Emperor king's top secret assassination letter finally decrypted after 500 years

Story by Harry Baker • Yesterday 

Researchers have finally cracked a complex code used in a top secret letter from 1547 that the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, Charles V, wrote when he was fearing for his life. In the encrypted letter, which was sent to one of his ambassadors in France, Charles V writes about tensions with the French king Francis I, who he thought might be plotting to assassinate him.


null© Stanislas Library

Charles V, the King of Spain between 1516 and 1556, also ruled the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 to 1556. During his rule, Charles V presided over one of the largest empires in European history, which covered modern day Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and parts of Italy, and he also oversaw the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

In 1547, Charles V wrote a letter to his French ambassador Jean de Saint-Mauris. The document, which is dated Feb. 22, contains several paragraphs in normal handwriting interspersed by large sections of unrecognizable symbols — a secret code intended to hide sensitive information. The letter is now part of the archives at the Stanislas Library in Nancy, a city in eastern France, where it has remained untouched for centuries.

The letter, rediscovered by library staff in 2019, later came to the attention of a team of cryptographers and computer scientists who took it upon themselves to uncover the coded section of the document. Now, after more than six months of "painstaking" research, the code has been cracked, the team announced Nov. 23 at a press conference at the Stanislas Library.

"It's rare as a historian to manage to read a letter that no one had managed to read for five centuries," project researcher Camille Desenclos, a historian at the University of Picardy Jules Verne in France, said at the press conference.

Related: Secret words exchanged between Marie Antoinette and rumored lover uncovered in redacted letters

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The code used by Charles V was hard to decipher for two main reasons, according to a statement translated from French.

First, each symbol represented a whole word, rather than being a simple letter-for-letter encryption, which would have been much easier to work out. Second, some of the symbols were decoys that meant absolutely nothing, which were likely added to throw off anyone who had knowledge of the code and tried to read the letter.

The researchers began the investigation with a simple computer program designed to help them differentiate the symbols and understand the structure of the writing. However, this proved fruitless and the team was forced to create a more advanced algorithm that could use patterns in the symbols to determine probable meanings and highlight probable decoy symbols. The new algorithm helped uncover some of the hidden passage but could not decipher the entire section, the researchers wrote in the statement. But luckily, the team was able to find part of a decryption code in a separate letter written by Jean de Saint-Mauris to another ambassador serving Charles V, which helped to fill in the gaps.




The fully-transcribed letter highlights a "fragile peace" between Charles V and France, the researchers wrote. The contemporary tensions between France and Spain originated back to the Italian War of 1494 to 1495, before either Charles V or Francis I had come to power. During the war, Spain had occupied a northeastern region of Italy known as Piedmont, which bordered France to the east. This unsettled the French because Spain could easily attack from Piedmont if it decided to invade France.

Charles V's letter was written shortly after the death of England's King Henry VIII, who was an important ally of Francis I. Fearing that Henry VIII's death might destabilize France and cause its leaders to act irrationally, Charles V encouraged Saint-Mauris to do everything possible to maintain the peace between the two nations.

However, Charles V also wrote that he had heard of a rumor that someone high up in French politics had been petitioning Francis I to assassinate him, and so asked Saint-Mauris to investigate further. This is the first and only mention of this assassination plot historians have ever unearthed, and although the rumor Charles V heard was likely false, it is still an important new piece of cryptography, the researchers wrote.

Related: Charles Darwin's stolen 'tree of life' notebooks returned after 20 years

The letter also mentions a group of Charles V's advisories known as the "Schmalkaldic league," which was led by a group of German Lutheran princes who opposed the religious rulings imposed on them by the Catholic Holy Roman Empire. At the time the letter was written, Charles V had already started a military operation to bring the league to heel, the researchers wrote.

But despite Charles V's suspicions about his various enemies, 1547 ended up being a good year for the Spanish ruler. By the end of the year, Francis I had died and the Schmalkaldic league had been disbanded, which left him in a much stronger position, the researcher wrote.

With the decoded 1547 letter in hand, the researchers now hope to crack more codes within other encrypted letters written by Charles V. These types of correspondences give a rare "snapshot of Charles V's strategy in Europe," Desenclos said. "It is likely that we will make many more discoveries in the coming years."

Ancient mummy portraits and rare Isis-Aphrodite idol discovered in Egypt

Story by Owen Jarus • Yesterday 

Archaeologists have discovered ancient mummies buried with stunning, lifelike portraits of the deceased. The mummies were interred in a cemetery at the ancient city of Philadelphia in Egypt, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on Dec 1.


One of the newfound mummy portraits, seen here, is painted on a linen shroud.

 Courtesy Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

The city of Philadelphia, located about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Cairo in the Fayoum area of Egypt, was founded during the Ptolemaic period (304 B.C. to 30 B.C.), when Egypt was ruled by a dynasty of pharaohs descended from one of Alexander the Great's generals. Philadelphia — Greek for the city of brotherly love — continued to flourish even after the dynasty fell and the Romans took control of Egypt.

During excavations at the ancient site's necropolis, archaeologists unearthed two complete mummy portraits, along with semi-complete and incomplete portraits, Basem Gehad, director of the ancient Philadelphia necropolis excavation mission, told Live Science in an email.

The "people who were buried in such a context in Philadelphia are for sure upper-middle class or elite so that they could offer to their relatives [such] expensive portraits that are identical to the person," Gehad said. The portraits were painted by artists who were likely from Alexandria, an Egyptian city on the Mediterranean coast, Gehad said.

Mummy portraits

Archaeologists rarely find mummy portraits. Prior to the new discoveries, the last mummy portraits found in archaeological excavations were unearthed in the 1880s. Grave robbers looted ancient cemeteries, including Philadelphia's, for their mummy portraits during the 19th century. However, archaeologists did manage to analyze some of the Philadelphia graves.

"The cemetery was looted in the 1880s for Roman mummy portraits, most of which were sold to the Viennese dealer and collector Theodor Graf," Susan Walker, an honorary curator of the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford, told Live Science in an email. "He catalogued and organised exhibitions of them world-wide, with the result that the portraits are now dispersed in museum and private collections, principally throughout America and Europe."

Walker, who was not involved in the excavations, told Live Science that the new discoveries may shed more light on Egyptian mummy portraits, as the new finds were examined with modern scientific methods. "As a result of the new excavations, we shall certainly have a better understanding of the cemetery that the looted portraits came from," Walker said.

In addition to the mummy portraits, archaeologists found the remains of a building where mummies were buried and a statue that depicts Isis-Aphrodite, an Egyptian-Greek goddess associated with love. They also unearthed the remains of papyri containing demotic (an Egyptian cursive script) and Greek writings. The papyri contain information on the social, economic and religious conditions of the people who lived in the area, the ministry said in a statement.

Excavations at the cemetery and analysis of the finds are ongoing.

Stunning necklace found at burial site of powerful Anglo-Saxon woman

Story by Katie Hunt • Yesterday 

Archaeologists have discovered a stunning 1,300-year-old necklace, made of gold, garnets and other semiprecious stones, at an excavation site in central England earmarked for a housing development.

The necklace and other precious objects, called the Harpole Treasure after the local parish in Northamptonshire county where they were unearthed in April, also revealed a powerful role played by some women in Anglo-Saxon England.

The jewelry piece was buried with a woman of high status, who died between 630 AD and 670 AD, according to researchers at the Museum of London Archaeology who unearthed the treasure. The trove also included a relatively large silver cross, two decorated pots and a shallow copper dish.

The Anglo-Saxon bling suggested the woman was powerful in her own right and extremely devout, perhaps an early Christian leader, a princess or an abbess.

The grave site is thought to be the most significant burial from a unique sliver of English history when pagan and Christian beliefs intermingled and women held powerful positions in the early church.

The discovery’s importance, the archaeologists said, was of a similar magnitude to that of other monumental Anglo-Saxon treasures unearthed in England, such as Basil Brown’s famed find in 1939 at Sutton Hoo, where a warrior king was buried in a ship, and the Staffordshire Hoard of gold and silver artifacts, discovered in 2009 by an amateur metal detectorist in a field in Staffordshire, England.

About a dozen other high-status female burials, known as bed burials, have been discovered elsewhere in England. In some cases, the grave sites included similar necklaces.

Few of these burial sites date back earlier than the 7th century AD, when burials of high-status men were more common, and as Christianity took root, later graves rarely featured valuable objects because being buried with ornate jewelry, such as the necklace, was frowned upon by the early Christian Church, said Lyn Blackmore, a senior finds specialist at MOLA.

“The Harpole Treasure, it’s not the richest (bed burial) in terms of the number of artifacts but it is the richest in terms of investment of wealth … and it has the highest amount of gold and religious symbolism,” she said at a news briefing.

X-rays taken of blocks of soil removed from the grave site revealed an ornately decorated but delicate cross cast in silver and mounted on wood. The artifact also had unusual depictions of human faces cast in silver.

Organic matter found in the grave is thought to contain fragments of feathers and textiles like leather, and further study should uncover the nature of the bed burial and whether it had a cover or canopy. The two pots were Frankish in style, Blackmore said, suggesting they came from what is now France or Belgium. The archaeologists hope molecular analysis will allow them to identify the residue in the pots; to date, their analysis has ruled out myrrh.

The skeleton itself was fully decomposed, with the exception of tiny fragments of tooth enamel, but the necklace and other features of the burial convinced the archaeologists that its occupant was female, Blackmore said.

Opulent gold riches

The discovery was made on April 11 but was made public for the first time on Tuesday.

The necklace is the most ostentatious of its type ever to be found in Great Britain, with 30 pendants and beads made of gold, garnets, glass and semiprecious stones strung together along with Roman coins. The striking artifact was found on the penultimate day of an eight-week excavation, said Levente-Bence Balázs, the MOLA site supervisor who first spotted the treasure glinting in the soil.

He was excavating what was thought to be a rubbish pit when he came across the crowns of two teeth, which signaled a burial of some sort. He then saw the rectangular pendant that formed the center of the necklace.

“In 17 years of excavating sites, this was the first time I’ve found gold. It’s not just the artifacts, it’s the sheer magnitude of the find,” he said.

The excavation work was funded by the house-building company Vistry Group, which said it had waived any rights to the the artifacts that now belong to the state.

The first occupants of the housing development are due to move into their homes in two weeks’ time and don’t yet know about the treasure that lies beneath their community, said Daniel Oliver, regional technical director at Vistry West Midlands. Nothing has been built on the precise location of the burial, which isn’t being made public, he added.

The area where the burial site was found was otherwise unremarkable, with no mounds or other features marking the grave. Archaeologists who worked at the site said they have surveyed the area thoroughly and are confident there is nothing else to find.

Officials at the Museum of London Archaeology said it would take at least two years to study the finds, but hoped the Harpole Treasure would eventually go on public display.

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100 million-year-old plesiosaur skeleton discovery 'could hold the key' to prehistoric research

Story by Kathleen Magramo • 2h ago

The discovery of a giant 100 million-year-old marine reptile’s skeleton in Australia has been hailed by researchers as a breakthrough that may provide vital clues about prehistoric life.

The remains of the 6-meter (19 feet) tall juvenile long-necked plesiosaur, also known as an elasmosaur, were found by a trio of amateur fossil hunters on a cattle station in the western Queensland outback in August.

Espen Knutsen, senior curator of palaeontology at the Queensland Museum, likened the discovery to that of the Rosetta Stone – the Ancient Egyptian block of granite rediscovered in 1799 that helped experts to decode hieroglyphics.

“We have never found a body and a head together and this could hold the key to future research in this field,” Knutsen said in a statement Wednesday that confirmed the discovery, adding it could give paleontologists greater insight into the origins, evolution and ecology of the cretaceous period in the region.

“Because these plesiosaurs were two-thirds neck, often the head would be separated from the body after death, which makes it very hard to find a fossil preserving both together,” he said.

The discovery was made by amateur paleontologists known as the “Rock Chicks” – Cassandra Prince, her sister Cynthia, and fellow fossil sleuth Sally, who goes only by her first name.



The skull of the 100 million-year-old plesiosaur found in Queensland, Australia. - Queensland Museum

Related video: Palaeontologists find plesiosaur fossil in outback Queensland

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Elasmosaurs, which grew to between 8 and 10 meters long, lived in the Eromanga Sea, which covered large parts of inland Australia with waters 50 meters deep about 150 million years ago.

Knutsen told CNN that when an elasmosaur died, its decomposing body would swell with gas that made it rise to the water’s surface, and often the head would break off when predators scavenged the carcass – making full-body discoveries rare.

He added that because the latest find was a young specimen it would shed light on how the body shape of elasmosaurs changed from youth to adulthood.

“We’re going to look at the chemistry of its teeth and that can tell us something about its ecology in terms of habitat as well, whether it was migrating throughout his life, or whether it was sort of staying in the same habitat, and also into its diet,” he said.

Ancient marine reptiles like plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs are not classified as dinosaurs even though they lived around the same time. Plesiosaurs evolved from ancestors who lived on land and therefore didn’t have gills and had to surface occasionally for air. It remains unknown how long they could stay underwater.



Amateur fossil hunter Cassandra Prince with Espen Knutsen from the Queensland Museum. - Queensland Museum

It’s the latest big discovery about prehistory to have been made in Australia in recent years.

In June last year, scientists confirmed that the 2007 discovery of a fossilized skeleton in Queensland was the country’s largest dinosaur. The dinosaur, nicknamed “Cooper,” stood about two stories tall, and was as long as a basketball court.

Two months later, scientists discovered that there once was a species of flying “dragon” that soared over Australia 105 million years ago. The pterosaur was described by researchers as a “fearsome beast” that snacked on juvenile dinosaurs.

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Rare ice age fossils discovered on the drought-stricken Mississippi River

Story by Taylor Nicioli • Yesterday 

Recently exposed sandbars along the drought-stricken Mississippi River have caught the attention of fossil hunters, leading to two exceptional finds from a rare ice age species.

Wiley Prewitt was exploring a newly exposed area on October 26 when he came across a rather large tooth poking out of the sand. The Oxford, Mississippi, resident would soon learn it was a fossilized jawbone from a giant American lion, a species that has been extinct for roughly 11,000 years.

“I knew immediately just by the shape of the teeth that it was a carnivore fossil, but of course, I did not know that it was (an American) lion. We all know about those, but you never dream that you’re going to find one,” Prewitt said. “I just couldn’t believe it. It was hitting the fossil lottery. ”



Rare ice age fossils discovered on the drought-stricken Mississippi River© Provided by CNNA rare American lion fossil has been discovered near the Mississippi River. The tooth, pictured, has a fragment of the jawbone still attached. - George Phillips/Mississippi Museum of Natural Science

The American lion was the largest extinct cat to live in North America during the last ice age, according to the National Park Service. Known by its scientific name, Panthera atrox, meaning “fearsome panther” in Latin, the species was 25% larger than a present-day African lion, standing at 4 feet tall at the shoulders and measuring 5 to 8 feet in length. American lions weighed between 500 to 800 pounds on average, although some of the biggest may have topped 1,000 pounds, the park service notes.

Three days after Prewitt’s find, the Mississippi Fossil and Artifact Symposium & Exhibition hosted an event featuring previously discovered American lion fossils. Prewitt took the fossil in the hope of having experts identify it, but he didn’t know how significant his find would be to understanding a little more about Mississippi’s past.

“When (Prewitt) whipped out that anterior portion of a lion jaw, I knew right away what it was,” said George Phillips, curator of paleontology at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, who was at the event. “Who would have thought in a million years that another lion fossil would show up, considering that they’re rare, at an event (in) which the theme was the American lion?”

While the fossil was not a complete jawbone, plenty was left to identify the specimen easily, Phillips said: It had a significant gap between the canine and the premolars that could only belong to the American lion. After observing other fossils from the same species at the event, Phillips said it was easy to narrow down the other carnivore possibilities and confirm that he was looking at another fossil from the lion.

Related video: This 'living fossil' went undetected for nearly 30,000 years

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Rare ice age fossils discovered on the drought-stricken Mississippi River© Provided by CNNThe American lion stood 4 feet tall at the shoulders and measured 5 to 8 feet in length. A femur from the species is the newest addition to the MMNS collection. It is pictured next to other femurs of predators commonly found today. - George Phillips/Mississippi Museum of Natural Science

One week after that surprising discovery, a local wildlife officer pulled a large American lion femur from the river’s sediment, resulting in another fossil from the same scarce species being added to the museum’s collection, Phillips told CNN.

Carnivore fossils are much harder to find in comparison with their prey counterparts, according to Phillips. Two American lion bone discoveries within a week or so is unbelievable, he said, calling it “just an incredibly rare fossil.”

A growing American lion collection

Prewitt plans to donate the fossil he found to the museum in Jackson, which would make it the fourth addition to the institution’s collection of American lion bones, counting the addition of the newly found femur.

“The interesting thing about the river is that every year is different. When the river comes up, the high water exposes different things and covers up other things. So here, you are always looking at new sites,” Prewitt said. “The fossils really make you contemplate deep time, and I think that, for me, that is really part of the magic of it.”


Rare ice age fossils discovered on the drought-stricken Mississippi River© Provided by CNNThe first fossil of the American lion was a lower jawbone, found in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1836. It was identified nearly 20 years later by paleontologist Joseph Leidy. - George Phillips/Mississippi Museum of Natural Science

The first fossil of the American lion was found in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1836, but paleontologist Joseph Leidy didn’t identify it until nearly 20 years later. Leidy found that the fossil, a lower jawbone, belonged to a never-before-discovered species. It was larger than the extinct European cave lion, the largest known member of the cat family at the time. Before then, it was unknown that giant lions had roamed North America.

“I think people take greater pride in an area when they realize that something like this exists — some aspect of the antiquity of the area where they live,” Phillips said. “Archaeologists try to do the same thing, to show that there were people that were here before you. Well, there are also extinct, weird-looking creatures that were here before you.”

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Quarter of a million unemployed young Britons are planning to NEVER get a job, survey shows

Story by Connor Stringer • Yesterday 

Almost a quarter of a million young people who are currently not working say they never plan to get a job, a survey has revealed.

The poll of 18 to 24-year-olds found that a staggering 227,000 youngsters currently out of a job or not studying claim they never intend to enter the labour market.

The research also found that almost a third (30 per cent) don’t think they will ever be able to achieve their career ambitions.

The apprehension is highest among those who are currently not working (35 per cent) and those who have faced difficulties in their early lives.

It was not made clear why so many young people say that they do not intend to find work.

The research, in which 5,000 young people were questioned, was carried out by educational organisation City and Guilds.


Almost a quarter of a million young people who are currently not working say they never plan to get a job, a survey has revealed. Tory MP Craig MacKinlay, pictured, said it ‘cannot be right’ that taxpayers could pay for a lifetime of support ‘for those not wishing to take the natural step into work and self-sufficiency’© Provided by Daily Mail

Tory MP Craig MacKinlay said: ‘At a time of bouyant job opportunities it is truly worrying that many young people have switched themselves out of the jobs market, with many waiting for the “dream job” that may not arise. Entry into any job is the pathway to a better one.’

Mr MacKinlay added that it ‘cannot be right’ that taxpayers could pay for a lifetime of support ‘for those not wishing to take the natural step into work and self-sufficiency’.

The MP added: ‘Perhaps it is time that benefit sanctions were introduced with real bite.’ City and Guilds CEO Kirstie Donnelly said those young people who face ‘additional challenges’ are falling behind their peers.

She said: ‘High youth unemployment has been an issue for more than a decade and the pandemic was just another challenge heaped on to an already creaking system that makes it incredibly difficult for young people to convert their aspirations into good jobs.’

Two thirds (64 per cent) of young people said that it is not easy to get a good job, and nearly a third (29 per cent) said they have struggled to get interviews. [File image] © Provided by Daily Mail

Two thirds (64 per cent) of young people say that it is not easy to get a good job, and nearly a third (29 per cent) say they have struggled to get interviews.

Miss Donnelly added: ‘If we don’t open doors for young people from all backgrounds to enter the labour market, and invest in their skills, we are losing out on all of that talent and creativity.

‘If we don’t fix this now, we risk storing up more problems for generations to come, exacerbating productivity shortfalls and social inequalities.’

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M BIG PHARMA

GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi fend off thousands of U.S. lawsuits over alleged Zantac cancer link

Story by By Brendan Pierson • Yesterday 

A bottle of Zantac heartburn drug is seen in this picture illustration© Thomson Reuters

(Reuters) - Drugmakers GSK Plc, Pfizer Inc, Sanofi SA and Boehringer Ingelheim on Tuesday were spared thousands of U.S. lawsuits claiming that the heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, as a judge found the claims were not backed by sound science.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in West Palm Beach, Florida, knocks out about 50,000 claims in federal court, though it does not directly affect tens of thousands of similar cases pending in state courts around the country.

"We are extremely surprised by this miscarriage of justice," and "fully expect" the ruling will be reversed on appeal, lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a joint statement.

A Sanofi spokesperson said the decision "significantly decreases the scope of the litigation potentially by over 50%," with the remaining litigation being only in state court.

A spokesperson for GSK said the company welcomed the decision and Pfizer said it was pleased by the outcome.

Privately-held German drugmaker Boehringer said in a statement that it looked forward to "continuing our vigorous defense of the remaining cases in state courts."

All the drugmakers have denied that Zantac causes cancer.

Zantac, first approved in 1983, became the world's best selling medicine in 1988 and one of the first-ever drugs to top $1 billion in annual sales. Originally marketed by a forerunner of GSK, it was later sold successively to Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim and finally Sanofi.

Numerous generic drugmakers also launched versions of the medicine, but none are defendants in the cases in federal court.

In 2019, some manufacturers and pharmacies halted sales of the drug over concerns that its active ingredient, ranitidine, degraded over time to form a chemical called NDMA. While NDMA is found in low levels in food and water, it is known to cause cancer in larger amounts.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2020 pulled all remaining brand name Zantac and generic versions off the market, citing research showing the amount of NDMA in the products increases the longer the drug is stored and could potentially become unsafe.

Lawsuits began piling up soon after the recalls began from people who said they developed cancer after taking Zantac. Plaintiffs said the companies knew, or should have known, that ranitidine posed a cancer risk and that they failed to warn consumers.

The litigation initially included claims of over 10 types of cancer allegedly linked to the medicine, but were later narrowed to five - bladder, esophageal, gastrointestinal, liver and pancreatic. Some claims involving other cancers remain in state courts.

All of the cases filed in federal courts nationwide were consolidated before Rosenberg in Florida.

In Tuesday's order, she found that expert witnesses the plaintiffs planned to use to establish that Zantac can cause cancer could not be admitted in court because they "systemically utilized unreliable methodologies" and showed "a lack of internally consistent, objective, science-based standards for the evenhanded evaluation of data."

State court judges will also have to rule on whether to allow plaintiffs' experts on Zantac's alleged cancer risks before state cases can go to trial.

The legal standards for evaluating experts in many states are similar to the federal standard used by Rosenberg, but state judges could rule differently.

The first state trial is currently scheduled to begin in February in California.

(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Bill Berkrot and Alexia Garamfalvi)

Walmart CEO warns company will close stores if theft doesn't slow down

IT'S CONSUMPTION COVERED BY INSURANCE

Story by btobin@insider.com (Ben Tobin) • Yesterday 


A Walmart store. AP© Provided by Business Insider

Doug McMillon told CNBC that theft is 'higher than what it has historically been' at stores
He said that along with stores closing if theft doesn't slow down, prices could be higher.
Reuters previously reported that Walmart loses roughly $3 billion in theft each year.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon issued a stark warning Tuesday: If theft does not slow down, the retailer will close stores across the country.

"Theft is an issue," he told CNBC. "It is higher than what it has historically been."

He added: "If that's not corrected over time, prices will be higher, and/or stores will close."

McMillon did not say during the interview how much money Walmart has lost in stolen items this year. Walmart did not immediately reply to an Insider request for that number.

But the world's largest retailer likely loses about 1% of its US revenue — or roughly $3 billion every year — to stealing by customers and employees, Reuters reported in 2015.

McMillon said the key to reducing theft is Walmart working with local law enforcement agencies and ensuring that those agencies are fully staffed.

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retail giant is not the only retailer that has recently sounded the alarm on theft.

Missing inventory has reduced Target's gross margin by more than $400 million in 2022 compared with last year, and Target expects those profit losses to grow to $600 million by the end of the fiscal year, Target CFO Michael Fiddelke said in November during a company earnings call.

Target predominantly blamed the inventory shrink on organized crime.

"Along with other retailers, we've seen a significant increase in theft and organized retail crime across our business," Target CEO Brian Cornell said during the earnings call.

The U.S. consumer is still stressed and under inflation pressure, says Walmart CEO Doug McMillon

Duration 5:01   View on Watch

Black men death rates from gun violence spurs talk of major health crisis

Yesterday 

Gun violence: An American epidemic?
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Duration 11:16

There's been a substantial increase in firearm-related deaths in the United States over the past three decades and Black men are the most affected, according to new research from a team of emergency room doctors. They're 23 times more likely to experience firearm-related homicide than white men, the study showed.

"Gun violence is an incredible scourge in our country. Gun violence affects everybody, and that's an important thing to recognize. However, it affects certain groups far more than others. Black men speak to one of the greatest disparities, if not the greatest disparity," co-author Eric Fleegler, associate professor of pediatrics and emergency physician at Harvard Medical School, said in a statement.MORE: Guns in America

In a study published in the Journal of American Medical Association, Fleegler and colleagues analyzed disparities in firearm-related deaths between 1990 and 2021. They showed firearm-related homicides are greatest among Black men between 20 and 40 years of age. Firearm-related violence for Black men is at a 28-year high, the analysis found.


FILE - Semi-automatic rifles are displayed at Coastal Trading and Pawn, July 18, 2022, in Auburn, Maine.© Robert F. Bukaty/AP, FILE

"There are these hotspots where firearm fatalities are happening more frequently, and interventions need to be catered to where those are happening. We're seeing huge rates of firearm-related homicides among young Black and African American males -- that's the population where we may need to think about implementing violence prevention strategies," said co-author Chris Rees, an assistant professor of Pediatrics and Emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.

To reframe firearm violence as a public health crisis, the American Medical Association, one of the nation's largest doctor associations, established the first taskforce on firearm violence prevention in November.

"We cannot continue to live this way…In movie theaters, houses of worship, hospitals, big cities and small towns, firearm violence has shattered any sense of security and taken lives. As physicians, we are committed to ending firearm violence by advocating for common-sense, evidence-based solutions, and this task force will be key to that ongoing effort," Jack Resneck Jr. president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement at the launch of the taskforce.

Experts say there's a range of factors contributing to the high rates of gun deaths among Black men.

"Weak gun laws cause more damage in places that have been subjected to systemic racial inequalities," said Jeffrey Gardere, a clinical psychologist, and an associate professor at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine.


FILE - A collection of illegal guns is displayed during a gun buyback event, May 22, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York.© Bebeto Matthews/AP, FILE

Medical associations like the AMA have called for more gun laws over the years to combat firearm violence -- but there was no governmental action until this past June, when Congress passed the first gun law in 30 years.

But gun laws alone will not solve the societal issues that contribute to firearm violence among Black males.

MORE: What some lifelong gun owners say about AR-15s

In places where unemployment rates are higher, where there isn't equal access to safe housing, and where public infrastructure is neglected, people may be more exposed to dangerous behavior, Gardere said. Addressing those issues "would help Black and Brown people, especially males, be able to avert gun violence -- whether as victims or as perpetrators," he said.

Reframing firearm violence as a public health issue means affected communities need to be at the table as vocal members of any taskforce.

MORE: Biden signs bipartisan gun safety package into law

"The next step I'd like to see is addressing things at the community level and taking into account what communities think is feasible. I don't think any community wants to see higher rates of firearm fatalities," said Rees.

All hands are needed to solve this continually escalating problem.

"Unfortunately, in our country, the firearm epidemic is getting worse at an accelerating pace," Fleegler said.


Faith Crittenden, MD MPH is a resident physician in pediatrics from Yale–New Haven Children's Hospital and contributing correspondent of the ABC News Medical Unit.

Carey Price Doubled Down On His Pro-Gun Stance After The Montreal Canadiens Apologized For Him

Story by Sofia Misenheimer • Yesterday 

ISSUED ON DEC 6  ANNIVERSARY

ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE MASSACRE 

BY MACHO MISOGYNIST  JOCK


Carey Price Doubled Down On His Pro-Gun Stance After The Montreal Canadiens Apologized For Him© Provided by MTL Blog

Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price is standing firm on his pro-gun statement posted days before the anniversary of the Polytechnique shooting.

While Price apologized to "those impacted most by the events here in 1989," he said he did "know about the tragedy" before his original post, partly refuting an official apology issued on his behalf by the NHL team the day before.

The original and follow-up posts have prompted a massive debate in public forums and on social media, with heated discussions about proposed government gun legislation (as well as the timing of Price's remarks and the legislation itself), but also about Indigenous rights, colonialism and government's reach.

On December 4, Price shared an Instagram photo holding a shotgun and decked out in camo. The caption read: "I love my family, I love my country and I care for my neighbour. I am not a criminal or a threat to society. What Justin Trudeau is trying to do is unjust. I support the CCFR to keep my hunting tools. Thank you for listening to my opinion."

Price was voicing his position on proposed federal bill C-21, which would ban handguns — along with some weapons used by hunters, according to the CBC.

Some fans and anti-gun groups have since questioned the assertion that hunting gear would be impacted by the bill and called out the timing of the goalie's post so close to the 33rd anniversary of the École Polytechnique shooting, which they say has overshadowed the commemoration of the 14 young women killed by a gunman.

Price has also been critiqued for supporting the pro-gun Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights (CCFR), especially after the lobby group offered the discount code 'POLY' for store merch. The group later claimed that it had nothing to do with the shooting.

Price acknowledged the uncomfortable timing of his post on Tuesday and said Montrealers know he would never "intentionally cause pain to those impacted by gun violence."

A story on Carey Price's Instagram account.@cp0031 | Instagram

"Despite a previous statement released, I did in fact know about the tragedy… I acknowledge that amplifying the conversation around guns this week may have upset some of those impacted most by the events here in 1989 and to them I apologize," he wrote.

The goalie's follow-up statement counters part of an official apology by the Montreal Canadiens, released on December 5, which stated that Price "was not aware of the tragic events of Dec. 6, 1989."

Price's stance has sparked significant debate about the federal government's implementation of the C-21 bill, which is set to go into effect at midnight on December 6.

Many against the bill argue that its release on the anniversary of a national tragedy has stymied debate on gun rights in Canada, while proponents say it's the most appropriate way to honour the Polytechnique victims and prevent a similar mass shooting.

JEWS ARE NOT WASP'S
America can no longer remain silent about its antisemitism problem

Opinion by Joseph Chamie, opinion contributor •The Hill 

Yesterday 

 
The recent dinner featuring former president Trump, Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and antisemitic entertainer Kanye “Ye” West — followed by the largely silent responses of many Republican officials and leaders, including some seeking the presidential office — highlights the need for all Americans to acknowledge and object to antisemitism in the nation.

Following the dinner, Trump attempted to distance himself from West by saying he met with him to “help a seriously troubled man” and from Fuentes by saying he didn’t know him and wasn’t familiar with his work when they met.

However, the repeated behavior and words of the former president, including his response to the Charlottesville tragedy in 2017, and the tepid reactions to antisemitism by many of his supporters, can be viewed as legitimizing the animosity expressed toward Jewish Americans.

The former president and his various enablers have minimized and dismissed antisemitism in the United States, including assaults and killings. Those failures to address the antisemitism facing America are inexcusable, disgraceful and dangerous.

The U.S. Jewish population is a relatively small proportion of the country. In 2022, Jewish Americans are estimated to represent slightly more than two percent of America’s population of 333 million inhabitants.

Despite their comparatively small proportion of the population, the number of antisemitic incidents across the country in 2021 in the U.S. reached an all-time high of 2,717: more than seven incidents per day, and nearly triple the level in 2015.

The reprehensible incidents took place across America, including in places of worship, community centers, schools and colleges. The motivations for the antisemitism are not always evident as they typically lack a single identifiable ideology or belief system.

One notable exception, however, is the “great replacement” theory being promoted by U.S. white supremacist groups. They believe in the conspiracy that white Christians are being intentionally replaced in the population by individuals of other races through immigration and other means. In their various demonstrations and gatherings, including Charlottesville in 2017, the neo-Nazi marchers often chant out such hateful antisemitic nonsense as ”Jews will not replace us.”

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In the American Jewish Committee’s “The State of Antisemitism in America 2021” report, an estimated 60 percent of Americans indicated that antisemitism is a problem for the country. However, approximately one-quarter of the respondents in the same report felt that antisemitism wasn’t a problem in the United States.

In contrast, some 90 percent of Jewish Americans in the report indicated that antisemitism is a problem for the country and approximately three-quarters believe that there is more antisemitism in the country today than there was about five years ago. A majority of Jewish Americans, 53 percent, report feeling personally less safe than they did in 2015.

Contributing to America’s antisemitism is the apparent self-induced amnesia among some extremist groups regarding the methodical persecution followed by the horrendous events that were committed against Europe’s Jews approximately eight decades ago. The Holocaust resulted in the murder of approximately 6 million European Jews, or roughly 63 percent of Europe’s Jewish population at the time.

Sadly, antisemitism was also evident in America’s refugee policy with respect to European Jews seeking asylum from their persecution in Nazi Germany. Perhaps the most memorable single event reflecting its ignoble refugee policy in the past is the refusal of the U.S. government in 1939 to grant entry to about 900 Jewish refugees seeking asylum aboard the USS St. Louis that had reached Miami. The ship was forced to return to Europe, where nearly one-third of its passengers were murdered in the Holocaust.

America too often chooses to ignore its troubling antisemitic past and the many popular figures who were openly antisemitic in their public attacks on the character and patriotism of Jewish Americans, including Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, Coco Chanel and Louis Farrakhan.

Furthermore, besides facing educational quotas at major universities in the 1920s, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Columbia, Jewish Americans experienced discrimination among the major professions and restrictions on residential housing. They were also denied membership to most clubs, resorts and associations, with some hotel advertisements explicitly excluding Jewish Americans.

While that recent tragic history remains beyond doubt, many of America’s antisemitic white supremacists, including Fuentes and West, continue to deny the existence of the Holocaust, express hateful rhetoric and discriminate against Jewish Americans. They attempt to negate the historical facts of the Nazi genocide, promote the false claim that the Holocaust was invented or greatly exaggerated in order to promote Jewish interests, and display the Nazi swastika flag and make the “Heil Hitler” gesture.

America’s antisemitism in the past also fueled vocal criticism and opposition to political leaders who attempted to address the discrimination against Jewish Americans. For example, at a conference of some 20,000 people at Madison Square Garden in 1939, Fritz Kuhn, leader of the German American Bund, mocked President Roosevelt as “Frank D. Rosenfeld,” referred to the New Deal as the “Jew Deal,” and declared Jews to be enemies of the United States.

No matter the place, occasion or time, the U.S. cannot tolerate or support those who promote, permit or condone antisemitism. In particular, the nation’s elected and appointed government officials must be held accountable for their words and actions.

Antisemitic behavior and remarks cannot continue to be swept under the rug, unethically edited for political television consumption or ignored in hopes that they will go away. They cannot be excused as insignificant or meaningless events that have been blown out of proportion by the news media. Nor can they be simply deflected, diminished or explained away with references to irrelevant overseas diversions.

Based on the tragic lessons of the recent past, addressing antisemitism requires every American to step up boldly, speak out unequivocally and react defiantly against discrimination against Jewish Americans. Tolerating antisemitism is not only categorically un-American but also poses a moral threat to U.S. democracy, as well as to the nation’s prospects in the 21st century.

Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer, a former director of the United Nations Population Division and author of numerous publications on population issues, including his recent book, “Births, Deaths, Migrations and Other Important Population Matters.”