ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions Transforms its Go-to-Market-Strategy in Canada to Drive Customer Excellenceylie Kelce, wife of former Eagles center Jason Kelce, isn't holding back. Fresh off the announcement of her fourth pregnancy, In a candid Instagram reel, Kylie opened up about how these remarks have affected her, delivering both humor and honesty that fans can't get enough of. Kylie addresses viral comments After sharing her pregnancy news, Kylie was flooded with responses, but one comment struck a nerve-and sparked a hilarious clapback. , suggesting Kylie needed to "bring her genes" to this pregnancy. The mother of three didn't miss a beat in her reply. "We are so lucky that my husband makes cute girls," Kylie said, adding with a laugh, " She even joked that Wyatt's resemblance to Jason was so uncanny that, "if I hadn't pushed her out myself, I wouldn't believe I had any part in making her." The trolling didn't stop there. Kylie admitted that the internet now insists her second daughter, , Travis Kelce-a comparison that Kylie doesn't find amusing. "I was blonde. I had one dimple. I very much feel as though Ellie could pass for looking like her mom," she argued. However, she's taking the comments in stride, quipping, Kylie's big move But Kylie isn't just clapping back-she's leveling up. , Not Gonna Lie With Kylie Kelce, where she promises to be raw and unfiltered. "On Not Gonna Lie, you're going to hear my brutally honest opinions on motherhood. I'm not going to stop cursing in front of my kids. social media trends, and more, featuring a lineup of exciting guests. With her fourth child on the way and a burgeoning podcast, Whether she's addressing trolls or diving into viral entertainment stories, Kylie Kelce is a force to be reckoned with-and this is just the beginning.
The new Karl Lagerfeld has arrived at Chanel. Here’s what to expectNEW ORLEANS (AP) — The largest artificial intelligence data center ever built by Facebook’s parent company Meta is coming to northeast Louisiana, the company said Wednesday, bringing hopes that the $10 billion facility will transform an economically neglected corner of the state. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry called it “game-changing” for his state's expanding tech sector, yet some environmental groups have raised concerns over the amount of energy it would use — and whether it could lead to higher energy bills in the future. Meanwhile, Elon Musk's AI startup, xAI, is expanding its existing supercomputer project in Memphis, Tennessee, the city's chamber of commerce said Wednesday. The chamber also said that Nvidia, Dell, and Supermicro Computer will be “establishing operations in Memphis,” without offering further details. Louisiana is among a growing number of states seeking to lure big tech firms in need of energy-intensive data centers with tax credits and other incentives. The U.S. Commerce Department found that there aren’t enough data centers in the U.S. to meet the rising AI-fueled demand, which is projected to grow by 9% each year through 2030, citing industry reports. Meta anticipates its Louisiana data center will create 500 operational jobs and 5,000 temporary construction jobs, said Kevin Janda, director of data center strategy. At 4 million square feet (370,000 square meters), it will be the company's largest AI data center to date, he added. “We want to make sure we are having a positive impact on the local level,” Janda said. Congressional leaders and local representatives from across the political spectrum heralded the Meta facility as a boon for Richland parish, a rural part of Louisiana with a population of 20,000 historically reliant on agriculture. About one in four residents are considered to live in poverty and the parish has an employment rate below 50%, according to the U.S. census data. Meta plans to invest $200 million into road and water infrastructure improvements for the parish to offset its water usage. The facility is expected to be completed in 2030. Entergy, one of the nation's largest utilities providers, is fast-tracking plans to build three natural gas power plants in Louisiana capable of generating 2,262 megawatts for Meta's data center over a 15 year period — nearly one-tenth of Entergy's existing energy capacity across four states. The Louisiana Public Service Commission is weighing Entergy's proposal as some environmental groups have opposed locking the state into more fossil fuel-based energy infrastructure. Meta said it plans to help bring 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy onto the grid in the future. Louisiana residents may ultimately end up with rate increases to pay off the cost of operating these natural gas power plants when Meta's contract with Entergy expires, said Jessica Hendricks, state policy director for the Alliance for Affordable Energy, a Louisiana-based nonprofit advocating for energy consumers. “There’s no reason why residential customers in Louisiana need to pay for a power plant for energy that they’re not going to use," Hendricks said. "And we want to make sure that there’s safeguards in place.” Public service commissioner Foster Campbell, who represents northeast Louisiana, said he does not believe the data center will increase rates for Louisianians and views it as vital for his region. “It’s going in one of the most needed places in Louisiana and maybe one of the most needed places in the United States of America,” Foster said. “I’m for it 100%.” Environmental groups have also warned of the pollution generated from Musk's AI data center in Memphis. The Southern Environmental Law Center, among others, says the supercomputer could strain the power grid, prompting attention from the Environmental Protection Agency. Eighteen gas turbines currently running at xAI’s south Memphis facility are significant sources of ground-level ozone, better known as smog, the group said. Patrick Anderson, an attorney at the law center, said xAI has operated with “a stunning lack of transparency” in developing its South Memphis facility, which is located near predominantly Black neighborhoods that have long dealt with pollution and health risks from factories and other industrial sites. “Memphians deserve to know how xAI will affect them,” he said, “and should have a seat at the table when these decisions are being made.” Sainz reported from Memphis, Tennessee. Associated Press writer Matt O’Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report. Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96
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While the Federal Reserve has cut its short-term interest rate target by three-quarters of a percentage point since mid-September, 30-year fixed-rate home mortgage rates rose by almost as much during that period and have lately averaged around 6.8 percent, higher than they were when the Fed began cutting, according to Freddie Mac, the home-loan finance giant. Small-business loan rates are also up: Small Business Administration-backed average interest for new real estate and capital improvement loans rose more than half a percent since September, according to data collected by CDC Small Business Finance, one of that program’s largest lenders. To be sure, the central bank’s target rates and its much-publicized recent rate cuts don’t directly set long-term mortgage and business loan rates. It’s not unheard of for rates on multiyear loans, such as 30-year mortgages, to move modestly against the direction of the Fed’s short-term targets, analysts say. But the recent gap, with Fed and bank rates moving in opposite directions, “is actually quite different” from the usual result after a Fed hike, said Lara Rhame, chief economist at FS Investments in South Philadelphia. It’s “abnormal” for rates to fall when the economy is doing well, she said — a sign money market players are worried about inflation under one-party government when politicians “can spend with fewer guardrails,” likely leading to faster growth and more price inflation. Rhame said her research on past Fed performance suggests long-term mortgage rates could stay at or above 5 percent into next year. “It’s a huge frustration for all the folks that were excited to jump in and buy homes, once the Feds started cutting interest rates,” she added. Eric Merlis, cohead of global markets for Citizens Financial Group, which runs the largest bank-branch network in the Philadelphia area, said long-term rates reflect the economy’s growth prospects. When mortgage and business-loan rates rise despite Fed cuts, it suggests lenders are concerned inflation, economic growth, and property, stock and other asset prices will get worse. Mortgage inquiries rose post-election Mortgage inquiries slowed during the recent presidential campaign, as if buyers were waiting to see who won, but calls from would-be buyers have surged since Donald Trump’s election, said Michael A. Kent, veteran mortgage banker at First National Bank of Pennsylvania’s Berwyn office. “I received more calls since Thursday than in the last three weeks,” he said in an interview last week. But there still aren’t many houses for sale, locally or nationally, compared to the demand, Kent added. Nationally, “house-hunting activity was much slower than expected” during the presidential campaign, the national real estate brokerage Redfin reported last week. “Buyers are returning” since Trump’s election, yet “we don’t expect rates to fall significantly anytime soon,” said Redfin economic researcher Chen Zhao. Rhame, the FS analyst, said that even if the Trump administration wanted to increase U.S. housing construction, it would need to push local governments to speed project approvals — a challenge for national leaders. Kent, the mortgage banker, noted that Fed rate cuts have more impact on credit cards, car loans, and other short-term borrowing than on business and mortgage loans. If mortgage rates stay high, he expects more buyers will ask for adjustable-rate loans, as if betting that rates will fall over the next few years. Analysts say high mortgage rates reflect, in part, expectations that inflation would increase next year — for example, if the Trump administration makes good on promises to cut taxes without corresponding cuts to the major categories of U.S. government spending: medical, Social Security, military, and debt service. Kent added that any Trump administration moves that speed the economy more than expected — for example, by expanding fossil-fuel development and cutting gasoline prices — would come as a welcome deflationary surprise and maybe lead to lower interest rates. When might mortgage rates drop? Standard 30-year mortgages won’t likely drop until the long-term lending benchmark U.S. Treasury bond yields fall from their current levels, said Mike Reynolds, vice president for investment strategy at Glenmede Trust Co. in Philadelphia. At a little under 7 percent, average 30-year home-loan rates “aren’t so egregiously high” that they would slow the economy, he said. “We do expect, as the Fed continues to go down this path of rate cuts, interest rates are likely to trend lower. It’s just not likely to be a straight-line process.” He’s sanguine that Trump won’t force too-rapid change to the Fed, whose chairman, Jerome Powell, was appointed by Trump in his first term. “But the COVID period of just printing more money” without raising revenues “seems to be behind us.” Reynolds is hopeful that less deficit spending will boost economic growth, and ease pressure on interest rates, and the borrowers who pay them.B/R Experts Week 13 NFL Power Rankings: Where Does Every Team Stand?
MIAMI — A prominent human rights attorney has quietly parted ways with the International Criminal Court to protest what he sees as an unjustified failure of its chief prosecutor to indict members of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ’s government for crimes against humanity, The Associated Press has learned. The Chilean-born Claudio Grossman, a former law school dean at American University in Washington and past president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, was appointed special adviser to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan in November 2021. In that unpaid position, he advised Khan on the deteriorating human rights situation in Venezuela. In a harshly worded email last month to Khan, Grossman said his ethical standards no longer allow him to stand by silently as Maduro’s government continues to commit abuses, expel foreign diplomats and obstruct the work of human rights monitors from the United Nations — without any action from the ICC. “I can no longer justify the choice not to take correspondingly serious action against the perpetrators of the grave violations,” Grossman wrote in an email rejecting an offer by Khan's office in September to renew his contract. A copy of the email, which has not been made public, was provided to the AP by someone familiar with the ICC investigation into Venezuela. A phone call by Khan asking Grossman to reconsider also failed, according to the person on the condition of anonymity to discuss the politically sensitive investigation. Get the latest breaking news as it happens. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy . Following AP's inquiries with Khan's office, Grossman's name was removed from the court's website listing him as a special adviser. “The Prosecutor is extremely grateful to Professor Grossman for the expertise and work he has rendered,” the prosecutor's office said in a statement without addressing Grossman's stated reasons for cutting ties with the court based in The Hague, Netherlands. Grossman declined to comment. The pressure on Khan to indict Venezuelan officials, including Maduro himself, comes as he battles allegations of misconduct with a female aide and the threat of U.S. sanctions over his decision to seek the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in Gaza. The Rome Statute that established the court took effect in 2002, with a mandate to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide — but only when domestic courts fail to initiate their own investigations. Calls for faster progress in the court's only ever investigation in Latin America have grown louder as Maduro tightens his grip on power, preparing to be sworn in for a third term Jan. 10 following an election marred by serious allegations of ballot box fraud and a post-election crackdown. More than 2,000 people were arrested and 20 killed following the vote. The U.S. and even some fellow leftist leaders in Latin America have demanded authorities present voting records, as they have in the past, to refute tally sheets presented by Maduro’s opponents showing their candidate, Edmundo González, prevailed by a two-to-one margin. Many in Venezuela's opposition have complained that the ICC is applying a double standard, moving aggressively to seek the arrest of Netanyahu and Russia’s Vladimir Putin for atrocities in Gaza and Ukraine while showing undue leniency with Venezuelan officials Khan has been investigating for more than three years. “There is no justification whatsoever for the inaction,” González and opposition leader María Corina Machado wrote in a recent letter to Grossman and 18 other special advisers to the court appealing for their help. “What is at stake is the life and well-being of Venezuelans,” they added in the letter, which was also provided to the AP by the person familiar with the ICC investigation. “This unjustifiable delay will cast legitimate doubts about the integrity of a system of accountability that has been an aspiration for the whole world.” At the request of several Latin American governments, Khan three years ago opened an investigation into Venezuelan security forces’ jailing, torture and killing of anti-government demonstrators. At the same time, he promised technical assistance to give local authorities an opportunity to take action before the ICC, a tribunal of last resort. Earlier this month, Khan delivered some of his harshest comments to date about the human rights situation in Venezuela, warning that officials’ repeated promises to investigate alleged abuses “cannot be a never-ending story.” “I have not seen the concrete implementation of laws and practices in Venezuela that I hoped for,” he said in a speech at ICC headquarters. “The ball is in Venezuela’s court. The track of complementarity is running out of road.” Maduro's government, in response, said in a statement that it “deeply regrets that the prosecutor is being led astray by campaigns that have emerged on social networks promoted by the extreme right, Zionism and Western powers seeking to apply legal colonialism against Venezuela." Some Venezuelan critics have linked what they view as foot-dragging to a potential conflict of interest involving Khan's sister-in-law, international criminal lawyer Venkateswari Alagendra, who has appeared on behalf of the Venezuelan government in two hearings before the court. An ICC code of conduct directs prosecutors to abstain from any conflicts that may arise from “personal interest in the case, including a spousal, parental or other close family, personal or professional relationship with any of the parties.” Alagendra has previously worked with Khan and his wife defending Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the Libyan dictator, at the ICC. Khan's office declined to comment about the relationship. But in a filing this month seeking dismissal of a request for recusal filed by the Washington-based Arcadia Foundation, he said a sister-in-law is not a close enough personal relationship requiring automatic disqualification and that he doesn't recall ever discussing the Venezuela probe with Alagendra, who is just one of several attorneys defending the South American government. “No fair minded and informed observer would conclude that there is a real possibility of bias,” Khan wrote, adding that he continues to actively and independently investigate the situation in Venezuela. Those claiming to be victims of the Maduro government have pushed for the court to wrap up its investigation without taking a position on whether Khan should be recused. After millions of Venezuelans have fled Maduro's rule, many for neighboring countries, regional governments are also anxiously awaiting progress. “Many in Latin America expect the ICC prosecutor to have a more muscular response," said Juan Papier, deputy director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch. “The prosecutor’s office has spent too much time, so far fruitlessly, trying to work with Venezuela authorities to push for domestic investigations. Widespread impunity and lack of judicial independence in Venezuela make the ICC the most viable path for justice.” ____ AP Writer Molly Quell in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report. _Women more likely to need walking aids but less likely to use them – studyNone