When Sarah started her weight loss journey, the first few weeks showed promising results. However, despite maintaining the same diet and exercise routine, her progress gradually slowed to a frustrating halt. This experience, shared by countless others, has a scientific explanation: metabolic adaptation, or what’s commonly known as metabolic slowdown. What Causes Your Metabolism to […]
Author Archives: The Esbec Team
![Damaged houses are pictured after an earthquake at a village in Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, on January 7, 2025 [Xinhua via Reuters]](https://esbecgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/At-least-95-reported-killed-as-powerful-earthquake-hits-Tibet.jpg)
DEVELOPING STORY, Tremors were reported as far away as northern India and Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, where buildings shook. Dozens of people have been reported killed after a powerful earthquake hit near Tibet’s second-largest city of Shigatse, according to Chinese and US monitoring groups, with tremors felt hundreds of kilometres away in Nepal. The earthquake struck at 9:05am local time (01:05 GMT) on Tuesday at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles), according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre, which recorded a magnitude 6.8 quake, while the United States Geological Survey reported the earthquake to be magnitude 7.1. A magnitude 6.8 earthquake is considered strong and capable of causing severe damage. Multiple aftershocks have also been reported, with the largest measuring a magnitude 4.4. China’s official Xinhua news agency reported that nine
The energy landscape is rapidly evolving, and virtual power plants (VPPs) are emerging as a crucial solution for managing distributed energy resources efficiently. According to the International Energy Agency, VPP implementations grew by 47% globally in 2023, marking a significant shift in how we approach power management and distribution. Key Takeaway: Virtual power plants are revolutionizing […]
In a self-recorded video, the suspect in the deadly New Orleans truck-ramming attack appeared to be an average tourist peddling through the city’s French Quarter on a bicycle while wearing what appeared to be a pair of normal sunglasses. But FBI officials now believe the bike ride Shamsud-Din Jabbar took in late October was not intended for mere recreation. Lyonel Myrthil, special agent in charge of the bureau’s New Orleans field office, said during a news conference on Sunday that the shades Jabbar was wearing were a pair of Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, equipped with cameras in the frame, allowing him to take video and photos without using his hands. “Everything he does with the glasses you could do with a cellphone, but it does give you cover,” said Brad
Tuesday, January 07, 2025 What you need to know: The more inclusive our policies and structures are, the more they promote integral and holistic integration. It is time to fully commit to educating society on supporting people with visual disabilities and to nurture what I call ‘a culture of care,’ especially among the younger generation. The question of holistic engagement is a crucial one in relation to all persons with disabilities, as those conditions in one way or another differentiate the level at which one can engage in society and societal activities. For example, while a person with mobility disabilities can equally appreciate the music being played, he or she may not manifest bodily in the same way as persons without a mobility disability who have the same musical appreciation
It’s generally a rare thing for the person you’re interviewing to burst out laughing. But that’s what happened to me, recently, on a call with Ernie Tedeschi, the director of economics at the Yale Budget Lab who in March wrapped up a three-year stint on the White House Council of Economic Advisers. The question that evidently tickled Tedeschi: Was the “vibecession” fake? The vibes around the economy — as in, the way consumers and businesses say they feel about it — have been changing lately, and not because the economy itself is markedly different from how it was in the recent past. Inflation is down from its peak, but it’s up a bit from where it was earlier this year. The labor market is still strong, and consumer spending is
One advantage for English speakers of seeing a movie at a film festival is that they show films with English titles, unlike the theater chains, which only offer subtitles occasionally. By HANNAH BROWN JANUARY 7, 2025 04:33 ‘THE SEED of the Sacred Fig’ (photo credit: Courtesy of Haifa International Film Festival) There are hundreds of great movies playing at the 40th Haifa International Film Festival, which runs through January 11, and although there’s no way to see everything, I did manage to catch several of the most anticipated films playing there. Most of these films will open throughout Israel in 2025 and will be shown again at Haifa during the next week. One advantage for English speakers of seeing a movie at a film festival is that the festivals show
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (2nd L) has called nurturing US alliances a top priority. Photo: Issei Kato / POOL/AFPSource: AFP US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Japan on Tuesday for talks expected to address North Korean missile launches, but President Joe Biden’s blocking of a steel deal is straining the allies’ warm ties. Business groups say Biden’s decision could have a chilling effect on investment in the world’s largest economy, where leaders across the political divide have called for closer ties with Japan to counter a rising China. With two weeks left before president-elect Donald Trump takes over, the top US diplomat arrived in Tokyo from Seoul late Monday on what is likely his final tour. Biden has called nurturing US alliances a top priority —
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced he intends to resign as Liberal Party leader and prime minister once a new party leader is determined. “I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust, nationwide, competitive process,” he said Monday from Rideau Cottage in Ottawa. Trudeau will serve as prime minister until March 24. He will then be replaced by a new Liberal Party leader. The Canadian Parliament was supposed to begin its new session of 2025 on Jan. 27, but Trudeau said Monday he asked the governor general to extend and not start a new session of Parliament until March 24. Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes an announcement outside Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on Monday, Jan. 6
Many of us were either still raising glasses to bid 2024 farewell or waking up with fuzzy heads when we saw the headlines about the mayhem in New Orleans . Sadly, it was difficult to muster the kind of empathy that the moment called for since violent death is a regular fixture in the US news cycle. About two weeks earlier, three people died and six others were injured in a shooting at a private school in Madison, Wisconsin. According to a CNN analysis from last month, there were more than 80 school shootings in the US, leaving 38 people dead and at least 116 others injured. After a year of shocking violence globally and a US election season marred by bloodshed , who wanted to dwell on more of
France’s trial of a man who drugged his wife so dozens of strangers could rape her while unconscious has been both ordinary and extraordinary, AFP journalists who have been covering it say. Details of the case have horrified audiences in France and abroad since the trial began on September 2, drawing renewed attention on the widespread crime of rape and the issue of consent. But it has also catapulted its main victim, 72-year-old Gisele Pelicot, into the limelight as a feminist hero demanding a patriarchal society change its attitude to sex crimes.Dominique Pelicot, 72, has admitted sedating his then wife with sleeping pills from 2011 to 2020 so that men he recruited online could rape her in her own bed, meticulously documenting the abuse in video footage. As the court
PM criticises those “spreading lies and misinformation” over grooming gangs The prime minister has attacked politicians and activists “spreading lies and misinformation” over grooming gangs. It comes after multi-billionaire Elon Musk accused Sir Keir Starmer of being “complicit in the rape of Britain” during his tenure as director of public prosecutions (DPP) for failing to tackle grooming gangs. Senior Conservatives and Reform UK MPs have also spent the week calling for a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation. But Sir Keir said: “Those who are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims, they’re interested in themselves.” He said the online debate had “crossed a line”, resulting in threats against MPs, including Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips. Sir Keir went on to accuse
Facing arrests, bombings, and loss, Syrian women have become vital voices for truth, paving the way for change and demanding a role in Syria’s future. By RIZIK ALABI/THE MEDIA LINE JANUARY 6, 2025 14:05 Salwa Abdel Rahman (photo credit: Courtesy) Since the beginning of popular protests against the deposed Syrian regime in 2011 and the development of the conflict into armed strife, women in Syria have played a significant role in conveying the realities of events to Arab and even global communities. For more stories from The Media Line go to themedialine.org Syrian female journalists were present in the field under highly complex security conditions in a society unaccustomed to seeing Syrian women as field reporters. They became guardians of truth, away from bias or misinformation. Speaking with The Media
A senior Hamas official has shared with the BBC a list of 34 hostages that the Palestinian group says it is willing to release in the first stage of a potential ceasefire agreement with Israel. It is unclear how many of those named remain alive. Among them are 10 women and 11 older male hostages aged between 50 and 85, as well as young children who Hamas previously said had been killed in an Israeli air strike. A number of hostages who Hamas says are sick are also included on the list. Reports from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry say Israeli air strikes killed more than 100 people there at the weekend. The Israeli prime minister’s office denied reports that Hamas had provided Israel with a list of hostages. “The
![Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak [File: Ahmad Luqman Ismail/EPA]](https://esbecgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Malaysia-court-grants-jailed-ex-PM-Najib-access-to-house-arrest-decree.jpg)
Three-member bench rules 2-1 to grant Najib Razak’s appeal to use the decree to argue his case before the High Court. Malaysia’s appeals court has granted a bid by jailed ex-premier Najib Razak to see a document he said should allow him to serve his sentence at home, in a rare win for a disgraced former leader at the heart of the country’s biggest scandal. A three-member bench ruled 2-1 on Monday to grant Najib’s appeal to use the decree to argue his case before the High Court. “Given the fact that there is no challenge [of the existence of the decree], there is no justification that the order has not been complied with,” said Mohamad Firuz Jaffril, one of the three Court of Appeal judges. The 71-year-old Najib, who