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Kuwait Namaa Charity opens new refugee camp in North GazaPhew! Outdoor dining in LA gets another extensionPrince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, says that his lawsuit against ‘s U.K. news outlets are about “truth and accountability.” Speaking to Andrew Ross Sorkin at The Dealbook Summit Wednesday, Prince Harry said of the lawsuit — which is focused on the phone hacking scandal that rocked the world — is about securing accountability for the victims who are not as powerful as he is: “I am the last person that can actually achieve [accountability],” he said. “The scale of the coverup is so large, that people need to see it for themselves,” Harry said, adding that the details of the coverup “will be the piece that really shocks the world.” The prince also had sharp words about the media — not just the U.K. tabloids, but also mainstream legacy media, as well as social platforms that he said foment “reckless speech.” “Ninety-seven to 98 percent of the utter nonsense that is written I either don’t know about or I just have to ignore,” Harry said, adding with a smile: “Never Google yourself.” (Google CEO Sundar Pichai just so happened to be the speaker appearing onstage after Harry left.) Harry said that there is “perhaps a hidden agenda in some mainstream media, and some social media. It’s a like a competition for who can hide the truth or lie or mislead us more.” “I have seen stories written about myself that aren’t exactly based on reality,” he said. “When you grow up in that environment, you do find yourself questioning thee validity of the information, but also what other people are thinking about as well.” As he noted, he speaks from personal experience, calling back to his childhood, when his mother Princess Diana was killed in a car crash while being chased by paparazzi. “When you are kind of trapped within this bubble, it kind of feels like there is no way out. I was a kid, I felt hopeless,” he said. Prince Harry, of course, is also a part of the media, with his and his wife ‘s Archewell holding a TV and film deal with Netflix. They previously had an audio deal with Spotify, which ended last year. He says the current media environment is a mess, with consumers understandably not sure what to believe. “Our need for credible information is so important, more important now than ever,” he said. “We have elements of the mainstream media trying to redefine public interest for their own interests, and we have social media platforms trying to redefine free speech for their own interests.” Indeed, social platforms were of particular interest, with Harry arguing that social platforms making billions of dollars off of consumers “should be held accountable” for negative consequences that stem from their use. He does not use social media personally, he said. “It is not a coincidence that the world has become more volatile, more divided, since social media has come around over the last 20 years,” Harry said, taking aim at claims from the likes of Elon Musk and others who claim that free speech on social media is the most pressing issue of the moment. “The moment that you start normalizing hate speech, aren’t you taking free speech away from so many other people?” It is, as he acknowledged to Sorkin, a “difficult” problem to solve. “Some people don’t trust what they read, some people question it. I wish sometimes that more people would question it,” Harry said, adding in a joking tone that “I have no doubt that everything that we have spoken about in the past 20 minutes will be spun or twisted against me.” But he was certain about one thing: He and Meghan Markle have no plans to leave the U.S., even as Donald Trump prepares to take office next year. “I very much enjoy living here and bringing my kids up here. I feel that it is the life my mum wanted for me,” Harry said, adding that he particularly cares about being “able to do the things I can do with my kids that I would not be able to do in the U.K.” THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day More from The Hollywood ReporterHerro leads Heat over Rockets in game marred by fight and ejections in final minute
The British Columbia government is increasing tax incentives for both local and international film and TV projects in an effort to attract more major productions to the province. Premier David Eby said the tax credit for international projects made in B.C. will jump from 28 to 36 per cent, and an incentive for Canadian-content productions will increase from 35 to 36 per cent. There’s also a special bonus to attract blockbuster productions with budgets of $200 million. Speaking on Thursday at the Martini Town studio, a New-York-themed backlot in Langley, B.C., Eby said tax incentives are the province’s “competitive advantage” and increasing them will help the industry that has been battered by the pandemic, labour disruptions and changes to industry practices. “This is a sector that’s taken some hits. The decision by major studios to ... reduce some of their budgets on production, the impact of labour disruptions, other jurisdictions competing with British Columbia for these productions with significant subsidies for the industry, means that we need to respond,” Eby said, the Manhattan street scene behind him decorated for Christmas. “We need to make sure that we continue to be competitive.” Government numbers show the film industry generated $2.7 billion in GDP in 2022 — roughly one per cent of provincial GDP — and $2 billion in 2023, a year affected by strike action and a decrease in global production A government statement says the incentives begin with productions that have principal photography starting Jan. 1, 2025, and projects with costs of greater than $200 million in B.C. will receive a two per cent bonus. Gemma Martini, chair of industry organization Screen BC and CEO of Martini Film Studios, told the news conference that it has been a “tumultuous” year for film and television, which supports tens of thousands of jobs. “It is clear that British Columbia is a well respected and preferred global production partner, but we must be able to compete at the bottom line,” she said. “We expect, we know, our government’s announcement will put B.C. back in the game to earn our true ‘Hollywood north’ reputation.” Foreign film and TV work makes up an average of 80 per cent of total production spending in B.C., and the government says maintaining strong international relationships is critical for the industry to continue to thrive. The government says it also intends to restore regional and distant-location tax credits that were cut last year for companies with a brick-and-mortar presence outside of Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Whistler and Squamish. Eby first promised to increase the tax credits as part of his election campaign earlier this year. Just days after the new B.C. cabinet was announced in November, a delegation that included Finance Minister Brenda Bailey and Arts and Culture Minister Spencer Chandra Herbert travelled to California to pitch B.C.‘s film and TV industry. Chandra Herbert told the news conference that during the trip they met industry representatives who are now looking at B.C. “in a bigger way” because of the new incentives. He said the additional two per cent bonus for productions over $200 million is a way to encourage larger productions to come and stay in B.C. “This is a way of making sure that the workers in this industry, and the companies, know that we’re here for them for the long term. You can make these investments long term. You can grow the industry today, tomorrow and into the years ahead,” he said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2024.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and soon to be Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R.-S.D.) need to go huge in first budget reconciliation act , because this might be the only bite of the apple they get. The political reality in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is that the majority margin is unstable and might not exist in October 2025 if resignations, illness or even naturally occurring deaths winnow their current 220-to-215 majority . As of now, due to presidential appointments ravaging the House majority, the count at the beginning of the upcoming Congress is expected to be as thin as one vote at 216 to 215. (RELATED: STEPHEN MOORE: You Say You Want A Revolution? Watch Trump) The internal political debate that is raging in Washington, D.C. is how far the Republican trifecta of House, Senate and Executive Branch control can go in the first swing at passing a budget reconciliation bill which is not subject to the filibuster in the Senate. Should the Republicans include in this bill the entire wish list of extending the Trump tax cuts from the first term, ending taxes on tips , overtime and Social Security , bolstering border security, restoring sane energy policy by ending Green New Deal tax laws implemented under the Inflation Reduction Act , ending the expansion of the Internal Revenue Service by 87,000 agents , reducing the size of the federal workforce and many other issues? Or should the Republicans wait to tackle many of these issues — particularly holding off keeping the Trump tax cuts which is important to the incoming president’s economic growth plan — until October or November? The instability of their House majority demands that they choose the boldest plan possible and pass it, leaving little undone. From a political and economic standpoint, it is in every Republican’s interest that the economy be thriving when they come up for re-election in 2026. Creating tax uncertainty by failing to extend the first-term Trump tax cuts for the corporations who the president will be trying to incentivize to invest in growing America’s industrial and resource-development base undermines the Trump economic-growth plan. It would also be very unwise to not immediately keep President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to end the taxes on tips and overtime. The Social Security tax issue may need to be part of a separate, independent bi-partisan deal, but it would be a slap in the face to those hourly wage and tip workers to not deliver on a promise that directly and immediately impacts their take home pay. The private Department Of Government Efficiency is calling for cutting the number of federal government employees along with many other changes. If Congress is going to act on any of their recommendations, it is critical that they start with a ten percent reduction in force or more in the budget reconciliation act with a projected savings of about half a trillion dollars over a ten-year period. Border security was a fundamental divide between the president-elect and his opponents and needs to be handled through budget reconciliation which does not require the votes of Senate Democrats. So, anything in this area that can be included in the reconciliation bill must be in the first one Republicans pass into law. Unwinding the tax incentives to produce unreliable energy sources is essential for inclusion as well. These incentives act as a disincentive to invest in fossil-fuel energy generation — and are designed to push out fossil fuels and nuclear energy from the all-of-the-above energy strategy that Republicans are fond of talking about. For Trump’s energy policy to work, government must take its thumb off the scale in favor of renewables, and the only place that can get done is through the budget reconciliation act. Failure to do so will leave in place a tax system designed to drive capital investment away from oil and natural gas and toward wind and solar. We have an abundance of domestic natural gas, oil and coal. What Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act did was squeeze capital investment away from developing and using this abundance. Ultimately, anything left out of the first budget reconciliation act may not find a place in any subsequent bill, even if the House and Senate majorities hold for the full two years. In late 2025, many members of Congress will be turning their eyes toward the 2026 election as the primary season will be a few months away. No one knows if, with their razor-thin majorities, the historically contentious House and Senate GOP conferences can politically hold together for a future BRA. In 2017, Republicans attempted to partially keep their promise by using the budget reconciliation bill to try to partially repeal Obamacare. It fell apart as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) surprised the Senate GOP leadership by voting against the bill , causing it to fail and proving that legislative coalitions are fragile. That is why the old saying to strike while the iron is hot should be Republican leadership’s and Trump’s battle cry. They might not get another chance to keep their 2024 election promises and being tepid on the first budget reconciliation bill will only lead to failure to make the changes needed to restore America’s greatness. Republicans need to go big. They were elected to solve problems and the budget reconciliation process is one of the few vehicles which allow the majority party to assert its will in Congress to make change. So, just do it. Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government. The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation. All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org .OTTAWA - Incoming U.S. president Donald Trump is brushing off Ontario’s threat to restrict electricity exports in retaliation for sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods, as the province floats the idea of effectively barring sales of American alcohol. On Wednesday, Premier Doug Ford said Ontario is contemplating restricting electricity exports to Michigan, New York state and Minnesota if Trump follows through on a threat to impose a 25 per cent tariff on imports from Canada. “That’s OK if he that does that. That’s fine,” Trump told American network CNBC when asked Thursday about Ford’s remarks on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. “The United States is subsidizing Canada and we shouldn’t have to do that,” Trump added. “And we have a great relationship. I have so many friends in Canada, but we shouldn’t have to subsidize a country,” he said, claiming this amounts to more than US$100 billion annually in unspecified subsidies. Meanwhile, an official in the Ford government says it’s considering restricting the Liquor Control Board of Ontario from buying American-made alcohol. The province says the Crown agency is the largest purchaser of alcohol in the world. The province also says it could restrict exports of Canadian critical minerals required for electric-vehicle batteries, and bar American companies from provincial procurement. Ford doubled down Thursday on the idea of cutting off energy exports. The province says that in 2013, Ontario exported enough energy to power 1.5 million homes in those three states. “It’s a last resort,” Ford said. “We’re sending a message to the U.S. (that if) you come and attack Ontario, you attack livelihoods of people in Ontario and Canadians, we are going to use every tool in our tool box to defend Ontarians and Canadians. Let’s hope it never comes to that.” Ontario Energy Minister Stephen Lecce said the province would rather have co-operation with the U.S., but has mechanisms to “end power sale into the U.S. market” the day Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith ruled out following suit. “Under no circumstances will Alberta agree to cut off oil and gas exports,” she said. “Our approach is one of diplomacy, not threats.” Michael Sabia, president and CEO of Hydro-Québec, said “it’s not our current intention” to cut off Quebec’s exports to Massachusetts or New York state, but he conceded it might be possible. “Our intention is to respect those contracts, both because they’re legally binding, but also because it’s part of, in our view, a sound relationship with the United States,” he said. “It’s a questionable instrument to use in a trade conflict.” Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew would not directly say whether Manitoba would threaten to withhold hydroelectric exports. “We are preparing our list and starting to think through what those options should look like,” he said. “I’m not going to make specific news today about items that we’re looking at.” Kinew added that some premiers felt retaliatory measures wouldn’t work in a call Trudeau held Wednesday. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey said “we have no interest in stopping” the export of energy to the U.S., adding that a trade war would hurt both countries. “We hope it is just bluster; we’re preparing as if it is not,” he said. Canada supplies more oil to the U.S. than any other country. About 60 per cent of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85 per cent of U.S. electricity imports as well. Canada sold $170 billion worth of energy products last year to the U.S. It also has 34 critical minerals and metals the Pentagon is eager for. Trump has threatened to impose a 25 per cent tax on all products entering the United States from Canada and Mexico unless they stem the flow of migrants and drugs. Canadian officials have said it is unfair to lump Canada in with Mexico. U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border. Canada since has promised more border security spending to address Trump’s border concerns. Ford said that will include more border and police officers, as well as drones and sniffer dogs. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2024. — With files from The Associated Press, Liam Casey in Toronto, Lisa Johnson in Edmonton and Steve Lambert in Winnipeg.
Fabian Schar’s 87th-minute strike secured a point against the league leaders, with Newcastle twice having claimed the lead through Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon. However, while Howe was delighted with the quality of his side’s attacking play and the spirited way in which they battled back after falling behind in the second half, he felt three important calls did not go his side’s way. First, he was surprised that VAR did not instruct referee Andy Madley to look at the first-half incident that saw Virgil van Dijk angle his shoulder into Anthony Gordon’s face after the winger had fired a shot at Caoimhin Kelleher. Then, in the second half, Howe felt Newcastle should have had a penalty when Jarell Quansah appeared to bring down Isak in the box. And then, right at the end of the game, the Newcastle boss was frustrated at Madley’s decision to blow the final whistle just as looked as though the home side were launching a two-on-one break with Isak and Callum Wilson charging towards the Liverpool box. READ MORE : “I thought it was a penalty on Alex, but I haven’t seen a replay, that was just an initial thought,” said Howe, whose side delivered a much-improved display in the wake of Saturday’s attacking no-show at Selhurst Park. “I was surprised by the final whistle because I think we’d spent around two minutes on a free-kick in extra-time, so I was expecting seven minutes to be played. I think it was 5.15 when he’s blown, so that was a blow because it looked like we were in a good position. “Then, I think VAR looked at (the van Dijk on Gordon incident) and concluded nothing happened, so we have to accept it. I was surprised by it initially though.” Howe was nevertheless pleased with his side’s performance against the runway league leaders, even if he was left slightly frustrated that they were unable to claim all three points after leading on two separate occasions. “It’s mixed emotions,” he said. “Part of me feels we should have won it, a big part of me, but part of me is pleased we didn’t lose either because it was such a late goal for us. “Generally, I’m just pleased with the performance. There was much more attacking output, a much better feel about the team. There was much better energy, and it was a really good performance against, for me, the best team we’ve played so far this season in the Premier League. So, it was a big jump forward for us.”
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King and PM honour former US president Jimmy Carter after his death aged 100SAN FRANCISCO , Nov. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Smodin, a trailblazer in AI-powered tools for students, educators, and professionals, is thrilled to announce an exciting development: www. contemplativeinquiry.org and www. freshu.io now redirect to Smodin.io, creating a single, unified hub for innovation and productivity. This move marks a significant step forward in Smodin's mission to make advanced AI tools more accessible than ever. By integrating these domains into Smodin.io, users will enjoy seamless access to a broader range of resources, from AI writing assistance to content analysis, all on a single platform designed to meet diverse needs. "This isn't just about redirection—it's about transformation," said the founder of Smodin. "By bringing everything under the Smodin umbrella, we're creating a one-stop solution for anyone seeking smarter, faster, and more effective tools to achieve their goals." Visitors from contemplativeinquiry.org and freshu.io will now have direct access to Smodin's continually expanding suite of features, including plagiarism detection, essay generation, and tools tailored to enhance productivity and creativity. This evolution ensures users can focus on what truly matters: creating, learning, and growing. The consolidation is part of Smodin's vision to innovate and deliver an unparalleled user experience while solidifying its position as a global leader in AI technology. Discover the future of AI-driven solutions at www.smodin.io . About Smodin Smodin is a leading AI-powered platform dedicated to empowering users worldwide with smart tools for writing, research, and productivity. With a focus on innovation and accessibility, Smodin transforms the way students, educators, and professionals work and create. View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smodin-unites-powerful-domains-to-deliver-an-all-in-one-ai-platform-302314508.html SOURCE Smodin