Tuesday, March 19

Author: George Lanington

George is Digismak's reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism
Unilever to split off its ice cream unit including Ben & Jerry’s
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Unilever to split off its ice cream unit including Ben & Jerry’s

Ben & Jerry's ice cream on May 24, 2022.Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesShares of consumer goods giant Unilever popped on Tuesday after the company announced plans to separate its ice cream unit, which includes Ben & Jerry's and Magnum, as part of a restructuring that will impact 7,500 jobs."The proposed changes are expected to impact around 7,500 predominantly office-based roles globally, with total restructuring costs now anticipated to be around 1.2% of Group turnover for the next three years (up from the around 1% of Group turnover previously communicated)," a statement said.Shares of Unilever were up 5.6% moments after the announcement, before paring gains slightly to trade up 4.1% at 9:20 a.m. London time.The restructuring will begin immediately and is expected to be completed b...
North Korea says Kim Jong Un supervised tests of rocket launchers targeting Seoul
Europe

North Korea says Kim Jong Un supervised tests of rocket launchers targeting Seoul

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a live-fire drill of nuclear-capable “super-large” multiple rocket launchers designed to target South Korea’s capital as he vowed to strengthen his war deterrent in the face of deepening confrontations with rivals, state media said Tuesday.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observing the Western Region Artillery Unit's ultra-large rocket salvo firing drill, at an unconfirmed location in North Korea on March 18, 2024.KCNA / AFP - Getty ImagesThe report came a day after South Korea and Japan said they detected North Korea firing multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward waters off its eastern coast, adding to a streak of weapons displays that have raised regional tensions.Experts say North Korea’s large-sized artillery rock...
Israeli delegation to visit Washington to discuss planned offensive on Rafah | Israel-Gaza war
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Israeli delegation to visit Washington to discuss planned offensive on Rafah | Israel-Gaza war

Israel will send a team of officials to Washington to discuss its planned offensive on Rafah, the White House has said, as the Biden administration insists that an attack would be a “mistake” and seeks to persuade Israel to allow in more aid in the face of an imminent famine in Gaza.The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, announced the Israeli visit after a phone call on Monday between Joe Biden and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, focusing on the planned Rafah assault that Netanyahu has vowed to launch.Sullivan confirmed that Israeli forces had killed Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza, and one of the masterminds of the 7 October attacks, in an operation last week, one of thousands of Hamas fighters he said had been killed. But he...
Poland says NATO must urgently ramp spending
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Poland says NATO must urgently ramp spending

Polish President Andrzej Duda speaks to members of the media following a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on March 12, 2024 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch | Getty ImagesPolish President Andrzej Duda said Monday that NATO must urgently increase its defense spending to ensure it does not become the next target of a Russian attack.Speaking to CNBC, Duda reiterated his calls for NATO members to increase their military contributions to 3% amid new reports that Moscow could be readying to target the military alliance within two to three years.Citing unspecified German research, Duda said new evidence suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin is doubling down on his shift toward a war economy with a view to attacking NATO in 2026 or 2027. It follows Danish intel...
Indonesia fishing village flooded with tide of rubbish after heavy rains | Indonesia
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Indonesia fishing village flooded with tide of rubbish after heavy rains | Indonesia

An Indonesian fishing village has been inundated with tonnes of rubbish after recent heavy rains resulted in stronger tides.Teluk, in the Indonesian province of Banten on the western edge of Java island, has one of the country’s dirtiest beaches. But the arrival of tonnes of rubbish on the shore has shocked residents.Solikah, an Indonesian housewife living in the fishing village of Teluk, was in tears as she pointed to piles of trash strewn on a beach close to her home of 40 years.An elderly man carrying baskets walks through rubbish on a beach in Teluk fishing village, Indonesia. Photograph: Willy Kurniawan/Reuters“You can’t predict the weather,” the 58-year-old told Reuters.Fikri Jufri, who works with the community cleaning beaches in Teluk, said the rain had led to the pile-up of rub...
Michigan school shooter’s father threatened to destroy the prosecutor in case against him, sources confirm
Europe

Michigan school shooter’s father threatened to destroy the prosecutor in case against him, sources confirm

The convicted father of the Oxford High School shooter said in jailhouse phone calls that he wanted to ruin the prosecutor in the case against him and that she would be going to hell soon, sources confirmed.James Crumbley made the comments to his sister while his case was pending, the sources close to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed. The new details were first reported Monday by the Detroit Free Press.A Michigan jury last week found Crumbley guilty on four counts of involuntary manslaughter for the shooting his son carried out, killing four classmates.James Crumbley and his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, who was convicted on the same charges at a separate trial in February, are the first parents in America to be charged for a school shooting committed by their child. James Cr...
RBG Award gala to honor likes of Musk, Murdoch canceled after late justice’s family objects
Europe

RBG Award gala to honor likes of Musk, Murdoch canceled after late justice’s family objects

A Washington, D.C., spring gala to honor Elon Musk, Rupert Murdoch, Michael Milken, Martha Stewart and Sylvester Stallone has been canceled, organizers said Monday.The invitation-only celebration at the Library of Congress on April 13 was being organized to bestow Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Leadership Award honors on the tech, media, finance, food and film luminaries.On Monday, the chairman of the Opperman Foundation, which chooses honorees and organizes the event independent of the late Supreme Court justice's survivors and estate, said in a statement that the group was pulling the plug to avoid fueling controversy over the 2024 recipient list."Keeping in mind that our goal is only to do good, the foundation is not interested in creating controversy," Julie Opperman said. "It is not i...
Only seven countries meet WHO air quality standard, research finds | Pollution
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Only seven countries meet WHO air quality standard, research finds | Pollution

Only seven countries are meeting an international air quality standard, with deadly air pollution worsening in places due to a rebound in economic activity and the toxic impact of wildfire smoke, a new report has found.Of 134 countries and regions surveyed in the report, only seven – Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand – are meeting a World Health Organization (WHO) guideline limit for tiny airborne particles expelled by cars, trucks and industrial processes.The vast majority of countries are failing to meet this standard for PM2.5, a type of microscopic speck of soot less than the width of a human hair that when inhaled can cause a myriad of health problems and deaths, risking serious implications for people, according to the report by IQAir, a Swis...
Medication abortions rose in year after Dobbs decision, report finds
Europe

Medication abortions rose in year after Dobbs decision, report finds

Medication abortions rose in the year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, according to a report published Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports access to abortion.In 2023, the first full calendar year since the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, there were about 642,700 medication abortions, accounting for about 63% of all abortions in the country, up from 492,210 medication abortions, or 53%, in 2020, according to the report.“This increase is indicative of the fact that people are overcoming barriers to get the care they need,” said Amy Friedrich-Karnik, the director of federal policy at the Guttmacher Institute. "Abortion is health care."Following the Dobbs decision, 14 states completely ban abortion, which includes medication abortion. Another han...
Chicago begins evicting migrants from shelters as residents decry ‘lack of respect’
Europe

Chicago begins evicting migrants from shelters as residents decry ‘lack of respect’

CHICAGO — Chicago has begun evicting some migrants from its shelters, a controversial policy that has been delayed for months but appeared haphazard, one migrant told NBC News on Monday. Migrants who have been evicted, as well as those who are facing a rapidly approaching deadline, said there has been widespread confusion about the process and frustration with being forced to leave while they still lack the resources to find their own places to stay. In the first two days of enforcement, less than 10 migrants have been evicted from their shelters, according to the city. Five migrants were forced to leave Monday due to the policy, a city spokesperson said, while three were evicted on Sunday.Franklin Romero, a 29-year-old Venezuelan migrant, said he was told by someone at the Woodlawn she...