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Former Army soldier Alexander Vindman, a crucial witness in Donald Trump's initial impeachment, may file a lawsuit against Elon Musk after the tech magnate accused him of treason. Eugene Vindman, Alex's twin brother, raised the prospect of a defamation suit after Musk's social media comments. The newly elected congressman from Virginia, Eugene Vindman, denounced Musk's remarks. “If anybody’s on the cusp of having to pay, it’s maybe Elon Musk,” Eugene Vindman said. He said the charges had no factual foundation and were "false and defamatory." Musk’s Accusations and Vindman’s Response Musk said that Alexander Vindman had committed treason and was "on the payroll of Ukrainian oligarchs." Alexander Vindman criticized Musk's behavior, prompting the comments on X, previously Twitter. Vindman had charged Musk of supporting Russian goals by using his business connections and powerful platform. Vindman quickly refuted the claims. He addressed his involvement with a charity group supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia and said he did not accept any money from oligarchs. Musk's claims were deemed unfounded and suggestive of conspiracy theories by him. Vindman’s Role in Trump Impeachment During the Trump-Ukraine crisis in 2019, Alexander Vindman, who was born in Ukraine and subsequently immigrated to the United States, became well-known nationwide. In his testimony against Trump during the impeachment process, he claimed wrongdoing in a phone conversation with the president of Ukraine while serving as the Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council. After supporting his brother during the proceedings, Eugene Vindman, a former military member, entered politics and became the Democrat who won Virginia's 7th Congressional District seat. Concerns Over National Security and Russian Influence Vindman has been outspoken about his worries about Musk's purported impact on American politics and national security. He charged that Musk had been exploited by Russian President Vladimir Putin to foment division in the United States. “Elon Musk has access to state secrets,” Alexander Vindman said in a recent interview. “It’s possible that sensitive information is seeping through.” He described Musk as a potential tool in Russia’s efforts to destabilize American democracy. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US News, World and around the world.TBILISI -- Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, an ardent critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party, called the nation’s government illegitimate and vowed to remain in office when her term ends next month, while Washington said it was suspending its "strategic partnership" with the country. Georgia has been thrown into turmoil since parliamentary elections in October -- in which Georgian Dream secured 54 percent of the vote -- with the opposition and Western governments arguing that the poll was marred by violations and Russian influence. Zurabishvili on November 30 said the “illegitimate” chamber does not have the right to choose her successor following the end of her term in December and vowed to remain in office. "There is no legitimate parliament, and therefore, an illegitimate parliament cannot elect a new president,” Zurabishvili said. “Thus, no inauguration can take place, and my mandate continues until a legitimately elected parliament is formed," she added, setting up a likely showdown over the office with Georgian Dream. Separately, Washington blasted the security measures used against Georgians who have taken to the streets following the disputed elections and after a November 28 announcement by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze that his government was suspending EU accession talks and would reject budgetary grants from Brussels "until the end of 2028." "The United States condemns the excessive use of force by police against Georgians seeking to exercise their rights to assembly and expression, including their freedom to peacefully protest," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement . "By suspending Georgia’s EU accession process, Georgian Dream has rejected the opportunity for closer ties with Europe and made Georgia more vulnerable to the Kremlin," he said. "Georgian Dream’s various anti-democratic actions have violated the core tenets of our U.S.-Georgia Strategic Partnership, which was based on shared values and commitments to democracy, rule of law, civil society, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and anti-corruption efforts. As a result, the United States has suspended this mechanism." “We reiterate our call to the Georgian government to return to its Euro-Atlantic path, transparently investigate all parliamentary election irregularities, and repeal anti-democratic laws that limit freedoms of assembly and expression,” Miller added. Georgia's Interior Ministry said protesters had “verbally and physically” assaulted police officers and had thrown various objects at security forces. Various videos from the rally showed police officers beating protesters. Reacting to the crackdown, Kobakhidze suggested on November 30 that there were "isolated" incidents of police brutality but "systemic violence" against security forces by protesters. "On one side, there was violence, on the other side there were incidents," he said in a press conference. On the first night of protests, some 43 demonstrators were detained "as a result of illegal and violent actions,” according to the Interior Ministry. Kobakhidze on November 30 said that a "difficult" few months lay ahead of Georgia but added that he expects relations with the West to "reset." Zurabishvili, who has long sided with the protesters, condemned the "brutal and disproportionate attacks on the Georgian people and media," likening the crackdown on November 29 to "Russian-style repression." The next day, she urged the Georgian diaspora to “wake up” and help protesters by speaking to the media and appealing to the authorities where they live. “[You] can no longer be silent and pretend nothing is happening in the homeland,” she wrote on Facebook. On November 28, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for new legislative elections in Georgia and sanctions on senior members of the Georgian Dream party. In its resolution, the European Parliament said the election result election did "not serve as a reliable representation of the will of the Georgian people." It also called on the European Union, which froze Georgia's EU membership application last month, to place sanctions on key officials within the ruling party, including Kobakhidze, Georgian Dream Chairman Irakli Gharibashvili, billionaire power broker and party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze. BUCHAREST -- Even as disputes remain over the first round of last week’s presidential election, Romanians return to the polls on December 1 to choose their parliamentary representatives as the battle between East and West rages in the Black Sea nation. The country’s far-right and often pro-Russia elements -- which performed surprisingly well in the presidential election -- are expected to make gains in the parliamentary vote as well. More than 10,000 candidates have registered to compete for seats in the bicameral parliament --329 seats in the lower house Chamber of Deputies and 136 in the Senate. A poll conducted by AtlasIntel indicated the far-right, ultranationalist Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR) leading the pack with 22.4 percent backing, just ahead of the ruling the Social Democratic Party (PSD) at 21.4 percent. The AUR has staked out strongly anti-Western positions, questioning Romania's membership in the European Union and NATO, alongside xenophobia and conspiratorial rabble-rousing. Under incumbent Klaus Iohannis, Romania has been one of Kyiv's staunchest allies , but a shift toward more Russia-friendly leaders could endanger support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, analysts say. The center-right Save Romania Union (USR) was at 17.5 percent. Elena Lasconi, a pro-West former small-town mayor for the USR, will compete on December 8 in a runoff presidential vote against pro-Russia, far-right candidate Calin Georgescu. The Liberal Party (PNL) -- a junior coalition partner to the PSD – was listed at 13.4 percent. If no party wins a majority of seats, coalition negotiations will follow. The party gaining the most votes would likely nominate the prime minister. Along with the divide between the East and West, Romanians have expressed concerns about the ailing economy and rampant corruption. Voting began late on November 30 among the Romanian diaspora , which may be pivotal in the parliamentary election -- although it is not initially clear which parties it will favor. Moldova is a key voting space for Romanian elections. Most of Moldova was part of Romania until the end of World War II and many Moldovans also hold Romanian citizenship. Political parties must capture at least 5 percent of the votes at a national level to qualify for parliament. Political alliances of two parties must attain 8 percent, alliances of three parties must get 9 percent, and alliances of four parties or more must achieve 10 percent. Pre-vote polls may not be indicative of the final results, however. In the November 24 presidential first round, independent candidate Georgescu shocked the field by coming from nowhere to lead the voting, gaining nearly 23 percent. Lasconi, a staunch Euro-Atlanticist, finished second in that vote, barely beating favored leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the PSD and leading to the runoff against Georgescu. Ciolacu resigned as PSD party leader following his disappointing showing in the presidential election. Romania's Central Election Bureau has begun a court-ordered recount of all ballots cast in the first round of the presidential election, as accusations swirled that Georgescu illegally used TikTok to boost his campaign, among other alleged irregularities. The Constitutional Court ordered the recount on November 28 after officials from the Supreme Council of National Defense demanded that the authorities take "urgent" steps, saying Georgescu was granted "preferential treatment" by the social media platform. TikTok has denied any wrongdoing. Sources have told RFE/RL's Romanian Service that the Constitutional Court, which was originally set to validate the results of the first round of the election on November 29, will do so on December 2 after the parliamentary vote is completed. Romania's president has significant decision-making powers, including on matters of national security and foreign policy. Elected for a five-year term, the president can also reject party nominees for prime minister and government nominees for judicial appointments. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in a visit to his country's border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, called the development of military fortifications there and along the frontier with Kremlin ally Belarus "an investment in peace." "Everything we are doing here is meant to deter and discourage any potential aggressor, which is why this is truly an investment in peace," Tusk told a news conference on November 30. "We will spend billions of zlotys on this -- but right now all of Europe is watching with great satisfaction and will support these investments and our actions if necessary." The project -- called East Shield -- is designed to eventually protect 800 kilometers along the NATO nation’s borders with Russia and Belarus. Russian warplanes have joined Syrian air forces to bomb rebels who had taken much of the northwestern city of Aleppo in the biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad’s rule in the battle-torn Middle East nation in several years. Iran, meanwhile, said on November 30 that the rebels had attacked its consulate in Aleppo, calling it "aggression by terrorist elements," although it said there were no injuries and provided few details about the incident. The Russian and Iranian foreign ministers expressed support for longtime ally Syria, according to Iranian state media, which quoted Iran's Abbas Araqchi as telling Russia's Sergei Lavrov in a call that the attacks were part of an Israeli-U.S. plan to destabilize the region. The air strikes came a day after Islamists and their Turkish-backed allies breached Syria's Aleppo in a surprise offensive against forces of the Assad government. Reports on the ground said the rebels had captured much of the city, although details remained sketchy. The Syrian military confirmed that rebels had entered Aleppo. It did not confirm the air attacks, but Russia's Defense Ministry said its air force carried out strikes on the rebels. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on November 29 that Russia regarded the rebels’ actions as a violation of Syria's sovereignty. "We are in favor of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the area and restoring constitutional order as soon as possible," he said. Reuters quoted two Syrian military sources as saying that Russian and Syrian warplanes had targeted rebel sites in an Aleppo suburb on November 30. The sources said the Kremlin has promised Syria extra military aid, expected to arrive within two to three days. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said the fighters, led by the Islamist extremist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) movement, took control of "half of the city of Aleppo," forcing government forces to pull back. HTS in the past has had links to the Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) extremist groups, although many leaders reportedly split off from those organizations. It was formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusrah and the Al-Nusrah Front, which was Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria and has been deemed a terrorist organization by the UN and the United States. In May 2018, the U.S. State Department added HTS to the Al-Nusrah Front's existing December 2012 designation as a foreign terrorist organization. The rebels’ offensive began on November 27, prompting the Syrian military to close all main roads in and out of the city. Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the armed rebels had been preparing for the operation since September, but Turkey had so far prevented it from taking place. The Aleppo violence breaks a pause in the Syrian civil war, which has been mainly quiet over the past four years. The conflict involved the Assad government backed by Moscow and Tehran against Syrian-Kurdish rebels supported by the United States, while Turkey aided separate rebel groups. The U.S. military still has a number of troops deployed in Kurdish-held areas of Syria. Terror organizations, including Islamic State, also were involved in fighting. Russia, Turkey, and Iran signed an agreement in 2019 to freeze the conflict at then current positions. The Syrian Observatory said at least 16 civilians were killed on November 30 when an air strike, likely carried out by Russian warplanes, hit Aleppo. It said the attack "targeted civilian vehicles" at an intersection, leaving an additional 20 people wounded. This incident brings the total number of fatalities in the city over the past four days to 327. The British-based observatory compiles its information from battlefield sources and has been influential throughout the Syrian civil war. Syria’s army command acknowledged that rebels had entered Aleppo. Rebels had previously controlled the city before being driven out by Russia-backed forces eight years ago. "The large numbers of terrorists and the multiplicity of battlefronts prompted our armed forces to carry out a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening the defense lines in order to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers, and prepare for a counterattack," the Syrian Army said. The fighting comes amid fears of a wider war in the Middle East. Israeli forces in Gaza are battling extremists from Hamas – deemed a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU – and a cease-fire hangs in the balance in Lebanon, where Israel has struck the leadership of Hezbollah, also designated a terrorist group by Washington. The EU blacklists Hezbollah’s military arm but not its political wing. Israeli attacks have also taken place against Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has held multiple phone conversations with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban since winning the November 5 presidential election, according to sources who spoke to RFE/RL’s Hungarian Service. Hungarian government sources said Trump has sought Orban’s opinion on ending the Ukraine war, which has continued to drag on since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. On the campaign trail, Trump criticized the billions of dollars that the United States has poured into Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion. He has also said he could end the war within 24 hours of retaking the White House, a statement that has been interpreted as meaning that Ukraine would have to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. Orban, who has maintained friendly ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump, has been critical of EU aid for Ukraine and has obstructed the bloc’s sanctions regime against Moscow. Preparations are reportedly under way for Orban to take a second crack at a peace mission in December to bookend Hungary’s rotating EU presidency after his first attempt in July when Budapest’s tenure started. In a move criticized by several EU leaders, Orban traveled to Moscow to meet Putin in July after a trip to Kyiv with a mystery cease-fire proposal for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. He then traveled to China and finally the United States to meet Trump, who was then on the presidential campaign trail. Details of a potential peace mission in December are not clear, but sources suggested to RFE/RL’s Hungarian Service that it may involve delivering Trump’s messages to Zelenskiy, Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic denied as "baseless accusations" by Kosovo that it was behind an explosion which damaged the Iber-Lepenc water canal supplying Kosovo’s two main coal power plants. "Such unfounded claims are designed to tarnish Serbia's reputation, as well as to undermine efforts to ensure the region's peace and stability," Vucic said. Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti had called the November 29 blast a “criminal and terrorist attack” by northern neighbor and bitter rival Serbia. He said the attack aimed to “damage perhaps the most important infrastructure” in the country. The attack did not cause any casualties. Authorities say some regions may have no electricity on November 30 while the capital, Pristina, may be short on drinking water while the damage is fixed. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Kosovo Service, click here . Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says being admitted into NATO could end what he described as the “hot phase of the war” waged by Russia. In an interview with Sky News aired on November 29, Zelenskiy suggested that he would be willing to consider a cease-fire if Ukraine’s unoccupied territories fell under NATO’s protection, as long as the invitation to join the alliance recognized Ukraine’s international borders. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and has been occupying 20 percent of Ukrainian territory since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022. "If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control," Zelenskiy said , adding that the occupied eastern parts of the country could then be taken back “in a diplomatic way.” This comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized the billions of dollars that the United States has poured into Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion. Trump has also said he could end the war within 24 hours of retaking the White House, a statement that has been interpreted as meaning that Ukraine would have to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. Earlier this week, Trump named Keith Kellogg, a retired army lieutenant general who has long served as a top adviser to Trump on defense issues, as his nominee to be special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg has advocated telling the Ukrainians that if they don't come to the negotiating table, U.S. support would dry up, while telling Russian President Vladimir Putin that if he doesn't come to the table, the United States would give the Ukrainians "everything they need to kill you in the field." For the past several months, Russia has been battering Ukrainian cities with increasingly heavy drone, missile, and glide-bomb strikes, causing casualties and damaging energy infrastructure as the cold season settles in. Earlier this month, a senior UN official, Rosemary DiCarlo, warned that Moscow's targeting of Ukraine's energy infrastructure could make this winter the "harshest since the start of the war" nearly three years ago. Ukraine has launched several counterattacks since the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, the top foreign supporter of Ukraine in its battle against Russia's full-scale invasion, and Kyiv's European allies authorized the use of long-range missiles against targets inside Russia. The leader of Hezbollah has claimed that its cease-fire deal with Israel is a "divine victory" for the Lebanese political party and militant group. In his first address since the cease-fire took effect on November 27, Naim Qassem said on November 29 that the Iran-backed group had "won because we prevented the enemy from destroying Hezbollah" and weakening the Lebanese "resistance." Hezbollah, which controls much of southern Lebanon and has representatives in parliament, is designated in its entirety by the U.S. as a terrorist organization but the EU has blacklisted only its military wing. The cease-fire ended nearly 14 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel ramped up the pressure by launching a ground offensive in southern Lebanon in October and carrying out massive aerial bombardments of Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut and elsewhere. The truce ends the presence of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Israel, too, must withdraw its ground forces from Lebanon within 60 days of the deal going into force. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on November 26 warned Hezbollah that Israel would take action if it suspected that Hezbollah had violated the agreement. On November 29, hours before Qassem made his speech, Israel said it had struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon after detecting militant activity. The United States and France are overseeing the implementation of the truce, which includes provisions for thousands of Lebanese soldiers moving into southern Lebanon to work with UN peacekeepers and keep Hezbollah away from the Israeli border. Hezbollah had been launching rockets at northern Israel since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. It said it would stop its attacks only after Israel ended its war in Gaza. Over the past 14 months, Israel killed nearly the entirety of Hezbollah's leadership, including Qassem's predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah , and decimated the group's military arsenal. Israel has vowed to ensure Iran cannot continue to fund and arm the group, and has warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against facilitating Iranian aid for Hezbollah. Imprisoned former Moscow municipal deputy Aleksei Gorinov, known for his outspoken criticism of Russia's war against Ukraine, has been handed a new three-year prison sentence for "justifying terrorism." After a three-day trial, a Russian military court on November 29 handed down the sentence to the 63-year-old, who is in poor health. In his closing statement , Gorinov, one of the most prominent jailed dissidents left in the country after a major prisoner swap with the West earlier this year, accused Russia of committing a "bloody slaughter" in Ukraine. Earlier this week, Gorinov revealed ongoing struggles with illness, saying there was "no treatment available," for his ailment, which his lawyer said was bronchitis. Gorinov was first sentenced in July 2022 to seven years in prison for spreading "fake news" about the Russian military because of his public opposition to Russia's full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine. In October 2023, the authorities opened a new case against him, accusing him of "justifying terrorism" based on alleged conversations with fellow inmates about Ukraine's Azov Regiment. During the hearing, Gorinov firmly denied any ties to terrorism. "I am far from any ideology of terrorism," he said. "I am a committed internationalist and an opponent of war and violence, as I have consistently stated publicly throughout my life." Gorinov's initial conviction stemmed from an anti-war speech he delivered at a city council meeting in Moscow's Krasnoselsky district. He was the first person sentenced under Russia's new law criminalizing "fake news" about the military, introduced after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Earlier this year, Gorinov was transferred from a detention center in Moscow to a prison in the Vladimir region. He complained of harsh conditions, including solitary confinement in a cold cell without a mattress, blanket, or access to hot water. Dmitry Muratov, editor in chief of the Novaya gazeta newspaper and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross for an urgent inspection of the conditions Gorinov was being held in. Following this, local officials and prosecutors inspected the facility, resulting in Gorinov's relocation to a slightly improved cell with a window that opens and closes, a functioning toilet, and reportedly no mice. Gorinov has been repeatedly subjected to punitive measures, including spending extended periods in solitary confinement. In spring 2023, he spent 48 consecutive days in a punishment cell, a treatment often reported by other political prisoners in Russia. Iran and three European powers agreed to continue their dialogue "in the near future" after a meeting in Geneva as intelligence officials warned Tehran's nuclear proliferation poses a "critical threat" in the coming months. Negotiators from Iran and the so-called E3 (Britain, France, and Germany) met in Switzerland to discuss a range of issues, including Iran's expanding nuclear program, its military support for Russia, and conflicts in the Middle East. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X on November 29 that the talks in the Swiss city focused on the latest bilateral, regional, and international developments, "especially the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions." "We are firmly committed to pursuing the interests of our people, and our preference is the path of dialogue and engagement," Gharibabadi said. Ahead of the meeting, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said it would be a “brainstorming session” to see “if there really is a way out” of the current nuclear impasse, among other issues. Separately, the spy chiefs of Britain and France raised the alarm about Iran’s growing relationship with Russia and its accelerating nuclear program. The meeting in Geneva came a week after the 35-member board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a censure resolution against Iran. It also tasked the UN nuclear watchdog to prepare a “comprehensive and updated assessment” on the state of Iran’s expanding nuclear program, including past and present attempts to develop a bomb. The report could pave the way for referring Iran’s case to the UN Security Council to trigger the so-called “snapback” mechanism to reimpose UN sanctions lifted under the terms of the 2015 agreement with world powers. In response to the resolution, Iran said it would begin enriching uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges at its key nuclear facilities in Fordo and Natanz, the IAEA announced on November 29. The agency noted, however, that Iran would be enriching uranium to 5 percent purity -- even though it is enriching uranium with less advanced machines at 60 percent. Richard Moore, head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, said on November 29 that if Russia were to meet its Ukraine war objectives, “China would weigh the implications, North Korea would be emboldened, and Iran would become still more dangerous.” He added that Iran’s nuclear ambitions were “a continued threat” -- a sentiment shared by Nicolas Lerner, head of France's foreign intelligence service. "Our services are working side by side to face what is undoubtedly one of the threats, if not to say the most critical threat, in the coming months -- the possible atomic proliferation in Iran," Lerner said in Geneva. A Bulgarian accused of spying for Russia in Britain discussed in text messages the possibility of kidnapping or murdering investigative journalist Christo Grozev , British prosecutors said during the trial of members of an alleged spy ring. Prosecutor Alison Morgan said a group of Bulgarians, accused of spying for Russia, followed Grozev, with one member, Orlin Rusev, exchanging messages with the alleged head of the network, Austrian citizen Jan Marsalek, in which they discussed kidnapping or killing Grozev. Grozev has worked for the investigative outlet Bellingcat. He led an investigation by the media network on the 2018 poisoning of the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England. Rusev and another Bulgarian national, Biser Dzhambazov, have pleaded guilty to espionage charges, while three others -- Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova, and Tihomir Ivanchev -- are currently on trial at London's Central Criminal Court for being part of the spy ring. The three defendants have denied the charge of conspiracy to spy between August 2020 and February 2023. Prosecutors told the court Rusev lead the Bulgarians and directed them after receiving instructions from Marsalek. Marsalek -- who is said to have connections to Russian intelligence dating back to at least 2014 -- is now believed to be in Russia. Ukraine said it struck an oil depot and an air-defense radar inside Russia early on November 29 amid an escalation of attacks by both Moscow and Kyiv ahead U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House. Ukraine's military General Staff said a strike on the Atlas oil depot in Russia's Rostov region sparked a fire at the facility, which was previously hit by a similar attack earlier this year. "Atlas is part of the Russian military-industrial complex, which provides the supply of petroleum products for the army of the Russian Federation," it said in a statement on social media. It added that a radar station housing a Russian Buk-M3 antiaircraft missile system was destroyed in a separate attack in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhya region. Yury Slyusar, the acting governor of the Rostov region, acknowledged the blaze at an "industrial complex" in the area where the refinery is located, saying more than 100 responders were battling to extinguish the fire. For the past several months, Russia has been battering Ukrainian cities with increasingly heavy drone, missile, and glide-bomb strikes, causing casualties and damaging energy infrastructure as the cold season settles in. Ukraine has launched several counterattacks since the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, the top foreign supporter of Ukraine in its battle against Russia's full-scale invasion, and Kyiv's European allies authorized the use of long-range missiles against targets inside Russia. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump was critical of Biden for pouring billions of dollars into Ukraine to help it fight. Trump also said he could end the war within 24 hours of retaking the White House, a statement that has been interpreted as meaning that Ukraine would have to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. That possibility appears to have prompted both Moscow and Kyiv to try and solidify geographical positions before Trump takes office in January. Later on November 29, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appointed Mykhaylo Drapatiy as the new commander of Ukraine's ground forces and named Oleh Apostol as a deputy commander in chief of the country's armed forces. Writing on Telegram, Zelenskiy said the Ukrainian Army needed "internal changes to achieve our state's goals in full." Meanwhile, Russia's stepped-up attacks have targeted energy infrastructure, leading to the introduction of emergency power outages in the regions including Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk. Kyiv had also reportedly been forced to disconnect several nuclear power units from the network during attacks. Ukraine gets more than half of its electricity from nuclear plants. Russia's offensive comes as temperatures across Ukraine dropped to around zero degrees Celsius. Earlier this month, a senior UN official, Rosemary DiCarlo, warned that Moscow's targeting of Ukraine's energy infrastructure could make this winter the "harshest since the start of the war" nearly three years ago. Romania's Central Election Bureau has begun a court-ordered recount of all ballots cast in the first round of the presidential election as accusations swirled that surprise winner Calin Georgescu illegally used TikTok to boost his campaign. The Constitutional Court ordered the recount on November 28 after officials from the Supreme Council of National Defense demanded the authorities take "urgent" steps, saying Georgescu was granted "preferential treatment" by the social media platform. TikTok has denied any wrongdoing. Georgescu, a pro-Russian far-right independent candidate, scored a surprise victory in the first round of the election on November 24, garnering nearly 23 percent of the vote. He is set to face off against center-right Elena Lasconi, a staunch Euro-Atlanticist, in the December 8 runoff after both pushed ahead of favored leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. Sources have told RFE/RL's Romanian Service that the Constitutional Court, which was originally set to validate the results of the first round of the election on November 29, will do so on December 2 after the recount is finished. Without the backing of a party, Georgescu's campaign relied heavily on TikTok, where his account had 1.6 million likes and where he posted videos of himself attending church, doing judo, running on a track, and speaking on podcasts. The Supreme Defense Council said it had found evidence suggesting that "cyberattacks" had been used to influence the outcome of the election. Georgescu alleged that state institutions were attempting to deny the will of the people. Protesters have rallied in Bucharest for several days against Georgescu, with many accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of interfering in Romania's internal affairs. Romania's president has significant decision-making powers, including on matters of national security and foreign policy. Elected for a five-year term, the president can also reject party nominees for prime minister and government nominees for judicial appointments. Georgian police have used water cannons to disperse thousands of demonstrators gathered near the parliament in Tbilisi to protest the government's decision to suspend talks to join the European Union. Reports say police also used tear gas to break up the rallies in the late hours of November 29. President Salome Zurabishvili, a staunch critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party, condemned the "brutal and disproportionate attacks on the Georgian people and media", likening the crackdown to "Russian-style repression." "These actions will not be forgiven! Those responsible for the use of force should be held responsible," she wrote on Twitter. Protesters have hit the streets for the second day running after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said his government was suspending EU accession talks and would reject budgetary grants from Brussels "until the end of 2028." More than 100 Georgian diplomats have slammed the government's halting of EU membership talks after security forces violently dispersed protesters and journalists at a rally in Tbilisi over the move. More than 30 people were hospitalized early on November 29 after police used tear gas, water cannons, and beat some of the thousands gathered to vent their anger over Kobakhidze's announcement. The Interior Ministry said 43 people were arrested "as a result of the illegal and violent actions" during the first night of protests on November 28, while parliament raised its security level to the maximum -- code red . Security forces violently dispersed protesters and journalists at the November 28 rally in Tbilisi. In response, more than 100 serving Georgian diplomats signed an open letter criticizing the policy change, saying it violated the constitution, which commits to the pursuit of EU membership. "The stalling of the accession negotiation process will lead to the isolation of the country," they wrote. "Without the support of the Western partners, Georgia remains face to face with threats that are especially intensified in the background of the ongoing processes in the international and security environment." More than 100 people working at the Public Services Development Agency, which operates under the Interior Ministry, also issued a statement warning that suspending EU accession talks will only serve to hurt national interests. Even Tbilisi's biggest clubs opted to close their doors on November 29 to bolster the protests, saying in a joint statement that the "energy on the dance floor should be taken to the streets." Georgia has been thrown into turmoil since the October parliamentary elections -- in which Georgian Dream secured 54 percent of the vote -- with the opposition and Western governments arguing the vote was marred by violations and Russian influence. Early on November 29, riot police moved to clear out the peaceful demonstrators, with masked police firing rubber bullets and brutally beating protesters and journalists. RFE/RL Georgian Service journalist Davit Tsagareli was punched and thrown to the ground by a riot police officer as he reported live from the scene, while earlier RFE/RL captured footage of a police officer repeatedly hitting TV Formula journalist Guram Rogava on the head. After Rogava fell to the ground, the officer fled the scene. The journalist was hospitalized with injuries to his face and head. "His condition is satisfactory. He has facial bone fractures, as well as a fracture in his neck. At this stage, it does not require surgical intervention," the doctor who treated Rogava at the hospital told journalists. Kobakhidze blamed the protesters for the violence, saying that if it were not for their actions, "there would be no need to break up the gathering." Zurabishvili joined the protest in Tbilisi on November 28 in a show of solidarity with the demonstrators. "I am with these people. The resistance has started and will not end until we have new elections," she told reporters. She also confronted a row of riot police, telling them that it was their "duty to protect" Georgia's sovereignty and asking them whether they "serve Russia or Georgia." Demonstrators in Zugdidi told RFE/RL's Georgian Service that the ruling Georgian Dream party was moving away from the EU and pushing the country toward Russia. "Georgian authorities cut off all relations with the European Union and also refuse to receive funding. This will certainly lead to an economic collapse," Manana Mikawa, a teacher, told RFE/RL. Earlier in the day, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for new legislative elections in Georgia and sanctions on senior members of the Georgian Dream party. In its resolution, the European Parliament said the result of the election did "not serve as a reliable representation of the will of the Georgian people." It also called on the European Union, which froze Georgia's EU membership application last month, to place sanctions on key officials within the ruling party, including Kobakhidze, Georgian Dream Chairman Irakli Gharibashvili, billionaire power broker and party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze. Speaking at the Georgian Dream headquarters, Kobakhidze said Tbilisi was suspending accession talks while also rejecting all budgetary grants from the EU until 2028. "We are not going to join the European Union by begging and standing on one leg, but in a dignified manner with a sound democratic system and a strong economy," the prime minister told reporters without taking any questions. Earlier, during a parliamentary session to approve his government, Kobakhidze said his government's goal was for Georgia to join the EU by 2030. "We are ready to observe and take into account all conditions [set by the EU] that do not go against our national interests," he said to applause from Georgian Dream lawmakers. Georgia received EU candidate status in December 2023 but relations with Brussels have soured in recent months, beginning with the adoption of the controversial "foreign agent" law that critics say threatens to publicly discredit thousands of media outlets and civil society groups as "serving" outside powers. The United States in July announced it would pause more than $95 million in assistance to the Georgian government, warning that it was backsliding on democracy. Several rights organizations have demanded the release of veteran journalist Matiullah Jan, who was detained by Pakistani authorities on November 27 and held on terrorism-related charges. Jan had been covering protests by the supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. In a statement on November 28, Amnesty International condemned Jan's "arbitrary" arrest on "trumped-up charges," describing it as "an affront on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom." The Committee to Protect Journalists urged the authorities to "ensure Jan's safety" and called for his release. To read the full story by RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal, click here . Protesters gathered outside the Georgian parliament in Tbilisi after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on November 28 said his government was suspending EU accession talks until 2028 and would not accept budgetary grants from Brussels. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, a staunch critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party, joined the protest in Tbilisi to a rousing welcome from demonstrators, who shouted her name. "I am with these people. The resistance has started and will not end until we have new elections," she told reporters. She also confronted a row of riot police, telling them that it was their "duty to protect" Georgia's sovereignty and asking them whether they "serve Russia or Georgia." Western governments have questioned the October parliamentary elections in Georgia -- in which Georgian Dream secured 54 percent of the vote -- arguing that the elections were marred by violations and Russian influence. Smaller pro-EU protests were also being held in Batumi, Gori, Kutaisi, and Zugdidi. Photos and videos of the rallies in Tbilisi and elsewhere showed protesters carrying Georgian and EU flags. Demonstrators in Zugdidi told RFE/RL's Georgian Service that the ruling Georgian Dream party was moving away from the EU and pushing the country toward Russia. "Georgian authorities cut off all relations with the European Union and also refuse to receive funding. This will certainly lead to an economic collapse," Manana Mikawa, a teacher, told RFE/RL. Earlier in the day, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for new legislative elections in Georgia and sanctions on senior members of the Georgian Dream party. In its resolution, the European Parliament said the result of the election did "not serve as a reliable representation of the will of the Georgian people." It also called on the European Union, which froze Georgia's EU membership application last month, to place sanctions on key officials within the ruling party, including Kobakhidze, Georgian Dream Chairman Irakli Gharibashvili, billionaire power broker and party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze. Speaking at the Georgian Dream headquarters, Kobakhidze said Tbilisi was suspending accession talks while also rejecting all budgetary grants from the EU until 2028. "We are not going to join the European Union by begging and standing on one leg, but in a dignified manner with a sound democratic system and a strong economy," the prime minister told reporters without taking any questions. Earlier, during a parliamentary session to approve his government, Kobakhidze said his government's goal was for Georgia to join the EU by 2030. "We are ready to observe and take into account all conditions [set by the EU] that do not go against our national interests," he said to applause from Georgian Dream lawmakers. Georgia received EU candidate status in December 2023 but relations with Brussels have soured in recent months, beginning with the adoption of the controversial "foreign agent" law that critics say threatens to publicly discredit thousands of media outlets and civil society groups as "serving" outside powers. The United States in July announced it would pause more than $95 million in assistance to the Georgian government, warning that it was backsliding on democracy. Romania's Central Election Bureau says it will recount all ballots cast in the first round of the presidential election by December 1, following an order on November 28 by the Constitutional Court. Calin Georgescu, the pro-Russian far-right independent candidate scored a surprise victory in the first round of the election on November 24, garnering nearly 23 percent of the vote. Georgescu is set to face off against center-right Elena Lasconi, a staunch Euro-Atlanticist, in the December 8 runoff after both pushed ahead of favored leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. An official from Lasconi's Save Romania Union party said the Central Election Bureau had rejected a request by the party to film the recounting of the ballots. Without the backing of a party, Georgescu's campaign relied heavily on the social media platform TikTok, where his account had 1.6 million likes and where he posted videos of himself attending church, doing judo, running on a track, and speaking on podcasts. Separately, Romania's Supreme Defense Council said after the court ruling that it had found evidence suggesting that "cyberattacks" had been used to influence the outcome of the election. Without naming Georgescu, the council also charged that TikTok had "given preferential treatment" to a particular candidate. Georgescu alleged that state institutions were attempting to deny the will of the people. Meanwhile, around 2,000 protesters rallied in Bucharest for the fourth consecutive day against Georgescu on November 28, carrying a banner telling Russian President Vladimir Putin to "get off Romania." Romania's president has significant decision-making powers, including on matters of national security and foreign policy. Elected for a five-year term, the president can also reject party nominees for prime minister and government nominees for judicial appointments. A former British soldier, whose prison escape sparked a massive manhunt in 2023, has been found guilty of passing on sensitive information to the Iranian intelligence service. Prosecutors said that Daniel Abed Khalife, 23, played a "cynical game" by claiming he wanted to be a double agent for Britain after he had delivered a large amount of restricted and classified material to Iran, including the names of special forces officers. The verdict was delivered at London's Woolwich Crown Court on November 28. Prosecutor Mark Heywood told jurors at the start of the trial that Khalife collected sensitive information between May 2019 and January 2022. Khalife stood trial charged with gathering information that might be useful to an enemy, namely Iran, obtaining information likely to be useful for terrorism. Khalife, who was expelled from the army after he was charged, was also accused of planting fake bombs in his military barracks. But the court cleared him of a charge of carrying out a bomb hoax. Khalife snuck out of a London prison in September 2023 while awaiting trial and spent three days on the run. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi says his country may change its nuclear doctrine and develop a bomb if UN sanctions are reimposed on Tehran. Speaking to reporters on November 28 in Lisbon, Portugal, Araqchi said Iran had long had the technical know-how to build a bomb but doing so "is not part of Tehran’s security strategy," according to Iranian media. His comments come as negotiators from Iran and the E3 (Britain, France, and Germany) are scheduled to meet in Geneva to discuss a range of issues, including Iran’s nuclear program and conflicts in the Middle East. Araqchi described the meeting on November 29 as a “brainstorming session” to see “if there really is a way out” of the current nuclear impasse. The Geneva meeting is not billed as nuclear talks by any party but Iran’s atomic program is expected to be a central topic. Talks between Iran and world powers to restore the 2015 nuclear deal have stalled since September 2022. Last week, the 35-member board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a censure resolution against Iran and tasked the UN nuclear watchdog to prepare a “comprehensive and updated assessment” on the state of Iran’s expanding nuclear program, including past and present attempts to develop a bomb. The report could pave the way for referring Iran’s case to the UN Security Council in a bid to trigger the so-called “snapback” mechanism to reimpose UN sanctions that had been lifted under the terms of the 2015 agreement with world powers. In response to the resolution, Iran activated several “new and advanced” centrifuges to enrich uranium. Araqchi said he was “not optimistic” about the Geneva talks because he was unsure whether Tehran was “speaking to the right party.” The 2015 nuclear agreement began to unravel after President-elect Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the accord during his first term in office in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran. Tehran responded by expanding its nuclear program, limiting inspections of its nuclear sites, and enriching uranium to as high as 60 percent. A new truce agreement has been reached between feuding Sunni and Shi'ite communities in Pakistan's northwestern region of Kurram, where more than 100 people were killed and dozens more injured in a new bout of sectarian violence, local officials said. Authorities said late on November 27 that government troops will be deployed in key locations in Kurram, a remote tribal district in the volatile Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, to ensure the cease-fire. "Negotiations will continue to ensure lasting peace," the provincial minister's office said in a statement. It also pledged to pay compensations to the victims' families. The violence erupted on November 21 when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a convoy of some 200 passenger vehicles carrying Shi'a traveling through Kurram's Parachinar area. Dozens of people, including women and children, were killed in the attack, which triggered a week of clashes between the two communities. Regional officials brokered a seven-day truce on November 24, but it did not hold. Most of Pakistan's some 250 million people are Sunni Muslims. But Kurram has a large Shi'ite population, and the two communities have clashed for decades. More than 200 people have been killed since July, alone. Sectarian violence in the region is often linked to land disputes. Russia unleashed a "massive" attack on Ukraine’s infrastructure on November 28, leaving more than 1 million people without power in freezing temperatures across the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of a "despicable escalation," as the Interior Ministry recorded damage to infrastructure in nine regions. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that the latest attack was Moscow's "response" to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with U.S. medium-range ATACMS missiles. Speaking during a trip to Kazakhstan, Putin warned that Russia's future targets could include "decision-making centers" in Kyiv. Putin said Russia launched more than 90 missiles and 100 drones in the "comprehensive strike" on November 28 and that 17 targets had been hit -- the type of detail that the president rarely gives. Ukraine's air force said it had shot down 79 missiles and 35 drones, while 62 drones were "lost," meaning they had likely been disrupted by electronic warfare. All missiles or drones aimed at the capital, Kyiv were downed, officials said. The attack forced national power-grid operator Ukrenerho to "urgently introduce emergency power cuts," Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said early on November 28. "Once again, the energy sector is under massive enemy attack. Attacks on energy facilities are taking place across Ukraine," Halushchenko wrote on social media. Energy provider DTEK said early in the day that emergency power outages were being introduced in the regions of Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk. Kyiv had also reportedly disconnected several nuclear power units from the network during the attack. Ukraine gets more than half of its electricity from nuclear plants. It comes as the temperatures across Ukraine dropped to around zero degrees Celsius. Earlier this month, a senior UN official, Rosemary DiCarlo, warned that Moscow's targeting of Ukraine's energy infrastructure may make this winter the "harshest since the start of the war" nearly three years ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Defense Minister Rustem Umerov's talks in South Korea on November 27 focused on cooperation on the security of both Ukraine and South Korea in light of the deployment of North Korean forces in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Zelenskiy said Umerov went to Seoul at his instruction to discuss all aspects of North Korea’s involvement in the war “and the things we can do together to defend our nations and to secure our regions together.” Umerov said earlier that he had discussed joint steps to strengthen security and stability with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol while in Seoul. Umerov also met with South Korea’s defense minister and national-security adviser. "We believe that our arguments about the need to increase cooperation between Ukraine and the Republic of Korea will lead to a tangible strengthening of security for our peoples and regions," Umerov said on Telegram. Umerov said he raised the presence of the North Korean troops and the North Korean military's "active" support for energy infrastructure attacks on Ukraine. For South Korea, the deployment of the North Korean troops poses a serious threat because they are gaining combat experience, which could create additional security challenges, he said. A statement issued by Yoon’s office does not say whether the parties discussed the possibility of Seoul supplying weapons to Ukraine. Ukraine has previously asked Seoul for weapons, and South Korea has said it could consider such aid, depending on what Russia and North Korea do. Zelenskiy also said in his nightly address that decisions made in July at the NATO summit in Washington on air defense and other supplies to the front line “have not yet been fully implemented...and this, of course, has had a significant impact on our people’s motivation and morale.” The recent authorization of long-range strikes on military targets in Russia “has been helpful, but the pressure on Russia must be maintained and increased at various levels to make Russia feel what war really is,” Zelenskiy said. Russian forces have been making steady gains along the front line as Kyiv's troops battle a larger and better equipped enemy. Zelenskiy did not mention a news report that President Joe Biden's administration is urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops. A senior Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was quoted earlier on November 27 by the Associated Press as saying that the outgoing administration wants Ukraine to lower the mobilization age to 18 from 25 to help expand the pool of fighting-age men. The official said “the pure math” of Ukraine's situation now is that it needs more troops in the fight, according to the AP. The official said the Ukrainians believe they need about 160,000 additional troops, but the U.S. administration believes they probably will need more than that. Calin Georgescu, the pro-Russian far-right independent candidate who scored a shock victory in the first round of Romania's presidential election, has denied that he wants the country out of NATO and the European Union. Georgescu, who garnered nearly 23 percent of the vote in the November 24 poll, will face off against center-right Elena Lasconi, a staunch Euro-Atlanticist, in the December 8 runoff after both pushed ahead of favorite leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. Without the backing of a party, Georgescu's campaign relied heavily on social media platform TikTok, where his account had 1.6 million likes and where he posted videos of himself attending church, doing judo, running on a track, and speaking on podcasts. He has described NATO as "the world's weakest alliance" and the alliance's ballistic missile-defense shield in Deveselu, southern Romania, as a "shame of diplomacy," claiming the military alliance would not defend any of its members in case of a Russian attack. Instead, he recommended "Russian wisdom" as Romania's best path forward and launched a TikTok campaign calling for an end to Romanian aid for Ukraine. Under incumbent Klaus Iohannis, Romania has been one of Kyiv's staunchest allies. But facing a public backlash as hundreds of mostly young people took to the streets of Bucharest and other big Romanian cities chanting, "No Putin, no fear, Europe is our mother," and "Young people ask you not to vote for a dictator," Georgescu denied in a YouTube video on November 26 that he wanted Romania out of the Euro-Atlantic structures. "I do not want out of NATO, I do not want out of the European Union," Georgescu said, standing side-by-side with his wife, adding, "but I do want us to stand firm, not to kneel there, not to accept everything, to do everything in our national interest." He went on to say that he wanted peace, adding, "We cannot get into other peoples' wars for their interests that cause us prejudice," again alluding to Romania's support for Ukraine. For the December 8 runoff, Georgescu has rallied the support of far-right pro-Russia AUR party of which he used to be a member until 2022 and whose leader, George Simion, garnered almost 14 percent in the first round, while the center-right liberals threw their weight behind Lasconi, a former TV reporter and mayor of the small southern Romanian city of Campulung Muscel. But first, Romanians will elect a new parliament on December 1, with Ciolacu's Social Democratic Party, the centrist National Liberal Party, and Lasconi's Save Romania Union favorite to win most of the 332 seats in the lower Deputy Chamber and 137 mandates in the upper chamber, the Senate. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on November 27 tapped Keith Kellogg, a retired army lieutenant general who has long served as a top adviser to Trump on defense issues, as his nominee to be special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. "Keith has led a distinguished Military and Business career, including serving in highly sensitive National Security roles in my first Administration," Trump said on social media. Kellogg "was with me right from the beginning," Trump said on Truth Social. "Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!" Kellogg's nomination comes after Trump's criticism during the 2024 presidential campaign of the billions of dollars that the United States has poured into Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Trump also said he could end the war within 24 hours of retaking the White House, a statement that has been interpreted as meaning that Ukraine would have to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. Kellogg has already put forth a plan for ending the war that involves freezing the battle lines where they are and forcing Kyiv and Moscow to the negotiating table, Reuters reported in June. According to Reuters, Kellogg has advocated telling the Ukrainians that if they don't come to the negotiating table, U.S. support would dry up, while telling Russian President Vladimir Putin that if he doesn't come to the table, the United States would give the Ukrainians "everything they need to kill you in the field." NATO membership for Ukraine would be off the table as part of the incentive for Russia to come along, while putting it back on would be punishment for holding back. Kellogg, 80, earlier this year 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." He made the statements in a research paper written for the America First Policy Institute, a think tank formed after Trump left office in 2021. "The United States would continue to arm Ukraine and strengthen its defenses to ensure Russia will make no further advances and will not attack again after a cease-fire or peace agreement," the document said. "Future American military aid, however, will require Ukraine to participate in peace talks with Russia." Kellogg served in several positions during Trump's first term, including as chief of staff on Trump's national security council and national-security adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence. Mikhail Alexseev, a professor of political science at San Diego State University whose research focuses on Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, told RFE/RL that the appointment signals "the intent to enforce some kind of cease-fire and conflict settlement which Trump said he would try to achieve within 24 hours." Alexseev said Kellogg seems to be a straight shooter who would "detect very quickly whether a peace proposal would be unrealistic" and would be able to see through "Putin’s repeated record of breaking agreements.” Alexseev doesn't believe the proposal to get the parties to negotiate is going to work but said Kellogg "would be among the first to see why and how it wouldn’t work." Mark Cancian, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Relations, told RFE/RL that negotiations will be "difficult," because the "two sides are so far apart. Russia thinks its winning. Ukraine wants all its territory back, including Crimea, reparations, war crimes. [The Trump team] has indicated that they'll use U.S. aid as a tool against both sides. Maybe that will work." Cancian adds that he also expects to see "personal diplomacy." He expects that Trump "will meet personally with both Putin and [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskiy. That is his style. I mean, he's a New York real estate developer, and to get something done, you threaten, you bluster, but then in the end, you sit down face to face, and you make a deal, because if you don't make a deal, you don't make any money." Russian Deputy Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky told a UN Security Council meeting that any decision by Trump's incoming administration to cut support for Ukraine would be a "death sentence" for the Ukrainian Army. "Even if we're to lay to one side the prediction that Donald Trump will cut assistance to Ukraine, which for the Ukrainian Army would essentially be a death sentence, it is becoming clearer that he and his team will, in any case, conduct an audit of the assistance provided to Kyiv," Polyansky said. Polyansky said Russia had repeatedly offered to negotiate, but Ukraine and its Western backers have favored escalation. Ukraine has consistently rejected Russian offers to negotiate because Moscow's conditions, including accepting Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territory, have been unacceptable to Kyiv. The Russian diplomat also accused the Biden administration of trying through its increased support to Ukraine to create a "mess, both in Russia and with the new team in the White House." He warned the decision by the Biden administration and its European allies to authorize the Ukrainian military to use long-range missiles against targets inside Russia had "placed the world on the brink of a global nuclear conflict" and said Russia would respond decisively. "I will be frank, we believe that it is our right to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries who allow the use of weapons against our facilities." Speaking earlier at the same Security Council session, UN Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca highlighted recent Russian long-range missile strikes on Ukraine and called the use of ballistic missiles and related threats against Ukraine "a very dangerous, escalatory development." U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood told the session Washington would "continue to surge security assistance to Ukraine to strengthen its capabilities, including air defense, and put Ukraine in the best possible position on the battlefield." Russian President Vladimir Putin has been warmly received in Kazakhstan, where he and Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev discussed boosting energy and industry ties. Putin arrived in Astana on a state visit on November 27 and was greeted by Toqaev with a handshake, according to images released on social media. Toqaev said he had "carefully read" Putin’s commentary published in state newspaper Kazakhstanskaya Pravda ahead of the visit and said he had published his own commentary on the state of the relationship between Moscow and Astana in the Russian media. "I think that we have very thoroughly, as if in unison, outlined our approaches to the development of cooperation aimed at the future," Toqaev said. He emphasized in his article that Kazakhstan "remains a reliable strategic partner and ally of Russia in this very difficult time," Toqaev's press service quoted Toqaev as saying. Putin thanked Toqaev "for his careful attitude toward the Russian language," a reference to the lower house of parliament's ratification of an agreement to create the International Organization for the Russian Language a few days before Putin's arrival. Kazakhstan has tried to distance itself from Moscow's war in Ukraine but remains highly dependent on Russia for exporting oil to Western markets and for imports of food, electricity, and other products. Underscoring that more than 80 percent of Kazakhstan's oil is exported to foreign markets via Russia, Putin said he and Toqaev always focus on "a specific result" in their talks. "Our countries are...constructively cooperating in the oil and gas sector," Putin wrote in his article, which was also featured in the Kremlin's website. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists on November 26 that Putin and Toqaev would sign a protocol on extending an agreement on oil supplies to Kazakhstan. He did not give details. The two leaders said after their meeting that they had discussed plans to increase the transit through Kazakhstan of Russian natural gas to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, part of Moscow's pivot away from European energy markets. They also said they talked about joint projects in hydroelectric power, car tires, and fertilizers and other areas. Putin said in his article that Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom was "ready for new large-scale projects." The company already is involved in some projects in Kazakhstan, which in October voted in favor of constructing its first nuclear power plant. Neither leader mentioned the nuclear project after their talks. Toqaev said he had raised the issue of agricultural trade following a Russian ban on imports of grain, fruit, and other farm products from Kazakhstan in October. Moscow imposed the ban after Kazakhstan barred Russian wheat imports in August to protect its producers. "Our countries should not compete on the Eurasian Economic Union market or foreign markets," Toqaev said, referring to agricultural exports within and outside a Moscow-led post-Soviet trade bloc.UK Home Office to test remote fingerprint enrolment via smartphone for entry

From Okwe Obi, Abuja The Health of Mother Earth Foundation has said the proposed $300bn by the United Nations to tackle climate change and carbon emission health challenges in Nigeria and Africa by 2035 would not be enough due to the exchange rate. The foundation lambasted the UN over the outcome of the Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, stating that the meeting failed to address the country’s climate change challenges. Its Executive Director, Nimmo Bassey, at a press briefing in Abuja, said: “When the COP deferred the date for providing needed funds to 2035, there doesn’t appear to be any consideration of the scale of the climate disasters that the world may be facing then. It has also been estimated that the $300 billion would be worth just $175 billion by then using current inflationary trend.” He claimed that the conference failed on the finance note, adding that the finance COP was shy of mentioning how much the rich polluting nations would contribute to help vulnerable nations adapt and build resilience to the scourge. According to Bassey, the conference’s core justice basis, which is the Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR), required that rich and highly polluting nations who contributed to the stock of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere must own up to their historical responsibility, cut emissions at source, and provide finance to help vulnerable nations like Nigeria that have not contributed to the problem at any significant level. He claimed that the principle was essentially turned on its head when the Copenhagen Accord outcome of COP15, held in December 2009, signalled the ascendancy of voluntary emissions reduction by every nation — polluters and non-polluters. In addition, he argued that COP 29 came up with a miserly $300 billion which would come into effect in 2035, stating that the COP ignored the call of vulnerable nations and global civil society and Indigenous peoples for rich and historically responsible nations to pay up and to do so in trillions, not billions. He pointed out that when the COP deferred the date for providing needed funds to 2035, there did not appear to be any consideration of the scale of the climate disasters that the world may be facing then. To this end, he called for community-led solutions to halt pollution at the source and ensure sovereignty of peoples over their forests, water bodies, and general territories. “We demand the recognition by rich, polluting and industrialised nations, of a climate and ecological debt they owe and payment of same. “This debt is estimated at an annual rate of $5-8 trillion, and its payment will end the squabbles over climate finances whose targets are set but are never pursued or met. “We call for an end to false solutions and demand the halting of emissions at source by urgently phasing out fossil fuels. Communities and nations that have kept fossil fuels in the ground should be recognised as climate champions and duly compensated for such actions. “The people of Yasuni in Ecuador, Ogoni in Nigeria, Lofoten in Norway and others have shown the way. “We demand an urgent clean-up of areas polluted by fossil fuel exploitation and provision of clean renewable energy to energy-poor communities. “Nigeria and other African countries should place a ban on geoengineering experimentations, including solar radiation management, ocean fertilisation, rock weathering and others. “We denounce false solutions and market-based mechanisms that include carbon offset schemes, carbon removals and others. “The energy and other transitions must promote human rights and be inclusive of gender-responsive efforts with communities duly integrated in the decision-making processes. “Countries who do not support fossil fuels phase-out should be barred from hosting the COP, and polluters should not be kept out of the COP,” he suggested.

Princeton 66, Rutgers 49Shares of "too big to fail" big banks JPMorgan Chase ( JPM 0.77% ) , Bank of America ( BAC 0.02% ) , and Wells Fargo ( WFC 0.91% ) all rallied big in November, with their stocks increasing 12.5%, 13.6%, and 17.3%, respectively, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence . All three stocks had reported earnings in October, but the election of Donald Trump and Republican majorities to both the House and Senate on Nov. 5 lit a fire under basically all financial stocks, with the biggest, highest-regulated banks seeing some of the very biggest gains. Hopes for regulatory relief In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, U.S. and European regulators implemented a slew of new regulations for banks, especially large "too big to fail" banks. Those regulations required large banks to hold much more equity capital in case of a severe downturn in the economy. However, the rules also meant banks were prevented from lending as much as they could, and by a significant amount. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has long thought post-2008 regulations had gone too far, limiting large banks from lending roughly 100% on their deposits to lending just about 65% on their deposits. But it's not just lending where regulatory relief might benefit large banks. Current Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Kahn has also been fairly hostile to mergers and acquisitions , fighting almost every proposed tie-up made by any decently sized company. If the resistance to deal-making is relieved and Kahn is removed, more M&A activity could occur. All three of these banks also have large investment banking segments, so those segments would see a benefit on any M&A relief from a new FTC director. It's highly likely any new replacement for Kahn would lessen the agency's opposition to M&A deals. Finally, a Trump administration and Republican majorities in Congress are likely to at least preserve the lowered corporate tax levels implemented in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which were set to expire next year. U.S. banks are typically full corporate taxpayers, so the prospect of continued low taxes also allowed investors to pencil in more bottom-line earnings next year and beyond with more certainty. Financials on fire The financial sector has actually been the best-performing sector in the global markets this year, even outpacing the technology sector amid all the AI hype. That can be traced back to much lower starting valuations, the prospect of lower interest rates after a couple years of high inflation, and now this assumed regulatory relief from the incoming administration. Even after their stock surges this year, JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo all trade with mere mid-teens trailing P/E ratios . Those multiples are higher valuations than these stocks traded at before, but are by no means very expensive. Therefore, shareholders can feel safe holding these names, while those without exposure to the banking sector might wish to add these big banks to diversify their portfolios .

Chandigarh, Nov 30, 2024 (Yes Punjab News) Terming the medium of literature as the most potent weapon to inspire youngsters towards defence services, the Punjab Governor and UT Admisnstrator Gulab Chand Kataria on Saturday said that valour exhibited by sons and daughters of Punjab in different wars was a perennial source of motivation for the entire nation. The Governor was speaking here after inaugurating the 8th edition of the Military Literature Festival (MLF) being organised at the Lake Sports Complex. The two-day event beginning today is being held here to offer youngsters a peep into the army life and to nurture future defence leaders. “The festival not only celebrates India’s glorious military heritage but also underscores the role of military literature in enhancing knowledge and fostering patriotism among citizens, the Governor said. Highlighting the increasing participation of women in the armed forces, the Governor said it marked a progressive step towards gender equality and inclusivity in our forces. The Governor commended the efforts of the Festival organisers to encourage and prepare young boys and girls to join the military, contributing significantly to national security and defense. India’s strides toward self-reliance in defense under the vision of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat were another focal point of the Governor’s address. He proudly noted that India is not only manufacturing state-of-the-art weapons and military equipment but is also emerging as a key exporter of defense technology to other nations. This, he said, reflects India’s growing stature as a global power in military innovation. The Governor recalled India’s historic achievement under the leadership of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam during the Pokhran nuclear tests. “Pokhran was a turning point that showcased to the world India’s capability and resolve. It was a moment of national pride that established our nation as a formidable nuclear power,” he remarked, urging the youth to draw inspiration from such milestones in India’s military history. The festival’s theme, “Wars Under the Nuclear Umbrella,” aligns with discussions on contemporary global challenges and India’s preparedness for future conflicts. Various panel discussions are scheduled on topics like the war in Ukraine, regional instability, and advancements in defense technology. In his address, the Governor reiterated the importance of military literature as a tool to inspire future generations. He urged the festival’s organizers to expand its reach to villages across the state, ensuring that stories of bravery, sacrifice, and patriotism resonate with every corner of Punjab. The Governor also proposed publishing an annual magazine to preserve and disseminate the event’s rich content to schools and colleges. The Governor emphasized the need for retired military officers to engage with students, sharing their experiences to inspire them to join the armed forces. “Your life stories, struggles, and achievements can ignite a sense of duty and patriotism in the youth, shaping them as future defenders of our nation,” he said. The event also features a grand military equipment exhibition organized by the Western Command, showcasing India’s defense capabilities. The Governor lauded the efforts of Lt. Gen. T.S. Shergill and Lt. Gen. Manoj Kumar Katiyar for organizing this world-class festival and urged all citizens to reflect on India’s journey toward self-reliance in defense and military excellence. The 8th Military Literature Festival Chandigarh continues to be a platform for celebrating the nation’s rich martial legacy while fostering discussions on the challenges and opportunities in modern warfare and global security. On this occasion, MP from Chandigarh Mr. Manish Tewari and Mayor Chandigarh Mr. Kuldeep Kumar were also present.Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children's hospital

The New Jersey Drone Mystery May Not Actually Be That MysteriousJohn Nacion/Getty is opening up about his painful past, as well as his hopes and fears for the future, in a wide-ranging sit-down interview in New York City. On Dec. 4, the Duke of Sussex, 40, stepped out in N.Y.C. to attend the 2024 DealBook Summit organized by . Prince Harry joined Andrew Ross Sorkin, a columnist and founder of the outlet's DealBook business and policy column, for a conversation on the main stage about disinformation in the media. "I've seen stories written about myself not exactly based in reality." Prince Harry said at the event. "When you grow up with that environment, you find yourself questioning the validity of the information, but also what other people are thinking as well, and how dangerous it can be over the course of time." "I think again, when you are kind of trapped within this bubble, it kind of feels like there's no way out," he added. "What happened to my mom and the fact that I was a kid and felt helpless, there comes the inner turmoil. I felt helpless. One of my biggest weaknesses is feeling helpless." Harry said, "What worried me most was worrying that would happen to me, or to my wife, or to my kids." Eugene Gologursky/Getty Of reading about himself in the press, he told Sorkin, "Throughout my life there would be moments in my life when I read a lot and moments when I read nothing. I highly recommend the latter," he added to laughter from the audience. "Once you stop reading the stuff about yourself, you automatically remove the power from their hands. With that element of fear comes an element of control. and one of the reasons I probably didn't, I guess, remove myself from that situation sooner was that very fear: 'Well, they control the narrative,' whatever I do or say, they can effectively control me and keep me in that space.'" Of his complicated relationship with the press since the death of his mother in 1997 when he was just 12 years old, he said: "I was always convinced I needed to be angry or frustrated towards the press because of what they did to my mom," adding that going to therapy a "blessing," like "cleaning the windshield." He also divulged that to protect his peace, he doesn't have Google alerts on himself and he doesn't have social media. Related: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Of his forthcoming phone hacking case in the U.K., he said, "This claim, the hacking stuff, is almost 15 years old. The coverup of the hacking is relatively new. I think that will be the piece that shocks the world. I scratch my head thinking, 'You know, has this passed?' And certainly that's what they would like to think. In these five years, the retaliation and the intimidation for me as a witness has been extraordinary, especially towards my wife and children." Of the dangers of social media, an issue that has become increasingly important to his work through his and Meghan's Archewell Foundation, he said: "I try to think at these things through the lens as a dad." Eugene Gologursky/Getty "That's one of the reasons we're so focused on The Parents Network," he said, referring to a piece of the work he and Meghan do with their non-profit Archewell for parents whose children's lives have been lost to social media. "It's not a coincidence that the world has become more volatile and more divided since social media has been around for 20 years," Harry added. Harry expressed his desire to collaborate with shareholders of social media companies to discuss better protections for children. “I would welcome the chance to sit down with the shareholders, because their shareholders are the ones that really are in control.” He added, “I’m sure they are parents, and I’m sure hopefully they would agree that kids need to be kept safe.” When asked what he thought of the First Amendment, he said to laughter, "There's no way I'm going to talk about that." Closing out his panel discussion, Sorkin asked Harry what he wants to be known for in 30 years' time, to which Harry replied: "The main goal for me at the moment is being the best husband and the best dad that I can be." "The thing that means the most to me and the things I want to be known for is that no matter what was happening around [is] that he stuck to his values and he always stayed true to that principle," he added. Michael M. Santiago/Getty The 2024 DealBook Summit has a starry lineup, and other mainstage interviews include , , , (a friend of Harry and Meghan's), Open AI co-founder Sam Altman, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Prince Harry's appearance at the DealBook Summit may be his debut appearance at the event, but he's actually following in his wife's footsteps! Meghan, 43, was by Sorkin as part of DealBook Online Summit in November 2021. The Duchess of Sussex participated in a discussion titled "Minding the Gap" about how women can reach economic and professional parity, where spoke about her view of paid leave as a "humanitarian issue." While Prince Harry is out on the East Coast, Meghan has a glamorous night ahead on the West Coast. The Duchess of Sussex is expected to attend the 2024 Paley Honors Fall Gala tonight in Beverly Hills, where she’ll help honor Perry with The Paley Honors Award, the highest honor from The Paley Center for Media. Kevin Mazur/Getty; Monica Schipper/Getty The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were both on the hosting committee for their friend Perry, who is a godfather to their daughter, , 3, and appeared in their 2022 Netflix docuseries, . (Prince Harry and Meghan also share son , 5.) As for Harry's calendar, described the DealBook Summit as a live journalism event which "will feature wide-ranging discussions on the most important stories across business, politics and culture." A previous about Prince Harry's participation listed his roles as the co-founder of the Archewell Foundation and Chief Impact Officer of BetterUp. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex launched the Archewell charity as a vehicle for their philanthropic work after stepping back from their royal roles and relocating to her home state of California in 2020. He took on the CIO role with BetterUp, a coaching and mental health platform, in 2021. Prince Harry's solo trip to N.Y.C. is his second in two months. In September, the Duke of Sussex spent a few days in New York City for a that a spokesperson said would "advance a number of his patronages and philanthropic initiatives." Riccardo Savi/Getty Harry's busy itinerary included a dinner with the World Health Organization, Concordia Summit panel for The Diana Award (the only charity established in memory of his mother, the late ) and engagements with The HALO Trust (the landmine-clearing charity that Princess Diana famously backed), African Parks and Travalyst. He also spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative about the Archwell Foundation's and the United Nations for an event hosted by Lesotho, where his charity Sentebale works. Christina Williams is a Diana Award recipient who spoke onstage with Prince Harry, and told PEOPLE that his empathy left an impression. "I think my impression of him was that here is someone who is in a high-level role, who really cares about young people — cares about our voices and our actions," Williams, 27, told PEOPLE. "He really cares about the causes that he represents." Read the original article on

have greenlit a bill that would increase the levy on sportsbooks’ winnings. This controversial measure seeks to increase the money provided to soccer clubs and academies. The Levy Will Increase by 1.5% The bill, which was proposed by the finance ministry, passed with and . It would increase the fee sports betting companies pay to the National Betting Authority , effectively raising the levy (currently 3%). The additional money raised by the increased levy will be provided to the Cyprus Sports Organization, which will inject them into the Cyprus Football Association, allowing it to support professional soccer clubs and their academies. Lawmakers believe that this change to Cyprus’ Betting Laws of 2019 and 2020 will benefit the sector, providing additional funds to some . In the meantime, a separate amendment will see more money provided to other team sports too. Despite criticisms, the bill was described as a way to end the injustice surrounding soccer and soccer betting. According to its proponents, sportsbooks profit from the sector while providing it with minimal benefits. Some Say Clubs Should Be Treated More Strictly The soccer measure was harshly critiqued in Cyprus. While such critique usually comes from the payers of such levies, in this case, a wider group of people implied that the increased levy will “reward soccer clubs for not paying their taxes.” For context, soccer clubs in the country owe some $33.5 million in unpaid taxes and social insurance payments. To make matters worse, some clubs continued to accumulate debts, while others have yet to submit a single payment since the previous repayment plan was agreed. While clubs have until June 2037 to settle the debts, critics have been disgruntled by the new proposal. Some supported a separate amendment, which would have introduced requirements that teams have had to fulfill before they were eligible to receive funds from the government. This proposal would have required clubs to settle their debts beforehand. This measure, however, was rejected. The (AKEL), which proposed setting requirements for clubs receiving government funds, was generally unhappy with soccer clubs’ seeming lack of financial culture. AKEL general secretary Stephanos Stephanou slammed the teams’ lax spending habits and pointed out that many of them are spending more than their European counterparts to onboard expensive foreign players. He added that this “bubble” is bound to burst.

AP News Summary at 4:15 p.m. ESTThe signs at Nippon Steel read: “The world through steel,” underlining why Japan’s top steelmaker is pursuing its $15 billion bid to acquire U.S. Steel. “We can’t expect demand in Japan to grow as the population is declining. We need to invest in production that leads to growth,” a company official, Masato Suzuki, said while giving reporters a look at a Nippon Steel plant in Ibaraki Prefecture, north of Tokyo. Nippon Steel Corp. has its eyes on India, Southeast Asia and the U.S., Suzuki said. About 70% of the plant's output is exported. The Tokyo-based company remains optimistic, although the deal is opposed by President-elect Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and American steelworkers. During the tour, slabs of steel, glowing hot-orange at more than 1,000 degrees Celsius, rolled through the cavernous plant to become giant spools of super-thin steel. Nippon Steel officials didn’t disclose details of the fine technology they said the planned acquisition would offer U.S. Steel. Under the proposed deal, first announced in 2023, U.S. Steel would keep its name and its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, becoming a subsidiary of Nippon Steel. Nippon Steel already has manufacturing operations in the U.S. and Mexico, China and Southeast Asia. It supplies the world’s top automakers, including Toyota Motor Corp., and makes steel for railways, pipes, appliances and skyscrapers. The American steel industry has waned as Chinese steelmakers have grown to dominate the market. Japan wants to leverage the decades-old U.S.-Japan security and political alliance to seal the acquisition, but the outlook is uncertain. In September, an arbitration board jointly chosen by U.S. Steel and United Steelworkers decided the proposed acquisition could proceed. But United Steelworkers union, which has 1.2 million members, have objected, citing worries about job losses and contract terms. The union has questioned Nippon Steel’s plans to transfer production locations and concerns about national security and domestic supply chains. When asked for comment, it referred to a recent letter to its members. “As a union, our primary concern is the future of our jobs and the communities we live and work in — not just this year, but also for the foreseeable future. We’ve seen job losses in the past, and we must do everything we can to avoid it in the future,” said the letter, co-signed by Mike Millsap, chairman of the negotiating committee, and its international president, David McCall. “While Japan is a political ally, it is also an economic competitor, one that has proven time and again that it is willing to promote its steel industry at our expense,” the union said. Nippon Steel is promising to “preserve the legacy” of U.S. Steel and protect jobs, pensions and benefits, pledging that there will be no layoffs or plant closures. The deal is expected to produce an economic boost for the region equivalent to nearly $1 billion in the first two years, create up to 5,000 construction jobs and generate almost $40 million in state and local taxes, according to Nippon Steel. William W. Grimes, professor of international relations and political science at Boston University, said Nippon Steel's commitment to keeping the U.S. Steel factories running would help preserve U.S.-based production of specialty steels. Nippon Steel also has also promised investments to make the factories more competitive. There is no militarily sensitive technology Nippon Steel would be able to take from the U.S., and the U.S. relies on steel produced in allied countries, including Japan, Grimes said. “If Japanese companies do draw a lesson, it should be to engage unions and local politicians early in the process,” he said.NEW YORK (AP) — Same iconic statue, very different race. With two-way star Travis Hunter of Colorado and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty leading the field, these certainly aren’t your typical Heisman Trophy contenders. Sure, veteran quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel from top-ranked Oregon and Cam Ward of No. 15 Miami are as well, but the 90th annual ceremony coming up Saturday night at Lincoln Center in New York City offers a fresh flavor this year. To start with, none of the four are from the powerhouse Southeastern Conference, which has produced four of the past five Heisman winners — two each from Alabama and LSU. Jeanty, who played his home games for a Group of Five team on that peculiar blue turf in Idaho more than 2,100 miles from Manhattan, is the first running back even invited to the Heisman party since 2017. After leading the country with 2,497 yards rushing and 29 touchdowns, he joined quarterback Kellen Moore (2010) as the only Boise State players to be named a finalist. “The running back position has been overlooked for a while now,” said Jeanty, who plans to enter the 2025 NFL draft. “There’s been a lot of great running backs before me that should have been here in New York, so to kind of carry on the legacy of the running back position I think is great. ... I feel as if I’m representing the whole position.” With the votes already in, all four finalists spent Friday conducting interviews and sightseeing in the Big Apple. They were given custom, commemorative watches to mark their achievement. “I’m not a watch guy, but I like it,” said Hunter, flashing a smile. The players also took and later posed with the famous Heisman Trophy, handed out since 1935 to the nation’s most outstanding performer. Hunter, the heavy favorite, made sure not to touch it yet. A dominant player on both offense and defense who rarely comes off the field, the wide receiver/cornerback is a throwback to generations gone by and the first full-time, true two-way star in decades. On offense, he had 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns this season to help the (9-3) earn their first bowl bid in four years. On defense, he made four interceptions, broke up 11 passes and forced a critical fumble that secured an overtime victory against Baylor. Hunter played 688 defensive snaps and 672 more on offense — the only Power Four conference player with 30-plus snaps on both sides of the ball, according to Colorado research. Call him college football’s answer to “I think I laid the ground for more people to come in and go two ways,” Hunter said. “It starts with your mindset. If you believe you can do it, then you’ll be able to do it. And also, I do a lot of treatment. I keep up with my body. I get a lot of recovery.” Hunter is Colorado’s first Heisman finalist in 30 years. The junior from Suwanee, Georgia, followed flashy coach Deion Sanders from Jackson State, an HBCU that plays in the lower level FCS, to the Rocky Mountains and has already racked up a staggering combination of accolades this week, including Hunter also won the Walter Camp Award as national player of the year, along with the Chuck Bednarik Award as the top defensive player and the Biletnikoff Award for best wide receiver. “It just goes to show that I did what I had to do,” Hunter said. Next, he’d like to polish off his impressive hardware collection by becoming the second Heisman Trophy recipient in Buffaloes history, after late running back Rashaan Salaam in 1994. “I worked so hard for this moment, so securing the Heisman definitely would set my legacy in college football,” Hunter said. “Being here now is like a dream come true.” Jeanty carried No. 8 Boise State (12-1) to a Mountain West Conference championship that landed the Broncos the third seed in this year’s College Football Playoff. They have a first-round bye before facing the SMU-Penn State winner in the Fiesta Bowl quarterfinal on New Year’s Eve. The 5-foot-9, 215-pound junior from Jacksonville, Florida, won the Maxwell Award as college football’s top player and the Doak Walker Award for best running back. Jeanty has five touchdown runs of at least 70 yards and has rushed for the fourth-most yards in a season in FBS history — topping the total of 115 teams this year. He needs 132 yards to break the FBS record set by Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders at Oklahoma State in 1988. In a pass-happy era, however, Jeanty is trying to become the first running back to win the Heisman Trophy since Derrick Henry for Alabama nine years ago. In fact, quarterbacks have snagged the prize all but four times this century. Gabriel, an Oklahoma transfer, led Oregon (13-0) to a Big Ten title in its first season in the league and the No. 1 seed in the The steady senior from Hawaii passed for 3,558 yards and 28 touchdowns with six interceptions. His 73.2% completion rate ranks second in the nation, and he’s attempting to join quarterback Marcus Mariota (2014) as Ducks players to win the Heisman Trophy. “I think all the memories start to roll back in your mind,” Gabriel said. Ward threw for 4,123 yards and led the nation with a for the high-scoring Hurricanes (10-2) after transferring from Washington State. The senior from West Columbia, Texas, won the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Year award and is looking to join QBs Vinny Testaverde (1986) and Gino Torretta (1992) as Miami players to go home with the Heisman. “I just think there’s a recklessness that you have to play with at the quarterback position,” Ward said. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up . AP college football: andFERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) — A jury convicted two men on Friday of charges related to human smuggling for their roles in an international operation that led to the deaths of a family of Indian migrants who froze while trying to cross the Canada-U.S. border during a 2022 blizzard. Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, an Indian national who prosecutors say went by the alias “Dirty Harry,” and Steve Shand, 50, an American from Florida, were part of a sophisticated illegal operation that has brought increasing numbers of Indians into the U.S., prosecutors said. They were each convicted on four counts related to human smuggling, including conspiracy to bring migrants into the country illegally. “This trial exposed the unthinkable cruelty of human smuggling and of those criminal organizations that value profit and greed over humanity,” Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said. “To earn a few thousand dollars, these traffickers put men, women and children in extraordinary peril leading to the horrific and tragic deaths of an entire family. Because of this unimaginable greed, a father, a mother and two children froze to death in sub-zero temperatures on the Minnesota-Canadian border,” Luger added. The most serious counts carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office told The Associated Press before the trial. But federal sentencing guidelines rely on complicated formulas. Luger said Friday that various factors will be considered in determining what sentences prosecutors will recommend. Federal prosecutors said 39-year-old Jagdish Patel; his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and 3-year-old son, Dharmik, froze to death Jan. 19, 2022, while trying to cross the border into Minnesota in a scheme Patel and Shand organized. Patel is a common Indian surname, and the victims were not related to Harshkumar Patel. The couple were schoolteachers, local news reports said. The family was fairly well off by local standards, living in a well-kept, two-story house with a front patio and a wide veranda. Experts say illegal immigration from India is driven by everything from political repression to a dysfunctional American immigration system that can take years, if not decades, to navigate legally. Much is rooted in economics and how even low-wage jobs in the West can ignite hopes for a better life. Before the jury’s conviction on Friday, the federal trial in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, saw testimony from an alleged participant in the smuggling ring, a survivor of the treacherous journey across the northern border, border patrol agents and forensic experts. Defense attorneys were pitted against each other, with Shand’s team arguing that he was unwittingly roped into the scheme by Patel. Patel’s lawyers, The Canadian Press reported , said their client had been misidentified. They said “Dirty Hary,” the alleged nickname for Patel found in Shand’s phone, is a different person. Bank records and witness testimony from those who encountered Shand near the border didn’t tie him to the crime, they added. Prosecutors said Patel coordinated the operation while Shand was a driver. Shand was to pick up 11 Indian migrants on the Minnesota side of the border, prosecutors said. Only seven survived the foot crossing. Canadian authorities found two parents and their young children later that morning, dead from the cold. The trial included an inside account of how the international smuggling ring allegedly works and who it targets. Rajinder Singh, 51, testified that he made over $400,000 smuggling over 500 people through the same network that included Patel and Shand. Singh said most of the people he smuggled came from Gujarat state. He said the migrants would often pay smugglers about $100,000 to get them from India to the U.S., where they would work to pay off their debts at low-wage jobs in cities around the country. Singh said the smugglers would run their finances through “hawala,” an informal money transfer system that relies on trust. The pipeline of illegal immigration from India has long existed but has increased sharply along the U.S.-Canada border. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border in the year ending Sept. 30, which amounted to 60% of all arrests along that border and more than 10 times the number two years ago. By 2022, the Pew Research Center estimates more than 725,000 Indians were living illegally in the U.S., behind only Mexicans and El Salvadorans. Jamie Holt, a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations, said the case is a stark reminder of the realities victims of human smuggling face. “Human smuggling is a vile crime that preys on the most vulnerable, exploiting their desperation and dreams for a better life,” Holt said. “The suffering endured by this family is unimaginable and it is our duty to ensure that such atrocities are met with the full force of the law.” One juror Kevin Paul, of Clearwater, Minnesota, told reporters afterward that it was hard for the jurors to see the pictures of the family’s bodies. He said he grew up in North Dakota and is familiar with the kind of conditions that led to their deaths. “It’s pretty brutal,” Paul said. “I couldn’t imagine having to do what they had to do out there in the middle of nowhere.”

The head of UnitedHealthcare's parent company acknowledged Friday that America's health care system is flawed ‒ and he pledged his company would help fix it. The promise comes several days after a man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson said he was motivated by hatred of that system ‒ a hatred apparently shared by many people who have taken to social media in the days since the Dec. 4 killing. While UnitedHealthcare and its employees continue to grapple with grief over the loss of a "brilliant, kind man," Andrew Witty said in a New York Times op-ed , "...We also are struggling to make sense of this unconscionable act and the vitriol that has been directed at our colleagues who have been barraged by threats." And yet, wrote Witty, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group, "We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it." The online reaction: Health insurance CEO shooting unleashes Internet vitriol aimed at industry "No one would design a system like the one we have," Witty wrote, adding that the current health care system in the U.S. is "a patchwork built over decades." United's mission, he added, was to make the system better, and Thompson, who was raised on his family's Iowa farm, was committed to that mission. Thompson's legacy, Witty said, should be as someone whose ideas "were aimed at making health care more affordable, more transparent, more intuitive, more compassionate — and more human." Thompson's shooting, allegedly by Luigi Mangione , who reportedly mentioned UnitedHealthcare in writings found in his possession when he was arrested, set off a barrage of angry posts directed at health insurers, gatekeepers of the country's $4.5 trillion health care system. People posted their stories about denials for coverage, delays in care and other negative interactions with health insurers. Many of those posts were directed at UnitedHealthcare, one of the nation's largest insurance companies. The latest: Evidence against Luigi Mangione being heard by grand jury, reports say: Updates "I've been hearing for years now from people who have been so frustrated because of denials or delays of care, and this was an opportunity for people to vent and to take out their anger against someone who just became known to them all of a sudden," Wendell Potter, former CIGNA executive who became a whistleblower against the health insurance industry, told USA TODAY recently . That anger, Potter said, is "sadly misplaced." " The system is rigged against Americans who need care, people who have health insurance, and it is largely because of the role that Wall Street plays in our health care system," he said. Witty's op-ed, posted on the New York Times' website Friday morning, acknowledged that the factors that drive coverage decisions are not well understood by the public. "Health care is both intensely personal and very complicated," he wrote. "We share some of the responsibility for that. Together with employers, governments and others who pay for care, we need to improve how we explain what insurance covers and how decisions are made."

PEP GUARDIOLA is really finding Manchester City’s current slump difficult to swallow. The Catalan admitted a run like this can affect everything — from the amount of sleep he gets to his diet. Recently, he has just been having soup for his evening meal as he is struggling to digest much else due to the nerves. With his kids grown up and his wife Cristina back in Barcelona, Pep admits it can be a lonely business being a coach during a bad run. He said this week: “You have people by your side but the pain of defeat only happens to one. “It’s true your friends are there but when you go to sleep and you turn off the light, there’s no consolation possible. “You have to swallow on it, spend a day or two and then come back.” But by and large Guardiola says his frame of mind is not much different to how it was in the spring, when his team were crowned champions for a fourth straight year. That is despite a run of seven defeats in the last ten matches — the same number as City suffered in the previous 105 games up until the end of April. The decline in his all-conquering team has been sudden and alarming and left many people scratching their head. FOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS That includes Pep himself, who showed up for his press conference after the draw with Feyenoord last month with marks on his head and a cut on his nose. At the time he put it down to his nails getting too long — although he explained this week there was another factor. PEP GUARDIOLA admitted he is having sleepless nights as he endures his worst-ever spell as a manager. Here are the three-time defending Premier League champions' nightmare last 10 games... Oct 30: Tottenham 2 Man City 1 - DEFEAT Nov 2: Bournemouth 2 Man City 1 - DEFEAT Nov 5: Sporting Lisbon 4 Man City 1 - DEFEAT Nov 9: Brighton 2 Man City 1 - DEFEAT Nov 23 - Man City 0 Tottenham 4 - DEFEAT Nov 26: Man City 3 Feyenoord 3 - DRAW Dec 1: Liverpool 2 Man City 0 - DEFEAT Dec 4: Man City 3 Nottingham Forest - WIN Dec 7: Crystal Palace 2 Man City 2 - DRAW Dec 11: Juventus 2 Man City 0 - DEFEAT TOTAL - WINS 1, DRAWS 2, DEFEATS 7 He said: “I have a skin problem. I have to take antihistamine for the last two or three years. The nails, yes, I did them on my nose. But the rest was that.” Guardiola turns 54 next month and said in a recent interview he does not have the energy to take another club job after he leaves the Etihad. The question some have been asking since is whether he has enough within him for the rebuilding job needed at City. Some of the older players who have achieved so much for him — the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker and Ilkay Gundogan — are reaching the end of the road. And having achieved pretty much everything he set out to — and even more — with City, some wonder if he has the drive to go again. Yet is easy to forget amid the chaos of the last seven weeks, that he signed a new two-year contract at the Etihad in the middle of it all. It was Pep who indicated he was ready to talk — despite a run of four straight losses before then — and the deal was concluded in a couple of hours. Given what has happened since and the problems he is facing, he may be asking himself whether he did the right thing. Those around him say he has no regrets and is more determined than ever to turn the season around. He accepted the challenge of staying on less than four weeks ago and there is no way he has changed his mind already. I have a skin problem. I have to take antihistamine for the last two or three years. The nails, yes, I did them on my nose. But the rest was that. His feeling all season has been that this was not the right time for him to hand over the keys to his successor and three months in, he was sure of it. The imminent verdict on the 130 charges of financial wrong-doing was a factor, as he has previously said he would not desert the club he loves in their hour of need. But the Club World Cup in the USA in the summer was also a consideration, as it will make the start of next season extremely difficult to navigate. Guardiola felt he wanted to navigate City through this tricky period and he remains determined to do that. In any case, Pep had predicted this would be a tough start to the season — partly due to strain of their recent success and the summer of international duty at Euro 2024 for most of his stars. He did not quite expect it to be this tough, though, as the injuries have made the early months of the season even more challenging. But he remains convinced that once his trusted players are back, he will be able to turn them back into a force. Nothing that has happened since things started to unravel at the end of October has changed his mind. He said: “I have learned with football, not to go against feelings, what you feel at that moment. “If I am sad, I am sad but I know it will pass. That’s how I see it.” A derby win over United on Sunday would help it to pass very quickly.ISLAMABAD/SIALKOT: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday strongly refuted allegations of state brutality and indiscriminate firing by law enforcement authorities during recent clashes with protestors. In a statement issued by the Deputy Prime Minister Office, Ishaq Dar labeled the claims of gunshot wounds and unwarranted violence as “malicious” and “absolutely false,” urging to provide evidence such as “graves and dead bodies” to substantiate the accusations. He said the so-called protestors came armed with heavy ammunition and tear gas canisters. “The mob was determined to create chaos and ready to kill. Our security and law enforcement agencies exercised maximum restraint with patience despite deaths within their ranks,” he said adding that the PTI leaders abandoned their workers and were now developing a ridiculous and lies-based narrative of state brutality. The statement came after PTI made several claims that their workers were shot dead during Islamabad protest. Kh Asif berates PTI for creating propaganda of dead bodies Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif berated the opposition PTI for creating propaganda of dead bodies in its protest in Islamabad. Talking to media in Sialkot, he blamed the PTI for attacking Rangers and police personnel in its protest on Nov 24. Kh Asif criticised the PTI leadership for fleeing the protest venue when they met resistance, saying no such example of fleeing was found in the history of wars. He stated that every PTI leader was quoting different casualty numbers and the KP CM was claiming thousands of dead. The PTI was creating a false narrative, he said. Kh Asif asked about evidence of videos by families of deceased to verify the claims of casualties. The defence minister insisted that the KP government attacked the federal capital by misusing resources. He recalled the incidents where the PTI sabotaged the Chinese president’s visit in 2014, SCO conference and Belarusian president’s visit. He lambasted the KP CM for engaging in politics and attacking capital instead of paying attention to Parachinar where Taliban were behind genocide. The defence minister warned that no one would be allowed to attack Islamabad and malign Pakistan. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() );Woolworths has apologised to customers over its lack of stock on shelves in the lead up to Christmas, as striking warehouse workers protest AI surveillance and for more pay. What we know: Woolworths chief executive Amanda Bardwell on Wednesday apologised to shoppers for the bare shelves, saying the company is “deeply sorry for our customers who, rightly, are very frustrated right now” ( Nine ); Bardwell concedes she doesn’t know when supermarket shelves in affected stores across Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT will be restocked, adding that a fair offer to workers is on the table, arguing “we pay 40% above award rate and we're offering above CPI”; The fallout has spread to include customers of the supply chain provider operated by Woolworths, with stock shortages now affecting Endeavour Group, which operates alcohol retailer Dan Murphy’s and BWS bottle shops ( news.com.au ); The shortfalls, which have cost Woolworths $50m so far, have been caused by striking United Workers Union workers picketing Woolworths distribution centres, preventing stock from being delivered to stores; The union is pushing for an immediate 25% increase in wages, and a further 30% over the next two years; It is also railing against new requirements for warehouse staff to achieve a 100% performance target when picking up items at speed, describing the framework as “dangerous, inhumane and unsafe”; The system uses surveillance technology and monitoring to direct each worker’s movement and output, with warehouse workers wearing headsets through which they are told what items to pick and from where, via AI-generated algorithms ( The Conversation ); Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones urged all parties to resolve the issue so “Australian have access to their groceries over the coming weeks ahead” ( ABC ); Woolworths has applied to the Fair Work Commission to force the union to allow safe passage of non-union members and vehicles into distribution centres, with the matter to be heard on Friday morning. The Coalition has hit out at Labor over Australia’s support of UN resolutions calling for Israel to “end its unlawful presence” in Palestinian territories. What we know: Australia joined 157 other countries in calling for Israel to “bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible”, after previously abstaining from similar votes ( AAP ); The resolution also recognised the “inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, primarily the right to self-determination and the right to their independent state”; Australia also moved its vote from no to an abstention on a UN division being resourced to promote Palestinian rights, and again voted no on a motion demanding Israel withdraw from the occupied Syrian Golan, with both motions passing; “Our only hope is working within the international community to push for an end to the cycle of violence and work toward a two-state solution,” said a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Penny Wong; Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said “I think we should be standing with allies like the United States instead ... the Albanese government is chasing Green votes and has been prepared to sacrifice the wellbeing of the Jewish community in Australia to do so” ( SBS ); It comes as Palestinian medics report that Israeli airstrikes killed at least 47 people across the enclave on Wednesday, including a bombing of a tent encampment in al-Mawasi that killed at least 17 people ( Reuters ); Eleven people were killed in three airstrikes on areas in central Gaza, including six children and a medic, with five of the dead reportedly queuing outside a bakery; Another Israeli airstrike hit three houses in Gaza City, killing at least 10 people, with many victims still trapped under the rubble; A further nine Palestinians were killed by tank fire in Rafah, near the border with Egypt; It comes amid fears that the ceasefire in Lebanon could collapse, with Hezbollah launching a mortar attack, and Israeli air strikes killing ten people ( BBC ). Police charge sheets have revealed more details about the historical charges laid against broadcaster Alan Jones. The charges include 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault, 11 of assault with act of indecency, two of sexually touching another person, and two of common assault ( ABC ). Jones is alleged to have kissed one complainant “using his tongue” in 2017, while another complainant alleges the broadcaster fondled his genitals in 2001. Between 2008 and 2009, Jones is alleged to have committed 11 offences against a man known as the third complainant, including genital touching. A fourth complainant meanwhile alleges Jones stroked his right thigh, touched his bottom and genitals. Jones was arrested and charged with 26 offences last month, including aggravated indecent assault, against nine male victims ( The Saturday Paper ). National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service 1800 737 732 The Greens plan to haul News Corp Australia executives before a Senate inquiry into greenwashing, in connection to gas ads in Murdoch titles. The Greens’ Sarah Hanson-Young, who chairs the greenwashing inquiry, accused the papers of attempting “to disguise paid propaganda as actual news” at a time when “truth and facts are under threat” ( The Guardian ). It follows News Corp tabloids launching a gas-industry sponsored series of stories presented as news on its front pages. The page-one headlines warned Australia risked descending into the “dark ages” and must “step on the gas” as the “only way to avoid higher bills, blackouts”, with some stories marked as “exclusive” and a “special report”. The main news piece quoted four gas industry leaders calling for increased gas extraction, and included no alternative views nor assessment of whether the claims were accurate. It comes after the mining lobby last week successfully pressured Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to abandon a deal with the Greens to pass environmental protection reforms ( The Saturday Paper ). South Korea’s opposition parties have moved to impeach the president after successfully overturning his shock declaration of martial law. Heavily armed troops encircled parliament before lawmakers climbed walls to re-enter the building and unanimously voted to lift President Yoon Suk Yeol’s order ( Associated Press ). The main liberal opposition Democratic Party and five smaller opposition parties have submitted a motion to impeach, which could be put to a vote by the end of the week. The impeachment would require the support of two-thirds of parliament, and at least six justices of the nine-member Constitutional Court would have to endorse it to remove him. The Democratic Party and other small opposition parties together have 192 seats, just short of the 200 required, so require a handful of additional votes from Yoon’s ruling conservative People Power Party (PPP), which has vowed to vote against the proposal. The vote that rejected martial law included the votes of 18 lawmakers from the PPP. Australians in South Korea are being urged to avoid crowds during the political unrest gripping the country ( The New Daily ). Craig Kelly joins a wave of conspiracy theorists railing against a perfectly safe cattle feed additive that reduces emissions — proving once again that any climate initiative, no matter how innocuous, is guaranteed to melt the former Liberal politician down into a quivering, terrified puddle ( SBS ). Priced at 30,000 yen, the stainless-steel replica of the sword wielded by Gryffindor’s founder is 86cm in length. Unfortunately, the size and design of this very big sword for very big Harry Potter fans is causing it to be recalled. The Warner Bros Studio Tour Tokyo management was recently contacted by the police, who informed them that the Sword of Godric Gryffindor is, in the eyes of the law, a “sword”, and so it’s illegal for civilians to possess ( Japan Today ).

Akron 97, Alabama St. 78

Gisèle Benoit still gets goosebumps when she remembers the first time she saw a family of eastern wolves emerge from the forests of the Mauricie National Park, under the backdrop of a rising moon. It was 1984 and Benoit, then in her early 20s, had been using a horn to try to call a bull moose when she instead heard a long howl, followed by an adult wolf stepping out to a rocky shore accompanied by a half-grown youth and four pups. “I will never forget that,” she said of the magical moment. “It’s anchored in my heart forever.” It was only later that Benoit, an artist and documentary filmmaker, learned that the wolves she saw weren’t grey wolves but rather rare eastern wolves. The species, whose population is estimated at fewer than 1,000 mature adults, could soon be further protected by new measures that are raising hopes among conservationists that attitudes toward a once-feared and maligned animal are shifting. In July, the federal government upgraded the eastern wolf’s threat level from “status of special concern” to “threatened,” based on a 2015 report by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. That report found the population count may be as low as 236 mature individuals in its central Ontario and southern Quebec habitat. The eastern wolf is described as medium-sized canid with reddish-tawny fur that lives in family groups of a breeding pair and their offspring. Also known as the Algonquin wolf, it is largely restricted to existing protected areas, including Algonquin Park in Ontario. The federal Environment Department said in an email that development of a recovery strategy is underway, adding it would be “written in collaboration with provincial governments, federal departments responsible for the federal lands where the eastern wolf is found as well as First Nations groups and Indigenous organizations.” The order triggers protection for the species on federal lands and forces Ottawa to prepare a recovery plan. However, the fight for protection could be an uphill battle in Quebec, which does not even recognize the eastern wolf as a distinct species. A spokesperson for Quebec’s Environment Department said Quebec considers the eastern wolf a “genetic group” rather than its own species. “Recent study shows that the eastern wolf is a distinct entity, even if it comes from several crosses between the grey wolf and the coyote,” Daniel Labonté wrote in an email. “However, scientific knowledge does not demonstrate that this genetic grouping constitutes a species in its own right.” Labonté added that this lack of recognition was not a barrier to protecting the animal, since the law also allows for protection of subspecies or wildlife populations. In October, Quebec launched a program to collect samples to improve knowledge on the distribution of large canines, including the eastern wolf. The government said it is currently “impossible to assert that there is an established population” in Quebec due to low numbers — amounting to three per cent of analyzed samples — and the “strong hybridization that exists among large canids.” Véronique Armstrong, co-founder of a Quebec wildlife protection association, says she’s feeling positive about both the Canadian and Quebec governments’ attitudes. While wolves were once “stigmatized, even persecuted,” she said, “we seem to be heading in the direction of more protection.” Her group, the Association québécoise pour la protection et l’observation de la faune, has submitted a proposal for a conservation area to protect southern Quebec wolves that has already received signs of support from three of the regional municipalities that would be covered, she said. While it’s far from settled, she’s hopeful that the battle to protect wolves might be easier than for some other species, such as caribou, because the wolves are adaptable and can tolerate some human activity, including forestry. John Theberge, a retired professor of ecology and conservation biology from the University of Waterloo and a wolf researcher, spent several years along with his wife studying and radio-collaring eastern wolves around Algonquin Park. Back in the 1990s and 2000s, they faced a “huge political battle” to try to expand wolf protection outside park boundaries after realizing that the far-ranging animals were being hunted and trapped in large numbers once they left the protected lands. Conservationists, he said, faced resistance from powerful hunter and trapper lobbies opposed to protecting the animals but in the end succeeded in permanently closing the zones outside the park to hunting and trapping in 2004. Theberge says people who want to save wolves today still face some of that same opposition — especially when governments including Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia kill wolves to protect endangered caribou. But he believes the public support for protecting wolves has increased from when his career began in the 1960s, when they were treated with fear and suspicion. “Nobody wore T-shirts with wolves on them back then,” he said. Over the years, there have been questions about whether the eastern wolf may be a grey wolf subspecies or a coyote-wolf hybrid. But in the order protecting the wolves, the federal government says genetic analyses have resolved that debate, showing that it is a “distinct species.” Benoit, Theberge and Armstrong all believe that while it’s important to protect the eastern wolf from a genetic diversity perspective, there is value in protecting all wolves, regardless of their DNA. Wolves, they say, are an umbrella species, meaning that protecting them helps protect a variety of other species. They kill off weak and sick animals, ensuring strong populations. They’re also “highly developed, sentient social species, with a division of labour, and strong family alliances,” Theberge said. Benoit agrees. After years spent watching wolves, she has developed great respect for how they live in close-knit families, with older offspring helping raise new pups. “It’s extraordinary to see how their way of life is a little like humans’,” she said. Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press

HYDRAA Chief A.V. Ranganath Debunks Misinformation on Peddacheruvu Buffer ZoneThe AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . NEW YORK (AP) — Gerard O’Keefe’s 25 points helped Columbia defeat Merchant Marine 98-49 on Saturday. O’Keefe added five rebounds for the Lions (9-1). Blair Thompson scored 11 points while going 5 of 9 (1 for 3 from 3-point range) and added six rebounds. Josiah Cunningham had nine points and went 3 of 6 from the field (1 for 4 from 3-point range). Drew Zalescik led the Mariners in scoring, finishing with 21 points and six rebounds. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .