All posts tagged: hero

Trump’s “hero image” includes lions, camels and motorcycles

Trump’s “hero image” includes lions, camels and motorcycles

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated music video on Truth Social this week that depicts him riding a lion through the jungle, planting a flag on the moon, appearing on Mount Rushmore and hosting a White House UFC event that has not yet taken place. The video, created by New York congressional candidate Anthony Constantino — a businessman, founder of Sticker Mule and recipient of Trump’s endorsement — is set to a repetitive anthem declaring that people around the world love Trump. The accompanying AI-generated visuals move rapidly from scene to scene, portraying Trump as a globe-trotting hero celebrated across cultures and continents. Among the video’s more surreal moments are depictions of Trump riding a camel through the desert, traveling through India on a motorcycle, appearing as an anime-style warrior and sharing tacos with world leaders. Other scenes place him in iconic locations around the world or transform him into a larger-than-life figure woven into famous landmarks and historical imagery. On one level, the video is simply the latest example of increasingly sophisticated AI-generated political …

Hero who took poppy donations outside WHSmith for decades is remembered

Hero who took poppy donations outside WHSmith for decades is remembered

Published by Sam Flores

A hero veteran has been honoured with a plaque at the spot where he stood for more than four decades taking donations. Jim Ruggles served in the Royal Air Force during the 1950s before becoming a Poppy Appeal volunteer, collecting for the Royal British Legion outside WHSmith on Bridge Place, Worksop. Jim started volunteering after he saw an advert in the Worksop Guardian and went on to stand on the high street every November, no matter the weather, for 42 years. Jim sadly died last year. However, due to his fundraising helping many veterans in Bassetlaw and across the region, he became a recognisable and respected figure around Worksop. The plaque was put in place in the same spot where Jim volunteered for so many years -Credit:Bassetlaw District Council His remarkable efforts have been commemorated by a blue plaque displayed in the spot where he stood for all those years, something his son-in-law has described as a “wonderful moment” for the family. Dave Tomlinson, Jim Ruggles’ son-in-law, said on behalf of the family: “As a …

10 hours and 1 surgeon: The quiet hero of Indonesia’s train crash tragedy

10 hours and 1 surgeon: The quiet hero of Indonesia’s train crash tragedy

Published by Sam Flores

JAKARTA: After a long shift and an evening out with his wife and two teenage daughters at a shopping mall in East Jakarta, Muhammad Iqbal El Mubarak was looking forward to going home and getting some well-deserved rest. But as his car exited the parking lot, the 41-year-old surgeon’s wife alerted him to social media posts about a train accident that had happened around an hour previously, some 30 minutes away at East Bekasi station.  There seemed to be many casualties, she said.  It was Monday, Apr 27, and the train would have been packed with commuters heading home from work, Iqbal thought. He pictured the station already descending into chaos with injured passengers, panicked families, overwhelmed paramedics and rescuers struggling to cope. Without much hesitation, he changed course. With his wife and daughters still in the car, he drove straight to the station, knowing emergency responders would need all the help they could get. “There were so many people but most were just standing there not knowing what to do,” said Iqbal. “I had to step in.” By the …

In Ukraine, a Divisive 20th-Century Hero Comes Home

In Ukraine, a Divisive 20th-Century Hero Comes Home

Published by Sam Flores

With a Ukrainian military honor guard standing ramrod straight beside his coffin, Andriy Melnyk, a leader of a Ukrainian nationalist movement who died six decades ago — and who has been no less divisive after death than in life — lay in state in Kyiv before his reburial on Sunday. President Volodymyr Zelensky provided full state honors for the ritual, signaling a deep shift in Ukrainian politics after Russia’s invasion in 2022. Before then, Mr. Zelensky had kept nationalist politics at arm’s length; in the reburial, he embraced them. The remains of the long-dead World War II-era Ukrainian leader were exhumed in Luxembourg, where he had been buried after dying in exile in 1964, and returned to Ukraine. There was none of the raw grief of today’s war funerals. Melnyk led one of two factions of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, including through a period of alignment with the Nazi army during its occupation of Ukraine, which was one of the bloodiest chapters of World War II. The Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact with …

Uber Builds Large Stake In Germany’s Delivery Hero As Takeover Speculation Builds

Uber Builds Large Stake In Germany’s Delivery Hero As Takeover Speculation Builds

Published by Jenni Sidey

Uber is exploring a potential takeover of Delivery Hero after building a large stake in the rival German food delivery company, Bloomberg News reports. This follows an earlier report that Uber had built a 19.5% stake. On Monday, Uber disclosed that it owns 19.5% of Delivery Hero, plus an additional 5.6% through options. The position was built with the help of Morgan Stanley traders, according to people familiar with the matter. Uber’s move to acquire Delivery Hero could be an attempt to expand Uber Eats’ global footprint and improve its competitive position against DoorDash outside the US. Delivery Hero operates in more than 60 countries, giving Uber exposure to markets where it is either underscaled or trailing its competitors. Map of Operatoins of Delivery Hero Brands “While Uber’s ultimate intentions on further stake-building remain unclear, we view the move as a clear endorsement of the strategic attractiveness of Delivery Hero’s asset base for Uber,” JPMorgan analysts wrote in a note. Earlier, Uber said it “currently” has no intention of increasing its stake in Delivery Hero …

‘Gareth’s a hero for the ages’

‘Gareth’s a hero for the ages’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Add Dear England to your watchlist In what is perhaps the writerly version of Victor Kiam’s “I liked it so much, I bought the company”, playwright and screenwriter James Graham was so inspired by the tale of how, 20 years after his missed penalty sent England crashing out of the Euros in 1996, Gareth Southgate turned around the fortunes of the England football team, that he decided to write the story himself. The resulting play, Dear England, was about more than just Southgate and his quiet, revolutionary management style. It was about more than just football, as important a matter as Bill Shankly’s famous quote declares it to be. It was also an examination of English national identity, modern masculinity, men’s mental health, hope, belonging and redemption. And all of this was wrapped up in a thoroughly theatrical production, full of music and movement, belly laughs and poignant moments. Gareth Southgate is one of England’s most successful managers. Getty Dear England was admired by critics and adored by audiences. After opening at the National Theatre in …

Trump Wants to Be the Hero Vapers Don’t Really Need

Trump Wants to Be the Hero Vapers Don’t Really Need

Published by skeptic

In December of 2019, Mitch Zeller, who at the time ran the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, got an urgent phone call from a fellow staffer at the agency. A few months earlier, President Donald Trump and his administration had vowed to take e-cigarettes in every flavor except tobacco off the market to quash a youth vaping epidemic that, at the time, saw almost 30 percent of American teens using nicotine. By the time Zeller received that December call, he says, the White House had different instructions for the FDA: Limit the ban to pod-based vapes, like Juuls, and leave menthol flavors alone. Zeller says this softer touch “absolutely” came about because Trump, heading into the 2020 election year, got spooked by pushback to his original plans. “The White House,” Zeller says, “went into political retreat.” Almost seven years later and well into his second term, Trump is vice-signaling even more aggressively to the pro-vape crowd and the industry that supplies it. The payoff is unclear, given that vapers make up a relatively small chunk …

Comedy hero | Radio Times

Comedy hero | Radio Times

Published by Daniella Wilson

Add After Life to your watchlist When Ricky Gervais appears on screen for our Zoom chat, it could be a scene straight out of Extras, his merciless comedy lampooning all that is self-important about Hollywood and its luminaries. Behind him, I count at least five Bafta Awards, two Golden Globes and, on a low shelf, almost as an afterthought, an Emmy. “Are those in case I had forgotten what you’ve done?” I ask. “Well, it’s my office…” he starts, before breaking into a trademark Gervais howl of laughter. “I could have faced the camera in another direction, I know.” If any homegrown entertainer deserves to have their trophies up front and centre, it’s Gervais. Since breaking into the public consciousness and changing the rhythm of British comedy for ever with his mockumentary series The Office in 2001, the Reading-born comedian, actor, writer and director has enjoyed a hit rate second to none. As well as executive producing the US version of the show, he and co-creator Stephen Merchant followed up with Extras and Life’s Too …