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NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange Thursday after being recognized for the second time by Time magazine as its person of the year. Watch Trump speak at the New York Stock Exchange in the player above. The honors for the businessman-turned-politician are a measure of Trump's remarkable comeback from an ostracized former president who refused to accept his election loss four years ago to a president-elect who won the White House decisively in November. READ MORE: Trump invites China's Xi to his presidential inauguration, even as he threatens Beijing with tariffs Before he was set to ring the opening bell at 9:30 a.m., a first for him, Trump spoke at the exchange and called it "a tremendous honor." "Time Magazine, getting this honor for the second time, I think it like it better this time actually," he said. Sam Jacobs, Time's editor in chief, announced on NBC's "Today" show that Trump was Time's 2024 Person of the Year. Jacobs said Trump was someone who "for better or for worse, had the most influence on the news in 2024." "This is someone who made an historic comeback, who reshaped the American presidency and who's reordering American politics," Jacobs said. "It's hard to argue with the fact that the person who's moving into the Oval Office is the most influential person in news." He added that "there's always a hot debate" at the magazine over the honor, "although I have to admit that this year was an easier decision than years past." In an interview with the magazine published Thursday, Trump spoke about his final campaign blitz and election win. "I called it '72 Days of Fury,'" Trump said. "We hit the nerve of the country. The country was angry." Trump was on Wall Street to mark the ceremonial start of the day's trading. The Time magazine cover featuring him was projected onto a wall at the stock exchange, flanked by American flags. Trump took the...

PSNI's new gender pronoun name badges branded "woke nonsense" by DUP Policing Board memberIt looked like a recipe for disaster. So, when his country's swimmers were being accused of doping earlier this year, one Chinese official cooked up something fast. He blamed it on contaminated noodles. In fact, he argued, it could have been a culinary conspiracy concocted by criminals, whose actions led to the cooking wine used to prepare the noodles being laced with a banned heart drug that found its way into an athlete's system. This theory was spelled out to international anti-doping officials during a meeting and, after weeks of wrangling, finally made it into the thousands of pages of data handed over to the lawyer who investigated the case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for that same drug. The attorney, appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, refused to consider that scenario as he sifted through the evidence. In spelling out his reasoning, lawyer Eric Cottier paid heed to the half-baked nature of the theory. "The Investigator considers this scenario, which he has described in the conditional tense, to be possible, no less, no more," Cottier wrote. Even without the contaminated-noodles theory, Cottier found problems with the way WADA and the Chinese handled the case but ultimately determined WADA had acted reasonably in not appealing China's conclusion that its athletes had been inadvertently contaminated. Critics of the way the China case was handled can't help but wonder if a wider exploration of the noodle theory, details of which were discovered by The Associated Press via notes and emails from after the meeting where it was delivered, might have lent a different flavor to Cottier's conclusions. "There are more story twists to the ways the Chinese explain the TMZ case than a James Bond movie," said Rob Koehler, the director general of the advocacy group Global Athlete. "And all of it is complete fiction." In April, reporting from the New York Times and the German broadcaster ARD revealed that the 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine, also known as TMZ. China's anti-doping agency determined the athletes had been contaminated, and so, did not sanction them. WADA accepted that explanation, did not press the case further, and China was never made to deliver a public notice about the "no-fault findings," as is often seen in similar cases. The stock explanation for the contamination was that traces of TMZ were found in the kitchen of a hotel where the swimmers were staying. In his 58-page report, Cottier relayed some suspicions about the feasibility of that chain of events — noting that WADA's chief scientist "saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities." But without evidence to support pursuing the case, and with the chance of winning an appeal at almost nil, Cottier determined WADA's "decision not to appeal appears indisputably reasonable." A mystery remained: How did those traces of TMZ get into the kitchen? Shortly after the doping positives were revealed, the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations held a meeting on April 30 where it heard from the leader of China's agency, Li Zhiquan. Li's presentation was mostly filled with the same talking points that have been delivered throughout the saga — that the positive tests resulted from contamination from the kitchen. But he expanded on one way the kitchen might have become contaminated, harkening to another case in China involving a low-level TMZ positive. A pharmaceutical factory, he explained, had used industrial alcohol in the distillation process for producing TMZ. The industrial alcohol laced with the drug "then entered the market through illegal channels," he said. The alcohol "was re-used by the perpetrators to process and produce cooking wine, which is an important seasoning used locally to make beef noodles," Li said. "The contaminated beef noodles were consumed by that athlete, resulting in an extremely low concentration of TMZ in the positive sample. "The wrongdoers involved have been brought to justice." This new information raised eyebrows among the anti-doping leaders listening to Li's report. So much so that over the next month, several emails ensued to make sure the details about the noodles and wine made their way to WADA lawyers, who could then pass it onto Cottier. Eventually, Li did pass on the information to WADA general counsel Ross Wenzel and, just to be sure, one of the anti-doping leaders forwarded it, as well, according to the emails seen by the AP. All this came with Li's request that the noodles story be kept confidential. Turns out, it made it into Cottier's report, though he took the information with a grain of salt. "Indeed, giving it more attention would have required it to be documented, then scientifically verified and validated," he wrote. Neither Wenzel nor officials at the Chinese anti-doping agency returned messages from AP asking about the noodles conspiracy and the other athlete who Li suggested had been contaminated by them. Meanwhile, 11 of the swimmers who originally tested positive competed at the Paris Games earlier this year in a meet held under the cloud of the Chinese doping case. Though WADA considers the case closed, Koehler and others point to situations like this as one of many reasons that an investigation by someone other than Cottier, who was hired by WADA, is still needed. "It gives the appearance that people are just making things up as they go along on this, and hoping the story just goes away," Koehler said. "Which clearly it has not."

Crosslink Capital sells $2 million in Weave Communications stockIntel's interim co-CEO Zinsner says new chief executive will have foundry experienceSubstance abuse is a serious problem affecting a large number of people especially youth in Kashmir and is taxing the already existing healthcare and social systems in the region. With this alarming trend, Kashmir Observer sat down with Dr. Akhtar Purvez, an addiction specialist and physician-scientist, author. Born in Kashmir, he is currently in Lincoln Memorial University, USA, as Clinical Adjunct Professor. He brings with him a wealth of expertise in addiction medicine and health policy advocacy. On his recent visit to the Kashmir Valley, Dr. Purvez shared his opinion on the diverse realities of substance abuse, its prevalence, causes, and the urgent need for concerted action. He highlighted evidence-based strategies for prevention, education, and community support in this interesting exposé. Just recently, Dr. Purvez spent some time at the Valley discussing potentially heated topics about drug abuse. Let’s get in on this important discourse with Dr. Purvez, who throws light on the very serious situation regarding substance abuse in Kashmir and measures that can be taken to tackle such an issue. : According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM-5, a substance use disorder (SUD) is a medical condition that involves a pattern of substance use that leads to clinically significant impairment or distress. It is a chronic disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use despite adverse consequences. Here are the numbers. Worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that approximately 5.5% of the global population aged 15–64 used drugs at least once in 2020. In the United States, in 2021, about 61.2 million people aged 12 or older (21.9% of the population) used illicit drugs in the past year. In India, a 2019 survey by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment found that about 2.8% of Indians aged 10–75 years (31 million individuals) were current users of illicit drugs. In Kashmir, recent studies indicate a significant rise in substance abuse. A 2022 survey by the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS) in Srinagar revealed that Jammu and Kashmir has even surpassed Punjab, known as the drug menace capital of India. Official figures from the Jammu and Kashmir Government indicate that 41,110 affected sought treatment for drug abuse in Kashmir in 2022, nearly double the number from the previous year, which was 23,403. Substance abuse often stems from prescription medications especially drugs prescribed for chronic pain, such as opioids, can lead to dependency if misused. These include medications like codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone and morphine. Some of these are usually prescribed for short-term use for post-operative pain or after acute injuries. Then there are illicit drugs that are substances obtained from street dealers, including heroin and synthetic opioids like fentanyl. : Worldwide, WHO estimated approximately 500,000 deaths globally in 2019 due to drug use, with opioids accounting for the majority. In the United States, In 2022, there were about 107,500 overdose deaths. If we put that in perspective, that means a staggering number of almost 300 deaths PER day. That is, despite very advanced infrastructure and systems in place there to limit morbidity and mortality. In developing countries, the situation is worse. In India, specific national statistics on drug-related deaths are limited; however, the increasing prevalence of substance abuse suggests a rising trend. In Kashmir valley, while exact figures are scarce, the surge in substance abuse indicates a growing number of drug-related fatalities. : Certain substances are more frequently abused and linked to higher death rates: A common, and damaging culprit includes heroin, prescription painkillers, and synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Then there are stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine. Other groups include benzodiazepines that are often prescribed for anxiety but can be addictive. In the U.S., synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, were involved in over 70,000 overdose deaths in 2021. : Substance use poses several risks that include health complications such as cardiovascular diseases, liver damage, and mental health disorders. An overdose can potentially lead to death. In addition, there are multiple social issues such as strained relationships, unemployment, theft, and other legal issues. : While the internet may be a useful source of reliable information, it can also provide false and biased information that may be harmful. In addition, social media may provide easy access to information about the sources, availability and access to substances and drugs that might be abused. : Limited access to healthcare can lead to higher substance abuse rates due to untreated mental health issues. Individuals may turn to substances for relief. There may also be a lack of preventive services including absence of education and early intervention. In general, various forms of self-medication may result in drug resistance, especially with antibiotics. They may cause organ damage inadvertently or deliberately consumed medications such as acetaminophen like Crocin and NSAIDS like ibuprofen (Brufen). They may also lead to dependency, leading to addiction and serious health complications. A single episode, especially involving higher dose, mixed substances including alcohol may result in respiratory arrest and death. To minimize risks, patients should consult healthcare professionals before taking any medication. They should follow prescription instructions and adhere to prescribed dosages and durations. They also need to avoid sharing medications with others. In addition, we need to avoid mixing prescription medications with unknown herbs, other substances and alcohol. Effective measures are varied and include public awareness campaigns that highlight the dangers of substance abuse. We also need school programs that educate youth about drug risks. Community workshops will help provide information and support. In addition, mental health support programs would be an essential part and a cornerstone in many situations. To combat substance abuse, healthcare systems should offer accessible treatment and counseling services. Pharmacies should monitor prescription drug use and provide patient education. In many developed countries, they also have to put each patient’s prescription information into a database that is available to healthcare providers also. NGOs may run education, rehabilitation programs and support groups. Governments can implement policies to control drug distribution and fund prevention programs. For example, a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PMP or PDMP) is embedded in the system in many developed countries including in the United States. Before a prescription for a scheduled medication is prescribed, the patient’s full prescription history has to be reviewed. Media plays a role in spreading awareness and accurate information. For example, they need to play a role by producing and showing documentaries and feature movies that highlight these serious issues. Addressing substance abuse requires a multifaceted approach involving education, healthcare access, legalization and community support. Human lives are precious, and we should do everything we can to protect and preserve them. : My experience in the U.S. has profoundly shaped my understanding of addiction as a multifaceted issue involving biological, psychological and social factors. Addiction is not a moral failing but a chronic disease that requires a multidisciplinary approach, combining medical care, psychological support, and community involvement. In Kashmir, the situation is compounded by conflict and instability, which intensify stress and trauma. Many turn to substances as a coping mechanism. My work underscores the importance of early intervention, community education, and reducing stigma. Moreover, even now with the support of the private and public sector, the healthcare infrastructure in Kashmir faces significant challenges, such as limited resources and lack of access to specialized care especially in remote areas. Collaborating with local organizations to integrate mental health and addiction services into primary care could be transformative. : The substances abused in the two regions differ significantly. In the U.S., opioids, alcohol, and stimulants like methamphetamine dominate, driven by factors such as over prescription, accessibility, and synthetic drug markets. In Kashmir, the problem largely revolves around heroin, prescription drug misuse, and cannabis, with the region’s proximity to drug trafficking routes possibly playing a significant role. Societal attitudes also vary. In the U.S., addiction is increasingly viewed through a medical lens, with significant efforts toward harm reduction strategies like medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and needle exchange programs. Conversely, in Kashmir, addiction still remains highly stigmatized, which discourages individuals from seeking help. Addressing this stigma through public education and community involvement is vital. : Technology, particularly telemedicine, has immense potential to transform addiction care in Kashmir. Telemedicine platforms can connect patients with specialists for counseling, therapy, and medication management without requiring physical travel, which is often challenging in Kashmir due to its terrain and political instability. Mobile health applications can also provide educational resources, self-help tools, and virtual support groups. Additionally, telemedicine can facilitate the training of local healthcare providers in evidence-based practices, strengthening the regional capacity to combat addiction. With proper investment and infrastructure, technology can ensure care reaches even the most remote areas. : Effective addiction treatment policies should emphasize both prevention and recovery. Integrating addiction services into primary healthcare is a critical step. Training primary care providers to screen and treat addiction can make these services more accessible and reduce stigma. Community-based rehabilitation centers offering counseling, vocational training, and social reintegration programs are also essential. Moreover, trauma-informed care should be prioritized. Public-private partnerships and international collaborations can provide the funding and expertise needed to address these challenges. Robust data collection to monitor trends and outcomes is crucial for evidence-based policymaking. : Harm reduction strategies, such as naloxone distribution and syringe exchange programs, have proven to save lives in the U.S. These measures, along with MAT, which combines medication with therapy, can be adapted to Kashmir’s needs. Public education campaigns to de-stigmatize addiction, along with community support networks like Narcotics Anonymous, can help foster recovery. Finally, building specialized treatment centers and training healthcare professionals are critical steps toward creating a sustainable system for managing addiction.Crypto.com and Mastercard Collaborate to Scale the Digital Payments Industry in GCC Region

President-elect Donald Trump is trying to get the Georgia election interference case against him dismissed, asserting that the state's courts will not have jurisdiction over him once he returns to the White House next month. The Georgia case against Trump and others is mostly on hold pending a pretrial appeal of an order allowing prosecutor Fani Willis to remain on the case despite what defense attorneys say is a conflict of interest. Trump's attorneys on Wednesday filed a notice with the Georgia Court of Appeals saying a sitting president is “completely immune from indictment or any criminal process, state or federal.” The filing asks the appeals court to consider before he becomes president next month whether it has jurisdiction to continue to hear the case. It says the court should conclude that it and the trial court lack jurisdiction “as the continued indictment and prosecution of President Trump by the State of Georgia are unconstitutional.” Trump's lawyers ask that the appeals court dismiss his appeal for lack of jurisdiction and instruct the trial court to immediately dismiss the indictment against him. RELATED STORY | American foreign policy is flowing through Mar-a-Lago as Trump prepares for White House return Also Wednesday, former Trump campaign lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in the case, asked the trial court judge to invalidate that plea. Chesebro was one of four people to plead guilty in the case in the months following the indictment. Representatives for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis declined to comment on Trump's and Chesebro's requests. The Georgia case, which originally included 19 defendants and dozens of charges, was the most sprawling of four criminal cases against the once-and-future president. U.S. Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith last week told judges he was withdrawing both federal cases against Trump, citing longstanding Justice Department policy that shields a president from indictment while in office. One of those cases charged him with hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate. The other accused him of scheming to overturn the 2020 presidential election he lost. Trump on Monday asked a Manhattan judge to throw out his conviction in his hush money case , saying that continuing to pursue it would present unconstitutional “disruptions to the institution of the Presidency.“ The New York case was the only one of Trump’s four criminal indictments to go to trial, resulting in a historic verdict that made him the first former president to be convicted of a crime. In the Georgia case, Trump and some of the other remaining defendants, who have pleaded not guilty, were already seeking to have Willis removed from the prosecution or to have the indictment dismissed. They cited a romantic relationship she had with Nathan Wade , a special prosecutor she appointed to lead the case. Willis and Wade have acknowledged that they had a relationship but have said it began after he was hired and ended before the indictment against Trump was filed. Trump and other defendants argued that the relationship created a conflict of interest that should disqualify Willis and her office from continuing with her prosecution of the case. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled in March that Willis’ actions showed a “tremendous lapse in judgment,” but he did not find a conflict of interest that would disqualify Willis. He said she could continue her prosecution as long as Wade stepped aside, which he did. The appeal of that ruling remains pending but must be decided by March. Chesebro was charged in August 2023, alongside Trump and 17 others , in the sprawling indictment accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to overturn Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. He pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy count a few months later after reaching a deal with prosecutors just before he was to go to trial. His lawyer on Wednesday asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to invalidate the plea after McAfee in September tossed out the charge to which he had pleaded guilty. “In Georgia, a defendant cannot plead guilty to a charge that does not constitute a crime,” defense attorney Manny Arora wrote, adding that a failure to invalidate his plea would violate Chesebro's constitutional right to due process. Prosecutors have said Chesebro was part of a plot to have a group of 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate falsely saying that Trump had won Georgia and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. He pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents related to the the filing of that document with the federal court in Atlanta. In a September ruling, McAfee wrote that punishing someone for filing certain documents with a federal court would “enable a state to constrict the scope of materials assessed by a federal court and impair the administration of justice in that tribunal to police its own proceedings.” He concluded that the count must be quashed “as beyond the jurisdiction of this State.”

NoneDeputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan addressed the critical issue of cannabis proliferation during his visit to Bhalagarulu village in Alluri Sitarama Raju district. The address was part of a review of the implementation of government schemes in the region. Speaking at the Pinakota Panchayat gathering, Pawan Kalyan expressed grave concern over the increasing cannabis addiction among youth. "The widespread availability of cannabis is ruining young lives and fostering criminal behaviour in our society," he stated. The Deputy CM emphasised that the lure of quick money has led many individuals into the illegal drug trade, often resulting in imprisonment. To tackle this crisis, the ASR District Police has launched "Swachh Sankalpam," a comprehensive anti-drug awareness campaign. This initiative employs advanced technology, including drone cameras, to locate and destroy cannabis plantations. Additionally, the programme provides farmers with alternative crop seeds, encouraging them to abandon cannabis cultivation. The campaign adopts a holistic approach, focusing on rehabilitation and prevention. A newly established de-addiction centre at Paderu District Hospital will offer treatment for cannabis addiction. Meanwhile, skill development programmes are being implemented to create employment opportunities for tribal youth. Concluding his address, the minister urged citizens to actively participate in police awareness campaigns and fully utilise government schemes. "By staying away from drugs and engaging in productive activities, we can build a brighter future for our region," he emphasised.

A t first, in mid-November, the mysterious lights were seen blinking across the night skies of New Jersey. Then, they spread. Reports of incandescent flying objects were logged in New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Bystanders in Virginia Beach said they saw an aircraft “unlike any other they’ve seen”. Sightings have now come from as far afield as Louisiana, Florida and Arizona. People across the US are looking up. No one seems to know for certain where these enigmatic flying objects are from or who is controlling them. But several lawmakers and much of the general public seem dead-set on one answer: a swarm of drones. “The American people deserve answers as to what the hell is going on,” the representative Pat Ryan, a New York Democrat, said on Tuesday . “We’ve got a serious national security issue.” The representative Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, raised even more alarms on Saturday, attributing the “elusive maneuvering” of the drones to “major, military-power sophistication”, perhaps that of Russia, China, Iran or North Korea. On Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) banned drones from flying at all in parts of New Jersey for a month. Drone and national security experts are telling people to please calm down. They say they’re taking the matter seriously and there’s little to worry about. What appears to be happening in New Jersey right now is a perfect storm that’s coalesced around a lack of concrete information, confusion about what drones actually look like in night skies and a contagion effect. “In my experience, it was very, very common for objects in the night sky, such as manned aircraft, planets and even satellites or the International Space Station to be mistaken for a drone at night,” Tom Adams, a retired FBI special agent on the agency’s counter-unmanned aircraft team, said. A group of federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the FAA and the Department of Defense, issued a joint statement on Tuesday saying they had examined the tips from concerned citizens and assessed that the sightings are a mix of lawful drones, airplanes, helicopters and “stars mistakenly reported as drones”. Nothing about the sightings should cause alarm, the agencies said. “We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the north-east,” they added. People started reporting the drones in the skies over northern New Jersey just before Thanksgiving, one of the busiest travel times of the year in the US. People said the aerial objects appeared to be hovering in formation and returned night after night. “We’re all completely unnerved,” one local resident, Julie Shavalier, told NBC News in early December, saying she repeatedly saw the lights floating in the sky up through dawn. “I didn’t sleep last night.” More people in the north-east started going out after dark and gazing at the sky – and more supposed drone sightings racked up. The FBI said it’s gotten more than 5,000 reports over the last few weeks; only about 100 required further investigation. The New York City police department said it received 120 calls just last weekend, more than in the whole month of November. The timing of the sightings coincides with air traffic delays at nearby Newark airport , which can lead to longer in-air holding patterns, and a bustling holiday season in a region packed with airports. What many people in New Jersey are actually seeing are those airplane holding patterns, said Will Austin, president of Warren County Community College, which specializes in drone training programs. “Much like that old saying: ‘To a hammer, the whole world’s a nail.’ Well, in New Jersey right now ... to the person on the ground staring intensely at the sky, every light is a drone,” said Austin. The retired FBI agent, Adams, agreed. He’s now the director of public safety for DroneShield, which provides counter-drone defense systems. “With some of the hysteria going on, I think there’s some misidentification of those types of activities as ‘Hey, here comes a drone swarm’ or ‘There’s a swarm of drones flying over the ocean’, when it’s just a lot of aircraft stacked up to land at JFK [airport],” Adams said. Night skies can be deceiving, many drone experts say. In the dark, there’s an optical illusion that makes it hard to tell whether an object is close or far away. “I spent 30 years flying a helicopter in the navy,” said John Slaughter, director of the University of Maryland’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research and Operations Center. “And I’ll tell you, if it’s 100 metres away or if it’s 40 miles away, you don’t know how far that is.” “People are seeing lights in the night sky – that’s the only fact we really know,” he said. Slaughter said people are still likely seeing drones, but it’s not the mass swarms being reported. Around 1 million drones are registered with the FAA nationwide, and on an average day about 8,500 are in flight, according to the Department of Defense . Drones and airplanes can have the same combinations of red, green and white light systems, making it difficult to distinguish between them at night, especially without an indication of distance. Sign up to TechScape A weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our lives after newsletter promotion Last weekend, drones were spotted hovering near the Wright-Patterson air force base in Ohio. Officials said the base wasn’t affected, but they did close the airspace for nearly four hours. This also happened at Boston’s Logan airport, which ended in the arrest of two men , and at New York’s Steward airfield. Federal security officials have maintained that they’re taking drone sightings seriously but have offered little information about what exactly is going on, frustrating local lawmakers and residents. “Security officials always walk a thin line between offering too much information, which could highlight vulnerabilities, and too little, which can stoke undue fear,” said Brett Feddersen, chair of the counter-uncrewed aircraft systems working group for the Security Industry Association. “I think the US government initially underestimated the public concern and did not offer the right information.” Feddersen said that it’s gotten better over the last couple of days. The FAA temporarily grounded all drones in parts of New Jersey and created a “what to know about drones” page . Federal agencies have held press conferences and released statements outlining what they’re doing to track the drones. And homeland security said it had deployed an advanced drone-detection radar to New Jersey, according to the New York Times , and it hasn’t yet found anything out of the ordinary. “The vast majority of these drones are going to probably be recreational or hobbyist,” said air force Maj Gen Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, on Tuesday . It’s possible some could be up to malign activities, he continued, “but for the vast majority that is not the case”. Slaughter, from the University of Maryland, said that, in the drone world, people talk about threats with “the three C’s”. “You’ve got the clueless, the careless and the criminal,” Slaughter said. “The vast majority just don’t even know they’re doing something wrong – that’s the clueless. Then you have a group of people who understand they’re doing something wrong and just don’t care ... And then you’ve got this tiny, tiny little group of people who’s doing something criminal, dropping contraband into a prison, that kind of thing.” One way to tell the difference between a drone and an airplane is how they fly, Slaughter said. The drones people see are known as multi-copters, which have several rotors that let them take off and land vertically and take quick sharp turns. “Aircraft can’t do that,” Slaughter said. “They move in a very smooth and straight, steady way.” James McDanolds, a drone expert who teaches at the Sonoran Desert Institute, said there are apps, like Drone Scanner, that are helpful in identifying drones. He advises people to check these before calling the police. Other apps like Flightradar24 show nearby airplanes. McDanolds said he was driving in north-eastern Pennsylvania last week and thought he saw a drone. He pulled over and checked Flightradar24. No immediate aircraft appeared. After studying the flying object, he concluded it was likely a drone. “People are definitely sighting drones,” McDanolds said. “But, by checking those tools ... it helps diminish a lot of calls that go into law enforcement that may have just been a manned aircraft.” As security officials have tried to tamp down worries, Donald Trump weighed in on the drone drama last week. “Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge,” he wrote on Truth Social . “I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!” Other elected officials, including Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic senator from Connecticut, and Jeff Van Drew, the Republican representative from New Jersey, have also called for the drones to be shot down . Drone experts say that’s a bad idea. Not only is it illegal, but it could put the public at risk of falling debris. Austin, from Warren County Community College, said that if someone were up to nefarious deeds, they probably wouldn’t turn the drone’s lights on. “I’m going to go completely in pitch-dark, probably paint my drone black,” he said. “You’re never going to know I’m out there.” Austin says the fact that airports have been shut down because of drone sightings is actually a good sign. It means the FAA caught something that was violating controlled airspace and took it seriously enough to temporarily ground planes. He says that if swarms of drones were actually near sensitive locations, the public would know about it. “I feel for the people at the FAA,” Austin said. “They’ve created the safest airspace in the history of the United States, but like everybody else, they can’t prove a negative.”

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NEW YORK (AP) — Brian Thompson led one of the biggest health insurers in the U.S. but was unknown to millions of people his decisions affected. Then Wednesday's targeted fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk thrust the executive and his business into the national spotlight. Thompson, who was 50, had worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group Inc for 20 years and run the insurance arm since 2021 after running its Medicare and retirement business. As CEO, Thompson led a firm that provides health coverage to more than 49 million Americans — more than the population of Spain. United is the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, the privately run versions of the U.S. government’s Medicare program for people age 65 and older. The company also sells individual insurance and administers health-insurance coverage for thousands of employers and state-and federally funded Medicaid programs. The business run by Thompson brought in $281 billion in revenue last year, making it the largest subsidiary of the Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group. His $10.2 million annual pay package, including salary, bonus and stock options awards, made him one of the company's highest-paid executives. The University of Iowa graduate began his career as a certified public accountant at PwC and had little name recognition beyond the health care industry. Even to investors who own its stock, the parent company's face belonged to CEO Andrew Witty, a knighted British triathlete who has testified before Congress. When Thompson did occasionally draw attention, it was because of his role in shaping the way Americans get health care. At an investor meeting last year, he outlined his company's shift to “value-based care,” paying doctors and other caregivers to keep patients healthy rather than focusing on treating them once sick. “Health care should be easier for people,” Thompson said at the time. “We are cognizant of the challenges. But navigating a future through value-based care unlocks a situation where the ... family doesn’t have to make the decisions on their own.” Thompson also drew attention in 2021 when the insurer, like its competitors, was widely criticized for a plan to start denying payment for what it deemed non-critical visits to hospital emergency rooms. “Patients are not medical experts and should not be expected to self-diagnose during what they believe is a medical emergency,” the chief executive of the American Hospital Association wrote in an open letter addressed to Thompson. “Threatening patients with a financial penalty for making the wrong decision could have a chilling effect on seeking emergency care.” United Healthcare responded by delaying rollout of the change. Thompson, who lived in a Minneapolis suburb and was the married father of two sons in high school, was set to speak at an investor meeting in a midtown New York hotel. He was on his own and about to enter the building when he was shot in the back by a masked assailant who fled on foot before pedaling an e-bike into Central Park a few blocks away, the New York Police Department said. Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said investigators were looking at Thompson's social media accounts and interviewing employees and family members. “Didn’t seem like he had any issues at all,” Kenny said. "He did not have a security detail.” AP reporters Michael R. Sisak and Steve Karnowski contributed to this report. Murphy reported from Indianapolis. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Be the first to know

Mid-inclination orbit provides more SAR-imaging opportunities at middle latitudes of the globe for ICEYE customers. HELSINKI, Finland , Dec. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- ICEYE, the global leader in SAR satellite operations for Earth Observation and persistent monitoring, announced today that it has launched two new satellites to its constellation of SAR satellites. Both satellites expand the availability of ICEYE's latest imaging technology to deliver additional 25 cm imaging capacity. The satellites were integrated via Exolaunch and launched as part of the Bandwagon-2 rideshare mission with SpaceX from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA . Both satellites have established communication, and early routine operations are underway. With today's launch, ICEYE has successfully launched 40 satellites into orbit since 2018, with nine satellites launched in 2024 alone. The new SAR satellites were launched into mid-inclination orbits; compared to a polar orbit, these mid-inclination orbits provide more than twice the collection opportunities at middle latitudes of the globe. ICEYE customers have many areas of interest in these middle latitudes (+/- 45 degrees), and these customers will benefit from increased persistence over these regions. Customers with imaging interests outside these middle latitudes will continue to benefit from the frequent revisit enabled by ICEYE's dozens of satellites in polar orbits. ICEYE's unique mix of mid-inclination and polar orbits provides its customers with deep revisit capabilities for targets all around the globe. The new satellites will serve ICEYE's commercial missions as part of the world's largest SAR satellite constellation owned and operated by ICEYE. Rafal Modrzewski , CEO and Co-founder of ICEYE said: "This launch marks another significant milestone in ICEYE's ability to provide our customers with a rich diversity of collection opportunities. We bolster our industry-leading SAR constellation and expand our customers' collection opportunities in the areas most important to them." Today's launch is another step forward in ICEYE's steady drumbeat of innovative breakthroughs in Earth Observation. This year alone, ICEYE has, for example, introduced Dwell Precise, a new 25 cm imaging mode that offers its customers the highest-fidelity 25cm imaging capability, and adds advanced capability to ICEYE's line of Dwell products; launched an API that allows customers to directly task its SAR satellite constellation; and launched ICEYE Ocean Vision to provide actionable intelligence for maritime domain awareness. About ICEYE ICEYE delivers unparalleled persistent monitoring capabilities to detect and respond to changes in any location on Earth, faster and more accurately than ever before. Owning the world's largest synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, ICEYE provides objective, near real-time insights, ensuring that customers have unmatched access to actionable high-quality data, day or night, even in challenging environmental conditions. As a trusted partner to governments and commercial industries, ICEYE delivers intelligence in sectors such as insurance, natural catastrophe response and recovery, security, maritime monitoring, and finance, enabling decision-making that contributes to community resilience and sustainable development. ICEYE operates internationally with offices in Finland , Poland , Spain , the UK, Australia , Japan , UAE, Greece , and the US. We have more than 700 employees, inspired by the shared vision of improving life on Earth by becoming the global source of truth in Earth Observation. Media contact: press@iceye.com Visit www.iceye.com and follow ICEYE on LinkedIn and X for the latest updates and insights. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/iceye-expands-its-earth-observation-capabilities-with-launch-of-two-sar-satellites-for-mid-inclination-orbit-on-the-bandwagon-2-mission-with-spacex-302337876.html SOURCE ICEYEFormer prime minister Gordon Brown has declared his opposition to legalising assisted dying, which will soon be debated by MPs. The former Labour PM said the death of his newborn daughter in 2002 did “not convince me of the case for assisted dying; it convinced me of the value and imperative of good end-of-life care”. In a rare intervention ahead of the Commons debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on Friday, November 29, Mr Brown shared a glimpse of the time he and his wife Sarah spent with their baby, Jennifer, who died when she was only 11 days old. Writing in the Guardian newspaper, Mr Brown said: “We could only sit with her, hold her tiny hand and be there for her as life ebbed away. She died in our arms. “But those days we spent with her remain among the most precious days of my and Sarah’s lives.” While he acknowledged that at the heart of the assisted dying debate is a “desire to prevent suffering”, the former Labour MP called for a commission on end-of-life care to be set up, instead of the law change which MPs will consider. This commission, he said, should work to create a “fully-funded, 10-year strategy for improved and comprehensive palliative care”. “When only a small fraction of the population are expected to choose assisted dying, would it not be better to focus all our energies on improving all-round hospice care to reach everyone in need of end of life support?” he said. Mr Brown added: “Medical advances that can transform end-of-life care and the horror of people dying alone, as with Covid, have taught us a great deal. “This generation have it in our power to ensure no-one should have to face death alone, uncared for, or subject to avoidable pain.” Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP sponsoring the assisted dying Bill through the Commons, said she was “deeply touched” by Mr Brown’s decision to share his story. The Spen Valley MP said she agreed completely with his calls for better end-of-life care. But Ms Leadbeater added: “He and I agree on very many things but we don’t agree on this. “Only legislation by Parliament can put right what Sir Keir Starmer calls the ‘injustice that we have trapped within our current arrangement’. “The need to address the inability of the current law to provide people with safeguards against coercion and the choice of a better death, and to protect their loved ones from possible prosecution, cannot wait. “So for me it isn’t a case of one or the other. My Bill already includes the need for the Government to report back to Parliament on the availability and quality of palliative care, and I strongly support further detailed examination of its provision. We need to do both.” Though Ms Leadbeater made reference to the Prime Minister as she set out her difference from Mr Brown’s position, Sir Keir has opted not to say whether he will support the Bill. MPs will be given a free vote on the legislation, meaning their political parties will not require them to vote for or against it, and it will be a matter for their personal consideration. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is the latest senior minister to disclose her position on assisted dying, signalling to broadcasters on Friday that she may support the Bill. “I continue to support the principle of needing change but also to ensure that we’ve got the proper safeguards and systems in place,” she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. Asked if that meant a “yes” when the Bill comes to the Commons, she replied: “I think I last voted on this about 20 years ago and so I have supported the principle in the past and continue to believe that change is needed but we do need to have that debate on the detail and I’ll continue to follow that debate next Friday.”