List of All Articles with Tag 'a'

Who's the next big albatross after Shohei Ohtani? According to one MLB insider, it's one of the most prominent figures in the Nationals' scouting department: Johnny DiPuglia.

Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag picks his 25-player squad for the Champions League group stage.

By Luc Cohen NEW YORK Malaysia wants a former Goldman Sachs banker convicted last year in New York

Elon Musk has threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for billions of dollars after quixotically blaming the Jewish rights organisation for spreading antisemitism on his social media platform X. The self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist”, who has amplified and reinstated neo-Nazi and far-right accounts since acquiring X, formerly known as Twitter, for $44bn last year blamed the ADL for “destroying” $22bn in the company’s value in a series of posts on Monday. “Since the acquisition, The ADL has been trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic,” Mr Musk wrote. He claimed that the site’s United States advertising revenue was down 60 per cent “primarily due to pressure on advertisers by ADL”. “If this continues, we will have no choice but to file a defamation suit against, ironically, the ‘Anti-Defamation’ League.” An ADL spokesperson told The Independent in a statement that it did not comment on legal threats, but added that Mr Musk was helping to boost a coordinated “Ban the ADL” campaign being waged by self-declared antisemites. “ADL is unsurprised yet undeterred that antisemites, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists and other trolls have launched a coordinated attack on our organisation. This type of thing is nothing new,” the ADL spokesperson said. “Such insidious efforts don’t daunt us. Instead, they drive us to be unflinching in our commitment to fight hate in all its forms and ensure the safety of Jewish communities and other marginalised groups.” Mr Musk’s threats to sue the ADL, a century-old NGO that describes itself as the “leading anti-hate organisation in the world”, were met with anger and disbelief from some commentators on X. “In his pursuit of some kind of utopian free speech universe, Elon Musk has turned Twitter / X into a free-for-all for Neo Nazis and White Extremists to unleash a torrent of unprecedented antisemitism and Jew hatred,” wrote Israeli human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky. NYU professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat posted: “So it's the Jews manipulating others. Elon Musk that is so original!” Since Mr Musk’s takeover, advertisers have fled the platform or reduced their ad spend as hateful content was allowed to spread unchecked. Mr Musk, the world’s richest person with an estimated net wealth of $248bn, fired an estimated 80 per cent of its workforce, including most of its content moderators, and reinstated previously banned accounts. X’s US advertising revenue over a five-week period from April to May this year came to $88m, a 59 percent decrease from one year ago, according to the New York Times. In August, X filed a lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) after it published a report showing that moderators had failed to take action on 99 out of 100 examples of harmful content by verified “blue check” users that the organisation had flagged. “Musk is trying to ‘shoot the messenger’ who highlights the toxic content on his platform rather than deal with the toxic environment he’s created,” CEO Imran Ahmed said in a statement. “CCDH has no intention of stopping our independent research – Musk will not bully us into silence.” The Independent attempted to reach Mr Musk through X, Tesla and via a personal email address but did not hear back. Read More Elon Musk calls Burning Man ‘best art on Earth’ amid chaos that saw thousands stranded and one dead Elon Musk promotes transphobic content as hate speech surges on his far-right platform X threatens to sue researchers who accused Twitter of allowing ‘hate to prosper’ on platform

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Helen Coster NEW YORK Investors in the blank-check acquisition company that plans to merge

Curly hair may have been absolutely critical to humans evolving millions of years ago, scientists have discovered. In fact, having curly hair could have been the key reason as to why humans developed, grew taller and came to have larger brains. It’s all to do with regulating body temperature, according to a new study by researchers at Penn State University. Given that hair can help to protect the head from the sun’s rays, it’s thought that thicker, curlier hair types could have been key to human life progressing in Equatorial Africa. Scientists recreated the kinds of conditions that early humans would have experienced, using wigs featuring different hair types on models. They found that curls were most effective in keeping the models cool in an environment measuring 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) and 60 per cent humidity. Tina Lasisi is the study's lead author. She spoke to Newsweek about the findings and said: "We hypothesized that tightly curled scalp hair would provide some benefits, but the extent of these benefits was uncertain. "Previous studies on mammalian coats have shown that hair can limit the amount of sunlight reaching the skin, but we were particularly surprised by the significant reduction in solar heat radiation impact provided by tightly coiled hair.” The reduction in heat caused by tight curls could have led to the development of larger brains. "Once humans developed large brains, they could employ other behavioral and social strategies to cope with heat, potentially diminishing the relative advantage of curly hair," she said. "This could have led to a diverse distribution of hair textures worldwide. Furthermore, since straight hair better retains heat, populations in colder environments may have experienced selective pressure for straight hair." She added: "Future research should aim to answer these questions by incorporating our data into mathematical models of human physiology or conducting experiments with human subjects who have different hair textures to examine the impact on their thermal regulation.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

Wales boss Warren Gatland has reported a clean bill of health among his World Cup squad heading into the crunch tournament opener against Fiji. Co-captain Dewi Lake and number eight Taulupe Faletau were among a handful of players who nursed injuries during Wales’ World Cup warm-up Tests. Number eight Faletau played no part in those fixtures due to a calf muscle problem, while hooker Lake went off after suffering a knee injury during Wales’ defeat against England at Twickenham. Ryan Elias, Dafydd Jenkins and Gareth Anscombe have also recovered to be available for Sunday’s Pool C clash in Bordeaux. “The last couple of weeks we’ve had a few niggles – we had eight or 10 players not taking a full part in training,” Gatland said. “Nothing serious, but just a few bumps. They’ve all been rehabbed and everyone is now fit, which is a positive place for us to be in. “He (Faletau) has been taking a full part in training for the past three weeks. “There is no doubt in the first week he was blowing pretty hard in terms of some of the set-piece stuff the boys have been doing for a number of weeks. “That has taken a little bit of time, but we’ve kept a close eye on his GPS figures and they have been excellent for him. “Even though he hasn’t been running around, he has done a lot of off-feet conditioning. Some of the work on the side of the pitch is harder than being on the pitch, and he is definitely in contention for the weekend.” Lake departed during the first half at Twickenham, and the hooker added: “It always plays on your mind when you come off injured 20 minutes into a game. “I am very grateful to be sat here, to the medical staff who got me through the three weeks at home and the coaching staff for selecting me post-injury. “A lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to get me ready for this weekend.” Wales trained amid temperatures of more than 30 degrees on Tuesday, while the forecast for Sunday’s encounter is for 28 degrees at kick-off, even though the game does not start until 9pm local time. It is understood that World Cup organisers are considering water breaks during the opening round of pool fixtures. “We would like the ball on the park as often as we could. We think we’re in pretty good shape physically,” Gatland said. “In terms of that, we are not going to push back on water breaks if that’s what is decided. We won’t be arguing with World Rugby on that decision.” It will be a fifth successive World Cup for Wales and Fiji to meet in the pool stage, and Sunday’s victors will take a significant step towards the quarter-finals. Fiji are fresh from an outstanding away victory over England, and they are fancied by many to defeat a Wales side with just three wins from 13 Tests. “I thought they were excellent at Twickenham,” Gatland added. “They have got some great athletes, we are aware of that. “They are a lot more structured now as a team than they would traditionally have been in the past. “We’ve got to impose our game on them as well. We know they are a good side at the moment, and a lot of their side play in Super Rugby and in France as well. It’s going to be an exciting challenge. “They have always had incredibly world-class individual athletes who could open up a game. But bringing that organisation and structure makes them more dangerous. “I think from a coaching perspective, the ultimate pinnacle is the World Cup. It’s the one time in international windows that you get full preparation. “It feels like you’re working with a club side in having a pre-season. We’ve been able to work on a lot of things in the last few months in terms of the detail and putting together a strategy.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Clubs send out wrong message playing footballers accused of abuse – Women’s Aid Shane Lowry defends Ryder Cup selection and says Europe have ‘best 12 players’ Ireland trio Jack Conan, Dan Sheehan and Dave Kilcoyne out of World Cup opener

By Davide Barbuscia NEW YORK The BlackRock Investment Institute said on Tuesday it had become less bearish on

Former Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge Tuesday for leading a failed plot to forcibly prevent the peaceful transfer of power from then-President Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 5, 2023--

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON The House of Representatives Oversight Committee said on Tuesday it is investigating the U.S.

Attorneys representing Alex Murdaugh, the notorious South Carolina fraudster who was convicted earlier this year of murdering his wife and son, filed a motion with the South Carolina Court of Appeals on Tuesday demanding a new trial and alleging jury tampering by the Colleton County Clerk of Court.