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Vladimir Putin heaped praise on Elon Musk as he called the billionaire an “outstanding person” and businessman. The Russian dictator complimented the Tesla CEO and X owner just days after Mr Musk said that he refused to let Ukraine use Starlink internet to launch a surprise attack on Russian forces in Crimea. The revelation was made in excerpts of a new biography on the South African-born entrepreneur that he had refused Ukraine support for a September 2022 attack on Russian naval vessels in Sevastopol. Mr Musk reportedly refused as he did not want to be complicit in a “major” act of war, and has been heavily criticised by Ukraine’s leadership. Mr Putin was not asked about the incident during an economic forum in Vladivostok but spoke about the rocket launching success of Mr Musk’s SpaceX company. “As far as private business and Elon Musk is concerned... he is undoubtedly an outstanding person. This must be recognised, and I think it is recognised all over the world,” he said. “He (Musk) is an active and talented businessman and he is succeeding a lot, including with the support of the American state.” Last October, Mr Musk was forced to deny a report that he had spoken to Mr Putin about Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine. Ian Bremmer, head of the Eurasia Group political risk consultancy, had claimed that Mr Musk personally told him about the conversation with Mr Putin. “I have spoken to Putin only once and that was about 18 months ago. The subject matter was space,” Mr Musk tweeted. It came the same month Mr Musk asked his social media followers to vote on ways to resolve the bloody conflict. The suggestions included holding votes in Russian-annexed areas of Ukraine, an idea welcomed by the Kremlin. He also suggested that the rest of the world should “formally” recognise Crimea, which was illegally occupied by Moscow in 2014, as part of Russia. In response, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky posted his own poll asking users if they liked the world’s richest person more when he supported Ukraine. Read More Elon Musk: How many children does the Tesla CEO have? Fatherhood, rows with Amber Heard and ‘the woke mind virus’: six revelations from Elon Musk’s biography Elon Musk ‘hardly remembers’ his own ‘demon-like’ episodes, biographer claims Grimes says Elon Musk was ‘clueless’ about why she was upset by C-section photo Elon Musk's refusal to have Starlink support Ukraine attack in Crimea raises questions for Pentagon Pope's Ukraine peace envoy heads to China on mission to help return Ukraine children taken to Russia Ranting Putin threatens Sunak and makes wild claim UK ‘backed nuclear plant raid’ Putin says legal cases against Donald Trump are ‘persecution of a political rival’

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Pokémon’s TV series has been delighting animé lovers for more than 26 years, and yet, there’s one episode that even the most diehard of fans may well have missed. The installment, titled Dennō Senshi Porygon (which roughly translates as "Computer Warrior Porygon”) aired in Japan on December 16, 1997. And, after that single, fateful outing, it was never to grace television screens again. The reason for the ban? Reports of a strange health outbreak among children which was linked to a specific scene. The episode follows Ash Ketchum, Pikachu and their pals as they investigate a faulty Poké Ball transfer machine by getting inside it. Once there, the team come under attack, but are saved when Pikachu unleashes one of his high-octane electric outbursts – represented by a barrage of red and blue strobe lights. And that’s where the trouble began. According to scientific paranormal investigator Benjamin Radford and sociologist Robert Bartholomew, who dedicated a study to the event: "At 6:51 PM, the flashing lights of Pikachu's 'attack' appeared on television screens. “By 7:30 PM, according to Japan's Fire-Defense Agency, 618 children had been taken to hospitals complaining of various symptoms." These symptoms included convulsions, nausea and vomiting, with news of the “illness” spreading rapidly throughout the country. Inevitably, it made headlines, with several news broadcasters replaying the offending clip, “whereupon even more children fell ill and sought medical attention,” Radford and Bartholomew wrote. The following day, TV Tokyo issued an apology, suspended the show, and announced an investigation into the cause of the seizures. Meanwhile, video retailers pulled the series from their shelves, and even the then-prime minister Ryuaro Hashimoto expressed concern at the use of rays and lasers in the popular cartoon. Within two days, the number of children reported to have been affected by the flashing sequence increased to around 12,700. And yet, after four months of investigation – with input from health experts and Japanese government officials – no obvious cause could be found for the outbreak and Pokémon returned to the airwaves. Because, although the bright flashes were assumed to be the cause of the health panic, such visual techniques had been used in numerous other animé episodes before, with no reports of any problems. So what was going on here? Well, a tiny fraction of the children who reported being affected were diagnosed with photosensitive epilepsy, with experts concluding that the rapid colour changes during the scene caused them to suffer seizures. However, the bulk of “patients” reported symptoms that had no identifiable “organic” cause and were, instead, consistent with a very different type of condition… Mass hysteria. Radford and Bartholomew attribute this “epidemic hysteria”, in large part, to the mass media, which they say fuelled panic and misinformation. "Many of the children's symptoms had no identifiable organic basis; other than the verified cases of seizures, the symptoms reported were minor and short-lived; the victims were nearly exclusively school children in early adolescence; and anxiety from dramatic media reports of the first wave of illness reports was evident,” they wrote. “Media reports and publicity fuel the hysteria as news of the affliction spreads, planting the idea or concern in the community while reinforcing and validating the veracity of the illness for the initial victims,” they continued. “According to news accounts of the time, the number of children said to be affected remained around 700 the evening of the Pokémon episode and the next day. “The next morning, the episode dominated the Japanese news. Japanese children who had not heard about their peers from the news or from their parents learned of it that morning when the seizures ‘were the talk of the schoolyards’,” they continued. “Once the children had a chance to hear panicky accounts of what had happened through the mass media, their friends and their schools, the number of children reported the next day to have been initially affected – 2 days earlier – increased by 12,000.” Radford and Bartholomew ended their paper by noting that this Pokémon drama offers a warning to us all. They pointed out that our continuing reliance on mass communications, especially TV and the internet, places us at risk of more and more hysteria outbreaks. “Technological innovations are occurring at unprecedented rates and have the potential to influence significant numbers of people beyond the typical number in traditional mass hysteria episodes,” they stressed. “Epidemic hysterias that in earlier periods were self-limited by geography now have free and wide access to the globe in seconds.” Concluding on an ominous note, they added: “The Pokémon illness symptoms are without precedence, given the large numbers affected, and may be a harbinger of future technological hysterias that have the capacity to affect unprecedented numbers of people at a phenomenal speed.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

CABIN JOHN, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2023--

A teenager has gone viral on TikTok after leaving a heartwarming message on a stranger’s doorbell camera. Jacksen was walking around the neighbourhood with some friends who were playing ‘ding-dong ditch’, he walked ahead of his friends and went up to Ashley Mann’s house, looking into the camera and leaving an inspiring message. “If you can see me, then you matter, alright?” Jacksen said, “There’s always gonna be somebody that cares about you and you’re a good person no matter what people say, you matter.” One of the boys then runs up and rings the doorbell before running away, but Jacksen carries on with his message: “Ignore them, they’re losers. They’re ‘ding-dong ditching’ you, I’m just trying to say something nice. Like I don’t know what they’re doing, they’re running away and stuff. I’m just trying to say that you matter man, or girl, whoever you are you matter to someone. Just keep that in mind, don’t forget that.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Ashley posted the video to TikTok, which has now been reposted numerous times, with the original racking up over 5 million views. Ashley called the video a “random act of kindness”, and viewers agreed. The comment section was full of people applauding Jacksen’s kind words, and saying how well he has been raised. @ashleyfayeann Random acts of kindness ❤️ “That child has been raised right,” one user commented. Another agreed writing, “that’s so sweet! And from a teenager! He’s obviously been taught well!” “His words could’ve saved someone’s life,” a touched viewer pointed out. And they weren’t the only one to think so: “Messages like this often find the right person at the right time. Kid may not realise now but I hope one day it comes back to him when he needs it.” “Wow! This kid’s got more heart and soul than most adults I come across today and I’m in my 40s,” read another comment. In response to the outpour of love on social media, Ashley, Jacksen and his family have set up a mental health fundraiser on GoFundMe to encourage people to support those in need. “Hey everyone, My name is Ashley back on July 12th I uploaded a video from my doorbell camera to TikTok,” Ashley wrote on the fundraiser’s page. “Jacksen had decided to leave a very positive and uplifting message. I decided to share it to everyone because more people needed to see and hear it especially those who could be struggling. Little did I know it was going to go viral! “Jacksen’s family and I decided to do something with this and create this fundraiser to hopefully raise some money to donate to a local Mental Health resource in our community. Anything is welcomed and if you don’t want to donate please make sure to spread positivity anywhere you go.” She added. They have currently managed to raise over $400. Speaking to CBS News Minnesota, 13-year-old Jacksen said “I just saw the doorbell camera when we were walking to the gas station and I just thought maybe I should say something nice to it.” “Cause my friends were ‘ding-dong ditching’ those cameras, and I was like, you know what? How about I go say something nice? Maybe they need to hear it.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Paige Spiranac shared how she transformed her humble start as a collegiate golfer into the career of a golf influencer

YOKOHAMA, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 15, 2023--

A midsized, 11-year-old coal power station in West Java is an unlikely bellwether for global climate finance. Cirebon-1

Players can find out how much their Fortnite account is worth in 2023 by logging their cosmetics into a third party site that calculates their account worth.