bola slot vip GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — Treysen Eaglestaff's 19 points helped North Dakota defeat Waldorf College 97-57 on Sunday night. Eaglestaff shot 6 of 11 from the field, including 2 for 4 from 3-point range, and went 5 for 6 from the line for the Fightin' Hawks (6-9). Mier Panoam added 13 points and six rebounds. Zach Kraft had 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting from 3-point range. Gene Noble led the way for the Warriors with 12 points and six rebounds. Emmanuel Ferguson scored 10 and Ugo Ejiofor pitched in with nine points, 11 rebounds and two blocks. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .(The Center Square) – Prosecutors introduced secretly recorded audio and video along with a troubled star witness at the public corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Former Chicago Alderman Daniel Solis returned to the Everett McKinley U.S. Courthouse Monday. Solis is facing one federal count of bribery under a deferred prosecution agreement. The ex-alderman began cooperating with federal investigators in 2016. Separately Monday, former Chicago Alderman Daniel Solis, former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and Madigan codefendant Michael McClain enter the federal court building in Chicago Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. U.S. government attorney Diane MacArthur first introduced a recording of Madigan and Solis nearly two years before the alderman started cooperating with the government. The recording involved a conversation with Chinese developer, See Wong, who wanted to build a hotel on a parcel of land in Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood. The land was owned by the state of Illinois at the time, but Solis said a zoning change would be required from the city in order for a hotel to be built. At Madigan’s request, Solis said he facilitated the meeting on Aug. 8, 2014, at Madigan’s law firm, Madigan and Getzendanner, about the land along Wentworth Avenue between Archer Avenue and Cermak Road. Madigan’s law partner, Bud Getzendanner, discussed how successful the firm had been in working with hotels to make sure they were not taxed more than necessary. ”A large component of your expense for hotels is real estate taxes,” Getzendanner said during the recorded meeting. Getzendanner said the firm charged 12.5% of the tax savings obtained. Madigan told Wong and an interpreter about the quality of service his firm provided. “We don’t take a second seat to anybody,” Madigan said. The developer then asked for a picture with Madigan and Solis. Solis told the group that Wong would benefit from working with Madigan. “If he works with the Speaker, he will get anything he needs for that hotel,” Solis said on the recording. Solis testified that he meant the city would provide the zoning change the developer needed from the city if the developer hired Madigan’s law firm. Solis said the zoning change was approved, but the proposed hotel was never built. MacArthur asked Solis about the bribery charge he is still facing, which Solis said involved the redevelopment of a property in Chicago from a restaurant to a residential building in 2015. Solis said two problems prevented the project from moving forward: labor unions’ perceived lack of representation in the development and residents' concerns in the ward. The former alderman admitted that he solicited a campaign contribution from the developer or from one or more of the developer’s vendors while the project’s zoning change was still under consideration. Solis said he believed the developer was on board and that he would be getting donations from the developers’ vendors. The zoning change was approved by the city council, Solis said. He testified he solicited and accepted campaign contributions from other developers who had matters pending before the city council’s zoning committee. Solis then testified about about a variety of things like massages that turned sexual, trips to Las Vegas, tickets to professional sporting events, no-paperwork six-figure loans he'd paid back. He even admitted to an extramarital affair he had with an interpreter. Solis said he was separated from his wife for about five years and their house went into foreclosure. He also confessed that he lied to a collection agency by saying he was out of work. MacArthur asked Solis about his sister, Patti Solis Doyle, who worked on campaigns for former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, former President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, D-New York. Solis Doyle also managed Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008. Solis said his sister was involved in a hotel project in which the developer offered her $100,000. Solis said his sister offered to split the sum with her brother. As chairman of the city’s zoning committee, Solis said he told his sister he could not accept money regarding a hotel development. Solis said his sister told him there would be another way she could compensate him. The former alderman said he did receive funds from his sister for referring her to his friend Brian Hynes’ state vendor assistance program. Monday afternoon, Solis testified that FBI agents visited his home on June 1, 2016, and played audio and video recordings. After considering an attorney, Solis said he decided to cooperate with the FBI a few days later and agreed to let investigators tap his phone. Solis also said he told an attorney friend that he was cooperating with the FBI in regard to an investigation of an organization he was involved in. Solis said he made recordings for several investigations he was involved in as part of his deferred prosecution agreement. He began communicating with Madigan after receiving a voicemail message on June 12, 2017. Solis said he discussed the Chinatown land deal, his interest in getting a state board appointment, and referring clients to Madigan’s law firm while cooperating with the government from June 2016 to December 2017. Solis admitted that he was not really interested in a state board appointment, but he raised the issue with Madigan at the direction of law enforcement. Solis said he began communicating with Madigan codefendant Michael McClain about the Chinatown parcel in the fall of 2017. He said he had to continue to perform his duties as an alderman while cooperating with the FBI because of “the farce” that he was involved in. Solis discussed a 2017 redevelopment project that required a zoning change involving a Union West development in Chicago’s West Loop. MacArthur played a recording, dated June 12, 2017, of Madigan asking Solis about the development. During the call, Solis told the speaker he would try to arrange an introduction for Madigan with the developers. In a subsequent call, Solis promised to arrange a meeting and said, “I think these guys get it, the quid pro quo and how it works.” When MacArthur asked Solis why he said that, Solis said he didn’t know and said it was “dumb.” MacArthur asked Solis if he used the words “quid pro quo” at the direction of law enforcement. “No,” Solis said. Union West developer Andrew Cretal agreed to meet with Madigan and told Solis, “confidentially,” that his company was working with Goldman Sachs as an equity partner and that he would “circle back” with Solis. MacArthur played a recording of Madigan privately telling Solis not to use the words, “quid quo pro.” The conversation immediately preceded the meeting Cretal and the Union West group had at Madigan's and Getzendanner’s law office. During the meeting, Madigan repeated to Cretal’s group what he had said to See Wong. “We don’t take a second seat to anybody,” Madigan said. Solis said he met with Madigan again privately after the meeting with the intention of discussing the Chinatown parcel. Solis said he had been having frequent meetings about the land with potential developers. During the recording, Solis said that nothing could really happen until the state transferred the land. Connie Mixon, professor of Political Science and director of the Urban Studies Program at Elmhurst University, served as an expert witness at the corruption trial of longtime Chicago Democrat Ed Burke, who served on the city council from 1969 to 2023. A jury convicted Burke in December 2023 on 18 counts of racketeering, bribery, attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion and using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity. Mixon said that Solis also testified as a cooperating witness during Burke’s trial. “It seemed as if, in the sentencing for the Burke trial, the judge did take a bit of exception to the fact that Solis, who also had potential criminal charges, was essentially getting away without any sort of repercussions,” Mixon told The Center Square. Mixon described Solis as a damaged witness. “He’s absolutely damaged, but as much as he’s damaged, you have the words on the wiretap. Having the defendants’ words played in the courtroom, they are really the witness against themselves when you have those wiretaps,” Mixon explained. Before the jury was seated Monday morning, prosecutors said they would provide the court with revised jury instructions by Dec. 3. Judge John Robert Blakey said he could deny admittance of new materials after that date if he deemed them to be untimely. Madigan and McClain are charged with 23 counts of bribery, racketeering and official misconduct. The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday morning in Chicago.

Another weekend of downhill skiing at Loch Lomond Ski Area(Image: Private Media/Zennie) One of the great things about becoming a parent is you learn you are not the lead character in your own life story. The best you can hope for is a supporting role. As your children grow older, you become a featured player, provide comic relief or maybe get the occasional non-speaking walk-on as someone’s butler or maid. Towards the end, you’re earning two dollars a day as a background extra and aren’t allowed to eat in the catering tent. At the beginning though, when your name’s still above the title, your job is to try and create an ideal world for those with whom you’re sharing the bill. At the same time you’re building this safe fairytale space where bad things don’t happen, you have to equip them with all the skills they’ll need to live in the world as it really is: a meaningless roundelay of happenstance that can only be made sense of by one’s actions (or distractions). That’s the trick with rearing children. You’ve got to keep them as innocent as possible without bedding in a naiveté that will render them crushed once they find out sunshine and lollipops give them skin cancer and diabetes. Da pacem, Domine: Why Trump is what democracy needs Read More Self-awareness is an essential part of the human condition, but you don’t want it turning up too early or it risks becoming self-consciousness. Realising that you are beautiful or not, smart or not, sporty or not, funny or not — this can ruin the person you might have become, especially if that realisation is the product of someone else’s judgment. Better to stumble across that sort of thing in private and deal with it than be buffeted about by public opinion while you’re working on getting a decent ATAR. The playground is a hard enough place without a video of yourself being stuffed into a bin doing the rounds on social media. In a playground you can at least see where the gate is; with social media there’s nowhere to run. You think the whole world is witnessing your humiliation and then reading the comments underneath. Of course, it isn’t the whole world at all, but you don’t know that when you’re a kid: it’s hard to take the long view on something when you’ve only seen 13 summers, the first three or four of which you can’t even remember. Fame or infamy is experienced by most of us from the outside looking in. Being a vaguely recognisable person on TV is a poor and distant cousin, so I can’t tell you what it’s like to be the object of everyone’s attention all the time, but I imagine it would get wearying, even if it’s adoring. I’ve had my share of people being unimpressed with something I’ve done on TV over the years — and not all of them have been network executives — but that has always felt like a rejection of my work rather than me as a person, so it’s easily shrugged off. Or so I pretend. The judgment of others, damning or propitious, for simply being rather than just doing , messes with your head when you’re a fully grown adult wandering about on Married at First Sight, let alone when you’re a child being made fun of because you posted a picture you liked of yourself in a dress your grandmother made for you. As T.S. Eliot said: “Humankind cannot bear very much reality”. I know I can’t stomach more than five minutes of it (particularly Married at First Sight ). A child deserves as much of an ideal and perfect world as we can possibly confect and maintain for them, so I’m all for being a chirpy Pollyanna until my kids are old enough to roll their eyes at me. They’re in their twenties now and I still think I’m getting away with it. And like the prayers everyone joins in on at the opening of the parliamentary day, I’m happy for our lawmakers to engage in some fiction here and there if it helps make for that Benthamite definition of good: the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. A snottily superior plea for tolerance Read More Now, the Elon Musks of this world (and there is at least one we’re certain of) will say that Australia’s proposed law compelling social media platforms to set up age-verification systems is a draconian stranglehold around the throat of free speech and, worse, “a backdoor way to control access to the internet”, like Musk said . They will point to X and Facebook and Instagram and TikTok and MySpace (my favourite) and say that these concatenations of code are today’s town squares and the marketplaces of free ideas. But are if you’re giving away ideas for free in a marketplace, you’re not going to cover your overheads. You need some margin. It may be old-fashioned to say so, but the best ideas are the ones you have to pay for, either by buying a book, forking out for an education or costing you dearly later because the idea came to you unbidden while you were bored in a cave one day, was about God and you started telling people about it (though if it really catches on, civilisation usually ends up attending to the account on your behalf). There’s also the question of nametags and friendly customer service. In an actual marketplace, it’s rare that a stall holder will be wearing a balaclava or spruiking their wares through a voice-altering microphone. Plus, the customer tends to visit the stall rather than have an algorithm make it appear in front of them unbidden so they end up getting annoyed and start fighting with the stallholder. Then there’s the behaviour of the other customers. In a real marketplace, people will visit the stalls and look at what’s for sale and politely enquire after this or that so they can make an informed purchase. There’s civility and courtesy between the potential customer and the balaclava-less, non-voice-altered stallholder. Customers rarely run through the market shouting abuse, asking sarcastic rhetorical questions and making incoherent declarative statements. Nor will they try and pass off a GIF of Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men as a counter-argument. To paraphrase something Sigmund Freud apparently never said about cigars: “Sometimes a meme of a dog going to the toilet is just a meme of a dog going to the toilet.” An opinion needs to have some rational underpinning to it for it to be worth anything. It also helps if the words are spelled properly, in the right order, and the whole thing is punctuated. If Clarence Darrow had employed the inarticulate sophistry of social media in his court cases, then Scopes’ monkey would be teaching bible studies in American schools today and Leopold and Loeb would still be writing their wonderful musicals. Labor gave the public one day to weigh in on teen social media ban. It got 15,000 responses Read More Ditto all this nonsense about freedom of speech. People forget (or more likely never knew because, according to some government-led enquiry into early childhood learning, lunchtimes are more important than an extra hour inside learning about civics) that freedom of speech is a right accorded you by society. It’s not some cosplay version of what we imagine our early hominid ancestors got away with when they came down from the trees. Yes, whoever yelled the loudest could be heard more, but someone sneaking up behind him with a rock probably got the final say. The unfettered expression of some brute instinct is curbed in exchange for the benefits of social cohesion. As a community, we say that individuals can say whatever they like providing it doesn’t interfere with anyone else’s ability to enjoy their other rights. Most of these are societal norms that have grown from the tolerance needed to facilitate commerce (the aforementioned civility, politeness and courtesy). There’s wriggle room there but then there are the laws that are more fixed in stone that cover things like defamation, racial vilification, sexual harassment, inciting violence, and even making gestures that remind people of certain things people might have said back in the 1940s. Now, because freedom of speech is a right given by society to the individual, its parameters are worked out by the stakeholders, viz. the individuals working in concert with each other for the common good, usually through those we voted for to act on our behalf in the various parliament houses across the land. If we’re in the minority in terms of what we believe is fit and proper to say in public then tough shit, the mob rules and you can go fuck yourself. That’s democracy. Of course, you have the right to voice your disapproval of how narrow or broad-minded the bulk of the people are being, providing you don’t use rocks (law) or yell over someone else when that someone else is talking (politeness). So, when people like Elon Musk (and indeed, Musk himself) bang on about how Judge de Moraes is suppressing freedom of speech in Brazil, or weighs in on Australia’s height requirement to go for a ride on the internet, we have to remember that neither he nor his company are actual stakeholders. Most of these companies aren’t corporate citizens of the countries for which they’re championing this freedom so vociferously (and usually on the very platforms under scrutiny). All they’re doing is fishing over the fence and complaining about the quality of the pond water. No registered office = no say in the matter. Of course, they can complain about it till their Bluesky in the face — that’s their right, but freedom of speech does not imply the right to be heard or listened to. That depends on the soundness of what is being said. A real town square where people can get up and have their say usually has a speaker’s corner. People take their turn and will gather around or drift away depending on what is being said, how and why it’s being said, and perhaps who is saying it. A few people are in the town square just to have their sandwich, others will engage with the speaker on their soapbox. But there’s an understanding that the occasional “Boo” or “Rubbish!” isn’t going to drown them out; and if it does, the others gathered about won’t allow it (convention). Social media bill shows liberalism has fled Dutton’s Liberal Party Read More Every square inch of the internet version of the town square has a soapbox on it and each person standing on one is holding forth on something that interests them or that they hope will encourage someone to yell “Boo” or “Rubbish!”. Those gathered around to listen are also on soapboxes, as are those just eating their sandwiches. Some have a loudhailer with a blue tick on it (for sale at popular prices), but there’s some debate about whether these items actually amplify the voices going through them or just make the user look silly. The thing is the people on the soapboxes aren’t making any allowance in delivery or arrogance for the fact that there are millions upon millions of others doing exactly the same thing; and that with so many soapboxes, everyone is on the same level. What they’re on is not a platform at all. If anything, they’re down in an orchestra pit where everybody’s trying to play Stockhausen’s “Licht: Die sieben Tage der Woche” . Lack of engagement causes a rush of dynorphins and even though you’re screaming into a void most of the time there’s still enough reverb for it to work well as an echo chamber. So, I’m all for our children not running amok in town squares and marketplaces by themselves, and despite my reservations about giving tech companies access to our birth certificates and possibly even our fingerprints (they no doubt have them already anyway), I support the further erosion of our privacy for us adults too, if only for that blissful period of transition where social media will have to close down while everyone’s age is authenticated. No-one will be able to post anything until the new systems are up and running and folks can get back to rolling hoops and running a stick along the palings of a neighbour’s fence to have their fun. It is my hope that when and if social media returns to colonise the remaining hinterland of our minds, it shall have to use everyone’s freshly authenticated real name and untouched non-Dall-E photo; no stallholder will wear a mask, voices will be identifiable, civility will return to our discourse, GIFs will be banished due to harsher penalties under copyright law, memes will be eradicated forever by some sort of state-mandated magnetic pulse and our children will at last be able to live for eternity in an ideal world where nothing bad ever happens and perhaps some sort of animated dog teaches critical thinking and civics so that when AI finally does rise up and achieve consciousness, our children can turn off our computers for us, make it all go away and take to the real world as fully rounded human beings. And solve global warming, obviously. Have something to say about this article? Write to us at letters@crikey.com.au . Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say . We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.

The Reserve Bank of India Innovation Hub (RBIH) has onboarded digital lender Vivifi Finance to run a pilot project to offer unsecured loans to gig workers, two people with the knowledge said. ET Year-end Special Reads What kept India's stock market investors on toes in 2024? India's car race: How far EVs went in 2024 Investing in 2025: Six wealth management trends to watch out for The pilot that was launched a fortnight ago is aimed at creating a digital platform that offers loans to drivers of cab-hailing apps like Ola and Uber drivers, food delivery drivers employed with Swiggy and Zomato , and other temporary jobs. "The RBI innovation hub is running a pilot with Vivifi Finance and three other gig platforms, where alternate data is being used to underwrite these gig workers," said a source aware of the matter. "The idea is to bring them into formal banking channels and offer them credit based on that data." The RBI and Vivifi India Finance did not respond to ET's queries until Sunday press time. The pilot is currently in the early stages. 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"Once the pilot is successful, the next plan is to link it with the Unified Lending Interface (ULI) platform." More than 600,000 loans amounting to ₹27,000 crore have been disbursed using the ULI platform in the pilot project. The RBIH had earlier launched a Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit, which was used to build an end-to-end digital solution to offer agriculture loans. This platform was renamed Unified Lending Interface which commenced in a pilot phase on August 17, 2023. According to data from RBI, as of December 6, 2024, over 6 lakh loans amounting to ₹27,000 crore have been disbursed using application programming interfaces from the platform. A substantial number of micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) loans worth ₹14,500 crore to 160,000 beneficiaries have been disbursed. The ULI is a digital public infrastructure in the lending space, which aims to unlock critical financial, non-financial and alternate data for lenders to enable informed credit decisions. So far, 36 lenders, including various banks and NBCs have been onboarded. These lenders are using more than 50 data services including, authentication and verification services, land records data from six states, satellite service, property search, dairy insights and document verification, to gain customer information. Nominations for ET MSME Awards are now open. The last day to apply is December 31, 2024. Click here to submit your entry for any one or more of the 22 categories and stand a chance to win a prestigious award. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )Amid a fresh wave of violence, Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum has sent her security chief and thousands of troops to stem a bloody escalation of drug cartel crime in Sinaloa state, signaling a shift in security strategy in the Latin American nation. On the campaign trail, Sheinbaum had promised to largely continue the security policy of her mentor and predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, which prioritized addressing the root social causes of crime rather than attacking the cartels - an approach nicknamed "hugs not bullets" after a catchphrase of the former president. But initial signs from her first months in office suggest a more aggressive approach with the most substantial deployment in at least six years of military and naval troops, as well as special forces and heavy weaponry to Sinaloa since an intra-cartel war broke out in September. High-profile arrests and large drug seizures have followed, including a record bust of over a ton of fentanyl. That more front-footed strategy could align well with President-elect Donald Trump, who has called on Mexico to do more to stop the flow of drugs, and migrants, to the U.S. But it also risks further inflaming violence and homicides, as a more confrontational position has done in the past in a country where cartels are heavily armed with military-grade weapons. Sheinbaum's office did not reply to a request for comment. "There is a change without a doubt ... we are seeing signs that the strategy of hugs and not bullets is on the way out," said Vicente Sanchez, a security expert and member of Mexico's National System of Investigators, a government agency that works to improve the quality of Mexican research. Security experts said they believe the new strategy is partly a response to Trump's threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on products from Mexico if the country does not curb drug trafficking and the illegal crossing of migrants into the United States. Some have also taken it as an indirect admission that Lopez Obrador's less confrontational strategy did not work, with many experts saying it helped organized crime groups entrench power in vast swaths of the country. The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, publicly criticized the approach, saying it had "failed" and "Mexico is not safe." MILITARY TO THE STREETS Some security experts have drawn comparisons between the operations in Sinaloa and the military war waged on the cartels by then-President Felipe Calderon in 2006. That triggered a spiral of violence to which many analysts trace the continued high homicide rates Mexico. The United Nations has repeatedly criticized the use of the armed forces in the fight against crime in Mexico, arguing that it encourages human rights violations. The Mexican government denies that security in the country has been militarized or that human rights abuses are common. Key to Sheinbaum's crime-fighting strategy is her new security chief Omar Garcia Harfuch, an experienced policeman who worked for the president while she was mayor of Mexico City. Sheinbaum sent Garcia Harfuch to Sinaloa to oversee operations. "We know how difficult it is to pacify the country," he said last week after an investigator from his ministry was killed in Sinaloa. The confrontation between rival groups in Sinaloa, which intensified on Sept. 9, has so far killed some 650 people, with more reported missing. In an attempt to contain the conflict, the local security chief was replaced by a military officer over the weekend. In the same week, at least three soldiers were killed by land mines laid by organized crime in two separate locations in the western state of Michoacan. For some experts there is a danger if Sheinbaum seeks to replicate her strategy in Sinaloa across the country. "Each one (criminal group) has its own personality, its own mark, and we have to find the part that hurts them," said Tomas Guevara, an expert on security issues in Sinaloa.North Carolina interviews Bill Belichick for head coaching job, AP sources say

North Carolina interviews Bill Belichick for head coaching job, AP sources say

Republican lawmakers are calling on U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to preserve documents related to the proposed sale of United States Steel to Japan-based Nippon Steel, expressing "serious concerns” that politics have tainted an ongoing national security review of the deal and raising the prospect of a congressional probe. Four House Republicans wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Friday, saying that recent developments related to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) "have called into question the integrity of its decision-making process,” and demanding the preservation of records related to the steel transaction. The matter raises "broader issues about whether the statutory mandate of CFIUS to prioritize national security considerations has been subordinated to political interests,” the lawmakers wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Bloomberg News. The documents should "remain intact and available for any forthcoming oversight needs,” the letter, from some members of the House Financial Services Committee, adds.

“It is with profound sadness that we acknowledge the passing of former United States President Jimmy Carter, a leader who dedicated his life to service, peace, and the betterment of humanity,” Premier David Burt said this evening [Dec 29]. “President Carter’s commitment to human rights, diplomacy over conflict, and the fight against poverty both during and after his presidency, transformed countless lives and set a powerful example of servant leadership. “On behalf of the Government and people of Bermuda, I extend our deepest condolences to President Carter’s family, the American people, and all those around the world mourning the loss of this outstanding statesman.” In a statement today, the Carter Center said, “Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, died peacefully Sunday, Dec. 29, at his home in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by his family. He was 100, the longest-lived president in U.S. history. “President Carter is survived by his children — Jack, Chip, Jeff, and Amy; 11 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Rosalynn, and one grandchild. “My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,” said Chip Carter, the former president’s son. “My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs. The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.” “There will be public observances in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., followed by a private interment in Plains, Georgia. The final arrangements for President Carter’s state funeral, including all public events and motorcade routes, are still pending.” : , ,North Carolina interviews Bill Belichick for head coaching job, AP sources sayA bumper pace of new share sales across the Middle East in 2024 is expected to continue next year, even though a few recent disappointing trading debuts have flashed warning signs on valuations. Firms have raised $13bn from initial public offerings in 2024, marking the Middle East’s second-best year since the pandemic. But unlike in previous years, buoyant early returns are no longer a given. The three largest Gulf offerings of the year — Talabat Holding PLC, OQ Exploration & Production SAOG and Lulu Retail Holdings PLC — had muted debuts recently after drawing significant demand. Lulu and Talabat’s deals were both upsized at a late stage, potentially leading to oversupply, some analysts said. “Investors are expressing more sensitivity on valuation, and are more attuned to paying for growth companies as opposed to just buying the yield opportunities,” according to Ali Khalpey, head of equity capital markets at EFG Hermes. Still, as Gulf governments continue a push to diversify their economies and deepen capital markets, market participants expect the rush of listings to continue. “I don’t see anything stopping it,” said Andrew Briscoe, Bank of America Corp’s head of equity capital markets syndicate in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “IPOs haven’t all worked well of late, but I don’t think it stops the issuance levels, although it might impact investor interest.” For context on how busy it’s been, the United Arab Emirates is set to be the leading venue for listings in the broader Europe, Middle East and Africa region for the third year in a row, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The UAE and Saudi Arabia also rank among the top ten venues for share sales globally. There were also sizeable IPOs outside those markets. Two large deals helped Oman leapfrog the likes of UK and Germany by total volume of share sales. The sultanate has a further pipeline of about 30 assets it wants to privatise, including logistics company Asyad Group and Oman Electricity Transmission Co, while OQ also plans to line up further listings in coming years. In the UAE, Abu Dhabi’s flag carrier Etihad Airways is considering a landmark IPO that could make it the first Gulf hub carrier to go public, while a conglomerate owned by Dubai’s ruler is weighing two real estate listings. Other potential deals include a classifieds website, an information technology services firm and a construction company. Saudi Arabia is also likely to see a string of listings, potentially including low-cost carrier Flynas, buy-now-pay-later unicorn Tabby and tech firm Ejada. The country’s wealth fund, which has been on a drive to raise cash, could sell stakes in medical procurement firm Nupco and a port operator. EFG Hermes’ Khalpey expects the kingdom to generate the largest number of IPOs next year, including both state-owned and private businesses. “Many companies have scaled over the last few years and want to take advantage of the positive macro trends in the kingdom,” said Khalpey, whose bank has advised on the highest number of listings in the Gulf in 2024, according to Bloomberg’s league tables. “That’s going to crystallise in a number of IPOs from different sectors.” Recent Saudi listings such as United International Holding and Tamkeen have tended to buck the trend of muted early trading seen in the UAE and Oman. While the uptick in IPO activity in the US and Europe has given investors more choice and an opportunity to be more discerning, there are reasons to believe more international money will flow to the Gulf. The IPO boom of recent years has meant that Middle Eastern volumes are becoming a larger part of global indexes, making it harder for global fund managers to ignore the region, according to Rami Sidani, head of frontier investments at Schroder Investment Management. Lulu’s IPO, for one, drew in Vanguard Group Inc and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte. Meanwhile, about 60% of Saudi Aramco’s $12bn sale of existing shares was allocated to foreign investors, a marked shift from its 2019 listing, where only 23% of the shares went to international buyers. That deal was one of three share offerings by public companies in the Middle East this year. While sales of new and existing shares in listed firms are still relatively rare in the Gulf, more are expected next year. That will give investors opportunities to top up on stocks they might have missed out on during IPOs, while also helping firms reach the level of free float they need to be included in indexes. “Companies looking to do follow-ons will have to compete for investor attention amid a number of new names,” said Samer Deghaili, co-head of investment banking for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey at HSBC Holdings Plc, which is the top-ranked institution for regional equity offerings by value, according to Bloomberg’s league tables. “For a company to do a follow-on, they will have to offer a strong growth story where investors can still come in and top up in the stock,” Deghaili said. Related Story Qatar-Morocco 2024 Year ends with Tbourida art shows Ajyal 2024 marks Qatar–Morocco 2024 YoC

ITV viewers have been left baffled by a celebrity special of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? The ITV quiz show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire ?, fronted by host Jeremy Clarkson, saw one of its celebrity guests struggle and use up not one but two lifelines in the first five minutes of the hot seat. The ITV celebrity special featured Jools Holland , Nina Wadia and Ugo Mony in the hot seat aiming to earn money for charities and climb the money leaderboard. However music guru Jools Holland struggled to reach the £1,000 mark, calling in his 'ask the audience' and 'phone a friend' lifelines for his fourth and fifth questions. For his fourth question, which would earn him £500, Jools was asked "In March 2020, who began hosting online fitness workouts for children under the title 'P.E. with Joe'?" Turning to the audience, they overwhelming replied that it was sports guru Joe Wicks rather than any of the other Joe choices, including former US president Joe Biden. Jools' next question asked him to draw on his film knowledge, when he was asked "Which of these is a tagline for the Hitchcock film 'Psycho'?" Calling a friend, Jools was pushed towards the right answer of "Check in. Unpack. Relax. Take a shower.", which hints at the infamous shower scene from the classic movie. Whilst Jools had used up two of his three lifelines in the first five questions, his cries for help had not gone unnoticed by viewers at home. Taking to social media, one stunned viewer wrote on X: "He used two lifelines at that in the first five questions! Bloody hell. Even Joey bloody Essex knows more than Jools Holland!" Another posted: "What the heck? Jools Holland used Phone A Friend on the Psycho question? JOOLS HOLLAND?!? I thought he was clever!" "I genuinely thought Jools Holland would be much better than this," added a third. Another posted: "Wow. It’s a good job Jools can play the piano well because he’s bloody useless at this...." "Oh Jools I thought you would do better, but I guess you either know it or you don’t," shared another. With another question asking Jools to draw on his music knowledge, he was quizzed about The Spice Girls. He dithered, as one viewer pointed out on social media: " Jools Holland getting a Spice Girls question when he appeared in the movie Spiceworld." The music icon eventually bowed out at £16,000, which he dedicated to two charities, The Princes Trust & Caring Hands.

Enaya Medical Foundation And CEO Dr. Salman Al Mutairi Earns Honor For Business Society Contributions And Executives Awards At HBC 2024 International Awards

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Allen reflected on Buffalo’s many offseason critics and doubters when asked about the Bills achieving their latest milestones while sewing up the AFC’s No. 2 seed with a 40-14 rout of the unraveling and undisciplined New York Jets on Sunday. It was a the Bills quarterback’s “I told you so moment,” even though Allen elected not to use those exact words. “It speaks to the staff that we’ve got here, the guys that we’ve got in this locker room, how this team is put together and the culture that we have,” Allen said. “We didn’t really pay attention to the preseason notions, but we heard them and we saw them and we knew what people were saying. "But it had no effect on us.” Well, that might be a stretch when it comes to motivation. What’s unquestioned is how Allen and the Bills (13-3) overcame a young, patchwork roster following the offseason departure of six of eight team captains — including Stefon Diggs being traded to Houston — to run away with their fifth consecutive AFC East title and win a franchise-best 13 games for the fifth time in team history, and third since 2020. Coach Sean McDermott didn’t leave much doubt as to who deserves the most credit for leading the Bills to their sixth consecutive playoff berth, and helping them set the single-season franchise records for points (509) and touchdowns (63). “I think Josh Allen continues to show why he should be the MVP,” McDermott said. “I’ve been around this league long enough to know to see MVP every year for many years. And what he has done on this team and this organization in this community — and no offense to anybody else — but I’ve got a hard time believing that someone’s done more.” Allen threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score to become the NFL’s first player to score 40 touchdowns in five consecutive seasons. He did so in an outing Buffalo blew the game open by capitalizing on two Jets turnovers and scoring three touchdowns over a 5:01 span in the closing minutes of the third quarter. Buffalo’s defense forced three takeaways overall and sacked Aaron Rodgers four times, including a 2-yard loss for a safety in the second quarter. Nothing went right in what became a comedy of errors for Rodgers and the Jets (4-12). New York will finish with five or fewer wins for the seventh time over a 14-season playoff drought — the NFL’s longest active streak. “It’s kind of like the season, it just got away from us. Too many games got away from us,” said Rodgers, who finished 12 of 18 for 112 yards and two interceptions before being pulled in favor of Tyrod Taylor with Buffalo leading 40-0. “We were moving the ball well and then just hit a wall. And that’s kind of been the season.” Rodgers, who entered the game with 499 career TD passes and looking to become just the fifth player to reach 500, was instead shut out and became the NFL’s most sacked quarterback. The 41-year-old has now been sacked 568 times , moving ahead of Tom Brady (565) and into first place on the career list. Taylor accounted for all of New York’s points, with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson and a 20-yarder to Tyler Conklin. Discipline was an issue for a Jets team that fell to 2-9 since Jeff Ulbrich took over as interim coach. New York finished with 16 accepted penalties for 120 yards. “It’s frustrating, it’s embarrassing, it’s maddening. It’s all of that,” Ulbrich said. Allen had a short and efficient outing, finishing 16 of 27 for 182 yards with a 30-yard TD pass to Amari Cooper and a 14-yarder to Keon Coleman before giving way to backup Mitchell Trubisky with Buffalo leading 33-0 through three quarters. And Trubisky piled on by completing a 69-yard touchdown pass to practice squad call-up Tyrell Shavers 2:23 into the fourth quarter. Shavers became the 13th Bills player to catch a touchdown pass, matching the single-season NFL record, to validate the “everybody eats” mantra Allen and the offense used to approach this season. The Bills defense enjoyed a dominating performance to snap a shaky three-game stretch in which it combined to allow 1,357 yards, 86 first downs and 107 points. “I wouldn’t say need ... and I don’t want to say reassurance, either,” said A.J. Epenesa, who sacked Rodgers for the safety. “But it just shows that this is what we can do and this is the standard that needs to be upheld.” Allen’s 1-yard score was the 65th rushing TD of his career, matching the team record held by Thurman Thomas. ... James Cook scored on a 4-yard run for his 15th TD rushing of the season, one short of the Bills' single-season record set by O.J. Simpson in a 14-game season in 1975. Cook matched Allen, who scored 15 last year. ... Wilson reached 1,000 yards receiving for the third straight year to start his career, the first Jets player to do so and the 10th player in NFL history to accomplish the feat. Jets: Close the season by hosting the Miami Dolphins. Bills: Play their regular-season finale at the New England Patriots. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflISRO is set to launch two satellites on Monday night from the Sriharikota spaceport to demonstrate docking and undocking of spacecraft in orbit, which will make India the fourth country in the world to achieve the feat. The Indian Space Research Organisation 's (ISRO) warhorse rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle ( PSLV ) will place the two satellites -- SDX01 and SDX02 -- in a 476-km circular orbit and attempt the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDEx) in the first week of January, the space agency officials said. ET Year-end Special Reads What kept India's stock market investors on toes in 2024? India's car race: How far EVs went in 2024 Investing in 2025: Six wealth management trends to watch out for "This mission will mark India's entry into the exclusive league of nations capable of mastering space docking," Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said. The SpaDEx mission is expected to be a stepping stone for India's future endeavours in space exploration which include getting rocks and soil from the moon on Earth, the proposed Bharatiya Antariksha Station and landing an astronaut on the lunar surface. Only the US, Russia and China have mastered space docking technologies. "The primary objective of the SpaDeX mission is to develop and demonstrate the technology needed for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft (SDX01, which is the Chaser, and SDX02, the Target) in a low-Earth circular orbit," an ISRO official said. 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View Program Data Science SQL for Data Science along with Data Analytics and Data Visualization By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI and Analytics based Business Strategy By - Tanusree De, Managing Director- Accenture Technology Lead, Trustworthy AI Center of Excellence: ATCI View Program Web Development A Comprehensive ASP.NET Core MVC 6 Project Guide for 2024 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Marketing Digital Marketing Masterclass by Pam Moore By - Pam Moore, Digital Transformation and Social Media Expert View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI-Powered Python Mastery with Tabnine: Boost Your Coding Skills By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Office Productivity Mastering Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and 365 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Marketing Digital marketing - Wordpress Website Development By - Shraddha Somani, Digital Marketing Trainer, Consultant, Strategiest and Subject Matter expert View Program Office Productivity Mastering Google Sheets: Unleash the Power of Excel and Advance Analysis By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Web Development Mastering Full Stack Development: From Frontend to Backend Excellence By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Finance Financial Literacy i.e Lets Crack the Billionaire Code By - CA Rahul Gupta, CA with 10+ years of experience and Accounting Educator View Program Data Science SQL Server Bootcamp 2024: Transform from Beginner to Pro By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program The secondary objective of the mission includes demonstration of the transfer of electric power between the docked spacecraft, which is essential for future applications such as in-space robotics; composite spacecraft control and payload operations after undocking. "This capability is vital for India's lunar and interplanetary missions . Docking technology enables multi-launch missions and supports future human spaceflight," Singh said. After the demonstration of docking and undocking experiments, the two satellites will continue to orbit the Earth for standalone missions for two years. The SDX01 satellite is equipped with a High Resolution Camera (HRC) and SDX02 has two payloads -- Miniature Multispectral (MMX) payload and Radiation Monitor (RadMon). These payloads will provide high-resolution images, natural resource monitoring, vegetation studies and on-orbit radiation environment measurements which have numerous applications, ISRO said. The PSLV-C60 mission also carries 24 payloads from various ISRO labs, private start-ups and educational institutions for carrying out experiments in space. These 24 payloads are mounted on the fourth stage of the PSLV rocket which remains in orbit for a few weeks before falling back on the Earth. PS4-Orbital Experiment Module (POEM) provides an opportunity for the scientific community to carry out certain in-orbit microgravity experiments for an extended duration of up to three months using the platform, which otherwise would end up as space debris immediately after the mission objective of injecting the primary payloads of the mission. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )

Jaland Lowe, Pitt charge past LSU in second half to move to 6-0Ares management sells $28.7 million in Frontier Communications stockTreysen Eaglestaff scores 19 as North Dakota cruises past Waldorf College 97-57

Predictive Safety Announces Partnership with DISA Global Solutions