Pelican Press

Watch These Nvidia Stock Price Levels After Nearly $600B Wiped From Market Value – Investopedia Watch These Nvidia Stock Price Levels After Nearly $600B Wiped From Market Value – Investopedia Watch These Nvidia Stock Price Levels After Nearly $600B Wiped From Market Value InvestopediaTrump says DeepSeek a ‘wake-up call’ for US tech firms BBC.comDonald Trump warns China’s new DeepSeek AI is a ‘wake up call’ for Silicon Valley Yahoo! VoicesA shocking ******** AI advancement called DeepSeek is sending US stocks plunging CNNChinese Citizens Hail DeepSeek’s Feat, Gloat About US Chip Curbs Bloomberg Source link #Watch #Nvidia #Stock #Price #Levels #600B #Wiped #Market #Investopedia Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Pokémon Go’s Small Yet Strong event brings your favourite tiny Pokémon to the forefront Pokémon Go’s Small Yet Strong event brings your favourite tiny Pokémon to the forefront The event takes place from February 5th to 8th There is an increased chance of finding XXS and XXL Pokémon Shiny Nymble makes its debut Get ready to clinch some of the smallest yet most exciting Pokémon during the Small Yet Strong event in Pokémon Go. Running from February 5th to 8th, this event brings a variety of bonuses, wild encounters, and new opportunities to expand your collection. It’s also a good way to build your squad for the upcoming Pokémon Go Tour – Unova. Throughout the Small Yet Strong event in Pokémon Go, you’ll earn double XP for catching Pokémon and have an increased chance of encountering XXS and XXL Pokémon in the wild. Among the many featured Pokémon, Shiny Nymble makes its first appearance. Before you go on, check out this list of redeemable Pokémon Go codes! Keep an eye out for regional Flabébé variations, including Red Flower in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Blue Flower in the Asia-Pacific region, and Yellow Flower in the Americas. If you’re lucky, you might even come across White or Orange Flower Flabébé, regardless of where you are. Other Pokémon appearing more frequently in the wild include Paras, Natu, Joltik, and various Burmy forms. For an added challenge, you’ll find Dialga and Enamorus (Incarnate Forme) in Five-Star Raids, with Mega Medicham and Mega Tyranitar taking centre stage in Mega Raids. Both raid and wild encounters offer a chance to catch some rare Shiny Pokémon if you’re fortunate. For collectors, two km Eggs hatched during the event hold Pokémon like Togepi, Azurill, Budew, and Dedenne. Meanwhile, completing Field Research tasks will reward encounters with Burmy and Nymble. Don’t miss the event-themed Timed Research and Collection Challenge, which offers rewards such as Stardust, Poké ******, and more encounters with event-themed Pokémon. To top it all off, PokéStop Showcases will also feature event-themed Pokémon, so keep an eye out. Don’t forget to visit the Pokémon Go Web Store, where you can stock up on all resources necessary to kickstart your journey. Download Pokémon Go now for free. Source link #Pokémon #Gos #Small #Strong #event #brings #favourite #tiny #Pokémon #forefront Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Chance of tropical cyclones in Queensland as NSW lashed by severe thunderstorms Chance of tropical cyclones in Queensland as NSW lashed by severe thunderstorms Aussies have been warned to brace for potential tropical cyclones as parts of the country are lashed by heavy rain, with multiple severe weather warnings in place. A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for parts of NSW, with the potential for damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall on Tuesday. The warning was issued for those in the Metropolitan area and parts of the Mid North Coast, Hunter and Central Tablelands Forecast Districts of NSW. “Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding in the warning area over the next several hours,” the Bureau of Meteorology alert stated. “Locations which may be affected include Gosford, Sydney, Penrith, Parramatta, Woy Woy and Kulnura.” Camera IconSevere thunderstorm warning issued across NSW on Tuesday. Bureau of Meteorology. Credit: SuppliedCamera IconStorms rolled into Sydney on Monday evening.Clareese Packer/NewsWire. Credit: Supplied Those in the Blue Mountains/Hawkesbury, Gosford/Wyong, Sydney, Maitland/Cessnock and Greater Wollongong areas were also warned of damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall on Tuesday. “The Bureau of Meteorology warns that, at 5:15pm, severe thunderstorms likely to produce damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding were detected near Calga, Liverpool, the Royal National Park, Maroota and Londonderry,” the alert stated. “These thunderstorms are moving towards the east to northeast. They are forecast to affect Sydney Airport, Gosford and Wyong by 5:45pm and Woy Woy, Toukley and Terrigal by 6:15pm.” Chance of tropical cyclones in Queensland Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathon How said it was looking to be an “quite an active *******” of weather across Northern Queensland and much of northern Australia. “We’re monitoring the potential for tropical lows across the north of the country which may form into tropical cyclones,” Mr How said. While none of the lows have yet formed, Mr How warned there was “at least a 25 per cent chance of (the tropical lows) forming into a cyclone towards the end of this week”. The Bureau of Meteorology are monitoring tropical lows off The Gulf Coast, the Cairns Coast and the Coral Sea. “We definitely do say regardless of whether we see a cyclone form it will be a very rainy ******* over Queensland for next week or so,” he said. Camera IconQueensland is in for ‘very heavy rain’ over the next week or so. Stormcast. Credit: Supplied There’s also the potential for a monsoon across the state. “A monsoon normally brings widespread cloud cover, lots of rain, cooler temperatures and a lot of people are hanging out for that,” Mr How said. “(There will be) quite rainy conditions regardless of whether we see cyclones.” A severe weather warning for heavy rainfall was issued for people in parts of the North Tropical Coast and Tablelands, Hervert and Lower Burdekin Forecast Districts on Tuesday. The Bureau of Meteorology’s website stated heavy rainfall could lead to flash flooding, which was forecast to continue on Tuesday over coastal communities and islands between Gordonvale and Rollingstone as well as inland to the coastal side of the Tablelands. More than 200mm of rain fell across parts of the south coast of Cairns overnight. More to come. Source link #Chance #tropical #cyclones #Queensland #NSW #lashed #severe #thunderstorms Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

DeepSeek just flipped the AI script in favor of open-source—and the irony for OpenAI and Anthropic is brutal DeepSeek just flipped the AI script in favor of open-source—and the irony for OpenAI and Anthropic is brutal DeepSeek, the ******** AI startup, shocked the world after unveiling an AI model last week that rivals leading models like OpenAI’s o1, while claiming it cost far less to develop and required far fewer Nvidia chips—and giving it away for free. The fallout sent Nvidia’s stock plummeting today and left observers wondering: What does it mean for the most deep-pocketed AI startups, OpenAI and Anthropic, which sell their models to consumers and companies, as well as highly funded competitors like Mistral and Cohere? The current moment is deeply ironic, Toronto-based AI developer and consultant Reuven Cohen told Fortune. DeepSeek released its AI model as open-source, meaning the company allowed researchers, developers, and other users to access the underlying code and its “weights” (which determine how the model processes information) to use, modify, or improve. That sounds a lot like what OpenAI said it would do when it was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit company that shared its research and techniques openly (as its name suggests). But OpenAI is now “by far, the most closed in every way possible,” Cohen said. Though DeepSeek did not release the data it used to train its R1 model, there are indications that it may have used outputs from OpenAI’s o1 to kick-start the training of the model’s reasoning abilities. This process of analyzing and learning from another model’s outputs is sometimes referred to as “reverse engineering.” Open-source developers have been reverse-engineering OpenAI models like o1 for months, Cohen said. DeepSeek’s efforts make it clear that models can self-improve by learning from other models released by OpenAI, Anthropic, and others—which puts those companies’ existing business models, cost structures, and technological assumptions at risk. “The problem is that the companies have momentary advantages but haven’t built durable moats,” said Patrick Moorhead, founder of Moor Insights & Strategy. “Companies with proprietary leanings need a scale, time to market, cost, or 5X utility advantage to be successful. Both OpenAI and Anthropic are being outmaneuvered by open [source AI].” Many proponents of open-source AI have long predicted the commoditization of AI models. “If these models turn out to be pretty capable, which they really are looking like, and they’re very cheap, then there’s a world where companies stop using OpenAI at scale,” said William Falcon, CEO of Lightning AI, a software platform that allows users to train and deploy open-source AI models, including DeepSeek’s. Story Continues “That also brings into question the valuation of all these companies,” he said, though he pointed out that OpenAI, which as of October 2024 was valued at $157 billion, and Anthropic, which is currently raising money on a $60 billion valuation, do have billions in revenue and are less speculative than other startups like Cohere and Mistral, which he said are “going to be the ones impacted the most by this.” In addition, DeepSeek’s success shows that open-source developers don’t even have to figure out the entire secret recipe created by a closed-model company like OpenAI, Falcon added. They just needed a few improved techniques to make the training of the model more efficient. Those improvements, he added, will quickly be implemented by other companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google. “I would be shocked if they haven’t already, since Friday, grabbed that stuff, implemented it, and probably already applied it,” he said. However, while this is definitely a moment to be introspective about why top U.S. AI researchers did not discover these techniques on their own, it doesn’t mean America’s entire market position on AI is really undone, or that OpenAI’s or Anthropic’s future is shaky. “I’m skeptical that we’re going to go from [billions of Nvidia chip commitments] from Microsoft and everyone else to, oh, we only need hundreds to train these frontier models,” said Daniel Newman, CEO and analyst at the Futurum Group, adding that OpenAI and others will be researching the accuracy of the DeepSeek techniques, and deciding whether their results can be replicated and implemented. Vaibhav Srivastav, a researcher at open-source platform Hugging Face, emphasized that he did not think OpenAI, Anthropic, and other model companies are in deep trouble. “I think the real moat is in the application layer,” he said, meaning that the value for these companies lies not just in building models but in how those models are integrated into applications. However, he added, “I do think DeepSeek must be a humbling moment for them.” Open-source AI experts say there is no schadenfreude, however. In fact, said Falcon, it’s all about moving the AI ball forward—including with OpenAI. If OpenAI had not “gone dark” in terms of sharing its research openly since the release of ChatGPT, he said, the U.S. would likely be further along capability-wise, since open-source collaboration drives progress. “But, of course, OpenAI would not have been as big a company,” he said. “And China would be just as far ahead.” But there is one more ironic twist at play in the DeepSeek narrative, said Cohen. What about Meta, which has spent the past two years touting Llama, its family of free open AI models? After all, Meta has positioned itself as the antithesis of OpenAI and Anthropic, yet DeepSeek has suddenly emerged as the real open-source disrupter. Meta has reportedly assembled four “war rooms” of engineers to respond to DeepSeek’s potential breakthrough AI developments. “OpenAI might be expensive and proprietary, but they’re still the most used platform by orders of magnitude,” he said. “Regardless, they’re gonna do well for a while.” The real question is, he said, “what the hell is Meta doing? This was theirs to lose.” This story was originally featured on Fortune.com Source link #DeepSeek #flipped #script #favor #opensourceand #irony #OpenAI #Anthropic #brutal Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

CDC staff ordered to cut communications with WHO after Trump executive order – CNN CDC staff ordered to cut communications with WHO after Trump executive order – CNN CDC staff ordered to cut communications with WHO after Trump executive order CNNWHO comments on United States’ announcement of intent to withdraw World Health OrganizationOpinion | Without the United States, Global Health Will Fall Apart The New York TimesTrump open to considering re-entry into World Health Organization: ‘They’d have to clean it up’ Fox NewsCDC staff ordered to cut off communication with WHO CBS News Source link #CDC #staff #ordered #cut #communications #Trump #executive #order #CNN Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Former West Coast Eagles defender Tom Barrass says Harley Reid hype unprecedented but justified Former West Coast Eagles defender Tom Barrass says Harley Reid hype unprecedented but justified Former West Coast defender Tom Barrass says he has “never seen anything like” the hype around ex-Eagles teammate Harley Reid — but it’s also completely warranted. Expectations were sky-high ahead of Reid’s debut season after the club swooped on the generational talent with the No.1 draft pick in 2023. The West *********** led the extensive coverage, including an unprecedented presence on the newspaper’s backpage. The teenage sensation somehow exceeded those lofty expectations as he was named the AFL’s Best First-Year Player, earned West Coast’s Emerging Talent award and won Goal of the Year. So dominant was his debut season that he got a shout-out during Geelong midfielder Ollie Dempsey’s Rising Star award speech for being ineligible. Barrass, who joined Hawthorn in last year’s trade *******, said the attention on Reid was unprecedented for any AFL star, let alone a first-year player. “When kids see Harley Reid on the newspaper every day for 50 days in a row, they absolutely love him and idolise him,” Barrass told Triple M. Camera IconHarley Reid. Credit: Will Russell/AFL Photos “I’m at a clinic, a 10-year player, a premiership player and a best and fairest, and nobody even knows who I am. “There are 400 eight-year-olds at Harley Reid, chanting. Actually watching it is something that is really interesting and fascinating because I’ve never seen anything like it.” Reid played 20 games and kicked 10 goals as an inside midfielder in his debut campaign, polling Brownlow votes on four occasions. He earned top honours against Melbourne in round 10, where he broke clear of Demons superstar Christian Petracca, took three bounces and booted the goal that was voted the year’s best. The club’s former vice-captain and premiership defender, Barrass could not speak more highly of the 19-year-old. “He is so good. He really is,” he said. “Good country boy, big hands, strong as hell and just keen to wrestle ya, keen to take you down. He’s not scared of anyone. “He’s the man, Harley. And he’s a really good kid too.” Camera IconHarley Reid at training. Credit: Riley Churchman/The West *********** Barrass compared Reid’s popularity to that of another former teammate in former star ruckman Nic Naitanui and club great Ben Cousins, who also donned the iconic No.9 guernsey. He said being the face of the most popular club in a two-team town came with its challenges, compared to Victoria. “It’s a double-edged sword for Harley and Nic and Cuzzy and everyone… especially in a smaller town like that where there’s less volume, instead of here (Melbourne) where there’s more volume of AFL players,” Barrass said. “He’s the one star in the whole of the state. It comes with great responsibility but it also comes with great opportunity to capitalise on doing things that you love doing.” Barrass backed Reid to not get swept up and instead make the most of his newfound fame. “I think he’s a bright enough kid to go and figure that out,” he said. Source link #West #Coast #Eagles #defender #Tom #Barrass #Harley #Reid #hype #unprecedented #justified Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Workers at Philadelphia Whole Foods store vote to unionize Workers at Philadelphia Whole Foods store vote to unionize (Reuters) – A majority of workers at a flagship Whole Foods store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania voted to unionize on Monday, becoming the first in the Amazon-owned grocery chain to snatch a labor victory. Workers voted 130-100 for union representation at the Center City in Philadelphia, representing about 57% of the total votes cast, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Workers at the store had filed to hold a union election in November 2024, the first since Amazon acquired the business for $13.7 billion in 2017. “We are ready to bring Whole Foods to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair first contract that reflects the workers’ needs and priorities,” Wendell Young IV, President of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, which is a local chapter of the union, said in an emailed statement to Reuters. Whole Foods said it was disappointed by the outcome of this vote, saying they “offer competitive compensation, great benefits, and career advancement opportunities”. “We are committed to maintaining a positive working environment in our Philly Center City store”, a spokesperson for the company said in an emailed statement. (Reporting by Chandni Shah and Siddharth Cavale in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala) Source link #Workers #Philadelphia #Foods #store #vote #unionize Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump Says Microsoft Eyeing TikTok Bid With App’s Future in US Unclear – Bloomberg Trump Says Microsoft Eyeing TikTok Bid With App’s Future in US Unclear – Bloomberg Trump Says Microsoft Eyeing TikTok Bid With App’s Future in US Unclear BloombergTrump says Microsoft in talks to acquire TikTok Fox BusinessMicrosoft is in talks to acquire TikTok, Trump claims The GuardianTikTok is intertwined with tariffs as Trump weighs his ‘one very big power over China’ Yahoo Finance Source link #Trump #Microsoft #Eyeing #TikTok #Bid #Apps #Future #Unclear #Bloomberg Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Rory McIlroy: Masters title, away Ryder Cup win and Olympic medal final career ambitions Rory McIlroy: Masters title, away Ryder Cup win and Olympic medal final career ambitions For a decade he has been trying to land that coveted Green Jacket to satisfy a set that currently includes trophies from two US PGA Championships (2012 and 2014), The Open (2014) and US Open (2011). The Masters is the one that he most wants, but he is also driven by the thought of winning an away Ryder Cup – for the second time – and adding Olympic glory. In fact, give him those and his appetite for golfing success would be finally sated. “Winning the Masters, winning an Olympic medal and another away Ryder Cup, they are my three goals for the rest of my career,” McIlroy told BBC Sport. Of course, this former Olympic sceptic has to wait for the Los Angeles Games in 2028 – perhaps his last realistic opportunity to grab a medal – but the other two objectives are firmly in his sights for this year. So, as he starts his 2025 PGA Tour season at Pebble Beach this week, McIlroy is tailoring everything to be in prime form when he tees it up at Augusta on the second Thursday of April. “I’ve realised that all I can control is myself,” he said. “What’s right for me right now is to fully focus on myself and to get the best out of myself and get back to winning the biggest tournaments in the world. “I’ve been agonisingly close for the past few years, without being able to get it done and that that is the main focus of this year.” The fact that it is more than a decade since he last added to his list of major victories is one of the most startling statistics in the modern game. He has achieved pretty much everything else, including winning the prestigious Players Championship in 2019 which was in the days when all of the world’s best were competing at Sawgrass for the PGA Tour’s flagship title. But the Players is not a major. His slimmed down 2025 schedule, playing more sparingly in the US, is designed to glean success in the big four events that ultimately define careers. “All of my practice, all of my prep, even the tournaments that I’m playing, it’s all geared towards being ready for those four events,” McIlroy said. “Augusta is Augusta. I’ve gone through my stats and there are a couple of things that were pointed out to me that I could definitely get better at – certain little shots around the greens.” He famously blew a four-shot final-round lead with a ruinous 80 at the 2011 Masters and he was runner-up without truly contending in 2022. He faded tamely when in the final pairing with champion Patrick Reed in 2018 in another of his four top-five Augusta finishes. Some observers believe the home of the first major of the year is made for McIlroy’s powerful game, but it has a way of finding him out technically and temperamentally. Source link #Rory #McIlroy #Masters #title #Ryder #Cup #win #Olympic #medal #final #career #ambitions Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

EV Resources snags historic, high-grade ******** antimony mine EV Resources snags historic, high-grade ******** antimony mine EV Resources has struck an agreement to acquire a 70 per cent interest in the historic high-grade Los Lirios antimony mine in Oaxaca State, Mexico. The strategic move into the critical mineral antimony includes a project with four mining licences spanning 1652 hectares. It offers staggering grades in both open-pit and underground stibnite workings of the most prominent antimony ore, also known as antimony sulphide. Historically, the project produced direct shipping ore (DSO) with exceptionally high grades, with multiple grab samples at the project exceeding 62 per cent stibnite from past operations. Recently, the antimony ingot price has climbed above US$40,000 (A$64,000) per tonne, which is about eight times the price it was fetching less than five years ago. At the same time, the commodity is seriously lacking large-scale production opportunities. With this in mind, EVR believes its Los Lirios project offers a unique, low-cost opportunity to address the global antimony supply deficit. Located near the village of Guadalupe Buenos Aires, the Los Lirios mine’s geology features mineralisation hosted in shear zones and Jurassic limestone conglomerates and shales. The stibnite-rich zones have supported historic operations focused solely on extracting high-grade material suitable for direct shipment. Recent small-scale mining by the current owners has continued to prepare material for *****, signalling a well-maintained operational foundation for EVR to build on. The company says its technical team has confirmed the presence of extensive sheared mineralisation zones measuring up to 180 metres in length and 70m wide, with indications of mineralisation depth continuing to below 250m. EVR says nearby parallel zones suggest further resource potential, particularly within a 7km trend running across the concessions. The acquisition was formalised through a joint venture agreement with the mine’s two private owners and the ******** mining company, Proyectos y Construcciones. The agreement includes a commitment to fast-track mine development to meet rising demand, with initial plans focusing on sampling, trenching and defining drill targets. EVR has agreed to provide funding for exploration and a 300-tonne per day mine and concentration pilot plant, while also reimbursing its partners for US$80,000 (AU$128,000) in prior expenditures. We have for some time been intrigued by antimony. It has many deep and flexible markets with mature technologies and minimal risk of substitution. The depletion of ******** resources and consequent suspension of exports comes after decades of minimal exploration for antimony and closure of most mines outside of China. Due diligence is already underway alongside preparations for a detailed exploration program to commence by March. The company aims to assess Los Lirios’ potential while it continues to define drilling targets at the company’s flagship Parag porphyry project in Peru. EVR believes the Parag copper-molybdenum-silver project has a substantial porphyry system with staggering grades of molybdenum, after last year’s successful geophysical surveys and diamond drilling confirmed mineralisation. Parag delivered intersections including some hits of 18m at a peak grade of 1.7 per cent copper and 0.4 per cent moly from just 11m. This was contained within a wider 32m section going 1.2 per cent copper and 0.4 per cent moly from 3m below the surface. The prospective porphyry project features considerable moly grades that are comparative, if not exceeding, many of the globally significant high-grade operating mines that also feature across Latin America. The metal has also climbed to a dizzying US$30 (A$48) per pound – fetching considerably more than copper trading at about US$4.10 per pound. EVR management has turned its thoughts towards a strategic partnership to fund its ongoing exploration and resource definition activities at Parag, especially given the potentially increased size of the project as a significant copper-molybdenum-porphyry play. EVR appears to be ever-expanding its swag of premium Latin American assets in multiple flying critical minerals. As antimony continues to gain prominence and EVR looks to quickly address critical supply shortages in the global market, these proceeds may eventually fund some high-impact porphyry exploration in Peru as copper-molybdenum returns to favour. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: *****@*****.tld Source link #Resources #snags #historic #highgrade #******** #antimony Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

All single-use cups removed from university All single-use cups removed from university A university is removing all single-use cups from its campuses following a pilot scheme which “saved 4,500 disposable cups from landfill”. Last year, Bath Spa University (BSU) teamed up with Bristol-based environmental charity, City to Sea, to offer people a variety of sustainable options for their drinks. Under the scheme, people who do not have a reusable cup can borrow one via the charity’s Refill app. Jane Martin, the charity’s CEO, said she expected other universities to follow suit. The charity’s spokesperson previously said: “Single-use coffee cups are not just an ugly blight on our beautiful countryside but also break down into microplastics. “Even cups that look and feel like paper can have a plastic lining which breaks down causing harm to wildlife and entering our food system.” City to Sea created the Refill Return Cups, which can also be borrowed in cafes across Bristol [Bath Spa University] According to the charity, 3.2 billion single-use cups are thrown away every year in the *** – a figure which prompted its Refill Return Cup scheme and app. Customers using the app show a QR code at the till to get their drink served in a returnable takeaway cup. Once finished, the cup can be returned into a box so it can be cleaned and reused. Jo Stocks, the university’s chair of sustainability steering group, said they are “committed” to protecting the planet. “What we’ve achieved in the last year with City to Sea, and continue to do, is bringing us one step closer to our goal,” she added. University leaders said 4,500 cups were saved from landfill during the pilot and they now plan to permanently remove single-use cups from their buildings. What is the impact of plastic pollution? There are more than five trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans. This plastic ends up in the food chain as animals mistake plastic for food. Animals also get trapped in our plastic pollution. Over time, plastic waste slowly degrades and breaks down into tiny micro-fragments, which are also causing scientists concern. And the way that plastic is created has harmful effects as well, as it involves the burning of fossil fuels. Follow BBC Somerset on Facebook and X. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. More on this storyRelated Internet Links Source link #singleuse #cups #removed #university Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Monster Hunter Now will soon welcome the legendary elder dragon Kirin this Lunar New Year Monster Hunter Now will soon welcome the legendary elder dragon Kirin this Lunar New Year Lunar New Year-themed packs available Exclusive gear making a comeback from last year Grab the dragon-element light bowgun Niantic is joining in on all the festivities of the Lunar New Year within Monster Hunter Now, putting event-exclusive gear up for grabs for lucky hunters. This means that the legendary elder dragon Kirin is joining the fray once February kicks off, along with exclusive equipment making a comeback from 2024 as well. With the arrival of the fearsome dragon also comes a dragon-element light bowgun, so if you’re worried about going up against Kirin, fret not. And if anything, it seems you can always buff up your chances of success with exclusive Lunar New Year-themed packs too – this includes layered equipment for *****, because the new year means new swag, right? Specifically, the latest event within Monster Hunter Now will run until February 2nd, so during this time, you can get your hands on the Lucky Dragon Hammer, Fortune Dragon Fans, and Dragon Dance Mask if you missed your chance last year. If you have enough might and mettle to take down Gold Rathian, Pink Rathian, or Banbaro, you can also earn Tickets for the Lucky Light Bowgun, Lucky Dragon Hammer, and Fortune Dragon Fans. You can find the nitty-gritty about the limited-time quests on the official update announcement. Or if you’re looking to nab more freebies, why not take a look at our list of Monster Hunter Now codes to get your fill? In the meantime, if you’re eager to join in on all the fun, you can do so by downloading it from the App Store and on Google Play. It’s free-to-play with in-app purchases. You can also join the community of followers on the official Facebook page to stay updated on all the latest developments, or take a little peek at the embedded clip above to get a feel of the vibes and visuals. Source link #Monster #Hunter #legendary #elder #dragon #Kirin #Lunar #Year Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump Administration Puts Dozens of U.S.A.I.D. Officials on Paid Leave – The New York Times Trump Administration Puts Dozens of U.S.A.I.D. Officials on Paid Leave – The New York Times Trump Administration Puts Dozens of U.S.A.I.D. Officials on Paid Leave The New York TimesTrump return ‘severely impacted’ Malaysian conservation group’s efforts as US aid freeze bites South China Morning Post Source link #Trump #Administration #Puts #Dozens #U.S.A.I.D #Officials #Paid #Leave #York #Times Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Scottish Water bills set to rise 9.9% in April Scottish Water bills set to rise 9.9% in April BBC Scottish Water said a rise in charges was necessary to invest in infrastructure to cope with a changing climate Water bills in Scotland will increase by almost 10% from April. Scottish Water said the 9.9% rise was necessary to invest in infrastructure to cope with periods of “drought and intense rainfall” brought on by climate change. It means homes in the lowest council tax band A will be charged more than £400 for their supply and waste water collection for the first time. The body also said the increase, which follows an 8.8% rise last year and a 5% rise in 2023, would “rebalance charges” which were held back to help households after the Covid pandemic and cost of living crisis. Scottish Water said it served more than 2.6 million households and 225,000 businesses across the country. Domestic water bills are collected along with council tax in Scotland and are tied to the eight bands used to determine their value. In band A, the lowest valuation, yearly charges will increase by about £36, while in band H, the highest, they will rise by £108 to £1,200.78. Homes categorised in band D will face a £54 annual rise. Scottish Water said current projections showed a four-fold increase in Scotland’s daily water supply deficit during droughts or periods of low rainfall. It said the country could face a deficit of up to 240 million litres a day, up from 60 million litres, while water main bursts are expected to become more prevalent by 2050 due to drier ground conditions creating movement. Chief executive Alex Plant said its infrastructure was under “serious pressure” due to the changing climate. A report by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) for autumn last year said Scotland had experienced “drier than normal conditions” which had “impacted water resources” across the country. ‘Environmental challenges’ Met Office rainfall data showed autumn 2024 was the fifth driest in 100 years. That followed a summer which was the wettest on record for parts of the country. A new report covering the winter ******* will be released later this year. Mr Plant said a lack of “increased investment” in the wake of environmental challenges risked “reductions in service quality”. He said: “People in Scotland are rightly proud of our water and maintaining our high standards means we need long-term sustainable investment. “We’ve all seen – including in the last few days – how weather conditions in Scotland are becoming more extreme, and we are seeing more frequent periods of both drought and intense rainfall. “This puts our current infrastructure under significant pressure, and, without increased investment, we risk reductions in service quality in the future. Mr Plant added: “This announcement will enable us to continue to provide essential high-quality services to millions of people today, while also investing prudently for the future, and ensuring that costs are shared fairly between current and future generations.” The maximum amount that can be charged by Scottish Water for the 2021-7 ******* is set out by the regulator, Wics. The annual increase is then set by the board of Scottish Water. Source link #Scottish #Water #bills #set #rise #April Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Oscar Allen: Brisbane Lions sound out West Coast Eagles co-captain as free agency looms Oscar Allen: Brisbane Lions sound out West Coast Eagles co-captain as free agency looms Brisbane are not going to lie in wait as they plan for life without Joe Daniher, with the reigning premiers targeting West Coast co-captain Oscar Allen in a potential recruiting coup. Source link #Oscar #Allen #Brisbane #Lions #sound #West #Coast #Eagles #cocaptain #free #agency #looms Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Prosecutors say New York state trooper lied about getting shot Prosecutors say New York state trooper lied about getting shot A former New York state trooper who claimed he was shot in the line of duty is now being investigated as police say there was no assailant and that the state trooper allegedly staged the shooting scene to gain attention and support. NBC News’ Valerie Castro has the details of the investigation that led to his arrest. Source link #Prosecutors #York #state #trooper #lied #shot Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Ataxx brings a fresh twist to iconic board games like Hexxagon, out now on Android and iOS Ataxx brings a fresh twist to iconic board games like Hexxagon, out now on Android and iOS Begin with two pieces and take over all your opponents’ Several game modes from solo matches to 1v1s against friends The rules are simple, so it won’t take long to learn If you’ve had your fill of checkers and want something fresh, Ataxx might be just what you’re looking for. This modern strategy board game takes the simple concept of conquering more spaces than your enemy and builds a dynamic, thought-provoking experience around it. In Ataxx, you start with two pieces on the board and your goal is to spread across the grid while capturing your opponent’s pieces to turn them into your own. But don’t get too comfortable because a single move can turn the tide. It draws inspiration from classics like Ataxx (arcade), Infection, and Hexxagon, blending their best elements with a fresh, modern twist. Ataxx offers multiple ways to enjoy it, whether you’re playing solo, testing your skills against friends, or diving into daily puzzles. In Solo Mode, you can challenge an AI opponent with three difficulty levels – perfect for honing your strategy. For a more social experience, the 1v1 Mode lets you play with a friend or family member on the same device. There are also puzzles designed to stretch your problem-solving skills, along with fresh daily challenges to keep things interesting. And the highlight of all this is offline play. You don’t need Wi-Fi or a steady connection, making it easy to enjoy wherever you are. You can enjoy both – a quick session, and longer, more thoughtful ones that will keep you on your toes. If you’re hunting for similar experiences, here’s a list of the best arcade games to play on Android right now! The rules are also quite intuitive, so you can jump in right away without having to worry about a steep learning curve. Ataxx is pretty approachable for newcomers. And if you’ve played one of those timeless classics before, you shouldn’t have much to worry about. What are you waiting for then? Download Ataxx now by clicking on your preferred link below. It is free-to-play and will require no extra purchases. Source link #Ataxx #brings #fresh #twist #iconic #board #games #Hexxagon #Android #iOS Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Tech stock selloff deepens as DeepSeek triggers AI rethink – Reuters Tech stock selloff deepens as DeepSeek triggers AI rethink – Reuters Tech stock selloff deepens as DeepSeek triggers AI rethink ReutersTrump says DeepSeek a ‘wake-up call’ for US tech firms BBC.comAmerican AI firms try to poke holes in disruptive DeepSeek ReutersA shocking ******** AI advancement called DeepSeek is sending US stocks plunging CNNTuesday Briefing The New York Times Source link #Tech #stock #selloff #deepens #DeepSeek #triggers #rethink #Reuters Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Police probe launched after man dies in alleged walkway stabbing in Shellharbour, NSW Police probe launched after man dies in alleged walkway stabbing in Shellharbour, NSW Police are investigating the death of a man after he was stabbed and left to die. Emergency services were called to a walkway under Shellharbour Rd, Dunmore, in the Shellharbour area – about 100km south of Sydney – following reports a man had been stabbed shortly before 3pm on Tuesday. Camera IconEmergency services were called to the Shellharbour area following reports of the stabbing. NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard Credit: News Corp Australia NSW Ambulance paramedics treated the man, however he died at the scene. He is yet to be formally identified. A crime scene has been established as police launch an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the man’s death. The State Crime Command’s ********* Squad is assisting in the investigation. Source link #Police #probe #launched #man #dies #alleged #walkway #stabbing #Shellharbour #NSW Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

India’s Smallcap Stock Index Plunges 20% From September High India’s Smallcap Stock Index Plunges 20% From September High (Bloomberg) — Sign up for the India Edition newsletter by Menaka Doshi – an insider’s guide to the emerging economic powerhouse, and the billionaires and businesses behind its rise, delivered weekly. Most Read from Bloomberg A monthslong selloff in Indian stocks is showing few signs of abating, with a gauge of smallcap shares plunging on Tuesday to take its losses from a September peak to 20%. The NSE Nifty Smallcap 250 Index was on course to enter a bear market after losing more than 3% early in Tuesday’s session. It sank 3.7% on Monday. Indian stocks have suffered in recent months as concerns over a slowdown in economic as well as earnings growth have seen foreign funds exit the market. Small- and mid-cap stocks seem to be bearing the brunt of the latest slide as risk-off moves deepen. Overseas investors have withdrawn more than $19 billion from the market on a net basis since the end of September, with over $7 billion of outflows happening in January alone. “This small-cap selloff, caused due to high valuation expansion over the years, can extend the collateral damage for the broader market as well,” said Deven Choksey, managing director at DRChoksey FinServ Pvt. “Many people have taken unduly large exposure to small stocks. The high valuation leaves no scope for error.” India was a darling for global equity investors until just a few months ago, threatening even to topple China in emerging-market indexes, as a pandemic-era consumption ***** and the government’s strong focus on infrastructure creation boosted the market as well as corporate profits. However, an ensuing demand slowdown amid high inflation and interest rates has weighed on the economy, with growth seen sliding to a four-year low. With corporate earnings starting to falter, investors have questioned if Indian stocks are worthy of the valuation premium they command over emerging-market peers. –With assistance from Abhishek Vishnoi. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Source link #Indias #Smallcap #Stock #Index #Plunges #September #High Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

SoftBank-backed TravelPerk doubles valuation, plans fintech push SoftBank-backed TravelPerk doubles valuation, plans fintech push TravelPerk CEO and co-founder Avi Meir. TravelPerk TravelPerk, a corporate travel platform, raised $200 million from investors including Atomico and EQT in a funding round valuing the firm at $2.7 billion, the company told CNBC. The fresh financing doubles TravelPerk’s market value from January 2024, when it raised $104 million on a $1.4 billion valuation. Noteus Partners also participated in this latest investment round. In addition to the funding round, the Barcelona-based startup revealed it acquired Yokoy, a Swiss spend management platform, a deal that will see it expand its reach into financial services and become a more unified travel and expenses platform. As a result of the acquisition, Yokoy investor Sequoia Capital will join TravelPerk’s cap table alongside existing investors General Catalyst, Kinnevik, Softbank’s Vision Fund and Blackstone. TravelPerk said the fresh cash would be used to accelerate growth, fuel expansion in the U.S. market and investment in product, tech and artificial intelligence. From Covid struggles to $2.7 billion Jean-Christophe Taunay-Bucalo, president and chief operating officer at TravelPerk, told CNBC venture capitalists were drawn to the firm’s growth story after it rebounded from times of struggle faced during the Covid-19 pandemic. TravelPerk saw revenues decline rapidly in 2020 and 2021 as most business travel came to a standstill. Revenue has since grown to around five times the size it was before Covid hit, according to Taunay-Bucalo. “Why we are doing so well now is because we had that ******* where you had to be strong. You had to have a good foundation, you had to be scrappy,” he said. Hillary Ball, Atomico’s growth-focused partner, said the firm was drawn to investing in TravelPerk as it’s addressing “a complex and hard problem to solve” around corporate travel. “This is a market that resurged following the pandemic,” Ball told CNBC. “In the past year, the global value of corporate travel was $1.5 trillion — that’s up by 6% relative to pre-pandemic and 2019. It’s really clear that this is a market that’s here to stay and one that’s growing.” Corporate travel is a “mammoth area of spend” for businesses, she added. Last year, TravelPerk raised $104 million in venture funding from SoftBank and others to ramp up its investments in the development of AI technology and products. Later in the year the company subsequently raised a further $135 million in debt financing and acquired AmTrav, a Chicago-based corporate travel booking software firm, to help it expand in the U.S. market. The company subsequently raised a further $135 million in debt financing and acquired AmTrav, a Chicago-based corporate travel booking software firm, in June to help it expand in the U.S. market. “We think this is a very big market. We’ve sized it at about $200 billion, between the U.S. and Europe, of directly addressable market, SME and mid-market,” Carolina Brochado, found partner and deputy head of EQT’s growth fund, told CNBC. “We think that, out of that $200 billion, about half of that is unmanaged. So, it’s you and me at a company going to Booking.com for the hotel, going to Expedia for the flight. This is a very fragmented, disjointed experience.” Despite reaching scale with over 1,500 employees and a $2.7 billion valuation, Taunay-Bucalo said TravelPerk is in no rush for an IPO and is primarily focused on keeping customers happy. “There is no plan in the short term for it,” he said. “We want to be here in 100 years … We have this almost unusually long-term view for a tech company. And as a consequence, the way we see the world is a little bit different. We don’t want to do these quick things and then get out.” Not worried about AI ‘agents’ Taunay-Bucalo said TravelPerk will continue investing in AI to enhance its product offering and that the Yokoy acquisition will bring an “extremely strong AI team.” Devis Lussi, Yokoy’s chief technology officer, previously worked at the Swiss-French particle physics laboratory CERN. TravelPerk’s technology chief isn’t concerned by the emergence of so-called “agentic” AI, which refers to systems that can carry out actions autonomously on people’s behalf instead of relying on prompts. Last week, OpenAI released Operator, an AI agent that can perform tasks such as planning vacations and making restaurant reservations on a user’s behalf. “The reality is, things don’t change overnight,” said Taunay-Bucalo, discussing OpenAI’s Operaor announcement. “Anything that we see is happening, we’re going test it,” he added. “We’re going to test it. We’re going to release it. If it works, we keep it. If it doesn’t work, we kill it.” Source link #SoftBankbacked #TravelPerk #doubles #valuation #plans #fintech #push Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion – The Washington Post White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion – The Washington Post White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion The Washington PostAll federal grants and loan disbursement paused by White House CNNTrump administration directs widespread pause of federal loans and grants The HillWhite House budget office suspends federal financial aid programs ABC NewsTrump’s executive orders may violate Impoundment Control Act Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Source link #White #House #pauses #federal #grants #sparking #confusion #Washington #Post Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Russia wipes out three generations of a family in one strike Russia wipes out three generations of a family in one strike Orla Guerin Senior international correspondent Reporting fromZaporizhzhiaYuliia Tarasevych Sophiia Buhayova, 27, Adam Buhayov, 17 months, and Tetiana Tarasevych, 68, were all killed in a Russian bombing attack in Zaporizhzhia Teddy bears – large and small – are clustered around the grave of Adam Buhayov as if keeping him company. But the 17-month-old is not alone. His mother Sophiia Buhayova, 27, is buried in the grave with him, in a bleak and windswept cemetery in Ukraine’s southern city of Zaporizhzhia. Adam’s great-grandmother, Tetiana Tarasevych, 68, is in the grave right beside them. All three were killed together on 7 November last year by a Russian attack in a war that has devoured Ukraine since 2022 – but which no longer dominates the international agenda. Goktay Koraltan/BBC Yuliia Tarasevych says the closest she can “get to her daughter, mother and grandson is at their graves” Some of Adam’s last moments were captured by Tetiana in a video on her phone. The two of them were out on a walk with Adam’s mum Sophiia. Blond-haired, blue-eyed Adam wears a red anorak and a woollen hat, with a Mickey Mouse sticker on the front. “Don’t take off your hat,” Tetiana tells him gently, “you will be cold”. He does it anyway. One hour later the trio were at home, about to get a bite to eat, when a Russian guided aerial bomb sliced through their block of flats. Adam, Sophiia and Tetiana were killed, along with six other civilians. Sophiia’s mother Yuliia Tarasevych, 46, now struggles to carry on – without most of her family, without her past and her future. She is slight, and swamped by a heavy ****** coat and by grief. “I don’t know how to live,” she says. “It’s hell on earth. I lost my mother, my daughter, and my grandson in one second.” The closest she can get to them now is at their graves. “My dear Mum,” she says weeping, and ********* a photograph of Tetiana – a doctor like her – attached to a wooden cross. One step brings her to the grave of Sophiia and Adam. She leans down to touch his photo, calling him “my little kitten”. Then she speaks directly to a photo of Sophiia – a ****** and white image of a young woman with long dark hair. “My beautiful daughter,” she cries, “I am sorry I could not save you.” Tetiana filmed her great-grandson Adam on a walk the day they were both killed in a Russian bomb attack. Sophiia’s father, 60-year-old Serhiy Lushchay, is by her side – a robust figure who shares her loss and her sorrow. “We visit the graveyard often,” Yuliia says, “and we will as long as we live, because it truly makes it a little easy for us”. Every time they come, there are more graves stretching out into the distance. The cemetery is expanding “at a staggering pace,” Yuliia says. Rows of blue and yellow flags, marking the graves of fallen soldiers, pierce the sombre grey sky. Zaporizhzhia, where the family lived, is a regular target for Russian forces. It is a strategically important industrial city, near front-line fighting. Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – about 55km (34 miles) from the city – is held by the Russians. On the day of the attack that killed Sophiia, Tetiana and Adam, Yuliia called her daughter from western Ukraine, where she was on a work trip. “I told her to be careful. Bombs had been falling over the city since the morning. She said: ‘Thank you mum, don’t worry. Everything will be fine with us.'” Serhiy was at work when he heard something had happened. He too called his daughter, but there was no reply. Then, on his local residents’ WhatsApp group he saw a message saying: “Friends, who else is still left under the rubble?” “I rushed home praying all the way,” he says, “but my prayers were already in vain”. “When I arrived, all I saw was ruins. I wandered around looking for my balcony. I don’t know how much time passed – two or three hours – and I realised there was nothing left, and no hope of rescue.” Goktay Koraltan/BBC Yuliia was on a work trip to another part of Ukraine when her apartment was bombed. In the days that followed some belongings were reclaimed from the rubble – a china cup of Sophiia’s, somehow unbroken, a toy fish Adam played with in the bath, and the little red jacket he wore on his last walk. These are now family treasures, along with many precious memories. “Every evening when I came home from work, I would take Adam for a walk,” says Serhiy. “He was very curious about the sky. He’d point his little finger up, and we’d tell him about it. And he loved birds.” Another family video shows Adam hoisted in Sophiia’s arms, being swung from side to side, and then running around on the ground, surrounded by pigeons. “He had almost started talking,” Yuliia says, “and he was always smiling. He was healthy, beautiful and smart. He and my daughter made us happy every day”. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Yuliia had taken Sophiia to safety in the ***. The young woman put her language skills to use, working as a translator for Ukrainian troops being trained by the British military, but she could not stay away from Ukraine. “She really missed her parents and her relatives and the country,” Yuliia says. Sophiia returned and later gave birth to Adam in June 2023. She also took up psychology because “she knew a lot of people in Ukraine needed psychological help,” her mother says. Goktay Koraltan/BBC Yuliia Tarasevych and Serhiy Lushchay are adamant Ukraine must fight on In the midst of her grief, Yuliia knows that Ukraine may soon come under pressure to negotiate with the enemy that robbed her of so much. President Trump is back into the White House – all guns blazing – pushing for peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv. But both Yuliia and Serhiy are adamant that Ukraine must fight on. She tells me Donald Trump’s claim that he could end the war in a day was “funny to hear”. “Russia is an aggressor, that came to our country, and destroyed our homes, and our families,” Yuliia says. “So, there can be no talk of any ceasefire or peace talks. If we leave this glutton [Russian President Vladimir Putin] with our territories and do not avenge the people we lost, we will never win.” Serhiy says the only contact with Russians on Ukrainian territory should be through combat. Many Ukrainians believe that even if there is a ceasefire, Russia will come back for more sooner or later – as it did in 2022, eight years after annexing the Crimean Peninsula. Moscow now controls almost one fifth of Ukraine. Time is not on Ukraine’s side. In 2025 there is danger on several fronts – a lack of manpower, a possible reduction in future US military aid, and fading international attention. Yuliia accepts that life goes on in other countries. “People can’t live in constant stress, thinking only about us,” she says. “Still, I would like them to remember that there’s a war happening nearby, where not only soldiers but also civilians are dying.” She wants the the world to know the names – Adam Buhayov, Sophiia Buhayova, and Tetiana Tarasevych. Additional reporting by Anastasiia Levchenko, Volodymyr Lozhko, Goktay Koraltan and Wietske Burema Source link #Russia #wipes #generations #family #strike Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Weight-loss drugs could set up clash between RFK Jr and aides Weight-loss drugs could set up clash between RFK Jr and aides Reuters As a weight management doctor, Mollie Cecil has seen firsthand how the latest weight-loss drugs help her patients. She knows from personal experience, too: After a year on one medication, the West Virginia doctor lost 40 pounds. Her cholesterol and arthritis improved, allowing her to be more active with her young children. “I just felt like a new person on them,” she said. But she worried about the same obstacle facing many of her patients – losing insurance coverage – so she tapered off the drugs as a precaution. Turned out she was right. Dr Cecil later learned her new nonprofit insurance plan could not afford to cover the cost of the drugs. She gradually gained back most of the weight she lost. A new weight-loss drug policy? The latest class of weight-loss drugs – also known as GLP-1 agonists – are “the most potent weight-loss medications we have ever had”, Dr Cecil said. “But when I can’t get them to [my patients], as a physician who really cares about taking care of people … it just feels helpless,” she said. The new class of drugs – often not covered by private insurance – can cost $1,000 (£809) a month on average. Federal law bans Medicare from covering the drugs when used for weight loss, though they usually are covered when used to treat diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Only 13 states provide coverage under Medicaid for weight loss purposes. To make them more accessible, then-President Joe Biden recently proposed that Medicare and Medicaid cover them, but now that will be up to President Donald Trump’s new administration. Its weight-loss drug policy would fall to Trump’s pick for health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, and Mehmet Oz, Trump’s choice to lead Medicare and Medicaid services. But this could mean a potential clash: Kennedy is a vocal critic of the weight-loss drugs while Oz is an ardent advocate. The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment about how it would handle the Biden administration’s proposal for Medicare – federal insurance for those 65 and older – and Medicaid – government insurance for low-income people – to cover the drugs. Trump’s future approach remains unclear, with several people in his inner circle holding contradictory views, said Jonathan Zhang, a professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. “GLP-1, Ozempic, this is a drug that has so much patient demand,” Mr Zhang said. “It’s really taken on a life of its own on social media. So the Trump administration – or any administration – faces a ton of pressure to do something about this in the near term.” A weight-loss drug skeptic vs a television promoter During his presidential run last year, Kennedy made tackling the obesity epidemic a central part of his platform. Over 100 million people in the US are obese, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After dropping out and endorsing Trump, Kennedy launched his “Make America Healthy Again” initiative to reduce obesity by eliminating ultra-processed foods and additives, among other more controversial ideas. But the 71-year-old has been outspoken about weight-loss drugs, telling Fox News in October: “They’re counting on selling [weight-loss medications] to Americans because we’re so stupid and so addicted to drugs.” “If we just gave good food, three meals a day, to every man, woman and child in our country, we could solve the obesity and diabetes epidemic overnight,” Kennedy added. Shortly after Trump chose Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), he announced that he selected Oz, a former TV show host and surgeon, to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), an agency within HHS that administers the government health insurance. As a television show host, Oz spent years promoting various weight-loss drugs, including more recently, GLP-1 drugs. “For those who want to lose a few pounds, Ozempic and other semaglutide medications can be a big help,” Oz posted on Instagram in 2023. “We need to make it as easy as possible for people to meet their health goals, *******.” Decisions about Medicare and Medicaid drug coverage would likely involve leaders from both HHS and CMS, experts said. Spokespeople for Oz and Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment about how they would handle the policy decision. Neither has been confirmed to their appointments yet. An ‘enormous’ cost The high price of GLP-1 drugs, which are patented – meaning cheaper copycat versions can’t be made – has led to a debate among insurance companies, said Benjamin Rome, a health policy researcher at Harvard Medical School. The companies have to decide whether to raise insurance premiums, in general, to cover the costs, or to forgo coverage of GLP-1s altogether, he said. Many have decided not to cover them. Others cut off coverage to patients once they lose weight and reach a body mass index (BMI) below the obesity range of 30 or higher, Dr Cecil said. When Dr Cecil was on a GLP-1 using her previous insurance, she said she wouldn’t allow herself to lose as much weight as she wanted to avoid crossing the BMI threshold. “They’ll cut off coverage, saying, ‘Well, you don’t need it anymore. You’ve lost weight.’ But of course, the reason they lost weight is because of the medicine,” she said. Getting off anti-obesity drugs too quickly also can cause unpleasant withdrawal effects, and many gain back the weight. Government insurance faces a similar cost predicament when it comes to covering the new weight-loss medications. “Although there’s obviously a lot of interest in doing so to make these highly effective drugs more available to patients who need them, the cost of doing so would be enormous because so many people are eligible and because the prices are so high,” Dr Rome said. When Biden officials issued the rule requiring Medicare and Medicaid to cover the anti-obesity medications, they did so after the election, knowing it would not be up to them to carry the policy out, said Mark Fendrick, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design. The federal government said last year that it could cost about $25b for Medicare and $11b for Medicaid to provide the drugs over the next 10 years. “How do we pay for that?” Dr Fendrick asked. The Biden-era rule must go through a public comment ******* before the Trump administration ultimately decides whether to move forward with it, experts said. Dr Cecil said the government and private insurance companies may remain hesitant to foot the bill for such expensive medications. But she believes the savings that would come from tackling obesity for millions of Americans would greatly outweigh the short-term costs. “Five to ten years is when we would really see a huge payoff, because that’s when we would really start to see trending downwards for some of these more serious long term complications,” Dr Cecil said. “If everyone who needed the drugs could afford them and wanted to take them, it would be pretty game changing.” Source link #Weightloss #drugs #set #clash #RFK #aides Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Deadline Day Dramas: Peter Odemwingie’s famous drive to QPR Deadline Day Dramas: Peter Odemwingie’s famous drive to QPR BBC Sport speaks to Peter Odemwingie and Harry Redknapp about one of the most famous transfer deadline day stories. In 2013, Peter Odemwingie had his sights set on a move from West Bromwich Albion to Queens Park Rangers, but the deal collapsed shortly after he arrived at Loftus Road. So, what really happened behind the scenes on that day? Watch more on BBC iPlayer: Deadline Day Dramas Available to *** users only. Source link #Deadline #Day #Dramas #Peter #Odemwingies #famous #drive #QPR Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]