Ex-Titans head coach pulled epic prank on GM, owner before getting fired | Sporting NewsUS stocks rally despite Trump tariff threat but European stocks fall
The Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity in St. Albans. NORTHWEST VERMONT — The Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity served tens of thousands of Vermonters this past year, and is gearing up for another full year of supporting community members across the region. CVOEO is a federally-designated community action organization with a mission of economic, social, racial and environmental justice, working to move people out of poverty and into economic independence across Addison, Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle counties. It also operates a few statewide programs, including its fair housing and tenants’ resources, its mobile home program, asylum seeker assistance and its program for families with children experiencing homelessness. Twenty twenty-four is the 50th year since some of the original programs that formed CVOEO came to be. Earlier this year, CVOEO celebrated 50 years of its food assistance program, and renamed it Feeding Champlain Valley whilst announcing an expansion of its reach. Tonight, CVOEO will unveil a new shelter for its domestic abuse intervention program, Voices Against Violence. Paul Dragon, executive director of CVOEO, said the organization at large has grown by over a third in just the past four years, in an effort to better meet urgent and growing needs. CVOEO has served over 23,000 individuals and 12,677 households during fiscal years 2023 and 2024 thus far, constituting a 10% increase from the previous year. “We've been asked to do more, because of the needs,” Dragon said. “We've responded by adding shelter capacity, by providing more food to people, by opening up a large office of racial equity and community inclusion. We've done a lot of work to respond to the need.” The new Voices Against Violence shelter is slated to open up on Fairfield Street in St. Albans before the New Year. However, it needs to have its sprinkler system repaired before it can be put into use or host anyone, so its official opening-date is to-be-determined. Once launched, this facility will be CVOEO’s second domestic violence shelter in Franklin County. Laurie’s House, also located in St. Albans, opened in 2003. “It used to be a bed and breakfast,” Dragon said, of the latest location. “It's this old, beautiful Victorian building that will now be a place for survivors to stabilize and hopefully move on.” For its work specifically on homelessness this year, CVOEO took on and is in the process of renovating Champlain Place Emergency Shelter in Burlington, because the previous organization was unable to run it anymore. “And this just speaks to how hard it is to run shelters, both financially and just in terms of human resources and operating the shelters,” Dragon said. That shelter will have 42 rooms for 42 guests, coming and going as people obtain housing, year round at any given time. Starting this winter, CVOEO will also have a 30 bed warming-shelter for the winter months specifically, open December-March. In the last two years, CVOEO took on the Samaritan House shelter in St. Albans and the Community Resource Center in Burlington. CRC is a day center for people who are unsheltered experiencing homelessness, seeing 200 people a day to provide food and other services, Dragon said. In the wake of many of the state’s hotel voucher programs shutting down, leaving many of those exiting them with no place else to go, CVOEO has been able to put up seven families in hotels through a partnership with Champlain Housing Trust and UVM Health Network, via an essential needs grant. “I think everybody knows that Vermont has kind of the dubious distinction of having the second highest rate of homelessness of all the states in the country, and just eight years ago, the second lowest rate,” Dragon said. “So something has shifted in those eight years,” he added. “And we've definitely lost the thread regarding the roadmap to getting people housed — and that means creating enough housing stock so people can get permanent housing.” Dragon said Vermont needs to get back on track on that front, and in the meantime, he and his organization have been calling for ways to stabilize people and get them off the streets. “And that's through maintaining the hotel program, which is the quickest way to do it,” Dragon said. “Or what we've been doing is creating new shelter capacity, shelters that have on-site services that can do a lot of different kinds of services to help people get stabilized in a therapeutic setting so that they can move on.” “We want people in permanent housing right away,” he added. “Unfortunately, as a state, we're not there yet. So what people can do is donate funds. It’s always the best way for us to do our work, because that's how we can get people essential needs like clothing and food.” CVOEO doesn't receive any state or federal funding for any of the food it provides, Dragon said. The organization has to raise that through donations — and people need a whole host of other things. Some folks need to recover their IDs, for instance, be connected with resources for health or trauma issues or receive assistance getting connected with employment opportunities. “All that takes a lot of resources,” Dragon said. “Donations help us do our work better and provide people with that opportunity to become more stable. And that's better, not just for them — that's better for the community.” Grants are also helping CVOEO carry out its work, primarily for shelters, but grants are sometimes inadequate — which is typically why organizations that previously ran shelters were unable to continue to do so. Dragon said CVOEO knows the state can’t afford to lose any more of its already-strained shelter capacity, so it does a lot of fundraising and steps in as needed. “Just the fact that in the past two years, we had to take on two of the largest shelters — one of them being the only shelter in Northwest Vermont — shows you that the funding is not adequate for organizations to do this work,” Dragon said. “You know, funding for really nice, trauma-informed, respectable facilities, therapeutics and funding for adequate staffing,” he added. “That staff who are doing this really hard work get a really decent wage is important, so we do get state funding [for shelter staffing], and we do have to match that by raising a lot of money to keep these shelters going.” CVOEO has some very generous donors, but the need to fundraise is never-ending, he said. They also have to do a lot of fundraising to support housed, low-income individuals with crisis fuel assistance and emergency heating repairs, so folks don’t freeze during winter. Other organizational updates and expansions for CVOEO’s programs this past year include that Feeding Champlain Valley has added the Richford Food Shelf into its operational network this year, because as has happened at a number of shelters, the organization that was running it before could no longer manage it. At the intersection of food and community development, CVOEO took on the Healthy Roots Collaborative, which is a program based in Franklin and Grand Isle counties that works with farmers to glean produce for people in need. But there’s a fundamental distinction between more old-school models of charitable community support and the type of intervention CVOEO takes on to help Vermonters. “CVOEO is there for the whole community, not just the people who need our help the most,” Dragon said. “Because everyone in a community is linked together, and we need to make sure our communities are safe and healthy.” This is done by providing not only acute emergency services like fuel, food and shelter, but also through service provisions that help generally support people and move them out of poverty, like its micro business development program , its Champlain Valley Head Start program, its weatherization program and its personal finance courses . “So these things, when you put them all together, they are a whole-community approach,” Dragon said. “No matter what income you are.” Looking forward to 2025, Dragon said CVOEO intends to develop and work with partners around increasing food access in Grand Isle, due to growing need there, as well as complete renovations at the Fairfield Street Voices Against Violence shelter if it takes longer than this current month, to create a really great space for people. Another goal moving forward is plans to put a personal finance coach in its community action office in St. Albans as well as another Vermont tax assistant, because it has a very strong volunteer tax assistance program that could benefit from additional resources due to its popularity, so more and more folks can ensure they are getting back the money that they need — a very useful anti-poverty tool. CVOEO will also be conducting its community needs assessment in March, which is done every three years. From there, the team will readjust goals about where to direct resources next. “We do know that homelessness is going to continue to be an issue, so we're going to be looking for potential opportunities, particularly around family homelessness and maybe individual homelessness,” Dragon said. “We've just established so many shelters in the past few years, I'm not sure how much more capacity we have there, but we'll be talking about the need and trying to figure out what else we can do.” With two out of five Vermonters experiencing hunger throughout the year, Dragon said CVOEO will also be working really hard to keep getting food out to where people need it, and utilizing not only traditional food shelf models when appropriate, but also delivery for older adults and people with mobility issues, and a food-ordering program catering to diets with medical conditions— be it cardiovascular, hypertension or diabetes — with kiosk pick-up for more specialized needs. “So really looking at food access in a very different way and reimagining that for our area,” Dragon said. Those interested in supporting CVOEO’s work can find ways to donate monetarily on the organization’s website, which Dragon said goes a long way. Anyone interested and able to donate in-kind gifts can also view community needs in their area on CVOEO’s website. Dragon said volunteering is also great, for CVOEO’s community action programs, food shelves and — among those who are knowledgeable on the subject — the tax assistance program, as filing season draws near. Qualified folks may also volunteer for the micro business program. Folks interested in volunteering for Feeding Champlain Valley can get connected online . Other advocacy opportunities can be found here , and folks interested in volunteering for other programs outside of the food assistance realm can email Dragon at pdragon@cvoeo.org . Anyone needing to utilize CVOEO’s programs can walk into any of its community action agency offices, or by navigating on cvoeo.org to find the programs they require to get started. People with pressing housing-related questions or needs can call CVOEO’s hotlines , or dial 211 when in need of emergency housing.LAS VEGAS — The Philadelphia Eagles have won eight straight games. A bettor at Circa Sports wagered $3 million that they will win their ninth straight Sunday over the Carolina Panthers. The gambler on Thursday placed a $3 million bet to win $428,000 on the Eagles on the money line (-700) over the Panthers. It is the biggest bet ever placed on a single game at the downtown Las Vegas sportsbook, Circa owner Derek Stevens told the Review-Journal. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
The gunman who stalked and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fled New York City by bus, police officials told CNN on Friday. Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of the shooting Wednesday showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. Here's the latest: The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer may have fled the city on a bus, New York City police officials told CNN on Friday. Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of the shooting Wednesday showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. “We have reason to believe that the person in question has left New York City,” Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer made sure to wear a mask during the shooting yet left a trail of evidence in view of the nation’s biggest city and its network of security cameras that have aided authorities piecing together his movements and his identity. A law enforcement official said Friday that new surveillance footage shows the suspect riding the subway and visiting establishments in Manhattan and provided more clues about his actions in the days before he ambushed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson . The gunman’s whereabouts and identity remain unknown Friday, as did the reason for Wednesday’s killing. New York City police say evidence firmly points to it being a targeted attack . ▶ Read more about the search for the gunman In many companies, investor meetings like the one UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was walking to when he was fatally shot are viewed as very risky because details on the location and who will be speaking are highly publicized. “It gives people an opportunity to arrive well in advance and take a look at the room, take a look at how people would probably come and go out of a location,” said Dave Komendat, president of DSKomendat Risk Management Services, which is based in the greater Seattle area. Some firms respond by beefing up security. For example, tech companies routinely require everyone attending a major event, such as Apple’s annual unveiling of the next iPhone or a shareholder meeting, to go through airport-style security checkpoints before entering. Others forgo in-person meetings with shareholders. ▶ Read more about how companies protect their leaders Those images include New York’s subway system, a law enforcement official said. In establishments where the person was captured on camera, he always appeared to pay with cash, the official said. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. — Mike Balsamo Medica, a Minnesota-based nonprofit health care firm that serves 1.5 million customers in 12 states, said it’s temporarily closing all six locations. The firm has offices in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and North Dakota, and employs about 3,000 people. Employees will work from home, Medica spokesman Greg Bury said in an email Friday. “The safety of Medica employees is our top priority and we have increased security both for all of our employees,” a statement from Medica said. “Although we have received no specific threats related to our campuses, our office buildings will be temporarily closed out of an abundance of caution.” Bury also said biographical information on the company’s executives was taken down from its website as a precaution. The insurer cited the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in its announcement about the Dec. 12 event. “All of us at Centene are deeply saddened by Brian Thompson’s death and want to express our support for all of those affected. Health insurance is a big industry and a small community; many members of the CenTeam crossed paths with Brian during their careers,” Centene CEO Sarah M. London said in a news release. “He was a person with a deep sense of empathy and clear passion for improving access to care. Our hearts are with his family and his colleagues during this difficult time.” Centene Corp. has grown in recent years to become the largest insurer in Medicaid, the state- and federally funded program that covers care for people with low incomes. Insurers manage Medicaid coverage for states, and Centene has more than 13 million people enrolled in that coverage. The insurance company also said it’s focused on ensuring the safety of employees and assisting investigators. “While our hearts are broken, we have been touched by the huge outpouring of kindness and support in the hours since this horrific crime took place,” the company said. But he said Friday that he’s confident police will arrest the shooter. “We are on the right road to apprehend him and bring him to justice,” Adams said on TV station WPIX. Later, it removed their names and biographies entirely. Police and federal agents have been collecting information from Greyhound in an attempt to identify the suspect and are working to determine whether he purchased the ticket to New York in late November, a law enforcement official said. Investigators were also trying to obtain additional information from a cellphone recovered from a pedestrian plaza through which the shooter fled. The fatal shooting of Brian Thompson while walking alone on a New York City sidewalk has put a spotlight on the widely varied approaches companies take to protect their leaders against threats. Experts say today’s political, economic and technological climate is only going to make the job of evaluating threats against executives and taking action to protect them even more difficult, experts say. Some organizations have a protective intelligence group that uses digital tools such as machine learning or artificial intelligence to comb through online comments to detect threats not only on social media platforms such as X but also on the dark web, says Komendat. They look for what’s being said about the company, its employees and its leadership to uncover risks. ▶ Read more about the steps companies take to protect their leadership Police said Thursday they found a water bottle and protein bar wrapper from a trash can near the scene of the ambush and think the suspect bought them from a Starbucks minutes before the shooting. The items were being tested by the city’s medical examiner.
The states that saw the most active attacks against election certification two years ago certified the results of this year’s races without controversy this week, prompting the Arizona secretary of state to proclaim that “election denialism” is a thing of the past. Others said they weren’t so sure. Certification proceeded normally this year in part because Donald Trump won the presidential race, quieting his supporters after he had spent the campaign making unsubstantiated claims that he could lose only through widespread cheating . The statewide certification votes Tuesday in Nevada and New Mexico follow a vote Monday to certify the results in Arizona. In all three states, the certification process was tumultuous during the 2022 midterms when Democrats won most statewide offices. Those controversies followed attempts by Trump and his allies to halt or challenge certification in Michigan, Georgia and other battleground states in 2020, disrupting what until then had been a routine administrative process. This year, some who have been the most vocal in questioning the integrity of elections have instead been celebrating Trump’s victory. “The results are being accepted in the manner that they are, in part, because those who have been eroding trust or casting doubt on the integrity of U.S. elections have a result they feel good about,” said David Levine, a former local election official in Idaho who now advises on election administration issues. “Hopefully we can get back to a place where Americans can feel confident in the results even if it’s one they disagree with.” On Tuesday, Nevada and New Mexico certified their statewide results with little discussion. During Monday’s certification in Arizona, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes reflected on the lack of controversy this year. “I think the age of election denialism, for all intents and purposes, is dead,” he said. Sitting next to Fontes, state Attorney General Kris Mayes, a fellow Democrat, said she was more skeptical. Her Republican opponent in 2022 spent two years challenging his loss . “Do I think election denialism is dead? No, I don’t,” she said. “We’ll see over the next couple of election cycles what happens, but I don’t think we’re there yet.” Public confidence in elections has dropped since Trump challenged his loss in 2020 and made false claims of widespread fraud, particularly among Republicans . Some Republicans began targeting the certification process, when local and state boards certify the results after local election officials provide them with the final tally of votes. A firestorm erupted in Georgia over the summer when the state election board, with a new pro-Trump majority, attempted to politicize the certification process with changes later blocked by the courts. While certification battles did not surface after the Nov. 5 election , a vocal segment within the Republican Party remains deeply skeptical of election processes, particularly of the availability of mail ballots and the use of ballot scanners to tally votes. During a forum Monday on the social platform X led by the group Cause of America, the group's director expressed doubt about voting equipment. Shawn Smith, who also is a retired Air Force colonel, argued the certification process suppresses legitimate concerns and goes against “the sovereignty of the people.” Although not as widespread as four years ago, this sentiment did surface sporadically at the local level this month. In Washoe County, Nevada, which includes Reno and voted narrowly for Vice President Kamala Harris, the vote to certify the results was 3-1 with one abstention. Commissioner Jeanne Herman has consistently voted against certification and did not make a public comment about her vote this year. Commissioner Mike Clark, a staunch Trump supporter who had also previously voted against certification, said he would abstain and left before the vote. “I am not an election denier and clearly the person I wanted to win, won this state,” Clark said before leaving the meeting. “However, that does not mean that all the protocols were followed and that we can truly certify the election.” Such skepticism, whether in Nevada or elsewhere, leaves the door open to certification disputes during future elections. The questioning of election results isn't limited to Republicans. Even though Harris quickly conceded after losing all seven presidential battleground states , online posts among her supporters continue to raise concerns about her loss. One Reddit community that has amassed 23,000 members features a steady drumbeat of Democrats scrutinizing a result they can’t believe is real. Some posting in the group have issued calls to contact Harris and her running mate to ask them to demand a recount or otherwise object to the outcome. Among the battlegrounds, Michigan was among those where Trump and his allies pressed to halt certification of the 2020 election for Democrat Joe Biden amid false claims of fraud and manipulation. Two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers who initially opposed certification eventually relented. The state board of canvassers eventually voted to certify, even after one Republican member abstained. This year, the state board voted unanimously on Nov. 22 in favor of certifying and praised the state’s election workers. In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger certified his state’s results on Nov. 22. Four years ago, the Republican state official was facing immense pressure from Trump and his allies to investigate their unsubstantiated claims of fraud. Also certifying results Tuesday, and doing so unanimously, was the state Board of Elections in North Carolina. It was the only presidential battleground state won by Trump in 2020 — and the only one where he and his allies didn't make claims of fraud. Cassidy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ken Ritter in Las Vegas, Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, and Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.
NoneDejounte Murray is rejoining the Pelicans vs. Toronto and drawing inspiration from his mother
Russ Vought, the hard-driving budget director from President-elect Donald Trump’s first administration, will be nominated for a second stint in the job. An unapologetic fiscal and social conservative, Vought is an aggressive advocate of cutting nondefense spending — but not what he calls the earned entitlements, Social Security and Medicare — and using presidential powers to shape government spending during Trump’s first term. Vought is “an aggressive cost cutter and deregulator who will help us implement our America First Agenda across all Agencies,” Trump posted Friday on Truth Social, his social media platform. “Russ knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State and end Weaponized Government, and he will help us return Self Governance to the People.” Vought has stressed the need for a president to exert control over the bureaucracies in agencies and departments, which he said have gotten used to pursuing their own agendas. In a chapter he contributed to “Project 2025,” a Heritage Foundation-sponsored report to help the next president to “deconstruct the administrative state,” Vought wrote that the “great challenge confronting a conservative president is the existential need for aggressive use of the vast powers of the executive branch to return power — including power currently held by the executive branch — to the American people.” He said success in doing this requires “boldness to bend or break the bureaucracy to the presidential will and self-denial to use the bureaucratic machine to send power away from Washington and back to America’s families, faith communities, local governments, and states.” And during a recent interview with Tucker Carlson posted on X, he said the Office of Management and Budget has a central role to play in this effort. OMB is “the president’s most important tool to dealing with the bureaucracy, administrative state,” he said. “And the nice thing about President Trump is he knows that and he knows how to use it effectively.” Among the ways to achieve this, Vought said, are to make clear that federal agencies are accountable to the president and not “independent,” and to restore “impoundment” authority , allowing the president to spend less than appropriated by Congress. Laying the groundwork Since Trump lost his reelection bid in 2020, Vought has been laying the groundwork for a second Trump term. He founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank populated by former administration officials. And he served as policy director of the committee that wrote the 2024 GOP convention platform. In a fiscal 2023 budget blueprint put out by the center and dubbed “A Commitment to End Woke and Weaponized Government,” Vought challenged the view that the projected exhaustion of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds is the most serious fiscal priority. His plan has no cuts for Social Security or to Medicare beneficiaries. Instead, Vought proposed cutting nondefense discretionary programs by $3.5 trillion over a decade, trimming Medicaid by more than $2 trillion and repealing the 2010 health care law’s insurance subsidies, among other reductions. He argued that Americans “are simply not going to buy the notion that their earned entitlements must be tweaked while the federal government is funding Bob Dylan statues in Mozambique or gay pride parades in Prague.” Partisan past Vought joined OMB early in the Trump administration, rising to deputy director and then acting director before he was confirmed as director in a party-line 51-45 Senate vote in July 2020. No Senate Democrat voted to confirm him for either post. Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., charged during a Budget Committee confirmation hearing in 2020 that he was “unfit and unqualified to lead” OMB “or any office.” She cited Vought’s role in temporarily withholding $400 million in aid to Ukraine, an action that led to Trump’s impeachment by the House and later acquittal in the Senate. In a 2017 confirmation hearing for deputy director, Democrats questioned whether he would comply with oversight requests from minority Democrats on committees. And they faulted him for writing in a conservative blog in 2016 that Islam was a “deficient theology.” Democrats cut him off before he could answer their questions about his religious views. Then-Colorado GOP Sen. Cory Gardner warned Democrats not to question Vought’s faith. He has been under a microscope lately, with news organizations releasing video of speeches and conversations in which he said, among other things, that he wants to put bureaucrats “in trauma.” “We want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can’t do all of the rules against our energy industry because they have no bandwidth financially to do so,” he said in speech obtained by ProPublica. “We want to put them in trauma.” In the Carlson interview, Vought acknowledged the “trauma” comments. But he added that “there’s a lot of people there who have come to serve and do great public service” in the agencies, “and we want to affirm that.” ‘Shadow offices’ In speeches and conversations, Vought said his think tank has been drafting potential executive actions and building “shadow offices” of OMB, the Office of Legal Counsel and National Security Council. “We’re trying to build a shadow Office of Legal Counsel so that when a future president says, ‘What legal authorities do I need to shut down the riots?,’ we want to be able to shut down the riots and not have the legal community or the defense community come in and say that’s an inappropriate use of what you’re trying to do,” he said in a speech obtained by ProPublica. Before going to work for OMB, Vought was a vice president at Heritage Action. Earlier, he had served as policy director for the House Republican Conference under then Indiana Rep. and later Trump Vice President Mike Pence. Vought also worked as executive director of the conservative Republican Study Committee and as an aide to former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas.
Sports on TV for Wednesday, Dec. 25WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump has selected former Senator David Perdue of Georgia to be the U.S. ambassador to China, leaning on a former business executive turned politician to serve as the administration's envoy to America's most potent economic and military adversary. Trump said in a social media post Thursday that Perdue “brings valuable expertise to help build our relationship with China.” Perdue lost his Senate seat to Democrat Jon Ossoff four years ago and ran unsuccessfully in a 2022 primary against Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. Perdue pushed Trump’s debunked lies about electoral fraud during his failed bid for Georgia governor. During his time in the Senate, Perdue was labeled as “anti-China” in a 2019 Chinese think tank report. The former Georgia lawmaker advocated for a more robust naval force to cope with threats, including from China. Before launching his political career, Perdue held a string of top executive positions, including at Sara Lee, Reebok and Dollar General. Trump has threatened to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China as soon as he takes office as part of his effort to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs. He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, as one of his first executive orders. The Chinese Embassy in Washington cautioned earlier this week that there will be losers on all sides if there is a trade war. “China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature,” embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu posted on X. “No one will win a trade war or a #tariff war.” He added that China had taken steps in the last year to help stem drug trafficking. In response to Perdue's nomination, Liu on Thursday night said in a statement that China “is ready to engage in dialogue, expand cooperation, and manage differences with the incoming US government so as to maintain stability in China-US relations to the benefits of the two countries and the world at large.” It is unclear whether Trump will actually go through with the threats or if he is using them as a negotiating tactic. The tariffs, if implemented, could dramatically raise prices for American consumers on everything from gas to automobiles to agricultural products. The U.S. is the largest importer of goods in the world, with Mexico, China and Canada its top three suppliers, according to the most recent U.S. Census data. Perdue, if confirmed, will have to negotiate a difficult set of issues that goes beyond trade. Washington and Beijing have long had deep differences on the support China has given to Russia during its war in Ukraine, human rights issues, technology and Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy that Beijing claims as its own. Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a meeting with outgoing President Joe Biden last month that Beijing stood “ready to work with a new U.S. administration." But Xi also warned that a stable China-U.S. relationship was critical not only to the two nations but to the “future and destiny of humanity.” “Make the wise choice,” Xi cautioned during his November meeting with Biden on the sidelines of an international summit in Peru. “Keep exploring the right way for two major countries to get along well with each other.” Trump’s relationship with Xi started well during his first term before becoming strained over disputes about trade and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump seems particularly focused on using tariffs as a pressure point on Xi, even threatening he would use tariffs as a cudgel to pressure Beijing to crack down on the production of materials used in making fentanyl in Mexico that is illegally sold in the United States. A second Trump administration is expected to test U.S.-China relations even more than the Republican’s first term when the U.S. imposed tariffs on more than $360 billion in Chinese products. That brought Beijing to the negotiating table, and in 2020, the two sides signed a trade deal in which China committed to improve intellectual property rights and buy an extra $200 billion of American goods. A couple years later, a research group showed that China had bought essentially none of the goods it had promised. Before Trump's return to power, many American companies, including Nike and eyewear retailer Warby Parker, had been diversifying their sourcing away from China. Shoe brand Steve Madden says it plans to cut imports from China by as much as 45% next year. Trump also filled out more of his immigration team on Thursday, as he promises mass deportations and border crackdowns. He said he’s nominating former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott to head Customs and Border Protection. Scott, a career official, was appointed head of the border agency in January 2020 and enthusiastically embraced then-President Trump’s policies, particularly on building a U.S.-Mexico border wall. He was forced out by the Biden administration. Trump also said he’d nominate Caleb Vitello as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that, among other things, arrests migrants in the U.S. illegally. Vitello is a career ICE official with over 23 years in the agency and most recently has been the assistant director for firearms and tactical programs. The president-elect named Brandon Judd, the head of the Border Patrol Union, as ambassador to Chile. Judd has been a longtime supporter of Trump, appearing with him during his visits to the U.S.-Mexico border. He notably supported a Senate immigration bill championed by Biden that Trump sank in part because he didn’t want to give Democrats an election-year win on the issue.Oscar winner Jared Leto confirmed to play He-Man’s arch-enemy Skeletor in ‘Masters of the Universe’
Trump's immigration and border team is filling out.NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart's sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at U.S. companies that are revaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programs to bolster historically underrepresented groups in business. The changes announced by the world's biggest retailer followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees. The risk associated with some of programs crystalized with the election of former President Donald Trump, whose administration is certain to make dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs a priority. Trump's incoming deputy chief of policy will be his former adviser Stephen Miller , who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies. “There has been a lot of reassessment of risk looking at programs that could be deemed to constitute reverse discrimination,” said Allan Schweyer, principal researcher the Human Capital Center at the Conference Board. “This is another domino to fall and it is a rather large domino,” he added. Among other changes, Walmart said it will no longer give priority treatment to suppliers owned by women or minorities. The company also will not renew a five-year commitment for a racial equity center set up in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. And it pulled out of a prominent gay rights index . Schweyer said the biggest trigger for companies making such changes is simply a reassessment of their legal risk exposure, which began after U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2023 that ended affirmative action in college admissions. Since then, conservative groups using similar arguments have secured court victories against various diversity programs, especially those that steer contracts to minority or women-owned businesses. Most recently, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty won a victory in a case against the U.S. Department of Transportation over its use of a program that gives priority to minority-owned businesses when it awards contracts. Companies are seeing a big legal risk in continuing with DEI efforts, said Dan Lennington, a deputy counsel at the institute. His organization says it has identified more than 60 programs in the federal government that it considers discriminatory, he said. “We have a legal landscape within the entire federal government, all three branches -- the U.S. Supreme Court, the Congress and the President -- are all now firmly pointed in the direction towards equality of individuals and individualized treatment of all Americans, instead of diversity, equity and inclusion treating people as members of racial groups,” Lennington said. The Trump administration is also likely to take direct aim at DEI initiatives through executive orders and other policies that affect private companies, especially federal contractors. “The impact of the election on DEI policies is huge. It can’t be overstated,” said Jason Schwartz, co-chair of the Labor & Employment Practice Group at law firm Gibson Dunn. With Miller returning to the White House, rolling back DEI initiatives is likely to be a priority, Schwartz said. “Companies are trying to strike the right balance to make clear they’ve got an inclusive workplace where everyone is welcome, and they want to get the best talent, while at the same time trying not to alienate various parts of their employees and customer base who might feel one way or the other. It’s a virtually impossible dilemma,” Schwartz said. A recent survey by Pew Research Center showed that workers are divided on the merits of DEI policies. While still broadly popular, the share of workers who said focusing on workplace diversity was mostly a good thing fell to 52% in the November survey, compared to 56% in a similar survey in February 2023. Rachel Minkin, a research associated at Pew called it a small but significant shift in short amount of time. There will be more companies pulling back from their DEI policies, but it likely won’t be a retreat across the board, said David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at New York University. “There are vastly more companies that are sticking with DEI," Glasgow said. "The only reason you don’t hear about it is most of them are doing it by stealth. They’re putting their heads down and doing DEI work and hoping not to attract attention.” Glasgow advises organizations to stick to their own core values, because attitudes toward the topic can change quickly in the span of four years. “It’s going to leave them looking a little bit weak if there’s a kind of flip-flopping, depending on whichever direction the political winds are blowing,” he said. One reason DEI programs exist is because without those programs, companies may be vulnerable to lawsuits for traditional discrimination. “Really think carefully about the risks in all directions on this topic,” Glasgow said. Walmart confirmed will no longer consider race and gender as a litmus test to improve diversity when it offers supplier contracts. Last fiscal year, Walmart said it spent more than $13 billion on minority, women or veteran-owned good and service suppliers. It was unclear how its relationships with such business would change going forward. Organizations that that have partnered with Walmart on its diversity initiatives offered a cautious response. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, a non-profit that last year named Walmart one of America's top corporation for women-owned enterprises, said it was still evaluating the impact of Walmart's announcement. Pamela Prince-Eason, the president and CEO of the organization, said she hoped Walmart's need to cater to its diverse customer base will continue to drive contracts to women-owned suppliers even if the company no longer has explicit dollar goals. “I suspect Walmart will continue to have one of the most inclusive supply chains in the World,” Prince-Eason wrote. “Any retailer's ability to serve the communities they operate in will continue to value understanding their customers, (many of which are women), in order to better provide products and services desired and no one understands customers better than Walmart." Walmart's announcement came after the company spoke directly with conservative political commentator and activist Robby Starbuck, who has been going after corporate DEI policies, calling out individual companies on the social media platform X. Several of those companies have subsequently announced that they are pulling back their initiatives, including Ford , Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s and Tractor Supply . Walmart confirmed to The Associated Press that it will better monitor its third-party marketplace items to make sure they don’t feature sexual and transgender products aimed at minors. The company also will stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual benchmark index that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees. A Walmart spokesperson added that some of the changes were already in progress and not as a result of conversations that it had with Starbuck. RaShawn “Shawnie” Hawkins, senior director of the HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program, said companies that “abandon” their commitments workplace inclusion policies “are shirking their responsibility to their employees, consumers, and shareholders.” He said the buying power of LGBTQ customers is powerful and noted that the index will have “record participation” of more than 1,400 companies in 2025."Dublin, Dec. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Saudi Arabia Green Cement Market, By Region, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2019-2029F" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Saudi Arabia Green Cement Market was valued at USD 2.07 Billion in 2023, and is expected to reach USD 2.98 Billion by 2029, rising at a CAGR of 6.10%. One of the prominent market trends in Saudi Arabia's Green Cement sector is the increasing demand for sustainable construction practices. As the kingdom continues to diversify its economy and prioritize environmental stewardship under initiatives like Saudi Vision 2030, there is a heightened focus on reducing carbon emissions and promoting resource efficiency in the built environment. This shift towards sustainability is driven by both regulatory requirements and market preferences. Government policies aimed at achieving carbon reduction targets and aligning with international climate agreements incentivize developers and contractors to adopt Green Cement as a viable alternative to traditional Portland cement. These policies create a conducive environment for the growth of the Green Cement market by encouraging investment in sustainable building materials and technologies. Developers and investors in Saudi Arabia are increasingly recognizing the long-term benefits of Green Cement. Buildings and infrastructure constructed with Green Cement typically have lower lifecycle costs, reduced maintenance requirements, and improved resilience to environmental factors such as extreme temperatures and humidity. These attributes contribute to the attractiveness of Green Cement in the market, especially for projects seeking to achieve green building certifications like LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Heightened awareness among consumers and stakeholders about the environmental impact of construction activities is driving the demand for sustainable materials, including Green Cement. End-users are becoming more conscious of the carbon footprint associated with building materials and are actively seeking products that contribute to sustainable development goals. To capitalize on the growing demand for sustainable construction practices, cement manufacturers in Saudi Arabia are expanding their production capacities for Green Cement and investing in research and development to innovate new formulations and technologies. This proactive approach not only strengthens the competitiveness of Green Cement in the market but also positions Saudi Arabia as a leader in sustainable construction practices within the region and globally. Saudi Arabia has committed to building 1.5 million new homes by 2030, with an increasing focus on sustainable and energy-efficient construction practices. This includes integrating green building standards such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and Estidama. Key Attributes: Report Scope: Key Market Players Holcim Ltd Heidelberg Material AG CEMEX S.A.B. de C.V. Taiheiyo Cement Corporation Ecocem Ireland Ltd. (Ecocem Global) ACC Limited UltraTech Cement Ltd. Anhui Conch Cement Company Limited Saudi Arabia Green Cement Market, By Product Type: Fly Ash Based Slag Based Limestone-Based Silica Fume-Based Others Saudi Arabia Green Cement Market, By Application: Residential Commercial Industrial Others Saudi Arabia Green Cement Market, End Use: New Construction Repair and Maintenance Saudi Arabia Green Cement Market, By Region: Riyadh Makkah Madinah Eastern Province Dammam Rest of Saudi Arabia For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/lf2pcj About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment Saudi Arabian Green Cement Market
THE recent earthquakes in Ranau, Sabah, have underscored the urgent need for rigorous planning and design standards for major buildings and infrastructure projects. As seismic activities continue to pose a risk in Sabah, it is crucial for engineers, developers and policymakers to adopt stringent measures that enhance the resilience and safety of structures. Understanding the Seismic Risk in Sabah Tan Sabah, located in a seismically active zone, has experienced significant earthquakes, particularly in areas like Ranau and Kundasang areas. The 2015 magnitude 5.9 earthquake in Ranau caused considerable damage, bringing attention to the vulnerabilities in existing buildings and infrastructure. In addition, these recent occurrences highlight the necessity of integrating seismic considerations into all stages of planning and design. Ir. Ts. KJ Tan JP, the past chairman of ACEM Sabah and as a local consulting engineer who possesses master engineering degree from Imperial College London (ICL) and also has the vast experience and knowledge in the field of seismic engineering, highlights the following key requirements for planning and designing in earthquake-prone areas 1. Compliance with Modern Building Codes Adherence to the Malaysian National Annex to Eurocode 8 (MS EN 1998) is essential for earthquake-resistant structures. The Eurocode 8 standard outlines specific requirements for seismic analysis, structural behavior, and material strength to ensure safety under earthquake forces. Developers and engineers must update their design practices to comply with this standard. 2. Seismic Hazard Assessments Before initiating any project, a detailed seismic hazard assessment must be conducted. This involves evaluating the site’s geological conditions, fault line proximity, and soil characteristics to determine the ground motion parameters and earthquake risks. Such assessments provide crucial data for structural design. 3. Earthquake-Resilient Structural Designs • Ductility and Energy Dissipation: Structures should be designed to absorb and dissipate seismic energy without collapsing. This can be achieved through reinforced concrete frames, shear walls, and flexible foundations. • Base Isolation Technology: For major projects, such as hospitals, bridges and high-rise buildings, base isolation systems can be employed to reduce earthquake vibrations. • Redundancy and Symmetry: Structural designs must avoid irregularities to ensure an even distribution of seismic forces. 4. Geotechnical Considerations Ground conditions play a critical role in seismic performance. Engineers must conduct thorough soil testing to mitigate risks such as liquefaction, landslides and ground settlement. Foundation systems, such as deep pile foundations or raft foundations, may be required to stabilize structures in areas with poor soil conditions. 5. Retrofitting Existing Structures Older buildings and infrastructures that were not designed to withstand seismic forces should undergo structural retrofitting. Techniques such as installing steel braces, adding shear walls, and strengthening joints can enhance their earthquake resistance. 6. Incorporating Monitoring and Early Warning Systems For critical infrastructure like dams, power plants and highways, integrating earthquake monitoring and early warning systems is vital. Real-time monitoring enables swift action to mitigate risks during seismic events. 7. Training and Awareness Programs Collaboration between the government, industry stakeholders and professional bodies such as IEM and PAM, and local universities such as UMS and UiTM is essential to build earthquake preparedness. Professional engineers, professional architects, town planners, contractors, and local authorities must undergo regular training on seismic design practices and earthquake response. Conclusion The recent earthquakes in Ranau serve as a wake-up call for all stakeholders involved in construction and infrastructure development in Sabah. By implementing modern seismic design standards, conducting rigorous assessments, and prioritizing safety, Sabah can build resilient structures capable of withstanding earthquakes. Ensuring structural integrity is not just an engineering necessity but a critical step toward protecting lives, investments, and the future of Sabah’s development.IT was a typically sunny Los Angeles afternoon and I was sitting in a trailer at the ABC Studios car park watching Bruno Tonioli strip down to his underpants. Bruno was all hot and bothered after a full afternoon rehearsing for Dancing With The Stars, the US version of the show that made him a household name, Strictly Come Dancing. 6 I had only met Bruno Tonioli about two minutes before he decided he simply had to get out of his TV clobber Credit: Rex 6 Bruno during his time as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing I was there, in this oven-cum-caravan, to interview him about his transatlantic life as a judge on both shows in the same week. I had only met him about two minutes before he decided he simply had to get out of his TV clobber. Then suddenly there he was, mere feet away from me wearing nothing but a pair of tighty whities and a very expensive-looking gold chain. He was gesticulating wildly by now and, in between puffs on a cigarette, was tearing into then Strictly pro Anton Du Beke who had been caught out calling Laila Rouass the P-word. “You say that to me and I’m gonna punch you in the f***ing face,” he boomed. Strong stuff. A bit too strong for his BBC paymasters, who asked me to exclude it from my subsequent interview for this newspaper. I would say I am very hard to shock but he had made me feel awkward during his rant about how his fellow Strictly star had made someone else feel awkward (and worse). The irony seemed completely lost on Bruno, who has famously stripped off for the cameras on many occasions. Most read in News TV HUGE SCOOP Scots dad wins £27k on Deal or No Deal as 'mystic' son stops him getting 10p HOT PLAY Watch the moment Loose Women's talkathon is gatecrashed by famous rockstar IT'S BACK! Hugely popular Amazon Prime thriller's second series date confirmed DUTY CALLS Line of Duty's Martin Compston stars in new role worlds away from BBC cop drama Common thread You say that to me and I’m gonna punch you in the f***ing face Bruno Tonioli tearing into Anton Du Beke Yet I made no fuss because it was by no means threatening and only mildly uncomfortable. Also, I had an interview to do and, well, I quite liked Bruno and he was giving me some good copy (most of which the Beeb would not later request to be ignored). Fury as BBC had complaints about Gregg Wallace’s ‘sexual remarks’ on Strictly 10yrs ago but was allowed to stay on show And, well, some stars are just a bit bonkers, aren’t they? But I couldn’t help thinking later, back at my hotel, would he have done that if I was a woman? I was reminded of that episode this week when the Gregg Wallace scandal blew up again. Not that Bruno’s behaviour was anything like that which Gregg is being accused of. But I would argue there is a common thread. Here was a star doing as he pleased without much of an apparent thought for whoever else was in the vicinity. 6 The Gregg Wallace saga goes much deeper than Gregg, his potty mouth and allegedly wandering hands Credit: BBC It is behaviour that smacks of a supreme sense of entitlement where the star is the only person who matters. It is behaviour that smacks of a supreme sense of entitlement where the star is the only person who matters Much of this attitude comes from the “talent” — a word now banned by BBC chief Tim Davie to describe those “front of camera”. Many believe they are God’s gift to whatever line of work it is that has propelled them on to the flat screen 55-incher on your wall. Confidence is a prerequisite of fame. Sharp elbows will get you the audition, only then will talent get you the gig. Bad behaviour But while celebrities and their egos are the frontmen and women of TV shows, it is the production teams that get them on the air. And unfortunately television is full of enablers — nervous executives and producers who will tolerate almost anything to get the show out. When it’s a hit they care even less how badly their stars might behave. Don’t mess with success! Indeed, the industry is awash with bad behaviour from famous faces and anyone (honest) who works in it will tell you that pretty much every star they work with can behave like a complete **** (and it’s usually the full-strength Anglo-Saxon term used). I can attest to this. In my many years of covering TV I met and wrote about the biggest names on the box on a regular basis and they all had their moments. Yes, even the saintly Ant and Dec. Just ask Kelly Brook, who blamed them for her sacking as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent in 2012. So the Gregg Wallace saga goes much deeper than Gregg Wallace, his potty mouth and allegedly wandering hands. It goes much deeper than the BBC and its patently piss-poor complaints procedure. It is about how the entire industry behaves. How time after time it has been shown to foster a toxic environment where stars are considered just too important to sack, no matter how appalling their behaviour. And it will continue to be that way until the people who perpetuate it decide enough is enough and enact the changes that are so urgently needed. They? We won’t forget them Emma 6 Emma Corrin out at a premiere of a new horror film EMMA “don’t call me a woman” Corrin has been doing her, sorry “their”, bit for gender diversity this week by appearing at the premiere of a new horror film with a brace of presumably non-female breasts, proudly on display. The star, who plays a female character in the film, showcased the daring braless look on the blood-red carpet for the remake of the classic 1922 Dracula-inspired Nosferatu. Vainglorious Emma insists on being called “they”, in keeping with the pronoun demands of her fellow non-binaries. Well, we certainly won’t forget them. Price to pay at BBC 6 BBC presenter Clive Myrie failed to disclose extra-curricular activities totalling up to £250,000 Credit: Getty NEWSREADER, Mastermind host and one of the only male stars left at the Beeb who hasn’t been revealed to be a sex pest, Clive Myrie has got himself into a pickle. He apologised this week after confessing that due to “administrative issues” he had failed to disclose extra-curricular activities totalling up to £250,000 . Strict BBC rules insist that people like Clive, who are supposed to be impartial, declare what they are up to elsewhere. Clive says he now won’t take on any other extra stuff for the time being and will instead struggle by on the £310,000 a year he gets from our licence fees (u ok hun?). But this whole episode reveals a fundamental flaw at the heart of the BBC’s argument as to why it must pay so much. The corporation says it is because of what the commercial sector offers. So it pays “market price”, despite insisting it rarely does pay that. But once installed at the BBC, stars like Clive can trade on that to make even more cash in the commercial market. So simply by having a job at the BBC, their stock rises. That would also be the case if we paid them less. Maybe if we did, executives could stop claiming to be skint – and then stop jacking up the increasingly unjustifiable licence fee. SPOTIFY’S Unwrapped week is upon us, when folk with the audio streaming app take to social media to boast about how cool their music choices are. Unless you’re a parent of young kids. Unwrapped collates all your most-played songs to reveal a bespoke top five. So my No1 was not one of the cool new indie bands I’ve been streaming all year but a song by Taylor Swift. Now I happen to like this particular tune but not as much as my daughter, who insists on it being streamed in the car from my Spotify account at least five times a journey. But it could be worse. A friend with younger kids revealed her number one was Wheels On The Bus. Cool points for that one: Zero. Ad ban a waist of time 6 A TV junk food ban will be a waste of time, the number of junk food influencers – aka snackfluencers – is expanding faster than their viewers’ waistlines Credit: instagram/elburritomonster A HARD-and-fast rule of any new public policy is that by the time it’s actually ready to be implemented, it will be completely outdated. Take the plan to ban “junk food” ads before 9pm on telly or in paid online adverts . We’ve heard about this since cavemen created their first brontosaurus smash burger. And still it won’t come in until October 2025. But even if it was introduced now it would a waste of time, as a cursory glance at social media will confirm. The number of junk food influencers – aka snackfluencers – is expanding faster than their viewers’ waistlines. Food porn accounts Only Scrans and El Burrito Monster already have a million followers. Instagram and TikTok are stuffed to the gills with six-patty burgers deep fried in cheese. Or my favourite, a burrito made of about ten items from McDonald’s. Once again, the internet charges ahead while government puffs and pants behind it like someone from My 600lb Life. No fan of Jim MANCHESTER United ’s new boss, Jim “local lad” Ratcliffe , has decided to endear himself to fans by ripping us off at the turnstiles. Ratcliffe – net worth £12.5billion – has whacked up ticket prices and scrapped all concessions so my lad’s £20 ticket is now £66. Squeezing more cash out of already fed-up Reds is quite the PR masterstroke, as the huge protests outside Old Trafford at Sunday’s Everton game showed. Now, Unlucky Jim is being spoken of with the same disdain fans have for owners the Glazers. Read more on the Scottish Sun DARR-ARGH! Weather maps reveal exact date Storm Darragh to hit Scots with rain, wind & SNOW 'SICK BEYOND BELIEF' Cops probe footage 'showing Scots woman having sex with XL Bully dog' But at least he can console himself that he now has his very own terrace chant, to the tune of The Beach Boys’ Sloop John B. All together now: “Jim Ratcliffe’s a c***, Jim Ratcliffe’s a c***, just like the Glazers . . . Jim Ratcliffe’s a c***.”
By Lauren Beavis An adorable little donkey named Wonder has received a new prosthetic leg to help her stand and walk - just in time for Christmas. Wonder was born with two deformed hooves leaving her unable to stand or walk. But since being fitted with a specialist prosthesis, the young mule is now able to walk "better than ever before". At a young age, she was admitted to Donkey Sanctuary Bonaire in the Netherlands - a center for neglected, abused, confiscated, sick or old donkeys . Wonder the donkey with its new leg. ( When veterinarians at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Ghent University heard about Wonder's condition, they got in touch with Wesley Michiels from Pet Orthopedics - a company that makes prostheses and braces for animals. Wesley Michiels, head of Pet Orthopedics , said: "The vets contacted us and explained that they wanted to amputate the leg - asking us how they could best go about it to ensure that the donkey would be able to walk again with a view to a prosthesis. "We were on site for about three weeks to carry out the measurements on Wonder." As the vets amputated her little hooves - the orthopedics were able to fit a prosthetic leg that grows as Wonder does. (Pet Orthopedics via SWNS) Wesley said: "The cooperation results in a perfect amputation stump so that the prosthetic device also fits perfectly. "Wonder is still a little donkey who still has to grow in the future, so the prosthesis is adaptive so we can adjust it when she grows. "In the beginning, she has to learn how to use the leg more - but with the prosthetic device she is now already walking better than before." (Pet Orthopedics via SWNS) Wesley says he has worked with donkeys before - but a full prosthesis for the species was a new task for him. He added the new technology has helped many species - from alpacas to dogs and now donkeys . Wesley said: "In the past, the legs of animals were completely amputated up to the shoulder or up to the hip for a problem with toes for example - then sometimes you couldn't do anything with one leg. "But now many vets first call us to ask for advice about the amputation, so that we can put a prosthesis afterwards."
Laine igniting Canadiens with hottest Habs player debut in 15 yearsCanadian freestyle ski star Mikael Kingsbury seeks to extend record
Iran 'dramatically increasing' uranium enrichment, IAEA warns5 Plant-Based Twists on the Classic Fish Stick