In conclusion, while Antonio Conte's caution and methodical approach to team selection have brought success to AC Milan, there is a valid argument to be made for giving more playing time to substitute players like Riccardo Montolivo. By trusting in the capabilities of these players and utilizing their talents effectively, Conte can strengthen the team's overall performance and create a more dynamic and competitive squad. It is important for Conte to strike a balance between consistency and adaptability, and by giving the substitute players more opportunities, he can ensure that AC Milan remains a force to be reckoned with in the world of football.Walmart's DEI rollback signals a profound shift in the wake of Trump's election victory
The New York Yankees acquired closer Devin Williams from the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday in exchange for left-hander Nestor Cortes, a prospect and cash considerations. Williams, a 30-year-old right-hander, is a two-time All-Star (2022, 2023) and former National League Rookie of the Year with 68 saves and a 1.83 ERA in six seasons with Milwaukee. Cortes, also 30, was an All-Star in 2022 and is coming off a 9-10 season with a 3.77 ERA in 31 games (30 starts) for New York. He is 33-21 with a 3.80 ERA in 135 games (86 starts) with three teams since 2018. Caleb Durbin, a 24-year-old infielder, batted .275 with 10 homers, 60 RBIs and 31 stolen bases in 90 games across three levels in the minors in 2024. The Brewers also received $4.5 million from the Yankees in the transaction, USA Today reported. Williams' final season with Milwaukee was bookended by an injury and a disastrous blown save. He began the season on the injured list with a stress fracture in his back and did not pitch in the majors until July 28. Once healthy, Williams posted a 1.25 ERA in 22 relief appearances to help Milwaukee win its second straight NL Central title. Williams secured the save in Game 2 of the Brewers' wild-card series against the visiting New York Mets but imploded in the decisive Game 3 the next night. He entered in the ninth with a 2-0 lead before surrendering four runs, including Pete Alonso's go-ahead three-run homer, as New York rallied to win 4-2. --Field Level MediaBOSTON , Nov. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- RapDev, a leader in site reliability and DevOps solutions, has earned a spot on the 2024 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list for the second consecutive year . To be eligible for Technology Fast 500 recognition, companies must own proprietary technology that contributes to the majority of their operating revenues, have at least $50,000 in base-year revenues and $5 million in current-year revenues, be in business for a minimum of four years, and be headquartered in North America . RapDev achieved an impressive rank of 171. RapDev's recognition highlights its engineering-first approach and proprietary technology that helps customers build, scale, and maintain enterprise software platforms. Patented solutions like CSDM as Code and the newly launched T ag Generator for ServiceNow, are transforming how customers manage CMDB and configuration data in Platform-as-a-Service environments. On the observability front, RapDev is the pre-eminent Datadog partner and has built 45+ integrations with key platforms, including IBM Cloud , Nutani x , and Ansible , to extend and enrich visibility in customer environments. "Innovation, transformation, and disruption of the status quo are at the forefront for this year's Technology Fast 500 list, and there's no better way to celebrate 30 years of program history," said Christie Simons , partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP and industry leader for technology, media and telecommunications within Deloitte's Audit & Assurance practice. "This year's winning companies have demonstrated a continuous commitment to growth and remarkable consistency in driving progress. We congratulate all of this year's winners — it's an incredible time for innovation." "Our success is driven by our team's focus on creative engineering, helping our customers realize the value of ServiceNow and Datadog investments," said RapDev Founder Tameem Hourani . "This achievement reflects our team's ongoing commitment to our customers and partners, remaining hyper-focused on raising the bar for talent and gaining momentum as an organization." About RapDev Founded in 2019, RapDev is the go-to partner for Fortune 1000 organizations looking to accelerate and optimize their Datadog and ServiceNow implementations. As a trusted Datadog Premier Partner and ServiceNow Elite Partner, RapDev offers unparalleled expertise in implementation at scale. RapDev expertly guides organizations through their Engineering and DevOps transformations from beginning to end. For more information, visit www.rapdev.io . View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rapdev-named-one-of-north-americas-fastest-growing-tech-companies-on-the-2024-deloitte-technology-fast-500-list-302313538.html SOURCE RapDevBut just when it seemed that all hope was lost and that the match would descend into chaos, a moment of clarity emerged. The coaches, realizing the gravity of the situation and the importance of setting a positive example for their players and fans, swiftly defused the tension and refocused their teams on the game at hand.
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart's sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at U.S. companies that are re-evaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programs to bolster historically underrepresented groups. The changes announced by the world's biggest retailer on Monday followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees. The retreat from such programs crystalized with the election of former President Donald Trump, whose administration is certain to make dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs a priority. Trump's incoming deputy chief of policy will be his former adviser Stephen Miller , who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies. “There has been a lot of reassessment of risk looking at programs that could be deemed to constitute reverse discrimination,” said Allan Schweyer, principal researcher at the Human Capital Center at the Conference Board. “This is another domino to fall and it is a rather large domino,” he added. Among other changes, Walmart said it will no longer give priority treatment to suppliers owned by women or minorities. The company also will not renew a five-year commitment for a racial equity center set up in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. And it pulled out of a prominent gay rights index . Schweyer said the biggest trigger for companies making such changes is simply a reassessment of their legal risk exposure, which began after U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2023 that ended affirmative action in college admissions. Since then, conservative groups using similar arguments have secured court victories against various diversity programs, especially those that steer contracts to minority or women-owned businesses. Most recently, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty won a victory in a case against the U.S. Department of Transportation over its use of a program that gives priority to minority-owned businesses when it awards contracts. Companies are seeing a big legal risk in continuing with DEI efforts, said Dan Lennington, a deputy counsel at the institute. His organization says it has identified more than 60 programs in the federal government that it considers discriminatory, he said. “We have a legal landscape within the entire federal government, all three branches -- the U.S. Supreme Court, the Congress and the President -- are all now firmly pointed in the direction towards equality of individuals and individualized treatment of all Americans, instead of diversity, equity and inclusion treating people as members of racial groups,” Lennington said. The Trump administration is also likely to take direct aim at DEI initiatives through executive orders and other policies that affect private companies, especially federal contractors. “The impact of the election on DEI policies is huge. It can’t be overstated,” said Jason Schwartz, co-chair of the Labor & Employment Practice Group at law firm Gibson Dunn. With Miller returning to the White House, rolling back DEI initiatives is likely to be a priority, Schwartz said. “Companies are trying to strike the right balance to make clear they’ve got an inclusive workplace where everyone is welcome, and they want to get the best talent, while at the same time trying not to alienate various parts of their employees and customer base who might feel one way or the other. It’s a virtually impossible dilemma,” Schwartz said. A recent survey by Pew Research Center showed that workers are divided on the merits of DEI policies. While still broadly popular, the share of workers who said focusing on workplace diversity was mostly a good thing fell to 52% in the October survey, compared to 56% in a similar survey in February 2023. Rachel Minkin, a research associate at Pew, called it a small but significant shift in short amount of time. There will be more companies pulling back from their DEI policies, but it likely won’t be a retreat across the board, said David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at New York University. “There are vastly more companies that are sticking with DEI," Glasgow said. "The only reason you don’t hear about it is most of them are doing it by stealth. They’re putting their heads down and doing DEI work and hoping not to attract attention.” Glasgow advises organizations to stick to their own core values, because attitudes toward the topic can change quickly in the span of four years. “It’s going to leave them looking a little bit weak if there’s a kind of flip-flopping, depending on whichever direction the political winds are blowing,” he said. One reason DEI programs exist is because without those programs, companies may be vulnerable to lawsuits for traditional discrimination. “Really think carefully about the risks in all directions on this topic,” Glasgow said. Walmart confirmed will no longer consider race and gender as a litmus test to improve diversity when it offers supplier contracts. Walmart says its U.S. businesses sourced more than $13 billion in goods and services from diverse suppliers in fiscal year 2024, including businesses owned by minorities, women and veterans. It was unclear how its relationships with such business would change going forward. Organizations that have partnered with Walmart on its diversity initiatives offered a cautious response. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, a non-profit that last year named Walmart one of America's top corporation for women-owned enterprises, said it was still evaluating the impact of Walmart's announcement. Pamela Prince-Eason, the president and CEO of the organization, said she hoped Walmart's need to cater to its diverse customer base will continue to drive contracts to women-owned suppliers even if the company has no explicit dollar goals. “I suspect Walmart will continue to have one of the most inclusive supply chains in the World,” Prince-Eason wrote. “Any retailer's ability to serve the communities they operate in will continue to value understanding their customers, (many of which are women), in order to better provide products and services desired and no one understands customers better than Walmart." Walmart's announcement came after the company spoke directly with conservative political commentator and activist Robby Starbuck, who has been going after corporate DEI policies, calling out individual companies on the social media platform X. Several of those companies have subsequently announced that they are pulling back their initiatives, including Ford , Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s and Tractor Supply . Walmart confirmed to The Associated Press that it will better monitor its third-party marketplace items to make sure they don’t feature sexual and transgender products aimed at minors. The company also will stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual benchmark index that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees. A Walmart spokesperson added that some of the changes were already in progress and not as a result of conversations that it had with Starbuck. RaShawn “Shawnie” Hawkins, senior director of the HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program, said companies that “abandon” their commitments workplace inclusion policies “are shirking their responsibility to their employees, consumers, and shareholders.” She said the buying power of LGBTQ customers is powerful and noted that the index will have record participation of more than 1,400 companies in 2025.Pokemon TCG players left empty-handed as scalpers clear Target’s Black Friday sale
By KAREEM CHEHAYEB BEIRUT (AP) — In 2006, after a bruising monthlong war between Israel and Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah militant group, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted for a resolution to end the conflict and pave the way for lasting security along the border. But while there was relative calm for nearly two decades, Resolution 1701’s terms were never fully enforced. Now, figuring out how to finally enforce it is key to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal approved by Israel on Tuesday. In late September, after nearly a year of low-level clashes , the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah spiraled into all-out war and an Israeli ground invasion . As Israeli jets pound deep inside Lebanon and Hezbollah fires rockets deeper into northern Israel, U.N. and diplomatic officials again turned to the 2006 resolution in a bid to end the conflict. Years of deeply divided politics and regionwide geopolitical hostilities have halted substantial progress on its implementation, yet the international community believes Resolution 1701 is still the brightest prospect for long-term stability between Israel and Lebanon. Almost two decades after the last war between Israel and Hezbollah, the United States led shuttle diplomacy efforts between Lebanon and Israel to agree on a ceasefire proposal that renewed commitment to the resolution, this time with an implementation plan to try to bring the document back to life. What is UNSC Resolution 1701? In 2000, Israel withdrew its forces from most of southern Lebanon along a U.N.-demarcated “Blue Line” that separated the two countries and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, which most of the world considers occupied Syrian territory. U.N. peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL , increased their presence along the line of withdrawal. Resolution 1701 was supposed to complete Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon and ensure Hezbollah would move north of the Litani River, keeping the area exclusively under the Lebanese military and U.N. peacekeepers. Up to 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers would help to maintain calm, return displaced Lebanese and secure the area alongside the Lebanese military. The goal was long-term security, with land borders eventually demarcated to resolve territorial disputes. The resolution also reaffirmed previous ones that call for the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon — Hezbollah among them. “It was made for a certain situation and context,” Elias Hanna, a retired Lebanese army general, told The Associated Press. “But as time goes on, the essence of the resolution begins to hollow.” Has Resolution 1701 been implemented? For years, Lebanon and Israel blamed each other for countless violations along the tense frontier. Israel said Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and growing arsenal remained, and accused the group of using a local environmental organization to spy on troops. Lebanon complained about Israeli military jets and naval ships entering Lebanese territory even when there was no active conflict. “You had a role of the UNIFIL that slowly eroded like any other peacekeeping with time that has no clear mandate,” said Joseph Bahout, the director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy at the American University of Beirut. “They don’t have permission to inspect the area without coordinating with the Lebanese army.” UNIFIL for years has urged Israel to withdraw from some territory north of the frontier, but to no avail. In the ongoing war, the peacekeeping mission has accused Israel, as well as Hezbollah , of obstructing and harming its forces and infrastructure. Hezbollah’s power, meanwhile, has grown, both in its arsenal and as a political influence in the Lebanese state. The Iran-backed group was essential in keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power when armed opposition groups tried to topple him, and it supports Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Yemen. It has an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles pointed at Israel, and has introduced drones into its arsenal . Hanna says Hezbollah “is something never seen before as a non-state actor” with political and military influence. How do mediators hope to implement 1701 almost two decades later? Israel’s security Cabinet approved the ceasefire agreement late Tuesday, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The ceasefire is set to take hold at 4 a.m. local time Wednesday. Efforts led by the U.S. and France for the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah underscored that they still view the resolution as key. For almost a year, Washington has promoted various versions of a deal that would gradually lead to its full implementation. International mediators hope that by boosting financial support for the Lebanese army — which was not a party in the Israel-Hezbollah war — Lebanon can deploy some 6,000 additional troops south of the Litani River to help enforce the resolution. Under the deal, an international monitoring committee headed by the United States would oversee implementation to ensure that Hezbollah and Israel’s withdrawals take place. It is not entirely clear how the committee would work or how potential violations would be reported and dealt with. The circumstances now are far more complicated than in 2006. Some are still skeptical of the resolution’s viability given that the political realities and balance of power both regionally and within Lebanon have dramatically changed since then. “You’re tying 1701 with a hundred things,” Bahout said. “A resolution is the reflection of a balance of power and political context.” Now with the ceasefire in place, the hope is that Israel and Lebanon can begin negotiations to demarcate their land border and settle disputes over several points along the Blue Line for long-term security after decades of conflict and tension.Ria Cheruvu has been ahead of the curve for most of her life. After graduating from her Arizona high school at just 11, the student deemed prodigy became one of the youngest people to ever graduate from Harvard. Her collegiate record is a marvel to many. Following a period studying neurobiology and during the completion of her first computer science degree, Cheruvu was hired for Intel's ethics team — preceding the AI boom that would soon hit mass markets, and years before the phrase became a household utterance. At the time of her hiring, Cheruvu was just 14 years old. In the years since joining the tech giant and graduating from the Ivy League, she's become a go-to voice on responsible AI development, bolstering her resume with multiple AI patents, a Master's Degree in data science from her alma mater after a neuroscience internship at Yale, and multiple teaching credits for digital courses on AI ethics. She's working on a PhD, as well, because... why not? Today, as one of Intel's AI architects and "evangelists" — yes, that's the real word — the 20-year-old is on the forefront of one of the world's hottest topics: How do we move forward with this technology, and how can it be done in a way that ensures real people remain at its core? Her presence is a rare thing in an industry now steamrolled by capital investors, commercial interests, and self-proclaimed tech "disruptors." But her age is more of a benefit than a hindrance, as the future of AI will soon be placed in the hands of the next generation of technologists and users — her peers — and many of them are already embracing the complex integration of generative AI in their daily lives. Cheruvu spoke to Mashable about her now-established career in the realm of "AI for Good," one of the few young voices with a seat at the table as the world reckons with accelerating change. Mashable: Your accomplishments run through a gamut of scientific fields: Computer science, data science, neuroscience. Why did you turn your attention to AI, and Intel, specifically? Cheruvu : After I graduated with my Bachelor's in computer science, I was looking for the next step. It was a turning point: Do I go into neuroscience, or do I get into something that's pure computer and data science related? I had a brief interest in AI. Both of my parents are software engineers by training and have their Masters in computer applications and technology. At the time, my dad was working at Intel Corporation. I had actually been on a number of field trips in high school to our local campus. I applied, and I interviewed with three different teams in different areas. One was pure math and AI, the other was a little bit on the neuroscience side, and then the last was deep learning and hardware. Eventually, I picked that third team and got accepted. It evolved from there into a six year journey of different roles at Intel. The industry has had so much turnover, especially in the last couple of years, what has kept you there? I've been in so many different roles in different areas. Some of them have been pure business or the technology side, others on the pure research side, and then some bridging the two. I was a team lead, and now I am an evangelist and public speaker and architect. I'm gearing back more to technical architect roles. So lots of jumping around the map. But my network and the community has stayed true, which is what encourages me to continue to work at Intel, and continue to work in the AI industry, too. I find it really rare to hear of a person as young as yourself being so integrated into AI's ethical development, not just its use. Why this and not a different aspect? I've been looking at ethical AI for about two to three years now, professionally and personally. From the technical angle, there's a lot of things to be done: technical tooling, analysis, metrics, quality assurance, all of that fun stuff. On a societal aspect, an incredible amount of work needs to be done toward privacy, consent, bias, and algorithmic discrimination. It's been a whirlwind, learning about all of these topics and then trying to understand which are practical versus which just seem to be talked about a lot, and doing honest reevaluations. There is an increasing need for younger voices and opportunities for younger generations to be able to step up and to start contributing to these technologies. My mom did her PhD in metaphysics and philosophy, so we have very deep conversations around AI and humanity. What exactly is our idea of consciousness? How far can AI go in terms of being able to mimic humans? What is our framework for helping each other? And have these reflections been fruitful? What does "AI for Good" actually look like, then? Right now, the phrase "human centered" is very buzzy but what does that mean for the future? Folks who are exposed to technology and digital technology are getting exposed to AI at a faster and faster rate. The reason why I gravitate toward "human centered" frameworks is to focus on the fact that the infrastructure, the technology, should be able to empower users. According to regulations, and the communities that we're building around them, you should have the right to control the data that you generate. On the technical side, we should be empowering developers and creators to be able to test for bias, and to remove data from models. We're not training data models with data that we don't have consent for. When you're a person in AI, it's assumed you're advocating for AI development. But there's a lot of areas, personally, where I feel that more AI development doesn't make sense. Maybe it's something that needs to be more streamlined or in the hands of creators and artists. When we see a lot of these technologies, like robots and self-driving vehicles, starting to pop up, how are they empowering user experiences? How are we building trust into these relationships? There's a couple leading researchers who are the subject matter experts in this field. I'm thinking of Fei Fei Li and Yejin Choi . It's been really interesting to see how their research and the research coming out of their labs and teams has been connected to bigger advancements or leaps in AI. I have been using that research as a marker to demystify what's coming up next in [the AI industry]. Your title is "evangelist," which is an interesting term to use for scientific development, but essentially you're a public communicator. How do you navigate that role amid the onslaught of AI coverage? There's a lot of pressure, there's a lot of hype, placed on certain topics. It takes a pretty strong will and determination to push through that and say what is important for me, for my community, for the industry, right now. To focus on what is really driving the practical impact I want to communicate and share with folks, things I can inspire them to be optimistic about. I want to be honest about risks and challenges, too. Instead of buttering up the truth, be straightforward about it. As an evangelist, someone who's passionate about public speaking just as much as coding, what does that balance look like? There has been an emergence, or a boom, of AI experts and evangelists in this space. Not to say anything direct about credentials or anything, but everybody has an opinion about AI. I personally have been listening to perspectives that have been in the industry for longer. That wisdom that's getting passed down is something that I like to tap into, as opposed to, maybe, some of the newer folks who are forming some quick assumptions. How do you envision your peers getting involved in these conversations? I think that there is an increasing need for younger voices and opportunities for younger generations to be able to step up and to start contributing to these technologies. Through their usage of it, [the technologies are] getting mastered pretty quickly. And it's important to bring a fresh perspective to [AI design]. Not only consuming the technology, but contributing to its development, being able to shape it in ways that are different. Rather than seeing it as a kind of "disruptor" or a "bubble" that needs to be explored and pushed to the limit, we can bring it back to the applications where it can be most useful. There's a lot of opportunities to contribute. Not a lot of them are as recognized as other applications, in terms of priority, coverage in the media, or public interest, but they definitely lead to a much more meaningful impact. There's always bigger projects, and bigger themes — like large language models — but the smaller applications really make a difference, too. Sorry to use a cliché, but it feels like AI is yet another "global inheritance" we'll be tossing down to younger generations, much like we've done with our current climate crisis. I was reading that quote recently about being able to leave the world behind a little bit better than how you found it initially. In a generational context, we need to continue to have conversations about this, especially with the AI algorithms that are close to us, whether it's social media or apps that are writing content for you. You're getting exposed to them on a day to day basis. In my opinion, many people are uncomfortable with the widespread pressure to use AI in our daily lives, when we don't fully understand what's at stake. They want things to slow down. I feel like folks who are working on AI and machine learning know that very well, but, for some reason, it doesn't proliferate outside of that bubble. Folks who are working in AI know to be very, very cautious when they see a tool. Cautious in the sense of, "I'm not going to adopt it, or I'm not going to use it, unless I think it's useful." But when it comes to [AI stakeholders] externally, I think it's just a kind of hype. Ironically, that's not what you see in the inner circle. It just gets pushed on us. What do current stakeholders or developers owe to the next generation of technologists and users, including yourself? Human labor disruption is a really big topic, and I'm thinking about talent and folks who want to enter into the AI space. When we talk about AI and these technologies, it's always: fast, rapid innovation, moving forward. These kinds of words and other terminology keep getting added to a pile that makes it even more intimidating for folks to be able to understand and truly grasp [AI]. "AI" itself is one of those words. The field started off with "deep learning" and "machine learning," and it's been a gradual transition. I've seen my job title change from deep learning engineer to AI architect. I'm part of that, too. I think that there might be an opportunity to take AI as a buzzword and break it down — and we can still keep the word, the general feeling around it. But there's only so much responsibility that a user can take on. Providers and developers and creators of infrastructure also need to be able to shoulder that responsibility. Of course, regulations come in to help protect the rights of the individuals involved to a certain extent. A lot of folks may not have the time to sit down and read through the full compendium of what they need to know. I'm valuing content and people who are taking the time to break it down and say, "You've got this. This is something easy. This is how you contribute." It doesn't need to be a fearful topic. It's something you can voice your concerns on. I've had so many conversations over the past few years with brilliant people on inclusive AI, democratizing AI, AI literacy. There's a lot of different ways to enable that empowerment. For example, there's been a lot of really great efforts on digital readiness programs that I'm honored to have been a part of, going to community colleges or creating AI curriculum for free. Five million or so folks who have been trained as part of Intel's digital readiness programs. We need more accessibility, more tutorials, more content, more one-on-one interaction, saying, "You know, this is easier than you think it is. You can be a professional in this space. It's not hard to get started."The highly anticipated action-adventure game "Black Myth: Wukong" has once again captured the attention of gamers and fans alike with its latest update. The game, developed by Chinese indie studio Game Science, has been making waves in the gaming community since its initial announcement, and the recent update has only served to solidify its position as one of the most anticipated titles of the year.
