Oil and Gas Industry Enters New Investment Cycle with Focus on SustainabilityOTTAWA — Justice Minister Arif Virani said the Liberal government will split up its contentious online harms bill, putting a priority on passing measures to fight child sex predators. Virani told reporters Wednesday the move will create an opening for a swath of the bill's measures to swiftly pass through the House of Commons before the next election. The online harms bill will be cleaved into two new packages, the first dealing with keeping children safe online, combating sex predators and issues related to revenge pornography. "We are putting our emphasis and prioritization and our time and efforts on the first portion of the bill," Virani said. That includes establishing a new Digital Safety Commission of Canada. The new regulator would compel social media companies to outline how they plan to reduce the risks their platforms pose to users, particularly minors. It would have the power to levy fines and evaluate companies' digital safety plans. Virani said the first portion will also include new tools for prosecuting child sex predators. Those measures deal with the mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse material by internet service providers and some online services. The bill targets seven categories of online behaviour, from the non-consensual sharing of intimate images to content that can be used to bully a child. The House has been gridlocked for months over a parliamentary privilege debate raging between the Liberals and Conservatives that has prevented most legislation from moving forward. Virani said that means there has been only one day of debate on the bill since September, a situation he described as "frustrating." "That obstruction has caused us to rethink how we can better use the precious time that we have left in this Parliament," he said. Critics have long called on the government to split up the bill to have the most controversial matters debated separately. The second package of measures will deal with Criminal Code and Human Rights Act amendments targeting hate, which include stiffer penalties for hate-related offences. Advocates and some legal experts have said the changes risk chilling free speech. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association welcomed the move to split the legislation Wednesday. "It is crucial that this new Act, which proposes to regulate online content, now be the subject of a broad public and parliamentary conversation," Anaïs Bussières McNicoll, the organization's director of the Fundamental Freedoms Program, said in a statement. Michael Geist, the Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, called the move to split the bill in two "long overdue." He said in a post on X that the inclusion of Criminal Code and Human Rights Act provisions "undermined public support and placed (the) entire bill at risk." In response to a question about whether the government is wiling to make changes to the second part of the bill to address concerns by civil liberties activists, Virani said he is willing to consider amendments proposed by witnesses at committee. He made the announcement a day before a parliamentary committee begins hearing testimony from witnesses on the bill. Virani said the "goal is to work to find consensus amongst parliamentarians on the things that we can agree to immediately." Emily Laidlaw, a Canada Research Chair in cybersecurity law at the University of Calgary, and who was part of the government’s expert advisory group in developing the legislation, said the first part of the bill should be "should be bipartisan." She said in a post on X the first part of the bill "aligns with global standards, some of which were developed" by Conservative governments. But Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has previously vowed to repeal the legislation entirely should it become law. Asked whether Conservative MPs would support the government’s move to split the bill in two, the party shared a statement from Conservative justice critic Larry Brock that indicated a future Conservative government would repeal online regulation bills passed by the Liberal government. He said Virani is "desperately trying to salvage his deeply flawed legislation. He should give up on creating his massive, $200 million censorship bureaucracy and instead adopt our superior common sense Bill C-412 that has been widely well received." Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner introduced the private members’ bill in September. It would modernize the existing law against criminal harassment so a victim can ask a judge to force social media companies to identify someone who has repeatedly harassed them online. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2024. Kyle Duggan and Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Presspatrick bet david 。

US ski star Mikaela Shiffrin said Wednesday that she's "starting to feel a little bit more human" after suffering a puncture wound in a giant slalom crash but confirmed she won't race at Beaver Creek, Colorado, this month. "This is another fairly ambiguous injury and really hard to put a timeline of when I'll be either back on snow or back to racing," Shiffrin said in a video posted on social media. "But I do know that I will not be starting in Beaver Creek." Shiffrin had already said after Saturday's crash she didn't expect to be ready for the Colorado races, a downhill on December 14 and a super-G on December 15. On Wednesday, she said that whatever object caused the puncture in her abdomen also left "tore a cavern" in her oblique muscles. She said she had also undergone further testing to check for possible damage to her colon. "There were some air bubbles where the puncture came pretty close to the colon," she said. "Last night's check confirmed that my colon is, indeed, intact." Shiffrin was closing in on a once unimaginable 100th World Cup victory when she crashed in the second leg of the giant slalom at Killington, Vermont, on Saturday. She hit one gate and tumbled through another before sliding into the catch fencing and was taken from the hill on a sled. She won't miss any races this weekend because the two women's giant slaloms scheduled for Tremblant, Canada, were cancelled because of lack of snow. However, Shiffrin said she would be sorry not to resume her bid for a 100th World Cup win on the circuit's next US stop. "This is a really big bummer, not to be able to race Birds of Prey," Shiffrin said. "But on the other hand I was really lucky and I'm really looking forward to cheering my teammates on racing Beaver Creek." In 2023, Shiffrin broke Ingemar Stenmark's record of 86 World Cup wins, a mark once considered unassailable. Compatriot Lindsey Vonn has the second-most alpine World Cup wins by a woman with 82. bb/js

Trump’s lawyers rebuff DA's idea for upholding his hush money conviction, calling it 'absurd'The upstream oil and gas sector stands on the cusp of entering a new investment cycle — one that Rystad Energy has dubbed the ‘deliver in uncertainty’ cycle — where there is set to be an increased focus among players to deliver on sustainability targets while remaining financially robust. The previous cycle, which started amid the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and is now ending, threw energy markets into turmoil. However, it accelerated the pace of energy transition as oil and gas companies were forced to re-invent themselves, figuring out their value proposition amid an increasing push from investors and governments to do more to lower emissions. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, high energy prices, OPEC+ production cuts and a realization that transition may take longer, the pendulum swung towards resilient supply, with the stock prices of major oil players rising, market capitalization surging, and companies paying dividends and undertaking share buybacks like never before. Oil price cycles typically affect investment levels and force some exploration and production (E&P) players to adopt new strategies and reset priorities to remain competitive and investable in a new market reality. The market is nearing the end of the current investment cycle where, to protect their balance sheets and stabilize returns, E&P players have revised and reshaped their portfolios, prioritizing decarbonization and portfolio resilience. As a result, a wide range of new key-performance indicators and targets were adopted as part of the decision-making process. Emission-reduction targets, emission intensity and carbon prices are no longer a novelty in decision-making and portfolio valuation; they are essential parts of a company’s strategy. Digitalization has been under the spotlight of the industry and companies for several years, but eventually it became a part of ‘business as usual’. Now, digital initiatives are an essential component of project development as they are beneficial in terms of optimizing cost and time. Decarbonization can be considered in the same way: steadily, it is becoming a part of business strategy, and abatement plans must be included in each project development as, even if a company has an objective of increasing supply, its emission-reduction targets make it accountable for keeping emissions under control. For the upcoming ‘deliver in uncertainty’ investment cycle, oil and gas companies must deliver on commitments, targets and goals acquired in the previous cycle associated with decarbonization, resilience and diversification while performing their fiduciary responsibilities. Even under the most conservative energy transition scenario, where hydrocarbon demand aligns with a 2.2 degrees Celsius temperature increase – referring to average global temperature rises above pre-industrial levels – upstream investments are expected to plateau at around $620 billion per year. By Olga Savenkova of

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No. 7 Tennessee extends its season-opening winning streak to 7 games in 78-35 win over UT MartinWASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, has not served in the military or had a civilian leadership role in the service. While officials and defense experts said the Navy is in sore need of a disruptor, they cautioned that Phelan’s lack of experience could make it more difficult for him to realize Trump’s goals. Trump late Tuesday nominated Phelan, a major donor to his campaign who founded the private investment firm Rugger Management LLC. The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment on his qualifications. According to his biography, Phelan’s primary exposure to the military comes from an advisory position he holds on the a non-profit that supports the defense of Ukraine and the defense of Taiwan. Not all service secretaries come into the office with prior military experience, but he’d be the first in the Navy since 2006. Current Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth similarly does not have prior military service. She, however, has spent her career in a host of defense civilian positions. The appointment comes at a critical moment for the Navy, which has been stretched thin with deployments around the world and must contend with a shrinking fleet even as the naval forces of its main rival, China, are growing. Trump has campaigned on expanding the Navy and would need to fight bureaucratic inertia to do so. But it’s uncertain whether a secretary with no military experience — either in uniform or as a defense civilian — would be well-positioned to lead that effort. “It will be difficult for anyone without experience in the Pentagon to take over the leadership of a service and do a good job,” said Stacie Pettyjohn, a senior fellow and director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security. “Services are sprawling organizations with distinct cultures, subcultures and bureaucratic interests, and where decisions are made through many formal processes. To change a service’s plans, one must understand this Byzantine landscape.” Experts said Phelan’s nomination reflects that Trump is seeking service branch heads who will not push back on his ideas — but that Phelan’s lack of experience is likely to create issues and delays of its own, They say the Navy can’t afford to lose time. One of the Navy’s biggest challenges is preparing for a potential military confrontation with China over Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as its own. ” ,” said Brad Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “The success or failure in addressing key problems in the U.S. Navy over the next couple years may have a decisive effect on war and peace in the Taiwan Strait and elsewhere.” Trump has called for a 350-ship Navy since his 2016 presidential campaign, but he experienced first-hand the difficulty in realizing that goal, given the challenges to shipbuilding and the erratic and often delayed congressional budget process. There are just under 300 battle force ships in the fleet — vessels that have a direct role in conducting combat operations. “The Navy is stretched covering Europe, and the Pacific. Strategists have wanted to pull back from Europe and the Middle East, but recent conflicts have prevented that,” said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “So the next secretary will have a shrinking fleet, expanded overseas commitments, and an uncertain budget environment.” The Marine Corps has called for 31 amphibious warships to help it maintain a close-to-shore presence around the globe. The Navy regularly has had to extend the deployments of its aircraft carriers and escorting destroyers, for example, to respond to the unstable security situation in the Middle East. Each extension can create rippling effects: Ships don’t get maintained on schedule, and forces get tired of the lack of predictability for their families and leave the service. Service branch chiefs spend vast amounts of time not only responding to the White House but also appeasing members of Congress in frequent hearings on Capitol Hill, shaping budget requests, holding constant meetings on service member issues, attending industry conferences and filling speakers requests. That all requires a nuanced understanding of the service that a secretary is leading, because major change in any of the branches often involves a lengthy process to review directives and past policy. Any changes to the many weapons systems the Navy and Marine Corps need and pursue are subject to lengthy contract award challenges. “The Navy’s problem here is money,” Cancian said. “Even if the defense budget goes up, there will only be a relatively small increase available for shipbuilding. (If) the budget stays steady or goes down, then the Navy will have a major problem. The fleet will continue to shrink.” Trump has signaled through multiple appointments, such as his selection of SpaceX founder Elon Musk to co-lead a nongovernmental Department of Government Efficiency, that he seeks to cut through red tape. But the service secretary can’t do that without moving through Congress, which has produced many of those regulations and processes the military must follow. “It might help that he has a personal relationship with the president. However, his lack of experience in defense and the Pentagon will hurt the Navy,” Cancian said. “It will take him a while to learn the levers of power.”

NoneIran, UAE call for end to Israeli aggression and protection of Syria’s sovereigntyTickets for a Kings of Leon gig in Cardiff have gone on presale, but a licensing application to allow tens of thousands more to watch it at a popular park still hasn't been approved. Plans were recently announced for Blackweir Fields to be used for music events from next summer. DEPOT Live has partnered with Cuffe and Taylor for the Blackweir Live event which will feature a Kings of Leon gig on June 29, 2025. Blackweir Fields is well used for sports and leisure, particularly cricket. Bute Park is currently covered by a licence that allows for events with a capacity of 25,000 people. However, the intention is for Blackweir Live events to have a capacity of 35,000. A new licence from the local authority would be needed for this. A council spokesperson said: “Live music is central to our vision for Cardiff and the Blackweir Live events will help cement Cardiff’s status as a must-play destination for major artists, delivering significant economic benefits for the city, as well as providing the council with vital income to help us continue promoting the city as a music destination, and to invest in our parks." For more Cardiff stories, sign up to our newsletter here . “Blackweir Fields is an established events space and has successfully hosted large-scale events, including activities as part of the Olympics and the Eisteddfod in the past. The site is already covered by the current Bute Park licence which allows for a wide range of events with a capacity of up to 25,000 people and has previously seen thousands of people enjoy music events, such as the X Music Festival and KissStory, in the park. “Due to the increased capacity proposed for the Blackweir Live events a new licence application is required. Once this application has been made, it will be advertised to the public in line with all legal requirements. Key stakeholders in the park, including businesses, sports clubs and the Friends of Bute Park have already been made fully aware of the proposed events. “Blackweir Live is a privately managed event and decisions around the timing of ticket sales are a matter for the event promoter, however it is common practice across the music industry for ticket sales to begin before licencing arrangements have been finalised." Cuffe and Taylor and Cardiff-based DEPOT Live have presented a number of live music events at Cardiff Castle over the past two years. The partnership's intention is to have Blackweir Live debut in 2025 with four headline gigs. Kings of Leon tickets went on presale on Wednesday, December 4. The majority of Bute Park will still be accessible when there is a Blackweir Live gig on, but public access to Blackweir Fields will be restricted during the event and for a limited period either side of it to allow for everything to be set up and taken down. Cardiff Council said special care was being taken to protect the cricket squares on Blackweir Fields from damage. It added that the technology used at Blackweir would be the same as used when high profile cricket grounds such as Old Trafford hosted events.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Mike McDaniel has seen a change in quarterback Tua Tagovailoa over the past month. “He's found a way to improve the way he plays the position throughout the game,” the Dolphins coach said Sunday, after Tagovailoa threw for four touchdowns in a dominant 34-15 win over the New England Patriots. “The most monumental thing that you have to overcome as a quarterback is playing the position regardless of the ebbs and flows," McDaniel added, "so not changing how you play based upon positive or negative results and letting every play stand on its own.” Tagovailoa has mastered that ability to remain even-keeled during Miami's three-game winning streak, McDaniel noted, highlighted by his 317-yard passing performance on Sunday. The Dolphins (5-6) have a thin margin for error the rest of the season but have kept themselves afloat with a strong stretch that includes two-straight 30-point games. With their win at New England (3-9) in Week 5, the Dolphins have swept their division rivals in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999-2000. Tagovailoa, who moved to 7-0 in his career against New England, entered the game with a league-high 73.4% completion rate and went 29 for 40. He has 11 passing touchdowns and just one interception since returning from injured reserve in Week 8. “We’re still below the .500 threshold, and it’s a long way to where we want to get to," Tagovailoa said. “We’ll enjoy this win, but this next one is going to be big for us.” The Dolphins have a short turnaround with a game at Green Bay on Thursday. Backup Skylar Thompson replaced Tagovailoa with about 11 minutes left in what was already a blowout, but a bad handoff on his first play resulted in a fumble that was recovered by cornerback Christian Gonzalez and returned 63 yards for a touchdown. It cut New England's deficit to 31-15, and Tagovailoa returned the next drive. Miami's defense held the rest of the way. Linebacker Tyrel Dodson intercepted rookie quarterback Drake Maye on New England's penultimate drive, then Miami stopped the Patriots on fourth down on the next. Jaylen Waddle caught eight passes for a season-high 144 yards and a 23-yard touchdown that stretched Miami's lead to 31-0 entering the fourth. Running back De'Von Achane scored on a 9-yard screen pass and then walked into the end zone for an 11-yard TD in the first half. Jonnu Smith finished with 87 yards on nine catches to continue his strong first season as a Dolphin. One week after catching two touchdowns with a career-high 101 yards receiving, Smith found the end zone for a 7-yard TD catch on the Dolphins' second drive. New England was shut out until tight end Austin Hooper got behind the Dolphins defense for a wide-open 38-yard touchdown catch from Maye to make it 31-7 with 13:43 left. Maye completed 22 of 37 passes for 221 yards with 26 yards rushing. But he couldn't overcome an overall sloppy performance by the Patriots in which they got nothing going offensively until the final quarter and had 10 penalties accepted against them. “I always say I hate losing more than I like to win," Maye said. "We got our butts whipped today, and it’s only up from here. We’ve got a bright future and the right players in there for the Patriots.” New England's best drive of the first half lasted 12 plays and covered 80 yards but included three accepted offensive penalties and ended in a missed 45-yard field goal by Joey Slye. The Patriots forced a Dolphins punt and moved down the field again on the opening drive of the second half, with Maye completing an improvised 10-yard throw on third down to receiver Kendrick Bourne. New England then tried a double pass with Bourne, whose cross-field throw fell short of Rhamondre Stevenson on 3rd-and-17. DeMario Douglas led the Patriots with 61 yards receiving. Antonio Gibson had six rushes for 30 yards. With the loss, the Patriots will finish their third straight season below .500. Its the first time since 1991-93 New England has had three straight losing seasons. “Once those guys cross the white lines, there’s nothing I can do for them,” coach Jerod Mayo said. "There’s nothing any coach can do for them. It’s my job to continue to prepare not only them, but our coaches as well.” Dolphins: LB Anthony Walker Jr. sustained a noncontact hamstring injury in the second quarter. He was helped slowly off the field by trainers and did not return. Patriots: Host Indianapolis next Sunday. Dolphins: At Green Bay on Thursday. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL