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TOKYO, May 12 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Friday the vehicle data of 2.15 million users in Japan, or almost the entire customer base who signed up for its main cloud service platforms since 2012, had been publicly available for a decade due to human error. The incident, which also affected customers of its luxury brand Lexus, comes as the world's biggest automaker by sales makes a push into vehicle connectivity and cloud-based data management which are seen as crucial to offering autonomous driving and other artificial intelligence-backed features. The issue, which began in November 2013 and lasted until mid-April, stemmed from human error, leading to a cloud system being set to public instead of private, a Toyota spokesperson said. It could encompass details such as vehicle locations and identification numbers of vehicle devices, but there were no reports of malicious use, the company said. "There was a lack of active detection mechanisms, and activities to detect the presence or absence of things that became public," the spokesperson said in response to why it took time to realise there had been an error. Toyota said it would introduce a system to audit cloud settings, establish a system to continuously monitor settings, and thoroughly educate employees on data handling rules. Affected customers included those who signed up for the T-Connect service that provides a wide range of services including AI voice-enabled driving assistance, auto connection to call centres for vehicle management, and emergency support in such cases as a traffic accident or sudden illness. Also affected were users of G-Link, a similar service for owners of Lexus vehicles. Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission has been informed about the incident, one of its officials said, but declined to provide further details, in line with its practice of not commenting on individual incidents. Toyota said steps to block outside access to the data were taken after the issue was discovered and an investigation into all cloud environments managed by Toyota Connected Corp was being carried out. Large leaks of personal data occasionally happen in Japan. In March, mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo (9432.T) said data of up to 5.29 million customers may have leaked via a company to which it outsourced work. The incident adds to a raft of challenges facing Koji Sato who took over as Toyota CEO on April 1 from Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company's founder. Since he took office, Toyota has admitted safety test problems at its affiliate Daihatsu and received a shareholder proposal from a trio of European asset managers to improve disclosure of its lobbying on climate change. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota-flags-possible-leak-more-than-2-mln-users-vehicle-data-japan-2023-05-12/

Another longtime member of the FOX 26 Houston news team is leaving the station in June. Mark Berman, sports director of the channel, took to Twitter on Friday to announce that after 43 years on the job (37 spent at FOX 26), he is retiring. His last night on FOX 26 News at Nine will be on June 12. "Growing up in my hometown of Hempstead I dreamed of being a sportscaster on television in Houston," Berman wrote in a statement. "FOX 26 helped make that dream become a reality." In his statement, Berman said working for FOX 26 General Manager D'Artagnan Bebel made the experience even more special. "He's a leader, mentor and father figure all rolled into one," he wrote. "What a privilege it's been to cover sports in the great city of Houston and to work at FOX 26, a great Houston television station." A Houston native, Berman grew up in Hempstead and graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor's Degree in Communications. Before his time at FOX 26, he worked as a weekend anchor/reporter at KOSA-TV in Odessa, Texas and then as a sports director for KIKK radio in Pasadena, Texas. He became weekend sports anchor/reporter at FOX 26 in 1986 and in 1988 became the station;s sports director, a position he has held since that time. Berman's announcement comes just days after FOX 26 Houston's Morning Show and FOX 26 News at Noon anchor Jose Griñan announced he too is retiring at the end of June after 30 years at the station. While on the air Tuesday, Griñan said he is planning to work with non-profit organizations in the community. "Thirty years in one place has really made a big mark on me because half of my life has basically been spent here at the station with you by my side," Griñan told co-anchor Melissa Wilson. "I just wanted to say thank you to all of the employees here at FOX 26 who have been very heartwarming and all the best of luck as well to all of those in the community who have supported me over the past 30 years." Mark Berman, who has been a fixture on the Houston sports scene for nearly 40 years, is retiring in June. Fittingly, the Fox 26 sports director and anchor broke the news on Twitter, where he often breaks Houston sports news. "What a privilege it's been to cover sports in the great city of Houston and to work at Fox 26, a great Houston television station," Berman tweeted. Berman's final day will be June 12, which will be his 37th anniversary at the station where he started on June 12, 1986. Berman, who has been in the business for 43 years, was born in Houston, grew up in Hempstead and graduated from the University of Houston. Before landing the job at Fox 26, he worked as a weekend anchor and reporter at KOSA-TV in Midland-Odessa and as the sports director at KIKK radio. That's two big losses this week for Fox 26. Morning anchor Jose Griñan, who has been at the station for 30 years, announced his retirement Monday. His last day also will be in June. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/texas-sports-nation/general/article/mark-berman-fox-26-retired-houston-sports-anchor-18096327.php

We all rely on smoothies for those mid-day hunger pangs or when we want to include some fruits and vegetables into our diet (since we do not like them whole). They are not just delicious but also filling and healthy. But, did you know that a glass full of smoothie every morning can give you glowing skin, too? According to dietitian Kiran Kukreja, “Smoothies are the best way to increase consumption of fruit and vegetables.” The expert went on to share a simple and quick recipe for a ‘summer blush smoothie’ that will give you healthy and glowing skin. METHOD: Take a bowl of watermelon, one cup of pomegranate, half diced beetroot and half lemon juice. Grind all the ingredients together. Enjoy this smoothie in the morning. Kukreja said that this smoothie has ingredients “which are rich in antioxidants like carotenoids, lycopene, cucurbitacin E, rutin, epicatechin, anthocyanins, punicic acid, ellagitannins, and alkaloids.” “These antioxidants help to restore your natural and brighter skin tone by clearing the free radicals from your skin,” she added, on how this smoothie can give your skin a healthy glow. Bonus: It can help you in your weight loss journey, too! “You can drink this smoothie as a meal replacement if you are on a weight loss journey,” the dietitian mentioned. Talking about this smoothie for skin benefits, functional Nutritionist Mugdha Pradhan, CEO and Founder, iThrive, “If we’re talking about whether it’s going to benefit or harm your skin, a smoothie of watermelon, pomegranate, beetroot, and lemon juice will most likely have some level of benefit for most people. Especially if opted for as an alternative to packaged sugary drinks and sodas. These fruits contain polyphenols, phytonutrients, and some amount of nutrients that are beneficial. Choosing organic varieties of these fruits is also very important to avoid pesticides and other harmful farming chemicals.” However, she added that the benefits will be negligible for you to notice. “What your skin really needs to see noticeable improvements in nutrients like collagen, essential amino acids, and other essential nutrients. And avoiding inflammatory foods like gluten, dairy, and high omega-6-containing refined seed oils. There is a huge industry selling these ‘detox’ juice and salad mixes with little science to back their claims. While they’re definitely not harmful but expecting them to transform your skin and health overnight is not realistic either,” she added. https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-style/drink-this-delicious-summer-blush-smoothie-for-glowing-skin-8008217/

Ukraine says it has recaptured ground in Bakhmut, a rare advance after months of grinding Russian gains in the eastern city. Kyiv said its forces advanced 2km (1.2 miles) in a week. Russia said its troops had regrouped in one area.The claims signal a momentum shift in Bakhmut - but more widely, there is no clear evidence of an Ukrainian counter-offensive.However, two explosions were reported on Friday in Russian-occupied Luhansk.Images posted on social media, verified by the BBC, show a big plume of black smoke rising from the city, which lies about 90km (55.9 miles) behind the front line in eastern Ukraine.The cause has not been confirmed - but the blasts come a day after the UK said it had supplied Ukraine with long range Storm Shadow cruise missiles.Luhansk is beyond the reach of the Himars rockets Ukraine has previously relied on for deep strikes against Rusian targets.Earlier Russia's defence ministry said Russian troops in one Bakhmut area had changed their position for strategic reasons.It said units of the southern group of Russian forces had taken up a better defensive position in the Maloilinivka area, something which took into consideration "the favourable conditions of the Berkhivka reservoir".However the head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin said what the Ministry of Defence was talking about "is unfortunately called 'fleeing' and not a 'regrouping'".As the intense, bloody battle has worn on, Bakhmut has become symbolically important - though many experts question its tactical value.In a post on Telegram, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar claimed Russia suffered significant troop losses as Ukraine gained 2km without losing any positions.Meanwhile Russian military bloggers reported Ukrainian advances or troop movements in several areas.The Institute for the Study of War also said Ukrainian forces had probably made gains of 2km in Bakhmut.Meanwhile the BBC has verified video of soldiers with Ukrainian identifying markings posing in front of a gate and a tank in the distance, also with Ukrainian markings.The video, published on 11 May, has been located to an area around Bakhmut industrial college, until recently held by Wagner troops.Away from Bakhmut, the exiled mayor of Melitopol reported a large explosion on Friday morning in the centre of the south-eastern city, which has been occupied by Russia since the start of the war.It's not known what caused the blast, but the Ukrainian air force made 14 strikes on Russian forces and military equipment on Thursday, Ukraine's armed forces said.Alongside the air strikes, Ukraine said it destroyed nine Russian drones and carried out successful attacks on dozens of military targets - including artillery units, an ammunition warehouse and air defence equipment. After months of stalemate, a Ukrainian counter-offensive - helped by newly-arrived Western weapons - has been openly discussed. But Ukraine's president said on Thursday it was too early to start the attack."With [what we already have] we can go forward and, I think, be successful," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview."But we'd lose a lot of people. I think that's unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time."But despite President Zelensky's words, pro-Kremlin Russian war correspondent Sasha Kots claimed the counter-offensive had begun.Ukrainian tanks were on the Kharkiv ring road heading towards the border with Russia, he said, quoting "trusted" sources. His claims could not be independently verified."There are low loaders in the columns carrying Western [tank] models among others," Kots added."In other words," he said, "Kiev [Kyiv] has decided to aggravate the situation along the northern front in parallel with the start of offensive actions on the flanks of Artyomovsk [the Russian name for Bakhmut]."Another Russian war correspondent, Alexander Simonov, wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian forces had broken through near the village of Bohdanivka, close to Bakhmut, taking "several square kilometres" of ground.Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Musivenko said Kyiv recognised that the anticipated counter-offensive might not necessarily defeat Russia "in all occupied areas". He told Ukrainian NV radio there was every possibility the war could continue into next year. "It all depends on how the battles develop. We can't guarantee how the counteroffensive will develop," he said.An unnamed senior US military official told CNN that Ukrainian forces were preparing for a major counter-offensive by striking targets such as weapons depots, command centres and armour and artillery systems..Ukraine's spring 2022 advances in the southern and north-eastern parts of the country were also preceded by air attacks to "shape" the battlefield.Daniele Palumbo and Richard Irvine-Brown contributed to this article https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65567143

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday urged Congress to raise the $31.4 trillion federal debt limit and avert an unprecedented default that would trigger a global economic downturn and risk undermining U.S. global economic leadership. Yellen issued the latest in a series of increasingly stark warnings in remarks prepared for a press conference ahead of a meeting in Japan with her counterparts from the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations, as well as India, Indonesia and Brazil. "A default would threaten the gains that we've worked so hard to make over the past few years in our pandemic recovery. And it would spark a global downturn that would set us back much further," she said. "It would also risk undermining U.S. global economic leadership and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests." U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday said failure by Congress to act before Treasury runs out of money to pay the government's bills -- something that could happen as early as June 1 -- risked throwing the U.S. economy into a recession. Yellen said Republican brinkmanship on the issue amounted to a "crisis of our own making" and that just the threat of a default could lead to a downgrade of the U.S. government's credit rating, as occurred during a debt ceiling fight in 2011. It could drive interest rates higher on mortgages, auto payments and credit cards, Yellen said, noting that rates were already spiking on debt due around June 1. The U.S. economy would suffer a "substantial" hit if Treasury was no longer able to issue debt, not to mention the impact on financial markets and institutions and consumer confidence, she said, calling the prospect "unthinkable." "All of these analyses show that we would fall into -- if this lasted for any meaningful period of time -- a very substantial downturn," she said. Biden, a Democrat, insists that Congress has a constitutional duty to raise the debt ceiling, which reflects previously spent federal money, without conditions. But Republicans who control the House of Representatives have tied any increase in the debt limit to sweeping budget cuts. The U.S. president this week said he might have to skip travelling to Hiroshima to meet with G7 leaders next week, depending on developments in the debt ceiling standoff. Biden is due to meet with top Democratic and Republican congressional leaders again on Friday after an initial meeting on Tuesday. Unlike most developed countries, the U.S. sets a ceiling on how much it can borrow. Because the government spends more than it takes in, lawmakers must periodically raise that cap. Yellen also mapped out her priorities for the G7 meeting, including individual and joint action to strengthen the global economy and bring down inflation, redoubling a commitment to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's invasion, and longer-term efforts to boost economic resilience. Despite the downside risks, Yellen said the global economy remained in a better place than many had predicted six months ago, with most G7 countries having seen a drop in annual headline inflation and improved growth forecasts. The United States had taken action to strengthen confidence in its banking system after the failure of three regional banks, Yellen said, as well as enacting legislation to invest in infrastructure, alternative energy and semiconductor chips. It was also critical to help developing countries, she said, adding that G7 members would coordinate their efforts to push for "timely and comprehensive" debt treatments for countries in debt distress. Yellen has repeatedly accused China - the world's largest sovereign creditor - of dragging its heels on moving forward with such arrangements. Yellen said she would also work with her G7 counterparts to build greater economic resilience in the longer term by boosting domestic production of critical goods and helping developing countries expand their stake in global supply chains. That meant helping those countries move away from "solely extractive industries into activities that provide greater support for the domestic economy and employment", she said. Yellen said the work would build on the $600 billion in investments underway through the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, which aims to mobilise private capital for infrastructure projects in developing countries. The G7 -- which groups the U.S., Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, along with the European Union -- would also keep working to mitigate geostrategic risks and counter economic coercion by China, Yellen said. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/yellen-warns-us-default-would-threaten-global-economy-undermine-us-leadership-2023-05-11/

The Moulin Rouge cabaret club in Paris has been forced to drop a long-running act in which terrestrial snakes are plunged into a water tank while a dancer swims around them, amid outrage and growing street protests by animal rights groups. The historic cabaret club, which was founded in 1889 and whose audience for its dance shows is largely made up of tourist groups, had for weeks defended its use of snakes in a water tank, saying it would continue using them until 2024, the date it had decided to end all performances involving live animals. But after animal rights groups stepped up street demonstrations and petitions, and Paris city hall warned against the use of terrestrial snakes in an underwater act, the management capitulated. On Tuesday night, the club issued a statement announcing “the permanent end of the snakes number as of today”. Paris officials and campaigners had warned it was cruel to submerge several terrestrial snakes in water in a large tank on stage, where the audience watched the animals wriggling as a woman danced through them and handled them. The two species used in the act, south-east Asian reticulated and Indian pythons, are protected and live on land, officials from the Paris mayor’s office had informed the venue in a letter in March. While both species have been seen swimming in the wild, animal rights advocates said they had seen the snakes trying to keep their heads above water during the segment at the Moulin Rouge. They also said the snakes had been muzzled with tape to stop them biting, and other taping had been placed on them to stop them defecating in the tank. The Moulin Rouge’s decision to end the use of snakes followed a heated campaign with petitions and demonstrations. Amandine Sanvisens of the Paris Animaux Zoopolis advocacy group, which had been planning further protests outside the venue this week, called it “a historic move” that went “in the right direction for ending animal captivity in France”. She had told Le Parisien it was “intensely stressful” for the animals to be put in the tank, adding that the snakes were transported in small metal boxes to the venue every day, a journey that took one and a half hours. Last year the Moulin Rouge told Le Parisien: “We have never mistreated and will never mistreat animals.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/10/moulin-rouge-forced-to-drop-water-tank-act-snakes-paris-animal-rights-protests

Suzuki Motor Corporation will continue to invest aggressively to grow the automobile industry in India, a senior company official said on Thursday. "We will continue to make investments aggressively to grow the industry and make people happy in India and continuously contribute to Atmanirbhar Bharat," Suzuki Motor Corporation Executive VP Kenichi Ayukawa said. In a tweet shared by the Finance Ministry, Ayukawa said Maruti Suzuki India has announced an increase in annual production capacity by one million units last month. "This could never have happened without the continuous support from the government of India," Ayukawa, who previously headed Maruti Suzuki India, stated. He noted that India is now the third-largest automobile market which is expected to expand in the future. "The automobile industry requires long-term, large scale capital investment. In this regard, the consistent support by the government to the manufacturing sector is very very important, also including the PLI scheme is highly appreciative," Ayukawa said. Suzuki Motor Corporation has around 56 per cent stake in Maruti Suzuki India. After his interaction with the Finance Minister, Ajay Singh, managing executive officer, Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd, said the company's subsidiary has invested Rs 3,500 crore in the last one year. Japan External Trade Organisation executive vice-president Kazuya Nakajo said, India's investment in expansion in logistic infrastructure is inevitable. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is on a two-day visit to Japan to attend the G-7 meeting, while addressing investors said that India is committed towards building and expanding the logistics and infrastructure sector. As an investment destination India has won the game but how to facilitate investment is the next task, he added. Daikin Global Business in-charge Yoshihiro Mineno said the company plans to scale up manufacturing to make India a manufacturing hub. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/auto/auto-news/suzuki-motor-to-invest-aggressively-to-grow-auto-industry-in-india/articleshow/100167993.cms

BCCI refused to send team across the border while Gulf ruled out as venue due to extreme heat in September. Sri Lanka is likely to host the upcoming Asia Cup with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) set to move the tournament from Pakistan. The decision to shift the event from the original host country was always on the cards from the moment BCCI secretary Jay Shah said that the Indian team would not travel across the border. A final decision on the venue for the tournament is expected by the end of this month with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan backing the move to host the event in the island nation. Pakistan’s participation in the tournament is unclear as of now with reports indicating that it might boycott the event. While Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) continues to show interest in keeping the tournament at home, with BCCI finding support from other member nations of the ACC, the decision seems a formality at the moment. After the BCCI refused to travel to Pakistan for the tournament citing lack of clearance from the government, the PCB had proposed a hybrid model to host the Asia Cup where India’s matches alone would be hosted in Dubai. However, that proposal has received no takers with the tournament broadcaster also expressing concerns over it. Moreover, with September being peak summer in the United Arab Emirates, the other boards had reservations about playing in the Gulf region, a month before the 50-over World Cup. During a recent informal meeting of the ACC members, it is understood that even Oman offered to host the tournament, but keeping the conditions in mind, Sri Lanka has been considered an ideal destination. While Dubai hosted the 2018 edition of the Asia Cup in September, the conditions were extremely challenging for the players. It was the tournament where Hardik Pandya broke down with a back injury and with the World Cup set to begin in October first week, and teams keen to use the Asia Cup as a preparation of sorts, the UAE has been ruled out altogether. In the past, the BCCI hosted the IPL in September (2020), but even those matches – held in the second half of the summer – proved difficult for players to manage. Pak participation a question mark With teams not willing to risk players in extreme heat, and Sri Lanka Cricket expressing interest in hosting the tournament, the ACC is set to arrive at a final decision in the coming weeks. In case Sri Lanka gets to stage the event, Dambulla and Pallekele could be the venues as Colombo usually witnesses the monsoon season in September. In the big picture, it remains to be seen what effect it has on the upcoming World Cup. Reports coming out of Pakistan indicated that in case the Asia Cup is moved from the country, the PCB may not participate in the event. If they end up skipping that tournament, it will put a question mark on their participation in the World Cup too, which is set to be hosted by India in October-November. While Sri Lanka ended up as winners of the Asia Cup held in 2022, it was played in the T20 format as it preceded the T20 World Cup in Australia. The tournament switches between 20 and 50-over formats depending on the ICC event to follow. This time it will be played in a 50-over format. When the tournament was last held in the 50-over format, India emerged as champions, beating Bangladesh in the final in Dubai. If Pakistan confirms its participation, the Asia Cup would be a six-team event. Apart from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, Nepal have qualified for the tournament by winning the ACC’s Premier Cup. https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/asia-cup-set-to-be-moved-from-pakistan-to-sri-lanka-8598563/

Traditional thinking has generally been to dress to fit into the workplace. But in the pandemic era, these rules are going by the wayside for some employees. Monica Sallay doesn’t wear your average business casual clothing at the office. Instead, the 31-year-old software marketing manager has become well-known for her love of rare vintage fashion at the large tech firm where she works in Indianapolis, US. Her outfits are a far cry from the average plain T-shirt and jeans she sees among her colleagues, and she says her bold style has become a great talking point with them. “Having that opportunity to break down walls with people across different teams [by talking about my outfits] is pretty awesome,” she says. “The company I work for is pretty large, and ever since I've been here, my notoriety has been extended through my fashion and what I wear. Being around people who might not know as much about these designers, and catching their eye, has always been an icebreaker.” Sallay is not the only person pushing back against traditional office wear conventions, with many showing off their unconventional office attire on social media. Some workers, especially younger ones, are swapping out mundane white-shirt-and-black-trouser combos for luxe loungewear sets, or bold finds thrifted from online shops. The #workwear hashtag has about 3.1m results on Instagram as of this writing, and showcases a range of non-traditional looks. Experts and workers alike say the trend is fuelled largely by new ways of working established during the pandemic, including the remote set-ups that have blurred the boundaries between work and personal life. “Across the board, across all employees, there’s a trend toward less formal clothing,” says Lynne Hugill, a principal lecturer in sustainable fashion at Teesside University, UK. But for younger people in particular, “they’re using their office outfits to be able to express themselves.” That’s particularly important to this generation, she says, as they’ve grown up on social media, where image and clothing has become an integral part of their identity and how they present themselves to the world. Daisy Reed is one example. She wants to feel comfortable and inject a little of her identity into when she chooses what to wear to her London office. The 25-year-old social media manager at SheerLuxe, a lifestyle magazine, opts for outfits that she says blend weekend wear with workwear. Reed says the shift in workwear styles is something she’s witnessed first-hand. “Due to Covid and the change in office culture during lockdown, it’s probably the biggest category in fashion to have changed in the last few years, with the new normal of workwear shifting hugely,” she says. “It’s definitely more casual and more off-duty. In the corporate environment, there was an unwritten dress code of expensive suits and heels, but our tolerance for uncomfortable office wear now has changed.” That’s because the pandemic has created a more agile way of working, says Hugill. “After the pandemic, we’ve all become a bit more flexible, with many people used to working at home and opting for more comfortable, less formal clothing.” These same flexible working patterns have also created interest in fashion that can transition seamlessly from one thing to another, she adds, working just as well in the office as it does for grabbing a coffee with friends, or heading to a yoga class. In addition to comfort and convenience, Sallay and Reed both say standing out at work gives them confidence. “The more you lean into being your true self at work, the more seriously you'll be taken in the office,” says Reed. “It's important not to follow the crowd.” Of course, even as workwear has changed, not every new style is appropriate, says Hugill. Yet even in more traditional or corporate work settings, many HR teams are becoming more relaxed when it comes to policing strict dress codes post-pandemic. She says they’re recognising the benefits of people feeling more relaxed at work. “There’s also cost-of-living crisis, which means people are also struggling, and need their clothing to work for different aspects of their lives. So, I think HR teams know they need to keep people happy.” While young people may be leading the trend towards more casual and individualised outfits, she says older workers are making changes, too – even if it’s simply swapping brogues for trainers. There are lots of positives to this change in approach, adds Hugill. “People are happier in the workplace if they're feeling more themselves and more comfortable,” she says. “If people are happier, they’re more productive. Whereas being forced to wear a certain outfit can impede that productivity, as it leaves them feeling less happy and comfortable in their work environment.” That’s been the experience for Sallay, who says her employer and colleagues have been nothing but supportive of her bold outfit choices, often engaging her with questions and conversation around her designer pieces. “I’ve always felt empowered to dress as myself,” she says. “I feel like people have sometimes felt intimidated coming back to the office in this new world we’re working in post-pandemic, and dressing up gives a good opportunity to infuse some fun into that.” https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230508-the-young-workers-dressing-to-stand-out

Donald Trump's hour-plus appearance on a cable news town hall forum on Wednesday night was barely over when his political rivals - both announced and prospective - began firing out tweets, statements and press releases attacking the Republican front-runner for next year's White House election. The forum, hosted by CNN's Kaitlan Collins, was a combative spectacle, with topics ranging from abortion to foreign policy to Mr Trump's unfounded claims of 2020 election fraud and sympathy for those arrested for the 6 January 2021 US Capitol attack. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to launch his presidential campaign soon, honed in on the quarrelsome nature of the forum and his focus on relitigating the 2020 vote. A committee supporting his prospective bid released a statement calling the town hall an "hour of nonsense that proved Trump is stuck in the past". It went on to highlight his sometimes muddled answers on abortion and gun control - two issues of high importance to Republican primary voters. "How does that make America great again?" the statement asked. For Republican voters who aren't solidly in the Trump camp at this point, the former president's fixation with the 2020 election results - expressed early and often during the town hall - has proven to be a point of concern. Winning presidential campaigns typically present a candidate's vision for the future (Barack Obama's "hope and change" and Mr Trump's own 2016 "make American great again"), but Mr Trump's 2024 bid often begins and ends with relitigating his electoral defeat. Other Trump rivals found another target to attack. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who ran for president against Mr Trump in 2016, but became one of the first establishment politicians to endorse him, spotlighted the former president's refusal to say who he wanted to win the war in Ukraine. "Donald Trump says he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours tonight on CNN," the possible 2024 candidate tweeted. "Despite how ridiculous that is to say, I suspect he would try to do it by turning Ukraine over to Putin and Russia. #Putin'sPuppet." Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who recently launched his own presidential campaign, also targeted Mr Trump's Ukraine position. "Trump reminded everyone tonight of his support of Russia and his willingness to sell out Ukraine," he tweeted. "A weak position that will not win the war." Highlighting Ukraine is an interesting choice, however, given that polls show a growing number of Republican voters are sceptical of continued US support for the war effort. Mr Trump may be more in step with the Republican base on this issue than these two critics. If Mr DeSantis' side viewed the whole event as nonsense, a number of media analysists and commentators agreed, although they placed the blame squarely on CNN for the format and setting of the event. "Here's what CNN did tonight: They produced a global television event for an unhinged pathological liar in front of an audience of sycophants and called it 'news'," former Republican strategist and vocal Trump critic Steve Schmidt tweeted. "It was an abomination." That was a view echoed by Democrat congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who wrote that CNN should "be ashamed of itself". Other Democratic Party officials monitoring the proceedings responded with barely concealed glee, however, promising to use clips of the former president's performance in future attack ads. They also highlighted his abortion answer - taking credit for ending Roe v Wade's abortion rights - as particularly damaging. "That was a disaster for Trump," a senior Democrat told CBS News. "The American people were just reintroduced to a wildly extreme and dangerous man who said he was honoured to overturn Roe. That's the clip of the night." Mr Biden, responding on Twitter after the forum, kept it short. "Do you want four more years of that?" Mr Biden asked. "If you don't, pitch in to our campaign." For their part, however, Mr Trump's campaign team claimed the evening was a success. Their candidate had more than an hour of prime-time attention before a crowd that gave him a standing ovation upon arrival, laughed at his jokes and applauded as he sparred with Ms Collins. "At the end of the day I thought it was a win for the president," Bryan Lanza, an adviser to Mr Trump, told the BBC. "He went into what was supposed to be a hostile environment, and he survived. I suspect that this town hall is going to make him stronger." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65563992

"There are days which serve as a stark reminder of how little Pakistan has progressed. Today is one of them," says lawyer Rida Hosain. In a shocking turn of events, Pakisan-Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan was arrested by paramilitary Rangers from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises, where he had arrived for] hearings in two cases on Tuesday.Following the arrest, Islamabad police released a statement quoting Inspector General (IG) Akbar Nasir Khan as saying that Imran had been arrested in relation to the Al Qadir Trust case, which alleges that the PTI chief and his wife obtained billions of rupees from a real estate firm for legalising Rs50 billion that was identified and returned to the country by the UK during the previous PTI government.Meanwhile, the party has claimed that Imran was tortured at the time of arrest, following which protests have erupted across the country.Dawn.com reached out to political pundits, journalists and lawyers to weigh in on the manner of the arrest and its implications. Bad optics Lawyer Abdul Moiz Jaferii said that “the biggest problem with today’s arrest is the optics. In response to Imran Khan naming an army officer as part of a conspiracy to harm him, we see a coordinated parroting of vilification from the government.“The next day, we see a paramilitary force which does not legally have any power to arrest, lay siege to the filing section of the high court and ham-fistedly taking Imran Khan into custody. We see a handpicked NAB chairman’s arrest order for a case which has somehow made its way ahead of the dozens of other cases against politicians.“All of this makes for miserable optics: if you try to see the forest for the trees, you will clearly see the workings of a Pygmy state; beholden to unelected overlords. This man is a former prime minister and is, according to every poll, the most po[CENSORED]r politician in the country. The violent and alarming images surrounding Imran Khan’s arrest would be more familiar in an occupied territory. But perhaps that’s exactly what we are as a country.”Lawyer Rida Hosain echoed Jaferii’s thoughts. “The manner in which Imran Khan has been arrested is distressing for every believer in the rule of law. Nothing justifies the disproportionate manner in which the arrest was carried out. Hundreds of Rangers [personnel] assembled, windows were broken, and a former prime minister was dragged out of court premises to secure an arrest.”She too questioned the role of the Rangers and whether this manner of arrest could even be considered legal. “The government must clarify whether it called the Rangers in aid of civil power. Even so, there is no justification for scores of Rangers [personnel] in uniform to be sent to carry out the arrest.”For his part, Journalist Zarrar Khuhro tweeted a stark warning for those who were in favour of such an arrest. “Politicians or any civilians who stand for this should know that, as is always the case, those actually in power can and will turn on you too. Always have, always will. Ultimately all civilian powers must unite on basic principles, as impossible as that seems. If not, be assured you will all sink sooner or later.”He went on to term the arrest “pure blind rage and vengeance”, pointing out the ‘absurdity’ of calling in the Rangers. Legal or not? Questioning the grounds of arrest, Hosain continued: “The second question is under what circumstances can an accused in a NAB investigation be arrested. Section 24 of the NAB Ordinance states that an arrest warrant may be issued if an accused is intentionally not joining the investigation after repeated notices, the accused is attempting to abscond, there are sufficient grounds for tampering with evidence, or there is credible information regarding repetition of offence. It would not appear that any of the above circumstances arise in this case.There are days which serve as a stark reminder of how little Pakistan has progressed. Today is one of them.“Laywer Mirza Moiz Baig pointed out that Imran’s arrest could “hardly be viewed with a legal lens alone, terming Pakistan an “authoritarian state”.“In a state like ours, the state’s power to use violence and restrict an individual’s freedom is often used to punish politicians and leaders who have lost the establishment’s favour. Without prejudice to the merits of the case against Imran Khan, his recent arrest can hardly be viewed with a legal lens alone.“Even when viewed from a legal lens, the arrest appears derogate with the judgment rendered by the supreme court in the Khawaja Salman Rafia’s case, where it held that arrests before conviction are an aberration given the serious erosion of fundamental rights that it entails.“Additionally, the court in that case had alluded to accountability laws being used for political engineering. While the PTI government had preferred a review against the afore-noted decision in 2020, its leader now appears to have been embroiled in the same web of political engineering, thus showing the more things change, the more they remain the same.” What goes around comes around Journalist Shahzeb Jillani, meanwhile, said that Imran was getting a “taste of his own medicine”.“It’s a case of ‘what goes around, comes around’. As prime minister, Imran Khan used state institutions, NAB and FIA to jail and victimise his critics and opponents. Today, he is getting a slight taste of his own medicine.“Still, the manner in which he’s been arrested from the premises of the Islamabad High Court is deplorable. If the case against him for abuse of authority and corrupt practices is strong, he must be dealt with fairly and according to the law.”Meanwhile, political analyst Mosharraf Zaidi recalled the use of state institutions against politicians in the past: Crossing a red line Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Centre, Michael Kugelman, termed the arrest a “huge escalation in a long, ugly crisis”. He also pointed out that the arrest came following Imran’s reiteration of allegations against military officials.Columnist Nadeem Farooq Paracha warned that “there’s no coming back from this”.“The ‘red line’ has been crossed,” he said. https://www.dawn.com/news/1751793

Optical illusions are designed to put our thinking skills to the test and a newly surfaced image does just that by cleverly testing a person's brain capability. A new tricky illusion aims to test creative-based thinking by asking people to find all 13 animals hidden within the image in just 19 seconds. The image is leaving people scratching their heads, wondering how there could possibly be an excess of ten animals in the black and white photo. At first glance, you will immediately spot three animals - an elephant, a donkey, and a dog - but there are more animals camouflaged somewhere within the picture. People must use their intellect to find all the animals hidden within the picture in under 20 seconds. Trying optical illusions and brain teasers frequently helps increase a person's problem-solving skills and strengthen their critical intuition by challenging their perception. If you're struggling to find more animals hidden within the image, we advise you to split the photo into sections and scan for the shape of familiar-looking creatures. Don't worry if you can't find the animals within the photograph as we've labelled them below for you. Within the image, there was an elephant, a mosquito, a donkey, a dog, a snake, a cat, a mouse, a prawn, a crocodile, a dolphin, a bird head, a fish, and a tortoise. How many did you manage to find? Let us know in the comments below. If you're a fan of brainteasers and optical illusions, then why not try a few more? Only those with creative minds can see which string leads to the banana within just seven seconds. If you've ever considered whether you have eyes like a hawk then try finding the number 217 among the 278s in this tricky illusion. On the other hand, if you've ever wondered whether you have high IQ then this brain teaser reveals all if you can spot the hidden I within this image of Js in just nine seconds. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/baffling-optical-illusion-challenges-people-29917055

For the ninth time, Luftgekuhlt, the air-cooled Porsche car show started by Porsche racer Patrick Long and Howie Idelson, his business partner, maintained its perfect record of wowing show goers and setting a standard by which other organizers aren't likely to recreate easily. This time around it was Northern California serving as host to hundreds of P-cars and a rush of visitors treated to an assortment of colors, styles, and varying states of tune. Rather than a free-for-all, Luftgekuhlt events curate select vehicles as undeniable crowd pleasers and all other hopefuls must pre-register under strict scrutiny by organizers. This keeps the quality elevated and guarantees an eclectic bunch for fans to pore over. It's the key ingredient to maintaining a level of quality and variety that keeps each chapter fresh and intriguing. Having surprised fans with events held at unique venues, including Ganahl Lumber for Luft 5, and Universal Studios' backlot for part 6 of the series, no one really knows what to expect prior to the official announcement. For their ninth installment, a retired Naval shipyard called Mare Island would play host to the gathering. Situated in Vallejo, about 25 miles northeast of San Francisco, the peninsula and aged yard equipment and storage areas offered the sort of backdrop that Luftgekuhlt has become widely known for. Highly polished Porsches set against classic brick and aging wood as well as rusted iron and exposed scaffolding presented the sort of contrast that makes for bold photography. All is not lost, though, Luftgekuhlt will once again be back to present their tenth gathering, and though we don't know where it will be just yet, you can expect it will include yet another unforgettable backdrop. The sort of bumper-to-bumper traffic you'd expect in California, though this type excites rather than enrages. Inside one of the yard buildings is where you'd find more curated exhibits, some of which were placed on elevated platforms and placed strategically throughout the venue. This 356's green hue was almost glowing with the weathered white tones on the steel and brick that surrounded it. Outside, framed pallets offered a makeshift pedestal of sorts for some of Luft's most wanted. And, if your thing is race cars, then this event had you covered, as always. Rather than being spotlighted, this display was set under strained lighting which provided an eerie, mysterious vibe. Just one more little nugget that Luftgekuhlt organizers worked into the venue to make things even more interesting. Regardless of the venue or region, positioning a pristine condition Porsche within the confines of rusted metal structures under overcast conditions is an unbeatable combination. https://www.motortrend.com/news/luftgekuhlt-9-air-cooled-porsche-event-gallery/

England wicketkeeper batter Sam Billings has revealed his battle with skin cancer and now wants to create awareness among fellow players on the dangers of being exposed to the sun.Billings underwent two operations last year to remove a malignant melanoma on his chest, he informed on his social media handles on Tuesday.He was diagnosed with skin cancer following a routing screening at his county Kent. “I had a melanoma that was 0.6mm (deep). The threshold of when it gets really serious is 0.7mm, so really close.“If I had left that screening to go to the meeting, and waited until my next one six months down the line it could have been far, far more serious. The margins are so small but can have massive consequences,” the 31-year-old told the Telegraph.Billings has played three Tests, 28 ODIs and 37 T20s for England. He is currently playing county cricket.He said his battle with the dreaded disease has put things in perspective for him.“It did give me the clarity of making decisions based on what I want to do rather than maybe just toeing the line and being seen to do the right thing.“I have tried to do that over the years and it’s sometimes resulted in carrying drinks. You realise that cricket isn’t the be all and end all. It’s hugely important but you need to put things in perspective. It’s also made me much more empathetic.” He warned fellow players and fans against dangers of spending too much time in the sun.“I’m not just talking about the pro game. It’s club cricketers, people who watch the game. I played at Lord’s recently and the sun was out, even if it wasn’t 25 degrees. It might only have been 18 but you can still get sunburnt. “We treat it (applying suncream) like a bit of a chore, because the education around it isn’t as good as in countries like Australia. I’d like to see everyone in cricket working together: the sun is out, so let’s protect ourselves,” he added. https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/sam-billings-reveals-battle-with-skin-cancer-8600432/

Considering the need to consume foods and beverages that help power up the immune system and overall health, we are always on the lookout for the best ones. And on this quest, we often come across certain lesser-known items, too! Today, we are here to tell you about one such discovery that is becoming po[CENSORED]r due to its “incredible health benefits“. Lovneet Batra, a dietitian, took to Instagram to share how coconut kefir, made with kefir grains — which is a rich source of calcium, protein, and B vitamins — and coconut water, is extremely healthy. “The coconut is a magical food in almost every way you can imagine. We have also come a long way in how we enjoy coconut. But beyond these healthier forms of coconut lies a magical form that many of us do not know about or even think to consider using in our daily routines,” she wrote, further mentioning coconut kefir (which is simply coconut water, fermented with kefir grains), a beverage that is becoming “more and more po[CENSORED]r due to its incredible health benefits.” *Immune system booster – Coconut kefir is one of the best probiotic foods around, and we know probiotics are the special forces of the microbial world. It contains large amounts of Lactobacillus Kefiri, which helps defend against harmful bacteria like salmonella and E. Coli. Kefir has also shown the ability to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. *Improves bone health – Coconut water kefir contains about as much potassium as a banana. Potassium can help prevent the loss of bone mineral density and reduce risk of osteoporosis. *Heals skin– When our gut is out of whack, it can send signals to our skin that disrupt its natural balance and cause all sorts of problems like acne rashes, psoriasis, and eczema. Kefir helps bring good bacteria back to the forefront and supports the health of our largest organ, the skin. Garima Goyal, a registered dietitian, mentioned that like dairy kefir, made with fermented cow, goat or sheep milk, coconut kefir also acts as a fuel for the healthy gut bacteria. Agreed Dr Priyanka Rohatgi, chief clinical dietician, Apollo Hospitals, Bangalore and said that kefir aids in the growth of beneficial bacteria in our gut. “These good bacteria fight the harmful bacteria and infections in the gut. They also help stimulate digestion and boost your immune system. Coconut water kefir is packed with potassium that helps prevent the loss of bone mineral density and reduces the risk of osteoporosis. High dietary potassium is associated with reduced risk of stroke and reduced incidence of death,” Dr Rohatgi told indianexpress.com. According to Dr Rohatgi, the good bacteria in the product also helps in managing diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory infections, bacterial vaginal infections, and some aspects of inflammatory bowel disease. How to make it? This nutritious and tasty beverage can be easily prepared at home. “All you have to do is buy a packet of kefir grains and combine it with water from four green coconuts. Leave it untouched for a day till it becomes milkier and has bubbles on the top,” Goyal said. First fermentation *Put the kefir grains in a jar and pour coconut water on it. *Cover the jar. *Let the mixture stand for up to 48 hours at room temperature. “If you are fermenting the kefir in a warm room, the process may be quicker than 48 hours,” said Goyal. *Strain the kefir with a cheesecloth and reserve the grains for a second fermentation. “This step makes your coconut water kefir fizzy,” said Goyal. Second fermentation *Mix coconut kefir and with any fresh berry juice for flavour. Pour into a tight-sealing bottle. *Allow the coconut kefir to ferment for up to 48 hours or until it’s fizzy. *Store your bottles of coconut water kefir in the refrigerator. Goyal also pointed out that compared with dairy kefir which is heavier, creamier and richer, “coconut kefir is a lighter alternative”. https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/health/coconut-kefir-recipe-benefits-constipation-gut-probiotic-8334086/

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan has been arrested at the High Court in the capital, Islamabad. Mr Khan was appearing in court on charges of corruption, which he says are politically motivated.Footage showed dozens of paramilitary forces in armoured vehicles detaining the 70-year-old after he entered the court compound, then driving him away.Unrest broke out in several cities following his arrest, with protesters blocking key roads.Mr Khan was ousted as PM in April last year and has been campaigning for early elections since then.General elections are due to be held later this year.Speaking to the BBC's Newshour, Mr Khan's spokesman, Raoof Hasan, said he expected "the worst" and that the arrest could plunge the country "into chaos and anarchy"."We're facing multiple crises. There is an economic crisis, there is a political crisis, there is a cost of livelihood crisis and consequently this occasion will be a catharsis for them to step out and I fear a fair amount of violence is going to be back," he said. member of Mr Khan's legal team, Raja Mateen, said undue force had been used against him."Mr Khan went into the biometric office for the biometrics. The rangers went there, they broke the windows, they hit Mr Khan on the head with a baton," said Mr Mateen."And they dragged Mr Khan from there. They didn't care that this person had come to court while injured."Mr Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has called on its supporters to protest. In the hours since he was detained, violence has been reported from a number of cities including Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar.On the streets of Islamabad, hundreds of protesters blocked one of the main highways in and out of the capital.People pulled down street signs and parts of overpasses, lit fires and threw stones. During the hour or so that the BBC was there, no police or authorities were visible. Protesters said they were angry about Imran Khan's arrest."This is absolutely the last straw," said Farida Roedad."What else can we do? What else is there left in Pakistan? We have never said a word against the army, I wish we had."Let there be anarchy, let there be chaos. If there is no Imran, there's nothing left in Pakistan. No one is there to take over."Writing on social media, police in Islamabad said five police officers had been injured and 43 protesters arrested.Footage from Lahore posted on Twitter appeared to show crowds breaking into the military corps commander's house, destroying furniture and belongings inside.Protesters in the main port city of Karachi have been blocking a main road, Reuters reported.It said at least 10 people, including six police officers, had been injured in the south-western city of Quetta in clashes with Mr Khan's supporters.The news agency also spoke to Pakistan's telecommunications watchdog, which said mobile data services were being suspended on the instructions of the interior ministry.Internet monitoring group NetBlocks says there is a disruption of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube on multiple internet providers in Pakistan following the arrest of Mr Khan.The organisation says this can be seen in real-time network data, and that it opposes the use of such disruption to limit free speech. A statement from the inspector-general of Punjab police said the arrest of Mr Khan had been ordered because he was accused of "corruption and corrupt practices".Th case involves allegations over the allotment of land in the so-called Al-Qadir Trust, which is owned by Mr Khan and his wife, Dawn newspaper reported.Mr Khan, who is being held at an undisclosed location, denies breaking any law. In a video message filmed as he travelled to Islamabad - and released by the PTI before his arrest - Mr Khan said he was ready for what lay ahead."Come to me with warrants, my lawyers will be there," he said. "If you want to send me to jail, I am prepared for it." Security was tight in the centre of the capital for the former PM's court appearance.Dozen of cases have been brought against Mr Khan since he was ousted from power.The security forces have tried to detain him on a number of previous occasions at his Lahore residence, but were blocked by his supporters, resulting in fierce clashes.On Tuesday, police had blocked roads into Islamabad, so the number of supporters with Imran Khan was not as high as on previous occasions, making it easier to arrest him.He was elected prime minister in 2018, but fell out with Pakistan's powerful army. After a series of defections, he lost his majority in parliament. He was ousted after he lost a confidence vote in April 2022, four years into his tenure. Since then, he has been a vocal critic of the government and the country's army.In October, he was disqualified from holding public office, accused of incorrectly declaring details of presents from foreign dignitaries and proceeds from their alleged sale.The next month, he survived a gun attack on his convoy while holding a protest march.On Monday, the military warned him against making "baseless allegations" after he again accused a senior officer of plotting to kill him. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-65531648

Biden Officials Finding It Harder Than Expected to Implement $3 Billion Climate-Smart ProgramsIn Today's Digital Newspaper President Biden said he's not prepared to invoke the 14th Amendment to avert a debt limit breach, but didn't rule out the possible executive action. "I've not gotten there yet,' he said when asked about the possibility in a weekend interview with MSNBC. The president's suggestion he could consider the historically unprecedented legal maneuver if Congress refused to act indicates that views on the possib ility may be shifting within the administration but if announced would result in legal challenges.Don't expect any major breakthroughs from the White House talks. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) said this weekend that he was feeling a level of "modest pessimism' that a debt limit deal would get done in time to avoid a messy default.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and more than 40 Republican senators have signed a letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stating that they will not back any bill to raise the federal borrowing limit without substantial spending and budget reforms. Impact: Senate Democrats will need GOP votes to get anything cleared in the chamber on debt limit/suspension. More in Congress section.Fed funds futures predict a 90% chance that the Fed keeps rates at 5% to 5.25% at the June meeting and more than a 70% chance that cuts begin in September.Ag balance sheets good today, but will endure heightened volatility. Rising interest rates and higher farm expenses will pressure farm finances ahead, according to the latest quarterly economic outlook published by ag credit lender Farmer Mac. More in Markets section.The U.S. is expecting to see an influx of border crossings when Title 42, the Trump-era policy that allowed officials to swiftly expel migrants who crossed the border illegally during the Covid-19 pandemic, expires on Thursday. Also on Thursday, the House is set to vote on Republicans' wide-ranging border security package. Last month, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Republicans have the necessary votes to pass the legislation in the chamber. The Justice Department is investigating whether crypto exchange Binance Holdings Ltd. or company officials allowed the movement of money through its platforms in violation of sanctions related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.Natural gas purchases needed to refill Europe's storage sites are slower than usual for this time of year despite a recent price drop with some buyers betting on a further slump. Meanwhile, Europe seems to be rebranding its push for biofuels and away from fossil fuels.USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and others probably thought it would not be hard giving away $3 billion for climate smart programs. More in Energy & Climate Change section.On the farm policy front, USDA on Friday released details of a rice aid program, while veteran farm bill watchers say put your silencer headphones on until September because it will take that long to get things together to write any new farm bill. More in Policy section.The Wall Street Journal describes what others have noted about the Biden administration's trade policy: it's different. In just the past year, the Biden administration has opened talks with Japan, the European Union, and more than 20 countries from India to Peru on cross-border economic links. Terms that generally aren't part of these discussions: "free trade' and "tariffs.' More under Trade Policy section.EPA will be active this week, including another trip to Congress by EPA Administrator Michael Regan. More in Energy & Climate Change section.U.S. and Taiwan in talks for $500 million in free weapons. Taiwanese defense minister says the island will receive free supplies — including missiles and training — besides its existing orders.Heat waves continue to engulf much of Asia, an ominous sign for what awaits the rest of the northern hemisphere this summer. In Europe, Spain and Portugal recorded their hottest April on record. More on weather below.When I grow up, I want to be a whistleblower. Why? The SEC just gave $279 million to an unnamed individual. More below. MARKET FOCUS Equities today: Global stock markets were mixed but mostly higher overnight. U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward mixed openings. In Asia, Japan -0.7%. Hong Kong +1.2%. China +1.8%. India +1.2%. In Europe, at midday, London closed. Paris +0.2%. Frankfurt +0.1%.U.S. equities Friday: A big rise on Friday for all three major indices only allowed the Nasdaq to register a slight gain for the week. The Dow fell 1.2%, the S&P 500 was down 0.8% while the Nasdaq edged up 0.1%. On Friday, the Dow was up 546.64 points, 1.65%, at 33,674.38. The Nasdaq rose 269.01 points, 2.25%, at 12,235.41. The S&P 500 gained 75.03 points, 1.85%, at 4,136.25.Crude oil prices fell for the third straight week, as turmoil in the banking sector and the Federal Reserve's latest interest rate hike strengthened fears that the economy is headed for a downturn. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. benchmark for oil, last week fell briefly below $70 a barrel for the first time since late March. Crude prices this year have also fallen well below record highs from 2022, when Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent prices soaring above $100 a barrel. Meanwhile, oil prices saw a flash-crash early Thursday, falling briefly to about $63 a barrel, with analysts saying that indicates Wall Street is fearful about how a potential recession could stymie oil demand.The VIX, Wall Street's fear gauge, rose roughly 9% this week after falling for six straight weeks.ChatGPT, a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence, can pick stocks better than your fund manager, analysts say. A recent experiment found that the bot far outperformed some po[CENSORED]r UK investment funds — and funds managed by HSBC and Fidelity were among those selected. Between March and April, a dummy portfolio of 38 stocks gained 4.9% while 10 leading investment funds clocked an average loss of 0.8%, the results showed. On tap today: U.S. wholesale inventories for March are expected to increase 0.1% from the prior month.(10 a.m. ET) USDA Weekly Grain Export Inspections report, 11 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve's senior loan officer survey for the second quarter is out at 2 p.m. ET. USDA Crop Progress report, 4 p.m. ET. Fed speakers: Chicago's Austan Goolsbee appears on Yahoo Finance at 11 a.m. ET and Minneapolis' Neel Kashkari moderates a panel on the minimum wage at 4:45 p.m. ET Many Americans are being priced out of new cars. From the Washington Post: The numbers: The average price for a new car hit $48,008 in March, up 30% from March 2020. The average monthly car payment hit $730 last month.Why this is happening: Rising interest rates have made loans more expensive. And carmakers have largely abandoned cheaper models because of a chip shortage.Home goods retailer Christmas Tree Shops has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of a restructuring plan, making it the latest retailer to file for bankruptcy, though company officials said the decision would not result in mass layoffs. The company attributed the bankruptcy to high inflation, recent interest rate hikes and dropping consumer demand for home goods and seasonal decorations. Forbes.Germany industrial output falls more than expected. Industrial production in Germany declined 3.4% month over month in March, reversing from an upwardly revised 2.1% rise in February and worse than forecasts of a 1.3% fall. The automotive sector was the biggest drag, with manufacture of motor vehicles and parts sinking 6.5%. Considering Q1 2023, production was 2.5% higher compared with the previous quarter. Market perspectives: Outside markets: The U.S. dollar index was weaker as several foreign currencies were higher against the greenback ahead of U.S. trading. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was higher, trading around 3.48%, with a mixed tone in global government bond yields. Crude oil has advanced, with U.S. crude around $73.35 per barrel and Brent around $77.15 per barrel. Gold and silver futures were mixed, with gold firmer around $2,029 per troy ounce and silver weaker around $25.85 per troy ounce. Oil-and-gas companies have built up a mountain of cash with few precedents in recent history. Wall Street has a few ideas on how to spend it — and new drilling isn't near the top of the list, the WSJ reports. It says companies that previously chased growth and funneled money into speculative drilling investments have instead tried to appease investors by boosting dividends and repurchasing shares. For just the second time in Commerce Department records back to 1994, the U.S. registered a petroleum-trade surplus after adjusting for inflation. Exports of oil and products surged more than 24% in March to a record $27.6 billion in the biggest monthly advance since 2017. The nation imported $27.1 billion in petroleum, the least since November, data released last week showed. The Shanghai Futures Exchange, China's largest and most notable base metals bourse, is preparing to launch an alumina futures contract — its first major addition since the Covid pandemic began. Bloomberg says the catch is that this contract — due as early as June, according to securities officials familiar with the situation — will have to contend with an all-too-familiar problem: oversupply. China has been curbing expansion of its mammoth aluminum capacity, but there's no such effort when it comes to alumina, the intermediate product. Alumina output could rise 30% in the next few years thanks to new plants and upgrades, hitting 130 million tons a year, according to industry analysts including China-based Aladdiny. Of note: Only 90 million tons of alumina are needed to support China's domestic refined metal production, which has been capped at 45 million tons. Los Angeles-Long Beach docks will struggle to stay the U.S' No. 1 ocean-freight gateway over the long run.Bloombergreports that a shift to other ports is getting supercharged by simmering West Coast port labor talks — which are set to hit the one-year mark this week (see next item) — as well as the near-shoring of factory production amid rising tensions with China, and U.S. po[CENSORED]tion growth shifting to the Sunbelt states. An agreement in the long-running contract talks between unionized longshore workers and employers at West Coast ports may be on the horizon. Some shipping officials are growing optimistic that a deal could be reached by June, the Wall Street Journal reports, potentially clearing away uncertainty that has been hanging over U.S. importers heading into the crucial fall selling season. The recent agreement on issues around automation use cleared one major hurdle, and a deal on staffing at non-automated container terminals puts the sides on track to nail down wages and benefits terms. That would mark the last major issue on the table. It still could take months to get a series of local agreements and rank-and-file votes completed, but the fears of widespread disruptions will likely fade with a tentative coast-wide contract. One matter apparently unresolved, however, is the length of the deal. Sugar high continues. India and Thailand, two of the biggest exporters, had lackluster crops this season and are expected to face production woes next year, while more Indian cane crops are being turned into ethanol instead of the sweetener. Sugar is near its highest in over a decade. U.S. corn exports are falling fast. USDA will provide an update on U.S. exports this Friday via the WASDE report, the first outlook for the upcoming 2023-24 season. A massive Brazilian corn harvest has meant product from the U.S. — traditionally the biggest corn producer and exporter — is more expensive than shipments from South America, making it less attractive for buyers. The cancellation of U.S. sales by China could force the USDA to trim its outlook for exports. Will El Niño return for a heated-up 2023? Meteorologists calculate the chances of the weather phenomenon that warms the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Financial Times. RUSSIA/UKRAINE — Russia to supply Wagner group more weapons and ammunition after threat to withdraw. In an audio message released on Sunday, the owner and financier of the notorious Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, withdrew his threat to pull his troops out of the Bakhmut area, after securing a pledge from the government. "Last night we received an order to fight (...). They promise to give us all the ammunition and weapons we need to continue operations," Prigozhin said. "We are assured that everything necessary will be provided to our flanks (around Bakhmut) so that the enemy does not break through, and we are told that we can act in Artiomovsk (the Soviet name for Bakhmut) as we see fit," he added. — The DOJ is investigating whether Binance was used illegally to let Russians skirt U.S. sanctions and move money through the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange. — Russia still not satisfied with its end of Black Sea grain deal. Russia remains unsatisfied with how the issue of its agricultural exports as part of the Black Sea grain deal is being resolved, TASS news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin as saying on Saturday after the latest talks with a top United Nations official. The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had not yet responded to proposals from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on how to extend and improve the deal. CHINA UPDATE — Senate Appropriations Committee is planning a two-step process to examine US competitiveness with China. On Wednesday, Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) plans a closed-door, full committee session for lawmakers to hear privately from officials from the Defense, State, and Commerce departments as the committee prepares to work with other panels on follow-on legislation to last year's Chips and Science Act. Meeting with lawmakers will be Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs at DOD; Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs; and Thea Rozman Kendler, assistant secretary of Commerce for export and administration at the Bureau of Industry and Security. — China FX reserves rose $21 billion in April to $3.205 trillion, higher than expected and the highest since February last year. — Beijing: Relations with U.S. on ‘cold ice,' but stabilizing ties a ‘top priority'. China's foreign minister said Monday a "series of erroneous words and deeds' by the United States had placed relations between the two superpowers on "cold ice,' but stabilizing ties is a "top priority.' Qin Gang made the comments during a meeting in Beijing with U.S. ambassador Nicholas Burns, their first since a dispute over a Chinese balloon shattered efforts to mend ties earlier this year. Qin said US actions and words had undermined "hard-won positive momentum' following Chinese leader Xi Jinping's meeting with President Joe Biden in Indonesia last year. "The agenda of dialogue and cooperation agreed by the two sides has been disrupted, and the relationship between the two countries has once again hit the cold ice,' he said according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement. In a brief post on Twitter, Burns said he and Qin discussed "challenges in the U.S./China relationship and the necessity of stabilizing ties and expanding high-level communication.' — China's largest trade fair was not a triumphant return for the world's manufacturing hub. Instead, the mood was downbeat as factories grapple with a global slowdown and a scarcity of U.S. buyers. Meanwhile, China is expected to roll out new policies to protect supply chains and boost its birth rate. — China launches grain supply enforcement measures. China's agriculture ministry launched a law enforcement campaign to stabilize grain supply in 2023. The ministry will investigate the illegal occupation of farmland, fake farm inputs, and illegal sales of GMO seeds, it said. — Taiwan investment. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced legislation that would allow President Joe Biden to sign a tax agreement with Taiwan, addressing an issue that businesses on both sides have pointed to as a barrier for further investment. Meanwhile, Taiwan's exports fell in April at a slower pace than the month before. TRADE POLICY — Africa's free-trade area — if successfully implemented — could significantly boost economic growth and living standards amid rising geopolitical tensions and climate change, the IMF said. Separately, a free-trade agreement between Australia and the U.K. takes effect May 31. — In new world of trade diplomacy, free trade and tariffs take a back seat. The Wall Street Journal describes (link) what others have noted about the Biden administration's trade policy: it's different. In just the past year, the Biden administration has opened talks with Japan, the European Union, and more than 20 countries from India to Peru on cross-border economic links. Terms that generally aren't part of these discussions: "free trade' and "tariffs.' "Welcome to the new world of trade deals,' the WSJ article says. "It's no longer about slashing duties, but a host of other issues — from digital copyright to air quality and technology and product standards — often brokered in government-level agreements rather than full-blown treaties.' USTR seeks input on definition of ‘specialty sugar' under U.S. sugar TRQs. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is requesting public comments on the definition of "specialty sugar' under the U.S. tariff-rate quota (TRQ) system that was last updated via a final rule May 29, 1996. But the update did not make clear whether the definition of specialty sugar reflected what had been in an interim final rule from Oct. 4, 1990, that specialty sugar would require "no further refining, processing or other preparation prior to consumption, other than incorporation as an ingredient in human food.' Some stakeholders have suggested to USTR that they amend the definition of specialty sugar to reflect that criterion. Comments are due July 7, according to the notice in today's Federal Register. ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE — USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and others probably thought it would not be hard giving away $3 billion for climate smart programs. A backlash is building against a $3 trillion clean-energy push. The WSJ reports the federal government has ignited a green-energy investment spree, though the road to spending that money is increasingly hitting speed bumps. County-by-county battles are raging as wind and solar projects balloon in size, edge closer to cities and encounter mounting pushback in several U.S. communities. Even in states with a long history of building renewables, developers don't know if they can get local permits or how long it might take, the WSJ article concludes. — EPA Administrator Michael Regan will face tough questioning from House Republicans during a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing Wednesday on the EPA's funding request. Lawmakers will question Regan on the agency's spending in fiscal 2023, but also on ensuring the agency's agenda does not inhibit increased energy production or expanded domestic manufacturing, lawmakers said in a press release. — EPA this week is reportedly expected to release a proposal to limit emissions from coal and natural gas power plants, and the anticipated plan will likely rely on states and plant owners installing carbon-capture systems at their facilities despite delays for similar projects. Environmentalists charge the limited deployment of carbon-capture technology shows a lack of policy support, as critics say the systems are still too expensive and have not yet been "adequately demonstrated," a legal threshold that the EPA must consider in setting the new standards. Bloomberg. — In a push to reduce emissions near ports and along truck routes, EPA is seeking input on two programs aimed at slashing pollutants: the $3 billion Clean Ports Program and the $1 billion Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicle Program. The agency is collecting information about zero-emission trucks, including availability, market price and their performance, as well as zero-emission port equipment, electric charging stations and other necessary infrastructure. Reuters. — On Thursday, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will appear before another House Energy and Commerce subcommittee to discuss her department's budget request. GOP lawmakers said they would question Granholm on complementary remarks she made recently about China's climate efforts, saying "they raise serious questions about your judgment and priorities as Secretary of Energy,' according to a press release. — The Biden administration proposed a rule Friday to improve the detection and repair of methane leaks from gas pipelines, updating decades-old standards. The proposal, issued by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, requires pipeline operators to establish advanced leak detection programs aimed at finding and repairing all gas leaks. — Teck Resources and Canadian Pacific Kansas City will test hydrogen fuel-cell locomotives to transport coal under a new agreement. — Europe has a new idea for COP28 as phasing out fossil fuels hasn't worked. Expecting resistance to emissions cuts in Dubai, some climate hawks have started focusing on a global goal for renewables. HEALTH UPDATE — Republican and Democratic lawmakers are rolling out proposals that aim to reduce drug spending by insurers, government agencies and patients, with many of them targeting the companies that manage drug benefits. Party differences could make passing proposals difficult, and some powerful healthcare companies, which own pharmacy-benefit managers, are trying to fend off many of the measures. Yet analysts expect some sort of legislation will make the cut because surveys show voters of all kinds agree that drugs cost too much, and lawmakers seeking re-election could benefit by pointing to a new law. The Wall Street Journal. — CDC director to exit in June. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky will depart her position leading the CDC at the end of June, the agency said. "The end of the Covid-19 public health emergency marks a tremendous transition for our country, for public health, and in my tenure as CDC Director,' Walensky said in a statement. The administration can name a new CDC leader without having to go through Senate confirmation, but that will change as of Jan. 1, 2025. CONGRESS — Senate Republicans say no to any clean debt-limit increase. This weekend, a group of 43 Senate Republicans, including Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said they would oppose a vote to lift the debt limit with no strings attached, saying "substantive spending and budget reforms' must be part of the package. "Our economy is in free fall due to unsustainable fiscal policies,' GOP senators said in the letter. "This trajectory must be addressed with fiscal reforms.' Upshot: That is more than enough to stop a "clean' Democratic debt limit hike bill in the chamber. Republican senators who didn't sign the letter included moderates — Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah. — Rail safety bill moves forward to first Senate panel vote. In response to the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment three months ago, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee is set to vote on rail safety legislation (S 576) on Wednesday. Sponsored by Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown (D) and JD Vance (R), the bill proposes increased requirements for hazardous material transportation and crew size regulations. While the Senate committee appears to agree on key provisions, the legislation may face resistance in the House as some Republicans call for waiting on the NTSB's full investigation. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urges lawmakers to act quickly to improve rail safety and increase fines for railroad violations. Of note: Derailments occur about 1,000 times per year, but the high-profile incident drew new interest from Congress. The Biden administration over the weekend announced a rail vehicle replacement grant program that will spend $700 million on six projects in six states to update their rolling stock in rail public transportation systems. https://www.kitco.com/news/2023-05-08/Kitco-daily-macro-economic-business-digest-May-8.html

Illegal hunting activities are being reported from Chetanagar, Chandrapur, Gaidatar, Rangapur, and Balari forest areas of Rautahat district. Two months ago, a severely injured blue bull (Boselaphus tragocamelus) was rescued from the Bakaiya riverside in the Junglesaiya forest in Rautahat. Forest officials sent the injured animal to Parsa National Park for treatment.“The blue bull had several injuries on its body. It had been speared in several places including in the head and hump,” said Ram Prasad Sah, information officer of the Division Forest Office, Rautahat. “Hunters use nets, traps and homemade weapons to trap and attack wild animals that leave the forest.”Several of Rautahat’s forests were engulfed by wildfires in the past few months. The start of the wildfire season saw an increase in illegal poaching and hunting activities in forest areas, Sunil Kumar Karna, head of the Division Forest Office told the Post. “Wild animals tend to leave the forest grounds fleeing the fires which makes it easier for poachers to trap and kill them,” said Karna.According to the forest office, three loaded guns were recovered from the Chocha and BalariKhor National Forest areas five months ago. Similarly, on April 15, three more guns were recovered from the same forest areas.On April 21, Ek Bahadur Jargha Magar of Gaidatar village, Chandrapur Municipality Ward 3, was arrested for killing a wild boar. Magar and four others were arrested with dead wild boars from his house. A case has been filed against them under the Wildlife Act, according to the forest office.Forests in Rautahat are home to tigers, blue bulls, deer, wild boars, elephants, and monkeys, among others, according to the forest office. Illegal poaching activities are being reported from Chetanagar, Chandrapur, Gaidatar, Rangapur, and Balari forest areas. A total of 29,400 hectares is forest in Rautahat.Hunting activities have increased especially in Chetanagar, Chandrapur, Gaidatar, Rangapur, and Balari forest areas.Locals living near forest areas also say that they have recovered several nets and traps in the forests and areas close to human settlements where the animals fleeing fire tend to escape to. According to some locals, the poachers and hunters work in cahoots with some of the locals to find ideal spots to set traps for wild animals.“In the last couple of months I have recovered several nets and traps in the forest,” said a local of Balarikhor, Brindawan Municipality Ward 1. “I informed the forest officials and they removed the traps.”“Humans and animals always cross paths in this area,” said Ramchandra Khadel, former secretary of the Ministry of Forest, Madhesh Province. “This year the animals are escaping the forests to avoid wildfires. This has led to an increase in poaching activities. Wild animals enter the fields and human settlements for food, water, and safety. Upon seeing them so close to human settlements in a vulnerable state, not only poachers but locals also kill them.”Karna says the forest office plans to mobilise a special team of security personnel in the forests to stop illegal activities. “We will increase security in the forests and monitor the entry and exit points,” he said. “We also need to sensitise the locals about the need to protect the animals in the forests.” https://kathmandupost.com/6/2023/05/08/poaching-surges-as-wildfires-force-animals-out-of-forests

The po[CENSORED]rity of electric SUVs has exploded since Tesla delivered its domestically produced Model Y two years ago in China, making it one of the fastest-growing segments in the world's No. 1 market. China is ground zero for the price war in electric vehicles and the battleground is shifting to SUV-styled EVs, the largest segment of the market, dominated by Tesla and BYD.The market, crowded with more than 90 models, is about to get even tighter with at least 20 new models of both Chinese and foreign brands launched in April, squeezing pricing and margins at home and driving exports, analysts and executives said.EV makers in China have followed Tesla's bold price cuts by lowering prices for their own electric SUVs, cannibalizing sales of internal combustion engine vehicles as the price gap between the technologies narrows, analysts said.The trend will spread abroad with growing exports of China-made electric SUVs."We are going to see a lot of Chinese exports because of the ultra-competitive market in China. It's actually going to be a pressure release valve," said Tu Le, founder of Beijing-based advisory firm Sino Auto Insights.The market for SUVs has boomed in China over the past decade and now represents almost 40 percent of all cars sold, with 400 SUV models of all fuel types.Almost as many China-made SUVs were sold in 2022 as cars of any type in Europe last year, or more than 11 million.The po[CENSORED]rity of electric SUVs has exploded since Tesla delivered its domestically produced Model Y two years ago in China, making it one of the fastest-growing segments in the world's largest auto market. Both domestic and foreign brands were represented among the new models rolled out at the Shanghai auto show in April.Legacy automakers Volkswagen Group, BMW and Toyota are counting on new electric SUVs to bolster China sales.Chinese EV startups Xpeng and Nio have six SUV models and the EV-only brands launched by Chinese state-owned car companies, such as GAC's Aion are also pushing full-electric SUVs.They will compete with 93 existing electric SUV models in a market that saw 1.5 million sales in 2022, with the top 10 brands making up 84 percent, a Reuters analysis of data from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) shows.There were 76 electric SUVs in 2020 before Tesla started producing Model Ys in China, with average annual sales amounting to just 3,000 units.Despite recent minor price hikes, Tesla's Model Y is still 20 percent cheaper in China than in early October, when the U.S. automaker grappled with rising inventory.Discount warXpeng, Leapmotor and others have fired back with their own discounts, while BYD offered a discount of $1,000 on its market-leading Song Plus SUV, or about 4 percent off.Those refusing to slash prices on existing models to protect brand value have instead chosen to offer lower-than-expected starting prices for new models, along with longer driving ranges and greater autonomous driving features.For example, Geely's premium EV brand Zeekr priced its new compact crossover Zeekr X from $27,500, 28 percent cheaper than Model Y and almost the same price as Honda's CR-V, first-quarter sales of which slumped 56 percent.Mitsubishi Motors also said last week it had suspended for three months production of its Outlander SUV in China.The reality is "brutal" for legacy foreign brands targeting the mass market with small SUVs priced below $40,000, such as Ford, said Le of Sino Auto Insights.Ford's CEO, Jim Farley, acknowledged the intense market competition for two-row, SUV-styled EVs as a factor driving China's car export boom."That is why they are going big on Europe. Europe is a premium export market. They are all going there," Farley said in April after a trip to China.Ford will also restructure its China operations to turn one of its joint ventures into an export hub for low-cost commercial electric and combustion vehicles, Farley said last week.General Motors, which saw profit from China tumble by almost a fourth in the most recent quarter, needs new EVs to be a success in order to rebuild its market share in China, but the pressure is intense."China has 100 vehicle brands vying for sales and a 50 percent capacity utilization rate," CEO Mary Barra said.Tesla and Renault have already been exporting their China-made electric SUVs to Europe on a large scale.Tesla will begin shipping Model Y crossovers from its Shanghai plant to Canada, its first exports to North America, Reuters reported.Chinese automakers have their own plans to grow electric SUV sales to Europe.Zeekr said it would bring the Zeekr X to western Europe while exports of BYD's Atto 3 SUV more than doubled in the first quarter as it started taking orders there."The styling of it (Atto 3) is in keeping with the higher driving position, the good space," said Mark Blundell, BYD's head of marketing in Britain."We just feel it's a good start point for us in the U.K." https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/tesla-and-byd-lead-china-price-war-battle-over-suvs

The 21-year-old Germany forward scored two goals and set up another for Dortmund to pile the pressure on league leader Bayern Munich with a 6-0 rout of Wolfsburg on Sunday. Karim Adeyemi is finding his best form just in time for Borussia Dortmund’s title push in the Bundesliga.The 21-year-old Germany forward scored two goals and set up another for Dortmund to pile the pressure on league leader Bayern Munich with a 6-0 rout of Wolfsburg on Sunday.It restored the gap to just one point with three rounds remaining.Adeyemi went off to a standing ovation from the home supporters but was clearly annoyed after missing a penalty and the chance of a hat trick minutes before.“The priority is the team, and not myself. It was very important that we won, but I was very annoyed with myself that I didn’t score the three goals,” he said after what was arguably his best performance for Dortmund since joining from Salzburg last year.Adeyemi showed remarkable athleticism to leap above a taller defender to score the opening goal, then set up Sébastien Haller for the second. The Ivory Coast forward returned the favor for Adeyemi to grab the fifth.The speedy Adeyemi was a constant threat to Wolfsburg’s defenders, who were given no respite when he went off in the 69th. Gio Reyna went on and there was still tie for Jude Bellingham to complete the scoring with his second goal.But Adeyemi’s performance stood out even in a complete team effort from Dortmund.“I don’t know if he had 100 actions or 50, but 49 or 99 of these actions were positive,” coach Edin Terzic said. “Perhaps he wanted it a bit too much, to seal the win. (The penalty) was probably the easiest opportunity. The other actions were outstanding, not only the goal, but how he accelerates in a one-on-one. How difficult is that to defend against? And that’s exactly what we want.” Terzic said Adeyemi’s speed is “always a weapon” that opposing teams have to take into account.“If the opponent attacks, maybe they’ll be a bit more nervous (of counterattacks),” Terzic said. “We always want to use the weapons that we have on the field, not only in attack, but also in defense.” Adeyemi is not the tallest player in Dortmund’s team but had already shown how high he can jump with an assist in the 4-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt two weeks before. He now has three goals and three assists from his last three games.Others also shone against Wolfsburg – including goalkeeper Gregor Kobel and veteran defender Mats Hummels – as Dortmund built momentum for its last three games.The team next plays Borussia Mönchengladbach at home, then visits Augsburg before its final game at home against Mainz.Bayern also has two home games against Schalke and Leipzig before finishing the season in Cologne.The last round’s games are all played at the same time, but Bayern plays before Dortmund in the next two rounds — an advantage for the Bavarian powerhouse according to Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl.“Nobody asked us, but of course it’s a disadvantage if you always have to catch up over the next three weeks,” Kehl said. https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/football/adeyemi-leading-borussia-dortmunds-bundesliga-title-push-8598350/

Camping and living in caravans has been a rising trend in recent years as people are frustrated with crowded city life and want to reconnect with nature and serenity and Türkiye is an ideal country for those looking for perfect sites to camp iving in a caravan or just going out camping has become a seriously po[CENSORED]r lifestyle in recent years as people prefer camping and caravan life to be more in contact with nature and to get away from city life. So, let's take a look at this unique and peaceful lifestyle together.Camping is a lifestyle whose goal is to temporarily stay in natural environments and to be intertwined with nature. Many different places offer a wide range of alternatives to camp, such as mountains, forests, lakes and beaches. When camping, tents or caravans are often used. Although a tent is a less costly option, it provides less comfort than a caravan. Caravans, on the other hand, have many features to ensure a comfortable life. A fully equipped kitchen, bed, toilet, shower and more can be found.Living in caravans has also become more po[CENSORED]r, especially during the pandemic, but is also an ideal option for traveling. People can travel to many different places, and take their accommodation and cooking facilities with them in their caravan.Camping and caravan living provides many benefits for people. First of all, being in touch with nature reduces stress and relaxes your mind. Activities such as nature walks, hikes, campfires and stargazing can rest and relax one's mind. Second, camping and caravan living helps people spend less. It is more expensive to stay in places such as hotels or resorts for vacation. Accommodation in a caravan or tent is a cheaper option. Camping and caravan living can also present some challenges for people though. First, living in nature requires extra effort to eat, drink and meet other basic needs. Therefore, before embarking on this lifestyle, you need to have the necessary tools and equipment to meet your needs – and also the will. Moreover, camping and caravan living can present physical challenges for some people. This lifestyle may not be suitable, especially for older people or the disabled.Caravans were originally designed for the accommodation of circus workers in the late 19th century and were later used by gypsies living in Europe. After the developments in the automobile industry, the types of caravans called "motorhomes" and used without the need for a towing vehicle – like other caravans integrated with vehicles – were made.Today, two types of caravans are used, namely motorhomes and trailers. Both types have their own advantages and disadvantages. For long stays, a tow caravan or trailer is preferred, and for short-term stays, a motorhome is preferred. The trailer does not have much expense other than the wear on its tires. If freedom of movement is at the forefront though, motorhomes are the top pick. Paradise for camping Türkiye is an ideal country for camping and caravan living. There are many campgrounds and RV parks in almost every part of the country. These campsites are frequently visited by both domestic and foreign tourists. Let's take a look at some of these po[CENSORED]r campgrounds in Türkiye.The first that comes to mind, in the south of Antalya, Olympos and Çıralı beaches are famous for their turquoise sea, warm weather and beautiful scenery, altogether creating an ideal spot for camping.Located in the south of Muğla, Marmaris Forest Camp is covered with pine trees and is only a few minutes from the sea. The campground is famous for its natural beauty and quiet atmosphere.Uludağ National Park, located east of Bursa, is a po[CENSORED]r place for camping. It is famous for its high mountains, deep valleys and waterfalls.Akçay Campground, located in the south of Aydın, is famous for its natural beauty and calm atmosphere. The campground is located by the sea.Türkiye's largest lake, Lake Van, is also one of its most po[CENSORED]r places for camping. The natural beauties around the lake offer an ideal setting for camping.Sümela Monastery Campground, located in the south of Trabzon, is famous for its unique views. It is an ideal place to explore natural beauties and historical places among the breathtaking mountainsides.Located in the south of Balıkesir, Kazdağı National Park is famous for its mountainous terrain and natural beauties. It is a o[CENSORED]r place for camping, hiking and mountain biking.There are many different options for camping in Türkiye. These camping areas are visited by thousands of tourists every year for their natural beauty, serene atmosphere and other features. Türkiye is home to a unique, beautiful and perfect array of options for camping and caravan living if you ever want to the lifestyle a shot. https://www.dailysabah.com/life/camping-and-caravans-best-spots-in-turkiye-for-a-unique-lifestyle/news

In 2020, a high-profile children's charity was closed down. Just two years earlier, its young founder had died in mysterious circumstances, leaving everyone involved desperate for answers. Only now is the truth becoming clear - a story of medical deception and celebrity obsession, exposed by a group of concerned parents determined to protect the cancer community from imposters. On 10 August 2015, crowds of fans cheered and waved as two members of pop band One Direction posed for photos outside a fundraising ball at London's Natural History Museum. But inside, the real stars were a group of very ill children - dressed up in gowns and suits, some accompanied by their carers, others midway through chemotherapy.For Megan and her mother Jean, this "Cinderella Ball" was another chance to raise money for their fast-growing charity, Believe in Magic. Over the past two years they'd granted hundreds of wishes to seriously ill children, including parties and trips to Disneyland.The guests also knew that Megan - who was just 20 - had organised the ball while very publicly battling a brain tumour of her own. It's an "incredible privilege" to work with Believe in Magic, One Direction's Louis Tomlinson told attendees. But behind the ball gowns and themed masks there was a secret involving one of the medical profession's most mysterious syndromes. Megan Believe in Magic was inspired by Megan's own struggle with illness. After her parents separated when she was very young, Megan lived with her mother Jean, sharing a fairly normal suburban life. But aged 13, Megan was diagnosed with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension - a build-up of pressure on the brain.A couple of years later, Jean told friends Megan had also been diagnosed with a brain tumour. The experience inspired Megan, then 16, to start Believe in Magic, to bring some joy to desperately unwell children. Despite Jean's regular online posts about Megan's daily cocktail of drugs and frequent hospital visits, the pair worked tirelessly for their charity. Megan, Jean, and their charity became famous for their glitzy parties and support of One Direction."It was out of this world," said Lucy Petagine, whose daughter Luna attended several events. "Every single child felt like they were so important and they weren't poorly."In 2015, Megan was given an award by then-UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who praised her "extraordinary courage".At the height of Believe in Magic's success, however, Jean announced Megan's brain tumour had worsened, and she needed to raise £120,000 for emergency life-saving treatment in the US. Megan's supporters rushed to help and they reached the target in less than 48 hours.But one group of concerned parents in the child cancer community didn't think Megan was as ill as she claimed. Parents turned detectives When Jo Ashcroft first saw Megan's JustGiving appeal on Facebook in early 2015, it brought back painful memories. After her son was diagnosed with neuroblastoma - a cancer of the nervous system - Jo had raised £250,000 for successful cutting-edge treatment in the US.Something about Megan's appeal didn't sit right with Jo It didn't mention any specific doctor or hospital. "I was a bit suspicious," she recalls. "I just wanted to make sure the money was going to the right place."When Jo spoke to three friends whose children had also been diagnosed with neuroblastoma, they agreed it was unusual. But they advised caution - wrongly accusing someone of lying about a brain tumour was unthinkable.Gentle questions to Jean and other supporters went unanswered, so Jo went back to running the family business and looking after her three children. Then, a year later, Jo saw Megan and Jean were fundraising again - Jean said Megan was seriously unwell in hospital in America, and needed more money.Jo and the other concerned parents vowed that this time, they'd uncover the truth. "It became all-consuming," she says. "I don't want people being ripped off, especially not in the cancer community."She adopted a pseudonym and even pretended to be a journalist writing a story about Megan - although again got nowhere. But one of the group used their computer skills to work out where Jean and Megan were opening their emails. It wasn't a hospital. It was a luxury hotel at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Private investigator A few weeks later, Megan and her mother Jean disembarked the Queen Mary II ocean liner at Southampton docks.According to Jean, they were lucky to be back at all. Throughout the summer, she'd asked supporters to help her raise money - explaining Megan had "16 sources of infections" and severe sepsis. At one point, she said, doctors gave Megan a 10% chance of surviving the next seven days.Thanks to their hard work though, she said, Megan's condition had stabilised and the specialists in Florida had allowed her to return home, armed with five cases of medical kit and a "huge oxygen concentrator".But waiting at the cruise terminal as they arrived was a private investigator. Jo was so determined to discover the truth, she paid £1,000 for him to take photos of the pair.The photos showed Megan and Jean walking off the ship like a couple of happy tourists. There were no oxygen tanks. According to the investigator, they were laughing and chatting as they strolled straight past the porters, pushing luggage trollies piled high with cases.We asked Jean via email why she and Megan were staying at a Disney resort at a time they claimed Megan was seriously ill in a US hospital. She did not respond, although said, "it is very easy to get sucked into social media lies."Armed with this new evidence, the concerned parents contacted every authority they could think of, but it seemed like nobody would intervene. So they decided to set up a Facebook group called: "The Truth About Meg And Jean" - where they shared their discoveries. But most of Meg and Jean's supporters refused to believe it. Many had seen Megan's poor health first-hand - the intravenous tubes in her arm and medication.Jo was bombarded with hateful messages, but she was confident she'd done the right thing. Then, in early 2018, Jo's phone buzzed. Megan was dead. The inquest Megan had died on 28 March 2018 at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London."All I kept saying is, 'Darling, if you want to go, please go and be happy,'" wrote her mother on Facebook. Jo was stunned. "It wasn't supposed to end like this," she says.For Megan's supporters, there was little doubt who was to blame. "She was hounded to death," wrote one on Facebook. But Jo remained convinced that Megan didn't have a brain tumour.When the cause of someone's death is unclear, a coroner investigates what has happened. In late 2018, an inquest into Megan's death took place.In early 2022, we were granted permission to attend the coroner's court and listen to a recording of what had been heard at the inquest four years earlier.For two hours, we listened to doctors explain what they had seen. Megan had certainly been unwell - over the years she had suffered from several conditions, but all in theory manageable.But the inquest dealt a shocking blow to the claims Megan and Jean had made over the years. Jo was right - there was no mention of a tumour. According to the forensic pathologist, her brain had been "morphologically normal".Several doctors however listed other worrying details. One had concerns about the validity of Megan's medical history. Another noted Megan's "opiate-seeking" behaviour. There was an attempt to obtain morphine using a forged prescription. Megan repeatedly missed medical appointments and hopped from doctor to doctor.It wasn't a tumour that killed Megan, but an abnormality of the rhythm of the heart - acute cardiac arrhythmia - due to fatty liver disease, likely related to Megan's high body mass index.Jean did not want to be interviewed, but told us via email that Megan did have a pituitary microadenoma - a type of non-cancerous brain tumour which, while not typically life-threatening, can be harmful. The sisters Megan had four older half-siblings, Jean's children from a previous marriage. "I was 12 when Meg was born," says Megan's half-sister Kate, whose name we've changed. "I just adored her."According to Kate, Megan and Jean had a strange relationship with illness. If someone they knew was unwell, sooner or later they'd hear Megan had the same.Kate remembers family dinners laced with danger. Jean piled tins precariously on top of empty food cupboards which would roll off and hit the dining table directly below - so often that it was covered in dents and divots."Jean wanted one of us to have an accident," believes Kate. "The whole thrill of it. The attention."For Megan's other half-sister Rachel - whose name we've also changed - it's even more personal. When she was nine, she was affected by a rash that caused kidney problems. Over the years, her condition deteriorated, and she needed a transplant.After Megan died, Rachel had vivid memories of being fed cups and cups of salty Bovril as a child - even though high salt content is something you should avoid with kidney problems.She now wonders: "Only I got Bovril. So, was it a deliberate thing?" Munchausen In 1951, a physician called Richard Asher published a ground-breaking paper in the medical journal The Lancet. While running a mental observation unit, he noticed a small but consistent number of patients complaining of various symptoms, but on closer inspection were perfectly healthy.He called it "Munchausen syndrome". It differs from hypochondria. Hypochondriacs exaggerate and panic, but really do think they're ill. Munchausen patients know they aren't, but seek treatment anyway.Prof Marc Feldman is one of the world's most renowned experts on factitious disorders like Munchausen syndrome. He also studies Munchausen by proxy, now known in the UK as Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII), a rare form of child abuse where a parent or carer exaggerates or deliberately causes symptoms of illness in the child. Because it involves deception, he thinks the condition is more widespread than people realise.Prof Feldman never met Megan or Jean, and hasn't seen Megan's medical records. But based on our detailed account of what we've discovered, he says Megan's case "screams" of FII.Megan was 23 when she died, so legally an adult. But she was still a child when the charity was started. We will never know for sure who was driving this behaviour, or what Megan really thought of it all.Feldman explains the line between child and consenting adult might be clear in legal terms - but not always in practice: "If you learn throughout your whole lifetime that there are certain things you're allowed to say and think… you become cooperative." One Direction People fake illness - either in themselves or others - for lots of reasons. Some do it for money. Sometimes it's a wish to be listened to or looked after. For parents, it can be a desire to be the heroic caregiver. Sometimes it's a mixture.For Megan and Jean, one motive might have been to run a much-loved charity - Megan being seen as having a life-threatening brain tumour herself may have helped Believe in Magic reach more children. At a Believe in Magic event at the Tower of London, a former friend recalls Jean observing: "The sicker Meg is, the more attention we get, the more money we make." More recently, Prof Feldman has spotted a new trend - people faking conditions to meet celebrities. A serious condition, he says, "allows someone to emerge out of the pack of people who are infatuated with this celebrity".Megan's sister Kate thinks that the brain tumour and Believe in Magic were partly driven by a desire to rub shoulders with celebrities. After repeatedly tweeting members of One Direction, the band became supporters of the charity, allowing Megan and Jean to meet the stars. The Kingston review In 2017 - a year before Megan died - the Charity Commission opened an investigation into Believe in Magic, following several tip-offs from Jo.They found more than £100,000 was unaccounted for, and that charity money had been transferred into Jean's personal bank account. In 2020, the charity was dissolved and Jean agreed not to be a trustee or in a senior management position in any charity for five years. Just a few months after Believe in Magic was shut down, Jean disappeared from public view. She moved to France for a while, before returning to the UK last year.But that was not the end of the story. In November 2022, Kingston Council - where Megan had been living - published a "Safeguarding Adult Review" into what had happened. These are rare investigations into cases where people may have been let down by the authorities. As is standard, the names are all changed, but because of how much we've learned about the case, we have no doubt it's about Megan.It concluded: "Despite there being no formal diagnosis of FII (Fabricated or Induced Illness) in this case, the presentation and coroner's conclusion lead all involved to think it was likely to have been FII."This review does not suggest that FII caused Megan's death. It cites the cause of death given in the coroner's inquest: cardiac arrhythmia, due to fatty liver disease. But it nevertheless highlights how the FII in Megan's case could have been missed.FII is recognised as something that can happen to children, because parents attend their medical appointments, and are responsible for giving consent for treatments. There's far less understanding about how it can happen to vulnerable adults too. Because Megan was an adult for much of this story, doctors and social workers lacked the training and tools to identify her situation as a case of FII while she was still alive.We asked Jean to respond to the findings of the Kingston review. She did not directly address what was found, but did say: "I loved and cared for my daughter. Suggesting I might have harmed her in any way at all is absolutely sickening."It's too late for Megan, but according to FII expert Dr Danya Glaser, this review could change how similar cases are understood and managed."The Kingston review is extremely significant," she explained. "It brings to people's attention the fact that FII can continue into adulthood."A few days after the review was published, we visited Kate and Rachel to tell them about it - even Megan's sisters had no idea it had taken place. Neither have spoken to their mother for several years. When they asked her difficult questions about Megan and Believe in Magic, Jean cut them out of her life, they say."It's a good thing to have. It's all there in black and white," says Rachel, reading the report. "We thought it had all been forgotten." She thinks back to her kidney transplant and wonders what this report means for her too. They both hope it might help prevent something similar happening again."Megan was a victim," says Kate. "She was groomed for this." https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65428918

Expressing concern about Pakistan's increasing instability, the visiting Chinese foreign minister told the host nation to overcome political differences to pave the way for economic progress.China's foreign minister, Qin Gang, was in Pakistan on Saturday for the fourth Pakistan-China Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue held in Islamabad. It was Qin's maiden visit to the country since becoming Beijing's top diplomat."We sincerely hope the political forces in Pakistan will build consensus, uphold stability and more effectively address domestic and external challenges so it can focus on growing the economy," Qin said, addressing a press briefing alongside his Pakistani counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, after the closed-door strategic talks.Pakistan is facing intense political turmoil since former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted a year ago in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence. A lack of consensus between Khan's party and the 13-party ruling alliance led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif regarding the election schedule has plunged the country into a political and constitutional crisis.The country also is mired in a crippling financial crisis. To help Pakistan revive a stalled bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund and avoid default, China has provided relief by rolling over debt and parking funds there to boost dangerously low foreign exchange reserves.Qin said his country will "continue to do our best to support Pakistan's foreign exchange and financial stability."Pakistan's former envoy to the U.K., U.S. and U.N., Maleeha Lodhi, told VOA her country would have defaulted without China coming to the rescue."It was the Chinese decision to roll over even commercial loans to Pakistan that has helped keep Pakistan financially afloat. So, China's help has been extremely vital to help Pakistan, at least keep its [foreign exchange] reserves," said Lodhi.China is also Pakistan's single biggest lender, though, with the South Asian nation owing one-third of its external debt to Beijing. That debt has skyrocketed since the launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor 10 years ago. Known as CPEC, the multi-billion-dollar infrastructure and development project is part of China's global Belt and Road Initiative.By not providing large-scale debt forgiveness to Pakistan, policy expert and former adviser to the Pakistani government Mosharraf Zaidi said Beijing is telling Pakistan to manage its affairs better."[The] Chinese, I think, will keep insisting that we will not let you fail completely, but we will not support mismanagement and misgovernance, which is really what Pakistan over the last year-and-a-half in particular has done," Zaidi told VOA.Both foreign ministers rejected the perception that Pakistan is a victim of "debt-trap diplomacy" and the assertions that China targets struggling economies through unsustainable loans to pursue its geo-strategic goals. There is no basis whatsoever in the so-called debt sustainability, debt trap … concerns that are propagated. Chinese investment and financial support ... is in keeping with the traditions of our unique, time-tested friendship" Bhutto Zardari told journalists."For those who make false suggestions about debt trap," Qin said in a veiled reference to Washington's criticism of China's investment pattern, "I suggest that you ask those people, 'what have they done for the national development and well-being of the Pakistani people?'"The U.S. is Pakistan's biggest export market, followed by China.Along with Pakistan's economic and political instability, the safety of its citizens is a major concern for China.Despite multi-layered security guarding Chinese projects in Pakistan, including a special military unit, Chinese workers have faced lethal attacks from militant groups that oppose the Pakistani state or see Chinese projects as an extension of what they regard as the state's encroachment of their resources.Qin said his Pakistani counterpart had shared "the meticulous arrangements by Pakistan to protect China's citizens, institutions and projects in Pakistan. Our two sides agreed to hunt down and bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorist attacks targeting Chinese."Last November, a Pakistani counterterrorism court gave death sentences to two men accused of killing 13 people, including nine Chinese engineers working on a hydropower project, in a suicide attack in July 2021.During his brief stay in Pakistan, China's top diplomat took part in trilateral talks with his Pakistani and Afghan counterparts. The Afghan Taliban's interim foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, who faces travel restrictions by the United Nations, was granted a waiver to come to Islamabad.Bhutto Zardari noted that for Pakistan, the core issue with Afghanistan is terrorism, which he called a "red line."Pakistan blames Kabul for not reining in terrorists present on its soil who have been mounting near-daily attacks on Pakistani security personnel.As China deepens its interests in Afghanistan, Qin said before the trilateral talks, he hoped that "Pakistan and Afghanistan will bear in mind the larger picture and try to work out the issues between them through dialogue and consultation."Qin's visit to Pakistan comes on the heels of the Pakistani army chief's visit to Beijing just over a week ago and a bilateral political consultation there in March. The two heads of state met in China last November.A recent Washington Post report on U.S. intelligence leaks revealed Pakistani officials sought to distance the country from the U.S. on key issues to avoid hurting its relationship with China.Standing with the Pakistani foreign minister, China's top diplomat took swipes at the U.S., at one point saying Beijing and Islamabad will keep working together to "oppose the cold war mentality, zero-sum game."On the challenges of balancing relations with two competing global powers, former Pakistani envoy Lodhi told VOA, "Pakistan has made it clear it will not be part of any anti-China coalition that the United States is trying its best to mobilize across the world."In policy expert Zaidi's opinion, however, Islamabad's compulsion is to maintain strategic ties with China and strengthen its weak relationship with the U.S. because Pakistan is "too big to choose a side, but it's also too small to choose a side successfully." https://www.voanews.com/a/chinese-foreign-minister-tells-pakistan-it-must-overcome-political-instability-/7081848.html

Noor Jehan, the African bush elephant, should have been in her prime. She was just a teenager, about 17. But a mysterious incident left her painfully dragging about on her two front legs. The zoo neglected to help her until animal rights activists raised the alarm on social media. Then, in mid-April, she fell into a concrete pool in her dusty enclosure. She had to be winched out with a crane and could no longer stand independently. Zookeepers laid Noor Jehan on a mound of sand beneath the only tree in her enclosure."We are all absolutely heartbroken," said Mahera Omar, cofounder of the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society, which dispatched volunteers and local vets to bolster Noor Jehan's care, overseen by the Austrian-based animal charity, Four Paws International. "We are trying to do our best to keep her comfortable." Volunteer Jude Allen urged the elephant to eat stalks of sugar cane. "Good girl," he crooned, "You can do it." Noor Jehan's tragedy captivated Pakistan, with journalists delivering rapid-fire updates. In her enclosure – roughly the size of four tennis courts, a section was lopped off with rope to accommodate the some dozen television news cameras that trained on her for days.And for some, the elephant's plight became something more. "Noor Jehan has become a symbol for the state of our own country" says Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a conservationist with an outsize profile as the grandson and nephew of two of Pakistan's most beloved prime ministers. He was volunteering to bathe and feed Noor Jehan on a recent day. "She has been caged, starved, abused, exploited. And this is the state of Pakistan."Despite the last-ditch efforts to save her, the elephant died on April 22.Poached from the wild, po[CENSORED]r in PakistanNoor Jehan was always big news.When she first arrived at the zoo as a plump toddler, nearly 15 years ago, Pakistanis flocked to see her. To add to her allure, zoo officials named her after the beloved Pakistani diva Noor Jehan.But activists say her life has been anything but glamorous. She arrived to Karachi after a Pakistani poacher captured her from her herd in Tanzania, along with three other baby elephants. Her new home was an enclosure at the crumbling Karachi Zoo, near a busy road.Elephants live in matriarchal herds, and in the wild, female elephants stay close to their mothers their whole lives. But Noor Jehan's only company has been a fellow captive female elephant, Madhubala.Omar, of the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society, gestured to the concrete shed where the two used to sleep. For years, they were shackled while they slept – it's unclear why, Omar said. "I don't know how one can sleep if you know your three legs are chained – two in the front, one in the back."It's not just the elephants that suffer at the zoo. On a recent spring day, boys chipped off cobblestones to hurl at a crocodile huddled in a concrete pool. Others threw chips and chocolate at baboons in a tiny enclosure, gleefully watching them gobble them up. A gorilla sat quietly in another cage, entirely alone.The zoo's current director, Kanwar Ayub, told NPR he couldn't comment on Noor Jehan's neglect, her living conditions or even that of other zoo animals, as he had only been appointed to manage the institution in early April. Since then, he told NPR, he was dealing with Noor Jehan's decline. Local media reported he was appointed in the wake of the previous director's dismissal for negligence after several zoo animals died and Noor Jehan's mysterious injuries went untreated. A discussion of animal — and human — neglectAs the details of Noor Jehan's neglect came to air, the revelations sparked an online conversation about the widespread neglect and abuse of animals in Pakistan."I regret to say this, but I think Noor Jehan can only find peace when she dies," said Pakistani singer Natasha Baig in an Instagram story republished in the Pakistani daily, The Express Tribune. "Pakistan is truly incapable of showing mercy to animals," she continued. "Noor Jehan's story also raises the question of whether countries like Pakistan are even capable of operating zoos," wrote local publication, Global Village Space.Activists hope the conversation will continue, because they say, the situation is dire for Pakistan's animals."What I have seen in Pakistan as far as animal abuse goes, I have never seen in any other country," says Ayesha Chundrigar, founder of the Pakistani charity, ACF Animal Rescue, which rescues about 20 animals a day, ranging from tortured stray cats and dogs, a donkey forced to swallow acid and a monkey whose arm flesh was burnt off, leaving only a bone.Chundrigar spoke to NPR on a recent day in the working-class district of Korangi, where she was overseeing a medical camp for donkeys who cart heavy loads, like scrap metal across the city. It is the only welfare check available for Pakistan's thousands of work donkeys. "There's this notion that violence toward vulnerable living beings in Pakistan is considered to be" — the former psychotherapist fished for the word — "asserting dominance."Others have made a connection between animal abuse and the broader plight of Pakistan's downtrodden. "Time and time again this country fails the vulnerable," wrote Alia Chughtai, a journalist and social commentator in Karachi, on Twitter. "You could be a woman, child or animal. No one cares enough. But please carry on fighting on TV shows," she tweeted, referring to political deadlock in Pakistan which has unraveled the economy and pushed food prices into hyper-inflationary territory, sending millions into hunger.Chughtai is not the only one who has been reflecting on the parallels.Back in Noor Jehan's enclosure, the conservationist, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, tells NPR that he can't stop thinking about an incident in March where hundreds of people, just a few miles from the Karachi Zoo, rushed into a factory complex where managers were distributing free food. As they jostled, 16 women and children were killed in a stampede. "The animals in this zoo are part of this system. It's an interconnected system," he says. "I think as a nation, we need to understand that if animals are not living a dignified life, it translates into also how we see other human beings." Days after I visited Noor Jehan, on April 22, she developed a raging fever and died.Her demise has put pressure on zoo officials, who promised to speedily shift her enclosure mate, the elephant Madhubala, to the nearby Karachi Safari Park, where she will have more space to roam. The provincial government ordered an investigation into zoo conditions.Calls for kindness toward animalsThere have been other recent measures to reform animal welfare.Last June, Pakistan's federal government banned live animal testing in the capital Islamabad, and included animal rights in the school curriculum, said Salman Sufi, the head of the strategic reforms unit at the prime minister's office."I am a strong believer of having no zoos at all," said Sufi, a prominent progressive. But he said it needed to be an incremental process.International attention has helped move things along in the past – like when the entertainer Cher advocated for the release of a lonely elephant who lived in the Islamabad Zoo. A local lawyer took up the case on behalf of the international welfare group Four Paws. In the end, the Islamabad High Court ordered the elephant, Kaarvan, to be shifted to a sanctuary — and the zoo to shutter.Sufi said international attention on Pakistan following Noor Jehan's plight certainly added pressure. "But mostly, this is being down for our own conscience," Sufi said. "If our generation has not done what it should have, at least our future generation can be kinder toward animals than we were." https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/05/06/1171885673/the-fate-of-a-teenage-zoo-elephant-in-pakistan-was-tragic-and-a-symbol-of-much-m