Authors at Salisbury forum critique Trump’s election and its implicationsPenn State kicks off Sunshine Slam by cruising past Fordham
Mesa, Arizona Honored with UN's Sustainable Development Goals Innovation AwardCOLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Tamar Bates had 29 points and five steals to help Missouri beat Hunter Dickinson and No. 1 Kansas 76-67 on Sunday. Mark Mitchell scored 17 points in Missouri’s first win over Kansas since a 74-71 victory on Feb. 4, 2012. Anthony Robinson II had 11 points and five steals for the Tigers (8-1), and Josh Gray grabbed a team-leading 10 rebounds. Dickinson had 19 points and 14 rebounds, but he also committed seven turnovers. The Jayhawks (7-2) have lost two straight on the road after falling 76-63 against Creighton on Wednesday night. Missouri opened a 57-33 lead with 14:15 remaining on a jump shot from Tony Perkins. But the Jayhawks outscored the Tigers 30-8 over the next 11:55. Bates scored 18 to help Missouri to a 39-25 lead at the break. The Tigers then opened the second half with a 16-6 run. NO. 2 AUBURN 98, RICHMOND 54 AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Miles Kelly and Tahaad Pettiford each scored 15 points as No. 2 Auburn beats Richmond. Bouncing back nicely after a loss at Duke , Auburn (8-1) had six players score in double figures. Chad Baker-Mazara had 13 points, six rebounds and five assists. Denver Jones made three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points. Johni Broome had 11 points, six assists and two blocks for the Tigers. Jahki Howard scored a career-high 13 points. Richmond (4-5) was led by Mikkel Tyne’s 16 points. Dusan Neskovic scored 12, and DeLonnie Hunt added 10 points. NO. 8 PURDUE 83, MARYLAND 78 WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Braden Smith had 24 points and 10 assists, and No. 8 Purdue held off Maryland for a win. Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 21 points for the Boilermakers (8-2, 1-1 Big Ten), who bounced back after a loss to Penn State on Thursday. Camden Heide added 15 points and Fletcher Loyer finished with 12. Derik Queen led the Terrapins (8-2, 1-1) with 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting and grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds. Ja’Kobi Gillespie scored 18 points and Selton Miguel and Rodney Rice each had 13. Julian Reese fouled out with five points and seven rebounds. Purdue used an 8-0 run to take a 77-67 lead with 2:00 left. Smith sparked the run with a 3-pointer. Heide made three late foul shots to help close it out. The Terrapins led 36-31 at halftime. Both teams made 13 of 35 shots in the first half, but the Terrapins had three more 3-pointers NO. 14 CINCINNATI 84, HOWARD 67 CINCINNATI (AP) — Simas Lukosius scored 18 points, Aziz Bandaogo added 17 and Dillon Mitchell 14 to lead No. 14 Cincinnati to a victory over Howard. Cincinnati (7-1) led by four points after one half and came out firing in the second, hitting three straight baskets to extend its lead to 10 points. The Bearcats outscored Howard Bison (3-6) 48-35 in the second half to seal the win and rebound from Tuesday’s eight-point loss to Villanova. Blake Harper had 23 points and 10 rebounds and Marcus Dockery added 14 points for Howard. NO. 22 TEXAS A&M 72, TEXAS TECH 67 FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Wade Taylor IV scored 19 points, Zhuric Phelps hit a go-ahead 3-pointer during an 11-0 run and finished with 12 points, and 22nd-ranked Texas A&M beat Texas Tech in the first meeting of the former conference rivals since 2012. Phelps’ 3 with 7 1/2 minutes left made it 54-52 and put the Aggies (8-2) ahead to stay. His step-back jumper after hard contact with Tech’s Kevin Overton capped the game-turning spurt. Jace Carter scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half as Texas A&M won its fourth straight game. Chance McMillian had 23 points with five 3s for Tech (7-2). Overton scored 14 of his 17 points before halftime, when he hit four 3s.
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NEW YORK (AP) — Remember what you searched for in 2024? does. Google released its annual “Year in Search” on Tuesday, rounding up the top trending queries entered into its namesake search engine in 2024. The results show terms that saw the highest spike in traffic compared to last year — ranging from key news events, notably , to the most popular songs, athletes and unforgettable pop-culture moments that people looked up worldwide. Sports — particularly soccer and cricket — dominated Google’s overall trending searches in 2024. topped those search trends globally, followed by the and . Meanwhile, the led news-specific searches worldwide. Queries about and this year’s followed. U.S. President-elect topped searches in Google’s people category this year — followed by , U.S. Vice President and Algerian boxer , who also led athlete-specific searches. Meanwhile, the late , and led search trends among notable individuals who died in 2024. In the world of entertainment, Disney and Pixar’s was the top trending movie of the year, while Netflix’s led TV show trends. And Kendrick Lamar’s dominated song trends. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Queries for the , made famous by Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen over the summer games, led Google’s global recipe trends this year. The New York Times’ “Connections” puzzle topped game searches. And in the U.S., country-specific data shows, many people asked Google about like the word and “ .” You can find more country-specific lists, and trends , through Google’s . The California company said it collected 2024 search results from Jan. 1 through Nov. 23 of this year. Google isn’t the only one to publish an annual recap or top trends as 2024 draws to a close. , for example, as well as and words of the year, have offered additional reflections for 2024. The Associated Press
A drone photo shows the Rulong Bridge, a wooden arch bridge, in Qingyuan County of Lishui City. — Xinhua photo BEIJING (Dec 10): Hu Junfeng takes pride in using his civil engineering skills to document the wealth of knowledge his father has amassed over four decades on building Chinese wooden arch bridges. Traditional design and practices for building Chinese wooden arch bridges were added Thursday to its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). This stitched aerial drone photo shows the Wan’an Bridge, a wooden arch bridge, in Changqiao Township of Pingnan County, southeast China’s Fujian Province. — Xinhua photo The wooden arch bridges, found mostly in eastern China’s Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, are built without a single metal nail or rivet. Instead, they rely solely on intricately fitted wooden structures. A traditional Chinese-style timber superstructure tops the bridge, featuring a grand roof that adds weight and bolsters the structure’s stability. According to Unesco, the traditional design and practices for building these bridges involve the use of wood and traditional architectural tools, and they combine craftsmanship, the core technologies of “beam-weaving” and mortise and tenon joints, as well as an experienced woodworker’s understanding of different environments and the necessary structural mechanics. “This signifies that the protection, inheritance and promotion of China’s traditional wooden arch bridge craftsmanship have gained global recognition,” said Hu Junfeng’s father Hu Miao, who has dedicated over 40 years to preserving the traditional skill. Hu Miao, a national-level representative inheritor of the traditional wooden arch bridge construction skills, was born into a family of carpenters. Hu Miao said that they constructed and renovated 25 such bridges. His craftsmanship attracted his son, who had previously worked in Shanghai for three years, to return to Qingyuan County, Lishui City of Zhejiang Province in 2022 to inherit the skills. This photo shows the Luanfeng Bridge, a wooden arch bridge, in Xiadang Township of Shouning County, southeast China’s Fujian Province. — Xinhua photo Wooden arch bridges serve as hubs for gatherings, entertainment, trade and other social activities. Locals often hold events like weddings, funerals and birthdays on these bridges. “During the Dragon Boat Festival, locals believe that the more times one crosses the bridge, the more prosperous their life will become, expressing hope for the future,” said Lu Zeqi, an intangible cultural heritage expert in Pingnan County, Ningde City of Fujian Province. Hu’s family is part of a thriving bridge conservation community in Zhejiang. The province now hosts 11 teams dedicated to wood arch bridge craftsmanship, comprising over 170 members. They have constructed and restored more than 80 such bridges. First inscribed in 2009 on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, the tradition had declined over the years due to rapid urbanization, scarcity of lumber and lack of available construction space, all of which could threaten its transmission and survival, according to Unesco. In 2016, Typhoon Meranti ruined three wooden arch bridges in Zhejiang. It served as a reminder to the public of the importance of protecting and restoring these treasures, and the need to pass down the craftsmanship of bridge building. An aerial drone photo taken on Jan. 23, 2024 shows the Yonggui Bridge, a wooden arch bridge, after snowfall in Qingyuan County of Lishui City. — Xinhua photo Zhejiang has established a themed museum, included information on the bridges in primary school curricula, organized academic seminars, and produced TV documentaries to showcase the history, craftsmanship and culture of the bridges. “Unesco’s recognition marks a transition from ‘endangered’ to ‘revival’ for the craft, signifying an endorsement of our conservation efforts,” said Chen Huawen, a professor at Zhejiang Normal University. Gabriella Bonino, an Italian sinologist, said she once visited craftsmen behind wooden arch bridges, feeling the depth of their traditional skills and admiring the way these arts are inherited through generations. The reflection of local customs is valuable and should be recognized globally. Suman Prasai, a Nepali student at Lishui University, once learned about the building of wood arcade bridges from the Hu family in October. He told Xinhua that “knowing that these skills are now safe and will continue for future generations makes me feel proud and hopeful. It’s a big success for preserving culture in today’s fast-changing world. Walking across it, I could feel the connection between art and nature.” “Unesco’s recognition shows how much effort has been made to protect and pass down the traditional skills of building Chinese wooden arch bridges. These bridges are not just for crossing. They carry stories, history, and amazing craftsmanship,” said Prasai. Apart from being a source of livelihood for woodworkers, the bridges, along with the traditional techniques and knowledge used to build them, have boosted the development of relevant cultural and creative industries. “I’ve enjoyed making ‘wooden arch bridges’ with chopsticks since childhood. Amazingly, with just 15 chopsticks, I could build a ‘bridge’ capable of supporting more than 1 kg,” said Hu Junfeng. A drone photo taken on Oct. 18, 2023 shows workers working on the restoration of the Wan’an Bridge, a wooden arch bridge, in Changqiao Township of Pingnan County. — Xinhua photo Now the chopsticks have been transformed into 3D puzzles and models, as well as other cultural and creative products, showing customers the structure and techniques of bridge building. “Wooden arch bridges, iconic symbols of China’s architectural arts, reflect the essence of master craftsmanship and have turned into popular tourist destinations. With the AI technology, we can create featured products and immersive experiences that go beyond the bridges themselves,” said Chen Shaofeng, a Peking University professor and vice head of the China Culture Promotion Association. — XinhuaPolice in Romania have detained several people as they headed toward Bucharest carrying guns, machetes, and knives to allegedly "disrupt public order and peace," authorities said on December 8. At least 13 people were being questioned by law enforcement agencies after their vehicles were stopped overnight in the Ilfov county, police sources told RFE/RL. Authorities did not release the names of those in custody but according to sources at the judiciary, among them is Horatiu Potra , leader of the contingent of Romanian private military contractors fighting in the African nation of Congo. Ilfov police said a criminal probe has been launched into the issue. According to Romanian media, Potra was sentenced to two years in prison with a suspended sentence in 2011 after being found guilty of founding a paramilitary group. State news agency Agerpres published a photo of Potra being escorted by several armed officers as he was being taken for questioning, according to the agency. The arrests came as dozens of supporters of Romania’s far-right, pro-Russian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu were preparing to stage a protest in Bucharest after a runoff vote -- scheduled for December 8 -- was scrapped by the country's Constitutional Court. The rally took place without incident with Georgescu in attendance. "I came only with flowers and prayer," he told those gathered in Mogosoaia, just outside Bucharest. "I am not calling on anyone to do anything, it is a moment of silence," he added. Romania’s far-right, pro-Russian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu and dozens of his supporters staged a protest at a shuttered polling station in Bucharest after an election runoff was scrapped by the country's Constitutional Court. More than 100 people gathered outside a polling station in the capital on December 8 -- the originally scheduled date of the runoff vote -- chanting "Down with dictatorship," "We want to vote," and "Thieves.” Georgescu, whose pro-Russian comments have prompted protests by thousands of mostly young Romanians in recent days, said the authorities canceled the elections because they were afraid he would win. "I'm here in the name of democracy and always will be," Georgescu told reporters outside the station in the European Union and NATO member country. Georgescu, who ran as an independent, won the first round of the election on November 24 ahead of reformist Elena Lasconi of the center-right Save Romania Union party, setting up the second-round runoff. However, the Constitutional Court on December 6 annuled the entire presidential election, throwing the process into upheaval even as diaspora voting in the second round had already begun at sites outside the country. The court in its published ruling cited the illegal use of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, as well as the use of "undeclared sources of funding." Georgescu had blasted the court's ruling as an "officialized coup" and an attack on democracy, while Lasconi also assailed the decision. Georgescu on December 7 urged voters to turn up at polling stations and "to wait for democracy to win through their power," according to a statement by his team. "Mr. Calin Georgescu believes that voting is an earned right. That is why he believes that Romanians have the right to be in front of the polling stations tomorrow," the statement said. The runoff had been seen as a referendum on the NATO and EU member's future course amid accusations of Russian meddling that brought thousands of Romanians onto the streets in support of the country's place in the Euro-Atlantic community. The Constitutional Court’s unprecedented decision came just two days after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence that alleged Russia had organized thousands of social media accounts to promote Georgescu -- the shock first-round winner -- across platforms such as TikTok and Telegram. Georgescu had appeared as a favorite to win the runoff, but was passed by Lasconi in the latest opinion poll after the intelligence documents were released. The court, without naming Georgescu, said that one of the 13 candidates in the November 24 first round had improperly received “preferential treatment” on social media, distorting the outcome of the vote. Iohannis said he would remain in office until a new presidential election could be conducted again from the start. He is expected to appoint a prime minister to begin forming a government from the parliament that was elected on December 1. That administration will choose the date of the new election. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has left the country, his government's staunch ally Russia announced, as rebels claimed to have taken control of the capital, Damascus, after launching a lightning offensive in recent days that advanced quickly through the country. The Russian Foreign Ministry said on December 8 that Assad had departed the country, but it did not say where he was now and said Russia had not taken part in the talks around his departure. The ministry said Assad "decided to resign" after "negotiations" with a "number of participants in the armed conflict" and left office "giving instructions for a peaceful transfer of power." "Russia did not participate in these negotiations," the ministry said. The statement came as the rebels said in a statement aired on state TV that Damascus is "now free of Assad," whose family ruled the country with an iron fist for more than 50 years. Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said in a video that the government is "ready to cooperate with any leadership chosen by the people." "We believe that Syria is for all Syrians and that it is the country of all its sons and that this country can be a normal state that builds good relations with its neighbors and the world without entering into any regional alliances and blocs," Jalali said, adding he was still at home in Damascus and had not fled. Abu Mohammad al-Golani, a leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group, had said late on December 7 that the insurgent fighters were "in the final moments of liberating" Homs, a city of 775,000 people. It appears as though once that city fell, the rebels made swift progress to Damascus, about 160 kilometers south of Homs. HTS is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Britain, Canada, and the European Union. In Washington, the White House press office told RFE/RL that U.S. President Joe Biden and his team "are closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria and staying in constant touch with regional partners." Setback For Russia Experts have said the fall of the Assad regime would also represent a major geopolitical setback for the Kremlin, which, along with Tehran, has supported the Syrian government through many years of civil war. The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that "Assad regime forces have collapsed and Assad's backers do not appear willing to bolster the Syrian Arab Army by rapidly deploying additional forces." Russia has multiple military sites in Syria, including an air base at Hmeimim and strategic naval facilities at Tartus, which are also used to support the Kremlin's actions in Africa. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declined to comment on the fate of the Russian bases, saying he "wasn't in the business of guessing." Konstantin Kosachyov, deputy chairman of Russia's upper house of parliament, said on December 8 that Syrians will have to cope with a full-scale war alone, but he suggested Moscow was ready to support the Syrian people in certain circumstances. The ISW said Moscow had not yet begun to evacuate the base, "but it remains unclear whether Russia will keep its vessels at the port as Syrian rebels continue to advance swiftly across regime-held territory." Ruslan Suleymanov, a Russian expert on the Middle East, told RFE/RL that Moscow would "cooperate with the rebels" if they take power in Damascus and that HTS too has "claimed previously that it was ready to negotiate" with the Kremlin. "Putin wants to save his military presence in the region. In any case, to do that, he has to make concessions -- both to jihadists and to [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan who supports [the rebels]," Suleymanov said. The surprising offensive began on November 27 during which a coalition of rebel groups led by HTS captured the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's second largest. Since then, they moved on to take other major cities with Assad's forces providing little resistance. Besides HTS, the fighters include forces of an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. Turkey has denied backing the offensive, though experts say insurgents would not have launched it without the country's consent. The United Nations said on December 6 that almost 300,000 people in Syria had already been displaced since late November by the fighting, and that up to 1.5 million could be forced to flee as the rebels advance and inflict losses on Assad, as well as his Russian and Iranian allies. Assad has relied on Iran and Russia to remain in power since the conflict erupted in 2011. Neighbors, World Powers React The developments in Damascus prompted Syria's neighbors to take urgent measures, with Lebanon announcing it was closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for one that links Beirut with Damascus. Jordan closed a border crossing with Syria, too. Israel said on December 8 it has deployed forces in a demilitarized buffer zone along its northern border with Syria and sent troops "other places necessary for its defense." The Israeli military said the deployment was meant to provide security for residents of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. The United States said it will maintain its presence in eastern Syria and will take measures necessary to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State (IS) in the region. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Daniel Shapiro said Washington is "aware that the chaotic and dynamic circumstances on the ground in Syria could give [IS] space to find the ability to become active, to plan external operations." Speaking at a security conference in Bahrain on December 8, Shapiro said the United States is determined to work with its partners to "continue to degrade [IS] capabilities." "[We're determined] to ensure [IS's] enduring defeat, to ensure the secure detention of IS fighters and the repatriation of displaced persons," Shapiro added. UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen described the latest developments as a "watershed moment in Syria's history" and urged all armed actors in the country to maintain law and order and preserve pubic institutions. Speaking in Doha on December 8, Pedersen also said he has no information on Assad's whereabouts. Tom Fletcher, head of the UN humanitarian aid agency, warned about the plight of the millions of Syrians displaced by nearly 14 years of the country’s civil war. Now many more are in danger, Fletcher said. “We will respond wherever, whenever, however we can, to support people in need, including reception centers -- food, water, fuel, tents, blankets,” he said. British Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner called for a "political solution" while the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement it was time in Syria for unity, a peaceful political transition, and for fighting to end. TBILISI -- Thousands of protesters took to the streets of the Georgian capital on December 7 following a violent crackdown the night before by riot police against demonstrators angered by the government’s decision to suspend talks on joining the European Union. Violence broke out again late in the night, as witnesses said journalists and others were beaten by groups of men in street clothes while nearby security personnel did not attempt to intervene. Many of the protesters were calling for the release of fellow demonstrators arrested in previous rallies. Georgian police reported that 48 people had been detained the night before. In the previous night's demonstration – which started late on December 6 -- riot police began dispersing protesters gathered on Rustaveli Avenue in front of the parliament building at about 12:30 a.m. on December 7. Special forces detained several people at Republic Square by 1:30 a.m. local time on December 7. They had mobilized earlier on Rustaveli Avenue about 600 meters away from the main center of the demonstration on Republic Square. Among those detained is Tsotne Koberidze, a member of the Tbilisi City Council from the opposition party Girchi (More Freedom), RFE/RL reported. A young woman who had been standing in front of the cordon for several minutes was also detained. Warning messages urging protesters to disperse continued as the riot police attempted to break up the protest on Rustaveli Avenue. Demonstrators moved away from the avenue but did not disperse. Tensions have been running high in Georgia since the ruling Georgian Dream party won an election on October 26 that the pro-Western opposition and Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili say was rigged with the help of Moscow. Earlier on December 6, Zurabishvili called on Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze to step down as pressure mounts on the government amid a violent crackdown on unrest. Zurabishvili made the call in an interview with Georgia's Channel One media group as the Prosecutor-General's Office announced that it had filed its first criminal charges against protesters who have taken to the streets to rally against the move. "The prime minister who has failed to settle the crisis...must be replaced," Zurabishvili said. "This is the compromise, depolarization, a way out for Georgia, stability, peace and the future, which will be unshakable, free and democratic," she added. Zurabishvili traveled to Paris on December 7 for ceremonies marking the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral, which had been restored following a devastating 2019 fire. She said on social media that she had an "in-depth discussion" there with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and French leader Emmanuel Macron, posting a video of the talks on X. Zurabishvili also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and thanked him for his support for the Caucasus nation. The announcement last week by Georgian Dream to halt talks on joining the EU until 2028 further fueled dissension, with thousands of Georgians flooding the streets around parliament in protest. The largely peaceful protesters have been met with a sometimes-brutal crackdown by security forces, leaving dozens -- including opposition members and journalists covering the events -- in need of medical attention. The Prosecutor-General's Office, however, said it charged nine individuals with organizing and participating in group violence during the protests on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. "This is a choice between autocracy and democracy -- there is no other way," Tere Heland, an adviser to the European Neighborhood Council, which provides information on current events in Georgia, told RFE/RL in an interview on December 6. Opposition leaders have also rejected accusations by Georgian Dream that the violence was the product of a conspiracy -- aided by foreign actors -- to provoke chaos. Levan Tsutskiridze, leader of the Freedom Square movement and one of the most influential members of the Strong Georgia political coalition, said the actions of government forces against peaceful protesters were "tragic." He accused the police of "mass terror, with physical violence, intimidation, and torture." The opposition has also called for fresh elections, saying that without a new vote, the restoration of democratic legitimacy is impossible. Georgia's Interior Ministry told RFE/RL on December 6 that a total of 338 individuals had been detained for administrative violations during the protests, which security forces have tried to put down with water cannons, vast amounts of tear gas, and harsh beatings. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called his trilateral talks with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump “good and productive” and said the leaders discussed the situation on the ground in Ukraine and the potential for “a just peace.” “We talked about our people, the situation on the battlefield, and a just peace for Ukraine. We all want to end this war as quickly and fairly as possible,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram from Paris on December 7 as world leaders gathered to mark the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral. "President Trump, as always, is determined. We are thankful for that," he added. Macron said , "Let us continue joint efforts for peace, security." It was not immediately known if Trump would make public comments following the talks. Zelenskiy, looking to bolster support for his nation’s fight against the full-scale Russian invasion that began in February 2022, arrived in the French capital at midday as more than three dozen global dignitaries gathered for the ceremonies, many of whom applauded the Ukrainian leader at the Notre Dame event. Zelenskiy arrived at the Elysee Palace for the three-way talks at 5:30 p.m. Paris time. The three men posed for photos at but made no public comments before the talks began. Zelenskiy is expected to leave Paris immediately following the ceremonies at Notre Dame, which was restored following a devastating 2019 fire, aided by some $1 billion in donations from around the globe. Trump , who will take office on January 20, has criticized the billions of dollars 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. The two also have a long history, mainly through an infamous phone call. During that July 2019 call, Trump asked Zelenskiy to look into the activities in Ukraine of Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. The elder Biden went on to defeat Trump in the 2020 presidential election. The call led to accusations that Trump had conditioned the release of nearly $400 million in military aid on an investigation into the Bidens, and Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives in December 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Senate acquitted Trump on both charges in February 2020. "We expect a good decision from today's meeting with Macron," a source within the Ukrainian delegation told the AFP news agency before the announcement of the three-way talks. AFP also reported that Elon Musk, the world's richest man and one of Trump's closest allies, is expected to attend the ceremonies. On social media, Zelenskiy earlier said that Ukraine had received a second shipment of sophisticated F-16 fighter jets from Denmark. "The second batch of F-16s for Ukraine from Denmark is already in Ukraine. This is the leadership in protecting life that distinguishes Denmark," he wrote on Telegram . "The planes provided by the Danes from the first batch are already shooting down Russian missiles and saving our people, our infrastructure. Now our air shield is additionally strengthened. If all partners were so determined, it would be possible to prevent Russian terror," he said. In November , Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced that Denmark would transfer two more batches of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Six had already been transferred, with a total of 19 aircraft earmarked for delivery by Copenhagen. Separately, Washington said it is preparing a $988 million package of arms and equipment to Ukraine, funds taken from the remaining $2.21 billion available in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. The funds will be used to buy ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and for drones, the Pentagon said, as the administration of President Joe Biden attempts to bolster Kyiv before he leaves office. BUCHAREST -- Romania’s far-right, pro-Russian presidential candidate defiantly told voters to turn up at polling stations for a December 8 election runoff that has been scrapped by the Constitutional Court. While Calin Georgescu attempts to fill the streets with backers, however, his actual level of support remains uncertain. Georgescu told supporters "to wait to be welcomed, to wait for democracy to win through their power," according to a statement on December 7 by his team. "Mr. Calin Georgescu believes that voting is an earned right. That is why he believes that Romanians have the right to be in front of the polling stations tomorrow," the statement said, adding that Georgescu would go to a polling station near the capital, Bucharest, early in the morning. Over recent days, thousands of mostly young Romanians have taken to the streets to protest against his pro-Russia comments. Georgescu, who ran as an independent, had won the first round of the presidential election on November 24, ahead of reformist Elena Lasconi of the center-right Save Romania Union party, setting up a runoff originally set for December 8. However, Romania's Constitutional Court on December 6 annulled the entire presidential election, throwing the process into upheaval even as diaspora voting had already begun at sites throughout the globe. Georgescu had blasted the court’s ruling as an “officialized coup” and an attack on democracy, while Lasconi also assailed the decision. The Constitutional Court in its published ruling cited the illegal use of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, as well as the use of “undeclared sources of funding.” The runoff had been seen as a referendum on the NATO and EU member's future course amid accusations of Russian meddling that brought thousands of Romanians onto the streets in support of the country's place in the Euro-Atlantic community. The Constitutional Court’s unprecedented decision came just two days after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence that alleged Russia had organized thousands of social media accounts to promote Georgescu -- the shock first-round winner -- across platforms such as TikTok and Telegram. Georgescu had appeared as a favorite to win the runoff, but was passed by Lasconi in the latest opinion poll after the intelligence documents were released. The court, without naming Georgescu, said that one of the 13 candidates in the November 24 first round had improperly received “preferential treatment” on social media, distorting the outcome of the vote. Georgescu and Lasconi were supposed to meet in a runoff this weekend. Voting abroad had already started when the court shelved the entire election and instructed the government to set a new one. Iohannis said he would remain in office until a new presidential election could be conducted again from the start. He is expected to appoint a prime minister to begin forming a government from the parliament that was elected on December 1. That administration will choose the date of the new election. Meanwhile, Romania authorities conducted searches at three homes as part of the probe into the election irregularities. 'In the central city of Brasov, police searched three homes early on December 7 as part of a probe "in connection with the crimes of voter corruption, money laundering, and computer forgery," the local prosecutor’s office said in a statement. It added that the police action had targeted a person involved in the "illegal financing of the electoral campaign of a candidate for the presidency of Romania, through the use of sums of money," without naming Georgescu. The statement also said the investigation involved alleged violations of Romanian law prohibiting organizations and symbols of a fascist, racist or xenophobic character. In Washington, the U.S. State Department said Romanians must have confidence their elections are free of harmful external influences. "The United States reaffirms our confidence in Romania’s democratic institutions and processes, including investigations into foreign malign influence," the department said in a statement issued late on December 6. Syrian rebels led by Islamist militants have entered the central city of Homs as they close in on Damascus while the country’s main allies -- Russia and Iran -- scrambled to protect the regime of authoritarian President Bashar al-Assad and their own assets in the country. Abu Mohammad al-Golani, a leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group, said late on December 7 that the insurgent fighters were "in the final moments of liberating" Homs, a city of 775,000 people. HTS is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Britain, Canada, and the European Union. Experts said the future of the Assad regime was hanging in the balance -- and that, if it fell, it would also represent a major geopolitical setback for the Kremlin which, along with Tehran, has supported the Syrian government through many years of civil war. Media reports said many residents of Damascus were stocking up on supplies as thousands were attempting to leave the country through the border with Lebanon -- itself a war-torn nation in the increasingly chaotic Middle East. As fighting on the ground and rebel gains intensified, the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, and Turkey held emergency talks in Doha, Qatar, on December 7 calling for an end to hostilities in the most serious challenge to Assad’s rule in years. The U.S. State Department told RFE/RL that Washington was closely monitoring the situation on the ground in Syria. A spokesperson said the United States and its partners and allies urged that civilians, including members of minority groups, be protected. The spokesperson said it was time to negotiate an end to the Syrian conflict consistent with principals established in UN Security Council Resolution 2254. The spokesperson added that the refusal of the Assad regime to engage in the process has directly led to the current situation. The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War ( ISW ) said that “Assad regime forces have collapsed and Assad’s backers do not appear willing to bolster the Syrian Arab Army by rapidly deploying additional forces.” Russia has multiple military sites in Syria, including an air base at Hmeimim and strategic naval facilities at Tartus, which are also used to support the Kremlin’s actions in Africa. The ISW said that Moscow had not yet begun to evacuate the base, “but it remains unclear whether Russia will keep its vessels at the port as Syrian rebels continue to advance swiftly across regime-held territory.” The American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats blog said the Assad regime “faces an existential threat given the widespread collapse of regime forces and lack of sufficient external backing to bolster these forces.” It added that “Russia will face logistic challenges that will undermine its Africa operations if it loses its footprint in Syria.” Mark Katz, a professor emeritus at George Mason University who focuses on Russia and the Middle East, told RFE/RL that the Kremlin risks losing its air assets in Syria if it can’t agree with Turkey on the use of its airspace. “In one sense, the Turkish government might be happy to grant permission as the more the Russian Air Force is out of Syria, the happier Ankara will be,” he said. "Russia would also face difficulties relocating its warships because they would need Turkey's permission to get into the Black Sea. They would have to go through NATO waters," he added. Meanwhile, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said the United States “should have nothing to do” with the war in Syria, where a small contingent of U.S. forces remain deployed in some areas. "Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT,” he wrote on the Truth Social platform. “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!” Fast-moving developments on the ground were difficult to confirm, but media outlets quoted witnesses as well as rebel and Syrian army sources as saying militant fighters were continuing to make large gains on December 7 in their effort to topple Assad. Some reported signs of panic in Damascus, with shortages of critical supplies, although the government said Assad was at work as usual in the capital. Government forces and their Russian allies appear to have failed in their attempt to halt the rebel push toward Homs, which stands at an important intersection between the capital, Damascus, and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus. Homs is 140 kilometers from the capital. Witnesses and army sources told Reuters and other news agencies that rebels had entered Homs amid reports that government forces had pulled out. Celebrations were reported in some areas of the city. Homs Province is Syria’s largest in size and borders Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan. The city is also home to one of Syria’s two state-run oil refineries. The AFP news agency quoted security sources as saying hundreds of Syrian government troops, some injured, had fled across the border into Iraq. The surprising offensive was launched last week by a coalition of rebel groups led by the Islamist HTS faction. Besides HTS, the fighters include forces of an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. Turkey has denied backing the offensive, though experts say insurgents would not have launched it without the country's consent. The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said civilians were fleeing from Homs toward the Mediterranean coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus, strongholds of the government and the site of the Russian air and naval bases. Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declined to comment on the fate of the Russian bases, saying he “wasn’t in the business of guessing.” The United Nations said on December 6 that almost 300,000 people in Syria had already been displaced since late November by the fighting, and that up to 1.5 million could be forced to flee as the rebels advance and inflict losses on Assad, as well as his Russian and Iranian allies. Assad has relied on Iran and Russia to remain in power since the conflict erupted in 2011. Following the foreign ministers' meeting in Doha, Lavrov said -- referring to HTS rebels -- that it was "inadmissible to allow terrorist groups" to take control of Syrian territory and that Russia would oppose them with all means possible. Since the rebels seized control of Aleppo a week ago, they have moved on to capture other major cities with Assad’s forces providing little resistance. Besides capturing Aleppo in the north, Hama in the center, and Deir al-Zor in the east, rebels rose up in southern Suweida and Deraa, saying on December 6 they had taken control of the two cities and posting videos showing insurgent celebrations there. Taking Deraa and Suweida in the south could allow a concerted assault on the capital, Damascus, the seat of Assad's power, military sources said. Video posted online showed protesters in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana chanting and tearing down a statue of Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000, when his son took power. Golani, the HTS leader, told CNN in an exclusive interview on December 5 from Syria that Assad’s government was bound to fall, propped up only by Russia and Iran. “The seeds of the regime’s defeat have always been within it,” he said. “But the truth remains, this regime is dead.” Prosecutors with a special international court in The Hague confirmed on December 6 that a new indictment has been filed against former Kosovar President Hashim Thaci and four other people for allegedly attempting to influence witness testimony in a war crimes trials. Thaci has been charged with three counts of obstruction, four counts of violating the secrecy of proceedings, and four counts of contempt of court, a statement released by prosecutors said. He was in the detention facilities of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers when served with an arrest warrant on the charges, the statement said. A separate statement issued by the Kosovo Specialists Chambers in The Hague said "the indictment charges the accused with offences related to alleged unlawful efforts to influence witness testimonies in the Thaci et al war crimes trial." The four others charged are former Justice Minister Hajredin Kuci, former Kosovar Intelligence Agency chief Bashkim Smakaj, former Malisheva Mayor Isni Kilaj, and Fadil Fazliu. Smakaj, Fazliu, and Kilaj were arrested on December 5 in Kosovo and transported to the Specialist Chambers’ detention facility in The Hague, the court said. They have been charged with attempted obstruction of official persons in carrying out official duties and of disobeying the court and are expected to make their first court appearance on the charges in the next few days, the statement said. Thaci is being tried by the court in a separate case against former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He is accused of coordinating "three separate groups" along with Smakaj, Kilajn, Kuci, and Fazliu to influence the testimony of prosecution witnesses in the case against him and others for war crimes. The indictment says that Thaci gave Smakaj, Kilaj, Fazliu, and Kuci confidential information about witnesses, instructions to influence their testimony, and details on how they should do so during nonprivileged visits to the detention facility that took place between April 12, 2023, and November 2, 2023. The new indictment comes a day after the Specialist Prosecutor's Office announced that it was conducting ongoing operations in Kosovo in connection with its investigations. The Specialist Chamber was established in 2015 by the Kosovo Assembly to prosecute mainly former KLA fighters for war crimes and is part of Kosovo's judicial system, but it operates with international staff and is based in The Hague. Fear of witness intimidation was one of the reasons why the court is located there. Thaci, a former KLA commander, became president of Kosovo after it declared independence from Serbia in 2008 but resigned in late 2020 to face war crimes and crimes against humanity charges. He has pleaded not guilty. Thaci is widely seen as a guerilla hero in Kosovo, but prosecutors said he openly oversaw a brutal reign of violence as the ethnic Albanian KLA tried to tighten its grip on power during and after the war. The Kosovo war, which claimed some 13,000 lives, ended after a NATO bombing campaign forced Serb forces to withdraw. An attack by Russian troops on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhya on the evening of December 6 killed 10 people, according to regional Governor Ivan Fedorov as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy slammed Russia for carrying out the attack. Fedorov said that another 20 people were injured, including three children. One of the injured adults, a 23-year-old man, is in extremely serious condition, he added. The impact destroyed a service station and damaged nearby houses and shops, Fedorov said on Telegram. His post included a video of smoke rising from a building and debris strewn across the street. The state emergency service said that attack caused the fire, which engulfed six cars, a garage, and the service station. The fire has been put out, the service said. A separate attack on Kryviy Rih in the southern region of Dnipropetrovsk killed two people. A three-story building was destroyed in the attack, and residential buildings and cars were damaged, the emergency service said on Telegram. Zelenskiy said the attacks showed Russia has no interest in striking a deal to end the full-scale invasion it launched in February 2022. "Thousands of such strikes carried out by Russia during this war make it absolutely clear that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin does not need real peace," Zelenskiy said on Telegram. "Only by force can we resist this. And only through force can real peace be established," he added. Zelenskiy is set to travel to Paris for a ceremony on December 7 to mark the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral after a restoration following a devastating fire in 2019, according to news reports quoting unidentified sources. A source in the Ukrainian government was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying that Zelenskiy will attend the celebrations marking the restoration of the cathedral and will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron. He also hopes to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who is expected to attend the ceremony. It would be their first meeting since Trump was elected president for a second non-consecutive term on November 5. Trump has repeatedly criticized U.S. military aid to Kyiv and said he would end the war within 24 hours of returning to the White House but has yet to provide details. There are fears in Kyiv that Trump could try to force Ukraine to the negotiating table and accept peace terms favorable to Russia. Trump has named Keith Kellogg, a retired general who has called on Kyiv to make concessions to end the war, as his Ukraine envoy. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden's outgoing administration is seeking to bolster Kyiv before leaving office on January 20. The administration announced on December 2 that it will send $725 million worth of missiles, ammunition, anti-personnel mines, and other weapons to Ukraine. Iran is poised to significantly increase the production rate of highly enriched uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned in a confidential report. The IAEA report said the effect of the change "would be to significantly increase the rate of production of uranium enriched up to 60 percent," according to news agencies quoting the report on December 6. This means the rate of production will jump to more than 34 kilograms of highly enriched uranium per month at its Fordow facility alone, compared to 4.7 kilograms previously, the report to the IAEA's board of governors says. IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi, who spoke to reporters about the report on the sidelines of an international conference in Bahrain, said the increase would represent “seven or eight times or even more," calling the development very concerning. “They were preparing, and they have all of these facilities sort of in abeyance and now they are activating that. So we are going to see,” he said, adding that it would be a “huge jump” if Iran begins increasing its enrichment. The report also said Iran must implement tougher safeguard measures such as inspections to ensure Fordow is not being "misused to produce uranium of an enrichment level higher than that declared by Iran, and that there is no diversion of declared nuclear material." Iran's decision to accelerate production of enriched uranium is in response to recent censure by the IAEA, Grossi told the AFP news agency. "This is a message. This is a clear message that they are responding to what they feel is pressure," the UN nuclear watchdog's head said. Tehran was angered by a resolution last month put forward by Britain, Germany, and France, known as the E3, and the United States that faulted Iran's cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog. Britain, Germany, and France have adopted a tougher stance on Iran in recent months, in particular since Tehran ramped up its military support to Russia. In addition, there was little progress last week when European and Iranian officials met to determine whether they could enter serious talks on the nuclear program before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House in January. Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and is now appointing hawks on Iran to his planned administration. While Iran maintains its program is peaceful, Iranian officials increasingly threaten to potentially seek a nuclear bomb and an intercontinental ballistic missile. But experts war that the enrichment of uranium at 60 percent is just a short step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent, and they say there is no justification for enriching uranium to such a high level under any civilian program. The news of Iran's decision to increase uranium enrichment came just hours after Tehran claimed it had conducted a successful space launch with its heaviest payload ever. Official media reported that the launch of the Simorgh rocket took place at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Semnan Province located about 220 kilometers east of Tehran. Western governments have expressed concern that the Tehran’s ballistic missile program is coming closer to having the ability to launch a weapon against distant foes like the United States. The Simorgh carried what Iran described as an “orbital propulsion system” and two research systems to a 400-kilometer orbit above the Earth. It also carried the Fakhr-1 satellite for Iran’s military, the first time Iran’s civilian program is known to have carried a military payload. Iran has said its space program, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes. Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that Oreshnik missile systems, recently combat-tested in a strike on Ukraine, will be deployed in Belarus simultaneously with their introduction into the Russian Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN). Speaking on December 6 after a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Russia-Belarus Union State in Minsk, Putin said that the Oreshnik systems could be stationed in Belarus as soon as the second half of 2025. The statement opens a new phase in the military strategy and development of relations between Russia and Belarus. The decision underscores a further deepening of military integration between the two countries and underlines Russia's increasing military footprint in Eastern Europe. Russia launched an Oreshnik ballistic missile against Ukraine on November 21 in a strike targeting the city of Dnipro. Putin said at the time it was part of Moscow's response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil with U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMS, and British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles. Putin said the Oreshnik system would have highly accurate, long-range missiles that could pierce advanced missile defense systems. The specific technical details of the Oreshnik remain classified, but it is reportedly designed to increase the survivability and effectiveness of Russia's nuclear arsenal, particularly in the context of evolving global security challenges. Belarus, a close ally of Russia, has been part of a broader geopolitical and military partnership, formally enshrined through the Union State agreement signed in the 1990s. Over the years, this alliance has been deepening, especially after 2014, following the annexation of Crimea and the subsequent deterioration of relations between Russia and the West, especially over Moscow's ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which started in February 2022. For Russia, the placement of advanced missile systems in Belarus indicates its willingness to develop military capabilities close to NATO's eastern flank. Belarus's proximity to NATO member states, particularly Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, makes it a very strategic location for Russia's missile deployments. Aside from missile deployments, Russia and Belarus are performing joint military exercises and integrating their air defense systems and defense coordination strategies. In general, the coordination shows a continuously intensifying comprehensive military integration, which many analysts suggest would take the relationship one step further to a fully political-military union in the framework of the Union State. To Belarus, the alliance with Russia is an influential factor in its security strategy, particularly when tensions have risen between Belarus and the West. Belarus's authoritarian ruler, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, has long relied on Russian support, both political and military, as a guarantor of his regime's stability. Five Azerbaijani journalists who are reportedly affiliated with Meydan TV, a media outlet known for harshly criticizing government policy, have been detained in Baku, their relatives said on December 6. The relatives said the journalists -- Aynur Elgunas, Aytac Tapdiq, Natiq Cavadli, Xayala Agayeva, and Ramin Cabrayilzada, known by his pen name Deko -- were taken to the Baku City Main Police Directorate. Interior Ministry officials said Cabrayilzada was detained after police obtained information about the alleged smuggling of foreign currency into the country. The Interior Ministry told the Turan news agency that further investigations are under way and that other people have been detained on suspicion of involvement in the case. "Additional information will be provided," they said. The detainees have denied the charges, saying they are politically motivated and connected with their professional activity. The development comes amid a broader crackdown on media freedom in Azerbaijan. More than 20 journalists and civil society activists, including members of AbzasMedia and Toplum TV, have been arrested within the past year on suspicion of foreign currency smuggling. The timing of the detentions is symbolic ahead of International Human Rights Day on December 10. The embassies of the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland in Baku issued a joint call earlier this week to immediately release those imprisoned in connection with exercising their fundamental freedoms. They were most concerned about the continued persecution of those advocating for human rights and freedom of expression. U.S. Ambassador Mark Libby called on Baku to release "people fighting for human rights in their beautiful homeland." The detainees, according to Libby, include economist and journalist Farid Mehralizada, who was recently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. He emphasized that Azerbaijan must fulfill its international commitments to human rights by releasing those arbitrarily detained. In response, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry rejected the statements of the foreign diplomats and assertions that their arrests were related to their professional activities. The ministry went on to say that this was an attempt to devalue the independence of the Azerbaijani judiciary. Many international observers are deeply concerned about freedom of speech and respect for human rights in the country with regard to the continued targeting of journalists and activists. Russian forces bombed a key bridge and highway to try and slow a lightning advance by rebels toward the Syrian city of Homs as thousands fled the area. The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said civilians were fleeing from Homs towards the Mediterranean coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus, strongholds of the government and the site of Russian air and naval bases. The United Nations said on December 6 that almost 300,000 people in Syria had already been displaced since late November by the fighting, and that up to 1.5 million could be forced to flee as the rebels advance and deal losses to the country's president, Bashar al-Assad, as well as his allies in Russia and Iran. Assad has relied on Iran and Russia to remain in power since the conflict erupted in 2011. A Syrian Army officer was quoted by Reuters as saying that Russian bombing overnight had destroyed the Rastan bridge along the key M5 highway linking Homs to Hama, another city the rebels captured a day earlier. The rebels, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have made major advances over the past several days, including the capture of Aleppo, the country's largest city, as well as 14 central villages and towns, and gotten as close as 35 kilometers from the Russian-operated Khmeimim air base. HTS is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Britain, Canada, and the European Union. Hama, Syria's fourth-largest city, is key to the defense of Damascus and the gateway to the coastal cities of Tartus and Latakia, the former being home to a strategic Russian naval base. In his first media interview in several years, Abu Muhammad al-Julani, the group's leader, told CNN the goal "remains to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime, and it is our right to use all available means to achieve this goal." Besides HTS, the rebels also include an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. The foreign ministers of Iraq, Syria, and Iran were to meet on December 6 to discuss the situation, while Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the top diplomats from Moscow, Tehran, and Ankara will meet in Qatar on December 7. The state news agency TASS reported on December 6 that Russia's embassy in Syria had urged Russian nationals to leave the country due to the situation. Riot police in Georgia used water cannons late on the night of December 6 to disperse protesters gathered in Tbilisi for the ninth consecutive night to voice their opposition to the government’s decision to suspend talks on joining the European Union. The riot police began dispersing protesters gathered on Rustaveli Avenue in front of the parliament building at about 12:30 a.m. on December 7. Special forces detained several people at Republic Square by 1:30 a.m. local time on December 7. They had mobilized earlier on Rustaveli Avenue about 600 meters away from the main center of the demonstration on Republic Square. Among those detained is Tsotne Koberidze, a member of the Tbilisi City Council from the opposition party Girchi (More Freedom), RFE/RL reported. A young woman who had been standing in front of the cordon for several minutes was also detained. Warning messages urging protesters to disperse continued as the riot police attempted to break up the protest on Rustaveli Avenue. Demonstrators moved away from the avenue but did not disperse. Tensions have been running high in Georgia since the ruling Georgian Dream party won an election on October 26 that the pro-Western opposition and Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili say was rigged with the help of Moscow. Earlier on December 6, Zurabishvili called on Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze to step down as pressure mounts on the government amid a violent crackdown on unrest. Zurabishvili made the call in an interview with Georgia's Channel One media group as the Prosecutor-General's Office announced that it had filed its first criminal charges against protesters who have taken to the streets to rally against the move. "The prime minister who has failed to settle the crisis...must be replaced," Zurabishvili said. "This is the compromise, depolarization, a way out for Georgia, stability, peace and the future, which will be unshakable, free and democratic," she added. The announcement last week by Georgian Dream to halt talks on joining the EU until 2028 further fueled dissension, with thousands of Georgians flooding the streets around parliament in protest. The largely peaceful protesters have been met with a sometimes brutal crackdown by security forces, leaving dozens -- including opposition members and journalists covering the events -- in need of medical attention. The Prosecutor-General's Office, however, said it charged nine individuals with organizing and participating in group violence during the protests on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. "This is a choice between autocracy and democracy -- there is no other way," Tere Heland, an adviser to the European Neighborhood Council, which provides information on current events in Georgia, told RFE/RL in an interview on December 6. Opposition leaders have also rejected accusations by Georgian Dream that the violence was the product of a conspiracy -- aided by foreign actors -- to provoke chaos. Levan Tsutskiridze, leader of the Freedom Square movement and one of the most influential members of the Strong Georgia political coalition, said the actions of government forces against peaceful protesters were "tragic." He accused the police of "mass terror, with physical violence, intimidation, and torture." The opposition has also called for fresh elections, saying that without a new vote, the restoration of democratic legitimacy is impossible. Georgia's Interior Ministry told RFE/RL on December 6 that in all, 338 individuals had been detained for administrative violations during the protests, which security forces have tried to put down with water cannons, vast amounts of tear gas, and harsh beatings. Further demonstrations are planned for December 6 and through the week, protest leaders said. The EU has said it is following the events very closely, with some officials warning that continued unrest - and allegations of police brutality - could have profound implications for Georgia's relations with the bloc. Some Western diplomats have warned of the possible suspension of visa liberalization because the government has violated the shared values underpinning Georgia's partnership with Europe. "We are all watching the deteriorating political situation with concern," Jeanne Shaheen, a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said during a session on December 5. "It is important to clearly state that there is a bipartisan consensus in the Senate and Congress on this issue regarding Georgia, and we are not going to tolerate the gross violations of human rights that are taking place in the country without action. I hope that the prime minister and the ruling party will understand this message." Explosions were reported early on December 6 in the Crimean city of Kerch, and the bridge connecting the Moscow-occupied peninsula with Russia was closed, local Telegram channels reported. According to the channel Krymskiy Veter, explosions were heard in the area of the Zaliv shipyard. The first blasts were reported around 7 a.m. local time, witnesses told RFE/RL. The Russian Defense Ministry said the Kerch region was being attacked by Ukrainian aerial and seaborne surface drones. It said that Russian forces downed one aerial drone and sank two naval drones. Ukraine has not commented. Attacks on Crimea occur regularly, particularly near the bridge. A powerful explosion in October 2022 on the bridge caused the collapse of a road section and a major fire on the railway section of the bridge. According to Russian data, three people were killed in that incident. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here . Romania's Constitutional Court annulled the entire presidential election -- even as a runoff vote was under way -- throwing the process into upheaval after a Moscow-friendly, far-right candidate won the first round. The court ruling on December 6 was followed by an announcement from Romanian prosecutors that a probe into alleged computer-related crimes has been launched amid allegations of Russian influence that Romanian intelligence services said sparked the shock first-round victory of Calin Georgescu. Experts said is was unclear after the court decision if all the candidates are going to be allowed to re-register for the new vote, or if Georgescu could be disqualified following revelations of Moscow's support for him. Catalin Pop, a lawyer specializing in the Constitutional Court, told RFE/RL that the ruling was "definitive and binding," and that the court the court's reasoning will most likely "be similar" to what was used in the case of Diana Sosoaca, meaning Georgescu could be ruled out of the new election. Sosoaca was ruled out by the court in October prior to the first round of voting for promoting extremist and anti-Semitic views, while also pushing ideas against the democratic values and EU membership that are at the root of Romania's constitution. In its ruling, the Constitutional Court said the electoral process for the election "will be resumed in its entirety, with the government to establish a new date for the election of the president of Romania, as well as a new calendar program for carrying out the necessary actions." President Klaus Iohannis, whose term was scheduled to end on December 21, said he would stay in his post until a successor can be elected. "When the new president takes the oath, I will leave here," Iohannis said in a statement on December 6. Iohannis is expected to appoint a prime minister to begin forming a government from the parliament that was elected on December 1. The new government will choose the date of the new election, he said. Georgescu's victory sent shock waves across the West after Romania's Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT) declassified documents said to prove a massive, Moscow-orchestrated cybercampaign in his favor on TikTok that largely went under the radar of Romanian authorities. Georgescu was to face off in a runoff vote on December 8 against pro-European centrist candidate Elena Lasconi. At the time of the court's announcement, voting had already begun in the large Romanian diaspora around the world, with around 33,000 said to have cast their ballots. In a statement to Romanian television station Realitatea, Georgescu called the court ruling an "official coup," evidence of what he said was a corrupt system showing its face. The runoff has been seen as a referendum on the NATO and EU member's future course amid accusations of Russian meddling that brought thousands of Romanians to the streets in support of the country's place in the Euro-Atlantic community. Georgescu had appeared as a favorite to win the runoff, but was passed by Lasconi in the latest opinion poll after CSAT on December 4 declassified documents revealing the country was the target of an "aggressive hybrid Russian action" that led to the far-right candidate's shock victory in the first round. Lasconi, a former TV presenter and the incumbent mayor of the small city of Campulung, had a 2 percentage-point lead over Georgescu in the AtlasIntel poll published on December 5 which is credited with an error margin of about 1 percent. Lasconi condemned the court's ruling annulling the election. "The constitutional court's decision is illegal, amoral and crushes the very essence of democracy, voting," she said. Georgescu's first-round shock victory saw the candidate favored by early opinion polls to win the vote -- Social Democratic (PSD) Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu -- come third in the race and prompted him to resign as PSD leader. Ciolacu said on December 6 that the surprise announcement by the court "was the only correct solution." However, the unexpected move is likely to trigger a wave of criticism both by the pro-Western parties who support Lasconi and the far-right groups such as the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR) that had thrown their support behind Georgescu. Critics have said that the Constitutional Court, which is dominated by judges appointed by the PSD, had tried to smooth Ciolacu's path to the second round -- an accusation that may resurface following the December 6 annulment. Over the past several days, Georgescu's first-place finish sparked fears and triggered protests, especially among younger Romanians, over the future of democracy in the country. On December 5, some 3,000 people marched in Bucharest 5 demanding Romania maintain its pro-European path before gathering in the capital's University Square chanting "Freedom" and "Europe." In a gesture of support, Moldovan President Maia Sandu traveled to Romania on December 5 to meet with Lasconi. Moldova was part of Romania until World War II and the two countries share a common language, culture, and history. The pro-Western Sandu won reelection on November 3, defeating Moscow-friendly candidate Alexandr Stoianoglo despite allegations of a widespread campaign in his favor orchestrated and funded by Russia. "We, Moldovans, have always looked toward Romania with admiration. For us, Romania has always been a model to follow...that's why we also want to be part of the European Union, but we need your help," Sandu told Lasconi. Moldova opened accession talks with the European Union earlier this year. About 3,000 people marched in Bucharest on December 5 demanding Romania maintain its pro-European path ahead of a runoff that will decide whether a far-right pro-Russian candidate will become the country’s next president. With the country braced for a December 8 second round vote pitting pro-European centrist candidate Elena Lasconi against Calin Georgescu , who won the first round amid allegations of election influence orchestrated by Russia, Romanians gathered in University Square chanting "Freedom" and "Europe." Georgescu's first-place finish sparked fears and triggered protests, especially among younger Romanians, over the future of democracy in the country. The country was rocked further when Romania's Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT) on December 4 declassified documents revealing the country was the target of an "aggressive hybrid Russian action" that led to Georgescu's shock first-round victory. Activists, including poet Ana Blandiana, prominent actors and other Romanians spoke at the rally, which was sponsored by the group Romania Hope. Blandiana said the vote represents more than just a simple election. The balloting is a true referendum: "'Yes' - for Europe or 'no' for the past that I came out of 35 years ago," she told the crowd. Serban Pavlu, an actor known for playing in feature films and television series, echoed Blandiana's comments, urging voters to choose the pro-European candidate. "We cannot, 30 years after the revolution, fear that the Russians will come after us," Pavlu said. Both speakers referred to the events of December 1989 when civil unrest spread through the country and resulted in the Christmas day execution of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena. Actress Oana Pellea told the gathering that there is only one path for Romanians: the one toward freedom "so that we don't end up spending our holidays [in Russia] in St. Petersburg." After each speaker, the people gathered in the square shout "Freedom! Freedom!" as they were urged to vote for Lasconi, a small town mayor and former journalist. History professor Marcel Bartic opened the rally by telling people they were using their voices to speak out against fascism, which he said Romania doesn't want. "We are here to remind our compatriots that Romania says no to extremists, to fascism. We want Europe, European values and we are not afraid to say it," Bartic said. The group's announcement on Facebook said Romania is at a decisive moment after the revolution opened the country's path to freedom and democracy. The organization said the country had been on a “difficult road...with many disappointments” since 1989 but had still achieved the right to travel, settle, study, and work in the countries of Europe and membership in NATO. “Human dignity, fundamental freedoms, equality between persons, solidarity, citizens' rights, and justice are the values that can unite us all,” the organization said, adding that it represents a “common cry for the protection and strengthening of these fundamental values.” Britain’s counterterrorism police say they are awaiting the extradition of two Romanian men who are suspects in the stabbing in March of a journalist working for a Persian-language media organization in London. Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on December 5 that Nandito Badea, 19, and George Stana, 23, had been arrested in Romania and charged in the attack on Pouria Zeraati, a London-based TV host for the Iran International news network. Badea and Stana appeared in a Romanian court after their arrest on December 4 for the start of extradition proceedings," a CPS spokesperson was quoted by Reuters as saying. "We continue to work closely with Romanian authorities, to ensure that our extradition request is progressed through the courts." British authorities have authorized charges against both of "wounding and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm," according to a statement issued by the London Metropolitan Police. Zeraati, a British-Iranian journalist, suffered injuries after being stabbed near his home on March 29 in southwestern London. Counterterrorism police have led the investigation into the attack over concerns he had been targeted because of his job at Iran International, which is critical of Iran's government. “We now await the extradition process to progress so that the men can face prosecution here in the U.K.,” Acting Commander Helen Flanagan of the Counter Terrorism Command said in the statement. Flanagan said the command planned no further comments on the investigation and urged others not to speculate about the case, given criminal proceedings are now pending. Officials had previously said that the Romanians were suspected of being associates of an Eastern European crime network hired to carry out an attack directed by Iran’s security services. The suspects were likely hired to carry out the attack and had arrived in Britain shortly before the incident, according to British police sources quoted by The Guardian newspaper. British police, security officials, and politicians have issued a number of warnings about what they say is Iran's growing use of criminal proxies to carry out attacks abroad. The U.S. Justice Department last month unsealed criminal charges that included details of a plot allegedly backed by Iran to kill President-elect Donald Trump before the November 5 election. FBI Director Christopher Wray said at the time that the charges exposed Iran's “continued brazen attempts to target U.S. citizens” and dissidents who criticize the Iranian regime, which has rejected accusations that it is involved. One of the targets of the alleged plot was dissident journalist Masih Alinejad, who said on X that she was shocked to have learned of the conspiracy from the FBI. Alinejad, who has criticized Iran's laws requiring women to wear a hijab, was the target of a kidnapping plot in 2021 according to U.S. prosecutors, and in 2022 a man was arrested with a rifle outside her home. Britain and the United States have imposed sanctions on Iranian officials who they say have been involved in threats to kill journalists on their soil. Iran International said the network is pleased that the police investigation has made progress. “It is reassuring for our journalists, as for others in organizations under similar threat," said Adam Baillie, a spokesman for the network, according to Reuters. Authorities initially believed three suspects were involved in the attack on Zeraati. The three men abandoned their vehicle shortly after the incident and left the country by air within hours, police said. A third person was detained in Romania on December 4, but was later released, according to individuals familiar with the case quoted by The Washington Post. The London Metropolitan Police statement did not mention the third person or specifically accuse those arrested of acting on behalf of Tehran. Zeraati did not comment directly on the developments but posted links on his X account to news stories about the arrests made in Romania. Georgian law enforcement officers conducted searches of homes owned by former Defense Minister Davit Kezerashvili following a decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to uphold a ruling that he had embezzled over 5 million euros ($5.3 million) during his tenure as defense minister more than a decade ago. It was not clear what was being sought during the December 5 investigative actions. Details will be announced once the searches are complete, Kezerashvili's lawyer said. The searches took place amid large anti-government protests in the country over the ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision to suspend talks on Georgia joining the European Union and a crackdown that has drawn international condemnation and sanctions. One of the leaders of the opposition United National Movement (ENM), Dimitri Chikovani, currently lives in one of the homes searched. Chikovani reacted to the search on social media, saying it was an attempt to intimidate by “the Russian regime” and vowing that it would not succeed. “They want to form a dictatorship in the country, and they are wrong if they think they can do it,” Chikovani said. “Home invasions, illegal arrests, and pressure on individuals will not stop anyone. The Georgian people will soon force the Russian dictator and his regime out of Georgia forever and ever.” Kezerashvili, who fled Georgia in 2012 for France, reacted to the searches by taunting the Georgian authorities in a post on social media. "The so-called authorities have been so overwhelmed by the ECHR's decision that they are entering my house at the moment. Come on boys, keep it up. We still got this!!" Earlier on December 5, Georgian Justice Minister Anri Okhanashvili told a news conference in Tbilisi that the embezzled funds had been designated in the state budget for the Georgian armed forces shortly before the August 2008 war with Russia. Okhanashvili described Kezerashvili’s actions as a “blatant act of corruption,” and added that the former minister had signed a fictitious agreement with an offshore company for army training, bypassing the General Staff of the Defense Forces. The justice minister said the Strasbourg-based ECHR ruling showed thatthere had been no political prosecution against Kezerashvili and the judgment of the Supreme Court of Georgia on Kezerashvili's guilty plea was also substantiated and the presumption of innocence against him was not violated. “The court unequivocally found no violation of the presumption of innocence and affirmed that the Supreme Court of Georgia’s verdict was well-founded,” he said. "I congratulate our state, the Georgian Army, and our community on this worthy victory in the European Court," Okhanashvili added. However, ECHR decision indicated that an article of the Convention on Human Rights on the right to a fair trial was violated in Kezerashvili’s case. The court held that the presence of former Prosecutor-General Shalva Tadumadze on the three-judge panel that convicted him was sufficient to question the objectivity of the Supreme Court during the hearing of the appeal. But the court did not believe that the Supreme Court's decision was unsubstantiated and would result in a denial of the fairness of the proceedings as a whole. Kezerashvili filed the case with the ECHR in February 2022. The decision was made by the Grand Chamber of the ECHR with the consent of seven judges. The Syrian Army said it was redeploying troops "to preserve civilians lives and prevent urban combat" after Islamist-led rebels entered the key city of Hama, another loss for the country's president, Bashar al-Assad, as well as his allies in Russia and Iran. "Over the past few hours, with the intensification of confrontations between our soldiers and terrorist groups...these groups were able to breach a number of axes in the city and entered it," a Syrian Army statement said on December 5. Hama, Syria's fourth-largest city, is key to the defense of Damascus and the gateway to the coastal cities of Tartus and Latakia, the former being home to a strategic Russian naval base. Syrian and Russian forces had shelled the rebels a day earlier and used air strikes to try and stop their advance. "With that (advance in Hama), Assad's in real trouble. Homs is next & its countryside is FAR more amenable to facilitating an opposition advance," Charles Lister, a senior fellow and the director of the Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism programs at the Middle East Institute, wrote on X. The rebels, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have made major advances over the past several days, including the capture of Aleppo, the country's largest city, as well as 14 central villages and towns, and gotten as close as 35 kilometers from the Russian-operated Khmeimim air base. Syria turned over the air base to Russia in 2015 as Moscow moved in to help Damascus turn the tide of a four-year civil war in its favor. Besides HTS, the rebels also include an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. The United Nations has said tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced by the fighting. The European Union has ordered TikTok to freeze all its data amid reports that the Chinese-owned social platform had been instrumental in implementing a Moscow-orchestrated campaign to influence Romania's presidential and parliamentary elections. Romania's Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT) on December 4 declassified documents revealing the country was the target of an "aggressive hybrid Russian action" that led to last month's surprise victory of pro-Russian far-right candidate Calin Georgescu in the first round of presidential elections. CSAT said the document showed EU and NATO member Romania was the target of various coordinated actions, most likely orchestrated by a "state actor," leading up to the November 24 election won by Georgescu, who ran as an independent. The European Commission -- the bloc's executive arm -- on December 5 issued a "retention order" to TikTok under its Digital Services Act (DSA) that would preserve evidence "related to actual or foreseeable systemic risks its service could pose on electoral processes and civic discourse in the EU," the commission said in a statement . It added the move was necessary in case of a further probe of TikTok's "compliance with its obligations under the DSA." According to the declassified documents, Romania's intelligence services believe Georgescu was massively promoted on TikTok with backing from Russia through multiple methods, including coordinated accounts, algorithms to boost his presence on the platform, and paid promotion. The documents purported to explain how Georgescu's popularity increased from 1 percent shortly before the race to 22 percent through a vast operation of manipulation that involved influencers and ensnared Romanian institutions as well as ordinary voters. A parliamentary election a week later resulted in a surge for three pro-Russia far right parties that garnered about a third of the vote, although the pro-European parties appear to have enough votes to form a coalition government. On December 8, voters will decide the winner of the presidential election in a runoff that pits Georgescu against pro-European centrist candidate Elena Lasconi. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denied Russia was interfering in the election. "The campaign for the Romanian presidential election...is accompanied by an unprecedented outburst of anti-Russian hysteria," Zakharova said. "More and more absurd accusations are being made by local politicians, officials and media representatives," she added. "We firmly reject all hostile attacks, which we consider absolutely groundless." Ahead of the vote, the United States called for a thorough investigation into Moscow's alleged actions. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that while the United States does not interfere with the Romanian people's choice or the election process, Washington is "concerned by the CSAT's report of Russian involvement in malign cyberactivity designed to influence the integrity of the Romanian electoral process." Miller said Romania is a strong NATO ally and the United States values its contributions to the alliance's security and the country's hard-earned position in the transatlantic community cannot be reversed "by foreign actors seeking to shift Romania's foreign policy away from its Western alliances." Such a change in policy would have "serious negative impacts on U.S. security cooperation with Romania," Miller said. The declassified documents say influencers on TikTok were recruited to promote Georgescu directly by publicly supporting him and indirectly through neutral messages that contained labels associated with him. Dozens of TikTok accounts were found that falsely used the intelligence service's logo and the title Anti-Terrorist Brigade, each displaying thousands of followers and over 100,000 likes. Romania's intelligence services hinted that large sums of money would have been spent in the operation. Georgescu has told Romanian electoral authorities that he spent nothing on his campaign. Romanian intelligence linked the operation to Russia by noting that access data for official Romanian election websites was published on Russian cybercrime platforms. The access data was probably procured by targeting legitimate users or exploiting the legitimate training server, the intelligence services said. The State Department statement said Washington has been "closely following the elections in Romania" and that it "will continue to work together [with Romanian authorities] "to preserve the security of our nations and the prosperity and well-being of our citizens." On December 5, three Romanian institutions, including the country's top political sciences school, and a former presidential candidate asked the Constitutional Court to annul the first round of presidential elections and repeat them. It was not known immediately if the Court would consider the requests just hours ahead the start of the runoff abroad. TBILISI -- A Georgian opposition leader who was beaten unconscious during his arrest is recovering and expecting a court hearing, his lawyer said on December 5, as the United States firmly condemned the ruling Georgian Dream party's use of violence against demonstrators protesting the party's move to halt accession talks with the European Union. Nika Gvaramia, leader of the Akhali party under the Coalition for Change umbrella, was detained on December 4 by police during searches by authorities at opposition parties' headquarters in Tbilisi and was repeatedly hit in the stomach until he lost consciousness before being dragged motionless into a police vehicle. Gvaramia's lawyer, Dito Sadzaglishvili, said on December 5 that the opposition leader's health is "satisfactory." Sadzaglishvili said Gvaramia was arrested for "petty hooliganism and failing to comply with police orders" and a court hearing in his case should take place within 48 hours from his arrest. Another prominent member of the Coalition for Change, activist Gela Khasaia, was also taken into custody during the police operation. The wave of repression unleashed by the Georgian Dream government against protesters drew international condemnation as well as sanctions. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a stern warning to the Georgian Dream government, urging it "to cease its repressive tactics, including its use of arbitrary detention and physical violence" as Tbilisi was roiled by a sixth day of mass protests that were met with excessive force by riot police. "The United States strongly condemns the Georgian Dream party's brutal and unjustified violence against Georgian citizens, protesters, members of the media, and opposition figures," Blinken said in a statement. Blinken reaffirmed the United States' "solidarity with the Georgian people and their democratic aspirations," warning those attempting to suppress the Georgians' right to freedom "will be held to account," including through additional sanctions. Washington in July suspended $95 million in assistance to Georgia after the Georgian Dream-controlled parliament adopted legislation related to foreign agents that critics say was inspired by a similar Russian law used by the Kremlin to crack down on political dissent and that sparked weeks of mass protests. Blinken's statement came after the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi on December 4 urged authorities to treat protesters with dignity as law enforcement authorities conducted raids on the offices of several Georgian opposition parties and protest leaders. On December 5, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced that Kyiv was imposing sanctions on 19 Georgian individuals. Zelenskiy's move came after the three Baltic states on December 2 announced joint sanctions against 11 Georgians, including Ivanishvili and Gomelauri. The list included Georgian Dream founder and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, State Security Service chief Grigol Liluashvili, Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri, Tbilisi City Mayor Kakha Kaladze, and a number of judges and lawmakers. Despite the growing protests, Kobakhidze has refused to back down and threatened to punish political opponents, whom he accuses of being behind violence that has occurred at the protests. Georgia's ombudsman accused police of torturing pro-EU protesters. Levan Ioseliani, whose role is to defend citizens' rights, said he and his officials had met people subjected to "the harshest treatment" by police. Protesters have described to RFE/RL the brutality employed by security forces against them. "They were hitting us in the head," protester Salome Zandukeli said, describing how she and a friend had been chased on the night of December 2 by some 25 riot police into a building in downtown Tbilisi before taking refuge in a cafe. Activist Gia Jvarsheishvili told RFE/RL that he was thrown to the ground by charging officers and beaten before being shoved into a police van where police pushed detainees to the floor and began stomping on them. "Suddenly, I was in unbearable pain and I realized that I had been injured. I didn't know it then, but I had a broken rib," Jvarsheishvili said. Georgia's pro-European president, Salome Zurabishvili, who has sided with the demonstrators, said on X that many of the arrested protesters had injuries to their heads and faces. Some people were subjected to systematic beatings between arrest and transportation to detention facilities, she added. Georgia has been thrown into the latest wave of turmoil since parliamentary elections in October in which Georgian Dream secured 54 percent of the vote. The opposition and Western governments argued that the poll was marred by violations and Russian influence. Kobakhidze has blamed the unrest on foreign "instructors" and tried to explain the decision to halt EU accession talks through 2028 by saying Georgia is ready for the talks, "but only with dignity and justice and without blackmail." Georgia received EU candidate status in December 2023 but relations with Brussels have soured in recent months, beginning with the adoption of a Russian-style "foreign agent" law, which critics say threatens media outlets and civil society groups. accusing them of "serving" outside powers. A majority of Georgians support EU membership, and efforts to join the bloc are mandated in the Georgian Constitution. Documents declassified by Romania's security council on December 4 said the country was the target of an "aggressive hybrid Russian action" during recent election campaigns, including last month's surprise victory of a pro-Russian far-right candidate. The Supreme Council of National Defense declassified the documents, saying they showed that Romania was the target of various coordinated actions leading up to the presidential election's November 24 first round, won by Calin Georgescu. Voters in the EU and NATO member state will decide the winner of the presidential election in a runoff on December 8 that pits Georgescu against pro-European centrist candidate Elena Lasconi. It had already been reported that TikTok was used to generate support for Georgescu and connect him to a Romanian audience in the millions. But the declassified documents show that Romania's intelligence service believes that Georgescu was massively promoted on TikTok with backing from Russia through multiple methods, including coordinated accounts, algorithms to boost his presence on the platform, and paid promotion. The documents help explain how Georgescu's popularity increased from 1 percent shortly before the race to 22 percent artificially, through a vast operation of manipulation that involved influencers and ensnared Romanian institutions as well as ordinary voters. Some 25,000 TikTok accounts allegedly used to increase Georgescu's popularity "became very active two weeks before the date of the elections," according to the declassified documents. About 800 of these accounts had extremely low activity until November 11. From that date onward "the entire network was activated at full capacity," according to the documents. The intelligence service documents also show that influencers on TikTok were recruited to promote Georgescu directly by publicly supporting him and indirectly through neutral messages that contained labels associated with him. Another method used to promote the independent candidate involved the creation of accounts that falsely represented institutions of the Romanian state. Dozens of TikTok accounts were found that falsely used the intelligence service's logo and the title Anti-Terrorist Brigade (BAT), each displaying thousands of followers and over 100,000 likes. These fake accounts had supportive posts for Georgescu, presenting the false notion that these state institutions supported him. In addition, Georgescu's posts were not marked as belonging to a candidate, and this favored their mass dissemination. Other candidates whose posts were labeled as belonging to a candidate had a diminished online presence. Romania's intelligence services hinted that large sums of money would have been spent in the operation. Georgescu, according to information revealed in the declassified documents, declared to Romanian electoral authorities that he spent nothing on his campaign. The intelligence service linked the operation to Russia by noting that access data for official Romanian election websites was published on Russian cybercrime platforms. The access data was probably procured by targeting legitimate users or by exploiting the legitimate training server, the intelligence service said. It added that it had identified more than 85,000 cyberattacks that aimed to exploit system vulnerabilities. "The attacks continued intensively including on election day and the night after elections," the agency said in one of the declassified document. "The operating mode and the amplitude of the campaign leads us to conclude the attacker has considerable resources specific to an attacking state." Russia has denied any interference in Romania's elections. TikTok confirmed the deletion of electoral propaganda materials two days after the request of the Central Electoral Bureau, but it did not delete the electoral content as requested by the Permanent Electoral Authority, and it continued to be available to the public even after the end of the election campaign, including on election day, in violation of Romanian election law. Serbian lawmakers have begun deliberating a bill submitted to parliament that would establish a " foreign agents " registry, a move that may alienate Serbia from its EU ambitions. Initiated by members of the Movement of Socialists, led by pro-Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin, the bill aims to regulate organizations and individuals receiving more than 50 percent of their funding from foreign sources. Supporters of the law argue that it aims to ensure greater transparency in the NGO sector. They claim that some foreign-funded organizations work against Serbia's national interests. However, critics -- both within Serbia and internationally -- warn that such a law could stigmatize civil society organizations, hinder their operations, and limit freedom of expression. "This draft law poses a serious and direct threat to civil society organizations, jeopardizing their role in safeguarding democratic values, human rights, and European integration," the EU's Economic and Social Committee said in a statement . "As with similar initiatives in other candidate countries, such as in the case of Georgia, the EESC reiterates that such legislation is incompatible with the fundamental values of the European Union, which Serbia, as an EU candidate country, is expected to uphold." The regional trend toward adopting such laws, legislation that mirrors Russian law and is often driven by pro-Russian political forces, highlights a broader geopolitical struggle in the Balkans. Several countries in the region find themselves in a situation where they try to balance historic ties with Russia and their aspirations for European integration. Serbia, alongside Montenegro, is considered a front-runner in the EU accession process. However, to achieve membership, candidate countries must harmonize their laws, policies, institutions, and practices with EU standards. Any legislation perceived as suppressing civil liberties, the EU has said, could jeopardize this progress. In Montenegro, a comparable draft law was introduced in October by the coalition For the Future of Montenegro, which includes pro-Russian parties such as the New Serbian Democracy and the Democratic People's Party. The bill in Serbia is also steeped in further controversy because of its origins. Deputy Prime Minister Vulin, a staunch ally of Russia, has positioned the bill as a transparency measure, comparing it to the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). However, Serbian opposition figures and international observers argue that the draft law more closely resembles the restrictive legislation seen in Russia. Vulin's close ties to Moscow -- underscored by frequent visits and his role in coordinating Serbia's BRICS-related activities -- have drawn international attention. In 2023, he was placed under U.S. sanctions for allegedly facilitating Russian activities in the Balkans. Critics view the proposed law as aligning with Moscow’s pattern to muzzle independent civil society organizations and limit dissent.
By MICHAEL R. SISAK and CEDAR ATTANASIO, The Associated Press NEW YORK — Police appear to not know who he is, where he is, or why he did it. As the frustrating search for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killer got underway for a fifth day Sunday, investigators reckoned with a tantalizing contradiction: They have troves of evidence, but the shooter remains an enigma. One conclusion they are confident of, however: It was a targeted attack, not a random one. They know he ambushed Thompson at 6:44 a.m. Wednesday as the executive arrived at the Hilton for his company’s annual investor conference, using a 9 mm pistol that resembled the guns farmers use to put down animals without causing a loud noise. They know ammunition found near Thompson’s body bore the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose,” mimicking a phrase used by insurance industry critics. The fact that the shooter knew UnitedHealthcare group was holding a conference at the hotel and what route Thompson might take to get there suggested that he could possibly be a disgruntled employee or client, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said. Police divers were seen searching a pond in Central Park, where the killer fled after the shooting. Officers have been scouring the park for days for any possible clues and found his backpack there Friday. They didn’t immediately reveal what, if anything, it contained but said it would be tested and analyzed. On Sunday morning, police declined to comment on the contents of the backpack, or on the results of the search in the pond, saying no updates were planned. Investigators have urged patience, saying the process of logging evidence that stands up in court isn’t as quick as it looks like on TV. Hundreds of detectives are combing through video recordings and social media, vetting tips from the public and interviewing people who might have information, including Thompson’s family and coworkers and the shooter’s randomly assigned roommates at the Manhattan hostel where he stayed. Investigators caught a break when they came across security camera images of an unguarded moment at the hostel in which he briefly showed his face. Retracing the gunman’s steps using surveillance video, police say, it appears he left the city by bus soon after the shooting outside the New York Hilton Midtown. He was seen on video at an uptown bus station about 45 minutes later, Kenny said. With the high-profile search expanding across state lines, the FBI announced late Friday that it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, adding to a reward of up to $10,000 that the NYPD has offered. Police say they believe the suspect acted alone. Police distributed the images to news outlets and on social media but so far haven’t been able to ID him using facial recognition — possibly because of the angle of the images or limitations on how the NYPD is allowed to use that technology, Kenny said. Late Saturday, police released two additional photos of the suspected shooter that appeared to be from a camera mounted inside a taxi. The first shows him outside the vehicle and the second shows him looking through the partition between the back seat and the front of the cab. In both, his face is partially obscured by a blue, medical-style mask.
French rugby players are cleared of sexual assault in ArgentinaAKRON, Ohio (AP) — Tony Osburn's 23 points helped Omaha defeat Lamar 65-59 at the Akron Basketball Classic in Akron, Ohio on Sunday. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Tony Osburn's 23 points helped Omaha defeat Lamar 65-59 at the Akron Basketball Classic in Akron, Ohio on Sunday. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Tony Osburn’s 23 points helped Omaha defeat Lamar 65-59 at the Akron Basketball Classic in Akron, Ohio on Sunday. Osburn shot 7 of 13 from the field, including 5 for 9 from 3-point range, and went 4 for 4 from the line for the Mavericks (3-5). Ja’Sean Glover added 14 points while going 4 of 9 from the floor, including 3 for 5 from 3-point range, and 3 for 5 from the line while they also had five rebounds. Marquel Sutton had 13 points and shot 4 of 14 from the field and 4 for 4 from the line. The Mavericks ended a five-game losing streak with the victory. The Cardinals (1-5) were led in scoring by Alexis Marmolejos, who finished with 15 points and four assists. Cody Pennebaker added 11 points and six rebounds for Lamar. Andrew Holifield finished with nine points, three steals and four blocks. NEXT UP Both teams play on Saturday. Omaha hosts Abilene Christian and Lamar hosts Our Lady of the Lake. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar. AdvertisementRegulations 33(b) of the Securities Regulations (Periodic and Immediate Reports), 1970 CAESAREA, Israel , Dec. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Max Stock Limited MAXO (the "Company") today announced changes to the holdings of a company jointly owned by one of the Company's directors, as follows: Entity which performed the transaction Relationship to Company's senior officers Date of transaction Security class No. of securities the subject of the transaction Averge price per security Total holdings after the purchase Equity and voting rights G. Gissin Advocates Ltd. Co. no. 513359471 A company jointly owned by one of the Company's directors Adv. Guy Gissin and his wife Ms. Sigal Gissin Russak December 5, 2024 Ordinary shares, TASE security no: 1168558 +26,087 ILS 11.40 44,087 0.03 % This is an English translation of excerpts of a Hebrew immediate report that was published on December 8, 2024 (Ref. No: 2024-01-622721 (hereinafter: the "Hebrew Version")). This English version is only for convenience purposes. This is not an official translation and has no binding force. Whilst reasonable care and skill have been exercised in the preparation hereof, no translation can ever perfectly reflect the Hebrew Version. In the event of any discrepancy between the Hebrew Version and this translation, the Hebrew Version shall prevail. About Max Stock Max Stock is Israel's leading extreme value retailer, currently present in 64 locations throughout Israel and 2 locations in Portugal . We offer a broad assortment of quality products for customers' everyday needs at affordable prices, helping customers "Dream Big, Pay Small". For more information, please visit https://ir.maxstock.co.il Company Contacts: Talia Sessler , Chief Corporate Development and IR Officer talia@maxstock.co.il View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/max-stock-limited-immediate-report-of-changes-to-interested-party-holdings-302325551.html SOURCE Max Stock Limited © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Microsoft holds last Patch Tuesday of the year with 72 gifts for adminsMurdoch loses 'Succession' battle for son's control of media empire: reportNone
Nobel recipient Geoffrey Hinton wishes he thought of AI safety soonerManhattan police have obtained a warrant for the arrest of 26-year-old Luigi Nicholas Mangione , suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson . Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, while carrying a gun, mask and writings linking him to the ambush. Mangione is being held without bail in Pennsylvania on charges of possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. Late Monday, Manhattan prosecutors charged him with five counts, including murder, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a forged instrument. Here's the latest: But Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks says it won’t be a substantial barrier to returning Mangione to New York. He noted that defendants contest extradition “all the time,” including in simple retail theft cases. Dickey, his defense lawyer, questioned whether the second-degree murder charge filed in New York might be eligible for bail under Pennsylvania law, but prosecutors raised concerns about both public safety and Mangione being a potential flight risk, and the judge denied it. Mangione will continue to be housed at a state prison in Huntingdon. He has 14 days to challenge the detention. Prosecutors, meanwhile, have a month to seek a governor’s warrant out of New York. Mangione, wearing an orange jumpsuit, mostly stared straight ahead at the hearing, occasionally consulting papers, rocking in his chair, or looking back at the gallery. At one point, he began to speak to respond to the court discussion, but was quieted by his lawyer. Luigi Mangione, 26, has also been denied bail at a brief court hearing in western Pennsylvania. He has 14 days to challenge the bail decision. That’s with some intervention from owner Elon Musk. The account, which hasn’t posted since June, was briefly suspended by X. But after a user inquired about it in a post Monday, Musk responded “This happened without my knowledge. Looking into it.” The account was later reinstated. Other social media companies such as Meta have removed his accounts. According to X rules, the platform removes “any accounts maintained by individual perpetrators of terrorist, violent extremist, or mass violent attacks, as well as any accounts glorifying the perpetrator(s), or dedicated to sharing manifestos and/or third party links where related content is hosted.” Mangione is not accused of perpetrating a terrorist or mass attack — he has been charged with murder — and his account doesn’t appear to share any writings about the case. He shouted something that was partly unintelligible, but referred to an “insult to the intelligence of the American people.” He’s there for an arraignment on local charges stemming from his arrest Monday. He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit as officers led him from a vehicle into the courthouse. Local defense lawyer Thomas Dickey is expected to represent the 26-year-old at a Tuesday afternoon hearing at the Blair County Courthouse. Dickey declined comment before the hearing. Mangione could have the Pennsylvania charges read aloud to him and may be asked to enter a plea. They include possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. In New York, he was charged late Monday with murder in the death of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione likely was motivated by his anger with what he called “parasitic” health insurance companies and a disdain with corporate greed, said a a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press. He wrote that the U.S. has the most expensive healthcare system in the world and that the profits of major corporations continue to rise while “our life expectancy” does not, according to the bulletin, based on a review of the suspect’s hand-written notes and social media postings. He appeared to view the targeted killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO as a symbolic takedown, asserting in his note that he is the “first to face it with such brutal honesty,” the bulletin said. Mangione called “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski a “political revolutionary” and may have found inspiration from the man who carried out a series of bombings while railing against modern society and technology, the document said. A felony warrant filed in New York cites Altoona Officer Christy Wasser as saying she found the writings along with a semi-automatic pistol and an apparent silencer. The filing echoes earlier statements from NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny who said Mangione had a three-page, handwritten document that shows “some ill will toward corporate America.” Mangione is now charged in Pennsylvania with being a fugitive of justice. A customer at the McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where Mangione was arrested said one of his friends had commented beforehand that the man looked like the suspect wanted for the shooting in New York City. “It started out almost a little bit like a joke, my one friend thought he looked like the shooter,” said the customer, who declined to give his full name, on Tuesday. “It wasn’t really a joke, but we laughed about it,” he added. The warrant on murder and other charges is a step that could help expedite his extradition from Pennsylvania. In court papers made public Tuesday, a New York City police detective reiterated key findings in the investigation he said tied Mangione to the killing, including surveillance footage and a fake ID he used to check into a Manhattan hostel on Nov. 24. Police officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, found that ID when they arrested Mangione on Monday. Mangione is being held without bail in Pennsylvania on charges of possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. Late Monday, Manhattan prosecutors charged him with five counts, including murder, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a forged instrument. Mangione doesn’t yet have a lawyer who can speak on his behalf, court officials said. Images of Mangione released Tuesday by Pennsylvania State Police showed him pulling down his mask in the corner of the McDonald’s while holding what appeared to be hash browns and wearing a winter jacket and ski cap. In another photo from a holding cell, he stood unsmiling with rumpled hair. Mangione’s cousin, Maryland lawmaker Nino Mangione, announced Tuesday morning that he’s postponing a fundraiser planned later this week at the Hayfields Country Club north of Baltimore, which was purchased by the Mangione family in 1986. “Because of the nature of this terrible situation involving my Cousin I do not believe it is appropriate to hold my fundraising event scheduled for this Thursday at Hayfields,” Nino Mangione said in a social media post. “I want to thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and support. My family and I are heartbroken and ask that you remember the family of Mr. Thompson in your prayers. Thank you.” Officers used New York City’s muscular surveillance system . Investigators analyzed DNA samples, fingerprints and internet addresses. Police went door to door looking for witnesses. When an arrest came five days later , those sprawling investigative efforts shared credit with an alert civilian’s instincts. A customer at a McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania noticed another patron who resembled the man in the oblique security-camera photos New York police had publicized. He remains jailed in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. By late Monday evening, prosecutors in Manhattan had added a charge of murder, according to an online court docket. It’s unclear whether Luigi Nicholas Mangione has an attorney who can comment on the allegations. Asked at Monday’s arraignment whether he needed a public defender, Mangione asked whether he could “answer that at a future date.”
Mum torn over how to handle her daughter 'lying' and blaming it on their Elf on the ShelfAcademy Sports And Outdoors ( ASO 4.30% ) Q3 2024 Earnings Call Dec 10, 2024 , 10:00 a.m. ET Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks: Operator Good morning, and welcome to Academy Sports and Outdoors third-quarter fiscal 2024 results conference call. [Operator instructions] I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Brad Morris, director of strategic initiatives for Academy Sports and Outdoors. Thank you. You may begin. Brad Morris -- Director of Strategic Initiatives Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining the Academy Sports and Outdoors third-quarter 2024 financial results call. Participating on today's call are Steve Lawrence, chief executive officer; and Carl Ford, chief financial officer. As a reminder, statements in today's earnings release and the comments made by management during this call may be considered forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the factors identified in the earnings release and in our SEC filings. The company undertakes no obligation to revise any forward-looking statements. Today's remarks also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures are included in today's earnings release. The earnings release and an investor presentation are available on our website at investors.academy.com under News and Events. I'll now turn the call over to Steve for his remarks. Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Thanks, Brad. Hello, and thanks to all of you for joining us today. As we look at our third-quarter and year-to-date performance, we remain confident in our long-range plan and the business strategies that support it. In my prepared remarks today, I will cover three topics with a focus on how we're making progress toward our long-range goals with updates on our third-quarter results and a view of our near-term macroeconomic environment along with an update on how we're continuing to advance our strategic initiatives and make progress toward reaching all of our long-term goals. Carl will then provide additional details on our financial results and outlook and will then open up the line for questions. To start with a few highlights, our comp sales results for the third quarter were in line with our previous guidance, and an improvement in trend versus the first half of the year. We delivered positive adjusted free cash flow for the quarter, our 20th consecutive quarter. We have had a strong start to the holiday season, although as we look at our third quarter in year-to-day performance and the consumer environment, we're taking a prudent approach to our outlook and have narrowed the guidance for the full year. Finally, we're pleased to announce last week the board's authorization of a new $700 million share repurchase program reflecting our confidence in the business. We view returning capital directly to the shareholders as an integral to our capital allocation strategy, along with ongoing investments in our strategic initiatives to drive long-term growth. Diving into our results, in the third quarter, comp sales declined 4.9%, which was in line with our previous guidance. As we discussed on our Q2 call, we were encouraged by our positive comp performance during August, and we carried a lot of this momentum deep into the quarter, with comps remaining positive most of the way through September. The decline we ran for the quarter was the result of October, which was a challenging month for us. During October, we experienced some unseasonably warm temperatures, which persisted throughout the entire month across our footprint, negatively impacting our seasonal businesses and having roughly a 140 basis point drag on our comps. In addition, we lapped the Rangers World Series run from last year, which also negatively impacted our comp by roughly 120 basis points. We also saw a continued very active storm season during Q3, with Hurricane Helene and Milton hitting in October. I'm incredibly impressed by the resilience of our team members and commend them on their tireless efforts navigating these challenging circumstances. Academy takes pride in serving our communities during natural disasters, and I'm especially proud that we make sure to give back in times of need for our communities with donations of clean water and other disaster recovery supplies. Looking at the results by division on a shifted calendar basis, which is how we manage our business, outdoor was our best performing category, posting total sales growth of 4% versus last year, led by continued strength in our camping and hunting businesses. Footwear was our second-best-performing category, down 2%, driven by strength in key brands, such as Nike, Brooks, Sketchers, and Crocs. Sports and recreation sales were down 3%. We saw strength in team sports driven by football and baseball. Conversely, a lot of the fall seasonal categories in this division such as fire pits and patio heaters saw sluggish sales caused by the aforementioned much warmer than average temperatures across our geography. These much warmer temps also undoubtedly had a major impact on our apparel business which ran down 9% for the quarter. While we saw solid increases in warm weather categories such as shorts and tees, these businesses are not large enough in Q3 to offset the softness we saw in the key fall seasonal categories such as fleece and outerwear, as well as the Rangers World Series impact I mentioned earlier. Pulling back and looking at the results across the entire company, you can see that our sales performance is not entirely reflective of the strong momentum we saw with our most popular brands and our non-seasonal businesses. These pockets of outperformance within each division are proof of our ability to resonate with consumers by offering a compelling assortment featuring new in-demand products across a wide range of price points. We remain focused on leveraging our advantage as the value provider in our space by protecting our everyday value messaging, while also offering targeted promotions in key time periods during the year. We remain true to this strategy in Q3, which enabled each division to hold margins versus last year. We did end up with merchandise margins down slightly to last year at negative 30 basis points during the quarter, but this was a result of the outperformance in our outdoor division, which mixed us down from a rate perspective. Gross margin during the quarter declined 50 basis points versus last year. The primary reason for the decline in gross margin was driven by some extra supply chain costs associated with the go live of our warehouse management system and our Georgia distribution facility along with some additional freight costs we incurred as we rerouted key elements of our holiday assortment to come in through the west coast in order to avoid any potential delays from the East Coast port strike. Through the first three quarters of the year our margins are down slightly last year at negative 10 basis points, so we believe it is prudent that for our full-year guidance, we're holding the low end of our range at 34.3% or flat to last year, but narrowing the top end of the guide to 34.5% from 34.7% previously. Turning to the economy, in the third quarter, we continue to see broad-based consumer backdrop that was characterized by episodic shopping demonstrated by consumers waiting until major events such as back-to-school or holiday, while pulling back spending during the lulls and the calendar. We continue to see strong results during key event periods as evidenced by our positive comps during the first half of the quarter. This gives us optimism as we head into the fourth quarter, which has one of the largest shopping feeds in the entire year. Customers also continue to gravitate toward the value offerings in our assortment, which was reflected in the strength we saw during the promotional back-to-school season. Our large private brands, which are one of the best articulations of our everyday value proposition, also continue to perform well during the quarter. To capitalize on the customer's focus on value during the holiday peak, we're supplementing our strong slate of everyday values, some compelling promotions, which range from $4.99 sleep pants to $39.99 kids bikes, all the way up to $99.99 gas and charcoal grills. Newness continues to resonate with customers as we navigate it through 2024. For Q4, we've dramatically expanded our offering of new must have products with strong statements from brands such as YETI, Stanley, and Owala in Drinkware, Koolaburra by UGG in boots and slippers, and reintroducing Converse back into our assortments in all doors. At this point we're past the traditional kickoff to the holiday season and we're pleased with our Thanksgiving weekend results where we had the largest day in the company's history on Black Friday. As most of you are aware we do have a compressed holiday calendar this year with five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which means we'll have to maintain a high level of momentum to help offset this truncated shopping calendar. Turning to our long-range initiatives. Academy has a strong foundation with multiple growth engines that continue to add value and will drive our performance in the long term. I'd like to provide further context on some of the green shoots we continue to see in our business, which have been driven by investments in our strategic initiatives. We remain encouraged by the improvement of our costs versus the first half of the year, and by the fact that we've held on to most of the market share gains we've made since pre-pandemic. As you might remember, we have three strategic growth pillars, and as we look ahead, we have several exciting new initiatives that we've been working on, which should help drive our business moving forward. Now I'd like to give you a quick update on each growth initiative. Opening new stores and expanding our footprint remains our largest opportunity for growth and is one of our top priorities as we execute against our long-range plan. During 2024, we successfully opened up 16 stores, which equates to roughly 6% unit growth, bringing our total count to 39 new stores opened since we began this journey in fiscal 2022 and it takes our total store count to 298. Our strategic expansion has yielded strong results, which is a testament to our team's dedication, ingenuity, and hard work. This achievement continues to propel us from a regional retailer becoming a national brand delivering key milestones such as an expansion into our 19th State in Ohio where we look forward to serving local communities. We continue to see positive comps out of our '22 vintage stores and have been very encouraged by our 2024 vintage stores, which have gotten out of the gates with a fast start and are overachieving their plans. Our commitment to new store growth remains fundamental to Academy's long-term success and will continue to refine our approach as we gain additional learnings as we move into new markets. Our real estate team is continually analyzing and including additional data points such as mobility traffic data and improve demographic profiling into our site selection model. The end result is that we've dramatically improved our hit rate on new locations as we've gotten deeper into this journey. In prior calls, we've discussed focusing more on the suburbs, exurbs, and underserved medium-sized markets. The reasoning behind this is simple. After analyzing the data, these types of markets are target rich with our core customer demographic. Our plan is to continue to position new stores in these locations and to steadily build critical density and brand awareness over time. Based on the results of the recent new stores in these types of markets, we're excited by the range of new store expansion possibilities in front of us. Back to this point, we've built out our new store pipeline utilizing our improved modeling. Our plan is to open up 20 to 25 new stores in 2025, which will increase our unit count by approximately 7.5%, with our 300 stores slated to open up in Q1. While our long-term goal of opening up 160 to 180 stores over the next five years remains unchanged, we're acting thoughtfully and prudently to achieve these goals as we continue to navigate a challenging short-term macroeconomic backdrop. To illustrate this point, we're moderating the slope of the new store growth curve in the short term, with the 20 to 25 new stores next year being below the original model we built back in 2022, which called for 30 to 35 stores in 2025. We are also excited that in 2025 we are starting to achieve the balanced approach we have discussed on previous calls, with roughly half of these stores currently slated to open in spring, with the remainder opening up in the back half of the year. We're also on track to open up five new stores in Q1, which is more stores than we've ever opened up in the first quarter since we began this journey. This is further evidence that we're improving execution of our new stores. We're excited about expanding our store footprint into new markets and states as we start to fill in Ohio and open up our 20th State with Pennsylvania. The remaining stores will help us to fill underserved markets and core geographies such as Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee. As a reminder, we expect new stores to generate between $12 million and $16 million in year one sales, depending upon whether it is a new or existing market, as well as other factors such as size of market and population demographics. Additionally, we hold all of our new stores to positive four-wall EBITDA contribution in year one, leading to returns on investing capital in excess of 20% over the life of these investments. Now I'd like to move to our second growth initiative, building a more powerful omnichannel business. We found that the No. 1 way for us to build our .com business is through store growth, particularly in new markets. The first reason for this is that the new store openings and the associated marketing campaigns help build brand awareness for Academy. Second, roughly 50% of our .com businesses fill through BOPIS. Customers have consistently demonstrated over time that the preferred method of fulfillment for many of the bulky big ticket categories we carry such as kayaks, gun safes, or fitness equipment is for them to pick it up themselves. The need to have a physical store to act as a distribution hub inexorably links our .com growth to our new store expansions. As mentioned during our last quarterly call, we continue to look for ways to eliminate friction and make it seamless for customers to shop between our website and physical stores. We've seen positive results from our partnership with DoorDash during our first full quarter with this service in place. Phase 1 of our DoorDash partnership was fulfillment through their app, and we saw strong growth in unique customers, as well as omni-channel sales from this new service. As we head into holiday, we've expanded our partnership to allow for same-day delivery options on academy.com, which is also powered by DoorDash. We expect this to be a big unlock the last four to five days leading up to Christmas. Our commitment to our customer is clear. We want to democratize access to sports and outdoor activities for all customers by providing the gear they need at great prices, however, they choose to shop. We look forward to the benefits this approach will drive during the fourth quarter holiday season and into 2025 and beyond. Now I'd like to touch on our third growth initiative, which is driving comp growth in our core business across our existing store base. While opening new stores and rapidly expanding our .com business are huge growth drivers for us, our No. 1 focus is to move our base business back to positive comp growth moving forward. We believe that many of the initiatives we've been working on over the past year are the keys to moving back to comp growth and unlocking long-term value for our shareholders. As mentioned earlier, our customer continues to vote for newness in our assortment. We have a lot of new items and brands coming this holiday. With that in mind, I'm excited to announce that in Q1 of 2025, we'll have one of the most meaningful launches in Academy's history with the addition of an expanded offering of Nike product in 140-plus stores. The plan is to launch in April with full assortments of men's, women's, and kids across footwear, apparel, and accessories along with a strong statement of sporting goods. We plan to follow up with more details on this exciting addition during our Q4 call in March. A second major initiative for us under this growth pillar is all of the work we've done over the past year around our customer file and getting a deeper understanding of their shopping behavior. During the third quarter, we completed an ID resolution process, which is an important step as we continue to develop and refine our targeted marketing capabilities. The end result of all this work is that we have nearly doubled our identified addressable customer count, which unlocks new opportunities for us to reengage with customers, who might have lapsed over recent years with improved targeted marketing efforts. You can see some of the benefits of this work in the Q3 customer traffic data that Carl will share with you shortly. Another key element of our work on this front is the rollout of My Academy Rewards. In our last call, we decided that our goal was to get 10 million customers signed up by the end of the year. At this point, we're tracking to beat this number and expect to head into 2025 with over 11 million customers in this program. We expect this number will only grow moving forward and it gives us a powerful tool to build a deeper connection and understanding of our customers. I'd like to add that none of the work we've been doing would be possible without our stores, DCs, and home office team members who continue to embody our values and deliver a positive experience for our customers. We're proud of their efforts and want to acknowledge our appreciation for the critical role they play in our success. Carl will now walk you through a deeper dive into our third-quarter financials and updated guidance for the full-year. Carl? Carl Ford -- Chief Financial Officer Thank you, Steve. Third-quarter sales of $1.34 billion and comparable sales of negative 4.9% fell in line with our expectations. Our comp transactions declined by 7.1%, while comp ticket increased by 2.4%, compared to last year. Our gross margin rate in the third quarter was 34%, a 50 basis point decrease, compared to the third quarter of last year, primarily driven by increased supply chain costs associated with international freight and labor expenses in our Georgia distribution facility, coupled with a mixed shift in our outdoor merchandise penetration. Overall, in the third quarter, we generated GAAP net income of $65.8 million and GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.92. Adjusted net income, which excludes stock-based compensation of $6.3 million was $70.5 million or $0.98 in adjusted earnings per share. Despite negative comparable sales in the third quarter, we were pleased to see favorable traffic trends, which drove the sequential improvement in our comp sales trajectory, reflecting the strengthening of our core business as we head into the holiday season. We experienced an increase of 250 basis points in store foot traffic versus the first half of the year. Additionally, foot traffic during key shopping events in the third quarter increased 3.8% versus last year. Both of these data points, as well as our start to the holiday season, give us confidence in a stabilizing consumer environment as we enter the fourth quarter. As we exited the Labor Day selling period, our quarter-to-date comparable sales were positive, which were offset in the back half of the quarter, due to lapping the Texas Rangers World Series sales, as well as a decline in fleece and outerwear sales due to warmer than normal weather patterns. As a result, these drove approximately 260 basis points of combined impact on the overall comp for the quarter. Our comparable sales improvement during the first half of the quarter was attributable to all of our divisions, with outdoor leading the way, primarily driven by strong fishing, camping, and hunting sales. While overall comp sales for the quarter were negative 4.9%, we were encouraged by the performance of our business in August and September, and the October decline in sales was atypical to historical builds. Gross margin of 34% in the third quarter was down 50 basis point versus last year, driven by several factors, including lower merchandise margins, as well as higher costs associated with freight and distribution center labor costs. Furthermore, the decline in margins were driven by two key factors during the quarter. First, headwinds associated with the backlog cleanup of our Georgia Distribution Center, which we discussed on the second quarter call, drove inefficiencies in our productivity as we increased the resources needed to ensure we were prepared for the holiday shopping season, of which the majority of these costs were recognized in the third quarter. Additionally, costs increase in the international freight associated with accelerating merchandise ahead of the October port strike. Second, our merchandise margins were down 30 basis points versus last year. The primary driver of this was out performance in our outdoor division, which was up 7% versus last year. We're now fully caught up in the Georgia Distribution Center in time for the holiday shopping season and will continue to leverage the scale of our supply chain throughout our business, especially as we scale operations in our Georgia facility. In the third-quarter SG&A increased by $19.3 million versus last year, which was primarily driven by our investments in our growing store base as we increased our footprint by 18 new stores versus the third quarter of last year. Unpacking that further, over 90% of the increase was driven by our investments in strategic initiatives related to new stores, omnichannel improvements, and our customer data platform. We remain confident in our continued investment in these areas as part of our long-range plan and are essential to positioning our business for sustainable long-term growth. Looking at the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with $296 million in cash. Our inventory balance was $1.52 billion, an increase of 2.2%, compared to last year. Total inventory units were flat. This includes an additional 18 stores, compared to the end of Q3 2023. On a per-store basis inventory units were down 7% and inventory dollars were down 4%. Our inventory management remains a focus, especially as we grow the store base. In the third quarter, we generated approximately $97 million in cash from operations. We invested $63 million in our growth initiatives repurchased approximately 1 million shares for $53 million, and paid out $8 million in dividends. Year to date, Academy has generated approximately $252 million of adjusted free cash flow, compared to $150 million year-to-date 2023. On a per-share basis, this represents a third-quarter year-over-year increase of 140% and an increase of 76% versus year-to-date 2023. In terms of capital allocation, our strategy remains focused on executing against three pillars, which are: One, financial stability; two, self-funding growth initiatives; and three, increasing shareholder return through share repurchases and dividends. We believe these priorities will help drive future sales and earnings growth, as well as increase shareholder value. Third-quarter dividends paid of $7.7 million or $0.11 per share resulted in a quarterly dividend yield of 22 basis points and share repurchases in the third quarter represented a total of 1.5% of our market cap. Combined, we have returned a total of 1.7% to our shareholders in the third quarter and a total of 8.2% year to date. On that note, earlier this month, our board of directors authorized a new share repurchase program of $700 million over the next three years, increasing our prior remaining authorization by approximately $300 million. At current pricing, our available authorization represents over 20% of our market cap and is currently one of the largest remaining share repurchase authorizations among sporting goods retailers as a percentage of market capitalization. Additionally, the board recently approved a dividend of $0.11 per share payable on January 15th, 2025, to stockholders of record as of December 18th, 2024. We are excited by the long-term growth potential of our business, driven by continued investment in new stores. We opened a total of eight new stores in the third quarter and five new stores in November, bringing our total new store openings to 16 year to date. We continue to leverage our value engineering capabilities, including cost optimization of raw materials, construction services, and landlord participation. Currently in Academy's new-store pipeline, there are over 80 sites in various stages of the new-store site selection process, which will support our 20 to 25 planned new-store openings in fiscal 2025. We are excited about the learnings and insights from previous new-store openings and look forward to the 2025 vintage being the best yet. Now turning to our outlook for the remainder of the year. We are narrowing our previous guidance for fiscal 2024. Our revised guidance is as follows: Net sales are expected to range from $5.89 billion to $5.94 billion with comparable sales of negative 6% to negative 5%. Our gross margin rate is expected to range from 34.3% to 34.5%. GAAP net income is expected to be between $400 million and $425 million. Adjusted net income, which excludes certain estimated expenses, primarily stock-based compensation of approximately $27 million is forecasted to range from $420 million to $445 million. GAAP diluted earnings per share is expected to be $5.50 to $5.80 and adjusted diluted earnings per share is forecasted to range from $5.80 to $6.10. The earnings per share estimates are based on a revised share count of 73.1 million diluted weighted-average shares outstanding for the full year. This amount does not include any potential future repurchase activity using our new $700 million authorization. We also remain confident in the strength of our cash flows and expect to generate between $310 million and $350 million of adjusted free cash flow, which includes $185 million to $210 million of capital expenditures. Additionally, we would like to discuss potential impacts to our business from the outcome of the recent election and the potential increase in tariffs. While the magnitude and timing of impacts are uncertain, we are actively monitoring news surrounding potential trade policy and corporate tax changes from the next administration. Over the last several years, as part of our normal course of business, we have taken proactive steps diversifying our sourcing base to reduce our direct import exposure from a single country, which we believe best positions our business in 2025 and beyond. First, sales of our private brands represent roughly 21% of our total business. As I mentioned earlier, we have steadily been diversifying our supplier base over the past several years and have moved the percentage of goods we directly source out of China from over 70% in 2019 to roughly 50% today and we have no exposure to Mexico or Canada. This translates to approximately 10% of exposure to potential elevated tariffs on which we are the importer of record. We will continue this diversification strategy moving forward and continue to look for ways to further mitigate any risk. Second, similar to other companies who import goods, we have also accelerated some spring receipts to ship pre-Chinese New Year. This should have a two-fold benefit, in that it could help avoid any increase in tariffs, while at the same time avoiding key elements of our spring set getting caught up in a potential East Coast ports strike. Third, the large national brands that partner with us have been on a similar journey to diversify their sourcing bases and our exposure to potential price increases with these brands is similar to what other retailers who share the same brand portfolio would be. One exception to this is that a large portion of firearms and ammunition business is manufactured domestically, which could help insulate this important category from price disruptions. If and when changes occur, we will take the appropriate actions to serve our customers and preserve the profitability of the company while continuing to deliver everyday value. In closing, I would like to address three important points that are central to our forward business outlook. First, how Academy is positioned to capitalize on our growth opportunities; second, our continued investment in our strategic initiatives given recent performance; and third, our expectation of generating strong operating profits and cash flow following these investments. Today, approximately 80% of Americans do not live within a 10-mile radius of an Academy, implying a large untapped white space for growth. We've demonstrated our right to win in the category by offering customers compelling value, coupled with industry-leading assortment, and we remain confident in our ability to deliver Academy's unique value proposition on a national scale. As such, our strategic investments reflect our long-term vision for the business, recognizing short-term business headwinds as seen in recent quarters could change the trajectory and pace at which we achieve these goals. These investments are paramount to long-term success, driving growth in new markets via geographic expansion and penetration as well as growth within our existing business through powerful organic growth initiatives. As one of the key tenets of our capital allocation strategy, we have never sacrificed our ability to return capital directly to our shareholders at the cost of investing in growth. Academy has generated positive free cash flow for the last 20 consecutive quarters alongside our strategic investments in the business, allowing us to consistently pursue share repurchases and issue dividends to amplify shareholder value. Since our IPO in October of 2020, we have consistently deployed our free cash flow into share repurchases, resulting in the repurchase of 35% of the company while paying down debt by $945 million to de-risk the balance sheet. We plan to operate under the same paradigm moving forward, generating ample free cash to facilitate our capital allocation strategy, while simultaneously investing in the business to plant seeds that will generate sustainable growth over the long term. With that, we will now open it up for any questions you might have. Operator, please open the line for questions. Questions & Answers: Operator Thank you. [Operator instructions] Our first question comes from Christopher Horvers with J.P. Morgan. Please proceed with your question. Unknown speaker -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst Hi. This is [Inaudible] on for Chris. So you mentioned that Black Friday was the largest selling day ever this year. So was there any quarter-to-date commentary you can provide on Black Friday holiday, and just Cyber Week overall, and how this compares to the down 5% midpoint guide, and how you're modeling the balance of the quarter? And also just kind of piggybacking off of that with the five fewer selling days this year, can you just remind us what you saw the last time the calendar turned this way? Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Yeah. There's a lot wrapped up in that question, Carl and I'll probably tag team that. What I would tell you is that if you see how the quarter played out, a lot of the trends we saw that kind of continued out at the end of October and bled into the first part of November, weather was continuing to be warm, suppressed some early seasonal selling on fleece, outerwear, things like that. But from about the third week forward, we definitely saw an acceleration in the business with our Black Friday event. What was really exciting is we also got a burst of cold weather, so not only was Black Friday, the day itself the largest in the company's history, the weekend was the largest weekend in our history as well. You know when you think about the shifted calendar that you brought up, there's five fewer days in the calendar this year. The Thanksgiving moved from November 23rd last year to November 28th this year. So the whole compression at five fewer days is really felt in November. You basically trade out Cyber Week, which this year fell in December, last year would have fallen in the November calendar for pre-Thanksgiving week. So it puts a little pressure on November. That being said, as we move into December, it puts in our favor and there's actually two extra days of shopping in December before Christmas. So we've got some momentum. We're making our forecast. We use the 2019 builds to your point as a way to kind of model out how this year is playing out. We're tracking at or ahead of our forecast on a daily basis. We're excited about that. We want to be mindful though that there is still a lot of business ahead of us the next three weeks or three of the four largest weeks of the entire year for us. So we've got a lot of business to do. We're really pleased with the momentum we saw coming out of Black Friday that carried into Cyber Week. Carl Ford -- Chief Financial Officer Yeah. I'll speak to kind of Q4 guidance at the midpoint. So it's about a negative 4.5% comp. A gross margin rate of about 33.8%, that's up 50 basis points the last year. And I want to give you a little bit of color on that. One is we're really clean from an inventory perspective, units per store down 7%, costs down 4%. And so I don't think we're going to need to promote due to an excess buildup of inventory. We feel good about the inventory position. Two, I told you that third quarter mix down from a margin rate because of outdoor penetration. We were proud of the plus 7% in outdoor. But the fourth quarter kind of pivots a little bit more to apparel and that's what we're seeing at the start of holiday. And then last, with five less promotional days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, that's -- we're an everyday kind of value retailer. We do play with promotions. We play in the promotion game during key holidays, definitely between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a time period where we do that. With fewer days, it kind of penetrates a little bit lower. So those are the SG&A, pretty much flat Q4 over Q4, and then net income, call it, $130 million. That's kind of how the midpoint of that guidance plays out that was embedded between the updated or the narrowed guidance that we put out there. Unknown speaker -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst Got it. Thank you. And a follow-up question, switching to the gross margin side, if you could list the drivers of gross margin decline in order, so like the Georgia distribution center freight, higher outdoor mix and quantify them and looking to 4Q, how the freight impact is expected to differ from what we just saw in the third- quarter? Thank you. Carl Ford -- Chief Financial Officer Yeah. So 50 basis-point decline in gross margin rate in the third quarter, 30 basis points of that was merchandise margin. More than all of that 30 basis points was due to the mix shift associated with outdoor up 7%. All of the other categories actually grew their margin rate year over year. To round out the 20 basis points, and this is the color that you'll see in the 10-Q later on today. It was really a combination of a little bit of international freight associated with, we just didn't know what was going to happen in October with that East Coast port strike. So we made the decision proactively to reroute that stuff to the West Coast. We spent a little bit of extra money there. We don't have regrets associated with it. And then from the Georgia facility standpoint, we threw a lot of getting caught up. We wanted to make sure that we were ready for holiday. And so when you spend that money, you basically recognize those costs when you sell the product. And so we sold a lot of that product in the third quarter and that rounded out basically the additional 20 basis points that got to an overall 50 basis-point decline year over year. Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Just to build on one thing Carl said, we feel like we're caught up now in the store service side of the Georgia facility. And it's certainly a headwind for us in Q2. We called that out on our Q2 call. We even mentioned in our Q2 call that it impacted us a little bit in Q3 early on, but that the strength of the business in other categories offset that. It actually flipped where those stores that were serviced out of the Georgia facility were actually some of the best-performing stores over Black Friday weekend. So hopefully, we're past the pain there. And from here forward, it's at least neutral, if not a tailwind moving forward. Carl Ford -- Chief Financial Officer First for the fourth quarter, I already gave you a little bit of a color on why we think gross margins are going to be up 50 basis points at the midpoint, 33.8 inventories clean, apparel is mixing higher, less promotion days. As it relates to some of the supply chain headwinds, don't expect that level in the fourth quarter. Some of that was just a catch-up to get right before holiday. Unknown speaker -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst Got it. Thank you. Happy holidays. Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Thank you. Happy holidays. Operator Our next question is from Kate McShane with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed with your question. Emily Ghosh -- Analyst Hi. This is Emily Ghosh on for Kate. We were wondering on consumer trends, were there any behavioral differences in the third quarter versus the first half of the year that you would call out? And then also, you had mentioned an increase in credit card and Buy Now Pay Later usage earlier this year. Is that something that you saw in the third quarter as well? Thank you. Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Yeah. This is Steve. I'll take the first part. In terms of changing credit or I'm sorry, change in customer behavior, we did see a couple of changes. One of the most notable ones is we've gotten questions in the past on these calls, have we seen a trade-down in terms of customer, and we haven't really seen that. I would tell you in Q3, we actually started to see that. When we looked at market share gains or losses within customers making over $100,000, we actually picked up share there. So we're starting to see some evidence of trade-down, so I would say that would be a new behavior. I would say we also saw a continuation of behavior of the episodic shopping in terms of the customer coming out during those key moments on the calendar. We certainly saw that for back-to-school that continued into September as we entered hunting season and tailgating season. You get into that October time period, there's really not a reason for the customer to come out and shop unless it's a change in weather or in our case, sometimes we have a hot market in baseball that certainly helps. We didn't have either of those. But we've seen that customer come back as we got into the holidays. So we're pretty excited about kind of the resiliency we're seeing and how they're coming out during these key moments and certainly shopping aggressively for holiday. In terms of Buy Now Pay Later, Carl? Carl Ford -- Chief Financial Officer Yes, Emily. I would tell you we're still seeing people funding their lifestyle on credit and credit products. We're continuing to see credit card penetration paired with Buy Now Pay Later as a percentage of our overall tender up year over year and that's amplified at those kind of lower three quintiles, if you will. And for Buy Now Pay Later specifically, yes, we are seeing more of that. We have a couple of different options. It really over-indexes online. Our online average order value was up helpfully in the third quarter and it was really all from Buy Now Pay Later transactions where people are basically financing that over a couple of months to afford their wants right now. So a little bit of a continuation of the same and that's the color. Emily Ghosh -- Analyst Thank you. Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Thank you. Operator Our next question comes from Robby Ohmes with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question. Robert Ohmes -- Analyst Hey. Good morning, guys. My first question is, can you give us a little more color on the Nike product that's going to be coming in, in April? Is it a lot more $100 plus sneakers? Is it a lot more premium apparel? Any more color you can give on what's happening there? It would be my first question. Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Thanks, Robby I honestly would love to give you more color. I've got to stick with what we shared in the prepared remarks. It's going to be the most meaningful launch in our company's history, 140-plus stores, broad-based across men's, women's and kids' apparel, footwear, sporting goods. We're really excited about it, and we're going to share more details when we can, but just can't give you more details at this moment in time. Robert Ohmes -- Analyst Gotcha. And then just in terms of what you've seen playing out on versus last year, how would you say the competitive pressures versus Walmart or Dick's are this year compared to last year as you go into holiday here and also be curious how digital is playing out versus in-store compared to last year? Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Yes. I would say that the promotional environment, it seems at least we're early days still in the holiday, is a little more elevated than last year, but in line with where we thought it was going to be. We're seeing competitors probably include a few more items or categories in their promotions in a couple of places maybe taking down one click. But I would say it's right where we kind of expected it to be. And as I've characterized it before, it's more than last year, but it's certainly not back to where it was pre-pandemic. I'd also say we've seen maybe a pullback a little bit from some of the brands' direct sites, direct-to-consumer sites where those were very promotional a year ago at this time. And so I would say it's kind of where we expected it to be. Robert Ohmes -- Analyst And then just digital versus in-store versus your expectations? Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Yes. So digital is performing at our expectations. It's hard to read because obviously, we had a shift in Cyber Week moving out a week, but it's performing in line with our expectations and kind of the trends in the stores. And so it's right where we thought it would be. Robert Ohmes -- Analyst Gotcha. Thanks. Good luck for the rest of the holidays. Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Thank you. Operator Our next question comes from Michael Lasser with UBS. Please proceed with your question. Michael Lasser -- Analyst Good morning. Thank you so much for taking my questions. If you start to see your sales inflect -- your same-store sales inflect, how is your SG&A going to flex as well? Will you have to add back some other labor expenses in order to sustain the customer experience? So if you were to comp up 2% to 3% next year, how would your SG&A leverage look? Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Yeah. I think inventory management is one of our strong skills. I think expense management, I would also put in that same category. So just to recap, in the third quarter, you know, of the $19 million growth in SG&A, $17.5 million of it, basically a little over 90% was on these initiatives that we speak about and that we have a lot of conviction around. As it relates to when we inflect from a comp sales standpoint, you'll see us be very judicious associated with getting some leverage out of that and we're going to continue to spend the dollars on the initiatives. The biggest consumer of those dollars, if you will, is the new stores. We had 18 new stores. If you compared Q3 of this year to Q3 of last year, we went ahead and gave you guidance on 20 to 25 next year. I think you're going to continue to see elevated SG&A spend. It will deleverage because of the initiatives and it will leverage when we positive comp inflect on that kind of that base spend, if you will. Michael Lasser -- Analyst Thank you for that. And understanding your current guidance is for 20 to 25 new stores next year, if we play out the other scenario where your same-store sales do not inflect, how would that influence your willingness and ability to continue to open stores at this current pace, not only in next year, but over the next few years? Thank you very much. Carl Ford -- Chief Financial Officer Yeah. So, Michael, thanks for the question. I would share with you that as we talked about in the script, the biggest and best way we can grow the company is through new-store growth and it has impact on both our brick-and-mortar sales as well as the influence it has on our dotcom business. And so it's a core part of our strategy. And as we share all the time, there's a lot of white space. We're right now in 19 states, 298 stores, lots of white space for us to put new stores. So we're committed to that as a growth engine. We did want to give some color around next year generally, we don't give guidance at this point in time around what our next year growth count is, but we thought it was important to share the 20 to 25. As we mentioned in the prepared remarks, it is a little bit of a slowdown or we changed kind of the ramp of the curve versus what we initially put forward when we did our initial plan back in 2022, just acknowledge that we're operating in a tough environment. And I think you're going to see us continue to be very thoughtful and judicious about when and how we open up these stores. We're making sure that all these stores are hitting the profit targets, hitting the productivity targets. I said it in the prepared remarks as well, but we're really excited. We made this pivot and we talked about in our Q4 call at the start of the year-around how we've changed kind of the dynamics of the new store opening and where we're looking for these stores in more midsized markets that are underserved. And those stores are off to really fast start. So it's giving us more confidence that we've really zeroed in on what the right mix is. So I can't give you guidance beyond 2025. We'll acknowledge that it's a little bit slower ramp than we initially planned, but it's something we're continuing to focus on moving forward because it is our No. 1 growth engine. Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer And Michael, I'll share that we cash flow well. You guys see that. We talked about the 20 consecutive quarters of positive comps -- excuse me, positive cash-flow and that's with the last 11 quarters of negative comps. So we positive cash flow in good topline environments as well as bad. In terms of the capital allocation philosophy, stability, you should expect that with us, still $1 billion of untapped ABL and almost $300 million of cash on the balance sheet invest into ourselves and then the capital allocation that we talked about with share repurchases and a pretty nominal dividend. Look, I don't think anything is going to change that commitment to planning seeds in the future. And as long as we're cash flowing like we are in good and bad times, we're very committed to that and these projects are getting better and better. Michael Lasser -- Analyst Thank you very much and have a good holiday. Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Thanks, Michael. Operator Our next question comes from Anthony Chukumba with Loop Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question. Anthony Chukumba -- Analyst Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So just wanted to kind of circle back on Nike. It sounds like there's a lot of excitement around this launch. I understand there's somewhere limited in terms of what you can say. But I guess my question is, are you envisioning that product would just be in line or are you planning on doing any sort of like incremental special kind of Nike fixturing or displays for that product? Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer It's not going to just be mixed in with the current Nike product, we'll merchandise it as kind of a separate statement. It will be very visible and there will be some investment made in terms of how we bring this to life in store. We're pretty excited about it, but we also want to be sensitive to -- we're committed to how much we're going to share on this call and I don't want to go much beyond what I've said. Anthony Chukumba -- Analyst Got it. OK. So my follow-up question, it's sort of an oblique question. So I guess I always ask about companies that rhyme with [Inaudible]. And I guess my question is, do you think that in any way, shape or form getting this incremental Nike product could help to get other brands that are currently not in your stores that might rhyme with Non and Roka? Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Yeah. Well, that's a pretty subtle code you got there, Anthony. Yes, listen, I think the more we continue to upgrade our assortments and bring in new brands, it opens the door for complementary brands to want to come in as well. So it's certainly a step in the right direction. We continue to have dialog with those two brands that you're mentioning. Nothing to share at this moment in time, but obviously, our goal would be to get access to them because our customer wants access to them and it's a way for us to better serve our customers. So I think it could be a step in the right direction, but we'll have to see how it all plays out. Anthony Chukumba -- Analyst Got it. Thanks so much. Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Thanks, Anthony. Operator Our next question is from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your question. Simeon Gutman -- Analyst Good morning, everyone. My first question is a follow-up on the quarter-to-date commentary you talked about being pleased and then the shape of the holiday season. Can I ask just how you set the guide for the fourth quarter where you're pleased, are you -- do you have enough sort of runway or pleased enough where even accounting for the calendar, you can end up hitting either middle or better than the range or certain events have to take place? I know there's a lot of important weeks left, but just curious how you set it up, whether you said, hey, good first start, but then we still have to account for the fewer days in order to get back to that guidance? Carl Ford -- Chief Financial Officer We're highly aware of the fewer days. It's contemplated within our forecast. Our Q4 guidance at the mid is negative 4.5%, the way we set that is we come up with actually a definitive forecast and then we set some guardrails around that from high and low if we saw this on this end or if we saw that on that end. And as Steve said in his earlier reply to one of them, we're kind of tracking in line with that forecast. I'm really, really proud of the team on the way that they operated on Black Friday. Things were working well on all fronts. I think it's a continuation of what we see with our customers where they're under financial pressure, but when it comes time for that shopping occasion, they turn to Academy and we saw that from a foot traffic acceleration, looking at the Placer, kind of looking more broadly across our footprint using Placer and specific to those holidays, they really show-up and it was more of the same. Simeon Gutman -- Analyst Thanks for that. And then following up on stores and new stores, you may have mentioned this in the prepared and I missed it. You gave us some commentary in prior quarters on the stores that are just entering into comp base. And then I think the two-year-old like the stores that are now two years into the comp base, can you talk about their spread relative to the rest of the chain where they should be, are they ebbing and flowing with the comp or are they still the same way, you know, they're keeping the spread that they had, I think of the last couple of quarters? Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer I would tell you that as we shared in previous quarters and the commentary we shared was that the 22 vintage of stores, and we really try to talk about these entirely as a vintage and that's the only group of stores that's wholly in the comp, continue to comp positive. And I would say that the delta, the spread between their performance and the toll is about the same where it's been. So the belief and hope is that as we start to inflect the comp base, we see these stores hold that spread and bubble off at a faster rate of growth. So that's our current plan. And just to reiterate something I said earlier, the revised forecasting and tools and how we're picking locations going forward that we shared with you guys is really starting to pay dividends. We're pretty excited about the six or seven new stores that opened in the back half of the year, they're doing very well versus our initial forecast. Simeon Gutman -- Analyst Thanks, guys. Good luck. Happy holidays. Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Thanks, Simeon. Operator Our next question comes from Anna Glaessgen with B. Riley. Please proceed with your question. Anna Glaessgen -- Analyst Hi. Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. I'd like to start with another follow-up on the quarter-to-date trend. Taking a little bit of a different stab at it. Apparel was impacted during the most recent quarter, notably by the unseasonable weather. And as you've moved into this quarter and the weather has turned a bit, have you seen an improvement in apparel? Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Yes, absolutely. So as we said a little bit earlier, you know, the trend in apparel was pretty tough in October. That was where the majority of the decline for the quarter came out of and it was two-fold. It was the weather and the Rangers, obviously, as we got past October and got into November, Rangers became less of an issue. It was purely weather. We saw that continue into the first week or two, but we got a weather snap right as the Black Friday promotions started kicking in and we saw apparel really take off. Apparel led the way for Black Friday. It also was very strong last week for Cyber Week. So it gives us confidence that our assortments are right. It's what the customer is looking for. We've invested in the right things and that the softness we saw in late October and maybe early part of November is more just weather-based. So apparel right now is leading. Anna Glaessgen -- Analyst Great. Thanks. And then shifting gears, the negative comps you guys have been running has gotten a lot of attention as people comp it to the larger public peer, but I think missed in the conversation is smaller specialty players that are likely running below the comp that you guys have been putting up as we've seen a little bit of consolidation in this space. How do you -- what's your outlook for the potential share opportunity as you look to '25 and beyond? Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Well, I think our goal as we've stated it multiple times is to be the best sports and outdoor retailer in the country. So growing our store base and growing our footprint is key to our growth and implied in that is gaining market share. And I think you're dead-on in your question, your comment that I think sometimes we get wrapped up and that market share is binary. It's really not, right? I mean, when you look at who we are and the different companies we compete against, I mean, it really varies by category. You take a category like outdoor grilling, it's probably the home-improvement guys we compete against. You take a category like fishing, maybe a company like BassPro or hunting maybe like Cabela's and/or sports warehouse. So depending upon the category, we have a different competitive set. We look a -market share broadly across a lot of different categories. We use Circana, who is kind of the gold center that used to be NPD. We track market share for the categories they cover through that. We use NICS checks data for firearms, some places like AML where there's not market-share data, we use vendor sources. And what we hear and see in all that is that if you look back on a long-term basis over the past five years, we picked up a lot of market share. We're running up about 22% to 23% versus where we were in 2019 at this point in time. So we've picked up a lot of market share. We continue to hold on to it. We also look at it on an annualized and a quarterly basis and in both those metrics, we look at market shares flat to up slightly depending upon the category. There's a couple of categories where maybe it's down, apparel was down slightly, I think within Q3, but we've attributed that more to kind of the distortion we have in the Rangers product. But our goal is to continue to take market share. It's going to change and vary by the category we carry, but we feel really good about our opportunity to do that, not only in 2025, but in the future as well. Carl Ford -- Chief Financial Officer I just want to add just a little bit more color to that. The biggest share opportunity that we have is 80% of Americans do not live within 10 miles of an Academy. And so look at the state of Ohio, we have a 0% market share there last year and now we have two stores kind of in suburbs outside of Columbus and those stores are performing well. They're exceeding our expectations. And so now we're capturing market share there. There's a lot of white space associated with that. If you look at our other growth initiatives, e-commerce penetration of 11%. Look, I would tell you, I think retail average is closer to 20%, and good omnichannel retailers do it at 30%. We brought in Chad Fox, our chief customer officer. He's been there and done that. We think that we've got some really easy ways to elevate there. We talked about DoorDash, same-day delivery, things like that that optimize the user experience are big for us. And then lastly, from a customer data standpoint, launched the platform last year, launched our first-ever loyalty program this year, going to be 11 million myAcademy members. These are really powerful long-term growth engines that, yes, we think will take share. We say internally, we do not have a challenged strategy. We have a challenged customer right now and we're trying to unveil those things to improve the base while all these other things can help on the outside. But we see a lot of opportunity in the future and that's why we're continuing to invest in these strategic investments. Anna Glaessgen -- Analyst Great. Thanks, and good luck with the rest of the holidays. Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Thank you. Happy holidays. Operator We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Steve Lawrence for closing remarks. Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Thanks, operator, and thanks to everyone for listening to our call. As we've outlined today, we remain confident in our long-range plan and business strategies and have been working hard to put in place the building blocks for growth in the future. Over the past year, we've consistently seen the customer come out and shop with us during key moments on the calendar. This demonstrates the strength of our position as the value leader in our space, coupled with the credit customers give us for extensive and differentiated assortment of categories and items. Despite some of the headwinds we've experienced this past year, the fundamentals of our business and long-term growth trajectory remain intact. Our investment back into the business through our strategic initiatives is a testament to our belief in the long-term future of Academy. In the short term, we'll continue to take a proactive approach into managing the business, protecting margins and cash flow, while also ensuring that we're best positioned to capitalize when customer spending returns to normalized levels. The opportunity is clear to us. As we've said multiple times on this call, over 80% of Americans do not live within 10 miles of Academy. There's plenty of white space for expansion opportunities. We have a much-beloved brand with high awareness in our core geography, and we have the opportunity to bring this brand the new customers who are not yet familiar with Academy. Finally, our value-based and broad, and complete assortment helps us fill the void that no other retailer fully addresses. We believe remaining true to this strategy will allow us to break through and deliver against our vision to be the best sports and outdoor retailer in the country. Thanks for joining us today. And if I don't speak to you before then, I'd like to say have a Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of our team members, vendors, and investors. Operator [Operator signoff] Duration: 0 minutes Call participants: Brad Morris -- Director of Strategic Initiatives Steve Lawrence -- Chief Executive Officer Carl Ford -- Chief Financial Officer Unknown speaker -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst Emily Ghosh -- Analyst Robert Ohmes -- Analyst Robby Ohmes -- Analyst Michael Lasser -- Analyst Anthony Chukumba -- Analyst Simeon Gutman -- Analyst Anna Glaessgen -- Analyst More ASO analysis All earnings call transcripts
After two grand final losses in the past three seasons, John Longmire is set to quit as Sydney Swans coach. Longmire, 53, is expected to confirm the news at a 1.30pm press conference, ending his 15-year coaching stint at the Swans. Senior assistant Dean Cox, who knocked back offers to join his old club West Coast after Adam Simpson was sacked, could be at the head of the queue to replace Longmire. The news comes with players back in pre-season training after the Swans were smashed by the Brisbane Lions in the AFL grand final. It was a fourth grand final loss for Longmire as coach, going down in 2014, 2016, 2022 and 2024. Longmire also tasted premiership success in 2012 among his 194 wins in 334 games in charge after taking over from Paul Roos. Longmire was contracted for the 2025 season but in the wake of the grand final humiliation, having finished the season on top of the ladder, questions were being asked about his ongoing tenure. The Swans will address the situation on Tuesday afternoon. More to come