Oil little changed after surprise build in U.S. gasoline stocksMahomes, Chiefs win at buzzer again, topping Panthers on field goalElon Musk — the proud owner of the website formerly known as Twitter —is once again threatening to buy a thing he doesn't like. This time, Musk threatened to purchase left-leaning MSNBC. In a bit of big media industry news, Comcast announced this week it intends to spin off its cable companies , including MSNBC. That's what led to Musk throwing in his two cents about the news channel. As things often go in this political climate, the situation began with a troll, this time from Donald Trump Jr. "Hey @elonmusk I have the funniest idea ever!!!" Trump Jr. posted on X, reacting to a meme saying MSNBC might be for sale. Musk, not one to miss out on a chance to troll, responded : "How much does it cost?" Now, to be clear, there is no indication that MSNBC is actually for sale. Rather, the plan is for Comcast to create a new company, including brands like USA, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, Golf Channel, CNBC, Rotten Tomatoes, and Fandango. But that didn't stop Musk, Trump Jr., and other rightwing pals from jumping in on the idea. Uber-popular podcaster Joe Rogan responded , for instance: "If you buy MSNBC I would like Rachael Maddow’s job. I will wear the same outfit and glasses, and I will tell the same lies." Rightwing streamer Tim Pool, meanwhile, wrote: "Alex jones hosting would be the most entertaining outcome." Jones' conspiracy site Infowars, of course, was just bought by The Onion . This all feels like a big joke from Musk. And it most likely is just that. But Musk buying Twitter seemed like a joke, too — and we all know how that ended.
Elon Musk threatened to buy MSNBC. Joe Rogan jumped in with ideas, too.SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks rode their dominant defense to a big win over a division rival to vault into first place in the NFC West. No, it isn’t 2013. These are the 2024 Seahawks, who, after struggling mightily against the run earlier this season, held the visiting Arizona Cardinals to 49 rushing yards in Sunday's 16-6 victory . The defensive line kept Kyler Murray under consistent pressure thanks to a dominant performance from Leonard Williams, the secondary flew around to smack away passes, and safety Coby Bryant scored on a 69-yard pick-6. Sunday's defensive performance was reminiscent of the Seahawks of a decade ago and a promising sign that first-year coach Mike Macdonald’s system is starting to click. Macdonald, who coordinated Baltimore's NFL-best defense last year, was leading one of the worst rush defenses in the league earlier this season. But Seattle consistently stuffed the Cardinals, who came in as the fifth-best running team in the league at 149.4 yards per game. “Three games in a row now we played pretty decent on defense,” Macdonald said. “There is an expectation and standard here throughout the course of our Seahawks history that we’re trying to live up to and build on. So that’s the idea.” At 6-5, the Seahawks drew even with the Cardinals in the tightly bunched division. The teams play each other again in two weeks at Arizona. Last month's trade for linebacker Ernest Jones IV has clearly paid off. Seattle hasn't allowed a running back to rush for more than 79 yards since its Week 8 loss to Buffalo, which was Jones' first game in a Seahawks uniform. He has led the team in tackles in every game he's played and has helped resurrect the run defense. The Seahawks' run game continues to underperform. Seattle got 65 yards on the ground Sunday, with the Cardinals holding Kenneth Walker III to 41 yards on 16 attempts. Zach Charbonnet had 22 yards on six carries. Walker hasn’t topped 100 yards since Week 1. Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb needs to think of something different to get the running backs involved. Williams single-handedly disrupted the Cardinals with 2 1/2 sacks, four quarterback hits, three tackles for loss and one pass defensed. “I thought he was dominant,” Macdonald said. “I knew he played great and then I looked at the stat line and he played out of his mind.” The Seahawks finished with five sacks, seven quarterback hits, five tackles for loss and six pass deflections against the Cardinals, shutting down a team that had averaged 29.3 points over its previous three games. Geno Smith finished with 254 yards passing and a touchdown, but he threw another momentum-stalling interception. Smith was picked off on a third-and-6 play on the Arizona 18-yard line at the start of the fourth quarter, ending an 11-play, 73-yard drive. Smith has an NFL-most 12 interceptions this season, more than in either of his previous two seasons as the Seahawks' full-time starter. “That was a huge drive for us. ... Obviously made a terrible mistake down there, something I got to clean up,” Smith said. “But it was a big drive. We wanted to put the game ahead at least two scores.” The offensive line has contributed to the problem. Guard Anthony Bradford left with an ankle injury, and the line struggled to protect Smith, who was sacked five times. Macdonald said Bradford is expected to miss next week's game. 77 — Jaxon Smith-Njigba led the team with six catches for 77 yards and a touchdown, marking the fourth consecutive game that Smith-Njigba has led the team in receptions. He topped 100 yards receiving in the previous two games. “He’s getting open,” Smith said. “He’s catching the ball. He’s doing a great job in the screen game. All-around great player. I just think the way that teams are playing us coverage-wise, I feel like it’s the ultimate sign of respect.” The Seahawks play at the struggling New York Jets on Sunday. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
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Sen. Tammy Duckworth , a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, pulled no punches when discussing Fox News commentator Pete Hegseth , Donald Trump ‘s pick to lead the Department of Defense . The Democratic senator sounded off on Hegseth’s lack of experience, calling him a “pretty low-ranking guy” when he was in the military. Hegseth served as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as at Guantanamo Bay. He has worked at Fox News in various on-air roles since 2014. “He was a pretty low ranking guy in the military, and he never had a command position,” Duckworth told host Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation. “He was a platoon leader, I think, once or twice, but he never even commanded a company. And so this is a man who is inordinately, unqualified for the position.” The senator continued, “The Pentagon is three million servicemen and women and civilians. It is over a $900 billion budget. He’s never run anything anywhere near to that size.” Even Republican senators have spoken out anonymously against Hegseth’s nomination, with one senator telling Rolling Stone Trump’s choice “makes no sense!” Duckworth additionally criticized Hegseth’s vocal opposition to women serving in combat roles. Hegseth has said, “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated.” “He’s wrong,” Duckworth said of Hegseth. “Our military could not go to war without the 220,000 plus women who serve in uniform. Women [serving] in our military does make us more effective, does make us more lethal.” Duckworth was co-piloting a Black Hawk helicopter in 2004 in Iraq when it was shot down by an RPG. Duckworth was severely injured, losing her legs and partial use of her right arm. In addition to his terrible takes on women in combat, Hegseth wrote in his book that the Pentagon’s “social justice” messaging and “woke” policies have harmed recruitment efforts. “America’s white sons and daughters are walking away [from military service], and who can blame them,” he wrote in the book , The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free , published in June. Editor’s picks The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time Hegseth also faces a sexual assault allegation , which, according to Rolling Stone’s reporting he hid from Trump’s transition team. A woman accused Hegseth of sexually assaulting her in a California hotel room in 2017. According to a police report , the woman said Hegseth took her phone and “blocked the door with his body,” preventing her from leaving the hotel room. She said she “remembered saying ‘no’ a lot” to him. Hegseth told investigators he had sex with the woman, but it was consensual. He later paid the woman a settlement in an undisclosed sum. In exchange, she signed a nondisclosure agreement. Hegseth made the payment to save his career, since the matter “would result in his immediate termination from Fox,” Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, told The Washington Post. “It’s frankly an insult and really troubling that Mr. Trump would nominate someone who has admitted he paid off a victim who has claimed rape allegations against him,” Duckworth said . “This is not the kind of person you want to lead the Department of Defense.” Duckworth also expressed worry that Republicans in the Senate are prepared to approve not just Hegseth but Trump’s other nominees . “I’m deeply concerned that they will green light [anyone Trump nominates],” she said, adding, “From what I’m hearing from my Republican colleagues on everything from defense secretary to other posts, it sounds like they are ready to roll over for Mr. Trump.”Azerbaijani and US officials believe a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the deadly crash of an Azerbaijani passenger jet, media reports and a US official said Thursday, as the Kremlin cautioned against "hypotheses" over the disaster. The Azerbaijan Airlines jet crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau, an oil and gas hub, on Wednesday after going off course for undetermined reasons. Thirty-eight of the 67 people on board died. The Embraer 190 aircraft was supposed to fly northwest from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to the city of Grozny in Chechnya, southern Russia, but instead diverted far off course across the Caspian Sea. An investigation is underway, with pro-government Azerbaijani website Caliber citing unnamed officials as saying they believed a Russian missile fired from a Pantsir-S air defence system downed the plane. The claim was also reported by The New York Times, broadcaster Euronews and the Turkish news agency Anadolu. Some aviation and military experts said the plane might have been accidentally shot by Russian air defence systems because it was flying in an area where Ukrainian drone activity had been reported. A former expert at France's BEA air accident investigation agency said there appeared to be "a lot of shrapnel" damage on the wreckage. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said the damage was "reminiscent" of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was downed with a surface-to-air missile by Russia-backed rebels over eastern Ukraine in 2014. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "It would be wrong to make any hypotheses before the investigation's conclusions." Euronews cited Azerbaijani government sources as saying that "shrapnel hit the passengers and cabin crew as it exploded next to the aircraft mid-flight". A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said early indications suggested a Russian anti-aircraft system struck the plane. Kazakhstan news agency Kazinform cited a regional prosecutor as saying that two black-box flight recorders had been recovered. Azerbaijan Airlines initially said the plane flew through a flock of birds, before withdrawing the statement. Kazakh officials said 38 people had been killed and there were 29 survivors, including three children. Jalil Aliyev, the father of flight attendant Hokume Aliyeva, told AFP that this was supposed to have been her last flight before starting a job as a lawyer for the airline. "Why did her young life have to end so tragically?" the man said in a trembling voice before hanging up the phone. Eleven of the injured are in intensive care, the Kazakh health ministry said. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared Thursday a day of mourning and cancelled a planned visit to Russia for an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of former Soviet nations. "I extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the crash... and wish a speedy recovery to the injured," Aliyev said in a social media post Wednesday. The Flight Radar website showed the plane deviating from its normal route, crossing the Caspian Sea and then circling over the area where it eventually crashed near Aktau, on the eastern shore of the sea. Kazakhstan said the plane was carrying 37 Azerbaijani passengers, six Kazakhs, three Kyrgyz and 16 Russians. A Kazakh woman told the local branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) she was near where the plane crashed and rushed to the site to help survivors. "They were covered in blood. They were crying. They were calling for help," said the woman, who gave her name as Elmira. She said they saved some teenagers. "I'll never forget their look, full of pain and despair," said Elmira. "A girl pleaded: 'Save my mother, my mother is back there'." Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with Aliyev and "expressed his condolences in connection with the crash", Peskov told a news conference. bur/rlp/js
It was the most reliable car he had ever driven — that's how Kris Trexler remembered his General Motors EV1. "It was just a car that I took home, plugged in at night, got up the next morning — it was like having a gasoline station in the garage," he told NPR Member station Michigan Public in 2010. Trexler was one of the hundreds of people who got to drive an EV1 — the first modern, mass-produced electric vehicle from a major automaker. The little two-door car looked like a cross between a flying saucer and a computer mouse, and it pioneered technology you can still find in today's EVs. GM built just over 1,000 EV1s before ending production in 1999, spawning a community of passionate super fans eager to join the EV revolution. But the EV1 was controversial, and short-lived. It was on the road for less than a decade. Many Americans never knew the EV1 existed — and the fight to keep it alive ended with GM crushing nearly all the cars into scrap. "When it all happened, we just stood there and said, 'What are you guys doing?' " filmmaker and EV advocate Chris Paine told NPR in a 2006 interview about his documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? "The sight of seeing them destroyed before most people ever got to experience them was really quite a shocking moment for us." The story of the EV1 began in 1990, when California passed sweeping regulations aimed at curbing the state's air pollution. The plan mandated automakers build zero-emission vehicles. "It's a very radical strategy, but it's one that looks well into the next century," California Air Resources Board member Brian Bilbray said at the time. "And it's really going to set the standard for air-quality strategies, not in just this state or this nation, but in the world." Under pressure, automakers researched electric vehicles, hybrids and even hydrogen fuel cells to comply with the mandate. In 1992, reporter Paul Eisenstein was assigned by NPR to check out the early results, traveling to Arizona to test drive a GM prototype called the Impact. "As you turn the key, nothing seems to be happening — until you stomp on the Impact's accelerator," Eisenstein reported. "Then with a sudden lurch and an eerie whine, the Impact bursts to life, the speedometer ticking off five, 15, 30, 45 miles an hour." This is the car that by 1996 hit the market as the EV1. It had zippy acceleration, aerodynamic bodywork that partially covered the rear tires, and an innovative braking system that helped recharge the battery. "Regenerative braking works by using the motors — the drive motors — in reverse, and they act as generators," GM engineer Larry Oswald said. "So when you apply the brake pedal, essentially what you're doing is generating electricity and putting it back into the battery and storing it for the next acceleration." The car's battery could take you about 70 miles on a full charge. Battery technology improved over the years, increasing the EV1's range to about 100 miles. But the EV1 gave rise to a new consumer concern: "range anxiety." "The fear of being stranded; running out of power," Consumer Reports researcher Ron Conlin told NPR in 1997. "The anxiety of the consumer is reflected in our studies." The EV1 was only available in a few states. And it was expensive: The suggested retail price was $35,000 (more than $70,000 in today's money) but it never actually was for sale — it was only available for lease. "The car's being marketed to an upscale consumer — very educated, very affluent, as potentially a third vehicle in the household," Conlin said. Only about 800 drivers leased an EV1, according to an Associated Press article from 2005. However, reports indicated thousands more people put their name on a wait list. GM spokesperson Dave Barthmuss told NPR that the company followed up with those people, and found "less than 50 customers" on the wait list were willing to lease a vehicle. Many who did get the chance to lease an EV1 grew to love the way the car — with its plug-in charging and appliance-like charm — made them feel "like we were in the 21st century," said documentarian Chris Paine. GM had spent more than $1 billion on EV development. But over time, California weakened the mandate to build zero-emission vehicles. The EV1 became an unnecessary cost. The cars' three-year lease agreements expired in the early 2000s, but GM canceled the program and took its EV1s back. In 2005, NPR reporter Luke Burbank visited a GM facility in Southern California storing dozens of repossessed EV1s. The car's supporters held vigil outside. "We call that EV1 death row," said Chelsea Sexton, a former GM employee who worked on the EV1 program and was critical of the company's move to stop making electric vehicles. "It absolutely breaks my heart," Sexton told NPR. "I helped put these cars on the road in the first place, and now they're taking them away from me and from all the other drivers that had them at one point." GM loaded the EV1s onto semi trucks, hauled them to Mesa, Ariz., and crushed them. Photos showed flattened EV1s stacked on top of each other. GM said the cars were destroyed because a lack of replacement parts made the EV1 unsafe. "There are 2,000 unique parts to this vehicle," Barthmuss said. "Some of them are computer control modules that control the braking on the vehicle. If that part fails, there are some serious safety concerns." Twenty-five years after EV1 production ended, every major automaker is building EVs — including GM. In October the company said it's on track to build about 200,000 EVs this year. GM set a goal to phase out gas-powered vehicles by 2035. As for the EV1, some of the little cars escaped the crusher . In 2010, former EV1 driver Kris Trexler visited the very car he once plugged in to charge each night. It was in a new home: the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles — one of only 40 EV1s still intact, according to the museum . "Wow, this brings back some serious memories," Trexler said. "This is just amazing to see this car again."
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How a hedge fund exodus reshaped global cocoa markets A person walks next to the bottles of Coca-Cola and other products on shelves. — Reuters/File LONDON: Behind a record surge in cocoa prices this year, a corner of financial markets that drives the cost of chocolate underwent a seismic shift: the hedge funds that oiled its workings headed for the exit. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1700472799616-0'); }); Confectionery prices, from candy bars to hot chocolate, are heavily influenced by futures contracts for cocoa beans. These financial instruments, traded in London and New York, allow cocoa buyers and sellers to determine a price for the commodity, forming a benchmark for sales across the world. In the middle of last year, hedge funds -- a class of investors that use privately pooled money to make speculative bets -- started pulling back from trading cocoa futures because price swings in the market were raising their cost of trading and making it harder to make profits. They accelerated their retreat in the first half of this year as cocoa prices hit a record in April, driven by supply issues in West Africa, according to Reuters calculations based on data from the US Commodity Trading Futures Commission (CFTC), which oversees the New York market, and ICE Futures Europe, an exchange that compiles figures for trading in London. “This market became increasingly volatile,” said Razvan Remsing, director of investment solutions at Aspect Capital, a $9.3 billion London-based fund that uses coding and algorithms to find trades. “Our system’s response was to trim our positions.” Aspect slashed the exposure to cocoa in its Diversified Fund from nearly 5.0 per cent of its net asset value in January to less than one percent after April, according to a presentation reviewed by Reuters. The departure of hedge funds and other speculators caused liquidity in the market to slump, making it harder to buy and sell, stoking volatility to record highs and fuelling the price spike still further. Reuters spoke to a dozen fund executives, cocoa market brokers and traders who said the retreat -- described here in detail for the first time -- has left lasting strains on the market. That has resulted in greater gaps between the price at which cocoa can be bought and sold, and has prompted some industry players to seek alternative instruments, leaving a lasting impact on the sector. This month, the number of futures contracts held globally at the end of a given trading day -- a key indicator of market health known as ‘open interest’ -- hit its lowest since at least 2014, the global figures show, a sign the futures market overall has shrunk significantly. Data prior to 2014 was not available. On Wednesday, New York cocoa futures prices topped their April peak.The futures market is a crucial cog in the cocoa industry, allowing producers and chocolate companies to hedge their exposure to swings in the price of beans. Futures dictate income for the farmers and low-income nations that produce the world’s cocoa -- the majority of which comes from Ghana and Ivory Coast in West Africa. Hedge funds and speculators have become bigger players in commodity markets over the past two decades as the value of their overall assets has grown. But, as purely financial investors, they have no need to remain in the market at times of stress. The impact of hedge funds’ exit illustrates how reliant trading has become on these lightly regulated funds that increasingly shape financial markets. Reuters has reported this year on how hedge funds are piling into the euro zone’s $10 trillion government bond market, drawing regulatory scrutiny, and on their growing sway in European stock trading. Contacted by Reuters, the CFTC declined to comment. A representative for Britain’s regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, said that, in line with its market supervision practice, “we have been working with trading venues and participants to monitor the orderliness of the market.” Bernhard Troster, an economist at the Austrian Foundation for Development Research(OFSE) in Vienna, who last year co-authored a paper on the growing role of financial actors in commodities derivatives markets, said the withdrawal of hedge funds had helped fuel the crisis in cocoa markets.“When markets became so volatile this year, it was clear how hedge funds and other financial actors have become so important,” he said.WATCH: Roy Keane involved in angry row with an Ipswich fan at Portman Road
Azerbaijani and US officials believe a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the deadly crash of an Azerbaijani passenger jet, media reports and a US official said Thursday, as the Kremlin cautioned against "hypotheses" over the disaster. The Azerbaijan Airlines jet crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau, an oil and gas hub, on Wednesday after going off course for undetermined reasons. Thirty-eight of the 67 people on board died. The Embraer 190 aircraft was supposed to fly northwest from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to the city of Grozny in Chechnya, southern Russia, but instead diverted far off course across the Caspian Sea. An investigation is underway, with pro-government Azerbaijani website Caliber citing unnamed officials as saying they believed a Russian missile fired from a Pantsir-S air defence system downed the plane. The claim was also reported by The New York Times, broadcaster Euronews and the Turkish news agency Anadolu. Some aviation and military experts said the plane might have been accidentally shot by Russian air defence systems because it was flying in an area where Ukrainian drone activity had been reported. A former expert at France's BEA air accident investigation agency said there appeared to be "a lot of shrapnel" damage on the wreckage. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said the damage was "reminiscent" of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was downed with a surface-to-air missile by Russia-backed rebels over eastern Ukraine in 2014. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "It would be wrong to make any hypotheses before the investigation's conclusions." Euronews cited Azerbaijani government sources as saying that "shrapnel hit the passengers and cabin crew as it exploded next to the aircraft mid-flight". A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said early indications suggested a Russian anti-aircraft system struck the plane. Kazakhstan news agency Kazinform cited a regional prosecutor as saying that two black-box flight recorders had been recovered. Azerbaijan Airlines initially said the plane flew through a flock of birds, before withdrawing the statement. Kazakh officials said 38 people had been killed and there were 29 survivors, including three children. Jalil Aliyev, the father of flight attendant Hokume Aliyeva, told AFP that this was supposed to have been her last flight before starting a job as a lawyer for the airline. "Why did her young life have to end so tragically?" the man said in a trembling voice before hanging up the phone. Eleven of the injured are in intensive care, the Kazakh health ministry said. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared Thursday a day of mourning and cancelled a planned visit to Russia for an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of former Soviet nations. "I extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the crash... and wish a speedy recovery to the injured," Aliyev said in a social media post Wednesday. The Flight Radar website showed the plane deviating from its normal route, crossing the Caspian Sea and then circling over the area where it eventually crashed near Aktau, on the eastern shore of the sea. Kazakhstan said the plane was carrying 37 Azerbaijani passengers, six Kazakhs, three Kyrgyz and 16 Russians. A Kazakh woman told the local branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) she was near where the plane crashed and rushed to the site to help survivors. "They were covered in blood. They were crying. They were calling for help," said the woman, who gave her name as Elmira. She said they saved some teenagers. "I'll never forget their look, full of pain and despair," said Elmira. "A girl pleaded: 'Save my mother, my mother is back there'." Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with Aliyev and "expressed his condolences in connection with the crash", Peskov told a news conference. bur/rlp/jsNagpur: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has emphasised on the role of teachers in the 21st century with science poised to get more and more disruptive and even dangerous. He was speaking on Thursday at the 70th foundation day of Somalwar Shikshan Sanstha which runs a chain of schools and colleges here imparting quality education. “Books are becoming obsolete. You turn to Google Baba for all your knowledge needs though it fails sometimes. Intelligence is becoming ‘artificial’. Yet, teachers have their roles carved out. They have a duty and service to churn good human beings who make use of education to make a better world," said Bhagwat. Sarsnghachalak was speaking on “Role of Teachers in 21st Century”. Nagpur: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat addresses 70th Founders' Day of Somalwar Educational Institute. pic.twitter.com/92cyTYs9fn Quoting Mahatma Gandhi who said science without ethics is sin, Bhagwat said in this fast changing world of disruptions and lifestyle changes caused by technology, teachers have a greater role to strike a balance between the good and the bad. Narrating the story from a novel 3024, the main protagonist had to pay the price with his life for remembering a simple multiplication table of nine, in an era when everything was automated and run on machines in a gold mine. He said technology per se is not bad but needs to be used with discretion. “Even an illiterate person can be huge success in a business enterprise. But education gives a person character and ability to use his skills for betterment of self, family, society, country and the world and thus build own identity." He cited the instance of the education system in Finland where students are not failed but geared to enable students to face challenges of life successfully. “When we teach , we also learn. Every student is different. A teacher should have affinity to win respect as well as affection by inculcating confidence and moral qualities in students so that the society at large benefits,:” said the RSS chief.Kobe Sanders scores 27 points, Nevada never trails in 90-78 win over Oklahoma State
By TravelPulse (TNS) While 2024 was a year that brought about significant, continued post-pandemic recovery for the travel industry, it was also a period of time marked by instability in some locations around the world. From attacks on the rail lines during the Paris Olympics to the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, not to mention the war in Ukraine, the global travel realm in 2024 was fraught with challenges. It is against this backdrop that the international security and medical services provider Global Guardian recently released its 2025 Global Risk Map. Published annually, the map is meant to help travelers better understand the current global risk landscape. In order to develop its guidance, experts at Global Guardian assess a long list of country-specific security risk factors and indicators, including crime, health, natural disasters, infrastructure, political stability, civil unrest and terrorism. For 2025, Global Guardian’s assessment results underscore the reality that disruption globally and domestically continues to increase, and now more than ever travelers need to be prepared when exploring the world. As part of the latest assessment, Global Guardian highlighted a handful of specific global regions that are at particular risk of destabilization over the next year and beyond. Here’s a closer look at those regions, along with insights from Global Guardian CEO Dale Buckner, who recently spoke with TravelPulse at length about the risks travelers may face in 2025. Here are the regions at risk of destabilization in 2025: Israel’s existential battle against Iran is set to continue into 2025, says the Global Guardian report. “In July 2024, Israel assassinated Hamas’ political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) safehouse in Tehran, and Iran has pledged revenge,” the report explains. “This comes as Iran and its web of regional proxies took their war on Israel out of the shadows and into the open following October 7, 2023, with seven live fronts.” Global Guardian also predicts that Israel’s regional war will shift from Gaza to the West Bank and Lebanon in the year ahead, heightening tensions with Hezbollah, while Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean will persist. The report adds that as “we enter 2025, Israel may assess that its strategic window to prevent a nuclear Iran is rapidly closing and choose to act.” The ongoing civil war in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), is also of concern, according to Global Guardian’s risk analysis. The conflict “has created a dire humanitarian situation with ethnically motivated violence on the rise,” says the report. Some of the areas of concern in the Latin American region include Venezuela and Mexico, according to Global Guardian. The risk in Venezuela is tied to the country’s long-standing territorial dispute with neighboring Guyana, says the report. “Since 2019, the U.S. Department of State withdrew all diplomatic personnel from U.S. Embassy Caracas and suspended all operations,” explains Buckner. “Violent crimes, such as homicide, armed robbery, kidnapping, and carjacking, are common in Venezuela. Shortages of gasoline, electricity, water, medicine, and medical supplies continue throughout much of Venezuela. Simply put, Venezuela is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for Western travelers and should be avoided.” In Mexico, meanwhile, the problems include drug cartel-related violence and theft, among other issues, says the report. Mexico recently inaugurated its first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, and like her predecessors she will face challenges “reining in cartel violence, corruption, extortion, theft and kidnapping,” says the report. “As such, security continues to be a top concern in Mexico’ ” says the report, which categorizes Mexico as “high risk” when it comes to travel for 2025. Countries classified as high risk experience regular conflict, criminal activity or civil unrest — and have not effectively managed those risks. The Global Guardian report also suggests there may be heightened risks in Mexico now that Donald Trump has been reelected U.S. president. “Bilateral relations between the U.S. and Mexico could dramatically deteriorate. Trump has promised a mass deportation operation, which could sour relations between the U.S. and Mexico, increasing risks to businesses operating in Mexico,” the report adds. Asked to comment on Mexico’s high-risk designation, Buckner stressed that the situation in the country is extremely nuanced, adding that it’s a vast oversimplification to call the entire country high risk. “There are pockets of Mexico that are wildly safe and wonderful to visit and people shouldn’t hesitate to go,” Buckner told TravelPulse. “And there are also pockets that are unsafe and dangerous.” The good news, added Buckner, is that Mexico’s new president is focusing a great deal of effort and energy on addressing the problems surrounding drug cartels, which are the source of a great deal of the risk. Buckner was quick to add however, that as long as there’s demand for drugs, the drug cartel situation is likely to remain problematic. “The U.S. is driving the drug demand — we consume more drugs then the rest of the world,” explained Buckner. “It’s really overly simplified to paint Mexico as the bad guy, because if there wasn’t demand, we wouldn’t need the supply. But the demand is real and violence comes with that.” Representatives for Global Nexus, a government and public affairs consultancy that advises travel and tourism companies and interests in Southern Mexico, told TravelPulse that while drug-related violence has been known to occur, it involves members of the drug cartel targeting each other, they’re not targeting tourists. “There is an ongoing battle between small drug vendors who use the beach to sell product to tourists hanging out on the beach,” explained Ruben Olmos, Global Nexus president and CEO, in reference to the Quintana Roo region, which is popular with tourists. “There have been cases where gunfire has been exchanged between these groups. They are targeting themselves. They are fighting over ‘This is my beach’ and they initiate a shootout.” However, added Olmos, that the U.S. State Department’s risk categorization for Quintana Roo (which is separate from the Global Guardian risk assessment) has not changed. Located on the State Department’s Mexico page, the risk assessment for Quintana Roo remains in the “Exercise Increased Caution” category, which is below the top risk categories of “Do Not Travel” and “Reconsider Travel.” The Exercise Increased Caution designation means “Be aware of heightened risks to safety and security,” explains the State Department’s website. Olmos also pointed out that Mexico is the only country that has a map on the U.S. State Department website that covers every single state in the country, providing details for travelers about which states are safest. In June 2024, thousands of young people took to the streets in Kenya to protest a controversial tax bill. The protesters were met with heavy-handed policing, including the use of live fire and mass arrests, says the Global Guardian risk report. Despite the local security response, protests continued. The success and tenacity of the Kenyan movement has triggered similar protests or dissent in other countries including Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, and Nigeria, says Global Guardian. That is just a portion of the risk Global Guardian sees for Sub-Saharan Africa over the course of 2025. “With multiple conflicts escalating across the continent, aging leaders leaving behind unclear successions, and entrenched regimes with dissipating legitimacy, Sub-Saharan Africa now looks much like the North African and Arab world in the early 2010s,” says the report. “While the dynamic unfolding in Africa might not yet merit the label of “African Spring,” a significant change to the continent’s political status quo is coming.” Several countries received an extreme or high-risk designation on the new Global Guardian risk map for 2025, including more than a few that are popular with leisure travelers or tourists. Extreme risk countries are those that Global Guardian says are “actively engaged in conflict, while also experiencing severe criminal activity and civil unrest.These countries are insecure; state institutions are too weak to manage militant groups or large-scale disasters.” They include Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Lebanon, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Ukraine, West Bank, Gaza and Yemen. The current list of high-risk countries, which are countries that experience regular conflict, criminal activity or civil unrest and have not effectively managed those risks, includes Bangladesh, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Iraq, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, Libya, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, South Sudan, Uganda, Venezuela Officials from the Jamaica Tourist Board provided a statement to TravelPulse in response to Global Guardian’s designation of the country. “Last month, Global Guardian, a private security provider, released its 2025 Global Risk Map, which included Jamaica, amongst other destinations,” said the Tourist Board. “It is important to note that the crime rate against visitors is notably low at 0.01% and the majority of Jamaica’s tourism product remains unaffected.” The country’s tourism officials added that Jamaica has welcomed 3 million visitors this year and boasts a high repeat visitor rate of 42%. “The island is consistently ranked among the top destinations for international travel and visitors continue to come with confidence to enjoy all that Jamaica has to offer,” the statement adds. When it comes to Jamaica, Buckner offered similar comments to those of Mexico, noting that the situation is impacted by drug-related violence and the experience on the ground is nuanced and cannot be painted with a broad brush. “In the same vein as Mexico — Jamaica can be a wonderful place to visit,” says Buckner. “There are pockets of beauty and low crime and as long as you are careful, it’s a very low threat.” Buckner, a retired Army colonel, maintains that the world is indeed a more risky place heading into 2025. The challenges in the Middle East and Ukraine are at the forefront of the instability, but are hardly the only cause for concern. “Israel has now gone to Gaza and cleaned out Hamas, they’re now moving north into Lebanon, and we are convinced Israel will strike Iran,” Buckner said during an interview that took place prior to Israel’s strike on Iran. “If that occurs you are going to see violence across the Middle East.” “But there are over 100 conflicts across the globe,” continues Buckner. When you combine that reality with other challenges the world is currently grappling with, including the destabilizing influences of climate change, there are plenty of risks for travelers to bear in mind when planning a journey for the coming year. He wraps up by offering a few tips for travelers, a check-list of sorts, to work through when planning or considering travel to a specific country in 2025: — If you don’t know who to call or how you are going to negotiate if someone is kidnapped, you shouldn’t go there. — Consumers need to read the fine print on travel insurance because it does not cover war zones, terrorism or natural disasters, says Buckner. And travelers are often surprised and find out too late that these types of events are not covered. — If you get stuck or stranded, if you don’t know who you are going to call to get you out of that situation, know what organizations locally or internationally are available to help you. ©2024 Northstar Travel Media, LLC. Visit at travelpulse.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Gary Lineker has been accused of “shameful contempt for women” after expressing support for an article attacking Israel in the newspaper. posted “This” on X alongside headlined ‘Sport may be a blunt tool of social change, but it’s time to take a stand against Israel’. Women’s sport campaigners have reacted with outrage at the political post which comes as against football’s failure to stop biological males playing in the women’s game. The BBC’s best-paid presenter, who next summer, failed to respond to hundreds of requests to address the issue – including from nine-time Wimbledon champion – after inviting potential questions for his podcast a fortnight ago. However, on Friday Lineker waded into another febrile political debate as he endorsed the thoughts of his favoured journalist Liew, who had written “even if sport is a blunt and pointless tool of social change, it must nonetheless be deployed” against Israel. “Because there remains – even in this warped, f----- fairground mirror of a world – a thing called right and a thing called wrong,” says the article. In response to the link posted on Lineker’s X account, Mara Yamauchi, who holds the fifth-fastest marathon time for a British woman in history, wrote: “I can’t believe you are promoting Liew who thinks every female Olympic gold won by a man would be fine. Thousands asked you to cover males in the F category in your podcast. You didn’t. I used to respect you. Now I see you are yet another man who has contempt for females. Shameful!” Emma Hilton, a developmental biologist and Sex Matters trustee, added: “When is it time to stand up for women, Gary? Liew said that if every podium place in an Olympic competition was taken by a transwoman, that would be inspiring. You OK with that? You had about a thousand people asking you to talk about males in women’s football and you’ve said, by my count, precisely nothing.” Liew has himself previously come under attack from women’s sport campaigners, having expressed concern over what he perceived as attacks on the transgender community in . “Let’s say the floodgates do open,” he wrote. “Let’s say transgender athletes pour into women’s sport, and let’s say, despite the flimsy and poorly-understood relationship between testosterone and elite performance, they dominate everything they touch. They sweep up grand-slam tennis titles and cycling world championships. They monopolise the Olympics. They fill our football and cricket and netball teams. Why would that be bad? Really? Imagine the power of a trans child or teenager seeing a trans athlete on the top step of the Olympic podium. In a way, it would be inspiring.” Lineker spoke this summer on his podcast of his admiration for Liew’s journalism. The former England striker also previously declared “cut out the divisive nonsense” as he expressed agreement in 2022 with former defence secretary Grant Shapps who suggested that transgender people should “be able to get on and live their lives”. When he came under attack from campaigners at the time, Lineker wrote on social media that his comment referred to “the war on woke and not any specific subject”. However, he has yet to address the issue at all this year amid mounting concern at an alleged absence of Football Association safeguards. Many critics have cited coverage of a for questioning during a grass-roots match whether an opponent was “a man”. Lineker, who was at the centre of , steps down from the broadcaster’s flagship show at the end of this season. He will continue presenting FA Cup coverage and will also front the World Cup 2026 coverage as part of an 18-month reduced-rate contract extension, however.
