Latest news with #Hollywood-style
Hindustan Times
12 hours ago
- General
- Hindustan Times
It is heartening to see singles find love in new little ways, says Simran Mangharam
There is a tribe of people in their 40s who have come to terms with not finding a life partner. They are open to different types of relationships. They either did not ever seek marriage, or have made their peace with not finding their way to long-term commitment. The one thing many do still seek is an anchor in their lives that can lend purpose to their everyday, be the recipient of the love they hold, and constitute, essentially, their family. For a growing number of single people, adoption is proving to be the path to such an anchor. While it can feel lonely being a single parent, one is certainly never alone. It has been heartening, in recent years, to see clients find love in this way. One such woman, let's call her Lisa, is a journalist in her mid-40s who lives with her parents in Delhi. She emerged from the pandemic determined to take what felt like the next step for her: that of adoption. It took her over a year to win her parents over to the idea. As she waits her turn, having filed her paperwork, Lisa is preparing for life as a mother. She is reorganising her finances, researching schools, breaking the idea to friends and family. She came to me with questions about dating. As the single mother of an adopted child, how should she do things differently, she asked. I decided to connect her with another client of mine, a 50-year-old named Anita, who has been a single adoptive parent for 13 years. Their conversations have been enlightening. Anita has been honest and candid about what life as a parent, particularly a single parent, can be like. With an adopted child, she pointed out, the tangles can be crueller. Navigating the neighbourhood and community can be particularly tricky. People, even other parents at school, may directly ask your child, 'Beta, what happened to your papa,' Anita warned. Support groups for adoptive parents can help one figure out, early on, how to handle such situations. (There is no perfect answer, of course; and especially to an adopted child, the question can be traumatic.) To Lisa's original questions about dating, Anita pointed out that any sort of relationship would have to be put on hold for as long as it took to bond with the child and make them feel secure. 'I couldn't even think of bringing another person into this equation for at least a couple of years,' she added. The joy that her daughter has brought into her life is undeniable, she said. They are a family; it is the family she always wanted. But there is no Hollywood-style turning point after which everything turns rosy. She and her child, who is now 14, are currently in counselling together, for instance, as they try to work out communication issues that have emerged in her daughter's teen years. 'I sometimes don't know how to react to the ways in which she acts out, and counselling is helping with that,' she said. (Incidentally, I would recommend counselling to all families at the teen stage, in our complicated times.) Through it all, Anita said, her child has filled her life with love, meaning and a sense of purpose. As much as she had been looking forward to it, building her family turned out to be more fulfilling than she had expected. To wake up with the person one adores, exchange little acts of kindness through the day, navigate the squabbles and annoyances together: that is, after all, what true love is, in any of its forms. (Simran Mangharam is a dating and relationship coach and can be reached on simran@
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
New Shriners tech will help young athletes safely return to sports following injuries
Shriners Children's Erie is advancing its understanding of orthopedic and neuromuscular conditions through cutting-edge motion analysis technology. The Motion Analysis Center at Shriners Children's Erie utilizes Hollywood-style motion capture technology to track and analyze patients' movements in 3-D, providing biomechanical insights beyond what the human eye can see. 'It creates lines and then we're able to measure; it's all about angles,' said Sarah Steeb, a physical therapist at Shriners Children's Erie. 'The test itself doesn't clear a patient; it just assists with that clinical decision-making that the medical provider would then clear the patient,' Steeb explained. The Motion Analysis Center, known as MAC, is one of 14 locations across the nation using advanced technology to support young athletes returning to sports safely after injury. Police reminding public about laws on mini, e-bikes after Monday crash Ava Bailey, a 17-year-old student athlete diagnosed with scoliosis, uses the MAC for 'return to sport testing,' which includes a physical exam and subjective history before executing skills like cutting, running, jumping, and shuffling. 'We do three trials each. It's kind of tedious; she has to hit certain spots on our force plates on the ground, but we have to make sure that line's perfect, and then we take that data and determine where she needs strengthening,' Steeb said. Bailey, who is interested in a career in physical therapy, discovered through testing that her left leg might be weaker, which was previously unknown to her. The staff at Shriners Children's Erie collaborates with other Shriners facilities and universities to share research in areas including mathematics and biomedical engineering. Local farmers fall behind due to wet, cold spring Scott Coughenour, a MAC engineer at Shriners Children's Erie, noted the collaboration with engineers in Philadelphia who help teach and pass on their years of experience. With the help of the Motion Analysis Center, Shriners Children's Erie continues to provide innovative solutions for young athletes and patients, enhancing their recovery and return to sports. All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WJET/WFXP. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WJET/WFXP staff before being published. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Kuwait Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Kuwait Times
Turkey, PKK must change for peace, says former militant
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey: 'When you try and explain peace to people, there is a very serious lack of trust,' said Yuksel Genc, a former fighter with the PKK, which recently ended its decades-long armed struggle against the Turkish state. Talking over a glass of tea in a square in Diyarbakir, the biggest city in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, this 50-year-old former fighter with long auburn curls is worried about how the nascent rapprochement between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) will play out. 'The guerillas are sincere, but they don't think the state is,' said Genc, her words briefly interrupted by the roar of a fighter jet flying overhead. 'They think the government does not trust them.' For years, she was a fighter with the Kurdish rebel group, which on May 12 said it would disarm and disband, ending a four-decade armed struggle against the Turkish state that cost more than 40,000 lives. The historic move came in response to an appeal by its jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan, arrested in 1999 and serving life in solitary ever since on a prison island near Istanbul. Genc herself joined the militants in 1995 when she was a 20-year-old university student in Istanbul. 'At that time, many Kurdish villages were being burnt down, and we were constantly hearing about villages being evacuated, people being displaced and unsolved murders,' she said. She described it as 'a time of terrible repression'. 'You felt trapped, as if there was no other way than to join the guerrillas,' she said. Four years later, after years in exile, Ocalan was snatched by Turkish commandos in a Hollywood-style operation in Nairobi. 'Ocalan's capture provoked a deep sense of rage among the guerrillas, who feared it would mean the Kurdish cause would be destroyed,' she said. But it was Ocalan himself who called for calm and insisted it was time for the Kurdish question to be resolved democratically. He urged his followers to go to Turkey, hand over their weapons and seek dialogue. 'He thought our arrival would symbolize (the PKK's) goodwill, and persuade the state to negotiate.' Genc was part of the first so-called 'groups for peace and a democratic solution' — a group of three women and five men who arrived in Turkey on October 1, 1999 on what they knew would be a 'sacrificial' mission. After a long march through the mountains, they arrived in the southeastern village of Semdinli under the watchful eye of 'thousands' of Turkish soldiers huddled behind rocks. Handing over their weapons, they were transferred to the city of Van 200 kilometers (140 miles) to the north where they were arrested. Genc spent the next nearly six years behind bars. 'For us, these peace groups were a mission,' she said. 'The solution had to come through dialogue.' 'Peace work has a cost' After getting out, she continued to struggle for Kurdish rights, swapping her gun for a pen to become a journalist and researcher for the Sosyo Politik think tank. Even so, her writing earned her another three-and-a-half years behind bars. 'Working for peace in Turkey has a cost,' she said with a shrug. When Recep Tayyip Erdogan became prime minister in 2003, there was hope for a new breakthrough. But several attempts to reach an agreement went nowhere — until now. 'Like in 1999, the PKK is moving towards a non-violent struggle,' she said. 'But laying down arms is not the end of the story. It is preparing to become a political organization.' Resolving the decades-long conflict requires a change on both sides however, said Genc. 'It essentially involves a mutual transformation,' she argued. 'It is impossible for the state to stick with its old ways without transforming, while trying to resolve a problem as old and divisive as the Kurdish question.' 'Ocean of insecurity' Despite the recent opening, Genc does not speak of hope. 'Life has taught us to be realistic: years of experience have generated an ocean of insecurity,' she said. '(PKK fighters) have shown their courage by saying they will lay down their weapons without being defeated. But they haven't seen any concrete results.' So far, the government, which initiated the process last autumn, has not taken any steps nor made any promises, she pointed out. 'Why haven't the sick prisoners been released? And those who have served their sentences —why aren't they benefiting from the climate of peace?' And Ocalan, she said, was still being held in solitary despite promises of a change in his situation. The number of people jailed for being PKK members or close to the group has never been revealed by the Turkish authorities. 'The fact that Ocalan is still not in a position to be able to lead this process towards a democratic solution is a major drawback from the militants' point of view,' she said. 'Even our daily life remains totally shaped by security constraints across the region with the presence of the army, the roadblocks —all that has to change.' — AFP
New Straits Times
7 days ago
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Turkiye, PKK must both change for peace: former militant
"WHEN you try and explain peace to people, there is a very serious lack of trust," said Yuksel Genc, a former fighter with the PKK, which recently ended its decades-long armed struggle against the Turkish state. Talking over a glass of tea in a square in Diyarbakir, the biggest city in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, this 50-year-old former fighter with long auburn curls is worried about how the nascent rapprochement between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) will play out. "The guerillas are sincere, but they don't think the state is," said Genc, her words briefly interrupted by the roar of a fighter jet flying overhead. "They think the government does not trust them." For years, she was a fighter with the Kurdish rebel group, which on May 12 said it would disarm and disband, ending a four-decade armed struggle against the Turkish state that cost more than 40,000 lives. The historic move came in response to an appeal by its jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan, arrested in 1999 and serving life in solitary ever since on a prison island near Istanbul. Genc herself joined the militants in 1995 when she was a 20-year-old university student in Istanbul. "At that time, many Kurdish villages were being burnt down, and we were constantly hearing about villages being evacuated, people being displaced and unsolved murders," she said. She described it as "a time of terrible repression." "You felt trapped, as if there was no other way than to join the guerrillas," she said. Four years later, after years in exile, Ocalan was snatched by Turkish commandos in a Hollywood-style operation in Nairobi. "Ocalan's capture provoked a deep sense of rage among the guerrillas, who feared it would mean the Kurdish cause would be destroyed," she said. But it was Ocalan himself who called for calm and insisted it was time for the Kurdish question to be resolved democratically. He urged his followers to go to Turkiye, hand over their weapons and seek dialogue. "He thought our arrival would symbolise (the PKK's) goodwill, and persuade the state to negotiate." Genc was part of the first so-called "groups for peace and a democratic solution" – a group of three women and five men who arrived in Turkiye on October 1, 1999 on what they knew would be a "sacrificial" mission. After a long march through the mountains, they arrived in the southeastern village of Semdinli under the watchful eye of "thousands" of Turkish soldiers huddled behind rocks. Handing over their weapons, they were transferred to the city of Van 200 kilometres (140 miles) to the north where they were arrested. Genc spent the next nearly six years behind bars. "For us, these peace groups were a mission," she said. "The solution had to come through dialogue." After getting out, she continued to struggle for Kurdish rights, swapping her gun for a pen to become a journalist and researcher for the Sosyo Politik think tank. Even so, her writing earned her another three-and-a-half years behind bars. "Working for peace in Turkiye has a cost," she said with a shrug. When Recep Tayyip Erdogan became prime minister in 2003, there was hope for a new breakthrough. But several attempts to reach an agreement went nowhere – until now. "Like in 1999, the PKK is moving towards a non-violent struggle," she said. "But laying down arms is not the end of the story. It is preparing to become a political organisation." Resolving the decades-long conflict requires a change on both sides however, said Genc. "It essentially involves a mutual transformation," she argued. "It is impossible for the state to stick with its old ways without transforming, while trying to resolve a problem as old and divisive as the Kurdish question." Despite the recent opening, Genc does not speak of hope. "Life has taught us to be realistic: years of experience have generated an ocean of insecurity," she said. "(PKK fighters) have shown their courage by saying they will lay down their weapons without being defeated. But they haven't seen any concrete results." So far, the government, which initiated the process last autumn, has not taken any steps nor made any promises, she pointed out. "Why haven't the sick prisoners been released? And those who have served their sentences – why aren't they benefiting from the climate of peace?" And Ocalan, she said, was still being held in solitary despite promises of a change in his situation. The number of people jailed for being PKK members or close to the group has never been revealed by the Turkish authorities. "The fact that Ocalan is still not in a position to be able to lead this process towards a democratic solution is a major drawback from the militants' point of view," she said. "Even our daily life remains totally shaped by security constraints across the region with the presence of the army, the roadblocks – all that has to change."
The Age
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Australia news LIVE: PM speaks from disaster zone; Calwell and Bradfield races tighten further; McCormack says Littleproud has been ‘messy'
Latest posts Latest posts 2.01pm Calwell count tightens as independent leaps ahead of Liberals By Adam Carey The race for the last undeclared seat in Victoria has tightened, with Labor still in doubt of retaining the once super-safe seat of Calwell in Melbourne's outer north. Carly Moore, a three-time council mayor who quit the ALP to run as an independent, has catapulted into second place as counting progresses in what the Australian Electoral Commission called the most complicated count in its history. Moore currently commands 45.8 per cent of votes, compared to Labor's candidate Basem Abdo's 54.2 per cent after preferences. Moore needs to secure 64.4 per cent of preferences from Liberal and Greens votes in Calwell as those parties' candidates are eliminated from the count in coming days. Loading Moore told this masthead that she believed the result would come down to the wire in a complex contest in which multiple independents polled well, and their preferences sprayed around. Moore campaigned on a platform of grievance about perceived Labor neglect of the economically disadvantaged and ethnically diverse electorate. She preferenced Abdo last on her how-to-vote card. 'All the things that we were saying during the campaign are true, that this community feels like we're being taken advantage of,' she said. 'We've been treated like a safe seat because we've been a safe seat'. Moore said Labor, which previously held Calwell with a 12.4 per cent margin, would have to devote more resources to the seat in future elections, no matter who wins this time. 'This should be Labor heartland. I hope that they see this as a bit of a wake-up call to make sure they're listening to what the community is telling them, because I don't think they have been'. Abdo was contacted for comment. Labor has not lost a single seat in the 2025 election. But it suffered a primary vote swing of 14.3 per cent in Calwell. 1.39pm Australia must prepare for 'Hollywood'-style cyberattack: Cybersecurity sheriff By Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson Australia has yet to suffer a critical, Hollywood-style cybersecurity incident, according to the nation's top online cop, but our defences are being tested and criminals grow in number. The rate of cyberattacks against Australian businesses may also be higher than statistics indicate, she warned as small businesses continue bearing the brunt of financial losses. National Cyber Security Co-ordinator Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness issued the warnings at the AusCERT Cyber Security Conference on the Gold Coast today, while also promising public consultation to inform future online safety policies. The event has drawn 900 delegates and comes a month after large superannuation firms were targeted in a co-ordinated online attack and less than a year after 12.9 million Australians had private information stolen in the MediSecure hack. Loading Despite a growing number of attacks on large Australian organisations including in the healthcare and telecommunications sectors and legal firms, McGuinness told the audience none had damaged the nation's critical infrastructure or had a lasting impact. 'Australia has seen the dark side of significant cyber incidents such as Optus, Medibank, Latitude Financial, Ramsay Health Care… but we are actually yet to see a catastrophic cyber incident with impacts across multiple critical infrastructure sectors,' she said. 'We must continue to evolve and thrive to ensure that those scenes we see in Hollywood [movies] never actually eventuate.' The Annual Cyber Threat Report released in November found Australian cybercrime reports grew by 12 per cent in 2024 and the cost of attacks to individuals grew by 17 per cent to an average of $30,700. The Australian Cyber Security Strategy, launched in November 2023, is due to be updated by 2026 to address a broader range of cybersecurity investments, and a public consultation will be launched in the coming months. Read how to protect yourself here. AAP
