winph4 Saquon Barkley rushed for 167 yards to join the 2,000-yard club and the Philadelphia Eagles clinched the NFC East title with a lopsided 41-7 victory against the visiting Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. The Eagles (13-3) swept the rival Cowboys (7-9) for the first time since 2011 and locked up at least the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs. With his 11th 100-yard game of the year, Barkley became the ninth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. Sitting on 2,005 yards, he needs 101 to break Eric Dickerson's NFL single-season record of 2,105 set in 16 games in 1984. Starting for Philadelphia with Jalen Hurts in the concussion protocol, Kenny Pickett tallied a touchdown pass and a touchdown run before exiting early in the third quarter with a rib injury. Tanner McKee, making his NFL debut, replaced Pickett and threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Brown to put the Eagles up 34-7 with 2:44 left in the third quarter. McKee added a 25-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter to DeVonta Smith, who finished with six catches for 120 yards and two scores. The Cowboys turned the ball over four times. Cooper Rush threw two interceptions and one touchdown pass and Rico Dowdle rushed for 104 yards to notch his first 1,000-yard season (1,007). Philadelphia built a 24-7 halftime lead by scoring 17 points off three Dallas turnovers. The Cowboys' opening drive ended in a 70-yard interception return for a touchdown by C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Rush shook off the pick-6 and fired a game-tying 4-yard TD pass to Jalen Tolbert with 5:38 left in the first quarter. Pickett's 22-yard strike to Smith put Philadelphia ahead for good at 14-7 midway through the second quarter. Jake Elliott's 31-yard field goal made it 17-7 after Jordan Davis recovered a fumble by the Cowboys' Jake Ferguson. Gardner-Johnson's second interception gave Philadelphia the ball back with 36 seconds left in the half. Smith's 49-yard catch got the Eagles to the doorstep and Pickett punched it in. Elliott's 26-yarder extended the lead to 27-7 on the first drive of the third quarter, but Pickett's day was over after absorbing a hit from Micah Parsons. --Field Level Media

Israeli drone strikes hit Kamal Adwan Hospital on Tuesday, wounding three medical staff at one of the few hospitals still partially operating in the northernmost part of Gaza , the facility’s director said. Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya said the drones were dropping bombs, spraying shrapnel at the hospital. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. In Lebanon, a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has held despite Israeli forces carrying out several new drone and artillery strikes on Tuesday, killing a shepherd in the country's south. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed keep striking “with an iron fist” against perceived Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire. Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel last year in solidarity with Hamas militants who are fighting in the Gaza Strip. The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage . Israel’s blistering retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,500 Palestinians , more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The war in Gaza has destroyed vast areas of the coastal enclave and displaced 90% of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times . Here's the Latest: WASHINGTON — U.S. forces conducted a self-defense strike Tuesday in the vicinity of Mission Support Site Euphrates, a U.S. base in eastern Syria, against three truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers, a T-64 tank and mortars that Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said presented “a clear and imminent threat” to U.S. troops. The self-defense strike occurred after rockets and mortars were fired that landed in the vicinity of the base, Ryder said. The Pentagon is still assessing who was responsible for the attacks — that there are both Iranian-backed militias and Syrian military forces that operate in the area. Ryder said the attack was not connected to the offensive that is ongoing in Aleppo, where Syrian jihadi-led rebels taken over the country’s largest city. The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria to conduct missions to counter the Islamic Stage group. CAIRO — Israeli drone strikes hit the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza on Tuesday, wounding three medical personnel, the facility’s director said. Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya said the drones were dropping bombs, spraying shrapnel at the hospital, located in the town of Beit Lahiya. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. In comments released by Gaza’s Health Ministry, Abu Safiya said one of the injured was in critical condition and was undergoing a complex surgery. “The situation has become extremely dangerous,” he said. “We are exhausted by the ongoing violence and atrocities.” Kamal Adwan Hospital has been struck multiple times over the past two months as Israeli forces have waged a fierce offensive in the area, saying they are rooting out Hamas militants who regrouped there. In October, Israeli forces raided the hospital, saying that militants were sheltering inside and arrested a number of people, including some staff. Hospital officials denied the claim. Abu Safiya was wounded in his thigh and back by an Israeli drone strike on the hospital last month. TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli court has ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take the stand next week in his long-running corruption trial, ending a long series of delays. Netanyahu’s lawyers had filed multiple requests to put off the testimony, arguing first that the war in Gaza prevented him from properly preparing for his testimony, and later that his security could not be guaranteed in the court chamber. In Tuesday’s decision, judges in the Jerusalem district court said that following a security assessment, his testimony will be moved to the Tel Aviv district court. Israeli media said the session would take place in an underground chamber. His testimony in the trial, which began in 2020, is expected to begin on Dec. 10 and to last at least several weeks. Netanyahu is charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate scandals involving powerful media moguls and wealthy associates. He denies wrongdoing. NABATIYEH, Lebanon — In destroyed areas of southern Lebanon, residents clearing away rubble on Tuesday said they didn’t trust Israel to abide by the week-old ceasefire with Hezbollah. “The Israelis are breaching the ceasefire whenever they can because they are not committed,” said Hussein Badreddin, a vegetable seller in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, which was pummeled by Israeli airstrikes over several weeks. “This means that they (can) breach any resolution at any time.” Since it began last Wednesday, the U.S.- and French-brokered 60-day ceasefire has been rattled by near daily Israeli strikes, although Israel has been vague about the purported Hezbollah violations that prompted them. Imad Yassin, a trader who owns a clothing shop in Nabatiyeh, said Israel was constantly breaching the ceasefire because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to continue the displacement of residents of southern Lebanon. “The Israeli enemy was defeated and the truth is that he is trying to get revenge. Netanyahu is trying to displace us as citizens of southern Lebanon,” Yassin said. They spoke as bulldozers cleared streets strewn with rubble and debris from destroyed buildings. Electricians worked to fix power lines in an effort to restore electricity to the city. Both men were displaced by the war and returned to Nabatiyeh on Wednesday, the day the ceasefire went into effect. Yassin found his clothing shop had been destroyed. He said he would wait to see if the state will dispense compensation funds so that he can repair and reopen his business. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Two separate Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people in Gaza City on Tuesday, Palestinian medical authorities said. Six people, including two children, who were killed when an Israeli strike hit a school sheltering displaced people Tuesday afternoon in the Zaytoun neighborhood, according to the Health Ministry’s emergency services. A second strike hit a residential building in the Sabra neighborhood, killing at least three people, the services said. Israeli forces have almost completely isolated northernmost Gaza since early October, saying they’re fighting regrouped Hamas militants there. That has pushed some families south to Gaza City, while hundreds of thousands more live in the territory's center and south in squalid tent camps, where they rely on international aid. JERUSALEM — Israel's military confirmed it killed a senior member of Hezbollah responsible for coordinating with Syria's army on rearming and resupplying the Lebanese militant group. Syrian state media said a drone strike on Tuesday hit a car in a suburb of the capital Damascus, killing one person, without saying who was killed. Israel's military said he was Salman Nemer Jomaa, describing him as “Hezbollah’s representative to the Syrian military,” and that killing him “degrades both Hezbollah’s presence in Syria and Hezbollah’s ongoing force-building efforts.” Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years. Israel rarely acknowledges its actions in Syria, but it has said that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups. Iran supports both Hezbollah and the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, which is currently fighting to push back jihadi-led insurgents who seized the country’s largest city of Aleppo . TUBAS, West Bank — Israeli soldiers opened fire inside a hospital in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday during a raid to seize the bodies of alleged militants targeted in earlier airstrikes, a Palestinian doctor working at the hospital told The Associated Press. Soldiers entered the Turkish Hospital complex in Tubas after the bodies of two Palestinians killed and one wounded in airstrikes in the northern West Bank on Tuesday were brought there, said Dr. Mahmoud Ghanam, who works in the hospital’s emergency department. The troops briefly handcuffed and arrested Ghanam and another doctor. “The army entered in a brutal way, and they were shooting inside the emergency department,” said Ghanam. “They handcuffed us and took me and my colleague.” The military confirmed that its troops were operating around the hospital searching for those targeted in the airstrikes, which they said had hit a militant cell near the Palestinian town of Al-Aqaba in the Jordan Valley. It denied that troops had entered the hospital building or fired gunshots inside. The soldiers left after learning that the wounded man had been transferred to another hospital, Ghanam said. The soldiers wanted to take the bodies of the two men killed in the strike, but the hospital’s manager refused to hand over the bodies, Ghanam said. Israeli raids on hospitals in the West Bank are rare but have grown more common since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. In Gaza, Israeli troops have systematically besieged, raided and damaged many hospitals. About 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. Israel has carried out near-daily military raids in the West Bank that it says are aimed at preventing attacks on Israelis — attacks which have also been on the rise. Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three territories for an independent state. CAIRO — Palestinian officials say Fatah and Hamas are closing in on an agreement to appoint a committee of politically independent technocrats to administer the Gaza Strip after the war . It would effectively end Hamas’ rule and could help advance ceasefire talks with Israel. The rival factions have made several failed attempts to reconcile since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007. Israel has meanwhile ruled out any postwar role in Gaza for either Hamas or Fatah, which dominates the Western-backed Palestinian Authority . A Palestinian Authority official on Tuesday confirmed that a preliminary agreement had been reached following weeks of negotiations in Cairo. The official said the committee would have 12-15 members, most of them from Gaza. It would report to the Palestinian Authority, which is headquartered in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and work with local and international parties to facilitate humanitarian assistance and reconstruction. A Hamas official said that Hamas and Fatah had agreed on the general terms but were still negotiating over some details and the individuals who would serve on the committee. The official said an agreement would be announced after a meeting of all Palestinian factions in Cairo, without providing a timeline. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media on the talks. There was no immediate comment from Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is dismantled and scores of hostages are returned. He says Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza , with civilian affairs administered by local Palestinians unaffiliated with the Palestinian Authority or Hamas. No Palestinians have publicly volunteered for such a role, and Hamas has threatened anyone who cooperates with the Israeli military. The United States has called for a revitalized Palestinian Authority to govern both the West Bank and Gaza ahead of eventual statehood. The Israeli government is opposed to Palestinian statehood. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed. NUSEIRAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip — Palestinians lined up for bags of flour distributed by the U.N. in central Gaza on Tuesday morning, some of them for the first time in months amid a drop in food aid entering the territory. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, gave out one 25-kilogram flour bag (55 pounds) to each family of 10 at a warehouse in the Nuseirat refugee camp, as well as further south in the city of Khan Younis. Jalal al-Shaer, among the dozens receiving flour at the Nuseirat warehouse, said the bag would last his family of 12 for only two or three days. “The situation for us is very difficult,” said another man in line, Hammad Moawad. “There is no flour, there is no food, prices are high ... We eat bread crumbs.” He said his family hadn’t received a flour allotment in five or six months. COGAT, the Israeli army body in charge of humanitarian affairs, said it facilitated entry of a shipment of 600 tons of flour on Sunday for the World Food Program. Still, the amount of aid Israel has allowed into Gaza since the beginning of October has been at nearly the lowest levels of the 15-month-old war. UNRWA’s senior emergency officer Louise Wateridge told The Associated Press that the flour bags being distributed Tuesday were not enough. “People are getting one bag of flour between an entire family and there is no certainty when they’ll receive the next food,” she said. Wateridge added that UNRWA has been struggling like other humanitarian agencies to provide much needed supplies across the Gaza Strip. The agency this week announced it was stopping delivering aid entering through the main crossing from Israel, Kerem Shalom, because its convoys were being robbed by gangs. UNRWA has blamed Israel in large part for the spread of lawlessness in Gaza. The International Criminal Court is seeking to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister over accusations of using “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel rejects the allegations and says it has been working hard to improve entry of aid. JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war isn't over against Hezbollah and vowed to use "an iron fist" against the Lebanese militant group for any perceived violations of a week-old ceasefire. “At the moment we are in a ceasefire, I note — a ceasefire, not the end of the war," Netanyahu said at the start of the government meeting Tuesday. He said the military would retaliate for “any violation — minor or major.” Netanyahu also thanked U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for his recent demands for Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. Trump posted on social media Monday that if the hostages are not freed before he takes office in January there would be “HELL TO PAY.” Netanyahu convened Tuesday's meeting in northern Israel, where around 45,000 Israelis had been displaced by the war as of last week, according to the prime minister’s office. Netanyahu said the government was focused on getting them back in their homes and rehabilitating the area. BERLIN — German authorities have arrested a Lebanese man accused of being a member of Hezbollah and working for groups controlled by the militant organization in Germany. Federal prosecutors said the suspect, identified only as Fadel R. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested in the Hannover region on Tuesday. The man is suspected of membership in a foreign terrorist organization and is not accused of direct involvement in any violence. Prosecutors said he joined Hezbollah in the summer of 2008 or earlier and took part in leadership training courses in Lebanon. From 2009, he allegedly had leadership duties in two groups controlled by Hezbollah in the Hannover area, organizing appearances by preachers close to the militants. According to prosecutors, he was briefly a correspondent for a Hezbollah media outlet in 2017 and was tasked with coordinating building work at a mosque. Germany is a staunch ally of Israel. It is also home to a Lebanese immigrant community of more than 100,000. BEIRUT — The Lebanese army is looking for more recruits as it beefs up its presence in southern Lebanon after the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire. Lebanon’s army is a respected national institution that kept to the sidelines during the nearly 14-month conflict. During an initial 60-day truce, thousands of Lebanese troops are supposed to deploy in southern Lebanon, where U.N. peacekeepers also have a presence. Hezbollah militants are to pull back from areas near the border as Israel withdraws its ground forces. The army said those interested in joining up have a one-month period to apply, starting Tuesday. The Lebanese army has about 80,000 troops, with around 5,000 of them deployed in the south. DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s state news agency says a drone strike hit a car in a suburb of the capital, Damascus, killing one person. The agency did not give further details or say who was killed. It said the attack occurred Tuesday on the road leading to the Damascus International Airport south of the city. The area is known to be home to members of Iran-backed militant groups. Israel is believed to have carried out a number of strikes in the area in recent months as it has battled Iran-backed Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon. Israeli officials rarely acknowledge such strikes. JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister warned that if the shaky ceasefire with Hezbollah collapses, Israel will widen its strikes and target the Lebanese state itself. He spoke the day after Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes that killed nearly a dozen people. Those strikes came after the Lebanese militant group fired a volley of projectiles as a warning over what it said were previous Israeli violations. Speaking to troops on the northern border Tuesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said any violations of the agreement would be met with “a maximum response and zero tolerance.” He said if the war resumes, Israel will widen its strikes beyond the areas where Hezbollah’s activities are concentrated, and “there will no longer be an exemption for the state of Lebanon.” During the 14-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which came to an end last week with a ceasefire brokered by the United States and France, Israel largely refrained from striking critical infrastructure or the Lebanese armed forces, who kept to the sidelines . When Israeli strikes killed or wounded Lebanese soldiers, the Israeli military said it was accidental . The ceasefire agreement that took effect last week gives 60 days for Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon and for Hezbollah militants to relocate north of the Litani River. The buffer zone is to be patrolled by Lebanese armed forces and U.N. peacekeepers. Israel has carried out multiple strikes in recent days in response to what it says are violations by Hezbollah. Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, accused Israel of violating the truce more than 50 times in recent days by launching airstrikes, demolishing homes near the border and violating Lebanon’s airspace. Berri, a Hezbollah ally, had helped mediate the ceasefire. JERUSALEM — Palestinian officials say an Israeli airstrike in the northern West Bank has killed two Palestinians. Israel’s military said it struck a militant cell near the town of Al-Aqaba, in the Jordan Valley. It did not immediately give more details. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the two deaths and said a third person was moderately wounded. About 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. Israel has carried out near-daily military raids in the West Bank that it says are aimed at preventing attacks on Israelis, which have also been on the rise. Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for an independent state. BEIRUT — Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon made his first public appearance in Beirut since he was wounded in an attack involving exploding pagers in mid-September. Mojtaba Amani, who returned to Lebanon over the weekend after undergoing treatment in Iran, visited on Tuesday the scene south of Beirut where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sept. 27. Speaking about the airstrike that destroyed six buildings and killed Nasrallah and others, Amani said Israel should get for its act “the highest medal for sabotage, terrorism, blood and killing civilians.” Amani suffered serious injuries in his face and hands when a pager he was holding exploded in mid-September. The device was one of about 3,000 pagers that exploded simultaneously, killing and wounding many Hezbollah members. A day after the pager attack, a similar attack struck walkie-talkies. In total, the explosions killed at least 37 people and wounded more than 3,000, many of them civilians. Last month, a spokesperson for the office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the pager attack was approved by Netanyahu.

By Mark Gurman Apple Inc. is racing to develop a more conversational version of its Siri digital assistant , aiming to catch up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other voice services, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The new Siri, details of which haven’t been reported, uses more advanced large language models, or LLMs, to allow for back-and-forth conversations, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the effort hasn’t been announced. The system also can handle more sophisticated requests in a quicker fashion, they said. MORE: Apple unveils iPhone 16, watch with bigger screen and sleep apnea feature Revamping the 13-year-old Siri service is part of Apple’s efforts to become a force in artificial intelligence. The company debuted its much-ballyhooed Apple Intelligence platform last month, but it still lacks many of the features offered by other tech giants. The new voice assistant, which will eventually be added to Apple Intelligence, is dubbed “LLM Siri” by those working on it. LLMs — a building block of generative AI — gorge on massive amounts of data in order to identify patterns and answer questions. Apple has been testing the upgraded software on iPhones, iPads and Macs as a separate app, but the technology will ultimately replace the Siri interface that users rely on today. The company is planning to announce the overhaul as soon as 2025 as part of the upcoming iOS 19 and macOS 16 software updates, which are internally named Luck and Cheer, the people said. Like Apple Intelligence this fall, the new features won’t immediately be included in next year’s crop of hardware devices. Instead, Apple is currently planning to release the new Siri to consumers as early as spring 2026, about a year and a half from now. Given that Apple is still several months away from announcing the plan, the timing and features could still shift. A spokesperson for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment. The revamped Siri will rely on new Apple AI models to interact more like a human and handle tasks in a way that’s closer to ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. It also will make expanded use of App Intents, which allow for more precise control of third-party apps. And the software will be able to tap into features from Apple Intelligence, such as the ability to write and summarize text. Though Apple heralded “the start of a new era” for Siri when it first unveiled its AI platform in June, the company has yet to truly overhaul the software. The upgrades that accompanied Apple Intelligence were mostly cosmetic, including a new glowing interface that shows users when they’ve triggered the assistant. There’s also an option to type commands — rather than speaking them — and the ability to better understand users. Siri will get additional tweaks in the coming months as part of iOS 18, the iPhone’s current operating system. The software will be able to draw on customer data to provide context for commands and take action using the information on a user’s screen. The iOS 18 version relies on a first-generation Apple LLM to determine if requests should use the existing Siri infrastructure or be routed to a second LLM that can handle more complex queries and tap into third-party apps. The next-generation LLM planned for iOS 19 will be a new, end-to-end system that provides more advanced, ChatGPT-like capabilities. While the company works on that new technology, it will add ChatGPT to Apple Intelligence next month. Later, Apple plans to offer additional chatbot options, such as Gemini. The idea behind the new Siri is to bring these kinds of capabilities in-house, while emphasizing user privacy. But the company could still continue to offer access to third-party AI systems that provide specialized abilities or information. In recent weeks, Apple has posted job listings that hint at its plan for a more conversational Siri. “You will join a team that is redefining computing, creating groundbreaking conversational assistant technologies for both large-scale systems and new client devices, and with the people who built the intelligent assistants,” one listing reads. Others ask for candidates with knowledge in conversational AI interfaces and underlying technologies. Apple has been looking to give Siri more conversational abilities for several years but struggled to find the right technology. Over a year ago, Apple moved the team responsible for the way Siri interacts with users from the company’s AI division to its group responsible for software interfaces. The team is now led by Alan Dye, the company’s vice president of human interface design. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.Canadians warned to use caution in South Korea after martial law declared then lifted

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Here's what to know about the new funding deal that countries agreed to at UN climate talksSealing a partnership of three years – AIBS Chairperson Rohini Nanayakkara, and Founder and Managing Director Hiran de Silva with Edge Hill University, United Kingdom Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof. George Talbot Heads of educational institutions and strategic partners among those who joined in the discussion The Asian Institute of Business and Science (AIBS) founded in 2018 recently held a celebratory event marking its journey of six years – from humble beginnings to an entity that continues to raise the bar in imparting higher education excellence. Firmly embedded into the realm of world class transnational education with the affiliation etched with Edge Hill University, UK in 2022, AIBS currently offers 21 study courses and programs across 14 awarding bodies, universities and higher education institutions to 600 plus learners. Pro-Vice Chancellor of Edge Hill University, which is ranked 35th in the Guardian Rankings, Professor George Talbot stated that Edge Hill University was recognised as the Modern University of the Year in 2022. “We are renowned for our excellence in STEM education and our affiliation with AIBS assures a strong pathway for us to deliver an unparalleled educational experience, especially in the Life Sciences sector, for Sri Lankan students. Our partnership with AIBS ensures seamless delivery of academic curriculums meeting the highest standards demanded of international degrees, provides skills development and research support for AIBS academics. We plan to expand the portfolio of offerings in undergraduate studies covering Environmental Science, Food Science and Technology, Biochemistry, Business Analytics, Cyber Security and Artificial Intelligence along with select post-graduate programs.” Built on the vision of establishing a science-centric institution, AIBS began its journey in higher education as an accredited centre to deliver Pearson BTEC Higher National Diploma in Applied Sciences with two specialisations in biology and biotechnology. Subsequently, Business and Computing, with five specialisations, including Business, Marketing, Accounting and Finance, Computing and Software Engineering were added to the portfolio. Based on this success, AIBS moved into delivery of undergraduate programs in Biomedical Science, Biotechnology, Genetics, International Business, Marketing, Computing and Software Engineering in partnership with Edge Hill University. “We are a leading choice for STEM education in Sri Lanka,” said AIBS Founder and Managing Director Hiran de Silva addressing the gathering of heads of education institutions and strategic partners. “From 2019, our sights have been set on expanding our transnational education space. This we did with our partnerships with Pearson Education UK, Edge Hill University, Rosedale Global High School and NCC Education UK offering a suite of pre-university and postsecondary qualifications. We pioneered the Ontario Secondary School Diploma in Sri Lanka and offered International Foundation Diploma in Higher Education and Australian Foundation Year programs in Science, Business, IT and Engineering to overcome the disruptions created by COVID.” Tracing some milestones, de Silva stated that AIBS is now the top producer of NCC Level 3 graduates in Sri Lanka, setting a benchmark for pre-university education in the region. “The partnership with Rosedale Global International to introduce the prestigious Ontario Secondary School Diploma accredited by the Ontario Ministry of Education in Canada now produce over one hundred OSSD graduates at AIBS annually.” Taking the lessons learned in the classroom to the practical world, AIBS now partners leading industry entities including Gene Labs Medical, Derana Medical Labs, and Institute for Research and Development among many others. With a strong focus on research in Life Sciences, Business, and IT, ensuring its contribution to academic innovation and societal development, AIBS remains steadfast in its mission to empower students with world-class education, preparing them to become leaders and innovators in a dynamic global landscape.

BOSTON (AP) — UConn coach Jim Mora pulled a move that would make Bill Belichick proud while preparing the Huskies to play the notoriously churlish former New England Patriot's next team in his old backyard. Mora and his players were more than 45 minutes late for what was scheduled as a 30-minute media availability a day before Saturday's Fenway Bowl against North Carolina. Mora then gave a non-apology straight out of Belichick’s playbook. “We practice at a certain time the day before a game,” Mora said. “And we stuck to the script.” A six-time Super Bowl winner in New England with Tom Brady, Belichick was fired after going 4-13 in 2023, leaving him just 14 wins short of matching Don Shula’s all-time record for NFL victories. Unable to land a pro job at the age of 72, Belichick signed on with North Carolina — his first college gig — when they fired 73-year-old Mack Brown. Belichick hasn’t taken over on the Tar Heels' sideline yet; interim coach Freddie Kitchens — another ex-Cleveland Browns coach — will lead them in the Fenway Bowl. But the future Hall of Famer's potential return to a football field in Boston has been the biggest story ahead of Saturday’s game. Belichick did not attend media day, and Fenway Bowl executive director Brett Miller tried to preempt questions about him by asking reporters “to keep questions focusing on the players and coaches out here today.” “I don’t need to beat around the bush any more than that,” he said in comments that would have been cryptic if it weren’t so obvious to everyone who he meant. “I know there’s probably a lot of questions that you guys have about next year, particularly one side. Please do your best to keep it to these guys, because they’ve earned the right to be here.” The request wasn’t completely successful, with Kitchens taking a question about Belichick specifically and saying he talks to his new boss every day. Earlier this month, Kitchens said: “He asks questions; I answer the questions.” “I’m going to try to soak in all I can from him, and be a better coach because of it,” Kitchens said after Belichick was hired. “I love Carolina, I want what’s best for Carolina, and I know that right now at this moment in time, coach Belichick is what’s best for Carolina. “At the end of the day, he’s a ballcoach,” he said, “and I enjoy working for ballcoaches.” Mora also brushed off a question about whether the next Carolina coach would have any impact on Saturday's game. “It's irrelevant to us," said Mora, who was 0-1 against Belichick in four seasons as an NFL head coach. "We can't control the emotions of our opponents. And as far as I know, coach Belichick will not be taking the football field on Saturday, so it's not relevant to this football team in our preparation. North Carolina (6-6) will be playing in a bowl for the sixth straight year – the second-longest streak in program history. The Tar Heels climbed from back-to-back nine-loss seasons in the final years of Larry Fedora to reach into The Associated Top 25 in each of the previous four seasons under Brown, who also coached them from 1988-97 in one of the most successful eras of Carolina football history. After starting out 3-0 this year, the Tar Heels lost four straight — including a 70-50 loss to Sun Belt Conference team James Madison. They won three more to gain bowl eligibility before a loss to Boston College that sealed Brown's fate, and a season-ending loss to rival NC State. UConn is playing in its second bowl game in three seasons under Jim Mora, bouncing back from last year’s 3-9 record to post its first eight-win season since Randy Edsall took the Huskies to the Fiesta Bowl in 2010. An independent, UConn won all of its games against the non-Power 4 conferences and lost to Syracuse, Wake Forest and Duke of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Maryland of the Big Ten. Miller said the bowl, which has struggled to find traction in a city more focused on the success of its professional sports teams, sold more tickets this year than in its first two. The Belichick angle is certainly part of that, but the game has also had some good success picking teams, hosting Louisville in 2022 -- the year before the Cardinals climbed into The Associated Press Top 10 – and then SMU last year, one season before the Mustangs made the College Football Playoff. “Could one of these teams be next,” Miller said. “We’ll see.” Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday eulogized Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s political legacy and courage as unmatched and eternal vision a guiding light for the nation. In his message on the 17th martyrdom anniversary of former prime minister, issued from the President’s Office, Asif Ali Zardari said, “Today, we are observing the 17th martyrdom anniversary of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. On this day, we honour a leader who embodied the very spirit of hope, resilience, and unwavering commitment to the ideals of democracy and justice.” He added that she was a trailblazer who dreamt of a Pakistan where the rights of all citizens, irrespective of colour, class and creed, would be protected, and the power of the people would reign supreme. Benazir Bhutto once said, “Democracy is the best revenge”, the President mentioned and added that these words were not just a defiant response to tyranny and dictatorship but reflected her profound belief in the transformative power of the people. She envisioned a Pakistan, he said where every child could access education, where women could progress as equals, and where justice was not a privilege but a right. Throughout her life, she raised her voice and worked for the uplift of the downtrodden segments of society and women’s empowerment, he added. President Zardari underlined that her life was a journey of immense courage and a source of inspiration and strength for the nation. Facing adversity and persecution, he said she remained steadfast in her struggle against dictatorships for the restoration and strengthening of democracy and the protection of people’s political, economic and social rights. He added that Benazir famously declared, “The fight against injustice and cruelty is the fight of my life.” She lived and died fighting for this cause, and is still alive in the hearts of millions of people. She firmly believed: “You can imprison a man, but not an idea. You can exile a man, but not an idea. You can kill a man, but not an idea.” “As President of Pakistan, I reaffirm my commitment to advancing her vision of a peaceful, progressive and democratic Pakistan. Her ideas live on, urging us to rise above differences and build a Pakistan that is united, inclusive, and just. So, let us not merely mourn her loss but commit to follow her enduring legacy. “Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and our family sacrificed their lives for the cause of democracy and Pakistan. It is my firm belief that we, as a nation, need to draw inspiration from her vision to steer the country out of its current challenges. Let us work together to ensure that her dream of a peaceful, progressive, and democratic Pakistan becomes a reality,” he urged. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() );

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump's supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer's comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government , weighed in, defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment. Musk, the world's richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump's movement but his stance on the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry's need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent," he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump's own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump's businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country" and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country," he told the “All-In" podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump's budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.