4-digit lottery Mervis, 26, was the Cubs' No. 15 prospect entering 2024, according to MLB Pipeline, and hit .235 with 15 doubles, 15 home runs and 43 RBIs with Triple-A Iowa. In nine games with the Cubs last season, Mervis batted .115 with one double and three RBIs. A Washington, D.C. native, Mervis made his major league debut on May 5, 2023, against Miami and batted .167 in 27 games during his first stint in the majors. Bruján was designated for assignment on Dec. 20 after appearing in a career-high 102 games with Miami last season and batting .222 with five stolen bases. He set career highs in runs (32), hits (55), doubles (14), triples (2), and walks (2) while tying his career high with 16 RBIs.

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One week into a new Syria, rebels aim for normalcy and Syrians vow not to be silent again DAMASCUS (AP) — A transformation has started to take place in the week since the unexpected overthrow of Syria’s President Bashar Assad. Suddenly in charge, the rebels have been met with a mix of excitement, grief and hope. And so far the transition has been surprisingly smooth. Reports of reprisals, revenge killings and sectarian violence are minimal, looting and destruction has been quickly contained. But there are a million ways it could go wrong. Syria is broken and isolated after five decades of Assad family rule. Families have been torn apart by war, former prisoners are traumatized, and tens of thousands of detainees remain missing. The economy is wrecked, poverty is widespread, inflation and unemployment are high. Corruption seeps through daily life. Christians in Syria mark country's transformation with tears as UN envoy urges an end to sanctions DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — In churches across long-stifled Syria, Christians have marked the first Sunday services since Bashar Assad’s ouster in an air of transformation. Some were in tears, others clasped their hands in prayer. The U.N. envoy for Syria is calling for a quick end to Western sanctions as the country’s new leaders and regional and global powers discuss the way forward. The Syrian government has been under sanctions by the United States, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war. Israel will close its Ireland embassy over Gaza tensions as Palestinian death toll nears 45,000 DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel says it will close its embassy in Ireland as relations deteriorate over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian medical officials say new Israeli airstrikes have killed over 30 people including children. Israel's decision to close the embassy came in response to what Israel’s foreign minister has described as Ireland's “extreme anti-Israel policies.” Ireland earlier announced that it would recognize a Palestinian state. And the Irish cabinet last week decided to formally intervene in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The Palestinian death toll in the war is approaching 45,000. The GOP stoked fears of noncitizens voting. Cases in Ohio show how rhetoric and reality diverge AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Ohio's Republican secretary of state and attorney general sought to reassure voters before the November election that the state's elections were being vigorously protected against the possibility of immigrants voting illegally. That push coincided with a national Republican messaging strategy warning that potentially thousands of ineligible voters would be voting. The officials' efforts in Ohio led to charges against just six noncitizens in a state with 8 million registered voters. That outcome and the stories of some of those now facing charges show the gap both in Ohio and across the United States between the rhetoric about noncitizen voting and the reality that it's rare and not part of a coordinated scheme to throw elections. South Korean leaders seek calm after Yoon is impeached SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s opposition leader has offered to work with the government to ease the political tumult, a day after the opposition-controlled parliament voted to impeach conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol over a short-lived attempt to impose martial law. Liberal Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, whose party holds a majority in the National Assembly, urged the Constitutional Court to rule swiftly on Yoon’s impeachment and proposed a special council for policy cooperation between the government and parliament. Yoon’s powers have been suspended until the court decides whether to remove him from office or reinstate him. If Yoon is dismissed, a national election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days. Storms across US bring heavy snow, dangerous ice and a tornado in California OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Inclement weather has plagued areas of the U.S. in the first half of the weekend, with dangerous conditions including heavy snow, a major ice storm and unusual tornado activity. An ice storm beginning Friday created treacherous driving conditions across Iowa and eastern Nebraska. More than 33 inches of snow was reported near Orchard Park, New York, which is often a landing point for lake-effect snow. On Saturday, a tornado touched down in Scotts Valley, California, causing damage and several injuries. In San Francisco, a storm damaged trees and roofs and prompted a tornado warning, which was a first for a city that has not experienced a tornado since 2005. Small businesses say cautious shoppers are seeking 'cozy' and 'festive' this holiday season With a late Thanksgiving, the holiday shopping season is five days shorter than last year, and owners of small retail shops say that people have been quick to snap up holiday décor early, along with gifts for others and themselves. Cozy items like sweaters are popular so far. Businesses are also holding special events to get shoppers in the door. But there’s little sense of the freewheeling spending that occurred during the pandemic. Overall, The National Retail Federation predicts retail sales in November and December will rise between 2.5% and 3.5% compared with same period a year ago. US agencies should use advanced technology to identify mysterious drones, Schumer says After weeks of fear and bewilderment about the drones buzzing over parts of New York and New Jersey, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer is urging the federal government to deploy better drone-tracking technology to identify and ultimately stop the airborne pests. The New York Democrat is calling on the Department of Homeland Security to immediately deploy advanced technology to identify and track drones back to their landing spots. That is according to briefings from his office. Federal authorities have said that the drones do not appear to be linked to foreign governments. West Africa regional bloc approves exit timeline for 3 coup-hit member states ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — West Africa’s regional bloc ECOWAS has approved an exit timeline for three coup-hit nations. It comes after a nearly yearlong process of mediation to avert the unprecedented disintegration of the grouping. The president of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray, said in a statement: “The authority decides to set the period from 29 January, 2025 to 29 July 2025 as a transitional period and to keep ECOWAS doors open to the three countries during the transition period." In a first in the 15-nation bloc’s nearly 50 years of existence, the military juntas of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso announced in January that they decided to leave ECOWAS. Pope Francis makes 1st papal visit to France's Corsica awash in expressions of popular piety AJACCIO, Corsica (AP) — Pope Francis on the first papal visit ever to the French island of Corsica on Sunday called for a dynamic form of laicism, promoting the kind of popular piety that distinguishes the Mediterranean island from secular France as a bridge between religious and civic society. The one-day visit to Corsica’s capital Ajaccio, birthplace of Napoleon, on Sunday is one of the briefest of his papacy beyond Italy’s borders, just about nine hours on the ground, including a 40-minute visit with French President Emmanuel Macron. It is the first papal visit ever to the island, which Genoa ceded to France in 1768 and is located closer to the Italian mainland than France.Meet the ‘starseeds’ who believe they’re ALIENS living on earth & can protect us from a galactic war – & real reason why

High-yield energy stocks can provide diversification to your portfolio. But if you pick the right high-yielders, they can also offer stability -- you just have to avoid the segments of the energy sector known for massive, commodity-driven price swings. Both Enbridge ( ENB -0.53% ) and Black Hills ( BKH 1.61% ) allow you to focus on long-term dividend payers with high yields while avoiding direct exposure to oil and natural gas. Enbridge is happily stuck in the middle The oil and gas industry is largely broken down into three segments. The upstream (drilling) and the downstream (chemicals and refining) are both commodity-driven and tend to be very volatile. The midstream ( pipelines ), however, is different. The companies here basically help transport oil and natural gas, and the products into which they get turned, around the world. They own energy infrastructure and simply charge upstream and downstream companies fees for the use of those vital energy assets. All in, midstream companies can be very consistent businesses, generating strong cash flows in good energy markets and bad ones. This is the story backing Enbridge's 29-year streak of annual dividend increases (in Canadian dollars). This North American midstream giant owns assets that would be difficult, if not impossible, to replace or displace, so there's no reason to believe that its dividend is at any risk of being cut. In fact, through the first nine months of 2024 the company's distributable cash flow payout ratio was right in line with management's 60% to 70% target. Meanwhile, Enbridge has an investment-grade rated balance sheet and a highly diversified business. With assets spread across oil pipelines, natural gas pipelines, natural gas utilities, and renewable power, Enbridge is one of the most diversified midstream companies you can buy. The stock has rallied a bit in 2024, but if you are looking for a reliable high-yield stock with exposure to oil and natural gas, the 6.1% dividend yield on offer here is still one of the best choices around. Black Hills is a tiny King If you thought that 29 years of annual dividend increases was impressive, then the 54-year streak that Black Hills has delivered will really impress you. That puts this regulated natural gas and electric utility into the highly elite group of companies known as Dividend Kings . Black Hills has one of the longest dividend streaks in the utility sector even though most investors probably won't know its name given its modest size. The company's market cap is just $4.5 billion, which is a rounding error compared to the largest utilities. And yet the 4.1% yield is both high for a utility today and historically elevated for Black Hills. Black Hills serves around 1.3 million customers in parts of Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The regions it serves are seeing population growth that's around three times faster than U.S. population growth. That's a good sign for a regulated utility, which has to get rates and capital investment plans approved by the government. More customers generally means more revenues and an increased necessity for spending, which also leads to higher rates. Right now Black Hills has a $4.3 billion capital investment budget that will take the company through 2028. That spending is expected to back this investment-grade rated utility's long-term projections for 4% to 6% earnings growth over the long term. The dividend is likely to grow roughly along with earnings. In other words, this is a good option for conservative income investors who don't mind owning a slow and steady tortoise. High yield and reliable, a wonderful combination You can easily find energy companies with higher yields than Enbridge and Black Hills. But that's not the full story with these two stocks because you are getting financially strong and reliable dividend payers. That's a combination that is much harder to come by on Wall Street, particularly in a sector known for volatility.

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AI is infiltrating every part of our lives, and that includes Christmas. That is not to say Santa is replacing his elves with robots, but it certainly is changing some people's holiday habits. Particularly when it comes to shopping for presents. Simon McCallum is a senior lecturer of AI and computer science at Victoria University. He has heard of some consumers turning to the technology to make buying gifts easier. "AI can help open up your mind to other options that you hadn't considered, because it's another voice," he said. One way to do it is by providing the AI with information about the person you are buying for and asking for recommendations. I tried it out for the Morning Report Secret Santa. I typed in that I needed to buy for a radio producer with a few other details, and both Chat GPT and Perplexity AI suggested a variety of self-care products, stationery and sleep aids to help with the shiftwork. They were useful suggestions, but lacking personality even when I tried adding more details. According to McCallum, that is because I was not careful with how I used it. "Everything that has happened in the chat so far is part of the input. So, once it has recommended candles and you continue with that chat, it will think that candles are a good idea and it will keep talking about candles," he explained. But even for expert AI users, getting AI to choose your gifts is not the same as selecting them yourself, and it won't be something everyone supports. "I think there are still a fairly large number of people who value personal effort. They don't want to have someone else suggest a present, they want to show that they care about the person because they have spent time thinking about it themselves." McCallum also warned that it will not be long until this use for AI becomes commercialised. "We might soon see companies buying product placements in AI. So when you ask the AI for recommendations, it won't give you just any recommendations, it will give you product recommendations from people who have paid to give you those specific ones." However, it is not just gifts that AI can assist with. There are a myriad of uses that can make the festive season easier. Need a quick and easy Christmas card? Ask AI to generate one. Are you expecting guests with a variety of dietary requirements? Ask AI to help you plan a menu. Do you have a long drive with children looming? Simon McCallum has some ideas for you "I use the Chat CPT app on my phone, and I get my kids to play I Spy with it," he said. "It's very smart. You take a photograph, and it will try and guess what you're thinking of, so you can play endless I Spy with it." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.None

Canadian telecommunications firms are monitoring their networks for signs that they may have been targeted as part of a global cyberespionage campaign from China. A group of hackers known as Salt Typhoon is being blamed for the sprawling cybersecurity attack that gave Beijing access to the calls and texts of a number of top U.S. officials, including president-elect Donald Trump and vice-president-elect J.D. Vance. There is no indication thus far Canadian networks have also been breached by the campaign, which has dominated headlines for weeks. But experts say the networks contain the same vulnerabilities as those in the U.S., which should serve as a wake-up call to address them. Cyberattacks against Canadian critical infrastructure have become more numerous and sophisticated in recent years. The White House has said that the Salt Typhoon attack, which was perpetrated for a year or more by exploiting legacy telecom equipment, has affected at least eight U.S. telecoms and dozens of countries around the world. China has dismissed the allegations as disinformation. Madeline Deyo, a spokesperson the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, part of the federal cryptologic agency, said in an e-mail Tuesday that it was “not aware of any Canadian networks impacted by this activity,” but had engaged directly with Canadian service providers to help contextualize the nature and significance of the threat posed by the Salt Typhoon hacking campaign. In late October, the Cyber Centre said it was aware that a sophisticated state-sponsored threat actor from China had performed reconnaissance scanning over several months against numerous organizations and government agencies. It listed critical infrastructure providers among the targets. Rogers Communications Inc., RCI-B-T BCE Inc.’s Bell, BCE-T Telus Corp. T-T and SaskTel told The Globe and Mail that they are aware of the reported surveillance affecting telecom providers in the U.S., and are actively working with industry peers and government to remain vigilant against attacks. Cogeco Inc. CGO-T and Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink said they are monitoring the situation. Of these providers, Rogers, Bell and Cogeco said they have not observed any evidence of malicious activity on its networks. Quebecor QBR-B-T did not respond to requests for comment. Yet numerous experts say the full extent of the breach – and its effects on Canada – have likely not yet been discovered. “There’s no reason to think that somehow Canada would be immune from this kind of attack,” said Charles Finlay, executive director of Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst at Toronto Metropolitan University. Canada is particularly vulnerable given the interconnectedness of the telecommunications systems with the United States, he said. Canadian telecoms should be alert given that they generally use similar infrastructure – in particular, core routers and network devices – to what is used by the affected U.S. companies, said Gary Miller, a threat intelligence expert and researcher with the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab. While the U.S. government did not identify a particular company’s equipment as being the entry point for Salt Typhoon, it published last Tuesday specific security guidance for Cisco Systems Inc. products, which are broadly used by Canadian telecoms as well, Mr. Miller said. Moreover, finding evidence of attacks or surveillance takes time, he added. While Canadian telecoms have traditionally been alert to threats entering through cracks in the edge of their networks where it interconnects with other providers, he said, they have not been as quick to identify threats once they’re already inside. There are varying reports about how long the attackers had been inside the networks, with the White House suggesting the infiltration could have been continuing for as long as two years. The fact that different information about the length of the attack is emerging suggests its full breadth is still unknown, said Bryan Pollitt, an EY Canada telecommunications cybersecurity expert. “I don’t think we yet know the full scope of the affected organizations – we’re just learning,” he said. Meanwhile, telecoms and lawmakers shouldn’t discount the recent history of geopolitical tensions with China that may make Canada a target for telecom interference, experts said. Canada has been critical of China’s human-rights record, approach to Hong Kong and Taiwan, and interference in Canadian elections. Ottawa recently imposed new surtaxes on Chinese-made electric vehicles and certain metal imports, and said it is mulling further surtaxes. “Canada has been on the receiving end of negative rhetoric from Chinese-linked actors over the past few years, and it would be naive to think of any such public statements as empty threats,” said Claudiu Popa, president of Datarisk Canada, a Toronto-based cybersecurity firm. In response to the attacks in the U.S., experts are warning Canadian lawmakers about vulnerabilities in this country’s networks. Kate Robertson, a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab, is concerned that a bill currently before Parliament – Bill C-26 – contemplates allowing Ottawa to impose compromise points in next-generation technology, such as 5G networks, to enable government surveillance. By requiring those legal access points, she said, Canada’s networks could be more vulnerable to future attacks. “The attack that is unfolding in the United States is a reflection of historical and continuing vulnerabilities in the mobile communication networks around the world,” Ms. Robertson said. And Mr. Miller said global telecom regulators, including the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, should take a more active role in requiring cybersecurity measures for the industry. While telecom companies have security systems – such as firewalls – in place, they don’t go far enough to protect all aspects of the network, such as protocols that interconnect different operators, he said. And telecoms may be hesitant to go to the furthest lengths possible of their own accord because of the high costs. In an e-mail, the CRTC told The Globe that the Salt Typhoon attacks fall outside its scope. While 5G promises improved security, EY’s Mr. Pollitt cautioned against treating it as a silver bullet. “We need to be mindful that a well-financed, organized, persistent group is going to find a way in and will infiltrate even the best defences,” he said.Notable quotes by Jimmy Carter