Report: NFL warns players of burglary rings targeting pro athletesLuigi Mangione pleads not guilty to murder and weapons charges in UnitedHealthcare CEO's deathNEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of fatally shooting the CEO of UnitedHealthcare pleaded not guilty on Monday to state murder and terror charges while his attorney complained that comments coming from New York’s mayor would make it tough to receive a fair trial. Luigi Mangione, 26, was shackled and seated in a Manhattan court when he leaned over to a microphone to enter his plea. The Manhattan district attorney charged him last week with multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism . Mangione's initial appearance in New York’s state trial court was preempted by federal prosecutors bringing their own charges over the shooting. The federal charges could carry the possibility of the death penalty, while the maximum sentence for the state charges is life in prison without parole. Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on parallel tracks , with the state charges expected to go to trial first. One of Mangione’s attorneys told a judge that the “warring jurisdictions" had turned Mangione into a “human ping-pong ball” and that New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other government officials had made him a political pawn, robbing him of his rights as a defendant and tainting the jury pool. “I am very concerned about my client’s right to a fair trial,” lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said. Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch stood among a throng of heavily armed officers last Thursday when Mangione was flown to a Manhattan heliport and escorted up a pier after being extradited from Pennsylvania. Friedman Agnifilo said police turned Mangione’s return to New York into a choreographed spectacle. She called out Adams' comment to a local TV station that he wanted to be there to look “him in the eye and say, ‘you carried out this terroristic act in my city.’” “He was on display for everyone to see in the biggest stage perp walk I’ve ever seen in my career. It was absolutely unnecessary,” she said. She also accused federal and state prosecutors of advancing conflicting legal theories, calling their approach confusing and highly unusual. In a statement, Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus wrote: “Critics can say all they want, but showing up to support our law enforcement and sending the message to New Yorkers that violence and vitriol have no place in our city is who Mayor Eric Adams is to his core.” “The cold-blooded assassination of Brian Thompson — a father of two — and the terror it infused on the streets of New York City for days has since been sickeningly glorified, shining a spotlight on the darkest corners of the internet,” Mamelak Altus said. State trial court Judge Gregory Carro said he has little control over what happens outside the courtroom, but can guarantee Mangione will receive a fair trial. Authorities say Mangione gunned down Thompson as he was walking to an investor conference in midtown Manhattan on the morning of Dec 4. Mangione was arrested in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s after a five-day search, carrying a gun that matched the one used in the shooting and a fake ID, police said. He also was carrying a notebook expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and especially wealthy executives, according to federal prosecutors. At a news conference last week, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the application of the terrorism law reflected the severity of a “frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation.” “In its most basic terms, this was a killing that was intended to evoke terror,” he added. Mangione is being held in a Brooklyn federal jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including Sean “Diddy” Combs and Sam Bankman-Fried. During his court appearance Monday, he smiled at times when talking with his attorneys and stretched his right hand after an officer removed his cuffs. Outside the courthouse, a few dozen supporters chanted, “Free Luigi,” over the blare of a trumpet. Natalie Monarrez, a 55-year-old Staten Island resident, said she joined the demonstration because she lost both her mother and her life savings as a result of denied insurance claims. “As extreme as it was, it jolted the conversation that we need to deal with this issue,” she said of the shooting. “Enough is enough, people are fed up.” An Ivy-league graduate from a prominent Maryland family, Mangione appeared to have cut himself off from family and friends in recent months. He posted frequently in online forums about his struggles with back pain. He was never a UnitedHealthcare client , according to the insurer. Thompson, a married father of two high-schoolers, had worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm in 2021. The killing has prompted some to voice their resentment at U.S. health insurers, with Mangione serving as a stand-in for frustrations over coverage denials and hefty medical bills. It also has sent shockwaves through the corporate world , rattling executives who say they have received a spike in threats.
Home | Malema utterances about MK Party are unwarranted: Analyst Political analyst Bheki Mngomezulu says comments by EFF leader Julius Malema regarding the MK Party are unwarranted and misplaced. Malema addressed his party supporters where he labelled MK Party leader Jacob Zuma corrupt. Malema said the MK Party’s mission is to destroy the EFF. Several EFF members have abandoned the party to join the MK Party, including Floyd Shivambu, among others. Mngomezulu says Malema should have used proper platforms to address the issues he raised. “The reason why he convened the meeting of the fighters was not necessary to express his discomfort with Zuma but it was to talk about the Phala Phala matter and the decision that was taken by Parliament to defend the President. If has an issue with Zuma for the reasons he outlined the platform was the wrong one to raise that issue. What Malema did on that day was a reaction to the fact that some members of the EFF have recently joined MKP. He must put emotions aside, ask yourself the question what have I done wrong and what have they done right to attract my members,” said Mngomezulu. Meanwhile, Shivambu has reiterated that the MK Party will unite more than two thirds of the people of South Africa behind the banner of MK Party to drive transformation. “Our focus is to persuade most of the people of SA, persuade a lot of progressive forces to associate with MKP. And we are successfully doing so and that is the agenda that we think we should consolidate on. Those who join uMkhonto weSizwe, they realize here is the proper vehicle that’s assembling the best of the best, let us associate with it instead of existing in small unviable parties that have done nothing whatsoever to win electoral power in SA.” SABC © 2024Falcon’s Beyond Global, Inc. (FBYD) recently disclosed in an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that on November 15, 2024, holders of over 50% of the publicly-held warrants of the company authorized the amendment of a warrant agreement. The agreement was with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and pertained to the exchange of warrants for shares of the company’s Class A Common Stock. The amendment in question, enacted on November 15, 2024, allows for the mandatory exchange of the warrants for shares of Class A Common Stock at an exchange ratio of 0.25 shares per warrant. This exchange is set to take effect on October 6, 2028, known as the Exchange Date, subject to the effective date of the Amendment following the mailing of an Information Statement to warrant holders in compliance with SEC rules. The company reported approximately 5,198,420 warrants outstanding as of the Record Date, November 11, 2024, which will be exchanged for roughly 1,299,605 shares of Class A Common Stock when the Exchange Date arrives. The exchange is anticipated to be conducted under an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as per Section 3(a)(9) of the Act. Moreover, Falcon’s Beyond Global disclosed that it has received executed consents from warrant holders approving the Amendment, and an Information Statement will be filed with the SEC and subsequently sent to the warrant holders, in accordance with SEC regulations. The company also shared a joint press release with Infinite Acquisitions Partners LLC, a major shareholder, stating that Infinite has entered into a nonbinding letter of intent with Oceaneering International, Inc. (OII) for the acquisition of Oceaneering Entertainment Systems (OES). Additionally, Falcon’s Beyond Global entered into a nonbinding letter of intent for the operation of OES, should the transactions proceed. Despite the positive developments, Falcon’s Beyond emphasizes in its cautionary statement that forward-looking statements in this report and related exhibits are subject to various risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ from anticipated outcomes. The company does not guarantee the fruition of the transactions or the accuracy of forward-looking statements, and it undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise such statements. The 8-K filing’s complete text as well as the content of all referenced exhibits are available on the SEC’s website for detailed review. This article is a summary of the 8-K filing by Falcon’s Beyond Global, Inc., and does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation to invest in FBYD. Sources: – SEC Filing by Falcon’s Beyond Global, Inc. – Falcon’s Beyond Global, Inc. Press Release, dated November 19, 2024. This article was generated by an automated content engine and was reviewed by a human editor prior to publication. For additional information, read Falcon’s Beyond Global’s 8K filing here . Falcon’s Beyond Global Company Profile ( Get Free Report ) Falcon's Beyond Global, Inc operates as an entertainment company in the United States, Saudi Arabia, Caribbean, Hong Kong, and internationally. The company creates master plans; designs attractions and experiential entertainment; and produces content, interactives, and software, as well as engages in media and audio production, project management, experiential technologies, and attraction hardware development, procurement, and sales. Recommended Stories
Buffalo (10-2) at Los Angeles Rams (6-6) Sunday, 4:25 p.m. EST, FOX BetMGM NFL odds: Bills by 3 1/2. Against the spread: Bills 8-4; Rams 5-7. Series record: Bills lead 9-5. Last meeting: Bills beat Rams 31-10 in Inglewood, Calif. on Sept. 8, 2022. Last week: Bills beat San Francisco 35-10; Rams beat New Orleans 21-14. Bills offense: overall (10), rush (11), pass (17), scoring (2). Bills defense: overall (11), rush (18), pass (8), scoring (T-6). Rams offense: overall (18), rush (26), pass (11), scoring (20). Rams defense: overall (25), rush (28), pass (15), scoring (21). Turnover differential: Bills plus-17; Rams plus-3. WR Amari Cooper. He has so far played a valuable bit role since being acquired in a trade with Cleveland. He’s scored a TD and made a highlight reel play last weekend by making a one-handed catch and, before getting tackled, lateraled the ball back to Josh Allen to set up the quarterback’s passing and receiving TD. Cooper’s getting healthier after being hampered by a left wrist injury, and is expected to play a larger role in the passing attack down the stretch. LB Omar Speights. Little was expected of Speights as an undrafted free agent out of LSU, but he has quickly established himself as a promising piece of the Rams young defense. Speights had a career-high 10 tackles versus the Saints and was constantly around the ball. Los Angeles will need him to maintain that level of activity against Buffalo’s high-powered offense. Rams offensive line vs. Bills defensive line. Keep QB Matthew Stafford upright, and open up holes for RB Kyren Williams. It’s a pretty simple formula for the Rams, and they executed it well in New Orleans, letting Williams rush for 104 yards while Stafford was only sacked twice. Buffalo has two disruptive ends in Gregory Rousseau (6 1/2 sacks, 15 tackles for loss) and A.J. Epenesa (5 sacks), so keeping them in check will be a challenge. The Bills are also proving to be sturdier in stopping the run in recent weeks, though there was statistical regression last week with San Francisco reduced to keeping the ball on the ground in heavy snowfall. Bills TE Dalton Kincaid resumed practicing, though on a limited basis, after missing two games with a knee injury. He is listed as questionable. ... Rookie WR Keon Coleman (right wrist) is questionable after being limited in practice all week. He sat out the last three games. ... Starting S Taylor Rapp is good to go after landing on the injury report this week with a shoulder/neck injury. ... Rookie DT DeWayne Carter (left wrist) is in position to be activated off IR barring a setback. ... Stafford sprained his ankle against the Saints, but he doesn't expected to be limited by the injury and didn't have a designation on Friday's report. ... Rams LT Alaric Jackson is expected to play through a foot injury. ... OLB Jared Verse should play despite rolling his ankle in practice Thursday. ... TE Tyler Higbee, who sustained a serious knee injury in the NFC wild-card game at Detroit, won’t make his season debut this week despite getting in three full practices. The Bills thumped the Rams at SoFi Stadium in the 2022 season opener, heralding a miserable defense of its Super Bowl title for Los Angeles. ... Buffalo has won three straight in the series, scoring 30 points or more in each of those victories. The Bills have already clinched their fifth straight AFC East title, and look to catch the Kansas City Chiefs (11-1), whom they beat last month, for the conference’s top seed. ... Buffalo is 20-2 in regular-season games played in December and January since 2020. ... The Bills have won seven straight since losing consecutive road games at Baltimore and Houston. They’re one win from matching the franchise’s second-longest streak set first in 1990 and again spanning the 2023-24 seasons. The team record is 11, spanning the 1963-64 seasons. ... Buffalo has at least 10 wins through 12 games for the fifth time in team history and first since 1991. ... Allen has a record of 30-5 when he doesn’t commit a turnover. His two lost fumbles and five interceptions account for all seven of Buffalo’s giveaways this season. And he’s 43-27 overall when committing a turnover. ... With 107 yards rushing, including a career-high 65-yard TD run last weekend, RB James Cook topped 100 yards for the fifth time in his career. Cook has four TDs in his past three games and 12 overall (including one receiving) this season. His 11 TDs rushing are the most by a Bills player since LeSean McCoy had 13 in 2016. ... Edge rusher Von Miller’s 127 1/2 sacks lead active players and rank 17th overall, a half-sack behind Rickey Jackson. ... Buffalo has forced at least one takeaway in each game this season, including three forced fumbles against the 49ers. ... The Rams haven’t forced a turnover in their past two games. They had seven takeaways in the three games prior to this stretch. ... Williams earned his second 100-yard game of the season against the Saints. The 6.9 yards per carry average was Williams’ best of the season. ... Since getting ejected in the first half in Seattle, WR Puka Nacua has 30 receptions for 394 yards and two touchdowns over the past four games. He had five catches for 56 yards and a score versus the Saints, his seventh game with at least 50 yards and a touchdown. ... Stafford threw for 183 yards and two touchdowns in the Superdome, the second time in the past seven games the Rams won with Stafford not passing for 200 yards. They did that just twice in Stafford’s first 46 games with the team. ... CB Cobie Durant had two tackles for loss against New Orleans, the first time in his three-year career having multiple negative stops without a sack. ... After starting 16 for 19 on field goals, rookie PK Joshua Karty has missed his past two attempts. He did not attempt a field goal against the Saints, with coach Sean McVay choosing to go for it on fourth-and-4 from the New Orleans 25-yard line in the second quarter. Williams has put together consecutive solid outings, with at least 70 yards and a touchdown against the Eagles and Saints. The one part of his game that still hasn’t resurfaced is as a passing game option, where Williams has one grab for 9 yards over the past three games. Williams is too useful as a receiver to not get him involved there, so expect McVay to dial up some calls, to the benefit of those in point-per-reception formats. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFLBy Stephanie Lai and Hadriana Lowenkron, Bloomberg News Donald Trump says he is selecting venture capitalist David Sacks of Craft Ventures LLC to serve as his artificial intelligence and crypto czar, a newly created position that underscores the president-elect’s intent to boost two rapidly developing industries. “David will guide policy for the Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness. David will focus on making America the clear global leader in both areas,” Trump said Thursday in a post on his Truth Social network. Trump said that Sacks would also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology. Related Articles National Politics | Elon Musk funded a super PAC comparing Trump’s position on abortion to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s National Politics | Trump names former Sen. David Perdue of Georgia to be ambassador to China National Politics | Trump talks up his transition and election victory as he receives Fox Nation award National Politics | Biden is considering preemptive pardons for officials and allies before Trump takes office National Politics | EPA hails ‘revitalized’ enforcement efforts as Biden administration heads to exit In Sacks, Trump is tapping one of his most prominent Silicon Valley supporters and fundraisers for a prime position in his administration. Sacks played a key role in bolstering Trump’s fundraising among technology industry donors, including co-hosting an event at his San Francisco home in June, with tickets at $300,000 a head. He is also closely associated with Vice President-elect JD Vance, the investor-turned-Ohio senator. Sacks is a venture capitalist and part of Silicon Valley’s “PayPal Mafia.” He first made his name in the technology industry during a stint as the chief operating officer of PayPal, the payments company whose founders in the late 1990s included billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and investor Peter Thiel. After it was sold to eBay, Sacks turned to Hollywood, where he produced the 2005 satire Thank You for Smoking. Back in Silicon Valley, he founded workplace communications company Yammer, which was bought by Microsoft Corp. in 2012 for $1.2 billion. He founded his own venture capital firm, Craft Ventures, in 2017 and has invested in Musk-owned businesses, including SpaceX. Sacks said on a recent episode of his All-In podcast that a “key man” clause in the agreements of his venture firm’s legal documents would likely prevent him from taking a full-time position, but he might consider an advisory role in the new administration. A Craft spokeswoman said Sacks would not be leaving Craft. In his post, Trump said Sacks “will safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship.” Protecting free speech is a keen interest of Sacks. He regularly speaks about “woke” interests that try to muzzle unpopular opinions and positions. Crypto czar The new post is expected to help spearhead the crypto industry deregulation Trump promised on the campaign trail. The role is expected to provide cryptocurrency advocates a direct line to the White House and serve as a liaison between Trump, Congress and the federal agencies that interface with digital assets, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Trump heavily campaigned on supporting crypto, after previously disparaging digital assets during his first White House term, saying their “value is highly volatile and based on thin air.” The president-elect on Thursday said Sacks would “work on a legal framework so the Crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the U.S.” During the campaign, Trump spoke at a Bitcoin conference, accepted crypto campaign donations and met with executives from Bitcoin mining companies and crypto exchanges multiple times. Trump’s desire to give priority to the digital asset industry is also reflected in his close allies and cabinet selections, including his Commerce secretary pick, Howard Lutnick, and Treasury secretary nominee Scott Bessent. AI tech On the AI front, Sacks would help Trump put his imprint on an emerging technology whose popular use has exploded in recent years. Sacks is poised to be at the front lines in determining how the federal government both adopts AI and regulates its use as advances in the technology and adoption by consumers pose a wide array of benefits as well as risks touching on national security, privacy, jobs and other areas. The president-elect has expressed both awe at the power of AI technology as well as concern over the potential harms from its use. During his first term, he signed executive orders that sought to maintain US leadership in the field and directed the federal government to prioritize AI in research and development spending. As AI has become more mainstream in recent years and with Congress slow to act, President Joe Biden has sought to fill that void. Biden signed an executive order in 2023 that establishes security and privacy protections and requires developers to safety-test new models, casting the sweeping regulatory order as necessary to safeguard consumers. A number of technology giants have also agreed to adopt a set of voluntary safeguards which call for them to test AI systems for discriminatory tendencies or security flaws and to share those results. Trump has vowed to repeal Biden’s order. The Republican Party’s 2024 platform dismissed Biden’s executive order as one that “hinders AI Innovation, and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology.” Musk ties Sacks can be expected to work closely with Musk, the world’s richest person and one of the president-elect’s most prominent supporters. Musk is also a player in the AI space with his company xAI and a chatbot named Grok — efforts which pit him against Silicon Valley’s giants — and he stands to wield significant influence within the incoming administration. The appointment won’t require Sacks to divest or publicly disclose his assets. Like Musk, Sacks will be a special government employee. He can serve a maximum of 130 days per year, with or without compensation. However, conflict of interest rules apply to special government employees, meaning Sacks will have to recuse himself from matters that could impact his holdings. Strong opinions Sacks’s Craft Ventures is known more for enterprise software investing than for crypto, but it has made a few crypto investments, including BitGo and Bitwise. Still, Sacks has firm opinions on the sector. Speaking last month on All-In, Sacks praised a bill on crypto regulation that had passed in the U.S. House but not the Senate earlier this year. The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act would regulate certain types of digital assets as a commodity, regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “The crypto industry basically wants a really clear line for knowing when they’re a commodity and they want commodities to be governed, like all other commodities, by the CFTC,” he said on the November podcast. He also disparaged some of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s positions on crypto under its chair, Gary Gensler. “The days of Gensler terrifying crypto companies,” he said. “Those days are about to be over.” Earlier this week, Trump nominated crypto advocate Paul Atkins to lead the SEC. With assistance from Zoe Ma, Bill Allison, Sarah McBride, Anne VanderMey and stacy-marie ishmael. ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
No. 3 Iowa State, Colorado clash in Big 12 openerLondon: Britain’s King Charles III is planning an official visit to India soon as part of a government charm offensive and an added boost for his health since a cancer diagnosis earlier in the year, a UK media report claimed on Saturday, November 23. According to the ‘Daily Mirror’, the visit will also include stops in Pakistan and Bangladesh as part of a subcontinent tour that had been abandoned in the wake of the passing of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September 2022. The 76-year-old monarch and his wife, Queen Camilla, 77, made a “private stopover” at a wellness resort in Bengaluru last month on their way back from Australia and Samoa and are believed to be planning a return. “It’s hugely encouraging to be able to make such plans for the King and Queen given the year the monarch has had, but it’s very much full steam ahead,” the newspaper quoted a source as saying. “A tour of the Indian subcontinent is in the offing, which will be of huge political and cultural significance for Britain on the world stage. The King and Queen are the perfect ambassadors at such a time,” the source said. Buckingham Palace had revealed the King’s cancer diagnosis in February and a spokesperson has since confirmed that with his medical treatment progressing well, they were considering a “pretty normal-looking full overseas tour program for next year.”. Against that backdrop and the recent meeting between Prime Ministers Keir Starmer and Narendra Modi at the G20 Summit in Brazil, Downing Street is said to be keen on draughting the senior royals to launch a so-called charm offensive as post-Brexit Britain seeks to establish closer economic ties with India. “Foreign Office officials have been given the green light to open discussions with potential host nations for royal visits, and proposals for tours of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are being drafted. Indian PM Narendra Modi is understood to have expressed his desire to host the King and Queen Camilla after they had to cancel their trip last time,” the ‘Daily Mirror’ report claims. The couple’s last official visit to India was in 2019, when Charles was the Prince of Wales, with the focus areas being climate change, sustainability, and social finance. More recently in October, they stopped over at the Soukya International Holistic Health Centre (SIHHC) in Whitefield, a suburb of Bengaluru, to “help break the long journey back” from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa. According to palace officials, it was not health-related or linked with the King’s ongoing medical treatment for the unspecified form of cancer. The private stop was reportedly factored in as part of appropriate periods of rest advised by Charles’ doctors as part of the first long-distance royal tour since his diagnosis. Both the King and Queen are known for their affinity with the concept of holistic health and wellness, with Charles and Modi known to have discussed the many benefits of yoga and ayurveda during the latter’s UK visit back in April 2018.
Trump backers battle online over skilled immigrantsIn 2024, there were lots of major housing schemes, plans for offices in the city centre and house extensions. Looking ahead to 2025, it's difficult to predict exactly what developers will be thinking. Clearly, pressures are always mounting when it comes to housing numbers. An overhaul of the National Planning Policy Framework means more and more areas of the countryside could be consumed by housing plans. Angela Rayner, deputy prime minister, unveiled an overhaul of England's planning rules to help deliver Labour's promise of 1.5m new homes by 2029 back in the summer. READ MORE: Major £300m HIF1 road scheme approved by government Oxford North (Image: Contributed) In Oxfordshire, each district has had significant increases. In Oxford city, the target has been set at 1,051 new homes annually – up from the current target of 762 homes a year. For South Oxfordshire, the proposed target has been set at 1,179 new homes annually – up from the current target of 579 homes a year. For West Oxfordshire it is 889 new homes annually – up from the current target of 549 homes a year. And the proposed target for Cherwell has been set at 1,095 new homes annually – up from the current target of 706 homes a year. One area which will almost certainly have more planning applications is Oxford North. Once completed Oxford North will comprise one million sq ft of laboratories and workspaces for science and technology companies, 480 new homes, and amenities including a market square, hotel, nursery, cafe, bar and three public parks. An artist's impression of the Oxford North development (Image: Contributed) Botley Road has also been the subject of lots of plans for labs and offices recently. The retail park is under threat from building work and developers could be eyeing up more space in that area. One plan which is quickly taking shape and is set to open in 2025 is the Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for humanities. Some argue it will boost the city's cultural scene in the post-pandemic world and offers a contrast to the West End of the city which is increasingly seeing laboratories and science buildings being built ahead of retail and leisure near Frideswide Square. The centre designed by Hopkins Architects will be home to a 500-seat concert hall and 250-seat theatre. In addition to the concert hall and theatre, the building will also include an 89-seat lecture and film screening facility, a school engagement centre, and a Bate collection of musical instruments and library. SEE ALSO: Boris Johnson could add sauna to nine-bed Oxfordshire home Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for humanities (Image: Ed Nix) A controversial planning application in 2024 was the demolition of Oxford's Odeon cinema. It will be replaced with Oxford's first aparthotel. The aparthotel will feature around 145 rooms, and these will be built on the upper five storeys of the building, with a reception on the ground floor, including a bar and café. Aparthotel rooms are different from those at a normal hotel as they offer furnished apartments, with an en-suite kitchen featuring a cooker and fridge. This could be a common trend over the next year if developers can snap up under-used buildings and get planning permission to either convert them or demolish them to build a replacement. One plan that could emerge in 2025 is the housing development for North Oxford Golf Club, off Banbury Road. North Oxford Golf Club (Image: Contributed) It has been selected as part of a development of 1,180 homes between Cutteslowe and the A34 in Cherwell District Council 's proposals to help Oxford's unmet housing need. However, an outline planning application is yet to be submitted. Despite members leading a campaign over the last few years to save it, they are now resigned to the fact it will close on October 31 2025. More applications could also be coming as part of the huge Crab Hill development in Wantage Outline planning application has already been granted for 669 homes at the Crab Hill site but details around design for different phases of the development are in the process of being approved. The plans are part of the 1,500 home Kingsgrove development which was approved in 2015. Help support trusted local news Sign up for a digital subscription now: https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/subscribe/ As a digital subscriber you will get: About the author Toby is a senior reporter who has a particular interest in covering planning and local government. He joined in September 2024 having been a reporter at the Hampshire Chronicle for three years. Toby studied at the University of Brighton and can be found on X through the handle @JournoTobyTAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay's surest path to the NFL playoffs is a division championship. The Buccaneers will need help to repeat in the NFC South , but only if they first and foremost give themselves a chance. That means winning their remaining games at home against Carolina and New Orleans, while the Atlanta Falcons lose at least once in the final two weeks of the regular season. The Bucs (8-7) and Falcons share the best record in the division, however Atlanta holds the tiebreaker after sweeping the season series between the teams. Tampa Bay, which has won three consecutive division titles, is the only NFC team that has made the playoffs each of the past four seasons. “We’ve got to take care of business or else we’ve got no shot,” quarterback Baker Mayfield said after a 26-24 loss at Dallas cost the Bucs control of the NFC South race. “This one, we've got to take it on the chin,” Mayfield added. “It's a short week. It's Christmas week. We've got to focus on Carolina and figure out a way to win.” If Atlanta is able to maintain its lead, Tampa Bay could make the postseason as a wild card if the Bucs win out and the Commanders lose twice. Coach Todd Bowles sounds confident that his players understand the challenge ahead and will clean up mistakes that contributed to the end of their four-game win streak. “We’ve got to win a ballgame (this week). If we don’t win a ballgame, we don’t give ourselves a chance,” Bowles said Monday. “We have to focus on us like we’ve been doing,” the coach added. “We have to correct the mistakes, and we have to go out and win Sunday, and we’ve got to win the next week, and then we’ll see what happens after that.” The offense, which ranks third in the NFL at 389.8 yards per game, isn't a fluke. Despite losing to the Cowboys, Tampa Bay finished with 410 yards total offense. It was the team's fifth straight game — as well as an NFL-high ninth overall — with 400-plus yards. The Bucs are seventh in rushing (143.7 yards per game) after ranking 32nd each of the past two seasons. The defense yielded 292 yards passing against the Cowboys, 226 of it in the first half when Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb had six catches for 100 yards and a touchdown. Bowles said shoddy tackling was the biggest issue — not poor coverage. Lamb had one reception for 5 yards after halftime. Mayfield's chemistry with rookie WR Jalen McMillan, who has 27 receptions for 336 yards and five TDs, continues to grow. McMillan had five catches for 57 yards and a touchdown — his fourth in the past three games — against Dallas. He was also the intended receiver on Mayfield's deep throw that CB Jourdan Lewis intercepted in the end zone to help the Cowboys hold off the Bucs in the closing minutes. Turnovers were costly against Dallas. The end-zone interception stopped the Bucs from cutting into a 26-17 deficit with 6:22 remaining in the fourth quarter. Rachaad White's fumble with 1:31 left ended any hope for a last-minute victory. On both plays, defenders ripped the ball out of the grasp of the offensive player. “We knew they were going to rake at the ball going into the ballgame," Bowles said. "We just have to have two hands on the ball, and we have to fight for it. We have to take better care of the football. That’s priority No. 1.” Bowles said it's too early to project the status of several starters for coming games, including S Antoine Winfield Jr. (knee), who has missed the past two games. TE Cade Otton (knee) and LB K.J. Britt (ankle) were inactive against the Cowboys, while reserve WR Sterling Shepard left during the game with a hamstring injury. 80. Bucky Irving leads all NFL rookie RBs with 920 yards rushing. He needs 80 over the next two games to reach 1,000. He scored his seventh rushing touchdown against Dallas. That tied Errict Rhett and Lars Tate for the second-most rushing TDs by a rookie running back in franchise history. Doug Martin set the record of 11 in 2012. Host Carolina on Sunday. NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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East Tennessee State won its fourth straight men’s basketball game Saturday at Freedom Hall Civic Center in a contest which the Bucs dominated statistically. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.By Stephanie Lai and Hadriana Lowenkron, Bloomberg News Donald Trump says he is selecting venture capitalist David Sacks of Craft Ventures LLC to serve as his artificial intelligence and crypto czar, a newly created position that underscores the president-elect’s intent to boost two rapidly developing industries. “David will guide policy for the Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness. David will focus on making America the clear global leader in both areas,” Trump said Thursday in a post on his Truth Social network. Trump said that Sacks would also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology. In Sacks, Trump is tapping one of his most prominent Silicon Valley supporters and fundraisers for a prime position in his administration. Sacks played a key role in bolstering Trump’s fundraising among technology industry donors, including co-hosting an event at his San Francisco home in June, with tickets at $300,000 a head. He is also closely associated with Vice President-elect JD Vance, the investor-turned-Ohio senator. Sacks is a venture capitalist and part of Silicon Valley’s “PayPal Mafia.” He first made his name in the technology industry during a stint as the chief operating officer of PayPal, the payments company whose founders in the late 1990s included billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and investor Peter Thiel. After it was sold to eBay, Sacks turned to Hollywood, where he produced the 2005 satire Thank You for Smoking. Back in Silicon Valley, he founded workplace communications company Yammer, which was bought by Microsoft Corp. in 2012 for $1.2 billion. He founded his own venture capital firm, Craft Ventures, in 2017 and has invested in Musk-owned businesses, including SpaceX. Sacks said on a recent episode of his All-In podcast that a “key man” clause in the agreements of his venture firm’s legal documents would likely prevent him from taking a full-time position, but he might consider an advisory role in the new administration. A Craft spokeswoman said Sacks would not be leaving Craft. In his post, Trump said Sacks “will safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship.” Protecting free speech is a keen interest of Sacks. He regularly speaks about “woke” interests that try to muzzle unpopular opinions and positions. The new post is expected to help spearhead the crypto industry deregulation Trump promised on the campaign trail. The role is expected to provide cryptocurrency advocates a direct line to the White House and serve as a liaison between Trump, Congress and the federal agencies that interface with digital assets, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Trump heavily campaigned on supporting crypto, after previously disparaging digital assets during his first White House term, saying their “value is highly volatile and based on thin air.” The president-elect on Thursday said Sacks would “work on a legal framework so the Crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the U.S.” During the campaign, Trump spoke at a Bitcoin conference, accepted crypto campaign donations and met with executives from Bitcoin mining companies and crypto exchanges multiple times. Trump’s desire to give priority to the digital asset industry is also reflected in his close allies and cabinet selections, including his Commerce secretary pick, Howard Lutnick, and Treasury secretary nominee Scott Bessent. On the AI front, Sacks would help Trump put his imprint on an emerging technology whose popular use has exploded in recent years. Sacks is poised to be at the front lines in determining how the federal government both adopts AI and regulates its use as advances in the technology and adoption by consumers pose a wide array of benefits as well as risks touching on national security, privacy, jobs and other areas. The president-elect has expressed both awe at the power of AI technology as well as concern over the potential harms from its use. During his first term, he signed executive orders that sought to maintain US leadership in the field and directed the federal government to prioritize AI in research and development spending. As AI has become more mainstream in recent years and with Congress slow to act, President Joe Biden has sought to fill that void. Biden signed an executive order in 2023 that establishes security and privacy protections and requires developers to safety-test new models, casting the sweeping regulatory order as necessary to safeguard consumers. A number of technology giants have also agreed to adopt a set of voluntary safeguards which call for them to test AI systems for discriminatory tendencies or security flaws and to share those results. Trump has vowed to repeal Biden’s order. The Republican Party’s 2024 platform dismissed Biden’s executive order as one that “hinders AI Innovation, and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology.” Sacks can be expected to work closely with Musk, the world’s richest person and one of the president-elect’s most prominent supporters. Musk is also a player in the AI space with his company xAI and a chatbot named Grok — efforts which pit him against Silicon Valley’s giants — and he stands to wield significant influence within the incoming administration. The appointment won’t require Sacks to divest or publicly disclose his assets. Like Musk, Sacks will be a special government employee. He can serve a maximum of 130 days per year, with or without compensation. However, conflict of interest rules apply to special government employees, meaning Sacks will have to recuse himself from matters that could impact his holdings. Sacks’s Craft Ventures is known more for enterprise software investing than for crypto, but it has made a few crypto investments, including BitGo and Bitwise. Still, Sacks has firm opinions on the sector. Speaking last month on All-In, Sacks praised a bill on crypto regulation that had passed in the U.S. House but not the Senate earlier this year. The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act would regulate certain types of digital assets as a commodity, regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “The crypto industry basically wants a really clear line for knowing when they’re a commodity and they want commodities to be governed, like all other commodities, by the CFTC,” he said on the November podcast. He also disparaged some of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s positions on crypto under its chair, Gary Gensler. “The days of Gensler terrifying crypto companies,” he said. “Those days are about to be over.” Earlier this week, Trump nominated crypto advocate Paul Atkins to lead the SEC. With assistance from Zoe Ma, Bill Allison, Sarah McBride, Anne VanderMey and stacy-marie ishmael. ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Olu Fashanu’s ‘astounding’ Jets rookie season may be over after injuryDEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza City (AP) — For Gaza’s women, the hardships of life in the territory’s sprawling tent camps are compounded by the daily humiliation of never having privacy. Women struggle to dress modestly while crowded into tents with extended family members, including men, and with strangers only steps away in neighboring tents. Access to menstrual products is limited, so they cut up sheets or old clothes to use as pads. Makeshift toilets usually consist of only a hole in the sand surrounded by sheets dangling from a line, and these must be shared with dozens of other people. Alaa Hamami has dealt with the modesty issue by constantly wearing her prayer shawl, a black cloth that covers her head and upper body. “Our whole lives have become prayer clothes, even to the market we wear it,” said the young mother of three. “Dignity is gone.” Normally, she would wear the shawl only when performing her daily Muslim prayers. But with so many men around, she keeps it on all the time, even when sleeping — just in case an Israeli strike hits nearby in the night and she has to flee quickly, she said. Israel’s 14-month-old campaign in Gaza has driven more than 90% of its 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes. Hundreds of thousands of them are now living in squalid camps of tents packed close together over large areas. Sewage runs into the streets , and food and water are hard to obtain. Winter is setting in. Families often wear the same clothes for weeks because they left clothing and many other belongings behind as they fled. Everyone in the camps searches daily for food, clean water and firewood. Women feel constantly exposed. Gaza has always been a conservative society. Most women wear the hijab, or head scarf, in the presence of men who are not immediate family. Matters of women’s health — pregnancy, menstruation and contraception — tend not to be discussed publicly. “Before we had a roof. Here it does not exist,” said Hamami, whose prayer shawl is torn and smudged with ash from cooking fires. “Here our entire lives have become exposed to the public. There is no privacy for women.” Wafaa Nasrallah, a displaced mother of two, says life in the camps makes even the simplest needs difficult, like getting period pads, which she cannot afford. She tried using pieces of cloth and even diapers, which have also increased in price. For a bathroom, she has a hole in the ground, surrounded by blankets propped up by sticks. The U.N. says more than 690,000 women and girls in Gaza require menstrual hygiene products, as well as clean water and toilets. Aid workers have been unable to meet demand, with supplies piling up at crossings from Israel. Stocks of hygiene kits have run out, and prices are exorbitant. Many women have to choose between buying pads and buying food and water. Doaa Hellis, a mother of three living in a camp, said she has torn up her old clothes to use for menstrual pads. “Wherever we find fabric, we tear it up and use it.” A packet of pads costs 45 shekels ($12), “and there is not even five shekels in the whole tent,” she said. Anera, a rights group active in Gaza, says some women use birth control pills to halt their periods. Others have experienced disruptions in their cycles because of the stress and trauma of repeated displacement. The terrible conditions pose real risks to women’s health, said Amal Seyam, the director of the Women’s Affairs Center in Gaza, which provides supplies for women and surveys them about their experiences. She said some women have not changed clothes for 40 days. That and improvised cloth pads “will certainly create” skin diseases, diseases related to reproductive health and psychological conditions, she said. “Imagine what a woman in Gaza feels like, if she’s unable to control conditions related to hygiene and menstrual cycles,” Seyam said. Hellis remembered a time not so long ago, when being a woman felt more like a joy and less like a burden. “Women are now deprived of everything, no clothes, no bathroom. Their psychology is completely destroyed,” she said. Seyam said the center has tracked cases where girls have been married younger, before the age of 18, to escape the suffocating environment of their family’s tents. The war will “continue to cause a humanitarian disaster in every sense of the word. And women always pay the biggest price,” she said. Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, over half of them women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Its count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians. Israel launched its assault in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on southern Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted around 250 others. With large swaths of Gaza’s cities and towns leveled, women wrestle with reduced lives in their tents. Hamami can walk the length of her small tent in a few strides. She shares it with 13 other people from her extended family. During the war, she gave birth to a son, Ahmed, who is now 8 months old. Between caring for him and her two other children, washing her family’s laundry, cooking and waiting in line for water, she says there’s no time to care for herself. She has a few objects that remind her of what her life once was, including a powder compact she brought with her when she fled her home in the Shati camp of Gaza City. The makeup is now caked and crumbling. She managed to keep hold of a small mirror through four different displacements over the past year. It’s broken into two shards that she holds together every so often to catch a glimpse of her reflection. “Previously, I had a wardrobe that contained everything I could wish for,” she said. “We used to go out for a walk every day, go to wedding parties, go to parks, to malls, to buy everything we wanted." Women “lost their being and everything in this war," she said. "Women used to take care of themselves before the war. Now everything is destroyed.” Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.