OpenAI Will Add Microsoft as Board Observer, Plans Governance Changes

OpenAI said that Sam Altman was officially reinstated as chief executive officer and that it has a new initial board of directors, with Microsoft Corp. joining as a nonvoting observer.

The announcement Wednesday, a blog post penned by Altman, comes two weeks after the CEO’s shock firing from the artificial intelligence startup, followed by an operatic boardroom power struggle.

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OpenAI also said that Mira Murati — who had been chief technology officer until Altman’s ousting when she was briefly named interim CEO — is once again the company’s CTO. OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman will return as the company’s president after he quit in protest over Altman’s firing.

Microsoft, the company’s largest investor, had not previously had a position on the board before it took the observer role. The new directors are Bret Taylor, the former co-CEO of Salesforce Inc., who will be the chairman; Larry Summers, the former US treasury secretary; and Adam D’Angelo, a holdover from the previous board and the CEO of question-and-answer site Quora Inc. One of the directors’ primary tasks will be to build out a more permanent board. 

In an interview Wednesday, Altman said the new board will be selected “fairly quickly.” He did not specify how many people will eventually be part of the group, but said it will be “significantly enlarged” from the current number. Asked whether he will rejoin the board, Altman said it’s “not a top priority” right now.

“OpenAI is ending the month of November with stronger governance and a governance foundation than it had when the month began,” Microsoft President Brad Smith told reporters in London on Thursday. “These kinds of steps are giving us more confidence. I think they should give government and should give customers more confidence.”

“I don’t see a future where Microsoft takes control of OpenAI,” Smith added, when asked.

In a note accompanying Altman’s post, Taylor said the new directors will aim to create a “qualified, diverse board.” Taylor also said the company will “enhance the governance structure of OpenAI.” The startup has been criticized for a structure that allowed a nonprofit board to oust the company’s CEO without consulting its largest investors. 

OpenAI began in 2015 as a nonprofit research organization, but later shifted its structure to include a for-profit startup that has solicited investments and entered into partnerships with companies such as Microsoft to use its AI tools.The company is slated to be valued at $86 billion in a planned tender offer that will let some employees sell their stakes to outside investors.

As part of an an effort to “further stabilize the OpenAI organization,” Taylor said that company would convene an “independent committee of the board to oversee a review of the recent events.” Previously, Bloomberg reported that Altman agreed to an internal investigation of the conduct that led to his dismissal. Altman said in the interview that the new board members will oversee the inquiry and he “welcomes” it.

Summers said he will focus on increasing the size of OpenAI’s board and improving governance procedures for both the nonprofit and for-profit parts of its business. In an interview, he said the directors will undertake a “serious review and learn all the appropriate lessons,” but that he did not have any immediate comments on the investigation. He added: “We’ve only been on the board for half an hour.”

Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s chief scientist and co-founder, was one of the directors that fired Altman. Later, Sutskever said that he regretted his role in the ouster. Altman said in his blog post that Sutskever won’t be a board member, but that the company is “discussing how he can continue his work at OpenAI.” 

Directors Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley will no longer be on the board. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Toner said she officially resigned, and added, “I’ll be continuing my work focused on AI policy, safety, and security.” 

Altman’s dismissal on Nov. 17 from the maker of the popular ChatGPT chatbot shocked the tech industry. That day, the board said in a statement that Altman was not “consistently candid” with OpenAI’s directors, “hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.”

The decision touched off a whirlwind five days at the company: Brockman quit in protest. Murati became interim CEO, moved to re-hire Altman, and was soon replaced as CEO. Meanwhile, nearly all of OpenAI’s roughly 770 employees signed a letter threatening to quit unless Altman was reinstated.

On Nov. 21, OpenAI said it reached a deal, in principle, to reinstate Altman as CEO and replace the board. In Wednesday’s post, Altman said that the company’s priorities going forward will be advancing its research, improving its governance structure and refocusing on its products. In the leadership chaos, some of the company’s customers had questioned how much to rely on the startup for their AI needs. Altman said that OpenAI didn’t lose any customers during the period in which he was ousted and then returned.

Asked how the startup plans to move beyond the events of the past few weeks, Murati said OpenAI will aim to make sure customers know it’s fully committed. “We need to get back to stability and get back on track this week,” she said.

After all that has happened, Altman said he feels tired, but also “more excitement and conviction than I’ve ever felt before.”

source https://time.com/6341039/openai-microsoft-board-observer-governance-changes/

Alistair Darling, U.K.’s Financial Crisis Chancellor, Dies at 70

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, who oversaw Britain’s economy during the 2008 global financial crisis, has died at the age of 70.

“Darling, the much-loved husband of Margaret and beloved father of Calum and Anna, died in Edinburgh this morning after a short spell in Western General Hospital under the wonderful care of the cancer team,” his spokeswoman said. 

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Darling served under former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. His calmness and even temper stood in contrast to Brown’s abrupt mood changes during one of the worst periods of economic tumult in 30 years.

When the US subprime mortgage crisis spread to the U.K., causing a liquidity crisis in the banking industry and triggering a run on the British bank Northern Rock, Darling allowed the Bank of England to bail it out.

His stint in the Treasury ended when Labour lost the general election in 2010. Darling later led the Better Together campaign, a cross-party group that successfully campaigned for Scotland to remain part of the U.K. in the 2014 independence referendum. Darling became a member of the upper House of Lords in 2015.

“Alistair lived a life devoted to public service,” current Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said in a statement. “He will be remembered as the chancellor whose calm expertise and honesty helped to guide Britain through the tumult of the global financial crisis. He was a lifelong advocate for Scotland and the Scottish people and his greatest professional pride came from representing his constituents in Edinburgh.”

After becoming a member of Parliament in 1987, Darling rose quickly through the Labour ranks and became a key ally of Tony Blair and Brown as they sought to modernize the party and transform it into New Labour, going on to win a landslide victory in 1997. 

“I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have benefited from Alistair’s counsel and friendship,” Starmer added. “He was always at hand to provide advice built on his decades of experience – always with his trademark wry, good humor.”

source https://time.com/6341021/alistair-darling-uk-financial-crisis-chancellor-dies/

Nations Launch Climate Loss and Damage Fund on First Day of COP28

(DUBAI, United Arab Emirates) — The world just took a big step toward compensating countries hit by deadly floods, heat and droughts.

Nearly all the world’s nations on Thursday finalized the creation of a fund to help compensate countries struggling to cope with loss and damage caused by climate change, seen as a major first-day breakthrough at this year’s U.N. climate conference. Some countries started putting in money right away — if little compared to the overall anticipated needs.

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Sultan al-Jaber, the president of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, hailed “the first decision to be adopted on day one of any COP” — and his country, the United Arab Emirates — would chip in $100 million to the fund. Other countries stepped up with big-ticket commitments, including Germany, also at $100 million.

Developing nations had long sought to address the problem of inadequate funding for responding to climate disasters caused by climate change, which hit them especially hard, and for which they have little responsibility — industrialized countries have spewed out carbon emissions that are trapping heat in the atmosphere.

But many details of the “loss and damage funds” were left unresolved, such as how large it would be, who would administer it, and more.

A recent report by the United Nations estimates that up to $387 billion will be needed annually if developing countries are to adapt to climate-driven changes.

Some activists and experts are skeptical that the fund will raise anything close to that amount. A Green Climate Fund that was first proposed at the 2009 climate talks in Copenhagen, and began raising money in 2014, hasn’t come close to its goal of $100 billion annually.

The fund will be hosted by the World Bank for the next four years and the plan is to launch it by 2024. A developing country representative will get a seat on its board.

A number of industrialized nations have insist that all countries should contribute to the fund, and the agreement will prioritize those most vulnerable to climate change — even though any climate-affected community or country is eligible.

___

Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India.

source https://time.com/6341016/climate-loss-and-damage-fund-cop28/

You’re Not Imagining It: Cell Phone Reception Is Getting Worse

It’s strange to have bad cell phone service in a place like Manhattan, a place that is packed with cell towers and technology and that is about as far from a rural, mountainous area as you can get. But I struggle to get a signal in my office in the middle of the city, and beyond—my phone calls at my house in Beacon, NY, frequently turn garbled and disconnect; I often can’t access data while a passenger in a car traveling around the suburbs of New York City, one of the most densely populated regions in the country; and trying to talk to my parents on their cellphones at their home in suburban Boston is like a version of the ‘Can you hear me now?’ commercials, except you replace the actors with Boomers and the answer is always ‘No.”

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I’m not the only one with complaints: on average, between April and June of 2023, U.S. cellphone users reported that out of every 100 times they tried to use data, text, or make a call, they had problems 11 times. That’s up from about nine problems per 100 connections in most of 2020 and 2021, according to a report from J.D. Power & Associates. All three major carriers—Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T had worse scores on this metric in the first part of 2023 than they’d had in early 2021.

“It’s gotten a little bit worse—there’s a problem more than there used to be,” says Carl Lepper, a senior director at J.D. Power. “The industry should be in the 8-9 range, My ears perk up when it gets above 10.”

When I did tests both at my office and at my house on my iPhone 14, the diagnosis was not good. When I turned off my Wi-Fi and relied solely on the cellphone network, speed tests on OpenSignal showed I could upload just 0.1 Mbps at the office and could not download anything, both numbers showing the Internet was practically unusable. A separate test to check my cell phone signal strength found that at home, I had something called RSRP of -108 – generally considered “poor signal,” and at the office, I had RSRP of -111, considered “very poor signal.”  

There’s no shortage of news stories in the past year about local areas complaining about a sudden uptick in dropped calls and spotty service. So what’s going on? Why, as we march forward into the future, half a century after the first mobile telephone call was made, do we still struggle so much with phone reception? 

I tried to find out. 

How cell phones actually work

Cell phones use electromagnetic radio waves to send signals from their antenna to an antenna on a relay tower. These waves aren’t all that different from those that carry music to your car radio—they are even measured on the same frequency, called megahertz. The FM radio spectrum goes from 88 to 108 megahertz (MHz)—cell phones use frequencies between 600 MHz and 40 Gigahertz (or 40,000 MHz). 

The higher the frequency, the faster a signal can travel—but these high frequency signals don’t go as long a distance and have a harder time penetrating physical barriers like windows, walls, and trees. The lower the frequency, the easier a signal can travel—AM radio tops out at about 1.6 megahertz, for example, and you can keep the same AM station on the radio as you travel extremely far from the radio tower.

The other important thing to know about the electromagnetic spectrum is that there’s only a certain amount of space available on each level of the spectrum, and there is less space available on the low and middle end of the spectrum than on the high. Low- and mid-band spectrum are very crowded because that’s what has been available, and as more people get cellphones and use more and more data, those lower spectrums have gotten clogged. “There’s nothing really available in the dial anymore in the attractive parts of the spectrum,” says Craig Moffett, a telecom analyst and senior managing director at Moffett Nathanson, a boutique research firm. Meanwhile, more and more people are watching streaming video and joining Zoom calls and making phone calls and sending texts. AT&T, for instance, said in September that total usage on its network is growing 30% per year. “Never in the history of our network have we seen so much traffic,” Chris Sambar, president of AT&T Network, said in a September blog post. 

This problem of crowding is exacerbated in places that have seen rapid population growth in recent years—places like the city of Beacon, N.Y., where I live. As more people move to exurbs and suburbs and use more data-intensive services, the competition for that limited spectrum is growing. To provide faster and better service, wireless companies need to build more towers so people can connect to higher spectrums, but cities and towns usually oppose the construction of more towers. There’s currently a Change.org petition in my city of Beacon, NY, for instance, to stop the construction of a 125 foot Verizon cell tower in a local cemetery.  

Why Verizon customers may be having more trouble

There’s a reason that I, as a Verizon customer, may be having more problems than my colleagues who use AT&T and T-Mobile, analysts say. It has to do with how much spectrum is available to each carrier. 

Verizon had, for some time, decided that buying more spectrum was too expensive, says Entner, the analyst. What’s more, Verizon focused what investment it did make on the ultra high-frequency spectrum—sometimes called “the millimeter wave spectrum”—which is very fast but does not go very far or penetrate buildings or walls. This spectrum was available because most people thought it was too cost-prohibitive to put up enough towers to relay these types of waves far enough to make them valuable. 

There are good uses for the millimeter wave spectrum—stadiums, for example, where you can put up lots of towers around the edge so everyone inside will have fast service on high frequency spectrum. But Verizon was focusing so much on the millimeter wave that it didn’t invest enough in low and mid-band spectrum, Moffett says.

By the time it became clear that the company had overcommitted to millimeter wave, he says, they had a huge deficit on mid-band spectrum. That’s why, in March 2021, Verizon spent a whopping $52.9 billion to buy mid-band spectrum called C-Band. But, the company is only using that new spectrum for its 5G ultra wideband network, which costs about $10 more per month. That means it is unaccessible to people like me who don’t want to pay even more on my phone bill.

Of course, I can still access other spectrums in Verizon’s network, but I am competing against all the other people trying to do that as well. Analysts I talked to say that T-Mobile has the most low and mid-band spectrum—which may be why OpenSignal, the crowd-sourced mobile measurement app, in July rated T-Mobile as having the best upload and download speeds, as well as the most consistent quality mobile experience. (A separate OpenSignal report gave Verizon top marks for 5G video experience and upload speed, though T-Mobile had the best 5G availability.)

Though a Verizon spokesman enlisted the company’s engineers to look at my cell service and tried to trouble-shoot, even saying the company would send more engineers to my office building to figure out what was going on, the company didn’t want to speak on the record about the issues. Instead, it sent a statement saying that Verizon engineers work everyday to provide the most reliable wireless experience for customers, and that it is in the middle of one of the fastest and biggest upgrades in the company’s history. “Our network is consistently rated the best in the industry for network quality by our customers,” including through the J.D. Power surveys, a company spokesman said, in a statement.

Analysts agreed that whenever carriers roll out a new technology like 5G, they have to do a lot of fine-tuning of their networks, which can lead to some temporary problems. 

They have to adjust signals and strength so that their radio waves reach far enough without interfering with other waves. “It’s a three-dimensional chess game they have to play, and it’s not easy,” says Entner. 

What you can do about bad cell phone reception

You’d think, by 2023, there would be lots of new technology that could improve reception despite the crowding of the radio waves. The problem though is that we have done just about all we can to optimize the spectrums that are available. There are technologies that allow cellphones to use the spectrum more efficiently, but they’re not effective enough to handle the giant increase in data usage that networks are experiencing right now. The amount of traffic each device puts out over the network doubles every two years or so, and there’s no real way to expand capacity that quickly, says Moffett. 

There are a few things that you can do if you have the same problems that I do—dropped calls, slow data, frustrating service. If you’re on the edge of a cell network, or if signals can’t penetrate the building you’re in, the best solution is to rely more on Wi-Fi. That helps avoid competing with all the people also using the wireless network, and also means you don’t have to worry about signals penetrating the walls or windows of my building. 

Sometimes, however, it’s not as easy as just turning on your Wi-Fi. Though I have Verizon Fios at my house, I was having a lot of trouble getting on Zoom calls and using the Internet. Then a neighbor recommended we get rid of the default Wi-Fi router that Verizon gave us when they installed our service, and replace it with what’s called a mesh network. We bought a (used) router and two satellites from a company called Orbi, hooked them up, and immediately had much faster Wi-Fi in the house.

It’s a solution, for now, and one that gets me off the increasingly crowded wireless network. But there are still times when I leave my house and can’t rely on Wi-Fi. The best solution for that is likely to hope that Verizon and other carriers build more towers near me. They might be ugly, but in an era where we can’t live without good reception on our phones, they may be better than the alternative: bad service and no way to improve it as the amount of data we consume keeps growing every year. 

source https://time.com/6340727/cell-phone-reception-is-getting-worse/

What Sultan Al Jaber’s Oil Lobbying Means for COP28

Alarm bells sounded earlier this week for observers of this year’s U.N. COP28 climate conference following the revelation that oil CEO Sultan Al Jaber had used his position as president of the talks to push his company’s fossil fuel interests. Leaked slides, published by the BBC, show his talking points for meetings with climate envoys from other countries that include offers to develop oil and gas projects.

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For some, the report was a realization of their greatest fears. In their view, Al Jaber is using the climate platform to disguise a dirty, polluting agenda. For others, it was shocking but not surprising. Al Jaber is, after all, the CEO of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), and continues to oversee the 3 million barrels of oil the country produces every day.

In the past, outrage over Al Jaber being appointed to lead COP28 has led to calls for him to resign from that role, which he has summarily rejected. Now, of course, with the international conference kicking off on Nov. 30, it’s too late for such a move. But that doesn’t mean the revelation doesn’t matter. The unyielding criticism—intensified by the latest news—has placed Al Jaber and his team under enormous pressure to deliver a deal at the talks that acknowledges the urgency of cutting fossil fuels, including oil and gas. A failure to do so would not just spell trouble for efforts to address climate change but also for the whole United Nations climate process.

To make sense of the hubbub over Al Jaber’s talking points, it’s helpful to understand the role of COP president and how Al Jaber has approached it. Every year, the country hosting the U.N. climate talks designates an official from its own government to serve as COP president. These figures are typically government ministers, but they are meant to put aside their own national interest to find mutual agreement between the nearly 200 countries that participate in the talks. It’s because of the impartial nature of the role that Al Jaber’s promotion of national interest—in this case fossil fuel deals—has triggered such an outcry.

Read more: What Happens When You Put a Fossil Fuel Exec in Charge of Solving Climate Change

In my conversations with Al Jaber ahead of COP, he sought to underscore that his role is to push countries to come to an agreement, not to issue edicts. “I will be calling on all parties to engage in a collaborative manner, and to propose a solution,” he told me. “I will not be dictating.”

And yet as COP president he has significant sway to decide whose views to prioritize. Any single country can veto the deals that emerge and deciding who to listen to on particular elements of negotiation can pose a gargantuan task—one that often leaves delegates disappointed. We’ve seen this play out before. Two years ago, at COP26 in Glasgow, then-COP president Alok Sharma, who had served as U.K. Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, made a decision in the final hours of COP to replace language referring to a “phase out” of coal to language referring to a “phase down” at the insistence of China and India. Other countries were not given a chance to respond before the deal was gavelled in, and Sharma was left to apologize through tears for the way the change occurred.

The drumbeat of criticism on Al Jaber may not have led him to resign, but it certainly has created pressure on the COP presidency to prove that it isn’t acting to favor the UAE’s oil and gas business. To do that, Al Jaber will have to thread a difficult needle, moderating not just the UAE’s interests but also those of influential oil-rich countries like Saudi Arabia that are keen to limit the scope of language seeking to phase out fossil fuels.

In September, I asked Al Jaber about the stream of criticism pointed at him. “I am genuine in addressing this,” he told me. “If you don’t want to believe me, all they have to do is just wait until the COP happens. And only then I will show them.” The opportunity to make good on that is now upon us.

source https://time.com/6340659/sultan-al-jaber-oil-lobbying-cop28/

U.S. Military Osprey Aircraft With 6 Aboard Crashes off Southern Japan, at Least 1 Dead

TOKYO — A crew member who was recovered from the ocean after a U.S. military Osprey aircraft carrying six people crashed Wednesday off southern Japan has been pronounced dead, coast guard officials said.

The cause of the crash and the status of the five others on board were not immediately known, coast guard spokesperson Kazuo Ogawa said. Initial reports said the aircraft was carrying eight people, but the U.S. military later revised the number to six, he said.

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The coast guard received an emergency call from a fishing boat near the crash site off Yakushima, an island south of Kagoshima on the southern main island of Kyushu, he said.

Coast guard aircraft and patrol boats found one person, who was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, and gray-colored debris believed to be from the aircraft, Ogawa said. The victim was only identified as a male. They were found about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) off the eastern coast of Yakushima. An empty inflatable life raft was also found in the area.

The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter, but during flight can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster like an airplane. Versions of the aircraft are flown by the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the Osprey disappeared from radar at midafternoon, a few minutes before the coast guard received the emergency call. The aircraft requested an emergency landing at the Yakushima airport about five minutes before it was lost from radar, NHK public television and other media reported.

NHK quoted a Yakushima resident as saying he saw the aircraft turned upside down, with fire coming from one of its engines, and then an explosion before it fell to the sea.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he planned to seek a further explanation from the U.S. military, but declined to say whether he would seek a temporary suspension of Osprey operations in Japan.

Ospreys have had a number of accidents in the past, including in Japan, where they are deployed at both U.S. and Japanese military bases. In Okinawa, where about half of the 50,000 American troops in Japan are based, Gov. Denny Tamaki told reporters Wednesday that he will ask the U.S. military to suspend all Osprey flights in Japan.

Ogawa said the aircraft had departed from the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi prefecture and crashed on its way to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa.

Japanese Vice Defense Minister Hiroyuki Miyazawa said it had attempted an emergency sea landing and quoted the U.S. military as saying its pilot “did everything possible until the last minute.”

U.S. and Japanese officials said the aircraft belonged to Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo. U.S. Air Force officials at Yokota said they were still confirming information and had no immediate comment.

In December 2016, a U.S. Marine Corps Osprey crashed off the Okinawa coast, injuring two of the five crew members and triggering complaints among local residents about the U.S. bases and the Osprey’s safety record.

A U.S. Marine Corps Osprey with 23 Marines aboard crashed on a north Australian island in August, killing at least three and critically injuring at least five during a multinational training exercise.

It was the fifth fatal crash of a Marine Osprey since 2012, bringing the death toll at that time to at least 19.

source https://time.com/6340629/us-military-osprey-aircraft-crash-japan-deaths/

What to Remember About Virgin River Ahead of Its New Christmas Episodes

In the first episode of Virgin River, Alexandra Breckenridge’s Mel Monroe, a nurse practitioner from Los Angeles, arrives in the fictional North California enclave after signing a year-long contract to work at the town’s family medical clinic with Doc Mullins (Tim Matheson). Over the course of five seasons, Mel and her fellow residents of the cozy wooded community see plenty of drama: characters have survived stabbings, shootings, car crashes, and drug rings; houses have been intentionally burnt down, and others destroyed in a ravenous wildfire. And yet, Mel’s first-year work anniversary has not even officially passed.

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Despite there being five seasons of Virgin River since it debuted in 2019, with a total of 52 episodes, the actual timeline of the series is shockingly slow. Beyond Mel’s contract, it’s easy to know that not that much time has passed in what is essentially the West Coast version of Stars Hollow since one character, Charmaine (Lauren Hammersley), the ex-girlfriend of Mel’s fiancée Jack (Martin Henderson), has been pregnant with twins since the end of the first season.

But Virgin River is finally speeding things up—a little. The final episode of the first part of the fifth season followed the characters around on Labor Day, and, in its last moments, flashed forward to winter, with Christmas just around the corner. Now, two new episodes will drop on Netflix on November 30, and pick up where things left off. They’ll be packed with all the twists and turns that the series is known for, along with some quaint holiday fare. (And if you can’t wait until then, Netflix just released the first nine minutes of the new installment here).

Because so much happens on Virgin River—and in so little time—it can be hard to keep up. So, here’s a refresher on what went down the last time we saw Mel Monroe and all her friends, and what’s going on in their lives ahead of the new episodes. 

Where do Mel and Jack stand now?

All characters on Virgin River seem to be a little cursed, but no one more so than the town’s midwife and nurse practitioner Mel. She arrived in town (remember in VR time, around a year ago) grieving the recent loss of her husband and the stillbirth of their daughter. She refers to herself as somewhat of an orphan—her mother died when she was 11, and her father a decade ago—and has no other family besides her older sister Joey. In Virgin River, she meets the local bar owner and former Marine Jack, who becomes her lifeline (remember, he confesses that he’s falling in love with her after knowing her for a month).

And they’ve been through it together. Jack’s house was burned to the ground, and he was later shot and nearly killed. Things started to turn around for the couple: Mel got pregnant, Jack started building what promised to be a lucrative glamping business, and they got engaged. But that all came crashing down. Mel had a miscarriage during the wildfires of season 5, and it turns out that Jack’s biggest investor was running a drug trade out of their construction site.  

Though Jack’s money is now tied up in an FBI investigation over what happened on his site, when we last see the couple, they’ve decided to make a huge financial investment. After Ava (Libby Osler) reveals that she’s selling her family’s land, where their beloved farm once stood, Mel tells Jack that she wants to purchase it, so they can live there with their children one day. This is a huge moment of growth for Mel, who was very resistant to the idea of trying to have a family with Jack again after her miscarriage. For the first time in a long while (take that with a grain of salt in VR world), she is looking forward to, and optimistic about their future.  

How about Brie, Brady, and Mike?

When the drug trade is finally busted, police officer Mike (Marco Grazzini) is shot, and taken to the hospital, where Jack’s sister Brie (Zibby Allen) stays by his bedside. They are not officially together yet, but sparks were flying at the baseball game earlier in the season when they kissed for the first time. Mike seems a lot less complicated than Brady (Benjamin Hollingsworth)—Jack’s fellow Marine who got caught up in the drug drama, risking Brie’s safety in the process. Though it is Brady who leads the police to finally catching the person at the center of it all, Brie tells him that she wished she knew that he was cooperating with the authorities. She does also say that she will always love him. 

Both Brie and Brady have promising new romances on the horizon: Brie and Mike share chocolate shakes in his hospital room on their “first date,” and Brady starts hanging out with the woman whose daughter he helped rescue during the wildfires. 

Who is the father of Charmaine’s babies?

After spending three full seasons making Mel and Jack’s lives absolutely miserable, Charmaine reveals at the end of season 4 that the father of her babies is not Jack, the ex-boyfriend who has been by her side for several months, preparing for a nasty and expensive custody battle over the twin boys. The shocking development left Jack angry and confused—he had fully embraced becoming a father and was excited, even if Charmaine was constantly threatening that he would never see the children because he hurt her feelings by being in love with Mel instead of her. 

In season 5, the paternity of Charmaine’s babies is finally revealed. Calvin, the troubled drug lord, is the father. But when did they even get together? It’s an open question. The Christmas episodes at least promise to offer one huge resolution: After being pregnant for almost the entire duration of the series, Charmaine will finally give birth.

What’s going on with Lizzie and Denny?

Doc’s grandson Denny (Kai Bradbury), who revealed that he has Huntington’s Disease, is happily in love with his girlfriend Lizzie (Sarah Dugdale). Though he’s still coming to terms with his terminal prognosis, Denny tells Lizzie at the Labor Day carnival that he might want to leave Virgin River, and see what the world has to offer with the time he has left. He even asks Lizzie if she would consider leaving Virgin River to go with him. But then Lizzie drops a bombshell: she thinks she’s pregnant.

What did Preacher do with Wes’ body?

Another character with a burgeoning romance is Preacher, the chef of Jack’s bar played by Colin Lawrence. He’s fallen hard for firefighter Kaia (Kandyse McClure). And doesn’t he deserve a little happiness in his life? Preacher spent the past few seasons wrapped up in the chaos that is Paige—a baker who had assumed a new identity because she was on the run with her son from an abusive relationship. When her ex-husband Wes finally found where she lived in season 2, she pushed him down the stairs in self defense and accidentally killed him. Scared, Paige called Preacher and he helped hide Wes’ body in the woods. Though Wes’ twin Vince eventually turned up in Virgin River on the hunt for his brother, he was arrested for attempted murder and kidnapping and taken away. This was a huge moment of relief for Preacher—Vince was the last person to really care about Wes, so now the beloved cook is in the clear. Or so he thought. 

At the carnival, Kaia gets a phone call from her boss who says that they’ve just found a body in the woods. Preacher asks if it was a victim of the wildfires, and Kaia says that the body looks like it had been up there for some time, “like someone buried it.” 

How are Hope and Doc getting along?

These two curmudgeons spent the full first season of the show at each other’s throats, on the brink of divorce after 20 years of being separated. They decided to give it another go, and are now happily in love, even if they bicker like the old married couple that they are. Now that Hope, Virgin River’s mayor played by Annette O’Toole, has basically recovered from her near fatal car accident, she is finally hoping to take care of her husband for a change. Doc, who suffers from macular degeneration, is grappling with what it will mean for his life as he loses his vision. But at the carnival, he learns that he’s been accepted into a clinical trial. Hope emphasizes that she will be with him every step of the way as he navigates the disease.

Why is Mel looking for her father?

In classic Virgin River fashion, the final episode of the first part of season 5 ended with a big twist. Mel receives a phone call from Joey, and learns that her sister has been rummaging through some of their late mother’s stuff, including love letters from decades ago. The letters are not from their father—and they are postmarked from Virgin River. Having read through them, Joey believes that their mother was writing to the man who might be Mel’s actual biological father. Yet again, a paternity puzzle is upon us. This is Virgin River after all.

source https://time.com/6340174/virgin-river-recap-season-5/

South Korean Farmers Threaten to Release 2 Million Dogs in Protest of Dog Meat Ban

In the face of a proposed dog meat ban in South Korea, the Korea Dog Meat Farmers’ Association—which has long opposed moves to crack down on the industry—said that it was mulling the release of 2 million dogs near government landmarks in Seoul as well as the homes of lawmakers. 

“If you ask how big the opposition from farmers is, we’re talking about releasing 2 million dogs we’re raising,” Joo Young-bong, the head of the association said during a radio show last week. He then listed targeted sites including the presidential office, the agriculture minister’s home and offices of lawmakers who have introduced the bills.

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According to a bill which aims to end South Korea’s dog meat trade by 2027, announced by the ruling People Power Party on Nov. 17, businesses—such as dog farms, butchers, retailers, and restaurants—will have to submit to local authorities their plans to phase out dog meat. They would also be given a three-year grace period, as well as financial aid from the government, to transition out of the trade. The People Power Party also suggested a maximum five-year jail sentence or a fine of 50 million won ($38,000) for offenders of the ban. 

The bill is the result of rare bipartisan support, after 44 lawmakers from both the ruling party and the opposition Democratic Party of Korea formed a group last month to discuss the issue. But among the most prominent advocates for the ban is first lady Kim Keon-hee, with whom South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shares five cats and six dogs. (Yoon had previously drawn criticism, even from fellow party members, for proposing that the anti-dog meat bill be named after his wife.)

Last week, Kim also mentioned the legislative development to Queen Camilla during the couple’s state visit to London, In response, Queen Camilla said they welcomed Kim’s efforts,  a presidential spokesperson later told reporters. 

Governmental initiatives mulling dog meat bans in South Korea have stalled in the past because of heated protests from those in the industry.

Authorities say there are over 1,000 breeding farms and 34 slaughterhouses in South Korea, as well as some 1,600 restaurants that serve dog meat. Industry representatives say the numbers are far bigger, with an estimated 3,500 farms and 3,000 restaurants that face risks of shutting down should a ban be implemented.

Dog meat farmers are again vehemently opposing the recent bill, arguing that their livelihoods are at stake, and that the ban would erase the culture of dog meat consumption. Besides the recent threat to release dogs in Seoul, supporters of the dog meat trade have resorted to similar moves in the past, such as staging a dog meat tasting event in front of the National Assembly in 2019, while animal rights activists called for a ban on the trade.

The centuries-old practice of eating dog meat, which is traditionally known to combat summer heat, is typically only eaten by older people today—the cuisine has come under increasing controversy, amid animal cruelty concerns and the rising popularity of dogs as household pets.

According to a 2023 Nielsen poll commissioned by Humane Society International, an animal advocacy group, 86% of South Koreans have little intention of consuming dog meat, and 57% support a ban on dog meat consumption. A Gallup Korea poll last year showed that 64% of respondents opposed dog meat consumption.

Joo, the chairman of the dog meat farmers’ association, said that while he agreed with public health and cruelty concerns surrounding breeding and slaughter facilities, he said that the solution was for the dogs to be recognized as livestock and farmers made to abide by food safety standards. A previous attempt by authorities to categorize dogs as livestock in 2008 was met with opposition from animal rights activists, who claimed that the move would legitimize the dog meat trade, which is neither legal nor explicitly prohibited. 

The practice is also a sore spot for the country’s growing prominence on the international stage, some argue. “Foreigners think South Korea is a cultural powerhouse. But the more K-culture increases its international standing, the bigger shock foreigners experience over our dog meat consumption,” said Han Jeoung-ae, an opposition lawmaker who supports a ban on dog meat, in June. Last year, an exchange program sending South Korean high school students to a town in New Jersey was axed after activists complained about the dog meat trade in the students’ hometown of Gangwha.

The recently proposed ban was welcomed by animal rights groups which have campaigned for years for an end to the country’s dog meat trade. HSI, which has participated in rescue operations on South Korea’s dog farms, said in a statement that the proposed ban was a “dream come true.”

Lola Webber, the director of HSI’s End Dog Meat campaign, tells TIME that the group has been working with dog meat farmers in South Korea for almost a decade, encouraging them to switch to more sustainable livelihoods. “Most of these farmers have experienced societal, family and financial pressure to get out of farming dogs,” she says. “With so few people wanting to eat dog meat in the country, it’s gotten harder to make a living and these farmers know the writing is on the wall for this cruel industry.”

“So the threats and protests that we always hear from the small but vocal dog farmer associations whenever a ban is suggested, is not really in the farmers’ best interests nor representative of farmers as a whole.”

source https://time.com/6340301/south-korea-dog-meat-ban-farmers/

The Time Has Come to End World Hunger

In a nation as affluent as the United States, it’s a harsh reality that more than 44 million people, including vulnerable children and seniors, grapple daily with food insecurity. Yet, this problem is not confined within any single nation’s borders. Globally, conflicts, climate changes, and a worldwide pandemic have escalated the number of those in dire need of access to food from 80 million to an astonishing 350 million in the past seven years. 

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If the chronically hungry formed their own nation today, it would be the third-largest in the world. This isn’t just a metaphor; it’s a stark representation of the vastness of this crisis.

The glaring irony is that globally, we produce sufficient food, yet fail in equitable distribution. This massive global misalignment threatens more than just the immediate need for food around the world. It underlies geopolitical instability, exacerbates shortages, and triggers mass migrations.

We cannot achieve world peace and progress on a planet half fed and half hungry.

The tools and solutions we require to combat the challenge are available, including more sustainable, efficient ways to provide short-term hunger relief, and new production systems and delivery methods to provide nutritious food and clean water. Piecemeal action is already happening, but we can collectively do much better. We must do better.

My own personal encounter with hunger began in childhood, in a home where meals weren’t always certain. A turning point came with an act of kindness — a stranger delivering a Thanksgiving meal. This gesture filled more than a physical void; it instilled a lifelong resolve to combat hunger.

My multi-decade journey combating hunger and its underlying contributors has been both eye-opening and disheartening. The generosity of everyday human beings is such a powerful force for good if directed. At the same time, during the past decade I have witnessed on multiple occasions cuts being made to essential hunger relief programs like the U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), both before and after the pandemic. Both drive me to greater action and my search for the answer to the critical question: Why, in a world capable of producing ample food, are so many still battling hunger?

What I have concluded is that the solution lies beyond mere food provision; it’s about transforming our global perspective and methods for sustainable nourishment. It involves rethinking strategies to supply food without burdening impoverished populations and our planet.

As John F. Kennedy once said, “The war against hunger is truly mankind’s war of liberation.”

The financial aspect, though daunting, is manageable. Annually, $265 billion is required for sustainable hunger eradication, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization , a small fraction of the global GDP. It’s a feasible investment for the welfare of millions and the stability of our global community.

This battle against hunger demands a unified front, combining the efforts of NGOs, governments, and conscientious citizens. It’s about harnessing our resources, innovations, and collective will to bridge the gap between surplus and need.

As we strategize and form alliances, the power of individual action remains crucial. One person’s efforts can significantly impact this seemingly insurmountable issue, as history has repeatedly shown. Personally, I would have not even considered 40 years ago when I started giving food to just two families that I would now be able to successfully deliver 1 billion meals to families in the U.S.

Big-minded, innovative approaches are needed to tackle the diverse challenges of global hunger. This includes investing in agricultural technology to improve crop yields in underdeveloped regions, creating better food storage and transportation methods to reduce waste, and implementing policies that ensure fair distribution of resources needed to sustainably feed the world.

Furthermore, it’s essential to address the root causes of hunger, which often lie in political instability, economic disparity, and social injustice. Solutions must be holistic, addressing these underlying issues to create lasting change.

Moreover, the impact of hunger extends beyond the immediate lack of food. It affects children’s ability to learn, workers’ productivity, and the overall health of communities. Addressing hunger is not just about providing meals; it’s about laying the foundation for a healthier, more productive society. Making the investment now will more than pay for itself long-term.

As we stand at this crossroads, the challenge is not only to feed the hungry but to do so in a way that respects our planet and its resources. Sustainable practices in agriculture and food distribution are vital for the well-being of future generations.

I believe in our collective ability to address and eventually solve this crisis. This conviction stems from personal experiences and the numerous stories of resilience and generosity I’ve encountered. It’s a testament to the power of human compassion and ingenuity.

Together, we can change the course of global hunger and ensure that no individual, regardless of their location, faces the uncertainty of their next nutritious meal.

source https://time.com/6340272/end-world-hunger/

Exclusive: Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on Sikh Separatism and Being the Target of a Foiled Assassination

A Nov. 22 report by the Financial Times asserted that U.S. authorities had thwarted a conspiracy to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American and Canadian citizen, and issued a warning to India’s government over concerns it may have been involved in the plot. The matter was also raised with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi by U.S. President Joe Biden during September’s G20 summit in Delhi.

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Pannun, the target, is a New York-based lawyer and general counsel for Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a group founded in the U.S. in 2007 that calls for an independent Sikh homeland called “Khalistan” in the northwestern Indian state of Punjab. In 2020, New Delhi listed Pannun as a terrorist and issued an arrest warrant against him for “challenging India’s security by financing violence and issuing appeals to Punjab-based gangsters and youth to fight for Khalistan.”

Pannun says his work is motivated by one goal: “I wanted to pursue the right of the Sikh community to self-determination,” he tells TIME in an exclusive interview. 

Though the separatist movement dates back to India’s independence from British colonial rule in 1947, its bloodiest episode occurred in 1984, when then-Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched “Operation Blue Star”to evict separatists from their base inside the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs. The violent counterinsurgency led to thousands of Sikh civilians being killed and left a “collective wound in the psyche of the Sikhs,” writes historian Ramachandra Guha in India After Gandhi. Gandhi was assassinated at her home by her Sikh bodyguards a few months later, which spurred the Indian army to launch more operations against Sikh militants in Punjab between 1986 and 1988.

These events prompted Pannun, who was born in Amritsar, to do “human rights advocacy” on behalf of Sikh victims and survivors, he says. After moving to the U.S. in the late 90s for a master’s degree, he worked for Merrill Lynch on Wall Street before training to be a lawyer. “I have seen how the Indian government wanted to eliminate civil disobedience during Operation Blue Star,” he tells TIME, “so I decided I was going to use international laws to hold individuals accountable.”

The call for a Sikh homeland would predominantly affect Sikhs in Punjab, who make up less than 2% of India’s population. Though the movement has little support in India today—in the latest state election, the only remaining pro-Khalistan party secured less than 3% of the vote—the demand has persisted among the Sikh diaspora. Pannun is currently organizing a symbolic referendum for independence through SFJ, which was labeled an “unlawful association” by India for its secessionist activities in 2019. 

Allegations of India’s possible involvement in the foiled assassination plot come as revived calls for Sikh separatism have sparked new fears of violence. Pannun was charged with terrorism and conspiracy in November after he posted a video on social media where he was perceived to be issuing a threat to passengers flying on flag carrier Air India.

In September, tensions flared when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of involvement in the murder of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist who was gunned down in Surrey, British Columbia, in June. The Biden Administration, which sees India as an important ally to counter China’s influence, has tended to overlook India’s growing record of human rights violations and rising authoritarianism under the Modi Administration. Now, it’s facing increased pressure to address these. 

In a statement, White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said U.S. authorities are “treating this issue with utmost seriousness” after raising it with the Indian government, including “at the senior-most levels.” On Nov. 22, a spokesperson from India’s Ministry of External Affairs said the information shared by the U.S. was a “cause of concern for both countries.”.

In an interview with TIME on Nov. 24, Pannun shared his views on Sikh separatism, his work for Sikhs for Justice, the foiled assassination plot, and how the international community should respond if claims of India’s involvement are proven to be true. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

TIME: Last Wednesday, the Financial Times reported that U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 about India’s “possible” involvement in an assassination plot where you were the target. Were you aware of these intelligence reports before the news became public?

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun: I will say that on this particular question, and this is my official statement, the Indian government and the Modi regime want to kill me, they want to eliminate me for running the global Khalistan referendum voting campaign. The attempted assassination plot that has been uncovered by the FT, and to which the Biden administration has given its statement, is not about me anymore. It is a challenge to American sovereignty. It is a threat to freedom of speech and democracy in America itself. But I’ll let U.S. authorities speak more on this.

Did the news surprise you, or was it something that you were expecting? What was your reaction?

Let me tell you something. For the last three years the whole Indian narrative, backed by the Modi government, has been built on who they declared in 2019 as a terrorist. What would you consider terrorism? An act of terrorism is when you’re bombing or killing innocents, or even when you’re killing for a political goal. A political assassination is also an act of violence. 

I am the most wanted terrorist in India out of the 140 list. How is that possible? That should give you an answer. I’m aware of the threats to my life, which I really do not care about. But I will not respond back with violence. I will not use a bullet. I will never incite the people of Punjab who are working with me to go and take violence as the path. Because that is exactly what I’m fighting. We are fighting India’s violence with votes.

[Pannun ranks 11th on India’s terrorism list under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. TIME viewed INTERPOL letters dated Aug. 2022 that reject the terrorism charges leveled against Panun by the Indian government.]

What reasons might the Indian government have for being involved in a plot to assassinate you? 

We have never been given an opportunity to present our case just because India has labeled us as terrorists. They were able to successfully kill hundreds of thousands of Sikhs in Punjab in the name of counter-insurgency. There are reports from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the U.S. Department of State in 1994, and other agencies about what transpired between 1984 to 1995. But we haven’t had a peaceful and democratic resolution to the contentious issue that has never been asked since 1950: should Punjab be an independent country? Should the people of Punjab, after going through the genocidal violence, still want to be associated with the Union of India? It was never asked of the people of Punjab in 1947, nor has it ever been put up on a ballot. We are going to open this question up through the Khalistan referendum voter registration in Punjab on Jan. 26, 2024. 

So they cannot afford for me to be alive as I have achieved a narrative. I’m able to educate, and peacefully and democratically challenge India’s narrative of terror and terrorism. The people of Punjab have a right to self-determination. They have the right to their economic resources which are being plundered by India. And nobody has done it in the past.

If, as you say, the Indian government has become so concerned in recent times about Sikhs on foreign soil advocating for Sikh issues in India, why do you think that is?

One is that they were successfully able to make Punjab a killing field from 1984 to 1997. And if you look into the factual history, those who survived, the Sikhs from Punjab, left and settled between America, Canada, the European Union, Australia, and the UK. They now speak on behalf of Punjab because the dead bodies of the victims can’t come out from their graves to speak. But for those who are living, it is our duty to start the campaign again.

Now, there is another exodus of Sikhs who are facing Indian atrocities in Punjab and moving out. We are able to successfully start a new revolution, calling the peaceful and democratic means of the Khalistan referendum and creating and bringing back the movement of Khalistan, which is labeled as an act of terrorism.

Can you tell us why there are such large diaspora Sikh communities outside of India, especially in countries like Canada and the U.S.?

The Sikhs that moved from 1984 until 1997 did so due to India’s repression of the Sikh community. They moved because of their persecution based on their religion and political opinion. They are still moving because of that.

[Sikhs have migrated overseas in significant numbers since the late nineteenth century during the imperial expansion of Britain when they were involved in armed services and security forces as policemen. From 1920 onwards, there were also significant permanent settlements of the Sikh community in countries like Canada and the U.S. Another wave of migration occurred from 1984 to 1992, when militant Sikh organizations fought for national self-determination against a Congress-led Indian government.] 

It’s reported that you angered Indian officials this month after issuing a video where you warned Sikhs not to fly on Air India because it would be “life-threatening.” What did you mean by this?

I was saying ”boycott” Air India, but the whole Indian narrative shifted to ”bomb” Air India. Somebody has to be a zombie to not differentiate between boycotting and bombing. 

Did the FBI, U.S. government officials, or Canadian government officials (since you are also a Canadian citizen) offer you any form of security or protection?

I would have all these questions directed to the U.S. administration. 

The U.S. Department of Justice is currently debating whether to unseal the indictment against at least one of the alleged perpetrators in a New York court or to wait until Canada finishes its investigation into Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder. Do you think it should make the allegations public now?

It’s up to the DoJ. They are the ones who should be responding.

If the allegation that India was involved in the assassination plot against you turns out to be true, how do you think the international community should respond?

I would like to see foreign governments, whether it’s the U.S., Canada, European Union, or the UK, put their foot down and hold India accountable instead of trying to have trade talks with India. India is using trade as a tool to suppress freedom of speech and expression and to label somebody like me as a terrorist. There should be action against anyone who is involved, whether it’s a diplomat or an employee.

In the case of Nijjar, India rejected Canada’s claims about New Delhi’s possible involvement and called them “absurd.” What is your response to that?  

I am an American, and if somebody is trying to assassinate me, I think it is the responsibility of the Biden administration and U.S. authorities to do something. We will be watching how [the Biden administration] will react. Do they value business, or do they value democracy? Do they value human rights, or a rogue state like India, which has already proved that it will use terror and violence and that it is not a trusted partner? 

Are you or others in your community concerned about surveillance from the Indian government, something which India denies doing?

Through their diplomatic missions, India is already doing it and they have openly threatened to do it. In this particular case of Sikhs, they are using this information, which they are gathering in case files against family members of those who are involved. And it is the responsibility of the host country to stop these activities and dismantle these networks. Canada has taken the first step in doing so by expelling India’s RAW chief. 

[The Research and Analysis Wing, or RAW, is India’s foreign intelligence agency. Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly previously told the press that the Trudeau government had expelled the RAW head in Canada on Sep. 18.]

Some experts say that within the Sikh community in India, and to some extent even the Sikh diaspora, there is less of an urgency for a separatist homeland compared to other issues like farmers’ protests, high debt, and drug addiction. Would you agree?

No. That’s why [the experts] are professors and we are revolutionaries who work on independence. They work on research papers, and we work on changing the narrative and bringing the facts out. Do research papers fail to take into account that a whole generation has been wiped out between 1984 to 1997? Who’s going to account for that? Just because India labeled [those who were killed] terrorists? This is my open challenge to India. 

In India, there is also a sentiment that the government has a legitimate case in clamping down on Sikh militancy in Canada and the U.S. to protect national interests. Is the Indian government justified in wanting to do so through legal means like extradition?

I don’t know where it was written that India has pious territorial integrity. Was it written in the Bible that nobody can challenge India’s territorial integrity? And if somebody challenges India’s territorial integrity, the world should stand up on its feet and extradite people who are challenging it? The label that this is a threat to India’s national interest—are we bombing a parliament? Are we inciting violence? No. What exactly is the issue? The issue is simple. Give the Sikh people a right to vote on a basic and fundamental question. They are forcing us to a place where one day again there will be an issue that India will not be able to handle. 

Can I ask what you mean by that? 

First, you take away the right for people to vote, and without this question being asked and answered about Khalistan or independence from India. And then, you are telling us that if you talk about it in America, if you campaign on a peaceful and democratic vote, we’re going to kill you. And if India commits violence, we will respond, we will hold them accountable under international laws.

How would India’s current actions compare to previous Indian policy regarding issues of Sikh separatism? 

First, it was national terrorism by successive Indian governments, where they killed thousands in the name of counterinsurgency in Punjab and called them terrorists. Now, the campaign has come to the global stage and become transnational terrorism. They are doing the same thing, planning assassination plots in the name of terrorism against people who are pro-Khalistan.

Are you scared for your life?

No. I will still go ahead with the Khalistan referendum campaign, even if somebody tells me there’s going to be an Indian tank coming to crush me if I do.

source https://time.com/6339942/india-gurpatwant-singh-pannun-sikh-separatist-qa/

First Human Case of New Swine Flu Strain Detected in the U.K.

U.K. health officials have reported a person with a flu strain typically found in pigs, marking the first time this variant has been detected in a human in the country.

The U.K. Health Security Agency is working to determine any risks the pathogen might pose to human health, it said in a statement Monday. The person experienced only a mild illness and has fully recovered, according to the agency.

It’s not unusual for flu viruses to jump to other species, but experts track those events closely for fear that the pathogen will adapt to the new host and become transmissible among humans. A swine flu virus sparked a pandemic in 2009 that affected millions of people globally. 

The U.K. case was detected as part of routine surveillance and the patient’s contacts are now being followed by health authorities.

More From TIME

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“This is the first time we have detected this virus in humans in the U.K., though it is very similar to viruses that have been detected in pigs,” said Meera Chand, Incident Director at the Health Security Agency. “We are working rapidly to trace close contacts and reduce any potential spread.”

The variant was first found in a minor in the U.S. state of Michigan earlier this year.

source https://time.com/6339959/uk-new-swine-flu/

Medieval Advice for Living Forever

In recent years, the quest for eternal life has become big business, as a growing number of biotechnology start-ups race to develop a drug which can prevent aging. Many of them are funded by Silicon Valley billionaires who hope to be the first humans to live forever, and who have personally committed to strict health regimes in the hope of achieving this goal.

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While the technology may be new, the quest for longevity is not. Indeed, it was also an obsession of elite medieval Europeans. Then and now, the quest for immortality is based on optimizing the body, using lifestyle changes and more outlandish techniques, in an attempt to prolong life beyond its usual span. And yet, the lesson, then and now, seems to be that the quest for immortality is less about advancing scientific knowledge for the good of all mankind, and more about harnessing that knowledge for the benefit of the most privileged members of society.

Read More: Why Americans Are Uniquely Afraid to Grow Old

Although plague and other infectious diseases brought high death rates in medieval Europe, those who reached adulthood had a reasonable chance of surviving into their seventh or eighth decade; in some early 15th century Italian towns, around 15% of the population was over 60. Just like us, medieval people wanted to live long, healthy lives and hoped to emulate long-lived relatives. The 14th-century Italian poet Petrarch’s grandfather supposedly lived to be 104, while the Florentine politician Donato Velluti (1313-70) claimed that his ancestor Bonaccorso di Pietro (d. 1296) reached 120. In his final years, Velluti described him as blind and very stiff, but still active and sharp-minded.

Indeed, medieval people believed that humans had the capacity to live for centuries, just as Biblical figures such as Noah and Methuselah did. This conviction fueled numerous attempts to work out how they could do so. Writing around 1460, the Italian physician Michele Savonarola complained that, while the ancients thrived on acorns and chestnuts, the gluttony of modern people made them weak and vulnerable to disease. Sex was also a problem: the French rabbi David Kimhi (1160-1235) suggested that people in Genesis enjoyed long lives because they were not slaves to lechery.

Modern longevity gurus typically offer their followers detailed instructions on how to live their lives, and medieval people were equally convinced of the benefits of micromanaging one’s daily regime. Prevention was at the heart of medieval medical theory: it was widely believed that managing the six non-naturals (air and environment, food and drink, excretion, sleeping and waking, motion and rest, and the passions of the soul) would help an individual to remain healthy.

Medieval medical experts stressed that such an approach became increasingly important later in life, because as a person aged, their body cooled and dried—and death occurred when all of their heat and moisture was used up. Few people believed that it was possible to stop this happening, but there was plenty of discussion about slowing the process down.

Regimens such as Gabriele Zerbi’s Gerontocomia and Marsilio Ficino’s On a Long Life (both published in 1489) included detailed, medically-informed advice on how to prolong one’s life. Some of their suggestions might seem ridiculous to modern readers. Zerbi, for instance, warned his readers to avoid both sneezing and sex, which dry out the body, as well as cutting fingernails under certain astrological combinations.

Read more: The Man Who Thinks He Can Live Forever

But much of their advice has persisted. Medieval doctors told their patients to exercise, get enough sleep, take care of one’s mental health, and avoid excessive alcohol consumption. Above all, it was important to eat a healthy diet, a subject which is covered in exhaustive detail in both medieval and modern regimens. In addition, medieval people were intrigued by the possibilities of fasting. The elderly Petrarch, for example, decided to fast because many of the Desert Fathers (the early Christian hermits whose ascetic lifestyle proved the template for medieval monasticism) had lived to be over 100. The Italian priest-physician Marsilio Ficino recommended eating just two small meals a day, no more than nine hours apart. He also advised against eating too much meat, green fruits, and vegetables.

Beyond diet and lifestyle choices, medieval longevity experts also believed in the rejuvenating potential of young blood. Marsilio Ficino suggested that the elderly could be reinvigorated with an infusion of youthful bodily fluids, which would provide much-needed heat and moisture. This might involve drinking the milk of a “healthy, beautiful, cheerful and temperate” girl, or sucking blood from a “willing, healthy, happy and temperate” youth through a small incision in his left arm. Slightly less gruesome strategies included rubbing fresh pig’s blood onto the stomach, or hugging “a girl who is close to her menstruation” as one slept.

Increasingly, however, the ultimate ingredient for the medieval health freak was gold—a perfectly composed and virtually indestructible element which would help the human body to exist in a state of perfect health for many years. According to the papal physician Arnold of Villanova (d. 1311), many clerics sucked gold nuggets or drank potable gold with their meals. Confident that such practices would preserve their health and prolong their lives, they “consider[ed] gold as the greatest secret they ever knew or possessed.” Three centuries later, Renaissance popes were still paying their physicians to make gold-based elixirs to allow them to live to 120.

Whereas some aspects of a healthy lifestyle are quite widely accessible, such costly prophylactic measures were only available to the wealthiest members of society. Whereas Marsilio Ficino openly declared that On a Long Life was written only for “prudent and temperate people of sophisticated intelligence who will benefit mankind,” modern longevity specialists often insist that their findings will help everyone. But it is hard to ignore the reality that most modern strategies for the prolongation of life are, like their medieval equivalents, available only to those who have ample supplies of both time and money.

And if the Middle Ages raise important questions about the ethical implications of longevity science, they also offer cautionary tales about its limits. Being at the forefront of medical endeavor brings rewards but also risks, and some of the medieval strategies may actually have caused health problems. The same could be true of modern longevity techniques.

Nor is there any guarantee that you will outwit fate, which seems to have a sense of humor. Pope John XXII (d. 1277) repeatedly and very publicly claimed that he knew how to prolong his life by many years, only to die when a ceiling collapsed on him. Gabriele Zerbi also met an untimely end, murdered by the disgruntled family of a patient. In the Middle Ages as today, medical knowledge might extend your life—but only if you were possessed of both wealth and good luck.

Katherine Harvey is an Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She is the author of The Fires of Lust: Sex in the Middle Ages (Reaktion, 2021), and is currently working on a book about medieval approaches to healthy living. Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians. Learn more about Made by History at TIME here.

source https://time.com/6332358/medieval-longevity-advice/

As Freed Hostages Return to Israel, Details of Conditions in Captivity Emerge

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JERUSALEM — Plastic chairs as beds. Meals of bread and rice. Hours spent waiting for the bathroom. As former hostages return to Israel after seven weeks of Hamas captivity, information about the conditions of their confinement has emerged.

The 58 hostages freed under a cease-fire deal over the past three days have largely stayed out of the public eye, with most still in hospitals.

Read More: What to Know About the Release of Hostages

Nearly two months after Hamas militants dragged them into Gaza during a bloody cross-border attack on Israel that also killed 1,200 people, most freed hostages appear to be in stable physical condition.

Information about the conditions of their captivity has been tightly controlled, but family members of the released hostages have begun to share details about their loved ones’ experiences.

Merav Raviv, whose three relatives were released by Hamas on Friday, said they had been fed irregularly and had eaten mainly rice and bread. She said her cousin and aunt, Keren and Ruth Munder, had each lost around 7 kilograms (15 pounds) in just 50 days.

Raviv said she’d heard from her freed family members that they had slept on rows of chairs pushed together in a room that looked like a reception area. They said they sometimes had to wait hours before going to the bathroom.

Adva Adar, the grandchild of 85-year-old released hostage Yaffa Adar, said her grandmother had also lost weight.

“She counted the days of her captivity,” Adar said. “She came back and she said, ’I know that I’ve been there for 50 days.’”

Adar said that her grandmother was taken captive convinced that her family members were dead, only to emerge to the news that they had survived. Still, her release was bittersweet: She also found out that her house had been ravaged by militants.

“For an 85-year-old woman, usually you have your house where you raised your kids, you have your memories, your photo albums, your clothes,” said Adar. “She has nothing, and in her old age she needs to start over. She mentioned that it is tough for her.”

In the 50 days since the hostages were taken captive, Israel has devastated the Gaza Strip with a ground and air offensive that has killed at least 13,300 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Under the current four-day cease-fire, Hamas has agreed to release a total of 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for Israel releasing 150 Palestinian security prisoners and ramping up aid to the pummeled enclave.

Eighteen foreign nationals, mostly Thais, have also been released.

Read More: Here’s What to Know About Hamas’ Thai Hostages

Eleven more hostages are set to be released Monday on the last day of the cease-fire, leaving close to 180 hostages in the Gaza Strip. Israeli authorities have said that they are willing to extend the truce one day for every 10 hostages released by Hamas.

The fullest image yet of life under Hamas captivity was conjured by 85-year-old Yocheved Lipschitz, a hostage who was freed before the current cease-fire. Upon her release, Lipschitz said she had been held in tunnels which stretched under Gaza “like a spider web.” She said her captors “told us they are people who believe in the Quran and wouldn’t hurt us.”

Lifshitz said captives were treated well and received medical care, including medication. The guards kept conditions clean, she said. Hostages were given one meal a day of cheese, cucumber and pita, she said, adding that her captors ate the same.

The recently freed hostages also appeared to have been held underground. Eyal Nouri, the nephew of Adina Moshe, 72, who was freed on Friday, said his aunt “had to adjust to the sunlight” because she had been in darkness for weeks.

“She was in complete darkness,” said Nouri. “She was walking with her eyes down because she was in a tunnel. She was not used to the daylight. And during her captivity, she was disconnected … from all the outside world.”

Nouri said that Moshe didn’t know that she was going to be released until the last moment.

“Until she saw the Red Cross,” he said. “This is the moment when she realized, okay, these horrifying seven weeks are over.”

She emerged to the news that her husband had been killed by the militants and her son’s family had miraculously survived.

Doctors have warned of the steep psychological toll of captivity. Israel has made counseling and other support available to those who have been released.

But most of the freed hostages have appeared to be in good physical condition, able to walk and speak normally.

But at least two needed more serious medical care. One hostage released Sunday, 84-year-old Alma Abraham, was rushed to Israel’s Soroka Medical Center in the southern city of Beersheba in life-threatening condition.

The hospital’s director said she had a pre-existing condition that had not been treated properly in captivity. Another young female hostage was on crutches in a video Hamas released Saturday. The girl grimaced at her captors as she entered a Red Cross vehicle bringing her out of the besieged enclave.

Yair Rotem, whose 12-year-old niece, Hila Rotem-Shoshani, was released Sunday, said he had to keep reminding her she didn’t need to whisper.

“They always told them to whisper and stay quiet, so I keep telling her now she can raise her voice,” said Rotem. He added that Hila, who will celebrate her 13th birthday on Monday, slept well during her first night back in Israel and has an appetite.

Ohad Munder, Raviv’s nephew, was surrounded by friends soon after his release, as they celebrated his 9th birthday a month late with ice cream and pizza in a hospital ward.

Ohad’s friend, Eitan Vilchik, told Israel’s Channel 13 that his friend was “emotionally strong” and already able to answer their questions about what he ate and what happened to him while he was in captivity. But Ohad’s friends refused to share details, saying they wanted to respect his privacy.

Vilchik said teachers have canceled Munder’s homework requirements but his friends will help him make up the subjects he missed in school.

He said Ohad was still able to solve a Rubik’s cube in less than a minute.

—Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman contributed reporting from Jerusalem.

source https://time.com/6339802/israeli-hostages-hamas-conditions-in-captivity/