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Kamala Harris still Dems’ favorite pick for 2028 — despite crushing loss to Trump: poll
Roughly 41% of likely Democratic voters said they would vote for the Vice President to be at the top of the Democratic ticket in four years time, according to the Puck News/Echelon Insights survey released Wednesday.
nypost.com
International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas officials
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas officials, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza and the October attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory.
latimes.com
Holiday gift guide for the shopaholic in your life who needs everything
Those who love to shop often are fans of all things trendy. Perhaps you could gift them a popular holiday item that they may have not gotten their hands on quite yet.
foxnews.com
Alabama set to carry out nation's third nitrogen gas execution
An Alabama prisoner convicted of the 1994 murder of a female hitchhiker is slated Thursday to become the third person executed in the U.S., and Alabama, by nitrogen gas.
cbsnews.com
The Screenshot That Proves You’re a ‘Real’ Writer
Some say that no book deal is complete without it.
theatlantic.com
The Sports Report: Clippers win third in a row despite a ton of turnovers
The Clippers build a 19-point lead in the third quarter and cruise from there in victory over the Orlando Magic.
latimes.com
St. John’s facing big task against Baylor star V.J. Edgecombe — the one who got away
St. John’s will get an up close look at Baylor star V.J. Edgecomboe, the one that got away, when the two teams battle on Thursday night.
nypost.com
$344 for a coffee? Scottish farm is selling UK’s most expensive cup
It’s an enormous price to pay for a little cup of coffee, but the man behind the pitch promises it won’t leave a bitter taste behind as it comes with the sweetener of a share of a dairy farm.
nypost.com
Prep talk: Westlake girls tennis stays as champion
Warriors bask in the glow of winning Division 1 championship.
latimes.com
Israel-Gaza-Lebanon live updates: ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant
Israel continues strikes across Lebanon -- including intense attacks in Beirut -- amid a renewed cease-fire push.
abcnews.go.com
Zach Bryan skips CMAs amid messy Brianna Chickenfry breakup, hangs out with dog
The "Something in the Orange" singer has yet to respond to his ex-girlfriend's claims on the "BFFs" podcast that he emotionally abused her.
nypost.com
Police report details woman's allegations against Pete Hegseth
A woman told police she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Pete Hegseth, according to a detailed, newly-released police report. He is now President-elect Trump's choice for defense secretary.
cbsnews.com
Americans are ready to shop holiday sales amid higher prices, debt
With the election behind them, many consumers finally feel free to spend — though they’ll still be focused on deals and selective about splurges.
washingtonpost.com
For the Wizards, winning can wait, but trying hard can’t
The Wizards made a delicate bargain with their long-suffering fans. They aren’t holding up their end.
washingtonpost.com
The secret to USC running back Woody Marks' career-best year: acupuncture
In a season in which he has rushed 174 times for over 1,000 yards, USC's Woody Marks does whatever he can to keep his body in peak form.
latimes.com
Jim Harbaugh's new-age Chargers have that old 'Charm City' feel
Much of what coach Jim Harbaugh has built in his first year with the Chargers leads back to people from Baltimore, where the Ravens created a winning culture.
latimes.com
How Elon Musk Became a Kingmaker
What Elon Musk meant to the Trump presidential campaign went far beyond the $120 million he donated or the social-media boost he provided
time.com
Why the Internet Needs Content Labels
A better digital diet can bring value to our lives. It starts with internet content labels, write Tali Sharot and Christopher Kelly.
time.com
Yankees’ Aaron Judge set to snag second AL MVP award
Because of the way the season ended — and his season ended — there might be some who have forgotten just what kind of year Aaron Judge had.
nypost.com
Work Advice: I’m uncomfortable with our CEO invoking Jesus in meetings
As a non-Christian, I’m bothered by our CEO’s practice of opening meetings with a Christian prayer. Should I say something?
washingtonpost.com
There’s never been a better time to buy a used phone
Not unlike a used car, the average iPhone has three owners throughout its lifespan. A couple years ago, just before Black Friday, I decided to replace my old, cracked Apple Watch with a non-cracked equivalent. One thing led to another, and I had spent less than I’d planned on a nicer watch than I thought I could afford. The catch: It was refurbished.  The “r” word used to be a bad one in the gadget world. A decade ago, to many people, refurbished meant used, scuffed, and maybe a little bit broken. Secondhand devices didn’t always have the best reputation. However, as the right to repair movement has pushed consumer technology companies to make their products easier to fix, a new crop of marketplaces for used and refurbished goods has captured the attention of anyone who either loves a deal or cares about the environment, or both. And these cheaper options are better than ever. You may have heard of Back Market, a Paris-based refurbished marketplace that promises to sell you “tech that’s better for the planet.” Then there are more specialized sites, like Gazelle, which primarily sells refurbished phones and laptops, and VIP Outlet, which specializes in refurbishing retail returns. Decluttr sells old CDs and DVDs alongside refurbished tablets and gaming consoles. Even big retailers, including Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and Best Buy, are in the refurbished marketplace game now, too.  Prices and warranties vary, based on what you’re buying and when, but no matter where you shop, purchasing secondhand comes with a certain cachet. It’s the sensible thing to do, according to Lucas Gutterman, director of the Designed to Last Campaign at the US PIRG Education Fund.  “It’s not a bad thing for people to buy new phones,” Gutterman told me. “It’s just the idea that we should buy them every year, every other year — that seems like it’s way too much for the environment.” We certainly can’t make an infinite amount of devices with the finite number of rare earth metals on this planet. And extending the lives of phones already on the market comes with huge upside. A recent study from the French government claimed that buying a refurbished phone instead of a new one avoids the extraction of 180 pounds of raw materials and emitted 50 pounds of greenhouse gasses. Put differently, buying the refurbished device over the new one lowers the overall environmental impact by as much as 91 percent.  Taking the refurbished route wasn’t always framed as a way to fight climate change. The practice grew out of corporate IT departments’ constant need to supply machines to employees in the early days of personal computers. If an employee left the company, rather than buy a new computer, IT wiped their machines, repaired it if needed, and then assigned it to a new employee. It didn’t take long before a cottage industry emerged to sell used but restored devices to consumers. That industry is now huge and getting bigger every year. The number of used and refurbished smartphone shipments grew nearly 10 percent from 2022 to 2023, while the number of new smartphone shipments declined by over 3 percent, according to the market intelligence firm IDC. That adds up to the secondary market for phones being worth about $65 billion in 2023, and it’s expected to grow to nearly $110 billion by 2027.  These big numbers reflect an industry that’s gone from mom-and-pop shops selling fixed-up laptops to multiple mainstream marketplaces where millions of people buy everything from phones and computers to watches and video game consoles. The competition between those marketplaces also means that quality and customer experience is vastly improved. Now, refurbished gadgets often come with the same long warranties, trade-in options, and payment plans as new devices.  One surprising thing The logistics of online shopping comes with a significant carbon footprint. However, the original manufacturing process for devices like phones are much more significant. Shipping a phone in a 1-pound package 500 miles produces about 1.3 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. Manufacturing an iPhone 16 Plus, according to Apple, produces 110 to 167 pounds of emissions. Plus, the latest devices tend to have fewer new features that would make upgrading worthwhile. “People are less excited about getting another camera lens on their phone or getting a new button on the side of the iPhone,” Gutterman said. Spending less on a refurbished phone and feeling better about your environmental impact is just a better choice for a growing number of people, he explained. The refurbished market is also more transparent than it’s ever been. It all starts with a gadget that ended up in the inventory of a refurbisher or original equipment manufacturer. Often, it’s simply a device that someone else traded in or sent back for a warranty or insurance claim. Both refurbishers and manufacturers refurbish these kinds of devices by wiping them, fixing any hardware issues, repairing any cosmetic damage, cleaning them, and boxing them back up. (This can happen several times over the lifespan of a product.) Then the device goes on the market. Most marketplaces also give you options to buy items in different conditions, from poor to premium, at different prices. Some devices sold on the secondhand market are actually new, too. Cleland explained to me that some of the inventory that ends up in the refurbishers’ hands includes products that were sold and returned but never used.  That’s thanks, in part, to the boom in online returns, especially since the pandemic, which has led to a liquidation market worth hundreds of billions of dollars that’s finding new homes for all kinds of secondhand goods, from furniture to construction equipment. For phones and tablets, there’s even a standardized method for grading the condition of used devices to streamline the process of reselling and refurbishing them. It all adds up to better, cheaper secondhand goods. “It’s estimated now that anytime a new iPhone comes out, it’s going to have at least three different users over its lifespan, because it’s going to get either traded or dropped and then resold,” Sean Cleland, vice president of mobile at the marketplace B-Stock Solutions, told me. “Like, back in the day, people would just put their old phone in the drawer.” If you zoom out, what’s happening with refurbished phones and other electronics is a shining example of what a circular economy can do.  A circular economy aims to keep products in use as long as possible through refurbishing, repairing, and recycling to conserve resources and open up new economic opportunities. While the term has been around since the late 1980s, the circular economy concept has gained popularity in recent years. The European Union even adopted a circular economy action plan in 2020 that set forth a number of policies and strategies to promote sustainable development. These government incentives have perhaps helped marketplaces such as the Back Market to thrive in France and across Europe. “Going circular and finding ways to reuse the old inventory to create new things, I think, is necessary,” Cleland said. “As resources dip but consumer demand increases, you’ve got to figure out a new way.” American companies are embracing the circular economy model as well. Amazon now has Amazon Renewed, which launched in 2017 and features the same fast shipping you get with other Amazon products as well as a 90-day free return policy, which goes up to one year for some premium products. Meanwhile, eBay offers a two-year warranty on certified refurbished products, which are delivered like new, as well as one year on lower-grade used goods. Walmart Restored similarly has a one-year minimum warranty on premium refurbished goods, and 90 days on everything else. Target sells items refurbished by the original manufacturer with a six-month minimum warranty. Back Market’s warranty is good for one year across the board. Warranty is only one factor to consider when choosing where to buy refurbished goods, says PIRG’s Gutterman. You should avoid buying refurbished items that aren’t designed to last, like Apple AirPods, as well as bulky items like TVs, which can be easily damaged. You should also make sure manufacturers still support software updates on older devices. Here’s a list of iPhone models that support the latest iOS 18 software, for instance. (You can find more tips in this recently updated guide to buying — and gifting — refurbished products that Gutterman co-authored.) If you’re like me, you might just want to find the best deal. My Apple Watch battery is starting to fail, so I’m actually thinking about getting it repaired or getting a new one. Since the market for refurbished gadgets has blown up so much in the past few years, I have more options to upgrade than I did a few years ago.  And as much as I’d like to try the new features, it might feel better to trade mine in, let it find its way to a new owner, and live a little longer. A version of this story was also published in the Vox Technology newsletter. Sign up here so you don’t miss the next one!
vox.com
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Los Angeles ‘freak off’ mansion gets an offer — half the asking price
A local real estate CEO has lowballed an offer of $30 million for the Holmby Hills estate, despite it being listed for an eye-popping $61.5 million.
nypost.com
Russia hits back after Ukraine's strike using U.S. long-range missiles
Dnipro appeared to bear the brunt of Moscow's first retaliatory strike after Ukraine fired U.S.-made missiles into Russia, but it's unclear what weapons Russia used.
cbsnews.com
Staten Island’s train-car crisis proves the MTA doesn’t know what to do with taxpayer money
Five of Staten Island's new R211 train cars were yanked from service after just a month on the tracks because of a signal issue.
1 h
nypost.com
Nancy Mace Mocks AOC, Says She's Living 'Rent-Free' in Her Head
A row has erupted over a bill proposed by Mace seeking to ban transgender women from using women's bathroom at the U.S. Capitol.
1 h
newsweek.com
'American Pickers' Star Danielle Asks Fans for 'Healing' for Her Sister
The TV star shared a photo of her hugging her sister as fans shared their prayers.
1 h
newsweek.com
American Airlines Passengers Duct-Tape Man Who Tried To Open Door
"It was kind of a fight or flight situation, and everyone just really helped and put together effort," said one passenger.
1 h
newsweek.com
WATCH: Piano prodigy plays music for shelter pets
Zen Micheline Hung, 14, plays her keyboard every week for cats and dogs waiting for their forever home.
1 h
abcnews.go.com
Musk and Ramaswamy Unveil Plan to Overhaul Government
The pair has said the new department will repeal thousands of regulations and drastically reduce the federal workforce.
1 h
newsweek.com
Jim Harbaugh reflects on Chargers' Justin Herbert, Ravens' Lamar Jackson: 'Mirror images'
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh calls Justin Herbert "one of the best of all time" and says his quarterback's competitive spirit equals Lamar Jackson of Ravens.
1 h
latimes.com