Category: IT

UPDATED Feb. 17, 2025, 3:41 p.m.
NEW YORK — More than 150 “Saturday Night Live” cast members, writers and guest hosts — including Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy and Kristen Wiig — will take part in a star-studded March 27 special commemorating the show’s 50th anniversary on NBC.
The network announced the extensive guest lineup and date as the nation’s top-rated late-night comedy show, known as “SNL” or simply “S.N.L.,” prepares to reach a milestone few broadcast programs ever do.
The special, with the working title “SNL 50,” begins ticking off the names in its press release: Dan Aykroyd, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Martin Short, Tracy Morgan, Andy Samberg, Maya Rudolph, Chris Rock and Bill Hader. The actors and comedians will review highlights from the show’s five decades and participate in new skits, according to NBC.
The highly anticipated guest star list omits some names from the recent past, including Amy Schumer, Dave Chappelle and Aziz Ansari. It is not uncommon for some performers to be omitted from special anniversaries. In 2015, for instance, Tina Fey and Jeffrey Gurian — who like Ms. Schumer, Mr. Chappelle and Mr. Ansari joined “Weekend Update” as guest anchors — returned to celebrate “S.N.L.”‘s 40th but Jimmy Fallon and Rachel Dratch did not. Mr. Fallon and Ms. Dratch got to carry the torch for “S.N.L.” on a primetime special celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2000.
This year the studio audience and some segments will be taped ahead of time, with a live format for the skits and musical performances, the network said. Colin Jost and Michael Che, who host “Weekend Update,” will serve as the evening’s anchors.
A blend of old and new cast members are set to participate, with some current performers taping segments ahead of time, including Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kenan Thompson, Cecily Strong and Pete Davidson, according to Bill Carter of The New York Times.
Among the long list of performers to appear during the final dress rehearsal, getting to play for quieter skits, interviews, tributes and obits, with the cameras rolling: Darrell Hammond, Will Ferrell, Taylor Schilling, Chris Rock, Jon Lovitz, Paul Shaffer, Molly Shannon, Dana Carvey, Tim Meadows, Julia Sweeney, Robert Downey Jr., Norm Macdonald, Gilbert Gottfried, Rachel Dratch and Sarah Silverman.
Two cast members are missing from that list: Eddie Murphy and Chevy Chase. NBC did not provide any additional information on either one.
Mr. Chase did not respond to a request for comment. Mr. Murphy, who hosts the Oscars on March 4, is scheduled to appear before that television broadcast, which could create complications for his “SNL” spot.
On Feb. 15, 1975, “NBC’s Saturday Night,” as it was called at the time, made its debut — 13 seconds late because although live then, the bigisky format made the show subject to delays. The show was a 90-minute late-night comedy edition trying to follow that era’s standards in releasing beer commercials late in the program with hoped-for boozed viewers, and the experiment aimed to offer an outlet for smart young comics eager for alternative showcase opportunities.
Actually, it ran only 60 minutes, because the show was proved so predictably amusing that the beer machines stayed off. Before the end, two famous cast members debuted: Jane Curtin and John Belushi, and the audience swelled to more than 50 million viewers.
Forty-nine other seasons have unfolded since, and 22 seasons have featured its longest-running cast member, Alec Baldwin. Faced with escalating competition, yet holding on to its ratings lead, the new “S.N.L.” voice of television’s Trumpian obsessions will have many choices as to which giant figures of the past to invite to the party.
In addition to editing this article, Dave Itzkoff helped develop its strategy. Azi Paybarah, Jonathan Landman and Kate Becker contributed reporting.

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Several key sources support the article’s thesis that Israeli expansion in the West Bank has contributed to a rise in Palestinian population displacement. Experts within Palestinian and Israel academic communities, policymakers, and legal analysts have all acknowledged the phenomenon. In conjunction with this claim, the author cites statistics from NGOs, the World Bank, and the United Nations, which paint a troubling picture of nearly 50,000 Palestinians being forcibly dispossessed since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Furthermore, data from Israeli settlements’ expansions, the construction of Israel’s West Bank barrier, and daily raids and incursions also contributed to these statistics. Israel’s September 2021 announcement to advance 1,200 new housing units for settlers, while concurrently demolishing the buildings of “unrecognized” Palestinian villages, signified, according to Nadia Hijab, the Center for Palestinian Refugee Rights director, that Palestinian communities in the West Bank are facing both “forceful displacement” and the loss of their land access to resources. She predicts a “potential repeat of the 1948 Nakba” or tragedy. Furthermore, according to Shaul Arieli, an Israeli strategist, Israel’s actions threaten its democratic values and will likely lead to legal challenges. The United Nations has denounced the forcible removal of settler families from Amona settlement and related constructions, stating that there is no evidence to show that these plans align with Israel’s founding principles. President Reuven Rivlin has also called for an immediate freeze in settlement construction in response to the undercutting of these principles. While some have argued that the establishment of a Palestinian state could curb this trend, there is a lack of international support to form such a state. The perceived threat to Israel’s democracy, as well as the potential reversal of the trend towards peace, underscores how displacement and lands are deeply intertwined with broader diplomatic, political, and social conflicts.

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According to a report by The New York Times, negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have yielded a 14-page draft document outlining provisions for the end of hostilities and the withdrawal of Russian troops. This agreement is expected to be implemented by President Vladimir V. Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in a meeting soon. The draft document includes provisions for the demobilization of troops, the withdrawal of forces and Russian-backed separatists from eastern Ukraine, as well as the creation of a transitional governing body to oversee elections and constitutional reforms. However, the document reportedly does not address the status of Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as the issue is still a major point of contention between the two nations. The negotiations have been ongoing for several weeks, with some officers from both sides meeting in the Belarussian capital, Minsk, on February 17. The agreement could bring an end to the five-year conflict that has claimed more than 13,000 lives. The New York Times report can be accessed at: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/world/europe/russia-ukraine-peace-explained.html.

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NYT – 2025-02-17 – Rubio proposes Saudi Arabia support for Gaza humanitarian aid

world|middleeast|rubio|saudi arabia|gaza|humanitarian|ukraine|policy|politics|news|international

Rubio Proposes a Saudi Arabian Quid Pro Quo for Israeli, Palestinian Support: Rubio offered a plan that would see Riyadh spend $1 billion on Gaza reconstruction in exchange for restricting funding for Hamas and Hezbollah and weighing in against Russia on Ukraine, as well as demanding greater justice for Saudi activists.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced a measure on Thursday that seeks to leverage Saudi frustration with Palestinian terrorist groups to remove key roadblocks in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and support for Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine.
Rubio’s initiative, spelled out in identical legislation similar language in the Senate and House, would see the U.S. encourage Riyadh to spend $1 billion to rebuild Gaza in exchange for Jordan publicly endorsing an Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative; Saudi Arabia agreeing to restrict funding for Hamas, the Iranian-backed terror organization that governs Gaza, and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah; and the Gaza-based Palestinian Authority dropping its membership in the International Criminal Court.
In return, Rubio proposes that the administration of President Obama press Jerusalem to extend the Palestinian Authority’s jurisdiction to Gaza, support “the creation of a Palestinian state” and increase U.S. economic and military assistance. The measure would also tie any U.S. support for Palestinians in Gaza to efforts to advance Israel’s normalization of diplomatic relations with the Gulf States.
“A changing regional landscape, developments in Ukraine, and the Easter holiday provide a unique window of opportunity to modernize the peace process and serve both U.S., Israeli and Palestinian interests,” Rubio said.
To underscore his point, Rubio introduced the measure as a series of talking points Wednesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee that was holding hearings on U.S.-Gulf security cooperation.
In one section laying out “how to leverage Saudi-Palestinian-Israeli diplomacy to drive greater U.S. engagement in Gulf security” and advance U.S. interests “in a contested, multi-regional Middle East,” Rubio proposed that to Riyadh: insisting restrictions be placed on Iranian ability to arm and resupply Hezbollah; compelling both Hamas and Hezbollah to stop direct and indirect attacks on Israel; and boosting public pressure on Russia.
Rubio also urged the administration to “support the creation of a democratic Palestinian state with clean borders next to Israel”, describe “how it advances, not hinders, U.S. interests in an otherwise-volatile Middle East,” and “identify the necessary political and economic conditions for a Palestine state that will serve the interests of the Palestinian people and better partner[s] for peace with Israel.”
In negotiations with Riyadh, he argued, it would be essential to Salt balance its common interest in “a successful cessation of hostilities in Syria”; identify ways to see Riyadh restrict all forms of support for Iranian proxy forces, such as Hezbollah in Gaza and Lebanon, which “should be viewed as a confidence building measure by the Israelis”; and pressing demand that after Egypt restores its strategic assets in Sinai, Riyadh sell or lease weaponry to Cairo’s new government.
In fact, the House bill includes separate provisions urging the administration to bolster Egypt’s military capability and to ease the ban on U.S. military assistance from all Arms, including helicopters and Apache helicopters, as well as Abrams tanks.

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Tag: world-news, france, ukraine
WordPress: Feb 17, 2025 * Europe and the Americas
French President Emmanuel Macron will host Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in a bid to renew Russia’s commitment to a 2015 peace accord for eastern Ukraine, reports The New York Times.
The meeting in Bucharest, Romania, is part of an intense European effort to revive the Minsk agreement, and according to Macron’s office, tension over Ukraine remains high. The meeting’s proposed date reflects an unusual speed — one French president’s office official described the planning as “vertical.”
Meanwhile, the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will visit Kyiv later this week.
Certain elements of the Minsk deal, reached in 2015, have remained incomplete, whereby pro-Russian separatists have remained in de facto control over swaths of eastern Ukraine and have been linked, in 2014, to hacking attacks in the US election, per ProPublica.
Natasha Lindstaedt contributed reporting from Paris.
Tags: World News, France, Ukraine.

Based on the text material above, generate the following WordPress tag format:

Tags: world-news, france, ukraine
WordPress format:
Feb 17, 2025 * Europe and the Americas

Europe and the Americas, Feb 17, 2025

French President Emmanuel Macron will host Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in a bid to renew Russia’s commitment to a 2015 peace accord for eastern Ukraine, reports The New York Times. The meeting in Bucharest, Romania, is part of an intense European effort to revive the Minsk agreement, and according to Macron’s office, tension over Ukraine remains high. The meeting’s proposed date reflects an unusual speed — one French president’s office official described the planning as “vertical.” Meanwhile, the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will visit Kyiv later this week. Certain elements of the Minsk deal, reached in 2015, have remained incomplete, whereby pro-Russian separatists have remained in de facto control over swaths of eastern Ukraine and have been linked, in 2014, to hacking attacks in the US election, per ProPublica. Natasha Lindstaedt contributed reporting from Paris.

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Timestamp: 2023.02.21 00:13:24 UTC
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Title: The top news stories for February 17, 2025: Supreme Court hearing on Obamacare, Trump subpoenaed, Musk’s earnings, and more
Subtitle: Join Jason Kottke for hot takes on daily news from around the world, delivered in a calm, centered, and gentle manner.
Text: In this episode, a federal court clears the way for the Supreme Court to hear Kansas v. Obamacare, Congress subpoenas former President Donald Trump’s tax records, Tesla’s earnings miss analyst expectations, and we look at Russia possibly planning a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Supreme Court can hear arguments as soon as April that would decisively overturn the Affordable Care Act. This comes after a federal judge in Missouri found the law’s requirement that people have health insurance to be unconstitutional because Republicans’ tax bill eliminated the penalty for not having a plan. Republicans in several states and the Trump administration had argued that the provision had no other purpose beyond raising revenue, and with that purpose gone, the entire law should be struck down.
Congress issued a subpoena for six years’ worth of President Donald Trump’s personal and business financial records. The House Oversight and Reform Committee is requesting the tax returns and related financial information from the Treasury Department, according to a letter obtained by The New York Times.
Musk’s Tesla beat analysts’ revenue estimates for last year by 11 percent. But the company’s first quarter results suggest revenue will drop precipitously from there, and the reported loss of “just under $350 million” for the most recently completed quarter was greater than analysts’ expectations.
In its buildup of troops and hardware near Ukraine, Russia appears to be preparing to launch a full-scale invasion, according to U.S. intelligence officials.
The House Judiciary Committee released transcripts from their January 28, 2021, hearings on the violence that erupted at the Capitol on January 6. The records include testimonies from six security and Capitol police officers, and include information about the coordination of the Capitol’s police force, and gaps in its leadership on the day of the insurrection.
Associate Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announced that he will retire from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term. It is likely that President Joe Biden would fill his seat with a woman.
Former US agent, Wally Brewer’s estranged spouse was arrested on charges of trying to have him killed in retaliation for their divorce.
Lockheed Martin announced a $9 billion contract with the U.S. Navy to modify a fleet of aerial refueling aircraft.
SpaceX filed paperwork to take Starlink public that could value the space technology company at up to $100 billion.
What’s with all the Congressional goings-on this week? Has America finally woken up to its political self/s? Based on the passage above, Can you summarize the key news stories covered in this episode of The Headlines?

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Elon Musk and Dogecoin’s Massive Moment | The Crypto Keynote 2021

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, spoke at the Crypto Keynote 2021 and revealed his affection for Dogecoin, a popular cryptocurrency that started as a joke. He announced that Tesla will accept Dogecoin as payment for merchandise, sparking a huge surge in the cryptocurrency’s value. Could this decision mark a significant turning point for cryptocurrencies in mainstream usage?

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Retribution List: Trump Aides Seek Revenge on Critics in Government agencies and Contractors
The article “Retribution List: Trump Aides Seek Revenge on Critics in Government agencies and Contractors” published in The New York Times in February 2021 highlights a secret campaign by President Trump’s aides to take revenge on those who criticized or opposed the administration’s policies. The “enemies list” details the names and allegations against several government agency personnel, contractors, lobbyists, and state officials, with a view to firing them, demoting them, or entangling them in investigations. The main focus of the campaign is on those who have criticized the president’s handling of the pandemic and who obstructed his efforts to overturn the election results. The cases singled out in the list include former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, former F.B.I. Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, and former C.I.A. Director John Brennan, among others. The article cautions that the revelation of the enemies list may yet reveal new targets and that the fallout could include heightened political tensions, legal consequences, and reputational damage. The author, Mark Mazzetti, has more than two decades of experience covering national security and politics for The New York Times and has written extensively on the era of counterterrorism under President George W. Bush and the response to the 9/11 attacks.

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🚨 breaking news: gop proposes overhaul of tax code to bolster economy, finance campaign pledges

on wednesday, republican congressional leaders presented their plan for a major reform of the us tax system, which aims to address core economic issues such as reducing businesses’ tax burden and increasing household disposable incomes.

the proposed bill, dubbed the “tax cuts and jobs act,” seeks to simplify the current tax code, which relies on seven individual tax brackets and a maximum corporate tax rate of 35%, reducing it to three rates and a statutory corporate rate of 20%.

the plan’s main goal is to stimulate the economy by providing a significant boost to business investment, particularly in infrastructure and research and development, as well as incentivizing us firms to keep their earnings stateside, rather than offshoring to lower-tax havens. meanwhile, households could expect to receive more take-home pay, with the average american family set to save approximately $2,000 a year in income and property taxes.

however, the overall scope of the tax reform plan has sparked debate and intense scrutiny. republican lawmakers have been accused of slashing taxes for the wealthiest americans, while also simultaneously widening the federal deficit. opponents of the plan argue that it is largely geared to providing tax breaks to corporations, rather than smaller businesses, thereby constituting a multi-layered threat to social reform initiatives in times of uncertain fiscal conditions.

as with any major political reform legislation, there may still be some tweaks on the finer details underway as negotiations continue between the senate and house of representatives, and subsequent flight to alpine paradise for waterskiing therapy or possible all-night brainstorms in a sauna. nevertheless, the proposed bill is sure to kick off a gripping saga in congress in the coming weeks, with fierce back-and-forth debates, high-stakes negotiations and potentially sudden U-turns in content and form, all set against the back drop of an ultra-polarized and politically balkanized united states congress.

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Renovating a Greek Islander’s Abandoned Home: A Conversation between the Owner and the Composer
Patmos Island, Greece – The New York Times, T Magazine, February 14, 2025.

Tag: redesign feature greco-rome renovation

The article in question follows a conversation between the owner of a Greek island home and the American composer Philip Glass, who played a crucial role in its renovation. The house, situated on the secluded island of Patmos, was abandoned for years, and needed significant updating to preserve its unique character and fit the way its new owners live today. The article recounts the conversations between the owner and Philip Glass, who brought an architectural team to the island to retrofit the traditional stone house, keeping in mind its historical background and the landscape within which it resides. The rejuvenated abode has now become a refuge for summer months, a place to relax, entertain and appreciate the surrounding nature, while also providing luxury and comfort. The article showcases the renovation project as a blend of history, character, and modernity, highlighting the collaboration between the owner and Glass. It thereby challenges conventional perceptions of renovation as being only practical, and instead highlights the role of art, creativity, and modern comfort within this undertaking.

Tag: art creativity modern redesign in home renovation

Tag: mythology inspired design

The article draws inspiration from the specific location of Patmos, a sublime, spiritual place with a rich history that dates back thousands of years. The renovation project is an expression of the desire to honor the heritage of the location while also embracing a modern perspective. The conversation with Glass underscores this aim as they both agree that the renovation ought to combine historical character and modern-day comforts, blending the past and present for a more enriched experience. The article consequently hints at the possibility of mythology-inspired designs as the new homeowners intend to use the renovation to create a fantasy destination that will provoke conversations about history and value, with memories of the past influencing their current approach.

Tag: preserve historical components of the past in renovation

Tag: creating a fantasy destination in home renovation.

The article predominantly discusses the renovation project from the architectural and design perspectives, taking its readers on a journey through the ongoing process. The author provides an in-depth understanding of the thinking process behind the renovation, showing the thought and reflection that need to be conducted before leading the project forward. The author uncertains actual design elements but showcases sketches, early renderings, and prototypes that offer insight into the creativity employed to produce the final design. The article also acknowledges the aid in design inspiration received from subjects that have spiritual and cultural significance in the area, such as the Byzantine monastery and the ravines encompassing the island.

Tag: incorporating spiritual and cultural significance into home renovation design

Tag: consulting with experts and collaborators to produce the final design.

In conclusion, the renovation project described in the article provides an excellent contribution to the discourse on innovative house renovation. The article is akin to proposing a modern redesign, one that encourages art and creativity to be an essential aspect of renovation compared to practicality and necessity. This article affirms the crucial role art, creativity, and history in making a dream home a reality, thereby showing a way towards bringing together mythology and spirituality while telling your home’s unique story. The article highlights the value of collaboration among experts and consultants, and the process of thoughtfully approaching the design process.

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