All posts tagged: Counter

New autism group meets to counter MAHA’s ‘ideological agenda’ : NPR

New autism group meets to counter MAHA’s ‘ideological agenda’ : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

In an effort to challenge the Trump administration’s views on autism spectrum disorder, a new independent panel of experts plans to meet just weeks after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed 21 new members to the federal panel. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images An independent panel of autism experts plans to meet in Washington, D.C. on Thursday to challenge the Trump administration’s views on autism spectrum disorder. The newly formed Independent Autism Coordinating Committee is billing itself as a science-based alternative to an existing federal entity called the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. The new group’s first meeting comes just weeks after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed 21 new members to the federal panel. Those picks are supporters of Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again initiative. Many also share his belief that autism can be caused by vaccines — a belief that has been thoroughly debunked. “We in the autism science and advocacy community were just appalled at the …

Podcast: Rivian R2, Lucid counter attack, and Tesla’s ‘Digital Optimus’

Podcast: Rivian R2, Lucid counter attack, and Tesla’s ‘Digital Optimus’

Published by skeptic

In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Rivian R2, Lucid’s counterattack, and Tesla’s ‘Digital Optimus’. The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel. As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in. After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps: Advertisement – scroll for more content We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming. Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast: Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET: FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. …

Democrats counter Trump’s proposal to limit housing investors

Democrats counter Trump’s proposal to limit housing investors

Published by Sam Flores

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and ranking member of Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, speaks during a roundtable on housing affordability in Washington, Jan. 7, 2026. Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images Both congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump both want to limit how many homes major corporations can own, but a new proposal from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., makes it clear that’s where the agreement ends. In a bill released hours before Trump’s State of the Union speech, Warren, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and 16 other Senate Democrats propose ending some housing-related tax benefits for major corporations. The bill would prevent companies with more than 50 single-family homes for rent from taking deductions for housing value depreciation and mortgage interest payments. Corporations would also be barred from getting federally backed mortgages. The bill would provide a temporary carve-out for companies building new multifamily housing or rehabilitating properties that would otherwise be uninhabitable. The Trump administration is pushing its own housing proposal. In a memo sent to lawmakers last week, …

I’ve been trying this 15-minute anti-desk Pilates routine for a month—it’s seriously helped counter the effects of sitting

I’ve been trying this 15-minute anti-desk Pilates routine for a month—it’s seriously helped counter the effects of sitting

Published by Jenni Sidey

Whether you have a desk job or not, you’ve probably become aware of the stiffness and damage caused by too much sitting. Over time, hours seated or hunched over screens can lead to muscular imbalances, poor posture and decreased mobility. With this long-term risk in mind, I found Pilates instructor Lottie Murphy’s 15-minute routine for desk posture to use as a regular practice. You may like It was short enough to slot into busy work days, yet impactful enough to address imbalances and support my posture. I committed to this routine for 30 days—here’s what I found. The 15-minute Pilates for desk posture routine Pilates For Desk Posture | 10 Minute Break | Lottie Murphy – YouTube Watch On What I discovered (Image credit: Future / Katie Sims) My shoulders finally relaxed I didn’t expect such a gentle routine to make a noticeable difference to my shoulders, but it did. The windows move—lying on my back with my arms reaching upward, opening my elbows wide, rotating my palms upward, then sweeping my arms overhead—was the …

German Spy Chief Calls for More Operational Freedom to Counter Threats

German Spy Chief Calls for More Operational Freedom to Counter Threats

Published by Sam Flores

BERLIN, Feb 13 (Reuters) – Germany should beef up its intelligence ⁠services ⁠and allow them more freedom ⁠to act in the face of a range of hybrid threats ​from Russia, the head of the country’s foreign intelligence service said on Friday. After decades of self-imposed caution over ‌state spying and surveillance following ‌World War Two, German politicians and security officials have been pressing to allow its foreign and ⁠domestic intelligence ⁠agencies greater leeway to act in the face of what they see ​as an increased threat from Russia. “The threat emanating from hybrid warfare has been recognized,” Martin Jaeger, head of the BND, Germany’s foreign intelligence service, told a panel at the Munich Security Conference. “Deterrence is not working ​yet. This raises the question, do we simply want to continue to observe and record ⁠these ⁠developments, or have we reached ⁠a point ​where we must take active countermeasures?” “This question also applies to my service, the BND. In my ​opinion, the service must and ⁠will become more operational,” he said. Jaeger said Germany had uncovered …

UOB extends gold counter hours, moves to appointment-only purchases amid surge in demand

UOB extends gold counter hours, moves to appointment-only purchases amid surge in demand

Published by Sam Flores

SINGAPORE: UOB customers who wish to buy gold or convert their holdings into physical gold at the bank’s main branch at Raffles Place will have to do so by appointment only from Feb 13. Amid a recent surge in demand, UOB will also extend the operating hours at the gold counters by one-and-a-half hours. From Feb 13, gold counters for purchasing bullion will open from 9.30am to 6pm on weekdays (excluding public holidays), instead of closing at 4.30pm.  Walk-in gold purchases or conversions will no longer be accepted. “With this measure, wait times should be reduced and customers can be served at the timing of their reservation,” UOB said in a media statement on Monday (Feb 9), adding that appointments can be made on its website from 6pm on Feb 12. “For customers who wish to sell gold back to us, they will still be able to do so at the gold counters without making an appointment from 9.30am to 4.30pm, Mondays to Fridays, excluding public holidays,” UOB said. UOB is Singapore’s only bank offering …

How India and the EU created a common market to counter Trump

How India and the EU created a common market to counter Trump

Published by Sam Flores

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (center), European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in New Delhi, India, January 27, 2026. MANISH SWARUP / AP “We have concluded the mother of all deals,” announced Ursula von der Leyen on X on Tuesday, January 27, as India and the European Union wrapped up negotiations on a free trade agreement. The Commission president, along with her counterpart from the European Council, Antonio Costa, traveled to New Delhi to mark the creation of a market encompassing nearly two billion people and the commercial union of two continents, which together account for a quarter of global gross domestic product. This agreement between the world’s second- and fourth-largest economies must now be formalized legally before being ratified by the member states and by the European Parliament. Burned by the precedent set by the Mercosur deal – which faced fierce opposition in Paris and deeply divided the European Parliament – the Commission, which negotiates on behalf of the 27 member states, was careful to avoid controversy. …

US rabbis head to Minneapolis to join protests to counter ICE raids

US rabbis head to Minneapolis to join protests to counter ICE raids

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — At least 100 rabbis and other Jewish leaders are expected to join the growing coalition of clergy, union leaders and community activists gathering in Minneapolis on Thursday (Jan. 22) and Friday to protest the massive show of force by federal immigration agencies in Minnesota in recent weeks. The local Jewish community has already taken a key role in the resistance to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis, but last week’s killing of Renee Good, an American citizen fatally shot by an ICE agent, has mobilized rabbis across the country. Two progressive Jewish activist organizations, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and Rabbis for Ceasefire, each plan to bring more than 40 rabbis to Minneapolis. National Jewish leaders, such as Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish denomination in the U.S., are also expected. Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg, a Minneapolis resident who is helping organize the Rabbis for Ceasefire delegation, said the broad representation of Jewish denominations is rare for a political event. “I …

In Greenland, a European military mission of uncertain contours seeks to counter Trump

In Greenland, a European military mission of uncertain contours seeks to counter Trump

Published by Sam Flores

Danish soldiers on a street in Nuuk, Greenland, January 15, 2026. OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI/MYOP FOR LE MONDE Four Danes here, a defense attaché from the British Embassy in Denmark there. The uniformed soldiers strolled the quiet streets of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, on Thursday, January 15, appearing not to trouble anyone. Quite the contrary. Having arrived the previous evening aboard two C-130 Hercules aircraft, the majority of the contingent consisted of Danish soldiers. The mission, dubbed Arctic Endurance, has been reinforced by personnel from several European countries, including five French soldiers. Hastily decided by the kingdom of Denmark, the joint operation is not linked to the command structure of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and, unusually, has no officially announced start or end date. According to one source, it was launched in response to a “political emergency.” The move was meant above all as a show of unity in the face of United States President Donald Trump’s stated appetite for taking control of Greenland, by force or otherwise. “I don’t think troops in Europe impact the [US] president’s decision-making process, …

Will Anyone Prove Trump Wrong And Counter His Steamroller Moves?

Will Anyone Prove Trump Wrong And Counter His Steamroller Moves?

Published by Sam Flores

Donald Trump outdid himself this week. After initiating military strikes against Venezuela and capturing its president Nicolas Maduro, he declared he would “run” the country – and send in America’s oil companies. While there were some murmurings of dissent over this aggression, his western allies effectively looked the other way, shirking questions over whether this was a breach of international law. But Trump wasn’t finished. He then began to renew his threats against Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and Iran – as well as the Danish territory of Greenland. Attacking the latter would effectively tear the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) apart, considering both the US and Denmark are members. He told the New York Times he could be left with a “choice” between sticking with Nato or grabbing Greenland. As the White House’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said this week: “Nobody is going to fight the US militarily over the future of Greenland.” European leaders did pipe up a little in defence the Arctic island, writing a joint statement reminding the US that its …