casino 5 SAN DIEGO , Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CreateAI Holdings Inc., formerly TuSimple Holdings Inc. (OTCMKTS: TSPH) ("CreateAI" or the "Company"), a global artificial intelligence technology company, today announced shareholder voting results for its annual meeting of stockholders held on December 20, 2024 (the "Annual Meeting"). As of October 28, 2024 , the record date for the Annual Meeting, there were a total of 232,618,399 shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting, comprised of 208,618,399 shares of Class A Common Stock (each with one vote per share) and 24,000,000 shares of Class B Common Stock (each with ten votes per share). At the Annual Meeting, holders of 207,347,538 shares of common stock, representing 423,347,538 votes, entitled to vote at the meeting were represented in person or by proxy and, therefore, a quorum constituted of the majority of the voting power of the shares of common stock issued and outstanding and entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting was present. The following is a brief description of each matter voted upon at the 2024 Annual Meeting and the numbers of votes cast for, withheld, or against, the number of abstentions, and the number of broker non-votes with respect to each other, as applicable. 1. Election of six nominees to serve on the Board of Directors (the "Board") for a term which will expire at the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders, or, if Proposal Two is adopted, to hold office until the annual meeting of stockholders in accordance with the class of director to which each nominee will be assigned. The following six directors were elected by the votes as indicated below. For Withheld Broker Non-Votes Cheng Lu 208,949,915 164,765,019 1 49,632,604 Mo Chen 208,946,146 164,768,788 1 49,632,604 James Lu 209,109,928 164,605,006 1 49,632,604 Zhen Tao 209,158,316 164,556,618 1 49,632,604 Albert Schultz 348,895,019 1 24,819,915 49,632,604 Jianan Hao 209,021,652 164,693,282 1 49,632,604 The totals above include the 240,000,000 votes represented by the Class B shares of Common Stock. 12,000,000 shares of Class B Common Stock (representing 120,000,00 votes) were voted "FOR" and 12,000,000 shares of Class B Common stock (representing 120,000,00 votes) were voted "WITHHELD" for each of the Directors other than Albert Schultz . All shares of Class B Common Stock were voted "FOR" the election of Albert Schultz . Excluding the 240,000,000 votes from the 24,000,000 shares of Class B Common Stock from the totals above, the 183,347,538 shares of Class A Common Stock were voted as indicated below. For Withheld Broker Non-Votes Cheng Lu 88,949,915 44,765,019 49,632,604 Mo Chen 88,946,146 44,768,788 49,632,604 James Lu 89,109,928 44,605,006 49,632,604 Zhen Tao 89,158,316 44,556,618 49,632,604 Albert Schultz 108,895,019 24,819,915 49,632,604 Jianan Hao 89,021,652 44,693,282 49,632,604 2. Amendment to the Company's Restated Certificate of Incorporation to classify the Board of Directors into three classes, with directors in each class to serve staggered three-year terms. Pursuant to the Restated Certificate of Incorporation, Proposal Two must receive the affirmative vote of the holders of at least a majority of the voting power of all of the then-outstanding shares of the capital stock of the Company entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class, since directors representing two-thirds (2/3) of the total number of authorized directors have already approved. The amendment was not approved 2 by the votes as indicated below: For Against 1 Abstain Broker Non-Votes 208,955,668 164,659,652 99,614 49,632,604 Because Proposal Two was not approved, the six directors elected pursuant to Proposal One will serve on the Board for a term which will expire at the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders. 3. Ratification of the appointment of UHY LLP as the Company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024 . The selection was ratified by the votes as indicated below: For Against 1 Abstain Broker Non-Votes 255,504,371 155,923,768 11,919,399 - Note 1: Includes 120,000,000 votes of the 12,000,000 shares of Class B Common Stock held by White Marble LLC and White Marble International Limited (together, the "White Marble Entities") controlled by Dr. Xiaodi Hou . Note 2: The White Marble Entities have filed an action in the Delaware Court of Chancery seeking a declaratory judgment that the voting agreement between White Marble and Mo Chen is invalid and White Marble, not Mo Chen , controls the vote. White Marble LLC v. Chen , C.A. No. 2024-1208-PAF (Del. Ch.) On December 13, 2024 , the Court entered an order that allows the Company to hold the vote on Proposal Two, and ordered that if Proposal Two is not approved at the Annual Meeting but the Court determines in the Action that Mo Chen , not the White Marble Entities, control how the White Marble Entities' Shares are voted, then the White Marble Entities' shares shall be deemed to have been voted in favor of Proposal Two at the Annual Meeting and that such vote shall stand. The vote totals above include the votes of the shares held by the White Marble Entities as voted by the White Marble Entities. If the shares held by the White Marble entities reflected in the totals above are deemed to have been voted in favor of Proposal Two, the Proposal will have passed. Accordingly, if the Court rules in Mo Chen's favor, Proposal Two will be deemed to have passed and the Company would be permitted to amend its Certificate of Incorporation to implement Proposal Two and each of the directors elected pursuant to Proposal One will serve on the Board until the annual meeting of stockholders in accordance with the class of director to which each nominee is assigned. About CreateAI CreateAI (formerly TuSimple) is a global artificial intelligence company with offices in US, China , and Japan . The company is pioneering the future of digital entertainment content production, seamlessly blending cutting-edge generative AI technology with the creativity of world-class talent. Our mission is to redefine the boundaries of what's possible in digital storytelling by developing immersive, captivating, and visually stunning experiences that resonate with audiences on a global scale. Investor Relations Contact: ICR for CreateAI CreateAI.IR@icrinc.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/createai-announces-results-of-2024-annual-meeting-of-stockholders-302338618.html SOURCE CreateAI Holdings IncSEC pick Paul Atkins has 'right experience' for crypto: Sen. Gillibrand

The question of who uses which bathroom on Capitol Hill has become a heated topic ahead of the 119th U.S. Congress convening next year. This debate was sparked by the historic election of Sarah McBride , a transgender woman, to represent Delaware in Congress. In response, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) introduced a resolution aiming to require transgender individuals to use bathrooms corresponding to their sex assigned at birth. Democratic state Rep. Zooey Zephyr, the first transgender woman in Montana's state legislature, understands what it feels like to be singled out. She joined Scripps News on Friday to weigh in on the controversy unfolding in D.C. "It's important to acknowledge that while these attacks on transgender people are always brought one bill at a time, they do not focus on specific issues," Zephyr said. "The hate of trans people is boundless. We saw that when Nancy Mace went on far-right media earlier this week and claimed that it was 'offensive' that Congresswoman McBride views herself as an equal to Nancy Mace." "When we see policies targeting trans women just trying to live their lives in the restroom, trying to play sports with their friends — that is not where the hate stops from the right," Zephyr said. "That hate is on display at every moment, which is why it's important for us to resist these efforts to target our community." In 2023, Republican lawmakers in Montana voted to ban Zephyr from the House floor and from participating in debates after she spoke out against a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors. The incident led to legal challenges over Zephyr's censure and to political activism from supporters of transgender rights. "The attacks we see on trans people will escalate. This will not be the last attack on Congresswoman McBride," Zephyr said. "In my perspective, it is important that we make sure as trans people in this country that we do not cede ground to someone who wants to erase us — regardless of whether they want to erase us in the Capitol, or if they want to erase us as we go through our daily lives in public. We have to stand strong." In an interview with Scripps News this week, Mace said her resolution was specifically targeted at Rep.-elect McBride, who stated she will "follow the rules as outlined" even if she disagrees with them. "I'm not here to fight about bathrooms," McBride said . "I'm here to fight for Delawareans to bring down the costs facing families." Despite McBride's statement, Mace said her effort to ban transgender individuals from certain bathrooms extends beyond Washington. She is advocating for legislation requiring transgender people to use restrooms that align with their sex assigned at birth on any property receiving public funds. "I have PTSD from the sexual abuse I have suffered at the hands of a man. We have to as women draw a line in the sand, a big fat red line, about our rights," Mace said. "And the basic question today is, do women have rights or do we not? And I will tell you just the idea of a man in a locker room watching me change clothes after a workout is a huge trigger and it's not OK to make and force women to be vulnerable in private spaces." RELATED STORY | As House GOP targets McBride, she says 'I'm not here to fight about bathrooms'Elon Musk warns Singapore and many other countries headed towards extinction from Earth

Seven tips to surviving the Boxing Day salesStocks Rally on the Prospects of Trump’s Business-Friendly PoliciesWASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seemed likely Wednesday to uphold Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors. The justices' decision, not expected for several months, could affect similar laws enacted by another 25 states and a range of other efforts to regulate the lives of transgender people, including which sports competitions they can join and which restrooms they can use. The case is being weighed by a conservative-dominated court after a presidential election in which Donald Trump and his allies promised to roll back protections for transgender people. The Biden administration's top Supreme Court lawyer warned a decision favorable to Tennessee also could be used to justify nationwide restrictions on transgender health care for minors. Supporters of transgender rights rally Wednesday outside the Supreme Court in Washington. In arguments that lasted more than two hours, five of the six conservative justices voiced varying degrees of skepticism over arguments made by the administration and Chase Strangio, the ACLU lawyer for Tennessee families challenging the ban. Chief Justice John Roberts, who voted in the majority in a 2020 case in favor of transgender rights, questioned whether judges, rather than lawmakers, should weigh in on a question of regulating medical procedures, an area usually left to the states. "The Constitution leaves that question to the people's representatives, rather than to nine people, none of whom is a doctor," Roberts said in an exchange with Strangio. Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote the majority opinion in 2020, said nothing during the arguments. The court's three liberal justices seemed firmly on the side of the challengers, but it's not clear that any conservatives will go along. People attend a rally March 31, 2023, as part of a Transgender Day of Visibility, near the Capitol in Washington. Justice Sonia Sotomayor pushed back against the assertion that the democratic process would be the best way to address objections to the law. She cited a history of laws discriminating against others, noting that transgender people make up less than 1% of the U.S. population, according to studies. There are an estimated 1.3 million adults and 300,000 adolescents ages 13 to 17 who identify as transgender, according the UCLA law school's Williams Institute. "Blacks were a much larger part of the population and it didn't protect them. It didn't protect women for whole centuries," Sotomayor said in an exchange with Tennessee Solicitor General Matt Rice. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she saw some troubling parallels between arguments made by Tennessee and those advanced by Virginia and rejected by a unanimous court, in the 1967 Loving decision that legalized interracial marriage nationwide. Quoting from that decision, Jackson noted that Virginia argued then that "the scientific evidence is substantially in doubt and, consequently, the court should defer to the wisdom of the state legislature." ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio, left, and plaintiff Joaquin Carcano address reporters after a June 25, 2018, hearing in Winston-Salem, N.C., on their lawsuit challenging the law that replaced North Carolina's "bathroom bill." Justice Samuel Alito repeatedly pressed Strangio, the first openly transgender lawyer to argue at the nation's highest court, about whether transgender people should be legally designated as a group that's susceptible to discrimination. Strangio answered that being transgender does fit that legal definition, though he acknowledged under Alito's questioning there are a small number of people who de-transition. "So it's not an immutable characteristic, is it?" Alito said. Strangio did not retreat from his view, though he said the court did not have to decide the issue to resolve the case in his clients' favor. There were dueling rallies outside the court in the hours before the arguments. Speeches and music filled the air on the sidewalk below the court's marble steps. Advocates of the ban bore signs like "Champion God's Design" and "Kids Health Matters," while the other side proclaimed "Fight like a Mother for Trans Rights" and "Freedom to be Ourselves." Four years ago, the court ruled in favor of Aimee Stephens, who was fired by a Michigan funeral home after she informed its owner she was a transgender woman. The court held that transgender people, as well as gay and lesbian people, are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace. The Biden administration and the families and health care providers who challenged the Tennessee law urged the justices to apply the same sort of analysis that the majority, made up of liberal and conservative justices, embraced in the case four years ago when it found that "sex plays an unmistakable role" in employers' decisions to punish transgender people for traits and behavior they otherwise tolerate. Demonstrators against transgender rights protest Wednesday during a rally outside of the Supreme Court in Washington. The issue in the Tennessee case is whether the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same. Tennessee's law bans puberty blockers and hormone treatments for transgender minors, but allows the same drugs to be used for other purposes. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, called the law sex-based line drawing to ban the use of drugs that have been safely prescribed for decades and said the state "decided to completely override the views of the patients, the parents, the doctors." She contrasted the Tennessee law with one enacted by West Virginia, which set conditions for the health care for transgender minors, but stopped short of an outright ban. Gender-affirming care for youth is supported by every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association. For many trans and nonbinary people, bathrooms can be complicated places to navigate — a fact highlighted by the death of 16-year-old Nex Benedict in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is far from an outlier when it comes to failing to provide safe and equitable bathrooms for transgender people. According to the Movement Advancement Project, which tracks LGBTQ+ policy, 13 states have a policy that prevents transgender people from safely or legally using public bathrooms. But data shows that even in states with trans-friendly policies, transgender and nonbinary people report high rates of harassment in public bathrooms. Advocates say everyday people can have a big impact in interrupting discrimination in gendered restrooms. The 19th shows how anyone can help prevent abuse. Sex-segregated restrooms have historically been a hostile space for Tat Bellamy-Walker, a Seattle-based journalist and Black gender-fluid trans person. In graduate school and at journalism internships, they had to go far out of their way to find all-gender single-stall restrooms they could use safely. "You never forget being told you don't belong in a restroom, you never forget not having a place to dispose of sanitary products if you're on your period in the men's bathroom," Bellamy-Walker said. "It's just clear you do not belong in public spaces." Allies can help tremendously by locating and pointing out gender-neutral bathrooms to friends or family who might need them. This is especially important for people planning events or parties. Make sure your space has safe bathrooms. Carrie Soto, a South Dakota parent of a transgender child, said she lives by the mantra "see something, say something." That means speaking up when there is bullying and harassment and volunteering to accompany a trans/nonbinary friend or family member when they have to head into a public bathroom. "Validate a trans person's fears and anxiety about the situation," Soto said. " If [my daughter] uses a gendered restroom and feels anxious, I go with." It may seem obvious, but transgender health advocate Jamison Green notes this step can really help trans people feel safe. Consider first that according to 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey , 59 percent of trans people avoided using a public restroom due to fear of harassment. Data from 2022 found that 6 percent of trans people said they were physically or verbally attacked while trying to use a bathroom, while 4 percent were denied access to a bathroom. "If you see someone who you clock as trans or nonbinary, just smile or pay them a non-provocative compliment. ... Wish them good day or good evening, and move on," Green said. "Of course that only goes for the women's room! In the men's room, talking is extremely rare." Green recommends that cisgender people offer a kind, silent nod. Twenty-two states and Washington, D.C., allow residents to opt for "X" gender markers on their IDs in addition to selecting "M" or "F." Still, in every state, regardless of laws, most bathrooms in government buildings, schools, businesses, places of worship and cultural institutions are gendered. Advocates say people can help change this by simply asking businesses and building owners for more options to accommodate all genders. "Advocacy is the most important part of the fight for transgender rights," Lambda Legal notes in its guide to restrooms. "And if employers adopt pro-trans policies proactively, instead of waiting for a transgender person to pave the way, there's much less chance of having problems down the line." The internet is full of rants not appropriate for a news article about people using the only single-stall gender-neutral bathrooms available not for safety but for ... well, pooping. As a result, gender-neutral bathrooms, especially in airports, are almost always occupied. There are many reasons why a cisgender person might need a single-occupancy bathroom (accessibility, illness, child care and, yes, even a little more privacy). Just like accessible stalls, it's a kindness to leave gender-neutral restrooms unoccupied when you don't need them. Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.The Dolphins' improbable path to the playoffs isn't in their hands, but they must do their part

Supreme Court seems likely to uphold Tennessee's ban on treatments for transgender minors

AUSTIN, TEXAS / ACCESSWIRE / December 23, 2024 / Interactive Strength Inc. (Nasdaq:TRNR) ("TRNR" or the "Company"), maker of innovative specialty fitness equipment under the CLMBR and FORME brands, today announced it had issued a shareholder update for 2024, and look ahead for 2025, available on the Company's investor website. TRNR Investor Contact ir@interactivestrength.com TRNR Media Contact forme@jacktaylorpr.com About Interactive Strength Inc.: Interactive Strength Inc. produces innovative specialty fitness equipment and digital fitness services under two main brands: 1) CLMBR and 2) FORME. Interactive Strength Inc. is listed on NASDAQ (symbol: TRNR). CLMBR is a vertical climbing machine that offers an efficient and effective full-body strength and cardio workout. CLMBR's design is compact and easy to move - making it perfect for commercial or in-home use. With its low impact and ergonomic movement, CLMBR is safe for most ages and levels of ability and can be found at gyms and fitness studios, hotels, and physical therapy facilities, as well as available for consumers at home. www.clmbr.com . FORME is a digital fitness platform that combines premium smart gyms with live virtual personal training and coaching to deliver an immersive experience and better outcomes for both consumers and trainers. FORME delivers an immersive and dynamic fitness experience through two connected hardware products: 1) The FORME Studio Lift (fitness mirror and cable-based digital resistance) and 2) The FORME Studio (fitness mirror). In addition to the company's connected fitness hardware products, FORME offers expert personal training and health coaching in different formats and price points through Video On-Demand, Custom Training, and Live 1:1 virtual personal training. www.formelife.com . Forward Looking Statements: This press release includes certain statements that are "forward-looking statements" for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and reflect management's assumptions, views, plans, objectives and projections about the future. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as "believe", "project", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend", "strategy", "future", "opportunity", "plan", "may", "should", "will", "would", "will be", "will continue", "will likely result" or similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the possibility of accomplishing various initiatives in 2025 and the potential positive impact on the company's financials. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections of the Company. Risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: demand for our products; competition, including technological advances made by and new products released by our competitors; our ability to accurately forecast consumer demand for our products and adequately maintain our inventory; and our reliance on a limited number of suppliers and distributors for our products. A further list and descriptions of these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. To the extent permitted under applicable law, the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Contact Information John McNamara IR john@tradigitalir.com 917-658-2602 SOURCE: Interactive Strength Inc. View the original on accesswire.com

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NEW YORK — In a string of visits, dinners, calls, monetary pledges and social media overtures, big tech chiefs — including Apple’s Tim Cook, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos — have joined a parade of business and world leaders trying to improve their standing with President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office in January. “The first term, everybody was fighting me,” Trump said in recent remarks at Mar-a-Lago. “In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.” Tech companies and leaders have poured millions into his inauguration fund, a sharp increase — in most cases — from past pledges to incoming presidents. What does the tech industry expect to gain out of its renewed relationships with Trump? During an interview this past week, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said the incoming Trump administration seems more interested in hearing about issues that are important to the industry than the Biden administration. “Put all the politics aside, everybody wants to reboot some things,” said Benioff, who stressed he strives to stay nonpartisan because he also owns Time magazine. “We are just at a very exciting moment; it’s a new chapter for America. I think we should all have our best intentions going forward. I think a lot of people realize there is a lot of incredible people like Elon Musk in the tech industry and in the business community. If you tap the power and expertise of the best in America to make the best of America, that’s a great vision. “ A clue to what the industry is looking for came just days before the election when Microsoft executives — who’ve largely tried to show a neutral or bipartisan stance — joined with a close Trump ally, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, to publish a blog post outlining their approach to artificial intelligence policy. “Regulation should be implemented only if its benefits outweigh its costs,” said the document signed by Andreessen, his business partner Ben Horowitz, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the company’s president, Brad Smith. They also urged the government to back off on any attempt to strengthen copyright laws that would make it harder for companies to use publicly available data to train their AI systems. And they said, “The government should examine its procurement practices to enable more startups to sell technology to the government.” Trump pledged to rescind President Joe Biden’s sweeping AI executive order, which sought to protect people’s rights and safety without stifling innovation. He hasn’t specified what he would do in its place, but his campaign said AI development should be “rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing.” Trump’s choice to head the Interior Department, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, has spoken openly about the need to boost electricity production to meet increased demand from data centers and artificial intelligence. “The AI battle affects everything from defense to health care to education to productivity as a country,” Burgum said on Nov. 15, referring to artificial intelligence. “And the AI that’s coming in the next 18 months is going to be revolutionary. So there’s just a sense of urgency and a sense of understanding in the Trump administration” to address it. Demand for data centers ballooned in recent years because of the rapid growth of cloud computing and AI, and local governments are competing for lucrative deals with big tech companies. As data centers begin to consume more resources, some residents are pushing back against the world’s most powerful corporations over concerns about the economic, social and environmental health of their communities. “Maybe Big Tech should buy a copy of ‘The Art of The Deal’ to figure out how to best negotiate with this administration,” suggested Paul Swanson, an antitrust attorney for the law firm Holland & Hart. “I won’t be surprised if they find ways to reach some accommodations and we end up seeing more negotiated resolutions and consent decrees.” Although federal regulators began cracking down on Google and Facebook during Trump’s first term as president — and flourished under Biden — most experts expect his second administration to ease up on antitrust enforcement and be more receptive to business mergers. Google may benefit from Trump’s return after he made comments on the campaign trail suggesting a breakup of the company isn’t in the national interest of the U.S., after a judge declared its search engine an illegal monopoly. However, recent nominations put forward by his transition team favored those who have been critical of Big Tech companies, suggesting Google won’t be entirely off the hook. Cook’s notoriously rocky relationship with the EU can be traced back to a 2016 ruling from Brussels in a tax case targeting Apple. Cook slammed the bloc’s order for Apple to pay back up to 13 billion euros, or $13.7 billion, in Irish back taxes as “total political crap.” Trump, then in his first term as president, piled on, referring to the European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who was spearheading a campaign on special tax deals and a crackdown on Big Tech companies, as someone who “really hates the U.S.” Brussels was eventually vindicated after the bloc’s top court rejected Apple’s appeal this year, though it didn’t stop Cook from calling Trump to complain, Trump recounted in an October podcast. Altman, Amazon and Meta all pledged to donate $1 million each to Trump’s inaugural fund. Salesforce’s Benioff said that he won’t be donating money to the inauguration because of his ties to Time, which named Trump as its “Person of The Year” — a decision that landed a picture of the president elect on the magazine’s cover. “I think we just donated that photo,” Benioff said as he chuckled. “He can use the Time magazine cover for free.” During his first term, Trump criticized Amazon and railed against the political coverage at The Washington Post, which billionaire Bezos owns. Meanwhile, Bezos criticized some of Trump’s past rhetoric. In 2019, Amazon also argued in a court case that Trump’s bias against the company harmed its chances of winning a $10 billion Pentagon contract. More recently, Bezos struck a more conciliatory tone. He recently said at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York that he was “optimistic” about Trump’s second term, while also endorsing president-elect’s plans to cut regulations. The donation from Meta came just weeks after Zuckerberg met with Trump privately at Mar-a-Lago. During the 2024 campaign, Zuckerberg did not endorse a candidate for president, but voiced a more positive stance toward Trump. Earlier this year, he praised Trump’s response to his first assassination attempt. Still, Trump in recent months had continued to attack Zuckerberg publicly. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!Nanobiotix remains focused on advancing its lead program which is proceeding as planned. To enable further growth, Nanobiotix will leverage new nanotherapeutic technologies with the potential to improve treatment outcomes for millions of patients. The event will feature a presentation by Laurent Lévy, PhD , Chief Executive Officer of Nanobiotix, and Matthieu Germain, PhD , Head of Curadigm at Nanobiotix. Together, they will outline the future potential of the Curadigm Nanoprimer Platform, an innovative nanotherapeutic technology designed to transform the development of intravenously-administered therapeutics. Following the presentation, a panel discussion will bring together leading experts to explore the transformative potential of Curadigm. Participants include: About CURADIGM Curadigm is an early-stage nanotherapeutic platform designed to disrupt the design and development IV-administered therapeutics and improve outcomes for patients. Curadigm's Nanoprimer platform increases drug bioavailability while decreasing unintended off-target effects, specifically liver toxicity. The platform can be used with most intravenous (IV) therapeutics across multiple drug classes. Curadigm is dedicated to advancing therapeutic development based on our deep understanding of how drugs interact with the body, to impact both known and novel drugs across multiple clinical indications. About NANOBIOTIX Nanobiotix is a late-stage clinical biotechnology company pioneering disruptive, physics-based therapeutic approaches to revolutionize treatment outcomes for millions of patients; supported by people committed to making a difference for humanity. The Company's philosophy is rooted in the concept of pushing past the boundaries of what is known to expand possibilities for human life. Incorporated in 2003, Nanobiotix is headquartered in Paris, France and is listed on Euronext Paris since 2012 and on the Nasdaq Global Select Market in New York City since December 2020. The Company has subsidiaries in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States) amongst other locations. Nanobiotix is the owner of more than 25 umbrella patents associated with three (3) nanotechnology platforms with applications in 1) oncology; 2) bioavailability and biodistribution; and 3) disorders of the central nervous system. For more information about Nanobiotix, visit us at www.nanobiotix.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter Disclaimer This press release contains "forward-looking” statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the use of proceed therefrom, and the period of time through which the Company's anticipates its financial resources will be adequate to support operations. Words such as "expects”, "intends”, "can”, "could”, "may”, "might”, "plan”, "potential”, "should” and "will” or the negative of these and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements which are based on the Company' management's current expectations and assumptions and on information currently available to management. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking statements, including risks related to Nanobiotix's business and financial performance, which include the risk that assumptions underlying the Company's cash runway projections are not realized. Further information on the risk factors that may affect company business and financial performance is included in Nanobiotix's Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on April 24, 2024 under "Item 3.D. Risk Factors”, in Nanobiotix's 2023 universal registration document filed with the AMF on April 24, 2024, in Nanobiotix' 2024 semi-annual report under the caption "Supplemental Risk Factor” filed with the SEC on Form 6-K and with AMF on September 18 2024, and subsequent filings Nanobiotix makes with the SEC from time to time which are available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. The forward-looking statements included in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release, and except as required by law, Nanobiotix assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly. Contacts Brandon Owens VP, Communications +1 (617) 852-4835 [email protected] Craig West SVP, Investor Relations +1 (617) 583-0211 [email protected] Laurent Wormser + 33 (0)6 13 12 04 04 [email protected] Kevin Gardner +1 (617) 283-2856 [email protected] Attachments

In a span of about 22 hours, SpaceX could manage three rocket launches and one landing of a Dragon spacecraft. It flew a Department of Defense mission from Florida's Cape Canaveral on Monday night and on Tuesday knocked out a National Reconnaissance Office mission from California and the landing of the latest cargo Dragon spacecraft off the coast of Florida. The topper will be a launch from Kennedy Space Center that would mark 90 spaceflight missions among all providers on the Space Coast in 2024. That launch would see a Falcon 9 on the mPower-E mission launching from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-A targeting an updated 5:26 p.m. EST liftoff at the end of a one-hour, 27-minute window that opened at 3:59 p.m. with backup during the same window on Wednesday. The payload is a pair of satellites for Luxembourg-based communications company SES headed to medium-Earth orbit. With one hour before the opening of the window, the countdown was paused for weather, with the T-0 getting first pushed to 4:30, then 5 p.m. and finally the last minute of the available window at 5:26 p.m. Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts a 55% chance for good launch conditions, that would improve to 65% in the event of a 24-hour delay. High winds at the launch site and concerns for booster recovery delayed launch attempts for both Space Coast missions over the weekend. When it does fly, this would be the first launch of the first-stage booster that will aim for a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. Already on Tuesday, a SpaceX cargo Dragon spacecraft made a successful splashdown off the coast of Florida to complete the CRS-31 mission. The Dragon arrived to the International Space Station with 6,000 pounds of resupply payloads back on Nov. 5 after launching from the Space Coast, and returned with thousands of pounds of supplies and science experiments. Earlier Tuesday, the company flew the NROL-149, a National Space Security Launch mission, from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. The busy schedule began Monday night, with what had been a secretive mission leading up to launch. That one was a Falcon 9 that lifted off on the RRT-1 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:52 p.m. This was the fourth launch of the first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. After launch, the Space Force revealed in a press release the RRT stood for “Rapid Response Trailblazer,” and its payload was a GPS III satellite flying under a National Security Space Launch contract that had switched from United Launch Alliance to SpaceX. It touted the launch as “a new level of readiness and resilience” for its Space Systems Command and Space Operations Command, as it took less than five months to turn around the mission from its inception to launch. Normally this sort of NSSL mission would take 24 months to execute. The prelaunch processing timeline was also sped up from a normal six-month turnaround to only three months. It took an existing satellite manufactured by Lockheed Martin from storage, sped up its integration and readiness for launch. The mission was originally tapped to fly on a ULA Vulcan rocket, but had been delayed because Vulcan has yet to be certified by the Space Force. “This launch was a remarkable achievement that highlights the Space Force’s ability to execute high priority launches of major space systems on a significantly reduced timescale,” said Col. Jim Horne, senior materiel leader of Launch Execution for the Space Force’s Assured Access to Space program. “As an added benefit, it also demonstrates flexibility to adjust our manifest to minimize the impact of Vulcan delays.” The GPS satellite, which was nicknamed “Sally Ride,” joins 31 others already active in orbit, along with seven backup satellites and three more awaiting launch. “Over 6 billion people use GPS on a daily basis, and we are always eager to update the global capability we provide by getting some new technology on orbit,” said Col. Andrew Menschner, Space Force Delta 31 mission commander, which acted as the space vehicle lead for the first time. -------- ©2024 Orlando Sentinel. Visit at orlandosentinel.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins' playoff hopes are not in their hands, but they did their part with a gritty win over San Francisco on Sunday. Coach Mike McDaniel knows that's not enough, and his team will need to do it two more times to even have a shot at making the postseason for the third straight year. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Get updates and player profiles ahead of Friday's high school games, plus a recap Saturday with stories, photos, video Frequency: Seasonal Twice a week

Olympian Motors And NVIDIA Pioneer The First AI-Powered EV Platforms"Towards the back end of last season, we had a new manager bounce which really aided us in results. "We were also assisted in three young loanees from the EFL who are no longer here of course. "Searle’s recruitment in the summer was particularly poor, hence why we’ve made many mid season signings and have a huge squad size! "We’ve been left completely in the mire when it comes to team selection and the obvious one, we’re on our third manager of the season already! "Players aren’t settled in the slightest with constant changes in tactics and style. "There’s been no change since Searle left, Watling was just as poor. "There’s many issues, too many to list. "But the few key ones have been our style of play, we completely lack any identity as Harry Watling changed tactics and styles practically every game. "We’ve also been very defensively poor, we’ve already shipped 54 goals this season and that’s down mainly to pace at the back. "Previously mentioned, actions in the market, too many one month loanees, poor summer recruitment, which now leaves us with a big squad. "And more recently, the squad's been hit with some form of illness, that’s affected most if not all players, which again impacts selection heavily." Do you feel you have any chance of staying up? "Our chances are of course very slim, it’s Christmas and we’ve not even broken the double figure mark in points. "If we need any chance then we need to get the players fighting for the badge and for the club, as players have looked to not care at times. "There needs to be fight and passion and a willing to stay up, like there was last season. How are the fans meant to believe if the players don’t? "Wes has been inconsistent, he’s had a few good performances, one notably at Forest Green coming to mind. "He looks comfy on the ball and he’s got a bit of energy about him, but tends to go for very risky passes, costing us possession, he’s also not really shown much defensive determination or desire, again being costly when being on the back foot. "No suspensions to note, like I said there’s a bit of a virus going round, which players are affected is unclear, also unclear whether it’s passed or not. "Jack Wakely is injured, Lewis Page, Luke O’Neill and Ben Chapman are returning from injury and may be unlikely to feature."Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico of wanting to "help" President Vladimir Putin earn money to fund Russia’s war in Ukraine after Fico paid a visit to Putin in Moscow. Zelenskiy said on X on December 23 that EU leaders had previously observed that Fico opposes reducing energy dependence on Russia, "implying that he wants to help Putin earn money to fund the war and weaken Europe." Ukraine is “losing people as a result of the war that Putin started, and we believe that such assistance to Putin is immoral,” Zelenskiy said . Fico said his trip to Moscow and meeting with Putin on December 22 was in response to Zelenskiy opposing any "transit of gas through Ukraine to our territory." Ukraine has said it will not renew a contract for gas transit through pipelines in Ukraine that expires on December 31. Slovakia has raised concerns about the prospect of losing supplies of natural gas as a result. The flow of gas through the pipeline accounts for around half of Russia's total exports to Europe, and Slovakia, Italy, Austria, and the Czech Republic are set to be most affected if it ends. The European Commission has said it is ready for the current contract to expire, and all countries receiving Russian fuel via the Ukraine route have access to alternative supplies. Fico is one of the few European leaders Putin has stayed friendly with since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, but Zelenskiy questioned his motivation. "Why is this leader so dependent on Moscow? What is being paid to him, and what does he pay with?" Zelenskiy asked rhetorically. The visit by Fico, whose country is a NATO and European Union member, had not been previously announced, but Fico said he had informed EU leaders about it ahead of time. Fico said on Facebook after his meeting with Putin that the Russian president had confirmed Russia's “readiness to continue supplying gas to the West and to Slovakia in view of the Ukrainian president's stance after January 1, 2025." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on December 23 said he could not give more details about the talks between Putin and Fico but said the situation regarding the flow of gas is “very difficult” and “requires increased attention." Fico’s visit with Putin drew strong reactions from other European leaders. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky denounced it, saying on X that the Czech government “has been working to achieve independence from Russian energy supplies so that we don't have to grovel to a mass murderer." Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda reacted sarcastically, saying that any dealings with Russia involve a price. “How cheap is your love,” he said on X . “There are those who come to Russia with love and feel gassed to meet a war criminal. This is not Lithuania's way. We choose energy independence and real market prices -- with no political strings attached! Kosovo’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has decided not to certify the main ethnic Serbian party, effectively barring it from competing in the February 9 parliamentary elections. The CEC said its main reason for declining to certify Serbian List was its nationalist stance and close ties to Serbia. Some commission members noted that Serbian List leader Zlatan Elek has never referred to Kosovo as independent and continues to call it Serbia's autonomous province of Kosovo. The CEC also said that Serbian List has close ties with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and other Serb leaders who also refuse to recognize Kosovo's independence. There was no immediate reaction from Serbian List. The move may further aggravate the already tense ties between Kosovo and Serbia despite international efforts to normalize them. The parliamentary elections on February 9, 2025, are expected to be a key test for Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti, whose party came to power in 2021 in a landslide. Vucic claimed on December 23 that Kurti is trying to "eliminate the only opponent" in the elections. He also accused Kurti and his allies of attempting to expel the Serbian people from the southern areas of Kosovo. Vucic said that he had also spoken with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about what he considered to be violations of international law by Pristina. Only the chairman of the CEC, Kreshnik Radoniqi, voted for the certification of Serbian List. Two members of the ruling Self-Determination party voted against, while the others abstained. Political analyst Albert Krasniqi of the Demokraci+ NGO told RFE/RL that the decision is part of the preelection campaign being conducted by Kurti’s Self-Determination party. He said Serbian List will appeal the decision to the Electoral Complaints and Appeals Panel (ECAP) and predicted that it will reverse the decision. “All this noise will last at most four days, and I am sure that the ECAP will reverse this decision of the CEC and will oblige the CEC to certify Serbian List,” Krasniqi said. Eugen Cakolli of the Democratic Institute of Kosovo told RFE/RL that the CEC has once again become “part of [the] political rhetoric, making a decision in violation of the law and other regulations in force.” He also said Serbian List will appeal and the ECAP will overturn the decision. Kosovo proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008. Belgrade still considers Kosovo a province of Serbia and has a major influence on the ethnic Serbian minority living there. Uzbek authorities are keeping a close eye on the family of the suspect in the high-profile assassination of a Russian general in Moscow last week, neighbors and activists say. Uzbek national Ahmadjon Qurbonov, 29, has been charged by a Moscow court with terrorism and other offenses in the December 17 killing of Igor Kirillov, who headed Russia's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Forces. Qurbonov, who grew up in the Uchteppa district of the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, has been accused of remotely detonating a homemade bomb hidden on a scooter parked outside a residential building. The blast killed Kirillov and his assistant. Qurbonov's neighbors in Tashkent told RFE/RL that his family are refraining from speaking to media and are being monitored by Uzbek authorities since the news of Qurbonov’s arrest broke. Uzbek law-enforcement agencies have since been in regular contact with the family, according to Abdurahmon Tashanov, head of the Ezgulik human rights group in Uzbekistan. Tashanov told RFE/RL that he had spoken with the family and quoted them as saying the relatives first found about Qurbonov's alleged involvement in the attack from the anti-terrorism unit of the Uchteppa police department. They learned other details from media reports, Tashanov added. Uzbek authorities did not respond to RFE/RL's request for comment. Speaking on condition of anonymity, one of the neighbors said Qurbonov's mother had last spoken with her son two days before the attack, when he called from Russia and had assured her he was healthy and had found good work as a cook. According to the neighbors, Qurbonov left Tashkent in 2021, saying he was going to Turkey as a migrant worker. They claimed the family didn't know when Qurbonov moved from Turkey to Russia. Both Russia and Turkey host thousands of migrant workers from Uzbekistan. The residents in Uchteppa's Pakhtakor neighborhood described the Qurbonovs as a regular, middle-class family with a comfortable life. Qurbonov’s late father, Alijon, made a living as a cook, and one of his siblings works at a bakery, they said. Tashanov raised concern about a video released by Russian authorities that purportedly shows Qurbonov "confessing" to having committed the deadly attack on Kirillov. It is not known whether the "confession" was obtained under duress. Tashanov said releasing such footage violates the presumption of innocence in Qurbonov's case. During a hearing at Moscow's Basman district court on December 19, Qurbonov requested a translator due to his limited knowledge of the Russian language. Russian investigators claimed Qurbonov was recruited and trained by Ukrainian intelligence services to carry out the attack. There has been no official claim of responsibility, but Ukraine's security service SBU has said it was behind the killing. Kyiv had accused Kirillov of being responsible for Russia's use of banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops, a claim Moscow denies. The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Uzbek counterpart, Shavkat Mirziyoev, discussed cooperation in the fight against terrorism in a phone call on December 19. Belarus's Central Election Commission (CEC) said five candidates, including Alyaksandr Lukashenka, have been registered for a presidential election next month, the first since balloting in 2020 triggered mass unrest amid claims of victory by the 70-year-old authoritarian ruler, who has since wiped out almost all traces of opposition and dissent in the country. Lukashenka, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is expected to easily cruise to a seventh consecutive term in office as the other four candidates announced by CEC on December 23 are seen as being pro-government. "Lukashenka has announced the date of his 'reelection' -- January 26. It’s a sham with no real electoral process, conducted in an atmosphere of terror," exiled opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who ran against Lukashenka in the August 2020 election after her husband, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, was arrested and jailed during the campaign, said on X when the January vote was first announced. "No alternative candidates or observers will be allowed. We call on Belarusians and the international community to reject this farce," she added. Along with Lukashenka, the CEC said Oleh Gaidukevich, Serhey Syrankov, Anna Konapatskaya, and Alyaksandr Khizhnyak were approved to run in the vote. Massive street protests followed the disputed 2020 presidential election that extended Lukashenka's long-standing rule for another term. The election was widely condemned as fraudulent by the United States, the European Union, and other international actors. The protests, which demanded Lukashenka's resignation, were met with mass arrests, alleged torture, and violent crackdowns that left several people dead. Tsikhanouski, as well as other opposition politicians and activists, were arrested and many were sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Many opposition leaders remain imprisoned or in exile, while Lukashenka refuses dialogue with his critics. Tsikhanouskaya was forced into exile in 2020. Her husband was later convicted of organizing riots among other charges following a trial condemned as a sham and sentenced to 18 years in prison. The Romanian parliament has sworn in a new pro-European coalition government led by leftist Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. The new government took the oath of office and held a ceremonial first cabinet meeting after parliament approved the new administration in a 240-143 vote on December 23. President Klaus Iohannis had earlier appointed Ciolacu as prime minister to form a new government after three pro-Western parties agreed on a coalition aimed at preventing far-right groups from joining the government. "You are entering a difficult period in your new responsibilities," Iohannis told the government in a congratulatory message. "I wish you to succeed in everything you set out to do, but, first of all, I wish you to succeed for Romania and Romanians. People expect solutions, stability, and a government that firmly maintains Romania's trajectory." Iohannis said the situation is like no other the country has experienced, adding that all those he spoke to asked for the continuation of the pro-European path. The government, which includes five new ministers, took shape amid political turmoil prompted by revelations about Russia's malign influence that led to the annulment of a presidential election after a Moscow-friendly outsider won the first round. "It will not be an easy mandate for the future government," Ciolacu said in a statement. "We are aware that we are in the midst of a deep political crisis. It is also a crisis of trust, and this coalition aims to regain the trust of citizens, the trust of the people." The coalition government includes Emil Hurezeanu, a former journalist for RFE/RL, who will serve as foreign minister. The parties that together won just over half the seats in parliamentary elections on December 1 -- the leftist Social Democratic Party (PSD), center-right National Liberal Party (PNL), and the ethnic Hungarian UDMR -- reached an agreement to band together late on December 10 in Bucharest. That deal came after they threw their support behind presidential candidate Elena Lasconi ahead of a December 8 scheduled runoff against the pro-Russian independent candidate Calin Georgescu, who had won a shock victory in the first round on November 24. However, Romania's Constitutional Court on December 6 canceled the results of the first round and ordered a rerun of the presidential polls after the EU and NATO member's Supreme Defense Council declassified documents allegedly proving Georgescu's presidential bid had been aided by a campaign led by an unnamed "state actor" with the help of Chinese-owned TikTok social media platform. The PSD and the PNL, the two parties that have dominated Romania's politics since the fall of communism, formed an unlikely left-right alliance in 2021. The alliance became increasingly unpopular while also eroding both parties' support among voters, and allowed the shock rise of pro-Russian, far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, which finished a close second in parliamentary elections with more than 18 percent to PSD's 23 percent. Adding to the current instability, no presidential polls are likely until sometime early next year while it remains unclear if parties would have to propose new candidates or if Georgescu will be allowed to run again. One of the government's first tasks will be to set a date for the new presidential election. Last week, Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, an independent, said he will be a candidate in the presidential election when it is re-run. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has called on the ruling Moscow-friendly Georgian Dream party to set a date for new parliamentary elections by December 29 amid unrest over the last vote and the party's unilateral decision to postpone negotiations with the European Union. Zurabishvili has been locked in a standoff with the party since it won October parliamentary elections plagued by allegations of electoral fraud . The opposition has refused to recognize the vote, accusing Georgian Dream of rigging the vote to cling to power. In a speech late on December 22, she invited Russia-friendly billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister and the founder of Georgian Dream, to the presidential palace for talks on setting an election date. Georgian Dream has denied any election wrongdoing and has refused to consider new elections despite almost daily protests over its victory and its subsequent decision to halt talks with the 27-member bloc until 2028. "Ivanishvili should come to the palace, and I am ready to sit down and think about how the elections should be scheduled. The date of the elections should be agreed upon by the 29th," Zurabishvili told a rally on Tbilisi's Rustaveli Avenue, the site of countless Georgian protests. Due to technical issues during the speech, Zurabishvili said she would release a new video recorded message of the address on December 23. Georgia received EU candidate status in December last year but ties with Brussels have been tense in recent months following the adoption in May of a controversial "foreign agent" law pushed through parliament by Georgian Dream, which has ruled since 2012. Critics say the legislation threatens media outlets and civil society groups and mirrors a similar Russian law used by the Kremlin to stifle political opponents and civil society. While initially endorsed by Georgian Dream for her successful presidential run in 2018, Zurabishvili has been a thorn in the ruling party's side. Although officially a nonpartisan president limited to a ceremonial role, Zurabishvili has criticized Georgian Dream for its increasingly authoritarian stance. Earlier this month, an electoral college dominated by Georgian Dream chose Mikheil Kavelashvili, a 53-year-old former soccer player and right-wing populist, as Georgia's next president. His inauguration is supposed to take place on December 29, though the 72-year-old Zurabishvili, whose term ends this year, has said she isn't going anywhere. After the ruling Georgian Dream party declared victory in an election on October 26, protests restarted and intensified after the government said it was suspending talks with Brussels on Tbilisi's bid to join the EU, Georgia’s biggest donor, biggest economic market, and home to the South Caucasus country's biggest diaspora. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said in its final report on the elections -- which it issued on December 20 -- that numerous issues "negatively impacted" the elections and eroded public trust. The report refers to the passage of the "foreign agent" law, modeled on a similar Russian law, saying the election took place amid “serious concerns about the impact of recently adopted legislation on fundamental freedoms and civil society.” The law, which mandates that organizations receiving significant foreign funding register as foreign agents, took effect on August 1, sparking significant backlash from international and domestic actors. The government last week pledged to amend the law, though it did not give details of the changes it would enact. The Kremlin said there are currently no plans for President Vladimir Putin to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump amid a rise in talk of finding a peace deal to end Russia's war against Ukraine. Trump told a conservative convention on December 22 that Putin said he "wants to meet with me as soon as possible.” In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on December 23 that "so far, there have been no real impulses" for a meeting with Trump before his inauguration in January. Fighting between Russia and Ukraine has ratcheted up in recent weeks, with Moscow launching waves of drones and missiles across Ukrainian territory, mainly aimed at civilian and energy infrastructure. Kyiv has countered with attacks on Russian oil and energy targets just inside Russian territory and over the weekend struck high-rise buildings in Kazan, the capital of Russia's oil-rich republic of Tatarstan. Last week Putin dangled the prospect of Russian concessions before audiences in Washington and the West, saying more than once during his annual question-and-answer conference that Russia was ready for a compromise. But he attached numerous conditions to the idea of compromise, suggesting Moscow’s goal of subjugating Ukraine and winning major security guarantees from NATO and the West remain in place, as well as saying he does not consider Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a legitimate leader. Trump has said he would move to end the war quickly and during his remarks at Turning Point’s America Fest convention on December 22, said, "We have to end that war. That war is horrible, horrible." Analysts say that behind closed doors in Moscow, Kyiv, Brussels, Washington, and other capitals diplomats, elected leaders, and military officers are gearing up for what will likely be a full-court press to find a resolution to Europe's largest land war since World War II. In Western negotiating rooms, sentiment has shifted decisively toward a push to resolve a conflict that has killed or wounded more than 1 million men on both sides over 34 months and counting. In a rare meeting with a European Union leader, Putin met with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on December 22. While the main topic was a soon-to-expire contract allowing for Russian natural gas to transit through Ukraine, the two leaders also talked about the military situation in Ukraine and the possibility of a peaceful settlement to the war. Fico is one of the few European leaders with whom Putin has maintained ties since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. Kyiv said it will not extend the gas transit deal beyond January 1 as payments Russia receives for gas have helped fund Moscow's war. Fico, whose views on Russia's war on Ukraine differ sharply from those of most European leaders, returned to power last year after his leftist party Smer (Direction) won parliamentary elections on a pro-Russia and anti-American platform. Since then, he has ended his country's military aid for Ukraine, hit out at EU sanctions on Russia, and vowed to block Ukraine from joining NATO. Zelenskiy warned on December 23 that Fico's stance on Russian gas was a "big security issue" for Europe. "His key goal is to deal with Russia, and this is what benefits him. This is indeed a big security issue -- both for Slovakia and the entire Europe," Zelenskiy said on X. "Why is this leader so dependent on Moscow? What is being paid to him, and what does he pay with?" he added. Students who have been blocking academic faculties at the University of Belgrade for weeks staged a protest on December 22 to demand accountability for the collapse of a canopy at the train station in Novi Sad that killed 15 people. Streets near Slavija Square in central Belgrade were closed to traffic as thousands gathered for the protest, filling the square and beyond as farmers, actors, and educators joined the student-led protest. The demonstration began at 4:30 p.m. local time with 15 minutes of silence for the victims of the collapse on November 1, which seriously injured two people in addition to killing 15. Many of the participants turned their mobile phone lights on and held them high. The 15 minutes of silence was followed by 30 minutes of participants blowing whistles and vuvuzelas. Student Teodora Topalovic told RFE/RL at the protest that the support of citizens means a lot to the gathered students. "Every time something like this starts at the beginning, I'm first on the verge of tears, and then I pull myself together and continue," Topalovic said. "This means a lot to all the students." Nikola Peric of Belgrade said his motive for coming to this protest is to say "no" to the entire situation and the authorities in Serbia. "To support the students, to honor the people who died innocently, and to try to change the situation in the country, which is not good," he told RFE/RL. Pensioner Tatjana Spolja Miletic told RFE/RL that "new, young forces" have arrived and that the older ones are have joined in the protest to support them. "I can't be silent and sit at home," she said. The organizers demanded the government identify and prosecute the people who allegedly attacked demonstrators during protests that swept across Serbia in the days following the collapse of the canopy. The organizers also called for the release of activists detained during earlier protests and an end to legal proceedings against them. Serbians have protested regularly over the accident to demand accountability. Some of the protests turned violent, but there was no violence reported during the demonstration in Belgrade on December 22. The collapse of the canopy has turned into a political headache for President Aleksandar Vucic as more than 50 academic faculties at four state universities, the offices of several university rectors, and dozens of high schools remain blocked in solidarity with the protests. Students also have taken part in daily protests in which traffic stops for 15 minutes in cities across Serbia. The accident occurred after the railway station had been renovated twice in recent years by a Chinese-led consortium of four companies. Serbian Railways insisted that the renovation didn’t include the concrete overhang, but some experts disputed that. The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad announced on November 21 that 11 people had been arrested after being found responsible for the collapse. Among them were former Construction, Transport, and Infrastructure Minister Goran Vesic and the ex-director of railway infrastructure Jelena Tanaskovic. They face up to 12 years in prison if they are found guilty of charges of committing criminal acts against public security, endangering the public, and irregular construction work. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico met in the Kremlin on December 22 to discuss a soon-to-expire contract allowing for Russian natural gas to transit through Ukraine. Fico said the meeting with Putin came in reaction to Ukraine saying it would not renew the contract, which is set to run out on December 31. "Putin confirmed [Russia's] readiness to continue supplying gas to the West and to Slovakia in view of the Ukrainian president's stance after January 1, 2025," Fico said on Facebook. He said he and Putin also exchanged views on the military situation in Ukraine, the possibility of a peaceful settlement to the war, and mutual relations between Slovakia and Russia. Fico is one of the few European leaders with whom Putin has maintained ties since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. Fico arrived in Russia on a "working visit" and met with Putin one-on-one, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying earlier on December 22. According to Russian media reports, Peskov said the meeting was to focus on "the international situation" and was likely to also touch on Russian natural gas deliveries. Slovakia and Hungary, which rely on Russian gas, raised concerns about the prospect of losing supplies after Ukraine said it would not renew the contract. Fico, whose views on Russia's war on Ukraine differ sharply from those of most European leaders, returned to power last year after his leftist party Smer (Direction) won parliamentary elections on a pro-Russia and anti-American platform. Since then, he has ended his country's military aid for Ukraine, hit out at EU sanctions on Russia, and vowed to block Ukraine from joining NATO. The visit by the leader of the NATO- and EU-member country had not been previously announced, but Fico said top EU officials had been informed about his journey and its purpose on December 20. Michal Simecka, leader of the opposition Progressive Slovakia, described Fico's trip to meet Putin as a "shame for Slovakia and a betrayal of national interests." "If the prime minister actually cared about gas transit, he should have negotiated with Ukraine rather than turning Slovakia into a tool of Putin's propaganda," Simecka said on X. Fico also complained that in addition to allowing the natural gas transit contract to expire, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is also in favor of sanctions against the Russian nuclear program. He called this "unacceptable," saying it would financially damage and endanger the production of electricity in nuclear power plants in Slovakia. Zelenskiy said on December 19 during a European Union summit in Brussels that Kyiv could consider continued transit of Russian gas on the condition that Moscow does not receive payment for the fuel until after the war. "We will not give the possibility of additional billions to be earned on our blood, on the lives of our citizens," Zelenskiy said. Zelenskiy also lambasted Fico, who has claimed that his country will face an economic hit if it loses cheap gas from Russia. "To be honest, during war, it's a bit shameful to talk about money, because we are losing people," Zelenskiy said. Zelenskiy said he told Fico that Ukraine would be open to carrying another country's gas through its pipeline infrastructure to reach Europe, but it would need assurances that the gas was not merely relabeled Russian fuel. "We have to know that we will only transit gas if it's not coming from Russia," Zelenskiy said. The European Commission has said it is ready for the current contract to expire, and all countries receiving Russian fuel via the Ukraine route have access to alternative supplies. Russian forces executed five Ukrainian prisoners of war according to the latest war crime allegation against Russian troops raised by Ukraine's ombudsman for human rights. Dmytro Lubinets said on December 22 that Russian troops shot the five unarmed soldiers at point-blank range after they had surrendered. He gave no details but said on Telegram that a Ukrainian military unit had released a video showing the alleged shooting. "I will report this fact to the UN and the ICRC," he said . "Russian war criminals who shoot Ukrainian prisoners of war should be brought before an international tribunal and punished with the most severe punishment provided for by law," Lubinets added. Russia did not immediately comment on the accusation but has previous denied committing war crimes. Lubinets said earlier this month that there had been 177 confirmed cases of executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war by the Russian military since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Andriy Kostin in October called the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian soldiers a deliberate policy of the Russian Federation. Kostin said in a statement on October 15 that torture and executions without trial and investigation are used as weapons of war, intimidation, and destruction. "We can prove that these cases are not isolated incidents but an organized and targeted policy," Kostin said. The Institute for the Study of War reported in October it had observed an increase in Russian forces executing Ukrainian POWs, adding that "Russian commanders are likely writ large condoning, encouraging, or directly ordering the execution of Ukrainian POWs." A Ukrainian open-source intelligence project reported on October 13 that Russian forces executed nine Ukrainian POWs near the village of Zeleny Shlyakh in the Kursk region on October 10. Lubinets condemned those executions as a serious violation of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of POWs and stated that he sent letters to the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross regarding the case. The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called on Syrians to resist the emerging rebel-led government after the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad, saying the uprising was orchestrated by the West. Speaking in an address on December 22, Khamenei said Syrians, especially the country's youth, "should stand with strong will against those who designed and those who implemented the insecurity." Assad left the country in the late hours of December 8 after the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies -- some of whom are linked with Turkey -- overran government forces in a blitz offensive. While Assad was granted political asylum in Russia by President Vladimir Putin after more than five decades of iron-fisted rule by his family, the HTS has since moved quickly to establish an interim government, and its leader, Riad al-Asaad, has said he is confident the factions that helped topple Assad will unite as one force. HTS and the transitional government have insisted the rights of all Syrians will be protected, but Khamenei said he believes a group aligned with the Islamic republic's government would end up prevailing in Syria. However, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on December 22. Details of the meeting were not immediately released, but Turkey has long been seen as a backer of HTS as it looked to remove Assad. The toppling of Assad was seen by many as another blow to Tehran, which has seen regional groups aligned with it -- parts of the so-called axis of resistance -- suffer major setbacks in the past 14 months. Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, has been decimated by Israel, which launched a war against the group in the Gaza Strip and Hamas fighters in October 2023 crossed into Israel and killed 1,200 people while taking another 250 hostage. That conflict spread to Lebanon, home of the Tehran-backed Hezbollah, a militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the EU blacklists its armed wing but not its political party. Hezbollah’s political party has seats in the Lebanese parliament. Israel has severely weakened Hezbollah -- killing its longtime leader and many of its top officials -- after the group launched attacks on Israel that it said was in support of Hamas. A U.S.-brokered deal to end hostilities in Lebanon took effect last month. Khamenei downplayed the links to Iran, saying they have fought against Israel on their own beliefs. "They keep saying that the Islamic republic lost its proxy forces in the region. This is another mistake. The Islamic republic does not have a proxy forces," he said. “If one day we plan to take action, we do not need proxy force,” he added. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed revenge over Kyiv's attack a day earlier on high-rise buildings in Kazan , the capital of Russia's oil-rich republic of Tatarstan, as Russia launched a massive drone attack at Ukraine on December 22. More than the 100 drones that Russia launched in the December 22 attack were shot down, according to Ukraine's military. Businesses and apartment buildings were damaged in the Russian attacks, though at this point, the military said, "without casualties." The regions of Kherson, Mykolayiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhya, Zhytomyr, and Kyiv all saw drones fired in their direction, with 52 of the total 103 shot down, the Ukrainian Air Force reported . Russia has stepped up its air attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying on December 21 that Moscow has launched more than 550 guided bombs, almost 550 drones, and 20 missiles over the past week. Russia has systematically targeted Ukraine's civilian and energy infrastructure since the start of the war, stepping up attacks especially at the onset of the cold season, causing maximum difficulties and lengthy power cuts for Ukrainians for the third winter in a row. It has also been accused by Kyiv of targeting residential buildings, which Moscow denies. Russia's massive attack comes a day after Ukraine struck high-rise buildings in Kazan , the capital of Russia's oil-rich republic of Tatarstan. Putin vowed to bring more "destruction" to Ukraine in retaliation for the drone attack on Kazan. "Whoever tries to destroy something here will face many times more destruction on their own territory and will regret what they are trying to do in our country," Putin said during a televised meeting. On December 22, Ukraine appeared to again strike inside Russian territory. Andrey Klychkov, the head of Oryol region near the border with Ukraine, said a fire broke out at a fuel infrastructure facility in the village of Stalnoy Kon after the area came under a drone attack, the second in a week. Kyiv has not commented on the accusation, but footage on social media showed what appeared to be explosions in the area. Ukraine has been investing heavily in drone production in part to compensate for its shortage in manpower on the battlefield. Ukraine's Defense Ministry said earlier this month that it had transferred 1.2 million drones to the armed forces through the first 11 months of 2024, including more than 6,000 deep strike drones. Ukraine's drone production is now close to parity with Russia, experts have said. Kyiv has used its long-range drone capacity to hit objects crucial to Russia's war effort, such as weapons and energy facilities. It has tried to avoid civilian targets in part amid concern about backlash from its Western backers. Kazan, one of the wealthiest cities in Russia, is approximately 800 kilometers east of Moscow. Several Russian pensioners were allegedly tricked by scammers into carrying out risky stunts in crowded places in Moscow and St. Petersburg on December 21, police said. A number of the pensioners have been detained, the police said. Law enforcement is still searching for at least one of the suspects. It is unclear who is behind the scam. One incident took place at the Fort shopping center in northeastern Moscow. The building was evacuated following a small explosion in the public services center located there. One woman was treated for injuries after she fell amid the rush for the doors. Meanwhile, a shopping center and a post office in the suburban Moscow towns of Korolev and Khimki, respectively, were evacuated the same day on similar grounds. In Korolev, the explosion blew out several windows and triggered a fire that damaged the shopping center’s ceiling. In the Fort incident, police detained a pensioner who allegedly detonated a firecracker on the instructions of unknown individuals who had extorted 120,000 rubles ($1,200) from her. The 64-year-old suspect in the Korolev incident allegedly tried to detonate pyrotechnics at the police station as well. A 70-year-old woman was detained in connection with the explosion at the post office in Khimki. The same day, two retired women in St. Petersburg allegedly tried to set fire to a police car at the direction of telephone scammers. They have been detained and a case has been opened against them on terrorist charges. Also in St. Petersburg, an explosion occurred at an ATM location belonging to Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender. No injuries were reported. Local media reported that an elderly woman poured a flammable liquid inside the ATM before the explosion. A similar incident at an ATM occurred the night before in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, RFE/RL’s Siberia.Realities reported. This time the suspect was a teenager. Police said the 19-year old girl was duped into carrying out the attack by scammers. She received second-degree burns and is being treated at a hospital. Pakistani militants carried out a daring early-morning raid near the northwestern border with Afghanistan, killing over a dozen officers in the latest attack of 2024 -- a year already marked as one of the deadliest in the region. Laddha Police Deputy Superintendent Hidayat Ullah told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that 16 security officers were killed when militants opened fire at a security checkpoint in South Waziristan at 2 am on December 21. He said eight more officers were wounded. Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which claimed responsibility for the attack, said it killed 35 Pakistani security officers. Radio Mashaal could not independently confirm the number of officers killed. Neither side said how many militants were killed during the attack. There has been a steady increase in TTP attacks in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province since the Taliban regained control of Kabul in August 2021. The TTP seeks to impose Shari'a law in Pakistan. The latest attack came as the elders of Dre Maseed in the Sur Rogha area of South Waziristan held a meeting on December 20 to demand that the security forces change tactics. Sherpao Maseed, a leader of the assembly, told Radio Mashaal that Pakistani defense forces are targeting militants with artillery and mortar shells , putting civilians in danger. The Pakistan Center for Conflict and Security Studies said in its most recent report that more than 240 people were killed in "terrorist incidents" in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in November The death toll included 68 security officers, the highest in a single month this year. Meanwhile, the Army Public Relations Directorate (ISPR) claims to have killed dozens of suspected militants in operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this month. The governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan say they are committed to wiping out the TTP. BUDAPEST -- Hungary's right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's recent reported proposal for NATO members states to increase their defense spending would cripple the Hungarian economy. According to recent reports in Britain's Financial Times and The Telegraph, Trump's team informed European officials that the president-elect was expecting the United States' NATO allies to raise their defense expenditure to 5 percent of national gross domestic product (GDP). Speaking at his year-end press briefing on December 21, Orban said that Hungary has already sweated blood to reach the current 2 percent target, and "if the 2 percent has to be increased, that would shoot the Hungarian economy in the lungs." "We would prefer to not spend even 2 percent of GDP on weaponry...but the world is going in the opposite direction," he said. Orban, who has been accused at home and abroad of democratic backsliding, also said he had not discussed this with Trump, adding that, if the increase is inevitable, then he believes it should be gradual. Hungary budgeted to spend 2.1 percent of GDP in 2024 on defense. Orban is one of Trump's main allies in Europe and, on December 9, he met with the president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Throughout the Ukraine war, Orban has maintained friendly ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been critical of EU aid for Ukraine, and has obstructed the bloc's sanctions regime against Moscow. NATO Spending Targets During his time as president between 2016 and 2020, Trump regularly called for NATO members to meet the required 2 percent level of defense spending, goals that most have since met. NATO leadership has also called for member nations to boost spending following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has triggered the largest war in Europe since World War II. Before leaving office, former Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance's members would "have to be willing to pay the price for peace" and said that the current 2 percent target was "no longer enough to keep us safe." And in Budapest in November, the current NATO secretary-general, Mark Rutte, said at the European Political Community summit that member states would have to pay more. "It will surpass the 2 percent greatly more. I am quite clear about that," Rutte said. The United States contributes around 16 percent to NATO's common-funded budget, which is the joint largest share alongside Germany. The United States will also spend roughly $967 billion on defense in 2024. While that accounts for around two-thirds of what all NATO members will spend on defense combined this year, it represents about 3 percent of GDP. The United States last spent 5 percent of GDP on defense in the late 2000s and early 2010s amid the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the Cold War, the United States spent between 5 and 11 percent of GDP on defense . Experts said that Trump's proposal is likely a starting point for negotiations with NATO members. Spat With Poland The Hungarian prime minister also defended Budapest's decision to grant political asylum to Marcin Romanowski, a Polish lawmaker from the right-wing Law and Justice party, who is wanted for alleged corruption during his tenure in Poland's previous government. Orban said he didn't think the case involving a Polish politician would be the last. He added, however, that he wanted to keep "conflicts with Poland at a manageable level," and would refrain from commenting on the country's rule-of-law situation. The Hungarian prime minister's office made the announcement on December 19, arguing that the Polish government was persecuting its political rivals. Warsaw has called the move a "hostile act" and has summoned Hungary's ambassador to Poland. KARACHI, Pakistan -- Pakistani military courts have sentenced 25 people for their part in attacks on military facilities in May 2023. Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of Pakistan's armed forces, said in a statement on December 21 that 25 defendants were given sentences ranging from two to 10 years. On May 9, 2023, following the arrest of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in a fraud case, supporters of Khan's party, Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI), attacked and damaged military installations, mosques, and government buildings in cities across Pakistan. Several people were killed and dozens injured in the unrest. In its statement, the military's media wing described the sentences as an "important milestone in dispensation of justice to the nation." It added that May 9, 2023 was a sad day for the country, and it would be officially commemorated every year. In response to the verdicts, PTI wrote on the X social network that the military courts have violated the defendants' constitutional and human rights. Khan's party has said the judicial process is not transparent and about 80 people have been in military custody since the unrest, their fundamental rights violated. Supporters of the imprisoned former prime minister, who is accused of inciting attacks against the armed forces, have expressed concerns that military rather than civilian courts are trying some of the cases. They have staged months of protests to demand Khan's release. PTI says its members and supporters did not attack military or government buildings on May 9, 2023. Last year, Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled that civilians should be tried in civilian courts, not military courts. However, on December 13, the Supreme Court suspended the decision and allowed military courts to hear civilian cases. Others charged over the violence are being tried in anti-terrorism courts. PTI regularly campaigns against corruption and nepotism in Pakistan but has been accused of populism and authoritarian tendencies centered around its charismatic leader Khan. KVIV -- An air-raid warning has been declared in all regions of Ukraine due to possible ballistic missile strikes, Ukrainian military authorities said. Russia continued its regular attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure overnight, launching 113 drone attacks, according to the Ukrainian Air Force on December 21. Of those drones, 57 were shot down, and 56 others were unable to reach their targets, the air force said. The Ukrainian Air Force also said Russia had fired one surface-to-air S-400 missile at central Ukraine, but it did not cause any damage or casualties. RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported that in the eastern Ukrainian Zaporizhzhya and Kharkiv regions downed drones damaged apartment buildings, causing casualties. Ukraine was under a general air-raid alert for several hours on December 20 as Russia launched missile and drone attacks against the capital, Kyiv, and several other regions around the country. Russian Advance The latest attacks come as Ukrainian forces are struggling to stop Russia's rapid advance in the east of the country. The Russian Defense Ministry announced on December 21 that Russian forces had taken control of the village of Kostyantynopolske in the eastern Ukrainian Donetsk region. The claim about the village, called Ostrovsky by Russia, could not be independently confirmed by Reuters. Meanwhile, Reuters quoted Aleksandr Khinshtein, the acting governor of Russia's Kursk region, as saying that six people, including one child, were killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on December 20 on the town of Rylsk. Ukraine seized territory in the Kursk region in an incursion in August but has since given up about half its territorial gains. Drones, thought to be from Ukraine, hit high-rise buildings in Kazan , the capital of Russia's republic of Tatarstan, with the attacks causing the city's airport to temporarily suspend flights. No casualties were reported. KAZAN, Russia -- Ukraine struck high-rise buildings in Kazan, the capital of Russia's oil-rich republic of Tatarstan, in the latest display of its growing drone capabilities. The December 21 attacks came in three waves between 7:40 a.m. and 9:20 a.m., the Russian Defense Ministry said. The ministry said the drones were of Ukrainian origin. Western experts said they appeared to be Ukraine's Lyitiy model , a light, aircraft-like drone. Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the strike. The press service of Rustam Minnikhanov, the leader of Tatarstan, said in a statement that eight drones attacked the city. According to the statement, six struck luxury residential buildings, one struck an industrial facility, and one was shot down over a river. In a post on its Telegram channel, Kazan mayor’s office said the drones struck targets in three districts of the city. Two drones slammed into the upper floors of a 37-story luxury skyscraper, according to videos posted on social media. The strikes, which were about 30 minutes apart, hit the glass-and-metal building in roughly the same spot. Schools Evacuated RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service reported that pupils were evacuated from schools in the Soviet district of Kazan and that sirens could be heard in the city. There were no casualties, local authorities said. According to Interfax reports, Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin said that people had been evacuated from the affected buildings and were being provided with accommodation and food. The mayor said that all large events in the city would be canceled over the weekend. Kazan, one of the wealthiest cities in Russia, is approximately 800 kilometers east of Moscow. In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said that a "Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was destroyed over the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan by the air defense forces on duty." Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency said in a statement that "temporary restrictions were imposed at Kazan Airport on the morning of December 21 in order to ensure the safety of civilian flights. Both arrivals and departures are suspended." The ban has since been lifted. Ukrainian drone attacks have previously targeted Russian military and industrial locations in Tatarstan. Local authorities on May 15 shut down two major airports -- one in Kazan and another in the city of Nizhnekamsk -- for several hours "for security reasons" following a drone attack. The Russian Defense Ministry said that "a Ukrainian drone" was shot down over Tatarstan. In April, Ukrainian drones hit an oil refinery in Tatarstan and a dormitory in the Alabuga special economic zone in Yelabuga, which hosts more than 20 industrial enterprises, including chemical, mechanical engineering, and metal treatment factories. It also reportedly houses a facility producing drones. Drone Surge Ukraine has been investing heavily in drone production in part to compensate for its shortage in manpower on the battlefield. Ukraine's Defense Ministry said earlier this month that it had transferred 1.2 million drones to the armed forces through the first 11 months of 2024, including more than 6,000 deep strike drones . Ukraine's drone production is now close to parity with Russia, experts have said. Kyiv has used its long-range drone capacity to hit objects crucial to Russia's war effort, such as weapons and energy facilities. It has tried to avoid civilian targets in part amid concern about backlash from its Western backers. In the summer of 2023, Ukrainian drones twice struck the floors of a high-rise building in Moscow's business district housing Russian government ministries. Experts speculated whether the skyscraper in Kazan that was struck twice was home to someone connected with Russia's war effort. Zelenskiy said that Ukraine will continue to target military objects in Russia with drones and missiles. "We will definitely continue to strike Russian military facilities - with drones and missiles, and increasingly Ukrainian ones, at precisely those military bases, at precisely that Russian military infrastructure that is used in such terror against our people," he said in his regular nightly video address to the nation. In the meantime, Russia has continued its regular attacks against Ukraine, including civilian targets. Russia's armed forces launched 113 drone attacks against Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian Air Force on December 21. Of those drones, 57 were shot down, and 56 others were unable to reach their targets, the air force said. At least two people were killed and more than 60 injured after a car drove at high speed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, German officials said on December 20. The car plowed into the market in what authorities suspect was an intentional act in the city in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. “This is a terrible event, particularly now in the days before Christmas," Saxony-Anhalt Governor Reiner Haseloff said. The driver of the car was arrested. Haseloff told reporters that the suspect is a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who first came to Germany in 2006. He had not been on law enforcement's radar as a known Islamist, security sources told the dpa news agency. "From what we currently know he was a lone attacker, so we don't think there is any further danger for the city," Haseloff said. Haseloff said the two people confirmed dead were an adult and a toddler, and he couldn’t rule out further deaths. Police evacuated the area as they suspected there could be a bomb still in the car that was driven into the market. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he plans to visit the city on December 21. “The reports from Magdeburg suggest something terrible is to come. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours,” Scholz said on X. French President Emmanuel Macron also reacted on X. “Deeply shocked by the horror that struck the Magdeburg Christmas market in Germany this evening. My thoughts are with the victims, the injured, and their loved ones and families. France shares the pain of the German people and expresses its full solidarity,” he said . Magdeburg, a city of about 240,000 residents west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt. The suspected attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist plowed into a Christmas market in Berlin. killing 13 people and injuring dozens more. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said in its final report on the October 26 parliamentary elections in Georgia that numerous issues “negatively impacted" the elections and eroded public trust. The OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) issued the final report on December 20. The OSCE said shortly after the October 26 elections that it had recorded instances of vote-buying, double-voting, physical violence, and intimidation. The final report reiterates the organization's concerns and offers recommendations to improve elections in Georgia. “Numerous issues noted in our final report negatively impacted the integrity of these elections and eroded public trust in the process,” said Eoghan Murphy, who headed the ODIHR’s 2024 election observation mission to Georgia. Murphy urged authorities in Georgia to urgently address all concerns about the elections, which gave the ruling Georgian Dream party more than 54 percent of the vote, enough to maintain control of the government. Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze acknowledged that the final report contains "critical remarks," including on the suppression of votes. "In 76 percent of the polling stations where it observed, OSCE/ODIHR did not identify any irregularities at all," he said at a briefing, adding that in other cases there were "isolated irregularities" that were identified. "These were related to incorrect ballot entry, improper arrangement of the polling station, so-called leaks, video recording, etc." According to Kobakhidze, the Georgian Dream government is ready to cooperate with the OSCE to implement its recommendations. The report refers to the passage of a "foreign agents" law modeled on a similar Russian law, earlier in the year, saying the election took place amid “serious concerns about the impact of recently adopted legislation on fundamental freedoms and civil society.” The law, which mandates that organizations receiving significant foreign funding register as “foreign agents,” took effect on August 1, sparking significant backlash from international and domestic actors. The final report also cites pressure on voters and election day practices that “compromised the ability of some voters to cast their vote without fear of retribution.” In addition, there was an overall lack of response to complaints in the post-election period, the report said, saying the ODIHR “found that cases were not considered sufficiently, limiting legal remedies.” The report reiterates the negative impact of the “polarized and instrumentalized media” and limited campaign finance oversight. It notes that candidates were generally able to campaign freely, and candidates across 18 party lists competed, but a "significant imbalance in financial resources contributed to the uneven playing field.” Demonstrators began gathering in central Tbilisi soon after the elections as criticism mounted over voting irregularities. The protests intensified after Kobakhidze announced that Tbilisi was suspending until 2028 talks with Brussels on Georgia's bid to join the European Union. The ODIHR notes that some protests were violently dispersed, resulting in numerous arrests and allegations of brutality toward protesters and journalists. The ODIHR said that the suppression of protests by force and numerous arrests “caused grave concerns about compliance with international commitments to freedom of peaceful assembly.” Poland has summoned Hungary's ambassador over Budapest's decision to grant political asylum to a Polish opposition politician who is wanted for alleged corruption during his tenure in Poland's previous government. Warsaw was outraged by Hungary's decision to grant political asylum to Marcin Romanowski. The decision, announced the Hungarian prime minister's office on December 19, accused the Polish government of persecuting its political opponents. Poland called the move a "hostile act" that runs counter to the principle of loyal cooperation among members of the European Union. "In response to this action, the Hungarian ambassador to Poland will be summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today, where he will receive an official protest note," the ministry said on December 20. The ministry also said that if Hungary fails to comply with its EU obligations, Poland will ask the European Commission to respond. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government says it has opened the door for prosecutors to investigate suspected wrongdoings committed during the tenure of the nationalist Law and Justice party, which ruled the country for eight years until 2023 and which have been covered up. Tusk said he was dismayed by Hungary's decision to shelter a man being sought on suspicions of defrauding the state of millions of zlotys. “I did not expect corrupt politicians escaping justice would be able to choose between [Belarusian authoritarian leader Alyaksandr] Lukashenka and [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban,” Tusk said on December 20. His reference to Lukashenka was apparently linked to the case of a Polish judge who fled to Belarus. Romanowski was detained during the investigation but released in July. He denies the charges against him. Through his lawyer he has argued that he is the victim of political retribution by Tusk's government. Gergely Gulyas, head of Orban's office, said the decision of the Hungarian authorities was in line with both domestic and European Union legislation. He said Romanowski's arrest raised serious concerns about fair treatment and political bias in Polish judicial proceedings. Polish opposition lawmakers, including Romanowski, accused Tusk's government of conducting a politically motivated witch-hunt against them. Romanowski told Polish broadcaster TV Republika that he thinks the fact that Hungary has granted him asylum confirms that "we are dealing with political persecution in Poland." Prosecutors and judges in Poland are politically controlled, he said. A spokesman for the European Commission declined to comment on the specific case but emphasized that EU member states are obligated to enforce European arrest warrants. Stefan de Keersmaecker said at a briefing in Brussels on December 20 that the obligation means that Hungary should send Romanowski back to Poland to face justice. The spokesman added that all EU member states maintain a high level of protection for fundamental rights and freedoms, making them all safe countries for asylum seekers. But an asylum application from a national of another EU member state can only be accepted under exceptional circumstances. The Georgian government has pledged to amend its controversial "foreign agents" law following discussions with the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset. Berset announced at a press briefing in Tbilisi on December 20, wrapping up a three-day visit, that a working group including Georgian representatives, the Council of Europe, and the Venice Commission will be formed to draft necessary changes to the legislation. "The government of Georgia promised to modify the content of the 'Foreign Influence Transparency' law. This working group will determine the specific changes required. I hope similar collaborative processes can extend to other areas, such as equality, anti-discrimination, electoral reform, and reforms in penitentiary and probation systems," Berset said. The law, modeled on a similar Russian law, mandates that organizations receiving significant foreign funding register as "foreign agents." Passed by the Georgian parliament in May despite a presidential veto, it came into force on August 1, sparking significant backlash from international and domestic actors. Georgian NGOs began appearing on the "foreign agent" registry in October, raising concerns about their ability to operate freely. Critics, including the European Union, have warned that the law could derail Georgia's aspirations for EU membership. While Moscow praised the Georgian government for adopting the law, Western countries, including the United States and Britain, condemned it as a tool for undermining democracy. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, however, reiterated Georgia's openness to discussions about the law. "If anyone proves there's something harmful in this legislation, we're ready to address it and work with relevant structures of the Council of Europe," Kobakhidze said. Berset's visit comes amid heightened political tensions in Georgia, marked by public polarization, high-level violence, and allegations of electoral misconduct. Addressing the situation, Berset emphasized: "Georgia is at a critical juncture. The country is filled with political tension, polarized public debate, and high levels of violence," adding that the country "deserves stability and democracy." "I am not here to legitimize elections; that is the responsibility of other competent institutions," Berset said, stressing that his primary goal was "to support Georgia and its people." He also said that resolving the political crisis depends on "upholding democracy, human rights, and the rule of law." During his visit, Berset held multiple meetings with government officials, including Kobakhidze, Georgian Dream party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, and opposition representatives. His visit is seen as an effort to mediate amid deep divisions within Georgian society. On December 19, the United States imposed sanctions on Georgia's Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri and Special Tasks Department Deputy Director Mirza Kezevadze under the Global Magnitsky Act. Hours earlier, Britain had sanctioned Gomelauri and four other senior officials. These sanctions reflect growing Western dissatisfaction with Georgia's political trajectory. Despite this, Kobakhidze assured that the government would "compensate any losses" incurred by sanctioned individuals and announced plans to award honors to the Interior Ministry's leadership following the presidential poll in February 2025 and inauguration of Georgia's next president, whose legitimacy is contested by the opposition and the current President Salome Zurabishvili. Georgia's "foreign agents" law has become a focal point in the country's strained relations with the West. The government's decision last month to delay European Union accession talks until 2028 also sparked protests in the country and criticism in the West. Moreover, economic hardship and the threat of backsliding from the Euro-Atlantic course have created a sense of urgency and fertile ground for unrest. International partners are apprehensive that Georgia's adoption of tactics similar to those used by Moscow could undermine its democratic progress and EU aspirations. Russia's top Islamic body has approved a religious edict that allows Muslim men to practice polygamy, which contradicts Russian law that prohibits individuals from entering multiple registered marriages simultaneously. The Council of Islamic Clerics of Russia's Spiritual Administration of Muslims (DUM), issued a fatwa on December 18 that allows a Muslim male to enter up to four marriages at the same time as long as certain conditions are met. Russia's Family Code explicitly prohibits a person from entering a registered marriage with someone who is already married. But it comes as the Russian authorities are grappling with a dire demographic situation amid a population decline exacerbated by emigration, low birthrates, and high mortality. While the full text of the fatwa has yet to be published, reports from Russian news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti revealed key provisions in it that allow Muslim men to enter into multiple religious marriages. The fatwa stipulates that a man can engage in polygamy only if he ensures equitable treatment for all wives. This includes equal material provision, separate housing for each wife, and spending equal time with them according to an agreed schedule. If a man cannot meet these requirements, he is prohibited from entering multiple religious marriages unless a bride "voluntarily waives" her rights to them. Other circumstances under which polygamy is permitted by the DUM include cases where the first wife cannot conceive due to health issues, lack of desire, or age; in situations of "sexual incompatibility" between spouses; or when a man wishes to provide social and financial support to a single woman and her children. The DUM has acknowledged that women in purely religious marriages lack legal protections, which critics argue may leave women in polygamous religious marriages vulnerable. The conditions for such a marriage, they say, place a significant burden of proof on religious institutions or individuals to ensure compliance. How these provisions align with Russia's secular legal framework and broader societal norms is yet to be determined. Russian officials have yet to comment on the fatwah. The government, however, has been looking for ways to spur Russians to have more children as the declining population ages, a problem worsened by the Kremlin's war in Ukraine, which experts say has seen hundreds of thousands of Russian men die. The Russian government has actively promoted policies to encourage women to have more children, with financial incentives for larger families and efforts to discourage abortions. The Russian Orthodox Church has been assisting the government to promote such policies. Ukraine launched a deadly missile attack on the Russian region of Kursk on December 20, just hours after Russia carried out a massive air assault on Kyiv during rush hour that killed one person and damaged a historic cathedral and other buildings in the capital, including six embassies. Russia's Investigative Committee said an unspecified number of people were killed in the attack on Kursk involving U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets on the town of Rylsk. According to Mash Telegram channel , at least five people have been killed, and 26 others injured. The attack has destroyed several critical pieces of social infrastructure, including a pedagogical college, a cultural center, and a school. The attack came shortly after Russian launched a barrage of missiles and drones at Kyiv and several other regions around Ukraine. The whole of Ukraine was under a general air-raid alert for several hours as Russia launched eight missiles -- including hypersonic Kinzhal missiles and Iskander/KN-23 ballistic missiles -- on Kyiv alone, Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, reported . Ukrainian cities and infrastructure continue to sustain regular Russian drone and missile strikes while outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian forces are facing difficulties in staving off Russia's increasingly rapid advance in the east. One person was killed by a strike in Kyiv's Holosiyiv district, while eyewitnesses reported several blasts in the city. The U.S. State Department condemned the missile attack, which damaged a building hosting several diplomatic missions. "Any attack against diplomats or diplomatic facilities anywhere is unacceptable," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on X. Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko separately reported that falling debris from downed Russian drones fell on four of the capital's districts -- Holosiyiv, Solomyansk, Shevchenkivsk, and Dniprovsk -- wounding at least two people. Kyiv restaurateur Nadir Ahundov voiced his outrage at the Russian strike that completely destroyed his restaurant. "These subhuman [Russians], to drop such bombs on residential buildings," Ahundov told RFE/RL. "I put my heart, my soul into [creating] this," he said, pointing to the trees outside the restaurnat. "These trees were small when I planted them. Look at them now -- those monsters knocked them down." In Kherson, a 60-year-old man was killed in a Russian strike and two others, including an 86-year-old man, were wounded, regional Governor Roman Mrochko reported on Telegram. Late on December 19, a Russian missile struck and badly damaged a two-story apartment building in the southeastern city of Kryviy Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's hometown, wounding five people, including two pulled alive from under the rubble, officials said. The attack also crippled the power supply in parts of the city of 600,000 and damaged a hospital, regional Governor Serhiy Lysak said. In a statement on Telegram, Russia's Defense Ministry claimed that the strikes on December 20 were "in response" to Ukrainian attacks on Russian targets using Western-supplied weapons. The latest wave of attacks from both sides came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested at his highly choreographed annual press conference a "high-tech duel" over Kyiv to prove that Russia's new hypersonic ballistic missile, dubbed Oreshnik, cannot be shot down by Western-supplied air defenses. "It would be interesting for us.... Let's conduct this experiment, this technological duel, and see the results. I think it would be useful for both us and the Americans," Putin said. In reaction, Zelenskiy posted a message on X calling Putin a "dumbass." "People are dying, and he thinks it’s 'interesting'... Dumbass," Zelenskiy wrote. The United States and the United Kingdom have announced sanctions on Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri and other senior officials in the ministry in response to their alleged role in a violent crackdown on journalists, opposition figures, and anti-government protesters. The United States also imposed sanctions on Mirza Kezevadze, deputy head of the special forces department in the Georgian Interior Ministry, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement on December 19. The Treasury Department said it was taking the action in coordination with Britain, which on December 19 imposed sanctions on Gomelauri and four other officials of the Interior Ministry for alleged human rights violations. A U.S. Treasury Department official said the reasons cited by the two governments for imposing the sanctions were similar. “In the wake of Georgia’s election, key officials in the Ministry of Internal Affairs engaged in a severe and vicious crackdown against their own people, including the intentional targeting of journalists and use of violence,” Acting Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith said in the statement. Any assets owned by Gomelauri and Kezevadze in U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, making their business operations more difficult, the Treasury Department statement said. In addition to Gomelauri, Britain imposed sanctions on deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, Sulkhan Tamazashvili, Zviad Kharazishvili, and Mileri Lagazauri, according to a U.K. government statement. Thousands demonstrated in Tbilisi again on the night of December 19. It was the 22nd consecutive day of protests against the government's decision to effectively halt the country's EU accession talks. The protesters have questioned the legitimacy of the victory of the Georgian Dream party in the election that took place at the end of October. The demonstrations intensified after Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that Tbilisi was suspending until 2028 talks with Brussels on Georgia's bid to join the European Union. “Security forces from the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Special Task Department responded to protests with disproportionate violence to suppress dissent and discourage protesters,” the U.S. Treasury Department’s statement said. Georgia's pro-Europe president, Salome Zurabishvili, has said the October 26 election was rigged with the help of Moscow and has vowed not to leave office even when her successor -- selected by what protesters say is an illegitimate parliament -- is scheduled to be sworn in on December 29. Zurabishvili has condemned the "brutal and disproportionate attacks on the Georgian people and media," comparing the crackdown to "Russian-style repression." Demonstrations have repeatedly been violently broken up, activists have been detained, and opposition politicians and media representatives attacked. Georgia received EU candidate status in December 2023, and according to surveys, a majority of Georgians support EU membership. Kobakhidze has refused to back down and threatened to punish political opponents, whom he accuses of being behind violence that has occurred at the protests. Georgia’s relations with Brussels soured with the adoption of a Russian-style "foreign agent" law that critics say threatens media and civil society groups by accusing them of "serving" outside powers.

If the Fed is cutting interest rates, why are mortgages and business loans costing more?The justices' decision, not expected for several months, could affect similar laws enacted by another 25 states and a range of other efforts to regulate the lives of transgender people, including which sports competitions they can join and which restrooms they can use. The case is being weighed by a conservative-dominated court after a presidential election in which Donald Trump and his allies promised to roll back protections for transgender people. The Biden administration's top Supreme Court lawyer warned a decision favorable to Tennessee also could be used to justify nationwide restrictions on transgender health care for minors. In arguments that lasted more than two hours, five of the six conservative justices voiced varying degrees of skepticism over arguments made by the administration and Chase Strangio, the ACLU lawyer for Tennessee families challenging the ban. Chief Justice John Roberts, who voted in the majority in a 2020 case in favor of transgender rights, questioned whether judges, rather than lawmakers, should weigh in on a question of regulating medical procedures, an area usually left to the states. "The Constitution leaves that question to the people's representatives, rather than to nine people, none of whom is a doctor," Roberts said in an exchange with Strangio. Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote the majority opinion in 2020, said nothing during the arguments. The court's three liberal justices seemed firmly on the side of the challengers, but it's not clear that any conservatives will go along. Justice Sonia Sotomayor pushed back against the assertion that the democratic process would be the best way to address objections to the law. She cited a history of laws discriminating against others, noting that transgender people make up less than 1% of the U.S. population, according to studies. There are an estimated 1.3 million adults and 300,000 adolescents ages 13 to 17 who identify as transgender, according the UCLA law school's Williams Institute. "Blacks were a much larger part of the population and it didn't protect them. It didn't protect women for whole centuries," Sotomayor said in an exchange with Tennessee Solicitor General Matt Rice. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she saw some troubling parallels between arguments made by Tennessee and those advanced by Virginia and rejected by a unanimous court, in the 1967 Loving decision that legalized interracial marriage nationwide. Quoting from that decision, Jackson noted that Virginia argued then that "the scientific evidence is substantially in doubt and, consequently, the court should defer to the wisdom of the state legislature." Justice Samuel Alito repeatedly pressed Strangio, the first openly transgender lawyer to argue at the nation's highest court, about whether transgender people should be legally designated as a group that's susceptible to discrimination. Strangio answered that being transgender does fit that legal definition, though he acknowledged under Alito's questioning there are a small number of people who de-transition. "So it's not an immutable characteristic, is it?" Alito said. Strangio did not retreat from his view, though he said the court did not have to decide the issue to resolve the case in his clients' favor. There were dueling rallies outside the court in the hours before the arguments. Speeches and music filled the air on the sidewalk below the court's marble steps. Advocates of the ban bore signs like "Champion God's Design" and "Kids Health Matters," while the other side proclaimed "Fight like a Mother for Trans Rights" and "Freedom to be Ourselves." Four years ago, the court ruled in favor of Aimee Stephens, who was fired by a Michigan funeral home after she informed its owner she was a transgender woman. The court held that transgender people, as well as gay and lesbian people, are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace. The Biden administration and the families and health care providers who challenged the Tennessee law urged the justices to apply the same sort of analysis that the majority, made up of liberal and conservative justices, embraced in the case four years ago when it found that "sex plays an unmistakable role" in employers' decisions to punish transgender people for traits and behavior they otherwise tolerate. The issue in the Tennessee case is whether the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same. Tennessee's law bans puberty blockers and hormone treatments for transgender minors, but allows the same drugs to be used for other purposes. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, called the law sex-based line drawing to ban the use of drugs that have been safely prescribed for decades and said the state "decided to completely override the views of the patients, the parents, the doctors." She contrasted the Tennessee law with one enacted by West Virginia, which set conditions for the health care for transgender minors, but stopped short of an outright ban. Gender-affirming care for youth is supported by every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association.Ammu R., who has been running a fruit shop on South Mada Street at Mylapore, eagerly awaits the Margazhi season more than any other. It is because during this time her stall gets a makeover, glowing brighter with colours of rangoli and kolam powders. “The rangoli powder will always be in stock at my shop, but the demand soars during Margazhi. We sell each box for ₹20,” says Ms. Ammu. Steady business She says the demand for the kolam colours has never waned, and year after year, the customers come steady. “A regular customer bought rangoli powders for ₹500,” she says, beaming. As she chats, more customers stream in, stacking their bags with boxes of the season’s must-have colours. “People from all over Chennai flock to Mylapore for the colours because there is usually a spot where there is a box of every shade possible,” Ms. Ammu says. “And it is not just locals. We see visitors from abroad curious about kolam powders and the rangoli colours,” she adds. A row of shops along the Mada Streets is brimming with hues and shades of kolam powders, a staple of the Margazhi season. On the corner of North Mada Street is R. Devi with her family; they juggle everything, from stringing flowers to selling sugar cane and small diyas throughout the year. But when it is December, the family mainly sells kolam powders, bringing large sacks from various markets in and around Chennai. Many tasks “I am usually up at 3 a.m., heading to the Koyambedu market for buying fresh flowers. After selling the flowers, I am already setting up kolam powders by noon,” says Devi, expertly scooping powder into smaller boxes from the sack. She is adept at putting up these different small stalls one after the other with the changing seasons. This has not only helped to build a loyal customer base but has also funded her children’s education. “My daughters and son are in good schools and colleges because of my working day and night,” she says. Her daughter, R. Sangeetha, who graduated recently with a degree in economics, pitches in while job-hunting. “My mother has been at this very spot for decades, like my grandmother. But my family wishes a big career for me,” she says. On the same street, Surekha S. from Pattinapakkam is equally busy, juggling flower garlands and rangoli powders, along with her mother. “Not only the classic reds and blues that are flying off the shelves, grey and not so primary colours are also becoming popular,” she says. Rain, a spoiler Surekha admits that rain sometimes impacts their stock, making the colours hard to come on those days. “This is the season we usually look out for, and from these sales, we save up for leaner months,” she says. Despite selling rangoli powders every year, Surekha chuckles that she is only a beginner, learning to join the dots of kolam through YouTube. “Kolam and rangoli are not just decoration. They are an art form and not as easy as they look,” she says. Published - December 24, 2024 11:02 pm IST Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp RedditMcDonald's Corp. stock underperforms Thursday when compared to competitors

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