U.S.Associated PressHousekeepers struggle as US hotels ditch daily room cleaning
Like many other hotels across the United States, the Hilton Hawaiian Village has done away with daily housekeeping service, making what was already one of the toughest jobs in the hospitality industry even more grueling. Industry insiders say the move away from daily cleaning, which gained traction during the pandemic, is driven by customer preferences. But others say it has more to do with profit and has allowed hotels to cut the number of housekeepers at a time when many of the mostly immigrant women who take those jobs are still reeling from lost work during coronavirus shutdowns.
U.S.Raleigh News and ObserverInvasive pythons dumped in NC forest before mushroom hunter discovers cage, group says
Two “incredibly lucky” ball pythons dumped in a North Carolina forest are getting a second chance at life thanks to a mindful mushroom hunter, a reptile rescue group says. The snakes, dubbed Chanterelle and Morel, were rescued after someone abandoned them near the Duke Forest area in Durham this week, according to BeWild Reptile Rescue. Forager Reid Stansell was hunting for mushrooms Thursday, May 26, when his search turned up two small snakes locked in a Kritter Keeper terrarium not far from the road, the group said on Facebook.
U.S.The Daily BeastLee Greenwood, After Canceling NRA Appearance, Drops Bomb on Fox News: ‘That Weapon Killed Kids!’
Lee Greenwood, the staple of Trump rallies and the most prominent musician to pull out the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Texas, told Fox News on Friday that his conscience would not allow him to perform at the event in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting. Greenwood directly cited the massacre that left 19 children and two adults dead as the cause of his last-minute pang of conscience. During an appearance on Fox & Friends on Friday, Greenwood added: “For me to go and play at the NRA just days after the shooting would be an endorsement, and people would then deem that as [me saying] 'I like this weapon.
WorldAssociated PressUAE dismantles plane of gunrunner Russia wants for Americans
The emirate of Umm al-Quwain plans a $675 million development on a island just across a lagoon from the deactivated airport where Bout's plane sits. His legacy, however, lives on even as workers disassemble the aircraft's wings — Bout is in the news again as Russia has suggested America trade him for U.S. citizens held by Moscow amid its war on Ukraine. I had not realized that the plane was there to this day," said Stephen Braun, the co-author of a book on the gunrunner called “Merchant of Death."
U.S.INSIDERSwitzerland has a stunningly high rate of gun ownership — here's why it doesn't have mass shootings
In 2016, the NRA said on its blog that the European country had one of the lowest murder rates in the world while still having millions of privately owned guns and a few hunting weapons that don't even require a permit. Video: Inside a factory that makes untraceable 'ghost guns' But the Swiss have some specific rules and regulations for gun use. Insider took a look at the country's past with guns to see why it has lower rates of gun violence than the US, where gun death rates are now at their highest in more than 20 years, and the leading cause of death for children and adolescents.
U.S.QuartzWe ordered the same gun used in Uvalde. Here’s how easy it was.
After Tuesday's school shooting in Uvalde, Texas left 19 children and two adults dead, we wondered how difficult it was to order a DDM4V7, one of the two rifles the gunman bought a few days after turning 18 years old, according to reports. The AR-15-style weapon, made by Georgia-based Daniel Defense, sells online for $1,870, plus tax. Shipping to a local gun shop is free.
PoliticsAssociated Press'Trump is in the past': Mounting losses show limits of power
Donald Trump opened May by lifting a trailing Senate candidate in Ohio to the Republican nomination, seemingly cementing the former president's kingmaker status before another possible White House run. Trump faced a series of setbacks in Tuesday's primary elections as voters rejected his efforts to unseat two top targets for retribution: Georgia's Republican governor and secretary of state, both of whom rebuffed Trump's extraordinary pressure to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Nearly seven years after the onetime reality television star launched what seemed to be an improbable campaign for the White House, the “Make America Great Again” movement Trump helmed isn't going anywhere.
BusinessMoneyWise‘Cash is still trash’ — Billionaire Ray Dalio says keeping money in a savings account is not safe. Here’s what he holds instead
Let's take a look at what Dalio's hedge fund holds instead. Sign up for our MoneyWise newsletter to receive a steady flow of actionable ideas from Wall Street's top firms. Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) According to Bridgewater's latest 13F filing to the SEC, the fund held 22.72 million shares of Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF at the end of March.
WorldINSIDERA man developed sudden amnesia after having sex with his wife, completely forgetting his own wedding anniversary party the day before
A man visited hospital after getting amnesia 10 minutes after having sex with his wife. A man got amnesia 10 minutes after having afternoon sex with his wife, temporarily wiping his memory of the previous day and rendering him unable to retain new information, doctors have said. The 66-year-old man became "distressed" after he looked at his phone after sex one afternoon, saw the date and thought that he'd forgotten his wedding anniversary — when in fact he'd celebrated it with his wife and family the day before, doctors from Limerick, Ireland said in a case report published in the Official Journal of the Irish Medical Organisation on Wednesday.
WorldYahoo NewsChechen leader, staunch Putin ally, threatens Poland over support for Ukraine
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, threatened to attack Poland over its support for Ukraine. Speaking in a video that was posted to social media on Wednesday, the warlord warned that Poland had “better take back” the weapons it supplied to its neighbor. “The issue of Ukraine is closed,” said Kadyrov, via a translation from a BBC reporter.
PoliticsThe RootPlans To Forgive $10,000 In Student Debt Per Borrower Announced By Biden Administration
Is student loan forgiveness finally on the way to help the millions of Americans looking for assistance? According to a report by The Washington Post, the Biden administration plans to cancel $10,000 in student debt per borrower. The move would be consistent with the President's campaign promise in 2020.
- PoliticsThe El Paso Times
Beto O'Rourke confront Gov. Greg Abbott during Texas shooting update
Beto O'Rourke confront Gov. Greg Abbott during Uvalde, Texas shooting update.
ScienceReutersBacteria with antibiotic resistant genes discovered in Antarctica, scientists say
Bacteria in Antarctica have been discovered with genes that give them natural antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance and have the potential to spread out of the polar regions, according to scientists in Chile. Andres Marcoleta, a researcher from the University of Chile who headed the study in the Science of the Total Environment journal in March, said that these "superpowers" which evolved to resist extreme conditions are contained in mobile DNA fragments that can easily be transferred to other bacteria. "We know that the soils of the Antarctic Peninsula, one of the polar areas most impacted by melting ice, host a great diversity of bacteria," Marcoleta said.
U.S.The Hollywood ReporterJohnny Depp Gets Unfavorable Decisions on Jury Instructions
Jurors in the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard will not consider whether Adam Waldman, Depp's former attorney who was kicked off of the case, had free speech protections when he made allegedly defamatory statements against Heard. In a key ruling on jury instructions, the judge overseeing the case sided with Heard's lawyers Thursday that Waldman does not qualify for privilege, a defense from defamation, because his statements were not in response to anything Heard said or wrote. A ruling the other way could have led to jurors outright denying Heard's $100 million counterclaim against Depp.
U.S.HuffPostTucker Carlson Cooks Up Absurd New Scapegoat For Texas School Massacre
Australia hasn't had a mass shooting since 1996, when a gunman opened fire at a tourist resort in Port Arthur, killing 35 people. The government responded by enacting strict gun control legislation, including banning all semi-automatic rifles. In New Zealand, all semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles were banned after a gunman killed 51 people in Christchurch in 2019.
PoliticsReutersWhite House says no decision made on student loan forgiveness
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The administration of President Joe Biden has not made a final decision on student loan cancellation, a White House spokesperson said on Friday, after a news report said it was planning to cancel $10,000 in student debt per borrower. Two of them said the $10,000 debt forgiveness would apply to Americans who earned less than $150,000 in the previous year, or less than $300,000 for married couples filing jointly. White House spokesman Vedant Patel said the report was inaccurate.
BusinessBusiness InsiderThe wild life of billionaire Twitter founder and 'Block Head' Jack Dorsey, who's officially left the social network's board, eats one meal a day, and takes ice baths
After cofounding Twitter on March 21 2006, he was booted as the company's CEO two years later, but returned in 2015 having set up his second company, Square — which he rebranded as Block in 2021. He led Twitter through the techlash that has engulfed social media companies, testifying before Congress multiple times. Related video: Elon Musk on Twitter fame, loneliness and the future of AI And Dorsey announced on November 29, 2021, he had stepped down as the CEO of Twitter.
U.S.WFTV‘Like someone had punched a hole in my chest’: Central Florida man survives ‘exploding heart’
A Central Florida man survived what doctors call an “exploding heart. This is the story of how Roy Reid is a living miracle. I suffered what's called an acute aortic dissection,” he said.
WorldYahoo NewsKremlin rails against West, accuses U.S. of 'canceling Russia'
The Kremlin's top diplomat on Friday accused the West of waging “total war” and promoting “the culture of canceling Russia,” in blistering remarks that underscore how Moscow continues to see the war in Ukraine as an existential struggle to remake the geopolitical order as opposed to a mere territorial conflict. The West has declared a total war on us, on the Russian world. Nobody makes any secret of this," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday during a meeting with regional officials.
U.S.The Daily BeastDaniel Defense, the Maker of the Uvalde Shooter’s ‘Perfect Rifle,’ Abruptly Exits the NRA Convention
On a Memorial Day weekend when we honor those who died in service to our country, the company that manufactured a weapon of war used to kill 19 children and two adults in a Texas elementary school had planned to hawk its wares at the gun industry's annual collective disgrace. But in the aftermath of Tuesday's slaughter in Uvalde, Daniel Defense, is no longer slated to join all the other profiteers of violent death at this weekend's NRA convention in Houston. Up until Wednesday afternoon,the company was to have occupied Booth 4839, conveniently close to the cafe at the George R. Brown Convention Center, amid what the NRA terms “14 acres of guns and gear.
U.S.Fox NewsUvalde, Texas residents react to Beto O'Rourke disrupting Abbott press conference: 'Bull----'
Several residents in Uvalde, Texas, still reeling from the elementary school mass shooting that killed 19 kids and two teachers have spoken out against Democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke's attempt to derail Gov. Greg Abbott's press conference Wednesday. Abbott had just finished speaking about mental health resources available for survivors and first responders to Tuesday's shooting when O'Rourke, a pro-gun control gubernatorial candidate, walked up to the stage and accused Abbott of "doing nothing" to prevent these tragedies.
U.S.ReutersU.S. FAA vows 'immediate action' after Capitol security scare
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told Congress it has taken "immediate action" to ensure U.S. Capitol Police are aware of unusual aerial events after an April 20 small airplane flight that prompted a security scare. FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen said in a letter to Congress that the agency will provide advance notification of special event flights in the Washington-area. Nolen said the agency believes "this will provide all of our interagency partners with the extra time necessary to reduce any potential confusion," the letter dated Friday said.
ScienceBBCAncient DNA reveals secrets of Pompeii victims
Researchers studying human remains from Pompeii have extracted genetic secrets from the bones of a man and a woman who were buried when the Roman city was engulfed in volcanic ash. This first "Pompeian human genome" is an almost complete set of "genetic instructions" from the victims, encoded in DNA extracted from their bones. Ancient DNA was preserved in bodies that were encased in time-hardened ash.
U.S.TheStreet.comElon Musk Chooses Sides on Gun Control Debate
Elon Musk is the most influential CEO in the world. The mogul with 95 million followers on Twitter is determined to use his platform to weigh in on public debates, whatever they may be. In recent months, the CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has thus imposed his voice on subjects such as the Russian war in Ukraine, free speech with the eventful acquisition-in-progress of the social network Twitter for $44 billion, cancel culture and its corollary wokeism.
BusinessAssociated PressFed officials signal rates may head to 'restrictive' levels
Federal Reserve officials agreed when they met earlier this month that they may have to raise interest rates to levels that would weaken the economy as part of their drive to curb inflation, which is near a four-decade high. At the same time, many of the policymakers also agreed that after a rapid series of rate increases in the coming months, they could “assess the effects” of their rate hikes and, depending on the economy's health, increase rates at a slower pace. Chair Jerome Powell himself had indicated after this month's meeting that half-point increases would be “on the table” at the next two meetings.
“It could give millions a chance to finally buy a house or start their business or help their kids get an education, too.”
“You signed a contract…If you don’t want to deal with the financial pressure of debt, don’t take out the loan.”
“Without action from Biden, Black student debt will hinder his agenda with respect to eliminating racial inequities.”
“Blanket relief could end up routing too much relief to those who do not need it and too little to those who do.”
“Unlike a number of other policy issues, student debt relief doesn’t need to be pushed through a narrowly controlled Congress.”