Judge grants dismissal of election subversion case against TrumpUsher makes it a point to give back to the community and he’s investing in the youth once again with the launch of a Content Studio at the Whitehead Boys & Girls Club in Atlanta. The R&B legend made the initiative official with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Usher Raymond IV Spark Lap at the Boys & Girls Club of ATL on Monday (Dec. 9). Usher launched an Entertainment Industry Club (officially starting in 2025) and state-of-the-art Content Studio arming emerging creatives with the tools and resources necessary to thrive. “Returning to the Boys & Girls Clubs, where I discovered my passion, and launching this program in Atlanta is a full-circle moment for me,” Usher said. “The Spark Lab and Entertainment Industry Club is about providing our youth with the tools, confidence, and opportunities they need to turn their dreams into reality. It’s an honor to help inspire the next generation of leaders and innovators through After School programs.” While Usher’s been on the road performing, he made time to launch the Social Impact Tour in collaboration with his New Look foundation. Usher’s been able to help 4,800 kids along the trek across North America including stops in Brooklyn, Philly, Detroit, Oakland, Houston and more. “We are invested in our future. We’re invested in youth and I’m an example. I represent an amazing alumni,” Usher continued during a presser on Monday regarding his experience at the Boys & Girls Club. Kids with the Boys & Girls Club are excited about Usher’s involvement. “Usher’s a great guy, man. He’s giving a lot of these youth chances to help their community,” one member told Atlanta Now. Usher is getting ready to wrap up the North American leg of his Past Present Future tour with a handful of U.S. dates left this month with shows on tap for Atlanta and Miami before heading out to the U.K. in March.
It appears that McDonald’s 2022 “farewell tour” for its McRib was, like so many rock stars’ farewells, a little premature. The fast food giant will bring back the sandwich for a limited time during the holiday season. The launch is Dec. 3, according to a news release that didn’t include a price. McRib made its debut in 1981 and has been on and off McDonald’s menu ever since. It’s made with a boneless pork patty slathered in barbecue sauce and topped with slivered onions and pickles on a toasted bun. For the first time, McDonald’s will be selling the sauce in half-gallon jugs. The item is dubbed A Whole Lotta McRib Sauce and it will be available online only at wholelottamcribsauce.com beginning Monday, Nov. 25. The price is $19.99. The promotion includes a jingle with Rankin/Bass-type characters on YouTube . McDonald’s is also marking the season with the return of its Holiday Pie , a custard-filled pastry topped with rainbow sprinkles. It sells for about $1.99. McDonald’s prices vary by location. And McDonald’s has holiday cups with Doodles designs for hot McCafe beverages. Information: mcdonalds.com
ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) will be at the center of Asia Pacific-based organizations in their cybersecurity strategy in 2025, according to global cybersecurity provider Palo Alto Networks. “In 2025, our region will face a perfect storm of AI-driven cyber threats, escalating in scale, sophistication, and impact. The days of fragmented security approaches are over—organizations must pivot to unified platforms powered by transparent and trustworthy AI to stay ahead. As quantum attacks loom and deepfakes become mainstream tools of deception, businesses will either innovate or risk being outpaced by adversaries. The stakes have never been higher, and trust will be the ultimate currency in this new era of cybersecurity. Those who fail to adapt risk not just breaches but irreparable damage to their reputation and resilience,” said Simon Green, President, Asia Pacific and Japan at Palo Alto Networks. In its recent study, Palo Alto also outlined five key trends that cyber practitioners can expect to unfold in the coming 12 months and for which they can position their organizations for a more secure future. First prediction, according to Green: cyber infrastructure will be anchored around a single unified data security platform. In 2025, Green said the organizations will address heightened complexity by reducing the number of cybersecurity tools in use, and shifting to a unified platform, offering enhanced visibility and control. Nevertheless, the ongoing dearth in talented cybercrime experts will continue to accelerate this trend. On the other hand, Green said there is a benefit as a unified platform will provide end-to-end visibility and context, spanning code repositories, cloud workloads, networks, and security operations centers (SOCs). “Ultimately this creates a more holistic security architecture with fewer dashboards,” he said. Green said demolishing the silos and ensuring the confluence of all security layers onto a unified platform will optimize resources, improve overall efficiency, and enable organizations to build more resilient, adaptive defenses against evolving threats. According to Green, the second trend to watch is the proliferation of deepfakes which, he added, are already being used for nefarious purposes in the APAC region. While some have been used to spread political misinformation, Green said cybercriminals used it to target corporations for financial gain, like the employee at a Hong Kong engineering firm duped into wiring millions of dollars to a scammer who had used deepfakes to imitate the chief financial officer and executive team on a video conference. Classified as a synthetic media, deepfake is typically a video or image that has been edited using AI to replace a person’s likeness with someone else’s. Deepfakes are so deceiving that their manipulation, in skilled hands, can be incredibly convincing, making it difficult to distinguish between real and fake content. Deepfakes are created using advanced AI techniques, such as deep learning and generative adversarial networks (GANs). They can effectively manipulate facial expressions, speech, and even body language to create highly realistic and often deceptive content. Deepfakes can be used maliciously to spread misinformation, create fake news, or harm individuals’ reputations. While detecting deepfakes can be challenging, there are ongoing efforts to develop tools and techniques to identify them. Green said it’s important to be aware of deepfakes and to critically evaluate the information you encounter online. Green pointed out that clever criminals will capitalize on the ever-improving generative AI technology to launch credible deepfake attacks. He warned that the use of audio deepfakes will also become more prevalent in these attacks, as the available technology allows for highly credible voice cloning. “We can expect deepfakes to be used alone or as part of a larger attack much more often in 2025,” he said. In 2025, there will be a growth in quantum computing projects across APAC, with governments and venture capital firms investing heavily in local initiatives. While quantum attacks on widely used encryption methods are not yet feasible, Green warned that nation-state-backed threat actors are expected to intensify their “harvest now, decrypt later” tactics, targeting highly classified data with the intent to unlock it when quantum technology advances. “This poses a risk to governments and businesses, with the potential to jeopardize civilian and military communications, undermine critical infrastructure, and overcome security protocols for most internet-based financial transactions,” he said. “We will likely also see nation-state actors target organizations developing quantum computers themselves, in corporate espionage attacks,” he added. To counteract these threats effectively, Green urged all organizations to act and adopt quantum-resistant defenses, including quantum-resistant tunnelling, comprehensive crypto data libraries, and other technologies with enhanced crypto-agility. Transitioning to these algorithms will help secure data against future quantum threats. Organizations that require high security should explore quantum key distribution (QKD) as a means of ensuring secure communications. As quantum computing continues to become more and more of a reality and potential threats loom, Green said it will be essential to adopt these measures to keep pace with the rapidly evolving cyber landscape, prevent data theft and ensure the integrity of their critical systems. For now, he said CIOs can debunk any hype around this topic to the board. Though significant progress with quantum annealing has been made, he said military-grade encryption has still not been broken. Green said regulators in the APAC region are starting to focus on the data protection and cybersecurity implications of the growing use of AI models. Further, he said this is part of an overall bid to build trust in AI use and encourage AI-driven innovation. In 2025, expect APAC legislators’ AI focus on ethics, data protection and transparency to remain. However, Green said increased use of AI models will lead to greater emphasis being placed on AI security and the integrity and reliability of the data being used. “Transparency and proactive communication about AI model mechanics—specifically regarding data collection, training datasets, and decision-making processes—will be essential for building customer trust,” he said. In 2025, Green said organizations are expected to focus more on product integrity and supply chain resilience. Furthermore, Green said organizations will conduct much more thorough risk assessments, consider accountability and legal implications of business outages and review insurance arrangements. In cloud environments, where complexity and scale amplify risks, real-time visibility has become a necessity. “Expect to see greater focus on comprehensive monitoring involving continuous tracking of both infrastructure and application performance metrics,” he said. Oscar Visaya, Country Manager, Philippines, at Palo Alto Networks, said the Philippines has shown improvement in its standing as far as cybersecurity security is concerned. “As cybersecurity takes center stage across public and private sectors, reflected in the Philippines’ rise from 61st to 53rd in the 2024 UN Global Cybersecurity Index, these predictions aim to help organizations navigate 2025,” he said. “With local insights—such as deepfakes and cyberattacks fueled by rapid digitalization—and trends across Asia-Pacific, prioritizing unified security platforms and AI advancements will be critical to securing the Philippines’ digital future,” he added. Image credits: PASAN JAYASEKARA ARACHCHI VIA DREAMSTIME.COM , TERO VESALAINEN VIA DREAMSTIME.COM Rizal Raoul S. Reyes has covered technology, science, business, property and special reports. He had working stints with the Business Star, Manila Bulletin and Independent Daily News.SAO PAULO (AP) — federal police said Thursday they indicted former President Jair and 36 other people for allegedly attempting a coup to keep him in office after his defeat in the 2022 elections. Police said their findings were being delivered Thursday to Brazil’s Supreme Court, which must decide whether to refer them to Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet, who will either formally charge Bolsonaro and put him on trial, or toss the investigation. The former right-wing president has denied all claims he tried to stay in office after in 2022 to his rival, leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro has faced a series of legal threats since then. Police said in a brief statement that the Supreme Court had agreed to reveal the names of all 37 people who were indicted “to avoid the dissemination of incorrect news.” The 700-page police document likely will take several days for the court to review, Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes said. Dozens of former and current Bolsonaro aides also were indicted, including Gen. Walter Braga Netto, who was his running mate in the 2022 campaign; former Army commander Gen. Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira; Valdemar Costa Neto, the chairman of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party; and his veteran former adviser, Gen. Augusto Heleno. The investigation started last year. On Tuesday, four military men and one federal police agent . Other investigations focus on Bolosnaro’s potential roles in into Brazil without properly declaring them, and in directing a subordinate to falsify his and others’ COVID-19 vaccination statuses. Bolsonaro has denied any involvement in either. Another probe found that he had to cast doubt on the country’s voting system, and judges barred him from running again until 2030. The far-reaching investigations have weakened Bolsonaro’s status as a leader of Brazil’s right wing, said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo. “Bolsonaro is already barred from running in the 2026 elections,” Melo told the The Associated Press. “And if he is convicted he could also be jailed by then. To avoid being behind bars, he will have to convince Supreme Court justices that he has nothing to do with a plot that involves dozens of his aids. That’s a very tall order,” Melo said. On Tuesday, the federal police arrested four military and a federal police officer to overthrow the government following the 2022 elections, including alleged plans to kill Lula and other top officials.
US Stocks Dips As Inflation Makes Little ProgressLiverpool will target Bayer Leverkusen's Jeremie Frimpong if Trent Alexander-Arnold joins Real Madrid, Milos Kerkez is wanted by two Premier League clubs, Chelsea could move for Ipswich's Liam Delap. Liverpool will target Bayer Leverkusen's 23-year-old Netherlands defender Jeremie Frimpong should England right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, 26, move to Real Madrid this summer. (Bild - in German) , external Liverpool and Real held talks over Alexander-Arnold's future before the pair's Champions League game at Anfield on Wednesday. (Marca - in Spanish) , external Bournemouth's 21-year-old Hungary defender Milos Kerkez is drawing attention from Manchester United and Liverpool . (Sky Germany via Florian Plettenberg) , external Manchester United have a shortlist of three more left-backs, including Chelsea's 27-year-old England international Ben Chilwell, Wolves' 23-year-old Algeria international Rayan Ait-Nouri and 21-year-old Spaniard Alvaro Carreras, who plays for Benfica. (Rudy Galetti) , external Chelsea are keen on Ipswich’s 21-year-old English striker Liam Delap, but could face competition from former club Manchester City. (Football Insider) , external Barcelona’s Netherlands midfielder Frenkie de Jong, 27, could join Liverpool next summer. (Fichajes – in Spanish) , external Sevilla are considering ending the loan deal of Brighton’s 20-year-old Argentine defender Valentin Barco in January. (Fabrizio Romano) , external Aston Villa remain interested in Besiktas' Turkey striker Semih Kilicsoy, but will have to battle PSG for the 19-year-old's signature in January. (Star - in Turkish) , external Arsenal have held talks over the potential signing of England midfielder Adam Wharton, with Crystal Palace valuing the 20-year-old at around 65m euros (£54.1m). (Caught Offside) , external Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has identified Real Sociedad's 25-year-old Spain midfielder Martin Zubimendi, Bayer Leverkusen's 21-year-old Germany midfielder Florian Wirtz and Sporting's 24-year-old Uruguay winger Maximiliano Araujo as January transfer targets. ( Fichajes - in Spanish , external ) Aston Villa are interested in Mainz's 28-year-old Germany midfielder Nadiem Amiri. (Bild - in German) , external Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool are all keen on Atalanta's Brazil midfielder Ederson, but it will take a monster offer to sign the 25-year-old. (Teamtalk) , external Fiorentina and Napoli are eyeing a loan deal for Arsenal defender Jakub Kiwior but it's unlikely manager Mikel Arteta will let the 24-year-old Poland international leave the Gunners in January. (Tuttomercato - in Italian) , external
Article content The provincial government plans to invest up to $50 million to fund an open-access drilling test site to allow companies to develop new drilling techniques. Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said Canada currently does not have an open-access test site and the Alberta Drilling Accelerator could spur innovative drilling technologies to support development in the geothermal, lithium, oil, and natural gas industries. “This accelerator will be open to companies big and small, driving breakthroughs in geothermal and many other sectors,” Schulz said. While the location for the test site has yet to be finalized, Premier Danielle Smith said at a Monday news conference in Leduc County, 35 km south of Edmonton, that the project will mean “big things” for oil and gas exploration in the province and will be vital in achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. “What we’re doing here today is setting the stage for innovation and prosperity far into the future,” Smith said. “By providing a test site for new drilling techniques, we’ll be expanding our already vast knowledge base and keeping Alberta out in front as a preferred global energy provider, but supporting the development of technology the world desperately needs to support its sustainability goals.” Last April, the Alberta government invested $750,000 towards a feasibility study on the project conducted by Eavor Technologies and the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors and Geothermal Energy Association. The study found that creating an industry-led accelerator would be both economically and environmentally viable. Jeanine Vany, executive vice-president of corporate affairs at Eavor Technologies, said sites have not been finalized but the area currently being considered is small and the location will be announced in 2025. “We are going to be near high road corridors and supply hubs, which is very important, and international airports, so a very central location in a very geologically robust area,” Vany said. “The industry’s vision is that this is just the beginning, and we really hope that it can be active for a long period of time.” ‘There’s no clear plan’: NDP Alberta NDP energy and minerals critic Nagwan Al-Guneid said supporting geothermal energy is a welcome announcement but added she is unclear about how the province plans to reach its carbon neutrality by 2050 goal. “What I’m hearing from the industry is that they’re unable to invest in clean energy in Alberta,” Al-Guneid said. “There are no targets. There’s no clear plan. We have a so-called climate plan in Alberta, but there is no funding, there’s no implementation plan for it. So I’m not too sure how the province plans to achieve any target if it doesn’t have an actual plan.” The project will be funded through a public-private partnership model with the $50 million being invested from the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) program. The province said the Alberta Drilling Accelerator could potentially start drilling in 2026 or earlier. Smith told reporters an announcement will be coming in the next week on how the province plans to make good on its promise to fight the federal government’s emissions cap regulations. ctran@postmedia.com X: @kccindytran Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here. You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.
Shatel: Nebraska is going to a bowl game again — and here are some dream matchupsMEMPHIS, Tenn. , Nov. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- First Horizon Corporation (NYSE: FHN or "First Horizon") is pleased to announce the naming of Tyler Craft as Head of Investor Relations, effective January 1, 2025 . Craft will succeed Natalie Flanders as Head of Investor Relations, reporting to Chief Financial Officer Hope Dmuchowski . In this role, he will manage relationships with investors and articulate First Horizon's financial vision and strategy. Currently serving as Director of Transformation - Fintech and Emerging Technology, Craft has been instrumental in advancing the company's fintech initiatives, leading ventures in robotic process automation, artificial intelligence and fraud prevention enhancements. Throughout his 14-year tenure with the organization, he has held numerous positions, played a lead role in the company's 2023 Investor Day and has made key contributions to major integrations. Prior to First Horizon, he was the Director of Product at Capital Bank, leading finance-related functions and overseeing the bank's ALLL and loan valuation modeling, in addition to his involvement in multiple mergers. "Tyler will do an exceptional job leading our investor relations efforts," said Hope Dmuchowski , Chief Financial Officer for First Horizon. "His experience in the financial services industry and tenure with our organization make him an invaluable resource to our investors, executive leadership team and our board of directors as we remain focused on delivering long-term shareholder value." Flanders will join the Risk Organization as Director of Credit & Financial Risk. Dmuchowski commented, "Natalie took on this role at a very critical time and has done an exceptional job over the last 18 months re-engaging with investors and strengthening our investor relations strategy. As she has in each role she has served, Natalie will continue to be a tremendous asset to the organization and in her leadership role within our risk management organization." About First Horizon First Horizon Corp. (NYSE: FHN), with $82.6 billion in assets as of September 30, 2024 , is a leading regional financial services company, dedicated to helping our clients, communities and associates unlock their full potential with capital and counsel. Headquartered in Memphis, TN , the banking subsidiary First Horizon Bank operates in 12 states across the southern U.S. The Company and its subsidiaries offer commercial, private banking, consumer, small business, wealth and trust management, retail brokerage, capital markets, fixed income, and mortgage banking services. First Horizon has been recognized as one of the nation's best employers by Fortune and Forbes magazines and a Top 10 Most Reputable U.S. Bank. More information is available at www.FirstHorizon.com . View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/first-horizon-names-new-head-of-investor-relations-302317921.html SOURCE First Horizon Corporation
Newport News council to consider banning guns from government buildingsNone
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