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1. Attacks against seafarers and international shipping The Committee heard various statements delivered by Member States about the ongoing attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea area and the Black Sea area. The Committee expressed concern over the safety and welfare of seafarers, freedom of navigation, threats to the marine environment and stability of the global supply chain resulting from the attacks by Houthis on commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The Committee reiterated the call for the immediate release of the MV Galaxy Leader and its 25 seafarers which have remained captive since its hijacking in November 2023, marking a year of imprisonment of innocent seafarers. The Committee expressed gratitude to the European Union for the support provided through Operation ASPIDES, as well as all Member States providing assets to the region. The Committee commended the IMO Secretary-General’s strong commitment and efforts, including his recent visit to the countries in the region, to re-establish safety and security in the Red Sea and the immediate release of the MV Galaxy Leader. The Committee also took note of statements related to the Black Sea area. 2. Amendments to mandatory IGC and IGF Codes adopted The Committee adopted amendments to the following mandatory Codes under SOLAS: International Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Liquefied Gases in Bulk (IGC Code) The Committee adopted amendments to Chapter 16 of the IGC Code, related to the use as fuel of cargoes identified as toxic products, in the context of alternative fuels and new technologies. The amendments are expected to enter into force on 1 July 2026. The Committee approved an MSC circular on the voluntary early application of the IGC Code, associated with these amendments. International Code of Safety for Ship Using Gases or Other Low-flashpoint Fuels (IGF Code) The Committee adopted amendments to parts A and A-1 of the IGF Code relate to ship design, fire safety, ventilation and other safety issues. The amendments are expected to enter into force on 1 January 2028. Noting that there may be capacity-building implications in relation to these amendments to the IGC and IGF Codes, the Committee agreed to advise the Technical Cooperation Committee accordingly and encourage Member States in need of capacity-building assistance to contact IMO. 3. Goal-based new ship construction standards – audit outcomes Under the International Goal-based Ship Construction Standards for Bulk Carriers and Oil Tankers (GBS Standards), construction rules for ships, developed by classification societies or national administrations, must be verified. This verification is carried out by international GBS Audit Teams appointed by the IMO Secretary-General, in line with the Revised GBS verification guidelines (resolution MSC.454(100)). In 2024, a combined GBS audit was carried out, with the following outcomes: Initial GBS Verification Audit of Biro Klasifikasi Indonesia (BKI) Following consideration, the Committee confirmed that the information provided by BKI demonstrated conformity with the IMO’s GBS standards, provided that BKI adopt the relevant actions to rectify “non-conformities”, and submit a new request for an audit, in accordance with the Revised GBS verification guidelines. GBS Audit of IACS Recommendation 34/Rev.2 on Standard wave data Following consideration of IACS Recommendation 34/Rev.2, the Committee did not find enough evidence of compliance with relevant GBS standards. The Committee recommended a revision of IACS Rec.34/Rev.2, containing more detailed information. The information contained in IACS Recommendation 34/Rev.2 is intended to provide the basis for the development of IACS Common Structural Rules (CSR) around wave induced loads and motions. The Committee agreed that a “following audit” on the IACS Rec.34 revision be subsequently carried out, in conjunction with that of the consequential rule changes in CSR. Third GBS Workshop The Committee requested the Secretariat to plan and prepare for the third GBS Workshop, tentatively scheduled to take place in 2025, after MSC 110 (18 – 27 June, 2025). 4. Roadmap revised for the development of a Code for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) The Committee continued its work to develop a Code to regulate autonomous ships, with re-establishing the WG on MASS. The Committee noted the progress at the WG, in particular it finalized chapters 7 (Risk Assessment), 12 (Connectivity), which was relocated to new chapter 17bis, and 18 (Search and Rescue) of the draft MASS Code. Given the remaining work to be done, the Committee agreed to a revised road map for developing the MASS Code, subject to further revision when necessary: 5. Development of a safety regulatory framework to support the reduction of GHG emissions from ships using new technologies and alternative fuels The Committee received an update on the work of the Correspondence Group on Development of a Safety Regulatory Framework to Support the Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships using New Technologies and Alternative Fuels (GHG safety). The Correspondence Group, established at MSC 108, has been working on capturing detailed information (technical background, hazards, and risks to ship/shoreside) for the new technologies and alternative fuels. Safety obstacles and gaps in existing regulations are also being assessed. The Committee endorsed the addition of a new category on “swappable traction lithium-ion battery containers” to the list of new technologies developed by the Correspondence Group. The Correspondence Group will continue work intersessionally and report to MSC 110. Amendments to SOLAS Chapter II-1 on the application of IGF Code approved While the International Code of Safety for Ships Using Gases or Other Low-flashpoint Fuels (IGF Code) applies to fuels that are gases or have a low-flash point, SOLAS Chapter II-1 states that the IGF Code applies to ships using low-flashpoint fuels, regardless of whether they were in liquid or gaseous form. The Committee approved draft amendments to Chapter II-1 of the SOLAS Convention to clarify that the IGF Code applies to gaseous fuels or low flash-point fuels. The approved SOLAS amendments will be submitted with a view to adoption at MSC 110 in June 2025, with expected entry into force in 2027. 6. Cyber risk management The Committee advanced its work to identify next steps to enhance maritime cybersecurity, following the approval by MSC 108 of the revised Guidelines on Maritime Cyber Risk Management (MSC-FAL.1/Circ.3/Rev.2) The Committee agreed on the need to further develop cybersecurity standards for ships and port facilities, with the possibility of establishing a working group at MSC 110, pending submissions under this agenda item. The Committee invited Member States and international organizations to submit proposals for consideration on the next steps to enhance maritime cybersecurity; and extended the target completion of the output to 2026. 7. Measures to enhance maritime security – updates The Committee noted updates on key developments in the IMO’s work to enhance maritime security. This includes information about the submission of security-related information for port facilities in GISIS, and a report on capacity-building projects and initiatives implemented by the Secretariat, including: 8. Piracy and armed robbery against ships – updates The Committee received an update on developments related to piracy and armed robbery against ships. This includes reports on acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships for the first six months of 2024, and recent developments related to regional initiatives such as the Djibouti Code of Conduct/Jeddah Amendment and Yaoundé Code of Conduct. According to information received on IMO’s GISIS platform, 72 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were reported to IMO as having occurred or been attempted in January to June 2024. For the same period in 2023, 90 incidents were reported. This constitutes a decrease of approximately 20% at the global level compared to the same period in 2023. The areas most affected by acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships in January to June 2024 were the Straits of Malacca and Singapore area (37), Indian Ocean (13), West Africa (10), Arabian Sea (7), followed by the South China Sea (4) and South America (Atlantic) (1). 9. Guidelines on the recovery of deceased people approved The Committee approved the MSC-FAL circular on Guidelines concerning the recovery of deceased persons and of death after recovery. This will be forwarded to the Facilitation Committee (FAL) for its concurrent approval. The guidelines address the need for awareness about the proper handling of non-survivors in migrant boats, supplementing resolution MSC.528 (106) on Recommended cooperation to ensure the safety of life at sea, the rescue of persons in distress at sea and the safe disembarkation of survivors. This includes legal and cultural considerations, as well as paying due respect to the practice of the migrants, the local public health policies in handling a deceased person among survivors rescued in a migrant boat; and considerations in handing over bodies between various organizations. 10. Revised guidelines for formal safety assessment (FSA) approved The Committee approved the Revised guidelines for Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) for use in the IMO rule-making process, for dissemination as MSC-MEPC.2/Circ.12/Rev.3, subject to concurrent approval by MEPC 83. A Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) is a structured and systematic methodology aimed at enhancing maritime safety, by using risk analysis and cost-benefit assessment. FSAs can be used as a tool to help in the evaluation of new maritime regulations. The revision of the Revised guidelines updates various sections, including among others, updating methods, list of references and the flow chart of the FSA methodology. 11. Reports of Sub-Committees The Committee considered the reports of its Sub-Committees: The Committee approved the reports in general and took the following actions: Sub-Committee on ship systems and equipment (SSE 10) Amendments to 1994 and 2000 HSC Codes Revision of SOLAS chapter III and the LSA Code Unified interpretations (UI) Amendments emanating from assumed weight in self-righting tests and retro- reflective materials Revision of MSC.1/Circ.677 Minor correction to SOLAS regulation II-2/11 Sub-Committee on navigation, communications and search and rescue (NCSR 11) Ships’ routeing measures Revision of resolution A.707(17) Amendments to the IAMSAR manual Revision of SAR.7/Circ.15 Performance standards for a digital navigational data system (NAVDAT) Revision of resolution A.1001(25) Pilot transfer arrangements Revision of resolution MSC.74(69), annex 3 Other circulars Sub-Committee on the carriage of cargoes and containers (CCC 10) Interim guidelines for the safety of ships using ammonia as fuel Updated work plan for the development of new alternative fuels Draft amendments to the IGC Code and preparation of a new consolidated version of the Code Sub-Committee on Implementation of IMO Instruments (III 10) Interim guidelines on Cape Town Agreement on fishing vessel safety Preventing collisions with fishing vessels Observations on quality of investigation reports Analysis of consolidated audit summary reports (CASRs) Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR 11) 12. Domestic ferry safety The Committee noted the recent activities and initiatives undertaken with respect to enhancing domestic ferry safety, particularly in the context of partnerships with the Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), the Pacific Community (SPC), World Maritime University (WMU), INTERFERRY and the Lloyd’s Register Foundation. Source: IMOElection victories for Donald Trump and other candidates whose campaigns demeaned transgender people reinforced a widespread backlash against trans rights. For America’s LGBTQ-rights movement, it adds up to one of the most sustained setbacks in its history. For transgender Americans, it’s personal: There is palpable fear of potential Trump administration steps to further marginalize them. But there is also a spirit of resilience — a determination to persevere in seeking acceptance and understanding. “I just went through an election where I couldn’t watch a sports event on TV without seeing a commercial where trans people were portrayed as monsters,” said Jennifer Finney Boylan, a transgender author who teaches at Barnard College in New York. “This hurts more than any other moment I can remember. We’ve been knocked down before. We’ll be knocked down again. All we can do is fight.” Anti-trans momentum has been growing for several years, with Republican-governed states enacting dozens of laws restricting trans people’s options for medical care, sports participation and public restroom access. Activists fear the movement will grow, with the Trump administration taking power as many Americans question the trans-rights agenda. Overall, 55% of voters — and 85% of Trump backers — said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 people who cast ballots nationwide. “There is an urgent need to show the American people the reality of transgender lives — the ordinary people for whom being trans is not the center of their lives,” said Shannon Minter, a transgender civil rights lawyer with the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “This is a frightening moment for transgender people and their families. There is a very real possibility that the new administration may adopt policies that cause them devastating harm.” Trump won the presidential contest over Vice President Kamala Harris after a campaign that included pervasive TV advertising mocking her support for trans rights. “Kamala is for they/them,” an ad that ran over 15,000 times asserted. “President Trump is for you.” Other Democratic candidates also were targeted with anti-trans ads. On an array of issues, Trump — and other Republicans who now hold majorities in both the House and Senate — have threatened to roll back protections and civil liberties for trans people. Education: Trump has pledged to impose wide-ranging restrictions on transgender students. His administration could swiftly move to exclude them from Title IX protections, which affect school policies on students’ use of preferred pronouns, bathrooms and locker rooms. Health care: At least 26 states have adopted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for trans minors. In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton is filing civil lawsuits against doctors he alleges were prescribing such treatments. Trump says any doctor or hospital providing gender-affirming care should be barred from Medicaid and Medicare. Sports: Trump and other Republicans embraced the anti-trans mantra opposing “boys in girls’ sports.” At least 24 states already have laws on the books barring trans women and girls from participating in certain women’s or girls’ sports competitions. In March, 16 college athletes filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, accusing it of violating their Title IX rights by allowing transgender woman Lia Thomas to compete at the 2022 national championships, where she won the 500-yard freestyle. Military: Trans-rights activists worry that Trump may reimpose a ban on trans people serving openly in the military or — as an alternative — bar any future recruiting of trans people and curtail the availability of gender-affirming medical care for service members and veterans. Trans-rights organizations are calling for coalition-building and renewed efforts to increase public understanding. They celebrated some notable victories. Sarah McBride won Delaware’s lone seat in the House of Representatives to become the first openly trans person elected to Congress. In Montana, transgender state Rep. Zooey Zephyr won reelection and will be able to return to the House floor nearly two years after she was silenced and sanctioned by her Republican colleagues. But nationwide, anger and anxiety were dominant emotions among trans activists. “This election season has been brutal,” the leaders of Advocates for Transgender Equality wrote to their supporters. “Trump targeted trans people since his campaign launch. He targeted our existence. He targeted our rights. He promised he would continue to target trans people if he won — and we know he will keep his promise.” Shelby Chestnut, executive director of the Transgender Law Center, said trans people “have become the pawn for political groups that don’t understand our communities.” “It’s a very precarious time,” Chestnut said. “We will get through this, but we have to step up and support each other. ... How do we see the long game, not just the immediate narrow view? Because it is very daunting right now. Where do we want to be in 15 years?” Public opinion on trans rights issues isn’t uniform. According to AP VoteCast, slightly more than half of voters in the 2024 election strongly or somewhat opposed laws that ban gender-affirming medical treatment, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy, for minors. Slightly less than half of voters somewhat or strongly favored them. And according to a Gallup poll conducted last year, 69% of Americans say transgender athletes should be allowed to compete only on sports teams that conform with their birth gender. Over the past 25 years, arguably the most daunting previous phase of the LGBTQ-rights movement started in 2004, after Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Between 2004 and 2008, voters in 26 states approved ballot measures defining marriage as between one man and one woman — in effect outlawing same-sex marriage. By 2012, however, public opinion was swinging in favor of same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court legalized it nationwide in 2015, and it has had the support of most Americans ever since. Boylan recalled how that long-bitter debate tilted in favor of legalization when supporters of same-sex marriage popularized the phrase “Love is love.” “That opened doors and opened hearts,” Boylan said. “The challenge for trans people is we don’t have a phrase like that. ... The issues are more complex.” Boylan noted that the anti-trans campaign seemed to make headway with issues that are not among the core concerns of most trans people: “The primary thing we’re fighting for is not the right to play with other women on a soccer team. We’re fighting for dignity, for respect, for the right to be left alone.” Maxwell Kuzma, a transgender man working as a film editor and writer in rural Ohio, said he was “worn out” by the relentless targeting of trans people and blamed Trump for perpetuating it. Looking ahead, he said life as a trans person “has forced me to learn a resiliency that I will lean on as I continue to speak out against prejudice and discrimination.” Christine Zuba, a transgender woman from New Jersey, described a recent surge of Zoom meetings enabling trans people to express their concerns and determine next steps. “One of the best recommendations I have heard throughout this discussion is to not isolate yourself; rather surround yourself with your support group — the people you love and who love you,” she said. “Do not despair. There are a lot of people who will work with you and for you.” Get local news delivered to your inbox!
By Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times (TNS) Every day millions of people share more intimate information with their accessories than they do with their spouse. Wearable technology — smartwatches, smart rings, fitness trackers and the like — monitors body-centric data such as your heart rate, steps taken and calories burned, and may record where you go along the way. Like Santa Claus, it knows when you are sleeping (and how well), it knows when you’re awake, it knows when you’ve been idle or exercising, and it keeps track of all of it. People are also sharing sensitive health information on health and wellness apps , including online mental health and counseling programs. Some women use period tracker apps to map out their monthly cycle. These devices and services have excited consumers hoping for better insight into their health and lifestyle choices. But the lack of oversight into how body-centric data are used and shared with third parties has prompted concerns from privacy experts, who warn that the data could be sold or lost through data breaches, then used to raise insurance premiums, discriminate surreptitiously against applicants for jobs or housing, and even perform surveillance. The use of wearable technology and medical apps surged in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, but research released by Mozilla on Wednesday indicates that current laws offer little protection for consumers who are often unaware just how much of their health data are being collected and shared by companies. “I’ve been studying the intersections of emerging technologies, data-driven technologies, AI and human rights and social justice for the past 15 years, and since the pandemic I’ve noticed the industry has become hyper-focused on our bodies,” said Mozilla Foundation technology fellow Júlia Keserű, who conducted the research. “That permeates into all kinds of areas of our lives and all kinds of domains within the tech industry.” The report “From Skin to Screen: Bodily Integrity in the Digital Age” recommends that existing data protection laws be clarified to encompass all forms of bodily data. It also calls for expanding national health privacy laws to cover health-related information collected from health apps and fitness trackers and making it easier for users to opt out of body-centric data collections. Researchers have been raising alarms about health data privacy for years. Data collected by companies are often sold to data brokers or groups that buy, sell and trade data from the internet to create detailed consumer profiles. Body-centric data can include information such as the fingerprints used to unlock phones, face scans from facial recognition technology, and data from fitness and fertility trackers, mental health apps and digital medical records. One of the key reasons health information has value to companies — even when the person’s name is not associated with it — is that advertisers can use the data to send targeted ads to groups of people based on certain details they share. The information contained in these consumer profiles is becoming so detailed, however, that when paired with other data sets that include location information, it could be possible to target specific individuals, Keserű said. Location data can “expose sophisticated insights about people’s health status, through their visits to places like hospitals or abortions clinics,” Mozilla’s report said, adding that “companies like Google have been reported to keep such data even after promising to delete it.” A 2023 report by Duke University revealed that data brokers were selling sensitive data on individuals’ mental health conditions on the open market. While many brokers deleted personal identifiers, some provided names and addresses of individuals seeking mental health assistance, according to the report. In two public surveys conducted as part of the research, Keserű said, participants were outraged and felt exploited in scenarios where their health data were sold for a profit without their knowledge. “We need a new approach to our digital interactions that recognizes the fundamental rights of individuals to safeguard their bodily data, an issue that speaks directly to human autonomy and dignity,” Keserű said. “As technology continues to advance, it is critical that our laws and practices evolve to meet the unique challenges of this era.” Consumers often take part in these technologies without fully understanding the implications. Last month, Elon Musk suggested on X that users submit X-rays, PET scans, MRIs and other medical images to Grok, the platform’s artificial intelligence chatbot, to seek diagnoses. The issue alarmed privacy experts, but many X users heeded Musk’s call and submitted health information to the chatbot. While X’s privacy policy says that the company will not sell user data to third parties, it does share some information with certain business partners. Gaps in existing laws have allowed the widespread sharing of biometric and other body-related data. Health information provided to hospitals, doctor’s offices and medical insurance companies is protected from disclosure under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act , known as HIPAA, which established federal standards protecting such information from release without the patient’s consent. But health data collected by many wearable devices and health and wellness apps don’t fall under HIPAA’s umbrella, said Suzanne Bernstein, counsel at Electronic Privacy Information Center. “In the U.S. because we don’t have a comprehensive federal privacy law ... it falls to the state level,” she said. But not every state has weighed in on the issue. Washington, Nevada and Connecticut all recently passed laws to provide safeguards for consumer health data. Washington, D.C., in July introduced legislation that aimed to require tech companies to adhere to strengthened privacy provisions regarding the collection, sharing, use or sale of consumer health data. In California, the California Privacy Rights Act regulates how businesses can use certain types of sensitive information, including biometric information, and requires them to offer consumers the ability to opt out of disclosure of sensitive personal information. “This information being sold or shared with data brokers and other entities hypercharge the online profiling that we’re so used to at this point, and the more sensitive the data, the more sophisticated the profiling can be,” Bernstein said. “A lot of the sharing or selling with third parties is outside the scope of what a consumer would reasonably expect.” Health information has become a prime target for hackers seeking to extort healthcare agencies and individuals after accessing sensitive patient data. Health-related cybersecurity breaches and ransom attacks increased more than 4,000% between 2009 and 2023, targeting the booming market of body-centric data, which is expected to exceed $500 billion by 2030, according to the report. “Nonconsensual data sharing is a big issue,” Keserű said. “Even if it’s biometric data or health data, a lot of the companies are just sharing that data without you knowing, and that is causing a lot of anxiety and questions.” ©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC." Wicked " was number 1 in North America, with sales from Friday through Sunday of roughly $95 million from 3,888 theaters, for a total since opening in previews earlier in the week of $114 million. That sum made "Wicked" the third-highest opener for the year, behind $211 million for "Deadpool & Wolverine" and $154 million for "Inside Out 2", NYT News Service reported. Ridley Scott's " Gladiator II " collected about $56 million in North America, including previews, for a worldwide total since arriving in overseas release earlier this month of about $220 million, as per the report. "This weekend's two strong openers are invigorating a box office that fell apart after a good summer," said David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter on box office numbers. 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To convince people that "Wicked" was worth a trip to the multiplex, Universal Pictures mounted one of the largest marketing campaigns in Hollywood history. The no-expense-spared effort started in February at the Super Bowl and did not let up, leaving some competing studio marketers slack-jawed. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who star in "Wicked," were omnipresent at the Summer Olympics. NBC broadcast an hourlong infomercial about the movie. Universal theme parks pounded promotional drums. The "Today" show chipped in blanket coverage. Universal Pictures, which is part of the NBCUniversal media conglomerate, secured more than 400 brand partnerships for the film, resulting in "Wicked" dolls from Mattel, "Wicked" drinks at Starbucks, "Wicked" LEGO sets, and "Wicked" cardigans at Target, just to name four. Erivo and Grande gave so many interviews that they seemed, at times, to be nearing a breaking point. The marketing onslaught is not over: The movie will have a "significant" presence Thursday at Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC, Universal said. "Wicked: Part Two" is scheduled for release next year, so get comfy with "Wicked" everything. Together, the two movies will easily cost more than $500 million to make and market. Is this now what it takes to fill theaters? Movies, especially ones like "Wicked," a mega-spectacle with mega-reviews based on a mega-musical, used to be able to commandeer the culture by themselves. "Sadly, filmgoing has fallen further and further down the leisure-time priority list, and the best hope studios have is to manufacture a cultural event," Stephen Galloway, the dean of Chapman University's film school, said in an email. He added of brand partnerships: "There's a kind of irony here. To show the world you're unique and different, you turn to businesses that promise customers their products are just the same." "Gladiator II," which cost Paramount Pictures at least $350 million to make and market, was also given a hard sell, despite being a well-reviewed sequel to a blockbuster that won the prize for best picture at the 2001 Oscars and has remained popular on home video. To generate interest in "Gladiator II," Paramount Pictures advertised heavily at sporting events; staged premieres in Australia, Japan, Ireland, France, Denmark, Britain and the United States; set up extensive partnerships with Ferrari and Pepsi; and simultaneously debuted a final 60-second trailer for the film on more than 4,000 television networks, digital platforms, local stations, Spanish-language outlets and radio stations. "Wicked," directed by Jon M. Chu, easily set a domestic box office record for the biggest opening of a live-action musical. The record is currently held by "Hairspray," which arrived to $43 million in domestic ticket sales in 2007, after adjusting for inflation. About 72% of ticket buyers for "Wicked" were female, according to PostTrak, an exit polling service, meaning that Universal's attempt to convince men that a glittery, two-hour-and-40-minute musical was worth their time was not entirely successful. Deadline, an entertainment trade news site, estimated Thursday that "Wicked" was on track to take in between $130 million and $150 million in tickets in North America over the weekend. Some 60% of "Gladiator II" ticket buyers were male, according to PostTrak. Paramount was thrilled with the demographic breakdown, noting that roughly half of ticket buyers were younger than 35, a sign that the sequel had reached a new generation while maintaining the legacy audience. To some degree, "Wicked" helped fuel "Gladiator II" and vice versa, with their simultaneous release in the United States and Canada nicknamed "Glicked," and movie fans -- captivated by their wild incongruity -- taking in double features and dressing in elaborate costumes. Box office analysts said the effect was minimal, however, at least compared with "Barbenheimer" last year, when hundreds of thousands of moviegoers paid to see "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" in back-to-back screenings. Both "Wicked" and "Gladiator II" amounted to cinematic comfort food -- escapist, over-the-top stories that allowed Americans to leave behind a bruising presidential campaign and the continuing impact of inflation. People reach for nostalgia in times of stress, and movies that remind audiences of the past have been succeeding. Examples include "Wonka," "Bad Boys: Ride or Die," "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," "Twisters" and now "Wicked," with its roots in "The Wizard of Oz," and "Gladiator II," with its sandals and swords. FAQs Q1. Which Hollywood movies were released this week? A1. "Wicked" and "Gladiator II" were released this week. Q2. What are box-office collections of 'Gladiator II'? A2. Box-office collections of "Gladiator II" are about $56 million in North America. 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Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles this week unsealed criminal charges against five men alleged to be members of a hacking group responsible for dozens of cyber intrusions at major U.S. technology companies between 2021 and 2023, including LastPass , MailChimp , Okta , T-Mobile and Twilio . The five men, aged 20 to 25, are allegedly members of a hacking conspiracy dubbed “ Scattered Spider ” and “ Oktapus ,” which specialized in SMS-based phishing attacks that tricked employees at tech firms into entering their credentials and one-time passcodes at phishing websites. The targeted SMS scams asked employees to click a link and log in at a website that mimicked their employer’s Okta authentication page. Some SMS phishing messages told employees their VPN credentials were expiring and needed to be changed; other phishing messages advised employees about changes to their upcoming work schedule. These attacks leveraged newly-registered domains that often included the name of the targeted company, such as twilio-help[.]com and ouryahoo-okta[.]com . The phishing websites were normally kept online for just one or two hours at a time, meaning they were often yanked offline before they could be flagged by anti-phishing and security services. The phishing kits used for these campaigns featured a hidden Telegram instant message bot that forwarded any submitted credentials in real-time. The bot allowed the attackers to use the phished username, password and one-time code to log in as that employee at the real employer website. In August 2022, multiple security firms gained access to the server that was receiving data from that Telegram bot, which on several occasions leaked the Telegram ID and handle of its developer, who used the nickname “ Joeleoli .” That Joeleoli moniker registered on the cybercrime forum OGusers in 2018 with the email address joelebruh@gmail.com , which also was used to register accounts at several websites for a Joel Evans from North Carolina. Indeed, prosecutors say Joeleoli’s real name is Joel Martin Evans , and he is a 25-year-old from Jacksonville, North Carolina. One of Scattered Spider’s first big victims in its 2022 SMS phishing spree was Twilio , a company that provides services for making and receiving text messages and phone calls. The group then used their access to Twilio to attack at least 163 of its customers. According to prosecutors, the group mainly sought to steal cryptocurrency from victim companies and their employees. “The defendants allegedly preyed on unsuspecting victims in this phishing scheme and used their personal information as a gateway to steal millions in their cryptocurrency accounts,” said Akil Davis , the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office. Many of the hacking group’s phishing domains were registered through the registrar NameCheap , and FBI investigators said records obtained from NameCheap showed the person who managed those phishing websites did so from an Internet address in Scotland. The feds then obtained records from Virgin Media, which showed the address was leased for several months to Tyler Buchanan , a 22-year-old from Dundee, Scotland. As first reported here in June , Buchanan was arrested in Spain as he tried to board a flight bound for Italy. The Spanish police told local media that Buchanan, who allegedly went by the alias “ Tylerb ,” at one time possessed Bitcoins worth $27 million. The government says much of Tylerb’s cryptocurrency wealth was the result of successful SIM-swapping attacks, wherein crooks transfer the target’s phone number to a device they control and intercept any text messages or phone calls sent to the victim — including one-time passcodes for authentication, or password reset links sent via SMS. According to several SIM-swapping channels on Telegram where Tylerb was known to frequent, rival SIM-swappers hired thugs to invade his home in February 2023. Those accounts state that the intruders assaulted Tylerb’s mother in the home invasion, and that they threatened to burn him with a blowtorch if he didn’t give up the keys to his cryptocurrency wallets. Tylerb was reputed to have fled the United Kingdom after that assault. Prosecutors allege Tylerb worked closely on SIM-swapping attacks with Noah Michael Urban , another alleged Scattered Spider member from Palm Coast, Fla. who went by the handles “ Sosa ,” “ Elijah ,” and “ Kingbob .” Sosa was known to be a top member of the broader cybercriminal community online known as “ The Com ,” wherein hackers boast loudly about high-profile exploits and hacks that almost invariably begin with social engineering — tricking people over the phone, email or SMS into giving away credentials that allow remote access to corporate networks. In January 2024, KrebsOnSecurity broke the news that Urban had been arrested in Florida in connection with multiple SIM-swapping attacks. That story noted that Sosa’s alter ego Kingbob routinely targeted people in the recording industry to steal and share “grails,” a slang term used to describe unreleased music recordings from popular artists. FBI investigators identified a fourth alleged member of the conspiracy – Ahmed Hossam Eldin Elbadawy , 23, of College Station, Texas — after he used a portion of cryptocurrency funds stolen from a victim company to pay for an account used to register phishing domains. The indictment unsealed Wednesday alleges Elbadawy controlled a number of cryptocurrency accounts used to receive stolen funds, along with another Texas man — Evans Onyeaka Osiebo , 20, of Dallas. Members of Scattered Spider are reputed to have been involved in a September 2023 ransomware attack against the MGM Resorts hotel chain that quickly brought multiple MGM casinos to a standstill. In September 2024, KrebsOnSecurity reported that a 17-year-old from the United Kingdom was arrested last year by U.K. police as part of an FBI investigation into the MGM hack. Evans, Elbadawy, Osiebo and Urban were all charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, and one count of aggravated identity theft. Buchanan, who is named as an indicted co-conspirator, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. A Justice Department press release states that if convicted, each defendant would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, up to five years in federal prison for the conspiracy count, and a mandatory two-year consecutive prison sentence for aggravated identity theft. Buchanan would face up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud count as well. Further reading: The redacted complaint against Buchanan (PDF) Charges against Urban and the other defendants (PDF).
As another frigid winter approaches, people like Ed Kranz are embracing the cold — and working up quite a sweat. Kranz and his wife, Colleen, are among those who believe the best way to endure winter is to heat up in saunas and then cool off in icy weather. On a bone-chilling Sunday morning, they set up a mobile wood-fired sauna from their business, Saunable, near a frozen lake in the Minneapolis suburb of Eagan. After about 10 minutes of sweating in the 185-degree sauna, they moseyed outside into the 15-degree temperatures, lingering around a fire in bathing suits before repeating the process three or four more times. One brave soul dipped into a hole in the frozen lake for a post-sauna cold plunge. Their hot-and-cold venture is common in Minnesota, where plenty of residents embrace sauna culture for warmth and community. Devotees say they are mingling Old World traditions with newfangled internet-based communities and making social connections in a society that can feel isolating. Sauna and cold plunges go together like peanut butter and jelly, said Glenn Auerbach, a self-described sauna evangelist and the founder and editor of SaunaTimes. Auerbach started the website in 2008 to share his thoughts, research and conversations with movers and shakers in the sauna world. He and his interlocutors mull over the nitty-gritty of sauna construction, how to cultivate “good sauna vibes” and the potential health benefits of the sauna lifestyle. A typical temperature to achieve the holy trinity of the sauna experience — heat, steam and ventilation — is about 180 to 200 degrees, a temperature that starkly contrasts the frigid winter weather in places like Minnesota. The craftiest in the sauna community can build a facility for about $10,000, according to Auerbach. Those looking to skip the physical labor can outsource the construction. Saunas’ popularity, which enthusiasts say spiked following the COVID-19 pandemic, has brought with it a rise in manufacturers selling saunas for about $30,000 to $40,000. While saunas’ cultural cachet may have increased in recent years, they long predate the Instagrammable spaces now popping up, Auerbach said. The smell of cedar wood has been lodged in Justin Juntunen’s memory ever since he first stepped into his family’s sauna as a child. Juntunen, the founder of Cedar and Stone Nordic Sauna, is a descendant of Finnish immigrants who came to America in the 1880s. They brought with them an appreciation for saunas and the communal values the steam-filled rooms impart to local life. People in Finland say there are more saunas than cars, Juntunen said. When immigrants like his grandfather came to Minnesota to work in the mines, mills or docks, they would often save up to build a farmhouse. But they would build a sauna first, living in the space while the house was constructed. Later, saunas would serve as informal town centers. People gossiped in saunas, they gave birth in saunas, and they died in saunas, Juntunen said. The public nature of the facilities reflects the egalitarian ethos that infuses Nordic culture, and sauna culture by extension, he added. “This is a tradition that’s actually for everyone,” Juntunen said. “My favorite Nordic proverb is ‘All people are created equal, but nowhere more so than in the sauna.’” In addition to a desire for in-person experiences following the COVID-19 pandemic, enthusiasts say interest in saunas rose after some of the internet’s most famous figures, such as podcasters Joe Rogan and Andrew Huberman, touted them. “Every big podcaster in the world discovered that you could jump in cold water and it feels kind of good. And then people click on it online,” Juntunen said. In this way, technology has been a paradox for sauna culture, he added. Digital media helped sauna culture grow at the same time that saunas were billed as reprieves from the pervasive reach of technology over every facet of daily life. Either way, almost all of sauna culture’s adherents say its rise is inextricably linked to a desire for community. Those who committed to building their own saunas have hosted friends, neighbors and former high school hockey teammates. This has created a new form of post-COVID-19 contagiousness: “Good heat is contagious,” Auerbach said. This core function of sauna culture spans generations. Juntunen’s grandfather would rush to the sauna after work because it was the space where stories were told. “It’s a space where storytelling happens, where connection happens or silence happens,” Juntunen said. “I think that is a really beautiful example of what a sauna truly is.” Get local news delivered to your inbox!
The South African Teachers Union (SAOU) supports the public publication of matric results because matriculants are not personally identifiable, as only their examination numbers are disclosed. SAOU executive Officer Paul Sauer said they also supported the current modus operandi of the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to disseminate the results. “However, we are aware that with the new trends in technology, as well as the switch-off of print media, this problem will become less in the future,” he added. Information Regulator order Earlier this month, the DBE said it would go ahead with the publication of matric results in newspapers on 14 January. This is despite an order from the Information Regulator (IR) that the results should not be published in newspapers. DBE spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said the department was no longer releasing the names and surnames of the candidates, and therefore not contravening the Popi Act. “They are saying by releasing the results we are contravening with the Popi Act, but we argued that we are only using examination student numbers, not names like we did last time,” said Mhlanga. “Exam numbers are not identifiable, I mean you cannot know who the number belongs to. That is where we are standing,” he explained. Afriforum join case This has resulted in a dispute between the IR, DBE and AfriForum over the release of the matric results. Last month, the IR announced that it would fine the DBE R5 million for failing to comply with an enforcement notice in November, which ordered the department to make an undertaking that it would not publish the 2024 matric results in the media. ALSO READ: Gwarube takes charge of Bela Act amid Sadtu criticism However, AfriForum Head of Cultural Affairs Alana Bailey said the civil rights organisation was ready to oppose IR’s urgent court application regarding matric results. “AfriForum’s legal team has informed the IR that it is ready to take legal action if the IR proceeds with an urgent application to prevent the publication of the 2024 matric results. In a letter to the IR’s legal representative, AfriForum requested to be added as a co-respondent if the IR goes ahead with the case against the Department of Basic Education on 7 January 2025,” she said. Bailey said the request was based on compliance with the court order issued on 18 January 2022, which recommended the publication of matriculation results. “At the time, AfriForum and other parties brought the case to ensure that the 2021 matric results could be published on public platforms. The court order confirmed AfriForum’s opinion that the publication of examination numbers without names provided sufficient protection of the privacy of the matriculants while also being in the public interest,” she added. ALSO READ: Language barriers in education affecting pupils’ performance, says Gwarube Bailey said this past week, the IR not only announced that it was fining the DBE for the intended publication of the results but also approached the court on an urgent basis to try to stop the publication thereof. “Based on the court order, AfriForum considers the enforcement order of the IR invalid and is therefore ready to oppose any action against the DBE and the publication of the results. Matriculants have a right to privacy, but also the right to access their results on public platforms, provided that their names are not published. This is an established practice, and the court has already conceded that this is in everyone’s interest,” she said. Popi Act breach claims In November, the IR spokesperson Nomzamo Zondi said the DBE was issued with an enforcement notice on 4 November 2024. The IR found that the department was not compliant with Section 11 of the Popi Act. It was found to be in breach of the conditions for the lawful processing of personal information, specifically by failing to obtain consent from either the pupils or their parents or guardians, for publishing the results of the 2023 National Senior Certificate examinations. Zondi said the IR has directed the DBE to obtain consent from parents or guardians of pupils who will write the matric examination in 2025 before publishing their results in newspapers. NOW READ: Class of 2024: Matric results, re-markings and rewrites — everything you need to know
Chuck Woolery, ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Game Host, Dead at 83
Israel launches new airstrikes on Lebanon as leaders draw closer to ceasefire with HezbollahAnchored in Excellence: Miros’ 2024 Milestones Making WavesCars, computers, technology, aircraft and oil — as a nation, we export so many things that are critical to life. Our most important exports, however, are our values. But intolerance, amplified by our caustic digital culture, has made protecting religious liberty at home more challenging. The incoming Trump administration can help quell domestic forces seeking to attack our first freedom. President-elect Donald Trump’s commitment to dismantling government censorship and cancel culture provides this country with the moral footing to reinforce religious freedom again at home and around the world. Our founders understood the importance of religious liberty to the fabric of the republic. Religious liberty is the bedrock upon which free speech and the Bill of Rights are built. Without the ability to worship God as you see fit, without fear of oppression from the state, true free speech simply cannot exist. In recent times, a culture of fear has been driven by powerful voices in media, Hollywood and the left-wing political ecosystem, as well as the shadowy work of the unelected, unaccountable bureaucracy. In the last five years, Americans have been horrified by the demonizing and ridiculing of people of faith. It goes far beyond the FBI’s covert efforts to infiltrate and monitor Catholic parishes. The Biden administration and left-wing governors openly and notoriously attempted to eviscerate the sincerely held religious beliefs of millions of Americans to force them, under penalty of losing their livelihoods, to take the COVID-19 jabs that the government knew did not prevent transmission or infection. Pro-life demonstrators have received harsher punishments, including years in jail, for blocking abortion centers, while Black Lives Matters rioters have walked free. Antisemitic demonstrations have been tolerated on hundreds of college campuses. Hate crimes against Jews have skyrocketed. The Associated Press recently ran a story based on comments from one source suggesting that Pete Hegseth, Mr. Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, should be considered “alt-right” or an “insider threat” because of his tattoos of the Jerusalem Cross and the phrase “Deus Vult” (Latin for “God wills it”). The AP, perhaps not surprisingly, didn’t include any sources to rebut claims that those symbols connote White supremacy. For nearly a thousand years, the Jerusalem Cross has symbolized the five wounds of Christ or, alternatively, the four evangelists and Christ himself. It is also a symbol of the Holy Land and worn by the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, a lay order of knighthood under the protection of the pope. “Deus Vult” or “Deus lo Vult” is also an ancient motto of the order and associated with protection of the people and places of the greater Holy Land. It’s just another example of the pervasiveness and normalization of anti-Christian and anti-Catholic bigotry. The domestic situation may be perilous, but the global state of religious liberty, in the absence of U.S. leadership, is even more troubling. According to the Religious Freedom Institute, in three of the last four years, during the Biden administration, the number of nations where there is negative trajectory in terms of religious liberty has increased year over year, while those improving have consistently decreased. Antisemitic protests, riots and attacks have dramatically increased globally since the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel. According to Open Doors, more than 365 million Christians in the world, or 1 in 7, face high levels of religious persecution. The human cost of attacks by Muslims against other factions within their own religion is incalculable. In China, it is illegal for children under 18 to attend church; government registration for worship is required, and digital persecution is widespread as a component of the country’s social credit system. Churches are monitored and can be shut down without warning. Religious intolerance globally matters because it has historically been a companion to democide and other aspects of the societal collapse that help breed authoritarianism. Integrating religious liberty benchmarks into our diplomacy is critical to global stability. The incoming Trump administration’s recommitment to religious liberty at home and abroad will provide assurance not only to Americans but also to billions around the world that this cornerstone of free and advanced societies is not fading but rather affirmed. Advancing religious freedom isn’t about military or diplomatic adventurism. It recognizes the indisputable truth that more tolerant societies are freer, more peaceful and more resistant to communism and authoritarianism, a growing global calamity. Leftists in America have a perverted view of freedom and religion, consistently espousing that we should be free from religion. If we do that, we shall neither enjoy freedom nor religion. Getting the border under control, cutting taxes and reducing the deficit are all critically important goals for President-elect Trump. We should pray, however, that our first freedom again be revered, celebrated and exported as well. Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. . 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Juan Soto introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15-year deal NEW YORK (AP) — Juan Soto put on a New York Mets jersey and cap for the first time after his record $765 million, 15-year contract was finalized and talked about what made the difference in his decision. He said at his introductory news conference on Thursday that the Mets “showed me a lot of love." Soto was introduced at Citi Field a day after his deal was finalized. Speaking in the Piazza 31 Club, Soto was flanked by Mets owner Steve Cohen, president of baseball operations David Stearns and his agent, Scott Boras. Bill Belichick 'always wanted' to give college coaching a try. Now he will at North Carolina New North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick said he had long been interested in coaching in the college ranks. But it had never worked out until now, as he takes over the Tar Heels program. Belichick led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl titles during a 24-year run there that ended last year. Belichick's five-year deal pays him $10 million in base and supplemental salary per year. It is guaranteed only for the first three years, including for buyout purposes. There is also up to $3.5 million in annual bonuses. Wander Franco's sex abuse trial has been postponed 5 months PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic (AP) — The trial against Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco, who has been charged with sexually abusing a minor, sexual and commercial exploitation against a minor, and human trafficking, has been postponed until June 2, 2025. Dominican judge Yacaira Veras postponed the hearing Thursday at the request of prosecutors because of the absence of several key witnesses in the case. Franco’s lawyers asked the court to reconsider the postponement, arguing Franco must report to spring training in mid-February. The judge replied that Franco is obligated to continue with the trial schedule and his conditional release from detainment. Rape investigation that Swedish media say focused on Kylian Mbappé has been closed STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish prosecutors say they have dropped a rape investigation that was launched in connection with soccer star Kylian Mbappé’s visit to Stockholm in October. In a statement, lead investigator Marina Chirakova says there is not enough evidence to continue the investigation into the allegation at a hotel. Prosecutors never publicly named the suspect in the investigation but some Swedish media reported it was Mbappé. The Real Madrid striker visited Stockholm in October during a break in the Spanish league. At the time, Mbappé’s legal team dismissed those reports as false. Travis Hunter, the 2-way standout for Colorado, is the AP college football player of the year BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Colorado two-way standout Travis Hunter is The Associated Press college football player of the year. Hunter received 26 of the 43 votes from a panel of AP Top 25 voters. Boise State tailback Ashton Jeanty finished second with 16 votes, and Arizona State running back Cameron Skattebo received one vote. A throwback player who rarely left the field, Hunter had 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns as a receiver. He had four interceptions and 11 passes defensed as a shutdown corner. Hunter helped the the 20th-ranked Buffaloes to a 9-3 record and an appearance in the Alamo Bowl against BYU. 2034 World Cup visitors will live in 'a bubble' and not see real life, Saudi rights activist says LONDON (AP) — A Saudi human rights activist says soccer fans visiting Saudi Arabia for the 2034 World Cup will live in a “bubble” that doesn't reflect real life there. Lina al-Hathloul is a London-based activist whose sister was jailed in Saudi Arabia then banned from travel after campaigning to end a ban on women driving. When FIFA confirmed the kingdom as the 2034 tournament host on Wednesday its president Gianni Infantino acknowledged “the world will be watching” for positive social change. Al-Hathloul says western people “will be very safe” at the World Cup but "will see a bubble of what Saudi Arabia is.” Team claims NASCAR rescinded approval to buy new charter unless federal antitrust suit is dropped CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A new court filing says NASCAR rejected Front Row Motorsports’ agreement to purchase a charter from Stewart-Haas Racing unless the team and 23XI Racing dropped their federal antitrust lawsuit against the stock car series. Front Row and 23XI rejected NASCAR's new revenue sharing agreement and have gone to court. NASCAR now says it will move forward in 2025 with 32 chartered teams and eight open spots, with offers on charters for Front Row and 23XI rescinded and the SHR charters in limbo. Indian teen Gukesh Dommaraju becomes the youngest chess world champion after beating Chinese rival NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju has become the youngest chess world champion after beating the defending champion Ding Liren of China. Dommaraju, 18, secured 7.5 points against 6.5 of his Chinese rival in Thursday's game which was played in Singapore. He has surpassed the achievement of Russia’s Garry Kasparov who won the title at the age of 22. Dommaraju is now also the second Indian to win the title after five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand. The Indian teen prodigy has long been considered a rising star in the chess world after he became a chess grandmaster at 12. He had entered the match as the youngest-ever challenger to the world crown after winning the Candidates tournament earlier this year. Hojlund scores twice for Man United to beat Viktoria Plzen 2-1 in Europa League, Tottenham held 1-1 Rasmus Hojlund scored twice after coming off the bench and Manchester United rallied to beat Viktoria Plzen 2-1 in the Europa League. The Denmark striker netted in the 88th minute after collecting Bruno Fernandes’ pass off a free kick to seal the victory. Hojlund came on in the 56th and scored an equalizer six minutes later. Totenham was held 1-1 at Rangers and Lazio tops the standings after a 3-1 win at Ajax. In the Conference League a youthful Chelsea lineup made the most of a long trip to Kazakhstan by beating Astana 3-1 to stay perfect in the third-tier competition. NFL world reacts with excitement, surprise, questions after Bill Belichick is hired to coach UNC Bill Belichick is already the most decorated coach in NFL history. His next challenge is college football after he agreed to a five-year deal to coach at North Carolina. The reaction around the NFL ranged from excitement at seeing him back on the sideline to disbelief. Some of his former players believe his skill set will work at any level. Others caution that the players he brings into UNC should prepare to have their limits tested.
New York: For Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the activist whom US President-elect Donald Trump will nominate to serve as the secretary of health and human services, the solution to obesity in America – now at 40 per cent of adults – is straightforward: “The first line of response should be lifestyle,” he told Jim Cramer in recent CNBC interview. Elon Musk, the technology billionaire who advises the president-elect, sees things differently: “Nothing would do more to improve the health, lifespan and quality of life for Americans than making GLP inhibitors super low cost to the public,” he wrote on the social platform X, referring to the new class of drugs that cause weight loss, including Ozempic. “Nothing else is even close.” (GLP is Glucagon-like peptide, a hormone produced in the gut and released in response to food.) Statements by Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Elon Musk tap into a dispute over whether lifestyle changes or pharmaceuticals are better for treating obesity. Credit: Ryan David Brown, Kenny Holston, Amir Hamja/The New York Times And there, with the contrasting views of two men in Trump’s ear, lie two sides of an issue that is plaguing health and nutrition researchers. Is it even possible to change lifestyles and the food environment enough to solve America’s obesity problem? And, if not, do we really want to solve it by putting millions of people on powerful drugs? What is the right balance between the two approaches? Many people find that eating well is easier said than done. Food companies have saturated the United States and other nations with seductively cheap and tasty things to eat, available seemingly everywhere and around the clock. Obesity researchers suspect the current food environment has allowed many Americans to be as overweight as they possibly can be. But for the first time, there is an effective countervailing force – powerful new obesity drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound that allow people to ignore the siren call of high-calorie foods and large portion sizes. Patients, doctors and pharmacists across the US have struggled to get their hands on the powerful new obesity drug Zepbound, as demand for the weight-loss shot soars. Credit: Bloomberg Those with views like Kennedy’s believe it is wrong to use pharmaceuticals to manage obesity and related issues that are tied to unhealthy lifestyles and a ruinous food environment. The makers of obesity drugs, Kennedy told Greg Gutfeld on Fox News before the election, are “counting on selling it to Americans because we’re so stupid and so addicted to drugs.” But there are many like Musk, who says he has used Wegovy, applauding the power of the new drugs to improve health and treat the seeming intractability of obesity. Many health and nutrition researchers say they would love for obesity to be treated through lifestyle changes alone, but they are not optimistic. They point to a history of attempts to teach people to change their diet and exercise habits. Multiple studies left them with dashed hopes and tempered their enthusiasm. That happened with diabetes. In 1996, the National Institutes of Health initiated a study involving thousands of people at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Researchers led these subjects through an intensive program of diet, counselling and exercise. It worked so well that the study was ended one year early. The intervention slashed people’s chances of developing diabetes by more than half. An attendee sits on a stack of crushed aluminum cans before the start of a campaign event with Donald Trump. Credit: Bloomberg The result was so consequential that Tommy Thompson, then the secretary of health and human services under president George W. Bush, joined the study’s principal investigator, Dr David Nathan, a Harvard diabetes researcher, to announce it in 2001, telling the nation that the study showed diabetes could be conquered. “Just walk around the block, walk down the street 30 minutes each and every day, and we can lick this particular disease,” Thompson said at the time. He also said, “Prevention works.” Until it doesn’t. Diabetes incidence has actually increased since those results were announced 23 years ago. Permanent lifestyle changes, it turns out, are not easy. “The problem, of course, is that people being people apparently find it difficult to maintain such changes over long periods,” Nathan said in a recent interview. Donald Trump speaks at an event for seniors with diabetes at the White House in 2020. Credit: Bloomberg Christopher Gardner, a nutrition researcher at Stanford University, is a true believer in the power of a healthy diet. He has done study after study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, in which health professionals guided participants in their food choices or, in some cases, even delivered meals to them. The studies succeeded – participants’ health improved. But when the studies ended, Gardner said, and when participants no longer had that guidance or food delivery, many, if not most, went back to their old eating habits and all those benefits of a healthy diet vanished. “Yes, diet should be the answer,” said Gardner, who was paid five years ago by a purveyor of meat alternatives to study its products. But, he added, diet will be insufficient “unless some major changes are made to the whole food system in the United States.” Researchers say for as long as cheap food remains plentiful, there will be obesity problems. Credit: iStock There’s also the problem of genetics, said Dr Jeffrey Friedman, an obesity researcher at Rockefeller University in New York. Some people have a genetic tendency to become obese, and they will gain weight as long as food is cheap and plentiful. Tweaks like changing portion sizes or food advertising are not enough – if popcorn were sold in smaller bags, many would simply eat two bags of popcorn, he said. That has led Friedman, like Gardner and Nathan, to conclude that the only practical way to improve people’s health and allow them to lose weight is to rely on the new obesity drugs. Dr. Charles Burant, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan, is sympathetic to Kennedy’s view that the problem is the food system. He recalled an experience with one large food company that showed him how hard it could be to change what foods are marketed to Americans. Some researchers say some people will simply eat two servings of popcorn if servings were made smaller as part of an effort to shrink portion sizes. Credit: iStock He had an idea for a palatable drink containing an amino acid that he thought might sate hunger. So he went to the large food company and asked if it could make such a drink for him to test in a study. After a while, he received a reply: It was not in the company’s business plan to develop products that reduced appetites. It was not interested in helping. “It wasn’t their business to sell less food,” Burant said. “If you can rein in corporations or try to use pressure to modulate what they do, I think that’s great,” he said. “But in the meantime, until the population learns to eat good things, we need to do something to help people.” Others, like Dr Kevin Volpp of the University of Pennsylvania, worry about promoting the widespread use of obesity drugs. He worries about the idea of tens of millions of Americans injecting themselves weekly with drugs to curb their appetites. “There is not enough money in the system to suddenly fund drugs for that many people,” Volpp said. He prefers to reserve the drugs for adults with the most serious diseases related to obesity. Instead of handing out drugs to nearly all who qualify, Volpp said the country needed to consider other solutions, like marketing restrictions and taxes on sugary beverages. He also would like health insurers to help subsidise the purchase of healthy food for those who can’t afford it and have chronic medical problems, like diabetes, that are related to diet. Eleven states have secured permission to test the use of state Medicaid programs for pilot studies along those lines, he said. “All this is like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle,” Volpp said. “But we have to try everything that will help make our population healthier, given the rise in obesity from 12 per cent to 40 per cent in the past few decades.” It’s not clear, though, how to put the jigsaw puzzle together or whether to even try. For Dr Peter Lurie, the president of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest, the situation is dire enough to try everything all at once. His organisation, he said, firmly believes that the food environment is an important factor driving high obesity rates, and he wants it to change. He also describes himself as “something of a pharma sceptic”. But “when the pharmaceutical industry comes up with strong data that affects important outcomes,” Lurie said, “it is irresponsible to turn your back on it.” That is also the view of Dr Robert Califf, who has been serving as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration under President Joe Biden. Before he joined the FDA in 2016, Califf, a cardiologist, ran a clinical trials centre at Duke University that received funding from drug companies as well as from the federal government. “While I am totally in favour of helping Americans have a better diet, these drugs are highly effective” for people with obesity, Califf said. “Not just for losing weight,” but also for preventing heart disease deaths. In the meantime, “we have to control the advertising,” he said, and “we have to gradually change the agricultural system,” and “we have to subsidise healthier foods.” “You can either be a cynical old vet and say this is impossible, or you could be optimistic,” Califf said. This article originally appeared in The New York Times .Bitcoin’s soaring value has caught the attention of high-end fashion brands and retailers, prompting further interest in offering cryptocurrencies as a means of payment to tap in to fresh pockets of wealth and build loyalty with crypto investors. Until recently, only a handful of luxury brands including LVMH LVMH.PA watch labels Hublot and Tag Heuer as well as Kering-owned PRTP.PA fashion brands Gucci and Balenciaga have experimented with crypto payment offers. In recent weeks, upscale French luxury department store Printemps announced it was teaming up with the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, and French financial tech company Lyzi to accept cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ethereum in its stores in France – becoming the first European department store to do so. The move, coming as bitcoin rises, has been noticed by other brands and retailers who are showing interest in joining in. “There have been quite a few calls – it’s generated interest,” said David Princay, president of Binance France, who said the company is in talks with other luxury labels. Luxury lighter and pen maker S.T. Dupont told Reuters it aims to accept cryptocurrency payments in two Paris stores before the holidays. In the realm of experiences, cruise company Virgin Voyages began this month offering its first product accepting bitcoin as a payment option – a $120,000 annual pass for up to a year of sailing on its cruise ships. Regulators have long warned that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are high-risk assets, with limited uses in the real world. High volatility has been another barrier to wide adoption as a means of payment. But pledges of support from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who is expected to bring in more friendly e-currency regulation, have fueled record-breaking rises for bitcoin. S&P analysts say the narrative is starting to shift, noting that blockchain innovation in financial markets could increase predictability for cryptocurrencies. SEEKING INNOVATIVE BRANDING Luxury labels have long sought to cater to affluent shoppers from the tech industry by opening stores in upscale Silicon Valley malls and issuing products like the Hermes HRMS.PA Apple Watch, for example, which combines signature, stitched leather straps of the French Birkin bag maker with tech giant Apple’s AAPL.O connected timepiece. Now, new wealth generated by bitcoin’s recent highs – topping $107,000 on Monday – comes as the luxury industry faces its biggest slump in years and searches for new sources of growth. Offering cryptocurrency payments can be a way for companies to brand themselves as innovative rather than “a stuffy old brand that’s only selling to the boomers,” said Andrew O’Neill, digital assets lead analyst at S&P Global Ratings. The payment option remains largely symbolic. Retailers usually reconvert the funds to euros or dollars to offset risks of volatility, while for most shoppers, payment methods are seen overall as “something that’s been solved” already by such transaction platforms as PayPal PYPL.O or Venmo, said O’Neill. But for bitcoin investors who have seen a strong rise in the value of their investment, luxury goods – a designer handbag or high-end watch – are an obvious choice for diversifying one’s portfolio, analysts say. In a sign of growing interest from designer labels, Balenciaga recently issued a leather card holder designed to hold “Stax” hardware from crypto wallet company Ledger. The black leather accessory, which retails for 350 euros ($368), includes a keychain and Eiffel Tower charm, and an NFC chip fitted underneath the brand logo. Ledger’s Stax Crypto hardware, its recently developed higher-end hardware with a curved touch screen, sells for $399 at Best Buy BBY.N. The company’s “Flex” hardware, which resembles a mini Amazon Kindle, sells for $249 while the “Nano” version, which looks like a USB key, sells for $79. REACHING YOUNGER CLIENTELE Gregory Boutte, chief client and digital officer for luxury conglomerate Kering, has described the group’s strategy when it comes to technology as “test and learn” rather than “wait and see.” He emphasized the embrace of new technologies as key to reaching younger and Asian clientele. Kering’s star label, Gucci, has since 2022 made purchases available through 10 cryptocurrencies for most of its products in the United States. Printemps is working to expand its crypto payments service to New York City, where it plans to open a multibrand retailer in the Wall Street district in March. Bitcoin’s rise in late 2021 prompted an initial flurry of interest from luxury brands with Tag Heuer, headed at the time by LVMH luxury scion Frederic Arnault, as well as Gucci, accepting payments in cryptocurrency the following year for some purchases in the United States. One crypto advocate who recently used digital assets to make luxury purchases is Eunice Wong, an investor and influencer known as “Eunicorn.” Wong said she used cryptocurrency to buy several high-end watches this year including an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak model. But she is not interested in being drawn in by high end brands seeking to build a closer client relationship, preferring to bypass traditional retail stores and sales routines. That takes too much time, in her view. “If I will buy, I’ll buy on the secondary market, not through them,” she told Reuters. “I want it now.” Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mimosa Spencer in Paris, Editing by Matthew Lewis)