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Election 2024: First winners and losers emerge as counts pick up pace this eveningAn Israeli airstrike flattened a multistory building in central Gaza, killing at least 25 people and wounding dozens more, according to Palestinian medical officials, after strikes Thursday across the Gaza Strip killed at least 28 others. The latest deadly strike hit the urban Nuseirat refugee camp just hours after U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters in Jerusalem that the recent ceasefire in Lebanon has helped clear the way for a potential deal to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the deadly strike in Nuseirat. Israel says it is trying to eliminate Hamas, which led the attack on southern Israel in October 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza . The Israeli military says Hamas militants hide among Gaza’s civilian population. The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine in some of the hardest-hit parts of the territory. Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and around 250 others were taken hostage. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Here's the latest: Syrian exile group says transitional government should be formed through a U.N.-backed process DAMASCUS, Syria — Mohammad Salim Alkhateb, an official with the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces — an internationally backed group of the opposition in exile — said his group wants to see a transitional government formed via a United Nations-backed process in the wake of Bashar Assad ouster. It is not yet clear if Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main rebel group now in control of Syria, will pursue such a process. The insurgents have said an interim government headed by Mohammad al-Bashir, who is also the head of the “salvation government” of HTS in its former stronghold in northern Syria, will oversee the country until March but have not made clear how the transition to a new, fully empowered government would take place. “The transitional governing body should be formed in Geneva to have international legitimacy,” said Alkhateb, who is now in Damascus. “The transitional governing body, whatever its form, whether it is the ‘salvation government’ or any other, what matters is that it has international recognition.” Alkhateb said that the unexpectedly rapid fall of Damascus and departure of Assad after opposition forces launched their offensive had created confusion and a governance vacuum. A day before the insurgents pushed into Damascus, diplomats from countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Iran and Russia met in Qatar to discuss the situation in Syria. Alkhateb said that they had discussed a scenario in which the rebels would halt their advance, keeping the territory they had captured so far in the north — including Syria’s largest city, Aleppo — and the opposition and Assad’s government would go to Geneva for talks on a political settlement to the conflict. However, he noted, “there were no Syrians in that meeting.” Assad fled to Russia before the rebel forces arrived in Damascus but has not officially announced his resignation, which is “why we are living in a vacuum rather than a political transition,” Alkhateb said. He added that creating a professional army should be a priority of the transitional government. “We do not want a civilian who was trained during the revolution to carry military weapons to become the military,” he said. Israel bombed hundreds of military sites in Syria this week in a wave of airstrikes that destroyed “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles” in the country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the wave of airstrikes in neighboring Syria was necessary to keep the weapons from being used against Israel following the Syrian government’s stunning collapse . Biden administration says missing American journalist in Syria ‘is a top priority’ WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Peirre says Austin Tice, an American journalist missing in Syria for 12 years, “is a top priority for this president.” During a briefing with reporters on Thursday, Jean-Pierre said of Tice, “There is no indication that he is not alive. There’s also no indication about his location or condition.” “What our goal is, is to bring him home. And so, we hope certainly that he is alive and, as we have stated many times before, we are talking through this with the Turks and we want to do everything we can to bring him home,” she said. Four Israeli strikes in Lebanon should be investigated as war crimes, rights group says BEIRUT — Amnesty International said Thursday that four Israeli airstrikes between September and October that killed at least 49 civilians in Lebanon “must be investigated as war crimes.” The rights organization said in a new report that the four strikes targeted homes in the Bekaa Valley, northern and eastern Lebanon, and municipal offices in the south. “These four attacks are emblematic of Israel’s shocking disregard for civilian lives in Lebanon and their willingness to flout international law,” said Amnesty International’s Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns. The rights group said this report was part of its ongoing investigation into violations of the laws of war in Lebanon. Amnesty International investigated four Israeli airstrikes, including one on Sept. 29 in al-Ain that killed all nine members of the same family. On Oct. 21, a strike in Baalbek city in eastern Lebanon killed six members of the same family. Another on Oct. 14 in the village of Aitou in northern Lebanon killed 23 displaced people, including a 5-month-old baby. A fragment from the attack site in Aitou was identified by an Amnesty weapons expert as likely part of a Mk-80 series aerial bomb, weighing at least 500 pounds. These munitions are primarily supplied to Israel by the United States, Amnesty said. The fourth strike Amnesty investigated was the strike that hit the municipal headquarters in Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, on Oct. 16, killing 11 civilians including the mayor. “The air strike took place without warning, just as the municipality’s crisis unit was meeting to coordinate deliveries of aid, including food, water and medicine, to residents and internally displaced people who had fled bombardment in other parts of southern Lebanon,” Amnesty said. The rights group said it interviewed survivors and witnesses, examined evidence, and found no military targets near the sites of the four strikes. The Israeli military gave no warnings and did not respond to Amnesty’s inquiries, the group said. Israeli strike on a multistory building in Gaza kills at least 25 people and wounds dozens DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike hit the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least 25 Palestinians and wounding dozens more, Palestinian medics said, just hours after President Joe Biden’s national security adviser raised hopes about a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza. Photos from the scene of the blast that circulated on social media showed a completely collapsed building with people walking through its mangled and charred remains, smoke rising from piles of belongings strewn over the rubble. Officials at two hospitals in the Gaza Strip, al-Awda Hospital in the north and al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, reported they received a combined total of 25 bodies from an Israeli strike on a multistory residential building in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp. Palestinian medics also reported that over 40 people, most of them children, were receiving treatment at the two hospitals. The al-Aqsa Hospital said that the Israeli attack also damaged several nearby houses in Nuseirat. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the deadly strike. Israel is trying to eliminate Hamas, which led the attack on southern Israel in October 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza . The Israeli military says Hamas militants hide among Gaza’s civilian population. Israel’s war against Hamas has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine. Israel says it allows enough aid to enter and blames U.N. agencies for not distributing it. The U.N. says Israeli restrictions, and the breakdown of law and order after Israel repeatedly targeted the Hamas-run police force, make it extremely difficult to operate in the territory. UN food agency faces challenges in Syria UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. food agency is trying to deal with massive needs in Syria not only from escalating war-related food insecurity and an upsurge in displaced people fleeing Lebanon but also the dramatically new environment following the ouster of Bashar Assad, a senior U.N. official says. “It’s a triple crisis and the needs are going to be massive,” said Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program, in an interview with The Associated Press late Wednesday. The WFP estimated that 3 million people in Syria were “acutely food insecure” and very hungry. However, that estimate was made before the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon pushed many Syrian refugees back to their home country, plus the instability caused by the overthrow of Assad. Due to funding cuts, the WFP had been targeting only 2 million of those people, he said. Because WFP has been working in Syria during the 13-year civil war, he said, it has pre-positioned food in the country. It has 500 staff in seven offices nationwide and has operated across conflict lines, across borders, and with all different parties, he said. Skau said Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main rebel group now in control of Syria, has promised to provide security for WFP warehouses. Humanitarian aid supplies had been looted at U.N. warehouses in the disorder after Assad fell. “We’re not really up and running in Damascus because of the continued kind of uncertainty there,” he said. WFP initially thought of relocating non-essential staff but the situation in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, has been “quite calm and orderly," he said. In the short term, Skau said, “what we’re seeing is that markets are disrupted, the value of the currency dropped dramatically, food prices are going up, transport lines don’t work,” and it’s unclear who will stamp required papers for imports and exports. This means that a bigger humanitarian response is needed initially, he said, but in the next phase, the U,N. will be looking at contributing to Syria’s recovery, and ultimately the country will need reconstruction. Skau said he expects a new funding appeal for Syria and urged donors to be generous. A top US official says the truce in Lebanon may help seal a Gaza ceasefire deal JERUSALEM — President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters in Jerusalem on Thursday that Israel’s ceasefire in Lebanon has helped clear the way for another deal to end the war in Gaza. He plans to travel next to Qatar and Egypt — key mediators in the ceasefire talks — as the Biden administration makes a final push on negotiations before Donald Trump is inaugurated. Sullivan said “Hamas’ posture at the negotiating table did adapt” after Israel decimated the leadership of its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon and reached a ceasefire there. “We believe it puts us in a position to close this negotiation,” he said. Sullivan dismissed speculation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was waiting for Trump to take office to finalize a deal. He the U.S. believes there are three American hostages still alive in Gaza, but it’s hard to know for sure. He also said “the balance of power in the Middle East has changed significantly” since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, especially with the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, a key ally of Hezbollah and Iran. “We are now faced with a dramatically reshaped Middle East in which Israel is stronger, Iran is weaker, its proxies decimated, and a ceasefire that is new and will be lasting in Lebanon that ensures Israel’s security over the long term,” he said. Israel launches deadly strike on a Lebanese border town just hours after withdrawing troops KHIAM, Lebanon — An Israeli strike killed at least one person Thursday in the Lebanese border town of Khiam, the Health Ministry said, less than a day after Israeli troops handed the hilltop village back to the Lebanese army in coordination with U.N. peacekeepers, Khiam is the first Lebanese town Israel has pull out of since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah militants began two weeks ago, and marks an important test of the fragile truce . Lebanon's Health Ministry and state news agency did not provide details on who was killed, and did not report airstrikes elsewhere on Thursday. The Israeli military said the airstrike in Khiam targeted Hezbollah fighters. Lebanese troops deployed in the northern section of the town on Thursday morning and were coordinating with U.N. peacekeepers to finalize Israel’s withdrawal before fully entering into other neighborhoods. An Associated Press reporter who visited Khiam on Thursday observed widespread destruction, with most houses reduced to rubble. Entire neighborhoods were flattened, with collapsed walls and debris scattered across the streets. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, sharply criticized Israel for striking the town less than 24 hours after the Lebanese army returned, saying it was “a violation of the pledges made by the parties that sponsored the ceasefire agreement, who must act to curb Israeli aggression.” The truce was brokered by the U.S. and France. Israel has previously said the ceasefire deal allows it to use military force against perceived violations. Near-daily attacks by Israel during the ceasefire, mostly in southern Lebanon, have killed at least 29 people and wounded 27 others. Khiam, which sits on a ridge less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the border with Israel, saw some of the most intense fighting during the war. The Lebanese army was clearing debris and reopening roads in the northern section of the town. Civilian access to other areas remained challenging as the army clears roads and works alongside the U.N. peacekeepers to ensure the area is free of unexploded ordnance. Blinken urges the many players in Syria to avoid taking any steps that could lead to violence AQABA, Jordan -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging the many players in Syria to avoid taking any steps that could lead to further violence. Blinken spoke to reporters in Jordan on Thursday shortly after meeting King Abdullah II as he opened a trip in the region to discuss Syria's future after former President Bashar Assad's ouster. Blinken will next visit Turkey, a NATO ally and a main backer of Syrian rebel groups. Blinken called this “a time of both real promise but also peril for Syria and for its neighbors.” He said he was focused on coordinating efforts in the region “to support the Syrian people as they transition away from Assad’s brutal dictatorship” and establish a government that isn’t dominated by one religion or ethnic group or outside power. Blinken was asked about Israel’s incursion into a buffer zone that had been demilitarized for the past half century. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the move is temporary and defensive, but also indicated Israel will remain in the area for a long time. Blinken declined to say whether the U.S. supports the move, but said the U.S. would be speaking to Israel and other partners in the region. “I think, across the board, when it comes to any actors who have real interests in Syria, it’s also really important at this time that, we all try to make sure that we’re not sparking any additional conflicts,” he said. Turkish spy chief makes symbolic visit to pray in Damascus after Assad's fall ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, arrived in Damascus on Thursday, according to Turkish media reports. Kalin was seen arriving at the Umayyad Mosque to pray, surrounded by a large crowd, according to video shown on Turkish television. The visit is highly symbolic. Turkish officials, who supported the opposition against Syria’s government, had predicted at the start of the civil war in 2011 that President Bashar Assad’s government would fall, allowing them to pray at the Umayyad Mosque. Paraguay reopens embassy in Jerusalem in diplomatic victory for Netanyahu JERUSALEM — Paraguay reopened its embassy in Jerusalem Thursday, becoming one of a small handful of nations to recognize the city as Israel’s capital and marking a diplomatic victory for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel’s international isolation has increased as the war in Gaza drags on, and Paraguay was the first country to move its embassy to Jerusalem since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack that kickstarted the war. The United States, Honduras, Guatemala, Kosovo, and Papua New Guinea are among the few countries with Jerusalem embassies. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in 1967 but it wasn’t recognized by the international community, and most countries run their embassies out of Tel Aviv. Spirits were high at the ceremony marking the embassy’s inauguration Thursday, with Netanyahu and Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar lavishing praise on Paraguayan President Santiago Pena. “My good friend Santiago,” said Netanyahu, addressing Pena. “We’re a small nation. You’re a small nation. We suffered horrible things but we overcame the odds of history...we can win and we are winning.” Paraguay had an embassy in Jerusalem in 2018, under Former President Horacio Cartes. That embassy was moved back to Tel Aviv by Cartes’ successor, Mario Abdo Benitez, prompting Israel to close its embassy in Asuncion. Saar said Israel and Paraguay shared a “friendship based not only on interests but also values and principles.” He and the Paraguayan foreign minister, Rubén Ramírez Lezcano, signed a series of bilateral agreements and Saar said he would soon visit Asunción with a delegation from the Israeli private sector. “Israel is going to win and the countries we are standing next to Israel, we are going to win," Pena said. US Secretary of State Blinken renews calls for inclusion, stability in Syria in Mideast visit AQABA, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is renewing calls for Syria’s new leadership to respect women and minority rights, prevent extremists from gaining new footholds in the country and keeping suspected chemical weapons stocks secure as he makes his first visit to the Mideast since the weekend ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad . Making his 12th trip to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war erupted lasted year but amid fresh concerns about security following the upheaval in Syria, Blinken emphasized Thursday to Jordan’s King Abdullah II U.S. “support for an inclusive transition that can lead to an accountable and representative Syrian government chosen by the Syrian people,” the State Department said. Blinken also repeated the importance the outgoing Biden administration puts on respect for human rights and international law, the protection of civilians and stopping terrorist groups from reconstituting. Blinken met with the monarch and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Aqaba before traveling to Turkey for talks with Turkish officials on the situation in Syria and the urgency of securing a long-elusive deal to release hostages and end the fighting in Gaza that has devastated the Palestinian territory since October 2023. Abdullah told Blinken that “the first step to reach comprehensive regional calm is to end the Israeli war on Gaza." UN envoy urges authorities to collect evidence from Syrian detention centers GENEVA — The U.N. envoy for Syria is calling on authorities to save evidence from detention centers that were a hub of “unimaginable barbarity” that Syrians have faced for many years and cooperate with international investigators looking into such crimes. Geir Pederson referred to new images from the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of the capital, Damascus, after President Bashar Assad fled Syria as armed groups stormed in to overthrow his government over the weekend. “The images from Saydnaya and other detention facilities starkly underscore the unimaginable barbarity Syrians have endured and reported for years,” Pedersen said in a statement. Documentation and testimonies “only scratch the surface of the carceral system’s horrors,” he added. Pedersen urged authorities to cooperate with U.N. bodies like an independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which was created in 2011, and an independent group known as the IIIM that was set up five years later to also compile evidence of crimes. G7 leaders say they support an inclusive political transition in Syria ROME — Leaders of the Group of 7 industrialized nations offered their full support for an inclusive political transition in Syria and invited all parties to preserve the country’s territorial integrity. In a message released by Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office, the leaders said they were ready to support a transition that “leads to a credible government, inclusive and not sectarian, that guarantees respect for the state of law, universal human rights, including rights for women, (and) the protection of all Syrians, including religious and ethnic minorities.” The leaders also underlined the importance that ousted President Bashar Assad’s government is held responsible for crimes, citing “decades of atrocities.” They said they would also cooperate with groups working to prohibit chemical weapons “to secure, declare and destroy” remaining chemical arms in Syria. Italy currently holds the rotating presidency of the G-7, which also includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United States. Israel's military says it hit Hamas militants in two locations in southern Gaza JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it struck Hamas militants in two locations in the southern Gaza Strip who planned to hijack aid convoys. Palestinian Health officials had earlier said that the two strikes killed 15 men who were part of local committees established to secure aid deliveries. The committees have been organized in cooperation with the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza. It was not possible to independently confirm either account of the strikes, which occurred overnight into Thursday. Israel has long accused Hamas of hijacking humanitarian aid deliveries, while U.N. officials have said there is no systemic diversion of aid . U.N. agencies and aid groups say deliveries are held up by Israeli restrictions on the entry of aid and movement within Gaza, as well as the breakdown of law and order more than 14 months into the war between Israel and Hamas. Israel has repeatedly targeted the Hamas-run police force, which maintained internal security before the war. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, the main aid provider in Gaza, said a U.N. convoy of 70 trucks carrying humanitarian aid in southern Gaza “was involved in a serious incident,” resulting in just one of the trucks reaching its destination. It did not provide further details on the incident but said the same route had been used successfully two days earlier. Israel’s offensive, launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, leaving the territory heavily reliant on international food aid. American who says he crossed into Syria by foot is free after 7 months in detention DAMASCUS, Syria — An American who turned up in Syria on Thursday says he was detained after crossing into the country by foot on a Christian pilgrimage seven months ago. Travis Timmerman appears to have been among thousands of people released from the country’s notorious prisons after rebels reached Damascus over the weekend, overthrowing President Bashar Assad and ending his family’s 54-year rule. As video emerged online of Timmerman on Thursday, he was initially mistaken by some for Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in Syria 12 years ago. In the video, Timmerman could be seen lying on a mattress under a blanket in what appeared to be a private house. A group of men in the video said he was being treated well and would be safely returned home. The Biden administration is working to bring Timmerman home, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Aqaba, Jordan, without offering details, citing privacy. Timmerman later gave an interview with the Al-Arabiya TV network, saying he had illegally crossed into Syria on foot from the eastern Lebanese town of Zahle seven months ago, before being detained. He said he was treated well in detention but could hear other men being tortured. US Secretary of State Blinken visits Mideast after Assad's ouster in Syria AQABA, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Jordan on his 12th visit to the Mideast since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year and his first since the weekend ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad that has sparked new fears of instability in a region wracked by three conflicts despite a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon. Blinken was meeting in Aqaba with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Thursday before traveling to Turkey for talks with Turkish officials on Friday. The meetings will focus largely on Syria but also touch on long-elusive hopes for a deal to end the fighting in Gaza that has devastated the Palestinian territory since October 2023. Blinken is the latest senior U.S. official to visit the Middle East in the five days since Assad was deposed as the Biden administration navigates more volatility in the region in its last few weeks in office and as President-elect Donald Trump has said the U.S. should stay out of the Syrian conflict. Other include national security adviser Jake Sullivan and a top military commander who traveled there as the U.S. and Israel have launched airstrikes to prevent the Islamic State militant group from reconstituting and prevent materiel and suspected chemical weapons stocks from falling into militant hands. Blinken “will discuss the need for the transition process and new government in Syria to respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance, prevent Syria from being used as a base of terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbors, and ensure that chemical weapons stockpiles are secured and safely destroyed,” the State Department said. The U.S. would be willing to recognize and fully support a new Syrian government that met those criteria. U.S. officials say they are not actively reviewing the foreign terrorist organization designation of the main Syrian rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, which was once an al-Qaida affiliate, but stressed they are not barred from speaking to its members. Netanyahu says Israeli forces will remain in Syrian buffer zone until border security is guaranteed JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israeli forces will remain in a Syrian buffer zone until a new force on the other side of the border can guarantee security. After the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Israeli forces pushed into a buffer zone that had been established after the 1973 Mideast war. The military says it has seized additional strategic points nearby. Israeli officials have said the move is temporary, but Netanyahu’s conditions could take months or even years to fulfill as Syria charts its post-Assad future, raising the prospect of an open-ended Israeli presence in the country. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Thursday that Assad’s overthrow by jihadi rebels created a vacuum on the border. “Israel will not permit jihadi groups to fill that vacuum and threaten Israeli communities on the Golan Heights with October 7th style attacks,” it said, referring to Hamas’ 2023 attack out of Gaza, which ignited the war there. “That is why Israeli forces entered the buffer zone and took control of strategic sites near Israel’s border.” The statement added that “this deployment is temporary until a force that is committed to the 1974 agreement can be established and security on our border can be guaranteed.” The buffer zone is adjacent to the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed. The international community, except for the United States, views the Golan as occupied Syrian territory. Attacker who fatally shot boy on a bus in the West Bank turns himself in, military says JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said Thursday that the attacker who fatally shot a 12-year-old Israeli boy in the occupied West Bank overnight turned himself in to authorities. The attacker opened fire on a bus near the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit, critically wounding the boy, who hospital authorities pronounced dead in the early morning. Three others were wounded in the attack, paramedics said. The shooting took place just outside Jerusalem in an area near major Israeli settlements. Indonesia evacuates 37 citizens from Syria JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Indonesian government has evacuated 37 citizens from Syria following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government, officials said Thursday. The evacuees were taken by land from Damascus to Beirut, where they boarded three commercial flights to Jakarta, said Judha Nugraha, director of citizen protection at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The Indonesian Embassy in Damascus said all 1,162 Indonesian citizens in Syria were safe. Indonesian Ambassador to Syria Wajid Fauzi said the situation in Syria has gradually returned to normal. “I can say that 98% of people’s lives are back to normal, shops are open, public transportation has started running,” Fauzi said, adding that most Indonesian nationals living in Syria had chosen to stay. Israeli airstrikes kill at least 28 people, including 7 children, Palestinian medical officials say DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian medical officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 28 people in the Gaza Strip, including seven children and a woman. One of the strikes overnight and into Thursday flattened a house in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah, where the casualties were taken. An Associated Press reporter saw the bodies at the hospital’s morgue. Two other strikes killed 15 men who were part of local committees established to secure aid convoys . The committees were set up by displaced Palestinians in coordination with the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. The Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis received the bodies and an AP reporter counted them. The hospital said eight were killed in a strike near the southern border town of Rafah and seven others in a strike 30 minutes later near Khan Younis. The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine. Israel says it allows enough aid to enter and blames U.N. agencies for not distributing it. The U.N. says Israeli restrictions, and the breakdown of law and order after Israel repeatedly targeted the Hamas-run police force, make it extremely difficult to operate in the territory. UN General Assembly demands ceasefire in Gaza and backs UN agency helping Palestinian refugees UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved resolutions Wednesday demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and backing the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees that Israel has moved to ban . The votes in the 193-nation world body were 158-9 with 13 abstentions to demand a ceasefire now and 159-9 with 11 abstentions to support the agency known as UNRWA. The votes culminated two days of speeches overwhelmingly calling for an end to the 14-month war between Israel and the militant Hamas group . General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, though they reflect world opinion. There are no vetoes in the assembly. Israel and its close ally, the United States, were in a tiny minority speaking and voting against the resolutions.

AI in Games Market to grow by USD 4.5 Billion from 2024-2028, fueled by rising adoption of AR and VR games, Report on AI-driven market evolution - Technavio'Emilia Pérez' leads Golden Globe nominations with 10, followed by 'The Brutalist' and 'Conclave'

NoneWilmington, Del., Dec. 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Participating in a tradition that has evolved since 1792, today, employees from Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) gathered on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as Guillermo Novo, chair and chief executive officer, Ashland, joined by company executives, rang the trading day’s opening bell . The event signifies a decade of evolution, resilience and sustainable solutions for the additives and specialty ingredients company and recognizes its 100-year anniversary. “I want to thank our employees for their dedication, our customers for their trust and our shareholders for their support over the years which continues to be the foundation of our success,” said Guillermo Novo, chair and chief executive officer, Ashland. From its origin of gavel banging to the modern workday bell ringing , the ritual marks the start and end of trading through the years and has come to celebrate economic growth and progress. One year ago, Ashland introduced seven new technology platforms aligned to the company’s pharmaceutical, personal care and specialty additives core, that extend to secondary markets with new and differentiated capabilities to unlock organic growth for Ashland and its customers worldwide. The platform solutions bring “new to the world” sustainable innovations, offering tunable choices to customers to enable the reshaping of their product portfolios, answering global megatrends, and responding to various regulatory landscapes. “As the stock market has demonstrated resilience through devastating lows and exuberant highs over time, Ashland has consistently transformed itself ahead of market trends from an oil and refining company to a matrixed chemical company, and from a broad chemicals and materials provider to the focused additives and specialty ingredients company we are today; integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) in our operating plans to responsibly solve for a better world,” said Novo. strategy update event Ashland is hosting a strategy update event for analysts and investors on December 10, 2024, in New York City. The company will provide an in-depth review of Ashland’s strategic priorities, key initiatives and financial objectives while emphasizing a proactive approach to market uncertainty in fiscal year 2025. The event includes presentations and prepared remarks from members of Ashland’s executive team, as well as breakout sessions for in-person attendees and an opportunity for both live and webcast attendees to ask questions during moderated Q&A sessions. “This was a year marked by recovery from prolonged inventory destocking in the materials sector, yet Ashland was able to deliver strategic progress, margin expansion, high-quality free cash flow, and disciplined execution across our global portfolio,” continued Novo. “Despite a complex operating environment, we demonstrated our ability to drive value through portfolio optimization, commercial excellence, and focused growth in our core markets. As we execute our strategy, we remain focused on delivering sustainable, profitable growth and long-term shareholder value. I look forward to providing more context during our upcoming event,” concluded Novo. To participate in Ashland’s strategy update event, interested participants must register for the event and have the option to attend via live webcast or in person. Presentations are expected to begin at 9:00 a.m. ET and conclude following Q&A sessions at 11:00 a.m. ET. After Q&A, in-person attendees will have the opportunity to discuss key initiatives with business line leaders and scientists in breakout sessions until 12:00 p.m ET. To register, participants should use the following link: registration page . Registration information and further event details will be posted on Ashland’s investor website at http://investor.ashland.com . A webcast of the event will be available live and can be accessed, along with supporting materials, through the Ashland website. A replay will be available within 24 hours of the live event and will be archived, along with supporting materials, on Ashland’s website for 12 months. Copies of the presentation may also be requested by sending an email to investor_relations@ashland.com About Ashland Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) is a global additives and specialty ingredients company with a conscious and proactive mindset for environmental, social and governance (ESG). The company serves customers in a wide range of consumer and industrial markets, including architectural coatings, construction, energy, food and beverage, personal care and pharmaceutical. Approximately 3,200 passionate, tenacious solvers thrive on developing practical, innovative and elegant solutions to complex problems for customers in more than 100 countries. Visit ashland.com and ashland.com/ESG to learn more. TM Trademark, Ashland or its subsidiaries, registered in various countries. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Attachments Press_Release_ASH_100_Yr_Bell_Ringing_20241209 100 yr anniversary lockup for PR Dec 2024

In twenty years of writing this column, I don’t believe I have ever written about a television series. Largely because I don’t watch a great deal of television. And when I do watch, it is usually long after whatever I am watching has ceased to be newsworthy. In 2010, when this column was only six years old, CBS premiered its new police drama, Blue Bloods . Fourteen years later, its finale is this Friday. I have been watching for most of that time. It has been an extraordinary run in a time when network television has been hemorrhaging audiences. The star is Tom Selleck, whose 293 episodes of Blue Bloods are added to the 158 episodes of Magnum P.I. he starred in over eight seasons in the 1980s. At nearly 450 weekly episodes, Selleck is likely one of the most successful primetime stars ever. Blue Bloods is not only a police drama. It’s a family drama about a police family. Selleck plays Francis Xavier Reagan, an Irish Catholic police commissioner of New York City, serving in a post first held by Theodore Roosevelt, whose portrait hangs in Reagan’s office. Widowed, he lives with his widower father, Henry Reagan, the retired NYPD commissioner. He has three sons and a daughter. The three boys are on the job in NYPD, though the eldest was killed by corrupt cops before the series begins. His daughter is an assistant district attorney in Manhattan. Law enforcement is the family business. Henry Reagan — “Pop,” the patriarch the Reagan clan — is played by Len Cariou , officer of the Order of Canada and member of the Order of Manitoba, a Winnipeg native whose theatre work included stints in Stratford. Blue Bloods has been so successful because it is not crime-driven, but character-driven. While police shows are interesting in that there is a puzzle to solve, the crimes themselves become monotonous. C.S. Lewis taught us that all sin is repetitive; it is virtue that is truly original. Blue Bloods is about a family trying to be virtuous in a profession that works daily amid the wages of sin. In a speech to the policy academy graduates, Frank Reagan tells them that their real foes might use new technology, but are ancient in form: pride, greed, envy, lust, and wrath. He is a worldly cop with a supernatural vision. The deadly sins are not only a professional concern for the Reagans; they too struggle with them. That’s part of the attraction. The Reagans are a Catholic family. They go to Mass on Sunday and have family dinner afterwards; the family dinner scenes — complete with them praying grace before meals — are the most distinctive and popular feature of the show. While they are the only primetime family that prays regularly on screen, they are not idealized. They struggle to do the right thing, even sometimes wrestling with what the right thing is. “The great scene is not going to be about the car chase,” executive producer Kevin Wade told me in a 2020 telephone interview. “The great scene is going to be about what happened in that car chase that affected the moral life or the inner life of our character.” Characters with power must decide how to wield it, and the police have power. Blue Bloods has been a pro-police show at time when policing itself has become controversial. “There is a dark side of the police because the police do a very dark job,” said Wade, immersed as they are in the evil men do. “We can’t tell good stories about good cops; we can tell good stories about good cops and bad cops and what makes one good and one the other.” As one who has written for years about the abuse of police and prosecutorial power, I never found Blue Bloods defensive, even when it defended the police. The show had the wisdom to know that institutions, like the NYPD and the Catholic Church — which figure prominently in the writing — are at their best when they confront the weakness and wickedness within. I suggested to Wade that what set Blue Bloods apart was that it was show about virtuous men. Grandfather, father and son are all widowers. It is about men being fathers and sons, and fatherhood is the oldest story that there is. Wade differed, thinking of Blue Bloods as being more about tribes. There is the police tribe, and also the military tribe (Pop served in Korea, Frank in Vietnam, Danny in Iraq), the Irish Catholic tribe, and the New York tribe. Unlike most Hollywood shows, which are written, shot, and edited in California, no matter where they are set, Blue Bloods is written, shot, cast and edited in New York by New Yorkers. New York itself is a character in the show. Tribes are the stage upon which fathers play their roles, handing down what is noble and what is not, trying over generations to sort out blood and belonging, and what priority to give them over against faith, honour, and duty. For fourteen years on Friday nights, all that was sorted out around the Reagan dinner table. In a time marked by crises of faith, family, fatherhood, and fraternity, Blue Bloods told stories worthy of our attention, which it held for so long. National PostNEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 9, 2024-- Deutsche Bank announced today its appointment as depositary bank for the NASDAQ-listed American Depositary Receipt program of Jinxin Technology Holding Company. Jinxin Technology Holding Company (NASDAQ: NAMI) is an innovative digital content service provider in China. Leveraging their digital content generation engine powered by AI/AR/VR/digital human technologies, they offer users digital content services through both their platform and the content distribution channels of their partners. They target K-9 students in China, with expertise in providing them digital and integrated educational contents.* In addition to specializing in administering cross-border equity structures such as New York Shares, American, and Global Depositary Receipts, Deutsche Bank provides corporates, financial institutions, hedge funds and supranational agencies around the world with trustee, agency, escrow, and related services. Deutsche Bank offers a very broad range of services for diverse products, from complex securitizations and project finance to syndicated loans, debt exchanges and restructurings. * This information was provided by Jinxin Technology Holding Company (December 2024). Depositary Receipt Information Country Cayman Islands incorporated holding company with operations conducted by subsidiaries in China Custodian Bank Deutsche Bank AG, Hong Kong Branch Effective Date December 9, 2024 Level III ADR CUSIP 47760D 102 ISIN US47760D1028 Symbol NAMI Exchange NASDAQ Current Ratio 1 ADS: 18 Ordinary shares Eligibility DTC Depositary Receipt Contacts New Business Development William Ng Tel: +852 2203 7889 www.adr.db.com Markets Distribution adr@db.com London Tel: +44 (0) 20 7547 6500 gtb.db.com New York Tel: +1 212 250 9100 Deutsche Bank provides commercial and investment banking, retail banking, transaction banking and asset and wealth management products and services to corporations, governments, institutional investors, small and medium-sized businesses, and private individuals. Deutsche Bank is Germany’s leading bank, with a strong position in Europe and a significant presence in the Americas and Asia Pacific. The Depositary Receipts have been registered pursuant to the US Securities Act of 1933 (the "Act"). The investment or investment service which is the subject of this notice is not available to retail clients as defined by the UK Financial Conduct Authority. This notice has been approved and/or communicated by Deutsche Bank AG New York. The services described in this notice are provided by Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas (Deutsche Bank) or by its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in accordance with appropriate local registration and regulation. Deutsche Bank is providing the attached notice strictly for information purposes and makes no claims or statement, nor does it warrant or in any way represent, as to the accuracy or completeness of the details contained herein or therein. This announcement appears as a matter of record only. Neither this announcement nor the information contained herein constitutes an offer or solicitation by Deutsche Bank or any other issuer or entity for the purchase or sale of any securities nor does it constitute a solicitation to any person in any jurisdiction where solicitation would be unlawful. No part of this notice may be copied or reproduced in any way without the prior written consent of Deutsche Bank. Past results are not an indication of future performance. Copyright© December 2024 Deutsche Bank AG. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241209904696/en/ CONTACT: For further information, please contact: Deutsche Bank AG Press & Media Relations Dylan Riddle Tel. +12122504982 Cell. +1(904)3866481 Emaildylan.riddle@db.com KEYWORD: NEW YORK UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: BANKING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FINANCE SOURCE: Deutsche Bank Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 12/09/2024 03:02 PM/DISC: 12/09/2024 03:02 PM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241209904696/en

Family shocked as they’re berated with sickening ‘racist’ insults: videoCALGARY, Alberta – Minnesota Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury bounded down the tunnel and onto the ice for his 1,000th NHL start and what was presumably the final start of his career in the home rink of the Edmonton Oilers — a team he’d beaten 16 times previously in his career. ADVERTISEMENT He corralled one of the dozens of pucks strewn around the ice and fired toward the cage he would soon be guarding. But his attempt at an empty-net goal was foiled when the puck he had shot hit another puck at the top of the crease and both slid to the corners of the rink. It was just the first thing that would go wrong for the guy teammates lovingly call “Flower” on this night. Less than 30 seconds into the game, he swung at a puck bouncing in his direction all the way from the red line. He missed, and the Oilers led 1-0 on a fluke that had the Rogers Place crowd roaring and smiling. After the initial shock wore off, Fleury was smiling too. “I haven’t played in so long, I wanted to do well and help the team, and at the beginning to let that one in, I was mad for a little bit and then I just laughed. It was so stupid,” he said following Minnesota’s 5-3 win, which gave him a 4-0-1 record for the season. “The guys came by and they gave me a tap, and they laughed and kind of made it a little lighter. And they battled well, nobody sat back.” ADVERTISEMENT Just under 60 minutes of game time later, Flower was the one grinning in the Wild locker room as Minnesota won its ninth road game in a dozen opportunities. Fleury finished with 28 saves, and the other two Edmonton goals both went off the skates of Wild defenders. In the first period, he made a sprawling poke-check save to thwart Oilers star Connor McDavid’s rush to the net that had the Edmonton crowd primed to explode again. It was the 1,030th appearance in an NHL game for Fleury, moving him past Patrick Roy into third in the NHL record books for most games played by a goalie. He will turn 40 on Thanksgiving Day and has been in the league since 2003, after the Penguins made him the first-overall pick in that summer’s draft. But with Filip Gustavsson off to a fantastic start as the Wild’s mainstay in the crease, and Jesper Wallstedt waiting in the wings (in Iowa) presumably as the franchise’s goalie of the future, Fleury finds himself in a new role: backup goalie. Perhaps the only time his ever-present smile seemed forced following the win in Edmonton was when Fleury pointed out, on two occasions, that it was his first start in three weeks, since a win at San Jose on Nov. 7. ADVERTISEMENT Minnesota coach John Hynes reiterated on Friday afternoon that there was, for a brief moment, a thought that the Wild would carry three goalies — Gustavsson, Fleury and Wallstedt — for a time in October, meaning there would be two backups, or a rotation plus a third stringer. It didn’t work out that way. “Gus and Flower played well. Wally played well. But based on contracts and things like that and where everyone’s at in their career, Wally went down and played (in Iowa) and he’s doing a good job now and has found his game,” Hynes said. “But Flower’s playing really well and Gus is playing really well. So, it hasn’t been that he’s...the understudy. It’s just, here’s what we need to do everyday and then we’ll try to let you know when we’re going to start. Sometimes, it might be in advance. Sometimes, it might be a little closer to the game.” Fleury has made it clear that this will be the final season of his career, so like a rare flower that only blooms once in a while, seeing one of his remaining starts is worth seeking out. Of course, with the Wild defying expectations, the team’s fanbase is clearly hoping this flower keeps blooming well into May or even June. ADVERTISEMENT ______________________________________________________ This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here .One of the top-rated cornerbacks in this year’s draft class officially announced his plans to move to the NFL on Friday. East Carolina’s Shavon Revel made his declaration on social media. Colorado’s Travis Hunter is another top corner prospect who recently announced his plans to forego remaining eligibility in order to enter the draft. Revel’s final college season was cut short when he tore his ACL in September. He had eight tackles, two interceptions, and an interception return for a touchdown in three games before his injury. Revel had 54 tackles, four tackles for loss, two interceptions, a sack, 13 passes defensed, and a fumble recovery for a touchdown during the 2023 season. That led to speculation that he might transfer to a bigger-name school, but Revel passed on other options.

JPMorgan ends lawsuit against Tesla over Musk's 2018 tweet- report

From Carbon Neutrality to Youth Employment... Yeosu Declares Sustainable DevelopmentPat Sullivan/AP Joe Biden made history as the first president to openly oppose the death penalty, vowing on the campaign trail to push legislation to abolish the practice at the federal level. That promise was never fulfilled, and advocates against the death penalty remain disappointed. But now with only 42 days left in office, more than 130 criminal justice reform groups are urging the president to invoke his public opposition to the death penalty by commuting federal death sentences before the incoming Trump administration attempts another execution spree. “We know from his first term that President-elect Trump has an unprecedented extreme, cruel, and unconstitutional stance on the death penalty,” Yasmin Cader, Deputy Legal Director at the ACLU and the Director of the Trone Center for Justice and Equality, told Mother Jones. “So Biden’s actions now are critical in light of that.” The warnings are well warranted. Trump’s first term saw more federal executions than any other president in more than a century, with his final months in office overseeing an extraordinary spree to execute 13 death row inmates. Trump also loosened federal restrictions on the death penalty and paved the way for highly contested methods of executions to be introduced, including nitrogen gas executions. Many of those executed had documented cases of intellectual disabilities and mental illnesses. “What Trump did in his first term really shows how broken the death penalty system is,” said Cader. “It is error-prone, it is racially biased, it is a drain on public resources. It doesn’t deter crime, and it doesn’t make communities safer.” The president-elect has made it clear that he intends to lift the Biden-era pause on federal executions during his second term. He’s also particularly focused on demanding death sentences for migrants convicted of killing US citizens. “This kind of rhetoric threatens to drive extreme sentences in other contexts because it makes every sentence less than death seem comparatively lenient,” said Cader. The call to action comes against a broader push for Biden to commute the sentences of those targeted by the nation’s “War on Drugs,” a longstanding movement reignited after the president pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who was convicted on federal gun charges and tax offenses. As my colleague Melvis Acosta wrote : Hunter Biden will not spend a day inside a prison cell for his offenses; the same can’t be said for tens of thousands of people serving federal prison time because of disproportionate conviction and sentencing in the starkly racist War on Drugs. Biden can still pardon many of them, or commute their sentences—and set another, more valuable precedent. The Biden administration is also considering preemptively pardoning individuals that Trump could potentially target once he’s sworn in, including former Rep. Liz Cheney, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and former chair of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff.CALGARY, Alberta – Minnesota Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury bounded down the tunnel and onto the ice for his 1,000th NHL start and what was presumably the final start of his career in the home rink of the Edmonton Oilers — a team he’d beaten 16 times previously in his career. He corralled one of the dozens of pucks strewn around the ice and fired toward the cage he would soon be guarding. But his attempt at an empty-net goal was foiled when the puck he had shot hit another puck at the top of the crease and both slid to the corners of the rink. It was just the first thing that would go wrong for the guy teammates lovingly call “Flower” on this night. Less than 30 seconds into the game, he swung at a puck bouncing in his direction all the way from the red line. He missed, and the Oilers led 1-0 on a fluke that had the Rogers Place crowd roaring and smiling. After the initial shock wore off, Fleury was smiling too. “I haven’t played in so long, I wanted to do well and help the team, and at the beginning to let that one in, I was mad for a little bit and then I just laughed. It was so stupid,” he said following Minnesota’s 5-3 win, which gave him a 4-0-1 record for the season. “The guys came by and they gave me a tap, and they laughed and kind of made it a little lighter. And they battled well, nobody sat back.” Just under 60 minutes of game time later, Flower was the one grinning in the Wild locker room as Minnesota won its ninth road game in a dozen opportunities. Fleury finished with 28 saves, and the other two Edmonton goals both went off the skates of Wild defenders. In the first period, he made a sprawling poke-check save to thwart Oilers star Connor McDavid’s rush to the net that had the Edmonton crowd primed to explode again. It was the 1,030th appearance in an NHL game for Fleury, moving him past Patrick Roy into third in the NHL record books for most games played by a goalie. He will turn 40 on Thanksgiving Day and has been in the league since 2003, after the Penguins made him the first-overall pick in that summer’s draft. But with Filip Gustavsson off to a fantastic start as the Wild’s mainstay in the crease, and Jesper Wallstedt waiting in the wings (in Iowa) presumably as the franchise’s goalie of the future, Fleury finds himself in a new role: backup goalie. Perhaps the only time his ever-present smile seemed forced following the win in Edmonton was when Fleury pointed out, on two occasions, that it was his first start in three weeks, since a win at San Jose on Nov. 7. Minnesota coach John Hynes reiterated on Friday afternoon that there was, for a brief moment, a thought that the Wild would carry three goalies — Gustavsson, Fleury and Wallstedt — for a time in October, meaning there would be two backups, or a rotation plus a third stringer. It didn’t work out that way. “Gus and Flower played well. Wally played well. But based on contracts and things like that and where everyone’s at in their career, Wally went down and played (in Iowa) and he’s doing a good job now and has found his game,” Hynes said. “But Flower’s playing really well and Gus is playing really well. So, it hasn’t been that he’s...the understudy. It’s just, here’s what we need to do everyday and then we’ll try to let you know when we’re going to start. Sometimes, it might be in advance. Sometimes, it might be a little closer to the game.” Fleury has made it clear that this will be the final season of his career, so like a rare flower that only blooms once in a while, seeing one of his remaining starts is worth seeking out. Of course, with the Wild defying expectations, the team’s fanbase is clearly hoping this flower keeps blooming well into May or even June.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Dec. 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ascendis Pharma A/S (Nasdaq: ASND) today announced that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review its supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) in adult growth hormone deficiency (GHD) for TransCon hGH (lonapegsomatropin-tcgd; marketed as SKYTROFA ® for pediatric GHD). The FDA set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date of July 27, 2025. “This marks another step towards achieving our objective to expand SKYTROFA’s label beyond pediatric GHD and expand its reach to address new groups of patients,” said Jan Mikkelsen, Ascendis Pharma’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Adult GHD is an undertreated condition associated with significant comorbidities and higher annual healthcare costs compared to the 5-10% of patients who receive treatment, indicative of the high unmet need.” The sBLA submission is based on results from foresiGHt, a Phase 3 randomized, parallel-arm, placebo-controlled (double-blind) and active-controlled (open-label) trial that compared the efficacy and safety of weekly TransCon hGH with weekly placebo and daily human growth hormone (hGH) in adults with GHD. The trial evaluated 259 adults with GHD aged 23 to 80 years old, randomized 1:1:1, titrated to receive a target fixed dose of TransCon hGH, placebo, or daily hGH based on age and oral estrogen intake with approximately equivalent hGH mg/week for TransCon hGH and daily hGH. TransCon hGH demonstrated superiority on its primary efficacy and key secondary efficacy endpoints at Week 38, with TransCon hGH-treated participants showing a statistically significant reduction from baseline in trunk fat and increase in total body lean mass at Week 38 compared to placebo. In the trial, TransCon hGH was generally safe and well tolerated, with no discontinuations related to study drug and with comparable safety and tolerability to daily hGH treatment. About Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency Growth hormone plays an essential role in the health of children and adults, promoting normal growth in children and maintenance of normal body composition and cardiometabolic health throughout adulthood. In adults, growth hormone boosts protein production, promotes fat utilization, enhances muscle mass, and helps regulate blood sugar levels. Adult GHD is a condition in which an individual’s body does not produce enough growth hormone. Symptoms and morbidity can include central obesity, metabolic syndrome, decreased bone density, alterations in lipid profile and markers of cardiovascular risk, fatigue, general weakness, lack of muscle tone, and psychological symptoms such as cognitive impairment, social isolation, lack of motivation, and depression. 1 About Ascendis Pharma A/S Ascendis Pharma is applying its innovative TransCon technology platform to build a leading, fully integrated biopharma company focused on making a meaningful difference in patients’ lives. Guided by its core values of Patients, Science, and Passion, Ascendis uses its TransCon technologies to create new and potentially best-in-class therapies. Ascendis is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark and has additional facilities in Europe and the United States. Please visit ascendispharma.com to learn more. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release regarding Ascendis’ future operations, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. Examples of such statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to (i) the PDUFA goal date for SKYTROFA, (ii) Ascendis’ objective to expand SKYTROFA’s label and reach to address new groups of patients, (iii) Ascendis’ ability to apply its TransCon technology platform to build a leading, fully integrated biopharma company, and (iv) Ascendis’ use of its TransCon technologies to create new and potentially best-in-class therapies. Ascendis may not actually achieve the plans, carry out the intentions or meet the expectations or projections disclosed in the forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions, expectations, and projections disclosed in the forward-looking statements. Various important factors could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements that Ascendis makes, including the following: dependence on third party manufacturers, distributors and service providers for Ascendis’ products and product candidates; unforeseen safety or efficacy results in Ascendis’ development programs or on-market products; unforeseen expenses related to commercialization of any approved Ascendis products; unforeseen expenses related to Ascendis’ development programs; unforeseen selling, general and administrative expenses, other research and development expenses and Ascendis’ business generally; delays in the development of its programs related to manufacturing, regulatory requirements, speed of patient recruitment or other unforeseen delays; Ascendis’ ability to obtain additional funding, if needed, to support its business activities; the impact of international economic, political, legal, compliance, social and business factors. For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to Ascendis’ business in general, see Ascendis’ prospectus supplement filed on September 20, 2024 and Ascendis’ current and future reports filed with, or submitted to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including its Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on February 7, 2024. Forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future licensing, collaborations, acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures, or investments that Ascendis may enter into or make. Ascendis does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Ascendis, Ascendis Pharma, the Ascendis Pharma logo, the company logo, TransCon, and SKYTROFA ® , are trademarks owned by the Ascendis Pharma group. © December 2024 Ascendis Pharma A/S. 1 . Hoffman AR, Mathison T, Andrews D, Murray K, Kelepouris N, Fleseriu M. Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency: Diagnostic and Treatment Journeys From the Patients' Perspective. J Endocr Soc. 2022;6(7):bvac077. Published 2022 May 12. doi:10.1210/jendso/bvac077

The Falcons are sticking with Kirk Cousins and may get a break thanks to a soft schedule