NoneHigh school recruiting isn't the only way to build a winner in the transfer portal eraFirst Mireo Plus H hydrogen trains from Siemens Mobility in passenger service
Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jnr. Declares Support for NPP Ahead of December 7 ElectionsHOUSTON (AP) — An elaborate parody appears to be behind an effort to resurrect Enron, the Houston-based energy company that exemplified the worst in American corporate fraud and greed after it went bankrupt in 2001. If its return is comedic, some former employees who lost everything in Enron’s collapse aren’t laughing. “It’s a pretty sick joke and it disparages the people that did work there. And why would you want to even bring it back up again?” said former Enron employee Diana Peters, who represented workers in the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. Here’s what to know about the history of Enron and the purported effort to bring it back. Once the nation’s seventh-largest company, Enron filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 2, 2001, after years of accounting tricks could no longer hide billions of dollars in debt or make failing ventures appear profitable. The energy company's collapse put more than 5,000 people out of work and wiped out more than $2 billion in employee pensions. Its aftershocks were felt throughout the energy sector. Twenty-four Enron executives , including former CEO Jeffrey Skilling , were convicted for their roles in the fraud. Enron founder Ken Lay’s convictions were vacated after he died of heart disease following his 2006 trial. On Monday — the 23rd anniversary of the bankruptcy filing — a company representing itself as Enron announced in a news release it was relaunching as a “company dedicated to solving the global energy crisis.” It also posted a video on social media, advertised on at least one Houston billboard and a took out a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle In the minute-long video full of generic corporate jargon, the company talks about “growth” and “rebirth.” It ends with the words, “We’re back. Can we talk?” In an email, company spokesperson Will Chabot said the new Enron was not doing any interviews yet, but "We’ll have more to share soon.” Signs point to the comeback being a joke. In the “terms of use and conditions of sale” on the company's website, it says “the information on the website about Enron is First Amendment protected parody, represents performance art, and is for entertainment purposes only.” Documents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office show College Company, an Arkansas-based LLC, owns the Enron trademark. The co-founder of College Company is Connor Gaydos, who helped create a joke conspiracy theory claiming all birds are actually government surveillance drones. Peters said she and some other former employees are upset and think the relaunch was “in poor taste.” “If it’s a joke, it’s rude, extremely rude. And I hope that they realize it and apologize to all of the Enron employees,” Peters said. Peters, 74, said she is still working in information technology because “I lost everything in Enron, and so my Social Security doesn’t always take care of things I need done.” “Enron’s downfall taught us critical lessons about corporate ethics, accountability, and the consequences of unchecked ambition. Enron’s legacy was the employees in the trenches. Leave Enron buried,” she said. But Sherron Watkins, Enron’s former vice president of corporate development and the main whistleblower who helped uncover the scandal, said she didn’t have a problem with the joke because comedy “usually helps us focus on an uncomfortable historical event that we’d rather ignore.” “I think we use prior scandals to try to teach new generations what can go wrong with big companies,” said Watkins, who still speaks at colleges and conferences about the Enron scandal. This story was corrected to fix the spelling of Ken Lay’s first name, which had been misspelled “Key.” Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at https://x.com/juanlozano70
West Coast Billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs is expanding her advocacy groups to suppress the mainstream public’s criticism of her mass migration policies. Immigration Hub “will expand its scope to counter far-right disinformation campaigns and push for critical policy solutions, including reforms to Section 230 of the [Internet-related] Communications Decency Act, to build safer online spaces and AI technology,” said a December 3 statement by her new group, Catalyze/Citizens. Her demand for changes in the Internet law suggests that she would use her social ties in Silicon Valley, her advocacy, and her lawyers to suppress mainstream public criticism of the nation’s wealth-shifting Extraction Migration policies. But that plan would require a new anti-free-speech law from Congress or a remarkable decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The statement added: Through these efforts, C/C aims to champion and elect pro-immigrant leaders, mobilize uncommon allies, and drive narrative interventions that protect immigrant communities and strengthen democratic values. “Ms. Powell Jobs , whose late husband was the Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, controls a fortune worth $11 billion and has an array of interests in which she invests,” the New York Times reported on November 30. The newspaper added: She took a big swing [against Trump] herself during the election. A top aide of hers circulated polling data to help nudge President Biden out of the race, and Ms. Powell Jobs quietly contributed millions to an organization backing Ms. Harris. The group’s blame-the-narrative campaign echoes the view of many pro-migration groups that Donald Trump won the election by manipulating the voters via distorted media reports. That claim sidelines the evidence that voters recognize the vast economic and civic damage caused by the elite-driven desire for the extraction of many more foreign blue-collar and white-collar workers, renters, and consumers from poor countries. President Joe Biden’s underfunded migrati0n “was a complete narrative disaster to the public,” said Andrea Flores, the chief lobbyist at Mark Zuckberg’s FWD.us pro-migration group. She lamented to an invited audience of progressives who gathered in a D.C. cinema on November 19 that: Lack of [a pro-migration] narrative ... led everyone to hear the consistent message that Trump had been saying for eight years ... that immigration was the cause of every domestic problem, whether it was housing, whether it was the price of goods. The same message is broadcast by Powell Jobs’ Immigration Hub group, which is to be headed by a career activist, Beatriz Lopez : Under my leadership, the Hub will expand its mission to tackle the source of disinformation by championing policies and solutions that ensure social media responsibility and online and AI safety. Creating the conditions for humane immigration reform means we can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines of a critical debate on tech regulations, or fail to compete against the enormous volume and spending on anti-immigrant marketing. “Catalyze/Citizens emerged from a clear conviction – we need a robust response that matches, competes and wins against the extreme right’s anti-immigrant, anti-democratic narratives. To that end, we are committed to driving major advocacy campaigns to hold accountable Trump and his allies and elect leaders who will champion humane immigration policies and regulations to safeguard against dangerous online disinformation. The group also released a report showing Kamala Harris’s campaign was reluctant to tout their migration policy during the 2024 election, while Donald Trump was eager to tout its failures: From January to October 2024, Republican and Democratic candidates, PACs, and allied groups spent a staggering $680.5 million on immigration-focused television ads across 12 battleground presidential and senate states. Republican spending accounted for a dominant 84% ($573 million) of this total, with Democrats dedicating $107 million (16%) on immigration messaging. The stakes of the presidential election intensified these investments, surpassing the GOP’s significant anti-immigrant ad spend of 2022, where $171 million was spent to frame immigration as a national threat. But the muted response by the Harris campaign was driven by a recognition that citizens increasingly oppose the elite-driven, wealth-shifting mass migration policies that Harris supported. “There has been such a desire to tamp down the border debate [that] there’s been less of an ability to pivot to other parts of the immigration debate that could be helpful,” Carlos Odio, senior vice president for research at the polling firm Equis, told The Atlantic . On November 28. Breitbart reported on the growing effort by pro-migration groups to shift blame for their self-imposed political disaster onto Trump’s “narrative” trickery. “The problem is not their messaging — the problem is the substance of their [pro-migration] policy and its consequences,” responded Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies: The administration and its allies in the media and elsewhere had almost complete control over shaping the way people perceive this [migration] phenomenon, and they’ve failed to do that [succesfully] because the reality overwhelmed their ability to dress it up. There’s only so much you can do through press releases. If community centers are being shut down because they need to be filled with [more] illegal aliens, there’s no narrative that’s going to make that palatable to people. When somebody is released into the United States by the government, is put up in a hotel for free, and then is flown to Atlanta for free, and then goes and murders somebody , there’s no covering that up. However, the investor-backed pro-migration groups have a major incentive to shift the blame for the election result that also damaged their allies in the progressive wing of the Democrat Party. So far, the party’s advocacy groups for causes related to climate, transgenderism, cities, foreign policy, racial balancing, and diversity, have not blamed the pro-migration gorups. But the Immigraiton Hub press statement also boasted of the resources it has been spending to promote more migration into Americans’ communities: Since its founding in 2017, the Immigration Hub has played a central role in advancing fair and humane immigration policies by activating over 400 partner organizations, educating and equipping elected leaders at all levels, and driving innovative advocacy campaigns. Extraction Migration Since at least 1990, the federal government has quietly adopted a policy of Extraction Migration to grow the consumer economy after Congress voted to help investors move the high-wage manufacturing sector to lower-wage countries. The migration policy extracts vast amounts of human resources from needy countries. The additional workers, white-collar graduates , consumers, and renters push up stock values by shrinking Americans’ wages , subsidizing low-productivity companies , boosting rents , and spiking real estate prices . The little-recognized economic policy has loosened the economic and civic feedback signals that animate a stable economy and democracy. It has pushed many native-born Americans out of careers in a wide variety of business sectors, reduced Americans’ productivity and political clout , slowed high-tech innovation , shrunk trade , crippled civic solidarity , and incentivized government officials and progressives to ignore the rising death rate of discarded , low-status Americans . Donald Trump’s campaign team recognizes the economic impact of migration. Biden’s unpopular policy is “flooding America’s labor pool with millions of low-wage illegal migrants who are directly attacking the wages and opportunities of hard-working Americans,” said a May statement from Trump’s campaign. The secretive economic policy also sucks jobs and wealth from heartland states by subsidizing coastal investors and government agencies with a flood of low-wage workers, high-occupancy renters, and government-aided consumers. Similar policies have damaged citizens and economies in Canada and the United Kingdom . China, however, has grown its economy by emphasizing productivity and manufacturing. The colonialism-like migration policy has also damaged small nations and has killed hundreds of Americans and thousands of migrants , including many on the taxpayer-funded jungle trail through the Darien Gap in Panama.76ers' arena proposal takes crucial step forward as Philadelphia lawmakers green light new stadium
After Trump's Project 2025 denials, he is tapping its authors and influencers for key rolesA post shared on X claims President-elect Donald Trump nominated Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson as ambassador to Mexico. 🚨President-elect Trump taps Sen. Ron Johnson for United States Ambassador to Mexico. pic.twitter.com/D9vnStP0AF — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 11, 2024 Verdict: Misleading It is a different Ron Johnson, not the senator from Wisconsin. Fact Check: Trump nominated Ron Johnson to be ambassador of Mexico, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel . Social media users are claiming that this Ron Johnson is the current senator from Wisconsin. (RELATED: No, Poll Didn’t Show 64% Of Americans Support Hunter Biden’s Pardon) “🚨President-elect Trump taps Sen. Ron Johnson for United States Ambassador to Mexico,” one user wrote. This claim is misleading. The Ron Johnson nominated is the former ambassador to El Salvador, according to the Journal-Sentinel. He served 20 years in Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) after a career in the Army with the Green Berets, per the outlet. Johnson made light of the confusion in a Dec. 11 X post. I never played in the NFL. I wasn’t the CEO of JCPenney. And I haven’t been nominated to be U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. There are a few of us Ron Johnsons out there. — Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) December 11, 2024 “I never played in the NFL. I wasn’t the CEO of JCPenney. And I haven’t been nominated to be U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. There are a few of us Ron Johnsons out there,” Johnson tweeted.CCL Industries Inc. Cl B stock rises Friday, outperforms market
KARACHI: Independent Senator Faisal Vawda has alleged that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) planned protest on December 14 aligns with the trial of former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general, Lieutenant General (retd) Faiz Hameed. Speaking at a media talk in Karachi on Sunday, Vawda claimed, “The PTI’s December 14 protest is not in the nation’s interest. It appears timed with Faiz Hameed’s trial, which they expect to commence afterward. However, I assure you it will begin before that date.” Hameed was arrested by the military in August on charges of violating the Army Act, stemming from allegations of misconduct by a private housing society’s owner. Journalist Javed Chaudhry earlier reported that Hameed’s Field General Court Martial would likely conclude by March 2025. Vawda also expressed concerns for the PTI founder’s safety, suggesting threats from within his own ranks. He stressed the importance of recognising all political mandates, stating, “The country can no longer tolerate protests and divisions. We need unity to move forward.” During the media talk, Vawda was accompanied by Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leaders, whom he had met earlier. He also recently held discussions with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman but refrained from disclosing details. Commenting on his meeting with MQM-P Chairman Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Mustafa Kamal at the party’s Bahadurabad headquarters, Vawda reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring MQM-P’s rightful representation and addressing PTI’s concerns. Kamal expressed solidarity with Vawda, calling for unity among political parties. Vawda dismissed PTI’s call for a civil disobedience movement on December 14, predicting it would fizzle out. He criticised the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister’s politics and urged respect for the Constitution and laws established by Parliament. “The country cannot progress without collaboration among political parties,” Vawda stated, while also accusing political opponents of exploiting divisions for personal gains. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() );
Buffalo Bill Center of the West Acquires Iconic Sculpture by Deborah ButterfieldWASHINGTON – As a former and potentially future president, Donald Trump hailed what would become Project 2025 as a road map for “exactly what our movement will do” with another crack at the White House. As the blueprint for a hard-right turn in America became a liability during the 2024 campaign, Trump pulled an about-face . He denied knowing anything about the “ridiculous and abysmal” plans written in part by his first-term aides and allies. Recommended Videos Now, after being elected the 47th president on Nov. 5, Trump is stocking his second administration with key players in the detailed effort he temporarily shunned. Most notably, Trump has tapped Russell Vought for an encore as director of the Office of Management and Budget; Tom Homan, his former immigration chief, as “border czar;” and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller as deputy chief of policy . Those moves have accelerated criticisms from Democrats who warn that Trump's election hands government reins to movement conservatives who spent years envisioning how to concentrate power in the West Wing and impose a starkly rightward shift across the U.S. government and society. Trump and his aides maintain that he won a mandate to overhaul Washington. But they maintain the specifics are his alone. “President Trump never had anything to do with Project 2025,” said Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt in a statement. “All of President Trumps' Cabinet nominees and appointments are whole-heartedly committed to President Trump's agenda, not the agenda of outside groups.” Here is a look at what some of Trump's choices portend for his second presidency. As budget chief, Vought envisions a sweeping, powerful perch The Office of Management and Budget director, a role Vought held under Trump previously and requires Senate confirmation, prepares a president's proposed budget and is generally responsible for implementing the administration's agenda across agencies. The job is influential but Vought made clear as author of a Project 2025 chapter on presidential authority that he wants the post to wield more direct power. “The Director must view his job as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the President’s mind,” Vought wrote. The OMB, he wrote, “is a President’s air-traffic control system” and should be “involved in all aspects of the White House policy process,” becoming “powerful enough to override implementing agencies’ bureaucracies.” Trump did not go into such details when naming Vought but implicitly endorsed aggressive action. Vought, the president-elect said, “knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State” — Trump’s catch-all for federal bureaucracy — and would help “restore fiscal sanity.” In June, speaking on former Trump aide Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, Vought relished the potential tension: “We’re not going to save our country without a little confrontation.” Vought could help Musk and Trump remake government's role and scope The strategy of further concentrating federal authority in the presidency permeates Project 2025's and Trump's campaign proposals. Vought's vision is especially striking when paired with Trump's proposals to dramatically expand the president's control over federal workers and government purse strings — ideas intertwined with the president-elect tapping mega-billionaire Elon Musk and venture capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a “Department of Government Efficiency.” Trump in his first term sought to remake the federal civil service by reclassifying tens of thousands of federal civil service workers — who have job protection through changes in administration — as political appointees, making them easier to fire and replace with loyalists. Currently, only about 4,000 of the federal government's roughly 2 million workers are political appointees. President Joe Biden rescinded Trump's changes. Trump can now reinstate them. Meanwhile, Musk's and Ramaswamy's sweeping “efficiency” mandates from Trump could turn on an old, defunct constitutional theory that the president — not Congress — is the real gatekeeper of federal spending. In his “Agenda 47,” Trump endorsed so-called “impoundment,” which holds that when lawmakers pass appropriations bills, they simply set a spending ceiling, but not a floor. The president, the theory holds, can simply decide not to spend money on anything he deems unnecessary. Vought did not venture into impoundment in his Project 2025 chapter. But, he wrote, “The President should use every possible tool to propose and impose fiscal discipline on the federal government. Anything short of that would constitute abject failure.” Trump's choice immediately sparked backlash. “Russ Vought is a far-right ideologue who has tried to break the law to give President Trump unilateral authority he does not possess to override the spending decisions of Congress (and) who has and will again fight to give Trump the ability to summarily fire tens of thousands of civil servants,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, a Democrat and outgoing Senate Appropriations chairwoman. Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, leading Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, said Vought wants to “dismantle the expert federal workforce” to the detriment of Americans who depend on everything from veterans' health care to Social Security benefits. “Pain itself is the agenda,” they said. Homan and Miller reflect Trump's and Project 2025's immigration overl ap Trump’s protests about Project 2025 always glossed over overlaps in the two agendas . Both want to reimpose Trump-era immigration limits. Project 2025 includes a litany of detailed proposals for various U.S. immigration statutes, executive branch rules and agreements with other countries — reducing the number of refugees, work visa recipients and asylum seekers, for example. Miller is one of Trump's longest-serving advisers and architect of his immigration ideas, including his promise of the largest deportation force in U.S. history. As deputy policy chief, which is not subject to Senate confirmation, Miller would remain in Trump's West Wing inner circle. “America is for Americans and Americans only,” Miller said at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Oct. 27. “America First Legal,” Miller’s organization founded as an ideological counter to the American Civil Liberties Union, was listed as an advisory group to Project 2025 until Miller asked that the name be removed because of negative attention. Homan, a Project 2025 named contributor, was an acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director during Trump’s first presidency, playing a key role in what became known as Trump's “family separation policy.” Previewing Trump 2.0 earlier this year, Homan said: “No one’s off the table. If you’re here illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder.” Project 2025 contributors slated for CIA and Federal Communications chiefs John Ratcliffe, Trump's pick to lead the CIA , was previously one of Trump's directors of national intelligence. He is a Project 2025 contributor. The document's chapter on U.S. intelligence was written by Dustin Carmack, Ratcliffe's chief of staff in the first Trump administration. Reflecting Ratcliffe's and Trump's approach, Carmack declared the intelligence establishment too cautious. Ratcliffe, like the chapter attributed to Carmack, is hawkish toward China. Throughout the Project 2025 document, Beijing is framed as a U.S. adversary that cannot be trusted. Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, wrote Project 2025's FCC chapter and is now Trump's pick to chair the panel. Carr wrote that the FCC chairman “is empowered with significant authority that is not shared” with other FCC members. He called for the FCC to address “threats to individual liberty posed by corporations that are abusing dominant positions in the market,” specifically “Big Tech and its attempts to drive diverse political viewpoints from the digital town square.” He called for more stringent transparency rules for social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube and “empower consumers to choose their own content filters and fact checkers, if any.” Carr and Ratcliffe would require Senate confirmation for their posts. ___
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College Football Playoff betting guide: First-round odds, title favoritesStudy: Massachusetts Has Worst Drivers in AmericaUCF will attempt to shake off a dreadful offensive performance when it collides with LSU on Sunday afternoon in the third-place game of the Greenbrier Tip-Off in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. The Knights (4-1) couldn't get anything going against No. 19 Wisconsin on Friday, going 21-for-62 from the field (33.9 percent) and just 2-for-17 from 3-point range (11.8 percent) en route to an 86-70 loss. Jordan Ivy-Curry finished with 13 points while Keyshawn Hall and Dior Johnson added 11 apiece for UCF, which never led and fell behind by as many as 23. Knights coach Johnny Dawkins is hoping that his team's struggles don't carry over into the meeting with the Tigers (4-1). "We have to do better offensively," Dawkins said. "We have to space the floor better. We have to balance our offense between our perimeter and our bigs. Those are things that we didn't do consistently (on Friday)." LSU also needs to clean things up after committing 15 turnovers in a 74-63 setback against Pitt on Friday. Tigers forward Jalen Reed doesn't believe giving the ball away will be a lingering issue. "I feel like a lot of our turnovers were more on us than them," Reed said. "I feel like a lot of the turnovers were careless, but we're a better team than that and I feel like we'll take care of the ball better moving forward." Reed and Vyctorius Miller each posted 14 points in the loss to the Panthers, with Reed also hauling in seven rebounds. Cam Carter chipped in 11 points. Carter is putting up a team-leading 16.4 points per game. Jordan Sears (12.0 points per game), Reed (11.0) and Miller (10.2) also have scoring averages in double figures. Ivy-Curry (16.8 points per game), Hall (16.2) and Darius Johnson (13.0) have been leading the way for UCF. Sunday marks the first-ever meeting between the Knights and Tigers. --Field Level Media
Results : 288 / 288 Results : 81 / 81 Neel Kamal writes about sustainable agriculture, environment, climate change for The Times of India. His incisive and comprehensive reporting about over a year-long farmers' struggle against farm laws at the borders of the national capital won laurels. He is an alumunus of Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology. Read More 10 ways to use pumpkin seeds 7 things that boys learn from their moms 10 Indian breakfast dishes loved across the world How to grow onion and garlic on your kitchen window Kid-friendly wildlife experiences in India How to make Chicken Chili Pakora at home 10 types of South-Indian rice dishes and how to make them 10 most beautiful offbeat places for solo travel in India (2025) Persimmon: Nutrients, health benefits of this vibrant orange colored fruit 8 animals that have more than 2 eyes
An anti-trust case by the US Department of Justice against Google , which began in 2020, has continued to gain intensity since a ruling in August asserted that Google is engaged in an illegal monopoly over the search engine market. The ruling had affirmed the opinion that Google spent billions to secure its position as the default world’s search engine, squashing potential competition through its acquisition of power. On Wednesday, November 20 Federal attorneys submitted a detailed plan to US district judge Amit Mehta in Washington, DC, outlining steps including ending its Apple partnership, making proprietary data available to more competitors and advertisers, and finally, fully divesting from its browser Google Chrome. For many, the moment is reminiscent of the attempt to break up Microsoft in 2001, which is likely the last anti-trust case to reach this level. To illustrate how the resolution could affect the company’s business, Google made $49.4 billion in revenue from search advertising alone according to its third quarter reports. In response to the ruling, Google shared a blog post calling it “a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership.” “DOJ’s wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court’s decision. It would break a range of Google products — even beyond Search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives,” the post continued. Whether or not, Google’s parent Alphabet will be required to do so will be decided at a later court date in early 2025. Stay tuned for updates on the historic anti-trust case and other technology news at HYPEBEAST.No, UnitedHealthcare didn’t post a job listing for a new CEO the day after Brian Thompson’s deathPa. broadband authority gives laptops to libraries, nonprofits for public use
Canada’s border services agency has no infrastructure in place to search trains for drugs, people and other goods crossing illegally into the country by rail, the head of the border agents’ union says — a security gap that adds to concerns about an overall lack of enforcement at the border. Mark Weber, national president of the Customs and Immigration Union, says a shortage of personnel and equipment at official points of entry means less than one per cent of containers moving through Canadian seaports are being searched for illicit goods. That rate is even smaller for cross-border rail traffic, he said. “We don’t do it at all,” he told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block . “We don’t know what comes in via train. “Could be products, people (coming in, but) we don’t have the infrastructure to do those searches. ... That’s really something Canada should be investing in.” In 2019, Ontario Provincial Police discovered nearly 200 kilograms of methamphetamine stashed in the spare tires of new vehicles shipped from Mexico to the province by rail. The drugs were first discovered by auto dealership employees in four Ontario communities, and police later said cars from the shipment also made their way to Quebec and New Brunswick. The Canadian Press reported in 2009 that an internal CBSA report obtained via access to information laws found just two officers were checking some 400,000 rail cars and containers crossing into Canada annually, after a screening program that began in 2000 fell into disrepair. British Columbia’s premier and lawmakers have called for enhanced policing and resources for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to search shipping containers at the ports, a key entry point for fentanyl products and equipment from China. A report last year said Canada’s port security was similar to the lax enforcement and corruption seen in the Marlon Brando movie On the Waterfront . Canada’s border security is under increased scrutiny as U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has called for crackdowns on irregular immigration and drug trafficking in North America. Trump has threatened to put 25 per cent tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico unless those countries address his concerns, which are focused on illegal entry into the U.S. But Weber said persistent staff shortages and an increasing reliance on new technology like self-declaring kiosks at airports means Canada is not able to properly screen what’s coming into the country, either. He said people with ill intent can simply lie in a self-declaration, whereas a CBSA agent could determine whether that person is honest with just a few questions. “Any time you remove a human interaction with the traveller, you’re lessening your security,” he said. “So we find that there’s a lot happening that we’re really unaware of right now. ... We speak to almost no one anymore.” The union has said it is short between 2,000 and 3,000 CBSA personnel to fulfil its basic mandate, which in addition to enforcing official points of entry also includes intelligence gathering, searching cross-border vehicles and shipping containers, and finding and removing people who are in the country illegally. The previous Conservative government cut 1,100 CBSA positions in 2012, and Weber said those jobs have not returned since the Liberals took over in 2015. He said the situation is similar for inland enforcement, with only “a couple hundred officers” tasked with finding and removing people across the country. “Given the volumes that have to be found and removed, it’s really an uphill battle,” he said. “You’re relying, again, largely on people to self-report. And again, if someone doesn’t want to leave and they don’t want to be found, that’s a human being who has to do that work.” The CBSA told Global News that 2,774 deportation orders have been issued this year as of Nov. 18, a number already higher than those for previous full years going back to 2016. So far this year, there have been 1,290 enforced removals by CBSA. Since 2016, the number of enforced removals per year has been about half the number of deportation orders issued. Last year, a total of 15,179 people were removed by Canada either through enforcement or voluntarily following a removal order, with 12,401 removed so far this year. Immigration Minister Marc Miller told reporters last month those numbers were record highs. Weber said CBSA regularly gathers intelligence to both determine where fentanyl seizures in Canada comes from and whether organized crime groups like Mexican cartels are trying to enter the country. But he said that knowledge only goes so far. “When you’re not having the interactions with most travellers that come through, you don’t know what you’re not looking for,” he said. Weber said the staffing shortages at CBSA means the agency “simply doesn’t have the staffing levels to deal with” a potential flood of people fleeing the U.S. for Canada when Trump follows through with his promise of mass deportations next year. He noted many of those potential arrivals will be between official entryways — portions of the border that are policed by the RCMP. Brian Sauvé, president of the National Police Federation union that represents over 20,000 RCMP members, told Stephenson the force is “uniquely positioned” to surge additional resources from across the country to the border. He said newly graduated cadets can be drafted to compliment existing border security teams on a rotating basis, a strategy deployed in the aftermath of the 2014 Parliament shooting to boost security in Ottawa. The RCMP Academy is seeing record levels of applicants and is on track to be almost at capacity next year after achieving similar levels this year, Sauvé added, meaning there will be plenty of those cadets to utilize if necessary. The NPF has asked Ottawa for $300 million over four years to hire 1,000 more RCMP officers and bolster overall resources. “Longer-term solutions, stronger investments into the RCMP for manpower directly toward those federal policing roles, will definitely be able to keep the border more secure,” Sauvé said. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told MPs last week that Canada will commit more personnel and equipment for border security before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. He said both the RCMP and CBSA have been consulted. Sauvé said RCMP members “are definitely making apprehensions on a regular basis coming up north” from the U.S., “but are also noticing a flow to the south.” “It’s obviously a concern because you do have guns that are coming up from the states, guns that are used in crimes in Canada,” he said. The U.S. is the largest source of illegal firearms in Canada, according to Justice Canada, but gun tracing data is limited. An RCMP spokesperson told Global News last week the force has “no evidence, nor intelligence, to suggest that an increase of asylum seekers crossing the border from the U.S. to Canada has occurred” and its border posture is unchanged. “The more that we can enforce that border, the more that we can make Canada a more secure country, I think it’s good for Canadians,” Sauvé said. —with files from the Canadian Press and Global’s David AkinSEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed on Thursday to fight “until the very last minute” in a defiant address defending his shock decision to declare martial law and deploy troops to the country’s parliament last week. The South Korean leader is barred from foreign travel as part of a probe into his inner circle over the dramatic events of December 3-4 that stunned Seoul’s allies and threw the country into some of its deepest political turmoil in years. Yoon, staring down an impeachment vote in parliament on Saturday, vowed to “fight with the people until the very last minute”. He went on the attack against the opposition, accusing it of pushing the country into a “national crisis”. “The National Assembly, dominated by the large opposition party, has become a monster that destroys the constitutional order of liberal democracy,” Yoon said in his televised address. Yoon also doubled down on his justification of declaring martial law, which he had said was taken to safeguard South Korea “from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and eliminate anti-state elements”. “I apologize again to the people who must have been surprised and anxious due to the martial law,” he added. “Please trust me.” Saturday’s impeachment vote will take place at around 5:00 pm (0800 GMT). PPP leader Han Dong-hoon urged party members on Thursday to attend the meeting and vote “according to their conviction and conscience”. “President Yoon Suk Yeol is no longer able to fulfil his duties as president, and I think that has become clearer and clearer,” he said. The opposition formally submitted a second impeachment motion against Yoon on Thursday, following last week’s failed attempt to remove him from office after ruling party lawmakers largely boycotted the vote. The bloc needs eight MPs from the ruling party to vote in favour of the impeachment, and several ruling lawmakers have indicated their intention to do so in the next vote, scheduled for Saturday. To impeach Yoon, two-thirds of the parliament must vote in favour. Police meanwhile attempted another raid on Yoon’s presidential office compound, Yonhap news agency reported, a day after a similar attempt was blocked by security guards. The main opposition Democratic Party has said it would file legal complaints for insurrection against the president’s staff and security if they continued to obstruct law enforcement. Yonhap said Thursday’s raid focused on the headquarters of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, which reportedly agreed to cooperate with the investigation. ‘I want to witness history’ South Korea’s capital has been rocked by daily protests since last week, with thousands gathering to demand Yoon’s resignation. Kim Jae-hee, 34, told AFP she would be hitting the streets on Saturday to protest for Yoon’s impeachment. “I want to witness history,” she said. “I also know a lot of friends who are doing the same.” And members of Yoon’s inner circle have come under intense scrutiny for their alleged role in last week’s martial law declaration. Police said on Thursday they had raided the headquarters of the military’s capital defence command, which was deployed during the martial law declaration. Former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, who is accused of urging Yoon to impose martial law, tried to kill himself in prison on Tuesday, authorities said. Kim was first detained on Sunday and later formally arrested on charges of “engaging in critical duties during an insurrection” and “abuse of authority to obstruct the exercise of rights”. The former interior minister and the general in charge of the martial law operation are also barred from foreign travel. The PPP has said that, pending Yoon’s resignation, he has agreed to hand power to Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and party chief Han. In North Korea, AFP footage showed students scrolling through photos of anti-Yoon protests posted on the website of ruling party daily the Rodong Sinmun. Pyongyang’s state media—which has long hurled insults against Yoon—has described the South as being in “chaos” following his decision to impose martial law. — AFPREDWOOD CITY, Calif., Dec. 06, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Codexis, Inc. CDXS , a leading provider of enzymatic solutions for efficient and scalable therapeutics manufacturing, today announced the approval of equity grants to five new employees as approved by the Compensation Committee of Codexis' Board of Directors. The newly hired employees received equity awards consisting of an aggregate of (i) options to purchase 168,400 shares of Codexis common stock and (ii) 39,750 restricted stock units (RSUs) as inducement awards under the company's 2024 Inducement Plan. The stock options have an exercise price equal to the closing price per share of Codexis' common stock as reported by Nasdaq on the grant date, and vest over four years, with 25 percent of the shares vesting on the first anniversary of the vesting commencement date, and the remainder vesting ratably at the end of each subsequent month thereafter, subject to each employee's continued service with Codexis through the applicable vesting dates. The RSUs will vest in equal annual installments on each anniversary of the grant date, until the third anniversary of such date, subject to each employee's continued service with Codexis through the applicable vesting dates. Codexis is providing this information in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)4. About Codexis Codexis is a leading provider of enzymatic solutions for efficient and scalable therapeutics manufacturing that leverages its proprietary CodeEvolver ® technology platform to discover, develop and enhance novel, high-performance enzymes and other classes of proteins. Codexis enzymes solve for real-world challenges associated with small molecule pharmaceuticals manufacturing and nucleic acid synthesis. The Company is currently developing its proprietary ECO SynthesisTM manufacturing platform to enable the scaled manufacture of RNAi therapeutics through an enzymatic route. Codexis' unique enzymes can drive improvements such as higher yields, reduced energy usage and waste generation, improved efficiency in manufacturing and greater sensitivity in genomic and diagnostic applications. For more information, visit https://www.codexis.com . For More Information Investor Contact Carrie McKim (336) 608-9706 ir@codexis.com Media Contact Lauren Musto (650) 421-8205 media@codexis.com © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Moment 'idiot', 22, filmed himself speeding along motorway with his feet out the window before crashing into car and killing grandfather: Driver jailed for 12 years By TOM LAWRENCE Published: 09:21 AEDT, 4 December 2024 | Updated: 10:30 AEDT, 4 December 2024 e-mail 22 View comments An 'idiot' motoristovertook numerous cars on the wrong side of the road while driving twice the speed limit - before crashing into an elderly couple's vehicle, killing a man. Caleb Mansfield-Marr, 22, sped up to the junction of Ashton Road and Lingard lane in Bredbury, Stockport, in August last year. A woman said she felt her car 'shake' as he drove past, while another witness said he was 'driving like an idiot'. As grandparents Jack and Judith Howe turned right onto Lingard Lane, Mansfield-Marr crashed into them head-on. Mr Howe, 76, was left with serious internal injuries and sadly died weeks later. His wife of 50 years was left with serious injuries, but made a full recovery. Mansfield-Marr, from Hyde, was also hurt and posted a picture online of his injuries. Police later found videos on his phone, including one in which he filmed himself driving with his feet hanging out of the window. He later pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving; causing serious injury by dangerous driving; and causing death by driving while disqualified and without insurance. Caleb Mansfield-Marr, 22, was disqualified from driving when he drove twice the speed limit on the wrong side of the road Prosecutor Robert Smith told Minshull Street Crown Court that at around 11.20am on August 5, Mrs Howe was driving her Toyota Aygo along Ashton Road in Bredbury when she approached the junction with Lingard Lane. Her husband Jack was in the passenger seat. She gave way to several cars before making the turn. Mansfield-Marr, driving a VW Polo in the opposite direction, had already overtaken two cars on the wrong side of the road at speeds of 64mph. The road had a 30mph limit. 'Had the defendant been driving at 30mph, Mrs Howe would have had ample time to complete her turn without the defendant taking any action,' the prosecutor added. The VW Polo collided with the Toyota Aygo sending both cars spinning across the junction. Mrs Howe was seriously injured. Nearby builders used angle grinders and crowbars to get her out of the car. She and her husband were rushed to hospital. She suffered from a number of injuries including a broken pelvis and ribs, and was treated and discharged after eight weeks. Mr Howe suffered multiple injuries to his body. CT scans later showed significant wounds to his spleen as well as a collapsed lung. Despite the best efforts of medical staff, he died on September 25. Mansfield-Marr was also injured and taken to hospital. He later took a picture of himself and uploaded it online with the caption: 'Fractured spine...chipped tooth...cut on head... old man pulled out.' Mansfield-Marr would often film himself while driving, with his feet out of the window, doing doughnuts or overtaking other cars He was later arrested and interviewed and his phone was seized. Officers found a number of videos in which he had filmed himself driving. One video showed him driving at 80mph in the motorway in cruise control with his feet out of the driver's window. In another he filmed himself doing doughnuts in a car park and another showed him overtaking other cars. Speaking of her husband's death, Mrs Howe said: 'The morning of September 25, 2023 changed my life forever, I became a widow. My lovely kind and caring husband of fifty years had passed away. No more companionship, conversations, laughs or celebrations to share together. 'I am healing from my injuries, but nothing can heal my loss of losing Jack, my husband and my best friend.' Their son, Richard, said: 'Our world feels like a dark place without his light,' he said. Sarah, their daughter, said she had driven past the collision but did not realise it was her parents. 'He was a kind, doting and supportive man, and someone I looked up to. I don't think I will recover from this,' she added. And their third child, Louise, said: 'Our family structure is fractured, we are not able to regroup and never will - there will always be one missing piece.' The court heard that Mansfield-Marr had previous driving matters on his record including for speeding and failing to provide driver details. He was banned at the time for six months. An image later recovered from his phone showed Mansfield-Marr holding the letter informing him he was disqualified next to a gas hob, the court heard. Mansfield-Marr has been jailed for 12 years and banned from driving for 16 years Mitigating, John Dye said his client had written multiple letters to the family of Mr Howe apologising for his behaviour. The barrister said he was diagnosed with ADHD which reflected in him 'acting like a teenager'. Judge Angela Nield, sentencing, described Mansfield-Marr's driving as 'frankly appalling', and said: 'This was not a one off but a habit, and a habit to be celebrated on social media. It was a matter of pride.' Mansfield-Marr, of St Paul's Gardens, was jailed for 12 years and banned from driving for 16 years. He will serve two thirds of the jail term before being released on licence. PS Louise Warhurst from GMP's Serious Collision Investigation Unit said; 'Mansfield-Marr is a young man with a truly appalling driving history, and he bears full responsibility for this tragedy. 'During our investigation, we uncovered a number of videos that were taken on Mansfield-Marr's phone showing him driving dangerously at astonishing speeds. 'In one of the videos we found, Mansfield-Marr was driving at speeds exceeding 80mph on a motorway with his feet crossed and resting out of the window while using cruise control. 'This is a dangerous man who believes the rules and laws that all other road users abide by daily do not apply to him. 'At the time of the collision, he was a disqualified driver, but even that did not deter him from driving dangerously and at speeds that were wholly inappropriate for the conditions. He acted so brazenly, not caring that he could be caught. Share or comment on this article: Moment 'idiot', 22, filmed himself speeding along motorway with his feet out the window before crashing into car and killing grandfather: Driver jailed for 12 years e-mail Add comment