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☆ A 'one-in-ten-million' rare white bison calf was just born in Wyoming
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Kenneth Niemeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A rare "one-in-ten-billion" albino white bison was born in a Wyoming state park on Tuesday. White bison are considered sacred to some Native Americans, according to the Native American College Fund. According to the American Indian College Fund, albino white bison are considered sacred among some Native American communities and are extremely rare. According to the legend, the woman rolled on the ground four times before turning into a white bison herself. Wyoming state parks did not immediately return Insider's request for comment on Sunday.

☆ Ron DeSantis has a ‘lovability’ problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Harry Enten | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

DeSantis, himself, has a bit of a “lovability” problem among Republican voters. The key to differentiate yourself in a primary is to be beloved (i.e., have a high strongly favorable rating). Back in December, 40% of Republican voters in a Fox News poll had a strongly favorable opinion of the Florida governor. Last month, the same poll found DeSantis’ share of strongly favorable support dropping to 33%. An ABC News/Washington Post poll released earlier this month found that 68% of Republican voters would be satisfied if DeSantis were the nominee.

☆ MLB roundup: Surging Cardinals down Dodgers for fourth straight series win
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty allowed three runs on four hits and four walks with five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. Yankees 4, Reds 1Harrison Bader belted a two-run homer and Luis Severino pitched effectively into the fifth inning in his season debut, lifting New York past host Cincinnati. The 2-0 cushion proved enough to send the Phillies to a second straight win after losing five straight. In his fourth appearance, the left-hander went six innings and allowed one run on one hit, one walk and a career-high seven strikeouts. Mariners starter George Kirby (5-3) pitched seven innings and allowed three runs on six hits, one walk and six strikeouts.

☆ I was a freelancer and hated every moment of it. Here's what my experience was like and why I went back to a full-time job.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Elizabeth Blackstock | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

For her, full-time freelance writing was a torturous cycle of overwork and underpayment. I left a previous full-time job on February 28, 2020, right as the COVID-19 pandemic took America — and my job prospects — by surprise. I learned a lot from it, though, and I'd hope that my experience can help a different freelancer or potential freelancer on their journey. My pay rate remained dismal. It was a valuable experience that taught me a lot — but I won't miss it for a second.

It looks like we’ll be getting two new campaign launches soon in the race for the Republican presidential nomination: Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and Gov. Gail Collins: Gee, Bret, I guess they could both could use a little help being faster on their feet when they’re surrounded by curious reporters. Bret: Gail! Gail: Scott hasn’t been a serious enough possibility for me to worry about. Give me a little more time to judge what looks like it will be a growing throng.

So I quickly found a W-2 job and qualified, then quit the job months later and went back to freelancing. Why mortgage lenders get skittish around 1099 contractorsIf W-2 employees fit neatly inside the box occupied by typical, salaried employees, 1099 contractors present a bit like wild cards. While the former have signed a contract and work regular hours according to their employer's needs and schedule, the latter function as independent contractors (often called gig workers) who work job to job. The boxy conventions don't stop there: W-2 employees are paid via their employer's payroll, participate in employee benefit programs, and have payroll taxes withheld throughout the year. Rather than strike out, I balked and applied for and took a W-2 job just to qualify to buy my ex out of his half of equity in our family home.

☆ MLB roundup: Rafael Devers homers twice as Red Sox top Padres
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

Rizzo hit a two-run homer on a 2-2 pitch to right off Ian Gibaut for a 3-0 lead in the sixth. Christopher Morel hit a two-run homer and scored three times and Nick Madrigal had two hits, two RBIs and scored twice for the Cubs, who ended a five-game losing streak. Phillies starter Ranger Suarez (0-1) allowed four runs and five hits in two innings, striking out four and walking three. Adam Frazier added a two-run homer and Anthony Santander had a solo shot for the Orioles to open a three-game series. Gabriel Arias delivered a two-run homer in the top of the 10th before the Mets scored three times in the bottom of the inning.

☆ Deep in the Amazon, scientists race to find unknown bat viruses
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Some scientific studies have found that deforestation causes stress in bats, and stressed bats carry more viruses and shed more germs in their saliva, urine and feces. It spiked following the highway’s construction, making the Amazon in the early 1980s a rallying cry for the global environmental movement. When examining spillover risk, scientists use the number of bat species in a given area as a key variable. When humans encroach on their habitat, and bat species commingle, the viral cocktail intensifies. “Odds of it being documented are very slim,” said Caio Graco Zeppelini, an ecologist and bat researcher at the Federal University of Bahia.

☆ Bats carry killer viruses. Scientists suggest ways to cope.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

“I have to think on a landscape scale.”Research in Australia also is deepening scientists’ understanding of bats. Flying foxes travel long distances in search of food, dispensing seeds and pollinating trees along the way. As deforestation destroyed habitats and further disrupted the food supply, the bats have increasingly formed year-round roosts near people, they noticed. Native gums flowering around Gympie lured the flying foxes away from horse paddocks and more urban areas. In fact, the most dangerous areas for spillover aren’t rare, pristine habitats absent of humans, scientists say.

☆ China, birthplace of COVID, lays tracks for a new global health crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

Bat viruses have been the source of multiple health crises besides those related to coronaviruses, including recent outbreaks of Ebola, Nipah, and Marburg. Partners in risk The total area at high risk for bat viruses to infect humans more than doubled in size in Laos between 2002 and 2020. The animals, known to be susceptible to bat viruses, included raccoon dogs, bamboo rats and porcupines. As China boomed in recent decades, global demand for rubber also skyrocketed, leading to further development and deforestation here. Already, scientists have found local bats bearing viruses closely related to those responsible for the 2003 SARS and COVID-19 pandemics.

☆ Aspen Pharmacare CEO Stephen Saad on the future of medicine in Africa
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Tom Page | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CEO Stephen Saad discussed the future of the pharmaceutical sector in Africa, and what lessons Aspen Pharmacare has learned from the Covid-19 pandemic, with CNN’s Eleni Giokos. During the pandemic, we’ve seen a spotlight on the inequalities that exist on the continent in the pharmaceutical sector. Aspen has had a very strong commercial presence across Africa and now you’re moving up the value chain. When Covid came and Africa needed vaccines, over 90% of the vaccines were supplied by India — and that wasn’t great. If it hadn’t been for Aspen, there would have been no vaccines made in Africa for the continent.

☆ Lawmakers Consider More Security for Offices Following Connolly Staff Attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Stephanie Lai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The attack on two congressional aides this week at the Fairfax, Va., office of Representative Gerald E. Connolly has prompted members of Congress and their staffs to consider additional safety measures in their workplaces outside of Washington. On Monday, two staff aides were injured and subsequently hospitalized after a bat-wielding man entered Mr. Connolly’s district office asking for the congressman and then went on a rampage. According to Mr. Connolly, one of his senior aides was hit in the head, and an intern in her first day on the job was hit in the side. According to an affidavit, the attacker shouted, “I’m going to kill you” and “You’re going to die” as he hit one staff member, and later, a witness overheard him shouting “Gerry” and that he “wanted to talk.”It was the latest incident of violence targeting political figures to instill fear on Capitol Hill. Aides throughout the institution were reviewing their emergency plans and discussing possible changes to office policies, including cutting down on face-to-face interactions with people who drop in to district offices.

☆ Man charged in baseball bat attack on two U.S. congressional staffers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Dan Whitcomb | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Xuan-Kha Tran Pham, 49, was taken into custody by Fairfax police following the attack in the offices of Representative Gerry Connolly on Monday. Attorneys Office in eastern Virginia, which filed the charges, have not said what they believe motivated the attack but said in a written statement that the suspect was demanding to speak to Connolly. Connolly, a Democrat from Northern Virginia, said on Twitter that the two staff members had been released from hospital. Prosecutors say Pham entered Connolly's office in Fairfax carrying the baseball bat, then struck a female in the head and hit an intern in the ribs. He then returned to the first victim, striking her a total of eight times, according to prosecutors.

☆ MLB roundup: Jorge Soler's walk-off HR pushes Marlins past Nats
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

Washington's Josiah Gray threw 104 pitches in seven innings, allowing two runs (one earned) and striking out five. Miami's Jesus Luzardo, who threw 93 pitches in six innings, allowed one run and struck out seven. Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman allowed three runs (two earned), five hits and two walks while striking out 10 in seven innings. Pirates starter Luis Ortiz (0-2) allowed four runs (three earned) and seven hits in three-plus innings. White Sox right-hander Lance Lynn (2-5) allowed three runs (one earned) and seven hits in seven-plus innings.

☆ How a deadly bat virus found new ways to infect people
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +16 min

Scientists found bats with Nipah virus roosting near Sabith’s home. A search of the neighborhood led to a colony, near their house, of flying foxes, a common fruit bat. NETTING NIPAH: Researchers in Bangladesh use nets to catch bats and collect samples to find the Nipah virus in the wild. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir HossainWhether Sabith ate contaminated fruit or somehow came into direct contact with a bat, the virus entered his cells. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir HossainA year later, Chua’s team found the same strain of Nipah virus in flying foxes.

☆ A woman who threatened to bomb staffers at a Democratic campaign office for 'being on the wrong team' vomited when FBI agents approached her
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Azmi Haroun | Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Georgia woman pled guilty to threatening to bomb a local Democratic party building. Jessica Higginbotham planned to bomb the Athens Democratic Senatorial Committee Campaign building during the 2022 elections. When FBI agents confronted her about it, she vomited and lied at first, according to the DOJ. Local police and the FBI sprung into action after being alerted about the text, prosecutors said. "When she saw the agents approach her, she vomited," prosecutors said in a press release, adding that she first denied sending the message, but later admitted to it.

☆ Gun-loving Texas, where most households own a firearm, has become an epicenter of mass shootings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Emma Tucker | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +23 min

CNN and the GVA define a mass shooting as a shooting that injures or kills four or more people, not including the shooter. They argue that more firearms and higher gun ownership increases public safety – a stance that continues to be at odds with gun violence experts and data. The area around the Robb Elementary School signs has become a memorial dedicated to the victims of the May 24 mass shooting. Mass shootings are just a piece of that, and the strategies that we’re laying out will impact mass shootings. They’ll also impact a lot of other types of gun violence and that’s absolutely critical to saving lives,” Horwitz said.

These areas, which we've dubbed " jump zones ," span the globe, covering 6% of Earth's land mass. That's 57% more people living in jump zones than two decades earlier, increasing the odds that a deadly bat virus could spill over. The world's jump zones have lost 21% percent of their tree cover in almost two decades' time, double the worldwide rate. Almost one-third of that expansion would be in existing jump zones, where spillover risk is already high. Though those countries require mining companies to assess potential environmental harms that new concessions might cause, none require companies to evaluate spillover risk.

☆ We may never know where the COVID pandemic originated
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

LONDONIt’s the enduring mystery of the COVID-19 pandemic: Where did the virus come from? They also mostly agree that many of the earliest known infections and deaths clustered around a wildlife market in Wuhan, China. Others suspect the pathogen somehow leaked from a Wuhan laboratory, 27 km from the market, where researchers study bat viruses. One concentration of jump zones includes a region of mountains and lakes about 175 km southeast of the Wuhan market. In late 2002, the SARS-CoV-1 virus emerged in Guangdong province, in southern China, and became the SARS pandemic of 2003.

☆ Podcast: The next pandemic could be around the corner. The origin? Bats
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Humanity’s intrusion into bat habitats is ramping up the risk of global health disasters. A Reuters investigation identifies the places where disease outbreaks are most likely to occur. Not a wrinkle in sight -- the British skincare company embracing the four-day week. Plus, Johnny Depp, Ben Affleck and Natalie Portman set to hit the red carpet as Cannes kicks off. Further ReadingMaking the four-day week work for BritainCannes Film Festival 2023 kicks off with 'all killer, no filler' line-upOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Bat lands worldwide are besieged, seeding risk of a new pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +16 min

This collision – bats and humans competing for resources on territory long the domain of the bats – could trigger the next pandemic. As people destroy bat habitats worldwide, they are unwittingly helping bat-borne viruses mutate, multiply, and infect other species, including homo sapiens. For millennia, bat viruses lurked across the forests of West Africa and in other undisturbed parts of the world but posed little threat to humanity. They’re potent proliferators: Some roost tightly together and in close quarters with other bat species. Each of the bat viruses analyzed by Reuters has epidemic potential, according to the World Health Organization.

☆ How Reuters pinpointed bat-virus risk zones worldwide
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

Areas where conditions are similar are more prone to spillover, scientists say. The Reuters analysis, which assessed spillover risk through 2020, has proven to have some predictive power. Similar statistical models are used widely to analyze data in ecology, and researchers use them to understand spillover risk. More than one of every five people on the planet is living in areas where the risk is highest for spillover. Using epidemic modeling software called GLEAMviz, the news agency simulated a worldwide pandemic originating from the spillover of a theoretical novel virus.

☆ The One Man You Don’t Want to Meet in the NBA Playoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Jason Gay | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

If I told you Jimmy Butler lived alone in a stone cave without furniture, would you believe me? If I told you he slept upside down, like a bat, and ate a boiling tub of batteries and lug nuts for breakfast, would you buy it? If you’ve watched Butler in the NBA playoffs, you might.

☆ BAT names finance director Marroco as CEO as Bowles bows out
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 15 (Reuters) - British American Tobacco (BATS.L) appointed finance director Tadeu Marroco as CEO on Monday, succeeding Jack Bowles who is stepping down after about four years. Marroco has been with the tobacco firm since 1992 and was appointed to the board in 2019. "Having been at the centre of the formulation of this strategy, I am convinced that this is the right strategic path for BAT," Marroco said in a statement. Director Javed Iqbal will be interim finance director while the group looks for a permanent replacement for Marroco, the company said. Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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