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What we know about Luigi Mangione, the suspect arrested in UnitedHealthcare CEO killingDuring a review of his economic legacy on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden called the new tariffs his successor Donald Trump has vowed to impose a “major mistake”, while urging the president-elect not to reverse his signature policies on critical technology and green energy. In a speech at the Brookings Institution, Biden said that Trump “seems determined to impose steep, universal tariffs on all imported goods brought to this country in a mistaken belief that foreign countries will bear the cost of those tariffs, rather than the American consumer”. “I believe this approach is a major mistake. I believe we’ve proven that approach is a mistake over the past four years.” Biden did not explain why, if tariffs hurt American consumers, he chose to continue most of those Trump had imposed during his first term. Katherine Tai, Biden’s US trade representative, has argued that tariffs against China are a “legitimate and constructive” tool for reinvigorating domestic industries. When Biden succeeded Trump in January 2021, he inherited tariffs on an estimated US$300 billion in imports from China that Trump had initiated when he started a trade war in 2018. While keeping most of those intact, Biden even added tariffs on another US$18 billion in electric vehicles, semiconductors, solar panels and other imports from China, key tech sectors that Washington and Beijing are vigorously competing in.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Known across the globe as the stuck astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams hit the six-month mark in space Thursday with two more to go. The pair rocketed into orbit on June 5 , the first to ride Boeing's new Starliner crew capsule on what was supposed to be a weeklong test flight. They arrived at the International Space Station the next day, only after overcoming a cascade of thruster failures and helium leaks . NASA deemed the capsule too risky for a return flight, so it will be February before their long and trying mission comes to a close. While NASA managers bristle at calling them stuck or stranded, the two retired Navy captains shrug off the description of their plight. They insist they're fine and accepting of their fate. Wilmore views it as a detour of sorts: "We're just on a different path." NASA astronauts Suni Williams, left, and Butch Wilmore stand together for a photo June 5 as they head to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 in Cape Canaveral, Fla., for their liftoff on the Boeing Starliner capsule to the International Space Station. "I like everything about being up here," Williams told students Wednesday from an elementary school named for her in Needham, Massachusetts, her hometown. "Just living in space is super fun." Both astronauts lived up there before, so they quickly became full-fledged members of the crew, helping with science experiments and chores like fixing a broken toilet, vacuuming the air vents and watering the plants. Williams took over as station commander in September. "Mindset does go a long way," Wilmore said in response to a question from Nashville first graders in October. He's from Mount Juliet, Tennessee. "I don't look at these situations in life as being downers." Boeing flew its Starliner capsule home empty in September, and NASA moved Wilmore and Williams to a SpaceX flight not due back until late February. Two other astronauts were bumped to make room and to keep to a six-month schedule for crew rotations. Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose for a portrait June 13 inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. Like other station crews, Wilmore and Williams trained for spacewalks and any unexpected situations that might arise. "When the crews go up, they know they could be there for up to a year," NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free said. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio found that out the hard way when the Russian Space Agency had to rush up a replacement capsule for him and two cosmonauts in 2023, pushing their six-month mission to just past a year. Boeing said this week that input from Wilmore and Williams was "invaluable" in the ongoing inquiry of what went wrong. The company said it is preparing for Starliner's next flight but declined to comment on when it might launch again. NASA also has high praise for the pair. "Whether it was luck or whether it was selection, they were great folks to have for this mission," NASA's chief health and medical officer, Dr. JD Polk, said during an interview with The Associated Press. NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, both Expedition 71 flight engineers, make pizza Sept. 9 aboard the International Space Station's galley located inside the Unity module. Items are attached to the galley using tape and Velcro to keep them from flying away in the microgravity environment. On top of everything else, Williams, 59, had to deal with "rumors," as she calls them, of serious weight loss. She insists her weight is the same as it was on launch day, which Polk confirms. During Wednesday's student chat, Williams said she didn't have much of an appetite when she first arrived in space. But now she's "super hungry" and eating three meals a day plus snacks, while logging the required two hours of daily exercise. Williams, a distance runner, uses the space station treadmill to support races in her home state. She competed in Cape Cod's 7-mile Falmouth Road Race in August. She ran the 2007 Boston Marathon up there as well. She has a New England Patriots shirt with her for game days, as well as a Red Sox spring training shirt. "Hopefully I'll be home before that happens — but you never know," she said in November. Husband Michael Williams, a retired federal marshal and former Navy aviator, is caring for their dogs back home in Houston. As for Wilmore, 61, he's missing his younger daughter's senior year in high school and his older daughter's theater productions in college. The astronauts in the video seemed to be in good spirits with one stating, “It’s gonna be delicious.” (Scripps News) "We can't deny that being unexpectedly separated, especially during the holidays when the entire family gets together, brings increased yearnings to share the time and events together," his wife, Deanna Wilmore, told the AP in a text this week. Her husband "has it worse than us" since he's confined to the space station and can only connect via video for short periods. "We are certainly looking forward to February!!" she wrote. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) NASA astronaut Nick Hague, left, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, left, gives a thumbs up as they leave the Operations and Checkout Building on their way to Launch Complex 40 for a mission to the International Space Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla., (AP Photo/John Raoux) NASA astronaut Nick Hague, right, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov leave the Operations and Checkout building for a trip to the launch pad 40 Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) NASA astronaut Nick Hague, right, talks to his family members as Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov looks on after leaving the Operations and Checkout building for a trip to the launch pad 40 Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Two astronauts are beginning a mission to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) In this image from video provided by NASA, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, left, and astronaut Nick Hague travel inside a SpaceX capsule en route to the International Space Station after launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (NASA via AP) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) The Falcon 9's first stage booster returns to Landing Zone 1 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a crew of two lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) Get local news delivered to your inbox!PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Honey, they shrunk the catalogs. While retailers hope to go big this holiday season , customers may notice that the printed gift guides arriving in their mailboxes are smaller. Many of the millions of catalogs getting sent to U.S. homes were indeed scaled down to save on postage and paper, resulting in pint-sized editions. Lands’ End, Duluth Trading Company and Hammacher Schlemmer are among gift purveyors using smaller editions. Some retailers are saving even more money with postcards. Lisa Ayoob, a tech-savvy, online shopper in Portland, Maine, was surprised by the size of a recent catalog she received from outdoor apparel company Carbon2Cobalt. “It almost felt like it was a pamphlet compared to a catalog,” she said. Catalogs have undergone a steady recalibration over the years in response to technological changes and consumer behavior. The thick, heavy Sears and J.C. Penney catalogs that brought store displays to American living rooms slimmed down and gave way to targeted mailings once websites could do the same thing. Recent postal rate increases accelerated the latest shift to compact formats. The number of catalogs mailed each year dropped about 40% between 2006 to 2018, when an estimated 11.5 billion were mailed to homes, according to the trade group formerly known as the American Catalog Mailers Association. In a sign of the times, the group based in Washington rebranded itself in May as the American Commerce Marketing Association, reflecting a broadened focus. But don't expect catalogs to go the way of dinosaurs yet. Defying predictions of doom, they have managed to remain relevant in the e-commerce era. Retail companies found that could treat catalogs with fewer pages as a marketing tool and include QR and promo codes to entice customers to browse online and complete a purchase. Despite no longer carrying an extended inventory of goods, catalogs are costly to produce and ship. But they hold their own in value because of growing digital advertising costs, helping retailers cut through the noise for consumers barraged by multi-format advertisements, industry officials say. In an unlikely twist, notable e-commerce companies like Amazon and home goods supplier Wayfair started distributing catalogs in recent years. Amazon began mailing a toy catalog in 2018. That was the same year Sears, which produced an annual Christmas Wish Book Wish starting in 1933, filed for bankruptc y. Fans of printed information may rejoice to hear that apparel retailer J.Crew relaunched its glossy catalog this year. Research shows that the hands-on experience of thumbing through a catalog leaves a greater impression on consumers, said Jonathan Zhang, a professor of marketing at Colorado State University. “The reason why these paper formats are so effective is that our human brains haven’t evolved as fast as technology and computers over the past 10 to 20 years. We retain more information when we read something on paper. That's why paper books remain relevant," Zhang said. “The psychology shows that three-dimensional, tactile experiences are more memorable.” Pint-sized presentations still can work, though, because the purpose of catalogs these days is simply to get customers’ attention, Zhang said. Conserving paper also works better with younger consumers who are worried about the holiday shopping season's impact on the planet, he said. Postal increases are hastening changes. The latest round of postage hikes in July included the category with the 8.5-by-11-inch size that used to be ubiquitous for the catalog industry. Many retailers responded by reducing the size of catalogs, putting them in a lower-cost letter category, said Paul Miller, executive vice president and managing director of the American Commerce Marketing Association. One size, called a “slim jim,” measures 10.5 by 5.5 inches. But there other sizes. Some retailers have further reduced costs by mailing large postcards to consumers. Lands' End, for one, is testing new compact formats to supplement its traditional catalogs. This year, that included folded glossy brochures and postcards, along with other formats, Chief Transformation Officer Angie Rieger said. Maine resident Ayoob said she understands why retailers still use catalogs even though she no longer is a fan of the format. These days, she prefers to browse for products on the internet, not by flipping through paper pages. “Everybody wants eyeballs. There’s so much out there -- so many websites, so many brands,” said Ayoob, who spent 35 years working in department stores and in the wholesale industry. Targeting customers at home is not a new concept. L.L. Bean was a pioneer of the mail-order catalog after its founder promoted his famous “Maine Hunting Shoe” to hunting license holders from out-of-state in 1912. The outdoor clothing and equipment company based in Freeport, Maine, is sticking to mailing out regular-sized catalogs for now. “By showcasing our icons, the catalog became an icon itself,” L.L. Bean spokesperson Amanda Hannah said. "Even as we invest more in our digital and brand marketing channels, the catalog retains a strong association with our brand, and is therefore an important part of our omni-channel strategy, especially for our loyal customers.”
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EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Jameela Jamil says men who made her fake porn are cowards By RICHARD EDEN FOR THE DAILY MAIL Published: 22:34, 10 December 2024 | Updated: 22:43, 10 December 2024 e-mail View comments The Duchess of Sussex has claimed that she is the 'most trolled person in the world', saying the effect on her health is 'almost unsurvivable'. Her friend Jameela Jamil , however, refuses to be seen as a victim of the most revolting form of online abuse. The actress and model recently discovered that she was the subject of 'deep fake' pornography, in which her face was digitally added to the body of a porn actress. 'There is this preconceived certainty that I would feel mortified and violated,' she says. 'Obviously, the matter is worth taking seriously, and the women and girls featured in this falsified imagery sometimes experience horrendous bullying, shaming and job insecurity, which is completely unacceptable and frankly, insane. 'I also know there is a risk of people having their faces imposed on what looks like illegal acts of a sexual nature and so on and so forth. It's a slippery slope...I registered the full implication of this loathsome use of technology.' However, Jameela, 38, who lives in Los Angeles with her musician boyfriend James Blake, says: 'Instead, I felt detached. It wasn't me. I'm not there. The Duchess of Sussex has claimed that she is the 'most trolled person in the world', saying the effect on her health is 'almost unsurvivable' Her friend Jameela Jamil , however, refuses to be seen as a victim of the most revolting form of online abuse 'I am not actually involved. Why is this being brought to my door as if it's my problem? If anything, I felt a little sad for the people who made these videos.' Jameela, is a friend of Meghan and appeared on her podcast, Archetypes. She also wrote an article for the 2019 issue of Vogue when Meghan was guest editor, with her photograph appearing on the front cover. Writing on Substack, Jameela says: 'I don't think simply crying “misogyny” achieves anything. This behaviour is a symptom of something. 'These men are in crisis. They are filling an inner void carved out with tools of isolation, depression and helplessness, with these cowardly little aggressions. 'What if we collectively shun the shame, and recycle it into pity?' Alicia’s MBE accessories won’t stop her Fashion consultant Alicia Hempleman-Adams broke female airship world records earlier this year when she reached an altitude of 4,100ft on a solo flight in America. Yesterday, Alicia Hempleman-Adams used crutches to collect her MBE from King Charles at Windsor Castle after breaking her ankle Painfully, records aren’t the only things she’s broken. Yesterday, the 35-year-old daughter of adventurer Sir David Hempleman-Adams used crutches to collect her MBE from King Charles at Windsor Castle after breaking her ankle. ‘His Majesty asked me why,’ Alice tells me, explaining: ‘I had a hard landing in a balloon last month in Germany. I should be ready to fly after Christmas.’ Observer outrage The Guardian supports strikers – apart from at its own newspaper, apparently. Some journalists who went on strike last week over plans to sell its sister title The Observer were surprised their pay would be docked. A management source tells me: ‘When union members choose to strike, they don’t get paid. The NUJ advised them of this.’ Fogle's accent Speaking the King’s English may have helped Ben Fogle impress Peter Townend – the Tatler man who bequeathed his estimated £345,000 estate to him when he died in 2001. And the presenter, 51, says he stands out from his pals: ‘I’ve got a relatively posh Received Pronunciation accent. I’m in the minority who try to wear it with confidence. Most of my friends have “mockney” accents, posing as gangsters.’ Demetra calls it quits In its time, it has called upon the expertise of such disparate figures as ‘Steel Magnolia’ divorce lawyer Baroness (Fiona) Shackleton and SAS officer-turned-courtier Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton. But the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales must now learn to live without the talents of Demetra Pinsent, wife of gold medal-winning rower Sir Matthew Pinsent. I can reveal she has stood down after eight years as a trustee. But Demetra, 50, won’t be resting on her laurels. She remains chief executive of Charlotte Tilbury’s beauty empire – which was valued at £1.3 billion four years ago. More gold lies ahead, I suspect... The Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales must now learn to live without the talents of Demetra Pinsent, wife of gold medal-winning rower Sir Matthew Pinsent Europe Council's £200m shindig Sir Keir Starmer keeps telling us that money is tight, yet I hear that his Government is going to spend £200 million on foreign junkets for just 18 parliamentarians. Foreign office minister Lady Chapman has confirmed that Britain will continue to take part in the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, which holds regular shindigs in Strasbourg and elsewhere. The group is described as a human rights body, but until recently Russian politicians used to attend the meetings. Lady Chapman, asked by Scottish laird and former Ukip leader Lord Pearson how much the Government would be paying for these events, disclosed that it would be ‘something in the region of £40 million a year’. That means that over the course of this Parliament, the bill will reach a staggering £200 million. Craig's confession He played James Bond in five films and has an estimated fortune of £125 million. Yet Daniel Craig admits he envies other actors. ‘I get jealous all the time, of every f***ing actor who gets a job I’d like, but I admit to it,’ says Craig, 56. ‘Someone gave me great advice earlier on – don’t get bitter, it’ll eat you up.’ Jameela Jamil Los Angeles Share or comment on this article: EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Jameela Jamil says men who made her fake porn are cowards e-mail Add comment