Federal Reserve’s Powell says US making ‘modest’ progress on inflation

Washington — The U.S. Federal Reserve is making “modest” progress in its inflation fight, the head of the U.S. central bank told lawmakers Tuesday, on the first of two days of testimony in Congress.

When prices surged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fed responded by hiking interest rates to a two-decade high as it attempts to cool down the U.S. economy and return inflation to its long-term target of two percent.

Inflation has eased significantly since it peaked in 2022, but progress stalled in the first quarter of this year, effectively putting the Fed’s fight on pause.

The data in the second quarter has been more encouraging, prompting some cautious optimism from some policymakers in recent weeks.

Speaking in Washington on Tuesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee that the most recent readings “have shown some modest further progress” since the first quarter of the year.

“More good data would strengthen our confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward two percent,” he added, according to prepared remarks.

The Fed is widely expected to hold interest rates again when it meets to set interest rates later this month, but could begin cutting rates in September.

Futures traders have assigned a probability of more than 75% that the Fed will make its first rate cut by September.

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LogOn: Unfired earth blocks surpass modern building codes

 A new homebuilding method with ancient roots in adobe offers protection from wildfires, earthquakes, high winds and floods, while being climate friendly and sustainable. The secret ingredient: compressed earth blocks made from mud. Shelley Schlender has the story in this week’s episode of LogOn from Superior, Colorado.

American mountaineer found mummified in Peru 22 years after vanishing

LIMA, Peru — The preserved body of an American mountaineer — who disappeared 22 years ago while scaling a snowy peak in Peru — has been found after being exposed by climate change-induced ice melt, police said Monday.

William Stampfl was reported missing in June 2002, aged 59, when an avalanche buried his climbing party on the mountain Huascaran, which stands more than 6,700 meters (22,000 feet) high. Search and rescue efforts were fruitless.

Peruvian police said his remains were finally exposed by ice melt on the Cordillera Blanca range of the Andes.

Stampfl’s body, as well as his clothes, harness and boots had been well-preserved by the cold, according to images distributed by the police.

His passport was found among his possessions in good condition, allowing police to identify the body.

The mountains of northeastern Peru, home to snowy peaks such as Huascaran and Cashan, are a favorite with mountaineers from around the world.

In May, the body of an Israeli hiker was found there nearly a month after he disappeared.

And last month, an experienced Italian mountaineer was found dead after he fell while trying to scale another Andean peak.

Park benches and grandmothers: Zimbabwe’s novel mental health therapy spreads overseas

Harare, Zimbabwe — After her son, the family’s shining light and only breadwinner, was arrested last year, Tambudzai Tembo went into meltdown. In Zimbabwe, where clinical mental health services are scarce, her chances of getting professional help were next to zero. She contemplated suicide.

“I didn’t want to live anymore. People who saw me would think everything was OK. But inside, my head was spinning,” the 57-year-old said. “I was on my own.”

A wooden bench and an empathetic grandmother saved her.

Older people are at the center of a homegrown form of mental health therapy in Zimbabwe that is now being adopted in places like the United States.

The approach involves setting up benches in quiet, discreet corners of community clinics and in some churches, poor neighborhoods and at a university. An older woman with basic training in problem-solving therapy patiently sits there, ready to listen and engage in a one-on-one conversation.

The therapy is inspired by traditional practice in Zimbabwe in which grandmothers were the go-to people for wisdom in rough times. It had been abandoned with urbanization, the breakdown of tight-knit extended families and modern technology. Now it is proving useful again as mental health needs grow.

“Grandmothers are the custodians of local culture and wisdom. They are rooted in their communities,” said Dixon Chibanda, a psychiatry professor and founder of the initiative.

“They don’t leave, and in addition, they have an amazing ability to use what we call ‘expressed empathy’… to make people feel respected and understood.”

Last year, Chibanda was named the winner of a $150,000 prize by the U.S.-based McNulty Foundation for revolutionizing mental healthcare. Chibanda said the concept has taken root in parts of Vietnam, Botswana, Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania and is in “preliminary formative work” in London.

In New York, the city’s new mental health plan launched last year says it is “drawing inspiration” from what it calls the Friendship Bench to help address risk factors such as social isolation. The orange benches are now in areas including Harlem, Brooklyn and the Bronx.

In Washington, the organization HelpAge USA is piloting the concept under the DC Grandparents for Mental Health initiative, which started in 2022 as a COVID-19 support group of people 60 and above.

So far, 20 grandmothers have been trained by a team from Friendship Bench Zimbabwe to listen, empathize and empower others to solve their problems, said Cindy Cox-Roman, the president and chief executive of HelpAge USA.

Benches will be set up at places of worship, schools and wellness centers in Washington’s low-income communities with people who “have been historically marginalized and more likely to experience mental health problems,” she said.

Cox-Roman cited fear and distrust in the medical system, lack of social support and stigma as some of the factors limiting access to treatment.

“People are hurting, and a grandmother can always make you feel better,” she said.

More than one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

“The mental health crisis is real. Where it’s a real crisis after the pandemic is that many clinicians have dropped out of the workforce,” said Dr. Jehan El-Mayoumi, who works as an expert with HelpAge USA and is a founding director of the health equity Rodham Institute at Georgetown University. She has struggled to get psychiatrists for acutely suicidal patients.

El-Mayoumi said the Zimbabwean concept provides people with “someone you can trust, open up your heart to, that you can tell your deepest secrets [and] that requires trust, so that’s what’s so wonderful about the Friendship Bench.”

The idea was born out of tragedy. Chibanda was a young psychiatrist, and one of just over 10 in Zimbabwe in 2005. One of his patients desperately wanted to see him, but she could not afford the $15 bus fare. Chibanda later learned that she had killed herself.

“I realized that I needed to have a stronger presence in the community,” Chibanda said. “I realized that actually one of the most valuable resources are these grandmothers, the custodians of local culture.”

He recruited 14 grandmothers in the neighborhood near the hospital where he worked in the capital, Harare, and trained them. In Zimbabwe, they get $25 a month to help with transport and phone bills.

The network, which now partners with the health ministry and the World Health Organization, has grown to over 2,000 grandmothers across the country. Over 200,000 Zimbabweans sat on a bench to get therapy from a trained grandmother in 2023, according to the network.

Siridzayi Dzukwa, the grandmother who talked Tembo out of suicide, made a home follow-up visit on a recent day. Using a written questionnaire, she checked on Tembo’s progress. She listened as Tembo talked about how she has found a new lease on life and now sells vegetables to make ends meet.

Dzukwa has become a recognizable figure in the area. People stop to greet and thank her for helping them. Some ask for a home visit or take down her number.

“People are no longer ashamed or afraid of openly stopping us on the streets and ask us to talk,” she said. “Mental health is no longer something to be ashamed of.”

Студія “квартал 95” відхрестилася від ухилянта і втікача руслана ханумака

Пресслужба студії “квартал 95” заперечила участь актора руслана ханумака у їхніх проєктах.

Як повідомляє пресслужба Студії “Квартал 95”, актор не співпрацює з командою від 2021 року. Тож вони не мають жодного стосунку до Руслана Ханумака й наголошують на недостовірності деякої інформації, яка шириться Мережею.

“Щодо вчинку Руслана Ханумака, новина про якого розлетілася по ЗМІ. Хочемо зазначити, що Руслан Ханумак ніколи не був штатним працівником Студії “Квартал 95”. Студія раніше співпрацювала з Русланом як зі сценаристом, режисером та актором тільки на умовах договорів замовлення. Від 2021 року Студія “Квартал 95” не має з Русланом Ханумаком ніяких цивільно-правових та трудових відносин. Отже, некоректно називати його зіркою чи тим більше актором Студії “Квартал 95”. Всі актори “Кварталу” перебувають в Україні”, — йдеться в офіційній заяві Студії “Квартал 95”.

Нагадаємо, актор Руслан Ханумак днями заявив про свій виїзд з України до США. За його словами, це сприятиме їхнім частішим зустрічам з сином, який проживає там не один рік. Також артист вже пояснив, як йому вдалося перетнути кордон під час війни й кому він “завдячує”.

Правда України

Чоловіки, які оновили дані в ТЦК або через “Резерв+” вже отримують штрафи

Військовозобов’язані, які вже оновили дані в ТЦК або через “Резерв+” почали отримувати штрафи. Журналісти розбиралися, кому доведеться заплатити до 25 тисяч гривень ще до 16 липня.

Відповідно до закону про мобілізацію, українці у віці 18-60 років зобов’язані до 16 липня оновити військово-облікові дані в ТЦК та СП. В іншому разі їм доведеться заплатити штраф у розмірі від 17 тис. до 25,5 тис. грн.

Однак штраф за порушення мобілізаційного законодавства можуть виписати і з інших причин. Наприклад, якщо чоловік, старший за 27 років, вчасно прийде до ТЦК, щоб оновити військово-облікові дані та пройти ВЛК, але в нього не буде військового квитка. У цьому випадку ТЦК також можуть виписати штраф.

Штрафують тих, хто раніше не стояв на обліку. До редакції звернувся 30-річний чоловік, який нещодавно оновив дані в ТЦК та СП. Він розповів, що з’явився у військкомат, після того як йому вручили повістку. Чоловік оновив інформацію про себе і отримав направлення на проходження ВЛК, після чого його визнали придатним для проходження служби, але в певних військових підрозділах. А разом із цим виписали штраф у розмірі 17 тисяч грн за те, що коли йому було 27 років, він не з’явився до ТЦК, щоб отримати актуальні військово-облікові документи.

За словами адвоката Максима Дзиковського, штраф справді можуть виписати в тому разі, якщо чоловік раніше не стояв на військовому обліку в ТЦК або вчасно не поміняв приписне на військовий квиток.

“Штрафують за порушення правил мобілізаційної підготовки. Якщо в людини неактуальні військово-облікові документи — тобто чоловік не поміняв приписне в 30 років, хоча мав ще в 27 отримати новий документ, він вчинив адміністративне правопорушення, і йому можуть виписати штраф. Якщо у людини взагалі немає військово-облікових документів, тобто вона ніколи не приходила до ТЦК — це теж адміністративна відповідальність, і за це штраф”, — пояснює Дзиковський.

Також юрист додає, якщо людина не оновить дані до 16 липня, їй теж загрожує штраф.

“Закон зобов’язує всіх чоловіків віком 18-60 років оновити військово-облікові дані. Якщо людина цього не зробить, буде штраф. Але ми говоримо про один штраф. Тобто якщо у людини було приписне, яке вона мала поміняти у 27 років, а зараз їй 30, і вона цього не зробила, і до того ж вона не оновила військово-облікові дані до 16 липня, і ТЦК про це відомо, штраф їй випишуть тільки один раз за порушення правил мобілізаційної підготовки. Двічі штрафувати за одне й те саме порушення не можуть”, — пояснив експерт.

Штрафи збільшили до 25,5 тис. грн. Нагадаємо, у травні Верховна Рада збільшила розмір штрафів за порушення призовниками, військовозобов’язаними, резервістами правил військового обліку [стаття 210 КУпАП]:

у мирний час — від 3,4 до 5,1 тис. грн;
повторно протягом року — від 5,1 до 8,5 тис. грн;
в особливий період — від 17 до 25,5 тис. грн.

Отже, якщо чоловік уперше вчиняє правопорушення під час дії воєнного стану, йому доведеться заплатити 17 000 тис. грн.

Член комітету Верховної Ради з питань правоохоронної діяльності, нардеп Олександр Бакумов говорив, що, згідно із законом, людину не можуть оштрафувати за те, що вона не оновила дані, які військкомат може отримати з державних реєстрів. Тобто повідомити ТЦК потрібно актуальну контактну інформацію та фактичне місце проживання.

Стягнути штраф можуть протягом року. Але скласти постанови ТЦК повинні протягом трьох місяців з моменту виявлення факту правопорушення. Тобто якщо ТЦК виявили 1 вересня, що людина не оновила дані, у них є час до 1 грудня, щоб винести постанову.

Благодійники з Полтавщини та Одещини виявились шахраями

Їх затримали прикордонники на Закарпатті.

Автомобіль, яким їхали жителі Полтавщини та Одещини, зупинив наряд від відділення інспекторів прикордонної служби «Хижа» Мукачівського загону на контрольному посту, розташованому на околиці населеного пункту Теково. Про це повідомили на сторінці Західного регіонального управління Держприкордонслужби України.

На неодноразові вимоги прикордонників водій відмовився надати автівку для огляду, натомість показав посвідчення комітету по боротьбі з корупцією та організованою злочинністю. Таке ж посвідчення мав і пасажир. Ці документи мали забезпечити їм безперешкодний проїзд через контрольні пости. Як з’ясували згодом прикордонники, надані документи сфальшовані.

Під час подальшого огляду, до якого долучилися співробітники оперативно-розшукового відділу «Дякове», у чоловіків також виявили посвідчення про належність до одного із благодійних фондів, договір про надання волонтерських послуг, бланки актів вилучення грошових пожертв, наліпки благодійного фонду тощо. Виявилося, що вони розповсюджували місцевими магазинами скриньки для збору коштів, а із зібраних грошей забирали собі 80 %. Решту 20 %, за словами чоловіків, могли спрямувати на надання допомоги комусь із хворих.

Крім того, в телефоні одесита оперативники загону виявили переписку, у якій він висловлює сподівання на перемогу Росії у війні проти України.

На місце події викликали співробітників взаємодіючих правоохоронних органів.

Про факт виявлення у діях псевдоблагодійників ознак злочинів, передбачених статтею 358 Кримінального кодексу України (Підроблення документів, печаток, штампів та бланків, збут чи використання підроблених документів, печаток, штампів) та 190 ККУ (Шахрайство) прикордонники направили повідомлення до Нацполіції. Правоохоронці вивчають всі деталі правопорушення.

На московській біржі виникли проблеми з турецькою лірою після зупинки операцій з доларами США

Після зупинення операцій з доларами США, євро та гонконзькими доларами на Московській біржі виникли проблеми з турецькою лірою, повідомили російські брокери

Найбільший небанківський брокер країни-окупанта, оголосив, що тимчасово зупинив для своїх клієнтів операції з лірами на біржовому ринку. Представник компанії пояснив, що це рішення пов’язане з американськими санкціями проти Національного клірингового центру — ключової розрахункової “дочки” біржі, відповідальної за реєстрацію всіх угод. Через санкції збільшився час введення та виведення валюти, а також розрахунків в угодах з лірою.

В російській інвестиційній компанії Фінамі також підтвердили проблеми з лірами, торги якими біржа веде з 2018 року. Керівник управління розвитку клієнтського сервісу компанії Дмитро Лєснов визнав, що Фінамі найближчим часом аналізуватиме ситуацію і не виключає, що також буде змушена припинити торги лірою.

Обсяг операцій з лірами, який минулого року досягав рекордних 50 млрд рублів на місяць, скоротився до незначних 20–30 млн рублів на день. Турецькі банки практично повністю припинили операції з Росією, розповіла Deutsche Welle представниця однієї з логістичних компаній.

За її словами, минулого року російські імпортери використовували ліри для оплати товарів з Туреччини, але ця практика припинилася через посилення американських фінансових санкцій наприкінці минулого року. Тепер турецькі банки побоюються вторинних санкцій за порушення санкційного режиму.

Такі ж ризики несуть і китайські банки, присутність яких дозволяє торгувати на біржі юанями, попереджає аналітик Совкомбанку Михайло Васильєв. ЦБ РФ враховує ризики, що торги юанем також доведеться зупинити, визнала напередодні голова регулятора Ельвіра Набіулліна.

Сполучені Штати 12 червня різко розширили санкції проти росії. Під обмеження Мінфіну США потрапили мосбіржа та національний кліринговий центр, який відповідає, зокрема, за валютні торги.

Мосбіржа одразу оголосила, що з наступного дня припиняє торги доларом і євро. Акції московської біржі 13 червня відкрилися зниженням до 15%.

Після запровадження санкцій єдиною іноземною валютою, доступною для торгів, фактично залишився китайський юань.

Але юаневі торги незабаром можуть бути зупинені, повідомляло Bloomberg джерело, близьке до центробанку рашки. За його словами, китайські банки, які забезпечують такі угоди, найімовірніше, поступово згортатимуть операції з мосбіржею через загрозу вторинних санкцій США.

Правда України

У Львові працівники ТЦК не перевіряють документи у чоловіків іноземців

Відео про перевірку документів у потенційного військовозобов’язаного поширили у соціальних мережах.

На одній з центральних вулиць Львова люди у військовій формі зупинили перехожого спортивної статури в шортах, темних окулярах, з тату, назвали себе працівниками Личаківсько-Залізничного ОРТЦК та СП і попросили показати документи для звіряння.

“Хвилиночку уваги! Личаківсько-Залізничний ОРТЦК та СП проводить звірку документів з мобілізації”, – звернувся до перехожого чоловік у військовій формі.

На пропозицію військового чоловік і шортах лаконічно відповідає: “English”.

Представник ОРТЦК та СП уже англійською перепитує: “English? Great Britain?”

“Yes, Great Britannia”, – не зовсім англійською реагує перехожий.

Військовий довірливо орієнтується у нештатній ситуації, ввічливо англійською дякує перехожому, по-дружньому плескає по плечу, бажає йому доброго дня і йде далі в пошуках потенційних військовозобов’язаних.

Як повідомили у Личаківсько-Залізничному ОРТЦК та СП, кінематографісти зняли фільм про роботу ТЦК та СП у Львові. На відео – фрагмент з фільму, де сержант Віталій Смілка перевіряє документи на одній з центральних вулиць Львова.

«Вчитель за освітою та військовий за покликанням», – так можна коротко описати сержанта Віталія Смілку. У його біографії десятки років служби у різних підрозділах не лише на захисті України, але й участь у миротворчих місіях.

Зранку 24 лютого 2022 року він полишив цивільну роботу та знову повернувся у військо, де вже за кілька днів опинився під Попасною. Тепер він працює у Львівському ТЦК – допомагає іншим українцям знайти вакансію у Силах оборони”,- пояснили у ТЦК.

Хто насправді трапився сержанту Віталію Смілці на цьому відео, залишається загадкою. Чи це громадянин Великої Британії, чи громадянин України, який вирішив вдати з себе іноземця, чи громадянин іншої держави (в тому числі хоч би й Росії), глядачі вже не довідаються з цього фільму. Хіба що автори фільму використали “актора” для такої уявної ситуації. У цьому випадку їм би треба було докладніше прочитати постанову Кабміну про перевірку документів у людей на вулиці. На цих кадрах її не відбулося.

Правда України

Torrid heat bakes millions of people in large swaths of US, setting records and fanning wildfires

Las Vegas — Roughly 130 million people were under threat over the weekend and into next week from a long-running heat wave that broke or tied records with dangerously high temperatures and is expected to shatter more from East Coast to West Coast, forecasters said.

Ukiah, north of San Francisco, hit 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47 degrees Celsius) on Saturday, breaking the city’s record for the date and tying its all-time high. Livermore, east of San Francisco, hit 111 F (43.8 C), breaking the daily maximum temperature record of 109 F (42.7 C) set more than a century ago in 1905.

Las Vegas tied the record of 115 F (46 C), last reached in 2007, and Phoenix topped out at 114 F (45.5 C), just shy of the record of 116 F (46.7 C) dating to 1942.

The National Weather Service said it was extending the excessive heat warning for much of the Southwest through Friday.

“A dangerous and historic heatwave is just getting started across the area, with temperatures expected to peak during the Sunday-Wednesday timeframe,” the National Weather Service in Las Vegas said in an updated forecast.

In Las Vegas, where the mercury hit 100 F (37.7 C) by 10:30 a.m., Marko Boscovich said the best way to beat the heat is in a seat at a slot machine with a cold beer inside an air-conditioned casino.

“But you know, after it hits triple digits it’s about all the same to me,” said Boscovich, who was visiting from Sparks, Nevada to see a Dead & Company concert Saturday night at the Sphere. “Maybe they’ll play one of my favorites — ‘Cold Rain and Snow.’”

In more humid parts of the country, temperatures could spike above 100 F (about 38 C) in parts of the Pacific Northwest, the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, said Jacob Asherman, a weather service meteorologist.

Heat records shattered across the Southwest

Meteorologists predicted that temperatures would be near daily records in the region through most, if not all, of the coming week, with lower desert highs reaching 115 to 120 degrees F (46.1 to 48.8 C).

Rare heat advisories were extended even into higher elevations including around Lake Tahoe, on the border of California and Nevada, with the National Weather Service in Reno, Nevada, warning of “major heat risk impacts, even in the mountains.”

“How hot are we talking? Well, high temperatures across (western Nevada and northeastern California) won’t get below 100 degrees (37.8 C) until next weekend,” the service posted online. “And unfortunately, there won’t be much relief overnight either.”

Indeed, Reno hit a high of 104 F (40 C) on Saturday, smashing the old record of 101 F (38.3 C).

More extreme highs are in the near forecast, including 129 F (53.8 C) for Sunday at Furnace Creek, California, in Death Valley National Park, and then around 130 F (54.4 C) through Wednesday.

The hottest temperature ever officially recorded on Earth was 134 F (56.67 C) in July 1913 in Death Valley, eastern California, though some experts dispute that measurement and say the real record was 130 F (54.4 C), recorded there in July 2021.

The worst is yet to come across the West and mid-Atlantic

Triple-digit temperatures are likely in the West, between 15 and 30 F (8 and 16 C) higher than average into next week, the National Weather Service said.

The Eastern U.S. also was bracing for more hot temperatures. Baltimore and others parts of Maryland were under an excessive heat warning as heat index values could climb to 110 F (43 C), forecasters said.

“Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors,” read a National Weather Service advisory for the Baltimore area. “Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances.”

Deaths are starting to mount

In Arizona’s Maricopa County, which encompasses Phoenix, there have been at least 13 confirmed heat-related deaths this year, along with more than 160 other deaths suspected of being related to heat that are still under investigation, according to a recent report.

That does not include the death of a 10-year-old boy last week in Phoenix who suffered a “heat-related medical event” while hiking with family at South Mountain Park and Preserve, according to police.

California wildfires fanned by low humidity, high temperatures

Firefighters dispatched aircraft and helicopters to drop water or retardant on a series of wildfires in California.

In Santa Barbara County, northwest of Los Angeles, the Lake Fire has scorched more than 19 square miles (49 square kilometers) of grass, brush and timber. Firefighters said the blaze was displaying “extreme fire behavior” and had the “potential for large growth” with high temperatures and low humidity.

Festival revelers meet the heat with cold water and shade

At the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland, Oregon, music fans coped by drinking cold water, seeking shade or freshening up under water misters. Organizers of the weekend revelries also advertised free access to air conditioning in a nearby hotel.

Angelica Quiroz, 31, kept her scarf and hat wet and applied sunscreen.

“Definitely a difference between the shade and the sun,” Quiroz said Friday. “But when you’re in the sun, it feels like you’re cooking.”

 

TikTok has launched tons of trends. Will its influence last?

new york — TikTok and its bite-sized videos arrived in the United States as a global version of the Chinese app Douyin in 2018. Less than six years later, the social media platform is deeply woven into the fabric of American consumerism, having shortened the shelf life of trends and revamped how people engage with food and fashion. 

The popularity of TikTok — coupled with its roots in Beijing — led the U.S. Congress — citing national security concerns, to pass a law that would ban the video-sharing app unless its Chinese parent company sells its stake. Both the company, ByteDance, and TikTok have sued on First Amendment grounds. 

But while the platform faces uncertain times, its influence remains undisputed. 

Interest in bright pink blush and brown lipstick soared last year, for example, after the cosmetics were featured in TikTok videos with looks labeled as “cold girl” and “latte” makeup. An abundance of clothing fads with quirky names, from “cottagecore” to “coastal grandma,” similarly owe their pervasiveness to TikTok.   

Plenty of TikTok-spawned crazes last only a week or two before losing steam. Yet even mini trends have challenged businesses to decipher which ones are worth stocking up for. A majority of the more than 170 million Americans who use TikTok belong to the under-30 age group coveted by retailers, according to the Pew Research Center. Whether fans of the platform or not, shoppers may have a #tiktokmademebuyit moment without knowing the origin story behind an eye-catching product. 

Platform’s algorithm is ‘secret sauce’

What made TikTok such a trendsetter compared to predecessor platforms? Researchers and marketing analysts have often described the platform’s personalized recommendation algorithm as the “secret sauce” of TikTok’s success. The company has disclosed little about the technology it employs to populate users’ “For You” feeds.   

Jake Bjorseth, founder of the advertising agency Trndsttrs, which specializes in Generation Z, thinks the app’s use of an interest-based algorithm instead of personal contacts to connect like-minded people is what gave TikTok the edge. 

TikTok also changed the standard for what was considered desirable in social media content. The beginner-friendly platform featured videos made without filters, lighting setups or production-level audio. TikTok creators could develop more intimate relationships with their followers because they appeared more authentic, Bjorseth said. 

The platform has plenty of critics. Some experts argue that TikTok, like other social media sites, can be addictive and promote unnecessary spending. Others accuse TikTok of encouraging harmful behavior, like girls engaging in skin care rituals intended for older women. 

Yet for all the detractors who won’t mourn TikTok if it goes away, a vocal base of fans hopes it doesn’t come to that. 

Influencing fashion, accessories

Casey Lewis, a trend analyst based in New York, said TikTok’s clout in the fashion arena first became apparent to her when videos about Birkenstock’s Boston clogs overtook her “For You” feed in 2022.   

As the number of TikTok videos exploded, creators advised their followers where they could find the suddenly sold-out clogs. Lewis thought it was odd since her brother, whom she described as a “frat boy” and not a fashionista, wore the cork-soled comfort shoes in college.   

“I’m not a psychologist, but I’m sure there’s some psychology where your brain goes from thinking like, ‘How weird? Is that fashion?’ And then suddenly you’re obsessed with it,” she said.   

The pace with which TikTok-shaped trends pop can be dizzying. In the last year, the hot pink ensembles of “Barbiecore” coexisted with the deliberately unsexy looks of “dadcore” — think chunky white sneakers, baggy jeans and polo shirts. The linen-draped “coastal grandma” aesthetic gave way to “eclectic grandpa.”   

While the rotating cast of “cores” may not drive their adherents to buy entire wardrobes, they’re “influencing spending in small ways, and that adds up,” Lewis said.   

Influencers provide tips, tricks

Daniella Lopez White, 21, a recent college graduate on a tight budget, said TikTok influencers provided tips on finding affordable clothes but also connected her to plus-size creators featuring fashions for larger-bodied women, which made her more confident. 

“Those TikTok trends really helped me figure out what parts of my body I want to accentuate and feel cute in, and still incorporate my sense of style,” she said. 

A go-to spot

With easy-to-follow cooking videos and clever hacks, TikTok became a go-to spot for home cooks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The platform made humble ingredients a star and earned endorsements from some of the stars of the food world.   

“Every day, honestly, I am blown away by the creativity from the FoodTok community,” restaurateur and chef Gordon Ramsay said in a TikTok video late last year.   

Like the clothing styles of earlier eras, foods that had fallen out of fashion were resurrected via TikTok. U.S. sales of cottage cheese jumped 34% between April 2022 and April 2024 after videos promoting cottage cheese ice cream, cottage cheese toast and other recipes racked up millions of views. 

Ben Sokolsky, the general manager of sales and marketing for Dallas-based dairy company Daisy Brand, said cottage cheese is seeing its highest sustained growth in nearly 50 years. The curdled milk product used to be a “secret sensation,” but social media helped expose new customers to its benefits, Sokolsky said. 

Topics that went viral on TikTok have even spawned analog equivalents. Last summer, TikToker Olivia Maher posted what she called her “girl dinner” of bread, cheese, pickles and grapes. It was a hit, with more than 1.6 million views. A handful of “girl dinner” cookbooks soon followed.   

But the eagerness to try trendy foods had a downside. A 14-year-old in Massachusetts died after trying a challenge involving an extremely spicy tortilla chip that appeared on TikTok and other social media sites. An autopsy of the boy, who had a congenital heart defect, found that eating a large quantity of chile pepper extract caused his death. Paqui, the maker of the chip, pulled it off the market. 

Upending cosmetic industry

TikTok has upended the cosmetics industry by causing ingredients to get labeled as the next miracle cure or to be avoided and featuring videos of people gleefully applying or panning the contents of their latest shopping hauls. 

Influencers on TikTok and elsewhere have made freckles an asset with clips showing how to add faux ones with eyebrow pencils or broccoli florets. The “clean girl” aesthetic, a renamed version of the no-makeup makeup look, prompted both luxury and drugstore brands to rush out their own versions of skin tints and lip oils. 

Some veteran users of TikTok have noted the platform is almost too good in its role as both a tastemaker and a shopping search engine. A popular category of beauty videos shows influencers “decluttering” drawers filled with piles of barely used lipsticks, blushes and eyeshadow palettes. 

Though the desire for clicks can encourage creators to follow the same hair and makeup trends, TikTok’s defenders credit the platform with forcing brands to create products for a wider range of skin tones and hair types. 

Tiffany Watson, who currently has more than 31,00 followers on TikTok and has done paid partnerships with brands like Colourpop Cosmetics, said the platform has promoted a more inclusive image of beauty compared to other sites. 

“I see more diversity on TikTok because (with) every video you’re swiping, you’re seeing somebody new,” she said. 

Oldest inhabited termite mounds have been active for 34,000 years

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Scientists in South Africa have been stunned to discover that termite mounds that are still inhabited in an arid region of the country are more than 30,000 years old, meaning they are the oldest known active termite hills.

Some of the mounds near the Buffels River in Namaqualand were estimated by radiocarbon dating to be 34,000 years old, according to the researchers from Stellenbosch University.

“We knew they were old, but not that old,” said Michele Francis, senior lecturer in the university’s department of soil science who led the study. Her paper was published in May.

Francis said the mounds existed while saber-toothed cats and woolly mammoths roamed other parts of the Earth and large swathes of Europe and Asia were covered in ice. They predate some of the earliest cave paintings in Europe.

Some fossilized termite mounds have been discovered dating back millions of years. The oldest inhabited mounds before this study were found in Brazil and are around 4,000 years old. They are visible from space.

Francis said the Namaqualand mounds are a termite version of an “apartment complex” and the evidence shows they have been consistently inhabited by termite colonies.

Termite mounds are a famous feature of the Namaqualand landscape, but no one suspected their age until samples of them were taken to experts in Hungary for radiocarbon dating.

“People don’t know that these are special, ancient landscapes that are preserved there,” Francis said.

Some of the biggest mounds — known locally as “heuweltjies,” which means little hills in the Afrikaans language — measure around 30 meters across. The termite nests are as deep as 3 meters underground.

Researchers needed to carefully excavate parts of the mounds to take samples, and the termites went into “emergency mode” and started filling in the holes, Francis said.

The team fully reconstructed the mounds to keep the termites safe from predators like aardvarks.

Francis said the project was more than just a fascinating look at ancient structures. It also offered a peek into a prehistoric climate that showed Namaqualand was a much wetter place when the mounds were formed.

The southern harvester termites are experts at capturing and storing carbon by collecting twigs and other dead wood and putting it back deep into the soil. That has benefits in offsetting climate change by reducing the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere.

It’s also good for the soil. Masses of wildflowers bloom on top of the termite mounds in a region that receives little rain.

Francis called for more research on termite mounds given the lessons they offer on climate change, sustaining ecosystems and maybe even for improving agricultural practices.

“We will do well to study what the termites have done in the mounds. They were thought to be very boring,” she said.

Fossils show huge salamanderlike predator with sharp fangs existed before the dinosaurs

WASHINGTON — Scientists have revealed fossils of a giant salamanderlike beast with sharp fangs that ruled waters before the first dinosaurs arrived.

The predator, which was larger than a person, likely used its wide, flat head and front teeth to suck in and chomp unsuspecting prey, researchers said. Its skull was about 60 centimeters (2 feet) long.

“It’s acting like an aggressive stapler,” said Michael Coates, a biologist at the University of Chicago who was not involved with the work.

Fossil remnants of four creatures collected about a decade ago were analyzed, including a partial skull and backbone. The findings on Gaiasia jennyae were published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The creature existed some 40 million years before dinosaurs evolved.

Researchers have long examined such ancient predators to uncover the origins of tetrapods: four-legged animals that clambered onto land with fingers instead of fins and evolved to amphibians, birds and mammals including humans.

Most early tetrapod fossils hail from hot, prehistoric coal swamps along the equator in what’s now North America and Europe. But these latest remnants, dating back to about 280 million years ago, were found in modern-day Namibia, an area in Africa that was once encrusted with glaciers and ice.

That means tetrapods may have thrived in colder climates earlier than scientists expected, prompting more questions about how and when they took over the Earth.

“The early story of the first tetrapods is much more complex than we thought,” said co-author Claudia Marsicano at the University of Buenos Aires, who was part of the research.

The creature’s name comes from the Gai-As rock formation in Namibia where the fossils were found and for the late paleontologist Jennifer Clack, who studied how tetrapods evolved.

Russian-linked cybercampaigns focus on Olympics, French elections

paris — Photos of blood-red hands on a Holocaust memorial. Caskets at the Eiffel Tower. A fake French military recruitment drive calling for soldiers in Ukraine, and major French news sites improbably registered in an obscure Pacific territory, population 15,000.

All are part of disinformation campaigns orchestrated out of Russia and targeting France, according to French officials and cybersecurity experts in Europe and the United States. France’s legislative elections and the Paris Olympics sent them into overdrive.

More than a dozen reports issued in the past year point to an intensifying effort from Russia to undermine France, particularly the upcoming Games, and President Emmanuel Macron, who is one of Ukraine’s most vocal supporters in Europe.

The Russian campaigns sowing anti-French disinformation began online in early summer 2023, but first became tangible in October, when more than 1,000 bots linked to Russia relayed photos of graffitied Stars of David in Paris and its suburbs.

A French intelligence report said the Russian intelligence agency FSB ordered the tagging, as well as subsequent vandalism of a memorial to those who helped rescue Jews from the Holocaust.

Photos from each event were amplified on social media by fake accounts linked to the Russian disinformation site RRN, according to cybersecurity experts. Russia denies any such campaigns. The French intelligence report says RRN is part of a larger operation orchestrated by Sergei Kiriyenko, a ranking Kremlin official.

“You have to see this as an ecosystem,” said a French military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal information about the Russian effort. “It’s a hybrid strategy.”

The tags and the vandalism had no direct link to Russia’s war in Ukraine, but they provoked a strong reaction from the French political class, with denunciations in the legislature and public debate. Antisemitic attacks are on the rise in France, and the war in Gaza has proven divisive.

The Stars of David could be interpreted either as support for Israel or as opposition. The effect was to sow division and unease. French Jews in particular have found themselves unwittingly thrust into the political fray despite, at just 500,000 people, making up a small proportion of the French population.

In March, just after Macron discussed the possibility of mobilizing the French military in Ukraine, a fake recruitment drive went up for the French army in Ukraine, spawning a series of posts in Russian- and French-language Telegram channels that got picked up in Russian and Belarusian media, according to a separate French government report seen by The Associated Press. On June 1, caskets appeared outside the Eiffel Tower, bearing the inscription “French soldiers in Ukraine.”

The larger disinformation efforts show little traction in France, but the Russian audience may have been the real target, officials said, by showing that Russia’s war in Ukraine is, as Putin has said, really a war with the West.

Among the broader goals, the French military official said, was a long-term and steady effort to sow social discord, erode faith in the media and democratic governments, undermine NATO, and sap Western support for Ukraine. Denigrating the Olympics, from which most Russian athletes are banned, is a bonus, according to French officials monitoring the increasingly strident posts warning of imminent unrest ahead of the Games.

On June 9, the French far-right National Rally trounced Macron’s party in elections for the European Parliament. The party has historically been close to Russia: One of its leading figures, Marine Le Pen, cultivated ties to Putin for many years and supported Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. And its leading contender for prime minister, Jordan Bardella, has said he opposes sending long-range weapons to Kyiv.

In more than 4,400 posts gathered since mid-November by antibot4navalny, a collective that analyzes Russian bot behavior, those targeting audiences in France and Germany predominated. The number of weekly posts ranged from 100 to 200 except for the week of May 5, when it dropped near zero, the data showed. That week, as it happens, was a holiday in Russia.

Many of the posts redirect either to RRN or to sites that appear identical to major French media, but with the domain — and content — changed. At least two of the more recent mirrored sites are registered in Wallis and Futuna, a French Pacific territory 10 time zones from Paris. A click on the top of the fake page redirects back to the real news sites themselves to give the impression of authenticity. Other posts redirect to original sites controlled by the campaign itself, dubbed Doppelganger.

The redirects shifted focus for the European elections and continued after Macron called the surprise legislative elections with just three weeks to spare. Three-quarters of posts from the week ahead of the June 30 first-round legislative vote that were directed toward a French audience focused on either criticizing Macron or boosting the National Rally, antibot4navalny found in data shared with The Associated Press.

One post on a fake site purported to be from Le Point, a current affairs magazine, and the French news agency AFP, criticizing Macron.

“Our leaders have no idea how ordinary French people live but are ready to destroy France in the name of aid for Ukraine,” read the headline on June 25.

Another site falsely claimed to be from Macron’s party, offering to pay 100 euros for a vote for him — and linking back to the party’s true website. And still another inadvertently left a generative artificial intelligence prompt calling for the rewrite of an article “taking a conservative stance against the liberal policies of the Macron administration,” according to findings last week from Insikt Group, the threat research division of the cybersecurity consultancy Recorded Future.

“They’re scraping automatically, sending the text to the AI and asking the AI to introduce bias or slants into the article and rewrite it,” said Clément Briens, an analyst for Recorded Future.

Briens said metrics tools embedded within the site are likely intended to prove that the campaigns were money well-spent for “whoever is doing the payouts for these operations.”

The French government cybersecurity watchdog, Viginum, has published multiple reports since June 2023 singling out Russian efforts to sow divisions in France and elsewhere. That was around the time that pro-Kremlin Telegram feeds started promoting Olympics has Fallen — a full-length fake Netflix film featuring an AI-generated voice resembling Tom Cruise that criticized the International Olympic Committee, according to the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center.

Microsoft said this campaign, which it dubbed Storm-1679, is fanning fears of violence at the Games and last fall disseminated digitally generated photos referring, among other things, to the attacks on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics.

The latest effort, which started just after the first round of the elections on June 30, merges fears of violence related to both the Olympics and the risk of protests after the decisive second round, antibot4navalny found. Viginum released a new report Tuesday detailing the risks ahead for the Games — not for violence but for disinformation.

“Digital information manipulation campaigns have become a veritable instrument of destabilization of democracies,” Viginum said. “This global event will give untold informational exposure to malevolent foreign actors.” The word Russia appears nowhere.

Baptiste Robert, a French cybersecurity expert who ran unsuccessfully as an unaffiliated centrist in the legislative elections, called on his government — and especially lawmakers — to prepare for the digital threats to come.

“This is a global policy of Russia: They really want to push people into the extremes,” he said before the first-round vote. “It’s working perfectly right now.”

‘Ready to come out?’ Scientists emerge after year ‘on Mars’

washington — The NASA astronaut knocks loudly three times on what appears to be a nondescript door and calls cheerfully: “You ready to come out?” 

The reply is inaudible, but beneath his mask he appears to be grinning as he yanks the door open, and four scientists who have spent a year away from all other human contact, simulating a mission to Mars, spill out to cheers and applause. 

Anca Selariu, Ross Brockwell, Nathan Jones and team leader Kelly Haston have spent the past 378 days sealed inside the “Martian” habitat in Houston, Texas, part of NASA’s research into what it will take to put humans on the Red Planet.  

They have been growing vegetables, conducting “Marswalks,” and operating under what NASA terms “additional stressors,” such as communication delays with “Earth,” including their families; isolation and confinement.  

It’s the kind of experience that would make anyone who lived through pandemic lockdowns shudder, but all four were beaming as they reemerged Saturday, their hair slightly more unruly and their emotion apparent.  

“Hello. It’s actually so wonderful just to be able to say hello to you,” Haston, a biologist, said with a laugh. 

“I really hope I don’t cry standing up here in front of all of you,” Jones, an emergency room doctor, said as he took to the microphone, and nearly doing just that several moments later as he spotted his wife in the crowd.  

The habitat, dubbed Mars Dune Alpha, is a 3D-printed, 160-square-meter facility, complete with bedrooms, a gym, common areas, and a vertical farm for growing food. 

An outdoor area, separated by an airlock, is filled with red sand and is where the team donned suits to conduct their “Marswalks,” though it is still covered rather than being open air. 

“They have spent more than a year in this habitat conducting crucial science, most of it nutrition-based and how that impacts their performance … as we prepare to send people on to the Red Planet,” Steve Koerner told the crowd. Koerner is the deputy director at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. 

“I’m very appreciative,” he added. 

This mission is the first of a series of three planned by NASA, grouped under the title CHAPEA — Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog. 

A yearlong mission simulating life on Mars took place in 2015-2016 in a habitat in Hawaii, and although NASA participated in it, it was not at the helm. 

Under its Artemis program, America plans to send humans back to the Moon to learn how to live there long-term to help prepare a trip to Mars, sometime towards the end of the 2030s.