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Mining’s old guard needs strong medicineShatel: Is Omaha big enough for two professional volleyball teams?The National Pension Commission, PenCom, on Thursday said it had issued over 38,000 Pension Clearance Certificates, PCC, so far to organisations, in 2024. The Director-General of PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran, said this at a workshop organised by PenCom for journalists covering the pension industry in Lagos. The theme of the workshop was, “Tech-Driven Transformation: Shaping the Pension Landscape”. In 2023, PenCom issued 30,293 PCCs to firms. PCC is an evidence of compliance with the Pension Act. it serves as a prerequisite for all suppliers, contractors, or consultants soliciting contract or business from Ministries, Departmentss, and Agencies, MDAs, of the Federal Government. PenCom commenced the issuance of PCC to organisations in 2012 in line with the Pension Reform Act, PRA, which mandates all organisations with at least three employees to participate in the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS. However, the certificate is valid up to Dec. 31 of the year it was obtained, irrespective of the date it was issued within the year. Organisations are, thus, required to apply for new PCC’s each year. Ms Oloworaran said that the commission also achieved a major milestone with the launch of the e-Application Portal for the PPC in October. She said that the initiative replaced the previous manual process, enabling companies to seamlessly apply for and receive PCCs online, significantly enhancing ease of doing business and ensuring compliance. The director-general said that the Pension Industry Shared Service Initiative is in an advanced stage of implementation. She said that the initiative would digitise pension contributions and remittances, ensuring seamless processing of contributions and resolving discrepancies caused by incomplete remittance details. “To further enhance contributors’ experiences, we have introduced a revised programme withdrawal template, simplifying access to voluntary contributions and revising the threshold for en-bloc payments in line with the new minimum wage. “These measures are designed to make retirement processes more efficient and user-centric. “But beyond policies and systems, what really excites me is the potential to transform lives,” she said. According to her, technology has become the backbone of transformation across all sectors, and the pension industry is no exception, hence PenCom has embraced the transformation wholeheartedly. Ms Oloworaran said that there are over 10.5 million contributors, while pension assets are in excess of N21.9 trillion as at October. She said that this progress demonstrated the strength of the CPS, though not without challenges. “Inflation, for instance, continues to erode the purchasing power of pensioners, and we are actively seeking innovative solutions to address this issue. “We also continue to face the persistent issue of delays in the payment of accrued rights. “Recently, N44 billion was approved under the 2024 budget appropriation to settle accrued pension rights for retirees from March to September 2023. “Moving forward, we are working with the Federal Government to put in place a sustainable solution that ensures that retirees receive their benefits promptly and without undue stress,” she said. She said that since assuming office, she and her team had been focused on strengthening compliance, enhancing service delivery, diversifying pension assets to optimising returns. She said that they had also been improving benefits and expanding coverage to include more Nigerians, especially those in the informal sector. Ms Oloworaran expressed passion over the micro-pension initiative, in particular, noting that it is the commission’s way of fostering financial inclusion, no matter how small an earning might be. She said that the commission intended to use technology to scale the micro-pension plan. “Technology plays a vital role in driving this inclusion from mobile enrollment to real-time account management,” she said. She said that PenCom planned to rebrand the micro-pension scheme, and also target onboarding not less than 20 million Nigerians in the informal sector. Ms Oloworaran acknowledged the role of the media as stakeholders in the success of the pension system. “As we integrate technology across every aspect of the pension industry, we are paving the way for a future where the CPS becomes more accessible, reliable, and sustainable. “However, this transformation cannot succeed without your unwavering support as media practitioners. “Your role in amplifying our initiatives and educating stakeholders across Nigeria is essential to achieving this vision,” she said. She described the ability of the media to inform, educate, and hold institutions accountable as invaluable. “Together, we can ensure that every Nigerian, including the most vulnerable, has access to a secure and dignified retirement,” she said. NAN
Former Illinois lawmaker granted immunity, compelled to testify in corruption trial of ex-Speaker Michael MadiganA Look at Potential Trudeau ReplacementsPARIS (CP-AP) — Canadian striker Jonathan David scored twice to go past the 100-goal career mark for Lille in a 3-1 win over Brest in Ligue 1 play Friday. The 24-year-old from Ottawa turned in a man-of-the-match performance at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, assisting on his team’s other goal as Lille extended its unbeaten run to 10 matches. David now has 17 in 23 games in all competitions this season and leads the French top tier with 11 goals. David, who joined Lille in August 2020 in a $46.5-million transfer from Belgium’s KAA Gent, went into the game with 99 goals in all competitions. He finished it with 101 goals in 206 appearances for Lille. He put Lille ahead from the penalty spot after nine minutes and set up a second just before halftime when he got away from his marker and sent in a cross that Iceland international winger Hákon Haraladsson knocked home . Ludovic Ajorque got one back for Brest early in the second half but David restored Lille’s two-goal cushion when he pounced on a loose ball and scored. David, who tops Canada’s men’s scoring list with 31 goals from 59 appearances, is out of contract after this season and has been linked with a move to several top European clubs. Lille has not lost to Brest at home since 1989. Lille joined Marseille and Monaco in second place on 26 points, seven behind leader Paris Saint-Germain, which played Auxerre later on Friday. ___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer The Associated PressGetting smart about car insurance can provide cost savings and peace of mind
A new movie about the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, is sparking debate among viewers and religious scholars alike. “Mary,” a Biblical epic streaming now on Netflix, tells the story of the Nativity through the eyes of Mary of Nazareth (Noa Cohen). The film follows Mary, Joseph (Ido Tako) and the newborn Jesus as they escape persecution from King Herod (Anthony Hopkins). “Mary is the most extraordinary woman ever to walk this earth, yet her story remains largely unknown beyond a few passages in the Bible,” director D.J. Caruso told Netflix’s “I embarked on this journey — to create a film that presents her in her most human and relatable form,” he continued, adding that his aim was “to portray Mary as someone we can all connect with, not just as a saint but as the young woman we all recognize before her sanctification.” Producer Mary Aloe said her intention was to make Mary and Joseph’s story “relatable,” speaking to , and tell a story of a “young girl becoming a woman in the midst of such divine expectations.” While some viewers are praising the film, which has been in Netflix’s Top 10 for much of the time since its debut on the streaming platform Dec. 6, others have objected to what they views as the movie’s Biblical and historical inaccuracies. Others have objected to the casting. Religious scholars have had mixed reactions to “Mary,” as they debate perceived inaccuracies in the portrayal. Christy Cobb, a assistant professor of Christianity in the department of religious studies at the University of Denver, says the field of Biblical studies has been alight with discussions about the film. She first heard about “Mary” through a post on Facebook — “a rant post,” she says. “Biblical scholars are hearing about these movies, and then we get excited, and then when we watch it, we’re like, ‘Oh, this isn’t depicting Biblical stories as accurately or historical moments as accurately as we hope that they would be,’” she says. There’s “very little” about Mary in the Bible, Cobb says. Aspects of Mary’s character in the movie are based on passages of the New Testament (the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke) and an early Christian text called the Proto Gospel of James. Filmmakers took creative liberties with Mary's depiction, Cobb says. Cobb appreciated that the film's Mary is more “fiery and rebellious” than commonly depicted. “I like that we’re depicting Mary as this full character with some agency, courage and her fears at the surface,” she says. But other historical inaccuracies stood out. The movie places modern conservative family values onto the Holy Family in a way that is “not supported by the text” or by historical context, Cobb, who is working on a book about early Christian families, says. “The Holy Family was depicted (in the movie) as a nuclear family. Joseph is immediately supportive of Mary and will protect Mary at all costs,” she says. The Bible, however, says that . Families also “looked quite different” in that era than they do today, Cobb says. Divorces were common and there would have been more people living in the household than depicted in “Mary.” “In the Bible, all sorts of families are represented, not just one view of a family system,” she says. The result, Cobb says, is “we’re having the the debate about what a Christian family (should) look like, superimposed upon this film.” Producer Mary Aloe, speaking to Christian Post, said that script approval came from “a range of religious leaders” to “ensure authenticity.” However, only one person, Adam W. Schindler, is listed as a Biblical consultant on IMDB. Schindler is a pastor and the chief digital author of the conservative nonprofit think tank America First Policy Institute, founded by two former advisors to president Donald Trump. The movie is funded, in part, by megachurch pastor Joel n, per . TODAY.com has reached out to Aloe Entertainment, Schindler and Caruso for comment about script consultants. Other aspects of the movie — including Mary’s more down-to-earth characterization — are sparking debate for straying from doctrine. Some Catholic commentators have objected to the depiction of Mary’s labor pains during the birth of Jesus, because showing Mary suffering during childbirth “does not comport with Catholic teaching,” Joseph Pronechen wrote in a review for the . “From the beginning, the Fathers and doctors of the Church, including Sts. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, have taught that Mary alone would be exempt from such pains as a sign of her unique holiness,” he sayss in his review. “She alone had no original sin.” Caruso addressed his choice to show Mary in pain during labor in a recent interview with . “Regarding the labor pains: That’s about presenting Mary in a human way, acknowledging that she had apprehensions,” he said. “I think something like a third of women died in childbirth in antiquity.” Nathanael Andrade, a chair and professor of history at Binghamton University, who has written a forthcoming book about the crucifixion of Jesus, also pointed out a “serious problem” for movies like “Mary” and others that portray the life of Jesus. “The often portray everyone in ancient Jewish society that did not support Jesus as nurturing base or corrupt motivations. Such films run a serious risk of feeding pernicious anti-Semitic attitudes,” he said in an email statement to TODAY.com. “Mary” ruffled feathers outside of the religious community. Some people have objected to the casting of Noa Cohen, a Jewish Israeli actor, as Mary. Several other actors in the movie, including Ido Tako, who plays Joseph, and Keren Tzur, who plays Elizabeth, are also Israeli. The real Mary was believed to be a Jewish woman from Nazareth, Galilee. At the time of Mary’s birth, Galilee was a region in ancient Palestine. Today, in northern Israel. Online, some viewers believe Mary should have been portrayed by an Arab Palestinian actor in the new movie, pointing to modern conflicts in the region. Others defended the casting of a Jewish actor to play Mary. Caruso spoke to the casting decision in an interview with . “ It was important to us that Mary, along with most of our primary cast, be selected from Israel to ensure authenticity,” he said. Speaking to , Caruso said it was his “goal” to find an actor “from the region where Mary was born to play her.” “I felt like if we could find a great young Jewish actress, that would be amazing,” he told Netflix’s Tudum. “I just know that Noa did an amazing job. She’s a fantastic actress. She’s got this grace and beauty, and at the same time, she’s accessible. I’m so proud of her performance, and I think it should be celebrated. It has nothing to do with politics,” he said. “The idea of the movie is to spread love, and art is hopefully a uniter,” he added. “It’s not supposed to be something that separates anybody.” Lindsay Lowe has been a regular contributor to TODAY.com since 2016, covering pop culture, style, home and other lifestyle topics. She is also working on her first novel, a domestic drama set in rural Regency England.
Stock market today: Wall Street stabilizes after Wednesday's sell-off
“You see, it’s easy to give democracy lip service when it delivers the outcomes we want. It’s when we don’t get what we want that our commitment to democracy is tested,” Obama said as he keynoted the third annual Obama Foundation Democracy Forum at a South Loop hotel. “And at this moment in history, when core democratic principles seem to be continuously under attack, when too many people around the world have become cynical and disengaged, now is precisely the time to ask ourselves tough questions about how we can build our democracies and make them work in meaningful and practical ways for ordinary people,” he said. During his speech, Obama did not mention Trump by name, his Republican successor in the 2016 election who retook the White House by defeating Vice President Kamala Harris on Nov. 5. And Obama’s talk was a far cry from the partisan attacks he leveled against Trump at the Democratic National Convention, the last time Obama was in Chicago for a public speaking engagement. At the convention in August, Obama ridiculed Trump and warned that his returning to the White House would lead to “four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos.” But on Thursday, it was Obama the lecturer who spoke, echoing the forum’s theme of “pluralism” and calling for people to engage with others from differing viewpoints and backgrounds in order to help maintain democracy. During his speech, Obama acknowledged that in previewing to friends the forum’s planned subject matter he “got more than a few groans and eye rolls” since “as far as they were concerned, the election proved that democracy is pretty far down on people’s priorities.” “But as a citizen and part of a foundation that believes deeply in the promise of democracy — not only to recognize the dignity and the worth of every individual but to produce free and fair and more just societies — I cannot think of a better time to talk about it,” he said. “This idea that each of us has to show a level of forbearance toward those who don’t look or think or pray like us, that’s at the heart of democracy,” he said. “But it’s especially hard in big, multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-religious countries like the United States.” Obama noted that in America in the decades after World War II “democracy seemed to run relatively smoothly with frequent cooperation across party lines and what felt like a broad consensus about how interests were shared (and) differences should be settled.” “The biggest reason that American pluralism seemed to be working so well may have to do with what was left out,” he said, noting that even in 2004 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate he was its only Black member. “It’s fair to say that when everyone in Washington looked the same and shared the same experiences ... cutting deals and getting along was a whole lot simpler.” But starting with the rise of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, “historically marginalized Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, women, gays and lesbians, disabled Americans demanded a seat at the table,” Obama said. “Not only did they insist on a fair share of government direct resources, but they brought with them new issues, more than their unique experiences, that could not just be resolved by giving them a bigger slice of the pie.” “In other words,” he said, “politics was not just a fight about tax rates or roads anymore. It was about more fundamental issues that went to the core of our being — how we expected society to structure itself.” Those issues, however, also opened the door to “politicians and party leaders and interest groups (who) take a maximalist position on almost every issue,” Obama said. “Every election becomes an act of mortal combat, which political opponents are enemies to be vanquished. Compromise is viewed as betrayal and total victory is the only acceptable outcome,” he said. “But since total victory is impossible in a country politically split down the middle, the result is a doom loop — gridlock, greater polarization, wilder rhetoric and a deepening conviction among partisans that the other side is breaking the rules and has rigged the game to tip it in their favor.” Obama, a former senior lecturer of constitutional law at the University of Chicago, has spoken frequently in his post-presidency of a need to restore civility and the need for compromise despite the nation’s political divisions. His comments Thursday took on an added dimension in the post-election climate given the history of Trump’s first term and the promises the president-elect made throughout the campaign. “I am convinced that if we want democracy, as we understand it, to survive, then we’re all going to have to work toward a renewed commitment to pluralist principles,” he said, adding that “it’s important to look for allies in unlikely places,” not “assume that people on the other side have monolithic views” and believe that they “may share our beliefs about sticking to the rules, observing norms.” The alternative is “an increasing willingness on the part of politicians and their followers to violate democratic norms, to do anything they can to get their way, to use the power of the state to target critics and journalists and political rivals and to even resort to violence in order to gain and hold onto power,” he said. “In those circumstances, pluralism does not call for us to just stand back and save our breath,” Obama said. “In those circumstances, a line has been crossed and we have to stand firm and speak out and organize and mobilize as forcefully as we can.” But, in nodding to the fact that such change can’t happen quickly, he also called a restoration of “habits and practices that so often we’ve lost, learning to trust each other,” is “a generational project.”AP News Summary at 2:05 p.m. EST
Short-rested Chiefs, Steelers gear up for Christmas Day clash
