After a stellar premiere followed by two straight episodes of grinding setup, Silo ’s second season really gets rolling this week, with one of the most gripping hours of the entire series. We get a major character death and one pulse-pounding action sequence, balanced by some quiet, well-observed character moments that actually advance the plot rather than slow the momentum. There’s so much to discuss with “The Harmonium” that I almost don’t know where to begin. So let’s begin with an ending: the sad and shocking farewell of Judge Mary Meadows. I feel like we’ve just gotten to know Judge Meadows over the past two weeks, and we get a couple of scenes in this episode to make her loss even more meaningful. First, she has an extended conversation with Lukas, who’s trying to avoid being sent to the mines. Before she makes her decision, she asks him what he’s learned from watching the night skies in the dining hall, and when she realizes his knowledge is rudimentary, she lectures him on what stars are and how our world both revolves and orbits, changing how the skies look each night. Then Lukas asks if there are other worlds too, and Meadows immediately calls in the guards, sentencing him to the mines for five years. (She doubts he’ll survive even one.) Meadows’s other big scene happens with Bernard, who is clinging hard to the Order and trying to follow its step-by-step instructions for “How to Prevent a Rebellion That Kills Everybody in the Silo.” Although he clearly has (reciprocated!) romantic feelings for the judge, he’s wary of many of Mary’s moves, including her agreeing to review Lukas’s case and her agreeing to meet with a delegation from Mechanical. She tries to explain that she’s just defusing tension through bureaucracy, but the “IMPEACH MEADOWS” signs (hung at Sims’s secret command) make Bernard too nervous about what might happen next. It doesn’t help when her thoughts about her impeachment are, “I don’t care; I’ll be long gone before it could happen.” So he invites her over for a dinner date, promising to let her try on the suit he’s ordered for her excursion outside the silo. After some pleasant chitchat and some Erik Satie, Meadows asks to see the suit, and when Bernard stares at her for a long time, she realizes he’s poisoned her. (The man does love to poison, folks.) In the minutes they have left together, they have a plot-relevant conversation as Bernard asks about the time she disappeared for four days, and Meadows responds by alerting him to what was on Juliette’s scandalous hard drive, dropping a name — Salvador Quinn — that I’m sure we’ll hear more about later. Then he pulls out a pair of forbidden VR goggles from his relic stash and lets her spend her final seconds watching Costa Rican wildlife. It’s a nice bit of staging that we don’t see what she sees. We have to use our imaginations — and Tanya Moodie’s excellent performance — to picture it all. Why kill the judge? This is all part of Bernard’s larger plan to whip up public anger against Mechanical, thus strangling the Down Deep rebellion in its cradle. The delegation from below works its way up the stairs throughout this episode, starting at one of the lowest levels, where Knox shows his people a list of names that he believes are the people who died in multiple past rebellions, never mentioned in their history classes. They send a message to Meadows to ask for a meeting, in which they’re going to lay out their plan to try out the advanced suit/tape technology and explore outside. (Knox, it turns out, is aching for Juliette and desperate to find out if she’s still alive out there.) Before they reach the judge’s chambers, there are challenges. Rumors of the meeting have spread through the upper levels, where an angry mob — stoked by Sims and Bernard, of course — has assembled to stop them. The delegation then flexes their muscles by dropping a red ball down the silo’s center, signaling to their comrades in Mechanical to shut down the power. All of this pleases Bernard. The power shutdown reminds everyone how dangerous Mechanical can be. And when Bernard encourages the mob to let the delegation through to see the judge, he springs his next trap. He and Sims have posed the corpse of Judge Meadows behind her desk with a knife in her chest. Knox & Co. have been set up as patsies for her murder. Bernard lets them start walking back down the stairs for a while before he has Sims whip the mob back into an anti-Mechanical frenzy. The episode ends with a nifty shot of the mob rushing down the stairs, just a few levels above where the Mechanical delegation is fleeing. It says something about how well balanced this episode is that I’ve gotten so deep into the recap without mentioning Silo 17. But rest assured, while the action in Silo 18 (which is finally identified by number out loud by Solo) is very strong this week, the Juliette story line remains this season’s strongest. The main thrust of the action in Silo 17 involves Juliette’s efforts to retrieve a firefighting suit from an area of the silo that’s on the other side of a deep pool of water. The title of the episode comes from Solo’s suggestion for how Juliette can get air during her long swim. There’s a harmonium in a children’s classroom, and the bellows from the instrument — operated by Solo — could pump the air Juliette needs. Juliette’s swimming scene is an outstanding set piece, filled with the kind of unexpected complications that make an already tense sequence more nerve-wracking. Her air tube isn’t long enough. The weight she uses to help pull her down into the water gets stuck. The lockers containing the firefighting suits are locked and have to be pried open. Fantastic plotting and execution here. But Juliette’s biggest obstacle is Solo. Now that Solo is out of the vault, exploring the silo and talking (incessantly) to Juliette, it’s become obvious that he has the interests and attention span of a little boy. Juliette does the math when Solo’s looking at a child’s backpack in the classroom — and talking about how that kid sat next to him — and she realizes he must’ve gone into the vault at age 11 or 12. Even with all his access to music and literature, Solo has been without any grown-up role models, which may be why his taste has stalled at the level of the circus and adventure stories like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea . Solo’s sole purpose in life has been to keep the vault safe, so the longer he spends outside the vault with Juliette, the more distracted and anxious he gets about what might be happening back in his little fortress. He almost abandons Juliette mid-swim, then he takes off back to the vault as soon as she emerges from the water. (He then fumbles his passcode and is briefly locked out, which upsets him even more.) Juliette is able to bond with Solo over their shared feelings of loneliness, curiosity, and fear. But there’s still something uncomfortably off-kilter about their interpersonal dynamic. There’s a heartbreaking moment in this episode when Solo realizes Juliette will have to tear apart the harmonium to make her breathing apparatus. He asks, like a child, “You can put it back together, right?” She responds, like a parent, “We’ll see.” And like moms and kids everywhere, they both know deep down that — in many ways — she’s going to break something that’ll never be fixed. • Because of the nature of life in the Silo — where information is tightly controlled from birth to death — the show hasn’t really been plagued by one of Lost ’s biggest problems, where characters would inexplicably fail to ask relevant questions about this place where they’d been stranded. But now that we know Bernard and Solo have secret knowledge, it may start to get more frustrating when someone like Juliette (who is smart, savvy, and aware there’s more to the story than she’s been told) doesn’t take advantage of an opportunity to get “answers.” • Sheriff Billings has a significant subplot this week, investigating the firebombing from the previous episode and finding it suspicious that Judicial (and perhaps some other entity) is hindering the inquiry by whisking away corpses. Bernard may think he has a tight lock on the post-Juliette narrative in Silo 18, but having a sheriff who worked in Judicial and knows its tendencies could inadvertently keep the rebellion alive. • Keep an eye on Sims as well. He thought his impeachment banners would manipulate Bernard into confiding in him again instead of Meadows. Instead, Bernard now trusts him less. Although Bernard is pleased with the ultimate outcome — the judge’s request to go out nullified and Mechanical properly demonized — he’s not happy his hand was forced. He apparently means to make Sims suffer some consequences. But Sims is a dangerous man who controls his own miniature army, so it may not be the best idea for Bernard to freeze him out. • When Juliette says she’s familiar with oceans, Solo asks if they let people read books in Silo 18, to which she says, “Uh ... no.” Some things are different from silo to silo — for example, Silo 17 had Founders Day and Silo 18 has Freedom Day — but apparently they all see literature as contraband. • I’m glad they didn’t push this too far, but the combination of terror and fascination in Solo’s eyes when Juliette strips down to her undergarments for her swim was wholly the reaction you’d expect from a man whose life was frozen in preadolescence. • To play us out, a little harmonium solo from Solo. Take it! 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In the new trailer for "Bleach: Soul Awakening," viewers are treated to a stunning visual showcase of Aizen's power and presence. From his trademark calm demeanor to his distinctive glasses, every detail of Aizen is faithfully recreated in the game. As fans watch Aizen effortlessly dispatch his enemies with a flick of his wrist, it becomes clear that he is a force to be reckoned with in the world of "Bleach."Aidan O'Connell threw two touchdown passes, Daniel Carlson kicked four field goals, Ameer Abdullah had the first 100-yard rushing game of his career and the visiting Las Vegas Raiders defeated the New Orleans Saints 25-10 on Sunday afternoon. Abdullah, playing in the 141st game of his 10-year career, finished with 115 yards on 20 carries. O'Connell completed 20 of 35 passes for 242 yards as the Raiders (4-12) won their second straight after a 10-game losing streak. Brock Bowers added seven receptions for 77 yards, giving him 1,144 receiving yards, which broke the NFL single-season record for a rookie tight end, set by Mike Ditka with 1,076 yards in 14 games in 1961. Bowers also eclipsed the single-season rookie reception record with his 106th catch, besting Puka Nacua's 105 grabs for the Los Angeles Rams in 2023. Rookie Spencer Rattler passed for 218 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions and fell to 0-5 as the starter for the Saints (5-11). Las Vegas's first possession of the third quarter resulted in Carlson's 54-yard field goal, which increased its lead to 16-10 at the end of the period. Carlson's 25-yard field goal pushed the lead to 19-10 on the third play of the fourth quarter. O'Connell added an 18-yard touchdown pass to Tre Tucker to complete the scoring. The Raiders received the opening kickoff and held the ball for 17 plays before stalling. Carlson kicked a 31-yard field goal and the 3-0 lead held up through the end of the first quarter. On the first play of the second quarter, Rattler threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to former Raiders tight end Foster Moreau and the Saints took a 7-3 lead with their first points in the first half in three games. The ensuing possession ended with Carlson kicking a 39-yard field goal that trimmed the lead to 7-6. O'Connell threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jakobi Meyers to give Las Vegas a 13-7 lead with 57 seconds left in the second quarter. Rattler completed 5 of 7 for 54 yards in driving New Orleans to Blake Grupe's 34-yard field goal as time expired that trimmed the lead to 13-10 at halftime. --Field Level Media
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Let’s get the good news in Philadelphia out of the way first. The Eagles are riding a nine-game winning streak, Saquon Barkley is making a serious run at the NFL season rushing record and a playoff berth was clinched for the fourth straight year under coach Nick Sirianni. Now, about all that grumbling ... . Yes, Philly sports fans, media and social media doomsayers are usually the ones with a complaint even in the best of times for the pro teams. Perhaps it’s a bit unsettling around Philadelphia, then, that the grousing after a win over Carolina this weekend came from inside the locker room. Wide receivers DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown, and even Jalen Hurts, made public their complaints about the state of the (diminishing) passing game, putting the coaching staff on notice that enough was enough and it was time to rev up the engine on a pair of 1,000-yard receivers and get the offense humming headed into the postseason. Even Sirianni conceded that yes, it was fair to raise questions about an offense that allowed Smith and Brown to combine for only eight catches and 80 yards. The problem this week? “Being on the same page,” Smith said. Smith is coming off consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons and has yet to break 100 in a game this season. Brown has four 100-yard games, well off last season's run when he topped 100 yards in six straight games and seven times overall. Hurts threw for just 108 yards with two TDs passing and one rushing score. Should an offense getting on the same page develop into this much of a concern for the Eagles (11-2) after 13 games? “No. I just say no," Hurts said. There are reasons the numbers are down. The easy one, of course, is that the traditionally pass-happy Eagles have leaned on Barkley and his team-record 1,623 yards to steer the offense in his first season. Hurts also shoulders his share of the blame given his propensity for holding on to the ball. He was sacked four times and missed Smith and Brown the few times he did chuck the ball deep to open receivers on long routes. Hurts didn’t throw Brown the ball a couple of times when he was open, including on a TD pass to Smith. “Have to find a way to come together and come and sync as a unit and play complementary ball,” Hurts said. Hurts has topped 300 yards passing only once this season and his last three games are at 179-118-108. He does have only five interceptions and has thrown just one during the winning streak. The offensive woes start at the beginning. The Eagles have yet to score a touchdown on their opening possession through the first 13 games and average only 10.7 points in the first half. They had only 46 total yards in the first quarter. The slow starts are one reason why teams with losing records such as Carolina, Jacksonville and Cleveland are able to keep games close at the Linc and make last-gasp drives at an upset victory. The running game. That really only means one name: Barkley. Barkley rushed for 124 yards to break the Eagles' season record, and Eric Dickerson's NFL mark is in his sights. Barkley needed just 13 games to pass McCoy, who rushed for 1,607 yards in 2013. Barkley also maintained his pace to break Dickerson’s NFL single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards, set in 1984 with the Los Angeles Rams. Barkley is averaging 124.8 yards per game. At that pace and with one more game to play than Dickerson, he would become the top single-season rusher in NFL history. He needs 483 yards over the final four games to top Dickerson’s 40-year-old record. Barkley is one pace for 2,122 yards, just 17 yards beyond Dickerson’s 2,105 total. Linebackers Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean. Dean led the Eagles with 12 tackles while Baun had 11 tackles and a sack. They both had strong games in shutting down Carolina's — albeit banged-up — running game. Jake Elliott. Elliott was wide right on a 52-yard attempt in the third quarter and has missed all five attempts of 50-plus yards this season. Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson was evaluated for a concussion and treated for an additional injury in the fourth quarter but had a game-changing interception. 9 — The Eagles won nine straight games only three other times, in the 2017, 2003 and 1960 seasons. The Eagles host cross-state rival Pittsburgh in a potential all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl preview. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflUS stocks mostly rose Friday after a report showed a healthy jobs market, and Paris rallied as President Emmanuel Macron vowed to serve out his full term and end France's political crisis. Oil fell on concerns of oversupply and Bitcoin held at a level over $100,000 after hitting records Thursday. The world's biggest economy gained 227,000 jobs in November, more than analysts expected and up from a revised 36,000 in October, said the US Department of Labor. "The US jobs market has emphatically rebounded following October's disappointing data," said Neal Keane, head of global sales trading at ADSS. October's figures had been depressed by hurricanes and workers' strikes, while November's increases may have been exaggerated by the end of a strike at Boeing in particular -- and by retail hiring ahead of the holiday season. US stocks mostly closed higher, with the broad-based S&P 500 and tech-focused Nasdaq both hitting fresh records, although the Dow retreated slightly. Investors are mostly betting that November's jobs numbers, while comforting, are probably not strong enough to deter the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates again this month. "Investors needed a reassuring jobs report and that's exactly what they got," said eToro analyst Bret Kenwell. "The market still favors a rate cut from the Fed later this month and this report may not change that expectation." The Paris stock market closed up 1.3 percent on "hope that President Emmanuel Macron will serve out his term and that a (French) budget can be passed in the coming weeks," noted Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown. Macron on Friday was holding talks with French political leaders on the left and right as he seeks to quickly name a new prime minister after Michel Barnier's government was ousted in a historic no-confidence vote. Macron adopted a defiant tone in an address to the nation Thursday evening, just 24 hours after parliament voted out Barnier over his 2025 budget plan, which included unpopular austerity measures forced through without a vote using special powers. The luxury sector benefitted also from hopes of a pickup in Chinese demand. Gucci owner Kering topped the Paris CAC 40 as its shares gained more than six percent, while LVMH rose more than three percent. French video game company Ubisoft jumped 13 percent on takeover speculation. Frankfurt closed slightly higher, other continental markets were mixed, and London slid. In Asia, shares in Seoul sank more than one percent and the won weakened to about 1,420 per dollar as lawmakers prepared to hold an impeachment vote Saturday after President Yoon Suk Yeol's dramatic, short-lived imposition of martial law this week. While analysts said the economic fallout from the crisis would likely be limited, a political storm is ongoing. Hong Kong and Shanghai rallied as investors grew hopeful of fresh stimulus when top Chinese leaders including President Xi Jinping meet to discuss economic policy next week. More from this section Bitcoin hovered above $100,000 after having blasted to the historic peak of $103,800 Thursday on news that US President-elect Donald Trump had picked crypto proponent Paul Atkins to head the nation's markets regulator. New York - Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 44,642.52 points (close) New York - S&P 500: UP 0.3 percent at 6,090.27 (close) New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.8 percent at 19,859.77 (close) Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.3 percent at 7,426.88 (close) Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.1 percent at 20,384.61 (close) London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.5 percent at 8,308.61 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.8 percent at 39,091.17 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.6 percent at 19,865.85 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.1 percent at 3,404.08 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0566 from $1.0591 on Thursday Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2740 from $1.2760 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 149.97 yen from 150.09 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 82.93 from 82.97 pence West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.6 percent at $67.20 per barrel Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.4 percent at $71.12 per barrel gv/rl/bys/aha
Nokia Corporation: Repurchase of own shares on 09.12.2024OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said dealing with incoming president Donald Trump and his thundering on trade will be “a little more challenging” than the last time he was in the White House. Speaking at an event put on by the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, Trudeau said that’s because Trump’s team is coming in with a much clearer set of ideas of what they want to do right away than after his first election win in 2016. Even still, Trudeau said the answer is not to panic and said Canada can rally together to address the tough scenario the nation will face following Trump’s inauguration in January. Trump has threatened 25 per cent tariffs against Canada and Mexico, if the two nations do not beef up their borders to his satisfaction. On the weekend, Trump appeared in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where the president-elect said he can’t guarantee the tariffs won’t raise prices for U.S. consumers but that eventually tariffs will “make us rich.” “All I want to do is I want to have a level, fast, but fair playing field,” he said. Trudeau warned that steep tariffs could be “devastating for the Canadian economy” and cause “just horrific losses in all of our communities,” and that Trump’s approach is to introduce “a bit of chaos” to destabilize his negotiating partners. But he also said that Canada exports a range of goods to the U.S., from steel and aluminum to crude oil and agricultural commodities, all of which would get more expensive and mean real hardship for Americans at the same time. “For years, Americans have been paying more for their homes than they should because of unjust tariffs on softwood lumber. Maybe this level of tariffs will actually have them realize that this is something they are doing to themselves,” Trudeau said. “Trump got elected on a commitment to make life better and more affordable for Americans, and I think people south of the border are beginning to wake up to the real reality that tariffs on everything from Canada would make life a lot more expensive.” Experts, including Canada’s former top trade negotiator Steve Verheul, have warned the country needs to be ready to respond if Trump goes through with his tariff threats. The prime minister said his government is still mulling over “the right ways” to respond, referencing Canada’s calculated approach when Trump hit Canada with steel and aluminum tariffs. “It was the fact that we put tariffs on bourbon and Harley-Davidsons and playing cards and Heinz ketchup and cherries and a number of other things that were very carefully targeted because they were politically impactful to the president’s party and colleagues,” he said. That’s how Canada was able to “punch back in a way that was actually felt by Americans,” he added. Trudeau also said the country needs to rally together and work past its political differences. He offered up some rare words of praise for Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe — a frequent political thorn in his side and “no big fan of mine” — as one of Canada’s strongest voices during that tumultuous time period when NAFTA was under threat. “His voice with governors down south, his making the case for Canadian workers and Canadian trade in a way that complemented the arguments that we were making, did a better job of showing what Canadian unity was and (what) Canada’s negotiating position could be to a United States that has a political system that is incredibly fractured and fractious,” Trudeau said. On Sunday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said “every single Conservative would tell every single American” that tariffs on Canada would be a bad idea — and also took time to bill Trudeau as a weak leader. One member of his caucus, Conservative MP Jamil Jivani, said he had dinner with incoming vice-president JD Vance and British Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch over the weekend in Arlington, Va. He said it’s crucial right now to be building “strong relationships with our allies.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2024. — With files from The Associated Press, Kelly Geraldine Malone and Rosa Saba in Toronto Kyle Duggan, The Canadian PressAussies set to pay even more for a passport
Title: Primary School Principal Zhong Moyan Receives 9.49 Million Yuan in Bribe!I'm an Immigration Lawyer. We Need To Prepare for Trump's Deportation Machine | Opinion