online casino games list By LISA MASCARO and FARNOUSH AMIRI WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard faced fresh scrutiny Monday on Capitol Hill about her proximity to Russian-ally Syria amid the sudden collapse of that country’s hardline Assad rule. Gabbard ignored shouted questions about her 2017 visit to war-torn Syria as she ducked into one of several private meetings with senators who are being asked to confirm Trump’s unusual nominees . Related Articles National Politics | Trump promises to end birthright citizenship: What is it and could he do it? National Politics | Trump has flip-flopped on abortion policy. His appointees may offer clues to what happens next National Politics | In promising to shake up Washington, Trump is in a class of his own National Politics | Election Day has long passed. In some states, legislatures are working to undermine the results National Politics | Trump attorney Alina Habba, a Lehigh University grad, to serve as counselor to the president But the Democrat-turned-Republican Army National Reserve lieutenant colonel delivered a statement in which she reiterated her support for Trump’s America First approach to national security and a more limited U.S. military footprint overseas. “I want to address the issue that’s in the headlines right now: I stand in full support and wholeheartedly agree with the statements that President Trump has made over these last few days with regards to the developments in Syria,” Gabbard said exiting a Senate meeting. The incoming president’s Cabinet and top administrative choices are dividing his Republican allies and drawing concern , if not full opposition, from Democrats and others. Not just Gabbard, but other Trump nominees including Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth, were back at the Capitol ahead of what is expected to be volatile confirmation hearings next year. The incoming president is working to put his team in place for an ambitious agenda of mass immigrant deportations, firing federal workers and rollbacks of U.S. support for Ukraine and NATO allies. “We’re going to sit down and visit, that’s what this is all about,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., as he welcomed Gabbard into his office. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary pick Hegseth appeared to be picking up support from once-skeptical senators, the former Army National Guard major denying sexual misconduct allegations and pledging not to drink alcohol if he is confirmed. The president-elect’s choice to lead the FBI, Kash Patel , who has written extensively about locking up Trump’s foes and proposed dismantling the Federal Bureau of Investigation, launched his first visits with senators Monday. “I expect our Republican Senate is going to confirm all of President Trump’s nominees,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on social media. Despite widespread concern about the nominees’ qualifications and demeanors for the jobs that are among the highest positions in the U.S. government, Trump’s team is portraying the criticism against them as nothing more than political smears and innuendo. Showing that concern, nearly 100 former senior U.S. diplomats and intelligence and national security officials have urged Senate leaders to schedule closed-door hearings to allow for a full review of the government’s files on Gabbard. Trump’s allies have described the criticisms of Hegseth in particular as similar to those lodged against Brett Kavanaugh, the former president’s Supreme Court nominee who denied a sexual assault allegation and went on to be confirmed during Trump’s first term in office. Said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., about Hegseth: “Anonymous accusations are trying to destroy reputations again. We saw this with Kavanaugh. I won’t stand for it.” One widely watched Republican, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, herself a former Army National Guard lieutenant colonel and sexual assault survivor who had been criticized by Trump allies for her cool reception to Hegseth, appeared more open to him after their follow-up meeting Monday. “I appreciate Pete Hegseth’s responsiveness and respect for the process,” Ernst said in a statement. Ernst said that following “encouraging conversations,” he had committed to selecting a senior official who will “prioritize and strengthen my work to prevent sexual assault within the ranks. As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources.” Ernst also had praise for Patel — “He shares my passion for shaking up federal agencies” — and for Gabbard. Once a rising Democratic star, Gabbard, who represented Hawaii in Congress, arrived a decade ago in Washington, her surfboard in tow, a new generation of potential leaders. She ran unsuccessfully for president in 2020. But Gabbard abruptly left the party and briefly became an independent before joining with Trump’s 2024 campaign as one of his enthusiasts, in large part over his disdain for U.S. involvement overseas and opposition to helping Ukraine battle Russia. Her visit to Syria to meet with then-President Bashar Assad around the time of Trump’s first inauguration during the country’s bloody civil war stunned her former colleagues and the Washington national security establishment. The U.S. had severed diplomatic relations with Syria. Her visit was seen by some as legitimizing a brutal leader who was accused of war crimes. Gabbard has defended the trip, saying it’s important to open dialogue, but critics hear in her commentary echoes of Russia-fueled talking points. Assad fled to Moscow over the weekend after Islamist rebels overtook Syria in a surprise attack, ending his family’s five decades of rule. She said her own views have been shaped by “my multiple deployments and seeing firsthand the cost of war and the threat of Islamist terrorism.” Gabbard said, “It’s one of the many reasons why I appreciate President Trump’s leadership and his election, where he is fully committed, as he has said over and over, to bring about an end to wars.” Last week, the nearly 100 former officials, who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, said in the letter to Senate leaders they were “alarmed” by the choice of Gabbard to oversee all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. They said her past actions “call into question her ability to deliver unbiased intelligence briefings to the President, Congress, and to the entire national security apparatus.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to coordinate the nation’s intelligence agencies and act as the president’s main intelligence adviser. Associated Press writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report.( MENAFN - Newsfile Corp) Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - December 17, 2024) - The Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE" or "the Exchange") today welcomed the listing of Boreal Gold Inc. ("Boreal" or the "Company"). The Flin Flon, Manitoba-based mineral exploration company recently filed a prospectus for the purpose of becoming a reporting issuer and its common shares were listed on the CSE today under the symbol BGLD . Boreal has a specific focus on mineral properties in the prolific Flin Flon greenstone belt of Northwest Manitoba and Northeast Saskatchewan. The Company holds option agreements which provide it with exclusive mineral rights to two properties. The Melgurd Lake Property in east central Saskatchewan comprises 11 contiguous mineral claims totaling 7,422 hectares. The Fay Lake Property lies on the northern boundary of the Flin Flon main camp in Manitoba and comprises 17 contiguous mineral claims totaling 2,719 hectares. Both properties are in close proximity to other known deposits. "The CSE has been an exchange of choice for junior mineral exploration companies since our inception 20 years ago," said James Black, the CSE's Vice President, Listings Development. "With the current strength in gold prices, this is an ideal time for these companies to access public markets. We are pleased to list the shares of Boreal Gold Inc. and wish the company success with its exploration program." "After two exciting years of exploration efforts at both the Fay Lake Property and Melgurd Lake Property, Boreal Gold is thrilled to announce the milestone transition from a private company to a publicly listed company on the CSE," said Richard Masson, President and CEO of Boreal Gold Inc. "Our entire team would like to express gratitude to our patient and loyal shareholders who have supported Boreal Gold's progress towards this next stage of development. We also warmly welcome new shareholders to join us in our exciting quest for potential mineral discoveries, as we continue our exploration efforts and seek growth opportunities through the acquisition of strategic assets." About the Canadian Securities Exchange: The Canadian Securities Exchange is a rapidly growing exchange invested in working with entrepreneurs, innovators and disruptors to access public capital markets in Canada. The Exchange's efficient operating model, advanced technology and competitive fee structure help its listed issuers of all sectors and sizes minimize their cost of capital and enhance global liquidity. Our client-centric approach and corresponding products and services ensure businesses have the support they need to confidently realize their vision. The CSE offers global investors access to an innovative collection of growing and mature companies. STAY CONNECTED WITH THE CSE ============================= Website : Blog : CSE TV on YouTube : CSE's "The Exchange for EntrepreneursTM" Podcast : category/cse-podcast/ Linkedin : Twitter : Instagram : Facebook : Contact: James Black 416-572-2000 ... To view the source version of this press release, please visit SOURCE: Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) MENAFN17122024004218003983ID1109004686 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.NFL, Justice Department urge Congress to take action on threat from drones

Saudi Arabia's plans to host the men's World Cup 2034 will be harmful for the climate, experts sayICPC recovers N52bn, $966,900.83, intercepts N5.9bn diverted by MDAsAlkami technology's chief strategy officer sells $825,741 in stock

By LISA MASCARO and FARNOUSH AMIRI WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard faced fresh scrutiny Monday on Capitol Hill about her proximity to Russian-ally Syria amid the sudden collapse of that country’s hardline Assad rule. Gabbard ignored shouted questions about her 2017 visit to war-torn Syria as she ducked into one of several private meetings with senators who are being asked to confirm Trump’s unusual nominees . Related Articles National Politics | Trump promises to end birthright citizenship: What is it and could he do it? National Politics | Trump has flip-flopped on abortion policy. His appointees may offer clues to what happens next National Politics | In promising to shake up Washington, Trump is in a class of his own National Politics | Election Day has long passed. In some states, legislatures are working to undermine the results National Politics | Trump attorney Alina Habba, a Lehigh University grad, to serve as counselor to the president But the Democrat-turned-Republican Army National Reserve lieutenant colonel delivered a statement in which she reiterated her support for Trump’s America First approach to national security and a more limited U.S. military footprint overseas. “I want to address the issue that’s in the headlines right now: I stand in full support and wholeheartedly agree with the statements that President Trump has made over these last few days with regards to the developments in Syria,” Gabbard said exiting a Senate meeting. The incoming president’s Cabinet and top administrative choices are dividing his Republican allies and drawing concern , if not full opposition, from Democrats and others. Not just Gabbard, but other Trump nominees including Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth, were back at the Capitol ahead of what is expected to be volatile confirmation hearings next year. The incoming president is working to put his team in place for an ambitious agenda of mass immigrant deportations, firing federal workers and rollbacks of U.S. support for Ukraine and NATO allies. “We’re going to sit down and visit, that’s what this is all about,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., as he welcomed Gabbard into his office. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary pick Hegseth appeared to be picking up support from once-skeptical senators, the former Army National Guard major denying sexual misconduct allegations and pledging not to drink alcohol if he is confirmed. The president-elect’s choice to lead the FBI, Kash Patel , who has written extensively about locking up Trump’s foes and proposed dismantling the Federal Bureau of Investigation, launched his first visits with senators Monday. “I expect our Republican Senate is going to confirm all of President Trump’s nominees,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on social media. Despite widespread concern about the nominees’ qualifications and demeanors for the jobs that are among the highest positions in the U.S. government, Trump’s team is portraying the criticism against them as nothing more than political smears and innuendo. Showing that concern, nearly 100 former senior U.S. diplomats and intelligence and national security officials have urged Senate leaders to schedule closed-door hearings to allow for a full review of the government’s files on Gabbard. Trump’s allies have described the criticisms of Hegseth in particular as similar to those lodged against Brett Kavanaugh, the former president’s Supreme Court nominee who denied a sexual assault allegation and went on to be confirmed during Trump’s first term in office. Said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., about Hegseth: “Anonymous accusations are trying to destroy reputations again. We saw this with Kavanaugh. I won’t stand for it.” One widely watched Republican, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, herself a former Army National Guard lieutenant colonel and sexual assault survivor who had been criticized by Trump allies for her cool reception to Hegseth, appeared more open to him after their follow-up meeting Monday. “I appreciate Pete Hegseth’s responsiveness and respect for the process,” Ernst said in a statement. Ernst said that following “encouraging conversations,” he had committed to selecting a senior official who will “prioritize and strengthen my work to prevent sexual assault within the ranks. As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources.” Ernst also had praise for Patel — “He shares my passion for shaking up federal agencies” — and for Gabbard. Once a rising Democratic star, Gabbard, who represented Hawaii in Congress, arrived a decade ago in Washington, her surfboard in tow, a new generation of potential leaders. She ran unsuccessfully for president in 2020. But Gabbard abruptly left the party and briefly became an independent before joining with Trump’s 2024 campaign as one of his enthusiasts, in large part over his disdain for U.S. involvement overseas and opposition to helping Ukraine battle Russia. Her visit to Syria to meet with then-President Bashar Assad around the time of Trump’s first inauguration during the country’s bloody civil war stunned her former colleagues and the Washington national security establishment. The U.S. had severed diplomatic relations with Syria. Her visit was seen by some as legitimizing a brutal leader who was accused of war crimes. Gabbard has defended the trip, saying it’s important to open dialogue, but critics hear in her commentary echoes of Russia-fueled talking points. Assad fled to Moscow over the weekend after Islamist rebels overtook Syria in a surprise attack, ending his family’s five decades of rule. She said her own views have been shaped by “my multiple deployments and seeing firsthand the cost of war and the threat of Islamist terrorism.” Gabbard said, “It’s one of the many reasons why I appreciate President Trump’s leadership and his election, where he is fully committed, as he has said over and over, to bring about an end to wars.” Last week, the nearly 100 former officials, who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, said in the letter to Senate leaders they were “alarmed” by the choice of Gabbard to oversee all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. They said her past actions “call into question her ability to deliver unbiased intelligence briefings to the President, Congress, and to the entire national security apparatus.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to coordinate the nation’s intelligence agencies and act as the president’s main intelligence adviser. Associated Press writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report.Tile shop holdings sees $496k in stock purchases by investorsYext’s (NYSE:YEXT) Q3 Sales Top Estimates But Stock Drops 10.7%

NoneTrump's lawyers rebuff DA's idea for upholding his hush money conviction7 Times Tulsi Gabbard Went To Bat In Congress For Now-Deposed Syrian Dictator Bashar Assad

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo Apple “could not have been unaware” that its supply chain was contaminated with “blood minerals,” a lawyer representing the Democratic Republic of Congo said Tuesday. The trial in the capital Kinshasa marks the first in a series of legal actions against major corporations. Robert Amsterdam of Amsterdam & Partners said Apple was chosen as a target due to its immense economic influence and its public messaging on environmental commitments, particularly claims of contributing to the preservation of the planet. “Apple is one of the most symbolic targets because of its ubiquitous messaging about ‘doing good for the planet’,” he said. The minerals in question – tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold – are critical components in manufacturing electronic devices, including smartphones, tablets, and computers. These resources are primarily extracted from the Kivu region in eastern Congo, where armed groups, including the Rwandan-backed M23, maintain control over mining operations. According to UN expert reports, M23 generates approximately $300,000 in monthly revenue through illegal taxes imposed on local mining activities. The case raises serious questions about the reliability of mineral traceability systems, such as the International Tin Supply Chain Initiative program. The initiative lost its validation from the Responsible Minerals Initiative nearly two years ago, yet some companies continue to cite it as proof of compliance despite its reported shortcomings. Apple, responding to the allegations, acknowledged that like other technology firms, it indirectly sources minerals from Congo and neighboring Rwanda through a complex network of intermediaries, including trading posts, refineries, and smelters. These intermediaries are expected to adhere to traceability standards set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Congolese authorities have filed lawsuits against Apple subsidiaries in France and Belgium, accusing the company of complicity in war crimes, money laundering, and consumer deception. The legal action highlights efforts to expose the role of multinational corporations in exploiting minerals from conflict zones. The conflict in eastern Congo is rooted in decades of instability, armed group activity, and competition over valuable resources. The region, rich in tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold – often referred to as “conflict minerals” – has been a center of violence and illegal mining. Armed groups such as the M23 exploit these resources to fund operations, imposing illegal taxes and controlling mines. International corporations’ involvement in the region has come under growing scrutiny, as these minerals enter global supply chains, indirectly fueling the ongoing conflict. While traceability systems aim to ensure ethical sourcing, they have demonstrated significant weaknesses. Congo’s lawsuit against Apple underscores mounting efforts to hold multinational corporations accountable for their direct or indirect role in perpetuating cycles of conflict and exploitation.Rere School Christmas Fete. A range of stalls, delicious food, drinks, seating areas, music and Santa. Bushmere Arms, 10am, Main Rd, Waerenga-a-Hika. Artist Zoe Alford has a new exhibition at Matawhero Art Gallery. See paintings inspired by the coastal landscapes of Gisborne in pastel pigment. 12pm – 4pm, Matawhero Winery, 189 Riverpoint Rd. Peter Pan – The Ballet. The Nadine Antoinette School of Dance will perform two shows featuring a range of styles, including ballet, jazz and contemporary. Matinee at 1.30pm and an evening performance at 6pm. Gisborne War Memorial Theatre, 159 Bright St. Sea Mouse: Trio from Wellington with a unique blend of sounds from the Delta blues of the 1930s to mammoth guitar-driven garage rock tunes, coupled with a high-energy live show. Bar opens at 5pm. Show starts 8pm. The Dome Bar and Cinema, 38 Childers Rd. The 7th Annual Summer Soundcheck. Mini festival with music across two stages, indoor and outdoor, featuring BrazilBeat, Geeez, Peta Norris, Magick, DJose. 8pm, Smash Palace, 34 Banks St, Awapuni. Tatapouri Bay Makers Market. Showcasing pottery, wooden spoons, jewellery, scents, wax candles, art and more. Tatapouri Bay Café. 10am – 2pm, 516 Whangara Rd, Makorori. End of Year Singers’ Concert. Students of vocal coach Letitia Lindeque will be performing a variety of popular songs from artists like Celine Dion, Adele and Taylor Swift. Smash Palace. 1pm – 4pm, 34 Banks St, Awapuni. It’s a Gizzy Christmas! Live music, face painting, arts and crafts for the kids, a free sausage sizzle for under-12s (with food trucks offering dinner for purchase for mum and dad), bouncy castles, photo booths, so you can take your own Christmas family shots. The night will end with the return of Carols by Candlelight. 5pm, Marina Park, 1 Vogel St, Whataupoko. Christmas in the Trees at Eastwood Hill Arboretum. Live music, food stalls and arts and crafts stalls. Kids can dress up as their favourite Christmas character, lolly scramble and lawn games. 4.30pm – 8pm, 2392 Wharekopae Rd, Ngatapa. • 500 Card Club: Poverty Bay Bowling Club. 111 Ormond Rd, 1-4pm, $3. Ph Tony 863 3468. • Fun Dancing Gisborne – Modern Sequence and Social Ballroom: St Andrew’s Church hall, 176 Cobden St, 7.30-9.30pm, $7. Ph Kev or Isabel 867 0074 or 021 181 2414. • Sun City Spinners: Poverty Bay Bowling Club, 111 Ormond Rd, 9am-11.30am, fees apply. Ph Dale 867 5083 or email . • He Kākano - Little Seeds: A fun singalong and read for under-2-year-olds. H.B. Williams Memorial Library, 34 Bright St, 10.30am, free. • Gisborne Line Dancing: Senior Citizens Hall, 30 Grey St, 4.30-7.30pm, ph Kerry 021 102 4890. • Hāpu Māmā Aqua Class: Focuses on keeping mum-to-be comfortably active while their puku and pēpi are supported by the water. Kiwa Pools, 45 Centennial Marine Drive, Awapuni, 6.30pm-7.15pm. • Croquet: Barry Memorial Croquet Club summer season of twilight croquet. 4pm start. Equipment and coaching available, $3 for non-members. 530 Aberdeen Rd. • Badminton: Three age groups of badminton - Kiwi Shots (Years 3-6) 3.30pm-4.30pm; Mid Shots (Yrs 7-8) 4.30pm-5.30pm; Hot Shots (Yrs 9-13) 5.45-7.15pm. Badminton Centre, 154 Roebuck Rd. $10. • Mainly Music: A fun music group for preschoolers. St Andrew’s Church community centre, 176 Cobden St, 9.45am, $4/family, ph Trish 867 2789 or 868 5513. • Fifties Forward: Low-impact aerobics class. YMCA Stadium, 447 Childers Rd, 9.30am, $2. • Gisborne Concert Band: 6.30pm-8pm, The Bandroom, 200 Childers Rd. If you play brass, woodwind or percussion, come and join. New musicians welcome. • Te Pihinga/Little Sprouts: Fun singalong and read for 2-to-5-year-olds. H.B. Williams Memorial Library, 34 Bright St, 10.30am, free. • Gisborne Line Dancing: Senior Citizens Hall, 30 Grey St, 6-8pm, ph Kerry 021 102 4890. • Gisborne Caledonian Society Practice: Social, modern and sequence dancing. Holy Trinity Church Hall, 70 Derby St, 7.30-9.30pm, $5, ph Pat 021 049 7148. • Friday Stairs Workout: Lower carpark, Titirangi/Kaiti Hill 5.55am, workout 6am-6.40am. • Te Aka Rangatahi/The Teen Vine: Anime Club or King of the Board. H.B. Williams Memorial Library, 34 Bright St, 3.30-5pm, free. • Sunrise yoga at 6.45am: Tatapouri Bay Oceanside Accommodation. Tatapouri Bay, 516 Whāngārā Rd. • Gisborne Parkrun: Waikanae Surf Life Saving Club, 280E Grey St, 7.45-10am. Register at . • Tairāwhiti Coffin Club: BCR Joinery, 522 Gladstone Rd, 9am-10am. Details: . • Gisborne Farmers’ Market: Cnr Stout and Fitzherbert streets, 9.30am-12.30pm. • Tennis for all: Ormond Tennis Club, Hill Rd, Ormond, 2-4pm, ph 862 5741 or 862 5856. • Gisborne Walkers Club: 8am. Text 027 890 2224 for where to meet. • Silent Flute Taijiquan: Movement lab for life. A free one-hour Tai Chi Chuan (Mandarin) Taijiquan (Cantonese) class open to everyone. 1pm-2pm, Gisborne Botanical Gardens, 391 Aberdeen Rd. Class will be held at Anytime Fitness gym if weather isn’t fine. Text Mike Baker to confirm location: 021 049 0722. • East Coast Museum of Technology: 67 Main Rd, Makaraka, 10am-4pm, $10 adults, $5 seniors, $2 school children, under-5s free. See Facebook or . • Lions Express Train rides: Starts near Gisborne Wainui Lions Junior Cycle Park, Centennial Marine Drive, 11am-3pm, weather permitting, $2. • Mahjong Club (Mon and Thurs): Gisborne Town & Country Women’s Club, 42 Emily St, 12.30pm. Inquiries to Margaret 863 0144. • Tairāwhiti Menzshed (Tues, Thurs and Sat): Cnr Parkinson & Innes streets, Sat 9am-3pm; Tues and Thurs 9am-2pm. Details: ph/text 022 465 0396. • Tairāwhiti Aviation Museum (Tues and Sun): Gisborne Airport, Aerodrome Rd, 9am-3pm, $5 adults, under-12s free. • Gisborne Country Music Club (1st and 3rd Sundays): Senior Citizens Hall, 30 Grey St, 1pm-4pm, $5 visitors, $3 members, $1 children, ph Flo 867 7637, 027 494 6979 or . • Gisborne Woodworking Club (2nd and 4th Saturdays and last Thursday): Green shed opposite the Enterprise Aquatic Centre carpark, Nelson Rd, 10am to about 12pm. Inquiries ph Bill 027 450 7719 or email . • Gizzy Monthly Market (1st Saturday): Locally produced crafts, food and products. Lawson Field Rose Garden, 7 Fitzherbert St, 9am-1pm (weather permitting). • Gas Guzzlers’ Breakfast (1st Sunday): Behind the courthouse on Reads Quay, 8.30-11am. • Crop Swap (1st Sunday): Swap plants, produce, preserves, baking, books and more. Makaraka School carpark, 137 Main Rd, Makaraka, 2-3pm. • Irish Music Session (1st Sunday). The Rivers, corner Gladstone Rd and Reads Quay, 4pm-6pm, ph Marty 021 055 7685. • Gisborne Floral Art Club (1st Monday). Waverley St hall, Elgin, 9.30-11.30am. (3rd Wednesday) Kahutia Bowling Club, 7pm. • Poverty Bay Blues Night (1st Tuesday): Dome Cinema, PBC, 38 Childers Rd, 6pm doors, 7pm gig, $10 door sales, Poverty Bay Blues Club members free, R18. • Ulysses Motorcycle Club (1st Tuesday): Bushmere Arms public bar, 673 Matawai Rd, Waerenga-a-Hika, 7.30pm, ph Chris 027 460 2430. • Gisborne Friendship Group – formerly the Gisborne Combined Club (1st Wednesday): For active retirees looking for friendship. Kahutia Bowling Club, 165 Cobden St, 9.30am, $5 inc morning tea. Register with Noelene ph 868 4473 or Dianne ph 867 4294. • U3A Gisborne (1st Thursday): Social interaction and learning for mature-aged folk. Gisborne Cosmopolitan Club, 190 Derby St, 9.30am, $2 at door, ph Diane 027 444 1073. • Myalgic Encephalopathy/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Support Group (1st Friday: CCS, 7 Kahutia St, 10.30am-1pm, ph Moira 027 457 6923. • Prostate Support Group (2nd Tuesday): Cancer Society Rooms, 718 Gladstone Rd, 4.30pm, inquiries ph 021 063 4515. • The Country Garden Club (2nd Tuesday): Waerenga-a-Hika Hall, 728 Matawai Rd, 7.30pm, $2, ph Katrine 867 2427. • Gisborne Proactive Club (3rd Wednesday): Retired people’s interest group. Watson Room, Gisborne Cosmopolitan Club, 190 Derby St, 9.30am, $30/year sub and $5/meeting, ph Malcolm 867 2591, or 027 240 2590. • Gisborne Camera Club (3rd Thursday): Senior Citizens Hall, 30 Grey St, 7.30pm. Details: • Gisborne Sceptic Group (3rd Sunday): 11am. For details/venue ph 867 3715 or 867 7122. • Te Hapara Garden and Floral Art Club (4th Tuesday): Redstone Room, Farmers Air Event Centre, Showgrounds Park, Makaraka, 2pm. • First City Toastmasters: Become a confident speaker and leader (1st and 3rd Tuesday). Adult Literacy Rooms, 1st Floor, 100 Grey St, Gisborne, 6.15pm. Ph Helen 022 1945671. • To include your event, email details to at least a week before the event.The Great Indian Shift Trend On TikTok Is Not A Compliment, It’s Just White ApprovalUniqlo boss says firm does not use Xinjiang cotton

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail on Wednesday as he awaits a May sex trafficking trial by a judge who cited evidence showing him to be a “serious risk” of witness tampering and proof he has tried to hide prohibited communications with third parties while incarcerated. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ruled in a five-page order following a bail hearing last week. At the hearing, lawyers for the hip-hop mogul argued that a $50 million bail package they proposed would be sufficient to ensure Combs doesn’t flee and doesn’t try to intimidate prospective trial witnesses. Two other judges previously had agreed with prosecutors that the Bad Boy Records founder was a danger to the community if he is not behind bars. Subramanian concurred. “There is compelling evidence of Combs's propensity for violence,” Subramanian wrote. Lawyers did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the decision. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years, aided by associates and employees. An indictment alleges that he silenced victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings. A federal appeals court judge last month denied Combs’ immediate release while a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan considers his bail request. That appeal was put on hold while Subramanian, newly appointed to the case after an earlier judge stepped aside, considered the bail request for the first time. Subramanian said he took a fresh look at all the bail arguments and the evidence supporting them to make his decision. Prosecutors have insisted that no bail conditions would be sufficient to protect the public and prevent the “I'll Be Missing You” singer from fleeing. They say that even in a federal lockup in Brooklyn, Combs has orchestrated social media campaigns designed to influence prospective jurors and tried to publicly leak materials he thinks can help his case. They say he also has contacted potential witnesses through third parties. Lawyers for Combs say any alleged sexual abuse described in the indictment occurred during consensual relations between adults and that new evidence refutes allegations that Combs used his “power and prestige” to induce female victims into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances with male sex workers known as “Freak Offs.” Subramanian said evidence shows Combs to be a “serious risk of witness tampering,” particularly after he communicated over the summer with a grand jury witness and deleted some of his texts with the witness. The judge also cited evidence showing that Combs violated Bureau of Prisons regulations during pretrial detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn when he paid other inmates to use their phone code numbers so he could make calls to individuals who were not on his approved contact list. He said there was also evidence that he told family members and defense counsel to add other people to three-way calls so their communications would be more difficult to trace and that he made efforts to influence his trial's jury pool or to reach potential witnesses. Subramanian said his “willingness to skirt” jailhouse rules to conceal communications was “strong evidence” that any conditions of release would not prevent similar behavior. The judge said defense claims that Combs stopped using one particular phone technique criticized by prosecutors was belied by the fact that Combs apparently used it again on Sunday, two days after his bail hearing last week. Even a bail proposal that would include the strictest form of home confinement seemed insufficient, the judge said. “Given the nature of the allegations in this case and the information provided by the government, the Court doubts the sufficiency of any conditions that place trust in Combs and individuals in his employ — like a private security detail — to follow those conditions,” Subramanian wrote.

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A nonprofit leader, a social worker: Here are the stories of the people on Biden's clemency listThe first sign that something was amiss at UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s investor day was when Brian Thompson didn’t show up to his early morning hair and makeup appointment. At around 6:40 a.m. on Wednesday of last week, Thompson, 50, was shot outside the New York Hilton Midtown hotel in a killing that gripped the world. On Monday, police arrested a man in connection with the shooting who local officials found in Altoona, Pennsylvania, carrying a gun and a handwritten three-page manifesto decrying the health-care industry’s profit motives. While the police investigation unfolds, the $500 billion health-care company is simultaneously trying to cope with the personal tragedy of losing a top executive and a spiraling PR crisis that risks long-term reputational harm in a country where so many have turned against it. Interviews with people familiar with the events show a company under siege. UnitedHealth locked down its Minnesota, New York City and Washington, DC, offices to external visitors and urged workers with safety fears to stay home, according to messages seen by Bloomberg News. A new management structure was put in place to navigate the situation, one message said, without detailing who was running UnitedHealth’s largest division in the wake of Thompson’s death. A private funeral for friends and family was set for Monday, while the company is still working on logistics to safely hold a memorial service, according to people familiar with the matter. Instead of eliciting sympathy from the public, the death of the insurance division’s chief executive officer has spawned a hate machine against the insurance industry that’s only getting louder as the days drag on with little insight into the killer’s motives. The man in custody, Luigi Mangione, 26, was noticed by a McDonald’s employee while he was eating at the restaurant, police said. The manifesto he was carrying speaks to both his “motivation and mindset,” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday. It’s a crucial break in a case that dragged on for days in what police say was a targeted and premeditated killing. Bullet casings recovered at the scene bore the words “denied,” “depose,” and “delay,” loosely echoing the book title Delay, Deny, Defend, which describes tactics allegedly used by insurers to deny claims. “Our hope is that today’s apprehension brings some relief to Brian’s family, friends, colleagues, and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy. We thank law enforcement and will continue to work with them on this investigation,” a UnitedHealth spokesperson said in a statement. Inside the company, meetings and presentations were canceled after the shooting. A crisis communications firm was tapped to help. And tributes to Thompson poured in. “The news of Brian's passing has been overwhelming for all of us and we feel his loss profoundly,” said UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty said in an email to staff on Wednesday that was seen by Bloomberg News. But outside the Minnetonka, Minnesota-based insurer, a groundswell of anger against the for-profit insurance industry continues to intensify across the U.S. A singer posted a folk song about the shooting on social media. Saturday Night Live even joked about the reaction to the killing over the weekend. Thompson’s death has become a symbol of revenge over denied medical bills and lack of access to necessary care, an issue that some UnitedHealth employees say they’re growing increasingly anxious about. While the company has sent a series of messages extolling Thompson and decrying his killing, some employees say they want to see a more direct response to the vitriol against the company. A company under siege On the morning of the shooting, some executives noticed a frenzy of police cars on one of the hotel’s side streets as they arrived for the investor meeting. They were redirected by the New York Police Department into a different hotel entrance, according to people familiar with the events who asked to speak anonymously as law enforcement continues its investigation. The executives headed into the building and upstairs to the conference area where they sipped coffee, chatted and proceeded to get their hair and makeup done. Executives began to speculate about what happened outside the hotel. A person had collapsed — maybe a heart attack, some suggested. Others thought there had been a shooting. They did not immediately think it was related to the absence of their colleague, known affectionately as “BT,” according to the people. As the minutes ticked closer to the start of the investor meeting, unease grew. It was unusual for Thompson, a 20-year veteran of UnitedHealth who’d climbed the ranks to run its key insurance division, to not show up for an important day like this. Colleagues suspected he’d overslept or was sick in bed, and planned to send someone to his room at a nearby hotel to check on him. They prepped a backup speaker to give Thompson’s presentation if he didn’t arrive on time, the people said. It took a few minutes for the 8 a.m. event to begin, after some 275 people showed up. It’s unclear why they didn’t start on time. But as Witty, the company’s CEO, began his opening remarks, a handful of executives were alerted of a security emergency. They stepped away from the event. They were told Thompson had been killed outside of the hotel that morning. As the investor day presentations continued, the small group of company executives in the know were questioned by police. The executives immediately started trying to reach Thompson’s family. They wanted to tell his wife and kids before the media got a hold of the story. Meanwhile, Witty was told of Thompson’s death on the sidelines of the conference. He was distraught, people familiar with the event said, but had to make quick decisions about the safety of his employees and what to do about the ongoing investor meeting. As all of that was happening, the news got out. Mobile alerts about Thompson’s death started pinging attendees’ phones. There were gasps. People in the audience started looking around to see if others knew. Around 9 a.m., Witty cut the investor day short. “Some of you may know we’re dealing with a very serious medical situation with one of our team members,” he said. “And as a result, I’m afraid we’re going to have to bring to a close the event today, which I apologize for.” Thompson had been dead for two hours. While conference-goers dispersed in a haze of confusion and grief, UnitedHealth executives and some employees were pulled into a room together at the hotel, the people said. With no information about the shooter’s motive, some feared for their own personal safety. Later that day, the company pulled down bio pages of its top executives and board members, while other employees deleted their profile pages on Linkedin. Tidal wave The vitriol following the shooting sparked a reckoning among some UnitedHealth employees. Much of the public animosity was aimed at the way insurance companies prevent Americans from getting the care their doctors prescribe. Some employees grappled with the idea that their paychecks were padded in part by the practice of denying care. Witty, in a video to staff last week, attempted to address the rage but failed to change the narrative for some workers. “As you've seen, people are writing things we simply don't recognize, are aggressive, inappropriate and disrespectful,” he said, urging employees to ignore the media. “There’s no value in engaging. ”One employee said they wanted to see accountability from Witty. The episode made them question whether they could keep working for UnitedHealth both mentally and morally, this person said. It wasn’t enough to extol Thompson as a leader, colleague, friend and family man, according to some workers who declined to speak publicly for fear of retribution. The noise had become too loud to ignore and they wanted to see management address it head on. This growing disconnect between Americans and their insurers is an increasing threat to the industry, said Wendell Potter, a former Cigna communications executive who has written books critical of health insurance. “They have to demonstrate quarter-to-quarter that they’re managing medical expenses because that’s what Wall Street expects,” Potter said. “They’re certainly not managing the expectations of the people that they serve.” In the company’s limited external communications, UnitedHealth said in a statement Thursday: “Our priorities are, first and foremost, supporting Brian’s family; ensuring the safety of our employees; and working with law enforcement to bring the perpetrators to justice.” The constrained response may be intentional. “If they were my client, I would say go radio silent unless they have new news,” said crisis communications specialist Bruce Hennes, who is not working with UnitedHealth. “This is not the time to get into extended arguments and discussions with people on social media. There’s nothing to be gained.” Investors are also reacting to the impact of the outrage on the company, which sent shares down 10% in the days following the shooting. The killing “has cast a dark shadow” over the health-care insurance industry, Jared Holz, a health-care equity strategist at Mizuho Securities, wrote in a note to clients about UnitedHealth’s stock drop. “We believe the majority of the pressure, if not all, is related to the idea that the crime was based on some level of dissatisfaction with the insurance industry, its tendency to deny coverage for patients (in some circumstances) and the emotional toil this can take on patients and families,” Holz said. In some ways, UnitedHealth is in an impossible situation. “I don’t know what they can do other than hope that it does go away,” Potter said. Insurance behemoth UnitedHealth, the country’s largest insurer, is known among those in the industry as a place with sharp elbows: It’s unafraid of high-profile legal battles or tough negotiations with medical providers. On Wall Street, the company gained a reputation for reliably hitting — and usually exceeding — financial targets, even if it meant slashing jobs to do so. The culture at the top was shaped for years by veterans of the defunct accounting firm Arthur Andersen, where Chairman and former CEO Stephen Hemsley once worked. A previous CEO, William McGuire, unceremoniously left the company and settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission over backdating stock options that regulators alleged enriched him and other executives. In recent years, a series of acquisitions have consolidated UnitedHealth’s position so much that when a cyberattack took out its Change Healthcare subsidiary, doctors offices and hospitals across the country were paralyzed. That market dominance has come under review by the Department of Justice, Bloomberg News has reported. Members of Congress have called for a breakup of the conglomerate. Thompson was one of a handful of executives who sold UnitedHealth shares after the company learned it was under investigation by the DOJ, but before that information was shared with the public, Bloomberg reported. The company’s stock fell when the DOJ investigation was reported. Thompson sold $15.1 million worth of shares, according to Bloomberg calculations. Growing through so many acquisitions rapidly turned UnitedHealth into a company with around 400,000 employees. Some former employees call it too big to manage effectively, with layers of management slowing down decision making and pressure on divisions to buy services from other parts of the company because UnitedHealth is in so many lines of business that feed off one another. Before the investor day last week was cut short, Witty used some of his time on stage to acknowledge the widespread dissatisfaction with his industry. “You only have to walk into a room with five people to hear four stories of frustration. ‘I couldn't find a doctor, I didn't know where to go. It's too difficult to understand,’” he said in a room full of financial analysts and investors. For now, Witty’s trying to reassure his employees that the narrative hasn’t spiraled out of the company’s control. “We will work through this together. But it's going to be difficult,” he told workers in a video address last week. “Life won't be the same again.” (With assistance from Antonia Mufarech, Gerry Smith, Madison Muller, John Lauerman and Myles Miller.) ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

——Introducing Sanyou Mrna Mab innovative antibody generation technology platform SHANGHAI, Dec. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- With the announcement of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, microRNA has once again become the focus of global attention. In the past 20 years, three Nobel Prizes have been awarded to the field of RNA molecular research, namely "RNA interference mechanism - double-stranded RNA gene silencing (RNAi)" in 2006, "mRNA vaccines based on modified bases" in 2023, and "microRNA in post-transcriptional gene regulation" in 2024. By studying different types of RNA, scientists have subverted people's previous understanding of the role of RNA in the regulation of gene expression, unveiled the mystery of RNA as the engine of evolution of organisms, and as the control of genetic information flow. This opens a new window for us to understand the basic mechanisms of life sciences, and also opens up new ideas for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. The Mrna Mab innovative monoclonal antibody technology platform is launched following this trend, which covers mRNA sequence design, mRNA in vitro transcription and purification, mRNA-LNP packaging, mRNA-LNP animal immunization, STAL phage display antibody library construction, automated antibody library screening, Bac-to-Mammalian full-length antibody production, integrated antibody screening and other technologies, which can provide one-stop innovative antibody research and development from target to high-quality monoclonal antibody. This platform from Sanyou Bio has a number of advantages: 1) AI-assisted design of the mRNA non-coding region (UTR) sequence to enhance the mRNA stability; 2) Optimization of the mRNA coding region (CDS) sequence based on the sequence analysis software independently developed by the company, which can enhance the mRNA stability and improve the translation efficiency; 3) mRNA animal immunization which can obtain equivalent serum titers, and reduce the preparation cost and time of difficult-to-express antigens. In addition, Sanyou Bio has established a complete mRNA supply chain, which ensures the stability, efficacy and integrity of mRNA from preparation to LNP packaging. Sanyou Bio's mRNA platform jumps out of the limitations of protein targets, further expands its one-stop service for antigen preparation and antibody discovery, and develops customized plans according to different target types to meet customers' needs. For proteins that are difficult to prepare in vitro, such as multi-transmembrane proteins (e.g., CD20) and GPCR proteins (e.g., CCR8), mRNA immunization can not only reduce the cost and time of antigen preparation, but also maintains comparable serum titer compared to conventional VLP and cell line immunization. About Sanyou Bio Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. is a high-tech biopharmaceutical company with the vision of "improving the quality of human life through innovative biologics" and the mission of " to make the R&D easy for innovative biologics". The company is headquartered in Shanghai, China, with subsidiaries in the United States, Europe, and other regions. It has over 20,000 square meters of R&D and GMP facilities that are currently in operation or under planning. The company has established a world-leading preclinical intelligent and integrated R&D platform for innovative biologics, centered around an innovative platform of super-trillion antibody library. This platform accelerates the development of innovative biologics across four dimensions: new drug discovery, preclinical research, AI-assisted drug development, and frontier scientific research. Sanyou provides a comprehensive "4C" business model for innovative biologics, combining differentiated CRO, integrated CDO, collaborative CPO, and specialized CRS. The company has built a global marketing network and established business with over 1,200 pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide. It has completed more than 1,200 new drug discovery and development service projects, with over 50 collaborative R&D projects, including 9 that have obtained IND approval. The company has also developed thousands of RUO reagents. Sanyou has also received a number of nationwide and Shanghai recognitions and awards. View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/another-star-technology-platform-of-the-sanyou-ai-stal-family-302323327.html SOURCE Sanyou BioPlayoff game at Ohio State has sold 34% more tickets than Notre Dame game on StubHub

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CHICAGO (TNS) — For those on the right side of the political aisle, 2024 was a mixed bag. On the one hand, we had to trudge through the final year of Joe Biden’s disastrous presidency while fighting tooth and nail to prevent the administration from inflicting further economic carnage. On the other hand, we also were given an enormous gift at the beginning of November with the victory of Donald Trump. Now, without further ado, I present the top five moments of 2024. First, it goes without saying that the election on Nov. 5 was, by far, the best moment of 2024. At the start of 2024, things did not look good for Trump as he faced a litany of felony charges across multiple jurisdictions. However, despite the legal onslaught, Trump refused to back down. Aside from his legal problems, Trump faced several opponents as he fought for the GOP presidential nomination. Let’s not forget that in the spring, most political pundits and talking heads thought Trump could not win the Republican nomination for president. Yet, Trump emerged victorious and united the GOP under the Make America Great Again banner. Then, Trump pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in political history as he cruised to victory and helped the Republican Party gain control of both houses of Congress. This election will go down in history as a turning point, considering the vast inroads Trump made among voters who traditionally voted for Democrats. In second place among the best moments of 2024 comes Biden’s devastating debate performance. Although the polls were tight heading into the debate between Trump and Biden, the absolutely pitiful performance by Biden completely changed the state of the race. Soon after Biden flopped in front of millions of Americans, the Democratic Party pulled the plug on his re-election effort. Of course, this short-sighted move benefited Trump greatly as it demonstrated that the sitting president was senile. Even more important, it led to the rise of Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the Democratic ticket. Considering that Harris can barely speak coherently without flip-flopping on basically every central policy position, it really was a blessing in disguise that she inherited Biden’s place and was eventually destroyed by Trump. In third place, and this could have easily been first or second, comes Trump’s survival of two assassination attempts. In midsummer, Trump was crisscrossing the country, holding outdoor rallies. Unfortunately, Trump’s proclivity to engage with his supporters nearly cost him his life. However, despite two would-be assassins somehow evading Secret Service detection, and one got several shots off, Trump was largely unharmed. While this was a blessing, we also must never forget that one person, Corey Comperatore, died at the Butler, Pa., rally and two others were wounded. In a slightly different direction, for the fourth-best moment of 2024, I suggest the incredible technological feat achieved by SpaceX. On Oct. 14, SpaceX launched its Super Heavy Starship, the most powerful rocket in the world. Then, in an unprecedented engineering marvel, the 23-story tall Super Heavy booster returned to the launch pad in an upright position and was “caught” without a hitch. It was like something straight out of a science-fiction movie, and it clearly demonstrated that the age of space exploration has entered a new chapter. Rounding out the best moments of 2024, in fifth place, let’s return to the political arena and the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE is an early Christmas present for anyone leaning to the right side of the political aisle. For decades, conservatives and libertarians have been warning that the size and scope of the federal government is totally unsustainable and that big government is bad news for personal liberty. Finally, some significant spending cuts and institutional reforms are in the offing. With the national debt exceeding $36 trillion and trillion-dollar deficits the new normal, we need to downsize the federal bureaucracy and get back on sound fiscal footing before it is too late. (Chris Talgo is the editorial director at The Heartland Institute.)Number of women who are state lawmakers inches up to a record high

NEW ORLEANS — A scruffy little fugitive is on the lam again in New Orleans, gaining fame as he outwits a tenacious band of citizens armed with night-vision binoculars, nets and a tranquilizer rifle. Scrim, a 17-pound mutt that's mostly terrier, has become a folk hero, inspiring tattoos, T-shirts and even a ballad as he eludes capture from the posse of volunteers. And like any antihero, Scrim has a backstory: Rescued from semi-feral life at a trailer park and adopted from a shelter, the dog broke loose in April and scurried around the city until he was cornered in October and brought to a new home. Weeks later, he'd had enough. Scrim leaped out of a second-story window, a desperate act recorded in a now-viral video. Since then, despite a stream of daily sightings, he's roamed free. The dog’s fans include Myra and Steve Foster, who wrote “Ode to Scrim” to the tune of Ricky Nelson’s 1961 hit, “I’m a Travelin’ Man.” Michelle Cheramie, founder of Zeus' Rescues, at her office in New Orleans on Dec. 9 with a whiteboard index of sheltered cats and dogs and a Scrim look-alike recuperating in the background. Leading the recapture effort is Michelle Cheramie, a 55-year-old former information technology professional. She lost everything — home, car, possessions — in Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and in the aftermath, found her calling rescuing pets. “I was like, ‘This is what I should be doing,’” Cheramie said. “I was born to rescue.” She launched Zeus’ Rescues, a nonprofit shelter that now averages 600 cat and dog adoptions a year and offers free pet food to anyone who needs it. She helped Scrim find the home he first escaped from. It was Cheramie's window Scrim leaped from in November. She's resumed her relentless mission since then, posting flyers on telephone poles and logging social media updates on his reported whereabouts. She's invested thousands of dollars on wildlife cameras, thermal sensors and other gear. She took a course offered by the San Diego Zoo on the finer points of tranquilizing animals. And she's developed a network of volunteers — the kind of neighbors who are willing to grid-search a city at 3 a.m. Scrim on Oct. 24 at the Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie, La. People like writer David W. Brown, who manages a crowd-sourced Google Map of all known Scrim sightings. He says the search galvanized residents from all walks of life to come together. As they search for Scrim, they hand out supplies to people in need. “Being a member of the community is seeing problems and doing what you can to make life a little better for the people around here and the animals around you,” Brown said. Neighbor Tammy Murray had to close her furniture store and lost her father to Parkinson's disease. This search, she says, got her mojo back. “Literally, for months, I’ve done nothing but hunt this dog,” said Murray, 53. “I feel like Wile E. Coyote on a daily basis with him.” Murray drives the Zeus' Rescues van toward reported Scrim sightings. She also handles a tactical net launcher, which looks like an oversized flashlight and once misfired, shattering the van's window as Scrim sped away. After realizing Scrim came to recognize the sound of the van's diesel engine, Murray switched to a Vespa scooter for stealth. Michelle Cheramie, director of Zeus' Rescues, left, walks with Scrim on Oct. 24 at the Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie, La. Near-misses have been tantalizing. The search party spotted Scrim napping beneath an elevated house, and wrapped construction netting around the perimeter, but an over-eager volunteer broke ranks and dashed forward, leaving an opening Scrim slipped through. Scrim's repeated escapades prompted near-daily local media coverage and a devoted online following. Cheramie can relate. “We’re all running from something or to something," she said. "He's doing that, too.” Cheramie's team dreams of placing the pooch in a safe and loving environment. But a social media chorus growing under the hashtag #FreeScrim has other ideas — they say the runaway should be allowed a life of self-determination. The animal rescue volunteers consider that misguided. “The streets of New Orleans are not the place for a dog to be free,” Cheramie said. “It’s too dangerous.” Scrim rests in a kennel Oct. 24 at the Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie, La. Scrim was a mess when Cheramie briefly recaptured him in October, with matted fur, missing teeth and a tattered ear. His trembling body was scraped and bruised, and punctured by projectiles. A vet removed one, but decided against operating to take out a possible bullet. The dog initially appeared content indoors, sitting in Cheramie's lap or napping beside her bed. Then while she was out one day, Scrim chewed through a mesh screen, dropped 13 feet to the ground and squeezed through a gap in the fence, trotting away. Murray said Cheramie's four cats probably spooked him. Cheramie thinks they may have gotten territorial. Devastated but undeterred, the pair is reassessing where Scrim might fit best — maybe a secure animal sanctuary with big outdoor spaces where other dogs can keep him company. Somewhere, Murray says, “where he can just breathe and be.” Scrim sits in the arms of Zoey Ponder on Oct. 24 at Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie. Scrim at the Terrebonne Parish Animal Shelter in Louisiana. A Scrim sticker for sale Dec. 9 at Zeus' Rescues office to raise money for the shelter in New Orleans. A homemade portrait of Scrim hangs Dec. 9 in the Zeus' Rescues shelter in New Orleans. Scrim spends some time outside Oct. 24 with Michelle Cheramie, director of Zeus' Rescues, in a fenced-in area at Metairie Small Animal Hospital in Metairie. Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly!

Santa Ana’s sole independent bookstore LibroMobile may be closing its doors. “In the last six months, our book sales have been incredibly low, and so on top of that, California state arts funding was cut, which means we lost two big grants, like $50,000 worth of funding that we normally get for our programming,” says owner and founder Sarah Rafael García. “We don’t have enough money projected for 2025. Right now, we’re not even sure we’re going to make it to June.” SEE ALSO : Sign up for our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more García, who works another full-time job that runs through May, has had to cancel LibroMobile’s annual literary festival and events programming and she’s been dipping into her own income to keep the doors open at the store, which has two employees and additional student help. “I have been contributing my own personal funds to keep it going,” she says. “We’re grassroots – I’m not a rich person, you know? I started the bookstore with a $10,000 yearly income, so I always tell people, I know how to survive off of very little money.” She plans to continue doing pop-up sales events and the quarterly open mic night, although the money crunch has affected that event as well. “We cannot pay our headliners. So whatever poet chooses to accept the invite to headline, they’re doing it for free,” she says. The problem, she says, is not enough book buyers. “We won’t be able to maintain a brick and mortar if people don’t buy books,” she says. “If we don’t increase book sales significantly in the next couple months, then in March I’m going to have to probably announce that we’re definitely closing in June.” And while she says she’ll find a way to keep doing pop-ups and other events – she launched LibroMobile with a hand-me-down garden cart that gave the venture its name – “We won’t have a brick and mortar store, which is a really sad thing for our city, as the only independent bookstore in Santa Ana.” No, it’s not the rent García makes one thing clear: Don’t blame her landlords. “We don’t pay market-rate rent. So when people say, ‘Oh, it’s your landlord, they should decrease it.’ That’s not true. They have been 100% supportive. They have not increased our rent because they know we’re in this situation,” she says. “They want to figure out how to make it work.” She says LibroMobile reciprocates by creating community events in English and Spanish at the Bristol Swap Meet to bring people to the food courts as well as by helping to fund the site’s murals with grant money and city support. “We’re more than a bookstore. We’re creating a place for our community where they can explore literature and the arts without having to pay for it,” she says, but adds that there are always costs to cover. “We have to pay a DJ. We have to pay for the equipment. Sometimes we have to rent chairs if we expect a bigger crowd for an event. So all those are additional costs.” But she’s committed to serving the community. “This is home for me ... Santa Ana is where I went to school and keep returning, even though I have nobody left here, other than friends and chosen family, my godparents. But it’s still what I call home.” Her father, Rafael Castillo García, worked for The Orange County Register for 10 years until he died unexpectedly in 1988 at age 36. She recalls how her father – who studied the paper to improve his language skills, attended community college and wrote poems he’d leave on the family refrigerator – would leave the house dressed in crisp slacks and a dress shirt. “He always dressed sharp to go to work, to try to impress us to have better jobs,” says García, who would learn about the physical nature of his work after his death. “I didn’t know he was a labor worker. I had to go empty his locker out, and I found the coveralls.” What’s next? García says she has considered suggestions to start a crowdfunding campaign but ultimately decided against it. “I know I could probably set up a GoFundMe, but where would that take us a year or two from now? We’ll be in the same position. If I don’t cultivate the culture and the tradition in Santa Ana and Orange County, then we’re still not creating sustainability,” she says. “I’m trying to cultivate the want and the need of books, not just holding rent.” So what can local readers do to help? “I want them shopping at the bookstore. [laughs] We go days without someone buying a book sometimes,” she says. “We are the only bookstore in Santa Ana, but not just that. We’re the only bookstore in Orange County that prioritizes Black, Indigenous, and People of Color books, as well as Spanish, multicultural and bilingual books. We have a whole beautiful collection of BIPOC cookbooks – like, who does that, right? – on top of a special collection that prioritizes ethnic studies, gender studies and academic books at affordable prices.” SEE ALSO : Bestsellers, authors, books and more can be found in the Books section García underscores her commitment to keeping prices reasonable – or even free. She stocks a Little Free Library at the Bristol Swap Meet, too. “Maybe that’s why we’re not making enough money. But that’s the whole point of keeping books that are relevant to our community accessible and affordable,” she says. While she says that the store is proudly political, García thinks LibroMobile has something that benefits the entire community. ​”If you don’t like our politics, there’s still plenty of other books you can read in our store,” she says. “We have something for everyone, but we’re also not going to hide our political stances for the sake of capitalism.” For more stories about : Sign up for our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more'Breaking of gridlock' between Quebec, N.L. is the envy of former premierscasino games live 。

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AT THE QUARTER MARK: Ottawa Senators remain confidentControl Valves Market: Overview, Scope, Market Trends, and Influential Factors 2028 12-13-2024 07:52 PM CET | Business, Economy, Finances, Banking & Insurance Press release from: Data Bridge Market Research Control Valves Market Control valves are integral components in various industrial processes. They play a critical role in regulating the flow, pressure, temperature, and level of fluids by opening or closing partially or completely in response to signals received from controllers. These devices are essential in industries such as oil and gas, water and wastewater treatment, energy and power, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, and many others. With advancements in technology and increasing industrialization, the control valves market has witnessed significant growth and diversification over the past few years. Browse More About This Research Report @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-control-valves-market Overview of the Control Valves Market The global control valves market has emerged as a vital segment within the industrial automation and manufacturing landscape. It is characterized by the growing demand for efficient and automated systems in diverse sectors. The market is expanding rapidly due to its ability to enhance operational efficiency, reduce downtime, and optimize process control. Control valves come in various types, including globe valves, ball valves, butterfly valves, and others. These valves differ based on their design, operation mechanism, and suitability for specific applications. The integration of smart technologies, such as IoT-enabled sensors and advanced analytics, has further enhanced the capabilities of modern control valves, making them more intelligent and adaptive. Scope of the Control Valves Market The scope of the control valves market extends across multiple industries, driven by the demand for advanced process control and automation solutions. Some key areas of application include: Oil and Gas: Control valves are indispensable in upstream, midstream, and downstream activities. They regulate the flow of oil, gas, and other substances, ensuring safety and operational efficiency. Water and Wastewater Treatment: These valves are essential for managing the flow and pressure of water, particularly in desalination plants and sewage treatment facilities. Energy and Power: In thermal and renewable power plants, control valves manage the steam and fluid flows, contributing to energy efficiency and system safety. Chemicals and Petrochemicals: Precise control of temperature, pressure, and flow is crucial in chemical manufacturing processes, making control valves vital. Food and Beverage: Control valves ensure hygiene and accuracy in food processing, helping to meet industry standards and regulations. Pharmaceuticals: The stringent requirements for sterility and precision in drug manufacturing necessitate the use of advanced control valves. Key Market Trends Integration of Smart Technologies: The advent of Industry 4.0 has significantly impacted the control valves market. Smart control valves equipped with IoT-enabled sensors and actuators provide real-time monitoring, diagnostics, and predictive maintenance capabilities. These advancements improve operational efficiency and reduce unplanned downtime. Adoption of Renewable Energy: The shift toward renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, has created a demand for specialized control valves designed to handle unique fluid dynamics in these applications. Expansion of the Oil and Gas Industry: Increasing exploration and production activities, particularly in emerging markets, have driven the demand for robust and efficient control valves. Focus on Sustainability: The emphasis on reducing carbon footprints and improving energy efficiency has prompted industries to invest in eco-friendly and energy-efficient control valves. Customization and Material Advancements: Manufacturers are increasingly focusing on offering customized solutions tailored to specific industrial requirements. The use of advanced materials, such as corrosion-resistant alloys, has enhanced the durability and performance of control valves in harsh environments. Factors Driving Market Growth Several factors are contributing to the growth of the control valves market: Industrial Automation: The growing adoption of automation across various industries is a major driver. Control valves play a pivotal role in automating processes, thereby improving productivity and reducing manual intervention. Urbanization and Infrastructure Development: Rapid urbanization and increasing infrastructure projects, especially in developing countries, have boosted the demand for control valves in water management, energy, and construction sectors. Technological Advancements: Continuous innovations in design and functionality, such as self-regulating and smart control valves, are attracting end-users seeking higher efficiency and reliability. Regulatory Compliance: Stringent regulations related to safety, environmental standards, and operational efficiency are compelling industries to adopt high-quality control valves. Increasing Energy Demand: The rising global energy demand has fueled the need for efficient control systems in power generation and distribution, thereby driving the market for control valves. Growth of Emerging Markets: Developing economies are witnessing rapid industrial growth, which has increased the demand for control valves across various sectors. Challenges in the Market Despite the promising growth prospects, the control valves market faces several challenges: High Initial Costs: The installation and integration of advanced control valves can be expensive, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. Maintenance and Downtime: Ensuring proper maintenance and minimizing downtime remain critical concerns for end-users. Skilled Workforce Requirement: The operation and maintenance of advanced control valves require skilled personnel, which can be a barrier in regions with limited technical expertise. Future Outlook The control valves market is poised for sustained growth, driven by technological advancements, expanding industrial applications, and the increasing adoption of smart automation solutions. Market players are focusing on innovation, strategic partnerships, and geographic expansion to capitalize on emerging opportunities. As industries continue to prioritize efficiency, safety, and sustainability, the demand for advanced control valves is expected to rise, shaping the future of this dynamic market. Browse Trending Reports: https://newsasdbmr.blogspot.com/2024/12/structural-heart-devices-market-size.html https://newsasdbmr.blogspot.com/2024/12/automotive-parts-die-casting-market.html https://newsasdbmr.blogspot.com/2024/12/bruton-tyrosine-kinase-btk-inhibitors.html https://newsasdbmr.blogspot.com/2024/12/fortified-juices-market-size-share.html About Data Bridge Market Research: An absolute way to predict what the future holds is to understand the current trend! Data Bridge Market Research presented itself as an unconventional and neoteric market research and consulting firm with an unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are committed to uncovering the best market opportunities and nurturing effective information for your business to thrive in the marketplace. Data Bridge strives to provide appropriate solutions to complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process. Data Bridge is a set of pure wisdom and experience that was formulated and framed in 2015 in Pune. Data Bridge Market Research has more than 500 analysts working in different industries. We have served more than 40% of the Fortune 500 companies globally and have a network of more than 5,000 clients worldwide. Data Bridge is an expert in creating satisfied customers who trust our services and trust our hard work with certainty. We are pleased with our glorious 99.9% customer satisfaction rating. Contact Us: - Data Bridge Market Research US: +1 888 387 2818 United Kingdom: +44 208 089 1725 Hong Kong: +852 8192 7475 Email: - sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com This release was published on openPR.

CIT Wins CES 2025 Innovation Award for Transparent Antenna

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Here is a roundup of state college football games played on Saturday, Nov. 23. Tyrell Greene Jr. (Kenwood) rushed for three touchdowns to lead the visiting Tigers (7-5, 5-3 Colonial Athletic Association) over the Camels (3-9, 1-7). Towson extended its five-point lead by outscoring Campbell 24-7 in the fourth quarter. Devin Matthews added 134 rushing yards and a touchdown for the Tigers, who finished the regular-season on a three-game winning streak. Towson, which secured its second winning season in three years and its first seven-win season since 2019, will hope to get an at-large berth into the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs. The selection show is Sunday at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN. Greene scored on a 7-yard run with 12:55 remaining, and after the Tigers’ Will Middleton intercepted a pass from Mike Chandler II, he broke loose for a 30-yard touchdown that stretched the Towson lead to 35-16 about 30 seconds later. Green also had a 3-yard TD run in the second quarter and finished with 41 yards on nine carries. Matthews carried the ball 15 times and scored on a 54-yard run for Towson. Seth Brown completed 10 of 15 passes for 156 yards with a touchdown and Christopher Watkins added a late TD run. Mark Biggins had a 1-yard touchdown run for Campbell. Chandler was 13 of 27 passing for 135 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Connor Lytton made 3 of 5 field goal attempts for the Camels. The host Bears (6-6, 3-2 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) put together a 28-0 run to pull away from the Bison (4-8, 1-4). Morgan State won three of its last four games. Kobe Muasau completed 19 of 24 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns, Jason Collins rushed for 114 yards and two scores while catching seven passes for 89 yards and Myles Miree added 99 yards from scrimmage and a score to lead the Bears. Host SUNY-Morrisville (7-4) took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and never trailed Stevenson (5-6) in an Eastern College Athletic Conference Bowl game. The last time Stevenson appeared in the ECAC Bowl was 2017. SUNY-Morrisville extended its winning streak to four games.

Sure, there are still a few weeks remaining in the 2024 regular season, but the head coach hiring cycle is already starting to spin. The most notable name on the market, Bill Belichick, is no longer in play for an NFL job, as he has been hired as the next head coach at the University of North Carolina, per CBS Sports senior NFL insider Jonathan Jones . With Belichick's name off the board, now is as good of a time as ever to take an initial look at the prospective head coaching candidates this cycle and identify which coaches could be targeted the most. At the moment, there are only three head coaching jobs available: the New York Jets , New Orleans Saints , and Chicago Bears . Of course, more are expected to open up in the aftermath of the regular season, so these candidates should be flush with interviews sooner rather than later. 15. Wes Phillips Current position : Quarterbacks coach, Minnesota Vikings Sam Darnold is playing so well that it might get Wes Phillips hired as a head coach in the NFL. While Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell does have a heavy hand in the Minnesota offense, Phillips should get some of the credit for the Vikings making Darnold a high-level starter in the NFL who has them in playoff position. Phillips, the son of former NFL head coach Wade Phillips, also worked under Sean McVay as a tight ends coach from 2019-2020, so he is a true blue blood when it comes to coaching pedigree. This season, Minnesota's offense ranks ninth in total points and eighth in passing yards. 14. Drew Petzing Current position : Offensive coordinator, Arizona Cardinals Petzing is in his second season as the Cardinals offensive coordinator and is an underrated candidate who shouldn't be overlooked this cycle. The 37-year-old comes from the Mike Zimmer coaching tree that has also produced two-time NFL Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski, whom he also coached under before heading to Arizona. The Cardinals offense has been efficient under Petzing, ranking 12th in the league in total yards. It has found particular success on the ground, finishing second in the league in yards per attempt in 2023 and currently ranking third in that category in 2024 entering Week 15. 13. Ejiro Evero Current position : Defensive coordinator, Carolina Panthers Evero is an up-and-coming head coach who has already received interviews over the past few cycles. That's impressive in itself, given that he's not on a high-powered playoff team that can truly flash his talents like some of the others on this list. His stock may have cooled a touch with the performance of the Carolina defense this season, however, as it is 32nd in points allowed and against the run. Before that, Evero's defense was surprisingly a top-10 unit in total yards allowed in 2022 and 2023, so he has produced at a high level. While he may not be the hottest name this cycle, I would expect him to be involved in the interview process. 12. Todd Monken Current position : Offensive coordinator: Baltimore Ravens Monken interviewed for a number of head coaching positions last year, including the Chargers, Panthers and Falcons . Given that he has continued to lead the Ravens offense as one of the top units in the NFL, he should again garner interest across the league. In both seasons as Baltimore's offensive coordinator, Monken has led them to be a top-10 group in both points scored and total yards. This season, the Ravens are No. 1 in the league in total yards and third in points scored. 11. Kellen Moore Current position : Offensive coordinator, Philadelphia Eagles Kellen Moore was a very popular name for a while, serving as the offensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys , but the hype has died down in recent seasons. After a one-year stint with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2023, Moore has been working as the offensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles this season. The former NFL quarterback has the unit firing on all cylinders. With Saquon Barkley leading the backfield, Moore's rushing attack is No. 1 in both yards and touchdowns. Overall, the offense ranks seventh in total yards and eighth in points scored. If the Cowboys let go of Mike McCarthy after this season, Moore's name will be fascinating to follow with that specific opening in Dallas. 10. Jesse Minter Current position : Defensive coordinator, Los Angeles Chargers Minter followed Jim Harbaugh from Michigan to the NFL to serve as his defensive coordinator with the Los Angeles Chargers. So far, the 41-year-old has orchestrated a top-notch defense that has helped place L.A. in playoff position. Entering Week 15, the Chargers defense is giving up the fewest points in the league and ranks as a top-10 club in both takeaways and on third down. It may be quick for him to jump from Michigan DC to Chargers DC to an NFL head coach, but he's passed those prior tests with flying colors, making it a possibility this year. 9. Liam Coen Current position : Offensive coordinator, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Coen checks off the boxes that have oftentimes resulted in being hired as a head coach in the NFL. The 39-year-old comes from the offensive side of the ball and from the Sean McVay coaching tree, which ownership groups are desperate to tap into. Coen is in his first season as the OC for the Buccaneers and has run the unit wonderfully. Tampa Bay is a top-five offense in total yards and points scored, and Coen has continued the reclamation of Baker Mayfield as a playoff-caliber quarterback in the league. While a small sample size, Coen has impressed enough this season that we could very well see him land a head coaching gig. 8. Bobby Slowik Current position : Offensive coordinator, Houston Texans Slowik's name was much hotter last cycle after helping C.J. Stroud burst onto the scene as a rookie, but he should still get some looks as a possible head coach this year as well. Slowik comes from the ever-popular Shanahan coaching tree, initially breaking into the league as a defensive assistant under Mike Shanahan before joining Kyle Shanahan's staff with the San Francisco 49ers . Houston has dealt with injuries at the wide receiver position that have contributed to the underperforming offense, but it is still 11th in the league in total points scored. Slowik's pedigree and coming from the offensive side of the ball should have him in the mix this cycle. 7. Vance Joseph Current position : Defensive coordinator, Denver Broncos It's underrated how wild it is that Vance Joseph is putting together a strong résumé to once again be a head coach in the NFL while serving as the defensive coordinator on the team that fired him as head coach back in 2018. His reclamation in Denver has been a feel-good story that deserves more attention and should get him interviews this cycle. As the DC under Sean Payton, Joseph's Broncos are arguably the best defense in the NFL. Entering Week 15, Denver is tied for the second-fewest points allowed and eighth in both total yards allowed and total takeaways. 6. Kliff Kingsbury Current position : Offensive coordinator, Washington Commanders It came as a bit of a shock when Dan Quinn plucked Kingsbury and placed him back into relevancy as the Commanders offensive coordinator, but it was a move that has wholeheartedly paid off. Kingsbury has helped develop No. 2 overall pick Jayden Daniels into one of the most productive rookie quarterbacks of all-time, and Washington is currently in playoff position. The ability to coach up an offense and develop a young quarterback are two massive pluses for Kingsbury if he looks to become a head coach again in the NFL. One team that could be fascinating to watch with him is the Bears, as he coached Caleb Williams at USC. 5. Joe Brady Current position : Offensive coordinator, Buffalo Bills It feels like Brady has been on the cusp of being a hot head coaching candidate for quite a while. After coaching Joe Burrow and the 2019 national champion LSU Tigers, he joined Matt Rhule as the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator, but that failed endeavor set him back a bit. More recently, he's been leading the Bills offense and has helped Josh Allen 's ascent to NFL MVP frontrunner. Given teams' affinity for hiring offensive-minded head coaches, it won't be surprising to see Brady get interviews, especially if the Bills offense continues to light it up. 4. Aaron Glenn Current position : Defensive coordinator, Detroit Lions Ben Johnson takes a lot of the limelight when talking about future head coaches in the league, but let's not forget about Detroit's "other" coordinator in Aaron Glenn. He has been a key piece to the Lions' success in recent seasons and has been a hot head coaching name in his own right. Along with serving under Dan Campbell, Glenn has worked under Sean Payton in the past as the Saints defensive backs coach from 2016-2020. As the DC for the Lions, Glenn has the defense playing as a top-10 unit in the league. It is tied for second in the league in points allowed and sixth in takeaways. Glenn has also kept the defense afloat despite a key injury to star pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson , which shouldn't be overlooked. 3. Brian Flores Current position : Defensive coordinator, Minnesota Vikings It feels like Flores will get a second crack at being an NFL head coach in the near future, possibly as soon as this cycle. Over the past two seasons, Flores has helped the Vikings defense turn into one of the more feared units in the league. Entering Week 15, Minnesota is sixth in the league in points allowed and fourth in total sacks. Flores was successful as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2019-2021 but didn't seem to jive with ownership, which was illegally tampering with Sean Payton . Flores was 24-25 as a head coach overall but 19-14 over his final two years. 2. Mike Vrabel Current position : Coaching and personnel consultant, Cleveland Browns It was a little puzzling when the Tennessee Titans decided to fire Vrabel after the 2023 season, even after the club went 6-11. During his tenure, the former linebacker has been widely regarded as one of the best in-game coaches in the league, as he consistently squeezed every ounce of talent out of his rosters. Vrabel reached the playoffs in three of his six seasons as head coach, which included a trip to the AFC Championship in 2019. He also won NFL Coach of the Year in 2021. This season, he's served as an overarching advisor to the Browns. This go around, he should be a very popular candidate and, in our estimation, the top option after Johnson. 1. Ben Johnson Current position : Offensive coordinator, Detroit Lions Even if Bill Belichick were still on the board, Johnson was/is the top candidate on a lot of organizations' boards, if not all of them. The 38-year-old has been a hot candidate the past few cycles but ultimately decided against taking a head coaching job last year to remain with the Lions. Johnson has routinely had the Lions as a top offense in the NFL since being installed as coordinator in 2022, and this year is no different. Entering Week 15 , the Detroit offense is first in points and second in total yards. It is also a top-five unit in passing yards, passing touchdowns, rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. While he has a tremendous cast of weapons around him, Johnson has shown creativity that has manufactured points, endearing himself across the league as the clear top coach on the market.Revolutionary Transparent Antenna with Ultra-Thin Copper Circuit Technology SEOUL, South Korea , Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CIT Co. Ltd., a leading startup in advanced materials, has been awarded the CES 2025 Innovation Award in the Vehicle Tech & Advanced Mobility category for its revolutionary transparent antenna, "Dolphin." Inspired by a dolphin's ability to detect a wide range of frequencies, Dolphin represents a groundbreaking innovation in the field, supporting the broadest range of frequencies among transparent antennas. Meeting the Needs of Next-Generation Vehicles The automotive industry is rapidly transforming with autonomous driving technologies and the rise of Software Defined Vehicles (SDVs), often described as "smartphones on wheels." These advancements demand fast and reliable data transmission, yet existing transparent antennas are limited in frequency range and application. CIT's Dolphin addresses these challenges with a design that combines unparalleled performance and flexibility. Dolphin operates across six frequency bands, from L-band to K-band, and supports frequencies up to 20 GHz, making it uniquely suited for 5G communication. Its exceptional frequency coverage significantly surpasses that of conventional antennas, meeting the needs of modern connected vehicles. Transparency and Sustainability at Its Core Dolphin achieves an extraordinary 90% transparency using ultra-thin copper circuits less than 10 nanometers thick—1,000 times thinner than a human hair. This innovative design ensures the antenna is virtually invisible when integrated into car windows or other glass surfaces. In contrast, traditional antennas rely on copper circuits 5 to 10 micrometers thick, which cannot match Dolphin's sleek and flexible design. In line with CIT's commitment to sustainability, Dolphin is manufactured using recycled copper wires, reducing its carbon footprint to just 1/1000th of that of traditional antennas. This eco-friendly approach supports CIT's goal of environmentally responsible production. Expanding Applications Beyond Vehicles Dolphin's potential extends far beyond automotive applications. It can be utilized in smart building windows, streetlights, and bus stop glass panels, enabling innovative solutions for urban infrastructure. Additionally, CIT's advanced material technology has been applied to create transparent displays. These displays use ultra-thin copper circuits that are invisible to the human eye, delivering a clear and seamless viewing experience. Transparent displays are increasingly popular in digital signage, exhibition halls, commercial spaces, and transportation systems such as cars, buses, and trains. Showcasing Innovation at CES 2025 CIT will present its award-winning transparent antenna, Dolphin, alongside its transparent display technology at CES 2025 in Las Vegas . Visitors can experience these innovations firsthand at the Venetian Expo, Halls A-D, Booth #50769. For additional details about CIT's CES 2025 Innovation Award-winning transparent antenna, Dolphin, visit CIT's Innovation Award Site. To learn more about Dolphin's groundbreaking technology and applications, watch the product introduction video: Discover Dolphin. About CIT CIT is a leading advanced materials startup founded in 2023. Since its foundation, the company has been growing quickly and steadily, specializing in innovative materials like low-dielectric FCCL (Flexible Copper Clad Laminate), transparent antennas, and transparent displays. These advanced products are used in industries such as automotive, smart buildings, and AR/VR technology. CIT has earned recognition for its innovative technology by winning major awards, including the CES 2025 Innovation Award, the FLY ASIA Advanced Manufacturing Award (2024), and the Public Technology Commercialization Innovation Award (2024). The company also focuses on sustainability by using recycled copper wires to manufacture its products, reducing carbon emissions to 1/1000 of traditional methods. By collaborating with global companies, CIT is working to bring its groundbreaking products to market and striving to become a global leader in advanced materials for next-generation technologies. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cit-wins-ces-2025-innovation-award-for-transparent-antenna-302339322.html SOURCE CIT Co. Ltd.

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The Fiji players were praised by Ireland fans online and in the stadium for their gesture prior to Saturday’s Autumn Nations Series clash. As part of the pre-kick-off festivities, President Michael D Higgins was on hand for the usual presidential welcome. With the red carpet rolled out on the Aviva turf, President Higgins started with the 23 assembled members of the Fiji squad as he worked his way up the line towards the Irish players. As he shook the hands of the visiting team, however, many of their players took the time to kneel down and bow in a moment of respect. The gesture was received warmly by the fans at Lansdowne Road, with polite applause coming up in response from the stands. Over on social media , there was a lot of love for the visiting Fijians and their quiet mark of respect. Something lovely about the respect shown by the Fiji players towards Uachtaráin Michael D. Higgins. #IREvFIJ | #AutumnNationsSeries pic.twitter.com/3QLvLPza3u One fan summed it up in one word: ‘Beautiful’. ‘There’s something wonderfully heartwarming at the respect Fiji are showing Michael D,’ said another. A fellow user added: ‘So impressive, that kind of humility and respect is rare. Especially from guys who will be trying to build a new road through Prendergast in a few minutes.’ The Fiji squad had already been getting accustomed to Irish life during their time in Dublin after they popped up at a GAA club in Castleknock. St Brigid’s GAA hosted the Flying Fijians as they gave their Cibi war dance a new spin by performing it with hurls in handEastern Ontario's 'walker runner' Bob Hardy takes on Ottawa Santa Shuffle

By LINDSEY BAHR Do you have a someone in your life who plays Vulture’s Cinematrix game every morning? Or maybe they have the kitchen television turned to Turner Classic Movies all day and make a point of organizing Oscar polls at work? Hate to break it to you: They might be a hard-to-please cinephile. But while you might not want to get into a winless debate over the “Juror No. 2” release or the merits of “Megalopolis” with said person, they don’t have to be hard to buy gifts for. The Associated Press has gathered up some of the best items out there to keep any movie lover stylish and informed. While Christopher Nolan dreams up his next film, fans can tide themselves over by revisiting his modern classic “Interstellar,” which will be back in IMAX theaters on the weekend of Dec. 6, followed by the home release of a new collector’s edition on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray ($59.95). A third disc in the set, available Dec. 10, contains more than two hours of bonus content, like a never-before-seen storyboard sequence, and new interviews with Nolan, producer Emma Thomas and famous fans Peter Jackson and Denis Villeneuve . Elaine May does not give interviews anymore. But thankfully that didn’t deter writer Carrie Courogen, who did a remarkable job stitching together the life of one of our culture’s most fascinating, and prickly, talents. “Miss May Does Not Exist” is full of delightful anecdotes about the sharp and satirical comedian who gained fame as one half of Nichols and May and went on to direct films like “The Heartbreak Kid” and “Mikey and Nicky.” Courogen writes about May’s successes, flops and her legendary scuffles with the Hollywood establishment. It’s a vital companion to Mark Harris’ biography of Mike Nichols . Macmillan. $30. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has an exclusive new “Matrix” sweatshirt for sale in conjunction with its Cyberpunk exhibition. Brain Dead Studios designed and created several items, including the black hoodie ($140), a white rabbit tee ($54) and a pint glass ($18). If you can’t make it to Los Angeles to check out the “Color in Motion” exhibit for yourself, the Academy Museum also has a beautiful new companion book for sale ($55) charting the development of color technology in film and its impact. It includes photos from films like “The Red Shoes,” “Vertigo,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and images of rare prints from the silent era. The Academy Museum Store is having a sale (20% off everything) from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2. Related Articles Things To Do | US airports with worst weather delays during holiday season Things To Do | The right book can inspire the young readers in your life, from picture books to YA novels Things To Do | These holiday gifts change the game when building fires, printing photos, watching birds and more Things To Do | ‘Gladiator II’ review: Are you not moderately entertained? Things To Do | Beer pairings for your holiday feasts Want to look like a real film festival warrior, the kind who sees five movies a day, files a review and still manages to make the late-night karaoke party? You’re going to need the ultimate status tote from the independent streaming service MUBI . Simple, to-the-point and only for people in the know. $25. Film magazines may be an endangered species, but print is not dead at The Metrograph . Manhattan’s coolest movie theater is starting a biannual print publication “for cinephiles and cultural connoisseurs alike.” The first issue’s cover art is by cinematographer Ed Lachman (“Carol”), and contributors include the likes of Daniel Clowes, Ari Aster, Steve Martin and Simon Rex. There’s also a conversation with Clint Eastwood. It’s currently available for pre-order and will be in bookstores Dec. 10 for $25 ($15 for Metrograph members). This is not a book about filmmaking styles, camera angles and leadership choices. It’s literally about what directors wear. “How Directors Dress: On Set, in the Edit, and Down the Red Carpet” ($40) has over 200 archival photos of filmmakers in action: Spike Lee in his basketball caps, Sofia Coppola in her Charvet button-ups, Steven Spielberg’s denim on denim and many more. With a forward by the always elegant Joanna Hogg and writing from some of the top fashion journalists, it’s a beautiful look at how filmmakers really dress for work — and might even be a source of inspiration.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) Raised to Equal Weight at BarclaysWith only eight players on board for their trip to Coldstream/Vernon for the BC double-A provincial boys volleyball championship, the Duchess Park Condors posse from Prince George is about as small as you can get. Quality over quantity, that’s the Condors’ motto this week for the North Central zone champions as they take their place on the court ranked fifth out of 16 teams. The Condors started out with 11 players but as the season progressed a few of them quit and one was removed from the team by school authorities. Despite the turnover, they’ve maintained their winning ways. “There’s very few of us but it’s not often you get a group that plays this well together and ids this close, it’s a special group of guys and the chemistry between us has brought us a long way this season, “ said Condors head coach Griffin Olexyn. Just two Condor players - twins Joel and Patrick Strasdin - are in their Grade 12 seasons. Owen Martin, Brayden Woroshelo, Santiago Gonzales and Sam Cramer are Grade 11s and Jonah Barrette is in his Grade 10 season. For the provincial tournament they’ve added Sawyer Roberts, a Grade 9 student who played for the junior boys team. Head coach Griffin Olexyn’s coaching staff includes his dad Jason, Dan Drezet and Braden Dukacz. The Olexyns coached the Zone 8 team that hosted BC Summer Games in 2022 and three of the current Condors – Martin, Woroshelo and Cramer – made that team, although Cramer chose to play on the Zone 8 basketball team instead. Five of the current Condors played on the junior team that finished fourth at the BC junior invitational tournament last year. Duchess Park had just seven players in the fold when they claimed zone bragging rights in a four-set win over the College Heights Cougars at D.P. Todd gym. The Condors lost the first set, then swept the next three. Duchess Park lost to College Heights and D.P. Todd Trojans on the opening day of the zone tournament. The Condors, Trojans and Cougars were at one point ranked fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in the province. They played each other constantly throughout the season and learned by osmosis what it takes to win at a high level, which should help the Condors and Cougars be ready when they get thrown to the wolves chasing the provincial crown this weekend. “It’s not usual that you have that many top-calibre teams in one zone and it was good having that steady competition all season long,” said Griffin Olexyn. The Condors will take on their crosstown rivals, College Heights, in their opening power-pool match Thursday at 11:45 a.m. The Cougars are ranked seventh. Duchess Park has already faced top-seeded Langley Christian and played No. 3-ranked Abbotsford Christian during the tournament season. Martin, Barrette and Roberts are the Duchess Park power hitters, Patrick Strasdin and Gonzales slot in at middle blocker, Joel Strasdin covers the right side, Cramer is the setter, and Woroshelo plays libero. The senior Olexyn likes his team’s chances of contending for a medal on Saturday. “We’ve had them for three years now and they just have a cool chemistry and have really melded well with the Grade 12s that got fourth at provincials last year,” said Jason Olexyn. “They’re playing really well right now. “They’ve conditioned themselves well and I think they’re in great shape,” he said. “It could be a factor if we’re not getting sleep at night but they’re ready for the challenge and we have positive thoughts going into it.” In other senior boys provincial action this weekend, the North Central zone-champion Cedars Christian Eagles are ranked 11th at the single-A championship that starts Thursday in Abbotsford.

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Dana Hull | (TNS) Bloomberg News Jared Birchall, Elon Musk’s money manager and the head of his family office, is listed as the chief executive officer. Jehn Balajadia, a longtime Musk aide who has worked at SpaceX and the Boring Co., is named as an official contact. Related Articles National Politics | Trump’s picks for top health jobs not just team of rivals but ‘team of opponents’ National Politics | Biden will decide on US Steel acquisition after influential panel fails to reach consensus National Politics | Biden vetoes once-bipartisan effort to add 66 federal judgeships, citing ‘hurried’ House action National Politics | An analyst looks ahead to how the US economy might fare under Trump National Politics | Trump again calls to buy Greenland after eyeing Canada and the Panama Canal But they’re not connected to Musk’s new technology venture, or the political operation that’s endeared him to Donald Trump. Instead, they’re tied to the billionaire’s new Montessori school outside Bastrop, Texas, called Ad Astra, according to documents filed with state authorities and obtained via a Texas Public Information Act request. The world’s richest person oversees an overlapping empire of six companies — or seven, if you include his political action committee. Alongside rockets, electric cars, brain implants, social media and the next Trump administration, he is increasingly focused on education, spanning preschool to college. One part of his endeavor was revealed last year, when Bloomberg News reported that his foundation had set aside roughly $100 million to create a technology-focused primary and secondary school in Austin, with eventual plans for a university. An additional $137 million in cash and stock was allotted last year, according to the most recent tax filing for the Musk Foundation. Ad Astra is closer to fruition. The state documents show Texas authorities issued an initial permit last month, clearing the way for the center to operate with as many as 21 pupils. Ad Astra’s website says it’s “currently open to all children ages 3 to 9.” The school’s account on X includes job postings for an assistant teacher for preschool and kindergarten and an assistant teacher for students ages 6 to 9. To run the school, Ad Astra is partnering with a company that has experience with billionaires: Xplor Education, which developed Hala Kahiki Montessori school in Lanai, Hawaii, the island 98% owned by Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison. Ad Astra sits on a highway outside Bastrop, a bedroom community about 30 miles from Austin and part of a region that’s home to several of Musk’s businesses. On a visit during a recent weekday morning, there was a single Toyota Prius in the parking lot and no one answered the door at the white building with a gray metal roof. The school’s main entrance was blocked by a gate, and there was no sign of any children on the grounds. But what information there is about Ad Astra makes it sound like a fairly typical, if high-end, Montessori preschool. The proposed schedule includes “thematic, STEM-based activities and projects” as well as outdoor play and nap time. A sample snack calendar features carrots and hummus. While Birchall’s and Balajadia’s names appear in the application, it isn’t clear that they’ll have substantive roles at the school once it’s operational. Musk, Birchall and Balajadia didn’t respond to emailed questions. A phone call and email to the school went unanswered. Access to high quality, affordable childcare is a huge issue for working parents across the country, and tends to be an especially vexing problem in rural areas like Bastrop. Many families live in “childcare deserts” where there is either not a facility or there isn’t an available slot. Opening Ad Astra gives Musk a chance to showcase his vision for education, and his support for the hands-on learning and problem solving that are a hallmark of his industrial companies. His public comments about learning frequently overlap with cultural concerns popular among conservatives and the Make America Great Again crowd, often focusing on what he sees as young minds being indoctrinated by teachers spewing left-wing propaganda. He has railed against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and in August posted that “a lot of schools are teaching white boys to hate themselves.” Musk’s educational interests dovetail with his new role as Trump’s “first buddy.” The billionaire has pitched a role for himself that he — and now the incoming Trump administration — call “DOGE,” or the Department of Government Efficiency. Though it’s not an actual department, DOGE now posts on X, the social media platform that Musk owns. “The Department of Education spent over $1 billion promoting DEI in America’s schools,” the account posted Dec. 12. Back in Texas, Bastrop is quickly becoming a key Musk point of interest. The Boring Co., his tunneling venture, is based in an unincorporated area there. Across the road, SpaceX produces Starlink satellites at a 500,000-square-foot (46,000-square-meter) facility. Nearby, X is constructing a building for trust and safety workers. Musk employees, as well as the general public, can grab snacks at the Boring Bodega, a convenience store housed within Musk’s Hyperloop Plaza, which also contains a bar, candy shop and hair salon. Ad Astra is just a five-minute drive away. It seems to have been designed with the children of Musk’s employees — if not Musk’s own offspring — in mind. Musk has fathered at least 12 children, six of them in the last five years. “Ad Astra’s mission is to foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in the next generation of problem solvers and builders,” reads the school’s website. A job posting on the website of the Montessori Institute of North Texas says “While their parents support the breakthroughs that expand the realm of human possibility, their children will grow into the next generation of innovators in a way that only authentic Montessori can provide.” The school has hired an executive director, according to documents Bloomberg obtained from Texas Health and Human Services. Ad Astra is located on 40 acres of land, according to the documents, which said a 4,000-square-foot house would be remodeled for the preschool. It isn’t uncommon for entrepreneurs to take an interest in education, according to Bill Gormley, a professor emeritus at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University who studies early childhood education. Charles Butt, the chairman of the Texas-based H-E-B grocery chain, has made public education a focus of his philanthropy. Along with other business and community leaders, Butt founded “Raise Your Hand Texas,” which advocates on school funding, teacher workforce and retention issues and fully funding pre-kindergarten. “Musk is not the only entrepreneur to recognize the value of preschool for Texas workers,” Gormley said. “A lot of politicians and business people get enthusiastic about education in general — and preschool in particular — because they salivate at the prospect of a better workforce.” Musk spent much of October actively campaigning for Trump’s presidential effort, becoming the most prolific donor of the election cycle. He poured at least $274 million into political groups in 2024, including $238 million to America PAC, the political action committee he founded. While the vast majority of money raised by America PAC came from Musk himself, it also had support from other donors. Betsy DeVos, who served as education secretary in Trump’s first term, donated $250,000, federal filings show. The Department of Education is already in the new administration’s cross hairs. Trump campaigned on the idea of disbanding the department and dismantling diversity initiatives, and he has also taken aim at transgender rights. “Rather than indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material, which is what we’re doing now, our schools must be totally refocused to prepare our children to succeed in the world of work,” Trump wrote in Agenda 47, his campaign platform. Musk has three children with the musician Grimes and three with Shivon Zilis, who in the past was actively involved at Neuralink, his brain machine interface company. All are under the age of five. Musk took X, his son with Grimes, with him on a recent trip to Capitol Hill. After his visit, he shared a graphic that showed the growth of administrators in America’s public schools since 2000. Musk is a fan of hands-on education. During a Tesla earnings call in 2018, he talked about the need for more electricians as the electric-car maker scaled up the energy side of its business. On the Joe Rogan podcast in 2020, Musk said that “too many smart people go into finance and law.” “I have a lot of respect for people who work with their hands and we need electricians and plumbers and carpenters,” Musk said while campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania in October. “That’s a lot more important than having incremental political science majors.” Ad Astra’s website says the cost of tuition will be initially subsidized, but in future years “tuition will be in line with local private schools that include an extended day program.” “I do think we need significant reform in education,” Musk said at a separate Trump campaign event. “The priority should be to teach kids skills that they will find useful later in life, and to leave any sort of social propaganda out of the classroom.” With assistance from Sophie Alexander and Kara Carlson. ©2024 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.I want to be a better person, especially a better tech person, since, as a sometime "thought leader" in the space, I'm supposed to set an example. Of course, I never do and only take the long, hard, and necessary look in the mirror as the year draws to a close. I make promises to myself about all the ways I'll be better in the new year, stacking up a list of resolutions that are improbable and ultimately unattainable. I hope I at least get credit for considering them. Perhaps if I list them all for you, I'll feel the shame of not keeping them and do better in 2025. 1. Less time on my phone I make this promise to myself and those around me every year and stick to it for usually a week. One year, I took at the end of the year, but, like someone who loses a little weight and then puts more back on, I returned to my phone and social media with even more passion and verve than before. But the amount of time I spend on my phone is becoming a problem. The other day, TikTok accounted for 48% of my battery usage. That's bad. And my wife is running out of patience. My attempts at multi-tasking – paying attention to her and the phone simultaneously – are failing. I could try ending this year and starting 2025 with a 20% reduction in phone and social media time, but then I'll be at and you know how that goes. The reality is I need my phone to do my job, but I do not need it for all the other stuff. I'm sort of stuck in a vicious cycle of social media posting and then social media checking. The latter is about seeing the notice and approval of thousands of people I do not know. It's a cycle I long to break. Look for a similar post next year. 2. Digitzing old media In my attic are boxes of old photos, stacked like monoliths to a bygone era. Sometimes, I brush the dust off the top of a box or two and start rifling through 35-year-old photos, rediscovering memories I thought were lost. This is quite unlike the experience of conducting a search in or even 's Photo app, where I can usually . What I realize is that there's a whole section of my life that's digitally undocumented. Apparently, I am not alone – a recent survey by , a service that will, for a price, scan all your old pictures (as well as VHS and films), found that . That's a lot of decaying and brittle memories that will likely be lost to time in the next decade or so. Mitch Goldstone, who runs ScanMyPhotos, has been on my case for years, trying to get me to use and review his service. They send the boxes, and then you package up the photos, and everything gets returned along with your digitized images. I keep promising myself (and Mitch) that I'll do this, and yet I don't, even though I know I will never get the job done myself. Back in the early aughts, I started digitizing my old 8mm video tapes. It was such a massive project that I only got halfway through and have never returned to the project. Perhaps 2025 is the year I finally take Mitch's advice. Also, I'm selling tickets for people to come to visit my mountain of photo boxes in 2026. 3. Paying attention to the metrics my Apple Watch and Oura rings capture Thanks to wearing both the and smart ring almost 24/7, I have more information about the internal workings of my body than ever before. The details should qualify me, if not for doctor status, then at least residency. The problem is that I ignore all of this data. I couldn't tell you how well I slept or my standing heart rate. Am I stressed? Do I sit too often? Who knows? I track every workout – mostly core – and each long walk with my wife. I know the details of those workouts but not the trends. Sometimes, congratulates me on seven consecutive days of exercise, and I at the medal animation, but I never dig into the details. I live an unexamined physical life, and I want that to change. In 2025, I want to start digging into the details of my sleep habits and see if I'm hitting a new peak heart rate during workouts. I want to know the full scale of my walking routines. Like, how many miles am I walking a month? I don't know, but I could. Is my BMI on the right track? After the holidays, I sometimes feel a bit – um – bloated. It's time to track my weight in these apps and see how they sync up with everything else these systems know about the physical me. I worry that I'll still be too busy for this kind of introspection. Isn't it enough that I work out almost every day? It should be. Still, if I'm going to wear these things, I should be getting more out of them. I promise by next year, you'll find I'm still working out and know next to nothing about my physical health. 4. Using my iPad for more than just TV watching I used to draw on the iPad all the time, but my hectic schedule leaves little time for one of my favorite hobbies., You know what I use the iPad for almost all the time? Watching TV. I stream Sling, Peacock, Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, and Prime TV on it all the time. When I'm working, it's the screen I like playing in the background. I'm not watching – much – but I hate working at home without the background chatter of coworkers and appreciate how the hum of a game show dampens the silence. However, the M4-running , for example, is an incredibly powerful system. I want to do more. Can I, for instance, use it in place of my ? I have the excellent Magic keyboard, and even though I can't run as many app windows as I'd really like, this seems possible. Also, why not take more notes on the iPad? It can recognize my scribbles and convert them to text. I also could do some serious photo editing on the platform. At the very least, I'd love to draw on the iPad daily. How do I carve out time to do that in 2025? One answer might be carrying the with me. It has most of the same capabilities (no right-sized, physical magic keyboard, though). If it and the Apple Pencil Pro are always in my bag, maybe I'll pull them out of the backpack and leave my phone (and that tantalizing TikTok stream) in my pocket. I can do this one, right? Maybe. 5. Standardizing on on smart home platform Installing Google's latest Nest Learning Thermostat of my smart home's thoroughly confused state. Supporting every platform imaginable in one home is a recipe for disaster or at least dissatisfaction. Forget making automations on scenes when you have a patchwork of intelligent systems. Considering what I do for a living, it's embarrassing. Even my family is calling me out on it, especially after we stayed at a friend's home, which was entirely standardized on Amazon Alexa, where everything just worked. My wife said little about the situation but offered heavy side-eye. It's time for me to fix my own smart home and start culling the disparate plugs, lights, and cameras, choose one platform, and begin the upgrade. This worries me a bit, though, because it means I'll probably choose Google Home (I have zero interest in switching out my two Nest Thermostats) and must remove some of our Alexa smart plugs. That seems like a small thing, but our "First Plug" is one of the few smart home devices my wife recognizes by name. "Alexa, " she intones, "turn on First Plug," and our Christmas tree lights spring to life. Imagine her frustration if the one plug she knows by name disappears. But this is the kind of pain I must endure if I finally want smart home homogeny. And please do not tell me that fixes all this. It has yet to help, and I don't think it will solve many problems in 2025. The plan is in place...I'm ready to move on with this in 2025, except I have a smart deadbolt that doesn't work with Google Home, and if I swap that out, someone here may kill me. Other things I think about addressing in 2025 but won't: Look, try not to judge me. At least I'm thinking about all this. What about you? Feel free to email me with your successful tech resolution efforts. I will be chastened and maybe share some in a future post.Aston Villa 3-2 RB Leipzig (11 Dec, 2024) Game Analysis - ESPN

Elon Musk’s preschool is the next step in his anti-woke education dreamsRamiro Enrique, Pedro Gallese lead Orlando City past Atlanta United 1-0 for trip to conference finalBy MICHELLE L. PRICE and ROB GILLIES NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s recent dinner with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his visit to Paris for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral were not just exercises in policy and diplomacy. They were also prime trolling opportunities for Trump. Related Articles National Politics | Trump names Andrew Ferguson as head of Federal Trade Commission to replace Lina Khan National Politics | Biden says he was ‘stupid’ not to put his name on pandemic relief checks like Trump did National Politics | Biden issues veto threat on bill expanding federal judiciary as partisan split emerges National Politics | Trump lawyers and aide hit with 10 additional felony charges in Wisconsin over 2020 fake electors National Politics | After withdrawing as attorney general nominee, Matt Gaetz lands a talk show on OANN television Throughout his first term in the White House and during his campaign to return, Trump has spun out countless provocative, antagonizing and mocking statements. There were his belittling nicknames for political opponents, his impressions of other political figures and the plentiful memes he shared on social media. Now that’s he’s preparing to return to the Oval Office, Trump is back at it, and his trolling is attracting more attention — and eyerolls. On Sunday, Trump turned a photo of himself seated near a smiling first lady Jill Biden at the Notre Dame ceremony into a social media promo for his new perfume and cologne line, with the tag line, “A fragrance your enemies can’t resist!” The first lady’s office declined to comment. When Trudeau hastily flew to Florida to meet with Trump last month over the president-elect’s threat to impose a 25% tax on all Canadian products entering the U.S., the Republican tossed out the idea that Canada become the 51st U.S. state. The Canadians passed off the comment as a joke, but Trump has continued to play up the dig, including in a post Tuesday morning on his social media network referring to the prime minister as “Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada.” After decades as an entertainer and tabloid fixture, Trump has a flair for the provocative that is aimed at attracting attention and, in his most recent incarnation as a politician, mobilizing fans. He has long relished poking at his opponents, both to demean and minimize them and to delight supporters who share his irreverent comments and posts widely online and cheer for them in person. Trump, to the joy of his fans, first publicly needled Canada on his social media network a week ago when he posted an AI-generated image that showed him standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag next to him and the caption “Oh Canada!” After his latest post, Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Tuesday: “It sounds like we’re living in a episode of South Park.” Trudeau said earlier this week that when it comes to Trump, “his approach will often be to challenge people, to destabilize a negotiating partner, to offer uncertainty and even sometimes a bit of chaos into the well established hallways of democracies and institutions and one of the most important things for us to do is not to freak out, not to panic.” Even Thanksgiving dinner isn’t a trolling-free zone for Trump’s adversaries. On Thanksgiving Day, Trump posted a movie clip from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” with President Joe Biden and other Democrats’ faces superimposed on the characters in a spoof of the turkey-carving scene. The video shows Trump appearing to explode out of the turkey in a swirl of purple sparks, with the former president stiffly dancing to one of his favorite songs, Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” In his most recent presidential campaign, Trump mocked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, refusing to call his GOP primary opponent by his real name and instead dubbing him “Ron DeSanctimonious.” He added, for good measure, in a post on his Truth Social network: “I will never call Ron DeSanctimonious ‘Meatball’ Ron, as the Fake News is insisting I will.” As he campaigned against Biden, Trump taunted him in online posts and with comments and impressions at his rallies, deriding the president over his intellect, his walk, his golf game and even his beach body. After Vice President Kamala Harris took over Biden’s spot as the Democratic nominee, Trump repeatedly suggested she never worked at McDonalds while in college. Trump, true to form, turned his mocking into a spectacle by appearing at a Pennsylvania McDonalds in October, when he manned the fries station and held an impromptu news conference from the restaurant drive-thru. Trump’s team thinks people should get a sense of humor. “President Trump is a master at messaging and he’s always relatable to the average person, whereas many media members take themselves too seriously and have no concept of anything else other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome,” said Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director. “President Trump will Make America Great Again and we are getting back to a sense of optimism after a tumultuous four years.” Though both the Biden and Harris campaigns created and shared memes and launched other stunts to respond to Trump’s taunts, so far America’s neighbors to the north are not taking the bait. “I don’t think we should necessarily look on Truth Social for public policy,” Miller said. Gerald Butts, a former top adviser to Trudeau and a close friend, said Trump brought up the 51st state line to Trudeau repeatedly during Trump’s first term in office. “Oh God,” Butts said Tuesday, “At least a half dozen times.” “This is who he is and what he does. He’s trying to destabilize everybody and make people anxious,” Butts said. “He’s trying to get people on the defensive and anxious and therefore willing to do things they wouldn’t otherwise entertain if they had their wits about them. I don’t know why anybody is surprised by it.” Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

King laughs at British comedian’s impression of Donald Trump at Royal VarietyInvesco QQQ ( NASDAQ:QQQ – Get Free Report ) dropped 1.7% on Friday . The company traded as low as $518.04 and last traded at $520.37. Approximately 10,405,127 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 37,058,051 shares. The stock had previously closed at $529.60. Invesco QQQ Stock Down 1.3 % The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $510.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $488.64. Invesco QQQ Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.8347 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Invesco QQQ About Invesco QQQ ( Get Free Report ) PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 is a unit investment trust that issues securities called Nasdaq-100 Index Tracking Stock. The Trust’s investment objective is to provide investment results that generally correspond to the price and yield performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index. The Trust provides investors with the opportunity to purchase units of beneficial interest in the Trust representing proportionate undivided interests in the portfolio of securities held by the Trust, which consists of substantially all of the securities, in substantially the same weighting, as the component securities of the Nasdaq-100 Index. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Invesco QQQ Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Invesco QQQ and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .

Crest 3D Whitestrips Professional Effects, Now 39% OffNew 2025 laws hit hot topics from AI in movies to rapid-fire guns

Dana Hull | (TNS) Bloomberg News Jared Birchall, Elon Musk’s money manager and the head of his family office, is listed as the chief executive officer. Jehn Balajadia, a longtime Musk aide who has worked at SpaceX and the Boring Co., is named as an official contact. Related Articles National Politics | Biden will decide on US Steel acquisition after influential panel fails to reach consensus National Politics | Biden vetoes once-bipartisan effort to add 66 federal judgeships, citing ‘hurried’ House action National Politics | A history of the Panama Canal — and why Trump can’t take it back on his own National Politics | President-elect Trump wants to again rename North America’s tallest peak National Politics | Inside the Gaetz ethics report, a trove of new details alleging payments for sex and drug use But they’re not connected to Musk’s new technology venture, or the political operation that’s endeared him to Donald Trump. Instead, they’re tied to the billionaire’s new Montessori school outside Bastrop, Texas, called Ad Astra, according to documents filed with state authorities and obtained via a Texas Public Information Act request. The world’s richest person oversees an overlapping empire of six companies — or seven, if you include his political action committee. Alongside rockets, electric cars, brain implants, social media and the next Trump administration, he is increasingly focused on education, spanning preschool to college. One part of his endeavor was revealed last year, when Bloomberg News reported that his foundation had set aside roughly $100 million to create a technology-focused primary and secondary school in Austin, with eventual plans for a university. An additional $137 million in cash and stock was allotted last year, according to the most recent tax filing for the Musk Foundation. Ad Astra is closer to fruition. The state documents show Texas authorities issued an initial permit last month, clearing the way for the center to operate with as many as 21 pupils. Ad Astra’s website says it’s “currently open to all children ages 3 to 9.” The school’s account on X includes job postings for an assistant teacher for preschool and kindergarten and an assistant teacher for students ages 6 to 9. To run the school, Ad Astra is partnering with a company that has experience with billionaires: Xplor Education, which developed Hala Kahiki Montessori school in Lanai, Hawaii, the island 98% owned by Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison. Ad Astra sits on a highway outside Bastrop, a bedroom community about 30 miles from Austin and part of a region that’s home to several of Musk’s businesses. On a visit during a recent weekday morning, there was a single Toyota Prius in the parking lot and no one answered the door at the white building with a gray metal roof. The school’s main entrance was blocked by a gate, and there was no sign of any children on the grounds. But what information there is about Ad Astra makes it sound like a fairly typical, if high-end, Montessori preschool. The proposed schedule includes “thematic, STEM-based activities and projects” as well as outdoor play and nap time. A sample snack calendar features carrots and hummus. While Birchall’s and Balajadia’s names appear in the application, it isn’t clear that they’ll have substantive roles at the school once it’s operational. Musk, Birchall and Balajadia didn’t respond to emailed questions. A phone call and email to the school went unanswered. Access to high quality, affordable childcare is a huge issue for working parents across the country, and tends to be an especially vexing problem in rural areas like Bastrop. Many families live in “childcare deserts” where there is either not a facility or there isn’t an available slot. Opening Ad Astra gives Musk a chance to showcase his vision for education, and his support for the hands-on learning and problem solving that are a hallmark of his industrial companies. His public comments about learning frequently overlap with cultural concerns popular among conservatives and the Make America Great Again crowd, often focusing on what he sees as young minds being indoctrinated by teachers spewing left-wing propaganda. He has railed against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and in August posted that “a lot of schools are teaching white boys to hate themselves.” Musk’s educational interests dovetail with his new role as Trump’s “first buddy.” The billionaire has pitched a role for himself that he — and now the incoming Trump administration — call “DOGE,” or the Department of Government Efficiency. Though it’s not an actual department, DOGE now posts on X, the social media platform that Musk owns. “The Department of Education spent over $1 billion promoting DEI in America’s schools,” the account posted Dec. 12. Back in Texas, Bastrop is quickly becoming a key Musk point of interest. The Boring Co., his tunneling venture, is based in an unincorporated area there. Across the road, SpaceX produces Starlink satellites at a 500,000-square-foot (46,000-square-meter) facility. Nearby, X is constructing a building for trust and safety workers. Musk employees, as well as the general public, can grab snacks at the Boring Bodega, a convenience store housed within Musk’s Hyperloop Plaza, which also contains a bar, candy shop and hair salon. Ad Astra is just a five-minute drive away. It seems to have been designed with the children of Musk’s employees — if not Musk’s own offspring — in mind. Musk has fathered at least 12 children, six of them in the last five years. “Ad Astra’s mission is to foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in the next generation of problem solvers and builders,” reads the school’s website. A job posting on the website of the Montessori Institute of North Texas says “While their parents support the breakthroughs that expand the realm of human possibility, their children will grow into the next generation of innovators in a way that only authentic Montessori can provide.” The school has hired an executive director, according to documents Bloomberg obtained from Texas Health and Human Services. Ad Astra is located on 40 acres of land, according to the documents, which said a 4,000-square-foot house would be remodeled for the preschool. It isn’t uncommon for entrepreneurs to take an interest in education, according to Bill Gormley, a professor emeritus at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University who studies early childhood education. Charles Butt, the chairman of the Texas-based H-E-B grocery chain, has made public education a focus of his philanthropy. Along with other business and community leaders, Butt founded “Raise Your Hand Texas,” which advocates on school funding, teacher workforce and retention issues and fully funding pre-kindergarten. “Musk is not the only entrepreneur to recognize the value of preschool for Texas workers,” Gormley said. “A lot of politicians and business people get enthusiastic about education in general — and preschool in particular — because they salivate at the prospect of a better workforce.” Political Moves Musk spent much of October actively campaigning for Trump’s presidential effort, becoming the most prolific donor of the election cycle. He poured at least $274 million into political groups in 2024, including $238 million to America PAC, the political action committee he founded. While the vast majority of money raised by America PAC came from Musk himself, it also had support from other donors. Betsy DeVos, who served as education secretary in Trump’s first term, donated $250,000, federal filings show. The Department of Education is already in the new administration’s cross hairs. Trump campaigned on the idea of disbanding the department and dismantling diversity initiatives, and he has also taken aim at transgender rights. “Rather than indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material, which is what we’re doing now, our schools must be totally refocused to prepare our children to succeed in the world of work,” Trump wrote in Agenda 47, his campaign platform. Musk has three children with the musician Grimes and three with Shivon Zilis, who in the past was actively involved at Neuralink, his brain machine interface company. All are under the age of five. Musk took X, his son with Grimes, with him on a recent trip to Capitol Hill. After his visit, he shared a graphic that showed the growth of administrators in America’s public schools since 2000. Tuition Costs Musk is a fan of hands-on education. During a Tesla earnings call in 2018, he talked about the need for more electricians as the electric-car maker scaled up the energy side of its business. On the Joe Rogan podcast in 2020, Musk said that “too many smart people go into finance and law.” “I have a lot of respect for people who work with their hands and we need electricians and plumbers and carpenters,” Musk said while campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania in October. “That’s a lot more important than having incremental political science majors.” Ad Astra’s website says the cost of tuition will be initially subsidized, but in future years “tuition will be in line with local private schools that include an extended day program.” “I do think we need significant reform in education,” Musk said at a separate Trump campaign event. “The priority should be to teach kids skills that they will find useful later in life, and to leave any sort of social propaganda out of the classroom.” With assistance from Sophie Alexander and Kara Carlson. ©2024 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

UNK awards degrees during winter commencement

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NoneKENILWORTH, N.J. , Nov. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Northeast Science and Technology (NEST) Center, a premier 100+ acre campus dedicated to research and development innovations, announced today that Revlon, a global leader in cosmetics and personal care, will relocate its New Jersey -based science and innovation (R&D) lab to the NEST campus. Lise Jorgensen , Revlon's Chief Scientific Officer, said: "Revlon selected NEST for its existing lab infrastructure, which will help us further amplify our innovation capabilities, and provide a state-of-the-art setting to meet our specific R&D needs. This substantial investment in our R&D capabilities marks a critical and exciting step in Revlon's future and reinforces our commitment to develop the most advanced consumer-inspired products for our brands around the world." Revlon's research labs, pilot manufacturing, and office functions will be centralized within a 62,000-square-foot space within the 1.2M SF building now known as 15 NEST, the building that up until recently served as Merck's global research headquarters. Notably, Revlon will be the first tenant to occupy 15 NEST since Merck's departure earlier this year. "Revlon's decision to join NEST is an exciting step towards our vision of a dynamic, collaborative, innovation ecosystem," said Matthew Flath , Onyx Equities' Senior Vice President Asset Management, who oversees the NEST campus. "With their decades-long legacy in beauty and personal care, Revlon complements the forward-thinking research environment at NEST and is helping to establish a community where leading science and technology companies unite to innovate, thrive, and elevate industry standards." Revlon's decision to join NEST comes on the heels of CoreWeave's recent announcement that it plans to lease 280,000 square feet of space on the campus. Both companies cited NEST's ideal location and best-in-class lab and utility infrastructure as part of their selection criteria. Dan Loughlin of JLL and Jonathan Scheinberg of Outshine Properties represented the ownership group of Onyx Equities, Machine Investment Group, and Pivot Real Estate Partners; and Daniel Levine and Daniel Reider from Newmark represented Revlon. To learn more about NEST's growth and the opportunities it offers, visit NESTCenter.com . About Northeast Science and Technology (NEST) Center Conveniently located in Kenilworth, NJ , the Northeast Science and Technology (NEST) Center is a 100+ acre campus that is purpose-built and zoned for life science innovation, answering a need for immediately available, turn-key, and customizable office, laboratory, and bio-manufacturing space in the tri-state area. Formerly the global headquarters of Merck, the Onyx Equities-led venture acquired the campus February 2023 and have since begun work with partners Machine Investment Group, Pivot Real Estate Partners, and Outshine Properties to develop it into a hub of research and innovation in the Northeast region of the United States . For more information about NEST, visit www.NestCenter.com . About Onyx Equities, LLC Headquartered in Woodbridge, New Jersey , Onyx Equities, LLC is a leading full-service real estate firm specializing in investment, asset repositioning, and ground-up development. Since its founding in 2004, Onyx has acquired more than $4 billion worth of diverse real estate assets throughout New Jersey , New York , and Pennsylvania , and has executed over $1 billion in capital improvement projects under its signature repositioning program. For more information about Onyx Equities, visit www.OnyxEquities.com . About Machine Investment Group Machine Investment Group is a real estate investment platform focused on investing in opportunistic, distressed, and special situations across all major asset classes in diverse geographies throughout the United States . Machine principals are directly responsible for deploying over $2.0 BN in capital to date. With a strong reputation, solutions-oriented approach, and extensive lender relationships, Machine aims to deliver consistent, opportunistic returns while minimizing losses. For more information, please visit https://machineinv.com/ . About Revlon Group Holdings LLC Revlon Group Holdings LLC ("Revlon") has developed a long-standing reputation as a color authority and beauty trendsetter in the world of color cosmetics and hair care. Since its breakthrough launch of the first opaque nail enamel in 1932, Revlon has provided consumers with high quality product innovation, performance and sophisticated glamour. In 2016, Revlon acquired the iconic Elizabeth Arden company and its portfolio of brands, including its leading designer and celebrity fragrances. Today, Revlon's diversified portfolio of brands is sold in over 100 countries around the world in most retail distribution channels, including prestige, salon, mass, and online. Revlon is among the leading global beauty companies, with some of the world's most iconic and desired brands and product offerings in color cosmetics, skin care, hair color, hair care and fragrances under brands such as Revlon, Revlon Professional, Elizabeth Arden , Almay, Mitchum, CND, American Crew, Creme of Nature, Cutex, Juicy Couture, Elizabeth Taylor , Curve, John Varvatos and Christina Aguilera . Contact: Corrie A. Fisher , media relations Email: Onyx@knbcomm.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/revlon-signs-lease-to-relocate-its-new-jersey-based-science-and-innovation-lab-to-the-northeast-science--technology-nest-center-302310137.html SOURCE Northeast Science and Technology (NEST)None

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Dana Hull | (TNS) Bloomberg News Jared Birchall, Elon Musk’s money manager and the head of his family office, is listed as the chief executive officer. Jehn Balajadia, a longtime Musk aide who has worked at SpaceX and the Boring Co., is named as an official contact. Related Articles National Politics | Biden will decide on US Steel acquisition after influential panel fails to reach consensus National Politics | Biden vetoes once-bipartisan effort to add 66 federal judgeships, citing ‘hurried’ House action National Politics | A history of the Panama Canal — and why Trump can’t take it back on his own National Politics | President-elect Trump wants to again rename North America’s tallest peak National Politics | Inside the Gaetz ethics report, a trove of new details alleging payments for sex and drug use But they’re not connected to Musk’s new technology venture, or the political operation that’s endeared him to Donald Trump. Instead, they’re tied to the billionaire’s new Montessori school outside Bastrop, Texas, called Ad Astra, according to documents filed with state authorities and obtained via a Texas Public Information Act request. The world’s richest person oversees an overlapping empire of six companies — or seven, if you include his political action committee. Alongside rockets, electric cars, brain implants, social media and the next Trump administration, he is increasingly focused on education, spanning preschool to college. One part of his endeavor was revealed last year, when Bloomberg News reported that his foundation had set aside roughly $100 million to create a technology-focused primary and secondary school in Austin, with eventual plans for a university. An additional $137 million in cash and stock was allotted last year, according to the most recent tax filing for the Musk Foundation. Ad Astra is closer to fruition. The state documents show Texas authorities issued an initial permit last month, clearing the way for the center to operate with as many as 21 pupils. Ad Astra’s website says it’s “currently open to all children ages 3 to 9.” The school’s account on X includes job postings for an assistant teacher for preschool and kindergarten and an assistant teacher for students ages 6 to 9. To run the school, Ad Astra is partnering with a company that has experience with billionaires: Xplor Education, which developed Hala Kahiki Montessori school in Lanai, Hawaii, the island 98% owned by Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison. Ad Astra sits on a highway outside Bastrop, a bedroom community about 30 miles from Austin and part of a region that’s home to several of Musk’s businesses. On a visit during a recent weekday morning, there was a single Toyota Prius in the parking lot and no one answered the door at the white building with a gray metal roof. The school’s main entrance was blocked by a gate, and there was no sign of any children on the grounds. But what information there is about Ad Astra makes it sound like a fairly typical, if high-end, Montessori preschool. The proposed schedule includes “thematic, STEM-based activities and projects” as well as outdoor play and nap time. A sample snack calendar features carrots and hummus. While Birchall’s and Balajadia’s names appear in the application, it isn’t clear that they’ll have substantive roles at the school once it’s operational. Musk, Birchall and Balajadia didn’t respond to emailed questions. A phone call and email to the school went unanswered. Access to high quality, affordable childcare is a huge issue for working parents across the country, and tends to be an especially vexing problem in rural areas like Bastrop. Many families live in “childcare deserts” where there is either not a facility or there isn’t an available slot. Opening Ad Astra gives Musk a chance to showcase his vision for education, and his support for the hands-on learning and problem solving that are a hallmark of his industrial companies. His public comments about learning frequently overlap with cultural concerns popular among conservatives and the Make America Great Again crowd, often focusing on what he sees as young minds being indoctrinated by teachers spewing left-wing propaganda. He has railed against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and in August posted that “a lot of schools are teaching white boys to hate themselves.” Musk’s educational interests dovetail with his new role as Trump’s “first buddy.” The billionaire has pitched a role for himself that he — and now the incoming Trump administration — call “DOGE,” or the Department of Government Efficiency. Though it’s not an actual department, DOGE now posts on X, the social media platform that Musk owns. “The Department of Education spent over $1 billion promoting DEI in America’s schools,” the account posted Dec. 12. Back in Texas, Bastrop is quickly becoming a key Musk point of interest. The Boring Co., his tunneling venture, is based in an unincorporated area there. Across the road, SpaceX produces Starlink satellites at a 500,000-square-foot (46,000-square-meter) facility. Nearby, X is constructing a building for trust and safety workers. Musk employees, as well as the general public, can grab snacks at the Boring Bodega, a convenience store housed within Musk’s Hyperloop Plaza, which also contains a bar, candy shop and hair salon. Ad Astra is just a five-minute drive away. It seems to have been designed with the children of Musk’s employees — if not Musk’s own offspring — in mind. Musk has fathered at least 12 children, six of them in the last five years. “Ad Astra’s mission is to foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in the next generation of problem solvers and builders,” reads the school’s website. A job posting on the website of the Montessori Institute of North Texas says “While their parents support the breakthroughs that expand the realm of human possibility, their children will grow into the next generation of innovators in a way that only authentic Montessori can provide.” The school has hired an executive director, according to documents Bloomberg obtained from Texas Health and Human Services. Ad Astra is located on 40 acres of land, according to the documents, which said a 4,000-square-foot house would be remodeled for the preschool. It isn’t uncommon for entrepreneurs to take an interest in education, according to Bill Gormley, a professor emeritus at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University who studies early childhood education. Charles Butt, the chairman of the Texas-based H-E-B grocery chain, has made public education a focus of his philanthropy. Along with other business and community leaders, Butt founded “Raise Your Hand Texas,” which advocates on school funding, teacher workforce and retention issues and fully funding pre-kindergarten. “Musk is not the only entrepreneur to recognize the value of preschool for Texas workers,” Gormley said. “A lot of politicians and business people get enthusiastic about education in general — and preschool in particular — because they salivate at the prospect of a better workforce.” Musk spent much of October actively campaigning for Trump’s presidential effort, becoming the most prolific donor of the election cycle. He poured at least $274 million into political groups in 2024, including $238 million to America PAC, the political action committee he founded. While the vast majority of money raised by America PAC came from Musk himself, it also had support from other donors. Betsy DeVos, who served as education secretary in Trump’s first term, donated $250,000, federal filings show. The Department of Education is already in the new administration’s cross hairs. Trump campaigned on the idea of disbanding the department and dismantling diversity initiatives, and he has also taken aim at transgender rights. “Rather than indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material, which is what we’re doing now, our schools must be totally refocused to prepare our children to succeed in the world of work,” Trump wrote in Agenda 47, his campaign platform. Musk has three children with the musician Grimes and three with Shivon Zilis, who in the past was actively involved at Neuralink, his brain machine interface company. All are under the age of five. Musk took X, his son with Grimes, with him on a recent trip to Capitol Hill. After his visit, he shared a graphic that showed the growth of administrators in America’s public schools since 2000. Musk is a fan of hands-on education. During a Tesla earnings call in 2018, he talked about the need for more electricians as the electric-car maker scaled up the energy side of its business. On the Joe Rogan podcast in 2020, Musk said that “too many smart people go into finance and law.” “I have a lot of respect for people who work with their hands and we need electricians and plumbers and carpenters,” Musk said while campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania in October. “That’s a lot more important than having incremental political science majors.” Ad Astra’s website says the cost of tuition will be initially subsidized, but in future years “tuition will be in line with local private schools that include an extended day program.” “I do think we need significant reform in education,” Musk said at a separate Trump campaign event. “The priority should be to teach kids skills that they will find useful later in life, and to leave any sort of social propaganda out of the classroom.” With assistance from Sophie Alexander and Kara Carlson. ©2024 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Thanksgiving is approaching. As loved ones come together, should they keep politics on or off the table? We have seen the polarization between the left and the right seemingly increase to where it has taken a toll on relationships. But when did we get to a point in American politics where who you vote for can create such discourse? “I think Donald Trump has a different style of politics than most conventional elected officials," said Luke Perry, distinguished professor of political science at Utica University. "He came with the business background, television background [and] no experience in government and he adopted a populous approach. He is trying to be charismatic and suggest that everyday solutions can solve the countries problems." Perry says a lot of Donald Trump’s rhetoric is politically motivated. "Trump’s political base is primarily noneducated white men," Perry said. "So the hyper-masculinity that we saw in this campaign cycle for instance is really designed to try to appeal to those people and turn them out to vote on his behalf." But not everyone agrees with this rhetoric, which has caused a divide. Perry says there’s this larger process of self-segregation that has been prevalent for some time. “They’re working at places that share their political views," Perry said. "They’re consuming news and social media that increasingly aligns with their views. So that self-segregation physically and virtually is very problematic because you don’t interact with a lot of diverse points of view if you’re only surrounding yourself with people like yourself." “And because this is such an emotionally charged topic, people have been struggling I would say quite a bit more, that I’m seeing just in my practice and also my colleagues are seeing as well,” said Tammy Zumbo, a licensed clinical social worker at Mohawk Valley Counseling. Zumbo says she is encouraging self-care for her patients. “Getting outside, if meditation might be your practice, spending time with people that bring you joy. Maybe spending time with pets and exercising,” said Zumbo. Zumbo says it’s OK to set boundaries. “Setting limits as far as what you’re comfortable talking about and what you’re not comfortable talking about," Zumbo said. "You may make an agreement as a family or as neighbors or as friends that I love you and I respect you, I just would prefer to not talk about politics and say you know I don’t see things the way you do and I can still be your friend."

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Former NBA forward Rodney Hood announced his retirement on Thursday, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. McMenamin said Hood, 32, attempted a comeback with the G League’s Memphis Hustle, but the attempt stalled due to an injury. The Utah Jazz used their first-round pick (No. 23) to select Hood out of Duke in the 2014 NBA draft. Hood played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers, Toronto Raptors, Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers during eight seasons in the NBA. Hood appeared in 86 games with the Blazers (2019-2021) following a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2019. The left-hander’s most memorable moment occurred in Game 3 of a second-round playoff series between the Blazers and Denver Nuggets in 2019. Hood made a 3-pointer with 17.8 seconds remaining in the FOURTH overtime to give Portland a 138-136 lead and the Blazers went on to win 141-137 to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Hood averaged 14.7 points per game while shooting 57.6 percent overall to help the Blazers win the series 4-3 and advance to their first Western Conference Final since 2000.

Vasko's 4 TDs power Coastal Carolina past Georgia State 48-27 to become bowl eligibleWhat both sides are saying about the ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon's HezbollahCES 2025 is looming around the corner, and while the annual tech show is usually full of high-tech goodies, this year is going to be especially important for gamers. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is hosting the big CES keynote this year, so you can expect Team Green to be going big. Likewise, we haven’t seen new graphics cards from AMD, so it’s a very strong possibility that CES is going to usher in an entirely new generation of graphics hardware . CES 2025 officially kicks off on January 7, 2025. However, the real show starts a day earlier, on January 6, when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang takes the stage for the CES 2025 keynote at 6:30pm PST. CES 2025 will wrap up around January 10. We expect announcements to happen throughout the week, as the hundreds of tech companies all vie for attention. Companies like Intel, AMD, Samsung and Sony all have their own keynotes scheduled, likely brimming with announcements of their own. There’s going to be a lot of stuff. CES, or the Consumer Electronics Show, is an annual tech convention, where tech companies big and small show off concepts and new products for the new year. Unlike some other trade shows, a big part of CES has always been concepts that give a glimpse into the future, rather than just the products we’ll see at our local Best Buy later in the year – though the latter is still a huge part of the show. You can expect everything from gaming laptops to flying cars to make an appearance at CES, though this year we suspect the former is going to be the star of the show. While CES usually has a wide variety of technology on offer, and likely will this year too, the thing we’re most interested in is new GPUs. After all, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is hosting the big keynote that kicks the event off, and I couldn’t imagine Team Green not taking that opportunity to announce something big. We’re overdue for new graphics cards anyway. Typically, new graphics cards – both from AMD and Nvidia – release on a roughly two-year cycle. Given that the RTX 4090 launched in October 2022 and the Radeon RX 7900 XTX launched in December of the same year, we’re officially overdue for a new generation of graphics cards. It doesn’t hurt that Intel beat both of these companies to the punch with its new graphics card, the Intel Arc B580, either. With the Intel card already out in the wild, and with the company’s disappointing Core Ultra 200S processors already out, it’s less clear what Intel will have to bring to the table. The Lunar Lake architecture behind AI PCs has been out since September, and it's unlikely that Team Blue will have a follow-up to that architecture already. However, we are still waiting on a new generation of H-series processors from the company. H-series processors are typically reserved for gaming laptops, and offer substantially better performance than the chips behind your thin and light devices. If AMD does announce new graphics, it’s possible that we might at least get a sneak peak at the AMD Z2 – or whatever the follow-up to the Z1 Extreme will be called. Handheld gaming PCs have blown up over the last year or so, with hits like the Asus ROG Ally X and the Lenovo Legion Go really taking the idea popularized by the Steam Deck and running with it. MSI is heading into the show with the MSI Claw 8 AI already up for preorder, and we can’t imagine it’s the only manufacturer with a handheld to show. After all, we’re still waiting for Alienware to make its Concept UFO from CES 2020 a reality. Given that it’s been 4 years, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it make an appearance. Beyond PC gaming, though, Sony and Samsung both have major press conferences at the show. While it’s exciting to see Sony at the show, it’s likely that the company is going to focus primarily on their non-gaming segments – think TVs, audio, etc. Likewise, I don’t expect Samsung to announce new phones at the show, though with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra being nearly a year old at this point, we could be surprised. Like any year, though, there’s no way to predict everything that will be at the show. There are hundreds of companies showing off what they’ve been cooking up, and there is always something huge that takes everyone by surprise. Luckily, because we’ll be on the ground, we’ll be updating this article with all the cool stuff we see in Las Vegas in January, so be sure to keep this page bookmarked. Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

Visa ’s artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities enabled it to block 85% more suspected fraud globally on Cyber Monday compared to a year earlier. It did so at a time when suspected fraudulent transactions at physical and digital stores rose by 200%, due in part to fraudsters’ use of AI, the payments technology company said in a Tuesday (Dec. 17) press release . “Although crooks are using AI more and more, so are we. And that’s paying off,” Paul Fabara , chief risk and client services officer at Visa, said in the release. “As we saw during the kickoff to the holiday shopping season, Visa continues to thwart more attempts at fraud from these bad actors, continuing our mission to be the safest way to pay and be paid for everyone, everywhere.” Visa has invested $11 billion in fraud prevention technology over the past five years, according to the release. Earlier this year, the company launched the Visa Account Attack Intelligence Score , a tool that leverages generative AI to stop fraud before it happens, anywhere the shopping is taking place, the release said. When announcing the addition of the VAAI Score tool to the Visa Account Attack Intelligence in May, the company said this tool is designed to help issuers combat enumeration attacks — attacks in which threat actors use automated scripts, bot nets and other technologies to amplify their card testing attacks. “With the VAAI Score, our clients now have access to real-time risk scoring that can help detect the likelihood of an enumeration attack so issuers can make more informed decisions on when to block a transaction,” Fabara said in a May 7 press release. Financial institutions that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to mitigate fraud are seeing steep declines in common forms of fraud, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence and Hawk collaboration, “ Leveraging AI and ML to Thwart Scammers .” The report found that these financial institutions were 17% less likely to report experiencing tech support impersonation and IRS impostor scams than financial institutions relying solely on more traditional fraud prevention tools. Visa said in July that its investments in AI and other technology enabled it to block 80 million fraudulent transactions worth $40 billion in 2023.What both sides are saying about the ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah

An NYPD captain in Brooklyn has been placed on desk duty and is under investigation after what sources described as a scuffle with the commander of a housing police precinct over whose officers would get credit for a gun arrest, the Daily News has learned.

Tehran condemns terrorist aggression on Aleppo consulate, says diplomatic staff safeYou might be surprised by how much counting goes into this royal writing caper. Diamonds, horses, cousins, Oprahs, times that a Prince of the Realm pootled off to holiday with a child sex offender. The usual. Today though, we’re counting things to do with Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. MORE: Harry, Meghan’s insane US costs exposed One: That’s the number of Sussexes who, on Thursday Sydney time, were in New York for the DealBook Summit (Harry) and the same number of Sussexes back in Los Angeles getting ready to honour Tyler Perry with a prestigious award at a massive black tie do (Meghan). The couple’s bi-coastal solo outings today will do nothing to quieten the chatter about the obvious shift in their public presences from perma-attached limpets to independent operators, striking forth to boldly go where no former HRH has gone before. Nor will the latest annual impact report from their Archewell Foundation, a glossy document that is a testament to the fact that you can never toot your own horn hard enough. MORE: Prince Williams’ dodgy $1.5b property empire revealed What the report lays out is that over the last 12 months, the Foundation has helped countless Afghan women refugees, it has launched a support network for parents affected by social media harms, and it has done more for women’s causes than all the Dove ads put together. The Archewell motto is “Show up, do good” and they are clearly having a decent crack at the first and second part of that. Good for them. But prepare yourself for some counting. In last year’s report, photos of the couple smiling and working together featured five times; however, this year, there are only two key images of Harry and Meghan together. (There is a third, minuscule one but it’s so small it requires zooming in and it is impossible to identify the duo with the naked eye). Anyone on the hunt for some nice cold hard demonstrating of the Sussexes’ unshakeable bond in this year’s report need not apply this week. (Nor can much be said about the homemade-feeling video put out in conjunction with the impact report. Set to a 2014 Coldplay track, the clip has the look of something your great aunt Gloria might have made after being offered a free Canva trial, as opposed to last year’s much slicker number). The lack of coupley-ness in New York, LA and in the impact report is the latest example of the shift in the Sussexes’ image and PR strategy, which now sees them undertake these sorts of solitary outings. In late November, Harry sent out invitations to a Christmas charity call, in support of the child bereavement charity Scotty’s Little Soldiers, that did not include Meghan. Before that, in a statement he released in September to mark his 40th birthday, he did not mention his wife, though he did talk about his young children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet and his joy at fatherhood. He also wrote, “my mission is to continue showing up” . Note the “my”, not “our”. It is now verging on the three month mark since Harry and Meghan were last seen in public together when they were photographed leaving Tyler Perry’s 55th birthday party in September. (They did appear in a stiff video released in early November in support of a child safety conference). Similarly, on the philanthropic front, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been going their own independent ways. Since September, Harry has travelled to New York, London, South Africa and Lesotho to undertake humanitarian events or to give speeches. Meanwhile in October, it was only Meghan who popped out to do some crafting with tweens to support a new social media wellness program in Santa Barbara near their home. Ditto, it was a solo duchess who walked the red carpet at the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital gala in October. What is obvious though is that 2024 has been a year of transformation for the duke and duchess’ brand and approach. Gone is their formerly chronic woe-is-us-ism and them regularly popping up in interviews, books and TV episodes to talk about how those wascally woyals put them through the wringer. Gone too is their near permanent double act, with them having reportedly opted for a divide and conquer strategy. Harry’s taking the philanthropic part of the equation, according to People, and will focus on what he does best – charming the pants off strangers as he tries to save the world. And Meghan, she’s the one wearing the business and money-making hats with the actual proper launch of her American Riviera Orchard brand reportedly coming next year. (It’s been coming for nine months already ...) It’s all very much a co-pro; a sharing of the wearing of the pants, if you will. It’s impossible to fail to notice just how different things now look for the Sussexes than only a few years ago. Back in 2021, the duke and duchess were still putting out an official Christmas card, in that instance an adorable photo taken by their engagement portrait photographer Alexi Lubomirski of the couple and Archie and Lili. It’s an image that could have been ripped from a Ralph Lauren commercial, a denim-clad quartet radiating togetherness, love and a distinctly American wholesomeness. More apple pie, anyone? We are a long way from that image these days. There is every chance that, right now, Harry and Meghan have just realised they feel no need – or pressure – to be all shouty and jubilant in their happiness and contentment. Whatever has inspired this reset or refresh or synergistic reframing of brand priorities to better catalyse empowered change, the world outside of Montecito has no idea. But would it be too much to ask for another denim-y Christmas card? Santa says that we have been very good this year and a heartwarming bit of something nice would not go astray right now. Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles

The winter solstice is almost here, the Northern Hemisphere's darkest dayDearborn Heights, MI (Planet Detroit) A poll released Tuesday found a majority of those who voted for President-elect Donald Trump oppose efforts to weaken the Environmental Protection Agency, as local advocates warn that EPA cuts could impact Michigan environmental programs. The poll, which also found that support from all voters for the agency has increased since 2017, was commissioned by the Environmental Protection Network, a group founded by former EPA scientists and officials during the first Trump administration to support environmental agencies and communities impacted by environmental injustice. "These numbers were frankly astounding to me," said Matt George, head of research for the communications firm Seven Letter, which performed the poll. However, he noted that there has historically been strong bipartisan support for the EPA. Sean McBrearty, Michigan director for the nonprofit Clean Water Action, told Planet Detroit the poll results were similar to other surveys that found overwhelming bipartisan support in Michigan for protecting the Great Lakes and reinstating "polluter pay" legislation to hold businesses accountable for cleaning up pollution. "Holding corporations accountable was actually one of the arguments that Republicans used in their State House campaigns," he said. Despite broad support for environmental action and Trump's promises to protect air and water quality, former EPA staffers on a Tuesday press call said the President-elect will seek to roll back regulations, decline to defend established rules from corporate lawsuits and find ways to shrink the agency. The result could be weaker environmental protections and declining support for Michigan's environmental programs. "Trump tried to dismantle EPA in the past, and he seems dead set on trying again," said Michelle Roos, executive director for EPN. Roos said the poll confirms that Trump does not have a mandate to weaken the EPA. Trump won a majority of electoral votes in this year's election but secured less than 50% of the popular vote. The poll, conducted between Nov. 7 and 13, included responses from 1,000 voters. It found that 76% of Trump voters and 86% of all voters wanted to either strengthen the EPA or protect it at its current level. Sixty-four percent of Trump voters (and 88% of all voters) expressed concern that Trump would hand EPA leadership to a director who will "put the interests of polluting corporations ahead of protecting clean water, clean air, and public health." Trump has picked former U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the EPA. Zeldin has questioned whether climate change is an urgent problem and voted to expand oil and gas drilling on federal lands. He's widely seen as someone who will be loyal to Trump's agenda of shrinking the EPA and eliminating environmental protections. Former EPA officials on the Tuesday call said widespread support for the agency may not influence the incoming administration, which has discussed using a "schedule F" order to fire as many as 50,000 federal employees. Jeremy Symons, senior advisor for EPN and former climate policy advisor for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, said the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 blueprint for radically restructuring the executive branch is a "novel plan" for dismantling the EPA and driving staff out. Although Republicans will gain control of the U.S. House and Senate next year, they could still resist the Trump administration's efforts to slash EPA's budget. However, Project 2025's chapter on the EPA proposes relocating regional offices "so that they are more accessible to the areas they serve and deliver cost savings to the American people," which could drive out EPA workers. When the Trump administration moved the Bureau of Land Management's headquarters from Washington D.C. to Grand Junction, Colorado, in 2020, it led to an exodus of workers in leadership positions. Russel Vought, former director of the Office of Management and Budget who worked on Project 2025, previously described plans to inflict "trauma" on EPA employees. "We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected," Vought said. "When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains." Recently released EPA data shows over 143 million Americans are exposed to PFAS in drinking water, which has been detected in drinking water systems across Metro Detroit. If the Trump administration proposes different PFAS regulations, the 2029 deadline for complying with the rules will automatically be pushed back by a decade, according to Elizabeth Southerland, former director of the Office of Science and Technology in the EPA's Office of Water. If Congress were to approve EPA budget cuts, it could have a dramatic impact on Michigan. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy received roughly 35% of its funding from the EPA in the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Bentley Johnson, federal government affairs director for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, said the president-elect and Republican lawmakers are likely to cut programs that largely serve low-income people and communities of color, such as Biden's Justice 40 Initiative, which directs climate and infrastructure funding to historically disadvantaged communities. Johnson said this would force EGLE and the state to make difficult decisions about what programs to support. Budget cuts and a loss of staff at EPA could also drain support for environmental enforcement and cleaning up contaminated sites, Johnson said. EPA administers the Superfund program, which is involved in the cleanup of over 60 highly contaminated sites in Michigan. But the agency also provides support for the cleanup of other sites that aren't on the list. "When the EPA is there, we've heard from impacted residents that it does make a difference," Johnson said. In 2017, the Trump administration sought to reduce the agency's budget by a third, although Congress resisted these cuts. If Trump finds more success securing cuts in his coming term, it would add to a long decline in agency funding. According to an EPN report, the EPA's inflation-adjusted spending decreased by 50% between 1980 and 2019, while the U.S. population increased by 44%. McBrearty stressed the need for grassroots opposition to the budget cuts and deregulation that political donors often support. He said it was important to support environmental groups and organizations like labor unions, which have previously worked collectively to push for environmental protections and workplace safety. "We need to take every step we can to build a system that makes lawmakers accountable to the people, not to the corporations funding their campaigns," he said. This story is provided as a service of the Institute for Nonprofit News’ On the Ground news wire. The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) is a network of more than 475 independent, nonprofit newsrooms serving communities throughout the US, Canada, and globally. On the Ground is a service of INN, which aggregates the best of its members’ elections and political content, and provides it free for republication. Read more about INN here: https://inn.org/ . Please coordinate with nina@planetdetroit.org should you want to publish photos for this piece. This content cannot be modified, apart from rewriting the headline. To view the original version, visit: https://planetdetroit.org/2024/11/trump-voters-oppose-epa-budget-cuts/

New Complaint Contends 'Vaporware' Strategy and Systematic Anti-Competitive Practices Destroyed Competition for Internet Connectivity in Business Aviation CHARLOTTE, N.C. , Dec. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- SmartSky Networks, LLC today filed a comprehensive antitrust lawsuit against Gogo, Inc. and Gogo Business Aviation, LLC ($GOGO) in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina (Case 3:24-cv-01087), alleging illegal monopolistic practices in the air-to-ground (ATG) broadband inflight connectivity market for business aviation. The lawsuit alleges multiple violations of federal antitrust laws, including the Sherman Act and Clayton Act, as well as North Carolina state tort laws and the Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, claiming that Gogo engaged in predatory pricing, misleading advertising, and exclusive dealing agreements to maintain its monopoly position in the ATG market. SmartSky is pursuing this case to protect innovation as well as to seek justice for unfair business practices. The company's complaint contends that a systematic campaign of misinformation and exclusive dealing arrangements effectively blocked SmartSky's access to critical distribution channels and created insurmountable barriers to market entry, stifling the innovation and competition customers depend on. The lawsuit seeks substantial damages potentially exceeding $1 billion . The legal action aims to address the alleged harm to competition and consumers in the aviation connectivity market. This new Complaint is separate and apart from the Intellectual Property case (Case 1:22-cv-00266-JLH) SmartSky previously filed against Gogo in Delaware . The trial of that case is scheduled to begin in April, 2025. SmartSky is represented by Rik Tozzi , of Burr & Forman, LLP. About SmartSky Until ceasing business operations in August, 2024, SmartSky Networks, LLC was an aviation technology company that developed and launched an innovative air-to-ground network for business aviation, offering superior connectivity solutions through advanced telecommunications technology and infrastructure. View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smartsky-files-1b-antitrust-lawsuit-alleging-gogo-business-aviation-acted-as-an-abusive-monopolist-302334142.html SOURCE SmartSky NetworksThe RCMP will create a new aerial intelligence task force to provide round-the-clock surveillance of Canada’s border using helicopters, drones and surveillance towers. The move is part of the federal government’s $1.3-billion upgrade to border security and monitoring to appease concerns of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump about the flow of migrants and illegal drugs. Trump has threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian and Mexican exports to the U.S. as soon as he is inaugurated next month unless both countries move to improve border security. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he has discussed parts of the plan with American officials and that he is optimistic about its reception. Canada will also propose to the United States to create a North American “joint strike force” to target organized crime groups that work across borders. The government also intends to provide new technology, tools and resources to the Canada Border Services Agency to seek out fentanyl using chemical detection, artificial intelligence and canine teams. The union representing rank-and-file Mounties is welcoming the federal plan unveiled in the fall economic update Monday. Money, to be spread over six fiscal years, is earmarked for the RCMP, Public Safety Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency and the cyberspies at the Communications Security Establishment. RCMP members enforce laws between official points of entry and investigate criminal activities related to the border. National Police Federation president Brian Sauvé says members have been protecting the border with limited resources, and the new money will allow them to continue delivering on their mandate. Aaron McCrorie, the border services agency’s vice-president of intelligence and enforcement, said in a recent interview that irregular migration and smuggling of drugs such as fentanyl are common concerns for Canada and the United States. “These aren’t concerns that are unique to the United States. We share those same concerns,” he said. “In that sense, it really speaks to the need for us to work collaboratively.” McCrorie said the Canadian border agency is working closely with U.S. counterparts including Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security, as well as with agencies in Britain, Australia and New Zealand. “Criminal enterprises, organized crime, they don’t respect international boundaries. They collaborate, they exploit weaknesses in the system,” McCrorie said. “And so the best way to confront them is to is to collaborate on our side, fill those gaps, support each other’s efforts.” He said Canada’s border agency has two targeting officers embedded with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the American agency plans to soon send a targeting officer to Canada.

The 147+ best Black Friday deals you can still shop right now(The Center Square) – Civil rights and liberties were among the priorities advocated by a North Carolina congresswoman and included in a comprehensive report on artificial intelligence released Tuesday by a U.S. House of Representatives task force. The 24-member body, equally represented from both major parties and representative of 20 chamber committees, put together guiding principles, 66 key findings and 89 recommendations. “This report is a critical first step towards ensuring that Congress can properly address advances in emerging AI technologies and maintain a thoughtful long-term vision for AI that betters our society,” said North Carolina’s lone task force member, Democratic Rep. Valerie Foushee. “During my time with the task force, I have been proud to champion several key priorities outlined in this report, including broadening participation in AI research, development, and education, protecting civil rights and liberties, and assessing and understanding AI’s rising environmental and energy impacts.” Foushee, elected to a second term last month in the 4th Congressional District, said in a release that the chapter of the report on civil rights and civil liberties includes findings that “improper use of AI can violate laws and deprive Americans of their civil rights.” Congress, it says, should be “mitigating harmful outcomes that impact Americans’ civil rights and civil liberties.” The report says the National AI Research Resource is a potential solution to boost American skills in artificial intelligence through resources. The report warns of federal government decisions through algorithm information. Among the recommendations are to use artificial intelligence to reduce administrative burden and bureaucracy. The task force wrote, “From optimizing manufacturing to developing cures for grave illnesses, AI can greatly boost productivity, enabling us to achieve our objectives more quickly and cost-effectively. Nevertheless, we also recognize that AI can be misused and lead to various types of harm.” The task force was convened by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., in February. The co-chairmen were Reps. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., and Ted Lieu, D-Calif.

We've Found 50 Black Friday Deals Under $50 You Absolutely Cannot MissSharon Stone reflects on brain hemorrhage in emotional message to younger self"LEQEMBI®" (Lecanemab) Approved for the Treatment of Early Alzheimer's Disease in Mexico

These are my favorite Find My accessories this holiday seasonNearly 50 payloads safely splashed down to Earth on SpaceX's 31 st Commercial Resupply Services Mission for NASA KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. , Dec. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Research that could enable early cancer detection, advance treatments for neurodegenerative conditions, and improve respiratory therapies returned from the International Space Station (ISS) on SpaceX's 31st Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission for NASA. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft splashed down off the coast of Florida with nearly 50 biotechnology, physical science, and student research payloads sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory ® . These investigations are among those that leveraged the unique environment of the space station for the benefit of life on Earth: The ISS National Lab enables access and opportunity for researchers to leverage this unique orbiting laboratory for the benefit of humanity and to enable commerce in space. To learn more about ISS National Lab-sponsored investigations that flew on NASA's SpaceX CRS-31, please visit our launch page . Download a high-resolution image for this release: SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft About the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory: The International Space Station (ISS) is a one-of-a-kind laboratory that enables research and technology development not possible on Earth. As a public service enterprise, the ISS National Laboratory ® allows researchers to leverage this multiuser facility to improve quality of life on Earth, mature space-based business models, advance science literacy in the future workforce, and expand a sustainable and scalable market in low Earth orbit. Through this orbiting national laboratory, research resources on the ISS are available to support non-NASA science, technology, and education initiatives from U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector. The Center for the Advancement of Science in SpaceTM (CASIS ® ) manages the ISS National Lab, under Cooperative Agreement with NASA, facilitating access to its permanent microgravity research environment, a powerful vantage point in low Earth orbit, and the extreme and varied conditions of space. To learn more about the ISS National Lab, visit our website . As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, CASIS ® accepts corporate and individual donations to help advance science in space for the benefit of humanity. For more information, visit our donations page . Media Contact: Patrick O'Neill 904-806-0035 PONeill@ISSNationalLab.org International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory Managed by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc. (CASIS) 1005 Viera Blvd., Suite 101, Rockledge, FL 32955 • 321.253.5101 • www.ISSNationalLab.org View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/iss-national-lab-sponsored-projects-on-cancer-neurodegenerative-conditions-and-more-return-from-space-station-302334158.html SOURCE International Space Station National LabNoneFlick praises 'wonderful' Barca after 3-0 win over Brest

It looked like a recipe for disaster. So, when his country's swimmers were being accused of doping earlier this year, one Chinese official cooked up something fast. He blamed it on contaminated noodles. In fact, he argued, it could have been a culinary conspiracy concocted by criminals, whose actions led to the cooking wine used to prepare the noodles being laced with a banned heart drug that found its way into an athlete's system. This theory was spelled out to international anti-doping officials during a meeting and, after weeks of wrangling, finally made it into the thousands of pages of data handed over to the lawyer who investigated the case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for that same drug. The attorney, appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, refused to consider that scenario as he sifted through the evidence. In spelling out his reasoning, lawyer Eric Cottier paid heed to the half-baked nature of the theory. “The Investigator considers this scenario, which he has described in the conditional tense, to be possible, no less, no more,” Cottier wrote. Even without the contaminated-noodles theory, Cottier found problems with the way WADA and the Chinese handled the case but ultimately determined WADA had acted reasonably in not appealing China's conclusion that its athletes had been inadvertently contaminated. Critics of the way the China case was handled can't help but wonder if a wider exploration of the noodle theory, details of which were discovered by The Associated Press via notes and emails from after the meeting where it was delivered, might have lent a different flavor to Cottier's conclusions. “There are more story twists to the ways the Chinese explain the TMZ case than a James Bond movie,” said Rob Koehler, the director general of the advocacy group Global Athlete. "And all of it is complete fiction.” In April, reporting from the New York Times and the German broadcaster ARD revealed that the 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine, also known as TMZ. China's anti-doping agency determined the athletes had been contaminated, and so, did not sanction them. WADA accepted that explanation , did not press the case further, and China was never made to deliver a public notice about the “no-fault findings,” as is often seen in similar cases. The stock explanation for the contamination was that traces of TMZ were found in the kitchen of a hotel where the swimmers were staying. In his 58-page report , Cottier relayed some suspicions about the feasibility of that chain of events — noting that WADA's chief scientist “saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities.” But without evidence to support pursuing the case, and with the chance of winning an appeal at almost nil, Cottier determined WADA's “decision not to appeal appears indisputably reasonable.” A mystery remained: How did those traces of TMZ get into the kitchen? Shortly after the doping positives were revealed, the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations held a meeting on April 30 where it heard from the leader of China's agency, Li Zhiquan. Li's presentation was mostly filled with the same talking points that have been delivered throughout the saga — that the positive tests resulted from contamination from the kitchen. But he expanded on one way the kitchen might have become contaminated, harkening to another case in China involving a low-level TMZ positive. A pharmaceutical factory, he explained, had used industrial alcohol in the distillation process for producing TMZ. The industrial alcohol laced with the drug “then entered the market through illegal channels,” he said. The alcohol "was re-used by the perpetrators to process and produce cooking wine, which is an important seasoning used locally to make beef noodles,” Li said. “The contaminated beef noodles were consumed by that athlete, resulting in an extremely low concentration of TMZ in the positive sample. "The wrongdoers involved have been brought to justice.” This new information raised eyebrows among the anti-doping leaders listening to Li's report. So much so that over the next month, several emails ensued to make sure the details about the noodles and wine made their way to WADA lawyers, who could then pass it onto Cottier. Eventually, Li did pass on the information to WADA general counsel Ross Wenzel and, just to be sure, one of the anti-doping leaders forwarded it, as well, according to the emails seen by the AP. All this came with Li's request that the noodles story be kept confidential. Turns out, it made it into Cottier's report, though he took the information with a grain of salt. “Indeed, giving it more attention would have required it to be documented, then scientifically verified and validated,” he wrote. Neither Wenzel nor officials at the Chinese anti-doping agency returned messages from AP asking about the noodles conspiracy and the other athlete who Li suggested had been contaminated by them. Meanwhile, 11 of the swimmers who originally tested positive competed at the Paris Games earlier this year in a meet held under the cloud of the Chinese doping case. Though WADA considers the case closed, Koehler and others point to situations like this as one of many reasons that an investigation by someone other than Cottier, who was hired by WADA, is still needed. “It gives the appearance that people are just making things up as they go along on this, and hoping the story just goes away," Koehler said. “Which clearly it has not.” AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-gamesonline casino games free 。

The Darnold-Jefferson connection is thriving for the surging Vikings

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The Lebanon Ceasefire: A Pledge for Peace

OMAHA — Creighton did it again. In an in-state women’s college basketball series with Nebraska largely dictated by what happens beyond the 3-point arc, the Jays rallied with six 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to beat No. 21 Nebraska 80-74 on Friday at Sokol Arena. At one point in the fourth quarter, the Jays made four straight 3-pointers. The Jays were 6 for 9 on threes in the fourth quarter and 13 for 29 for the game to give Nebraska its first loss to the season. The Jays outscored Nebraska by 24 points on 3-pointers. Creighton has won three straight in the series. Lauren Jensen had a game-high 31 points for the Jays with four 3s. Morgan Maly, a senior from Crete, scored 18. Alexis Markowski worked really hard for Nebraska, finishing with 26 points and 12 rebounds and calling for the ball inside where she often had an advantage. Britt Prince added 20 points in the first game against her hometown school. Nebraska led 55-52 to start the fourth quarter. For the final 10 minutes, one of the questions was how much did Markowski have left? And also, could the Huskers defend the 3-point line just a little longer? The Jays made two of their first three 3-point attempts to start the quarter to regain a 60-57 lead. Molly Mogensen had the first one, and Jensen the second for her fourth of the game. When Mogensen made another three the Jays led 72-66. The Jays sealed the deal when Prince missed a 3-pointer with seven seconds left and the Jays made their free throws. Nebraska led 22-19 after the first quarter. It was an entertaining start. The game started with Markowski going at Maly inside the paint, the Nebraska natives who played in the same club in Lincoln. There were five combined 3-pointers, with three for the Jays and two for Nebraska (each from Prince). Creighton used a 13-2 run that included three 3-pointers to take a 15-8 lead. But Nebraska got back in it with a steal and layup from Allison Weidner and a take to the basket from Callin Hake. Creighton added two more 3-pointers in the second quarter, but Nebraska was able to keep a lead at halftime 37-35. Reach the writer at 402-473-7435 or bwagner@journalstar.com . On Twitter @LJSSportsWagner. Get local news delivered to your inbox!

A deal which could see the Elgin Marbles returned to Greece is “still some distance” away, George Osborne has signalled. The former Tory chancellor, now chairman of the British Museum, suggested Sir Keir Starmer had contributed to a warmer spirit of the negotiations over the famous ancient artworks. Greece has long called for the return of the Marbles, also known as the Parthenon sculptures, and maintains they were illegally removed from Athens’ acropolis during a period of foreign occupation. The British Museum – where they are currently on display – is forbidden by law from giving away any of its artefacts, and the Government has no plans to change the law to permit a permanent move. But under Mr Osborne’s leadership, the museum is negotiating the possibility of a long-term loan of the sculptures, in exchange for rolling exhibitions of famous artworks. No 10 has indicated the Prime Minister is unlikely to stand in the way of such a deal. Speaking on Political Currency, the podcast he hosts alongside former Labour politician Ed Balls, Mr Osborne said the museum was “looking to see if we can come to some arrangement where at some point some of the sculptures are in Athens, where, of course, they were originally sited”. He added: “And in return, Greece lends us some of its treasures, and we made a lot of progress on that, but we’re still some distance from any kind of agreement.” The Greek government has suggested negotiations with the museum have taken a warmer tone since Labour came to power in the summer. Mr Osborne appeared to concur with this view and praised Sir Keir’s hands-off approach, adding: “It is not the same as Rishi Sunak, who refused to see the Greek prime minister, if you remember, he sort of stood him up. “So it seems to me a more sensible and diplomatic way to proceed.” Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek premier, discussed the Elgin Marbles with Sir Keir when they met on Tuesday morning at Downing Street, he said after returning to Athens. Mr Mitsotakis has signalled his government is awaiting developments on the negotiations. A diplomatic spat between the Greek leader and Mr Sunak emerged last year when the then-prime minister refused to meet his counterpart. Mr Mitsotakis had compared splitting the Elgin Marbles from those still in Athens to cutting the Mona Lisa in half. The marble statues came from friezes on the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple and have been displayed at the British Museum for more than 200 years. They were removed by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century when he was British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Some of the remaining temple statues are on display in the purpose-built Acropolis Museum in Athens, and Greece has called for the collections to be reunited.

'A Real Pain,' 'English Teacher' among Independent Spirit Award nominees

Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Ant and Dec have slammed Jane Moore for her ‘unfair’ attack on ‘sexist’ duo Barry McGuigan and Danny Jones. Jane hit out at being given washing up duties by new camp leaders Danny and Barry on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, claiming the decision was ageist and sexist, reports the Mirror. It sparked a reaction from Ant and Dec as they reflected on the tensions after the show. on their Instagram Live. Ant said: “I think she is being a bit unfair by saying it’s sexist and ageist. I think they were just trying to do a good job in allocating fairly, if I’m honest." Dec replied: “Yes, I agree. I feel for Barry, he was only trying to do his best.” Ant added: “Poor little Barry.” Ant earlier said that it was "good to have a little bit of tetchiness in there." He added: "I am not surprised as it’s always about the chores. It’s always around the leader and who they give the chores to. It’s either that or the cooking." The Loose Women host, 62, was given the task of washing up along with Tulisa. Earlier Danny and Barry were seen deliberating as which campmates got which job. Danny said: “Shall we talk chefs first, obviously me and Melvin can't do that,” to which Barry then added: 'Wood duty needs to be somebody who's strong and has good stamina.” Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile , select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Danny suggested Jane on washing up, saying: “I think we have to put Jane on washing up but the only thing I want to say is have we gone a bit male heavy on the strenuous jobs?'. But Barry replied: “I think that's a fair comment but I don't think they'd thank us after a few days.” After then announcing Jane and Tulisa to the group as being tasked with washing-up, Jane called: “Oh what? Is that because we're women?” Barry said that since Jane was 62 and a year younger than him, she might want something less strenuous but Jane hit back “so ageist and sexist.” Oti Mabuse later said: “You could cut the tension with a knife." Later Jane complained to Danny: “Those were my last words as you walked past me, "please not cleaning", and you've given me cleaning.” She added: “I'm not upset, I'm just saying it's women doing the washing up again.' As well as Ant and Dec, her comments have sparked a strong reaction on social media with many saying her attack was unjustified. Barry and Danny were later spotted looking crestfallen. Earlier in the show Coleen Rooney branded Donald Trump a "dirty b***ard" The 38-year-old recalled meeting the US president-elect with her former England captain husband Wayne when their family was living in the US during Sunday's episode. Discussing her encounter, she told her fellow campmates: "When we lived in America, we got invited to the White House for Christmas and we went in to meet Donald Trump. "And so we walked in and we had to get the official photograph taken in front of the Christmas tree. "So Donald Trump said to his son 'See? Told you, all the soccer players get the good-looking girls'. And I told my mum, I was like 'dirty b***ard'." Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond. Sign up to our daily newsletter .

COLLEGE BOWL( MENAFN - The Conversation) Five years ago, I began a research project into emotional labour , compassion fatigue and burnout in Alberta's educational workers. The results from the earliest study suggested a wide scope of emotional and mental distress among teachers, educational assistants, school leaders and support staff. This distress has been documented globally and across Canada , suggesting educator mental and emotional well-being continues to decline and interventions are needed. Read more: Commit to a 'wellness streak' to help manage work stressors Recently, my research team analyzed the specific interventions that our 4,000 survey respondents used to manage their symptoms of compassion fatigue and burnout. Educational worker respondents were recruited online through Alberta Teachers' Association and internal newsletters and social media. Responses were collected across three periods (2020, 2021 and 2023). We defined intervention as a practice or strategy used to address distress or suffering. Overwhelmingly, our respondents indicated that they used self-directed or individual interventions to deal with workplace distress such as going to a gym, walking alone, talking to friends and spouses or pursuing hobbies. While individual interventions are one part of dealing with distress, a single person cannot self-care themselves out of the effects of a toxic workplace or organizational culture. In their recent book, The Burnout Challenge: Managing People's Relationships with their Jobs , workplace burnout experts and emeriti professors of psychology Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter used the canary in the coal mine metaphor to illustrate this point. Similar to how miners used canaries to indicate the presence of toxic gas in the mine, the large number of absences of adults from their workplaces suggests a toxic environment. But, here's the catch: you can rescue the canary by bringing it to fresh air, but if you put that canary back into the toxic mine, it will become sick again. So, while individual interventions can help temporarily relieve workplace stress, the workplace itself also needs to address the root problems. In our survey, we asked participants to share strategies they use to support workplace well-being. Over 40 per cent of respondents added“improving work and classroom conditions” when asked if there was anything else they wished to tell researchers about their experiences with compassion fatigue, emotional labour or burnout. In addition to prioritizing adequate resourcing for schools, there are clear opportunities for educational systems to integrate organizational and school-based interventions for employees, such as providing professional development opportunities or micro-programs that target and relieve workplace stressors. Such organizational resources were the least-mentioned forms of support our survey participants currently use, but improving school and system culture could have the greatest impact on employee attraction and retention . A opportunity for building well-being appeared as a new trend in the most recent analysis of our data. Over the three data collection points, more respondents wrote“getting outside” as an“other” form of intervention they were using to feel better. This insight led me, with collaborators Nadeen Halls, a teacher consultant, and Patrick Hanlon, from the Werklund School of Education Academic Support Offices, to develop a pilot a“Walk and Learn” professional learning workshop for burned out educators. We mixed two interventions, environmental and organizational, to create a walk for local teachers so they could learn about compassion fatigue and burnout while going for a walk on trails outside Calgary in Treaty 7 territory , also home to Métis Regions 5 & 6 . As a part of the walk, we carefully selected sit-spots along the trail for reflective journaling on workplace well-being. This combined experience of physical activity and quiet reflection appeared to have a positive effect on the participants. In our post-walk feedback, 100 per cent of participants expressed appreciation for this type of professional learning. At our most recent walk in October, we had two returning participants - high praise from teachers who do not like to take the same session twice! The design of the walks has been critical. We are flexible about the trail we select, making changes to suit the abilities of all our walkers. We arranged the walks through a local chapter of the Alberta Teachers' Association and also some school staff teams so that the walks were scheduled during the regular school day rather than during the evening or on weekends. I also secured some funding to purchase items such as mittens, toques, tissues, and bleacher-style cushions to ensure the overall comfort of the walkers. After listening and reflecting on compassion fatigue and burnout, participants would walk and discuss the impact of these psychological hazards with their peers and colleagues. They shared their strategies to support their own and their students' well-being. Read more: Heartbreak becomes burnout for teachers when work is turbulent Maybe of the highest importance, participants have noted that the walks have helped them realize they are not alone in their suffering. These conversations between walkers created social support , a starting point for improving workplace culture. The popularity of the walks led us to design a podcast learning series so others could enjoy the benefits of movement and learning. The HEARTcare Podcast and Learn series aims both to teach about important concepts related to workplace well-being while prompting listeners to be physically active and mentally engaged. Unprompted feedback from podcast listeners has been positive. Our next step is to investigate the podcasts' usefulness as a professional learning tool and strategy for stress relief. Taking one walk or listening to one podcast is not the magic wand or cure-all that will save education. But evidence suggests that higher daily step counts have positive mental health benefits and connecting with other people through activity can improve physical well-being. So, don't be afraid to walk into stress in this year - and be sure to bring a friend or colleague. It might be the only steps you need to take to feel better. MENAFN23122024000199003603ID1109025349 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.

NEW YORK, Dec. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Monteverde & Associates PC (the "M&A Class Action Firm"), has recovered millions of dollars for shareholders and is recognized as a Top 50 Firm by ISS Securities Class Action Services Report. We are headquartered at the Empire State Building in New York City and are investigating: Aerovate Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVTE ) , relating to a proposed merger with Jade Biosciences. Under the terms of the agreement, pre-merger Aerovate stockholders are expected to own approximately 1.6% of the combined company, while pre-merger Jade stockholders are expected to own approximately 98.4% of the combined entity. Click here for more information https://monteverdelaw.com/case/aerovate-therapeutics-inc-avte/ . It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you. Brightcove Inc. (NASDAQ: BCOV ) , relating to the proposed merger with Bending Spoons. Under the terms of the agreement, Brightcove shareholders will receive $4.45 per share in cash for each share of Brightcove common stock that they own. Click here for more https://monteverdelaw.com/case/brightcove-inc-bcov/ . It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you. AlloVir, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALVR ) , relating to its proposed merger with Kalaris Therapeutics. Under the terms of the agreement, AlloVir will acquire 100% of the outstanding equity interest of Kalaris. Upon completion of the Merger, pre-Merger AlloVir stockholders are expected to own approximately 25.05% of the combined company and pre-Merger Kalaris stockholders are expected to own approximately 74.95% of the combined company. Click here for more information https://monteverdelaw.com/case/allovir-inc-alvr/ . It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you. Adams Resources & Energy, Inc. (NYSE: AE ) , relating to the proposed merger with an affiliate of Tres Energy LLC. Under the terms of the agreement, Adams stockholders will receive $38.00 per share in cash for each share of Adams common stock they own. Click here for more information https://monteverdelaw.com/case/adams-resources-energy-inc-ae/ . It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you. NOT ALL LAW FIRMS ARE THE SAME. Before you hire a law firm, you should talk to a lawyer and ask: Do you file class actions and go to Court? When was the last time you recovered money for shareholders? What cases did you recover money in and how much? About Monteverde & Associates PC Our firm litigates and has recovered money for shareholders...and we do it from our offices in the Empire State Building. We are a national class action securities firm with a successful track record in trial and appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. No company, director or officer is above the law. If you own common stock in any of the above listed companies and have concerns or wish to obtain additional information free of charge, please visit our website or contact Juan Monteverde, Esq. either via e-mail at jmonteverde@monteverdelaw.com or by telephone at (212) 971-1341. Contact: Juan Monteverde, Esq. MONTEVERDE & ASSOCIATES PC The Empire State Building 350 Fifth Ave. Suite 4740 New York, NY 10118 United States of America jmonteverde@monteverdelaw.com Tel: (212) 971-1341 Attorney Advertising. (C) 2024 Monteverde & Associates PC. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Monteverde & Associates PC ( www.monteverdelaw.com ). Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

In Haiti, a Grim Barometer: Even United Nations Workers Are Fleeing

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The surprise imposition and swift lifting of martial law in Korea sent ripples through global markets, causing the South Korean won to hit historical lows against the dollar and temporarily boosting U.S. Treasuries as a safe haven. This geopolitical maneuver added to investor jitters already heightened by uncertainties in France and the U.S. elections. Despite the volatility, U.S. stocks like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq achieved record highs, propelled by market optimism over economic outlooks and data releases. Labor market indicators suggest a gradual cooling, which aligns with expectations for the Federal Reserve's rate policy adjustment in December. Global political tensions, especially surrounding OPEC+ decisions and tariff threats, continue to weigh heavily on currencies and commodities. While European markets have fared better, ongoing political unrest in France magnifies investor concerns, highlighting the fragile balance in current economic conditions. (With inputs from agencies.)Broncos hope to continue playoff push when they meet the banged-up Raiders

Browns get 497-yard performance from QB Jameis Winston and lose anyway in season long gone sour

wants to start the with a bang. The retailer has always been known for its , and now they are preparing to launch a series of discounts that will leave you in shock. These promotions will help your wallet, which is sure to have been quite active in the month of The are aimed at many sections of the store, from food to technology and household products. Remember that it is essential to have your up to date in order to take advantage of the store's services Here's what you can expect from Costco discounts in early 2025:A senior Taliban leader in Afghanistan has indicated that they will continue to provide refuge to anti-Pakistan militants, describing them as "guests" under the country's traditions. Taliban Information Minister Khairullah Khairkhwa made the rare remarks just days after the Pakistani military reportedly conducted airstrikes against suspected terrorist locations in an eastern Afghan border province. The Taliban claimed that Tuesday's attack in Paktika resulted in the deaths of nearly 50 civilians, predominantly refugees from Pakistan. While the claims could not be verified from independent sources, the United Nations said that it had "received credible reports" from the remote Afghan province that dozens of civilians, including women and children, were killed in the Pakistani airstrikes. Islamabad has refrained from publicly acknowledging the cross-border strikes, but Pakistani security officials anonymously confirmed and told reporters that the military action had targeted and destroyed several "terrorist hideouts" of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an outlawed group engaged in lethal attacks against Pakistan. Several key TTP commanders were also said to be among more than a dozen militants killed. "We must honor the Afghan nation's commitment to safeguarding these guests, friends," an angry Khairkhwa said while denouncing the Pakistani attack. He was apparently referring to the TTP in his speech aired by Taliban-controlled state television and shared via X social media platform Friday. The Taliban minister emphasized the need for Pakistan "to draw lessons from the consequences of military interventions" in Afghanistan by Britain, the former Soviet Union and the United States, respectively, since the 19th century. "Anyone who attacks Afghanistan or harbors such intentions must learn from the defeat of three superpowers," Khairkhwa asserted. This is the first public admission by a senior Taliban leader regarding the presence of TTP operatives in the country. Previously, Taliban officials have vehemently denied their existence, claiming that no foreign militants are permitted to operate and pose a threat to other nations from Afghan soil. TTP, designated as a global terrorist organization by the United Nations, has escalated attacks in Pakistan since the Taliban's August 2021 resurgence to power in Kabul, killing hundreds of Pakistani civilians and security personnel. On Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his government's intention to enhance economic and trade relations with Afghanistan. However, he stated that the threat of TTP-led cross-border terrorism impedes that progress. "Unfortunately, the TTP continues to operate from there and killing innocent people inside Pakistan. This cannot go on," Sharif said in his televised remarks to a Cabinet meeting in Islamabad. "They must rein in TTP. ... This constitutes a red line for us. The TTP operating from Afghan soil is unacceptable under any circumstances," he stressed. Sharif said his country was ready to talk with the Afghan government to address the issue. "But there can be no progress if, on the one hand, they seek to foster relations with Pakistan while simultaneously permitting TTP to operate with impunity," he emphasized. Separately, the Pakistani military reported Friday that its counterterrorism operations and clashes with TTP militants resulted in the killings of over 900 "terrorists" this year, including 27 Afghan suicide bombers and fighters. The violence also left nearly 400 Pakistani security forces and officers dead, said Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the military spokesperson. Who is Khairkhwa? Khairkhwa, a U.N.-sanctioned Taliban leader, was captured by U.S. forces in collaboration with Pakistani counterparts in early 2002 and subsequently transferred to the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison center. He was freed along with four other senior Taliban leaders in 2014 as part of a Qatar-mediated exchange for the release of U.S. soldier Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, American and Western-allied forces invaded Afghanistan, overthrowing the then-Taliban government due to its refusal to surrender Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida, who was accused of orchestrating the deadly attacks from his Afghan bases. The Taliban leadership at the time justified its refusal to surrender bin Laden, asserting that he was a "guest" in the country and that surrendering him would violate local traditions. Subsequently, the Taliban regrouped and launched an insurgency against U.S.-led foreign forces, using sanctuaries on Pakistani soil. Bin Laden evaded capture and fled to Pakistan, where he was eventually tracked down and killed by American troops in 2011. Taliban leaders pledged to combat transnational militant networks to prevent them from using Afghanistan as a haven for global attacks after they seized power three years ago. However, an annual U.S. terrorism report released earlier this month cast doubts on Taliban counterterrorism commitments, citing TTP's growing attacks against Pakistan from Afghan sanctuaries and the threat transnational groups pose to regional stability from Afghanistan.

Peter Laviolette calls out New York Rangers following embarrassing 7-5 lossThe J. M. Smucker Company Announces Cash Tender Offers“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” - Alan Kay This sentiment captures the essence of Pakistan’s ongoing journey through a landscape marred by deep-seated corruption and significant economic challenges, reflected in its 2023 ranking of 133rd out of 180 countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International. This persistent issue of corruption, with an average rank of 113.04 since 1995, undermines the social contract between the government and its citizens, hampering trust in institutions and stalling progress. Furthermore, the country’s economic landscape is precarious, as illustrated by a GDP contraction of 0.2% in 2023, following a robust growth of 6.2% the previous year. This volatility highlights the direct impact of governance on economic performance, with historical data revealing a fluctuating growth rate that has often been undermined by cronyism and systemic corruption. Amid these challenges, the necessity for substantial fiscal policy reform is critical. Pakistan’s low tax-to-GDP ratio, one of the lowest in South Asia, reflects ongoing inefficiencies that hinder revenue generation, despite a slight increase from 0.8 percentage points between 2011 and 2022. The fluctuating ratios reported by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) indicate struggles with compliance and enforcement, essential for maximizing government revenues. While there have been positive developments, such as a 55% increase in foreign direct investment and remittances in 2024, these indicators are inconsistent and come with political and social costs. The pervasive issues of illegal economic activities, exemplified by smuggling and unauthorized spectrum usage, further illustrate the critical need for effective governance and a collaborative tax system to foster sustainable development. The failure of governance reflects Milton Friedman’s assertion about the essential relationship between control and freedom, as unregulated operations ultimately erode both economic and social sovereignty. Amid these challenges, the role of accountability becomes essential. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) have been positioned as guardians against corruption, but their efficacy in addressing the ongoing crises remains under scrutiny. As former British Prime Minister William E. Gladstone aptly stated, “Justice delayed is justice denied.” This encapsulates the frustrations of a populace that yearns for swift and fair accountability mechanisms that can provide recourse against systemic injustices. Moreover, amendments made to the National Accountability Ordinance further complicate these narratives. As Socrates noted, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. The rule of law, conflict of interest, blurred vision about bona fide and mala fide, differentiation between economic activity and accountability and vague definition of criminalization of economic activity are the unexamined aspects of social and economic life, to say the least. However, the discretion given to the bureaucracy is posing a critical challenge to system of accountability, which has led to almost complete erosion of trust in institutions. The technological advancement, the intersection of governance and innovation presents a critical focus area for Pakistan’s transformation. Automation, when integrated effectively into administrative frameworks, holds the potential to drastically enhance operational efficiencies and reduce corruption. Furthermore, the public sector has made strides towards modernization through e-government initiatives designed to streamline operations and enhance service delivery. These efforts aim to bridge the chasm between governance and citizen engagement by facilitating greater transparency and reducing bureaucratic red tape. The possibilities here are substantial; as efficiency increases, so too does the capacity to combat corruption and promote accountability, echoing the sentiments of modern economists who advocate for the use of technology as a fundamental driver for economic growth. The evolution of tax collection methods, the reduction of human discretion in administrative processes, and the digitization of services can alter the prevailing narrative about inefficiencies deeply rooted in systemic practices particularly the use of AI in FBR, judicial system, law enforcement The algorisms will substitute the discretionary powers of executive without prejudice and bias. Hopefully, it will depoliticize and demilitarize the bureaucracy Though world is thinking of embarking upon journey of laying off its debts through cyber currency, Pakistan can also envision the long-term project parallel to it because Pakistan faces the existential challenge of circular debt, though it is a day dream but ‘I think, therefore I am,’ Rene Descartes claimed To truly effect a change, meaningful strategies must manifest that elevate the development and consequent happiness, which is fundamental right. Though the numbers in economy of Pakistan are vacillating but as Albert Einstein said, ’’not everything that can be counted counts not everything that counts can be counted“ it is more than a numbers game, that is; development, satisfaction, contentment and pursuit of happiness of common man for common good. This can only be achieved through objective, quantifiable, trustworthy new social contract, which is only possible through medium of technology that is universal truth defying the multiple truths of social world rationalizing contradictory phenomenon. This can help foster a culture of change that transcends individual interests and promotes collective aspirations. Plato eloquently reminded us that “The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” This cautionary reflection should resonate deeply, inspiring citizens and state to cultivate a commitment to common good. Copyright Business Recorder, 2024