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An outbreak of hantavirus on board a cruise ship is not the start of a pandemic, the UN health agency has said. Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the World Health Organization (WHO), told a news briefing that it was not the same situation as six years ago with Covid-19, because hantavirus spreads through "close, intimate contact". Health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius. On Thursday, the WHO said that overall, five of eight suspected cases of hantavirus had been confirmed. Three people have died, including...

Explanation: A long time ago, in a distant galaxy, a massive star was destroyed in a supernova explosion. The light of this event travelled for tens of millions of years and reached Earth last week as Supernova 2026kid. The featured video shows a time-lapse over three nights of the host galaxy NGC 5907, an edge-on spiral also known as the Splinter or Knife Edge Galaxy, as the supernova appears and becomes brighter. (The occasional streaks are satellites in Earth orbit.) At its brightest, a supernova can outshine the sum of all other stars in its galaxy. Supernova 2026kid appears relatively...

Many Democrats wish former Vice President Kamala Harris would have run for governor of California rather than potentially making another bid for the presidency in 2028, according to a new report. Amid a hotly contested gubernatorial race in the Golden State in which numerous candidates are splitting the Democratic vote, The New York Times highlighted how Harris could have decisively changed this in a piece headlined, "A California Dream? Some Democrats Fear Harris Picked the Wrong Race." "Maybe, they say, she should have run for governor instead of publicly pondering a third run for president," the Times noted. California has...

Move comes days after supreme court ruling weakened Voting Rights Act protections against racial gerrymanderingTennessee’s Republican-dominated legislature passed redistricting maps on Thursday, eliminating the state’s one Democratic, Black-majority congressional district a week after the US supreme court effectively gutted a major section of the Voting Rights Act.The move cracks Tennessee’s ninth congressional district, which covers Memphis, into three pieces, each of which contains almost exactly a third of the city’s Black voters. The new maps mean that all nine of Tennessee’s congressional districts are Republican-leaning.The district had closely occupied the south-west corner of the state. Now three districts snake out...

President Donald Trump accused House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., of inciting the most recent assassination attempt against him, further escalating his feud with the top Democrat. Trump argued in a Truth Social post on Thursday that Jeffries should be arrested after promoting "warfare" against Republicans just days before the assassination scare at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in April. "This lunatic, Hakeem "Low IQ" Jeffries, should be charged with INCITING VIOLENCE!" Trump wrote on social media. He included images of Jeffries standing with a sign displaying the words "maximum warfare" and the faces of Trump and his aide...

Anthropic is releasing new AI agents tailored to banks and other financial services businesses—part of the artificial intelligence company’s plan to expand its reach among enterprise customers as it charts a path to an anticipated initial public offering as early as this year. On Tuesday, the company announced 10 new AI agents that help automate what it described as the most common forms of financial work, among them, building pitchbooks, closing the books and drafting credit memos. Earlier this week, Anthropic partnered with Fidelity National Information Services to develop AI-driven software that would help banks police accounts for signs of...

Archaeologists uncovered the 11,000-year-old site near Saskatchewan in western Canada, saying it confirms that highly organized societies existed in the region far earlier than previously believed. Excavations uncovered stone tools, fire pits and toolmaking materials, suggesting the area was a long-term settlement rather than a temporary hunting camp. Charcoal layers also indicate that early Indigenous inhabitants practiced controlled fire management, aligning with longstanding oral traditions. The team also uncovered remains of the extinct Bison antiquus, a massive species that weighed up to 4,400lb and likely served as a key hunting target for the ancient civilization. Dr Glenn Stuart of the...

Germany is so far gone that even immigrants have their own jokes about themselves all being on welfare while the natives work to pay for their lifestyle.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a fence-mending visit to the Vatican on Thursday to underscore strong bilateral ties, after U.S. President Donald Trump's broadsides against Pope Leo XIV for his opposition to the Iran war angered the Holy See and sparked ongoing sparring between them. The U.S. State Department said that the meetings with Leo and the Vatican's top diplomat covered peace in the Middle East and "underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See," and reflected the "enduring partnership" between them.

International health officials are trying to track down dozens of passengers who left a cruise ship where a hantavirus outbreak killed three people and sickened several others. They disembarked after the first death, and some have reportedly returned to California. What started as an expedition cruise to Antarctica has now sparked global concerns, as there have been three deaths and five confirmed cases of the hantavirus linked to the MV Hondius ship. Health officials said passengers scattered across the globe before anyone realized the full scope of what was happening on board, and some of those passengers came back home...

They just never lear. The head of a Texas Islamic group that rented out a taxpayer-funded waterpark for an event that was advertised as “Muslim only” runs a childhood education center with the exact same unfortunate ‘Learing Center’ typo first seen at an infamous daycare in Minneapolis. The “Excellence Early Learing Center,” as its misspelled website header reads — located in the Fort Worth suburb of Hurst — offers a variety of programs for youngsters from infants to pre-K, and promises to provide children with “the loving, personal care that they need to thrive and feel confident.”

An IDF soldier was seen placing a cigarette into the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary, in a Christian village in southern Lebanon, in a photo shared online on Wednesday. After identifying the soldier, the Israel Defense Forces said he will be disciplined. In response to a query, the IDF said that it “views the incident gravely and emphasizes that the soldier’s conduct completely deviates from the values expected of its troops.” An initial inquiry conducted by the IDF found that the photo was taken in the village of Debel several weeks ago, although it was only shared...

On May 1st, Viviana aka “Vivi” joined our family, and our hearts instantly exploded with love. 💕 She is perfect and healthy, and her big brother is joyfully adjusting to life with his new baby sister. We are enjoying every moment in our blissful newborn bubble. Thank you to everyone who reached out with prayers during my pregnancy - I truly felt them throughout the entire experience. God is Good.🙏

Investigative questions about UFOs, aliens, and the supernatural are no longer staying on the fringes. In this fascinating conversation, Billy Hallowell sits down with pastor and broadcaster Joseph Z to unpack claims surrounding a reported closed-door meeting involving pastors, military-connected figures, and alarming discussions about so-called “alien disclosure.” From alleged government technology and mysterious “orbs” to theological debates over demons, Nephilim, and spiritual deception, this interview dives deep into one of the most talked-about topics in both faith and culture right now.

The U.S. government learned last week that it may have reached an unfortunate milestone: The size of its debt surpassed the nation’s total economic output. It was a striking imbalance, according to early estimates, one that the country has experienced only in rare circumstances — briefly during the pandemic, and in the aftermath of World War II. But the development barely seemed to register in the nation’s capital, where few policymakers bothered to acknowledge the latest warning sign about the government’s poor fiscal health. The root of the problem is well-documented and widely known. U.S. debt has soared in recent...

A group of fans prevented a potential tragic situation Wednesday night when one pulled a man off the ledge of one of the upper sections at Busch Stadium in St. Louis during a Cardinals-Brewers game. A video posted by Instagram user Oliver Stoffel showed a fan in a blue shirt and shorts straddling the ledge in what appeared to be the 200s section, with one leg dangling off the side. “Oh, my God,” said an individual watching the scene. A fan in a red cap then walked up behind the individual and grabbed him from behind, with the individual in...

7–9 minutesFrom DJ’ing a wedding on the weekend to manning the White House press podium like a boss, from velvet-gloved diplomacy in Europe to juggling the roles of secretary of state and NSA director in the middle of a war, Marco Rubio is the administration’s secret charm bomb.President Trump rolls him out whenever he has a problem to solve. Whether it’s filling in as national archivist, blowing cartel drug boats out of the water, ­DOGEing USAID to death or sitting as vice chairman of the “Saving College Sports” council, Rubio is Trump’s Mr. Fix-it.His Tuesday stint filling in for White...

https://x.com/TheLastRefuge2/status/2052178110464848161 TheLastRefuge@TheLastRefuge2·16hWatch out for what this crew has planned this weekend.They need: (1) domestic political distractions, and (2) to keep the U.S/NATO enmeshed against Russia.I suspect the "coalition of the willing" is planning something timed w/ Russia's Victory Day remembrance.Zelenskyy and his EU team are willing to provoke, then take, a massive counterstrike from Vladimir Putin against Kiev if that’s what it takes to keep the U.S. military engaged and aligned.The Ukraine meat grinder must remain satiated in order for the EU power structures to remain in place.This is a dangerous moment. May 6, 2026

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday formally vacated its ruling that originally struck down Louisiana's House maps after the Supreme Court eliminated race-based districts. The Fifth Circuit decision comes as Louisiana moves to redraw its maps in light of the Supreme Court ruling. The decision saw the Supreme Court narrow its interpretation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and end race-based districts. Louisiana had, by court order, created a second black majority district in the state. Lawmakers are expected to eliminate at least one of the two as part of their redistricting push. The case has...

Ex-president runs gaslight psyop claiming Republicans weaponize the DOJ against Dems - when his cronies did the exact same thing! Former President Barack Obama faced pushback after he claimed that presidents shouldn’t use the Attorney General’s office to prosecute political enemies, with many pointing to the vicious lawfare campaign waged by him and his Democrat cohorts against President Donald Trump.Obama made the remarks during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, debuting his new presidential center in Chicago.“Now that you’re no longer in office, what powers do you believe the president should not have?” Colbert asked.Obama: "The White...