WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen Keith Kellogg, a highly decorated retired three-star general, to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg, who is one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for the incoming administration, will come into the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year in February. Trump, making the announcement on his Truth Social account, said, “He was with me right from the beginning! Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!” Kellogg, an 80-year-old retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence , was chief of staff of the National Security Council and then stepped in as an acting security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned. As special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Kellogg will have to navigate an increasingly untenable war between the two nations. The Biden administration has begun urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilization laws to allow for the conscription of those as young as 18. The White House has pushed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more before Biden leaves office in less than two months. The U.S. has recently stepped up weapons shipments and has forgiven billions in loans provided to Kyiv. Trump has criticized the billions the Biden administration has spent in supporting Ukraine and has said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. As a co-chairman of the American First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security, Kellogg wrote several of the chapters in the group’s policy book. The book, like the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” is designed to lay out a Trump national security agenda and avoid the mistakes of 2016 when he entered the White House largely unprepared. Kellogg in April wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.” Trump's proposed national security adviser , U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, tweeted Wednesday that “Keith has dedicated his life to defending our great country and is committed to bringing the war in Ukraine to a peaceful resolution.” Kellogg featured in multiple Trump investigations dating to his first term. He was among the administration officials who listened in on the July 2019 call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump prodded his Ukrainian counterpart to pursue investigations into the Bidens. The call, which Kellogg would later say did not raise any concerns on his end, was at the center of the first of two House impeachment cases against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate both times. On Jan. 6, 2021, hours before pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Kellogg, who was then Pence’s national security adviser, listened in on a heated call in which Trump told his vice president to object or delay the certification in Congress of President Joe Biden ’s victory. He later told House investigators that he recalled Trump saying to Pence words to the effect of: “You’re not tough enough to make the call.” Baldor reported from Washington. AP writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Alkermes SVP Nichols sells $151,813 in stockPARIS: France threw open the doors of the capital’s Notre Dame cathedral after a half-decade closure, in a ceremony attended by dozens of world leaders celebrating the rebirth of the Paris landmark ravaged by a devastating fire. Held up as an example of French creativity and resilience by President Emmanuel Macron, Notre Dame’s renaissance so soon after a 2019 blaze that destroyed its roof and spire comes at a difficult time for the country. The re-opening officially took place when archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich opened the doors to the cathedral at 1800 GMT, by knocking three times, to herald the start of the almost two-hour ceremony. Macron scored a major coup by attracting US president-elect Donald Trump, on his first foreign trip since his election, for the ceremony along with some 40 other leaders, including Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and the UK’s heir to the throne, Prince William. It is “a cathedral like we have never seen before,” Philippe Jost, the head of the restoration project, told Franceinfo radio, saying he was proud to “show the whole world” a “great collective success and a source of pride for all of France”. In one last-minute hitch, harsh weather forced officials to move Macron’s planned speech indoors and pre-record a concert planned for after the ceremony, with forecasts for winds of up to 80 kilometers per hour. The service will feature prayer, organ music and hymns from the cathedral’s choir, followed by the televised concert—pre-recorded Friday night due to the weather—with performances by Chinese piano virtuoso Lang Lang, South African opera singer Pretty Yende and an orchestra conducted by Venezuelan maestro Gustavo Dudamel. US singer and fashion designer Pharrell Williams is also believed to have taken part. The sense of national accomplishment in restoring a beloved symbol of Paris has been undercut by political turmoil that has left France without a proper government and in a budget crisis. Macron is hoping the re-opening might provide a fleeting sense of pride and unity—as the Paris Olympics did in July and August. The scale of the immense security operation also recalls the Olympics—with some 6,000 police officers and gendarmes mobilized. The re-opening “is the proof that we know how to do grand things, we know how to do the impossible” Macron said Thursday. During a visit with TV cameras last week. however, he somewhat undermined the suspense behind the re-opening, revealing the cathedral’s freshly scrubbed limestone walls, new furniture and vaulted wooden roof cut from ancient oak trees selected from the finest forests of France. The reconstruction effort has cost around 700 million euros ($750 million), financed from donations, with the re-opening achieved within five years despite predictions it could take decades. “This state-of-the-art restoration, the fruit of a worldwide collective effort and the use of many traditional French skills, has enabled this masterpiece to regain all its splendor,” said Audrey Azoulay, the head of the UN cultural agency UNESCO, describing the work as “dazzling”. Trump show? Trump accepted an invitation from Macron to attend earlier this week, saying the French leader had done “a wonderful job ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its full level of glory, and even more so.” Travelling on a private plane, he landed at Orly airport in the south of Paris Saturday morning, followed by Zelensky a few hours later. US President Joe Biden will be represented by his wife, Jill. One surprising absentee will be Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, who is instead visiting the French island of Corsica. A message from Francis addressed to the French people will be read out to the congregation. Parisians watched in horror in 2019 as flames ravaged Notre Dame, a landmark famed as the setting for Victor Hugo’s novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and one of the world’s most visited monuments. The apocalyptic images were seen by some as a sign of the demise of Western civilisation, with the 850-year-old wonder saved from complete collapse only by the heroic intervention of firefighters. The exact cause of the blaze has never been identified despite a forensic investigation by prosecutors, who believe an accident such as an electrical fault was the most likely reason. On Sunday, the first mass with 170 bishops and more than 100 Paris priests will take place at 10:30 am followed by a second service in the evening at 6:30 pm which will be open to the public. - AFP
Trump selects longtime adviser Keith Kellogg as special envoy for Ukraine and RussiaNoneI'm an American living in the UK... these are the FIVE things that are so different about our supermarkets
SAN FRANCISCO , Nov. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) today announced the appointment of Janesh Moorjani as the company's chief financial officer, effective December 16, 2024 . Moorjani brings over 20 years of experience in the technology industry, with deep expertise in driving growth and efficiency at scale. Most recently, Moorjani served as CFO and COO of Elastic NV (NYSE: ESTC), the Search AI Company. Reporting to chief executive officer Andrew Anagnost , Moorjani will lead and oversee Autodesk's global finance organization. Moorjani will succeed interim chief financial officer Elizabeth "Betsy" Rafael, who will serve as an advisor to the company through the end of fiscal 2025 and will continue to serve on Autodesk's Board of Directors, resuming her status as an independent director following the transition period and end of her employment by the company. "We are excited to welcome such a high-caliber and seasoned CFO in Janesh," said Andrew Anagnost , president and CEO of Autodesk. "His deep finance and software experience will be instrumental in supporting Autodesk's continued momentum with sustained growth and enhanced profitability. I look forward to partnering with Janesh to drive Autodesk's successful path forward and continue creating additional value for our stockholders. I also thank Betsy for stepping into the interim CFO role at an important time for Autodesk, and for her continued contributions both through the transition and as a qualified and experienced board member moving forward." Moorjani brings strong experience leading dynamic public software companies. He recently was CFO of Elastic since 2017 and assumed the additional responsibilities of COO in 2022. Prior to Elastic, he served in executive and leadership roles at Infoblox, VMware, Cisco, PTC, and Goldman Sachs. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Cohesity, a leading AI-powered data security and data management company. "I am thrilled to join Autodesk and work with Andrew, the company's strong management team and the Board to capitalize on the compelling growth opportunities we have ahead," said Moorjani. "Autodesk has established a clear leadership position as a technology innovator by providing differentiated and connected solutions that allow customers across industries to design and make anything. I look forward to working with the team to build on Autodesk's strong financial foundation to drive continued growth, profitability and free cash flow to ultimately deliver sustainable stockholder value." ABOUT AUTODESK The world's designers, engineers, builders, and creators trust Autodesk to help them design and make anything. From the buildings we live and work in, to the cars we drive and the bridges we drive over. From the products we use and rely on, to the movies and games that inspire us. Autodesk's Design and Make Platform unlocks the power of data to accelerate insights and automate processes, empowering our customers with the technology to create the world around us and deliver better outcomes for their business and the planet. For more information, visit autodesk.com or follow @autodesk. #MakeAnything Autodesk is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including quotations from management, statements regarding our strategies, performance, results, growth, profitability and free cash flow, and all statements that are not historical facts. There are a significant number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements made in this press release, including: our strategy to develop and introduce new products and services and to move to platforms and capabilities, exposing us to risks such as limited customer acceptance (both new and existing customers), costs related to product defects, and large expenditures; global economic and political conditions, including changes in monetary and fiscal policy, foreign exchange headwinds, recessionary fears, supply chain disruptions, resulting inflationary pressures and hiring conditions; geopolitical tension and armed conflicts, and extreme weather events; costs and challenges associated with strategic acquisitions and investments; our ability to successfully implement and expand our transaction model; dependency on international revenue and operations, exposing us to significant international regulatory, economic, intellectual property, collections, currency exchange rate, taxation, political, and other risks, including risks related to the war against Ukraine launched by Russia and our exit from Russia and the current conflict between Israel and Hamas; inability to predict subscription renewal rates and their impact on our future revenue and operating results; existing and increased competition and rapidly evolving technological changes; fluctuation of our financial results, key metrics and other operating metrics; our transition from up front to annual billings for multi-year contracts; deriving a substantial portion of our net revenue from a small number of solutions, including our AutoCAD-based software products and collections; any failure to successfully execute and manage initiatives to realign or introduce new business and sales initiatives, including our new transaction model for Flex; net revenue, billings, earnings, cash flow, or new or existing subscriptions shortfalls; social and ethical issues relating to the use of artificial intelligence in our offerings; our ability to maintain security levels and service performance meeting the expectations of our customers, and the resources and costs required to avoid unanticipated downtime and prevent, detect and remediate performance degradation and security breaches; security incidents or other incidents compromising the integrity of our or our customers' offerings, services, data, or intellectual property; reliance on third parties to provide us with a number of operational and technical services as well as software; our highly complex software, which may contain undetected errors, defects, or vulnerabilities; increasing regulatory focus on privacy issues and expanding laws; governmental export and import controls that could impair our ability to compete in international markets or subject us to liability if we violate the controls; protection of our intellectual property rights and intellectual property infringement claims from others; the government procurement process; fluctuations in currency exchange rates; our debt service obligations; and our investment portfolio consisting of a variety of investment vehicles that are subject to interest rate trends, market volatility, and other economic factors. Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial results of Autodesk are included in Autodesk's Form 10-K and subsequent Forms 10-Q, which are on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Autodesk disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/autodesk-appoints-janesh-moorjani-as-chief-financial-officer-302316577.html SOURCE Autodesk, Inc.Mainstreet Bancshares chief risk officer sells $52,779 in stock
Chargers claim former Dolphins S Marcus Maye on waiversA person’s face is covered by a Chinese flag fluttering in the wind in Beijing in an undated photograph.Photo: Bloomberg ‘UNITED FRONT’: Beijing provides Internet ‘influencers’ with templates and directions, such as criticizing Taiwanese politicians, the rapper said By Chung Li-hua and Esme Yeh / Staff reporter, with staff writer 請繼續往下閱讀... Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源) in a video showed how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) bribes Taiwanese online influencers in its “united front” efforts to shape Taiwanese opinions. The video was made by YouTuber “Pa Chiung (八炯)” and published online on Friday. Chen in the video said that China’s United Front Work Department provided him with several templates and materials — such as making news statements — with some mentioning Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politician Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and asking him to write a song criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party. 請繼續往下閱讀... He said he had produced content for China as requested, but did not receive the royalties as promised by a Beijing-based management company for his song Chinese Bosses (中國老總), which is sung in an exaggerated Taiwanese accent with lyrics implying a pleasant life for businesspeople in China. Chen said he also founded a company in China jointly with a business partner from the Jinjiang Taiwan Compatriots Friendship Association, who worked as his manager and later poached all his employees and capital invested in the company. He was labeled as a fraud and a “Taiwanese independence separatist,” and attacked by Chinese Internet trolls, after he released an online video condemning his former business partner for betraying him. “I finally realized the hard way that where I was staying [China] was not a place of democracy,” Chen said, adding that there is a huge difference between democratic Taiwan and autocratic China. The Mainland Affairs Council yesterday said it is in control of the situation where Taiwanese influencers allegedly vilify the government’s policies, lure Taiwanese to work in China or engage in “united front” campaigns requested by the Chinese government. The National Security Act (國家安全法) prohibits people from engaging, initiating, funding, hosting, manipulating, directing or developing an organization for a foreign country, including China, Hong Kong and Macau, external hostile forces, or any type of organizations, institutions, or groups established or controlled by them, or a representative dispatched by such organizations, institutions or groups, the council said. The Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) prohibits people from receiving instructions, being commissioned or funded by external hostile forces to engage in activities that disrupt social order, spread disinformation or interfere with elections, it said. Article 33-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) prohibits individuals, juristic persons, organizations or other institutions from engaging in any form of cooperation with the Chinese military, political parties or any organization of a political nature, it added. 新聞來源: TAIPEI TIMES 不用抽 不用搶 現在用APP看新聞 保證天天中獎 點我下載APP 按我看活動辦法
HOUSTON — Dillon Brooks scored a season-high 28 points and led the Houston Rockets to a 116-88 win over the Portland Trail Blazers in an NBA Cup game on Friday night. Brooks matched a career-high with six 3-pointers on eight attempts, and the Rockets made 15 of 39 (38.5%) from beyond the arc. Tari Eason scored 22 points off the bench, Jalen Green had 17 and Alperen Sengun added 14 as the Rockets won for the seventh time in eight games. Six of those wins were by double figures. Houston is 2-0 in NBA Cup play For Portland, Deni Avdija and Shaedon Sharpe scores 13 points apiece and Toumani Camara had 11. Portland has lost two straight games to open a four-game trip. They previously won three straight at home. The Trail Blazers are 1-1 in the in-season tournament. Takeaways Trail Blazers: Portland was missing two of its five leading scorers in Scoot Henderson, out for the first time with a left quad contusion, and Deandre Ayton, who remained sidelined with a deep contusion in his right index finger. Rockets: Houston, at 12-5, has outscored opponents by 163 points through 17 games, the highest total through the first 17 games of a season in franchise history. The previous record of 131 was held by the defending champion 1996-97 Rockets, who started the season 15-2. Portland Trail Blazers guard Rayan Rupert, right, defends against Houston Rockets forward Amen Thompson (1) during the second half of an Emirates NBA Cup basketball game in Houston, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. Credit: AP/Ashley Landis Key moment The Rockets were trailing early when Eason checked in and provided a spark, scoring 12 points in an energetic 13 minutes in the first half. Eason finished with a game-best plus-minus of +33 points. Key stat Houston outscored Portland 23-7 in fast-break points and generated 28 points off Portland’s 21 turnovers. Up next The Trail Blazers and the Rockets will meet again Saturday night in Houston for the second half of a back-to-back.Qatar tribune Tribune News Network doha The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) has unveiled its Regulatory Framework for Digital Banks, marking a significant step in regulating and advancing digital banking activities in the country. The initiative aligns with the Third Financial Sector Strategy, the Fintech Strategy, and QCB’s broader objectives of fostering financial sector development and accelerating digital transformation. The new framework underscores QCB’s commitment to enhancing digital innovation and technological initiatives within the financial sector. It aims to support Qatar’s progression towards a digital economy, reflecting the principles outlined in Qatar National Vision 2030. Digital banks play a pivotal role in enhancing financial inclusion by offering accessible and innovative banking services tailored to the needs of individuals and businesses. These institutions operate entirely through digital platforms and mobile applications, providing customers with 24/7 access to comprehensive financial services. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, digital banks deliver fast, secure, and efficient financial operations while significantly reducing operational costs. The newly introduced regulatory framework amplifies these benefits, fostering cost-effective and sustainable banking solutions. In addition to driving innovation, the framework provides a robust foundation for the growth of Qatar’s financial technology (FinTech) sector. QCB remains committed to creating an enabling environment with the necessary infrastructure and legislative support, encouraging FinTech companies to develop innovative solutions that enhance operational efficiency and the quality of banking services. The regulatory initiative aligns with Qatar’s vision to build a resilient and forward-looking financial ecosystem, contributing to sustainable development and economic diversification. The full details of the Regulatory Framework for Digital Banks are available on QCB’s official website, offering transparency and accessibility to stakeholders interested in understanding the guidelines shaping the future of digital banking in Qatar. Through this framework, QCB reaffirms its role as a catalyst for technological innovation in the financial sector, paving the way for a dynamic and inclusive digital banking landscape. Copy 03/12/2024 10
The Arizona Cardinals are 6-6 through 12 games, which makes them an average football team. That's much better than the previous two years, which both ended with just four wins. But after two straight frustrating losses, it's not providing much consolation for a franchise that feels as though it should be much better. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
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