Oxford Researchers Find Some Birth Control Pills Increase the Risk Of Breast Cancer By Up To 30%

Researchers at Oxford University have found that certain birth control pills increase the risk of breast cancer by up to 30 percent.

The study’s findings were published in PLOS Medicine on Tuesday.

“Our findings suggest that there is a relative increase of around 20% to 30% in breast cancer risk associated with current or recent use of either combined oral or progestagen-only contraceptives,” the study states.

In their conclusion, the researchers wrote that “progestagen-only contraceptives is associated with a slight increase in breast cancer risk, which does not appear to vary by mode of delivery, and is similar in magnitude to that associated with combined hormonal contraceptives.”

“When our findings for oral contraceptives are combined with results from previous studies (which included women in a wider age range), they suggest that the 15-year absolute excess risk of breast cancer associated with use of oral contraceptives ranges from 8 per 100,000 users (an increase in incidence from 0.084% to 0.093%) for use from age 16 to 20 to about 265 per 100,000 users (from 2.0% to 2.2%) for use from age 35 to 39,” the study says.

According to their findings, the risk of breast cancer gradually decreases once the woman stops using it.

Instead of discouraging the use of birth control because of the findings, the researchers wrote that “excess risks must be viewed in the context of the well-established benefits of contraceptive use in women’s reproductive years.”

Claire Knight of Cancer Research UK, which funded the study, told the Guardian that this risk was “small” and “should not discourage most people from taking the pill.”

“Women who are most likely to be using contraception are under the age of 50, where the risk of breast cancer is even lower,” Knight said. “For anyone looking to lower their cancer risk, not smoking, eating a healthy balanced diet, drinking less alcohol, and keeping a healthy weight will have the most impact.”

Knight continued, “there are lots of possible benefits to using contraception, as well as other risks not related to cancer. That’s why deciding to take them is a personal choice and should be done after speaking to your doctor so you can make a decision that is right for you.”

The study was based on data from 9,498 women who developed invasive breast cancer between ages 20 to 49 and 18,171 closely matched women without breast cancer.

https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1004188

Mitch McConnell Released From Rehab to Convalesce at Home: Statement

McConnell’s absence leaves the Republicans at 48 votes in the closely divided chamber as proxy voting is not allowed in the Senate. The Democrats are down two senators, freshman John Fetterman (PA), 53, out for “depression” and five-term Dianne Feinstein (CA), 89, out with shingles, leaving them at 49 votes.

McConnell’s statement:

March 25, 2023

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) issued the following statement this afternoon:

“I want to sincerely thank everyone for all the kind wishes. I’m happy to say I finished inpatient physical therapy earlier today and I’m glad to be home.

“I’m going to follow the advice of my physical therapists and spend the next few days working for Kentuckians and the Republican Conference from home. I’m in frequent touch with my Senate colleagues and my staff. I look forward to returning in person to the Senate soon.”

McConnell has not been seen or directly heard from by the public since he fell on March 8. No photos or video have been released. It was only last week that a few Republican senators said they had spoken by phone or texted with him.

McConnell’s staff did not inform the public about the seriousness of McConnell’s injuries, just giving the minimum on his condition: He fell, he had a concussion, he was in the hospital, he had a broken rob, he went to rehab, he went home.

McConnell ally Josh Holmes spread misinformation to reporters in the days after McConnell was hospitalized, saying he was walking around the hospital and chatting up the staff (NBC News excerpt):

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is “doing well” and “eager” to leave the hospital and return to work, his longtime political adviser Josh Holmes told NBC News on Friday.

Holmes said he’s “been there the last two days” with the Kentucky Republican, and added that the senator has been walking around and peppering staff with questions.

McConnell has a limp from childhood polio that makes him prone to falls. He injured his shoulder in a 2019 fall. In 2020 his face and hands were deeply bruised in an unexplained incident. McConnell had heart bypass surgery in 2003

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/mitch-mcconnell-released-from-rehab-to-convalesce-at-home-statement/

Netanyahu Fires Israel Defense Minister For Urging Halt To Judicial Reform

Update (1415ET): In perhaps the least surprising geopolitical move of the day, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister on Sunday, a day after Yoav Gallant called for a halt to the planned overhaul of Israel's judiciary that has divided the country.

Netanyahu's office did not provide further details.

As we detailed below, Gallant, a senior member of Netanyahu's Likud party, became the first to break ranks late Saturday by calling for the legislation to be frozen.

• • *

In a major development, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday called for Benjamin Netanyahu's government to halt its planned judicial reforms, which have prompted enormous protests and are starting to disrupt the country's military.

“I see the source of our strength eroding…The rift within our society is widening and penetrating the Israel Defense Forces,” said Gallant in a televised evening speech. “This is a clear and immediate and tangible danger to the security of the state. I shall not be a party to this.”

In addition to calling for a suspension of the reforms, Gallant also implored Israelis to stop their enormous protests, which raged even as he spoke.

The coming week could bring high drama and even more upheaval, as the Knesset is expected to hold its final vote on the first aspect of the judicial overhaul: a measure giving the government more power over Supreme Court appointments.

Other reforms would allow the Knesset Israel's unicameral legislature to override Supreme Court decisions with a simple majority vote. Others would end the court's practice of applying a "reasonableness" test when evaluating laws and government actions.

Critics characterize the scheme as a step deeper into authoritarianism. Some say the moves are in part designed to help Netanyahu terminate his ongoing prosecution on corruption charges.

The past ten weeks have seen major public protests all across Israel. Saturday night's crowds were reportedly the largest yet, estimated in the hundreds of thousands.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-defense-minister-urges-halt-judicial-reform-amid-upheaval

AOC Joins China-Owned TikTok — Then Says a Ban Just ‘Doesn’t Feel Right’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has joined TikTok to support the app as Congress works to ban it over its ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Congress and the Biden administration have been discussing forcing the sale of TikTok or banning the social media platform over concerns that it is a national security risk.

U.S. senators have unveiled bipartisan legislation to ban the social media app nationwide — and the House Energy and Commerce Committee grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on Thursday.

On Saturday, the Democratic Socialist created her first video for the platform, which she also posted to Twitter.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/aoc-joins-tiktok-says-a-ban-just-doesnt-feel-right/

Kiev behind drone attack deep into Russia – MOD

An unmanned aircraft belonging to the Ukrainian forces was downed using electromagnetic warfare, Moscow has said

An explosion in the town of Kireevsk in Russia’s Tula region on Sunday was the result of a thwarted Ukrainian drone attack, the Russian Defense Ministry has said. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was downed using an electromagnetic warfare system, it added.

The Ukrainian forces launched a strike variant of a Soviet-made Tu-141 Strizh (‘Swift’) drone, the ministry confirmed. The Russian air defense forces stationed in the Tula region used an electromagnetic warfare system, Pole-21 (Field-21), to disable its navigation systems and drive it of its course, the ministry’s statement said. The UAV eventually fell in Kireevsk. It’s initial target was not revealed in the statement.

Earlier on Sunday, the Russian media reported that at least three people were injured and three residential buildings damaged in the blast caused by the drone crash. Kiev did not comment on the incident.

The Tula region is located south of Moscow, some 250 kilometers away from the nearest border with Ukraine. In early March, its governor ordered increased security measures in the wake of Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian soil.

According to the Defense Ministry, the air defense force deployed to the Tula region involves S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile systems as well as Pantsir-S1 medium-range air defense missile and artillery systems together with Pole-21 electromagnetic warfare systems.

https://www.rt.com/russia/573632-tula-region-drone-attack/

Pickle factory goes up in flames the day after a deadly chocolate factory explosion

A pickle factory in New Jersey was destroyed in a fire Saturday morning that also threatened two nearby schools, WNBC reported.

"Thankfully, our firefighters were able to stop the blaze from spreading to PANTHER Academy," Paterson's Mayor André Sayegh said in an Instagram post.

No one was working inside the factory at time the fire broke out, WLNY reports. One firefighter was injured, but "will be ok," the outlet also reported.

Fire fighters and police responded to a call around 6 a.m. to the 220 Ellison Street location, Paterson's head of public safety, Jerry Speziale said, according to WNBC.

The fire, which took hours to extinguish, caused the building's roof to collapse, according to WLNY.

The three-alarm blaze took out much of the Ellison Street factory. Thanks to firefighters' efforts, neither the high school nor a nearby community college were damaged, WNBC reported.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, the outlet also reported.

https://www.theblaze.com/blaze-news/fire-destroys-nj-pickle-king-factory

ChatGPT Users’ Private Data Exposed Due to Open-Source Bug

ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by OpenAI, was taken offline for emergency maintenance on March 20 due to a bug in an open-source library that triggered a data breach.

At the time, many ChatGPT users reported that they could see titles from other active user’s chat history. Some also reported seeing in their own history other people’s first messages of new conservations with the chatbot.

The bug has since been patched. Co-founder and CEO Sam Altman said on Wednesday on Twitter that OpenAI “felt awful” about the data breach.

On Friday, OpenAI provided an update on the incident, saying that even more private data from some users were exposed, including users’ payment information.

OpenAI stated that, upon deeper investigation, besides users seeing titles and conversations of others, the company “also discovered that the same bug may have caused the unintentional visibility of payment-related information of 1.2% of the ChatGPT Plus subscribers who were active during a specific nine-hour window.”

OpenAI did not disclose the exact number of paying accounts that were exposed.

It is unclear how many ChatGPT Plus subscribers there are. However, since its release as a free prototype to the public on Nov. 30, 2022, the company reported 100 million users in February.

The company added: “In the hours before we took ChatGPT offline on Monday, it was possible for some users to see another active user’s first and last name, email address, payment address, the last four digits (only) of a credit card number, and credit card expiration date. Full credit card numbers were not exposed at any time.”

The company has reached out to users who were affected to inform them that their payment information may have been exposed. “We are confident that there is no ongoing risk to users’ data,” OpenAI said on Friday.

The company shared the technical details about the bug and explained the actions it took to fix and prevent similar situations in the future.

“Everyone at OpenAI is committed to protecting our users’ privacy and keeping their data safe. It’s a responsibility we take incredibly seriously. Unfortunately, this week we fell short of that commitment, and of our users’ expectations,” the company said.

“We apologize again to our users and to the entire ChatGPT community and will work diligently to rebuild trust.”

https://www.ntd.com/chatgpt-users-private-data-exposed-due-to-open-source-bug_909682.html