
Rupert Murdoch loses legal battle to wrestle control of his media empire
The 9-2 Minnesota Vikings are preparing for their first home game in nearly a month, this week vs the Arizona Cardinals . They haven’t played in front of the league’s best crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium since November 3, a win over the Indianapolis Colts. There has been a lot of construction going on with the roster, the last couple days. On Tuesday , we saw them place ILB Ivan Pace Jr. on Injured Reserve. They also signed inside linebacker Jamin Davis, off the Green Bay Packers practice squad, and activated UDFA outside linebacker Gabe Murphy off of IR. Minnesota Vikings roster construction continued on Wednesday Wednesday was more of the same... but different. After days of rumors connecting Daniel Jones to the Minnesota Vikings, it was announced this morning that he was indeed signing with the purple. This afternoon, more roster moves were announced. One day after being activated to the 53-man , Gabe Murphy was waived. As long as he isn’t claimed, it’s expected that the UDFA out of UCLA will land on the Vikings’ practice squad. Taking his place on the active roster is long-snapper, Jake McQuaide. Tight end Nick Muse was signed to the practice squad, after he was activated to the 53-man on November 23 , then waived on November 25. The #Vikings have announced the following roster moves – Signed LS Jake McQuaide to the 53-man roster – Signed TE Nick Muse to the practice squad – Waived OLB Gabriel Murphy pic.twitter.com/ZTCvpiWehT Daniel Jones is not expected to arrive in Eagan, until Friday, according to head coach Kevin O’Connell . That means we’ll probably see him added to the practice squad roster, at that time. That’s probably around the same time that Murphy will join the practice squad, as well. LS Jake McQuaide was signed a few weeks ago, after Pro Bowl long-snapper Andrew DePaola was placed on injured reserve. He and replacement kicker John Parker Romo have played together in the past . The two have helped combine for 8-of-8 on field goal tries, since putting on a Minnesota Vikings uniform in week 10 . This article first appeared on Minnesota Sports Fan and was syndicated with permission.ULL_T.Smith 20 pass from Fields (Almendares kick), 9:44. TROY_Worley 4 pass from M.Caldwell (Renfroe kick), 4:24. TROY_Ross 30 pass from M.Caldwell (Renfroe kick), :00. ULL_Davis 1 run (Almendares kick), 13:31. ULL_LeGendre 44 pass from Fields (Almendares kick), 12:23. ULL_FG Almendares 38, 8:08. ULL_Davis 2 run (Almendares kick), 2:16. ULL_FG Almendares 32, :00. RUSHING_Troy, Taylor 8-34, G.Green 4-20, Caldwell 5-8. Louisiana-Lafayette, Davis 7-44, Fields 7-25, Washington 4-6. PASSING_Troy, Caldwell 14-22-2-111. Louisiana-Lafayette, Fields 11-15-0-213. RECEIVING_Troy, Ross 5-57, Mothershed 3-9, Lovett 2-9, Swartz 1-20, Parker 1-12, Worley 1-4, Dalton 1-0. Louisiana-Lafayette, Carter 3-23, Smith 2-58, Bernard 2-51, LeGendre 2-45, H.Broussard 1-19, Jensen 1-17. MISSED FIELD GOALS_None.
Quinn runs for 154 yards, 2 TDs to lead Texas Southern over Arkansas-Pine Bluff 31-23Georgia QB Carson Beck's status for Sugar Bowl uncertain as he considers treatment options on elbowOKAPI WILDLIFE RESERVE, Congo — Scattered along the banks of the Ituri River, buildings cram together, cranes transport dirt and debris scatters the soil. The patches of trees are a scant reminder that a forest once grew there. Nestled in eastern Congo's Ituri province, the Chinese-run gold mine is rapidly encroaching on an area that many say it shouldn’t be operating in at all - the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, an endangered World Heritage site. The original boundaries of the reserve were established three decades ago, by Congo’s government and encompassed the area where the Chinese company now mines. But over the years under opaque circumstances, the boundaries shrunk, allowing the company to operate inside the plush forest. The reserve was already on the endangered list, amid threats of conflict and wildlife trafficking. Now the rapid expansion of the Chinese mines threatens to further degrade the forest and the communities living within. Residents and wildlife experts say the mining's polluting the rivers and soil, decimating trees and swelling the population, increasing poaching, with little accountability. “It is alarming that a semi-industrial mining operation is being given free rein in what’s supposed to be a protected World Heritage Site, that was already on the danger list,” said Joe Eisen, executive director, of Rainforest Foundation UK. Get the latest breaking news as it happens. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy . Spanning more than 13,000 square kilometers (5,000 square miles), the reserve became a protected site in 1996, due to its unique biodiversity and large number of threatened species, including its namesake, the okapi, a forest giraffe, of which it holds some 15% of the world’s remaining 30,000. It's part of the the Congo Basin rainforest — the world’s second-biggest — and a vital carbon sink that helps mitigate climate change. It also has vast mineral wealth such as gold and diamonds. Mining is prohibited in protected areas, which includes the reserve, according to Congo's mining code. Issa Aboubacar, a spokesperson for the Chinese company, Kimia Mining Investment, said the group is operating legally. It recently renewed its permits until 2048, according to government records. Congo's mining registry said the map they’re using came from files from the ICCN, the body responsible for managing Congo's protected areas, and it’s currently working with the ICCN on updating the boundaries and protecting the park. The ICCN told The Associated Press that in meetings this year with the mining registry the misunderstandings around the boundaries were clarified and the original ones should be used. An internal government memo from August, seen by AP, said all companies in the Reserve will be closed down, including Kimia Mining. However, it was unclear when that would happen or how. The document has not previously been reported and is the first acknowledging that the current boundaries are wrong, according to environmentalists working in Congo. Rights groups in Congo have long said the permits were illegally awarded by the mining ministry based on inaccurate maps. Shifting boundaries and rules Eastern Congo’s been beset by violence for decades and the Okapi Reserve’s endured years of unrest by local militia. In 2012, in Epulu town, a local rebel group slaughtered several residents including two rangers, as well as 14 okapis, the latter were part of a captive breeding program. The reserve’s also been threatened by artisanal — small scale — mining, by thousands of Indigenous peoples who live in and around the forest. The Muchacha mine — the biggest in the reserve and one of the largest small and medium scale gold mines in the country — spans approximately 12 miles (19 kilometers) along the Ituri River and consists of several semi-industrial sites. Satellite images analyzed by AP show consistent development along the southwestern section of the Reserve, since it began operating in 2016, with a boom in recent years. Joel Masselink, a geographer specializing in satellite imagery, who previously worked on conservation projects in the forest, said the mining cadastral — the agency responsible for allocating mineral licenses — is using a version of the reserve's maps in which the area's been shrunk by nearly a third. This has allowed it to award and renew exploration and extraction concessions, he said. The mining cadastral told the U.N. that the boundaries were changed due to a letter from the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, the body in charge of protected areas in Congo, but didn’t provide a copy, said a report from U.N. experts. The ICCN told the AP it's never seen the letter and the boundaries used should be the original ones. Changing World Heritage Site boundaries needs to be approved by UNESCO experts and the World Heritage Committee, which analyze the impact of the modification, a spokesperson for the World Heritage Center told AP. The Center said no request to modify the Reserve's boundaries had been made and that cases of boundary modifications to facilitate development were rare. Civil society groups in Congo accuse some government officials of intentionally moving the boundaries for personal gain. “We all knew that Muchacha was within the reserve,” said Alexis Muhima, executive director of the Congolese Civil Society Observatory for Peace Minerals. He said the discrepancy over the park's boundaries started when they realized the mine was producing large quantities of gold. The U.N. report said mines are controlled by the military, and some members are under the protection of powerful business and political interests, with soldiers at times denying local officials access to the sites. Residents, who once mined in the reserve, are infuriated by the double standard. “The community is worried, because the Chinese are mining in a protected area when it's forbidden for the community,” said Jean Kamana, the chief of Epulu, a village inside the Reserve. Despite being a protected forest, people still mined there until authorities cracked down, largely after the Chinese arrived. Kimia Mining grants limited access to locals to mine areas for leftovers, but for a fee that many can't afford, say locals. Muvunga Kakule used to do artisanal mining in the reserve while also selling food from his farm to other miners. The 44-year-old said he's now unable to mine or sell produce as the Chinese don't buy locally. He's lost 95% of his earnings and can no longer send his children to private school. Some residents told The AP there are no other options for work and have been forced to mine secretly and risk being jailed. Losing land, animals and income During a trip to the reserve earlier this year, Kimia Mining wouldn’t let AP enter the site and the government wouldn't grant access to patrol the forest with its rangers. But nearly two dozen residents, as well as former and current Kimia Mining employees from villages in and around the Reserve, told The AP the mining was decimating the forests and the wildlife and contaminating the water and land. Five people who had worked inside Kimia's mines, none of whom wanted to be named for fear of reprisal, said when the Chinese finished in one area, they leave exposed, toxic water sources. Sometimes people would fall into uncovered pits and when it rains, water seeps into the soil. Employees and mining experts say the Chinese use mercury in its operations, used to separate gold from ore. Mercury is considered one of the top ten chemicals of major public health concern by the U.N. and can have toxic effects on the nervous and immune systems. One 27-year-old woman who worked as a cook for Kimia for six months and lives in Badengaido town, close to the mine, said the soil has become infertile. “(It's) poisoned by chemicals used by the Chinese," she said. The AP could not independently verify her claim. However, a report from the University of Antwerp that researched the impact of conflict and mining on the Reserve said chemicals used to purify gold, such as mercury or cyanide, can enter the ecosystems and pollute the soil. In the past, 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of peanut seeds would yield approximately 30 bags, but now it’s hard to get three, she said. The loss of income has made it challenging to afford school and medical care for her siblings. Assana, a fisher who also worked in the mines and only wanted to use his first name, said it now takes four days to catch the same amount of fish he used to get in a day. While doing odd jobs for the company last year, the 38-year-old saw the Chinese repeatedly chop swaths of forest, making the heat unbearable, he said. Between last January and May, the reserve lost more than 480 hectares (1,186 acres) of forest cover — the size of nearly 900 American football fields — according to a joint statement from the Wildlife Conservation Society and government agencies, which said it was concerned at the findings. Aboubacar, Kimia’s spokesperson in Congo, said the company respects environmental standards and pays tax to the government for reforestation. Mining is a crucial revenue stream for Congo and it "can't place a higher value on the environment than on mining," he said. Kimia is supporting the population and has employed more than 2,000 people, said Aboubacar. Conservation is an uphill battle Conservation groups are trying to protect the reserve, but say it's hard to enforce when there's ambiguity on the legalities. “On the one hand, Congo's law clearly states that mining is illegal in protected areas. On the other hand, if a mine is operating with an official permit, then that creates confusion, and that becomes hard to enforce on the ground," said Emma Stokes, Vice President of field conservation for The Wildlife Conservation Society. The internal memo, seen by AP, outlines discussions by a joint task force between the ICCN and Congo’s mining registry, which was created to try and resolve the boundary issue. The document said it will trigger the process of stopping all mining within the Reserve and integrate the agreed upon map from the joint commission into the mining registry's system. UNESCO's requested a report from Congo by February, to provide clarity on what will be done to resolve the problem. But this comes as little comfort to communities in the reserve. Wendo Olengama, a Pygmy chief, said the influx of thousands of people into the Chinese-run mines has increased poaching, making it hard to earn money. During the authorized hunting season, he could capture up to seven animals a day, eating some and selling others. Now it's hard to get two, he said. Sitting in a small hut beside his wife, as she bounces their 3-year-old granddaughter on her lap, the couple says they want the Chinese company to provide business opportunities, such as cattle raising and teach people responsible hunting. “If the situation persists, we'll live in misery,” said his wife, Dura Anyainde. "We wont have food to eat.” ___ Associated Press reporter Jean-Yves Kamale contributed from Kinshasa.
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To play Maria Callas, Angelina Jolie had to lean how to breathe againA Nevada commissioner has rejected Rupert Murdoch's bid to change his family trust to consolidate control of his media empire in the hands of his son Lachlan, The New York Times reported on Monday, citing a sealed court document. Nevada commissioner Edmund Gorman concluded in a decision filed on Saturday that Rupert Murdoch and his eldest son, Lachlan, who is the head of Fox News parent Fox Corp and News Corp, had acted in "bad faith" in their effort to amend the irrevocable trust, the Times reported. Advertisement The court docket indicates it issued a recommendation or order Saturday under seal. The trust currently would divide control of the company equally among Rupert Murdoch’s four oldest children - Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence - after his death. Potentially, three of the heirs could out-vote a fourth, setting up a battle over the future of the companies, even as Lachlan Murdoch runs Fox and is sole chair of News Corp. A spokesman for Rupert Murdoch, 93, could not immediately be reached for comment. Rupert Murdoch’s proposed amendment would have blocked any interference by three of Lachlan’s siblings, who are more politically moderate. In his opinion, Mr Gorman said the plan to change the trust was a "carefully crafted charade" to "permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch’s executive roles" inside the empire "regardless of the impacts such control would have over the companies or the beneficiaries" of the family trust, the Times said. A lawyer for Rupert Murdoch, Adam Streisand, said they were disappointed with the ruling and intended to appeal, the Times reported.
Longtime SAP Veteran, Former UiPath CEO and Google Cloud President to Lead Workday's Global Commercial Strategy for the Company's Next Phase of Growth PLEASANTON, Calif. , Nov. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY), a leading provider of solutions to help organizations manage their people and money , today announced the appointment of Rob Enslin to the newly created role of president, chief commercial officer (CCO). Enslin will be responsible for driving Workday's revenue growth and leading the company's global sales, partnership and customer experience efforts. Enslin brings more than 30 years of experience in the technology industry, most recently serving as CEO of UiPath where he led the company to non-GAAP profitability, advanced the company's AI strategy, and drove expansion into new markets. Before joining UiPath, Enslin was president of cloud sales at Google Cloud, where he scaled the company's sales operations and drove significant revenue growth. Enslin's extensive career also includes 27 years at SAP, culminating in his role as president of the Cloud Business Group and executive board member. In addition to deep enterprise expertise, Enslin brings a strong global perspective, having held roles in South Africa , USA , Germany , and Japan throughout his career. "Rob is a world-class leader with a track record of building high performing go-to-market teams, a deep understanding of industry and partner ecosystems, and unique global experience, making him the ideal leader to help guide Workday's next phase of growth," said Carl Eschenbach , CEO, Workday. "We're confident that his vision and commitment to providing exceptional customer experiences will unlock even greater potential for Workday and businesses around the world." "Joining Workday at this pivotal moment is incredibly exciting," said Enslin. "Workday's unparalleled dataset, combined with its commitment to innovation, positions the company to become the definitive AI leader in the ERP market. I'm thrilled to be part of this transformation and shape the future of work." Enslin's appointment will be effective as of December 2, 2024 . About Workday Workday is a leading enterprise platform that helps organizations manage their most important assets – their people and money. The Workday platform is built with AI at the core to help customers elevate people, supercharge work, and move their business forever forward. Workday is used by more than 10,500 organizations around the world and across industries – from medium-sized businesses to more than 60% of the Fortune 500. For more information about Workday, visit workday.com . © 2024 Workday, Inc. All rights reserved. Workday and the Workday logo are registered trademarks of Workday, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements including, among other things, statements regarding Workday's leadership, growth, transformation, and potential. These forward-looking statements are based only on currently available information and our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. If the risks materialize, assumptions prove incorrect, or we experience unexpected changes in circumstances, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements, and therefore you should not rely on any forward-looking statements. Risks include, but are not limited to, risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including our most recent report on Form 10-Q or Form 10-K and other reports that we have filed and will file with the SEC from time to time, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. Workday assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release, except as required by law. Any unreleased services, features, or functions referenced in this document, our website, or other press releases or public statements that are not currently available are subject to change at Workday's discretion and may not be delivered as planned or at all. Customers who purchase Workday services should make their purchase decisions based upon services, features, and functions that are currently available. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/workday-names-rob-enslin-president-chief-commercial-officer-302316896.html SOURCE Workday Inc.The former England footballer, 39, said he was “proud” of how Coleen was doing in the Australian jungle in a post on social media on Saturday. The couple, who first met at school and began dating aged 16, share four sons – Kai Wayne, Klay Anthony, Kit Joseph and Cass Mac. Proud of @ColeenRoo on @imacelebrity she’s doing great ❤️ Me and the boys would love to see her doing a trial and we know she’d want to put herself to the test. If you can download the #ImACeleb app and let’s get voting! 🗳️🕷️🐍 pic.twitter.com/f1VEihHVzy — Wayne Rooney (@WayneRooney) November 23, 2024 “Proud of @ColeenRoo on @imacelebrity she’s doing great”, he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, alongside a collage of photos of her on the show. “Me and the boys would love to see her doing a trial and we know she’d want to put herself to the test. “If you can download the #ImACeleb and let’s get voting!” At the end of Saturday’s episode, it was revealed Rooney would be taking on the next Bushtucker Trial alongside BBC Radio 1 presenter Dean McCullough. Your votes mean Coleen and Dean are about to have a trucking terrifying time when they face Absolute Carnage ⚠️ #ImACeleb pic.twitter.com/Q9PcJ3SwF1 — I'm A Celebrity... (@imacelebrity) November 23, 2024 During the first task of the series, McCullough chose to partner up with TV personality Coleen as he hailed her as “Wagatha Christie”. Rooney, 38, was given the nickname when she accused Rebekah Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, of leaking her private information to The Sun in a viral post on social media. In July 2022, a judge at the High Court found the post was “substantially true”. During Vardy’s stint on I’m A Celebrity, she became the third celebrity to leave, saying the series helped her become more tolerant. Earlier this week, Liverpool-born Coleen told her fellow campmate that going to court over her feud with Vardy was her “worst nightmare” as she felt she was “putting on a show for the whole world”. However, she said she was not scared about making the viral post which kicked off the dispute, saying: “I just didn’t think it would have the impact it did, because I was just that sick and tired of it, it was draining.” Later in the episode, Rooney became emotional over the loss of her sister Rosie, after boxing star Barry McGuigan spoke about the death of his daughter. I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! continues on ITV1 and ITVX.
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Georgia QB Carson Beck's status for Sugar Bowl uncertain as he considers treatment options on elbow
Enigma of Fear - Official Launch TrailerThere weren’t many fans of Robert Zemickis’ filmed play, Here . While Zemeckis was nice enough to keep this one from being a full-on Christmas movie, which is what doomed us to 20 years of people insisting that The Polar Express is watchable, Here is plenty weird to look at. Most of that comes from the bizarre decision to use generative AI to cut and paste Tom Hanks’ and Robin Wright’s old faces onto their current ones. Like every Zemeckis special effects bonanza of the century, the result is another putrid example of computer-generated artistry—this time with that modern AI sheen. Moreover, Lisa Kudrow thinks it’s “an endorsement of AI.” On Dax Shepperd’s podcast, Armchair Expert , Kudrow criticized the movie and its use of the very technology her union went on strike over last year. “They shot it, and they could actually shoot the scene and then look at the playback of them as younger, and it’s ready for them to see,” Kudrow said. “All I got from that was that this is an endorsement for AI. It’s not like, ‘Oh it’s going to ruin everything,’ but what will be left?” Thankfully, not enough people saw the movie to receive the message. Still, Kudrow’s concerns are more pressing in an industry (and society) looking to replace labor with AI slop that can’t even sell Coca-Cola without disgusting viewers . Kudrow’s main worry is that young actors may soon have to compete with productions that license Tom Hanks’ image. “Forget actors. What about up-and-coming actors? They’ll just be licensing and recycling. Set that completely aside, what work will there be for human beings? Then what? There’ll be some kind of living stipend for people, you won’t have to work? How can it possibly be enough?” Again, it’s cold comfort that most people skipped Here and are, therefore, blissfully ignorant of how much it concerns Benjamin Franklin, whose de-aging, we begrudgingly admit, is pretty convincing. [ via IndieWire ]Major retailers across the UK and Ireland are to stop selling alcoholic drinks associated with Irish fighter Conor McGregor. The decision by Tesco, Musgrave and the BWG Group came after a woman who said Mr McGregor raped her won a civil claim for damages against him. Nikita Hand, who accused the sportsman of raping her in a Dublin hotel in December 2018, won her claim against him for damages in a case at the High Court in the Irish capital. In a statement, a spokesman for Musgrave said: “Musgrave can confirm these products are no longer available to our store network.” The network includes SuperValu, Centra, Daybreak and Mace. A Tesco spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we are removing Proper No Twelve Whiskey from sale in Tesco stores and online.” A spokesperson for BWG Group said: “The products are no longer listed for distribution across our network of Spar, Eurospar, Mace, Londis and XL stores, including Appleby Westward which operates over 300 Spar stores in the south west of England.” It is understood that other retail outlets including Costcutter and Carry Out will also stop stocking products linked to Mr McGregor. He and some of his business partners sold their majority stake in the Proper Number Twelve Irish whiskey brand. He was reported to have been paid more than £103 million from the sale to Proximo Spirits in 2021. On Monday, a popular video game developer decided to pull content featuring the MMA fighter. The Irish athlete has featured in multiple video games, including voice-acting a character bearing his likeness in additional downloadable content in the Hitman series. Mr McGregor’s character featured as a target for the player-controlled assassin in the game. IO Interactive, the Danish developer and publisher of Hitman, said in a statement: “In light of the recent court ruling regarding Conor McGregor, IO Interactive has made the decision to cease its collaboration with the athlete, effective immediately. “We take this matter very seriously and cannot ignore its implications. “Consequently, we will begin removing all content featuring Mr McGregor from our storefronts starting today.” Last Friday, the High Court jury awarded damages amounting to 248,603.60 euros (around £206,000) to Ms Hand. Mr McGregor made no comment as he left court but later posted on social media that he intended to appeal against the decision.
On October 16, Liam Payne, a former member of One Direction, fell from his third-floor hotel room and died. Within days, headlines in TMZ, ABC News, and the Guardian announced that he had “pink cocaine” in his system.On August 10, 24-year-old Instagram model Maecee Marie Lathers killed two people in a car crash in Miami. Topless, vomiting, and screaming, Lathers told police officers that she was under the influence of a drug called “tusi,” a pink powder that’s gaining popularity in the US. A toxicology report later found that while she hadn’t been drinking, there were several other drugs in her system — but nothing called tusi.“Tucibi” — also called tusi or pink cocaine — is a Spanish phonetic play on 2C-B, a California-born synthetic psychedelic originally popular amongst Gen X psychonauts and ravers seeking a euphoric, trippy high. However, despite either of its names, pink cocaine rarely contains 2C-B or cocaine at all.In the 2000s, 2C-B made its way from European nightclubs to Colombia, where it devolved into something else entirely: a pink powdered cocktail of every type of party drug you might find at Coachella. It’s essentially a Gen Z speedball: Rather than blending cocaine and heroin, pink cocaine mixes ketamine with stimulants like MDMA and even caffeine. It can also include a chaotic sprinkling of methamphetamine, DMT, and oxycodone, among other substances.Largely through artful cartel marketing portraying tusi as pretty, fun, and accessible, this blend of cheap drug leftovers has become the substance of choice for Colombian DJs and Mexican rappers, a wolf in sheep’s clothing for European ravers, and a source of confusion for everyone else. Tusi is making its way across the world, and it’s increasingly important that potential users know what it is. The global war on drugs was originally organized around the production and trafficking of plant-based drugs like cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. But in recent years, drug manufacturers have turned to synthetic drugs like MDMA, ketamine, and fentanyl, which are easier to mass produce and smuggle across borders. Pink cocaine is everything new all at once — easy money for producers, a cheap Instagrammable high for users, and a massive headache for law enforcement. The biggest problem: like playing a game of Russian roulette, only luck decides whether you’ll have fun — or die.How 2C-B became tucibi 2,5-dimethoxy-4-bromophenethylamine, or 2C-B, was first synthesized in the 1970s by Californian biochemist and psychonaut Alexander Shulgin, who is best known for introducing MDMA to the world of psychotherapy. Of the over 100 psychedelics Shulgin created, 2C-B was his favorite — in his words, “one of the most graceful, erotic, sensual, introspective compounds I have ever invented.”The effects of 2C-B are often described as an MDMA-LSD hybrid, giving users both a heightened, vibrant sensory experience and a feeling of euphoria and openness. In many ways, Shulgin viewed 2C-B as a counterpart to MDMA, which has been touted for its therapeutic potential for 40 years, well before it became popular as a club drug. Not only are the two drugs chemically similar, but their psychoactive effects complement each other. “Once the MDMA has shown you where your problems are,” Shulgin wrote, “the 2C-B opens up the emotional, intuitive, and archetypal area of your psyche to help you solve them.”Anecdotally, many people report that 2C-B’s psychedelic effects are relatively mild and short-lived. Trips last a few hours, unlike the full-day trip provided by LSD. Like other hallucinogens, 2C-B generally doesn’t cause a next-day hangover, according to users interviewed by Vice. It can also have less fun side effects like anxiety, nausea, headaches, or elevated heart rate, any of which can get dangerous in situations where users are dancing — and likely not drinking enough water — in crowded, hot spaces.In the 1980s and early 1990s, 2C-B was legally manufactured and sold in adult bookstores and dance clubs as a libido-enhancing drug. That changed when the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) listed 2C-B as a Schedule I drug in 1995, pushing it underground, where it remained a relatively niche drug for rave-goers.But over the past decade, it’s become an increasingly popular party drug in Latin America, Europe, and the US. The 2019 Global Drug Survey of over 120,000 people from more than 30 countries reported that darknet purchases of 2C-B and other drugs have been on the rise since 2014.In the early 2000s, wealthy young people smuggled small amounts of 2C-B from Europe to Colombia, where it quickly became popular in Colombia’s elite club scene. By 2012, models, politicians, and actors were shelling out 130,000 pesos (about $71 at the time) for a gram of 2C-B — over 10 times the price of cocaine. “The media positioned it as an elite drug,” said Julian Quintero, a sociologist, drug researcher, and director of the Technical Social Action Corporation (ATS), a Colombian drug policy nonprofit. “Very few could access it.”While 2C-B was considered high-class, it wasn’t much to look at. It was usually sold as a plain-looking pill or an off-white, bitter powder that hurts to snort. To make the drug more appealing, narcos started mixing the powder with sweet pink food coloring. Soon, demand outpaced the supply of 2C-B available in Latin America, so Colombian dealers cut the powder with cheaper, longer-lasting, and more abundant European imports like MDMA and ketamine.People began calling the pink powder “tusi,” a Spanish spelling of the English pronunciation of “2C.” In the early 2010s, Quintero said, tusi still reliably contained about 10 percent 2C-B, mixed in with the MDMA and ketamine. But by the mid-2010s, the 2C-B component disappeared. Removing the priciest ingredient, Quintero told me, was the “magic formula.” Today, a gram of tusi costs $10, not $100, making it accessible to just about anyone who can afford a night out.Joseph Palamar, a drug use epidemiologist at New York University and deputy director of the National Drug Early Warning System, said that the homophones — “tusi” and “2C-B” — initially confused old school ’90s ravers, who only knew of the original 2C-B and likely thought that’s what they were taking. But, he said, “new school people probably don’t know the difference.”One surprising thingDespite the flurry of headlines announcing that, according to an anonymous tip, Liam Payne’s autopsy found pink cocaine in his system, there’s no chemical test for pink cocaine. You can only test for its common ingredients, like ketamine and MDMA. If both of those substances are found at once, it might be pink cocaine — but there’s no way to know for sure.“Those who use cocaine represent the old. Those who use tusi represent the new”Calling the powder “pink cocaine,” or polvo rosa, has even less to do with the drug’s contents. “The name ‘pink cocaine’ is one of many fantasies invented by the police to name things they don’t understand,” Quintero said.Much of polvo rosa’s rise in the club scene can be attributed to its Instagram-ready aesthetic. “The fact that it’s a pretty color draws a lot of people in,” Palamar said.It’s a brilliant marketing strategy: transform a bland-looking, expensive, exclusive synthetic drug into an Instagram-worthy accessory that almost any partygoer can afford — simply by changing just about everything in it. If tusi had a standard recipe — something potential users could make informed decisions about — this wouldn’t be as big a deal. But as tusi became more popular, the color told users increasingly little about what they were ingesting.“The thing is,” Palamar said, “anyone could dye any powder pink.”The initial rise of tusi in Latin America was part of a broader trend: Coca and opium production declined between 2007 and 2012 for a number of factors, including increased seizures of heroin exported to the US and evolving drug preferences. At the same time, the production and trafficking of synthetic drugs like 2C-B, MDMA, and ketamine grew. La Empreza, a street gang claiming to be the first to make and sell tusi in Colombia, told Vice in 2022 that in addition to MDMA, ketamine, and caffeine, their recipe for the drug includes synthetic methamphetamines, LSD, and fentanyl, among other chemicals.A batch of tusi is essentially made by tossing assorted drugs into a pan, adding a dash of pink food coloring, and stirring the mixture by hand. This isn’t even a great way to make a salad — the dressing won’t be evenly distributed across the greens, and some bites will wind up with more toppings than others. When mixing a powder and liquid drug salad, it’s nearly impossible to ensure that each dose of the final product will contain the same ratio of ingredients. When preparing non-toxic food, perfectly even distribution isn’t usually a concern, but a gram of powder that may contain a mystery dose of a powerful sedative like ketamine — or even the far deadlier fentanyl — is dangerous.The fact that tusi is so easy to make doesn’t just make it risky — it’s making it more popular. Because tusi is synthetic, lacks a standard recipe, and doesn’t require special equipment beyond kitchenware to make, nearly anyone can prepare it themselves. “Tusi not only emerged as a new drug for a new generation, but also popularized the idea that you can make your own drugs at home,” Quintero said.As of a couple years ago, tusi was the fifth most popular drug in Colombia. Pink cocaine has become synonymous with Colombian guaracha, a style of electronic house music often referencing the drug in the lyrics. In the song “Magia Rosa” by DJ Goozo, Massianello, and NesBunny, featured vocalist Paulette sings: “Quiero magia rosas que me ponga poderosa.” In English, this roughly translates to “I want pink magic to become powerful.” Quintero told me that the rise of tusi paralleled the rise of reggaeton, guaracha, small-scale drug dealers, and sexual tourism to Colombia, lending the drug a distinct cultural ethos for a younger generation. “Those who use cocaine represent the old,” he said. “Those who use tusi represent the new.”Perhaps nowhere outside Colombia is tusi more celebrated in pop culture than Mexico. While tusi isn’t often mentioned by the Mexican government or mainstream news media, it frequently appears in corridos tumbados — a genre of Mexican regional music blending the vibrant accordions, plucky bass lines, and quintessential trumpets of traditional corridos with hip-hop and reggaeton. Peso Pluma, a 25-year-old Mexican rapper, skyrocketed to global stardom last year with the love song “Ella Baila Sola,” a collaboration with regional group Eslabon Armado. But a large swath of corridos tumbados are considered narcocorridos, or songs centered around the plight of cartels or drugs. Three of his songs — “Lady Gaga,” “Rosa Pastel,” and “Las Morras” — mention using pink cocaine as part of a glamorous lifestyle, and music videos for those three songs alone have racked up over 500 million views combined. (Sometimes, the glamorous lifestyle isn’t so glamorous: Peso Pluma had to cancel and reschedule concerts last year because of death threats from a cartel.)[Media: https://youtu.be/3Wnso2A4PZE?feature=shared]Europe, home to hard-partying tourist destinations like Ibiza, isn’t a stranger to trippy, risky drugs. Combinations of ketamine and MDMA have been trending among festivalgoers across the world lately, priming the club scene for tusi’s arrival. The drug first arrived in Europe sometime within the last decade or so. Claudio Vidal, a director at Energy Control, a drug harm reduction nonprofit in Spain, told me that while the first big pink cocaine drug bust happened in 2016, Energy Control first analyzed samples of pink powder in 2011. In 2022, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported tusi popping up at music festivals in Austria, Switzerland, and the UK, in addition to party scenes in Spain and Italy. That same year, a survey of nearly 1,500 recreational drug users at European EDM festivals found that about 20 percent had tried tusi in the last 12 months. And this summer, pink cocaine started to gain traction in US states like New York and California for many of the same reasons it blew up in Colombia: it’s relatively affordable, theoretically fun, and pink.But, Vidal said, we don’t know enough yet to tell exactly where tusi is most popular, or who exactly is using it. The biggest challenge in studying pink cocaine is that, despite its rising prevalence in pop culture, it’s hard to rigorously study a drug that’s largely defined by what it isn’t. “We do not have enough data,” Vidal said.How dangerous is it, really?Given the lack of research examining pink cocaine specifically, no one knows how many people are having bad reactions to it yet.Drugs like ketamine and MDMA are unlikely to cause physical dependence — people aren’t generally using these substances to relieve withdrawal symptoms, like one might if they were addicted to opiates. That doesn’t mean they can’t create a kind of psychological dependence — as Palamar said, “A lot of people become accustomed to their world on ketamine,” which can make it hard to stop using it.Vidal hasn’t seen a tusi-related spike in demand for treatment at addiction treatment centers in Spain — at least not yet. More research will be necessary to see whether tusi users aren’t checking into treatment centers because they don’t have a substance use disorder, or because they’re avoiding treatment out of fear, stigma, or something else.But that may change as tusi itself changes. In its 2023 report, Energy Control found that Colombian manufacturers were starting to add addictive substances like benzodiazepines to batches of tusi. Quintero suspects they are also adding opioids like heroin, morphine, and oxycodone “with the aim of creating dependency.”Cases of pink cocaine being contaminated with fentanyl have yet to be reported in the US, but that hasn’t stopped Palamar from worrying about it. Over the past several years, potentially fatal doses of fentanyl have been found in samples of fake prescription pills, methamphetamine, and cocaine. Given its rising popularity, it’s reasonable to think that pink cocaine could be next. But, at least for now, the biggest risks with pink cocaine don’t seem to be addiction or fatal overdose. Taking a mystery drug cocktail — especially if it’s mixed with alcohol on a night out — can get someone far more intoxicated than they planned for.Unlike opioids, which can cause severe, potentially deadly respiratory depression, “pink cocaine and the things that are in it generally don’t stop people from breathing, which is good,” said Maryann Amirshahi, a DC-based ER doctor and co-medical director of the National Capital Poison Center. The most risky thing, Quintero said, “is that young people making it at home don’t know chemistry, and are adding any substances or medications they find in their houses.” Imagine going to a rave for your friend’s birthday. (For the sake of this thought experiment, you’re in your mid-20s, you’ve all been drinking, and you’ve vowed to dance until the sun comes up.) While waiting in line for the bathroom, a kind stranger offers your friend a pink powder, saying it’ll be fun. She goes for it, assuming it’s an upper. Before too long, she’s throwing up and struggling to stand — and she winds up spending the rest of her birthday spaced out on a couch.If someone uses a stimulant like cocaine or MDMA (which, despite being commonly labeled as a psychedelic, is an amphetamine derivative), it can cause side effects ranging from mild nausea to something as potentially deadly as heart failure. Still, people generally remain tethered to reality.Palamar cautioned that being exposed to ketamine, a powerful drug that numbs pain and warps perception, after drinking is nothing like trying a little cocaine.“It’s not a happy drug,” he said. “If you do enough of it, you feel like you’re on another planet.” While it doesn’t stop breathing, it does dramatically reduce one’s awareness of their surroundings, especially when mixed with alcohol — which increases the risk of doing something embarrassing, getting injured, or being sexually assaulted.Of course, as we probably all learned in high school drug education, the best way to minimize these risks is to not do drugs. But if you’re going to use drugs, Palamar urges users to act with intention: Know what your drugs are made of, and dose with caution. All of the experts I spoke with strongly discourage people from trying unknown blends like pink cocaine, because intentional, risk-minimizing use is basically impossible.The biggest thing to worry about with pink cocaine is accidentally taking too much ketamine. If you think you might be exposed to ketamine, don’t drink, and don’t place yourself in unfamiliar social situations without support. “You’ve got to be around people you trust,” Palamar said, “because you could become very vulnerable.”One common misconception is that mixing uppers and downers, like MDMA and ketamine, will balance each other out. “The problem is, you can’t always time that,” Amirshahi said. If the downer lasts longer than the upper, “you may end up on the floor in a coma,” she said. Vice versa, and you risk experiencing an “emergence reaction” — a psychotic break upon leaving the “k-hole,” an intense out-of-body experience brought on by high doses of ketamine. “You don’t know how much or what you’re getting, so it’s really hard to titrate, or make that balance.”Although according to experts, the risk of accidental fentanyl exposure appears relatively low in the US, it’s potentially deadly and worth taking seriously. You don’t have to be a professional chemist to run basic drug safety tests — harm reduction organizations like FentCheck and DanceSafe work with bars, nightclubs, and festivals to distribute relatively low-cost drug tests to potential users. Low-cost paper fentanyl test strips can detect fentanyl in drug samples. They work like at-home Covid-19 antigen tests, where you place a nasal swab on a strip of paper and wait for a line to appear if the virus is detected. For a fentanyl test, instead of a nasal swab, you’d add a few milligrams of your drug of choice. While these tests are relatively effective, they don’t work as well when MDMA is present, and can report false positives when testing an MDMA-containing drug blend like pink cocaine.Liquid reagent kits, like those provided by DanceSafe, contain chemicals that change colors in the presence of a range of different drugs. However, Vidal cautions that these tests also don’t work very well on tusi. Because the reagent usually provided for ketamine also reacts to MDMA, if both drugs are present (as they usually are), it’s hard to interpret the results. And as a general rule, Amirshahi recommends always having naloxone, an opioid overdose-reversing nasal spray, on hand — and being prepared to administer it.In Spain, Vidal said the drug is continuing to evolve — not just chemically, but aesthetically. Powders with other colors and flavorings — not just pink — made of the same general stuff are also being marketed as “tusi.” Pink cocaine appears to be riding on the back of ketamine’s meteoric rise in popularity, mostly because it’s cheap and easy to make. But it may also be the case that pink cocaine offers both social capital and a means of escape. With this powder, anyone can project an image of enviable glamour on social media, and take an affordable trip to another planet, if only for a couple hours — at least, that’s the image cartels are projecting. In reality, it’s a bottom-of-the-barrel powder that’s not that special. It’s just pink.None
Jim Goodwin is open to making Sam Dalby’s loan spell with Dundee United permanent – but fears his scintillating form could catch the eye of clubs ‘with deeper pockets’. Dalby, 24, notched his fifth goal in six games to secure a 1-1 draw against Rangers on Saturday, powering home a clinical header from ‘s pinpoint delivery. As well as rippling the net with regularity, Dalby has proved an adept focal point for the Tangerines, turning in a series of tireless showings in attack, holding the ball up and linking superbly with his teammates. Having fallen out of the first-team picture at Wrexham, is evidently relishing a concerted run of starts. And Goodwin reckons he will only get . Dalby is out of contract with the and is yet to receive clarity on what his future holds with the Welsh outfit. “Sam is a player that we really like, and we would love to enter into negotiations about extending his time here at United because he’s coming out of contract at Wrexham in the summer,” said Goodwin. “Sam has done everything that I expected from him and he’s loving it here. I spoke to his agent after and he’s speaking very positively about the whole set-up here at Dundee United, which is great. “Five goals in six games is a great return for someone who had to be patient at the beginning. I think he has more to come. He’s at a great age and the Scottish game really suits him.” However, Goodwin is cognisant that there is a lot of water to go under the bridge before United can make serious moves towards Dalby’s stay at Tannadice becoming a permanent one. “I don’t know what Wrexham’s long-term plans are for Sam but, from our perspective, I couldn’t be any more pleased with what he’s done,” continued Goodwin. “The only concern with Sam is that, as much as we’re admiring the work he’s doing, I’m pretty sure there’ll be lots of other people taking notice. “Number nines like that are hard to find these days; ones who can hold the ball up, lead the line, have good feet and an eye for goal. “I’m not stupid enough to think that there wouldn’t be other teams out there looking at him as well – teams that might have deeper pockets than us.”