OTTAWA — Two senior members of the federal cabinet were in Florida Friday pushing Canada's new border plan with Donald Trump's transition team, a day after Trudeau himself appeared to finally push back at the president-elect over his social media posts about turning Canada into the 51st state. Both Trudeau and former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, who Trudeau has been courting to become Canada's next finance minister, shared posts on X Thursday, a day after Trump's latest jab at Canada in his Christmas Day message. It isn't clear if Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who has repeatedly insisted Trump's 51st state references are a joke, will raise the issue with Trump's team when he and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly meet with them in Palm Beach. The two are there to discuss Canada's new $1.3 billion border plan with just under four weeks left before Trump is sworn in again as president. He has threatened to impose a new 25 per cent import tariff on Canada and Mexico the same day over concerns about a trade imbalance, as well as illegal drugs and migration issues at the borders. The broad strokes of Canada's plan were made public Dec. 17, including a new aerial intelligence task force to provide round-the-clock surveillance of the border, and improved efforts using technology and canine teams to seek out drugs in shipments leaving Canada LeBlanc's spokesman, Jean-Sébastien Comeau, said the ministers will also emphasize the negative impacts of Trump's threatened tariffs on both Canada and the U.S. Comeau said the ministers will build on the discussions that took place last month when Trudeau and LeBlanc met Trump at Mar-a-Lago just days after Trump first made his tariff threat. It was at that dinner on Nov. 29 when Trump first raised the notion of Canada becoming the 51st state, a comment LeBlanc has repeatedly since insisted was just a joke. But Trump has continued the quip repeatedly in various social media posts, including in his Christmas Day message when he said Canadians would pay lower taxes and have better military protection if they became Americans. He has taken to calling Trudeau "governor" instead of prime minister. Trudeau had not directly responded to any of the jabs, but on Thursday posted a link to a six-minute long video on YouTube from 2010 in which American journalist Tom Brokaw "explains Canada to Americans." The video, which originally aired during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, explains similarities between the two countries, including their founding based on immigration, their trading relationship and the actions of the Canadian Army in World War 2 and other modern conflicts. "In the long history of sovereign neighbours there has never been a relationship as close, productive and peaceful as the U.S. and Canada," Brokaw says in the video. Trudeau did not expand about why he posted a link to the video, posting it only with the words "some information about Canada for Americans." Carney, who is at the centre of some of Trudeau's recent domestic political troubles, also called out Trump's antics on X Thursday, calling it "casual disrespect" and "carrying the 'joke' too far." "Time to call it out, stand up for Canada, and build a true North American partnership," said Carney, who Trudeau was courting to join his cabinet before Chrystia Freeland resigned as finance minister last week. Freeland's sudden departure, three days after Trudeau informed her he would be firing her as finance minister in favour of Carney, left Trudeau's leadership even more bruised than it already was. Despite the expectation Carney would assume the role, he did not and has not made any statements about it. LeBlanc was sworn in as finance minister instead the same day Freeland quit. More than two dozen Liberal MPs have publicly called on Trudeau to resign as leader, and Trudeau is said to be taking the holidays to think about his next steps. He is currently vacationing in British Columbia. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 27, 2024. Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press
LAS VEGAS — Players Era Festival organizers have done what so many other have tried — bet their fortunes in this city that a big payoff is coming. Such bet are usually bad ones, which is why so many massive casino-resorts have been built on Las Vegas Boulevard. But it doesn't mean the organizers are wrong. They're counting on the minimum of $1 million in guaranteed name, image and likeness money that will go to each of the eight teams competing in the neutral-site tournament that begins Tuesday will create a precedent for other such events. EverWonder Studios CEO Ian Orefice, who co-founded Players with former AND1 CEO Seth Berger, compared this event to last year's inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament that played its semifinals and final in Las Vegas by saying it "did really well to reinvigorate the fan base at the beginning of the year." "We're excited that we're able to really change the paradigm in college basketball on the economics," Orefice said. "But for us, it's about the long term. How do we use the momentum that is launching with the 2024 Players Era Festival and be the catalyst not to change one event, but to change college basketball for the future." Orefice and Berger didn't disclose financial details, but said the event will come close to breaking even this year and that revenue is in eight figures. Orefice said the bulk of the revenue will come from relationships with MGM, TNT Sports and Publicis Sport & Entertainment as well as sponsors that will be announced later. Both organizers said they are so bullish on the tournament's prospects that they already are planning ahead. Money made from this year's event, Orefice said, goes right back into the company. "We're really in this for the long haul," Orefice said. "So we're not looking at it on a one-year basis." Rick Giles is president of the Gazelle Group, which also operates several similar events, including the College Basketball Invitational. He was skeptical the financial numbers would work. Giles said in addition to more than $8 million going to the players, there were other expenses such as the guarantees to the teams. He said he didn't know if the tournament would make up the difference with ticket sales, broadcast rights and sponsorship money. The top bowl of the MGM Grand Garden Arena will be curtained off. "The math is highly challenging," Giles said. "Attendance and ticket revenues are not going to come anywhere close to covering that. They haven't announced any sponsors that I'm aware of. So it all sort of rests with their media deal with Turner and how much capital they want to commit to it to get these players paid." David Carter, a University of Southern California adjunct professor who also runs the Sports Business Group consultancy, said even if the Players isn't a financial success this year, the question is whether there will be enough interest to move forward. "If there is bandwidth for another tournament and if the TV or the streaming ratings are going to be there and people are going to want to attend and companies are going to want to sponsor, then, yeah, it's probably going to work," Carter said. "But it may take them time to gain that traction." Both founders said they initially were met with skepticism about putting together such an event, especially from teams they were interested in inviting. Houston was the first school to commit, first offering an oral pledge early in the year and then signing a contract in April. That created momentum for others to join, and including the No. 6 Cougars, half the field is ranked. "We have the relationships to operate a great event," Berger said. "We had to get coaches over those hurdles, and once they knew that we were real, schools got on board really quickly." The founders worked with the NCAA to make sure the tournament abided by that organization's rules, so players must appear at ancillary events in order to receive NIL money. Strict pay for play is not allowed, though there are incentives for performance. The champion, for example, will receive $1.5 million in NIL money. Now the pressure is on to pull off the event and not create the kind of headlines that can dog it for years to come. "I think everybody in the marketplace is watching what's going to happen (this) week and, more importantly, what happens afterwards," Giles said. "Do the players get paid on a timely basis? And if they do, that means that Turner or somebody has paid way more than the market dictates? And the question will be: Can that continue?" CREIGHTON: P oint guard Steven Ashworth likely won’t play in the No. 21 Bluejays’ game against San Diego State in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. Ashworth sprained his right ankle late in a loss to Nebraska on Friday and coach Greg McDermott said afterward he didn’t know how long he would be out.
ANDOVER, Mass. , Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- TransMedics Group, Inc. ("TransMedics") (Nasdaq: TMDX), a medical technology company that is transforming organ transplant therapy for patients with end-stage lung, heart, and liver failure, today announced that members of the management team will present at the upcoming 43 rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. The presentation will take place on Monday, January 13, 2025 , at 2:15 p.m. Pacific Standard Time / 5:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time . Event: 43 rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference Date: Monday, January 13, 2025 Time: 2:15 p.m. PST A live and archived webcast of the presentation will be available on the "Investors" section of the TransMedics website at https://investors.transmedics.com/ . The Company's standard investor presentation is also available through this link. About TransMedics Group, Inc. TransMedics is the world's leader in portable extracorporeal warm perfusion and assessment of donor organs for transplantation. Headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts , the company was founded to address the unmet need for more and better organs for transplantation and has developed technologies to preserve organ quality, assess organ viability prior to transplant, and potentially increase the utilization of donor organs for the treatment of end-stage heart, lung, and liver failure. Investor Contact: Brian Johnston Laine Morgan 332-895-3222 Investors@transmedics.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/transmedics-to-participate-in-the-43rd-annual-jp-morgan-healthcare-conference-302338418.html SOURCE TransMedics Group, Inc.
Ben Davies is the latest to fall into that category, with the Welsh international initially primed to return for Sunday’s visit of Wolves but no longer available. Davies suffered a setback in training this week, which means Spurs could be without a fit centre-back after Radu Dragusin was forced off in the latter stages of Thursday’s 1-0 loss at Nottingham Forest with an ankle issue. Ange with a team news update ahead of Wolves on Sunday 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/0EiYh4TP8j — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 27, 2024 Postecoglou is already without first-choice central defenders Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven after both failed to make it through their comeback fixture against Chelsea on December 7. “Yeah, that’s been our major problem this year. Guys who are coming back from injury rather than us losing players as such,” Postecoglou said. “We’re looking at those things and why they’re happening. It’s certainly happened too often this year where guys have come back and they’re the ones who are missing. “I think just about all of them, apart from Vic (Guglielmo Vicario), are recurrences of an injury. “Even with Romero, it was a different injury but it’s still a guy coming back, so it’s something we’re looking at.” There could be good news on the horizon with attackers Mikey Moore and Richarlison expected to return to training next week. A post shared by Richarlison (@richarlison) Richarlison suffered his own setback in November when his short-lived return after a calf issue was cut short when he injured the same area against Aston Villa. Moore, meanwhile, has been sidelined by a virus for the best part of two months but the 17-year-old could provide a much-needed spark in the new year when Newcastle visit on January 4. Postecoglou said: “Him and Richy are in the final phases. Next week they can start training. We’ve got a bit of a gap before the Newcastle game. “The plan is Mikey and Richy come back into first-team training next week.” Anticipated returns for Moore and Richarlison will fail to help Postecoglou against Wolves, with makeshift centre-back Archie Gray potentially set to partner up with fellow midfielder Yves Bissouma if Dragusin cannot recover. Pressed on the issue of fixture scheduling, with Spurs definitely missing eight players for Sunday’s fixture, Postecoglou said: “It is challenging. “All clubs are going to have to get their heads around it and authorities are going to have to get their heads around it. “One of two things need to happen: either you somehow change the fixture schedule, which doesn’t seem feasible, or you allow clubs bigger squads. Then you have other issues with that, as well. “The attrition rate you’re seeing and it’s not just us. We’re going through a particularly badly moment. Newcastle went through it last year and it affected them pretty badly. They were obviously in the Champions League as well and probably didn’t have the squad to cope with it. “It hits certain clubs at different times and is probably becoming more prevalent, and for all of us it’s a challenge as to how we navigate this process to keep our players healthy. “It’s not just a physical thing, it’s a mental thing. For us it’s been constant since August and we’re not even halfway through the year. And they’re not going to get a break now, so these things we’re constantly assessing.”
