Le Journal

The James household received a mixed bag of emotions after the All-Star results. LeBron James was left off the starting five, ending his streak of 21 consecutive starts in the NBA All-Star Game. Meanwhile, his son, Bronny James, has received unexpected support despite his torrid time with the Purple and Gold franchise. The starting lineups […] The post Bronny James Surprises With 62,600 All-Star Votes as LeBron Finds Solace In Snubbed Teammate appeared first on EssentiallySports.

For the 83rd edition of the Golden Globe Awards, Hollywood’s critics’ standard introduced a new ‘Best Podcast’ category for some of the most influential podcasts in media. Surprisingly, The Joe Rogan Experience earned not so much as a mention, sparking backlash from the politically active TV icon and podcaster, Bill Maher. Politically Incorrect host, Maher, […] The post Joe Rogan Snub Sparks Golden Globes Backlash From $140M TV Legend: “Smug A**holes” appeared first on EssentiallySports.

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The European Union’s top official on Tuesday described U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned new tariffs over Greenland as “a mistake especially between long-standing allies” and called into question Trump’s trustworthiness, saying that he had agreed last year not to impose more tariffs on members of the bloc. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was responding to Trump’s announcement that starting February, a 10% import tax will be imposed on goods from eight European nations that have rallied around Denmark in the wake of his stepped up calls for the United States to take over the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland. “The European Union and the United States have agreed to a trade deal last July,” Von der Leyen said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “And in politics as in business – a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, it must mean something.” “We consider the people of the United States not just our allies, but our friends. And plunging us into a downward spiral would only aid the very adversaries we are both so committed to keeping out of the strategic landscape,” she added. She vowed that the EU’s response “will be unflinching, united and proportional.” Trump has insisted the U.S. needs the territory for security reasons against possible threats from China and Russia. Earlier Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said America’s relations with Europe remain strong and urged trading partners to “take a deep breath” and let tensions driven the new tariff threats over Greenland “play out.” “I think our relations have never been closer,” he said. Trump’s threats spark diplomatic flurry across Europe The American leader’s threats have sparked outrage and a flurry of diplomatic activity across Europe, as leaders consider possible countermeasures, including retaliatory tariffs and the first-ever use of the European Union’s anti-coercion instrument. The EU has three major economic tools it could use to pressure Washington: new tariffs, suspension of the U.S.-EU trade deal, and the “trade bazooka” — the unofficial term for the bloc’s Anti-Coercion Instrument, which could sanction individuals or institutions found to be putting undue pressure on the EU. Earlier Tuesday, Trump posted on social media that he had spoken with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. He said “I agreed to a meeting of the various parties in Davos, Switzerland.” France’s Macron suggests G-7 meeting in Paris this week Trump also posted a text message from Emmanuel Macron in which the French president suggested a meeting of members of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies in Paris after the Davos gathering. An official close to Macron confirmed the message shared by Trump is genuine. “It shows that the French President, both in public and in private, takes the same views,” the official said. On Greenland, France considers respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states is “non-negotiable,” the official said. Macron’s offer to organize a G7 meeting showed the French presidency wants to make “a constructive moment that contributes to dialogue and cooperation,” the official added. The official spoke anonymously in line with the French presidency customary practices. Later, Trump posted some provocatively doctored images. One showed him planting the U.S. flag next to a sign reading “Greenland, U.S. Territory, Est. 2026.” The other showed Trump in the Oval Office next to a map that showed Greenland and Canada covered with the U.S. Stars and Stripes. In a sign of how tensions have increased in recent days, thousands of Greenlanders marched over the weekend in protest of any effort to take over their island. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post Monday that the tariff threats would not change their stance. “We will not be pressured,” he wrote. In his latest threat of tariffs, Trump indicated that the import taxes would be…

BEIJING (AP) — China’s one-child policy, one of the harshest attempts at population control the world has seen, forced abortions on women, made sterilization widespread and led to baby daughters being sold or even killed, because parents wanted their only child to be a male. Now, experts say, the question is whether it was all necessary. China’s birth rate fell to record lows last year and its population has fallen for four years in a row, official statistics showed this week. Authorities, alarmed by the prospect of a shrinking workforce and an aging population, scrapped the policy in 2015. “It’s hard to escape the fact that China demographically shot itself in the foot,” said Mei Fong, the author of the 2016 book, “One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment.” Population growth as a threat China’s leaders saw unbridled population growth as a potential threat in 1980 — to both economic development and its ability to feed what had grown into a nation of 1 billion people. The then impoverished country wasn’t the only one worried about having too many people at the time. Population control was a hot topic internationally and experts feared that rapid growth in China, India and elsewhere could overwhelm the earth’s resources. The birth rate had begun to fall in the 1970s after the government began encouraging people to have fewer children. It’s unclear how much its fall since then resulted from the one-child policy and to what degree it would have happened anyway because of the tremendous economic and societal changes over the last four decades. Stiff fines and sterilization But the leadership at the time decided to curb population growth more directly, launching the one-child policy and enforcing it with stiff financial penalties for parents who had more than one child, as well as abortions and sterilization campaigns. It lasted for 35 years. Yi Fuxian, a senior scientist in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, notes that the number of people getting sterilized plunged from 1.4 million women and 180,000 men in 2014, two years before the policy was eased, to 190,000 women and 2,600 men in 2020. In 2016, the government began allowing two children per couple and raised the limit to three children in 2021. But it has proven more difficult to reverse the mentality of people than the policy. ‘Little emperors’ China is far from the only country facing the challenges of an aging population. Around the world, as people get wealthier, they tend to want fewer, or no, children. But the one-child policy, leading to a preference for sons, has also created a gender imbalance in the one-child generation. Now, some from that generation, once dubbed “little emperors” because they were so fussed over, face the pressure of meeting the expectations, including financial, of being the only child. As they reach their 30s and 40s, there is only one child to support two parents, and in some cases, up to four grandparents. For some, this can lead to anxiety and depression, Fong said. “The little emperor at some point becomes the slave,” she said. Putting a tax on condoms China is an aging society that will likely face a major shortfall in the coming decades: not enough people of working age to support a growing population of retirees. That could burden government finances and pension systems. The government has launched a slew of polices to try to boost the birth rate, from eliminating a tax exemption for condoms to giving cash subsidies to couples who have children. But the experience of other countries shows that it’s difficult to turn around a declining birth rate. Source