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Top Dolphins-Patriots prop bet predictions from Chris Perkins, David FuronesVANCOUVER — Taylor Swift is preparing to hit the stage tonight at Vancouver's BC Place for the first of three shows to close out her marathon Eras Tour — but she's not the only one getting ready as T-minus-zero approaches. BC Place has put up the giant friendship bracelet symbolizing Swifties fandom on its exterior, a feature that has appeared in all Eras Tour stops since New Orleans in October. "A big thank you to our BFFs at Caesars Superdome for our new friendship bracelets, they're now here after having been swapped to Lucas Oil Stadium and Rogers Centre," said an online message from BC Place to venues in New Orleans, Indianapolis and Toronto that have featured the decoration during Swift's tour stops. Vancouver police posted a video message to incoming fans on social media with Swift's "Shake It Off" playing in the background, asking those going to the concert to plan ahead, while also offering to trade friendship bracelets. In the message, police say "hundreds" of officers will be deployed downtown over the weekend to ensure a "safe and memorable" experience for incoming Swifties. Barricades went up around the stadium at noon on Friday, cutting off some of the downtown core's busiest streets, including West Georgia, Smithe, Beatty and Robson, as the closures snarled traffic. An estimated 160,000 fans, many of them international visitors, will converge on the city's downtown for the performances that are the glittering climax to the 149-show, two-year tour that has shattered records around the world. Some will be hard to miss. Swift fan Lisa Daechsel was walking her dog, Lancey, near the stadium with a leash she had made in the style of a friendship bracelet. “Honestly, I saw somebody do it for Eras Tour in Toronto," Daechsel said. "They had a really cute photo of their dog with the friendship bracelet leash. So, I was like, I have to do that! So, I went out last minute and I decided to make one." The corgi and her leash became a magnet for Swifty selfies. "She has been so popular,” said Daechsel. Others may be even more visible. Brittany Hood from Orlando, Fla., will sport a blue velvet, star-studded jumpsuit that pays homage to an outfit Swift wore to the 2022 VMAs after-party. Hood, who is attending Saturday's show, spent months perfecting the look. "It wasn't supposed to be this sparkly but 25 hours later and I was still going," she said. "Where else can you wear a super-bedazzled outfit — I mean I probably would be the person who would wear it to the grocery store, but it just makes it a little bit more special for the moment." The shows are billed to start at 6:45 p.m. with opening act Gracie Abrams. Swift typically performs for about 3 1/2 hours, playing songs from across her discography as she moves through various "Eras," each marked by set and outfit changes that reflect the albums. For instance, she often wears a ball gown for the "Speak Now" section and a snake jumpsuit during her "Reputation" set. Sociologist Rebecca Yoshizawa said Swift's outfit choices are "really symbolic," noting how the singer-songwriter reclaimed snake imagery after a 2016 celebrity feud with Kim Kardashian, who had suggested Swift was a snake. "She is curating and encouraging our experience through her clothing," Yoshizawa said. "She knows people are watching and are also wanting to channel that." Swifties' costumes denote membership to the fandom. "It's very cathartic. It's an opportunity to kind of let loose, have fun and be free, and clothing really is central to identity — it's central to the expression of our identity," said Yoshizawa, a professor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, B.C. The Eras Tour, she said, had provided fans an opportunity to dress in ways they wouldn't normally and build a sense of connection with strangers. Jonica Tebo from Ogdensburg, N.Y., said that's why she has spent hours making her costume for Vancouver, a friendship bracelet fringe jacket. "I have every single Taylor song on the outfit, in the beaded fringe that is sewn on," she said. She also plans to wear pink boots and friendship bracelets to trade. Vancouver has embraced the singer, who performed six shows in Toronto last month. Eras Tour posters can be seen around almost every corner, businesses are hosting Swift-themed events and the city has put up light installations to encourage visitors to explore. Security is tight around the venue, with barricades surrounding BC Place, and ticketless fans being told not to gather outside for traditional "Taylgate" parties. That hasn't reduced the enthusiasm of fans like Hood, who says it's her first real trip out of the United States. She's already been to Eras Tour shows in Los Angeles and Tampa, Fla., dressing up in handmade outfits for both shows. But Vancouver will be special — a girls trip abroad and the end of the Eras Tour. "When the world's on fire, but we all get to kind of celebrate music and girlhood together — it's giving me chills," she said. Some fans, however, remain without tickets for the event but aren't giving up. Melissa Camp and her 15-year-old daughter from Vancouver Island were in tears outside BC Place today after failing to get tickets despite 14 months of trying, but Camp says they will keep trying to secure last-minute seats. Camp says she was almost scammed when she tried to buy tickets, but the effort is worth it for "making sweet memories" with her daughter. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2024. Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press
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( MENAFN - Jordan Times) LONDON - During the Irish famine in the 1840s, as more than one million Irish citizens died, vast quantities of food were exported from Ireland to Britain. For the Whig government in London, the defence of commercial interests, the dictates of laissez-faire economics and Political indifference to Irish suffering trumped any obligation to prevent mass starvation by intervening in markets. The international response to the COVID-19 pandemic bears a discomfiting resemblance to the British response to the Irish famine. Although science and industry have given us the means to immunise the world, nine months after the first arm was jabbed with a COVID-19 vaccine, rich countries are using their market power to direct doses away from poor countries, placing millions of lives at risk. Consider some recent actions by the European Union. Under a contract with Johnson & Johnson (J&J), the bloc has imported millions of vaccine doses from a company in South Africa, a country where a mere 11 per cent of the population is vaccinated and the Delta variant is fuelling a surge in cases. Yet efforts to divert vaccine exports from Europe to South Africa and its neighbours were met with a display of vaccine gunboat diplomacy, with the EU threatening to take action under a clause in the J&J contract prohibiting export restrictions. The message to the world was clear. While EU commissioners and political leaders may arrive at UN meetings waxing lyrical about the importance of international cooperation and global vaccine equity, the iron fist of vaccine nationalism is driving real-world policy. When it comes to weighing African lives against marginal gains in the health of already-protected EU citizens, Africans come in a distant second. Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently highlighted the South Africa example as a“shocking symbol” of global vaccine injustice. He was right, but the injustice is global. In a world that has delivered more than five billion doses, over 70 per cent of people in rich countries have now received at least one jab, compared to only 1.8 per cent in the poorest countries. This is an equity gap that kills. We know that vaccinations provide effective protection against COVID-19 deaths and hospitalisation. As US President Joe Biden has reminded Americans, this is a“pandemic of the unvaccinated”. The same is true globally. Nevertheless, the United States and other rich countries are now preparing to deliver vaccine booster shots to already-protected populations facing marginal health risks, effectively diverting supplies from countries where access to vaccines is, quite literally, a matter of life and death. The current distribution of vaccines is not just ethically indefensible. It is also epidemiologically short-sighted and economically ruinous. Leaving large swaths of the world unvaccinated increases the risk that vaccine-resistant viral mutations will emerge, effectively prolonging the pandemic and endangering people everywhere. Meanwhile, expanding vaccinations would boost economic recovery, adding $9 trillion to global output by 2025, according to an estimate by the International Monetary Fund, and help prevent major reversals in poverty, health and education. Basic arithmetic shows that we can vaccinate the world. Estimates by the data analytics firm Airfinity suggest that around 12 billion vaccine doseswill be produced in 2021, with output doubling in 2022. That's more than enough to achieve the international target of 40 per cent coverage by the end of this year and 60-70 per cent by mid-2022. Unfortunately, it is not enough to achieve the targets while satisfying rich countries' desire to hoard surplus stocks. With their current contracts, rich countries could achieve full vaccination coverage rates for over 80 per cent of their populations, including boosters for vulnerable people, and have a surplus of 3.5 billion doses, according to the Airfinity data, enough to cover the deficit in poor countries and still leave rich countries with a healthy contingency reserve. Instead, rich countries are actively undermining international cooperation efforts. Aid donors have invested $10 billion in the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) facility, the international program designed to provide vaccines to the world's poorest countries. That financing has secured contracts for around two billion doses. Additionally, the World Bank has provided $4 billion for COVAX and an African Union vaccine-purchase initiative. But COVAX and poor countries are constantly pushed to the back of the line for supplies from vaccine manufacturers for whom rich countries come first, not least because of their governments' threats to take legal action and impose penalties. The pandemic has demonstrated that the world needs a more efficient and equitable distribution of vaccine-production capabilities. Developing these capabilities will require knowledge-sharing, technology transfer, intellectual-property waivers, and long-term investment. But without immediate and decisive action to replace the trickle-down approach to vaccine provision with market redistribution, John Maynard Keynes's dictum that“in the long run we are all dead” will have a tragic resonance. There are three priorities. First, vaccine delivery must be aligned with the target of 40 per cent coverage in all countries by the end of this year. Rich countries must agree to adjust their own schedules so that vaccine manufacturers can make deliveries for COVAX and developing countries. Building surplus stocks in rich countries while allowing people to die for want of vaccines in poor countries is indefensible. Aid donors should also provide the additional $3.8 billion in grant financing needed to trigger COVAX options on an additional 760 million doses by the end of 2021. Second, to meet the international targets, we need to move beyond intermittent vaccine donations to large-scale, coordinated dose-sharing. The EU, the United Kingdom, and the US should immediately share an additional 250 million doses, less than one-quarter of their collective surplus, through COVAX by the end of September, with a clear schedule for providing an additional one billion doses by early 2022. Third, beyond vaccine equity, there is an urgent need to strengthen health systems, not just through the provision of medical oxygen, which is in critically short supply, therapeutics, and diagnostic equipment, but also by investing in the health workers and infrastructure needed to get vaccines into arms. The current gap between funds pledged and funds allocated for this purpose is around $16.6 billion. Our ability to save lives, restore hope, and rebuild economies shattered by the pandemic is constrained not by a shortage of vaccines or financing, but also by a deficit of justice and international cooperation. The governments of rich countries often recite the mantra that“no one is safe until everyone is safe”. Their leaders must now act like they believe it. Kevin Watkins, a former CEO of Save the Children UK, is a visiting professor at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at the London School of Economics. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2021. 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NEW YORK — Eager to preserve President-elect Donald Trump's hush money conviction even as he returns to office, prosecutors suggested various ways forward — including one based on how some courts handle criminal cases when defendants die. In court papers made public Tuesday, the Manhattan district attorney's office proposed an array of options for keeping the historic conviction on the books. The proposals include freezing the case until Trump is out of office, or agreeing that any future sentence wouldn't include jail time. Another idea: closing the case with a notation that acknowledges his conviction but says that he was never sentenced and his appeal wasn't resolved because of presidential immunity. The last is adopted from what some states do when a criminal defendant dies after being convicted but before appeals are exhausted. It is unclear whether that option is viable under New York law, but prosecutors suggested that Judge Juan M. Merchan could innovate in what's already a unique case. "This remedy would prevent defendant from being burdened during his presidency by an ongoing criminal proceeding," prosecutors wrote. But at the same time, it wouldn't "precipitously discard" the "meaningful fact that defendant was indicted and found guilty by a jury of his peers." Expanding on a position they laid out last month, prosecutors acknowledged that "presidential immunity requires accommodation during a president's time in office," but they were adamant that the conviction should stand. They argued that Trump's impending return to the White House should not upend a jury's finding. Trump wants the case to be thrown out in light of his election. His communications director, Steven Cheung, called prosecutors' filing "a pathetic attempt to salvage the remains of an unconstitutional and politically motivated hoax." Trump has fought for months to reverse his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors said he fudged the documents to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels to suppress her claim that they had sex a decade earlier. He claims they didn’t and denies wrongdoing. Trump portrays the case as a political attack ginned up by District Attorney Alvin Bragg and other Democrats. Trump's legal team argues that letting the case continue would present unconstitutional "disruptions" to his upcoming presidential term. Trump's attorneys also cited President Joe Biden's recent pardon of his son Hunter Biden, who was convicted of tax and gun charges. Biden complained that his son was unfairly prosecuted for political reasons — and Trump's lawyers say he was, too. Trump's lawyers argued that the possibility of a jail sentence — even if it's after he leaves office — would affect his presidency. Prosecutors suggested Merchan could address that concern by agreeing not to put him behind bars. It's unclear how soon Merchan could decide what to do next with the case. He could grant Trump's request for dismissal, go with one of the suggestions from prosecutors, wait until a federal appeals court rules on Trump's parallel effort to get the case moved out of state court, or choose some other option. Trump, a Republican, takes office Jan. 20. He was scheduled for sentencing late last month. After Trump's Nov. 5 election win, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed the former and future president's sentencing so the defense and prosecution could weigh in on the future of the case. Merchan also delayed a decision on Trump's prior bid to dismiss the case on immunity grounds. A dismissal would erase Trump's conviction, sparing him the cloud of a criminal record and possible prison sentence. Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and the first convicted criminal to be elected to the office. The hush money case was the only one of Trump's four criminal indictments to go to trial. Since the election, special counsel Jack Smith ended his two federal cases, which pertained to Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and allegations that he hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. A separate state election interference case in Fulton County, Georgia, is largely on hold. Trump denies wrongdoing in each case.Trump’s lawyers rebuff DA’s idea for upholding his hush money conviction, calling it ‘absurd’
ExxonMobil ( XOM -0.01% ) and the rest of the energy sector are down big in the past month as oil prices hover around their lowest levels in a year. But the company has plans to drive shareholder returns even at mediocre oil prices. Here's why ExxonMobil is well-positioned to substantially grow its earnings and cash flow in the coming years and why it stands out as a compelling dividend stock to buy in 2025. A clear outline for future growth On Dec. 11, ExxonMobil updated its corporate plan and extended its targets from 2027 out to 2030. Between 2019 and the third quarter of 2024, ExxonMobil achieved $11 billion in structural cost savings, grew earnings and cash flow, lowered its greenhouse gas emissions, and returned $140 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. By 2030, the company expects to achieve an additional $7 billion in structural cost savings, bringing the total to $18 billion versus 2019. In addition to oil and gas, ExxonMobil is investing heavily in low-carbon technologies like carbon capture and storage and hydrogen. The company believes that carbon capture can help it deliver lower emissions power for data centers with projects that are fully detached from the grid. By 2030, ExxonMobil expects to grow annual cash flows by $30 billion compared to 2024 or by $50 billion since 2019, and earnings by $20 billion versus 2024 or $35 billion since 2019. These forecasts are based on $65 per barrel Brent crude oil prices and $3 per MMBtu Henry Hub natural gas prices. For context, Brent crude oil prices averaged $81.13 per barrel from January through November 2024, and Henry Hub gas prices averaged $2.12 per MMBtu during that period. Aside from 2020, 2024 has seen the lowest gas prices since 1998. Between 2025 and 2030, ExxonMobil expects to generate $165 billion in surplus cash above its existing dividend, leaving plenty of room for sizable dividend raises and buybacks. The cash surplus is basically the margin of error ExxonMobil has compared to its target oil and gas prices. If prices hit a downturn, ExxonMobil can still afford to raise its dividend but may buy back less stock. ExxonMobil said that at $55 per barrel Brent, it would expect to earn $110 billion in cash surplus. By comparison, if Brent prices average $85 during the forecast period, the surplus would be around $280 billion. ExxonMobil expects it can still fund its capital projects and its dividend even if Brent prices were just $35 through 2027 and $30 per barrel by 2030 -- illustrating how far the company has come in optimizing its production portfolio. The dividend is an integral part of the investment thesis for ExxonMobil. Despite ebbs and flows in the oil and gas industry, ExxonMobil has raised its dividend for 42 consecutive years. No matter what oil prices are doing, investors have been able to rely on ExxonMobil for a steady stream of passive income. ExxonMobil yields 3.7%, which is sizable compared to the S&P 500 yield of 1.2%. XOM data by YCharts Avoiding dependence on debt ExxonMobil's corporate plan sets clear expectations for investors to hold the company accountable over the next five years. Most importantly, the plan is based on generating positive cash flow and doesn't rely on debt. ExxonMobil's balance sheet is in its best condition in a decade. XOM Financial Debt to Equity (Quarterly) data by YCharts As you can see in the chart, ExxonMobil has very little net debt on its balance sheet for a company of its size. Its financial debt-to-equity and debt-to-capital ratios are very low, indicating it isn't relying on debt to run its business. ExxonMobil used excess profits in recent years to help pay down debt. Granted, it has ramped capital spending, but has emphasized investments that can contribute to high cash-flow generation. Projects that have a low cost of supply and higher returns, which ExxonMobil calls "advantaged assets," refer to the Permian Basin, Guyana, and its liquefied natural gas (LNG) portfolio. LNG is natural gas that is cooled and condensed into a liquid to export to buyers overseas. ExxonMobil completed the acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources earlier this year, which gave it significantly more Permian production. ExxonMobil now generates more than 50% of its production from advantaged assets, and expects to reach 60% for 2030 -- helping to drive down its cost of production. By focusing on advantaged assets, ExxonMobil can generate positive cash flow even at lower oil prices, which should help limit its leverage and maintain its financial health. ExxonMobil is a passive income powerhouse If ExxonMobil achieves its projected earnings growth, the company could be worth significantly more in the future than it is today. ExxonMobil is already an inexpensive stock -- with a 13.3 price-to-earnings ratio. And that's based on earnings during a period of fairly mediocre oil prices. Oil and gas companies tend to command discounted valuations compared to the broader market due to the industry's volatility and the uncertain future of oil and gas in a low-carbon world. But ExxonMobil's corporate plan shows that the company doesn't need oil and gas prices to go up to make substantially higher earnings and cash flows over the medium term. It can then use excess profits to invest in new technologies to remain an energy titan even if global oil and gas consumption gradually declines over time. Add it all up, and ExxonMobil stands out as arguably the most well-rounded oil and gas company to buy in 2025.Trump and giveaways: What Elon Musk spent $270M on during the election"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." Section 1.10.32 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?" 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" To keep reading, please log in to your account, create a free account, or simply fill out the form below.
