Black senators voice concerns over impact of tech layoffs on minority workers

Dominic-Madori Davis
Updated Fri, December 22, 2023

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have written to the United States’ Acting Secretary of Labor, Julie Su, expressing concerns over the disproportionate impact tech layoffs could have on Black workers, according to a letter seen by TechCrunch.

First reported by The Grio, the letter contains a list of questions regarding the steps the Department of Labor has taken to monitor the impact of tech layoffs on African Americans, its regulations around business practices and what the Department of Labor has done to ensure recent Supreme Court cases are not being used to undermine corporate DEI practices and budgets.

More than 240,000 jobs have been eliminated this year due to layoffs in the tech industry. The worry here is that the “last in, first out” approach to tech layoffs commonly employed at companies may impact new, less senior and “non-essential” employees, who are most likely to be minorities.

“Laying off the most recent hires directly impacts groups of people who benefited from new diversity policies implemented in response to heightened race-based conversations in 2020,” the letter said.

Made with Flourish

“We’ve seen that Black, Brown, and women tech workers have borne the brunt of layoffs while companies have enjoyed billion-dollar profits,” Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, co-chair of the CBC, told TechCrunch. “Congresswoman [Barbara] Lee and I, as co-chairs of CBC TECH2025, are asking the administration to take action to address this harmful and problematic trend.”

The Department of Labor has not yet responded to the letter, which is dated December 15. The Department of Labor and Su did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The tech and venture industry have faced a downturn these past few years. Following George Floyd’s murder in 2020, many companies made promises to support the Black community. But as the market dipped, diversity pledges have been unfunded, DEI jobs have been cut and venture capital funding to Black founders continues to dip quarter by quarter.

The CBC is stepping up. Last week, it wrote to Sam Altman and the OpenAI board, asking the company to “move expeditiously in diversifying its board to be inclusive of subject matter expertise with perspective from the African American community.” The OpenAI Board currently does not have any women or people of color.

SCI-FI-TEK
Hyperloop to shut down after Richard Branson sells stake

Matthew Field
Fri, 22 December 2023 

Hyperloop One raised more than $450m and built a test track in the Nevada desert in the hope of cracking a new mode of transport - Virgin.com/PA

A US start-up that hoped to revolutionise public transport using 760-miles-per-hour hyperloop technology is shutting down, a year after Sir Richard Branson pulled his backing from the business.

Hyperloop One, which was trying to commercialise a new form of transport envisioned by billionaire Elon Musk, is planning to sell its assets and wind down its operations, Bloomberg reported.

In 2013, Mr Musk envisioned an alternative to high-speed rail and air travel that would see passengers whisked through vacuum-sealed tunnels in levitating pods. He had claimed the technology would cut the journey time from Los Angeles to San Francisco down to 30 minutes compared to almost six hours by car.


A number of start-ups had attempted to make the theory a reality. Hyperloop One raised more than $450m (£353m) in the effort, building a test track in the Nevada desert.

The company was rebranded as Virgin Hyperloop One in 2017. Sir Richard’s company took a stake in the business and hailed it as an “incredibly innovative and exciting new way to move people and things at airline speeds on the ground”.

But last year, The Telegraph revealed Virgin was stripping its branding from the hyperloop project and selling its minority stake in the venture.

The company was rebranded as Virgin Hyperloop One in 2017 after Sir Richard’s company took a stake in the business - Virgin.com/PA Wire

Despite completing a first test of its pod system in 2020 with human passengers, the company’s attempts to build hundreds of miles of tubes to connect cities around the world never got beyond its 500 metre test track.

Bloomberg reported that the employment contracts for Hyperloop One’s remaining staff will end on Dec 31. The company’s intellectual property will be transferred to Dubai shipping conglomerate DP World, which owns a majority stake in the business.

Engineering experts have repeatedly pointed out the concept suffers from major technical challenges that could prevent the idea ever becoming reality.

Several start-ups still harbour hopes of turning the theoretical technology into a reality. In Europe, Dutch company Hardt Hyperloop raised €12m (£10.4m) earlier this year to build a testing facility.

Hyperloop One did not respond to a request for comment.

IT WAS ALL HYPE

Hyperloop One to Shut Down After Failing to Reinvent Transit

Sarah McBride
Thu, December 21, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- Hyperloop One, the futuristic transportation company building tube-encased lines to zip passengers and freight from city to city at airplane-like speeds, is shutting down, according to people familiar with the situation.


Once a high-profile startup, Hyperloop One raised more than $450 million since its founding in 2014, according to PitchBook. It built a small test track near Las Vegas to develop its transportation technology, and for a time took the name Virgin Hyperloop One after Richard Branson’s Virgin invested. Virgin removed its branding after the startup decided last year to focus on cargo rather than people.

Now, the company has laid off most of its employees, and is trying to sell its remaining assets, including the test track and machinery, according to one of the people, who asked to remain anonymous discussing private information. In early 2022, the company employed more than 200 people. The business has also closed its Los Angeles office. The remaining workers, tasked with overseeing the asset sale, were told their employment will end on Dec. 31.

DP World, the Dubai-based conglomerate, has backed Hyperloop One since 2016 and owns a majority stake. The startup’s remaining intellectual property will be transferred to DP World, a person familiar with the situation said.

Through a spokesman, DP World declined to comment. Raja Narayanan, Hyperloop One’s acting chief executive officer, also didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Hyperloop One, formally known as Hyperloop Technologies, merged with a shell company this April, according to a document reviewed by Bloomberg. At that time, the value of shares in most classes was written down to zero cents, and the shareholders of the shell company became the only owners of Hyperloop One. At an all-hands meeting, employees were told that DP World orchestrated the transaction, according to one of the people.

The company had captured the public’s imagination since its founding in 2014, a year after Elon Musk released a white paper outlining a vision for hyperloop technology. The concept was a tantalizing promise of a new kind of transportation technology — and an end to traffic.

But the nascent industry stumbled, and Hyperloop One never won a contract to build a working hyperloop. The company also attracted plenty of attention for the wrong reasons. Co-founder Brogan BamBrogan once arrived at work to find a noose on his chair. And another co-founder, the venture capitalist Shervin Pishevar, stepped aside after Bloomberg reported on sexual harassment allegations against him, which he denied. A one-time director, Ziyavudin Magomedov, was arrested in Moscow on charges of fraud and embezzlement unrelated to Hyperloop One. At the time, Magomedov’s lawyer said he was appealing the arrest.

Although no large-scale hyperloop has been built after years of effort, the concept continues to enchant entrepreneurs. Several hyperloop companies are at various stages of building protoypes, including Hardt Hyperloop, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc. and Swisspod Technologies.

Musk has promoted the field as well, creating a series of competitions for student-designed hyperloops and building a now-demolished test track. He also started Boring Co., a tunneling business that has pursued related technology.


Hyperloop’s loss is high-speed rail’s gain

Sean O'Kane
Fri, December 22, 2023 


In 2013, Elon Musk published a white paper that teased the idea of zipping from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just 35 minutes through a vacuum-sealed tube -- a system he called hyperloop. The idea “originated out of his hatred for California’s proposed high-speed rail system,” according to his biographer Ashlee Vance.

Ten years later, the most high-profile startup that tried to follow in Musk’s footsteps -- Hyperloop One -- is closing its doors. And the news of its demise broke less than two weeks after the Biden administration announced $6 billion in funding for high-speed rail projects across California.

It’s a big win for public transit advocates, many of whom have spent decades stumping for not just high-speed rail, but better rail service overall. (Biden’s announcement also included funding for a slew of other rail projects around the country.) But it’s not a clean victory by any means.

For one thing, many cities and states were lulled by the hyperloop siren song and were subsequently left adrift. I still vividly remember reporting out a story in 2018 about the collapse of Arrivo (another hyperloop startup created by one of Hyperloop One’s co-founders) and calling Colorado’s Department of Transportation to ask about the company going under, only to realize on the call they had no idea it had happened.

Colorado was not alone. Hyperloop One once promised West Virginia that it would build a $500 million test and certification facility in the state. It also built a test track near Las Vegas where it did, briefly, move some people through a tube -- enough of an accomplishment, apparently, for then-CEO Jay Walder to claim it was the “first new form of mass transportation in over 100 years.”

Other hyperloop projects and companies remain, though largely outside of the United States. Thankfully this country was already building momentum back up for investing in its rail system, with a focus on faster trains.

The most high-profile effort is Brightline, a company that recently extended its existing service in Florida all the way to Orlando, allowing passengers to travel there from as far as Miami.

Brightline is also building what it calls “the nation’s first true high-speed rail network” between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. That project received $3 billion of the funding recently announced by the Biden administration, and is expected to break ground in early 2024.

Building high-speed rail will take more than just money. There are deeply rooted problems standing in the way stemming from years of deregulation. Projects of this size also struggle to stay on time and on budget. The other big recipient of the newly announced federal funding -- another $3 billion -- is a high-speed rail project slated to run the spine of California that was the original source of Musk’s ire.

Could high-speed rail’s revival run the risk of a rematch with the world’s richest man? Perhaps, though train fans can take solace in how distracted Musk has become since that 2013 white paper.

Besides, outside of a handful of engineering contests held by SpaceX, Musk only ever entertained his own hyperloop projects at a superficial level.

Musk once tweeted that he had “verbal govt approval” to build “an underground NY-Phil-Balt-DC Hyperloop.” It was never built. In April 2022 he claimed his tunneling effort The Boring Company would “attempt to build a working hyperloop.” The following day the company tweeted “Hyperloop testing at full-scale begins later this year.” That also never happened.

Musk spent the last decade barely engaging with the hyperloop, essentially outsourcing his attempt to kill high-speed rail. With Hyperloop One's death casting a pall on that premise, it looks increasingly like the billionaire has a decision to make: Does he care enough to find the time to finish the job himself?

Hyperloop Ultra-High Speed Transport Is Hyper Dead

Logan Carter
Thu, December 21, 2023 

NORTH LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 11: People look at a demostration test sled after the first test of the propulsion system at the Hyperloop One Test and Safety site on May 11, 2016 in North Las Vegas, Nevada. The company plans to create a fully operational hyperloop system by 2020.


Hyperloop One is the company born to bring Elon Musk’s much hyped contention that it would be possible to engineer underground or above-ground virtually airless tubes to facilitate ultra-high speed mass transit to life. That dream now appears dead as the company has laid off most of its employees and is trying to sell its remaining assets.

As with many startups, Hyperloop One had a strong start with over $450 million in initial investment, but as the reality of building an entirely new form of transportation requiring uncharted logistics set in, the company destabilized. It was bought by Richard Branson’s Virgin in 2017, and then was surrounded in scandal up-to its recent demise. Bloomberg reports,

The Hyperloop ran a single test with passengers on its Nevada test track with dismal results. The pod, which was supposed to be operating at speeds in excess of 700 mph, achieved a top speed of 100 mph. Womp womp.

A Tesla Inc. electric vehicle drives through the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 3, 2022.

A Tesla Inc. electric vehicle drives through the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 3, 2022.

Elon did manage to build a kind of “Hyperloop” that remains alive and well, but is nothing like what was initially promised. Elon’s Hyperloop exists as a single-lane tunnel system that runs beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center that acts as an underground route for standard Tesla vehicles to ferry folks around the 4.6 million square-foot convention center. I have ridden the Tesla Hyperloop several times over my three years attending The SEMA Show and it is incredibly convenient, if a bit extra. This system was intended to expand beyond the convention center, though, which it has yet to do.

In other news, Japan’s bullet train continues to operate flawlessly and ferry nearly a million passengers around the country each day with virtually infallible punctuality and efficiency.

 Jalopnik

High-speed transportation firm Hyperloop One to shut down - Bloomberg News

Reuters
Thu, December 21, 2023

FILE PHOTO: Journalists and guests look over tubes following a propulsion open-air test at Hyperloop One in North Las Vegas

(Reuters) - High-speed freight transportation company Hyperloop One will shut down, having failed to win any contract to build a working hyperloop, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday citing people familiar with the matter.

The Los-Angeles-based firm, which completed the world's first passenger ride on a super high-speed levitating pod system in 2020, will sell off its remaining assets, while the employment for its remaining employees will end on Dec. 31 this year, according to the report.

Hyperloop One did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

In a hyperloop system, which uses magnetic levitation to allow near-silent travel, a trip between New York and Washington would take just 30 minutes - twice as fast as a commercial jet flight and four times faster than a high-speed train.

Elon Musk had reignited interest in the technology in 2013 by setting out how a modern hyperloop system would work. His own tunneling enterprise, The Boring Company, is seeking to send passengers packed into pods through an intercity system of giant, underground vacuum tubes known as the hyperloop.

Hyperloop One was founded in 2014 and raised more than $400 million, largely from United Arab Emirates shipping company DP World and British billionaire Richard Branson.

(Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru)


Elon Musk’s Much-Hyped Hyperloop One Is Shutting Down: Report
AJ McDougall
Thu, December 21, 2023

David Becker/Getty Images

Guess it didn’t live up to the hype. Hyperloop One, the chrome-plated pipe dream of a tube-transportation firm, is shutting down operations, according to Bloomberg News. The company is auctioning off its assets and laying off its workforce with an eye toward pushing its few remaining employees out the door on Dec. 31, insiders familiar with the matter told the outlet on Thursday. After that, all of its intellectual property will shift to majority stakeholder DP World, a Dubai port operator. It marks an ignoble ending for a once-buzzy startup based on tech dreamed up by Elon Musk. In 2013 he unveiled the open-source design for the hyperloop, a vacuum tube technology that promised to send passengers and cargo whizzing around the world. Hyperloop One, founded a year later, tinkered with Musk’s so-called “alpha paper” on the concept, raised $450 million, and built a small test track in the Nevada desert. But it never truly managed to get off the ground, with Bloomberg reporting that the company had failed to secure a contract to build a working model at scale.

Retired rugby star Alun Wyn Jones reveals heart condition

AFP
Fri, 22 December 2023

Alun Wyn Jones made a record 170 Test appearances (Geoff Caddick)

Retired Wales rugby great Alun Wyn Jones has revealed he was diagnosed with a heart condition towards the end of his career and has called for better screening for players.

The 38-year-old, rugby's most-capped international, told the Telegraph he was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation while he was at French Top 14 side Toulon.

The ex-Wales and British and Irish Lions forward's career ended at the French side last month. He played a total of 170 internationals.

Atrial fibrillation is a heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate.

"It was discovered when I underwent a full medical check, which included an ECG test, when I joined Toulon in July on a short-term contract as cover during the World Cup," he said.

"The cardiac doctor picked it up straight away. My heartbeat was like a galloping horse with six legs. It was all over the shop."

Warren Gatland named Jones in his preliminary Wales squad for the 2023 World Cup in France, held in September and October, but he opted to retire from internationals in May.

Jones said it was vital to boost screening.

"There is a lot of talk about welfare in rugby at the minute but does that cover everything?" he said.

"Is it just things that we can afford? Surely the sport has come on to the point where players should be screened more often, especially at a time when the demands in the game are growing.

"I was very lucky how it worked out and will forever be grateful to Toulon for signing me. Had they not offered me a contract, I may never have known about the heart condition.

Jones said he took a "risk" in deciding to play in France.

"It might seem a selfish decision given that I have three young daughters, but I needed to take the opportunity," he said.

"It was only going to be for four months, and it gave me an opportunity to experience and get perspective on my career and life."

Jones underwent surgery to correct the condition last month, shortly after finishing his playing career.


Alun Wyn Jones: Former Wales rugby captain calls for more screenings for players after heart issue diagnosed

Sky News
Updated Fri, 22 December 2023 


A former Wales rugby captain has urged the sport to offer heart screenings for players, after he was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation during a medical check.

Alun Wyn Jones, 38, said it was picked up in the summer by a club doctor at French side Toulon, where he ended his playing career last month.

Jones said he would be forever grateful to Toulon, adding: "Had they not offered me a contract, I may never have known about the heart condition."

The NHS says it "causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate" and can lead to problems including dizziness, shortness of breath and tiredness.

He told The Telegraph his condition "was discovered when I underwent a full medical check, which included an ECG test, when I joined Toulon in July on a short-term contract as cover during the World Cup".

"The cardiac doctor picked it up straight away. My heartbeat was like a galloping horse with six legs. It was all over the shop.

"The things that bring it on for someone my age is likely to be cardiovascular exercise and stress, it occurs in sports like rowing and endurance sports, but it was a shock because throughout my career I have always prided myself on my fitness.

"I have always been so committed to doing extras after matches, constantly working on my fitness and recovery from injuries."

Jones announced his retirement from international rugby in May.

He eventually quit the sport in November, before having surgery on his heart that same month.

Jones said he hopes more players can have heart screenings, so they can discover any issues.

The Welshman told The Telegraph: "There is a lot of talk about welfare in rugby at the minute, but does that cover everything?

"Is it just things that we can afford? Surely the sport has come on to the point where players should be screened more often, especially at a time when the demands in the game are growing.

"I was very lucky how it worked out and will forever be grateful to Toulon for signing me."

Jones is the most capped player in rugby after making 158 appearances for Wales and 12 for the British and Irish Lions.

Read more: Gavin Henson and Phil Vickery among over 200 ex-rugby stars taking legal action over brain injuries

Jones's comments come weeks after a number of former players began legal action over brain injuries against the English Rugby Football Union (RFU), Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) and World Rugby.

English World Cup winner Steve Thompson is among those suing rugby authorities, and said he had been diagnosed with early onset dementia as a result of his playing career.

The secrets of raising an eight-year-old chess prodigy

Cameron Henderson
Fri, 22 December 2023 

Bodhana Sivanandan, aged 8, and her father Sivanandan Velayutham - Matt Writtle

In September 2020, Sivanandan Velayutham was helping to clear out a friend’s garage when he uncovered a dusty magnetic chess set. He packed the folding brown and cream board into a bag, along with a collection of old books, brought it home and thought little about it. That is, until his five-year-old daughter, Bodhana, discovered a peculiar figurine lying loose inside. “I want the horsey,” she said.

Sivanandan named the pieces one by one, before showing Bodhana a YouTube video explaining the game’s rules. “She was curious and wanted to know more,” he says simply. Three years later, Bodhana would set the world of chess ablaze.

On Saturday, December 14, she was crowned best female player at the European Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship in Zagreb, Croatia, and achieved what many are already calling the best-ever result by an under-10 girl. Totalling a remarkable 8.5/13 against an elite 555-person field, including 48 grandmasters and 50 international masters, the primary school pupil came 73rd overall, defeating her first International Master, the England women’s coach Lorin D’Costa.

By drawing with two-time Romanian champion grandmaster Vladislav Nevednichy in the final round, Bodhana became the youngest player to avoid defeat against a grandmaster in a competitive game – six days younger than when future grandmaster David Howell beat grandmaster John Nunn at the 1999 Mind Sports Olympiad.

Irina Bulmaga, 30, the Romanian international master and woman grandmaster who was also at the competition, said it was an “un­believable result” and described Bodhana as a “phenomenon”. Lawrence Trent, the chess commentator and international master, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that she is “one of the greatest talents I’ve witnessed in recent memory”, adding: “I have no doubt she will be England’s greatest player and most likely one of the greatest the game has ever seen.”

So, what does her father make of her astonishing achievement? “I’m not yet celebrating,” he says, with a wry smile on his face. “I’m happy, but the road is very long. If I jump for joy now, I think it might be an end point – I have to keep calm.” He is speaking over Zoom from his home office in Harrow, north-west London. Perched on a shelf in the background are the folding chessboard, the Hillingdon District Chess League Under 18 trophy – which Bodhana took home this year for being the best player in the competition, aged just eight – and a keyboard.

This last item comes as a surprise. Midway through last year, with Bodhana having already won international tournaments for her age group, she decided, in capricious seven-year-old fashion, that she wanted to give up chess to play piano instead. “I bought a keyboard; it all went well for four days, but after that she said she’s not keen on keyboard and she went back to chess,” her father explains, pragmatically. “All I said was: ‘You need to know what you’re doing. Whatever you do, I can support. But if you are mixing too many things, I may not be able to support you.’”

When Bodhana quickly started winning matches online, her father enrolled her at their local chess club - Matt Writtle

Listening to Sivanandan, you get the sense that he is aware of his daughter’s prodigious talent, yet wary of letting himself get carried away. “She was liking it and playing, so I kept encouraging,” he says. “Talent is one side, another side is curiosity and passion – they are very important.”

After Bodhana’s result this weekend, comparisons have inevitably been drawn with the all-time No 1 woman Judit Polgár’s international debut in the 1986 New York Open, when the then nine-year-old Hungarian won the unrated section with 7.5/8. But it wasn’t until Polgár turned 10 – two years older than Bodhana – that she defeated her first international master, the Romanian Dolfi Drimer.

Polgár and her sisters Zsuzsa – who became the Women’s World Chess Champion – and Zsófia were home-schooled to be chess prodigies by their father László Polgár, a Soviet-era educational psychologist. Portrayed by his detractors as a Dr Frankenstein, Polgár senior came up with a simple theory, that “geniuses are made, not born”, which he trialled on his daughters, exposing them to a gruelling regime of chess training and study from the age of four.

Like the Polgár sisters, Bodhana’s best results so far are in three-minute and five-minute blitzes rather than in the slower classical game. But unlike the Hungarian trio, Bodhana attends a regular Catholic primary school, her two sisters Visakha and Laksha – twins aged seven – run away when she tries to teach them chess, her father has no particular grounding in the sport, and other than not having a television at home – which Sivanandan dismisses as a “waste of time” – enjoys a remarkably ordinary childhood. “Whenever I see her alongside other kids, I don’t see any extraordinary maturity. She is still just an eight-year-old – the only difference is she plays good chess,” says Sivanandan, whose wife Lakshmy Priya is a stay-at-home mum.

After Bodhana watched more YouTube videos to teach herself how to play the game, and with the country in lockdown, she started out playing online against strangers and then in person – known as ‘over the board’ – against her father, who she quickly overtook.

Bodhana’s father is keeping her feet firmly rooted to the ground - Matt Writtle

Growing up in South India, Sivanandan learnt the basics of chess in school and played with friends. Given the 42-year-old IT manager’s mathematical aptitude (he holds a degree in mechanical engineering) you might guess he would have been somewhat miffed at losing in a game of logic to a five-year-old. But he accepted defeat graciously. “At the start, I might have won one or two games, but she soon knew the rules better than me and the tables quickly turned,” he laughs. He recalls the moment she learnt how to queen-side castle as a turning point. “I said: ‘No, you can’t do this,’ but she said: ‘Yes, you can,’” he says. “She had to show me on YouTube. Kids pick these things up very fast.”

When Bodhana quickly started winning matches online, her father enrolled her at their local chess club in Harrow in December 2020. She was spurred on by the prospect of winning trophies. “She was delighted with that, and as soon as she wins one, she wants to win the next one. It’s a small normal sports trophy, but it’s a big motivation for kids,” says her father, who describes his daughter as “shy” and “mostly silent” but “confident on the chess board”.

Sivanandan thinks his daughter was drawn to the royal associations of chess. “She likes the royal stories and family. I think that’s why she thought this looks interesting,” he says. There is a whimsical innocence to her obsession: in a video posted online by Champions Chess Tour earlier this year, Bodhana can be seen one moment playing a host of adults across multiple boards at the same time – in what’s known as a simul – the next, joyfully demonstrating that her favourite trophy is the one she can dismantle.

Sivanandan: ‘You have to remember that she is just a kid and kids can completely change.’ - Matt Writtle

Bodhana practises for 45 minutes to an hour after school every day, except on Tuesdays and Thursdays when she is either at her chess club or playing at tournaments. At weekends, she hones her skills for up to five hours each day. She also completes puzzles in chess magazines and regularly plays over the board with her two grandmaster coaches.

“You have to be in touch; you have to keep sharp,” explains her father, who describes her as “naturally self-motivated” and insists he only “slightly” pushes her. “She never says I don’t want to go,” he adds. “The only question she asks is ‘where is the tournament?’. Now she knows: the more far, the more fun.” Despite his daughter’s laser-like focus on chess, he says that “homework and school studies are the priority. She learns violin in school and she occasionally plays the piano. She’s a curious girl who wants to learn.”

In September, Bodhana became England’s first world youth chess champion in 25 years when she won the triple crown with titles in classical, rapid and blitz competitions in Georgia. Then in December, she became Joint English Women’s Blitz Champion for all age groups. Yet despite Bodhana’s remarkable achievements, her father says: “There is still loads more to learn.”

Since then, she has been coached by Jon Speelman, the former World No 4, along with other grandmasters, and announced herself on the world stage with her clean sweep of 33 games at the 2023 world under-eight girls classical, rapid and blitz championships.

Success has brought Bodhana an audience with Rishi Sunak, who invited her to Downing Street earlier this year to mark a package of government funding to support children from disadvantaged areas playing chess. She has also met one of the Polgár sisters: Zsuzsa, who Sivanandan describes as “very supportive”. That said, her favourite players are both men: current world champion Magnus Carlsen and 1920s world champion José Raúl Capablanca – “she likes his end game,” he says.

Bodhana with Rishi Sunak in the garden of 10 Downing Street - Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Street

It could all go to her head, but Bodhana appears to possess an emotional maturity that far exceeds her years. “I’ve never seen her get angry when she loses,” says Sivanandan. How about her victories? “We always make sure she keeps on a humble note. We particularly mention the road is long.”

She will also patiently talk her father through her tactical decision-making when he can’t quite keep up. “If I really don’t understand, she clearly explains why she made the move and for what reason,” he says.

Comparisons will inevitably be drawn with Netflix’s hit drama The Queen’s Gambit, based on Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel and telling the story of Beth Harmon (played by Anya Taylor-Joy), an American female chess prodigy who rises to the top of the sport. The series came out in October 2020, the same month Bodhana first took up chess but, ironically, Sivanandan says she hasn’t seen it and would prefer to show his daughter King Richard, the biopic of Richard Williams, the father and uncompromising tennis coach of Venus and Serena Williams.

So what is it like having a child prodigy for a daughter? Sivanandan pauses for thought. “What she has done is incredible and I am happy for her, but before I get excited and jump for joy, I will stay calm because the road is long,” he repeats yet again. “You have to remember that she is just a kid and kids can completely change.

“The next goal is simple: keep playing chess, as long as she enjoys it.”

At eight years old, Bodhana Sivanandan may yet come to dominate the world of chess. But for the time being, her father is keeping her feet firmly rooted to the ground.

New Zealand could scrap funding for sports that allow trans athletes to compete against women

Roger Maynard
Fri, 22 December 2023 

Champion mountain biker Kate Weatherly, a transgender athlete, said she feared athletes could be forced into men's competitions - TVNS Youtube

New Zealand’s government is threatening to withhold millions of dollars in taxpayer funding from sporting bodies if they do not comply with a drive to separate transgender athletes from grassroots-level competitions.

In a move that has angered transgender sports figures, the country’s new conservative coalition has demanded that “publicly funded sporting bodies support fair competition that is not compromised by rules relating to gender”.

The policy, which is being led by the minority New Zealand First Party, a populist political movement which shares power with the conservative National and ACT parties, is being promoted as a fairer and more equal approach to female sporting opportunities.

‘Fairness and safety in sports for women’


Andy Foster, the New Zealand First Party’s sport and recreation spokesman, said it was about “fairness and safety in sport for women”.

The policy will only apply to sport at an amateur level and not international sports such as cricket, rugby league and swimming.

But while it will only impact community competitions, critics fear it has the potential to deter transgender athletes from participating in sports at a grassroots level.

Champion mountain biker Kate Weatherly, herself a transgender athlete, told the New Zealand Herald that she feared athletes would be forced into men’s competitions or sidelined completely.
‘As good as exclusion’

“People must choose between participating in a sport they love and invalidating their identity or leaving the community or sport to continue being who they are,” she said. “That is as good as exclusion. It misses the point of community sport. Everybody should have access to social environments sports can bring.”

The two-time national mountain bike champion said there were far more pressing concerns involving women’s sports.

“If we want to discuss the impact trans women have on women’s willingness to participate in sport, that’s fine, but let’s do that after we’ve addressed every other barrier to women’s participation,” she added.

Chris Bishop, the sport and recreation minister, backed the New Zealand First party in its attempts to create a more inclusive environment and ensure that rules relating to gender did not interfere with that.
‘Strong views on both sides’

But in an interview which local media described as “uncomfortable,” he admitted it was a “tricky one – a thorny issue”.

“There’s strong views on both sides of the debate,” he said, promising to work through the issues with the relevant sporting bodies.

“Ultimately it’s got to go over to sporting bodies to make sure we have fair competition,” he insisted.

While, at least for the moment, the transgender issue will remain at a local level, there is a lot of money at stake.

The New Zealand government will invest around $9.3 million (more than £4.5 million) into nearly 40 community sports clubs next year, funding that many amateur clubs rely on for their survival.

Mr Foster said local sports clubs should not expect to receive taxpayer support if they disagreed with the new policy.

“If a code says ‘We don’t want to do that,’ that is their choice, but they shouldn’t then expect the taxpayer to say we’re delighted to support you doing something we see as unsafe and unfair,” he said. “That’s the policy.”

Gay Rep. Robert Garcia (D) Effortlessly ROASTS Kelly Ann Conway For Her Pathetic Attempt To Insult Dems

Ariel Messman-Rucker
Thu, December 21, 2023 

(L) Kellyanne Conway and (R) Robert Garcia

Kellyanne Conway, who served as former President Donald Trump's senior counselor while he was in office, was dragged on social media this morning after trying to insult liberals.

While on Fox News' Outnumbered on Wednesday, Conway took a potshot at Democrats, claiming that the Left is obsessed with January 6th and can't get enough abortions.

"I think Democrats wake up every morning and they look at the calendar on the iPhone and it says January 6th," Conway said. "The date never changes. And then they get into an electric vehicle and go get an abortion."

Gurl, bye.

Conway was derisively mocking important issues Democrats have been fighting for. When you're part of a political party whose sole purpose seems to be stripping people of their rights, it may be hard to understand why liberals care about women's right to choose and the destruction of both the planet and our democracy.

People were quick to jump on X (formerly Twitter) to ruthlessly mock Trump's lap dog for her insulting and out-of-touch jabs. Luckily, instead of responding to her "joke" as though she were a serious person—she's not—gay California Rep. Robert Garcia dropped the perfect one-liner.

"Wow I literally did all of this yesterday," he posted alongside a clip of Conway's weak attempt at humor.

Trust a gay to have us cackling!

Meidas Touch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski called out Conway for her gross comments. "Most people have to try really hard to be this reprehensible, but I think it comes naturally to her," he wrote.

And Independent correspondent Eric Garcia pointed out Conway's despicable past, "Man, I'm old enough to remember when Kellyanne Conway used to coach Republican men not to sound like absolute pigs when talking about abortion to women."

Another X user quipped," God dammit. I slept in late and I missed my abortion this morning! Now I'm gonna have to have two of them tomorrow. BTW... does anyone have an extension cord for my electric car? My cat chewed through the last one."

Conway was on Fox News to criticize the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to ban Trump from the state's Republican primary in 2024 because of his actions on the January 6th storming of the Capitol, Newsweek reported.

And the award for best Trump a** kisser goes to Kellyanne Conway!

Keep scrolling to see that most hilarious response to Conway's unfunny comments.

Israeli Evidence of Hamas Command Center in al-Shifa Hospital Falls Short: Report

Nikki McCann Ramirez

ROLLING STONE
Thu, December 21, 2023 


Last month, the world watched as a spectacle rarely seen in modern warfare unfolded in Gaza. The Israeli military tore through al-Shifa Hospital, the Gaza Strip’s main hospital, forcing the evacuation of patients and refugees as part of a siege on the medical complex that resulted in dozens of patient deaths and an untold number of additional casualties.

Israel’s months-long assault on Gaza has already resulted in more than 20,000 Palestinian deaths since Oct. 7, many of them civilians and children. Even in a conflict as brutal as the one currently unfolding in Gaza, an organized military operation against a hospital is virtually unheard of. Israel for weeks had made public its preemptive justification for an incursion into a medical establishment that is typically protected under humanitarian law — asserting that al-Shifa contained a Hamas command center within a network of tunnels and secret rooms that used patients and doctors as human shields against Israeli military action.

The Biden administration continues to back Israel’s position on the matter, and earlier this week reasserted their own claims of possessing “evidence that Hamas was operating underneath al-Shifa Hospital before Israel attacked.” On Monday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters in a press briefing that the U.S. remains “confident” that “Hamas was using al-Shifa as a command and control post, as it uses other civilian sites to hide terrorist infrastructure, to hide weapons, to hide fighters and ultimately to use civilians as human shields.”


Following the siege on al-Shifa, the Israeli government attempted to convince the world that the hospital held both the literal and figurative smoking guns which would prove its alleged connections to Hamas military operations. To justify such a brutal attack, one would expect there to have been clear, irrefutable evidence of Hamas’ presence and use of the complex, but aside from a handful of weapons and some paraphernalia, the findings have been lackluster. An analysis by The Washington Post of open-source materials and evidence provided by Israel in the aftermath of the attack found very little proof that the tunnels under al-Shifa led to a major Hamas command center.

It bears noting that Israel itself built some of the tunnels and rooms under al-Shifa in the 1980s, and their existence has been an open secret for decades. Following their incursion into the hospital, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released footage of Israeli forces exploring the alleged network of Hamas tunnels within the medical complex. Analysis by the Post of tunnel footage, as well as maps and other materials released by the IDF, contradicted claims by Israel that several hospital buildings were connected to and could be accessed from within the tunnel network. The analysis also found that several small rooms attached to the tunnel, one of which the IDF had described as an evacuated Hamas “operational room,” contained no signs of recent use or occupancy.

A separate November analysis of IDF footage by CNN found that Israeli forces may have moved or rearranged weapons within al-Shifa Hospital before providing international news organizations access to the scene, prompting questions regarding the authenticity of the already limited findings provided by IDF forces.

Hospitals have become a primary target in Israel’s ongoing siege against the Gaza Strip. According to the World Health Organization, as of Thursday, there are no longer any functioning hospitals left in northern Gaza and only nine of the region’s major health facilities remain at least partially operational.

“WHO will keep striving to supply health facilities in northern Gaza. But without medicines and other essential needs, all patients will die slowly and painfully,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said in a statement released on X. “More than ever, a humanitarian ceasefire is needed now to reinforce and restock remaining health facilities, [to] deliver medical services needed by thousands of injured people and those needing other essential care, and, above all, to stop the bloodshed and death.”

Rolling Stone


Evidence Doesn't Support Israeli Claims That Hospital Was Hamas Command Center: Report

Matt Shuham

HUFFPOST
Thu, December 21, 2023 


There is not sufficient public evidence to support Israel’s claims that a Gaza hospital the country raided had served as a Hamas command center, according to a Washington Post investigation published Thursday.

The Israeli raid on al-Shifa Hospital last month, which was preceded by an evacuation order aimed at thousands of people sheltering at the hospital and hundreds of sick patients, produced one of the grisliest scenes in the country’s ground invasion of the Gaza Strip: a “death zone” that included a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and dozens of desperate patients inside, according to the World Health Organization, whose aid workers arrived at the facility on Nov. 18 as part of a humanitarian mission.

Forty patients, including four premature babies, died in the hospital due to a lack of electricity in the days surrounding the raid, hospital administrators told the United Nations.

Israel had asserted that the hospital was used to direct rocket attacks and command fighters, and that Hamas tunnels could be accessed from five specific hospital buildings. And a U.S. administration official told the Post last week, “We are absolutely confident in the intelligence ... that Hamas was using it as a command and control node.”

But in an analysis based on satellite imagery, open-source visual information and releases from the Israeli military, the Post found that available evidence didn’t support these claims, and that its reporting raised questions about the legitimacy of the raid under international law. Hamas has denied Israel’s assertions about how the hospital was used.

Israeli forces did uncover one underground tunnel on the northeastern corner of the hospital complex’s grounds, but the Post noted that no evidence had been presented that the tunnel was actually in use during the current war — nor that it was connected to the five buildings in the complex that the Israeli military had said were being used by Hamas.

An Israeli military spokesperson told the paper that the country had released “extensive, irrefutable evidence that points to the abuse of the Shifa hospital complex by Hamas for terrorism purposes, and underground terrorism activity.” But, faced with the Post’s findings, the spokesperson said Israel would not be releasing any further evidence to back up its claims: “We cannot provide additional information,” the unnamed official told the paper.

International humanitarian law typically protects hospitals from attacks during war. Israel’s claim that Hamas fighters — and senior commanders — operate from tunnels underneath otherwise-protected buildings like hospitals and schools has been a key defense in its targeting of those facilities.

The Israeli military has attacked a number of hospitals, the Post noted. As of Tuesday, “nine out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functional, all located in the south,” according to WHO. Israel has also raided numerous hospitals and shelters in Gaza’s north in recent days, The Associated Press reported.

“I’m furious that children who are recovering from amputations in hospitals are then killed in those hospitals,” said UNICEF spokesperson James Elder.

An Israeli raid of Kamal Adwan Hospital led to the deaths of eight patients, including a 9-year-old, WHO said Monday. A pediatrician at the hospital, Dr. Hussam Abu Safyia, told The Wall Street Journal that 12 patients had died as a result of shortages of food, water and medical supplies amid fighting around the hospital. Abu Safyia and an unnamed nurse at the hospital told the paper that hospital staff members had buried the deceased in the facility’s courtyard, and that Israeli troops subsequently used military vehicles, including a bulldozer, to dig up and search the bodies. As with al-Shifa, the Israeli military claimed that the hospital was being used as a Hamas “command and control centre,” and released video of weapons purportedly found at the facility.

After Israeli forces entered al-Shifa Hospital, military spokespeople released photos of around a dozen rifles, in addition to grenades, ammunition and bulletproof vests that they claimed were recovered from the facility. But the Post wasn’t able to verify the source of the weapons.

One section of underground rooms that was joined to the tunnel system uncovered by the Israeli military — including two rooms and two bathrooms — did not show evidence of recent use in an Israeli army video, the Post reported. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesperson who narrated the army’s tour of the facilities, claimed in that video: “This room was evacuated, and all the gear was evacuated. I guess it was evacuated when they knew or understand that we were going to enter Shifa Hospital.” The Israeli army didn’t respond to requests for clarification on when militants purportedly used the rooms, the Post reported.

“Every single hospital in Gaza, every single school in Gaza, is used as a terror base,” former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett claimed Wednesday during a BBC interview.

Read the full Washington Post report here.