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A former chief adviser and close friend to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday he doesn’t think Trudeau will stay on to lead the Liberals in the next election. Gerald Butts wrote in a Substack newsletter that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s surprise resignation from cabinet last week dealt Trudeau a staggering blow that loosened his already tenuous grip on the party. His post came the same day the Conservatives said they will move to bring down the government as early as the end of January, by first moving a non-confidence motion in a House committee that will sit Jan. 7. Trudeau is said to be thinking about his future during the holiday break, as an increasing number of current and former Liberal MPs publicly call on him to step down for the good of the party. Butts said Trudeau was “unlikely” to lead the party into the next campaign before Freeland’s stunning departure and is “now much less likely to do so.” Just a week ago, Butts joined the Liberal Christmas party confab in Ottawa alongside Trudeau’s longtime chief of staff and close confidant Katie Telford. Butts, who has been friends with Trudeau since they studied together at McGill University, and Telford were part of the original team Trudeau, helping craft both his leadership bid in 2013 and his first winning election campaign in 2015. Butts then served as Trudeau’s principal secretary during the first Trudeau term. He wrote that the Liberals are back now to where they were before Trudeau took over the party in 2013, in terms of their popularity and voters viewing them as out-of-touch. Butts, who did not reply to requests for comment on Friday, said in his article that Freeland’s sudden departure is bad news for the party and that it should prepare to hold a leadership race rather than anoint Freeland or anyone else as leader. “If, as is now widely expected, Mr. Trudeau’s resignation is imminent, the only way forward is a real leadership race,” Butts wrote. “If you want to know who can play hockey, put on a hockey game. It doesn’t matter who you think you support at this moment, we’ll all have a more seasoned view if we see these people in live action.” Trudeau has multiple options should he decide that he will not lead the Liberals into the next election but none of them leave a long runway for a leadership race. The longest option would see him prorogue Parliament for a stretch of time to give his party breathing room for a leadership race without having to face confidence votes that could force an election this winter. But Parliament would have to return within a few months, meaning the Liberals would not have very long for campaigning compared to past party leadership races. The last race that elected Trudeau as leader lasted nearly two years. Eddie Goldenberg, who was chief of staff to former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien, wrote a column in the wake of Freeland’s surprise resignation arguing that a party leadership race would take too long to organize and properly execute. He called for the Liberals to instead install Freeland as leader, after seeing her get a surge in support for taking a stand against Trudeau. Butts is not the only one who thinks that’s the wrong move. Trudeau’s former environment minister Catherine McKenna last week also argued the party needs a “short, serious leadership race” in a comment she made to The Canadian Press shortly after Freeland quit. Public opinion polling in Canada has put Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre light years ahead of Trudeau for more than the past year, with polling aggregator 338 Canada projecting a Conservative majority of 232 seats by sweeping nearly everywhere but Quebec. Butts said Freeland’s abrupt exit from cabinet also means the next election will probably come sooner rather than later next year — and that it’s even more likely now to result in a Conservative majority government. Conservatives have agitated for the past year for an immediate election fought over Trudeau’s hallmark policies, namely his controversial carbon pricing regime. Conservative MP John Williamson said Friday he will try to get the ball rolling early in the new year on a non-confidence vote that could topple the Liberal government in little more than a month. Williamson, who chairs the public accounts committee, said in a social media post that he will put forward his non-confidence motion at a committee hearing on Jan. 7, and that the committee can later kick it over to the House of Commons to deal with once it returns on Jan. 27. That could be voted on as early as Jan. 30, and could bring an immediate election if it passes. Three non-confidence motions brought by the Tories failed in the fall. However, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in the days after Freeland quit cabinet that he is now ready to vote down the government. “The Liberals don’t deserve another chance,” he said in a letter posted to social media on Dec. 20, vowing that the NDP will put forward their own motion of non-confidence when parliament resumes and “vote to bring this government down.” Williamson was not made available for an interview about the matter. The Conservatives issued a statement Friday morning that said Singh should support their motion for an earlier vote and be prepared to live up to his words. NDP House Leader Peter Julian said in a statement late Friday that his party will support the Conservative motion if it describes how the Liberals “let Canadians down.” “In the past non-confidence motions passed at committee have not worked, so we will be ready with our own motion of non-confidence,” Julian said. “The NDP motion will send Canadians to the polls where they will have a choice between the Conservatives’ plan to cut in order to give more to CEOs; or Jagmeet Singh’s plan to fix health care, build homes people can afford and bring down the price of essentials — Canada’s first real government for the working class.”Is Outlook down? Thousands of Microsoft 365 users report outage issues
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Messi's son debuts at Argentina youth tournament as grandparents watchMOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. , Dec. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --WuKong Education, a leading online K-12 education provider, has been named to the highly-anticipated 2025 edition of the GSV 150 : GSV's annual list of the top 150 private companies transforming digital learning and workforce skills. This recognition underscores WuKong Education's transformative role in the EdTech industry and its commitment to empowering students worldwide through AI-powered personalized learning. Out of more than 2,500 global VC- and PE-backed companies, WuKong Education was selected for the 2025 GSV 150 based on a proprietary evaluation framework, including revenue scale, growth, user reach, geographic diversification, and margin profile. The 2025 cohort of the GSV 150 collectively reaches 3B learners and generates over $25B in annual revenue. "The rapid rise of generative AI is fueling knowledge and creating opportunities we had not imagined before," says Luben Pampoulov, Partner at GSV Ventures. "Multi-modality is making education more engaging, AI tools are driving personalization and productivity, and learning is happening at the speed of light. Effectively everyone across the 2025 GSV 150 has generative AI deeply embedded in their offering." WuKong Education is revolutionizing online education for students aged 3-18 worldwide, offering courses in Chinese, Mathematics, and English Language Arts. By leveraging cutting-edge AI technology, WuKong Education empowers students from 118 countries with a unique learning journey that ignites curiosity, nurtures creativity, and sharpens critical thinking skills. Powered by AI, WuKong Education adapts to each student's unique needs, ensuring that every learner receives a personalized educational journey: This AI-driven teaching model has not only significantly improved student academic performance but also fostered the holistic development of students, earning widespread praise from students and parents around the world. "We are honored to be named to the 2025 GSV 150," said Vicky Wang , founder and CEO of WuKong Education. "This recognition affirms our ongoing commitment to revolutionizing education. By combining the expertise of our teaching and research teams with the possibilities of AI, we are setting a new benchmark for digital education to empower students globally." Earlier this year, WuKong Education was named a 2024 Cognia® School of Distinction for excellence in education by Cognia®, a globally recognized education quality certification organization, and was also listed in the AU&NZ EdTech Top 50 by HolonIQ, a global leader in impact intelligence, for the third consecutive year. These recognitions underscore WuKong Education's continued leadership in the global EdTech industry and its ongoing dedication to delivering exceptional education to learners around the world. About WuKong Education Based in Silicon Valley, WuKong Education is shaping the future of online learning for students aged 3 to 18. WuKong Education's three core programs—WuKong Chinese, WuKong Math, and WuKong English (ELA)—combine AI-driven technology, expert educators, and personalized services to deliver engaging, dynamic learning experiences. With over 400,000 families served globally, WuKong Education is empowering students to succeed and become lifelong learners in an ever-changing world. Learn more at: wukongsch.com . About GSV Founded in 2011, GSV is a global platform that drives education and workforce skills innovation. We believe that ALL people have equal access to the future, and that scaled innovations in "PreK to Gray" learning and skills are crucial to achieving this goal. The GSV platform includes the ASU+GSV Summit , hosted annually in San Diego with 7,000+ attendees; the India -based ASU+GSV & Emeritus Summit , now entering its third year; and The AI Show @ ASU+GSV , an immersive exploration of the AI Revolution in education, which welcomed 10,000+ attendees this year. GSV Ventures , GSV's investment arm founded in 2015, is a multi-stage venture fund investing in the most transformational companies across the global "PreK to Gray" landscape. View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wukong-education-named-to-the-2025-gsv-150-for-leading-the-way-in-education-technology-302338883.html SOURCE WuKong EducationState agencies are required under the Illinois Personal Information Protection Act to notify the news media of certain reportable breaches of security. In a statement, the Illinois Department of Human Services said it experienced a privacy breach on April 25 when a phishing campaign was used to access a number of employee accounts and the files associated with the accounts. Phishing involves sending seemingly legitimate requests for personal or sensitive information such as passwords or account numbers. IDHS said the files that were accessed included Social Security numbers for 4,704 people. In addition, public assistance account information was accessed for more than 1.1 million people. While that information did not include Social Security numbers, it did have names, public assistance account numbers and some combination of addresses, birthdate, Illinois State Board of Education Student Information System identification numbers and cellphone numbers. "Upon learning of the phishing incident, IDHS worked in partnership with the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology to investigate the extent of the breach and to determine which individuals were included," according to the statement. "This was an in-depth forensic analysis, followed by a manual review of all compromised files to determine the nature of the breach. IDHS continues to train its employees on how to avoid and report phishing attempts." Written notices were sent to those whose Social Security numbers were involved and whose current address was on file. Those notices provide details about available actions, including credit monitoring.