or centre of politics and works to stay at the “forefront” of tackling misinformation. Dorn observes that other parties recognised sites such as TikTok “too late”, which means they’re playing catch-up in establishing a strong footprint on the platform. We’ve met one AfD influencer, Celina Brychcy – a 25-year-old TikTokker who has more than 167,000 followers – 53% of whom are male, with 76% aged between 18 and 35. She mainly shares dance, trend and lifestyle videos, but also pro-AfD content. Celina says she has faced insults, threats, and lost friends because of the views she has expressed Ms Brychcy says she doesn’t make money from promoting the AfD but does it because she believes in the cause and wants to “get a message across”. Her political ideals include wanting the return of military service, more support for mothers who want or need to stay at home and stricter border controls. When I press her about whether her views amount to a rejection of multiculturalism she replied no, but believes people should “integrate.” “There are certain people who just don’t fit in with us Germans,” she added but repeatedly insisted she is not racist and doesn’t have “anything against foreigners.” Anti ‘role reversal’ Ms Brychcy is also against “role reversal” when it comes to the way men and women dress. A reaction against “gender ideology” is another issue identified by Tarik Abou-Chadi, a professor of European Politics at the University of Oxford, as feeding far-right support amongst the young – something that is echoed by the Institute for Generational Research. They asked first-time voters whether they found the LGBTQ+ trend “übertrieben”, which literally means “exaggerated” or over the top. The respondents who showed the highest level of agreement with that question were those who planned to support the AfD. When I challenge Ms Brychcy over whether that could be seen as retrograde, she replied that “biologically speaking, we are men and women” and thinks people should present accordingly. Ms Brychcy tells me she has lost a couple of friends because of her politics – and now mostly spends time with those of a similar outlook. She doesn’t agree with those who view the AfD as a dangerous movement – rather one that would offer genuine, radical change. When I ask Ms Brychcy if she considers herself as far-right, she says that on certain issues – such as border control and crime, “Definitely yes”. It’s a striking reply, particularly as often, the label of far-right is rejected by supporters of the AfD, including by the party leader, Alice Weidel, who insists she heads a conservative, libertarian movement. Getty Images Displays of far-right support come as the horrors of Nazi Germany slip from living memory With the horrors of the Nazis further and further in the past, this is a generation that’s grown up with parties like the AfD – whether that’s on TV talk shows or in parliament after the AfD got its first MPs in 2017. Prof Abou-Chadi believes that the far-right, generally, has become more normalised to the point, “They don’t seem so extreme any more.” That’s despite party scandals such as a talisman of the AfD’s hard right, Björn Höcke, being fined twice last year for using a Nazi slogan, though he denied doing so knowingly. The AfD, in three ******* states, is classified as right-wing extremist by authorities – including in Saxony, a designation the party unsuccessfully challenged in court. It’s a state where the number of “right-wing extremist individuals” had reached a “new high” – according to a report released last year by Saxony’s domestic intelligence service – that showed data back to 2015. Narratives questioned In a shopping mall in the city of Chemnitz in Saxony, we meet a group of young men who – while they won’t go on the record – tell us they’re right wing. Dressed in ******, with uniformly short hair, they express beliefs that homosexuality is wrong and fear that the ******* “race” is under threat because of the growing migrant community. They question narratives about their country’s past, seemingly a reference to the Nazi era. Diana Schwitalla has been teaching history and social studies for eight years. She says she has had to confront a case of Holocaust denial in the classroom and has heard other troubling remarks. “We hear the Second World War was actually a good thing, and there was a reason people died then – and that this is good. Hitler is described as a good man,” says Ms Schwitalla. She adds, “Many students… very young students, {who} say it doesn’t matter who I vote for, they’ll do what they want ‘up there’ anyway. The question of who’s ‘up there’, I don’t get an answer to that.” History and social studies teacher Diana Schwitalla (pictured) says she has heard pupils deny the Holocaust and describe Hitler as a “good man” We met her over the course of two days – including at an adult vocational college in Freiberg that sits on the grounds of a former Nazi concentration camp. Jewish women, brought from Auschwitz, were used for slave labour here to make parts for aeroplanes. We did hear some talk of opposition to the levels of immigration into Germany plus a desire for national pride. The first day we met Ms Schwitalla, she is helping to organise a mock election for the students as a way of engaging them about democracy at another college site in the town of Flöha – about 15 miles away from Freiberg. We spoke to Cora, Melina and Joey, all 18. Cora says she has heard men of her age express a desire for women to be in the home harking back to a time “when women took care of the children and when the husband comes home from work, the food is cooked”. She likens it to the so-called “Trad Wife” trend of adhering to traditional gender roles. Students Cora, Melina, and Joey say they have noticed a clear divide in opinions between men and women among their peers Cora and Melina voice fears about a rollback of women’s rights – including on abortion, even – remarkably – the right to vote. “Luckily that’s not being discussed in politics yet,” says Melina, “but I’ve heard discussions about women not being allowed to vote in elections anymore.” A small group of students line up to vote around lunchtime and we watch as the results come in with “Die Linke” scoring top – the left party that’s relatively popular amongst the young but polling at only around five per cent nationwide. The AfD came second, reinforcing what Prof Abou-Chadi has found, that, “younger people are much more likely to go for a further left or further right party than a centrist one”. Not a protest vote The AfD, whose signature issues include security, borders and migrant crime, are now even embracing the concept of “remigration” – a buzz-word in Europe’s far-right that’s widely understood to mean mass deportations. Speaking to people in Germany, it is clear that support for the AfD can not just be read as some form of protest vote, even if there is frustration with the parties that have traditionally governed Germany. Celina, Dominic and Nick – and others we spoke to – genuinely hope and believe that the AfD could set Germany on the path of radical change. It’s still the case that other parties will not go into coalition with the AfD but in January a non-binding motion was passed in the ******* parliament thanks to AfD votes for the first time. Prof Abou-Chadi believes in the longer, -term, there could be an even more seismic change. “And as soon as the more mainstream parties start giving up the ‘firewall’ or cordon sanitaire the far-right will start cannibalising the right. “It’s very likely that, in many or most European countries, the far-right parties will be the main party on the right – or already are,” he says. Parties like the AfD have worked hard to try and normalise themselves in the eyes of the public. While there are people in Germany and Europe who view the far-right as an extremist, even anti-democratic, force – it appears that the ‘normalisation’ effort is working, not least of all among the young. Top picture credit: Getty BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. And we showcase thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. You can send us your feedback on the InDepth section by clicking on the button below. Source link #young #men #Germany #turning #farright Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]