q9 online casino MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler will not play in the final two games of Miami’s ongoing road trip while recovering from illness, the team said Friday. That means Butler will not play Saturday at Atlanta or Sunday at Houston. The earliest he could play again is Wednesday at home against New Orleans. Butler hasn’t played since the first quarter of Miami’s Dec. 20 game against Oklahoma City, when he twisted an ankle, left the game and then was ruled out because of illness. Miami has played three games since without Butler, two because of the illness and then Thursday’s win in Orlando with him back in Miami conditioning for a return. He is not with the team on the road trip. The Heat said Thursday that they are not going to trade Butler, that announcement coming after ESPN, citing sources, said the six-time All-Star would prefer to be moved before the trade deadline on Feb. 6. Butler has not publicly expressed any desire to be traded. He is averaging 18.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.9 assists this season. ___ AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBAMaryland sues maker of Gore-Tex over pollution from toxic 'forever chemicals'

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In a shocking case of cyber fraud , a 75-year-old man from Colaba, Mumbai, was defrauded of Rs 11.1 crore by scammers operating through a WhatsApp group. The victim, a retired ship captain and regular stock market investor, fell prey to a meticulously planned scheme that involved a fake financial services company, fraudulent trading apps, and persuasive tactics by the culprits. This case underscores the growing prevalence of cyber scams targeting unsuspecting individuals via messaging platforms like WhatsApp. It also highlights the importance of adopting robust digital security practices to avoid such traps. How a WhatsApp group scam duped a 75-year-old of Rs 11.1 crore The incident began on August 19 when the victim was added to a WhatsApp group named after a prominent financial services company. A woman posing as "Anya Smith" shared investment opportunities on the group and invited members to invest in stock trading. Convinced by the group’s credibility, the victim consented to the proposal and was moved to another group. From there, he was directed to download a trading app through a shared link. The victim then began receiving messages from "Smith" and her associates regarding various investment schemes, including institutional account trading, IPOs, and OTC trading. Over the next two months, the victim made 22 transactions amounting to Rs 11.1 crore to multiple bank accounts across the country. When he questioned the use of multiple bank accounts, the scammers assured him that it was to save taxes. However, even after paying an additional 20% service tax, the victim was repeatedly asked for more payments under various pretenses. Realizing something was amiss, he approached the headquarters of the purported financial company, only to discover it was a fraud. Police investigation and findings of the WhatsApp scam The victim reported the incident to the South Region Cyber Police, who registered a case under the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act. The investigation revealed that the bank accounts used by the scammers were held in branches of UCO Bank, ICICI Bank, Canara Bank, Bandhan Bank, and others across cities such as Mumbai, Bhopal, Nagpur, Surat, Hyderabad, and Jaipur. Authorities suspect a well-coordinated network of individuals behind the scam and have initiated efforts to trace the perpetrators. This case adds to a worrying trend of cyber frauds in Mumbai, with a similar incident earlier in the year involving an elderly woman losing Rs 25 crore to fraudsters posing as CBI officers. How to protect yourself from WhatsApp group scams To avoid falling victim to scams like this, here are some essential tips: Adjust WhatsApp group privacy settings WhatsApp allows users to control who can add them to groups. Follow these steps to secure your account: Open WhatsApp and go to Settings (found under the three-dot menu on Android or at the bottom on iOS). Select Privacy > Groups . Choose one of the following options: Everyone : Anyone can add you to groups (not recommended). My Contacts : Only people in your address book can add you. My Contacts Except : Exclude specific contacts from adding you. Nobody : Requires everyone to send you an invite before adding you to a group. Be wary of investment opportunities on messaging platforms Verify the source : Check the credentials of anyone offering financial advice or investment schemes. Avoid clicking links : Refrain from clicking on suspicious links shared in groups or messages. Research thoroughly : Confirm the legitimacy of apps or companies before making any financial commitments. Report and exit suspicious WhatsApp groups If you are added to an unsolicited or suspicious WhatsApp group: Go to the group info section. Select Report Group to notify WhatsApp about the activity. Exit the group and block the group admin if necessary. Enable WhatsApp’s privacy checkup tool WhatsApp offers a Privacy Checkup feature that guides users through configuring their privacy settings for maximum security. Additional digital safety practices to protect yourself from online fraud Never share personal information : Avoid sharing sensitive information like bank details or personal IDs on messaging platforms. Beware of unknown contacts : Do not engage with messages or calls from unknown numbers. Monitor financial transactions : Regularly check your bank statements for any unauthorized transactions. Also read | Airtel recharge plans | Jio recharge plans | BSNL recharge plans

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NonePresident-elect Donald Trump announced a slew of new administration picks on Wednesday, including his choices to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, the IRS and NASA — as well as the first ever envoy for “hostage affairs.” The move comes as Trump, 78, looks to wind down global conflicts that erupted during President Biden’s tenure — in both the Middle East and Ukraine — and make good on his mandate from voters to bring back the roaring economy that his first term ushered in before the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are the major announcements Trump made on appointments on Wednesday. Adam Boehler for Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler will serve in a novel position as Trump’s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, which will also have the rank of ambassador. Trump noted in his announcement that Boehler worked with him as a lead negotiator on the Abraham Accords, which in 2020 opened up diplomatic relations between Israel and the Arab nations of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. “He has negotiated with some of the toughest people in the World, including the Taliban, but Adam knows that NO ONE is tougher than the United States of America, at least when President Trump is its Leader,” the once and future president posted on his Truth Social. “Adam will work tirelessly to bring our Great American Citizens HOME.” Boehler, a businessman, was college roommates with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who led the the Abraham Accords negotiations. After leaving the administration in 2021, Boehler founded a health care investment firm called Rubicon Founders. Trump has already prioritized getting home US hostages being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip — more than a year after the terrorists invaded Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping more than 250. In a scathing message on Monday, the soon-to-be 47th president warned there will be “all hell to pay” if the hostages were not released soon — hours after it was confirmed that New Yorker Omer Neutra , 21, was killed by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. “Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!” Trump wrote. Billy Long for IRS commissioner Former Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) was announced as Trump’s pick to lead the Internal Revenue Service. Long, a 69-year-old certified auctioneer, represented Missouri’s 7th congressional district from 2011 to 2023. He has worked as a business and tax adviser since leaving office, assisting small businesses “navigate the complexities of complying with the IRS Rules and Regulations.” “Billy brings 32 years of experience running his own businesses in Real Estate and, as one of the premier Auctioneers in the Country,” Trump said of the incoming IRS commissioner. “Taxpayers and the wonderful employees of the IRS will love having Billy at the helm,” the president-elect added. “He is the consummate ‘people person,’ well respected on both sides of the aisle.” Paul Atkins for Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Trump selected Paul Atkins, the CEO of Patomak Global Partners, to be chairman of the SEC. The former president has expressed friendly views on cryptocurrency, and Atkins, who is a backer of crypto, would be replacing Gary Gensler, who has led a crackdown on crypto companies. Atkins previously served as one of five SEC commissioners between 2002 and 2008 in the Bush administration and was one of the economic leaders advising Trump in 2016 through the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum. “Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulations,” Trump said in his Truth Social post. “He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World. He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.” Monica Crowley for Chief of Protocol of the United States Trump tapped Monica Elizabeth Crowley to lead implementation efforts for major US events throughout his administration, in the position of ambassador, assistant secretary of state and chief protocol of the US. Crowley will be the administration’s representative for “America’s 250th Birthday in 2026, the FIFA World Cup in 2026, and the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028,” Trump wrote in his announcement. The former Fox News personality served as Trump’s assistant secretary of public affairs in the Treasury Department during his first term, then serving as spokesperson for the department. Gail Slater for assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division at the Justice Department Trump also said Gail Slater — an economic adviser for Vice President-elect JD Vance and an antitrust guru — will be the assistant attorney general for the antitrust division at the DOJ. The position, Trump said, will allow Slater to potentially break up big tech platforms. “Big Tech has run wild for years, stifling competition in our most innovative sector and, as we all know, using its market power to crack down on the rights of so many Americans, as well as those of Little Tech!” Trump wrote in his Truth post. Slater previously worked as a legal adviser at the Federal Trade Commission and general counsel at the former Internet Association, a tech industry trade association, before joining Trump’s first administration in 2018 as special assistant to the president for technology, telecommunications and cybersecurity. She then worked for Fox and the streaming device company Roku before becoming Vance’s economic adviser and later serving an antitrust adviser to the Trump transition team. “Gail will help ensure that our competition laws are enforced, both vigorously and FAIRLY, with clear rules that facilitate, rather than stifle, the ingenuity of our greatest companies,” Trump wrote. Michael Whatley for Chairman of RNC Michael Whatley will be reprising his role as chair of the Republican National Committee after leading since March when Ronna McDaniel stepped down following pressure from the former president. Trump praised Whatley’s record of leading the RNC through their election integrity efforts and their get out the vote initiative that won him the election. “He is a smart, tough lawyer who put together a completely unprecedented ELECTION INTEGRITY OPERATION that protected the Vote all across America, and a GET OUT THE VOTE CAMPAIGN that delivered the Votes we needed in every Battleground State,” Trump wrote. “Michael and Lara transformed the RNC into a lean, focused, and powerful machine that will empower the America First Agenda for many years to come.” Jared Isaacman to lead NASA Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman was tapped by the president-elect to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Isaacman, 41, is the founder and CEO of the payment processing company Shift4 and founded Draken International, which operates a large fleet of privately owned military aircraft to train and support air forces around the world. A close collaborator with Elon Musk, Isaacman performed the first private spacewalk in September in which he flew the farthest from Earth a human has been since the Appollo moon missions. “Jared will drive NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in Space science, technology, and exploration,” Trump said in his announcement. Kelly Loeffler for the Small Business Administration Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) was nominated by Trump to serve as administrator of the Small Business Administration. Loeffler, a vocal supporter of Trump, served about a year in the upper chamber beginning in January 2020 and has recently been leading the president-elect’s inaugural committee. The former Georgia lawmaker has an MBA from DePaul University has worked for several major corporations, including Citibank. She was the CEO of Bakkt, a software company, and a former part-owner of the Atlanta Dream WNBA team. “Kelly will bring her experience in business and Washington to reduce red tape, and unleash opportunity for our Small Businesses to grow, innovate, and thrive,” Trump wrote in his announcement. “She will focus on ensuring that SBA is accountable to Taxpayers by cracking down on waste, fraud, and regulatory overreach.”

When then-48-year-old vice presidential nominee Sen. Walter F. Mondale revealed that he was taking medicine for hypertension, a July 16, 1976, article in the New York Times announced, “Mondale Controlling High Blood Pressure.” Hypertension was newsworthy. Today, a governmental study found that 55.9% of American men over age 40 were hypertensive, along with 49% of women. Hypertension is practically the norm, especially among older citizens. The National Center for Health Statistics, under the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published a “NCHS Data Brief,” No. 511, in October 2024. Based on data collected between 2017 and 2020, from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Cheryl D. Fryer, MSPH, and co-authors, found that 47.7% of Americans over age 18 years were hypertensive. Among adults carrying this diagnosis, only 59.2% were aware of the condition. The data showed 20.7% of hypertensives had well-controlled blood pressure. Well-controlled blood pressure translates into systolic blood pressure below 130, and diastolic below 80, measured in “millimeters of mercury,” or mm Hg. The percentage of persons with controlled pressure was lower among adult men (18.9%) compared to women (22.8%), but this difference became insignificant after age 60 years, with overall control at that age reaching about 29.2%. The prevalence of hypertension increased with age, with those 60 years of age or older manifesting hypertension in 71.6% of individuals. If you grow old, hypertension will likely be diagnosed. Although the authors noted that “hypertension is a treatable chronic condition,” one must wonder why blood pressure elevation is so common in modern America. Some obvious reasons come to mind. We are living longer, so we have more time to manifest disease. In the year 1900, for example, Americans lived to be about 49, often succumbing to infections such as influenza or tuberculosis. As public sanitation improved, and with the advent of antibiotics and widespread immunization, more of us have survived to suffer the slings and arrows of chronic degenerative disorders, such as hypertension, arthritis, dementia and diabetes. The obesity epidemic does not help, of course. The combination of high body weight and sedentary lifestyles predisposes to a host of conditions, including high blood pressure and cholesterol elevation, sometimes referred to as a “metabolic syndrome.” Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, tending to predict a high frequency of elevated blood pressure. The current blood pressure standards for “normality” are also quite unforgiving. Since blood pressure creeps up with age, it is likely that most of us will eventually exceed the 130/80 mm Hg threshold for “hypertension.” I recall, decades ago, that we focused on 140/90 mmHg, and we often attributed even higher systolic pressures to “normal” aging. Medical consensus opinions favor more aggressive therapy, even for modestly elevated readings. While I wander down memory lane, I feel compelled to also express skepticism regarding today’s blood pressure measurement devices. I often find patients with alarmingly high readings on initial screening, by automated sphygmomanometers. When I examine these prospective hypertensives myself, after 10 minutes of rest, with an appropriate cuff and manual reading, I often encounter reassuring numbers. Getting blood pressure measured after rushing into a clinic from a traffic jam may not reveal an accurate understanding of the examinee’s clinical status. An indwelling arterial line measurement, considered the gold standard for accuracy during surgical procedures, is rarely practical. Technological advances for pressure monitoring will no doubt continue. Adrenal gland disease, along with other conditions, may cause “secondary hypertension.” So-called “essential hypertension,” however, is more commonly encountered, without a specific identifiable cause. We manage hypertension with dietary adjustments, exercise and medication. The “Silent Killer” nickname describes hypertension, which contributes to strokes, heart problems or kidney failure. Dr. Scott Anderson (standerson@ucdavis.edu) is a clinical professor at the UC Davis Medical School. This column is informational and does not constitute medical advice.

Nestled in the natural paradise of Manuel Antonio , Casa Anjali is an exquisite luxury rental that embodies the beauty and biodiversity of Costa Rica. Just a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Juan Santamaria International Airport, this villa is a prime destination for those seeking a blend of relaxation and adventure on the stunning west coast. Part of the Sandglass Hotels & Villas Collection, Casa Anjali’s architecture is striking, featuring 6,000 square feet of interior space and 3,000 square feet of decked terraces across three levels. With floor-to-ceiling sliding glass windows, guests have easy access to magnificent sea views. The villa accommodates up to fourteen guests in seven luxurious bedrooms, including three king-size rooms, one queen room, and three twin rooms that can be converted into king beds. Each bedroom has a private bathroom, allowing for a comfortable and indulgent stay. Unmatched Comfort with Five-Star Services Casa Anjali offers the services of a five-star hotel while maintaining the privacy and comfort of a luxury home. Guests can enjoy flexible services, including the option of a private chef, who can prepare meals using the freshest local ingredients. The indoor dining area seats ten people and offers stunning views of the ocean and surrounding forest , complemented by a fully equipped American-style kitchen with an ice machine and coffee maker. The villa’s amenities enhance the overall experience, including an indulgent infinity pool that appears to float above the jungle. Guests can relax on the wide deck equipped with umbrellas and lounge chairs, providing comfort and shade under the midday sun. Manuel Antonio offers an array of local adventures for travelers. Guests can unwind on the beautiful beaches, engaging in activities like sunbathing, surfing, and sport fishing, or join a catamaran or whale-watching tour. For those seeking to explore inland, there are over 3 km of unspoiled tropical forests featuring stunning waterfalls and diverse wildlife. Whether indulging in luxury or seeking adventure, Casa Anjali provides a perfect backdrop for a memorable Costa Rican getaway. For more information, visit Casa Anjali’s website . Tags Casa Anjali costa rica costa rica news Daily News Juan Santamaria International Airport Luxurious Retreat National News news news costa rica Retreat in Manuel Antonio Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.Gautam Adani breaks silence on US allegations to say his group is committed to complianceThe world's tallest woman and the world's shortest woman have met for afternoon tea in London to celebrate Guinness World Records Day. Rumeysa Gelgi, who stands 215.16 centimeters (7 feet 0.7 inches) tall, and Jyoti Amge, who measures just 62.8 centimeters (2 feet 0.7 inches), met at the Savoy Hotel, according to a statement from Guinness World Records (GWR) on Wednesday. The height difference between the two women might be a massive 152.36 centimeters (5 feet), but the pair reportedly got on famously. "We do have things in common. We both love make-up, self-care, jewelry and doing our nails," said Gelgi in the statement. "It was difficult for us to make eye contact at times due to our height difference, but it was great," she added. Amge added that she was "so happy" to meet her fellow record holder. Gelgi, a web designer from Turkey, was confirmed as the tallest woman living in 2021. Her height is due to an extremely rare condition called Weaver syndrome. She was only the 27th person in the world to be diagnosed with the syndrome, according to GWR. Gelgi, 27, also holds the records for largest hands on a woman at 24.93 centimeters (9.81 inches); the longest back on a living person (female) at 59.90 centimeters (23.58 inches); and the longest ears on a person (female) at an average size of 9.58 centimeters (3.77 inches). Gelgi has also been featured in a GWR documentary named "Rumeysa: Walking Tall," which follows her on a journey across the U.S., meeting fellow record holders. Amge, an actress and media personality born in India, has a bone growth disorder named achondroplasia that affects the arms and legs. The disorder occurs early in a fetus' development in the womb and affects the cartilage tissue that should become a child's arms and legs. Despite her small stature, she is a big presence on social media and has also appeared on the U.S. television series "American Horror Story: Freak Show" in the role of Ma Petite. This means she is officially the shortest actress ever, GWR said. Amge has also appeared on the Italian TV show "Lo Show Dei Record" on various occasions. GWR editor-in-chief Craig Glenday met with the pair in London and said that the records are about "celebrating differences." "By bringing together these two amazing, iconic women, they can share their perspectives on life with each other and, also, with us," said Glenday in the statement. Both Gelgi and Amge have been named GWR ICONS, a new category introduced for the book's 2025 edition.

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Cancer – (21st June to 22nd July) Daily Horoscope Prediction says, Nothing beats your attitude Minor issues may be there in the love affair but they will be resolved. Continue your performance at the workplace. Both wealth and health are positive today. Share happy moments in love. Take up a new role at the office that will test your mettle. Financially you are good and health will also be at your side. Cancer Love Horoscope Today Shower love on the partner and also plan a romantic dinner. Your partner may be adamant or stubborn today over a topic that can create tense moments. Give surprise gifts and plan a vacation to strengthen the bonding. Some married female natives will have troubles with the family of their spouse and this needs to be resolved today. Avoid unpleasant things in the relationship to keep it going stronger for a long period. Cancer Career Horoscope Today Look for more professional opportunities to prove your potential today. Some tasks will demand you to stay additional hours while you may also impress the client with your communication skills. IT engineers, automobile engineers, and healthcare professionals will have chances to move abroad. Some academicians will receive an appraisal. Entrepreneurs will get into new partnerships which will bring in good returns shortly. Funds will come by to expand the trade to new territories. Cancer Money Horoscope Today Wealth will come in from different sources and you may go ahead with the idea to invest in real estate. Some Cancer natives will be successful in the stock market. You may go ahead with the plan to buy jewelry or electronic appliances. You can also travel today with the family and funds will not be an issue. Businessmen will clear all pending dues and will also be successful in raising funds through promoters. Cancer Health Horoscope Today Today is a good day to schedule the surgery. Those who have breathing issues need to consult a doctor. Seniors must be careful while boarding a bus or train. Children may develop viral fever, sore throat, or body aches. Pregnant females must avoid riding a scooter today. Maintain a healthy diet and ensure you include many green leafy vegetables and fruits in your diet. Cancer Sign Attributes Strength: Intuitive, Practical, Kind, Energetic, Artsy, Dedicated, Benevolent, Caring Weakness: Insatiable, Possessive, Prudish Symbol: Crab Element: Water Body Part: Stomach & Breast Sign Ruler: Moon Lucky Day: Monday Lucky Color: White Lucky Number: 2 Lucky Stone: Pearl Cancer Sign Compatibility Chart Natural affinity: Taurus, Virgo, Scorpio, Pisces Good compatibility: Cancer, Capricorn Fair compatibility: Gemini, Leo, Sagittarius, Aquarius Less compatibility: Aries, Libra By: Dr. J. N. Pandey Vedic Astrology & Vastu Expert Website: www.astrologerjnpandey.com E-mail: djnpandey@gmail.com Phone: 91-9811107060 (WhatsApp Only)

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slot game 49 jili Primary Hyperoxaluria Therapeutics Market Size in the 7MM was ~USD 316 million in 2023, estimated DelveInsight 12-23-2024 11:20 PM CET | Health & Medicine Press release from: ABNewswire DelveInsight's "Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Insights, Epidemiology, and Market Forecast-2034 report offers an in-depth understanding of the Primary Hyperoxaluria, historical and forecasted epidemiology as well as the Primary Hyperoxaluria market trends in the United States, EU4 (Germany, Spain, Italy, France) the United Kingdom and Japan. Discover Key Insights into the Primary Hyperoxaluria Market with DelveInsight's In-Depth Report @ Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Size [ https://www.delveinsight.com/sample-request/primary-hyperoxaluria-market?utm_source=abnewswire&utm_medium=pressrelease&utm_campaign=ypr ] Key Takeaways from Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Report * In the assessment done by DelveInsight, the estimated total prevalent cases of Primary Hyperoxaluria in the 7MM were ~12 thousand in 2023. * The highest total diagnosed prevalent cases of Primary Hyperoxaluria were accounted by US in 2023 (~2 thousand), which are expected to show a rise in the future. * Among the European countries, the UK had the highest diagnosed prevalent cases of Primary Hyperoxaluria with ~220 cases, followed by Germany, which had prevalent population of ~188 in 2023. On the other hand, Spain had the lowest prevalent population (~100 cases). * Japan had the fewest total diagnosed prevalent cases of Primary Hyperoxaluria in 2023, accounting for approximately 2.5% of the cases in 7MM. * In 2023, in the US, the age-specific diagnosed prevalent cases of Primary Hyperoxaluria were highest for age group 0-4 (~780 cases), followed by 5-9 (~470 cases). The lowest number of cases was in the 15-19 years age group. * In 2023, in Japan, the type-specific diagnosed prevalent cases of Primary Hyperoxaluria were highest for Primary Hyperoxaluria Type 1 (~64 cases), followed by Primary Hyperoxaluria Type 2, Primary Hyperoxaluria Type 3 and unclassified. * The leading Primary Hyperoxaluria Companies such as Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Allena Pharmaceuticals, Biocodex, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Biocodex, Dicerna Pharmaceuticals , and others * Promising Primary Hyperoxaluria Therapies such as Nedosiran (DCR-PHXC), ALLN-177, Stiripentol, Lumasiran, stiripentol (Diacomit), DCR-PHXC , and others Navigate the complexities of the Primary Hyperoxaluria Market: gain insights into drug trends, treatment scenarios, and epidemiological data through our insightful Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Forecast. Click here to get more insights @ Primary Hyperoxaluria Treatment Market [ https://www.delveinsight.com/sample-request/primary-hyperoxaluria-market?utm_source=abnewswire&utm_medium=pressrelease&utm_campaign=ypr ] Primary Hyperoxaluria Epidemiology Segmentation in the 7MM * Prevalent Cases of Primary Hyperoxaluria in the 7MM * Diagnosed Prevalent Cases of Primary Hyperoxaluria in the 7MM * Gender-specific Cases of Diagnosed Prevalent Cases of Primary Hyperoxaluria in the 7MM * Age-specific Cases of Diagnosed Prevalent Cases of Primary Hyperoxaluria in the 7MM * Type-specific Cases of Diagnosed Prevalent Cases of Primary Hyperoxaluria in the 7MM Download the report to understand which factors are driving Primary Hyperoxaluria epidemiology trends @ Primary Hyperoxaluria Prevalence [ https://www.delveinsight.com/sample-request/primary-hyperoxaluria-market?utm_source=abnewswire&utm_medium=pressrelease&utm_campaign=ypr ] Primary Hyperoxaluria Marketed Drugs * OXLUMO (Lumasiran/ALN-GO1): Alnylam Pharma Lumasiran (formerly ALN-GO1) developed by Alnylam Pharma, approved in Year 2020, is a subcutaneously administered, RNAi therapeutic targeting glycolate oxidase (GO). Lumasiran is designed to reduce hepatic levels of GO enzyme (encoded by HAO1), thereby depleting substrate necessary for oxalate production, which directly contributes to the pathophysiology of Primary Hyperoxaluria type 1. * RIVFLOZA (nedosiran/DCR-PHXC): Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dicerna Pharmaceutical's Nedosiran (formerly referred to as DCR-PHXC) is an advanced therapy utilized with the company's GalXC technology to treat patients with Primary Hyperoxaluria. It was approved in Year 2023. It inhibits the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzyme in the final common step of this pathway and thereby attempts to prevent this overproduction of oxalate. This LDH enzyme inhibition occurs specifically in the liver due to the incorporation of GalNAc targeting ligands in nedosiran that bind specifically to the asialoglycoprotein receptors (ASGPR) on hepatic cell surfaces. Primary Hyperoxaluria Emerging Drugs * Stiripentol (Diacomit): Biocodex Stiripentol is an anticonvulsant drug used in treating epilepsy as an adjunct therapy along with Clobazam and Valproic acid. This drug is currently approved in the US, Canada, and European countries as oral tablets marketed as Diacomit. Unrelated to other anticonvulsants, stiripentol belongs to the group of aromatic allylic alcohols and may potentiate the effect of other antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) due to pharmacokinetic interactions. It elevates gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels, a major inhibitory neurotransmitter that regulates electrical activity in the central nervous system. Get In-Depth Knowledge on Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Trends and Forecasts with DelveInsight @ Primary Hyperoxaluria Treatment Market [ https://www.delveinsight.com/sample-request/primary-hyperoxaluria-market?utm_source=abnewswire&utm_medium=pressrelease&utm_campaign=ypr ] Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Outlook The global burden of Primary Hyperoxaluria has increased over the years. Among the seven major markets, the United States has reported having maximum diagnosed prevalent cases of Primary Hyperoxaluria. Though the prevalence of Primary Hyperoxaluria is high across the US, the condition is often misdiagnosed, ultimately leading to a lower treatable pool (when compared to the total prevalent population of the disease) that contributes to the market size of Primary Hyperoxaluria. Primary Hyperoxaluria Treatment Market The Primary Hyperoxaluria treatment usually started with citrates, vitamin B6, and hyperhydration. After that, iRNA therapies begin. Patients with advanced kidney failure go for kidney transplantation. Transplantation methods depend on the type of primary hyperoxaluria and the particular patient, but combined liver and kidney transplantation is the method of choice in patients with PH1, and isolated kidney transplantation is the preferred method with PH2. Gain a strategic edge in the Primary Hyperoxaluria Market: explore comprehensive drug insights, treatment updates, and epidemiological forecasts in our in-depth Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Forecast. Click here to lead in advancements @ Primary Hyperoxaluria Clinical Trials Assessment [ https://www.delveinsight.com/sample-request/primary-hyperoxaluria-market?utm_source=abnewswire&utm_medium=pressrelease&utm_campaign=ypr ] Scope of the Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Report * Study Period: 2020-2034 * Coverage: 7MM * Primary Hyperoxaluria Companies: Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Allena Pharmaceuticals, Biocodex, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Biocodex, Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, and others * Primary Hyperoxaluria Therapies: Nedosiran (DCR-PHXC), ALLN-177, Stiripentol, Lumasiran, stiripentol (Diacomit), DCR-PHXC, and others * Primary Hyperoxaluria Therapeutic Assessment: Primary Hyperoxaluria current marketed and Primary Hyperoxaluria emerging therapies * Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Dynamics: Primary Hyperoxaluria market drivers and Primary Hyperoxaluria market barriers * Competitive Intelligence Analysis: SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, Porter's five forces, BCG Matrix, Market entry strategies * Primary Hyperoxaluria Unmet Needs, KOL's views, Analyst's views, Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Access and Reimbursement Table of Contents 1. Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Report Introduction 2. Executive Summary for Primary Hyperoxaluria 3. SWOT analysis of Primary Hyperoxaluria 4. Primary Hyperoxaluria Patient Share (%) Overview at a Glance 5. Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Overview at a Glance 6. Primary Hyperoxaluria Disease Background and Overview 7. Primary Hyperoxaluria Epidemiology and Patient Population 8. Country-Specific Patient Population of Primary Hyperoxaluria 9. Primary Hyperoxaluria Current Treatment and Medical Practices 10. Primary Hyperoxaluria Unmet Needs 11. Primary Hyperoxaluria Emerging Therapies 12. Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Outlook 13. Country-Wise Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Analysis (2020-2034) 14. Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Access and Reimbursement of Therapies 15. Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Drivers 16. Primary Hyperoxaluria Market Barriers 17. Primary Hyperoxaluria Appendix 18. Primary Hyperoxaluria Report Methodology 19. DelveInsight Capabilities 20. Disclaimer 21. About DelveInsight About DelveInsight DelveInsight is a leading Healthcare Business Consultant, and Market Research firm focused exclusively on life sciences. It supports Pharma companies by providing comprehensive end-to-end solutions to improve their performance. It also offers Healthcare Consulting Services, which benefits in market analysis to accelerate the business growth and overcome challenges with a practical approach. Media Contact Company Name: DelveInsight Business Research LLP Contact Person: Yash Bhardwaj Email:Send Email [ https://www.abnewswire.com/email_contact_us.php?pr=primary-hyperoxaluria-therapeutics-market-size-in-the-7mm-was-usd-316-million-in-2023-estimated-delveinsight ] Phone: 9650213330 Address:304 S. Jones Blvd #2432 City: Las Vegas State: NV Country: United States Website: https://www.delveinsight.com/case-study/respiratory-domain-conference-coverage This release was published on openPR.(BPT) - Tech gifts are consistently some of the most popular presents to give and receive during the holidays. In fact, according to the annual Consumer Technology Holiday Purchase Patterns report , a record 233 million U.S. adults (89%) will buy tech products during the 2024 holiday season. But with so many devices out there, it can be hard to decide on the perfect option for the loved one on your list. A tablet like the new Fire HD 8 from Amazon offers the versatility of an all-in-one device, with access to streaming, gaming, video chatting, reading or writing all at your fingertips. Fire HD 8 also features a vibrant 8-inch HD display and lightweight, portable design, for high-quality entertainment on the go. Plus, Fire HD 8 comes with three new AI features that can help you get the most out of your tablet experience. Check them out below and learn how they can help you with daily tasks this holiday season and beyond. 1. Meet your personal writing assistant Do you struggle with writing a heartfelt message or finessing a tricky email? Fear not! Writing Assist is here to help. Writing Assist works as part of your Fire tablet's device keyboard and compatible apps, including email, Word documents and social media. In just a few taps, you can transform your writing from good to great. Try Writing Assist's pre-set styles to turn a simple email into a professionally written note. Or, you can ask Writing Assist for grammar suggestions to make your writing more concise, or elaborate on your ideas. You can even "emojify" your writing to add more fun and personality. 2. Learn more in less time Say goodbye to scrolling through pages of information. The new Webpage Summaries feature allows you to learn pertinent information as quickly as possible. Available on the Silk browser on Fire tablets, Webpage Summaries provides quick insights on web articles. In a matter of seconds, this feature will distill the key points in an article or on a webpage into a clear, concise summary of what you need to know. 3. Get creative with your device wallpaper With Wallpaper Creator, you can easily add a touch of creative flair and customization to your tablet's home screen. You can choose from one of the curated prompts to get started on creating a unique background. Or, if you're ready to let your imagination run wild, type a description of what you'd like to see. For example, you can ask for an image of a tiger swimming underwater or a watercolor-style image of a desert landscape in space. Wallpaper Creator will then turn your vision into a reality, delivering a high-resolution image that you can use as your tablet's wallpaper. Celebrate an AI-powered holiday season Writing Assist, Webpage Summaries, and Wallpaper Creator are now available on Amazon's new Fire HD 8 and other compatible Fire tablet devices, including the latest Fire HD 10 and Fire Max 11 tablets. To learn more, or to order a new Fire tablet this gift-giving season, visit Amazon.com .

EDMONTON - A report from Canada's chief actuary suggests Alberta would not be entitled to more than half of the Canada Pension Plan's assets that the province has argued it should get if it were to leave the investment fund. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * EDMONTON - A report from Canada's chief actuary suggests Alberta would not be entitled to more than half of the Canada Pension Plan's assets that the province has argued it should get if it were to leave the investment fund. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? EDMONTON – A report from Canada’s chief actuary suggests Alberta would not be entitled to more than half of the Canada Pension Plan’s assets that the province has argued it should get if it were to leave the investment fund. The chief actuary’s paper, published Friday, says the calculation that claims Alberta should get 53 per cent — or $334 billion — of the $575-billion in CPP assets “does not respect” federal pension legislation. The $334-billion estimate comes from a report commissioned by the Alberta government in 2023 from consultants LifeWorks. Instead, the chief actuary agreed with the interpretation of University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe, who had pegged Alberta’s share at between 20 and 25 per cent of total assets. “It is a complete rejection of the formula used in the LifeWorks report,” said Tombe, adding that he, like Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, was disappointed the report didn’t contain more detailed data. However, Tombe said Smith’s frustration over not getting a dollar figure is disingenuous because the report provides a simple formula to arrive at one. “This is not hard. We can have this assigned to some high school students to calculate, and they could do it,” he said, adding provincial officials have likely already calculated a number. Smith reiterated Thursday that her government wouldn’t consider moving forward with a referendum on the issue until it had a firm number from Ottawa. “We were under the impression that the chief actuary was hiring three different analysts to look at the legislation, to be able to get three very precise ways of looking at this issue, so that we had a precise number,” Smith said at an unrelated news conference. Applying data from the LifeWorks report to the formula provided by the chief actuary would suggest Alberta’s share would be about $135 billion, Tombe said. However, he noted that CPP assets grow and shrink all the time, so any estimate could quickly become irrelevant. Chief Actuary Assia Billig wrote that the LifeWorks formula would split up the CPP pie by leaving some provinces with a net negative allocation — an arrangement that would go against the wording of federal legislation. That position, the report says, is consistent with the findings of an independent advisory council. Four of the five panel members ultimately sided with Tombe’s approach. Tombe said the LifeWorks estimate calculated what Alberta would be entitled to if it had an independent provincial pension plan beginning at the same time as the inception of the CPP in 1966. Smith has long argued Albertans are getting a raw deal under the CPP. Her United Conservative Party government spent $7.5 million on a public campaign touting the benefits of a provincial plan, including the possibility of lower contributions and higher payouts to retirees. It also struck a public panel to speak directly to Albertans on the issue but later set it on the back burner pending a federal estimate. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Tombe said it’s worth having a public debate about the potential risks and rewards of a provincial pension plan, but the Alberta government should be transparent about its methods. “The challenge for the government is that the poll numbers didn’t move at all, even with a completely exaggerated set of benefits,” he said. Last week, a spokesperson for the federal finance department said it, along with the provinces and territories, are reviewing the findings from the chief actuary. “Discussions will take place between the government of Canada and provinces and territories over the coming weeks regarding the report and possible next steps,” the spokesperson said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 23, 2024. Advertisement Advertisement[OPINION] Navigating the pitfalls of domestic politics: AFP’s role in a state in distressFog advisory issued for London area, with snowsqualls on the way

Is Aamir Khan’s ‘3 Idiots’ Copied From Thalapathy Vijay’s Tamil Film ‘Nanban’? This Viral X Post Falsely Claims So – Here’s the Truth!Nissan and Honda to attempt a merger that would create the world's No. 3 automaker TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automakers Nissan and Honda have announced plans to work toward a merger that would catapult them to a top position in an industry in the midst of tectonic shifts as it transitions away from its reliance on fossil fuels. The two companies said they signed an agreement on integrating their businesses on Monday. Smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors agreed to join the talks. News of a possible merger surfaced earlier this month. Japanese automakers face a strong challenge from their Chinese rivals and Tesla as they make inroads into markets at home and abroad. What a merger between Nissan and Honda means for the automakers and the industry BANGKOK (AP) — Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan will attempt to merge and create the world’s third-largest automaker by sales as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels. The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday and that smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors also had agreed to join the talks on integrating their businesses. Honda will initially lead the new management, retaining the principles and brands of each company. Following is a quick look at what a combined Honda and Nissan would mean for the companies, and for the auto industry. Nordstrom to be acquired by Nordstrom family and a Mexican retail group in $6.25 billion deal Century-old department store Nordstrom has agreed to be acquired and taken private by Nordstrom family members and a Mexican retail group in a $6.25 billion deal. Nordstrom shareholders will receive $24.25 in cash for each share of Nordstrom common stock, representing a 42% premium on the company’s stock as of March 18. Nordstrom’s board of directors unanimously approved the the proposed transaction, while Erik and Pete Nordstrom — part of the Nordstrom family taking over the company — recused themselves from voting. Following the close of the transaction, the Nordstrom Family will have a majority ownership stake in the company. An analyst looks ahead to how the US economy might fare under Trump WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump won a return to the White House in part by promising big changes in economic policy — more tax cuts, huge tariffs on imports, mass deportations of immigrants working in the United States illegally. In some ways, his victory marked a repudiation of President Joe Biden’s economic stewardship and a protest against inflation. It came despite low unemployment and steady growth under the Biden administration. What lies ahead for the economy under Trump? Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics spoke recently to The Associated Press. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. American consumers feeling less confident in December, Conference Board says American consumers are feeling less confident in December, a business research group says. The Conference Board said Monday that its consumer confidence index fell back in December to 104.7 from 112.8 in November. Consumers had been feeling increasingly confident in recent months. The consumer confidence index measures both Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months. The measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for income, business and the job market tumbled more than a dozen points to 81.1. The Conference Board says a reading under 80 can signal a potential recession in the near future. Stock market today: Wall Street rises at the start of a holiday-shortened week Stocks closed higher on Wall Street at the start of a holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 rose 0.7% Monday. Several big technology companies helped support the gains, including chip companies Nvidia and Broadcom. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1%. Honda's U.S.-listed shares rose sharply after the company said it was in talks about a combination with Nissan in a deal that could also include Mitsubishi Motors. Eli Lilly rose after announcing that regulators approved Zepbound as the first prescription medicine for adults with sleep apnea. Treasury yields rose in the bond market. The internet is rife with fake reviews. Will AI make it worse? Researchers and watchdog groups say the emergence of generative artificial intelligence tools that allow people to efficiently produce detailed and novel online reviews has put merchants, service providers and consumers in uncharted territory. Phony reviews have long plagued many popular consumer websites, such as Amazon and Yelp. But AI-infused text generation tools enable fraudsters to produce reviews faster and in greater volume, according to tech industry experts. The deceptive practice is illegal in the U.S. and becomes a bigger problem for consumers during the holiday shopping season, when many people rely on reviews to buy gifts. A tech company and watchdog group that uses software to detect fake reviews says AI-generated reviews have multiplied. Romanian lawmakers narrowly approve new pro-European coalition during period of political turmoil BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian lawmakers have voted narrowly in favor of a new pro-European coalition government led by incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. The move on Monday could usher in an end to a protracted political crisis in the European Union country following the annulment of a presidential election. Parliament approved the new administration in a 240-143 vote in the 466-seat legislature. The new coalition is made up of the leftist Social Democratic Party, the center-right National Liberal Party, the small ethnic Hungarian UDMR party and national minorities. President Klaus Iohannis swore in the new government on Monday night. Government regulators close investigation into Ford Focus recalls Government safety regulators are closing an investigation into two previous recalls of the Ford Focus after determining that Ford Motor Co. has satisfied its concerns. Ford recalled around 1.5 million Ford Focus sedans from the 2012-2018 model years in 2018 because they could lose power. The issue was a malfunctioning canister purge valve and software that didn’t adequately detect when it was stuck open. Ford fixed the software in two separate recalls, but after cars continued to stall, the government opened an inquiry last year. Earlier this fall, Ford offered to replace the canister purge valve on all of the vehicles, satisfying regulators' concerns. AI will eavesdrop on world's wildest places to track and help protect endangered wildlife PUERTO JIMÉNEZ, Costa Rica (AP) — A biologist hid 350 audio monitors across Costa Rica’s tropical rainforests to spy on endangered spider monkeys in order to help protect them. But she had to go back to collect the data and feed those sounds into artificial intelligence systems that can recognize monkey calls. Now tech giant Microsoft's philanthropic arm is hoping to supercharge AI-assisted wildlife research with new solar-powered devices that can capture sounds, images and other wilderness data for a year or more without human intervention. Researchers say more AI wildlife surveillance is urgently needed to monitor the health of species at risk of extinction.Aaron Rodgers suggests a 'curse' might be the reason for the Jets' losing waysFORESTVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A major storm moving through Northern California on Thursday toppled trees and dropped heavy snow and record rain after damaging homes, killing two people and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands in the Pacific Northwest. Forecasters warned that the risk of flash flooding and rockslides would continue, and scores of flights were canceled at San Francisco's airport. In Washington, more than 320,000 people — most of them in the Seattle area — were still without power as crews worked to clear streets of electrical lines, fallen branches and debris. Utility officials said the outages could last into Saturday. Meanwhile on the East Coast, where rare wildfires have raged, New York and New Jersey welcomed much-needed rain that could ease the fire danger for the rest of the year. The National Weather Service extended a flood watch into Saturday for areas north of San Francisco as the region was inundated by the strongest atmospheric river — a long plume of moisture that forms over an ocean and flows through the sky over land — this season. The system roared ashore Tuesday as a “bomb cyclone,” unleashing fierce winds . Communities in Washington opened warming centers offering free internet and device charging. A number of medical clinics closed, forcing appointments to be rescheduled. “I’ve been here since the mid-’80s. I haven’t seen anything like this,” said Trish Bloor, who serves on the city of Issaquah’s Human Resources Commission, as she surveyed damaged homes. Up to 16 inches (about 41 centimeters) of rain was forecast in southwestern Oregon and California's northern counties through Friday. The Sonoma County Airport, in the wine country north of San Francisco, received 6.92 inches (17.5 centimeters) Wednesday, breaking a record dating to 1998. In nearby Forestville, one person was hurt when a tree fell on a house. Small landslides were reported across the North Bay region, including one on State Route 281 on Wednesday that caused a car crash, according to Marc Chenard, a weather service meteorologist. Rain slowed somewhat, but “persistent heavy rain will enter the picture again by Friday morning,” the weather service's San Francisco office said on the social platform X. “We are not done!” Dangerous flash flooding, rockslides and debris flows were possible, especially where hillsides were loosened by recent wildfires, officials warned. Scott Rowe, a hydrologist with the weather service in Sacramento, said that so far the ground has been able to absorb the rain in Butte and Tehama counties, where the Park Fire burned over the summer. “It’s not necessarily how much rain falls; it’s how fast the rain falls,” Rowe said. Northern Mendocino and southern Humboldt counties received between 4 and 8 inches (10 and 20 centimeters) of rain in the last 48 hours, and similar amounts were expected over the next 48 hours, forecasters said. Wind gusts could top 50 mph (80 kph). The storm system, which first hit the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday, reached the status of “ bomb cyclone ,” which occurs when a cyclone intensifies rapidly. A winter storm watch was in place for the northern Sierra Nevada above 3,500 feet (1,066 meters), with 15 inches (38 centimeters) of snow possible over two days. Wind gusts could top 75 mph (121 kph) in mountain areas, forecasters said. Sugar Bowl Resort, north of Lake Tahoe near Donner Summit, picked up a foot (30 centimeters) of snow overnight, marketing manager Maggie Eshbaugh said Thursday. She said the resort will welcome skiers and boarders on Friday, the earliest opening date in 20 years. “And then we’re going to get another whopping of another foot or so on Saturday, so this is fantastic,” she said. Another popular resort, Palisades Tahoe, is also opening Friday, five days ahead of schedule, according to its website. The storm already dumped more than a foot of snow along the Cascades in Oregon by Wednesday night, according to the weather service. Forecasters warned of blizzard and whiteout conditions and nearly impossible travel at pass level. Falling trees struck homes and littered roads across western Washington, killing at least two people. A woman in Lynnwood was killed when a large tree fell on a homeless encampment, and another in Bellevue died when a tree fell on a home. More than a dozen schools closed in the Seattle area Wednesday, and some opted to extend the closures through Thursday. In Enumclaw, east of Seattle, residents were cleaning up after their town clocked the highest winds in the state Tuesday night: 74 mph (119 kph). Resident Sophie Keene said the powerful gusts caused transformers to blow out around town. “Things were exploding, like, everywhere,” Keene told the Seattle Times. “Like the transformers over by the park. One blew big, it looked like fireworks just going off.” Ben Gibbard, lead singer of the indie rock bands Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service, drove from his Seattle neighborhood Thursday morning to the woods of Tiger Mountain for his regular weekday run, but there were too many trees blocking the trail. “We didn’t get hit that hard in the city,” he said. “I just didn’t assume it would be this kind of situation out here. Obviously you feel the most for people who had their homes partially destroyed by this.” In California, there were reports of more than 20,000 power outages on Thursday. Only 50 vehicles per hour were allowed through part of northbound Interstate 5 from 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Redding to 21 miles (34 kilometers) south of Yreka due to snow, according to California's Department of Transportation. Transportation officials also shut down a two-mile (3.2 kilometer) stretch of the famed Avenue of the Giants, a scenic drive named for its towering coast redwoods, due to flooding. About 150 flights were delayed and another two dozen were canceled early Thursday at San Francisco International Airport after hundreds of delays and dozens of cancelations the previous day, according to tracking service FlightAware. Parched areas of the Northeast got a much-needed shot of precipitation Thursday, providing a bit of respite in a region plagued by wildfires and dwindling water supplies. More than 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain was expected by Saturday morning in areas north of New York City, with snow mixed in at higher elevations. “Any rainfall is going to be significant at this point,” said Brian Ciemnecki, a weather service meteorologist in New York City, where the first drought warning in 22 years was issued this week. “Is it going to break the drought? No, we’re going to need more rain than that.” Har reported from San Francisco, and Weber from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Hallie Golden and Gene Johnson in Seattle; Martha Bellisle in Issaquah, Washington; Sarah Brumfield in Washington, D.C.; and Michael Hill in Albany, New York, contributed. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox!

A new report from Sportsnet hockey insider Elliotte Friedman reveals one player who will likely soon be moved out from his current team and could help Toronto. Friedman revealed some possible future trade news in his most recent '32 Thoughts' article, says that the Nashville Predators, after moving on from Dante Fabbro and Philip Tomasino, could have their next target in center Juuso Parssinen. Friedman says it 'looks like we're headed to that point' in terms of Nasvhille moving Parssinen . How Can Juuso Parssinen Help Toronto? A 7th round pick of Nashville in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, Parssinen showed flashes of his maturity with 7 SM-Liiga games in his draft year. Usually a player with pro experience and size get much hype in the draft, but Parssinen managed to fall through the cracks. Quickly, Parssinen showed his game wasn't a fluke, having been a full-time player the next season, and in 2020-21, finishing second in points for TPS Turku with 42 points in 55 games played. Parssinen made his NHL debut in 2022, scoring a goal in his first career game, finishing the year with six goals and 25 points in 45 games. In 2023-24, Parssinen had eight goals and 12 points in 44 games for Nashville. Parssinen, still only 23 years old, has 2 goals and 5 points in 15 games for the Nashville Predators this season. Despite big budget signings for the Predators in the offseason including Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, as well as re-signing star goaltender Juuse Saros and trading away top prospect Yaroslav Askarov, the Predators have found themselves no closer to playoff contention. The team sits second last in the NHL with 22 points and a 8-16-6 record. Parssinen could be a big, young center option for Toronto if they wish to go down that route and his 6'3, 212-pound frame works perfectly in Brad Treliving's new vision for the Leafs. He's a productive offensive player who's dropped off since his rookie year, but is still capable enough to fill a bottom-six role as a depth option. According to PuckPedia , Parssinen is making just $775k this season, a good project for any team wanting a tall, offensively capable forward who at worse can be rotational depth. Friedman didn't reveal when Parssinen would be moved, but it seems a deal may be imminent as the Nashville Predators are undergoing a major selling off. This article first appeared on Hockey Patrol and was syndicated with permission.

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Thompson-Herro fight leads to ejections of multiple players and coaches in Heat's victory in HoustonFlorida Lawmaker's Party Switch Increases Republican Supermajority in the House

10'000 Hours Investment Overview I wrote about Toll Brothers ( NYSE: TOL ) previously ( on 2nd September ) with a hold rating, as the valuation was not cheap, despite my view that demand remains strong. I have upgraded my rating from hold to Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.Authorities have pointed to fingerprints, shell casings, chronic back problems, and an “ill will toward corporate America” as they’ve been building a case against suspect Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. They’re learning more about a possible “motive and mindset,” New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference. And top NYPD officials told CBS News New York Wednesday it may be partially related to an injury and Mangione’s anger at the health care industry. “We’re learning that he did possibly suffer an accident that caused him to visit the emergency room back on July 4, 2023,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CBS News New York. Police said they found a two-and-a-half page handwritten document in Mangione’s backpack when he was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, that also offers clues. “When you start using rhetoric like, ‘These parasites had it coming,’ you are referencing an anti-corporatist mentality that goes beyond an individual grievance toward a particular injury he may have suffered,” Rebecca Weiner, NYPD deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, told CBS News New York. Experts in criminology and violent radicalization who spoke with The Baltimore Sun also talked about “grievances.” Sometimes, instead of a personal grievance, a shooter can act on a “vicarious grievance,” said Timothy Clancy, a senior researcher at the University of Maryland with expertise in public mass killings spread by radicalization contagions. “It’s grievance on behalf of people you feel are like you,” he said. Pennsylvania defense lawyer Thomas Dickey on Tuesday warned against rushing to judgment in Mangione’s case — or any case. “He’s presumed innocent. Let’s not forget that,” Dickey said. At a news conference Tuesday, Dickey said Mangione is not guilty of the criminal charges he faces. Police on Wednesday said they matched Mangione’s fingerprints to a water bottle and a KIND bar wrapper found near the scene of the killing and that the gun found on him matches shell casings found at the crime scene that had the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” written on them. “First, we got the gun in question back from Pennsylvania. It’s now at the NYPD crime lab,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Wednesday. “We were able to match that gun to three shell casings that we found in Midtown at the scene of the homicide.” There’s much more to be learned, but evidence revealed in the case so far suggests the suspect may have been driven by ideological factors reaching far beyond any personal grievances, criminology experts told The Sun. Police said the handwritten document they obtained from Mangione shows him complaining that the U.S. has the most expensive health care system in the world and that company profits continue to rise while “our life expectancy does not.” Experts drew comparisons between the Mangione case and that of “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, who carried out a series of bombings starting in the late 1970s and criticized modern society and technology. In Mangione’s writings, he described Kaczynski as a “political revolutionary,” according to the Associated Press. Mangione appears to share similarities with Kaczynski as a “crusader against a corrupt industry,” said James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology, law and public policy at Northeastern University. “It’s not necessarily that this particular individual had any direct impact ... but this is the strike for the little guy against powerful corporates that take advantage of the poor and the sick,” he said. Police said Mangione called Thompson’s killing a “symbolic takedown” in his manifesto. Mangione has had severe back pain since childhood, according to the AP, which cited a spokesperson for the owner and founder of the Surfbreak “co-living” space in Hawaii, where Mangione used to live. Investigators now are looking into whether that pain led to any denied insurance claims, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto . Sometimes a personal grievance can get wrapped up with the suffering of others, Clancy said. “It’s through this pathological fixation on the grievance. As it becomes your identity, it becomes all-consuming,” he said. But Joseph Giacalone, adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says he believes the motive was more “political” than personal. “I have back issues myself,” Giacalone said. “I went through lots of pain, and I never thought about killing anybody from the insurance company.” In some cases, murder suspects will “use the court as a propaganda bench for whatever their cause is,” Clancy said. “The style of their attack is not to get themselves killed in the outcome,” Clancy said. “They want to live and spread the propaganda even further.” He pointed to Mangione’s appearance outside the courthouse Tuesday, as a potential example of that. As officers ushered Mangione inside, he shouted to onlookers that something was “an insult to the intelligence of the American people,” according to the Associated Press. Though more may be learned, Giacalone points out there are a number of instances where motive was never discovered — such as the 2017 shooting at a Las Vegas music festival. “There have been 100 years worth of research and development to try to figure out why people commit crimes in theories,” he said, “and we still don’t know.” Have a news tip? Contact Brooke Conrad at bconrad@baltsun.com, or 443-682-2356, or conrad_brooke on X.

Labour leader holds exploratory coalition talks with Fianna Fail and Fine GaelThe saga between Juan Soto and avoiding his former New York Yankees teammates before signing with the New York Mets continues to grow . During his introductory press conference at Citi Field after signing a 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets, Soto revealed that he did not speak to any of his former Yankees teammates before ultimately choosing to sign for Steve Cohen's club. Soto also shared at the time that he and Yankees star Aaron Judge had not spoken since the end of the 2024 World Series. However, the reason for Soto choosing to avoid his Yankees teammates could be due to wanting space to think about his decision. At least that was the reasoning given by USA Today MLB columnist Bob Nightengale on social media Friday afternoon. Juan Soto Mets deal is an overpay compared to Shohei Ohtani contract masterclass Juan Soto and Aaron Judge not spoken since World Series as friendship addressed On his personal X account , Nightengale wrote: "The reason there was no communication between Juan Soto and his former Yankee teammates simply is that Soto changed his cell phone number. He was bombarded by outside calls during his free agency and wanted privacy. Soto now is reaching out to former Yankee teammates." However, what makes Nightengale's comments interesting is the fact that Mets star Brandon Nimmo was able to get ahold of Soto's number and spoke with the star outfielder throughout the process. During an interview with the New York Post, the 31-year-old explained how he obtained Soto's phone number "several weeks ago" and had ben in contact with the 26-year-old. Nimmo's conversations with Soto stemmed around his personal experience with the team since being drafted by the organization in 20211. After revealing he had been communicating with the star outfielder for weeks, Nimmo also shared he thanked the leaders of the franchise for landing Soto. "I knew that [Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns] and Steve were doing whatever they could to bring him here," Nimmo said, per The Post. "When the news finally broke, just extreme jubilation. I sent text messages to [Stearns and Cohen] and said, 'I can't thank you enough for bringing him here.'" The 31-year-old also explained it is "amazing" that Cohen has turned the Mets around his becoming the owner in 2020. "It's jsut a pivotal moment in his ownership and the history of the Mets franchise that he's able to get a player away from the Yankees and a guy in his prime," Nimmo said. "Even when I was growing up, the Yankees always got the best players, they always bought the best players. It was just a common-known fact, and now you see something here where the Mets were able to bring [Soto] over. It's a change to the way things have always been. I definitely think it is sweet to have done it this way." Now that he is a Met, Soto still believes he can continue to have a relationship with Judge, claiming his decision to leave the Yankees was purely a business-driven move. Soto said that he and the Yankees captain remain in good terms, with the two stars still friendly. "Definitely at the end of the day, we're still friends, we're still cool," Soto continued . "Everything that happened is just business-wise but ... the relationship that we created last year I think is gonna stay there forever. And I'm looking forward to [that]." After losing out on Soto, the Yankees quickly pivoted, signing lefty Max Fried to an eight-year, $218 million contract . It is the largest contract doled out to a left-handed pitcher and is the fourth-largest deal for a pitcher in league history.

geothermal turbines market which was USD 67.61 billion in 2023, would rocket up to USD 111.89 billion by 2031, and is expected to undergo a CAGR of 6.5% 11-22-2024 06:59 PM CET | Advertising, Media Consulting, Marketing Research Press release from: Data Bridge Market Research Private Ltd / PR Agency: Data Bridge Market Research "Global Geothermal Turbines Market, By Type (Flash Steam, Binary Cycle, and Dry Steam), Capacity (Low Capacity (10MW)), Application (Electric Power Generation, Direct Use, and Cogeneration), End Use (Industrial, Residential, Agriculture, and Others) - Industry Trends and Forecast to 2031. Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the global geothermal turbines market which was USD 67.61 billion in 2023, would rocket up to USD 111.89 billion by 2031, and is expected to undergo a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period of 2024 to 2031. Explore Further Details about This Research Geothermal Turbines Market Share Report https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-geothermal-turbines-market **Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Market Analysis 2021 & 2029** **2021 Analysis:** - The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) market in 2021 witnessed steady growth with an increasing focus on research and development efforts to combat the disease. The market was primarily driven by the rising prevalence of MERS infections in the Middle Eastern region, leading to a higher demand for diagnostic tools, treatment options, and preventive measures. The market also saw advancements in technology and innovations in therapeutic approaches to manage MERS. **2029 Analysis:** - By 2029, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) market is projected to experience significant growth due to continued research and development activities aimed at finding more effective treatment modalities and preventive strategies. With an increasing emphasis on public health initiatives and infrastructure development in the Middle East, the market is expected to expand further, offering new opportunities for market players to introduce innovative solutions. **Segments:** - **Diagnostic Tools** - Advanced PCR testing kits - Rapid antigen detection assays - Serology tests - **Treatment Options** - Antiviral medications - Immunomodulators - **Preventive Measures** - Vaccines targeting MERS-CoV - Public health campaigns on hygiene practices **Market Players:** - **Abbott Laboratories** - **Roche Diagnostics** - **Tetracore Inc.** - **Siemens Healthineers** - **Thermo Fisher Scientific** - **Cepheid** - **Fujirebio** - **BioFire Diagnostics** - **Qiagen** - **Biocartis** https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-middle-east-respiratory-syndrome-mers-marketThe Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) market is poised for significant growth between 2021 and 2029 as key market players continue to invest in research and development efforts to combat the disease effectively. With advancements in technology and therapeutic approaches, there is a growing focus on developing more precise and rapid diagnostic tools to detect MERS infections early on. This emphasis on early detection is crucial in controlling the spread of the disease and reducing the overall burden on healthcare systems in the Middle East region. In terms of treatment options, the market is witnessing a shift towards innovative antiviral medications and immunomodulators that target the specific mechanisms of MERS-CoV, the virus responsible for the syndrome. These novel therapies offer promising outcomes in managing the symptoms of MERS and improving patient outcomes. Additionally, preventive measures such as vaccines targeting MERS-CoV and public health campaigns promoting hygiene practices are becoming increasingly crucial in preventing the spread of the disease and minimizing its impact on public health. Market players such as Abbott Laboratories, Roche Diagnostics, Tetracore Inc., and Siemens Healthineers are at the forefront of developing cutting-edge solutions for the MERS market. These companies are leveraging their expertise in diagnostics, treatment development, and public health initiatives to address the evolving needs of healthcare systems in the Middle East. Collaborative efforts among industry players are also driving innovation and propelling the market forward by introducing new products and solutions that cater to the specific requirements of combating MERS effectively. Moreover, with the growing emphasis on infrastructure development and public health initiatives in the Middle East, there is a ripe opportunity for market players to expand their reach and introduce their offerings to a broader audience. The increasing awareness about MERS and the importance of early detection and treatment among healthcare providers and the general population is creating a conducive environment for market growth. As a result, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome market is expected to witness a surge in demand for diagnostic tools, treatment options, and preventive measures, presenting lucrative opportunities for**Market Players:** - GeneOne Life Science (South Korea) - INOVIO Pharmaceuticals (U.S.) - Pfizer Inc. (U.S.) - Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (U.S.) - Astellas Pharma Inc. (Japan) - Merck KGaA (Germany) - Sanofi (France) - Biocare Medical, LLC (U.S.) - Lilly (U.S.) - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (Israel) The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) market is witnessing substantial growth driven by the concerted efforts of key market players in research, development, and innovation. With a focus on developing advanced diagnostic tools, treatment options, and preventive measures, the market is poised to expand significantly between 2021 and 2029. Collaborative efforts among industry leaders such as Abbott Laboratories, Roche Diagnostics, Tetracore Inc., and Siemens Healthineers are paving the way for cutting-edge solutions to combat MERS effectively. These companies are leveraging their expertise to introduce novel therapies, diagnostic kits, and public health initiatives tailored to the unique requirements of the Middle Eastern region. The shift towards more precise diagnostic tools, including PCR testing kits and rapid antigen detection assays, is crucial for early detection of MERS infections, thereby aiding in containing the spread of the disease and reducing the strain on healthcare systems. Additionally, the market is witnessing a transition towards innovative treatment options such as antiviral medications and immunomodulators that target the specific mechanisms of M Table Of Content 1 Introduction 1.1 Objectives Of The Study 1.2 Geothermal Turbines Market Definition 1.3 Overview 1.4 Limitations 1.5 Markets Covered 2 Geothermal Turbines Market Segmentation 2.1 Geothermal Turbines Market Covered 2.2 Geographical Scope 2.3 Years Considered For The Study 2.4 Currency And Pricing 2.5 Dbmr Tripod Data Validation Model 2.6 Multivariate Modeling 2.7 Primary Interviews With Key Opinion Leaders 2.8 Dbmr Geothermal Turbines Market Position Grid 2.9 Dbmr Vendor Share Analysis 2.1 Secondary Sources 2.11 Assumptions 3 Executive Summary............. Browse Related Reports: https://strategicmarketresearch12.blogspot.com/2024/11/glass-substrate-market-driving.html https://strategicmarketresearch12.blogspot.com/2024/11/gasoline-market-trends-in-production.html https://strategicmarketresearch12.blogspot.com/2024/11/frozen-potato-market-increasing-demand.html https://strategicmarketresearch12.blogspot.com/2024/11/hall-effect-current-sensor-market.html Contact Us: Data Bridge Market Research US: +1 614 591 3140 UK: +44 845 154 9652 APAC : +653 1251 975 Email: corporatesales@databridgemarketresearch.com About Data Bridge Market Research: Data Bridge set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process. This release was published on openPR.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Front Row Motorsports, one of two teams suing NASCAR in federal court, accused the stock car series Thursday of rejecting the planned purchase of a valuable charter unless the lawsuit was dropped. Front Row made the claim in a court filing and said it involved its proposed purchase of the charter from Stewart-Haas Racing. Front Row said the series would only approve it if Front Row and 23XI Racing dropped their court case. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content.slot game online free credit 。

Minnesota looks to stop skid vs. Bethune-CookmanAuthorities moved swiftly to identify and apprehend the suspect responsible for this heinous act. Through diligent detective work and forensic analysis, the police were able to trace the source of the camera back to a former school employee who had recently been terminated for undisclosed reasons. The suspect's identity has not been revealed to protect the ongoing investigation, but it has been confirmed that they have been taken into custody and are currently facing criminal charges.But the blockbuster signing is not the only headline-grabbing move by Real Madrid in the winter transfer window. In a bid to address the team's striking woes, the club has also secured the signature of a promising striker for $60 million. The young talent is seen as a key addition to the squad, providing much-needed depth and firepower upfront.

Percentages: FG .540, FT .720. 3-Point Goals: 11-23, .478 (Lilly 5-9, Erold 3-6, Lesburt 2-4, Cooley 1-3, Wrisby-Jefferson 0-1). Team Rebounds: 1. Team Turnovers: 1. Blocked Shots: 5 (Cooley 2, DeGraaf, Erold, Lilly). Turnovers: 10 (Jenkins 2, Lewis 2, Wrisby-Jefferson 2, Cooley, Erold, Lesburt, Lilly). Steals: 3 (Lesburt, Lilly, Wrisby-Jefferson). Technical Fouls: None. Percentages: FG .509, FT .833. 3-Point Goals: 8-19, .421 (Palesse 3-3, Benard 2-2, van der Plas 1-1, Kopa 1-4, Godfrey 1-5, Sangha 0-1, Thompson 0-1, McMillan 0-2). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 1. Blocked Shots: 1 (Kopa). Turnovers: 10 (Benard 3, McMillan 2, Sangha 2, Godfrey, Palesse, van der Plas). Steals: 5 (Benard 2, Kopa, McMillan, van der Plas). Technical Fouls: None. A_953 (2,176).TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Luke Kromenhoek threw for 209 yards and tossed three touchdown passes as Florida State halted a six-game losing streak and routed Charleston Southern 41-7 on Saturday. Kromenhoek completed 13 of 20 passes in his first college start, including a 71-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Khi Douglas, as the Seminoles (2-9) won for the first time since Sept. 21. The true freshman also connected with Amaree Williams for a 4-yard TD and Hykeem Williams for a 10-yard TD. Florida State had the nation’s lowest scoring offense at 13.3 points. The Seminoles hadn’t scored more than 21 points or surpassed the 300-yard mark in 2024. But Florida State overwhelmed FCS Charleston Southern (1-11), accumulating 415 offensive yards. Kaleb Jackson completed 22 of 32 passes for 218 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown pass to Landon Sauers, and an interception for the Buccaneers. The takeaway Charleston Southern: While the Buccaneers found some success through the air, they couldn’t sustain drives and managed just 57 rushing yards on 29 carries. Florida State: The Seminoles picked up a season-best 176 rushing yards, scoring 17 points in the second quarter and 14 points in the third quarter to take control. Up next Charleston Southern’s season is over. Florida State plays host to Florida on Nov. 30. AP college football: and . Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter:FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Daniel Penny , a military veteran who choked an agitated New York subway rider and was acquitted of homicide this week, has been invited by Vice President-elect JD Vance to join Donald Trump's suite at the Army-Navy football game on Saturday. The Marine veteran was cleared of criminally negligent homicide in Jordan Neely ’s 2023 death. A more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed last week. Vance said Penny, 26, accepted his invitation to join the president-elect and him at the game. “Daniel’s a good guy, and New York’s mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone,” Vance said in a post on X. “I’m grateful he accepted my invitation and hope he’s able to have fun and appreciate how much his fellow citizens admire his courage.” The case sparked national debate, with some hailing Penny as a hero for attempting to subdue a man he considered a menace to public safety and others seeing him as a white vigilante who choked a Black man to death. Political figures on the right have defended Penny since he was charged for the death in May 2023. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy , who ran for the GOP presidential nomination and was tapped by Trump last month to lead an effort along with billionaire Elon Musk to cut government spending, donated money to his legal defense fund. After the acquittal, Penny gave an extensive interview to Fox News and declared he’s “not a confrontational person.” He told the network that he wouldn’t have been able to live with “the guilt I would have felt if someone did get hurt, if he did do what he was threatening to do.” “I’ll take a million court appearances and people calling me names and people hating me, just to keep one of those people from getting hurt or killed,” Penny said. Trump has not referred to the case publicly recently, but last year he told The Messenger that he thought Penny and other people on the subway were “in great danger.” Some New Yorkers protested the trial outcome this week, holding signs and chanting Jordan Neely’s name in a Manhattan square. Vance, who served in the Marine Corps, including in Iraq, said this week that "justice was done in this case” and Penny never should have been prosecuted. Penny has been hailed a hero by many, but Neely's death also divided the city as residents grapple with how to respond to mental health crises threatening public safety. Passengers said Neely hadn’t touched anyone but had expressed willingness to die, go to jail or even to kill. The former street performer was homeless, had schizophrenia and had synthetic marijuana in his system. He had been convicted of assaulting people at subway stations.

The atmosphere at the concert was electric, with fans cheering and singing along to every song. The synergy between Yamashita and Chou was palpable, as they fed off each other's energy and passion for music. It was a rare treat for fans to witness two music legends coming together to deliver a performance of such high caliber.

Camara 8-13 0-0 21, Jones 2-3 0-0 4, Kelly 10-18 0-0 20, Berry 1-7 4-4 7, R.Johnson 8-14 4-6 23, Gibson 1-2 0-1 2, Oden 2-6 0-0 6. Totals 32-63 8-11 83. B.Johnson 7-13 3-5 23, Kidd 4-8 1-1 9, Bethea 3-8 0-0 6, Blackmon 4-11 0-0 9, Staton-McCray 4-8 3-4 13, Swartz 4-6 4-4 15, Cleveland 1-2 0-0 2, Djobet 1-2 0-0 2, Ugochukwu 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-59 11-14 79. Halftime_Charleston Southern 45-37. 3-Point Goals_Charleston Southern 11-24 (Camara 5-10, R.Johnson 3-6, Oden 2-4, Berry 1-3, Kelly 0-1), Miami 12-33 (B.Johnson 6-12, Swartz 3-4, Staton-McCray 2-4, Blackmon 1-8, Cleveland 0-1, Djobet 0-1, Ugochukwu 0-1, Bethea 0-2). Rebounds_Charleston Southern 31 (Kelly 11), Miami 27 (B.Johnson 8). Assists_Charleston Southern 15 (Kelly 6), Miami 16 (Kidd, Djobet 4). Total Fouls_Charleston Southern 14, Miami 13.

Furthermore, the Education Bureau announced that a thorough investigation is currently underway to determine the circumstances that led to the winter school uniforms being cut into shreds. The investigative team is tasked with identifying the individuals or entities responsible for the disposal decision and understanding the motivations behind it. The Bureau has pledged to hold those accountable for any negligence or misconduct in handling school uniforms.

Authorities moved swiftly to identify and apprehend the suspect responsible for this heinous act. Through diligent detective work and forensic analysis, the police were able to trace the source of the camera back to a former school employee who had recently been terminated for undisclosed reasons. The suspect's identity has not been revealed to protect the ongoing investigation, but it has been confirmed that they have been taken into custody and are currently facing criminal charges.Atlanta Special Needs Planning Lawyer Trace Brooks Releases Article on Special Needs Trust Contribution Limits in GeorgiaCelebrities can spark change when they speak up about their health

In conclusion, the United States Department of State's decision to provide gear for 18-year-old citizens of Ukraine joining the fight is a powerful statement of solidarity and support for the people of Ukraine in their struggle for freedom and democracy. As the conflict continues to unfold, the United States will remain steadfast in its commitment to stand with Ukraine and provide the necessary assistance to ensure the safety and well-being of all those who are courageously defending their country.

Josh Dallas didn’t become an integral part of the Georgia Southern offense overnight. It just may seem that way. Dallas, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound redshirt sophomore wide receiver who played his high school football at Trinity Christian High School in Sharpsburg, Ga., where he was coached by his father, Kenny, is beginning to bloom and become a threat under the tutelage of offensive coordinator Ryan Aplin. A member of Coach Clay Helton’s first recruiting class along with his brother David, who is a quarterback currently on the sidelines due to an injury, Dallas is an excellent example of the by-product of hard work and coaching. “It’s been a cool transition,” said Dallas of his evolving into being one of the Eagles’ playmakers. “I’ve been here a few years now. The first year I redshirted, last year I got to play a lot of special teams and I integrated a little bit with the offense. “This past season I got challenged by Coach Ap,” Dallas said. “I was going to get an opportunity this year to be a playmaker. “The first few games I got some good opportunities but as the season has progressed, I think Coach Ap has done a really good job of really using all of us to the best of our abilities. Everyone on the field is a little different and so I think he’s done a great job of figuring out different ways to use all of us.” Although he has decent speed and quickness Dallas is not a speed burner. He is an excellent route runner and has sure hands. He is also developing an ability to create separation from defenders. For the season Dallas has 34 catches for 490 yards and four touchdowns, an average of 14.41 yards per catch. He also has one touchdown rushing, that coming against Troy last Saturday. However, it was once Sun Belt Conference play that Dallas began showing his potential. He had a coming out party against Georgia State when he caught nine balls for 89 yards and his first collegiate touchdown. In six conference games he has 27 receptions for 388 yards and four touchdowns. Dallas gives Aplin a great deal of credit for his improving numbers but he admits he has also put in a great deal of work to make himself better. “It took a little bit of time to figure out where I truly fit in with the offense,” Dallas said. “Coach Ap has done a great job of fitting me in different cool sets, too. “I continue to work on coming out of the breaks and stuff,” Dallas said. “I think I run really solid routes, but I’m continuing to work on all those things. The reason I’m able to produce this year is because I’ve put my head down and I’ve worked catching JC (quarterback JC French) and coming out of my breaks every single day, perfecting my routes and working on leverage to create separation, maybe chicken winging the guy to create separation. “If I can be physical with the DB and create separation JC is always going to throw a great ball and it helps him if I can create some separation at the top of my route.” As the son of a successful football coach —Trinity won a state championship Dallas’ senior year when it went 14-0 after having lost in the championship game the previous year and Kenny is 154-74 overall – Dallas has a thorough understanding of the game which enables him to assist teammates. “I pride myself on a leadership role,” Dallas said. “I like to think when I’m out there I make the guys around me better in the sense I have one of the best grasps of the offense in the building so I can help guys be where they need to be, learning the system, learning the game plan, in the film room. I just want to make everyone around me better.”Title: Reunion After 13 Years: Lost Master Graduate Mother Reunites with Two Outstanding Children

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A fight broke out at midfield after Michigan stunned No. 2 Ohio State 13-10 on Saturday as Wolverines players attempted to plant their flag and were met by Buckeyes who confronted them. Police had to use pepper spray to break up the players, who threw punches and shoves in the melee that overshadowed the rivalry game. Ohio State police said in a statement “multiple officers representing Ohio and Michigan deployed pepper spray.” Ohio State police will investigate the fight, according to the statement. After the Ohio State players confronted their bitter rivals at midfield, defensive end Jack Sawyer grabbed the top of the Wolverines' flag and ripped it off the pole as the brawl moved toward the Michigan bench. Eventually, police officers rushed into the ugly scene. Ohio State coach Ryan Day said he understood the actions of his players. “There are some prideful guys on our team who weren't going to sit back and let that happen,” Day said. The two Ohio State players made available after the game brushed off questions about it. Michigan running back Kalel Mullings, who rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown, didn't like how the Buckeyes players involved themselves in the Wolverines' postgame celebration. He called it “classless.” “For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game," he said in an on-field interview with Fox Sports. “It’s just bad for the sport, bad for college football. But at the end of the day, you know some people got to — they got to learn how to lose, man. ... We had 60 minutes, we had four quarters, to do all that fighting.” Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said everybody needs to do better. “So much emotions on both sides," he said. "Rivalry games get heated, especially this one. It’s the biggest one in the country, so we got to handle that better.” Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballOne of the leading jewelry chains, XYZ Jewelers, has reduced its prices for gold necklaces, rings, and bracelets by an average of 5% compared to last week. This move is aimed at appealing to price-sensitive consumers and maintaining competitiveness in the market.

slot games near me EDITOR'S NOTE: On Football analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL from week to week. The Philadelphia Eagles have to make sure they don’t beat themselves. A nine-game winning streak helped the Eagles (11-2) clinch their fourth consecutive playoff berth. They’re seeking an NFC East title and still have a chance at catching Detroit (12-1) for the NFC’s No. 1 seed. But an ugly win over Carolina in which Jalen Hurts only threw 21 passes for 108 yards left wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith in a bad mood. He made it clear the offense, specifically the passing attack, wasn’t playing up to standard. He’s right. Hurts has thrown for fewer than 200 yards in three straight games. But Saquon Barkley is running at a record-setting pace so the Eagles haven’t had to rely on Hurts throwing to Brown and Smith as much as they have in the past. Brown caught four passes on four targets for 43 yards while Smith had four catches on six targets for 37 yards and one touchdown against the Panthers. That led to Brown bluntly responding “passing” when asked by a reporter after the game what needs improvement. Veteran leader Brandon Graham added fuel to the drama on his radio show Monday night by implying there’s friction between Brown and Hurts. The two were close friends long before they became teammates and Hurts is the godfather for Brown’s daughter. “The person that’s complaining (needs) to be accountable,” Graham said of Brown. “I’m just being honest. ... Like and he (knows) this. I don’t know the whole story, but I know that (Hurts) is trying. And I mean, (Brown) could be a little better with how he responds to things and they were friends before this. It’s like, man, but things have changed, and I understand that because life happens, but we gotta — it’s the business side that we have to make sure that we don’t let the personal get in the way of the business and that’s what we gotta do better at right now because we know it’s the issue. “Everybody is saying some things, but we need to be able to talk things out as men, you know what I’m saying? But, we need to let personal stuff go and let’s get right for this game because man, it’s like most of the time it’s just a conversation that just (needs) to be had, but the person with the problem (has) to want to talk to the person other than others. That’s all I’m saying." Graham, who is sidelined with a triceps injury, clarified his comments later to an ESPN reporter, saying he made the wrong assumption about the relationship between Hurts and Brown and planned to apologize to both players. But the damage was done. Or was it? While social media ran wild with news there’s more trouble in Philadelphia, the Eagles have been here before. They fell apart last year after a 10-1 start, dropping six of their final seven games, including a lopsided loss in the playoffs to Tampa Bay. There were questions about Hurts’ leadership, his relationship to teammates and the team’s locker room dynamic. Plus, coach Nick Sirianni was harshly criticized for the team’s failures. They overcame a tumultuous offseason and are 11-2 and in position to make a Super Bowl run. All they have to do is get along, put the team first and focus on the overall goal of winning a championship instead of pouting about individual statistics. One breakout passing game can change everything. Bill Belichick can’t break Don Shula’s all-time NFL wins record coaching in college. Whether his interest in the vacancy at the University of North Carolina is genuine or not, it doesn’t change the fact that he has to return to the NFL to become the winningest coach in league history. The biggest question is whether he’ll get that opportunity. Belichick only interviewed with Atlanta out of eight coaching vacancies last season. Belichick, who led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl titles with Tom Brady, needs to win 27 more games to break Shula’s record for most regular-season victories. He’s 15 wins away from passing Shula for all-time victories, including the postseason. The 72-year-old Belichick explained on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show,” how he would approach a college job. “If I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL,” Belichick said. “It would be a professional program: training, nutrition, scheme, coaching, techniques that would transfer to the NFL. It would be an NFL program at a college level.” Belichick pointed out the NIL and transfer portal have made college football more like pro football. It makes sense for Belichick to explore all of his options and talk to every team that’s interested. North Carolina could end up being his best opportunity to return to coaching, even if he can’t add those wins to his NFL resume. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Like smoking 15 cigarettes a day: A feeling that's become a dire problem( MENAFN - Asia Times) In a watershed for the Japanese auto industry, Honda and Nissan are expected to start negotiating a merger next week. The two companies, both of which have been overtaken by BYD and which, combined, sell fewer than three-quarters as many vehicles as Toyota, hope to stage a recovery by combining their technologies and achieving greater economies of scale. But the plan looks like a throwback to Japan Inc's downsizing of sunset industries in decades past, and a knee-jerk nationalistic reaction to Foxconn's interest in acquiring a stake in, or even taking over, Nissan. Foxconn is the international brand of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry. The verdict of the stock market was swift and clear. The proposed merger was headline news on the morning of Wednesday, December 18; by the time the market closed, Honda's stock price was down 3%, while Nissan's was up 24%. Put into words, this is a bailout: a windfall for Nissan, bad news for Honda's shareholders. The stock price of Renault, which owns 17.0% of Nissan directly and 18.7% through a trust, was up 5%. Hon Hai's was down 1%. Honda and Nissan, both of them auto industry leaders in the past, have fallen far behind Toyota, Tesla and BYD in the markets for electric and hybrid vehicles. Data for the three months to September show BYD overtaking Honda and Ford to become the world's sixth largest automaker in terms of number of vehicles sold. Perhaps even more humiliating, Chinese automaker Geely (which owns Volvo) overtook Nissan to rank ninth. Of course, the merger is pitched as forward looking. NikkeiAsia, the English language version of Japan's top business daily, reported that the two companies will negotiate a merger“to better compete against Tesla and Chinese electric vehicle makers in a rapidly changing automobile industry.” The Financial Times, which is owned by Nikkei, reported that the two companies“are in exploratory talks about a merger of the two carmakers that would create a $52bn Japanese behemoth.” But the front page headline of the Thursday morning Japanese language Nikkei was“Hon Hai purchase, sense of crisis.” Honda, which had begun discussing a“strategic partnership” with Nissan last March, said it would cancel if Nissan tied up with Hon Hai. Hon Hai is building its own electric vehicle business, adding to the pressure on Honda and Nissan. In 2020, it established the Mobility in Harmony (MIH) Consortium in hopes of becoming the“android system of the EV industry” and“creating a 'software-defined' open ecosystem for the EV manufacturing industry.” Hon Hai also has a joint venture with Taiwanese automaker Yulon, which produces electric vehicles designed by Hon Hai. The MIH Consortium, which develops reference designs and open standards, now has more than 2,700 members, including more than 100 in Japan. Its CEO is the Japanese corporate executive Jun Seki, who previously served as president of Dongfeng Nissan (Nissan's joint venture with Dongfeng Motor in China), chief operating officer of Nissan, CEO of Japanese motor maker Nidec and, most recently, chief strategy officer for Hon Hai's electric vehicle operations. Seki reportedly sees potential synergies with Nissan, which launched its pioneering electric vehicle, the Nissan LEAF, in 2010, and is said to be interested in acquiring Renault's share of Nissan. Renault has been backing away from its alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, while Honda and Nissan are considering bringing Mitsubishi Motors into a new, all-Japanese, three-way alliance. Such an alliance would be about 80% the size of Toyota today but probably no more than 70% as large after cutting back production of gasoline powered cars. But even so it would probably be about the same size as the Hyundai Motor Group, which currently ranks third after Toyota and Volkswagen. Note that only three of the world's top 10 automakers reported year-on-year unit sales increases in the three months to September 2024: BYD (+38%), Geely (+20%) and Ford (+1%). The others reported single-digit declines, except for GM (-13%) and Honda (-12%). On current trends, BYD may soon overtake GM and Stellantis, while Geely catches up with Honda. Total unit sales of Nissan vehicles were down only 3% last quarter, but both deliveries and prices have collapsed in China. As a result, the company's net profit dropped by more than 90% in the first half of this fiscal year, which ends in March 2025. Honda's net profit was down 20% in the same period, for the same reason. Honda also needs an alternative to its self-driving vehicle partnership with GM – which gave up on its Cruise robotaxi last week, leaving Honda in the lurch. Honda and GM had been planning to bring Cruise to Tokyo in 2026. The alternative may already be on the way. At the beginning of August, Honda and Nissan announced plans to conduct joint research into next-generation software-defined vehicles, autonomous driving and AI, as well as batteries, battery charging, and electric vehicle motor and transmission systems (e-axles). With time, this could lead to self-driving taxis. Honda also plans to double its sales of hybrid vehicles, following Toyota and BYD into the strongest segment of the passenger car market. It is easy to be cynical about these developments, but we need to remember that Toyota's commitment to hybrid vehicles was ridiculed for years by people who thought pure electric battery-powered cars were the wave of the future. They were wrong, and those who are skeptical of the Honda-Nissan merger may also be mistaken. But fighting back against Toyota, Hyundai, BYD, Geely and other aggressive competitors won't be easy. Follow this writer on X: @ScottFo83517667 Thank you for registering! An account was already registered with this email. Please check your inbox for an authentication link. MENAFN19122024000159011032ID1109014368 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.

KIRKLAND, Wash., Dec. 13, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: MPWR), a global company that provides high-performance, semiconductor-based power electronics solutions, announced today its fourth quarter dividend of $1.25 per common share to all stockholders of record as of the close of business on December 31, 2024. The dividend will be paid on January 15, 2025. Safe Harbor Statement This news release includes “forward-looking statements” intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our business and industry, management’s beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us, all of which are subject to change. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “forecasts,” “intends,” “believes,” “plans,” “may,” “will,” or “continue,” and similar expressions and variations or negatives of these words. All such statements are subject to certain risks, assumptions and uncertainties, including those described in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Qs, and in other documents that we file or furnish with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially and adversely from those projected, and may affect our future operating results, financial position and cash flows. Accordingly, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Except to the extent required by law, MPS does not undertake, and expressly disclaims, any duty or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement after the initial distribution of this release, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise. About Monolithic Power Systems Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (“MPS”) is a fabless global company that provides high-performance, semiconductor-based power electronics solutions. MPS’s mission is to reduce energy and material consumption to improve all aspects of quality of life and create a sustainable future. Founded in 1997 by our CEO Michael Hsing, MPS has three core strengths: deep system-level knowledge, strong semiconductor design expertise, and innovative proprietary technologies in the areas of semiconductor processes, system integration, and packaging. These combined advantages enable MPS to deliver reliable, compact, and monolithic solutions that are highly energy-efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible while providing a consistent return on investment to our stockholders. MPS can be contacted through its website at www.monolithicpower.com or its support offices around the world. ### Monolithic Power Systems, MPS, and the MPS logo are registered trademarks of Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. in the U.S. and trademarked in certain other countries.

Telecom API Platform Market is set for a Potential Growth Worldwide: Excellent Technology Trends with Business AnalysisNot all of Samsung’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday offerings are huge-screen TVs or other such big-ticket items with prices reduced by hundreds or even thousands of dollars. There are true tech gems to be found in the smaller stocking-stuffer category as well, like the PRO Plus microSDXC card that can be ordered in sizes ranging from 128GB to 1TB at savings of up to $30. It comes with either an SD-sized card adapter or USB reader for maximum connectivity, and the 128GB model can be bought for under $20. See at Samsung The SDXC is the larger-capacity version of the SDHC card, as shown by Samsung’s 1TB version of the PRO Plus. It’s intended for max-capacity activities like shooting 4K videos, burst photography, or as backup drive for handheld gaming consoles like the Nintendo Switch and Valve Steam Deck, and despite its micro-small size, it’s almost impervious to damage from water, magnets, x-rays, extreme temperatures, or drops, and its lifespan covers roughly 10,000 plug-in sessions. Insane Capacity The 128GB version of the Samsung PRO Plus can hold nearly 80,000 FHD photos or over 51,000 4K photos, 20 hours of FHD video, or nearly 6 hours of 4K video. And it operates at speeds capable of capturing your 4K videos or photos, with write speeds of 180MB per second. Go all the way up to the 1TB version of the PRO Plus and your capacities are positively jaw-dropping — over 650,000 FHD photos, over 430,000 4K photos, 159.7 hours of FHD video, or 47.1 hours of 4K video. If you’re a photo fanatic, videographer, or drone pilot, this is the storage solution you’re looking for. Anything with a microSD card slot or SD card slot when you pair the PRO Plus with the adapter can benefit from the huge influx of storage provided by the PRO Plu s, especially when you have an action-themed device like a GoPro. Handheld gaming consoles get huge capacity gains from a microSDXC, and a durable weatherproof high-capacity microSDXC card like the Samsung PRO Plus is the perfect add-on if you’re gifting someone a drone for the holidays. Unbeatable Black Friday Pricing The 128GB Samsung PRO Plus microSDXC card paired with an SD adapter is just $19 during this Black Friday sale, down from $26. Paired with the USB reader, the 128GB version is still just $28, down from $34. If you want to take advantage of this sale and max out the storage for your video camera, GoPro, or other action camera with a 1TB PRO Plus, it’s just $90 with the adapter — a 33% discount from its usual $120. See at Samsung

The Australian share market is expected to edge lower on opening after US stocks stabilised following one of their worst days of the year. Futures markets are pointing to a soft start for trading on the ASX after it plunged to a two-year low on Thursday. The local bourse had followed the trajectory of rattled global markets, which fell sharply after the US Federal Reserve predicted it would deliver fewer rate cuts in 2025 than expected. However, a day after tumbling 2.9 per cent following the Federal Reserve’s prediction, the S&P 500 rose 0.2 per cent in afternoon trading (US time). The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 96 points, or 0.2 per cent, as of 1:03 p.m. Eastern time in the US, following Wednesday’s drop of more than 1100 points. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.2 per cent. Wall Street loves lower interest rates because they give the economy a boost and goose prices for investments, but they can also provide fuel for inflation. Credit: Bloomberg Indexes are still near their records, and the S&P 500 is still on track for one of its best years of the millennium. Wednesday’s drop just took some of the enthusiasm out of the market, which critics had already been warning was overly buoyant and would need everything to go correctly for it to justify its high prices. Traders are now expecting the Federal Reserve to deliver just one or maybe two cuts to interest rates next year, according to data from CME Group. Some are even betting on none. A month ago, the majority saw at least two cuts in 2025 as a safe bet. Wall Street loves lower interest rates because they give the economy a boost and goose prices for investments, but they can also provide fuel for inflation. Darden Restaurants, the company behind Olive Garden and other chains, helped lift the market after leaping 14.9 per cent. It delivered profit for the latest quarter that edged past analysts’ expectations. The operator of LongHorn Steakhouses also gave a forecast for revenue for this fiscal year that topped analysts’. Accenture rose 6.4 per cent after the professional services company topped expectations for profit in the latest quarter. CEO Julie Sweet said it saw growth around the world, and the company raised its forecast for revenue this fiscal year. Amazon shares added 1.6 per cent, even as workers at seven of its facilities went on strike Thursday in the middle of the online retail giant’s busiest time of the year. Amazon says it doesn’t expect an impact on its operations during what the workers’ union calls the largest strike against the company in US history. They helped offset a tumble for Micron Technology, which fell 16.8 per cent despite reporting stronger profit than expected. The computer memory company’s revenue fell short of Wall Street’s forecasts, and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said it expects demand from consumers to remain weaker in the near term. It gave a forecast for revenue in the current quarter that was well short of what analysts were thinking. In the bond market, yields were mixed a day after shooting higher on expectations that the Fed would deliver fewer cuts to rates in 2025. Reports on the US economy came in mixed. One showed the overall economy grew at a 3.1 per cent annualised rate during the summer, faster than earlier thought. The economy has remained remarkably resilient even though the Fed held its main interest rate at a two-decade high for a while before beginning to cut them in September. A separate report showed fewer US workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, an indication that the job market also remains solid. But a third report said manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region is unexpectedly contracting again despite economists’ expectations for growth. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.59 per cent from 4.52 per cent late Wednesday and from less than 4.20 per cent earlier this month. But the two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for action by the Fed in the near term, eased back to 4.32 per cent from 4.35 per cent. The rise in longer-term yields has put pressure on the housing market by keeping mortgage rates higher. A report on Thursday may have offered some encouragement for the housing industry. It showed a pickup in sales of previously occupied homes. In stock markets abroad, London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.1 per cent and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.7 per cent. Indexes likewise sank across much of the rest of Asia and Europe. The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon .Srinagar, Dec 26 (PTI) Political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir cutting across party lines Thursday condoled the death of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and lauded his humility and his standing as an economist and statesman. "Very sorry to hear about the demise of former PM Dr Manmohan Singh. I had many occasions to interact & learn from him. He was truly an intellectual giant, an accomplished economist but above all he was a thorough gentleman, a giant among pygmies. India has lost a great son with his passing. Rest in peace sir & thank you for everything," Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on X. In a statement, the National Conference (NC) said party president Farooq Abdullah and vice president Omar Abdullah have expressed profound grief over the demise of the former prime minister. "They hailed Dr. Singh's immense contributions to India, remembering him as a statesman, economist, and a pillar of integrity who led the nation with wisdom and humility," the NC said. Conveying condolences to the bereaved family, they prayed for eternal peace to the departed soul and strength to his loved ones in this hour of loss, the party said. Former chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said Singh worked tirelessly to advance the peace process and usher in a new era of development in J-K. "I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Manmohan Singh & I am certain that he was one of the most humble and gentle souls I've encountered - an extremely rare trait in politicians today. His humility & kindness were evident even during his double tenure as prime minister when he would personally return calls," Mufti said in a post on X. She said Singh was a man of few words whose welfare schemes brought relief to millions of Indians cutting across caste, creed and religion. Another ex-chief minister and Singh's former cabinet colleague Ghulam Nabi Azad said he was deeply saddened by Singh's demise. "Deeply saddened by the passing of Dr. Manmohan Singh ji, a visionary leader and one of India's most respected statesmen. As someone who had the privilege of serving in his cabinet twice, I witnessed firsthand his extraordinary humility, wisdom, and grace," Azad said. He said Singh empowered his teams to function with independence and trust, fostering an environment of collaboration and excellence. "He provided India with much-needed economic leadership, global recognition, stability, and unity during challenging times," the former Union minister said. Azad said the former prime minister's contributions as an economist and statesman will forever be etched in the history of a rising India. "Dr. Manmohan Singh's legacy is one of transformative leadership, inspiring countless individuals across generations. My heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones," he added. (This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)

A top U.S. lawmaker has pledged to work with rights groups as a special advocate for Dang Dinh Bach, a Vietnamese climate activist and political prisoner, and called on Hanoi to immediately release Bach from jail. Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, announced that he will advocate for Bach through the Defending Freedoms Project, part of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, according to a statement exclusively obtained by VOA Mandarin Service. “Vietnam’s communist government maintains its clutch on power by crusading hard against good faith dissenters like Dang Dinh Bach, breaching the fundamental political, social and civil rights of their people,” Raskin said in the statement. “Mr. Bach’s continued unjust detainment is an affront to global human rights law and climate activism around the world, and I am honored to sponsor his case through the Lantos Commission’s Defending Freedom Project. Mr. Bach should be released immediately,” Raskin said. VOA asked the Vietnamese Embassy in the U.S. for comment about Bach's case but has not received a response. Bach is an environmental lawyer and co-founder and former executive director of the Law and Policy of Sustainable Development Research Center. The LPSD is a Vietnamese nonprofit organization that works with local communities to protect the environment and promote human rights. Bach was arrested in 2021 and convicted of tax evasion a year later. He was allowed to meet with his lawyers only 10 days prior to the trial and is serving a five-year sentence at a prison in Vietnam’s Nghe An Province. Human rights advocates call the tax invasion charge fraudulent. Authorities shut down LPSD after Bach’s arrest. The Defending Freedoms Project was launched in 2012 in collaboration with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and Amnesty International USA. It has since expanded to include Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House, Freedom Now, Scholars at Risk, PEN America and the Senate Human Rights Caucus. According to DFP, members of Congress sponsoring a prisoner receive a detailed toolkit for advocacy, which includes writing letters to prisoners and their families, giving speeches and publishing op-eds. They can also initiate legislative actions, hold discussions or hearings and petition executive departments such as the State Department and the White House for support. By taking on a case, lawmakers can help secure releases, reduce sentences, improve prison conditions and raise awareness of unjust laws. In Vietnam, more than 160 political prisoners are in jail, according to Human Rights Watch. Bach is one of several climate activists imprisoned in Vietnam after advocating for the country’s move away from coal-based energy. His case has received widespread attention from human rights groups and environment groups. “Dang Dinh Bach is a dedicated rights defender focused on climate issues, currently serving a five-year prison sentence in Vietnam on dubious charges of ‘tax evasion,’” said Kat Cosgrove, deputy director of policy and advocacy at Freedom House. “Since 2021, Vietnamese authorities have frequently used this charge to target and silence local activists, and these charges appear aimed solely at stopping Mr. Bach’s vital work and weakening civil society,” she said. Maureen Harris, senior adviser for International Rivers and coordinator of the Vietnam Climate Defenders Coalition, called on the international community to speak out for Bach. “Environmental human rights defenders like Bach are critical to the battle against climate change. Vietnam's government should stop persecuting climate leaders. I hope that the international community stands up for Bach and calls on the Vietnamese government to end his wrongful incarceration,” she said. The U.S. State Department, the European Union and the United Nations have previously issued statements calling not only for Bach’s release but other climate activists wrongfully imprisoned in Vietnam. In May 2023, the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion finding Bach's imprisonment in "violation of international law." The group called for his immediate release and expressed concern about a "systemic problem with arbitrary detention" of environmental defenders in Vietnam.This story will be updated with transfer portal announcements and commitments throughout the offseason. The NCAA transfer portal opened its winter window Monday, marking the busiest roster-building time for college football teams. It will close Saturday, Dec. 28. When asked Saturday about the challenge of building a roster and preparing to play Miami in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec. 28, Iowa State coach Matt Campbell indicated he liked where his team is at. Orlando flight, hotel prices, drive time for Iowa State fans going to Pop-Tarts Bowl “That's the great thing about our program,” Campbell said. “We're not transactional, we're transformational. Whatever it is, it is. We'll be ready to play wherever that may be. Whatever the opportunity, this senior class, we're about finishing. We're not about everything else.” 3 burning questions facing Iowa State football: How many transfers/opt outs will ISU have? Commitments: None Departures: R. Fr. J.J. Kohl, QB, Dec. 9 The former Ankeny High School star played a backup role to Rocco Becht in two seasons at ISU. Kohl appeared in three games in 2023, completing 9 of 11 passes for 23 yards but didn’t see any action in 2024, playing behind quarterback Connor Moberly. Kohl, a four-star recruit in the 2023 class, is the highest-ranked quarterback recruit in Iowa State history. R. Jr. Trent Jones, DL, Dec. 9 Arkansas State quarterback Timmy McClain (6) is tackled by Iowa State defensive end Trent Jones II (89) during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. Iowa State won 52-7. Jones made six tackles and a tackle-for-loss this season. His best game came against Iowa when he recorded three sacks. He’s played in 24 games over four seasons at ISU. R. So. Trevon Howard, DB, Dec. 9 Howard played four games in each of his three seasons with the Cyclones. This season he made four total tackles, two against Iowa. A season-ending injury concluded his 2023 season. R. Fr. Ryan Robinson, DB. Dec. 9 Robinson will likely join his third college team in three seasons after beginning his college career as a preferred walk-on at LSU in 2023. He did not register any stats this season. R. Jr. Keegan Shackford, K, Dec. 9 After kicking off seven times in ISU’s first three games of 2024, Shackford did not attempt another kickoff. Shackford played in all 13 games last season and handled kickoff duties (27 touchbacks on 69 kickoffs). R. So. Drake Knobloch, LS, Dec. 9 Knobloch appeared in two games this season (North Dakota and Iowa) after playing in all 13 of ISU’s games in 2023. R. Jr. Kenard Snyder, DE, Dec. 10 247Sports reported Tuesday that Snyder is entering the transfer portal and Snyder appeared to confirm the news on social media. Snyder made eight tackles in 10 games this season. Snyder played the 2024 season at ISU after three years at Louisiana Monroe. He earned All Sun Belt Honorable Mention accolades in 2023 for a season with 60 tackles and 5.5 sacks. Report: Rocco Becht's dad, Anthony, interviewed for West Virginia head coaching job Ben Hutchens is an Iowa State University beat writer for the Lee Enterprises network. Follow him on X or send him an email at Ben.Hutchens@lee.net . Get local news delivered to your inbox!

HubSync Revolutionizes Tax and Accounting with 2025 Product Enhancements & New FeaturesGreece's abandoned "ghost" towns and villages offer an eerie glimpse into the future of a country, whose Prime Minister has warned of "existential" population collapse. Years of decreasing births, economic hardship and mass emigration have left huge swathes of the country vacant. Economists warn that population decline is now putting a major strain on society – with not enough young workers to grow the economy and support the elderly. > 24/7 San Diego news stream: Watch NBC 7 free wherever you are Lasta, GREECE — There's nobody around anymore to man Saint George cafe in Lasta, a mountainous village in Greece's Peloponnese region. Instead, there's an honor system — just take a drink, leave a donation and soak up the relics of a bygone era. Photos of lively residents on the walls belie the reality outside, where a deserted square, abandoned school and derelict houses offer an eerie glimpse into the future of a country at risk of population collapse. Lasta is just one of hundreds of depopulated or abandoned "ghost" towns and villages scattered across Greece, in an all too visible marker of years of declining births, economic hardship and mass emigration. Economists warn that population decline is now putting a major strain on a country just emerging from crisis — with not enough young people to support the economy over coming generations. Money Report Auto giants endured a torrid time of it this year — and few expect 2025 to be much better China's monetary shift signals economic worries, but ‘bazooka-style' stimulus is unlikely, experts say "While Greece is seeing very solid growth for the moment, looking ahead, with fewer people to do the work, that's going to be difficult to sustain," Bert Colijn, chief economist at ING, told CNBC by phone. Greece is home to one of the lowest fertility rates in Europe: At 1.3, it is half that recorded in 1950 and well below the 2.1 required for population replacement. Last year, the country recorded just over 71,400 births, the lowest number since records began almost a century ago, and down around 6% on 2022. Greece now has around one birth for every two deaths, and the share of the population aged over 65 is nearly twice that aged 0 to 14. That prompted Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to warn of an "existential" threat to Greek society, with the country more disposed than most to wider demographic shifts afflicting developed nations. "The truth is that today our people are among the most elderly in Europe," Mitsotakis said last year, speaking at a Greek demographic conference. It's an issue affecting some pockets of the Greek mainland and its vast archipelago more than others. "This population decline is not manifested equally throughout the country," Mitsotakis continued. "It has peaks in specific areas and this means that national strategies are not sufficient and local provisions are also needed, with the overall demographic collapse literally becoming an existential bet for our future." That decline is most visible through the emergence of scores of ghost towns and villages — locations with none or virtually nil inhabitants, deserted as local populations leave or die out. It can be difficult to quantify the exact number of such locations, given their often remote nature, but recent estimates put the figure of entirely abandoned towns and villages close to 200. Many are all but forgotten, with decrepit buildings the only signs of former life. Others like Lasta, meanwhile, have become sources of offbeat tourism , with visitors to the cafe and abandoned buildings keen to experience a piece of history. At Greece's last census in 2021, Lasta had a reported permanent population of 12, but when CNBC visited in 2024 there were no signs of permanent residents. Greece's recent demographic decline can be largely traced back to the country's sovereign debt crisis of 2009. Resultant bailout programs sparked years of austerity and financial woe for the country, with the economy contracting by as much as a quarter over the ensuing decade. Young people were among the hardest hit by the downturn, with youth unemployment peaking at 59.5% in the first quarter of 2013 — more than twice the national high of around 27%. As a result, many were unable to forge new lives outside of their family homes. Of those who did, many did so overseas, with an estimated more than 400,000 people — or 9% of the workforce — emigrating over the period. Much of the remainder relocated to Greece's big cities, in search of better work and education. Today, more than half (53.5%) of the Greek population lives in the capital, Athens, and the surrounding Attiki region, as well as the country's second-largest city, Thessaloniki. Meanwhile, all other regions, including Greece's prized islands, have recorded population decline over the past several years. Many demographers say the country's population decline stems even further back to the 1980s — another period of economic decline. A fall in birth rates over that period has since led to in a reduction in women of childbearing years, with the proportion of women aged 20 to 40 now 150,000 fewer than five years ago. The government is currently forecasting that the population may fall from around 10.4 million today to 7.5 million by 2050 — a decline of more than a quarter. To help tackle the issue, Mitsotakis last year launched a new Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family Affairs to unify and enhance support for children and vulnerable groups. In October, the ministry announced that it would spend 20 billion euros ($21 billion) through 2035 on incentives to halt population decline, such as child benefits, enhanced parental leave and tax breaks. Sofia Zacharaki, who heads up the office, said the measures were designed to provide a wake-up call to society. "We need a shock. We need something that creates, you know, a sense of security and sense of optimism, especially in the younger population," Zacharaki, minister of social cohesion and family affairs, told CNBC via video call. "We are faced with not just an economic impact ... but also a mindset issue that has been instilled in many young people's minds, probably because of the recurring crisis and probably a sense of disillusionment," she continued, adding that the funding should give more people the choice to start a family. However, Colijn said he was skeptical that child support measures would be enough to alter the trend, and that major policy changes would likely also be needed to support demographic shifts. "There doesn't seem to be one example of a policy that's been introduced somewhere that has resulted in a swift turnaround in that decline," he said. He added that other policies might include incentives to encourage more young people to remain in Greece, and attracting back those who left. Greece's demographic decline stands at odds with the country's now much improved economic outlook. The Greek economy is projected to grow 2.2% in 2024, and 2.3% in 2025 — outpacing Europe's major economies. The country's initial 2.9% 2025 gross domestic product (GDP) forecast was revised down only by a wider EU slowdown. Nevertheless, economists warn that demographic decline could ultimately undermine that growth over the longer term. "Demographic developments are absolutely key to economic growth in general. It's about how many hands you have to work and how productive those hands can be," Colijn said, highlighting a "strong correlation" between working age population growth and GDP per capita. Greece is not alone in this phenomena: Demographic decline is an issue facing many developed nations. Japan and South Korea, with fertility rates of 1.2 and 0.72 in 2023, respectively, are among the best known examples of countries in demographic decline. But much of the West, and China too, have rapidly aging populations and need for greater government support. "We are currently in the midst of an unprecedented demographic transition, whereby global population growth is continuously slowing, with little obvious sign that the trend is about to shift," Jim Reid, Deutsche Bank's global head of macro research, wrote in a November report. "Given that demographics almost certainly deteriorates further in the 2024-2049 QC [quarter century] it stands to reason that ... you would expect another QC of below long-term average real GDP growth and real equity returns, especially in the DM [developed market] world," he added. Also on CNBC Stellantis and CATL team up to build $4.3 billion EV battery plant in Spain From Trump, to Russia and Iran — Syria's crisis has huge global consequences UK business confidence falls to lowest level in almost two years after Labour budgetLG Electronics, a multinational appliance and consumer electronics corporation, has introduced an innovative air conditioner in Nigeria that actively repels mosquitoes, and offers a new line of defence against malaria. The “Mosquito Away” AC, announced Saturday, utilises “ultrasonic wave technology” to create sound frequencies imperceptible to humans but disruptive to mosquitoes, effectively driving them away. The new technology, tested by the Institute for Advanced Medical Research and Training (IAMRAT) at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, reported 92 percent mosquito repulsion rate and an 88 percent knockdown rate in indoor settings. Following successful launches in other West African nations, LG is now making the AC available across Nigeria through its sole distributor, FUOANI. In Nigeria, FUOANI is the sole distributor of LG & Hisense products in Nigeria/Africa, with over 20 years of experience in the Nigerian market. The timing is particularly crucial for Nigeria, a country heavily burdened by malaria. With an estimated 76 percent of the population living in high-transmission areas, Nigeria accounts for 27 percent of global malaria cases and tragically led the world in malaria-related deaths in 2019, according to the 2020 World Malaria Report. “The ‘Mosquito Away’ AC is a first for Nigeria. This technology offers not only greater comfort but also enhanced safety for families, addressing a critical need in the fight against this devastating disease”, Olugbenga Ogunbayo, a master trainer at LG Electronics, said. The locally manufactured air conditioners also feature a dual inverter compressor, which is supposed to consume up to 70 percent less energy than conventional models, including a “volt care” which “ensures uninterrupted operation even during voltage fluctuations in Nigeria’s often unstable power grid environment,” the company added.

Haiti’s health minister loses his job after a deadly gang attack on a hospital in the capital

Bargain supermarkets selling real Christmas trees from today – prices start from just £13.99Global Leaders and China Gathered in Madrid Call for a More Equitable and Sustainable FutureReport: CFP Playoff Officials Expected to Re-Examine Byes for Conference ChampionsMILWAUKEE , Dec. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwestern Mutual today announced the appointment of Dave Gordon to executive vice president and chief digital and information officer. In his role, Gordon will be accountable for technology and digital strategy, with oversight of the company's AI capabilities, software engineering, data engineering, enterprise architecture, technology infrastructure, and information risk and cybersecurity. He also has responsibilities for the company's digital products and foundational tech capabilities. Gordon will report to Northwestern Mutual President and incoming CEO Tim Gerend and join the company's senior leadership team. "Dave's deep technology experience, collaborative style and track record of success make him well-positioned to lead Northwestern Mutual's overarching tech and digital strategy," said Tim Gerend , president, Northwestern Mutual. "His leadership across a strong team of technology disciplines will ensure that we continue to enhance the relevance and improve the experience of working with Northwestern Mutual." Gordon previously served as vice president and chief technology officer with responsibilities for the software development of the company's customer experience, digitally enabled products and corporate solutions, since joining Northwestern Mutual in 2023. Prior to Northwestern Mutual, Gordon served as chief technology and data officer with USAA Federal Savings Bank, U.S. chief technology and operations officer with BMO Harris Bank, and credit card divisional CIO and head of IT operations with Capital One. He holds an MBA from the University of Richmond and a bachelor's degree in computer science from Indiana University . Gordon succeeds Christian Mitchell , who recently stepped down from his role as executive vice president and chief digital and information officer to pursue new opportunities. "I'm thankful for Christian's leadership that spanned nearly two decades at Northwestern Mutual," said Gerend. "He's had a meaningful impact on our employees, financial advisors and clients throughout his tenure and has set us up successfully for the future." About Northwestern Mutual Northwestern Mutual has been helping people and businesses achieve financial security for more than 165 years. Through a comprehensive planning approach, Northwestern Mutual combines the expertise of its financial professionals with a personalized digital experience and industry-leading products to help its clients plan for what's most important. With over $627 billion of total assets 1 being managed across the company's institutional portfolio as well as retail investment client portfolios, more than $36 billion in revenues, and $2.3 trillion worth of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual delivers financial security to more than five million people with life, disability income and long-term care insurance, annuities, and brokerage and advisory services. Northwestern Mutual ranked 110 on the 2024 FORTUNE 500 and was recognized by FORTUNE ® as one of the "World's Most Admired" life insurance companies in 2024. Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM), Milwaukee, WI (life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits) and its subsidiaries. Subsidiaries include Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS) (investment brokerage services), broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC; the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company ® (NMWMC) (investment advisory and services), federal savings bank; and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company (NLTC) (long-term care insurance). Not all Northwestern Mutual representatives are advisors. Only those representatives with "Advisor" in their title or who otherwise disclose their status as an advisor of NMWMC are credentialed as NMWMC representatives to provide investment advisory services. 1 Includes investments and separate account assets of Northwestern Mutual as well as retail investment client assets held or managed by Northwestern Mutual. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/northwestern-mutual-appoints-dave-gordon-to-chief-digital-and-information-officer-302336464.html SOURCE Northwestern Mutual

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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 24, 2024-- Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds investors that a shareholder filed a class action on behalf of all purchasers of stock of Metagenomi, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGX) pursuant and/or traceable to the Company’s initial public offering conducted between February 9 and 13, 2024 (the “IPO”). Metagenomi describes itself as a “genetics medicine company.” For more information, submit a form , email attorney Phillip Kim, or give us a call at 866-767-3653. The Allegations: Rosen Law Firm is Investigating the Allegations that Metagenomi, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGX) Misled Investors Regarding its Business Operations. According to the lawsuit, Metagenomi introduced itself to investors during its IPO as a “genetic medicines company” having a long-standing business relationship with Moderna, one of the leading Covid-19 vaccine companies. Integral to Metagenomi’s collaboration with Moderna was the claim that the two companies had entered into a Strategic Collaboration and License Agreement on October 29, 2021, which included multiple four-year research programs and a subsequent licensed product-by-licensed product agreement. Metagenomi completed its initial public offering on February 13, 2024, selling 6.25 million shares at $15 per share. However, less than three months later, on May 1, 2024, Metagenomi announced that it and Moderna had “mutually agreed to terminate their collaboration” agreement. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages. What Now: You may be eligible to participate in the class action against Metagenomi, Inc. Shareholders who want to serve as lead plaintiff for the class must file their motions with the court by November 25, 2024. A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. You do not have to participate in the case to be eligible for a recovery. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member. For more information, click here . All representation is on a contingency fee basis. Shareholders pay no fees or expenses. About Rosen Law Firm: Some law firms issuing releases about this matter do not actually litigate securities class actions. Rosen Law Firm does. Rosen Law Firm is a recognized leader in shareholder rights litigation, dedicated to helping shareholders recover losses, improving corporate governance structures, and holding company executives accountable for their wrongdoing. Since its inception, Rosen Law Firm has obtained over $1 billion for shareholders. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm , on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/ . Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241124410010/en/ CONTACT: Laurence Rosen, Esq. Phillip Kim, Esq. The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. 275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 686-1060 Toll Free: (866) 767-3653 Fax: (212) 202-3827 case@rosenlegal.com www.rosenlegal.com KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA NEW YORK INDUSTRY KEYWORD: CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT PROFESSIONAL SERVICES LEGAL SOURCE: The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 11/24/2024 09:37 AM/DISC: 11/24/2024 09:35 AM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241124410010/enAuthor: Aminthika Dissanayake Publisher: Dharshana Publishers Reviewed by Kamala Wijeratne Aslim volume of poetry, comprising 55 poems is Aminthika Dissanayake’s latest publication. Long ago when she was still a child, I had the honour of reviewing her poetry. The promise shown then, has now blossomed into profound experience and mature insights in well-crafted poetry. The contexts she creates and the emotions she expresses are well beyond her age. The selection of the title itself – Rain in October is suggestive of the broad span of the contents within. In our youth, in the geography lessons, we learnt that October is a dry month – the month between – the monsoon that is blowing away in September and the monsoon that blows in November. It is a period of transition. So are Aminthika’s poems. Some delve into depths which are reflections of great maturity and wisdom, while others are still of the teen that she is. For Aminthika, October is a month of hope, of fulfillment: ‘Glancing up at the heavens, Hoping against hope when The clouds fill the sky That they wouldn’t roll away again Or cast down torrents and lightening But fulfill and satisfy us like the Rain in October’ What is unexpected and spontaneous is treasured. The poems in the collection reflect a young woman’s perception of the world around her, its wants and strengths, corrosions and purities. Some poems are long, some short. Their perspectives are broad, their range varied covering the elements, human experiences, and emotions and the daily drudge of life. Some poems are very short, resembling the precision of the haiku. Take, for example, the poem titled Blue: You locked the door And wept When no one knocked It seems so simple, so ordinary. But the human situation condensed to a miniscule is so powerfully expressive, so deep in meaning. It is tempting to write on each and every poem, but then it will go beyond review, into critical overview. So, one has to be selective. Thematically, the poems broaden from everyday routines to the universal. There are the very light pieces like 3.a.m. where she humourously comments on a young student’s struggle with her studies. The last poem in the selection deals with her vision of the Poet and poetry. She announces her creed: ‘I am a poet I’m only here to gather things To fill my writing with’ A simple creed, to gather things – to store experience. No political or social roles like Lakdas. She is open to the world. Every event, every object is a stimulus. She repeats: ‘I am a poet I’ll take life’s lemons And write stories In invisible ink’ She responds to life’s events and absorbs them and stamps her poems with an element of mystery. But she is aware of the stark realisms of life and opens them up. In the gifted ones, she presents a situation very common to Sri Lanka, specially true of the education system: the Padding up or building up of individuals through artificial means like tuition, favouration, nepotism, what have you! Her character’s cry here is a cry to be left alone to grow up by one’s own effort without being propped up. She ironically presents the character as unable to swim. The falsity of ‘make believe’ is exposed. Without being allowed free growth, the ‘gifted one’ becomes totally helpless: ‘But now we come upon real battles Sailed into open seas And everyone has learnt already through trials To stay afloat But what about me? I must learn mid – battle everything From the beginning Because you’ve set me up Even when I never learned How to win..... The poem ‘The words of a weary solder’ is another poem that delves deep into human psychology. The soldier is war weary: “I only go to war to end it’ he says. He has no fear of losing, His chosen journey of life – was broken by the call of arms. He only fought, ‘to see the fighting ends’ Life has moved on, leaving him on a battlefield ‘locked in starch’ In very simple words, but with a stark succinctness she suggests the tragedy of war. Aminthika’s concerns with the environment is also powerfully expressed. The poem ‘the last tree falls’ is a telling comment on the devastation of forests. The situation is dramatically etched – Far away are the new towns, building after building – the concrete jungle. Here and now, on the spot is: ‘wooden carcass Now forgotten’ The human vandalism is projected in the “sprawling buildings” which has taken the place of trees. The result is: ‘the dust path burns’ Fire and dust; the burning earth. Her vision is penetratingly mature. In the ‘metamorphosis’, she captures the bare paradox of life – that change is no change – Change is going back to square one. So much clamour, so much noise, but the metamorphosis is going back to the old system. ‘You lie in the wreckage of your past selves’ she says. She compares transformation to ‘a moth’ Yu ‘drift down Until you’ve taken back to where You began’ What more profundity could you seek from a poet? And an eighteen year old in that. In her mastery of the English language, in her deep insights into life and the succinctness with which she crafts her poetry, Aminthika is surely heading towards greatness in her chosen art.

In June of 2021, Michael Zheng captured the NJSIAA state singles tournament title as a junior at Delbarton. Sunday, the Columbia University junior was crowned the fall 2024 NCAA Division-I singles tournament champ as the second-seeded Montville, N.J. native defeated Michigan State’s Ozan Baris, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, TX. “It feels amazing,” Zheng told NJ.com in a phone interview after the win. “I was so close six months ago last season, and I’m just really happy to get this one for sure.” Zheng was also finalist at this past spring’s NCAA singles tournament as he became the first player since USC’s Steve Johnson to make back-to-back finals. Zheng was able to use that experience to his advantage. “I think playing in the final last time helped for sure,” Zheng said. “Last year I was so nervous before the final. This year I was nervous, but it wasn’t quite the same. I came out here trying to play free and compete as hard as I could.” This was year one of a two-year pilot for the singles and doubles championships being conducted in the fall which was approved in 2023. “It was really different having the tournament in the fall,” Zheng said. “I still felt like this was the true individual championship. I do think some of the best players were still here, and I’m glad to have the title in hand.” Zheng is the first player from the Ivy League to win the singles title since Yale’s Lucien Williams in 1922, and he is now Columbia’s first champion since Robert LeRoy won twice in 1904 and 1906. “It’s a huge honor to represent Columbia and the Ivy League,” Zheng said. “I’m happy that we’re back on the national scale.” Zheng is also the fifth man born in New Jersey to ever win the NCAA singles championship joining Godfrey Brinley (Perth Amboy) in 1886, William Larned (Summit) in 1892, Fred Alexander (Sea Bright) in 1091 and Ted Schroeder (Newark) in 1942. Only Larned and Alexander grew up and stayed in the Garden State. Alexander played collegiately at Princeton. “I’ve been getting so much support from friends and family back in Jersey,” Zheng said. “Jersey tennis is really strong, and I’m happy to represent New Jersey as well. Hopefully I’ll keep that going.” Both Zheng and the unseeded Baris broke each other’s serves early in the opening set before the Lion went up a double break at 5-2. Zheng capitalized on a mis-hit into the net from Baris on a shot from Zheng that appeared to be going out after a long rally. “It was huge getting that double break,” Zheng said. “You’re able to then play more free on your serve and you can go for it more. I knew it was going to be a tough battle. He got the second set, and I was able to reset and get it done in the third.” The second set was tightly played, but Baris was able to bounce back after being down 4-3 by winning the next three games. Zheng regained his composure and responded by taking the first two games of the third and cruised from there. “After he got that break back and I missed that volley on the deuce point on serve in the second, my heart sank,” Zheng said. “I felt like I might have given away another final. But, I quickly got rid of those thoughts and my coach helped me reset. I battled in that third set.” Zheng also won the first set against Alabama’s Filip Planinsek in May’s singles final before he lost in three sets, so he knew Baris wasn’t going to go down easy. When the last shot from Baris hit the net, Zheng threw his hands up in the air similar to when he won the N.J. state singles crown at Mercer County Park. “It was a huge relief honestly,” Zheng said. “I thought I may have squandered it. He played a tough game and I had to really earn it. I was relieved to get that last point.” Zheng compared this tournament title run to his N.J. singles championship three years ago. “It’s kind of similar,” he said. “It was a huge honor to play for Delbarton and win it my junior year. Then a couple years later I’m back on a similar stage winning the national tournament. There are some parallels, and I’m happy to bring home the title.” Michael Zheng of Delbarton celebrates after winning the singles title during the NJSIAA boys tennis Singles & Doubles finals at Mercer County Park in West Windsor, NJ on Thursday, June 17, 2021. Scott Faytok | For NJ Advance Media Zheng said his phone has been flooded with text messages and calls from coaches, teammates, family members and friends from New Jersey in the past week or so, and he’s sure to have gotten many more after his thrilling victory on Sunday. “I’ll get to them all eventually,” he said. “I’m honored for the support. It’s been amazing.” Celebration plans for Zheng feature a flight back home this evening and supporting his teammates for a conditioning test on Monday. Zheng next will be one of six players (three men, three women) representing Team USA at the 2024 Master’U BNP Paribas Championship in Reims, France next week, it was announced recently by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Earlier this year, Zheng competed in his second U.S. Open qualifiers after winning the ITF’s M25 Southaven Open in August. A Columbia, the former NJ.com Boys Tennis Player of the Year has gone 63-19 overall including 32-10 in dual matches at singles and 31-17 at doubles. Chris Nalwasky may be reached at cnalwasky@njadvancemedia.com . Follow us on social: Facebook | Instagram | X (formerly Twitter) . The N.J. High School Sports newsletter now appearing in mailboxes 5 days a week. Sign up now and be among the first to get all the boys and girls sports you care about, straight to your inbox each weekday. To add your name, click here . As always, please report scores to njschoolsports.com . Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription .Shares of ( ) have risen 94% in the last 10 years. But if we adjust for dividend reinvestments, cumulative returns are closer to 142%, higher than the TSX index, which has returned 131% since November 2014. Notably, Imperial Oil has outpaced the TSX over a 20-year period as well, rising 516%, while the broader market has gained 414%. As past returns don’t matter much for current and future investors, let’s see if this blue-chip should be part of your equity portfolio in 2025. Valued at a of $55 billion, Imperial Oil is among the largest energy stocks globally, engaged in the exploration, production, and sale of crude oil and natural gas in Canada. Despite lower commodity prices, Imperial Oil has showcased strong operational performance across business segments in 2024. In the third quarter (Q3) of 2024, its net income rose 10% sequentially due to record production in its Upstream business and a focus on cost efficiencies. Imperial Oil reported earnings of $1.24 billion with an operating cash flow of $1.48 billion in Q3 of 2024, enabling it to offset a moderation in crude prices and refining margins. Its Upstream business reported a total production of 447,00 gross equivalent barrels per day in Q3 — the highest Q3 production over the past three decades. The oil giant emphasized that its structural cost-reduction efforts and strategic volume growth helped drive unit cost savings of more than $3 a barrel year over year. We have seen that reinvesting dividends has allowed shareholders to benefit from sizeable gains over time. One reason is due to Imperial Oil’s growing dividend payout. Today, Imperial Oil pays shareholders an annual dividend of $2.40 per share, which translates to a yield of 2.3%. These payouts have risen from $0.25 per share in November 1999, indicating a compound annual growth rate of 9.6% over 25 years, which is exceptional for a cyclical company. In November 1999, Imperial Oil stock was priced at $11.5 per share. An investment of $5,000 in IMO stock 25 years ago would have let you buy 435 shares of the company, resulting in an annual dividend of roughly $109 over the next 12 months. Today, these 435 shares will pay you more than $1,040 in yearly dividends, enhancing your yield from 2.2% to 20% in this period. Given an operating cash flow of $1.48 billion and capital expenditures of $486 million, Imperial Oil ended Q3 with a free cash flow of $1 billion. Comparatively, its dividend expense stood at $315 million, indicating a payout ratio of 32%, which is sustainable, even if oil prices drop significantly. In the last 12 months, Imperial Oil has reported a free cash flow of $3.6 billion and is forecast to end 2025 with a free cash flow of $4.5 billion. So, if the TSX stock is priced at 15 times trailing FCF, it will be valued at $67.5 billion in early 2026, indicating an upside potential of over 20% from current levels. After adjusting for dividend reinvestments, total returns will be over 27%. Alternatively, Bay Street remains cautious and expects IMO stock to fall by 3% in the next 12 months.

No. 4 South Carolina women rout Purdue 99-51INDIANAPOLIS – Anthony Richardson didn’t betray any frustration through his words or facial expressions Sunday during his postgame interview. But the Indianapolis Colts quarterback still made it clear he fully felt the pain of a missed opportunity. The Colts often were their own worst enemy against one of the league’s best teams in a 24-6 loss against the Detroit Lions at Lucas Oil Stadium. It’s the fourth loss in the last five outings for Indianapolis (5-7), again increasing the degree of difficulty for a desired playoff push. “Whenever you’re out there playing a good team like that, you can’t beat yourself and try to beat the other team at the same time,” Richardson said. The Colts were penalized 10 times for 75 yards and had 97 yards of total offense negated by those infractions. That created adverse downs and distances that hindered Indianapolis’ efforts to get the running game flowing. Richardson was the team’s leading rusher with 61 yards on 10 carries, but star running back Jonathan Taylor ran just 11 times for 35 yards. It was the second straight week in which the Colts failed to rush for at least 100 yards – a number that was reached in each of Richardson’s first six starts this season. “I think we had some good runs today, especially in the first half, and AR has done a great job passing the ball,” left guard Quenton Nelson said. “We just need to execute up front, blocking whatever the play is called and also limit the penalties myself.” Nelson was flagged three times – once for a false start, once for illegal use of hands and once for being an ineligible receiver down field. It was part of a sloppy performance that was far below expectations in Week 12, and it made things much easier on an excellent Detroit team that doesn’t need the help. Indianapolis’ struggles included a 3-for-12 performance on third down, a dropped touchdown pass in the second quarter by tight end Drew Ogletree and two red-zone trips that ended with just a pair of Matt Gay field goals. “We had some opportunities there, weren’t able to take advantage,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said. “Obviously, offensively, got down in the red zone a few times, had to settle for two field goals there in the first half. Penalties hurt us. It starts with myself. We have to get those cleaned up. “We had a season-high 10 penalties, I believe, for 75 yards. That’s on me. We can’t have that. We’ve got to play clean football moving forward.” The Lions (10-1) responded with cool efficiency to keep the hosts at arm’s length. Detroit came in averaging 33.6 points per game, and quarterback Jared Goff has 20 touchdown passes. But the Lions needed just a pair of touchdown runs by Jahmyr Gibbs and another by David Montgomery along with a 56-yard field goal by Jake Bates to put this game on ice. Gibbs’ 1-yard scoring plunge gave Detroit a 7-3 lead with 12:07 remaining in the first half, and Montgomery extended the advantage to 14-6 with 3:34 left before intermission. By the time Gibbs’ 5-yard touchdown made it 21-6 with 2:19 left in the third quarter, it was obvious the Lions had all the offense they needed. Goff was 26-of-36 for 269 yards without a touchdown or interception, and Gibbs rushed 21 times for 90 yards. Meanwhile, Richardson wasn’t able to match the statistical aesthetic of his breakout game last week against the New York Jets – though he played better than the numbers suggest. Richardson finished 11-of-28 for 172 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. He had 74 yards wiped out on four completions called back because of penalties, and a wonderfully placed long ball to Ashton Dulin ended in an incompletion when the wide receiver couldn’t get his second foot inbounds. Richardson had his share of misses, including an overthrow against a heavy rush that could have been another big play to wide receiver Alec Pierce and a close-call to wide receiver Josh Downs in the end zone in the fourth quarter. But the 22-year-old deftly moved around in and out of the pocket and kept himself a step ahead of the Detroit defense. The Lions recorded six quarterback hits but no sacks. “It was a lot of completions, a lot of good balls that he threw that kind of got pulled back (by penalties),” Pierce said. “So I’m sure his stats are not really reflecting truly how he played, how he threw the ball.” Michael Pittman Jr. had his best game of the season with six catches for 96 yards, but little else stood out offensively. The defense tallied three sacks, and rookie defensive end Laiatu Latu forced a third-quarter fumble that could have given Indianapolis the ball in Lions’ territory, but the offense recovered and finished the march to the clinching touchdown. With a little more than a month remaining in the regular season, Indianapolis understands the margin for error is dwindling. “We just got to execute,” Richardson said. “We know that was a great team right there, but they didn’t really do anything spectacular to beat us. They played the game the right way, and we didn’t go out and execute the way we know that we’re supposed to. We got behind the sticks a few times. “We let them throw a few penalties against us because of (breakdowns in) our discipline and our details. But we just gotta keep playing. Play complementary football, keep the details detailed and keep trusting the process and just buy in and try to find a way to win.”Amazon is selling a $130 'wonderfully clear' video doorbell for only $30 during its Black Friday sale

South Korea lifts president's martial law decree after lawmakers vote against it SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s government has lifted the martial law he imposed during a tense night of political drama in which troops surrounded parliament and lawmakers voted to reject military rule. Yoon said early Wednesday that his government withdrew military personnel following a bipartisan parliamentary vote rejecting martial law, and the measure was formally lifted during a Cabinet meeting around 4:30 a.m. Yoon declared martial law late Tuesday, vowing to eliminate “anti-state” forces as he struggles against an opposition that controls the country’s parliament and that he accuses of sympathizing with communist North Korea. Less than three hours later, parliament voted to lift the declaration. President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers urge judge to toss his hush money conviction NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers have formally asked a judge to throw out his hush money criminal conviction. Trump’s lawyers told Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan in court papers Monday that dismissal is warranted because of the extraordinary circumstances of his impending return to the White House. They argue continuing the case would present unconstitutional “disruptions to the institution of the Presidency." Prosecutors have said they will fight any efforts to dismiss the case but have indicated openness to delaying sentencing until after Trump’s second term ends in 2029. Joe Biden's pardon of his son Hunter spurs broader discussion on who else should be granted clemency WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has ducked questions on his decision to break his word and pardon his son Hunter, ignoring calls for him to explain his reversal as he was making his first presidential trip to Angola. Dismissing shouted questions Tuesday with a laugh, Biden said to the Angolan delegation: “Welcome to America.” The pardon has spurred a broader discussion about what else Biden should be doing with the broad clemency powers of the presidency before he leaves office in January, including whether he should be pardoning President-elect Donald Trump. Biden has largely avoided any interaction with reporters since Trump’s victory a month ago. Trump team signs agreement to allow Justice to conduct background checks on nominees, staff WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has signed an agreement to allow the Justice Department to conduct background checks on his nominees and appointees after a weeks-long delay. The step lets Trump transition aides and future administration staffers obtain security clearances before Inauguration Day to access classified information about ongoing government programs. It also allows those nominees who are up for Senate confirmation to get the background checks lawmakers want before voting on them. Hamas and Fatah are near an agreement on who will oversee postwar Gaza CAIRO (AP) — Palestinian officials say Fatah and Hamas are closing in on an agreement to appoint a committee of politically independent technocrats to administer the Gaza Strip after the war. It would effectively end Hamas’ rule and could help advance ceasefire talks with Israel. The rival factions have made several failed attempts to reconcile since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007. Israel has meanwhile ruled out any postwar role in Gaza for either Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which is dominated by Fatah. Trump's FBI pick has plans to reshape the bureau. This is what Kash Patel has said he wants to do WASHINGTON (AP) — Kash Patel has been well-known for years within Donald Trump’s orbit as a loyal supporter who shares the president-elect’s skepticism of the FBI and intelligence community. But he’s receiving fresh attention, from the public and from Congress, now that Trump has selected him to lead the FBI. As he braces for a bruising and likely protracted Senate confirmation fight, Patel can expect scrutiny not only over his professed fealty to Trump but also for his belief — revealed over the last year in interviews and his own book — that the century-old FBI should be radically overhauled. Thanks to peace, two unexpected words are echoing across Afghanistan's capital: Luxury housing KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Peace is driving up property prices in Kabul and fueling the luxury market. Afghans who spent years overseas are returning home, keen to take advantage of the country’s improved security after decades of war. They include those escaping deportation campaigns in Iran and Pakistan and are taking their cash with them. Kabul is less violent since the Taliban transitioned from insurgency to authority and foreign forces withdrew. The Taliban, sticklers for bureaucracy, have pledged to stamp out corruption and regulate legal and commercial matters. That means no more dealing with warlords or bribing local officials for land purchases or construction projects. Native American students miss school at higher rates. It only got worse during the pandemic SAN CARLOS, Ariz. (AP) — Years after COVID-19 disrupted American schools, nearly every state is still struggling with attendance. But attendance has been worse for Native American and Alaska Native students — a disparity that existed before the pandemic and has since grown, according to data collected by The Associated Press. Out of 34 states with data available for the 2022-2023 school year, half had absenteeism rates for Native students that were at least 9 percentage points higher than the state average. Many schools serving Native students have been working to build stronger connections with families. They must navigate distrust dating back to the U.S. government’s campaign to force Native kids into abusive boarding schools. The year in review: Influential people who died in 2024 O.J. Simpson’s “trial of the century” over the 1994 killings of his ex-wife and her friend bared divisions over race and law enforcement and brought an intersection of sports, crime, entertainment and class that was hard to turn away from. His death in April brought an end to a life that had become defined by scrutiny over the killings. But he was just one of many influential and noteworthy people who died in 2024. Alexei Navalny, who died in prison in February, was a fierce political foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin. And the music industry lost a titan in producer Quincy Jones, who died in November. 2024 in pop culture: In a bruising year, we sought out fantasy, escapism — and cute little animals NEW YORK (AP) — Did you have a “Brat summer” this year? Were you “demure,” and were you “mindful”? Did you enter a celebrity look-alike contest? All these were pop culture trends that emerged in 2024. But most of all, it seemed the theme was escapism. Whether it was the yellow brick road in “Wicked” or the beckoning seas of Oceania in “Moana 2” or adorable fuzzy animals like Moo Deng or even unlikely Olympic heroes making us proud, audiences gravitated to fantasy and feel-good moments.

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WASHINGTON — A top White House official said Wednesday at least eight U.S. telecom firms and dozens of nations were impacted by a Chinese hacking campaign. Deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger offered new details about the breadth of the sprawling Chinese hacking campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. FILE - The American and Chinese flags wave at Genting Snow Park ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Zhangjiakou, China, on Feb. 2, 2022. A top White House official on Wednesday said at least eight U.S. telecom firms and dozens of nations have been impacted by a Chinese hacking campaign. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File) Neuberger divulged the scope of the hack a day after the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued guidance intended to help root out the hackers and prevent similar cyberespionage in the future. White House officials cautioned that the number of telecommunication firms and countries impacted could grow. The U.S. believes the hackers were able to gain access to communications of senior U.S. government officials and prominent political figures through the hack, Neuberger said. “We don’t believe any classified communications has been compromised,” Neuberger added during a call with reporters. She added that Biden was briefed on the findings and the White House “made it a priority for the federal government to do everything it can to get to the bottom this.” US officials recommend encrypted messaging apps amid "Salt Typhoon" cyberattack, attributed to China, targeting AT&T, Verizon, and others. The Chinese embassy in Washington rejected the accusations that it was responsible for the hack Tuesday after the U.S. federal authorities issued new guidance. “The U.S. needs to stop its own cyberattacks against other countries and refrain from using cyber security to smear and slander China,” embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said. The embassy did not immediately respond to messages Wednesday. White House officials believe the hacking was regionally targeted and the focus was on very senior government officials. Federal authorities confirmed in October that hackers linked to China targeted the phones of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, along with people associated with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris. The number of countries impacted by the hack is currently believed to be in the “low, couple dozen,” according to a senior administration official. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the White House, said they believed the hacks started at least a year or two ago. The suggestions for telecom companies released Tuesday are largely technical in nature, urging encryption, centralization and consistent monitoring to deter cyber intrusions. If implemented, the security precautions could help disrupt the operation, dubbed Salt Typhoon, and make it harder for China or any other nation to mount a similar attack in the future, experts say. Trump's pick to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation Kash Patel was allegedly the target of cyberattack attempt by Iranian-backed hackers. Neuberger pointed to efforts made to beef up cybersecurity in the rail, aviation, energy and other sectors following the May 2021 ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline . “So, to prevent ongoing Salt Typhoon type intrusions by China, we believe we need to apply a similar minimum cybersecurity practice,” Neuberger said. The cyberattack by a gang of criminal hackers on the critical U.S. pipeline, which delivers about 45% of the fuel used along the Eastern Seaboard, sent ripple effects across the economy, highlighting cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the nation’s aging energy infrastructure. Colonial confirmed it paid $4.4 million to the gang of hackers who broke into its computer systems as it scrambled to get the nation's fuel pipeline back online. Picture this: You're on vacation in a city abroad, exploring museums, tasting the local cuisine, and people-watching at cafés. Everything is going perfectly until you get a series of alerts on your phone. Someone is making fraudulent charges using your credit card, sending you into a panic. How could this have happened? Cyberattacks targeting travelers are nothing new. But as travel has increased in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, so has the volume of hackers and cybercriminals preying upon tourists. Financial fraud is the most common form of cybercrime experienced by travelers, but surveillance via public Wi-Fi networks, social media hacking, and phishing scams are also common, according to a survey by ExpressVPN . Spokeo consulted cybersecurity sources and travel guides to determine some of the best ways to protect your phone while traveling, from using a VPN to managing secure passwords. Online attacks are not the only type of crime impacting travelers—physical theft of phones is also a threat. Phones have become such invaluable travel aids, housing our navigation tools, digital wallets, itineraries, and contacts, that having your phone stolen, lost, or compromised while abroad can be devastating. Meanwhile, traveling can make people uniquely vulnerable to both cyber and physical attacks due to common pitfalls like oversharing on social media and letting your guard down when it comes to taking risks online. Luckily, there are numerous precautions travelers can take to safeguard against cyberattacks and phone theft. Hackers can—and do—target public Wi-Fi networks at cafés and hotels to gain access to your personal information or install malware onto your device, particularly on unsecured networks. Travelers are especially vulnerable to these types of cybersecurity breaches because they are often more reliant on public Wi-Fi than they would be in their home countries where they have more robust phone plans. This reliance on public, unsecured networks means travelers are more likely to use those networks to perform sensitive tasks like financial transfers, meaning hackers can easily gain access to banking information or other passwords. One easy way to safeguard yourself against these breaches is to use a virtual private network, or VPN, while traveling. VPNs are apps that encrypt your data and hide your location, preventing hackers from accessing personal information. An added bonus is that VPNs allow you to access websites that may be blocked or unavailable in the country you are visiting. To use a VPN, simply download a VPN app on your phone or computer, create an account, choose a server, and connect. If your phone falls into the wrong hands, there's a good chance you won't be getting it back. Out of those 91,000 phones stolen in London in 2022, only 1,915 (or about 2%) were recovered. The good news is that you can take precautions to make the loss of your phone less devastating by backing up your data before you travel. With backed-up data, you can acquire a new device and still access your photos, contacts, messages, and passwords. Moreover, if you have "Find My Device" or "Find My Phone" enabled, you can remotely wipe your stolen phone's data so the thief cannot access it. It's safest to back up your data to a hard drive and not just the cloud. That way, if you have to wipe your device, you don't accidentally erase the backup, too. In order for the previous tip on this list to work, "Find My Phone" must be turned on in advance, but remotely wiping your device isn't the only thing this feature allows you to do. The "Find My Phone" feature enables you to track your device, as long as it's turned on and not in airplane mode. This is particularly helpful if you misplaced your phone or left it somewhere since it can help you retrace your steps. While this feature won't show you the live location of a phone that has been turned off, it will show the phone's last known location. With "Find My Phone," you can also remotely lock your phone or enable "Lost Mode," which locks down the phone, suspends any in-phone payment methods, and displays contact information for returning the phone to you. If your phone was stolen, experts caution against taking matters into your own hands by chasing down the thief, since this could land you in a potentially dangerous situation and is unlikely to result in getting your phone back. Strong passwords for important accounts help protect your information while you travel, but it's just a first step. The National Cybersecurity Alliance recommends creating long, unique, and complex passwords for every account and combining them with multifactor authentication to create maximum barriers to entry. If you're worried about remembering these passwords, password managers can be a vital tool for both creating and storing strong passwords. Password managers are apps that act as secure vaults for all your passwords. Some even come with a feature that allows you to temporarily delete sensitive passwords before you travel and then easily restore them once you return. Story editing by Mia Nakaji Monnier. Additional editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Tim Bruns. Photo selection by Lacy Kerrick. This story originally appeared on Spokeo and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio. 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In June of 2021, Michael Zheng captured the NJSIAA state singles tournament title as a junior at Delbarton. Sunday, the Columbia University junior was crowned the fall 2024 NCAA Division-I singles tournament champ as the second-seeded Montville, N.J. native defeated Michigan State’s Ozan Baris, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, TX. “It feels amazing,” Zheng told NJ.com in a phone interview after the win. “I was so close six months ago last season, and I’m just really happy to get this one for sure.” Zheng was also finalist at this past spring’s NCAA singles tournament as he became the first player since USC’s Steve Johnson to make back-to-back finals. Zheng was able to use that experience to his advantage. “I think playing in the final last time helped for sure,” Zheng said. “Last year I was so nervous before the final. This year I was nervous, but it wasn’t quite the same. I came out here trying to play free and compete as hard as I could.” This was year one of a two-year pilot for the singles and doubles championships being conducted in the fall which was approved in 2023. “It was really different having the tournament in the fall,” Zheng said. “I still felt like this was the true individual championship. I do think some of the best players were still here, and I’m glad to have the title in hand.” Zheng is the first player from the Ivy League to win the singles title since Yale’s Lucien Williams in 1922, and he is now Columbia’s first champion since Robert LeRoy won twice in 1904 and 1906. “It’s a huge honor to represent Columbia and the Ivy League,” Zheng said. “I’m happy that we’re back on the national scale.” Zheng is also the fifth man born in New Jersey to ever win the NCAA singles championship joining Godfrey Brinley (Perth Amboy) in 1886, William Larned (Summit) in 1892, Fred Alexander (Sea Bright) in 1091 and Ted Schroeder (Newark) in 1942. Only Larned and Alexander grew up and stayed in the Garden State. Alexander played collegiately at Princeton. “I’ve been getting so much support from friends and family back in Jersey,” Zheng said. “Jersey tennis is really strong, and I’m happy to represent New Jersey as well. Hopefully I’ll keep that going.” Both Zheng and the unseeded Baris broke each other’s serves early in the opening set before the Lion went up a double break at 5-2. Zheng capitalized on a mis-hit into the net from Baris on a shot from Zheng that appeared to be going out after a long rally. “It was huge getting that double break,” Zheng said. “You’re able to then play more free on your serve and you can go for it more. I knew it was going to be a tough battle. He got the second set, and I was able to reset and get it done in the third.” The second set was tightly played, but Baris was able to bounce back after being down 4-3 by winning the next three games. Zheng regained his composure and responded by taking the first two games of the third and cruised from there. “After he got that break back and I missed that volley on the deuce point on serve in the second, my heart sank,” Zheng said. “I felt like I might have given away another final. But, I quickly got rid of those thoughts and my coach helped me reset. I battled in that third set.” Zheng also won the first set against Alabama’s Filip Planinsek in May’s singles final before he lost in three sets, so he knew Baris wasn’t going to go down easy. When the last shot from Baris hit the net, Zheng threw his hands up in the air similar to when he won the N.J. state singles crown at Mercer County Park. “It was a huge relief honestly,” Zheng said. “I thought I may have squandered it. He played a tough game and I had to really earn it. I was relieved to get that last point.” Zheng compared this tournament title run to his N.J. singles championship three years ago. “It’s kind of similar,” he said. “It was a huge honor to play for Delbarton and win it my junior year. Then a couple years later I’m back on a similar stage winning the national tournament. There are some parallels, and I’m happy to bring home the title.” Michael Zheng of Delbarton celebrates after winning the singles title during the NJSIAA boys tennis Singles & Doubles finals at Mercer County Park in West Windsor, NJ on Thursday, June 17, 2021. Scott Faytok | For NJ Advance Media Zheng said his phone has been flooded with text messages and calls from coaches, teammates, family members and friends from New Jersey in the past week or so, and he’s sure to have gotten many more after his thrilling victory on Sunday. “I’ll get to them all eventually,” he said. “I’m honored for the support. It’s been amazing.” Celebration plans for Zheng feature a flight back home this evening and supporting his teammates for a conditioning test on Monday. Zheng next will be one of six players (three men, three women) representing Team USA at the 2024 Master’U BNP Paribas Championship in Reims, France next week, it was announced recently by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Earlier this year, Zheng competed in his second U.S. Open qualifiers after winning the ITF’s M25 Southaven Open in August. A Columbia, the former NJ.com Boys Tennis Player of the Year has gone 63-19 overall including 32-10 in dual matches at singles and 31-17 at doubles. Chris Nalwasky may be reached at cnalwasky@njadvancemedia.com . Follow us on social: Facebook | Instagram | X (formerly Twitter) . The N.J. High School Sports newsletter now appearing in mailboxes 5 days a week. Sign up now and be among the first to get all the boys and girls sports you care about, straight to your inbox each weekday. To add your name, click here . As always, please report scores to njschoolsports.com . Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription .NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks tiptoed to more records amid a mixed Tuesday of trading, tacking a touch more onto what’s already been a stellar year so far. The S&P 500 edged up by 2 points, or less than 0.1%, to set an all-time high for the 55th time this year. It’s climbed in 10 of the last 11 days and is on track for one of its best years since the turn of the millennium. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 76 points, or 0.2%, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.4% to its own record set a day earlier. AT&T rose 4.6% after it boosted its profit forecast for the year. It also announced a $10 billion plan to send cash to its investors by buying back its own stock, while saying it expects to authorize another $10 billion of repurchases in 2027. On the losing end of Wall Street was U.S. Steel, which fell 8%. President-elect Donald Trump reiterated on social media that he would not let Japan’s Nippon Steel take over the iconic Pennsylvania steelmaker. Nippon Steel announced plans last December to buy the Pittsburgh-based steel producer for $14.1 billion in cash, raising concerns about what the transaction could mean for unionized workers, supply chains and U.S. national security. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden also came out against the acquisition. Tesla sank 1.6% after a judge in Delaware reaffirmed a previous ruling that the electric car maker must revoke Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package. The judge denied a request by attorneys for Musk and Tesla’s corporate directors to vacate her ruling earlier this year requiring the company to rescind the unprecedented pay package. All told, the S&P 500 rose 2.73 points to 6,049.88. The Dow fell 76.47 to 44,705.53, and the Nasdaq composite gained 76.96 to 19,480.91. In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady after a report showed U.S. employers were advertising slightly more job openings at the end of October than a month earlier. Continued strength there would raise optimism that the economy could remain out of a recession that many investors had earlier worried was inevitable. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.23% from 4.20% from late Monday. Yields have seesawed since Election Day amid worries that Trump’s preferences for lower tax rates and bigger tariffs could spur higher inflation along with economic growth. But traders are still confident the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate again at its next meeting in two weeks. They’re betting on a nearly three-in-four chance of that, according to data from CME Group. Lower rates can give the economy more juice, but they can also give inflation more fuel. The key report this week that could guide the Fed’s next move will arrive on Friday. It’s the monthly jobs report , which will show how many workers U.S. employers hired and fired during November. It could be difficult to parse given how much storms and strikes distorted figures in October. Based on trading in the options market, Friday’s jobs report appears to be the biggest potential market mover until the Fed announces its next decision on interest rates Dec. 18, according to strategists at Barclays Capital. In financial markets abroad, the value of South Korea’s currency fell 1.1% against the U.S. dollar following a frenetic night where President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law and then later said he’d lift it after lawmakers voted to reject military rule. Stocks of Korean companies that trade in the United States also fell, including a 1.6% drop for SK Telecom. Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.9% to help lead global markets. Some analysts think Japanese stocks could end up benefiting from Trump’s threats to raise tariffs , including for goods coming from China . Trade relations between the U.S. and China took another step backward after China said it is banning exports to the U.S. of gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications. The counterpunch came swiftly after the U.S. Commerce Department expanded the list of Chinese technology companies subject to export controls to include many that make equipment used to make computer chips, chipmaking tools and software. The 140 companies newly included in the so-called “entity list” are nearly all based in China. In China, stock indexes rose 1% in Hong Kong and 0.4% in Shanghai amid unconfirmed reports that Chinese leaders would meet next week to discuss planning for the coming year. Investors are hoping it may bring fresh stimulus to help spur growth in the world’s second-largest economy. In France, the CAC 40 rose 0.3% amid continued worries about politics in Paris , where the government is battling over the budget. AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

(The Center Square) – Christians helped push President-elect Donald Trump across the finish line on Election Day, a survey found. Trump received the majority of the Christian vote, while Vice President Kamala Harris received the majority of the non-Christian vote. This is according to a report from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, which surveyed 2,000 voting-age adults nationally. The election was a historic comeback for Republicans on many fronts, with Trump being the first Republican to win the popular vote vote in over two decades. Among self-identified Christians, Trump also received 56% of their votes, compared to the 60% Harris received from non-Christians. Yet, because the majority of voters still identify as Christians, Trump had a larger share of the vote. “Although Harris won a larger share of the non-Christian vote than Trump’s share of the Christian votes, Christians outnumbered non-Christian voters by more than a 5 to 2 margin – delivering the decisive Nov. 5 victory to President Trump,” the report said. “Not only did most of Trump’s votes come from Christians, but they gave him a 17 million vote cushion over Harris, which proved to be an insurmountable lead.” Christians represented 72% of the voters who turned out. The report also found that Catholics had record-high turnout, despite overall voter and Christian voter turnout being well below what it was in 2020. While voter turnout was lower than 2020 in most of the Christian subgroups polled, 70% of Catholics reported voting compared to 2020’s 67%. Voters with a “biblical worldview” also voted at a higher percentage, up to 67% in 2024 from 2020’s 64%. Just days before the election, Trump predicted that Harris would struggle with the Catholic vote on Election Day. Sign up to get our free daily email of the biggest stories! “Kamala Harris has finally lost the Catholic vote,” he said on social media on Oct. 25. “Her and the Democrats persecution of the Catholic Church is unprecedented! Her poll numbers have dropped like a rock, both with Catholics, and otherwise.” While many politicos expressed concerns that Trump’s moderate pro-life stance would disenfranchise Christian and anti-abortion voters, it seems to have much less of an impact than expected. In fact, Trump pointed to Harris’ abortion stance as pushing Catholics toward voting for him. “Kamala is demanding late-term abortion, in months seven, eight, and nine, and even execution after birth, and people aren’t buying it – and they never will,” the former president said . The report found that 20% of Christians selected abortion as the most-consequential issue this election, with inflation (38%) and immigration (34%) receiving even higher percentages. Yet, potentially even more impactful on the election than the increase in the Catholic vote was the significant drop in non-Christian turnout, even higher than those reported in Christian subgroups. The report found that adults “associated with a faith other than Christianity” and “adults who have no religious faith” had a massive drop in turnout from 2020, dropping 12% and 9% respectively. With both of these groups historically supporting Democratic candidates, this cratering in support likely had a significant impact on Harris’ chances of winning. George Barna, who serves as the director of research at the Cultural Research Center and led the survey, said Trump’s boost with Christians was just too much for Harris. “Americans forget that two-thirds of adults in this nation consider themselves to be Christians,” Barna said . “Donald Trump, for all of his perceived and ridiculed faults, did a better job than did Kamala Harris of representing hallowed Christian characteristics such as the importance and support of family, the rule of law, limited government authority, financial responsibility, and the like.”None007 slot game online free 。

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Mastercard Now Offering Kount Payment Fraud Prevention and Chargeback Mitigation to Payment Providers and Merchants ATLANTA and NORTHAMPTON, Mass. , Dec. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Equifax ® (NYSE: EFX) and Mastercard (NYSE: MA) have joined forces to empower Latin American financial institutions, payment service providers, acquiring banks, and merchants to overcome payment fraud challenges without disruption to the customer experience. Enhanced fraud management tools, including Mastercard Identity, Ethoca Alerts and Ethoca Consumer Clarity are now available to Mastercard business customers in Latin America through the Kount Payment Fraud solution from Equifax. The combined solutions protect the entire digital payments environment through identity verification and fraud risk assessment while preventing chargebacks through order validation and alerting services. Latin America has one of the highest fraud rates globally, with studies showing that merchants are losing upward of 4.6% of their e-commerce revenue to payment fraud . With e-commerce revenue expected to nearly double in the region from $85 billion in 2021 to $160 billion by next year , Equifax and Mastercard are helping empower businesses to achieve their full growth potential by stopping threats in real time. The Kount Payment Fraud solution from Equifax is used by more than 20,000 businesses operating in more than 40 countries around the world due to its real-time fraud prevention capabilities during transactions. "As a global leader in fraud prevention, we are thrilled to work with Mastercard to help Latin American merchants and partners combat fraud and continue to innovate across the financial sector," commented Chris Jones , President of Equifax Latin America. "This strategic alignment will provide safer payment transactions and reduce chargebacks, enabling businesses of all sizes in Latin America to improve their bottom line." "Adding to our existing capabilities, this collaboration is the next step in our journey to make the digital economy safe and more seamless for payment providers and merchants in the region," said Ana Lucia Magliano , Executive Vice President, Services, Mastercard Latin America and the Caribbean . "By working together, we're advancing our shared goal of not only meeting the payments ecosystem security needs, but also addressing a broader effort to enhance the consumer's digital experience." The Kount Payment Fraud solution is available in collaboration with Mastercard to financial institutions, payment service providers, acquirers, merchants and others across Latin America , excluding Brazil . For more details, visit https://kount.com/equifax-mastercard . ABOUT EQUIFAX INC. At Equifax (NYSE: EFX ), we believe knowledge drives progress. As a global data, analytics, and technology company, we play an essential role in the global economy by helping financial institutions, companies, employers, and government agencies make critical decisions with greater confidence. Our unique blend of differentiated data, analytics, and cloud technology drives insights to power decisions to move people forward. Headquartered in Atlanta and supported by nearly 15,000 employees worldwide, Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America , Central and South America , Europe , and the Asia Pacific region. For more information, visit Equifax.com . ABOUT MASTERCARD Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. 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Highlights from Trump's interview with Time magazineThe 13 office buildings in Richmond, B.C.’s Airport Executive Park – a business park located on 35 acres of green space – date back to a time when climate change and carbon footprints weren’t part of mainstream discussions and long-term environmental control programs. But as more companies set climate and sustainability targets, many are actively working toward reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions within their operations and supply chains. Fiera Real Estate Canada – the current owner of Richmond’s Airport Executive Park (AEP) – is aiming to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, partly through the installation of electric heat pumps that will replace its gas-fired heating systems, which date back to the 1980s and early 2000s. The company’s net-zero ambitions are emblematic of the significant commitments national building owners are making that will help Canada reach its target of net-zero building emissions by 2050. And while 25 years from today may seem like a long time, experts warn Canada isn’t making progress fast enough to achieve its goal. The clock began ticking in 2021 when the federal government adopted the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act , aiming for net-zero emissions by 2050, with an interim target of GHG reductions hitting at least 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. Released this year, the Canada Green Buildings Strategy says there are more than 564,000 commercial and institutional buildings across the country, and because the majority are expected to still be in use in 2050, most will require extensive upgrades and retrofitting to reach Canada’s net-zero goal. “It’s hard to see how we’re going to achieve the interim standards for the building sector by 2030, and if we don’t reach them, the climb to 2050 is going to be a lot harder,” says Thomas Mueller, president and chief executive officer of the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC), which supports the building industry’s transition to green structures and sets national standards for zero-carbon buildings. Updated in July, the council’s Zero Carbon Building standards focus on maintaining high energy efficiency in new buildings and reducing carbon emissions in older structures by replacing fossil-fuel-burning equipment. It estimates that Canada needs to convert at least 3 per cent of its buildings to net-zero emissions a year and invest billions in making buildings greener. A recent study from CAGBC and the Delphi Group – a Canadian climate and sustainability consultancy – identifies the most-needed upgrades in buildings to be LED lighting, triple-glazed windows, roof insulation, high-efficiency ventilation systems, as well as computer control systems that reduce heating and cooling when rooms are not in use. These upgrades require major structural changes and are why most building owners are conducting feasibility studies and putting refits into their 10-year plans, says Tonya Lagrasta, vice-president and head of ESG at commercial real estate services company Colliers Canada. However, she says: “The price tags for things like window replacements can have owners of older buildings falling off their chairs.” The Pembina Institute, a clean-energy think tank, estimates that decarbonizing Canada’s commercial and residential building sector will require more than $400-billion in upgrades. It also concludes that more incentives must be put in place. Since grants are often difficult for governments to finance and administer, tax credits to stimulate investment are more practical, says Mr. Mueller. However, a challenge is that several provinces and cities have building codes that include specifications that vary from the federal standards. “It is a real hodgepodge of standards across the country and that is contributing to confusion,” says Terry Bergen, Victoria-based managing principal of RJC Engineers, a building science consultancy. For retrofits, there is also a misconception that high efficiency comes with higher operating costs. But recently, a lot of studies have been released that demonstrate a high return on investment by making these changes, says Duncan Rowe, a Toronto-based principal with RJC Engineers. At the same time, Mr. Rowe acknowledges that it’s not economical or ecologically practical to speed up the replacement of nearly-new equipment just to meet a standard. In other words, upgrades should be aligned with the life cycle of equipment. In the case of Airport Executive Park, the heating systems were several decades old and in need of replacement. While the newly installed systems are less than a year old, the expectation is that annual energy cost savings for all the property’s buildings will be as much as 50 per cent. In the long term, achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 is an interim step toward a goal of being fully net-zero energy – producing as much clean energy as consumed with on-site clean and renewable sources, such as solar, wind or geothermal, Ms. Lagrasta says. Net-zero energy is achievable because technology is advancing, says Mr. Rowe. For instance, solar technology is becoming affordable and can be efficient at powering some buildings, but it needs the right conditions. If a building owner has a large roof area, solar is a practical solution, though it won’t be sufficient for an office tower with a small roof. However, there are also developments in photovoltaic glass that can turn windows into power sources, Mr. Rowe says. Ultimately, economics – not politics – will persuade building owners to invest in green technology, Ms. Lagrasta says. A study by Colliers found tenants are willing to pay a premium of an average of 8 per cent to be in a building with a high sustainability rating. “Building owners value their assets and political winds come and go. But it will become harder to attract and retain tenants in an older building that is falling behind the curve,” Ms. Lagrasta says.

Doha Forum Youth Edition to launch today in collaboration with QatarDebate CentreTravis Hunter named AP player of the yearAn 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: 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 . 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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." 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

( MENAFN - ABN Newswire) The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) is pleased to announce that registration for the PDAC 2025 Convention, taking place March 2-5, 2025, at the Metro Toronto convention Centre, is now open. The 93rd annual PDAC Convention will feature cutting-edge programming and a worldclass trade show with over 1,100 exhibitors. Building on the success of PDAC 2024, which attracted nearly 27,000 attendees from 138 countries, this year's convention offers unmatched opportunities for collaboration, learning, and innovation in the sector. "With more than 600,000 square feet of exhibits, groundbreaking programming, and exceptional networking opportunities, PDAC 2025 will bring together the world's most influential industry leaders," said Raymond Goldie, PDAC President. "This year's convention emphasizes advancements in mineral exploration and mining technology, sustainability, and shaping the future of mining by strengthening partnerships with students and Indigenous communities." Highlights of PDAC 2025 Engaging exhibits: Discover over 1,100 exhibitors at the Trade Show and Investors Exchange, showcasing the leading companies, technologies, and investment opportunities in the industry. Thought-provoking programming: Engage in technical sessions, short courses and keynotes covering topics such as commodities, geoscience, capital markets, and advancements in exploration and mining. Fostering Indigenous collaboration: The critical role of Indigenous partnerships is showcased through programs focused on land stewardship, economic empowerment, and meaningful engagement with key stakeholders. Inspiring students and early-career professionals: Expand your horizons and connect with industry leaders through educational opportunities, networking events, and mentorship programs designed to support the next generation of industry professionals. Unmatched networking events: Celebrate excellence at the Awards Gala & Nite Cap - the Convention's signature event honouring the 2025 PDAC Award recipients. Enjoy a variety of social events throughout the week, including daily happy hours, coffee connections and the Canada Night Finale. Register now Be part of the PDAC 2025: World's Premier Mineral Exploration & Mining Convention in Toronto. Register and plan your experience today at The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) is the leading voice of the mineral exploration and development community, an industry that employs more than 664,000 individuals, and contributed $132 billion to Canada's GDP in 2021. Currently representing over 7,800 members around the world, PDAC's work centers on supporting a competitive, responsible, and sustainable mineral sector. PDAC 2025, our 93rd annual convention, will take place in person in Toronto, Canada from March 2-5. Please visit pdac for more information. MENAFN08122024000111011020ID1108969504 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) have presented a concept for decarbonizing transport while keeping it economically competitive. Increasing the utilization of carbon dioxide from biogas plants plays an important role. In 2022, Switzerland's transport-related CO emissions amounted to 13.6 million tons, not including international aviation. This corresponds to 41% of Switzerland's overall emissions. Transport can only become more climate-friendly by switching to low-carbon technologies. Electric drives are suitable for passenger cars and are already well established in this segment. However, from a technical point of view, hydrogen propulsion is more suitable for heavy commercial vehicles, because a hydrogen-powered truck outperforms its battery-powered counterpart in terms of weight, load, recharging time and range. In both cases, however, the electricity required must come from renewable sources. Otherwise, decarbonization will not work. The problem is that there is less sunshine in winter, for example, so less solar power is produced. Is it possible to supply enough renewable electricity and green hydrogen for throughout the year while still remaining economically competitive? PSI researchers Emanuele Moioli, Tilman Schildhauer and Hossein Madi have now shown how this might be achieved. Their concept is based on a clever combination of electricity generation and biogas production. The work is in the journal . Two-step conversion The concept proposes storing surpluses when more renewable electricity is available than required—in the summer and sometimes also in spring and autumn—and making these available to transport systems in the winter when electricity from renewable sources is scarce. This is to be achieved via a number of conversion and re-conversion steps. First, the surplus electricity is used to electrolyze water, splitting it into its molecular components, hydrogen and oxygen. The surplus electrical energy is stored in a converted form in the hydrogen. In a further step, two synthetic fuels are then produced, methane gas (CH ) and liquid methanol (CH OH). "These are the molecules we use to store energy, and they play a central part in the concept," says Emanuele Moioli from the Laboratory for Sustainable Energy Carriers and Processes at the PSI Center for Energy and Environmental Sciences. The reason why the hydrogen itself is not stored is that hydrogen cannot be liquefied at ambient temperatures, and even in compressed form it still has a large specific volume. This makes it difficult to store and transport. Also, the necessary infrastructure for this is lacking. "It is much better to convert the hydrogen further into methane or methanol, because they have a much higher energy density than hydrogen. This significantly reduces the amount of space needed, making both storage and transport much simpler," explains Moioli. Biogas plants as a third sector However, producing the molecules that store this energy requires another reagent: carbon dioxide. In the decarbonization concept presented, biogas plants are used as a source of CO . CO is produced here as a waste product when biogas is processed, making it very cheap. It can be used directly to produce methane and methanol. According to Moioli, this will in fact be done on site. In addition to the bioreactors, in which biomass is fermented into biogas, additional tanks will be installed in which the captured carbon dioxide and the previously produced hydrogen will be mixed and converted into either methane or methanol. So much for the storage side. In winter, when renewable electricity is in short supply, the second part of the concept comes into effect. The two synthetic fuels are transported to a centrally located electricity/H fueling station. The liquid methanol will be transported there by truck, the gaseous methane ideally via existing natural gas pipelines. "This is often possible because already produce methane and feed it into the grid," says Moioli. Alternatively, the methane could be compressed and transported by rail in gas cylinders. At the electricity/H fueling station, the stored energy is converted back into hydrogen by steam reforming, i.e., recovering the hydrogen from the methane. During the chemical process, the hydrogen is separated from the methane or methanol and is immediately available for "refueling" hydrogen-powered vehicles. The further conversion back into electricity for electric vehicles also takes place on site through the combustion of the methane in a gas turbine and the methanol in a fuel cell. In view of their individual characteristics, the two molecules would be used differently. Methanol is more suitable for producing H , because steam reforming is more efficient with methanol than with methane. Methane, on the other hand, is more suitable for electricity generation because of its higher efficiency during combustion. Narrowing the cost gap But does decarbonizing transport along these lines make economic sense? To answer this question, the authors of the study analyzed publicly available data from the Werdhölzi biogas plant in Zurich and calculated the size of the proposed fuel synthesis station that would be required, as well as the capital costs associated with building such a plant. Moioli summarizes the results of their calculations: providing electricity and hydrogen from stored methanol or methane, as proposed in the study, is more expensive than today's petrol. But by carefully combining electricity, gas and infrastructure, the costs of decarbonizing transport can be reduced to a level at which even "moderate incentives," such as CO certificates, can make it cost-competitive with fossil fuels. And the cost calculation did not even take into account the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Moioli points out that carbon capture and the long-term storage of carbon dioxide can actually result in negative carbon emissions. The proposed approach is therefore viable. However, the complete decarbonization of a sector such as mobility will require very large amounts of renewable electricity. The quantities produced today are nowhere near sufficient. According to Moioli, there are several obstacles to increasing the supply: "The imbalance between demand and supply limits the direct use of renewable electricity and , especially for transport. This can be seen in the field of photovoltaics. Installing additional PV systems means that the new systems will have fewer customers. Because in summer, when solar power is available in large quantities, the existing systems already cover the demand." This is slowing down the expansion of PV, which—according to Moioli—means that many more energy storage systems must be installed. A significant increase in the storage capacity would speed up the expansion of photovoltaic systems, thereby creating the basis for the climate-friendly transport of the future.