Author: CNN

CNN
 — 

A 30-year-old councilwoman in the borough of Sayreville, New Jersey, was found shot to death in her car on Wednesday, according to authorities.

Eunice Dwumfour, a Republican councilwoman, was found by police with multiple gunshot wounds just after 7 p.m. Wednesday and was pronounced dead on scene, according to Middlesex County officials.

Dwumfour was inside her car near her home when she was shot, according to CNN affiliate WABC. The vehicle then took off down the road and crashed into other parked vehicles, the affiliate reported.

Sayreville Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick said she was “shocked and saddened” to learn of Dwumfour’s death, saying she was “taken from us by a despicable criminal act.” She and Dwumfour worked closely together on the council, she wrote.

“Beyond her dedication to our community, I can share that she was a woman of deep faith and worked hard to integrate her strong Christian beliefs into her daily life as a person and a community leader,” the mayor said. “On a personal note, I can’t adequately express my feeling of sorrow at the loss of a friend.”

Officials said the investigation is ongoing and they do not have a motive at this time. CNN has reached out to the prosecutors and police for more details.

Dwumfour was elected to a three-year term on the six-member borough council in November 2021, according to election results. She also served as a member of the Human Relations Commission, according to the Sayreville website.

Sayreville, located in central New Jersey, has a population of about 45,000 people, according to the US Census.

On the Sayreville GOP website from 2021, Dwumfour asked the public to support her run for the council.

“Like you, Sayreville is my home, I love and cherish this town and it is my desire to help improve the lives of its residents,” she wrote. “In the past few years, we have seen many changes including a worldwide pandemic, but despite all, Sayreville still stands strong because of residents like you.”

“I am fully dedicated to building a better, stronger Sayreville, and with your support, we can create a brighter future for our wonderful town.”

New Jersey Republican Party Chairman Bob Hugin issued a statement expressing his “horror and deepest sorrow” at her killing.

“We will remember Eunice for her steadfast dedication to the community, as well as her deep and abiding Christian faith,” he said.

Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement Thursday morning he was “stunned” by the news of her killing.

“Her career of public service was just beginning, and by all accounts she had already built a reputation as a committed member of the Borough Council who took her responsibility with the utmost diligence and seriousness,” he said. “I send my condolences to Councilwoman Dwumfour’s family and friends, her governing body colleagues, and the entire Sayreville community.”

The governor later added that “we’ll do anything we can to track down this murderer.”

He urged the public to come forward and connect with authorities if they know anything, “even if it’s a little thing.”

CNN
 — 

Several state Democratic lawmakers in Connecticut are seeking to ban state agencies from using “Latinx,” – the latest example of political backlash against the term.

Members of the Connecticut state House introduced a bill last month that would prohibit state agencies and employees acting on behalf of state agencies from using “Latinx” in official communications.

Rep. Geraldo Reyes, one of the primary sponsors of the bill, told CNN on Thursday that he and his colleagues behind the bill are Puerto Rican and consider the term offensive.

“It’s a term that we believe is unnecessary because the Spanish language, which is 1,500-plus years old, already identifies male, female and neutral,” Reyes said on “CNN Newsroom,” adding that “Latin” and “Latino” were both gender-neutral options.

Reyes told CNN that a state House committee is screening the bill, and that he hopes it will soon receive a public hearing. If the committee approves the bill, it would need to pass the state House and Senate and be signed by the governor before it becomes law. Democrats have full government control in Connecticut.

Some activists, academics, companies and progressive groups have adopted “Latinx” in an effort to include those who fall outside the male/female gender binary. But many Hispanics and Latinos take issue with the term, calling it clunky and nonsensical for Spanish speakers.

The term has also been swept up into the nation’s culture wars. In one of her first acts as Arkansas governor, Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders barred the use of “Latinx” in official state documents and ordered a review of state agencies’ past usage of the term. GOP Rep. Monica De La Cruz of Texas, meanwhile, mocked the term during her victory speech last November, characterizing her win as “a victory for every single Hispanic who loves the Spanish language and does not want to be called Latinx.”

While “Latinx” is often derided by those on the right, politicians from both parties have expressed opposition to the term. Aside from the state lawmakers in Connecticut, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona said in 2021 that he had instructed his office not to use the term in official communications.

“Look y’all. Hispanic, Latin American are gender neutral. So we have already gender neutral options to describe the Latino community. Adding an x and creating a new word comes off as performative,” Gallego tweeted at the time. “It will not lose you an election but if your staff and consultants use Latinx in your mass communication it likely means they don’t understand the Latino community and is indicative of deeper problems.”

Data suggests that “Latinx” is not widely used among the people it is meant to describe.

A Pew Research Center survey published in 2020 found that only about one in four adults in the US who identify as Hispanic or Latino have heard the term “Latinx,” while just 3% say they use it to describe themselves. Those who used the term tended to be younger, US-born and Democratic-leaning. They were also more likely to be bilingual or predominately English speakers and were more likely to have gone to college.

Similarly, a 2021 Gallup poll found that just 4% of Hispanic and Latino Americans prefer the term “Latinx” over “Hispanic” and “Latinx,” though a majority of respondents said it didn’t matter to them which term was used.

Other surveys point to divides along cultural lines. An Axios-Ipsos Latino poll in partnership with Telemundo from last year found that a majority of Mexican Americans surveyed were comfortable with the term “Latinx,” while around just one in three Central Americans were.

Critics of “Latinx” have noted that the term falls outside the bounds of Spanish grammar and is difficult for Spanish speakers to pronounce. And given its popularity among predominately English speakers, some also feel that the term imposes English conventions upon Spanish speakers.

In recent years, others have opted for new alternatives such as “Latiné,” which is gender-neutral and more consistent with the way Spanish is spoken.

CNN
 — 

The former head of a zoo in Mexico’s Guerrero state has been accused of having some animals killed for meat, among other incidents.

The Guerrero Environment Department’s Director of Wildlife Fernando Ruiz said in a news conference on Tuesday that records of Zoochilpan Zoo in Chilpancingo misrepresented its number of pygmy goats last summer, and accused former director José Rubén Nava Noriega of having some cooked – a claim that Nava denied.

There were “five females and five males of which the former director had four male specimens for use at the New Year’s Eve dinner,” Ruiz alleged.

“That is to say, those four specimens were sacrificed and cooked in the facilities of the same zoo and were used as food in the year-end celebration.”

He added that the health of those who ate the meal would have been put at risk because the animals were “not suitable for human consumption.”

In a statement, the Environment Department also detailed other administrative inconsistencies at the zoo. It said that in a separate incident, Nava traded four cattle in exchange for materials, tools and supplies for the park, but that it was not informed about the delivery of the cattle in accordance with protocol, and those materials and tools were not found on the zoo’s premises.

Nava rejected all the accusations as false during a press conference on Wednesday, claiming there is a “dirty war” for control of the zoo’s budget.

He also said that all the actions carried out during the time he was in charge of the zoo were lawful.

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CNN
 — 

The number of times it’s appropriate to wear clothing items without washing them often seems based more on folklore or a person’s upbringing than professional advice.

TikTok user Allison Delperdang started a heated online debate when she posted a video January 10 saying she wears the same pajamas multiple times.

“When I was younger my parents always made us wear pajamas … multiple nights in a row because they weren’t dirty, and I still do that as an adult,” she said. “I need to know if, like, as adults we’re still doing that, or should I be literally making dirty clothes every single night?”

The answer — for pajamas as well as other clothes — technically depends on personal aspects such as sweat level and lifestyle, though for many people other, more abstract factors may come into play, experts say.

Our beliefs about clothing hygiene are largely “societal and cultural,” said Dr. Anthony Rossi, an assistant attending dermatologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology. “People tend to over wash and ‘over hygiene’ themselves, because especially in America, we have a luxury of being able to do all that stuff all the time.”

Rewearing the same clothes — particularly on consecutive days — is “linked to avoiding decision fatigue, hence wearing the same clothes involves less decisions to make and less stress every morning,” said Manal Mohammed, senior lecturer of medical microbiology at the University of Westminster in London.

Not knowing when to wash your clothes can have consequences on both ends of the spectrum. Washing them too seldom could lead to skin problems or infections, and washing them too often could harm your clothing. The latter can also result in unnecessary laundry and use of resources.

Here are some guiding principles to help you determine when a garment can be worn again without washing and when it’s time to toss it in the hamper.

There’s no hard and fast rule for how many times you can wear clothing again, but experts say there are a few types that should be washed after every use: underwear, socks, tights, leggings and activewear. This advice also applies to any other clothes with stains, sweat, odor or visible dirt, Mohammed said.

These kinds of clothes are “on a part of our body that just has a lot of natural bacteria that lives on our body, like our microbiome, (yeast) and bacteria,” Rossi said. “Then from day-to-day activities, we sweat. That just breeds moisture and an environment where this bacteria can overgrow.”

Bacteria overgrowth can lead to infections, fungus and other skin issues, he added.

In addition to bacteria from sweat, clothes worn in gyms or sports settings can come into contact with bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, resulting in infections common in community and hospital settings. Those infections can become serious if they enter internal tissues or the bloodstream.

Some people might let their workout clothes dry via air or a dryer, intending to make them safe to wear again the next day. But that approach makes the situation worse, Rossi said.

“Heat is going to make the bacteria grow. It’s not hot enough to sterilize them,” he said. “It’s really the washing with soap and water (that you need) — and with hot water, especially, because it’s going to help loosen that dirt and sebum and really get rid of bacteria.”

When it comes to why you shouldn’t wear socks again without washing first, “fungal infections on the feet and toes are just rampant,” said dermatologist Dr. Jeremy Fenton, medical director for Schweiger Dermatology Group in New York City and a clinical instructor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital. “Inside of our shoes is the perfect environment for breeding fungus. It’s warm, it’s humid, it’s dark.”

Because of that, you should wash your shoes or at least the insoles in a washing machine at least once per month, Rossi said.

For pajamas, outerwear, jeans and other clothes, how many times you can wear them without washing is based on the same principles for undergarments or activewear.

“As far as your pants and your shirts, I think it’s all a level of comfort and how much you’re perspiring throughout the day,” Rossi said. “A lot of people wear undershirts. The undershirt would be something to wash, whereas your top shirt you don’t really need to wash.”

If you don’t wear underwear, you need to wash your clothing before wearing it again since it came into contact with your genital skin, Rossi said.

If you usually shower before bed, wear underwear and sweat little to none when wearing pajamas, you could wear them for a week without washing, experts said. But if you don’t do these things, you’d need to wash them every time.

Outerwear — such as coats or jackets — typically doesn’t need to be washed more than once a month since it doesn’t touch your skin, Rossi said. “If you’re wearing it every day, probably (wash it) every two weeks,” he suggested.

Whether and how often to wash jeans can be a hot topic, since many people want to maintain the integrity of the fabric, which is usually stiffer and more durable than others. If jeans aren’t sweaty, dirty or stained, they don’t have to be washed often, Rossi said. “I personally don’t wash my jeans,” he added.

Mohammed recommended washing jeans monthly but acknowledged it depends on your lifestyle and environment.

“If somebody were to tell me that they were wearing their jeans for months on end and not washing them and they hadn’t had any problems with their skin or problems with odor, I wouldn’t see any problem at all,” Fenton said.

The most important questions you should ask yourself, experts say, when considering whether to wear something again without washing are these: Does it smell? Do I have any skin conditions, such as eczema, a rash or a skin lesion? Is it visibly dirty? Is it sweaty? Did I wear underwear with this?

“The main point is that the answer is going to be very variable,” Fenton said.

Sydney, Australia
CNN
 — 

Cardinal George Pell remains a divisive figure even in death, with angry protests at his funeral in Sydney on Thursday and a former prime minister describing him as a “saint.”

The Cardinal’s funeral took place at St. Mary’s Cathedral, with police forced to intervene as protesters gathered to confront mourners.

Former Australian prime ministers Tony Abbott and John Howard were among those who attended his funeral. Abbott praised the late Cardinal Pell during a eulogy, describing him as a “soldier for truth” and a “saint for our times” in a speech that was met with applause.

Outside, police separated supporters of Pell from people protesting against the memorial for the Cardinal, who was convicted of child sex abuse before the ruling was overturned in 2020.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the cathedral after Australian police dropped a court bid to block the demonstration. Speeches against Pell and the Catholic Church were given in a nearby park, with some people holding banners and chanting “George Pell go to Hell.”

Three people, two men and one woman, were detained outside St. Mary’s Cathedral, New South Wales police said in a statement. Police said no charges were brought against them.

Joseph Samarasinghe, one of the mourners who attended the funeral, told CNN: “We can learn by our mistakes. And I think now the church is more aware of all the mistakes that the clergy has done. So I think we are in the right direction.”

Meanwhile Kim Stern, the protest organizer, said they will continue to fight against everything Cardinal Pell stood for until there is “full equality” in Australia.

“For the politicians, the judges, people from the political establishment that are attending the funeral service today, we want to send a message that we are going to fight against everything that the Catholic Church and Pell stood for. And continue to fight until there’s full equality in this country,” he said.

Cardinal Pell was the most senior Catholic official to be convicted of child sex abuse before the ruling was overturned in 2020. He died last month at the age of 81.

Born in the regional city of Ballarat, Australia, on June 8, 1941, Pell rose through the ranks of the Roman Catholic Church to become Vatican treasurer, considered by many to be the third most senior position within the church.

He served in that role from 2014 to 2019 in charge of Pope Francis’ financial reforms, which largely stalled when he was called back to Australia to face allegations of historical sex abuse.

Pell was convicted of those charges in 2018 and served 13 months in prison before Australia’s High Court overturned his conviction in April 2020.

The cardinal is a divisive figure in Australia and many on Twitter used the occasion of his death to express their support for the survivors of child sex abuse.

Editor’s Note: Dr. Patrick Noack is Executive Director, Future Foresight and Imagination at Dubai Future Foundation, and policy fellow at the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion on CNN.

Dubai
CNN
 — 

I recently saw a compelling graphic on the timeline of the far future – an outlook for the future until the end of time, in a sense – and I shared it through our workplace groupchat.

The timeline concludes with the end of the world in 100 quintillion years (that’s 100 billion billion years), if all goes well. A colleague commented: “guess I’ll have that second doughnut then.” A witty response and emblematic of how humans function: we favor immediate rewards over future benefits. In other words, in the case of the doughnut, “might as well indulge now given that death will come,” rather than planning for a healthy old age.

While we are never faced with a decision where we have to weigh up the consequences on the coming days versus billions of years, we conduct lives with decisions that reverberate for centuries and even millennia. We may not recognize this immediately, and even if we do, it’s a responsibility we have been ignoring for too long.

But I’m not here to apportion blame, because we are a species that uses, develops and inherits technologies. Who would have guessed in 1750, when the first Industrial Revolution started and was followed by mass industrialization, that the fuel for these processes – the hydrocarbons that have propelled economic growth – would one day come back to haunt us.

It is really challenging to understand the long-term impacts, knock-on effects and unintended consequences of our technologies and decisions. Take investments, for example: often, returns are sought over the very short term – ranging from milliseconds when algorithms are in charge of buying and selling, to a few months when company performance is assessed and share price impacted – while externalities are, well, externalized. Rarely are investments made for the long term, with clear benefits for the long haul.

As early as 1856, Eunice Foote, an American amateur scientist, already speculated about the effects of increased CO2 concentrations in our atmosphere. But her work was ignored.

Fast forward to 2023, and many still ignore climate science or attempt to explain it away. So, the immediate benefit of burning fossil fuels continues to outweigh any delayed cost, whether that cost is environmental, social or economic. Our species appears to live, repeatedly, through such cycles: the global financial crisis, conflict, individual and population-wide ill-health and more. And as individuals we’re often not much better than we are as a herd.

So, while short-termism and immediate gratification may be our natural instincts, and such hardwiring may have served us well when we roamed the savannahs in search of food while escaping predators, our lives are now more consequential for the planet we share with other species. A change in perspective is therefore necessary – even urgent.

That’s why foresight principles come in handy: at the Dubai Future Forum we have convened hundreds of futurists and have articulated guidelines – principles – that help in this process. There are eight principles in all, but three are really important if we want to shift quickly and inclusively toward a longer-term mode of thinking and acting.

First is Reflexivity: Use foresight as a mirror to understand and address impacts in the short- and long-term. This is the most important first step because a balance needs to be achieved between our ambitions and the needs of today and the future. It’s like using a telescope and a magnifying glass at the same time. A sort of compromise must be worked out internally and with those people and communities our decisions will impact. We’re in this together – and by “we” I also mean future generations.

This leads to the second principle: Plurality. The future needs everyone, and therefore thinking about the future and shaping it needs everyone, too. This has to be meaningful contribution and participation – tokenism will only come to bite us in the future. After all we are responsible for the future we create.

The third principle to highlight here is Ancestry. Try to be a good ancestor, because future generations depend on it and we are the custodians of their opportunities. This is the precise inverse of how most museums work, which are custodians of past civilizations’ artifacts; our own legacy and our future past will affect and shape someone’s future.

We need to be more thoughtful and put our decisions into a future perspective. Once we understand that what is decided today will become the reality for people tomorrow, we may forgo some of the immediate benefits which could be detrimental for the future.

So, Reflexivity, Plurality and Ancestry are among the most important superhero attributes we can employ to ensure a better future for all. And if it takes less than 100 quintillion years to make these attributes a good habit of everyday decision-making, let’s treat ourselves with a doughnut.

Kramatorsk, Ukraine
CNN
 — 

A fresh barrage of missiles ripped through the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine Thursday, sending flames and thick plumes into the air as screaming civilians scrambled to find shelter.

A CNN team had just arrived at the scene and heard the first incoming strike on Kramatorsk. CNN saw the second attack, with two impacts about one minute apart. Two women jumped from their car and ran yelling while other civilians took shelter wherever they could. Shrapnel bounced off the blastproof glass of one CNN vehicle.

Paramedics rushed to the scene to treat at least one wounded civilian. Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko also confirmed that there had been a strike on the city, and urged residents to stay in bomb shelters.

At least five people were wounded in Thursday’s attack, according to Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk region military administration.

“They damaged 13 two-story buildings, three four-story buildings, a children’s clinic and school, garages and cars,” Kyrylenko said. “Russians confirm their status as terrorists every day,” he said.

“It was a very big blast, a lot of people obviously went running for cover,” CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen told Connect the World, adding that both strikes Thursday “struck right in the heart of a civilian city.”

Ukrainian authorities believe Russian troops used S-300 missiles to bombard Kramatorsk. When aimed at ground targets, such weaponry is “very inaccurate,” Pleitgen added.

“When that is done to hit a densely populated urban area, it becomes all the more dangerous.”

Moscow’s renewed assault came after Russian forces targeted the residential neighborhood with an Iskander-K missile Wednesday, killing at least three civilians and wounding another eight, according to local police. Two of the wounded are in critical condition, Honcharenko said.

Rescue workers searched through piles of rubble to try and locate survivors in the aftermath of Wednesday’s attack, which damaged eight apartment buildings. Authorities also evacuated people to a local school for shelter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strike and expressed condolences to the families and friends of the victims.

“This is not a repetition of history; this is the daily reality of our country,” he said on Telegram.

“A country bordering absolute evil. And a country that has to overcome it in order to reduce to zero the likelihood of such tragedies happening again. We will definitely find and punish all the perpetrators. They do not deserve mercy.”

Moscow’s attack in Kramatorsk came after a top Kyiv official said Russia is gearing up for a “maximum escalation” of the nearly years-long war in Ukraine.

“These will be defining months in the war,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told Sky News in an interview broadcast Tuesday.

“I’m conscious the main fights are yet to come and they will happen this year, within two to three months,” he said.

“Russia is preparing for maximum escalation. It is gathering everything possible, doing drills and training. When it comes to an offensive from different directions, as of now, I can say that we are not excluding any scenario in the next two to three weeks.”

CNN
 — 

The Philippines will provide the United States with expanded access to its military bases, the two countries said Thursday, providing US forces with a greater strategic footing on the southeastern edge of the South China Sea close to self-ruled Taiwan.

The newly announced deal will give the US access to four more locations under an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) dating to 2014, allowing the US to rotate troops to a total of nine bases throughout the Philippines.

The US has stepped up efforts to expand its Indo-Pacific security options in recent months, amid mounting concerns over China’s aggressive territorial posturing throughout the region.

Speaking during a visit to Manila Thursday, US Defense Secretary Llyod Austin said the US and the Philippines remained committed to strengthening their mutual capacities to resist armed attack.

“That’s just part of our efforts to modernize our alliance. And these efforts are especially important as the People’s Republic of China continues to advance its illegitimate claims in the West Philippine Sea,” said Austin, referencing China’s increased presence in waters close to the Philippines.

Austin did not give the location of the bases to which the US military will gain new access.

China warned of heightened tensions in the region following the move. The Philippines allowing US access to four defense sites on its territory has “escalated tension in the region and endangers regional peace and stability,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday.

“Out of its selfish agenda, the US side has held up to the cold war. Regional countries should remain vigilant about this and avoid being used by the US,” Mao said.

Thursday’s announcement follows a spate of high-profile US military agreements throughout the region, including plans to share defense technologies with India, and plans to deploy new US Marine units to Japanese islands.

The US Marine Corps also opened a new base on Guam last week, a strategically important US island east of the Philippines. The location, known as Camp Blaz, is the first new Marine base in 70 years and one day is expected to host 5,000 Marines.

Increased access to military bases in the Philippines would potentially place US armed forces fewer than 200 miles south of Taiwan, the democratically ruled island of 24 million that the Chinese Communist Party claims as part of its sovereign territory despite never having controlled it.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has refused to rule out the use of military force to bring Taiwan under Beijing’s control, but the Biden administration has been steadfast in its support for the island as provided by the Taiwan Relations Act, under which Washington agrees to provide the island with the means to defend itself without committing US troops.

In November, US Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Philippines to discuss expanded US base access with the recently elected President Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos Jr. Some experts said her visit sent an unambiguous message to Beijing that the Philippines is moving closer to the US, reversing the trend under the previous president, Rodrigo Duterte.

Washington and Manila are bound by a mutual defense treaty signed in 1951 that remains in force, making it the oldest bilateral treaty alliance in the region for the United States.

In addition to the expansion of the EDCA, the US is helping the Philippines modernize its military and has included it as a pilot country in a maritime domain awareness initiative. The two countries also recently agreed to hold more than 500 activities together throughout the year.

Earlier this month, the Philippines announced that 16,000 Philippine and US troops would take part in the annual Balikatan exercise, which is set to take place from April 24 to April 27.

That exercise will include “a live fire exercise to test the newly acquired weapons system of the United States and the Philippines,” an announcement from the state-run Philippine News Agency said.

Formal US ties to the Philippines go back to 1898, when as part of the Treaty of Paris that ended the Spanish-American War, Madrid ceded control of its colony in the Philippines to the US.

The Philippines remained a US territory until July 4, 1946, when Washington granted it independence – but a US military presence remained in the archipelago nation.

The country used to be home to two of the US military’s largest overseas installations, Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Station, which supported the US war effort in Vietnam in the 1960s and early ’70s.

Both bases were transferred to Philippine control in the 1990s, after a 1947 military basing agreement between Washington and Manila expired.

CNN
 — 

Donna Kelce has divided loyalties ahead of this year’s Super Bowl – and she’s got the jersey to prove it.

The mother of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason, Kelce has gained fame for the half-and-half top she’s been sporting ahead of Super Bowl LVII, incorporating the colors of her sons’ two teams.

The first mother to have two sons play against each other at the Super Bowl, Kelce is primarily seeing February 12 as a day of celebration.

“They’ve already got the first win under their belts, so this is just going to be pure joy,” she told The Today Show. “We’re going to really enjoy this, have a great time.

“Obviously, there’s going to be somebody that’s going to go home heartbroken. They won’t have the bragging rights at the Thanksgiving table, but this is going to be an awesome event and I’m really looking forward to it.”

The two brothers have shared similar football journeys.

Both attended Cleveland Heights High School and the University of Cincinnati, both have only played for just one team, and both have already won the Super Bowl – Travis with the Chiefs in 2019 and Jason with the Eagles in 2017.

And regardless of the result in this year’s big game, their mother will be brimming with pride.

“I’ll just be so elated,” says Kelce. “Probably some tears. And it’ll just be a very, very emotional moment.”

So which team will she be supporting on the day?

“The offense,” she joked, before being asked again later in the interview, adding: “I think that Jason would say I am going to root for the baby of the family, which is Travis. And I keep trying to tell him, ‘No, you’ve given me grandchildren,’ so we’ll leave it at that.”

For Travis, playing against his brother in a Super Bowl will be the pinnacle of his career.

“My entire time, I’m like: that’s been the goal, to play my brother in the Super Bowl,” he said in an episode of the brothers’ “New Heights” podcast.

“Now that it’s actually happening, it’s like, man it’s kind of sick.”

Hong Kong/London
CNN
 — 

Shell made a record profit of almost $40 billion in 2022, more than double what it raked in the previous year after oil and gas prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Europe’s largest oil company by revenue reported adjusted full-year earnings of $39.9 billion on Thursday — more than double the $19.3 billion it posted in 2021 — driven by a strong performance in its gas trading business. The company’s stock was up 2.6% in London at midday.

Just over 40% of Shell’s full-year earnings came from its integrated gas business, which includes liquified natural gas trading operations. The unit was responsible for almost two thirds of Shell’s $9.8 billion profit in the final three months of the year.

Shell CEO Wael Sawan said the results “demonstrate the strength of Shell’s differentiated portfolio, as well as our capacity to deliver vital energy to our customers in a volatile world.”

The earnings are the latest in a series of record-setting results by the world’s biggest energy companies, which have enjoyed bumper profits off the back of soaring oil and gas prices.

ExxonMobil this week posted record full-year earnings of $59.1 billion. Last month, Chevron

(CVX) reported a record full-year profit of $36.5 billion.

That has led to renewed calls for higher taxation. Governments in the European Union and the United Kingdom have already imposed windfall taxes on oil company profits, with the proceeds used to help households struggling with rising energy bills.

Shell said it expected to take an additional $2.3 billion tax charge in 2022 related to the EU windfall tax and the UK energy profits levy. The company paid $13.1 billion in tax globally in 2022.

Shell also announced another $4 billion share buyback program that it expects to complete by May and confirmed it would lift its dividend per share by 15% for the fourth quarter.

The company returned $26 billion to shareholders in 2022 through share buybacks and dividend payments.

By comparison, it spent around $21 billion on its low- or zero-carbon businesses last year, or approximately one third of total expenditure, chief financial officer Sinead Gorman told reporters in a call on Thursday.

Of that, about $4 billion was invested into its Renewables and Energy Solutions business, which includes electricity generation, hydrogen production, carbon capture and storage, and the trading of carbon credits.

The unit generated less than 5% of the group’s profits in 2022, highlighting the scale of the challenge facing Shell as it tries to shift away from oil and gas towards lower-carbon energy.

The company drew criticism from climate activists on Thursday for not moving quickly enough.

“Shell can’t claim to be in transition as long as investments in fossil fuels dwarf investments in renewables,” Mark van Baal, founder of shareholder activist group Follow This, said in a statement.

“The bulk of Shell’s investments remain tied to fossil fuel businesses because the company doesn’t have a target to slash its total CO2 emissions this decade.”

Shell invested about $12.4 billion into its integrated gas and oil exploration units in 2022.

Asked whether Shell could invest more into renewable energy, Sawan said he believed the company was “finding the right balance in our capital allocation.”

He said Shell was on track to cut emissions from its own operations in half by 2030 compared with 2016 levels. Over 90% of Shell’s emissions come from the use of its products by customers. It plans to reduce these so-called “scope 3” emissions by 20% by 2030.

Shell plans to become a net-zero emissions company by 2050.

Greenpeace activists are staging a protest this week on a Shell-contracted vessel in the Atlantic Ocean carrying equipment to redevelop the Penguins oil and gas field in the North Sea. The environmental group said in a statement that the protest aims to “highlight the worldwide climate devastation caused by Shell.”

In a statement shared with CNN, a Shell spokesperson said the activists had boarded “a moving vessel in rough conditions” and are “causing real safety concerns.”

“Projects like Penguins … help reduce the UK’s reliance on higher carbon and costlier energy imports. Locally-produced, responsible oil and gas production is critical for UK energy security and entirely consistent with a net zero pathway,” the spokesperson added.