MIRPUR ( AJK) : Nov 30 (APP), (UrduPoint / Point - 30th Nov, 2024) The and Kashmir National Conference, "ruling party" in Illegally Occupied and Kashmir, Saturday strongly condemned the barrage of petitions filed across calling for surveys of mosques and shrines in the hardliner BJP-led country. says a report reaching here Saturday night across the . In a statement released party headquarters Nawa E Subha in occupied , the partry's Provincial President Kashmir, Showkat Mir expressed deep concern over the of petitions that have been submitted calling for surveys of mosques and Shrines. He warned that if these actions were not addressed, they could further disrupt the prevailing atmosphere across , the report said. “The recent petition calling for a survey at the revered shrine of Khawaja Moin Ud Din Chisti (RA) in Sharief has deeply offended of individuals belonging g to the community, the largest community in . regardless of their background, who hold the Shrine in high regard. Each year, of pilgrims corners of the globe, regardless of their faith or nationality, make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisty. This shrine stands as a symbol of and diversity. The destruction of old mosques and historic structures by certain hard-core individuals belonging to majority hindu community, a clear attempt to sow discord and division within the country,” he underlined, according to the report. Recalling the ancient history of the subcontinent he said that development of the Dargah was not solely attributed to rulers, but also to non-Muslim kings who had made significant contributions in the region. "It is disheartening to see someone who is ignorant of 's rich history, traditions, and coexistence, attempting to gain attention by falsely claiming that a lies beneath the Dargah", the NC leader said. "Regrettably, this unfounded assertion has been entertained by the judiciary of . It is imperative that we stand united against such attempts to disrupt the harmony and . We must protect the sanctity of our sacred sites and preserve the history and traditions that have brought us together. Let us not allow baseless claims and divisive actions to undermine the religious fabric of the ancient region in the light of the history", he emphasized, the report said. Mir urged that the Places of Worship Act, 1991 unequivocally prohibits any alteration to the religious character of a place of worship. He added, “Section 4 of the Act specifically dictates that the religious essence of a place of worship, as it stood on 15, 1947, must be preserved. In the landmark case of M. Siddiq (Ram Janmabhoomi ) vs Suresh Das ( ), the of affirmed the constitutional validity of this Act, underscoring its crucial role in safeguarding communal harmony and upholding 's diverse heritage. "India's apex has further asserted that the Act upholds the secular principles enshrined in the Constitution and serves as a bulwark against the exploitation of historical claims for political or religious purposes," he concluded quoting the recent ruling the apex , the report said. APP/ ahr
The Higantes Festival, held annually in Angono, Rizal, is a vibrant celebration of creativity and community. Known as the “Art Capital of the Philippines,” Angono brings this tradition to life every November in honor of its patron saint, San Clemente. This festival showcases larger-than-life papier-mâché figures called higantes, a key highlight that reflects the ingenuity and artistic flair of Filipinos. The higantes, which stand over 10 feet tall, are colorful caricatures of various characters, often portraying humorous depictions of everyday life, folklore, or historical figures. Their exaggerated features and lively designs are not only a feast for the eyes but also a reflection of the Filipino spirit — joyful, resilient and creative. The parade of these towering giants, accompanied by traditional music and dance, transforms the streets into a living canvas of cultural expression. The festival’s roots trace back to Spanish colonization, when it served as a form of social satire, allowing locals to subtly critique colonial figures through exaggerated representations. Over time, it evolved into a cultural celebration that bridges the past and the present, keeping traditions alive while adapting to modern sensibilities. The Higantes Festival is more than just an artful spectacle; it is a testament to the unity and vibrancy of Filipino communities. It brings people together, from local artisans crafting the gigantes to families gathering to watch the parades. This celebration underscores the importance of preserving heritage while inspiring future generations to embrace and innovate within their culture. In a rapidly modernizing world, festivals like Higantes remind Filipinos of their rich history, their deep connection to community, and the enduring power of art to tell stories and celebrate life. It is a cultural treasure that embodies the heart and soul of the Philippines.
Municipalities in B.C. are automating key aspects of their workflow in order to achieve planning efficiencies and accelerate approval timelines. In a market defined by limited housing supply and low affordability, cities are embracing technology and artificial intelligence to interact seamlessly with project proponents and speed up much-needed real estate development. With a federal goal of 3.9 million new homes by 2031, and with short-staffed municipalities facing ambitious provincial housing targets, the goal is to make interactions with city hall far more productive and user-friendly. This way, more projects can come to fruition before the passage of time renders them unviable or uneconomical. As the technology becomes more sophisticated, city staff can be redeployed to perform monitoring, verification and other higher-level tasks. “Say you make an application to re-zone a property today from residential to a mixed-use commercial zoning, and we figure you need to upsize your water and your sewer,” explained Ryan Smith, divisional director of planning, development and climate sustainability with City of Kelowna. “Today, we have someone look at the pipe sizes. Someone has to compile it and put it into a memo which gets sent to the developer. We’re working on automating all of that so that the system’s smart enough to go in and check pipe sizes and know what the standard would be, what the pipe size is today, and be able to figure out, ‘Okay, well you need to upsize your water line to this, you need a new sewer line and it’s got to be this,’ and give you a list of the civil-engineering-related improvements to your property.” Digital technology is playing an important role in advancing the City of Vancouver's permitting approval processes. Tools like the Permit Requirements Exploration Tool (PRET), eComply and the 3-3-3-1 dashboard are instrumental in helping the city achieve its goals outlined in the 3-3-3-1 permit approval framework. Vancouver city council adopted the 3-3-3-1 framework at a June 13, 2023 meeting. It includes three days to approve home renovation permits, three weeks for single-family home and townhouse permits, three months for certain multi-family and mid-rise projects, and one year for high-rise or large-scale projects. While the framework will take some time to accomplish, technologies like AI are helping the city get there sooner rather than later. According to a statement provided by city staff, two of the city’s tools, eComply and the 3-3-3-1 dashboard, have used AI-assisted technology. The first, eComply, was developed in partnership with Australia-based Archistar and uses AI-assisted technology to allow applicants to upload drawings and check them against regulations. Meanwhile, the 3-3-3-1 dashboard, which provides an overview of progress toward permitting targets, was supported by AI-assisted technology in its creation. While the tool is still in development and currently available for internal use only, staff said it will eventually be made public. “We remain committed to exploring emerging technologies, including AI, to continuously improve the efficiency, transparency and accessibility of our permitting processes,” said the City of Vancouver’s statement. The City of Kelowna, considered a pioneer in its use of technology, began its journey about five years ago, when a provincially funded grant enabled the city to explore ways to search zoning rules in a more efficient and user-friendly manner. The city pitched the idea to Microsoft Corp., which helped the city implement a chatbot that gives advice on zoning and building-related feedback if members of the public are trying to apply for various types of permits, such as upgrades or infill housing. “How do I apply for a swimming pool permit?” said Smith. “It will walk you through the different things you need to know and try to answer your questions about being able to do that.” Kelowna’s next phase is behind the scenes, where the city is replacing its 30-year-old legacy software with improved tools for processing building-permit and re-zoning applications. “We also needed to get better data out of that system so that we could start making better data-driven decisions related to housing, and track progress related to the Housing Supply Act in B.C., our own housing needs assessment and our housing accelerator fund commitments,” said Smith. The new software program, Cityworks, features a chatbot that guides the making of building permit applications, with everything done online. You won’t need to come into city hall for anything or to drop anything off. The software also enables digital plan checking, and building inspectors can even manage their inspections online. “The thing about AI is, the quality of the information that the municipality feeds into the system is the quality of the information that the user can get out the other side,” said Tegan Smith, CEO of Channel Consulting. “The more that the municipality has an updated official community plan, updated zoning bylaws, updated development permit area requirements and updated infrastructure plans, the more they can leverage AI and chatbots to provide specific feedback to applicants right down to the site level.” Right now, infrastructure such as roads, water and sanitary, is assessed on a site-by-site basis. For example, if a single-family lot is being turned into a six-storey apartment building, there may be a requirement to upgrade a water main to allow for adequate fire flows. Right now, all of that is done by engineering studies specific to the project. This is one reason why infrastructure master plans are critical, she said. “If we are able to develop models that can actually be predictive about the implications on a site level, then we’ve got the key with AI to unlock its full potential.” Today, AI can be used internally by city staff to enhance their workflow and easily consult building, plumbing and electrical codes. It can be used to conduct risk-based building inspections, and can be used to communicate with members of the public during major snow events. ChatGPT can quickly review zoning bylaws and answer whether or not a certain use can be implemented. Tomorrow, AI could be used to make permit approval recommendations, predict market cycles or help optimize the use of public land for affordable housing. It could also make recommendations about how best to re-develop any property based on what’s allowed by the municipality, accompanied by immediate quotes from suitable builders and financiers. In the aggregate, these novel applications could help solve regional and national housing shortages. But AI also has gaps and limitations. For example, coordinated data is needed to ensure you’re measuring apples to apples. Also, AI cannot easily be implemented for planning and development, since there are many more possible journeys with many more variables, necessitating highly complex answers to questions. “While AI can accelerate planning processes and offer fresh insights, its outputs must be combined with other data sources and assessed by professional planners and decision-makers,” said the City of Vancouver in its statement. “Relying solely on AI, or any single source of information, can pose risks when making complex, impactful decisions.” By empowering human decision-makers, redistributing their workflow and training them to interact with and oversee bleeding-edge technologies, precious staff time can be reallocated, scarce resources redistributed and personnel retrained. AI “gets me a lot of the way there because I’m able to have a certain probability of success,” said Smith of Channel Consulting. “I’m able to say it’s probably correct, and then I can go and verify. But you have to actually have the expertise to know what to ask and what to verify. I think the critical thinking and human involvement is going to continue to be important.”
John Parker Romo made a 29-yard field goal to lift the Minnesota Vikings to a 30-27 overtime win against the host Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon. Romo buried the game-winning kick in his third career game for Minnesota (9-2), which won its fourth game in a row. The score capped a 10-play, 68-yard drive for the Vikings after the Bears went three-and-out on the first overtime possession. Sam Darnold completed 22 of 34 passes for 330 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Vikings. Wideout Jordan Addison finished with eight catches for a career-high 162 yards and a touchdown. The overtime defeat spoiled an impressive performance from rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, who completed 32 of 47 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns for Chicago (4-7). D.J. Moore had seven catches for 106 yards and a touchdown, and Keenan Allen finished with nine catches for 86 yards and a score. Chicago erased an 11-point deficit in the final 22 seconds of regulation to send the game to overtime. Romo had put Minnesota on top 27-16 when he made a 26-yard field goal with 1:56 remaining in the fourth quarter. Williams trimmed the Bears' deficit to 27-24 with 22 seconds to go. He rolled right and found Allen wide open in the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown, and moments later he fired a strike to Moore for a two-point conversion. The Bears recovered an onside kick on the next play to regain possession at their 43-yard line with 21 seconds left. Cairo Santos' onside kick bounced off the foot of Vikings tight end Johnny Mundt, and Tarvarius Moore recovered it. D.J. Moore put the Bears in field-goal position with a 27-yard reception across the middle of the field, and Santos made a 48-yarder as time expired to even the score at 27-all. Minnesota led 24-10 after three quarters. Romo made a 40-yard field goal early in the third quarter, and Aaron Jones punched in a 2-yard run with 1:22 left in the period to put the Vikings on top by two touchdowns. Addison and Jalen Nailor each had receiving touchdowns in the first half for Minnesota. Roschon Johnson scored on a 1-yard run for the Bears' only touchdown of the first half. Chicago trailed 14-10 at the break. --Field Level MediaNEW YORK and AMSTERDAM , Dec. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Dow Jones Indices ("S&P DJI"), the world's leading index provider, today announced the results of the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) rebalancing and reconstitution. The DJSI are float-adjusted market capitalization weighted indices that measure the performance of companies selected using environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. The DJSI, including the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World), were launched in 1999 as the pioneering series of global sustainability benchmarks available in the market. The index family is comprised of global, regional and country benchmarks. As a result of this year's review, the following top three largest companies based on free-float market capitalization have been added to and deleted from the DJSI World. All changes are effective on Monday, December 23, 2024 . Additions: Airbus SE, Schlumberger Ltd, BAE Systems Plc Deletions: Alphabet Inc 1 , UnitedHealth Group Inc, ASML Holding NV 2 The full results and list of DJSI constituents will be available as of Monday, December 23 2024 , at https://www.spglobal.com/esg/csa/djsi-annual-review S&P Dow Jones Indices will be renaming a number of its sustainability and ESG-related indices (see Index Announcement ). As part of this update, the family of Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) will be renamed Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices. The changes will become effective on Monday, February 10, 2025 . The S&P Global CSA Scores will continue to be a key factor in selecting constituents for the DJSI when they are renamed Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices in February 2025 . For more information about the DJSI methodology, please visit: www.spglobal.com/spdji . ABOUT S&P DOW JONES INDICES S&P Dow Jones Indices is the largest global resource for essential index-based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average®. More assets are invested in products based on our indices than products based on indices from any other provider in the world. Since Charles Dow invented the first index in 1884, S&P DJI has been innovating and developing indices across the spectrum of asset classes helping to define the way investors measure and trade the markets. S&P Dow Jones Indices is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies, and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit: www.spglobal.com/spdji . 1 Still member of DJSI World Enlarged and DJSI North America 2 Still member of DJSI World Enlarged S&P DJI MEDIA CONTACTS: spdji.comms@spglobal.com View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sp-dow-jones-indices-announces-dow-jones-sustainability-indices-2024-review-results-302331745.html SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices
'This wasn't my year' - Christian McCaffrey makes 2025 promise after 49ers star's latest injuryChandigarh: Punjab minister Harjot Singh Bains on Wednesday met Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari in Delhi to demand four-laning of roads connecting significant religious places such as Kiratpur Sahib , Anandpur Sahib and Naina Devi to facilitate pilgrim movement. Bains said detailed project reports (DPRs) were ready. He stressed the need for four-laning the road from Kiratpur Sahib to Himachal Pradesh’s Una district border at Mahitpur. The minister proposed a 50km greenfield expressway from Anandpur Sahib to Chamkaur Sahib to connect Himachal Pradesh with Ludhiana in Punjab. “If this 50km-long expressway is constructed, it will connect Ropar-Ludhiana highway and Kiratpur-Manali highway,” said Bains, suggesting naming this road Guru Gobind Singh Expressway. Bains, who was with Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, highlighted the historical and geographical significance of Anandpur Sahib and discussed the region’s need for roads. An official said Gadkari had expressed his approval for four-laning the Kiratpur Sahib, Banga-Anandpur Sahib roads and laying a greenfield expressway from Anandpur Sahib to Chamkaur Sahib. We also published the following articles recently Harjot Bains meets Gadkari to demand four-lane road from Sri Kartarpur Sahib to Nangal-Una Punjab cabinet minister Harjot Singh Bains proposed road projects to Union minister Nitin Gadkari for enhanced connectivity to key religious sites. Gadkari approved the four-laning of roads from Sri Kiratpur Sahib to the Himachal border and Banga to Sri Anandpur Sahib, granting the latter National Highway status. Gadkari calls on Adityanath to discuss major road projects for Maha Kumbh 2025 Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari reviewed infrastructure projects for the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj. They emphasized timely completion by December 25, 2024, focusing on highways, bypasses, and a new Ganga bridge. Enhanced safety measures, including CCTV and medical facilities, were discussed, alongside broader road development plans for Uttar Pradesh totaling 1.39 lakh crore. PWD to build underpass near Ajni bridge, widen road to TB Ward Sq to six lanes Nagpur's Ajni RoB area is set for a major traffic decongestion project. A 60-meter underpass will be constructed near the Ajni Railway Station, barring heavy vehicles. The road from Ajni Bridge to TB Ward Square will be expanded to six lanes. Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , and Mini Crossword .
Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr.'s 'serial killer mentality' is serving him well amid bumpy patchU.S. stocks slipped below their records in the runup to a big jobs report due on Friday. The S&P 500 edged down 0.2% Thursday after setting an all-time high for the 56th time this year the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6%, while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2%. The crypto market had much more action, and bitcoin briefly burst to a record above $103,000 before falling back toward $99,000. It’s climbed dramatically since Election Day on hopes President-elect Donald Trump will be more friendly to crypto. Airline stocks were strong, while Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. On Thursday: The S&P 500 fell 11.38 points, or 0.2%, to 6,075.11. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 248.33 points, or 0.6%, to 44,765.71. The Nasdaq composite fell 34.86 points, or 0.2%, to 19,700.26. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 30.39 points, or 1.3%, to 2,396.17. For the week: The S&P 500 is up 42.73 points, or 0.7%. The Dow is down 144.94 points, or 0.3%. The Nasdaq is up 482.09 points, or 2.5%. The Russell 2000 is down 38.56 points, or 1.6%. For the year: The S&P 500 is up 1,305.28 points, or 27.4%. The Dow is up 7,076.17 points, or 18.8%. The Nasdaq is up 4,688.91 points, or 31.2%. The Russell 2000 is up 369.10 points, or 18.2%.
If your kitchen could use an upgrade, then you need to check out the kitchen deals at . Prices are up to 50% off, and a bunch of Drew Barrymore's best-selling pieces are marked down. The TikTok-viral ? A that looks like a Caraway dupe? All on sale for Cyber Monday! Whether you live alone and just cook for yourself or you prepare meals for a big crew every night, there's a Beautiful kitchen product that's just right for you. This top-rated is great for cooking up soul-warming soups and stews all winter long. And this ? The perfect gift for someone in your life who just moved into a new place. As with most big sales at Walmart, the most popular Beautiful products are already selling out. And given that so many of Drew Barrymore's kitchen items have taken off on social media, we're not surprised that some colors are already gone. With that in mind, don't wait to start grabbing the picks that catch your eye. 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