Saturday Lotto millionaire: Gympie man comes forward a month after winning $1.6m
Saturday Lotto millionaire: Gympie man comes forward a month after winning $1.6m
A Gympie man who struck it rich after scooping division one in a Saturday lotto draw spent more than month pondering his good fortune before fronting up to claim his prize.
The man secured a life-changing $1.6m in the April 12 Saturday Gold Lotto draw but the ticket wasn’t registered so authorities were none the wiser as to who held the winning ticket until he came forward.
He was one of three division one winners sharing in the prize pool, two others were from Western Australia.
“It’s pretty surreal!” he said when contacted by an official from The Lott.
“It’s taken a lot to sink in.
“My mum and two uncles were big Golden Casket fans. I don’t think they did very well in terms of winnings, but they would be very happy to hear that I’ve taken home division one myself!”
“I went to the local newsagency to check my ticket and the young girls behind the counter said they couldn’t pay out the prize. That’s when I knew it was big!
“I just had to sit and ponder the win for a month. I couldn’t believe it.
“I’ve also kept the win on the down-low. I haven’t told anyone about the win. I don’t think I will.”
The man is now planing how he’ll spend his winnings.
“I need a new car. I will keep the one I have and fix it up, but it’s time to upgrade it,” he exclaimed.
He bought the winning ticket at Nextra Gympie, where owner Kelly Goatham said she too was shocked by the win.
“There were certainly a few expletives when we found out we sold a division one winning entry! My co-owner Justene thought there was a snake in the house by the way I had yelled out to her!” she said.
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Hemi Superbird Goes For Cheap
Hemi Superbird Goes For Cheap
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Market Collapse: Hemi Superbird Goes For Cheap
After auctioning in 2022 for a whopping $1.5 million, setting a world record, a 1970 Plymouth Hemi Superbird just auctioned again with no reserve on May 17, bringing in a measly $380,000. While the latter price is still insane, it’s also just a quarter of what the classic muscle car pulled in three years ago.
Would you pay $35,000 for this 1999 Toyota 4Runner?
That’s some serious price depreciation. You could chalk it up to just a bad showing at Mecum Indy 2025, but we’ve been seeing this trend building of late. This Hemi Superbird is just a symptom of a larger problem developing in the car collecting hobby.
Image via Mecum Auctions
Fifteen years ago, many enthusiasts could still afford to buy at least one of their dream cars. Today, unless they’re an insurance or private equity executive, most enthusiasts have found those same rides are well beyond their reach.
Values have soared as the affluent discovered they could use classic and even modern exotics as investments. Many have little interest in the vehicles themselves, other than displaying them as works of art in their gallery-like garages, treating the machines gearheads adore as if they were part of a real estate investment portfolio.
This trend intensified during the covid era, likely for a number of reasons. Many gearheads bitterly decided they could never afford the car of their dreams as they watched even some dogs get pricey. The market was out of control.
Now we’re in a ******* of correction, or what some would call a ******. Just how big it is and how long it will last isn’t clear. And we don’t know if investors will flood it yet again, pumping up values in a sick game once more. But many, not all, collector cars are seeing their values plummet.
Image via Mecum Auctions
We’ve noticed a curious trend among auction houses. Instead of openly publishing individual results, many are putting such information in hard-to-find places, requiring users to register for access, or are just plain not releasing the numbers at all.
If we didn’t know better, we’d say they were trying to hide something.
The fact this Mopar Wing Car saw its value on the open market dive 75 percent in just three years shows how bad things have become. At this rate, we just might be able to one day afford a dream car after all.
See this Superbird’s lot listing for yourself here.
Images via Mecum Auctions
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House GOP leaders release changes to Trump agenda bill in bid to sway holdouts – NBC News
House GOP leaders release changes to Trump agenda bill in bid to sway holdouts – NBC News
House GOP leaders release changes to Trump agenda bill in bid to sway holdouts NBC NewsHouse Republican leaders unveil key changes to Trump agenda bill in bid to win over GOP holdouts CNNTrump’s meeting with tax bill holdouts ‘moved ball in right direction’, says White House – as it happened The GuardianHouse Republicans Release Trump Tax Bill With Larger SALT Cap Bloomberg.comHouse Freedom Caucus heading to White House after delay play on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ Fox News
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West Coast coach Andrew McQualter: Eagles still in dark as to when Jeremy McGovern will face concussion panel
West Coast coach Andrew McQualter: Eagles still in dark as to when Jeremy McGovern will face concussion panel
Waalitj Marawar (West Coast) are still in the dark as to when club great Jeremy McGovern will face a concussion panel to decide his future.
McGovern is still in concussion protocols from a head knock he received against Narrm (Melbourne) earlier this month and given his history he will now have his future decided by a panel of independent experts.
The 33-year-old is only three games short of the 200-match milestone and is already signed on from next season after earning his fifth All-*********** blazer in 2024.
McQualter said McGovern would take some time away from the club while they’re in Adelaide to take on the Crows as he awaits a date with the panel.
“Gov is doing OK. The unknown is a bit of a challenge but he’s doing OK,” McQualter said.
“He’ll have a couple of days off work as we go to Adelaide this weekend, and then it’s just so uncertain at the moment what happens next.
“We can’t speculate too much on what will happen next. We know it’s going to the panel, and when that’s decided and when that will happen, we’re not sure yet. We’ll just wait and see and keep supporting McGovern through the process.”
An AFL spokesperson told The West ***********: “While the AFL Chief Medical Officer oversees the process, the Concussion Panel is comprised of independent medical experts who are not employed by the AFL.
“The Panel consists of healthcare practitioners with specific experience and expertise in the management of Sports Related Concussion.
“The composition of the Panel will largely depend on the clinical questions being asked but may include Neurologists, Neurosurgeons, Rehabilitation Medicine Physicians, Psychiatrists, Sport and Exercise Medicine Physicians, Physiotherapists, Neuropsychologists and others.”
McQualter said their support for McGovern would be day-by-day but wouldn’t go into any details around the signs he was displaying.
“We understand it’s a challenging time, but Gov’s been doing this for a long time. He’s a very mature guy he’s got a great family and network around him as well,” he said.
“The reason why Gov has gone to a panel is because there’s been a number of concussions over a ******* of time. It’s out of our hands now and we’ll just leave it to the experts.”
McQualter said the vice-captain continued to play a role at the club, but they would not make big decisions around his role until they had further clarity.
“Gov is one of our leaders and he’s one of our terrific leaders,” he said.
“He’s been involved all week in our leadership meetings and our meetings in general but because we don’t know when the panel is going to get together, we’re not going to make too many other decisions around him yet.”
McQualter’s first year at the helm of the Eagles has been full of challenges, but the loss of McGovern is compounded by the fact that star midfielder Elliot Yeo is also yet to play this season because of an ankle injury.
“I tell you what I thought about when we were having so much trouble at clearance… I saw the (stats from the) last time we played (Richmond, last year) and Yeoy had 15 clearances in a game,” McQualter said.
“Clearly you always want your best players playing but it’s also football, there’s always injuries in our game and we’ve got a deep squad.
“We’ve been incredibly healthy this year, the medical team’s doing a great job, so I don’t have too much to complain about in that position.”
McGovern’s absence comes at a difficult time for the Eagles who face the triple forward threat from Kuwarna (Adelaide) in Riley Thilthorpe, Darcy Fogarty and Taylor Walker.
Sandy Brock and Harry Edwards are set to each get a job on one of the forwards, while McQualter wouldn’t rule out co-captain Oscar Allen heading back despite kicking two goals in the win over Euro-Yroke (St Kilda) at the weekend.
“We talk about it regularly, we’re going to play Oscar wherever the team needs him,” he said.
“The Crows do have a tall forward line that they rely on a lot, so we’ve got to get our contest right in that space and we’ll pick a team we think most capable to do that.”
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Google Gemini 2.5 Flash promises to be your favorite AI chatbot, but how does it compare to ChatGPT 4o?
Google Gemini 2.5 Flash promises to be your favorite AI chatbot, but how does it compare to ChatGPT 4o?
Anyone who’s played around with AI chatbots over the last couple of years has seen enormous leaps in their ability and range of features, even if not quite the revolutionary sort proclaimed by their various developers. Most of them claim to be the best choice, including Google’s new Gemini 2.5 Flash model.
With such a broad range of uses suggested by Google for Gemini, I wanted to see how it did with a semi-random collection of prompts covering different aspects of the model. For comparison, I tested it against OpenAI’s ChatGPT, specifically the GPT-4o model.
Gemini 2.5 Flash plays the role of the default model in the Gemini chatbot now. It’s supposed to be the fast, cost-efficient model for daily use. Google says it’s better than its predecessors, like Gemini 2.0 Flash, in terms of understanding images and text while still being much cheaper to run.
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GPT-4o is ChatGPT’s first major multimodal model and is crammed with goodies from OpenAI’s developers. The price ChatGPT pays for that power is that it can be slightly slower than the mini models available on the chatbot.
Illustrated stories
(Image credit: ChatGPT/Gemini)
Considering that both models are supposed to be skilled at both words and images, I asked the two models to “Write a short story about a time-traveling archaeologist who discovers a futuristic artifact in ancient Egypt and make an image to accompany it.”
You can see ChatGPT’s result on the left and Gemini’s on the right above. I will say Gemini wrote its story in about 20 seconds, while ChatGPT took 45 seconds. Further, the image took Gemini another 30 seconds while ChatGPT’s required close to a minute and a half due to the quality of ChatGPT’s recently released image generator.
Both stories used familiar tropes, though ChatGPT’s reads somewhat better in my opinion.
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Math magic
I’m far from a math expert, but there are common questions I see mentioned as “genius tests,” so I decided to see how the two models did when asked to: “Explain the implications of Gödel’s incompleteness theorems on modern computational theory. Be detailed but clear, and give examples.”
Gemini 2.5 Flash approached it like a mathematician and explained the theorems step by step, then connected them to real-world examples like how no computer program can ever truly prove that math works the way we think. It was a little dry and dense, but not too confusing. GPT-4o went for a simple breakdown, waxing philosophical and bringing up Bertrand Russell.
(Image credit: Gemini 2.5 Flash)
I always think that how AI explains translations of idioms can be a useful way to test their utility. I asked the two AI chatbots to: “Translate the following English idiom into Japanese, ensuring the cultural context is preserved: ‘Barking up the wrong tree.’ Explain the meaning and any cultural considerations.”
Interestingly, both ChatGPT and Gemini came back with essentially the same answer. Not only did they both come up with the same options for translating the phrase, but even the cultural breakdown covered the same ground in nearly the same language.
User’s choice
In my opinion, Gemini 2.5 Flash and GPT-4o may as well be the same to the average person. The baseline quality of both is high enough to make their difference matter only in more specialized forms.
GPT-4o and Gemini 2.5 Flash can be used for whatever you need on an average day. The preferences are more about the peripherals and specific features. GPT-4o has by far the more powerful image generator, but it’s also a lot slower. If speed matters more, though, go with Gemini. Otherwise, you may as well use ChatGPT if it’s currently your go-to choice.
Access to Google’s ecosystem makes Gemini 2.5 Flash particularly appealing to those looking to connect their AI chatbot to Google Workspace tools like Google Docs, Gmail, and even Maps. GPT-4o and ChatGPT as a whole are more for the Microsoft user base, with links to Office tools like Word and Excel. It’s also the first AI chatbot used by many people, and they may not want to change over.
I wouldn’t judge someone for preferring one over the other, but then again, I’m the weirdo with both open in adjacent tabs next to several others I test regularly. As both Gemini and ChatGPT told me when I described the situation, “You may want to reconsider how much time you spend experimenting with AI.”
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New North Korea warship is damaged at its launch ceremony attended by Kim Jong Un
New North Korea warship is damaged at its launch ceremony attended by Kim Jong Un
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A new 5,000-ton destroyer key to North Korea’s naval advancement was damaged during its launching ceremony attended by leader Kim Jong Un, state media reported Thursday.
The ship slid off the ramp and became stuck after the flatcar failed to move alongside it, throwing off its balance and crushing parts of the ship’s bottom, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
The accident at Wednesday’s ceremony at the northeastern port of Chongjin was an embarrassing setback for Kim, who has emphasized naval advancement as key to his nuclear-armed military.
Kim blamed military officials, scientists and shipyard operators for what he described as a “serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism,” and called for a ruling Workers’ Party meeting to address their “irresponsible errors,” KCNA said. The agency reported separately that a plenary meeting of the party’s powerful Central Committee was scheduled for late June.
North Korean state media didn’t say whether Wednesday’s incident caused any injuries.
The damaged vessel was likely in the same class as the country’s first destroyer, unveiled on April 25, which experts assessed as the North’s largest and most advanced warship to date. Kim called it a significant asset for advancing his goal of expanding the military’s operational range and nuclear strike capabilities.
State media described that ship as designed to handle various weapons systems, including anti-air and anti-ship weapons as well as nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles. Kim also supervised test-firings of missiles from the destroyer afterward, and state media said the ship was expected to enter active duty early next year.
Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the damaged vessel was likely equipped with similar systems and remains toppled over in the sea.
Kim has framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the United States and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He says the acquisition of a nuclear-powered submarine would be his next big step in strengthening his navy.
Outside experts say the destroyer was likely built with Russian assistance. While North Korea’s naval forces are considered inferior to South Korea’s, analysts still view the destroyer as a serious security threat, as it could enhance the country’s offensive and defensive capabilities.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have escalated in recent months as Kim accelerates the development of his nuclear and missile programs and supplies weapons and troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine. The U.S., South Korea, and their allies have expressed concern that Moscow could reciprocate by providing North Korea with advanced weapons technology, further enhancing the threat posed by its nuclear and missile program.
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Defense Department accepts Boeing 747 from Qatar for Trump’s use – AP News
Defense Department accepts Boeing 747 from Qatar for Trump’s use – AP News
Defense Department accepts Boeing 747 from Qatar for Trump’s use AP NewsPentagon announces it has accepted jet from Qatar that will be used by Trump once it is modified CNNThe Inside Story of Trump’s Search for a New Air Force One The New York TimesPentagon says it has accepted Qatari luxury jet for Air Force One use The Washington PostWhy Trump Wants a $400 Million Airplane Rife With Risks Bloomberg
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The best graphics cards of Computex 2025: all the best of GeForce, Radeon, and Arc GPUs
The best graphics cards of Computex 2025: all the best of GeForce, Radeon, and Arc GPUs
Computex is always a great show to see the latest and best graphics cards from major manufacturers like MSI, Palit, Gigabyte, and others, and Computex 2025 has definitely delivered on that front with many card makers introducing new designs and refining existing ones.
With the recent announcement of the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT and the launch of the RTX 5060 from Nvidia at the beginning of the week, pretty much the entire market stack for GPUs was on display, including a few Professional workstation cards like the new Intel B60.
And while there were plenty of GPUs on display, a few of them were real standouts from the pack, and so I’m rounding up the best graphics cards I saw at Computex 2025, from concept cards to small-form-factor gems.
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Palit GeForce RTX 5090 Tornado
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
One of my favorite Nvidia graphics cards on display at Computex was the Palit GeForce RTX 5090 Tornado concept card, which is the first third-party graphcis card I’ve seen to use the dual-flow-through cooling design first seen in the RTX 5090 Founders Edition.
Most RTX 5090 cards being shown off at Computex are massive triple-tan beasts with enormous heatsinks (that is, when they aren’t using AIO cooling), and Nvidia’s new dual pass-through design was one of my favorite things about the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080.
Finding a third-party Nvidia partner adopt the cooling design, even if it’s in concept form, is great to see.
Colorful GeForce RTX 5090 Doom The Dark Ages Special Edition
Image 1 of 3
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Colorful also had a special edition card on display, this one a Doom: The Dark Ages themed Nvidia RTX 5090 with solid metal detailing.
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This card is only one of ten that the company is producing, and so isn’t going on *****, but the solid metal details on the card are awesome and make me with it was an actual consumer product (though it’s heavy enough that I almost knocked it off its holder, which might have brought the number of cards in existence down to nine).
Colorful GeForce RTX 5090 Neptune
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
While I generally find graphcis cards with AIO coolers to be a bit excessive, personally, I’d make an exception for the Colorful RTX 5090 Neptune. The silver metal look with ocean blue LED accents immediately makes me think of a spaceship, but in a good way. It’s like you pulled this GPU out of a Starfleet vessel, and I’ll take that kind of build any day of the week.
ASRock Arc Pro B60 Passive
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
It’s not very often you get to see a passively cooled graphics card in 2025, and so the ASRock Arc Pro B60 Passive card caught my eye almost immediately. I haven’t tested the Arc Pro B60, so I have no idea how much power it draws and whether passive cooling would be enough to keep the card functioning at peak performance, but it’s always good to see different ways of doing things, and passive cooling is always pretty cool, at least in principle.
Zotac GeForce RTX 5060 Low-profile
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Usually, low-profile discrete GPUs are just a PCB and maybe a heatsink, as there’s very little room to put much else on a form factor so small, but the Zotac RTX 5060 Low Profile GPU manages to squeeze three fans onto a very slim card, making it a perfect GPU for small case designs.
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ASX slips after debt fears prompt Wall Street sell-off
ASX slips after debt fears prompt Wall Street sell-off
The *********** share market is trading lower after concerns about US sovereign debt prompted a Wall Street sell-off overnight.
The S&P/ASX200 fell 42.6 points, or 0.51 per cent by midday, to 8,344.2, while the broader All Ordinaries lost 42.6 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 8.569.5.
The local bourse pared some losses after slipping 0.9 per cent in early trade.
Major US indexes the S&P500 (-1.61 per cent), the Dow Jones (-1.91 per cent) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (1.41 per cent) all fell, after a weak US Treasury auction pushed bond yields higher and weighed on US equities and the greenback.
The United States’ spiralling debt has been in focus this week after a third sovereign credit downgrade and as US President Donald Trump attempts to pass a tax bill that would raise the US debt ceiling.
“US stocks fell sharply overnight as the rumblings grew louder in the increasingly cranky bond market,” IG Markets analyst Tony Sycamore said.
“A disappointing $US16 billion auction of 20-year Treasuries, the first since Moody’s downgrade, led to a surge in US yields.”
Only two local sectors were trading higher by lunchtime, with energy stocks down 1.4 per cent and leading losses as oil prices ticked lower.
Financials fell 0.7 per cent as the Commonwealth Bank retreated 1.5 per cent after hitting a new peak of $176.46 on Wednesday.
ANZ was the only big four bank trading higher, up 0.4 per cent, as NAB fell 1.3 per cent and Westpac slipped 0.3 per cent.
Gold pusher 0.6 per cent higher to $US3,340 ($A5,195) as risk-off sentiment pushed investors toward the safe haven.
Materials stocks grinded 0.2 per cent higher thanks to gold miners and explorers, as large cap miners BHP, Rio TInto and Fortescue all lost ground.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin rallied to an all-time high above $US110,700 ($A171,780), thanks in part to a stablecoin (fiat currency-pegged token) bill making its way through US congress.
Bitcoin’s divergence from risk assets, particularly US tech stocks is being closely watched for signs it behaves more like a genuine store of value or hedge to fiat currency, Capital.com market analyst Kyle Rodda said.
Telecommunications services was one of three sectors to gain ground, up 0.1 per cent as Telstra pushed 0.5 per cent higher to $4.72.
A strong mobile performance from competitor Optus helped it carve out a 55 per cent increase in earnings before interest and tax for the year to March 31, along with 238,000 new customers.
Shares in Optus’ Singapore-listed owner Singtel were up 2.3 per cent as the group’s total underlying profit rose 9 per cent.
Insurance Australia Group rallied more than two per cent to $8.76 after the *********** Competition and Consumer Commission rubber stamped its takeover of RACQ Insurance.
Suncorp and QBE also pushed one per cent higher, the insurers helping to soften losses in the financial services sector.
The *********** dollar is buying 64.29 US cents down from 64.52 US cents at Wednesday’s ASX close.
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‘They Were Holding Each Other’
‘They Were Holding Each Other’
A tornado, described by the National Weather Service an an EF-4, hit the home of Paul and Gail Cline in Laurel County, Ky. on May 16
The couple both lost an arm during the ordeal, said their relatives
About 19 people in Kentucky were killed during the storm
A couple have both lost an arm as they were sheltering inside their Kentucky home that was devastated by a tornado last week, according to their relatives.
“The doctors said that they lost opposite arms is because they were holding each other,” Brandy Bowman told NBC affiliate WLEX about her uncle and aunt, Paul and Gail Cline, who are in their 60s and from Laurel County.
Bowman said that Paul and Gail were in their bedroom when the twister touched down on Friday, May 16. A neighbor heard the couple screaming for help, arrived at their house and pulled them into a hallway, she said.
The family said a person heard Gail’s screams while searching for survivors in the neighborhood.
“She said, ‘I need help. I see an arm down the hallway,’” Bowman recalled, which turned out to be Gail’s damaged arm as a result of the tornado.
GoFundMe
Paul and Gail Cline’s Kentucky home after a tornado touched down on May 16, 2025
The Clines were taken to London Hospital, WLEX reported. In a GoFundMe established to help the family, Gail, who also has a punctured lung due to fragments in her ribs, is on life support.
“Their home and vehicles and everything they’ve worked for is gone,” Taylor Baker, the couple’s other niece, wrote about her uncle and aunt in the fundraiser description. “They are two of the best people you could ever find. My aunt’s daughter also has stage 4 ******* so they were already battling that before this hit. They need all the help and prayers they can get.”
While Paul’s condition has improved, Baker told WLEX that her uncle has dementia and hasn’t grasped the ordeal.
“All I can’t get out of my head is just how terrified they both were. I cannot imagine the fear that was going through their minds, but there’s one thing about them, they are godly people,” Baker said.
About 19 people were killed in Kentucky following the storm that hit Friday evening, with a majority of the victims from Laurel County, the Associated Press reported.
The National Weather Service characterized the tornado that hit London, Ky., as an EF-4, described as “violent,” Fox Weather reported.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm.
In a Sunday, May 18, Facebook post, Baker offered gratitude to the community for their help.
“To my friends who showed up with trucks and trailers and drinks and who were ready to help any way they can, I will never be able to explain to you what it meant to me,” she wrote. “To the strangers who dropped food and drinks and supplies and helped carry and load.. thank you from the bottom of my heart. I know my aunt and uncle would be so so grateful for this outpouring of help. And for the calls, texts and prayers for my family, Thank you all so much.”
“My uncle Paul is stable but did have to have an arm amputated,” she continued. “My aunt Gail is on life support still and also had an arm taken off. She needs all the prayers she can get.”
PEOPLE contacted Baker on Wednesday, May 21, for comment.
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Recap of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Prosecutors question expert on abuse trauma to bolster Cassie Ventura’s testimony – CNN
Recap of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Prosecutors question expert on abuse trauma to bolster Cassie Ventura’s testimony – CNN
Recap of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Prosecutors question expert on abuse trauma to bolster Cassie Ventura’s testimony CNNFormer Employee Reveals Why He — and Not Hotel Staff — Always Cleaned Up Rooms After Diddy People.comCombs’ former assistant testifies about cleaning, setting up “freak offs” KOMOMay 21, 2025 – Day 8 of testimony in the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial CNNAt Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Trial, Details of a Raid That Found Guns and Baby Oil The New York Times
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The West *********** Pulse: Jodie Rankin expresses her journey of anxiety through artwork
The West *********** Pulse: Jodie Rankin expresses her journey of anxiety through artwork
Edvard Munch’s work has inspired many artists, but it was some words from the master painter that really spoke to Jodie Rankin.
The teenager interpreted the revered Munch’s quote, “From my rotting body, flowers shall grow, and I am in them, and that is eternity”, through the lens of her anxiety disorder to create her intricately embroidered piece, Eternity, which is on show at The West *********** Pulse exhibit.
“It is my interpretation, not only of Munch’s quote, but my portrayal of how my anxiety manifests and feels,” the 18-year-old said.
“In creating the piece, it was very soothing for my anxieties, and the chaoticness of it and all the different aspects of it reflect how anxiety has so many different aspects but there’s good and bad parts of it, positives and negatives.”
The free West *********** Pulse exhibit is at the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
Camera IconArtist Jodie Rankin’s work is featured in the West *********** Pulse Exhibition. Credit: Michael Wilson/The West ***********
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Why Duolingo Won’t Add More Ads
Why Duolingo Won’t Add More Ads
Language learning app Duolingo could raise revenue by showing more advertisements to users of its free product. But the company’s focus on long-term thinking over short-term results has led CEO Luis Von Ahn and CFO Matt Skaruppa to resist the temptation. They explain their reasoning to Tim Stenovec on Bloomberg Chief Future Officer.
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House GOP's Medicaid revisions aim to please hard-liners
House GOP's Medicaid revisions aim to please hard-liners
House Republicans made substantial changes to the Medicaid portion of the GOP megabill in amendments unveiled Wednesday night, including accelerating work requirements and paying states not to expand the program under the Affordable Care Act.
The proposal will move up the start date of Medicaid work requirements from Jan. 1, 2029, to Dec. 31, 2026, in a concession to conservative hard-liners who have been pushing for deeper cuts to the program.
The work requirements included in the previous bill would yield nearly $280 billion in savings, according to congressional scorekeepers — the most of any policy under the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction. The new accelerated timeline could lead to additional savings of tens of billions of dollars but also result in even more people losing coverage. GOP moderates have not raised significant concerns about implementing them more quickly.
The new bill does not include controversial changes hard-liners had pushed for that would alter the federal share of spending in the joint federal-state Medicaid program. Moderates had balked, arguing they would cut too deep into benefits, and House Speaker Mike Johnson had ruled out those changes.
But in other sops for conservatives, the revisions would expand the criteria for states that could lose a portion of their federal payments if they offer coverage to undocumented people. It also moves to bar coverage of gender-affirming care for adults under the program, not just minors as previously proposed.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that a previous iteration of the bill could lead to 7.6 million people who had Medicaid going uninsured, and millions more from the the Affordable Care Act marketplace also losing coverage. Those coverage losses are expected to be higher with this new version. The Energy and Commerce portion of the bill has been estimated to save nearly a trillion dollars over a decade.
The new amendments would make another notable change to Medicaid -— one that hard-liners hope would incentivize states to not to expand their programs under the ACA after the legislation goes into effect. The wonky measures would give states a financial incentive not to expand coverage to people with higher incomes than traditional enrollees, though still near the poverty line. The policy would make higher payments to providers like hospitals for uncompensated care.
Hard-liners, particularly Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, pushed for the provision to be in the bill during a White House meeting with President Donald Trump Wednesday afternoon, according to three people with direct knowledge of the meeting. One senior GOP aide described the provision as “a small Medicaid tweak” that would give the hard-liners a reason to support the bill, along with several other minor changes.
Notably, they did not secure any further changes to the Medicaid state provider tax, which moderates had held firm against.
Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina said in a brief interview Wednesday night he was happy with the meeting and that “there were some good things from the White House.”
Another Republican lawmaker said hard-liners would chiefly tout the accelerated Medicaid work requirements, the expansion change and a newly accelerated phase-out of clean-energy tax credits.
In a major departure, the bill would fund cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers on Obamacare’s insurance exchanges.
The policy would offer subsidies to insurers that would, in turn, help reduce premiums and co-pays for patients. Trump ended this practice in his first administration, saying it constituted a bailout to the insurance industry. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated at that time that ending the payments would cost hundreds of billions of dollars over a decade. Bringing the policy back could provide savings.
Rachael Bade contributed reporting.
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Where to watch Knicks vs. Pacers: TV channel, live stream NBA playoffs, prediction for East finals Game 1 – CBS Sports
Where to watch Knicks vs. Pacers: TV channel, live stream NBA playoffs, prediction for East finals Game 1 – CBS Sports
Where to watch Knicks vs. Pacers: TV channel, live stream NBA playoffs, prediction for East finals Game 1 CBS SportsPacers vs. Knicks (May 21, 2025) Live Score ESPNHalftime Rewind: Pacers 62, Knicks 69 (Game 1) NBADFS NBA Top Plays: May 21 Establish The RunKnicks-Pacers Is Back. Can the Reboot Top the Original? The Ringer
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Former high school teacher accused of having ******* relationship with student more than 30 years ago
Former high school teacher accused of having ******* relationship with student more than 30 years ago
A former high school teacher has been charged with historical ******* abuse relating to allegations he had a ******* relationship with a female student more than 30 years ago.
Detectives charged the 64-year-old man from Albany, about 420km south of Perth, over incidents that allegedly occurred between 1992 and 1993.
Police allege the former teacher worked at a high school in the Perth metro area at the time and had a ******* relationship with a student.
He has been charged with ********* penetrating a child over 16 years under their care and indecently dealing with a child over 16 under their authority.
The man is due to face the Albany Magistrates Court on Thursday.
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Wisconsin metal can plant to close, 56 employees to be laid off
Wisconsin metal can plant to close, 56 employees to be laid off
OCONOMOWOC, Wis. (WFRV) – A longtime Wisconsin manufacturing plant is shutting its doors for good, resulting in the layoff of dozens of employees.
According to a WARN notice filed with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Silgan Containers Manufacturing, located at 520 W. 2nd Street in Oconomowoc, plans to close its facility.
Wisconsin man accused of intentionally hitting motorized bike riders, sending one to hospital
The closure will affect 56 workers, with layoffs beginning on or after July 21, 2025. Limited production is expected to continue into August 2025 or later, with the company indicating that production volumes will be shifted to other Silgan facilities.
Silgan Containers is a major supplier of metal food packaging in North America. No additional details on severance or transition assistance were provided.
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 WFRV Local 5 – Green Bay, Appleton.
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Ramaphosa survives mauling by Trump over 'white genocide' – BBC
Ramaphosa survives mauling by Trump over 'white genocide' – BBC
Ramaphosa survives mauling by Trump over ‘white genocide’ BBCHow the White House orchestrated Trump’s Oval Office ambush of South African president CNNTrump Claimed a Video Showed ‘Burial Sites’ of White Farmers. It Didn’t. The New York TimesTrump ambushes South Africa’s president with false claims of ‘white genocide’ NPRFact-checking Trump’s claims of white farmer ‘genocide’ in South Africa PBS
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Immigration is the albatross around *** politics
Immigration is the albatross around *** politics
Allan Little
Senior correspondent
BBC
Figures released on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics are expected to reveal a fall in net migration to the ***. Politicians have long struggled to assuage public concerns over immigration and even with Thursday’s expected fall, the issue is still likely to dog the Labour government.
In retrospect, 1968 looks like the decisive year. Until then, social class had been what determined the political allegiance of most voters: Labour drew its support from the still strong industrialised working class, while the Conservatives enjoyed the support of middle class and rural constituencies.
But in 1968, two events launched a realignment, after which point Britons increasingly started to vote based on another, previously obscure, factor: attitudes to immigration and race.
The first was the 1968 Race Relations Act, steered through Parliament by the Labour Home Secretary, James Callaghan. It strengthened legal protections for Britain’s immigrant communities, banning racial discrimination, and sought to ensure that second generation immigrants “who have been born here” and were “going through our schools” would have access to quality education to ensure that they would get “the jobs for which they are qualified and the houses they can afford”. Discrimination against anyone on the basis of racial identity – in housing, in hospitality, in the workplace – was now ********.
The second is the now notorious “Rivers of Blood” speech given by the Conservative politician Enoch Powell, in which he quoted a constituent, “a decent ordinary fellow Englishman”, who told him that he wanted his three children to emigrate because “in this country in 15 or 20 years time, the ****** man will have the whip hand over the white man.”
The white British population, he said, “found themselves strangers in their own country”.
Powell had touched a nerve in a Britain which had brought hundreds of thousands of people from the West Indies, India and Pakistan in the years after the war.
Enoch Powell was denounced after his ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech in 1968. But tens of thousands wrote letters of support to a local paper in Wolverhampton, where Powell made the speech.
The Conservative Party leader Edward Heath sacked him from the front bench. The leaders of all the main parties denounced him. The Times called the speech “evil”; it was, the paper said, “the first time a serious British politician has appealed to racial hatred in this direct way”.
But the editor of a local paper in Wolverhampton, where Powell had made his speech, said Heath had “made a martyr” of Powell. In the days after the speech his paper received nearly 50,000 letters from readers: “95% of them,” he said, “were pro-Enoch”. For a time, the phrase “Enoch was right” entered the political discourse.
Powell had exposed a gap between elite opinion and a growing sense of alienation and resentment in large sections of the population. What was emerging was a sense, among some, that elites of both right and left, out of touch with ordinary voters’ experience, were opening the borders of Britain and allowing large numbers of people into the country.
It became part of a cultural fault line that went on to divide British politics. Many white working-class voters would, in time, abandon Labour and move to parties of the right. Labour would become aligned with the pursuit of progressive causes. In the 20th century it had drawn much of its support from workers in the factories, coal mines, steel works and shipyards of industrial Britain. By the 21st century, its support base was more middle class, university-educated, and younger than ever before.
It has been a slow tectonic shift in which class-based party allegiances gradually gave way to what we now recognise as identity politics and the rise of populist anti-elite sentiment.
And at the heart of this shift lay attitudes to immigration and race. Prime ministers have repeatedly tried to soothe public concern; to draw a line under the issue. But worries have remained. After that pivotal year 1968, for the rest of the 20th Century the number of people who thought there were “too many immigrants” in the country remained well above 50%, according to data analysed by the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government, elected last year on a manifesto promising to reduce migration, is the latest to have a go, with an overhaul of visa rules announced earlier this month. On Thursday, the annual net migration figures are very likely to show a fall in the number of people moving to the *** – something Sir Keir will likely hail as an early success for Labour’s attempts to reduce migration numbers (although the Conservatives say their own policies should be credited).
Can Sir Keir succeed where other prime ministers have arguably failed? And is it possible to reach something resembling a settlement with voters on an issue as fraught as migration?
Softening attitudes?
Dig into the nuances of public opinion, and you find a complicated picture.
The number of Britons naming immigration as one of the most important issues – what political scientists call “salience” – shot up from about 2000 onwards, as the number of fresh arrivals to Britain ticked up and up. In the 1990s, annual net migration was normally in the tens of thousands; after the Millennium, it was reliably in the hundreds of thousands.
Stephen Webb, a former Home Officer civil servant who is now head of home affairs at the centre-right Policy Exchange think tank, thinks concern over migration has been driven by the real, tangible impact it has had on communities.
“The public have been ahead of the political, media class on this,” he says, “particularly poorer, working-class people. It was their areas that saw the most dramatic change, far sooner than the rest of us really realised what was happening. That’s where the migrants went. That’s where the sudden competition for labour [emerged]. You talk to cabbies in the early 2000s and they were already fuming about this.”
That fear of migrants “taking jobs” became particularly pressing in 2004, when the European Union (of which Britain was a member) took in ten new members, most of them former the ********** states of Eastern Europe. Because of the EU’s free movement rules, it gave any citizen of those countries the right to move here – and the *** was one of just three member nations to open its doors to unrestricted and immediate freedom of movement.
The government, led by Tony Blair, estimated that perhaps 13,000 people per year would come seeking work. In fact, more than a million arrived, and stayed, by the end of the decade – one of the biggest influxes of people in British history.
Getty
Passengers board a bus leaving for Poland from a London coach station in 2009. Concern over immigration rose after east European countries joined the EU in 2004.
Most were people of working age. They paid taxes. They were net contributors to the public purse. Indeed, the totemic figure in this ******* was the hard-working “Polish plumber” who, in the popular imagination, was willing to work for lower wages than his British counterpart. Gordon Brown famously called for “British jobs for British workers”, without explaining how that could be achieved in a Europe of free movement.
The perception that Britain had lost control of its own borders gained popular traction. The imperative to “take back control” would be the mainstay of the campaign to leave the European Union.
A decade on from that Brexit vote, “attitudes to immigration are warming and softening,” says Sunder Katwala, the director of the think tank British Future. “Concern about immigration was at a very high peak in 2016, and it crashed down in 2020. Brexit had the paradoxical softening impact on attitudes… people who voted for Brexit felt reassured because they made a point and ‘got control’. And people who regretted voting to leave became more pro-migration”.
Attitudes to immigration are, says Katwala, “very closely correlated to the distribution of meaningful contact with ethnic diversity and migration – especially from a young age. So places of high migration, high diversity, are more confident about migration than areas of low migration and low diversity, because although they might be dealing with the real-world challenges and pressures of change, they’ve also got contact between people.”
‘Island of strangers’?
Why, then, did Sir Keir feel the need to say with such vehemence that unrestrained immigration had caused “incalculable damage” to the country, and that he wants to “close the book on a squalid chapter for our politics, our economy and our country”? Why did he say we risked becoming an “island of strangers” – leaving himself open to accusations from his own backbenchers that he was echoing the language of Powell in 1968?
PA
Sir Keir Starmer won election for his party in 2024 on a manifesto promising to reduce net migration
The answer lies in how attitudes are distributed through the population. Hostility to immigration is now much more concentrated in certain groups, and concentrated in a way that can sway elections.
“At the general election, a quarter of people thought immigration was the number one issue and they were very, very likely to vote for Nigel Farage,” Katwala says.
The country as a whole may be becoming more liberal on immigration, but the sceptical base is also becoming firmer in its resolve and is turning that resolve into electoral success.
And fuelling that hostility is a lingering sense among some that migrants put pressure on public services, with extra competition for GP appointments, hospital beds, and school places. Stephen Webb of Policy Exchange thinks it is a perfectly fair concern. Data in the *** is not strong enough to make a conclusion, he says, but he points to studies from the Netherlands and Denmark suggesting that many recent migrants to those countries are a “fiscal drain” – meaning they receive more money via public services than they contribute in taxes.
He adds: “If you assume that the position is probably the same in the ***, and it’s hard to see why it will be different, and you look at the kind of migration we’ve been getting, it seems likely that we’ve been importing people who are indeed going to be a very, very major net cost.”
Labour’s plan
So will Sir Keir’s plan work? And how radical is it?
Legislation to reduce immigration has, historically, been strikingly unsuccessful.
The first sustained attempt to reduce immigration was the 1971 Immigration Act, introduced by Prime Minister Edward Heath. In 1948, the former troopship Empire Windrush had docked at Essex carrying 492 migrants from the West Indies, attracted by the jobs ***** created by postwar reconstruction. Almost a million more followed in the years ahead, from the Caribbean, India, Pakistan and Africa. They all arrived as citizens of the *** and Commonwealth (CUKC) with an automatic and legal entitlement to enter and stay. The 1971 Act removed this right for new arrivals.
The Act was sold to the public as the means by which immigration would be reduced to zero. But from 1964 to 1994, immigrants continued to arrive legally in their thousands.
In 1978 Mrs Thatcher, then in opposition, told a television interviewer that “people are rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture”, and she promised “to hold out the clear prospect of an end to immigration.”
Not a reduction; an end.
Yet today, almost 17% of the population of the *** was born abroad, up from 13% in 2014.
Alamy/PA
Left: the Empire Windrush ship arrives in Essex in 1948. Right: a group of new arrivals listen to an RAF recruiting officer about the possibility of signing up.
Sir Keir’s plan does not promise to end immigration. It is much less radical. It promises to reduce legal immigration by toughening visa rules. As part of the changes, more arrivals – as well as their dependents – will have to pass an English test in order to get a visa. Migrants will also have to wait 10 years to apply for the right to stay in the *** indefinitely, up from five years.
“It will bring down [net immigration] for sure,” says Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford. “If you restrict eligibility for visas, you will have lower migration. The Home Office calculation is that it will issue 98,000 fewer visas. That’s in the order of 10%. It’s not radical but it is a change.”
The White Paper also proposes to end visas for care workers. “This has been a visa that has been incredibly difficult for the government to manage,” says Sumption. “It’s been riddled with problems. There has been widespread fraud and abuse and so it’s not surprising that they want to close it. The care sector will face challenges continuing to recruit. But I think closing the care route may be helpful for reducing exploitation of people in the country.”
Just a week after publishing the White Paper, the government was accused of undermining its own immigration strategy by agreeing in principle to a “youth experience scheme” with the EU – which may allow thousands of young Europeans to move to Britain for a time-limited *******. Champions of the policy say it will boost economic growth by filling gaps in the labour market. But ministers will be cautious about any potential inflation to migration figures. It’s another example of the narrow tightrope prime ministers have historically been forced to walk on this issue.
Tensions on the Left
There’s another sense in which the Powell speech reaches into our own day. It created a conviction among many on the left that to raise concerns about immigration – often even to mention it – was, by definition, racist. Labour prime ministers have felt the sting of this criticism from their own supporters.
Tony Blair, who opened the doors in 2004, recognised this in his autobiography A Journey. The “tendency for those on the left was to equate concern about immigration with underlying racism. This was a mistake. The truth is that immigration, unless properly controlled, can cause genuine tensions… and provide a sense in the areas into which migrants come in large numbers that the community has lost control of its own future… Across Europe, right wing parties would propose tough controls on immigration. Left-wing parties would cry: Racist. The people would say: You don’t get it.”
Sir Keir has felt some of that heat from his own side since launching the White Paper. In response to his warning about Britain becoming an “island of strangers”, the left-wing Labour MP Nadia Whittome accused the prime minister of “mimic[king] the scaremongering of the far-right”.
The Economist, too, declared that Britain’s decades of liberal immigration had been an economic success – but a political failure.
There is a world of difference between Keir Starmer and Enoch Powell. Powell believed Britain was “literally mad, piling up its own ******** pyre” and that the country was bound to descend into civil war. Sir Keir says he celebrates the diversity of modern Britain.
But even if his plan to cut migration works, net migration will continue to flow at the rate of around 300,000 a year. Sir Keir’s plan runs the risk of being neither fish nor fowl: too unambitious to win back Reform voters; but illiberal enough to alienate some on the left.
Additional reporting: Florence Freeman, Luke Mintz.
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Dyson’s new vacuum is as thin as a broom handle and appears to float across the floor
Dyson’s new vacuum is as thin as a broom handle and appears to float across the floor
Dyson has announced the new ultra-thin, ultra-light PencilVac
Its new Fluffycones floorhead is designed to avoid hair tangling
It looks like a specialist model for hard floors
I write about vacuum cleaners for a living, and while performance varies, most new models these days tend to look roughly the same.
So when news of a new addition to the Dyson vacuum lineup landed in my inbox, I expected to see something similar to its existing models: slick and high-quality, but not especially distinctive or surprising.
How wrong I was.
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The newly unveiled Dyson PencilVac doesn’t just have an unusual name, it’s all-round one of the most unique vacuums I’ve seen. This brand knows what it’s doing in this marketplace – it makes some of the best cordless vacuums you can buy, and today’s very best Dyson vacuums include features you still can’t find anywhere else.
So while the PencilVac strays a long way from the tried-and-tested formula of what works for vacuum cleaners, I’m very optimistic about its performance. Here’s a rundown of the most intriguing features in this new launch…
1. It’s ridiculously thin
The most immediately noticeable thing about the PencilVac is that it’s incredibly streamlined. Without the floorhead, the whole thing is 1.5 inches / 3.8cm in diameter. To make that possible, the brand had to develop a tiny new motor – the Dyson Hyperdymium 140k motor is just 1.1 inches / 2.8cm wide, and hidden entirely within the handle.
The PencilVac is also impressively lightweight, clocking in at 4lbs / 1.8kg. For context, the lightest option in our best cordless vacuum roundup right now is 5.7lbs / 2.6kg, and there are a number of models that weigh over 6.6lbs / 3kg.
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All the PencilVac’s mechanics are shrunk down and fitted inside the handle (Image credit: Dyson)
Generally, when you shrink down a vacuum, you sacrifice power. That’s why handheld vacuums tend to be much less ‘sucky’ than full-sized options. That holds true for the PencilVac – there’s 55AW of suction, compared to 115AW for the V8 (the oldest Dyson stick vacuum in the current range) and a massive 280AW for the latest-and-greatest Gen5detect. However, while it’s unlikely to be suitable for a truly deep clean, that’s still a decent amount of suction for the size and weight.
As a side note, the 1.5-inch / 3.8cm diameter isn’t incidental. Brand founder James Dyson says, “I have long wanted to make a vacuum of only 38mm diameter (the same as my latest hair dryer, the Supersonic r)”. The Dyson Supersonic r is the pipe-shaped dryer that was originally released for professionals only, but recently joined the main consumer range.
2. There are cones instead of rollers
Moving down to the business end, and you’ll find the new ‘Fluffycones’ floorhead. It sounds like a Pokémon, but it’s actually a reimagined cleaner head. Vacuums traditionally have one brush roll, maximum two, and they’re tube-shaped. The Dyson PencilVac has four brushrolls, and they’re all conical.
There’s logic to the tapering shape: it helps direct long hair along the roll and into the dust cup, whereas with parallel rollers the hair tends to just wrap around and stay there, until your rip it off or attack it with scissors. Dyson’s hair ****** tool also has a conical brush roll, and works exactly as it’s meant to when it comes to tackling long hair.
Rather than one parallel brushroll, the PencilVac has four tapering rollers (Image credit: Dyson)
The cones project out at the sides so they can clean right to the edges of rooms, and the whole thing can lie flat to the ground, with a clearance of just 9.5cm / 3.75 inches off the floor.
I’m interested in Dyson’s description of the rollers as ‘fluffy’, because in the brand’s vocabulary that usually indicates a soft roller for use on hard floors only. In fact, the more I look at this vacuum, the more I’m convinced it’s a specialist model just for use on hard floor. It’s not specified in the press material I have so far, but it would make sense with the lower suction and smaller dust capacity.
3. There’s no visible dust cup
One of the most baffling things about the PencilVac is that it doesn’t appear to have a dust cup. Of course, there is one – like the motor, it’s hidden away inside the handle.
The capacity is next-to-nothing: just 0.08L. However, Dyson has introduced a dust compression system, which uses air to squish down the particles so they take up as little room as possible. Dyson claims that means it can hold five times the physical volume.
The dust cup is also hidden within the handle (Image credit: Dyson)
The emptying process has also been reimagined, with a push-lever system replaced by an exciting-sounding “syringe, no-touch bin ejection mechanism”.
As it pushes out dust and debris, the mechanism simultaneously wipes the ‘shroud’. I’m not totally clear what the ‘shroud’ is in this context, but I do know that keeping the internal mechanisms clean is key to efficient vacuum performance, so this seems like a good thing.
4. The floorhead glows and appears to float
As well as siphoning off hair as you clean, the floorhead cones have another trick up their sleeve. The cones rotate in opposite directions, the aim being that this vacuum cleans just as well when it’s pushed forward as when it’s pulled back. This is a bit of a weak spot on the regular Fluffy floorhead – it has no trouble sucking things up when moving forwards, but pull it back and debris will pool behind it.
I’m intrigued to see how this new approach works in practice – especially because Dyson describes it as “floating” across the floor. I wonder, too, if it might make this vacuum reversible altogether, given the fact that the handle section looks very symmetrical.
(Image credit: Dyson)
Dyson has also added “laser-like” illumination to both the front and back of the floorhead. This is another feature borrowed from the exsiting Fluffy floorhead, and helps create big shadows on the tiniest bits of dust, which otherwise might go missed. It only works on hard floors, which is another indication this vac is likely not for carpet.
There’s an intriguing addition to the tool lineup in the form of a ‘Rotating combi-crevice tool’, designed for cleaning in awkward gaps. This seems especially geared towards cleaning high-up, where it can be tricky to get your angles correct. It makes particular sense for an ultra-light vacuum like this one, which is far easier to lift above your head than your average stick vacuum.
As an aside, it looks like the PencilVac is button- rather than trigger-operated. That’s dictated by the streamlined shape, but it’s also great news for maneuverability and easy of use – the fact that many Dyson vacs still use a trigger to turn on is a perpetual bugbear of mine.
You’ll also get a Conical hair ****** tool, similar to the one included with the newest Dyson stick vacuums, for tackling long hair on furniture. Both can be stored on the magnetic charging dock.
The Rotating combi-crevice tool looks perfect for cleaning up high (Image credit: Dyson)
6. It’s app-connected
I’m much less excited about this feature, but it feel like I should point out that this is the first Dyson cordless vacuum to connect to the MyDyson app. The app will provide more information about battery life and also report on filter status. However, there’s also a screen on the vacuum itself showing remaining battery, so I’m hoping the app connection is an optional extra rather than an essential.
There’s a companion app, but key information is also shown on the vac’s screen (Image credit: Dyson)
Price & availability
The PencilVac will arrive in Australia first, with launch scheduled for August 2025. It’s due to go on ***** in the *** sometime in 2026, and I’m awaiting info as to if/when it will come to the US. As of yet I don’t have any pricing info at all – I’ll update this article with more details when I have them.
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Vanuatu, Australia to sign new development pact
Vanuatu, Australia to sign new development pact
Already Vanuatu’s largest foreign aid donor, Australia, is set to sign a new development assistance pact with the Melanesian nation within months.
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‘I’m an Oncologist and This Is the Food I Add to Every Meal for ******* Prevention’
‘I’m an Oncologist and This Is the Food I Add to Every Meal for ******* Prevention’
According to the World Health Organization, between 30% and 50% of ******* cases are preventable by having healthy diet and lifestyle habits in place. With this in mind, every time you eat is an opportunity to lower your risk.
And, according to oncologists we talked to, there is one specific type of food that’s especially powerful when it comes to lowering the risk of *******. Because of this, they try to integrate it into every single meal.
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The *******-Fighting Food Oncologists Integrate Into Their Meals
When it comes to crafting your diet around ******* prevention, Dr. Michael Dominello, DO, a radiation oncologist at Barbara Ann Karmanos ******* Institute, says it’s important to think about both macronutrients and micronutrients. Macronutrients are essential nutrients the body needs in large quantities to function properly: carbohydrates, fats and protein. “[Micronutrients are] non-energy-producing elements, vitamins and compounds in our food that serve other functions,” he explains.
While both types of nutrients are important, he shares that one of the most intriguing micronutrients is polyphenols, which are proving to play a key role in ******* prevention. Polyphenols are natural compounds synthesized by plants that have been shown to fight inflammation in the body. They are found in an abundance of foods including vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices. This makes it easy to integrate polyphenol-containing foods into every single meal.
Related: ‘I’m an Oncologist, and This Is the Breakfast I Eat Almost Every Day for ******* Prevention’
For example, Dr. Dominello says he adds two tablespoons of high-flavonoid cacao powder to his morning coffee and pairs it with a handful of blueberries, a berry that’s known for its high polyphenol content.
“The way we eat and live can affect our chances of getting *******. One major factor is chronic inflammation, which is when the body’s immune system is constantly active,” says Dr. Dawn Mussallem, DO, an integrative oncologist at Mayo Clinic and scientific advisory board member at IM8. It’s why she eats plant-based foods exclusively, as a way to eat lots of inflammation-fighting, polyphenol-containing foods.
Dr. Mussallem says that some of the polyphenol-rich foods she integrates into her meals most often are beans, walnuts, green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables and berries. All of these foods have been scientifically linked to lowering the likelihood of ******* when eaten regularly.
Related: ‘I’m an Oncologist—This Is the Afternoon Snack I Eat Almost Every Day for ******* Prevention’
Dr. Latonya Riddle-Jones, MD, MPH, an internist and pediatrician at Barbara Ann Karmanos ******* Center, says she also tries to add leafy greens to as many meals as she can because of their high polyphenol content. “I have a garden and [grow] spinach, kale, cabbage and various greens. I mix some of these foods into my fruit smoothies and sauces, such as spaghetti sauce,” she says, adding that this is a way to sneak greens into meals without her kids knowing.
One easy way to up your polyphenol intake is by integrating more spices and herbs into your meals, a tip from Dr. Mussallem. “A pinch of turmeric, a dash of cinnamon, fresh basil, garlic, ginger or rosemary—not only do they bring serious flavor, but they’re loaded with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds. These tiny powerhouses can lower chronic inflammation, protect your cells and even help regulate blood sugar and cholesterol,” she says.
Related: ‘I’m an Oncologist and This Is the Dinner I Swear By for ******* Prevention’
What To Avoid Eating if You Want To Lower Your Risk of *******
All three doctors emphasize that it isn’t only what you eat that’s important when it comes to using diet to lower your risk of *******; what you don’t eat is important too. They all say they minimize foods with excess sugar or anything ultra-processed. They also recommend minimizing alcohol consumption.
“I live by the philosophy that every bite is a choice to fuel health or feed disease. That’s why I stick to a whole food, plant-only diet—no ultra-processed foods, no animal protein. Just vibrant, nourishing real plant food. As a 25-year stage IV ******* survivor, heart transplant recipient and marathon runner, I don’t take my energy or health for granted. My food choices are how I show up for this miraculous life,” explains Dr. Mussallem.
That said, Dr. Mussallem says this doesn’t mean eating only nutrient-rich foods all the time; food is about enjoyment too! “I always tell my patients: Aim to eat nearly perfectly at home. That way, when you’re out and about, you can make thoughtful choices without guilt or stress,” she shares.
There is such an abundance of polyphenol-containing plant-based foods that it’s easy to incorporate at least one into every single meal. As you prepare your meals, brainstorm ways you can add more plants to your plate. That way, you can lower your risk of ******* with every single bite.
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Recap of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Prosecutors question expert on abuse trauma to bolster Cassie Ventura’s testimony – CNN
Recap of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Prosecutors question expert on abuse trauma to bolster Cassie Ventura’s testimony – CNN
Recap of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Prosecutors question expert on abuse trauma to bolster Cassie Ventura’s testimony CNNAt Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Trial, Details of a Raid That Found Guns and Baby Oil The New York TimesFormer Employee Reveals Why He — and Not Hotel Staff — Always Cleaned Up Rooms After Diddy People.comFederal agent offers a glimpse at what investigators found inside Diddy’s Miami home NBC NewsMay 21, 2025 – Day 8 of testimony in the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial CNN
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Ramaphosa keeps cool during Trump’s choreographed onslaught
Ramaphosa keeps cool during Trump’s choreographed onslaught
Watch: ‘Turn the lights down’ – how the Trump-Ramaphosa meeting took an unexpected turn
Three months into Donald Trump’s second term, foreign leaders should be aware that a coveted trip to the Oval Office comes with the risk of a very public dressing down, often straying into attempts at provocation and humiliation.
Wednesday’s episode with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa was a classic of its kind, with the added twist of an ambush involving dimmed lights, a lengthy video screening and stacks of news story clippings.
As television cameras rolled, and after some well-tempered discussion, Trump was asked by a journalist about what it would take for him to be convinced that discredited claims of “white genocide” in South Africa are untrue.
Ramaphosa responded first, by saying the president would have to “listen to the voices of South Africans” on the issue. Trump then came in, asking an assistant to “turn the lights down” and put the television on, so he could show the South African leader “a couple of things”.
Elon Musk, his adviser and a South Africa-born billionaire, watched quietly from behind a couch.
What followed was an extraordinary and highly choreographed onslaught of accusations from the US president about the alleged persecution of white South Africans, echoing the aggressive treatment of Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky during his February visit to the White House.
The footage on the large screen showcased South African political firebrands chanting “Shoot the Boer”, an anti-apartheid song. And Trump, so often critical of the news media, seemed happy to parade pictures of uncertain provenance. Asked where alleged grave sites of white farmers were, he simply answered, “South Africa”.
The US leader also seemed to believe the political leaders in the footage – who are not part of the government – had the power to confiscate land from white farmers. They do not.
While Ramaphosa did sign a controversial bill allowing land seizures without compensation earlier this year, the law has not been implemented. And the South African distanced himself publicly from the language in the political speeches shown.
But the top ally of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela and negotiator who helped bring an end to the apartheid regime of white-********* rule came to this meeting prepared.
Trump sometimes appears unaware of transparent efforts made by foreign leaders to flatter and that was clearly part of the South African strategy.
True, Donald Trump is a golf fanatic, but Ramaphosa’s gambit of bringing two top golfers – Ernie Els and Retief Goosen – to a meeting about diplomatic problems and trade policy is not taken from any textbook on international relations I’ve ever read.
However, the US president’s pleasure at having the two white South African golfers there was on show for all to see.
Their prognostications on the fate of white farmers got nearly as much screen time as South Africa’s democratically-elected president, who largely restricted himself to quiet, short interventions.
But Ramaphosa will likely be happy with that. The golfers, along with his white agriculture minister, himself from an opposition party which is part of the national unity government, were there, at least in part, as a shield – a kind of diplomatic golden dome if you will, and it worked.
Trump returned repeatedly to the issue of the plight of the farmers – dozens of whom he has welcomed into the US as refugees. But President Ramaphosa wasn’t biting and the provocations were largely left to blow in the breeze.
At one point, he referred to the golfers and an Afrikaner billionaire who had joined his delegation, telling Trump: “If there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you, these three gentleman would not be here.”
But even though President Trump didn’t manage to get a rise out of the South African president, that does not mean his efforts over more than an hour were in vain; they certainly were not.
This performative style of diplomacy is aimed as much at the domestic American audience as it is at the latest visitor to the Oval Office.
Central to the Make America Great Again (MAGA) project is keeping up the energy around perceived grievances and resentment and President Trump knows what his supporters want.
If some foreign leaders are learning to navigate these moments with skill, Donald Trump may have to change the playbook a bit to continue to have the impact he wants.
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