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The 2025 Jeep Gladiator lineup gets more streamlined, with Jeep scrapping the previously standard six-speed manual transmission. As with the Jeep Wrangler, every Gladiator now comes standard with power windows and locks. Despite the automatic transmission previously costing $2500, pricing for the Gladiator starts at $39,995, just $205 more than last year's base price. The world of manual pickup trucks just got a little smaller with Jeep yanking the third pedal from the 2025 Gladiator lineup. Previously equipped as the standard transmission on the Gladiator, the six-speed manual is gone for 2025, leaving behind the previously optional eight-speed automatic. Before this year, Jeep charged $2500 for the automatic transmission. Despite the auto becoming standard, the entry price for the Gladiator has only risen by $205. The base Sport can now be had for $39,995, the Nighthawk for $42,790, and the Sport S for $43,495. Upgrading to the Willys runs $47,095, while both the Mojave and Rubicon cost $52,995. In addition to the powertrain change, Jeep brought the Gladiator into the modern era by finally making power windows and locks standard across the range. There are also two new paint options, including a blue color and a new olive-drab green. The changes are rounded out with a newly available software option that lets owners pre-condition the cabin through the Jeep Connect mobile app. All 2025 Gladiators continue to be powered by the Pentastar 3.6-liter V-6, which pumps out 285 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. The towing capacity is unchanged at 7700 pounds, and payload figures carry on at 1105 and 1725 pounds, depending on the trim. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a62259508/2025-jeep-gladiator-manual-dead-pricing/

‘I wondered how I would ever do life without him’ … a young Melissa Blake with her father. Photograph: Courtesy of Melissa Blake On a cloudy Monday morning in March 2003, my father came into my room to check on me. I felt him pull the blankets up around my neck – something he used to do when I was a child. He lingered for a moment, then quietly left the room. That was the last glimpse I ever had of him. On that day he took his own life. He had been suffering from sinus cancer for the last four months. A marble-sized tumour was found wedged inside his nasal passage after he began having unexplained nosebleeds in late 2002. He had surgery to remove the tumour and even though it was a success, I could see the huge physical, mental and emotional toll treatment was taking on him. His death was a huge shock. We desperately searched for answers. The only explanation the doctors could give us was that my dad’s frontal lobe was significantly damaged from the radiation treatment he was receiving, which could have led to changes in his personality and behaviour. I was devastated. For more than two decades, my father had sat by my bedside through every single one of my hospital stays. I was born with Freeman-Sheldon syndrome, a rare genetic bone and muscular disorder. I had my first surgery, to turn my legs and feet around, when I was just ten weeks old, and had various procedures throughout the years. My disability shaped my childhood, but my father’s suicide and its aftermath is what has informed so much of my identity as an adult. I was 21 when he died, that in-between age where you’re too old to be a kid, but too young to feel like an adult. In my grief, I found myself straddling the line the same way I did during my days in hospital as a kid. While in the hospital, I had these very adult, sometimes life-or-death experiences, yet I wasn’t an adult. I was a child. Only, I didn’t feel like a carefree kid, either. Child or adult, I didn’t feel as if I fit in either category. ‘His death was a huge shock’ … Melissa Blake, pictured with her father, mother and sister. When my father died, I walked that same tightrope. This time, I may have been an adult but I felt like a little girl. A little girl who had just lost her father and felt confused and scared. I’m forever trying to find the right words to accurately describe what it feels like to lose a parent when you’re disabled. It’s a unique kind of grief because the relationship between a parent and their disabled child is a special one – during childhood, of course, but well into adulthood too, which is something that non-disabled people might not fully understand. I relied on my dad in ways that my non-disabled peers didn’t on theirs. He helped me with everything, from showering and getting dressed in the morning, to cooking dinner in the evening. I’ve often said that he was “my legs”, and he helped me experience the world around me when it often felt inaccessible. When he died, this only added a more complicated piece to my grief puzzle. I wondered how I would ever do life without him. I knew deep down that this went well beyond literal, tangible assistance such as food prep; to be disabled means to feel a certain level of vulnerability because so much is out of your control. I have felt vulnerable for most of my life and my father was the one who always made me feel safe and protected. His suicide ripped away my sense of safety and replaced it with a fear of abandonment that I’d never experienced before. Will I lose everyone I love? Will everyone leave me? Will I end up alone? These were the sorts of questions that circled around in my head. My fear of losing those I love plagued me and I became hypervigilant about my mum and sister, worrying about them constantly. More than two decades after my dad’s death, I started seeing an amazing therapist. I initially went to talk through my grief, but opening up about losing him led to me opening up about my disability, too. I began processing what it meant to be disabled: how it had affected my life, how I never really felt like other people my age. And I gave voice to my worries about navigating life as a disabled adult – a fear I had been wrestling with since the day my dad died. When you are disabled the bond you have with your parents can be heightened, but thankfully, as I’ve learned, that bond can also never be broken. Because even in death, my dad continues to shape my life and push me onward. I know that whatever happens he’ll always be with me. Beautiful People: My Thirteen Truths About Disability by Melissa Blake is published by Hachette Go (£25). To support the Guardian and the Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Blake can be found on Instagram at @melissablake81 In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/sep/18/a-moment-that-changed-me-dad-helped-me-suddenly-he-was-gone

Lucy Bronze joining Chelsea is an indication of the calibre of the new coaching staff. Photograph: Dave Shopland/Shutterstock There is no simple formula to winning a league, but there are critical ingredients every team in the new WSL season will be seeking to inject. Chief among those are team spirit and unity. The bonding process, the trust-building between players and staff, and developing those connections quickly, is so important. The aspect that often gets overlooked as part of that, though, is enjoyment. What keeps players motivated every day to show up, even when they are tired or frustrated, even when things are not going their way or they have got a niggle? It is enjoyment. It means players keep pushing for their personal and the team’s goals. Establishing collective values ensures they show up every day, give their all and support each other. Having an awareness that performing does not always get you the outcomes you want, even when you are at your best, and being able to dig deep, are also vital. That edginess, grittiness, is a core component of the most dominant and consistent teams. Teams that can win pretty and ugly, that find a way, are the ones that end up with silverware. It is about adaptability, as a group and individuals. Being able to have players ready to show up and add value, staying in a constant ready state, is a big test of management. Players are not happy all the time. Being transparent with the selection process and making clear the expectations and standards is an important part of keeping on board those most unhappy at not starting. You do that in part by facilitating an environment where people can be authentic in their feelings, be authentic on the pitch and express themselves, but also by creating a high-performance environment where players know they are being stretched and can grow regardless of whether they are making the starting XI. That creates belief and that belief is infectious. That is when you start to bring the fans with you. They really back their teams when they see them fighting for the collective cause. It was no accident Chelsea pipped Manchester City to the title, because not only have they had almost all the right ingredients year-on-year, they have also faced down the final third of the season, and the challenges it presents, over and over again. Vivianne Miedema’s signing is a major boost for Manchester City. Photograph: Richard Sellers/PA Chelsea are mentality monsters, there is a relentlessness in what they do, and once City dropped points against Arsenal, conceding in the 89th and 90th minutes to cancel out their one-goal lead, nothing was going to stop them. The eight goals Chelsea put past Bristol City and the six they scored at Manchester United, either side of a 1-0 defeat of Tottenham, were mental muscle memory kicking in. It was not a shock they could overturn a goal difference gap of seven in a single game at the business end of the season because they have been there so many times before. Whether they can maintain that under Sonia Bompastor will be really interesting and in pre-season it looks as if they have maintained that ruthless edge. The addition of Lucy Bronze is fascinating. She comes in with so much experience, having won multiple trophies in different countries, but that she wanted to follow Bompastor and her assistant, Camille Abily, to the club, having known them from Lyon, is a signal to everyone of the calibre of the new coaching staff. They obviously have a really good relationship and she clearly believes they can deliver. Every WSL season gets more exciting but Chelsea and City stand out and the title race will be close again. City, with a very settled squad, have the most continuity among the top three. They were so close last season and that will have hurt them. Vivianne Miedema is also going to feel extra motivated to produce her best after leaving Arsenal at the end of her contract. There is pressure on Jonas Eidevall and Gareth Taylor, at Arsenal and City respectively, to deliver. They fell short last season despite some strong performances and runs. With Chelsea in a period of transition, there is an opportunity to unseat them. Taylor and Eidevall are at clubs with big trophy aspirations and they cannot go another season with the quality in their squads and the money they have spent without winning more silverware. Predictions are almost impossible in the WSL because the margins are so fine. So many teams have done good business in the summer. Plenty of them will be just underneath the top three, pushing for those fourth and fifth spots and they could have a big say in the destination of the title. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/sep/18/wsl-race-chelsea-arsenal-manchester-city-moving-the-goalposts

‘We are increasingly wary of cattle and these days will avoid their fields.’ Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Reuters I would like to add my voice to those urging greater caution when walking in fields with cattle (The hell and horror of cow attacks: ‘I told my husband to leave me to die’, 12 September). I had to be airlifted to Southampton hospital from the Isle of Wight earlier this year and spent 10 days in intensive care and the acute trauma ward being treated for chest injuries. As a retired vet, I thought I knew how to behave around cows and calves and followed good practice when walking through a local field with my dogs on leads. In the event, the speed of the attack and the determination of the cows to knock me down and trample me was astonishing. We need to work with farmers to reduce risks and work with walkers to raise awareness. My final recommendation is to support your local air ambulance, which is run as a private charity, as without the Hampshire and Isle of Wight service I would not be here to write this letter today. David Mackay Niton, Isle of Wight I read your article on the dangers of cows with great interest. My husband and I are keen walkers and not easily discouraged. However, we are increasingly wary of cattle and these days will avoid their fields. As modern farming practices are becoming more automated, the animals are less accustomed to human contact. This means that cows should be viewed as essentially wild animals and treated with the appropriate respect. You wouldn’t try to walk through a herd of buffalo, for example. There is a need to make everyone aware of the Countryside Code so that we can safely walk the footpaths through farmland without causing distress or harm to livestock. Equally, landowners need to make sure paths are not blocked by water troughs where cattle gather. Clearly marking footpaths would also avoid walkers straying off allowed routes. Sara Davis Tonbridge, Kent I am French, living in England, and I have done many walks in both countries. In Britain, with your strange rights-of-way paths across the middle of fields, you are bound to find yourself in the middle of a field with cows: in France that does not exist – we have miles of lovely paths throughout the country on the sides of fenced fields. Why not reroute paths in the UK along the periphery of fenced fields? The enclosed field for the cows, where they belong, and the safe path for the walkers: it would not cost a fortune to do and everyone would be happy. Danielle Stevenson Richmond, London In this article it takes 10 paragraphs to get to “Adding dogs to the equation…”. Attacks by cattle occur regularly when walkers cross a meadow with a dog, which is a predator in the cows’ eyes, and which they are programmed to attack. The other mistake is coming too close to calves in the herd. In Austria, it is mostly inexperienced holiday walkers (from Germany) who cross a meadow with dogs and get chased away or end up in hospital, or walkers who attempt to “acquaint” their child with calves. Both behaviours are a no-no. Try to take the cows’ perspective; they are not pets. Leave dogs at home or stay out of cattle enclosures with them. In general, always give standing or lying cattle a wide berth when crossing their turf – and don’t stop to watch. Never shout or try to scare them. I never had a problem with cattle in my long life of hiking in the mountains. Wolfgang Wagner Linz, Austria https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/sep/18/as-a-vet-i-thought-i-knew-cows-then-they-attacked

US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and the rest of the members of the central bank's rate-setting committee held their last policy meeting this week before voters go to the polls in what is expected to be a close US presidential election on November 5 [File: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo] The United States Federal Reserve has cut interest rates by half of a percentage point, kicking off what is expected to be a steady easing of monetary policy with a larger-than-usual reduction in borrowing costs that follows growing unease about the health of the job market. “The committee has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent, and judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance,” policymakers on the US central bank’s rate-setting committee said in their latest statement on Wednesday, which drew a dissent from Governor Michelle Bowman, who favoured a quarter-percentage-point cut. Policymakers see the Fed’s benchmark rate falling by another half of a percentage point by the end of this year, another full percentage point in 2025 and a final half of a percentage point in 2026 to end in a range of 2.75 percent to 3 percent. The endpoint reflects a slight upgrade, from 2.8 percent to 2.9 percent, in the longer-run federal funds rate, considered a “neutral” stance that neither encourages nor discourages economic activity. Even though inflation “remains somewhat elevated”, the Fed statement said policymakers chose to cut the overnight rate to the 4.75 percent to 5 percent range “in light of the progress on inflation and the balance of risks”. The Fed “would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy as appropriate if risks emerge that could impede the attainment of the Committee’s goals,” with attention to “both sides of its dual mandate” for stable prices and maximum employment, the statement said. “The Fed cut of 50bps [basis points] shows they are serious about easing and trying to catch up,” Rachel Ziemba, economist and adjunct fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Al Jazeera. “It’s a bit more than the consensus expected … I don’t think it’s a sign they expect a recession, but is a sign that the recent softening labour market and easing inflation has given them space.” Fed’s strategy Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in a news conference came closer than the committee has before to declaring victory over inflation. “We know that it is time to recalibrate our [interest rate] policy to something that’s more appropriate given the progress on inflation,” Powell said. “We’re not saying, ‘mission accomplished’ … but I have to say, though, we’re encouraged by the progress that we have made.” “The US economy is in a good place,” he added, “and our decision today is designed to keep it there.” The Fed’s policy meeting this week was its last before voters go to the polls in what is expected to be a close US presidential election on November 5. Powell was pressed at his news conference about whether the Fed’s decision to cut its key rate by an unusually large half-point is an acknowledgement that it waited too long to begin cutting rates. “We don’t think we’re behind,” he replied. “We think this is timely. But I think you can take this as a sign of our commitment not to get behind. We’re not seeing rising claims, not seeing rising layoffs, not hearing from companies that’s something that’s going to happen.” He added: “There is thinking that the time to support the labour market is when it’s strong and not when you begin to see the layoffs. We don’t think we need to see further loosening in labour market conditions to get inflation down to two percent.” Inflation is currently about half a percentage point above that, and the new economic projections now show the annual rate of increase in the personal consumption expenditures price index falling to 2.3 percent by the end of this year and to 2.1 percent by the end of 2025. The unemployment rate is seen ending this year at 4.4 percent, higher than the current 4.2 percent, and remaining there through 2025. Economic growth is projected at 2.1 percent through 2024 and 2 percent next year, the same as in the last round of projections issued in June. The Fed had held its policy rate in the 5.25 percent to 5.5 percent range since July of 2023 as inflation fell from a 40-year high to a level that is now approaching the central bank’s target. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/9/18/us-fed-cuts-rates-by-larger-than-usual-half-percentage-point

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is concerned about 'a serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon' [File: Pamela Smith/AP] United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says civilian objects should not be weaponised after a deadly wave of explosions across Lebanon targeted communication devices used by Hezbollah. “I think it’s very important that there is an effective control of civilian objects, not to weaponise civilian objects. That should be a rule that … governments should be able to implement,” Guterres said on Wednesday at a briefing at UN headquarters in New York. Hundreds of wireless paging devices belonging to members of the Iran-backed group exploded simultaneously on Tuesday, hours after Israel said it was broadening the aims of the Gaza war to include its fight against Hamas’s Lebanese ally. The explosions on Tuesday killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded up to 2,800. Guterres warned that “there is a serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon, and everything must be done to avoid the escalation”. “What has happened is particularly serious not only because of the number of victims that it caused but because of the indications that exist that this was triggered, I would say, in advance of a normal way to trigger these things because there was a risk of this being discovered.” Later on Wednesday, more device blasts across Lebanon killed at least nine people and wounded about 300, according to the country’s Ministry of Public Health. Lebanon’s state media reported that walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members blew up in Beirut on Wednesday with reports of similar blasts in southern and eastern Lebanon. Hezbollah, which has traded near daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces in support of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, said it will retaliate for the pager blasts, which it blamed on Israel. Israel has not yet commented on the explosions. Meanwhile, Volker Turk, the UN’s human rights chief, said in a statement on Wednesday that those responsible for the deadly wave of explosions across Lebanon “must be held to account”. “Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law,” he said. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/18/civilian-objects-should-not-be-weaponised-un-chief-guterres-lebanon-explosions

Music title: Top 20 Songs: September 2024 (09/14/2024) I Best Billboard Music Chart Hits Signer: A lot of singers Release date: 2024/13/09 Official YouTube link:

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Now that GM and Hyundai have signed a non-binding agreement to begin cooperating at several levels, the question is what they'll do together. While no concrete plans have yet begun, everything from raw materials to software is on the table. Sharing resources on EV development makes sense, but this tie-up could also share costs on developing emissions-compliant combustion engines for the global market. Two of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, Hyundai and General Motors, have now signed an agreement to begin working together on raw materials sourcing, supply chain management, and even vehicle design. The announcement obviously highlights the possibilities for developments in clean energy, EVs, and hydrogen power, but also extends to future developments in combustion engine technology. It's early days yet, as the memorandum of understanding is non-binding; the agreement is more a first handshake between companies deciding to start working together. Both Hyundai and GM are already in process on their respective battery-electric powertrain rollouts, so don't expect to suddenly be able to buy an Ioniq 6 rebadged as a Chevy Cavalier. However, with the sword of Damocles of competition from Chinese automakers like BYD hanging overhead, it's no surprise that even the big car manufacturers are looking to form partnerships. Even with U.S. and EU regulators looking to protect domestic production with tariffs on Chinese imports, the best way for manufacturers to compete is by optimizing production from raw materials right through to software programming. General Motors has formed partnerships in the past with several other manufacturers including, most recently, Honda. That teamup was specifically aimed toward building more affordable EV offerings, and it resulted in the Acura ZDX and Honda Prologue, both of which use GM's Ultium battery technology. However, both of the aforementioned could be seen as Honda working to provide a stopgap while its engineers work to create in-house EV solutions for the future. Hyundai, by contrast, doesn't necessarily need GM's Ultium, as it already has a successful EV rollout in progress. Where synergies between the two companies exist could come at various production levels—for instance, Hyundai produces tens of millions of tons of steel every year and even has its own mines for raw-material extraction. So while it's fun to think of a Camaro-shaped sports coupe that drives like an Ioniq 5N, or a Hyundai full-size pickup with Silverado underpinnings, this new partnership is likely to be more about supply chains and software. It's also possible that Hyundai's persistence in the field of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles could dovetail nicely with GM's experience in fleet sales. Refueling has long been hydrogen's weak spot, and a fleet of vehicles operating from a central depot solves this problem. Meantime, Hyundai and GM are just getting to know each other. Both bring various strengths to the table, GM in scale, Hyundai in fast-paced innovation. It's a smart move for both, especially as the global automotive manufacturing business gets more cutthroat than ever. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a62242166/hyundai-gm-collaboration/

Leinster’s Champions Cup semi-final against Northampton drew a huge crowd to Croke Park but there are no guarantees a British & Irish League would succeed. Photograph: Damien Eagers/PA In a perfect world the countdown to a new season would be all about the rugby. Can Northampton Saints and Glasgow Warriors successfully defend their hard-earned respective Premiership and United Rugby Championship titles? If not, who will be their biggest threats? And which individuals have the ability to exchange relative anonymity for a place in Andy Farrell’s British & Irish Lions squad next summer? The weather is half-decent, the pitches firm, the scent of freshly cut grass and embrocation reliably evocative. There is just one sizeable drawback, as every professional club executive can testify. Primarily, it is all about the price tag and whether or not the sums stack up. Out in the real world it is less a case of smelling the Deep Heat than absorbing the financial pain. If anyone needed proof it came late last week. An eve-of-season board meeting would usually be about dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s to ensure the best chance of a shiny, happy campaign. Instead, the Premiership’s power brokers have been debating whether or not a British & Irish men’s league may be a better way forward. Efforts have since been made to pour cold water on the story but there is rarely smoke in rugby without some glowing embers. Well-placed insiders have been offering up a simple three-letter explanation: CVC. In normal circumstances, the private equity company that splashed so much cash for the privilege of investing in rugby union six years ago would now be poised to check out. It did not get involved to chat endlessly about scrums and mauls; the chief priority is a significant return on that investment. As things stand, that has yet to materialise. Recently, even the supposed pinnacle of the club game, the Champions Cup, has failed to tempt England’s most established broadcasters. Good luck to Premier Sports but awarding it the rights does not obviously solve the competition’s steady slippage in profile. And what happens if Sky, TNT Sports, Discovery and the terrestrial channels decide they can do without the expense of cross-border club rugby indefinitely? Little wonder the Premiership’s next television contract, once TNT’s deal expires in 2026, is already concentrating minds. There is one twinkling solution in clear view. A bespoke rugby channel, broadcasting all the best club games worldwide, with millions of subscribers keen to register. CVC, which has stakes in the Premiership and the URC, would be ignoring the marketing elephant in the room if it did not at least float the idea of a simplified offering. “Sign up for the best league in the world” – even more competitive on a weekly basis than the Top 14 – would be a useful tagline. All of which fuels the British & Irish League speculation. Twenty-five years ago, in the earliest days of professionalism, it would have made even more sense. Work together to stabilise the player wage “arms race”, dovetail the fixture list with the Five/Six Nations and save several decades of angst? Hurrah! These days things are far more logistically tangled and complex. Glasgow Warriors begin the defence of their URC title on Saturday. Photograph: Steve Haag Sports/Inpho/Shutterstock Let’s be brutally frank. Would any resultant “Super League” be a massive improvement or shift the dial in terms of its financial uplift? Compared with the increasingly buoyant and eye-catching Top 14, Newcastle v Dragons or Connacht v Sale on a Friday night would hardly be a gamechanger. A conference set-up works in American sport but would it capture neutral imaginations here? And what about the South Africans and the Italians, both of whom are being sworn in as full voting partners of the URC next year? Speaking to representatives of both leagues this week, there is certainly little sense of breathless excitement or talk of a magic bullet. Unless, maybe, the various national unions could all be persuaded that the still-lucrative Six Nations – particularly in the event of the old European Cup faltering – would be stronger as a result. Then, maybe, there could be a virtuous circle: the fixture list would dovetail more effectively, the best players would play in bigger and better club games and those who only watch the international game could be more easily enticed. For that to happen, though, a deft scalpel will have to be applied to both existing leagues. If the broadcasters are ever going to be persuaded to pay top dollar again in an uncertain market, they will want to be showcasing the best players on the continent, not also-ran sides full of journeymen. Some of the scenarios being discussed would also involve eight English sides. In that event, which two would drop out? AOn that subject, how many competitive men’s professional sides can Wales sustain? Enough. History has long since taught us that self-interest is rugby officialdom’s guiding light. This instantly renders the idea of an Anglo-Welsh league – which would benefit relatively few and dilute everyone’s share of the central pie – a non-starter for the English and makes a British & Irish league similarly unlikely for the foreseeable future. Admittedly, there has been some tentative interest from Ireland but, ultimately, the lessons of rugby’s past echo loudest. Without an intense whiff of historic rivalry and, ideally, fervent away support, no amount of televisual magic will generate the same emotional pull. Which is why, as the Prem and the URC prepare to kick off on Friday night with Bath hosting Northampton in a repeat of last season’s final and Edinburgh entertaining their old rivals Leinster, we should all be extremely careful what we wish for. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/sep/17/why-british-irish-league-would-not-be-panacea-rugby-union-needs-the-breakdown

Examples of people with aptronyms include athletes such as Usain Bolt, the WNBA star Aerial Powers and the baseball pitcher Brad Hand. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA Growing up, Adam Weiner was bullied over his last name. Now it’s one of his biggest assets. Dr Weiner is a urologist, and he says the name has been a huge help in working with patients. “When men come and see me for the first time, they’re typically pretty nervous,” he says. “And let me tell you, having a last name like Weiner in this field is one of the best icebreakers.” Patients routinely come in with a name-related joke, and the tension dissolves. “I don’t mind it one bit,” Weiner says. The name has also helped him achieve prominence in his field. “Researchers, other faculty, other institutions, they tend to remember the urologist named Dr Weiner.” Weiner’s name is an example of an aptronym, one that perfectly fits its owner. Which, as many of his patients have noted, raises a burning question: did his name influence his choice of career? That touches on the concept of what’s called nominative determinism, the controversial idea that a person’s name can influence their choices. (Turns out, urology is a particularly rich field: when New Scientist magazine began exploring nominative determinism in the 90s, two key examples were experts named Splatt and Weedon.) Name is destiny Becca Title, bookstore owner This year, the Trump-supporting activist-investor Bill Ackman, known for fighting to oust Harvard’s former president Claudine Gay, endorsed the theory. “I have a view that people become their names,” he told New York Magazine. “My name is Ackman – it’s like activist man.” It’s a pretty weak assertion, but there are plenty of better examples: writers like William Wordsworth, Francine Prose and Sarah Vowell (not to mention the crime writer Karin Slaughter – not a pen name); athletes such as Usain Bolt, the WNBA star Aerial Powers and the baseball pitcher Brad Hand; food experts like the cookbook writer Joséphine Bacon and Ed Currie, who invented what’s billed as “the world’s hottest pepper”. The head of Nintendo of America is Doug Bowser – he arrived long after Mario’s archenemy got his name – and the founder of Tito’s Vodka is named Tito Beveridge. “Name is destiny,” says Becca Title, who owns San Diego’s Meet Cute bookstore and admires the way romance novels give hints to the characters’ destinies in their names. But is there any truth to the idea? Brett Pelham, a psychology professor at Montgomery College in Maryland, says yes – and he’s done a series of studies backing the claim. A 2002 study found that people named Dennis were more likely than people with equally common names – like Jerry or Walter – to become dentists. The study faced some criticism: another researcher, Uri Simonsohn, pointed out that Dennises are also more likely to be lawyers than people named Walter. But in 2015, Pelham and a colleague, Mauricio Carvallo, published findings that people with 11 common surnames – including Baker, Carpenter and Farmer – were disproportionately likely to work in fields that matched their names. While confounding variables are easy to spot when it comes to first names – maybe the type of people who name their kids Dennis are the type of people who encourage their kids to work in healthcare, last names are less vulnerable to this risk, Pelham says. (Yes, they might be descended from an ancient baker, but the many generations in between make any connection unlikely, he notes.) Pelham acknowledges the risk of “cherry-picking” in any sociological study, but he’s confident in his results, which he believes demonstrate an idea called implicit egotism: the idea that we unconsciously favor names, numbers (such as birth dates), colors and other concepts related to ourselves. He doesn’t think the phenomenon is “magical or mystical”, he says. “We think it’s probably based mainly on things like classical conditioning and the well-known ‘mere exposure’ effect – the more often people see something, the more they like it.” Simonsohn, for his part, remains unconvinced. In an email, he calls the idea “a fun but unsubstantiated belief” that is “almost surely wrong, but harmless”. When the Guardian spoke to people whose names match their jobs, none were fully convinced that their monikers had actually sparked career choices. But several, like Weiner, said their names have had a clear impact – whether positive or negative – on their daily lives. Dustin Partridge’s whole family loves the outdoors - “you’ll very often find a Partridge out in the woods,” he says – and like Weiner, his name was a boon in the workplace. Researching bird-friendly green roofs in New York City, he needed access to strangers’ buildings. “‘Dustin Partridge here, looking to study birds on your roof,’” he would tell people. “That’s a crazy thing to ask for, and several people have said: ‘The only reason I opened this responded to you is because of the last name.’” Now he works at the NYC Bird Alliance (former director: John Flicker). Before Partridge joined, he’d have scoffed at any supposed name-job connection. But then he weighed in on bird safety with a Quayle and tackled conservation with a Forrest. “There might be something to it,” he says. But aptronyms can also weigh heavily on their owners. David Loud, a longtime Broadway conductor and pianist, once feared he’d never get work: “I mean, who would ever want to deliberately hire a loud musician?” he writes in an email. When he got jobs accompanying singers, he says “it became my lifelong goal never to get the review: ‘The aptly named David Loud drowned out all traces of the poor soprano.’” Now, as a conductor, he chooses volume-related words carefully. “‘Could the violas play those sixteenth notes more robustly?’ I might say, or, ‘The ending is too bombastic!’” “[The first name] is one of the few things that you can actually choose about your child’s identity” Pamela Redmond, co-founder of Nameberry For the writer Francine Prose, the connection has mostly been an annoyance. Her last name was shortened when her family arrived in the US in the early 20th century; they didn’t realize Prose was an English word. Though she did have an editor named Page Cuddy, she doesn’t buy claims that our names inspire our fates. The main thing she’s learned from the phenomenon is how often people think they’re the first to notice something obvious. Fellow author Sarah Vowell is equally skeptical. “I am a nonfiction writer and we generally do not believe in fate, only coincidence,” she writes in an email, pointing out that other Vowells in her family have included a machinist, a pharmacist and a shepherd turned doctor. “Fate seems more important to the liars writing fiction, or, apparently, the self-absorbed rich guy who inspired your question,” she said, referring to Ackman. Does it matter whether there’s any truth to all this? Pamela Redmond, co-founder of the baby name site Nameberry and author of several books on choosing names, says the idea is worth keeping in mind. We may not have much power over our last names, but the first name “is one of the few things that you can actually choose about your child’s identity”, she says. Like it or not, people make assumptions about who a Dennis or a Walter might be. And those assumptions can affect how others treat us, which in turn shapes our identity. All kinds of factors influence our choice of a name, Redmond says. “So why not be conscious of it?” https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/sep/17/aptronym-job-normative-determinism

Elephants in Hwange national park. The cull will take place in four districts and follows a decision by neighbouring Namibia to cull 83 elephants. Photograph: Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters Zimbabwean authorities have set out plans to cull 200 elephants to feed communities facing acute hunger amid the worst drought in four decades. The El Niño-induced drought has wiped out crops across southern Africa, affecting 68 million people and causing food shortages across the region. In Zimbabwe, 7.6 million people are set to face food insecurity from January to April next year, the height of the lean season, according to the World Food Programme. “We can confirm that we are planning to cull about 200 elephants across the country. We are working on modalities on how we are going to do it,” said Tinashe Farawo, a spokesperson for the Zimbabwe parks and wildlife authority. He said the elephant meat would be distributed to communities in Zimbabwe hit by the drought. However, some conservationists criticised the plans, saying there were better solutions for helping to feed people whose crops had failed. The cull, the first in the country since 1988, was first reported on Friday, and follows neighbouring Namibia’s decision last month to cull 83 elephants and distribute meat to people affected by the drought. “Regarding the hunger situation, meat is not a staple in Zimbabwe. What we need is grain,” said Farai Maguwu, the director of the Centre for Natural Resource Governance, a non-governmental organisation. When droughts are so intense, human-wildlife conflicts can escalate as resources become scarcer. Last year, 50 people were killed in elephant attacks in Zimbabwe. Maguwu argued that more boreholes should be drilled for both humans and elephants to drink from in the affected areas and that, if there are still issues, elephants should be relocated to national parks with fewer animals, rather than culling them. The elephants will be culled in Hwange, Mbire, Tsholotsho and Chiredzi districts, in areas where authorities said the animals have clashed with humans. More than 200,000 elephants are estimated to live in a conservation area spread over five southern African countries – Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Angola and Namibia – making the region home to one of the largest elephant po[CENSORED]tions worldwide. Farawo said the culling is also part of the country’s efforts to decongest its parks, which he said can sustain only 55,000 elephants. Zimbabwe is home to more than 84,000 elephants. “It’s an effort to decongest the parks in the face of drought,” he said. “The numbers are just a drop in the ocean because we are talking of 200 [elephants] and we are sitting on plus 84,000, which is big.” This year’s drought could kill more of Zimbabwe’s elephants. In January 2024 during the previous drought season, at least 160 elephants died in Hwange, due to water and food shortages and baking temperatures. In late 2019, more than 200 elephants died amid a lack of water. Late rains at the end of 2023 delayed crop planting and a hot, dry spell in early 2024 then caused the harvest to fail in most of the country. Zimbabwe, which has been lauded for its conservation efforts and growing its elephant po[CENSORED]tion, has also been lobbying the UN’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species to reopen the trade of ivory and live elephants. Zimbabwe has about $600,000 (£450,000) worth of ivory stockpiles that it cannot sell. Reuters contributed to this report https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/17/zimbabwe-to-cull-200-elephants-to-feed-people-facing-hunger-due-to-drought

The case has shocked France and triggered nationwide protests in support of Pelicot's ex-wife Gisele, pictured, who has become a symbol of the struggle against sexual violence in the country [Christophe Simon/AFP] Dominique Pelicot has admitted to drugging his ex-wife and recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her over nearly a decade, and is begging for his family’s forgiveness. The 71-year-old’s hearing on Tuesday, the centrepiece of one of France’s most spectacular criminal trials in recent history, had to be delayed last week due to his bad health. He faces multiple charges including rape, gang rape and privacy breaches by recording and disseminating sexual images. Pelicot appeared in court with a cane on Tuesday morning and spoke to the judge through a microphone with his lawyer saying he had taken heavy medication and was allowed to take breaks to lie down throughout the day. “I am a rapist just like all the others in this room,” he said, adding: “I ask my wife, my children, my grandchildren to accept my apologies. I regret what I did. I ask for your forgiveness, even if it is not forgivable.” The case has shocked the country and triggered nationwide protests in support of his wife Gisele, who has become a symbol of the struggle against sexual violence in France. Pelicot told the courtroom he had a difficult upbringing and had himself been a victim of rape, breaking into tears during his testimony. He said he had wanted his wife to participate in partner swaps and her refusal, together with trauma from his youth, had helped to trigger his abusive behaviour. “It became a perversion, an addiction,” he told the courtroom. Pelicot, who said he had filmed the acts of abuse as an insurance policy against the men involved, said he had been the victim of blackmail as a result of his activities. Gisele Pelicot was in the courtroom, wearing sunglasses during her former husband’s appearance on the stand. She was greeted with applause by spectators when she left during breaks. She had insisted on a public trial to expose her ex-husband and the other men accused of raping her. “For 50 years, I lived with a man who I would never have imagined was capable of these acts of rape,” she said. Gisele Pelicot began divorce proceedings after meeting with investigators over the case. Prosecutors have said Dominique Pelicot, who was initially arrested after filming up a woman’s skirt in a supermarket, offered sex with his then-wife on a website called Coco and filmed the abuse. In addition to Pelicot, 50 other men, currently aged 26 to 74, are also on trial on rape charges in the southern city of Avignon. Pelicot has said a total of 72 men participated in the abuse of his then-wife. While some of the defendants admitted guilt to the investigators, others have said they believed they were enacting a couple’s fantasy and that Gisele Pelicot had in fact consented to sex. Investigators found 300 photographs and a video of the acts and filed them in folders, including one titled “Abuse,” according to a court document. Gisele Pelicot told investigators that she had suffered from memory lapses and had consulted a gynaecologist for unexplained pains. The trial is set to last through December. If found guilty, the defendants face up to 20 years in jail. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/17/i-am-a-rapist-french-man-admits-to-drugging-and-mass-rape-of-his-ex-wife

Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with a group of students in Tehran, Iran on November 2, 2022 [Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA/Handout via Reuters] On August 14, two weeks after the assassination of Hamas’s politburo head Ismail Haniyeh, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said: “Non-tactical retreat leads to the wrath of God.” He was speaking to officials from the National Congress of Martyrs of the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, in the midst of international speculation about whether Iran would respond to an assassination in its own capital that it blamed on Israel. Many assumed it was a vow to take action against Israel, but others interpreted it differently – a suggestion that Iran’s failure to respond was, in fact, tactical because too much would be at stake. Retaliation If retaliation is planned, the question is, when will Iran retaliate, how, and what has held it back so far? And if Khamenei’s words were to use “tactical retreat” to justify not responding, the question is why. The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh revealed significant flaws in the Iranian intelligence and security apparatus, responsible for Haniyeh’s protection. That failure also highlighted vulnerabilities in Iran’s intelligence operations, so it has to clean house to be ready for Israel’s response to any retaliatory move it makes. That the region is teetering on the knife’s edge of possible all-out war is something countless analysts have pointed out, a serious possibility that Iran has to be ready for even as it calibrates its international moves to avoid just that. Building new architecture Iran is trying to acquire new deterrence for a conventional war, building on the lessons it learned during its last all-out war. The year after Iran’s 1979 revolution, which marked a radical break from the West, Iraq invaded Iran with the support of the West, kicking off the Iran-Iraq War. The conflict lasted eight years, leaving Iran devastated economically and socially. The exact number of casualties is unknown, but some believe the war with Iraq cost nearly a million Iranian lives, shattering hundreds of thousands of families. The trauma of that war continues to shape Iran as a state and Iranians as a people, and the ruling elite established a security architecture based on one clear goal: no more all-out war at any cost. Iran relied on its proxies after the United States invasion of Iraq, but now it needs a new mindset and tremendous resources to set its next steps, which may be why it has refrained from a severe escalation so far, despite Israel’s provocations. Israel unleashed its military machine on the besieged Gaza Strip in October, in ostensible retaliation for a Hamas-led attack on Israel during which 1,139 people were killed and about 250 taken captive. It now seems to be trying to build on that momentum and eliminate those it sees as regional rivals, namely Hezbollah and Iran. Iranians hold posters of assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during his funeral in Tehran on August 1, 2024 [Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters] A direct attack on Iran that violates its red lines would push it to respond militarily, while any deterioration in its network of allied groups could mean a degradation of its regional clout. In addition, a conventional war with Israel could well escalate into direct conflict with the US, which would come at a cost Iran cannot pay. Iran’s security architecture The invasion of Iraq by the US in 2003 was an opportunity as well as a security threat for Iran. The opportunity was the removal of Iran’s archenemy, Sadam Hussein, then president of Iraq. The threat was the belief that once the US concluded its invasion of Iraq, it would shift its focus to Iran. Tehran developed a security architecture to eliminate this threat, creating more proxies to keep the US busy in Iraq, act as a deterrent against the US in case of an escalation, and preserve Iran’s interests in Iraq. More than 20 years later, Tehran’s presence and influence in Iraq have made it a kingmaker and a parallel state, indirectly approving new governments in Iraq. Iranian proxies, namely the Hashd al-Shaabi (Po[CENSORED]r Mobilisation Forces or PMF), are now also part of the Iraqi army and most Shia parties in the coalition government have direct links with Iran. When the Arab Spring of 2011 sparked demonstrations in Syria that descended into violence, Iran mobilised its proxies into Syria to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and safeguard its regional interests. The Arab Spring also led to change in Yemen, where, after the deposition of then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Iran-aligned Houthis gradually took control of much of the country. Qassem Soleimani, the well-known commander of Iran’s Quds Force, was the face and command of these resistance groups. His security architecture, built on proxies, was effective from 2004 until 2020, when it was time for “hybrid war” – a long-term, low-intensity war of attrition, tactical attacks, and indirect conflicts. In 2020, the US assassinated Soleimani in Baghdad, after which Iran is said to have given more autonomy to its proxies to distance itself from any liability they may pose and to avoid a focus on one central heroic figurehead, remaining as a regulator rather than a control centre that directly controls the proxies. Then came the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which ended the era of hybrid war as a potential conventional war loomed. What are Iran’s red lines? This satellite image shows a nuclear site in Isfahan, Iran on April 4, 2024 [Planet Labs PBC via AP] Until then, it will maintain its so-called “strategic patience” to protect what it considers its red lines, including economic lifelines like oil and gas facilities, ports and dams, its territorial integrity, and the safety of its head of state. Iran’s “strategic patience” is directly linked to its capacity-building work – nuclear, military, intelligence, economic and technological – which it has maintained without any major interruptions. In response to each wave of sanctions since the early 1990s and attacks on its assets or key figures, Iran has stepped up its capacity, particularly in nuclear activities and missile programmes. Iran’s reaction to Haniyeh’s assassination could well be a similar acceleration of capacity-building, using its proxies as temporary tactical deterrents while focusing on its nuclear programme – the ultimate deterrent. An all-out war would increase the risk to these temporary deterrents and to its ultimate – and nuclear – deterrent at home. However, Israel, not Iran, will influence how the story unfolds. Tel Aviv, not Tehran, will decide whether Iran’s response is “appropriate”, with the assurance of “ironclad” US backing. This ambiguity is what causes Iran to think twice before acting. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/17/can-iran-restore-deterrence-against-israel-while-avoiding-an-all-out-war