French Security Authorities Foil Plan to Attack Soccer Events During the Paris Olympics

PARIS — The French interior minister said Friday that security authorities have foiled a plan to attack soccer events during the Paris Olympics.

Gerald Darmanin said in a statement that the members of the General Directorate of Internal Security arrested an 18-year-old man from Chechnya on May 22 on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack soccer events that will be held in the city of Saint-Etienne, southwest of Lyon.

According to the initial investigation, the man was preparing an attack targeting the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in the city of Saint-Etienne that will host several soccer matches during the Summer Games. The planned attack was to target spectators and police forces, the statement said. The suspect wanted to attack the Olympic events “to die and become a martyr,” the statement also said.

The Paris Olympics will run from July 26-Aug. 11. Soccer matches will take place in cities across France before the final in Paris’ Stade de France.

source https://time.com/6984314/paris-olympics-soccer-attack-foiled/

Shares in Trump Media Slump After Former President Convicted in Hush-Money Trial

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of social networking site Truth Social, slumped before the opening bell Friday after former President Donald Trump was convicted in his hush money trial.

A New York jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments to a porn actor who said the two had sex.

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Shares fell 9% immediately Thursday in after-hours trading as news of the verdict emerged, and were down 5% early Friday.

The stock, which trades under the ticker symbol “DJT,” has been extraordinarily volatile since its debut in late March, joining the group of meme stocks that are prone to ricochet from highs to lows as small-pocketed investors attempt to catch an upward momentum swing at the right time.

The stock has tripled this year, in the process frequently making double-digit percentage moves either higher or lower on a single day. It peaked at nearly $80 in intraday trading on March 26. For context, the S&P 500 is up almost 10% year to date.

Meme stocks, including AMC Entertainment, and GameStop fell as well early Friday, as did shares of social media companies, but the decline for Trump Media was at least double the decline for any stock in either sector before the opening bell.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission before going public, Trump Media warned investors of the potential pitfalls faced by the former president and the adverse affect it might have on the stock. “President Donald J. Trump is the subject of numerous legal proceedings, the scope and scale of which are unprecedented for a former President of the United States and current candidate for that office. An adverse outcome in one or more of the ongoing legal proceedings in which President Donald J. Trump is involved could negatively impact TMTG and its Truth Social platform.”

Earlier this month, Trump Media reported that it lost more than $300 million last quarter, according to its first earnings report as a publicly traded company.

For the three-month period that ended March 31, the company posted a loss of $327.6 million, which it said included $311 million in non-cash expenses related to its merger with a company called Digital World Acquisition Corp. DWAC was an example of what’s known as a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, which can give young companies quicker and easier routes to getting their shares trading publicly, but with much less scrutiny.

Trump Media & Technology fired an auditor this month that federal regulators recently charged with “massive fraud.” The media company dismissed BF Borgers as its independent public accounting firm on May 3, delaying the filing of its quarterly earnings report.

Trump Media had previously cycled through at least two other auditors — one that resigned in July 2023, and another that was terminated by its board in March, just as it was rehiring BF Borgers.

Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records at his company in connection with an alleged scheme to hide potentially embarrassing stories about him during his 2016 Republican presidential election campaign.

The charge, a felony, arose from reimbursements paid to then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen after he made a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels to silence her claims of an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. Trump was accused of misrepresenting Cohen’s reimbursements as legal expenses to hide that they were tied to a hush money payment.

Trump’s defense contended that the Cohen payments were for legitimate legal services.

source https://time.com/6984264/trump-media-shares-slump-after-hush-money-trial-conviction/

Nurse Fired After Referring to Gaza ‘Genocide’ in Speech for Award

New York — A nurse was fired by a New York City hospital after she referred to Israel’s war in Gaza as a “genocide” during a speech accepting an award.

Labor and delivery nurse Hesen Jabr, who is Palestinian American, was being honored by NYU Langone Health for her compassion in caring for mothers who had lost babies when she drew a link between her work and the suffering of mothers in Gaza.

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“It pains me to see the women from my country going through unimaginable losses themselves during the current genocide in Gaza,” Jabr said, according to a video of the May 7 speech that she posted on social media. “This award is deeply personal to me for those reasons.”

Jabr wrote on Instagram that she arrived at work on May 22 for her first shift back after receiving the award when she was summoned to a meeting with the hospital’s president and vice president of nursing “to discuss how I ‘put others at risk’ and ‘ruined the ceremony’ and ‘offended people’ because a small part of my speech was a tribute towards the grieving mothers in my country.”

She wrote that after working most of her shift she was “dragged once again to an office” where she was read her termination letter and then escorted out of the building.

A spokesperson for NYU Langone, Steve Ritea, confirmed that Jabr was fired following her speech and said there had been “a previous incident as well.”

“Hesen Jabr was warned in December, following a previous incident, not to bring her views on this divisive and charged issue into the workplace,” Mr. Ritea said in a statement. “She instead chose not to heed that at a recent employee recognition event that was widely attended by her colleagues, some of whom were upset after her comments. As a result, Jabr is no longer an NYU Langone employee.”

Ritea did not provide any details of the previous incident.

Jabr defended her speech in an interview with The New York Times and said talking about the war “was so relevant” given the nature of the award she had won.

“It was an award for bereavement; it was for grieving mothers,” she said.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health says that more than 36,000 people have been killed in the territory during the war that started with the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced and U.N. officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.

Critics say Israel’s military campaign amounts to genocide, and the government of South Africa formally accused the country of genocide in January when it asked the United Nations’ top court to order a halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza.

Israel has denied the genocide charge and told the International Court of Justice it is doing everything it can to protect Gaza’s civilian population.

Jabr is not the first employee at the hospital, which was renamed from NYU Medical Center after a major donation from Republican Party donor and billionaire Kenneth Langone, to be fired over comments about the Mideast conflict.

A prominent researcher who directed the hospital’s cancer center was fired after he posted anti-Hamas political cartoons including caricatures of Arab people. That researcher, biologist Benjamin Neel, has since filed suit against the hospital.

Jabr’s firing also was not her first time in the spotlight. When she was an 11-year-old in Louisiana, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on her behalf after she was forced to accept a Bible from the principal of her public school.

“This is not my first rodeo,” she told the Times.

source https://time.com/6983907/nurse-fired-gaza-genocide-speech-award/

Kate Middleton Smiles Alongside Prince William in Previously Unseen Holiday Picture

A Welsh holiday residence reminisced on social media about a visit from Prince William and Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, posting a previously unseen photo of the royal encounter.

Duffryn Mawr Country House, a bed-and-breakfast in Brecon Beacons National Park, shared a post on Facebook in April, relaying it had been a year since the Prince and Princess of Wales stayed at the residence.

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In the photo, the royal pair can be seen wearing the same outfits that they wore for their visit to Aberfan on April 28, 2023, indicating that the picture was taken the same day. They visited Aberfan to pay respects to families who lost loved ones in the 1966 mining disaster that took the lives of 116 children and 28 adults

The Prince and Princess stand side-by-side in the image, next to five members of the Duffryn Mawr Country House staff. In another photo, the royal couple’s signatures adorn the inn’s guest book, as well as the date of their stay.

“It’s been 1 year since we welcomed William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales, to Duffryn Mawr!” the inn’s team captioned the Facebook post. “We were delighted to welcome William and Kate for a night here when they visited The Brecon Beacons. So kind and friendly, it was a pleasure to have them stay here.”

This photo comes at a time where sightings of the Princess have been far and few between, as she continues to take a break from public-facing duties following her announcement that she was diagnosed with cancer following a planned abdominal surgery, and is receiving “preventive chemotherapy.” In a video message shared on March 22, Middleton said the diagnosis came as a “huge shock” and that she and her family had needed time to process the news.

Prior to this announcement, Middleton had not been seen in public since Christmas last year, and the internet speculated wildly on her whereabouts and reasonings for her time away from the spotlight.

In early May, the Prince of Wales shared an update with the public while visiting James’ Place, a charity therapy centre for men struggling with suicidal ideation in the North of England, stating that Middleton and his family as a while are “doing well.”

[video id=b4DhRPU2x autostart="viewable"]

source https://time.com/6983809/kate-middleton-sighting-prince-william-wales-holiday-throwback-photo/

Breaking Down the Supreme Court’s Ethics Rules as Justices Come Under Fire

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The U.S. Supreme Court is facing mounting pressure to address its procedures for handling potential conflicts of interest amid a recent string of ethical questions involving the Justices. 

The Justices rely on self-policing mechanisms to uphold ethical standards and maintain the integrity of the court. But with public trust in the judiciary the lowest it’s been in 50 years, some are pushing for more stringent and enforceable policies. 

The latest Supreme Court scandal involves Justice Samuel Alito’s controversial display of an upside-down American flag—a symbol associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement—outside his home following the 2020 election. Alito has refused to recuse himself from pending cases related to former President Donald Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, despite concerns about that flag and another flag associated with Jan. 6 flown at another of his properties, has sparked renewed criticism and raised questions about judicial impartiality.

“The two incidents you cite do not meet the conditions for recusal,” Alito wrote in a letter distributed by the Supreme Court on May 29. “As I have stated publicly, I had nothing whatsoever to do with the flying of that flag. I was not even aware of the upside-down flag until it was called to my attention.” (Alito has said his wife chose to fly the flags.)

Critics argue that without external checks and balances, the potential for conflicts of interest and ethical lapses among the Justices remains a significant concern, highlighting the need for comprehensive reform to restore public confidence in the judiciary. “We are in a moment of real crisis with respect to public trust of the Supreme Court,” says Alicia Bannon, a constitutional lawyer and director of the Judiciary Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “And that trust has to be earned.”

Here’s what to know about the ongoing debate surrounding Supreme Court ethics.

Does the Supreme Court have a code of conduct?

The nine Supreme Court Justices in Nov. 2023 unanimously adopted the institution’s first-ever code of conduct. The code, comprising five canons that include avoiding “impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities” and engaging in outside activities “consistent with the obligations” of the office, represented a departure from the court’s previous resistance to formalized ethical guidelines.

The unveiling of the code was met with mixed reactions, with critics pointing out several loopholes and ambiguities. One major concern is the absence of clear enforcement mechanisms, raising doubts about how the code will be upheld and whether Justices would face consequences for violations. Without robust enforcement, skeptics argue, the code may lack the teeth needed to truly hold Justices accountable for ethical breaches. 

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island who has been probing the Supreme Court’s ethics issues, said in a video after the code was made public that “the job is not done”  until there are more answers about accountability. “The real test now is: how do you enforce it? Is there a place where you can file a complaint against a Justice? Who sorts out the ridiculous complaints from the legitimate ones? For the legitimate ones? Who does the fact finding about what happened?” he asked.

How are ethics violations enforced?

Alleged ethics violations within the Supreme Court are typically enforced through a combination of internal accountability mechanisms and external scrutiny. But unlike other branches of government, there is no formal mechanism in place specifically designed to hold Justices accountable for misconduct. The primary avenue for addressing serious ethical breaches remains impeachment, a process that has occurred only once in the court’s history, back in 1803.

Instead, enforcement largely relies on self-policing within the institution, with Justices responsible for upholding ethical standards among their peers.

Bannon says that when it comes to allegations about ethical conflicts, there is no formal process  to ensure accountability or transparency among the Justices, leaving the public reliant on sporadic disclosures and voluntary actions by the court. “It’s a fact of human psychology that we’re very bad judges of our own biases,” she says. “That’s why it’s important to take some of these decisions out of the judges’ individual hands.”

Does Congress have the authority to regulate Supreme Court ethics?

The Constitution grants Congress the authority to regulate certain aspects of the Supreme Court. But the extent to which Congress can directly regulate Supreme Court ethics has been subject to debate and interpretation.

Historically, Congress has exercised its authority by enacting legislation that sets forth ethical standards and requirements for federal judges and Supreme Court Justices. For example, Congress has passed laws mandating financial disclosure requirements for federal judges, including Justices of the Supreme Court, to promote transparency and accountability.

But Alito asserted in 2023 that Congress has no authority to regulate the Supreme Court despite the ethical regulations Congress already imposes on the Justices. Some legal scholars have also argued that Congress may have limited authority to impose disciplinary measures or enforce ethical standards on individual Justices, as this could potentially encroach upon the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches.

Lawmakers have already introduced legislation that would require the Supreme Court to adopt a binding code of conduct and develop a process for enforcement, as well as strengthen recusal rules, but the legislation has been stalled in the Republican-led House of Representatives, where lawmakers claim the push is a politically motivated attempt to undermine the legitimacy of a conservative majority court. 

What are the ethics allegations facing the Supreme Court Justices?

Alito is facing scrutiny after The New York Times reported in May 2024 that he flew an inverted flag outside his house in Virginia following the 2020 election, a symbol associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement, which aimed to challenge the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump. Alito said the flag was briefly flown by his wife amid a dispute with neighbors, and that he had no part in it. The New York Times then reported that the Alitos had flown an “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside their New Jersey vacation home in 2023, another symbol associated with Jan. 6, support for Donald Trump, and religious conservatism. “My wife is fond of flying flags,” Alito wrote in his letter to lawmakers. “I am not.” The incidents have raised concerns about Alito hearing cases related to the Jan. 6 riot and Trump’s role in it.

Alito faced criticism last year after ProPublica reported in June 2023 that he took a luxury fishing trip with billionaire Paul Singer, whose hedge fund has had repeated involvement in cases before the court, without disclosing it. Alito defended his actions in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published before the ProPublica report, claiming ignorance of Singer’s connections to court cases and asserting that he did not feel obligated to disclose the trip. Alito also came under fire after his involvement in the case Burwell v. Hobby Lobby drew attention after The New York Times reported in November 2022 that a conservative activist was privy to the ruling in 2014 following a dinner with donors and Alito, a revelation that sparked a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.

Justice Clarence Thomas has been a focus of inquiry in recent years for accepting gifts and luxury travel from GOP mega donor Harlan Crow without disclosing them as required by federal law. Thomas also faced criticism for his wife Ginni Thomas’ rightwing activism and her involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, which raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest as Thomas heard cases related to the election. Thomas has faced allegations regarding a substantial loan he received from a wealthy friend, Anthony Welters, which he allegedly never repaid in full, a Senate investigation found. Questions arose about the proper reporting of this loan on Thomas’ taxes and financial disclosures. Thomas has not directly commented on the incident, though his lawyer disputed the Senate investigation’s findings, telling the New York Times that the loan was never forgiven.

Other Justices, including Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch, have also faced scrutiny for various ethical concerns. Sotomayor’s staff reportedly pressured public institutions to buy copies of her books during her speaking engagements, though the Supreme Court denied that attendees of events featuring Sotomayor were ever required to purchase her book. Gorsuch was accused of selling real estate to the head of a law firm with cases before the court, without naming the buyer on his financial disclosure forms. He has not directly commented on the matter.

Chief Justice John Roberts came under scrutiny in January 2023 due to reports of his wife’s significant earnings from her work as a recruiter matching attorneys with law firms. Concerns were raised about the potential influence of these earnings on the Chief Justice’s decisions and the perception of impartiality. “This complaint raises troubling issues that once again demonstrate the need for a mandatory code of conduct for Supreme Court Justices,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said in a statement at the time.

source https://time.com/6983758/supreme-court-ethics-rules-enforced/

Donald Trump’s Hush-Money Trial Is a Referendum on Truth

The closing arguments for Donald Trump’s hush-money trial have ended and a jury now decides Trump’s fate in a Manhattan courtroom. But in many ways, it is truth itself that is on trial.

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For the past several weeks, jurors have heard arguments regarding Trump’s alleged attempt to disinform Americans and sway the 2016 presidential election by falsifying business records and concealing hush-money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Depending on your view of Trump, the trial is either a much-awaited moment of accountability or a politically motivated case of prosecutorial overreach. But the case represents something more than the guilt or innocence of the former president—it is a referendum on whether facts and law still matter. Depending on which view one has of the case, the verdict likely will be seen as a commitment to the rule of law or a miscarriage of justice.

First comes the finding of facts. In our post-truth era, a jury’s quest for the facts may seem like a quaint notion. Yet every day in courtrooms across America, citizens selected at random gather to discern facts from evidence and render verdicts. Their verdicts to hold people accountable for committing crimes is what upholds the rule of law.

Read More: 5 Things We Learned From the Trump Trial

In Trump’s case, the jury will soon deliberate on whether Trump falsified business records regarding the payment of $130,000 to Daniels, and did so with intent to conceal violations of campaign and tax laws. According to the testimony of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, the October 2016 release of a recording of Trump making disparaging comments about groping women on an open mic for the Access Hollywood television show made it imperative to prevent another disclosure about sexual impropriety before the election. Unless Trump blocked Americans from learning about his alleged act of adultery, Cohen testified, Trump believed his campaign would suffer a “total disaster.”  In addition, David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer, testified at trial that in August 2016, shortly after Trump became the GOP nominee for president, he paid $150,000 to silence former Playboy model Karen McDougal regarding a extra-marital relationship with Trump.

Some critics of the case argue that there is nothing illegal about paying hush money, and that charges would not have been filed at all if the defendant’s name were anything other than Donald Trump. Testimony during the trial has disclosed that other famous men entered agreements with AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer, to kill stories alleging extra-marital affairs.

But that criticism misses the point. It is not the payment of hush money alone that is the crime. It is the cover-up by someone who is a candidate for president. Running for public office brings with it the responsibility of filing accurate campaign finance reports. The indictment charges that when Trump allegedly caused 34 checks, invoices, and ledger entries to be falsely characterized as legal expenses, he intended to conceal violations of state and federal campaign finance laws as well as tax laws. New York law makes it a crime to conspire to promote or prevent the election of a candidate by illegal means. Federal law prohibits corporate contributions, like the one made by AMI, and limits the amount of individual contributions to $2,700, far below the $130,000 allegedly made by Cohen. When Trump reimbursed Cohen, he allegedly falsely characterized the payments as income, resulting in the tax charge.

In addition to violating the law, the alleged scheme, if true, also betrays the trust of the American people. Voters have a right to know the facts about a candidate when casting their ballots. If candidates can covertly manipulate public perception to serve their own interests, they undermine the public’s ability to make decisions based on facts.

The jurors will decide whether the prosecution has met its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt and return a verdict. The prosecution’s case is far from perfect. Daniels and Cohen both admitted to making prior inconsistent statements. Cohen, who went to prison for perjury, even admitted to stealing money from the former president. Even if convicted, as a first-time offender, Trump is unlikely to face a prison term of any significance or be removed from the ballot as the presumptive GOP nominee for president. But the verdict will likely elicit strong opinions, even from people who did not listen to all of the evidence or review all of the exhibits, as the jury did.

Read More: What Happens if Trump Is Convicted? Your Questions, Answered

This is where the rule of law will be tested. As a former prosecutor, I was trained to argue cases in court zealously, but to accept a jury’s verdict with respect, even when it was not the decision I had sought. I learned to acknowledge that reasonable minds can disagree, and that it is more important to uphold public confidence in our legal system than to obtain a conviction in any particular case. To support our legal system means that we focus on a fair process, and tolerate decisions with which we disagree. Otherwise, our criminal justice system would fall apart.

But throughout this trial, Trump and his supporters have groomed the public to distrust the fairness of the trial. Trump has called the case a “sham” and “a Biden show trial,” even though the case was brought by a state court prosecutor outside the president’s federal chain of command. Trump has called Justice Juan Merchan “corrupt” and “highly conflicted.” Trump even falsely claimed that the gag order entered to prevent either party from making comments outside of court about witnesses, court staff and jurors prevents him from testifying, a “misunderstanding” Justice Merchan corrected on the record, but a narrative that Trump can use to explain away a decision not to testify.

On May 14, a group of Republican members of Congress attended the trial, dressed in identical navy blue suits with white shirts and red ties. Outside the courthouse, they addressed the media, and House Speaker Mike Johnson disparaged all of the pending criminal cases against Trump. “These are politically motivated trials, and they are a disgrace,” he said. “It is election interference.” Their unity and uniforms signaled an allegiance to one man over the rule of law.

Their stunt was the latest chapter in Trump’s playbook to disparage institutions that might stand in his way. By undermining public confidence in potential critics, Trump can downplay their inevitable criticism as illegitimate. Blunting potential critics is the reason he refers to the media as “the enemy of the people” and career civil servants as “the deep state.” And now, according to Trump, any case filed to hold him accountable for alleged criminal conduct is simply “election interference.” Not only do these claims provide pretextual defenses for Trump, they also tend to reduce public confidence in the institutions of democracy.

The jury’s decision in this case will end this trial. But public opinion will render the verdict on truth and the future of our faith in the justice system.

source https://time.com/6983154/donald-trump-hush-money-trial-truth-essay/

Are Walking Pads Worth It?

Kenneth Luczko works remotely as an engineer for a tech company—which means his fingers dance across his keyboard all day. One might assume that’s the extent of his on-the-clock exercise. But by the time 5 p.m. rolls around, he’s logged at least 15,000 to 25,000 steps without even leaving his apartment.

Luczko, 26, is a walking pad fanatic. He bought one about a year and a half ago after seeing a TikTok video, and he now uses it every day. It’s basically a portable under-desk treadmill: less bulky than the kind you might have in your basement, and without any handrails. Walking pads have more limited speed options than regular treadmills, and they usually have a smaller incline, so you’re walking on a flat surface. Sometimes Luczko slowly plods along at 0.5 or 1 mile per hour on his, and other times he speeds up to 3 m.p.h. Doesn’t all that motion make it difficult to, well, work? “It actually helps put me into an awesome flow state when I’m programming,” he says. Plus, Luczko credits the walking pad with kickstarting his recent 100-pound weight loss: “It was like a gateway drug to going to the gym and going for walks outside.”

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Walking pads—which cost about $150-$200—are trending on social-media platforms as a way to get your heart rate up and incorporate some movement into an otherwise sedentary day. While experts agree the devices should supplement, not replace, your regular exercise routine, they can be a smart alternative to plopping down on your office chair and staying there.

The health benefits of walking pads

Walking is one of the simplest ways for many people to get more exercise—but it’s also one of the easiest things to eliminate from our daily routines, says Akinkunle Oye-Somefun, a doctoral candidate at York University in Toronto who authored a recent meta-analysis of treadmill-desk research. Since the pandemic-related shift to remote work, he says, more people are sitting for at least eight hours a day—rather than walking to and from the office, out for lunch, or around the block for a breath of fresh air. That’s a problem. Sitting all day leads to a number of “detrimental outcomes,” Oye-Somefun says, including weight gain, heightened disease risk, and stress of the back, neck, arms, and legs. “Stress on the extremities begins to show after just one hour of sitting,” he adds. “It’s good to interrupt sitting,” and walking is superior to simply standing.

In addition to reducing sitting time, treadmill desks can lead to an array of benefits. They increase steps, and research suggests that logging at least 4,000 a day can reduce the risk of dying from any cause, including heart disease. You don’t even have to go that fast: Researchers have found that office workers who walked 1 mile per hour on a treadmill desk burned an extra 100 calories per hour. There’s now even walking-pad specific research. One small study, published in 2023, concluded that using one during the workday improved people’s energy levels, helped them feel less sore, reduced hip and back pain, boosted their mood, and made them feel more focused and creative.

Read More: Why Walking Isn’t Enough When It Comes to Exercise

Plus, it (probably) won’t impair your work. One study found that people on treadmill desks perform cognitive tasks nearly as well as those who are sitting—and the researchers concluded that the benefits outweighed any concern about concentration. “Everyone’s realizing, ‘I can walk while working, and it doesn’t impact my productivity,’” Oye-Somefun says. “‘I get mental clarity, I’m able to answer calls, I’m able to type.’”

What to look for when you’re picking one

James Rethaber went through three or four walking pads before finding one that checked all his boxes—and now, he uses it every day, usually while listening to webinars or taking a quick break. As the vice president of technical operations at Fit for Work, a company that specializes in industrial ergonomics and workplace injury prevention, he helps people understand what to look for when choosing a walking pad.

For starters: weight capacity. “I’m not a smaller person, so I needed to make sure it had a great capacity,” Rethaber says. Some walking pads can only accommodate 200 pounds; others are designed for people who weigh 300 pounds and up. The higher the weight capacity, he points out, the heavier duty the treadmill desk will be. The width of the belt—where you walk on the machine—also matters. Traditional treadmills typically have a belt width of 18 to 22 inches, while walking pads are in the 12 to 18 inches range. If you have limited space, look for one on the narrow side, Rethaber advises. But if you have a wider walking stance, and room to spare, you might appreciate a bigger belt, which also reduces the risk of accidentally stepping (or slipping) off the track.

Functionality varies between walking pads, too. Some are single purpose: designed to be used only under your desk, with a maximum speed of about 4 m.p.h. Others are dual purpose and can be used while working, or for faster walking, jogging, or running while moved away from the desk. In those cases, speed capacity is typically 8 to at least 10 m.p.h, Rethaber says, and you can attach collapsible handrails when you go fast.

Read More: Your Brain Doesn’t Want You to Exercise

While some walking pads are nearly silent, others “sound like jet engines”—so check the decibel rating of whichever one you’re considering, Rethaber advises. “If you’re in proximity to others, I always recommend looking for a treadmill that has a lower decibel rating,” he says. “And having a sound-absorbing pad underneath it, like a rubber mat, can really make a difference.”

It’s also helpful to consider whether a prospective walking pad is equipped with special features. Some include a tracker that displays the amount of time and number of steps you’ve completed in a day. You can also find models that have the ability to sync the number of steps you’ve logged on your walking pad with popular fitness apps, so all of your day’s activity is in one place.

Ergonomics matter, too

Walking pads should be comfortable to use, stresses Rethaber, who’s a certified professional ergonomist—which means he specializes in optimizing how people interact with their equipment and workspaces. He recommends building your work station around your walking pad, rather than trying to squeeze it into an established space. If you just slide it in, “things will be too low or too far away,” he says, opening the door to muscle strain and pain.

Ideally, your keyboard should be situated at a height that allows your elbows to be flexed to slightly below 90 degrees, he says. Frequently handled items—like your mouse, phone, and a notepad—should be within easy reaching distance. And the top third of your monitor should be at eye level. (If you wear corrective lenses like bifocals, you might find that having the monitor lower than eye level is more comfortable, Rethaber adds.)

Luczko, the engineer who works from home, selected a walking pad with two wheels in the front that fits nicely underneath his standing desk. “The desk has an automated feature to raise or lower it, so I just press the button, it raises it, and I roll [the pad] right under there,” he says. At the end of the workday, he folds it up and rolls it to the side of his office space until he’s ready to spring back into action.

Ensuring safety

If you don’t have balance issues, walking pads are just as safe as walking on a normal surface, Rethaber says—especially given that most people utilize theirs at a slow speed. Unlike with a regular treadmill, there are no handrails; clients sometimes ask him if that’s concerning. He tells them that if they feel a need for handles, it’s probably a sign that they’re walking too fast or while performing a task that requires intense focus. In those cases, it’s best to either slow down or sit down.

Read More: Put Your Shoes Back On. Here’s the Problem With Going Barefoot

It’s also important to consider what shoes you’re wearing. “I always recommend wearing your exercise shoes, because they have the soles that are built for this and give you the cushion you need,” he says. Slippers and flip-flops aren’t appropriate for the walking pad—and neither is going barefoot.

How to get the most out of your walking pad

Madelyn Driver, 30, bought a walking pad about a year and a half ago. It allows her to exercise inside during the workday when the weather is unpredictable. “I mix it into my routine for a quick energy boost before a meeting, or sometimes I have these longer all-hand meetings,” she says. “It allows me to take multiple short walks, and sometimes longer walks, without any disruption to my workflow.” Just one hour of walking at a slow pace can mean an extra 5,000 to 6,000 steps, she adds.

Driver has noticed that when she uses her walking pad, her mood is elevated throughout the day, and she’s dropped a few pounds because of the extra calorie burn. “I think the biggest misconception I had was that I had to be exercising at the same intensity as when I’m at the gym,” she says. “You’re not trying to log marathon miles, and you’re not trying to be out of breath when you’re on these walking pads. I’m just moving slowly.”

Read More: Backward Walking Is the Best Workout You’re Not Doing

If you’re new to walking pads, Rethaber advises following Driver’s lead and starting at a low speed, like 1 mile per hour. “See how you react to that,” he says—you’ll quickly figure out which tasks are feasible for you to do while walking, and which require sitting down. You can adjust your speed as you become more comfortable. The same goes for duration: Walk for 5 minutes here and there as your body adjusts to your new routine.

There’s some etiquette at play, too. It can be helpful to consider your company’s culture when deciding exactly when to walk, Rethaber points out. For video calls, “I don’t utilize it as much out of respect for others,” he says. “So they’re not hearing the impact, or if they’re susceptible to motion sickness, they’re not seeing me move up and down.”

There’s trial-and-error involved with figuring out exactly how to make a walking pad a regular part of your workday. But the payoff is worth it, Rethaber says—the devices make stepping into better health a feasible part of the workday.

source https://time.com/6983148/walking-pads-health-benefits/

OpenAI Forms Safety Committee as It Starts Training Latest AI Model

OpenAI says it’s setting up a safety and security committee and has begun training a new AI model to supplant the GPT-4 system that underpins its ChatGPT chatbot.

The San Francisco startup said in a blog post Tuesday that the committee will advise the full board on “critical safety and security decisions” for its projects and operations.

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The safety committee arrives as debate swirls around AI safety at the company, which was thrust into the spotlight after a researcher, Jan Leike, resigned and leveled criticism at OpenAI for letting safety “take a backseat to shiny products.” OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever also resigned, and the company disbanded the “superalignment” team focused on AI risks that they jointly led.

Leike said Tuesday he’s joining rival AI company Anthropic, founded by ex-OpenAI leaders, to “continue the superalignment mission” there.

OpenAI said it has “recently begun training its next frontier model” and its AI models lead the industry on capability and safety, though it made no mention of the controversy. “We welcome a robust debate at this important moment,” the company said.

AI models are prediction systems that are trained on vast datasets to generate on-demand text, images, video and human-like conversation. Frontier models are the most powerful, cutting edge AI systems.

The safety committee is filled with company insiders, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Chairman Bret Taylor, and four OpenAI technical and policy experts. It also includes board members Adam D’Angelo, who’s the CEO of Quora, and Nicole Seligman, a former Sony general counsel.

The committee’s first job will be to evaluate and further develop OpenAI’s processes and safeguards and make its recommendations to the board in 90 days. The company said it will then publicly release the recommendations it’s adopting “in a manner that is consistent with safety and security.”

source https://time.com/6983098/openai-forms-safety-committee/

What to Wear When It’s Really Hot Outside

When temperatures rise, many people strip down. But when you’re dressing for a hot day, how to get away with wearing as little as possible isn’t the only factor to consider.

In hot temperatures, your body sweats to cool itself down. When sweat evaporates, it takes some of your body heat with it, helping to keep you comfortable. So when you’re getting dressed during a heatwave, it’s best to choose garments that will make the evaporation process as easy as possible, says Guowen Song, who runs the Lab for Heat and Thermal Protection Research at Iowa State University.

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“We human beings really need to balance heat and moisture to feel good,” Song says. “That’s why in different seasons we wear different things. The clothing mediates how much heat dissipates into the environment.”

Here’s what to wear to stay comfortable on a hot day.

Loose or sweat-wicking clothes

Avoid tight clothing, as these garments will keep sweat trapped on your skin, says Kimberly McMahon, who leads the National Weather Service’s Public Weather Services Program. “If the sweat’s just sitting on you, then it’s not evaporating, and therefore it’s never actually leaving the surface of your body and it’s harder for your body to stay cool,” McMahon explains. Loose, flowy garments are usually a better choice on sweltering days.   

The exception: technical fabrics, like those used in athleisure, are often specifically designed to wick away sweat, Song says. Even tighter-fitting garments using these synthetic materials, like polyester and nylon, can help keep you cool and dry. Look for terms like “sweat-wicking,” “moisture-wicking,” or “quick dry” on the label.

Read More: What’s the Best Kind of Sunscreen?

And, contrary to what you might assume, wearing as little clothing as possible isn’t always the best strategy. Garments that provide some coverage prevent the sun from beating down directly on your bare skin, says Margaret Frey, a professor of fiber science and apparel design at Cornell University. “We can look for inspiration from traditional dress from very warm climates,” Frey says. “In a lot of them, they are wearing things that actually cover most of the body but are not tight-fitting.” People from desert climates, for example, often wear full-body robes.

Breathable fabrics

For everyday summer-wear, look for lightweight, breathable fabrics like cotton and linen, Frey suggests. These fibers will not only allow any natural breezes to pass through your clothes and cool the skin, but also allow your sweat to escape and evaporate. If you’re not sure if your clothing is breathable, there’s an easy way to find out: just put your hand inside a garment, blow on it, and see if you can feel your breath on your hand, Frey suggests.

If you’re going to be exercising or sweating heavily, however, Song says you may want to go for a synthetic, moisture-wicking fabric. Natural fibers like cotton and linen absorb sweat, whereas engineered textiles “dry fast and transport your moisture to the outside,” he says.

Light colors

There’s a reason white clothing is popular in the summer. Garments in dark colors like black, navy, and forest green absorb more of the sun’s UV radiation than light-colored clothes. Researchers in Japan have run experiments in which multiple polo shirts—identical except for their colors—are left outside on sunny days. The dark shirts get significantly hotter than the light shirts even after a relatively short time outside, they report. For that reason, Song, McMahon, and Frey all recommend light-colored clothing during the summer.

But some researchers argue it’s not that simple. Remember the robes worn in desert climates? Those worn by the Bedouin people in North Africa and the Middle East are traditionally black—a choice that some scientists argue is a smart one, because while the robe itself absorbs more heat than a white one would, that heat does not necessarily reach the skin.

Read More: How to Cool Down When It’s Really Hot Outside

And there is a tradeoff to wearing light clothing, Frey adds. Light-colored clothes aren’t as effective at protecting your skin from the sun as dark clothes are, meaning you may be more susceptible to sunburns and skin damage if you’re decked out in gauzy white cotton. Compensate by wearing plenty of sunscreen—and by washing your clothes regularly, since many commercial detergents include brightening agents that may also boost UV protection, Frey says.

Functional accessories

Think strategically about what to wear from head to toe. A wide-brimmed hat can provide some extra shade on a sunny day, McMahon says, while open-toed shoes can help with ventilation, Song says.

Last but not least, Song says, choose undergarments made from sweat-wicking materials. “They’re in contact with your skin,” he says, so picking the right ones can make a big difference for comfort. 

source https://time.com/6981614/best-clothes-hot-weather/

How to Help Papua New Guinea’s Landslide Relief Efforts, With Thousands Feared Dead

Thousands of villagers in Papua New Guinea (PNG) may be evacuated over fears that a second landslide could take place following Friday’s deadly disaster in the Enga province.

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Serhan Aktoprak, chief of the U.N. International Organization for Migration (IOM) mission in PNG, said Tuesday that another landslide is possible, and some 8,000 people may require evacuation. 

“This is a major concern,” Aktoprak told the Associated Press. “The movement of the land and the debris is causing a serious risk, and overall, the total number of people that may be affected might be 6,000 or more.”

“If this debris mass is not stopped, if it continues moving, it can gain speed and further wipe out other communities and villages further down,” he added. Friday’s landslides devastated the Yambali village after a limestone mountainside sheared away at 3 a.m. local time.

The government fears that more than 2,000 people have been buried alive in the country’s highlands, while the U.N. has estimated 670 deaths. Aktoprak previously said these figures will “remain fluid.” The remains of five people have been recovered by emergency responders so far.

On Sunday, acting director of the country’s National Disaster Center, Luseta Laso Mana, sent a letter to the U.N. resident coordinator calling for international help. So far, Australia has pledged an initial $2.5 million in humanitarian assistance for PNG, its closest neighbor.

China has also said it will provide assistance for disaster relief, as well as future reconstruction efforts. “We believe that the people of Papua New Guinea will be able to overcome difficulties and rebuild their homeland at an early date,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a daily news briefing.

As the international community rallies to provide assistance, here are some ways you can help.

U.N.’s International Organization for Migration’s mission in Papua New Guinea

The IOM is working closely with the government to steer international response efforts and report key figures. IOM has operated in PNG since 2001, working with governments across the globe to support displaced peoples and vulnerable migrants. The U.N. body provides humanitarian assistance and responds to demanding emergencies such as Friday’s landslide. To learn more, you can visit their website here.

CARE International

The humanitarian organization has had an operational presence in PNG since 1989. CARE provides community development, sanitation, education, and natural resource management services. Since Friday’s disaster, CARE had been a direct responder on the ground, providing food and facilitating basic hygiene. The charity will also support with shelter, facilities, and agriculture as the local community recovers from the landslide. CARE has launched a donation appeal specifically for the landslide relief. 

Papua New Guinea’s Red Cross Society

The PNG Red Cross Society is also coordinating vital first response efforts. Officials from the provincial governor’s office, police, defense forces, and local NGOs have formed an emergency response team. The charity provides first aid training and support during catastrophic events or accidents and is a key resource in reporting death tolls.

Water Aid

The landslides have increased concerns that underground water flowing down the mountain could contaminate local water sources and give rise to contagious diseases. The charity reports that half the population already lacks access to nearby pure water sources, while 8.2 million people, or four in five citizens, do not have access to their own toilet.

Caritas Australia

Caritas Australia, an aid agency of the Australian Catholic Church, is working with partners on the ground to assess and provide the most urgently required aid to affected communities. The charity is seeking online donations to provide food, shelter, and clean water for those who have lost their homes during the landslide.

source https://time.com/6982692/help-papua-new-guinea-landslide/

Israel Continues Rafah Strikes Days After 45 Civilians Killed in Bombing

Israeli tanks reached Rafah’s city center on Tuesday, Reuters reported, three weeks after the Israeli military began its ground invasion into the city. Witnesses reported that the army has taken control of Al-Awda roundabout, a well known landmark in the city’s central area. At least 16 Palestinians were killed by air strikes in Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in northwest Rafah on Tuesday as the Israeli offensive escalates.

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Israel has faced international criticism for the large number of civilian casualties after nearly eight months of war in Gaza. On Sunday, a fire ignited by an Israeli strike in a tent camp for Palestinian civilians killed at least 45 people, igniting worldwide outrage.

“We pulled out children who were in pieces. We pulled out young and elderly people. The fire in the camp was unreal,” Mohammed Abuassa, who was at the scene of the strike, told the Associated Press.

Leaders from around the world condemned the attack and called on Israel to halt its operations in Rafah.

“These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire,” France’s President Emmanuel Macron posted on X.

A U.S. National Security Council spokesperson said Israel has a “right to go after Hamas” but also expressed concern for the number of civilian casualties. “Israel must take every precaution possible to protect civilians,” the spokesperson said.  

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident a “tragic mistake” in an address to the Israeli parliament on Monday. “We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy,” Netanyahu said. The Israeli military claimed that the attack was intended to target a Hamas compound in Rafah and resulted in the deaths of two senior militants.

But rights groups say Israel routinely fails to fully investigate violence against Palestinians and that punishment is usually light in rare cases where soldiers are held accountable.

Hours before the Sunday strike, a barrage of eight long range rockets were launched from southeastern Rafah toward central Israel for the first time since January. Most of the rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron dome defense system, and caused no injuries.

Last week, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” 

The ICJ order came days after its chief prosecutor announced he was seeking arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli and Hamas leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Since the war began in October, at least 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-led Gaza Ministry of Health, figures that the U.S. and U.N. deem credible. About 1,200 Israelis were killed during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, and an additional 300 Israeli soldiers have been killed since Israel’s ground invasion of the Strip began.

Around 1.5 million displaced Gazans were sheltering in Rafah prior to Israel’s ground invasion weeks ago. Most of them have been forced to flee again as they try to escape intense fighting that has taken over the South of the enclave.

source https://time.com/6982667/israel-strikes-rafah/

At Least 22 Dead After Memorial Day Weekend Storms Sweep Through Several States

A series of powerful storms swept over the central and southern U.S. over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, killing at least 22 people and leaving a wide trail of destroyed homes, businesses and power outages.

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The destructive storms caused deaths in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky and were just north of an oppressive, early season heat wave setting records from south Texas to Florida.

Forecasters said the severe weather could shift to the East Coast later Monday and warned millions of people outdoors for the holiday to watch the skies. A tornado watch was issued from North Carolina to Maryland.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who earlier declared a state of emergency, said at a Monday press conference that five people had died in his state. The fifth death was a 54-year-old man who had a heart attack while cutting fallen trees in Caldwell County in western Kentucky, the governor’s office said.

The death toll of 22 also included seven deaths in Cooke County, Texas, from a Saturday tornado that tore through a mobile home park, officials said, and eight deaths across Arkansas.

Two people died in Mayes County, Oklahoma, which is east of Tulsa, authorities said. The injured included guests at an outdoor wedding.

The latest community left with shattered homes and no power was the tiny Kentucky town of Charleston, which took a direct hit Sunday night from a tornado that the governor said appeared to be on the ground for 40 miles (64 kilometers).

“It’s a big mess,” said Rob Linton, who lives in Charleston and is the fire chief of nearby Dawson Springs, hit by a tornado in 2021. “Trees down everywhere. Houses moved. Power lines are down. No utilities whatsoever – no water, no power.”

Further east, some rural areas of Hopkins County hit by the 2021 tornado around the community of Barnsley were damaged again Sunday night, said county Emergency Management Director Nick Bailey.

“There were a lot of people that were just getting their lives put back together and then this,” Bailey said. “Almost the same spot, the same houses and everything.”

Beshear has traveled to the area where his father grew up several times for ceremonies where people who lost everything were given the keys to their new homes.

The visits came after a series of tornadoes on a terrifying night in December 2021 killed 81 people in Kentucky.

“It could have been much worse,” Beshear said of the Memorial Day weekend storms. “The people of Kentucky are very weather aware with everything we’ve been through.”

More than 400,000 customers across the eastern U.S. were without power Monday afternoon, including about 125,000 in Kentucky. Twelve states reported at least 10,000 outages earlier in the day, according to PowerOutage.us.

The area on highest alert for severe weather Monday is a broad swath of the eastern U.S., from Alabama to New York.

President Joe Biden sent condolences to the families who had people killed. He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is on the ground conducting damage assessments and he has contacted governors to see what federal support they might need..

It’s been a grim month of tornadoes and severe weather in the nation’s midsection.

Tornadoes in Iowa last week left at least five people dead and dozens injured. Storms killed eight people in Houston earlier this month. The severe thunderstorms and deadly twisters have spawned during a historically bad season for tornadoes, at a time when climate change contributes to the severity of storms around the world. April had the second-highest number of tornadoes on record in the country.

Harold Brooks, a senior scientist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, said a persistent pattern of warm, moist air is to blame for the string of tornadoes over the past two months.

That warm moist air is at the northern edge of a heat dome bringing temperatures typically seen at the height of summer to late May.

The heat index — a combination of air temperature and humidity to indicate how the heat feels to the human body — neared triple digits in parts of south Texas on Monday. Extreme heat was also forecast for San Antonio and Dallas.

In Florida, Melbourne and Ft. Pierce set new daily record highs Monday. Both hit 98 F (36.7 C). Miami set a record high of 96 F (35.5 C) on Sunday.

—Schreiner reported from Louisville, Kentucky. Associated Press reporters Acacia Coronado in Austin, Texas, and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

source https://time.com/6982530/memorial-day-storms/

Bill Walton, Basketball Hall of Fame Player Who Became Star Broadcaster, Dies at 71

Bill Walton, who starred for John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins before becoming a Hall of Famer for his NBA career and one of the biggest stars in basketball broadcasting, died Monday, the league announced on behalf of his family. Walton, who had a prolonged fight with cancer, was 71.

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He was the NBA’s MVP in the 1977-78 season, a two-time champion and a member of both the NBA’s 50th anniversary and 75th anniversary teams. That followed a college career in which he was a two-time champion at UCLA and a three-time national player of the year.

“Bill Walton,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said, “was truly one of a kind.”

Walton, who was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1993, was larger than life, on the court and off. His NBA career — disrupted by chronic foot injuries — lasted only 468 games with Portland, the San Diego and eventually Los Angeles Clippers and Boston. He averaged 13.3 points and 10.5 rebounds in those games, neither of those numbers exactly record-setting.

Still, his impact on the game was massive.

His most famous game was the 1973 NCAA title game, UCLA against Memphis, in which he shot an incredible 21 for 22 from the field and led the Bruins to another national championship.

“One of my guards said, ’Let’s try something else,” Wooden told The Associated Press in 2008 for a 35th anniversary retrospective on that game.

Wooden’s response during that timeout: “Why? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

They kept giving the ball to Walton, and he kept delivering in a performance for the ages.

Read More: Caitlin Clark’s Disappointing WNBA Debut Won’t Halt Women’s Basketball’s Momentum

“It’s very hard to put into words what he has meant to UCLA’s program, as well as his tremendous impact on college basketball,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said Monday. “Beyond his remarkable accomplishments as a player, it’s his relentless energy, enthusiasm for the game and unwavering candor that have been the hallmarks of his larger than life personality.

“As a passionate UCLA alumnus and broadcaster, he loved being around our players, hearing their stories and sharing his wisdom and advice. For me as a coach, he was honest, kind and always had his heart in the right place. I will miss him very much. It’s hard to imagine a season in Pauley Pavilion without him.”

Walton retired from the NBA and turned to broadcasting, something he never thought he could be good at — and an avenue he sometimes wondered would be possible for him, because he had a pronounced stutter at times in his life.

Turns out, he was excellent at that, too: Walton was an Emmy winner.

“In life, being so self-conscious, red hair, big nose, freckles and goofy, nerdy-looking face and can’t talk at all. I was incredibly shy and never said a word,” Walton told The Oregonian newspaper in 2017. “Then, when I was 28 I learned how to speak. It’s become my greatest accomplishment of my life and everybody else’s biggest nightmare.”

The last part of that was just Walton hyperbole. He was beloved for his on-air tangents.

He sometimes appeared on-air in Grateful Dead T-shirts; Walton was a huge fan of the band and referenced it often, even sometimes recording satellite radio specials celebrating what it meant to be a “Deadhead.”

And the Pac-12 Conference, which has basically evaporated in many ways now because of college realignment, was another of his many loves. He always referred to it as the “Conference of Champions” and loved it all the way to the end.

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” he once said on a broadcast, tie-dyed T-shirt on, a Hawaiian lei around his neck.

“What I will remember most about him was his zest for life,” Silver said. “He was a regular presence at league events — always upbeat, smiling ear to ear and looking to share his wisdom and warmth. I treasured our close friendship, envied his boundless energy and admired the time he took with every person he encountered.”

Walton died surrounded by his loved ones, his family said. He is survived by wife Lori and sons Adam, Nate, Chris and Luke — a former NBA player and now a coach.

source https://time.com/6982526/bill-walton-basketball-dies/

Netanyahu Acknowledges ‘Tragic Mistake’ in Israeli Strike on Rafah That Killed Dozens

(TEL AVIV, Israel) — Israel faced new condemnation Monday for strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah that local health officials said killed at least 45 Palestinians, including displaced people living in tents that were engulfed by fire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there had been a “tragic mistake” and that Israel was investigating.

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Israel has faced surging international criticism over its war with Hamas, with even some of its closest allies, particularly the United States, expressing outrage at civilian deaths. Israel insists it adheres to international law even as it faces scrutiny in the world’s top courts, one of which last week demanded that it halt the offensive in Rafah.

Israel said it was looking into the civilian deaths after it struck a Hamas installation and killed two senior militants. Sunday night’s attack, which appeared to be one of the war’s deadliest, helped push the overall Palestinian death toll in the war above 36,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants in its tally.

In a speech before Israel’s parliament on Monday, Netanyahu said that “despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night, there was a tragic mistake. We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy.”

Mohammed Abuassa, who rushed to the scene in the northwestern neighborhood of Tel al-Sultan, said rescuers “pulled out people who were in an unbearable state.”

“We pulled out children who were in pieces. We pulled out young and elderly people. The fire in the camp was unreal,” he said.

The Gaza Health Ministry said around half of the dead were women, children and older adults. On Monday, barefoot children poked at the blackened debris as searches continued.

France, a close European ally of Israel, said it was “outraged” by the violence.

“These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire,” President Emmanuel Macron posted on X.

Rafah, the southernmost Gaza city on the border with Egypt, had housed more than a million people — about half of Gaza’s population — displaced from other parts of the territory. Most have fled once again since Israel launched what it called a limited incursion there earlier this month. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps in and around the city.

In a separate development, Egypt’s military said one of its soldiers was shot dead during an exchange of fire in the Rafah area, without providing further details. Israel said it was in contact with Egyptian authorities, and both sides said they were investigating.

Netanyahu says Israel must destroy what he calls Hamas’ last remaining battalions in Rafah. The militant group launched a barrage of rockets Sunday from the city toward heavily populated central Israel, setting off air raid sirens but causing no injuries.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said bombings like the one in Rafah will have long-standing repercussions for Israel.

“Israel with this choice is spreading hatred, rooting hatred that will involve their children and grandchildren. I would have preferred another decision,″ he told Italy’s SKY TG24 news channel.

Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas in attempts to secure a cease-fire and the release of hostages held by Hamas, said the strikes could “complicate” talks, Negotiations, which appear to be restarting, have faltered repeatedly over Hamas’ demand for a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, terms Israeli leaders have publicly rejected.

Neighboring Egypt and Jordan, which made peace with Israel decades ago, also condemned the Rafah strikes. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry described the strike on Tel al-Sultan as a “new and blatant violation of the rules of humanitarian international law.” Jordan’s Foreign Ministry called it a “war crime.”

The Israeli military’s top legal official said authorities were examining the strikes and that the military regrets the loss of civilian life. Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi said such incidents occur “in a war of such scope and intensity.”

Speaking to an Israeli lawyers’ conference, Tomer-Yerushalmi said Israel has launched 70 criminal investigations into incidents that aroused suspicions of international law violations, including the deaths of civilians, the conditions at a detention facility holding suspected Palestinian militants and the deaths of some inmates in Israeli custody. She said incidents of “violence, property crimes and looting” were also being examined.

Israel has long maintained it has an independent judiciary capable of investigating and prosecuting abuses. But rights groups say Israeli authorities routinely fail to fully investigate violence against Palestinians and that even when soldiers are held accountable, the punishment is usually light.

Israel has denied allegations of genocide brought against it by South Africa at the International Court of Justice. Last week, the court ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah, a ruling that it has no power to enforce.

Separately, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders, over alleged crimes linked to the war.

Israel says it does its best to adhere to the laws of war and says it faces an enemy that makes no such commitment, embeds itself in civilian areas and refuses to release Israeli hostages unconditionally.

Hamas triggered the war with its Oct. 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized some 250 hostages. Hamas still holds about 100 hostages and the remains of around 30 others after most of the rest were released during a cease-fire last year.

Around 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, severe hunger is widespread and U.N. officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Colleen Barry in Rome contributed to this report.

source https://time.com/6982519/netanyahu-israeli-strike-rafah-mistake/

North Korea Says Its Attempt to Put Another Spy Satellite Into Orbit Failed

(SEOUL, South Korea) — A North Korean rocket carrying its second spy satellite exploded midair on Monday, state media reported, after its neighbors strongly rebuked its planned launch.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said it launched a spy satellite aboard a new rocket at its main northwestern space center. But KCNA said the rocket blew up during a first-stage flight soon after liftoff due to a suspected engine problem.

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Earlier Monday, North Korea had notified Japan’s coast guard about its plans to launch “a satellite rocket,” with a warning to exercise caution in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and China and east of the main Philippine island of Luzon during a launch window from Monday through June 3.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff later said it detected a launch trajectory believed to be of a spy satellite fired from the North’s main space center at 10:44 p.m. on Monday. Four minutes later, many fragments were spotted in the waters, it said.

Japanese Prime Minister’s Office earlier issued a missile alert for the island of Okinawa following North Korea’s launch. The alert was lifted soon after.

Japan’s NHK public television earlier reported that an image captured by a camera in northeastern China showed an orange light in the sky and then an apparent explosion a moment later.

North Korea sent its first military reconnaissance satellite into orbit in November last year as part of efforts to build a space-based surveillance network to cope with what it calls increasing U.S.-led military threats. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later told a ruling party meeting that the country would launch three additional military spy satellites in 2024.

The November launch followed two failed liftoffs.

In the first attempt, the North Korean rocket carrying the satellite crashed into the ocean soon after liftoff. North Korean authorities said the rocket lost thrust after the separation of its first and second stages. After the second attempt, North Korea said there was an error in the emergency blasting system during the third-stage flight.

The U.N. bans North Korea from conducting any satellite launches, viewing them as covers for testing long-range missile technology. North Korea has steadfastly maintained it has the right to launch satellites and test missiles. Kim has said spy satellites will allow his military to better monitor U.S. and South Korean military activities and enhance the threat posed by its nuclear-capable missiles.

North Korea provides Japan with its launch information because Japan’s coast guard coordinates and distributes maritime safety information in East Asia.

Monday’s launch came hours after the leaders of South Korea, China and Japan met in Seoul in their first trilateral meeting in more than four years. It’s highly unusual for North Korea to take provocative military action when China, its major ally and economic pipeline, is engaging in high-level diplomacy in the region.

___

Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo.

source https://time.com/6982509/north-korea-missile-japan-south-korea/

Turbulence Leaves 12 Injured on Qatar Airways Flight to Dublin

LONDON — Twelve people were injured when a Qatar Airways plane flying from Doha to Dublin on Sunday hit turbulence, airport authorities said. Eight of the injured were hospitalized.

Dublin Airport said in a statement that flight QR017, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, landed safely as scheduled before 1 p.m. (1200 GMT).

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It said that upon landing the aircraft was met by emergency services, including airport police and the fire and rescue department, “due to six passengers and six crew … reporting injuries after the aircraft experienced turbulence while airborne over Turkey.”

The airport said all passengers were assessed for injuries aboard the plane, and eight were then taken to hospital.

Read More: Singapore Airlines Tightens Seatbelt Policy After Deadly Turbulence Incident

Passenger Paul Mocc told Irish broadcaster RTE that he saw “people hitting the roof” and food and drink flying everywhere.

Another traveler, Emma Rose Power, told RTE that after the turbulence, “some of the flight attendants I saw, they had scratches on their face, they had ice to their face. There was one girl that had a sling on her arm.”

Qatar Airways said in a statement that “a small number of passengers and crew sustained minor injuries in flight and are now receiving medical attention.”

It said “the matter is now subject to an internal investigation.”

The incident comes five days after a British man died of a suspected heart attack and dozens of people were injured when a Singapore Airlines flight from London hit severe turbulence.

While turbulence-related fatalities are rare, injuries have piled up over the years. Some meteorologists and aviation analysts note that reports of turbulence encounters also have been increasing and point to the potential impacts that climate change may have on flying conditions.

source https://time.com/6982453/qatar-airways-turbulence-injuries/

Grayson Murray’s Parents Say the Two-Time PGA Tour Winner Died of Suicide

Grayson Murray’s parents said Sunday their 30-year-old son took his own life, just one day after he withdrew from a PGA Tour event. The family asked for privacy and that people honor Murray by being kind to one another.

“If that becomes his legacy, we could ask for nothing else,” Eric and Terry Murray said in a statement released by the PGA Tour.

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Murray, a two-time PGA Tour winner, spoke in January after winning the Sony Open in Honolulu about turning the corner in his life, his golf and battles with alcoholism and mental health. He died Saturday morning.

Murray had to go through the Korn Ferry Tour to get his PGA Tour card back. And then he birdied the last hole at the Sony Open to get into a playoff, and made a 40-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole for an emotional win.

“It’s not easy,” Murray said immediately after winning. “I wanted to give up a lot of times. Give up on myself. Give up on the game of golf. Give up on life, at times.”

Read More: You can view the CDC’s guidance on suicide prevention, here.

Murray tied for 43rd last week in the PGA Championship, which enabled him to hold his position among the top 60 to earn a spot in the U.S. Open next month at Pinehurst No. 2 in his native North Carolina.

He shot 68 in the opening round at Colonial. The next round, he was 5 over and coming off three straight bogeys when he withdrew citing an illness.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said he spoke with Murray’s parents about halting play at Colonial and they insisted the golf tournament continue.

Monahan flew to Fort Worth, Texas, to be with players. Many of them wore black-and-red pins on their caps Sunday in honor of Murray. Those are the colors of the Carolina Hurricanes, his favorite NHL team.

“We have spent the last 24 hours trying to come to terms with the fact that our son is gone. It’s surreal that we not only have to admit it to ourselves, but that we also have to acknowledge it to the world. It’s a nightmare,” his parents shared in their statement.

“We have so many questions that have no answers. But one. Was Grayson loved? The answer is yes. By us, his brother Cameron, his sister Erica, all of his extended family, by his friends, by his fellow players and — it seems — by many of you who are reading this. He was loved and he will be missed.

“Life wasn’t always easy for Grayson, and although he took his own life, we know he rests peacefully now.”

Grayson was a raw talent after taking up golf at age 8. He won his age division three straight years at the prestigious Junior World Championship in San Diego. But he struggled to fit in at college, going to Wake Forest, East Carolina and then Arizona State.

His first coach was Ted Kiegel in North Carolina, who like so many others was devastated.

“Words cannot express the tragedy of this moment,” Kiegel said in a statement sent to The Associated Press. “Grayson came from something that was ordinary and made it EXTRAORDINARY. … He burned bright for the 30 years he gave us.”

Murray won as a 22-year-old rookie at the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky, and frustration began to set in as he didn’t improve as quickly as others whom he routinely beat as amateurs.

He was always open about depression and anxiety, and his bouts with alcohol. When he won on the Korn Ferry Tour last year, he talked about his parents having “been through hell and back basically for the last six years for me fighting some mental stuff.”

“Everyone has their battles,” Murray said a year ago. “Sometimes people are able to hide them and function, and sometimes you’re not. I think our society now is getting better about accepting that it’s OK to not be OK. I’ve embraced that mentality. I’m not ashamed that I go through depression and anxiety.”

He also used social media to reach out to others dealing with similar issues in a sport where losing takes place far more than winning.

Murray said after he won the Sony Open that he often felt like a failure. He had gone six years from winning on the PGA Tour as a rookie to winning on the Korn Ferry Tour as he worked his way back up to the big leagues.

“I just thought I was a failure. I always looked at myself as a failure. I thought I had a lot of talent that was just a waste of talent,” he said in Honolulu. “It was a bad place, but like I said, you have to have courage. You have to have the willingness to keep going. Lo and behold, that’s what I did, and I’m here, and I’m so blessed and I’m thankful.”

He saw that Sony Open victory — which got him into the Masters for the first time — as the start of a new chapter. He said he had become a Christian and was engaged to Christina Ritchie. He said in January the wedding had been planned for late April.

“My story is not finished. I think it’s just beginning,” Murray said in Hawaii. “I hope I can inspire a lot of people going forward that have their own issues.”

If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental-health crisis or contemplating suicide, call or text 988. In emergencies, call 911, or seek care from a local hospital or mental health provider.

source https://time.com/6982443/grayson-murray-parents-say-pga-tour-winner-died-of-suicide/