A Costco-brand cold and flu medicine has been pulled from shelves “due to potential foreign material contamination.”
A notice shared on the retail giant’s website says the recall of Kirkland Signature Severe Cold & Flu Plus Congestion involves item number #1729556 with specific lot code P140082, which was sold at select locations in the Midwest and southeast.
“Out of an abundance of caution, LNK has initiated a recall for the accidental release and shipment of a specific lot code that was rejected due to potential foreign material contamination,” the statement reads.
The impacted over-the-counter medicine was purchased by customers between Oct. 30 and Nov. 30, 2024.
Consumers are told to not use any remaining product with the lot code and to return it to Costco for a full refund.
Anyone with issues or concerns is told to contact manufacturer LNK International Inc. at 1-800-426-9391 or email complaints-inquiries@lnkintl.com.
Fox Business reached out to Costco for more information.
Last month, 8,640 boxes of Kirkland Severe Cold & Flu Plus Congestion Day and Night packs were recalled by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) due to the ingredient oral phenylephrine being deemed “not effective” as a nasal decongestant following an “extensive review.”
“This chemical is shown to be ineffective against cold and flu in its oral form, except at a dose that has some heart toxicity and can lead to palpitations, arrhythmia and high blood pressure,” Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, said.
The December recalled boxes of the Kirkland Cold & Flu product had lot numbers P139953 or P139815 with an August 2026 expiration date.
Fox News’ Angelica Stabile contributed to this report.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is smart to shake up leadership ahead of the Trump inauguration, but it hardly means the censorship industrial complex is done.
Zuck gave the boot to top exec Nick Clegg, the Brit behind Facebook’s silencing of right-wing voices, and is replacing him as president of global affairs with Joel Kaplan, a Republican sure to be far more palatable to the incoming White House and GOP-majority Congress.
And nothing prevents Zuck from tilting back to the Clegg era if Democrats regain DC power the “anti-disinformation” lies of the pro-censorship elite.
The censorship industrial complex that thrived under the Biden administration is huge, stretching through a host of “nonprofits” as well as a web of federal agencies, including the FBI, CIA, and the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which worked quietly with social media sites to censor dissent.
Congress last month defunded the GEC, but the lame-duck Bidenites sent half its employees and budget to a Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub likely to do the same shady, anti-speech work.
Heck, the British Labour Party, which funded key “anti-disinfo” institutions and propaganda over the last decade, now rules the United Kingdom, and will keep backing the poisonous global movement, especially across the English-speaking world.
Team Trump is firmly anti-censorship; Elon Musk burned billions to free users’ speech at Twitter (now X).
But the censorship industrial complex still penetrated the federal government deeply in the first Trump term — heck, it used federal power to set up and then execute the suppression of our laptop reporting in those years.
The White House and Congress can’t fall for superficial paint-jobs ) like a single Meta exec-shake-up, or the disbanding of one State agency) that barely cover the rot below: The nation (and the world) need hearings and Executive branch purges — lots and lots of sunshine and naming of names — or the censorship menace won’t even go into hibernation.
Unveiling the Sinister Role of the Evil Vizier in Fiction: A Comprehensive Exploration
In the realm of fiction, few characters embody cunning and treachery as profoundly as the Evil Vizier. Often lurking in the shadows, these sinister advisors wield power and influence, manipulating events to serve their own nefarious agendas. From ancient folklore to modern-day novels and films, the Evil Vizier has remained a captivating and timeless archetype, captivating audiences with their Machiavellian schemes and dark charisma.
The Origins of the Evil Vizier Archetype
The archetype of the Evil Vizier can be traced back to ancient tales and folklore from around the world. In many cultures, the vizier was a trusted advisor to the ruler, responsible for managing the affairs of the state. However, in some stories, this character evolved into a malevolent figure, using their position to seize power for themselves.
One of the earliest examples of the Evil Vizier archetype can be found in the story of “Scheherazade” from the Arabian Nights. In this tale, the vizier’s treachery is exposed when he attempts to usurp the throne from the rightful ruler. This motif of the treacherous advisor recurs in many other stories, including the legend of “Jafar” in the story of Aladdin, where the vizier plots to overthrow the Sultan and rule the kingdom.
The Characteristics of the Evil Vizier
The Evil Vizier is characterized by several key traits that set them apart from other villains. Firstly, they are often depicted as highly intelligent and manipulative, able to outwit their enemies and orchestrate complex schemes with ease. Secondly, they are usually motivated by a thirst for power and control, willing to go to any lengths to achieve their goals. Finally, they are adept at hiding their true intentions, often masquerading as loyal servants while secretly working to undermine their ruler.
The Role of the Evil Vizier in Fiction
In fiction, the Evil Vizier serves several important functions within the narrative. Firstly, they provide a formidable antagonist for the protagonist to overcome, creating tension and conflict that drives the story forward. Secondly, they serve as a cautionary tale about the dangers of unchecked ambition and the corrupting influence of power. Finally, they add depth and complexity to the story, often revealing unexpected layers of intrigue and deception.
Examples of the Evil Vizier in Literature and Film
The archetype of the Evil Vizier has appeared in a wide range of literary works and films, captivating audiences with their dark charisma and villainous machinations. One of the most iconic examples is the character of “Jafar” from Disney’s Aladdin, whose cunning and treachery make him a formidable foe for the titular hero.
Another example is the character of “Cardinal Richelieu” from Alexandre Dumas’ novel “The Three Musketeers.” As the chief minister to the King of France, Richelieu is a master manipulator, using his power to advance his own political agenda and eliminate his enemies.
The Enduring Appeal of the Evil Vizier Archetype
Despite their sinister nature, Evil Viziers continue to captivate audiences with their complex motivations and dark charisma. Their ability to manipulate events from behind the scenes, coupled with their intelligence and cunning, make them compelling and memorable villains.
In conclusion, the Evil Vizier archetype remains a powerful and enduring figure in fiction, embodying the dangers of unchecked ambition and the corrupting influence of power. Whether they are plotting to overthrow a kingdom or seize control of a magical artifact, these treacherous advisors continue to captivate audiences with their dark charisma and villainous machinations.
October 24, 2024: Forrester has tagged 2025 “the Year of the AI PC” — and if the number of recent product announcements is any indication, that’s likely to be the case. Gartner Research projects PC shipments will grow by 1.6% in 2024 and by 7.7% in 2025. The biggest growth driver will be due, not the arrival of not AI PCs, but to the need by many companies and users to refresh their computers and move toward Windows 11.
How soon will AI PCs replace traditional PCs in the enterprise?
Sept. 25, 2024: There’s much anticipation among enterprises and consumers alike for AI PCs, However, as with any new technology, it’s unclear when AI PCs will finally have their moment. Gartner forecasts that 43 million AI PCs will be shipped in 2024. IDC predicts even more — 57 million units — will be shipped in 2024. And by 2028, AI PCs will represent 92% of all PC shipments worldwide.
What does Qualcomm’s interest in buying Intel’s chip design business mean for the future of PCs?
Sept. 11, 2024: Qualcomm, Intel, AMD, and Apple have been in a fierce battle for domination of the chip market for AI PCs, which are touted as the future of computing. Further ramping up competition in this fiery landscape, Qualcomm has reportedly explored buying portions of Intel’s design business, most notably client PC design, as Intel looks to spin off units ahead of an upcoming board meeting, anonymous sources told Reuters.
Until today, I could count on one finger the amount of smart rings that offered a one-line ECG in such a small package. Bodimetrics’ Circul+ debuted in 2021, but what it had in heart-monitoring features it lacked in style, or even looking like a real ring. Today at CES 2025, however, Circular is showing off its second-generation ring that promises to keep an eye on your heart health.
We had a chance to take a look at the rings today at CES Unveiled and they are indeed shiny. They also feel remarkably lightweight. The sensor nodes inside the rings are noticeable when you first slide on the ring, but after a minute or so of wearing it, it hardly feels like you’re wearing a ring at all.
Circular says the Ring 2 boasts improved sensors as well as the aforementioned ECG, an eight day battery life and a better wireless charging dock. The company added that its companion app and AI has been completely redesigned to offer a “more intuitive and refined user experience.” Not to mention that the body is now cast in titanium with four color finishes; Gold, Silver, Black and Rose Gold.
This latest generation doesn’t have the vibrations featured in Circular’s first-gen rings, but the company’s co-founder told us that the vibrations will return in an upcoming iteration. For now, the second-generation rings should hit store shelves in February or March 2025, but the company says it’ll cost you $380 when it does.
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With all of the things that are happening in our country or about to happen, NBC’s Kristen Welker wasn’t interested in the Republican refusal to do anything to lower prices, or their plan to cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, or how Republicans are eying up paying for those tax cuts by taking healthcare away from millions of Americans.
Nope.
Kristen Welker decided she needed to ask Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer about Democrats and Joe Biden’s mental sharpness.
Transcript from NBC News:
KRISTEN WELKER:
Obviously, there has been a lot of focus on President Biden’s role in this. You were obviously in close contact with President Biden well before the public tuned into that debate that ultimately led to him stepping down. I want to play you a little bit of something you said last year. Take a look.
[START TAPE]
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER:
I talk to President Biden, you know, regularly, sometimes several times in a week, or usually several times in a week. His mental acuity is great. It’s fine. It’s as good as it’s been over the years. All this right-wing propaganda that his mental acuity has declined is wrong.
[END TAPE]
KRISTEN WELKER:
Leader Schumer, what do you say to Americans who feel as though you and other top Democrats misled them about President Biden’s mental acuity?
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER:
No. Look, we didn’t. And let’s – let’s look – let’s look at President Biden. He’s had an amazing record. The legislation we passed, one of the most significant groups of legislation since the New Deal – since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, putting in 235 judges, a record. And he’s a patriot. He’s a great guy. And when he stepped down, he did it on his own because he thought it was better not only for the Democratic Party, for America. We should all salute him. We should all salute him.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Do you feel, as we have this conversation today, that President Biden could serve another four years, had he stayed in the race and potentially won?
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER:
Well, I’m not going to speculate. As I said, I think his record is a stellar one. And he’ll go down in history as a really outstanding president.
Video:
Months after pushing Joe Biden out of his own reelection campaign, the mainstream media won’t let it go. Now, they are attacking the Democratic Party and suggesting that there was some sort of cover-up.
And so, we’ve come to the moment we’ve all been waiting for, when Globalist poster-boy Justin Trudeau is to finally relinquish his role as Canadian Prime Minister.
Here at TGP we’ve been warning you this day was fast approaching, in posts like:
And while the upcoming Donald J. Trump arrival did play a part, Trudeau was ready to fall by himself, with the latest polling from Canada suggesting his Liberal Party would win just six seats if an election were held today (and lose 154 seats!), while the Conservative Party would win more than 240 (with 122 new seats).
“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to announce as early as Monday that he will resign as Liberal Party Leader, The Globe and Mail reported on Sunday, citing three sources.
The sources told the Globe and Mail that they don’t know definitely when Trudeau will announce his plans to leave but said they expect it will happen before a key national caucus meeting on Wednesday.”
Whether Trudeau will leave office immediately or stay on until a new leader is selected is anybody’s guess.
“Trudeau took over as Liberal leader in 2013 when the party was in deep trouble and had been reduced to third place in the House of Commons for the first time.
Trudeau’s departure would leave the party without a permanent head at a time when polls show the Liberals will badly lose to the Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October.
His resignation is likely to spur fresh calls for a quick election to put in place a government able to deal with the administration of President-elect Donald Trump for the next four years.”
Donkey karts loaded with wrapped parcels of unknown goods weave around the large puddles of water left in the dried riverbed.
Young men quickly hop over laid bricks to bridge the puddles followed by women treading carefully with babies on their backs.
The Limpopo River’s seasonal dryness is a natural pathway for those moving intoSouth Africa from Zimbabwe illegally.
A sandy narrow beach undisturbed by border patrols with crossers chatting peacefully under trees on both banks as men furiously load and unload smuggled goods on the roadside.
Against the anti-immigration rage and xenophobia boiling over in South Africa’s urban centres, the tranquillity and ease of the border jumping is astonishingly calm.
“You can’t stop someone who is suffering. They have to find any means to come find food,” one man tells us anonymously as he crosses illegally.
At 55 years old, he remembers the 3,500-volt electric fence called the“snake of fire” installed here by the Apartheid regime.
Hundreds of women and children escaping conflict in the late 1980s and early 1990s were electrocuted.
Today, people fleeing drought and economic strife are smuggled across or walking through border blindspots like this one.
“Now, it’s easy,” he says. “There is no border authority here.”
He crosses regularly and always illegally. While he laughs at the lack of border agents, he says he has been stopped by soldiers in the past.
“They send us back but then the next day you try to come back and it is fine.”
We find a few soldiers on our way back to the main road. They look confused by our presence but unphased. It is hard to believe they are unaware of the streams of people and goods moving across the dried riverbed just a few hundred metres away.
Border ‘fence’ trampled and full of holes
We drive along the border fence to get to the official border post into Zimbabwe, Beitbridge.
“Fence” is a generous term for the knee-height barbed wire laid across 25 miles of South Africa’s northern edges in 2020. Some sections are completely trampled, and others are gaping with holes.
The concrete fortress is a drastic change to the soft, sandy riverbed. Queues dismantle and reassemble as eager crowds rush from one building to another as instructions change.
Zimbabweans can live, work and study in South Africa on a Zimbabwean exemption permit, but many like Precious, a mother-of-three, cannot even afford a passport.
When we meet her at a women’s shelter in the border town of Musina, she says she only has $30 (£23.90) to find work in South Africa and that a passport costs $50 (£39.80).
“My husband is disabled and can’t work or do anything. I’m the only one doing everything – school, food, everything. I’m the one who has to take care of the kids and that situation makes me come here to find something,” she says tearfully before breaking down.
The shelter next door is home to trafficked children that were rescued. Other shelters are full of men looking for work.
Musina is a stagnant sanctuary for Zimbabweans searching for a better life who become paralysed here – a sign of the declining state of Zimbabwe and the growing hostility deeper in South Africa.
In Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic centre, illegal immigrants are facing raids and deportations organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs at the behest of popular discontent.
The heavy-handed escalation in the interior sits in stark contrast to the lax border control.
“I wonder how serious our government is about dealing with immigration,” says Nomzamo Zondo, human rights attorney and executive director of the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI), as we walk through Johannesburg’s derelict inner city.
“I think part of it is that the South Africa we want to build is one that wants to welcome its neighbours and doesn’t forget the people that welcomed us when we didn’t have a home – and that is why I think they are so poor at maintaining the borders.”
She adds: “But then the call has to be one that says once you are here, how do we make sure you are regularised here, that you know who you are, and contribute to the economy at this point in time.”
Climate of anti-migrant hate
In 1994 as South Africa’s first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela ordered that all electric fences be taken down.
His dream for South Africa to become a pan-African haven for civilians of neighbouring countries that provided sanctuary for fighters in the anti-Apartheid movement was criticised by local constituents back then.
Now in a climate of increasing anti-migrant hate, that vision is rejected outright.
“I think that is the highest level of sell-out. When South Africans were in exile, they were in camps and they were restricted to go to other parts of those countries,” says Bungani Thusi, a member of anti-immigrant movement Operation Dudula, at a protest in Soweto.
He is wearing faux military fatigues and has the upright position of an officer heading into battle.
“Why do you allow foreigners to go all over South Africa and run businesses and make girlfriends?” he adds, with all the seriousness of protest.
“South Africans can’t even have their own girlfriends because the foreigners have taken over the girlfriend space.”
Belgian ultra runner Hilde Dosogne, center, is cheered on as she crosses the finish line during her 366th consecutive marathon in Ghent, Belgium, on Dec. 31, 2024.
Virginia Mayo/AP
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Virginia Mayo/AP
Hilde Dosogne’s ambitious goal for last year would humble most of our New Year’s resolutions.
At the start of 2024, the Belgian set out to hold the record as the first woman to run a marathon every single day of the year — 366 in total (it was a leap year). On Dec. 31, the 55-year-old finished her last 26.2 miles of the year in Ghent, Belgium.
To make it official, Dosogne is working to submit evidence of her mileage, including GPS data, images and witness reports, to Guinness World Record officials.
Dosogne is used to running extreme distances. She completed the 153-mile Spartathlon in Greece in 2022 and 2023. So, she didn’t feel the need to specifically train for the year-long goal.
Even so, she said she wasn’t prepared for what lay ahead.
“I must say, I really — I underestimated it,” she said in an interview on Saturday with All Things Considered host Scott Detrow. “The toughest part was actually the mental part of being at the start line every day again,” she said.
The physical challenges also weren’t easy. Dosogne did it all while working part-time and caring for a family of five.
“I realized I needed much more sleep than usual,” she said.
Fitting in naps during her lunch break helped, she said.
In signing herself up for the challenge, Dosogne said she wanted to push her own limits. She also wanted to inspire other people to push theirs, too.
Her advice for those just starting out running? Have patience.
“Just build it up gradually, and you will see the benefits,” she said. “Don’t expect miracles in a short time.”
Guinness World Records says its standard application review process for records takes about 12-15 weeks. Hugo Farias, a Brazilian, holds the male record for 366 days, which he accomplished in 2023.
For now, Dosogne is taking a bit of a break from running, per doctor’s orders. She’s recovering from a minor hamstring injury.
“He told me maybe I should rest a couple more weeks until I start running again,” she said. “But I think I will cycle a little bit.”
The body of a missing Texas man was found in the Mt. Whitney area, authorities announced Sunday.
The Inyo County Sheriff’s Office said rescuers discovered Taylor Rodriguez of San Antonio deceased Saturday afternoon at an elevation of 12,000 feet near North Fork Lone Pine Creek Trail.
The Sheriff’s Office previously said the 29-year-old went to climb Mt. Whitney on Monday despite poor weather. Authorities had sought the public’s help in locating him.
In a statement Sunday, sheriff’s officials said they had no further details regarding Rodriguez’s death and extended condolences to his “family and friends during this difficult time.”