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The German musicians new album is mellower than his earlier outings, but still offers his signature mlange of genres thoughtfully blended into an invigorating whole.

PBSs Nature presentation is a fascinating look at the wildlife of drought-stricken Tanzania.

States sue RFK Jr. RFK Jr. illegally rescinded $11B in public health grants, states lawsuit says RFK Jr. killed grants "with no warning or legally valid explanation," states say. Jon Brodkin Apr 1, 2025 4:37 pm | 0 Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks with President Donald Trump during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Monday, March 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. Credit: Getty Images | Washington Post Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks with President Donald Trump during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Monday, March 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. Credit: Getty Images | Washington Post Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreNearly half of US states sued the federal government and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. today in a bid to halt the termination of $11 billion in public health grants. The lawsuit was filed by 23 states and the District of Columbia."The grant terminations, which came with no warning or legally valid explanation, have quickly caused chaos for state health agencies that continue to rely on these critical funds for a wide range of urgent public health needs such as infectious disease management, fortifying emergency preparedness, providing mental health and substance abuse services, and modernizing public health infrastructure," said a press release issued by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.The litigation is led by Colorado, California, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Washington. The other plaintiffs are Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.Nearly all of the plaintiffs are represented by a Democratic attorney general. Kentucky and Pennsylvania have Republican attorneys general and are instead represented by their governors, both Democrats.The complaint, filed in US District Court for the District of Rhode Island, is in response to the recent cut of grants that were originally created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. "The sole stated basis for Defendants' decision is that the funding for these grants or cooperative agreements was appropriated through one or more COVID-19 related laws," the states' lawsuit said.The lawsuit says the US sent notices to states that grants were terminated "for cause" because "the grants and cooperative agreements were issued for a limited purpose: to ameliorate the effects of the pandemic. Now that the pandemic is over, the grants and cooperative agreements are no longer necessary as their limited purpose has run out."An HHS public statement last week said, "The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago. HHS is prioritizing funding projects that will deliver on President Trump's mandate to address our chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again."Programs will have to be dissolved or disbandedBut the funding approved by Congress was not limited to the period of the COVID-19 emergency, the states' lawsuit said. "And after the pandemic was declared over, Congress reviewed the COVID-19 related laws, rescinded $27 billion in funds, but determined not to rescind any of the funding at issue here," the states told the court.The end of the pandemic is not a lawful basis to end the grants because for-cause terminations may only be "based on the grant recipient's 'material failure' to comply with the agreement," the lawsuit said. The lawsuit asks the court to declare illegal and vacate the grant terminations, and "preliminarily and permanently enjoin Defendants from implementing or enforcing the Public Health Terminations or reinstituting the terminations for the same or similar reasons and without required statutory or regulatory process."The grant terminations raise significant public health risks, the lawsuit said."If the funding is not restored, key public health programs and initiatives that address ongoing and emerging public health needs of Plaintiffs (collectively, 'Plaintiff States') will have to be dissolved or disbanded," the lawsuit said. "Large numbers of state and local public health employees and contractors have been, or may soon be, dismissed from their roles. The result of these massive, unexpected funding terminations is serious harm to public health, leaving Plaintiff States at greater risk for future pandemics and the spread of otherwise preventable disease and cutting off vital public health services."We contacted the US Department of Health and Human Services about the lawsuit and will update this article if it provides a response.Jon BrodkinSenior IT ReporterJon BrodkinSenior IT Reporter Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry. 0 Comments

Not a priority Apple enables RCS messaging for Google Fi subscribers at last Apple only supported RCS on the big three carriers in the first iOS18 releases. Ryan Whitwam Apr 1, 2025 4:22 pm | 3 Credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto Credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreApple spent years ignoring RCS, allowing iPhones to offer a degraded messaging experience with Android users. This made Android folks unwelcome in many a group chat, but Apple finally started rectifying this issue last year with the addition of RCS support in iOS. It has been a slow rollout, though, with Google's mobile service only now getting support.While Apple supports RCS messaging on iPhones now, it has not exactly been enthusiastic about it. Anyone using Google Fi on an iPhone was left in the lurch even after Apple changed course. The first RCS update rolled out in iOS 18 last fall, but it only supported postpaid plans on the big three carriers. Everyone else was left waiting, including Google Fi, as confirmed to Ars last year. It was a suitably amusing outcome, considering Google is largely responsible for reviving the RCS standard and runs the Jibe back-end servers through which many iPhone RCS messages flow.Slowly but surely, Apple is making good on its promises to enable RCS. The company released iOS 18.4 this week, and hiding amid the control center tweaks and priority notifications is support for RCS on Google Fi and other T-Mobile MVNOs. Some users spotted this feature in the recent beta releases, but the servers that handle RCS for Google's mobile service were not yet connectable. With the final release, Google has confirmed that RCS is ready at last.With RCS, iPhone users can converse with non-Apple users without losing the enhanced features to which they've become accustomed in iMessage. That includes longer messages, HD media, typing indicators, and much more. Google Fi has several different options for data plans, and the company notes that RCS does use mobile data when away from Wi-Fi. Those on the "Flexible" Fi plan pay for blocks of data as they go, and using RCS messaging could inadvertently increase their bill.If that's not a concern, it's a snap for Fi users to enable RCS on the new iOS update. Head to Apps > Messages, and then find the Text Messaging section to toggle on RCS. It may, however, take a few minutes for your phone number to be registered with the Fi RCS server.In hindsight, the way Apple implemented iMessage was clever. By intercepting messages being sent to other iPhone phone numbers, Apple was able to add enhanced features to its phones instantly. It had the possibly intended side effect of reinforcing the perception that Android phones were less capable. This turned Android users into dreaded green bubbles that limited chat features. Users complained, and Google ran ads calling on Apple to support RCS. That, along with some pointed questions from reporters prompted Apple to announce the change in late 2023. It took some time, but you almost don't have to worry about missing messaging features in 2025.Ryan WhitwamSenior Technology ReporterRyan WhitwamSenior Technology Reporter Ryan Whitwam is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering the ways Google, AI, and mobile technology continue to change the world. Over his 20-year career, he's written for Android Police, ExtremeTech, Wirecutter, NY Times, and more. He has reviewed more phones than most people will ever own. You can follow him on Bluesky, where you will see photos of his dozens of mechanical keyboards. 3 Comments

People harvesting cowpeas in Tahoua, NigerJake Lyell/AlamyHuman urine that has been matured in the sun for at least one month appears to be both a fertiliser and an effective pesticide. The findings could be particularly helpful for combatting insect infestations in West Africa, where soil quality is typically low and traditional pesticides are expensive.Farmers taking part in a previous trial in Niger to investigate the use of urine as a fertiliser discovered that it was also having a pesticide effect, as plants treated with it had less pest damage than those that werent.

Luigi Manigone has a good chance of dodging the death penalty, ex-prosecutors say. Curtis Means/AP Photo; St. Charles County Department of Corrections/Getty Images 2025-04-01T20:42:17Z SaveSaved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? The US seeks to execute Luigi Mangione for the ambush murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.The government's odds for success are steep, given the hesitancy of death penalty juries in NY.In 2023, a death penalty jury could not agree on Sayfullo Saipov, a terrorist who killed 8 people.On Halloween in 2017, an avowed Islamist extremist named Sayfullo Saipov drove a rental truck across the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan, then careened south along a popular west-side bike path, sending cyclists flying. Eight people died.If Saipov's jury failed to send him to death row, there's no way another jury sitting, like Saipov's, in a federal courtroom in Manhattan will vote to end the life of Luigi Mangione, former federal prosecutors told Business Insider."Honestly I don't believe any Manhattan jury is going to decide to impose the death penalty," said Ephraim Savitt, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice.Mangione does not fit the profile of a death penalty eligible criminal, he said, speaking Tuesday after Attorney General Pam Bondi said the government will seek the ultimate penalty in the "cold-blooded assassination" of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson."Maybe in Texas," Savitt said. "But it's not a mass shooting. It's not an act of terrorism. It's a horrible crime, of course. But as serious as it is, it does not fit in the rubric of someone who should be put to death."He added, "Mangione is not going to be sentenced to death."Mangione is facing charges in three jurisdictions.The least serious are the weapons and forgery charges out of Pennsylvania, where the 26-year-old software developer from Maryland was arrested after a five-day manhunt.He is also facing state-level charges of murder as an act of terror out of Manhattan, where DA Alvin Bragg has said that Mangione would be tried first.Mangione's federal jury would be chosen from the Southern District of New York, which includes people from Manhattan, the city's four other boroughs, Westchester County, and five other counties on the southern end of the state.In federal court, now that this is an official death penalty case, a single trial jury would preside over a phase to determine Mangione's guilt and then another to determine how he should be punished.There's a strategy in seeking the death penaltyThe jury would be comprised only of people who are willing to impose a death penalty, tilting it in the government's favor, Ephraim said."It improves your odds of a conviction, absolutely," said Savitt, of the Ephraim Savitt Law Firm in Manhattan.That's one of two key strategic benefits to seeking the death penalty, former prosecutors said, even if an ultimate verdict of death may be unlikely.Another strategic benefit to seeking the death penalty is it gives the government "great leverage" in plea negotiations, said another former federal prosecutor, Michael Bachner."If you're the defense lawyer you may want to work it out as a package he pleads to both cases and there's no death penalty," said Bachner, now in private practice at Bachner & Associates.In Mangione's favor is that a death penalty verdict must be unanimous. The defense need only persuade one juror that Mangione does not deserve the death penalty, Bachner and Saviott said.Both former prosecutors said, strategy aside, the real benefit to seeking the death penalty is political.The top count against Mangione murder through the use of a firearm in the commission of crimes of violence is death penalty eligible, and President Donald Trump has promised to seek executions in all eligible cases."I think seeking the death penalty in this case is a reaction to Donald Trump's previous statements," said Bachner.Should the case go to trial, and a death penalty phase be necessary, much of the evidence would center on Mangione's mental health, Bachner said."Just in the evidence that's in the papers, his behavior, his writings, his break with his parents, and although there was planning, he certainly is not all there," Bachner said."And juries are not going to convict a 26-year-old kid who's had no violence in the past, and may have mental issues, and who comes from a good family," he added."I don't think there's any jury anywhere that would unanimously impose the death penalty on Luigi Mangione," he said.A split jury, no matter how small the split, would mean that Mangione would face life in prison without parole.Recommended video

Annual revenue, profit, stock prices and sold EVs show how close the competition is between Tesla and its Chinese rival, BDY.Read the original article on Business Insider

If you check in on any of New Jersey Sen. Cory Bookers social media pages today, youll probably notice that hes been talking for a while.Hes standing on the Senate floor (occasionally resting against his desk) to criticize the Trump administrations agenda and the work of Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency. Hes also showing his fellow Democrats what it looks like to do something when youre locked out of power in Washington DC.Now well past the 18th hour of a marathon address on the Senate floor, Booker is engaging in a not-quite filibuster an old congressional tradition. Usually known as a filibuster, these kinds of marathon addresses are a procedural tool. They take advantage of the Senates rules that allow for unlimited debate or speaking by a senator unless there have been special limits put in place. Senators recognized by the presiding officer can speak indefinitely, usually cannot be forced to cede the floor, or even be interruptedbut must remain standing and must speak more or less continuously, according to the Congressional Research Service.But Bookers address isnt a filibuster theres no legislation that hes trying to hold up. Instead, its a form of political theater and protest against the Trump administration. And it comes at a time when overwhelming shares of his partys membership think their elected leaders arent putting up a tough enough fight to resist Donald Trumps agenda. About two-thirds of Democratic voters would prefer their leaders stick to their positions even if this means not getting things done in Washington a March NBC News poll found. This kind of show of political force, at least, has been what top Democrats were saying when warning about Trump on the campaign trail last year.They would prefer congressional leadership use whatever tools they have available to slow down the administrations work: One recent poll, for example, even found that about three-quarters of Democratic and Democratic-leaning independent voters support the idea of using procedural tactics like the filibuster to prevent Republican bills from passing.Still, attention-grabbing moments like these arent guaranteed to have staying power. Its far too early to tell whether Booker is galvanizing a lasting opposition as he might have hoped, or whether this will be drowned out by another Trump story. Still, its feeding the Democratic bases hunger for (any kind of) Trump resistance as he overruns traditional checks on his power.Thats not easy to do when youre locked out of power, so Bookers gamble is yet the latest attempt of Democrats trying to figure out how to fight back.Bookers speech started on Monday evening, when he announced he would be speaking as long as he is physically able to lift the voices of Americans who are being harmed and not being heard in this moment of crisis.These are not normal times in our nation, he said. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate.Since then, hes only stopped to allow the Senate chaplain to deliver a traditional prayer at noon, and to allow fellow Democratic senators to ask him questions and give him a bit of a rest. Yet he has remained standing, and only taken a couple drinks of water. Hes already entered the top rankings of the longest Senate speeches delivered. (Only one other sitting senator, Republican Ted Cruz of Texas, has delivered a longer address, when trying unsuccessfully to defund the Affordable Care Act.)This kind of show of political force, at least, has been what top Democrats were saying when warning about Trump on the campaign trail last year. Yet many in the Democratic base have felt like since Trump entered office, their leaders werent acting with that kind of urgency. Poll after poll shows that the Democratic rank and file feel adrift, leaderless, and dissatisfied.That fury intensified last month, when Democrats voted for a GOP-brokered spending bill to keep the government open. The thinking at the time was that a shutdown would do more harm than good, but many in the partys base saw it as an unforgivable cave.Bookers speech is an attempt to try something else. And whether or not it works, its something different.See More:

WWE Superstars will be reimagined as iconic characters inside the world of Clash of Clans in a partnership with Supercell and WWE ahead of Wrestlemania 41 later this monthNews19:24, 01 Apr 2025Updated 19:24, 01 Apr 2025WWE will take over Clash of ClansWWE and Supercell's hit mobile game Clash of Clans, boasting over two billion lifetime downloads, have announced a thrilling partnership that will feature a line-up of WWE Superstars in an electrifying in-game event throughout April.This exciting collaboration will see Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley, The Undertaker, Bianca Belair and other WWE Superstars reimagined as iconic characters within the Clash of Clans universe. This will culminate in an enhanced match sponsorship at WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.Article continues belowStarting today (April 1) fans can experience their favourite WWE Superstars in Clash of Clans and enjoy a plethora of WWE-themed features appearing in the game throughout the month. These include themed environments, gameplay events, cosmetics and Easter Eggs honouring WWE's rich legacy.Both Rhea Ripley and Cody Rhodes will join the gameLeading the integration is Rhodes, who, after nearly a decade of playing Clash of Clans and ranking in the top 10 percent of players worldwide, will be reimagined in the game as "Barbarian King."Simultaneously, under his long-time "OverlordRhodes" player handle, Rhodes stars in the live-action launch video, showcasing a gameplay style centred on villainous destruction and domination.Further WWE Superstar integrations include:Rhea Ripley as Archer QueenThe Undertaker as Grand WardenBianca Belair as Royal ChampionRey Mysterio as Minion PrinceKane as P.E.K.K.ABecky Lynch as ValkyrieJey Uso as ThrowerWWE's finest are storming into the virtual world, with Rhea Ripley suiting up as "Archer Queen" and The Undertaker stepping into the shoes of "Grand Warden". Bianca Belair is flexing her muscles as "Royal Champion", while Rey Mysterio zips around as "Minion Prince".Not to be outdone, Kane is smashing it as "P.E.K.K.A", Becky Lynch is swinging axes as "Valkyrie", and Jey Uso is chucking bombs as "Thrower".Cody Rhodes is an avid player of the gameCody Rhodes, WWE legend and now a digital conqueror, is all about domination in Clash of Clans. He's not just in it for the defence; he's there to take over."I've spent years building my legacy in WWE, but it's time for fans to know where I've landed most of my victories, in Clash of Clans," said Rhodes. "As OverlordRhodes, I don't defend, I conquer. Villages will fall, and any opposition will be crushed under my command. This isn't about playing fair in the ring, it's about ruling the battlefield. Just like at WrestleMania 41, I'm stepping in with one goal absolute victory. I've waited a long time for this moment, and now that I've arrived, there's no stopping me."Sara Bach, Head of Live Games at Supercell, couldn't contain her excitement about the WWE and Clash of Clans crossover. "When the game team found out Cody Rhodes and other Superstars were long-time Clash of Clans fans, they didn't hesitate to reach out to WWE," she revealed.Article continues below"This partnership in Clash of Clans is on a scale we've never created before from the in-game event reaching tens of millions of players, to WrestleMania 41 and our Clash of Clans match as a first-of-its-kind event on the biggest stage."For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.