gstar28 casino login KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes tore through a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza on Wednesday, sparking fires and killing at least 21 people, according to the head of a nearby hospital, in the latest assault on a sprawling tent city that Israel designated a humanitarian safe zone but has repeatedly targeted. The Israeli military said it struck senior Hamas militants “involved in terrorist activities” in the area, without providing additional details, and said it took precautions to minimize harm to civilians. The strike on the Muwasi tent camp was one of several deadly assaults across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. An Israeli attack in central Gaza killed at least 10 more people, including four children, according to Palestinian medics. Israel’s devastating war in Gaza , launched after Hamas’ October 2023 attack, shows no signs of ending after nearly 14 months. Hamas is still holding dozens of Israeli hostages, and most of Gaza’s population has been displaced and is reliant on international food aid to survive. Israel is also pressing a major offensive in the isolated north, where experts say Palestinians might be experiencing famine . The Biden administration has pledged to make a new push for a Gaza ceasefire now that there's a truce in Lebanon between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah, ending more than a year of cross-border fighting. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump demanded this week the release of hostages held by Hamas before he is sworn into office in January. Wednesday's strike in Muwasi — a desolate area with few public services that holds hundreds of thousands of displaced people — wounded at least 28 people, according to Atif al-Hout, the director of Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. An Associated Press journalist at the hospital counted at least 15 bodies, but said reaching a precise number was difficult because many of the dead were dismembered, some without heads or badly burned. In the morgue, an infant's blackened hand and face peeked out from beneath a heavy blanket used to transport bodies to the hospital. “It was like doomsday,” said a wounded woman, Iman Jumaa, who held back tears as she described how the strike killed her father, her brothers and her brothers' children. Videos and photos of the strike shared widely on social media showed flames and a column of black smoke rising into the night sky, as well as twisted metal tent frames and shredded fabric. Palestinian men searched through the still-burning wreckage, shouting, “Over here guys!” Further away, civilians stood at a distance, observing the destruction. The military said the strikes had set off secondary blasts, indicating explosives present in the area had detonated. It was not possible to independently confirm the Israeli claims, and the strikes could also have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the camp. Shortly after the strike, Al-Awda Hospital said two people had been killed and 38 wounded in an attack on a residential block in the Nuseirat refugee camp. The military had no immediate comment on the strike, but said earlier strikes in central Gaza had hit “terrorist targets." Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths, saying the militants often operate in residential areas and are known to position tunnels, rocket launchers and other infrastructure near homes, schools and mosques. Previous Israeli strikes on tent camps in Gaza have drawn widespread international outrage, such as when a wounded student’s last moments were caught on video as he burned to death in a tent outside a hospital. In northern Gaza, dozens of Palestinian families said Israel's expanding offensive had forcibly displaced them from schools-turned-shelters. Associated Press footage showed people on the road Wednesday leaving Beit Lahia, many crowded onto donkey carts with their belongings in their arms. Others walked on foot. “This morning a quadcopter (drone) detonated four bombs at the school. There were people injured, human remains — we left with nothing,” said Sadeia al-Rahel. The 57-year-old said her family has been eating grass, leaves, and animal feed for two months due to the lack of food aid in the north. The amount of aid entering Gaza plunged in October, and hunger is widespread across the territory, even in central Gaza where aid groups have more access. Humanitarian organizations say Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order make it difficult to deliver assistance. Israel has said it is working to increase the flow of aid. Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,500 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and around 250 people were abducted. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. On Wednesday, Israel said its forces recovered the body of a hostage who was captured alive during the Oct. 7 attack. Israel believes Itay Svirsky was killed by his captors. The families of hostages held in Gaza have grown increasingly concerned that their loved ones are at risk so long as the war continues. Israel’s military released on Wednesday the findings of a probe into the circumstances behind the deaths of six hostages whose bodies were recovered in August, determining they were probably shot by their captors after a nearby Israeli strike in February. Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed to this report. Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/mideast-wars(The Center Square) – Legislators in Washington, D.C., have taken a number of steps over the past few days to push for insurance and pharmaceutical reforms to be passed before the end of the year. On Wednesday, a bicameral group of Republican and Democrat lawmakers held a press conference discussing the need for pharmacy benefit manager reform to protect small pharmacies across the country and “save lives.” “Whether you are a Republican, Democrat, or an independent, we all want the same thing. We want accessible, affordable, quality health care,” said Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga. “We’re not here today to just discuss one bill or to discuss just one patient’s story. We're here because there's broad, bipartisan pharmacy benefit manager, or PBM, reform that is needed to save lives.” Pharmacy benefit managers are the middlemen responsible for managing the drug prices covered by health insurance plans. According to the Harvard Political Review , the problem with pharmacy benefit managers is that they “have vertically integrated with pharmacy chains and health insurers through massive conglomerates.” That then allows them to abuse their power to cut out small pharmacies and increase prices. Carter also signed a letter that was released last week calling on the Department of Justice to dig into the role pharmacy benefit managers played in the opioid epidemic. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., Deborah Ross, D-N.C., and Cliff Benz, R-Ore., all joined him in signing that letter. “The opioid crisis has devastated communities in North Carolina and across the country, and PBMs may have fueled it by prioritizing profits over people,” Ross said on social media . “That’s why I joined a letter calling on the DOJ to investigate their role and hold these bad actors accountable.” The letter looked at recent reports on the largest pharmacy benefit managers, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx which state that they “colluded and conspired to steer patients towards OxyContin in exchange for $400 million.” OxyContin is a trade name for the narcotic oxycodone hydrochloride, a painkiller available by prescription only. This and the general “lack of transparency” is just one of the many complaints that legislators aired on Wednesday. “My colleagues who are joining me today, Democrats and Republicans ... all recognize that PBMs are decreasing the accessibility, the affordability, and therefore the quality of health care in America,” Carter said. “We have an opportunity, right now, to advance bipartisan legislation that increases reporting requirements, which would heighten transparency and shine a light on the opaque practices of these PBMs.” Carter was also joined by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who is leading the effort to get legislation passed in the U.S. Senate. “This year, we're losing about one pharmacy a day in America,” Lankford said. “We want leadership to be able to take this up and to bring it up in the end-of-year package ... Stop holding up legislation that is bipartisan, bicameral, and solving a problem that Americans need solved.”

OTTAWA — The Canadian Union of Postal Workers says it's sent another round of counter-proposals to the federal mediator appointed to help it reach a deal with Canada Post as a countrywide strike nears the three-week mark. The union says it's ready to get back to federal mediation, which was put on pause last week as the two sides appeared too far apart to reach an agreement. As the strike by more than 55,000 workers drags on, the business community has been ramping up pressure on the federal government to intervene. The federal government has so far resisted calls to step in, even though it intervened in other labour disputes earlier this year. Canada Post said it presented a new framework for reaching agreements over the weekend to the union, which said it needs to see key issues like wages and the expansion of postal services addressed before it can make a deal. One of the key issues in bargaining has been the push to expand Canada Post delivery to the weekend, as the two sides disagree over how best to make it happen. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2024. The Canadian Press

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LOS ANGELES — Mina Kimes has a lot going on this week. Like so many other people this time of the year, the analyst for ESPN's "NFL Live" has been busy wrapping presents and preparing for the arrival of out-of-town guests for the holidays. In addition to those typical holiday activities, however, Kimes also has to break down film and attend a Christmas Eve rehearsal ahead of her one-off gig as a studio analyst for the Kansas City Chiefs-Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans games streaming live Christmas Day on Netflix . "Yeah it's been pretty crazy," Kimes said Monday during a phone interview. "I'm just excited. I usually just do a studio show during the week that I absolutely love, but there's a level of energy that comes with doing television right before kickoff and also during the game and after. ... Like, in real time, let's see how Joey Porter Jr. or George Pickens or any of the injured players look, and their availability and that kind of thing. "And that adds a different element to it that I'm really personally super excited about. But I just love talking ball on television and just to have the opportunity to do this in front of this many people is quite a Christmas gift." The last sporting event streamed live on Netflix was a massive success — an estimated 108 million live viewers in around 65 million households worldwide tuned in Nov. 15 to watch the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight — but also a huge headache for many consumers, who complained on social media about buffering issues and losing the feed altogether. Netflix told The Times on Monday that it learned from the struggles it faced during the Tyson-Paul live stream and has optimized its systems to better handle live events since then. Kimes is hopeful that all such issues have been resolved ahead of the two NFL games, both of which will be key to AFC playoff seedings and one of which (Ravens-Texans) will feature a halftime show by Beyoncé . "The technological aspect of this is above my pay grade, but everybody seems pretty confident about it," she said. "Obviously it's gonna be a bajillion eyeballs on these games, so my hope is that on our end when we're on everything's seamless, not just from a tech and streaming standpoint but from a production standpoint. And so far it seems like it will be, just a lot of experienced folks working on this." Netflix's first foray into NFL games will feature a slew of talent from various other platforms. Kimes will be on the Los Angeles studio show, along with anchor Kay Adams (FanDuel TV) and fellow analysts Manti Te'o (NFL Network), Robert Griffin III (formerly of ESPN) and Drew Brees (formerly of NBC Sports). A studio show from Pittsburgh will feature Laura Rutledge (ESPN) as anchor and Devin McCourty (NBC Sports) and Jason McCourty (CBS Sports and ESPN) as analysts. "It's kind of like a Pro Bowl of sorts," Kimes said. "That sounds self aggrandizing, but I guess I mean so far as I get to work with a lot of people who I don't usually get to work with, which is kind of cool. It's a lot of folks from a lot of different networks and that is also something that is kind of like unique about this." Here's more from Kimes' conversation with The Times. (The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity) Q: How did this all come about for you? A: I can't remember when I first heard about the possibility – a few months ago or something? But whenever my agent told me about it I was really excited for a litany of reasons, one of which was just the opportunity to work on such massively significant games and obviously ones that are gonna have a lot of eyeballs. Really good games, too, by the way — which, I mean, good for Netflix but also great for me because it's a lot more fun to talk about games like the ones we're gonna be discussing on Christmas. Q: Was there any hesitation to do this during the holidays? I know you have a little one at home ... A: Well, here's the good news — he's 14 months old, so I can just tell him Christmas is the next day and he won't know the difference. I have family coming in actually today and even if I wasn't on the show they would be watching it. They're huge football fans. They would have Netflix on all day anyways, so I think they're almost as excited by the idea of just sitting all day and watching me, probably more so than if I was spending time with them because they see a lot of me in person. Q: So your studio show is going to be on all day, before, during and after both games? A: Yeah, that's why everybody's watching halftime, right? To watch our show. Like, 'Come on, enough Beyonce. One song, let's get back. I really gotta hear this analysis.' Q: This has been a busy month for you, after serving as a color commentator for " The Simpsons Funday Football " alternative broadcast of the Cincinnati Bengals-Dallas Cowboys game Dec. 9. How was that experience? A: It was awesome. It was an absolute dream. I'm a crazy "Simpsons" fan and I think we realized early on — me, Drew [Carter] and Dan [Orlovsky] — just to lean all the way into all the "Simpsons" jokes and references. It seems like fans of the show really enjoyed that. Q: You have made numerous appearances on ESPN's " Around the Horn ." What was your reaction to learning that the show will be coming to an end next year? A: That show has meant so much to my career. That's how I really got my start in television at ESPN. I don't think I'd be doing what I'm doing now if not for 'Around the Horn.' ... So it really kind of made me reflect on I guess the role that the show has played [in] my career. I'm gonna miss doing it a lot because I'm an NFL analyst now, but for me it was one of those platforms [where] you could talk about other sports and topics and I always really, really enjoyed it. It's a special show. Q: What are your predictions for the Christmas games? A: It's boring — I got both of the favorites winning, the Ravens and Chiefs. The Steelers' defensive injuries are very concerning. Q: What about a Beyonce prediction? Any special guests you think might join her? A: I think you might see a special guest from Houston. Don't know who that's gonna be, but I predict that whatever it is, people will wish it was twice as long instead of having to listen to me talk. ©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

More than 3,000 fake Gibson electric guitars were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Southern California in what authorities are calling the largest seizure of counterfeit musical instruments at the busiest container port in North America. If they were authentic Gibson guitars, the instruments — which were destined for the e-commerce market — would be worth an estimated $18 million, according to U.S. Customs. They were seized by federal officials at the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport, a sprawling coastal complex that includes the Port of LA. The massive West Coast port is the busiest in the U.S. among container ports, in the volume of shipments seen, with cargo worth an estimated $292 billion passing through in 2023. While the knockoffs seized by federal authorities were manufactured outside the country, all authentic Gibson guitars are hand-crafted and made in the U.S., said Beth Heidt, chief marketing officer at the company. The iconic guitar brand, founded in 1902 in Kalamazoo, Mich., has all its instruments made at facilities in Nashville, Tenn. and Boseman, Mont. — with several generations of artisans behind the more than 100-year-old company, she said. "This is really emotional and personal for us because our teams have generations who have dedicated their entire lives to making these instruments," Heidt said, describing Gibson's guitar-making as a craft passed down generations within American families. Among the seized guitars were imitations of designs such as the Gibson SG and Les Paul , and while the majority were Gibson knockoffs, some were counterfeits of other well-known brands like Fender , Heidt said. She said there were models worth about $2,500 each if they were authentic as well as imitations of higher value Gibsons that would typically retail for more than $10,000. Federal authorities would not release any details about suspects in the investigation or where the instruments came from. U.S. Customs officers worked with Gibson's intellectual property experts to determine whether the guitars were counterfeits, according to LA County Sheriff's Lt. Bill Kitchin, who oversees the department's piracy division. Violating the federal statute that protects U.S. consumers from counterfeit products can result in a fine of up to $250,000 and 10 years in prison, said Jaime Ruiz, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Africa Bell, director of the LA-Long Beach Seaport, said the record-breaking seizure was especially noteworthy since the port is the largest container port in the country — collecting $19 billion in import duties, taxes and fees during the last fiscal year. She said finding counterfeits and contraband "in this massive amount of cargo arriving here everyday is like trying to find the smallest of needles in the largest of haystacks." Heidt said seasoned guitar players would be able to easily tell the difference between the fake Gibsons that were seized and the brand's authentic instruments, from the sound to other elements visible to the trained eye. "We can pick it up immediately and tell," she said, describing flaws in the fakes such as in the finishing, a more "flimsy" and light feel, placement of the logo, misplaced inlays and flaws in where the neck of the guitar meets the rest of the body. Andrea Bates, an attorney for the company who protects its intellectual property rights in court, said the well-known brand only sells through its website and authorized retailers which are listed on the site. Over the past fiscal year, Bell said, more than $2 billion in counterfeit products have been seized at the Southern California port. John Pasciucco, U.S. Customs' deputy special agent in charge for Los Angeles, said the selling of counterfeit goods can not only violate intellectual property rights and undermine respected brands that play by the rules, but also put consumers at risk. They can be made with substandard, even dangerous materials posing health risks — while also potentially being made through forced labor. Products made with paint containing lead, potentially dangerous counterfeit medications and knockoff brand cosmetics bearing that can cause severe skin reactions are just a few examples given by federal authorities of such potentially harmful counterfeits. Marissa Wenzke is a journalist based in Los Angeles. She has a bachelor's degree in political science from UC Santa Barbara and is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School.Not all data is created equally. And for 21st century finance and treasury teams attempting to navigate today’s atypical and dynamic economic environment, it’s not just about having data — it’s about having the right data. Still, the rise of digital finance tools means finance teams now have more data than they know what to do with. Transaction records, cash flow metrics, sales projections; it’s all there in a slew of spreadsheets and dashboards. But quantity doesn’t equal quality. The challenge lies in aggregating and analyzing this data in a manner that generates actionable insights. Rich treasury data, after all, shouldn’t just show a business where the cash is — it should help CFOs and treasury teams understand where it should be. Global corporations can frequently have billions of dollars in “trapped liquidity,” a term that refers to funds that are inaccessible or inefficiently utilized due to geographical, regulatory or operational constraints. This increasingly limits the ability of these enterprises to do things like invest in innovation, pay down debt or optimize working capital. Not all data comes from trustworthy sources, either. Manual processes are notorious for introducing errors, and this problem can be exacerbated by a patchwork of siloed systems. Many organizations can rely on legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms, disparate treasury management systems (TMS) and regional banking infrastructures, creating data visibility gaps. As global challenges mount, the importance of understanding and managing treasury data is likely to only grow. However, next-generation technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, digital payments and even blockchain are helping finance and treasury teams not just create value but enable their firms to compete in an increasingly 24/7, real-time world. Read more : Legacy Treasury Management Systems Ill-Equipped as Markets Enter Real-Time Era The Untapped Potential of Data-Rich Systems in Corporate Finance Treasury data provides a critical lens into liquidity management. This includes data on cash positions, payment flows, working capital metrics and foreign exchange exposures. Organizations can work to align their data strategies with business goals, ideally so that treasury and finance can work in tandem as a strategic partner to the broader enterprise. A PYMNTS Intelligence report, “ The Platform Business Data Readiness Survey: How Real-Time Data Can Drive Growth ,” created in collaboration with Fiserv , examines the growing importance of data readiness for businesses aiming to optimize operations and unlock market potential. Advanced analytics tools powered by AI are increasingly being seen as a solution. These tools can aggregate data from multiple systems, apply predictive modeling to forecast cash needs, and even automate recommendations for optimizing liquidity across regions. “AI and real-time enriched data represent a leap forward,” Sherri Haymond , co-president, global partnerships at Mastercard, told PYMNTS. As treasury functions evolve, the focus is shifting from transactional to strategic, moving beyond just static reporting to leverage real-time data to drive decisions. “Many treasurers are thinking, ‘Well, how can I extract that last ounce of juice from my financial ecosystem ?’” Ambrish Bansal , global head of liquidity and cash concentration products for the Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions business, told PYMNTS. In a world where financial flexibility often determines market leadership, the ability to access and deploy trapped liquidity efficiently can mean the difference between stagnation and growth. Read more: Treasurers Step Into Spotlight as Strategic Backbone of 21st Century Businesses The Future of Treasury Data A company can have billions in its cash reserves and still face liquidity shortages if those funds aren’t available in the right place, at the right time. PYMNTS Intelligence’s study, “ The Impact of Misunderstood Treasurers in Technology ,” a collaboration with Citi , found that within the technology sector alone, 92% of treasurers believe increasing their involvement with other departments would improve cash flow predictability. One of the core challenges in treasury management is the lack of standardization in financial messaging. Historically, varying formats across banks, geographies and systems have created inefficiencies and fragmented data sets. As the March 2025 adoption deadline for the ISO 20022 message format nears for Federal Reserve banks, the global messaging standard for financial transactions is poised to significantly enhance the quality, accessibility and utility of treasury data. PYMNTS has written previously about how the maximum efficiencies of data and messaging standardization can only be realized when everyone’s on board. As banks and financial institutions worldwide transition to this unified framework, corporate treasurers are likely to gain access to richer, more structured data that can drive smarter liquidity management and operational efficiency. For companies willing to invest in this strategic capability, the rewards could be transformative.