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Israel Fails In Lebanon? Netanyahu Gives In, Stops War With Hezbollah | Ceasefire Declared Recommended Playlist Third War In Mideast Begins? After Gaza And Lebanon, Israeli Airstrikes Kill 68 In This Arab Nation Hezbollah's Retaliation 'Turns Out To Be Costly' For Israeli Army Hezbollah Rockets Fly Over Tel Aviv: Second Attack Rocks Central Israel, Several Injured | Watch Hamas Stuns Israel & World; Recruits New Fighters In Gaza, Rejects U.S. Demand On Hostages - Report Three Big Bombings On Israeli Army Site; Iraqi Resistance Shocks IDF With Ferocious Attacks Third Arab Nation Joins Iraq & Yemen In Attacking Israel; Strikes Spark Panic, Big Fire Rockets Fired From Lebanon Target Key Israeli Port City As U.S. Leads Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire Talks Israeli Committee Blames Netanyahu For Hamas' Oct 7 Attack; Releases Scathing Report After IDF 'Withdrawal', Hezbollah Chief Tells Netanyahu 'Era Of Defeat Over, Now Be Ready For...' Israel 'Dents' U.S. Peace Bid In Lebanon With Deadly Strikes | Details Top Viral Videos Shocking! Lawyer rams Mercedes car into Kachori shop in Delhi, Six injured In a shocking incident, six people were injured after a lawyer rammed his speeding Mercedes car into a Kachori shop in the national capital. The incident took place at Fateh Kachori in Civil Lines area. The police have taken the lawyer into custody and seized his car. The lawyer has been identified as Parag Maini who is a resident of Noida’s Sector 79. The police have registered a case against the lawyer under Section 279 (rash driving) and 337 (causing hurt by endangering life). Telangana cop punched, dragged by villagers, video goes viral On Cam: Crane drags car with senior citizens sitting inside, case registered | video goes viral Instagram influencer shot dead by husband in Rajasthan's Phalodi CCTV: Thieves arrive in car, decamp with jewellery in MP's Damoh Goons hurl abuses at toll plaza employee in MP's Chhatarpur Two goons hurled abuses at a toll plaza employee in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur. One of the assailants is reportedly the brother of an MLA. The incident was filmed by an employee of ol plaza which has gone viral on social media. The goons were upset after they had to wait in the queue. Viral: Cobra blocks road in MP's Chhatarpur district Nigeria: Lion kills zookeeper at Obafemi Awolowo University CCTV: Biker crushed to death by speeding bus in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain district Four women steal tray full of earrings from a jewellery shop in MP's Raisen Shirtless British man punches air steward after destroying aircraft toilet, arrested A shirtless British man punched an air steward after destroying the aircraft toilet. The man was arrested. The man went berserk soon after the flight took off . He went up to smash the plane’s toilet. The incident took place on February 7 when the flight took off from Bangkok to London. A video of the incident went viral on social media. On cam: Several injured after swarm of bees attacks guests during wedding ceremony in MP's Guna On cam: Man hurls abuses at government school teacher in MP's Chhatarpur district On cam: Man thrashes youth with stick in MP's Ujjain Doctor loses cool, misbehaves with home guard in MP's Chhatarpur On cam: Goons thrash Dalit youth in MP's Betul A Dalit youth was thrashed in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul. The man was brutally thrashed and forced to squat while holding his ears. A video of the incident has gone viral on social media. Congress leader Jitu Patwari highlighted the plight of the Dalit man. The police have launched a probe into the matter. On cam: Govt employee consumes alcohol at work place in MP's Singrauli On cam: Goons thrash liquor shop employee in MP's Gwalior CCTV: Man thrashed, abducted in Madhya Pradesh's Betul district Fight breaks out between CHC employee and patient in UP's Barabanki Short Videos BJP Orchestrated Attack On Kejriwal During ‘Padyatra’ Campaign: Delhi CM Atishi Your Autistic Child Can Also Make A Difference Your Autistic Child Can Also Make A Difference Kejriwal Questions RSS Over BJP’s 'Dirty' Tactics Against Opposition | Watch Atishi's 1st Statement After Being Picked As Delhi CM; 'Kejriwal Made Biggest Sacrifice' Kejriwal To Give Up CM Residence; AAP's Sanjay Singh Issues Big Warning... Haryana Polls: Vinesh Phogat & Bajrang Punia Join Congress; Sakshi Malik next? Putin's Big Pledge For Russian Speakers In Ukraine; 'Will Fight For...' Ukraine’s Kursk Incursion Has Failed To Achieve Objectives, Declares Putin Putin Says Russia Will Support Kamala Harris In U.S. Elections Related Articles India to assist Iran in exiting FATF blacklist 'That's not enough': Iran's Khamenei calls for death sentence for Israel's Netanyahu and Gallant Hezbollah believed to be using copy of Israeli missile against Israel UN envoy says 'extremely critical' to avoid Syria being dragged into war UN: Iran increased stockpile of uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels Iran, Israel among rivals to showcase their arms at Vietnam defence expo Iran's supreme leader Khamenei in coma? His office releases picture to end rumours Ali Khamenei’s son Mojtaba set to take over as Iran's supreme leader: ReportFrench President Emmanuel Macron, right, meets French centrist party MoDem (Mouvement Democrate) politician Francois Bayrou at the Elysee Palace in Paris, June 21, 2022. AP-Yonhap French President Emmanuel Macron was meeting allies and senior politicians on Thursday as he sought to swiftly appoint a new prime minister, a day after far-right and leftist lawmakers toppled Michel Barnier's minority government. Francois Bayrou, whose name is often cited by French media as a possible successor to Barnier, was due to have lunch with Macron, Le Parisien newspaper and other media reported. Bayrou is a veteran centrist politician and a close Macron ally. Outgoing defense minister Sebastien Lecornu is also cited as a possible candidate for prime minister. There was no word yet of a possible Macron meeting with him. Three sources told Reuters on Wednesday that Macron aimed to appoint a replacement swiftly, with one saying he wanted to do so before a ceremony on Saturday to reopen Notre-Dame Cathedral —renovated after a devastating fire. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is among world leaders expected to attend. Allies in Macron's own camp joined the chorus urging swift action. After the late June and early July snap elections, it took Macron nearly two months to appoint Barnier. "I recommend that he proceed quickly to the appointment of a prime minister, it's important, we must not leave things up in the air," National Assembly president Yael Braun-Pivet told France Inter radio before meeting Macron around noon. Macron will give a televised address to the nation at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT) after meeting the head of the Senate at 1400 GMT, French media said. Barnier, a veteran conservative who became prime minister barely three months ago, will become the shortest-serving prime minister in modern French history when Macron approves his resignation. The two men met for over an hour on Thursday morning, French media said. Barnier had been due to hand in his resignation during that meeting but there was still no official confirmation after he left the Elysee presidential palace. President of Rassemblement National parliamentary group Marine Le Pen, center, reacts during the debate prior to the no-confidence votes on Prime Minister Michel Barnier's administration at the National Assembly in Paris, Wednesday. AFP-Yonhap The political turmoil in France further weakens a European Union already reeling from the implosion of Germany's coalition government, and comes just weeks before Trump returns to the White House. Any new prime minister will face the same challenges that led to Barnier's downfall, notably pushing the 2025 budget through a deeply divided parliament at a time when France needs to fix ailing public finances. "This is the logical conclusion of what France and its lawmakers are at the moment: a mess," 75-year old Parisian Paulo told Reuters, commenting on the latest developments. Macron precipitated the current crisis with an ill-fated decision to call the snap election in June. He has a mandate until 2027 but faces growing calls to resign. "The main culprit for the current situation is Emmanuel Macron," Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally (RN) told TF1 TV late on Wednesday. A French president cannot be pushed out unless two thirds of lawmakers decide he has gravely failed to fulfil his role, according to a never-yet-invoked article of the constitution. Some 64 percent of voters want Macron to resign, according to the Toluna Harris Interactive poll for RTL broadcaster. A small majority of voters approve of parliament bringing down Barnier, but many are worried about its economic and political consequences, the poll showed. Under French constitutional rules, there can be no new parliamentary election before July. "Until potential new elections, ongoing political uncertainty is likely to keep the risk premium on French assets elevated," SocGen analysts said in a note. "Political uncertainty is likely to dampen both investment and consumer spending." The political uncertainty has been unnerving investors in French sovereign bonds and stocks for weeks. French bonds and stocks rallied on Thursday on what some traders said was profit-taking following the widely expected outcome of the no-confidence vote. But the relief rally is unlikely to last, given the scale of political uncertainty. The fall of France's government leaves the country without a clear path towards reducing its fiscal deficit and the most likely outcome is less belt-tightening than previously planned, credit rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) said. (Reuters) To remove this article -JERUSALEM — Israel approved a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon's Hezbollah on Tuesday, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting linked to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. In the hours leading up to the Cabinet meeting, Israel carried out its most intense wave of strikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs and issued a record number of evacuation warnings. At least 24 people were killed in strikes across the country, according to local authorities, as Israel signaled it aims to keep pummeling Hezbollah in the final hours before any ceasefire takes hold. Israel's security Cabinet approved the ceasefire agreement late Tuesday after it was presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his office said. U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking in Washington, called the agreement “good news” and said his administration would make a renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza. An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire would mark the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to bring peace to the Middle East, but neither he nor Netanyahu have proposed a postwar solution for the Palestinian territory, where Hamas is still holding dozens of hostages and the conflict is more intractable. Still, any halt to the fighting in Lebanon is expected to reduce the likelihood of war between Israel and Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas and exchanged direct fire with Israel on two occasions earlier this year. Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. Israel says it will ‘attack with might’ if Hezbollah breaks truce Netanyahu presented the ceasefire proposal to Cabinet ministers after a televised address in which he listed a series of accomplishments against Israel’s enemies across the region. He said a ceasefire with Hezbollah would further isolate Hamas in Gaza and allow Israel to focus on its main enemy, Iran, which backs both groups. “If Hezbollah breaks the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack,” he said. “For every violation, we will attack with might.” Netanyahu's office later said Israel appreciated the U.S. efforts in securing the deal but "reserves the right to act against every threat to its security.” It was not immediately clear when the ceasefire would go into effect, and the exact terms of the deal were not released. The deal calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border. Thousands of additional Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor all sides’ compliance. But implementation remains a major question mark. Israel has demanded the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations. Lebanese officials have rejected writing that into the proposal. Biden said Israel reserved the right to quickly resume operations in Lebanon if Hezbollah breaks the terms of the truce, but that the deal "was designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.” Hezbollah has said it accepts the proposal, but a senior official with the group said Tuesday that it had not seen the agreement in its final form. “After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network. “We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state” of Lebanon, he said. “Any violation of sovereignty is refused.” In this screen grab image from video provide by the Israeli Government Press Office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes a televised statement Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in Jerusalem, Israel. Warplanes bombard Beirut and its southern suburbs Even as Israeli, U.S, Lebanese and international officials have expressed growing optimism over a ceasefire, Israel has continued its campaign in Lebanon, which it says aims to cripple Hezbollah’s military capabilities. An Israeli strike on Tuesday leveled a residential building in the central Beirut district of Basta — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near the city’s downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs killed at least one person and wounded 13, it said. Three people were killed in a separate strike in Beirut and three in a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. Lebanese state media said another 10 people were killed in the eastern Baalbek province. Israel says it targets Hezbollah fighters and their infrastructure. Israel also struck a building in Beirut's bustling commercial district of Hamra for the first time, hitting a site that is around 400 meters (yards) from Lebanon’s Central Bank. There were no reports of casualties. The Israeli military said it struck targets in Beirut and other areas linked to Hezbollah's financial arm. The evacuation warnings covered many areas, including parts of Beirut that previously have not been targeted. The warnings, coupled with fear that Israel was ratcheting up attacks before a ceasefire, sent residents fleeing. Traffic was gridlocked, and some cars had mattresses tied to them. Dozens of people, some wearing their pajamas, gathered in a central square, huddling under blankets or standing around fires as Israeli drones buzzed loudly overhead. Hezbollah, meanwhile, kept up its rocket fire, triggering air raid sirens across northern Israel. Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a major presence, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where the U.N. peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, is headquartered. UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told The Associated Press that peacekeepers will not evacuate. A police bomb squad officer inspects the site where a rocket fired from Lebanon landed in a backyard in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, Tuesday Nov. 26, 2024. Israeli forces reach Litani River in southern Lebanon The Israeli military also said its ground troops clashed with Hezbollah forces and destroyed rocket launchers in the Slouqi area on the eastern end of the Litani River, a few kilometers (miles) from the Israeli border. Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border. Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have been exchanging barrages ever since. Israel escalated its campaign of bombardment in mid-September and later sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire so tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis could return to their homes. More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members. Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate in the country’s north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive in Lebanon. Chehayeb and Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press reporters Lujain Jo and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.

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Datadog (DDOG) Shares Skyrocket, What You Need To KnowPublished 9:41 pm Sunday, December 29, 2024 by BILL BARROW, Associated Press Former President Jimmy Carter speaks on the eradication of the Guinea worm, Feb. 3, 2016, at the House of Lords in London. (Neil Hall/Pool Photo via AP, File) ATLANTA — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old. The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care, at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023, spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said. “Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center simply said in posting about Carter’s death on the social media platform X. Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s. “My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said. A president from Plains A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon. Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy. Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter acknowledged in his 2020 “White House Diary” that he could be “micromanaging” and “excessively autocratic,” complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washington’s news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes. “It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent incompatibility” with Washington insiders. Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term. And then, the world Ignominious defeat, though, allowed for renewal. The Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982 as a first-of-its-kind base of operations, asserting themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights. “I was not interested in just building a museum or storing my White House records and memorabilia,” Carter wrote in a memoir published after his 90th birthday. “I wanted a place where we could work.” That work included easing nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, helping to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiating cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, The Carter Center had declared at least 113 elections in Latin America, Asia and Africa to be free or fraudulent. Recently, the center began monitoring U.S. elections as well. Carter’s stubborn self-assuredness and even self-righteousness proved effective once he was unencumbered by the Washington order, sometimes to the point of frustrating his successors. He went “where others are not treading,” he said, to places like Ethiopia, Liberia and North Korea, where he secured the release of an American who had wandered across the border in 2010. “I can say what I like. I can meet whom I want. I can take on projects that please me and reject the ones that don’t,” Carter said. He announced an arms-reduction-for-aid deal with North Korea without clearing the details with Bill Clinton’s White House. He openly criticized President George W. Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also criticized America’s approach to Israel with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And he repeatedly countered U.S. administrations by insisting North Korea should be included in international affairs, a position that most aligned Carter with Republican President Donald Trump. Among the center’s many public health initiatives, Carter vowed to eradicate the guinea worm parasite during his lifetime, and nearly achieved it: Cases dropped from millions in the 1980s to nearly a handful. With hardhats and hammers, the Carters also built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The Nobel committee’s 2002 Peace Prize cites his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter should have won it alongside Sadat and Begin in 1978, the chairman added. Carter accepted the recognition saying there was more work to be done. “The world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place,” he said. “The greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect.” Email newsletter signup ‘An epic American life’ Carter’s globetrotting took him to remote villages where he met little “Jimmy Carters,” so named by admiring parents. But he spent most of his days in the same one-story Plains house — expanded and guarded by Secret Service agents — where they lived before he became governor. He regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined and the coronavirus pandemic raged. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world to the small sanctuary where Carter will receive his final send-off after a state funeral at Washington’s National Cathedral. The common assessment that he was a better ex-president than president rankled Carter and his allies. His prolific post-presidency gave him a brand above politics, particularly for Americans too young to witness him in office. But Carter also lived long enough to see biographers and historians reassess his White House years more generously. His record includes the deregulation of key industries, reduction of U.S. dependence on foreign oil, cautious management of the national debt and notable legislation on the environment, education and mental health. He focused on human rights in foreign policy, pressuring dictators to release thousands of political prisoners. He acknowledged America’s historical imperialism, pardoned Vietnam War draft evaders and relinquished control of the Panama Canal. He normalized relations with China. “I am not nominating Jimmy Carter for a place on Mount Rushmore,” Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s domestic policy director, wrote in a 2018 book. “He was not a great president” but also not the “hapless and weak” caricature voters rejected in 1980, Eizenstat said. Rather, Carter was “good and productive” and “delivered results, many of which were realized only after he left office.” Madeleine Albright, a national security staffer for Carter and Clinton’s secretary of state, wrote in Eizenstat’s forward that Carter was “consequential and successful” and expressed hope that “perceptions will continue to evolve” about his presidency. “Our country was lucky to have him as our leader,” said Albright, who died in 2022. Jonathan Alter, who penned a comprehensive Carter biography published in 2020, said in an interview that Carter should be remembered for “an epic American life” spanning from a humble start in a home with no electricity or indoor plumbing through decades on the world stage across two centuries. “He will likely go down as one of the most misunderstood and underestimated figures in American history,” Alter told The Associated Press. A small-town start James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains and spent his early years in nearby Archery. His family was a minority in the mostly Black community, decades before the civil rights movement played out at the dawn of Carter’s political career. Carter, who campaigned as a moderate on race relations but governed more progressively, talked often of the influence of his Black caregivers and playmates but also noted his advantages: His land-owning father sat atop Archery’s tenant-farming system and owned a main street grocery. His mother, Lillian, would become a staple of his political campaigns. Seeking to broaden his world beyond Plains and its population of fewer than 1,000 — then and now — Carter won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1946. That same year he married Rosalynn Smith, another Plains native, a decision he considered more important than any he made as head of state. She shared his desire to see the world, sacrificing college to support his Navy career. Carter climbed in rank to lieutenant, but then his father was diagnosed with cancer, so the submarine officer set aside his ambitions of admiralty and moved the family back to Plains. His decision angered Rosalynn, even as she dived into the peanut business alongside her husband. Carter again failed to talk with his wife before his first run for office — he later called it “inconceivable” not to have consulted her on such major life decisions — but this time, she was on board. “My wife is much more political,” Carter told the AP in 2021. He won a state Senate seat in 1962 but wasn’t long for the General Assembly and its back-slapping, deal-cutting ways. He ran for governor in 1966 — losing to arch-segregationist Lester Maddox — and then immediately focused on the next campaign. Carter had spoken out against church segregation as a Baptist deacon and opposed racist “Dixiecrats” as a state senator. Yet as a local school board leader in the 1950s he had not pushed to end school segregation even after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, despite his private support for integration. And in 1970, Carter ran for governor again as the more conservative Democrat against Carl Sanders, a wealthy businessman Carter mocked as “Cufflinks Carl.” Sanders never forgave him for anonymous, race-baiting flyers, which Carter disavowed. Ultimately, Carter won his races by attracting both Black voters and culturally conservative whites. Once in office, he was more direct. “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over,” he declared in his 1971 inaugural address, setting a new standard for Southern governors that landed him on the cover of Time magazine. ‘Jimmy Who?’ His statehouse initiatives included environmental protection, boosting rural education and overhauling antiquated executive branch structures. He proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the slain civil rights leader’s home state. And he decided, as he received presidential candidates in 1972, that they were no more talented than he was. In 1974, he ran Democrats’ national campaign arm. Then he declared his own candidacy for 1976. An Atlanta newspaper responded with the headline: “Jimmy Who?” The Carters and a “Peanut Brigade” of family members and Georgia supporters camped out in Iowa and New Hampshire, establishing both states as presidential proving grounds. His first Senate endorsement: a young first-termer from Delaware named Joe Biden. Yet it was Carter’s ability to navigate America’s complex racial and rural politics that cemented the nomination. He swept the Deep South that November, the last Democrat to do so, as many white Southerners shifted to Republicans in response to civil rights initiatives. A self-declared “born-again Christian,” Carter drew snickers by referring to Scripture in a Playboy magazine interview, saying he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” The remarks gave Ford a new foothold and television comedians pounced — including NBC’s new “Saturday Night Live” show. But voters weary of cynicism in politics found it endearing. Carter chose Minnesota Sen. Walter “Fritz” Mondale as his running mate on a “Grits and Fritz” ticket. In office, he elevated the vice presidency and the first lady’s office. Mondale’s governing partnership was a model for influential successors Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Biden. Rosalynn Carter was one of the most involved presidential spouses in history, welcomed into Cabinet meetings and huddles with lawmakers and top aides. The Carters presided with uncommon informality: He used his nickname “Jimmy” even when taking the oath of office, carried his own luggage and tried to silence the Marine Band’s “Hail to the Chief.” They bought their clothes off the rack. Carter wore a cardigan for a White House address, urging Americans to conserve energy by turning down their thermostats. Amy, the youngest of four children, attended District of Columbia public school. Washington’s social and media elite scorned their style. But the larger concern was that “he hated politics,” according to Eizenstat, leaving him nowhere to turn politically once economic turmoil and foreign policy challenges took their toll. Accomplishments, and ‘malaise’ Carter partially deregulated the airline, railroad and trucking industries and established the departments of Education and Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He designated millions of acres of Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges. He appointed a then-record number of women and nonwhite people to federal posts. He never had a Supreme Court nomination, but he elevated civil rights attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the nation’s second highest court, positioning her for a promotion in 1993. He appointed Paul Volker, the Federal Reserve chairman whose policies would help the economy boom in the 1980s — after Carter left office. He built on Nixon’s opening with China, and though he tolerated autocrats in Asia, pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy. But he couldn’t immediately tame inflation or the related energy crisis. And then came Iran. After he admitted the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979 by followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Negotiations to free the hostages broke down repeatedly ahead of the failed rescue attempt. The same year, Carter signed SALT II, the new strategic arms treaty with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, only to pull it back, impose trade sanctions and order a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Hoping to instill optimism, he delivered what the media dubbed his “malaise” speech, although he didn’t use that word. He declared the nation was suffering “a crisis of confidence.” By then, many Americans had lost confidence in the president, not themselves. Carter campaigned sparingly for reelection because of the hostage crisis, instead sending Rosalynn as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy challenged him for the Democratic nomination. Carter famously said he’d “kick his ass,” but was hobbled by Kennedy as Reagan rallied a broad coalition with “make America great again” appeals and asking voters whether they were “better off than you were four years ago.” Reagan further capitalized on Carter’s lecturing tone, eviscerating him in their lone fall debate with the quip: “There you go again.” Carter lost all but six states and Republicans rolled to a new Senate majority. Carter successfully negotiated the hostages’ freedom after the election, but in one final, bitter turn of events, Tehran waited until hours after Carter left office to let them walk free. ‘A wonderful life’ At 56, Carter returned to Georgia with “no idea what I would do with the rest of my life.” Four decades after launching The Carter Center, he still talked of unfinished business. “I thought when we got into politics we would have resolved everything,” Carter told the AP in 2021. “But it’s turned out to be much more long-lasting and insidious than I had thought it was. I think in general, the world itself is much more divided than in previous years.” Still, he affirmed what he said when he underwent treatment for a cancer diagnosis in his 10th decade of life. “I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes,” he said in 2015. “I’ve had a wonderful life. I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.” Former Associated Press journalist Alex Sanz contributed to this report.Sydney Thomas reveals Jake Paul's four-word message to her during Mike Tyson fight READ MORE: Sydney Thomas breaks silence on Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fame By ISABEL BALDWIN Published: 23:00 GMT, 6 December 2024 | Updated: 23:00 GMT, 6 December 2024 e-mail View comments Sydney Thomas, the viral ring girl who sent boxing fans wild during Jake Paul's fight against Mike Tyson last month, has lifted the lid on her interactions with the former YouTuber. The 20-year-old rocketed into the spotlight in November when fans hailed her 'the real winner' of the Netflix showdown after Paul and Tyson starred in a 16-minute snooze fest at AT&T Stadium. And on the back of newfound fame, the University of Alabama student revealed she will return to the ring for Paul's company Most Valuable Promotions' fights after meeting the fighter in Texas. 'I talked to him at the fight and he was just like, "Keep doing your thing,"' Thomas told People , adding that Paul told her she was 'doing a great job' in the ring. The model and social media star was one of five ring girls working at the event at AT&T Stadium - along with Virginia Sanhouse, Lexi Williams, Delia Sylvain and Raphaela Milagres. In the wake of her fresh popularity, Thomas has revealed that her social media inbox has been inundated with messages on Instagram and TikTok from her thousands of new followers since the bout. Sydney Thomas went viral as a ring girl during Jake Paul's win over Mike Tyson last month The model revealed what Paul (left) said to her during the Netflix event in Dallas, Texas 'There's everything, anything from blue check marks to random people,' she spilled, revealing that most are 'people trying to have a chance with me or trying to ask me on a date.' But after breaking up with her boyfriend in summer, Thomas insisted she wasn't ready to delve back into world of dating just yet. 'I don't even care to read through any of that,' she said. 'I'm so happy with myself, and that's where all my time is going, so anyone reaching out who's wanting to be with me, it's just slipping right on by because I do not have any intention to involve myself with that.' Thomas is in her senior year of college but has been taking her classes online in order to keep a flexible schedule. But as fresh opportunities come flooding in amid her newfound popularity, Thomas admitted that she feels overwhelmed. 'Everyone's been asking me what's next, and I was never expecting this to come fall into my lap all at once, and so I haven't really thought that far ahead,' she said. 'Now, it's all these big life questions of like, "What do you want to be? What do you want to do?'' 'It's just such big things in this world that I'm now, as a 21-year-old, having to decide all this stuff for myself...It's a lot right now....So I'm still figuring it all out and the path I want to go on and I don't know. I don't know. That's my answer.' Share or comment on this article: Sydney Thomas reveals Jake Paul's four-word message to her during Mike Tyson fight e-mail Add comment

Marshall withdraws from Independence Bowl matchup against Army

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The Empty Stocking Fund is a 43-year-old project of The New Mexican . Each year, hundreds of people receive aid from the fund during the holiday season to help cover rent payments, medical bills, utility costs, car repairs, home improvements and other needs. Who it helps: Applicants, who must live within 50 miles of Santa Fe and must provide documents that provide proof of their identity, are considered without regard to race, age, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation. Applications for aid are currently on pause because of overwhelming demand. 2024 goal: $475,000; however, there are already over $500,000 in requests. This holiday charity project, which began in 1981, is administered by the Santa Fe Community Foundation. To donate: Make your tax-deductible donation online by visiting santafecf.org/funds/empty-stocking-fund . In person, visit the Santa Fe Community Foundation at 501 Halona St., or The Santa Fe New Mexican, 150 Washington Ave., Suite 105, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Contributions can also be mailed to Empty Stocking Fund, C/O Santa Fe Community Foundation, P.O. Box 1827, Santa Fe, NM 87504-1827. Donors can request to remain anonymous. Anonymous: $51.55 Anonymous: $50 Anonymous: $200 Anonymous — in memory of Ernie and Joe Fernandez: $200 Anonymous — in memory of Annie Gordon: $206.19 Anonymous — in memory of Harry and Molly: $50 Anonymous — in memory of Pat Trujillo: $257.73 Richard and Kim Tate: $103.09 Joseph and Nancy Treat: $103.09 Zoe Trimmer and Family — in memory of Len: $200 Andrew Trujillo — in memory of mom, Tillie M. Trujillo: $100 John Vavruska and Laura Holt: $154.64 Gilbert M. Vigil — in remembrance of Ralph and Mary Vigil: $100 Sally H. Von Conta: $20 Steven Weiner — in memory of Mark Wightman: $300 Wicked Wahinis Book Club Santa Fe: $440 Ted Williams: $257.73 Judith Wilson — in memory of Gordon Wilson: $1,000 Ellis Wright: $200 Daniel Yohalem and Carmen Lopez: $309.28 K. Zamrazil: $103.09 Cumulative total: *210,640.26 *Reflects total contributions since Dec. 18.LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Juan Sebastian Gorosito scored 21 points as Ball State beat Bellarmine 86-82 on Saturday. Gorosito added three steals for the Cardinals (4-6). Mickey Pearson Jr. added 18 points while going 3 of 6 and 12 of 12 from the free-throw line and he also had three steals. Jermahri Hill shot 6 for 9 (1 for 3 from 3-point range) and 1 of 3 from the free-throw line to finish with 14 points. The Knights (3-8) were led in scoring by Billy Smith, who finished with 33 points. Bellarmine also got 18 points, six rebounds and two steals from Dylan Branson. Gorosito scored 12 points in the first half for Ball State, who led 47-42 at the break. Hill's jump shot with 16:02 remaining in the second half gave Ball State the lead for good at 52-50. NEXT UP Up next for Ball State is a Saturday matchup with Evansville at home, and Bellarmine visits Wyoming on Thursday. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Ware scores 17 points as UT Arlington knocks off UL Monroe 77-68

2024 slots game HERZLIYA, Israel and CALGARY, Alberta , Dec. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Innocan Pharma Corporation (CSE: INNO) (FSE: IP4) (OTCQB: INNPF) (the "Company" or "Innocan") a pharmaceutical technology company focusing on developing innovative drug delivery platform technologies and an owner of a proprietary intellectual property portfolio, is pleased to share its annual "State of Research and Development" update for 2024. This year, the Company achieved significant milestones in advancing research and development for its drug delivery platforms as well as its intellectual property portfolio. During 2024, Innocan achieved significant milestones in both scientific and regulatory domains. Preclinical studies of its liposome-cannabidiol technology (LPT-CBD( demonstrated high CBD bioavailability, along with long-lasting pain relief and improved well-being in various animal models. Building on this compelling data, the Company secured agreement from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the preclinical and Phase 1 clinical development plan to advance LPT-CBD as a treatment for chronic pain in humans. Additionally, the FDA acknowledged LPT-CBD's development under the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway, which provides Innocan with an accelerated route to patent utilization and commercialization. On the veterinary front, LPT-CBD's innovation was recognized by the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), which granted Innocan a fee waiver for 2024 and issued a number that identifies an Investigational New Animal Drug (INAD). This designation allows Innocan to facilitate correspondence and data exchange with the CVM to support the development of LPT-CBD as a new veterinary drug. Iris Bincovich, CEO of Innocan Pharma, commented: "In 2024, we not only met but surpassed our FDA-related goals, achieving regulatory milestones ahead of schedule. With the FDA 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway meeting behind us, these advancements position us to accelerate our development in 2025, bringing us closer to delivering innovative pain management solutions for both human and veterinary applications." The 505(b)(2) FDA regulatory pathway offers a streamlined approach for developing a long-acting injectable cannabinoid using a liposomal drug delivery platform to treat chronic pain. By leveraging existing pre-clinical data from approved products, this pathway is expected to significantly shorten both development time and cost. This pathway facilitates innovative formulations like liposomal delivery, by allowing for modifications to dosage forms, administration routes, or drug combinations, all while adhering to stringent safety and efficacy standards. This approach is expected to accelerate market entry and address unmet medical needs in chronic pain management. Company ' s Update on its Activity in Research and Development and FDA interactions On February 26, 2024 , the Company announced the latest findings from the Company's pharmacokinetic study of its liposome CBD platform ("LPT-CBD") in rabbits. In agreement with studies conducted in other animals (mice, dogs, goats, and sheep) this study resulted in prolonged exposure of CBD obtained following a single subcutaneous LPT-CBD injection. This data along with data obtained from other organisms injected with the Company's liposomal CBD, consistently demonstrates that a detectable CBD level could be maintained for weeks following a single injection. On March 5, 2024 , the Company announced the results of a recent tissue distribution study of its liposome CBD platform (LPT-CBD), that indicated the potential of LPT-CBD to support a new therapeutic venue for neurological disorders. In this study, CBD was found to be in the brains of both mice and rabbits weeks after LPT-CBD was subcutaneously injected to them. LPT technology provides a long presence of CBD in the blood enabling CBD to pass the blood brain barrier (BBB) and deliver long brain exposure. On April 22, 2024 , the Company announced that it had submitted its letter of application for a Pre-IND meeting, the first phase in the FDA approval process in the United States for LPT-CBD. Innocan's Pre-IND meeting request letter to the FDA represents a key milestone and important first step in seeking approval of its LPT-CBD therapy for use in humans. The objective of the Pre-IND meeting is to obtain guidance from the FDA on the preclinical and clinical development plan, enabling the initiation of an investigational new drug ("IND") program in the United States . On May 9, 2024 , the Company announced the successful pre-clinical treatment of amputee female donkey with a liposomal-CBD injection. Miri, a-7-year-old female donkey, had undergone amputation of her right front limb, leaving the weight burden primarily on her left front limb. This led to an inflammatory disease affecting the soft tissue that connects the foot bone to the hoof, seemingly causing extreme pain and limited mobility. In a compassionate act, Miri was administered a liposomal-CBD injection. The effect was immediate as Miri regained her ability to walk and move as she had before her inflammatory disease developed. On May 21, 2024 , the Company announced significant advancements in the regulatory process for its LPT-CBD, which provides an innovative solution in non-opioid pain management. The FDA granted Innocan an INAD number and approved an initial meeting with the Company to discuss the strategic path forward. The meeting with the FDA was on July 31, 2024 , where Innocan presented its preclinical results and proposed clinical development plan. The meeting is key to launching human clinical trials for the LPT-CBD injectable drug, developed to provide a novel treatment option for chronic pain. On June 11, 2024 , the Company announced the success and conclusion of a preliminary safety evaluation of Innocan's single injection and sustained-release LPT-CBD conducted on minipigs. Recognized by the FDA as an excellent model for toxicology, minipigs are small breeds of miniature domestic pigs which share strong similarities with humans in crucial aspects such as drug metabolism, skin structure, genetics, and physiological mechanisms. In this preliminary safety study, minipigs received a single subcutaneous injection of LPT-CBD and were closely monitored for pharmacokinetics and basic safety parameters over one month. The animals all exhibited good drug tolerance and did not manifest any drug-related adverse reactions. On July 2, 2024 , the Company announced that it engaged the Past President of the Eastern Pain Association, Dr. William K. Schmidt , to support its LPT-CBD submission process to the FDA for chronic pain. His extensive expertise in pain-related clinical development and regulatory affairs will strongly contribute to Innocan's team during the LPT-CBD submission process with the FDA. Dr. Schmidt brings over 25 years of pharmaceutical industry clinical trial experience, specializing in analgesic and narcotic antagonist drug development. On July 26, 2024 , the Company announced that the CVM) granted the Company a sponsor fee waiver and assigned an INAD number for its LPT-CBD product. This represented a significant step for the Company, as an INAD designation facilitates correspondence and data exchange with CVM to support LPT-CBD development as a new veterinary drug. The Company further announced that following the assessment of LPT-CBD's scientific package, the CVM recognized Innocan's contribution to pursuing innovative animal drug products and technology and granted the Company a sponsor fee waiver for fiscal year 2024. Over the past year, repeated administration of LPT-CBD in dogs and other animals demonstrated both efficacy and tolerability, providing sufficient evidence for the INAD application. On September 3, 2024 , the Company announced that it received a positive response from the FDA following Innocan's successful pre-IND Type B meeting with the FDA held in July, for its lead drug product LPT-CBD. The FDA has agreed to LPT-CBD's submission under the 505(b)(2) New Drug Application (NDA) by establishing a scientific bridge to the reference listed drug. The 505(b)(2) abbreviated pathway, as it is often described, typically enables a faster route to patent utilization and commercial approval. This pathway is a significant milestone for Innocan, as it may pave the way for a streamlined and accelerated FDA approval process for LPT-CBD, while allowing Innocan to advance its patent protected innovation. In addition, Innocan has reached an alignment with the FDA on both its non-clinical development plan and the clinical study design for LPT-CBD's proposed IND filing for a Phase I clinical study. On October 9, 2024 , The Company announced that Dr. Joseph V. Pergolizzi, Jr. , M.D., a member of the Company's Scientific Advisory Board, was recognized among the top 2% most cited scientists in the world in a new list published by Stanford University . This achievement underscores Dr. Pergolizzi's long-term contribution to medical science and his influential role in shaping global healthcare practices. Dr. Pergolizzi was appointed to be part of Innocan's Scientific Advisory Board in September 2023 . His role focuses on promoting pharmaceutical human product R&D and supporting the Company's planned FDA filing for new medications. His expertise in pain management, critical care medicine, and regulatory processes are key in advancing the issuer's pharmaceutical developments. On October 11, 2024 , the Company announced promising results from a multi-year compassionate therapy using repeated LPT-CBD injections for pain relief in dogs with naturally occurring osteoarthritis. The therapy consistently demonstrated pain reduction and improved mobility, with effects lasting for several weeks after each injection as expected. These results further demonstrate that LPT-CBD can be a viable treatment option for managing chronic pain and enhancing the quality of life in animals. In two ongoing cases, dogs suffering from osteoarthritis who were treated with LPT-CBD after failing to respond to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and oral CBD, showed noticeable pain relief, substantially improved mobility and increased well-being which was clearly noticeable. Both dogs remained on LPT-CBD treatment for 2 and 2.5 years, respectively after their owners reported significant improvement in quality of life, receiving the treatment in addition to other conventional treatments. About Innocan Innocan is an innovator in the pharmaceuticals and wellness sectors. In the pharmaceuticals sector, Innocan developed a CBD-loaded liposome drug delivery platform with exact dosing, prolonged and controlled release of synthetic CBD for non-opioid pain management. In the wellness sector, Innocan develops and markets a wide portfolio of high-performance self-care and beauty products to promote a healthier lifestyle. Under this segment Innocan carries on business through its 60% owned subsidiary, BI Sky Global Ltd. which focuses on advanced, targeted online sales. www.innocanpharma.com For further information, please contact: Iris Bincovich, CEO +1-516-210-4025 +972-54-3012842 +44 203 769 9377 info@innocanpharma.com NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Cautionary note regarding forward-looking information Certain information set forth in this news release, including, without limitation, information regarding research and development, collaborations, the filing of potential applications with the FDA and other regulatory authorities, the potential achievement of future regulatory milestones, the potential for treatment of conditions and other therapeutic effects resulting from research activities and/or the Company's products, requisite regulatory approvals and the timing for market entry and potential for patent utilization and commercialization is forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. By its nature, forward-looking information is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond Innocan's control. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by Innocan, including expectations and assumptions concerning the anticipated benefits of the products, satisfaction of regulatory requirements in various jurisdictions and satisfactory completion of requisite production and distribution arrangements. Forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in this news release. The key risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: general global and local (national) economic, market and business conditions; governmental and regulatory requirements and actions by governmental authorities; and relationships with suppliers, manufacturers, customers, business partners and competitors. There are also risks that are inherent in the nature of product distribution, including import / export matters and the failure to obtain any required regulatory and other approvals (or to do so in a timely manner) and availability in each market of product inputs and finished products. The anticipated timeline for entry to markets may change for a number of reasons, including the inability to secure necessary regulatory requirements, or the need for additional time to conclude and/or satisfy the manufacturing and distribution arrangements. As a result of the foregoing, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information contained in this news release concerning the timing of launch of product distribution. A comprehensive discussion of other risks that impact Innocan can also be found in Innocan's public reports and filings which are available under Innocan's profile at www.sedar.com . Readers are cautioned that undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information as actual results may vary materially from the forward-looking information. Innocan does not undertake to update, correct or revise any forward looking information as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2570689/Innocan_Pharma_Logo.jpgBig data needs AI; AI needs big data It’s that time of year again, when people publish their top-10 or top-20 lists of what to expect in the year ahead. As usual, rather than pile on with another list, I’m limiting my contribution to one compelling (or half-baked) trend for the year ahead. In the year ahead, big data will be back. Data is becoming more than the “new oil,” it is becoming the new money. Big data, which became a big deal about a decade ago as analytics hit center stage as the path to business success, faded a bit as big data suddenly was everywhere, making the term irrelevant. Over the past two years, amid all the excitement about generative AI, it almost seemed as if data — or attention to its quality and trustworthiness — took a back seat to all the jazzed-up illustrations and hyper-insightful insights generative AI was delivering. Now, with genAI so critical to business, people are realizing that their AI foundations are built on piles of very loose sand. When AI “hallucinates,” it’s not because it’s mind is wandering, because it has no mind to speak of. It’s simply running probabilities to grab on to the next piece of available and related data to complete a narrative. Now, there’s even concern that we’re starting to run out of data to feed the machines. “Most of the world's publicly available data — whether it is obtained legally or not — has been exhausted,” said Andy Thurai , senior analyst with Constellation Research. When will the madness end, right? Mystery Drones Saga: Ohio Air Force Base Sees More Drone ‘Incursions’ (Updated) Elon Musk Xmail Teaser Poses New Threat For Billions Of Gmail Users Sydney Sweeney Bikini Photos: The Internet’s Reaction, Explained So, yes, data will very much be back in the spotlight in 2025, because we need it, lots of it, and it has to be really good and really timely. “Data was all the rage during the 2010s, the age of so-called big data,” said Tony Baer , principal at dbInsight. "As cloud scale made big data the norm, we began taking data, and managing lots of it, for granted. Then genAI burst on the landscape last year, and the venture funds began chasing AI with a vengeance.” Big data and AI “have a synergistic relationship,” states a report out of Qlik. “Big data analytics leverages AI for better data analysis. In turn, AI requires a massive scale of data to learn and improve decision-making processes.” Big data will either make or break AI. “While AI is always about data that models were trained and tested on, it is becoming even more clear data is the differentiator with winning AIs,” said Thurai. At least 86% of executives report data-related barriers to AI, such as difficulties in gaining meaningful insights and issues with real-time data access, a survey of 1,000 IT executives out of Presidio finds. Half believe they plunged into gen AI before they were fully prepared. The venture capitalist community remains hot on AI, “but guess what? It's going to take high quality, validated data that doesn't traipse on privacy or data sovereignty,” Baer said. Consequently, there’s a growing emphasis on retrieval augmented generative (RAG) solutions, which form the bridge between standard databases and large language models, Baer said. Baer points to the latest announcements out of the AI Alliance , a consortium of leading technology companies, which emphasizes the need for establishing trustworthy data foundations. “Data is the most important constituent of AI models and systems, yet today data for AI too often has murky provenance, unclear licensing, and large gaps in quality and diversity of languages, modalities, and expert domains represented,” according to a statement announcing the AI Alliance's Open Trusted Data Initiative . The goal of the initiative is to release “large-scale open, permissively licensed data sets with clear provenance and lineage across all domains and modalities essential for AI.” The initiative brings together more than 150 participants from more than 20 organizations including Pleias, BrightQuery, Common Crawl, ServiceNow, Hugging Face, IBM, Allen Institute for AI, Cornell, Aitomatic, Tokyo Electron, and EPF. The initiative's members are “working to develop better requirements, processes and tooling to curate data sets that are more transparent, trusted, accurate, and applicable broadly.” Along with refining the specification for open trusted data, alliance members plan to build out tooling and publish pipelines for trusted data processing, including end-to-end lineage tracking capabilities. The alliance also intends to “significantly expand the data catalog aiming to include data for most of the world’s languages, large repositories of high-quality multi-modal data including images, audio and video, as well as time series and scientific modalities.” As the world’s data becomes more precious, Thurai foresees less and less differentiation between leading large language models. As a result, enterprises will turn to narrower or more focused models that leverage data coming out of specific sectors. Examples are industry-specific models such as BloombergGPT for finance, Med-PaLM2, developed by Google specifically for the healthcare industry, and Paxton AI legal language model, trained on tons of legal cases, statutes, and regulatory sources. BloombergGPT is “a 50-billion parameter LLM that was specifically trained on a wide range of financial data,” Thurai said. “Because of that, it outperforms similarly sized open models on financial natural language processing tasks compared to other AI models.” Med-PaLM2 “is trained on large amounts of medical datasets, including textbooks, research papers, patient records, and more,” said Thurai. “This intensive training has helped the model to acquire deep medical knowledge, allowing it to understand the complex language and concepts used in the healthcare field.” The Paxton AI legal language model “provides real-time access to millions of legal sources, including laws, court rulings, and regulations, across all 50 U.S. states and federal jurisdictions,” said Thurai. Along with big data from various sources will be increased use of synthetic data, but Thurai advises caution with its adoption. “Synthetic data generation to train AI models has become a larger cottage industry now,” he said. “While a lot of them are used to fill data blind spots, at times it could defeat the purpose. By using AI to produce data, one might produce models that might barely encounter real-world problems and are trained on expected scenarios. These models can balk at unexpected real-world problems or the so-called unknown unknowns.”

Minnesota looks to stop skid vs. Bethune-Cookman

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Married couples across the U.S. have had access to no-fault divorce for more than 50 years, an option many call crucial to supporting domestic abuse victims and key to preventing already crowded family courts from drowning in complicated divorce proceedings. But some advocates for women worried as old comments from now Vice President-elect JD Vance circulated during the presidential campaign opposing no-fault divorce. After President-elect Donald Trump and Vance won the election, warnings began popping up on social media urging women who might be considering divorce to "pull the trigger" while they still could. Some attorneys posted saying they saw a spike in calls from women seeking divorce consultations. Donald and Ivana Trump pose in May 1988 outside the Federal Courthouse in New York after she was sworn in as a United States citizen. Trump — who is twice-divorced — hasn't championed overhauling the country's divorce laws, but in 2021 Vance lamented that divorce is too easily accessible, as have conservative podcasters and others. "We've run this experiment in real time and what we have is a lot of very, very real family dysfunction that's making our kids unhappy," Vance said during a speech at a Christian high school in California, where he criticized people being able to "shift spouses like they change their underwear." Marriage rates held steady but divorce rates of women age 15 and older declined from 2012 to 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released in October. Despite concerns, even those who want to make divorces harder to get say they don't expect big, swift changes. There is not a national coordinated effort underway. States determine their own divorce laws, so national leaders can't directly change policy. "Even in some of the so-called red states, it hasn't gotten anywhere," said Beverly Willett, co-chair of the Coalition for Divorce Reform, whose group unsuccessfully attempted to convince states to repeal their no-fault divorce laws. A couple exchanges wedding bands Oct. 11, 2018, at City Hall in Philadelphia. Mark A. Smith, a political science professor at the University of Washington, said while many Americans became accustomed to no-fault divorce being an option, Vance's previous comments on making it more difficult to separate from a spouse could help jump-start that effort. "Even though he's not directly proposing a policy, it's a topic that hasn't gotten a ton of discussion in the last 15 years," Smith said. "And so to have a national profile politician talk that way is noteworthy." Meanwhile, Republican Party platforms in Texas and Nebraska were amended in 2022 to call for the removal of no-fault divorce. Louisiana's Republican Party considered something similar this year but declined to do so. A handful of proposals were introduced in conservative-led statehouses over the years, but all immediately stalled after they were filed. In January, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Dusty Deevers introduced legislation that would have removed married couples from filing for divorce on the grounds of incompatibility. Deevers backed the bill after writing a piece declaring no-fault divorce was an "abolition of marital obligation." Sen. JD Vance smiles as his wife Usha Vance applauds Nov. 6 at an election-night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. Similarly, in South Carolina, two Republican lawmakers in 2023 filed a bill that would have required both spouses to file for a no-fault divorce application rather than just one. In South Dakota, a Republican lawmaker attempted to remove irreconcilable difference as grounds for divorce since 2020. None of the sponsors of these bills responded to interview requests from The Associated Press. All are members of their state's conservative Freedom Caucus. Nevertheless, some Democratic lawmakers say they remain worried about the future of no-fault divorce. They point to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the constitutional right to abortion in 2022 as an example of a long-accepted option that was revoked through a decades-long effort. "When you choose to be silent, you allow for this to creep in," said Democratic South Dakota Rep. Linda Duba. "These are the bills that gain a foothold because you choose to be silent." Before California became the first state to adopt a no-fault divorce option in 1969, married couples had to prove their spouse violated one of the approved "faults" outlined in their state's divorce law or risk a judge denying their divorce, said Joanna Grossman, a law professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Qualified reasons varied from state to state, but largely included infidelity, incarceration or abandonment. Donald and Marla Trump wave to photographers Dec. 20, 1993, as they enter their wedding reception in New York's Plaza Hotel. The system was a particular burden on domestic violence victims, who are often women who could be stuck in dangerous marriages while they try to prove their partner's abuse in court through expensive and lengthy legal proceedings. "If there was any evidence that the couple both wanted to get divorced that was supposed to be denied because divorce was not something you got because you wanted it, it was something you got because you've been wronged in a way that the state thought was significant," Grossman said. To date, every state in the U.S. adopted a no-fault divorce option. However, 33 states still have a list of approved "faults" to file as grounds for divorce — ranging from adultery to felony conviction. In 17 states, married people only have the option of choosing no-fault divorce to end their marriages. Photo Credit: shisu_ka / Shutterstock Marriage—and divorce—in the U.S. today are starkly different than in earlier eras of the country’s history. A series of economic, legal, and social shifts reshaped marriage in the second half of the 20th century. More women began working outside of the home in the post-World War II era, which provided avenues to financial security and independence outside of marriage. Greater emphasis on postsecondary educational attainment and career development have led young people to wait longer to enter marriage. States began to adopt no-fault divorce laws throughout the 1960s and 1970s that made it easier to end a marriage. Meanwhile, changing social and cultural attitudes have made it more common for couples to cohabitate, combine finances, and raise children prior to getting married—or without getting married at all. These trends have contributed to a decline in the overall number of marriages and to delays in when people get married for the first time. In the U.S., there are currently only 6.5 marriages per 1,000 people each year , compared to 10.9 five decades ago. For those who do choose to get married, the age of first marriage is happening later. As late as the early 1970s, the median age for a first marriage in the U.S. was just 22. By 2018, that figure had increased to 28.8. These shifts have also affected how likely married couples are to stay together. As women entered the workforce in the mid-20th century and feminism and the sexual revolution took hold, rates of divorce rose quickly throughout the 1960s and 1970s. From 1960 to 1980, the divorce rate per 1,000 people in the U.S. more than doubled from 2.2 to 5.2. But the rate began to fall steadily after 1980, and as of 2018, the rate of divorce had dropped to 2.9 per 1,000 people. The link between rates of divorce and age at first marriage has been borne out over time, but it also explains geographic differences in rates of divorce. Today, most of the states with the lowest rates of divorce are also those with a higher median age for marriage. States like New Jersey, New York, California, and Massachusetts all stand out for having fewer than 10% of adults divorced and an age at first marriage above 30. One exception to this is Utah, which has the lowest overall median age for first marriage at 25.5 but also the third-lowest share of divorced adults at 9%, likely due in part to the state’s strong religious ties to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . In contrast, Maine and Nevada lead all states in the share of the population currently divorced at 13.9% and 13.8%, respectively. And at the local level, many of the cities with the highest levels of divorce are found in Florida, Appalachia, and the Southwest. The data used in this analysis is from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 American Community Survey . To determine the most divorced locations, researchers at ChamberOfCommerce.org calculated the percentage of adults currently divorced. In the event of a tie, the location with the higher percentage of adults currently separated was ranked higher. To improve relevance, only cities with at least 100,000 residents were included. Additionally, cities were grouped into cohorts based on population size: small (100,000–149,999), midsize (150,000–349,999), and large (350,000 or more). Here are the most divorced cities in the U.S. Photo Credit: Jacob Boomsma / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Photo Credit: photo.ua / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Jonny Trego / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Tupungato / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Kevin J King / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Galina Savina / Shutterstock Photo Credit: f11photo / Shutterstock Photo Credit: CHARLES MORRA / Shutterstock Photo Credit: LHBLLC / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Valiik30 / Shutterstock Photo Credit: turtix / Shutterstock Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.

Trump world is celebrating after special counsel Jack Smith moved to dismiss two federal cases brought against President-elect Donald Trump. Smith’s team asked a federal judge Monday to dismiss the 2020 election interference case brought against Trump, who was charged with four felonies last year. Later on Monday, Smith also asked to dismiss the classified documents case brought against Trump. Trump and his allies—who have decried the legal cases as politically motivated—are celebrating Smith’s latest moves as Trump prepares to head to the White House next year. “The American People re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate to Make America Great Again. Today’s decision by the DOJ ends the unconstitutional federal cases against President Trump, and is a major victory for the rule of law,” Steven Cheung, Trump Communications Director, said in a statement. “The American People and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country,” he added. Trump’s allies also flocked to social media to boast about the latest development, arguing that the charges should have never been brought in the first place. “MAJOR VICTORY for President Trump and JUSTICE! These fake (and illegal) charges were used to persecute President Trump for being the biggest threat to the Democrat regime. Political prosecution should never happen in America!!” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wrote on social media platform X . MAJOR VICTORY for President Trump and JUSTICE! These fake (and illegal) charges were used to persecute President Trump for being the biggest threat to the Democrat regime. Political prosecution should never happen in America!! https://t.co/42w7BxCX6c Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) quoted tech billionaire Elon Musk by writing: “[T]he Hammer of Justice is coming. May it be swift.” Vice President-elect JD Vance also weighed in, saying that Trump may have been sent to prison if he did not win the election. “If Donald J. Trump had lost an election, he may very well have spent the rest of his life in prison. These prosecutions were always political. Now it’s time to ensure what happened to President Trump never happens in this country again,” Vance wrote on X. And conservative activist Charlie Kirk wrote on X: “The lawfare lost. America won.” Despite Trump and his allies labeling his multiple legal woes as politically motivated, Trump has vowed retribution against his political opponents. Politico reported earlier this month that some involved in Trump’s legal cases could be among Trump’s targets, including Smith, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, as well as many others. The move announced in court papers marks the end of the Justice Department’s landmark effort to hold Trump accountable for what prosecutors called a criminal conspiracy to cling to power in the run-up to his supporters' attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Justice Department prosecutors, citing longstanding department guidance that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted, said the department’s position is that “the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated.” “That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind,” the prosecutors wrote in Monday’s court filing. The decision was expected after Smith’s team began assessing how to wind down both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case in the wake of Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. The Justice Department believes Trump can no longer be tried in accordance with longstanding policy that says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Stories by Lauren Sforza After failed AG bid, Matt Gaetz has a new side hustle — to get your money NEW POLL: What Americans are saying about Trump cabinet picks Democrat torches N.Y. governor, Biden in latest rant against his party Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com .New Delhi, Dec 28 (IANS): Delhi unit of Congress and BJP on Saturday welcomed a probe ordered by Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena against the illegal collection of women’s data by AAP volunteers. The data was collected in the garb of enrolling beneficiaries for the Chief Minister Mahila Samman Yojana. Welcoming the LG’s order, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President Devender Yadav said that after Aam Aadmi Party Government’s departments called the bluff of Kejriwal’s promise of giving Rs 2,100 to women and free treatment to the elderly, he was adopting unfair methods like misusing Punjab Police for mounting surveillance on Congress candidates. Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva stated that the party welcomes the directive issued by the Lieutenant Governor to investigate complaints of data collection from women under the garb of the Mahila Samman Yojana and its potential transfer to private companies. “If any cyber crime takes place against Delhi women, the sole responsibility would fall on Kejriwal for collecting their private data under the Mahila Samman Yojana and passing it on to private parties,” he said, adding that the BJP would fully cooperate with the investigation if needed. Sachdeva said Kejriwal has been feeding lies to the people of Delhi for the past 10 years and has failed to fulfil any of his promises. He questioned whether a cabinet proposal to grant Rs 2,100 monthly under the Chief Minister Mahila Samman Yojana had ever been passed. He further accused Kejriwal of using women’s issues only for electoral gains and called on him to learn from BJP-led states about quietly and effectively implementing programmes to support women. Sachdeva highlighted successful initiatives like the Mahatari Shakti Rin Yojana in Chhattisgarh, Ladli Yojana in Madhya Pradesh, Lado in Haryana, and Ladli Bahna Yojana in Maharashtra. In a separate development, Sachdeva pointed to a video of Kejriwal circulating on social media in which the former Delhi CM is heard saying that he had now understood politics well enough to know that the promise of cleaning the Yamuna would not fetch votes. The Delhi BJP President remarked that Kejriwal never paid attention to Yamuna cleaning because it did not benefit him politically. Sachdeva emphasised that Kejriwal’s admission of negligence in Yamuna cleaning is an insult to the sentiments of millions of Chhath devotees.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not be joining the royal family for Christmas this year, as they reportedly did not receive an invitation. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not celebrated Christmas at the Sandringham Estate since 2018, two years before they left the royal family and relocated to America. It is believed the Sussexes will spend the festive season in Montecito , California, where they live with their two children - Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. King Charles and the rest of the royal family traditionally travel to Norfolk every Christmas, attending the annual Christmas Day service in the morning and enjoying a communal Christmas meal later in the day. However, it's believed Harry and Meghan were not included in the guest list for this year's holiday festivities. Prince Harry wanted to quit royal family before meeting Meghan but stayed for heartbreaking reason Prince Harry 'begged' the Royal Family to delay devastating news announcement The reports come amid rumors Charles is not answering Harry's calls. A source claimed, "He gets 'unavailable right now'. His calls go unanswered." Speaking to People Magazine, the source added, "He has tried to reach out about the King's health, but those calls go unanswered too." The Duke of Sussex has been somewhat distant from his family since stepping down as a senior working royal, but many fans were hopeful for a reconciliation this year, particularly following the cancer diagnoses of King Charles and Kate Middleton . Harry has returned to the UK several times, but only met with his father once in February. After the visit, he told a US TV channel that he "loves" his family. The source shared with People, "Nothing would give [Harry] more happiness than being able to rekindle his bond with his father." They added, "At the end of the day, you can't undo bloodlines." The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have only celebrated two holiday seasons with the royal family. The first was in 2017, before their wedding, and the second in 2018. In their 2022 Netflix documentary, Meghan recalled her first Christmas at Sandringham, saying, "I remember so vividly the first Christmas at Sandringham. Calling my mom, and she's like, 'How's it going?' And I said, 'Oh my gosh, it's amazing.' It's just like a big family like I always wanted." The couple returned to Sandringham in 2018, with Meghan pregnant with Archie. However, in 2019, they opted for a quieter Christmas in Canada, just before announcing their decision to step back from their senior royal roles. Click here to follow the Mirror US on Google News to stay up to date with all the latest news, sport and entertainment stories. DAILY NEWSLETTER: Sign up here to get the latest news and updates from the Mirror US straight to your inbox with our FREE newsletter.Trailblazing model Dayle Haddon dies from suspected carbon monoxide poisoningThe ZRP has announced that they are investigating a case of abuse of two minors in a video that circulated. In the video that Crime Watch Zimbabwe shared, two minor boys were being beaten by a man wearing blue trousers. The man can be heard in the video asking the boys to strip so that he beats them. One of the boys shared that he was not wearing any underwear, to which the older man replied that it didn’t matter. The assault continued while other grown-ups watched , and one behind the camera was cheering for the beating to continue. Another woman joined in the attacks with a small log and began beating the two minors on the heads before she was held back. She kept wanting to come back to beat them, but another woman held her back. ALSO READ: Man Kills His 2-Month-Old Baby With A Log While Beating His Wife Minors In Need Of Medical Assistance After Flogging The people who were beating the children in the video are reported to be neighbours to their mother. One of the minors reportedly can not walk and requires medical attention after the beatings. The police have since released a statement on X regarding the video: Reference is made to a disturbing video circulating on social media, depicting a man wearing blue work suit trousers brutally assaulting two minors. The assault is further exacerbated by the arrival of a woman who joins in the attack. The suspects have been identified and investigations are currently underway to ensure that the law takes its course without fear or favour. The incident occurred in Madziwa area, Mashonaland Central Province. ALSO READ: Fortune Chasi Expresses Desire To Return To The Energy Ministry As Electricity Situation Worsens The police are urging the public not to take matters into their own hands regarding the law. Follow Us on Google News for Immediate Updates

The leader of Sinn Fein has expressed determination to form a government of the left in Ireland as she insisted her party’s performance in the General Election had broken the state’s political mould. Despite Mary Lou McDonald’s confidence around shaping a coalition without Fine Gael and Fianna Fail – the two parties that have dominated the landscape of Irish politics for a century – the pathway to government for Sinn Fein still appears challenging. With counting following Friday’s election still in the relatively early stages – after an exit poll that showed the main three parties effectively neck-and-neck – there is some way to go before the final picture emerges and the options for government formation crystalise. Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader, Simon Harris, has dismissed talk of a Sinn Fein surge and said he was “cautiously optimistic” about where his party will stand after all the votes are counted. Meanwhile, Ireland’s deputy premier and Fianna Fail leader, Micheal Martin , insisted his party has a “very clear route back to government” as he predicted seat gains. The counting process could last days because of Ireland’s complex system of proportional representation with a single transferable vote (PR-STV), where candidates are ranked by preference. The early indications have turned the focus to the tricky arithmetic of government formation, as the country’s several smaller parties and many independents potentially jockey for a place in government. Ms McDonald told reporters at the RDS count centre in Dublin that she would be “very, very actively pursuing” the potential to form a government with other parties on the left of the political spectrum. The smaller, left-leaning parties in Ireland include the Social Democrats, the Irish Labour Party, the Green Party and People Before Profit-Solidarity. Ms McDonald said her party had delivered an “incredible performance” in the election. “I think it’s fair to say that we have now confirmed that we have broken the political mould here in this state,” she said. “Two party politics is now gone. It’s consigned to the dustbin of history and that, in itself, is very significant.” She added: “I am looking to bring about a government of change, and I’m going to go and look at all formulations. “If you want my bottom line, the idea of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael for another five years, in our strong opinion, is not a good outcome for Irish society. “Obviously, I want to talk to other parties of the left and those that we share very significant policy objectives with. So I’m going to do that first and just hear their mind, hear their thinking. But be very clear, we will be very, very actively pursuing entrance into government.” In Friday night’s exit poll, Sinn Fein was predicted to take 21.1% of first-preference votes, narrowly ahead of outgoing coalition partners Fine Gael and Fianna Fail at 21% and 19.5% respectively. Prior to the election, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael both ruled out entering government with Sinn Fein. Fine Gael leader Mr Harris rejected suggestions Sinn Fein had broken new ground. He told reporters in his count centre in Greystones, Co Wicklow: “Certainly we haven’t seen a Sinn Fein surge or anything like it. “I mean, it looks likely, on the figures that we’ve seen now, fewer people, many fewer people would have voted Sinn Fein in this election than the last one. “In fact, I think they’re down by around 5% and actually the parties, particularly the two parties, the two larger parties in government, are likely to receive significant support from the electorate. So definitely, politics in Ireland has gotten much more fragmented.” He said it was too early to tell what the next government would look like. “I think anybody who makes any suggestion about who is going to be the largest party or the construct of the next government, they’re a braver person than I am,” he said. “Our electoral system dictates that there’ll be many, many transfers that will go on for hours, if not days, before we know the final computations at all. “But what I am very confident about is that my party will have a very significant role to play in the years ahead, and I’m cautiously optimistic and excited.” Fianna Fail’s Mr Martin told reporters at a count centre in Cork he was confident that the numbers exist to form a government with parties that shared his political viewpoint. Mr Martin said it “remains to be seen” whether he would return to the role of Taoiseach – a position he held between 2020 and 2022 – but he expressed confidence his party would outperform the exit poll prediction. “It’s a bit too early yet to call the exact type of government that will be formed or the composition of the next government,” he said. “But I think there are, there will be a sufficiency of seats, it seems to me, that aligns with the core principles that I articulated at the outset of this campaign and throughout the campaign, around the pro-enterprise economy, around a positively pro-European position, a government that will strongly push for home ownership and around parties that are transparently democratic in how they conduct their affairs.” Asked if it would be in a coalition with Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Social Democrats, he said that would be “racing a bit too far ahead”. The final result may dictate that if Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are to return to government, they may need more than one junior partner, or potentially the buy-in of several independent TDs. Mr Martin said it was unclear how quickly a government can be formed, as he predicted his party would gain new seats. “It will be challenging. This is not easy,” he added. The junior partner in the outgoing government – the Green Party – looks set for a bruising set of results. Green leader Roderic O’Gorman is in a fight to hold onto his seat, as are a number of party colleagues, including Media Minister Catherine Martin. “It’s clear the Green Party has not had a good day,” he said. The early counting also suggested potential trouble for Fianna Fail in Wicklow, where the party’s only candidate in the constituency, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, is considered to have a battle ahead, with the risk of losing his seat. Meanwhile, there is significant focus on independent candidate Gerard Hutch who, on Saturday evening, was sitting in fourth place in the four-seat constituency of Dublin Central. Last spring, Mr Hutch was found not guilty by the non-jury Special Criminal Court of the murder of David Byrne, in one of the first deadly attacks of the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud. Mr Byrne, 33, died after being shot six times at a crowded boxing weigh-in event at the Regency Hotel in February 2016. A Special Criminal Court judge described Mr Hutch, 61, as the patriarchal figurehead of the Hutch criminal organisation and said he had engaged in “serious criminal conduct”. The constituency will be closely watched as other hopefuls wait to see if transfers from eliminated candidates may eventually rule him out of contention. In the constituency of Louth, the much-criticised selection of John McGahon appeared not to have paid off for Fine Gael. The party’s campaign was beset by questioning over footage entering the public domain of the candidate engaged in a fight outside a pub in 2018. The Social Democrats have a strong chance of emerging as the largest of the smaller parties. The party’s leader, Holly Cairns, was already celebrating before a single vote was counted however, having announced the birth of her baby girl on polling day.Great news for people who can't get enough of the Kelces -- Jason 's wife, Kylie , is getting into the podcast game ... promising not to hold back with her very own show. The 32-year-old announced the new "Not Gonna Lie With Kylie Kelce" show on Monday ... which was put together by Wave Sports And Entertainment -- the same company that runs Jason and Travis ' popular "New Heights" show that just landed a $100 million payday. In the announcement trailer , Kylie joked about how it took her some time to come up with the name for her show -- saying "Yet Another Kelce Show" and "F*** Around And Find Out" landed on the cutting room floor. The execs over at Wave are pumped to add another Kelce to the roster ... with EVP of Original Content Tunde St. Matthew-Daniel saying, "From social media to commercials to her fan-favorite cameos on 'New Heights,' Kylie's refreshing candor, sharp wit and relatability has consistently resonated with a global audience." "'Not Gonna Lie' will bring more of that Kylie authenticity we all know and love, and we’re beyond thrilled she chose Wave as her home for this series." While the soon-to-be mother of four said she is shocked to be starting a podcast, she explained that with everyone seemingly infatuated with the family as of late ... it's best people hear directly from her. Plenty of people were pumped by the announcement... and that includes her brother-in-law -- as the Chiefs' star tight end said, "We need more!!!!!!👏🏽👏🏽" Kylie is no stranger to the microphone ... as she appeared on an episode of "New Heights" back in 2023 ... which has 8.2 million views. There is no word on any potential guests ... but one can imagine the Kelce bros will swing by eventually -- and maybe even Taylor Swift ? 👀

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On the afternoon of Oct. 12, 2017, a nurse at Kaiser Permanente called the Monterey Police Department to report that a patient had come in for a sexual assault exam. The woman, the nurse told police, said she had been sexually assaulted four days earlier while at a Republican women’s conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Spa in the coastal California resort town. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Get the latest news, sports, weather and more delivered right to your inbox.Youngkin says Virginia will host first commercial fusion plant

LIVERMORE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 12, 2024-- McGrath RentCorp (“McGrath” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: MGRC), a leading business-to-business rental company in North America, today announced the Board of Directors’ declaration of a quarterly cash dividend of $0.475 per common share for the quarter ending December 31, 2024. The dividend will be payable on January 31, 2025 to all shareholders of record on January 17, 2025. The year 2025 marks 33 consecutive years that McGrath RentCorp has raised its dividend to shareholders. ABOUT MCGRATH: McGrath RentCorp (Nasdaq: MGRC) is a leading business-to-business rental company in North America with a strong record of profitable business growth. Founded in 1979, McGrath’s operations are centered on modular solutions through its Mobile Modular and Mobile Modular Portable Storage businesses. In addition, its TRS-RenTelco business offers electronic test equipment rental solutions. The Company’s rental product offerings and services are part of the circular supply economy, helping customers work more efficiently, and sustainably manage their environmental footprint. With over 40 years of experience, McGrath’s success is driven by a focus on exceptional customer experiences. This focus has underpinned the Company’s long-term financial success and supported over 30 consecutive years of annual dividend increases to shareholders, a rare distinction among publicly listed companies. McGrath is headquartered in Livermore, California. Additional information about McGrath and its businesses is available at mgrc.com and investors.mgrc.com . View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241212717160/en/ CONTACT: Keith E. Pratt EVP & Chief Financial Officer 925-606-9200 KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMMERCIAL BUILDING & REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY CONSTRUCTION & PROPERTY ENGINEERING OTHER TECHNOLOGY MANUFACTURING MACHINERY HARDWARE OTHER CONSTRUCTION & PROPERTY SOURCE: McGrath RentCorp Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 12/12/2024 04:01 PM/DISC: 12/12/2024 04:00 PM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241212717160/en

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Dec. 17, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BullFrog AI Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BFRG; BFRGW) ("BullFrog AI" or the "Company"), a technology-enabled drug development company using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to enable the successful development of pharmaceuticals and biologics, today announced the appointment of Josh Blacher as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective immediately. This appointment comes in the wake of the untimely passing of Dane Saglio, BullFrog AI’s former CFO, who recently lost his battle with cancer. “Dane’s contributions to BullFrog AI were immeasurable. Beyond his exceptional expertise and dedication, Dane was a trusted advisor and a cherished friend. His wisdom, humility, and steadfast commitment to our mission will be deeply missed,” said Vin Singh, CEO of BullFrog AI. “At the same time, we are grateful to welcome Josh to our team at this pivotal moment. Josh’s extensive experience and leadership in financial strategy and corporate governance will be invaluable as we carry forward Dane’s legacy and advance our mission to revolutionize drug development.” Mr. Blacher, with more than two decades of experience in strategic finance and corporate development for life science and biotech companies, brings to BullFrog AI a proven track record in financial stewardship, capital raising, operations and profitability, and deal making. He has successfully overseen SEC reporting and investor relations for both private and publicly traded companies. Most recently, he has served as CFO for Predictive Oncology, Rampart Bioscience, Excision BioTherapeutics, and has previously held senior roles at Teva Pharmaceuticals, among others. Mr. Blacher earned his BA in Economics from Yeshiva University and an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School. In assuming the role of CFO, Mr. Blacher will build on the foundation laid by Mr. Saglio, focusing on enhancing the Company’s balance sheet strength, financial operations and supporting its strategic initiatives. About BullFrog AI BullFrog AI leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to advance drug discovery and development. Through collaborations with leading research institutions, BullFrog AI uses causal AI in combination with its proprietary bfLEAPTM platform to analyze complex biological data, aiming to streamline therapeutics development and reduce failure rates in clinical trials. For more information visit BullFrog AI at: https://bullfrogai.com . Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements. We base these forward-looking statements on our expectations and projections about future events, which we derive from the information currently available to us. Such forward-looking statements relate to future events or our future performance, including: our financial performance and projections; our growth in revenue and earnings; and our business prospects and opportunities. You can identify forward-looking statements by those that are not historical in nature, particularly those that use terminology such as "may," "should," “could,” “will,” "expects," "anticipates," "contemplates," "estimates," "believes," "plans," "projected," "predicts," "potential," or "hopes" or the negative of these or similar terms. In evaluating these forward-looking statements, you should consider various factors, including: our ability to change the direction of the Company; our ability to keep pace with new technology and changing market needs; and the competitive environment of our business. These and other factors may cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement. Forward-looking statements are only predictions. The forward-looking events discussed in this press release and other statements made from time to time by us or our representatives, may not occur, and actual events and results may differ materially and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions about us. We are not obligated to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed in this press release and other statements made from time to time by us or our representatives might not occur. Contact: Dave Gentry RedChip Companies, Inc. 1-407-644-4256 BFRG@redchip.com

La. Senate passes tax cuts, temporary sales tax increaseThe Conservatives criticised the International Criminal Court for issuing a warrant against Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu. British courts would be required to decide whether to enforce an international arrest warrant should Benjamin Netanyahu enter the UK, according to the Government. Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer was repeatedly urged by MPs to give a definitive answer on the UK’s likely action after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for the Israeli prime minister and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Mr Falconer said there is a domestic legal process to be followed through the courts that “determines whether or not to endorse an arrest warrant” by the ICC, adding this has “never been tested” as the UK has yet to be visited by an ICC indictee. Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel claimed the “only beneficiaries” of the ICC’s decision are “Hamas and their terrorist sponsors Iran” and said the Conservatives believe the warrants have “no basis in international law”. In reply to Labour MP Sarah Owen (Luton North), Mr Falconer told the Commons: “I’d like to just be clear that what I have said this afternoon is not that the Government will uphold arrest warrants. “What I have been clear about this afternoon is that due process will be followed. These are questions for independent courts in the UK, and it is independent courts that would review the arrest warrants if that situation were to arise.” Responding to an urgent question on the ICC’s decision, Mr Falconer earlier said: “In line with this Government’s stated commitment to the rule of law, we respect the independence of the ICC. We will comply with our international obligations. “There is a domestic legal process through our independent courts that determines whether or not to endorse an arrest warrant by the ICC, in accordance with the ICC Act of 2001. “This process has never been tested because the UK has never been visited by an ICC indictee. If there were to be such a visit to the UK, there would be a court process and due process would be followed in relation to those issues. “There is no moral equivalence between Israel, a democracy, and Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah, two terrorist organisations. This Government has been clear, Israel has a right to defend itself in accordance with international law, that right is not under question, and the court’s approval of the warrants last week do not change that.” For the Conservatives, Dame Priti said: “In charging Israeli leaders alongside Hamas, the ICC appears to be drawing a moral equivalence between Israel’s war of self-defence and Hamas terrorism. We utterly reject any moral equivalence. “The only beneficiaries of this decision are Hamas and their terrorist sponsors Iran, who are now celebrating this propaganda coup as a great victory for Hamas and Hezbollah. Since the ICC decision, we have had dither from ministers and confused messaging and no clarity. So I’m grateful to the minister today for his remarks. “And as to the issue of warrants, we have raised serious concerns over process, jurisdiction and the position on complementarity principle, and believe the warrants of Mr Netanyahu and Gallant have no basis in international law.” Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex) asked: “Can we be absolutely clear about what the Government is saying, because it seems that the Government is not saying there would be an automatic arrest should Benjamin Netanyahu arrive in this country but that there would be due process? “And could he confirm that customarily international law does not permit the arrest or the delivering of the serving prime minister of a non-state party to the ICC? “So he’s committing to due process but he’s not committing to arrest. Am I correct in understanding that?” Mr Falconer replied: “There’s domestic legal process through our independent courts, we cannot prejudge that process. “I note that the shadow attorney general has written to the Attorney General on questions of detail in relation to some of the points you allude to and the Attorney General tells me he’ll be writing back on those more detailed points.” Labour MP Abtisam Mohamed (Sheffield Central) asked the minister to “review all diplomatic, economic and political relations with Israel” to ensure the UK is “not complicit with the atrocities taking place in Gaza, the West Bank and in Lebanon”. Independent MP Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) said: “The ICC arrest warrants are welcome but in themselves will not bring an end to Israeli war crimes and ethnic cleansing and the killing of innocent men, women and children.” Several MPs, including Labour’s Melanie Ward (Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy), also repeated calls for the Government to sanction Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Mr Falconer told MPs: “I recognise the two that I’ve been pressed on the most this afternoon are of intense political interest. But despite their intense political interest, were we to prejudge sanctions and trail them in this House before we made them, we would reduce their impact. “The same is true of the hundreds of sanctions that we have done on Russia over the years and the same in every forum.”

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Even in this banner season for military academy football — complete with winning streaks, national rankings and a conference championship — the biggest goal remains the same. For Army: Beat Navy. For Navy: Beat Army. With the college football landscape changing at a furious rate, the significance of this matchup adds a dose of tradition to mid-December, amid all that talk about the transfer portal and the new expanded playoff. "We've had a good year. You make it a great year by winning this game coming up on Saturday. Frankly, that's just the way it goes around here," Army coach Jeff Monken said. "It's a game and a season really all of its own. We don't apologize for talking about it all the time. We talk about it all the time, and it's 365 days a year." Saturday in Landover, Maryland, is the 125th matchup between Army and Navy, and although these two programs are long removed from their days winning national titles and Heisman Trophies, this is a historic moment in the rivalry. The Black Knights and Midshipmen have combined for 19 wins this season, their highest total ever entering this game. Army (11-1) is ranked 19th in the AP poll after beating Tulane last week to win the American Athletic Conference — the first league title of any kind in the team's 134-year history. Navy (8-3) was ranked as well earlier this season after starting with six straight victories. "I knew we were going to be an improved football team," Navy coach Brian Newberry said. "Didn't know exactly what that was going to look like. I think certainly we've improved in a lot of different areas. I'm excited about the season we've had." This was Army's first season in the AAC, putting the Black Knights and Midshipmen in the same league, although their annual matchup is considered a nonconference game. For a while, there was a chance the teams could meet twice, with a conference championship clash coming before the regularly scheduled Army-Navy game, but that didn't happen. Their most prominent common opponent came from outside the league. Notre Dame handed both Navy and Army its first loss, beating the Midshipmen 51-14 and the Black Knights 49-14. Within the AAC, both teams beat Temple, UAB and East Carolina. Army beat Tulane and Rice and Navy lost to those two teams. Army and Navy also each won its nonconference game against Air Force. Those victories over Air Force mean this season's Commander-In-Chief's Trophy comes down to the Army-Navy game. It's the first time since 2017 that both teams enter this game with a shot at the trophy. It's also the first time since 2017 that both teams enter the game with bowl bids secured. Navy faces Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl and Army takes on Marshall in the Independence Bowl. This year's Army-Navy game is at the Washington Commanders' home stadium in Landover. It was also held there in 2011. This is the first time the game has been in Maryland since Baltimore hosted it in 2016. Baltimore is also up next in 2025. Army quarterback Bryson Daily has 29 rushing touchdowns this season, which is tied for the FBS lead with running back Ashton Jeanty, Boise State's Heisman finalist. Only one QB in FBS history has run for more TDs in a season than Daily. That was Navy's Keenan Reynolds, with 31 in 2013. "You come here to play in this game. The biggest stage possible, millions of people watching and a sold-out NFL stadium. It's awesome," Daily said. "None of the games that happened before this matter. We're going into this game like we're 0-0, they're 0-0 because that's just how you have to come into this game." Navy's closest game this season — win or lose — was a 56-44 win over Memphis. The Midshipmen are the only FBS team that hasn't had a game this season decided by eight points or fewer. AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.Vestdavit has boosted davit manufacturing capacity by 60-70% through expansion of its production plant in Poland with a new assembly hall that will enable the leading Norwegian supplier to meet growing demand from its core naval and offshore energy markets for advanced boat-handling systems. The state-of-the-art 1000 square-metre facility, recently opened at the Vestdavit Production site at Redzikowo in northern Poland, will greatly enhance the efficiency of the davit fabrication process by eliminating an assembly bottleneck to increase annual throughput to around 100 units, while allowing construction of larger davits and bolstering innovation, according to the company. “We expect to achieve efficiency gains of at least 10% through this significant investment, while also creating jobs as a responsible citizen to boost local employment after increasing the workforce at the factory from 65 to 85 in recent years,” says Vestdavit Managing Director Rolf Andreas Wigand. Importantly, he points out, construction of the assembly hall means that Vestdavit has become a fully integrated davit supplier with engineering, procurement, production and quality control consolidated at a single manufacturing hub. Design, administrative and sales support is also instantly available from the Norway head office via a newly upgraded ERP system that enables real-time data-sharing. Vestdavit Managing Director Rolf Andreas Wigand is looking to further expand davit production based on market optimism. Photo: Steve Marshall/Blue-C “This enables us to control every part of the value chain throughout the davit production process. Consequently, we can streamline the workflow and optimise fabrication to accelerate deliveries of sophisticated bespoke davit systems for our clients within demanding schedules, as well as budget and quality parameters, through time savings of 20-30%,” Wigand explains. In practice, this means immediate availability of diverse davit components from a storage and logistics depot in the adjacent main building that was formerly used for assembly work prior to construction of the dedicated assembly hall. Vestdavit can tap an efficient local supplier network to source items such as steel structures and components, as well as services like machining and painting. The main building also houses offices, welding area, machining room and tool storage area, while the close proximity to production teams under one roof facilitates efficient interaction among personnel to tackle any issues during the manufacturing process, which is supported by advanced automation technology. The new facility enables faster turnaround on orders through parallel assembly of multiple davits to boost productivity, as is the case with several PLAR-6501 units currently under construction for shipbuilder Austal Australia for vessels on order with the Royal Australian Navy. The new assembly hall at Vestdavit Production in Poland. Photo: Vestdavit Furthermore, the spacious hall with a high ceiling to accommodate large cranes allows fabrication of much larger boat-handling systems, such as docking-head davits favoured by the offshore wind industry for deployment of large workboats for turbine maintenance. “As well as providing greater production flexibility, the new facility allows room for more innovation to expand product development in accordance with client specifications. There is a great benefit from being able to produce everything internally given the increasing complexity of davit projects,” Wigand says. There are also davit testing facilities at the extensive 2.6-hectare (26,000 square-metre) site, acquired by Vestdavit in early 2020, which is located within the Slupsk special economic zone in the Pomerangia region of northern Poland. Vestdavit has adopted the innovative augmented reality solution xAssist that allows remote inspection, testing and verification of equipment, with digital goggles used by workers at the factory to transmit visuals for viewing on the Teams meeting application, which was a boon with travel challenges during the earlier Covid-19 pandemic. This is part of a push by the company to increase application of digital solutions throughout the davit development process to improve production efficiency, while customer relations management has been enhanced with a web-based system to interact with clients to optimise productivity from design to delivery. But Wigand emphasises that the “extremely competent workforce represents our greatest asset and most important resource” at Vestdavit Production, with a strong contingent of female employees reinforcing the company’s policy of gender diversity. Davit testing at Vestdavit Production. Photo: Vestdavit “Our production team in Poland, including warehouse workers, fitters and assemblers as well as administrative staff, has a high level of expertise with a strong commitment to quality and sustainability underpinned by ISO certification that ensures safety and environmental responsibility,” he says, adding the company also has a good working relationship with the local authorities, banks and partners. Vestdavit is focused on upskilling opportunities for its Polish team to improve their technical capabilities and problem-solving skills, while also providing apprenticeships for new recruits in areas such as hydraulic pipelaying. The combination of a well-trained and highly skilled workforce with a more efficient production facility has given Vestdavit an enhanced capability to roll out rush orders, as well as quickly turn around repeat orders for standardised designs, according to Wigand. “With this additional capacity, we have the ability to produce everything in our orderbook now and in the foreseeable future,” he says, after the company boosted orders by 76% last year to hit a sales record due largely to increased activity in offshore wind. But he does not rule out further expansion of Vestdavit Production and its workforce based on the company’s optimism over further exponential sales growth in its main markets going forward. “With another 3000 square metres available for additional construction at the site, we have the possibility of doubling the size of the production plant,” he says. Source: Vestdavit

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The US tech giant said it now supported 550,000 jobs in the UK through direct employment, its supply chain and the economy around its App Store – with app developers having earned nearly £9 billion since it launched in 2008. Apple said its engineering teams were carrying out critical work on the firm’s biggest services, including key technology within Apple Intelligence, the iPhone maker’s suite of generative AI-powered tools which are expected to launch in the UK for the first time this week. Elsewhere, the firm said its growing TV empire, spearheaded by its Apple TV+ streaming service and production arm, had also helped boost its investment in the UK with Apple TV+ production in this country tripling in the last two years, the company said. Chief executive Tim Cook said: “We’ve been serving customers in the UK for more than 40 years, and we’re proud of our deep connection with communities across this country. “We’re thrilled to be growing our Apple teams here, and to keep supporting the extraordinary innovators, creators, and entrepreneurs who are pushing the boundaries of technology in so many ways.” The Chancellor Rachel Reeves said companies such as Apple were “intrinsic” to the UK’s prosperity by boosting jobs. “This government is laser focused on creating the right conditions for growth to help put more money in people’s pockets. “That’s what underpins the Plan for Change and is what has driven £63 billion worth of inward investment in the UK through our first international investment summit. “Companies like Apple are intrinsic to the success of our nation’s prosperity – helping deliver jobs, innovative technology, and boost infrastructure.”

Boca Raton Museum of Art Executive Director Irvin Michael Lippman answers all of our questionsUS stocks rose Monday, with the Dow finishing at a fresh record as markets greeted Donald Trump's pick for treasury secretary, while oil prices retreated on hopes for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The Dow climbed one percent to a second straight all-time closing high on news of the selection of hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to lead the critical economic policy position. A widely respected figure on Wall Street, Bessent is seen as being in favor of growth and deficit reduction policies and not known overly fond of trade tariffs. The market "breathed a sigh of relief" at Bessent's selection, said Art Hogan from B. Riley Wealth Management. But after an initial surge Monday, the gains in US equities moderated somewhat. While investors are enthusiastic about the possibility of tax cuts and regulatory relief under Trump, "we do have to face the potential for tariffs being a negative as well as a very tight market around immigration, which is not positive for the economy," Hogan said. Earlier, equity gains were limited in Europe as growth concerns returned to the fore with Germany's Thyssenkrupp announcing plans to cut or outsource 11,000 jobs in its languishing steel division. Currently around 27,000 people are employed in the steel division, which has been battered by high production costs and fierce competition from Asian rivals. Elsewhere, crude oil prices fell decisively as Israel's security cabinet prepared to decide whether to accept a ceasefire in its war with Hezbollah, an official said Monday. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have all pushed in recent days for a truce in the long-running hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which flared into all-out war in late September. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Israeli official told AFP the security cabinet "will decide on Tuesday evening on the ceasefire deal." And bitcoin's push toward $100,000 ran out of steam after coming within a whisker of the mark last week, on hopes that Trump would enact policies to bring the cryptocurrency more into the mainstream. Bitcoin was recently trading under $96,000, having set a record high of $99,728.34 Friday -- the digital currency has soared about 50 percent in value since Trump's election. This week's data includes a reading of consumer confidence and an update of personal consumption prices, a key inflation indicator. Those reporting earnings include Best Buy, Dell and Dick's Sporting Goods. New York - Dow: UP 1.0 percent at 44,736.57 (close) New York - S&P 500: UP 0.3 percent at 5,987.37 (close) New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.3 percent at 19,054.84 (close) London - FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 8,291.68 (close) Paris - CAC 40: FLAT at 7,257.47 (close) Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.4 percent at 19,405.20 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.3 percent at 38,780.14 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.4 percent at 19,150.99 (close) Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,263.76 (close) Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0495 from $1.0418 on Friday Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2564 from $1.2530 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 154.23 yen from 154.78 yen Euro/pound: UP at 83.51 pence from 83.14 pence West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 3.2 percent at $68.94 per barrel Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.9 percent at $73.01 per barrel bur-jmb/dw

Alphabet Inc. ( NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report ) shot up 0.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $171.14 and last traded at $170.82. 12,433,371 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 19,605,984 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.62. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth GOOG has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56. Check Out Our Latest Research Report on GOOG Alphabet Price Performance Alphabet ( NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Alphabet Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%. Insiders Place Their Bets In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink . Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $33,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $37,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $40,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Alphabet Company Profile ( Get Free Report ) Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Alphabet Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Alphabet and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .

Illawarra basketball stalwart Bob Cannon takes great delight in being the oldest registered player in NSW. Subscribe now for unlimited access . Login or signup to continue reading The 82-year-old has no plans to slow down. Cannon is playing the game he loves more now than in years. Last month, Cannon enjoyed a successful campaign at the 2024 Pan Pacific Masters Games. He was part of the Myths and Legends team, which won a gold medal in the 80+ years and a silver in the 75+ age group in basketball. Cannon played 10 games during the Pan Pacific Games from November 3 to 10. "It was a tough schedule, but I loved every minute," he said. "I'm at my happiest when I'm playing basketball." Despite usually being one of the oldest players on the team, Cannon is one of the fittest and is often seen after a game doing a few line sprints to keep his fitness up, putting his much younger teammates to shame. Cannon, who was born in West Sydney but has lived in the Illawarra for the past twenty-plus years, started his basketball Masters' campaign in Bankstown in 1994. Over the years, he has had some speed humps, most notably a knee replacement and, more recently, a shoulder replacement. Cannon is now fighting fit. His current weekly routine involves veterans basketball on Sunday and Wednesday, Walking basketball on Wednesday and social men's basketball on Thursday. The latter has no age restriction, meaning Cannon can and often does play against players as young as 18. Last year, Cannon and his Illawarra Walking Basketball team won the state title in Hills District. The achievement came 10 years after Cannon first played in an Australian Masters' basketball tournament in 2013. That same year, he coached Australian women for 60+ years to a gold medal at the World Masters in Italy. Cannon has also played in several World Masters Games, including those held in the Philippines, Guam, New Zealand and the USA. He also represented Australia at the 2017 FIMBA Basketball World Championships in Italy, finishing sixth out of 18 teams participating. Cannon also had the honour of being the Australian flag bearer. He was also the Australian flag bearer in 2019 in Finland and was part of the first Australian side to win a medal after the team finished fourth out of the 10 competing teams. Cannon represented Australia again in 2023 in Argentina. He is preparing to play for his country again when Australia heads to Switzerland in 2025. Other team members hail from Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. One of the players, Frank Tomasi, currently living in Perth, originally lived in Wollongong and recalls helping his father install the original backboard supports at the Snakepit basketball courts (now called courts 3 and 4) around 1965. Australian Basketball Hall of Fame member Adrian Hurley OAM is the coach of Australia's 80+ team heading to Switzerland. Hurley has previously been the head coach of the Australian Boomers, in charge of the Illawarra Hawks NBL team in 1980, and a Perth Wildcats championship-winning coach. Bob advised the 80+ years team will get together for a training camp in Wollongong with coach Adrian Hurley around mid-May next year in preparation for the 2025 Switzerland FIMBA Basketball World Championships. "It's exciting. I can't wait to play for Australia again," Cannon said. Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure. Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure. More from Basketball Newsletters & Alerts DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. WEEKLY Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. WEEKLY Get the latest property and development news here. WEEKLY Find out what's happening in local business. WEEKLY Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. WEEKDAYS Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. 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CHRISTMAS can be explosive. Boozy rows at dinner, squabbles over the telly and disputes over gifts are common. One survey suggests the average family has at least five rows on December 25, kicking off at 10am! Thankfully, etiquette expert Jo Bryant has given Natalie Clarke her guide on how to avoid a full-blown festive fallout . . . PLAN AHEAD FOR A PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS HAVE a conversation with guests before the 25th. But time it right, as having it too far in advance will make you seem very uptight and over the top. Read More on Fabulous Phoning in a panic on Christmas Eve is no good either. Do it around now. What time will you eat? There may be young children to think of, or elderly relatives who will reach for the Rennies if their dinner is served too late. As host, it is your duty to see if anyone has special dietary needs . You don’t want an angry vegan on your hands if all you’re offering is turkey and pigs in blankets . Most read in Fabulous If you’re the guest, you have less control over the menu. With desserts, however, it’s a bit more relaxed. If you hate Christmas pudding , you can say: “Would you like me to contribute to lunch? Can I bring a pud?” Then you can rock up with your pavlova. DON’T BE LATE . . . BUT NEVER, EVER BE EARLY IT’S an age-old rule – and a very British one. There is nothing worse than a guest arriving early, because the host may not be ready and could still be up to their elbows in Brussels sprouts . If you are asked to arrive at midday, make sure you get there at noon, or very slightly afterwards. It’s far better to be ten minutes late than ten minutes early. IGNORE IT WHEN YOUR HOST SAYS: ‘DON’T BRING ANYTHING’ IF you’re going to someone’s house and you don’t know them well, it’s good to phone in advance and ask what you can bring. If the host says, “Nothing”, you should still take something – flowers, chocolates or a plant. It’s good manners. But beware turning up with a scented candle if they would probably prefer a couple of bottles of wine. If you’re the one doing the hosting and know your guests very well, it’s fine to ask if they would mind ­bringing cheese, chocolates, or whatever. That way, you make sure you end up with sensible contributions and it can help spread the cost. AVOID BORING JOURNEY CHAT IF you’ve had an awful journey, it’s bad etiquette to go on about it and bring that stress with you. Not only is it rude, but it also makes your hosts feel like inviting you is a burden. Allow time for your journey and, if you are running late, don’t call every 15 minutes with an update of your location. You can always share your location for an hour on Whatsapp. That way, your host will be able to see where you are or choose to ignore you if they are still too busy basting the turkey . GO YOUR SEPARATE WAYS CHRISTMAS – and life – is about give and take. Not everyone will want to do the same thing at the same time. For example, you could say: “Some of us are going to church – you’re more than welcome to stay at home if you don’t want to come.” That way, they can knock back the Prosecco while you’re singing hymns . Think of the needs of your other guests, too. Older guests might like an area they can sit quietly, away from the gaming teenagers. As a host, don’t inflict too many activities on guests – but if everyone else is playing Monopoly, don’t be the only one watching telly. Do what the majority is doing. MAKE A CUNNING SEATING PLAN IF there is family tension, I suggest a clever seating arrangement. Put place cards down and say: “Granny, why don’t you sit here? Uncle Bob, what about there?” It should go without saying, avoid sitting people who don’t get on next to each other. You should stick to safe topics when talking, such as highlights of the year, holidays and any great plans for 2025. Don’t hog the conversation and steer clear of the usual hotspots, such as politics. Awkward disccusions are best deflected with humour. Say something like: “It’s Christmas, we don’t want to talk about boring politics, do we?” DON’T CRITICISE THE CHEF PEOPLE get too stressed about Christmas lunch . It’s one meal in 365 days and probably isn’t going to be the best meal you eat. Chances are the turkey might be a bit dry, the sprouts overcooked. The point of Christmas is about community and family. You should focus on that, rather than criticising the chef. There are so many elements to the Christmas lunch, so there will be something you like. Try and have a bit of what you like the most – don’t sit there and say “I don’t like it”, or you could end up not being invited back next year. DON’T LOAD YOUR HOST’S DISHWASHER YOU should offer to help out, but in a sensible way. There’s being a help – and there’s being a hindrance. Trying to load someone’s dishwasher when you don’t know where everything goes is a pain. Ferrying plates from the table to the kitchen is probably more ­useful. Be helpful without commenting, interfering, or getting in the way. If you are staying over, you should be neat and tidy – hang up your towels, don’t hog the bathroom and live by the rules of your host’s house. HIDE THE WINE YOU need to let people enjoy themselves – it is Christmas, after all – but to try to reduce the risk of excess. I suggest sneakily limiting booze and ensuring there is plenty of coffee and water available later in the day. Lecturing people on drinking is never going to feel festive and if you tell someone they’ve had enough, it doesn’t tend to go down too well. REMEMBER TO SAY THANK YOU WE can all drive off on Boxing Day and think: “Thank God, we got through it.” But it’s probably been hardest for your host, so it’s always worth thanking them a couple of days afterwards. You can send an email, but a thank-you card in the post is a notch up and will have much more impact. TURN ANNOYING HABITS INTO ­LOVABLE TRAITS IF you don’t get on with a certain relative, I suggest you change your mindset, because they are not going to disappear at Christmas. If there is something your mother-in-law does that really annoys you – asking inappropriate questions about your sex life, perhaps, or laughing hysterically about things that aren’t funny – it will only be amplified after they have had a few wines. Instead, make it seem slightly humorous in your mind, part and parcel of who they are, rather than going to war over it. Awkward conversations are best deflected with humour, too. It’s bad manners to be confrontational and aggressive. IF YOU HATE A GIFT, KEEP QUIET IF someone has taken the time and effort to give you something – even if it’s a garish, itchy jumper – it’s churlish to say you don’t like it. As a ­general rule, you should accept it . If it is an item of clothing and it doesn’t fit, you can discuss getting a different size. And if it’s an incredibly expensive item, you could perhaps have a conversation. We all get a few presents we’re less keen on, so don’t be too fussy. READ MORE SUN STORIES And don’t show off and spend lots of money, either. You could embarrass the other person by giving them something too expensive.

Legit.ng journalist Adekunle Dada has over 7 years of experience covering metro, government policy, and international events CHECK OUT: Don't let unemployment hold you back. Start your digital marketing journey today. FCT, Abuja - Former Presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has urged northerners not to allow Niger Republic junta leader, Abdourahamane Tchiani, to gaslight them into turning against the Nigerian government. Omokri said northerners should treat him the same way Yoruba people treated and rejected Kemi Badenoch’s comment about the northern region. He said Yoruba showed that Nigerian nationality is more important than ethnic identity, adding that one good turn deserves another. The social critic stated this via his X handle (formerly known as Twitter) @renoomokri on Friday, December 27. PAY ATTENTION: Follow us on Instagram - get the most important news directly in your favourite app! He said Arewa influencers supporting Tiani’s behaviour would lose the moral authority to call any Southerner who joins Mrs. Badenoch against Nigeria . “Yes, Abdourahamane Tiani is Hausa by ethnicity, just like Kemi Badenoch is Lukumi Yoruba by culture. What is expected from all Nigerians is to cement Nigeria's unity by demonstrating, like the Southwest did, that Nigerian nationality is more important than ethnic identity. Read also Year in review: 7 political events that shaped Nigeria in 2024 “If Northern leaders of thought and opinion moulders allow Brigadier General Tiani's irresponsible, false allegations to turn them against President Tinubu and Malam Nuhu Ribadu, they would be dealing a severe blow to Nigerian national solidarity while at the same time telling those Lukumi Yoruba who stood up to Kemi that they are foolish. “Such people will be playing into the hands of those Southern irredentists who share Kemi Badenoch's views” PAY ATTENTION: Сheck out news that is picked exactly for YOU ➡️ find the “Recommended for you” block on the home page and enjoy! Source: Legit.ngFoot traffic rewarded

LONDON (AP) — Arsenal moved up to second place in the Premier League with a 1-0 home win against Ipswich on Friday. Mikel Arteta’s side is six points behind leader Liverpool, which has a game in hand. Second-bottom Ipswich had won two of its last three away games but was up against it from the start at the Emirates. The visitors did not have one touch in the Gunners’ box during the first 45 minutes and, although Ipswich showed signs of life after the break, it was Arsenal which continued to dominate the game, marshaled by Declan Rice in midfield. Kai Havertz got the only goal midway through the first half when he knocked in a cross from Leandro Trossard. Havertz, Rice, Mikel Merino, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus all had chances but none of them could add to Arsenal’s tally. “It’s so tough, every team is tough to break down," Havertz said. "They fight for each other and at the end we’re very proud for the win.” Arsenal is a point above third-place Chelsea and two points clear of season surprise team Nottingham Forest in fourth. Brighton had most of the chances but could not find the net in a 0-0 draw with Brentford that extended the south coast club’s winless run to six league games. It was a frustrating night for the home side and especially Julio Enciso. The Paraguay striker had a host of opportunities to score but couldn’t make them count. Along with Southampton, Brentford has the worst away record in the league with seven losses and two draws and it was easy to see why in this toothless performance. Brentford had an early goal from Yoane Wissa ruled out for offside and, although it came a bit more into the game in the second half, it failed to pressure Icelandic goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson, who made his Premier League debut eight minutes before halftime when Mark Flekken went off with a thigh injury. One bright spot for the home side was the return of winger Solly March. He came on as a late substitute to make his first appearance for Brighton since injuring a knee against Manchester City 14 months ago. The result leaves Brighton in 10th place with 26 points, one spot and two points ahead of the Bees. AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccerMicroStrategy’s Bold Move Sends Shares SoaringFor the second straight Major League Baseball offseason, a norm-shattering contract has been the talk of the winter , with Juan Soto agreeing with the New York Mets on a $765 million, 15-year deal that's the richest in baseball history. It comes almost exactly one year after the Los Angeles Dodgers forked out a princely sum of $700 million on a 10-year, heavily deferred deal for two-way Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani. They are believed to be the two richest contracts in pro sports history. The way it's going, a contract approaching $1 billion doesn't seem out of the question. But several factors are working against it — at least in the near future. There's reason to believe the megadeals for Ohtani and Soto are unicorns in the baseball world. Both players are uniquely talented, surely, but both also had unusual circumstances propelling their value into the stratosphere. Ohtani is the greatest two-way player in baseball history, capable of improving any team on both sides of the ball. He's also the rare baseball player who has true international appeal . His every move ( like his unexpected marriage announcement ) is followed closely in his native Japan, adding another 125 million potential fans who buy merchandise, watch him play and help fill the Dodgers' coffers. Then there's Soto — a four-time All-Star and on-base machine who won a World Series with the Washington Nationals in 2019. The X-factor for him is he became a free agent at the prime age of 26, which is extremely hard to do under current MLB rules. Players have to be in the big leagues for six years before testing free agency. The precocious Soto debuted at 19 with the Nats, making him part of a rare group of players who reached the highest level of professional baseball as a teenager. That accelerated his free agency timeline. It's rare for players to debut that young, and rarer still for them to develop into stars and test the open market the first chance they get. Two recent examples are Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, who both reached free agency in 2019. Machado signed a free-agent record $300 million contract with San Diego, and Harper overtook him days later with a $330 million contract to join the Phillies. Most players debut in the big leagues from ages 22 to 26, which means free agency comes in their late 20s or early 30s. A typical example is Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who is one of this generation's great players but didn't hit the market until he was 30. Judge played three seasons of college baseball for Fresno State before getting drafted by the Yankees in 2013 at age 21 — already two years older than Soto was when he made his MLB debut. It took a few years for the budding superstar to reach the majors, and he was 25 when he had his breakout season in 2018, smashing 52 homers to earn AL Rookie of the Year honors. By the time he reached free agency after the 2022 season, he had already passed age 30. It's a major factor that led to him signing a $360 million, nine-year deal with the Yankees, which seems downright reasonable these days after the Ohtani and Soto deals. Two major trends are colliding that will make it harder for guys like Soto to hit free agency in their mid 20s. First, MLB teams have been more likely in recent years to take college players early in the draft, betting on more experienced talents. Just 10 high school players were drafted among the top 30 picks in the 2024 draft . Second, teams are more eager to lock up young, premium talent on long-term deals very early in their careers, well before they hit free agency. Sometimes before they even reach the majors. Since Soto, just two players have debuted in MLB before their 20th birthday — Elvis Luciano and Junior Caminero. Luciano hasn't been back to the majors since his 2019 cup of coffee. Caminero is now 21 and has only played in 50 big league games. Among those that debuted at 20: Fernando Tatis Jr. signed a $340 million, 14-year deal with San Diego in 2021, years before reaching the open market. Milwaukee's Jackson Chourio got an $82 million, eight-year deal before even reaching the big leagues. Young stars Corbin Carroll ($111 million, eight years with Arizona), Bobby Witt Jr. ($288 million, 11 years with Kansas City) and Julio Rodriguez ($209.3 million, 12 years with Seattle) also got massive guarantees early in their 20s to forgo an early free agency. The exception and wild card: Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be a 26-year-old free agent next offseason. Guerrero hasn't been as consistent in his young career as Soto, but a standout 2025 season could position him to threaten Soto's deal. More likely is that the player to pass Soto isn't in the majors yet — and might not even be in pro baseball. When 25-year-old Alex Rodriguez signed his record $252 million, 10-year deal with Texas in 2001, it took over a decade for another player to match that total, when Albert Pujols got $240 million over 10 years from the Angels in 2012. For many players, passing up life-changing money in their early or mid 20s is too enticing, even if it means that they might not maximize their value on the free agent market later in their careers. Soto was determined to test the market. He famously turned down a $440 million, 15-year offer to stay with the Washington Nationals in 2022, betting that he could make even more as a free agent. Not many players would turn down that kind of cash. Then again, that's what makes Soto so unique. And it's also why his $765 million deal could be the industry standard for some time. AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

explorer slots game tricks As nations around the world celebrate the Yuletide season, which is a Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, it is a timely reminder that it is also an occasion to reflect on the set of ideals and principles which came with Jesus’s birth. These were meant to dictate the behaviour and actions of those who live on planet earth. While it is the traditional practice to engage in festive activities during this Christian festival, it is important that the people of the nation take time out to reflect on the fact that Christ’s birth was intended to bring life, hope and peace to mankind. It is important that the morale of the nativity story is not lost, as it weaves together lessons of kindness, humility and inclusivity. These values are treasures that will shape our children’s character and interactions with the world around them. At a time in the history of Barbados where there seems to be a crisis amongst our youth and youth people in particular, which is characterized by indiscipline, a lack of respect, disregard for law and order, deviant behaviour and crime and violence, there is an urgent need for a return to first principles. It is essential that the societal decay which is being experienced, is arrested, and that the morals, values and mores which once formed the bedrock of the Barbadian society, are restored. While there is merit for the championing of the rights of people and specifically those of children, right thinking Barbadians would accept that there is a limit to the level of empowerment which is to be given. There ought to be an awareness that there is an ultimate price to be paid when extensive liberties are granted in any societies. Barbados can ill afford to adopt all of the practices which are promoted and embraced in western cultures and the British Commonwealth, simply for the reasons of wanting to show compliance, when these practices are detrimental to the local traditions and culture that are to be preserved and respected. Barbadians should be prepared to promote the position that ‘where it is not broken, don’t attempt to fit it.’ Barbadians ought to send a clear signal that while there is support for ensuring and safe guarding the rights of adult persons, school age children and young persons, there must be reasonableness applied in the extension of liberties given to all human beings. How can this society account for the deviant and violent behaviour exhibited by school age children, the youth and young people of this country that has become a daily diet on social media platforms, where there is video evidence of unsavory happenings at schools and on the streets of Barbados? How do we account for the crime wave and in particular, that of gun crimes which are said to being committed by young persons between the ages of 17-35? How do we account for the highlighting of young persons in the daily newspapers, accused of committed some form of crime and the expressions they communicate of being a champion, without seemingly a care or worry? It is that they have the satisfaction of being protected by universal rights? How do we account for the various senseless and lawless acts which include the challenging and obstruction of the police in the execution of their duties by young persons? Those who wish to challenge the fact that our society is in a state of crisis where school age children and young people feature prominently, may want to consider why the Government of Barbados and the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training is placing so much attention on Reform Schools for deviant children, such as the Edna Nicholls School and the recently opened New Horizon Residential School. To add to this, there is the planned reopening of the Alma Parris Secondary School. There is also the need to understand the thinking which informed the decision taken by the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training to have a significant uptake in the number of Guidance Counsellors and Psychologists in the school system. This action suggests that there is a recognition of the severity of the problem, which must be tackled at the root level. This Christmas, the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados, endorses and voices Christ’s message of love, hope and peace. Additionally, it calls on parents and guardians of this nation’s children to participate in the programmes offered by organisation, Parent Education for Development in Barbados (PAREDOES). As we celebrate this Christmas, CTUSAB as a responsible organization, calls on all families of the nation to be guided by the words of Proverbs 22: verse 6, “Train up the child in the way in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” CTUSAB extends seasons greetings and best wishes to all Barbadians at home and abroad, residents and visitors alike. Dennis de Peiza General Secretary, Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations

Following recent changes in the Ministry of Culture’s leadership, notably the appointment of Jamal Eissa as the new head of censorship of artistic works, replacing Dr. Khaled Abdel-Jalil, I will not delve into the reactions or reasons behind this decision or other internal ministry discussions. Instead, I aim to explore what censorship should look like in an open world shaped by rapid technological advancements. In recent decades, the world has witnessed tremendous technological growth, transforming how we express ourselves artistically. We now live in an interconnected world that transcends geographical and cultural boundaries, where ideas and artistic works travel at the speed of light. Artistic creation is no longer confined to cinemas or traditional theatre stages but has become accessible on the small screens we carry in our pockets. This new reality poses significant challenges to traditional censorship. Censorship of artistic works has historically aimed to protect societal values and guide creativity within the boundaries of ethics and cultural standards. However, in this age of technological explosion, traditional censorship methods have become inadequate, sometimes unable to keep pace with the rapid rate of change. The landscape has changed dramatically; artistic content is now digital, cross-border, and multidimensional, placing censorship before difficult questions about its role and methods in a technology-dominated era. In the past, censorship exerted significant control over public content by deleting specific scenes or banning entire works. Media channels were limited, and imposing rules and regulations was straightforward. Today, this paradigm has shifted. Anyone can create and publish content on platforms like YouTube or TikTok, reaching millions worldwide. The traditional intermediary between creators and audiences has been eliminated, making it difficult—if not impossible—to monitor the vast volume of content. The openness enabled by the internet is neither an unmitigated blessing nor an unqualified curse. It offers immense opportunities for creativity and innovation but also facilitates the spread of harmful or offensive content. Here lies censorship’s dilemma: how can it protect societal values without constraining freedom of expression? How can it keep pace with technological advancements without appearing to fight a losing battle? Censorship undoubtedly needs to redefine its role in this digital age. It is no longer merely a tool for prevention or suppression but must evolve into a means of guidance and education. Censorship in the technological era should act as a partner in creativity rather than an adversary. Instead of resisting the technological tide, it should leverage these advancements to develop new tools that enable it to function effectively. One critical area for development is a deeper understanding of technology. Advances in artificial intelligence and data analysis can offer innovative solutions for censorship. For instance, intelligent algorithms could analyze artistic content and assess its suitability for target audiences without requiring direct human intervention. However, this does not mean eliminating the human element entirely. Instead, it involves providing tools that help make more accurate and objective decisions. In addition to technological tools, censorship requires flexible legislation that can adapt to rapid changes. Laws must evolve to accommodate the cultural and social diversity of today’s world. No single society can impose its standards on the entire globe, but laws can respect cultural specificities while preserving shared human values. Perhaps the most significant future role of censorship will not be in prevention or suppression but in education. In an open world, access to content cannot be entirely prevented, but people can be taught how to engage with it critically. Censorship should become a partner in media literacy, helping the public understand the content they consume and fostering their ability to distinguish between constructive and harmful material. At the same time, censorship must balance freedom of expression with the protection of societal values. Achieving this balance is no small task but is essential. Freedom is neither absolute nor subject to unrestrained suppression. Creativity requires a free space to flourish, but this space must be responsible, respecting others’ rights and reflecting shared human values. Censorship in the age of technology and open worlds is a challenging task but not an impossible one. It demands a new vision, modern tools, and an approach based on partnership with creators and the public rather than confrontation. Far from being the enemy of creativity, censorship can act as its guardian if it fulfils its role wisely and judiciously. Ultimately, the question remains: are we ready to develop this role? The answer is neither simple nor optional. As the world continues to evolve and creativity soars to new heights, censorship must adapt to become part of this change—a partner in creativity’s journey toward the future.None

A new report says that media freedoms in Zambia are under attack. The report says more than 60 percent of people surveyed think that the media cannot operate freely, due to frequent instances of harassment and intimidation faced by journalists and bloggers. The Media Institute of Southern Africa, or MISA, launched its report on December 17 in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka. MISA chairperson Lorraine Mwanza said that journalists in Zambia still face censorship and violence in the course of their duties. Both she and the report cited the case of Thomas Zgambo, an investigative journalist, who has been arrested three times in the last 13 months for writing stories that Zambian authorities deemed overly critical. Zgambo faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of charges that include libel and sedition. Zgambo told VOA that he will not stop writing and reporting. “All the three cases basically, it’s a journalist trying to find answers on behalf of the public but I’m now in court because instead of the government answering, they have decided to use the police to criminalize journalism and take me to court. So I’m in court with three criminal charges. I’m in court with three criminal cases before three different magistrates,” he said. Zgambo’s legal troubles started in November 2023, when he was arrested in connection with an article in which he alleged a government institution was renting a property from President Hakainde Hichilema. In August of this year, he was arrested for a 2022 story about an allegedly illegal government purchase of fertilizer. And in October, he was arrested for an article he wrote about food imports. The most recent arrest came hours after President Hichilema promised to uphold press freedom in a speech read on his behalf by chief government spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa. Joan Chirwa, the founder of a Zambian media advocacy group, the Free Press Initiative, told VOA she agrees with the findings of the MISA report. “We have seen political party figures still storming radio stations to disturb programming and threaten journalists there," she said. "We have seen journalists being detained by the police. We have also seen journalists been lumped with criminal charges just because of what they have written and our biggest worry right now is what may likely happen as we get closer to the 2026 election.” Chirwa criticized colonial-era laws being used by authorities against journalists in Zambia. These include criminal defamation, sedition and state security laws which Chirwa says are a hindrance to journalists playing their role as a watchdog on the government. However, at the launch of the MISA report, an official at the information ministry, Mumanga Morden Mayembe, argued that the government has not interfered with media freedoms at all. Mayembe said the government has opened up the media space, as evidenced by its licensing of more than 200 radio stations, 50 TV stations and many online platforms. “When platforms are few, then there will be few people expressing themselves on those platforms. When we just had [one] tv station, for you to appear on tv you needed to be a president, you needed to be a vice president, a minister or at least somebody with a name in society,” said Mayembe. However, Muthoki Mumo, the Africa program coordinator with the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a recent statement that the continued harassment of Zgambo paints a stark picture of the emptiness behind the government ‘s pledges to protect journalists.

Australian Damon Heta has shocked the darting world after he recorded a rare nine-dart finish at the PDC World Darts Championship. Despite Heta’s feat, it wasn’t enough to beat UK opponent Luke Woodhouse in the second round clash. However, even after being bundled out of the tournament, Heta should walk away on pretty good terms with himself as he picks up a cool $121,460 (AUD) cheque for the nine-darter. Due to a sponsorship promotion from bookmaker Paddy Power, for each nine-darter scored in the PDC World Darts Championship, $364,382 (180,000 pounds) will be split three ways. One third goes to the player who recorded the feat, one third goes to a random member of the crowd while the rest is donated to charity. A nine-dart finish is considered the perfect leg in a game of darts and is achieved by hitting 501 in nine darts with two 180s followed by a triple 20, triple 19 and a double 20. The World No. 9 jumped around on stage in celebration and lapped up the support of the boisterous crowd after hitting double 12 with his final throw. His opponent Woodhouse was just as happy than Heta, telling Sky Sports he “couldn’t not celebrate with him”. “Me and Damo are good friends,” Woodhouse said. “We play golf together a lot. We hang out and practice a lot. “I know he was gutted when he missed his double twelve in the first game. So, yeah, when he hit that nine-darter the crowd went wild. “You couldn’t not celebrate with him!” Heta took to social media site X after the historic match, where he said he’d trade in the nine-darter for a win. “Hit a 9 but lost the match... would give the 9 back for the win but it doesn’t work that way,” he wrote. N‍️ever got going in that game & the 9 was totally out of blue with how I was playing.”Casect Launches AI-Enhanced Case Log Platform for Surgeons

James May begs pub-goers to stop queuing for the bar as former Top Gear star brands the culprits 'un-British' for forming single file queues to get servedOne of the most controversial pieces of the short-term that helped tank last week was a provision that would have allowed members of Congress to receive a modest . As Musk argued against the so-called "continuing resolution" in a stream of posts on X, he said that lawmakers were set to receive a 40% salary increase if the bill passed. In reality, it would have at most been a $6,600 pay bump for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate, or 3.8% of their $174,000 annual salary, the Congressional Research Service. Nonetheless, that provision wasn't included in the that emerged — and was signed into law — after two days of on Capitol Hill. That's despite from lawmakers in that increasing the congressional salary is necessary to ensure that less wealthy people are able to serve and aren't lured away by higher salaries in the private sector, even if the optics are poor. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican and staunch supporter of President-elect , told reporters last week that the demands and responsibilities of the job made serving in Congress "not affordable" for those who weren't already wealthy like him. "If we're not careful, you're only going to get the individuals that are millionaires-plus that's able to serve in Congress, and that's not what it's supposed to be," Mullin said. "It's supposed to be the people's house." $174,000 is far more than the average household income, but that salary . Accounting for inflation, that means lawmakers' salaries have essentially decreased by more than 30% in the last 15 years. Members of Congress also face unique demands, including the need to maintain two residences — one in Washington, DC, the other in their home district — and those who can't afford it often opt to . Experts have also said it's simply a matter of good governance: If lawmakers are paid well, they're less incentivized to by becoming lobbyists after their tenure. "I tell people, the worst financial decision I ever made was running for Congress," Mullin said jokingly. The provision tucked into the original funding bill technically was not a raise, but rather allowed an automatic cost-of-living increase that was originally established by the 1989 Ethics Reform Act. Those annual adjustments, which are typically single-digit percentage salary increases, are designed to avoid the optics of lawmakers voting to increase their own pay. Rep. Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, sought to downplay the notion that members were even receiving a raise. "It just complies with existing law," Morelle told BI last week. "There's nothing extraordinary about it." Congress has nonetheless chosen to block those adjustments every year since 2009, owing to both inertia and the political unpopularity of increasing lawmakers' salaries. Earlier this year, a cohort of current and former lawmakers filed a over those denials, arguing their wages had been "unconstitutionally suppressed." The politics of raising wages on Capitol remains toxic, however. As word spread on Wednesday about the cost of living adjustment in the ball, lawmakers in both parties came out against it. "I cannot and will not vote to give myself more money when my constituents are feeling unbelievable financial pressure," Rep. Pat Ryan, a Democrat who represents a New York swing seat, said in a statement that day. "Congress should be focused on lowering costs for the American people, not giving ourselves a raise. If this provision isn't removed, I will be voting against the continuing resolution." Ultimately, the cost of living adjustment was blocked once more. Elon Musk did not respond to a request for comment. Read the original article onMurray State beats Loyola Chicago 71-68 for 7th place at the Diamond Head Classic

Shifting Philippine trade and security dynamics under the new US presidency

"Alphabets revolutionized writing by making it accessible to people beyond royalty and the socially elite. Alphabetic writing changed the way people lived, how they thought, how they communicated," Professor Schwartz said. "And this new discovery shows that people were experimenting with new communication technologies much earlier and in a different location than we had imagined before now." The alphabetic writing is etched onto finger-length, clay cylinders excavated at Tell Umm-el Marra, one of the first medium-size urban centers that popped up in western Syria. At Umm-el Marra, the archaeologists uncovered tombs... News Staff

Mozambique’s president-elect Daniel Chapo on Friday called for “non-violence” and “unity” after widespread rioting this week sparked by his ruling party’s contested election win. Chapo, who said he “regretted” the violence, promised that after his inauguration in mid-January, he would be “the president of all” in the southern African country, despite opposition claims of vote-rigging. Mozambique’s top court on Monday confirmed that Frelimo, Chapo’s party that has been in power for 50 years, won the October 9 vote, triggering four days of unrest that saw streets blocked, shops and businesses torched, and looting. Some 134 people were killed in the unrest, according to local NGO Plataforma Decide, taking the overall death toll since the elections to at least 261. Chapo said in his first public statement since the court decision that the worst affected cities were the capital Maputo, neighbouring Matola, the central city of Beira and Nampula in the north. “These acts only contribute to the decline of the country and the increase in the number of Mozambicans who are heading towards unemployment and poverty,” added the former provincial governor, who takes over an impoverished nation with glaring inequality in just a few weeks. Chapo thanked citizens who helped remove makeshift barricades to try to get life back to normal and praised security forces for “mitigating the harmful effects of political polarisation”. Several police officers died during the clashes, he added. He promised to turn around the country’s economy and to do “everything to renew” Mozambique. International observers also pointed to electoral irregularities in the disputed presidential poll, which the Constitutional Council said Chapo won with 65.17 percent of the vote. The country’s electoral commission had initially said Frelimo won nearly 71 percent of the vote. Before this week, Mozambique had seen a wave of demonstrations, strikes and blockades in protest at the election.XTNT Stock Touches 52-Week Low at $0.39 Amid Market Challenges

HONOLULU (AP) — KyeRon Lindsay and Terence Harcum each scored 16 points as Murray State beat Loyola Chicago 71-68 on Wednesday for seventh place at the Diamond Head Classic. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * HONOLULU (AP) — KyeRon Lindsay and Terence Harcum each scored 16 points as Murray State beat Loyola Chicago 71-68 on Wednesday for seventh place at the Diamond Head Classic. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? HONOLULU (AP) — KyeRon Lindsay and Terence Harcum each scored 16 points as Murray State beat Loyola Chicago 71-68 on Wednesday for seventh place at the Diamond Head Classic. Lindsay also had five rebounds and four steals for the Racers (7-6). Harcum went 5 of 10 from the floor, including 2 for 6 from 3-point range, and 4 for 6 from the line. AJ Ferguson shot 4 of 8 from the field and 2 for 4 from the line to finish with 11 points. The Ramblers (9-4) were led by Miles Rubin, who posted 16 points and three blocks. Des Watson added 12 points and Sheldon Edwards had 10 points. Lindsay scored eight points in the first half and Murray State went into halftime trailing 36-34. Harcum led the way with 10 second-half points. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar. AdvertisementSacramento Kings @ Los Angeles Clippers Current Records: Sacramento 8-7, Los Angeles 9-7 When: Friday, November 22, 2024 at 10:30 p.m. ET Where: Intuit Dome -- Inglewood, California TV: FanDuel SN - SoCal Follow: CBS Sports App Online Streaming: Catch select NBA matches on Fubo (Try for free. Regional restrictions may apply.) Ticket Cost: $35.52 The Clippers will be in front of their home fans on Friday, but a look at the spread shows they might need that home-court advantage. They will host the Sacramento Kings at 10:30 p.m. ET at Intuit Dome. The Clippers might want some stickum for this one as the team gave up 22 turnovers on Wednesday. The Kings are hoping to do what the Magic couldn't on Wednesday: put an end to the Clippers' winning streak, which now stands at three games. The Clippers came out on top against the Magic by a score of 104-93. The Clippers smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive rebounds. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as the Magic only pulled down two. Meanwhile, the point spread may have favored the Kings last Monday, but the final result did not. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 109-108 to the Hawks. The losing side was boosted by Keon Ellis, who went 9 for 15 from beyond the arc en route to 33 points plus six rebounds. Those nine threes gave him a new career-high. Los Angeles' win was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-7. As for Sacramento, their loss dropped their record down to 8-7. Keep an eye on the arc in Friday's contest: The Clippers have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 38.2% of their threes per game. It's a different story for the Kings, though, as they've only made 34% of their threes this season. Given the Clippers' sizable advantage in that area, the Kings will need to find a way to close that gap. The Clippers beat the Kings 107-98 in their previous meeting two weeks ago. Will the Clippers repeat their success, or do the Kings have a better game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough. Sacramento is a 3-point favorite against Los Angeles, according to the latest NBA odds . The line on this game has moved quite a bit since it opened, as it started out with the Clippers as a 5.5-point favorite. The over/under is 220.5 points. See NBA picks for every single game, including this one, from SportsLine's advanced computer model. Get picks now . Los Angeles and Sacramento both have 5 wins in their last 10 games. Nov 08, 2024 - Los Angeles 107 vs. Sacramento 98 Apr 02, 2024 - Sacramento 109 vs. Los Angeles 95 Feb 25, 2024 - Sacramento 123 vs. Los Angeles 107 Dec 12, 2023 - Los Angeles 119 vs. Sacramento 99 Nov 29, 2023 - Los Angeles 131 vs. Sacramento 117 Mar 03, 2023 - Sacramento 128 vs. Los Angeles 127 Feb 24, 2023 - Sacramento 176 vs. Los Angeles 175 Dec 03, 2022 - Sacramento 123 vs. Los Angeles 96 Oct 22, 2022 - Los Angeles 111 vs. Sacramento 109 Apr 09, 2022 - Los Angeles 117 vs. Sacramento 98

Among various potential lucrative offerings that the crypto market holds within it, how can anyone pick the best choice? The Avalanche price prediction increases after the upgrade in the form of Avalanche9000, and Sui coin price continues to set record-breaking figures with great strength at the network level. Considering these achievements, the crown of the best crypto presale has gone to BDAG. BlockDAG's BDAG400 promo gives a 250% bonus, which makes it the right time to participate. With a planned listing on multiple exchanges before 2025, the current presale price is at $0.0234, which is going to sky-rocket once the trading begins. For people looking for scalable and future-ready crypto assets, BlockDAG is a better investment option than Avalanche or Sui at this moment. BlockDAG Presale: Unmatched Rewards and Promising Future BlockDAG is gaining prominence as one of the leading crypto presales with significant potential and much-talked-about BDAG400 bonus. 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Hyderabad: Laurus Bio, a subsidiary of Hyderabad-based biopharma player Laurus Labs Ltd, has secured an equity investment of Rs 120 crore from Eight Roads Ventures and F-Prime Capital. Laurus Labs informed the bourses on Friday that its subsidiary has inked a definite agreement for the investment round that will also see Laurus Labs co-invest Rs 40 crore at the same valuation. The company stated that the promoters of Laurus Bio were also issued share warrants, exercisable up to two years from the date of issue at the same valuation. "Laurus Labs or Eight Roads Ventures have the right to invest up to an additional amount of Rs 35 crore before December 2025 at the same valuation. Upon completion of the transaction, Laurus Labs, Eight Roads Ventures, and the promoters of Laurus Bio will hold 75%, 14%, and 9% stake, respectively, on a fully diluted basis," Laurus Labs said in a regulatory filing. The company said the funds raised will be utilised by Laurus Bio for further expansion of its fermentation-based manufacturing capabilities to cater to the growing customer demand. Laurus Labs founder & CEO Dr Satyanarayana Chava and Laurus Bio CEO Rajesh Krishnamurthy said the fundraise will drive the expansion of the manufacturing and R&D infrastructure of Laurus Bio and enable it to further accelerate growth opportunities. "This investment will enable the company to further expand and accelerate microbial-fermentation capabilities, including faster development of new products, speeding up the internal pipeline, enhancing high-quality commercial-scale capacity to partners, and growing our industry position," Dr Chava said. Eight Roads Ventures India managing partner Dr Prem Pavoor said Laurus Labs and Laurus Bio (formerly Richcore Lifesciences) built a best-in-class biomanufacturing platform to cater to the growing global demand for sustainable manufacturing technologies. "Biomanufacturing is already being utilised across a range of industries including personal care, materials, food and nutrition, and pharmaceuticals. We are looking forward to growing Laurus Bio into a global leader in this emerging segment," Dr Pavoor said. Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , and Mini Crossword .

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One of the main concerns is that the installation of windshields on electric scooters can obstruct the rider's view of the road, other vehicles, and pedestrians. This limited visibility can increase the risk of accidents, especially in crowded urban areas where quick reflexes and a clear line of sight are essential for safe navigation.

As Nezha Motor Company navigates this legal challenge and works to address its financial obligations, the company faces a critical juncture in its corporate journey. The outcome of the legal proceedings and the company's ability to resolve its outstanding debts will have far-reaching implications for its reputation, credibility, and long-term viability in the competitive automotive industry.The tech-heavy ChiNext board was particularly hit hard, with many leading technology stocks witnessing a sharp decline in prices. This added to the selling pressure in the market, dragging down the broader indices across both the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges.

Title: Tragic Warning: Female Singer Paralyzed After 3 Massages, Dies a Month LaterNEW YORK , Dec. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of common stock of Celsius Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CELH) between February 29, 2024 and September 4, 2024 , both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important January 21, 2025 lead plaintiff deadline. So what: If you purchased Celsius common stock during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. What to do next: To join the Celsius class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=31677 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for more information. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than January 21 , 2025. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Why Rosen Law: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company at the time. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers. Details of the case: According to the lawsuit, during the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Celsius materially oversold inventory to PepsiCo, Inc. ("Pepsi") far in excess of demand, and faced a looming sales cliff during which Pepsi would significantly reduce its purchases of Celsius products; (2) as Pepsi drew down significant amounts of inventory overstock, Celsius' sales would materially decline in future periods, hurting Celsius' financial performance and outlook; (3) Celsius' sales rate to Pepsi was unsustainable and created a misleading impression of Celsius' financial performance and outlook; (4) as a result, Celsius' business metrics and financial prospects were not as strong as indicated in defendants' Class Period statements; and (5) consequently, defendants' statements regarding Celsius' outlook and expected financial performance were false and misleading at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages. To join the Celsius class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=31677 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. 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. Contact Information: 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 View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/celh-investors-have-opportunity-to-lead-celsius-holdings-inc-securities-fraud-lawsuit-302327947.html SOURCE THE ROSEN LAW FIRM, P. A.

Council committee throws hands up on natural gasIn a thrilling match against Manchester City, Watford's forward, Munoz, delivered a spectacular performance by scoring a crucial goal. The 26-year-old player expressed his pride and honor in finding the back of the net against one of the toughest opponents in the league. Despite the tough challenge, Munoz remains positive and determined, believing that Watford has what it takes to secure all 3 points in the match.

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BLOOMINGTON — The two largest school districts in McLean County are exploring a 1% sales tax to help pay for needed building projects and potentially reduce property tax burdens, officials said. The plan, which could put the question before voters as soon as the April election, surfaced as school boards for McLean County Unit 5 and Bloomington District 87 discussed preliminary tax levies for the coming fiscal year during separate meetings Wednesday night. While both districts' proposals call for lower tax rates, officials acknowledged many people will face higher property tax bills because of the rising value of their homes. District 87 Superintendent David Mouser said the County Schools Facility Occupation Tax would add a small percentage on every sale in the county to help fund school districts for facilities, mental health resources for students and safety and security. Mouser That is "a 1% tax that is then put on prepared food, tangible personal items (and) retail items. It includes online purchases, now, that it did not in the past," he said. However, the tax would not affect groceries, unprepared food, over-the-counter medication and most farm equipment. That question, if approved by the school districts housing the majority of students in McLean County, would be put to voters in the upcoming April election. For Unit 5, the resolution must come before the board during its December meeting or during a special meeting in early January to appear on the April ballot. Mouser told the school board Wednesday, a large portion of the money spent in McLean County, upwards of 40%, "is spent by folks that do not live in McLean County that can thereby offset the cost for facilities, safety, security and mental health services for our students." As property values and property taxes increase for county residents, such a tax could alleviate the pressure on county residents, Mouser said. "The other thing that you can do with the 1% sales tax, the County Facility Sales Tax, is you can abate property taxes," Mouser said. Unit 5, meanwhile, is evaluating the sales tax as a possible revenue stream to cover more than $70 million in infrastructure and maintenance projects over the next 15 years. In September, district officials gave a presentation on the current infrastructure needs of district facilities. Over the next five years, the district estimated more than $50 million in work to the schools' roofs, running tracks, fire alarm systems, geothermal systems, heating equipment, cooling towers and chillers. Another $13.6 million in projects is anticipated between 2030 and 2034, and another $7.8 million is estimated between 2035 and 2039. One of the most urgent projects is a $10 million roof replacement at Chiddix Junior High that must be completed this summer. If approved, the tax is estimated to generate between $16 million and $20 million annually for Unit 5, officials said. McLean County would allocate the sales tax revenue to the Regional Office of Education, which would distribute the funds across each school district in the county based on enrollment. The sales tax was one of several funding mechanisms the board discussed on Wednesday. Other options could be grant funding or the issuance of building or working cash bonds. Board member Amy Roser said since the district doesn't have $50 million, it should be mindful of consequences of any revenue source. Roser "If it doesn't come from (the sales tax) where we can take every dollar that we get and put it directly to a project, it's going to have to come from one of those other sources, and a majority of those other sources have interest involved," Roser said. Cooperative resolution For a referendum to be included on the April ballot, Unit 5 and enough school districts to represent a majority of the total enrollment of McLean County would have to pass a resolution, said Mark Jontry, regional superintendent for the Regional Office of Education 17. His office oversees the school districts in Livingston, Logan, DeWitt and McLean counties. "The way the statute reads, school boards that represent 50.1%, or the majority, of K-12 students residing in the county can pass a board resolution," he told The Pantagraph on Thursday. That resolution would then go to his office where they would prepare the ballot's language, Jontry said. "Once I verify that enough boards have passed it ... then I file the ballot initiative with the clerk and the Bloomington Election Commission for the consolidated April election," he said. Jontry said, because Unit 5 has more than 50.1% of total student population of McLean County, its Board of Education needs to pass the resolution for the tax question to have a chance in April. According the Illinois Department of Revenue, any funding received through this tax "is to be used exclusively for 'school facility purposes' in that county as defined in the County School Facility Occupation Tax Law." The statute was "subsequently amended almost 10 years ago with a slight expansion to include ... safety and security as well as mental health services," Jontry said, noting this includes school resource officers, school psychologists and school social workers. "The language in the ballot question actually specifically denotes those areas," he said. Based on the Department of Revenue's figures for sales within McLean County, $29-30 million would be divided amongst school districts countywide, Jontry said. "It would have a significant impact on their ability to maintain their facilities. ... I have two other counties that currently have (the tax) — Livingston and Logan — they have realized a lot of benefit to maintain their facilities without having to touch their (Operations and Maintenance funds)," Jontry said. Asking less, but receiving more For the past several years, property values in the county have increased because of multiple reasons, including companies like Rivian Automotive and Ferrero establishing long-term homes in the Twin Cities. District leaders said they hope the sales tax can help to offset the increased property values. "Your homes are worth more," said Michael Cornale, District 87's chief facilities and financial officer. "And we are asking less by (tax) rate of you all. It may not end up being less dollars, but we are asking less rate." For the 2025-26 school year, Cornale advised the board to approve a tax levy that would generate between $52 and $56 million, keeping the property tax rate for homeowners in the district below 5.1%. Michael Cornale, chief financial and facilities officer for Bloomington District 87, delivers a presentation on the 2025-2026 tax levy at the regular board meeting on Nov. 20, 2024. School districts have no influence on the equalized assessed value (EAV) of properties in their townships, Cornale said. That belongs to township officials. The Bloomington Township Tax Assessor is projecting an increase of 8.95% in EAV, but, because of potential assessment challenges from property owners, Cornale said he conservatively estimates that number closer to 7.75%. "Here's the truth: if (property owners') home value were to stay the same as it did from the year prior, they would see relief," Cornale said. "I'm not ... necessarily sure that everybody will see the same home value." According to Cornale's calculations, if the value of property were to remain stagnant, the owner of a $225,000 home would pay $52.72 less than they had the previous year. But the value is estimated to increase. But if that same property owner experienced EAV growth of 8.95%, they could pay about $290 more than they did the previous year. "The EAV is a component that you all (the school board), we all (administration) have no ability to change. There is nothing we can do in this room to change what that EAV is," Cornale said. "That comes from our township assessor. He gives me that number to start working from. So that number is set in stone, and then we work backwards." Before the start of every fiscal year, the county's school districts use a calculated assessed value tax rate from the county and township assessors to determine a requested amount of funds from taxpayers, Cornale said. "When I levy, I levy for dollars ... because we ultimately don't know what that certified EAV will be," he said. In the interest of fiscal responsibility, Cornale said he uses a conservative estimate of that rate to calculate the levy he provides to the county. "We're going to do our part as a community member to give some relief as we can. I think it's a fiscally responsible thing to do," he said. Unit 5 estimated a $163.4 million property tax levy, a roughly 9.2% increase over the 2023 tax year. As a result, a truth in taxation hearing must be held before the levy can be approved. However, the district is estimating a tax rate reduction from $5.29 per $100 of assessed value to $5.07 per $100. The owner of a $225,000 home who experienced a 10.63% increase in value in 2024 would see a $239 increase to Unit 5's portion of their property tax bill. Unit 5 Chief Financial Officer Marty Hickman said this will be the first year the district will take advantage of the increased tax rate for its education fund that was approved by referendum in 2023 . Hickman As a result, the levy for the education fund increased from $76.3 million in 2023 to about $109 million in 2024. The district also saw a significant reduction to its levy for debt service after paying off building bonds. The levy amount for debt service dropped from roughly $37 million to about $13.6 million. Local officials from the community and college as well as with the company joined together Thursday at Country Financial headquarters, 1701 Towanda Avenue, in Bloomington, to announce the mile-long trail project which will be called the Country Financial Trail at Heartland and extend the Constitution Trail. Photo Credit: Artazum / Shutterstock Despite many economic experts’ worst fears early in the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local government budgets have proven resilient over the last two years. With much of the economy shut down or hobbled as a result of the pandemic, forecasters initially worried that states and localities would collect substantially lower amounts of sales and income tax and face major budget shortfalls as a result. But behind falling unemployment, rising wages, and strong consumer spending, income and sales taxes have produced stronger-than-expected revenues since the initial shock of the pandemic. One factor that has helped protect state and especially local revenues over this period is property taxes, which are taxes levied on real property like land and buildings or certain forms of personal property. Property taxes tend to be more stable over time because property values are less susceptible to economic volatility than income and sales tax. Depending on when taxes are assessed, it could take years for any significant changes in property values to become apparent in a government’s tax collections. This certainly helped keep property tax revenues steady during the pandemic—and for some communities, collections could potentially grow in coming years due to the skyrocketing values of residential real estate. Property taxes’ stability could help continue to protect state and local budgets if the U.S. is headed toward a recession in the near future. Property tax collections represent 16.6% of state and local general tax revenues, which makes it the largest form of “ own-source ” revenue generated by states and localities, ahead of individual income (12.9%) and general sales taxes (12.5%). And among all revenue sources, property tax trails only intergovernmental funds (22%), which comprises funds transferred from one government to another (most frequently federal to state or local) through grants, loans, and other agreements. However, the overall mix of state and local revenue sources looks different across the U.S. Each state and local government offers a unique collection of revenue sources that weights income, sales, property, and other taxes differently. For example, nine states have no state income tax , while five have no state sales tax. Others have caps on property tax rates or restrictions around how property valuations are conducted that limit the amount of revenue from property taxes . This means that individuals’ specific tax burdens will look different depending on what state and local tax laws are in place where they live. Property tax collections across the states show these differences in action. At the low end, only 6.9% of general tax revenue collected in Alabama comes from property tax, while at the high end, property tax is 36.5% of general tax revenue in New Hampshire. New Hampshire stands out in part because the state has neither an income nor a sales tax, so many services are funded at the local level through property taxes. Many of the other locations highly dependent on property taxes are nearby Northeastern states including New Jersey, Maine, and Connecticut. The data used in this analysis is from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances . To determine the states that collect the most property tax revenue, researchers at Porch calculated property tax revenue as a share of total general tax revenue. In the event of a tie, the state with the greater annual property tax revenue per capita was ranked higher. Here are the states that collect the most property tax revenue. Photo Credit: Mihai_Andritoiu / Shutterstock Photo Credit: John S. Quinn / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Henryk Sadura / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Jacob Boomsma / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Ingus Kruklitis / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Shawn Dorsey / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Christian Delbert / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Photo Credit: f11photo / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Photo Credit: nektofadeev / Shutterstock Photo Credit: f11photo / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Photo Credit: RaulCano / Shutterstock Contact D. Jack Alkire at (309)820-3275. Twitter: @d_jack_alkire Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. General Assignment Reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. 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Tampa Bay (7-6) at Los Angeles Chargers (8-5) Sunday, 4:25 p.m. EST, FOX BetMGM NFL odds: Chargers by 3. Against the spread: Buccaneers 8-5; Chargers 9-4. Series record: Chargers lead 8-4. Last meeting: Chargers beat Buccaneers 38-31 in Tampa, Fla., on Oct. 4, 2020. Last week: Buccaneers beat Las Vegas 28-13; Chargers lost to Kansas City 19-17. Buccaneers offense: overall (3), rush (8), pass (6), scoring (5). Buccaneers defense: overall (28), rush (11), pass (30), scoring (22). Chargers offense: overall (24), rush (19), pass (25), scoring (13). Chargers defense: overall (11), rush (T-14), pass (8), scoring (1). Turnover differential: Buccaneers minus-2; Chargers plus-11. QB Baker Mayfield is trying to lead Tampa Bay to a fourth consecutive NFC South title. He’s already matched a career-best for touchdown passes with 28, but also hasn’t done as good a job of taking care of the football as a year ago. He threw for 295 yards and three TDs in last week’s 15-point win over Las Vegas. He also turned the ball over three times in the first half to help the Raiders stay close until the fourth quarter. WR Quentin Johnston bounced back from a couple of tough performances to make five catches for 48 yards and a touchdown against the Chiefs. But inconsistency has been the defining trait of the slow start to Johnston’s NFL career, so being able to follow it up will be telling. The Chargers needed the 2023 first-round pick to step up with rookie Ladd McConkey sidelined because of knee and shoulder injuries last week. With McConkey's status to play Sunday uncertain, Johnston could be called on again. Chargers RB Kimani Vidal vs. Buccaneers LB Lavonte David. Vidal, a rookie from Troy, seems to have increased his standing in the Chargers’ backfield that definitely missed J.K. Dobbins (knee). Vidal had eight carries for 34 yards while playing 53% of the offensive snaps in Kansas City, more than starter Gus Edwards. The Chargers are going to stick to the run under coach Jim Harbaugh, which means the newcomer Vidal will have to outfox a 13-season veteran in David. At 34, David remains a force, making seven tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss and recovering a fumble against the Raiders. He is eight tackles away from his 11th season of triple-digit stops. Bucs S Antoine Winfield Jr. left last week’s game with a knee sprain and is expected to be sidelined a couple of weeks. Leading rusher Bucky Irving has a back injury that will be evaluated as the week progresses. ... Chargers QB Justin Herbert is dealing with a sprained left ankle, but doesn't believe it is as serious as the right high ankle sprain he sustained in Week 2 against Carolina. Herbert was able to play through that ailment, which should bode well for his availability. While the Chargers won eight of the first nine meetings between the franchises, Tampa Bay took the past three. ... This will be the Buccaneers’ third trip to Los Angeles and second to SoFi Stadium, where they lost 34-24 to the Rams in September 2021. The Bucs are 7-1 in December/January regular-season games going back to last season. They’re 19-5 in those games going back to 2020, the first of Tom Brady’s three years with Tampa Bay. ... WR Mike Evans needs 17 receptions and 426 yards over the next four games to finish with his 11th consecutive season with at least 60 catches and 1,000 yards receiving. ... Evans had seven receptions for 122 yards and a TD the previous time Tampa Bay faced the Chargers (Oct. 4, 2020). ... The Bucs have rushed for 100-plus yards in 10 of 13 games. That’s after doing it just nine times over 34 games the past two regular seasons. ... With leading rusher Bucky Irving sitting out most of last week’s game against Las Vegas with a back injury, starter Rachaad White took up the slack with 90 yards rushing on 17 attempts — both season highs. He also scored two TDs, one receiving. ... White’s rushing TD was the 14th for Tampa Bay. That’s more than the Bucs scored on the ground in 2022 (five) and 2023 (eight) combined. ... The Chargers have turned the ball over a league-low six times. The franchise record for fewest giveaways in a season is 15, which they did in 2006 and 2017. ... Herbert hasn’t thrown an interception in 11 straight games. That is tied with Brady for the longest streak in NFL history. Brady closed out the 2010 regular season for New England without being picked off after Week 5. ... S Derwin James Jr. has three tackles for loss and two sacks in his past three games. ... PK Cameron Dicker has made 65 of 66 field goals under 50 yards in his career, with his 98.5% success rate the best in league history. Dicker has made all 30 attempts inside of 50 yards at home. ... The Chargers defense allowed 17 of 31 third down conversions (54.8%) in two games against the Chiefs. They have held their other 11 opponents to 45 of 146 (30.8%). The Buccaneers find ways to play shootouts, with eight of their games seeing the winner score 30 or more points. The Chargers find ways to play grinding affairs, with only two of their games seeing the winner score 28 or more points. Whoever dictates the style of play will determine how much fantasy value comes out of this game. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFLThough temperatures have already started to drop in some parts of the country, winter doesn't officially begin until mid-December. Here's what to know about the winter solstice, the astronomical start to the snowy season and the shortest day of the year. 24/7 San Diego news stream: Watch NBC 7 free wherever you are What is the winter solstice? The winter solstice marks the beginning of astronomical winter. It's different from the beginning of the meteorological winter, which is based on our 12-month calendar. To answer this question more completely, let's go back to middle school science class for a minute. The Earth rotates in two primary ways: first, it moves in a big circle around the sun; second, it spins around an axis like a top, creating day and night. That axis is tilted on a slight angle, causing the Northern and Southern hemispheres to receive different amounts of sunlight at different times of the year. So, though we tend to think about the winter solstice as a day-long event, the term actually refers to a precise moment at which one half of the Earth — either the top or the bottom — is tilted the furthest away from the sun, meaning that that half of the planet sees the fewest hours of sunlight it will see all year. Though the winter solstice marks the shortest day of each year, it also signals an increase in the amount of sunlight each day for the next six months. Holidays From gift guides to local events, we're here to help you celebrate in style. A Thanksgiving survival guide for parents of picky eaters Takeout Thanksgiving: 27 restaurants offering grab-and-go meals for the holiday Similarly, the day when the Earth's tilt is closest to the sun is called the summer solstice. It's the longest day of the year and marks the astronomical beginning of summer. When is the winter solstice? In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice occurs every year on Dec. 21 or 22. This year, it falls on Dec. 21. The summer solstice is six months later around June 21. For people who live below the equator, however, those days are flipped. Their winter solstice occurs in June, while their summer solstice happens in December. What's an equinox? Each year, there are two equinoxes — one in the spring, and one in the fall. During the equinoxes, the sun is directly above the Earth's equator, meaning there are equal amounts of sunlight and darkness on those two days. The vernal equinox, which happens in March in the Northern Hemisphere, marks the astrological end of winter. In September, the autumnal equinox signals the astrological end of summer. When are the next astrological season changes? Below is a list of the astronomical season changes we can expect to see following the upcoming winter solstice next month: Vernal Equinox (Spring): Thursday, March 20, 2025, 5:01 a.m. Summer Solstice (Summer): Friday, June 20, 2025, 10:42 p.m. Autumnal Equinox (Fall): Monday, September 22, 2025, 2:19 p.m. Can you see the winter solstice? Sort of. Each day, the sun traces a path across the sky, rising in the east and setting in the west. As the winter solstice approaches and the number of hours of sunlight in a day decreases, the sun's path sinks lower in the sky, though it follows the same general arc. By the time the winter solstice arrives, the sun sits at the lowest position in the sky it can. As a result, the shadow you cast becomes longer and longer as the winter solstice approaches. So, while solstices aren't nearly as visible as eclipses, if you go outside at noon on the winter solstice, your shadow will be the longest it will be all year.

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