Pelican Press

Intimacy coordinators say Blake Lively’s legal dispute shows need for their role – The Guardian Intimacy coordinators say Blake Lively’s legal dispute shows need for their role – The Guardian Intimacy coordinators say Blake Lively’s legal dispute shows need for their role The GuardianAn Intimacy Coordinator’s Take on That Awkward ‘It Ends With Us’ Video Hollywood ReporterJustin Baldoni’s Wife Emily Breaks Silence Amid Blake Lively Legal Battle – E! Online E! NEWSBlake Lively and Justin Baldoni Feud: ‘A Pure PR Play’ With Real Legal Stakes VarietyJustin Baldoni’s team blasts Blake Lively’s gag order letter as ‘an intimidation tactic’ USA TODAY Source link #Intimacy #coordinators #Blake #Livelys #legal #dispute #shows #role #Guardian Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Department of Transport busts Australia Day boat skippers over the limit as harsher rules enforced Department of Transport busts Australia Day boat skippers over the limit as harsher rules enforced A number of skippers failed on-water breath tests on Australia Day in a test of the Department’s strengthened powers to punish those in control of boats under the influence. Source link #Department #Transport #busts #Australia #Day #boat #skippers #limit #harsher #rules #enforced Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 Camera Specifications Surface Online Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 Camera Specifications Surface Online Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 is expected to launch later this year as a successor to the Galaxy Z Flip 6. The clamshell foldable is expected to be accompanied by a cheaper Galaxy Z Flip FE and the book-style foldable Galaxy Z Fold 7. Details about the purported handsets have surfaced online over the past few weeks. A recent report has now hinted at the expected camera details of the Galaxy Z Flip 7. It is expected to get similar camera features as the existing variant. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 Camera Features (Expected) The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 is expected to be equipped with a similar camera setup as the preceding Galaxy Z Flip 6, according to a GalaxyClub report. The phone will likely have a 50-megapixel primary rear sensor alongside a 12-megapixel ultra-wide shooter and a 10-megapixel selfie shooter. As per the report added, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 is unlikely to get a telephoto camera. The report notes that the purported foldable may carry the codename B7, while the cheaper Samsung Galaxy Z Flip FE has the codename B7R. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 Other Details: All We Know Older leaks have suggested that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 will likely have a 6.85-inch main display and a 4-inch outer screen. The preceding Galaxy Z Flip 6 comes with a 6.7-inch inner panel and a 3.4-inch cover display. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 is expected to be equipped with an Exynos 2500 series chipset. The company has been tipped to produce 3 million units of the phone in 2025, which is lower than that of the Galaxy Z Flip 6. The decision to scale down production targets is said to be influenced by the weak sales performance of the existing foldable phones. Samsung may also launch a Galaxy Z Flip FE alongside the Galaxy Flip 7 and the Galaxy Z Fold 7. The South Korean tech giant is reportedly working on a tri-fold smartphone with a ‘G-type’ triple-folding display. For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who’sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube. Crypto Price Today: Bitcoin Hovers Over $100,000 Mark, Most Altcoins Show Bearish Momentum Source link #Samsung #Galaxy #Flip #Camera #Specifications #Surface #Online Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

US health insurance system is failing, say doctors US health insurance system is failing, say doctors American doctors are accusing US health insurance giants of causing deadly delays to vital medical procedures and care – and putting profits ahead of their patients’ health. Firms including United Healthcare have denied basic scans, and taken months to reconsider, according to physicians who spoke to the Guardian. “There’s good evidence that these kinds of delays literally kill people,” said Dr Ed Weisbart, former chief medical officer for Express Scripts, one of the largest prescription benefits managers in the US. “For some people, this isn’t just an inconvenience and an annoyance and an aggravation. “It’s a death sentence, and the only reason the insurance companies do that is to maximize their profits. The fact that they might be killing you is not in the equation of what they care about.” Americans spend the most on healthcare in the industrialized world – an estimated $4.9tn in 2023 – but have the worst health outcomes, according to analysis by the Commonwealth Fund. The fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last month prompted an outpouring of public anger toward the healthcare industry. While private insurers report billions in profits every year, many patients – and their doctors – struggle to navigate a complex financial system to get what they need. Lobbyists for the insurance firms insist they are “working to protect” people from higher costs, and stress that everyone in the space, including doctors, are responsible for making the US healthcare system care more affordable and easier to navigate. But in a series of interviews, medical professionals described their frustration with a powerful industry which had prevented them from helping patients. ‘We’re stuck in this terrible, vicious circle’ Dr Cheryl Kunis, a board member at the Physicians for a National Health Program and nephrologist in New York City, still thinks about what happened when one of her patients needed a **** scan. He had a tumor, and before deciding on how to treat it, Kunis and her colleagues wanted to establish if it had spread. There was a reasonable chance he would have been in better shape had there not been a six-month delay in getting the scan Dr Cheryl Kunis “The surgeon was very honest that he only wanted to operate if the tumor was localized, and without the **** scan, he really would not be able to make that decision,” said Kunis. “The surgeon and his office, as well as my office, spent hours on the phone. We were speaking to somebody who was sitting at UnitedHealthcare in front of a computer screen who was really not knowledgeable on the underlying medical problem or the test that we are asking for the patient to have.” After an initial denial, the patient’s appeal for the scan was ultimately approved six months later. By that the time, the patient had died. “We assume that if he had been diagnosed earlier, he may have been able to do better,” said Kunis. “There’s no way of proving it, but there was a reasonable chance he would have been in better shape had there not been a six-month delay in getting the scan.” The healthcare system is “just really stuck in this terrible, vicious circle”, she said, “of prices constantly going up, lack of regulation and the insurance companies unfortunately having leverage over the patients who are trying to receive the care”. ‘It’s both demoralizing and insulting’ Health insurance companies often require “peer to peer” reviews, where doctors are required to speak with a medical representative from a health insurance company to justify treatment. But the insurance representatives are often far less experienced, according to physicians who spoke to The Guardian, and may not even have training in the specific field they are weighing in on. “When I have engaged in ‘peer to peer’ review, the peer is never a physician that has my training,” said Dr Philip Verhoef, an Intensive Care Unit physician based in Honolulu, Hawaii, and former president of Physicians for a National Health Program. “It’s kind of a farce to even call it ‘peer to peer’. I’ve never had a ‘peer to peer’ conversation that was actually with a real peer.” Instead, the representatives are “second-guessing our judgment as clinicians”, he claimed. “To be totally clear, I don’t have a financial incentive to admit patients to the ICU. It’s both demoralizing and insulting when a bureaucrat somewhere looks at a submitted claim from the hospital and says, ‘The decision to admit to the ICU was wrong.’” Verhoef said he often sees patients coming into the intensive care unit for preventable illnesses caused by health insurance company denials, such as refusing to cover required medication, like insulin, or an inhaler for asthma. “When people need to use their private health insurance, it actually fails them,” he added. “Insurance is supposed to be there to cover you from financial calamity, when unfortunate things happen, and the current system that we have based on private health insurance has really failed everyone. I don’t think that we’re going to regulate our way out of this mess.” Much of the friction patients encounter when seeking medical care or assistance is fundamental to the insurance firms’ business models, according to Weisbart. “They don’t care about you, and they see you as an expense, not someone whose health needs to be improved,” he said. “The healthier you are, the more they want you to have them as their insurance, and the sicker you are, the more comfortable they are with you being dissatisfied with them and searching for a different insurance company. “Once they have that money, every time somebody has to get health care, that’s just an expense that they don’t want to let go of.” The insurance industry’s profits revolve around delaying and denying medical care, Weisbart claimed. “When they delay your care by a day, by a week, by a month or totally deny it, it’s not a random event,” he said. “It’s a calculated business strategy to maximize their profits.” ‘Problem getting much worse’ Many doctors have recently expressed similar issues with private insurers. Physicians are “forced to become insurance experts on top of our medical expertise, spending countless hours on paperwork instead of patient care,” Dr Bayo Curry-Winchell of Nevada wrote in an article for Katie Couric Media, while Dr Claudia Fagan, chief medical officer of Cook County Health, wrote in an article for Common Dreams that she had “seen patients suffer and die in order to pad the bottom lines of corporate health insurers – and in recent years I have seen this problem getting much worse”. The solution is effectively to overhaul the system entirely and then start from scratch with the national health insurance system Dr Philip Verhoef UnitedHealthcare did not respond to multiple requests for comment. AHIP, a lobby group for the industry, said in an emailed statement: “In the fragmented and heavily regulated healthcare system, health plans, providers and drugmakers share a responsibility to make high-quality care as affordable as possible and easier to navigate for the people we collectively serve. Health plans are working to protect patients from the full impact of rising costs while connecting them to care that is safe, evidence-based and coordinated.” Doctors who spoke to the Guardian suggested fixing problems with the US healthcare system will require more than tinkering at the edges. Both Weisbart and Verhoef argued the solution would require moving away from private health insurance, toward a single payer healthcare system, similar to other wealthy countries that provide healthcare to all. “The solution is effectively to overhaul the system entirely and then start from scratch with the national health insurance system,” said Verhoef. “Solutions that depend on trying to regulate the private insurance industry are simply going to fail.” There is “no way to modestly reform a fundamental flaw in a business model”, added Weisbart. “Their business model is designed on delaying, denying and redirecting healthcare We know a much better way: the much better way is to build a system on the traditional Medicare program. Fix the things that are wrong with Medicare … and then simply provide that to everybody.” Moving to a single-payer, universal healthcare system would likely cost less than current national healthcare expenditure, according to a 2020 academic analysis – and save tens of thousands of lives each year. Source link #health #insurance #system #failing #doctors Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Xbox Chief Phil Spencer Suggests Starfield Could Release on Rival Consoles Xbox Chief Phil Spencer Suggests Starfield Could Release on Rival Consoles Microsoft has pivoted to releasing its first party games on rival consoles from Sony and Nintendo over the past year and intends to continue with its multiplatform launch strategy. The company has sought to de-emphasise its gaming hardware — the Xbox console — and instead focussed on pushing its titles to as many platforms as possible. Xbox chief Phil Spencer had said in November that more first-party games would be launched on PS5 and Nintendo Switch, with “no red lines” in the company’s portfolio. In a recent interview, the Microsoft executive doubled down on that claim and suggested Starfield could break Xbox console exclusivity at some point. Phil Spencer on Starfield’s Xbox Exclusivity In a conversation with independent games journalist Destin Legarie published over the weekend, Spencer refused to rule out the possibility of Starfield releasing on rival platforms like the PS5. “No,” Spencer responded when asked if he could confirm that Starfield would stay put on Xbox consoles for the time being. “there’s no specific game that I would — this kind of goes back to my ‘red line’ answer — like there’s no reason for me to put a ring fence around any game and say ‘this game will not go to a place where it will find players, where it will have business success for us’. “What we find is we’re able to drive a better business that allows us to invest in great game lineup like you saw (at Xbox Developer Direct). And that’s our strategy. Our strategy is to allow our games to be available. “Game Pass is an important component of playing the games on our platform. But to keep games off of other platforms, that’s not a path for us. It doesn’t work for us what we’re doing now,” Spencer said in the interview snippet posted on X Sunday by Legarie. The Microsoft Gaming CEO was referring to his response to Bloomberg from November, when he said he wouldn’t rule out any games from Microsoft’s stable from making the jump to PlayStation or Nintendo consoles. “I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say, ‘thou must not,’” he had said at the time. Starfield, Bethesda’s space RPG that released on Xbox Series S/X and PC in September 2023, has been speculated to arrive on PS5 since early 2024 when Microsoft first announced it would release some of its exclusive games on rival platforms. The game is currently available on current-gen Xbox consoles, PC and Game Pass, but has not yet been released on PS5. For comparison, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, published by Bethesda and developed by MachineGames, released on Xbox Series S/X and PC in December, but has been confirmed for launch on PS5 in the first half of 2025. Doom: The Dark Ages, another title from Bethesda’s stable, is set to release simultaneously on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X on May 15, 2025. Source link #Xbox #Chief #Phil #Spencer #Suggests #Starfield #Release #Rival #Consoles Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

World leaders to join commemorations marking 80th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation – CNN World leaders to join commemorations marking 80th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation – CNN World leaders to join commemorations marking 80th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation CNNKing to visit Auschwitz on Holocaust Memorial Day BBC.comAt Auschwitz, a Solemn Ceremony at a Time of Rising Nationalism The New York TimesAmong monarchs and presidents, focus of Auschwitz anniversary is on 50 survivors The Guardian Source link #World #leaders #join #commemorations #marking #80th #anniversary #Auschwitz #liberation #CNN Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Thousands of Aussies brace for heavy rain, flash flooding as severe thunderstorm warning issued across NSW Thousands of Aussies brace for heavy rain, flash flooding as severe thunderstorm warning issued across NSW Thousands of Aussies are in the firing line of damaging winds, heavy rain, large hailstones and potential flash flooding as severe thunderstorms roll over parts of the country. The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning on Monday evening for parts of Maitland/Cessnock, Gosford/Wyong, Sydney, Wollondilly/Wingecarribee, Greater Wollongong, Blue Mountains/Hawkesbury and Greater Newcastle areas across NSW. Swathes of the country’s north – including multiple regions across Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia – are also facing similar warnings. Camera IconThe Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning on Monday evening. Stormcast Credit: SuppliedCamera IconThe severe storm could bring heavy rain and strong winds along with large hailstones and flash flooding. Bureau of Meteorology. Credit: Supplied “The Bureau of Meteorology warns that, at 6:55pm, severe thunderstorms likely to produce damaging winds, heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding and large hailstones were detected near Wollongong, Camden, Picton and Bucketty,” the alert stated. “These thunderstorms are moving towards the east to northeast. “They are forecast to affect Campbelltown, Warragamba and Helensburgh by 7:25pm and Parramatta, Sutherland, Sydney Olympic Park, Richmond, Liverpool and Penrith by 7:55pm.” Camera IconThe storm rolled into Surry Hills just after 7pm on Monday night. Clareese Packer/NewsWire. Credit: Supplied The State Emergency Service advised people to move cars under cover and away from trees, secure or put away loose items around houses, balconies and yards, and to keep at least 8m from fallen power lines or objects that could be energised, including fences. People were also warned to keep away from creeks and storm drains, unplug computers and appliances, avoid using the phone, stay indoors and away from windows, and to keep children and pets inside. “Don’t walk, ride your bike or drive through flood water,” the alert stated. “If you are trapped by flash flooding, seek refuge in the highest available place and ring triple-0 if you need rescue.” The warning comes amid a severe heatwave warning for the state’s Mid North Coast, Hunter, Northern Tablelands, Metropolitan, North West Slopes & Plains, Central West Slopes & Plains, South West Slopes and Upper Western Districts from Monday through to Thursday. People have been urged to seek places to keep cool, keep windows and curtains closed early in the day, and use fans or air conditioners. Camera IconSydneysiders cooled off at the beach on Monday. NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard Credit: News Corp Australia Temperatures are tipped to hit 42C in Penrith and Richmond on Tuesday, while areas including Parramatta, Campbelltown and Liverpool are set to hit 41C. Sydney is on track to reach a high of 40C on Tuesday with the chance of rain and a thunderstorm. More to come. Source link #Thousands #Aussies #brace #heavy #rain #flash #flooding #severe #thunderstorm #warning #issued #NSW Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

What are boson stars — and what do they have to do with dark matter? What are boson stars — and what do they have to do with dark matter? When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A NASA illustration of a “dark matter star.”. | Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered what you’re not seeing? The skies may be full of invisible “boson stars” that are made of an exotic form of matter that does not shine. We strongly suspect that the universe is full of dark matter, which makes up around 25% of all the mass and energy in the cosmos. But while circumstantial evidence abounds and we believe that dark matter is some sort of undiscovered particle, we don’t have any direct evidence of such a particle. For a couple of decades, we thought we were on the right track with a new kind of particle known as a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP). Predicted from various supersymmetry theories, the WIMP would have a mass somewhere in the range of the heavier known particles, like the top quark. But otherwise, it would be largely invisible, interacting with normal matter only occasionally. But searches for WIMPs have failed to find anything. That’s fine; nature is never obliged to go along with our first guess. Thankfully, we have another particle candidate waiting in the wings: the axion. The axion was introduced to solve a ****** problem involving the strong nuclear force. By all observations, the strong force obeys two important symmetries in nature: charge and parity. This means that if you take a strong force interaction, flip the charges of all the particles to their opposite values, and look at the reaction in the mirror, you’ll get the same result. But nothing in the theory itself says that it should obey these symmetries. Physicists attempted to fix this by essentially adding a new parameter to the equations and setting that parameter to zero, but that felt a little forced. Then came an ingenious solution: Maybe that new parameter represented a new quantum field, and interactions with that field naturally produced the symmetry. This was the axion, so named after a brand of dishwashing detergent because it cleaned up the mess of the symmetry problem. If axions exist, they would make an excellent dark matter, because they would be abundant and hardly, if ever, interact with normal matter. And they would also do some wild things. Axions are incredibly light — trillions upon trillions of times lighter than even the neutrino, the lightest known particle. With such slight masses, their quantum wave nature would manifest at macroscopic scales. While every particle also has a wave associated with it, we usually don’t notice or care about those waves unless we’re dealing with subatomic quantum systems. That’s not so with the axion, which can potentially spread its wavelength across an entire galaxy. The second cool thing about axions is that they are bosons. Bosons are a kind of particle that can all share the same quantum state, meaning you can stuff as many of them into a compact volume as you want. This is similar to photons (you can put as much light in a box as you want) and different from particles like electrons (you can only cram so many in before the box gets full). These two properties of axions mean that they are exceptionally good at collapsing down to incredibly high densities, pulled together by their own (slight) gravity. Essentially, they can form a kind of star. It’s completely invisible, radiates no light and does not interact with anything, but it’s a star nonetheless. These stars — which have a variety of names, including axion stars, boson stars and dark stars — can be small, roughly the same mass as normal, everyday stars. They can also be huge, spanning an entire galactic core. The possible existence of boson stars is a double-edge sword. On one hand, it can make direct detection extremely difficult. Unless a boson star just happens to be wandering through our solar system and passing through Earth, we’re unlikely to see axions in our detectors. Related Stories: —’Axion stars’ that went ***** after the Big Bang could shed light on dark matter —Strange star system may hold first evidence of an ultra-rare ‘dark matter star’ —Do fabled ‘dark stars’ actually exist? James Webb Space Telescope spots 3 candidates On the other hand, boson stars can do all sorts of things that could make them detectable, like mess with nuclear fusion in stellar cores or blow up on their own in an event known as a bosenova. We don’t know if axions exist or, if they do, if they’re responsible for dark matter. But it’s still fun to imagine a universe teeming with silent, invisible, harmless dark stars. Source link #boson #stars #dark #matter Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Gold on Clothing Is the Focus of a New Exhibition in Paris Gold on Clothing Is the Focus of a New Exhibition in Paris An exhibition celebrating the power and prestige of gold is scheduled to open Feb. 11 at the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris. But rather than highlighting the precious metal’s value, the show is to focus on sartorial expressions of gold through the ages. “Au Fil de L’Or” — in English, “Golden Thread” — is to retrace the art of incorporating gold into women’s ceremonial clothing, costumes and other attire across history and geography, including in the Middle East, India, Indonesia, China and Japan (through July 6). While the skyrocketing cost of gold has roiled the jewelry industry in recent months, the precious metal also has been a popular museum subject of late, with shows such as “Solid Gold” at the Brooklyn Museum (through July 6) and “El Dorado: Myths of Gold,” on display last year at the Americas Society in New York City. In Paris, the exhibition is to examine how gold smithing has been enmeshed with textile-making techniques across millenniums. Displays are to include the oldest known example of gold used on clothing: gold appliqués from 5,000 B.C. that were discovered in what is now the Bulgarian city of Varna. And there is a bit of braid that dates to 3,000 B.C. and came from the palace throne room in the ancient kingdom of Ebla, in what is modern-day Syria. But not all that glitters among the show’s 321 items is actually gold. For example, exhibits include naturally golden-colored silk from Cambodia; sea silk, spun since antiquity from the beard of a large Mediterranean clam; Lurex, a synthetic fiber introduced in the 1970s; and even animal guts. It is the visual impression that matters, said Hana Al Banna-Chidiac, the exhibition’s lead curator. “More than clothing,” she said in an interview, “it’s really the age-old story of gold that we’re trying to recount. “To understand gold, you have to look up, at the universe. Then we see how, once man discovered gold, he did everything in his power to work it into dress, by making it finer, hammering it, winding it around a thread of silk or linen, using gold leaf, affixing it to hides. That leads all the way through to the use of polyester in the 20th century.” For the exhibition, Ms. Al Banna-Chidiac worked with Magali An Berthon, the show’s co-curator and an assistant professor of fashion studies at the American University of Paris, to bring contemporary fashion into the mix. So along with North African caftans, Indian wedding saris and Japanese Edo-era kimonos will be haute couture looks such as an opulently embroidered tulle and organza evening dress from the Chanel spring 1996 couture collection by Karl Lagerfeld, as well as a jacket and voluminous skirt with mosaic-like rhodoid embellishments from the Dior spring 2004 couture collection by John Galliano. And the exhibition’s official collaborator is Guo Pei, a relative newcomer to the couture scene. The Beijing designer, who shot onto the international stage when Rihanna wore her canary-yellow gown and cape to the 2015 Met Gala, has lent 14 looks to the show, five of which are to be displayed for the first time. Those pieces include the fully embroidered traditional ******** bridal gown featured on the exhibition’s promotional materials and a sumptuous silk evening dress with a train that, the museum said, required more than 20,000 hours of hand embroidery with gold thread to add hundreds of thousands of sequins, flowers and other embellishments. Bringing the theme back to Paris, the final exhibition room is to display approximately 50 pieces by Lesage, the embroidery specialist that marked its centennial last year. The creations for fashion houses such as Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Balmain were selected for the way they reflect artisanal traditions in the regions represented in the exhibition. “Behind the act of wearing gold there’s always a story of creativity, talent and ingenuity,” Ms. Al Banna-Chidiac said. Source link #Gold #Clothing #Focus #Exhibition #Paris Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Air Force says new recruits will again learn about Tuskegee Airmen – San Antonio Express-News Air Force says new recruits will again learn about Tuskegee Airmen – San Antonio Express-News Air Force says new recruits will again learn about Tuskegee Airmen San Antonio Express-NewsMilitary Effort to Scrub Diversity Programs Leads to Dead Websites and Confusion Military.comTrump’s DEI order strips Air Force curriculum of 1st ****** pilots, female WWII pilots USA TODAYArmy and Air Force sweep out DEI-coded programs Task & Purpose Source link #Air #Force #recruits #learn #Tuskegee #Airmen #San #Antonio #ExpressNews Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

GSFLW 2025: Royals surge to first win of year, Mt Barker and Albany remain unbeaten after two rounds GSFLW 2025: Royals surge to first win of year, Mt Barker and Albany remain unbeaten after two rounds Royals claimed their first win of the new Great Southern Football League Women’s competition while Mt Barker continued the strong start to their premiership defence in round two on Friday night. Source link #GSFLW #Royals #surge #win #year #Barker #Albany #remain #unbeaten #rounds Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

After forcing Colombia to back down, White House claims America is respected again After forcing Colombia to back down, White House claims America is respected again Donald Trump claimed an early victory for a coercive foreign policy based on tariffs and hard power on Sunday after announcing Colombia had backed down in a dispute over migrant repatriation flights. The president had earlier unveiled swift and painful punishment, including huge tariffs, on the US ally in his most overt attempt yet to make an example of a nation that crossed him and to assert dominance in the Western Hemisphere. The crisis erupted when Colombian President Gustavo Petro blocked US military flights carrying undocumented migrants from landing, in a hitch for the mass deportation operation meant to honor one of Trump’s most high-profile campaign promises. The US president jumped at a chance to show his supporters how tough he can be and to demonstrate to other countries in Latin America the price of resisting migrant repatriations. After hours of tensions with Bogota, the White House said Colombia had agreed to accept migrant flights, including on military aircraft, and that tariffs would be held off pending its implementation of the deal. “Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement late Sunday. “President Trump will continue to fiercely protect our nation’s sovereignty, and he expects all other nations of the world to fully cooperate in accepting the deportation of their citizens illegally present in the United States.” Colombia’s foreign minister soon confirmed that US deportation flights had resumed. Petro’s reversal represents a concession to US power and to Trump’s aggressive personal style. It is also likely to embolden administration officials who see tariff threats not simply as a traditional device in trade disputes but as a tool to intimidate other nations, including longtime US allies, across a broader set of issues. Still, the spat with Colombia was also a reminder of how Trump’s hardline approach will cause massive global disruption. The US president has already browbeaten Canada and Mexico over border issues, sought to force Denmark to sell Greenland, and threatened to take back the Panama Canal. Four years of such tactics could harm US global relationships and harden attitudes to Americans among foreign populations. The Colombia dispute quickly got the attention of China, which is seeking to increase its influence in Washington’s backyard — underscoring the potential downside for the United States if Trump chooses incessant confrontation that alienates key regional nations. Trump is wielding power all over the map Trump’s victory over Colombia capped the first week of his presidency, during which he used intimidation as a device to stamp his power on the United States at home and to sharply change the nation’s path abroad. On Sunday, for instance, Trump’s new administration launched a deportation blitz in Chicago that will spread countrywide in the latest highly visible sign of his desire to quickly get results. White House border czar Tom Homan told CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez Sunday that the new multiagency approach on immigration enforcement was a “game-changer.” “Today’s operation was all of government. President Trump has put all of government on this issue,” he said. Nearly 1,000 people were arrested in the sweep Sunday, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This followed another stunning example of the new president wielding aggressive executive authority after he fired more than a dozen watchdog officials in key government agencies Friday night. The purge is part of Trump’s attempts to remake the federal government in line with a long-held conservative belief that the federal bureaucracy always frustrates Republican presidents as they try to implement electoral mandates. But since the agency inspectors general report waste, fraud and abuse to Congress, the move is being criticized by Democrats as an abuse of power and a sign of Trump’s cavalier regard for government ethics. And even some top Republicans complained the president should have complied with the law by giving Congress 30 days’ notice of the dismissals. “I think he should have done that,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. But the South Carolina Republican asked: “Is it OK for him to put people in place that he thinks can carry out his agenda? Yes. He won the election. What do you expect him to do, just leave everybody in place in Washington before he got elected?” Graham added: “He feels like the government hasn’t worked very well for the American people.” Another intense week looms for Trump Trump has hinted that he could be a transformational leader showing energy and focus and acting quickly to implement his campaign promises, especially on immigration. His agent of disruption in the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, was sworn in as defense secretary Saturday after Vice President JD Vance cast the deciding Senate vote on his controversial confirmation. But Trump has also taken steps that could alienate many of the swing voters who sent him back to power. His blanket pardons of January 6, 2021, rioters — including those convicted of violent offenses — shocked many Republicans. And his decision to strip security details from former aides who criticized him, including several who have been threatened by Iran, revealed an obsession with past grievances that sometimes distracts from his political goals. Trump said last week that voters were more concerned with immigration than with high grocery prices. But Republican hopes of clinging to their narrow House majority in next year’s midterm elections may rest on him making tangible economic progress. This makes the president’s meeting with Republican lawmakers on Monday at his Doral golf resort in South Florida especially important, as the meeting will focus on how to navigate his agenda, including tax cuts and funds for his mass deportation program, through Congress. Sudden showdown with Colombia underscores hazards of immigration purge The attempted resistance from Colombia created an immediate test for the new US president that was sure to be watched throughout the region. Trump’s initial response was crushing. He ordered immediate emergency tariffs of 25% on Colombian goods that he said would rise to 50% within a week. The US also imposed a “travel ban” for Colombian citizens and revoked visas for Colombian officials, among other measures. Trump warned on Truth Social: “These measures are just the beginning. We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!” But Petro had his own response on X: “Trump, I don’t really like traveling to the US, it’s a bit boring.” The leftist president even suggested that Trump considers “me an inferior race and I’m not, nor is any Colombian.” Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Petro may have had his reasons to pick an early fight with Trump — not least amid dissatisfaction with the existing trading relationship with the US, a longtime military ally. Berg added that Petro might think “he’s going to benefit from juxtaposing himself to the United States and being seen as fighting for the dignity of Latin America.” Still, long-term 50% tariffs on Colombia from the US, its largest trading partner, could be disastrous. And hours before the White House announcement that Colombia had come around, Berg predicted that Colombia would have to quietly come to an agreement with Trump. “They’re in for a rude awakening if they think they can just survive 50% tariffs and everything else that Trump said he was going to do — sanctions on banks and investments and everything else,” he said. The head of the Colombo American Chamber of Commerce, Maria Claudia Lacouture, wrote on X that 25% US tariffs would be immediate and devastating. “We call for sanity, dialogue and common sense, prioritizing diplomatic channels to overcome this serious crisis in the shortest possible time. Calm is important for all the actors involved,” she wrote. US trade in goods and services with Colombia totaled $53.5 billion in 2022, according to the US Trade Representative — a small fraction of America’s commercial relationships with its top partners such as Canada and China. Still, a prolonged trade war with Colombia could have had one tangible impact: making breakfast in America more expensive if already soaring prices for eggs were accompanied by hikes in the price of a key Colombian export — coffee. Trump’s slap down of Petro is the most significant play yet from his administration on Latin America. Later this week, new Secretary State Marco Rubio will visit Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic with US demands to halt migrant flows and increase deportations from US soil at the top his agenda. More broadly, the next four years are likely to intensify a geopolitical contest between the United States and China for influence in Latin America. Trump has already alienated Panama by falsely claiming that Beijing controls the Panama Canal, and he’s threatened to take back sovereignty of the key waterway between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. It was no coincidence, therefore, that China’s ambassador to Colombia chose Sunday afternoon — as diplomatic insults flew between Trump and Petro — to point out an interview in which he recalled that Colombia’s foreign minister said last year that relations between Bogota and Beijing were at their “best moment” in 45 years. And the reality that the rest of the world has a say — however aggressively Trump wields power — may also complicate his ambitious plans to reshape the Middle East following his weekend suggestion that he could “clean out” war-ravaged Gaza and send refugees to Jordan and Egypt. Such an idea, although embraced by the Israeli far-right, is a nonstarter for the key US allies and could scupper his top regional goal — getting Arab states lined up alongside Israel in an anti-Iran front. Trump team cranks up new immigration blitz The administration’s new multiagency immigration enforcement operation in Chicago started as ICE field offices have been told by the new administration to meet a quota of 75 arrests per day, according to two sources. The Trump team last week told federal prosecutors to investigate officials in Democratic-run cities and states like Chicago and Illinois if they resist the new immigration enforcement efforts. This raised the possibility that the mass deportations could trigger the most serious clash between federal and state and local power in years. Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said on “State of the Union” that he shared the administration’s goal of deporting violent criminals but raised doubts about the administration’s approach. “If that’s who they’re picking up, we’re all for it,” Pritzker said. But, he added: “They’re going after people who are law-abiding, who are holding down jobs, who have families here, who may have been here for a decade or two decades.” Whether that backfires politically remains to be seen. After meeting on Monday with House Republicans, whose tiny majority has enormous implications for Trump’s agenda, the president returns to Washington, where his desire to swiftly consolidate power means the second week of his second term will surely be as busy and jolting as the first week. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Source link #forcing #Colombia #White #House #claims #America #respected Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Pharmacy leaders warn over online sales of weight-loss jabs – BBC.com Pharmacy leaders warn over online sales of weight-loss jabs – BBC.com Pharmacy leaders warn over online sales of weight-loss jabs BBC.comIncrease regulation of online ***** of weight-loss jabs, pharmacists say The GuardianOnline pharmacies accused of treating **** jabs ‘like ­grocery items’ Daily MailThe Rise of the Ozempic Influencers GLAMOUR UKPharmacists warn over weight loss drugs as new rules coming Bristol Live Source link #Pharmacy #leaders #warn #online #sales #weightloss #jabs #BBC.com Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

IN PICTURES: Hundreds flock through gates for first Mt Barker Turf Club race meeting of the season IN PICTURES: Hundreds flock through gates for first Mt Barker Turf Club race meeting of the season A large crowd flocked to the Mt Barker Turf Club on January 19 for its first race meeting of the season where local star Final Siren claimed victory in the 2025 TABtouch Mungrup Sprint. Source link #PICTURES #Hundreds #flock #gates #Barker #Turf #Club #race #meeting #season Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Interest in archaeology site peaks after TV cameo Interest in archaeology site peaks after TV cameo A heritage site has received an increased number of inquiries after it featured on mainstream television. The Chester House Estate in Irchester, Northamptonshire, appeared on BBC Two’s Digging for Britain earlier this month, with presenter Prof Alice Roberts exploring the Roman site. Since the broadcast, the estate has seen a surge in interest, particularly in people wanting to join its Irchester Field School programme. Jason Smithers, Conservative leader of North Northamptonshire Council, said: “It was great to see north Northamptonshire on the national stage and the Chester House Estate receiving the attention it rightly deserves.” The Chester House Estate hit the small screen, uncovering and showcasing finds from the excavation last summer [North Northamptonshire Council] The programme showcased rare finds from last summer’s excavation and featured interviews with archaeologists and volunteers. After the show aired, the estate said available spaces on the Irchester Field School programme – a hands-on archaeological initiative – were quickly filling up. Students enrolled in the programme will explore the study of human bones to understand health, diet, and lifestyle in Roman times, examine skeletons and take part in excavation tours, watching archaeologists at work and learning about their techniques. Helen Howell, deputy leader of the local authority, added: “Even before the Digging for Britain episode aired, our field school programme had already booked over half of the available spaces. “Now being featured on one of the country’s most loved archaeological programmes, inquiries from schools are booming.” Just weeks before the BBC episode aired, the Irchester Field School programme won the Learning, Training and Skills award at the national Archaeological Achievement Awards. The field school is due to run from 16 June to 4 July, with more than 2,000 students participating last year. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. You may also be interested inRelated internet links Source link #Interest #archaeology #site #peaks #cameo Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Redmi K90 Pro Tipped to Get a Major Price Hike in China: Expected Specifications Redmi K90 Pro Tipped to Get a Major Price Hike in China: Expected Specifications Redmi K90 Pro is rumoured to be in development as the successor to the Redmi K80 Pro, which made its debut last November. While its launch is speculated to be still some time away, a tipster suggests that the purported Redmi handset could come with a major price hike in China. This is a noteworthy development since its predecessor also debuted with a bump in price at CNY 3,699 (roughly Rs. 43,000) for the base 12GB + 256GB variant. Redmi K90 Pro Price Hike The Redmi K80 Pro was launched in China with a price hike of CNY 400 (roughly Rs. 4,800) over the Redmi K70 Pro. According to tipster Digital Chat Station (translated from ********), the company could be planning an even more exorbitant raise in price for its successor. In a post on the ******** social media platform Weibo (via Gizmochina), the tipster claimed that the purported Redmi K90 Pro could cross the CNY 5,000 (roughly Rs. 59,000) mark in China. This translates to an increase of at least CNY 1,300 (roughly Rs. 15,000), which is said to further raise the positioning of the phone in Redmi’s smartphone portfolio. Notably, at the Redmi K80 series launch in November, the company introduced a rebranding and highlighted that the K-series smartphones are now “positioned as the champion flagship” to deliver a flagship experience. This repositioning of the product line was in response to the Xiaomi 15 series moving into a higher price category to compete with other flagship phones in the market. Redmi K90 Pro Specifications, Launch Date (Expected) According to previous reports, the purported Redmi K90 Pro may run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chipset. It is expected to arrive as the successor to the Snapdragon 8 Elite in H2 2025. The phone may sport a display with a 2K resolution and have a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto camera with a large aperture. While its release schedule is yet to be revealed, previous trends suggest it may debut in the fourth quarter of 2025, possibly in November. Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details. Source link #Redmi #K90 #Pro #Tipped #Major #Price #Hike #China #Expected #Specifications Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Chicago West celebrates 7th birthday with cousins at cowgirl-themed bash – Yahoo Entertainment Chicago West celebrates 7th birthday with cousins at cowgirl-themed bash – Yahoo Entertainment Chicago West celebrates 7th birthday with cousins at cowgirl-themed bash Yahoo EntertainmentKim Kardashian’s daughter Chicago has cowgirl-themed seventh birthday bash with cousins Daily MailKim Kardashian throws lavish cowboy theme birthday party for Chicago West Daily JangKim Kardashian faces hate despite daughter’s birthday Geo NewsKim Kardashian’s Daughter Chicago West Celebrates 7th B’Day with a Cowgirl-Themed Party: See Photos PINKVILLA Source link #Chicago #West #celebrates #7th #birthday #cousins #cowgirlthemed #bash #Yahoo #Entertainment Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Redmi K90 Pro Tipped to Get a Major Price Hike in China: Expected Specifications Redmi K90 Pro Tipped to Get a Major Price Hike in China: Expected Specifications Redmi K90 Pro is rumoured to be in development as the successor to the Redmi K80 Pro, which made its debut last November. While its launch is speculated to be still some time away, a tipster suggests that the purported Redmi handset could come with a major price hike in China. This is a noteworthy development since its predecessor also debuted with a bump in price at CNY 3,699 (roughly Rs. 43,000) for the base 12GB + 256GB variant. Redmi K90 Pro Price Hike The Redmi K80 Pro was launched in China with a price hike of CNY 400 (roughly Rs. 4,800) over the Redmi K70 Pro. According to tipster Digital Chat Station (translated from ********), the company could be planning an even more exorbitant raise in price for its successor. In a post on the ******** social media platform Weibo (via Gizmochina), the tipster claimed that the purported Redmi K90 Pro could cross the CNY 5,000 (roughly Rs. 59,000) mark in China. This translates to an increase of at least CNY 1,300 (roughly Rs. 15,000), which is said to further raise the positioning of the phone in Redmi’s smartphone portfolio. Notably, at the Redmi K80 series launch in November, the company introduced a rebranding and highlighted that the K-series smartphones are now “positioned as the champion flagship” to deliver a flagship experience. This repositioning of the product line was in response to the Xiaomi 15 series moving into a higher price category to compete with other flagship phones in the market. Redmi K90 Pro Specifications, Launch Date (Expected) According to previous reports, the purported Redmi K90 Pro may run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chipset. It is expected to arrive as the successor to the Snapdragon 8 Elite in H2 2025. The phone may sport a display with a 2K resolution and have a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto camera with a large aperture. While its release schedule is yet to be revealed, previous trends suggest it may debut in the fourth quarter of 2025, possibly in November. Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details. Source link #Redmi #K90 #Pro #Tipped #Major #Price #Hike #China #Expected #Specifications Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Police probe launched after man found injured on footpath in Sydney’s south dies Police probe launched after man found injured on footpath in Sydney’s south dies A major police probe has been launched after a man found injured on a footpath in Sydney’s south died. Source link #Police #probe #launched #man #injured #footpath #Sydneys #south #dies Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Three more Israeli hostages expected to be released on Thursday Three more Israeli hostages expected to be released on Thursday Three more Israeli hostages expected to be released on Thursday Source link #Israeli #hostages #expected #released #Thursday Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Apple Gearing Up to Unveil HomePod-Like Smart Home Hub Later This Year: Mark Gurman Apple Gearing Up to Unveil HomePod-Like Smart Home Hub Later This Year: Mark Gurman Apple is said to be working on a new product in the smart home product category. Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has mentioned that Apple is gearing up to unveil a HomePod-like smart home hub with an iPad-like screen this year. It is said to come with a touch display and could allow users to control smart home accessories and connected appliances. It is expected to come with a 7-inch display with support for Apple Intelligence features. Smart Home Hub Could Be Apple’s Most Significant Launch of 2025 In his latest Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman revealed that Apple will unveil a new HomePod-like smart home hub with a touchscreen later this year. It is claimed to be “Apple’s most significant release of the year,” as it represents the company’s “first step toward a ******* role in the smart home.” Gurman notes that the smart home hub will be like a smaller and cheaper iPad that lets users control appliances, conduct FaceTime chats, and handle other tasks. Meanwhile, Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had stated earlier that the new HomePod with a 6-inch to 7-inch display will enter mass production in the second half of this year. It is said to pack an A18 chip and offer support for Apple Intelligence. If launched, the purported HomePod will compete against the likes of Amazon’s Echo Show and Google’s Nest Hub. The upcoming model is tipped to carry a square display instead of a rectangular one. It could include a customisable lock screen with multiple clock faces. It is likely to include an in-built camera to support video conferencing apps like FaceTime. The camera may be able to recognise hand gestures. As per Gurman, the price of Apple’s purported smart home hub will be $1,000 (roughly Rs. 83,740) or more. The company is reportedly working on a new operating system dubbed homeOS to run these devices and its existing smart home lineup including HomePod and HomePod mini. The basis for the OS is said to be tvOS. Source link #Apple #Gearing #Unveil #HomePodLike #Smart #Home #Hub #Year #Mark #Gurman Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Implementing the President’s Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid – Department of State Implementing the President’s Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid – Department of State Implementing the President’s Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid Department of StateTrump administration memo tells USAID to put “America First” in reviewing foreign aid ReutersRubio pauses foreign aid from State Department and USAID to ensure it puts ‘America First’ Fox News Source link #Implementing #Presidents #Executive #Order #Reevaluating #Realigning #United #States #Foreign #Aid #Department #State Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Murdoch University study reveals exercise lowers appetite by inducing same hormones used in weight loss drugs Murdoch University study reveals exercise lowers appetite by inducing same hormones used in weight loss drugs An hour of moderate exercise a day releases the same appetite-suppressing chemicals in the body as weight-loss injections such as Ozempic, a new WA study has found. Source link #Murdoch #University #study #reveals #exercise #lowers #appetite #inducing #hormones #weight #loss #drugs Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Human Outer Ears May Have Evolved from Ancient Fish Gills, Study Finds Human Outer Ears May Have Evolved from Ancient Fish Gills, Study Finds New research has highlighted a fascinating link between human outer ears and the gills of ancient fish. Gene-editing experiments have revealed that the cartilage in fish gills may have migrated to form the outer ear structures seen in mammals today. Scientists believe this evolutionary transformation took place millions of years ago, suggesting that the origins of elastic cartilage in human ears may date back to early marine invertebrates such as horseshoe crabs. Study Highlights Evolutionary Link According to a study published in Nature, researchers led by Gage Crump, Professor of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Southern California, sought to uncover the mysterious origins of mammalian outer ears. Elastic cartilage, the primary component of human outer ears, is unique to mammals and is more flexible than other types of cartilage found in the human body. The researchers found that this type of cartilage is also present in the gills of modern bony fish, such as zebrafish and Atlantic salmon. Gene-Editing Experiments Provide Insight As reported in Live Science, in experiments, human genetic enhancers associated with outer ear development were inserted into zebrafish genomes. The enhancers triggered activity in the fish gills, suggesting a genetic link between the structures. The reverse experiment, involving the introduction of zebrafish enhancers into mouse genomes, showed activity in the mice’s outer ears, reinforcing the connection between fish gills and mammalian ears. Ancient Marine Connections The team further demonstrated that reptiles and amphibians also inherited gill-related structures from fish. Evidence from green anole lizards indicated that elastic cartilage had begun migrating from gills to ear canals by the time reptiles appeared approximately 315 million years ago. Additionally, a gene control element in horseshoe crabs, organisms that emerged 400 million years ago, activated activity in fish gills, pointing to even deeper evolutionary ties. As per the researchers, these findings highlight the adaptive reuse of ancestral gill structures in the development of mammalian ears over evolutionary history. Source link #Human #Outer #Ears #Evolved #Ancient #Fish #Gills #Study #Finds Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Vehicle drives into crowd after Eagles’ win in apparent accident Vehicle drives into crowd after Eagles’ win in apparent accident Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways Multiple people were injured when a vehicle drove into a crowd in Philadelphia after the Eagles beat the Washington Commanders at home to advance to the Super Bowl. Police said the vehicle drove into pedestrians, possibly accidentally, at an intersection along Broad Street, where throngs of fans customarily gather to celebrate big Eagles victories. The number of people struck or hospitalized was not immediately available. Video from the scene shows Philadelphia Fire Department personnel working on the injured in the street. Police said a driver was in custody. “Does not appear intentional at this time,” the department said on X. NBC Philadelphia showed video of crowds gathered along Broad Street to celebrate the Eagles’ NFC championship victory. Philadelphia’s Office of Emergency Management announced Sunday evening that streets on either side of Broad Street, from just north of City Hall nearly to its famed South Street, would be closed to traffic for celebrants. The incident happened north of the the closures. The Eagles beat the Commanders 55-23 and will face the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Feb. 9. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Source link #Vehicle #drives #crowd #Eagles #win #apparent #accident Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]