Fewer homeowners have been taking on remodeling projects, reports show. But don’t mistake it for a slow market. The Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity, an outlook measuring home improvement and repair spending on owner-occupied homes, peaked at 17.3% in the third quarter of 2022. The LIRA has been declining since, and slid 1.2% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the ...
Georgia’s parliament is set to pass a highly controversial so-called “foreign agents” bill that has triggered widespread protests across the former Soviet republic nestled in the Caucasus Mountains. The vote comes after tens of thousands of people came out to protest the legislation in the capital, Tbilisi. Here’s what you need to know about the proposed law and the uproar ...
Barcelona, Spain — Spain’s Socialists won the biggest share of the vote in Sunday’s Catalan elections, dealing a serious blow to more than a decade of separatist governance and the independence dreams still nursed by some in the wealthy northeastern region. The Socialists, led locally by Salvador Illa, had 42 seats in the 135-seat chamber with more than 99% of ...
Three bewildered children sit on the roof of a mosque in Baghlan province, northern Afghanistan, their eyes blinking away mud that covers their entire bodies. Beside them, a rescuer lowers their baby brother, 2-year-old Arian, to the rooftop, a sheet tied around his waist that was used to pull him from the raging floodwaters below. “Take it, let’s get take ...
Russian President Vladimir Putin has replaced his defense minister Sergei Shoigu with a civilian, Andrey Belousov, citing the country’s rising military spending and the need for “innovation.” Shoigu had been “relieved” of his post of Minister of Defense by presidential decree and been appointed Secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday night local time. Shoigu would ...
For Ukraine, May is turning out to be the cruellest month. The town of Vovchansk in the northern Kharkiv region, liberated from Russian occupation more than 18 months ago, awoke Friday to intense shelling and aerial bombardment. Russia has found another way of stretching Ukraine’s already thin blue line. President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials said that Russian efforts to advance towards the ...
The new version of the ChatGPT AI chatbot has been unveiled and offers near-instant results across text, vision and audio, according to its maker. OpenAI said it was much better at understanding visuals and sounds than previous versions. It offers the prospect of real-time ‘conversations’ with the chatbot, including the ability to interrupt its answers. The firm says it “accepts ...
The “disgust factor” must be overcome if insect-based foods are to become mainstream, according to a study. Insects can be high in protein and making them more acceptable could help cut the high greenhouse gas emissions that come from farming cattle. There are also potential benefits for cutting obesity and researchers say the idea of farming insects is gaining more ...
The largest and longest study of the obesity drug Wegovy has shown people maintain significant weight loss for at least four years, with fewer serious adverse events than those given placebo ‘dummy’ treatment. Doctors say the finding will add pressure on UK health authorities, which currently limit treatment to just two years. Results revealed at an international obesity conference show ...
Divyendra Jadoun is proud of his professional alias: the Indian Deepfaker. “I know we do deepfakes,” he tells Sky News. “Why would I use something else?” And Jadoun’s services have been in demand recently, as India holds elections – often billed as the biggest democratic election on the planet. Deepfakes have been a feature, in some surprising ways. On occasion, ...