Cassie Settled Lawsuit Against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs for $20 Million
Cassie Settled Lawsuit Against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs for $20 Million
In her final moments of direct testimony at the federal trial of Sean Combs on Wednesday, Casandra Ventura revealed the amount of a civil settlement that Mr. Combs and his businesses paid her after she filed a bombshell lawsuit in November 2023.
Mr. Combs’s lawyers had previously disclosed that the payment was a “substantial eight-figure settlement.” Ms. Ventura clarified in court that she had received $20 million.
The lawsuit, which accused Mr. Combs of years of physical abuse and ******* coercion, was settled one day after it was filed. But it precipitated a deluge of lawsuits and the federal criminal investigation that resulted in the music mogul’s arrest on racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking charges.
Mr. Combs has vehemently denied that he coerced Ms. Ventura — or anyone — into sex and has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him.
On the witness stand in Federal District Court in Lower Manhattan, Ms. Ventura testified for hours on Wednesday about injuries she said she received from physical abuse by Mr. Combs, and detailed the drug-dazed sex marathons with male escorts that she said occurred “hundreds” of times throughout their decade-long relationship.
The defense first disclosed months ago that before Ms. Ventura filed her lawsuit, a lawyer representing her approached counsel for Mr. Combs and offered to sell the rights to a book she had written that detailed her account of their relationship. The suggested price: $30 million.
On the stand, Ms. Ventura confirmed that proposal.
“I wanted to be compensated for the time, the pain,” Ms. Ventura testified, as well as for the “many, many years” trying to “fix” her life.
Ms. Ventura said she wrote the book during and after she went to rehab in 2023, which she described as involving “trauma therapy” and coming off Valium. She said her mother helped her get the materials organized. She decided to send chapters to Mr. Combs.
“I really wanted Sean to read the information,” Ms. Ventura testified. “I wanted him to understand what I had to learn to understand over that *******.”
Ms. Ventura said she checked with one of his top employees, Kristina Khorram, to check if he read it, but she was told that people did not believe she was the author.
Mr. Combs’s lawyers have described Ms. Ventura’s attempt to sell the book rights as “extortion” in court papers. Ms. Ventura decided to ask for $30 million without having done research about book payments, she testified, but she thought that number would get his attention.
Olivia Bensimon contributed reporting.
Source link
#Cassie #Settled #Lawsuit #Sean #Diddy #Combs #Million
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
Can Eurovision Avoid Politics in Neutral Switzerland?
Can Eurovision Avoid Politics in Neutral Switzerland?
At the Eurovision Song Contest, one rule stands above all others: no politics.
That order is enforced by the competition’s organizer, the European Broadcasting Union, an opaque federation of nearly 70 public service broadcasters, based in Geneva. It scrutinizes performers’ lyrics, their outfits and even their stage props in hopes of bringing some Swiss neutrality to the contest and avoiding anything controversial that could spoil the fun.
Yet when the Eurovision final takes place this Saturday on the European Broadcasting Union’s home turf in Basel, Switzerland, politics will still be bubbling in the background, even if the organizers manage to keep such topics off the stage.
At a time when the effects of Israel’s war in Gaza are still rippling through cultural life, and Russia and Belarus are pariahs because of the invasion of Ukraine, the question of who gets to compete in Eurovision brings politics to the *****. And the question of what is actually political can be, slippery, and one for which the European Broadcasting Union sometimes lacks a consistent answer.
In recent weeks, broadcasters in Spain, Ireland and Slovenia have called for a debate on Israel’s participation, rehashing a furor that threatened to overshadow last year’s competition. Before the last final, in Malmo, Sweden, some Eurovision performers signed petitions and made statements calling for Israel’s exclusion because of its actions in Gaza. Some crowd members booed Israel’s singer during the final, though others cheered.
Eurovision officials responded with a line that the competition has clung to at previous moments of tension: Eurovision, it said, is a contest between broadcasters, not nations. That means a government’s actions should have no bearing on the contest.
This year, the European Broadcasting Union issued a code of conduct requiring all performers and their teams to refrain from “making political statements or causing controversies.” It also appointed Martin Green, a British events producer who worked on the ceremonies at the 2012 London Olympics, to oversee the competition and act as a spokesman if trouble arises.
“Mistakes were made last year, and we’ve all learned from them,” Green said in an interview, adding that Eurovision now had a “fine line to tread.” But ultimately, he said, it was “a prime-time family TV show” whose viewers would be turned off by politics.
The European Broadcasting Union’s activities are wider than just Eurovision: It has about 500 staff members who lobby governments on behalf of its broadcasters and advise broadcasters on the impact of new technologies, like A.I. Its board and general assembly, neither of which publish minutes of their meetings, oversee those activities, as well as Eurovision.
Because the public broadcasters of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain pay the most toward funding Eurovision, those “big five” nations automatically qualify for the competition final.
Sarah Yuen, Eurovision’s executive supervisor for the 2003 contest, said that, backstage, Eurovision was like “the United Nations of television,” and was never free of diplomatic disputes or patriotic peacocking.
Onstage “every country in the contest is always trying to show it’s more important than the next one,” Yuen said. Some national delegations also jockey behind the scenes for the best conditions for their acts, she added.
In the competition’s early decades, after it was founded in 1956, politics weren’t such an issue onstage, but often colored the voting to choose the winner. In addition to a public telephone vote, juries representing each nation allocate points, often trading top scores with friendly, diplomatically aligned nations.
That could sometimes make the count feel like a proxy for foreign affairs, but it was only in recent decades that geopolitical conflicts began threatening to spill over onto the stage. In 2009, for instance, the European Broadcasting Union demanded that Georgia alter its entry — a disco song called “We Don’t Wanna Put In” — because it sounded like a reference to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, just months after Georgia and Russia had fought a brief war. (Georgia refused, and pulled out of that year’s competition.)
Last year, the union asked Israel to change the title and some lyrics of its entry, “October Rain,” because it appeared to be about grief over the ****** attacks of Oct. 7. The song was retitled “Hurricane,” and some of its verses were altered.
During the recent interview, Green struggled to explain how the organization decides whether lyrics are political. “It’s very hard to be ******-and-white,” he said, after a long pause, then added that the test was whether an act seemed like they were trying to “instrumentalize the contest.”
The challenge of keeping politics at bay moved well beyond lyrics in 2021, when Belarus began a clampdown on antigovernment protests. The European Broadcasting Union’s board decided to suspend Belarus’s state broadcaster — meaning it could no longer compete in Eurovision — over what it called “exceptional” government interference in the broadcaster’s operations.
Then, in 2022, Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The union initially stuck to its line that Eurovision is “a nonpolitical cultural event” between broadcasters, not nations. But this split the organization’s membership, according to interviews with 11 current and former members of the union’s Eurovision committees.
Sietse Bakker, a television producer who was a delegate for the Dutch public broadcaster, said that most members wanted Russia thrown out of Eurovision. But a ********* insisted that doing so would politicize the contest and could lead to debates about other broadcasters’ participation.
Sebastian Sergei Parker, a former Russian TV executive who sat on the union’s board, recalled a senior European Broadcasting Union official saying that expelling Russia would “open a Pandora’s box.”
After initially saying Russia could stay in, the union changed tack and barred it from Eurovision, suspending all its members, too. Bakker said that he believed this should not be seen as a political decision, because war was a humanitarian issue that went beyond politics. Yet ever since, activists who want Israel out of Eurovision cite Russia’s exclusion as a precedent.
Other countries have left Eurovision of their own accord, for reasons that could also be viewed as political. Turkey has not participated since 2013, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the show undermines family values by featuring gay, transgender and nonbinary performers. Hungary, whose government has also cracked down on L.B.G.T. rights, including by banning pride events, has not taken part since 2019.
Green said that Eurovision did not consider featuring gay or trans performers as a political act, and that the competition was a place for performers to celebrate their identity onstage, whatever their race, gender or ******* orientation.
For countries that don’t share those values, there may soon be an alternative. According to the Tass state news agency in Russia, Putin signed a decree in February promising to revive a rival Cold War-era song contest called Intervision that would now also include artists from India, China and Brazil. Russia’s culture ministry did not respond to a request for further details on the competition, but the existence of two ideologically distinct pop contests would only increase perceptions of Eurovision as a political event.
Green said that the competition’s online audience was growing, which showed that the European Broadcasting Union’s apolitical stance was the right one. Viewers wanted to enjoy Eurovision “for what it is,” he said: a fun singing contest between “37 countries.” Then, he corrected himself: Eurovision was a contest between “37 broadcasters,” not nations, he said. Sometimes even those who work for the union can forget.
Source link
#Eurovision #Avoid #Politics #Neutral #Switzerland
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
Trump Meets Ahmed al-Shara After Vowing to Lift Sanctions on Syria
Trump Meets Ahmed al-Shara After Vowing to Lift Sanctions on Syria
President Trump, swiftly dismantling decades of U.S. government policy that treated Syria like a pariah, held an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday with its president, Ahmed al-Shara, the former leader of a rebel group designated as a terrorist organization by the American government.
The meeting, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the urging of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, occurred a day after Mr. Trump announced that he was lifting sweeping sanctions against Syria, which Washington began imposing in 1979.
Mr. Trump, who has been known to assess people according to how they look, suggested that Mr. al-Shara, a rugged figure with a thick ****** beard who toppled the brutal Assad dynasty in December, had made a favorable impression.
“Young, attractive guy,” Mr. Trump described him to the news media. “Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”
“He’s got a real shot at pulling it together,” Mr. Trump said of Syria, adding, “It’s a torn-up country.”
The last meeting between the leaders of both countries occurred 25 years ago.
Mr. Trump spoke as he flew to Qatar, the second stop on his four-day, three-nation Middle East tour that will take him next to the United Arab Emirates. The Qataris, like the Saudis, greeted Mr. Trump with pomp, including an honor guard mounted on camels for his presidential motorcade.
Much of the trip is focused on business deals, including the $142 billion ***** of armaments to Saudi Arabia and an agreement to sell 160 Boeing passenger aircraft to Qatar. The White House said on Tuesday that the president had secured $600 billion in deals with the Saudi government and firms. But the details were vague, and some of the deals announced as new had already been in the works.
Even as Mr. Trump trumpeted the deals, several issues — the violence plaguing the Middle East, including the war in Gaza; the unstable situation in Syria; and a possible deal with Iran over its nuclear weapon development program — were lurking in the background.
The lifting of sanctions would be a lifeline for Syria. After nearly 14 years of civil war, the country is physically and economically devastated, and harsh sanctions were imposed after the former president, Bashar al-Assad, carried out a violent crackdown against a democratic uprising in 2011. That led to a civil war that killed more than 600,000 people and displaced about 13 million, according to United Nations estimates. The sanctions had blocked most aid, including that needed for reconstruction.
“The sanctions were really crippling,” Mr. Trump said in remarks to Arab Gulf leaders who had gathered to meet with him on Wednesday. He was working to normalize relations with Syria, he said, adding, “I feel very strongly that this would give them a chance.”
Both Prince Mohammed and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, which backed the insurgency that brought Mr. al-Shara to power, had urged Mr. Trump to lift the sanctions. Mr. Erdogan, who joined the 30-minute meeting with the Syrian leader by phone, and the Saudi crown prince, who attended in person, praised the decision. Prince Mohammad called it “courageous,” according to a summary provided by the White House.
Mr. Trump told Mr. al-Shara that “he has a tremendous opportunity to do something historic in his country,” according to the summary issued by the White House press secretary. The president also urged Mr. al-Shara to take steps to normalize Syria’s relations with Israel, which have long been hostile, and to tell “all foreign terrorists to leave” the country, the summary said.
In Riyadh, the Saudi capital, the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said at a news conference later on Wednesday that Syria’s “many opportunities, capabilities and resources” were “one of the most important points of discussion” at the meeting. “It has resources, and, more importantly, it has a capable people: an educated, knowledgeable population that is eager to move Syria into a new phase,” he said.
The U.S. mechanism for lifting the sanctions on Syria was not immediately clear, since some of them were imposed by Congress. Still, it was a remarkable shift for Mr. Trump, who had disparaged Syria as nothing but “sand and death” during his first term as president.
He had also expressed deep skepticism regarding the longstanding deployment of U.S. forces in the country. A contingent of about 2,000 American troops placed in northeastern Syria, mainly to prevent the resurrection of the Islamic State, will be reduced to around 1,400, U.S. officials have said.
The meeting was also a pivotal turn of events for Mr. al-Shara, who has long had a $10 million bounty on his head. He was also held for years in U.S. custody in Iraq. After being released, he returned to Syria in 2011 to establish a branch of the Islamic State, then allied his group with Al Qaeda but broke with it in 2016.
In the years since, Mr. al-Shara had focused on governing the country’s northwest, from which his ragtag band of fighters launched the offensive in December that brought down the Syrian government. The United States has dropped its offer of a reward for Mr. al-Shara in December, but he remains on the list of designated terrorists for his past affiliation with Al Qaeda.
In Syria, there were scenes of jubilation in the streets at the news that sanctions would be lifted. Many people expressed optimism that at least some of their economic woes would be addressed. But many Syrians were also worried that their country might yet split apart because of a recent surge in sectarian violence.
More broadly across the Middle East, violence and conflict continued even as Mr. Trump toured the region. Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip killed dozens of Palestinians, ************ health officials said on Wednesday. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But an Israeli military spokesman had threatened to bomb part of northern Gaza after militants fired rockets at Israel.
Israel, the main U.S. ally in the region, was not included on Mr. Trump’s trip, amid reports of growing differences with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over American attempts to negotiate a cease-fire in the Gaza war with ******. But Mr. Trump told reporters that he was not trying to sideline Israel.
“This is good for Israel, having a relationship like I have with these countries, Middle Eastern countries, essentially all of them,” Mr. Trump said.
In his remarks to Arab leaders, Mr. Trump did single out Iran for criticism, but had also noted that he wanted to make a deal with Tehran on its advancing nuclear program. He also noted earlier that he did not relish having permanent enemies.
That is certainly true of Qatar, which Mr. Trump had accused during his first presidency of supporting terrorism. But when he landed in Doha, the Qatari capital, effusive greetings were exchanged.
“We are very excited,” the leader of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, greeted Mr. Trump during a red-carpet ceremony at the government’s main offices. “I know that you want to bring peace to this region.”
The president praised the emir’s work to mediate the wars in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine.
Soon after he arrived, Qatar Airways, which uses Doha as a hub linking long-haul flights to Africa and Asia to Europe and the Americas, signed an agreement for the 160 Boeing jets.
Neither the American nor the Qatari leader mentioned publicly the $400 million Boeing 747 that Qatar had offered Mr. Trump as a replacement for Air Force One. Mr. Trump has said that he would be a “fool” not to take it, but the offer has stirred widespread criticism in the United States, even from some staunch Trump supporters.
As Mr. Trump’s limousine rolled toward the Qatar Royal Court, a cavalry of men on camelback lined its path. “We appreciate those camels,” Mr. Trump said later. “We haven’t seen camels like that in a long time.”
Reporting was contributed by Lynsey Chutel, Vivian Nereim, Aaron Boxerman, Ben Hubbard and Euan Ward.
Source link
#Trump #Meets #Ahmed #alShara #Vowing #Lift #Sanctions #Syria
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]
Google DeepMind creates super-advanced AI that can invent new algorithms – Ars Technica
Google DeepMind creates super-advanced AI that can invent new algorithms – Ars Technica
Google DeepMind creates super-advanced AI that can invent new algorithms Ars TechnicaAlphaEvolve: A Gemini-powered coding agent for designing advanced algorithms Google DeepMindMeet AlphaEvolve, the Google AI that writes its own code—and just saved millions in computing costs VentureBeatNew AI Model Advances the “Kissing Problem” And More IEEE SpectrumGoogle DeepMind’s AI Agent Dreams Up Algorithms Beyond Human Expertise WIRED
Source link
#Google #DeepMind #creates #superadvanced #invent #algorithms #Ars #Technica
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’ Review: Tom Cruise Defies All
‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’ Review: Tom Cruise Defies All
For nearly three decades, Tom Cruise has been running, soaring, slugging and white-knuckling it through the “Mission: Impossible” series. It’s been fun, on and off, but it’s no wonder he looks so beaten up on the poster for the latest edition, “The Final Reckoning.” Cruise — who turns 63 this year — long seemed impervious to ordinary time, with a boyishness that lasted well into middle age. His early stardom had already granted him a kind of immortality. Yet as the lines on his face discreetly deepened, and he kept pushing himself to lunatic extremes in this series, it seemed as if he were challenging physical death itself.
Cruise is at it again in “The Final Reckoning” — the enjoyably unhinged follow-up to “Dead Reckoning Part One” (2023) — plunging into deep waters, hanging off an airborne plane and insistently defying the odds as well as his own mortality. It’s unclear why the title changed between the two parts. It might have been a marketing decision; dead is a bummer, of course, and the word implied that Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, an American operative extraordinaire, was heading toward the sort of bleak sign-off that capped Daniel Craig’s run as James Bond. Whatever the case, the change suits Cruise’s Ethan, whose abilities have grown so progressively super since the series began in 1996 they seem quasi-mystical.
“Dead Reckoning” ended with Ethan and his team trying to stop an artificial intelligence called the Entity that’s set on destroying Earth. (Why? Why not?) The A.I.’s plan is the ultimate power grab, although it also seems like overkill, given that humanity is already hurtling toward self-destruction. But the Entity’s exceedingly possible mission keeps everyone busy, including Ethan’s right-hand whizzes, Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg), along with his love interest, Grace (Hayley Atwell), and the giddily anarchic one-woman wrecking machine Paris (Pom Klementieff). Mostly, though, the Entity’s annihilating designs mean that Ethan has to step up his game from superhero to global redeemer.
So, once more, Ethan et. al. go unto the breach as they try to stop the Entity, which has thrown the world into chaos, inspired a doomsday cult and is trying to seize the world’s nukes — the usual. One of the dividends of the better big-studio productions is that they tend to be crowded with talented performers who can keep a straight face when delivering nonsense and sometimes bring feeling to the proceedings. So, as the clock runs down, characters enter and exit, including Angela Bassett’s tight-jawed American president and an army of appealing supporting players: Tramell Tillman, Janet McTeer, Shea Whigham, Holt McCallany, Nick Offerman and Hannah Waddingham.
Source link
#Mission #Impossible #Final #Reckoning #Review #Tom #Cruise #Defies
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
Watchdog Effort to Obtain DOGE Records Can Proceed, Appeals Court Rules
Watchdog Effort to Obtain DOGE Records Can Proceed, Appeals Court Rules
Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency must resume efforts to hand over internal documents about their operations to a nonpartisan watchdog group, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The order, issued by a three-judge panel in Washington, directs Mr. Musk’s team to answer questions and provide details the group requested under federal transparency laws, such as the Freedom of Information Act. The watchdog, the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, had sued to force the secretive unit to comply with its public records requests.
Even simple details about Mr. Musk’s operations have been jealously guarded by the Trump administration. Officials have routinely declined to publicly identify DOGE members in court or document how the team has moved through the federal government, downsizing agencies, slashing grants and changing policy priorities.
While Mr. Musk has often portrayed the effort as a transparent “tech support” team, listing inefficiencies it has identified online, federal judges as well as groups suing the administration have complained that it more closely resembles an opaque task force with dubious legal authority to make the significant changes it has taken credit for.
Underlying the case is a deeper dispute about what exactly the Musk team does within the federal government, and whether court should treat it as a federal agency subject to the same requirements as others.
In March, a federal judge ruled that the DOGE team most likely is subject to those requirements, and ordered it to begin working with CREW to detail its operations and provide clarity about its relationship with federal agencies that have enacted drastic changes after meeting with DOGE’s analysts and allowing them to pore over federal databases.
The government appealed that decision, and asked the appeals court to dismiss the lawsuit. The court had entered an administrative stay on April 18, maintaining the status quo — that Mr. Musk’s operation could hold on to its internal documents — until the court had a chance to rule on pivotal questions, including where DOGE fits legally among other government entities.
Government lawyers argued that CREW’s demands placed an significant burden on the DOGE office, and that it would be forced to turn over tens of thousands of pages worth of material in a process that would take years. The government also said that the requests intruded on the internal workings of the White House, as it has routinely defined DOGE as a unit within the office of the president, which is not subject to the same disclosure rules.
But the appeals court dismissed those arguments on Wednesday, finding, among other things, that the government had not raised those concerns about intrusion when the case was being argued in the lower court in March. It said the government had therefore “forfeited” the right to raise them now.
Nonetheless, the appeals court noted that the request for DOGE’s documents was, from the start, always a relatively narrow one.
Even though DOGE must now begin detailing its internal operations and the goals and responsibilities of its members, it can still move to reject some inquiries it deems too sensitive, and only faces searching questions about whether or not it is a federal agency, subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
Source link
#Watchdog #Effort #Obtain #DOGE #Records #Proceed #Appeals #Court #Rules
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
Bunbury-born Cory Kous takes on two-year ride around Australia for men’s mental health
Bunbury-born Cory Kous takes on two-year ride around Australia for men’s mental health
A Bunbury-born, Perth-based activist is riding and walking around Australia to raise awareness about men’s mental health.
Cory Kous began his journey more than a week ago, but plans to be travelling around Australia for at least 18 months to two years.
The journey began in Kwinana with Mr Kous arriving in the South West this week and he is now in Bunbury before he follows the coast to Busselton and Margaret River then plans to cross the Nullarbor.
Mr Kous said the inspiration to complete a lap around Australia riding for men’s mental health came from his own struggles.
“I was going through some mental health problems of my own and just talking with my mates and actually speaking to people helped me out,” he said.
“I want to help out other men to do the same thing. Men don’t like talking about problems they have, it’s very hard for us.”
Despite being on the road for only a little more than a week, Mr Kous said he had already had affirming conversations.
“I’ve had someone pull over at the rest stop where I stayed and he came and had a chat about his mental health,” Mr Kous said.
“We had a little talk which was good. I’ve had another couple of people ring me up just to have chats to talk about their problems.”
Mr Kous said he had always wanted to travel around Australia and decided it would make his journey more meaningful to push for men to speak up during his travels.
He hopes completing National Highway One — a big lap that goes all the way around Australia — will do just that.
“I’ve always wanted to help people, and wanted to see what I could do to help some men who are having hard times,” he said.
“I have a support driver who is following me the whole way. He’s been my best mate for about seven or eight years now.
“He thinks it’s a good idea because he’s recently gone through some problems of his own. Me getting him out to come and help me is helping him out a lot.
“I’ve got my sister who lives over east, and my nanna who lives in Adelaide. I’ve got people who are ready to let me stay at their house all over the country.”
Mr Kous has started a GoFundMe to cover the costs of the journey, with excess money to be donated to charity.
Daily videos and live moments are shared on his TikTok account, named corysrideformen.
Source link
#Bunburyborn #Cory #Kous #takes #twoyear #ride #Australia #mens #mental #health
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]
Steve Cohen says stocks could retest their April lows, sees a 45% chance of recession
Steve Cohen says stocks could retest their April lows, sees a 45% chance of recession
Steve Cohen said Wednesday he sees the possibility that stocks could retest their lows from April following the market’s dramatic comeback. “I don’t expect, you know, a significant decline. I think this is possible we can go back toward the lows which is 10%, 15% [from here] so it’s not a calamity,” the founder of Point72 said at the Sohn Investment Conference in New York. “What Trump did recently actually raises the floor and eliminates perhaps the dire scenario.” Cohen’s comments came after the U.S. and China suspended reciprocal tariffs pending a 90-day negotiating *******, which sparked a sharp rally in stocks. The S & P 500 has jumped 4% this week, fully recovering from the April sell-off and turning green on the year. Stocks started to mount their comeback from their tariffs lows last month as Trump paused the most severe tariffs on most countries. .SPX YTD mountain S & P 500 The billionaire investor, also owner of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball, said the market feels “toppy” right now. He believes there is still a modest risk the U.S. could tip into a recession even though tariffs on China have been slashed. “We’re not a recession yet…. We think it would probably be like a 45% chance of recession,” Cohen said. “So that’s not insignificant, even if it’s not the definition of recession, it’s definitely slow growth. And so I think it’s almost unavoidable when you add up the tariffs, you add up the 10% rate, sectorial tariffs, and whatever happens with China.”
Source link
#Steve #Cohen #stocks #retest #April #lows #sees #chance #recession
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
The Unexpected Vehicles Hitting Colorado’s Streets
The Unexpected Vehicles Hitting Colorado’s Streets
Kei cars get the green light
In a win for automotive enthusiasts and fans of unique imports, Colorado has officially legalized kei cars for road use, starting in 2027. Governor Jared Polis signed HB25-1281 into law last week, allowing residents to register and drive these compact Japanese vehicles, provided they’re at least 25 years old. It’s a significant step for a vehicle category that has long existed in legal limbo within the state.
Kei cars, short for kei-jidōsha (a Japanese term that translates to “light vehicle”), are a class of micro-sized vehicles designed for efficiency, affordability, and tight Japanese city streets. They’re limited in engine size, horsepower, and physical dimensions. Popular examples include the Suzuki Cappuccino, Honda Acty, and Autozam AZ-1.
Why the wait?
While the bill is signed, it won’t go into effect until July 1, 2027, giving state agencies time to implement new registration and emissions procedures. Previously, Colorado had no laws specifically addressing kei cars. A proposed ban by the state DMV in 2024 nearly wiped out the possibility of their legal use, arguing they weren’t intended for American roads. That rule was ultimately withdrawn after pushback.
Joel Stocksdale
Until now, enthusiasts had to navigate a murky system. While some managed to obtain temporary plates, many were stymied by emissions testing requirements — particularly in the Front Range — where keis struggled to pass the usual emissions tests.
What the law says
The new legislation spells out exactly how kei vehicles will be handled in Colorado. Instead of undergoing traditional emission testing, these cars will be tested using a simpler two-speed idle method — an approach typically reserved for vehicles built before 1982. The law also formally defines kei vehicles within Colorado’s Uniform Motor Vehicle Law, giving them the same legal standing as any other registered vehicle.
Honda Acty
However, there are limits: kei cars won’t be allowed on roads with speed limits higher than 55 mph, a sensible restriction given their limited power and modest top speeds. Governor Polis called the move a win for consumer choice, saying, “I hope [other states] join the club. We’re excited in Colorado that now Coloradans have another vehicle choice to get where they want to go. And I would encourage other states to take the same step.”
Final thoughts
Through this new law, Colorado becomes the 30th state to allow kei vehicles, joining places like Texas, California, and Florida. But regulations vary. In New Hampshire, for example, they’re restricted to a 25-mile radius of the owner’s home. Some states — like New York and Rhode Island — require costly upgrades to meet federal safety standards. Others, including Connecticut and Georgia, have banned them outright.
Autozam AZ-1Joel Stocksdale
Enthusiasts in states with strict rules have found workarounds, but not without risk. In Colorado, that chapter is nearly closed. Starting in 2027, those little cars with big personalities will finally have a legal place on the road.
Source link
#Unexpected #Vehicles #Hitting #Colorados #Streets
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial live updates: Prosecution concludes direct questioning of Cassie Ventura in federal sex trafficking case. Cross examination will begin tomorrow. – Yahoo
Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial live updates: Prosecution concludes direct questioning of Cassie Ventura in federal sex trafficking case. Cross examination will begin tomorrow. – Yahoo
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial live updates: Prosecution concludes direct questioning of Cassie Ventura in federal sex trafficking case. Cross examination will begin tomorrow. YahooCassie Reveals $20 Million Diddy Settlement, Alleges ***** During Trial VarietySean ‘Diddy’ Combs Trial Live Updates: Cassie Testifies About Hotel Assault in 2016 The New York TimesCross-examination of Cassie to begin Thursday ABC13 HoustonCassie’s testimony in the Diddy trial exposes the underbelly of their relationship AP News
Source link
#Sean #039Diddy039 #Combs #trial #live #updates #Prosecution #concludes #direct #questioning #Cassie #Ventura #federal #sex #trafficking #case #Cross #examination #tomorrow #Yahoo
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
Woman leaps from balcony to escape house fire in Bentleigh East, Melbourne
Woman leaps from balcony to escape house fire in Bentleigh East, Melbourne
A woman has been forced to leap from a balcony to escape from a “terrible” fire that ripped through several homes, destroying one.
Source link
#Woman #leaps #balcony #escape #house #fire #Bentleigh #East #Melbourne
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
The GOP megabill is packed with surprises for some Republicans
The GOP megabill is packed with surprises for some Republicans
The House Energy and Commerce Committee was 16 hours into a nearly 27-hour markup when it became clear that top Republicans on the panel weren’t clear on what key Medicaid provisions in the legislation they were actively debating would actually do.
Couple that with confusion from moderates over the committee’s complex and controversial proposal — including language to dramatically overhaul the popular health safety-net program with new work requirements and cost-sharing mandates — and it spells possible troubles ahead for the domestic policy megabill central to enacting President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda.
It could also further complicate last-minute negotiations on final text before the House is set to vote on the full package next week, especially with hard-liners pushing for even deeper cuts.
“There were some items in there that, it was the first time we were hearing of them,” GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, who represents a competitive district in Pennsylvania he just flipped red, said in an interview.
Mackenzie is among a group of centrist Republicans not on the Energy and Commerce Committee —which advanced its portion of the bill Wednesday — taken by surprise by some elements of the panel’s Medicaid proposal. They have requested a meeting with GOP leadership to talk through some of their potential concerns about provisions dealing with Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Some of those moderates are likely to be in a Thursday morning meeting that Speaker Mike Johnson has planned with hard-line conservatives pushing for steeper Medicaid slashing and blue-state Republicans warring over a separate key tax deduction.
Of particular concern among a band of centrists is a new cost-sharing requirement for some Medicaid beneficiaries that would add new requirements for Americans with incomes at or just above the poverty line to pay for a portion of Medicaid services.
“That was a new element that … had not been discussed with us before,” said Mackenzie. Another centrist House GOP lawmaker Sunday night remarked they expected there would be “problems” with the final list of Medicaid overhaul proposals being pitched.
Energy and Commerce Republicans rolled out their legislation late Sunday night that would produce massive savings — $301 billion over a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office — as part of a broader Medicaid overhaul from the committee that would lead to 7.6 million people going uninsured, according to a partial estimate from the nonpartisan scorekeeper.
Republicans argue the number includes “able-bodied” Americans and immigrants in the country illegally who should not be entitled to government health coverage. The Energy and Commerce Committee needs to cut $880 billion in total from programs under its purview.
As it turns out, the legislation also would disqualify Americans from getting health insurance at lower costs through the Affordable Care Act marketplace if they otherwise qualified to receive Medicaid but failed to meet new work requirements — something that appeared to catch key GOP members of Energy and Commerce by surprise.
In the early hours Wednesday morning, members of both parties slogged through the wonky details of a provision that would add federal work requirements as a condition of enrolling in the safety-net program.
At one point, a committee aide was asked to weigh in on the matter and confirm the GOP draft bill would, in fact, prevent low-income Americans from getting subsidized marketplace insurance plans if they didn’t meet a new, more stringent Medicaid work requirement.
The discussion of what the work requirements would do began with a question from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who asked Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) why people under the Republican proposal would be prevented from buying into the Affordable Care Act plans at a subsidized rate.
Guthrie replied, “I don’t know of anyone would be prevented from buying that — I don’t know the answer about the ACA.”
Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), the health subcommittee ranking member, fired back, “If you don’t think anybody would be bumped off, why would you have that provision in the bill?”
That’s when Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), the full committee ranking member, stepped in.
“The [Congressional Budget Office] assumed exactly what you said: If I’m kicked off Medicaid because I didn’t file the paperwork — which is what CBO says is the main reason why people are kicked off, not because they’re not eligible … then the CBO assumed they would naturally then go to the ACA marketplace, the exchange, and buy a subsidized policy, and therefore there’d be no savings,” said Pallone, directing his comments to Ocasio-Cortez.
Republicans “want to meet this draconian cut so … they have to say to those people, ‘You can’t go to the marketplace,’” Pallone continued.
Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), the panel’s environment subcommittee chair, thanked Pallone for the explanation: “The people would have an option to go to the ACA plans, if I understand it correctly.”
Pallone interjected, “The bill says you can go to the marketplace and pay full freight, but you can’t get the subsidy. They can’t afford the full freight.”
Guthrie then asked the committee’s counsel to clarify the provision, at which point the counsel explained that if a person is eligible for Medicaid but fails the proposed Medicaid work requirements, they would indeed be ineligible for the subsidized marketplace plans.
The broader exchange prompted attacks from Democrats outside the committee.
“They rushed this cruel bill to markup in the dead of night without even understanding what they were voting on,” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said in a social media post. “The American people deserve leaders who will fight for them, not destroy their lives to hand billionaires another round of tax cuts.”
Committee Republican staff later argued that Democrats’ response to the provision, which they see as simply a clarification of current law, was overblown.
“The Democrats tried to blow that up to make this into a big scandalous thing where we’re double-kicking people off coverage,” a committee GOP staffer granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly said, adding the situation would apply to a very limited group of people. “That’s just not the case. It’s really hard to explain from the dais via members at 3 o’clock.”
Griffith, in a statement after the final party-line vote on the package, also fired back.
“Congressional Democrats and progressive prognosticators shouted day and night that the Energy and Commerce Committee couldn’t make budget recommendations without massive, significant cuts to Medicaid. And yet, House Republicans proved them all wrong,” he said.
Source link
#GOP #megabill #packed #surprises #Republicans
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]
Who Needs China? Saudi Arabia Steps Up As Big Buyer Of AI Chips. – Investor's Business Daily
Who Needs China? Saudi Arabia Steps Up As Big Buyer Of AI Chips. – Investor's Business Daily
Who Needs China? Saudi Arabia Steps Up As Big Buyer Of AI Chips. Investor’s Business DailyNvidia (NVDA) Jumps 6% on Saudi Chip Deal; CEO Net Worth Nears $120 Billion Yahoo FinanceNvidia, AMD extend stock gains. Why the AI trade is roaring back. MarketWatchAWS and HUMAIN announce a more than $5B investment to accelerate AI adoption in Saudi Arabia and globally About AmazonBofA Calls Nvidia, AMD Likely ‘Top Winners’ from Saudi AI Infrastructure Deals Yahoo Finance
Source link
#China #Saudi #Arabia #Steps #Big #Buyer #Chips #Investor039s #Business #Daily
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]
Manhunt after men stabbed, assaulted inside van in Clyde, Sydney
Manhunt after men stabbed, assaulted inside van in Clyde, Sydney
Police and the dog squad are on the hunt after a man was stabbed and another assaulted in Sydney’s west.
Source link
#Manhunt #men #stabbed #assaulted #van #Clyde #Sydney
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
Southern California couple charged with torture of 6 foster children
Southern California couple charged with torture of 6 foster children
VICTORVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Three members of a Southern California family were charged Wednesday with torturing six foster children between the ages of 4 and 16 over a span of years, prosecutors said.
Kenneth Michael Key and Tina Marie Key, both 60, and their 23-year-old daughter Katlynn Marresa Key were arrested this week in Victorville, according to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.
It wasn’t immediately known if they have lawyers. Messages were sent to the county public defender’s office asking if its attorneys are representing the defendants.
The investigation began Feb. 13 when authorities received a tip from a child abuse hotline, said sheriff’s spokesperson Mara Rodriguez. The children were immediately removed from the home, Rodriguez said.
Prosecutors say the Keys subjected all six children to years of physical, emotional and mental abuse.
“The abuse included daily beatings, strangulation to the point of unconsciousness, and punishments of withholding food and water from the children for a ******* of days,” the District Attorney’s office said in a statement.
All three defendants are charged with torture and child abuse. They are being held in lieu of $1 million bail each.
Authorities haven’t said how the alleged abuse went on for years without being detected. Messages were left for San Bernardino County Children and Family Services, which oversees the foster family programs.
The investigation was reminiscent of the case of David and Louise Turpin, the California couple who pleaded guilty in 2019 to torture and years of abuse that included shackling some of their 13 children to beds and starving them to the point they stopped growing.
Source link
#Southern #California #couple #charged #torture #foster #children
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
Nintendo Switch 2 Controller’s GL/GR Buttons Are More Customizable Than We Thought
Nintendo Switch 2 Controller’s GL/GR Buttons Are More Customizable Than We Thought
Among the changes to the Switch 2 Joy-**** charging grip and Pro Controller is the addition of GL and GR buttons, which are on the underside of the handles. Nintendo has recently shared that players can customize these buttons to map to specific actions on a per-game basis.
In an overview posted on the Nintendo Today app, the company explained that the new buttons are fully mappable by the player. This means that they can take on the role of any other button on the controller. Moreover, these mappings can be set for each game, meaning that you’ll have the ability to set up game-specific controller settings.
You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos.
Size:640 × 360480 × 270
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Sign up or Sign in now!
Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.
This video has an invalid file format.
Sorry, but you can’t access this content!
Please enter your date of birth to view this video
JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031Year202520242023202220212020201920182017201620152014201320122011201020092008200720062005200420032002200120001999199819971996199519941993199219911990198919881987198619851984198319821981198019791978197719761975197419731972197119701969196819671966196519641963196219611960195919581957195619551954195319521951195019491948194719461945194419431942194119401939193819371936193519341933193219311930192919281927192619251924192319221921192019191918191719161915191419131912191119101909190819071906190519041903190219011900
By clicking ‘enter’, you agree to GameSpot’s
Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy
enter
Now Playing: Nintendo Switch 2 – Official System Overview Trailer
Button mappings can be set from the quick settings menu, opened by holding down the Home button from within a game. Any mappings will be saved automatically and persist across gameplay sessions.
GL/GR mapping settings can be opened during a game session.
The GL/GR buttons are only available on the new Joy-**** 2 charging grip and the Pro Controller, both of which are sold separately from the Switch 2 console. The charging grip will run you $40, while the Pro Controller costs $84.
The Switch 2, meanwhile, launches on June 5, but preorders are still widely unavailable in the United States. If you managed to snag a preorder, take a look at all of the Switch 2 games that are confirmed and rumored so far. The console costs $450–a substantial increase over the original Switch–which Nintendo has acknowledged may suppress early adoption. In addition, while the Switch 2 looks on face to be pretty similar to its predecessor, Nintendo claims that it has built the hardware from the ground up.
Source link
#Nintendo #Switch #Controllers #GLGR #Buttons #Customizable #Thought
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
Cooper Flagg shocked by ‘crazy draft lottery’ as Mavs jump at opportunity for ‘a fresh start’ – The New York Times
Cooper Flagg shocked by ‘crazy draft lottery’ as Mavs jump at opportunity for ‘a fresh start’ – The New York Times
Cooper Flagg shocked by ‘crazy draft lottery’ as Mavs jump at opportunity for ‘a fresh start’ The New York TimesSources: Mavs won’t trade No. 1 pick, eye Flagg ESPN2025 NBA Draft Combine scrimmages: May 14 recap NBABulls lose coin flip to the Mavericks, miss out on Cooper Flagg in 2025 NBA Draft Yahoo SportsDwyane Wade casts doubt on legitimacy of NBA Draft Lottery amid rigging speculation: ‘It’s a business’ Fox News
Source link
#Cooper #Flagg #shocked #crazy #draft #lottery #Mavs #jump #opportunity #fresh #start #York #Times
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
Bologna win Italian Cup, end 51-year major trophy wait
Bologna win Italian Cup, end 51-year major trophy wait
Bologna have ended a 51-year wait for a major trophy by beating AC Milan 1-0 to win the Italian Cup.
Dan Ndoye returned from injury to score the only goal and help Bologna to their first Coppa Italia since 1974. The club, which is owned by ********* Joey Saputo, have only won two second-division titles in between.
It was also coach Vincenzo Italiano’s first win in a final, having lost back-to-back Europa Conference League deciders while in charge of Fiorentina and finishing runners-up in the 2023 Italian Cup.
Wednesday night’s result secured Bologna a spot in next season’s Europa League and left Milan with the very real likelihood of missing out on European competition.
It could spell the end of Sergio Conceicao’s short stint in charge of the Rossoneri, with Milan eighth in Serie A.
Both teams travelled to Rome looking to end an Italian Cup drought, as Milan last lifted the trophy 22 years ago — losing two finals in the intervening years.
The match was played at a high tempo from the start and both goalkeepers were called into making impressive saves in the opening 10 minutes.
Tension threatened to boil over towards the end of the first half and Bologna captain Lewis Ferguson was left bloodied with what looked like a broken nose after a sliding tackle on Rafael Leao, who caught him on the face with his leg as he was upended.
Bologna broke the deadlock eight minutes into the second half. Riccardo Orsolini was tackled by Theo Hernandez in the area but the ball fell to Ndoye, who carved out some space before curling into the right side of the net.
The 24-year-old Switzerland international had missed Bologna’s previous three matches with a thigh injury.
Milan had fought back from a goal down to beat Bologna 3-1 in the Italian league on Friday, but there was to be no such comeback in the capital.
Source link
#Bologna #win #Italian #Cup #51year #major #trophy #wait
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]
Lockheed Martin anticipates sooner-than-expected F-35 award
Lockheed Martin anticipates sooner-than-expected F-35 award
(Reuters) -Lockheed Martin expects to be awarded a finalized contract on its F-35 jets, which have been beset by delays in a technology upgrade, sooner than it previously anticipated, the U.S. defense contractor’s finance chief said on Wednesday.
The fighter jets in lot 19 could potentially be awarded sooner than the second half of this year, which was the company’s earlier timeline, newly appointed CFO Evan Scott said at a Bank of America conference.
Lockheed’s customer has told the company to expect lots 18 and 19 to be combined into a single contract, Scott added.
The Pentagon, U.S. allies and partners are the primary customers for these lots of the F-35 jets.
The F-35 program has been bogged by delays in rolling out an upgrade to give the jet better displays and processing capabilities for its electronic systems.
Last month, Lockheed beat expectations for quarterly profit and reaffirmed its annual forecasts, buoyed by resilient demand for its missile systems and fighter jets.
(Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
Source link
#Lockheed #Martin #anticipates #soonerthanexpected #F35 #award
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
Democratic congressman pushes Trump impeachment effort, but even colleagues criticize it – AP News
Democratic congressman pushes Trump impeachment effort, but even colleagues criticize it – AP News
Democratic congressman pushes Trump impeachment effort, but even colleagues criticize it AP NewsTop House Dems say they’ll join GOP to quash Trump impeachment effort Fox NewsHouse Republicans and Democrats team up to kill Trump impeachment measure AxiosSmart politics or a publicity stunt? The man behind the latest effort to impeach Donald Trump AP NewsHouse Democrat launches impeachment proceedings against Trump The Independent
Source link
#Democratic #congressman #pushes #Trump #impeachment #effort #colleagues #criticize #News
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
‘Strongest line-up of award winners ever assembled’ to converge at the South West Craft Beer Festival
‘Strongest line-up of award winners ever assembled’ to converge at the South West Craft Beer Festival
The South West Craft Beer Festival is set to descend on Yallingup this weekend with the “strongest lineup of award winners ever assembled”
Source link
#Strongest #lineup #award #winners #assembled #converge #South #West #Craft #Beer #Festival
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
Audits of Brazil beef supply chain show progress reducing links to Amazon deforestation
Audits of Brazil beef supply chain show progress reducing links to Amazon deforestation
By Ana Mano
SAO PAULO (Reuters) -A settlement involving federal prosecutors and Brazilian meat packers has helped wean much of the country’s beef supply chain from links to Amazon rainforest destruction, according to company audits of their cattle purchases in six states that prosecutors unveiled on Wednesday.
The settlement, called TAC da Carne, requires meatpackers to audit their cattle purchases to determine whether the animals are being raised in areas that are protected, were illegally deforested, or have other irregularities. The initiative does not cover indirect cattle suppliers, which remain a big part of the beef industry’s supply chain.
Brazil is the world’s biggest beef exporter, but most of its herd is in the Amazon, the world’s largest and most biodiverse rainforest. Research shows cattle ranching there is a major driver of deforestation.
Last year, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon reached6,288 square km, an area larger than the U.S. state of Delaware. It was the lowest level since 2015.
Daniel Azeredo, one of the federal prosecutors overseeing the settlement, said the data showed the program made huge contributions to curbing deforestation. Still, he added, animals raised on illegally deforested farms continue to enter companies’ supply chains through ******** schemes. He called for closer monitoring of indirect cattle suppliers.
“We must recognize challenges remain,” he said.
Overall, 4% of the Amazon cattle supply of meatpackers audited as part of the settlement showed signs of irregularities between January and December 2022. But companies that did not audit purchases had a record 52% of non-compliance. The disparity, federal prosecutors said, highlighted the impact of the settlement.
JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker, and rivals Minerva and Marfrig all hired independent auditors to monitor their cattle purchases, as have multiple privately owned beef packers.
JBS cattle purchases reached 98.2% of conformity in Mato Grosso, home to Brazil’s biggest cattle herd, compared with 100% compliance for its two main listed competitors, according to data presented by the prosecutors.
In Para, home to Brazil’s second largest cattle herd, JBS showed 3% of non-conformity in cattle purchases, a steady improvement since a 2020 audit found 32% of its supply came from irregular farms.
In a statement, JBS celebrated the audit results and said it is closer to its goal of 100% compliance.
(Reporting by Ana Mano, editing by Manuela Andreoni and David Gregorio)
Source link
#Audits #Brazil #beef #supply #chain #show #progress #reducing #links #Amazon #deforestation
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
Putin will not attend Ukraine peace talks in Turkey – BBC
Putin will not attend Ukraine peace talks in Turkey – BBC
Putin will not attend Ukraine peace talks in Turkey BBCRussia and Ukraine are due to meet – but who’ll show up? Here’s what we know CNNPutin and Trump still ‘maybes’ for Ukraine peace talks that Russian leader proposed ReutersPlanned Russia-Ukraine talks upend European push for U.S. sanctions on Moscow The Washington PostUkraine’s allies prepare to call Putin’s bluff on peace talks in Turkey The Hill
Source link
#Putin #attend #Ukraine #peace #talks #Turkey #BBC
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
Privacy Notice: We utilize cookies to optimize your browsing experience and analyze website traffic. By consenting, you acknowledge and agree to our Cookie Policy, ensuring your privacy preferences are respected.
