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Death toll in Australia floods rises to four, tens of thousands stranded – Reuters Death toll in Australia floods rises to four, tens of thousands stranded – Reuters Death toll in Australia floods rises to four, tens of thousands stranded ReutersIn photos: Deadly floods strand over 50,000 people in eastern Australia AxiosWatch: Cattle washed on to beaches in widespread Australia floods BBCVIDEO: Wait until flood evacuation warnings are lifted, NSW SES *********** Broadcasting CorporationRecord floodwaters in eastern Australia leave 2 dead and 2 missing ABC News Source link #Death #toll #Australia #floods #rises #tens #thousands #stranded #Reuters Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Two seats still undecided three weeks after election Two seats still undecided three weeks after election The final make-up of Australia’s next federal parliament will soon be known, as counting nears its conclusion in two tight election races. Independent candidate Nicolette Boele is ahead of Liberal Gisele Kapterian by just three votes in the Sydney seat of Bradfield. Ms Boele was provisionally declared the winner in the electorate by 39 votes on Monday, but the gap has narrowed even further after a final distribution of preferences. An *********** Electoral Commission spokesman said the distribution would be completed by Friday. If there are still fewer than 100 votes separating the candidates, a formal recount will be conducted in the seat. Ms Kapterian was originally declared the winner in Bradfield by some media outlets, and was in the Liberal party room during the leadership contest that led to Sussan Ley be named opposition leader. However, a strong spread of postal and absentee votes to the teal independent caused her to take a narrow lead in the Liberal stronghold. Labor is on track to pick up an extra seat to add to its increased majority as counting continues in the Melbourne-based seat of Calwell. The electoral commission said the count was the most complex in its history, due to the number of candidates contesting and primary votes being close between them. As the full preference distribution is carried out, it has come down to a four-way contest between Labor, the Liberals, the Greens and an independent. The final two candidates are expected to be Labor’s Basem Abdo and independent Carly Moore. Labor is expected to win the seat if it receives slightly more than one-third of the votes against the independent. An electoral commission spokesman said counting would resume on Monday. A win in Calwell will place the government on 94 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives. The Liberals have 28 seats in the lower house and the Nationals have 15. The Greens have been reduced to one seat, with 11 shared between independents and other minor parties. Parliament is set to return on July 22. Source link #seats #undecided #weeks #election Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

More crews, more drones: Greece launches record-breaking fire operation, expects grueling summer More crews, more drones: Greece launches record-breaking fire operation, expects grueling summer More crews, more drones: Greece launches record-breaking fire operation, expects grueling summer Source link #crews #drones #Greece #launches #recordbreaking #fire #operation #expects #grueling #summer Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

European stock markets set to open higher as investors await more clues on the shape of *** economy European stock markets set to open higher as investors await more clues on the shape of *** economy European shares are poised to move slightly higher at the open on Friday. Source link #European #stock #markets #set #open #higher #investors #await #clues #shape #economy Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

3rd woman arrested for allegedly assisting New Orleans inmate escapee still at large – ABC News 3rd woman arrested for allegedly assisting New Orleans inmate escapee still at large – ABC News 3rd woman arrested for allegedly assisting New Orleans inmate escapee still at large ABC NewsSlidell woman arrested for aiding escaped Orleans Parish inmate still at large, LSP says fox8live.comFormer New Orleans police chief criticizes sheriff’s ‘checkered past’ after jailbreak Fox NewsBond set for women accused of helping three escaped inmates WDSUKim Groves’ grandson Derrick Groves among inmates still missing after NOLA jailbreak wwltv.com Source link #3rd #woman #arrested #allegedly #assisting #Orleans #inmate #escapee #large #ABC #News Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

China's Geely spied testing mid-size PHEV SUV in Australia China's Geely spied testing mid-size PHEV SUV in Australia Geely has been spied locally testing a rival for the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, though it hasn’t confirmed when it’ll be released here. Source link #China039s #Geely #spied #testing #midsize #PHEV #SUV #Australia Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Penn State closing seven satellite campuses Penn State closing seven satellite campuses (WBRE/WYOU)— The Penn State Board of Trustees approved the closure of seven satellite campuses after a 25-8 vote on Thursday. The following campuses will be closed following the 2027 spring semester: DuBois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre and York campuses. In their 143 page report, the reason for closing one NEPA’s local campuses in Wilkes-Barre was because of persistent enrollment decline, down almost 40% since 2015, structural limitations, and geographic overlap. Local lawmaker weighs in on new Trump spending bill Penn State’s campuses in Hazleton, Scranton, and Schuylkill are expected to remain open. Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi has said that students will continue to be admitted for the fall semester at all Commonwealth Campuses. We begin with a decision that will impact hundreds of thousands of people as part of the Penn State community. The university’s board of trustee’s voted to close seven satellite campuses, including one right here in our backyard. More than half of the board voted in favor of the campus closures. Our Wilkes-Barre campus is one of the seven to go. The university says the difficult decision comes during a finically challenging time. Penn State’s Board of Trustees voted virtually Thursday evening 25-8 to approve the closure of seven PSU campuses. York, DuBois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, and Wilkes-Barre will close after may 2027. “Believe me I know this is difficult but I also know it’s the right moment,” expressed Neeli Bendapudi, President, The Pennsylvania State University. The university claims the seven campuses face overlapping challenges including low enrollment, high operating costs and significant maintenance backlog. “I will vote in favor of closing these campuses,” stated Matt McGloin, member, Board of Trustees. Former Penn State Quarterback and Lackawanna County commissioner Matt McGloin was among majority to approve the closure. He says he’s confident it was the right decision. “We have lost that belief in our people that perhaps we aren’t the board this university deserves,” voiced Jay Paterno, member, Board of Trustees. Jay Paterno, son of the late coach Joe Paterno, voted “No”. “To all those students, families, and faculty, we hear you, we see you, we respect you, and we are committed to supporting you,” stated Brandon Short, member, board of trustees. Penn State Wilkes-Barre located in Luzerne County’s Back Mountain is home to roughly 400 students. During the meeting, members shared many messages to those impacted, but say reality has set in. They explained the combination of fewer college aged students in pennsylvania and community college’s offering more affordable options caused these PSU campuses to suffer. The university’s president added: this tough decision paves the way toward a brighter tomorrow. “We will still be touching more lives than any other institution of its kind, but with this plan now, we can plan for our future with clarity,” said Bendapudi. The future of the Wilkes-Barre campus staff, students and faculty is a bit up in the air. According to our news partners at Spotlight PA, the university estimates closing the campus will save around 50 million dollars a year, as well as eliminating 200 million in needed maintenance. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PAhomepage.com. Source link #Penn #State #closing #satellite #campuses Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

‘America is not for *****:’ Protesters mob Trump golf course guests ahead of exclusive crypto dinner – The Independent ‘America is not for *****:’ Protesters mob Trump golf course guests ahead of exclusive crypto dinner – The Independent ‘America is not for *****:’ Protesters mob Trump golf course guests ahead of exclusive crypto dinner The IndependentHundreds Join Trump at ‘Exclusive’ Dinner, With Dreams of Crypto Fortunes in Mind The New York TimesWealthy foreign crypto investors descend on President Trump’s golf club for $148 million meme coin dinner ReutersExclusive | A Crypto Billionaire Who Feared Arrest in the U.S. Returns for Dinner With Trump WSJProtesters Yell ‘Shame!’ at Guests of Trump’s Memecoin Dinner Yahoo Finance Source link #America #***** #Protesters #mob #Trump #golf #guests #ahead #exclusive #crypto #dinner #Independent Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Erdogan denies bid to change Turkey’s constitution means he’ll run for presidency again Erdogan denies bid to change Turkey’s constitution means he’ll run for presidency again Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denied he is trying to change the constitution so that he can stay on when his term ends in three years’ time. Erdogan has led Turkey for 22 years, first as prime minister from 2003 and then as its elected president since 2014. But he cannot run again unless the rules are changed or he calls early elections. “We want the new constitution not for ourselves, but for our country. I have no interest in being re-elected or running for office again,” he told reporters on Thursday. And yet Erdogan’s recent remarks and actions have heightened speculation that he wants to remain president after his term ends in 2028. Last January he was asked by a singer if he was up for running for another term and he said, “I am, if you are.” The next day his party’s spokesman confirmed the issue was on their agenda: “What is important is that our nation wants it.” While many Turks will be keen for Erdogan to continue as president, he is trailing in the opinion polls behind the opposition mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, who was arrested in March and remains in jail. Imamoglu’s arrest on alleged corruption charges, which he denies, has been widely seen by his supporters as politically motivated and has sparked some of the biggest protests Turkey has seen in more than a decade. Polls suggest that support for the mayor has risen since he was detained in prison in Silivri, west of Istanbul. Authorities have succeeded in blocking his social media feed on X inside Turkey and they have continued to target his city administration, detaining at least 18 staff on suspicion of corruption in recent days, including the municipality’s public relations chief Taner Cetin. Although Imamoglu’s detention in jail has been widely criticised internationally, President Erdogan has largely escaped censure, with Western allies viewing him as a key Nato ally. In his comments to reporters on Wednesday, Erdogan said Turkey’s constitution did not reflect the views of civilians as it was mainly written in the wake of a 1980 military coup, even though it has been amended. “In such a rapidly changing world, is it possible to get anywhere with a constitution that was written under the conditions of a coup?” he asked. The current constitution only allows two five-year presidential terms. Erdogan is already on his third, but he argued his initial term took place before Turkey moved from parliamentary rule to presidential rule. That change required a constitutional referendum in 2017 that gave Erdogan sweeping powers, but still only allows two presidential terms. To obtain another referendum he needs the backing of 360 MPs in the 600-seat parliament, but can currently only rely on 321. With 400 votes he could change the constitution immediately. His recent move to bring an end to more than four decades of conflict with the Kurdish militant PKK has been interpreted by some as a bid to attract Kurdish support for a new constitution. Erdogan said on Wednesday that by laying down its arms the PKK would enable the pro-Kurdish DEM party to continue in politics “in a much stronger way”. The DEM party has 56 MPs and, with their backing, Erdogan would have a far greater chance in parliament to change the constitution. The deputy chairman of Ekrem Imamoglu’s opposition CHP party, Ali Mahir Basarir, said Erdogan had no chance of running again because of a constitution that he had designed himself. Erdogan could also call early elections, but he wasn’t allowing those either, Basarir said. Source link #Erdogan #denies #bid #change #Turkeys #constitution #means #hell #run #presidency Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Samos: The House That Holds a Village in Manolates Samos: The House That Holds a Village in Manolates In 1924, Haralambos Velonis, a 30-year-old vine-grower, settled in the mountain village of Manolates in northern Samos after marrying local woman Maroudio Kondyli. They moved into a late 19th-century house purchased by her father, as part of her dowry. The house bore witness to a life of fortitude and disillusionment. Today, it holds the stories of an entire village – and more. “This house tells the story of its residents,” says current owner Nikitas Kyparissis, “but at the same time, it tells the story of the village – and, through that, the story of this eastern Aegean island.” A conservator and artisan in his late 40s, Kyparissis has spent years transforming the house into a folklore museum to showcase his growing private collection. The result of his efforts, Manolates Folk Collection – The House of Velonis, is fully open to visitors as of this season – a modest yet moving exhibition space. “Where someone might once have simply strolled through a narrow village street, stopped for a bit, had a drink, looked around and left – they are now invited to step into a home,” he says. “Through the objects, the sounds, the smells, they can experience the life journey of the people who lived here.” The bedroom. © Nikolas Sfantos The bedroom. © Nikolas Sfantos The bedroom, with a traditional icon stand positioned above the headboard. © Nikolas Sfantos The bedroom, with a traditional icon stand positioned above the headboard. © Nikolas Sfantos A burly man with blond hair, green eyes and a sonorous voice, Kyparissis moved to Manolates – the village where his grandmother, the local baker, was born – two decades ago; he was the same age as Velonis when he first arrived. Disillusioned with big city life, he left Athens behind. With support from his family, who sold an apartment in the capital, he was eventually able to purchase the abandoned and dilapidated property. He started by opening an eclectic souvenir shop in the basement, selling handcrafted items of his own design to make a living. Kyparissis, an artist, activist and community leader who has become a vital presence in the village, playing a key role in reviving and celebrating local traditions, initially found himself swept up in the same wave of tourism that, over the past 25 to 30 years, had reshaped the settlement – gradually displacing vine-growing as the main source of income while eroding its traditional character. It is precisely that erosion he is now working to resist. Nikitas Kyparissis photographed inside the museum’s eclectic gift shop. © Nikolas Sfantos Nikitas Kyparissis photographed inside the museum’s eclectic gift shop. © Nikolas Sfantos “What pushed me to establish the museum was the deadness I felt in the village,” says Kyparissis, who is often found outside his store, playing the tsampouna – a traditional Greek bagpipe. “My grandparents’ generation is gone. My parents’ generation – the people born in the 1940s – is fading fast.” Today, Manolates has just 60 residents, less than a dozen of whom are children. “In a decade, that number will drop below 20,” he predicts. “So who will tell the stories of these people?” Nestled in the lush, green slopes of Mount Karvounis (also known as Ambelos), at an altitude of 320 meters, Manolates overlooks the Aegean Sea and the southwestern coast of Turkey. The village began as a typical rural Samian settlement of vine-growers. First inhabited in the late 18th century, homes were usually two-story structures – families lived upstairs while the ground floor, or “katoi,” served as storage, shop space, or stables. The living room – referred to by locals as the ’sala’ or ’ontas’ – features photographs of Velonis’ in-laws hanging above the sofa. On the chest of drawers sits the ****** case that once held the phonograph he brought back from the United States. © Nikolas Sfantos The living room – referred to by locals as the ’sala’ or ’ontas’ – features photographs of Velonis’ in-laws hanging above the sofa. On the chest of drawers sits the ****** case that once held the phonograph he brought back from the United States. © Nikolas Sfantos The museum occupies a building created by merging two adjoining houses that face the small but cozy square at the heart of the village. One half features neoclassical elements; the other bears Ottoman architectural influences, most characteristically a type of bay window called “sachnisi.” It’s a clear reflection of how the eastern Aegean island’s diverse and largely understudied folkloric identity has been shaped by its proximity to Asia Minor. Kyparissis was fortunate to complete the structural restoration of the house just a year before Samos was struck by a 7-magnitude earthquake in 2020 – a disaster that claimed two lives and damaged numerous monuments and heritage buildings, including another folklore museum in the southern village of Koumeika. Working with meticulous care and deep affection, he revived the home’s interior – including the living room, dining room, kitchen and bedroom – restoring them to a state of arrested decline. Visitors can now experience a carefully curated array of objects: humble kitchenware, handcrafted furniture, woven rugs, bed linens, vestments, books, family photographs and rare archival materials – including documents dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. “The greatest challenge,” Kyparissis says, “is how to present something that has died – exactly as it was, just before it died.” The staircase leading to the upper floor – reserved for family life – is adorned with flower pots, a distinctive feature of Manolates. © Nikolas Sfantos The staircase leading to the upper floor – reserved for family life – is adorned with flower pots, a distinctive feature of Manolates. © Nikolas Sfantos Kyparissis started by opening an eclectic souvenir shop in the basement, selling handcrafted items of his own design to make a living. © Nikolas Sfantos Kyparissis started by opening an eclectic souvenir shop in the basement, selling handcrafted items of his own design to make a living. © Nikolas Sfantos He was deliberate about avoiding clutter. “We didn’t want to overfill the space. That would have undermined the feeling of a modest, provincial home,” he explains. “When electricity first came, there was just a wire, a socket and a bulb – maybe a proper fixture only in the ‘good’ room. It was all about function, not design.” “If I start adding fixtures or covering the walls with photos, I distort the truth. The walls were mostly bare – we had exactly seven framed pieces, each in its rightful place. This is not a storeroom of miscellaneous objects. Everything must serve a purpose.” Preserving what matters without tipping into excess is a delicate balancing act. But perhaps what resonates most is the realization that the once-dismissed everyday objects of rural life now carry the weight of memory and loss. “Greek visitors always say two things,” Kyparissis notes. “First: ‘This looks just like grandma’s house.’ Then, almost inevitably: ‘We had one of these – and we threw it away.’ And honestly,” he adds, “your heart breaks.” The cellar, known as the ‘katoi’ in Greek, was traditionally used to store wine, olive oil, and other food supplies. © Nikolas Sfantos The cellar, known as the ‘katoi’ in Greek, was traditionally used to store wine, olive oil, and other food supplies. © Nikolas Sfantos One of the museum’s most significant exhibits is a Columbia Grafonola phonograph that once belonged to Velonis. As a young man, he had left for America in search of a better life. Ten years later, he returned to his native village of Stavrinides – a walk along a cobbled path from Manolates – with his savings and a few treasured belongings, including the phonograph and a handful of Greek records made in the USA. It was a tangible fragment of Hellenism from the New World. “That phonograph is a symbol of constant migration, of the struggle people face to stand on their own feet and maintain a livelihood,” Kyparissis explains. “It also represents Greek identity – an identity shaped by movement, by the ebb and flow of people and culture.” The kitchen, featuring a fireplace and a gas cylinder-powered oven. © Nikolas Sfantos The kitchen, featuring a fireplace and a gas cylinder-powered oven. © Nikolas Sfantos After his wedding and move to Manolates in 1924, Velonis worked as a vine-grower and wine merchant. Manolates was no stranger to class divisions, and Velonis – like his wife’s family – belonged to one of the few well-off households in the village. He became a landowner, thanks to the money he brought back from the US, and employed farm laborers. Velonis’ fortune came to an abrupt end with the Axis occupation, plunging him back into the hardship he had once escaped. In May 1941, Samos came under Italian control, with the 6th Infantry Division “Cuneo” stationed on the island. That winter, the Great Famine devastated Samos, killing over 2,000 residents and forcing thousands more to flee. Velonis’ wine cellars were looted repeatedly by the Italian forces, trade ground to a halt and life deteriorated under occupation. One of his daughters died of ********* during this *******. Although he resumed his work in the vineyards after the war, it was an ordeal that contributed to his early death. “In a way,” Kyparissis reflects, “this house shows that people often share a common fate – a fate not unlike Velonis’ own.” A portrait of Eleftherios Venizelos (1864-1936), a prominent Greek statesman of the early 20th century. Next to it, a porcelain cup bearing the green sun emblem of PASOK, Greece’s social democratic political party. © Nikolas Sfantos A portrait of Eleftherios Venizelos (1864-1936), a prominent Greek statesman of the early 20th century. Next to it, a porcelain cup bearing the green sun emblem of PASOK, Greece’s social democratic political party. © Nikolas Sfantos That shared sense of destiny becomes even more powerful when objects in the museum begin to engage visitors in a kind of dialogue. “When you show someone the phonograph and explain its story, it stops being just an artifact. It becomes part of the owner’s identity. And then a visitor might ask, ‘Did many people emigrate to America in the 1920s?’” Another such item is a delicate greeting card from the Italian army, discovered in the nearby village of Mytilinioi. Italian troops distributed blank cards to their soldiers, who wrote greetings and sent them home via military mail. “A visitor might come across that card and suddenly realize that this isn’t just Samos’ story; it’s part of something *******. Whether they come from Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada, Turkey, or the Middle East, visitors begin to see how the story of Samos connects to their own.” “And that,” Kyparissis says, “is the moment someone feels, ‘I exist in this story too.’” Source link #Samos #House #Holds #Village #Manolates Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Perth traffic: Road closures on Mitchell Freeway, Graham Farmer Freeway, parts of CBD for HBF Run for a Reason Perth traffic: Road closures on Mitchell Freeway, Graham Farmer Freeway, parts of CBD for HBF Run for a Reason Road closures will be in place this weekend as runners hit the Perth streets for HBF Run for a Reason on Sunday morning. Motorists have been advised to plan their routes ahead of the event as roads in and out of the CBD and along the three running routes will be closed from 4am to 1pm. The temporary road closures will impact William Street from 11pm on Saturday, May 24; Mitchell Freeway south bound from Vincent Street to Mill Point Road on Sunday from 4am to 10am and Graham Farmer Freeway west bound from 4am to 11am. See the full list of road closures HERE. The event starting line is at the intersection of Hay Street and William Street, with participants crossing the finish line at Gloucester Park, Perth. If you’d like to view this content, please adjust your Cookie Settings. To find out more about how we use cookies, please see our Cookie Guide. All the roads in the CBD and along the running routes will be open by 1pm on Sunday. There will be sections of road unaffected by closures — parts of St Georges and Adelaide Terrace west bound and Riverside Drive and Wellington Street will remain open with detours and alternate routes in place. According to the event page, the quickest way out of the CBD will be to head north on Wellington Street. Suggested routes for those travelling south were also provided. “For those traveling south on the freeway you will need to detour via Graham Farmer Freeway eastbound to Great Eastern Hwy. “If continuing south, travel via Canning Hwy and back onto the Kwinana Freeway at Canning Bridge.” Public transport for runners and volunteers will be free on event day until 3pm. Camera IconCompetitors run north along the Mitchell Freeway in the 2018 HBF Run For A Reason. Credit: Megan Powell/The West *********** Source link #Perth #traffic #Road #closures #Mitchell #Freeway #Graham #Farmer #Freeway #parts #CBD #HBF #Run #Reason Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Telegram’s CEO built two dominant social networks from scratch before 40 and has fathered more than 100 biological children. He’s also facing up to 10 years in prison Telegram’s CEO built two dominant social networks from scratch before 40 and has fathered more than 100 biological children. He’s also facing up to 10 years in prison Telegram just announced its first annual profit, raking in $540 million in 2024. Revenues also hit $1.4 billion, up from $343 million a year ago. The company is fully owned by Pavel Durov, the 40-year-old billionaire wunderkind who’s often been called the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia, and who also happens to be facing criminal charges right now. Pavel Durov, the man behind the encrypted messaging service Telegram, is one of the most interesting figures in the world of tech. While he’s often compared to Mark Zuckerberg, given his penchant for launching successful social-media companies, he also has a lot in common with world’s richest man—and fellow free-speech absolutist—Elon Musk. Durov, like Musk, is a pro-natalist, meaning he is a strong proponent of having more children to populate the planet. Though Durov says he “has never been married and prefers to live alone,” he also announced last July he has “over 100 biological kids.” In a Telegram post, the billionaire CEO claimed since a friend approached him over 15 years ago to donate ****** so he and his wife could have a baby, he’s now “helped over a hundred couples in 12 countries to have kids,” and “at least one IVF clinic still has my frozen ****** available for anonymous use by families who want to have kids.” Durov is an intriguing and polarizing figure, who has had his fair share of pits and peaks in just 40 years of life. Pavel Durov was born in October 1984 in Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg—though it was Leningrad back then, before the Soviet Union was officially dissolved in 1991. While Durov’s grandfather served in the Soviet Red Army during World War II, and his father was a scholar and faculty head at Saint Petersburg State University, Durov actually spent many years growing up in Turin, Italy, after moving to the Mediterranean country at the age of four. Durov, like his older brother Nikolai, was a math prodigy. In one of his rare interviews, a 2024 sit-down with Tucker Carlson, Durov said he and Nikolai won multiple gold medals at the International Math Olympiad and were featured on Italian television several times to solve cubic equations in real-time. When his family moved back to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, they brought a parting gift from Italy: an IBM personal computer. Durov told Carlson that meant he was in “one of the few families in Russia who could actually teach ourselves how to program.” Durov was a prodigious coder. He built a popular forum for his university—Saint Petersburg State, the same school where his father worked—while he was a student there. But in 2006, one of his classmates introduced him to Facebook, which led the pair to create a social network of their own. (A third classmate became the third co-founder.) Story Continues Their creation, VKontakte (also known as VK), launched in September of that year, and amassed a million users just eight months later. Less than a year after that, their user base swelled to 10 million. By December 2008, Durov was the proud operator of Russia’s most popular social network. Durov reigned as VK’s CEO until April 21, 2014. Just three weeks after an April Fool’s joke gone wrong—Durov submitted his resignation to the board on April 1, but insisted it was only meant as a joke—the company removed him as VK’s chief executive. “Interestingly, the shareholders did not have the courage to do this directly and I learned about my mysterious dismissal from the press,” Durov wrote on VK the day he was fired. Durov, who had a contentious relationship with Russian authorities after refusing several requests to remove opposition politicians’ pages from VK, said at the time his ouster meant the company had been taken over by Vladimir Putin’s allies. Just five days later, on April 26, Durov left Russia and said he had “no plans to go back” because “the country is incompatible with internet business at the moment.” During his time as VK’s CEO, Durov had several run-ins with the government. So in 2013, when he was still leading efforts at the social network, he and his brother Nikolai decided to launch a messaging service built on end-to-end encryption, to keep private messages free from government interference. The brothers launched Telegram Messenger in August that year, first for the iPhone, and later for Android devices. (A year later, Mark Zuckerberg directed Facebook to buy Whatsapp in a blockbuster $19 billion deal. Durov told TechCrunch‘s Mike Butcher at the time “it doesn’t matter how many messaging apps are out there if all of them *****.”) After Durov left Russia following his ouster from VK, The New York Times reported Durov was “moving from country to country every few weeks with a small band of computer programmers. One day he is in Paris, another in Singapore.” Eventually, Durov set up shop with his team in Berlin, Germany, in 2014 before later moving its headquarters to Dubai in 2017. The company says it spreads its servers across the world so “no single government or block of like-minded countries can intrude on a user’s privacy and freedom of expression,” according to a company spokesperson, who also added that Telegram “will perform a legal analysis of the request and may disclose the individual’s IP address and phone number to the relevant authorities” if a user is a suspect in a criminal case that would violate the app’s terms of service. Telegram now has one billion users and became profitable for the first time last year. According to The Financial Times, after announcing a $173 million loss in 2023 on just $343 million in revenue, the company reported $540 million in profit in 2024 on a whopping $1.4 billion in revenue. Telegram, which has issued about $2.4 billion in bonds over the past four years (and repurchased $375 million worth of them between September and December of last year), the company has also made in-roads with “conversational AI,” partnering with Elon Musk’s xAI to integrate its chatbot, Grok, into the social network. In August 2024, French authorities detained Durov after his private jet landed outside Paris, alleging he enabled and allowed ******** activity— such as drug trafficking, fraud, and child *******-abuse materials— to flow through Telegram. While he was forced to stay in the country at the time, he was finally allowed to leave France in March of this year, albeit temporarily, to visit Dubai. Durov faces up to 10 years in prison, if convicted. His criminal case has re-invigorated debate around the extent tech executives should be responsible for the activities that happen on their platforms. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pled guilty in 2024 to money-laundering violations that happened on its crypto platform, and Ross Ulbricht, creator of the ****** market Silk Road, was convicted of using the internet to facilitate a criminal enterprise. But while Ulbricht was sentenced to double life in prison, plus 40 years, without the possibility of parole, he was released from prison after serving 12 years in jail, in January 2025, after he received a full and unconditional pardon by President Trump. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com Source link #Telegrams #CEO #built #dominant #social #networks #scratch #fathered #biological #children #Hes #facing #years #prison Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Asian shares make cautious gains as beaten-down Treasuries find support – Reuters Asian shares make cautious gains as beaten-down Treasuries find support – Reuters Asian shares make cautious gains as beaten-down Treasuries find support ReutersAsian Equities Advance While Treasuries Hold Gains: Markets Wrap BloombergAsia-Pacific markets mostly climb as investors assess slew of economic data CNBCAsian stocks rise and oil prices slip after Treasury yields ease Yahoo FinanceAsian markets shudder on US national debt fears Asia Times Source link #Asian #shares #cautious #gains #beatendown #Treasuries #find #support #Reuters Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

AFL mid-season draft: Former Waalitj Marawar (West Coast) WAFL midfielder linked to Collingwood AFL mid-season draft: Former Waalitj Marawar (West Coast) WAFL midfielder linked to Collingwood A former Waalitj Marawar (West Coast) WAFL midfielder is a chance to land at Collingwood in the mid-season rookie draft next week after a breakout season in their VFL side. Source link #AFL #midseason #draft #Waalitj #Marawar #West #Coast #WAFL #midfielder #linked #Collingwood Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Honor 400, Honor 400 Pro With Snapdragon SoCs, 200-Megapixel Main Camera Launched: Price, Specifications Honor 400, Honor 400 Pro With Snapdragon SoCs, 200-Megapixel Main Camera Launched: Price, Specifications Honor 400 and Honor 400 Pro have been launched in select global markets on Thursday. The base Honor 400 runs on a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset, while the Honor 400 Pro has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC under the hood. The vanilla model has a 6.55-inch display, whereas the Honor 400 Pro gets a ******* 6.7-inch display. They flaunt 200-megapixel rear camera units and offer multiple AI-based features. They have 5,300mAh batteries with support for 100W wired charging. The Pro model has an IP68 + IP69 dust and water resistance rating. Honor 400 Pro, Honor 400 Price Price of Honor 400 Pro is set at GBP 699 (roughly Rs. 80,000) for the 12GB RAM + 512GB storage model. It is available in Lunar Grey, Tidal Blue, and Midnight ****** shades. Meanwhile, the Honor 400 is priced at GBP 399 (roughly Rs. 48,000) for the 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant and GBP 449 (roughly Rs. 51,000) for the 8GB RAM + 512GB option. The standard model comes in Desert Gold, Meteor Silver, and Midnight ****** shades. Both handsets are currently available for purchase in select global markets. Honor 400 series will be unveiled in China on May 28 at 7:30pm (5:00pm IST). Honor 400 Pro Specifications The dual SIM (Nano+eSIM) Honor 400 Pro runs on Android 15-based MagicOS 9.0 and features a 6.7-inch full-HD+ (1,280×2,800 pixels) display with up to 120Hz refresh rate and a DCI-P3 wide colour gamut. The screen is touted to deliver 5,000-nits peak brightness and 460ppi pixel density. It runs on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset with Adreno 750 GPU, up to 12GB RAM and up to 512GB storage. The Honor 400 Pro has a triple rear camera setup, headlined by a 200-megapixel 1/1.4-inch main camera with an f/1.9 aperture and OIS support. The camera unit includes a 50-megapixel Sony IMX856 telephoto camera with OIS and 3X optical zoom and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera. It carries a 50-megapixel wide-angle camera on the front for selfies and video calls. Connectivity options on the Honor 400 Pro include Bluetooth 5.4, GPS, AGPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, NFC, Galileo, USB Type-C, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be, and OTG. Sensors onboard include an ambient light sensor, compass, fingerprint sensor, gravity sensor, IR control and proximity light sensor. The phone is IP68 + IP69 certified for dust and water resistance. It offers dual stereo speakers. The Honor 400 Pro carries a 5,300mAh Silicon-Carbon battery with 100W wired and 50W wireless charging. The wired charging technology is advertised to fill the battery from zero to 51 percent in just 15 minutes, while the wireless charging feature is claimed to charge the battery from zero to 33 percent in 15 minutes. Honor states that the battery will retain a minimum 80 percent of its original capacity even after four years of use. Honor 400 Specifications The standard Honor 400 has the same SIM and software specifications as the Pro model. The Honor 400 ships with a 6.55-inch full-HD+ (1,264×2,736 pixels) AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate, 5,000-nits peak brightness, and 460ppi pixel density. It is equipped with a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset coupled with Adreno 720 GPU, up to 12GB of RAM, and a maximum 512GB of onboard storage. Honor 400 has a dual rear camera unit comprising a 200-megapixel 1/1.4-inch main sensor with f/1.9 aperture and OIS support and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with up to 30x digital zoom. It boasts a 50-megapixel selfie shooter. Connectivity options and sensors on the Honor 400 are identical to the Pro model. It has an IP66-certified build. It uses the same 5,300mAh Silicon-Carbon battery but gets only 100W wired charging. It measures 156.5×74.6×7.3mm and weighs around 184g. The Honor 400 series ships with several AI-based imaging features like HD Moving Photo, Moving Photo Collage, AI Eraser, AI Outpainting, and AI Portrait Snap, among others. It includes an “Image to Video” feature backed by Google Cloud, which can convert an image into a brief video. The series also comes with Google’s Gemini AI assistant. Source link #Honor #Honor #Pro #Snapdragon #SoCs #200Megapixel #Main #Camera #Launched #Price #Specifications Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Judge approves Rite Aid pharmacy sales to CVS, Walgreens others Judge approves Rite Aid pharmacy sales to CVS, Walgreens others This story was originally published on Healthcare Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Healthcare Dive newsletter. A bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved Rite Aid’s pharmacy asset sales to a variety of buyers, including some of the bankrupt drugstore chain’s rivals. Financial details were not disclosed, and ***** documents redacted purchase prices for Rite Aid’s assets, which went to retail pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens, along with grocers Albertsons, Kroger and Giant Eagle and other buyers. Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy for the second time in two years earlier this month, after the retail pharmacy couldn’t navigate challenges like flatlining reimbursement rates from payers, higher labor costs, lower consumer demand for frontstore merchandise and rising competition, including from disruptors like Amazon. Judge Michael Kaplan of New Jersey’s bankruptcy court greenlit Rite Aid’s fire ***** as the company looked to quickly sell its assets in a bid to make its lenders whole. Rite Aid entered bankruptcy with more than $2 billion in debt, despite exiting a previous bankruptcy in September. The liquidation is a growth opportunity for CVS, already the nation’s largest drugstore chain with more than 9,000 pharmacies. The Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based company purchased prescription files from 625 Rite Aid stores in 15 states and fully acquired 64 brick-and-mortar Rite Aid locations in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The deals are still subject to regulatory approval. However, nabbing Rite Aid’s prescription files — drug dispensing records from specific pharmacies — could help CVS onboard Rite Aid’s customers to its own pharmacy locations. In a statement Wednesday, CVS welcomed “those who may be transitioning to us from Rite Aid” if the transactions close, and also said it’s open to hiring any Rite Aid pharmacy employees who lose their jobs during the bankruptcy process. Recommended Reading Source link #Judge #approves #Rite #Aid #pharmacy #sales #CVS #Walgreens Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Klarna CEO and Sutter Hill take victory lap after Jony Ive’s OpenAI deal – TechCrunch Klarna CEO and Sutter Hill take victory lap after Jony Ive’s OpenAI deal – TechCrunch Klarna CEO and Sutter Hill take victory lap after Jony Ive’s OpenAI deal TechCrunchExclusive | What Sam Altman Told OpenAI About the Secret Device He’s Making With Jony Ive WSJOpenAI recruits legendary iPhone designer Jony Ive to work on AI hardware in $6.5B deal AP NewsOpenAI’s Ambitions Just Became Crystal Clear The AtlanticSam and Jony introduce io OpenAI Source link #Klarna #CEO #Sutter #Hill #victory #lap #Jony #Ives #OpenAI #deal #TechCrunch Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

William Tyrrell’s foster mum has big legal win William Tyrrell’s foster mum has big legal win William Tyrrell’s foster mother has had her conviction for assaulting and intimidating a child quashed on appeal after a judge found that she was under extraordinary stress at the time amid a heartbreaking set of circumstances surrounding the toddler’s disappearance. The 59-year-old woman, who cannot be identified, appeared before the Downing Centre District Court on Friday where she learned her convictions would be quashed and her sentence would be reduced over a series of incidents which were captured on secret police recordings. The foster mother was convicted for a number of incidents which relate to a child, who is not William, inside her family home in 2021. She appeared before an appeal hearing in April, arguing that her sentence and convictions should be quashed for charges of intimidation and assault. She was found guilty in the local court of intimidation relating to threats to slap the child during an argument inside her family home over the unloading of a dishwasher in 2021. As part of the investigation into William’s disappearance, police planted surveillance devices in the home and car of William’s foster parents. In a recording previously played to the court, the woman repeatedly admonished the child, saying at one point: “I’m going to slap you” and “I’m sick to death of it”. Camera IconWilliam Tyrrell’s foster mother (right) and foster father (left). NewsWire/Nikki Short. Credit: News Corp Australia The woman was also convicted in the Local Court for two counts of assault after she pleaded guilty to kicking the child and hitting the child with a wooden spoon. She was sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order. The court heard the incidents occurred in January and October 2021 but she was not charged until November that year because police were waiting for her to appear at a secretive NSW Crime Commission hearing. Her legal team argued the wooden spoon incident was a case of “excessive lawful correction”, pointing out she had shown remorse immediately to the child and a friend. Judge Miiko Kumar found while the intimidation and assault offences were proven, she said they should have been dealt with without proceeding to conviction, She quashed the woman’s convictions and ordered that she serve a 12-month conditional release order, which require her to be of good behaviour. Judge Kumar took into account the woman’s mental health, that she had led a “blameless” life, had no criminal record and had been a person who had fostered many children. She said the incidents occurred against a “unique” and “heartbreaking” set of circumstances and her subjective case was “about as powerful… as could be imagined”. “At the time she had been under an extraordinary degree of emotional distress in the shadow of the disappearance of a foster child without knowing what had been his fate,” Judge Kumar said. The woman did not speak to media outside court on Friday as lengthy court proceedings against the woman and her husband came to an end. Camera IconWilliam Tyrrell vanished in 2014. Supplied Credit: Supplied The court previously heard she was considered by police to be a person of interest and that she was suspected of having disposed of William’s body. It’s an allegation she was repeatedly denied and her barrister John Stratton SC earlier this year described them as “unfounded suspicions”. William was three when he vanished from his foster grandmother’s home at Kendall on the NSW Mid-North Coast in September 2014. No one has ever been charged with William’s disappearance and an inquest into his suspected death is due to hand down its findings in the near future. The woman was charged with lying to the Crime Commission after being asked about the wooden spoon incident. And she was in November 2022 acquitted after a magistrate found it could not be found beyond a reasonable doubt that she had knowingly lied. In February, William’s foster father also had his conviction quashed for intimidating a child relating to an incident during which he yelled and swore at the child as he took them to school in November, 2020. Source link #William #Tyrrells #foster #mum #big #legal #win Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Republicans Sneak Terrifying Gun Law Change Into Trump’s Budget Bill Republicans Sneak Terrifying Gun Law Change Into Trump’s Budget Bill Republicans narrowly passed Donald Trump’s sweeping budget reconciliation bill through the House Wednesday night, including a last-minute provision that would not require gun owners to register the purchase of silencers. Georgia Representative Andrew Clyde had already ensured the elimination of a $200 transfer tax on gun silencers. But during negotiations Wednesday, he was able to add another provision altogether removing silencers from the regulatory purview of the National Firearms Act, which imposes taxes on the manufacture, distribution, and import of weapons, according to Politico. The last-minute addition would strike another $200 tax on the manufacture of gun silencers. But by removing silencers from the purview of the National Firearms Act, lawmakers said that the change also had eliminated the NFA’s registration requirement with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives. “The question I have is, this was not in the bill that we were marking up. So, whose vote was bought with this provision that silencers will no longer need to be registered with the ATF or subject to background check purchasers?” asked Colorado Representative Joe Neguse on the House floor Wednesday night. “What member was on the fence about this bill, and then went to Republican leadership and said, ‘I know you’re eliminating the tax on silencers but if you can just eliminate all regulation on silencers, I will vote for this bill?’” Georgia Representative Austin Scott claimed that silencers’ exception from ATF registry did not mean that purchasers would not be subject to background checks. Scott, who argued in support of the provision, seemed confused about what it was actually about. He said it was about suppressors, rather than silencers—but that was incorrect. When a person attempts to buy a firearm, they must complete an ATF form, and the seller then relays information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation website. The NICS staff then performs a check to see whether the buyer has a criminal record or is in any way ineligible to purchase the firearm. If the purchaser is not required to fill out a form with the ATF to purchase a silencer, it’s not clear how a background check would still be completed. “Quite frankly, what is in the reconciliation bill does more to support assassins than it does American families,” said Massachusetts Representative Jim McGovern. There was some laughter in the hall. “Yeah, well you know what? Talk to law enforcement, talk to people who have been victims of gun violence,” McGovern continued. “I know you think it’s funny, but I don’t.” Source link #Republicans #Sneak #Terrifying #Gun #Law #Change #Trumps #Budget #Bill Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Supreme Court signals Trump can’t fire Fed Chair Powell – Politico Supreme Court signals Trump can’t fire Fed Chair Powell – Politico Supreme Court signals Trump can’t fire Fed Chair Powell PoliticoSupreme Court insulates Fed as it backs Trump firing of agency leaders CNBCSupreme Court upholds Trump’s removal of Biden appointees from federal boards Fox NewsSupreme Court grants Trump request to fire certain independent agency members, says Federal Reserve is different NBC NewsSupreme Court declines to reinstate independent agency board members fired by President Donald Trump AP News Source link #Supreme #Court #signals #Trump #fire #Fed #Chair #Powell #Politico Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Liverpool boss Arne Slot on titles, Trent and transfers Liverpool boss Arne Slot on titles, Trent and transfers When asked how he had set about building on the work done by Klopp after Liverpool ended the 2023-24 Premier League season nine points behind Manchester City in third, Slot said: “Of course it helps, if you outperform at a club like Feyenoord. “[I got] a lot of confidence, that they didn’t only bring me in to win the league – it was also my playing style and Jurgen left this club, this team, in a great place.” Klopp won eight trophies in his time on Merseyside, including the Premier League title in 2020 and a Champions League win the previous year. “The culture of this team and the way people work here together has been a joy to step into,” Slot said. “I didn’t have to first get the discipline going – these guys were so disciplined and working so hard, and I saw already that there was a lot of quality over here. “The way they prepare themselves, the way they are ready for every game, every three days, gives you the confidence that we are able to win against any team. “What we needed to do was do a few things better.” Slot said when he arrived at Anfield his aim had been to qualify for the Champions League. “And like you see now, that’s not an easy task in this country, because so many very good teams are competing for that,” he said. “But the moment I started working with the players… and that was only two weeks before the start of the season, I felt like, ‘oh, this is definitely quality’.” Winning the title, he said, was “an achievement that we hoped for”. “We worked really hard, but to say we expected it, I expected it, would be a bit too much,” he added. Nevertheless, the season will end with Monday’s bus parade to mark Liverpool’s record-equalling 20th title. “I think these moments will be one of the most special moments in your life, professional-wise, maybe the most special moment,” Slot said. Celebrating Feyenoord’s title success with 100,000 people had been “very special”, he said, but “to do it with a multiple of that will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime experience”. “Although, we are planning to win a few things more at this club, so let’s hope it’s not going to be the last time,” he added. Source link #Liverpool #boss #Arne #Slot #titles #Trent #transfers Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Woodchipper ********* seeks claim of victim’s money Woodchipper ********* seeks claim of victim’s money The orchestrator of a horror woodchipper ******* plot has launched a bid to claim some of her victim’s money. Sharon Graham is serving a life sentence after being found guilty of ******* following her grisly plan to kill her ex-partner Bruce Saunders for insurance money. But she has appealed the conviction and applied for a share of his estate, years after Mr Saunders was fed into an industrial woodchipper on a Sunshine Coast property. All that was left of his body were the legs. A Supreme Court preliminary decision revealed Graham had made a claim saying she was entitled to some of Mr Saunders’ money “as a result of contributions she made”. Mr Saunders, 53, left his entire estate to Graham in his last will made in October 2017. Weeks later the popular butcher was hit on the head with an iron bar and fed into a woodchipper as he cleared vegetation on a friend’s rural property in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Mr Saunders’ estate includes $34,441 after the 2018 ***** of his Nambour home, with the majority of proceeds paying off his loan. Graham’s ******* conviction ensured she was not eligible to administer his estate. However, she can seek a share if her conviction appeal is successful. The preliminary decision handed down by Justice Peter Davis on Tuesday mentioned Graham’s claim for a share of the estate, which is being administered by the public trustee. “She has appealed against her conviction, but the appeal has not been heard,” it said. “Ms Graham asserts that she held an equitable interest in the (Mr Saunders) property as a result of contributions she made.” At Graham’s 2023 trial the jury heard she planned to ******* Mr Saunders and make it look like he fell into a woodchipper by accident, asking her then-partner Greg Roser and Peter Koenig to carry it out. Koenig told the jury he saw Roser hit Mr Saunders multiple times on the head with the iron bar before helping carry the lifeless body to the woodchipper. Koenig said he placed Mr Saunders on the chipper tray and used a stick to push him in. The police’s suspicions were raised by bloodstains found on the woodchipper’s feeding tray that were inconsistent with claims Mr Saunders had died by falling into the machine. Graham received a life sentence as did Roser, who was found guilty of ******* in 2022. Roser has also appealed the verdict. Koenig received a lesser sentence for being an accessory to ******* after an undertaking he testify in Roser and Graham’s trials. “There are no words for the likes of you … by my observation you have displayed all the hallmarks of deep-seated psychopathy,” Justice Martin Burns told Graham at her sentencing. Source link #Woodchipper #********* #seeks #claim #victims #money Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

A Paris court will deliver the verdict in Kim Kardashian jewelry heist trial A Paris court will deliver the verdict in Kim Kardashian jewelry heist trial PARIS (AP) — A decade after robbers stormed Kim Kardashian’s luxury residence and tied her up at gunpoint, a Paris court is set Friday to decide the verdict in one of the most audacious celebrity heists in modern French history. Nine men and a woman stand accused of carrying out — or aiding — the crime during the 2016 Paris Fashion Week, when masked men dressed as police entered Kardashian’s Paris home, bound her with zip-ties and vanished with $6 million in jewels. At the heart of the trial is 70-year-old Aomar Aït Khedache, a veteran of Paris’ criminal underworld. Prosecutors have asked for a 10-year sentence. His DNA, found on the zip-ties used to bind Kardashian, cracked open the case. Wiretaps captured him giving orders, recruiting accomplices, and arranging to sell the diamonds in Belgium. The loot was never found. Khedache claims he was only a foot soldier. He blamed a mysterious “X” or “Ben” — someone prosecutors say never existed. The accused became known in France as “les papys braqueurs” — the grandpa robbers. Some arrived in court in orthopedic shoes and one leaned on a cane. Some read the proceedings from a screen, hard of hearing and nearly mute. But prosecutors warned observers not to be seduced by soft appearances. The trial is being heard by a panel of three judges and six jurors, who will need a majority vote to reach a verdict. The defendants face charges including armed robbery, kidnapping and gang association. If convicted, they could face life in prison. Kardashian’s testimony earlier this month was the emotional high point. In a packed courtroom, she recounted how she was thrown onto a bed, zip-tied, and had a gun pressed to her on the night of Oct. 2, 2016. “I absolutely did think I was going to die,” she said. “I have babies. I have to make it home. They can take everything. I just have to make it home.” She was dragged into a marble bathroom and told to stay silent. When the robbers fled, she freed herself by scraping the tape on her wrists off against the sink, then she hid with her friend, shaking and barefoot. She said Paris had once been her sanctuary — a city she would wander at 3 a.m., window shopping, stopping for hot chocolate. That illusion was shattered. The robbery echoed far beyond the City of Light. It forced a recalibration of celebrity behavior in the digital age. For years, Kardashian had curated her life like a showroom: geo-tagged, diamond-lit, public by design. But this was the moment the showroom turned into a crime scene. In her words, “People were watching… They knew where I was.” Afterward, she stopped posting her location in real time. She stripped her social media feed of lavish gifts and vanished from Paris for years. Other stars followed suit. Privacy became luxury. Defense attorneys have asked the court for leniency, citing the defendants’ age and health. But prosecutors insist that criminal experience, not frailty, defined the gang. On Friday morning, the accused will speak one final time before the court withdraws to deliberate. Even for France’s painstakingly thorough legal system, observers commented about how long it took for the case to be tried. Kardashian, who once said “this experience really changed everything,” hopes the verdict will offer a measure of closure. Source link #Paris #court #deliver #verdict #Kim #Kardashian #jewelry #heist #trial Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

North Korean Warship Seen Severely Damaged After Failed Launch – Bloomberg North Korean Warship Seen Severely Damaged After Failed Launch – Bloomberg North Korean Warship Seen Severely Damaged After Failed Launch BloombergKim Jong Un’s New Warship Capsizes at Launch Due to ‘Absolute Carelessness’ WSJKim Jong Un left fuming after North Korea’s new destroyer damaged in failed launch Fox News”Criminal act”: Kim Jong-un denounces failed North Korean warship launch AxiosFailed Launch and Damage of the Second Guided Missile Destroyer Beyond Parallel Source link #North #Korean #Warship #Severely #Damaged #Failed #Launch #Bloomberg Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Samsung Galaxy A26 Review: Keeping Up With the Times Samsung Galaxy A26 Review: Keeping Up With the Times Samsung’s formula for mid-range smartphones has not really changed for the better over the years. Year after year, we keep seeing slightly refreshed designs, which look and feel familiar, packed with hardware that powers a software experience, which also feels… very familiar. This isn’t “familiar” in a good way, but more in stagnated form, that some of its customers may actually prefer. Indeed, many go to Samsung for their software update commitment and the new Galaxy A26 does not disappoint on that front. It also gets design and display upgrades. While all of this sounds great, it’s still stuck behind the growing competition and here’s why. Samsung Galaxy A26 Design The Galaxy A26, the most affordable mid-range model in its A series, looks and feels premium. Samsung has used Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus+ for both the front and rear panels. Of the two, only the rear panel is good at rejecting smudges. The phone’s overall design has not changed and appears familiar to the Galaxy A25 launched last year. The small raised bump on the right side of the flat frame, highlighting the volume and power buttons, is still there, making them easy to find given the phone’s size. The raised bump around the volume and power buttons makes it easier to find them The Galaxy A26’s overall design makes an impression, giving a sense of quality and premium-ness, but flip it over, and the feeling goes away instantly. Despite the size upgrade from 6.5 to 6.7 inches, the Super AMOLED panel retains the thick borders from its predecessor, along with the ugly water drop notch and thick bottom edge. It definitely feels out of place on a mid-range smartphone in 2025, and it really makes one wonder why they are paying so much for a device with an outdated display—more on this in the performance section. The display glass on the Galaxy A26 gets smudged easily The glossy rear panel combined with the matte-finish polycarbonate mid-frame does make the phone very slippery. It’s good to put on a case (not included in the box) if you are clumsy. On that note, Samsung also gave the A26 an IP67 dust and water resistance rating. Going by the standard, this phone can withstand immersion in freshwater (up to 1 meter). However, just like all manufacturers, damage due to water ingress is not covered under warranty. So, use it in water only if you have to. Samsung Galaxy A26 Performance Despite the size upgrade, not much has changed compared to the previous model. The display’s colours appear a bit saturated even in the Natural screen colour mode. Viewing angles are great even though the brightness levels aren’t the best in class. So, it isn’t ideal for viewing content outdoors even though it’s sufficiently bright indoors. Naturally, you don’t get HDR10+ support, unlike some smartphones at this price point. But I’m happy to see Widevine L1 streaming quality supported. There’s just one bottom-firing speaker and it does not sound good Given that this is a mid-range device, I was a bit surprised to see just one bottom-firing speaker on the Galaxy A26. The speaker is quite poor when it comes to sound reproduction and produces very treble-heavy audio, which sounds more irritating than rich at high volume. Some smartphones offer much better audio quality at this price point. The device runs Samsung’s One UI 7 out of the box. Based on Android 15, it offers plenty of customisation along with the new look that version 7 delivers. Software operation is quite smooth. Samsung’s optimisations aside, this is also down to the 120Hz panel, which always sticks to the 120Hz refresh rate when set to High motion smoothness. This has other implications when it comes to battery life. The SuperAMOLED panel offers deep ******* but can you get past those thick borders and that notch? There are tons of AI tools to play around with but I found the language translation tool quite useful. The image editing tool was up for the job but could not handle slightly complex object-erasing queries like the high-end Galaxy models. The Now Bar relays Live Notifications from various apps (including system apps) to the lock screen making it quite useful. There’s the usual Samsung suite of apps but also a few third party apps from Microsoft, a VPN app and some pre-installed games. Out of these, the VPN app could not be uninstalled. One annoying thing I noticed when using the phone is the lock screen ads (from Samsung) being relayed via the Glance Lockscreen integration. The setting to disable this annoying default has been moved to the Wallpaper and style menu in Settings, where you have to choose ‘None’ instead of Dynamic, Glance or Samsung Global Goals. Samsung’s One UI 7 offers plenty of AI tools Gaming performance is very mid-range. With most games, you will get access to mid-level graphics options due to the phone’s chipset and RAM limitations. Still, I could play fast-paced games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt Legends Unite smoothly at default settings, which defaulted to medium settings with most effects turned off. Cranking up the settings did not make the Galaxy A26 sweat either. It’s just that the heat (despite the graphite sheets) eventually builds up, which is when you start to see slowdowns or skipped frames. Touch-sampling is satisfactory and there’s no noticeable touch-input lag when playing games. Samsung has still done a good job handling heat, so I did not see any pop-ups or notifications when using the camera outdoors or when playing games. As for benchmarks, the phone’s performance is similar to what other phones have achieved at this price point, save for the devices with a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 SoC, which performed better. Benchmarks Samsung Galaxy A26 Nothing Phone 3a Poco F6 Chipset Exynos 1380 (5nm) Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 (4nm) Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 (4nm) Display resolution FHD+ FHD+ 1.5K AnTuTu v10 6,08,318 8,04,179 14,57,491 PCMark Work 3.0 14,250 13,554 15,743 Geekbench 6 Single 1,013 1,158 1,835 Geekbench 6 Multi 2,932 3,255 4,693 GFXB T-rex 98 60 120 GFXB Manhattan 3.1 47 55 112 GFXB Car Chase 26 28 71 3DM Slingshot Extreme OpenGL 4,688 5,485 5,481 3DM Slingshot 5,820 6,954 4,655 3DM Wild Life 2,805 3,988 Maxed Out 3DM Wild Life Unlimited 2,733 4,175 11,734 Like the previous model, the Samsung Galaxy A26 offers three rear-facing cameras. The 50-megapixel primary (OIS), 8-megapixel ultra-wide and 2-megapixel macro setup remain the same as before. The selfie camera also retains the old 13-megapixel sensor. Samsung Galaxy A26 Primary camera samples (tap images to expand) The primary camera produces decent photos at best. The image quality is sub-par even in daylight (with slightly overcast conditions). The photos come out a bit overexposed, dynamic range is a bit off, but my biggest problem with this camera is that it’s not able to pull out details from a scene. Images are often low on resolved detail. In many instances, I also noticed random blurred patches where the camera seemed to have given up on processing finer patterns. Foliage appears like an oil painting. Colours appear natural but there’s a slightly bluish tone to all of them. Indeed this was unexpected given that this camera has optical image stabilisation (OIS). There’s a very noticeable watercolour effect in low light, meaning the textures appear like paintings, despite switching to the auto-night mode. (tap image to expand) Selfies show good colour detail and have good contrast. However, there is a noticeable halo-like ring around the subject, hinting at average edge detection. (tap image to expand) Portraits from the primary camera came out fine. Skin tones are accurate, but textures are low on resolved detail, edge detection is a bit too aggressive. (tap image to expand) The macro camera produces very poor photos with very low resolution, making it useless. I managed better pictures from the primary camera as it let me get close to the subject. (tap image to expand) Samsung Galaxy A26 ultrawide camera sample (tap image to expand) Photos from the ultrawide camera come out a bit darker, and have less detail and limited dynamic range, meaning it’s hard to spot any details in the shadows and darker coloured objects even in daylight. There’s also very noticeable purple fringing in the brighter spots and plenty of lens barrel distortion. Low-light photos are quite poor with the camera barely able to manage noise. 4K video recordings managed the best details but tended to skip focus while panning. The 4K 30 fps footage also lacks stabilisation and appears wobbly when panning or walking. 1080p video captured at 60 fps has a steady frame rate but also shows some wobbling when panning. 1080p 30 fps recordings managed the best stabilisation with slightly watered-down quality. When shooting in low light, 1080p video recorded at 30 fps managed the most stable footage but with very low detail. 4K 30 fps video recordings appeared wobbly and had a lot of noise. Despite packing a 5,000mah battery, the Galaxy A26’s screen time figures aren’t impressive Charging speeds and battery capacity haven’t changed since the Galaxy A25. So, we have a standard 5,000mAh battery that charges 30 percent in 30 minutes and completes the charge at a very leisurely pace in 1 hour and 57 minutes when plugged into a third-party 100W *** charger. Battery life isn’t great either. Our PCMark Battery Life test, which runs a series of daily tasks in loop, returned a low score of 8 hours and 53 minutes. The Nothing Phone 3a with a similar-sized battery managed 17 hours and 40 minutes with the same test. As for our HD video loop battery test, the Galaxy A26 managed an equally poor 17 hours and 11 minutes, which is several hours less than what most phones at this price point manage. Simply put, our testing indicates that the phone will barely last a work day (9AM to 6PM) with heavy and continuous usage. Casual users should get a day’s battery life provided the phone isn’t pushed to its limits. Samsung Galaxy A26 Verdict The Samsung Galaxy A26’s standout features are currently limited to its software commitment and IP67-rated design. Everything else falls short or is a step behind competing smartphones at this price point. And so, it’s really hard to recommend unless all you want from a smartphone is AI features and great software support. There’s also a sea of competing smartphones to choose from. Nothing’s Phone 3a is a capable and snazzy smartphone for those looking for something different or special at this price point. Those looking for better raw performance can look at the Poco F6 and the recently launched iQOO Neo 10R, which are priced below and above the Galaxy A26. If you want mega battery life, then the Vivo T4 with its massive 7,400mAh battery is an ideal choice. And if you are thinking of spending upwards of Rs. 26,000, then OnePlus’ Nord 4 is a solid all-rounder. Source link #Samsung #Galaxy #A26 #Review #Keeping #Times Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]