Author: KnowledgeHippo

Israeli security and political chiefs were expected to arrive in Qatar on Sunday for high-level talks on a proposed Gaza ceasefire deal that would free hostages in the final days of President Biden’s term and before Donald J.Biden administration officials have been pushing for a deal that would become part of the outgoing president’s legacy, and Mr. Trump warned that “all hell will break loose in the Middle East” if Hamas does not release the hostages before his inauguration on January 20.Negotiations at a lower level have begun in recent weeks after months of deadlock.While some progress has been made,…

Two billion parking spaces fill the country, according to some estimates. That’s about seven seats for each car, totaling an area roughly the size of West Virginia.For some people, it’s too much.Freeing up space, housing advocates, environmentalists and real estate developers say, can make room for desperately needed housing development and help make cities more walkable and less dependent on cars.”Having some parking is important,” said Dirk Aulabaugh, head of global advisory services at Green Street, a real estate analytics firm. “But does it have to be what we’ve had historically? I think the answer is no.”Hundreds of cities and…

An unpaid group of billionaires, tech executives and some disciples of Peter Thiel, a powerful Republican donor, are preparing to take unofficial positions in the US government in the name of cost-cutting.As President-elect Donald J.’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency Trump is preparing to send people with ties to his co-chief executives, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to jobs across the federal government. .After Inauguration Day, the group of wide-eyed, Silicon Valley-leaning recruits will grow into the alphabet soup of Washington agencies. The goal is for most major companies to eventually have two DOGE representatives as they seek to reduce…

I didn’t fully understand the limits of my body until last June, when I fell down my fire escape and floated out of myself in a near-death experience like those of Peter Fenwick – a psychiatrist who researched end-of-life phenomena — documented during his career. (Dr. Fenwick died on November 22 at age 89.)I was at my own housewarming party, standing at the firehouse with two friends, when I fell, falling about 12 feet and hitting my head. I lost consciousness for several minutes.As my friends say, the paramedics arrived quickly, peeled the screen from a window on the second…

It kills more people every year than car accidents, war or drugs. This invisible killer is air pollution from sources such as cars and trucks or factory smokestacks.But as wildfires intensify and become more frequent in a warming world, smoke from those fires is emerging as a new and deadly source of pollution, health experts say. According to some estimates, wildfire smoke – which contains a mixture of dangerous air pollutants such as particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and lead – already causes up to 675,000 premature deaths annually worldwide, as well as a range of respiratory, heart and other…

While waiting for a call from his agent in September, Isaac Rochell, a professional football player looking for a team, watched the opening weekend games of the National Football League on television with his daughter. His wife needed a sitter.Allison Kucharczyk, Rochell’s wife and an online influencer with more than three million TikTok followers, was closer to the venue than thanks to a partnership with NBC Sports. He crossed continents on a private jet with other content creators to document a weekend of noisy tailgates, concession food and stadium environments at NFL games in Kansas City, Mo. Sao Paulo, Brazil;…

The Supreme Court tried on Friday a law that could determine the fate of TikTok, a wildly popular social media platform that has about 170 million users.Congress enacted the law out of concern that the app, whose owner is based in China, is susceptible to Chinese government influence and poses a national risk. The measure would effectively ban TikTok from operating in the United States unless its owner, ByteDance, sells it by January 19.Here are some key takeaways:The court seemed likely to uphold the law.While justices across the ideological spectrum asked tough questions of both sides, the overall tone and…

You may be among the millions of people who have seen a surprisingly specific warning like this one on the labels of the medications you take:Avoid eating grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice while using this medicine.Such warnings are issued for dozens of substances, including docetaxel, an anticancer drug. erythromycin, an antibiotic. and some statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs prescribed to more than a third of American adults over 40.The problem is a set of molecules, the furanocoumarins. High levels of furanocoumarins interfere with human liver enzymes, among other processes. In their presence, drugs can build up to unhealthy levels in the…

This year is just getting started, but it’s already shaping up nicely for US airlines.After several setbacks, the industry closed 2024 in a fairly strong position due to healthy demand for tickets and the ability of many airlines to control costs and raise fares, experts said. Barring major problems, airlines – especially the bigger ones – should enjoy a great year, analysts said.”I think it’s going to be pretty blue skies,” said Tom Fitzgerald, an airline industry analyst for investment bank TD Cowen.In recent weeks, many major airlines have upgraded their forecasts for the all-important final three months of the…

Ukrainian authorities on Saturday announced the capture of two North Korean soldiers in Russia, saying they were the first captured alive since Pyongyang sent troops to aid Moscow’s war effort.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the two soldiers, who were wounded, were captured in western Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops are fighting to hold territory they seized during a surprise cross-border incursion last summer.In his post on various social media channels, Mr. Zelensky said the soldiers had received medical treatment, as required by the Geneva Conventions, and had been taken to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, for questioning.Ukraine’s internal intelligence service,…