Special counsel moves to dismiss election interference case against Donald TrumpNITDA warns Nigerians on cybersecurity risks linked to SpotifyWhen COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev stepped to the podium at the closing meeting of the Baku climate summit on Sunday morning, hoping to clinch a hard-fought agreement on global climate finance, he carried with him two speeches. One was crafted around a hoped-for deal being struck, while the other for the possibility of a summit-collapsing impasse, according to two sources familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. One of the sources — a person in the COP29 presidency — told Reuters that they worked through challenging negotiations until the last minute to ensure what it called the Baku Breakthrough, but still prepared different versions of the final speech for different possible outcomes. In the end, Babayev managed to gavel through the $300 billion finance plan to help developing nations cope with the soaring costs of global warming over the next decade before critics had time to object, allowing him to read the more positive speech. He praised the agreement as a breakthrough and shamed the deal’s doubters as “wrong,” even as many of the climate deal’s intended recipients slammed it as woefully inadequate . Babayev’s preparation for different outcomes at the divisive summit in the Caspian Sea nation of Azerbaijan reflected what many in the audience had already known before it began: the Baku climate talks were never going to go smoothly. Expectations for a deal were depressed by worries of a looming U.S. withdrawal from global climate cooperation, geopolitical turmoil, and a rise of isolationist politics that had shunted climate change off much of the world’s top priorities list. Those obstacles loomed large in Baku and will continue to overshadow global climate efforts in the months ahead as Brazil prepares for next year’s much broader conference in the Amazon rainforest city of Belem — where the world will plot a years-long course for steeper emission cuts and building resilience in the fight against climate change. “Multilateralism as a whole is under threat,” said Eliot Whittington, chief systems change officer at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. “Indeed, the UNFCCC is probably the bright spot — proving that even in the face of incredibly hostile geopolitics and on fundamentally difficult questions, a deal can be made,” he said, referring to the U.N. body sponsoring the annual climate summit. But the slow pace of progress, with global emissions still rising, has raised tensions and calls for reform. “This is something that needs to be looked at, when just a handful of countries, based on their own economic interests, can almost wreck the entire process,” Sierra Leone Environment Minister Jiwoh Abdulai told Reuters. Trump effect Among the biggest factors clouding the negotiations in Baku was the looming return of climate skeptic Donald Trump as president of the United States, the world’s biggest economy, largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases, and top producer of oil and gas. Trump, who takes office in January, has pledged to withdraw the United States from the global Paris Agreement on climate change, as he did during his first 2017-2021 term in the White House, and has called climate change a hoax. Negotiators at the Baku conference said that while the U.S. delegation had helped in coming up with the climate finance deal, the country was unable to take a high-profile leadership role like it has in past climate summits, and it could not provide assurances the next administration would honor its pledges. “With the United States, well, the voters have voted and that’s the way it is. What they’re going to do, we do not know,” South African Environment Minister Dion George said. U.S. officials at the COP29 conference sought to reassure global partners that market forces, existing federal subsidies, and state mandates would ensure continued renewable energy deployment even if Trump disengages from the global process. The war in Ukraine and rising conflict in the Middle East, meanwhile, have diverted global attention to security and energy availability, and led many governments to tighten their purse strings, experts said. That made getting a bigger climate finance number hard, observers to the talks said. “Even maintaining climate finance at current levels in the current political environment is a huge fight,” said Joe Thwaites, senior advocate on international climate finance at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. The agreement to provide $300 billion annually by 2035 would theoretically triple rich countries’ previous commitments to provide $100 billion by 2020. That earlier goal was reached in full only in 2022, and expires in 2025. The unwillingness of wealthy countries to offer more money and the pressure to conclude even a weak deal ahead of more political turbulence became a major source of frustration for the least developed countries and small island states, who told the Baku conference they felt sidelined in the negotiations. At one point in the summit’s final stretch, negotiating blocs representing both groups walked out of talks in protest, delaying a deal by hours. “We came in good faith, with the safety of our communities and the well-being of the world at heart,” Tina Stege, the climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, said at the closing plenary. “Yet, we have seen the very worst of political opportunism here at this COP, playing games with the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people.” India’s envoy, Chandni Raina, used her time to roundly reject the climate finance deal gaveled through by Babayev. “We are disappointed in the outcome which clearly brings out the unwillingness of the developed country parties to fulfil their responsibilities,” she told the summit. Climate advocates said that, while the deal is better than an outright impasse, the rifts exposed by the conference as well as the loss of trust in the process among poorer countries will pose a problem for Brazil as it prepares for COP30. “I think this is a toxic chalice for Belem, and it’s going to be up to Brazil how they’re going to restore the trust,” said Oscar Sorria, director of the Common Initiative, a think tank focused on global financial reform.
Trump won about 2.5M more votes this year than he did in 2020. This is where he did it
Imran Khan's supporters arrive near Pakistan parliament; govt calls in army
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — KyKy Tandy scored 21 points and Florida Atlantic pulled away late in the second half to beat Oklahoma State 86-78 on Thursday in the Charleston Classic. It was the second straight loss by a Power Four team in the tournament after Miami fell to Drake in the opener. Florida Atlantic (4-2) plays the Bulldogs in the semifinals on Friday, while Oklahoma State (3-1) battles the Hurricanes in a consolation game. Leland Walker completed a three-point play with 4:38 left in the second half to give FAU its first lead, 68-67, since it was 16-14. Tandy made a 3-pointer from the corner to cap FAU’s 11-1 run for a 75-68 lead with 2:41 left. Oklahoma State went five-plus minutes without a field goal late in the second half until Brandon Newman made a fast-break layup with 1:17 remaining. But Ken Evans Jr. answered with a three-point play at the other end for a nine-point lead. The Cowboys turned it over on their next possession with 52.3 seconds left. Evans finished with 13 points, Walker scored 12 and Tre Carroll had 10 for FAU. The Owls attempted 49 free throws leading to three Oklahoma State players fouling out and three others finishing with four fouls. Khalil Brantley had 16 points and Robert Jennings II scored a career-high 14 points to go with 11 rebounds for Oklahoma State. Patrick Suemnick was helped off the floor with 1:40 left in the first half and did not return. Oklahoma State led 39-34 at halftime despite making just 33.3% of its shots. FAU shot a better percentage from the field (47.8) than at the free-throw line (46.7) in the first half. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketballAntibiotic Warning Issued Amid Rise in Global Use
FIUGGI, Italy — Foreign ministers from the world’s leading industrialized nations expressed cautious optimism Monday about possible progress on a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The top diplomats met for the final time before a new U.S. administration takes office with wars raging in the Mideast and Ukraine. “Knock on wood,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said as he opened the Group of Seven meeting outside Rome. “We are perhaps close to a ceasefire in Lebanon,” he said. “Let’s hope it’s true and that there’s no backing down at the last-minute.” A ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon was foremost on the agenda of the G7 meeting in Fiuggi, outside Rome, that gathered ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, in the last G7 encounter of the Biden administration. For the first time, the G7 ministers were joined by their counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, the so-called “Arab Quintet,” as well as the Secretary General of the Arab League. “Everyone favors a ceasefire in both scenarios,” Tajani told reporters, adding that Italy had offered to take on an even greater peacekeeping role in Lebanon to oversee any ceasefire deal. As the ministers arrived in Italy, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Mike Herzog, told Israeli Army Radio on Monday a ceasefire deal to end fighting between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah could be reached “within days.” Several Arab ministers reiterated calls for a ceasefire in both Lebanon and Gaza during a G7-affiliated conference in Rome. “We need a ceasefire, a permanent ceasefire. That will stop the killings and stop the destruction and restore a sense of normalcy to life,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told the conference. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, for his part, reaffirmed that Cairo would host a minister-level conference next Monday on mobilizing international aid for Gaza. The so-called “Quintet” has been working with the U.S. to finalize a “day after” plan for Gaza. There is some urgency to make progress before the Trump administration takes over in January. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to pursue a policy that strongly favors Israel over the aspirations of the Palestinians. Tajani added another item to the G7 agenda last week after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief. Italy is a founding member of the court and hosted the 1998 Rome conference that gave birth to it. But Italy’s right-wing government has been a strong supporter of Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, while also providing humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza. The Italian government has taken a cautious line, reaffirming its support and respect for the court but expressing concern that the warrants were politically motivated. The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has called the warrants “outrageous.” Tajani acknowledged consensus hadn’t been reached among the G7 members but hoped for agreement to have a unified position. He noted that all sides need Netanyahu to make any deal. “We can also not agree with how his government has led the reaction after the massacre of Oct. 7, but now we have to deal with Netanyahu to arrive at peace in Lebanon, peace in Palestine,” Tajani said. Nathalie Tocci, director of the Rome-based Institute for International Affairs think tank, warned that inserting the ICC warrant into the G7 agenda was risky, since the U.S. is the lone member that is not a signatory to the court and yet tends to dictate the G7 line. “If Italy and the other (five G7) signatories of the ICC are unable to maintain the line on international law, they will not only erode it anyway but will be acting against our interests,” Tocci wrote in La Stampa daily this weekend, recalling Italy’s recourse to international law in demanding protection for Italian U.N. peacekeepers who have come under fire in southern Lebanon. The other major talking point of the G7 meeting is Ukraine , and tensions have only heightened since Russia attacked Ukraine last week with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strike was retaliation for Kyiv’s use of U.S. and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory. The G7 has been at the forefront of providing military and economic support for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and G7 members are particularly concerned about how a Trump administration will change the U.S. approach. Trump has criticized the billions of dollars that the Biden administration has poured into Ukraine and has said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. “It’s hugely important that this G7, that all colleagues across the G7 continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it lasts,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said as he arrived. He announced new sanctions on vessels of Russia’s “shadow fleet” of ships that are evading sanctions to export Russian oil. “And we are confident that Ukraine can have the funds and the military equipment and kit to get through 2025,” Lammy said. The G7 foreign ministers’ meeting, the second of the Italian presidency after ministers gathered in Capri in April , is being held in the medieval town of Fiuggi southeast of Rome, best known for its thermal spas. On Monday, which coincides with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, ministers were attending the inauguration of a red bench meant to symbolize Italy’s focus on fighting gender-based violence. Over the weekend, tens of thousands of people marched in Rome to protest gender-based violence , which in Italy so far this year has claimed the lives of 99 women, according to a report last week by the Eures think tank.CYPRESS LAKE, Fla. (AP) — Kam Craft and Peter Suder both had 18 points in Miami (OH)'s 70-58 victory against Siena on Monday. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * CYPRESS LAKE, Fla. (AP) — Kam Craft and Peter Suder both had 18 points in Miami (OH)'s 70-58 victory against Siena on Monday. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? CYPRESS LAKE, Fla. (AP) — Kam Craft and Peter Suder both had 18 points in Miami (OH)’s 70-58 victory against Siena on Monday. Craft added five rebounds for the RedHawks (3-2). Suder shot 7 of 9 from the floor, including 1 for 3 from 3-point range, and 3 for 3 from the line. Eian Elmer shot 4 for 8 (2 for 4 from 3-point range) and 5 of 5 from the free-throw line to finish with 15 points. The Saints (3-3) were led by Major Freeman, who recorded 15 points. Brendan Coyle added 12 points for Siena. Justice Shoats had 12 points. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar. Advertisement
Peering Into Ally Financial's Recent Short Interest
VANCOUVER — A Federal Court judge has dismissed an appeal by a “deeply religious” British Columbia health executive who said he was wrongfully denied employment insurance after being fired three years ago for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Darold Sturgeon was fired as executive director of medical affairs for Interior Health in November 2021 after refusing to get the vaccine based on his Christian beliefs. He applied for employment insurance benefits but was denied due to being fired for “misconduct,” with appeals to two levels of the Social Security Tribunal also failing, leading him to seek a judicial review in Federal Court in August 2023. The ruling says Sturgeon believed the tribunal should have examined his assertion under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that the term “misconduct” did not apply to his case “because he was exercising his freedom of religion.” Justice William Pentney says “recent, abundant and unanimous case law” defined a specific and narrow role for the tribunal’s appeal divisions, focusing on an employee’s conduct, and not justification for and employer’s policies or compliance with the Charter. The ruling says Sturgeon’s appeal fell “outside the mandate” of the tribunal and he could have challenged Interior Health’s mandatory vaccine police “through other avenues.” These included advancing a Charter claim, lodging a wrongful dismissal suit or labour grievance, or complaining to the British Columbia Human Rights Commission. “The point is, there were other avenues available to pursue the Charter question; this decision does not cut off the only avenue of relief,” the ruling says. It added of Sturgeon, who represented himself, that “no one has doubted that he acted based on his understanding of his religious obligations,” and that he had “ably advanced his arguments.” “However, despite his sincere and thoughtful arguments, the binding jurisprudence requires that I find against him,” the ruling says. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2024. Darryl Greer, The Canadian PressRichmond BCIT graduate receives outstanding leadership award
The Witcher 4 Is Now in "Full-Scale Production" - IGN Daily Fix In today's Daily Fix:CD Project's long-in-development The Witcher 4 game is now in "full-scale production," which the company has described as the most intense phase of game development. No other details around the game have been revealed, so we're left with just a couple of teaser images. CDPR's other projects, including another Witcher game and a new Cyberpunk entry, are still in development. In other news, Xbox is killing off the Xbox Avatars with the shutdown of the Avatar Editor app. Basically, no one was using them, and if you happened to have purchased any avatar accessories via the online store recently, you may be entitled to a refund. And finally, Amazon has released a teaser for the Concord-centric episode of Secret Level. The game may be no more, but it will live on in at least one more piece of media.
Most Americans have a negative view of Congress and see it as stagnant, and that’s got some Democratic lawmakers wanting to change America’s winner-takes-all electoral system to one based on proportional representation. According to a report by NOTUS, Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Jared Golden—each of whom recently won reelection in traditionally red districts—have proposed a task force to look at implementing nonpartisan open primaries, establishing independent redistricting commissions, introducing multimember districts that reflect a party’s share of the vote, and expanding the House of Representatives beyond its current 435 members. The task force aims to be equally bipartisan. It would meet for a year, hold public hearings, and provide final recommendations to Congress and the president. In the U.S.’s current system, the House candidate who receives the majority of the vote in a general election wins the entire district. This tends to favor two major opposing parties since smaller parties lack a geographical base and find it difficult to win seats. “My seat was drawn to be a red seat,” Gluesenkamp Perez told NOTUS in an interview, arguing that when members of Congress have guaranteed seats, they become complacent and out of touch. “We need that competition,” she said. “We need that urgency.” The system she and Golden are proposing to study would more closely resemble those in Italy, Germany, and New Zealand. And these lawmakers argue that proportional reform like this would allow Americans to be more accurately represented in Congress, reduce the influence of extremists, and create space for more than two political parties. Unlike the U.S.’s current system, proportional representation would ensure that the number of seats a party wins in Congress corresponds to the percentage of votes it receives in an election. This would mean shifting from single-member districts to multimember districts. For example, if a party secured 30% of the vote, a proportional system would grant them 30% of the seats. If a party won 50% of the vote, it would receive 50% of the seats, and if a party captured 20% of the vote, it would receive 20% of the seats in Congress, and so on. Advocates argue that this approach would foster a healthier democracy. Lindsey Cormack, a political scientist at the Stevens Institute of Technology and the author “How to Raise a Citizen,” told Daily Kos that a proportional representation, particularly one with open primaries that allow all voters to participate regardless of party affiliation, could help combat the rise of polarizing candidates. Proportional representation achieves this by adding more seats within districts and providing room for more political parties. “It’s a check against political extremism,” Cormack said, adding that it allows for “more voices that don’t as strongly identify with the party.” Under a proportional system, extremists would represent only the percentage of the district they won rather than representing the entire district. This system would better reflect the actual number of votes each political party receives in an election. The resulting elected body would more accurately represent the diversity of America by encouraging the rise of multiple political parties instead of the two dominant parties—Democratic and Republican—that currently monopolize politics. In 2021, Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia reintroduced the Fair Representation Act, a bill originally introduced in 2017 that sought to implement a nationwide system of ranked-choice voting, independent redistricting commissions, and multimember districts. Eight other House Democrats co-sponsored the legislation, but the bill never advanced out of committee. Two years later, the liberal Center for American Progress published an in-depth look at the merits of many of the reforms Gluesenkamp Perez and Golden are now proposing. The article emphasized that the current system's setup can “discourage problem-solving and reward conflict” and “impede representation” of moderates in Congress. Another hurdle for reform is that Congress wants to keep their jobs. “Political incumbents—whether elected politicians, political parties, or allied interest groups—tend to resist changes to the system that put them in power,” Alex Tausanovitch wrote in the article. “Fortunately, now more than ever, many of these incumbents see the current political status quo as alarming, even untenable.” Cormack, too, stated that politicians may be opposed to voting on reform because it’s what got them into their seats. “It’s hard to say, ‘I would like a new system,’ because you're probably reducing your own job security,” she said. “And that's sort of the self-interested nature of politics that makes any of these reforms very hard to implement and incredibly unlikely to come from top-down versus a bottom-up.” “Which is why I think you see a lot of electoral reforms like ranked-choice voting usually come from a ballot initiative process, not legislators saying, ‘Let’s change this,’” she added. Elected officials like Gluesenkamp Perez and Golden may not be the first to say, “Let’s change this,” but they hope to be the last.How to save money on new car models this holidayGREATER NOIDA: The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida) has finalised the blueprint for constructing New Agra Urban Centre to be developed along the 165km Yamuna Expressway that connects Greater Noida with Agra. The project will help urbanise agricultural land into a new hub of tourism, heritage and industrial clusters spread on 105,000 hectares. The New Agra will be developed on the agricultural land of 60 villages in the Etmadpur tehsil and will be divided into four key areas—industry, environment, heritage, and transport, said Yeida officials, adding that the project aims to balance modern urban development with the preservation of Agra’s historical legacy. Yeida had prepared the draft master plan along with a consultant that conducted surveys of the socio-economic and structural framework of the region. “After surveys it was finalised that at least 80% of the surveyed villages are in Hathras district, prompting Yeida to revise the plan to include more villages from Agra district to align with the project’s name and vision. The authority will now conduct on-site land verification to assess connectivity, encroachments, and other factors before submitting the proposal to the Uttar Pradesh govt for inclusion in Master Plan 2041,” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer, Yeida. The New Agra project is planned to become a major destination for tourism, cashing in on Agra’s global appeal as home to the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri. The developmental model consists of carving out the models on the lines of the historical sites from around the world, including attractions themed after Hollywood and Bollywood, offering visitors a glimpse into global and Indian history. “Drawing inspiration from international cities, the New Agra Urban Center is planned as a vibrant, green, and modern city. We have given special emphasis on developing pollution free zones, particularly in the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ), to preserve the beauty and integrity of the Taj Mahal. We will allow only green industrial units with an emphasis on industries such as information technology, textiles, and soft toys,” said Singh, adding that the project will also feature theme parks, green belts, and ample recreational spaces to promote environmental sustainability,” said Singh. Traffic and transport issues in the region will also be addressed, with plans to create new routes, parking facilities, and public transport systems to alleviate pressure on existing highways. The center’s connectivity will be a central focus to ensure seamless access and infrastructure development.
Tom Werner Inspire Medical Systems ( NYSE: INSP ) is a medical device company that focuses on treating obstructive sleep apnea with a neurostimulation technology by continuously monitoring a patient's breathing while they sleep and delivering nerve stimulation as needed in Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.Englishman Davis scores late to grab point for UdineseQ. My husband recently retired from a high-level position. He has things to do but nothing seems to rekindle his spark. I think he is going through a mid-life crisis in later life. Is there such a thing? M.N. What you are describing might be called a late-life crisis . Such a crisis is described by Richard Leider and David Shapiro in their book, “What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Old? The Path of Purposeful Aging” (2021, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.). Here are some signs the authors identify: experiencing dissatisfaction, a loss of identity, an expectations gap and the feeling that life has peaked. Some also may believe life is a downhill journey. It’s having a feeling of being irrelevant. And it’s not just a guy thing. Both men and women are likely to experience it equally. Several events can cause a crisis in later life. Among them is the death of a loved one, an illness, money problems or no longer being able to walk the usual number of miles or having difficulty with poses in a yoga class. It also could be just boredom, doing the same thing day after day. Then there is retirement , which also can be a cause. For many, the loss of the work role can leave a huge gap in the reason to get up in the morning. For many, work is more than just a paycheck . It can provide a sense of purpose, social connection, structure for the day and knowing someone or some entity expects something from us. In a sense, it’s knowing we are needed. But other causes can cause a crisis in addition to the loss of the work role. For example, being out of touch with current technology, feeling unemployable and invisible in social situations or the marketplace. How do individuals know if they are experiencing a late-life crisis? Here are several questions that can serve as a clue, suggested by Leider and Shapiro. One key to avoiding or managing a late-life crisis is to not go it alone. “Isolation is fatal,” write Lieder and Shapiro. This makes me want to share examples from a recent discussion, not necessarily of a crisis, but increased awareness of the question of “who am I now and who do I want to be?” This discussion took place at a meeting with a group of women who are not going it alone. The group was made up of retired career women who are part of Renewment , a small grassroots movement that supports and inspires career women from work to retirement and beyond. Most were not going through a crisis, yet raised questions that indicated there are issues that may not reach the crisis level, yet still are important. For example, a retired successful entrepreneur asked the question, “Am I doing as much as I am capable of? Do I want to have an impact on a small or large scale?” A recent widow said, “Being a widow is not where I wanted to be at this time in my life; it’s not my identity. I feel so fragmented exploring who I am.” Another added, “I continue to be so hard on myself; always feeling I should do more; I am busy but not happy.” These same women and others in the group shared tips on avoiding problems that could lead to a late-life crisis. A therapist has emerged as an artist in New York and another was deeply involved in the election. A retired professor is traveling to Cuba and a former teacher launched a foundation. They have engagements that reflect a passion and sense of purpose. That’s the topic for next week. A point to remember: No one gets through this life alone. As Leider and Shapiro warn against isolation, remember that finding friends, colleagues, counselors or family members to talk about what’s going on can help avoid a crisis. Stay well everyone and as always, be kind. Helen Dennis is a nationally recognized leader on issues of aging and the new retirement with academic, corporate and nonprofit experience. Contact Helen with your questions and comments at Helendenn@gmail.com . Visit Helen at HelenMdennis.com and follow her on facebook.com/SuccessfulAgingCommunity Related Articles
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Aidan Hutchinson sightings during Lions games have become commonplace, and the star edge-rusher continues to make progress. It now appears more likely than not the Lions maximizing their game count this season would involve a final-act cameo from Hutchinson. Suffering a fractured fibula and tibia in Week 6 , the third-year pass-rusher is now walking without crutches and has progressed to running in a pool. This has created more optimism of a possible return before season’s end. Hutchinson’s recovery has reached the point that it appears the expectation is for him to play in Super Bowl LIX were Lions to qualify, SI's Albert Breer noted on Amazon Prime's NFL coverage. We heard last month a Hutchinson Super Bowl reemergence was possible , but Breer offers a bit more in the direction of it being likely. This would be game-changing news for the Lions, though they obviously have work to do before this window could be open. It would now stand to reason Hutchinson’s IR-return window could open earlier in the playoffs, and it would be worth wondering if the timetable could include an NFC Championship Game. That said, the Super Bowl featuring the bye week appears to loom as crucial for Hutchinson. Dan Campbell said in October that Hutchinson was looking at a four- to six-month recovery timetable . He went down Oct. 13; the Super Bowl is Feb. 9. The NFL’s season-ender coming at the front end of the recovery timeline points to Super Bowl-or-nothing for Hutchinson, though any return being in play would be a win for a Lions team gunning for its first No. 1 seed since home-field advantage became record-based in the mid-1970s. The Packers consistently tested the Lions’ battered defense in the second half of a 34-31 thriller Thursday night. Detroit has seen Za’Darius Smith produce early; the trade acquisition has three sacks in four Lions games. But the team finished Thursday’s game without both its top D-tackles — D.J. Reader, Alim McNeill — and is not expected to have Marcus Davenport back this season. Linebackers Alex Anzalone, Derrick Barnes and Malcolm Rodriguez are all on IR. Barnes is not a lock to miss the entire season , and D-lineman John Cominsky could return in the playoffs . The Lions will need to save an injury activation for Hutchinson. They have five left , keeping a scenario in which Anzalone, Barnes, Cominsky and Hutchinson all return. Rodriguez suffered an ACL tear and is out for the year . Gifted to the Lions after the Jaguars made a potential-over-production pick in Travon Walker to start the 2022 draft, the Michigan alum has become one of the NFL’s best defensive players early in his career. He was the early clubhouse leader for Defensive Player of the Year when he went down, having already registered an NFL-most 7.5 sacks and 17 QB hits — a year after leading the league in QB pressures — through five-plus games. The Lions still do not have another four-sack player, as McNeill leads all non-Hutchinson Lions with 3.5. Though, Smith has seven total sacks if his Browns games are included. The Lions have plenty of work to do before the prospect of a Hutchinson re-emergence becomes real, but the 12-1 team has liked what is has seen from the soon-to-be extension-eligible EDGE’s rehab thus far. This article first appeared on Pro Football Rumors and was syndicated with permission.Unlike scores of people who for the blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy to lose weight in recent years, Danielle Griffin had no trouble getting them. The 38-year-old information technology worker from New Mexico had a prescription. Her pharmacy had the drugs in stock. And her covered all but $25 to $50 of the monthly cost. For Griffin, the hardest part of using the new drugs wasn’t access. It was finding out that the didn’t really work for her. “I have been on Wegovy for a year and a half and have only lost 13 pounds,” said Griffin, who watches her diet, drinks plenty of water and exercises regularly. “I’ve done everything right with no success. It’s discouraging.” In clinical trials, most participants taking Wegovy or Mounjaro to treat obesity lost an average of 15% to 22% of their body weight — up to 50 pounds or more in many cases. But roughly 10% to 15% of patients in those trials were “nonresponders” who lost less than 5% of their body weight. Now that millions of people have used the drugs, several obesity experts told The Associated Press that perhaps 20% of patients — as many as 1 in 5 — may not respond well to the medications. It’s a little-known consequence of the obesity drug boom, according to doctors who caution eager patients not to expect one-size-fits-all results. “It’s all about explaining that different people have different responses,” said Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity expert at Massachusetts General Hospital The drugs are known as GLP-1 receptor agonists because they mimic a hormone in the body known as glucagon-like peptide 1. Genetics, hormones and variability in how the brain regulates energy can all influence weight — and a person’s response to the drugs, Stanford said. Medical conditions such as sleep apnea can prevent weight loss, as can certain common medications, such as antidepressants, steroids and contraceptives. “This is a disease that stems from the brain,” said Stanford. “The dysfunction may not be the same” from patient to patient. Despite such cautions, patients are often upset when they start getting the weekly injections but the numbers on the scale barely budge. “It can be devastating,” said Dr. Katherine Saunders, an obesity expert at Weill Cornell Medicine and co-founder of the obesity treatment company FlyteHealth. “With such high expectations, there’s so much room for disappointment.” That was the case for Griffin, who has battled obesity since childhood and hoped to shed 70 pounds using Wegovy. The drug helped reduce her appetite and lowered her risk of diabetes, but she saw little change in weight. “It’s an emotional roller coaster,” she said. “You want it to work like it does for everybody else.” The medications are along with eating behavior and lifestyle changes. It’s usually clear within weeks whether someone will respond to the drugs, said Dr. Jody Dushay, an endocrine specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Weight loss typically begins right away and continues as the dosage increases. For some patients, that just doesn’t happen. For others, side effects such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea force them to halt the medications, Dushay said. In such situations, patients who were counting on the new drugs to pare pounds may think they’re out of options. “I tell them: It’s not game over,” Dushay said. Trying a different version of the new class of drugs may help. Griffin, who didn’t respond well to Wegovy, has started using Zepbound, which targets an additional hormone pathway in the body. After three months of using the drug, she has lost 7 pounds. “I’m hoping it’s slow and steady,” she said. Other people respond well to older drugs, the experts said. Changing diet, exercise, sleep and stress habits can also have profound effects. Figuring out what works typically requires a doctor trained to treat obesity, Saunders noted. “Obesity is such a complex disease that really needs to be treated very comprehensively,” she said. “If what we’re prescribing doesn’t work, we always have a backup plan.” ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Jonel Aleccia, The Associated Press
