[NBCnews] Grammy award-winning singer Roberta Flack, who crooned hits like “Killing Me Softly With His Song” and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” has died, a representative confirmed to NBC News.
She was 88.
In November 2022, a representative announced that Flack had ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and could no longer sing.
The progressive disease “has made it impossible to sing and not easy to speak,” Flack’s manager Suzanne Koga said in a news release.
In a statement on Monday, representatives for Flack said they are "heartbroken" by her passing.
"She died peacefully surrounded by her family," Koga and Mikel Gilmore said in the statement. "Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator."
Flack was born Feb. 10, 1937, in North Carolina. The daughter of a church organist, Flack began playing classical piano at a young age.
It was only a few days ago that a certain fear-mongering website named, ahem, Ars Technica published an article about the prospect of a killer asteroid striking the planet Earth in the year 2032.
At the time, the odds of a small asteroid first discovered late last year—and designated 2024 YR4—hitting us were non-negligible. There was an estimated 3.2 percent chance that the large rock would impact the planet eight years from now.
In the days since then, the odds have fallen dramatically. Based on the latest estimate from NASA, there is now just a 0.0039 percent chance. Put another way, the odds of impact are 1 in 26,000.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
02/25/2025 10:14 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11132 views]
Top|| File under:
Known by its more informal name of gold fever...
[Regnum] Rospotrebnadzor is monitoring information about an outbreak of an unknown deadly disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This was reported by the agency's press service.
So many ways to get sick and die in the heart of Africa, and many of them as yet unnamed.
Earlier it was reported that more than 50 people died from an unknown disease in the northwest of the DRC.
"Rospotrebnadzor specialists are monitoring information about the outbreak of an unknown disease in the DR Congo. The agency has a developed laboratory base and reference centers of leading scientific organizations, which allows for the rapid identification of risks and the necessary actions," the press service said.
The department also clarified that any case of suspected infectious disease is immediately transferred to Rospotrebnadzor.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on February 18, Rospotrebnadzor published statistics on acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI) in Russia. Thus, over the week, the number of cases amounted to 7.7% - the total number of recorded cases reached 932 thousand. It is also noted that the average Russian rate of ARVI incidence was exceeded in 49 regions.
In addition, Rospotrebnadzor noted that in 30 Russian regions the number of hospitalizations increased by 30% compared to the previous week. In order to prevent the spread of infections, 267 schools were closed in 34 regions, in addition, 87 kindergartens and eight boarding schools were closed in 26 regions of the Federation.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Shuntian Chemical Group company from the Chinese city of Linyi (Shandong Province) sent out letters to its employees demanding that they marry before the end of September 2025. Otherwise, they faced dismissal, reports the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
"Not responding to the government's call to improve marriage rates is disloyal. Not listening to parents is disrespectful. Allowing yourself to be single is defiant. Not living up to the expectations of your colleagues is unfair," the document says.
The order applied to all single or divorced workers between the ages of 28 and 58.
According to the company's internal regulations, those who fail to get married by the end of March must write a letter of self-criticism. Those who remain single by June face an assessment of their professional performance. In the fall, single employees were promised dismissal.
The social media backlash and government intervention led to the repeal of the requirement. The local Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security said the company had violated labor laws and demanded that the pressure on employees be stopped immediately.
The management of Shuntian Chemical Group, in turn, claimed that in this way they supported the government's policy of increasing marriages in the country. As a result, the company abandoned the harsh measures, and no one was fired.
As reported by Regnum News Agency, in November 2024, the authorities of the Chinese city of Lüliang (Shanxi Province) decided to pay 1,500 yuan (about 20,000 rubles) to newlyweds if the bride is under 35 years old at the time of the wedding. The payments will be received by couples who registered their marriage from January 1, 2025, if at least one of the spouses is registered in Lüliang.
The measure is aimed at combating falling marriage rates and a declining birth rate, which fell from 13.61 to 6.6 children per 1,000 people between 2005 and 2023. Similar programs have already been introduced in at least two other Chinese cities.
#8
There’s been a steady flow of females for at least a decade, escaping from North Korea and trafficked from Pakistan and Bangladesh, that’s taken a bit of the edge off. Less desirable than a native girl, of course, but needs must.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] French actor Gerard Depardieu, who holds Russian citizenship, has become the subject of an investigation in France into aggravated tax fraud. This was reported by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) agency, citing a source familiar with the investigation.
"Gérard Depardieu has been the subject of an investigation into aggravated tax fraud and money laundering since February 2024. He is suspected of having fictitious residence in Belgium since 2013," the file states.
As part of the investigation initiated by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office, searches were carried out in mid-February 2025 in Paris, as well as in the Maine-et-Loire departments and in Belgium.
In 2024, the Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation against the actor on charges of sexual assault. 50 famous French cultural figures, including actor Pierre Richard and model Carla Bruni, spoke out in support of Depardieu. The hearing on this case is scheduled for March 2025.
As reported by Regnum News Agency, in April 2023 it became known that 13 women accused Gerard Depardieu of sexual assault. These testimonies were published by the French website Mediapart. It was indicated that the incidents could have taken place between 2004 and 2022, and the victims were the actor's co-stars.
Depardieu has categorically denied all accusations against him throughout this time.
[Breitbart] President Donald Trump on Monday endorsed an email sent by Elon Musk via the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to federal workers on Friday afternoon asking them to reply with five bullets of what they accomplished last week.
“I thought it was great because we have people that don’t show up to work, and nobody even knows if they work for the government. So by asking the question, ‘Tell us what you did this week?’ What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?’ And then, if you don’t answer, like you’re sort of semi-fired, or you’re fired because a lot of people are not answering because they don’t even exist,” Trump said during a press conference.
He added: “So I think it was actually — there was a lot of genius in sending it. We’re trying to find out if people are working, and so we’re sending a letter to people, ‘Please tell us what you did last week.’ If people don’t respond, it’s very possible that there is no such person or they’re not working.”
However, confusion about whether to respond to the email was still abounding as the deadline of Monday 11:59 p.m. ET approached.
The email also prompted confusion after some supervisors at some agencies, including at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Health and Human Services, told their employees not to respond immediately to the email.
There was even more confusion after some top officials at some agencies told employees not to respond.
For example, State Department Acting Undersecretary for Management Tibor Nagy told employees in a statement they were not obligated to respond.
Later, FBI Director Kash Patel also told employees in a statement to “please pause any responses.” Then, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Darin Selnick told employees similarly to “please pause any response.”
On Monday morning, some agencies — such as the Department of Veterans Affairs — told employees the email was “valid.”
Asked about “a disconnect in communications,” Trump said, “No, no, no. And that was done in a friendly manner, only things such as perhaps Marco at State Department, where they have very confidential things, or the FBI, where they’re working on confidential things. And they don’t mean that in any way combatively with Elon. They’re just saying there are some people that you don’t want to really have them tell you what they’re working on last week. But other than that, I think everyone thought it was a pretty ingenious idea.”
He again endorsed the email, “We have to find out where these people are, who are they? And we said, If you don’t respond, we assume you’re not around and you’re not getting paid anymore, too. So, you know, we’re doing a real job. And we just had a poll come out, I guess, the Harvard poll saying that it’s massively popular what we’re doing.”
As the Trump administration’s DOGE efforts continue to have an impact across government agencies, over 12,000 employees at the General Services Administration are being notified in an agency-wide email Monday evening that a "reduction in force" is underway.
In the memo from acting GSA administrator Stephen Ehikian, according to a draft obtained by Fox News Digital, the agency thanked those employees who decided to be part of the "first step" of staff reduction on Friday by resigning from GSA and previewed the "next step of this process in support of the Presidential Executive Order: Implementing The President's Department of Government Efficiency Workforce Optimization Initiative, The White House, dated February 11, 2025."
"This serves as notice that the agency will be conducting a Reduction in Force (RIF) and is seeking approval from Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to also obtain a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA)," the email states. "More information to impacted business units and employees will be forthcoming."
The letter ends by thanking the employees that will be affected for their "service to this nation."
"I promise you that GSA will continue to do everything in our power to make your departure fair and dignified," the letter concludes.
Fox News Digital was told by a source familiar with the situation that 30-40 employees will be affected by the reduction at first, as the agency starts with a focused number meant to ensure the plan is executed well with minimal mistakes.
The GSA, which performs a variety of tasks including managing federal real estate and procuring goods and services, is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has 11 regional offices.
A GSA senior manager familiar with the process told Fox News Digital that the first actions will be targeted on select offices rather than the entire agency and that bargaining unit employees are not anticipated to be affected.
Additionally, the agency is looking for an additional Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, as outlined by the OPM, and will be offering severance or discontinued services annuities as appropriate.
[X] Also Social Security number, US passport, all the government benefits… This is ugly.
🚨BREAKING: Whistleblower reveals she was encouraged to approve long-term disability for illegals, essentially securing lifetime Social Security benefits for each approval: pic.twitter.com/Etemct6Gdh
— DOGE NEWS- Department of Government Efficiency (@realdogeusa) February 23, 2025
#3
Hoping to save her ass, when,pre-doge, she just went along. Back then there was a hotline for such activities, now she is hooing the shark won’t eat her.
More despicable than musk.
(Cure the Blazing Saddles line”…..keep our phoney baloney jobs…)
#4
...remember how 'whistleblowers' have been treated in prior administrations was intended to encourage others to stay silent. Do we have any records of those administers who were unmercifully dealt with who retaliated?
[Breitbart] The Trump administration is going to Fort Knox to see if the gold is still there, President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday.
“We’re actually going to Fort Knox to see if the gold is there, because maybe somebody stole the gold,” Trump said. “Tons of gold.”
The president is the chief executive as well as commander-in-chief of the military. As such, he is responsible for making sure things are as they ought to be.
Trump’s remarks follow mounting speculation on the status of the gold stored at Fort Knox in Kentucky. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk has continued to bring light to the issue. The speculation mounted, particularly, after Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) publicly stated that he was denied entry into Fort Knox without explanation.
“As a U.S. senator I’ve tried repeatedly to get into Fort Knox,” he said, posting the exchange:
Fort Knox: “You can’t come to Fort Knox.”
Me: “Why?”
Fort Knox: “It’s a military installation.”
Me: “I’m a senator; I go to military bases all the time.”
Fort Knox: “You still can’t come. Because, you can’t.”
“Who is confirming that gold wasn’t stolen from Fort Knox?” Musk asked after Lee’s revelation. “Maybe it’s there, maybe it’s not.”
“That gold is owned by the American public! We want to know if it’s still there,” he continued.
“Surely it’s reviewed at least every year?” Musk asked, prompting a response from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
“Nope. Let’s do it,” Paul said.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) is among those who support Trump’s call to inspect the gold reserves at Fort Knox.
“Well, when you haven’t checked it in so long, why wouldn’t you?” Mullin said during an appearance on Jesse Watters Primetime.
“And by going and inspecting it and saying, ‘Hey, yes, it’s there,’ or exposing that it’s not — I think the American people want to know, and I’m actually one of them as well,” he added.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
