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I Followed These 3 Dave Ramsey Rules To Get Rich I Followed These 3 Dave Ramsey Rules To Get Rich mixetto / Getty Images It’s not unusual to hear about someone building wealth based on advice from a well-known financial expert. Many investors have experienced success in the stock market when they have listened to Warren Buffett’s pearls of wisdom, and homeowners have found themselves quickly building equity by following Barbara Corcoran’s real estate tips about the benefits of buying a home now instead of waiting on the sidelines. Be Aware: If You’re Thinking About Getting a CD, Suze Orman Says You Should Do It Now — Here’s Why For You: 4 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000 What about a financial expert like Dave Ramsey? Over the years, Ramsey has shared a lot of thoughtful money advice with listeners of “The Ramsey Show” and readers of his website, Ramsey Solutions. One of his signatures is the “7 Baby Steps,” a money management plan that empowers everyday Americans to take control of their finances. Ramsey’s ‘Baby Steps’ has even enabled some Americans to reach millionaire status. GOBankingRates spoke to two self-made millionaires who each shared the Ramsey rules that made them rich. Emergency funds are mentioned a few times in Ramsey’s Seven Baby Steps. The first step is saving $1,000 for a starter emergency fund. In Step 3, individuals are encouraged to save three to six months’ expenses once all debt has been paid off. Self-made millionaire Jeff Mains is the founder of Champion Leadership Group. When Mains reflects on his journey as a business owner, he said Ramsey’s financial principles have been a guiding light in helping make early personal and professional business decisions. An emergency fund, particularly a fully funded one, is a cornerstone for Mains’ financial strategies in his personal life and business. He told GOBankingRates that this fund acts as a safety net. He can take calculated risks necessary for business growth without worrying these risks could jeopardize the company’s financial health. Scott Lieberman, self-made millionaire and founder of Touchdown Money, agrees with Mains about the third Baby Step positively impacting his financial health. Not only does a fully funded emergency fund provide Lieberman with peace of mind, but it also helps him actively grow his wealth. “I have more than six months’ worth of savings in high-yield savings accounts,” said Lieberman. “I can access the money at any time. But while the money sits there, it’s earning interest.” See Next: 4 Secrets of the Truly Wealthy, According To Dave Ramsey The second Baby Step encourages individuals to pay off all debt except their homes. Story Continues When possible, Ramsey recommends using the debt snowball method to do it. Individuals start by paying off debt with the smallest balance first and then “snowball” their way up to the debt with the highest balance. From a psychological standpoint, debt snowball delivers quick wins that build confidence toward paying off debt in full. Over the years, Ramsey has emphasized the importance of not getting into debt. This advice resonated with Mains as he ran his business. “The principle of aggressively paying down debt when possible informed my approach to financial management,” said Mains. “It helped maintain a lean operation and ensured we could effectively reinvest profits.” While this advice isn’t a Baby Step, it’s a part of the Ramsey system that Lieberman doesn’t feel is talked about enough. Through the years, Ramsey has stressed not comparing your financial journey with others. The trouble with making and believing in comparisons like these is that they ultimately work to keep you broke. You see what your friends have, or what other people have via social media, and think you need to keep up with them. In doing so, many people find themselves buying things they don’t need. This keeps them from prioritizing investing in their financial future. It can even cause them to backslide financially and get back into debt. As helpful as the Seven Baby Steps are for getting out of a financial jam, it’s not exactly recommended you go through the process again once you’re out from under it. Instead of comparing, the better approach is to take a cue from Ramsey and start winning financially. Doing so will quite literally set you free. “An important key is mindset because this is the emotional aspect of money,” said Lieberman. “Because I’m not spending to gain status over others or to fit in with what I see on social media, I’m free to save that money on what I really care about: freedom, family and food.” More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: I’m a Self-Made Millionaire: I Followed These 3 Dave Ramsey Rules To Get Rich Source link #Dave #Ramsey #Rules #Rich Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Merck (MRK) earnings Q4 2024 Merck (MRK) earnings Q4 2024 Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images Merck on Tuesday issued full-year 2025 revenue guidance that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, as the company temporarily paused shipments of a key vaccine into China. The pharmaceutical giant anticipates 2025 sales of $64.1 billion to $65.6 billion, lower than the $67.31 billion that analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected. In a release, the company said that sales range reflects a decision to halt shipments of Gardasil into China beginning in February through and going through at least mid-2025. Gardasil is a vaccine that prevents ******* from HPV, the most common ********* transmitted infection in the U.S. Trouble with sales of that blockbuster shot in China has unsettled investors over the last year, as the country makes up the majority of its international revenue. Sales of the shot will likely be critical to Merck’s efforts to offset losses from its top-selling ******* therapy Keytruda, which will lose exclusivity in 2028. Merck is hoping that Gardasil’s expanded approval for men ages 9 to 26 in China will eventually help boost uptake of the shot. Merck expects full-year adjusted earnings of $8.88 to $9.03 per share, which is generally in line with what analysts were expecting. The outlook reflects a charge of roughly 9 cents per share related to Merck’s license agreement with privately held drugmaker LaNoVa. Sales of Keytruda, other oncology medicines and the company’s recently launched cardiovascular treatment helped Merck beat expectations for the fourth quarter of 2024. Here’s what Merck reported for the fourth quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: Earnings per share: $1.72 adjusted vs. $1.62 expected Revenue: $15.62 billion vs. $15.49 billion expected The company posted a net income of $3.74 billion, or $1.48 per share, for the quarter. That compares with a net loss of $1.23 billion, or 48 cents per share, during the year-earlier *******. Excluding acquisition and restructuring costs, Merck earned $1.72 per share for the fourth quarter. Both adjusted and non-adjusted earnings reflect a charge of 23 cents per share related to Merck’s recent licensing agreements, including a deal to develop an experimental obesity pill from a ******** drugmaker. Merck raked in $15.62 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 7% from the same ******* a year ago. Pharmaceutical division Merck’s pharmaceutical unit, which develops a wide range of drugs, booked $14.04 billion in revenue during the fourth quarter. That’s up 7% from the same ******* a year ago. Keytruda recorded $7.84 billion in revenue during the quarter, up 19% from the year-earlier *******. Analysts had expected sales of $7.63 billion, according to StreetAccount estimates. That increase was driven by higher uptake of Keytruda for earlier-stage cancers and strong demand for the drug for metastatic cancers, which spread to other parts of the body. Gardasil raked in $1.55 billion in sales, down 17% from the fourth quarter of 2023. That’s slightly below the $1.58 billion that analysts were expecting, according to StreetAccount estimates. Merck’s Type 2 diabetes treatment, Januvia, also saw sales fall to $487 million during the quarter, down 38% from the same ******* a year ago. The company said the decline was primarily due to lower pricing in the U.S., supply constraints in China and ongoing competition from cheaper generic drugs in international markets. That came below analysts’ estimate of $500 million for the *******, according to StreetAccount. Januvia is one of 10 drugs that was subject to Medicare drug price negotiations, a policy under the Inflation Reduction Act that aims to make costly medications more affordable for older Americans. New negotiated prices for that first round of drugs go into effect in 2026. Merck’s animal health division, which develops vaccines and medicines for dogs, cats and cattle, posted nearly $1.4 billion in sales, up 9% from the same ******* a year ago. The company said higher pricing for products across the portfolio drove that increase. Source link #Merck #MRK #earnings Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Merck (MRK) earnings Q4 2024 Merck (MRK) earnings Q4 2024 Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images Merck on Tuesday issued full-year 2025 revenue guidance that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, as the company temporarily paused shipments of a key vaccine into China. The pharmaceutical giant anticipates 2025 sales of $64.1 billion to $65.6 billion, lower than the $67.31 billion that analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected. In a release, the company said that sales range reflects a decision to halt shipments of Gardasil into China beginning in February through and going through at least mid-2025. Gardasil is a vaccine that prevents ******* from HPV, the most common ********* transmitted infection in the U.S. Trouble with sales of that blockbuster shot in China has unsettled investors over the last year, as the country makes up the majority of its international revenue. Sales of the shot will likely be critical to Merck’s efforts to offset losses from its top-selling ******* therapy Keytruda, which will lose exclusivity in 2028. Merck is hoping that Gardasil’s expanded approval for men ages 9 to 26 in China will eventually help boost uptake of the shot. Merck expects full-year adjusted earnings of $8.88 to $9.03 per share, which is generally in line with what analysts were expecting. The outlook reflects a charge of roughly 9 cents per share related to Merck’s license agreement with privately held drugmaker LaNoVa. Sales of Keytruda, other oncology medicines and the company’s recently launched cardiovascular treatment helped Merck beat expectations for the fourth quarter of 2024. Here’s what Merck reported for the fourth quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: Earnings per share: $1.72 adjusted vs. $1.62 expectedRevenue: $15.62 billion vs. $15.49 billion expected The company posted a net income of $3.74 billion, or $1.48 per share, for the quarter. That compares with a net loss of $1.23 billion, or 48 cents per share, during the year-earlier *******. Excluding acquisition and restructuring costs, Merck earned $1.72 per share for the fourth quarter. Both adjusted and non-adjusted earnings reflect a charge of 23 cents per share related to Merck’s recent licensing agreements, including a deal to develop an experimental obesity pill from a ******** drugmaker. Merck raked in $15.62 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 7% from the same ******* a year ago. Pharmaceutical division Merck’s pharmaceutical unit, which develops a wide range of drugs, booked $14.04 billion in revenue during the fourth quarter. That’s up 7% from the same ******* a year ago. Keytruda recorded $7.84 billion in revenue during the quarter, up 19% from the year-earlier *******. Analysts had expected sales of $7.63 billion, according to StreetAccount estimates. That increase was driven by higher uptake of Keytruda for earlier-stage cancers and strong demand for the drug for metastatic cancers, which spread to other parts of the body. Gardasil raked in $1.55 billion in sales, down 17% from the fourth quarter of 2023. That’s slightly below the $1.58 billion that analysts were expecting, according to StreetAccount estimates. Merck’s Type 2 diabetes treatment, Januvia, also saw sales fall to $487 million during the quarter, down 38% from the same ******* a year ago. The company said the decline was primarily due to lower pricing in the U.S., supply constraints in China and ongoing competition from cheaper generic drugs in international markets. That came below analysts’ estimate of $500 million for the *******, according to StreetAccount. Januvia is one of 10 drugs that was subject to Medicare drug price negotiations, a policy under the Inflation Reduction Act that aims to make costly medications more affordable for older Americans. New negotiated prices for that first round of drugs go into effect in 2026. Merck’s animal health division, which develops vaccines and medicines for dogs, cats and cattle, posted nearly $1.4 billion in sales, up 9% from the same ******* a year ago. The company said higher pricing for products across the portfolio drove that increase. Source link #Merck #MRK #earnings Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

The Spy Who Exposed the Secrets of the ****** Chamber, One of America’s First Code-Breaking Organizations The Spy Who Exposed the Secrets of the ****** Chamber, One of America’s First Code-Breaking Organizations Herbert O. Yardley was being followed. He knew it, as much as he knew something was off when a beautiful woman struck up a conversation with him at an ******** speakeasy in New York City in 1929. “Her friendliness was a bit forced,” he later recalled. “It did not seem reasonable for one of her beauty and charm to possess such warmth for a bald-headed man.” The drinks flowed liberally as Yardley sipped straight ********, only to let it run slowly through his lips into the ginger ale cup used as his chaser. The woman removed a compact mirror from her purse and disappeared into the ladies’ room. Yardley wasted no time in searching the purse but found nothing except $15, a key and two or three handkerchiefs. At the end of the night, after Yardley helped the stranger home in a taxi, he waited until she fell asleep, then searched her apartment. In a dresser drawer, he found a typewritten note: “Have tried to reach you all day by telephone. See mutual friend at first opportunity. Important you get us information at once.” The cryptologist covered the woman with a blanket and quietly let himself out. Once again, he’d avoided falling into a spy’s trap. Even so, his days as the head of the top-secret ****** Chamber agency were numbered. Long before the creation of the National Security Agency in 1952, the United States opened a top-secret Cipher Bureau known in government circles as the ****** Chamber. Founded in 1919, the covert organization spied on American citizens and foreign nations alike. Its employees held no civil service status and were paid in cash from secret payroll accounts. Officially, the ****** Chamber didn’t exist until 1931, when its founder, Yardley—bitter after an abrupt dismissal—decided to expose it to the world in a tell-all book titled The American ****** Chamber. Eighty-two years before the infamous 2013 security leak by government contractor Edward Snowden, the U.S. was on the precipice of one of its first major intelligence scandals. Yardley, circa 1917 U.S. Army Yardley was born in Worthington, Indiana, on April 13, 1889. After high school, the young man with a knack for mathematics joined the State Department as a code clerk and telegrapher. Employees were responsible for handling encryption and decryption of sensitive diplomatic messages sent between Washington, D.C. and U.S. embassies, consulates and legions worldwide. Working the night shift, the onetime president of his graduating class decrypted copies of codes obtained from local telegraph operators. Then, one night in 1916, he claimed to have solved a 500-word coded message between President Woodrow Wilson and Colonel Edward M. House in less than two hours. Disturbed by the ease with which he’d broken the president’s code, Yardley compiled a 100-page memorandum titled “Solution of American Diplomatic Codes” and presented it to his superior. The man was shocked at first, Yardley wrote, but “he seemed content to let the matter drop, assuming the hopeless view that nothing is indecipherable.” As the U.S. geared up to enter World War I in the spring of 1917, Yardley decided to offer his skills to a different sector of government: the Army. That June, Yardley was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Signal Officers’ Reserve Corps. The Army soon tapped the rising star to head MI-8, its newly formed wartime cryptology office. Initially working with only two assistants who knew nothing about cryptology, Yardley soon expanded the organization into five distinct subsections, employing more than 150 people. The MI-8 now consisted of Code and Cipher Compilation, Communications, Shorthand, Secret Inks, and Code and Cipher Solutions. By the last few months of the conflict in 1918, Yardley’s agency was indispensable to the American war effort. MI-8 was besieged by messages, postcards and letters from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Post Office Department, as well as commercial telegraph and cable companies. “At one time, over 2,000 letters a week were tested for secret writing,” Yardley later boasted. The State Department also ensured that the bureau was busy deciphering intercepted telegrams, radio messages and mail from various countries, allied and enemy alike. The latter proved particularly tricky because the office had to remove and read the messages without arousing suspicion. Yardley and his colleagues often had to replace or duplicate official seals. A cipher letter found on Pablo Waberski when he was arrested in February 1918 National Security Agency The success of the secret bureau was undeniable. Along with gathering invaluable information, MI-8 helped convict one of Germany’s most elusive spies, who used the alias Pablo Waberski, and capture the Prussian aristocrat and infamous spy Maria de Victorica. Fluent in many languages, de Victorica began her undercover work for the French before switching allegiance to her father’s country of birth. While the French and British seemed unable to pinpoint her location, Yardley’s bureau uncovered de Victorica’s whereabouts by deciphering coded messages she had exchanged with her agents under an alias. Yardley sent field agents to follow a young schoolgirl who had been leaving the communications in folded newspapers for an older man at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. The man picking up the package then led Yardley’s agent to the Nassau Hotel on Long Island—and the elusive de Victorica. After spending the last few weeks of the war in Europe, meeting with his French and British counterparts, Yardley returned to the U.S., a nation then preparing for peacetime. “When I reached Washington in April 1919, I found MI-8 in a sad state,” he wrote. “There were no funds available to hold the civilian cryptographers and clerks, and a great many of the officers were anxious to return to civilian life.” But Yardley would not be deterred. The master cryptographer secured a meeting with the director of the Military Intelligence Corps and successfully petitioned to have the agency rolled into a permanent peacetime entity funded by the State Department and the War Department. Yardley insisted the agency was indispensable for keeping America informed as a new global partner to the long-established European powers of France and Britain. He claimed that over the previous 18 months, his group had read nearly 11,000 messages, along with an “enormous number of personal codes and ciphers submitted by the Postal Censorship.” A 1931 newspaper article by Yardley about the ****** Chamber’s efforts to capture Maria de Victorica Ames Tribune via Newspapers.com In the summer of 1919, the former MI-8, now officially called the Cipher Bureau, moved its headquarters to a four-story brownstone in New York City. “Practically all contact with the government was now broken,” Yardley recalled. “All the employees, including myself, were now civilians on secret payroll. The rent, telephone, lights, heat, office supplies—everything was paid for secretly so that no connection could be traced to the government.” As far as the passers-by walking past the unassuming building each day were concerned, the headquarters of the Universal Code Compiling Company housed within produced commercial code and puzzle books. In truth, Yardley and his new group, composed of the best he could retain from MI-8, were fast at work. As the cryptologist later revealed to the public, between 1917 and 1929, the ****** Chamber deciphered more than 45,000 diplomatic code and cipher telegrams of foreign governments, in addition to solving the code books of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, England, France, Germany, Japan, Liberia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, the Soviet Union and Spain. While the methods of obtaining the telegrams were not always legal (they included stealing or photographing secret code books), this did not prevent the State and War Departments from appreciating Yardley’s work. The ****** Chamber’s most important contribution, and the highlight of its interwar existence, occurred during the Washington Naval Conference, held in the American capital from November 12, 1921, to February 6, 1922. The international diplomatic event, aimed at ensuring naval disarmament and addressing tension in the Pacific region following World War I, came on the heels of Yardley’s team cracking key Japanese codes. The information coming out of New York could not have been timelier. Japan was at odds with the other attendees over a proposed plan to downsize the Allied nations’ navies while maintaining the existing balance of power. A meeting held at the 1921-1922 Washington Naval Conference Public domain via Wikimedia Commons Though Japan publicly called for a 10-10-7 ratio of ship tonnage for the U.S., Britain and Japan, respectively, decryptions indicated that Tokyo was willing to settle for a 5-5-3 ratio. Armed with this knowledge, the American negotiators successfully pressed their demands on Japan. The ****** Chamber received a monetary bonus, while Yardley was awarded the Army’s highest noncombat decoration, the Distinguished Service Medal. The agency began to decline as the nation continued to move on from World War I. Commercial telegraph and cable companies balked at passing along private messages during times of peace, and a reduced budget in 1924 left Yardley with a skeleton staff. When President Herbert Hoover took office in 1929, his new secretary of state, Henry L. Stimson, began paying close attention to the ****** Chamber. “Despite all our precautions … someone, or some government, suddenly became interested in our secret activities and went about learning what they could in the manner I knew they would follow, for I had not been connected with espionage all these years for nothing,” Yardley wrote. The mysterious woman Yardley encountered at the bar in New York may well have been working for the federal government. It was apparent to the cryptologist that someone was targeting him, perhaps because he had unlimited permission to spy on the nation’s allies and foes alike. Stimson was said to have summed up his feelings about the ****** Chamber with a pithy statement: “Gentlemen do not read each other’s mail.” The ****** Chamber officially shut down on October 31, 1929. Yardley and his staff received three months of severance pay, and their files and records were transferred to the new Signal Intelligence Service, the Army’s predecessor to the NSA, which was now openly funded by the American government. A 1945 photo of Henry L. Stimson, who served as secretary of state under Herbert Hoover Public domain via Wikimedia Commons Yardley’s dismissal coincided with the start of the greatest economic depression America had ever seen. The onetime head of the most covert American agency now found himself unemployed, without an official civil service record or retirement benefits. “Never a saver,” wrote biographer David Kahn in The Reader of Gentlemen’s Mail: Herbert O. Yardley and the Birth of American Code-Breaking, “he had few or no resources to fall back on.” In need of a way to support his wife and son, Yardley, in an act of desperation in June 1930, “sold the Japanese Embassy in Washington the information that the U.S. had broken the Japanese codes and read their messages for a considerable number of years, together with his methods of solution,” according to a now-declassified memorandum prepared for the deputy director of central intelligence in 1967. In exchange for $7,000 (around $130,000 today), the cryptologist assured his newest customers that he would not make the information public or available to others. Then he moved his family back to his home state of Indiana and began working on a tell-all book. Yardley “sold his soul for his book,” Kahn wrote. “He exaggerated his successes in his official reports and in his book, though he was honest in minor personal matters. Yet … he told stories well. People liked him.” Yardley poses with a copy of The American ****** Chamber. U.S. Army The cover of the 1981 edition of The American ****** Chamber Internet Archive The publication of The American ****** Chamber on June 1, 1931, as well as three preceding articles in the Saturday Evening Post, embarrassed the Japanese. Their nation now appeared vulnerable and gullible in the eyes of the world—and they’d been cheated out of $7,000. Worst of all, admitting to paying the bribe would only exacerbate the ridicule. It wasn’t until the 1960s that the NSA discovered evidence of the transaction. Meanwhile, the book became a national best seller in Japan. The Japanese government promptly purchased more than 100 copies of Yardley’s book, sending it to embassies and legations to encourage them to strengthen their codes. The U.S. government was just as blindsided. J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, had suspected that Yardley might have kept some classified documents after his forced resignation. But nobody, not even the FBI, had been prepared for Yardley’s exposé. In a desperate scramble to control the inevitable fallout, the government denied the ****** Chamber’s existence, Yardley’s employment in any such organization and the claims that the U.S. had broken any Japanese codes. But it was too late. Twelve years of the agency’s top-secret communication intelligence, including its methods, were open to anyone who spent $3.50 on Yardley’s book. Yardley reportedly told a friend that his financial situation had left him no choice, though he felt the government’s lousy treatment of him had made the decision easier. By closing his bureau, Yardley insisted (rather disingenuously), the government had left the cryptoanalysis business, so the secrets he had to offer were now harmless. Preview Clip | Rendezvous | Warner Archive In the years immediately following, Yardley remained in Indiana, working on a series of other books and a commercial secret ink. Relying on his newfound fame, the spymaster published Yardleygrams, a collection of cryptologic puzzles designed to teach readers how to become amateur cryptologists. He followed it with two spy novels loosely based on his exploits in the ****** Chamber. By 1932, however, the security and censorship circle had begun to close around Yardley. The Justice Department warned publishers against accepting his newest controversial nonfiction book. Titled Japanese Diplomatic Secrets, 1921-22, the text centered on the Washington Naval Conference and was ghostwritten by Marie Stuart Klooz, an acquaintance of Yardley’s literary agent. When Yardley submitted the manuscript to Macmillan in February 1933, a U.S. marshal seized and impounded it under the Espionage Act of 1917, which prohibited taking secret documents. Yardley’s short-lived career as a leaker of government secrets was over. In response to The American ****** Chamber, the State Department convinced the House Judiciary Committee to propose a bill “for the protection of government records” in March 1933. Nicknamed the Secrets Act, the resulting legislation established stricter regulations for handling classified information, provided a legal framework for protecting government records of national security and declared it a criminal offense to disclose classified information without authorization. Although minor adjustments have been made over the years, the act, Section 952 of Title 18, remains part of the Crimes and Criminal Procedure of the U.S. Code. More recently, Title 18 was used in the legal proceedings against Snowden, the former CIA employee and contractor who in 2013 disclosed highly classified information about NSA surveillance. By then, Yardley’s story and the ensuing scandal had long been buried in the annals of American history. But that didn’t mean the Justice Department ever forgot about Yardley. The former head of the ****** Chamber went on to become a Hollywood technical adviser on spy movies, and he even worked stints for the ******** and ********* governments in cryptology advising roles. But the FBI, the NSA and the CIA never took their eyes off him. Stifled by the newly enacted Secrets Act and the pressure exerted on companies by the Justice Department, Yardley was never again able to publish his intelligence-related stories. The cryptoanalysis pioneer had become a persona non grata, and China and Canada eventually let go of his services amid mounting international pressure. (Yardley detailed his work for Chiang Kai-shek in a book titled The ******** ****** Chamber, but this follow-up was withheld from publication for decades, only to be released posthumously to little fanfare in 1983.) Yardley was able to reinvent himself yet again in 1949, beginning a quasi-successful career at the Public Housing Administration. In the early 1950s, he tried to republish The American ****** Chamber, but the publisher flatly declined. Ballantine Books republished the text in 1981 as part of its Espionage/Intelligence Library, but it hasn’t been reprinted since. The last of Yardley’s books to be published during his lifetime was The Education of a Poker Player, a 1957 nonfiction work that one reporter later deemed “arguably the most successful book about poker ever written.” Yardley died on August 7, 1958, at age 69. He was a pariah in official American government circles until the very end. Whistleblowers, Leakers or Traitors? Herbert O. Yardley Get the latest History stories in your inbox. Filed Under: American History, Books, Canada, China, Code, Espionage, FBI, Herbert Hoover, Japan, Military, Mysteries, New York City, NSA, US Military, Washington, D.C., World War I Source link #Spy #Exposed #Secrets #****** #Chamber #Americas #CodeBreaking #Organizations Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Booker’s special night overshadowed by another ugly Suns loss – Arizona Sports Booker’s special night overshadowed by another ugly Suns loss – Arizona Sports Booker’s special night overshadowed by another ugly Suns loss Arizona SportsPhoenix Suns vs Portland Trail Blazers Feb 3, 2025 Box Scores NBA.ComTrail Blazers 121-119 Suns (Feb 3, 2025) Game Recap ESPNPacers vs. Trail Blazers NBA Game Time, TV Channel & Live Stream – February 4 The Associated PressTrail Blazers turn away Phoenix in overtime, 121-119, to take two vs. Suns KATU Source link #Bookers #special #night #overshadowed #ugly #Suns #loss #Arizona #Sports Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

England in India: Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith likely to miss two India ODIs with calf injury England in India: Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith likely to miss two India ODIs with calf injury Joe Root has joined England for the ODI leg of the tour but England’s batting line-up will largely be the same as the one that struggled in the T20s, with Smith’s absence limiting their options. Phil Salt and Ben Duckett are set to open, with Root returning at number three for his first 50-over international since the 2023 World Cup. Captain Jos Buttler, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell are the middle-order options. Spinner Rehan Ahmed, initially only selected for the T20 leg, has been added to England’s squad for the ODIs. He did not play during the T20 series, with England preferring a four-strong pace attack, but Ahmed’s retention gives England the option of selecting him alongside fellow leg-spinner Adil Rashid. Source link #England #India #Wicketkeeper #Jamie #Smith #India #ODIs #calf #injury Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

******** AI chatbot DeepSeek to be banned from Government devices over national security concerns ******** AI chatbot DeepSeek to be banned from Government devices over national security concerns Emerging ********-owned and operated AI tool DeepSeek will be banned from all *********** Government devices immediately over national security concerns National security and intelligence agencies have determined the chatbot platform, developed by a Hangzhou-based startup, “poses an unacceptable risk to *********** Government technology”. The direction was made under the same framework used to prohibit TikTok from Government devices in 2023. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the Government was “taking swift and decisive action to protect Australia’s national security and national interest”. “AI is a technology full of potential and opportunity – but the Government will not hesitate to act when our agencies identify a national security risk,” he said. “Our approach is country-agnostic and focused on the risk to the *********** Government and our assets.” The Government has also encouraged “all Australians” to review how the platform is using their data. The announcement comes after Australia’s largest cybersecurity provider CyberCX issued a threat advisory on Friday, recommending the platform be banned from Government devices because it is “almost certain” that DeepSeek and the user data it collects are subject to direction and control by the ******** government. Taiwan banned Government agencies from using the app this week, as did a NSW Government department, while Italy’s data protection authority blocked its use to protect Italians’ data while it investigated the companies behind DeepSeek. According to DeepSeek’s own privacy policy, it collects large amounts of personal data — including a user’s date of birth and phone number, and ‘keystroke patterns’ — from users, stored “in secure servers” in China. Dana Mckay from RMIT said the concern was that the data ******** apps like DeepSeek collected was made available to the ******** Government for a miriad of reasons. “It is fair to ask whether DeepSeek is more dangerous to *********** national security than, say, OpenAI which collects similar data: the difference is that OpenAI will only give data to government to comply with relevant laws, and this typically means where a crime may have been committed,” she said. DeepSeek triggered a global frenzy last week, after it claimed its models functioned on par with its US competitors like OpenAI (which makes ChatGPT) and advanced Meta models, at a fraction of the cost. US chip giant Nvidia’s share price dropped by roughly 17 per cent last Monday, wiping almost $1 trillion off its market value. The US Commerce Department is investigating whether DeepSeek has been using US chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China, weekend reports suggested DeepSeek has said it has used computer chips from Nvidia but the department is believed to be investigating whether restrictions on Nvidia’s most sophisticated AI chips from reaching China have been flouted. Source link #******** #chatbot #DeepSeek #banned #Government #devices #national #security #concerns Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

‘The whole island has emptied:’ Thousands flee Santorini as quakes rattle Greek tourist haven ‘The whole island has emptied:’ Thousands flee Santorini as quakes rattle Greek tourist haven Editor’s note: Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, and where to stay. Thousands of people have fled the island of Santorini as hundreds of quakes continued to course through the famous Greek tourist destination. More than 6,000 residents have left the island in recent days, according to Greek public broadcaster ERT. Early Tuesday morning, hundreds of people carrying their belongings were seen waiting at a port on the island, waiting for a ferry to take them to Athens. A tremor with a magnitude of 4.8 was recorded early Tuesday, just shy of a 4.9 quake recorded over the weekend – the strongest so far. Over the past three days, some 550 tremors with a magnitude of 3.0 have been recorded in the Aegean Sea, between Santorini and the nearby islands of Amorgos and Ios. Greece’s Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization (OASP) has estimated that the intense seismic activity may continue for many more days, if not weeks. Santorini, dubbed Greece’s “Instagram Island,” attracts some 3.4 million visitors a year but is only home to around 20,000 permanent residents. Many of those have decided to flee the island for the safety of the mainland. “I work on the island, I have been a resident for years. But today… nobody was expecting this to happen, what is happening now on the island is incredible,” Julian Sinanaj, a 35-year-old resident, told Reuters. People board a ferry from Santorini to Piraeus, a port city near Athens, on Tuesday. – Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday urged residents to remain calm as authorities deal with “a very intense geological phenomenon.” Additional flights have been announced to help residents get to safety, with 15 flights from Santorini to Athens scheduled for Tuesday. Schools on the island will remain closed until Friday and residents have been advised to avoid large indoor gatherings. “Everything is closed. No one works now. The whole island has emptied,” Dori, an 18-year-old resident, told Reuters. Sitting near the boundary of the massive African and Eurasian tectonic plates, Santorini is no stranger to tremors, although near-constant seismic events like this are rare. The island is famed for its caldera – a bowl-shaped crater caused by a volcanic eruption – which was formed by one of the largest known blasts around 3,600 years ago. Santorini’s most recent large quake – with a 7.5 magnitude – struck in 1956, killing at least 53 people and injuring more than 100 others. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Source link #island #emptied #Thousands #flee #Santorini #quakes #rattle #Greek #tourist #haven Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

El Salvador offers to take in US criminals and migrants – BBC.com El Salvador offers to take in US criminals and migrants – BBC.com El Salvador offers to take in US criminals and migrants BBC.comView Full Coverage on Google News Source link #Salvador #offers #criminals #migrants #BBC.com Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Radu Dragusin: Tottenham Hotspur defender suffers ACL injury Radu Dragusin: Tottenham Hotspur defender suffers ACL injury The Romania international joins Destiny Udogie, Guglielmo Vicario, James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner, Wilson Odobert, Cristian Romero and Dominic Solanke on the sidelines, while fellow defenders Micky van de Ven and Ben Davies have only recently returned to action. Dragusin joined Tottenham from Genoa in a £25m deal in January 2024. On Sunday, Tottenham signed Austria defender Kevin Danso on loan for the rest of the season, with a purchase option worth £21m. On Monday, they had a £70m offer for England defender Marc Guehi rejected by Crystal Palace, but signed 19-year-old attacker Mathys Tel from Bayern Munich. Source link #Radu #Dragusin #Tottenham #Hotspur #defender #suffers #ACL #injury Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Ange Postecoglou receives bad news at Tottenham Ange Postecoglou receives bad news at Tottenham Tottenham Hotspur defender Radu Dragusin is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament. The 23-year-old was forced off in the second half of Spurs’ 3-0 win over Swedish side Elfsborg in the Europa League last week. He has made 28 appearances in all competitions this season. “Dragusin will undergo surgery for an ACL injury to his right knee,” Spurs said in a statement. The Romania international’s injury is a blow to Spurs’ backline, with defenders Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie also sidelined, along with goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario. Spurs signed defender Kevin Danso on loan from Ligue 1 side Lens on Sunday to bolster their defensive cover. Postecoglou will take his Spurs team, currently languishing in 14th spot in the league, to Liverpool for their Carabao Cup semi-final second leg on Thursday. Spurs hold a 1-0 advantage over the Merseyside giants. Source link #Ange #Postecoglou #receives #bad #news #Tottenham Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Prague museum to host first European display of 3.18 million year old Lucy Prague museum to host first European display of 3.18 million year old Lucy The bone fragments of Lucy, a 3.18 million year-old human ancestor which rarely leave Ethiopia, will go on display in Europe for the first time in Prague this year, the Czech premier said Tuesday. The ancient remains of the Australopithecus afarensis were discovered in Ethiopia in 1974. The find was, at the time, the most complete ever found, and revolutionised the understanding of humanity’s ancestors. “Lucy’s skeletal remains will be displayed in Europe for the first time ever,” Prime Minister Petr Fiala told reporters as he announced the rare loan by Ethiopia’s National Museum. The fragments will be shown at Prague’s National Museum as part of a “Human Origins and Fossils” exhibition for two months from August 25. The remains will be presented alongside Selam, the fossil of a baby Australopithecus who was about 100,000 years older than Lucy and found in the same place 25 years later. “This historic exhibition… will offer tourists and researchers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these priceless fossils first-hand,” said Ethiopian Tourism Minister Selamawit Kassa. In her current shape, Lucy consists of fossilised dental remains, skull fragments, parts of the pelvis and femur. The fossilised skeleton of the 1.1-metre-tall (3.6 feet), 29-kilogramme (64-pound) Lucy last left Ethiopia between 2007 and 2013 when it toured US museums. The hominid was named after the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” which the team that had found her listened to after the discovery. Lucy walked on two legs and is thought to have died aged between 11 and 13 — considered an adult for this species. She was believed to be the oldest human ancestor found until the discovery of “Toumai” in Chad in 2001 — a skull dated to six or seven million years old. In a 2016 study, researchers said Lucy had strong upper arms, suggesting she regularly climbed trees and nested in branches at night. She also had relatively weak legs that were not used for climbing and were inefficient for walking, the study concluded. An analysis of a fracture on one of Lucy’s bones in the same year suggested that she probably died from a fall from a tall tree. Long considered the longest living human relative, Lucy was dethroned of her status in 1994 following the discovery -— also in Ethiopia -— of Ardi, a female Ardipithecus ramidus who lived 4.5 million years ago. frj/kym/tw Source link #Prague #museum #host #European #display #million #year #Lucy Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Palantir is surging after a big earnings beat. Here’s what analysts had to say Palantir is surging after a big earnings beat. Here’s what analysts had to say Analysts liked what they heard from Palantir after the software company reported another strong quarter and issued rosy guidance. The software platforms company reported revenue expansion of 36% in the fourth quarter, while CEO Alex Karp lauded its use of artificial intelligence to foster growth. The company’s earnings per share also topped analyst expectations. For the full year, Palantir expects sales in the range of $3.74 billion to $3.76 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG forecast $3.52 billion. Shares surged more than 18% in the premarket following the results. Despite the strong results, many analysts maintained a cautious tone on the company overall, with several holding on to their hold and underperform-equivalent ratings. Here’s what they had to say. Bank of America, buy rating, $125 per share price target BofA’s forecast implies more than 43% from Monday’s close. “PLTR’s focus on operationalizing data, establishing high-fidelity digital enterprise-twins, and accelerating decision making is a winning formula,” analyst Mariana Perez Mora said. “We expect further market-value being awarded to the AI value-adders vs. commodity distributors and stand firmly that PLTR will remain a value adder.” Jefferies, underperform rating, $60 per share price target Analyst Brent Thill’s forecast equates to about 28% downside moving forward. “Fundamentals have been strong and we are constructive on the accelerating U.S. momentum, but CY25 [revenue] guide implies 31% growth vs 29% in CY24, and PLTR would need to[accelerate] growth to 50% for 4 years and trade at 18x CY28E [revenue] just to hold its stock price,” Thill said. UBS, neutral rating, $105 per share price target Analyst Karl Keirstead noted that UBS was “impressed with the fundamentals” from Palantir, and his price target implies more than 25% upside. “In light of DeepSeek, Palantir reaffirmed its views that model costs are falling fast and performance gaps are narrowing. In our view, Palantir’s pricing structure may help to insulate it from any resulting AI price deflation,” Keirstead said. Morgan Stanley, equal weight rating, $95 per share price target Morgan Stanley’s outlook calls for more than 13% upside for Palantir. “Given the strength of the outlook, we acknowledge that we were wrong about our core fundamental catalyst of slowing growth below the 30% level due to the tougher compares in 2025,” analyst Sanjit Singh said. “This leaves us with valuation as the primary remaining concern.” Source link #Palantir #surging #big #earnings #beat #Heres #analysts Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Nintendo posts profit miss as it slashes Switch forecast again ahead of console's successor – CNBC Nintendo posts profit miss as it slashes Switch forecast again ahead of console's successor – CNBC Nintendo posts profit miss as it slashes Switch forecast again ahead of console’s successor CNBCNintendo cuts Switch sales forecast ahead of successor device launch ReutersJapan game maker Nintendo reports lower profit as demand for Switch consoles wanes Yahoo! VoicesNintendo Lowers Outlook After Sales and Profit Miss Estimates BloombergWith Nintendo Switch 2 Waiting in the Wings, Sales of the Original Switch and Its Games Continue to Tumble IGN Source link #Nintendo #posts #profit #slashes #Switch #forecast #ahead #console039s #successor #CNBC Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

I don’t want to be associated with Mark Zuckerberg I don’t want to be associated with Mark Zuckerberg Emma Saunders Culture reporter, BBC News Actor Jesse Eisenberg says he “doesn’t want to think of himself as associated” with Mark Zuckerberg Jesse Eisenberg, who starred as Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg in 2010 film The Social Network, has told BBC News he no longer wants to think of himself “as someone associated with someone like that”. “It’s like this guy is… doing things that are problematic, taking away fact-checking,” Eisenberg told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “[There are] safety concerns. Making people who are already threatened in the world more threatened.” Meta announced last month it would no longer use independent fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram, replacing them with X-style “community notes”, where commenting on the accuracy of posts is left to users. In a video posted alongside a blog post, Mr Zuckerberg said third-party moderators were “too politically biased” and it was “time to get back to our roots around free expression”. Getty Images Mr Zuckerberg (left) at President Trump’s inauguration But Eisenberg told BBC News he was “concerned”. “These people have billions upon billions of dollars, like more money than any human person has ever amassed and what are they doing with it?” he said. “Oh, they’re doing it to curry favour with somebody who’s preaching hate. “That’s what I think… not as like a person who played in a movie. I think of it as somebody who is married to a woman who teaches disability justice in New York and lives for her students are going to get a little harder this year.” Legal settlement Meta’s move came as Mr Zuckerberg and other technology executives sought to improve relations with US President Donald Trump, ahead of his inauguration. Trump and his Republican allies had criticised Meta’s fact-checking policy, as censorship of right-wing voices. And after the changes were announced, Trump told a news conference he was impressed by Mr Zuckerberg’s decision and Meta had “come a long way”. Last week, Trump signed a legal settlement that will see Meta pay out roughly $25m (£20m). Oscar nomination He had sued the company and Mr Zuckerberg, in 2021, over the suspension of his accounts after the 6 January Capitol riots. Eisenberg is promoting A Real Pain, which he wrote, directed and stars in – a comedy drama about two cousins who travel to Poland together to visit Holocaust sites to honour their late grandmother. The grandmother is based on Eisenberg’s real-life Aunt Doris and was filmed at the home his family used to live in, in Poland. In the movie, the cousins struggle to reconcile their own modern life problems against the backdrop of one of the 20th Century’s most devastating and horrific events. Eisenberg’s screenplay has received an Oscar nomination, as has his co-star, Kieran Culkin. “Grandchildren of Holocaust survivors should wake up every morning and go outside and kiss the ground that they’re alive and thank whatever god they pray to – as the world didn’t want them to be alive,” Eisenberg told Today. He said he had “tried to connect to ******* things” since making the film. “I live in a world that feels hedonistic, my life is maybe too easy.” He added that it was essential the film had a comic feel. “It would be so sanctimonious without any humour in it.” Eisenberg was also nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Mr Zuckerberg in The Social Network. Source link #dont #Mark #Zuckerberg Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Ex-Perth Wildcats captain Damian Martin doesn’t want club to lose focus if they can’t play final at RAC Arena Ex-Perth Wildcats captain Damian Martin doesn’t want club to lose focus if they can’t play final at RAC Arena Perth Wildcats are facing the prospect of playing a final at a new venue if they finish third on the ladder because Kylie Minogue has booked out RAC Arena but a former captain says they have to stay focused. Source link #ExPerth #Wildcats #captain #Damian #Martin #doesnt #club #lose #focus #play #final #RAC #Arena Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Is Intel Stock a Buy Now? Is Intel Stock a Buy Now? The past year has been a terrible one for Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) investors as share prices of the once-mighty semiconductor giant have fallen 55%, driven by the company’s inability to capitalize on hot technology trends such as artificial intelligence (AI) and market share losses to rivals. However, Chipzilla’s fourth-quarter 2024 results (which were released on Jan. 30) did provide a glimmer of hope to investors, even if for a brief *******. The stock rose initially after the results were released as it beat Wall Street’s estimates, but it wasn’t long before it retreated nearly 3% as more details emerged. Let’s see why that was the case and check if Intel’s latest results were good enough to warrant a buy. Intel’s fourth-quarter revenue of $14.3 billion was down 7% from the year-ago *******. Analysts were projecting a ******* fall as they anticipated revenue of $13.8 billion for the quarter. However, investors should note that Intel’s revenue beat was powered by the $1.1 billion grant it received in Q4 under the CHIPS Act. Management also added on the earnings conference call that it suspects a “portion of Q4 revenue upside was due to customers’ hedging against potential tariffs.” Not surprisingly, Intel’s revenue outlook of $12.2 billion for the current quarter is below expectations of $12.87 billion. The midpoint of its revenue guidance points toward a 4% decline in its top line on a year-over-year basis. However, Intel’s adjusted earnings per share would fall from $0.18 per share in the year-ago quarter to breakeven in the current quarter. In simpler words, the contraction in Intel’s revenue and earnings is here to stay. That makes buying Intel right now a risky move considering that nearly all of its business segments are struggling. For instance, the company’s revenue from sales of central processing units (CPUs) used in laptops and desktops was down 9% year over year in the previous quarter. That’s in stark comparison to Advanced Micro Devices, which has been taking share away from Intel and has been enjoying impressive growth in this market. Meanwhile, the 3% year-over-year decline in Intel’s data center and AI revenue clearly indicates that it has missed the bus in this market as well. Both AMD and Nvidia have been reporting solid growth in sales of their server CPUs and data center graphics cards used for training and deploying AI models. Intel, however, is writing off the inventory of its Gaudi AI accelerators and scrapped its goal of achieving $500 million in revenue from sales of these chips. Story Continues The company says software issues have derailed its plans to tap the booming AI accelerator market. AMD and Nvidia, on the other hand, are pushing the envelope in AI accelerators with a new chip planned for launch every year. So, Intel’s rivals could build a big enough technology gap that the former may not be able to bridge. Also, Intel’s earnings forecast for the current quarter is lower than the $0.08 per share that analysts were projecting. The company is expected to report a profit of $0.53 per share in 2025 as per analysts’ expectations, but the way it has started the year suggests that it may not be able to get there. Trading at 39 times forward earnings, Intel cannot be called cheap considering its shrinking bottom line. At a similar valuation, investors can get their hands on other semiconductor stocks such as Nvidia, AMD, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, which have been growing at much faster rates and enjoy competitive advantages over Intel. INTC PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts Moreover, only three of the 46 analysts covering Intel stock suggest buying it right now. That’s despite the fact that its 12-month median price target of $25 points toward a 29% jump from current levels. Intel may not be able to achieve that based on its performance and outlook in the latest quarter, which clearly indicates that the company is still a long distance from regaining its competitive edge. That’s why savvy investors would do well to take a closer look at other names in the semiconductor industry instead of Intel as they are likely to deliver much stronger gains. Before you buy stock in Intel, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Intel wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $735,852!* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 903% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 176% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list. Learn more » *Stock Advisor returns as of February 3, 2025 Harsh Chauhan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, Nvidia, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short February 2025 $27 calls on Intel. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is Intel Stock a Buy Now? was originally published by The Motley Fool Source link #Intel #Stock #Buy Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

The need for strong data engineering skills The need for strong data engineering skills Thank you for joining! Access your Pro+ Content below. 4 February 2025 The need for strong data engineering skills Share this item with your network: In this week’s Computer Weekly, our latest buyer’s guide examines best practice in data engineering and the importance of data skills. Labour announced its first digital government strategy – but will it be more successful than years of failed plans that came before? We also look back at the networking challenges that faced Orange during last year’s Paris Olympics. Read the issue now. Source link #strong #data #engineering #skills Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Exclusive: Syria's Sharaa to discuss defense pact with Turkey's Erdogan, sources say – Reuters Exclusive: Syria's Sharaa to discuss defense pact with Turkey's Erdogan, sources say – Reuters Exclusive: Syria’s Sharaa to discuss defense pact with Turkey’s Erdogan, sources say ReutersAhmed al-Shara, Syria’s New Interim President, Travels to Saudi Arabia The New York TimesSyria’s Interim President in Saudi Arabia on First Foreign Trip BloombergSyria’s interim president says organising elections could take up to five years FRANCE 24 English Source link #Exclusive #Syria039s #Sharaa #discuss #defense #pact #Turkey039s #Erdogan #sources #Reuters Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Thousands evacuate Santorini after earthquakes shake Greek island Thousands evacuate Santorini after earthquakes shake Greek island Thousands of residents are fleeing the Greek island of Santorini amid a wave of seismic activity. Some 6,000 people have left the island by ferry since Sunday, according to local media, with emergency flights scheduled to leave on Tuesday. More than 300 earthquakes have been recorded in the past 48 hours near the island – and some experts say tremors may continue for weeks. Authorities have closed schools for the entire week and warned against large indoor gatherings, but Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has urged calm. Santorini is a popular tourist destination known for its whitewashed buildings, but most of those leaving are locals, as February is outside the peak tourist season. Several tremors, measuring up to magnitude 4.7, were recorded north-east of Santorini early on Tuesday. Though no major damage has been reported so far, emergency measures are being taken as a precaution. Hundreds of people queued at a port in the early hours of Tuesday morning to board a ferry leaving for the mainland. “Everything is closed. No-one works now. The whole island has emptied,” an 18-year-old local resident told Reuters news agency before boarding the vessel. In addition to 6,000 people who have left the island by ferry since Sunday, around 2,500 to 2,700 passengers will have flown from Santorini to Athens via plane on Monday and Tuesday, according to Aegean Airlines. The carrier said it had added three emergency flights to its schedule, with space for hundreds of passengers, following a request from the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection. Santorini is a small island with a population of just 15,500. It welcomes millions of tourists each year. Kostas Sakavaras, a tour guide who has lived on Santorini for 18 years, left the island with his wife and children on Monday. “We considered it’s a better choice to come to the mainland as a precaution,” he told BBC News. “Nothing has been falling, or anything like that,” he said, adding that the worst part had been the sound. “That’s the most scary part of it,” said Mr Sakavaras, who plans to return home once schools reopen. Schools are scheduled to stay closed on the island until Friday. Authorities have also warned people to avoid certain areas of the island and empty their swimming pools. Prime Minister Mitsotakis said on Monday that Greece was working to manage “a very intense geological phenomenon”. Seismologists consider the recent tremors to be minor, but preventive measures have been put in place in case a larger quake occurs. Emergency services have warned residents to leave the areas of Ammoudi, Armeni and the Old Port of Fira due to landslides. The South Aegean Regional Fire Department has been placed on general alert and rescue teams have been dispatched, with crews standing watch by large yellow medical tents on the island. Santorini is on what is known as the Hellenic Volcanic Arc – a chain of islands created by volcanoes – but the last major eruption was in the 1950s. Greek authorities said that the recent tremors were related to tectonic plate movements instead of volcanic activity. Source link #Thousands #evacuate #Santorini #earthquakes #shake #Greek #island Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

After Sex Education I wanted to do something different After Sex Education I wanted to do something different Yasmin Rufo Entertainment reporter Getty Images Asa Butterfield may be best known for playing nerdy teenager Otis in Sex Education, but now he is swapping the classroom for the stage as he makes his theatre debut in one-man show Second Best. The 27-year-old said he was done playing a teenager and “wanted to do something totally different”. He says he perused various theatre scripts and Second Best caught his eye. “It’s the perfect story that explores how you move past that sliding doors moment,” he told the BBC. The show tells the story of a former child actor, Martin, who narrowly missed out on playing Harry Potter when he was younger. The drama follows Martin as he navigates fatherhood and imagines how his life would have turned out had he got the role. Butterfield says the play, based on the novel by David Foenkinos and written by Barney Norris, is “funny, touching and relatable as everyone will have thought about the what-ifs at some point in their life”. Getty Images Butterfield says being on stage is “exhilarating” As we chat in the corner of the stage that he is calling home for the next four weeks, Butterfield is surprisingly relaxed. “I’m still coming off from the high of being on stage and I don’t think I’ve really processed it so my feelings are a bit TBC,” he says. He appears calm but it’s clear he strives to be the best. After the show and before our interview, he heads straight to the director for a debrief on the performance and lists the areas he felt he needed to improve on. Despite being only 27, Butterfield has been acting for the past two decades. At 10 he played Bruno in Holocaust drama The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and later starred as the lead in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo. He says he had been “putting theatre off for a really long time” but decided to bite the bullet as he wanted to push himself – and push himself he did as it’s no easy feat to stand on an almost empty stage for 90 minutes and perform a monologue. He is happy with the decision he made as he says he finds being on stage “totally exhilarating”. “After the first performance I didn’t sleep at all,” he says. In the running to be Spider-Man Similar to his character Martin, Butterfield has had to learn how to deal with rejection and says he has been turned down for roles “countless times”. A few years ago he found himself in the running to play Spider-Man, a role that eventually went to Tom Holland. “At times I think about the auditions I didn’t get,” he says. “But, I also think that something else will come up. If I had got the role as Spider-Man, I wouldn’t have been able to do Sex Education. “I’ve learnt that some things are out of your control and as long as you give things your best shot, that’s all that matters.” His character Martin could escape Harry Potter in order to not remind himself of the pain of not getting the role, but Butterfield says it is harder to do that in real life due to social media. “You have to treat social media really carefully as too much exposure to it can really mess with your head,” he says. “I try not to use it very much as I don’t want to compare myself to others.” Source link #Sex #Education #wanted Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Super Mario Party Jamboree marked the series’ biggest launch with 6m shipped Super Mario Party Jamboree marked the series’ biggest launch with 6m shipped Super Mario Party Jamboree enjoyed the biggest launch of any Mario Party title, Nintendo’s latest sales numbers have revealed. In the nearly 11 weeks after it was released on October 17, 2024, Jamboree shipped 6.17 million units globally, which is faster than previous Switch entries Super Mario Party (5.3m in 12 weeks) and Mario Party Superstars (5.45m in 9 weeks) did in their holiday launch windows. According to Nintendo, the game sold through (sold to consumers) 5.6 million units in the same time *******, which is also ahead of its predecessors. Jamboree is the third series entry to be released for Nintendo Switch, following 2018’s Super Mario Party and 2021’s Superstars. VGC’s Mario Party Jamboree review called it “one of the best in the series”. “Depending on how long Nintendo continues to support the Switch after its successor is released, this could potentially be the last game in the series to release on the system. “If this ends up being the case, it’s a fitting third and final Mario Party on Switch – following the Joy-**** heavy gameplay of Super Mario Party and the old-school focus of Mario Party Superstars, this hits that Goldilocks spot by delivering the best aspects from both.” The Switch is now approaching eight years old, and Nintendo finally announced plans to release Nintendo Switch 2 last month, along with plans for worldwide hands-on events starting in April. Source link #Super #Mario #Party #Jamboree #marked #series #biggest #launch #shipped Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Community heroes and new citizens recognised in Derby’s Ccitizen of the year Awards Community heroes and new citizens recognised in Derby’s Ccitizen of the year Awards There was no better place to be on Sunday, January 26, than the Derby Sportsmen’s Club, where the community came together in true Kimberley style to celebrate Australia Day. The day kicked off with a cracker of a community breakfast, bringing around 150 locals together to enjoy top-notch tucker and great tunes. Adding to the special occasion, we had the absolute privilege of welcoming four new Aussie citizens who were officially sworn in, marking the start of their journey as Australians. Camera IconThe active citizenship award for a community organisation or event was awarded to the Country Women’s Association Derby/West Kimberley. Credit: Facebook Of course, it wouldn’t be Australia Day without recognising the unsung heroes who make the Derby community shine with the 2025 Citizen of the Year awards. This year’s community citizen of the year was Kierin Thompson, while Lionel Marr took out the youth award. Camera IconThe senior award went to Fred Russ. Credit: Facebook The senior award went to Fred Russ, and the active citizenship award for a community organisation or event was awarded to the Country Women’s Association Derby/West Kimberley. The celebrations didn’t stop there. By the afternoon, another 140 eager revellers rolled in for a family-friendly bash that had something for everyone. Camera IconCommunity citizen of the year was Kierin Thompson. Credit: Facebook The kids were in their element with giant inflatables, a sizzling barbecue afternoon tea and laughter ringing through the air. From start to finish, the day was packed with community spirit, good times and plenty of Aussie pride. Source link #Community #heroes #citizens #recognised #Derbys #Ccitizen #year #Awards Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

‘We expect ground-breaking new features’: EA acquires ‘realism’ tech for EA Sports FC series ‘We expect ground-breaking new features’: EA acquires ‘realism’ tech for EA Sports FC series EA has reached an agreement to acquire TRACAB Technologies, “a leader in advanced sports optical tracking and analysis solutions.” According to TRACAB, the firm’s technology is able to capture “nearly everything happening on the field or pitch at 60Hz per second, generating 600 million data points per game, including 65 unique data points per player and referee by capturing live skeleton data from 21 joints on each individual body on the pitch, as well as the center of mass and ball tracking, and so much more.” EA Sport’s football games have used tracking technology for years in order to replicate the real-world movement of players in-game, but this appears to take the level of tracking to a higher level. For example, in recent years, EA has touted that it was able to scan footage of real-life Manchester City matches in order to replicate Norwegian striker Erling Haaland’s unique running style. It’s unclear if this technology will be implemented in this year’s game, EA Sports FC 26, which is expected to be released at the end of September. “Data is at the center of every meaningful advancement in the world of sports today, and as EA Sports leads the future of interactive sports experience through the use of more and more real-world data, and TRACAB will bring more best-in-class capture and data technologies directly into our portfolio,” said Cam Weber, president of EA Sports. “As we continue to evolve our EA Sports experiences into living, breathing simulations of sport, we expect TRACAB’s cutting-edge technology and expertise in live event data combined with our game engine to also accelerate groundbreaking new features in the EA Sports App.” Source link #expect #groundbreaking #features #acquires #realism #tech #Sports #series Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

RI is planning to build more Giant trolls, adding to South County’s ‘Troll Trail[‘ RI is planning to build more Giant trolls, adding to South County’s ‘Troll Trail[‘ CHARLESTOWN ‒ Plans to expand the South County Troll Trail took two big steps forward last week when the state awarded grants to the South County Tourism Council and the town of North Kingstown to develop two more Thomas Dambo trolls. Danish recycle artist Dambo started the trail with two giant trolls in Charlestown’s Ninigret Park last May, and they’ve proven popular, drawing thousands of visitors to the park and town, according to Louise Bishop, president of the South County Tourism Council. Now the trail is set to extend north with a troll in either Exeter or Richmond and then another in North Kingstown, according to Bishop. To help pay for the new trolls, Commerce RI last week awarded both the tourism council and North Kingstown $107,500 Place Making Initiative grants. One of two wooden trolls by Danish artist Thomas Dambo at Ninigret Park in Charlestown. “We are thrilled and grateful for this award to help fund the expansion of the Thomas Dambo Troll Trail,” Bishop said in a press release. “The trolls have proven to be a huge draw for visitors to the state and we’re excited to grow this attraction.” Chelsey Dumas-Gibbs, recreation director in North Kingstown, said, “It’s going to be great for the community. I think it will be a lot of fun for all generations.” Dumas-Gibbs followed the development of the trolls in Ninigret Park and met Dambo. “He’s an amazing guy. He definitely brings light to darkness,” she said. Dambo is the world’s leading recycle artist, according to the South County Tourism Council. He has built trolls, some 35 feet tall, in more than 20 countries to help spread the message of conservation. Danish artist Thomas Dambo wants to build several more trolls in Rhode Island, for a Rhode Island troll trail. “I make trolls because, in my stories, trolls are the unspoken voice of the animals and the plants,” Dambo said when he was in Rhode Island last year to build Erik Rock and Greta Granite. “My stories are about the conflict between humanity and nature.” “Somebody has to fight for nature, the plants and animals. That’s what my trolls do,” he said. How will Rhode Island choose the next home for the trolls? Like Bishop, Dumas-Gibbs hasn’t yet zeroed in on a specific spot for North Kingstown’s troll. She says there are a lot of parks in town that could accommodate a troll, but she wants to make sure the location doesn’t cause traffic problems for neighbors. The location will require the town council’s approval. Dambo will also have to scout out the potential locations ahead of time to ensure they fit his vision and storytelling. Before doing the Charlestown project, Dambo was flown in a helicopter above Ninigret Park, so he could get a better feel for the location, according to Bishop. Bishop hopes Dambo can visit this spring to check out the potential locations. After that, Dambo’s schedule would determine when he could return and build the trolls. Dumas-Gibbs hopes North Kingstown’s troll will be in place by the spring of 2026. Commerce RI grants focus on ‘placemaking initiative’ that supports tourism The troll grants were among 26 grants for a total of $2 million that Gov. Dan McKee and Secretary of Commerce Liz Tanner announced last week. The Placemaking Initiative is a statewide effort to support businesses in the tourism and hospitality industries, according to Commerce RI. The grants support outdoor and public space capital improvement projects and event programming across Rhode Island. McKee said, “We’re building on Rhode Island’s momentum by making strategic investments in the tourism, hospitality and events sectors by supporting projects that draw visitors to our communities.” Tanner said, “These awards reflect our commitment to supporting local businesses and organizations, and boosting economic activity. By investing in these projects, we are making our communities more vibrant and welcoming to visitors.” The $107,500 grants will cover about half the cost of the trolls. Bishop estimated the full price at about $225,000 each. While the trolls should help support the economy by drawing visitors, Dumas-Gibbs believes the troll will also be good for building community since Dambo relies on help from local volunteers to construct the trolls. She also envisions recreation department programs like hikes and artwork involving the troll for the town’s children. Bishop says the troll trail could someday extend beyond South County. Blackstone Valley has shown interest. When he was in Rhode Island last year, Dambo said he would like to build more trolls here. He also scouted potential locations in East Providence and Block Island. This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI’s giant ‘Troll Trail’ build by Thomas Dambo is expanding Source link #planning #build #Giant #trolls #adding #South #Countys #Troll #Trail Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]