fly fishing

A 9th telecoms firm has been hit by a massive Chinese espionage campaign, the White House says

Republican U.S. Sen.-elect Tim Sheehy this week claimed a firework-ignited grass fire set near his campaign sign west of Livingston was a politically motivated arson. A Park County sheriff’s deputy on Dec. 21 notified dispatchers of a fire near Interstate 90 and West End Road. On social media, the sheriff’s office said winds that night were clocked at 50-to-60 mph and helped push the fire out to 26 acres. Authorities issued evacuations for the nearby residents and firefighters knocked the blaze down in roughly an hour and a half, according to the sheriff’s office post. The fire "definitely" started near a Sheehy campaign sign, the rural fire district chief . And while law enforcement has obtained video of the suspect's vehicle fleeing the area after starting the fire, it appeared Friday that no one had been charged yet. On Tuesday Sheehy appeared near the scorched scene and issued a social media post of appreciation for the responders, which, , included neighbors to the threatened properties. He also posted a picture with two Montana Department of Transportation employees, whose facility was adjacent to the burned area, as well as a photo of a blackened building. Initial reports from the sheriff’s office did say the incident was being investigated as a criminal act but did not imply political motivations, although Sheehy appeared certain of it in a video posted to his social media. "We just visited with the Jensen family here, four beautiful young kids, it was actually their third daughter’s birthday the night that these arsonists started the fire to burn down our sign and started about a 30-acre wildfire, burned their grazing land, harmed their property and its just sad that would happen here," Sheehy said. "We can still disagree, we can still respect each other in this country. We don't have to do things like this." The Park County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook on Monday it had obtained video evidence of a person shooting a firework out of a moving vehicle and igniting the dry grass before heading west on I-190. "It was definitely someone setting off fireworks at the sign," Park County Rural Fire District Chief Dann Babcox , referencing law enforcement reports. A call to the sheriff's office on Friday seeking any update or arrest information was not immediately returned. "Very disappointing, really tough way for these families to enter the Christmas week," Sheehy continued in his video. "It's effected several families here, including some structures, its a tough way for these people to have to start the holiday season."Liberals’ holiday tax break and cash giveaway has winners and losers

WILMINGTON, Delaware : Attorneys for Arm and Qualcomm grilled a former Apple executive on Tuesday about a key question for the future of the chip industry: Who owns the intellectual property built on top of Arm's computing architecture? At stake in a trial in U.S. federal court in Delaware this week is the fate of Qualcomm's push into the laptop business, where it is helping partners such as Microsoft try to regain ground that Windows computers lost to Apple after the iPhone maker introduced its own custom chips. Arm's flagship product is a computing architecture that competes against Intel's architecture and is ubiquitous in smartphones and increasingly used in laptops and data centers. Competing computing architectures are the reason that, until relatively recently, most smartphone apps did not work on most laptops. Massive companies like Apple design their own computing cores based on Arm's architecture, but Arm also offers its own off-the-shelf core designs that are used by smaller firms such as MediaTek . Where Arm's ownership of the core designs based on its architecture begins and ends is at the heart of the dispute between Arm and Qualcomm. The companies disagree over whether Nuvia, a firm Qualcomm paid $1.4 billion for in 2021, had the right to transfer its computing core designs to Qualcomm after the sale. In U.S. federal court in Delaware on Tuesday, attorneys for both sides pressed Gerard Williams, a former Apple engineer who founded Nuvia in 2019, over whether Nuvia's cores were ultimately derivatives of Arm's technology or whether Arm's technology played only a trivial role in Nuvia's work. Arm's attorney pressed Williams to acknowledge that the licensing contract at the heart of the dispute covered Arm technology and "derivatives" and "modifications" made from it. Williams repeatedly said he did not believe the contract meant that all of Nuvia's work was a derivative or modification of Arm's technology, but acknowledged that was what the words on the page appeared to say. Daralyn Durie, the Arm attorney, pointedly asked Williams to agree that "maybe you wouldn’t say that, but that’s what the contract says." “I wouldn’t say that," Williams responded, "but I’m not a legal expert.” Durie immediately said she was finished with her questioning. The exchange with Durie followed questioning by Qualcomm's attorney, who guided Williams to describe how little Arm technology was in Qualcomm chips that power phones, laptops and cars. Williams said his team of developers started with Arm architecture and was asked to estimate the amount of Arm's technology in Nuvia's final designs. "One percent or less," Williams responded. Analysts have told Reuters that Qualcomm pays Arm about $300 million per year, and evidence introduced at trial on Monday showed Arm executives believed they were missing out on $50 million per year in additional revenue because of Qualcomm's acquisition of Nuvia. A jury verdict could come as soon as this week in the trial, and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon also might take the witness stand.SAN JOSE – Former San Jose Sharks center Tomas Hertl was a bit curious about what kind of reception he would get Friday night in his return to SAP Center. While Hertl became one of the Sharks’ most popular and productive players in his 11 seasons in a teal uniform, he was also returning – for the first time — as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights , San Jose’s once-fierce rival. “I think the rivalry kind of slipped away, but it will hopefully be good. I think it was a nice 11 years,” Hertl said Friday morning when asked about the reception he might get. “But it’s maybe it’s up to the fans now. (There’s) nothing I can do about it really right now.” The reception was expected to be positive, considering Hertl had 484 points in 712 regular-season games for the Sharks before he was traded to the Golden Knights in March . Team officials plan to recognize Hertl for his time in San Jose with a pregame tribute similar to the ones they bestowed upon longtime Sharks Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns in their first games back in San Jose. But while Hertl’s time with the Sharks will not be forgotten, his departure from San Jose has perhaps created a complicated legacy. Hertl could have opted to become an unrestricted free agent in 2022. Instead, he signed an eight-year, $65.1 contract extension with the Sharks, hoping the team’s fortunes could quickly turn around after what would become — at that point — three years without a playoff appearance. The Sharks, too, did not entertain any trade offers for Hertl that year, hoping he could be an organizational tent pole as they remained in a transitional phase. However, the Sharks hired Mike Grier as their new general manager less than four months after the deal. Grier knew that for the Sharks to become Stanley Cup contenders again, he would have to rebuild the team from the ground up. That meant taking some steps back to have the opportunity to draft future stars with lottery picks. Grier also traded some high-profile players on long-term contracts, such as Burns, Timo Meier, and Erik Karlsson, to gain prospects, draft capital, and free up valuable cap space. Speaking about Hertl and captain Logan Couture as the 2023 training camp began , Grier said, “If there ever were to come a time when they felt like they needed or wanted to go somewhere else, it’s definitely something I would listen to, and if it made sense for us, I would explore it.” Some of Tomas Hertl pic.twitter.com/rVUtnj0vxY — Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) December 27, 2024 While Couture, injured and out indefinitely, remains a Shark, Hertl, a playoff participant in five of his first six NHL seasons, knew at that time it could be years before he could legitimately compete for a Cup again. He had a decision to make. Ultimately, Hertl, with a full no-movement clause in the first three years of his contract, decided it was best to move on and join a contender. Going into Friday, the Golden Knights led the Pacific Division and the Sharks were in eighth and last place. “I couldn’t say one bad word about the organization, about the teammates in the locker room right away, how they (included) me in the team, even the fans around the city,” Hertl said. “Obviously, when you win a lot of hockey games, everything gets pretty easy around it. I almost forgot over the last couple years, honestly, how fun is to win a lot of games. “The last couple of years (in San Jose) was pretty tough. When you’re one of the leaders and you try to help, but the winning wasn’t coming, it wasn’t easy. So this is definitely the fun part.” It turns out Grier and Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon began talking about a Hertl deal before the all-star break, and on March 7, just minutes before the deadline, the Sharks sent the No. 1 centerman, plus third-round picks in 2025 and 2027, to Vegas for center prospect David Edstrom and a 2025 first-round pick. “I just heard, like, maybe in January, before I was hurt, that (Vegas) was thinking about (trading for me) from my agent, but nothing happened,” said Hertl, who injured his knee earlier in a Jan. 27 game against the Buffalo Sabres. Hertl participated in the NHL All-Star Game in Toronto, and trade talks between the Sharks and Golden Knights began to ramp up again a few days before the deadline. Hertl then had to waive his no-trade clause to make it happen. “I’m a competitive guy,” Hertl said Friday. “The Sharks give me everything and they give me a great career, they’ve been always great to me. (When) the offer came, I just couldn’t say no, because I think I’m still in my prime, I can help teams win hockey games, and Vegas, they are in a great spot, a great team, and I couldn’t say no. “Nobody can obviously guarantee you can win the Stanley Cup, but I thought there’s a chance (with Vegas), and I just want to grab it and try to fight for it.” Hertl has several friends within the Sharks’ organization and still cheers for the team. “After our games, I will be always cheering for them because I was here so long here and I want to see them do obviously better and turn this team around,” Hertl said. “But at that time I felt it could be my last chance and I was happy both sides could figure it out and work it out, and I could move.”New 2025 laws hit hot topics from AI in movies to rapid-fire guns

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 75, MISSOURI STATE 55

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OTTAWA, Ontario — Ilya Samsonov made 38 saves, and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Thursday night. Samsonov had given up 10 goals in his previous two outings but made key saves on Josh Norris, David Perron, Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk to keep the Senators at bay. The Senators (8-10-1) are now mired in a four-game losing streak and have only managed two goals in their last three games. Vegas (12-6-2) took the lead early in the first period when Linus Ullmark made a diving save but was unable to get back into position, giving Jack Eichel an open net for his sixth goal of the season. Brett Howden made it 2-0 midway through the second with a goal that beat Ullmark, who made 29 saves, under the arm. Adam Gaudette finally beat Samsonov 7:17 into the third with two seconds remaining on the power play to cut the lead in half, but Pavel Dorofeyev regained the two-goal lead exactly two minutes later. Drake Batherson kept the Senators within reach and scored on a Jake Sanderson rebound with just over seven minutes remaining. They were unable to complete the comeback despite outshooting Vegas 18-5 in the third. Takeaways Senators: Giving up the first goal has proven costly for the Senators, who have lost eight straight and are 1-9-1 overall when allowing the first goal. Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Ilya Samsonov, bottom left, watches the puck as Golden Knights and Ottawa Senators players battle during second-period NHL hockey game action in Ottawa, Ontario, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. Credit: AP/Sean Kilpatrick Golden Knights: Vegas capitalized off a poor Ottawa line change and got a free pass up the ice that led to Howden’s goal and a 2-0 lead. Key moment Trailing 3-2 in the third period, the Senators were unable to capitalize on their power-play opportunity late in the period. Key stat Vegas has a 12-1-1 record against Ottawa since entering the league in 2017. Up next The Senators host the Vancouver Canucks Saturday night, and the Golden Knights face the Montreal Canadiens Saturday afternoon.

Minister urges dialogue on national issues

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The most prolific wide receiver in school history will not be finishing his UA career with a bowl game, and a season that began with so much hope and promise has officially been wasted. On the same day that broke the school receiving record, Arizona saw its faint bowl hopes disappear with a 49-28 loss at TCU on Saturday afternoon. At 4-7 overall and 2-6 in the Big 12, all the Wildcats have left to play for is next week’s Territorial Cup at home against ASU. Arizona suffered their third straight lopsided road loss as its depleted defense could not stop one of the worst rushing offenses in the conference. TCU (7-4, 5-3) only gained XXX yards but scored six rushing touchdowns, most allowed by the UA since giving up seven at home against Oregon in 2022. TCU scored on five straight possessions after the UA got within 14-13 late in the first half. And like many times this season, the “middle eight” comprising the end of the first half and start of the second half did Arizona in. TCU scored two touchdowns during this period and 21 points in less than eight minutes, turning a 1-point game into a 22-point advantage and never looking back. threw for 284 yards on 29-of-44 passing with two TDs, both to , with McMillan catching nine passes for 115 yards. His final reception gave him 3,355 yards for his career, passing school record of 3,351 from 1999-2002. Arizona again couldn’t run the ball, finishing with 38 yards on 22 carries including sacks. ran for 42 yards on 13 carries. TCU, which led 21-13 at halftime, made it a 2-score lead on a 1-yard TD run by with 10:13 left in the third quarter. That score was set up by the Horned Frogs converting on 4 down for the second straight drive. Arizona went 3-and-out on its first drive of the third, then TCU returned the ensuing punt inside the UA 35. Two plays later the Frogs led 35-13 after threw a 38-yard TD pass to . Hoover, the Big 12 passing leader, threw for 252 yards with an interception on 19-of-26 passing as TCU outgained Arizona 450-325. The Wildcats ended TCU’s 21-0 run with a score on the first play of the 4 quarter, a 4 down catch from three yards out by Hunter, and caught a 2-point pass to make it 35-21. But TCU wasted no time getting back to a 3-score lead, going up 42-21 on a 6-yard TD run by with 10:23 left. McMillan broke the UA career receiving record with an 8-yard catch with just under 10 minutes remaining. The reception came early on a drive that ended with Fifita getting stopped for no gain on 4 and 2. TCU would then score its sixth rushing TD, a 30-yarder by with 5:25 to go. Arizona added a defensive TD late, with picking up a fumble and running 68 yards for the score. It was the Wildcats’ first defensive score of the season. It was a nightmare start for Arizona, as Fifita was picked off by TCU safety on the first play of the game, giving the Horned Frogs a short field right away. They capitalized with a 4-yard TD run from Battle just over two minutes into the game. The Wildcats’ second and third drives didn’t do much better, collecting 18 yards and two first downs, while TCU’s third possession also finished in the end zone on a 1-yard run by . Williams’ score was set up by a 40-yard catch and run inside the UA 10. Arizona’s fourth time with the ball was much better, with Fifita finding up the seam for a 51-yard catch and hitting Hunter in the end zone for a 17-yard TD reception that saw Hunter just keep his foot inbounds in the corner. The Wildcats cut it to 14-10 midway through the second quarter on a 53-yard field goal by , his sixth 50-yarder of the season and third in the last two games. Loop added a 43-yard field goal with 1:55 left before halftime, making it a 1-point game and giving the UA all the momentum. Then came a disastrous finish to the first half, with Arizona’s defense allowing long gains on 3 and 18 and 3 and 25 plus a 20-yard TD run by Williams on 4 and 1 with 13 seconds left before halftime. Kickoff time and TV info for the Territorial Cup is expected to be announced late Saturday or early Sunday.Donald Trump’s cabinet appointments and policy pronouncements have been dominating the headlines and many of these appointments and pronouncements have dire implications for China. The Chinese have noticed. They’re signaling some of the ways they will react if Trump tries to shut China out of the US market. You might even say they’re reacting pre-emptively. Trump has chosen China hawks for his secretary of state (Marco Rubio), national security advisor (Mike Walz) and ambassador to China (David Perdue). He has repeated his promises to impose 60% tariffs on Chinese products. The other day, he threatened the nine members of the BRICS bloc, which include China, with 100% tariffs if they attempt to replace the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency. The BRICS countries aren’t seriously threatening to do that – any time soon, at least. For the Chinese yuan – the obvious candidate – to play the reserve-currency role, China would have to liberate its controls on flows of capital. It doesn’t want to do that. But BRICS is an important part of China’s reaction to the risk of severe limitations on its access to the US market. The idea is diversification – relying more on other trading partners for both imports and exports. As US farmers can easily imagine, Brazil – the B in BRICS – is near the top of China’s dance card. The other reaction China is signaling is retaliation. When the Biden administration added new restrictions on chip technology exports to China in early December, it took China less than 24 hours to respond with that China mainly supplies. Diversification, though, may prove a particularly important part of the strategy. China is already the largest trading partner of more than 100 nations. What it needs to compensate for the loss of the US market is more trade with countries that have relatively large economies. Some of the BRICS nations are in that category. The bloc members are Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. India would be the big prize for China. It has the world’s largest population and, by one measure, the fifth largest gross domestic product. But India and China are rivals. India is wooing many of the foreign investors that are leaving China. The two countries have a long-running border dispute. Although they’ve made progress recently in de-escalating tensions, their diplomatic relationship has been described as Brazil has a population over 200 million and the world’s ninth largest economy, bigger even than Russia’s. China has been its largest trade partner since 2009. According to , Brazil is one of the few countries running a trade surplus with China. During Trump’s first term, the Economist calculates, Brazil’s exports to China nearly doubled. Ag exports played a leading role as China reacted to Trump’s tariffs by switching more of its ag-product purchases from the US to Brazil. That switch could become even more pronounced in Trump’s second term. by the American Soybean Association and National Corn Growers Association predicts aggressive new US tariffs against Chinese products would cost American soybean farmers $8 billion in lost value and corn farmers $5 billion. China also hopes to export more to Brazil. Its car makers are already selling electric vehicles there and two of them, BYD and Great Wall, are planning to open electric-car factories in Brazil next year. Those factories will doubtless import a lot of parts from China. SpaceSail, a Chinese challenger to Elon Musk’s Starlink in satellite telecommunications, recently signed an agreement to do business in Brazil. China and Brazil are drawing closer diplomatically, too. China recently d the status of its relationship with Brazil. Brazil’s left-wing president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, joins Chinese President Xi Jinping in supporting the BRICS’ aspirations for what one expert s “a world order independent of US hegemony.” Last year, China and Brazil with trading in their own currencies rather than in dollars. The value of the transaction was tiny but others could follow. If they do, they’ll test whether Trump is serious about those 100% tariffs for countries that reject the dollar. Brazil isn’t the whole answer for China, to be sure. But it would go some ways toward making up for lost market opportunities in the US. American farmers and ranchers must hope the US will find a market of similar size to compensate for what they could lose in China in the years ahead. .