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MACAU, Dec. 02, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Studio City International Holdings Limited (NYSE: MSC) ("Studio City” or the "Company”), a world-class integrated resort located in Cotai, Macau, today announces that the Company's subsidiary, Studio City Company Limited ("Studio City Company”), has entered into a senior credit facilities agreement, dated November 29, 2024, with a syndicate of banks (the "2024 Credit Facilities Agreement”). Under the terms of the 2024 Credit Facilities Agreement, lenders have made available to Studio City Company HK$1.945 billion (equivalent to approximately US$250.0 million) in revolving credit facilities for a term of five years (the "Senior Revolving Facility”). The Credit Facility Agreement also provides an option to increase the commitments under the Senior Revolving Facility in an amount not exceeding US$100 million for Studio City Company to incur further indebtedness under the Senior Revolving Facility, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions. The Senior Revolving Facility is secured and is supported by a guarantee from the Company, Studio City Investments Limited and each subsidiary of Studio City Company. The Company intends to use the proceeds from the Senior Revolving Facility to refinance outstanding indebtedness and for general corporate and working capital purposes. Studio City Company has also entered into an amendment and restatement agreement, dated November 29, 2024, with, among others, Bank of China Limited, Macau Branch, in relation to the senior secured term loan and revolving facilities agreement dated March 15, 2021 (as amended and restated from time to time, and currently representing HK$234.0 million of committed facilities) (the "Existing Credit Facilities”) to, among other things, align certain terms of the Existing Credit Facilities with the terms of the 2024 Credit Facilities Agreement. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Studio City International Holdings Limited (the "Company”) may also make forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC”), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. These factors include, but are not limited to, (i) the pace of recovery from the impact of COVID-19 on our business, our industry and the global economy, (ii) risks associated with the amended Macau gaming law and its implementation by the Macau government, (iii) changes in the gaming market and visitations in Macau, (iv) capital and credit market volatility, (v) local and global economic conditions, (vi) our anticipated growth strategies, (vii) gaming authority and other governmental approvals and regulations, and (viii) our future business development, results of operations and financial condition. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may”, "will”, "expect”, "anticipate”, "target”, "aim”, "estimate”, "intend”, "plan”, "believe”, "potential”, "continue”, "is/are likely to” or other similar expressions. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law. About Studio City International Holdings Limited The Company, with its American depositary shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MSC), is a world-class integrated resort located in Cotai, Macau. For more information about the Company, please visit www.studiocity-macau.com . The Company is majority owned by Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited, a company with its American depositary shares listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (Nasdaq: MLCO). For the investment community, please contact: Jeanny Kim Senior Vice President, Group Treasurer Tel: +852 2598 3698 Email: [email protected] For media enquiries, please contact: Chimmy Leung Executive Director, Corporate Communications Tel: +852 3151 3765 Email: [email protected]
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Maura Higgins and Barry McGuigan voted off ‘I’m A Celebrity’ in double eliminationTHETFORD MINES, QC , Nov. 26, 2024 /CNW/ - Mazarin Inc. (MAZ.H) and subsidiary Asbestos Corporation Limited (AB.H) today announced the appointment of Mr. Louis Brenn as Chief Financial Officer and secretary, in replacement of Mr. Mario Simard who has retired. The appointment was approved during a Board of Directors meeting held on November 26, 2024. Mr. Brenn holds a bachelor's degree in business administration, majoring in accounting, from the Université du Québec, as well as a master's degree in environmental management from the Université de Sherbrooke . In 2018, he joined C2MI as Finance Director, and from 2022 to 2024, he held the position of Vice President Finance and sustainable development. Over the past 20 years, he has provided support to senior managers in finance and administration roles in both the manufacturing and not-for-profit sectors. As a business manager, he has participated in the implementation of various technology solutions both in Canada and the United States . Mr. Simard has been Chief Financial Officer and Secretary since 2004. "On behalf of Mazarin Inc. and Société Asbestos Limitée, I would like to thank him for the exceptional work he has done within our organization. His financial leadership, rigor and vision have been essential to the success of many projects," added Guy Bérard. Mazarin Inc. and Asbestos Corporation Limited are two natural resource companies whose focus in on the development of industrial minerals in order to provide value-added products that meet the criteria of customers worldwide with regard to performance and economic and ecological concerns. Mazarin's shares trade on the NEX Board of TSX Venture Exchange under the stock symbol MAZ.H. Asbestos Corporation Limited's shares trade on the NEX Board of TSX Venture Exchange under the stock symbol AB.H. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This press release contains forward-looking statements that address future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of numerous factors, some of which may be beyond the Corporation's control. These factors include: general market and industry conditions, risks related to commissioning, to continuous operations and to commercialization of new technologies and other risks disclosed in the Corporation's filings with Canadian Securities Administrators. Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Corporation's management as of the date of this press release. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. 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 Mazarin Inc. View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2024/26/c5274.html © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s 2023-24 Legislative Session closed Dec. 1 and the next session, while officially underway, doesn’t fully begin until lawmakers are sworn into office Jan. 7. Looking back, members of the state House and Senate introduced 3,862 bills and 924 resolutions across the two-year session. There were 77 bills adopted into law in 2023 and 162 adopted in 2024. The combined total of 239 was far fewer than the previous six legislative sessions. There hasn’t been a lower total since 2009-10 when 226 bills advanced into law — the last time the Pennsylvania General Assembly had a partisan divide. Democrats controlled the House while Republicans led the Senate. Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, often cites the challenge of advancing legislation with a split government. That dynamic won’t change in 2025-26. Though there are 20 new members joining the legislature — 16 in the House, four in the Senate — the respective parties defended their majorities. Republicans have a 28-22 advantage in the Senate while Democrats maintained a 102-101 margin in the House. What follows is a look back at the outcome of legislation proposed last session by area lawmakers. Aaron Bernstine — 8th Legislative District Rep. Aaron Bernstine will formally begin his fifth term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives when members are sworn into office on Jan. 7, 2025. He ran unopposed in both the primary and general elections. Bernstine, a Republican, represented Pennsylvania’s 8th Legislative District — parts of Lawrence and Butler counties — since redistricting took hold in 2023. Prior to that, he represented what had been the former 10th District. He held three committee assignments along with a subcommittee appointment during the 2023-24 Legislative Session: Commerce, Finance and Gaming Oversight committees and a subcommittee on Housing Finance. Across the two-year session, Bernstine sponsored 154 bills and resolutions. He was the prime sponsor of two bills. One sought to allow state licensure for nurses educated at a school with national accreditation in addition to the current requirement that institutions hold regional accreditation. The other was a reintroduction of a bill from a prior session, “Markie’s Law,” that seeks to delay parole for state inmates convicted of certain offenses while incarcerated — 12 months for escape attempts, smuggling contraband or retaliation or intimidation of a witness; 24 months for a violent offense. Neither bill gained traction at the committee level. Bernstine is among the members of the conservative Pennsylvania Freedom Caucus. One bill that he announced but ultimately didn’t introduce would have sought to reclassify drag performances as “adult-oriented business” — a bill unlikely to advance given the current dynamics of the General Assembly. He voted against both budgets in the 2023-24 session, criticizing Gov. Josh Shapiro for submitting a “liberal wish list.” “His plan is a copy-paste version of the Bidenomics that are destroying our economy. From Philadelphia mass transit bailouts to doubling the minimum wage, Gov. Shapiro wants Pennsylvania to be just like California, which is where his campaign donations originate,” Bernstine said after the governor made his 2024 budget proposal. Bernstine attempted to trim more than 1% from this year’s $47.6 billion budget through a floor amendment, and he tried the same to enact school choice. He attended President-elect Donald Trump’s rally in Butler where an assassination attempt was made, and he stood up for local police and first responders amid criticism of event security and the immediate response after a bullet grazed Trump’s ear. Marla Brown — 9th Legislative District The 2025-26 session will be the second in the Pennsylvania House for Republican Rep. Marla Brown. She was re-elected to represent the 9th Legislative District, which covers a portion of Lawrence County, after running unopposed in both the primary and general elections. Brown’s first session saw appointments to four committees — Aging & Older Adult Services, Commerce, Finance and Health. She also chaired subcommittees on Care & Services and Local Business. She sponsored 83 bills and resolutions. On 14 bills and three resolutions, she was the primary sponsor, however, none made it into law. In fact, as a member of the House’s political minority, just one received committee consideration. Brown introduced one of at least three proposals to open primary elections to all voters, allowing those not registered with a recognized party, namely Democrat or Republican, to choose which ticket they’d vote on. Pennsylvania is one of nine states with closed primaries and is home to more than 1.46 million independent voters, nearly 16% of its entire electorate. Brown believed the change would help elevate moderate candidates across the political spectrum and improve governance in an era of hyper-partisanship. Open primary proposals aren’t novel but in a rarity, they actually garnered enough support to advance out of the House State Government Committee but were ignored before receiving consideration on the chamber floor. “This is a bipartisan issue, in my opinion, on which we should easily meet in the middle of the road. We’ve got to find common ground in the House if we’re going to be able to represent this state in the best way,” Brown said after introducing her bill. Brown’s other bill proposals ranged from mandating that social media companies report suspected drug sales to the creation of a targeted grant program for nurses to repay student loans amid workforce struggles. Brown sought to require felony charges for threats made against schools and mandate a prison sentence for the conviction of delivering fentanyl. She also pursued operator-friendly reforms within Pennsylvania’s cosmetology law. Brown voted against both budgets enacted during her tenure, so far, and she opposed cost of living adjustments for former state employees who retired before 2001. She hosted policy hearings in her district on drug addiction and transportation issues, supported a package of bills to provide tax relief to working families, and joined other legislators in calling on the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association to revise its maligned broadcast policy. She did not, however, vote in favor of a study authorized by the House to look into PIAA’s finances, broadcast agreements and more. Michele Brooks — 50th Senatorial District The start of the 2025-26 Legislative Session marks the midway point of Republican Sen. Michele Brooks’ third term in office. Her district, the 50th, includes Crawford, Mercer and most of Lawrence counties. Her current four-year term expires in 2026. In 2023-24, Brooks served as majority chair of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee and vice chair of the Finance Committee. Her other committee assignments were Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Communications & Technology, Education, Rules & Executive Nominations and Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness. She sponsored 248 bills and resolutions last session including 60 bills and eight resolutions as a prime sponsor. The focus of the bills she introduced included eliminating inheritance taxes on siblings and other relatives, enacting consumer protections, the creation of a lost dog registry, extending the statute of limitations for the crime of drug delivery resulting in death, including sales taxes in advertised retail prices, addressing Lyme disease and expansive efforts to serve firefighters and EMS providers. Among the bevy of bills of which she was a prime sponsor, six became law and four others advanced to the House. The rest remained in the Senate. Motorcycles will be included in Pennsylvania’s Automobile Lemon Law after a Brooks bill became Act No. 151 of 2024, extending protections for manufacturer defects to a new class of vehicle. Senate Bill 500 , a bipartisan bill known as Owen’s Law, became Act 32 of 2023. It allows for medical prescriptions through Medicaid of donor milk for children younger than 12 months. Brooks was successful in expanding Pennsylvania’s Safe Haven Law. Act 134 of 2024 adds urgent care centers to designated locations where parents may safely surrender newborns if they feel unfit to care for the child. She also secured an amendment to Pennsylvania’s Public School Code through Act 55 of 2024 which will allow professionals in skilled occupations to more easily receive state certification to teach at career and technical schools. Her bill was amended as part of budget negotiations to include numerous negotiated updates to the code beyond her original intent. Act 66 of 2023, born out of Brooks’ Senate Bill 941, eases eligibility and qualifications to become a drug treatment counselor and increases counselors’ patient caseload capacity during an opioid epidemic, defined as 1,000-plus opioid overdose deaths in three consecutive years. Pennsylvania schools must notify parents and guardians in writing whenever ticks are removed from students under Act 120 of 2024. Schools must provide information on the symptoms of Lyme disease, and must preserve the tick for parents or guardians to either send into a state lab for analysis or allow the school to do so. Results are confidential. Elder Vogel — 47th Senatorial District Republican Sen. Elder Vogel returns to the Pennsylvania Senate for the 2025-26 Legislative Session after being re-elected to represent the 47th Senatorial District. Vogel defeated Democrat Kate Lennen in the general election, garnering nearly 64% of the vote and earning a fifth four-year term. He ran unopposed in the primary. The 47th Senatorial District consists of most of Beaver County and parts of Lawrence and Butler counties. In the 2023-24 session, Vogel served as majority chair of the Senate Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee and vice chair of the Appropriations Committee. He also was appointed to the Banking & Insurance, Environmental Resources & Energy and Transportation committees. He sponsored 286 bills and resolutions last session, including nine bills as a prime sponsor. Three of the bills became law while the other six didn’t pass out of the Senate. Vogel worked for eight years to advance a bill guaranteeing insurance coverage for telemedicine services. After watching his proposals defeated through the years — be it through inaction, lack of House support, a veto by former Gov. Tom Wolf — Vogel’s Telemedicine Act was adopted in 2024 and signed into law by Gov. Josh Shapiro. Act 42 of 2024 assures patients that any medically necessary service they’d receive in person that’s covered by their insurance plan would also be covered if administered remotely through telemedicine. That coverage includes Medicaid and CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program. His proposal to establish the Sexual Assault Emergency Services Act became Act 59 of 2023. It expands Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner programs at hospitals, using telehealth through the existing Penn State University SAFE-T Program to connect victims with specialized nurses to ensure through and timely care in cases of sexual assault. Another bill from Vogel became Act 18 of 2023, authorizing the first increases in dog license fees in nearly 30 years and for kennel fees, 60 years. The modest increases are intended to help improve dog law enforcement in the commonwealth. Vogel was a prime co-sponsor of two bipartisan proposals with Sen. Judith Schwank, D-Berks, that were developed to aid dairy farmers. One bill sought to help Pennsylvania dairy farmers enroll in the federal dairy margin coverage program while the other would allow the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board to collect and distribute over-order premiums collected on Class I fluid milk in Pennsylvania. Each bill was voted out of committee but gained no further momentum. He co-sponsored another bill with Sen. Wayne Langerholc, R-Cambria/Clearfield/Centre, that would mandate a prison term of 20 to 40 years for anyone convicted of providing fentanyl or related synthetic opioids to minors. The measure received no consideration in the Senate. Vogel’s other proposals last session sought to create a statewide stroke registry, boost funding for the Pennsylvania Housing and Rehabilitation Enhancement Fund that aids senior citizens, low- and moderate-income families and persons with disabilities, and create licensing for professional music therapists. He also was active in promoting on-farm conservation efforts, raising awareness of food insecurity and promoting food drives as well as advocating for legislation to mitigate crop damage by deer, enhance trespass penalties related to hunting and add a seat to the Pennsylvania Game Commission Board.By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer INDIANAPOLIS — Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel came to Indianapolis in July with a purpose. He wanted a sense of what Lucas Oil Stadium was like before making what he hoped would be a return trip in December. On Saturday night, he’ll be back on the same turf. Plenty has changed for Gabriel and the Ducks since they came to town all those months ago for their inaugural Big Ten media day appearance. No. 1 Oregon sits atop the playoff seedings, remains the last unbeaten team in major college football and Gabriel has a new title – Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. It’s been a dream season in every way for the soon-to-be 24-year-old Gabriel, right down to leading the Ducks into the conference championship game he’s been expecting. “If we didn’t think we’d be there, I wouldn’t have attended,” Gabriel said. “But I just felt really good about it. I was glad we were able to go see it (Lucas Oil), feel it, smell it. It was a good experience. Now that we’re going back with the whole squad, everyone’s excited.” Winning a conference title in his final season – and Oregon’s first season in its new league – would be the cherry on top for Gabriel now that both teams are virtual locks to make the first 12-team College Football Playoff. The winner likely earns a first-round bye, while the loser probably hosts a first-round game. There is big money at stake: The Big Ten stands to get $4 million for each school that makes the CFP and the payouts escalate beginning with the semifinals to $6 million per school; a conference whose school makes a run from the first round to the title game gets $20 million. The CFP also provides millions to cover expenses. While Oregon (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten, No. 1 CFP) was a preseason favorite to be back in town this weekend, No. 3 Penn State wasn’t supposed to make it after losing to then-No. 4 Ohio State. But the Nittany Lions (11-1, 8-1, No. 3 CFP) rebounded by winning their last four and got help last weekend when Michigan upset the Buckeyes. It’s the first time Penn State has reached a Big Ten championship title game since beating Wisconsin in 2016 – and they don’t intend to go home empty-handed this time, either. “Being from Pennsylvania, seeing that game from 2016, like I always imagined being in these shoes, being in that moment, trying to win a Big Ten championship,” running back Nick Singleton said. “Being in that moment right now feels good, but we’ve got to go out there and win it.” Gabirel concurred. “When you walk in that building everyone is excited to do stuff and ready to go,” he said. “So it’s about execution, playing clean and being who we are.” Under pressure? Though Penn State quarterback Drew Allar and Gabriel are ranked seventh and eighth in FBS passing efficiency this season, both could be under serious pressure Saturday. Defensive ends Matayo Uiagalelei of Oregon and Abdul Carter of Penn State are two of the nation’s premier pass rushers. Uiagalelei is tied for ninth nationally with 101⁄2 sacks while Carter is tied for 12th with 10. The Ducks also have another fearsome pass rusher in defensive end Jordan Burch (81⁄2). It will be a major challenge for both offensive lines, especially if Oregon right guard Marcus Harper II is out (knee). Penn State certainly isn’t complaining about playing for a trophy, but it scrambled the schedule. It began with Coach James Franklin calling an audible during last Saturday’s postgame speech, announcing that Sunday’s scheduled off-day had been scrapped so they could start cramming for Oregon. That was just the start. “It was going to be a week for rest and recovery, some strategic practices,” he said Sunday. “But we always have to be prepared for these different scenarios. So right after the game I told them, ‘We’re going to practice Sunday.’ Now it’s back to a normal week.” Franklin will be chasing his 100th win in his 11 seasons with the program. And he could be doing it with some familiar faces around him. Oregon special teams coordinator and nickel back coach Joe Lorig first worked with Franklin at Idaho State and then Franklin hired Lorig in 2019. After three seasons, though, Lorig headed to the West Coast where he opted to work for another old friend, Oregon coach Dan Lanning. Franklin doesn’t believe Lorig’s inside information will make much difference in this game. “The coordinators have all changed,” Franklin said. “So I think we both probably have a similar amount of information on each other.” The game also will be a homecoming of sorts for Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen and injured Oregon offensive lineman Matthew Bedford. Allen is an Indiana native who spent the previous seven seasons as the Indiana head coach. Bedford also was a five-year starter for Allen’s Hoosiers. And the Duzansky family is doubling up Saturday: Penn State long snapper Tyler Duzansky and Oregon long snapper Nick Duzansky are brothers. What: Big Ten championship game When: Saturday, 5 p.m. Where: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis TV/radio: CBS (Ch. 2), 570 AMFrederick M. Brown/Getty; Melina Alves/instagram is weighing in. In an exclusive statement shared with PEOPLE, the star addressed 's with his estranged wife, . "While these situations are always multifaceted, I’d like to keep the details of it and my friendship with Joey private," she wrote of her relationship with Lawrence, 48. "As far as Joey and Sam reuniting and reconciling, it came as a surprise to me as everyone else, and if it’s true, I wish them all the love." Melina Alves/Instagram;Joey Lawrence/Instagram Related: Alves continued, "I wish them restoration with the relationship with his two older daughters and his wife as that relationship is ever so important. And now their sweet girl, Dylan, gets to be raised in a home with both of her parents, surrounded by her sisters, her wonderful and loving grandmother Donna, and the rest of her family and that’s truly beautiful." On Wednesday, Dec. 4, the alum, 48, appeared to hard-launch his reunion with Cope in an post that featured photos from the premiere of their new romantic comedy, , which was filmed two years ago. The first photo showed Lawrence with his hand around Cope's waist as her hand rested on his chest. The second snap featured a photo of the two sharing a kiss with the words, "My forever after," written underneath. Joey Lawrence/Instagram Related: Their PDA-filled post comes four months after PEOPLE confirmed that Lawrence and Cope filed for divorce in August. The two and share daughter Dylan, who turns 2 next month. Lawrence is also father to Charleston, 18, and Liberty, 14, whom he shares with his ex-wife . At the time, a source told PEOPLE that Lawrence and Cope went their separate ways after he had an allegedly affair with Alves while filming , which Alves has previously denied. Shorty after, Alves issued a statement to her Instagram to clarify the nature of her relationship with Lawrence and how they became friends while filming the holiday movie. Melina Alves/ Instagram Related: "First and foremost, I want to clarify that there was no sexual relationship between Joey and myself while we were on set filming s," she said. "Our relationship was a meaningful friendship that developed naturally due to the many similarities in our personal situations." Alves said the two found a "common ground in our shared experiences" which became the foundation for their "strong, supportive friendship that has been a source of strength for both of us" amid their failing marriages. For his part, Lawrence also addressed the allegations and life after Cope's divorce filing on an episode of his podcast . “This has been a multifaceted journey these four [or] five years. Actually, there was a lot of pain in that journey despite public perception and what it looks like [on social]," he said at the time. "Life will move on and we will move through this. And my children will be at the forefront." Read the original article onRepublican Jefferson Griffin narrowly lost his race for a seat on the state Supreme Court. Now he’s asking that 60,000 ballots be thrown out based on a theory that an election denier said amounted to “voter suppression.” By Doug Bock Clark for ProPublica Months before voters went to the polls in November, a group of election skeptics based in North Carolina gathered on a call and discussed what actions to take if they doubted any of the results. One of the ideas they floated: try to get the courts or state election board to throw out hundreds of thousands of ballots cast by voters whose registrations are missing a driver’s license number and the last four digits of a Social Security number. But that idea was resisted by two activists on the call, including the leader of the North Carolina chapter of the Election Integrity Network. The data was missing not because voters had done something wrong but largely as a result of an administrative error by the state. The leader said the idea was “voter suppression” and “100%” certain to fail in the courts, according to a recording of the July call obtained by ProPublica. This novel theory is now at the center of a legal challenge by North Carolina appeals court Judge Jefferson Griffin, a Republican who lost a race for a state Supreme Court seat to the Democratic incumbent , Allison Riggs, by just 734 votes and is seeking to have the result overturned. The state election board dismissed a previous version of the challenge , which is now being considered in federal court . Before the election, a Trump-appointed judge denied an attempt by the Republican National Committee to remove 225,000 voters from the rolls based on the same theory. The latest case is getting attention statewide and across the country. But it has not yet been reported that members of the group that had helped publicize the idea had cast doubt on its legality. “I don’t comment on pending litigation,” Griffin wrote to ProPublica in response to a detailed list of questions. “It would be a violation of our code of judicial conduct.” Embry Owen, Riggs’ campaign manager, disputed the challenge and called on Griffin to concede. “It’s not appropriate for this election to be decided in court, period. NC voters have already made the decision to send Justice Riggs back to the Supreme Court,” she said. The theory Griffin is citing originated with a right-wing activist, Carol Snow, who described herself to ProPublica in an email as “a Bona Fide Grade-A Election Denier.” Snow promoted it with the help of the state chapter of the Election Integrity Network, a national group whose leader worked with President Donald Trump in his failed effort to overturn the 2020 election. The network also was behind extensive efforts to prepare to contest a Trump loss this year in other states, as ProPublica has reported , as well as in North Carolina, according to previously unreported recordings and transcripts of meetings of the state chapter. State election officials have found that missing information on a voter’s registration is not disqualifying because there are numerous valid reasons for the state’s database to lack that those details. Those reasons include voters registering before state paperwork was updated about a year ago to require that information or using alternate approved documents, such as a utility bill, to verify their identities. What’s more, voters must still prove their identity when casting a ballot — most often with a driver’s license. “There is virtually no chance of voter fraud resulting from a voter not providing her driver’s license or social security number on her voter registration,” attorneys for the state election board wrote in response to the RNC lawsuit. Bob Orr, a former GOP state Supreme Court justice who left the Republican Party in 2021 , said he too doubts the theory. “I appreciate fighting for every vote: If you honestly think illegal votes have been cast, it’s legitimate to try to prove that,” he said. “But the bottom line is: Did anyone vote illegally? Have you been able to prove one person voted illegally? At this point, no. And we’re weeks past the election and multiple recounts, and there’s no evidence of that.” In modern history, the state board’s decision on who wins elections has been final, said Chris Cooper, a professor specializing in North Carolina politics at Western Carolina University. That includes an even tighter race in 2020, when a Democratic justice conceded to a Republican after protesting her 401-vote loss to the board. “We’re used to close elections, we’re used to protests, we’re used to candidates pushing every legal action up to the point the state election board rules,” Cooper said. But, he added, there is an important difference with Griffin’s petition, which goes beyond the state election board to the courts. “This is basically saying the state elections system is wrong, and we’re going to court to try to change the rules of the game after the game has been played — which is unprecedented.” In July 2024, the North Carolina chapter of the Election Integrity Network convened online to plan its efforts ahead of the presidential election. Worried about a surge of voter registrations from nonwhite voters who they believed would back Democrats, the activists discussed how to assemble a “suspicious voters list” of people whose ballots they could challenge. Then, one of the group’s board members, Jay DeLancy, said he had another idea “that’s a lot slicker.” DeLancy said that if a candidate lost a close election, the loss could be overturned by questioning the validity of voters whose registrations are missing their driver’s license and Social Security information. “Those are illegal votes,” he claimed. “I would file a protest.” Jim Womack, the leader of the chapter, immediately pushed back: “That’s a records keeping problem on the part of the state board. That’s not illegal.” Later in the call Womack said, “I’m 100% sure you’re not going to get a successful prosecution.” And he told the group, “That’s considered to be voter suppression, and there’s no way a court is going to find that way.” But DeLancy asked for backup from the originator of that theory: Carol Snow. She argued that her theory could in fact overturn the outcome of an election. “I guess we’re gonna find that out,” Snow said. Snow is a leader of the conservative activist group North Carolina Audit Force and lives in the state’s rural mountains. After Trump’s loss in 2020, she threw herself into questioning the election’s results. In 2022, she accompanied a pair of far-right activists to a North Carolina election office where the two men unsuccessfully tried to forcefully access voting machines, and she participated in a failed pressure campaign to oust the election director who resisted them, ProPublica previously reported . She also began filing overwhelming numbers of records requests and complaints to state election officials, an effort that Womack praised on the July call: “I think Carol has shown a way of really harassing — not that we want to do it for harassment purposes — but really needling the Board of Elections to do their jobs by just constantly deluging them.” Since late 2021, the state elections board had spent far more time on her requests and complaints than those of any other individual, spokesperson Patrick Gannon said in a statement. “Ms. Snow’s constant barrage of requests and complaints causes other priorities and responsibilities to suffer,” Gannon said. Snow described her work to ProPublica as “simply taking the time to learn about my state’s electoral process” and acting for the public good. “The records I’ve requested are owned by the public. In other words, I’m asking for what belongs to me,” Snow wrote to ProPublica . “If government agencies are understaffed and unable to comply with this state’s Public Records law, they should address the issue with the entities that fund them.” In the fall of 2023, Snow filed a complaint alleging that North Carolina’s voter registration form did not clearly require voters to provide their driver’s license number and the last four digits of their Social Security number, as required by federal law — instead that information was coded as optional. Snow later described the missing information as a “ line of attack ” through which bad actors could cast fraudulent votes using fake identities. (A right-wing conspiracy theory holds that this was how Biden won the 2020 election.) But she was not able to demonstrate that the missing information had led to anyone improperly voting. After obtaining public records for hundreds of thousands of voter registrations, Snow provided the state board with only seven examples of what she called potential double voting. The state board found all seven to be innocuous things like data entry errors . The state board quickly updated the form to require the information. But from late 2023 through the fall of 2024, six complaints , some of which were partly based on Snow’s theory, were filed with the state election board. Aside from the updates to the form, the state board dismissed the complaints. By the time of the July call, some of Snow’s peers seemed dismissive as well. “I’m not suggesting that we can’t arm a candidate that loses a short, a close race with the information they need to file a protest using this,” Womack said on the call. “But I would just suggest to you that that’s not the way to win on this thing.” Yet the information did end up in the Republican National Committee’s lawsuit trying to disqualify 225,000 voters, a challenge DeLancy filed against Riggs’ victory in North Carolina’s most populous county, and, the day after that was dismissed, Griffin’s challenge to over 60,000 voters. DeLancy wrote to ProPublica that he filed the challenge on his own and did not coordinate with Griffin. He also said he disagreed with Womack’s description of such challenges as “voter suppression.” Instead, he said, he saw it as “a proper response” to the state election board’s “violation of federal law.” “Carol Snow deserves an Order of the Long Leaf Pine for exposing this treasonous behavior on the part of the election officials,” he wrote, referring to an award bestowed by North Carolina’s governor . Womack wrote to ProPublica that the group he leads “is a non-partisan, neutral organization” that does “not favor one party over another.” He also said that recordings of the group’s calls are “prohibited and violate our internal policies” and “whatever bootleg recording you may have is unauthorized and may well be altered.” ProPublica has seen a video recording of the call and verified portions of it with some participants. Though Griffin’s challenge of Riggs’ victory is now being considered in federal court, legal experts say it could still end up back where he intended: in front of the state Supreme Court. Griffin’s petition is making what experts describe as extreme asks to the Supreme Court: to allow him to bypass the lower courts, to allow ballots to be thrown out without proving that voters did anything knowingly wrong and to essentially decide whether to change its composition to six Republicans and one Democrat. “Even if they do their best to be open-minded and independent, the facts of the potential conflicts of interest are just too obvious to the public,” said Orr, the former Republican justice. Griffin has described Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby as a “good friend and mentor,” and Newby promoted Griffin’s 2020 run for the court of appeals. What’s more, a ProPublica review of campaign finance reports show that the spouses of three justices, including Newby’s wife, donated over $12,000 to Griffin’s most recent or previous campaigns. (The husband of the Supreme Court’s other Democratic justice donated to Riggs.) Newby and other justices did not respond to a detailed list of questions sent to spokespeople for the Supreme Court. When announcing his candidacy for the Supreme Court , Griffin declared, “We are a team that knows how to win — the same team that helped elect Chief Justice Paul Newby and three other members of the current Republican majority.” A cartoon illustration that hangs in the Supreme Court depicts all the Republican appellate jurists as superheroes from the Justice League, with Newby caricatured as Superman and Griffin as the Flash. Related story: Republicans are trying to steal a seat on swing state's top court
Police release new photos as they search for the gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO NEW YORK (AP) — Two law enforcement officials say a masked gunman who stalked and killed the leader of one of the largest U.S. health insurance companies on a Manhattan sidewalk used ammunition emblazoned with the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose." The official were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke Thursday to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Police also released photos of a person they say is wanted for questioning in the ambush the day before of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The words on the ammunition may have been a reference to tactics insurance companies use to avoid paying claims. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are bringing Trump's DOGE to Capitol Hill WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s DOGE time at the U.S. Capitol. Billionaire Elon Musk and fellow business titan Vivek Ramaswamy arrived on Capitol Hill for meetings with lawmakers. The two are heading up President-elect Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, with its plans to “dismantle” the federal government. Trump tapped the duo to come up with ways for firing federal workers, cutting government programs and slashing federal regulations — all part of Trump's agenda for a second-term at the White House. House Speaker Mike Johnson said there's going to be “a lot of change” in Washington. Hegseth faces senators' concerns not only about his behavior but also his views on women in combat WASHINGTON (AP) — Pete Hegseth has spent the week on Capitol Hill trying to reassure Republican senators that he is fit to lead President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Defense in the wake of high-profile allegations about excessive drinking and sexual assault. But senators in both parties have also expressed concern about another issue — Hegseth’s frequent comments that women should not serve in frontline military combat jobs. As he meets with senators for a fourth day Thursday, his professional views on women troops are coming under deeper scrutiny. Hegseth said this week that “we have amazing women who serve our military.” Pressed if they should serve in combat, Hegseth said they already do. Hamas official says Gaza ceasefire talks have resumed after weekslong hiatus ISTANBUL (AP) — A Hamas official says that after a weekslong hiatus international mediators have resumed negotiating with the militant group and Israel over a ceasefire in Gaza, and that he was hopeful a deal to end the 14-month war was within reach. Ceasefire negotiations were halted last month when Qatar suspended its talks with mediators from Egypt and the United States over frustration with a lack of progress between Israel and Hamas. But Bassem Naim, an official in Hamas’ political wing, said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press that there has been a “reactivation” of efforts to end the fighting, release hostages from Gaza and free Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Why the rebel capture of Syria's Hama, a city with a dark history, matters BEIRUT (AP) — One of the darkest moments in the modern history of the Arab world happened more than four decades ago, when then-Syrian President Hafez Assad launched what came to be known as the Hama Massacre. The slaughter was named for the Syrian city where 10,000 to 40,000 people were killed or disappeared in a government attack that began on Feb. 2, 1982, and lasted for nearly a month. Hama was turned into ruins. The memory of the assault and the monthlong siege on the city remains visceral in Syrian and Arab minds. Now Islamist insurgents have captured the city in a moment many Syrians have awaited for over 40 years. France's Macron vows to stay in office till end of term, says he'll name a new prime minister soon PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to stay in office until the end of his term in 2027 and announced that he will name a new prime minister within days. In his address to the nation on Thursday, Macron came out fighting, laying blame at the door of his opponents on the far right for bringing down the government of Michel Barnier. He said they chose “not to do but to undo” and that they “chose disorder.” The president also said the far right and the far left had united in what he called “an anti-Republican front.” He said he’ll name a new prime minister within days but gave no hints who that might be. 7.0 earthquake off Northern California prompts brief tsunami warning SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The National Weather Service has canceled its tsunami warning for the U.S. West Coast after there was a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. According to the U.S. Geological Survey on Thursday, at least 5.3 million people in California were under a tsunami warning after the earthquake struck. It was felt as far south as San Francisco, where residents felt a rolling motion for several seconds. It was followed by multiple smaller aftershocks. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury. Yoon replaces the defense minister as South Korea's parliament moves to vote on their impeachments SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president has replaced his defense minister as opposition parties moved to impeach both men over the stunning-but-brief imposition of martial law that brought armed troops into Seoul streets. Opposition parties are pushing for a vote on motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday evening. They hold 192 seats but need 200 votes for the motion to pass. Yoon’s office said he decided to replace Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun with Choi Byung Hyuk, a retired general who is South Korea’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Kim earlier apologized and said he ordered troops to carry out duties related to martial law. The Foreign Ministry also worked to mitigate the backlash and concern over South Korea's democracy. The US government is closing a women's prison and other facilities after years of abuse and decay WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press has learned that the federal Bureau of Prisons is permanently closing its “rape club” women’s prison in California and will idle six facilities in a sweeping realignment after years of abuse, decay and mismanagement. The agency informed employees and Congress on Thursday that it plans to shutter the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, and its deactivate minimum-security prison camps in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. Staff and inmates are being moved to other facilities. The closures come amid an AP investigation that has uncovered deep, previously unreported flaws within the Bureau of Prisons. From outsider to the Oval Office, bitcoin surges as a new administration embraces crypto NEW YORK (AP) — Bitcoin burst on the scene after trust had withered in the financial system and Washington’s ability to protect people from it. Now, it’s Washington’s embrace of bitcoin that’s sending it to records. Bitcoin briefly surged above $103,000 after President-elect Donald Trump said he will nominate Paul Atkins, who's seen as friendly to crypto, to be the Securities and Exchange Commission's next chair. The crypto industry, meanwhile, did its part to bring politicians friendly to digital currencies into Washington. It's a twist from bitcoin's early days, when it was lauded as a kind of electronic cash that wouldn’t be beholden to any government or financial institution.
CeeDee Lamb shut down for rest of season with Cowboys already eliminateda moving vehicle," according to Jefferson County Coroner Bill Yates. The incident took place on December 19 at approximately 10:45 p.m. local time, and despite being rushed to the hospital, Meek was pronounced dead two days later on December 21 at 7:59 p.m. The Meek family shared their devastation on social media, posting, "Our hearts are broken to share that Hudson Meek went home to be with Jesus tonight. His 16 years on this earth were far too short, but he accomplished so much and significantly impacted everyone he met." They also revealed that a celebration of life ceremony would be held on December 28, asking for... Gabriella Cox
A top Romanian court on Friday annulled the first round of the country’s presidential election, days after allegations emerged that Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outsider who won the first round. The Constitutional Court’s unprecedented decision — which is final — came after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence on Wednesday that alleged Russia organized thousands of social media accounts to promote Calin Georgescu across platforms such as TikTok and Telegram. The court, without naming Georgescu, said that one of the 13 candidates in the Nov. 24 first round had improperly received “preferential treatment” on social media, distorting the outcome of the vote. Georgescu denounced the verdict as an “officialized coup” and an attack on democracy, as did the second-place finisher, reformist Elena Lasconi of the center-right Save Romania Union party. Despite being an outsider who declared zero campaign spending, Georgescu emerged as the frontrunner who was to face Lasconi in a runoff on Sunday. Some 951 voting stations had already opened abroad on Friday for the runoff for Romania’s large diaspora, but had to be halted. Iohannis said he would remain in office until a new presidential election could be rerun from scratch. On Dec. 1, one week after the first round of the presidential race, Romania also held a parliamentary election, which saw pro-Western parties win the most votes but also gains for far-right nationalists. Iohannis said that once the new government is formed, the date of the new presidential vote would be set. On Wednesday the president had released intelligence files from the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Special Telecommunication Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In a televised statement Friday, Iohannis said he was “deeply concerned” by the contents of the intelligence reports. “Intelligence reports revealed that this candidate’s campaign was supported by a foreign state with interests contrary to Romania’s. These are serious issues,” he said. The Constitutional Court in its published decision cited the illegal use of digital technologies including artificial intelligence, as well as the use of “undeclared sources of funding.” It said one candidate received “preferential treatment on social media platforms, which resulted in the distortion of voters’ expressed will.” Georgescu slammed the verdict as putting “democracy is under attack.” “I have only one pact ... with the Romanian people and God,” he said in a video statement. “We are no longer talking about fairness but rather about a mockery that betrays the principles of democracy ... It is time to show that we are a courageous people who know that the destiny and rights of the Romanian nation are in our hands.” Lasconi also strongly condemned the court’s decision, saying it was “illegal, immoral, and crushes the very essence of democracy” and that the second round should have gone forward. “Whether we like it or not, from a legal and legitimate standpoint, 9 million Romanian citizens, both in the country and the diaspora, expressed their preference for a particular candidate through their votes,” she said. “I know I would have won. And I will win because the Romanian people know I will fight for them, that I will unite them for a better Romania,” she added. Some 9.4 million people — about 52.5% of eligible voters — had cast ballots in the first round in this European Union and NATO member country. The president serves a five-year term and has significant decision-making powers in national security, foreign policy and judicial appointments. Most surveys had predicted the top candidate would be Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the ruling center-left Social Democrats. They indicated that second place would be claimed by either Lasconi or the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, George Simion. As the surprising results came in with Georgescu on top, and Lasconi narrowly beating Ciolacu, it plunged the political establishment into turmoil. The same court last week ordered a recount of the first-round votes, which added to the myriad controversies that have engulfed a chaotic election cycle. Following a recount, the court then validated the first-round results on Monday. Many observers have expressed concerns that annulling the vote could trigger civil unrest. The court said Friday that its decision was meant “to restore citizens’ trust in the democratic legitimacy of public authorities, in the legality and fairness of elections.” Simion, of the far-right party, said the development was a “coup d’état in full swing” but urged people not to take to the streets. “We don’t let ourselves be provoked, this system has to fall democratically,” he said. Cristian Andrei, a political consultant based in Bucharest, said the court’s decision amounts to a “crisis mode situation for Romanian democracy.” “In light of the information about the external interference, the massive interference in elections, I think this was not normal but predictable, because it’s not normal times at all, Romania is an uncharted territory,” he told The Associated Press. “The problem is here, do we have the institutions to manage such an interference in the future?” Georgescu’s surprising success left many political observers wondering how most local surveys were so far off, putting him behind at least five other candidates before the vote. Many observers attributed his success to his TikTok account, which now has 6 million likes and 541,000 followers. But some experts suspected Georgescu’s online following was artificially inflated while Romania’s top security body alleged he was given preferential treatment by TikTok over other candidates. In the intelligence release, the secret services alleged that one TikTok user paid more $381,000 (361,000 euros) to other users to promote Georgescu content. Intelligence authorities said information they obtained “revealed an aggressive promotion campaign” to increase and accelerate his popularity. Georgescu, when asked by the AP in an interview Wednesday whether he believes the Chinese-owned TikTok poses a threat to democracy, defended social media platforms. “The most important existing function for promoting free speech and freedom of expression is social media,” he said.Regions Financial Corp. stock underperforms Tuesday when compared to competitors
NEW YORK (AP) — Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa scored 27 points as Columbia beat Fairfield 85-72 on Saturday night. De La Rosa shot 8 of 15 from the field, including 5 for 11 from 3-point range, and went 6 for 6 from the line for the Lions (11-1). Avery Brown shot 5 of 8 from the field and 5 of 5 from the free-throw line to add 16 points. Kenny Noland went 5 of 12 from the field (3 for 7 from 3-point range) to finish with 15 points. The Stags (5-8, 1-1 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) were led by Louis Bleechmore, who recorded 12 points. Fairfield also got 12 points and seven assists from Jamie Bergens. Deon Perry had 12 points and five assists. Columbia's next game is Monday against Rutgers on the road, and Fairfield visits Merrimack on Friday. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
EUAN MCCOLM: Sarwar wants to be our next First Minister - now might be a good time for him to start telling the voters why Click here to visit the Scotland home page for the latest news and sport By EUAN MCCOLM FOR THE SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL Published: 22:39, 10 December 2024 | Updated: 22:46, 10 December 2024 e-mail 1 View comments For the first time in living memory, the mood has lifted in SNP ranks. After a prolonged period of turmoil, Nationalist MSPs are indulging themselves with mild feelings of optimism. Brows have begun to unfurrow. Some SNP members have even been seen smiling in public. The game, they think, might not be over yet. Their spirits have been lifted by the contents of the draft Budget announced by Finance Secretary Shona Robison last week. So far as Nationalists at Holyrood are concerned, this document just might be the key, in 2026, to a fourth successive Scottish parliamentary election victory for the SNP. Ms Robison’s colleagues don’t rejoice because her draft Budget is in the best interests of Scotland. It is not. Rather, the Finance Secretary is now the toast of her colleagues because she has managed to make life difficult for the Scottish Labour Party leader Anas Sarwar. Finance Secretary Shona Robison's Budget earlier this month has made make life difficult for Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar After receiving a £3.4billion funding increase in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s first Budget, last month, the Scottish Government’s already tired attack line about ‘Westminster austerity’ finally ran out of steam. The challenge for Ms Robison was to show what she could do with a substantial sum of extra money, rather than simply to describe what she might do if only the cash was available. Inaction In the end, the Finance Secretary’s draft Budget was low on innovation. Much of the extra funding is earmarked for new pay agreements, while there is no significant planned spending on long overdue reform in the NHS or the education system. But Nationalist MSPs haven’t cared about the inaction of their government in those key areas for the past 17 and a half years, so we should not be surprised that this ongoing neglect is of no concern to them now. What matters to Nationalists at Holyrood is that two headline-grabbing announcements in Ms Robison’s draft Budget present political difficulties for Mr Sarwar. The Labour leader may wish to vote against the SNP’s Budget – and he would have many good reasons to withhold his support – but the political cost of refusing to back a plan which includes the maintenance of the winter fuel payment for pensioners and the removal of the two-child benefit cap would, I think, be too high for him to pay. Values The SNP became the dominant party of the left in Scotland by persuading former supporters of Labour that it maintained the values their party had abandoned . That accusation landed, hard. The refrain ‘I didn’t leave Labour, Labour left me’ could be heard across constituencies which had once seemed stained indelibly red. Ms Robison and First Minister John Swinney, whose fingerprints I detect on the draft Budget, have used money supplied by Labour at Westminster to make life difficult for Labour at Holyrood. This is smart, if unattractive, politics. If the SNP is to see off Labour in 2026, it will have to win back Scottish voters who got behind Sir Keir Starmer in July’s general election. The draft Budget is an attempt to do that. Over recent years, it has suited Mr Sarwar perfectly well to be seen to be close to Sir Keir. Scottish Labour leaders of the recent past may have suffered from the accusation made by SNP opponents that they were nothing more than ‘branch managers’, but the inevitability of Labour’s general election victory made a virtue of Mr Sarwar’s closeness to his boss. Now, however, while I don’t for a moment think Mr Sarwar should do anything to distance himself from the PM – unless it is politically necessary for him to do so – it is time for the Scottish Labour leader to tell us more about himself and – if he has one – his vision for Scotland. Mr Sarwar is clever and affable and, although the SNP may be back in the fight, there is a reasonable chance that he will become the next First Minister of Scotland. Scottish Labour leader Anar Sarwar must convince voters to give him a chance Click here to visit the Scotland home page for the latest news and sport Advertisement However, if the Scottish Labour leader is to achieve this ambition and break the nationalists’ political gridlock, he will have to do more than be clever and affable. For reasons of cynical political expediency, Mr Sarwar should support the SNP’s Budget. He cannot win an argument against the measures outlined by Ms Robison with the voters he will need if he is to replace John Swinney as First Minister (even if those measures are poorly thought through and largely uncosted). The Scottish Labour leader has no choice but to be reactive when it comes to the draft Budget. If he is to lead his party to victory in 2026, it’s time for him to get proactive on matters of policy. Bogged down in a police investigation and split over independence strategy, the SNP has not looked more vulnerable in two decades, yet it would be wrong to assume that the Nationalists are a spent force. Recent polling may have given Mr Swinney a net approval rating of -11 but Mr Sarwar fared worse, with -16. The Scottish Labour leader doesn’t have time to spare if he is to persuade voters to give him the chance to lead the country, yet even those closest to him struggle to describe his political vision. One ally said: ‘He’s been incredibly careful not to put a foot wrong. The party’s been disciplined and he’s been a great communicator. 'But all that said, you could also accuse us of lacking a real identity. ‘If we weren’t a viable alternative government, then it would be fine for us to just attack, attack, attack, but we need to start showing people at least the shape of a plan.’ His fear of provoking any kind of backlash left Mr Sarwar at odds with voters on the controversial issue of gender self-ID. While the majority of Scots are opposed to allowing male-bodied people access to female single-sex spaces , Mr Sarwar supported the SNP’s plan to allow just that. Since plans to allow self-ID were blocked last year by then Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, Mr Sarwar has remained conspicuously silent on the matter. Failure The Labour leader is naive if he thinks the matter of gender ideology and its impact on women’s rights won’t play a substantial part in the next Holyrood election campaign. On this – and, indeed, on a wide range of subjects – Mr Sarwar needs clear messages. The SNP’s government of Scotland since 2007 has been marked by failure after failure. All things considered, Scottish Labour should now be runaway favourites to head the next government at Holyrood. As things stand – thanks, in part, to Shona Robison’s tricksy draft Budget – Labour and the Nationalists are neck and neck in the polls. If Mr Sarwar is to change this state of affairs and take those smiles off Nationalist faces, I suggest he gets on with persuading us he’s more than merely Sir Keir’s man in the north. Anas Sarwar wishes to be Scotland’s next First Minister. This being so, it might be a good idea for him to start telling us why. SNP Share or comment on this article: EUAN MCCOLM: Sarwar wants to be our next First Minister - now might be a good time for him to start telling the voters why e-mail Add comment
Cai Guoqiang, known for his innovative and groundbreaking art installations, has not commented on the incident as of yet. However, he has been known to push the boundaries of traditional art forms and technology in his work, leading to both praise and controversy throughout his career.None
One of the quintessential signs that winter is approaching is the need to prepare for extended periods of low temperatures. As the days become shorter and nights grow longer, it's essential to ensure that our homes are ready to provide us with a warm and comfortable refuge from the cold. This means checking our heating systems, sealing any drafts, and perhaps investing in additional insulation to keep the warmth in and the chilly air out.The announcement of the annual Best XI serves as a reminder of the talent and passion that drives the beautiful game of football. While controversies and clashes may arise, it is ultimately the players' skill and dedication that shine through. As fans eagerly await the next season and the new challenges it will bring, the excitement and drama of the football world continue to captivate audiences around the globe.
In conclusion, the incident of the woman who spent $18,000 on a failed leg surgery serves as a sobering reminder of the risks associated with unaccredited medical facilities. It underscores the urgent need for regulatory reforms and heightened awareness to protect patients from falling prey to incompetent and unscrupulous practitioners. Let this story be a clarion call for greater diligence and scrutiny in the pursuit of medical treatments, safeguarding the health and well-being of all who seek care.As we delve deeper into the process of self-reparation, we may find ourselves faced with the challenge of forgiveness – both towards others and towards ourselves. It is not easy to let go of past hurts and grudges, but holding onto them only serves to perpetuate our suffering. By extending compassion and understanding to our younger selves, we create space for growth and transformation. Through acts of kindness, self-care, and self-compassion, we pave the way for healing and wholeness.
Want to make your far-away friends jealous? Snap a selfie wearing shorts and flip flops with Santa at the beach.
Alabama left out of playoff as committee rewards SMU's wins over Crimson Tide's strong schedule
In conclusion, the arrival of cold air and the forecast of heavy snowfall in multiple regions of China warrant vigilance and preparedness from residents and authorities alike. By staying informed, taking necessary precautions, and planning ahead, we can mitigate the potential risks posed by the extreme weather conditions and ensure the safety and well-being of all individuals in the affected areas. Let us brace ourselves for the bitter cold and stay resilient in the face of nature's challenges.'Stop the madness': Trump calls for Russia to reach 'immediate' settlement with Ukraine
Stock market today: Wall Street gains ground as it notches a winning week and another Dow recordAlbany scores 24 4th-quarter points to overtake Hampton 41-34In conclusion, the recent developments in the Chinese streaming industry, particularly the restrictions on account sharing and simultaneous device access, have generated mixed reactions among consumers. While the platforms aim to safeguard their revenues and combat piracy, they must also consider the impact of such policies on user experience and satisfaction. Moving forward, it will be crucial for streaming services to find a middle ground that meets the needs of both the platforms and the subscribers, ensuring a fair and engaging viewing experience for all parties involved.
Dodgers agree to sign two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell
Liverpool vs Man City live stream: How to watch Premier League game online – date, time and channelsWall Street inches higher to set more recordsGeir Otto Pedersen issued the warning while briefing the UN Security Council during an emergency meeting on recent developments in Syria on Tuesday local time. If we do not see de-escalation and a rapid move towards a serious political process that includes the Syrian parties and key international players, it is feared that we will witness a deepening of the crisis, he said. At the beginning of his speech, the UN official called on all parties to protect the lives of civilians, stating that the recent developments in northern Syria pose severe risks to civilians and have dangerous effects on regional and global peace and security. While referring the Tahrir al-Sham (previously Nusra Front) to a designated terrorist group by the UN, Pedersen also warned that the resurgence of terrorism puts Syria at grave risk of further division, deterioration and destruction, and endangers the Arab country’s sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity. Fourteen years of conflict have conclusively shown that none of the Syrian parties or existing actors and groups can resolve the Syrian conflict militarily, Pedersen told the Security Council and stressed: "We must de-escalate and ensure a cooperative approach to confronting terrorist groups." While calling for serious international efforts and negotiations in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2254 to find a way to end the conflict, and prevent bloodshed, the UN envoy clarified that he is in contact with the Syrian parties and international actors to this end, including the Syrian government, the Syrian opposition, Turkey, Russia, Iran, the United States, and Arab and European countries. The emergency meeting of the UN Security Council convened at the request of Damascus and with the support of Russia, China and Algeria, following attacks by foreign-backed terrorist on parts of several provinces including Aleppo, Idlib and Hama. The permanent and non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, and the ambassador and permanent representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN are scheduled to speak at the meeting. 4399Stock market today: Wall Street inches higher to set more records
Nick Malone’s journey through West Virginia University football began well before he ever played a down for the Mountaineers. He has worn old gold and blue for a long time, but that wardrobe choice didn’t start walking into the WVU locker room. It started walking into Milan Puskar Stadium and taking a seat in the stands as a young Morgantown kid. He remembers right before he graduated from Morgantown High School, watching a snowy game and coming to the realization he would be one of those players on the field. “I remember I was like, ‘I’m going to be there next year. I’m going to be running out with the team. I’m going to be doing this,’” he said. “It’s a surreal moment going from in the stands to playing.” And Malone is playing as well as anyone on WVU’s offensive line these days. He has grown from a walk-on redshirt to a special teams player to a cog in the OL rotation to, this year, a starter on an offensive line considered one of the nation’s better groups. It has been a long, but fun ride for Malone, who understands more than anyone on the team how much the Mountaineers mean to West Virginia. Malone joined WVU in 2019 and took a redshirt, beginning his journey as a scout team player helping the rest of the roster prepare for each game. Yet he began earning the coaching staff’s trust as his career progressed. He has played in every WVU game since 2021, starting one in 2021, four in 2023 and all 10 this year at right tackle. In 2024, he has allowed just one sack in 709 offensive snaps, leads the team with 45 knockdown blocks, has recorded 29 great blocks and an offensive-line best seven effort plays. And after the WVU offense finished fourth in the Football Bowl Subdivision in rushing yards per game, it is 27th in the country this year. He has done all this acknowledging he likely feels more pressure to perform than most of his teammates. West Virginians who play for WVU often feel that way, wanting to put their best foot forward for their home state. Malone isn’t just a home-state kid. He’s a hometown kid. WVU football is ingrained even deeper into his spirit. There might be some corners of West Virginia that a home-state kid could get away from the spotlight of being a Mountaineer football player. That’s never the case in Morgantown. “I feel there’s a lot of pressure, especially being from Morgantown and being from the state,” he said. “Being from West Virginia, you want to be able to represent your state in a way that we win and we do well. You don’t want to have a bad day where they say, ‘Oh, West Virginia can’t produce.’ “I feel there’s heightened pressure, but I think we’ve done pretty well in that area,” he added. Malone isn’t one to shy away from that responsibility on or off the field. He has been part of some good wins in his time, including some bowl victories. He was the 2022 winner of the Tommy Nickolich Award, given annually to WVU’s top walk-on. But when asked about his favorite memory in WVU football, he mentioned visiting WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital on Fridays. “There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world,” Malone said. “And we’re just playing football and people over (at the hospital) have real struggles and things going on. Bringing a light to them and being some sunshine in their day, that’s one of the highlights.” Malone said his last game at Milan Puskar Stadium probably won’t hit him until he goes through Senior Day ceremonies today – when he daps up his coaches and sees his family, including his mother who always made sure he wore a sparkling clean uniform since his days with the Evansdale Tigers. Malone was a Morgantown kid with a dream, and he turned that into a reality. “I think I’ve exceeded my own expectations,” he said. “That’s what I try to do every week, do better than the week before.”Vardy helps Van Nistelrooy to first win with Leicester as Guehi defies the FA with religious messagePost defeat in Palakkad bypoll, knives out within Kerala BJP
NoneThrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Dell Technologies Inc. ( NYSE:DELL – Free Report ) by 529.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,008 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 11,783 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Dell Technologies were worth $1,661,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DELL. Accordant Advisory Group Inc purchased a new position in Dell Technologies during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Clean Yield Group acquired a new position in Dell Technologies in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new stake in Dell Technologies during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Dell Technologies during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in shares of Dell Technologies in the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.10% of the company’s stock. Insider Activity In other news, CFO Yvonne Mcgill sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.24, for a total transaction of $1,145,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 236,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,864,657.56. The trade was a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website . Also, CEO Michael S. Dell sold 221,460 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.07, for a total transaction of $22,604,422.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,190,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,060,873,016.67. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,962,112 shares of company stock valued at $2,114,595,059. 46.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Analysts Set New Price Targets View Our Latest Stock Report on DELL Dell Technologies Trading Up 2.6 % Shares of NYSE DELL opened at $127.59 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $89.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.89. Dell Technologies Inc. has a twelve month low of $67.51 and a twelve month high of $179.70. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $127.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.91. Dell Technologies ( NYSE:DELL – Get Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The technology company reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.32. Dell Technologies had a net margin of 4.36% and a negative return on equity of 184.20%. The firm had revenue of $24.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Dell Technologies Inc. will post 6.93 earnings per share for the current year. Dell Technologies Dividend Announcement The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 22nd were paid a $0.445 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 22nd. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. Dell Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 31.45%. Dell Technologies Profile ( Free Report ) Dell Technologies Inc designs, develops, manufactures, markets, sells, and supports various comprehensive and integrated solutions, products, and services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) and Client Solutions Group (CSG). Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than Dell Technologies Investing In Preferred Stock vs. Common Stock The Latest 13F Filings Are In: See Where Big Money Is Flowing What Are Dividend Achievers? An Introduction 3 Penny Stocks Ready to Break Out in 2025 Breakout Stocks: What They Are and How to Identify Them FMC, Mosaic, Nutrien: Top Agricultural Stocks With Big Potential Receive News & Ratings for Dell Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Dell Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
Haiti’s health minister loses his job after a deadly gang attack on a hospital in the capitalWisconsin faces its first losing season in 23 years and the end of a bowl streak when the Badgers host arch-rival Minnesota on Friday in the annual Big Ten battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe. Minnesota (6-5, 4-4) lost to No. 4 Penn State 26-25. Wisconsin (5-6, 3-5 Big Ten) lost its fourth straight, 44-25, at Nebraska in a game that was not as close as the score. "Well 1890 is the first time we played this football team coming up and this is what it's all about," Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said of the rivalry. "And you wouldn't want to have it any other way, being able to end the season with one of your biggest rivals. I know our guys will be ready to go, ready to play." Wisconsin has 22 consecutive winning seasons since going 5-7 under Barry Alvarez in 2001, the longest active streak among Power 4 teams. The Badgers also have played in a bowl game in each of the last 22 seasons, the longest active streak in the Big Ten and third-longest in FBS. Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell is more concerned with the rivalry game than the winning season and bowl streaks. "I'm not downplaying it, I'm not saying it's not important, I'm not saying it's another thing that's on our plate," Fickell said Monday. "But when it gets down to this last week, it's about one thing, it's about the rivalry. It's about preparing to play in the most important game of the year." The Gophers have dropped their last two games after winning four in a row. Minnesota averages 26.6 points per game, while allowing 18.5, 15th-best in the country. Max Brosmer has completed 67 percent of his passes for 221 per game with 15 touchdowns and five interceptions. Daniel Jackson is the top target with 69 catches for 802 yards and three scores, and Darius Taylor is the top rusher with 730 yards at 4.8 per carry with nine touchdowns. One week after leading Oregon after three quarters, the Wisconsin defense was shredded for 473 yards and five touchdowns by Nebraska. Braedyn Locke, who took over at quarterback when Tyler Van Dyke suffered an early season-ending knee injury, has thrown at least one interception in eight consecutive games. Locke has completed 56.4 percent of his passes for 180.6 yards per game, with 12 touchdowns and 10 picks. Tawee Walker is the leading rusher with 828 yards at 4.7 per carry with 10 touchdowns. He has failed to reach 60 yards in three of the last four games. Former Wisconsin and NFL standout JJ Watt posted on social media his assessment - and frustration - with the Badgers after the Nebraska game. "Losing happens, it's part of the game. Hearing announcers talk about how much tougher and more physical Nebraska & Iowa are while getting blown out ... that's the issue," Watt wrote on X. "We are Wisconsin. Physicality, running game, great O-Line and great defense. That is our identity." Wisconsin defeated the Gophers 28-14 last after Minnesota had won the previous two meetings. The Badgers have won 7 of the last 10 and lead the storied series 63-62-8. --Field Level MediaFinance Minister fears volatile future for our corporation tax billions after Trump victory
Cover Five: With pressure rising, Matt Rhule delivers Nebraska a bowl bid in Year 2Morgan Rogers looked to have given Emery’s side another famous win when he slammed a loose ball home in stoppage time, but referee Jesus Gil Manzano ruled Diego Carlos to have fouled Juve goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio and the goal was chalked off. Contact seemed minimal but VAR did not intervene and Villa had to settle for a point in a 0-0 draw. “With the last action, it is the interpretation of the referee,” the Spaniard said. “In England, 80 per cent of those is given a goal and it’s not a foul. It’s very soft. “But in Europe, it could be a foul. We have to accept. “Everybody will know, in England the interpretation is different. The England referees, when actions like that the interpretation is a clear no foul but in Europe that interpretation is different. “They have to be working to get the same decision when some action like that is coming. I don’t know exactly why but we knew before in the Premier League that it is different. A very controversial finish at Villa Park 😲 Morgan Rogers' late goal is ruled out for a foul on Juventus goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio and the match ends 0-0 ❌ 📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/MyYL5Vdy3r — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 27, 2024 “In Europe for example we are not doing a block like in England and we are not doing in front of the goalkeeper in offensive corners the same situations like in England. “When the action happened, I was thinking here in Europe it’s a foul. In England not, but in Europe I have to accept it. “At first, I thought the referee gave us a goal. In cases like that, it’s confusing because he has to wait for VAR. I don’t know what happened but I think so (the referee changed his mind with VAR).” It was a disappointment for Villa, who remain unbeaten at home in their debut Champions League campaign and are still in contention to qualify automatically for the last 16. “We were playing a favourite to be in the top eight and usually a contender to win this competition,” Emery added. “We are a team who for a long time didn’t play in Europe and the Champions League and this year is very important. “We wanted to play competitive and we are in the right way. Today to get one point is very good, we wanted to win but wanted to avoid some mistakes we made in previous games. “We have 10 points and we’re happy.” Before the game Emery called Juventus one of the “best teams in the world, historically and now”, but this was an Italian side down to the bare bones. Only 14 outfield players made the trip from Turin, with striker Dusan Vlahovic among those who stayed behind. Juve boss Thiago Motta, whose side are 19th but still in contention to reach the top eight, said: “There’s just three games left to qualify. The next home against Man City, then Brugge, then Benfica. “One at a time, as we always did with the goal to qualify for the next round. “In the end we will try and reach our goal which is to go to the next round.”
MINERAL WELLS — Jason Weeks believes two elements in his resume helped the Mineral Wells City Council choose him as its new city manager. Weeks, 53, will start work here on Jan. 27, three days after exiting the top administrative position in the Central Texas town of Navasota. He succeeds Dean Sullivan, who has filled the role since late 2021 after a decade as chief of police. Weeks brings 23 years of municipal management experience founded in early years working on the city finance side before rising to assistant city manager in La Porte in 2017. “I think what the council really liked was, No. 1, my finance background,” Weeks said by phone this week. The second element recommending him to the council was Mineral Wells’ similarity to growing Navasota. That city’s population grew more than 17% from 2020 to 2023, to 8,969. Weeks arrived in Navasota in 2022, after serving four years as assistant city manager in La Porte. Navasota’s growth largely was unplanned, he said, spurred by population spilling down the so-called Aggie Highway from College Station, (Texas 6). “Our current utilities and infrastructure had not been addressed,” he said. “We’ve got the original stuff in the ground.” Navasota dug out, the city working with developers and city planners. Weeks found $1.2 million in sustainable cuts to the city budget, which is $52.3 million this year. “When the council there (in Mineral Wells) saw what I had and bring to the table, they really liked that,” he said. Mayor Regan Johnson said Weeks checked the boxes highest on the council’s list. “Mr. Weeks has the experience, drive, and desire to be in Mineral Wells that made him the choice for this council as he leads the city staff through the implementation of so many projects, plans and visions that are in place,” the mayor said. “We anticipate a smooth transition and great things from Mr. Weeks. We look forward to the future! However, I cannot reiterate enough, how integral Mr. Sullivan’s dedication and foresight have been to the continued progress of this city.” And not all the faces in Crazy Town are new for Weeks. David Hawes, the city’s immediate past economic development director, encountered Weeks in La Porte when the city needed guidance from Hawes’ Houston-based consultant firm, Hawes-Hill. “I’ve had a relationship with David Hawes for at least seven years,” Weeks said, describing the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone that Hawes and his staff helped create for the coastal city. During interviews in Mineral Wells, he met Hawes’ successor, Nathan Dyhre, Main Street Manager Brittany Brown, Fire/EMS Chief Ryan Dunn and other city leaders. It’s safe to say Hawes put in a good word for Weeks, he was quick to do so when the Weatherford Democrat asked. “I’ve had the privilege to work with Mr. Weeks for seven years in La Porte and Navasota,” Hawes said. “He is a first class individual and a very professional city administrator. Mineral Wells is fortunate to have someone of Mr. Week’s caliber to come here and work for the betterment of our community.” Weeks expects taking three to six months to get his feet under him in his new home. His department heads can expect detailed staff meetings with a boss who holds them accountable but lets them do their jobs. “I’m not a micromanager,” he said. “I like to be informed and doing things the best way.” Among its challenges, Mineral Wells has long faced a high poverty rate — 18.2% in 2022 Census data contrasted with 11.5% nationwide that year. “The key to addressing poverty is tied to good economic development efforts,” Weeks said. “Residents need to have good wage paying jobs that can support their families. Therefore, recruiting new businesses and industry to MW will aid in providing jobs to the workforce.” Weeks also has researched his new home in social media posts. “I’m very aware everybody’s upset about the water rates,” he said. “I don’t put a lot of stuff on social media, but I do read a lot of social media.” He also envisions better communications among his own departments. “I heard also, interestingly, there’s not a lot of communication happening,” he said. Weeks’ financial background will help as staff preparations to write the 2025-26 budget get underway early in 2025. Finance Director Jason Breisch left the city for the private sector after this year’s budget was approved. “I will be looking for a new finance director,” he said. “I’ve been without a finance director, and it is very difficult to do both tasks at once.” Weeks grew up in Greenville and welcomes the move closer to family. He and his wife, Rhonda, are raising three children in a blended family. His wife is a teacher in the Windham school district, teaching Texas prison inmates for more than two decades with plans to continue after transferring to the Lindsey State Jail in Jacksboro. Weeks anticipates getting to know Mineral Wells better during his first 100 days on the job. “I’m going to get immersed in the community,” he said, noting the Mineral Wells ISD Foundation and membership in Rotary. He also plans to meet business owners and the county commissioners in Palo Pinto and Weatherford, since the town he will lead straddles both counties. “The first 100 days are usually all about the relationships and getting those relationships going,” he said, describing how his grandfather, George Burton, made sure he raked up the grass clippings when he was a young man mowing lawns. (Burton is Weeks’ middle name). “He taught a hard lesson to me, and that’s how I’ve operated my whole life, is going that extra mile and meeting people’s needs,” Weeks said.Manmohan Singh, the former Indian prime minister whose economic reforms made his country a global powerhouse, has died at the age of 92, current leader Narendra Modi said. Modi confirmed Singh’s death, posting on X that India “mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders.” Singh was taken to a hospital in New Delhi after he lost consciousness at his home on Thursday, but could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead at 9:51 pm local time, according to a statement by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. Singh, who held office from 2004 to 2014, is credited with having overseen an economic boom in Asia’s fourth-largest economy in his first term, although slowing growth in later years marred his second stint. Born in 1932 in the mud-house village of Gah in what is now Pakistan, Singh studied economics to find a way to eradicate poverty in the vast nation and never held elected office before taking the nation’s highest office. He won scholarships to attend both Cambridge, where he obtained a first in economics, and Oxford, where he completed his PhD. Singh worked in a string of senior civil posts, served as a central bank governor and also held various jobs with global agencies such as the United Nations. He was tapped in 1991 by then Congress prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to reel India back from the worst financial crisis in its modern history In his first term Singh steered the economy through a period of nine-percent growth, lending the country the international clout it had long sought. He also sealed a landmark nuclear deal with the US that he said would help India meet its growing energy needs. Known as “Mr Clean”, Singh nonetheless saw his image tarnished during his decade-long tenure when a series of corruption cases became public. Several months before the 2014 elections, Singh said he would retire after the polls, with Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul earmarked to take his place if Congress won. But Congress crashed to its worst-ever result at that time as the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Modi, won a landslide. Singh — who said historians would be kinder to him than contemporary detractors — became a vocal critic of Modi’s economic policies, and more recently warned about the risks that rising communal tensions posed to India’s democracy. With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in RBC Bearings Incorporated ( NYSE:RBC – Free Report ) by 7.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 27,157 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,770 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.09% of RBC Bearings worth $8,130,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of RBC Bearings by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 2,116 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $633,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in RBC Bearings by 1.4% in the second quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 4,534 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in RBC Bearings by 416.7% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 93 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in RBC Bearings by 23.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 440 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RiverPark Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of RBC Bearings by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. RiverPark Advisors LLC now owns 993 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Insider Activity In other news, CEO Michael J. Hartnett sold 19,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.42, for a total value of $5,580,885.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,981,727.88. This represents a 5.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink . In the last three months, insiders sold 34,127 shares of company stock worth $9,839,707. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Analysts Set New Price Targets View Our Latest Research Report on RBC Bearings RBC Bearings Stock Performance RBC Bearings stock opened at $335.11 on Friday. RBC Bearings Incorporated has a 12-month low of $240.36 and a 12-month high of $343.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $10.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $301.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $290.28. RBC Bearings ( NYSE:RBC – Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.01). RBC Bearings had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 14.06%. The business had revenue of $397.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $403.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.07 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that RBC Bearings Incorporated will post 8.94 EPS for the current fiscal year. RBC Bearings Company Profile ( Free Report ) RBC Bearings Incorporated manufactures and markets engineered precision bearings, components, and systems in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Aerospace/Defense and Industrial. The company produces plain bearings with self-lubricating or metal-to-metal designs, including rod end bearings, spherical plain bearings, and journal bearings; roller bearings, such as tapered roller bearings, needle roller bearings, and needle bearing track rollers and cam followers, which are anti-friction products that are used in industrial applications and military aircraft platforms; and ball bearings include high precision aerospace, airframe control, thin section, and industrial ball bearings that utilize high precision ball elements to reduce friction in high-speed applications. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for RBC Bearings Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for RBC Bearings and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
I gave away my Kindle within hours of using this new TCL tablet, and it's still up to $180 off
The foldable iPhone has been in the news for years, but has yet to make any of its efforts public. Meanwhile, Samsung and Huawei have dominated the foldable phone landscape, though demand isn’t exactly soaring at this point. More recently, rumors said that , describing the device as the catalyst the foldable niche needs to see meaningful growth in the coming years. Other leaks also said that Apple has settled on rather than the clamshell flip phone design. This brings us to a new report from Korea that claims the September 2026 release date for the foldable iPhone is confirmed. More interesting are the claims about the handset’s tech. Apparently, the foldable iPhone is expected to feature more advanced technology than anything we’ve seen so far from rivals. The details come from X leaker , who extracted it from a pay-walled article in the Korean-language news outlet . Sign up for the most interesting tech & entertainment news out there. By signing up, I agree to the and have reviewed the The leaker provided the following list of details about the foldable iPhone from the Korean source: Production: May 2026 Launch: September 2026 (almost confirmed) Form Factor: Book-style (similar to the Galaxy Fold) Annual Production Volume: 15–20 million units Display Supplier: Samsung Display (exclusive supplier) Technology: Expected to feature the most advanced technology, surpassing all existing foldables. There’s nothing groundbreaking here. If the foldable iPhone is coming in 2026, we’d expect it to enter production in the summer months preceding the September 2026 launch event. The phone’s Galaxy Z Fold-like design also makes sense, given the earlier claims we saw from a well-connected display analyst. As for the annual volume, 20 million foldable iPhone units would account for fewer than 10% of Apple’s annual iPhone sales. But I’ll point out that no smartphone vendor sells that amount of Fold-type foldable phones, not even Samsung. Also, it makes sense that Samsung Display would provide the foldable OLED panels for the so-called iPhone Fold. Samsung has been a big supplier of iPhone displays, and its foldable OLED panels are easily the best in the industry right now. The only thing surprising about the list is the unparalleled “advanced technology” claim. What could Apple do for a foldable iPhone that rivals can’t match? By the time this iPhone Fold launches, Samsung will have made eight Galaxy Z Fold generations that offered all sorts of upgrades over the years. The Korean giant approached foldable phone development more timidly than Chinese vendors, which is understandable after its big fumble with the first-gen model. After that, Samsung implemented features that rivals came up with first, like larger cover screens for the Flip and a thinner design for the Fold. During this time, Samsung improved the durability, design quality, and performance of its Galaxy Z Fold and Flip models. Samsung also made fun of Apple for not making a foldable iPhone over the years. With each campaign, it became clear that Samsung actually needed Apple to make a foldable iPhone. Apple entering this niche would make this form factor go mainstream in a way Samsung could never do on its own. Also, Samsung Display would benefit directly. The Apple magic? Back to Apple, I also expect Apple to deliver its own take on foldables, which would explain why it waited so long. Apple will say it did foldable phones right by focusing on specific things that aren’t available from competitors. But I can’t really see what these would be. One key feature I’d want to see from a foldable iPhone is the absence of the screen crease, though Samsung has to solve that first. I’d also expect advanced Face ID functionality, which could concern both the cover screen and the internal panel. Apple could also deliver new hinge mechanisms, better battery tech, and an iOS operating system that’s truly optimized for the tablet experience. Then there’s coming this year, which will set the stage for an ultra-slim foldable iPhone Fold device. Add the 2026 Apple Intelligence experience, and you’ve got the complete foldable iPhone package. While I’m speculating here, all these things sound like regular expectations from longtime iPhone users. Put them together, and you might end up with a foldable experience unlike anything else on the market. Apple will surely call it magical, and every rival will want to steal parts of it.NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks tiptoed to more records amid a mixed Tuesday of trading, tacking a touch more onto what’s already been a stellar year so far. The S&P 500 edged up by 2 points, or less than 0.1%, to set an all-time high for the 55th time this year. It’s climbed in 10 of the last 11 days and is on track for one of its best years since the turn of the millennium. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 76 points, or 0.2%, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.4% to its own record set a day earlier. AT&T rose 4.6% after it boosted its profit forecast for the year. It also announced a $10 billion plan to send cash to its investors by buying back its own stock, while saying it expects to authorize another $10 billion of repurchases in 2027. On the losing end of Wall Street was U.S. Steel, which fell 8%. President-elect Donald Trump reiterated on social media that he would not let Japan’s Nippon Steel take over the iconic Pennsylvania steelmaker. Nippon Steel announced plans last December to buy the Pittsburgh-based steel producer for $14.1 billion in cash, raising concerns about what the transaction could mean for unionized workers, supply chains and U.S. national security. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden also came out against the acquisition. Tesla sank 1.6% after a judge in Delaware reaffirmed a previous ruling that the electric car maker must revoke Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package. The judge denied a request by attorneys for Musk and Tesla’s corporate directors to vacate her ruling earlier this year requiring the company to rescind the unprecedented pay package. All told, the S&P 500 rose 2.73 points to 6,049.88. The Dow fell 76.47 to 44,705.53, and the Nasdaq composite gained 76.96 to 19,480.91. In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady after a report showed U.S. employers were advertising slightly more job openings at the end of October than a month earlier. Continued strength there would raise optimism that the economy could remain out of a recession that many investors had earlier worried was inevitable. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.23% from 4.20% from late Monday. Yields have seesawed since Election Day amid worries that Trump’s preferences for lower tax rates and bigger tariffs could spur higher inflation along with economic growth. But traders are still confident the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate again at its next meeting in two weeks. They’re betting on a nearly three-in-four chance of that, according to data from CME Group. Lower rates can give the economy more juice, but they can also give inflation more fuel. The key report this week that could guide the Fed’s next move will arrive on Friday. It’s the monthly jobs report , which will show how many workers U.S. employers hired and fired during November. It could be difficult to parse given how much storms and strikes distorted figures in October. Based on trading in the options market, Friday’s jobs report appears to be the biggest potential market mover until the Fed announces its next decision on interest rates Dec. 18, according to strategists at Barclays Capital. In financial markets abroad, the value of South Korea’s currency fell 1.1% against the U.S. dollar following a frenetic night where President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law and then later said he’d lift it after lawmakers voted to reject military rule. Stocks of Korean companies that trade in the United States also fell, including a 1.6% drop for SK Telecom. Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.9% to help lead global markets. Some analysts think Japanese stocks could end up benefiting from Trump’s threats to raise tariffs , including for goods coming from China . Trade relations between the U.S. and China took another step backward after China said it is banning exports to the U.S. of gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications. The counterpunch came swiftly after the U.S. Commerce Department expanded the list of Chinese technology companies subject to export controls to include many that make equipment used to make computer chips, chipmaking tools and software. The 140 companies newly included in the so-called “entity list” are nearly all based in China. In China, stock indexes rose 1% in Hong Kong and 0.4% in Shanghai amid unconfirmed reports that Chinese leaders would meet next week to discuss planning for the coming year. Investors are hoping it may bring fresh stimulus to help spur growth in the world’s second-largest economy. In France, the CAC 40 rose 0.3% amid continued worries about politics in Paris , where the government is battling over the budget. AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
STEPHEN COHEN: Trump’s picks continue to terrifyFORT MYERS, FL. — The Siena College men’s basketball team is set for its third straight Thanksgiving Week Tournament in the Sunshine State. The Saints continue play in the Fort Myers Tip-Off with a pair of Palms Division matinees Monday and Tuesday at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of Florida SouthWestern State College.Siena [...]
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Dubbed “interspecies money,” the system allows mountain gorillas in the park to raise money for their conservation through digital wallets powered by AI-facial recognition. Last week, the initiative was named among the top ten implausible-sounding scenarios for 2025 by The Economist. ALSO READ: Restored land expected to improve habitat for mountain gorillas The platform has successfully been piloted on 20 mountain gorillas in the park. It is expected to enable the apes to pay for essential conservation services, such as hiring park rangers to remove snares set by poachers. These digital wallets, similar to mobile money accounts like Momo, link the gorillas to the financial system, allowing funds to be spent on protecting their habitat and ensuring their well-being. Created by Tehanu, an Africa-based startup, the system also offers financial incentives for local communities to participate in wildlife conservation. People in rural areas can earn money by completing tasks that support the ecosystem, such as photographing wildlife, recording animal sounds, or reporting sightings of specific species. ALSO READ: Experts call for more involvement of policymakers in wildlife conservation In an exclusive interview with The New Times, Jonathan Ledgard, the CEO and co-founder of Tehanu, said the project is a transformative initiative that could redefine how humans interact with the natural world. He noted that the system creates digital identities and wallets for wildlife, recognizing the vital role gorillas play in Rwanda’s ecosystems and economy, and helps build a real-time database of biodiversity, benefiting both the environment and the local economy. “By integrating both wildlife and humans into the financial system, the interspecies money initiative aims to create a circular economy that fosters mutual prosperity.” Ledgard stressed that people in rural areas can earn money by completing tasks that support the ecosystem, such as photographing wildlife, recording animal sounds, or reporting sightings of specific species. “In Kigali, you can send money to your village using Momo. Now imagine a bat, a tree, or even a gorilla being able to receive and spend money, all for services that benefit them,” Ledgard stated. ALSO READ: Rwanda to double budget on biodiversity restoration The initiative aims to recognise the often-overlooked but essential services that non-human species provide to the ecosystem, such as pollination, seed dispersal, and soil regeneration, and to integrate them into the economy. Ledgard’s system intends to create a circular economic system that benefits both humans and wildlife by acknowledging this value and using it to support local communities. Through the project, 20 mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park were given digital wallets linked to AI-powered facial recognition systems. These wallets allow the gorillas to spend funds on services that protect their habitat. The technology goes a step further, using AI to analyse the gorillas’ behaviours and assess their needs, identifying patterns that could help predict and address threats to their welfare, he added. “For example, AI might recognize a gorilla’s behaviour and suggest that a ranger remove a snare or that a researcher tracks its movements for conservation purposes,” Ledgard explained. The AI could also be used to identify the preferences and needs of other species, like elephants or even trees. “While the project is focused on mountain gorillas, the long-term goal is to extend the system to a wider variety of species, including those that provide important ecological functions, like the straw-coloured fruit bats and insects vital for pollination. Recognising their economic value could help protect these species and their contributions to the ecosystem.” He stated that Rwanda was chosen as the ideal place to launch the initiative due to its progressive conservation efforts and technological adoption. Ledgard, who previously worked on pioneering projects like Zipline’s drone delivery system for medical supplies, believes that the country’s strong governance and open-minded approach to innovation make it a perfect testing ground for the interspecies money project. “Interspecies money intends to directly benefit local communities, where people could earn money for simple actions like photographing birds, recording animal sounds, or reporting sightings of specific species,” he said. These small tasks would provide a new source of income and contribute to a real-time database that monitors Rwanda’s biodiversity. Additionally, farmers could receive financial incentives for actions that promote species diversity in their agricultural practices. Ledgard envisions that by 2050, Rwanda will experience improvements in soil health, forests, and wildlife. “By introducing financial incentives to protect biodiversity, people will start to see it as a valuable asset both economically and ecologically,” he said. The system looks forward to building emotional connections between people and wildlife, as the success of the project relies on more than just economic factors. It requires people to care about these species. “People need to feel a sense of connection to these species for the system to work,” Ledgard said. He said that while the project is still in its early stages, it has great potential to change how people approach conservation and value biodiversity. 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How the stock market defied expectations again this year, by the numbersRobert Wickens moving up to IMSA GTD series in 2025 thanks to new Bosch hand controlsMind the Gap: Six Tips to Assess Your Healthcare Coverage Before the New Year
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In addition to these key phrases, the Political Bureau meeting also highlighted other positive signals that point towards a comprehensive and coordinated strategy for economic development. The emphasis on expanding domestic demand, boosting consumption, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, and promoting innovation and technology all underscore the government's commitment to fostering a more sustainable and inclusive growth path.Official: Former Barcelona Head Coach Setien Appointed as Head Coach of Beijing GuoanTrump gave Interior nominee one directive for a half-billion acres of US land: ‘Drill.’
Liaoning Province Completes "41715 Sets!" Mission of Premature Delivery of Houses a Month in AdvanceEagles QB Jalen Hurts is in the NFL’s concussion protocol. His status for Sunday is uncertain
New pro-European coalition approved in Romania amid period of political turmoilAt the heart of Gobert's satisfaction lies a deep sense of camaraderie and trust among his teammates. From intense on-court battles to moments of celebration off the court, the Jazz have built a strong bond that transcends wins and losses. Gobert emphasizes the importance of unity in overcoming challenges, stating that "when we face adversity, we do it together as a team. That's what makes us strong and resilient."
In addition to the favorable policies and strong demand from both first-time buyers and upgraders, Guiyang's real estate market is also being driven by the city's economic growth and infrastructure development. As the city continues to invest in transportation, education, and healthcare facilities, Guiyang is becoming an increasingly attractive place to live and work. This, in turn, has attracted more investors and homebuyers to the city, further supporting the growth of the real estate market.The rumors surrounding the potential departures of Alexander-Arnold and Salah have sent shockwaves through the footballing world. Both players have been integral to Liverpool's recent successes, with Alexander-Arnold's marauding runs down the right flank and Salah's clinical finishing contributing heavily to the team's attacking prowess.
In the wake of this heartbreaking event, one thing remains clear: the need for unity, compassion, and a renewed commitment to building a safer and more peaceful society for all. Let us remember the young boy whose life was cut short in a moment of senseless violence and strive to create a world where such tragedies are but a distant memory.As the investigation into the murder of the insurance giant CEO continues to unfold, authorities are hopeful that the apprehension of the suspect will lead to further revelations and ultimately bring closure to a case that has gripped the nation for months. While the motive behind the crime may never fully be understood, the arrest of the suspect represents a significant milestone in the pursuit of justice and serves as a testament to the dedication and commitment of law enforcement officials in ensuring that no crime goes unpunished.One of the key factors contributing to the slight uptick in the CPI was the increase in food prices, which rose by 2.3% year-on-year. This was mainly driven by higher prices for pork and fresh vegetables, both of which experienced significant fluctuations due to factors such as supply disruptions and seasonal changes. However, the overall impact of rising food prices on the CPI was partially offset by the decline in non-food prices, which fell by 0.1% year-on-year.
GREENFIELD — Eveline MacDougall will reflect on “Everyday Miracles: Noticing When We’re Surrounded by Blessings” during a Christmas Eve/solstice service at All Souls Church, located at 399 Main St., on Tuesday, Dec. 24, at 6:30 p.m. MacDougall’s talk will include vignettes about a recent encounter with stranded immigrants, an inspiring interaction at a nursing home, and an astonishing connection between a grandfather and grandson. The service will also include candle lighting, and solstice and seasonal songs amplified by the Fiery Hope chorus, of which MacDougall is director, and the All Souls Choir. Attendees can come at 6 p.m. to join the choir. GREENFIELD — The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts’ monthly brown bag program for income-qualifying seniors will be held at The Weldon apartments at 54 High St. on Thursday, Jan. 2, from 10:30 to 11 a.m. Call 413-247-9738 or visit foodbankwma.org for more information and applications. GREENFIELD — “Yoga for Wellness Basics” will be offered for three weeks in January at the Greenfield Senior Center. Sessions will be held Wednesdays, Jan. 8, 15 and 22, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. These holistic yoga sessions are designed to enhance the health and well-being of mature bodies. The program is open to people with any level of experience, though beginners are especially welcome. This is a mat yoga class held in the fitness studio, so clean footwear is required. Participants must be able to get down onto and up from the floor unassisted. Advance registration with a $25 payment is required by Jan. 3. Participants also must be Senior Center members; membership is free. Stop by the Senior Center’s front desk to sign up. Article continues after... Cross|Word Flipart Typeshift SpellTower Really Bad Chess GREENFIELD — Lynne Smith will lead a series of qigong classes on Tuesdays from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. between Jan. 7 and Feb. 18 at the Senior Center. Qigong is an ancient practice that offers benefits for the body, mind and spirit. It is a simple movement practice that is gentle, relaxing and easy to follow. All exercises are done standing. No experience is necessary. The class will be held in the fitness studio, so participants will be asked to carry in clean shoes. Registration with a $65 payment is required by Jan. 3. Stop by the Senior Center’s front desk to register. GREENFIELD — Residents of all towns are welcome to the Memory Cafe, sponsored by The Arbors at Greenfield, on Friday, Jan. 10, from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Senior Center. The Memory Cafe provides a supportive gathering place for people living with memory loss, together with their caregivers. Lunch is provided, followed by an activity. Advance registration is required. To sign up, call the Senior Center’s front desk at 413-772-1517, ext. 0. GREENFIELD — Social worker Matt Aversa will lead “Connections,” a group exploring ways to be proactive about making connections with others, at the Greenfield Senior Center on Thursday, Jan. 16, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Advance registration and Senior Center membership (free) are required. Space is limited to 11. Call 413-772-1517, ext. 0 or stop by the center’s front desk to sign up. GREENFIELD — Community herbalist Patti Williams will discuss using herbs for stress relief at the Greenfield Senior Center on Friday, Jan. 17, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Herbal adaptogens and herbal calmatives are plants known for their abilities to ease our responses to stress and to nourish endocrine and nervous systems that have been damaged by stress. Williams will have her products for sale on a cash-only basis. Advance registration is required, but Senior Center membership is not necessary. Call 413-772-1517, ext. 0 or stop by the center’s front desk to sign up. GREENFIELD — Turners Falls author Rebecca Daniels will read from her latest book, a grief memoir called “That Day and What Came After: Finding and Losing the Love of My Life in Six Short Years,” at the Greenfield Senior Center on Tuesday, Jan. 28, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. There will be time for a question-and-answer session, book sales and signings. Senior Center membership is not necessary, but advance registration is required. To sign up, call 413-772-1517, ext. 0 or stop by the center’s front desk. For more details, visit rebecca-daniels.com/books . The Greenfield Recorder published a review of Daniels’ book by book reviewer Tinky Weisblat in July. GREENFIELD — The Greenfield Senior Center provides help with technology to residents of all towns who are ages 60 or older. To set up a 30-minute, one-on-one session with a tech helper, call 413-772-1517, ext. 0 or stop by the Senior Center’s front desk. The center also hosts a drop-in Tech Club on Thursdays from 1 to 3 p.m. These programs are funded using a digital equity grant from the state Executive Office of Elder Affairs.
GDIN CEO Jongkap Kim: “By matching technology needs with local markets, we create long-lasting joint ventures with multiple exit opportunities.” SEOUL, South Korea , Dec. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Global Digital Innovation Network (GDIN), led by CEO Jongkap Kim, proudly announced the major achievements of its 2024 Joint Venture Program. This program, which supports the establishment of joint ventures between South Korean companies and international partners, is designed to lower market entry barriers and create sustainable growth opportunities through local collaborations. Since the launch of the program in 2021, GDIN has supported the establishment of 44 joint ventures across various regions. This year alone, 10 joint ventures were successfully launched in 8 countries including the United States , Canada , Japan , India , Singapore , Vietnam , UAE, and Uganda . The Joint Venture Program was created to address a common challenge faced by early-stage tech companies: while they may have products and services that meet market demand, they often lack the resources and workforce to enter international markets. Through this program, GDIN helps companies increase their chances of success by facilitating strategic market entry via local partnerships. In addition to the 44 joint ventures established so far, 47 partnership agreements are in the pipeline for future joint ventures. The program’s success is largely attributed to GDIN’s extensive global network of partners, which includes government organizations, multinational corporations, and international agencies such as the World Bank, Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Investment Turkey etc. GDIN has organized multiple technology matching and investor relations events to introduce Korean companies and their innovative technologies to potential international partners. At the year-end performance report event, held on December 19 , GDIN recognized companies that successfully established joint ventures. Changsoft I&I, a digital construction management system company, was highlighted for its success in establishing joint ventures in Japan and Vietnam . CFO Jongeun Park of Changsoft I&I shared, “We were facing stagnating revenue growth, and expanding into new markets was critical. With GDIN’s support, we were able to establish joint ventures in Japan and Vietnam , allowing us to tailor our products to local market needs.” Other companies that successfully established joint ventures in 2024 include Medicos Biotech, Bloomsbury Lab, Arbaim, Eucast, Pixelro, Hansol root one, Eco-Peace, and IESG. GDIN CEO Jongkap Kim commented, “Unlike simple joint investments or distribution networks, these technology-driven joint ventures are based on market demand, ensuring their long-term sustainability. If these joint ventures achieve success in the local markets and even go public, they could offer multiple exit opportunities, creating a strong growth model for all involved.” About GDIN Global Digital Innovation Network (formerly known as Born2Global Centre), registered under the Ministry of Science & ICT, is an independent foundation that promotes and fosters collaboration between next-level innovative companies from South Korea and the world. Since 2013, we have established over 160 international partnerships, supported over 3,000 tech companies, conducted over 20,000 consulting services, and helped companies raise $3.6 billion USD in investments. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/gdin-successfully-supports-establishment-of-10-new-joint-ventures-in-2024-alone-302337081.html SOURCE GDINThe decision to create a green corridor for the evacuation of Chinese nationals from Syria was a strategic move by the Chinese government to ensure the safety and well-being of its citizens in the midst of a violent and unpredictable conflict. The green corridor, which was established in cooperation with local authorities and international partners, provided a designated route for Chinese citizens to travel from their location in Syria to a safe zone where they could be transported out of the country.
The move could usher in an end to a protracted political crisis in the European Union country following the annulment of a presidential election by a top court. Parliament approved the new administration in a 240-143 vote in Romania’s 466-seat legislature. The new coalition is made up of the leftist Social Democratic Party (PSD) the centre-right National Liberal Party (PNL), the small ethnic Hungarian UDMR party and national minorities. It caps a month-long period of turmoil in which far-right nationalists made significant gains in a parliamentary election on December 1 a week after a first-round presidential race saw the far-right outsider Calin Georgescu emerge as the front-runner. “It will not be an easy mandate for the future government,” Mr Ciolacu, whose PSD party topped the polls in the parliamentary election, said in a statement. “We are aware that we are in the midst of a deep political crisis,” he said. “It is also a crisis of trust, and this coalition aims to regain the trust of citizens, the trust of the people.” Romania’s 16 ministerial positions will be shared among the parties, which will hold a slim majority in the legislature. It is widely seen as a tactical partnership to shut out far-right nationalists whose voices found fertile ground amid high living costs and a sluggish economy. Mr Ciolacu, who came third in the first-round presidential ballot despite polls indicating he would win the most votes, has served as prime minister since June 2023. After parliament’s approval, President Klaus Iohannis swore in the new government and warned the new Cabinet that it is entering a “difficult new period” in which “for many Romanians, there are major concerns”. Romania was plunged into turmoil after Mr Georgescu’s surprise success in the presidential race, after allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference emerged. Days before the December 8 run-off, the Constitutional Court made the unprecedented move to annul the presidential race. “We go through complicated times, but I think we all learned from mistakes of the past,” Mr Ciolacu said. “I hope that together with my colleagues in the coalition, we’ll find the best solutions to get past the challenges we have in front of us.” Mr Ciolacu said that the new government would aim to quickly organise the rerun of the presidential election in which the new coalition has agreed to put forward an agreed common pro-European candidate. Cristian Andrei, a political consultant based in Bucharest, said that the new government made up of the same political parties will likely embrace “soft populist” rhetoric such as economic patriotism, anti-austerity, and a peace solution in neighbouring Ukraine to counter the rise of far-right populism. “This will be a way to answer the concerns of many Romanians who voted for populists... but will not solve the fundamental problem of trust,” he said. “The only decisive factor now will be who and how convincing the pro-European candidates will be against this popular revolt.” George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, which came second in the parliamentary election, said that all politicians from his party on Monday would vote against the Ciolacu government. In 2021, the PSD and the PNL also formed an unlikely but increasingly strained coalition together with UDMR, which exited the Cabinet last year after a power-sharing dispute.Nissan and Honda to attempt a merger that would create the world's No. 3 automaker TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automakers Nissan and Honda have announced plans to work toward a merger that would catapult them to a top position in an industry in the midst of tectonic shifts as it transitions away from its reliance on fossil fuels. The two companies said they signed an agreement on integrating their businesses on Monday. Smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors agreed to join the talks. News of a possible merger surfaced earlier this month. Japanese automakers face a strong challenge from their Chinese rivals and Tesla as they make inroads into markets at home and abroad. What a merger between Nissan and Honda means for the automakers and the industry BANGKOK (AP) — Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan will attempt to merge and create the world’s third-largest automaker by sales as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels. The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday and that smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors also had agreed to join the talks on integrating their businesses. Honda will initially lead the new management, retaining the principles and brands of each company. Following is a quick look at what a combined Honda and Nissan would mean for the companies, and for the auto industry. Nordstrom to be acquired by Nordstrom family and a Mexican retail group in $6.25 billion deal Century-old department store Nordstrom has agreed to be acquired and taken private by Nordstrom family members and a Mexican retail group in a $6.25 billion deal. Nordstrom shareholders will receive $24.25 in cash for each share of Nordstrom common stock, representing a 42% premium on the company’s stock as of March 18. Nordstrom’s board of directors unanimously approved the the proposed transaction, while Erik and Pete Nordstrom — part of the Nordstrom family taking over the company — recused themselves from voting. Following the close of the transaction, the Nordstrom Family will have a majority ownership stake in the company. An analyst looks ahead to how the US economy might fare under Trump WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump won a return to the White House in part by promising big changes in economic policy — more tax cuts, huge tariffs on imports, mass deportations of immigrants working in the United States illegally. In some ways, his victory marked a repudiation of President Joe Biden’s economic stewardship and a protest against inflation. It came despite low unemployment and steady growth under the Biden administration. What lies ahead for the economy under Trump? Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics spoke recently to The Associated Press. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. American consumers feeling less confident in December, Conference Board says American consumers are feeling less confident in December, a business research group says. The Conference Board said Monday that its consumer confidence index fell back in December to 104.7 from 112.8 in November. Consumers had been feeling increasingly confident in recent months. The consumer confidence index measures both Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months. The measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for income, business and the job market tumbled more than a dozen points to 81.1. The Conference Board says a reading under 80 can signal a potential recession in the near future. The internet is rife with fake reviews. Will AI make it worse? Researchers and watchdog groups say the emergence of generative artificial intelligence tools that allow people to efficiently produce detailed and novel online reviews has put merchants, service providers and consumers in uncharted territory. Phony reviews have long plagued many popular consumer websites, such as Amazon and Yelp. But AI-infused text generation tools enable fraudsters to produce reviews faster and in greater volume, according to tech industry experts. The deceptive practice is illegal in the U.S. and becomes a bigger problem for consumers during the holiday shopping season, when many people rely on reviews to buy gifts. A tech company and watchdog group that uses software to detect fake reviews says AI-generated reviews have multiplied. Romanian lawmakers narrowly approve new pro-European coalition during period of political turmoil BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian lawmakers have voted narrowly in favor of a new pro-European coalition government led by incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. The move on Monday could usher in an end to a protracted political crisis in the European Union country following the annulment of a presidential election. Parliament approved the new administration in a 240-143 vote in the 466-seat legislature. The new coalition is made up of the leftist Social Democratic Party, the center-right National Liberal Party, the small ethnic Hungarian UDMR party and national minorities. President Klaus Iohannis is expected to swear in the new government later Monday. Stock market today: Wall Street mixed at the start of a holiday-shortened week Stock indexes are mixed in afternoon trading on Wall Street at the start of a holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% Monday. Several big technology companies helped support the gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 21 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1%. Japanese automakers Honda Motor and Nissan Motor said they are talking about combining in a deal that might also include Mitsubishi Motors. Eli Lilly rose after announcing that regulators approved Zepbound as the first prescription medicine for adults with sleep apnea. Treasury yields rose in the bond market. AI will eavesdrop on world's wildest places to track and help protect endangered wildlife PUERTO JIMÉNEZ, Costa Rica (AP) — A biologist hid 350 audio monitors across Costa Rica’s tropical rainforests to spy on endangered spider monkeys in order to help protect them. But she had to go back to collect the data and feed those sounds into artificial intelligence systems that can recognize monkey calls. Now tech giant Microsoft's philanthropic arm is hoping to supercharge AI-assisted wildlife research with new solar-powered devices that can capture sounds, images and other wilderness data for a year or more without human intervention. Researchers say more AI wildlife surveillance is urgently needed to monitor the health of species at risk of extinction. Many Americans have come to rely on Chinese-made drones. Now lawmakers want to ban them WASHINGTON (AP) — The economic and technological rivalry between the U.S. and China has come to the drone market, where Chinese-made flying devices are a dominant player in America. Lawmakers in Washington are seeking to ban new sales of Chinese-made drones, arguing they could be used to spy on Americans and that the low-cost models are hurting the U.S. drone industry. But U.S. users — spanning from police officers to farmers to mappers and filmmakers — have come to rely on Chinese-made drones, especially those by DJI Technology, for their work or lives. Florida has banned Chinese drones in state-funded programs, but also appropriated $25 million to help offset replacement costs.
Canadian foreign, finance ministers meet Trump's team on tariffsWith the rapid growth of the new energy vehicle market in China, the demand for efficient charging and swapping services has become increasingly crucial. In response to this trend, Cloud Fast Charge has been actively expanding its presence in Anhui Province, particularly in the northern region where the potential for electric vehicle adoption is high. By participating in the Anhui New Energy Vehicle Aftermarket Conference, Cloud Fast Charge aims to showcase its cutting-edge technologies and solutions that can address the evolving needs of the market.
Attendance rates increased in most Central Oregon school districts last school year, according to the Oregon Department of Education’s recently released data for the 2023-24 school year. The one exception was the Jefferson County School District, where the regular attendance rate stayed the same. All five other districts showed improvement, and hovered around the Oregon average rate of 66% for the 2023-24 school year, meaning 66% of students attended more than 90% of school days. School attendance rates are creeping back upward post-pandemic. During the 2022-23 school year, the average rate was 62%. Bend-La Pine Schools increased its regular attendance rate by 7% to land at 67%. “Our rate of improvement was about double that of the statewide rate of improvement,” wrote Scott Maben, district communications director, in an email. “We have made it a focus over the past two years to help families ensure their students are able to show up regularly. It’s a trend we hope continues, as we’d like to see our regular attendance go well above the state average.” The district has implemented a few systems to address chronic absenteeism, including gathering data about attendance, academic progress and discipline and addressing what interventions work best for each student. The district also works with families to address attendance issues. The district’s student success coordinators, the social and emotional learning curriculum and the district’s partnership with Deschutes County on the Healthy Schools initiative have all been useful resources in combatting chronic absenteeism, Maben said. “We also know that instruction must be engaging and relevant for students to want to be in school,” wrote Maben. “We lean into anything that helps students feel more connected and cared for in our community. For older students, they need experiences in school that help them see themselves being successful and defining a pathway to life after graduation.” Students chronically miss school for a number of reasons, including health issues, depression and anxiety, safety concerns and challenges like hunger and poverty, said district officials. The Redmond School District increased its regular attendance rate by 3%, to 64%. District officials said while they are pleased with the progress, the district still has work to do in this area. One of the district’s areas of focus is improving attendance rates, said Logan McGinnis, district communications officer, in an email. Each school has outlined strategies to ensure students and families are aware of the importance of attending school consistently and work with families who are struggling with it. Schools have also created programs to encourage students to come to school. “At our secondary schools, we partner with parents by mailing home quarterly letters to inform parents about their student’s GPA and attendance,” wrote McGinnis. “One of our elementary schools, Vern Patrick Elementary, who had the highest attendance last year, used a buddy system strategy which matches adult buddies with each student that struggles with poor attendance.” Crook County Schools increased attendance by 4%, to 67%. “Attendance is a key predictor of student success. When students are in school consistently, they have more opportunities to learn, engage, and build meaningful relationships with their peers and teachers,” wrote Superintendent Melissa Skinner in an email. “We know students respond to positive reinforcement, so we’re creating fun and engaging ways to celebrate attendance. Whether it’s movie certificates, fun assemblies, or even a hot-dog eating contest, we show students their efforts matter.” The district works with families to ensure students attend school consistently, and are focused on asking how schools can help. Student leaders have stepped up to spread the attendance message, and Skinner awards trophies for attendance each month and sends weekly attendance updates to schools to track attendance and determine what strategies are working. “We are super proud of the regular attenders data recently published. All of our schools made gains in the area of attendance. We know that attending school daily increases all areas of academics,” she wrote. Jefferson County School District saw no change from the previous year and remained at 56%. Sisters School District had 73% regular attenders, an increase of 2%. Culver School District achieved the state average of 66%, an increase of 1%.
At a town hall meeting with the bureau workforce, Mr Wray said he would be stepping down “after weeks of careful thought”. Mr Wray’s intended resignation is not unexpected considering that Mr Trump had picked Mr Patel for the role in his new administration. Mr Wray had previously been named by Mr Trump and began the 10-year term — a length meant to insulate the agency from the political influence of changing administrations — in 2017, after Mr Trump fired then-FBI director James Comey. Mr Trump had demonstrated his anger with Mr Wray on multiple occasions, including after Mr Wray’s congressional testimony in September. “My goal is to keep the focus on our mission — the indispensable work you’re doing on behalf of the American people every day,” Mr Wray told agency employees. “In my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work.” Mr Wray continued: “It should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway — this is not easy for me. I love this place, I love our mission, and I love our people — but my focus is, and always has been, on us and doing what’s right for the FBI.” Mr Wray received a standing ovation following his remarks before a standing-room-only crowd at FBI headquarters and some in the audience cried, according to an FBI official who was not authorised to discuss the private gathering and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press. Mr Trump applauded the news on social media, calling it “a great day for America as it will end the weaponisation of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice” and saying that Mr Patel’s confirmation will begin “the process of Making the FBI Great Again”. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr Patel would herald a radical leadership transformation at the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency. He has advocated shutting down the FBI’s Washington headquarters and called for ridding the federal government of “conspirators”, raising alarm that he might seek to wield the FBI’s significant investigative powers as an instrument of retribution against Mr Trump’s perceived enemies. Mr Patel said in a statement Wednesday that he was looking forward to “a smooth transition. I will be ready to serve the American people on day one”.Furthermore, Waterdrop Credit provided the man with valuable insights and recommendations on how to safeguard his personal information and prevent future incidents of identity theft. Their comprehensive credit monitoring services and fraud detection capabilities gave him much-needed peace of mind and assurance that his financial well-being was now secure.
The Tennessee Titans will turn to Mason Rudolph as their starter at quarterback for a second consecutive week, despite a three-interception performance in a loss Sunday to the Indianapolis Colts. Titans head coach Brian Callahan announced the decision Tuesday after calling his starting quarterback situation a week-to-week proposition moving forward for his 3-12 team. Rudolph, who was inserted as starter Sunday in place of a struggling Will Levis, was 23-of-34 passing for 252 yards and two touchdowns, but the turnovers proved costly in a 38-30 loss at Indianapolis. Rudolph, who made three starts for an injured Levis earlier this season, has completed 63.8 percent of his passes this season in 188 attempts for 1,267 yards, eight TDs and eight interceptions. Callahan yanked Levis in the third quarter of a 37-27 loss to the visiting Cincinnati Bengals in Week 15. Levis threw for just 89 yards and three interceptions, including a pick returned for a touchdown. He also lost a fumble. Rudolph came on to complete 21 of 26 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns -- one on the final play of the game -- and an interception. Levis has thrown for 1,916 yards with 12 TDs and 12 INTs this season. He is 5-15 as a starter in his first two seasons in the NFL after he was a second-round draft pick in 2023 out of Kentucky. --Field Level MediaThe decision to impose visa restrictions on US individuals involved in malicious activities in Hong Kong is not meant to escalate tensions between the two countries. Rather, it is a targeted and proportionate response to ensure that those engaging in harmful behavior are held accountable for their actions. The Chinese government has made it clear that it is willing to engage in constructive dialogue and cooperation with the US on issues of mutual concern, but it will not hesitate to take action against those who seek to undermine China's sovereignty and stability.Stock market today: Wall Street slips as technology stocks drag on the market NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks slipped as Wall Street closes out a holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 fell 1.4% Friday and the the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 402 points, or 0.9%. The Nasdaq composite is down 2%. Technology stocks were the biggest drag on the market. The major indexes are still on track to close the week with gains, and the S&P 500 remains headed for its second consecutive annual gain of more than 20%. In Asia, Japan’s benchmark index surged as the yen remained weak against the dollar. Stocks in South Korea fell after the main opposition party voted to impeach the country’s acting leader. 10 tips from experts to help you change your relationship with money in 2025 NEW YORK (AP) — As the calendar changes to 2025, you might be thinking about how to approach your relationship with money in the new year. Whether you’re saving to move out of your parents’ house or pay off student loan debt, financial resolutions can help you stay motivated. If you’re planning to make financial resolutions for the new year, experts recommend that you start by evaluating the state of your finances in 2024. Then, set specific goals and make sure they’re attainable for your lifestyle. Most Americans blame insurance profits and denials alongside the killer in UHC CEO death, poll finds WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials share responsibility for the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO — although not as much as the person who pulled the trigger. So says a new poll from NORC at the University of Chicago. It finds that about 8 in 10 Americans say that the person who committed the killing has “a great deal” or “a moderate amount” of responsibility for the Dec. 4 shooting of Brian Thompson. Still, some see suspect Luigi Mangione as a heroic figure. About 7 in 10 adults say coverage denials or health insurance profits also bear at least “a moderate amount” of responsibility for Thompson’s death. Another jackpot surpasses $1 billion. Is this the new normal? Remember this moment because it probably won’t last: A U.S. lottery jackpot is projected to soar above $1 billion, and that's still a big deal. Friday’s Mega Millions drawing is worth an estimated $1.15 billion. The prize has evoked headlines across the country, despite the nation's top 10 jackpots already having boasted billion-dollar payouts. Jonathan Cohen is the author of the book “For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America.” He says he expects jackpots to continue to grow in size. Larger payouts attract more media attention, increase ticket sales and bring in new players. How the stock market defied expectations again this year, by the numbers NEW YORK (AP) — What a wonderful year 2024 has been for investors. U.S. stocks ripped higher and carried the S&P 500 to records as the economy kept growing and the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates. The benchmark index posted its first back-to-back annual gains of more than 20% since 1998. The year featured many familiar winners, such as Big Tech, which got even bigger as their stock prices kept growing. But it wasn’t just Apple, Nvidia and the like. Bitcoin and gold surged and “Roaring Kitty” reappeared to briefly reignite the meme stock craze. Richard Parsons, prominent executive who led Time Warner and Citigroup, dies at 76 NEW YORK (AP) — Richard Parsons, one of corporate America’s most prominent Black executives who held top posts at Time Warner and Citigroup, has died. He was 76. Parsons died Thursday at his Manhattan home. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2015 and cited “unanticipated complications” from the disease for cutting back on work a few years later. Financial services company Lazard confirmed his death. Parsons was a longtime member of the company's board. His friend Ronald Lauder told The New York Times that the cause of death was cancer. Parsons stepped down Dec. 3 from the boards of Lazard and Lauder’s company, Estée Lauder, citing health reasons. He had been on Estée Lauder’s board for 25 years. Israel strikes Houthi rebels in Yemen's capital while the WHO chief says he was meters away JERUSALEM (AP) — A new round of Israeli airstrikes in Yemen has targeted the Houthi rebel-held capital of Sanaa and multiple ports. The World Health Organization’s director-general said Thursday's bombardment took place just “meters away” as he was about to board a flight in Sanaa. He says a crew member was hurt. The strikes followed several days of Houthi attacks and launches setting off sirens in Israel. Israel's military says it attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the airport in Sanaa, power stations and ports. The Israeli military later said it wasn’t aware that the WHO chief was at the location in Yemen. At least three people were reported killed and dozens injured in the Sanaa airport strike. Holiday shoppers increased spending by 3.8% despite higher prices New data shows holiday sales rose this year even as Americans wrestled with still high prices in many grocery necessities and other financial worries. According to Mastercard SpendingPulse, holiday sales from the beginning of November through Christmas Eve climbed 3.8%, a faster pace than the 3.1% increase from a year earlier. The measure tracks all kinds of payments including cash and debit cards. This year, retailers were even more under the gun to get shoppers in to buy early and in bulk since there were five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mastercard SpendingPulse says the last five days of the season accounted for 10% of the spending. Sales of clothing, electronics and Jewelry rose. Finland stops Russia-linked vessel over damaged undersea power cable in Baltic Sea FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Finnish police say authorities detained a ship linked to neighboring Russia as they investigate whether it damaged a Baltic Sea power cable and several data cables. It was the latest incident involving disruption of key infrastructure. Police and border guards boarded the Eagle S and took control as they investigate damage to the Estlink-2 undersea power cable. The cable brings electricity from Finland to Estonia across the Baltic Sea. The cable went down on Wednesday. The incident follows damage to two data cables and the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Both have been termed sabotage. Climate-friendly electricity sees big battery projects soar again for 2024 2024 was another banner year for a source of electricity that is better for people’s lungs, better for climate change and may be reaching your home now when you turn on the lights or turn up the thermostat — large banks of batteries. Storing extra power in batteries effectively extends the hours of solar and wind power in a day. Storage is also important as global electricity demand rises. Last, it is important for increasingly frequent extreme weather events, worsened by climate change. Texas and California are embracing the benefits of batteries, but some other regions are dragging their feet.
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White supremacist Nick Fuentes is facing battery charges for allegedly macing a woman who confronted him on Nov. 10. In a report obtained Friday by multiple media outlets, Berwyn, Illinois police wrote that a passerby described seeing “a male push a female down the stairs, spray her with mace” and break her phone. Officers responding to the scene identified said male as Fuentes. They said the woman had been provoked by a viral social media post on Election Day, in which Fuentes celebrated an expected rollback of abortion rights by writing: “Your body, my choice. Forever.” “Nicholas then grabbed her phone and momentarily went inside his house before coming back out,” per the police report. “They both then waited for police to arrive. Marla related she did not want to sign complaints at this time.” The incident report, which was first obtained by The Smoking Gun, said Fuentes had been searched, fingerprinted and booked Nov. 27 on a misdemeanor battery charge. He was released but is set to appear in Cook County court on Dec. 19. Fuentes, a 26-year-old far-right influencer who has previously espoused his “love” for Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler, encouraged people to storm the U.S. Capitol in 2021 and dined with President-elect Donald Trump in 2022, is now selling “mugshot merch” on his website. Fuentes appeared to acknowledge the arrest on Friday on X , formerly Twitter, writing: “Free me n***a.” Fuentes’ address was leaked online after his anti-abortion post on the eve of Trump’s election, which eventually garnered more than 50,000 likes. He defended the post to police by arguing he simply “posted a political joke online,” per the report. Rose told Vice last month that she initially only intended to ask Fuentes if he had been harassed or received deliveries of diapers, since Rose said his critics on social media said they’d send him some. She said she only rang his doorbell when an onlooker encouraged her to. “I didn’t expect him to answer,” she told the outlet . “And then as I was saying hi, the spray immediately started. I was going to ask him, ‘Why do you feel comfortable saying the things that you say?’ And it was obvious he’s very scared, probably extremely paranoid.” “I’m 5-foot-1,” explained Rose. “He’s not a big man himself, but I’m 57, he’s 26.” Vice’s report also included a brief video clip of the scuffle. Fuentes told police he has been receiving death threats following his post on Election Day, and that he was in “fear for his life” when Rose appeared at his doorstep. Rose is reportedly planning to file a civil lawsuit against Fuentes over the incident. The “your body, my choice” line has taken on a life of its own. Many of Fuentes’ followers have seized on the phrase by using it to reply to women’s posts on various social media platforms, parents on TikTok have been sharing instances of boys harassing other children with it in real life. JD Vance Praises Trump For Talking To 'Anybody' When Pressed About Nick Fuentes Dinner Daily Wire CEO Tells A White Supremacist He’s ‘Talented’ And ‘Very Funny’ Court Rules Idaho Can Enforce Ban On Interstate Abortion TravelJayden Daniels and the offense stalling have the Commanders on a three-game losing streak
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EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Tayshawn Comer scored 18 points as Evansville beat Campbell 66-53 on Sunday night. Comer had six rebounds and six assists for the Purple Aces (3-4). Cameron Haffner scored 16 points and added six rebounds. Gabriel Pozzato shot 3 for 5, including 2 for 3 from beyond the arc to finish with 10 points. Jasin Sinani led the way for the Fighting Camels (3-4) with 22 points. Colby Duggan added 11 points and Nolan Dorsey totaled eight points, seven rebounds and four steals. Evansville took the lead with 1:45 left in the first half and never looked back. The score was 34-28 at halftime, with Haffner racking up eight points. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
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(The Center Square) – Adoption of institutional neutrality is supported by better than 6 in 10 tenured and nontenured faculty at the University of North Carolina, Wake Forest University and Duke University, a report says. Nationally, 66% of faculty say “colleges and universities should not take positions on political and social issues,” says Silence in the Classroom, the 2024 FIRE Faculty Survey Report. At Duke, the percentage is 71%, at Carolina 65%, and at Wake 64%. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
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PSG beats Toulouse 3-0 and Akliouche double gives Monaco home win over BrestHOUSTON — While most grocery and big box stores will be closed on Christmas Day , you're not completely out of luck if you need to run out to pick up a last-minute stocking stuffer or forgot a key ingredient for your holiday recipe. In addition to closing all day Wednesday, many major retailers and grocery stores are planning to close early Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. If you want a cup of coffee or last-minute groceries on Christmas Day, there are some stores that will be open, but expect limited hours at those that stay open. Dunkin' , Denny's, IHOP, and Waffle House locations will be open, though it's best to call ahead and double-check with your local store before showing up. Stores open on Christmas Day 7-Eleven (Most stores are open 24/7 (including on Christmas), but some locations’ hours can vary) CVS (locations are set to be open at normal hours, but may vary) Carl’s Jr./Hardees (Hours vary by location) Dunkin' Fogo de Chao (Open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.) Hooters (Open Christmas Eve from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Christmas Day from 4 p.m. to midnight. KC stores will open at 11 a.m. for the 1:30 p.m. Chiefs game and close at 10 p.m.) IHOP: Open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, check with local IHOP as hours will vary by location Denny's (Remains open 24/7 throughout the year) Red Lobster (Open for dine-in and to-go orders Christmas Eve and Christmas from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. respectively) Rite Aid (24-hour stores will close at 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve and stay closed on Christmas Day) Starbucks (Many Starbucks locations will be open on Christmas, but hours vary by location) Walgreens (Most Walgreens stores will have adjusted hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Christmas Day. All 24-hour locations will continue to remain open. You can double-check local hours here .) Store hours may vary by location. Double-check the times in advance at your nearest location to confirm hours. Is H-E-B open on Christmas? H-E-B stores will be closing early for Christmas Eve. Stores open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 24. The pharmacy closes at 5 p.m., Curbside at 7 p.m., and Home Delivery at 6 p.m. On Christmas Day. all stores, pharmacies, curbside, and home delivery services will be closed Is Starbucks open on Christmas? Many Starbucks locations will be open on Christmas, but hours can vary — with the company noting that “stores may occasionally adjust their hours based on business and customer needs” throughout the holiday season. It's best to check ahead online . Is Walmart open on Christmas? The country's largest retailer is closed on Christmas Day. Stores will be open Christmas Eve, but most locations will close at 6 p.m. local time. Is Sam's Club open on Christmas? Sam's Club will be closed on Christmas. Stores will reopen for all members at 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 26. Early shopping will be open at 8 a.m. for Plus members. The café opens at 10 a.m. The fuel center opens at 6 a.m. Is Target open on Christmas? No, Target stores are not open on Christmas Day. Most stores are open from 7 a.m. to midnight through Dec. 23 and from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. local time on Christmas Eve. All stores will reopen at their regular times on Dec. 26. What are Safeway's Christmas hours? Most Safeway stores will be open on Christmas Eve with reduced hours. Check your local store for details. Some Safeway stores will be closed on Christmas Day. Locations that choose to stay open will have limited hours. Is Costco open on Christmas? No, Costco locations are not open on Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. Is Kroger open on Christmas? Kroger announced all stores and fuel centers will close at 6 p.m. Christmas Eve with most pharmacies closing at 4 p.m. Stores will be closed all of Christmas Day. The Kroger brand includes Baker’s, City Market, Dillons, Food 4 Less, Foods Co, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Gerbes, Jay C Food Store, King Soopers, Kroger, Mariano’s, Metro Market, Pay-Less Super Markets, Pick’n Save, QFC, Ralphs, Ruler, and Smith’s Food and Drug. Is Aldi closed on Christmas? Aldi stores will be closed on Christmas Day, but stores will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Are Food Lion stores closed on Christmas? Food Lion stores will be open until 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve. All Food Lion stores will be closed on Christmas Day. Are liquor stores open on Christmas? For those looking to make a trip to their local liquor store on Christmas, you are out of luck. Liquor stores will be closed on the holiday. In Texas, liquor stores are closed on Sunday, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day, according to the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission . If Christmas Day or New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, liquor stores will be closed the following Monday. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
