PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP) -- Tens of thousands of naked Hindu ascetics and millions of pilgrims took dips in freezing water at the confluence of sacred rivers in northern India on Tuesday, in the first of a series of major baths in the Maha Kumbh festival, the largest religious congregation on Earth. Holding tridents, swords, spears and small two-headed drums, ash-smeared Hindu holy men marched and rode chariots at sunrise toward the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers in the northern city of Prayagraj. The men, with matted dreadlocks and crowns of marigolds, chanted religious slogans praising Hindu deity Lord Shiva on the way to the bathing site in a large procession with singing, drumming and blowing of horns. The Maha Kumbh festival -- held every 12 years -- started Monday, with more than 15 million pilgrims bathing in the holy rivers, according to officials. Over about the next six weeks, the festival is expected to draw more than 400 million people.
MADRID (AP) -- Spain is planning a raft of measures to address its brewing housing crisis, including an up to 100% tax on properties bought by people who are neither citizens nor residents of the European Union. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Snchez announced the plan this week to tackle housing affordability and high rents in the Southern European nation. He said that the overall goal was to provide "more housing, better regulation and greater aid." "The West faces a decisive challenge: To not become a society divided into two classes, the rich landlords and the poor tenants," Snchez said as he announced the plan.
Elon Musk said a third person has received an implant from his brain-computer interface company Neuralink, one of many groups working to connect the nervous system to machines. "We've got . . . three humans with Neuralinks and all are working well," he said during a wide-ranging interview at a Las Vegas event streamed on his social media platform X. Since the first brain implant about a year ago, Musk said the company has upgraded the devices with more electrodes, higher bandwidth and longer battery life. Musk also said Neuralink hopes to implant the experimental devices in 20 to 30 more people this year.
The SEC filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk on Tuesday, alleging the billionaire committed securities fraud in 2022 by failing to disclose he had amassed an active stake in Twitter, a secrecy that allowed him to buy shares at "artificially low prices." Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, purchased Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022 and changed the name to X the following year. Prior to the acquisition, he'd built up a position in the company of greater than 5%, which would've required disclosing his holdings to the public within 10 calendar days of reaching that threshold.
Early last year, streaming company Fubo filed an antitrust lawsuit against Disney, Fox, and Warner Brothers Discovery after the three companies decided to launch their own joint streaming live sports venture. Fubo, in the lawsuit, claims the collective power of the three companies would stifle competition in the sports streaming space, ultimately driving up costs for consumers and lowering product quality.
Songs you may know, but not in the language you know ... The link provided is a Police song DE DO DO DO DE DA DA DA in Japanese. Have fun. :)
Texas has sued insurance provider Allstate, alleging that the firm and its data broker subsidiary used data from apps like GasBuddy, Routely, and Life360 to quietly track drivers and adjust or cancel their policies.
A MAGA visit intended to make Greenland look pro"Donald Trump appears staged from the bottom up.
Trump is a disgraceful Man child.
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said he will create a new agency called the External Revenue Service to collect tariffs and other forms of revenue that come from foreign sources, echoing a suggestion made by former adviser Steve Bannon at an event hosted by POLITICO Tuesday morning.
Starbucks is scrapping a policy that had let anyone hang out at its cafes or use the restrooms without making a purchase. The new rules are part of a larger effort to improve Starbucks' cafe experience and deter homeless people and non-paying customers who have come to use Starbucks solely for shelter and bathroom access " but they reverse a policy that was put in place after one of the company's biggest-ever PR disasters. The new code of conduct, announced to stores Monday, is part of CEO Brian Niccol's strategy to lure back customers, boost sagging sales and improve worker relations. It applies to all locations in North America and will be displayed on store doors. Read more
There's been an uptick in stories about insurers limiting coverage of prosthetic limbs and questioning their medical necessity, for example. Mr Beast, an influencer with 343 million subscribers on YouTube, recently railed against the healthcare industry in a new video where he helped 2,000 amputees walk again. "Many lived in America and it feels so disgusting that in a country with this much wealth, a fucken YouTuber is their only option to get a prosthetic leg," he tweeted. "We need to fix this." And last week a plastic surgeon called Dr Elisabeth Potter " a specialist in reconstructive surgery for breast cancer patients who have had mastectomies " went viral on TikTok for claiming she had to step out of an operation (where another surgeon was also present) because a health insurance representative demanded proof it was necessary. According to Potter, her patient was under anesthesia when she got an urgent phone call from UnitedHealthcare while in the operating room.
For those of us that were there fighting Trump supporters inspired by his lies and his violent rhetoric, we were there to protect ourselves and our fellow officers," Fanone continued. "And ultimately, those of us that chose to speak out and testify about our account and what we experienced at the Capitol on January 6th, you know, who have been targeted by Trump himself and by his supporters. And that continues to this day." He recalled revealing that his mother was swatted, the practice of someone calling the police, claiming that there was a person with a gun, or threatening a person at the residence. The goal is for police to act irrationally and shoot first when the owner opens the door. While the swatting has been reported, Fanone revealed that his mother was attacked by someone driving by her home at least twice in the past several months. "Unfortunately, my mother has suffered at the hands of these MAGA lunatics," he said. Read more
The GOP's subservience to Donald Trump was once again made clear today, as House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that flags at the U.S. Capitol will be raised to their full height on Inauguration Day. This is simply embarrassing. Read more
"As set forth in the original and superseding indictments, when it became clear that Mr. Trump had lost the election and that lawful means of challenging the election results had failed, he resorted to a series of criminal efforts to retain power," the report says." Read more
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused their pharmacy benefit manager units of imposing significant price markups on specialty generic drugs, according to a new interim staff report. FTC said the "Big 3 PBMs" -- CVS's Caremark, Cigna's Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth's OptumRx -- imposed markups of hundreds to thousands of percent on critical drugs, including those for cancer and HIV, between 2017 and 2022.
