Author: Press Room

Economic factors, not just lockdown-induced forced proximity, played a key role in last year’s “baby bump,” according to the economists behind a new working paper released earlier this week. Economists from UCLA, Northwestern and Princeton universities found that pandemic trends, such as increased work flexibility, helped push up US birth rates last year to 6.2% from pre-pandemic levels, marking the first major reversal in declining fertility rates since 2007 and counteracting a longstanding economic certainty: Birth rates don’t increase during economic downturns. “It’s really remarkable, because it’s the first recession where we see fertility going up rather than down,” said…

This year, director Ti West released two buzzy horror films—X and Pearl—that will eventually make up a trilogy (the third installment, MaXXXine, has no release date just yet). The center of the films is actor Mia Goth, who has commanded the screen with her portrayals of Maxine (a young, wannabe Hollywood star) and Pearl (a murderous elderly lady, who also shares a thirst for stardom). The two films are about much more than jumpscares—they’re a tale of striving for your dreams, and what terrifying lengths people will go to achieve them. The two films have already gained a large fanbase online,…

Astronomers were stunned when a black hole burped out a star it had consumed three years ago, according to a new study analyzing the galactic event. The study, published in the Astrophysical Journal last week, detailed how scientists saw a black hole swallow a small star located 665 million light years away from Earth. However, in June 2021, the same black hole began ejecting material that traveled at half the speed of light. “This caught us completely by surprise – no one has ever seen anything like this before,” said Yvette Cendes, a co-author of the study and a research associate at the…

Europe needs to find a common response to the multiple crises it faces as it did in the COVID-19 pandemic, Antonio Costa told Euronews.The Portuguese prime minister spoke on the sidelines of a congress of European socialists over the weekend.”When we tackled COVID, we came together. We gave a common response and that helped us to overcome this crisis,” said Costa.”So we need to learn the right lessons and do now what we did when we needed to beat the virus and now we must do it to build peace.”He said that EU countries were close to finding a “common…

Neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis, are characterized by a build-up of waste products in the brain and nervous system.These waste products impede nerve impulses, leading to mental and physical symptoms.A new study in mice has found a molecule that activates microglia — immune cells in the brain and nervous system — to clear the waste products more effectively.The researchers suggest that their discovery could lead to more effective treatments for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting one in nine people aged 65 and over in the United States.…

Inflation may be pushing prices up, but it also may help push up your take-home pay starting next year. Thanks to inflation adjustments to 2023 federal income tax brackets and other provisions announced by the Internal Revenue Service this week, more of your 2023 wages may be subject to lower tax rates than they were this year, and you may be able to deduct higher amounts of income. “It is very likely that you would see more in your paycheck starting in January [due to the IRS inflation adjustments, which] tend to result in lower withholding for a given level…

The proposed $25 billion Kroger-Albertsons grocery giant merger is already running into significant opposition from progressive lawmakers and others. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on Wednesday called on the Federal Trade Commission to block the deal. “More mergers and less competition would mean even higher prices—and layoffs for employees,” Warren said on Twitter. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has also urged the regulators to reject the deal. And the Senate Judiciary’s antitrust subcommittee announced Tuesday that it will hold a hearing next month to scrutinize the merger. “We have serious concerns about the proposed transaction between Kroger and Albertsons,” Senators…

Waymo, the robotaxi provider of Google’s parent company Alphabet, said Wednesday that it will expand its ridehail service to Los Angeles. Waymo declined to say when fully autonomous car rides will be available to the public in the country’s second largest metropolitan area. Waymo will begin with approximately a dozen vehicles in the coming months to lay the groundwork for operating a ridehail service by mapping the neighborhoods of Miracle Mile, Koreatown, Santa Monica, Westwood and West Hollywood. Mapping an area is a critical early step to operating Waymo’s robotaxis, which rely on detailed maps, in addition to sensors, to…

Over the past few days, Twitter users and certain news outlets have falsely claimed that the European Union has frozen the pandemic recovery funds for Spain. It seems to have started when Bloomberg published an article explaining that Spain missed a second deadline last month to implement a new auditing system required to unlock money from the EU’s pandemic fund, “putting at risk new payments from the €160 billion it’s eligible to receive.”EU pandemic recovery funds are disbursed on a “performance-based nature,” according to the European Commission.This means that countries have to show that they’ve fulfilled their promises when it comes…

London CNN  —  Liz Truss’s ill-fated tenure as British Prime Minister was engulfed in yet more chaos on Wednesday when her Home Secretary resigned seven weeks into her role, and as claims emerged of pandemonium and “bullying” during a vote the same day. Allegations emerged on Wednesday of some ruling Conservative Party lawmakers being physically dragged to vote with the government against the ban on fracking for shale gas. The disorderly scenes come amid growing pressure on the beleaguered leader to resign. Her time in Downing Street has been spectacularly derailed by a radical fiscal agenda, which Truss has been…