ResidentialBusiness

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just elected as the new leader of the Catholic Church, seems to have similar views on the environment as his predecessor, Pope Francis. Prevost, who is taking the name Pope Leo XIV, has been outspoken about the need for urgent climate action and voiced his support for the use of climate technology such as solar panels and EVs. Pope Francis, who died in April, made the climate crisis a central issue of his papacy. He urged fossil fuel executives to transition to clean energy, calling the rising greenhouse gas levels “disturbing and a cause for real concern”; he declared a global climate emergency; and he launched a project to power the Vatican with solar panels, among other acts. Now Pope Leo XIV seems poised to follow in Francis’s environmental footsteps. When Francis spoke, in November 2024, about how climate change would impact the world’s most vulnerable populations, and how it requires global cooperation to address, Cardinal Prevost shared his support for climate action, too. Prevost “stressed it is time to move ‘from words to action,’ ” on the climate, Vatican News reported at the time. Prevost also warned against the “consequences of unchecked technological development,” while reiterating the church’s commitment to protecting the environment through actions like the Vatican’s solar panels or by shifting to electric vehicles. In Catholicism, there’s the belief that God has given humans “dominion over nature,” a directive that has been interpreted by some as domination over the planet and its creatures. Pope Francis, however, championed an interpretation that advocated less for exploitation and more for harmony with nature, and the need to care for it. Cardinal Prevost has echoed this idea, saying, per Vatican News, that dominion over nature should not become “tyrannical,” but instead must be a ” ‘relationship of reciprocity’ with the environment.” Prevost hasn’t been vocal about his positions broadly, so it’s not exactly clear what environmental actions he’ll take during his papacy. But his bio on the College of Cardinals Report, a website run by Catholic journalists, notes that he “is reportedly very close to Francis’s vision regarding the environment, outreach to the poor and migrants, and meeting people where they are.” View the full article

On 212 E 141st Place in Dolton, Illinois—just a few blocks from Andy’s hot dogs and Chuck’s Gun Shop & Pistol—resides a typical 5 bed, 3 bath, 1,200 sqft brick home that is about to become a landmark. Because it’s the childhood home of Robert Prevost, the cardinal who has just been elected to become the next Pope. Listed on Redfin for $199,000 at the time of publishing, the home matches an address and tax records first reported by South Cook News. It also aligns with Prevost’s personal history. Born and raised in the south suburbs of Chicago, he spent most of his life in the region. The home, constructed in 1949, is typical of this neighborhood, which is filled with single family homes built in the mid century as families were attracted to lawn life and nearby train lines that could bring them into the city. Dolton is an area that HBO’s show Southside once perfectly dubbed, the “southside of the southside.” Bordering Chicago, it’s part of a few suburban communities that still share the city’s grid before golf courses and cul-de-sacs take over. These areas housed much of Chicago’s Irish Catholic community before white flight in the 1990s dispersed them north, south, or east into Indiana. Prevost himself kicked around several south suburban cities, having lived in Homewood, New Lenox, and Olympia Fields. Notably, the home was purchased in May 2024 for $66,000 by a flipper who renovated it to include granite and subway tile in the kitchen, and what looks to be refinished wood (or new vinyl) flooring throughout. The property has been on the market for over 100 days and has been through one price reduction already. But if its rehabbers had had any clue about the coming results of the Conclave, perhaps they could have saved the effort. View the full article

YouTube is an amazing tool. If there's anything you want to do, from playing an instrument to fixing household appliances, there is a video on the site somewhere outlining exactly how to do it. The problem: YouTube doesn't always act like a tool. It's easy to get sucked down a rabbit hole of related videos, comments, and other distractions (mostly because the site it designed to make sure you do exactly that). If you wish YouTube behaved more like a tool and less like a dopamine factory, I recommend Untrap. This browser extension, available for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, and Opera, lets you make almost 300 tweaks to the YouTube website, allowing you to remove the distracting features and enable a few useful ones by default. To get started, install the extension and click the icon. You will see a few useful options, including the ability to hide all shorts, but to find the really useful things, click the All Settings box at the bottom. This lets you browse tweaks for every page on the YouTube website, including video pages, the home page, and the search results. I suggest starting with the place you spend most of your time: video pages. Scroll through the list and you'll find various tweaks you can make. The first thing I did was turn on "Hide Related Videos" and turn on "Automatically Show Chapters." This immediately transforms the space to the right of the video from a rabbit hole of distractions into a tool you can use to browse the currently playing video with intention to find the exact information you're looking for. Credit: Justin Pot There are more great features here. You can disable the suggestions that show up at the end of the video. You can force the theater mode, meaning the video will always take up the full width of the screen. You can automatically extend the video description, meaning you'll never again have to click the little "More" button in order to find the link that you're looking for. You can even disable the comments completely, if you wish you spent less time scrolling through them. You're in control. There are similar options for YouTube's homepage, the subscriptions page, and even the search results. If there's anything about YouTube's interface that you find distracting or generally not useful, just disable it. In an ideal world, YouTube (and every other site) would work this way, but it's nice that there are tools out there that let you customize things. View the full article

A hot new high-stakes competition show went viral on the internet this week that had fans placing bets, joining fantasy leagues, tweeting live updates, and posting daily recaps. But it wasn’t Love Island or Survivor. It was the conclave. The conclave is the Catholic Church’s traditional process for picking a new pope. It involves sequestering dozens of cardinals in an locked-down Sistine Chapel for an indefinite period, during which time they use a series of votes to elect a new pontiff. After each ballot, an old-fashioned system is used to let the world know whether a pope has been chosen: If the decision has not been made, black smoke issues from the Chapel’s chimney; if it has, the smoke is white. This afternoon, white smoke issued after less than two days, announcing that Robert Francis Prevost, who has taken the papal name Leo XIV, had been chosen—and marking an end to a brief subculture of ultra-dedicated conclave fans. Weeks before the conclave began, fans were already turning the election into a quasi-sporting event, analyzing each of the 133 contenders and placing bets on their chances of success. Once the conclave was actually underway, cardinal fever only became more intense—and more strange. These are four of the oddest ways that conclave watchers kept up with the news: 24/7 chimney watch For the most dedicated of pope watchers, the official Vatican News channel hosted a 24/7 close-up livestream of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney, where the much-awaited smoke issues after each ballot. Despite the fact that the video was largely unchanging—except for the occasional seagull sounds or chatter from the street below—it consistently held the attention of thousands of viewers since going live yesterday. By the time white smoke was issued around noon ET, viewership nearly topped 300,000. Pope Crave For anyone who’s a frequent X user, you’re probably familiar with the account Pop Crave, which updates followers with pop culture news every few hours. Well, now there’s that, but for the next pope. Pope Crave is keeping pope enthusiasts in the loop with a near-constant stream of conclave-related memes, photos, and, of course, real-time updates. The account started as a fan page for the film Conclave, but has since turned into a full-on conclave news outlet in its own right, working with ad hoc correspondents on the ground in Rome to deliver forthcoming details about the election process to its more than 70,000 followers. In an interview with Time magazine, the account’s main administrator, Susan Bin, said her long-term goal for the account is for “the Holy See to hire us so we can make official Vatican memes.” Today, Pope Crave broke the news that a new pope had been selected minutes before many major news networks. Polymarket Thousands of people have already joined conclave-based fantasy leagues and put down their hard-earned cash on the cardinal they like best. On the crypto trading platform Polymarket, “Who will be the next Pope” was the current top trending query on Tuesday, amassing over $27 million in trade volume. A handy color-coded chart kept track of how each candidate was faring among bidders. Just after white smoke issued from the Chapel, but before Prevost’s election was announced, bids on cardinal Pietro Parolin shot into a significant lead, followed by the internet’s favorite, Luis Antonio Tagle. Prevost’s election evidently came as a shock to most bidders, considering that his chances to win were hovering around 1% (and sometimes even edging closer to zero) in the days leading up to the decision. Conclave Island Frequent reality TV-enjoyers may have found it difficult to ignore that the conclave has a striking number of features in common with their favorite shows: A select group of individuals, sequestered from the rest of the world in an intense competition, which is also clouded in layers of mystery and drama. This certainly was not been lost on many fans of the drag competition show Drag Race, who took to captioning iconic images of the show with “the conclave” and speculating about what kind of cash prize the next pope might receive. Over on TikTok, creator Rob Andrson (@heartthrobert) took the reality TV comparison to the next level with a series of videos he called the “Pope Games.” Each installment was dedicated to explaining how the conclave works, as well as digging into all of the juicy gossip surrounding this year’s election, in a style that evoked the reality TV show Love Island. In a Day 1 recap, posted yesterday evening, Anderson began, “Day one of the ‘Pope Games’ is complete. 133 of these singles have entered the villa: no technology or contact with the outside world, leaving the ring light at the door, losing their Duolingo streaks.” He went on to explain a shocking “smear campaign,” touched on reports that cardinals watched the Conclave movie to prepare for the election, and foreshadowed the schedule for day two. View the full article

Experts warn pact still leaves UK facing higher tariffs on exports to the US than before president returned to officeView the full article

White House and Downing Street celebrate tariff cuts but critics warn of a thin agreement that could face legal challengeView the full article

Sir Keir Starmer welcomed agreement to blunt impact of Donald The President’s tariffs View the full article

In the run-up to the annual U.N. climate conference, set to take place in Brazil’s Amazon in November, the construction of a road is drawing attention, with critics arguing it will lead to environmental degradation. Before the talks, called COP30, the state government of Para is building a 13-kilometer (8-mile) avenue designed to ease traffic on a major highway that runs parallel. The road was planned long before Belem, a metropolitan area of 2.5 million people that sits on the edge of the Amazon, was chosen as conference host. That hasn’t spared it sharp criticism, however, because the road is expected to cut across the last remnants of rainforest in Belem. Road building in the Amazon, which historically has often led to deforestation and development of surrounding areas, also stands in stark contrast to a central aim of climate conferences, and in particular this one: conservation of biodiversity. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has made the slowing of deforestation a central focus of his administration, has frequently boasted that this will be the first such conference in the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon is key to regulating the climate, because trees absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that heats the planet when released into the atmosphere. “We will hold the best COP in history because the topic of all the ones held in other countries was the Amazon,” Lula said while visiting Belem worksites in February. “This one will be in the Amazon.” An official project map shows a straight line dividing a green area through the city’s outskirts. This protected area is slightly larger than Manhattan. It was designated in 1993 to protect two lakes, a river basin and to restore a degraded rainforest. However, its rules allow private properties, government-approved deforestation and public works. Two university campuses are located within its limits. “Even with measures to reduce the damage, there are tough issues to address,” said Roberta Rodrigues, a professor of architecture at the Federal University of Para. “It’s hard to imagine a road being built along the banks of the Guama River without it leading to illegal development. It may lead to the end of this protected area.” The project dates back to 2020. Construction began in mid-2024, despite criticism over its impact on one of the city’s few remaining green areas. The project drew wider attention in March, when the BBC reported that the avenue was “being built for COP30.” As the story was picked up by news outlets around the world, Brazil’s government issued a statement saying the avenue wasn’t among the 33 infrastructure projects planned for COP30. In a statement to The Associated Press, the state government of Para said that the avenue, named Liberdade, or Freedom, will be an expressway and development around it won’t be permitted. The chaotic growth of Brazilian cities, however, suggests it’s a promise that will be hard to keep. Countless public areas have been occupied for the irregular construction of housing — from modest structures to luxury condos — with the expectation that they will eventually be legalized, which often ends up happening. Belem is the capital of Para, which is run by Gov. Helder Barbalho, a politician from a traditional family who is an ally of Lula. Both support oil drilling in the nearby mouth of the Amazon River, likely a point of contention during COP30. The road is scheduled to be inaugurated just before the conference kicking off on Nov. 10. ___ The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. —Fabiano Maisonnave, Associated Press View the full article

Claim dismissed by prosecution lawyers at Old Bailey sentencing hearing View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Running seems like a cheap sport—you just need shoes!—until you actually go shoe shopping. The right footwear can make or break your experience. They can also break your budget; even the most basic models are well over $100 new. (That being said, keep in mind that the most expensive shoe isn't necessarily the best for you.) Of course, you can search for deals at any time—there's usually something being discounted no matter when you look. But if you want a specific shoe on sale, it's worth watching the schedule of new releases. And the ultimate hack: New shoe models tend to be introduced in the spring, making right now an excellent time to snag discontinued models. Spring is the best time to buy running shoesJust like cars, running shoes come in a make (Asics), model (Gel Nimbus) and, well, there is usually a number at the end of the name instead of a model year: Asics Gel Nimbus 27. Shoes are updated every year or two, depending on the model; the long-running Nike Pegasus is up to version 41. And just as with cars, you can often snag a deal at the end of the model year when sellers get rid of their old stock to make room for the newcomers. You can follow websites like Runner’s World or Sole Review to check out which models are being updated and when they are scheduled to launch. But an even simpler way to keep up on shoe seasons is just to check the “new arrivals” section on your local running store’s website, or sign up for their newsletter. For example, since that Asics Gel Nimbus 27 was released this year at $165, you can bet that the Asics Gel Nimbus 26 is available much more cheaply. At the time of this writing, most of the color/size combinations are going for around $110—that's more than a 30% discount. ASICS Women's Gel-Nimbus 26 $109.95 at Amazon $159.95 Save $50.00 Get Deal Get Deal $109.95 at Amazon $159.95 Save $50.00 ASICS Men's Gel-Nimbus 26 $109.95 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $160.00 Save $50.05 Get Deal Get Deal $109.95 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $160.00 Save $50.05 That’s a pretty typical bargain, but you can do even better if you shop around—and if you don’t mind choosing your shoes based on the cheapest price rather than the prettiest colors. That issue of selection is a good reason to shop now rather than waiting. As the summer wears on, you may find deeper discounts on last year's model, but you'll also have fewer options. Sizes sell out, too. Here's a perfect example: the Asics Gel Nimbus 25 (that's two models back) is going for just $99.95. The catch is that you have to wear the "cream/fawn" design, since that's the only color option I could find available. Save money by buying these modelsThere are too many running shoes to list all the deals, but I'd like to highlight some prime examples where a shoe was recently released, causing the previous version to go for a much cheaper price. (Release dates below are based on what companies or publications announced earlier this spring, and may or may not be the actual release date. You get the idea, though.) The Hoka Clifton 10 was released in March for $150, and you can now find the Hoka Clifton 9 for $94.25 (women's, men's). The Brooks Glycerin 22 was released in February for $165, and the Brooks Glycerin 21 is now available for $105.60 (men's) and $98 (women's). The Brooks Ghost 17 was released in May for $150, and the Brooks Ghost 16 is now available for $109.95 (women's, men's) Brooks Women's Ghost 16 $109.95 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $139.95 Save $30.00 Get Deal Get Deal $109.95 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $139.95 Save $30.00 Brooks Men's Ghost 16 $109.95 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $139.95 Save $30.00 Get Deal Get Deal $109.95 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $139.95 Save $30.00 But beware shoes that are too oldIf you’re going to shop discontinued models, there are a few pitfalls you should know about. One is that the foam in a pair of shoes will degrade while it sits on the shelf. This isn’t a problem if you’re buying a model that was just discontinued—those should be fine. But if you find shoes that are two or three model numbers back, they probably won’t last as long as new ones. (The price might still make them worthwhile even with the shortened lifespan, but consider yourself warned.) The same concern applies if you’re buying last year’s model as a backup and planning to stash it in your closet until your current shoes break down. Consider how long it will be until you actually use the shoes, and decide accordingly. While you’re at it, apply the same logic to any gently-used shoes you might find on eBay or Poshmark. View the full article

The woman behind Instacart’s successful IPO, Fidji Simo, is joining OpenAI’s C-suite. On Wednesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced Simo’s new role as CEO of Applications. She will report directly to him after transitioning out of her current role at Instacart later this year. “In her new role, Fidji will focus on enabling our “traditional” company functions to scale as we enter a next phase of growth,” Altman said in a blog post. “Fidji brings a rare blend of leadership, product and operational expertise, and genuine commitment to ensuring our technology benefits everyone.” Before joining OpenAI’s executive team, Simo served as a member of its board of directors. She will now concentrate on scaling the company’s “traditional” functions as it moves into its next phase of growth. Simo’s addition signals OpenAI’s potential expansion beyond ChatGPT. Previous reports have suggested the company is exploring ventures into social media platforms. “This organization has the potential of accelerating human potential at a pace never seen before and I am deeply committed to shaping these applications toward the public good,” Simo said in the blog post. Here’s everything you need to know about Silicon Valley’s latest executive: Who is Fidji Simo? The 39-year-old is a first-generation high school graduate from the fishing village of Sète in France. As Fast Company previously reported, Simo was named after a perfume worn by her mother, a boutique owner. She graduated from one of France’s most prestigious business schools, HEC Paris, and began her career at eBay in 2007. Facebook alumn Prior to Instacart, Simo served as a senior executive at Facebook, working closely with her former mentor Mark Zuckerberg, and eventually leading the Facebook app prior to the company’s rebrand to Meta. During her tenure from 2011 to 2021, she held roles including Director of Product Management and Vice President of Video, Games, and Monetization. Leading Instacart In January 2021, Simo became CEO of Maplebear Inc., Instacart’s parent company. She went on to lead Instacart’s highly anticipated IPO in 2023, which raised $660 million and valued the company at $9.9 billion. A healthcare iniciative While serving as CEO of Instacart, Simo co-founded the Metrodora Institute after being diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome and endometriosis. The clinic and research center is dedicated to treating women with neuroimmune axis disorders by collecting data from consenting patients and sharing it with partner research institutions in hopes of finding a cure. These disorders include conditions in which the immune system attacks the nervous system, such as lupus, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and long COVID. View the full article

Key Takeaways Direct Customer Engagement: Yelp messaging enables businesses to interact with potential clients in real-time, enhancing customer service and fostering loyalty. Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Quick responses to inquiries can significantly improve customer satisfaction and retention by addressing concerns promptly. User-Friendly Features: The intuitive interface and notification system allow businesses to manage customer messages easily, even outside of operating hours. Lead Generation: By facilitating seamless communication, Yelp messaging can increase lead generation, helping businesses secure more potential customers. Privacy and Response Management: Businesses must prioritize safeguarding customer privacy and implement effective response management to maintain a positive brand reputation. Strategic Integration: Incorporating Yelp messaging into business processes enhances operational efficiency and aligns customer interactions with brand management goals. In today’s fast-paced digital world, effective communication is key to building relationships with customers. Yelp messaging offers a unique platform for businesses to engage directly with potential clients, making it easier than ever to answer questions and address concerns in real-time. This feature not only enhances customer service but also helps you stand out in a competitive market. By leveraging Yelp messaging, you can create a more personal connection with your audience, leading to increased trust and loyalty. Whether you’re a small local business or a larger establishment, understanding how to use this tool effectively can transform the way you interact with your customers. Dive in and discover how to make the most of Yelp messaging to elevate your business and enhance customer satisfaction. Overview Of Yelp Messaging Yelp messaging offers small businesses an effective way to enhance customer service and streamline communication. This tool allows you to interact directly with potential clients in real-time, addressing questions or concerns promptly. By facilitating quick responses, you can significantly improve customer satisfaction, leading to higher retention rates. With Yelp messaging, you can also differentiate your business from competitors. The ability to engage with customers gives you a chance to highlight unique aspects of your services or products. A personal touch fosters trust and loyalty, two vital components for business growth. Utilizing Yelp messaging contributes to efficient project management. As you manage customer inquiries, you establish a workflow that prioritizes communication and responsiveness. This optimization directly supports your overall business strategy by aligning customer interactions with your brand management goals. In today’s competitive landscape, effective communication serves as a cornerstone of operational efficiency. By integrating Yelp messaging into your business processes, you enhance decision-making capabilities. A robust communication channel empowers your team, promoting collaboration and improving customer acquisition strategies. Investing time in mastering Yelp messaging can streamline your customer interactions and boost productivity. Emphasizing timely responses through this platform aligns with your objectives for employee management and customer feedback. Ultimately, leveraging this tool will strengthen your brand and drive sales management efforts, contributing to your long-term success. Features Of Yelp Messaging Yelp messaging offers powerful features that enhance communication for small businesses, facilitating better customer interactions and improved service. User Interface Yelp’s messaging feature presents a user-friendly interface. When customers visit your business profile, they see a customizable call-to-action (CTA) on the right-hand side, making it easy for them to send messages at any time, even beyond your operating hours. This capability enhances your customer service by allowing immediate responses to inquiries, improving overall satisfaction. By encouraging users to provide detailed inquiries, including requests for quotes from multiple vendors, you streamline communication and support business growth. Notification System Yelp’s notification system ensures you never miss a customer inquiry. When a customer sends a message, you receive an email notification that includes the original message. This feature allows for direct responses via email, letting you maintain a dialogue even if you’re not logged into the Yelp application. Such real-time communication fosters deeper customer relationships and aids in effective project management, ensuring timely follow-ups that contribute to customer retention and loyalty. This aspect of the messaging system aligns with your overarching business strategy to enhance operational efficiency and keep your focus on delivering excellent service. Benefits Of Using Yelp Messaging Yelp messaging offers numerous advantages for small businesses, enhancing customer engagement and improving response times. Enhanced Customer Engagement Yelp’s messaging feature makes it easy for customers to reach out to your business without needing to make a phone call. This convenience appeals particularly to users seeking quick communication outside of business hours. Customers can request quotes, consultations, or additional information at their leisure, leading to increased lead generation. For example, a client reported nearly two dozen leads within just two weeks after enabling the messaging feature. Additionally, the option for customers to request quotes from multiple vendors boosts your chances of securing leads that might otherwise slip away. Incorporating this feature into your business strategy fosters better relationships with clients, promoting customer loyalty and retention. Improved Response Time Quickly responding to customer inquiries through Yelp messaging enhances your business operations. Prioritizing timely replies can significantly impact customer satisfaction, as customers appreciate immediate interactions. By maintaining a consistent workflow for responses, you establish a standard of communication that reflects your commitment to excellent customer service. Effective time management through Yelp messaging enhances your team’s capability to address customer needs promptly. This tool not only streamlines communication but also supports your overall project management by allowing you to allocate resources efficiently and ensure customer expectations are met. Challenges And Limitations Yelp messaging presents several challenges and limitations that small businesses need to address effectively to reap its benefits. Privacy Concerns Privacy concerns arise when businesses engage with customers through Yelp messaging. You handle sensitive customer information, which requires a commitment to maintaining privacy. Failure to safeguard this data could result in trust issues with clients, damaging your reputation and customer retention. Implementing secure communication practices is crucial for protecting customer privacy and ensuring compliance with data protection regulations. Response Management Response management represents a significant challenge with Yelp messaging. You must respond to customer inquiries promptly to avoid negative impacts on your response rate and average response time displayed on your Yelp page. Inconsistent or delayed responses can reflect poorly on your customer service, ultimately affecting brand management and reputation. A team member needs to be available to handle messages, which can strain resources if your business lacks sufficient personnel. Efficient time management strategies and a well-defined workflow are essential for maintaining timely communication and ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction. Additionally, businesses often encounter budgeting challenges when it comes to Yelp messaging. Sponsored actions to engage with potential customers can lead to unexpected costs, especially if non-qualified leads flood in. Tracking these expenses and integrating them into your financial planning helps maintain control over your budget without sacrificing opportunities for customer acquisition. Conclusion Embracing Yelp messaging can transform your business’s communication strategy. By connecting directly with customers in real-time you can enhance their experience and build lasting relationships. This tool not only streamlines inquiries but also showcases your commitment to excellent service. As you navigate the challenges that come with this feature remember that prioritizing responsiveness can set you apart from competitors. With effective use of Yelp messaging you can boost customer satisfaction and drive loyalty. Investing time in mastering this platform is a step toward elevating your brand and achieving long-term success. Frequently Asked Questions What is Yelp messaging? Yelp messaging is a feature that allows businesses to communicate directly with potential customers through real-time messaging. It enables businesses to respond to inquiries, questions, and concerns efficiently, enhancing customer engagement and satisfaction. How can Yelp messaging improve customer relationships? Yelp messaging fosters personal connections with customers by allowing timely responses and direct communication. This increased responsiveness can help build trust and loyalty, differentiating businesses in a competitive market. What benefits does Yelp messaging offer small businesses? Yelp messaging provides small businesses with improved customer engagement, quicker response times, and the ability to showcase their services. It helps generate leads and fosters greater customer satisfaction. Are there any challenges associated with Yelp messaging? Yes, businesses may face challenges such as managing customer privacy, maintaining prompt response times, and budgeting for sponsored actions. Careful monitoring and strategic planning can help address these challenges. How does Yelp messaging enhance project management? Yelp messaging streamlines communication by establishing a consistent workflow for customer inquiries. This efficiency allows teams to allocate resources effectively, meeting customer expectations and supporting overall operational goals. Can customers message businesses outside business hours? Yes, customers can send messages to businesses via Yelp messaging even when they are closed. This feature caters to those seeking quick communication, enhancing customer service by providing immediate opportunities for interaction. How does Yelp messaging impact customer satisfaction? Quick and consistent responses through Yelp messaging significantly enhance customer satisfaction. By addressing inquiries promptly, businesses demonstrate their commitment to excellent service, positively impacting customer loyalty and retention. Image Via Envato This article, "Maximize Customer Engagement with Effective Yelp Messaging Strategies" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Key Takeaways Direct Customer Engagement: Yelp messaging enables businesses to interact with potential clients in real-time, enhancing customer service and fostering loyalty. Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Quick responses to inquiries can significantly improve customer satisfaction and retention by addressing concerns promptly. User-Friendly Features: The intuitive interface and notification system allow businesses to manage customer messages easily, even outside of operating hours. Lead Generation: By facilitating seamless communication, Yelp messaging can increase lead generation, helping businesses secure more potential customers. Privacy and Response Management: Businesses must prioritize safeguarding customer privacy and implement effective response management to maintain a positive brand reputation. Strategic Integration: Incorporating Yelp messaging into business processes enhances operational efficiency and aligns customer interactions with brand management goals. In today’s fast-paced digital world, effective communication is key to building relationships with customers. Yelp messaging offers a unique platform for businesses to engage directly with potential clients, making it easier than ever to answer questions and address concerns in real-time. This feature not only enhances customer service but also helps you stand out in a competitive market. By leveraging Yelp messaging, you can create a more personal connection with your audience, leading to increased trust and loyalty. Whether you’re a small local business or a larger establishment, understanding how to use this tool effectively can transform the way you interact with your customers. Dive in and discover how to make the most of Yelp messaging to elevate your business and enhance customer satisfaction. Overview Of Yelp Messaging Yelp messaging offers small businesses an effective way to enhance customer service and streamline communication. This tool allows you to interact directly with potential clients in real-time, addressing questions or concerns promptly. By facilitating quick responses, you can significantly improve customer satisfaction, leading to higher retention rates. With Yelp messaging, you can also differentiate your business from competitors. The ability to engage with customers gives you a chance to highlight unique aspects of your services or products. A personal touch fosters trust and loyalty, two vital components for business growth. Utilizing Yelp messaging contributes to efficient project management. As you manage customer inquiries, you establish a workflow that prioritizes communication and responsiveness. This optimization directly supports your overall business strategy by aligning customer interactions with your brand management goals. In today’s competitive landscape, effective communication serves as a cornerstone of operational efficiency. By integrating Yelp messaging into your business processes, you enhance decision-making capabilities. A robust communication channel empowers your team, promoting collaboration and improving customer acquisition strategies. Investing time in mastering Yelp messaging can streamline your customer interactions and boost productivity. Emphasizing timely responses through this platform aligns with your objectives for employee management and customer feedback. Ultimately, leveraging this tool will strengthen your brand and drive sales management efforts, contributing to your long-term success. Features Of Yelp Messaging Yelp messaging offers powerful features that enhance communication for small businesses, facilitating better customer interactions and improved service. User Interface Yelp’s messaging feature presents a user-friendly interface. When customers visit your business profile, they see a customizable call-to-action (CTA) on the right-hand side, making it easy for them to send messages at any time, even beyond your operating hours. This capability enhances your customer service by allowing immediate responses to inquiries, improving overall satisfaction. By encouraging users to provide detailed inquiries, including requests for quotes from multiple vendors, you streamline communication and support business growth. Notification System Yelp’s notification system ensures you never miss a customer inquiry. When a customer sends a message, you receive an email notification that includes the original message. This feature allows for direct responses via email, letting you maintain a dialogue even if you’re not logged into the Yelp application. Such real-time communication fosters deeper customer relationships and aids in effective project management, ensuring timely follow-ups that contribute to customer retention and loyalty. This aspect of the messaging system aligns with your overarching business strategy to enhance operational efficiency and keep your focus on delivering excellent service. Benefits Of Using Yelp Messaging Yelp messaging offers numerous advantages for small businesses, enhancing customer engagement and improving response times. Enhanced Customer Engagement Yelp’s messaging feature makes it easy for customers to reach out to your business without needing to make a phone call. This convenience appeals particularly to users seeking quick communication outside of business hours. Customers can request quotes, consultations, or additional information at their leisure, leading to increased lead generation. For example, a client reported nearly two dozen leads within just two weeks after enabling the messaging feature. Additionally, the option for customers to request quotes from multiple vendors boosts your chances of securing leads that might otherwise slip away. Incorporating this feature into your business strategy fosters better relationships with clients, promoting customer loyalty and retention. Improved Response Time Quickly responding to customer inquiries through Yelp messaging enhances your business operations. Prioritizing timely replies can significantly impact customer satisfaction, as customers appreciate immediate interactions. By maintaining a consistent workflow for responses, you establish a standard of communication that reflects your commitment to excellent customer service. Effective time management through Yelp messaging enhances your team’s capability to address customer needs promptly. This tool not only streamlines communication but also supports your overall project management by allowing you to allocate resources efficiently and ensure customer expectations are met. Challenges And Limitations Yelp messaging presents several challenges and limitations that small businesses need to address effectively to reap its benefits. Privacy Concerns Privacy concerns arise when businesses engage with customers through Yelp messaging. You handle sensitive customer information, which requires a commitment to maintaining privacy. Failure to safeguard this data could result in trust issues with clients, damaging your reputation and customer retention. Implementing secure communication practices is crucial for protecting customer privacy and ensuring compliance with data protection regulations. Response Management Response management represents a significant challenge with Yelp messaging. You must respond to customer inquiries promptly to avoid negative impacts on your response rate and average response time displayed on your Yelp page. Inconsistent or delayed responses can reflect poorly on your customer service, ultimately affecting brand management and reputation. A team member needs to be available to handle messages, which can strain resources if your business lacks sufficient personnel. Efficient time management strategies and a well-defined workflow are essential for maintaining timely communication and ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction. Additionally, businesses often encounter budgeting challenges when it comes to Yelp messaging. Sponsored actions to engage with potential customers can lead to unexpected costs, especially if non-qualified leads flood in. Tracking these expenses and integrating them into your financial planning helps maintain control over your budget without sacrificing opportunities for customer acquisition. Conclusion Embracing Yelp messaging can transform your business’s communication strategy. By connecting directly with customers in real-time you can enhance their experience and build lasting relationships. This tool not only streamlines inquiries but also showcases your commitment to excellent service. As you navigate the challenges that come with this feature remember that prioritizing responsiveness can set you apart from competitors. With effective use of Yelp messaging you can boost customer satisfaction and drive loyalty. Investing time in mastering this platform is a step toward elevating your brand and achieving long-term success. Frequently Asked Questions What is Yelp messaging? Yelp messaging is a feature that allows businesses to communicate directly with potential customers through real-time messaging. It enables businesses to respond to inquiries, questions, and concerns efficiently, enhancing customer engagement and satisfaction. How can Yelp messaging improve customer relationships? Yelp messaging fosters personal connections with customers by allowing timely responses and direct communication. This increased responsiveness can help build trust and loyalty, differentiating businesses in a competitive market. What benefits does Yelp messaging offer small businesses? Yelp messaging provides small businesses with improved customer engagement, quicker response times, and the ability to showcase their services. It helps generate leads and fosters greater customer satisfaction. Are there any challenges associated with Yelp messaging? Yes, businesses may face challenges such as managing customer privacy, maintaining prompt response times, and budgeting for sponsored actions. Careful monitoring and strategic planning can help address these challenges. How does Yelp messaging enhance project management? Yelp messaging streamlines communication by establishing a consistent workflow for customer inquiries. This efficiency allows teams to allocate resources effectively, meeting customer expectations and supporting overall operational goals. Can customers message businesses outside business hours? Yes, customers can send messages to businesses via Yelp messaging even when they are closed. This feature caters to those seeking quick communication, enhancing customer service by providing immediate opportunities for interaction. How does Yelp messaging impact customer satisfaction? Quick and consistent responses through Yelp messaging significantly enhance customer satisfaction. By addressing inquiries promptly, businesses demonstrate their commitment to excellent service, positively impacting customer loyalty and retention. Image Via Envato This article, "Maximize Customer Engagement with Effective Yelp Messaging Strategies" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. National active housing inventory for sale at the end of April 2025 was up 31% compared to April 2024. That’s just 16% below pre-pandemic levels in April 2019. However, while the national housing market has softened and inventory has surpassed 2019 pre-pandemic levels in some pockets of the Sun Belt, many housing markets remain far tighter than the national average. Pulling from ResiClub’s monthly inventory tracker, we identified the tightest major housing markets heading into the spring 2025 season, where active inventory is still the furthest below pre-pandemic 2019 levels. These markets are where home sellers have maintained more power compared to most sellers nationwide. Among the nation’s 200 largest metro area housing markets, 37 markets (see table below) at the end of April 2025 still had at least 50% less active inventory than in April 2019. That’s lower than last month’s count—when 42 of the nation’s 200 largest metro area housing markets still had active inventory at least 50% below pre-pandemic 2019 levels. Many of those tight markets are in the Northeast, in particular, in states like New Jersey and Connecticut. Unlike the Sun Belt, many markets in the Northeast and Midwest were less reliant on pandemic-era migration and have fewer new home construction projects in progress. With lower exposure to the negative demand shock caused by the slowdown in pandemic-era migration—and fewer homebuilders in these regions offering affordability adjustments once rates spiked—active inventory in many Northeast and Midwest housing markets has remained relatively tight, maintaining a seller’s advantage heading into spring 2025. View the full article

White smoke is pouring out of the Sistine Chapel chimney, signaling that a pope has been elected to lead the Catholic Church. That means the winner secured at least 89 votes of the 133 cardinals participating in the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis. The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers. The name will be announced later, when a top cardinal utters the words “Habemus papam!” Latin for “We have a pope!” from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. The cardinal then reads the winner’s birth name in Latin, and reveals the name he has chosen to be called. The new pope is then expected to make his first public appearance and impart a blessing from the same loggia. Here is the latest: Older cardinals who didn’t participate in the conclave rush out to the square These cardinals lined up as military bands played the Italian and Holy See national anthems. Spotted in the crowd were American Cardinals Sean O’Malley and Donald Wuerl, both of whom are over 80 and didn’t vote. Swiss Guards have taken position in front of front of St. Peter’s Basilica A marching brass band in blue uniforms led a contingent of Swiss guards through the crowd to a central spot below the balcony, generating another huge roar from the crowd. The Pontifical Swiss Guard is the official security force of the Vatican, and holds a ceremonial and a protective function. And now more marching bands are celebrating the election of a new pope in a parade that includes large groups in military dress uniforms. “Vivi il Papa!” erupts from the crowd whenever the music pauses. All eyes are now on the red-draped central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica That’s where a cardinal will soon emerge to “to proclaim a new pope to Rome and to the world.” There is incredible excitement — the crowd is roaring, and some are shouting “hallelujah!” Church bells ring in Spain Moments after white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel, the bells began tolling in Barcelona’s towering Sagrada Familia basilica and the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid, across from the royal palace. The great bells of St. Peter’s Basilica are tolling And down below, amid the cheers in the vast mix of humanity in St. Peter’s square, priests are making the sign of the cross and nuns are weeping at the white smoke wafting into the sky. The crowd erupted with joy in St. Peter’s Square Some are obviously deeply moved, others excited. They’re clapping and waving national flags and taking photos with their phones. “Viva il papa!” some shouted. White smoke is pouring out of the Sistine Chapel chimney It signals that a pope has been elected to lead the Catholic Church. That means the winner secured at least 89 votes of the 133 cardinals participating in the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis. The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers. The name will be announced later, when a top cardinal utters the words “Habemus papam!” Latin for “We have a pope!” from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. The cardinal then reads the winner’s birth name in Latin, and reveals the name he has chosen to be called. The new pope is then expected to make his first public appearance and impart a blessing from the same loggia. The smoke emerged from the chimney at 6:07 p.m. Pope Francis appointed 108 of the cardinals voting for his successor He elevated these men and others who are not eligible to vote in groups throughout his papacy, beginning in January 2014 with 19. They came from around the world, including the developing nations of Haiti and Burkina Faso, in line with his belief the church must pay more attention to the poor and that its hierarchy should reflect the face of the faithful. His last batch was installed in December 2024 with 21 cardinals, 20 of whom are in the conclave. The excitement in the square is contagious At one point there was applause from the crowd as thousands train their eyes on the chimney above the Sistine Chapel, but it was a false alarm. “We want a Pope close to the people and close to us, to the youth, who represent the future of the Church, said Kacper Michalak, 20, a seminarian from Poland who came for the 2025 Jubilee. The holy year is an ancient church tradition encouraging spiritual renewal which encourages pilgrimages to Rome. How long does it take to choose a pope? It’s hard to say precisely. The Vatican doesn’t officially publish the number of votes in past conclaves, and sources compiling their own tallies don’t completely agree. But historical data provide a few clues. The longest conclave since the 20th century began took 14 rounds of balloting across five days, ending with the election of Pius XI in 1922. The shortest, electing Pius XII in 1939, took three ballots over two days. Cardinals must reach a two-thirds majority to elect a pope. That may have been easier in the past: In 1922 there were just 53 voting cardinals, and until 1978 conclaves had fewer than 100. This year there are 133, so 89 votes are needed. These are the US cardinals voting for the next pope The United States is home to 10 of the 133 cardinals eligible to vote for the next pope. That’s more than any other nation except Italy, home to 17 of the electors in the conclave choosing a successor to Pope Francis. Only four of the American electors actively serve as archbishops in the U.S. — Timothy Dolan of New York, Blase Cupich of Chicago, Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, and Robert McElroy of Washington. Two others are retired archbishops, and four have spent many years serving at the Vatican. It’s a mixed group, ideologically. McElroy was one of Francis’ staunchest progressive allies. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a traditionalist, was a frequent critic of Francis. View the full article

Seventeen states are suing President Donald The President‘s administration for withholding billions of dollars for building more electric vehicle chargers, according to a federal lawsuit announced Wednesday. The The President administration in February directed states to stop spending money for electric vehicle charging infrastructure that was allocated under President Joe Biden — part of a broader push by the Republican president to roll back environmental policies advanced by his Democratic predecessor. The EV charger program was set to allocate $5 billion over five years to various states, of which an estimated $3.3 billion had already been made available. The lawsuit is led by attorneys general from California, Colorado and Washington, and challenges the Federal Highway Administration’s authority to halt the funding. They argue Congress, which approved the money in 2021 as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, holds that authority. “These funds were going to be used to shape the future of transportation,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, calling it “short-sighted” of The President to revoke the funds. “We won’t sit back while the The President administration violates the law,” Bonta, a Democrat, said. The U.S. Department of Transportation did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. EVs stood at about 8% of new car sales in the U.S. last year, according to Motorintelligence.com, a sign the market is growing — although the pace has slowed as the auto industry tries to convince mainstream buyers about going electric. The program was meant to assuage some concerns and build infrastructure along highway corridors first, then address gaps elsewhere once the state highway obligations were met. Some states with projects running under the program have already been reimbursed by the Biden-era federal funds. Others are still contracting for their sites. Still more had halted their plans by the time the The President administration ordered states to stop their spending. Regardless, getting these chargers installed and operating has been a slow process with contracting challenges, permitting delays and complex electrical upgrades. It was expected that states would fight against the federal government’s efforts to slow the nation’s electric vehicle charger buildout. New York, for example, which is part of the suit, has been awarded over $175 million in federal funds from the program, and state officials say $120 million is currently being withheld by the The President administration. Even the electric carmaker Tesla, run by Elon Musk, who has spearheaded The President’s Department of Government Efficiency efforts to cut federal spending, benefited greatly from funding under the program, receiving millions of dollars to expand its already-massive footprint of chargers in the U.S. Despite threats to the program, experts have said they expect the nation’s EV charging buildout to continue as automakers look to make good on massive electrification ambitions. Consumers thinking about buying an EV often cite concerns about the availability of charging infrastructure. It’s a hurdle for people living in multifamily dwellings and in rural areas, or what are otherwise known as “charging deserts.” It’s also a problem for people who can’t find a place to charge their vehicle near their work, or who often drive longer highway routes. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said withholding the funds was illegal and would kill thousands of U.S. jobs, ceding them to China. “Instead of hawking Teslas on the White House lawn, President The President could actually help Elon — and the nation — by following the law and releasing this bipartisan funding,” Newsom said, referencing The President’s recent purchase of a Tesla in a show of support for Musk. The The President administration’s effort to withdraw funding for electric vehicle chargers is part of a broader push to roll back environmental policies advanced under Biden. During The President’s first week back in office, he signed executive orders to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement again, reverse a 2030 target for electric vehicles to make up half of new cars sold, and end environmental justice efforts. At the same time, federal agencies under The President have rolled back key rules and regulations and supported the build-out of the fossil fuel industry. The U.S. House also advanced proposals last week aimed at blocking California from enforcing vehicle-emission rules, including a ban on the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. The Senate parliamentarian says the California policies are not subject to the review mechanism used by the House. —Sophie Austin and Alexa St. John, Associated Press/Report for America View the full article

The jobs report and FOMC meeting caused some movement but rates ended up where they started; but any unexpected news could result in swift changes either way. View the full article

Starmer’s choice undermines multilateralism and poses risks to the UKView the full article

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. You can sign up to receive this newsletter every week here. Half of all LLM usage is for writing computer code The tech industry insists that AI will “transform” how companies, both large and small, operate. Tech VCs and AI founders predict that major business functions will be reshaped, one by one, to be handled by AI agents. For a while, many speculated which function would be transformed first. It wasn’t customer service, legal, or marketing: it was software development. Generative AI’s first killer app is coding. Tools like Cursor and Windsurf can now complete software projects with minimal input or oversight from human engineers. Businesses are rushing to capitalize on the efficiency gains offered by AI coding. Naveen Rao, chief AI officer at Databricks, estimates that coding accounts for half of all large language model usage today. A 2024 GitHub survey found that over 97% of developers have used AI coding tools at work, with 30% to 40% of organizations actively encouraging their adoption. (GitHub, owned by Microsoft, created one of the first such tools, Copilot.) Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently said AI now writes up to 30% of the company’s code. Google CEO Sundar Pichai echoed that sentiment, noting more than 30% of new code at Google is AI-generated. The soaring valuations of AI coding startups underscore the momentum. Anysphere’s Cursor just raised $900 million at a $9 billion valuation—up from $2.5 billion earlier this year. Meanwhile, OpenAI acquired Windsurf (formerly Codeium) for $3 billion. And the tools are improving fast. OpenAI’s chief product officer, Kevin Weil, explained in a recent interview that just five months ago, the company’s best model ranked around one-millionth on a well-known benchmark for competitive coders—not great, but still in the top two or three percentile. Today, OpenAI’s top model, o3, ranks as the 175th best competitive coder in the world on that same test. The rapid leap in performance suggests an AI coding assistant could soon claim the number-one spot. “Forever after that point computers will be better than humans at writing code,” he said. One reason for the progress: AI coding tools are gaining stronger reasoning abilities and can process much more information at once. While models retain general knowledge from pretraining, they depend on specific project-related input—such as a software description—provided by a human when it’s time to build something. This information is stored in short-term memory, known as a context window. Currently, state-of-the-art tools can productively consider fewer than 100,000 tokens (units representing words and word parts) at once. But that number is bound to go up. Google DeepMind research scientist Nikolay Savinov said in a recent interview that AI coding tools will soon support 10 million-token context windows—and eventually, 100 million. With that kind of memory, an AI tool could absorb vast amounts of human instruction and even analyze an entire company’s existing codebase for guidance on how to build and optimize new systems. “I imagine that we will very soon get to superhuman coding AI systems that will be totally unrivaled, the new tool for every coder in the world,” Savinov said. Accenture research shows AI ‘reinvention’ of business still far away A large percentage of that first wave of AI projects, numerous industry sources have told me, ran into unforeseen problems—such as messy or incomplete data, missing infrastructure, outdated IT systems, and a lack of in-house expertise—and never made it into production. Many of the projects that did go live failed to prove they were worth the time, money, or effort. One AI company founder told me that, based on his conversations with C-level executives, he believes the success rate of first-wave AI projects was less than 10%. The global consulting firm Accenture recently published research on what separates the winners from the rest of the pack. The firm emphasizes the importance of “thinking big”—that is, scaling AI systems aggressively across users and business functions—as well as securing executive buy-in, reskilling employees, and making significant investments in AI and cloud infrastructure. Accenture refers to companies that meet these criteria and see tangible results as “front runners.” Yet Accenture’s data shows that such companies are still in the minority. After surveying executives at nearly 2,000 companies with more than $1 billion in revenue, the firm found that only about one-third (34%) had made a long-term investment in a generative AI system focused on a core business function. “Accenture’s research revealed that a small minority of companies . . . are already achieving considerable success at reinventing their enterprises with gen AI,” the report states. It also found that among those surveyed, 15% are ready to “reinvent” themselves with AI, 43% are “progressing,” and another 43% are “merely experimenting.” Some companies may have been better off ignoring the early AI hype and waiting for the models, tools, and infrastructure to mature. On the other hand, there’s something to be said for learning by doing—even if the first attempt falls short. Google is putting AI models to work to protect against online and phone scams Online and phone scams, some of them powered by generative AI tools, surged in 2024 and continue to rise. Now, Google is deploying some of its latest AI models to help protect users from these threats. One such model is Gemini Nano, a lightweight AI that can run directly on a user’s device. Now, when a Chrome user enables Enhanced Protection mode in Safe Browsing—the browser’s highest security setting—the Nano model runs locally to scan web content for signs of fraud. It can recognize common scam tactics, such as bad actors posing as remote technical support staff, a tactic Google says is becoming increasingly common. The model is also capable of detecting novel scams it hasn’t encountered before. Google says it plans to use the on-device AI scam protection in the browser on mobile Android devices in the future, and to expand the detection to more types of scams. Google already uses on-device AI to detect scams in other mobile apps. The company recently began warning Android users of possible scams within text messages and phone calls. More AI coverage from Fast Company: How AI is reshaping student writing LinkedIn’s new AI tools help job seekers find smarter career fits AI scam calls are getting smarter. Here’s how telecoms are fighting back Apple eyes AI-powered search as Safari usage declines Want exclusive reporting and trend analysis on technology, business innovation, future of work, and design? Sign up for Fast Company Premium. View the full article

Israel’s ongoing blockade of humanitarian assistance for Gaza forced a leading aid group to shut its community soup kitchens Thursday as it faced empty warehouses and no replenishment of supplies in the war-battered enclave. World Central Kitchen was serving 133,000 meals per day and baking 80,000 loaves of bread over the past weeks, but said it was forced to suspend operations since there is almost no food left in Gaza for the organization to cook. The lack of food is threatening Gaza’s population, already battered by 19 months of war. In April, the World Food Program said its food stocks in Gaza had run out under Israel’s blockade, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory. Shortages due to blockade drive hunger, malnutrition Malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in the Gaza Strip as Israel’s total blockade enters its third month, and aid agencies say supplies to treat and prevent malnutrition are depleted and quickly running out. Israel imposed the blockade on March 2, then shattered a two-month ceasefire by resuming military operations in the territory on March 18. It said both steps aim to pressure the militant Hamas group to release hostages the extremists still hold. Rights groups call the blockade a “starvation tactic” that endangers the entire population and say it is a potential war crime. Community kitchens such as the ones run by World Central Kitchen are often the only way for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza to eat a daily meal. But a third of the communal kitchens supported by the U.N. have closed in the past 10 days for lack of food or fuel, the U.N. humanitarian office, or OCHA, said. It warned that number will plunge further in the coming days because of more imminent closures. “The hot meals provided by these kitchens constitute one of the last remaining lifelines” for Palestinians, OCHA said. At those still open, chaotic scenes of desperate men, women and children fighting to get meager rations are common. Bakeries have closed, while water distribution is grinding to a halt due to lack of fuel. Aid is waiting on the borders Since the start of the war, World Central Kitchen said it has served more than 130 million meals and baked 80 million loaves of bread. The organization also said on Thursday there was no flour left in their mobile bakery. “Our trucks — loaded with food and supplies — are waiting in Egypt, Jordan and Israel, ready to enter Gaza,” said José Andrés, the celebrity chef who founded the organization. “But they cannot move without permission. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow.” COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid to Gaza, said the blockade would continue unless the Israeli government changed its policy. ‘Hamas is engineering hunger’ Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said the government was concerned that Hamas has control of humanitarian aid, and that Israeli officials are “actively exploring mechanisms” to get aid only to “those in need and not Hamas.” “It’s very, very important to remember that it is hunger which is engineered by Hamas,” Mencer said. Israel will remove the blockade when Hamas lays down its weapons, he said. Aid workers deny there is a significant diversion of aid to militants, saying the U.N. strictly monitors distribution. Since the start of the year, more than 10,000 children have been admitted or treated for acute malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization. The increase was particularly dramatic in March, with 3,600 cases — an 80% increase, compared to the 2,000 children in February, UNICEF reported. Nearly half the 200 nutrition centers around Gaza have shut down because of displacement and bombardment. World Central Kitchen had previously suspended operations in April of last year after seven aid workers were killed in Israeli strikes on their convoy, before resuming weeks later. Toll in Gaza continues to rise The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said Thursday the bodies of 106 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 367 wounded, the ministry said in its daily report. The overall Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war rose to at least 52,760 since Oct. 7, 2023, the ministry said. Another 119,264 have been wounded, it said. It said the tally includes 2,651 dead and 7,223 wounded since Israel resumed the war on March 18, shattering the ceasefire after nearly two-month hiatus. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the dead were women and children. The Israeli military said they are targeting Hamas infrastructure in Gaza. On Wednesday, chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told commanders Israel was about to enter phase 2 of operations in Gaza, where Israel plans to “expand and intensify our operations. 1 killed, 8 injured in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon Also on Thursday, a series of Israeli airstrikes hit hilltops in the vicinity of the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, killing at least one person and wounding eight others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The Israeli military said it bombed infrastructure that belonged to the Hezbollah militant group and included weapons and tunnels. Israel said that Hezbollah’s activities at the site violated a November ceasefire. Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the strikes. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said public institutions in the area were closed after the attacks as families rushed to schools to take their children home. Since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November stopped the war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon have continued. Hezbollah says its has largely disarmed south of the Litani River, while Israel insists the militants are rearming themselves. Some 4,000 people in Lebanon were killed during the war, including many civilians. Journalist from Jenin detained for six months A renowned Palestinian journalist arrested by the Israeli military and suffering from multiple chronic illnesses has been placed on six months of administrative detention, the Israeli military said. Ali Samoudi, who has worked for international news outlets including CNN and Al Jazeera, was detained late last month by the Israeli military from his family home in the city of Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and has spent part of the time in the hospital due to chronic health issues. The Israeli military said Samoudi was detained based on involvement in “actions endangering regional security” but that a police investigation did not find sufficient evidence against him to issue an arrest. However, on Thursday, a military court decided to place him under administrative detention for six months. Israeli authorities can renew administrative detentions indefinitely. Detainees are held without charge or trial. Israel says the controversial tactic is necessary to contain dangerous militants and avoid divulging incriminating material for security reasons. But Palestinians and rights groups say the system denies due process and is widely abused. —Wafaa Shurafa and Kareem Chehayeb, Associated Press Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman contributed to this report. View the full article

Once a year, a crowd of thousands of runners fill Central Park as they look up at the sky with joy, relief, exhaustion, and tears, knowing they just completed the iconic TCS New York City Marathon. Recognizing the endless storytelling opportunities that come from the event, New York Road Runners (NYRR), the nonprofit behind the marathon, is launching its own production studio, East 89th St Productions. “It was clear to me that this was a huge opportunity for the organization from the first day that I went to the finish line of the marathon,” NYRR CEO Rob Simmelkjaer says. “It’s rare that you can look and see total strangers by the hundreds, having a moment that you know they’re never going to forget.” Named after NYRR’s early headquarters on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, East 89th St Productions partnered with Tribeca Studios to produce Final Finishers, a short documentary film showcasing the last tens of thousands of runners crossing the finish line in the final hours of the NYC Marathon. The film is set to premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival on June 12. ‘A very significant next step’ The launch of NYRR’s production studio is a continuation of a larger effort to reach and connect with wider audiences through content creation. Prior to assuming his leadership position in December 2022, Simmelkjaer spent almost 10 years at ESPN and eight years at NBC Sports. At the start of his tenure at NYRR, he set out long-term plans, including broadening awareness of NYRR’s initiatives beyond organizing over 60 local races. Due to his background in media, Simmelkjaer saw content creation and storytelling as the logical next step towards building awareness and community. “I had to sell both internally and externally the idea that this was an essential part of what we do, because we needed to be talking to our existing audience of runners and members and stakeholders in a new way,” he says. In addition to expanding its existing content creation team, which focused on broadcasting the races and managing the organization’s social media, Simmelkjaer branched into podcasting. With over 100 episodes, “Set the Pace” features stories from runners, as well as running tips, every Thursday, in partnership with Peloton. “The podcast was like a beachhead for us. It kind of planted our flag on the beach in terms of content,” Simmelkjaer says. “The studio is a very significant next step in the evolution of this vision.” Take the money and run In addition to building community engagement, content creation is also driving the nonprofit toward another goal: diversifying revenue streams. While NYRR relies primarily on race entry fees and philanthropic donations, content creation opens the door for monetization, new partnerships, and the creation of a deeper connection between donors and the nonprofit’s mission. “At the heart of every nonprofit is a mission and that mission can always be told as a story or a set of stories,” Simmelkjaer says. The expansion to content creation as a broader strategy can also be adopted by other mission-based nonprofits, visually showcasing the impact of an organization. “When donors support a cause, there is something that is moving them to support that cause,” Simmelkjaer says. “There’s something the nonprofit is bringing about a world that the donor wants to see. When you can see in really human and understandable terms what impact that an organization is having, I think that’s going to be more powerful than any PowerPoint presentation can ever be.” View the full article

Debate highlights uncertain outlook for UK growth and ‘plethora of risks’ facing economyView the full article

Cardinals have chosen the next leader of the Catholic Church View the full article

The social media platform X said Thursday it has blocked access to jailed Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu ’s account in Turkey, complying with a Turkish court order — the latest measure targeting a key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, Elon Musk‘s X said that while the company abided by the order, it disagrees with it and is legally challenging it. It said X complied to avoid severe punishments, such as the throttling of the whole platform in Turkey. “X has been and will continue to object to removal orders including government requests in courts to protect users when those requests do not align with principles of free expression, due process, or other local laws,” the company said on its Global Government Affairs account. The statement said X maintains that “keeping the platform accessible in (Turkey) is vital to supporting freedom of expression and access to information.” Imamoglu, seen as the main opposition challenger to Erdogan’s 22-year rule, was arrested on March 19 and jailed on corruption charges. He was nominated as his Republican People’s Party, or CHP’s presidential candidate while in custody. His arrest has been widely viewed as politically motivated although the government insists Turkey’s judiciary is independent and free of political influence. It triggered widespread demonstrations calling for his release and an end to Turkey’s democratic backsliding under Erdogan. According to Engelli Web, a website that that tracks and reports internet censorship in Turkey, X restricted Imamoglu’s account in Turkey complying with a legal request by Turkish authorities who cited national security and public order concerns. A notice that appears on Imamoglu’s account, which has 9.7 million followers, says it has been “withheld in TR in response to a legal demand.” The account remains accessible outside of Turkey. Gonenc Gurkaynak, a lawyer representing X in Turkey, said he had filed an appeal on behalf of the platform against the decision blocking the account. He said he had submitted a 27-page petition and hundreds of pages of supporting documents to the court. The Turkish presidency’s Center for Countering Disinformation said the court decision followed an investigation into a post by Imamoglu on X, which prosecutors assessed to be an incitement to commit a crime. Authorities also ruled that because Imamoglu is currently detained, his account is not directly managed by him and therefore poses a threat to public order. On Thursday, CHP’s leader Ozgur Ozel welcomed X’s decision to challenge the court order but said the platform should have resisted complying with it. “X should not impose this restriction, which contradicts universal freedoms and the company’s own principles,” he said and urged Imamoglu’s supporters to follow the mayor’s international account and re-share his posts. Ozel also criticized Erdogan’s administration saying that “there probably is no other government that uses its judicial power so unfairly against its opponent.” Despite his detention, Imamoglu had remained active on social media. Supporters criticized the restriction as an assault on free speech in Turkey. They showed solidarity with the mayor by replacing their profile pictures with Imamoglu’s image. —Suzan Fraser, Associated Press View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Samsung just announced a new live stream for the upcoming Galaxy S25 Edge. The company initially teased the phone at Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event back in January, but details are still slim on the upcoming device. How to stream Samsung 'Beyond Slim' (and reserve your phone)Samsung's "Beyond Slim" live stream for the "slimmest Galaxy S Series ever" will air on May 12 at 8 p.m. ET (May 13 at 9 a.m. KST). You'll be able to watch the event via Samsung's website or on the company's YouTube channel, which you can find below: If you are excited to get your hands on the new Galaxy S25 Edge, you can reserve the new phone from Samsung's website. In return, you'll get a $50 credit you can use on the Samsung store. Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge rumored specsWhile official details about the Galaxy S25 Edge are still under wraps, that hasn't slowed the speculation. The Galaxy S25 Edge could be just 5.84mm thick. (For comparison, the standard Galaxy S25 is 7.2mm thick.) Leaks suggest that Samsung is putting a 3,900 mAh battery in the S25 Edge's slim design, which makes it the smallest battery in the Galaxy S25 lineup. Like the rest of the Galaxy S25 series, the Galaxy S25 Edge will presumably run the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip with up to 12GB of RAM. The phone could also have a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. For cameras, leaks suggest the phone will be packing a dual-lens setup, which includes a 200MP main lens and a 12MP ultrawide. Rumored pricing for the Galaxy S25 Edge suggest the phone will cost between the Galaxy S25+ ($999) and the Galaxy S25 Ultra ($1,299), but we'll have to wait for confirmation at the live stream next week. View the full article