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Market watchers are hoping India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party wins a third term. Channi Anand/APNew DelhiCNN — 

For the last three decades, Peeyush Mittal has frequently driven the 185 miles from the Indian capital to the city of Jaipur. The journey always took him six hours.

“For 30 years there’s been this promise of doing that journey in three hours. It has never been possible,” said Mittal, a portfolio manager at Matthews Asia, a San Francisco-based investment fund. “They’ve expanded the highway, gone from one lane to two lane to three lane, everything has been done. But that journey has always remained six hours.”

Except last year, when he cruised at 75 miles per hour on a new expressway connecting the two cities, and made the trip in half the time.

“My jaw dropped when I first time got on that highway. I was like, ‘Wow, man, how is this even possible … in India?” he said.

The quality of India’s new infrastructure is just one of many reasons why Mittal, who manages funds focussed on emerging markets, and other investors are excited about the country’s growth prospects.

Financial professionals around the world are noticing India’s development since 2014 under two-term Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has said he wants the South Asian nation to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025.

The optimism around the world’s most populous nation is in stark contrast to the mood found in China, which is grappling with a myriad of economic challenges, including an accelerated flight of capital from the country.

Its stock markets have suffered a protracted slump since recent peaks in 2021, with more than $5 trillion in market value having been wiped out from the Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong bourses. Foreign direct investment (FDI) plunged last year, and fell again in January, down nearly 12% compared to the same month in 2023.

India’s stock market, meanwhile, is hitting record highs. The value of companies listed on India’s exchanges surpassed $4 trillion late last year.

The future appears even brighter. India’s market value is expected to more than double to $10 trillion by 2030, according to a Thursday report by Jefferies, which would make it “impossible for large global investors to ignore.”

“China is a no go, so … which is the other country that can maybe replace China?” said Mittal. “There’s no country like China other than India … in some form or fashion, it is the substitute that maybe the world is looking for to drive growth.”

Japan has benefited from investors seeking an alternative to China — Tokyo’s benchmark index hit a new high for the first time in 34 years last week, helped by improving corporate profits and a weak yen. But the country is stuck in recession and recently lost its position as the world’s third biggest economy to Germany.

The latest revision by global stock index compiler MSCI reflects the bullishness towards India. MSCI said this month that it would increase India’s weighting in its emerging markets index to 18.06% from 17.98%, while reducing China’s to 24.77%.

MSCI’s indexes help institutional investors worldwide decide how to allocate money and where to focus their research.

“India’s weight in the MSCI emerging market index was about 7% a couple of years back,” said Aditya Suresh, head of India equity research at Macquarie Capital. “Do I think that 18% [in the MSCI index] is naturally gravitating more towards 25%? Yeah, that’s kind of clearly where our conversations are leading us to believe.”

As India heads towards national elections in the coming months, market watchers are hoping that Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party wins a third term, bringing greater predictability to economic policies for the next five years.

“If Modi is back with a majority and political stability is there, then I can certainly say with confidence that there’ll be a lot more investor interest in India on a more sustainable basis,” said Mittal.

The next global growth engine

There are good reasons for the euphoria around India. From a surging young population to humming factories, the country has a lot going in its favor.

The International Monetary Fund expects India to grow by 6.5% next financial year compared to 4.6% for China. Analysts at Jefferies expect the country to become the world’s third largest economy by 2027.

Much like China more than three decades ago, India is only at the beginning of a infrastructure transformation, spending billions on building roads, ports, airports and railways.

There is a “very strong multiplier effect” on the economy from the investments in digital and physical infrastructure, which “you cannot roll back,” Suresh said.

The world’s fastest growing major economy is also trying to capitalize on the rethink underway among companies on supply chains. Global businesses want to diversify operations away from China, where they faced obstacles during the pandemic and are exposed to risks arising from tension between Beijing and Washington.

“India is a prime candidate to benefit from the ‘friend-shoring’ of supply chains, notably at the expense of China,” wrote Hubert de Barochez, a market economist at Capital Economics, in January.

As a result, some of the world’s biggest companies, including Apple (AAPL) supplier Foxconn, are expanding their operations in India. Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk said last June his company is looking to invest in India “as soon as humanly possible.”

“[Modi] really cares about India because he’s pushing us to make significant investments in India, which is something we intend to do,” Musk told reporters.

But some worry that India’s confidence may be bordering on hubris.

Is it worth the hype?

While interest in the world’s fifth largest economy is rising, the lofty prices of India’s stocks are scaring some international investors away.

Indian shares have always been expensive compared to other emerging economies, said Suresh, but now “the premium on the premium has expanded.”

Domestic investors, both retail and institutional, seem to be brushing aside these high valuations, driving India’s stock market to unprecedented peaks.

According to Macquarie, retail investors alone own 9% of India’s equity market value versus foreign investors at slightly under 20%. Analysts, however, expect foreign investments to pick up in the second half of 2024, once the election is out of the way.

Workers laboring at the ‘Chennai Metro Rail project’ construction site in the city of Chennai. R. Satish Babu/AFP/Getty Images

There’s another potential challenge. Despite its new economic swagger, India does not have the capacity to absorb all the money that is flowing out of China, whose economy is still about five times bigger.

China “has a few too many companies which are $100 and $200 billion plus [in value],” Mittal said. “It is difficult to find home for that kind of chunk of money in India.”

But the fact that India’s sizzling rally is driven by domestic investors adds to the country’s strengths and reduces its dependence on foreign fund flows.

“It just massively insulates India from global dynamics,” Suresh said.

Apart from geopolitical rifts and an uncertain economic outlook, foreign companies and investors have grown increasingly wary of domestic political risks in China, including the possibility of raids and detentions. Institutional investors are still very wary about buying Chinese stocks, even though many now look like a bargain.

“There are many good businesses in China, but with all the regulatory issues it becomes very difficult to predict what they will look like in the long run,” said Priyanka Agnihotri, portfolio manager at Baltimore-based Brown Advisory.

India, on the other hand, enjoys healthy relations with the West and other major economies, and is aggressively wooing large firms to set up factories in the country.

In her budget speech in February, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said FDI inflows since Modi first came to power in 2014 stood at nearly $600 billion, which is twice the amount during the previous decade.

“For encouraging sustained foreign investment, we are negotiating bilateral investment treaties with our foreign partners, in the spirit of first develop India,” she added.

Analysts say that it would hard to https://terserahapapun.com stop the economic juggernaut India has set in motion, irrespective of what happens to China.

“Even if China comes back to the table and resolves a lot of problems, I don’t think India is going back into the background anymore,” said Mittal. “It has arrived.”

Destroyed buildings in Avdiivka, Ukraine, on February 15. Kostiantyn Lieberov/Libkos/Getty ImagesCNN — 

A Ukrainian drone spots Russian soldiers hiding amid the remains of what was once someone’s home, in the middle of a lunar-like landscape of charred ground, craters and sapless trunks.

Another drone carrying a small warhead moves in and detonates on impact. A second one follows. Then a third. Finally, the Russian unit is eliminated.

“We are smoking the occupiers,” says the drones’ controller, a Ukrainian unit fighting to keep the key town of Avdiivka out of Moscow’s hands, which shared video footage of the attacks with CNN.

For the drone operators, it is a victory, but such wins are becoming rare in this part of Ukraine, as Moscow throws everything it has at the small, battered and now largely deserted town.

In an apparent nod to the importance of Avdiivka, which lies to the northwest of Donetsk city, Ukraine’s new army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov this week visited soldiers on the front lines there.

“The operational situation is extremely complicated and tense,” Syrskyi acknowledged. “We are doing everything possible to prevent the enemy from advancing deeper into our territory and to hold our positions.”

RELATED ARTICLERussia can sustain war effort ‘for another two or three years,’ say analysts

Quelling rumors that Ukraine was considering a withdrawal from Avdiivka, Syrskyi has instead sent in reinforcements.

He’s deployed one of Ukraine’s most battle-hardened units – the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade – which earned praise for its daring attacks on Russian forces around Bakhmut.

“We made a number of important decisions aimed at strengthening the combat capabilities of our military units and preventing enemy actions,” Syrskyi explained during his visit to the front line.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised “maximum attention” for the eastern front and said the new army chief’s visit to the area would help address the issues facing units on the ground.

“The existing problems are being solved – manning the units, reinforcement, command and control,” Zelensky said in his nightly address. “We will be reinforced with drones, electronic warfare, and command positions will also be strengthened.”

But just a couple of days later, amid the ongoing Russian onslaught, even the reinforcements were describing “hellish” conditions.

“Our brigade is carrying out combat missions in conditions that even we could hardly imagine,” Maksym Zhorin, the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade’s deputy commander said in a battlefield report on Thursday. “The battles in Avdiivka are several times more hellish than the hottest battles of this phase of the war, which took place in Bakhmut.”

Much as it did in Bakhmut this time last year, Russia is throwing everything it has at Avdiivka in pursuit of victory, pummeling the town with airstrikes and artillery, while launching wave after wave of ground assaults by armored vehicles and soldiers.

It’s turned the town into what Ukrainian soldiers call a “meat grinder.”

During the offensive Russia has suffered immense losses — so large it might make other militaries regroup and rethink — but Moscow appears to be calculating these losses are worth it, given its numerical advantage.

“The enemy is huge, coming from all sides,” Zhorin added.

‘I’m not going anywhere’

Other video footage from Avdiivka shows a quite different side to the town’s plight.

Scenes caught on the bodycams of two Ukrainian policemen, seen by CNN, shows the moment they approach a grey-haired elderly resident in an effort to convince him to evacuate the town.

He shies away as the policeman approach, holding up a smartphone. The man’s adult daughter is on the other end, trying to convince him to leave.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he tells her.

“I’ll send you money and you will come to me, in Kherson,” his daughter pleads in desperation. “I’ll pay for travel and accommodation.”

A resident of Avdiivka, Ukraine, near destroyed buildings on February 14. Kostiantyn Lieberov/Libkos/Getty Images

But her cries fall on deaf ears.

The officers who approached the man with the phone are part of a special Ukrainian police unit known as the “White Angels,” which has been tasked with helping vulnerable civilians flee the town, home to 30,000 people two years ago.

Already this year they’ve evacuated more than 120 people, mostly elderly, but also some children. Many of these battle-worn citizens have been living through some level of conflict ever since Avdiivka – about 20km from the city of Donetsk – became the front line against Russian-backed fighters in 2015.

Reluctant to leave, many resisted the first thrust of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, holding out until they could no longer bear it. Now, with Russian shelling intensifying since the end of last year, there’s little left to cling to.

Other footage collected by Ukrainian units shows scenes of devastation, with high-rise buildings covered in holes from the constant Russian barrages. Some high-rises have been knocked over completely and most small buildings have been reduced to mounds of rubble.

Pushing back

The Russian assault on Avdiivka comes after an unconvincing Ukrainian counter-offensive in the summer and as Western support for Kyiv falters. European shipments of ammunition and financial aid have been delayed by Brussels’ notorious red tape — and some resistance from Hungary — but it’s the delays in Washington that are most concerning to Kyiv.

The United States has been Ukraine’s largest backer since day one, but its continued military support has become a divisive issue among lawmakers. The reluctance of Trump-supporting Republicans to back the White House is giving Putin and Russia an edge, according to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

“We see the impact already of the fact that the US has not been able to make a decision,” Stoltenberg said in an interview Thursday.

Ukrainian servicemen of the 47th Mechanized Brigade prepare for combat in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, near to Avdiivka, on February 11, 2024. Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images

Seemingly outmanned and outgunned, the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade admits the situation is “critical,” but insists it will continue to push back, and claims to have critically damaged two Russian brigades.

CNN cannot independently verify the claim, though recent combat footage geolocated to the town suggests Russia continues to suffer heavy losses even while it makes territorial gains there.

Still, even if the claim is true, the brigade is well aware that Russia has plenty more soldiers to replace its loses as it “continues to actively rotate its troops and deploy new forces and equipment to the town.”

“We are forced to https://terserahapapun.com fight 360 degrees against new brigades that the enemy is deploying,” says the commander of the 3rd Brigade, Andrii Biletskyi. “Our soldiers are demonstrating unprecedented heroism.”

Customers shop for vegetables and fruit at a supermarket in Fuyang, China, on February 8, 2024. STR/AFP/Getty ImagesNew YorkCNN — 

US markets reeled on Tuesday after January’s Consumer Price Index showed inflation came in hotter than expected, leaving investors to believe that interest rate cuts are off the table for the near future.

Markets aside, the data was confirmation that prices are indeed still high and are taking a toll on Americans — just ask anyone who recently got a new car insurance policy (rates are up 21% from a year ago).

China, however, is having a different problem: Prices are falling at their fastest rate in 15 years.

No, that wasn’t a typo, falling prices are a problem when they’re widespread across an economy, like in China, which is experiencing what’s known as deflation.

At first glance, falling prices may sound good. After all, who likes paying more for anything?

But the problem with deflation is that when people begin to expect lower prices in the future, they have little incentive to make purchases right now. For instance, unless it was absolutely necessary, why would you buy a new oven today if you thought the price would go down significantly in a month?

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When enough people think that way, it causes massive pullbacks in spending. That can prompt a recession if it means businesses can’t afford to employ as many workers.

In China, the effects of deflation have taken a major toll on stocks, making it the worst-performing equity market in the world last year. That prompted the nation’s sovereign wealth fund to purchase shares of Chinese-listed companies to boost prices.

Additionally, China is pursuing stimulative measures aimed at boosting consumer spending.

Some inflation is good, actually

The surging inflation that Americans and people across many parts of the world have experienced over the past few years, primarily due to energy- and pandemic-related factors, is not what central banks want.

Like the US Federal Reserve, most major central banks, including the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, target a 2% annual rate of inflation, not zero inflation whatsoever. That’s done to discourage people from delaying purchases.

It also gives central banks a bit of a cushion against deflation.

“Having a margin against deflation is important because there are limits to how far interest rates can be cut,” the European Central Bank states in a post on its site. “In a deflationary environment monetary policy may not be able to sufficiently stimulate the economy by using its https://terserahapapun.com interest rate instrument. This makes it more difficult for monetary policy to fight deflation than to fight inflation.”

An aerial view of an Amazonian floodplain in the morning, in Carauari, Brazil in September 2022. Andre DibCNN — 

The Amazon rainforest is on course to reach a crucial tipping point as soon as 2050, with devastating consequences for the region and the world’s ability to tackle climate change, according to a study published Wednesday.

The Amazon has proven resilient to natural changes in the climate for 65 million years, but deforestation and the human-caused climate crisis have brought new levels of stress and could cause a large-scale collapse of the forest system within the next three decades, the study said.

The researchers predict that 10% to 47% of the Amazon will be exposed to stresses that could push the ecosystem to its tipping point, a critical threshold that once crossed will lead to a downward spiral of impacts.

The study, led by researchers at the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Brazil and published in the journal Nature, takes a holistic approach to estimating how soon the Amazon could reach that threshold.

The study’s authors looked at the impact of warming temperatures, extreme droughts, deforestation and fires to draw their conclusions.

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“We already knew about all these factors at play, but once we connected the pieces of this complex puzzle, the image was alarming,” Bernardo Flores, lead author of the study, told CNN. “Our findings revealed how the Amazon forest system could enter a phase of self-reinforced collapse sooner than previously thought.”

Previous studies had not predicted a collapse of this scale could happen in the 21st century.

A collapse of the Amazon, the world’s vastest tropical rainforest, would weaken its ability to absorb planet-warming carbon pollution from the atmosphere, which would exacerbate global warming. Once known as the lungs of the planet, the Amazon has already become a net emitter of carbon emissions, meaning it releases more carbon into the atmosphere now than it absorbs. Forest fires and logging are the main reasons for that change.

But the forest is still a huge, crucial carbon sink. It holds the equivalent of 15 to 20 years of the entire world’s global carbon stores.

A loss of ‘flying rivers’

The study also shows how a deteriorating Amazon could impact forests in other parts of South America.

The Amazon is crucial for water supply across the region, the study said, contributing as much as half of its rainfall through what the authors call “flying rivers” – rain that originates over the Amazon and spreads to other parts of the region. That means other forests and ecosystems that rely on rain are able to thrive. Those places include the Pantanal wetlands — the world’s largest tropical wetlands that cross Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay — and the La Plata River basin, a biodiverse and crucial water system that drains one-fifth of South American land.

The Amazon provides moisture beyond the region, too.

“The Amazon forest is a major pump of moisture into the atmosphere, contributing to circulation processes that transfer moisture across the globe,” Flores said. “When the forest is reduced, this weakens this process, causing the global climate to find a new equilibrium.”

The Amazon River and the Amazon forest in Yurua, Ucayali, in Peru in June 2021. Andre Dib

The authors of the study noted that water stress was a common factor in the disturbances to the Amazon. Water stress occurs when there is not enough water to meet human or ecological needs.

Global warming is intensifying the effects of water stress by causing the Amazonian climate to become drier and warmer. This increases water stress on trees, particularly those with low drought resistance in northwest parts of the forest, which “could suffer massive mortality if suddenly exposed to severe water stress,” according to the study.

Reaching its tipping point could also make parts of the Amazon uninhabitable due to unbearable heat and a lack of resources for indigenous peoples and local communities, the study shows.

“A war of attrition on the Amazon rainforest is being waged through human-caused climate change and deforestation, which is sending this irreplaceable jewel of the planet to the brink,” said Richard Allan, a professor in Climate Science at the University of Reading, who was not involved in the study. “These critical effects … are compounded by continued destruction of forest for agriculture, settlement, and industry.”

The study recommends ending deforestation, promoting forest restoration, and expanding protected areas and Indigenous territories. Flores also stressed the need for global cooperation to cut greenhouse gas emissions and emphasized the importance of Amazonian countries cooperating to https://terserahapapun.com promote forest restoration.

Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event at The Palmetto Room on February 12, 2024, in Laurens, South Carolina. Win McNamee/Getty ImagesCNN — 

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is hammering Donald Trump over his comments mocking the absence of her husband, who is deployed overseas, and using the former president’s remarks to highlight his long history of disparaging members of the military.

The strategy is unlikely to change the dynamics of the GOP primary ahead of her home state’s February 24 primary. But it showcases how her continued presence in the race has presented a thorn in Trump’s side, as she continues to criticize and provoke him in ads, on cable TV and on the campaign trail.

In interviews, fundraising messages and a new digital ad, Haley has framed the former president’s comments as part of an ongoing pattern of disrespect toward military members and their service and says it is further evidence that he would run an undisciplined general election campaign and presidency.

Haley called Trump’s comments “disgusting,” “awful” and “unhinged” during an appearance on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” Someone who would make such comments doesn’t deserve to be commander in chief, she said.

“If you don’t respect our military, how should we think you’re going to respect them when it comes to times of war, and prevent war and keep them from going?” Haley said Monday. “If you don’t have respect for our military and our veterans, God help us all if that’s the case.”

Haley made the comments after spending most of Monday blasting Trump. During a gaggle with reporters in Elgin, South Carolina, Monday afternoon, she said his comments put servicemembers at risk by implying Trump doesn’t support them and called out his own lack of military experience.

“The most harm he’s ever come across is whether a golf ball hits him on a golf cart,” she told reporters. “And you’re gonna go and mock our men and women in the military? I don’t care what party you’re in, that’s not okay.”

Neither Trump nor Haley has served in the military. Trump avoided being drafted into the Vietnam War due to five deferments, one for bone spurs and four for education.

Her campaign has pointed to several comments Trump has made both publicly or privately over the years.

In September 2020, the Atlantic reported that Trump called soldiers who died in combat “losers” and “suckers” and questioned why veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery would enlist. John Kelly, a former Trump chief of staff, confirmed several details in the report to CNN last year.

In 2015, during his first presidential run, Trump said he liked “people who weren’t captured” as he attacked Sen. John McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Three years later, he suggested retired Navy Adm. William McRaven, who oversaw the military operation that killed Osama bin Laden, should have completed the mission sooner.

On Saturday, Trump noted that Haley’s husband, Michael, has not appeared on the campaign trail with her.

“What happened to her husband? Where is he?” Trump said at a rally Saturday in Conway, South Carolina. “He’s gone.” Michael Haley is an officer of the South Carolina Army National Guard who is currently deployed supporting the US Africa Command.

Throughout her campaign, Nikki Haley has pointed to her husband’s military service to make the case for investing more in services for veterans and to push back on criticisms that she’s too hawkish. Her campaign has said they’ve engaged with voters who were angered by his comments, noting the Palmetto State is home to a large swath of military families.

It’s not clear that hitting Trump over his comments will change the dynamics in the race. A recent Monmouth/Washington Post poll in South Carolina found Haley trailing Trump by 26 points in the state, and her campaign has struggled to outline her path to the nomination.

But her response has demonstrated where Trump might be weak in the general election. On Sunday, President Joe Biden – Trump’s likely general election opponent – defended the Haleys on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“We know he thinks our troops are ‘suckers,’ but this guy wouldn’t know service to his country if it slapped him in the face,” Biden wrote on the site.

For her part, Haley’s criticisms of Trump only intensified on Monday. Her campaign has fundraised off the comments, offering shirts that say “We Love Our Military” to supporters who donate $15 to her campaign.

Also on Monday, her campaign released a digital ad highlighting Trump’s history of disparaging remarks towards members of the military with news clips and video of her response to Trump at a rally in South Carolina over the weekend, in which she called on him to debate her.

“If you mock the service of a combat veteran, https://terserahapapun.com you don’t deserve a driver’s license, let alone being president of the United States,” she says in the ad.

And she continued to knock Trump at campaign events in South Carolina Monday.

“You can’t have a commander-in-chief that doesn’t understand what made this country great,” Haley said at a stop in Laurens, South Carolina. “It’s the values, it’s the sacrifice, it’s the freedom. That’s what we fight for every day.”

There are ways to address a decline in desire as well as pain during sex and lack of pleasure, said marriage and family therapist Vanessa Marin of Santa Barbara, California. EmirMemedovski/E+/Getty Images

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It has been almost four years since the world went into lockdown from the Covid-19 pandemic — but don’t be surprised if you haven’t brought sexy back yet.

Sexual function — which includes factors like desire, arousal and pleasure — in men and women decreased significantly after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a January 2022 meta-analysis of 21 studies published in the journal BMC Public Health. And women — even more so than men — struggled when it came to desire.

“I’ve been hearing about this since the first couple of months of the pandemic and it’s definitely a trend that has continued,” said Vanessa Marin, a licensed marriage and family therapist based in Santa Barbara, California.

If you and your partner have found yourself in a bit of a rut, there are ways to break out of it, she said.

“Being in a relationship really is like working together as a team to figure out, ‘Hey, what is it that we’re both wanting, and how do we work together to get it?” added Marin, coauthor of “Sex Talks: The Five Conversations That Will Transform Your Love Life.”

Stress kills sex

Why would Covid-19 create such an ongoing issue for sexual desire? Stress, said Dr. Justin Lehmiller, a research fellow at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University.

“It makes sense that people experienced a lot of difficulties during this time because you had these major life disruptions that didn’t necessarily go away when the world reopened,” said Lehmiller, who is also host of the “Sex and Psychology Podcast.”

It’s difficult for people’s bodies to find space for sex when under stress, Marin said.

“For the vast majority of people, if you’re under a lot of stress, your body shuts down any pathway to arousal and desire,” she said.

On top of concerns about the state of the world and your family’s health, transitioning to a Covid-19 world of no childcare, working from home and fewer social outlets meant increased stress for many people — but especially women in particular.

“The pandemic brought issues of mental load and mental labor really to the forefront in a way that it never has been before,” Marin said. Mental load refers to tasks that take planning, preparation and keeping track to maintain a household.

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It makes sense that women who took on a greater share of domestic labor — all while working from home — would start to feel like intimacy with their partner was another item on the list of things for other people, she added.

And even though things went back to something closer to normal after lockdown lifted, people may have gotten used to how things were. That means many people likely haven’t found ways to reinvigorate their relationships, said Deborah Fox, a licensed sex therapist and clinical social worker based in Washington, DC.

Spontaneous vs. responsive

That feeling at the beginning of a relationship when the desire is on fire all the time is actually an anomaly in the world of sexuality, and it’s OK if you have to change your approach as a relationship goes on, Fox said.

Many people, particularly women, tend to experience what is called responsive arousal as opposed to spontaneous arousal, she said.

Whereas someone who is aroused spontaneously can be interested in sex in many circumstances, people who are more responsive in their desire require a less stressful context and contact with their partner that initiates their arousal, Fox added.

“If you want to have sex on Saturday, start foreplay on Wednesday,” she said.

And it doesn’t have to be explicit. Foreplay could be spending time with your partner watching your favorite show, going on a fun date or even taking a hot bath, Fox said.

To get back into a space where desire is more regular, Fox recommends setting aside time when you and your partner will be physically connected.

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Importantly, that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s when you will be having sex, and it really shouldn’t have pressure for it to lead there, she said.

Instead, cuddle, kiss or hold hands at that designated time and be open to where it might go. And don’t forget to have fun with it, Fox said.

“That regular sort of rhythm of activity is, is what’s required because otherwise drift takes over,” she added. “And if you’re already drifting from the pandemic, it feels awkward to get back into it.”

How to get the spark back

With an issue as multifaceted as sexual desire, there are many steps you can take if you want to get back in the groove.

First, take inventory of your emotional connection with your partner: Are you feeling disconnected or resentful? Working on those elements of the relationship together or with a therapist could address physical issues, Marin said.

Then look at the quality of the sex that you are having.

“The vast majority of people describe their sex as boring, routine, predictable, and that there’s nothing in it for them,” she added.

You might not know exactly what it is that would bring some spice back, but start by asking yourself and talking with your partner about what you do enjoy in your sex life — following that guidance may improve the experience for you, Marin said.

What you should know if there’s no sexual attraction for your partner, according to a therapist

Lastly, women have to start speaking up about pain.

“The research has shown that 30% of women experienced pain the last time they had sex, which is a really mind-boggling number,” Marin said. “If you’re experiencing pain during sex, it makes zero sense to crave it, so addressing sexual pain is another great starting point for a lot of people.”

She recommends talking with your doctor or gynecologist and perhaps a sex therapist to address any pain you are feeling.

It’s crucial that we don’t respond to sexual difficulties by avoiding them, Lehmiller said.

In his research, there were “a lot of people who dealt with our sexual difficulties just by avoiding sex, because sometimes it’s easier to just not do it and not talk about it than it is to have those difficult conversations,” Lehmiller said.

And the data showed that men were more https://terserahapapun.com likely than women to seek professional help for the sexual problems they experienced, he said.

“Unfortunately, I think we’ve sort of normalized sexual difficulties for women,” he added.

Finnair is weighing volunteer passengers at the gate to collect data on travelers. Markus Mainka/dpa/AP

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We all know what it’s like to have our baggage weighed at an airport check-in. Most of us are also familiar with the “crouch of shame” – the position adopted when rummaging through a bag to remove something heavy, when you’ve been informed your bag is just ounces overweight.

But now, some brave airline passengers are consenting to being weighed themselves before boarding the plane.

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In a trial by European carrier Finnair at its Helsinki Airport hub, volunteer passengers are being weighed at the departure gate in order to allow the airline to refine weight estimates for planes before takeoff.

And in a nightmare scenario for anyone who’s ever tried to nonchalantly sneak an overweight cabin bag onto the plane, passengers are being weighed together with their carry-on bags.

Luckily for anyone carrying a bulging bag, the weigh-ins are not linked to individual bookings or passenger data. Everything is anonymous, Päivyt Tallqvist, Finnair’s senior vice president communications, told CNN, with only the member of staff at the gate seeing the weight.

The trial started on Monday, and by Thursday morning 800 volunteers had already taken part, Tallqvist, said, adding that the airline was “positively surprised by the number of volunteers.”

Finnair’s fancy new airline seats don’t recline

“We have communicated about this survey to Finnair customers via our social media channels and our mobile app, and the first volunteers were proactively asking to take part even before the equipment was set up,” she said.

They plan to weigh 1,200 passengers for the winter season, and more for the summer.

Tallqvist said that the airline is collating data about the average weight of passengers and their hand luggage “for the purpose of aircraft balance and performance calculations that are needed for the safe operation of flights.”

Heavier in winter

Finnair is collecting the data from passengers boarding at Helsinki airport. Alessandro Rampazzo/AFP/Getty Images

Airlines calculate planes’ weight – the weight of everyone onboard, as well as cargo and baggage in the hold, and things like catering and water tanks onboard – before each take off, along with their center of gravity. The weight and trim of an aircraft can affect where passengers can sit, and in some cases even how many passengers are allowed onboard, and how much luggage can go in the hold. Each aircraft you fly in has a set maximum weight for safe takeoff.

“While airlines know the weight of all other aspects, the weight of customers and their carry-on baggage is calculated using average weights confirmed by the Civil Aviation Authority,” said Tallqvist.

Airlines generally use average passenger weights provided by the European Aviation Safety Authority, but they can also use their own, signed off by the authorities. Finnair has used its own measurements since 2018, but these must be updated every five years – hence the refresh.

Korean Air conducted its own weighing program in 2023, while Air New Zealand also did a weight survey last year.

Finnair is collecting data for both winter and summer seasons, since passengers tend to wear heavier clothing and coats during the cold Finnish winters. The winter readings will be completed in February, with the summer ones taken between April and May.

The says it airline will calculate an average weight from the measurements taken, and will send the data to the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency for verification. The weights will be used for https://terserahapapun.com loading calculations from 2025-30.

And while many passengers would rather keep their weight a secret, Satu Munnukka, Finnair’s head of ground processes, assured nervous passengers in a statement that “the collected data is not linked in any way to the customer’s personal data.”

Munnukka added: “We record the total weight and background information of the customer and their carry-on baggage, but we do not ask for the name or booking number, for example.

“Only the customer service agent working at the measuring point can see the total weight, so you can participate in the study with peace of mind.”

Paris Jackson underwent a tattoo transformation ahead of the Grammy’s at the weekend. Neilson Barnard/Getty ImagesCNN — 

Tattoos are for life. Unless you buy a heavy duty concealer, as demonstrated by 25-year-old Paris Jackson on Sunday.

The model and actor had all 80 of her tattoos expertly covered for the 66th annual Grammy awards, a process that only took her team of two makeup artists two hours in total. In a time lapse video posted to Instagram, Jackson’s skin is painted, brushed and sprayed a convincing ivory color. Out on the red carpet, her body — once a doodle-pad of colored ink and black lines — was a striking blank canvas, emphasized by a slinky, asymmetrical cut-out gown by Celine.

While Jackson’s transformation was a savvy collaboration with makeup brand CoverFx, temporary tattoo camouflage has snowballed as an essential celebrity makeup technique.

In South Korea, tattoos exist in a legal gray area — meaning K-Pop idols often avoid the social stigma by using bandages or makeup to hide any for broadcast performances. While shooting the Disney+ series “The Bear,” Jeremy Allen White required extensive tattoo coverage (and temporary tattoo re-application) that would withstand filming for hours in a hot kitchen. Similarly, for the 2022 film “My Policeman,” Harry Styles’ distinctive ink was airbrushed to oblivion — an undertaking that took two hours and required Styles to wear a gas mask in the makeup chair. “I’d look at myself with no tattoos and be like, ‘look at this boring *ss body,’” he told Teen Vogue.

Paris Jackson was a blank canvas on the red carpet after her makeup artists spent two hours camouflaging her 80 tattoos, shown on the right. Getty Images

But the ability to opt out of permanent body art, even just for one night, seems to appeal to some in the limelight. In 2014, Amber Rose made headlines when she attended the Grammys in a decidedly stripped-back look. She wore a gold, art-deco sequinned Naeem Khan gown, her two tattoo sleeves completely erased — their blankness accentuated by a sprinkling of body glitter.

On Saturday, Lana del Rey arrived at the pre-Grammy Gala with a couple of barely-there tatts seemingly peaking through a layer of makeup. Rey’s romantic black Vivienne Westwood dress perfectly framed her décolletage, as well as two faded collar bone script tattoos.

Fading ink: Japan’s ‘hand-carved’ tattoo masters fight to keep their art alive

Elsewhere on the red carpet, while Rey and Jackson were disguising their ink, Doja Cat (who scooped three awards this season) went face-first into the world of — albeit temporary — tattoos. Her sheer, flesh-toned, corset dress was paired with a gallery of removable tattoos, from an imposing chestpiece of a gothic cathedral to Romanesque gargoyles and statues. No one needed to ask who she was wearing, either. The designer of her outfit, Dilara Findikoglu, was emblazoned in Old English font across her forehead.

Doja Cat was covered in temporary tattoos at the Grammy awards on Sunday in Los Angeles. Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Even the technology of impermanent tattoos has changed. No longer is a soaking wet towel and transfer paper your only option. Now, ink can be smart. Celebrity tattoo studio Bang Bang and research team Hyprskin have this year unveiled “Magic Ink,” a new light-sensitive ink formula that promises to be “rewritable, erasable and reprogrammable.” Using photochromic particles that react to UV light, the molecular structure — and therefore outward appearance — of Magic Ink can be altered by specific light wavelengths. In short, future tattoos may be as customizable and non-committal as a classroom whiteboard.

The tattooist creating body-positive ‘roll flowers’

One of the oldest forms of art, dating back at least as far back as 5000 BC, tattoos were once entirely defined by their permanence. Now, they’re almost as interchangeable as a piece of jewelry.

Once a sign of commitment, sometimes even a badge of community, the meaning of a tattoo could be shifting. Whether it’s a temporary piece that washes away in a matter of weeks, or an inked image that can be brushed off to https://terserahapapun.com match an outfit, the culture of body art has widened out to include those who view their anatomy with the fixity of an etch-a-sketch.

Marco Raduano was caught Thursday outside a luxury restaurant in Bastia, Corsica, where he was dining with a female companion. CarabinieriRomeCNN — 

An Italian mafia boss who escaped from a maximum security prison last year by using bed sheets to scale the walls has been captured in France, authorities say.

Marco Raduano, the 40-year-old boss of the Gargano Mafia in the southern Italian region of Puglia, was caught Thursday outside a luxury restaurant in Bastia, Corsica, where he was dining with a female companion.

He was apprehended by the same anti-mafia unit that captured Matteo Messina Denaro, another criminal boss who spent nearly three decades on the run.

Rauduona was listed as one of Europol’s top 10 most dangerous fugitives.

Also apprehended was his right-hand man, Gianluigi Troiano, who fled house arrest in 2021 after detaching his electronic bracelet. He was arrested on Thursday in Granada, Spain while picking up a parcel from a service point.

The joint operation was ordered by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Bari, Puglia and carried out by the Carabinieri of the ROS and the provincial command of Foggia, Puglia. The Spanish Guardia Civil and the French Gendarmerie Nationale also cooperated in the arrest, according to the Carabinieri statement.

Raduano’s escape by tying bed sheets from his prison window just under a year ago was caught on the penitentiary’s surveillance cameras. The escape lasted 16 seconds and he fled on foot with no guards noticing or giving chase, which led to an internal investigation of the maximum security prison.

Raduano was serving a 24-year sentence in prison for https://ikutisaja.com drug trafficking when he escaped, and sentenced to life in prison in absentia after his escape for instigating the murder of mobster Omar Trott in a bruschetta bar in Vieste, Italy, in 2017.

As the moon’s core cools and shrinks, its surface develops creases that create “moonquakes” as well as landslides, a new study says. Here is a composite image of the moon with data from 1994. NASA

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A region of the moon that’s at the center of a new international space race because it may contain water ice could be less hospitable than once thought, new research has found.

Interest in the lunar south pole spiked last year, when India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission made the first successful soft landing in the area, just days after Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashed en route to attempt the same feat. NASA has selected the region as the landing site for its Artemis III mission, which could mark the return of astronauts to the moon as soon as 2026, and China also has plans to create future habitats there.

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Related videoEx-NASA astronaut explains why the moon’s south pole is of special interest

But now a study funded by NASA is ringing an alarm bell: As the moon’s core gradually cools and shrinks, its surface develops creases — like a grape shriveling into a raisin — that create “moonquakes” that can last for hours, as well as landslides. Much like the rest of the natural satellite’s surface, the area of the south pole that is the subject of so much interest is prone to these seismic phenomena, potentially posing a threat to future human settlers and equipment.

“This is not to alarm anyone and certainly not to discourage exploration of that part of the south pole of the moon,” said the study’s lead author, Thomas R. Watters, a senior scientist emeritus in the National Air and Space Museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, “but to raise the caution that the moon is not this benign place where nothing is happening.”

Finding the source of moonquakes

The moon has shrunk by about 150 feet in circumference over the last few million years — a significant number in geological terms but too small to cause any ripple effect on Earth or to tidal cycles, according to researchers.

On the lunar surface, however, it’s a different story. Despite what its appearance might suggest, the moon still has a hot interior, which makes it seismically active.

“There is an outer core that’s molten and is cooling off,” Watters said. “As it cools, the moon shrinks, the interior volume changes and the crust has to adjust to that change — it’s a global contraction, to which tidal forces on the Earth also contribute.”

Because the moon’s surface is brittle, this pulling generates cracks, which geologists call faults. “The moon is thought of as being this geologically dead object where nothing has happened for billions of years, but that couldn’t be more far from the truth,” Watters said. “These faults are very young and things are happening. We’ve actually detected landslides that have occurred during the time that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been in orbit around the moon.”

What you should know about the moon area where Japan’s lander touched down

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, launched in 2009, and it’s mapping the moon’s surface with various instruments. In the new study, published January 25 in The Planetary Science Journal, Watters and his colleagues used data collected by LRO to link a powerful moonquake — detected with instruments left by Apollo astronauts more than 50 years ago — to a series of faults in the lunar south pole.

“We knew from the Apollo seismic experiment, which were four seismometers that operated for a period of about seven years, that there were these shallow moonquakes, but we didn’t really know what the source was,” Watters added. “We also knew that the largest of the shallow moonquakes detected by the Apollo seismometers was located near the south pole. It kind of became a sort of a detective story to try to figure out what the source was, and it turns out that these young faults are the best suspect.”

The strongest recorded quake was the equivalent of magnitude 5.0. On Earth, that would be considered moderate, but the moon’s lower gravity would make it feel worse, Watters said.

“On the Earth, you have a much stronger gravity keeping you attached to the surface. On the moon, it’s much smaller, so even a little bit of ground acceleration is going to potentially pop you off your feet, if you’re walking along,” he said. “That kind of shaking can really start throwing things around in a low G environment.”

Moonquakes: Short-term vs. long-term implications

The findings of the study will not affect the Artemis III landing region selection process, and that’s due to the scope and duration of the mission, according to study coauthor and NASA planetary scientist Renee Weber.

“This is because estimating how often a specific region experiences a moonquake is difficult to do accurately, and like earthquakes, we can’t predict moonquakes,” Weber said. “Strong shallow moonquakes are infrequent and pose a low risk to short-term missions on the lunar surface.”

NASA’s most high-risk endeavor in decades and other boundary-pushing space missions planned for 2024

NASA has identified 13 Artemis III candidate landing regions near the lunar south pole, she added, using criteria such as the ability to land safely in the region, the potential to meet science objectives, launch window availability and conditions such as terrain, communications and lighting. As part of the mission, two astronauts will spend about a week living and working on the lunar surface.

However, Weber said, for a long-term human presence on the moon, the site selection process could indeed factor in geographic characteristics such as proximity to tectonic features and terrain.

Like flashlights in the moon

Moonquakes could indeed be a problem for future manned landing missions, said Yosio Nakamura, a professor emeritus of geophysics at the University of Texas at Austin, who was among the researchers who first looked at the data collected by the Apollo seismic stations.

However, Nakamura, who was not involved with the study, disagrees about the cause of the quakes, and said Apollo data shows the phenomena originate tens of kilometers below the surface.

“We still don’t know what causes shallow moonquakes, but it is not the sliding fault near the surface,” he said. “Regardless of what causes those quakes, it is true that they pose a potential threat to future landing missions, and we need more data about them.”

 Related articleAbandoned Apollo 17 lunar lander module is causing tremors on the moon

Regardless of the underlying cause, the potential danger moonquakes pose to astronauts will be limited by the fact that — at least in the near future — humans will be on the moon for short periods of time, a few days at most, according to Allen Husker, a research professor of geophysics at the California Institute of Technology who was also not involved with the study.

“It is very unlikely that a large moonquake will happen while they are there. However, it is good to know that these seismic sources (causing the quakes) exist. They can be an opportunity to better study the moon as we do on the Earth with earthquakes,” Husker said. “By the time there is an actual moon base, we should have a much better idea of the actual seismic hazard with upcoming missions.”

That sentiment is shared by Jeffrey Andrews-Hanna, an associate professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona, https://terserahapapun.com who also didn’t participate in the work. “Moonquakes are an incredible tool for doing science,” he said in an email. “They are like flashlights in the lunar interior that illuminate its structure for us to see. Studying moonquakes at the south pole will tell us more about the Moon’s interior structure as well as its present-day activity.”