Author: KnowledgeHippo
When Elon Musk asked his 211 million followers on X to vote on whether “America should free the people of Britain from their tyrannical government,” it seemed the post could only be objectionable.But after a barrage of scathing posts about Britain from Mr. Musk — attacks Labor prime minister Keir Starmer. demanding the release of a jailed far-right rioter; and breaking with a hardline leader, Nigel Farage — was less funny than a joke from a powerful man relishing his ability to upset another country’s politics.The posts of Mr. Appearing in X over the holidays as unwelcome guests at a…
The birth certificate may say New Jersey, but Karl-Anthony Towns, the seven-foot star of the New York Knicks, has a New York origin story.Growing up in nearby Piscataway, NJ, Mr. Towns and his parents regularly made the 37-mile drive into the city to take in parks, museums, New York Yankees games, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and, of course, to watch the Knicks. — his mother Jacqueline Cruz’s favorite team — plays at Madison Square Garden. “To play in this place now is really cool, to see life come full circle,” said Mr. Towns, who was traded to New York…
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy went on trial in Paris on Monday on charges that his 2007 campaign received illegal funding from the Libyan government of Colonel Muammar el Gaddafi.The trial, which is scheduled to last three months, is far from the first for Mr. Sarkozy, 69, a conservative politician who led France from 2007 to 2012 but represents one of the most serious legal threats to French politics has left office.Just last month, Mr. Sarkozy exhausted his final appeal in a separate corruption and influence-peddling case, making him the first former French president to be sentenced to real detention,…
Can Paxlovid Treat Long Term Covid? A new report suggests it may help some patients, but which patients might benefit remains unclear.The report, published Monday in the journal Communications Medicine, describes the cases of 13 Covid patients who underwent extensive courses of the antiviral drug. The results were decidedly mixed: Nine patients reported some improvement, but only five said it lasted. Four reported no improvement.Perhaps more than anything else, the report highlights that almost five years after the start of the pandemic, little is still known about what can help the millions of people with prolonged Covid. While some people…
Five students in Massachusetts are accused of luring a man to Assumption University’s campus in a plot that police said was inspired by the TV show “To Catch a Predator” and a TikTok fad.The students were part of a larger group that chased the man from a campus building after he was invited there by a student on the dating app Tindr, expecting to meet an adult, according to a criminal complaint filed in Worcester District Court in December. 4.Campus police at Assumption University, a small Catholic school in Worcester, said in the complaint that the group accused the man…
When Jeju Air’s position as South Korea’s largest low-cost carrier appeared to be threatened by the merger of the country’s two largest airlines last year, the company’s chief executive assured employees that it would “proactively respond,” possibly by acquiring smaller opponents.Now, a week after the Dec. 29 crash that killed 179 people, Jeju Air’s future is clouded by even deeper questions.South Korean officials on Thursday raided the company’s offices and imposed a travel ban on Kim Ee-bae, the chief executive, as part of an investigation into the country’s worst air disaster in nearly three decades. Passengers are canceling bookings, adding…
“A reporter is in the woods.” Marc Da Costa, a digital artist with a Ph.D. in anthropology, was speaking from the controls of an artificial intelligence-based video installation at the Onassis Foundation’s ONX Studio, a high-tech multimedia lab in the Olympic Tower in Midtown Manhattan. It was talking to the computer running this installation. About me.”A huge fleet of food delivery bikes shows up,” Da Costa continued, spinning a silly story that the AI would soon render on screen. “The heavens open and a galactic, friendly being descends with a scepter. Frank and the galactic being meet the deliverymen and…
Since his cancer diagnosis last year, Kent Manuel has been seeing an oncologist near his home in Indianapolis regularly. It’s been a rough time: After spinal surgery for paralysis caused by his cancer, he’s regaining the use of his legs with physical therapy, but still uses a wheelchair.Now, Mr. Manuel said, “I deal with the pain.” His oncologist recommended palliative care, a medical specialty that helps people with serious illnesses cope with suffering and distress and maintain quality of life.So, in November, Mr. Manuel, 72, a semi-retired accountant, began seeing Dr. Julia Friedman, a palliative care physician. “We talk about…
Dozens of Israeli strikes hit the Gaza Strip over the weekend as Israeli and Hamas officials restarted indirect ceasefire talks through mediators in Qatar.Israel’s military said Sunday it hit more than 100 targets across the enclave over the weekend, including sites from which militants had fired missiles into Israeli territory. It said the strikes had killed Hamas fighters and that the military had taken steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians. The claims could not be independently verified.Gaza’s health ministry said in a statement on Sunday that 88 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24…
Have a question for our culture writers and editors? Ask us here.Q: Why do the Oscars honor producers when a movie wins best picture? What exactly did they do?You’re confused for good reason: Producers themselves have trouble describing their work.”I do the impossible for the ungrateful,” said one when I asked. “You can learn it, but you can’t teach it,” another told me, referring to something professional wrestler Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon used to say about his profession. A longtime producer advised me to abandon this mission altogether. “Forget it, Jake — it’s Chinatown,” he said, using the classic film…