These Sommeliers Went on a Bonkers Saga to Buy—and Sell—One of the World’s Most Infamous Wine CollectionsRIYADH: Saudi Arabia is a world leader when it comes to extracting energy sources from the ground, but it is the Kingdom’s drive to harness a power supply in the sky that is attracting attention. Favorable government policies, a shift to meeting energy demands through renewable power, and a reduced dependence on fossil fuels are all factors pushing forward the Kingdom’s solar industry. The ambitious target of Saudi Arabia’s National Renewable Energy Program sees the Kingdom aiming for a solar energy capacity of 40 gigawatts by 2030, promising significant opportunities for the market in the years to come. According to market research firm Mordor Intelligence, the Kingdom’s solar market is projected to achieve a compound annual growth rate of 51 percent between 2024 and 2029 as a host of facilities come online. However, challenges lie ahead with the rise of alternative clean energy sources like wind and the continued availability of fossil fuels potentially hindering solar energy market growth. According to Christopher Decker, partner in energy and natural resources at Oliver Wyman, India, Middle East and Africa, Saudi Arabia is at the forefront of innovative solar technologies aimed at maximizing energy efficiency and sustainability in the region. “One notable advancement is the Dumat Al-Jandal Concentrated Solar Power plant, which harnesses solar energy to heat liquid for thermal energy storage, enabling energy availability even when sunlight is not present,” he said. “Additionally, the Sakaka Solar Plant employs bifacial solar panels that take advantage of the reflectivity of the surrounding sand, significantly enhancing solar efficiency. To maintain optimal performance, projects like the Noor Energy 1 plant in NEOM have implemented waterless robotic cleaning technologies, which not only ensure high efficiency but also reduce operational costs,” Decker added. The Oliver Whyman official went on to note that the integration of smart grids and artificial intelligence technologies allows for the optimization of solar energy generation by predicting energy demand and forecasting weather patterns, thereby minimizing waste. “Lastly, the NEOM Green Hydrogen initiative exemplifies the use of solar power to produce green hydrogen and subsequently green ammonia, showcasing a commitment to sustainable energy solutions. Together, these technologies position Saudi Arabia as a leader in solar innovation, driving the transition toward a more sustainable energy future,” Decker said. Solar technologies globally have reached a high degree of maturity and the cost reductions are driven by the growing efficiency of solar cells as well as economies of scale. According to Adnan Merhaba, partner and energy and utilities practice lead at Arthur D. Little Middle East, these incremental innovations have also made their way into Saudi Arabia and some developers have proposed additional developments, such as bifacial solar cells, that can further enhance yields. “Saudi Arabia, a leader in water desalination technology, is also pioneering solar desalination to enhance sustainability. Furthermore, research institutes in KSA are investing in the next generation of higher efficiency solar cells such as tandem perovskite cells that can achieve a step change for efficiency gains,” Merhaba said. The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology is a prime example of the growing solar industry in Saudi Arabia. According to Stefaan De Wolf, professor of material science and engineering at the Physical Science and Engineering Division in the university, the institution is pioneering research and development in emerging photovoltaic technologies aimed at maximizing energy efficiency and sustainability. “One of the key innovations we are advancing is the combination of perovskite and silicon PV, which significantly enhances solar power efficiency beyond traditional technologies. This hybrid approach has the potential to achieve ultra-high efficiency solar cells for even harsh environmental conditions of Saudi Arabia – high temperatures and dust,” De Wolf said. “Additionally, we are exploring the development of bifacial solar panels, which can generate electricity from both sides, further improving energy yield. These innovations are designed to help Saudi Arabia not only maximize its solar energy potential but also contribute to the global advancement of sustainable energy solutions,” the professor added. From his side, Qiaoqiang Gan, professor of material science and engineering at the same division, shed light on the fact that industry players are actively seeking advanced thermal management technologies to reduce the operational temperatures of PV systems installed in the Kingdom. “This challenge is pressing for Middle Eastern countries due to the region’s high temperatures. Addressing this issue requires more reliable materials and devices on a microscopic level, as well as advanced thermal management strategies on an operational level,” Gan said. Shihab El-Borai, partner with Strategy& Middle East, noted that projects like the Sudair Solar PV exemplify Saudi Arabia’s commitment to cutting-edge technologies, incorporating bifacial panels and sun-tracking systems to maximize efficiency. “Saudi Arabia is leveraging world-class innovations in solar energy to not only produce electricity but to create a sustainable model for the entire region,” El-Borai said. “Companies like Mirai Solar are also making strides with multifunctional solar panels that harness diffused sunlight while providing variable shading. These innovations demonstrate Saudi Arabia’s ability to leverage cutting-edge technologies to reduce its carbon footprint and position itself as a global leader in solar energy,” he added. The growth of Saudi Arabia’s solar energy industry is vital for the nation’s economic diversification and is in line with the goals of Vision 2030. Through the enhancement of solar power infrastructure, Saudi Arabia is catalyzing the emergence of fresh sectors, enticing international investments, and cultivating a culture of innovation. “This growth not only supports local manufacturing and supply chains but also generates employment opportunities and enhances human capital development, positioning the Kingdom as a regional leader in renewable energy,” Decker from Oliver Wyman said. “In terms of energy security, solar power contributes to a resilient and diversified energy mix. By incorporating advanced solar technologies, energy storage, and smart grids, Saudi Arabia can enhance the flexibility and stability of its electricity grid,” he added. The Oliver Wyman partner continued to highlight that solar-powered initiatives, like green hydrogen production, ensure that the Kingdom adds an additional stream of energy exportation, tapping into new revenue streams while promoting environmental sustainability. “This strategic expansion strengthens Saudi Arabia’s energy capabilities for the future,” Decker concluded in that regard. Demand for power is ever increasing in the Kingdom, largely driven by economic and population growth as well as giga-scale developments across the country. “The wide deployment of solar projects can also prop up adjacent sectors such as battery storage, smart grid technologies and green hydrogen production. From an energy security perspective, burning less hydrocarbons for domestic use frees up more oil for export, enhancing revenues for investment in economic diversification and also supports the Kingdom achieve its sustainability goals,” he added. On KAUST’s behalf, De Wolf explained that by investing in renewable energy, particularly solar power, the Kingdom is reducing its dependence on fossil fuels and building a more sustainable and resilient economy. As for Gan, he indicated that given its geographical location, Saudi Arabia has an abundance of solar energy, surpassing that of many developed countries – an evident advantage in terms of available sunlight as an energy source. “However, high temperatures present a significant challenge, leading to overheating in semiconductor solar cells. To effectively implement PV systems in Saudi Arabia, it is essential to develop specialized solutions that fully account for the unique local weather and environmental conditions. Such solutions must aim to maximize the utilization of abundant solar energy while mitigating the adverse impacts on PV performance,” the professor said. He further noted that developing these specialized solutions will require further research and development, presenting both opportunities and challenges in advancing energy security goals. El-Borai from PwC noted that by shifting toward renewables, the Kingdom is securing a more stable and sustainable energy supply, which supports broader economic growth. “The localization of renewable energy manufacturing is another critical component. Saudi Arabia is focusing on producing renewable energy components domestically, reducing import dependency and positioning itself as a hub for clean energy technologies. By localizing renewable energy production, Saudi Arabia is positioning itself as a hub for clean energy technology in the region, enhancing both economic growth and energy security,” he said. “By 2030, Saudi Arabia aims to produce 1.2 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually, with solar energy powering the electrolysis process. This dual focus on solar and hydrogen is expected to drive further economic diversification and solidify the Kingdom’s leadership in green energy,” El-Borai added. The deployment of solar energy in Saudi Arabia faces significant challenges, particularly around localizing the value chain and addressing environmental factors such as high temperatures and dust. From Decker’s perspective, Saudi Arabia faces several challenges in scaling up its solar energy capacity, two of which are infrastructure limitations and regulatory complexities. “To address these challenges, Saudi Arabia is investing in modernizing its grid infrastructure through smart grid technologies and energy storage solutions, enabling better management of intermittent solar power. The government is working on streamlined regulatory processes and introducing incentive schemes, such as public-private partnerships and favorable tariffs, to encourage private sector investment, but there is still much to do in this area,” he added. From Arthur D. Little Middle East’s side, Merhaba said that in order to meet its highly ambitious objectives by 2030, the Kingdom will have to overcome technical challenges, global supply chain issues due to increasing demands for solar cells, and supply concentrated largely in China. There are also concerns around the disruptions in global trade, the localization and human capital needed to ensure development of a robust and competitive solar value chain industry in the Kingdom, and adequate supply of engineers and technicians to meet the growing demand in the sector. The country has strong strategies and policies, including national industrial and localization plans, along with other initiatives, that are poised to help them tackle these obstacles effectively. By 2030, Saudi Arabia aims to produce approximately 58.7 GW of renewable energy, with solar energy contributing 40 GW to this total. On behalf of Oliver Wyman, Decker explained that in terms of establishing a regulatory framework to facilitate the development of renewable energy, Vision 2030 outlines the need for a supportive environment. This involves creating policies that incentivize private sector participation through Power Purchase Agreements that guarantee long-term revenue for investors, subsidies and tariff reforms to make renewable energy more competitive, and streamlined licensing processes to reduce bureaucratic hurdles for solar projects. With regards to promoting private sector investment, Decker highlighted that the Saudi government is actively encouraging public-private partnerships and foreign direct investment to drive the growth of solar power projects. “The National Renewable Energy Program, launched under Vision 2030, is a key initiative that seeks to attract $30-$50 billion in investments for renewable energy projects,” he said. In terms of maintaining a strong traditional energy sector while investing in diversification, Decker added: “While Vision 2030 emphasizes the transition to renewable energy, it also acknowledges the importance of maintaining a robust traditional energy sector, particularly oil and gas, which remain critical to the Kingdom’s economy.” This comes as Saudi Arabia aims to optimize its oil and gas production through technological advancements and efficiency improvements to ensure the sector continues to generate revenue. On behalf of Arthur D. Little Middle East, Merhaba highlighted that the Kingdom has undergone a pivotal shift in its economic and energy landscape in recent years. “It ushered in the era of renewables and accelerated the deployment of solar. With a highly ambitious target to achieve 50 percent renewable adoption by 2030, which are under consideration for an upward revision, it has not only led to development of mega solar projects at record low prices, but also to build momentum in developing national champions across the solar value chain,” he said. KAUST representative De Wolf reiterated the fact that the Vision has created a favorable climate for investment and development, with ambitious renewable energy targets shaping the future of the Kingdom’s energy mix. Similarly, Gan emphasized that the Vision 2030 has created fertile ground for solar energy development, with policies that incentivize public-private partnerships and invest heavily in renewable energy infrastructure. “This initiative aims to diversify the Kingdom’s energy mix by transitioning toward cleaner, more sustainable energy sources,” he said. From PwC’s side, El-Borai explained that the National Renewable Energy Program is central to this. “By 2060, Saudi Arabia aims to reach Net Zero status, supported by significant financial commitments, such as the planned $266 billion investment in cleaner energy sources, including solar,” he said. “The Kingdom is actively developing projects with a capacity of 20 GW annually to meet its target of 100 GW to 130 GW of clean energy by 2030. This strategic framework also emphasizes localizing renewable energy manufacturing, with collaborations like the Public Investment Fund’s partnership with Chinese solar manufacturers to establish 30 GW of solar PV production capacity. The NREP is not just about generating clean energy — it’s about securing the Kingdom’s energy future and reducing its reliance on fossil fuels,” the PwC partner said.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Arkansas defensive end Landon Jackson was carted off the field and taken to a hospital with a neck injury late in the first half of Saturday's game at No. 24 Missouri. Jackson appeared to injure his neck while trying to tackle Missouri running back Jamal Roberts. Medical personnel tended to Jackson for approximately 10 minutes before he was placed on a backboard and driven to a waiting ambulance. Jackson gave a thumbs-up sign as he was carted off the snow-covered field. Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said Jackson had movement in his arms and legs but was experiencing pain in his neck. He said Jackson was taken to the hospital as a precaution. Jackson leads the Razorbacks with 9 1/2 tackles for loss and 6 1/2 sacks, and is considered a potential first-round pick in next year's NFL draft. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballGrant of Restricted Stock Units and Warrants to Employees in Genmab
HOUSTON (AP) — E.J. Warner threw three touchdown passes and Rice survived a late rally by South Florida to take a 35-28 victory on Saturday in a regular-season finale. Warner was 27-of-42 passing for 430 yards and had 294 yards and two TD throws in the first half when the Owls (4-6, 3-5 American Athletic Conference) rolled up 367 yards offense and 19 first downs for a 27-7 lead at the break. Trailing 35-14 with five minutes left, USF quarterback Bryce Archie had to leave the game after taking a late hit. Backup Israel Carter threw two touchdown passes in the final three minutes to cut the lead to seven. Rice recovered an onside kick and got the clock down to 27 seconds on six straight Christian Francisco runs before turning the ball over on downs at the USF 28. A final hook-and-lateral play loaded with laterals went deep into Rice territory but was nullified in any case by a penalty. Rice’s Matt Sykes had 118 yards receiving and Dean Connors 91 yards and a score. The other TD passes went to Thai Chiaokhiao-Bowman and Drayden Dickmann. Archie was 19 of 35 for 227 yards passing with a touchdown and an interception for USF (6-6, 4-4). Sean Atkins with 110 went over 2,000 career receiving yards and Keshaun Singleton had 107 yards receiving with a score. USF came in having four of its last five games but was outgained by Rice 550-431. With the game tied at 7-all, Quinton Jackson scored on a 12-yard run three plays after Francisco returned a kickoff 45 yards to the USF 38. Tim Horn added a field goal in the final minute of the first quarter for a 17-7 lead after Josh Pearcy recovered a fumble in USF territory. Connors’ 23-yard scoring reception and another field goal with 12 seconds left in the half made it a 20-point lead. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football . Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://apnews.com/cfbtop25
Accounting Software Rise: USD 15.07B in 2022, set to hit USD 30.18B by 2031 at 8.02%.
Business GPS NTP Network Time Servers Market Revenue, Insights, Overview, Outlook, Analysis | Valuates Reports 12-21-2024 01:32 PM CET | Advertising, Media Consulting, Marketing Research Press release from: Valuates Reports Business GPS NTP Network Time Servers Market A Business GPS NTP Server, also known as a GPS Network Time Server, is a specialized timekeeping device used in business and enterprise environments to provide highly accurate and synchronized time information to networked systems, devices, and applications. These servers use signals from the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite network to precisely determine Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and distribute this time information across the organization's network. The global Business GPS NTP Network Time Servers market was valued at US$ million in 2023 and is anticipated to reach US$ million by 2030, witnessing a CAGR of % during the forecast period 2024-2030. Get Free Sample: https://reports.valuates.com/request/sample/QYRE-Auto-39Z15522/Global_Business_GPS_NTP_Network_Time_Servers_Market_Research_Report_2023 The Global Mobile Economy Development Report 2023 released by GSMA Intelligence pointed out that by the end of 2022, the number of global mobile users would exceed 5.4 billion. The mobile ecosystem supports 16 million jobs directly and 12 million jobs indirectly. According to our Communications Research Centre, in 2022, the global communication equipment was valued at US$ 100 billion. The U.S. and China are powerhouses in the manufacture of communications equipment. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, the cumulative revenue of telecommunications services in 2022 was ¥1.58 trillion, an increase of 8% over the previous year. The total amount of telecommunications business calculated at the price of the previous year reached ¥1.75 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 21.3%. In the same year, the fixed Internet broadband access business revenue was ¥240.2 billion, an increase of 7.1% over the previous year, and its proportion in the telecommunications business revenue decreased from 15.3% in the previous year to 15.2%, driving the telecommunications business revenue to increase by 1.1 percentage points. This report aims to provide a comprehensive presentation of the global market for Business GPS NTP Network Time Servers, with both quantitative and qualitative analysis, to help readers develop business/growth strategies, assess the market competitive situation, analyze their position in the current marketplace, and make informed business decisions regarding Business GPS NTP Network Time Servers. By Type •Dual Network Ports •Four Network Ports By Application •Financial and Trading •IT Networks and Data Centers •Telecommunication •Education Key Companies SEIKO, Safran, Microchip, Meinberg, Galleon Systems, EndRun Technologies, Masterclock, Bueno Electric, hopf Elektronik, Brandywine Communications, Leo Bodnar Electronics, World Time Solutions, MOBATIME, Oscilloquartz SA (ADVA), Beijing Time & Frequency Technology, Signals And Systems India View Full Report: https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Auto-39Z15522/global-business-gps-ntp-network-time-servers Please reach us at sales@valuates.com Address: Valuates, 4th Floor, Balaraj's Arcade, Whitefield Main road, Bangalore 560066 Valuates offers an extensive collection of market research reports that helps companies to take intelligent strategical decisions based on current and forecasted Market trends. This release was published on openPR.Collapse of government in Paris sends shockwaves to Noumea
LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) — Lando Norris ignored team orders and handed his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri the sprint race in Qatar on Saturday, while Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen was stripped of the pole position. His penalty elevated George Russell to first on the grid. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
'India In Last 24hr' Instagram Page Set To Launch Music LabelSan Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy will not play Sunday and head coach Kyle Shanahan said the lingering discomfort is a concern. Purdy sat out Friday after he participated in the start of Thursday's practice with the 49ers, then retreated indoors for what Shanahan said was a treatment session. Brandon Allen, 32, will start in Purdy's place, and the 49ers are also without defensive end Nick Bosa (oblique). Shanahan said players believe in Allen, even if he's an unknown. "Outside of here people haven't seen a lot of Brandon. But it's his second year (with the 49ers)," Shanahan said. "Obviously guys want Brock up, but guys are excited to see Brandon play." Shanahan said they are "a little surprised" Purdy experienced tightness and discomfort in his shoulder after an MRI exam on Monday that showed no long-term cause for concern. "The way it responded this week, it's really up in the air for next week," Shanahan said of Purdy. Allen is familiar to Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, who was an assistant coach with the Rams during Allen's two-year run in Los Angeles. Allen broke into the NFL in 2016 with the Jaguars and is 2-7 in nine career starts. He went 1-2 with the Broncos in 2019 and 1-5 in six starts over two years with the Bengals in 2020 and ‘21. Shanahan said Allen's confidence grew throughout the week and he doesn't anticipate a major change in how he calls the offense. Left tackle Trent Williams (ankle) also missed practice for the third consecutive day. Without disclosing the nature of the ailment to Purdy's throwing shoulder, general manager John Lynch confirmed Friday an MRI exam took place to determine the severity of any injury. Allen worked with the first team most of Thursday and Friday with Joshua Dobbs also taking snaps. Lynch described Purdy's status for the 49ers (5-5) this week as "tenuous." "Hopefully, he makes progress, and we can have a shot at this weekend, but we'll see," Lynch said in an interview with KNBR in San Francisco. "I think it's tenuous." When Purdy was on the field this week, he primarily worked on the side in position-specific drills with QB coach Brian Griese. Williams played through an ankle injury last week after being listed as questionable but exited the stadium with an exaggerated limp on Sunday. Run game coordinator Chris Foerster said the 49ers aren't where they want to be at 5-5 because they haven't won close games, not because of injuries. "Seven games left is like an eternity," Foerster said. "So much can happen. Do the math. What was our record last year? It was 12-5. I was on a 13-win team that was nowhere near as good as the team last year." With or without Purdy, Foerster said the challenge for the 49ers is not to give up the ball to a defense that has 19 takeaways. The 49ers have 13 giveaways this season. --Field Level Media
Saturday, November 30, 2024 Facebook Instagram Twitter WhatsApp Youtube Personal Finance Education Entertainment Jobs Alert Sports Hindi Technology Complaint Redressal. Fact-Checking Policy Correction policy Authors and Team DNPA Code of Ethics Onwership and Funding Cookie Policy Terms of Service Disclaimer Contact US About Us More Search Home India Vande Bharat: Indian Railways has extended the duration of New Delhi-Patna Vande... India Vande Bharat: Indian Railways has extended the duration of New Delhi-Patna Vande Bharat Express train. By Shyamu Maurya November 30, 2024 0 6 Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Telegram Vande Bharat: Indian Railways has extended the duration of New Delhi-Patna Vande Bharat Express train. There is a good news for passengers traveling from Delhi to Patna. Indian Railways has extended the duration of the New Delhi-Patna Vande Bharat Express train. Vande Bharat Express: To reduce the extra rush of passengers during the festive season, the railways had started the semi-high-speed train Vande Bharat between Delhi and Patna. The Delhi to Patna Vande Bharat train is currently the country’s longest running Vande Bharat Express train. The New Delhi-Patna-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express train has been running at full capacity since the beginning. Earlier it was decided that train number 02252/02251 New Delhi-Patna Vande Bharat Express Special train will make 4 trips till November 6. Later the train was extended till 20 November. However, now this state-of-the-art train will make 2 more trips till 5 December. During the extended period, the train will depart from New Delhi Railway Station on 1 and 4 December. On the return journey, it will depart from Patna Junction on 2 and 5 December. The New Delhi-Patna Vande Bharat Express Special train covers a distance of 1000 km in 11:35 hours. It is the second fastest train on this route after the New Delhi-Rajendra Nagar Terminal Tejas Rajdhani Express, which covers the same distance in 11:30 hours. The train will stop at five stations en route. These are Kanpur Central, Prayagraj Junction, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction, Buxar and Ara Junction. The New Delhi-Patna Vande Bharat Express will depart from New Delhi at 08:25 am and reach Patna Junction at 8 pm. On the return journey, this train will depart from Patna Junction at 7 pm the next day and reach Delhi at 07:30 am the next day. The New Delhi-Patna Vande Bharat Express Special train has 8 car coaches. It has the facility of AC chair car and executive chair car. For travelling in AC chair car, the passenger will have to pay Rs 2575, while the fare of executive chair car between New Delhi and Patna is Rs 4655. Join Informal Newz Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Telegram Previous article School Holidays: Schools will remain closed for this many days in December, order issued Shyamu Maurya Shyamu has done Degree in Fine Arts and has knowledge about bollywood industry. He started writing in 2018. Since then he has been associated with Informalnewz. In case of any complain or feedback, please contact me @informalnewz@gmail.com RELATED ARTICLES India School Holidays: Schools will remain closed for this many days in December, order issued November 30, 2024 Personal Finance Income Tax News: Taxpayers will get relief! Income Tax Department changed the rules November 30, 2024 Personal Finance FD Rates: Investing money in this bank’s special FD is giving up to 8.05% interest November 30, 2024 - Advertisment - Most Popular School Holidays: Schools will remain closed for this many days in December, order issued November 30, 2024 Income Tax News: Taxpayers will get relief! Income Tax Department changed the rules November 30, 2024 FD Rates: Investing money in this bank’s special FD is giving up to 8.05% interest November 30, 2024 Indian Railway’s new rules for advance reservation have been implemented, railways will also benefit along with passengers November 30, 2024 Load more Recent Comments Gul Mohiudin on Kavita sister-in-law wore a sari without a blouse, seeing the pictures you will also be... 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Trump aides contact Google, Meta, Snap over online drug sales, The Information reports
The Foothill League soccer season is in full swing after the second round of league games on Tuesday. Both Hart teams had their league byes while both Saugus squads eked out narrow victories to remain perfect in league on the young season. Here’s what happened for both boys’ and girls’ soccer as teams battled it out on a windy Tuesday in the Santa Clarita Valley. Boys’ soccer Saugus 3, Valencia 2: Saugus won by a one-goal margin Tuesday for the second time in as many league games, taking down Valencia on the road, 3-2. Lincoln Fritz, Santiago Veizaga and Colby McKelvey got the goals for Saugus (2-1, 2-0). Valencia (2-2, 0-2) will look to bounce back on Thursday when it travels to Castaic. Saugus has a road matchup at West Ranch on Thursday. Golden Valley 7, Castaic 2: After sitting out the first round of Foothill League games, Golden Valley opened up with a 7-2 home win over Castaic on Tuesday. Will Flint scored four of Golden Valley’s goals. Anthony Padilla had two and Brandon Arietta had one. Golden Valley (3-3, 1-0) travels to Hart on Thursday. West Ranch 3, Canyon 0 : The Wildcats of West Ranch got over their scoreless draw to start off league play with a 3-0 shutout on the road at Canyon on Tuesday. Logan Bates, Logan Sanchez and Jason Kaufman each scored once to give West Ranch the win. Canyon (1-4, 0-2) has its league bye on Thursday. Girls’ soccer West Ranch 7, Canyon 1 : Five different Wildcats scored as West Ranch beat Canyon at home on Tuesday, 7-1. Savannah Tiskos hit the back of the net twice, while Calista Imperial Pham, Isabella Bruno, Natalie Ramos and Sofia Forbes each scored once. Isabella Lopez provided two assists for West Ranch. Tiskos, Savannah Patton, Melody Canton and Isabella Ruiz also handed out assists. West Ranch (1-1, 1-1) travels to Saugus on Thursday while Canyon (0-3-1, 0-2) has its league bye. Castaic 6, Golden Valley 1 : Four girls scored for Castaic Tuesday as the Coyotes won at home over Golden Valley, 6-1. Pyper Ormes and Leila Sadra each scored twice for Castaic. Kennedy Crone and Clair Silvestro added a goal each. The loss for Golden Valley came a day after a 12-1 thrashing of Vasquez at home. Seven Grizzlies got on the score sheet on Monday, including four goals from Audrey Tait, two from Emilie House and two from Aubrey Esqueda. Tait and House also recorded assists. Castaic (3-0, 2-0) has a road meeting at Valencia on Thursday. Golden Valley (4-5, 0-1) is scheduled to host Hart. Saugus 1, Valencia 0 : Only one goal was needed for Saugus to take down Valencia (1-3, 0-2) at home on Tuesday. Makea Leonard got the goal as Makenna Blum set her up to keep Saugus (3-0, 2-0) perfect in league play in the early going.US budget airlines are struggling. Will pursuing premium passengers solve their problems?THE mum of Britain’s biggest family has revealed what she does when illness sweeps through their busy house. Mum-of-22 Sue Radford , 49, shared how a number of her kids have caught a bug over the past few days. Thankfully she had a trick up their sleeves to hopefully boost their spirits and help them feel a little better. After decorating their 10-bedroom Morecambe home for Christmas, Sue shared how she was putting on some festive movies. She wrote on Instagram: “Wonka with the kids. “We have a sick house today so have watched a lot of movies. More on the Radfords “These bugs are not good.” She then showed an updated snap of her kids, and wrote: “Bed full of poorly little ones.” Sue and Noel are parents to Chris, 35, Sophie, 30, Chloe , 29, Jack, 27, Daniel, 25, Luke, 24, Millie, 23, Katie, 22, James, 21, Ellie, 19, Aimee, 18, Josh, 17, Max, 15, Tillie, 14, Oscar , 13, Casper, 12, Hallie, nine, Phoebe, eight, Archie, seven, Bonnie, six, and Heidie, four. Sadly the couple's 17th child Alfie was still born on July 6, 2014. Most read in Fabulous The family are known for going all out for Christmas , so it's no surprise their 'millionaire mansion' has yet again been transformed to look like Santa's grotto. Dad-of-22 Noel took to YouTube to show off some of their decorations, which include a Christmas tree in nearly every room, twinkling lights, and more fireplace stockings than you've ever seen. In the vlog, Noel first showed off the family's main Christmas tree in the living room - and it's a sight to behold. The green tree was covered in lights and ribbons, plus large red baubles, and instead of the traditional angel or star on top, the family went for some rustic red and white foliage instead. Next to the glitzy tree is the fireplace which has also been kitted out for the occasion. A festive wreath covers the fireplace mantel, but it's all of the stockings that really stand out. Of course, when you've got 22 kids you need a lot of stockings. It's not just the living room that has been transformed though, in the dining room there's another sparkling Christmas tree, and the kitchen island even got it's own mini tree. Sue and Noel's room also got the festive treatment with a fresh set of Christmas-themed bedding and a wreath over their headboard. The family famously doesn’t rely on benefits and is supported by their pie shop business . Noel and Sue always go the extra mile to ensure their ALL kids have a very special Christmas . But needless to say, this doesn't come cheap. Radford gift cost In previous years, Noel and Sue revealed that they spend between £100 and £250 on each of their children - and a further £300 on their food shop. So in the months leading up to Christmas, the parents pinch their pennies to save £5,500 to buy the kids' presents. And while most families simply chuck their presents under the tree when they're wrapped, Sue has a personalised sack for each child so the gifts don't get mixed up - and to save herself having to buy hundreds of tags. What's more, Noel and Sue also get through a staggering 70 rolls of wrapping paper every year. Noel also showed how he cooks a 10kg turkey , 7kg of potatoes and sprouts, 50 Yorkshire puddings and litres of gravy. READ MORE SUN STORIES The couple stay up late peeling potatoes and vegetables at 1am on Christmas Day and children open their gifts by 6.30am. During the day, the family play separate games of Monopoly, watch films and play with their presents. AS Britain's biggest family, it may come as no surprise that Sue and Noel Radford must have some hefty bills. Between them, they have a whopping 22 children and seven dogs, which often has some people wonder how they manage their money. The Radfords support themselves with the proceeds of Noel’s bakery, The Radford Pie Company , which is located near their home. On their website , it says: “We have owned our own lovely bakery since 1999 which is how we manage to provide for (and feed) our huge and expanding family as well as for the local people of Heysham and Morecambe.” The family expanded their business to cater to online orders placed across the UK. The business is a family affair, with Noel at the helm, and some of their children helping out. The older kids, who are working at least part-time, don't get a free ride as they're made to pay a small amount of rent to their parents. "Us older ones do pay a little bit of board. Granted it’s not a lot but I’m also trying to save up for my own house at the moment.” their daughter Chloe said in a video on the YouTube channel . Sue added: "We’ve always said if you want to buy somewhere, renting is a bit of dead money, so we’d rather you saved that money up and stayed at home a bit longer. “I also do believe they should pay board if they are earning. We’ve always been brought up by our parents that we had to pay board.” Noel and Sue famously don’t rely on benefits for their bumper brood and live off their pie shop for income. They also revealed they make money from brand partnerships on social media. The Radford family stars in their own reality TV show 22 Kids and Counting - which has run for four series. Brand expert Andy Barr believes Noel and Sue have been paid less than £10,000 for each show. He told the Daily Mail : "The typical fee per episode is going to be in the thousands rather than the tens or hundreds of thousands that people often think is the case with TV shows of this nature. "If they continue to get commissioned for a fourth or fifth season, then they are going to be able to command a higher fee." He estimates that the Radfords make £ 5,000 an episode.
HOUSTON (AP) — E.J. Warner threw three touchdown passes and Rice survived a late rally by South Florida to take a 35-28 victory on Saturday in a regular-season finale. Warner was 27-of-42 passing for 430 yards and had 294 yards and two TD throws in the first half when the Owls (4-6, 3-5 American Athletic Conference) rolled up 367 yards offense and 19 first downs for a 27-7 lead at the break. Trailing 35-14 with five minutes left, USF quarterback Bryce Archie had to leave the game after taking a late hit. Backup Israel Carter threw two touchdown passes in the final three minutes to cut the lead to seven. Rice recovered an onside kick and got the clock down to 27 seconds on six straight Christian Francisco runs before turning the ball over on downs at the USF 28. A final hook-and-lateral play loaded with laterals went deep into Rice territory but was nullified in any case by a penalty. Rice’s Matt Sykes had 118 yards receiving and Dean Connors 91 yards and a score. The other TD passes went to Thai Chiaokhiao-Bowman and Drayden Dickmann. Archie was 19 of 35 for 227 yards passing with a touchdown and an interception for USF (6-6, 4-4). Sean Atkins with 110 went over 2,000 career receiving yards and Keshaun Singleton had 107 yards receiving with a score. USF came in having four of its last five games but was outgained by Rice 550-431. With the game tied at 7-all, Quinton Jackson scored on a 12-yard run three plays after Francisco returned a kickoff 45 yards to the USF 38. Tim Horn added a field goal in the final minute of the first quarter for a 17-7 lead after Josh Pearcy recovered a fumble in USF territory. Connors’ 23-yard scoring reception and another field goal with 12 seconds left in the half made it a 20-point lead. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football . Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://apnews.com/cfbtop25
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Every winter, like migratory birds, people working on climate change flock to some distant location. This year, it was the Caspian seashore of Baku in Azerbaijan. They don’t do this to escape the pollution of north India. They do it because they believe that if all countries come together at the annual climate summit of the UN (called the COP), they will be able to solve the problem of climate change. This has been going on for 29 years. This year’s COP29 started in inauspicious circumstances. The US elected Donald Trump, who will withdraw his country from the Paris Agreement on climate change, just as he did in 2016, meaning that the world’s richest economy will not offer any new climate finance. Germany, usually an advocate for European contributions to climate finance , saw its coalition govt collapse. Experts had estimated the need to raise $2.4 trillion per year for nature and climate, but COP29 closed with a kitty of only $300 billion per year by 2035. This is barely more than the earlier pot of $100 billion per year after allowing for inflation. And it will count not just grants that poor, vulnerable countries need, but also loans that they will have to repay, and money spent by developing countries themselves. Quite naturally, people might question the benefit of this multilateral process. If rich countries are not paying up, why should we have to answer to anyone? Three developments at COP29 show the relevance of continued engagement for India. First, many countries announced new targets to cut their greenhouse gas emissions . The UK’s emissions are now half of what they were in 1990, and it pledged to cut them by 81% of 1990 levels by 2035. Though it is a developing economy, Brazil announced that it will cut its emissions by at least 59% from 2005 levels by 2035. Indonesia and Mexico committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. Such announcements send signals to Indian industry about potential markets. For example, with the European Union banning the sale of diesel or petrol cars after 2035 as part of its climate policy, Indian car makers could plan a shift to electric vehicle manufacturing, and Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) can start pivoting to making electrical components and reskilling their workers. Similarly, with the new climate finance deal at COP29, multilateral development banks like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank will target their lending to climate-friendly activities, and Indian state govts can prepare project proposals for the needs identified in their State Action Plans on Climate Change. Second, COP29 agreed on the rules of the international carbon market, which can be a useful source of revenue for projects in India. It adopted common standards for methodologies to accurately measure and credit emission reductions, developed a sustainable development tool for social and environmental safeguards, and found a way to link carbon credit registries across countries. This means that Indian companies, MSME clusters, municipalities and gram panchayats will be able to sell carbon credits in three types of markets — the Indian carbon market that is being designed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, the voluntary carbon market that already exists, and the international carbon market made possible by COP29. The Indian govt has already published a list of preferred project types that are more expensive and can benefit from international carbon credit revenue — not just solar power, but solar power with storage; not only onshore wind, but offshore wind; and emerging technologies like green hydrogen, green ammonia, sustainable aviation fuel, and carbon capture and storage. Third, next year’s COP30 hosted by Brazil in the Amazon rainforest will give as much priority to nature as to climate. This is important for our country too. For example, as India scales up its solar parks over the next few decades, it will be important to protect biodiversity and people’s livelihoods that depend on natural resources. We also have opportunities for behaviour change, such as switching to millets that need less irrigation. And we can reduce food waste — one study estimated almost 1,000 tons of food waste a year in 500 wedding halls in Bengaluru alone. COP30 is also planning a new treaty for tracing the supply chains of critical minerals like lithium, nickel and cobalt needed for renewable energy, electric vehicles and batteries. There are growing concerns in India about e-waste, mining, and import dependence, and this topic was discussed in India’s G-20 presidency last year. We can find value in e-waste and create rural jobs based on a circular economy to extract and process critical minerals. Like its colourful rainforest birds, perhaps the Brazil COP next year will bring a more vibrant outcome. Kelkar is executive program director for climate, economics and finance at WRI India. Views expressed are personal.ITV The Chase fans issue the same complaint over nail-biting roundArkansas DE Landon Jackson carted off field and taken to hospital with neck injury
The wine , finally, was on the move. For two weeks, a team of 14 professionals had been in the mountains, methodically transferring thousands of rare bottles from a cavernous cellar into a nondescript box truck that shuttled the cargo to a pair of tractor trailers several miles away, tucked in a private way station overseen by an armed protection detail. Even the security team didn’t know what they were guarding. All they saw were scores of black-wrapped pallets slowly filling the giant holds. When the last of the wine was finally secured and the drivers strapped in, the semis, each escorted by an armored truck, rumbled past the steel gates and then diverged, assigned to separate routes down the mountain, across more than a thousand miles and three state lines, headed for California. In Boston, Brahm Callahan received a GPS ping every 30 minutes with the trucks’ locations and the temperatures inside the cargo bays; they were holding steady at 55 degrees. The deal had been nearly two years in the making and killed and resurrected over half a dozen times during that span. Callahan, master sommelier, 35 years old, had seen some of the most incredible wine collections in the world, but never anything like the cellar he had just bought. He knew from the moment he stepped inside it that he would never encounter another collection so miraculous, so meticulously curated, so impeccably cataloged and stored, and so impossibly stocked with unheard-of rarities. Now he and his partners were about to take possession of the entire haul. The first step of the plan was nearly complete. The trucks would converge again at a bonded warehouse in Sonoma County, where Dan O’Brien, 40, was waiting to take possession of eight figures’ worth of wine while trying not to think about all the money they owed, or everything that needed to happen before they could pay it back. First, the wine had to show up as planned—the convoys were taking separate routes at the insistence of the insurance companies, to mitigate risks such as avalanches and hijackers—and then the designated portion, several thousand bottles of valuable rare wines, had to make its way by boat to Hong Kong in time to be received and cataloged for a Sotheby’s auction in February. The various lots needed to sell for enough to cover the money they owed to the hard-money lender who had financed the deal at terms that would make a loan shark shudder. From his condo in Boston, Scott Leverenz ran the numbers again, out of habit. He took into account the projected auction figures, that Mafia rate of monthly interest, the roughly $700,000 they had already accrued in legal fees, the potential appreciation of the remaining portfolio, and every other variable he could think of. As usual, Leverenz, 34, was gaming out the worst-case scenario, but the numbers looked good: Even if the total from the auction came in at the low end, and even assuming it took the full 90 days to collect all the money, the three of them would hit their target: They could use the sale of the bottom two-thirds of the cellar to clear the debt and keep the most valuable top third—millions of dollars of wine—for free. The wine arrived in Sonoma as scheduled, where it was stored for 72 hours before being taken to Oakland and put on a container ship headed to Hong Kong, due to dock just before Christmas. It was late November 2019 and the juice was running. The loan would reset every 30 days, the principal growing each month alongside the compounding interest in a convoluted death trap of penalties, fees, and clawbacks. Time was not on their side. Shortly after the wine arrived, the news began reporting an unknown respiratory illness killing people in China. The country would lock down a few weeks later. Callahan, Leverenz, and O’Brien had just borrowed $12.5 million to buy a store of wine that now might as well be on the moon. The Crew Callahan first outlined his plan to Leverenz one morning in 2016 in the Amtrak bar car heading back to Boston from Philadelphia. They were fending off hangovers after a Guns N’ Roses concert; neither had slept. But kicking ideas back and forth across a bartop was how they had always done their best thinking, going back to when they first met as Boston sommeliers in 2009. Callahan had made master sommelier by 30, pin number 222 of 228 in the world at the time. There is nothing achievable in the wine world above it. The final examination, administered by the Court of Master Sommeliers, is like trying to prove a physics thesis by doing backflips, meant to plumb the depth of one’s theoretical understanding, sensory abilities, and practical skills simultaneously. Callahan had lived like a monk while studying for it, forgoing shaving and taping laminated study guides throughout his apartment—on tables and mirrors, lining the cupboards, inside the shower—so there wasn’t a minute he couldn’t be learning. In the blind-tasting portion alone, candidates must correctly identify six different wines by grape variety, country of origin, district, appellation, and, finally, vintage. Not only had Callahan passed the test, he had eventually become a member of the Court. Leverenz had a head for numbers. He and Callahan had both passed through Grill 23 & Bar , a revered Boston steak house that operated as a sort of elite boot camp for those forging a career in wine. Unlike most restaurants with encyclopedic wine lists, Grill 23 actually moved the juice, and opportunities to taste rare and notable vintages were frequent. Leverenz went on to become a somm and wine director for some of Boston’s top restaurants before managing national sales for major importers; he also traded in rare and fine wines. Having experience in both buying and selling had stripped away the varnish of romance that dazzled so many people into ostensibly bad business decisions: Leverenz liked to say that the best way to end up with a million-dollar winery was to start with a $2 million winery. He loved the industry and wasn’t immune to the glamour, of course—he just preferred to understand it for what it was, and to make a profit off of it when he could. Like Callahan and Leverenz, O’Brien had cut his teeth at Grill 23 and had a natural allergy to all of the stupid money sloshing around the wine industry, though unlike the other two, he wasn’t much for sitting on appreciating assets for the sake of a tidy profit down the line—he’d rather drink a Dujac Grand Cru immediately after buying it, maybe with a burger. With his beard and glasses and easygoing grin, the onetime Boston somm now looked the part of an affable San Francisco garage winemaker, but there were few areas of the industry he hadn’t touched, from developing wine programs for luxury hotel groups to producing blends for private-label clients to revamping a historic Calistoga vineyard as COO. He had extensive experience buying, storing, and transporting wine—easier said than done given that alcohol is a highly regulated substance, which makes moving it across state lines a costly, time-consuming, and tediously complicated bureaucratic process. He had the bonded storage, insurance premiums, and drawers full of licenses and permits to attest to that. Callahan had worked with both separately, but despite all being Grill 23 alums, the trio had never worked together until now. They sealed their partnership over omelets and coffee at a grungy diner down the street from an impound lot. The Plan What Callahan pitched was this: Raise enough money to buy a white whale of a cellar, a highly secretive monster collection somewhere in the Rocky Mountains—one of those murmured opportunities that surface from time to time in the tight, clubby world of master somms and elite collectors. It supposedly contained vast quantities of vanishingly rare wine, the kinds of bottles that simply didn’t come to market anymore or were never supposed to have existed in the first place: unheard-of large-format Burgundies; decades of Hermitage; massive stores of cult Champagne. The collector had started acquiring in the ’80s, back when you could just show up in Vosne-Romanée, knock on the door of some family producer that had been making Burgundy in the region for hundreds of years, and walk off with however many cases you felt like shipping home. Provenance and documentation were said to be perfect. And yet the cellar had been quietly on the market for some time, with no takers. Why? First, the asking price, a vast sum even in the voracious world of high-stakes wine collecting, kept rising—first $8 million, then $10 million, now likely more—the longer the collection sat and the more the wines inside kept appreciating. More challengingly, it had to be all in one go, to one buyer: no cherry-picking, no allocation, a single check for the entire lot, non-negotiable. The seller didn’t need the money and seemed in no rush to part with the wine. Normally, anyone walking into a cellar with an eight-figure check is going to expect to set some of the terms of the deal, so the sheer ego slap delivered by the take-it-or-leave-it nature of the offer cleared a host of private buyers from the table. Resellers are more pragmatic, but it was still a huge amount of cash, and a significant chunk of the inventory wouldn’t reach peak profitability for years; gray-market prospectors rarely buy and hold, preferring to flip bottles for quick profit rather than leave capital tied up in a basement. Callahan figured he had a way to leverage the volume of the cellar. A collection of that size and caliber would otherwise take decades to procure, and this one was said to be composed of some of the best-performing wines on the market, heavily over-indexing for Burgundy, Northern Rhônes, and Champagne. If you could price the inventory correctly, acquire it at reasonable value, then engage an auction house to move the most immediately profitable tranches of wine in one push, you could repay the loan plus interest while holding on to the best long-term investments. Essentially, between loan, acquisition, and auction, you could triangulate an extremely small aperture through which it would be possible to come into a few million bucks’ worth of unbelievable rare wine, for free—but if you miss the window, don’t bother preparing for impact. Taking on the whole thing at once meant they could play the long game. The cellar had such vast stores of specific vintages that you could effectively corner the market, taking advantage of short-term price fluctuations by strategically liquidating bottles at their most lucrative while continuing to accrue yearly appreciation on the rest. The remaining top slice of inventory, the cream of a once-in-a-lifetime crop, could be used as the basis for a wine-backed investment fund, or a high-end wine retailer. Or, put the profits into a négociant winery, buying grapes or juice and bottling under their own brand, and for private labels. Or, depending on how the auction went, all three. But first they needed to get their hands on a whole lot of cash. The Money You can’t just walk into a bank and ask for, say, $10 million to buy a bunch of fine wine—or Picassos or vintage Ferraris or ancient Sumerian manuscripts—even if everyone knows they’re going to appreciate. It’s just not what banks are set up for, which mostly is to deal in simple, stable assets like homes and cars and small businesses. So Callahan went to Dave S. instead. Callahan first met Dave S. over a magic trick of sorts at Grill 23. A bearded, broad-shouldered hedge-fund type, he had ordered a beguiling 1998 Bordeaux, a great Right Bank vintage—enough to pique Callahan’s interest. Either this guy made a lucky guess, he thought, or he knew something about wine. Dave S. knew enough to see an opportunity to stump the somm. He pulled out his phone and flashed a picture of himself from a recent shooting weekend, barely hoisting a gargantuan Nebuchadnezzar of ’67 Château d’Yquem—had Callahan ever seen a bottle like that in person? Callahan said he had, and then did Dave S. one better: He told him where the picture had been taken. The hedge funder, who was a professional magician in his youth, felt the hairs go up on the back of his neck—now that was a magic trick. Callahan explained that he knew the total number of bottles of ’67 Yquem in the 15-liter format in existence, plus who owned them around the world—including a certain prominent billionaire with three in his New Jersey cellar, which is where Dave S. was standing in the picture. He and Callahan became fast friends after that. Yet despite his decades allocating capital and executing complex financial deals, Dave S. wasn’t the one to finance this play—but he knew who was. The guy who connects the pipes that make the money flow. The man they called the Plumber. When the federal government needs to underwrite some sprawling, unprecedented, staggeringly complex program—say, a nationwide rebate for used-vehicle trade-ins, with all the labyrinthine financing that entails—the secretary of the Treasury picks up the phone and calls the Plumber. A math whiz since his teens, he was legendary in New York banking for never assuming risk and always making money, a deal-structuring genius who could put 28 hooks into you without your ever realizing, until God forbid something bad happened and suddenly your pecuniary guts were sliding all over the floor. The Plumber had a sideline in exotic investment plays—heady, esoteric, out-of-the-box stuff. Like backing the acquisition of a multimillion-dollar wine cellar for an unprecedented flip. Dave S. didn’t mince words: The numbers would have to work, down to the penny. These people didn’t care about wine except insofar as it represented collateral for the deal—and as a regulated substance it made for complicated surety. The path of custody would need to be rigorously established and precisely controlled, and execution would have to be flawless or the various frictions would eat them alive: First, the buyer needed to assess and document over 12,000 bottles of wine, checking fill rates and bottle stamps and backtracking the ownership trail, then take and retain legal control of it through several stages of storage and transport across state lines and national borders—a notorious minefield of red tape—all while insurance, taxation, fees, governmental regulation, and the rest gnawed away at the bottom line from all angles. Every shipment, every transaction, every license, every insurance policy, every fee—thousands of variables—had to be accounted for, across all conceivable scenarios, until the sale was complete, the money collected and transacted, and everyone repaid. And the three of them were going to be put through their paces. The Plumber’s people needed to understand who they were giving their millions of dollars to. Did they have a grasp of the details? Could they problem-solve under pressure? Were their industry contacts as solid as they claimed? The Plumber only dealt with people vibrating at the highest frequency, Dave S. said, and his crew would mess with them—changing deadlines at the last minute or giving them 24 hours to turn around a half dozen pages of analysis for no reason—just to see how they reacted to stress. The deal would come down to numbers, sure, but it wasn’t the only consideration. The Plumber wanted to know: How badly did they want it? Which meant, even as Callahan and Leverenz were cautiously wooing the seller with polite correspondence and the occasional highly orchestrated visit, and O’Brien was laying the groundwork for the eventual possession and transport, they were simultaneously being put through rigorous crash courses in debt financing and tax law. The seller, meanwhile, was rarely available and seemed to have a knack for going dark the moment they felt any momentum begin to build. The deal was always under threat of collapsing from one end or the other—either because the seller had walked away or because the loan-to-value ratio had tipped a cent into the red and the money did. At one point, the deal hinged on whether Callahan could procure luxury portable toilets on short notice; at another, the cost of an overlooked California permit—the difference of maybe a few thousand dollars in a deal worth millions—was enough to get the Plumber’s people to start packing up, until O’Brien realized he had the necessary paperwork via another company he owned. This dragged on for months. Then a year. Then longer. The motivation to press on, reenergized every time Callahan and Leverenz were able to inspect the wine, was that the cellar was even more impressive than advertised, unlike anything either had seen in both quality and scale, in fundamentally pristine condition. The attrition rate of unsellable bottles due to oxidation, lack of proper documentation, breakage, or improper storage was basically nil; even the small percentage of bottles they couldn’t send to auction—say, due to a detached label—they knew to be genuine. And then, just like that, a switch flipped and it was go time. The seller agreed to the terms; in response, they wired $1 million into an escrow account as a sign of good faith. A short time later, a cashier’s check in the low eight figures was delivered by hand to the seller’s lawyer; there was the flurry of planes and trucks and boats; and the plan for a massive 90-day flip was in motion at last—until Covid reared its head and the entire world came screeching to a halt. The Auction The early days of pandemic lockdown for Callahan, Leverenz, and O’Brien were pretty much the same as for everyone else—awkwardly wiping down groceries, uncertain about whether you were supposed to buy masks or not buy masks because medical personnel needed them. Without its normal daily punctuations, time became a run-on—except for that charged moment every month when they recalculated what they owed to the Plumber. That always had a way of standing out. The monthly interest alone, which had started around $110,000, had jumped to $115,000, then to over $125,000, then to $130,000. The months dragged on. February came and went. Then March, then April, then May, then June, the debt ballooning. Dave S. kept the mood up: Keep finessing the numbers, keep working the plan, these are just obstacles, you’ll find your way around. The Sotheby’s people pushed the auction, then pushed it again, then said they weren’t quite sure when it would take place despite being very upbeat that it would, in fact, happen; they were storing a gargantuan haul of wine they weren’t selling and so were as desperate as anyone to see it all across the auction block. Finally, the dates were set—a two-day affair, July 5 and 6, 2020. There was only one problem: Online auctions were still a fairly new format, and a remote wine sale of this size was unprecedented. Hong Kong is 13 hours ahead of the east coast of the U.S. and 16 hours ahead of the west, which meant that it was July 4, America’s Independence Day, when the Summit: A Complete Cellar auction kicked off in Asia. O’Brien was at a backyard cookout in California wine country; Callahan and Leverenz were at a party at Dave S.’s house in Massachusetts. Everything they had done to this point, work now measured in years, hinged on these results. Had their proprietary valuation system—based on an intricate matrix of scarcity, reputation, current and future market interest, time to peak drinkability, and profit potential—priced the wine correctly? Difficult enough to gauge under normal circumstances, but this situation was sui generis. There was literally nothing to compare it to. As it turned out, it was a perfect storm. The stir-craziness of isolation, collector appetite bottled up to bursting, and a global customer base newly comfortable with spending serious cash over the internet meant that the entire wine world was watching—and desperate to bid. It was a frenzy from the opening hammer. The guys streamed the action on laptops, O’Brien holed up in a TV room as the party carried on outside, Leverenz and Callahan roaming the halls of Dave S.’s sprawling house and dipping into his pool in between calculating conversion rates. The numbers exploded from the jump and never relented, with world records shattering one after the other. In the six-liter format alone, a 1989 Ramonet Montrachet hammered for over $61,000, a 1999 La Tâche for over $90,000, and a 1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg for over $154,000. The final sale clocked in over $15.6 million; they would clear $3.1 million in profit, minus some additional friction, while still holding what they considered to be the most valuable third of the original cellar, calculated to be worth between $3.5 million and $4 million. Of course, they couldn’t actually get their hands on the money yet, which would be collected in dribs and drabs by the auction house over the next 90 days and deposited into a Hong Kong bank, in Hong Kong dollars. That currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar and therefore reliably stable—unless the President of the United States starts antagonizing China by threatening to decouple the HKD, as then-President Trump did later that month. It was a new emergency: If Trump carried out his threat, the stroke of a pen would catastrophically evaporate their profits—meaning that, despite an auction bonanza far beyond their most optimistic projections, which set scores of world records, the three would still find themselves deeply in the red. The bulk of the wine was gone, they were out of money and had paid off virtually none of the debt—which was still accruing all sorts of replicating interest and spring-loaded fees. Even the inventory they had held back was out of reach: Until he got his money back, everything belonged to the Plumber. This was the point at which O’Brien tapped out. Whatever happened between now and the end, he said to Callahan and Leverenz, whether it all worked out or everything collapsed, he didn’t need to know. He would be in California. Wake him when it was all over. Coda On a warm Boston night this past May at Grill 23 & Bar, I sat with the three cofounders of Faucet Wine —CEO Brahm Callahan, CFO Scott Leverenz, and COO Dan O’Brien—as they recalled the party they threw when the dust finally settled. Callahan and Leverenz had gone back to the Plumber asking for a $1 million hedge against the currency decoupling, and he was only too happy to oblige: The move further protected his investment, and the interest charged on the extra million would net him even more profit. In the end, Trump moved on from poking China, all of the auction money was collected, a check was issued from the Hong Kong bank and converted to U.S. dollars. All outstanding bills were paid. The Plumber was made whole. For the first time, some four years after Callahan had initially launched his scheme on the train, they were money good. They even wound up making a tidy six-figure profit from the hedge thanks to all the volatility. The victory party took place in November 2020, still at the height of Covid, when congregating in person required nasal swabs and temperature checks and weeks of negotiation. A small group gathered at O’Brien’s house. The celebration was wine-country casual—tiki torches, a sprawling deck overlooking a creek, dogs clambering up and down stairs, a rap-heavy playlist bumping in the background—though few if any Sonoma Valley cookouts before or since have poured a magnum of 1990 Bâtard-Montrachet alongside a 1949 Musigny from Camille Giroud. Or a dream-haunting 1974 Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet “Les Ruchottes.” And these were just some of many astonishing and wondrous vintages. They were the best of the authentic but unsellable stock, plus a small number of bottles they had held back for themselves, even if it sliced into the profit margin. The three had survived a long swim with some of the biggest sharks in the financial world, but they were ultimately all wine geeks at heart: If now wasn’t the time to finally taste your greatest-hits list of once-in-a-lifetime vintages, when would be? O’Brien in particular relished the chance to share these treasures with his friends and neighbors—farmers and blenders and small winemakers who otherwise might never get the chance to experience a 1971 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-St.-Vivant or a 1991 Chave “Cuvée Cathelin.” As he watched the fall sun inch below the horizon, sitting with friends and contemplating some of the greatest wines ever made, all seemed right with the world. They were in the black. He could exhale at last. And now, finally, they could get to work. Securing the auction money wasn’t the end of things, after all, but the beginning. They still had a company to build. The profit from the sale eventually produced Faucet, a wine-focused venture-capital fund with a portfolio of proprietary businesses, from négociant winery Where With All to investments in rare bottles to the Sonoma Valley producer Gail Wines . There’s even a fine-wine purveyor, Berkeley and Stuart , named after the intersection where Grill 23 sits, and where each of the partners got his start in the industry. Where, in some sense, it all began. Callahan is now an investor in that restaurant and stores some of the group’s wine there. After dinner, he walked me through the cellar, showing off various bottles. One label stood out, faded yellow and black, with an image like an Art Deco clamshell opening over a twinkling cosmos. It read: “25th Anniversary, Windows on the World, 1976–2001,” part of a store Faucet had acquired of custom Veuve Clicquot produced for the famous restaurant that once straddled the 106th and 107th floors atop the North Tower of the World Trade Center, which collapsed into rubble along with everything else on September 11, 2001. Another marvel in a seemingly never-ending saga of them. As I walked down the steak-house steps into a humid late-spring evening, passing under the lamplit street signs, a snippet from the auction catalog popped into my head: “Put simply,” wrote Serena Sutcliffe, honorary chairman of Sotheby’s Wine, “it would be beyond comprehension if it did not exist in reality.” Exactly so.AI, Chips are twin engines of India’s developmentOnline manifesto appearing to be penned by Luigi Mangione is fake
