Saturday, October 4
Headlines
Anadolu via Getty Images
Hamas partially agrees to Trump’s Gaza plan, but wants to negotiate. Hamas said yesterday it would agree to release all remaining hostages and give up power over the Gaza Strip, but that it wanted to negotiate further details of the 20-point peace plan President Trump unveiled this week alongside Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu. Earlier in the day, Trump had given the group an ultimatum to accept the plan by Sunday, but following Hamas’s statement, Trump said, “I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE,” and called on Israel to “immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly!” Netanyahu’s government then said it was preparing to implement the “first stage” of the plan.—AR
Sean “Diddy” Combs sentenced to more than four years. The hip-hop mogul got 50 months in prison yesterday after being convicted in July of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. That’s shorter than the 11-year sentence that federal prosecutors were seeking, but more than what his lawyers requested, which was the 14 months he’s already served. It’s also much shorter than the life sentence Combs was potentially facing before being acquitted of more serious sex trafficking and racketeering charges. Still, the judge said a significant sentence was needed to show “exploitation and violence against women is met with real accountability.” A lawyer for Combs vowed to appeal the sentence, telling ABC the judge had improperly acted as a “13th juror.”—BC
Trump admin halts $2.1b for Chicago transit as shutdown continues. Trump’s budget director, Russ Vought, said yesterday that the administration is withholding the money pegged for extending Chicago’s Red Line L train, making it the latest freeze on funds to a Democrat-led city since the federal government shut down. The administration has now frozen at least $28 billion in funding for Democratic cities and states, Reuters reports, as Trump seeks to target his opponents’ priorities during the shutdown. He has also threatened to fire federal workers. The shutdown is likely to last at least through the weekend after Democrats, who are demanding funding for Obamacare subsidies, rejected a Republican-backed bill to fund the government yesterday.—AR
At A Glance
Bookkeeping
> $336K to $403K: How much an original print of David Bowie’s "Aladdin Sane" cover is expected to go for at auction, breaking the record for most expensive album art.
> 310 dB: The volume of an 1883 eruption on the volcanic island of Krakatoa; ruptured eardrums 40 miles away and remains the loudest sound ever recorded.
Browse
> Golden retriever gives koala piggyback ride. (w/photos)
> Twenty-one rules for throwing a good party.
> How your income is distributed across tax brackets. (w/interactive)
> Why we click with certain people, according to a neuroscientist.
Listen
> Computer science students were handed an empty promise.
> Can humans talk to whales?
Watch
> Is it really bad to eat raw cookie dough?
> Inside the parlor that covers hateful tattoos for free.
> Potential loophole to survive the end of the universe.
Long Read
> Will classic snacks look the same without artificial dyes?
> Enduring intrigue of Amelia Earhart's disappearance.
> What it's like to retire after 75.
> Life and death of the American foodie.
Most Clicked This Week: What was going on the day you were born?
Historybook: Rembrandt dies (1669); Orient Express makes first run from Paris to Romania (1883); Hollywood legend Charlton Heston born (1923); Sputnik 1 is first artificial satellite to orbit Earth (1957); Rocker Janis Joplin dies (1970).
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Sean "Diddy" Combs to be sentenced today in New York for his July conviction on prostitution-related charges; prosecutors are seeking an 11-year prison sentence (More)
> Department of Homeland Security plans to send ICE agents to patrol Super Bowl LX following announcement that Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny was selected to perform at the halftime show (More)
> The 2025 WNBA Finals begin tonight (8:30 pm ET, ESPN) with the Las Vegas Aces taking on the Phoenix Mercury in a best-of-seven series (More)
Science & Technology
> Perplexity AI launches artificial intelligence-powered web browser, Comet, for free worldwide; startup initially offered browser to select users for $200 monthly (More)
> Paleontologists revise evolutionary timeline for freshwater fish after analysis of 67-million-year-old ear bone fossil suggests they inherited their powerful hearing from marine ancestors (More)
> Researchers determine costly, deadly wildfires have increased more than fourfold from 1980 to 2023; 43% of the most damaging fires occurred between 2013 and 2023, including 43 wildfires that each caused over $1B in damage (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close up (S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow +0.2%, Nasdaq +0.4%) (More) | OpenAI raises valuation to record $500B after completing $6.6B secondary share sale, surpassing SpaceX as the world's most valuable startup (More)
> Tesla reports record 497,099 deliveries in Q3, a 7.4% rise from a year ago; sales data comes as a $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles expired (More)
> Berkshire Hathaway to pay $9.7B for Occidental Petroleum's chemical unit; deal is Berkshire's largest since 2022 when it paid $11.6B for insurer Alleghany (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> White House asks nine colleges to agree to "compact" banning race and gender in admissions, freezing tuition, and capping international enrollment in exchange for federal funds (More) | President Donald Trump says the US is in "armed conflict" with drug cartels (More)
> Eiffel Tower closes as thousands of people strike across France to demand higher taxes on the rich and denounce budget cuts and a hike in the retirement age (More)
> Israel to deport hundreds of activists, including Greta Thunberg and Nelson Mandela's grandson, who were detained after Israeli navy intercepted 40 vessels attempting to deliver aid to Gaza (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Perils of Marriage
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Living together is not easy whether a couple is married or not. It seems to be, my opinion, if you're married, because at best you split your assets 50/50 (providing there are no children), or you are in your 60s-70s-80s and it is not that easy living solo, especially if there are medical issues.
Therefore, couples stay together simply for the finances and companionship and the care that might needed to be given.
For instance, I am 78, my wife is 73, we are both in poor physical health... I might be slightly worse because I am fighting two kinds of cancers... and, we do not get along at all... which I find strange because our commonalities is what brought us together in the first place.
It would appear that we lied about what we had in common because we could not be more opposite.
We don't trust each other; we don't respect each other; we don't love each other, although being together for over thirty years creates some kind of mutual caring... We have just enough money (collectively) to take care of us until we're both 95 (assuming we live that long) and divorce would be financially disastrous for both of us.
SO... we remain together... we are married but it would not make any difference if we were not... We lived together for five years before we agreed to marry a second time.
YET...
there are married couples with and without children who will divorce each year at the first sign of incompatibility.
WHY...
Is living with another person because of an initial love SO FRIGGING DIFFICULT???
A 50,000-Year-Old Fossil Reveals Neanderthals Had a Far Richer Diet Than Scientists Once Believed
New evidence from fossilized dental plaque, coastal excavation sites and ancient feces is upending long-held assumptions about Neanderthal diets. Far from being brutish carnivores who hunted woolly mammoths and gnawed on raw meat, Neanderthals appear to have been remarkably adaptable eaters — with menus that included cooked crabs, medicinal plants, and even legumes.
Findings from multiple peer-reviewed studies, including a seminal paper published in Nature, reveal significant regional variation in Neanderthal diets across Europe. In northern sites like Spy Cave in Belgium, stable isotope analysis confirms a meat-heavy intake — primarily woolly rhinoceros and wild sheep. But in Spain’s El Sidrón cave, researchers found almost no trace of meat. Instead, genetic sequencing of calcified dental plaque uncovered remnants of mushrooms, pine nuts, moss, and tree bark.
Friday, October 3
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Headlines
Patrick Pleul/Getty Images
Tesla set a new sales record in Q3. Elon Musk’s automaker sold ~497k cars last quarter, up by 7.4% from last year and well ahead of Wall Street’s projections as consumers raced to buy electric vehicles before the federal government’s $7,500 EV tax credit expired on Sept. 30. That’s the good news. The bad news is it may be the company’s last good quarter for the foreseeable future, as EV sales are widely expected to plunge now that the tax credit has expired. Prior to the sales rush in Q3, Tesla had been struggling due to increased competition and Musk’s controversial foray into US politics. The CEO recently became the world’s first half-trillionaire.
Two killed in attack on UK synagogue. A suspect rammed a car into people and then stabbed them outside of a synagogue in Manchester yesterday, killing two and injuring four others in what police described as a terrorist attack. The rampage came on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, as people gathered at an Orthodox temple shortly after services began. Authorities shot and killed the suspect and arrested two others, but did not say how they may have been connected to the attack. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the assailant “vile” and said he “attacked Jews because they are Jews.”
Delta planes collided in low-speed collision on LaGuardia taxiway. Two regional Delta jets collided while taxiing at NYC’s LaGuardia Airport late Wednesday night. No passengers were hurt, but one flight attendant was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The wing of a plane departing for Roanoke, Virginia, reportedly clipped the nose and cockpit of a jet arriving from Charlotte, North Carolina, forcing passengers to deplane and take buses back to the terminal. While it’s unclear what caused the collision, it comes as a shortage of air-traffic controllers in the US has contributed to a number of aviation incidents this year.—AE
Robert Reich
In the unfriendly skies
Friends,
I don’t have a crystal ball, but I have a good idea how this shutdown ends. Trump and Republicans will cave (he won’t admit he’s caving, of course, but he will cave).
Here’s why: Air traffic controllers.
Like other federal workers, the controllers aren’t being paid now (they’ll get back-pay when the shutdown ends). But unlike most other federal workers, their workloads and stress loads have been soaring.
Recall the last big shutdown that started in late 2018 and went on for 35 days — a record. What ended it? Air traffic controllers.
In January 2019, several controllers at a facility near Washington, D.C., that handles air traffic for most of the region, called in sick.
At A Glance
How much alcohol do Americans drink?
Tourists are flocking to China's futuristic megacity.
One in five people experience lucid dreaming at least once a month. (w/video)
World War II made Hershey and Mars candy giants.
Why smartphones have multiple cameras. (w/video)
Philadelphia woman wins the "Cheesemonger Olympics."
... and a Cleveland baker will represent the US in the "Bread Olympics."
Ranking America's 10 most haunting hikes.
Clickbait: Why the kids are saying "6-7."
Historybook: American singer-songwriter Chubby Checker born (1941); Gwen Stefani born (1969); East and West Germany are unified (1990); OJ Simpson acquitted of murdering ex-wife and her friend (1995); "Psycho" actress Janet Leigh dies (2004).
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