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A new tool for the rapidly growing X competitor Bluesky helps you quickly create new feeds that you can pin to the app’s home page to follow your various interests. If you’re daunted by the prospect of having to rebuild your Twitter/X lists on Bluesky’s app, you can use the Pack2List web app to take advantage of the curation work other Bluesky users have already done to create your own customized lists. While Bluesky and its third-party developer community today offer a variety of tools for building feeds, lists, and even Starter Packs of people you think are worth a follow , Pack2List is specifically designed to turn any person’s recommended set of users from their Starter Pack into a Bluesky List in just a few steps. Starter Packs vs Lists But first, let’s back up a bit to learn about these two types of lists. The difference between a Starter Pack and a Bluesky List is that the former is meant to be used as a quick way to follow a group of users en masse. The idea is any user on Bluesky can create a Starter Pack of people they think others should follow, which they can then share with others on their feed or elsewhere on the web. These Starter Packs can also be found in a tab on users’ Bluesky profiles. Starter Packs have served as a clever way for Bluesky to grow its community and its network of connections, which can be hard to do for brand-new social networks — at least ones that don’t rely on importing your entire address book. Unlike Meta’s X competitor, Instagram Threads , Bluesky didn’t have the advantage of building out its social graph on the back of an app that already had some 2 billion-plus monthly users, as Instagram does. Instead, Starter Packs let Bluesky’s own user base curate its network into distinct, thematic groups that make it easier for people to go from an empty timeline to one filled with posts they find interesting. For instance, there are Starter Packs focused on politics, journalists, developers, technologists, academia, sports, AI, health, and various other fan groups, geographies, and communities. A third-party site, Bluesky Directory, keeps track of the growing number of Starter Packs available across the network. ( Here’s one for TechCrunch , for example!) With a click of a button on a Starter Pack, you can follow everyone on this type of curated list, or you can optionally pick and choose from its set of recommendations to follow specific individuals. Meanwhile, a Bluesky List is a curated group of Bluesky accounts that you put together for your own purposes. Maybe it’s a list of people you want to keep track of or maybe it’s even a list of those you want to block. (For left-leaning Bluesky users hoping to avoid turning Bluesky into another angry Twitter, a block list of MAGA folks has become a popular addition, based on how many people have been resharing this list with others across the social network.) But perhaps you want to pin a Bluesky List of your favorite scientists, journalists, AI researchers, authors, or other high-profile figures to your home page (or mobile home screen) for easy access. Maybe you want to build a list of your close friends, work colleagues, or other people who mainly post about a certain topic or participate in some type of community. Unlike Starter Packs, which are meant to drive follows, you don’t necessarily have to follow everyone on the lists you make. Similar to X’s Lists, you can simply create a list and click on it to see its users’ posts in their own timeline, without having their posts clutter up your main Bluesky feed. Turn a Starter Pack into a List While both types of lists are useful, Bluesky is missing a key feature that would let you take someone’s shared Starter Pack and — instead of following its users — turn that Pack into a List that’s always accessible from your Bluesky account in a dedicated spot. That’s where the Pack2List web app comes in. The tool is available on GitHub and on this basic PHP website , alongside other tools that let you merge lists, convert lists, and more. To use the service, you’ll enter your Bluesky credentials, including your username and an app password. (You generate an app password from Bluesky’s security settings. This security feature prevents you from having to share your main Bluesky password with a third-party app.) You then simply paste in the URL to the Starter Pack you want to turn into a list and select whether it’s a list you want to follow (“Content”) or one you want to use to block people (“Moderation.”) Click the “Submit” button and the Starter Pack is immediately added as a List on your Bluesky account. You can also optionally add the URL of one of your other lists that already exists on your account if you’d prefer to merge the Starter Pack into that list, instead. Of course, you don’t have to use tools like this to have a good Bluesky experience. A nice thing about Bluesky’s app is that you don’t have to be technically inclined to create an account, follow others, and engage with posts on your timeline. It looks and feels much like old Twitter, the app now called X under Elon Musk. But if you do want to explore Bluesky’s more advanced features, it’s helpful to know that there’s already a wide developer community out there building tools, services, and apps that help you do more with Bluesky if you choose.Hulk Hogan says he could be up for role in Donald Trump’s administration
FOXBOROUGH — Davon Godchaux heard the irked fans at Gillette Stadium on Saturday afternoon. As the Patriots were blown out by the Chargers, 40-7, the home crowd booed its team loudly at times on a dreary day. With some starters still on the field late in the game, Godchaux was disappointed by what he heard. The veteran defensive tackle believed guys were still playing hard despite the scoreboard. “Could have been better class from the fans with the booing and stuff like that,” Godchaux said. “It is embarrassing, I get it, but you’re playing for pride at the end of the day. Three minutes, four minutes (left), I’ve been a starter on this team since I got here and you’re not going to see me say, ‘Hey coach, throw in the towel. Let some of the young guys go in.’ I’m going to continue to fight. I’m going to continue to play. That’s just my DNA. That’s just what I do.” In the fourth quarter, pockets of the stadium began to chant “Fire Mayo!” which Godchaux thought to be way out of line. He believes Jerod Mayo deserved better than that. “A lot of people can’t take (a rebuild). I know we don’t tank around here. We still want to win football games. But the ‘Fire Mayo’ chants is just ridiculous,” Godchaux said. “The guy (is in) his first year, his first season. It’s not going to be golden. We didn’t expect to go win a Super Bowl this year. I get it, nobody wants to get beat 40-7, but the ‘Fire Mayo’ chants is just ridiculous.” Godchaux then pointed to last weekend’s 24-21 loss at Buffalo as proof that Mayo doesn’t deserve to be a one-and-done head coach. “We just had probably the best team in the NFL playing right now on the ropes last week. Now everybody is talking about ‘Fire Mayo’ chants,” Godchaux said. “The Bills are probably considered the best team in football right now. I mean, they’re definitely the hottest team in football. We had them 14-0 and should have won the game. A play or two plays better and we beat the Bills. I don’t believe in all that other ridiculous stuff. The guy, it’s his first year. It’s just ridiculous.” More Patriots ContentDonald Hammen, 80, and his longtime next-door neighbor in south Minneapolis, Julie McMahon, have an understanding. Every morning, she checks to see whether he’s raised the blinds in his dining room window. If not, she’ll call Hammen or let herself into his house to see what’s going on. Should McMahon find Hammen in a bad way, she plans to contact his sister-in-law, who lives in a suburb of Des Moines. That’s his closest relative. Hammen never married or had children, and his younger brother died in 2022. Though Hammen lives alone, a web of relationships binds him to his city and his community — neighbors, friends, former co-workers, fellow volunteers with an advocacy group for seniors, and fellow members of a group of solo agers. McMahon is an emergency contact, as is a former co-worker. When Hammen was hit by a car in February 2019, another neighbor did his laundry. A friend came over to keep him company. Other people went on walks with Hammen as he got back on his feet. Those connections are certainly sustaining. Yet Hammen has no idea who might care for him should he become unable to care for himself. “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” he told me. These are fundamental questions for older adults who live alone: Who will be there for them, for matters large and small? Who will help them navigate the ever more complex health care system and advocate on their behalf? Who will take out the garbage if it becomes too difficult to carry? Who will shovel the snow if a winter storm blows through? Family not always an option American society rests on an assumption that families take care of their own. But 15 million Americans 50 and older didn’t have any close family — spouses, partners or children — in 2015, the latest year for which reliable estimates are available. Most lived alone. By 2060, that number is expected to swell to 21 million. Beyond that, millions of seniors living on their own aren’t geographically close to adult children or other family members. Or they have difficult, strained relationships that keep them from asking for support. These older adults must seek assistance from other quarters when they need it. Often they turn to neighbors, friends, church members or community groups — or paid help, if they can afford it. And often, they simply go without, leaving them vulnerable to isolation, depression and deteriorating health. When seniors living alone have no close family, can nonfamily helpers be an adequate substitute? This hasn’t been well studied. “We’re just beginning to do a better job of understanding that people have a multiplicity of connections outside their families that are essential to their well-being,” said Sarah Patterson, a demographer and sociologist at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. The takeaway from a noteworthy study published by researchers at Emory University, Johns Hopkins University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai was this: Many seniors adapt to living solo by weaving together local social networks of friends, neighbors, nieces and nephews, and siblings (if they’re available) to support their independence. Still, finding reliable local connections isn’t always easy. And nonfamily helpers may not be willing or able to provide consistent, intense hands-on care if that becomes necessary. Building support systems When AARP surveyed people it calls “solo agers” in 2022, only 25% said they could count on someone to help them cook, clean, get groceries or perform other household tasks if needed. Just 38% said they knew someone who could help manage ongoing care needs. (AARP defined solo agers as people 50 and older who aren’t married, don’t have living children, and live alone.) Linda Camp, 73, a former administrator with the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, who never married or had children, has written several reports for the Citizens League in St. Paul about growing old alone. Yet she was still surprised by how much help she required this summer when she had cataract surgery on both eyes. A former co-worker accompanied Camp to the surgery center twice and waited there until the procedures were finished. A relatively new friend took her to a follow-up appointment. An 81-year-old downstairs neighbor agreed to come up if Camp needed something. Other friends and neighbors also chipped in. Camp was fortunate — she has a sizable network of former co-workers, neighbors and friends. “What I tell people when I talk about solos is all kinds of connections have value,” she said. Michelle Wallace, 75, a former technology project manager, lives alone in a single-family home in Broomfield, Colorado. She has worked hard to assemble a local network of support. Wallace has been divorced for nearly three decades and doesn’t have children. Though she has two sisters and a brother, they live far away. Wallace describes herself as happily unpartnered. “Coupling isn’t for me,” she told me when we first talked. “I need my space and my privacy too much.” Instead, she’s cultivated relationships with several people she met through local groups for solo agers. Many have become her close friends. Two of them, both in their 70s, are “like sisters,” Wallace said. Another, who lives just a few blocks away, agreed to become a “we’ll help each other out when needed” partner. “In our 70s, solo agers are looking for support systems. And the scariest thing is not having friends close by,” Wallace told me. “It’s the local network that’s really important.” Help for day-to-day tasks Gardner Stern, 96, who lives alone on the 24th floor of the Carl Sandburg Village condominium complex just north of downtown Chicago, has been far less deliberate. He never planned for his care needs in older age. He just figured things would work out. They have, but not as Stern predicted. The person who helps him the most is his third wife, Jobie Stern, 75. The couple went through an acrimonious divorce in 1985, but now she goes to all his doctor appointments, takes him grocery shopping, drives him to physical therapy twice a week and stops in every afternoon to chat for about an hour. She’s also Gardner’s neighbor — she lives 10 floors above him in the same building. Why does she do it? “I guess because I moved into the building and he’s very old and he’s a really good guy and we have a child together,” she told me. “I get happiness knowing he’s doing as well as possible.” Over many years, she said, she and Gardner have put their differences aside. “Never would I have expected this of Jobie,” Gardner told me. “I guess time heals all wounds.” Gardner’s other main local connections are Joy Loverde, 72, an author of elder-care books, and her 79-year-old husband, who live on the 28th floor. Gardner calls Loverde his “tell it like it is” friend — the one who helped him decide it was time to stop driving, the one who persuaded him to have a walk-in shower with a bench installed in his bathroom, the one who plays Scrabble with him every week and offers practical advice whenever he has a problem. “I think I would be in an assisted living facility without her,” Gardner said. There’s also family: four children, all based in Los Angeles, eight grandchildren, mostly in L.A., and nine great-grandchildren. Gardner sees most of this extended clan about once a year and speaks to them often, but he can’t depend on them for his day-to-day needs. For that, Loverde and Jobie are an elevator ride away. “I’ve got these wonderful people who are monitoring my existence, and a big-screen TV, and a freezer full of good frozen dinners,” Gardner said. “It’s all that I need.” KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs of KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!Germany's president said Tuesday that a deadly car-ramming attack on a Christmas market had cast a "dark shadow" over this year's celebrations but urged the nation not to be driven apart by extremists. In his traditional Christmas address, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier sought to issue a message of healing four days after the brutal attack in the eastern city of Magdeburg killed five people and left over 200 wounded. "A dark shadow hangs over this Christmas," said the head of state, pointing to the "pain, horror and bewilderment over what happened in Magdeburg just a few days before Christmas". He made a call for national unity as a debate about security and immigration is flaring again: "Hatred and violence must not have the final word. Let's not allow ourselves to be driven apart. Let's stand together." His words came a day after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) held what it called a memorial rally for the victims in Magdeburg, where one speaker demanded that Germany "must close the borders". Nearby an anti-extremist initiative was held under the motto "Don't Give Hate a Chance". Steinmeier recognised that there was a "great deal of dissatisfaction about politics" in Germany but insisted that "our democracy is and remains strong". A Saudi doctor, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, was arrested Friday at the scene of the attack in which a rented SUV ploughed at high speed through the crowd of revellers, bringing death and chaos to the festive event. His motive still remains unclear, days after Germany's deadliest attack in years. Abdulmohsen has in his many online posts voiced strongly anti-Islam views, anger at German authorities and support for far-right conspiracy narratives on the "Islamisation" of Europe. News outlet Der Spiegel reported he wrote on social media platform X in May that he expected to die "this year" and was seeking "justice" at any cost. Investigators found his will in the BMW that he used in the attack, the outlet said -- he stated that everything he owned was to go to the German Red Cross, and it contained no political messages. Die Welt daily, citing unnamed security sources, said that Abdulmohsen had been treated for a mental illness in the past, thought this was not immediately confirmed by authorities. - 'You are not alone' - The attack has fuelled an already bitter debate on migration and security in Germany, two months before national elections and with the far-right AfD party riding high in opinion polls. The government is facing mounting questions about possible errors and missed warnings about Abdulmohsen, who was arrested next to the battered BMW sports utility vehicle. Saudi Arabia said it had repeatedly warned Germany about its citizen, who came to Germany in 2006 and was granted refugee status 10 years later. A source close to the Saudi government told AFP that the kingdom had sought his extradition. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government has pledged to fully investigate whether there were security lapses before the attack. The Saudi suspect has been remanded in custody in a top-security facility on five counts of murder and 205 of attempted murder, prosecutors said, but not so far on terrorism-related charges. German Christmas markets have been specially secured since a jihadist attacker rammed a truck through a Berlin Christmas market in 2016, killing 13 people. The Magdeburg event too had been shielded by barricades, but the attacker managed to exploit a five-metre gap when he steered the car into the site and then raced into the unsuspecting crowd. Steinmeier offered his condolences for relatives of those injured and killed "in such a terrible way" -- when the attack killed a nine-year-old boy and four women aged 45 to 75. "You are not alone in your pain," he told the hundreds of affected families. "The people throughout our country feel for you and mourn with you." (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) 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The 25-year-old Sweden international took his goal tally for the season to 12 in the 3-0 Boxing Day win over Aston Villa at St James’ Park, 10 of them in his last 10 Premier League games, after a challenging start to the new campaign. Isak managed 25 goals in a black and white shirt last season to further justify the club record £63million the club paid to bring him to Tyneside from Real Sociedad during the summer of 2022, but as delighted as he is with his big-money signing, head coach Howe is confident there is even more to come. Asked where the former AIK Solna frontman currently ranks in world football, he said: “My biggest thing with Alex is I am evaluating his game on a daily and weekly basis and I just want to try to push him for more. “Everyone else can say where he is in the pecking order of world football. His game is in a good place at the moment. “My job is to not sit back and appreciate that, my job is to try and find areas he can improve, push him towards that and never stop pushing him. He has all the ingredients in there. Football never stops evolving and changing and he has to evolve with it. “There is a lot more to come from him. Our job is to help him deliver that. “Of course the main responsibility is for Alex to keep his focus, ignore the plaudits and keep helping the team, not be selfish. It is about Newcastle and he plays his part.” It is no coincidence that Newcastle have prospered as Isak has rediscovered his best form, and they will head for Manchester United – where they have won only once in the top flight since 1972 – on Monday evening looking for a fifth successive win in all competitions. He has scored in each of the last five league games having grown into the mantle of the Magpies’ main man, a role performed with such distinction in the past by the likes of Jackie Milburn, Malcolm Macdonald and Alan Shearer, and he has done so with the minimum of fuss. Asked about his character, Howe said: “He is calm, cool – he is what you see on the pitch. “He doesn’t get overly emotional, which for a striker is a great quality because that coolness you see and calmness in front of goal is part of his personality, part of what he is. He seems to have an extra half a second when other players don’t. “With Alex, the beauty of his attitude is that he wants to improve. We give him information and he is responsive. He is not a closed shop. “He is in no way thinking he has arrived at a certain place. He knows he has to keep adding to his game. The challenge is great for him to keep scoring freely as he is now.”Prenetics Announces Participation in December Investor ConferencesA million taxpayers will soon receive up to $1,400 from the IRS. Who are they and why now? Approximately 1 million taxpayers will automatically receive special payments of up to $1,400 from the IRS in the coming weeks. The money will be directly deposited into eligible people’s bank accounts or sent in the mail by a paper check. Most people shouldn't get their hopes up about receiving the cash. The IRS says it’s distributing about $2.4 billion to taxpayers who failed to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns after missing one of the COVID stimulus payments or receiving less than the full amount. The IRS says most taxpayers eligible for the federal stimulus payments received them. Bluesky finds with growth comes growing pains — and bots Bluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk’s X, or wanting an alternative to Meta’s Threads and its algorithms. The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter and was eventually intended to replace it. While this is still very much a pie in the sky, Bluesky’s growth trajectory could make it a serious competitor to other social platforms. With growth, though, comes growing pains. It’s not just human users who’ve been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites. 'Sonic 3' bests 'Mufasa: The Lion King' at the box office NEW YORK (AP) — In the holiday season battle of big-budget family movies, Paramount Pictures’ “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” sped past the Walt Disney Co.’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” to take the top spot at the box office. The results came just ahead of the lucrative Christmas corridor in theaters. According to studio estimates, “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” debuted with $62 million in ticket sales over the weekend. “Mufasa,” however, was humbled in its opening weekend, coming in notably shy of expectations. It returned just $35 million in domestic ticket sales. Amazon and Starbucks workers are on strike. Trump might have something to do with it Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract. Strikes during busy periods like the holidays can help unions exercise leverage during negotiations or garner support from sympathetic consumers. One expert says he thinks workers at both companies are “desperate” to make progress before President-elect Donald Trump can appoint a Republican majority to the National Labor Relations Board. Workers at Starbucks, Amazon and some other prominent consumer brands are fighting for their first contracts after several locations voted to unionize. Farmers are still reeling months after Hurricane Helene ravaged crops across the South LYONS, Ga. (AP) — Farmers in Georgia are still reeling more than two months after Hurricane Helene blew away cotton, destroyed ripened squash and cucumbers and uprooted pecan trees and timber. Agribusinesses in other Southern states saw costly damage as well. The University of Georgia estimates the September storm inflicted $5.5 billion in direct losses and indirect costs in Georgia alone. In rural Toombs County, Chris Hopkins just finished harvesting his ravaged cotton crop and figures he lost half of it, costing him about $430,000. Poultry grower Jeffrey Pridgen in Georgia's Coffee County had four of his 12 chicken houses destroyed and others badly damaged. Farmers say more government disaster assistance is needed. Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI’s strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products. But he grew disillusioned with the company and told The Associated Press this fall he would “try to testify” in copyright infringement cases against it. Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge shows price pressures eased last month WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation gauge that is closely watched by the Federal Reserve barely rose last month in a sign that price pressures cooled after two months of sharp gains. Prices rose just 0.1% from October to November. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, prices also ticked up just 0.1%, after two months of outsize 0.3% gains. The milder inflation figures arrived two days after Federal Reserve officials, led by Chair Jerome Powell, rocked financial markets by revealing that they now expect to cut their key interest rate just two times in 2025, down from four in their previous estimate. Albania to close TikTok for a year blaming it for promoting violence among children TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s prime minister says the government will shut down video service TikTok for one year, blaming it for inciting violence and bullying, especially among children. Albanian authorities held 1,300 meetings with teachers and parents following the stabbing death of a teenager in mid-November by another teenager following a quarrel that started on TikTok. Prime Minister Edi Rama, speaking at a meeting with teachers and parents, said TikTok “would be fully closed for all. ... There will be no TikTok in the Republic of Albania.” Rama says the ban will begin sometime next year. Albanian children comprise the largest group of TikTok users in the country, according to domestic researchers. Stock market today: Wall Street rises to turn a dismal week into just a bad one NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose to turn what would have been one of the market’s worst weeks of the year into just a pretty bad one. The S&P 500 rallied 1.1% Friday to shave its loss for the week down to 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped nearly 500 points, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1%. A report said a measure of inflation the Federal Reserve likes to use was slightly lower last month than expected. It’s an encouraging signal after the Fed shocked markets Wednesday by saying worries about inflation could keep it from cutting interest rates in 2025 as much as earlier thought. Starbucks workers begin strikes that could spread to hundreds of US stores by Christmas Eve Workers at U.S. Starbucks stores have begun a five-day strike to protest a lack of progress in contract negotiations with the company. The strikes began in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle and could spread to hundreds of stores across the country by Christmas Eve. Workers at 535 of the 10,000 company-owned Starbucks stores in the U.S. have voted to unionize. The Starbucks Workers United union accuses the Seattle-based coffeehouse chain of failing to honor a commitment made in February to reach a labor agreement this year. Starbucks says the union prematurely left the bargaining table this week. It said Friday there's been no significant impact to store operations.
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34 eminent citizens urge govt to ensure media safetyIn the increasingly competitive automotive market, automakers like General Motors Co. and Rivian Automotive have realized pairing up is not only beneficial but necessary for cost reduction and quicker technological advancement. GM has long understood the benefits of partnerships. The Detroit automaker, for example, has a longstanding partnership with Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. More recently, GM and South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. said they signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate "to reduce costs and bring a wider range of vehicles and technologies to customers faster." General Motors Chair and CEO Mary Barra takes some questions after a fireside chat at the Garden Theater in Detroit on Dec. 11, 2024. The companies haven't provided further information on the partnership, but experts and analysts have cheered it on as a smart move. They expect more mash-ups — if not outright industry consolidation — as automakers face rising expenses, a choppy transition to electric vehicles and competition from innovative, low-cost Chinese manufacturers. "It's something that I talked about for many years about the need to partner up," said Martin French, partner and managing director at Berylls by AlixPartners, a global consulting firm. "If you look at the challenges that this industry is faced with and what are the key attributes for what will make you a winning OEM, it's going to be cost efficiency and time to market. And the most effective way of doing that is through partnerships." Last week, Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan Motor Corp. announced plans to work toward a merger that would form the world’s third-largest automaker. "This is a smart deal as the writing was on the wall for Nissan," said Dan Ives, a senior equity analyst at Wedbush Securities, in a note to The Detroit News. "They had to do a deal in a consolidating EV landscape." Hyundai and GM have been mum on specific details of their alignment while they work to finalize it. Still, the companies have said that they would explore the co-development of internal combustion engines and "clean-energy" vehicles and research combining sourcing for battery raw materials and steel. Barra “GM and Hyundai have complementary strengths and talented teams," GM CEO Mary Barra said at the time of the MOU announcement in September. "Our goal is to unlock the scale and creativity of both companies to deliver even more competitive vehicles to customers faster and more efficiently.” GM had been talking to Hyundai for "a while," Barra told reporters during a fireside chat with the Automotive Press Association earlier this month. "There was a period where a lot of OEMs, everyone was talking to everyone, but we continued to have conversations. "We're very aligned at the top. We have the most senior people in each company having the conversations and setting the tone for the team. We're very pleased that we signed the MOU. There's quite a bit of work going on what will become definitive agreements, but I don't want to get ahead of those announcements." Waatti The Hyundai/GM lineup "could bring outsized synergies for both companies while remaining competitors at the core level," said Paul Waatti, director of industry analysis at market research firm AutoPacific Inc. "Partnerships accelerate technological development by pooling resources to tackle the capital-intensive nature of the advanced tech R&D the industry is embracing." On GM's third-quarter earnings call in October, Barra emphasized the importance of partnerships. "One of the things people say about the auto industry is we ... all do a lot of different things and don't always leverage where we can partner with other OEMs or with other companies," she said. "And so we're really looking to leverage that, especially across the business, as we've mentioned with the MOU that we have with Hyundai, the continuing work that we do with Honda.” GM and Honda partner on the development of hydrogen fuel cell technology and collaborated on the development of Honda's Prologue and Acura ZDX electric vehicles. The companies were also planning to jointly develop a line of affordable EVs together but nixed those plans in 2023. Ford Motor Co. in 2021 also axed its plans to develop an EV with startup Rivian Automotive Inc., which makes all of its electric pickup trucks, SUVs and commercial delivery vans in Normal. Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume and Rivian CEO and founder R.J. Scaringe pose together in a photo distributed in June 2024 alongside their announcement of joint venture plans. The company last month entered a $5.8 billion joint-venture deal with Volkswagen AG. In a news release, the German automaker said the partnership would "create cutting-edge software and electronics architectures and scale the electric vehicle platforms and architectures." Said Waatti: "Partnerships must remain flexible with room for reassessment and revision. It’s often better to adjust or kill a joint venture than to continue going down the wrong road, even if the investment is already massive." A line of unsold 2024 R1S electric utility vehicles sits at a Rivian service center Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in east Denver. At GM's October Investor Day event, Barra mentioned GM was having "ongoing discussions" with "potential partners" for its Cruise LLC autonomous vehicle unit. Two months later, GM said it would stop funding Cruise's robotaxi program after $10 billion in investment since 2017. GM, the majority owner of Cruise, is planning to combine the Cruise and GM technical teams into one to continue to work on AV tech. The automaker's focus will now be on its Super Cruise advanced driver assistance system with the goal of developing fully autonomous personal vehicles. "GM pulling the plug on the Cruise partnership to stop the bleeding and realign capital is the latest example of this challenging dynamic, particularly considering the potential revenue upside — still many billions of dollars and years down the road," Waatti said. Cruise AV, General Motor's autonomous electric Bolt EV, is displayed in Detroit on Jan. 16, 2019. Cruise's restructuring followed months of efforts by GM to restart the operation after a pedestrian accident in October 2023 with a Cruise self-driving vehicle halted operations. GM had restarted testing in several cities, and in August, Cruise and Uber Technologies LLC announced a multiyear deal for customers to book autonomous Cruise robotaxis through the Uber platform starting in 2025. It's unclear where the Cruise and Uber partnership stands after GM's move to defund the robotaxi program. Uber did not respond to a request for comment and a Cruise spokesperson deferred to GM. GM spokesperson Jim Cain said: "We've proposed a restructuring, and a lot of these potential opportunities depend on how that gets resolved." The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.Luka Doncic returns to Dallas Mavericks' lineup after missing two games with left heel contusion
Talen Requests Rehearing on Rejected Amazon Data Center Power Pact
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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Drake Maye’s arrival in New England coincided with a wholesale reset for the Patriots franchise following the departure of coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Mac Jones this past offseason. In his eight starts since assuming the reins from veteran Jacoby Brissett, the rookie quarterback has provided encouraging examples of what the Patriots’ revamped front office saw in selecting him third overall in the draft last April. While the Patriots enter their bye week with a 3-10 record and just 2-6 with Maye as the starter, both the coaching staff and his teammates feel they have a quarterback they can build around going forward. “I’m just trying to take it one day at a time, one game at a time,” Maye said this week. “I’m trying to learn from negative experiences or negative plays, learn from turnovers, learn from sacks that I take and see if I can get the ball out and do something better. That’s probably the biggest thing. "Hopefully, the work that we’re putting in and the product that we’re putting out can lead to some positive plays and some positive wins down the road.” Maye is coming off his best statistical performance of the season, completing a season best 80% of his passes (24 of 30) for a season-high 238 yards and a touchdown in New England’s 25-24 loss to Indianapolis. He also had a 41-yard run, showing off a running ability that has him averaging 9.1 yards per carry – best among quarterbacks who have played at least nine games. Maye did have one interception off a tipped ball, but showed his best command of offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt’s scheme to date, spreading the ball around to six different players and consistently getting the Patriots into the red zone. The rub is that the Patriots were just 2 of 6 once they got there, including four trips inside the 10-yard line that yielded only one TD. Lackluster play in the red zone has been a hindrance for a unit that ranks 30th in the NFL in scoring touchdowns inside the 20. Maye said it will be one of his main focal points over the final four games. “It’s tough to go out like that,” Maye said. “You can’t win games going four drives in the red zone that end in field goals. We’ve got to focus in on that. I think that’s been an emphasis of improvement for this offense. We know you have to score touchdowns to win in this league.” Though coach Jerod Mayo agrees there is room for improvement for Maye, he also pointed out that the pieces around him need to do a better job supporting him as well. He pointed specifically to the offensive line, singling out rookie left guard Layden Robinson and rookie tackle Caedan Wallace, as well as fellow lineman and 2022 first-round pick Cole Strange, who is working his way back from a knee injury. “You need a guy like Layden Robinson to show what he can do. We need a guy like Cole Strange before the end of the season to see what he can do,” Mayo said. “You can use Caedan in that same bucket. We need to see what the receivers can do and what they’re going to look like going forward, and that’s the hard part for me. You want to win right now, but at the same time, I think it would be a disservice to go to the end of the season and not know exactly what we have.” That’s not lost on Robinson, who wants to play better for his quarterback who he said has grown exponentially as a leader since earning the starting job. “He always has that confidence about him and you know how he takes control of the huddle,” Robinson said. “He gets in there, and he’s like, ‘All right, let’s go to work,’ basically. We rally behind him.” Results aside, Van Pelt said there are no regrets about initially waiting to elevate Maye to the starting job. “Absolutely not. I think we had the plan going into place, and I think that it’s showing now that that was a good decision for us,” Van Pelt said. “Would he be as developed had he started the first game? Maybe. Could’ve gone the other way as well. I stated in the spring, this is a marathon, it’s not a sprint. "This is about a career, franchise quarterback, and we’re trying to develop him in the right way. And I feel like we did it that way.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflToo many people want to be social-media influencersTrent Williams did well to secure strong terms via a reworking completed just days before the season. The perennial All-Pro tackle will not be back to close out Year 1 of this revised agreement. Kyle Shanahan announced Monday ( via ESPN.com’s Nick Wagoner ) that his future Hall of Fame blindside blocker will not return from injury this season. Considering the 49ers have been eliminated, this is not especially surprising. Williams, who has been rehabbing an ankle injury, has not played since Week 11. Shanahan had said last week ( via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport ) Williams would need to be close to healthy to come back this year, and he is not yet at that point. Two years remain on Williams’ contract. This marks the second straight year in which Williams has missed multiple games due to injury. The 49ers went 0-2 in those contests last season; they are 1-4 without Williams this year. Though, San Francisco has seen other valuable cogs miss time during this disastrous stretch as well. The team sits 6-9 as another woeful NFC title defense winds down. Williams, 36, has not made reference to a 2025 retirement yet. After securing a wave of guarantees midway through his six-year contract, it would represent a modest surprise if the former top-five pick walked away after this season. Ending a lengthy holdout via the summer adjustment, the 49ers have moved all but $1.26M of Williams’ 2025 base salary into void years and option bonuses. He received a $25.69M signing bonus upon inking his updated deal in September and will not be moved in 2025, as such a move would be punitive for the 49ers, who would take on $55M-plus in dead money by doing so. Although Williams is wrapping his age-36 season, he has remained one of the best linemen in football. San Francisco would benefit by having him back for what would be a 16th NFL season come 2025. Williams came back this season in a partial effort to set the tackle record for Pro Bowl nods. He is sitting on 11 going into this year’s unveiling; Hall of Famers Anthony Munoz, Jonathan Ogden and Willie Roaf join him at that number. Pro Football Focus slotted Williams seventh overall among tackles this season, a slight drop-off from his usual place, but ESPN’s pass block win rate metric ranks him first. It would not surprise to see Williams, despite missing five games, to be selected to his 12th Pro Bowl soon. The lucrative contract the 49ers gave to Williams has influenced their decision-making up front. The team has a midlevel deal at center ( Jake Brendel ) and a lower-end contract at right tackle ( Colton McKivitz ) and rookie pacts at guard ( Aaron Banks , Dominick Puni ). San Francisco is unlikely to re-sign Banks , and Williams’ contract should be expected to shape the team’s contractual blueprint — especially with Brock Purdy still on track to be paid in 2025 — with regards to its O-line. Williams announcing he is coming back would all but confirm this approach. This article first appeared on Pro Football Rumors and was syndicated with permission.The team behind “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy are trying to get some of the original stars from those films back for the upcoming live-action “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum” movie. Andy Serkis is returning as Gollum of course for the film which is expected to be set during the events of “The Fellowship of the Ring” in a time right before Frodo leaves the Shire. Philippa Boyens, one of the core trio behind the original trilogy alongside Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, spoke about the live-action film recently and revealed to that the team would love Viggo Mortensen to return as Aragon if he’s open to it: “Honestly, that’s entirely going to be up to Viggo, collaboratively and we are at a very early stage. I’ve spoken to Viggo, Andy [Serkis] has spoken to him, Peter [Jackson] has spoken to him, we’ve all spoken to each other and honestly, I cannot imagine anyone else playing Aragorn, but it will be completely and entirely up to Viggo.” In the film, Aragorn is tasked by Gandalf to find Gollum before he can share any sensitive information about the One Ring with anyone and have it get back to Sauron. Mortensen is notably older than he was during his time as Aragorn, but Boyens says they won’t use of A.I. technology to de-age him: “I know Andy wants to work with him, but also, we don’t see this as like, using A.I. [technology], this is about a digital make-up, and whether Viggo does it or will entirely depends on how good the script is. And he doesn’t have a script yet. So to be fair to Viggo, let’s see if we write a good enough role and that he can find enough in it to see that it’s a performance he wants to take on. After that, it’ll be between Viggo and Andy of how that is achieved.” Even if Mortensen turns down reprising his role, Boyens says they would still want him “heavily involved” in the project: “I suspect if he decides he doesn’t want to do it we would still want him to be heavily involved, like how do we hand this character off. But literally that decision is several, several months away. He’s got to read the script first and that’s exactly what I’m going to be working on when I get out of this interview [laughs].” Serkis directs the film which is said to be targeting a 2026 release.
PUNE The assembly election results delivered a severe blow to smaller parties that had hoped to carve out a space as part of a Third Front. The alliance, branded Mahashakti, fielded 121 candidates, none of whom managed to secure a win. Many lost their deposits, leaving the alliance in tatters and raising questions about its political relevance. Smaller parties have struggled to make an impact in elections in recent years, and the latest results further underscore their declining influence. Prominent leaders associated with the Third Front—including Raj Thackeray, Bacchu Kadu, Raju Shetti, Prakash Ambedkar, and Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati—faced rejection at the ballot box. Shetti, a farmers’ leader and former MP, expressed concern over the diminishing space for issue-based politics. “We have been raising genuine issues—farmers’ distress, rural challenges, and even urban problems through the MNS—but voters no longer prioritize these. Elections have increasingly been dominated by religious and emotive narratives,” he said. Shetti highlighted the plight of farmers, citing pressing issues like soybean, sugarcane, cotton, and onion prices. “Despite fighting for these causes, the response from voters has been disappointing. If this trend continues, it will discourage leaders who want to focus on real issues. Every social worker needs some power to bring about change,” he added. Shetti lamented the decline in public support for smaller parties and issue-based campaigns, noting that even his earlier electoral success was backed by farmers who contributed to his campaign fund. However, he has faced consecutive defeats since 2014. “If young farmer leaders start following the trends set by bigger parties, the essence of grassroots politics will be lost,” Shetti warned, adding that the future of smaller parties and their role in Indian politics remains bleak if voters continue to favour larger, identity-driven narratives.
TUCSON, Ariz. — The University of Arizona Innocence Project has announced a $1.5 million grant the organization hopes to use on DNA analysis to investigate potential wrongful convictions. >> Download the 12News app for the latest local breaking news straight to your phone. The money from a Department of Justice grant is the largest grant ever received by the university's Innocence Project. "This grant means we can push forward, looking deeply into cases where DNA has the potential to prove innocence and pursuing relief for those who have been wrongfully convicted," said Vanessa Buch, director of the U of A Innocence Project. The organization hopes the funding will help them increase DNA testing as a step toward criminal justice reform in Arizona. Arizona has only seen three documented DNA exonerations since 1989. The grant funding comes as the project is taking in more cases than ever with hundreds of claims of innocence waiting to be reviewed, according to officials with the project. "DNA testing is incredibly costly, and without these resources, a clinic like ours couldn't tackle cases that might require multiple rounds of testing or new, more advanced methods," said Virginia Morris, assistant director of the U of A Innocence Project. "Even just accessing older case files can be time-consuming and expensive. This grant provides us with funding to obtain records, travel when needed, and consult additional experts to give each case the attention it deserves." The funding will be used to bring more law students into the clinic and will help them get hands-on experience reviewing cases. Students can draft legal documents, interview witnesses and meet with people who may have spent years or decades in prison. Those interactions can be transformative, both professionally and personally, Morris said. As the grant expands the clinic's capacity to investigate cases, so too will it enable the U of A Innocence Project to build upon its partnership with the Conviction and Sentence Integrity Unit of the Pima County Attorney's Office. "Our hope is that by focusing on DNA cases, we'll learn more about errors in the system and start to break down barriers to exoneration in Arizona," Buch said. Up to speed Catch up on the latest news and stories on the 12News YouTube channel. Subscribe today. Watch 12News for free You can now watch 12News content anytime, anywhere thanks to the 12+ app! The free 12+ app from 12News lets users stream live events — including daily newscasts like "Today in AZ" and "12 News" and our daily lifestyle program, "Arizona Midday"—on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV . 12+ showcases live video throughout the day for breaking news, local news, weather and even an occasional moment of Zen showcasing breathtaking sights from across Arizona. Users can also watch on-demand videos of top stories, local politics, I-Team investigations, Arizona-specific features and vintage videos from the 12News archives. Roku: Add the channel from the Roku store or by searching for "12 News KPNX." Amazon Fire TV: Search for "12 News KPNX" to find the free 12+ app to add to your account , or have the 12+ app delivered directly to your Amazon Fire TV through Amazon.com or the Amazon app.SentinelOne (NYSE:S) Reports Q3 In Line With Expectations But Stock Drops 10.7%
KLA Corp. stock rises Wednesday, still underperforms market