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Trump wants pardoned real estate developer Charles Kushner to be ambassador to FranceThe fallen Awami League government had prioritised self-interest over the nation's progress during its 15 years in power, said Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman yesterday. Speaking at a rally in Dumuria upazila's Atharo Mile area, he highlighted several issues, including rising unemployment, economic mismanagement, and the erosion of communal harmony under the previous administration. "Our country has always been a land of peaceful coexistence, but the Awami League's 15-year rule has destroyed this unity, focusing on personal gain instead of national development," he said. Dr Rahman accused the former government of failing to address economic challenges, leaving millions unemployed. "Rather than creating jobs, they exploited the nation's resources, leaving long queues of jobless people as a proof of their failure," he added. He also criticised the state of education, claiming the government had armed criminals instead of empowering students. "Pens were replaced by weapons, and the wealth of ordinary citizens was smuggled abroad by Awami League leaders," he said. The Jamaat leader condemned the previous administration's "state-sponsored atrocities", alleging that it had used state-owned weapons to kill citizens in order to maintain power. "Such actions disqualify them from participating in politics. Even after being ousted, they continue to conspire against the country's stability," he said. He reiterated Jamaat's commitment to building a corruption-free society, where young people could find jobs based on merit, and women could move freely and safely. "We seek justice for all, without forcing people to beg at the doors of the courts," he said. The fallen Awami League government had prioritised self-interest over the nation's progress during its 15 years in power, said Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman yesterday. Speaking at a rally in Dumuria upazila's Atharo Mile area, he highlighted several issues, including rising unemployment, economic mismanagement, and the erosion of communal harmony under the previous administration. "Our country has always been a land of peaceful coexistence, but the Awami League's 15-year rule has destroyed this unity, focusing on personal gain instead of national development," he said. Dr Rahman accused the former government of failing to address economic challenges, leaving millions unemployed. "Rather than creating jobs, they exploited the nation's resources, leaving long queues of jobless people as a proof of their failure," he added. He also criticised the state of education, claiming the government had armed criminals instead of empowering students. "Pens were replaced by weapons, and the wealth of ordinary citizens was smuggled abroad by Awami League leaders," he said. The Jamaat leader condemned the previous administration's "state-sponsored atrocities", alleging that it had used state-owned weapons to kill citizens in order to maintain power. "Such actions disqualify them from participating in politics. Even after being ousted, they continue to conspire against the country's stability," he said. He reiterated Jamaat's commitment to building a corruption-free society, where young people could find jobs based on merit, and women could move freely and safely. "We seek justice for all, without forcing people to beg at the doors of the courts," he said.Bob Casey concedes Pa. Senate race, congratulates Dave McCormick on winI am writing to express my support for an independent public inquiry of Victoria Gold’s Eagle Mine disaster as a next step, following YG’s prudent decision to put the mine into receivership and oversee remediation efforts. I would like to share my recent experience that influences this preference in hopes that it is helpful. I draw some parallels from my time in leadership at Raven Recycling to the decisions before you. I led a very public-facing organization through a pandemic and a government-led regulatory process that would change the recycling landscape entirely, with insufficient human and financial resources and a backdrop of polarized public opinion about Raven’s operations. There was, and is an overwhelming lack of understanding of the recycling system both from the public and within the public service, making it near impossible to communicate the changes we were making and the reasons for them. The pandemic gutted our human resources, leaving us all wearing too many hats. We were working with crumbling and woefully insufficient infrastructure. Government was writing a regulation to please two entirely different perspectives and Raven was the only voice at the table speaking for the environment. I was new to the issue and not considered an authority. It was a job that required an intense focus on detail, which stripped away my ability to see beyond what was directly in front of me, and around my own biases at times. I think many of these dynamics are at play for YG in the case of the Eagle Gold Mine. During my time at Raven, we commissioned four independent reviews: an examination of Raven’s operating environment and of our social and environmental impacts, an analysis of a new business venture which Raven had made a major investment in, and an audit of our financial records, which was actually a demand made by government as a condition of considering our request for an increase in funding when the markets crashed and Raven no longer had the revenue from the sale of cardboard to keep the program going. We supplied raw data, access to our records and tours of our facility. We answered questions with fact-based information. It was not a comfortable process at times, but it was fair and unbiased. All four reviews alleviated pressure on me and my co-workers, helped us shape good policy and saved the organization money in the long run. We learned much and, while we didn’t love all of the conclusions that were drawn, or when past mistakes became transparent, the reviews helped us communicate more clearly with the public and other stakeholders. I believe they helped our stakeholders retain some trust in the organization and they helped me gain some credibility as a leader. We could not have gleaned such an unbiased perspective of our strengths and weaknesses without those independent reviews, and we could not have advocated for a more effective recycling system. I am concerned about the future of mining in the territory because mining affects so many people and systems, especially when it is unchecked and when it goes wrong. We are at a fragile point in governance and in the protection of what remains of biodiversity, food security and decent standards of living. Mining legislation, if done right, can alleviate so many economic and environmental pressures. I believe you have a much more critical issue in your hands than recycling and there is no time to waste. An independent public inquiry could help you. I wish for YG to use an independent public inquiry as the backbone for better legislation and policy. I feel it is time to take this step. With much respect for the difficult positions you have stepped up and into, and with hope for the integrity of the decisions you make in the near future, Heather Ashthorn Whitehorse
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A not-sweet Week 16 for us, specially against the spread (with the Vikings’ 3-point win the push). We missed our Upset of the Week, missed on Fins-Niners and got unlucky on Jalen Hurts’ injury. The good stuff? One point off an Exacto perfect score on Lions-Bears, and had Dallas with the points over Tampa. With two weeks left our .675 mark outright is very solid but we’re now down to five games over .500 against the betting line. Finish strong! [Note: Our Christmas Day picks were Chiefs (14-1, -2 1/2) over @Steelers (10-5), 24-18, and Ravens (10-5, -5 1/2) over @Texans (9-6), 27-20. Our Thursday night pick was Seahawks (8-7, -3 1/2) over @Bears (4-11), 23-16.] ——— Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
Netanyahu welcomes Trump’s re-election to second termArk Investment Management operates several exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on innovative technology stocks. Its founder, Cathie Wood, believes software companies are the next big opportunity in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, predicting they could generate up to $8 in revenue for every $1 they spend on chips from suppliers like Nvidia . Wood has invested in AI start-ups like xAI, OpenAI, and Anthropic through the Ark Venture Fund since making that prediction last year, so she's backing up her words with decisive action. Moreover, Ark's various ETFs own several leading AI software stocks like Amazon and Tesla . If Wood proves to be right about AI software companies, here's why C3.ai ( AI -4.26% ) and Microsoft ( MSFT -1.73% ) might be two of the biggest winners in the coming years. 1. The case for C3.ai C3.ai was the world's first enterprise AI company when it was founded in 2009. Now, it offers over 100 ready-made AI applications for businesses, which can help them accelerate their adoption of this revolutionary technology. C3.ai's software is especially popular in industries that aren't normally known for developing cutting-edge technology, like energy, manufacturing, and financial services. Dow , which is one of the world's largest manufacturers of chemicals, uses the C3.ai Reliability application to monitor equipment and conduct predictive maintenance. It has reduced downtime by 20% so far, which translates to fewer costs and more revenue. Similarly, one multinational bank deployed the C3.ai Anti-Money Laundering application to detect fraud, and it resulted in a 200% increase in the number of correctly identified suspicious transactions. C3.ai sells its applications directly to customers, but it also has joint sales agreements with the three major cloud giants, Amazon Web Services , Microsoft Azure, and Alphabet 's Google Cloud. C3.ai integrates with those platforms and leverages their computing power to give customers the performance they need. Since most businesses already use one of those three cloud providers, it's extremely easy for them to adopt C3.ai's applications. During C3.ai's fiscal 2025 second quarter (ended Oct. 31), 62% of its deals were closed through its partnership network, so it's a critical sales channel for the company. C3.ai generated a record $94.3 million in revenue during the quarter. That was a 29% increase from the year-ago period, and it marked the seventh consecutive quarter of accelerating growth. The company is reaping the benefits of a change to its business model from two years ago, when it switched from subscription-based revenue to consumption-based revenue. It streamlined the onboarding process by eliminating lengthy negotiating processes, so customers can sign up faster than ever. Developing AI is expensive, and it requires specialized expertise that many companies don't have. Therefore, as AI adoption spreads, more enterprises will turn to providers of ready-made solutions like C3.ai. That's why this could be a great AI stock for investors to own for the long term. 2. The case for Microsoft Microsoft has a rich history of innovation that led to the creation of a broad portfolio of software products like the Windows operating system, Azure cloud platform, and 365 productivity applications (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint). The company is also a leader in AI software, thanks to its near-$14 billion investment in ChatGPT creator OpenAI . The partnership -- which dates back to 2019 -- paved the way for Microsoft to launch the Copilot AI assistant, which is now embedded into most of its flagship software apps. Copilot for 365, for example, can help users rapidly create text and image content in Word and PowerPoint, which can significantly boost their productivity. It can also answer complex questions, which is very useful when conducting research. Organizations around the world pay for more than 400 million 365 licenses for their employees, and each of them is a candidate to add Copilot for an additional monthly subscription fee. Microsoft says 70% of the Fortune 500 companies are using Copilot for 365 already, and the number of people who use it daily more than doubled in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 (ended Sept. 30). Microsoft also created Azure AI for its cloud customers. It allows businesses to access state-of-the-art computing infrastructure to develop AI software, and it also provides them with access to industry-leading large language models (LLMs), including OpenAI's latest o1 series. Microsoft says demand is outstripping supply for its AI data center infrastructure, but the company spent around $20 billion to build more capacity during Q1. That spending is likely to ramp up in the coming quarters. Valuation might be one drawback to buying Microsoft stock right now. It trades at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 36.2, which is a 10% premium to its 10-year average of 32.8. However, as represented by the orange line in the below chart, its forward P/E ratio (based on the consensus earnings estimate from Wall Street for the next year) is 29.2: MSFT PE Ratio data by YCharts In other words, even though Microsoft stock is technically expensive today, it might actually be cheap for investors who are willing to hold it for at least the next year. If Cathie Wood is right and AI software generates $8 in revenue for every $1 companies spend on chips, the potential payoff from Microsoft's data center infrastructure investments could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars in the future. As a result, it's hard to look past Microsoft stock as one of the top AI software plays .
Published 01:39 IST, December 1st 2024 President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday threatened 100% tariffs against a bloc of nine nations if they act to undermine the US dollar. West Palm Beach: President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday threatened 100% tariffs against a bloc of nine nations if they act to undermine the US dollar. His threat was directed at countries in the BRIC alliance, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have applied to become members and several other countries have expressed interest in joining. While the US dollar is by far the most-used currency in global business and has survived past challenges to its preeminence, members of the alliance and other developing nations say they are fed up with America's dominance of the global financial system. Trump, in a Truth Social post, said: We require a commitment from these Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy." At a summit of BRIC nations in October, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the US of weaponising the dollar and described it as a big mistake. It's not us who refuse to use the dollar, Putin said at the time. But if they don't let us work, what can we do? We are forced to search for alternatives. Russia has specifically pushed for the creation of a new payment system that would offer an alternative to the global bank messaging network, SWIFT, and allow Moscow to dodge Western sanctions and trade with partners. Trump said there is "no chance" BRIC will replace the US dollar in global trade and any country that tries to make that happen "should wave goodbye to America. Updated 01:39 IST, December 1st 2024Uncovering the Hidden AI Gem: Fastly’s Promise in a Burgeoning Market
DETROIT — In the end, the amount and way the Red Wings were losing lately was simply too much to ignore. And with that, the Wings fired coach Derek Lalonde and replaced him with former San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan on Thursday. In a release just after noon, the Wings announced that Steve Yzerman, the Wings’ executive vice-president and general manager, named McLellan the team’s 29th head coach in franchise history and signed McLellan to a multi-year contract. The Wings also hired Trent Yawney as an assistant coach, replacing Bob Boughner, another former Sharks head coach who oversaw the defense and penalty-kill. McLellan will be behind the bench Friday, as the Wings return from the three-day NHL holiday break to host Toronto. Yzerman and McLellan will address the media on Friday. McLellan is San Jose’s all-time winningest coach, compiling a 311-155-63 mark over seven full seasons from 2008-15. He won three Pacific Division titles and had a 30-32 record in the postseason, reaching the conference finals in 2010 and 2011. McLellan’s Sharks teams finished with more than 100 points four times, winning the President’s Trophy in the 2008-09 season that also saw McLellan named a finalist for the Jack Adams Trophy as coach of the year. The Wings have struggled to a 13-17-4 record, good for 30 points, just two points above Buffalo for last place in the Eastern Conference. They trail Ottawa by eight points (38-30) for the final of two Eastern Conference wild-card positions. After just missing the playoffs last spring on the final night of the season on a tiebreaker, the Wings struggled from the start this season. They lost three of their first four games and have struggled mightily to get to, or above, the .500 mark ever since. The Wings have lost their last three games, and the way they did likely pushed Yzerman to replace Lalonde. The Wings let a third-period lead slip away at Little Caesars on Dec. 20 to Montreal and lost, 4-3, then lost the next night in Montreal, 5-1, watching the Canadiens score the last five goals consecutively with not a ton of pushback. Monday, the Wings were shut, 4-0, at LCA, looking listless, at times. The Wings were serenaded with a loud chorus of boos after each period, culminating with a lot of pent-up frustration at the end of the game. Lalonde, 52, ended his Wings career with an 89-86-23 record. This was his first NHL head-coaching job, and he was in his third season guiding the Wings. After last season’s exciting finish and near-playoff miss, there was plenty of optimism heading into this Wings season. The team’s overall defense needed to improve, and scoring was expected to be an issue because of the personnel losses the Wings had, but the roster appeared to be competitive. But Lalonde wasn’t able to appreciably fix any of the problem areas. The Wings rank 25th in goals-against (3.26), only slightly better than last season’s final average (3.35). Scoring goals has been a larger-than-expected issue. With the departures of Jake Walman, Shayne Gostisbehere, David Perron, Robby Fabbri and Daniel Sprong, the Wings were hoping for internal improvement, but it hasn’t happened. They currently rank 29th, at 2.56 goals scored per game (the Wings were 13th last season, scoring 3.12 goals per game). Add to that, a dismal penalty kill that ranks 31st (68.8%), and it’s made for a frustrating season. In steps McLellan, 57, who was an assistant coach under Mike Babcock from 2005-08. Yzerman, incidentally, was the captain in his final playing season and first season for McLellan in Detroit under Babcock. McLellan has 16 seasons of NHL head-coaching experience, posting a 598-412-134 regular-season record and a 42-46 postseason mark with the Los Angeles Kings (2019-24), Edmonton Oilers (2015-19) and Sharks (2008-15). His 598 regular-season wins are ranked 24th in NHL history and sixth-most among active coaches behind Paul Maurice (891), Lindy Ruff (876), Peter Laviolette (823), John Tortorella (757) and Peter DeBoer (632). Teams coached by McLellan have reached the 50-win mark three times and the 100-point plateau six times. McLellan’s teams have also advanced to the Stanley Cup playoffs nine times, including six consecutive postseason appearances with the Sharks. Known as an upbeat coach with strong communication skills, McLellan is regarded as an effective coach of young players dating back to a successful junior hockey coaching career. McLellan, along with Yzerman, will be under increasing pressure to end a Wings’ streak of not making the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons. Only Buffalo, at 13 seasons, has a longer current streak.
Funding streams beckon interest from businesses