The Debt Problem Is Enormous. Experts Say the System for Fixing It Is Broken
17Dec Avatar photoBy James W. BrownNo Comments
Business

The Debt Problem Is Enormous. Experts Say the System for Fixing It Is Broken

Martin Guzman was a college freshman at La Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina, in 2001 when a debt crisis prompted default, riots and a devastating depression. A dazed middle class suffered ruin, as the International Monetary Fund insisted that the government make misery-inducing budget cuts in exchange for a bailout.Watching Argentina unravel inspired Mr. Guzman to switch majors and study economics. Nearly two decades later, when the government was again bankrupt, it was Mr. Guzman as finance minister who negotiated with I.M.F. officials to restructure a $44 billion debt, the result of an earlier ill-conceived bailout.Today he is one of a number of prominent economists and world leaders who argue that the ambitious framework created at the end of World War II to safeguard economi...
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Fewer Electric Vehicles Will Qualify for U.S. Tax Credits in 2024
17Dec Avatar photoBy James W. BrownNo Comments
Technology

Fewer Electric Vehicles Will Qualify for U.S. Tax Credits in 2024

Efforts to fight global warming could suffer a setback next year when new rules reduce the number of electric cars that qualify for a federal tax credit.The credits, up to $7,500 a vehicle, have helped make electric cars more affordable, bringing the cost of some models below $30,000. Next year, for the first time, dealers will be able to give buyers the credit when they purchase a car, rather than telling them to claim it on their tax returns.But qualifying for the subsidy will become more difficult on Jan. 1 because of Biden administration rules intended to encourage automakers to manufacture vehicles and parts in North America, while bypassing China. Most automakers are still years away from breaking their dependence on China for batteries and essential materials like refined lithium.Th...
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Jesse Lingard is a non-footballing footballer – he won’t be the last
16Dec Avatar photoBy James W. BrownNo Comments
Sports

Jesse Lingard is a non-footballing footballer – he won’t be the last

It’s Jesse Lingard’s birthday. He turns 31 today and, at this stage of his life, he must realise it is not going to be easy shifting some of the perceptions that come from being a non-footballing footballer. For now, at least.Speak to Lingard’s former team-mates and they will talk about a guy who has been popular at all his clubs and played at a level, including a World Cup semi-final, that automatically commands respect among his fellow pros.But it is also a harsh reality that many others will be wondering how a player with Lingard’s record of achievement has spent so long without a club and seems less troubled by that situation than you might assume.Lingard last played competitive football in April, a two-minute substitute appearance for Nottingham Forest against his old club Manchester ...
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Morning Person? You Might Have Neanderthal Genes to Thank.
15Dec Avatar photoBy James W. BrownNo Comments
Health

Morning Person? You Might Have Neanderthal Genes to Thank.

Neanderthals were morning people, a new study suggests. And some humans today who like getting up early might credit genes they inherited from their Neanderthal ancestors.The new study compared DNA in living humans with genetic material retrieved from Neanderthal fossils. It turns out that Neanderthals carried some of the same clock-related genetic variants as do people who report being early risers.Since the 1990s, studies of Neanderthal DNA have exposed our species’ intertwined history. About 700,000 years ago, our lineages split apart, most likely in Africa. While the ancestors of modern humans largely stayed in Africa, the Neanderthal lineage migrated into Eurasia.About 400,000 years ago, the population split in two. The hominins who spread west became Neanderthals. Their cousins to th...
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Brazil’s Congress Weakens Protection of Indigenous Lands, Defying Lula
15Dec Avatar photoBy James W. BrownNo Comments
World

Brazil’s Congress Weakens Protection of Indigenous Lands, Defying Lula

Brazilian officials served up an array of plans and figures at the recent COP28 climate summit in Dubai, presenting itself as a world leader, on track to protect its forests and the people who live there.But on Thursday, Brazil’s Congress approved a law that threatens Indigenous people’s rights to most of the land they inhabit or claim, potentially opening vast territories to deforestation, farming and mining.The new law requires that Indigenous people must provide concrete evidence that they occupied the land they claim on Oct. 5, 1988, when the country’s current Constitution was enacted — a requirement that many of them have little or no hope of meeting.Under the new rule, not only can Indigenous land claims currently going through the legal process be thrown out for lacking such documen...
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Pro-China YouTube Network Used A.I. to Malign U.S., Report Finds
15Dec Avatar photoBy James W. BrownNo Comments
Business

Pro-China YouTube Network Used A.I. to Malign U.S., Report Finds

In a faintly stilted tone and with slightly awkward grammar, the American-accented voice on YouTube last month ridiculed Washington’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas, claiming that the United States was unable to “play its role as a mediator like China” and “now finds itself in a position of significant isolation.”The 10-minute post was one of more than 4,500 videos in an unusually large network of YouTube channels spreading pro-China and anti-U.S. narratives, according to a report this week from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a security-focused think tank.Some of the videos used artificially generated avatars or voice-overs, making the campaign the first influence operation known to the institute to pair A.I. voices with video essays.The campaign’s goal, according...
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The Last of Us Multiplayer Video Game Is Scrapped
15Dec Avatar photoBy James W. BrownNo Comments
Technology

The Last of Us Multiplayer Video Game Is Scrapped

The maker of the blockbuster video game The Last of Us, which was adapted into the hit HBO series by the same name earlier this year, announced that it would cancel development of its long-anticipated online multiplayer version of the game.“We realize many of you have been anticipating news around the project that we’ve been calling The Last of Us Online,” the developer, Naughty Dog, said in the announcement Thursday. “There’s no easy way to say this: We’ve made the incredibly difficult decision to stop development on that game.”The studio said the decision to drop the game had come after it became clear that it would have needed to commit resources “for years to come,” at the expense of future single-player games.Naughty Dog said it was faced with two options: to “become a solely live ser...
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Cho Gue-sung on how his life has changed a year on from the World Cup
15Dec Avatar photoBy James W. BrownNo Comments
Sports

Cho Gue-sung on how his life has changed a year on from the World Cup

There can’t be many footballers who have gone from playing for a military team to the cover of Vogue in a few months.But that’s just one of the ways South Korean striker Cho Gue-sung’s life has changed in the last year or so.Last year was a decent one for Cho. He joined Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, one of Korea’s top teams, in 2020 but took a while to find his feet. He had been a defensive midfielder until only a few years before, moving up front to take better advantage of his 6ft 2in (188cm) height and pace, but he was still relatively young in the position.As Korean players sometimes do, he used his mandatory period of military service as a bit of a reset, and to help improve his physical condition. He joined Gimcheon Sangmu — a team comprised of players on military service that was in the s...
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Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Abortion Pill Access
13Dec Avatar photoBy James W. BrownNo Comments
Health

Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Abortion Pill Access

The Supreme Court announced on Wednesday that it would decide on the availability of a commonly used abortion pill, the first major case involving abortion on its docket since it overturned the constitutional right to the procedure more than a year ago.The move sets up a high-stakes fight over the drug, mifepristone, that could sharply curtail access to medication that is used in more than half of all pregnancy terminations in the United States. It could also have implications for the regulatory authority of the Food and Drug Administration, which approved the pill more than two decades ago.The Supreme Court is now in the unusual position of ruling on abortion access even after its conservative majority declared that it would leave that question to the states. Until the court issues a deci...
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Biden to Meet Families of Hostages Held in Gaza: Israel-Hamas War Live Updates
13Dec Avatar photoBy James W. BrownNo Comments
World

Biden to Meet Families of Hostages Held in Gaza: Israel-Hamas War Live Updates

The U.N. General Assembly demanded an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in an overwhelming vote on Tuesday that highlighted much of the world’s desire to bring the bloody conflict to an end.About three-quarters of the body’s members voted in favor of the nonbinding resolution, underscoring the isolation of Israel and the United States, which last week blocked a cease-fire resolution in the Security Council.Resounding applause and cheers erupted after the vote was announced: 153 in favor, 10 against and 23 abstentions. The resolution required two-thirds majority for passage.“How many more thousands of lives must be lost before we do something?” Dennis Francis, a diplomat from Trinidad and Tobago currently serving as president of the General Assembly, said in an address to the cha...
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