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2025-01-10
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fish examples Thompson-Herro fight leads to ejections of multiple players and coaches in Heat's victory in HoustonShiitake Mushroom Market to Observe Prominent CAGR of 8.7% by 2029, Size, Share, Trends, Demand, Growth, Challenges and Competitive Outlook

Jonah Goldberg: What if most Americans aren't bitterly divided?Jonah Goldberg: What if most Americans aren't bitterly divided?With Netanyahu warrant, international court tests priorities of Israel’s allies

Pam Bondi and Jeffrey Epstein with his associates (Picture credit: Agencies) US President Donald Trump 's nominee for attorney general , Pam Bondi , has called for the release of names in the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein case files. Bondi said that those seeking to keep their identities hidden in Epstein's case have "no legal basis" to do so. Epstein, an American financier linked to numerous high-profile individuals, died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Assembly Election Results 'Ek hain, toh safe hain' is new 'Maha' mantra of India, says PM Modi in victory speech 'Let us take a pledge to build Golden Jharkhand': Hemant Soren after victory 'Cannot believe Maharashtra results': Uddhav vows to keep fighting The extent of these individuals' involvement in the case remains unclear. Speaking in a Fox News interview, Bondi questioned attorney general Merrick Garland and the Justice department's silence on the matter. "I want to know why AG Garland and the Justice Department are so quiet on this tonight. You know, they're out there labeling parents domestic terrorists, yet they're saying nothing about this," Bondi said. Bondi expressed frustration over delays in releasing related documents and stressed the significant scope of human trafficking in the US. "These documents were so slow to come out. Human trafficking is a multi-billion-dollar business in this country. And Jeffrey Epstein is dead. And Ghislaine Maxwell is in prison for 20 years where she belongs," she said. She argued that individuals named in the report have no legal grounds to keep their identities private unless they are children, victims, or cooperating defendants in a potential case against convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. "People in that report are still fighting to keep their names private, Sean. They have no legal basis to do so unless they're a child, a victim, or a cooperating defendant by some chance against some potential case against Ghislaine Maxwell. And I think Mark Geragos, a great criminal defense attorney, will back that up as well," she added. Epstein was first arrested in Florida in 2005, accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex. Many other underage girls later alleged similar abuse. However, in 2008, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge involving one victim and served 13 months in jail under a work-release program. Despite his conviction, Epstein continued to mingle with wealthy and influential figures, often through charitable endeavors, for another decade. The scandal resurfaced after a Miami Herald investigation, prompting federal prosecutors in New York to charge Epstein with sex trafficking in 2019. Following Epstein's death, his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was prosecuted for her role in recruiting underage victims. She was convicted in 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Legal experts anticipate challenges if the documents are unsealed, as individuals named could claim privacy rights or argue their identities are irrelevant to the case. This could result in prolonged legal disputes.Best Buy says cautious, deal-chasing consumers and the presidential election kept quarterly sales muted. The electronics retailer released earnings Tuesday (Nov. 26) showing a 2.9% drop in comparable sales, higher than the 1% dip forecast in the company’s guidance. CEO Corie Barry said Best Buy’s sales performance was impacted by softer-than-expected consumer demand in September and October. “We attribute this to a combination of overall ongoing macro uncertainty, customers waiting for deals and sales, and distraction during the run up to the election, particularly in nonessential categories,” Barry said. “We expected lower demand between sales events, but the impact was even steeper than we estimated.” In recent weeks, with the election decided and holiday sales underway, Best Buy has seen an uptick in consumer demand, the CEO added. The company saw comparable sales growth in computing, tablets and services, with Barry noting that this growth “was more than offset by declines in appliances, home theater and gaming.” The company began its Black Friday sale a week earlier this year, and has also reintroduced its Doorbust concept, giving its paid members early access to this perk. Enterprise comparable sales for the first three weeks of November are up around 5% compared to last year, Barry said. As PYMNTS wrote Tuesday, a number of retailers are reporting results that reflect caution among consumers. For example, Ross Stores reported a 1% increase in comparable sales , with CEO Barbara Rentler disappointed in the results, as they represented a slowdown compared to the strong first half of 2024. “We should have better executed some of our merchandising initiatives,” Rentler said, adding that the company missed chances to capitalize on shifts in consumer preferences. Research from PYMNTS Intelligence’s “ New Reality Check: The Paycheck-to-Paycheck Report: Pessimism About Pay Rises Offsets the Effect of Falling Inflation,” shows that 83% of consumers are at least somewhat worried about current and near-future economic conditions. Meanwhile, offering deals and sales may not be what consumers want this year, as many shoppers have begun to feel overwhelmed , as noted here this week. The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Intrigue or Fatigue? Amid Crowded Deals Landscape, Financial Lifestyle Drives Consumers’ Black Friday Interest,” found that a third of people surveyed felt “bombarded” by sales promotions. And a little more than 4 in 10 said the increased frequency makes the deals feel less special.

KELOWNA, BC / ACCESSWIRE / December 18, 2024 / Diamcor Mining Inc. (TSXV:DMI)(OTCQB:DMIFF)(FRA:DC3A), ("Diamcor" or the "Company"), a well-established Canadian diamond mining company with a proven history in the mining, exploration, and sale of rough diamonds announces that the Company and Tiffany & Co. Canada ("Tiffany" or "The Lender") have entered into an agreement (the "Agreement") to amend the total balance of the outstanding loans between the companies. Under the terms of the Agreement, Diamcor will pay Tiffany CAD $2,000,000 (the "Initial Payment") 90 days from signing of the Agreement, followed by a second and final payment of CAD $1,505,256 on the one-year anniversary of the Initial Payment to retire all remaining principal and accrued interest associated with the outstanding loans. As a result of this agreement, the total current carrying balance currently recorded in the Company's financials for these loans of CAD $6,753,045 will be adjusted to reflect a new amount of CAD $3,505,256 as outstanding for these loans. About Diamcor Mining Inc. Diamcor Mining Inc. is a fully reporting publicly traded Canadian diamond mining company with a well-established proven history in the mining, exploration, and sale of rough diamonds. The Company's primary focus is on the mining and development of its Krone-Endora at Venetia Project which is co-located and directly adjacent to De Beers' Venetia Diamond Mine in South Africa. The Venetia diamond mine is recognized as one of the world's top diamond-producing mines, and the deposits which occur on Krone-Endora have been identified as being the result of shift and subsequent erosion of an estimated 50M tonnes of material from the higher grounds of Venetia to the lower surrounding areas in the direction of Krone and Endora. Diamcor also focuses on the acquisition and development of mid-tier projects with near-term production capabilities and growth potential and uses unique approaches to mining that involves the use of advanced technology and techniques to extract diamonds in a safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible manner. The Company has a strong commitment to social responsibility, including the support of local people, communities, and the environment. About the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project Diamcor acquired the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project from De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, consisting of the prospecting rights over the farms Krone 104 and Endora 66, which represent a combined surface area of approximately 5,888 hectares directly adjacent to De Beers' flagship Venetia Diamond Mine in South Africa. The Company subsequently announced that the South African Department of Mineral Resources had granted a Mining Right for the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project encompassing 657.71 hectares of the Project's total area of 5,888 hectares. The Company has also submitted an application for a mining right over the remaining areas of the Project. The deposits which occur on the properties of Krone and Endora have been identified as a higher-grade "Alluvial" basal deposit which is covered by a lower-grade upper "Eluvial" deposit. These deposits are proposed to be the result of the direct-shift (in respect to the "Eluvial" deposit) and erosion (in respect to the "Alluvial" deposit) of an estimated 1,000 vertical meters of material from the higher grounds of the adjacent Venetia Kimberlite areas. The deposits on Krone-Endora occur with a maximum total depth of approximately 15.0 metres from surface to bedrock, allowing for a very low-cost mining operation to be employed with the potential for near-term diamond production from a known high-quality source. Krone-Endora also benefits from the significant development of infrastructure and services already in place due to its location directly adjacent to the Venetia Mine, which is widely recognised as the largest diamond mine in South Africa, and one of the most prolific diamond mines in the world. Qualified Person Statement: Mr. James P. Hawkins (B.Sc., P.Geo.), is Manager of Exploration & Special Projects for Diamcor Mining Inc., and the Qualified Person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 responsible for overseeing the execution of Diamcor's exploration programmes and a Member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta ("APEGA"). Mr. Hawkins has reviewed this press release and approved of its contents. On behalf of the Board of Directors: Mr. Dean H. Taylor President & CEO Diamcor Mining Inc. www.diamcormining.com For further information contact: Mr. Dean H. Taylor Diamcor Mining Inc DeanT@Diamcor.com +1 250 862-3212 This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. While these forward-looking statements represent our best current judgement, they are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict and which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Further, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. WE SEEK SAFE HARBOUR Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE: Diamcor Mining Inc. View the original on accesswire.com Copyright 2024 ACCESSWIRE. All Rights Reserved.

Stock market today: Wall Street rises with Nvidia as bitcoin bursts above $99,000

ITV I'm A Celebrity fans baffled as they spot sign Dean MuCullough's 'faking it'Ryan Blaney Reveals Hilarious Bowman Gray Memory As NASCAR Returns To Iconic Track"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." Section 1.10.32 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?" 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" To keep reading, please log in to your account, create a free account, or simply fill out the form below.

 

4 brothers chicken and fish menu

2025-01-10
fish eye lens
fish eye lens For Manchester United, letting go of the underperforming number 10 may be a painful but necessary step towards rebuilding a competitive squad. The club's legacy and reputation are at stake, and tough decisions must be made to ensure that they remain a force to be reckoned with in English football.Minnesota Vikings Sign 25-Year-Old Cornerback to Practice Squadweek in review | VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO VIEW MORE WEEK IN REVIEW CONTENTExplainer: All you need to know about the GST on EVs

The key objective of the economic policy for the next year is to enhance the ability to respond effectively to economic shocks and fluctuations. With heightened volatility and uncertainty in the global economy, it is imperative to have a proactive and agile approach to economic policy. By strengthening extraordinary countercyclical adjustments, policymakers aim to minimize the adverse effects of economic downturns and ensure a smooth transition towards recovery.

As the footballing authorities continue their investigation into Manchester City and other clubs suspected of breaching Financial Fair Play regulations, the eyes of the world are fixed on the outcome. Mourinho's words serve as a timely reminder that justice must prevail, and that no club should be allowed to escape accountability for its actions.

In the world of football, selecting the best eleven players from across the globe is no easy task. Every year, the FIFPRO World XI is announced, showcasing the cream of the crop in the footballing world. However, there are always debates and discussions surrounding the final lineup, with fans and experts alike offering their own opinions on who should make the cut.In a show of solidarity, the villagers sprang into action, dividing themselves into teams to address the various aspects of the emergency situation. Some rushed to provide first aid to the injured cow, staunching the bleeding and carefully examining the extent of its wounds. Others set out to survey the surrounding area for any signs of the elusive predator that had caused such devastation.Donkey named Wonder gets new prosthetic leg for Christmas

In a thrilling display of skill and teamwork, the fearless contract ant esports national challenge brought together the best teams from across the country to compete for the coveted title. After weeks of intense competition, Team Answers emerged victorious, showcasing their exceptional talent and dedication to the game.Developed by a talented team of Russian game developers, PIONER promises to deliver a unique and engaging gaming experience set in a post-apocalyptic world. The trailer showcases stunning visuals, detailed character designs, and a richly crafted game world that is sure to captivate players from the very beginning.

HICKSVILLE, N.Y. , Dec. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Flagstar Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FLG) (the "Company") today announced the appointment of Brian Callanan , Senior Managing Director and General Counsel at Liberty Strategic Capital ("Liberty"), to its Board of Directors, effective December 16, 2024 . Commenting on the appointment, Joseph M. Otting , Chairman, President, and CEO said, "I'm pleased to have Brian join our Board. His proven track record and expertise in financial services, along with his strategic insights will be instrumental as we continue to execute on our transformation and long-term vision. Brian's perspectives will provide valuable guidance, and his leadership will play a critical role in driving sustainable growth, ensuring we achieve long-term success and maximize the value we deliver to our shareholders, employees, and clients." Callanan is a distinguished lawyer with extensive experience in financial regulation, regulatory compliance, and financial technology. At Liberty, Callanan leads the firm's legal function, serves on its Investment Committee, and focuses on financial sector investments. Prior to joining Liberty, he served as General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, overseeing 2,000 lawyers across the department. As Chief General Counsel, he played a key role in major initiatives such as economic rescue programs during COVID-19, the design of new economic sanctions, and the implementation of tax reform. While serving as Deputy General Counsel, Callanan managed major litigation and advised on regulatory reform efforts, among other responsibilities. For his service, he received the Alexander Hamilton Award, the department's highest honor. This appointment aligns with the $1.05 billion equity investment in March 2024 , which stipulated that two Board seats would be granted to lead investor Liberty Strategic Capital. With Callanan's addition, the Company's Board of Directors, which was reconstituted earlier in 2024, expands to nine members, including Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Joseph M. Otting , Milton Berlinski , Alessandro P. DiNello , Alan Frank , Marshall Lux , Lead Independent Director Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin , Allen Puwalski , and Jennifer Whip. About Flagstar Financial, Inc. Flagstar Financial, Inc. is the parent company of Flagstar Bank, N.A., one of the largest regional banks in the country. The Company is headquartered in Hicksville, New York . At September 30, 2024, the Company had $114.4 billion of assets, $73.0 billion of loans, deposits of $83 .0 billion, and total stockholders' equity of $8 .6 billion. Flagstar Bank, N.A. operates over 400 branches, including a significant presence in the Northeast and Midwest and locations in high growth markets in the Southeast and West Coast. In addition, the Bank has approximately 80 private banking teams located in over 10 cities in the metropolitan New York City region and on the West Coast, which serve the needs of high-net worth individuals and their businesses. Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This release may include forward‐looking statements by the Company and our authorized officers pertaining to such matters as our goals, beliefs, intentions, and expectations regarding (a) revenues, earnings, loan production, asset quality, liquidity position, capital levels, risk analysis, divestitures, acquisitions, and other material transactions, among other matters; (b) the future costs and benefits of the actions we may take; (c) our assessments of credit risk and probable losses on loans and associated allowances and reserves; (d) our assessments of interest rate and other market risks; (e) our ability to execute on our strategic plan, including the sufficiency of our internal resources, procedures and systems; (f) our ability to attract, incentivize, and retain key personnel and the roles of key personnel; (g) our ability to achieve our financial and other strategic goals, including those related to our merger with Flagstar Bancorp, Inc., which was completed on December 1, 2022, our acquisition of substantial portions of the former Signature Bank through an FDIC-assisted transaction, and our ability to fully and timely implement the risk management programs institutions greater than $100 billion in assets must maintain; (h) the effect on our capital ratios of the approval of certain proposals approved by our shareholders during our 2024 annual meeting of shareholders; (i) the conversion or exchange of shares of the Company's preferred stock; (j) the payment of dividends on shares of the Company's capital stock, including adjustments to the amount of dividends payable on shares of the Company's preferred stock; (k) the availability of equity and dilution of existing equity holders associated with amendments to the 2020 Omnibus Incentive Plan; (l) the effects of the reverse stock split; and (m) transactions relating to the sale of our mortgage business and mortgage warehouse business. Forward‐looking statements are typically identified by such words as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "outlook," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "should," "confident," and other similar words and expressions, and are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, which change over time. Additionally, forward‐looking statements speak only as of the date they are made; the Company does not assume any duty, and does not undertake, to update our forward‐looking statements. Furthermore, because forward‐looking statements are subject to assumptions and uncertainties, actual results or future events could differ, possibly materially, from those anticipated in our statements, and our future performance could differ materially from our historical results. Our forward‐looking statements are subject to, among others, the following principal risks and uncertainties: general economic conditions and trends, either nationally or locally; conditions in the securities, credit and financial markets; changes in interest rates; changes in deposit flows, and in the demand for deposit, loan, and investment products and other financial services; changes in real estate values; changes in the quality or composition of our loan or investment portfolios, including associated allowances and reserves; changes in future allowance for credit losses, including changes required under relevant accounting and regulatory requirements; the ability to pay future dividends; changes in our capital management and balance sheet strategies and our ability to successfully implement such strategies; recent turnover in our Board of Directors and our executive management team; changes in our strategic plan, including changes in our internal resources, procedures and systems, and our ability to successfully implement such plan; changes in competitive pressures among financial institutions or from non‐financial institutions; changes in legislation, regulations, and policies; the imposition of restrictions on our operations by bank regulators; the outcome of pending or threatened litigation, or of investigations or any other matters before regulatory agencies, whether currently existing or commencing in the future; the success of our blockchain and fintech activities, investments and strategic partnerships; the restructuring of our mortgage business; our ability to recognize anticipated expense reductions and enhanced efficiencies with respect to our recently announced strategic workforce reduction; the impact of failures or disruptions in or breaches of the Company's operational or security systems, data or infrastructure, or those of third parties, including as a result of cyberattacks or campaigns; the impact of natural disasters, extreme weather events, military conflict (including the Russia / Ukraine conflict, the conflict in Israel and surrounding areas, the possible expansion of such conflicts and potential geopolitical consequences), terrorism or other geopolitical events; and a variety of other matters which, by their nature, are subject to significant uncertainties and/or are beyond our control. Our forward-looking statements are also subject to the following principal risks and uncertainties with respect to our merger with Flagstar Bancorp, which was completed on December 1, 2022 , and our acquisition of substantial portions of the former Signature Bank through an FDIC-assisted transaction: the possibility that the anticipated benefits of the transactions will not be realized when expected or at all; the possibility of increased legal and compliance costs, including with respect to any litigation or regulatory actions related to the business practices of acquired companies or the combined business; diversion of management's attention from ongoing business operations and opportunities; the possibility that the Company may be unable to achieve expected synergies and operating efficiencies in or as a result of the transactions within the expected timeframes or at all; and revenues following the transactions may be lower than expected. Additionally, there can be no assurance that the Community Benefits Agreement entered into with NCRC, which was contingent upon the closing of the Company's merger with Flagstar Bancorp, Inc., will achieve the results or outcome originally expected or anticipated by us as a result of changes to our business strategy, performance of the U.S. economy, or changes to the laws and regulations affecting us, our customers, communities we serve, and the U.S. economy (including, but not limited to, tax laws and regulations). More information regarding some of these factors is provided in the Risk Factors section of our Annual Report on Form 10‐K/A for the year ended December 31, 2023, Quarterly Report on Forms 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2024 , June 30, 2024 , and September 30, 2024 , and in other SEC reports we file. Our forward‐looking statements may also be subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those we may discuss in this news release, on our conference call, during investor presentations, or in our SEC filings, which are accessible on our website and at the SEC's website, www.sec.gov . Investor Contact: Salvatore J. DiMartino (516) 683-4286 Media Contact: Nicole Yelland (248) 219-9234 View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/flagstar-financial-inc-appoints-brian-callanan-to-board-of-directors-302331692.html SOURCE Flagstar Financial, Inc.Lewandowski's arrival at Barcelona was met with great expectations from fans and management alike. The prolific goalscorer had enjoyed immense success at Bayern Munich and was seen as a key addition to bolster Barcelona's attacking prowess. However, behind the scenes, the reality seems to be quite different.

On the other hand, waiting for mortgage rates to stabilize or even decrease may not guarantee a better outcome, as real estate markets are influenced by a myriad of factors beyond just interest rates. Economic conditions, housing supply and demand dynamics, government policies, and global events can all play a significant role in shaping the direction of the real estate market. Therefore, trying to time the market perfectly based solely on mortgage rate fluctuations may not always result in the most advantageous outcome.OpenAI’s legal battle with Elon Musk reveals internal turmoil over avoiding AI ‘dictatorship’In a significant development, Syrian Prime Minister has agreed to transfer power to the opposition, marking a crucial step towards ending the long-standing conflict in the war-torn nation. The decision comes after months of negotiations and diplomatic efforts aimed at finding a peaceful resolution to the crisis that has engulfed Syria for years.

Headline: Man Injures 3 in Car Accident Due to Distracted Driving - Scene of Accident ExposedNow, after nearly two decades, fans of the original film can look forward to revisiting this dark and immersive world in "28 Years Later." Directed by acclaimed horror filmmaker Jennifer Kent, known for her work on "The Babadook," the sequel promises to deliver a fresh perspective on the ongoing nightmare unleashed in the first installment.

As Refund Brother navigates this new chapter in his life, he is already thinking ahead to what the future may hold. Whether it's exploring new creative ventures, collaborating with fellow content creators, or simply taking time to recharge and reflect, he is determined to make the most of this unexpected opportunity for growth.Peter O’Mahony’s wife Jess jokes ‘everyone’s got a job’ in cute Christmas snaps including ‘spud conveyor belt’Jamie Carragher mocked over Sky Sports claim about new Premier League manager

Trump Advisor Criticizes Zelensky's Attire, Sparks Controversy

HICKSVILLE, N.Y. , Dec. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Flagstar Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FLG) (the "Company") today announced the appointment of Brian Callanan , Senior Managing Director and General Counsel at Liberty Strategic Capital ("Liberty"), to its Board of Directors, effective December 16, 2024 . Commenting on the appointment, Joseph M. Otting , Chairman, President, and CEO said, "I'm pleased to have Brian join our Board. His proven track record and expertise in financial services, along with his strategic insights will be instrumental as we continue to execute on our transformation and long-term vision. Brian's perspectives will provide valuable guidance, and his leadership will play a critical role in driving sustainable growth, ensuring we achieve long-term success and maximize the value we deliver to our shareholders, employees, and clients." Callanan is a distinguished lawyer with extensive experience in financial regulation, regulatory compliance, and financial technology. At Liberty, Callanan leads the firm's legal function, serves on its Investment Committee, and focuses on financial sector investments. Prior to joining Liberty, he served as General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, overseeing 2,000 lawyers across the department. As Chief General Counsel, he played a key role in major initiatives such as economic rescue programs during COVID-19, the design of new economic sanctions, and the implementation of tax reform. While serving as Deputy General Counsel, Callanan managed major litigation and advised on regulatory reform efforts, among other responsibilities. For his service, he received the Alexander Hamilton Award, the department's highest honor. This appointment aligns with the $1.05 billion equity investment in March 2024 , which stipulated that two Board seats would be granted to lead investor Liberty Strategic Capital. With Callanan's addition, the Company's Board of Directors, which was reconstituted earlier in 2024, expands to nine members, including Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Joseph M. Otting , Milton Berlinski , Alessandro P. DiNello , Alan Frank , Marshall Lux , Lead Independent Director Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin , Allen Puwalski , and Jennifer Whip. About Flagstar Financial, Inc. Flagstar Financial, Inc. is the parent company of Flagstar Bank, N.A., one of the largest regional banks in the country. The Company is headquartered in Hicksville, New York . At September 30, 2024, the Company had $114.4 billion of assets, $73.0 billion of loans, deposits of $83 .0 billion, and total stockholders' equity of $8 .6 billion. Flagstar Bank, N.A. operates over 400 branches, including a significant presence in the Northeast and Midwest and locations in high growth markets in the Southeast and West Coast. In addition, the Bank has approximately 80 private banking teams located in over 10 cities in the metropolitan New York City region and on the West Coast, which serve the needs of high-net worth individuals and their businesses. Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This release may include forward‐looking statements by the Company and our authorized officers pertaining to such matters as our goals, beliefs, intentions, and expectations regarding (a) revenues, earnings, loan production, asset quality, liquidity position, capital levels, risk analysis, divestitures, acquisitions, and other material transactions, among other matters; (b) the future costs and benefits of the actions we may take; (c) our assessments of credit risk and probable losses on loans and associated allowances and reserves; (d) our assessments of interest rate and other market risks; (e) our ability to execute on our strategic plan, including the sufficiency of our internal resources, procedures and systems; (f) our ability to attract, incentivize, and retain key personnel and the roles of key personnel; (g) our ability to achieve our financial and other strategic goals, including those related to our merger with Flagstar Bancorp, Inc., which was completed on December 1, 2022, our acquisition of substantial portions of the former Signature Bank through an FDIC-assisted transaction, and our ability to fully and timely implement the risk management programs institutions greater than $100 billion in assets must maintain; (h) the effect on our capital ratios of the approval of certain proposals approved by our shareholders during our 2024 annual meeting of shareholders; (i) the conversion or exchange of shares of the Company's preferred stock; (j) the payment of dividends on shares of the Company's capital stock, including adjustments to the amount of dividends payable on shares of the Company's preferred stock; (k) the availability of equity and dilution of existing equity holders associated with amendments to the 2020 Omnibus Incentive Plan; (l) the effects of the reverse stock split; and (m) transactions relating to the sale of our mortgage business and mortgage warehouse business. Forward‐looking statements are typically identified by such words as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "outlook," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "should," "confident," and other similar words and expressions, and are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, which change over time. Additionally, forward‐looking statements speak only as of the date they are made; the Company does not assume any duty, and does not undertake, to update our forward‐looking statements. Furthermore, because forward‐looking statements are subject to assumptions and uncertainties, actual results or future events could differ, possibly materially, from those anticipated in our statements, and our future performance could differ materially from our historical results. Our forward‐looking statements are subject to, among others, the following principal risks and uncertainties: general economic conditions and trends, either nationally or locally; conditions in the securities, credit and financial markets; changes in interest rates; changes in deposit flows, and in the demand for deposit, loan, and investment products and other financial services; changes in real estate values; changes in the quality or composition of our loan or investment portfolios, including associated allowances and reserves; changes in future allowance for credit losses, including changes required under relevant accounting and regulatory requirements; the ability to pay future dividends; changes in our capital management and balance sheet strategies and our ability to successfully implement such strategies; recent turnover in our Board of Directors and our executive management team; changes in our strategic plan, including changes in our internal resources, procedures and systems, and our ability to successfully implement such plan; changes in competitive pressures among financial institutions or from non‐financial institutions; changes in legislation, regulations, and policies; the imposition of restrictions on our operations by bank regulators; the outcome of pending or threatened litigation, or of investigations or any other matters before regulatory agencies, whether currently existing or commencing in the future; the success of our blockchain and fintech activities, investments and strategic partnerships; the restructuring of our mortgage business; our ability to recognize anticipated expense reductions and enhanced efficiencies with respect to our recently announced strategic workforce reduction; the impact of failures or disruptions in or breaches of the Company's operational or security systems, data or infrastructure, or those of third parties, including as a result of cyberattacks or campaigns; the impact of natural disasters, extreme weather events, military conflict (including the Russia / Ukraine conflict, the conflict in Israel and surrounding areas, the possible expansion of such conflicts and potential geopolitical consequences), terrorism or other geopolitical events; and a variety of other matters which, by their nature, are subject to significant uncertainties and/or are beyond our control. Our forward-looking statements are also subject to the following principal risks and uncertainties with respect to our merger with Flagstar Bancorp, which was completed on December 1, 2022 , and our acquisition of substantial portions of the former Signature Bank through an FDIC-assisted transaction: the possibility that the anticipated benefits of the transactions will not be realized when expected or at all; the possibility of increased legal and compliance costs, including with respect to any litigation or regulatory actions related to the business practices of acquired companies or the combined business; diversion of management's attention from ongoing business operations and opportunities; the possibility that the Company may be unable to achieve expected synergies and operating efficiencies in or as a result of the transactions within the expected timeframes or at all; and revenues following the transactions may be lower than expected. Additionally, there can be no assurance that the Community Benefits Agreement entered into with NCRC, which was contingent upon the closing of the Company's merger with Flagstar Bancorp, Inc., will achieve the results or outcome originally expected or anticipated by us as a result of changes to our business strategy, performance of the U.S. economy, or changes to the laws and regulations affecting us, our customers, communities we serve, and the U.S. economy (including, but not limited to, tax laws and regulations). More information regarding some of these factors is provided in the Risk Factors section of our Annual Report on Form 10‐K/A for the year ended December 31, 2023, Quarterly Report on Forms 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2024 , June 30, 2024 , and September 30, 2024 , and in other SEC reports we file. Our forward‐looking statements may also be subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those we may discuss in this news release, on our conference call, during investor presentations, or in our SEC filings, which are accessible on our website and at the SEC's website, www.sec.gov . Investor Contact: Salvatore J. DiMartino (516) 683-4286 Media Contact: Nicole Yelland (248) 219-9234 View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/flagstar-financial-inc-appoints-brian-callanan-to-board-of-directors-302331692.html SOURCE Flagstar Financial, Inc.FLAGSTAR FINANCIAL, INC. APPOINTS BRIAN CALLANAN TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS

 

fish bone stuck in throat

2025-01-11
fish fillet with tartar sauce
fish fillet with tartar sauce Sam Darnold leads game-winning drive in OT and Vikings beat Bears 30-27 after blowing late leadSeibert, who missed the previous two games with a right hip injury, was wide left on the point-after attempt following a low snap. Thomas then took the kick back 43 yards as the Cowboys (4-7) ended their losing streak at five in improbable fashion. Part of that was the play of backup Cooper Rush, who threw for 247 yards and two TDs in his third start in place of starter Dak Prescott. Part was also the defense forcing two turnovers, as Chauncey Golston ripped the ball out of Brian Robinson Jr.’s hands for what was called an interception of Daniels in the second quarter, and Donovan Wilson stripped John Bates midway through the fourth. KaVonte Turpin provided the fireworks with a spinning, 99-yard kickoff return TD seconds after Daniels found Zach Ertz in the end zone and scored on a 2-point conversion to cut the deficit to three with 3:02 left. In the final three minutes alone, the Commanders (7-5) scored 10 points and allowed Thomas’ TD. All that after the score was 10-9 through three quarters before madness ensued. CHIEFS 30, PANTHERS 27 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 269 yards and three touchdowns , Spencer Shrader kicked a 31-yard field goal as time expired and Kansas City beat Carolina to reach double-digit wins for the 10th straight season. Noah Gray caught two TD passes as the Chiefs (10-1) bounced back from last week’s 30-21 loss at Buffalo and won at the buzzer yet again in a season of narrow escapes. DeAndre Hopkins also had a touchdown catch for the two-time defending Super Bowl champions, who scored on their first five possessions. Bryce Young finished 21 of 35 for 262 yards and a touchdown for the Panthers (3-8), who had their two-game winning streak snapped. David Moore had six receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown. Trailing 27-19, Young completed a fourth-down pass to Adam Thielen to move the chains, then went deep for the veteran receiver, who drew a pass-interference penalty on Chamarri Conner. That set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Chuba Hubbard. LIONS 24, COLTS 6 INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Jahmyr Gibbs rushed for two scores and David Montgomery added a third touchdown run, leading Detroit to a victory over Indianapolis. Gibbs finished with 21 carries for 90 yards as the Lions (10-1) extended their league-high winning streak to nine straight. Detroit has its been 11-game record since the franchise’s inaugural season in 1934. Jared Goff continued his sensational season, too, completing 26 of 36 throws for 269 yards. The Colts (5-7) lost their second straight home game and for the fourth time in their past five games. Anthony Richardson was 11 of 28 with 172 yards while rushing 10 times for 61 yards. While Indy managed to hold the NFL’s highest-scoring offense largely in check Sunday, it was doomed by its inability to finish drives with touchdowns. BUCCANEERS 30, GIANTS 7 EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Baker Mayfield catapulted into the end zone on a spectacular 10-yard scramble for one of Tampa Bay’s four rushing touchdowns, and the Buccaneers beat the Giants and new starting quarterback Tommy DeVito, snapping a four-game losing streak and extending New York’s skid to six. The Giants’ decisions this week to bench and then release quarterback Daniel Jones did nothing to help the NFL’s lowest-scoring offense. DeVito threw for 189 yards, mostly in the second half with New York well on its way to its sixth straight loss at home, where it is winless. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers dominated in every phase in a near-perfect perfect performance that featured TD runs of 1 yard by Sean Tucker, 6 yards by Bucky Irving and 1 yard by Rachaad White. After recent losses to the Ravens, 49ers and Chiefs, Tampa Bay (5-6) moved within one game of idle Atlanta in the NFC South. Tampa Bay scored on five of its on first six possessions to open a 30-0 lead, and none was more exciting than Mayfield’s TD run with 12 seconds left in the first half. On a second-and-goal from the 10, he avoided pressure and went for the end zone. He was hit by Cor’Dale Flott low and Dru Phillips high around the 2-yard line, and he was airborne when he crossed the goal line. The ball came loose when he hit the turf but he jumped up and flexed — seemingly mocking DeVito’s go-to celebration — as the Bucs took a 23-0 lead. DOLPHINS 34, PATRIOTS 15 MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Tua Tagovailoa threw for 317 yards and four touchdowns, including two scores to running back De’Von Achane, and Miami routed New England. The Dolphins (5-6) have a thin margin for error the rest of the season but have kept themselves afloat with a three-game winning streak. With their win at New England (3-9) in Week 5, the Dolphins have swept their division rivals in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999-2000. Tagovailoa, who moved to 7-0 in his career against New England, entered the game with a league-high 73.4% completion rate and went 29 for 40. Backup Skylar Thompson replaced Tagovailoa with about 11 minutes left in what was already a blowout, but a bad handoff on his first play resulted in a fumble that was recovered by cornerback Christian Gonzalez and returned 63 yards for a touchdown. It cut New England’s deficit to 31-15, and Tagovailoa returned the next drive. TITANS 32, TEXANS 27 HOUSTON (AP) — Will Levis threw for 278 yards and his 70-yard touchdown pass to Chig Okonkwo put Tennessee on top in the fourth quarter and the Titans held on for a win over the Texans. Okonkwo grabbed a short pass and rumbled for the touchdown to put the Titans (3-8) up 30-27 with 91⁄2 minutes remaining. Safety Eric Murray missed a tackle that would have stopped him near midfield. The Texans (7-5) had a chance to tie it with less than two minutes remaining, but Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 28-yard field-goal attempt sailed wide left. He fell to the ground after the miss before getting up and slamming his helmet on the field. Titans coach Brian Callahan held both hands in the air and smiled after watching the miss that allowed his team to win on a day it had three turnovers. The Texans forced a three-and-out, but couldn’t move the ball after that and Harold Landry sacked C.J. Stroud in the end zone for a safety to make it 32-27 and allow Tennessee to snap a two-game skid. VIKINGS 30, BEARS 27, OT CHICAGO (AP) — Sam Darnold threw for 90 of his 330 yards in overtime to set up Parker Romo’s game-ending 29-yard field goal , and Minnesota outlasted Chicago after giving up 11 points in the final 22 seconds of regulation. Darnold threw two touchdown passes, Jordan Addison caught eight passes for a career-high 162 yards and a touchdown, and T.J. Hockenson had 114 yards receiving for the Vikings (9-2), who remained one game behind Detroit in the rugged NFC North. Caleb Williams threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns for the Bears (4-7), who lost their fifth straight. Minnesota appeared to have the game in hand, leading 27-16 with 1:56 left after Romo kicked a 26-yard field goal. But the Bears weren’t finished. Deandre Carter made up for a muffed punt that led to a touchdown in the third quarter with a 55-yard kickoff return to the 40. Williams took it from there, capping an eight-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Allen. A 2-point conversion pass to DJ Moore made it 27-24 with 22 seconds remaining. The Bears recovered the onside kick and Williams hit Moore over the middle for a 27-yard gain to the 30 before spiking the ball. Cairo Santos made a 48-yard field goal as time expired.

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WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said her agency will need to start taking “extraordinary measures,” or special accounting maneuvers intended to prevent the nation from hitting the debt ceiling , as early as January 14, in a letter sent to congressional leaders Friday afternoon. "Treasury expects to hit the statutory debt ceiling between January 14 and January 23," she wrote in a letter addressed to House and Senate leadership, at which point extraordinary measures would be used to prevent the government from breaching the nation's debt ceiling — which was suspended until Jan. 1, 2025. The department in the past deployed what are known as “extraordinary measures” or accounting maneuvers to keep the government operating. Once those measures run out, the government risks defaulting on its debt unless lawmakers and the president agree to lift the limit on the U.S. government’s ability to borrow. "I respectfully urge Congress to act to protect the full faith and credit of the United States," Yellen said. FILE - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during a visit to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in Vienna, Va., on Jan. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) The news came after Democratic President Joe Biden signed a bill into law last week that averted a government shutdown but did not include Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s core debt demand to raise or suspend the nation’s debt limit. Congress approved the bill only after a fierce internal debate among Republicans over how to handle Trump's demand. “Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” Trump said in a statement. After a protracted debate in the summer of 2023 over how to fund the government, policymakers crafted the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which included suspending the nation's $31.4 trillion borrowing authority until Jan. 1, 2025. Notably however, Yellen said, on Jan. 2 the debt is projected to temporarily decrease due to a scheduled redemption of nonmarketable securities held by a federal trust fund associated with Medicare payments. As a result, “Treasury does not expect that it will be necessary to start taking extraordinary measures on January 2 to prevent the United States from defaulting on its obligations," she said. The federal debt stands at about $36 trillion — after ballooning across both Republican and Democratic administrations. The spike in inflation after the COVID-19 pandemic pushed up government borrowing costs such that debt service next year will exceed spending on national security. Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate in the new year, have big plans to extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts and other priorities but are debating over how to pay for them. Many consumers may remember receiving their first credit card, either years ago in a plain envelope, or months ago from a smartphone app. Still other consumers may remember their newest card, maybe because it's the credit card they're now using exclusively to maximize cash back rewards or airline miles. But for most consumers, there's also a murky in-between where they add, drop and generally accumulate credit cards over time. Over the years, consumers may close some credit card accounts or leave some of their credit cards dormant as a backup form of payment, or perhaps left forgotten in a desk drawer. In the data below, Experian reveals the changes in consumers wallets in recent years. U.S. consumers, on average, carry fewer cards today than they did in 2017, when the typical wallet held 4.2 active credit cards. As of the third quarter (Q3) of 2023, consumers carried 3.9 cards on average. This average is up slightly since the early days of the pandemic, when consumers reduced their average credit card debt and number of accounts as the economy slowed. As Experian revealed earlier this year, credit card balances are still climbing, despite (and partially because of) higher interest rates. And while average balances are increasing, they are spread across fewer accounts than in recent years. Alternative financing—including buy now, pay later plans for purchases—may account for at least some of this discrepancy, as consumers gravitate toward these newer financing methods. In general, residents of higher-population states tend to carry more credit cards than those who live in states with fewer and smaller population centers. Nonetheless, the difference between the states is relatively small. Considering that the national average is around four credit cards per consumer, the four states with the fewest cards per consumer (Alaska, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming) aren't appreciably different, with "only" about 3.3 credit cards per consumer. Similarly, the four states on the higher end of the scale where consumers have 4.2 or more credit cards are Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, New Jersey and Rhode Island. The disparity in average credit card counts is more apparent when the population is segmented by age, thanks in part to Generation Z, many of whom have yet to receive their first credit card. The average number of credit cards for these consumers was two, less than half of what older generations keep on hand. The average number of credit cards held by each generation follows the familiar pattern seen in credit card balances, which tend to increase in a consumer's middle age. It's not surprising that the number of credit card accounts follows a similar climb throughout young adulthood and middle age, then drops off in the retirement years. No matter how many credit cards you may have at the moment, keep in mind that the number of accounts has little if any bearing on one's FICO Score. Far more important is how consumers manage those accounts. This is easily demonstrable by quickly stepping through some of the factors that affect your credit scores . Longer credit histories do tend to have a positive effect on a consumer's credit score, but it's not something you can rush. Adhering to on-time payments and managing amounts owed will go far in improving credit scores, even absent a lengthy credit history. While accounts closed in good standing remain on your credit report for 10 years, canceling your oldest credit card account still has the potential to shorten your credit history when it is eventually removed. The impact of its removal depends on any other active credit cards in your credit file. Ultimately, the number of cards a particular individual carries is a personal decision. Justifications can be found for carrying a travel rewards card, a cash back card, a balance transfer card, a card for business transactions and other types of credit cards that other consumers may not have either the need or qualifications for. However, keeping track of numerous credit cards, whether or not a consumer is actively using all of them, can be a mentally taxing exercise. Not only that, credit card fees can add up and dull the benefit of carrying several credit cards. Organized consumers can benefit greatly from a wallet full of specialized cards, but for those seeking a more zen-like financial future, some judicial pruning may be in order. Methodology: The analysis results provided are based on an Experian-created statistically relevant aggregate sampling of our consumer credit database that may include use of the FICO Score 8 version. Different sampling parameters may generate different findings compared with other similar analysis. Analyzed credit data did not contain personal identification information. Metro areas group counties and cities into specific geographic areas for population censuses and compilations of related statistical data. This story was produced by Experian and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A scruffy little fugitive is on the lam again in New Orleans, gaining fame as he outwits a tenacious band of citizens armed with night-vision binoculars, nets and a tranquilizer rifle. Scrim, a 17-pound mutt that's mostly terrier, has become a folk hero, inspiring tattoos, t-shirts and even a ballad as he eludes capture from the posse of volunteers. And like any antihero, Scrim has a backstory: Rescued from semi-feral life at a trailer park and adopted from a shelter, the dog broke loose in April and scurried around the city until he was cornered in October and brought to a new home. Weeks later, he'd had enough. Scrim leaped out of a second-story window, a desperate act recorded in a now-viral video. Since then, despite a stream of daily sightings, he's roamed free. The dog’s fans include Myra and Steve Foster, who wrote “Ode to Scrim” to the tune of Ricky Nelson’s 1961 hit, “I’m a Travelin’ Man.” Leading the recapture effort is Michelle Cheramie, a 55-year-old former information technology professional. She lost everything — home, car, possessions — in Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and in the aftermath, found her calling rescuing pets. “I was like, ‘This is what I should be doing,’” Cheramie said. “I was born to rescue.” She launched Zeus’ Rescues, a nonprofit shelter that now averages 600 cat and dog adoptions a year and offers free pet food to anyone who needs it. She helped Scrim find the home he first escaped from. It was Cheramie's window Scrim leaped from in November. She's resumed her relentless mission since then, posting flyers on telephone poles and logging social media updates on his reported whereabouts. She's invested thousands of dollars on wildlife cameras, thermal sensors and other gear. She took a course offered by the San Diego Zoo on the finer points of tranquilizing animals. And she's developed a network of volunteers — the kind of neighbors who are willing to grid-search a city at 3 a.m. People like writer David W. Brown, who manages a crowd-sourced Google Map of all known Scrim sightings. He says the search has galvanized residents from all walks of life to come together. As they search for Scrim, they hand out supplies to people in need. "Being a member of the community is seeing problems and doing what you can to make life a little better for the people around here and the animals around you," Brown said. And neighbors like Tammy Murray, who had to close her furniture store and lost her father to Parkinson's Disease. This search, she says, got her mojo back. “Literally, for months, I’ve done nothing but hunt this dog,” said Murray, 53. “I feel like Wile E. Coyote on a daily basis with him.” Murray drives the Zeus' Rescues' van towards reported Scrim sightings. She also handles a tactical net launcher, which looks like an oversized flashlight and once misfired, shattering the van's window as Scrim sped away. After realizing Scrim had come to recognize the sound of the van's diesel engine, Murray switched to a Vespa scooter, for stealth. Near-misses have been tantalizing. The search party spotted Scrim napping beneath an elevated house, and wrapped construction netting around the perimeter, but an over-eager volunteer broke ranks and dashed forward, leaving an opening Scrim slipped through. Scrim's repeated escapades have prompted near-daily local media coverage and a devoted online following. Cheramie can relate. “We’re all running from something or to something. He's doing that too,” she said. Cheramie's team dreams of placing the pooch in a safe and loving environment. But a social media chorus growing under the hashtag #FreeScrim has other ideas — they say the runaway should be allowed a life of self-determination. The animal rescue volunteers consider that misguided. “The streets of New Orleans are not the place for a dog to be free,” Cheramie said. “It’s too dangerous.” Scrim was a mess when Cheramie briefly recaptured him in October, with matted fur, missing teeth and a tattered ear. His trembling body was scraped and bruised, and punctured by multiple projectiles. A vet removed one, but decided against operating to take out a possible bullet. The dog initially appeared content indoors, sitting in Cheramie's lap or napping beside her bed. Then while she was out one day, Scrim chewed through a mesh screen, dropped 13 feet to the ground and squeezed through a gap in the fence, trotting away. Murray said Cheramie's four cats probably spooked him. “I wholeheartedly believe the gangster-ass cats were messing with him,” Murray said. Cheramie thinks they may have gotten territorial. Devastated but undeterred, the pair is reassessing where Scrim might fit best — maybe a secure animal sanctuary with big outdoor spaces where other dogs can keep him company. Somewhere, Murray says, “where he can just breathe and be." Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96

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GRAPEVINE, Texas, Dec. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) (“GameStop” or the “Company”) today released financial results for the third quarter ended November 2, 2024. The Company’s condensed and consolidated financial statements, including GAAP and non-GAAP results, are below. The Company’s Form 10-Q and supplemental information can be found at https://investor.gamestop.com. THIRD QUARTER OVERVIEW Net sales were $0.860 billion for the period, compared to $1.078 billion in the prior year's third quarter. Selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expenses were $282.0 million for the period, compared to $296.5 million in the prior year's third quarter. Net income was $17.4 million for the period, compared to a net loss of $3.1 million for the prior year’s third quarter. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $4.616 billion at the close of the quarter. During the quarter, the Company completed its previously disclosed "at-the-market" equity offering program pursuant to the prospectus supplement filed with the SEC on September 6, 2024 by selling 20.0 million shares of its common stock for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $400.0 million (before commissions and offering expenses). The Company does not anticipate any further at-the-market offerings involving the offer and sale of its common stock during the current fiscal year. The Company will not be holding a conference call today. Additional information can be found in the Company’s Form 10-Q. NON-GAAP MEASURES AND OTHER METRICS As a supplement to the Company’s financial results presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), GameStop may use certain non-GAAP measures, such as adjusted SG&A expenses, adjusted operating loss, adjusted net income (loss), adjusted earnings (loss) per share, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. The Company believes these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors in evaluating the Company’s core operating performance. Adjusted SG&A expenses, adjusted operating loss, adjusted net income (loss), adjusted earnings (loss) per share and adjusted EBITDA exclude the effect of items such as certain transformation costs, asset impairments, severance, as well as divestiture costs. Free cash flow excludes capital expenditures otherwise included in net cash flows provided by (used in) operating activities. The Company’s definition and calculation of non-GAAP financial measures may differ from that of other companies. Non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed as supplementing, and not as an alternative or substitute for, the Company’s financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Certain of the items that may be excluded or included in non-GAAP financial measures may be significant items that could impact the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows and should therefore be considered in assessing the Company’s actual and future financial condition and performance. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS - SAFE HARBOR This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based upon management’s current beliefs, views, estimates and expectations, including as to the Company’s industry, business strategy, goals and expectations concerning its market position, strategic and transformation initiatives, future operations, margins, profitability, sales growth, capital expenditures, liquidity, capital resources, expansion of technology expertise, and other financial and operating information, including expectations as to future operating profit improvement. Forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties and actual developments, business decisions, outcomes and results may differ materially from those reflected or described in the forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual developments, business decisions, outcomes and results to differ materially from those reflected or described in the forward-looking statements: economic, social, and political conditions in the markets in which we operate; the competitive nature of the Company’s industry; the cyclicality of the video game industry; the Company’s dependence on the timely delivery of new and innovative products from its vendors; the impact of technological advances in the video game industry and related changes in consumer behavior on the Company’s sales; interruptions to the Company’s supply chain or the supply chain of our suppliers; the Company’s dependence on sales during the holiday selling season; the Company’s ability to obtain favorable terms from its current and future suppliers and service providers; the Company’s ability to anticipate, identify and react to trends in pop culture with regard to its sales of collectibles; the Company’s ability to maintain strong retail and ecommerce experiences for its customers; the Company’s ability to keep pace with changing industry technology and consumer preferences; the Company’s ability to manage its profitability and cost reduction initiatives; turnover in senior management or the Company’s ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; potential damage to the Company’s reputation or customers' perception of the Company; the Company’s ability to maintain the security or privacy of its customer, associate or Company information; occurrence of weather events, natural disasters, public health crises and other unexpected events; risks associated with inventory shrinkage; potential failure or inadequacy of the Company's computerized systems; the ability of the Company’s third party delivery services to deliver products to the Company’s retail locations, fulfillment centers and consumers and changes in the terms the Company has with such service providers; the ability and willingness of the Company’s vendors to provide marketing and merchandising support at historical or anticipated levels; restrictions on the Company’s ability to purchase and sell pre-owned products; the Company’s ability to renew or enter into new leases on favorable terms; unfavorable changes in the Company’s global tax rate; legislative actions; the Company’s ability to comply with federal, state, local and international laws and regulations and statutes; potential future litigation and other legal proceedings; the value of the Company’s securities holdings; concentration of the Company’s investment portfolio into one or few holdings; the recognition of losses in a particular security even if the Company has not sold the security; volatility in the Company’s stock price, including volatility due to potential short squeezes; continued high degrees of media coverage by third parties; the availability and future sales of substantial amounts of the Company’s Class A common stock; fluctuations in the Company’s results of operations from quarter to quarter; the Company’s ability to incur additional debt; risks associated with the Company’s investment in marketable, nonmarketable and interest-bearing securities, including the impact of such investments on the Company’s financial results; and the Company’s ability to maintain effective control over financial reporting. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those reflected or described in the forward-looking statements can be found in GameStop's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings made from time to time with the SEC and available at www.sec.gov or on the Company’s investor relations website (https://investor.gamestop.com). Forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by any applicable securities laws. GameStop Corp. Schedule II (in millions, except per share data) (unaudited) Non-GAAP results The following tables reconcile the Company's selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A expense”), operating loss, net income (loss) and net income (loss) per share as presented in its unaudited consolidated statements of operations and prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) to its adjusted SG&A expense, adjusted operating loss, adjusted net income (loss), adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income (loss) per share. The diluted weighted-average shares outstanding used to calculate adjusted earnings per share may differ from GAAP weighted-average shares outstanding. Under GAAP, basic and diluted weighted-average shares outstanding are the same in periods where there is a net loss. The reconciliations below are from continuing operations only. GameStop Corp. Schedule III (in millions) (unaudited) Non-GAAP results The following table reconciles the Company's cash flows provided by (used in) operating activities as presented in its unaudited Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows and prepared in accordance with GAAP to its free cash flow. Free cash flow is considered a non-GAAP financial measure. Management believes, however, that free cash flow, which measures our ability to generate additional cash from our business operations, is an important financial measure for use by investors in evaluating the company’s financial performance. Non-GAAP Measures and Other Metrics Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted SG&A expense, adjusted operating loss, adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted net income (loss) per share are supplemental financial measures of the Company’s performance that are not required by, or presented in accordance with, GAAP. We believe that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors in assessing our financial condition and results of operations. We define adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before income taxes, plus interest income, net and depreciation and amortization, excluding stock-based compensation, certain transformation costs, business divestitures, asset impairments, severance and other non-cash charges. Net income (loss) is the GAAP financial measure most directly comparable to adjusted EBITDA. Our non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as an alternative to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. Furthermore, non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as an analytical tool because they exclude some but not all items that affect the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. Some of these limitations include: certain items excluded from adjusted EBITDA are significant components in understanding and assessing a company’s financial performance, such as a company’s cost of capital and tax structure; adjusted EBITDA does not reflect our cash expenditures or future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments; adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs; although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized will often have to be replaced in the future, and adjusted EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements; and our computations of adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. We compensate for the limitations of adjusted EBITDA, adjusted SG&A expense, adjusted operating loss, adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted net income (loss) per share as analytical tools by reviewing the comparable GAAP financial measure, understanding the differences between the GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures and incorporating these data points into our decision-making process. Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted SG&A expense, adjusted operating loss, adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted net income (loss) per share are provided in addition to, and not as an alternative to, the Company’s financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP, and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Because adjusted EBITDA, adjusted SG&A expense, adjusted operating loss, adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted net income (loss) per share may be defined and determined differently by other companies in our industry, our definitions of these non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies, thereby diminishing their utility. Contact GameStop Investor Relations 817-424-2001 ir@gamestop.com

WASHINGTON — Weeks before leaving office, President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden on federal felony gun and tax convictions in two cases. The Democratic president previously said he wouldn't pardon his son or commute his sentence. The pardon came weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges. The pardon also comes less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House for a second term. Before leaving office for the first time in 2020, Trump issued close to 200 pardons and commutations in his final days as president. With the controversial pardon of his son from Biden, here's a look back at who Trump pardoned at the end of his first term. RELATED: Read: All 143 Trump pardons, commutations announced on his final day as president RELATED: A look at the 29 people President Donald Trump pardoned or gave commutations to Former Rep. Duncan Hunter of California Hunter was sentenced to 11 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing campaign funds and spending the money on everything from outings with friends to his daughter’s birthday party. Former Rep. Chris Collins of New York Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse Trump to be president, was sentenced to two years and two months in federal prison after admitting he helped his son and others dodge $800,000 in stock market losses when he learned that a drug trial by a small pharmaceutical company had failed. Rep. Phil Lyman of Utah Utah state Rep. Phil Lyman was serving as a county commissioner in 2014 when he led a protest of about 50 ATV riders in a canyon home to Native American cliff dwellings that officials closed to motorized traffic. Government contractors Four former government contractors were pardoned after being convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad that left more than a dozen Iraqi civilians dead and caused an international uproar over the use of private security guards in a war zone. Supporters of Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard, the former contractors at Blackwater Worldwide, had lobbied for pardons, arguing that the men had been excessively punished in an investigation and prosecution they said was tainted by problems and withheld exculpatory evidence. All four were serving lengthy prison sentences. Russia investigation Trump also announced pardons for allies ensnared in the Russia investigation. One was for George Papadopoulos, his 2016 campaign adviser whose conversation unwittingly helped trigger the Russia investigation that shadowed Trump’s presidency for nearly two years. He also pardoned Alex van der Zwaan, a Dutch lawyer who was sentenced to 30 days in prison for lying to investigators during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Van der Zwaan and Papadopoulos are the third and fourth Russia investigation defendants granted clemency. By pardoning them, Trump once again took aim at Mueller’s probe and pushed a broader effort to undo the results of the investigation that yielded criminal charges against a half-dozen associates. Michael Flynn, former national security adviser Trump pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn , who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, and months earlier commuted the sentence of another associate, Roger Stone, days before he was to report to prison. Former U.S. Border Patrol agents Two former U.S. Border Patrol agents were also pardoned, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, convicted of shooting and wounding a Mexican drug smuggler near El Paso, Texas, in 2005. Dentist, convicted drug criminals, moonshiner Others on the list included a Pittsburgh dentist who pleaded guilty to health care fraud, two women convicted of drug crimes, and Alfred Lee Crum who pleaded guilty in 1952 when he was 19 to helping his wife’s uncle illegally distill moonshine. Crum served three years of probation and paid a $250 fine. The White House said Crum has maintained a clean record and a strong marriage for nearly 70 years, attended the same church for 60 years, raised four children and regularly participated in charity fundraising events. Paul Manafort Manafort was Trump’s former campaign chairman and was among the first people to be charged in Mueller’s investigation, which examined possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election campaign. He was released from a low-security federal prison in May 2020 to serve his sentence on home confinement due to concerns about the coronavirus. Prior to his release, he had been jailed since June 2018 and was serving more than seven years in prison following his conviction. Manafort was prosecuted in two federal courts and was convicted by a jury in federal court in Virginia in 2018 and later pleaded guilty in Washington. He was sentenced March 2019 and was immediately hit with state charges in New York after prosecutors accused him of giving false information on a mortgage loan application. A New York judge threw out state mortgage fraud charges, ruling that the criminal case was too similar to one that already landed Manafort in prison. Prosecutors appealed that ruling last month. Roger Stone Stone has been a longtime friend and ally of Trump. He was also convicted in Mueller’s investigation for lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. Trump commuted his sentence just days before he was scheduled to report to federal prison. Then, he issued Stone a full pardon. Pardoning Manafort and Stone underscores the president-elect's lingering rage over Mueller’s investigation and is part of a continuing effort by Trump to rewrite the narrative of a probe that shadowed his presidency for two years. Charles Kushner Kushner is the father of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and a wealthy real estate executive who pleaded guilty years ago to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations. The two knew each other from real estate circles and their children were married in 2009. Trump issued him a full pardon. Kushner, who is from New Jersey, pleaded guilty to 18 counts that also included witness tampering and was sentenced in 2005 to two years in prison, but emerged to resume his career in real estate and his company Kushner Cos. purchased the famed Watchtower complex along the Brooklyn Bridge, the former headquarters for the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Kushner was also a major Democratic donor, and agreed to pay $508, 900 to the Federal Election Commission after he violated contribution regulations by failing to obtain an OK from partners to whom more than $500,000 in campaign contributions were attributed. But, he donated more than $100,000 to Trump’s 2015 campaign. Margaret Hunter Hunter is the wife of former U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, who Trump pardoned. Along with her husband, she was also convicted of conspiracy to misuse campaign funds and was sentenced to three years of probation. Her husband, a Southern California Republican, had pleaded guilty to stealing about $150,000 from his campaign funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle, from vacations to outings with friends, private school tuition and his daughter’s birthday party. John Tate and Jesse Benton The men were top staffers on Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign and convicted in 2016 of causing false records and campaign expenditure reports to be filed to the Federal Election Commission. Prosecutors said Tate, Benton and a third campaign official tried to hide $73,000 in payments to former Iowa Sen. Kent Sorenson for his endorsement of Paul. They argue that they broke no laws when they concealed the payments through a third-party campaign vendor. The White House said the pardons were supported by a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission and by Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky who is also the son of Ron Paul. Stephanie Mohr The former Maryland police officer was convicted in 2001 of violating a homeless man’s civil rights by letting her police dog attack him even though he had surrendered. Prosecutors said after the man had surrendered, Mohr released her police dog and the canine bit into the man’s leg, requiring ten stitches. Mohr, the first canine handler in the Prince George’s County police force, served 10 years in prison. She was convicted of violating the man’s civil rights under the color of authority; another officer who faced trial in the case was acquitted. Gary Brugman The former U.S. Border Patrol agent was convicted of striking and violating the civil rights of a man who had crossed the U.S. border illegally. Court records said Brugman and other Border Patrol officers had stopped a group of people who crossed the border illegally and during the encounter, he struck one of the men with his foot, pushing him to the ground and then hit the man with his hands. The man later filed a complaint when he was in custody at a Border Patrol station. Brugman had worked as a Border Patrol agent for four years in Eagle Pass, Texas. He served 27 months in prison. The White House said his pardon was supported by several Republican members of Congress and conservative media personalities, including Laura Ingraham, Sara Carter, Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs, along with former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik, who also was convicted of a federal crime and pardoned by Trump. Mary McCarty McCarty, a former county commissioner in Palm Beach County, Florida, was issued a full pardon. She was convicted of a federal criminal charge for honest services fraud. When she was convicted, prosecutors said she had misused her position as a county commissioner to “personally enrich herself, her husband, and their associates through a series of municipal bond transactions” and by receiving gifts and gratuities from people doing business with the Board of County Commissioners. The White House said her pardon was supported by former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Christopher Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax Media. Mark Siljander The former Southwest Michigan congressman was convicted of obstructing justice and failing to register as a foreign agent. He was sentenced to serve more than a year in prison after being accused of accepting stolen funds on behalf of a Missouri charity with alleged terrorism ties. Prosecutors said an associate had conspired to hire Siljander to lobby for the charity’s removal from a government list of charities suspected of funding international terrorism. The charity closed in October 2004 after being designated a global terrorist organization by the U.S. government Christopher II X, formerly Christopher Anthony Bryant The prominent community leader in Louisville, Kentucky, was issued a full pardon for his conviction on federal drug charges. He was also issued a pardon by Kentucky’s governor for state offenses in 2019. The White House said he has been a “powerful example of the possibility of redemption,” pointing to his struggle to overcome drug addiction and his work with nonprofit and community groups in Kentucky. Robert Coughlin Coughlin worked in the Justice Department and was convicted of a conflict of interest charge for his role in the influence peddling scandal surrounding former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He admitted in court in 2009 that he provided assistance to Abramoff’s lobbying team and its clients while accepting free meals and drinks and tickets to sporting events and concerts from Abramoff lobbying partner Kevin Ring. He was issued a full pardon. Joseph Occhipinti Occhipinti was an agent with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service when he was convicted in 1991 of conspiracy to violate civil rights under the color of law and making false statements. Authorities charged that he illegally detained and searched Hispanic store owners in New York City and then made false statements to cover-up those activities. His sentence was commuted after seven months in prison by President George H.W. Bush. The White House said he had earned 76 commendations during his career, including from three attorneys general. Rickey Kanter Kanter founded a company known as Dr. Comfort, selling special shoes and inserts for diabetics, and was convicted of mail fraud tied to illegal Medicare reimbursements. He was sentenced to serve a year and a day in federal prison. He had also paid a multimillion-dollar civil fine. Federal prosecutors said his diabetic shoe inserts did not meet Medicare requirements, but they were sold to Medicare beneficiaries and the company was reimbursed by the federal government. Daniela Gozes-Wagner The Houston woman was convicted in a $50 million health care fraud scheme in 2017. Federal prosecutors said she conspired with others to falsely bill Medicare and Medicaid for millions of dollars’ worth of medical tests that were either unnecessary or just never performed. She received a sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment and was ordered to pay $15.2 million in restitution. The president commuted her sentence; the White House said the commutation was supported by several former U.S. attorneys general. Mark Shapiro and Irving Stitsky Trump commuted Shapiro and Stitsky’s sentences after they were convicted in federal court in New York of defrauding more than 250 people in a $23 million real estate scam. Both men were convicted and sentenced to serve 85 years in federal prison. Prosecutors said Stitsky and Shapiro also diverted millions of dollars of investor funds for their own benefit. The White House said the men had been offered plea deals to serve no more than nine years but had turned them down and chose instead to go to trial. A White House news release praised the men as “model prisoners,” who had earned support and praise from other inmates. Topeka Sam Sam, now a criminal justice advocate who helped work on a bipartisan criminal justice overhaul that Trump often touts, was convicted of conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine and served three years of a more than 10-year prison sentence. She was in the White House when Trump signed the overhaul measure, known as the First Step Act, into law. Sam posted a video on Twitter shortly after the pardon was announced, thanking Trump, and saying, “this is all so surreal.” Her case had been championed by other criminal justice reform advocates like Alice Marie Johnson, whose life sentence Trump commuted in 2018 at the urging of reality TV star Kim Kardashian West. James Batmasian Batmasian is a real-estate investor and runs property management companies in South Florida. He pleaded guilty to cheating the federal government out of more than $250,000 by failing to pay federal taxes for employees at his company. He was an influential developer and at the time was one of the largest landowners in Boca Raton, Florida. He served an eight-month prison sentence. Cesar Lozada Lozada was convicted of conspiring to distribute marijuana and served a 14-month prison sentence. He was granted a full pardon. The White House said Lozada is an immigrant from Cuba who started a pool cleaning business near Miami, Florida, and employs dozens of people. Joseph Martin Stephens Stephens pleaded guilty in 2008 to being a felon in possession a firearm, a federal offense. He has previously been convicted of a felony offense in 1991, when he was 19 years old, the White House said. He served 18 months in prison and was issued a full pardon. Andrew Barron Worden Wordon, who runs an investment firm and a solar energy company, was convicted of wire fraud in 1998. The White House said he “made mistakes in running an investment firm he founded.” Records from the Securities and Exchange Commission show Worden was accused of defrauding several brokerage firms out of more than $130,000. He was issued a full pardon. The White House said Worden had begun to repay his victims before criminal charges were filed. John Boultbee, Peter Atkinson The two men were senior executives at Hollinger International and associates of media tycoon Conrad Black. Boultbee and Atkinson were found guilty of three counts of mail fraud and each served a year in prison. Black was a co-defendant in the case and was also convicted; Trump previously pardoned him. Rebekah Charleston Charleston was arrested in 2006 for tax evasion, and the White House said she is a victim of sex trafficking who was forced into prostitution. Officials said she volunteers to help sex trafficking victims and her pardon was also supported by a law enforcement agent who arrested her. William J. Plemons Jr. The White House said Plemons was convicted of various financial crimes in the late 1990s and early 2000s and served 27 months in federal prison. Officials said he served in the Air Force and supported several charitable organizations. James Kassouf Kassouf pleaded guilty in 1989 to a federal tax offense. The White House said that since his convicted, he has been devoted to his church, fire department and works with charitable organizations. Christopher Wade The White House said Wade was convicted of multiple cyber-related offenses and has “shown remorse and sought to make his community a safer place.” He was issued a full pardon. Russell Plaisance Trump granted a posthumous pardon for Plaisance, who was convicted of conspiracy to important cocaine from a 1987 case, which the White House said stemmed from “one conversation in which he participated.” A White House news release cited the judge who presided over his sentencing saying that the actions were inconsistent with Plaisance’s life history and character. Officials said he has built a tugboat business that has seven vessels and employs 50 people. The White House said the prosecutors involved in his case did not object to the pardon. Todd Boulanger President Trump granted a full pardon to Todd Boulanger, according to the White House. In 2008, Mr. Boulanger pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud. Boulanger is a veteran of the United States Army Reserves and was honorably discharged. He has also received an award from the City of the District of Columbia for heroism for stopping and apprehending an individual who assaulted an elderly woman with a deadly weapon on Capitol Hill. Abel Holtz President Trump granted a full pardon to Abel Holtz, the White House said. In 2020, Holtz was 86 years old. In 1995, he pled guilty to one count of impeding a grand jury investigation and was sentenced to 45 days in prison. Holtz has "devoted extensive time and resources to supporting charitable causes in South Florida, including substantial donations to the City of Miami Beach," the White House said. Rep. Rick Renzi of Arizona President Trump granted a full pardon to Representative Rick Renzi of Arizona, the White House said. In 2013, Renzi was convicted of extortion, bribery, insurance fraud, money laundering, and racketeering. He was sentenced to 2 years in Federal prison, 2 years of supervised release, and paid a $25,000 fine. Before his conviction, Mr. Renzi served three terms in the House of Representatives. Kenneth Kurson President Trump granted a full pardon to Kenneth Kurson. Prosecutors have charged Mr. Kurson with cyberstalking related to his divorce from his ex-wife in 2015. In a powerful letter to the prosecutors, Mr. Kurson’s ex-wife wrote on his behalf that she never wanted this investigation or arrest and, “repeatedly asked for the FBI to drop it... I hired a lawyer to protect me from being forced into yet another round of questioning. My disgust with this arrest and the subsequent articles is bottomless...” This investigation only began because Mr. Kurson was nominated for a role within the Trump Administration, the White House said. Casey Urlacher President Trump granted a full pardon to Casey Urlacher, the White House said. Urlacher has been charged with conspiracy to engage in illegal gambling. Carl Andrews Boggs President Trump granted a full pardon to Carl Andrews Boggs, the White House said. In 2013, Mr. Boggs pled guilty to two counts of conspiracy. Jaime A. Davidson President Trump commuted the sentence of Jaime A. Davidson, the White House said. In 1993, Mr. Davidson was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in relation to the murder of an undercover officer. Although Mr. Davidson has been incarcerated for nearly 29 years, the admitted shooter has already been released from prison, the White House said. James E. Johnson, Jr. President Trump granted a full pardon to James E. Johnson, Jr., the White House said. In 2008, Johnson pled guilty to charges related to migratory birds. Johnson received 1 year probation, was barred from hunting during that period, and a $7,500 fine was imposed. Tommaso Buti President Trump granted a full pardon to Tommaso Buti, an Italian citizen and businessman, the White House said. More than 20 years ago, Mr. Buti was charged with financial fraud involving a chain of restaurants. He has not, however, been convicted in the United States, according to the administration. Bill K. Kapri, aka Kodak Black President Trump granted a commutation to Bill Kapri, more commonly known as Kodak Black. Kodak Black is a prominent artist and community leader, according to the White House. Kodak Black was sentenced to 46 months in prison for making a false statement on a Federal document. Jawad A. Musa President Trump commuted the sentence of Jawad A. Musa. In 1991, Musa was sentenced to life imprisonment for a non-violent, drug-related offense. Mr. Musa’s sentencing judge and the prosecutor on the case have both requested clemency on his behalf. He was 56 years old in 2020. Adriana Shayota President Trump commuted the sentence of Adriana Shayota. She was convicted of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods, commit copyright infringement, and introduce misbranded food into interstate commerce. Glen Moss President Trump granted a full pardon to Glen Moss. After pleading guilty in 1998, Mr. Moss has been a vital member of his community, the White House said. Anthony Levandowski President Trump granted a full pardon to Anthony Levandowski. Levandowski pled guilty to a single criminal count arising from civil litigation. Aviem Sella President Trump granted a full pardon to Aviem Sella, who was indicted in 1986 for espionage in relation to the Jonathan Pollard case. Michael Liberty President Trump granted a full pardon to Michael Liberty. In 2016 Liberty was convicted for campaign finance violations and later was indicted for related offenses. Greg Reyes President Trump granted a full pardon to Greg Reyes. Reyes was the former CEO of Brocade Communications. Mr. Reyes was convicted of securities fraud. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, threw out his convictions, finding prosecutorial misconduct. He was later retried, convicted, and sentenced to 18 months in Federal prison. Ferrell Damon Scott President Trump commuted the sentence of Ferrell Damon Scott. Scott served nearly 9 years of a life imprisonment sentence for possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Jerry Donnell Walden President Trump commuted the sentence of Jerry Donnell Walden. Walden has served 23 years of a 40-year prison sentence. Jeffrey Alan Conway President Trump granted a full pardon to Jeffrey Alan Conway. Benedict Olberding President Trump granted a full pardon to Benedict Olberding, who was convicted on one count of bank fraud. Syrita Steib-Martin President Trump granted a full pardon to Syrita Steib-Martin. Steib-Martin was convicted at the age of 19 and sentenced to 10 years in prison and nearly $2 million in restitution for the use of fire to commit a felony. After her release from prison, she became an advocate for criminal justice reform and founded Operation Restoration. Michael Ashley President Trump commuted the sentence of Michael Ashley. Ashley was convicted and sentenced to 3 years in prison for bank fraud. Lou Hobbs President Trump commuted the sentence of Lou Hobbs. Hobbs had served 24 years of his life sentence in 2020. Matthew Antoine Canady President Trump commuted the sentence of Matthew Antoine Canady. Mario Claiborne President Trump commuted the sentence of Mario Claiborne. Claiborne was serving life imprisonment and had already served more than 28 years in prison. Rodney Nakia Gibson President Trump commuted the sentence of Rodney Nakia Gibson. In 2009, Mr. Gibson was convicted of trafficking drugs. Mr. Gibson was a first-time, non-violent offender who has been a “model inmate” for more than 11 years in custody. Tom Leroy Whitehurst President Trump commuted the sentence of Tom Leroy Whitehurst from life to 30 years. Mr. Whitehurst led a conspiracy to manufacture at least 16.7 kilograms of methamphetamine and possessed numerous firearms during the course of the conspiracy. Monstsho Eugene Vernon President Trump commuted the sentence of Monstsho Eugene Vernon. Mr. Vernon served over 19 years in prison for committing a string of armed bank robberies in Greenville, South Carolina. Luis Fernando Sicard President Trump commuted the sentence of Luis Fernando Sicard. Mr. Sicard was sentenced in 2000 for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm during and in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. DeWayne Phelps President Trump commuted the sentence of DeWayne Phelps. He served 11 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Isaac Nelson President Trump commuted the sentence of Isaac Nelson. He was serving a mandatory 20-year sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and 50 grams or more of crack cocaine. Traie Tavares Kelly President Trump commuted the sentence of Traie Tavares Kelly. He was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base and 5 kilograms or more of cocaine. Javier Gonzales President Trump commuted the sentence of Javier Gonzales. He was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine in 2005. Eric Wesley Patton President Trump granted a full pardon to Eric Wesley Patton. Mr. Patton was convicted of making a false statement on a mortgage application in 1999. Robert William Cawthon President Trump granted a full pardon to Robert William Cawthon. Cawthon was convicted in 1992 for making a false statement on a bank loan application and was sentenced to 3 years’ probation, conditioned upon 180 days’ home confinement. Hal Knudson Mergler President Trump granted a full pardon to Hal Knudson Mergler. He was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in 1992. He received 1 month imprisonment, 3 years supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution. Gary Evan Hendler President Trump granted a full pardon to Gary Evan Hendler. In 1984, Mr. Hendler was convicted of conspiracy to distribute and dispense controlled substances and served 3 years’ probation for his crime. John Harold Wall President Trump granted a full pardon to John Harold Wall. Mr. Wall was convicted of aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine in 1992. He completed a 60-month prison sentence with 4 years’ supervised release. Steven Samuel Grantham President Trump granted a full pardon to Steven Samuel Grantham. Mr. Grantham was convicted in 1967 for stealing a vehicle. He received 18-months imprisonment, and 2 years’ probation. Clarence Olin Freeman President Trump granted a full pardon to Clarence Olin Freeman. Freeman was convicted in 1965 for operating an illegal whiskey still. He received 9 months imprisonment and 5 years’ probation. Fred Keith Alford President Trump granted a full pardon to Fred Keith Alford. He was convicted in 1977 for a firearm violation and served 1 year’s unsupervised probation. John Knock President Trump commuted the sentence of John Knock. This commutation is supported by his family. Mr. Knock was a 73 year-old man in 2020, a first-time, non-violent marijuana only offender, who has served 24 years of a life sentence. Kenneth Charles Fragoso President Trump commuted the sentence of Kenneth Charles Fragoso. Mr. Fragoso is a 66-year-old United States Navy veteran who has served more than 30 years of a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense. Luis Gonzalez President Trump commuted the sentence of Luis Gonzalez. Mr. Gonzalez is a 78-year-old non-violent drug offender who has served more than 27 years of a life sentence. Anthony DeJohn President Trump commuted the sentence of Anthony DeJohn. Mr. DeJohn has served more than 13 years of a life sentence for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Corvain Cooper President Trump commuted the sentence of Mr. Corvain Cooper. In 2020, he had served more than 7 years of a life sentence for his non-violent participation in a conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Way Quoe Long President Trump commuted the sentence of Way Quoe Long. Mr. Long is a 58-year-old who has served nearly half of a 50-year sentence for a non-violent conviction for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana. Michael Pelletier President Trump commuted the sentence of Michael Pelletier. Mr. Pelletier is a 64 year-old who has served 12 years of a 30 year sentence for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Craig Cesal President Trump commuted the sentence of Craig Cesal. Mr. Cesal is a father of two, one of whom unfortunately passed away while he was serving his life sentence for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Darrell Frazier President Trump commuted the sentence of Darrell Frazier. Mr. Frazier is a 60-year-old who has served 29 years of a life sentence for non-violent conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Lavonne Roach President Trump commuted the sentence of Lavonne Roach. Ms. Roach has served 23 years of a 30-year sentence for non-violent drug charges. Blanca Virgen President Trump commuted the sentence of Blanca Virgen. Ms. Virgen had served 12 years of a 30-year sentence. Robert Francis President Trump commuted the sentence of Robert Francis. Mr. Francis has served 18 years of a life sentence for non-violent drug conspiracy charges. Brian Simmons President Trump commuted the sentence of Brian Simmons. Mr. Simmons has served 5 years of a 15-year sentence for a non-violent conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana. Derrick Smith President Trump commuted the sentence of Derrick Smith. Mr. Smith is a 53-year-old who has served more than 20 years of a nearly 30-year sentence for distribution of drugs to a companion who passed away. Raymond Hersman President Trump commuted the sentence of Raymond Hersman. Mr. Hersman is a 55-year-old father of two who has served more than 9 years of a 20-year sentence. David Barren President Trump commuted the sentence of David Barren. He served 13 years of his life sentence in addition to 20 years for a non-violent drug conspiracy charge. James Romans President Trump commuted the sentence of James Romans. Mr. Romans is a father and a grandfather who received a life sentence without parole for his involvement in a conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Jonathon Braun President Trump commuted the sentence of Jonathan Braun. Mr. Braun has served 5 years of a 10-year sentence for conspiracy to import marijuana and to commit money laundering. Michael Harris President Trump commuted the sentence of Michael Harris. Mr. Harris is a 59 year old who has served 30 years of a 25 year to life sentence for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Kyle Kimoto President Trump commuted the sentence of Kyle Kimoto. Mr. Kimoto is a father of six who has served 12 years of his 29 year sentence for a non-violent telemarketing fraud scheme. Chalana McFarland President Trump commuted the sentence of Chalana McFarland. Ms. McFarland has served 15 years of a 30-year sentence. Though she went to trial, Ms. McFarland actually cooperated with authorities by informing them of a potential attack on the United States Attorney. Her co-defendants who pled guilty, however, received lesser sentences ranging from 5 to 87 months. Eliyahu Weinstein President Trump commuted the sentence of Eliyahu Weinstein. He was serving his eighth year of a 24-year sentence for real estate investment fraud. John Estin Davis President Trump commuted the sentence of John Estin Davis. He spent 4 months incarcerated for serving as Chief Executive Office of a healthcare company with a financial conflict of interest. Alex Adjmi President Trump granted a full pardon to Alex Adjmi. In 1996, Mr. Adjmi was convicted of a financial crime and served 5 years in prison. Elliott Broidy President Trump granted a full pardon to Elliott Broidy. Mr. Broidy is the former Deputy National Finance Chair of the Republican National Committee. Broidy was convicted on one count of conspiracy to serve as an unregistered agent of a foreign principal. Stephen K. Bannon President Trump granted a full pardon to Stephen Bannon. Prosecutors pursued Mr. Bannon with charges related to fraud stemming from his involvement in a political project. Douglas Jemal President Trump granted a full pardon to Douglas Jemal. In 2008, Mr. Jemal was convicted of fraud. Noah Kleinman President Trump commuted the sentence of Noah Kleinman. He served 6 years of a nearly 20-year sentence for a non-violent crime to distribute marijuana. Dr. Scott Harkonen President Trump granted a full pardon Dr. Scott Harkonen. Dr. Harkonen was convicted of fraud based on a misleading caption in a press release with respect to a treatment for a disease, the White House said. Johnny D. Phillips, Jr. President Trump granted a full pardon to Johnny D. Phillips, Jr. In 2016, Mr. Phillips was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud. Dr. Mahmoud Reza Banki President Trump granted a full pardon to Dr. Mahmoud Reza Banki. In 2010 Dr. Banki was charged with monetary violations of Iranian sanctions and making false statements. The charges related to sanctions violations were subsequently overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Tena Logan President Trump commuted the sentence of Tena Logan. Ms. Logan served 8 years of a 14-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. MaryAnne Locke President Trump commuted the sentence of MaryAnne Locke. She served roughly 11 years of a nearly 20-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. April Coots President Trump commuted the sentence of April Coots. Ms. Coots served more than 10 years of her 20-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. Caroline Yeats President Trump commuted the sentence of Caroline Yeats. Ms. Yeats was a first-time, non-violent drug offender who has served nearly 7 years of a 20-year sentence. Jodi Lynn Richter President Trump commuted the sentence of Jodi Lynn Richter. Ms. Richter has served 10 years of a 15-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. Kristina Bohnenkamp President Trump commuted the sentence of Kristina Bohnenkamp. She served more than 10 years of a 24-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. Mary Roberts President Trump commuted the sentence of Mary Roberts. She served 10 years of a 19-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. Cassandra Ann Kasowski President Trump commuted the sentence of Cassandra Ann Kasowski. She served more than 7 years of a 17-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. Lerna Lea Paulson President Trump commuted the sentence of Lerna Lea Paulson. She served nearly 7 years of a 17-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. Ann Butler President Trump commuted the sentence of Ann Butler. Ms. Butler has served more than 10 years of a nearly 20-year sentence for a non-violent offense. Sydney Navarro President Trump commuted the sentence of Sydney Navarro. She served nearly 8 years of a 27-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. Tara Perry President Trump commuted the sentence of Tara Perry. She served nearly 7 years of a 16-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. John Nystrom President Trump granted a full pardon to John Nystrom, who, other than this conviction, was described by his sentencing judge as a “model citizen.” Over 10 years ago, while working as a contractor on a school reconstruction project, Mr. Nystrom failed to alert the proper authorities when he learned that a subcontractor was receiving double payments for work performed, the White House said. Mr. Nystrom took full responsibility for this oversight and even tried to pay the Crowe Creek Tribe, who was paying for the work, restitution before he pled guilty. Gregory Jorgensen, Deborah Jorgensen, Martin Jorgensen President Trump granted full pardons to Gregory and Deborah Jorgensen, and a posthumous pardon to Martin Jorgensen. In the 1980s, Gregory and his father, Martin, gathered a group of South Dakota cattle producers to market and sold processed beef. The Jorgensen’s marketed their beef under the Dakota Lean brand and sold the premium product as heart-healthy and antibiotic- and hormone-free. When demand outstripped supply, Gregory, Deborah, and Martin mixed in inferior, commercial beef trim and knowingly sold misbranded beef. Jessica Frease President Trump granted a full pardon to Jessica Frease. She was 20 years old when she was convicted after converting stolen checks and negotiating them through the bank where she worked as a teller. Upon her arrest, however, she immediately relinquished the stolen funds to the authorities. After serving her two year sentence, she was granted early termination of her supervised release. Robert Cannon “Robin” Hayes President Trump granted a full pardon to Robert Cannon “Robin” Hayes. The former North Carolina Congressman was serving a 1-year term of probation for making a false statement in the course of a Federal investigation. Thomas Kenton “Ken” Ford President Trump granted a full pardon to Ken Ford, a 38-year veteran of the coal industry and currently the General Manager of a coal company. Twenty years ago, Mr. Ford made a material misstatement to Federal mining officials. Mr. Ford pled guilty and served a sentence of 3 years’ probation. Jon Harder President Trump commuted the sentence of Jon Harder, former President and CEO of Sunwest Management Inc., who served nearly 5 years of a 15-year prison sentence. Mr. Harder was serving as president and CEO of Sunwest Management Inc., a large management company overseeing residential senior care facilities when he misused investment funds during the real estate crisis. Scott Conor Crosby President Trump granted a full pardon to Scott Conor Crosby. In 1992, Mr. Crosby made a “‘spur of the moment’ poor decision” to participate in a co-worker’s plan to commit a bank robbery. Chris Young President Trump commuted the remaining sentence of Chris Young. He served over 10 years of a 14-year sentence for his role in a drug conspiracy. Adrianne Miller President Trump commuted the remaining sentence of Adrianne Miller. She served 6 years of a 15-year sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a List I chemical. Lynn Barney President Trump granted a full pardon to Lynn Barney. He was sentenced to 35 months in prison for possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon, after having previously been convicted for distributing a small amount of marijuana. Joshua J. Smith President Trump granted a full pardon to Joshua J. Smith. Since his release from prison in 2003 for conspiracy to possess drugs with intent to distribute, Mr. Smith has dedicated his life to his faith and to his community. Amy Povah President Trump granted a full pardon to Amy Povah, the founder of the CAN-DO (Clemency for All Non-violent Drug Offenders) Foundation. In the 1990s, Ms. Povah served 9 years of a 24-year sentence for a drug offense before President Clinton commuted her remaining prison sentence in 2000. Dr. Frederick Nahas President Trump granted a full pardon to Frederick Nahas. In the 1990s, Dr. Nahas became aware of a Federal investigation into his billing practices. Although the 6-year investigation uncovered no underlying billing fraud, Dr. Nahas did not fully cooperate and ultimately pled guilty to one count of obstructing justice in a health care investigation. Dr. Nahas spent 1 month in prison in 2003. David Tamman President Trump granted a full pardon to David Tamman. Tamman was a partner at a major American law firm when he doctored financial documents that were the subject of a Federal investigation. These actions were done at the behest of a client who was perpetrating a Ponzi scheme upon unsuspecting investors. Mr. Tamman was convicted of his crimes following a bench trial and completed his seven-year sentence in 2019. Dr. Faustino Bernadett President Trump granted a full pardon to Dr. Faustino Bernadett. In approximately early 2008, Dr. Bernadett failed to report a hospital kickback scheme of which he became aware. Paul Erickson President Trump has issued a full pardon to Paul Erikson. His conviction was based on "the Russian collusion hoax," as the Trump administration described it. He was charged with a "minor financial crime" and sentenced to 7 years’ imprisonment. Kwame Kilpatrick President Trump commuted the sentence of the former Mayor of Detroit, Kwame Malik Kilpatrick. Mr. Kilpatrick had served approximately 7 years in prison for his role in a racketeering and bribery scheme while he held public office. Fred “Dave” Clark President Trump commuted Dave Clark’s remaining term of incarceration after serving over 6 years in Federal prison for a first-time, non-violent offense. Todd Farha, Thaddeus Bereday, William Kale, Paul Behrens, Peter Clay President Trump granted full pardons to Todd Farha, Thaddeus Bereday, William Kale, Paul Behrens, and Peter Clay, former executives of a healthcare maintenance organization. In 2008, Messrs. Farha, Bereday, Kale, Behrens, and Clay were criminally prosecuted for a state regulatory matter involving the reporting of expenditures to a state health agency. The expenditures reported were based on actual monies spent, and the reporting methodology was reviewed and endorsed by those with expertise in the state regulatory scheme. David Rowland President Trump granted a full pardon to David Rowland. Mr. Rowland’s asbestos removal license had lapsed when he agreed to remove asbestos found in an elementary school. He completed the work in compliance with all other regulations but received 2 years’ probation for a violation of the Clean Air Act. Randall “Duke” Cunningham President Trump granted a conditional pardon to Randall “Duke” Cunningham who was released from prison in 2013. Mr. Cunningham, a former California Congressman, was sentenced to over 8 years’ imprisonment for accepting bribes while he held public office. William Walters President Trump commuted the sentence of William Walters. He was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for insider trading. Since his conviction, Mr. Walters has served nearly 4 years of his prison sentence and has paid $44 million in fines, forfeitures, and restitution. In addition to his established reputation in the sports and gaming industry, Mr. Walters is well known for his philanthropic efforts and was previously named Las Vegas’ Philanthropist of the Year. Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., aka Lil Wayne President Trump granted a full pardon to Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., also known as “Lil Wayne.” Mr. Carter pled guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, owing to a conviction over 10 years ago. Stephen Odzer President Trump granted a conditional pardon to Stephen Odzer. This pardon is supported by former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, Sigmund “Sig” Rogich, Jason Greenblatt, Michael Steinhardt, Wayne Allyn Root, Salvador Moran, the Aleph Institute, and numerous members of Mr. Odzer’s religious community. Mr. Odzer pled guilty to conspiracy and bank fraud, for which he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Numerous individuals testify to his substantial philanthropic and volunteer activities. His philanthropic endeavors include providing personal protective equipment to front-line workers in New York City hospitals; visiting sick children in hospitals; and donating religious materials to prison inmates and U.S. Service Members around the world. He has also dedicated resources to support and build synagogues in memory of his late cousin who was kidnapped and killed by Muslim terrorists while in Israel. The pardon requires Mr. Odzer to pay the remainder of his restitution order. James Brian Cruz President Trump commuted the remaining sentence of James Brian Cruz. He served approximately half of a 40-year sentence for a drug crime. Steven Benjamin Floyd President Trump granted a full pardon to Steven Benjamin Floyd. Floyd joined the United States Marines Corps at age 17 and earned a combat action ribbon in Iraq. He pled guilty to one count of bank robbery by extortion. Joey Hancock President Trump granted a full pardon to Joey Hancock. He was convicted for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. David E. Miller President Trump granted a full pardon to David E. Miller. In 2015, Mr. Miller pled guilty to one count of making a false statement to a bank. James Austin Hayes President Trump granted a full pardon to James Austin Hayes. Nearly 10 years ago, Mr. Hayes was convicted of conspiracy to commit insider trading. Drew Brownstein President Trump granted a full pardon to Drew Brownstein, who, other than this conviction, was described by his sentencing judge as someone who “goes out of his way to help people that are less fortunate.” Mr. Brownstein was convicted of insider trading and has since paid his fines and forfeitures in full, the White House said. Robert Bowker President Trump granted a full pardon to Robert Bowker. Nearly 30 years ago, Mr. Bowker pled guilty to a violation of the Lacey Act, which prohibits trafficking in wildlife, when he arranged for 22 snakes owned by Rudy “Cobra King” Komarek to be transported to the Miami Serpentarium. Amir Khan President Trump granted a full pardon to Amir Khan. Mr. Khan pled guilty to wire fraud. Shalom Weiss President Trump commuted the sentence of Shalom Weiss. Mr. Weiss was convicted of racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice, for which he has already served over 18 years and paid substantial restitution. He was 66 years old in 2020 and suffered from chronic health conditions. Salomon Melgen President Trump commuted the sentence of Salomon Melgen. Dr. Melgen was convicted of healthcare fraud and false statements. Patrick Lee Swisher President Trump granted a full pardon to Patrick Lee Swisher. Mr. Swisher was convicted of tax fraud and false statements. Robert Sherrill President Trump granted a full pardon to Robert Sherrill. Mr. Sherrill was convicted of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Dr. Robert S. Corkern President Trump granted a full pardon to Robert S. Corkern. Dr. Corkern was convicted of Federal program bribery. David Lamar Clanton President Trump granted a full pardon to David Lamar Clanton. Mr. Clanton was convicted of false statements and related charges. George Gilmore President Trump granted a full pardon to George Gilmore. He was convicted for failure to pay payroll taxes and false statements. Desiree Perez President Trump granted a full pardon to Desiree Perez. Ms. Perez was involved in a conspiracy to distribute narcotics. Robert “Bob” Zangrillo President Trump granted a full pardon to Robert Zangrillo. He was charged in connection with the Varsity Blues investigation. Hillel Nahmad President Trump granted a full pardon to Hillel Nahmad. He was convicted of a sports gambling offense. Since his conviction, he has lived an exemplary life and has been dedicated to the well-being of his community. Brian McSwain The President granted a full pardon to Brian McSwain. Since serving his 18-month sentence for a drug crime committed in the early 1990s, Mr. McSwain has been gainfully employed and has been passed over for several promotion opportunities due to his felony conviction, according to the White House. John Duncan Fordham President Trump granted a full pardon to John Duncan Fordham. Mr. Fordham was convicted on one count of health care fraud. A judge later dismissed the conspiracy charge against him. William “Ed” Henry President Trump granted a full pardon to William “Ed” Henry of Alabama. He was sentenced to 2 years’ probation for aiding and abetting the theft of government property and paid a $4,000 fine. In addition, the White House said President Trump commuted the sentences to time served for the following individuals: Jeff Cheney, Marquis Dargon, Jennings Gilbert, Dwayne L. Harrison, Reginald Dinez Johnson, Sharon King, and Hector Madrigal, Sr. The Associated Press and TEGNA's Travis Pittman contributed to this article.

Pedro escaped punishment after swinging an arm at Bees substitute substitute Yehor Yarmoliuk without making contact. VAR reviewed the second-half incident but deemed there was no violent conduct. Frank and Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler disagreed about the decision. “As I understand the rules, you can’t swing your arm to try to hit someone,” said Frank. “If you hit them or not, it’s a red, that’s the way I understand the rules.” Frank spoke to the match officials, including referee Andy Madley, about the flashpoint at full-time. “They haven’t seen the situation yet, not on TV afterwards,” said Frank. “To be fair to him, I think the angle can be tricky so that’s why you’ve got VAR.” Asked about Frank’s assessment, Hurzeler replied: “Interesting opinion. I see it completely different. “For me, it’s not a red card. He tried to get free from a person.” Brighton were booed off after their winless run was stretched to six top-flight games. Albion dominated for large periods and hit the woodwork inside four minutes through Julio Enciso. Bees goalkeeper Mark Flekken made some important saves before being forced off injured in the 36th minute, albeit his replacement Hakon Valdimarsson was rarely tested on his Premier League debut. The Seagulls remain 10th ahead of Monday’s trip to Aston Villa, with Brentford a position and two points below moving towards their New Year’s Day showdown with Arsenal. Hurzeler thought the jeers at full-time were unfair. “The team doesn’t deserve that because in all the games we had in the last weeks they were all good, they were all intense, they were all where we thought we deserved more” said the German, whose team have lost to Fulham and Crystal Palace and drawn with Southampton, Leicester and West Ham in recent matches. “We try to work hard to satisfy our supporters, we try to give them what they deserve, we try to make them proud. “But the Premier League is tough. We know there will be (tough) periods we have to go through, especially with this young squad. “We try to stick together, find the positive and keep on going.” Brentford, who remain without a top-flight away win this term, had an early Yoane Wissa finish ruled out for offside following VAR intervention but barely threatened, despite an improved second-half showing. Frank, who is awaiting news on Flekken and defender Ben Mee, who also left the field injured, said: “I thought it was a fair point. “Brighton were better in the first half, no big, clearcut chances, and I thought we were better second half. “Overall, I’m happy with the performance, especially the way we defended. “We haven’t had too many clean sheets this season, so in that context I thought it was very impressive against a good Brighton team. “We know we have a lot of players out – we get two more injuries during the game. “The way the players showed their mentality and character and dug in was hugely impressive.”LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Austin Seibert missed his second extra point of the game with 21 seconds left after Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin connected on an 86-yard touchdown, Juanyeh Thomas returned the ensuing onside kick attempt for a touchdown and the Dallas Cowboys pulled out a 34-26 victory Sunday that extended the Washington Commanders’ skid to three games. Seibert, who missed the previous two games with a right hip injury, was wide left on the point-after attempt following a low snap. Thomas then took the kick back 43 yards as the Cowboys (4-7) ended their losing streak at five in improbable fashion. Part of that was the play of backup Cooper Rush, who threw for 247 yards and two TDs in his third start in place of starter Dak Prescott. Part was also the defense forcing two turnovers, as Chauncey Golston ripped the ball out of Brian Robinson Jr.’s hands for what was called an interception of Daniels in the second quarter, and Donovan Wilson stripped John Bates midway through the fourth. KaVonte Turpin provided the fireworks with a spinning, 99-yard kickoff return TD seconds after Daniels found Zach Ertz in the end zone and scored on a 2-point conversion to cut the deficit to three with 3:02 left. In the final three minutes alone, the Commanders (7-5) scored 10 points and allowed Thomas’ TD. All that after the score was 10-9 through three quarters before madness ensued. CHIEFS 30, PANTHERS 27 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 269 yards and , Spencer Shrader kicked a 31-yard field goal as time expired and Kansas City beat Carolina to reach double-digit wins for the 10th straight season. Noah Gray caught two TD passes as the Chiefs (10-1) bounced back from last week’s 30-21 loss at Buffalo and won at the buzzer yet again in a season of narrow escapes. for the two-time defending Super Bowl champions, who scored on their first five possessions. Bryce Young finished 21 of 35 for 262 yards and a touchdown for the Panthers (3-8), who had their two-game winning streak snapped. David Moore had six receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown. Trailing 27-19, Young completed a fourth-down pass to Adam Thielen to move the chains, then went deep for the veteran receiver, who drew a pass-interference penalty on Chamarri Conner. That set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Chuba Hubbard. LIONS 24, COLTS 6 INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — and David Montgomery added a third touchdown run, leading Detroit to a victory over Indianapolis. Gibbs finished with 21 carries for 90 yards as the Lions (10-1) extended their league-high winning streak to nine straight. Detroit has its been 11-game record since the franchise’s inaugural season in 1934. Jared Goff continued his sensational season, too, completing 26 of 36 throws for 269 yards. The Colts (5-7) lost their second straight home game and for the fourth time in their past five games. with 172 yards while rushing 10 times for 61 yards. the NFL’s highest-scoring offense largely in check Sunday, it was doomed by its inability to finish drives with touchdowns. BUCCANEERS 30, GIANTS 7 EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Baker Mayfield catapulted into the end zone for one of Tampa Bay’s four rushing touchdowns, and the Buccaneers beat the Giants and new starting quarterback Tommy DeVito, snapping a four-game losing streak and extending New York’s skid to six. The Giants’ decisions this week to bench and then release quarterback Daniel Jones did nothing to help the NFL’s lowest-scoring offense. DeVito threw for 189 yards, mostly in the second half with New York well on its way to its sixth straight loss at home, where it is winless. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers dominated in every phase in a near-perfect perfect performance that featured TD runs of 1 yard by Sean Tucker, 6 yards by Bucky Irving and 1 yard by Rachaad White. After recent losses to the Ravens, 49ers and Chiefs, Tampa Bay (5-6) moved within one game of idle Atlanta in the NFC South. Tampa Bay scored on five of its on first six possessions to open a 30-0 lead, and none was more exciting than Mayfield’s TD run with 12 seconds left in the first half. On a second-and-goal from the 10, he avoided pressure and went for the end zone. He was hit by Cor’Dale Flott low and Dru Phillips high around the 2-yard line, and he was airborne when he crossed the goal line. The ball came loose when he hit the turf but he jumped up and flexed — — as the Bucs took a 23-0 lead. DOLPHINS 34, PATRIOTS 15 MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Tua Tagovailoa threw for 317 yards and four touchdowns, including two scores to running back De’Von Achane, and Miami routed New England. The Dolphins (5-6) have a thin margin for error the rest of the season but have kept themselves afloat with a three-game winning streak. With their win at New England (3-9) in Week 5, the Dolphins have swept their division rivals in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999-2000. Tagovailoa, who moved to 7-0 in his career against New England, entered the game with a league-high 73.4% completion rate and went 29 for 40. Backup Skylar Thompson replaced Tagovailoa with about 11 minutes left in what was already a blowout, but a bad handoff on his first play resulted in a fumble that was recovered by cornerback Christian Gonzalez and returned 63 yards for a touchdown. It cut New England’s deficit to 31-15, and Tagovailoa returned the next drive. TITANS 32, TEXANS 27 HOUSTON (AP) — Will Levis threw for 278 yards and his 70-yard touchdown pass to Chig Okonkwo put Tennessee on top in the fourth quarter and the Titans held on for a win over the Texans. Okonkwo grabbed a short pass and rumbled for the touchdown to put the Titans (3-8) up 30-27 with 9 1/2 minutes remaining. Safety Eric Murray missed a tackle that would have stopped him near midfield. The Texans (7-5) had a chance to tie it with less than two minutes remaining, but Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 28-yard field-goal attempt sailed wide left. He fell to the ground after the miss before getting up and slamming his helmet on the field. Titans coach Brian Callahan held both hands in the air and smiled after watching the miss that allowed his team to win on a day it had three turnovers. The Texans forced a three-and-out, but couldn’t move the ball after that and Harold Landry sacked C.J. Stroud in the end zone for a safety to make it 32-27 and allow Tennessee to snap a two-game skid. VIKINGS 30, BEARS 27, OT CHICAGO (AP) — Sam Darnold threw for 90 of his 330 yards in overtime to set up , and Minnesota outlasted Chicago after giving up 11 points in the final 22 seconds of regulation. Darnold threw two touchdown passes, Jordan Addison caught eight passes for a career-high 162 yards and a touchdown, and T.J. Hockenson had 114 yards receiving for the Vikings (9-2), who remained one game behind Detroit in the rugged NFC North. Caleb Williams threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns for the Bears (4-7), who lost their fifth straight. Minnesota appeared to have the game in hand, leading 27-16 with 1:56 left after Romo kicked a 26-yard field goal. But the Bears weren’t finished. Deandre Carter made up for that led to a touchdown in the third quarter with a 55-yard kickoff return to the 40. Williams took it from there, capping an eight-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Allen. A 2-point conversion pass to DJ Moore made it 27-24 with 22 seconds remaining. The Bears recovered the onside kick and Williams hit Moore over the middle for a 27-yard gain to the 30 before spiking the ball. Cairo Santos made a 48-yard field goal as time expired.

 

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2025-01-10
fish high in mercury
fish high in mercury Vance takes on a more visible transition role, working to boost Trump's most contentious picksIsrael cracks down on Palestinian citizens who speak out against the war in Gaza UMM AL-FAHM, Israel (AP) — In the year since the war in Gaza broke out, Israel's government has been cracking down on dissent among its Palestinian citizens. Authorities have charged Palestinians with “supporting terrorism” because of posts online or for demonstrating against the war. Activists and rights watchdogs say Palestinians have also lost jobs, been suspended from schools and faced police interrogations. Palestinians make up about 20% of Israel's population. Many feel forced to self-censor out of fear of being jailed and further marginalized in society. Others still find ways to dissent, but carefully. Israel's National Security Ministry counters that, “Freedom of speech is not the freedom to incite.” Israel says rabbi who went missing in the UAE was killed TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel says the body of of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found, citing Emirati authorities. The statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Sunday said Zvi Kogan was murdered, calling it a “heinous antisemitic terror incident.” It said: “The state of Israel will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death." Kogan went missing on Thursday, and there were suspicions he had been kidnapped. His disappearance comes as Iran has been threatening to retaliate against Israel after the two countries traded fire in October. Israeli strikes in central Beirut kill at least 20 as diplomats push for a cease-fire BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanese officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 20 people and injured dozens in central Beirut, as the once-rare attacks on the heart of Lebanon’s capital continue without warning. Diplomats are scrambling to broker a cease-fire but say obstacles still remain. The current proposal calls for a two-month cease-fire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the southern border south of the Litani River. Lebanon’s Health Ministry says Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon in the months of fighting that have turned into all-out war. After Trump's Project 2025 denials, he is tapping its authors and influencers for key roles WASHINGTON (AP) — During the campaign, President-elect Donald Trump had hailed what would become Project 2025 as a conservative roadmap for “exactly what our movement will do." Trump pulled an about-face when Project 2025 became a political liability. He denied knowing anything about the “ridiculous and abysmal” plans, even though some were written by his former aides and many allies. Now, after winning the 2024 election, Trump is stocking his second administration with key players in the effort he temporarily shunned. Trump has tapped Russell Vought for an encore as director of the Office of Management and Budget; Tom Homan, his former immigration chief, as “border czar;” and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller as deputy chief of policy. Trump's Republican Party is increasingly winning union voters. It's a shift seen in his labor pick WASHINGTON (AP) — Working-class voters helped Republicans make steady election gains this year and expanded a coalition that increasingly includes rank-and-file union members. It's a political shift spotlighting one of President-elect Donald Trump’s latest Cabinet picks: a GOP congresswoman, who has drawn labor support, to be his labor secretary. Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer narrowly lost her bid for a second term this month, despite strong backing from union members. They're a key part of the Democratic base but are gravitating in the Trump era toward a Republican Party traditionally allied with business interests. Will a winter storm hit the US over Thanksgiving week? Here's what forecasts show so far WINDSOR, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. is reeling from snow and rain while preparing for another bout of bad weather ahead of Thanksgiving that could disrupt holiday travel. California is bracing for more snow and rain this weekend while still grappling with some flooding and small landslides from a previous storm. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for California's Sierra Nevada through Tuesday, with heavy snow expected at high elevations. Parts of the Northeast and Appalachia also started the weekend with heavy precipitation. Meanwhile, thousands remained without power in the Seattle area on Saturday afternoon after a “bomb cyclone” storm system roared ashore the West Coast earlier in the week, killing two people. Pakistan partially stops mobile and internet services ahead of pro-Imran Khan protest ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan says it is suspending mobile and internet services “in areas with security concerns” as supporters of imprisoned former premier Imran Khan gear up for a protest in the capital. The government and Interior Ministry made the announcement on X, which is banned in Pakistan. Sunday's protest is to demand Khan's release. He has been in prison for more than a year but remains popular. His supporters rely heavily on social media and messaging apps to coordinate with each other. Pakistan has already sealed off Islamabad and shut down major roads and highways connecting the city with Khan's power bases. Here's what to know about the new funding deal that countries agreed to at UN climate talks BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — In the wee hours Sunday at the United Nations climate talks, countries from around the world reached an agreement on how rich countries can cough up the funds to support poor countries in the face of climate change. But it’s a far-from-perfect arrangement, with many parties still unsatisfied but hopeful that the deal will be a step in the right direction. Japan holds Sado mines memorial despite South Korean boycott amid lingering historical tensions SADO, Japan (AP) — Japan held a memorial ceremony on Sunday near the Sado Island Gold Mines despite a last-minute boycott of the event by South Korea that highlighted tensions between the neighbors over the issue of Korean forced laborers at the site before and during World War II. South Korea’s absence at Sunday’s memorial, to which Seoul government officials and Korean victims’ families were invited, is a major setback in the rapidly improving ties between the two countries, which since last year have set aside their historical disputes to prioritize U.S.-led security cooperation. Chuck Woolery, smooth-talking game show host of 'Love Connection' and 'Scrabble,' dies at 83 NEW YORK (AP) — Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of “Wheel of Fortune,” “Love Connection” and “Scrabble” who later became a right-wing podcaster, skewering liberals and accusing the government of lying about COVID-19, has died. He was 83. Mark Young, Woolery’s podcast co-host and friend, said in an email early Sunday that Woolery died at his home in Texas with his wife, Kristen, present. Woolery, with his matinee idol looks, coiffed hair and ease with witty banter, was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007 and earned a daytime Emmy nomination in 1978. He teamed up with Young for the podcast “Blunt Force Truth” and became a full supporter Donald Trump.Los Angeles Chargers rookie wide receiver Ladd McConkey, listed as questionable due to a shoulder issue, is expected to play Monday night against the visiting Baltimore Ravens, NFL Network reported. McConkey missed practice on Thursday and was limited on Friday and Saturday. Star linebacker Khalil Mack, who was questionable because of a groin injury and was a limited participant, also is expected to play, according to the report. The Chargers (7-3) made several moves Monday ahead of the game against the Ravens (7-4), placing tight end Hayden Hurst (hip) on injured reserve, activating cornerback Deane Leonard (hamstring) off IR, signing cornerback Eli Apple from the practice to the active squad, and elevating linebacker Caleb Murphy and safety Tony Jefferson for game day. McConkey, 23, has started nine of 10 games and has 43 receptions on 63 targets for 615 yards and four touchdowns. The Chargers drafted the 6-foot, 185-pound McConkey in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of Georgia. Mack, 33, is a three-time first-team All-Pro, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and the 2016 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He has started the nine games he has played and has 26 tackles and 4.5 sacks this season. For his career, Mack has 617 tackles, 106 sacks, 141 tackles for loss, 178 quarterback hits, three interceptions -- two returned for touchdowns -- 32 forced fumbles and 13 fumble recoveries in 160 games (159 starts). He has played for the Raiders (2014-17), Chicago Bears (2018-21) and Chargers. Hurst, 31, has started two of seven games in his first season with the Chargers. He has seven receptions on 12 targets for 65 yards. A first-round pick (25th overall) by Baltimore in the 2018 NFL Draft out of South Carolina, Hurst has 202 receptions for 1,967 yards and 15 TDs in 86 games (41 starts) for the Ravens (2018-19), Atlanta Falcons (2020-21), Cincinnati Bengals (2022), Carolina Panthers (2023) and Chargers. Apple, 29, has two tackles in three games this season, his first with the Chargers. The 10th overall selection in the 2016 draft, Apple has 383 career tackles and six interceptions in 101 games (82 starts) for the New York Giants (2016-18), New Orleans Saints (2018-19), Panthers (2020), Bengals (2021-22), Miami Dolphins (2023) and Chargers. Leonard, who turned 25 last Tuesday, has four tackles in four games this season. His 21-day practice window on IR opened Wednesday. --Field Level Media

Foul-tasting, smelly, scaly, and hard: residents fed up with water quality

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But alongside his stark warning of the threats facing Britain and its allies, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said there would be only a “remote chance” Russia would directly attack or invade the UK if the two countries were at war. The Chief of the Defence Staff laid out the landscape of British defence in a wide-ranging speech, after a minister warned the Army would be wiped out in as little as six months if forced to fight a war on the scale of the Ukraine conflict. The admiral cast doubt on the possibility as he gave a speech at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) defence think tank in London. He told the audience Britain needed to be “clear-eyed in our assessment” of the threats it faces, adding: “That includes recognising that there is only a remote chance of a significant direct attack or invasion by Russia on the United Kingdom, and that’s the same for the whole of Nato.” Moscow “knows the response will be overwhelming”, he added, but warned the nuclear deterrent needed to be “kept strong and strengthened”. Sir Tony added: “We are at the dawn of a third nuclear age, which is altogether more complex. It is defined by multiple and concurrent dilemmas, proliferating nuclear and disruptive technologies and the almost total absence of the security architectures that went before.” He listed the “wild threats of tactical nuclear use” by Russia, China building up its weapon stocks, Iran’s failure to co-operate with a nuclear deal, and North Korea’s “erratic behaviour” among the threats faced by the West. But Sir Tony said the UK’s nuclear arsenal is “the one part of our inventory of which Russia is most aware and has more impact on (President Vladimir) Putin than anything else”. Successive British governments had invested “substantial sums of money” in renewing nuclear submarines and warheads because of this, he added. The admiral described the deployment of thousands of North Korean soldiers on Ukraine’s border alongside Russian forces as the year’s “most extraordinary development”. He also signalled further deployments were possible, speaking of “tens of thousands more to follow as part of a new security pact with Russia”. Defence minister Alistair Carns earlier said a rate of casualties similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would lead to the army being “expended” within six to 12 months. He said it illustrated the need to “generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis”. In comments reported by Sky News, Mr Carns, a former Royal Marines colonel, said Russia was suffering losses of around 1,500 soldiers killed or injured a day. “In a war of scale – not a limited intervention, but one similar to Ukraine – our Army for example, on the current casualty rates, would be expended – as part of a broader multinational coalition – in six months to a year,” Mr Carns said in a speech at Rusi. He added: “That doesn’t mean we need a bigger Army, but it does mean you need to generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis.” Official figures show the Army had 109,245 personnel on October 1, including 25,814 volunteer reservists. Mr Carns, the minister for veterans and people, said the UK needed to “catch up with Nato allies” to place greater emphasis on the reserves. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Defence Secretary John Healey had previously spoken about “the state of the armed forces that were inherited from the previous government”. The spokesman said: “It’s why the Budget invested billions of pounds into defence, it’s why we’re undertaking a strategic defence review to ensure that we have the capabilities and the investment needed to defend this country.”( MENAFN - The Conversation) Picture this: you've just woken up and rolled out of bed. Your feet hit the floor, and your legs buckle. They are in absolute agony – that run yesterday has really come back to haunt you. And then you remember you forgot to stretch before and after your run. Surely that's the reason you're so sore today. Or is it? We've all heard about the importance of stretching before and after exercise. But does it really make a difference? Here's what the science says. There are many different types of stretching, but the two most common are static and dynamic stretching . Static stretching involves moving a muscle (or muscles) into a lengthened position and holding this for a short period of time – often anywhere between 15 and 90 seconds. A common example of this would be keeping your heels on the ground while leaning forward to touch the ground with a straight knee to stretch your hamstring muscles. Meanwhile, dynamic stretching involves actively moving your muscles and joints back and forth through their available range of motion. Common examples include swinging your legs back and forth, from side to side, or swinging your arms in circles. The main reasons people stretch before exercise are to increase flexibility, improve performance, and reduce the risk of injury. While we know stretching increases flexibility , its effect on performance and injury is less clear. But let's look at what the evidence says for each one. Flexibility Both static and dynamic stretching increase flexibility, although static stretching seems to have a slightly larger effect . Short-term static stretching inhibits your sympathetic nervous system (your fight or flight system), which reduces the stiffness of your muscles and tendons . This makes you more flexible straight after stretching. In the long term, static stretching is thought to make you more flexible by increasing the length of your muscles and tendons or by simply making you more tolerant to the discomfort caused by stretching . Performance When it comes to improving performance, this will depend on the type of physical activity you're doing. If you are about to move your body through large ranges of motion – something like gymnastics or dancing – then the improvements in flexibility following stretching will likely result in better performance. On the flip side, research has shown static stretching may impair performance by up to 5% in activities that rely on maximum strength and power, such as shotput and powerlifting. This might be because of the reduced nervous system activation we mentioned earlier, making it more challenging for your muscles to produce force. However, significant impairments only seem to occur when stretching for more than 60 seconds . Stretching for less than 60 seconds appears to impact performance minimally (by around 1%). On the other hand, dynamic stretching increases muscle temperature and the speed at which your nerves send messages to your muscles , which might improve muscle performance. Dynamic stretching has been shown to enhance strength and power by a small amount . This might make it a better option before activities that are performed explosively, such as sprinting, jumping, lifting weights or playing team sport. Injury and soreness When it comes to reducing injury, whether stretching before exercise is beneficial remains unclear. Many studies have shown stretching doesn't have an effect . But a lot of these look at the effect of stretching on all types of injuries, which might not show its true effect. For example, a broken arm from a tackle would be grouped with a calf strain, but it seems logical that stretching is more likely to reduce the risk of the calf muscle strain than the broken arm. A recent review did explore the effect of stretching on different types of injuries and found static stretching may reduce the risk of muscle, but not tendon, injuries. To date, there's no evidence to suggest stretching would reduce the risk of broken bones and contact injuries. There's very little research exploring whether dynamic stretching alone can reduce injury risk. One study showed dynamic stretching can improve joint stability, which might reduce the risk of joint injuries (such as ankle sprains). But more research is needed to make any conclusions with confidence. Many people also stretch before exercise to help prevent muscle soreness after exercise. However, research has shown stretching before exercise has no meaningful impact on muscle soreness after exercise. The main reason people stretch after exercise is to improve recovery and reduce muscle soreness. The most common approach is static stretching. However, like stretching before exercise, research doesn't indicate stretching after exercise reduces muscle damage or soreness . It has also been suggested really intense stretching can damage your muscles , which might even make muscle soreness worse. But this isn't a consistent finding, and may only happen to certain people. However, stretching does promote relaxation . So gentle stretching could be a nice way to wind down after an intense exercise session. Maybe a lack of stretching isn't the reason you were sore after you run after all. Your legs are probably aching because you simply ran further, or harder, than you normally do. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't stretch. The available evidence suggests doing some dynamic stretching before exercise will increase flexibility and improve your performance, whether you're planning to go for a run, play a team sport, or lift weights. Static stretching can be great if you want to increase your flexibility, just don't do it right before intense exercise. And after exercise, some gentle static stretching can help transition the body to a more relaxed state. MENAFN27112024000199003603ID1108934310 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.

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Awards Program Showcases Outstanding Innovations Driving Improvements and Transforming the Healthcare Industry; Unveils Innovation Report that Feature Winners NEW YORK, Dec. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Questex's Fierce Healthcare today announces the winners of the Fierce Healthcare Innovation Awards . The program showcases outstanding innovation that is driving improvements and transforming the industry. "The Innovation Awards winners showcase the organizations that have demonstrated innovative solutions that have the greatest potential to save money, engage patients or revolutionize the healthcare industry,” says Rebecca Willumson, SVP and Publisher of Fierce Biotech and Fierce Pharma. "We are very pleased to congratulate the winners on their accomplishments.” Fierce Healthcare Innovation Awards winners: Winners are featured in the Fierce Healthcare Innovation Report. Click here to read the report. About Fierce Healthcare Fierce Healthcare delivers healthcare news at the intersection of business and policy. Our journalists strive to bring our readers breaking industry news, exclusive interviews and thoughtfully-reported stories that offer a deeper insight on how changes in the industry impact their corner of the healthcare world. Our family includes Fierce Healthcare , Fierce Health Payer , Fierce Health IT , Fierce Hospitals , Fierce Practice Management and Fierce Health Finance . Click here to subscribe to one or all of our newsletters. About Questex Questex helps people live better and longer . Questex brings people together in the markets that help people live better : hospitality and wellness; the industries that help people live longer : life science and healthcare; and the technologies that enable and fuel these new experiences . We live in the experience economy - connecting our ecosystem through live events, surrounded by data insights and digital communities. We deliver experience and real results. It happens here. Media Contact Linda Lam Senior Director of Marketing, Fierce Life Sciences & Healthcare [email protected]Sports on TV for Thursday, Dec. 5AP News Summary at 4:37 a.m. EST

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 9, 2024-- Thunderbird Entertainment Group Inc. (TSXV: TBRD, OTCQX: THBRF) (“Thunderbird” or the “Company”) wishes to provide an update to shareholders on the impact of the strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers on the Company’s ability to comply with its obligations to deliver to shareholders its financial statements and related disclosure and proxy-related materials in respect of the Company’s annual general and special meeting of shareholders scheduled to be held virtually on December 12, 2024 at 9:00 am PST (the “Meeting”). As a result of the strike, and pursuant to CSA Coordinated Blanket Order 51-931 Temporary Exemption from requirements in National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Requirements and National Instrument 54-101 Communication with Beneficial Owners of Securities of a Reporting Issuer to send certain proxy-related materials during a postal strike (the “Blanket Order”), the Company is advising shareholders that: For information on Thunderbird and to subscribe to the Company’s investor list for news updates, go to www.thunderbird.tv . ABOUT THUNDERBIRD ENTERTAINMENT GROUP Thunderbird Entertainment Group is a global award-winning, full-service multiplatform production, distribution and rights management company, headquartered in Vancouver, with additional offices in Los Angeles and Ottawa. Thunderbird creates award-winning scripted, unscripted, and animated programming for the world’s leading digital platforms, as well as Canadian and international broadcasters. The Company develops, produces, and distributes animated, factual, and scripted content through its various content arms, including Thunderbird Kids and Family (Atomic Cartoons), Thunderbird Unscripted (Great Pacific Media) and Thunderbird Scripted. Productions under the Thunderbird umbrella include Mermicorno: Starfall, Super Team Canada, Molly of Denali, Highway Thru Hell, Kim’s Convenience, Boot Camp, and Sidelined: The QB and Me . Thunderbird Distribution and Thunderbird Brands manage global media and consumer products rights, respectively, for the Company and select third parties. Thunderbird is on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @tbirdent. For more information, visit: www.thunderbird.tv . Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information Thunderbird’s public communications may include written, or oral “forward-looking statements” and “forward-looking information” as defined under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements or information may be identified by words such as “anticipate”, “continue”, “estimate”, “expect”, “forecast”, “may”, “will”, “plan”, “project”, “should”, “believe”, “intend”, or similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the ongoing Canada Post strike, the upcoming annual general and special meeting of shareholders of the Company, items to be voted upon by the shareholders attending such meeting, and delivery of materials to shareholders following resumption of regular postal service. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic and social uncertainties; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; product capability and acceptance; and other factors set out in the “Risk and Uncertainty” section of the Company’s MD&A dated June 30, 2024. The foregoing is not an exhaustive list. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to Thunderbird or that management believes to be less significant may also adversely affect the Company. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this document represent the Company’s views as of the date hereof, and therefore such information should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this document. The Company’s actual results, performance or achievement could differ materially from those ‎expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements and, accordingly, no assurance can be ‎given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if ‎any of them do so, what benefits the Company will derive therefrom. Readers are therefore cautioned ‎that the foregoing lists of important factors are not exhaustive, and they should not unduly rely on the ‎forward-looking statements included in this news release. All forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly ‎qualified by this cautionary statement. Thunderbird has no intention, and undertakes no obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241209645003/en/ CONTACT: Investor Relations Contacts: Glen Akselrod, Bristol Capital +1 905 326 1888 ext 1 glen@bristolir.comMedia Relations Contact: Lana Castleman, Director, Marketing & Communications 416-219-3769 lcastleman@thunderbird.tvCorporate Communications Julia Smith, Finch Media Julia@finchmedia.net KEYWORD: NORTH AMERICA CANADA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: LICENSING (ENTERTAINMENT) COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT TV AND RADIO SOURCE: Thunderbird Entertainment Group Inc. Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 12/09/2024 05:00 PM/DISC: 12/09/2024 05:03 PM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241209645003/en

 

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2025-01-11
The people that president-elect Donald Trump has selected to lead federal health agencies in his second administration include a retired congressman, a surgeon and a former talk-show host. All of them could play pivotal roles in fulfilling a new political agenda that could change how the government goes about safeguarding Americans' health — from health care and medicines to food safety and science research. And if Congress approves, at the helm of the team as Department of Health and Human Services secretary will be prominent environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine organizer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. By and large, the nominees don't have experience running large bureaucratic agencies, but they know how to talk about health on TV . Centers for Medicare and Medicaid pick Dr. Mehmet Oz hosted a talk show for 13 years and is a well-known wellness and lifestyle influencer. The pick for the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Marty Makary, and for surgeon general, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, are frequent Fox News contributors. Many on the list were critical of COVID-19 measures like masking and booster vaccinations for young people. Some of them have ties to Florida like many of Trump's other Cabinet nominees: CDC pick Dr. Dave Weldon represented the state in Congress for 14 years and is affiliated with a medical group on the state's Atlantic coast. Nesheiwat's brother-in-law is Rep. Mike Waltz , R-Fla., tapped by Trump as national security adviser. Here's a look at the nominees' potential role in carrying out what Kennedy says is the task to “reorganize” agencies, which have an overall $1.7 billion budget; employ 80,000 scientists, researchers, doctors and other officials; and affect the lives of all Americans. The Atlanta-based CDC, with a $9.2 billion core budget, is charged with protecting Americans from disease outbreaks and other public health threats. Kennedy has long attacked vaccines and criticized the CDC, repeatedly alleging corruption at the agency. He said on a 2023 podcast that there is "no vaccine that is safe and effective,” and urged people to resist the CDC's guidelines on if and when kids should get vaccinated . Decades ago, Kennedy found common ground with Weldon , the 71-year-old nominee to run the CDC who served in the Army and worked as an internal medicine doctor before he represented a central Florida congressional district from 1995 to 2009. Starting in the early 2000s, Weldon had a prominent part in a debate about whether there was a relationship between a vaccine preservative called thimerosal and autism. He was a founding member of the Congressional Autism Caucus and tried to ban thimerosal from all vaccines. Kennedy, then a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, believed there was a tie between thimerosal and autism and also charged that the government hid documents showing the danger. Since 2001, all vaccines manufactured for the U.S. market and routinely recommended for children 6 years or younger have contained no thimerosal or only trace amounts, with the exception of inactivated influenza vaccine. Meanwhile, study after study after study found no evidence that thimerosal caused autism. Weldon's congressional voting record suggests he may go along with Republican efforts to downsize the CDC, including to eliminate the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, which works on topics like drownings, drug overdoses and shooting deaths. Weldon also voted to ban federal funding for needle-exchange programs as an approach to reduce overdoses, and the National Rifle Association gave him an “A” rating for his pro-gun rights voting record. Kennedy is extremely critical of the FDA, which has 18,000 employees and is responsible for the safety and effectiveness of prescription drugs, vaccines and other medical products — as well as overseeing cosmetics, electronic cigarettes and most foods. Makary, Trump’s pick to run the FDA, is closely aligned with Kennedy on several topics . The professor at Johns Hopkins University who is a trained surgeon and cancer specialist has decried the overprescribing of drugs, the use of pesticides on foods and the undue influence of pharmaceutical and insurance companies over doctors and government regulators. Kennedy has suggested he'll clear our “entire” FDA departments and also recently threatened to fire FDA employees for “aggressive suppression” of a host of unsubstantiated products and therapies, including stem cells, raw milk , psychedelics and discredited COVID-era treatments like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. Makary's contrarian views during the COVID-19 pandemic including the need for masking and giving young kids COVID vaccine boosters. But anything Makary and Kennedy might want to do when it comes to unwinding FDA regulations or revoking long-standing vaccine and drug approvals would be challenging. The agency has lengthy requirements for removing medicines from the market, which are based on federal laws passed by Congress. The agency provides health care coverage for more than 160 million people through Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act, and also sets Medicare payment rates for hospitals, doctors and other providers. With a $1.1 trillion budget and more than 6,000 employees, Oz has a massive agency to run if confirmed — and an agency that Kennedy hasn't talked about much when it comes to his plans. While Trump tried to scrap the Affordable Care Act in his first term, Kennedy has not taken aim at it yet. But he has been critical of Medicaid and Medicare for covering expensive weight-loss drugs — though they're not widely covered by either . Trump said during his campaign that he would protect Medicare, which provides insurance for older Americans. Oz has endorsed expanding Medicare Advantage — a privately run version of Medicare that is popular but also a source of widespread fraud — in an AARP questionnaire during his failed 2022 bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania and in a 2020 Forbes op-ed with a former Kaiser Permanente CEO. Oz also said in a Washington Examiner op-ed with three co-writers that aging healthier and living longer could help fix the U.S. budget deficit because people would work longer and add more to the gross domestic product. Neither Trump nor Kennedy have said much about Medicaid, the insurance program for low-income Americans. Trump's first administration reshaped the program by allowing states to introduce work requirements for recipients. Kennedy doesn't appear to have said much publicly about what he'd like to see from surgeon general position, which is the nation's top doctor and oversees 6,000 U.S. Public Health Service Corps members. The surgeon general has little administrative power, but can be an influential government spokesperson on what counts as a public health danger and what to do about it — suggesting things like warning labels for products and issuing advisories. The current surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, declared gun violence as a public health crisis in June. Trump's pick, Nesheiwat, is employed as a New York City medical director with CityMD, a group of urgent care facilities in the New York and New Jersey area, and has been at City MD for 12 years. She also has appeared on Fox News and other TV shows, authored a book on the “transformative power of prayer” in her medical career and endorses a brand of vitamin supplements. She encouraged COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic, calling them “a gift from God” in a February 2021 Fox News op-ed, as well as anti-viral pills like Paxlovid. In a 2019 Q&A with the Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation , Nesheiwat said she is a “firm believer in preventive medicine” and “can give a dissertation on hand-washing alone.” As of Saturday, Trump had not yet named his choice to lead the National Institutes of Health, which funds medical research through grants to researchers across the nation and conducts its own research. It has a $48 billion budget. Kennedy has said he'd pause drug development and infectious disease research to shift the focus to chronic diseases. He'd like to keep NIH funding from researchers with conflicts of interest, and criticized the agency in 2017 for what he said was not doing enough research into the role of vaccines in autism — an idea that has long been debunked . Associated Press writers Amanda Seitz and Matt Perrone and AP editor Erica Hunzinger contributed to this report. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.Plum High School student Eli Pollak has a financial strategy. “The earlier you start, like at our age, investing, the more money you will make,” said Pollak, who attended the Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania Stock Market Challenge presented by Citizens on Thursday, Dec. 12 at Stage AE on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. It was an event held to empower students with real-world financial literacy skills. Stage AE was set up like a stock market with a board showing the stock prices similar to the New York Stock Exchange, the biggest stock market on earth, where matches are made between buyers and sellers trading shares of public companies. In this live trading simulation, students formed teams to compete in maximizing their investments, strategizing in response to the ups and downs of a simulated market. There was buying, selling, trading and some tense moments. A bell was rung just like is done to open the daily stock market on Wall Street. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were on the line. Fortunately, this wasn’t real money. The morning included an interactive competition, bringing the trading floor to life. This was the first time for such an event in Pittsburgh. “This is what Junior Achievement does across the country,” said Patrice Matamoros, president of the Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania. “We help with real-life skills. What we do here is an extension of what they are learning in the classroom.” That includes managing money through stocks, which was the lesson of the day. There were 108 teams and 385 students from Allegheny, Beaver, Cambria, Indiana, Somerset and Westmoreland counties and Brooke and Hancock counties in West Virginia. Each team began with $500,000. They came prepared with a portfolio of fake company stocks. They were presented with various scenarios. Their portfolio might include companies such as Donut House, a global donut and coffee chain, and Nichols Sporting Goods, an American manufacturer of sports equipment. Al DiFranco, president and CEO at Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland, would announce information such as the price of coffee beans on the rise. If the students owned Donut House stock, they might want to make a decision what to do with the stock. And they didn’t have a lot of time because, for this competition, one minute was equal to one day. “This JA Stock Market Challenge is about the stock market, but also about financial literacy and wellness and investing wisely,” DiFranco said. “When you work on Wall Street, you have to constantly be paying attention because the stock market can change in a minute.” Gretchen Weber, a marketing, business, accounting, law and finance teacher at Plum, said it was a great opportunity for students to learn about stocks and how to handle money. She brought five teams and 16 students. Sophomore Caydence Morgan said there was so much happening all at once. “This is so important to learn about investing in our future,” Morgan said. Classmate Sophia Tedesco said the morning was pretty stressful and everything was happening so quickly. Learning good money management is important, Tedesco said. Morgan and Plum junior Gianna Sciulli won an award for sharing their experience on social media. Winners of the stock market challenge were Peters Township High School students Laci and Lexi Vance, both first-year students, and their older brother Wyatt Vance, a junior. The prizes were $500 for the first-place team, $300 for the second, and $25 gift cards for each player on the third-place team. Peters Township finished with $662,000 total. Wyatt has been studying the stock market since he was 9 years old. He has read a lot of books about stocks and said, in real life, in the blink of an eye you can go from the top to the floor so you have to always be aware of what is going on in the world. Pollak agreed. “The stock market really gets your adrenaline pumping,” Pollak said. “You have to pay attention to what’s happening around you every second.”fish knife

The past two years have marked the two highest increases in water rates and fees by the Erie County Water Authority, and next year will be no different. The water authority board last week unanimously approved an across the board 11% hike in its rates and fees, the second highest percentage increase in decades. Authority officials say the median residential water bill will rise by $40 a year, though they use a lower annual water use estimate than other local water utility companies. And if you're wondering when water users might get a break, the answer from water authority leaders is probably not for a long time. The Erie County Water Authority is sharply raising rates and fees again. And no one thinks that pattern is going to change anytime soon, particularly with new federal mandates for lead pipe removal. The Erie County Water Authority provides water to more than 550,000 users throughout most of Erie County but not the City of Buffalo. The 11% hike falls just short of the 12% increase in 2023, which was the highest recorded jump since at least 2000, when The Buffalo News began tracking rate changes. The officials say ratepayers will face a growing burden over the coming decade because of an ambitious effort to upgrade the county's aging water system and meet expensive, new unfunded mandates by the Environmental Protection Agency to replace lead and galvanized steel pipes. The authority's push to improve the county's largest water network means customers will be paying more than 50% more than what they paid for water five years ago, which significantly outpaces inflation. And authority executives expect the sharp increases to continue for a decade or more. "I have to be honest you," said authority Chairman Jerome Schad. "I don’t see how we aren’t going to be in that spot." The authority's operating costs have fallen by a little under 1%, said Chief Financial Officer Joyce Tomaka, but it's project construction costs are climbing by 17%. Here's more context to the most basic questions regarding the increased water costs. Q: Why are costs going up so much? For each of the past two years, water authority officials attributed higher costs to spikes in chemical prices, power and contracts with third-party contractors. This year, Tomaka said supply costs have leveled off or fallen, but the federal government's new Lead and Copper Rule has thrown a heavy burden on all water utilities, which must identify and replace all lead lines within the next 10 years. Galvanized steel pipes, which can also absorb lead, must be replaced within the next 13 years. The new EPA rules also require more testing of drinking water and require that communities take action sooner to protect people from water-based lead exposure. ECWA officials say they estimate that the rules will require the replacement of roughly 30,000 lines. For next year, the authority plans to spend $16 million as part of its "Get the Lead Out" program. The authority did receive a $20 million grant from Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2023, and another $960,000 from Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand this year. Schad said without those grants, the increased costs to customers would be even higher. The typical customer will pay $484 a year for water, a 7% increase. In 2023, the Buffalo Water Board raised the bill paid by the typical residential customer by $41 a year, or 10%. The Lead and Copper Rule is not deterring the water authority from taking steps that leaders say they must to make critical improvements to the authority’s aging plants, lab technology, pumping stations, water lines and residential water meters. That will add another $66.8 million to construction costs. Schad said keeping water costs low used to be the overriding priority of the authority, but as a result, it has spent less on maintenance than other comparable water systems. Having cheap water is less important to the local economy than having access to a reliable and safe water system without interruption and outages, he said. Consultants for the authority agree that the current rate structure is fairest to residential consumers, who represent the bulk of all water authority customers, he said. Compared with other major upstate counties and cities, ECWA's water costs may be the highest next year, except for the City of Buffalo, which has a concentration of older water lines. Within the county, however, 20 other local governments – primarily rural villages and towns – have higher rates than ECWA, which delivers water to most suburban communities. Q: So how much will I be paying this year? Pull out your calculator. The Water Authority charges two costs to water users. One is a rate charged for every 1,000 gallons of water used. Next year, the water rate for residential customers will rise from $4.64 per thousand to $5.15 per thousand. So if you accept the water authority's average water usage figure of 56,000 gallons a year, you'd multiply 56 by $5.15, to get $288.40. If you have a family with children, expect to pay more. If you live alone, expect to pay less. But that's not all. Since 2011, the water authority has also been charging customers a flat quarterly "infrastructure fee." That fee has risen from $27.72 per quarter to $30.78. Multiply the new quarterly fee by four and you'll get $123.12 a year, for a total annual water bill of $411.52, an increase of $40.80 over what the average residential customer paid this year. Note that the ECWA calculates average water usage by taking it's three highest residential water usage months of April through June, and using that as a quarterly average that amounts to 56,000 gallons, according to Tomaka. That is low compared with the Buffalo Water Board, which estimates residential usage at 70,000 gallons per household. That's more in line with what the ECWA calculated as its average water usage three years ago. Of course, the higher the average water usage figure, the bigger the average water bill looks. Commercial customers, who pay a much heftier quarterly infrastructure fee but a lower water rate, will also see an 11% increase across the board. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.Tens of thousands of Spaniards protest housing crunch and high rents in Barcelona

Gisèle Benoit still gets goosebumps when she remembers the first time she saw a family of eastern wolves emerge from the forests of the Mauricie National Park, under the backdrop of a rising moon. It was 1984 and Benoit, then in her early 20s, had been using a horn to try to call a bull moose when she instead heard a long howl, followed by an adult wolf stepping out to a rocky shore accompanied by a half-grown youth and four pups. “I will never forget that,” she said of the magical moment. “It’s anchored in my heart forever.” It was only later that Benoit, an artist and documentary filmmaker, learned that the wolves she saw weren’t grey wolves but rather rare eastern wolves. The species, whose population is estimated at fewer than 1,000 mature adults, could soon be further protected by new measures that are raising hopes among conservationists that attitudes toward a once-feared and maligned animal are shifting. In July, the federal government upgraded the eastern wolf’s threat level from “status of special concern” to “threatened,” based on a 2015 report by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. That report found the population count may be as low as 236 mature individuals in its central Ontario and southern Quebec habitat. The eastern wolf is described as medium-sized canid with reddish-tawny fur that lives in family groups of a breeding pair and their offspring. Also known as the Algonquin wolf, it is largely restricted to existing protected areas, including Algonquin Park in Ontario. The federal Environment Department said in an email that development of a recovery strategy is underway, adding it would be “written in collaboration with provincial governments, federal departments responsible for the federal lands where the eastern wolf is found as well as First Nations groups and Indigenous organizations.” The order triggers protection for the species on federal lands and forces Ottawa to prepare a recovery plan. However, the fight for protection could be an uphill battle in Quebec, which does not even recognize the eastern wolf as a distinct species. A spokesperson for Quebec’s Environment Department said Quebec considers the eastern wolf a “genetic group” rather than its own species. “Recent study shows that the eastern wolf is a distinct entity, even if it comes from several crosses between the grey wolf and the coyote,” Daniel Labonté wrote in an email. “However, scientific knowledge does not demonstrate that this genetic grouping constitutes a species in its own right.” Labonté added that this lack of recognition was not a barrier to protecting the animal, since the law also allows for protection of subspecies or wildlife populations. In October, Quebec launched a program to collect samples to improve knowledge on the distribution of large canines, including the eastern wolf. The government said it is currently “impossible to assert that there is an established population” in Quebec due to low numbers — amounting to three per cent of analyzed samples — and the “strong hybridization that exists among large canids.” Véronique Armstrong, co-founder of a Quebec wildlife protection association, says she’s feeling positive about both the Canadian and Quebec governments’ attitudes. While wolves were once “stigmatized, even persecuted,” she said, “we seem to be heading in the direction of more protection.” Her group, the Association québécoise pour la protection et l’observation de la faune, has submitted a proposal for a conservation area to protect southern Quebec wolves that has already received signs of support from three of the regional municipalities that would be covered, she said. While it’s far from settled, she’s hopeful that the battle to protect wolves might be easier than for some other species, such as caribou, because the wolves are adaptable and can tolerate some human activity, including forestry. John Theberge, a retired professor of ecology and conservation biology from the University of Waterloo and a wolf researcher, spent several years along with his wife studying and radio-collaring eastern wolves around Algonquin Park. Back in the 1990s and 2000s, they faced a “huge political battle” to try to expand wolf protection outside park boundaries after realizing that the far-ranging animals were being hunted and trapped in large numbers once they left the protected lands. Conservationists, he said, faced resistance from powerful hunter and trapper lobbies opposed to protecting the animals but in the end succeeded in permanently closing the zones outside the park to hunting and trapping in 2004. Theberge says people who want to save wolves today still face some of that same opposition — especially when governments including Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia kill wolves to protect endangered caribou. But he believes the public support for protecting wolves has increased from when his career began in the 1960s, when they were treated with fear and suspicion. “Nobody wore T-shirts with wolves on them back then,” he said. Over the years, there have been questions about whether the eastern wolf may be a grey wolf subspecies or a coyote-wolf hybrid. But in the order protecting the wolves, the federal government says genetic analyses have resolved that debate, showing that it is a “distinct species.” Benoit, Theberge and Armstrong all believe that while it’s important to protect the eastern wolf from a genetic diversity perspective, there is value in protecting all wolves, regardless of their DNA. Wolves, they say, are an umbrella species, meaning that protecting them helps protect a variety of other species. They kill off weak and sick animals, ensuring strong populations. They’re also “highly developed, sentient social species, with a division of labour, and strong family alliances,” Theberge said. Benoit agrees. After years spent watching wolves, she has developed great respect for how they live in close-knit families, with older offspring helping raise new pups. “It’s extraordinary to see how their way of life is a little like humans’,” she said. Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian PressGeorgia's political crisis deepened Friday, as new pro-Europe protests gripped Tbilisi ahead of the nomination of a far-right government loyalist as president Tbilisi, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Dec, 2024) 's political crisis deepened Friday, as new pro-Europe protests gripped ahead of the nomination of a far-right loyalist as president. The Black Sea nation has been in turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in contested parliamentary elections, with its decision last month to delay EU accession talks igniting a fresh wave of mass rallies. More unrest is expected on Saturday when Georgian Dream will appoint far-right former footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili as president in a controversial process. The pro-Western incumbent, President Salome Zurabishvili, has refused to step down and is demanding new parliamentary elections, paving the way for a constitutional showdown. On Friday, pro-Europe demonstrators took to the streets at a dozen locations, including in , for the 16th consecutive day. Speaking to AFP at a rally outside , Dariko Gogol, 53, said Georgian Dream "rigged the , and they are just dragging us towards ." "We need new elections," she said, adding that Zurabishvili "has to stay (as president) and somehow us in this really difficult situation." - 'Unprecedented constitutional crisis' - On Saturday, an electoral college controlled by Georgian Dream is expected to elect Kavelashvili as president in an indirect boycotted by the . groups accuse Georgian Dream of rigging the parliamentary , democratic backsliding and moving closer to -- at the expensive of the Caucasus nation's constitutionally mandated bid for EU membership. Though the presidency is a largely ceremonial , Kavelashvili, 53, is known for his vehement anti-West diatribes and to LGBTQ rights. Georgian Dream scrapped direct presidential elections in . With Zurabishvili refusing to leave office, lawmakers boycotting and protests showing no signs of abating, critics are questioning Kavelashvili's legitimacy. One author of 's constitution, Vakhtang Khmaladze, has argued that decisions by the new are void, as it ratified the mandates of newly elected MPs in violation of the legal requirement to await the outcome of Zurabishvili's lawsuit. " is facing an unprecedented constitutional crisis," Khmaladze told AFP. It remains unclear how the will react to Zurabishvili's refusal to step down after her successor is inaugurated on 29. A former French diplomat, Zurabishvili is a hugely popular figure among protesters who view her as a beacon of 's European aspirations.

Gisèle Benoit still gets goosebumps when she remembers the first time she saw a family of eastern wolves emerge from the forests of the Mauricie National Park, under the backdrop of a rising moon. It was 1984 and Benoit, then in her early 20s, had been using a horn to try to call a bull moose when she instead heard a long howl, followed by an adult wolf stepping out to a rocky shore accompanied by a half-grown youth and four pups. “I will never forget that,” she said of the magical moment. “It’s anchored in my heart forever.” It was only later that Benoit, an artist and documentary filmmaker, learned that the wolves she saw weren’t grey wolves but rather rare eastern wolves. The species, whose population is estimated at fewer than 1,000 mature adults, could soon be further protected by new measures that are raising hopes among conservationists that attitudes toward a once-feared and maligned animal are shifting. In July, the federal government upgraded the eastern wolf’s threat level from “status of special concern” to “threatened,” based on a 2015 report by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. That report found the population count may be as low as 236 mature individuals in its central Ontario and southern Quebec habitat. The eastern wolf is described as medium-sized canid with reddish-tawny fur that lives in family groups of a breeding pair and their offspring. Also known as the Algonquin wolf, it is largely restricted to existing protected areas, including Algonquin Park in Ontario. The federal Environment Department said in an email that development of a recovery strategy is underway, adding it would be “written in collaboration with provincial governments, federal departments responsible for the federal lands where the eastern wolf is found as well as First Nations groups and Indigenous organizations.” The order triggers protection for the species on federal lands and forces Ottawa to prepare a recovery plan. However, the fight for protection could be an uphill battle in Quebec, which does not even recognize the eastern wolf as a distinct species. A spokesperson for Quebec’s Environment Department said Quebec considers the eastern wolf a “genetic group” rather than its own species. “Recent study shows that the eastern wolf is a distinct entity, even if it comes from several crosses between the grey wolf and the coyote,” Daniel Labonté wrote in an email. “However, scientific knowledge does not demonstrate that this genetic grouping constitutes a species in its own right.” Labonté added that this lack of recognition was not a barrier to protecting the animal, since the law also allows for protection of subspecies or wildlife populations. In October, Quebec launched a program to collect samples to improve knowledge on the distribution of large canines, including the eastern wolf. The government said it is currently “impossible to assert that there is an established population” in Quebec due to low numbers — amounting to three per cent of analyzed samples — and the “strong hybridization that exists among large canids.” Véronique Armstrong, co-founder of a Quebec wildlife protection association, says she’s feeling positive about both the Canadian and Quebec governments’ attitudes. While wolves were once “stigmatized, even persecuted,” she said, “we seem to be heading in the direction of more protection.” Her group, the Association québécoise pour la protection et l’observation de la faune, has submitted a proposal for a conservation area to protect southern Quebec wolves that has already received signs of support from three of the regional municipalities that would be covered, she said. While it’s far from settled, she’s hopeful that the battle to protect wolves might be easier than for some other species, such as caribou, because the wolves are adaptable and can tolerate some human activity, including forestry. John Theberge, a retired professor of ecology and conservation biology from the University of Waterloo and a wolf researcher, spent several years along with his wife studying and radio-collaring eastern wolves around Algonquin Park. Back in the 1990s and 2000s, they faced a “huge political battle” to try to expand wolf protection outside park boundaries after realizing that the far-ranging animals were being hunted and trapped in large numbers once they left the protected lands. Conservationists, he said, faced resistance from powerful hunter and trapper lobbies opposed to protecting the animals but in the end succeeded in permanently closing the zones outside the park to hunting and trapping in 2004. Theberge says people who want to save wolves today still face some of that same opposition — especially when governments including Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia kill wolves to protect endangered caribou. But he believes the public support for protecting wolves has increased from when his career began in the 1960s, when they were treated with fear and suspicion. “Nobody wore T-shirts with wolves on them back then,” he said. Over the years, there have been questions about whether the eastern wolf may be a grey wolf subspecies or a coyote-wolf hybrid. But in the order protecting the wolves, the federal government says genetic analyses have resolved that debate, showing that it is a “distinct species.” Benoit, Theberge and Armstrong all believe that while it’s important to protect the eastern wolf from a genetic diversity perspective, there is value in protecting all wolves, regardless of their DNA. Wolves, they say, are an umbrella species, meaning that protecting them helps protect a variety of other species. They kill off weak and sick animals, ensuring strong populations. They’re also “highly developed, sentient social species, with a division of labour, and strong family alliances,” Theberge said. Benoit agrees. After years spent watching wolves, she has developed great respect for how they live in close-knit families, with older offspring helping raise new pups. “It’s extraordinary to see how their way of life is a little like humans’,” she said.By MARY CLARE JALONICK and MATT BROWN WASHINGTON (AP) — Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Defense Department, said he had a “wonderful conversation” with Maine Sen. Susan Collins on Wednesday as he pushed to win enough votes for confirmation. He said he will not back down after allegations of excessive drinking and sexual misconduct. Related Articles National Politics | Donald Trump will ring the New York Stock Exchange bell. It’ll be a first for him National Politics | The Trump and Biden teams insist they’re working hand in glove on foreign crises National Politics | ‘You don’t know what’s next.’ International students scramble ahead of Trump inauguration National Politics | Trump is threatening to raise tariffs again. Here’s how China plans to fight back National Politics | Trump won’t be able to save the struggling US beef industry Collins said after the hourlong meeting that she questioned Hegseth about the allegations amid reports of drinking and the revelation that he made a settlement payment after being accused of a sexual assault that he denies. She said she had a “good, substantive” discussion with Hegseth and “covered a wide range of topics,” including sexual assault in the military, Ukraine and NATO. But she said she would wait until a hearing, and notably a background check, to make a decision. “I asked virtually every question under the sun,” Collins told reporters as she left her office after the meeting. “I pressed him both on his position on military issues as well as the allegations against him, so I don’t think there was anything that we did not cover.” The meeting with Collins was closely watched as she is seen as more likely than most of her Republican Senate colleagues to vote against some of Trump’s Cabinet picks. She and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a fellow moderate Republican, did not shy from opposing Trump in his first term when they wanted to do so and sometimes supported President Joe Biden’s nominees for the judicial and executive branches. And Hegseth, an infantry combat veteran and former “Fox & Friends” weekend host, is working to gain as many votes as he can as some senators have expressed concerns about his personal history and lack of management experience. “I’m certainly not going to assume anything about where the senator stands,” Hegseth said as he left Collins’ office. “This is a process that we respect and appreciate. And we hope, in time, overall, when we get through that committee and to the floor that we can earn her support.” Hegseth met with Murkowski on Tuesday. He has also been meeting repeatedly with Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, a military veteran who has said she is a survivor of sexual assault and has spent time in the Senate working on improving how attacks are reported and prosecuted within the ranks. On Monday, Ernst said after a meeting with him that he had committed to selecting a senior official to prioritize those goals. Republicans will have a 53-49 majority next year, meaning Trump cannot lose more than three votes on any of his nominees. It is so far unclear whether Hegseth will have enough support, but Trump has stepped up his pressure on senators in the last week. “Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!” Trump posted on his social media platform last week.

 

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2025-01-11
Paolini’s Italy thump Slovakia to win Billie Jean King CupSun Life U.S. and the Boston Celtics campaign #SunLifeDunk4Diabetes raises $105,000 for YMCA of Greater Bostonfish logo

Weird robot dogs for future wars and more are showing up with guns, rocket launchers, and even flamethrowersOn Football analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL from week to week. For more On Football analysis, head here . Getting benched may have been the best thing that happened to Bryce Young and Anthony Richardson. Both second-year quarterbacks are playing well since returning to the starting lineup. Young has steadily improved after coming back in Week 8. He’s displayed the skills that earned him a Heisman Trophy at Alabama and convinced the Carolina Panthers to draft him ahead of C.J. Stroud with the No. 1 overall pick in 2023. Young had his best game on Sunday, nearly leading Carolina to an overtime win over Tampa Bay if it weren’t for Chuba Hubbard’s fumble in field-goal range. He threw for 298 yards and a go-ahead touchdown pass in the final minute of a 26-23 loss . Young almost led the Panthers to a win over the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs a week earlier only to see Patrick Mahomes drive Kansas City into position for a winning field goal as time expired. Rookie coach Dave Canales benched Young for veteran Andy Dalton after just two games in which he had a 44.1 passer rating. The 23-year-old has completed 60.4% of his passes for 1,062 yards, six TDs and three interceptions — none in the past three games — while going 2-3 in the five starts since Young got another opportunity to lead the Panthers (3-9). Richardson has led Indianapolis to a pair of comeback wins late in the fourth quarter in three starts after he regained his starting job. The Colts (6-7) selected Richardson No. 4 last year and he started just 10 games before coach Shane Steichen benched him for Joe Flacco in Week 9. Richardson completed only 44.4% of his passes with four TDs and seven picks in his first six starts. He’s improved to 52.4% with three TDs and two picks since coming back. The 22-year-old tossed a 3-yard TD pass to Alec Pierce on fourth-and-goal with 12 seconds remaining and then ran in for a 2-point conversion to lift the Colts to a 25-24 win over New England on Sunday. Young and Richardson both have a long way to go to prove they can be franchise quarterbacks. But there’s far more optimism now that they’re not busts. Young is on his third head coach and second offensive coordinator in two seasons. Canales is known for getting the best out of quarterbacks, helping Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield revive their careers. He made a bold decision to bench Young after just two games but that allowed him to watch, grow and learn without the pressure of having to perform. Now it appears Young might have a future in Carolina when that seemed unlikely in September. Richardson just needs more experience. He threw only 393 passes in college and started four games as a rookie before he was injured. Steichen’s decision to bench him for Flacco didn’t work out. Flacco, who was the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year last year after leading Cleveland to the playoffs by going 4-1 in five starts, struggled in two games. Still, that gave Richardson a chance to reset after tapping out for a play in the game before he was benched. Quarterbacks need time to develop. They can’t be judged fairly after one or two seasons, especially when they were high draft picks who joined bad teams that lacked talent. Matt Eberflus lost his job as Chicago’s head coach a day after he watched the offense run out of time with a timeout in hand, missing an opportunity to push Detroit to overtime on Thanksgiving. But Antonio Pierce made an even worse decision on Black Friday that cost the Raiders a chance to beat the Chiefs. Aidan O’Donnell drove Las Vegas to the Chiefs 32 with 15 seconds left. Instead of trying for a game-winning field goal down 19-17, Pierce wanted O’Donnell to take the snap, allow more time to tick and throw the ball away. But O’Donnell wasn’t ready for the snap, the Chiefs recovered the fumble and escaped with the win. aManaging the clock shouldn’t be this difficult for NFL head coaches. Ravens kicker Justin Tucker is having the worst season of his 13-year career. If he wasn’t one of the best kickers in NFL history, Baltimore would’ve made a switch already. But coach John Harbaugh has too much respect for Tucker, who began the season as the most accurate kicker in league history. Tucker has missed a career-high eight field-goal attempts, including two in a 24-19 loss to Philadelphia. Harbaugh, a former special teams coach, isn’t planning to replace Tucker. But the Ravens (8-5) have Super Bowl aspirations and Tucker needs to straighten things out. One solution would be to place him on injured reserve to work on his technique. In this case, Tucker has earned the right not to be released. Plus, he’s signed through 2027. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Every winter, like migratory birds, people working on climate change flock to some distant location. This year, it was the Caspian seashore of Baku in Azerbaijan. They don’t do this to escape the pollution of north India. They do it because they believe that if all countries come together at the annual climate summit of the UN (called the COP), they will be able to solve the problem of climate change. This has been going on for 29 years. This year’s COP29 started in inauspicious circumstances. The US elected Donald Trump, who will withdraw his country from the Paris Agreement on climate change, just as he did in 2016, meaning that the world’s richest economy will not offer any new climate finance. Germany, usually an advocate for European contributions to climate finance , saw its coalition govt collapse. Experts had estimated the need to raise $2.4 trillion per year for nature and climate, but COP29 closed with a kitty of only $300 billion per year by 2035. This is barely more than the earlier pot of $100 billion per year after allowing for inflation. And it will count not just grants that poor, vulnerable countries need, but also loans that they will have to repay, and money spent by developing countries themselves. Quite naturally, people might question the benefit of this multilateral process. If rich countries are not paying up, why should we have to answer to anyone? Three developments at COP29 show the relevance of continued engagement for India. First, many countries announced new targets to cut their greenhouse gas emissions . The UK’s emissions are now half of what they were in 1990, and it pledged to cut them by 81% of 1990 levels by 2035. Though it is a developing economy, Brazil announced that it will cut its emissions by at least 59% from 2005 levels by 2035. Indonesia and Mexico committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. Such announcements send signals to Indian industry about potential markets. For example, with the European Union banning the sale of diesel or petrol cars after 2035 as part of its climate policy, Indian car makers could plan a shift to electric vehicle manufacturing, and Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) can start pivoting to making electrical components and reskilling their workers. Similarly, with the new climate finance deal at COP29, multilateral development banks like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank will target their lending to climate-friendly activities, and Indian state govts can prepare project proposals for the needs identified in their State Action Plans on Climate Change. Second, COP29 agreed on the rules of the international carbon market, which can be a useful source of revenue for projects in India. It adopted common standards for methodologies to accurately measure and credit emission reductions, developed a sustainable development tool for social and environmental safeguards, and found a way to link carbon credit registries across countries. This means that Indian companies, MSME clusters, municipalities and gram panchayats will be able to sell carbon credits in three types of markets — the Indian carbon market that is being designed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, the voluntary carbon market that already exists, and the international carbon market made possible by COP29. The Indian govt has already published a list of preferred project types that are more expensive and can benefit from international carbon credit revenue — not just solar power, but solar power with storage; not only onshore wind, but offshore wind; and emerging technologies like green hydrogen, green ammonia, sustainable aviation fuel, and carbon capture and storage. Third, next year’s COP30 hosted by Brazil in the Amazon rainforest will give as much priority to nature as to climate. This is important for our country too. For example, as India scales up its solar parks over the next few decades, it will be important to protect biodiversity and people’s livelihoods that depend on natural resources. We also have opportunities for behaviour change, such as switching to millets that need less irrigation. And we can reduce food waste — one study estimated almost 1,000 tons of food waste a year in 500 wedding halls in Bengaluru alone. COP30 is also planning a new treaty for tracing the supply chains of critical minerals like lithium, nickel and cobalt needed for renewable energy, electric vehicles and batteries. There are growing concerns in India about e-waste, mining, and import dependence, and this topic was discussed in India’s G-20 presidency last year. We can find value in e-waste and create rural jobs based on a circular economy to extract and process critical minerals. Like its colourful rainforest birds, perhaps the Brazil COP next year will bring a more vibrant outcome. Kelkar is executive program director for climate, economics and finance at WRI India. Views expressed are personal.Levis throws 2 TD passes to help Titans outlast Texans 32-2724th annual Bell Capital Cup returns to arenas across OttawaJohn Prescott, Hull East's MP for 40 years, has been described as "a colossus", "a true giant of the Labour movement" and as "truly unique". He was Britain's longest-serving deputy prime minister and a stalwart Labour politician with strong links to unions. Hull's trio of Labour MPs have all paid tribute to him, as has Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Lord Prescott has also had warm words from political counterparts and organisations in Hull that he made a significant difference to. In announcing his death on Wednesday at the age of 86, his family have asked in lieu of flowers for people, if they wish to do so, to donate to Alzheimer's Research UK. He had lately been living with Alzheimer's disease. 'Staunch defender of working people' Prime minister Starmer led the tributes to Lord Prescott, saying he was "deeply saddened" by his death. "John was a true giant of the Labour movement. He was a staunch defender of working people and a proud trade unionist. During a decade as Deputy Prime Minister, he was one of the key architects of a Labour Government that transformed the lives of millions of people across the nation." He said his legacy would live on "well beyond his lifetime". In Parliament, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch also had warm words. "A titan of British politics in the 1990s. One of this country's greatest examples of social mobility. And a true patriot." US former Vice-President Al Gore said Lord Prescott...

Federal DEI spending explodes under Biden-Harris administrationDespite significant success, harm reduction measures still controversial in Africa

 

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2025-01-11
Georgia has a chance to post its best start to a season in 94 years ahead of its home meeting with South Carolina State in Athens, Ga., on Sunday. Georgia (11-1) hasn't appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 10 seasons and hasn't won a tournament game since 2002, but the Bulldogs seem primed to make a return. The Bulldogs have won six straight games and a seventh would mark their best start since beginning 13-0 in the 1930-31 campaign. Georgia hasn't played since a Dec. 22 home win over Charleston Southern. Head coach Mike White knows the intensity of the schedule will soon increase as Southeastern Conference play revs up, but that's not to say his team will overlook its next opponent. "We've had a much-needed break, both mentally and physically," White said. "Our guys need to get away from it a little bit, miss it, then come back rejuvenated for one more tune up for the grind of the SEC -- the best league in the country. But we'll be prepared for South Carolina State. They're dangerous, they play really hard, they've been really competitive. They're another good team." Adding to Georgia's success has been the play of De'Shayne Montgomery. After being academically ineligible for the first 10 games of the season, the Mount St. Mary's transfer has averaged 19 points per game in two contests. Asa Newell follows with 15.8 points in 12 games, while fellow Mount St. Mary's transfer Dakota Leffew chips in 12.9. South Carolina State (6-8) will play its fourth road game of a six-game stretch away from home. The other Bulldogs prepare for their final regular season meeting with a power conference team following losses at South Carolina Upstate and Xavier. South Carolina State faces Morgan State on Jan. 4 to start Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play. Led by third-year head coach Erik Martin, the team boasts a rare roster figure in today's college basketball landscape. "We brought back 90 percent of our returnable student athletes this year," Martin said. "I can pretty much guarantee I'm the only person in America that did that." Sophomore Drayton Jones leads the team with 13 points per game, followed by Omar Croskey's 9.4. Georgia is 2-0 all-time against South Carolina State, last earning a 76-60 win in Nov. 2021. --Field Level Mediafish oil side effects

GM abandons robotaxi operations derailed by accidentSabres get power-play goals from Zucker and Thompson in 4-2 win over the BluesDonald Hand Jr. racked up a career-high 29 points and 10 rebounds to help Boston College stave off visiting Fairleigh Dickinson 78-70 on Saturday in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Chad Venning added 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting and Dion Brown contributed eight points, eight rebounds and four assists as the Eagles (8-5) wrapped up their nonconference slate with just their second win in six games. Ahmed Barba-Bey, a grad transfer from Division II, exploded for a season-high 31 points to power FDU (4-11). Barba-Bey buried 8 of 9 attempts from the 3-point arc. Terrence Brown added 15 of his 20 points in the second half, as the Knights made it close before falling to 0-10 on the road this season. Bismark Nsiah scored 10 points. Boston College led 70-59 with 3:39 to play when Barba-Bey was fouled attempting a corner 3. He made all three of his foul shots, and after a stop Brown got to the bucket to cut FDU's deficit to six. It was 72-67 when Venning made a clutch turnaround jumper from the high post with 51 seconds left. Boston College let Barba-Bey get loose for his eighth 3-pointer, pulling FDU within four, its closest margin of the half. But Hand drove to the basket and scored with 29 seconds on the clock, and FDU was out of time. The Knights trailed by as many as 12 in the first half, but Barba-Bey kept them in the game. He made a fastbreak layup off Brown's steal and added a 3-pointer on the next possession, turning what was a 10-point deficit to a manageable 29-24 game. Boston College led 38-28 at halftime, with Hand scoring 15 for the hosts and Barba-Bey pouring in 16 for the Knights, including 4-of-5 shooting from deep. FDU pulled within nine points three times in the early stages of the second half, the third coming when Nsiah knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 56-47 with about 10 minutes to go. --Field Level Media



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Jet crash disaster in South Korea marks another setback for BoeingPolice HR cell emerges as beacon of hopeNEW YORK — Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally gunning down health insurance executive Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street, pleaded not guilty on Monday to New York state murder charges that brand him a terrorist. Mangione, 26, was escorted into Judge Gregory Carro's 13th-floor courtroom in the New York state criminal courthouse in lower Manhattan with a court officer on each arm, and a procession of a half dozen officers following him. He was in handcuffs and shackles, and wore a burgundy sweater over a white-collared shirt. ADVERTISEMENT Mangione leaned into a microphone and said "not guilty" when Carro asked how he pleaded to the 11-count indictment charging him with murder as an act of terrorism and weapons offenses. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group's UNH.N insurance unit UnitedHealthcare, was shot dead on Dec. 4 outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan where the company was gathering for an investor conference. The brazen killing and ensuing five-day manhunt captivated Americans. While public officials have condemned the killing, some Americans who decry the steep costs of healthcare and insurance companies' power to deny paying for some medical treatments have feted Mangione as a folk hero. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald's restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 9. After deciding last week not to fight extradition, he was transferred to New York, where he was led off a helicopter in lower Manhattan by a large phalanx of police officers and New York City Mayor Eric Adams. That spectacle and other statements by public officials suggest Mangione may not be able to get a fair trial, his lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said at Monday's hearing. "They are treating him like he is some sort of political fodder, some sort of spectacle," Agnifilo said. "He is not a symbol, he is someone who is afforded a right to a fair trial." ADVERTISEMENT Several dozen people gathered outside the courthouse in freezing temperatures to express support for Mangione and anger at healthcare companies. One person held a sign with the words "DENY, DEFEND, DEPOSE," a phrase that echoes tactics some accuse insurers of using to avoid paying out claims. Authorities say the words "deny," "delay," and "depose" were found written on shell casings at the crime scene. Kara Hay, a 42-year-old schoolteacher, said she believed it was wrong for Mangione to be charged with terrorism. "Shooting one CEO does not make him a terrorist, and I do not feel terrorized," said Hay, who held a sign reading "innocent until proven guilty." After the 30-minute hearing, officers once again shackled Mangione and led him out of the courtroom. He is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal lockup in Brooklyn. Carro set Mangione's next court appearance for Feb. 21. Dual state, federal cases Monday's arraignment was the second court appearance in New York for Mangione, who also faces a four-count federal criminal complaint charging him with stalking and killing Thompson. ADVERTISEMENT He has not yet been asked to enter a plea in that case. U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker ordered Mangione detained at a Dec. 19 hearing in Manhattan federal court. The federal charges would make him eligible for the death penalty, should the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan decide to pursue it. The separate federal and state cases will proceed in parallel. The state case is currently expected to go to trial first, federal prosecutors said. At the hearing, Friedman Agnifilo said it was difficult to defend her client in dual state and federal cases. "He is being treated like a human ping-pong ball between these two jurisdictions," Friedman Agnifilo said. She also said the Manhattan District Attorney's office, which brought the charges, has not handed over any evidence to the defense to help prepare for trial, a process known as discovery. A prosecutor responded that the office would begin handing over evidence soon. According to the federal criminal complaint, the police who arrested Mangione found a notebook that contained several handwritten pages that "express hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular." ADVERTISEMENT A notebook entry dated Oct. 22 allegedly described an intent to "wack" the chief executive of an insurance company at its investor conference. ______________________________________________________ This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here .PLEASANTON, Calif. , Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- 10x Genomics, Inc. (Nasdaq: TXG), a leader in single cell and spatial biology, announced today it had secured a permanent injunction in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware against the GeoMx products sold by Bruker Corporation (Nasdaq: BRKR), which acquired the product line from NanoString Technologies. To minimize the risk of disruption to ongoing research, 10x Genomics requested a carve-out for GeoMx users who installed an instrument prior to the trial in November 2023 . The injunction, which the Court said it will enter in January 2025 , is expected to prohibit Bruker from making, using, selling or offering to sell in the United States its GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler and associated instruments, reagents and services for RNA and protein detection. At the request of 10x Genomics, the injunction will not block ongoing research by researchers who installed a GeoMx instrument prior to November 18, 2023 . Such customers can continue to purchase GeoMx reagents for use with existing GeoMx instruments for purposes of continuing their ongoing research. The Court found that making such an exception for ongoing research strikes a "workable balance between protecting the patentee's rights and protecting the public from the injunction's adverse effects." In addition, the Court affirmed the $31 million damages awarded by the November 2023 jury verdict, as well as supplemental damages and interest that will be added to the total damages when final judgment is entered. "Today's decision helps to safeguard our decade-long investment in innovation and ensures we can continue to develop groundbreaking technologies that help our customers revolutionize science," said Eric Whitaker , Chief Legal Officer at 10x Genomics. "10x exists to fuel scientific progress – not stifle it – and that is why we've done our utmost to ensure this injunction was structured to protect both our intellectual property and existing GeoMx customers' ongoing research." The Court recognized the harm NanoString's infringing conduct caused 10x when it wrote in its ruling, "Having been careful not to license its technology, 10x suffers when it proclaims itself as an innovator in spatial genomics but a competitor is using the same innovative, patented technology." Today's Court decision follows a November 2023 jury verdict that found that NanoString's GeoMx products willfully infringed seven patents exclusively licensed to 10x Genomics by Prognosys. During the trial, the jury heard testimony from the sole inventor of the patents, Illumina co-founder Mark Chee , and NanoString CEO Brad Gray and NanoString CSO Joe Beechem. After hearing all of the evidence, the jury determined that all seven patents had been infringed by NanoString, that each patent was valid, that NanoString willfully infringed those patents and that monetary damages were owed to 10x for the infringement of all seven patents. In affirming the jury's finding that NanoString willfully infringed, the Court relied on the evidence showing that NanoString knew or was willfully blind that its acts would cause infringement of 10x's rights. The asserted patents in Case No. 21-cv-653-MFK include (a) U.S. Patent No. 10,472,669; (b) U.S. Patent No. 10,961,566; (c) U.S. Patent No. 10,983,113; (d) U.S. Patent No. 10,996,219; (e) U.S. Patent No. 11,001,878; (f) U.S. Patent No. 11,008,607 and (g) U.S. Patent No. 11,293,917. About 10x Genomics 10x Genomics is a life science technology company building products to accelerate the mastery of biology and advance human health. Our integrated solutions include instruments, consumables and software for single cell and spatial biology, which help academic and translational researchers and biopharmaceutical companies understand biological systems at a resolution and scale that matches the complexity of biology. Our products are behind breakthroughs in oncology, immunology, neuroscience and more, fueling powerful discoveries that are transforming the world's understanding of health and disease. To learn more, visit 10xgenomics.com or connect with us on LinkedIn or X (Twitter) . Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are subject to the "safe harbor" created by those sections. All statements included in this press release, other than statements of historical facts, may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "could," "intend," "target," "project," "contemplate," "believe," "see," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "would," "likely," "seek" or "continue" or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding litigation and remedies as well as possible outcomes of litigation. These forward-looking statements do not reflect that our success will depend on our ability to obtain, maintain and protect our intellectual property rights, intellectual property litigation could be expensive, time-consuming, unsuccessful and could interfere with our ability to develop, manufacture and commercialize our products or technologies, litigation outcomes are unpredictable or there may be changes in our litigation strategy. These statements are based on management's current expectations, forecasts, beliefs, assumptions and information currently available to management. Actual outcomes and results could differ materially from these statements due to a number of factors and such statements should not be relied upon as representing 10x Genomics, Inc.'s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. 10x Genomics, Inc. disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements provided to reflect any change in 10x Genomics' expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law. The material risks and uncertainties that could affect 10x Genomics, Inc.'s financial and operating results and cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release include those discussed under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the company's most recently-filed 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 and elsewhere in the documents 10x Genomics, Inc. files with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Disclosure Information 10x Genomics uses filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, our website ( www.10xgenomics.com ), press releases, public conference calls, public webcasts and our social media accounts as means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Contacts Investors: investors@10xgenomics.com Media: media@10xgenomics.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-district-court-awards-10x-genomics-permanent-injunction-in-patent-infringement-lawsuit-against-bruker-corporations-geomx-products-302338627.html SOURCE 10x Genomics, Inc.

CUSTOMERS looking for the best beauty buys this holiday season are in luck, thanks to Dollar Tree. The discount retailer is selling a virtually identical dupe of a Sephora favorite this month. For just $1.25, shoppers can get the B-Pure Clean Beauty Lip Color & Cream Blush Duo at their local store, per a recent clip on TikTok from cosmetics influencer Kimberly Nuzzolo ( @kimnuzzolo ). Kimberly showed customers the package on the shelf and emphasized that it would quickly become a must-have and affordable favorite in their collection. "This two-in-one lip color and cream blush comes in two shades, it is so pigmented — you're going to fall in love when you see how well it applies," she said. The same shade options are also available at Sephora with the Tower 28 Beauty BeachPlease Lip + Cheek Dewy Cream Blush. Read More on Dollar Tree It also comes highly-rated but sits at a significantly higher price point of $20, per the listing on Sephora's website. That's about a 94% increase from the B-Pure Clean Beauty Lip Color & Cream Blush Duo at Dollar Tree. CRUCIAL DIFFERENCES Still, Sephora's option does come with a few differences that likely contribute to its higher cost. For one, it's a name-brand with Tower 28 Beauty. Most read in Money It also comes in a whopping 10 shade options, including Finest Hour (sun-kissed red), Golden Hour (sun-kissed orange), After Hours (sun-kissed berry), and several others. The BeachPlease Lip + Cheek Dewy Cream Blush is also non-comedogenic, meaning it won't clog or block pores on the skin, per Nivea . It also has three main ingredients, including Aloe Vera Extract, Green Tea Extract, and Castor Seed Oil, per the product description. It's unclear if Dollar Tree's dupe shares similar ingredients. The decision between the two lip and cream blush options will likely come down to shoppers' budgets and personal preferences. Kimberly also located and recommended at least five "jackpot" decorations at Dollar Tree for Christmas this year. B-Pure Clean Beauty Lip Color & Cream Blush Duo at Dollar Tree: $1.25 - in-store only Tower 28 Beauty BeachPlease Lip + Cheek Dewy Cream Blush at Sephora: $20 - buy here DEALS FOR DAYS They include the Tinsel Candy Cane, Plaid Christmas Tree Tabletop Decor Bowl, Plaid Christmas Tree Tabletop Centerpieces, Jingle Gift Tags, and Holiday Greeting Gift Bags. Prices start as low as $1.25, just like for the beauty dupe. A popular stocking stuffer is also flying off shelves and is nearly identical to a similar offer from Target but 37% cheaper. Some Dollar Tree customers are also going crazy over more holiday decorations featuring iconic Christmas characters. Retail giants like Walmart also have some festive offerings. Read More on The US Sun Some items are going for as low as 19 cents online and in-store. Others starting at $5 are being praised by customers as "all the rage" this holiday season.OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — Fresh off one of its best showings of the season, the Baltimore defense now has another problem to worry about. Roquan Smith missed practice again Friday because of a hamstring injury. Although the Ravens didn't officially rule him or anyone else out — they don't play until Monday night — the All-Pro linebacker's status seems dicey. “Definitely it will be a challenge if Roquan can’t go,” defensive coordinator Zach Orr said. “We’re holding out hope and everything like that. I think it’ll just be by committee. Not one person is going to replace Roquan. Roquan’s an every-down linebacker.” Although the Ravens lost 18-16 last weekend, Baltimore didn't allow a touchdown. That was an encouraging sign for a team that ranks 26th in the league in total defense. Baltimore is on the road Monday against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Ravens appear to have dodged one potential nightmare. Star safety Kyle Hamilton injured an ankle against Cincinnati on Nov. 7, but he was able to play almost every defensive snap the following week against Pittsburgh. But Smith was injured in that game and didn't practice Thursday or Friday. Linebacker Malik Harrison had a season high in tackles last weekend and figures to have a significant role if Smith can't go. “We tell these guys, ‘You’re one play away to going in there — you never know, so you got to stay ready.’ Malik — he was ready,” Orr said. “I thought he went in there and did a good job, especially after the first series, he settled down. That’s what we expect from him.” It's hard to tell whether last week can be a significant turning point for Baltimore's defense. The Ravens allowed only 10 points in a dominant win over Buffalo in Week 4, then yielded 38 against Cincinnati the following game. After allowing 10 against Denver, the Ravens were picked apart by the Bengals again a few days later. So they still haven't shown they can play a good game defensively and then build on it. “I think it’s easier said than done. It’s something that we kind of got caught up saying against Buffalo and then coming up the next week and not doing," Hamilton said. "We’re aware of it now and know that we played a good game, but I think we can get a lot better, and I think that’s kind of the mindset everybody on defense has right now.” Hamilton's ability to make a difference all over the field is part of what makes him valuable, but positioning him deep is one way the Ravens can try to guard against big passing plays. Pittsburgh's Russell Wilson threw for only 205 yards against Baltimore. That's after Joe Burrow passed for 428 and four touchdowns in the Ravens' previous game. “I’ve always seen myself as a safety. A versatile one, but at the end of the day, I think I play safety,” Hamilton said. “If I’m asked to go play safety, I feel like that’s not an issue for me to play safety if I’m a safety.” NOTES: In addition to Smith, WR Rashod Bateman (knee), DT Travis Jones (ankle), S Sanoussi Kane (ankle) C Tyler Linderbaum (back) and CB Arthur Maulet (calf) missed practice Friday. WR Nelson Agholor (illness) returned to full participation after missing Thursday's practice. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

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EVgo Closes $1.25 Billion Guaranteed Loan Facility from U.S. Department of EnergyAfter starting 2-0 in its inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference schedule, SMU looks to make the month even more special on Sunday, hosting Longwood in Dallas, Texas. The Mustangs seek a seven-game win streak in their final nonconference test before welcoming No. 4 Duke to Dallas on Jan. 4. In recent victories over Alabama State, Virginia, LSU, and Boston College, SMU (10-2) averaged 85.3 points per game, allowed just 66.0 ppg, and climbed to No. 30 in the NET rankings. "We're a different team right now than we were earlier in the season," SMU head coach Andy Enfield said at the beginning of December, his words ringing even truer as the season progresses. "They'd never been under pressure together until recently, so they're starting to learn and figure things out." Longwood (11-3) enters its third consecutive road game, having won five of its last six overall. That includes a major 82-67 win at North Carolina Central on Dec. 20. It was only the sixth nonconference home loss for NCC since 2016, and Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich saw it as a result of his team's growing cohesiveness. "We got great contributions from so many players," Aldrich said. "We have been working to play more and more connected, and this team has really taken positive steps this week." The Mustangs' Matt Cross is among the biggest threats to Longwood's defense, which allows just 66.6 points per game. A 6-foot-7 forward, Cross had 36 points over SMU's last two wins, including a 16-point, 16-rebound double-double against LSU. What Cross does with the ball in his hands is impressive -- he is averaging 13.5 ppg in December -- but it is also what he does off the ball that increases his value. "He's extremely tough," Enfield said after Cross' performance against LSU. "His wall up in transition, where (Corey) Chest came down, was going to dunk the ball, and he stood there and took the contact. ...That's a big-time basketball play." Longwood is paced by Michael Christmas, a veteran forward in his fourth year in the program. A hard-nosed wing who can score at all three levels, Christmas is Longwood's only returner who started at least 30 games on last year's NCAA Tournament team. He is averaging a team-high 11.9 points per game. "(He) loves this university, loves this town and community," Aldrich said of Christmas. "He opted to come back here to really invest in the program." --Field Level Media

Is the album dying out? I certainly hope not...5G Testing Equipment Market to Expand by USD 605.76 Million (2024-2028), Driven by Growing Network Demand and AI-Powered Market Transformation - TechnavioAP – Shares mostly gained in Asia yesterday after United States (US) stocks capped a mostly dismal week with a broad rally that still left the benchmark S&P 500 down two per cent for the week. US futures and oil prices advanced. One shadow over markets was cleared when US lawmakers passed a budget deal in the early hours of Saturday, narrowly averting a pre-Christmas government shutdown. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.3 per cent to 39,201.48, while the dollar was trading at JPY156.65, up from JPY156.48. Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor Corp held a news conference yesterday as reports speculated on a possible merger between Japan’s second and third-largest automakers. Honda’s shares, which fell after news of the talks on a deal surfaced last week, were up 2.3 per cent. Nissan’s, which had soared, rose 0.5 per cent. Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.7 per cent to 19,857.37, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.1 per cent to 3,363.01. Australia’s S&P/ASX 500 jumped 1.7 per cent to 8,201.60. South Korea’s Kospi added 1.5 per cent to 2,441.82 and Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 2.6 per cent, with TSMC, the world’s biggest computer chip maker, gaining 4.4 per cent. Hon Hai Precision Industry, which reportedly has been manoeuvering to buy a big stake in Nissan, jumped 3.8 per cent. In Bangkok, the SET advanced 0.4 per cent. Last Friday, the S&P 500 rallied 1.1 per cent, closing at 5,930.85. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.2 per cent to 42,840.26 and the Nasdaq composite gained 1 per cent to 19,572.60. Roughly nine of every 10 stocks in the S&P 500 rose. Superstar stock Nvidia and other Big Tech companies led the market, which got a lift after a report said a measure of inflation the Federal Reserve (Fed) likes to use was slightly lower last month than economists expected. It’s an encouraging signal following recent reports suggesting inflation may be tough to get all the way down to the Fed’s two per cent goal from its peak above nine per cent. The threat of higher inflation was one of the reasons Fed Chair Jerome Powell gave last week when the central bank hinted it may deliver fewer cuts to interest rates next year than it earlier expected. That warning sent a shock through the stock market, which had run to 57 all-time highs this year amid the widespread assumption the Fed would deliver a string of cuts to rates into 2025. Now traders are largely betting on one, two or perhaps even zero next year, according to data from CME Group. Critics had been warning stock prices were vulnerable to drops after running so high and that the market likely needed everything to go correctly to justify its stellar gains for the year.

Another View: This journalist is waiting for feds to knock on his doorATLANTA , Dec. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Cousins Properties Incorporated (the "Company" or "Cousins") (NYSE:CUZ) announced today that its operating partnership, Cousins Properties LP (the "Operating Partnership"), has priced an offering of $400 million aggregate principal amount of 5.375% senior unsecured notes due 2032 at 99.463% of the principal amount. The offering is expected to close on December 17, 2024 , subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Cousins intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to fund a portion of the purchase price of 601 West 2nd Street, also known as Sail Tower, an 804,000 square foot trophy lifestyle office property in Austin (the "Sail Tower Acquisition"), and the remainder to repay borrowings under its credit facility and for general corporate purposes. In the event the Sail Tower Acquisition is not completed, Cousins will use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including the acquisition and development of office properties, other opportunistic investments and the repayment of debt. The notes will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by the Company. J.P. Morgan, Truist Securities, US Bancorp, BofA Securities, Morgan Stanley, PNC Capital Markets LLC, TD Securities and Wells Fargo Securities are acting as joint book-running managers. A shelf registration statement relating to these securities is effective with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The offering may be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus. Copies of these documents may be obtained by contacting J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, 383 Madison Avenue, New York, New York , 10179, Attention: Investment Grade Syndicate Desk, 3rd Floor, telephone collect at 1-212-834-4533; Truist Securities, Inc., Attention: Prospectus Department, 303 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30308, telephone: 800-685-4786, or e-mail: TruistSecurities.prospectus@Truist.com ; or U.S. Bancorp Investments, Inc., Attention: High Grade Syndicate, 214 North Tryon Street, 26th Floor, Charlotte, NC 28202, or by telephone at: (877) 558-2607. Electronic copies of these documents are also available from the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov . This press release is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell the notes, nor shall it constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction. About Cousins Properties Cousins Properties is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust ("REIT"). The Company, based in Atlanta, GA and acting through the Operating Partnership, primarily invests in Class A office buildings located in high growth Sun Belt markets. Founded in 1958, Cousins creates shareholder value through its extensive expertise in the development, acquisition, leasing, and management of high-quality real estate assets. The Company has a comprehensive strategy in place based on a simple platform, trophy assets, and opportunistic investments. Forward-Looking Statements Certain matters contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws and are subject to uncertainties and risks, as itemized in Item 1A included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and in the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended June 30, 2024 and September 30, 2024 . These forward-looking statements include information about the Company's possible or assumed future results of the business and the Company's financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, plans, and objectives. They also include, among other things, statements regarding subjects that are forward-looking by their nature, such as: guidance and underlying assumptions; business and financial strategy; future debt financings; future acquisitions and dispositions of operating assets or joint venture interests; future acquisitions and dispositions of land, including ground leases; future acquisitions of investments in real estate debt; future development and redevelopment opportunities; future issuances and repurchases of common stock, limited partnership units, or preferred stock; future distributions; projected capital expenditures; market and industry trends; future occupancy or volume and velocity of leasing activity; entry into new markets, changes in existing market concentrations, or exits from existing markets; future changes in interest rates and liquidity of capital markets; and all statements that address operating performance, events, investments, or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future — including statements relating to creating value for stockholders. Any forward-looking statements are based upon management's beliefs, assumptions, and expectations of our future performance, taking into account information that is currently available. These beliefs, assumptions, and expectations may change as a result of possible events or factors, not all of which are known. If a change occurs, our business, financial condition, liquidity, and results of operations may vary materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements. Actual results may vary from forward-looking statements due to, but not limited to, the following: the availability and terms of capital and our ability to obtain and maintain financing arrangements on terms favorable to us or at all; the ability to refinance or repay indebtedness as it matures; any changes to our credit rating; the failure of purchase, sale, or other contracts to ultimately close; the failure to achieve anticipated benefits from acquisitions, developments, investments, or dispositions; the effect of common stock or operating partnership unit issuances, including those undertaken on a forward basis, which may negatively affect the market price of our common stock; the availability of buyers and pricing with respect to the disposition of assets; changes in national and local economic conditions, the real estate industry, and the commercial real estate markets in which we operate (including supply and demand changes), particularly in Atlanta , Austin , Tampa , Charlotte , Phoenix , Dallas , and Nashville , including the impact of high unemployment, volatility in the public equity and debt markets, and international economic and other conditions; threatened terrorist attacks or sociopolitical unrest such as political instability, civil unrest, armed hostilities, or political activism, which may result in a disruption of day-to-day building operations; changes to our strategy in regard to our real estate assets may require impairment to be recognized; leasing risks, including the ability to obtain new tenants or renew expiring tenants, the ability to lease newly-developed and/or recently acquired space, the failure of a tenant to commence or complete tenant improvements on schedule or to occupy leased space, and the risk of declining leasing rates; changes in the preferences of our tenants brought about by the desire for co-working arrangements, trends toward utilizing less office space per employee, and the effect of employees working remotely; any adverse change in the financial condition or liquidity of one or more of our tenants or borrowers under our real estate debt investments; volatility in interest rates (including the impact upon the effectiveness of forward interest rate contract arrangements) and insurance rates; inflation; competition from other developers or investors; the risks associated with real estate developments (such as zoning approval, receipt of required permits, construction delays, cost overruns, and leasing risk); supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and increased construction costs; risks associated with security breaches through cyberattacks, cyber intrusions or otherwise, as well as other significant disruptions of our information technology networks and related systems, which support our operations and our buildings; changes in senior management, changes in the Company's board of directors, and the loss of key personnel; the potential liability for uninsured losses, condemnation, or environmental issues; the potential liability for a failure to meet regulatory requirements, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and similar laws or the impact of any investigation regarding the same; the financial condition and liquidity of, or disputes with, joint venture partners; any failure to comply with debt covenants under debt instruments and credit agreements; any failure to continue to qualify for taxation as a real estate investment trust or meet regulatory requirements; potential changes to state, local, or federal regulations applicable to our business; material changes in dividend rates on common shares or other securities or the ability to pay those dividends; potential changes to the tax laws impacting real estate investment trusts and real estate in general; risks associated with climate change and severe weather events, as well as the regulatory efforts intended to reduce the effects of climate changes and investor and public perception of our efforts to respond to the same; the impact of newly adopted accounting principles on our accounting policies and on period-to-period comparisons of financial results; risks associated with possible federal, state, local, or property tax audits; and those additional risks and environmental or other factors discussed in reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by the Company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company cannot guarantee the accuracy of any such forward-looking statements contained in this press release, and the Company does not intend to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Contacts Roni Imbeaux Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations 404-407-1104 rimbeaux@cousins.com View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cousins-properties-announces-pricing-of-senior-notes-offering-302330787.html SOURCE Cousins PropertiesJimmy Carter: Many evolutions for a centenarian ‘citizen of the world’

In an era of rapid technological advancement, one would assume that losing a mobile phone could be addressed swiftly and efficiently. However, for a close friend of mine, Anura (not his real name), a senior professional and well-connected individual, the ordeal of tracing his lost iPhone 15 exposed a web of systemic inefficiencies, poor communication, and hidden truths. Anura lost his phone on 15 Dec., 2024, while travelling in a Colombo suburb. What followed was a grueling process that highlighted the bureaucratic labyrinth ordinary citizens must navigate. Acting on the advice of two telecommunications veterans, he embarked on a quest to retrieve his phone only to encounter roadblocks at every turn. Ravi, a retired IT engineer with over four decades of experience, outlined a standard procedure: file a police report, present it to the mobile network provider, and let the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) handle the rest. Siri, a board member of a prominent telecom network, confirmed that bypassing the police was not an option due to legal requirements. Despite their expertise, neither expert was aware of a critical fact: the phone-tracking system had been compromised in 2022. Anura’s initial attempts at the police station were equally disheartening. Officers refused to provide him with a copy of his complaint, citing outdated practices, and he spent hours navigating red tape before finally obtaining a certified copy. With the police report in hand, Anura visited the TRC in Narahenpita. The experience was no less frustrating. Initially directed back to the police by security staff, Anura had to argue his way into the premises. Inside, a polite but unhelpful officer informed him that the system for tracing lost phones had not been operational since 2018. The officer defended the TRC’s actions, stating they had informed the Inspector General of Police of the changes, expecting the information to trickle down to individual stations. Anura, however, was unimpressed. “This top-down communication approach is ineffective,” he argued, highlighting the needless time, effort, and money wasted by citizens due to a lack of public awareness. During his discussions, Anura uncovered an unsettling truth: the phone-tracking system was compromised. “Your problem,” Anura told the TRC officer, “is sending people here and there without telling them the truth. If criminals know the system is down, they might exploit it—but hiding it isn’t the solution.” Frustrated but undeterred, Anura vowed to bring the issue to light. He criticised the TRC for its lack of accountability, calling for a more proactive approach to public communication. “If I were the minister or the PM, I would prioritise making citizens’ lives easier and saving public resources,” he said. On his way out, Anura ensured he had proof of his visit by photographing the TRC’s logbook, documenting yet another step in his relentless pursuit of accountability. Anura’s experience serves as a cautionary tale about the consequences of poor communication and systemic inefficiencies. It underscores the urgent need for: Transparent Communication: Regulatory bodies like the TRC must ensure critical updates reach all stakeholders, including the public, in a clear and accessible manner. Streamlined Processes: Citizens should not have to endure unnecessary delays and expenses to resolve simple issues. Accountability: Authorities must take responsibility for addressing systemic failures instead of deflecting blame. As citizens, we must demand better. Until then, stories like Anura’s will remain a stark reminder of the work that still needs to be done. The aforesaid incident highlights the need for transparent communication, streamlined processes, and greater accountability from regulatory bodies. Anura’s ordeal is a wake-up call for systemic reform to save citizens from unnecessary inconvenience and wasted resources. Eng. P. N. D. Abeysuriya Colombo

 

fish zoo

2025-01-10
fish vending
fish vending In response to this common concern, game developers have taken a proactive step in enhancing the intelligence and behaviors of NPC companions through the implementation of new technologies and design strategies. The result is a revolutionary shift in the way players interact with these virtual allies, bringing a new level of realism and depth to the gaming experience.LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Lakers have traded guard D’Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets for forward Dorian Finney-Smith and guard Shake Milton. The Lakers also sent forward Maxwell Lewis and three second-round draft picks to Brooklyn on Sunday. Russell averaged a career-low 12.4 points for the Lakers this season in a diminished role under new coach JJ Redick, who had vowed to unlock the point guard’s formidable offensive game. Instead, Russell was removed from the starting lineup early in the season, and he struggled to make a consistent impact as a reserve, with his shooting percentages declining significantly. The 6-foot-7 Finney-Smith isn’t a top scorer, but he is a steady 3-and-D wing who fills an obvious need for the Lakers. Los Angeles has had inconsistent wing play and has lacked an effective defender at the key position during the long-term injury absence of Jarred Vanderbilt , who hasn’t played since Feb. 1. Finney-Smith averaged 10.4 points and 4.6 rebounds this season for the Nets, who acquired him from Dallas in the February 2023 in the trade of Kyrie Irving. Finney-Smith has been limited to five games this month by a sprained ankle and a bruised calf, but the 31-year-old played 27 minutes against San Antonio on Friday. RELATED COVERAGE Quotes on LeBron James, the NBA’s scoring king who turns 40 on Monday With LeBron James turning 40, a look at statistical NBA milestones at that age LeBron James at 40: A milestone birthday arrives Monday for the NBA’s all-time scoring leader Redick and Finney-Smith were teammates with the Mavericks during the 2020-21 season, and Redick has expressed admiration for Finney-Smith’s hard-nosed game. Milton is joining his sixth NBA team in less than two years, including his third trade in 11 months. He is averaging 7.4 points and 2.4 assists per game this season as a Nets reserve. Russell is being traded by the Lakers to the Nets for the second time in his career. He also made the move in 2017 after spending his first two NBA seasons with Los Angeles, which drafted him in 2015. Russell earned the only All-Star selection of his career during his two seasons in Brooklyn. Russell has been traded five times in the past 7 1/2 years. The 10-year pro excelled for the Lakers during their run to the 2023 Western Conference finals after returning to the team in February of that season, although he got benched during that final playoff series against Denver. Russell remained a fairly consistent scorer last year while setting a new franchise record for 3-pointers made in a season, but his career-long problems with offensive inconsistency and defensive ability kept him out of Redick’s plans this year. With Russell’s departure, Gabe Vincent is the only true point guard left in the Lakers’ rotation, although LeBron James often fills the role of initiating their offense. The Lakers (18-13) have won five of six heading into their visit from Cleveland on New Year’s Eve. The trade continues a roster restructuring by the Nets, who traded former Lakers point guard Dennis Schröder to Golden State two weeks ago. Schröder was Brooklyn’s third-leading scorer, while Finney-Smith was its fourth-leading scorer. The Nets have been one of the NBA’s lowest-scoring teams this season, so Russell should have plenty of chances to make an offensive impact. Brooklyn has lost three of four heading into its road game against Orlando on Sunday. Russell’s $18.7 million contract expires this summer, while Finney-Smith has a $15.4 million player option for the 2025-26 season. Lewis was the Lakers’ second-round pick in 2023, but he played in just 41 games over the past two seasons while shuttling to the G League. ___ AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBALiu Yuning, known for her captivating performances and stunning beauty, has been gaining popularity for her work in various films and television dramas. However, her recent hospital visit has raised concerns and curiosity among her followers.

The comedian, known for his witty and irreverent style, began the show by addressing the importance of ensuring the safety and well-being of women in society. He shared personal anecdotes and humorous observations, eliciting laughs and applause from the audience. However, just as the audience settled into the familiar rhythm of comedic banter, the comedian shifted gears and introduced a character that would change the tone of the performance dramatically – Lady Tiana.NEW YORK — There's a Christmas Day basketball game at Walt Disney World, featuring Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Wemby. An animated game, anyway. The real game takes place at Madison Square Garden, where Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs face the New York Knicks in a game televised on ABC and ESPN and streamed on Disney+ and ESPN+. The special alt-cast, the first animated presentation of an NBA game, will be shown on ESPN2 and also stream on Disney+ and ESPN+. Madison Square Garden is a staple of the NBA's Christmas schedule. Now it merges with a bigger home of the holidays, because the "Dunk the Halls" game will be staged at Disney, on a court set up right smack in the middle of where countless families have posed for vacation photos. Why that location? Because it was Mickey Mouse's Christmas wish. "Basketball courts often have the ability to make a normal environment look special, but in Disney it can only turn out incredible," Wembanyama said in an ESPN video promoting his Christmas debut. The story — this is Disney, after all — begins with Mickey penning a letter to Santa Claus, asking if he and his pals can host a basketball game. They'll not only get to watch one with NBA players, but some of them will even get to play. Goofy and Donald Duck will sub in for a couple Knicks players, while Mickey and Minnie Mouse will come on to play for the Spurs. "It looks to me like Goofy and Jalen Brunson have a really good pick-and-roll at the elite level," said Phil Orlins, an ESPN vice president of production. Walt Disney World hosted real NBA games in 2020, when the league set up there to complete its season that had been suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those games were played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. The setting for the Christmas game will be Main Street USA, at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom. Viewers will recognize Cinderella's castle behind one baseline and the train station at the other end, and perhaps some shops they have visited in between. Previous alternate animated broadcasts included an NFL game taking place in Andy's room from "Toy Story;" the "NHL Big City Greens Classic" during a game between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers; and earlier this month, another NFL matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys also taking place at Springfield's Atoms Stadium as part of "The Simpsons Funday Football." Unlike basketball, the players are helmeted in those sports. So, this telecast required an extra level of detail and cooperation with players and teams to create accurate appearances of their faces and hairstyles. "So, this is a level of detail that we've never gone, that we've never done on any other broadcast," said David Sparrgrove, the senior director of creative animation for ESPN. Wembanyama, the 7-foot-3 phenom from France who was last season's NBA Rookie of the Year, looks huge even among most NBA players. The creators of the alternate telecast had to design how he'd look not only among his teammates and rivals, but among mice, ducks and chipmunks. "Like, Victor Wembanyama, seeing him in person is insane. It's like seeing an alien descend on a basketball court, and I think we kind of captured that in his animated character," said Drew Carter, who will again handle play-by-play duties, as he had in the previous animated telecasts, and will get an assist from sideline reporter Daisy Duck. Wembanyama's presence is one reason the Spurs-Knicks matchup, the leadoff to the NBA's five-game Christmas slate, was the obvious choice to do the animated telecast. The noon EST start means it will begin in the early evening in France and should draw well there. Also, it comes after ABC televises the "Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade" for the previous two hours, providing more time to hype the broadcast. Recognizing that some viewers who then switch over to the animated game may be Disney experts but NBA novices, there will be 10 educational explainers to help with basketball lingo and rules. Beyond Sports' visualization technology and Sony's Hawk-Eye tracking allow the animated players to make the same movements and plays made moments earlier by the real ones at MSG. Carter and analyst Monica McNutt will be animated in the style of the telecast, donning VR headsets to experience the game from Main Street, USA. Other animated faces recognizable to some viewers include NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who will judge a halftime dunk contest among Mickey and his friends, and Santa himself, who will operate ESPN's "SkyCam" during the game. The players are curious how the production — and themselves — will look. "It's going to be so crazy to see the game animated," Spurs veteran Chris Paul said. "I think what's dope about it is it will give kids another opportunity to watch a game and to see us, basically, as characters." Get local news delivered to your inbox!

The United States Department of Justice on Wednesday argued in court that Google must sell Chrome, its flagship browser, to break what officials say amounts to a monopoly on online searches. Experts say the sale of a browser used by millions could have far-reaching impacts on the way people use the internet, and even help reshape what browsers of the future might look like. The measures presented by the Department of Justice are part of a landmark case in Washington which has the potential to reshape how users find information. The proposed measures would be in place for up to a decade, enforced via a court-appointed committee to remedy what the judge overseeing the case deemed an illegal monopoly in search and related advertising in the U.S., where Google processes 90 per cent of searches. Carmi Levy, a technology analyst, said if Google is forced to sell Chrome, the implications could be “seismic” and lead to uncertainty. “This could be the industry’s next Y2K if it comes to pass because so many workflows, so many apps, so many services rely on Chrome as a foundation. And if Google is no longer in position to maintain Chrome as that foundation, the entire industry is going to have to pivot,” he said. Levy said any potential buyers would have to have “deep pockets” to maintain a global resource such as Chrome. “It can’t be a small tech startup. They have to have very deep engineering capabilities and that means it’s a very short list. Frankly, I think Microsoft is at the top of that list.” Levy said it might be some time before users notice a difference. “In the short term, nothing changes,” Levy added. “But longer term, it’s difficult to see where that’s going to go,” he said, adding that the user experience of the browser could change depending who buys the browser and how they treat your private data. The DOJ’s proposals include ending exclusive agreements in which Google pays billions of dollars annually to device vendors to make its search engine the default on their tablets and smartphones. Google called the proposals staggering in a statement on Thursday. “DOJ’s approach would result in unprecedented government overreach that would harm American consumers, developers, and small businesses – and jeopardize America’s global economic and technological leadership at precisely the moment it’s needed most,” said Kent Walker, chief legal officer for Alphabet, which owns Google. Matt Hatfield, executive director of Canadian digital rights group OpenMedia, told Global News that deals around which platform is offered as your default browser aren’t geared towards helping consumers. “They’ve struck deals that are beneficial perhaps to those companies and to them, but not necessarily to the consumer or to innovation in the end,” he said. Hatfield said consumers could start seeing their smartphones offering them more choice. “You would find rather than getting a new Android phone and just finding Chrome by default... your phone might say, here’s three different browsers I can download for you. Which of them do you want me to do that with?” Philip Palmer, vice president of the Canadian Internet Society, said there could commercial implications. “We may be looking at more expensive cell phones. At the moment, Google pays billions of dollars a year in order to be the browser of choice on Android phones. If those subsidies are kept out, then obviously the price for the phone goes up,” he said. He said Google’s hold on the advertising industry could also loosen. “Because Google Chrome is in a largely monopolistic position, can command very high advertising prices. If there is greater competition, if this is divested. The assumption is that the monopoly on those advertising rates will collapse and the advertising rates fall.” Levy said it might be time for some users to start using different browsers for different purposes. “In case the worst does happen, and Chrome is split off from the parent company, at least you’ll be prepared, and you’ll be less disrupted than you would otherwise be if you were starting from scratch,” he said. Hatfield said you can start by splitting browsers for work or personal use. “I think using different browsers for different things is already a good habit. I personally use a different personal browser versus work browser. I think people should consider that and it’s probably a good idea to get a sense of how different browsers work,” Hatfield said. For users wondering where to start, he has suggestions. “Firefox and Opera are two leading ones (browsers) that I would recommend. And then on the search engine side, DuckDuckGo is a privacy-respecting search engine people should try out.” If a tech giant like Google is knocked out of the market, Levy said users can expect a rise in the number of new browsers. “It opens up a lot of room, puts a lot of oxygen into the market. You can expect a lot of competitors and startups will be circling the waters like sharks looking for opportunity,” he said. In tech terms, a “walled garden” is a term used to describe ecosystems that tech giants like Google or Apple use to get you to keep using their products. “If you’re part of the Apple ecosystem or the Google ecosystem, it’s possible, but a lot trickier to get your devices from one side to talk to the other side than to get them working with other Apple or Google products,” Hatfield said. He said the browser is one brick in that walled garden. Removing Chrome from Google’s hands could make it easier for users to jump metaphorical ecosystems in the long term. Levy said this could lead to innovation in the browser space, with more browsers competing for the same pool of users. “Take a look at the browser you use today. It really has not changed all that much in 20 years. Maybe this is the catalyst for actual true change, actual innovation on the devices that we use every day.” Palmer said the forced sale of Google Chrome is likely. Antitrust laws have been used in the past to break up industries in many different sectors. He said there’s no reason why that can’t be applied to big tech. “The last few years have seen a revival of what the Americans call antitrust law. And, in particular, the taking on of these big tech monopolies. And in the view of the Department of Justice in the United States, the correct remedy is divestiture of monopoly assets.” Levy said in the long run, this could hurt Google’s artificial intelligence push. “Google needs its existing businesses to fire on all cylinders so that it can afford to invest in artificial intelligence,” he said. This is why, Levy said, Google will not give up without a fight. And it could be a while before Chrome changes hands. “It’ll probably be years, if not a decade or more, before we see final resolution,” he said. — with files from ReutersThe signals coming from policymakers in recent statements and speeches indicate a willingness to use monetary policy tools to support economic growth. By signaling a possible continuation of interest rate cuts and reserve requirement ratio reductions, the central bank is sending a clear message to market participants and the public that it stands ready to act decisively to address any challenges that may arise.

Speculation on Xiaomi YU7: What Can We Expect?

BEIJING , Dec. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In 1949, pioneering computer scientist Edmund Callis Berkeley envisioned a future filled with thinking machines in his book Giant Brains, or Machines That Think. Decades later, his vision has become a reality with artificial intelligence (AI) reshaping industries, societies and daily lives. Promoting Global Solidarity Through AI Recently, Science and Technology Daily hosted a panel discussion, "Tech with Heart, AI for Good", on how AI empowers life and bridges human limitations but also needs guard rails to ensure it remains under control. Omnipresent AI AI is reshaping the way we live, work and interact with the world. For Zeng Yi , a professor at the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and an expert of the United Nations' high-level advisory body on AI, the motivation to advance AI technology lies in its potential to liberate humans from repetitive and labor-intensive tasks. "Combining AI with robotics allows us to redirect human energy toward more creative and meaningful pursuits," Zeng said. He highlighted how AI-powered robots are stepping into hazardous fields such as firefighting, disaster relief and space exploration. Lunar rovers equipped with advanced AI capabilities are conducting complex analyses on the moon's surface - tasks too risky for human scientists. Besides industrial applications, AI is making a significant impact on environmental conservation such as tracking wildlife. AI's potential extends into our everyday lives as well. Gao Shaolin, an expert at Peking University Law and Artificial Intelligence Research Center, mentioned a recent road trip during which he drove 3,000 kilometers on highways without coming across a single traffic accident. "This is extraordinary," Gao said, attributing the improvement to advancements in AI-driven safety features in modern vehicles. From fatigue-monitoring systems in trucks to self-driving technologies in electric cars, these innovations are drastically reducing the likelihood of accidents. However, both Zeng and Gao agreed that AI should not aim to replace humans but rather enhance human expertise and efficiency. AI can amplify human capacity, leaving room for creativity and innovation. Responsible AI As AI continues to evolve, responsibility becomes a critical issue. Zeng quoted Berkeley, who wrote, "It is often easier for scientists to create a device than to guide it well afterward." Berkeley urged innovators to think beyond breakthroughs and address potential risks. The question of accountability becomes central. Who will be responsible for any problem caused by AI? "AI is not an independent legal entity," Gao emphasized, pointing out that current AI systems are tools rather than autonomous entities. The responsibility for their actions lies squarely with their developers, service providers and users. "AI should be as intelligent as necessary, but it must remain under human control," Gao stressed. As Zeng put it, "The key is ensuring AI coexists harmoniously with humans, not as a competitor but as a collaborator." Wu Baojun, executive deputy secretary-general of the Association for Science and Technology of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the rapid advancement of AI must be accompanied by efforts to ensure its reliability and safety within ethical frameworks. "Our research in AI," Wu said, "aims to explore unknown territories, eliminate human fears and make AI more reliable." Reliable AI China has consistently demonstrated a forward-thinking approach to AI development, balancing technological innovation with social and ethical considerations. As Matt Sheehan from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace wrote in an article, " China is in the midst of rolling out some of the world's earliest and most detailed regulations governing artificial intelligence." In 2017, China released the Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan to encourage diverse AI methodologies, such as deep learning, knowledge-based reasoning and large-scale modeling. The plan also emphasized ethical governance, with over a dozen references to social and legal challenges. In May 2019 , it was followed by the Beijing AI Principles, which set out clear guidelines for AI research and development, advocating respect for privacy, human dignity and human rights. These visions were strengthened in July 2024 when the 78th UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution proposed by China and co-sponsored by over 140 countries. The resolution emphasized the human-centered development of AI, international cooperation, and promotion of AI to benefit humanity as a whole. Zeng said China's AI strategy reflects a responsible and inclusive approach: " China's AI development strategy is not limited to promoting domestic economic growth. They aim to empower humanity and promote sustainable development goals." Shared AI principles AI governance has become a global priority with nations striving to ensure that technology develops responsibly and inclusively. "We analyzed global AI ethics guidelines and found that 95 percent of the topics are consistent across countries. Concepts like human-centered development, transparency, fairness, safety and privacy protection are widely endorsed," Zeng said, adding that nations worldwide largely agree on the foundational principles for AI ethics and governance. In 2023, the Bletchley Declaration on AI safety was signed by 28 countries and the European Union. This marked the first broad agreement on the importance of AI safety as a global issue. In 2024, the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence was adopted unanimously by all member states, which is another example of the global consensus. China is playing an active role in promoting international cooperation on AI governance. "AI must empower all nations, not just the technologically advanced ones. We should guide AI for good with collective efforts and shared responsibilities," Gao said. Executive Producers: Wang Junming, He Yi Producer: Fang Linlin Reporters: Long Yun , Zhong Jianli, Gong Qian Subtitle Proofreaders: Wang Jing , Cen Yingjie Video Editing Instructor: Wang Xiaolong AI Technology Advisor: Liu Yang Cameramen: Liu Xiao, Li Huitao, Li Tianji Video Editor: Zhang Shunping Reviewer: Fang Linlin

"We are deeply thankful for the quick and effective response of the authorities and emergency services in managing the situation at our data center," said a spokesperson for Alibaba Group. "The safety and security of our employees and customers are our top priorities, and we are working diligently to assess the impact of the incident and restore operations as soon as possible."

Furthermore, the CIBTC leverages advanced technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence to enhance security, transparency, and efficiency in barter trade transactions. By harnessing the power of these cutting-edge tools, the platform ensures the integrity of trade agreements, safeguards data privacy, and streamlines the trading process for all parties involved. This commitment to innovation underscores the CIBTC's dedication to providing a modern, reliable, and user-centric trading environment for businesses of all sizes.On the other side of the pitch, Atalanta will be looking to thwart Real Madrid's attacking threats and secure a positive result at home. With their high-energy pressing style and potent attacking duo of Duvan Zapata and Luis Muriel, Atalanta poses a significant threat to Real Madrid's defense.

In addition to the stellar cast, "Moonlight Knock!" boasts an impressive lineup of supporting actors, including veteran performers such as Liu Wei and Zhao Yihan. The film's production team has spared no expense in creating a visually stunning and immersive world for the characters to inhabit, with lavish sets and elaborate costumes that capture the essence of the story.As the situation continues to unfold, Alibaba Group and its stakeholders remain vigilant in their commitment to upholding safety and security standards across all aspects of their operations. The incident serves as a stark reminder of the ever-present need for vigilance and preparedness in the face of unexpected emergencies.

Russian central bank intervenes as ruble tumbles past 110 to the U.S. dollar

Police deny sitting on evidence as Netflix doc brings renewed attention to JonBenet Ramsey's killing