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King Charles has reportedly begun work on his succession plan, sparking fears his cancer diagnosis may be ‘more dangerous than we have been led to believe.’

Earlier this month Charles revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer after being admitted to hospital for a separate issue regarding an enlarged prostate.

The type of cancer has not been revealed to the public, but it was reportedly caught early and the King has been undergoing ‘regular treatments’ ever since.

Nevertheless, the issue has reportedly prompted the King to start formalising his succession plans earlier than intended and ensure that Prince William is at the heart of them, sparking rumours that his illness could be more serious than we have been led to believe.

Tom Quinn, a Royal expert and author, told the Mirror: ‘Charles is also aware that, as future king, William is at the heart of the succession planning that is taking place right now – officials had assumed Charles would remain healthy at least into his mid-eighties before succession planning would need to begin but in fact it has now begun and indicates perhaps that Charles’ cancer is more dangerous than we have been led to believe.

‘Succession planning is highly secret and no one trusts Harry to be part of it for the simple reason that if he feels in any way slighted or not given what he feels he deserves he will run straight to the media.’

Prince Harry’s autobiography, Spare, caused major friction in the royal household following its release in January 2023 after the Duke of Sussex made a series of bombshell claims about his family members and took swipes at his father and brother.

Read more at: metro.co.uk

From the academic who warns of a robot uprising to the workers worried for their future – is it time we started paying attention to the tech sceptics?

Eliezer Yudkowsky, a 44-year-old academic wearing a grey polo shirt, rocks slowly on his office chair and explains with real patience – taking things slowly for a novice like me – that every single person we know and love will soon be dead. They will be murdered by rebellious self-aware machines. “The difficulty is, people do not realise,” Yudkowsky says mildly, maybe sounding just a bit frustrated, as if irritated by a neighbour’s leaf blower or let down by the last pages of a novel. “We have a shred of a chance that humanity survives.”

It’s January. I have set out to meet and talk to a small but growing band of luddites, doomsayers, disruptors and other AI-era sceptics who see only the bad in the way our spyware-steeped, infinitely doomscrolling world is tending. I want to find out why these techno-pessimists think the way they do. I want to know how they would render change. Out of all of those I speak to, Yudkowsky is the most pessimistic, the least convinced that civilisation has a hope. He is the lead researcher at a nonprofit called the Machine Intelligence Research Institute in Berkeley, California, and you could boil down the results of years of Yudkowsky’s theorising there to a couple of vowel sounds: “Oh fuuuuu–!”

“If you put me to a wall,” he continues, “and forced me to put probabilities on things, I have a sense that our current remaining timeline looks more like five years than 50 years. Could be two years, could be 10.” By “remaining timeline”, Yudkowsky means: until we face the machine-wrought end of all things. Think Terminator-like apocalypse. Think Matrix hellscape. Yudkowsky was once a founding figure in the development of human-made artificial intelligences – AIs. He has come to believe that these same AIs will soon evolve from their current state of “Ooh, look at that!” smartness, assuming an advanced, God-level super-intelligence, too fast and too ambitious for humans to contain or curtail. Don’t imagine a human-made brain in one box, Yudkowsky advises. To grasp where things are heading, he says, try to picture “an alien civilisation that thinks a thousand times faster than us”, in lots and lots of boxes, almost too many for us to feasibly dismantle, should we even decide to.

Trying to shake humanity from its complacency about this, Yudkowsky published an op-ed in Time last spring that advised shutting down the computer farms where AIs are grown and trained. In clear, crisp prose, he speculated about the possible need for airstrikes targeted own datacentres; perhaps even nuclear exchange. Was he on to something?

Read more at: theguardian.com

Egypt warned on Tuesday that Israel’s planned ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza would have “catastrophic repercussions” for peace in the Middle East.

Foreign ministers from Arab League countries told the United Nations Human Rights Council that some nations were turning a blind eye to the suffering in Gaza.

Dengue fever, carried by mosquitoes, is swamping the populations of Brazil and Peru, Argentina, Laos and causing major concerns in other parts of the world.

It has spiked fourfold in Brazil just this year following the release of millions of gene-edited mosquitos by the World Mosquito Program run by the United Nations.

Vaccines are being produced and distributed on a timetable pushed by the urgency of the events, and multiple deaths already are being reported.

The Guardian reported there have been nearly a million cases in Brazil, and almost the same number in Peru.

Government officials say there already have been dozens of deaths.

“Brazil has bought 5.2m doses of the dengue vaccine Qdenga, developed by Japanese drugmaker Takeda, with another 1.32m doses provided at no cost to the government,” the report said, explaining three Brazilian states are in a state of emergency.

The ailment is spread by mosquitoes, which were described in an International Business Times report as the “most dangerous animal in the world.”

It was the United Nations that previously cited a World Health Organization warning that more than half of the world was at risk from mosquito-transmitted dengue fever.

The U.N.’s response was to work with technology to create millions of “sterilized pests” and then release them, a campaign which reached Brazil only months ago.

“Countries have already started like Italy, Greece and Mauritius, and others are on the point of doing it, for example the United States, France and Brazil,” said Jeremy Bouyer, medical entomologist at the Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, a joint International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) / Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) initiative.

Read more at: wnd.com

The government loves putting people on “lists.”  They want a list of the vaccinated.  A list of gun-owners.  A list of individuals who make purchases involving the terms “MAGA” and “Trump”.  And now, in Michigan, legislators and the attorney general are pushing for a list of parents who homeschool their children.  But even more Orwellian, the dog-whistle is the possibility of “warrantless searches” for those who decide to homeschool their children in the Great Lakes State, according to one State Board of Education member.

On February 13th, the Michigan State Board of Education met for their monthly meeting.  Towards the end of the meeting, prior to closing, Board Member Tom McMillin of Oakland Township added his comments regarding a push to require registration requirements for homeschooling.

McMillin’s issue with creating a registration has been a contentious subject in Michigan dating back to at least 2015.  However, recently the proposed “list” idea has thrust itself back into the spotlight after a case in Clinton County, where two couples are accused of adopting “nearly 30 children, some of whom the [couples] are accused of abusing.”

In response to the case, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in an X post that “implementing monitoring mechanisms is crucial to ensure that all children, including those homeschooled, receive necessary protections.”  McMillin believes that “a mere registration, a list of people…will not help prevent what AG Nessel is talking about.”  He believes the list is nothing more than a pathway to monitoring and said that Nessel is “saying the quiet part out loud”:

“She basically said we want this list so we can have…warrantless home entry into this particular targeted group…but we have a legal system that says you have to have a warrant before you go in.

However, because of this one instance, some in the state want to be able to barge in and bust the door down….It’s not hyperbolic.  If they knock on the door and they say “no, I don’t want you to come in”…and there’s all kinds of reasons not to have them in…there’s a book called “Three Felonies a Day”…if the government wants to get you, there going to find something.  Without a warrant, they shouldn’t be coming into your house.

I just think…it’s going to go beyond registration.  They’re either naive or they’re being disingenous for anybody to say ‘all we want to do is have a list.’  It’s going to go significantly further than that.  They’re going to either want to know exactly what’s being taught or they’re going to want entry into the houses.  And so I think that this is a real problem.  I guess I just wish that the debate would be sincere.

Read more at: thegatewaypundit.com

Racism has ‘distorted’ Christianity since Jesus’ time, theologian says

White supremacy remains so prevalent in Christianity today because it took root in the early church, theologian Anthony Reddie told a Baylor University conference this month.

Reddie, a professor of black theology at Oxford University in England, said in his Feb. 15 speech that white supremacy has “distorted” Christianity since the time of Jesus Christ, according to Baptist News Global.

The conference, hosted by Baylor’s Truett Seminary, focused on racism in the world church.

“The most egregious thing that we have to wrestle with is the normalization of white supremacy,” Reddie said.

Although Christianity “was created as a movement for those who are marginalized and oppressed,” he said white leaders quickly began using the religion as a weapon to seize land and oppress other cultures.

Reddie traced the distortion back to the early Christians who blamed the Jews for killing Jesus, instead of Roman leader Pontius Pilate, according to the report.

“Pilate represents white supremacy, and white supremacy now becomes normalized and effectively becomes the religion of Jesus, the religion of God,” the professor said.

As time went on, more and more people began to believe Jesus was a white European, like them, Reddie said.

Read more at: thecollegefix.com

The market for 3D-printed products includes homes, furniture, and footwear. Now we can add salmon to the list, at least in Europe.

The foodtech startup Revo Foods in September became the first company to sell 3D-printed vegan salmon filets in select grocery stores in Vienna, Austria, and opened an online shop that ships the product to most European countries this month.

“It flakes very nicely into layers just like salmon,” Robin Simsa, the CEO of Revo Foods, told Insider. “It also has a similar taste, but like any meat alternative, it’s not 100% the same.”

This marks a milestone for the nascent alternative-seafood industry, which is testing an array of ingredients and technologies to make products that don’t harm ocean ecosystems. Some startups are developing plant-based options, while others are growing fish cells in a lab. For its part, Revo Foods’ 3D printer layers “mycoprotein” made from mushroom roots with plant-based fats to mimic the texture of real salmon.

Investors have poured upward of $400 million into the alternative-seafood startups in recent years — including $7 million in Revo Foods. But no company is making massive amounts of it yet. And the biggest question remains largely untested: Will people buy it?

Over the past several weeks, Simsa said Revo Foods’ vegan salmon has sold out within hours of hitting store shelves. But many of the comments below a YouTube promotional video were critical of the premium price and the idea of printing food.

Revo Foods sells 130 grams, or about 4 ½ ounces, of its vegan salmon for 7 euros, or about $7.

“​​Why would I eat fake salmon that’s more expensive than real salmon?” one commenter asked. Another said they’d rather be in a nuclear apocalypse than eat the vegan filets. The reactions were more positive on Instagram, however.

Simsa said the price will drop as Revo Foods automates more steps in the process outside of 3D printing and produces larger volumes. He acknowledged that people are skeptical of the technology but said it isn’t unlike other industrial machinery that already makes chocolate and snacks. Barilla is already selling 3D-printed pasta.

Read more at: businessinsider.com

Arizona, California, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia have all reported measles cases

A school district in Florida has recorded its sixth case of measles, amid what health officials are calling an outbreak.

Officials at Manatee Bay Elementary School in Weston confirmed a new measles case on Tuesday, just days after the Florida Department of Health (DOH) said a third grade student at the school was the first to test positive for the infection on Friday.

John Sullivan, chief communications and legislative affairs officer for Broward County Public Schools, said the new case brought the total number of confirmed cases in Broward County Public Schools to six.

“We expect to receive further guidance from the Florida Department of Health tomorrow and will continue to keep the school and its families updated with the latest information,” Sullivan told ABC News on Tuesday.

Sullivan did not provide the grade, age, sex or race/ethnicity of the infected students.

“The District is maintaining close coordination with the Health Department to address this ongoing situation,” Sullivan continued in his statement.

“Over the weekend, the District took further preventive measures by conducting a deep cleaning of the school premises and replacing its air filters,” he added.

Friday’s first reported patient did not have a history of travel, and it is not immediately clear how the infection got to the school, per the DOH.

Fox News Digital reached out to Sullivan and Broward County Schools but did not immediately receive a response.

A Vermont high school is suing state officials after they were banned from all athletic and academic events for refusing to allow their girls basketball team to compete against a transgender player, Fox News reported.

Mid Vermont Christian School says they were barred from all athletic play after forfeiting against a Long Trail girls high school basketball team that had a biological male on their team on Feb. 21.

The Christian PK-12 school says they were “irreparably harmed by being denied participation” and “losing out on playing competitive sports as well as academic competitions,” their lawsuit, filed by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), reads.

The ADF is a Christian legal advocacy group that works to defend and preserve freedom of speech to expand Christian practices within public schools and in government, outlaw abortion, and curtail LGBTQ rights — their website states.

Immediate action was taken by the Vermont Principal’s Association (VPA) following Mid Vermont’s decision to cancel their game against Long Trail, stating the school violated it’s policies on “commitment to racial, gender-fair, and disability awareness” and on “gender identity.”

The VPA initially put out a statement back in February saying “VPA policies prohibit discrimination and/or harassment of students on school property or at school functions by students or employees.”

Mid Vermont refuted such claims in their lawsuit and made clear they were only acting in accordance to the religious beliefs their school abides by.

Mid Vermont says that VPA was “denying the Christian school and its students from participating in the state’s tuition program and sports league because of their religious beliefs.”

The small Christian school, located in Quechee, lists itself on its official school website as “intentionally non-denominational,” emphasizing their education is strictly engrained with “the mind of Christ.”

“The State is entitled to its own views, but it is not entitled, nor is it constitutional, to force private, religious schools across the state to follow that orthodoxy as a condition to participating in Vermont’s tuitioning program and the State’s athletic association,” the lawsuit reads.

Read more at: nypost.com

On February 1, a Dutch law allowing the euthanasia of terminally ill children went into effect. The law legalizes the killing of children ages one through 12 who are deemed to be “suffering hopelessly and unbearably.”

Previously, the country allowed euthanasia of children older than 12, along with infants under age one who could be killed if their parents and doctors agreed and they faced an illness labeled as terminal or faced serious suffering. In 2023, lawmakers passed a controversial expansion of the eligibility guidelines to include children of all ages.

According to reports, the new guidelines state that “the child’s opinion should be sought as far as possible in a way appropriate to the child’s understanding and age,” though parents can decide to have their child euthanized in conjunction with a doctor even if the child is unwilling or unable to consent.

Though the Ministry of Health expects that the new guidelines will affect only a “small group” of cases — about five to ten children a year — opponents are warning that there is nothing to keep this broadened rule from spiraling out of control.

In an op-ed, Elise van Hoek-Burgerhart and Yvonne Gueze-van Horssen, both from the group NPV-Care for Life, warn that the “distressing” regulation has many flaws, including the fact that children are unable to consent to their own deaths. “While the ‘voluntary and well-considered request’ is an important building block of Dutch euthanasia policy, this request is absent for children. Children are impressionable and are (often) not mentally competent,” they wrote.

Physician-assisted death in the Netherlands has continued to climb since it was first legalized. The period from 2021 to 2022 saw a 14% increase in euthanasia deaths, with a record number of 8,720 people dying via assisted death. Of those, 115 people were killed simply due to psychiatric illness — not because of any terminal diagnosis. In July 2023, it was revealed that numerous autistic people and people with intellectual disabilities had been euthanized solely because they felt they couldn’t lead “normal” lives.

Read more at: liveaction.org