phmacao vip

Raya Jalabi and Sarah Dadouch in Damascus Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Last Sunday, Abdel Rahman was serving a 15-year sentence in a cramped cell in Syria’s notorious Saydnaya prison, after an altercation with a corrupt police officer last year in Damascus. By Friday morning, he was in the ancient market of the old city selling the newly adopted green Syrian flag — the one anti-Assad rebels have flown during nearly 14 years of brutal civil conflict. At midday, he was able to listen to a sermon at the nearby mosque that called the deposed president Bashar al-Assad “a tyrant”. “How great is Syrians’ joy, how great is this victory!” declared the prime minister, who was giving the unprecedented sermon, his words roaring over the speakers outside the Umayyad mosque. The message was greeted with cheers. Euphoria and some disbelief was etched on the faces of the thousands of people who are still coming to terms with the fall of a dictatorship that ruled them with an iron fist for more than 50 years. Assad’s regime came to an abrupt end last Sunday when he fled to Moscow, following a lightning offensive by Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The group immediately started to free prisoners held in the country’s grim warren of prisons. But the regime’s grip was so brutal that when men broke through the doors of Rahman’s cell block, the inmates held back and initially refused to stream out. Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings. “We thought they were engaged in clashes and that they had come to use us as human shields,” he says, watching the stream of people leaving the mosque after Friday prayers chanting anti-Assad slogans. “I’m still in shock. I feel I’m in a movie.” The sense of triumphalism and relief that has swept Syria over the past few days, however, is also mixed with realism about the challenges now facing the country. The HTS rebels are taking over a state devastated by more than a decade of civil war. Many of the people who thronged to the Umayyad mosque in celebration delighted at the text message they received the previous night from a group calling itself “Free Syria”: “Syria has been reborn. Congratulations to our people. Congratulations to our country.” But they also know just how complex such a rebirth will be for the rebels who have descended on the capital from northwestern Idlib — the province governed in recent years by HTS. The Islamist group is assuming control of a complex, multi-ethnic country with institutions that have been hollowed out by corruption and patronage, an economy shattered by conflict and sanctions, and a palpable desire for revenge from some of the victims of Assad’s regime. “For the past 13 years, nothing has worked: no electricity, shortages of everything and the complete choking of society,” says a civil servant in the Damascus governorate. “[HTS] has to get to work and organise things now and stop this corruption or people will turn on them, fast.” From the Assad regime’s inception, corruption, repression and brutality reigned: they were tools that kept the minority Alawi rulers in power in a predominantly Sunni Muslim country. Paranoia and a thirst for absolute control meant that Bashar’s father Hafez, an air force pilot who seized full power in a 1970 coup, crafted a centralised presidential system with absolute authority over the state’s affairs. This created a bureaucratic system that fostered the public’s dependency on government jobs and allowed corruption at all levels of society to go unchecked. While not efficient, it worked — at least until 2011, when popular uprisings were brutally repressed by Bashar and morphed into a bloody civil war. That period ushered in a transformation of the state from an antiquated system operated by Assad’s Ba’athist party into a patchwork of broken institutions. The country’s hospitals are in disrepair, the lack of funding visible in their decaying walls and overburdened departments; its dilapidated hotels are frozen in time. The majority of cars filling the streets of Damascus date back to the 1970s and 1980s, because parts for newer cars have been harder to source and more expensive to import. Western sanctions targeting the Syrian state, the deposed president and his financiers mostly hit civilians, as the upper echelons of the regime found ways to circumvent restrictions. The new prime minister, Mohamed al-Bashir, announced that an interim government will lead the country until March, but has not outlined what comes next and the topic of nationwide elections has yet to be broached. HTS, the offshoot of a former affiliate of al-Qaeda designated a terrorist organisation by the US and others, is the most powerful of myriad armed groups in a country that is home to a diverse mix of religions and sects. Abu Mohammad al-Jolani runs the group as a strongman, and there are concerns that authoritarianism could descend on Damascus, whose residents are already wondering whether HTS will limit public displays of Christmas celebrations. Despite everything we lost, we are now free In a strategic move, Bashir invited Assad’s prime minister, cabinet and civil servants to be part of the process in order to facilitate a smooth transfer of power. On Tuesday, he gathered the outgoing ministers (or at least, those who showed up) with their rebel equivalents in the Assad government’s regular meeting room — a short but symbolic meeting to signal to a country so used to centralised power that the wheels of the state were turning. Bashir has promised to fight corruption, restore order and protect Syria’s plethora of minorities despite the new administration’s politically Islamist roots. The national oil company was ordered to resume operations within 24 hours of the rebel takeover, and instructed to continue sending electricity to coastal provinces not yet taken by the rebels. Government staff trickled back to ministries on Tuesday and Wednesday, and schools were ordered to reopen this Sunday. On Thursday night, the eve of the weekend in Syria, traffic returned to the streets as restaurants and parks teemed with people. “Despite everything we lost,” says Abu Mohammed, a 54-year-old resident of a poor Damascus suburb, “we are now free.” One of the critical challenges ahead is rebuilding the economy, which has been in freefall for several years. More than 90 per cent of Syrians now live below the poverty line and most households in the country receive less than 6 hours of electricity a day. Pantries are frequently bare amid shortages of essential goods, sky-high inflation and the crumbling Syrian pound. More than 80 per cent of the country’s oil products were imported from Iran, which backed Assad during the war, the deputy head of the national oil company Mustafa Hasawiyeh told the FT this week. While there were enough stores to last a month, he said, it was unclear where fuel would come from after that. Domestic manufacturing has been severely hampered, with factories destroyed and workers sent to war during the decade of civil conflict. This will take time to jump-start: much of the country still lies in bloodied ruins, its people haunted by the ghosts of their loved ones, killed or disappeared. Assad’s government haemorrhaged cash to fund military spending, public sector salaries and subsidised goods — the latter two an essential part of the basic social contract in the Ba'athist state. When the regime’s benefactors, Russia and Iran, came calling for long past due war debts, Assad parcelled off segments of the state’s resources to Moscow and Tehran, including phosphates extraction. Other debts his government never repaid, including to Moscow, leave HTS with an unknown mountain of debt and a complex geopolitical calculus about who to repay and how. The ruling family and their select cronies extended their dominance over the state in the twilight years of the civil war, operating “mafia-style” shakedowns on the business elite to line their pockets. This proved decisive in eroding Assad’s support among the mercantile elite. Syrian citizens say they were also being shaken down on a daily basis at checkpoints scattered throughout regime-held areas, many of them linked to the army’s Fourth Division — a notoriously brutal unit run by Bashar’s brother Maher. Those checkpoints have been unmanned since HTS took over, to the disbelief of many, as regime soldiers dropped their weapons, shed their uniforms and fled the rebel advance. Hours after Assad’s fall, the duty-free mall across the border from Lebanon, widely believed to be a Fourth Division revenue stream, was ransacked by looters. Hundreds of frenzied men, euphoric in their first few hours of relative freedom, carried out refrigerators, brand-new laptops and watches, calling it “justice” for years of torment. The Fourth Division was also the central node in several of the illicit revenue streams that helped keep the regime afloat: weapons, oil smuggling, alcohol and sales of the illegal amphetamine Captagon. Replacing this, as well as the entire state security apparatus, will be another key challenge facing HTS. An army of impoverished conscripts was not prepared to die for a dictator who had long ago decided to use them as cannon fodder. Instead, those men threw off their military fatigues and walked off the job. Within 48 hours of arriving in Damascus, HTS brought in traffic police from Idlib as well as government security forces. Two residents told the FT they had noticed a shift on the streets: people are obeying traffic lights again (in Assad’s Syria, stopping at a light was a sure-fire way of getting asked for a bribe by the traffic police). But there aren’t enough such individuals to secure the entire country, and reports of banditry on the highways connecting provinces have spread. There are also fears of retribution, from Jolani’s forces, but more so from the hundred of thousands of people who might be looking to settle scores. This is particularly true for families of the missing — untold thousands who were lost to Assad’s vast prison network. They descended on the country’s jails in a desperate search for their loved ones this week, with many coming away disappointed. In a nod to the mounting anger, Jolani said those involved with torture would face justice, while soldiers not involved would receive an amnesty. In a crowded stationery store in an affluent Damascus neighbourhood, where a printer spat out photocopies of the new Syrian flag to be sold for 40 US cents, the owner gleefully discussed the recent overhaul of the regime with customers. “But our question is, will they go after the criminals that [worked in prisons]?” he adds. “Will they hold accountable the people who tortured and killed our people?” Cartography by Steven Bernard and data visualisation by Keith Fray Comments have not been enabled for this article.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Trailing by one at the 40-yard line with 14 seconds to play and no timeouts, Illinois coach Bret Bielema sent in a play known as “church” to Luke Altmyer. The quarterback was to hit a receiver who was to go to the ground immediately. The offense would rush to the line of scrimmage and Altmyer would spike the ball to set up a potential winning field goal. Pat Bryant caught the pass at the 22 and then called his own split-second audible. Seeing a path to the end zone, the star receiver ran across the field on the way to the winning touchdown with 4 seconds left, sending the Illini to a wild 38-31 victory over Rutgers on Saturday. “Coach called a perfect play," Bryant said. "A play we run all the time in our two-minute drill. I caught the ball and saw the sideline and saw nobody was over there. I had one guy to beat. I gave him a little move. I heard everybody jump and say ’Get out, get out,' but I put trust in myself and scored a touchdown.” Bryant's ninth TD reception of the season capped a roller-coaster finish to a Big Ten game that featured three lead changes in the final 3:07. Illinois (8-3, 5-3) was down 31-30 when it sent long kicker Ethan Moczulski out for a desperation 58-yard field goal. Rutgers coach Greg Schiano called for a timeout right before Moczulski’s attempt was wide left and about 15 yards short. After the missed field goal was waved off by the timeout, Bielema sent his offense back on the field. “Pat is so aware of his surroundings," Bielema said after Bryant finished with seven catches for a career-high 197 yards. “He saw that corner and took off.” Schiano didn't second-guess his timeout but said he should have called it well before Moczulski kicked. “They made one more play than we did,” Schiano said. Rutgers (6-5, 3-5) gave up a safety on the final kickoff return, throwing a ball out of bounds in the end zone as players passed it around hoping for a miracle touchdown. Altmyer was 12-of-26 passing for 249 yards and two touchdowns. He put Illinois in front with a 30-yard TD run with 3:07 to go. He passed to Josh McCray on the 2-point conversion, making it 30-24. Rutgers responded with a 10-play, 65-yard drive. Athan Kaliakmanis had a 15-yard run on fourth down. He passed to running back Kyle Monangai for a 13-yard TD with 1:08 remaining. Illinois then drove 75 yards in eight plays for the win. “That's big-time football,” Monangai said. "They made a great play at the end of the game. I think we we played our hearts out to the end, to the very end, even that last play. Illinois did the same. They’re a great team. The chips fell their way today.” Kaliakmanis was 18 for 36 for 174 yards and two touchdowns. He also had 13 carries for 84 yards and two TDs. Monangai had a career-high 28 carries for 122 yards. Kaliakmanis found Ian Strong for a 2-yard touchdown in the final seconds of the first half, and he scored on a 1-yard run to lift Rutgers to a 24-15 lead early in the fourth quarter. Illinois responded with Aidan Laughery’s 8-yard TD run, setting the stage for the dramatic finish. The start of the second half was delayed because of a scrum between the teams. There were no punches thrown and the officials called penalties on both schools. Monangai become the third player in Rutgers history to rush for 3,000 yards when he picked up 4 on a third-and-1 carry early in the second quarter. The defending conference rushing champion joins Ray Rice and Terrell Willis in hitting the mark. Illinois: The great finish keeps the Illini in line for its first nine-win season since 2007 and a prestigious bowl game this season. Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights were seconds away from their first in-conference three-game win streak since joining the Big Ten in 2014. Illinois: At Northwestern next Saturday. Rutgers: At Michigan State next Saturday.Daily Post Nigeria EPL: Liverpool open eight-point gap with 5-0 win over West Ham Home News Politics Metro Entertainment Sport Sport EPL: Liverpool open eight-point gap with 5-0 win over West Ham Published on December 29, 2024 By Ifreke Inyang Liverpool are now eight points clear at the top of the Premier League, thanks to a 5-0 win over West Ham on Sunday. Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah all scored in the first half to give the Reds a commanding lead at the London Stadium. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota added more goals after the break as Arne Slot’s men coasted to victory. Liverpool now have 45 points after 18 fixtures, while Nottingham Forest are currently second with 37 points. Arsenal are on 36 points and Chelsea, who are away at Ipswich on Monday, have 35 points. Related Topics: EPL liverpool West Ham Don't Miss EPL: We’re far from winning title — Guardiola You may like EPL: We’re far from winning title — Guardiola EPL: ‘It’s a relief’ – Guardiola reacts to Man City’s 2-0 win over Leicester City EPL: They’re total opposite – Maguire compares Amorim with Ten Hag EPL: Fulham boss raves about Iwobi ahead Bournemouth clash EPL: Jody Morris snubs Palmer, names Chelsea’s best player this season EPL: They’ll still lose regardless – Sutton predicts Leicester City vs Man City Advertise About Us Contact Us Privacy-Policy Terms Copyright © Daily Post Media Ltd

Banks wary of family trusts' large 'gifts' to NRI members

Nationalism has emerged as a potent force shaping global tech policy, nowhere more so than in the United States. With Donald Trump returning to the White House for a second term, his vision for America's technological future is coming into sharper focus. At home, Mr Trump promises a sweeping deregulatory agenda coupled with industrial policy aimed at boosting domestic tech businesses. Abroad, his administration appears poised to double down on aggressive restrictions aimed at keeping American technology out of China's hands. Yet Mr Trump's grand vision to "make America great again" overlooks a crucial detail: the cycle of innovation matters hugely for technological progress. The path the US is charting risks fostering a tech ecosystem dominated by mediocre products, like attention-grabbing social media apps, while failing to nurture the kind of transformative inventions that drive productivity and long-term economic growth. Joseph Schumpeter, the renowned Austrian economist who popularised the term "creative destruction", identified three key stages of the process. First, there's innovation -- a breakthrough idea or method. In the realm of artificial intelligence, this stage includes the development of neural networks, which laid the foundation for deep learning and, more recently, the transformer architecture that has powered the rise of generative AI. Then comes the stage of commercialisation, when disruptive ideas evolve into market-ready products. This is where tools like ChatGPT -- applications built on large language models (LLMs) -- emerge and become accessible to everyday consumers. Finally, there's diffusion, the phase when the novel technology becomes pervasive, reshaping industries and daily life. So far, discussions of tech regulation have tended to focus on the later stages of this process, which bring immediate economic benefits, often overlooking the early stage of invention. It is true that regulations to ensure safety, guarantee data privacy, and protect intellectual property can raise adoption costs and slow down product rollouts. But these guardrails are less likely to stifle innovation at the invention stage, where creative ideas take shape. Of course, the prospect of discovering the next commercial blockbuster -- something like ChatGPT -- may indeed spur future invention, and widespread adoption can also help refine these technologies. But such feedback is likely to be very limited for most products. Consider the case of Character.AI, a company that developed a popular companion chatbot. While the product has certainly contributed to the diffusion of LLM-based services, it has done little to spur invention. Recently, the company even abandoned its plans to build its own LLM, signalling that its focus remains firmly on diffusion rather than groundbreaking invention. In such cases, regulations ensuring that innovations are safe, ethical and responsible by the time they reach the market would most likely deliver benefits outweighing the costs. The recent tragedy of a 14-year-old boy who took his own life after prolonged interactions with Character.AI's chatbot underscores the urgent need for safeguards, especially when such services are easily accessible to young users. Lax tech regulation also carries a hidden cost: it can shift resources away from scientific discovery, favouring quick profits through mass diffusion instead. This dynamic has fuelled the proliferation of addictive social-media apps that now dominate the market, leaving behind a trail of societal ills -- everything from teenage addiction to deepening political polarisation. In recent years, a growing chorus of academics and policymakers has sounded the alarm over the systemic dysfunction of the US tech sector. Yet, despite the high drama of congressional hearings with Big Tech CEOs and a cascade of bills promising comprehensive reforms, the results have been disappointing. So far, the federal government's highest-profile effort to rein in Big Tech has centred on TikTok -- in the form of a bill that would either ban the app outright or force its Chinese owners to divest. In the realm of data privacy, the most significant measure so far has been an executive orderrestricting the flow of bulk sensitive data to "countries of concern", China chief among them. Meanwhile, US authorities have increasingly directed their scrutiny inward to root out espionage. The now-infamous China Initiative, which disproportionately targeted ethnic Chinese scientists, has stoked fear and prompted a talent exodus from the US. Compounding this is a broad visa ban on Chinese students and researchers associated with China's "military-civil fusion" programme. While ostensibly aimed at protecting national security, the policy has driven away countless skilled individuals. This brings us to the paradox at the heart of US tech policy: simultaneous under- and overregulation. On one hand, US policymakers have failed to implement essential safeguards for product safety and data privacy – areas where thoughtful oversight could mitigate risks while fostering a competitive environment conducive to cutting-edge innovation. On the other hand, they have adopted an aggressive, even punitive, stance towards US-based researchers at the forefront of scientific discovery, effectively regulating invention itself. The irony could not be starker: in its bid to outcompete China, America risks stifling its own potential for the next breakthrough technology. ©2024 Project Syndicate S Alex Yang is Professor of Management Science and Operations at London Business School. Angela Huyue Zhang, Professor of Law at the University of Southern California, is the author, most recently, of 'High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy'(Oxford University Press, 2024).JD Vance: Focus Must Be on Transition, but I'll 'Move Heaven and Earth' if I Can Block Biden's Nominees

Global Clonazepam Market Set For 8% Growth, Reaching $2.01 Billion By 2028

3 AI Stocks to Buy and Hold for the Rest of the DecadeUrban middle class 'shrinking', when will PM recognise this reality: Congress

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst SaysAngelina Jolie looks chic in a black shawl and matching slacks as she takes a break from Paris set of new film Stitches to go Christmas shopping in the French capital Have YOU got a story? Email tips@dailymail.com By CHLOE LOUISE FOR MAILONLINE Published: 12:33 GMT, 8 December 2024 | Updated: 12:37 GMT, 8 December 2024 e-mail 1 View comments Angelina Jolie looked chic in an all black ensemble as she adventured out for some Christmas shopping in Paris on Sunday. The actress, 49 - currently on location in the French capital while she films new movie Stitches - stepped out in a black woolen shawl which she paired with flared black trousers. She added inches to her statuesque frame as she slipped into a pair of suede black platform heels. To accessorise, Angelina upped the glamour with Celine sunglasses and a black leather quilted handbag. While out shopping, the star could be seen stocking up on her festive wrapping paper as she left a store in the capital city with six rolls. It comes after Angelina went barefoot on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday after suffering a painful accident the day before. Angelina Jolie looked chic in an all black ensemble as she adventured out for some Christmas shopping in Paris on Sunday The actress, 49 - currently on location in the French capital while she films new movie Stitches - stepped out in a black woolen shawl which she paired with flared black trousers She made her first late-night appearance in more than a decade to talk about her new Netflix movie Maria and her Tony award-winning production of The Outsiders: A New Musical. As she made her grand entrance into the studio to a revised version of Dolly Parton 's Jolene, it was immediately noticeable that Angelina wasn't wearing any shoes. And host Jimmy, 50, was quick to point out her naked feet soon after she took a seat. 'I noticed that you're barefoot,' he observed. 'Did you forget your shoes?' Explaining her outfit choice, Angelina revealed: 'I broke my toe yesterday and I tried to find a comfortable shoe, but I just decided not to.' 'No, you don't have to wear shoes!' Jimmy exclaimed. 'Just be comfortable. We're just happy you're here.' Last month it was revealed that the Oscar-winning actress will star in the film that is 'set in the world of high fashion ' in Europe. The French film is from director Alice Winocour and it will shoot in both French and English, according to Variety . Angelina 'stars in the movie as a filmmaker and is one of three women whose lives will collide during Fashion Week.' She added inches to her statuesque frame as she slipped into a pair of suede black platform heels To accessorise, Angelina upped the glamour with Celine sunglasses and a black leather quilted handbag While out shopping, the star could be seen stocking up on her festive wrapping paper as she left a store in the capital city with six rolls It comes after Angelina went barefoot on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday after suffering a painful accident the day before The actress decided to go on the show without shoes after breaking her toe the day before The film is under Charles Gillibert's Paris-based banner CG Cinema. They will produce in partnership with Zhang Xin and William Horberg of Closer Media. Angelina was last in Paris for the filming of Maria, in which she played the iconic Greek opera singer Maria Callas during her final days in the 1970s . The movie world premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was celebrated by a eight-minute standing ovation. The thespian is tipped to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar her role in the film. She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2000 for Girl, Interrupted, with the star last nominated in 2009 for The Changeling. Angelina recently admitted winning an Oscar for Maria would be a bonus. Share or comment on this article: Angelina Jolie looks chic in a black shawl and matching slacks as she takes a break from Paris set of new film Stitches to go Christmas shopping in the French capital e-mail Add comment