ssbet77.net Hidden Game: Canadiens' third-period comeback against Rangers falls shortWEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned home Saturday after his meeting with Donald Trump without assurances the president-elect will back away from threatened tariffs on all products from the major American trading partner. Trump called the talks “productive” but signaled no retreat from a pledge that Canada says unfairly lumps it in with Mexico over the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States. After the leaders’ hastily arranged dinner Friday night at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trudeau spoke of “an excellent conversation" and said in a post later Saturday on X, accompanied by a photo of the two men seated a table and smiling, that he looked forward to “the work we can do together, again.” Trump said earlier on Truth Social that they discussed “many important topics that will require both Countries to work together to address.” For issues in need of such cooperation, Trump cited fentanyl and the “Drug Crisis that has decimated so many lives as a result of Illegal Immigration," fair trade deals "that do not jeopardize American Workers” and the U.S. trade deficit with its ally to the north. Trump asserted that the prime minister had made “a commitment to work with us to end this terrible devastation” of American families from fentanyl from China reaching the United States through its neighbors. The U.S., he said, “will no longer sit idly by as our Citizens become victims to the scourge of this Drug Epidemic.” The Republican president-elect has threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders when he takes office in January. U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border. On immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests at the Mexican border in October alone and 23,721 arrests at the Canadian border between October 2023 and September 2024 — and Canadian officials say they are ready to make new investments in border security. Trudeau called Trump after the Republican's social media posts about the tariffs last Monday and they agreed to meet, according to a official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to publicly discuss detail of the private talks. The official said other countries are calling Canadian officials to hear how about how the meeting was arranged and to ask for advice. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, after speaking with Trump on the telephone, said Thursday she was confident a tariff war with Washington would be averted. At the dinner that was said to last three hours, Trump said he and Trudeau also discussed energy, trade and the Arctic. A second official cited defense, Ukraine, NATO, China, the Mideast, pipelines and the Group of Seven meeting in Canada next year as other issues that arose. Trudeau's office said in a statement that the leaders “shared a productive wide-ranging discussion” centering on “collaboration and strengthening our relationship,” adding, "As Canada’s closest friend and ally, the United States is our key partner, and we are committed to working together in the interests of Canadians and Americans.” Trump, during his first term as president, once called Trudeau “weak” and “dishonest,” but it was the prime minister who was the first G7 leader to visit Trump since the Nov. 5 election. "Tariffs are a crucial issue for Canada and a bold move was in order. Perhaps it was a risk, but a risk worth taking,” Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal. Trudeau had said before leaving from Friday that Trump was elected because he promised to bring down the cost of groceries but now was talking about adding 25% to the cost of all kinds of products, including potatoes from Prince Edward Island in Atlantic Canada. “It is important to understand that Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There’s no question about it,” Trudeau said. “Our responsibility is to point out that he would not just be harming Canadians, who work so well with the United States, but he would actually be raising prices for Americans citizens as well and hurting American industry and business,” he added. The threatened tariffs could essentially blow up the North American trade pact that Trump’s team negotiated during his first term. Trudeau noted they were able to successfully renegotiate the deal, which he calls a “win win” for both countries. When Trump imposed higher tariffs as president, other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own. Canada, for instance, announced billions of new duties in 2018 against the U.S. in a response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum. Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US $2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day. About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports are from Canada. Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing in for national security. Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world, and 77% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S. ___ Gillies reported from Toronto.Romania's top court annuls first round of presidential vote won by far-right candidate

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The House Ethics Committee’s bombshell report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s ethical conduct lays out evidence that the Florida Republican held drug-fueled sex parties with women who received payments from him or an intermediary, including one who was underage. The report, which cites witness testimony, financial records, and text message exchanges, found that Gaetz violated Florida law and House ethics rules while he was a member of Congress, and concluded Gaetz “acted in a manner that reflects discreditably upon the House.” Gaetz is a staunch ally of President-elect Donald Trump, and he was Trump's initial choice for attorney general , before withdrawing from consideration in the face of Senate opposition. He resigned from Congress last month. Gaetz has maintained his innocence, attacked the credibility of the Ethics Committee, and on Monday published a series of posts on X with snippets of witness testimony that he said refute the committee's findings. “Giving funds to someone you are dating - that they didn’t ask for - and that isn’t ‘charged’ for sex is now prostitution?!?” he wrote . The former Congress member said last week that he "often sent funds" to women he dated but “I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18. Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court − which is why no such claim was ever made in court." Gaetz did not immediately respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY. Here are the report's six key allegations: Paying for sex The Ethics Committee report said Gaetz spent “tens of thousands of dollars” on women “with whom he had a shared understanding that they would be compensated for sexual activity.” The committee said it spoke to more than a half-dozen witnesses, and “nearly every young woman that the committee interviewed confirmed she was paid for sex.” The payments came either from Gaetz himself or an intermediary, the committee’s report said. The activity happened between 2017 and 2020, while he was a member of Congress. The committee called this “commercial sex” and said it violates Florida prostitution law. “Representative Gaetz took advantage of the economic vulnerability of young women to lure them into sexual activity for which they received an average of a few hundred dollars after each encounter,” the report said. Sex with a 17-year-old The committee found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old in July 2017, when he was 35. The woman, identified as Victim A in the report, “had just completed her junior year of high school.” The age of consent in Florida is 18. The report said the pair had sex twice at a party, including one time that there were witnesses, and that the woman “recalled receiving $400 in cash” from Gaetz that night. The report said the woman used ecstasy that night, and that she had seen Gaetz use cocaine at the party. The report said that the woman did not inform Gaetz of her age; that he didn’t ask; and that he was not aware of her being under 18. However, the report said Gaetz maintained contact with the woman, and met up with her for “commercial sex” again after she turned 18. Cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana The report said there was “substantial evidence” that Gaetz used cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana, even setting up “a pseudonymous email account from his House office in the Capitol complex for the purpose of purchasing marijuana.” He denied the allegations, the report said. The report said Gaetz’s then-girlfriend “brought drugs with us” on the Bahamas trip. Another said she “brought cocaine to at least one event with Representative Gaetz and that she witnessed him taking cocaine or ecstasy on at least five occasions,” the report said. “Several other women observed Representative Gaetz to be under the influence of drugs,” the report said. “Additionally, nearly every witness interviewed observed Representative Gaetz using marijuana.” Use of his congressional office to help a woman Gaetz paid for sex The report said Gaetz used his congressional office to get a passport for a woman he paid for sex. The report said he met her in 2018 and on the night they met, she had sex with Gaetz and his intermediary sent her money, but she also told him that day she needed a new passport. The report said Gaetz connected her with a top aide, who worked with a representative of the State Department to get her a passport “within days of their first meeting.” The woman was not a constituent because she didn’t live in Gaetz’s district, but an email from the State Department obtained by the committee sought to confirm with Gaetz’s office “an appointment for your constituent.” The report said it was unusual for a top aide to process passport requests, and usually lower-level staff in the district perform that task. The report said the woman continued to “meet up” with Gaetz and have sex. Gaetz's trip to the Bahamas violated gift rules The report said Gaetz violated the House’s rules against impermissible gifts when he took a trip with two other men and six women to the Bahamas in September 2018. The report said he did not provide evidence of how he paid for the travel costs, other than a commercial flight he took to get there. The report said one of the other men in the group paid for the vacation rental where the group stayed, and that Gaetz returned to Florida on a private plane with one other man and three of the women. “While there were no specific payments to the women in connection with the Bahamas trip, according to one woman, ‘the trip itself was more so the payment,’” the report said. Obstruction of the Ethics Committee investigation The report said Gaetz “continuously sought to deflect, deter, or mislead the committee in order to prevent his actions from being exposed,” implicating federal criminal laws of false statements and obstruction of Congress. The report said he pointed to exculpatory evidence but failed to produce it, that he “intentionally withheld information,” and that he “declined to provide testimony voluntarily and did not appear when subpoenaed.” The report pointed to Gaetz’s public letter he published to X in September saying he would no longer voluntarily cooperate with the inquiry. The report said he wrote the letter after asking the committee for additional time to respond to written questions, and said he had an “uncooperative approach throughout the review.”SP preparing ground for 2027 through PDA panchayats

SINGAPORE: For Mr Terrence Chong and his wife, coming home after a long day at work was no longer a simple pleasure. Instead of relaxing, they were met with a growing pile of mysterious parcels on their doorstep. Throughout two and a half months, the couple received daily deliveries of empty or wrongly labelled packages—none of which they had ordered. According to CNA , Mr Chong, a 46-year-old educator, suspected the parcels were mistakenly sent to their new address. They had only moved in a few weeks earlier, so they checked with the previous owners. However, they confirmed that no similar deliveries had been made during their time in the flat, and there were no unusual shipments during the renovation period either. The situation soon worsened. The frequency of parcels increased, with some days seeing as many as eight packages delivered. Despite being labelled with items like ceiling fans, wallets, or projectors, most parcels were too small and flat to contain such items. Uncovering a scam – “brushing” After receiving over 100 packages, Mr Chong reached out to Shopee, one of the platforms responsible for many of the deliveries. In mid-November, the e-commerce company contacted him, confirming that the parcels were linked to fraudulent transactions. The investigation revealed that sellers had used his address to ship low-value or empty items, likely to create fake reviews on their products. This form of online scam, known as “brushing,” involves sending unsolicited items to consumers and using their names and addresses to post fake reviews. Associate Professor Huong Ha from the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) explained that brushing is a tactic used by sellers to artificially inflate the popularity and ratings of their products. By flooding platforms with fake positive reviews, sellers can boost visibility, often gaming the algorithms that prioritize well-reviewed products. Growing concern for e-commerce platforms Shopee responded by banning the accounts of the sellers and buyers involved, halting the delivery of any further parcels to Mr Chong. The company assured the couple that their personal information was secure, but the experience left them uneasy. Mr Chong admitted that, while no financial harm had been done, the psychological toll of receiving unwanted deliveries daily was significant. Authorities, including the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS), have yet to receive complaints specifically about brushing. However, the CCCS encouraged consumers to be cautious when evaluating online reviews, as they may not always reflect genuine customer experiences . E-commerce giants like Lazada and Amazon have also pledged to combat fraudulent activities. Lazada, for instance, enforces a strict zero-tolerance policy for such behaviour and takes swift action against offending sellers. Amazon, on the other hand, has dedicated teams focused on preventing fake reviews and pursuing legal action against those who manipulate their systems. Call for consumer vigilance For Mr Chong, the matter has largely been resolved—at least for now. He no longer receives unwanted parcels, but he remains vigilant. As he explained, “I’m not looking for compensation... I just want to stop receiving these parcels.” His experience highlights the need for consumers to stay alert when shopping online and report any suspicious activity to the relevant platforms. Shopee, alongside other major platforms, continues to advise users to report unsolicited parcels and ensure their accounts are secure. Despite the resolution, the growing prevalence of scams like brushing underscores the need for continued vigilance in the e-commerce space. Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s governing party chief expressed support Friday for suspending the constitutional powers of President Yoon Suk Yeol for imposing martial law this week, in a bombshell reversal that makes Yoon’s impeachment more likely. Opposition parties are pushing for a parliamentary vote on Yoon’s impeachment on Saturday, calling his short-lived martial law declaration an “unconstitutional, illegal rebellion or coup.” But they need support from some members of the president’s People Power Party to get the two-thirds majority required to pass the impeachment motion. The turmoil resulting from Yoon’s nighttime martial law decree has frozen South Korean politics and caused worry among neighbors, including fellow democracy Japan, and Seoul’s top ally, the United States, as one of the strongest democracies in Asia faces a political crisis that could unseat its leader. During a party meeting, PPP leader Han Dong-hun stressed the need to suspend Yoon’s presidential duties and power swiftly, saying he poses a “significant risk of extreme actions, like reattempting to impose martial law, which could potentially put the Republic of Korea and its citizens in great danger.” Han said he had received intelligence that Yoon had ordered the country’s defense counterintelligence commander to arrest and detain unspecified key politicians based on accusations of “anti-state activities” when martial law was in force. “It’s my judgment that an immediate suspension of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official duties is necessary to protect the Republic of Korea and its people,” Han said. Impeaching Yoon would require support from 200 of the National Assembly’s 300 members. The opposition parties that jointly brought the impeachment motion have 192 seats combined. PPP has 108 lawmakers. If Yoon is impeached, he would be suspended until the Constitutional Court rules on whether to remove him from office or restore his presidential power. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the country’s No. 2 official, would take over presidential responsibilities. The Defense Ministry said it suspended the defense counterintelligence commander, Yeo In-hyung, who Han alleged had received orders from Yoon to detain the politicians. The ministry also suspended Lee Jin-woo, commander of the capital defense command, and Kwak Jong-geun, commander of the special warfare command, over their involvement in enforcing martial law. In a closed-door briefing to lawmakers, Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, said Yoon called after imposing martial law and ordered him to help the defense counterintelligence unit to detain key politicians. The targeted politicians included Han, opposition leader Lee Jae-myung and National Assembly speaker Woo Won Shik, said Kim Byung-kee, one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting. Kim said Hong told lawmakers he ignored Yoon’s orders. The spy agency’s director, Cho Taeyong, questioned Hong’s account. Cho told reporters that such an order would have come to him, rather than Hong, and that he never received any orders from Yoon to detain politicians. Han earlier said he would work to defeat the impeachment motion even though he criticized Yoon’s martial law declaration as “unconstitutional.” Han said there was a need to “prevent damage to citizens and supporters caused by unprepared chaos.” Thousands of protesters have marched in the streets of Seoul since Wednesday, calling for Yoon to resign and be investigated. Thousands of autoworkers and other members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, one of the country’s biggest umbrella labor groups, have started hourly strikes since Thursday to protest Yoon. The union said its members will start on indefinite strikes beginning on Dec. 11 if Yoon was still in office then. Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho promised the ministry’s “active cooperation” with an investigation by prosecutors into the military’s role in Yoon’s martial law enforcement. He said military prosecutors will also be involved in the investigation. He denied media speculation that Yoon and his military confidantes might consider imposing martial law a second time. “Even if there’s a demand to enforce martial law, the Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff will absolutely not accept it,” Kim said. Kim became the acting defense minister after Yoon’s office on Thursday accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who has also been banned from traveling while he is investigated over the imposition of martial law. Opposition parties and Han allege that it was Kim Yong Hyun who recommended that Yoon declare martial law. During a parliamentary hearing on Thursday, Kim Seon Ho said Kim Yong Hyun also ordered troops to be deployed to the National Assembly after Yoon imposed martial law. Han leads a minority faction within the ruling party, and 18 lawmakers in his faction voted with opposition lawmakers to overturn Yoon’s martial law decree. Martial law ultimately lasted about six hours, after its quick overrule by the National Assembly forced Yoon’s Cabinet to lift it before daybreak Wednesday. The main liberal opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung said in a televised speech Friday that it was crucial to suspend Yoon as “quickly as possible.” Lee said Yoon’s martial law enforcement amounted to “rebellion and also a self-coup.” He said Yoon’s move caused serious damage to the country’s image and paralyzed foreign policy, pointing to criticism from the Biden administration and foreign leaders canceling their visits to South Korea. Yoon has made no immediate response to Han’s comments. He hasn’t made public appearances since he made a televised announcement that his martial law decree was lifted. Prosecutor General Shim Woo Jung told reporters the prosecution plans to investigate rebellion charges against Yoon following complaints filed by the opposition. While the president mostly has immunity from prosecution while in office, the protection does not extend to allegations of rebellion or treason. It wasn’t immediately clear how the prosecution plans to proceed with an investigation on Yoon. The Democratic Party is also considering filing a complaint against PPP floor leader Choo Kyung-ho, whom the opposition party accuse of attempting to facilitate Yoon’s martial law enforcement. Choo, a Yoon loyalist, had asked party lawmakers to convene at the party’s headquarters rather than the National Assembly after martial law began. That meant fewer lawmakers were present for parliament’s vote on lifting martial law. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox!December 23, 2024 This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlightedthe following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: fact-checked peer-reviewed publication trusted source proofread by University of Michigan Bright, twisted light can be produced with technology similar to an Edison light bulb, researchers at the University of Michigan have shown. The finding adds nuance to fundamental physics while offering a new avenue for robotic vision systems and other applications for light that traces out a helix in space. "It's hard to generate enough brightness when producing twisted light with traditional ways like electron or photon luminescence," said Jun Lu, an adjunct research investigator in chemical engineering at U-M and first author of the study on the cover of this week's Science . "We gradually noticed that we actually have a very old way to generate these photons—not relying on photon and electron excitations, but like the bulb Edison developed." Every object with any heat to it, including yourself, is constantly sending out photons (particles of light) in a spectrum tied to its temperature. When the object is the same temperature as its surroundings, it is also absorbing an equivalent amount of photons—this is idealized as " blackbody radiation " because the color black absorbs all photon frequencies. While a tungsten lightbulb's filament is much warmer than its surroundings, the law defining blackbody radiation—Planck's law—offers a good approximation of the spectrum of photons it sends out. All together, the visible photons look like white light, but when you pass the light through a prism, you can see the rainbow of different photons within it. This radiation is also why you show up brightly in a thermal image, but even room-temperature objects are constantly emitting and receiving blackbody photons, making them dimly visible as well. Typically, the shape of the object emitting the radiation doesn't get much consideration—for most purposes (as so often in physics), the object can be imagined as a sphere. But while shape doesn't affect the spectrum of wavelengths of the different photons, it can affect a different property: their polarization. Usually, photons from a blackbody source are randomly polarized—their waves may oscillate along any axis. The new study revealed that if the emitter was twisted at the micro or nanoscale, with the length of each twist similar to the wavelength of the emitted light, the blackbody radiation would be twisted too. The strength of the twisting in the light, or its elliptical polarization, depended on two main factors: how close the wavelength of the photon was to the length of each twist and the electronic properties of the material—nanocarbon or metal, in this case. Twisted light is also called "chiral" because the clockwise and counterclockwise rotations are mirror images of one another. The study was undertaken to demonstrate the premise of a more applied project that the Michigan team would like to pursue: using chiral blackbody radiation to identify objects. They envision robots and self-driving cars that can see like mantis shrimp , differentiating among light waves with different directions of twirl and degrees of twistedness. "The advancements in physics of blackbody radiation by chiral nanostructures is central to this study. Such emitters are everywhere around us," said Nicholas Kotov, the Irving Langmuir Distinguished Professor of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, director of NSF Center of Complex Particles and Particle Systems (COMPASS) and corresponding author of the study. Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. Sign up for our free newsletter and get updates on breakthroughs, innovations, and research that matter— daily or weekly . "These findings, for example, could be important for an autonomous vehicle to tell the difference between a deer and a human, which emit light with similar wavelengths but different helicity because deer fur has a different curl from our fabric." While brightness is the main advantage of this method for producing twisted light—up to 100 times brighter than other approaches—the light includes a broad spectrum of both wavelengths and twists. The team has ideas about how to address this, including exploring the possibility of building a laser that relies on twisted light -emitting structures. Kotov also wants to explore further into the infrared spectrum. The peak wavelength of blackbody radiation at room temperature is roughly 10,000 nanometers or 0.01 millimeters. "This is an area of the spectrum with a lot of noise, but it may be possible to enhance contrast through their elliptical polarization," Kotov said. Kotov is also the Joseph B. and Florence V. Cejka Professor of Engineering, a professor of macromolecular science and engineering and a member of U-M's Biointerfaces Institute. Lu is an incoming assistant professor of chemistry and physics at the National University of Singapore. The device was built in the COMPASS Lab located at the North Campus Research Complex of U-M and studied at the Michigan Center for Materials Characterization. More information: Jun Lu et al, Bright, circularly polarized black-body radiation from twisted nanocarbon filaments, Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adq4068 Journal information: Science Provided by University of Michigan