Zelle and the banks that own the app, say fraud victims did authorize the transfers, even if it was a scam.
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Originally Published: 01 MAR 24 07:30 ET
By Ben Jones, CNN
(CNN) — Crowded, hot, noisy, hectic – subway systems can test the sanity of even the most hardened urbanite, but can you imagine the world’s biggest cities without them? And as millions more of us flock to live in cities every year, efficient mass transit is going to become ever more critical to urban life.
Subways – more commonly known as metros outside North America – are as varied as the cities they serve. They encompass everything from claustrophobic Victorian “tube” tunnels cut by hand to elegant turn-of-the-century steel viaducts and hyper-modern subterranean cathedrals served by fully automatic trains.
What links them all is their incredible engineering and the role they play in the lives of people and cities. Here are a few of our favorites.
London Underground
The first and still one of the greatest of the world’s metro networks, London’s first subterranean railway line opened in January 1863 – with steam trains running below the streets between Paddington and Farringdon – and the system has since expanded to serve 272 stations on a 250-mile (400-kilometer) network with 11 lines.
More than four million Londoners and visitors use the “Tube” every day, but despite the name more of the system lies above ground (55%) than beneath it. Branches extend far out into the surrounding counties of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
Far more than a transit system, London Underground is a global cultural icon (copies of its red, white and blue roundels can be found all over the world) and has been a world leader in transport architecture and design for more than a century.
Without it, London’s development into one of the world’s great cities would have been impossible.
Beijing Metro
Despite opening more than a century after London’s first Underground line, China’s Beijing Metro has grown rapidly to become one of the world’s longest and busiest systems.
Opened in 1971, it now comprises 27 lines – including one Maglev route – extending for 519 miles across the Chinese capital and surrounding districts with 490 stations handling more than 10 million trips per day before the Covid-19 pandemic (3.84 billion trips in 2018).
Six of the lines are fully automated with driverless trains. Ridership is recovering strongly and, in common with many other Chinese transit systems, it is struggling to meet the demands of a growing city.
Beijing plans to extend its system to more than 620 miles and around 18.5 million trips a day by 2025. In response to chronic traffic congestion, the city is aiming for 60% of trips to be by public transit by 2025 – of those, 62% will involve the metro.
Fares start at just $0.40 for a trip of up to four miles, although kids up to 1.3-meters (4 foot 3 inches) tall, over-65s, police and army veterans, military personnel and disabled citizens travel free. Little wonder the trains are so well used!
Copenhagen Metro
It may not be the oldest, the longest or the busiest, but the Danish capital’s automatic Metro trains run 24 hours a day, seven days a week linking 39 spotlessly clean and stylish stations.
Voted the “world’s best metro” on several occasionsby international metro rail professionals, it has carried more than a billion passengers since the first section opened in 2002.
As you’d expect from a city which prides itself as the home of cool Scandi design, the system exudes a simple, functional but compelling design philosophy and a calming environment quite unlike older and larger Metro systems elsewhere.
Today, more than 300,000 people a day use the “M” trainson four lines which connect seamlessly with Copenhagen’s bike hubs, buses and overground trains.
Although the trains are short by international standards, they’re incredibly frequent, running every two minutes for most of the day. While there may not be a real driver, kids of all ages can use their imagination to “drive” the trains if they’re lucky enough to bag the front seats!
Paris Métro
With 308 stations on 16 lines packed mostly within the city limits, the Paris Métropolitain – or Métro for short – has been delivering some of the most iconic cityscapes in the world since 1900.
Whether it’s crossing the Seine on the Bir Hakeim Bridge close to the Eiffel Tower or rattling between the rooftops on early 20th century steel structures, the elevated sections of Lines 1, 2, 5 and 6 are the place to head for fleeting glimpses of the city going about its daily life.
Like London’s Underground, the Paris Métro is part of the city’s cultural fabric, linking world-famous landmarks, museums and art galleries.
Hector Guimard’s iconic art nouveau entrance canopies are known around the world, but the architectural interest doesn’t stop there. Subterranean stations such as the Jules Verne steampunk-esque Arts-et-Metiers on Line 11, Line 4’s stylish Cité or the brutalist tropical garden at Gare de Lyon on Line 14 make an appealing contrast to the standard white-tiled tunnels.
Paris is investing billions in new and upgraded automatic Métro lines to improve mobility, but older trains with classic manually-operated doors are still around to surprise and alarm first-time visitors as locals leap out while the wheels are still moving!
Tokyo subway
What comes to mind when you think of Tokyo’s subway? More than likely it’s the white-gloved Oshiya – professional “pushers” employed to cram as many bodies as possible into already-packed metro trains.
Efficient, dependable transit is critical in the world’s largest metropolitan area, which is home to more than 35 million people, around 14 million of whom live in the city itself.
Tokyo’s city transit network is incredibly dense and complex with no fewer than 100 urban rail lines including, somewhat unusually, two separate subway systems – Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway. Together they have 13 lines and 286 stations serving many of the city’s best-known districts.
Despite trains running up to 24 times per hour to precision timetables, many stations are said to operate at well over their intended capacity – some as much as 200% more than they were designed for.
All of this can make using Tokyo’s subways an overwhelming experience for visitors, but great efforts have been made in recent years to reduce that stress by providing multi-lingual signage, colour-coding and numbering of stations. Regular travelers can even identify where they are by the unique jingles played over the PA systems at some stations!
Seoul Metro
If losing your phone and Wi-Fi connection on the subway fills you with dread, you might want to head for the capital of South Korea to see what is possible.
Befitting the high-tech outlook of this ultra-modern city, Seoul Metro users can continue phone calls and internet browsing uninterrupted while underground or watch TV on screens fitted throughout the trains.
As if that wasn’t luxury enough, the climate-controlled trains even have heated seats to make traveling in winter a little more pleasant.
Spotlessly clean, efficient, safe, reasonably priced and serving most areas of the city, many experts regard Seoul Metro as the world’s best subway.
Since the opening of Line 1 in 1974, it has become a showcase for Korean technology, attracting urban transit planners from all over the world. The nine lines now make up one of the world’s largest metro networks, covering 500 miles (312 kilometers) and 288 stations and carrying almost seven million passengers per day.
New York City Subway
Another railway inextricably woven into the social, cultural and economic life of the city it serves is New York City’s world-famous Subway. Like the city itself, the NYC Subway never sleeps, operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
At 665 miles (1,070 kilometers) long, with 25 lines – known locally as “trains” – and 472 stations it is North America’s longest and busiest network by some distance and one of the world’s greatest metro operations.
It carries more than 3.5 million passengers a dayand is unusual in running “local” (making all stops) and “express” trains. It serves all five of the city’s boroughs – Manhattan, Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn, plus an isolated line on Staten Island.
Despite its name, much of the NYC Subway runs above ground, often on heavily riveted steel bridges straddling roads, familiar from movies such as “The French Connection” and “Saturday Night Fever.”
For even more Subway action, fans should check out the 1974 Walter Matthau movie “The Taking of Pelham 123” (not the 2009 remake), a brilliant fictional account of a subway train hijacking.
When the first Subway line opened back in 1904, a ticket cost just five cents. It’s a little more expensive today at $2.90, but trips are still very reasonably priced by international standards and are usually the quickest and most cost-effective way to get around the Big Apple.
Mexico City STC Metro
Mexico City is notorious for its chronic traffic jams and choking pollution, but fortunately citizens and visitors have the option of escaping into an extensive and efficient rapid transit system that enjoys some of the cheapest fares in the world.
Opened in 1969, the STC Metro is now the second largest in North America – after New York City – and has 12 lines, 195 stations (115 underground) and more than 140 miles (225 kilometers) of tracks.
Instead of conventional steel wheels on steel rails, it employs a similar system to many Paris Métro lines with rubber tyres on steel wheels, offering a smoother and quieter ride on Mexico City’s unstable and earthquake-prone terrain.
This decision proved to be a wise one after the system survived a 1985 earthquake intact.
In one of the world’s most populous cities, where rich and poor often lead very separate existences, the STC Metro brings together diverse social classes in a shared space to avoid the congestion, noise and pollution in the streets above. And, with a flat fare of just five pesos (around $0.25c) per trip, there’s no cheaper or quicker way to get around this vast metropolis.
Singapore Mass Rapid Transit
Many of Asia’s great cities have benefited from lessons learned by the early subway builders in Europe and North America. Instead of tiny tunnels and cramped, stuffy trains, commuters in cities such as Singapore enjoy larger profile trains and spacious stations acting as vibrant community hubs.
Despite only opening in 1987, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) is southeast Asia’s oldest metro network – as well as its busiest. High land values in the densely packed city state also made it the world’s most expensive metro to build, with construction costs reaching $111.5 billion by 2021.
Much of the 140-mile (225 kilometer), six-line, fully-automatic network is elevated, although some of the more recent sections are underground, with some stations designed to double as public air-raid shelters.
Like the city it serves, MRT is famous for being spotlessly clean and efficient. To keep it that way, smoking, drinking and eating are banned at stations and on trains – and that includes the famously stinky durian fruit, a favourite of many locals!
Berlin U-Bahn
Home to more than 3.7 million people, Germany’s capital enjoys one of the densest urban transit and best integrated networks in the world. The 120 years since the opening of its first U-Bahn (subway) line have also been uniquely turbulent, seeing Berlin at the epicenter of World War II and the Cold War.
First opened in 1902, Berlin’s earliest U-Bahn lines are of similar vintage to those in Paris and New York City and share many characteristics. Bright yellow trains rattle above suburban streets on vintage steel viaducts before diving into small-profile tunnels under the city center. Crossing the iconic Oberbaum Bridge on Line U1 – the oldest part of the network – is an unmissable Berlin experience.
Today, the U-Bahn network consists of nine lines and 174 stations – 90% of which are underground – carrying more than 1.5 million passengers a day.
Complementing the U-Bahn are the classic red and cream S-Bahn trains, providing faster journeys for longer hops across the city.
The 16 S-Bahn routes are Berlin’s major arteries, connecting its most important locations with its wider region. Best known is the elevated Stadtbahn, which has provided an unbeatable sightseeing tour through the city’s best-known sights since the mid-1920s, from Zoologischer Garten in the west via the Tiergarten park and Berlin Hauptbahnhof (main station) to Alexanderplatz, home of the Communism-era Television Tower.
S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains interchange with local buses and trams at well-organized hubs, providing a superb transit network that reaches every corner of this once-divided city.
Moscow Metro
One of the greatest engineering feats of the Soviet Union was Moscow’s spectacular Metro network. Best known for its extraordinarily grand underground stations, ornately decorated to celebrate workers, peasants and soldiers, the network was designed to serve a dual function – protecting citizens from nuclear strikes as well as keeping them moving.
While many newer stations and those away from the city center are less ornate, the best Moscow Metro stations have been, in less turbulent times, tourist attractions in their own right, inspired by Tsarist palaces.
A further burst of construction in the 21st century has taken the network to 14 lines radiating from a city centre hub, plus the Koltsevaya (inner circle) and recently-completed 36-mile “Big Circle” line.
Carrying more than 8 million Muscovites a day,the Metro is one of the world’s busiest and most extensive, with 269 miles (432 kilometers) of tracks and 258 stations.
Glasgow Subway
With just one circular line circumnavigating the city center, Glasgow’s Subway struggles to meet the criteria for a metro “system” but its age and quirky features make it deserving of wider recognition.
Opened in 1896, it was the world’s third underground railway – after London and Budapest – and a statement of the Scottish city’s industrial and economic power. Two tiny tunnels running clockwise and counter-clockwise for just over six miles link the city center with communities south and north of the River Clyde that were once world-famous for shipbuilding and heavy engineering.
Originally powered by cables, the unique 4-foot-gauge trains were converted to electric power in 1935 and closed for a complete rebuild to modern standards in 1977-79.
The brightly coloured new trains earned the railway its “Clockwork Orange” nickname, although they are now painted white. New Swiss-built trains are now being introduced and the railway is about to move into its fourth era, which will see it move to fully automatic operation.
Shanghai Mass Rapid Transit
If Beijing is China’s political center, then Shanghai is its vibrant creative, commercial and financial heart – and the biggest city in the world’s second-most populous country. Efficient mass transit has been critical to its incredible growth over the last 30 years.
Opened in 1993, Shanghai Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) is expanding at a breakneck pace to become the world’s longest and busiest subway network. It currently has 19 lines serving 14 of the megacity’s 16 districts and a metropolitan area of almost 40 million people.
Vying with Beijing for the title of the world’s longest and busiest metro network, Shanghai currently exceeds 500 miles, but further expansion should take it to 620 miles (about 1,000 kilometers) and 25 lines by 2025. By then, nowhere in central Shanghai will be more than 2,000 feet (600 meters) from a subway station.
With 408 stations, it currently carries more than 10 million passengers per daybut its one-day record is an incredible 13.3 million trips, set on March 8, 2019.
Kyiv Metro
In common with other subway systems built by the Soviet Union, the Kyiv Metro serves a dual purpose – a feature that continues to be essential as the city suffers regular Russian missile attacks. Spacious stations feature specialized ventilation and filtration equipment and huge metal blast doors that can be sealed above and below ground.
Plans for an underground railway go back as far as 1884, but the first of Kyiv’s three metro lines did not open until November 1960 – the third Soviet city to gain a metro after Moscow and St Petersburg.
Expansion continued after Ukraine’s independence in 1991, creating a three-line, 42-mile network which serves all 10 city districts.
Since February 2022, Kyiv Metro’s civil protection function has come to the fore, with 47 of the 52 stations designated as public bomb shelters. At 346 feet below ground, Arsenalna station in the city center was famously the deepest in the world – taking five minutes to reach by escalator – until it was surpassed by a station on the Chongqing network in China.
In the early days of the Russian invasion in March 2022 up to 40,000 residents reportedly sought refuge in metro stationsandPresident Volodymyr Zelensky used metro stations to host international news conferences. Despite this, the network continues to operate, providing fast and frequent services around a city fighting to maintain an air of normality under the shadow of war.
Chicago “L”
With cameos in numerous movies and TV shows including “The Blues Brothers,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “ER” – Chicago’s “L” (short for “elevated”) rapid transit system is a world-famous symbol of the Windy City.
Like many of the economic and industrial powerhouses of the late-19th and early 20th century – including New York, Paris, Hamburg and Liverpool – Chicago chose to run its new electric trains on steel viaducts elevated high above congested city streets. These quickly became one of the city’s defining features and a catalyst for economic growth in the dense downtown district.
In 2005, Chicago Tribune readers voted the “L” as one of the seven wonders of Chicago.
Although the “L is primarily associated with its city center “Loop”, opened in 1897 and featuring exceptionally tight curves between buildings, the network now extends to eight colour-coded lines, 145 stations and 103 miles (166 kilometers) of route, sections of which are at ground level, in tunnels or cuttings.
Along with the New York City Subway and Copenhagen Metro, it is one of just three systems in the world running trains 24 hours a day. More than 100 million trips were made on the “L” in 2022 – around 320,000 per day– making it the second busiest transit system in the United States.
Delhi Metro
Another relative newcomer to the mass transit scene, Indian capital New Delhi opened its first line in 2002. It was the second city in India after Kolkata to gain a metro but has since expanded rapidly to become the country’s largest and busiest network with more than two billion trips recorded in 2023.
First mooted in the 1960s, the construction of a modern mass transit system became vital as Delhi’s population doubled between 1981 and 1998, creating intolerable congestion and air pollution.
Now boasting 12 high-capacity lines with 288 stations across 250 miles (400 kilometers) of route, Delhi Metro is India’s biggest and busiest mass transit network. By mileage it is the world’s 12th longest system and the 16th busiest for ridership.
Serving Delhi and the nearby cities of Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noiza and Ghadiabad, the Metro’s fast, modern and spacious trains have reportedly helped to reduce private car use and traffic accidents and drastically cut pollution.
India’s Central Road Research Institute estimates that using the metro saves commuters an estimated 66 minutes per day compared to driving!
Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway
Transit planners flock to Hong Kong from across the globe to discover how its Mass Transit Railway (MTR) delivers world-class service and reliability to the territory’s 7.4 million citizens.
Densely populated city areas crowded around a deep natural harbour and towns scattered across dozens of islands and mountainous countryside, Hong Kong is not an easy place to build railways, but since 1975 MTR has established an enviable reputation for quality, efficiency and punctuality.
It regularly achieves a 99.9% “on-time” rate – a figure most other railways across the world can only dream of. MTR’s funding model also draws widespread admiration; construction of new lines has opened up new areas of the region for development, helping to fund the expansion of the system. The model was inspired by Tokyo, but has its origins in London’s Metropolitan Railway, which created the iconic ‘Metro-Land’ outer suburbs from the early-20th century.
Ten high-capacity lines link Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories, including the dedicated high-speed Airport Express link to Lantau Island and the Disneyland Resort Line.
Despite the compact geography of the territory, MTR operates more than 150 miles of route and 99 stations, the latter being famously clean and spacious.
MTR’s success at home has encouraged it to expand far beyond Hong Kong, managing projects and operations in mainland China, Sweden, Australia and the UK, where it holds the operating concession for London’s Elizabeth Line.
Budapest Metro
Hungarian engineers were among the earliest pioneers of electric-powered technology in the late-19th century, not least in the field of railways.
Although London opened the first underground railway (see above), it initially employed conventional steam trains. It fell to Budapest to build the world’s first electrified underground subway system.
Line M1 was completed in 1896 and was a radical leap forward for urban mass transit, introducing electric lighting in stations and train cars, bi-directional cars and the first use of an overhead wire system – rather than a ground level contact rail – to supply electricity to the trains.
Known as the “Small Underground,” M1 runs under Andrássy Avenue on the Pest side of the city from Andrássy Square to Városliget (City Park).
Designed to carry city dwellers to the park without spoiling the elegant streetscape with tramcars and power lines, the line has seen many changes over the last 120 years but its tiny trains still carry around 80,000 riders a day as part of a wider four-line network expanded between 1970 and 2014.
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Tokyo metro
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Tokyo’s Metro runs 24 hours a day.
B. Tanaka/The Image Bank Unreleased/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
01 Mar 24
Beijing subway
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Beijing is home to one of the world’s longest and busiest subway systems.
Yang Liu/The Image Bank Unreleased/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
01 Mar 24
Moscow metro
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Many of the Moscow Metro’s Soviet-era stations were designed as palaces for the people.
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01 Mar 24
Originally Published: 01 MAR 24 08:00 ET
By Anna Bahney, CNN
Washington, DC (CNN) — Many millennials are currently grasping in frustration at long-held American Dreams like homeownership, a steady job and an affordable cost of living. However, over the next twenty years, Millennials are poised to inherit some $90 trillion of assets and become the richest generation in history – but only the ones who already come from affluent families, potentially deepening wealth inequality further.
Between now and 2044 in the US, the Silent Generation and Baby Boomers are expected to hand over the reins of their significant wealth to Millennials, according to The Wealth Report, a periodic report from global property consultant Knight Frank.
But whether you’re a Millennial on the receiving end of that wealth transfer is largely a lottery of birth.
Ultimately, this wealth shift is a result of inheritance from prior generations, largely involving property but also other assets. It will bring “seismic” changes to how wealth is put to use, said Liam Bailey, global head of research at Knight Frank, in a statement.
The research also showed that affluent young people are less likely to see property or real estate as a way to build wealth in the future.
“The low interest rate environment and impressive growth in house prices over the past 15 years is unlikely to be repeated in the next 15,” Mike Pickett, director of Cazenove Capital, said in the report. There’s evidence, he said, that the following generation, Gen Z, may be more comfortable renting a home, leasing a vehicle and living a subscription lifestyle than prior generations.
He added that not only will wealth be transferred to these younger people, but there are a variety of new ways to build wealth.
“It goes beyond a simple shift of existing wealth,” Pickett said. “I think the diversity of opportunity to create wealth has also grown — for example, there are YouTubers worth tens of millions. First-generation wealth creation is on the rise, as is the array of entrepreneurial routes to create it.”
Wealth revival in 2023
The report also revealed that more people became wealthier last year, with a growth in super-wealthy individuals that more than reversed a drop the year before.
The number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals — defined as those with a net worth of $30 million or more — was up 4.3% in 2023 from the year before, to 626,619 people globally, according to the report.
North America saw its share of the ultra-wealthy grow the most of any region, rising 7.2% from last year. It was followed by the Middle East, with a 6.2% increase in the super-wealthy; and Africa, which increased by 3.8%. Latin America is the only region to see its population of ultra-wealthy individuals decline, dropping 3.6% from a year ago.
“The improving interest rate outlook, the robust performance of the US economy and a sharp uptick in equity markets helped wealth creation globally,” said Bailey.
This group of uber-wealthy individuals finds property an attractive investment, the report found. About 19% of this group plans to invest in commercial real estate this year, while 22% plans to buy residential property.
Looking ahead, the number of supremely wealth people is expected to increase by 28% over the next five years, according to the report. While the numbers of the super wealthy are expected to grow, that is a much slower pace than the 44% increase in the five-year period ending in 2023.
More growth in ultra-high-net-worth individuals is expected in Asia, including India, China, Malaysia and Indonesia, the report said.
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Keys
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Millennials are set to inherit as much as $90 trillion in assets before 2044, a new report shows.
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01 Mar 24
Today, kicks off National Kidney Month. An estimated 37 million Americans have chronic kidney disease & most of them don’t even know they have it. In fact, a person can lose up to 60% of their kidney function before noticing any health problems. In today’s Health Minute, Mandy Gaither has more on how to keep your kidneys healthy & explains why knowing your risk factors is critical.
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Originally Published: 01 MAR 24 09:41 ET
By Parija Kavilanz, CNN
New York (CNN) — Stanley has a problem. Whenever one of its new tumblers hits the the market, online and in store, mayhem tends to ensue.
It’s because the Stanley tumbler is arguably one of the most viral products of the moment. While the brand is enjoying unprecedented popularity of its tumblers and cups, it’s also facing some downsides to TikTok-driven fame.
Recent new Stanley launches have triggered stampedes in stores, website crashes, bots and bad actors scooping up products just to resell them for a hefty profit at the expense of true fans who then can’t get their hands on one.
So Stanley maker PMI has taken a different approach with its newest limited edition tumbler launch of the much-hyped chocolate and gold Quencher. The aim, according to the company, is to limit the chaos and to ensure that people who actually want the tumbler and are genuine fans of it have a fairer shot of getting one.
To make it happen, PMI partnered with Australia-based EQL, a company that has plenty of experience helping large brands — such as Crocs and Nike — better manage new product launches — both online and in stores — and prevent scalpers from scoring the items.
On Tuesday, Stanley unveiled the limited-edition chocolate gold Quencher tumbler on its website.
Previously, fans would spot the launch news and rush to the website in hopes of scoring a cup. For the first time, Stanley switched up this process.
The company created a launch page managed by EQL’s platform for the chocolate gold tumbler. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Feb. 27, Stanley opened the window for people to sign up for a chance — one per person — to buy it. Within 24 hours, people who signed up would be notified if they scored a winning entry.
The method sounds much like one used typically for other high-demand events,such as concert tickets.
“On the backend, we’re evaluating the quality of each entry,” Andrew Lipp, CEO and cofounder of EQL, said in an interview with CNN.
That includes browser signals, location signals, fraud analysis, cohort signals and “assessing basically who looks like a real fan and who is using automation or otherwise to game the system,” he said.
A red flag, for example, would be when the system detects that far too many people are entering from one IP address. “Then we start to analyze a risk profile against the user,” Lipp said, adding that suspicious entries are weeded out of the the general pool of signups.
“Online, when you are trying to compete with this kind of fever pitch over a product, you do get resellers, scammers and bots doing a whole bunch of nefarious things to clear out stock and it’s not fair for the fan,” Lipp said. “This results in customer blowback, brand blowback and you’re not delivering a great brand experience to the customer.”
Rediscovered on social media
Invented by William Stanley, Jr. in 1913, the all-steel vacuum-insulated Stanley bottle was originally invented for keeping food and beverages hot or cold, and has since become a popular go-to camping and hiking accessory.
The 111-year-old brand has recently enjoyed a massive resurgence with a much younger clientele of tweens, teens and young adults, especially after its Quencher 40-ounce tumbler exploded on social media because of its ability to keep beverages hot or cold for extended periods of time. Plus, plenty of moms applauded and marveled at the fact that despite its size, the tapered bottom still fit perfectly in a vehicle’scup holders, making it an indispensable accessory for morning school drop-offs.
The frenzy showed no limits. It’s Starbucks’ exclusive shiny red holiday tumbler flew out of Starbucks’ locations in November almost immediately after they rolled out.
When Target dropped a limited-edition Valentine’s collection of Stanley tumblers in bright pink and cherry red tones in December, the situation wasn’t pretty. Tiktok videos showed customers racing, slipping, sliding, and pushing pasteach other to be first to reach the shiny new tumblers sitting at the end of aisles.
Within hours of their launch, the $50 tumblers were selling for $100 or more on resale sites.
Now, the company said it hopes that the steps it’s taking will “provide all consumers with a wider aperture and more user-friendly [online] experience to get the Stanley products they love,” Matt Navarro, senior vice president, global commerce with Stanley, said in a statement to CNN.
Lipp said Stanley is evaluating how the new process fared and will decide if the company will implement it for other upcoming products.
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Stanley tumblers
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Stanley tumblers are displayed on a shelf at a Dick’s Sporting Goods store on February 2nd in Daly City, California.
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01 Mar 24
Originally Published: 01 MAR 24 10:15 ET
By Madeline Holcombe, CNN
(CNN) — Jason Wood was sitting in a restaurant on vacation with his husband, angry and upset because he couldn’t swap pita for fresh vegetables in his hummus plate.
The pain wasn’t overblown, Wood said. It was 20 years of an eating disorder and the anxiety and stress that comes with it culminating into one moment, he said.
Wood has orthorexia, an eating disorder that isn’t in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, also called the DSM, which is the formal guide for clinical assessment of mental health conditions. But clinicians are seeing a rise in orthorexia among patients, said therapist Jennifer Rollin, founder of The Eating Disorder Center in Rockville, Maryland.
“My hope is that it will be added to the DSM, but unfortunately, it just seems to be a very slow process to get something in there,” Rollin said.
Orthorexia is a fixation on eating “clean,” as defined by a set of rules dependent on certain individuals and the context they live in, said Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, an eating disorder physician and founder and medical director of the Gaudiani Clinic in Denver. A November 2023 study found that about 3 in 10 participants showed signs of orthorexia.
Often, this disorder goes unnoticed or underestimated because it’s hyperfocused on healthy eating, said Wood, director of community engagement at the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, alsn known as ANAD.
The lack of understanding around this condition kept Wood’s friends and family from raising concerns — sometimes applauding his efforts to stick with rigid eating principles — even as he withdrew from friends and lost so much weight he couldn’t keep himself warm, he said.
Here is what you need to know about orthorexia.
Diet culture in disguise
Focusing on eating healthy sounds like a good thing, right? Not always.
Eating disorders often have similar underpinnings: a genetic predisposition combined with environmental factors, Rollin said. And often the disorder centers around a set of rigid rules, whether it be calories, timing of eating or the ingredients in food, she added.
When those vulnerable to eating disorders latch on to only eating in a way they consider healthy, the behavior can go from a preference to an obsession, Rollin said.
Over the years, Wood said his list of unhealthy foods grew and those considered healthy kept shrinking until he found himself leaving parties because he couldn’t find anything he would allow himself to eat — and that left him with a lot of anxiety, he said.
For some — but not all — people with orthorexia, their body image may start to hinge on how closely they follow their food rules, Rollin said.
And with similar underpinnings behind them, orthorexia can morph into other disorders such as bulimia or anorexia nervosa, she said.
The motivations people with orthorexia may have, as well as the applause society gives them, might be labeled as health promotion or disease prevention, but often they are proxies for “pure, old-fashioned diet culture,” which prioritizes one ideal body shape and size, Gaudiani said.
“Some elements of it can be very like diet culture in disguise,” Rollin said.
And even if there isn’t shame around weight behind it, orthorexia and the steps a person takes to adhere to certain food rules can be expensive, distracting and distressing, Gaudiani said.
“It can also limit one from what one’s sort of greater goals and values are,” she added.
What is healthy anyway?
Another sign that the rules around eating are not just about health is the difficulty with defining what healthy even is.
In the 1990s, healthy, clean eating would be low-fat diets, Gaudiani said. Now, people are more likely to consider high-protein, high-fat, low-carb and low-sugar foods as healthy, she added.
Others would prioritize the food’s sourcing — such as whether it’s organic, non-genetically modified and local, Gaudiani said.
Of course, it’s not bad to want to eat a salad, Rollin said, but the problem arises when you think you can only have a salad.
Everybody is unique, and so the healthiest choice of food at any given moment will depend on an individual’s needs and the context that person is in, she added. Unless you need to eat a certain way for a medical condition, often the best course of action is listening to your body, Rollin said.
And when thinking of health, it is important you don’t only think of nutrition, Wood said.
A healthy life includes rich social relationships, time spent pursuing passions, enjoyable physical activity and enough brain space to find peace — all of which are hard to come by when you spend hours a day ruminating on what you “should” be eating.
“If you are somebody who just wants to live a reasonably balanced, social, connected life, orthorexia rules can really isolate you from peers because you end up turning down opportunities to eat with other humans because they don’t follow your same rules,” Gaudiani said. “Therefore, you say no, and your social world can really collapse down and become quite small.”
Living life again in recovery
If you or a loved one needs help for orthorexia, the good news is that treatment follows a similar path to established plans for eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia nervosa. The bad news is that the lack of awareness among the public may present obstacles.
When looking at therapy, check for not only an eating disorder specialist, but one with experience with orthorexia, Rollin said. Not every specialist is going to have that expertise.
People with orthorexia may find themselves with a team that includes therapists and dietitians, similar to patients in treatment for other eating disorders, Rollin said. But those living with orthorexia will also likely face the added layer of unpacking their definition of health and reframing their ideas around it in a challenging way, she added.
The process may also involve working with those around you, Rollin said. More people are becoming aware that it isn’t a good idea to talk about food in terms of weight regularly, but fewer see talking about “healthy” or “unhealthy” foods as problematic, she said.
“It might take a fair amount of educating friends and family members, helping them to have understanding and compassion for why them commenting about the new juice cleanse they’re on is activating,” she said.
And those in recovery also need to have compassion for themselves, Gaudiani said.
“Nobody does this just for fun or to end up accidentally in trouble,” she said. “They start to do it because they’re feeling like their health benefits or they feel like there’s societal pressure, or it feels like it’s safe in some important way.”
The process of recovery may be difficult, but it is rewarding, Wood said. It has been almost four years since he said he hit rock bottom at that vacation dinner.
“I feel like I’m starting to live my life again,” Wood said. “I’m getting to take all of that time that I used to spend thinking about food and apply it to other aspects of my life. That has been, that’s been really great.”
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Food plate
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Orthorexia isn’t just a preference for nutritious foods — it’s a set of rigid rules about how a person eats, said Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, founder and medical director of the Gaudiani Clinic in Denver.
Kilito Chan/Moment RF/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
01 Mar 24
Originally Published: 01 MAR 24 10:44 ET
By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN
New York (CNN) — Fisker, theelectric vehicle company founded by auto designer Henrik Fisker, announced in its fourth quarter earnings Thursday that it might not have enough money to survive another year.
The company announced there was “substantial doubt about Fisker’s ability to continue as a going concern.” In order to have the cash to do business through the next 12 months, the company will have to raise more money from investors. Fisker’s stock was trading at 75 cents a share at the close of trading Thursday and dropped to a little more than 40 cents this morning.
The company is in discussions with an existing investor about possibly putting more money into the company, the EV maker said in its announcement. It will also lay off 15% of its workforce as it attempts to cut costs.
Fisker lost $463.6 million while taking in $200 million in revenue in the 4th quarter of 2023. That included a $325 million adjustment related to convertible notes. The company’s loss from operations was $103.5 million.
Fisker, which sells the Ocean electric SUV, has an unusual business model in which it has entirely outsourced the manufacturing of the one model it currently sells. The Ocean is built in Austria by Magna, a company that has also built vehicles for Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Jaguar.
“2023 was a challenging year for Fisker including delays with suppliers and other issues that prevented us from delivering the Ocean SUV as quickly as we had expected,” founder and chief executive Henrik said in an announcement.
Last year, Magna produced more than 10,193 Fisker SUVs, but fewer than half of those were delivered to customers within the calendar year, the company announced. Fisker expects to deliver about 20,000 this year, it added.
Fisker did not file an official form 10-K, its full annual report, for 2023 because, it said, it needed more time to finalize the report and that it will be filed by March 15. The company said it had found”a material weakness in revenue and the related balance sheet accounts,” which will be disclosed in the 10-K report.
Fisker’s original business plan featured direct sales to customers without an independent dealer in the middle, much like Tesla. Fisker changed that strategy this year, however, and has begun signing up franchised dealers. So far, the company has signed up 12 dealers in the US and Europe, Fisker recently announced.
Fisker is founder Henrik Fisker’s second car company. His first, Fisker Automotive, produced a plug-in hybrid luxury car called the Fisker Karma. That company went bankrupt in 2013 after much of its inventory was wiped out by Hurricane Sandy.
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Fisker Ocean SUV
**This image is for use with this specific article only** A Fisker Ocean electric SUV ahead of the Los Angeles Auto Show in 2021.
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01 Mar 24
Originally Published: 01 MAR 24 10:34 ET
By Jordan Valinsky, CNN
New York (CNN) — Chick-fil-A is telling customers to “please discard” Polynesian sauce dipping cups that were ordered over the past few weeks.
“The Polynesian Sauce dipping cups may contain a different sauce that includes wheat and soy allergens,” Chick-fil-A said in a short note on its website.
The cups were given out at its restaurants between February 14 and February 27. Customers can call the company at (866) 232-2040 with questions.
Polynesian sauce is one of Chick-fil-A’s most popular dips, described on its website as a “sweet and sour sauce with a strong, tangy flavor.” It’s been on the chain’s menu for 40 years and has become so popular that it’s now sold in grocery stores.
Chick-fil-A did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
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Chick fil a polynesian sauce
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Chick-fil-A is telling people to throw away its Polynesian sauce cups.
From Chick-fil-A via CNN Newsource
01 Mar 24
Originally Published: 01 MAR 24 10:36 ET
Updated: 01 MAR 24 10:48 ET
By Ray Sanchez, CNN
(CNN) — Kevin Monahan was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in prison for shooting and killing a woman who was a passenger in a car that mistakenly drove up his driveway in rural New York last year.
“I think you really could possibly do the same thing again,” Washington County Judge Adam Michelini admonished Monahan before imposing his sentence. “It’s obvious to me that you feel justified. You don’t take any responsibility for the outcome of your actions. You just don’t get it.”
Monahan last month was convicted of second-degree murder, reckless endangerment and tampering with physical evidence for the death of 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis on April 15, 2023.
Monahan shot at the vehicle when it accidentally turned into his driveway while the occupants looked for a friend’s house in Washington County, roughly 55 miles north of Albany. Gillis died a short time after the shooting.
Prosecutors argued that the 66-year-old defendant acted recklessly. The defense said what happened was a terrible accident.
Monahan took the stand at his trial, testifying that he felt like he and his wife were under siege that day and that he only wanted to protect his wife, Spectrum News 1 reported.
Monahan told jurors that he and his wife were awakened by three vehicles in his driveway: two SUVs and a motorcycle revving its engine, the station reported. He testified that he told his wife to hide in their closet and he loaded his 20-gauge pump-action shotgun before going outside.
Monahan testified that he thought about past criminal activity in the area and fired a warning shot into the air. The vehicles began to leave slowly, he testified, and he lost his balance on some nails on his deck when the second fatal shot was fired, Spectrum News 1 reported.
Under cross-examination, Monahan was not able to point out in a photograph the nails that caused him to lose his balance. He was emotional when asked how Gillis’ death made him feel, telling the jury that his “soul is dead,” the station reported.
Gillis was fatally shot just days after a Black teenager in Kansas City was shot twice by a White homeowner after going to the wrong address to pick up his siblings.
In the New York shooting, after the shots were fired Gillis’ group drove away from the house, looking for cell phone service, and then called 911.
They were found around 5 miles away from the home in the town of Salem. First responders began administering CPR but Gillis was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police officers went to Monahan’s home in Hebron and found him to be uncooperative, the Washington County sheriff told reporters at the time.
Gillis’ family issued a statement at the time praising her as a “kind, beautiful soul and a ray of light to anyone who was lucky enough to know her.”
“She was a big sister, much loved daughter, devoted friend and partner to her loving boyfriend. She was just beginning to find her way in the world with kindness, humor, and love,” the family said. “Kaylin was a talented artist, an honor student, a Disney fanatic and loved animals. She was looking forward to starting college in Florida to pursue her dream of becoming a marine biologist.”
Gillis graduated from Schuylerville High School in 2021 and held the position of “flyer” on the cheerleading team.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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Kevin Monahan
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Kevin Monahan was convicted of second-degree murder, among other charges..
Lori Van Buren/The Albany Times Union/AP via CNN Newsource
01 Mar 24
Originally Published: 28 FEB 24 16:54 ET
Updated: 28 FEB 24 20:30 ET
By Brenda Goodman, CNN
(CNN) — Certain kinds of greaseproofing “forever” chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, will no longer be used in food packaging in the US, the US Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday.
The FDA’s food studies have shown that food packaging materials like fast-food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags and take-out pizza boxes were a major source of dietary exposure to certain types of PFAS, hormone-disrupting chemicals that may persist in the body and the environment.
PFAS have been linked to a variety of health effects including changes in immune and liver function, obesity, diabetes, certain cancers and lower birth weights.
While health and environmental advocates cheered the new announcement, they noted that companies were already facing pressure from state bans to get PFAS out of consumer products, including food packaging.
“I am enthusiastically supportive of getting PFAS out of food packaging,” said Dr. Leonardo Trasande, a professor of pediatrics and population health at NYU Langone Health in New York City, who has studied the health impacts of PFAS. “We are talking about a decent chunk of ongoing exposure.”
Twelve states have moved to ban or phase out PFAS in food packaging, said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs for the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.
“This is really the culmination of state action to drive PFAS out of the marketplace and, particularly, to drive PFAS out of food packaging, where alternatives have existed for a long time,” Benesh said.
The American Chemistry Council, a trade association, said in a statement Wednesday that “PFAS are a diverse universe of chemistries that are critical to many products families rely on every day, including semiconductors and electronics, advanced batteries, modern healthcare applications, and renewable energy. All PFAS are not the same. Individual chemistries have different physical, chemical, and toxicological properties, as well as differing uses.
“ACC supports strong, science-based regulation of PFAS chemistries and will continue to work with state and federal policymakers on this important issue.”
In 2020, the FDA announced that chemical manufacturers would voluntarily phase out certain kinds of PFAS for use in food packaging within three years, after a scientific review concluded that these chemicals could linger in the body longer than anticipated.
“This ‘win’ for public health is the result of FDA research and leadership, combined with cooperation from industry,” noted Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for human foods, in a news release on the milestone.
Wednesday’s announcement doesn’t mean the wrapper of your next fast-food burger won’t contain PFAS, however. The FDA estimates that it may take another 18 months after this phase-out to exhaust stocks of products containing these food contact substances.
Chemicals called long-chain PFAS stopped being sold in the US due to safety concerns in 2011. Manufacturers then substituted short-chain PFAS, which have fewer carbons in their structure and weren’t thought to be as hazardous as long-chain PFAS, in their products to replace them.
Short-chain PFAS weren’t thought to build up in living organisms the way long-chain PFAS do, but research has shown that they may be metabolized into forms that linger in tissue.
CNN’s Sandee LaMotte contributed to this report.
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Microwave popcorn bag
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Studies have shown that food packaging materials such as microwave popcorn bags are a major source of exposure to certain types of “forever chemicals.”
Valeriy Lushchikov/iStockphoto/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
28 Feb 24