Entertainment

Bidens open holiday season with Christmas tree and ‘friendsgiving’

Jill Biden opened the holiday season at the White House by breaking off a sprig from the official Blue Room tree and giving it — and a big smooch — to her toddler grandson.

“Look how beautiful this is,” the first lady said of the 18 1/2-foot (5.6 meter) Fraser fir that was delivered by wagon to her Pennsylvania Avenue doorstep by Clydesdale horses named Ben and Winston.

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“It is beautiful. It’s magnificent, really,” she said on Monday.

The first lady later joined President Joe Biden for a visit to the Army’s Fort Bragg in North Carolina to celebrate “friendsgiving” with service members and military families.

The two events set off a White House holiday season that is expected to be much more festive this year, as public health officials encourage those vaccinated against COVID-19 to get together in person, instead of begging Americans to stay home, as they’ve done for holidays past.

The holiday tree was presented by the father-and-son team of Rusty and Beau Estes of Peak Farms in Jefferson, North Carolina — a three-time winner of the National Christmas Tree Association’s annual contest. The winner gets to present its official tree to the White House.

Son Hunter Biden, his wife, Melissa, and their toddler, Beau, were among a sizable group of White House aides, guests and others who braved crisp winds to watch the brief ceremony marking the start of the administration’s first Christmas in the White House.

The Fraser fir will be decorated in the coming days and displayed in the Blue Room, a tradition that dates back to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, after a chandelier is removed so it can be tethered to the ceiling for safety.

White House grounds superintendent Dale Haney went to the farm in October to pick out a tree. Peak Farms also supplied the official White House tree in 2008 and 2012.

The White House Christmas decorations will be revealed on the Monday after Thanksgiving, the first lady said.

Jill Biden was joined by a D.C. Army National Guard family to honor the National Guard’s role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, her office said. She has been using her new role to help highlight and rally support for military families from across the country through an initiative named Joining Forces.

At Fort Bragg, the meal was held in a large hanger replete with pumpkin and pine cone centerpieces for about 250 servicemembers and families. Jill Biden spoke first, stepping out from behind a table to walk the room, talking to families about their late son, Beau, who served in the Delaware National Guard, and how she understood how hard it was to be away during holidays. She talked about how proud she was of the troops before introducing the president, who echoed her praise.

“You do so much, your families do so much,” President Biden said. “You’re the finest military the world has ever seen … and I’m so damn proud to be associated with you.”

After a quick prayer from the chaplain, the Bidens walked behind the serving tables, donned gloves and aprons and started dishing out the meal to waiting troops. Jill Biden scooped mashed potatoes, the president the stuffing. The troops were handed chocolate chip cookies with the presidential seal, and the long table was full of food including chocolate cakes.

On Tuesday, the Bidens plan to participate in a to-be-announced local service project before resuming their family tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket. Biden put tradition on hold last fall over COVID-19 concerns and hunkered down over Thanksgiving dinner in Delaware with just his wife, their daughter and their son-in-law.

“Last Thanksgiving, for the first time, it was just the four of us,” Biden said earlier this month as he commented on the nation’s progress against the coronavirus.

Entertainment

Explaining the PGA Tour and LIV Golf’s merger

The combination of the PGA Tour and rival LIV circuit is an intriguing merger, putting an end to a long-term rivalry between Saudi Arabia’s LIV and the nonprofit PGA Tour.

WHAT IS THE DEAL PRICE?

The two golf tournament organizers agreed to the merger without pinning down financial terms, in a bid to end a long-running legal dispute. LIV had filed an antitrust lawsuit in the United States seeking punitive damages against the PGA Tour for its “tortious interference” with contracts with golfers. PGA Tour had countersued, making similar claims.

PGA Tour and LIV have now signed a framework agreement that calls for investment banks M Klein & Co. and Allen & Co. to carry out a valuation analysis of the assets of LIV and PGA Tour, respectively. It is not clear how the two sides would proceed if disagreements arise over the valuations.

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WHO WILL OWN THE COMBINED COMPANY?

A new company will be created that will be majority-owned by the existing PGA Tour, which is a nonprofit. The new company, however, will operate for profit and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which currently owns more than 90% of LIV, will take a large minority stake in the combined entity. The exact stake that PIF will assume in the new company will depend on how much it will invest — an amount expected to be in the billions of dollars. PGA Tour and PIF will negotiate how much money the new company should start off with.

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Entertainment

Blind mystic who predicted ISIS, COVID-19 says nuclear disaster impending in 2023

The famous mystic Baba Vanga, who reportedly predicted the 9/11 attacks, the existence of ISIS and COVID-19, has reportedly foreseen a nuclear disaster by the end of 2023.

Also known as the Nostradamus of the Balkans, the blind woman died in 1996. Before her passing, she has predicted various world events, some of which have come true, including the Fukushima nuclear spill, according to a New York Post report.

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The latest prediction claimed by her followers foresees a “devastating nuclear disaster” that would cause “toxic clouds to settle over Asia.”

In addition, Vanga also reportedly predicted “a powerful solar storm that will rock the climate in 2023” and a “biological weapon will be used by a superpower in 2023, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths,” according to the same report.

Some have supposedly interpreted her words to mean that a solar tsunami is imminent, which could result in major technology failure. Usually, minor storms of this kind occur frequently without a problem.

Vanga also predicted that natural pregnancies would be banned and babies would be grown in labs in 2023. She reportedly claimed that world leaders would choose who is born, and parents would be able to customize their offspring’s traits and appearance.

Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova reportedly lost her eyesight during a dust storm at the age of 12 in Romania. Her followers claim that she received her powers during this time.

As for her 9/11 terrorist attack predictions, her exact words, as the New York Post recounted, were: “The American brethren will fall after being attacked by the steel birds.”

“The wolves will be howling in a bush, and innocent blood will be gushing.”

While many of Vanga’s predictions came true based on inference of the claim, some predictions, such as a nuclear war between 2010 and 2014 and the end of Europe in 2016, when Brexit took place, did not come true.

There were also claims that the 45th US President, Donald Trump, would face a crisis that would “bring the country down.”

Some unverified predictions include the presidency of Barack Obama, the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the death of Princess Diana.

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Innovative solution: Nigerian fourth-grader’s education funded by recycling waste

Nigerian fourth-grader Fawas Adeosun often used to get sent home from school through the gritty streets of Lagos because his mother, Fatimoh, had not paid his fees, until he enrolled in a different school offering a novel solution.

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Elizabeth Samuel, 37, a parent of a student of My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable waste as payment, arranges used plastic bottles into a sack in her home in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

My Dream Stead school, in the sprawling, impoverished Ajegunle neighborhood where the Adeosuns live, is one of 40 low-cost schools in Nigeria’s commercial capital that accept recyclable waste as payment.

A recyclable waste collector weighs a sack of plastic containers submitted by Fatimoh Adeosun, a parent of a student of My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable waste as payment, in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

For the past four years, a local environmental organization called African Cleanup Initiative has been collecting bottles, cans, drink cartons and plastic containers brought into the schools by parents and selling them to recyclers.

Elizabeth Samuel, 37, a parent of a student of My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable wastes as payment, carries sacks of plastic waste for submission in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

The proceeds of the sales pay for teacher salaries, children’s uniforms, books and pens, among other expenses.

The scheme aims to reduce the number of children out of school as well as the amount of trash on the streets of Lagos, said Alexander Akhigbe, founder of the environmental group.

Students attend classes at My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable waste as payment, in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

Tuition fees at My Dream Stead stand at $130 per year and the school is expanding into a second apartment block to accommodate its 120 students. Only seven children were enrolled when it opened in 2019.

Fatimoh Adeosun, 48, a parent of a student of My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable wastes as payment, sorts plastic waste for submission, in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

Some mornings, Fatimoh and Fawas walk to the school together with bulging sacks of trash over their shoulders. The waste is weighed on school premises and its sales value added to Fawas’ account.

“Sometimes if he wants to buy sportswear, the school will tell me the amount I need to bring,” said Fatimoh, a 48-year-old hairdresser who cares for six children on her own.

Providing for Fawas, the youngest, has been particularly difficult since she was forced to vacate the room she used as a salon in 2018.

“When I discovered that they could collect the plastics from me to keep my child in school, it made my burden lighter,” she said as she scoured bins on the streets for recyclables on her way back from the school.

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