CAMBRIDGE - Twelve puppies in the region are about to begin the journey to become life-changing service dogs. The Cambridge-based organization National Service Dogs was in Kitchener on Wednesday to educate the community on its programs and recruit puppy raisers for its latest litter. Of the six-week old puppies, four are still in need of a foster home for the next year. The first group will be heading out on Dec. 6, with the remaining being placed Dec. 13. "We have volunteer puppy raisers that take the dogs from eight weeks until about 15 months of age," Danielle Forbes, executive director and co-founder of National Service Dogs, said. "They're responsible for doing all the basic obedience and the fun stuff, getting them house trained and helping them be good canine citizens." Foster homes play an important role in developing service dogs, each of which costs roughly $50,000 from birth until they retire at the age of 10. It's an amount completely absorbed by NSD with no financial implications for the people who receive them. As the dogs are socialized and learn everyday skills, staff are consistently monitoring them to assess what simple training can be done by raisers to help them acclimatize to the various situations they'll encounter with their owners. From autism service, post traumatic stress disorder, mental health support and skilled companions capable of assisting children and youth with various disabilities, there are several paths the dogs can take to help enhance the lives of residents in the community. As significant as the responsibility of fostering is, it's not meant to be intimidating says NSD volunteer coordinator, Meghan Kraehling. In fact, no previous experience with dogs is necessary. "It just takes a lot of patience and dedication," Kraehling said. "All we ask for is people open their arms and their homes to take one of these furballs in. We do offer classes for all of our volunteers and puppies to attend. It's all free. We cover all the training, food and vet care." The not-for-profit receives no government funding and has faced significant challenges over the years, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. The cost-of-living has made fundraising difficult and volunteering has also been down industry wide, forcing the organization to reduce the number of dogs it trains. Once the foster period comes to an end, the dogs go through a training process, much of which takes place in Cambridge at a property on Cedar Creek Road, where they establish the program they'll enter into. A lot of the time the choice is easy based on the personality of the dog, Forbes said. National Service Dogs is the first program in the world to create a model for autistic children, something it began doing 28 years ago. It was also the first accredited program to have taken on mental health and PTSD dogs for veterans and first responders in 2011. Dogs who may not have the confidence to complete the training are often entered into the skill companion program or adopted out as Very Important Pets (VIP), with volunteers given the opportunity to take them in. "The mental health and capacity of the dogs is at the forefront," Forbes said. "We can't force them to do a job they mentally can't handle, that would be contrary to our belief. We try to meet the dogs where they're at." When it comes to wait times, Forbes and her team have worked hard to reduce them in recent years. What was once a lengthy list has been significantly shortened, with people typically waiting less than 12 months to receive a dog. As NSD continues its mission to change people's lives one dog at a time, Forbes hopes residents in the region consider opening their homes to be part of a rewarding experience. "You just have to come with a good heart, kindness and a loving home," she said.Conclusion

San Jose Foos’ fairgrounds toy drive gets a boost from mayor’s officeDavid Beckham called Kath Phipps “the heartbeat of Manchester United” as tributes from players past and present poured in following the long-serving receptionist’s death at the age of 85. A lifelong fan, she was an immensely popular figure with players, managers and staff at a club she joined four months after Sir Matt Busby led them to European Cup glory in 1968. Phipps initially worked at Old Trafford in the stadium offices and on matchdays, before Sir Alex Ferguson brought her to their Carrington training ground in 2000. The United great presented her with the League Managers Association’s Service to Football award in 2022, when Beckham was among those to pay tribute. “Forever in our hearts...,” the former midfielder posted on Instagram with a photo holding Phipps’ hand. “The first and last face I would always see was Kath sat at reception at Old Trafford waiting to give me my tickets for the game. “She was the heartbeat of Manchester United, everyone knew who Kath was and everyone adored her. “I moved up to Manchester at 15 and Kath made a promise to my mum and dad ‘I’ll look after your boy for you don’t you worry’ and from that first day till the last day I spent with her that’s exactly what she did. “Old Trafford will never be the same without your smile as we walk through those doors... We love you.” The club confirmed Phipps’ death on Thursday, leading to a flood of tributes on social media from those that worked with her. United’s record goalscorer Wayne Rooney said: “The heart and soul of Manchester United. Everything what the club is about. “A legend who will be greatly missed. Thanks for the memories Kathy. Thoughts with family and friends.” Fellow United former player Patrice Evra said “losing a family member (is) never easy” alongside a photo with Phipps, who David De Gea thanked “for taking care of everyone”. Ex-United defender Rio Ferdinand said: “An absolute mainstay of Manchester United... Always welcomed me and everyone else who visited with a warm smile! Looked at life positively, incredibly selfless & would put others first! RIP.” Current squad members were also quick to pay their respects to Phipps. United skipper Bruno Fernandes reposted the club’s announcement with a heart emoji and Marcus Rashford said: “Awful news, admired by all at the club and beyond, you will be missed.” United defender Harry Maguire posted: “A legend that will never be forgotten. I will miss you. We will miss you. RIP Kath.” Right-back Diogo Dalot wrote: “We love you Kath. Thank you for showing everyday what this club is about and taking care of us.” Jadon Sancho, who is on loan at Chelsea ahead of a permanent United exit, said of Phipps: “I’m grateful that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting you, such a lovely kind hearted soul. “She always made sure I was OK and always put a smile on my face whenever I felt down, I appreciate you Kath. My condolences go out to her family through this tough time.” United have yet to confirm what tribute will be paid at Saturday’s Premier League match against Nottingham Forest. The club said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our beloved colleague Kath Phipps at the age of 85. “An omnipresent figure at Manchester United since the late 1960s, Kath worked for the club for over 55 years in a variety of roles, but her contribution went beyond any particular job title. “Kath was a one-woman institution, whose memory will be cherished by everyone at the club who had the privilege of knowing her. “She said last year: ‘I can’t imagine doing anything else’. Well, we can’t imagine the place without her.”

A New Year’s Eve music concert was held yesterday at Wunna Theikdi Stadium No 1 and 2 in Nay Pyi Taw to celebrate the New Year and promote peace and tranquillity across the nation. The event attracted both local residents and government employees. As the day was a public holiday, many attendees, including families of government staff, arrived by car or motorcycle to enjoy the afternoon concert. Rigorous security measures were taken, with personnel conducting thorough inspections at the entrance gates and stationed throughout the venue to ensure safety. The paths from Gates 1 and 4 to the main stage were illuminated with colourful lights, creating a festive and welcoming atmosphere. Organizers enhanced the celebration by providing photo booths, amusement games, and a children’s playground. The concert showcased performances by popular local singers, dancers, DJs, and bands, delighting the audience with well-loved songs. Adding to the excitement, a special performance by the Thai group ‘The Gang of Popular Copy Show’ captivated attendees, who sang along enthusiastically. More than 50 stalls, including food vendors and souvenir shops, were set up to cater to the crowd, creating a lively marketplace. Organizers ensured a clean and orderly environment by providing ample rubbish bins and mobile toilets for the convenience of visitors. For those planning to join the New Year celebrations, a variety of entertainment programmes are scheduled. On 30 December, events will run from 3:00 pm to 10:00 pm, featuring a traditional Myanmar dance troupe performance at 5:00 pm. On 31 December, the countdown celebration will begin at 5:00 pm and continue until 1:00 am. Admission is free, and free shuttle bus services will operate along three routes to facilitate transportation for festival-goers. — Lu Lin Pyo/ TRKMThe decision to flee on fishing boats is not without risks. The Mediterranean Sea is treacherous, with reports of overcrowded and unseaworthy vessels capsizing, leading to tragic loss of life. However, for many Syrian-Chinese residents, the prospect of staying in a war-torn country with no end in sight is an even greater risk.WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has identified what he sees as an all-purpose fix for what ails America: Slap huge new tariffs on foreign goods entering the United States. On Monday, Trump sent shockwaves across the nation's northern and southern borders, vowing sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada, as well as China, as soon as he takes office as part of his effort to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs. In a pair of posts on his Truth Social site Trump railed against an influx of immigrants lacking permanent legal status, even though southern border apprehensions have been hovering near four-year lows. He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, as one of his first executive orders. He said the new tariffs would remain in place “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” The president-elect asserts that tariffs — basically import taxes — will create more factory jobs, shrink the federal deficit, lower food prices and allow the government to subsidize childcare. Economists are generally skeptical, considering tariffs to be a mostly inefficient way for governments to raise money. They are especially alarmed by Trump’s latest proposed tariffs. Carl B. Weinberg and Rubeela Farooqi, economists with High Frequency Economics said Tuesday that energy, automobiles and food supplies will be particularly hit hard. “Imposing tariffs on trade flows into the United States without first preparing alternative sources for the goods and services affected will raise the price of imported items at once," Weinberg and Farooqi wrote. "Since many of these goods are consumer goods, households will be made poorer.” High Frequency Economics believes the threats are not meant to support new trade policy and are instead a tool to elicit some changes along the borders and for imports from Canada, Mexico and China. Though Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Trump’s tariff threats as unserious during her failed bid for the presidency, the Biden-Harris administration retained the taxes the Trump administration imposed on $360 billion in Chinese goods. And it imposed a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles. Indeed, the United States in recent years has gradually retreated from its post-World War II role of promoting global free trade and lower tariffs. That shift has been a response to the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs, widely attributed to unfettered trade and an increasingly aggressive China. Tariffs are a tax on imports They are typically charged as a percentage of the price a buyer pays a foreign seller. In the United States, tariffs are collected by Customs and Border Protection agents at 328 ports of entry across the country. The tariff rates range from passenger cars (2.5%) to golf shoes (6%). Tariffs can be lower for countries with which the United States has trade agreements. For example, most goods can move among the United States, Mexico and Canada tariff-free because of Trump’s US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. There's much misinformation about who actually pays tariffs Trump insists that tariffs are paid for by foreign countries. In fact, its is importers — American companies — that pay tariffs, and the money goes to U.S. Treasury. Those companies, in turn, typically pass their higher costs on to their customers in the form of higher prices. That's why economists say consumers usually end up footing the bill for tariffs. Still, tariffs can hurt foreign countries by making their products pricier and harder to sell abroad. Yang Zhou, an economist at Shanghai’s Fudan University, concluded in a study that Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods inflicted more than three times as much damage to the Chinese economy as they did to the U.S. economy Tariffs are intended mainly to protect domestic industries By raising the price of imports, tariffs can protect home-grown manufacturers. They may also serve to punish foreign countries for committing unfair trade practices, like subsidizing their exporters or dumping products at unfairly low prices. Before the federal income tax was established in 1913, tariffs were a major revenue driver for the government. From 1790 to 1860, tariffs accounted for 90% of federal revenue, according to Douglas Irwin, a Dartmouth College economist who has studied the history of trade policy. Tariffs fell out of favor as global trade grew after World War II. The government needed vastly bigger revenue streams to finance its operations. In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the government is expected to collect $81.4 billion in tariffs and fees. That's a trifle next to the $2.5 trillion that's expected to come from individual income taxes and the $1.7 trillion from Social Security and Medicare taxes. Still, Trump wants to enact a budget policy that resembles what was in place in the 19th century. He has argued that tariffs on farm imports could lower food prices by aiding America’s farmers. In fact, tariffs on imported food products would almost certainly send grocery prices up by reducing choices for consumers and competition for American producers. Tariffs can also be used to pressure other countries on issues that may or may not be related to trade. In 2019, for example, Trump used the threat of tariffs as leverage to persuade Mexico to crack down on waves of Central American migrants crossing Mexican territory on their way to the United States. Trump even sees tariffs as a way to prevent wars. “I can do it with a phone call,’’ he said at an August rally in North Carolina. If another country tries to start a war, he said he’d issue a threat: “We’re going to charge you 100% tariffs. And all of a sudden, the president or prime minister or dictator or whoever the hell is running the country says to me, ‘Sir, we won’t go to war.’ ” Economists generally consider tariffs self-defeating Tariffs raise costs for companies and consumers that rely on imports. They're also likely to provoke retaliation. The European Union, for example, punched back against Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum by taxing U.S. products, from bourbon to Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Likewise, China responded to Trump’s trade war by slapping tariffs on American goods, including soybeans and pork in a calculated drive to hurt his supporters in farm country. A study by economists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Zurich, Harvard and the World Bank concluded that Trump’s tariffs failed to restore jobs to the American heartland. The tariffs “neither raised nor lowered U.S. employment’’ where they were supposed to protect jobs, the study found. Despite Trump’s 2018 taxes on imported steel, for example, the number of jobs at U.S. steel plants barely budged: They remained right around 140,000. By comparison, Walmart alone employs 1.6 million people in the United States. Worse, the retaliatory taxes imposed by China and other nations on U.S. goods had “negative employment impacts,’’ especially for farmers, the study found. These retaliatory tariffs were only partly offset by billions in government aid that Trump doled out to farmers. The Trump tariffs also damaged companies that relied on targeted imports. If Trump’s trade war fizzled as policy, though, it succeeded as politics. The study found that support for Trump and Republican congressional candidates rose in areas most exposed to the import tariffs — the industrial Midwest and manufacturing-heavy Southern states like North Carolina and Tennessee.Voting goes on in Darchula, Gorkha and Gulmi

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Nearly 100 former senior U.S. diplomats and intelligence and national security officials have urged Senate leaders to schedule closed-door hearings to allow for a full review of the government's files on former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard , Donald Trump's pick to be national intelligence director. The former officials, who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, said they were "alarmed" by the choice of Gabbard to oversee all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. They said her past actions "call into question her ability to deliver unbiased intelligence briefings to the President, Congress, and to the entire national security apparatus." A spokesperson for Gabbard on the Trump transition team on Thursday denounced the appeal as an "unfounded" and "partisan" attack. Among those who signed the letter were former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, former NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller, former national security adviser Anthony Lake, and numerous retired ambassadors and high-ranking military officers. They wrote to current Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and incoming Republican Majority Leader John Thune on Wednesday to urge the closed briefings as part of the Senate's review of Trump's top appointments. They urged that Senate committees "consider in closed sessions all information available to the U.S. government when considering Ms. Gabbard's qualifications to manage our country's intelligence agencies, and more importantly, the protection of our intelligence sources and methods." The letter singles out Gabbard's 2017 meetings in Syria with President Bashar Assad, who is supported by Russian, Iranian and Iranian-allied forces in a now 13-year war against Syrian opposition forces seeking his overthrow. The U.S., which cut relations with Assad's government and imposed sanctions over his conduct of the war, maintains about 900 troops in opposition-controlled northeast Syria, saying they are needed to block a resurgence of extremist groups. Gabbard, a Democratic member of Congress from Hawaii at the time of her Syria trip, drew heavy criticism for her meetings with a U.S. adversary and brutal leader. As the letter notes, her statements on the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine have aligned with Russian talking points, diverging from U.S. positions and policy. Gabbard, throughout her political career, has urged the U.S. to limit military engagement abroad other than combatting Islamic extremist groups. She has defended the Syria trip by saying it is necessary to engage with U.S. enemies. In postings on social media earlier this year, she confirmed that the U.S. had for a time placed her "on a secret terror watch list" as a "potential domestic terror threat." She blamed political retaliation. Neither she nor U.S. authorities have publicly detailed the circumstances involved. Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for Gabbard with the Trump team, called the letter sent to the Senate leaders "a perfect example" of why Trump chose Gabbard for this position. "These unfounded attacks are from the same geniuses who have blood on their hands from decades of faulty 'intelligence,'" and use classified government information as a "partisan weapon to smear and imply things about their political enemy," Henning said. A spokesperson for Thune did not immediately respond to questions about the request.

The AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — Michael Gray Jr. had 19 points and Byron Ireland made two free throws with 6 seconds left to rally Nicholls to a 76-75 victory over Louisiana on Saturday night. Gray shot 6 for 11, including 5 for 10 from beyond the arc for the Colonels (4-4). Jamal West added 15 points and nine rebounds. Jaylen Searles hit three 3-pointers and scored 15. Ireland also finished with 15 points. The Ragin’ Cajuns (1-7) were led by Kyran Ratliff’s 25 points, 13 rebounds and two steals. Mostapha El Moutaouakkil added 19 points and six rebounds. Christian Wright had 12 points. The loss is the sixth in a row for the Ragin’ Cajuns. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .In response to Trump's allegations, Zelensky issued a direct challenge to the former US President, urging him to visit Ukraine and witness firsthand the devastation caused by the conflict. The bold invitation was seen as a strategic move to confront Trump's claims head-on and to demonstrate the real-life consequences of the ongoing conflict in the region. By taking such a proactive stance, Zelensky sought to dispel any doubts or misinformation surrounding the Ukrainian military's sacrifices and to reaffirm the nation's commitment to defending its territorial integrity.At the age of 20, Nani embarked on a journey that would take him through the highs and lows of professional football. Joining the prestigious Manchester United at such a young age, expectations were high for the Portuguese winger to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious compatriot, Cristiano Ronaldo. However, fate had a different path in store for Nani.

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Defiant Adani says committed to compliance after US indictmentA look at how some of Trump's picks to lead health agencies could help carry out Kennedy's overhaulAs the excitement continues to build and anticipation mounts for the release of "GTA 6," industry peers will be diligently monitoring any news or announcements related to the game. In the ever-evolving landscape of the gaming industry, adaptability and foresight are essential qualities for navigating the challenging waters of game development.