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Sid Meier's Civilization® VII – VR Launching on Meta Quest 3 and 3S in Spring 2025 – 2K Newsroom Sid Meier's Civilization® VII – VR Launching on Meta Quest 3 and 3S in Spring 2025 – 2K Newsroom Sid Meier’s Civilization® VII – VR Launching on Meta Quest 3 and 3S in Spring 2025 2K NewsroomCivilization VII is getting a Quest VR port this spring The VergeCivilization VII VR Lets You Build Your Cities On A Virtual Reality Tabletop GameSpotPSVR2 Misses Out on Civilization 7 VR Push SquareSid Meier’s Civilization 7 VR Is Officially Coming To Quest 3 UploadVR Source link #Sid #Meier039s #Civilization #VII #Launching #Meta #Quest #Spring #Newsroom Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Elon Musk says he has not bid on TikTok: 'I usually build companies from scratch' – Business Insider Elon Musk says he has not bid on TikTok: 'I usually build companies from scratch' – Business Insider Elon Musk says he has not bid on TikTok: ‘I usually build companies from scratch’ Business InsiderElon Musk says he is not interested in buying TikTok ReutersElon Musk Says He Doesn’t Want to Buy TikTok’s US Business BloombergElon Musk says he does not have plans to buy TikTok CNNElon Musk Says He Has No Plans To Buy TikTok Forbes Source link #Elon #Musk #bid #TikTok #039I #build #companies #scratch039 #Business #Insider Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

7.6 magnitude earthquake hits southwest of Cayman Islands: USGS – The Independent 7.6 magnitude earthquake hits southwest of Cayman Islands: USGS – The Independent 7.6 magnitude earthquake hits southwest of Cayman Islands: USGS The IndependentM 7.6 – 209 km SSW of George Town, Cayman Islands USGS Earthquake Hazards ProgramMajor earthquake shakes Caribbean, tsunami threat subsides for islands Fox Weather Large Earthquake Strikes Caribbean Near Cayman Islands The Weather Channel Source link #magnitude #earthquake #hits #southwest #Cayman #Islands #USGS #Independent Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Lakers' trade for Hornets center Mark Williams rescinded – NBA.Com Lakers' trade for Hornets center Mark Williams rescinded – NBA.Com Lakers’ trade for Hornets center Mark Williams rescinded NBA.ComMark Williams trade rescinded: What comes next for Lakers on buyout market and in the offseason CBS SportsDalton Knecht trade rescinded, Lakers guard will remain with Los Angeles not Charlotte Knoxville News SentinelLakers’ trade for Hornets C Mark Williams rescinded due to ‘failure to satisfy condition’ Yahoo Sports Source link #Lakers039 #trade #Hornets #center #Mark #Williams #rescinded #NBA.Com Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Teen hospitalised with serious head injuries after street brawl Teen hospitalised with serious head injuries after street brawl A teenager is fighting for his life after he was reportedly hit in the head with a baseball bat during a street brawl. Source link #Teen #hospitalised #injuries #street #brawl Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Military helicopter involved in collision that killed 67 people recovered from Potomac River – Sky News Military helicopter involved in collision that killed 67 people recovered from Potomac River – Sky News Military helicopter involved in collision that killed 67 people recovered from Potomac River Sky NewsFairfax mourns aircraft ****** victims Fairfaxtimes.comBlack Hawk involved in collision that killed 67 people recovered from Potomac River YahooWashington DC plane ****** disaster happened 10 days ago: What to know USA TODAY Source link #Military #helicopter #involved #collision #killed #people #recovered #Potomac #River #Sky #News Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump’s assault on public health and the growing threat of an H5N1 bird flu pandemic – WSWS Trump’s assault on public health and the growing threat of an H5N1 bird flu pandemic – WSWS Trump’s assault on public health and the growing threat of an H5N1 bird flu pandemic WSWSView Full Coverage on Google News Source link #Trumps #assault #public #health #growing #threat #H5N1 #bird #flu #pandemic #WSWS Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Horoscope Today LIVE Updates on February 9, 2025 : Horoscope Tomorrow, February 10, 2025, read predictions for all sun signs – Hindustan Times Horoscope Today LIVE Updates on February 9, 2025 : Horoscope Tomorrow, February 10, 2025, read predictions for all sun signs – Hindustan Times Horoscope Today LIVE Updates on February 9, 2025 : Horoscope Tomorrow, February 10, 2025, read predictions for all sun signs Hindustan TimesHoroscopes Today, February 9, 2025 USA TODAYHoroscope Today: February 9, 2025 VOGUE IndiaYour Daily TeenScope for February 09, 2025 Yahoo Life Source link #Horoscope #Today #LIVE #Updates #February #Horoscope #Tomorrow #February #read #predictions #sun #signs #Hindustan #Times Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Warren Gatland: Head coach’s future in doubt after Wales leave Rome in ruins Warren Gatland: Head coach’s future in doubt after Wales leave Rome in ruins The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) boasted on Friday that an agreement had been reached with the four regions over the future of the game. Were they anticipating what was coming when they timed the announcement for the eve of the Italy match? And, tellingly, the deal has still not yet been signed and there was little detail included in the announcement. WRU chief executive Abi Tierney and chairman Richard Collier-Keywood were in the Rome crowd on Saturday and are also facing criticism for the state of the national game. Former Wales captain Ken Owens said: “After the review, they didn’t do anything. They didn’t say they have a plan and it’s going to take time, but they didn’t back Warren either. It’s like they will see how it goes in the Six Nations and have another review. “It’s going to take five to 10 years to sort out the shambles we’re in at the moment, at least. “That’s what Italy have done. When they were losing every game in the Six Nations, they went to the academy, to the under-18s and under-20s and built from there.” Ex-Wales lock Andrew Coombes added: “It’s the CEO of the business that has to make the decisions and Abi Tierney was not doing her job when Warren Gatland offered to resign [following the last defeat by Italy in March 2024] and give his contract back to the WRU. “Abi Tierney said ‘no, we’re right behind you’ but there’s no CEO in the world that does that.” Source link #Warren #Gatland #coachs #future #doubt #Wales #leave #Rome #ruins Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Remains of all 10 victims killed in Alaska plane ****** identified – New York Post Remains of all 10 victims killed in Alaska plane ****** identified – New York Post Remains of all 10 victims killed in Alaska plane ****** identified New York Post All 10 victims of the fatal Alaska plane ****** have been recovered and identified, officials say CNNAlaska crews recover remains of all 10 plane ****** victims, authorities say Fox NewsAll 10 victims recovered from Alaska plane wreckage have been identified CBS News2 Passengers of Alaska Plane ****** Identified as Utility Workers PEOPLE Source link #Remains #victims #killed #Alaska #plane #****** #identified #York #Post Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Australia in Sri Lanka: Tourists complete nine-wicket victory to seal 2-0 series win Australia in Sri Lanka: Tourists complete nine-wicket victory to seal 2-0 series win A clinical Australia completed a nine-wicket victory over Sri Lanka early on day four in Galle to seal a dominant 2-0 series win. The tourists took just 25 minutes to take Sri Lanka’s final two second-innings wickets, dismissing their hosts for 231. That left Australia, who won the first Test by an innings and 242 runs, chasing 75 and they cruised to victory before lunch, despite the loss of opener Travis Head for 20. Usman Khawaja ended 27 not out and Marnus Labuschagne unbeaten on 26. Sri Lanka batter Dimuth Karnuaratne bowled the last over in his 100th and final Test. It sealed Australia’s first series win in Sri Lanka since 2011. “We played really well from the outset,” said Australia stand-in captain Steve Smith, who whose 131 in the first innings followed 141 in the first Test. “The plans that the batters came with and were able to adapt to the conditions here – it was amazing.” “I thought all our bowlers did a tremendous job.” The match also concludes the league phase of the 2023-25 World Test Championship cycle. Australia had already secured their place in June’s final at Lord’s, where they will play South Africa, who finished top of the table. Sri Lanka end the cycle sixth, a place below England. “Losing a home series 2-0 is very disappointing,” said Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva. “The conditions were very suitable for us.” “We haven’t had opportunities to get into the game, right from the first game, and Australia proved why they are in the final.” Source link #Australia #Sri #Lanka #Tourists #complete #ninewicket #victory #seal #series #win Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Japanese rugby top-of-table clash ends in stalemate Japanese rugby top-of-table clash ends in stalemate It was a clash of the titans when the Saitama Wild Knights and Brave Lupus Tokyo fought out a thrilling 28-28 draw in the top-of-the-table clash in Japan Rugby League One. Wild Knights coach Robbie Deans, also a former boss of the Wallabies, had to settle for a share of the spoils in Sunday’s match in Kumagaya. In a high-octane encounter that saw momentum shift repeatedly, Brave Lupus appeared in trouble when they trailed 16-7 at halftime, having been dominated territorially despite enjoying a strong breeze at their backs. Orchestrated by All ****** flyhalf Richie Mo’unga, who had scored their opening try and then set up two more, the defending champions rallied and were on course for the win until winger Koki Takeyama’s second try with five minutes to play drew the home side level. In last year’s grand final loss to Brave Lupus, the Wild Knights had what would have been the match-winning try struck off by an intervention from the television match official. On Sunday it was Brave Lupus left counting the cost of the replay, after winger Jone Naikabula had a try rubbed out for dangerous use of a forearm by Seta Tamanivalu on his Wild Knights’ opposite in the lead-up play. The Fijian-born Brave Blossoms winger did later score, but the draw keeps the Wild Knights on top of the standings, five points ahead of Brave Lupus, who remain second. Joseph Manu scored two tries to lead a thrilling comeback, but it fell short as Verblitz suffered their fifth loss of the season following Sunday’s 44-40 defeat by Sagamihara Dynaboars. The Dynaboars had romped to a 41-14 halftime lead, but two tries in seven minutes by the ex-Sydney Roosters NRL star straight after the resumption breathed life into the contest. Wallaby Matthew Philip’s first-half try was in vain for Yokohama Eagles on Saturday as Spears Funabashi Tokyo-Bay came from behind for a 30-22 win that lifted them into third place. Dave Rennie’s Kobe Steelers lost their chance to enter the top four after a dramatic 31-29 loss to Tokyo Sungoliath, with ex-Chiefs flyhalf Bryn Gatland missing a 76th-minute conversion to tie the scores. Samu Kerevi’s Urayasu D-Rocks beat Mie Heat 31-26 for a first win of the season, and ****** Rams Tokyo suffered a fifth consecutive loss, going down 32-24 against Shizuoka Blue Revs. Source link #Japanese #rugby #topoftable #clash #ends #stalemate Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Military helicopter involved in collision that killed 67 people recovered from Potomac River – Sky News Military helicopter involved in collision that killed 67 people recovered from Potomac River – Sky News Military helicopter involved in collision that killed 67 people recovered from Potomac River Sky NewsFairfax mourns aircraft ****** victims Fairfaxtimes.comBlack Hawk involved in collision that killed 67 people recovered from Potomac River YahooWashington DC plane ****** disaster happened 10 days ago: What to know USA TODAY Source link #Military #helicopter #involved #collision #killed #people #recovered #Potomac #River #Sky #News Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Israel troops withdraw from corridor that split Gaza in two Israel troops withdraw from corridor that split Gaza in two Reuters Reports suggest Gazans are finding scenes of total destruction as they head home Israeli troops have withdrawn from the Netzarim Corridor – a military zone cutting off the north of the Gaza Strip from the south. Hundreds of Palestinians in cars and on carts laden with mattresses and other goods began returning to northern Gaza following the pull-out – often to scenes of utter destruction. The Israeli withdrawal is in line with the Israel-****** ceasefire agreement of 19 January under which 21 Israeli hostages and 566 ************ prisoners have so far been freed. By the end of the first stage of the ceasefire in three weeks’ time, 33 hostages and 1,900 prisoners are expected to have been freed. Israel says eight of the 33 are dead. ****** seized 251 hostages and killed about 1,200 people when it attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, triggering the Gaza war. At least 47,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s ******-run health ministry. About two-thirds of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed by Israel’s attacks, the UN says. About 700,000 residents of northern Gaza fled to southern areas at the start of the war, when the Israeli military issued mass evacuation orders before launching a ground invasion of the ************ territory. Many of those displaced were subsequently forced to move multiple times after Israeli forces pushed into southern Gaza, too. They were also prevented from returning to their homes through the Netzarim Corridor, stretching from the Gaza-Israel border to the Mediterranean Sea. Israeli forces partially withdrew from the west of the corridor last month and the first Palestinians – pedestrians – were allowed to walk along the coastal Rashid Street as they crossed into northern Gaza. Those on vehicles have to use Salah al-Din Street and undergo screening for weapons where it crosses the corridor. Sunday’s withdrawal from the eastern part of the corridor will leave the Israelis in control of Gaza’s borders, but not the road that had cut it in half. The Haaretz newspaper says the ******-run Gaza interior ministry has been urging people to “exercise caution and adhere to the existing movement guidelines for their safety”. Can Trump really take ownership of Gaza? The troop withdrawal comes as an Israeli delegation is expected to fly to Qatar which has been moderating talks between the two sides in the Gaza war. The Israeli government has previously said the delegation will initially discuss “technical matters” regarding the first phase of the ceasefire deal, rather than the more challenging second phase which is meant to lead to a permanent ceasefire, the exchange of all remaining living hostages in Gaza for more ************ prisoners and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. That will require further direction from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently on his way back from the US. Netanyahu became the first foreign leader to meet US President Donald Trump since his return to the White House on 20 January. During the trip, in the most dramatic shift in US policy regarding Gaza in decades, Trump called for the removal of the territory’s entire civilian population and the development of what he called “The Riviera of the Middle East”. That suggestion, which would be a crime under international law, has been almost universally rejected, including by Arab states. The Saudi foreign ministry said on Saturday that it would not accept “any infringement on the Palestinians’ unalienable rights, and any attempts at displacement,” accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing”. Egypt has also rejected any idea of the removal of the ************ population and has said it is calling an emergency summit of the Arab League on 27 February to discuss what it called “serious” ************ developments. Watch: Released ************ prisoners greeted in Ramallah Source link #Israel #troops #withdraw #corridor #split #Gaza Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Book Review: ‘Live Fast,’ by Brigitte Giraud Book Review: ‘Live Fast,’ by Brigitte Giraud LIVE FAST, by Brigitte Giraud; translated by Cory Stockwell Some of the things we inevitably say to one another in real life are very hard to pull off in fiction. “Had I known then what I know now” is a creative-writing-class blunder that the French writer Brigitte Giraud has nonetheless made central to an autobiographical novel of great formal and emotional urgency. “Live Fast,” which won the Prix Goncourt in 2022, takes its title from a stray cliché by Lou Reed that the narrator finds in a book her husband, Claude, was reading back in 1999, when he was 41, right before he died in a motorcycle accident. Twenty years later, the narrator looks back and tries to piece events together — or, rather, tear them apart in a welter of regret, paranoia, blame and fantasy: all driven by an overbearing “if only.” “Live Fast” is almost entirely organized around impossible revisions of its own plot. If only Claude, an avid motorcyclist, had not borrowed his brother-in-law’s Honda Fireblade, a bike he had described as “a real bomb. Not to be touched.” If only the narrator had not been so keen to move house, nor allowed her brother to park his Honda in their new garage. If only Tadao Baba, the motorcycle’s Japanese designer, had not devised such a light but powerful machine, banned in his own country but perfectly legal in France. If only Claude had listened to a slightly shorter song in his office before mounting the Fireblade. Larger, metaphysical questions also loom in the narrator’s mind: “It had taken me all this time to find out whether this word, destiny, which I heard people say here and there, had any meaning.” This makes for a narrative that moves without mercy toward the violent end we know is coming, while at the same time the voice recounting this story is wishing it all away. I was reminded of another French novel, Marie Darrieussecq’s “My Phantom Husband” (1998), in which a woman describes the hours, days and weeks after her partner’s disappearance — a story about the frail possibility that all might be well. A signal difference: In “Live Fast,” which also gives the reader an odd impression of proceeding backward, the widow seems to be wishing not so much for a happy conclusion, but for the end of narrative itself — for a heaven where nothing ever happens. “Stay in your bedroom and keep still. That’s what the voice whispering in my ear was telling me to do,” Giraud writes, paraphrasing Blaise Pascal’s dictum that most of humanity’s problems derive from our inability to sit quietly in a room by ourselves. Of course this happy passivity is impossible, and there is no serenity to be found in “Live Fast.” Instead, beneath the “if only” ache, there is a wild desire to know. Even if the narrator could undo all the accidents that preceded her husband’s — “You can look for every possible coincidence, every imaginable sign” — a vexing mystery would remain: What possessed a husband and father, in early middle age, to ride to work that day on something portentously called a Fireblade? Nostalgia for his birthplace of Algeria, where he lived until he was 4? A recklessness not satisfied by his career as a music critic? Source link #Book #Review #Live #Fast #Brigitte #Giraud Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

An American Teacher Went to Ukraine. Now He’s in a Russian Prison. An American Teacher Went to Ukraine. Now He’s in a Russian Prison. Stephen James Hubbard left America behind decades ago, first for Japan, then Cyprus and finally Ukraine. He didn’t like the government — any government, really. He was a wanderer, growing up in a small town in Michigan and traveling the world before ending up alone in the eastern Ukrainian town of Izium when the Russians invaded on Feb. 24, 2022. Now Mr. Hubbard, a retired English teacher who turns 73 on Thursday, has become an unlikely pawn in an international war. The Russians arrested him shortly after invading and accused him of fighting for Ukraine. They moved him to at least five different Russian detention centers before putting him on trial on a charge of being a mercenary. In October, a Moscow court convicted him and sentenced him to almost seven years in a penal colony. His case has remained mostly under the radar. But last month the State Department said Mr. Hubbard was “wrongfully detained” — elevating his case and indicating that the United States believes that the charges are fabricated. A State Department spokesman said he never should have been taken captive or moved to a Russian prison. Mr. Hubbard’s sister and three former Ukrainian prisoners of war held with Mr. Hubbard dispute that he fought for Ukraine. The former prisoners say they believe he will die if he is not freed. They say he endured the same torture they did: repeatedly beaten, terrorized by dogs, forced to stand all day, every day, even stripped naked for more than a month. “They’d beat our ankles and force us into the splits, tearing ligaments in the process,” said Ihor Shyshko, 41, who said he shared a cell with Mr. Hubbard. “Many of the men were injured, some permanently. The conditions were beyond inhumane. “The same thing happened to Stephen, but it was even worse for him because he’s an American,” added Mr. Shyshko, who was freed in a prisoner exchange last summer. “They stormed in, shouting in the hallway: ‘We know you’re an American. You’re dead here!’” The United States has accused Russia of inflating and inventing criminal charges against Americans so they can be traded for Russians held elsewhere or used as international bargaining chips. After a major prisoner exchange in August, Mr. Hubbard is one of 13 Americans now known to be held in Russian prisons. Mr. Hubbard is the oldest. He is also the only American known to be imprisoned in Russia after being taken from Ukraine. Only one other American now being held has been publicly designated as wrongfully detained in Russia. Mr. Hubbard’s family has not been able to find his prison. The Russian judge removed his case file, including even basic information like his lawyer’s name, from public view. The New York Times also could not locate him. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has not seen Mr. Hubbard, despite Russia’s obligation to grant access, a State Department spokesman said. The embassy said it would not comment on his case because of privacy concerns. Mr. Shyshko said he tried to ask the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv for help, but he could not get past the front door. Patricia Hubbard Fox, 71, Mr. Hubbard’s only sibling, said, “It’s just really very upsetting,” adding, “And now they’ve taken everything from him, even his glasses.” A Quiet Life Mr. Hubbard had always been a solitary man. He liked his privacy. He didn’t like email and social media. He was suspicious of government agencies that might be spying on internet posts and of what the government spent taxes on. He and his sister grew up in Big Rapids, a very small Michigan city. Their single mother sometimes abused them. “We grew up at the end of a bullwhip,” Ms. Hubbard Fox recalled. As an adult, Mr. Hubbard always seemed to be searching: He enrolled in a ****** college in Tulsa, Okla., but lasted only a year. He married young, at 20. Mr. Hubbard enlisted in the Air Force, but he left after three years of active duty and two in the National Guard, mainly in Sacramento, records show. He worked as an educational assistant with the local veterans affairs department and studied at a nearby business college. His marriage fell apart and Mr. Hubbard’s wife won custody of their three children. Mr. Hubbard in a high school graduation photo from 1970.Credit…via Patricia Hubbard Fox Mr. Hubbard landed in Seattle, where he earned a master’s degree in English and met the Japanese woman who became his second wife, Ms. Hubbard Fox said. In the mid-1980s, the couple moved to Japan where Mr. Hubbard taught English and joined the Eastern Orthodox Church. The couple had a son before divorcing. After his son grew up, Mr. Hubbard moved to Cyprus, where a son from his first marriage lived and where he fell in love with another woman, Inna. She was Ukrainian. In 2014, they moved to Izium. When he needed money, he told his sister, he taught English online. He spoke no Ukrainian, no Russian. Ms. Hubbard Fox said she last spoke to her brother on Skype in September 2021, as he sat down to eat some porridge. It’s not clear whether the couple had separated or whether Inna was on vacation. But when the Russians invaded in February 2022, Mr. Hubbard was alone. Weeks later, the Russians captured Izium. The following day, April 2, 2022, Mr. Hubbard was detained, the RIA Novosti state news agency later reported. The circumstances are murky. The Russian authorities said Mr. Hubbard had signed up that February — the month he turned 70 — for the regional territorial defense unit to defend Ukraine and received training, weapons, ammunition and $1,000 a month. They said he was arrested while manning military checkpoints. That was unlikely, said Alyona Hryban, a civil servant in Izium. She said the territorial defense unit had few weapons. No one was paid. “There were no old men there,” she added. Mr. Shyshko recalled that Mr. Hubbard said he was detained at a checkpoint while fleeing. “He wanted to get out of there, but he couldn’t,” Mr. Shyshko said. ‘He’s Every American’ Mr. Hubbard’s first detention camp was five miles over the Russian border. Andrii Stratulat, another prisoner of war, said the Russians gave Mr. Hubbard two English books: “The Egg and I,” a 1945 memoir by a young wife on a chicken farm, and “The Lovely Bones,” a 2002 novel about a young girl whose spirit comes to terms with her ***** and *******. He read them over and over. Mr. Stratulat, who spoke English, was put in Mr. Hubbard’s tent in June 2022. “He said that day he started to smile,” recalled Mr. Stratulat, 30. They spent 42 days together, Mr. Stratulat said. Mr. Hubbard talked about his life: A trip he took to the Grand Canyon. His baptism into the Eastern Orthodox Church. His Japanese wife, Sumi. Their son, Hisashi. His partner, Inna. Throughout his imprisonment, Mr. Stratulat would recite those names to himself: Hisashi. Sumi. Inna. When he was freed, he wanted to tell someone about the American he had met. In late July 2022, Mr. Hubbard was transferred, Mr. Stratulat recalled. A captured Ukrainian special forces officer with the call sign of Hacker met Mr. Hubbard in the Stary Oskol prison in Belgorod, about 80 miles northeast of the detention camp, in early September. After an interrogation that was more like torture, Hacker said, he was taken to a cell with Mr. Hubbard, who gave him water and prayed for him. “It’s the first time some guy, an old guy, a wise guy, prayed for me,” said Hacker, 33, whom The Times is identifying by his military call sign because he is still fighting Russia. Hacker said he met Mr. Hubbard again about a month later, in Novozybkov prison. For two months, they were housed in nearby cells. “I heard everything that was happening to him,” recalled Hacker, who was freed last spring. Mr. Hubbard had problems with his kidneys, stomach and rectal tract, Hacker said. He was bleeding. The Russian guards beat him and forced him to learn Russian words, Russian poets, the Russian national anthem. “The soldiers, guards and special forces looked at him as an archenemy,” Hacker said. “Because Stephen, he’s the American. He’s the American spider. He’s the American from Michigan. He’s every American.” Because Russian officials have disclosed no information about Mr. Hubbard, the former prisoners’ accounts are impossible to verify. But they aligned with one another and with those of other Ukrainian prisoners of war. In 2023, Mr. Hubbard was moved to a prison in Pakino, about 170 miles east of Moscow, where he shared a cell with Mr. Shyshko and 13 other men, Mr. Shyshko said. There, prisoners were interrogated, often tortured, shocked with electricity, beaten and burned, Hacker and Mr. Shyshko said. After the Russians found scabies on prisoners, they were all stripped and taken to a cold basement, where they were forced to walk naked in circles wearing only slippers for a month and a half, Mr. Shyshko said. Mr. Shysko said the doctor told him “the scabies mite can’t reproduce in the cold, it’ll die along with you.’” Lunch was often boiled water with a few cabbage leaves; dinner, leftovers from Russian inmates, blended together. Mr. Shyshko’s weight dropped to less than 130 pounds from about 240. “Stephen, though, he never gave in,” Mr. Shyshko said. “He kept telling us: ‘These people aren’t human. Don’t lose hope.’ He stood up to them and encouraged us to hold on.” One day, Mr. Hubbard said he thought his sister might be looking for him. A Prison Sentence Ms. Hubbard Fox worried about her brother when the war started. But she couldn’t reach him. Eventually she found out the Russians had him: She saw an interview on Russian TV in which he echoed Russian talking points — prisoners of war often are told what to say — and another video, posted briefly on X, where guards hit Mr. Hubbard with a sandal. She said she tried to talk to the American authorities, but got little help. And she wasn’t sure whom to call. In mid-May 2024, Mr. Hubbard disappeared from the prison in Pakino and later surfaced in court proceedings in Moscow. At one hearing, before the judge closed the trial to the public, RIA Novosti reported that Mr. Hubbard had pleaded guilty to being a mercenary, saying from the dock, “Yes, I agree with the indictment.” Early last October, Mr. Hubbard — bent over, his hair and beard roughly chopped, his glasses gone — was sentenced to six years and 10 months in a prison colony. Ms. Hubbard Fox said she hoped President Trump could deal with the Russians. “He’s a doer, and they know that he’s not going to put up with their crap,” Ms. Hubbard Fox said. She said that seeing her brother beaten with a sandal reminded her of seeing him abused as a child. She plans to sell her home in Colorado and buy one in Oklahoma, so her brother can live with her when he gets out. “I love my home, but my brother’s lost everything,” she said. “So I’m doing this. I’m going to provide him a home.” Hisako Ueno contributed reporting from Tokyo. Dzvinka Pinchuk, Yurii Shyvala and Oleksandra Mykolyshyn contributed reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine, and Shawn Hubler from Sacramento. Susan Beachy contributed research. Source link #American #Teacher #Ukraine #Hes #Russian #Prison Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

How Much does a Dog’s Breed Affect Its Health and Behavior? How Much does a Dog’s Breed Affect Its Health and Behavior? In some cases, these health problems arose as byproducts of inbreeding. Because breeds are genetically closed populations, a disease-causing mutation that just happens to pop up in one dog can quickly become common in future generations. “Especially if the animal with that mutation is otherwise a prize specimen,” Dr. Serpell said. “Because everyone will want to breed from that individual.” The result is that many modern breeds suffer from ailments that dog lovers never would have deliberately selected for. Labrador retrievers are prone to a degenerative eye disease known as progressive retinal atrophy, while Cavalier King Charles spaniels often develop a heart condition called mitral valve disease. Credit…YAY Media, via Alamy In other cases, however, the physical traits that breeders are seeking can themselves be the problem, especially as these characteristics have become increasingly exaggerated. The breed standard for bulldogs explicitly calls for “very short” muzzles, but, over time, the dogs’ snouts have all but disappeared, Dr. Serpell said, resulting in serious respiratory problems. Mutts and mixed-breed dogs can be healthier than purebred ones, especially if they have small amounts of DNA from many different types of breeds, Dr. Bannasch said. But some mixed-breed dogs may still be highly inbred, she said, and some health problems are common in multiple breeds. Many large breeds are prone to bone *******, for instance; mixing a few of them together may not have much benefit. “You can’t lump all ‘mixed breeds’ together,” she said. The link between breed and behavior is murkier. In creating modern breeds, humans generally put a much stronger emphasis on appearance than behavior, which is also shaped by a dog’s training and early environment. “Behavioral traits definitely vary from breed to breed, but not nearly as strongly as the morphological traits do,” Dr. Boyko said. “You’re never going to get a collie that looks like a Great Dane,” he added. “But I see lots of dogs exhibit pointing behavior that aren’t pointers.” Scientists have uncovered some general patterns. Terriers, which were bred to hunt and kill pests, are more likely to exhibit “predatory chasing” than herding dogs, for example. And, on average, Siberian huskies are more likely to howl than Labrador retrievers are. Credit…Life on White/Alamy But, overall, breed is a poor predictor of behavior, and there is more variation within breeds than between them, scientists have found. Someone who wants a friendly, fetch-loving dog that doesn’t bark can’t bank on getting exactly that just by bringing home a Labrador retriever. “You may get exactly the opposite of that,” Dr. Lord said. Source link #Dogs #Breed #Affect #Health #Behavior Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump’s Blueprint for Bending the Media Has Nixon Written All Over It Trump’s Blueprint for Bending the Media Has Nixon Written All Over It Voters had delivered the president to the White House for a second term, disregarding news about arrests and indictments of former aides accused of breaking the law to help keep him in power. Now, the newly emboldened president and his top officials had a message for the reporters who covered it all so aggressively: It was payback time. As senior officials blasted journalists as “arrogant elitists” out of touch with “real America,” the administration threatened the licenses of local TV stations carrying the major networks’ newscasts and moved to slash funding for the “liberal-slanted” PBS. The president was not Donald J. Trump. He was Richard M. Nixon. The scandal he thought he had outrun, Watergate, would ultimately force his resignation. And his brazen anti-press moves, which initially appeared to cow journalists, would stall in an onslaught of revelations about his role in covering up wrongdoing in his West Wing. That dark chapter in media history is suddenly relevant again, as the second administration of President Trump resorts to a heavy-handed approach to traditional journalists that has all the hallmarks of his predecessor’s attempted press crackdown some 50 years ago. Mr. Trump and his aides have called reporters for major news outlets liars; falsely accused them of accepting government payoffs for favorable treatment of Democrats (a misrepresentation of agency spending on news subscriptions); and made a show of reducing their prominence in the White House and Pentagon briefing rooms while giving more space to friendlies from newer, right-wing alternatives. Mr. Trump has coupled those largely symbolic and by now familiar moves with an attempt to use the levers of government against traditional journalists that goes well beyond his first-term attacks. He and people close to him have threatened to use the Federal Communications Commission to punish the broadcast news networks, to defund PBS and even to prosecute journalists for their coverage of the investigations and criminal cases against Mr. Trump and his supporters. “We have not experienced this kind of raw, blatant use of government power for ideological purposes since Nixon,” said Andrew Schwartzman, a longtime public interest lawyer specializing in media regulations. “In many ways,” he said, “the threat is greater,” coming with a harder edge against a weaker press corps. Mr. Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has told reporters that “the White House believes strongly in the First Amendment.” But, in her very first briefing, she had warned, “We know for a fact that there have been lies that have been pushed by many legacy media outlets in this country about this president, about his family, and we will not accept that.” Much of the early action has emanated from the F.C.C., which is an independent agency with a bipartisan board whose chair is selected by the president. Mr. Trump named a longtime Republican commissioner, Brendan Carr, to the post in November, calling him a “warrior for free speech.” Already raising Nixon-style threats to tie television-station license renewals to government determinations about content — which the agency has some leeway to do under regulations that still require licensed broadcasters to serve the “public interest” — Mr. Carr has revived previously dismissed complaints against the three traditional broadcast networks, and opened an investigation into PBS and NPR. An inquiry into CBS played out in public in recent days when the network cooperated with the F.C.C.’s request for information relating to the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview last fall with Vice President Kamala Harris. Mr. Trump had accused the network, in his own multibillion-dollar lawsuit, of deceptively altering the interview to boost Ms. Harris’s presidential campaign, which CBS denies. Mr. Carr has said the outcome of the inquiry could factor in his agency’s review of a pending merger between CBS’s parent company, Paramount, and Skydance, creating a division between him and Democrats on the commission. “This is a retaliatory move by the government against broadcasters whose content or coverage is perceived to be unfavorable,” Commissioner Anna M. Gomez, a Biden appointee, said in a statement. “It is designed to instill fear in broadcast stations and influence a network’s editorial decisions.” Representatives for Mr. Carr did not respond to messages requesting comment. CBS’s agreement on Wednesday to supply the F.C.C. with raw transcripts and video of the Harris interview also raised concerns among First Amendment lawyers and media critics that the inquiry was already working as Ms. Gomez warned it would. Al Sikes, a Republican chair of the F.C.C. during the administration of President George H.W. Bush, wrote in The Talbot Spy, a local news site in Maryland: “CBS should have taken legal action to block the commission’s actions; it hasn’t.” CBS has said that it was acting in accordance with the law and that the transcripts showed the interview was properly handled. But its compliance added to public fears that the network and its parent company were joining a trend of apparent supplication by media companies suddenly facing a presidential administration showing no shyness about retaliation against perceived enemies. Paramount is also considering striking a deal with Mr. Trump to end his CBS suit, which would follow recent decisions by ABC News and Meta, the owner of Facebook, to agree to multimillion-dollar settlements with him. “It is a little bit dispiriting and worrying to see the press respond in this way to this president at this particular moment,” said Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. The settlements, though not great in number, raise questions about whether the traditional press will have the wherewithal to “stand up to power,” he said. These questions arose in the Nixon era, too, and for good reason. After coming under sustained White House pressure, the CBS founder, William S. Paley, agreed to end the new practice of providing “instant analysis” of presidential speeches — basic punditry that often drove Nixon to distraction — and canceled a program critical of the Vietnam War. As Nixon allies challenged the licenses of television stations owned by The Washington Post, its publisher, Katharine Graham, called the star Watergate correspondent Bob Woodward to her office, seeking reassurances about the reporting he was pursuing with his co-writer, Carl Bernstein. “The administration’s power — and anger — were at their greatest after the landslide election, and we were at our weakest,” she recalled in her memoir. “We were scared,” she added. The Post was often unmatched in its reporting on Watergate. For all the White House anger over the coverage of the scandal, many media outlets initially treated it gingerly. Of course, in the end, The Post, CBS and the rest of the media were vindicated when the scandal came into fuller bloom and they covered it with distinction. Yet the major newspapers and broadcasters were the only game in town then. And polls showed Americans overwhelmingly trusted them. Those numbers plummeted over time, as the media made its share of missteps and its credibility came under sustained conservative attack. Now, Mr. Trump has an entire cable network — Fox News — whose opinion programs are populated with open fans as well as an army of online info-war combatants whose promotion of his version of reality receives extra amplification on social media platforms, including Elon Musk’s X and his own Truth Social. Even while applying pressure to traditional journalists, Mr. Trump is promising to “stop all government censorship.” But in that case, he seems to have in mind the tech platforms, which, he has complained, faced unfair pressure from the Biden administration to moderate content about his 2020 election lies and public health information during the Covid pandemic. That conflicting approach to old and new media is clearly visible in two hearings to be held by Trump allies on Capitol Hill. One, to be overseen by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, will explore “systematically biased content” on PBS and NPR. The other, scheduled by the House Judiciary Committee, whose chairman is Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, will investigate the Biden administration’s “censorship campaign” against the platforms and “upcoming threats to free speech.” Source link #Trumps #Blueprint #Bending #Media #Nixon #Written Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

European Court Ruling Gives Hope in Italy Region Known for Toxic Waste European Court Ruling Gives Hope in Italy Region Known for Toxic Waste Until a few days ago, Antonietta Moccia, a 61-year-old housewife, had little hope that the Italian authorities would ever tackle the ******** waste disposal that had long plagued her town and others just north of Naples. Her daughter was diagnosed with a rare ******* at age 5 in an area where clusters of cancers have been linked to pollution. But her years of marches, sit-ins and comforting neighbors whose lives were upended by the untimely deaths of loved ones had yielded little. Case in point, she nodded to a mound of garbage — construction debris, sundry objects and plastic bags stuffed with varied refuse — piled along a dusty back street in Acerra, her hometown. “We need less talk, more action,” she said. “There’s been talk for years.” Recently, the European Court of Human Rights let it be known that it felt much the same. The court based in Strasbourg, France, found that the Italian authorities had long been aware of the ******** dumping in an area colloquially known as “the land of fires” because of the persistent burning of toxic waste. But it said that local and national authorities had repeatedly failed to act. The court cited a 1997 report to Parliament that said the dumping had been going on since at least 1988. “Progress had been glacial,” seven judges ruled unanimously, saying that residents had been denied their “right to life.” It ordered the government to take immediate action and report back in two years. Residents and environmental activists said they hoped the decision would finally break the logjam of inaction to clean up one of the poorest areas of Italy, where some three million people are scattered among 90 municipalities. An ongoing study by Italy’s top heath authorities found in a 2023 report that the mortality rate for people in this part of Campania was 9 percent higher than the rest of the region. People had a greater chance of dying from malignant tumors (10 percent higher) or circulatory system diseases (7 percent higher), and in some cases the statistics were stark: Instances of liver tumors in women were 31 percent higher. “We hope there will be a jolt of consciences in all Italian politicians,” said Enrico Fontana, who monitors environment and legality for Legambiente, Italy’s largest environmental group. “The hope is that this landmark ruling will trigger a real national unity with a national strategy that sees forces on every level react together to solve the problem.” The case involved complaints by scores of residents seeking to know whether Italy had violated Article 2 of the Convention of Human Rights, the right to life, by failing to clean up the mess, and whether the Italian authorities had also violated people’s right to information about the pollution in the area. Another 4,700 citizens have filed complaints in Strasbourg concerning the same issues, and those cases could move forward should Italy fail to prepare an overall strategy within the two-year deadline set by the court. The Strasbourg case drew on the findings of several parliamentary commissions, scientific studies, reports by environmental groups and the opinions of experts, showing that the area had willfully been allowed to become a dumping ground. Manufacturers in Italy, and beyond, experts said, cut secret deals with the Camorra, as the local ****** is known, to illegally dispose of hazardous waste for a fraction of the cost of legal disposal. By burying the waste in its backyard, the Camorra could ensure a measure of protection, and silence. “It’s what is known as a sacrifice area, a vulnerable, low-income, low-education community that was already struggling” socially and economically, said Marco Armiero, an expert in political ecology who weighed in on the case for the court. The opening of an incinerator in Acerra in 2009 “added insult to injury to an already contaminated community” and brought no relief to toxic waste management, he said in telephone interview. As a result, he added, “these communities don’t trust the institutions much anymore.” Rebuilding trust could only come from doing the court’s bidding, he said. The European court gave Rome two years to draft a “comprehensive strategy” to address the situation, including the decontamination of areas where toxic waste had been buried and burned. It calls for Italy to set up “an independent monitoring mechanism and a public information platform” for residents. The court found that “it was impossible to get an overall sense of where had yet to be decontaminated,” and called for better coordination among institutions to tackle this issue. “The overall situation remains worrying,” said Lorenzo Bianchi, a researcher at the National Research Council Institute of Clinical Physiology in Pisa. Despite decades of delays, he said, time was still of the essence. “The further we go on, if decontamination is not undertaken and the pressure on the territory is not mitigated, the more the negative effects will be felt,” he said. Antonella Mascia, a lawyer who represented some of the people who filed a complaint, said it had been rare for the court to be so detailed with its recommendations to Italy, specifying a two-year time limit. After that time, the court said it would also address the question of financial compensation for those who put in claims. “But it was not about money, but about the verification that there was a violation in order to bring about change — this is the spirit” of the claim, Ms. Mascia said. Her colleague in Acerra, Valentina Centonze, said Italy had to make it a priority to find funds to fulfill the court’s recommendations, from decontaminating the territory to monitoring it so that new dumps are not developed. As it is, garbage is strewed along back roads throughout the area. “To resolve a problem, you have to invest in it,” she said. The court was also clear that the local population should no longer be kept in the dark about what was happening in its territory, for better or worse. “There has to be transparency about what was not done and what has to be done,” said Alessandro Cannavacciuolo, a local environmental activist. He said he had been shocked into awareness about the pollution when lambs with two heads or two tails or one eye started to be born on the family farm. The health authorities eventually ordered the entire flock to be put down. His uncle, Vincenzo, died within a few weeks of a lung ******* that had metastasized. Earlier this month, he was invited to a meeting at the Prefecture of Naples with assorted health authorities, lawmakers, law enforcers and environmental activists to address the court’s ruling. He said tangible proposals had been in short supply. “There is talk, talk, talk. Eh, this territory has already heard a lot of talk,” he said. Attempts to reach the Campania regional authorities were unsuccessful. Mr. Cannavacciuolo, who is 36, could leave his home region, but has chosen to stay and fight. “Our roots are here,” he said. “Why abandon a land that belongs to us? The people who have polluted it are the ones who should go away.” Others can’t wait to leave. Maria D’Alise, 18, known to everyone as Miriam, was just 5 when she was diagnosed with a kind of brain tumor that affects about 650 children per year in the European Union. “In Acerra, a town of 60,000, there were three cases,” said Ms. Moccia, her mother. Now ******* free but still dealing with the aftereffects of her treatment, Ms. D’Alise is in her last year of high school and hopes to become a tattoo artist after graduating. Not in Acerra. “This is where I had what I had,” she said, “and should I have children when I grow up, I don’t want them to have my same experience, so I am leaving.” Source link #European #Court #Ruling #Hope #Italy #Region #Toxic #Waste Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

New Survey Reveals Almost 80% of Devs Don’t Test Their Games Enough Before Launch New Survey Reveals Almost 80% of Devs Don’t Test Their Games Enough Before Launch Obscure_Observer20h ago “I see the more you relise that the more you rage at other people… also you seem to forget that I want PlayStation games on PC, why would that be bad news to me? I’ll be looking forward to playing them on my new 5090 build in a couple of weeks.” That´s awesome! Congratulations! I hope you really enjoy it, and start to play more, be excited and talk more about games, support Sony and don´t buy games from MS. Stand for your own opinions and principles for once. New PC. New life! “Also learn about how divisions in businesses work and what boycotting games does to said divisions, you seem to think not buying games will hurt the multi-trillion dollar company and not the publishers they tried to take away from gamers.” Spare from this nonsense, man. There´s no independent publishers or studios under MS´s wings anymore, and you know it! They´re all Microsoft employees now! They no longer have the power to decide which game will be next! They no longer have the power to decide if they want their games to be on Gamepass or even PS Plus anymore! That´s MS! Take Sony for instance. They bough the freaking Bungie for 3.7 Billion! And what is Bungie today under Playstation´s management after 3 years? Literally a shadow of its former self! Sony fired people by the thousands, reallocated many developer to other studios and sectors, promoted several budge cuts to the point that Destiny will no longer able to produce larger expansions for Destiny like they used to. In case Marathon fails to deliver and be a huge success, that studio might die on Sony´s watch. Microsoft is no different! Austin ****** up with Redfall? Closed! Tango didn´t screew up and MS sold them. Toys for Bob is independent now. MS is the one paying all those people. Ms is the one approving and paying for those games to be developed. They don´t need a reason to shut down ANY studio, being said studios successful or not! So you can quit your fake heroic act. You´re buying MS games to help no others but yourself and MS! So don´t mind when I call you out on your hypocrisy and fake concerns with MS´s employees. You don´t care for them the same way you don´t care for developers getting fired at Sony which promoted yet another wave of layoffs and unsurprisingly you didn´t show up on the topic, because Sony´s employees don´t deserve sympathy because Sony is the best company in the world, and they have their justified reasons, right? “…do you know what courage means? What a mess this news is turning you into, touch grass kid.” You clearly don´t know what it is once you won´t stand for your own values and opinions. You´re the on complaining while gladly filling MS´s pocket full of money! Making the rich even richer! Those are the facts. Be better. Grow a spine and stop support Xbox games! Source link #Survey #Reveals #Devs #Dont #Test #Games #Launch Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Horoscope for Sunday, February 9, 2025 – Chicago Sun-Times Horoscope for Sunday, February 9, 2025 – Chicago Sun-Times Horoscope for Sunday, February 9, 2025 Chicago Sun-TimesHoroscopes Today, February 9, 2025 USA TODAYYour Daily TeenScope for February 09, 2025 Yahoo LifeLeo Horoscope Today: February 9, 2025 VOGUE India Source link #Horoscope #Sunday #February #Chicago #SunTimes Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Xbox Series X|S vs Xbox One Sales Comparison – December 2024 Xbox Series X|S vs Xbox One Sales Comparison – December 2024 December 2024 is the 50th month the Xbox Series X|S has been available for. In the latest month, the gap grew in favor of the Xbox One when compared to the aligned launch of the Xbox Series X|S by 1.53 million units. In the last 12 months, the Xbox One has outsold the Xbox Series X|S by 4.17 million units. The Xbox Series X|S is currently behind the Xbox One by 6.40 million units. Source link #Xbox #Series #Xbox #Sales #Comparison #December Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Sri Lanka begin soul-searching after Aussie rout Sri Lanka begin soul-searching after Aussie rout Sri Lanka are in for some soul-searching after falling to Australia in their most one-sided home Test series loss in recent memory. Sri Lanka were in contention for the World Test Championship Final as recently as early January and would’ve been confident of pushing Australia in the two-match series in Galle after sweeping New Zealand 2-0 there late last year. But from the moment Travis Head hit three fours from the first over of the first Test, the two-match series was on Australia’s terms. The first Test ended in Sri Lanka’s biggest-ever loss – by an innings and 242 runs – as Usman Khawaja (232), Steve Smith (141) and Josh Inglis (102) all tonned up with the bat. On their home deck, no Sri Lankan batter passed 85 across the four innings of the series. “(Australia’s) strategy was to score on both sides of the wicket and it worked for them,” said captain Dhananjaya de Silva. “We couldn’t apply the same method.” Sri Lanka were competitive in patches during the second Test, notably starting their first innings at 1-93 with the bat and then forcing an *********** collapse of 7-84 with the new ball before lunch on day three. But knocks from Smith (131) and Alex Carey (156) proved decisive in the nine-wicket loss. Not since a three-match series against India in 2017, when Sri Lanka lost two Tests by more than an innings, has the team been swept so convincingly at home. “We didn’t perform up to the level we should have been,” said de Silva. “I mean with the bat and ball. These conditions suits to our game but I have my doubts whether we have played well against the spin. So we have to think about it again.” Sri Lanka dropped both matches on their trip to South Africa late last year and are now on a four-match losing streak in Tests. “I’m really sad of it,” de Silva said of the recent form. “We need to get over this hurdle.” Recent results have left de Silva to renew calls for Sri Lanka to play more Test matches. Sri Lanka are only scheduled to play 12 Tests in the next two-year WTC cycle, and have no series longer than two matches. For comparison, Australia play 22 matches in that timeframe, with five of their six series lasting three matches or longer. “As a top level Test nation, it’s better if we get Test series with three or four matches,” de Silva added. Source link #Sri #Lanka #soulsearching #Aussie #rout Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Settings for Low-end PC: RTX 3060, 3060 Ti & 4060 Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Settings for Low-end PC: RTX 3060, 3060 Ti & 4060 Kingcome Come Deliverance 2 is shaping up to be the best RPG of the year. The game is off to a strong start, peaking at 175K concurrent players on Steam. Based on a heavily modified variant of the Cry Engine, it’s a departure from the recent flurry of Unreal Engine 5 titles. Source link #Kingdom #Deliverance #Settings #Lowend #RTX Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Worried about Elon Musk and ‘DOGE’ getting your Social Security number? Here’s how to protect yourself. Worried about Elon Musk and ‘DOGE’ getting your Social Security number? Here’s how to protect yourself. Labor unions and civil-liberties groups are stepping up their legal campaign to block Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency from getting their hands on U.S. citizens’ bank-account details, Social Security numbers, Medicare details and other sensitive personal information. Unions and the Economic Policy Institute filed suit in federal district court in Washington, D.C., to keep Musk and DOGE out of U.S. Labor Department files, following a suit by the Alliance for Retired Americans and others to keep them out of the personal files held by the U.S. Treasury. Most Read from MarketWatch U.S. Department of Justice attorney Bradley Humphreys, representing the Trump administration, insisted that DOGE had not had access to any personal financial details, though he added that direct access had been given to Marko Elez — a former engineer with Musk’s SpaceX company now working at the U.S. Treasury as a “special” temporary employee. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has issued a temporary injunction blocking DOGE from any access to sensitive data pending a full hearing on the issue. Humphreys’s claims follow days of confusion and rumor on the subject, following the news that Musk and DOGE were looking at U.S. Treasury data in their campaign against U.S. government spending. Neither the U.S. Treasury nor Elon Musk had responded to earlier requests for clarification from MarketWatch. But given the febrile political atmosphere in the country, the chaotic developments in Washington and a systemic breakdown in trust, many will remain concerned about who has access to their data and what they can see. If the wrong person got access to personal financial information held by the U.S. Treasury, it would constitute the biggest data breach in history. Anyone who had all this could make a fortune selling it to criminals on the dark web. It would only take one person to copy files to a thumb drive or the cloud — identity theft galore. If you’re worried about that data ending up in the wrong hands — from the turmoil in Washington, or anywhere else — there is a surprisingly simple thing you can do to protect yourself: a credit freeze. I wrote about it here not long ago. As the U.S. government explains, a credit freeze stops banks and credit-card companies from getting access to your credit reports. As most of them won’t lend without seeing the reports, it effectively prevents anyone from opening an unauthorized account using your information. A credit freeze is generally seen as the most effective way of protecting yourself. It is remarkably easy to do. You just contact the three credit bureaus —Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — and follow the steps on their website. It took me just 10 minutes and a phone call. In the case of two agencies, TransUnion TRU and Equifax EFX, I was able to do it online via their websites. (In both cases I had to watch out that they didn’t sign me up for marketing emails.) With the third, Experian EXPGY, doing it over the phone (1-888-397-3742) was actually much quicker than the elaborate steps needed to do it online. Freezing your credit is not a perfect answer. As the Public Interest Research Group says, someone who has your details can commit all sorts of other identity theft — and in many cases you can do nothing to prevent it, and you will only know about it after the fact. (Check out this recent case, where someone stole another person’s identity and lived under it for 30 years.) But it is the best option available. And in this era of data breaches, governmental turmoil and confusion, it offers some security and peace of mind. Most Read from MarketWatch Source link #Worried #Elon #Musk #DOGE #Social #Security #number #Heres #protect Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]