ASML Deadline: ASML Investors with Losses in Excess of $100K Have Opportunity to Lead ASML Holding N.V. Securities Fraud LawsuitQC COLLEGE CROSS COUNTRY: Augie runners set for DIII national meetWarner Bros. Discovery Inc. Series A stock underperforms Monday when compared to competitors despite daily gains
The latest Ministry for Pacific Peoples report shows the New Zealand government agency failed to meet a key target. The Ministry gives advice to agencies and is scored on the quality of that advice each year. The ratings for 2022/23 and 2021/22 sat just shy of 60 percent, while the one ending in June got a score of 10 percent, falling short of the 20 percent minimum standard. A spokesperson from the ministry argues that the scores for the last two years were done internally, which is why they vary so much from this latest independent report. 'Abysmal' An MP on New Zealand's opposition bench has accused the government of putting cost savings over delivering for Pacific peoples. NZ Labour Party's social development, child poverty reduction, and Pacific peoples spokesperson, Carmel Sepuloni, said a 10 percent rating for policy advice is "abysmal". "This is fundamental core business for the Ministry for Pacific Peoples," she said. "They provide advice across government agencies pertaining to Pacific peoples and communities. "That advice then informs policy decisions. If they are providing a poor level of advice, then that is something that our whole Pacific community should be worried about." More than 50 staff have already lost their jobs in a cost saving exercise by the government. This was described in the report as a "fiscal sustainability exercise". After the Budget announcement, Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti said the reduction had "not been at the compromise of any of the targets or ambitions and endeavours that we have for the Ministry for Pacific People". In the report, MPP secretary Gerardine Clifford-Lidston wrote, "We have emerged from this a tighter, more focused organisation." When asked why advisors are necessary, Sepuloni said they are a key part of the system, providing advice which informs policy decisions the government makes. "They are consulted on housing, health, education, welfare, work and employment of Pasifika," Sepuloni said. "If the quality of advice coming from the Ministry for Pacific Peoples is poor, then you can imagine that our Pacific communities are going to be served poorly by the policy decisions and funding that this government makes decisions on." An MPP spokesperson told the select committee their policy team was relatively unscathed in the last bout of job losses. Trimming the edges Sepuloni is "nervous" there could be more jobs on the line. While the head of the agency said she is not actively reducing staffing numbers, she did not rule out further staffing cuts in Budget 2025 when questioned at Monday's select committee. "The answer I got indicated that there is a very high potential for there to be more job losses at the Ministry of Pacific peoples," Sepuloni said. Clifford-Lidstone said the team is "still working through the process for Budget 25". Sepuloni said if it's diminished any more than what it already is, "it will be completely ineffective and unable to do the job that our Pacific community needed [it] to do". Where is the government getting advice from? A Pasifika community leader based in Auckland said he has seen a drop in community engagement by the Ministry for Pacific peoples since the workforce was slashed. Pakilau Manase Lua said things are going to get worse before they get better. "Our communities are in distress because of the budget cuts. Health disability services have had major cuts," Pakilau said. "The Ministry for Pacific Peoples are expected to consult communities on how this impacts them, and if there's not enough people on the ground, how are they going to engage and also report back to the government effectively? "They're not coming down into our communities to talk about what we need. And usually, the Ministry for Pacific Peoples hold forums," Pakilau said. The budget balance A Pacific policy adviser told RNZ Pacific that marginalized communities, including Pacific peoples, are suffering in the name of a balanced budget. David Vaeafe is not surprised at the end-of-financial-year results. "It's like throwing a stone in a pond, you're going to get ripples; and those ripples are going to chug along and get bigger and bigger and bigger, until such time as someone can calm the waters," Vaeafe said. He said what needs to happen is for budget cuts to stop and for funding to be put back where it's needed. "[For] the most vulnerable, first and foremost, in our community, because they are still slipping through the cracks," Vaeafe said.
'That's Ridiculous': 'The View' Hosts Get Slapped with Reality About Biden, And They Didn't Take It Too WellKANSAS CITY, Mo. — Pick your adjective to describe the Kansas City Chiefs this season — charmed, serendipitous, fortunate or just plain lucky — and it probably fits, and not just because they keep winning games that come down to the wire. Every time they need help at a position, they've found someone sitting on the couch, seemingly waiting for their call. First it was wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who returned to the Chiefs just before the season after Marquise Brown was lost to shoulder surgery. Then it was running back Kareem Hunt, who likewise returned to his former team when Isiah Pacheco broke his fibula. Left tackle D.J. Humphries came next when other options at the position were struggling, and this week it was Steven Nelson, who came out of retirement to help a secondary that has struggled for weeks. "Just got an opportunity, got a call. Was very excited about it," said Nelson, who spent his first four seasons in Kansas City before stints in Pittsburgh and Houston, and ultimately calling it quits in June so he could spend more time with his family. "I've got two daughters and been spending a lot of time with him," Nelson said, "but still trying to work out. It was kind of the perfect scenario, getting the call, especially where this team has been and this point in the season. Great opportunity." It's been a perfect opportunity for all of them. Perfect fits for the Chiefs, too. Each could have signed just about anywhere else and been able to contribute, yet they were still sitting around when Chiefs general manager Brett Veach reached out. In the case of Smith-Schuster, Hunt and Humphries, there were some concerns about injuries that had kept some teams away, but the Chiefs were willing to take a risk on them. Smith-Schuster, who has dealt with knee trouble for years, missed some time with a hamstring injury this season. But he still has 202 yards and a touchdown receiving, and has provided some veteran leadership in the locker room. Hunt was coming off a sports hernia surgery, a big reason why the Browns — whom the Chiefs visit Sunday — declined to bring him back after five years spent in a one-two punch with Nick Chubb. But when Pacheco went down, Hunt stepped in and their offense barely missed a beat; he has run for a team-leading 608 yards and five touchdowns in 10 games. Humphries was still rehabbing a torn ACL at the start of the season, but the former Pro Bowl tackle was cleared just before the Chiefs called him. Kingsley Suamataia and Wanya Morris had struggled to protect Patrick Mahomes' blind side, so they brought in Humphries to help out. And while he hurt his hamstring late in his debut last week against the Chargers, the Chiefs still hope he'll be recovered and fully up to speed in time for the stretch run and the playoffs. "I'm in Kansas City, bro. I'm pretty ecstatic. It don't get much better than this," Humphries said. "Everybody is excited for me to be here and that's a really good feeling. You're getting All-Pro guys' arms outstretched, like, 'We're so glad you're here.'" The providential signings don't stop at those four players, either. When the Chiefs lost kicker Harrison Butker to knee surgery, they signed Spencer Shrader off the Jets practice squad, and he promptly kicked a game-winner against Carolina. But then Shrader hurt his hamstring and landed on injured reserve. The 49ers had just waived Matthew Wright, and the Chiefs signed him up. He's gone 8 for 9 on field-goal tries, has been perfect on PATs, and banged the game-winner off the upright and through last week against Los Angeles. Just like Smith-Schuster, Hunt and Nelson, Wright had been with Kansas City a couple of years ago. "It definitely helps, him knowing how we do things, how we practice and what we expect," Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub said. "That all helped, for sure. And he's a veteran. He's been a lot of places. It wasn't like he was a rookie off the street." Or off the couch, for that matter. Butker planned to kick again Thursday and could come off IR to face the Browns on Sunday. "He looked good," Toub said. "We have to see how he responds." ... Humphries (hamstring) did not practice Thursday. RT Jawaan Taylor (knee) was limited. ... SS Justin Reid will likely handle kickoffs against Cleveland. He has a stronger leg than Wright and also puts another athletic and adept tackler on the field on special teams.White House announces nearly $1 billion in military assistance to Ukraine
United Airlines travelers with lost luggage have a new tool to track their bags. If the lost bag has an Apple AirTag in it, that information can now be passed directly to United, the airline announced Thursday. The new feature, called Share Item Location, allows travelers with an AirTag or other Find My network accessory to share the location with the airline’s customer service team to help locate their luggage in the event it’s misplaced. United says more than 99% of its customers pick up their luggage without a hitch. The feature is now available with iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2 or macOS 15.2. “Apple’s new Share Item Location feature will help customers travel with even more confidence, knowing they have another way to access their bag’s precise location with AirTag or their Find My accessory of choice,” said David Kinzelman, United’s chief customer officer. Travelers on United whose bags do not arrive at their destination can file a delayed baggage report with United and share the link to the item’s location either through the United app or via text message. After the report has been submitted, customer service agents will be able to locate the item on an interactive map alongside a timestamp of a recent update. The shared location will be disabled after a customer has the bag, and customers can also stop sharing the location of the item at any time on their own. The location link will also automatically expire after seven days. Using AirTags or other tracking devices on luggage is increasingly popular among frequent travelers, with a significant boom following the 2022 Southwest Airlines holiday meltdown , which displaced thousands of travelers over Christmas and into 2023, alongside much of their belongings. United says lost bags are rare, with more than 99% of its customers arriving with their bags. It says the new technology will help those with lost bags to recover them more quickly because the airline will have more information about them. Apple previously announced the new service will also be integrated at other air carriers, including Delta Air Lines. Others include Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Iberia, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Lufthansa, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Swiss International Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Vueling. Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly!
King and Northeastern knock off Florida International 60-58In a note he was carrying when he was arrested, Luigi Mangione paints himself as a man radicalized by statistics. “The US has the #1 most expensive health care system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy,” wrote the alleged killer of Brian Thompson, the late CEO of Eden-Prairie-based UnitedHealthcare. “United is the [indecipherable] largest company in the US by market cap, behind only Apple, Google, Walmart. It has grown and grown, but [h]as our life expectancy?” Mangione is a scion of a rich, connected Maryland real estate family who recently withdrew from friends and family following severe medical issues. The numbers he cites are, in broad strokes, accurate. On life expectancy, the U.S. ranks somewhere in the 60s among the world’s countries, according to data from the United Nations , falling in between Panama and Estonia. Among the wealthy subset of countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, we rate 32nd out of 38 . The U.S. also spends far more on health care than any other country in the world: around $12,000 per person each year , thousands of dollars more than the next-highest spenders. The discrepancy between the staggering amount of health care spending and our relatively short lives has been perennial fodder for commentary and political debate : Where is all that money going? The answer, to a significant degree, is that it’s being skimmed off by the private health insurance industry. “The largest component of higher U.S. medical spending is the cost of health care administration,” according to an analysis by Harvard health economist David Cutler . “About one-third of health care dollars spent in the United States pays for administration.” Peer countries, even those that have similar systems with multiple private insurers, pay just a fraction as much. “Whole occupations exist in U.S. medical care that are found nowhere else in the world, from medical-record coding to claim-submission specialists,” Cutler writes. That excess spending adds up to something like half a trillion dollars each year, according to a recent analysis of Congressional Budget Office data by Matt Bruenig of the People’s Policy Project. For every $100 spent on health care, $16 goes directly to private insurance companies and another $16 goes to hospitals to cover the cost of administering care. Only about $68 goes toward actually paying for medical services. Under a single-payer system, on the other hand, the CBO estimates that the public insurer would need just $1.60 of that hundred bucks to cover its costs, while the hospitals would only need $11.80 to cover administration, because they no longer have to deal with the hassle of multiple private health insurers. Under that system, $86.60 would go toward paying for care. As the nation’s top health insurer and the fourth-largest company by revenue, UnitedHealth Group — the parent company of UnitedHealthcare — is also the chief beneficiary of all those billions in essentially wasted spending. In 2023 the company socked away $22 billion in profits on $371 billion in total revenue, adding up to $25 per share. The company paid investors dividends of $7.29 per share. Think of it this way: A person who owned a single $500 share of UnitedHealth Group stock at the start of the year would get rewarded, at the year’s end, with $7.29* of America’s health care spending, despite contributing precisely nothing to American health care. In his manifesto, Mangione refers to the private health insurers as “parasites.” Those profits, it should be noted, don’t simply generate themselves. UnitedHealthcare has developed a reputation for being especially ruthless in its pursuit of shareholder value. The company “relentlessly fought to reduce spending on care, even as its profits rose to record levels,” ProPublica reported last year . A U.S. Senate committee concluded UnitedHealthcare, along with other insurers, intentionally denied critical nursing care to stroke patients in order to increase profits. The company has been accused of using rigid algorithms to determine when to cut off payments, regardless of whether or not patients still needed care. Thompson had been accused of dumping stock before the company alerted shareholders that UnitedHealth Group was being targeted by a federal antitrust investigation. Virtually every American has their own horror story to tell of the Kafka-esque indignities of fighting with insurers over billing codes, prior authorizations, pre-approvals, in-network providers, and the like. This likely explains the organic outpouring of condemnation launched at the health insurance industry in the wake of Thompson’s killing, which spanned the political spectrum , even as elites of both parties scolded the vigilante apologists. Doctors say the delays caused by those barriers between patients and their care, which are set up largely to protect insurance company profits, can make patients sicker and in some cases kill them . In his manifesto, Mangione lamented that so little has been done to solve the profit-driven dysfunction of the health insurance system. “Many have illuminated the corruption and greed (e.g.: [Elisabeth] Rosenthal, [Michael] Moore), decades ago and the problems simply remain,” he wrote. “It is not an issue of awareness at this point.” The note makes no mention of any personal struggles with the insurance system, despite evidence that Mangione suffered from chronic back pain and underwent major surgery for it. But at some point — whether driven primarily by personal experience, systemic frustration, or the sheer force of a mental breakdown — Mangione decided to take things into his own hands. “What do you do?” he wrote in a separate, longer document that hasn’t yet been made public. “You wack the C.E.O. at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention.” This story was originally produced by the Minnesota Reformer which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network, including the Daily Montanan, supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.A Portland program that aims to protect low-income residents during dangerous heat waves will undergo a massive expansion after city leaders Tuesday authorized an additional $10.3 million in funding. The Cooling Portland initiative now plans to distribute 25,000 portable air conditioners and heat-pump-cooling-unit combos to vulnerable city dwellers free of charge by the end of 2026, up from an initial goal of 15,000.
NEW YORK , Dec. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Why: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of ordinary shares of ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML) between January 24, 2024 and October 15, 2024 , both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important January 13, 2025 lead plaintiff deadline. So what: If you purchased ASML ordinary shares during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. What to do next: To join the ASML class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=31159 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for more information. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than January 13 , 2025. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Why Rosen Law: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company at the time. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers. Details of the case: According to the lawsuit, during the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) the issues being faced by suppliers, like ASML, in the semiconductor industry were much more severe than defendants had indicated to investors; (2) the pace of recovery of sales in the semiconductor industry was much slower than defendants had publicly acknowledged; (3) defendants had created the false impression that they possessed reliable information pertaining to customer demand and anticipated growth, while also downplaying risk from macroeconomic and industry fluctuations, as well as stronger regulations restricting the export of semiconductor technology, including the products that ASML sells; and (4) as a result, defendants' statements about ASML's business, operations, and prospects lacked a reasonable basis. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages. To join the ASML class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=31159 mailto: or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm , on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/ . Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. ------------------------------- Contact Information: Laurence Rosen, Esq. Phillip Kim, Esq. The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. 275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 686-1060 Toll Free: (866) 767-3653 Fax: (212) 202-3827 case@rosenlegal.com www.rosenlegal.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/asml-deadline-asml-investors-with-losses-in-excess-of-100k-have-opportunity-to-lead-asml-holding-nv-securities-fraud-lawsuit-302331928.html SOURCE THE ROSEN LAW FIRM, P. A.WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States should avoid engaging militarily in Syria amid an opposition offensive that has reached the capital's suburbs, declaring in a social media post, "THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT.” Trump's first extensive comments on the dramatic rebel push came while he was in Paris for the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral . He argued that Syrian President Bashar Assad did not deserve U.S. support to stay in power. Assad's government has been propped up by the Russian and Iranian military, along with Hezbollah and other Iranian-allied militias, in a now 13-year-old war against opposition groups seeking his overthrow. The war, which began as a mostly peaceful uprising in 2011 against the Assad family's rule, has killed a half-million people, fractured Syria and drawn in a more than a half-dozen foreign militaries and militias. The insurgents are led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham , which the United States has designated as a terrorist group and says has links to al-Qaida, although the group has since broken ties with al-Qaida.” The insurgents have met little resistance so far from the Syrian army. The Biden administration has suggested that their fast-moving advances toward Damascus demonstrate just how distracted those countries are by the war in Ukraine and other conflicts, but said that the U.S. is not backing the offensive and has not suggested the U.S. military will intervene. The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria, including U.S. forces working with Kurdish allies in the opposition-held northeast to prevent any resurgence of the Islamic State group. Syrian opposition activists and regional officials have nonetheless been watching closely for any indication from both the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration on how the U.S. would handle the sudden rebel advances against Assad. The United Nations' special envoy for Syria called Saturday for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition” in Syria. In his post, Trump said Russia “is so tied up in Ukraine” that it “seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years.” He said rebels could possibly force Assad from power. The president-elect condemned the overall U.S. handling of the war, but said the routing of Assad and Russian forces might be for the best. “Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!” he wrote in Saturday's post. An influential Syrian opposition activist in Washington, Mouaz Moustafa, interrupted a briefing to reporters to read Trump’s post and appeared to choke up. He said Trump’s declaration that the U.S. should stay out of the fight was the best outcome that the the Syrians aligned against Assad could hope for. Rebels have been freeing political detainees of the Assad government from prisons as they advance across Syria, taking cities. Moustafa pledged to reporters Saturday that opposition forces would be alert for any U.S. detainees among them and do their utmost to protect them. Moustafa said that includes Austin Tice , an American journalist missing for more than a decade and suspected to be held by Assad. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham renounced al-Qaida in 2016 and has worked to rebrand itself, including cracking down on some Islamic extremist groups and fighters in its territory and portraying itself as a protector of Christians and other religious minorities. While the U.S. and United Nations still designate it as a terrorist organization, Trump's first administration told lawmakers that the U.S. was no longer targeting the group's leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani.NEW DELHI: Japanese auto major Nissan's plans to turn around its Indian operations remain intact, and it is looking to increase headcount in the country despite the turbulence it is facing globally, according to a senior company official. The company, which has increased headcount at its Chennai plant by 600 to add a third shift, does not foresee steps to cut 9,000 jobs and 20 per cent production globally having an impact on India as long as it remains competitive in the market, Nissan India Operations President Frank Torres told PTI. "Nissan is betting big on India...and the plans (for India) remain intact despite this global turbulence," he said. Torres was responding to a query on whether the announcement for global job and production cuts will have an impact on Nissan's India operations. "Contrary to the perception, in India, we are strengthening our members, growing our production, and we just included almost 600 new employments in our manufacturing plant in Chennai," Torres said. "This move is to help the production shifts. We are expanding production very soon with two new models...this is despite the global action, which involves restructuring. We don't forecast that the impact will be in India because our plans remain untouched. Of course, the key point for us is to keep being competitive. Because, in the end, this is what is considered most important inside Nissan." Earlier in July this year, Nissan India announced that it is looking to introduce five models over the next 30 months as it looks to turn around its operations in the fast-growing Indian car market. The company has set a target of tripling its domestic and export volumes to 1 lakh each per annum by the end of FY26. In November this year, Nissan announced that globally, it would cut 9,000 jobs and production by 20 per cent as part of a turnaround plan and cut costs by 400 billion yen (USD 2.6 billion). "There is no risk, or there is no impact for India as far as the plans for India are concerned, they will remain intact. We will keep on being competitive, right in terms of product, in terms of cost, in terms of everything, including our partners, suppliers and dealers," Torres noted. The third shift at the Chennai plant started some weeks ago, as the company targets full capacity utilisation of the manufacturing plant. "It means that we have grown one full new shift. And then also moving forward towards 2026, where we will need to put our manufacturing plant at full capacity with both lines at three shifts. As of today, we are modifying one of them for the new models," Torres added. If the company achieves its volume forecast with the new models by the end of 2026, he said, "This will put the plant utilisation at more than 80 per cent, which will require more headcount than today". "Increasing headcount is part of our commitment. We have committed to the Tamil Nadu government to grow our headcount next year based on the new investments, and we are well supported by the Tamil Nadu government." Moreover, he said, the Reault-Nissan alliance had committed to more than 2,000 employment creations not just in manufacturing, but also in other areas like R&D as part of their USD 600 million investment plan announced in 2023. Torres also said the company is now refurbishing one line to adapt to new technology, such as EVs, ahead of the planned launch of an electric SUV. "We are planning to grow our volumes both in domestic and export markets. Our target is to increase three-times our domestic and export volume by FY26 compared to FY23...Our plans remain intact, and our plans for the new models remain untouched," Torres asserted. When asked about sales growth, Torres said in the ongoing fiscal 2024-25, Nissan India is looking at over 45 per cent total sales growth at over 1.05 lakh units against 72,666 units sold in the previous fiscal on the back of its upgraded compact SUV Magnite. The company has expanded its export market to more than 65 countries from just 14 nations in 2023, with the introduction of the left-hand drive version of the Magnite, he added. The company is targeting to export over 74,200 units in 2024-25 against 42,597 in the previous fiscal. In the domestic market, Nissan India expects sales to grow by 4 per cent to 31,155 units in 2024-25 compared to 30,065 in the previous fiscal.
Rollins Inc. stock underperforms Monday when compared to competitorsWinners, losers as Broncos outlast Browns 41-32 on Monday Night Football
United, Apple rolling out new way to track lost luggage with AirTags
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court sounded hesitant Wednesday to second-guess Tennessee lawmakers who banned gender-affirming care for minors, as justices heard warnings that upholding the law could lead to other state or national restrictions on transgender Americans. During more than two hours of oral argument, members of the court’s conservative wing repeatedly expressed reticence to step into policy disputes over access to transgender care for minors, raising questions about the science behind the care and the fallout for other transgender issues such as access to women’s sports. The state law bans puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery for minors for the purpose of medically transitioning their gender. Challengers have asked the justices to rule that the law unconstitutionally discriminates on the basis of sex because it prohibits access to that care when it is for the purpose of gender transition. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said there were “forceful policy arguments” on both sides of the Tennessee law, including how the ban harmed transgender children but also prevented a small number of children from being harmed by the treatments. Kavanaugh said that disputes about the medical efficacy of treatments “strikes me as a pretty yellow light or red light” for the court to intervene. “So it seems to me that we look to the Constitution, and the Constitution doesn’t take sides on how to resolve that medical and policy debate,” Kavanaugh said. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. repeatedly brought up disputes about the medical science behind gender-affirming care and wondered whether it would be better to “leave those determinations to legislative bodies rather than try to determine them ourselves.” Roberts later said it was “very troubling” that the court could step into an area where they are “bereft of expertise” around complicated questions of medical effectiveness. And Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. repeatedly brought up a literature review in the United Kingdom that questioned the efficacy of gender-affirming care and recent decisions by medical bodies in the U.K. and Sweden to restrict access. Families and doctors of transgender children, as well as the Biden administration, challenged the law, arguing it violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause because it prohibits access to those medicines based on gender transition but not for other conditions such as precocious puberty. The challengers and major medical organizations have maintained that the treatments are effective, including by reducing depression and suicidal ideation among transgender children. About two dozen states have similar laws banning access to gender-affirming care for minors, and the case comes to the court as Republicans nationwide, including in Congress, have said they intend to impose more restrictions on the care. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices Wednesday that upholding the law, which explicitly states its goal for minors to “appreciate their sex,” allows transgender youth in the state to suffer. “It doesn’t matter what parents decide is best for their children. It doesn’t matter what patients would choose for themselves. And it doesn’t matter if doctors believe this treatment is essential for individual patients,” Prelogar said. The Tennessee law “categorically bans treatment when and only when it’s inconsistent with the patient’s birth sex.” Prelogar pointed out that the treatments are restricted but still available in the U.K. and Sweden rather than the ban that Tennessee imposed. Prelogar and Chase Strangio, attorney for the families challenging the law, both pointed to West Virginia’s law as an example, because the state has restricted gender-affirming care rather than banning access and has yet to face legal challenge. Prelogar said the justices also could send the case back to the lower court with instructions to make sure the state better justifies with evidence its efforts to restrict the treatments. J. Matthew Rice, arguing for Tennessee, claimed the treatments were “risky and unproven” and said the law turned on the medical purposes of taking hormones or puberty blockers, rather than a sex classification. Rice also compared gender-affirming care to assisted suicide, lobotomies and eugenics that states had a right to regulate. “The Equal Protection Clause does not require the states to blind themselves to medical reality or to treat unlike things the same, and it does not constitutionalize one side’s view of a disputed medical question,” Rice said. Rice argued that the challengers could not eliminate risks from the procedures or the possibility that patients could detransition later, at which point Justice Sonia Sotomayor interrupted to say, “Every medical treatment has risks.” Sotomayor raised the concern that the same logic could apply to medical care for adults, and that upholding Tennessee’s law would be “licensing states to deprive full adults of the choice of which sex to adopt.” Sotomayor also downplayed the ability of the democratic process to protect such a small minority of the population if the court doesn’t intervene. “It didn’t protect women for centuries,” she said. President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign included explicit promises to target transgender care, and members of Congress have said they intend to legislate on the issue when they come into power with a trifecta in January. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she found similarities between Tennessee’s argument and the ones made by Virginia to try and uphold anti-miscegenation laws in Loving v. Virginia. Jackson pointed out that Virginia pointed to “disputed” medical science about race-mixing to try and justify the law. “I wonder if Virginia could have gotten away with what they did here by making a classification argument,” Jackson said. Justice Elena Kagan rejected Tennessee’s effort to categorize the use of hormones and puberty blockers as different medical purposes. “The whole thing is imbued with sex,” Kagan said. “It is a dodge to say it is based on a medical purpose.” On Wednesday, Rep. Mark E. Green, R-Tenn., praised the state’s stance in a post on social media. “Tennessee is leading the way and standing up for our children. Minors must be protected from these harmful and irreversible medical experiments,” Green posted. Similarly, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., posted on X calling gender-affirming care “child abuse.” Mace has previously said she would back legislation to bar access for transgender individuals to the bathrooms of the gender they identify as. ©2024 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Meta donates $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund
Watch Wicked Movie’s ‘What Is This Feeling?’ Performance by Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo By has released a , showing off and ‘s performance of “What Is This Feeling?” from the recently released movie. What happens in the Wicked video? The new video shows off the performance of “What Is This Feeling?” in its entirety. The song itself is about Galinda (Grande) and Elphaba (Erivo) rooming together at Shiz University, and their initial disdain for one another as they get to know each other. Check out the song below: The movies are directed by Jon M. Chu from a screenplay written by the musical’s book writer Winnie Holzman. It is based on Gregory Maguire’s bestselling novel and the Tony-winning stage musical. The ensemble cast is led by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who play Galinda Upland and Elphaba Thropp in the film, respectively. The rest of the cast includes Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero Tigelaar, Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz, Peter Dinklage as Doctor Dillamond, Bowen Yang as Pfannee, Keala Settle as Miss Coddle, Marissa Bode as Nessarose Thropp, Bronwyn James as ShenShen, Ethan Slater as Boq, and more. “The film tells the untold story of the witches of Oz: Elphaba, a young woman, misunderstood because of her unusual green skin, who has yet to discover her true power; and Glinda, a popular young woman, gilded by privilege and ambition, who has yet to discover her true heart,” reads the official synopsis. “The two meet as students at Shiz University in the fantastical Land of Oz and forge an unlikely but profound friendship. Following an encounter with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads and their lives take very different paths. Glinda’s unflinching desire for popularity sees her seduced by power, while Elphaba’s determination to remain true to herself, and to those around her, will have unexpected and shocking consequences on her future. Their extraordinary adventures in Oz will ultimately see them fulfill their destinies as Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.” Wicked: Part One is out now in theaters. The sequel, , is currently set for November 21, 2025. Anthony Nash has been writing about games and the gaming industry for nearly a decade. When he’s not writing about games, he’s usually playing them. You can find him on Twitter talking about games or sports at @_anthonynash. Share articleWhat happens when 'The Simpsons' join 'Monday Night Football'? Find out during Bengals-CowboysDennis Corslake, from Mullion, joined Garador, a garage door manufacturer, in 1985. He wanted to reconnect with former colleagues who had regularly met at the company's head office in Yeovil and formed close friendships over the years. Mr Corslake said: "I joined Garador in 1985 and knew some of my ex-work colleagues all my working life. READ MORE: Waterfront village pub in Cornwall won't move Christmas tree Reunion held at Garador's Yeovil office (Image: Garador) "Now retired, we all live in very different parts of the country, but I heard that one of our former colleagues hadn't been very well, and I thought it was time we all renewed our friendships and had a get together." The company supported Mr Corslake's idea and organised a reunion lunch, bringing people together from across the UK. Mr Corslake said: "It was wonderful to have this chance to get together again, re-renew our friendships and to chat about the good old days. "Garador has always been a fantastic and caring company; they once helped me transfer up to Nottingham because my daughters were living there at the time and I wanted to be near them." He added: "For the reunion, they organised a lovely lunch for us and then took us on a full factory tour so that we could see the changes that have taken place since our day." The managing director of Garador, Jon Watson said he was pleased that the event was a success. Mr Watson said: "Garador is sometimes described as one big happy family, and certainly that was the atmosphere at this luncheon. "Our manufacturing processes and indeed our doors have changed dramatically since the days when most of them started, but clearly the friendships have stayed the same and that was lovely to see." Garador, recognised as Britain's leading garage door manufacturer, has a history dating back to the late 1940s. The company now operates from a state-of-the-art factory complex just outside Yeovil in Somerset and supplies the latest in garage doors and garage door technology to merchants, builders and developers right across the country. The reunion gave the former area sales managers a chance to see the changes that have occurred over the years at the company.
It looked like a recipe for disaster. So, when his country's swimmers were being accused of doping earlier this year, one Chinese official cooked up something fast. He blamed it on contaminated noodles. In fact, he argued, it could have been a culinary conspiracy concocted by criminals, whose actions led to the cooking wine used to prepare the noodles being laced with a banned heart drug that found its way into an athlete's system. This theory was spelled out to international anti-doping officials during a meeting and, after weeks of wrangling, finally made it into the thousands of pages of data handed over to the lawyer who investigated the case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for that same drug. The attorney, appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, refused to consider that scenario as he sifted through the evidence. In spelling out his reasoning, lawyer Eric Cottier paid heed to the half-baked nature of the theory. People are also reading... "The Investigator considers this scenario, which he has described in the conditional tense, to be possible, no less, no more," Cottier wrote. Even without the contaminated-noodles theory, Cottier found problems with the way WADA and the Chinese handled the case but ultimately determined WADA had acted reasonably in not appealing China's conclusion that its athletes had been inadvertently contaminated. Critics of the way the China case was handled can't help but wonder if a wider exploration of the noodle theory, details of which were discovered by The Associated Press via notes and emails from after the meeting where it was delivered, might have lent a different flavor to Cottier's conclusions. "There are more story twists to the ways the Chinese explain the TMZ case than a James Bond movie," said Rob Koehler, the director general of the advocacy group Global Athlete. "And all of it is complete fiction." Something in the kitchen was contaminated In April, reporting from the New York Times and the German broadcaster ARD revealed that the 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine, also known as TMZ. China's anti-doping agency determined the athletes had been contaminated, and so, did not sanction them. WADA accepted that explanation, did not press the case further, and China was never made to deliver a public notice about the "no-fault findings," as is often seen in similar cases. The stock explanation for the contamination was that traces of TMZ were found in the kitchen of a hotel where the swimmers were staying. In his 58-page report, Cottier relayed some suspicions about the feasibility of that chain of events — noting that WADA's chief scientist "saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities." But without evidence to support pursuing the case, and with the chance of winning an appeal at almost nil, Cottier determined WADA's "decision not to appeal appears indisputably reasonable." But how did the drugs get into the kitchen? A mystery remained: How did those traces of TMZ get into the kitchen? Shortly after the doping positives were revealed, the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations held a meeting on April 30 where it heard from the leader of China's agency, Li Zhiquan. Li's presentation was mostly filled with the same talking points that have been delivered throughout the saga — that the positive tests resulted from contamination from the kitchen. But he expanded on one way the kitchen might have become contaminated, harkening to another case in China involving a low-level TMZ positive. A pharmaceutical factory, he explained, had used industrial alcohol in the distillation process for producing TMZ. The industrial alcohol laced with the drug "then entered the market through illegal channels," he said. The alcohol "was re-used by the perpetrators to process and produce cooking wine, which is an important seasoning used locally to make beef noodles," Li said. "The contaminated beef noodles were consumed by that athlete, resulting in an extremely low concentration of TMZ in the positive sample. "The wrongdoers involved have been brought to justice." New information sent to WADA ... eventually This new information raised eyebrows among the anti-doping leaders listening to Li's report. So much so that over the next month, several emails ensued to make sure the details about the noodles and wine made their way to WADA lawyers, who could then pass it onto Cottier. Eventually, Li did pass on the information to WADA general counsel Ross Wenzel and, just to be sure, one of the anti-doping leaders forwarded it, as well, according to the emails seen by the AP. All this came with Li's request that the noodles story be kept confidential. Turns out, it made it into Cottier's report, though he took the information with a grain of salt. "Indeed, giving it more attention would have required it to be documented, then scientifically verified and validated," he wrote. Neither Wenzel nor officials at the Chinese anti-doping agency returned messages from AP asking about the noodles conspiracy and the other athlete who Li suggested had been contaminated by them. Meanwhile, 11 of the swimmers who originally tested positive competed at the Paris Games earlier this year in a meet held under the cloud of the Chinese doping case. Though WADA considers the case closed, Koehler and others point to situations like this as one of many reasons that an investigation by someone other than Cottier, who was hired by WADA, is still needed. "It gives the appearance that people are just making things up as they go along on this, and hoping the story just goes away," Koehler said. "Which clearly it has not." Be the first to know