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Death to the bird: Musk officially rebrands Twitter ‘X’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

This bird has flown.Mere hours after hinting at a logo design change, Elon Musk has gone through with his promise. People refreshed Twitter on Monday to find the iconic blue bird replaced with a black-and-white X as the platform’s new official logo.No frills or fancy designs for the social media site, just a minimalist X that has rattled many users and left them with questions: Is this a marketing stunt? Will Musk keep the term tweets or replace it?    Musk first hinted at the change with a series of tweets – x’s? – posted Sunday.“And soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” Musk wrote in a tweet early Sunday, before writing “X.com now points to https://twitter.com/. Interim X logo goes live later today.”Musk also hinted at changing the platform’s color to black.On Monday, shortly after he posted a picture showing the X logo projected on the company’s headquarters, the logo took over the website. When asked about ...

Inside a Ukrainian baby factory

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine — When Tanya, a 45-year-old woman living in Los Angeles, paid $10,000 and sent two embryos to a surrogacy firm in Ukraine hoping to build a family six years ago, she says she never expected the uncertainty and heartbreak the process would bring.Tanya desperately wanted a child but found out she would be unable to conceive herself. After discovering how expensive surrogacy in the U.S. can be, she and her husband began pursuing options abroad — and came across the Kyiv-based company BioTexCom. Tanya’s parents were originally from Odesa, so she felt there was something fitting about her future child being born in Ukraine.Once the process began with BioTexCom in fall 2017, however, Tanya had an uneasy feeling. After sending her embryos, she says, she was told they would be implanted in a surrogate almost immediately — a timeline that didn’t fit with all the research Tanya had done into the surrogacy process. When, a few days later, the firm told her the embryo tr...

‘Boom’: Rattled residents recall Stow plane crash that left 3 hospitalized

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

Three people are recovering in the hospital after a small plane crashed in the woods in Stow on Sunday, officials said.Residents of Taylor Road said they heard the sound of a low plane flying overhead before a loud bang shook the otherwise quiet neighborhood and a small plane could be seen between two houses.“Right away I said, ‘There’s been a plane crash,” said Tye Morancy. “I heard another plane flying over our houses, because that happens, normally, we live near an airfield, and this one got louder and louder and there was a large boom and we all knew this is not normal.” Good samaritans rushed to the aid of the two men in their 50s and a woman in her 20s who were injured in the crash.Morancy said the plane landed in a wooded area between two homes and narrowly avoided hitting both. The outcome, he said, could have been very different.“We have a big chunk of trees in between houses and that’s exactly where it hit, it was quite amazi...

Investigation underway after pedestrian struck by police cruiser in Hampton, NH

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

New Hampshire state police are investigating after a pedestrian was struck by a Hampton, New Hampshire police cruiser on Sunday, officials said.Troopers responding to a reported crash involving a Hampton police cruiser on Ashworth Avenue around 7:15 p.m. located a victim who was taken to a nearby hospital with undisclosed injuries, according to state police.The police officer who was driving the cruiser was uninjured.The crash remains under investigation.Anyone with information is asked to contact Trooper Dodds at [email protected] is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Saudi Arabian soccer team Al-Hilal makes record $332 million bid for France striker Kylian Mbappe

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

SYDNEY (AP) — After missing out on Lionel Messi, Saudi Arabian soccer team Al-Hilal made a record 300 million euro ($332 million) bid for Kylian Mbappe on Monday, which could see the France striker join Cristiano Ronaldo in the oil-rich kingdom.Paris Saint-Germain confirmed the offer for its player and has given Al-Hilal permission to open negotiations directly with Mbappe.The 2018 World Cup winner is in a contract standoff with PSG after his decision not to take up the option of a 12-month extension on his deal. Instead, he plans to walk away as a free agent at the end of the upcoming season when he is widely expected to join Real Madrid.PSG cut Mbappe from its preseason tour of Japan on Saturday, with the French club determined to sell him unless he can be convinced to sign a new contract.Al-Hilal’s bid would make Mbappe the most expensive soccer player in history, overtaking the $262 million PSG paid for Neymar when the team signed the Brazilian from Barcelona in 2017.The b...

Death toll doubles to 33 in Cameroon building collapse while search is still underway for survivors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

DOUALA, Cameroon (AP) — The death toll from a building collapse in Cameroon has more than doubled as rescue teams continue searching for survivors, authorities said Monday. At least 33 people died in a four-story building that collapsed onto a smaller one in Cameroon’s largest city of Douala early Sunday morning, said Celestine Ketcha Courtes, the housing and urban development minister. Courtes said that more bodies were recovered from the rubble by rescue teams Monday morning and that some died in hospital from injuries. Five out of more than 20 people injured are in critical condition, she added. The building collapsed in the Ndogbon neighborhood and was severely dilapidated, said Lt. Col. Abdel Kadrey, a fire department commander. “Occupants of neighboring houses told us that there were so many cracks on the walls of the building before it collapsed,” he said.Authorities say more than 200 people occupy both impacted buildings. It was unclear how many were home at the time o...

Scarborough man dead after being pulled from river east of GTA: OPP

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

A Toronto man is dead after being pulled from the Trent River east of the GTA over the weekend.Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) were called to a section of the river in Campbellford for a person in distress in the water.Police say the victim jumped into the water before going under and not resurfacing. OPP searched the river with help from Northumberland County paramedics and the Trent Hills Fire Department.A 27-year-old man from Scarborough was pulled from the water and pronounced dead at the scene.Ontario’s corner’s office is assisting in the investigation.

At least 16 shot, 6 fatally, in weekend shootings across Chicago

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

CHICAGO — At least 16 people were shot, six fatally, due to gun violence in Chicago since Friday night. According to police, the shootings took place from the Loop, all the way down to the West Pullman Neighborhood with the victims ages ranging from 16 to 50.Police reposed to a call of a person shot in Little Village around 1:25 a.m. Sunday morning and found a man with a gunshot wound to the head inside of a flipped over vehicle. He was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition and later died of his injuries.Community activist Andrew Holmes said he and his team has been assisting impacted families. Here's a breakdown of what we know from each shooting, in chronological order, beginning late Friday night:1200 Block of West 81st Street (Auburn Gresham) - Friday, around 10:15 p.m.According to CPD, a 16-year-old boy, who had been shot multiple times in the chest, was discovered on the sidewalk and taken to Comer Children's Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.Pol...

Monday Forecast: Hot conditions, sunny with slight chance of PM storms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

CHICAGO — Mostly sunny Monday with a slight chance of PM isolated showers/t'storm. Winds: WNW/NNE 10-15 mph. High mid 80s, near 80 by the lake. Air quality: Moderate & decreasing through the day. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here Mostly clear and warm tonight. Slight chance of iso. showers/t'storms overnight, likely near dawn. Winds: ESE/S 5-10 mph. Low: 71.Tuesday Forecast: Hazy sunshine, hot and humid. Chance of isolated showers/t'storms. Winds: SSE 10-15 mph. High near 90, lower 80s lakeside.Extended outlook calls for hot & humid weather to persist for most of the week as the "dome of heat" over the southwest and southern U.S. expands to include the Great Lakes region and Chicagoland. We look to peak our temps in the mid to upper 90s on Wed/Thu with a few areas hitting 100 degrees. Each afternoon looks to have at least a slight chance of showers/t'storms with the hot and humid environment.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog

Remote employees work longer and harder, studies show

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:50 GMT

(The Hill) -- Remote work became possible long before the pandemic. Many employers resisted it on a hunch that employees working from home might spend too much of their workday watching Oprah and shopping on eBay. Then came COVID-19, which launched a vast, forced experiment in telework. The results are in: As it turns out, most remote workers are not incurable slackers. Several studies suggest remote and hybrid employees actually work slightly longer hours than their office-bound colleagues, findings echoed by an avalanche of anecdotal evidence gathered from millions of teleworkers in the past three years. One of the most celebrated studies, which tracked more than 60,000 Microsoft employees over the first half of 2020, found that remote work triggered a 10 percent boost in weekly hours.   Remote employees are working more, in part, because they are commuting less. Another landmark study, based on data from 27 countries, found that remote workers saved ...