LYNCHBURG, Va. — BWX Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: BWXT) is pleased to announce an award from the U.S. Department of Energy for cleanup operations at the West Valley Demonstration Project in West Valley, New York. The Phase 1B contract was awarded to West Valley Cleanup Alliance, LLC (WVCA), which is a joint venture led by BWXT Technical Services Group, Inc. and includes Jacobs Technology, Inc. and Geosyntec Consultants, Inc. WVCA also includes teaming subcontractors Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. and North Wind Portage, Inc. The IDIQ contract has a 10-year ordering period with a maximum value of up to $3.0 billion that can be performed for up to 15 years. Under the contract, WVCA will continue the current cleanup mission to include, but not be limited to, the demolition of remaining near- and below-grade components of the main plant process building; additional facility deactivation and demolition; contaminated soils remediation and disposition; waste management and legacy waste disposition; safeguards and security; environmental monitoring; surveillance and maintenance; and program support activities. “BWXT has played an important role in D&D at West Valley since August 2011 as a member of the current cleanup contractor. Having personally worked at the site several years ago, I’m especially pleased to continue our collaboration with the customer and the community on this important effort,” said Heatherly Dukes, president of BWXT Technical Services Group. “While we have made significant progress, there remains more to do under this phase of the project, and we’re looking forward to continuing the successful cleanup in the years to come.” The West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) is an approximately 150-acre area located 35 miles south of Buffalo, New York. The site is owned by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and is home to the only commercial spent nuclear fuel reprocessing facility to operate in the United States. Operating from 1963 to 1972, the site processed 640 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel and generated over 600,000 gallons of liquid high-level waste. In 1980, Congress passed the WVDP Act, which required the Department of Energy to conduct a high-level waste management demonstration project at the site and transport it to a federal repository for disposal. Suzy Sterner Chief Corporate Affairs Officer 202-428-6905 Chase Jacobson Vice President, Investor Relations 980.365.4300NHL Predictions Canadian Edition Vancouver Canucks at Ottawa Senators November 23rd

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Buried among Florida's manicured golf courses and sprawling suburbs are the artifacts of its slave-holding past: the long-lost cemeteries of enslaved people, the statues of Confederate soldiers that still stand watch over town squares, the old plantations turned into modern subdivisions that bear the same name. But many students aren't learning that kind of Black history in Florida classrooms. In an old wooden bungalow in Delray Beach, Charlene Farrington and her staff gather groups of teenagers on Saturday mornings to teach them lessons she worries that public schools won't provide. They talk about South Florida's Caribbean roots, the state's dark history of lynchings , how segregation still shapes the landscape and how grassroots activists mobilized the Civil Rights Movement to upend generations of oppression. “You need to know how it happened before so you can decide how you want it to happen again," she told her students as they sat as their desks, the morning light illuminating historic photographs on the walls. Florida students are giving up their Saturday mornings to learn about African American history at the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum in Delray Beach and in similar programs at community centers across the state. Many are supported by Black churches, which for generations have helped forge the cultural and political identity of their parishioners. Since Faith in Florida developed its own Black history toolkit last year, more than 400 congregations have pledged to teach the lessons, the advocacy group says. Florida has required public schools to teach African American history for the past 30 years, but many families no longer trust the state's education system to adequately address the subject. By the state’s own metrics, just a dozen Florida school districts have demonstrated excellence at teaching Black history, by providing evidence that they are incorporating the content into lessons throughout the school year and getting buy-in from the school board and community partners. School district officials across Florida told The Associated Press that they are still following the state mandate to teach about the experience of enslavement, abolition and the "vital contributions of African Americans to build and strengthen American society.” But a common complaint from students and parents is that the instruction seems limited to heroic figures such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks and rarely extends beyond each February's Black History Month . When Sulaya Williams' eldest child started school, she couldn't find the comprehensive instruction she wanted for him in their area. So in 2016, she launched her own organization to teach Black history in community settings. “We wanted to make sure that our children knew our stories, to be able to pass down to their children," Williams said. Williams now has a contract to teach Saturday school at a public library in Fort Lauderdale, and her 12-year-old daughter Addah Gordon invites her classmates to join her. “It feels like I’m really learning my culture. Like I’m learning what my ancestors did,” Addah said. “And most people don’t know what they did.” Black history mandate came at time of atonement State lawmakers unanimously approved the African American history requirement in 1994 at a time of atonement over Florida's history. Historians commissioned by the state had just published an official report on the deadly attack on the town of Rosewood in 1923, when a white mob razed the majority-Black community and drove out its residents. When the Florida Legislature approved financial compensation for Rosewood's survivors and descendants in 1994, it was seen as a national model for reparations . “There was a moment of enlightenment in Florida, those decades ago. There really was," said Marvin Dunn, who has authored multiple books on Black Floridians. “But that was short-lived.” Three decades later, the teaching of African American history remains inconsistent across Florida classrooms, inadequate in the eyes of some advocates, and is under fire by the administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has championed efforts to restrict how race , history and discrimination can be talked about in the state’s public schools . DeSantis has led attacks on “wokeness” in education that rallied conservatives nationwide, including President-elect Donald Trump . In 2022, the governor signed a law restricting certain race-based conversations in schools and businesses and prohibits teaching that members of one ethnic group should feel guilt or bear responsibility for actions taken by previous generations. Last year, DeSantis’ administration blocked a new Advanced Placement course on African American Studies from being taught in Florida, saying it violates state law and is historically inaccurate. A spokesperson for the College Board, which oversees Advanced Placement courses, told the AP they are not aware of any public schools in Florida currently offering the African American Studies class. It's also not listed in the state's current course directory. Representatives for the Florida Department of Education and the state's African American History Task Force did not respond to The AP's requests for comment. “People who are interested in advancing African diaspora history can’t rely on schools to do that,” said Tameka Bradley Hobbs, manager of Broward County's African-American Research Library and Cultural Center. "I think it’s even more clear now that there needs to be a level of self-reliance and self-determination when it comes to passing on the history and heritage of our ancestors.” Most Florida schools don't offer Black history classes Last year, only 30 of Florida's 67 traditional school districts offered at least one standalone course on African American history or humanities, according to state data. While not required by state law, having a dedicated Black history class is a measure of how districts are following the state mandate. Florida's large urban districts are far more likely to offer the classes, compared to small rural districts, some of which have fewer than 2,000 students. Even in districts that have staff dedicated to teaching Black history, some teachers are afraid of violating state law, according to Brian Knowles, who oversees African American, Holocaust and Latino studies for the Palm Beach County school district. “There’s so many other districts and so many kids that we’re missing because we’re tiptoeing around what is essentially American history,” Knowles said. Frustration over the restrictions that teachers face pushed Renee O'Connor to take a sabbatical last year from her job teaching Black history at Miami Norland Senior High School in the majority-Black city of Miami Gardens. Now, she is back in the classroom, but she also has been helping community groups develop their own Black history programs outside of the public school system. “I wish, obviously, all kids were able to take an African American history class,” O'Connor said, “but you have to pivot if it’s not happening in schools.” Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!Google seemed to have a long-term plan for its tablets . Recent reports even talked about the Pixel Tablet 3 coming in 2026. However, industry sources revealed that the company has canceled the development of the Pixel Tablet 2 and its successors. That said, a new report reveals details about the key hardware improvements that the Google Pixel Tablet 2 would have brought. Leaked technical details of the canceled Google Pixel Tablet 2 Previous leaks had revealed that the Google Pixel Tablet 2 would be powered by the Tensor G4 chip. The latest report from Android Authority confirms this, revealing that the Tensor G4 chip would have been slightly weaker. The company would have used an IPoP (Integrated Package on Package) instead of FOPLP (Fan-Out Panel Level Packaging) packaging. This translates into cheaper hardware, but thicker and with worse thermal management. The chip could make sense in a tablet, whose large surface area allows it to dissipate heat much better than a phone. However, leaks have revealed that Google will use the SoC in the Pixel 9a as well. Despite not being the most powerful on the market, the Tensor G4 would have been a notable improvement over the Tensor G2 of the original Pixel Tablet . The Pixel Tablet 2—codenamed “kiyomi”—would also have had a 5G modem. According to the source, Google planned to implement the Exynos 5400 modem of the Pixel 9 series. However, the tablet would not support satellite telecommunications. The presence of a modem would also have enabled GPS support in the variant with cellular connectivity. Thread radio and improved display Like the Pixel 9 series and the Google TV Streamer, the Pixel Tablet 2 would have integrated a Thread radio . Thread is a protocol that seeks to improve the user experience of smart home device ecosystems. Google promoted its first tablet with a big focus on its smart display capabilities. The company saw it as a hub from which to control all your IoT products. So, it makes more sense to integrate the radio into the tablet than in the Pixel 9 lineup, which Thread hardware utility is currently still zero. Regarding the screen, the Pixel Tablet 2 would keep the same technology, size, and resolution. That is, it would have brought a 10.95-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 px. However, the company planned to increase the refresh rate to 120 Hz (previously 60 Hz) and the brightness to 550 nits (previously 500 nits). Better front and rear cameras Lastly, the leak with the details of the Pixel Tablet 2 reveals that Google had plans to improve the cameras. The device would have included a Samsung S5K3K1 front camera (1/3.94′′, 10MP), the same as the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Plus, the device would have upgraded the rear camera to a Samsung S5K3J1 sensor (1/3′′, 11MP, autofocus). Remember that the rear camera of the original Pixel Tablet (Sony IMX355, 1/4′′ 8MP) doesn’t even support autofocus.Trump names Andrew Ferguson as head of Federal Trade Commission to replace Lina KhanBAKU: Countries agreed on Sunday (Nov 24) to an annual finance target of US$300 billion to help poorer countries deal with the impacts of climate change, with rich countries leading the payments, according to a hard-fought deal clinched at the COP29 conference in Baku . The new goal is intended to replace developed countries' previous commitment to provide US $100 billion per year in climate finance for poorer nations by 2020. That goal was met two years late, in 2022, and expires in 2025. The agreement was criticised by developing nations, who called it insufficient, but United Nations climate chief Simon Steill hailed it as an insurance policy for humanity. "It has been a difficult journey, but we've delivered a deal," Steill said after the agreement was adopted. "This deal will keep the clean energy boom growing and protect billions of lives. It will help all countries to share in the huge benefits of bold climate action: more jobs, stronger growth, cheaper and cleaner energy for all." "But like any insurance policy – it only works – if the premiums are paid in full, and on time." The COP29 climate conference in the Azerbaijan capital had been due to finish on Friday, but ran into overtime as negotiators from nearly 200 countries struggled to reach consensus on the climate funding plan for the next decade. At one point delegates from poor and small island nations walked out in frustration over what they called a lack of inclusion, worried that fossil fuel-producing countries were seeking to water down aspects of the deal. The summit cut to the heart of the debate over the financial responsibility of industrialised countries - whose historic use of fossil fuels has caused the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions - to compensate others for worsening damage wrought by climate change. It also laid bare divisions between wealthy governments constrained by tight domestic budgets and developing nations reeling from the costs of storms, floods and droughts. Countries also agreed Saturday evening on rules for a global market to buy and sell carbon credits that proponents say could mobilise billions more dollars into new projects to help fight global warming, from reforestation to deployment of clean energy technologies. Countries are seeking financing to deliver on the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels - beyond which catastrophic climate impacts could occur. The world is currently on track for as much as 3.1 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of this century, according to the 2024 U.N. Emissions Gap report, with global greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuels use continuing to rise. WHAT COUNTS AS DEVELOPED NATION? The roster of countries required to contribute - about two dozen industrialised countries, including the US, European nations and Canada - dates back to a list decided during UN climate talks in 1992. European governments have demanded others join them in paying in, including China, the world's second-biggest economy, and oil-rich Gulf states. The deal encourages developing countries to make contributions, but does not require them. The agreement also includes a broader goal of raising US$1.3 trillion in climate finance annually by 2035 - which would include funding from all public and private sources and which economists say matches the sum needed to address global warming. Securing the deal was a challenge from the start. Donald Trump's US presidential election victory this month has raised doubts among some negotiators that the world's largest economy would pay into any climate finance goal agreed in Baku. Trump, a Republican who takes office in January, has called climate change a hoax and promised to again remove the US from international climate cooperation. Western governments have seen global warming slip down the list of national priorities amid surging geopolitical tensions, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and expanding conflict in the Middle East, and rising inflation. The showdown over financing for developing countries comes in a year that scientists say is destined to be the hottest on record. Climate woes are stacking up in the wake of such extreme heat, with widespread flooding killing thousands across Africa, deadly landslides burying villages in Asia, and drought in South America shrinking rivers. Developed countries have not been spared. Torrential rain triggered floods in Valencia, Spain, last month that left more than 200 dead, and the US so far this year has registered 24 billion-dollar disasters - just four fewer than last year.

By MICHELLE L. PRICE and ROB GILLIES NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s recent dinner with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his visit to Paris for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral were not just exercises in policy and diplomacy. They were also prime trolling opportunities for Trump. Related Articles National Politics | Biden issues veto threat on bill expanding federal judiciary as partisan split emerges National Politics | Trump lawyers and aide hit with 10 additional felony charges in Wisconsin over 2020 fake electors National Politics | After withdrawing as attorney general nominee, Matt Gaetz lands a talk show on OANN television National Politics | What will happen to Social Security under Trump’s tax plan? National Politics | Republican-led states are rolling out plans that could aid Trump’s mass deportation effort Throughout his first term in the White House and during his campaign to return, Trump has spun out countless provocative, antagonizing and mocking statements. There were his belittling nicknames for political opponents, his impressions of other political figures and the plentiful memes he shared on social media. Now that’s he’s preparing to return to the Oval Office, Trump is back at it, and his trolling is attracting more attention — and eyerolls. On Sunday, Trump turned a photo of himself seated near a smiling first lady Jill Biden at the Notre Dame ceremony into a social media promo for his new perfume and cologne line, with the tag line, “A fragrance your enemies can’t resist!” The first lady’s office declined to comment. When Trudeau hastily flew to Florida to meet with Trump last month over the president-elect’s threat to impose a 25% tax on all Canadian products entering the U.S., the Republican tossed out the idea that Canada become the 51st U.S. state. The Canadians passed off the comment as a joke, but Trump has continued to play up the dig, including in a post Tuesday morning on his social media network referring to the prime minister as “Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada.” After decades as an entertainer and tabloid fixture, Trump has a flair for the provocative that is aimed at attracting attention and, in his most recent incarnation as a politician, mobilizing fans. He has long relished poking at his opponents, both to demean and minimize them and to delight supporters who share his irreverent comments and posts widely online and cheer for them in person. Trump, to the joy of his fans, first publicly needled Canada on his social media network a week ago when he posted an AI-generated image that showed him standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag next to him and the caption “Oh Canada!” After his latest post, Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Tuesday: “It sounds like we’re living in a episode of South Park.” Trudeau said earlier this week that when it comes to Trump, “his approach will often be to challenge people, to destabilize a negotiating partner, to offer uncertainty and even sometimes a bit of chaos into the well established hallways of democracies and institutions and one of the most important things for us to do is not to freak out, not to panic.” Even Thanksgiving dinner isn’t a trolling-free zone for Trump’s adversaries. On Thanksgiving Day, Trump posted a movie clip from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” with President Joe Biden and other Democrats’ faces superimposed on the characters in a spoof of the turkey-carving scene. The video shows Trump appearing to explode out of the turkey in a swirl of purple sparks, with the former president stiffly dancing to one of his favorite songs, Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” In his most recent presidential campaign, Trump mocked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, refusing to call his GOP primary opponent by his real name and instead dubbing him “Ron DeSanctimonious.” He added, for good measure, in a post on his Truth Social network: “I will never call Ron DeSanctimonious ‘Meatball’ Ron, as the Fake News is insisting I will.” As he campaigned against Biden, Trump taunted him in online posts and with comments and impressions at his rallies, deriding the president over his intellect, his walk, his golf game and even his beach body. After Vice President Kamala Harris took over Biden’s spot as the Democratic nominee, Trump repeatedly suggested she never worked at McDonalds while in college. Trump, true to form, turned his mocking into a spectacle by appearing at a Pennsylvania McDonalds in October, when he manned the fries station and held an impromptu news conference from the restaurant drive-thru. Trump’s team thinks people should get a sense of humor. “President Trump is a master at messaging and he’s always relatable to the average person, whereas many media members take themselves too seriously and have no concept of anything else other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome,” said Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director. “President Trump will Make America Great Again and we are getting back to a sense of optimism after a tumultuous four years.” Though both the Biden and Harris campaigns created and shared memes and launched other stunts to respond to Trump’s taunts, so far America’s neighbors to the north are not taking the bait. “I don’t think we should necessarily look on Truth Social for public policy,” Miller said. Gerald Butts, a former top adviser to Trudeau and a close friend, said Trump brought up the 51st state line to Trudeau repeatedly during Trump’s first term in office. “Oh God,” Butts said Tuesday, “At least a half dozen times.” “This is who he is and what he does. He’s trying to destabilize everybody and make people anxious,” Butts said. “He’s trying to get people on the defensive and anxious and therefore willing to do things they wouldn’t otherwise entertain if they had their wits about them. I don’t know why anybody is surprised by it.” Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.Falcons feeling the pressure at .500 as Cousins' interceptions put spotlight on downturn for offenseAssad’s regime on the brink of collapse as rebels surround Damascus

Syrian army command tells officers that Assad's rule has ended, officer saysOriginally appeared on E! Online Brandon Sklenar is showing his support for his castmate. > Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are In a lengthy document filed last week with the California Civil Rights Department and obtained by E! News , Blake Lively accused her " It Ends With Us " costar and director Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment and spearheading a smear campaign as a retaliation for raising concerns about his behavior on set of the film. Now, Sklenar — who starred as Atlas Corrigan in the Colleen Hoover film adaptation alongside Lively (who played protagonist Lily Bloom) and Baldoni (Ryle Kincaid) — is breaking his silence on the accusations. In a message posted to his Instagram Story Dec. 23, the 1923 actor shared a link to a New York Times article that includes the entirety of Lively's legal complaint alongside a message, saying, "For the love of god read this." And to finish off his supportive note, Sklenar tagged Lively's social media handle and added a heart emoji next to it. PHOTOS It Ends With Us: Every Difference Between Book and Movie Sklenar isn't the only member of the "It Ends With Us" cast and crew to speak out on Lively's complaint, which accuses Badloni of sexually harassing her on the set of their film and also alleges that, after she raised her concerns about him to their production team, he retaliated against her by working with a crisis PR team to try to destroy her reputation . On the day the complaint was made public, Hoover — who, in addition to writing the "It Ends With Us" book series, served as an executive producer for the movie — shared her own message heartwarming message for Blake . "You have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met," the author wrote on her Instagram Stories Dec. 21, alongside a photo of herself and the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" actress hugging in a theater. "Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt." Additionally, Gwyneth Paltrow , Lively's "A Simple Favor" director Paul Feig and her "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" costars Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera and Alexis Bleidel have all publicly showed support for her . As for Baldoni, he has denied all the accusations against him in a Dec. 21 statement made to The New York Times through his attorney Bryan Freedman, who described the complaint as "categorically false" and "yet another desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film."

Zionist forces are seeking a return to a time when anti-war voices were violently suppressed. Recently, genocide lobbyists stirred up a storm over a planned vigil in Mississauga to commemorate “resistance leaders” “fighting for Palestinian freedom”. The poster for the Canadian Defenders 4 Human Rights event had an image of deceased Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Genocide lobbyists demanded Toronto’s most populous suburb suppress the planned rally. In response to the pressure, Mayor Carolyn Parrish said she wouldn’t shutter Charter protected speech. Parrish added, “ I just want to point out, and I’m not being facetious, Nelson Mandela was declared a terrorist by the United States of America until the year 2008. Your terrorist and somebody else’s terrorist may be two different things.” Those promoting Benjamin Netanyahu’s holocaust in Gaza lost it. How dare Parrish compare the Hamas leader to Nelson Mandela. But Mandla Mandela, Nelson’s grandson and sitting member of South Africa’s legislature, has made similar comparisons . Canadian media often described Mandela as a terrorist. In 2001 Conservative MP Rob Anders called the then South African President a “communist and a terrorist” and heckled him in the House of Commons. Anders repeated the “terrorist” claim upon Mandela’s 2013 death. Unlike Mississauga’s mayor, politicians and police across the country are increasingly seeking to suppress those opposing Canada’s assistance to genocide. Ten days ago the Ottawa police violently arrested four protesters during a walking tour of arms production facilities. They followed that repression with a series of arbitrary arrests this weekend. Ottawa family physician Xipeng Ge labelled “ the police brutality and repression” on Sunday as “a display of fascist violence.” In a more egregious example of state overreach, the Vancouver Police Department’s Emergency Response Team raided the home of long-time anti-apartheid activist Charlotte Kates. On November 14 heavily armed officers showed up at 9 a.m. with an armored vehicle and fired flashbangs as part of entering her east Vancouver house. “ I saw what looked like a tank with guys in tactical gear outside aiming a tear gas gun at the house”, a neighbour told Global News. “I feel scared, just because I don’t know what is going on.” Kates was arrested in the raid and subsequently released. No charges were even laid in this instance of police overreach. Kates is the international coordinator of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, which the Canadian government recently designated a terror entity despite no one even claiming they’ve been involved in violence. A Canadian BDS Coalition statement correctly asserted, “ The Trudeau Government Breaches the Constitution in Placing the Samidoun Prisoners Network on the Terrorist List.” The 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms enshrines the principle of habeas corpus yet the terror list subverts a group’s ability to defend itself legally. The Canadian BDS Coalition statement notes, “By virtue of the terrorist listing, an organization or even an individual’s assets can be frozen; any use of property owned or controlled by the listed organization becomes a crime. Moreover, there is the ‘black-balling’ of the organization, and anyone accused of being associated with it can be accused of being a ‘terrorist,’ regardless of their personal actions, without ever laying criminal charges or proving guilt in court.” In a National Post column headlined “ Samidoun has been banned. Now, it’s time to stamp it out” Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs representative Mark Freiman and Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism head Mark Sandler are now calling on the government to revoke the citizenship of Kates and her husband Khaled Barakat. The suppression of anti-genocide protests fits a pattern of the Canadian state and imperialist forces cracking down on anti-war voices. At the beginning of World War I the federal government adopted the War Measures Act, which granted the state sweeping powers to imprison almost anyone considered a security threat. Hundreds of pacifists and antiwar activists were arrested while the Industrial Workers of the World and a dozen other revolutionary organizations were banned. Labour organizer Ginger Goodwin was killed on Vancouver Island for opposing the war while in spring 1918 four opponents of conscription were killed by security forces in Québec City. During WWII hundreds of dissidents and communists, including the president of the Canadian Seamen’s Union and Mayor of Montréal, were interned under the War Measures Act. Dozens of organizations and publications were also banned and like WWI official censorship was imposed. During the Korean war Canadian Peace Congress chairman James Endicott was bitterly denounced with external minister Lester Pearson calling his college friend a “ red stooge ” and “bait on the end of a Red hook.” Pearson even called for individuals to destroy the Peace Congress from the inside. Government attacks spurred media and public hostility. A number of venues refused to rent their space to the Peace Congress and Endicott’s Toronto home was firebombed during a large Peace Congress meeting. Whether one agrees with everything Samidoun or Charlotte Kates has to say about Israel, the government criminalizing a Palestinian prisoner solidarity network and the police targeting its coordinator should be troubling. It reflects a regression to a far more repressive time. And it’s being pushed by supporters of a foreign government. All those who believe in our Charter of Rights and Freedom should be concerned. Support rabble today! We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year. rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today. Nick Seebruch, editor Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet. Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today. Nick Seebruch, editor Support rabble.ca

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan expresses excitement to be back in MalaysiaBy JOSH BOAK WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday he was “stupid” not to put his own name on pandemic relief checks in 2021, noting that Donald Trump had done so in 2020 and likely got credit for helping people out through this simple, effective act of branding. Biden did the second-guessing as he delivered a speech at the Brookings Institution defending his economic record and challenging Trump to preserve Democratic policy ideas when he returns to the White House next month. Related Articles National Politics | Trump names Andrew Ferguson as head of Federal Trade Commission to replace Lina Khan National Politics | Donald Trump is returning to the world stage. So is his trolling National Politics | Biden issues veto threat on bill expanding federal judiciary as partisan split emerges National Politics | Trump lawyers and aide hit with 10 additional felony charges in Wisconsin over 2020 fake electors National Politics | After withdrawing as attorney general nominee, Matt Gaetz lands a talk show on OANN television As Biden focused on his legacy with his term ending, he suggested Trump should keep the Democrats’ momentum going and ignore the policies of his allies. The president laid out favorable recent economic data but acknowledged his rare public regret that he had not been more self-promotional in advertising the financial support provided by his administration as the country emerged from the pandemic. “I signed the American Rescue Plan, the most significant economic recovery package in our history, and also learned something from Donald Trump,” Biden said at the Washington-based think tank. “He signed checks for people for 7,400 bucks ... and I didn’t. Stupid.” The decision by the former reality TV star and real estate developer to add his name to the checks sent by the U.S. Treasury to millions of Americans struggling during the coronavirus marked the first time a president’s name appeared on any IRS payments. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris , who replaced him as the Democratic nominee , largely failed to convince the American public of the strength of the economy. The addition of 16 million jobs, funding for infrastructure, new factories and investments in renewable energy were not enough to overcome public exhaustion over inflation, which spiked in 2022 and left many households coping with elevated grocery, gasoline and housing costs. More than 6 in 10 voters in November’s election described the economy as “poor” or “not so good,” according to AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of the electorate. Trump won nearly 7 in 10 of the voters who felt the economy was in bad shape, paving the way for a second term as president after his 2020 loss to Biden. Biden used his speech to argue that Trump was inheriting a strong economy that is the envy of the world. The inflation rate fell without a recession that many economists had viewed as inevitable, while the unemployment rate is a healthy 4.2% and applications to start new businesses are at record levels. Biden called the numbers under his watch “a new set of benchmarks to measure against the next four years.” “President-elect Trump is receiving the strongest economy in modern history,” said Biden, who warned that Trump’s planned tax cuts could lead to massive deficits or deep spending cuts. He also said that Trump’s promise of broad tariffs on foreign imports would be a mistake, part of a broader push Tuesday by the administration to warn against Trump’s threatened action. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also issued a word of caution about them at a summit of The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council. “I think the imposition of broad based tariffs, at least of the type that have been discussed, almost all economists agree this would raise prices on American consumers,” she said. Biden was also critical of Trump allies who have pushed Project 2025 , a policy blueprint from the Heritage Foundation that calls for a complete overhaul of the federal government. Trump has disavowed participation in it, though parts were written by his allies and overlap with his stated views on economics, immigration, education policy and civil rights. “I pray to God the president-elect throws away Project 2025,” Biden said. “I think it would be an economic disaster.” Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.The combination of London-based media and data company Informa PLC’s Informa Tech and Massachusetts-based TechTarget became official Monday, creating a B2B data giant. The proposed deal was announced early in 2024 and recently won approval from TechTarget shareholders. Informa TechTarget will trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol TTGT. Informa PLC contributed $350 million in cash and the Informa Tech Digital Businesses into Informa TechTarget, in exchange for a 57% equity stake in the business. The $350 million in cash, or approximately $11.70 per outstanding TechTarget share, will be paid to existing TechTarget shareholders, who also retain a 43% equity stake in the combined company. Gary Nugent, former CEO of Informa Tech, will serve as the Informa TechTarget CEO. Informa TechTarget will offer B2B marketers in the technology sector a broad range of products and capabilities. Perhaps most importantly, the company will be awash in first-party data from people researching business technology purchases across a sizable portfolio of web properties, analyst firms and digital platforms. How did we get here? Many of the B2B tech media brands that fall under Informa TechTarget are well-known to B2B marketers. Many of the brands go back decades and are no strangers to mergers and acquisitions. Both Informa Tech and TechTarget used strategic acquisitions to build their portfolios of properties over the years. The Informa Tech portfolio included media brands like Industry Dive, Information Week, Light Reading and AI Business; research firms Omdia and Canalys; and lead generation platform NetLine. TechTarget’s portfolio included more than 150 websites under the TechTarget umbrella; research firm Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG); and virtual events and video platform BrightTALK. As the value of audience data increased and B2B marketers in the tech sector, in particular, emphasized buyer intent data, both TechTarget and Informa Tech responded accordingly. TechTarget offered a buyer intent platform called Priority Engine that gives marketers access to data about prospects actively researching tech solutions. Informa Tech created IIRIS, a B2B customer data platform that collates, standardizes and analyzes all of the first-party data generated by its portfolio. First-party takes centerstage The impact of and the resulting thirst for first-party data is all over the this deal. One of the challenges many media organizations face when it comes to first-party data is scale: They can’t generate anything comparable to the volume of third-party data. First-party data and scale were both mentioned in a statement by Stephen A. Carter, Group Chief Executive at Informa, when the deal was proposed earlier this year. ”Today we significantly strengthen Informa’s position in the growing B2B digital services market, creating a platform to serve B2B customers at scale digitally, as we already do in live and on-demand B2B events,” Carter said. ”Over the last three years, Informa has built a proprietary first-party data platform, IIRIS, and expanded our position in the B2B Digital Services market. Now, through a majority shareholding in US-listed TechTarget, we are positioning this business firmly where the customers and the value are.” According to Informa, the total addressable market (TAM) of Informa TechTarget will expand customer reach by more than 10x. The new company will also be positioned to drive revenue and growth in new technology-enabled B2B markets. TechTarget’s CEO sees scale, content as advantages The combination of TechTarget and Informa Tech was about scale in a number of areas, said Mike Cotoia, the CEO of TechTarget when the deal was proposed. The size of the permission-based audience will, of course, be larger, but so will the company’s geographic footprint if the deal is approved. A combined company could better serve global marketing teams at enterprise vendors, for example. Cotoia said the combination provides scale for marketers trying to reach buyers in vertical markets.Business technology buyers increasingly sit in line-of-business (LOB) positions outside of centralized IT organizations. To reach these buyers, marketers need to work with media companies focused on vertical markets like healthcare, financial services and construction. TechTarget acquired Xtelligent Healthcare Media in 2021 to break into the healthcare vertical. The addition of Informa Tech’s Industry Dive properties includes coverage for more than 30 additional verticals. Like most B2B publishers, Cotoia said TechTarget serves two groups: The marketers who need to reach buyers and the tech buyers themselves. The B2B marketers, he said, are interested in how they can activate intent data and find the fastest, most accurate path to the next deal. But they’re also trying to make their work easier. “B2B marketers want to do more with less. They’ve added leads, they’ve added data and they’ve added martech and sales tech solutions. Now they want to simplify it,” Cotoia said. “And they want better conversions.” On the buyers’ side of the equation, the combination of TechTarget and Informa Tech is about delivering high-quality content, according to Cotoia, because the way business technology buyers research and purchase changed significantly in the past decade. “Today’s tech buyer is a younger buyer who relies less on sales reps and more on trusted content and experts,” Cotoia said. “We’re making sure we provide the impressive content they’re looking for when they’re evaluating options and making critical decisions for their tech stack.” Cotoia expects content to remain central to the strategy going forward. “We’re a publisher at heart, as we understand the value of leading with trusted, smart content because that’s what our readers and today’s tech buyer refer to when it comes to making decisions,” Cotoia said. With an impressive collection of first-party data, vast content resources and an international footprint, a combined TechTarget and Informa Tech cuts an imposing figure on the B2B media playing field. How will the competition respond? Cotoia has a prediction: More M&A activity. “I think consolidation is really a trend that is going to keep going,” he said. Email: