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Penguins' captain Sidney Crosby breaks Lemieux's franchise record for assistsElephant Robotics Celebrates Innovations And Global Achievements In Robotics For 2024
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has reportedly fled the country following the rapid advance of rebel forces into Damascus, marking a significant turning point in the nation’s 14-year-long civil war. Russia’s foreign ministry confirmed Sunday that Assad resigned from his position and left Syria, instructing the government to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, as mentioned in a report by Forbes. According to Moscow, Assad engaged in discussions with various factions involved in the conflict before making the decision to step down. However, Russia emphasized that it was not a participant in these negotiations. “Following talks between Bashar al-Assad and a range of conflict participants within Syria, he decided to resign as President and leave the country, giving instructions to facilitate a peaceful transition of power,” the Russian foreign ministry stated, as quoted in a report by Hindustan Times. Finance Financial Literacy for Non-Finance Executives By - CA Raja, Chartered Accountant | Financial Management Educator | Former AVP - Credit, SBI View Program Data Analysis Animated Visualizations with Flourish Studio: Beginner to Pro By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Java Programming with ChatGPT: Learn using Generative AI By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Web Development Intermediate C++ Skills: Master Pointers, Structures and File Stream By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Finance Financial Literacy i.e Lets Crack the Billionaire Code By - CA Rahul Gupta, CA with 10+ years of experience and Accounting Educator View Program Finance A2Z Of Money By - elearnmarkets, Financial Education by StockEdge View Program Marketing Digital marketing - Wordpress Website Development By - Shraddha Somani, Digital Marketing Trainer, Consultant, Strategiest and Subject Matter expert View Program Web Development C++ Fundamentals for Absolute Beginners By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI and Analytics based Business Strategy By - Tanusree De, Managing Director- Accenture Technology Lead, Trustworthy AI Center of Excellence: ATCI View Program Web Development A Comprehensive ASP.NET Core MVC 6 Project Guide for 2024 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Office Productivity Zero to Hero in Microsoft Excel: Complete Excel guide 2024 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Marketing Digital Marketing Masterclass by Pam Moore By - Pam Moore, Digital Transformation and Social Media Expert View Program Finance A2Z Of Finance: Finance Beginner Course By - elearnmarkets, Financial Education by StockEdge View Program Entrepreneurship From Idea to Product: A Startup Development Guide By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Leadership Business Storytelling Masterclass By - Ameen Haque, Founder of Storywallahs View Program Entrepreneurship Startup Fundraising: Essential Tactics for Securing Capital By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Entrepreneurship Building Your Winning Startup Team: Key Strategies for Success By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Master in Python Language Quickly Using the ChatGPT Open AI By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) ChatGPT Mastery from Zero to Hero: The Complete AI Course By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Marketing Modern Marketing Masterclass by Seth Godin By - Seth Godin, Former dot com Business Executive and Best Selling Author View Program Marketing Future of Marketing & Branding Masterclass By - Dr. David Aaker, Professor Emeritus at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, Author | Speaker | Thought Leader | Branding Consultant View Program Office Productivity Mastering Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and 365 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Finance Tally Prime & GST Accounting: Complete Guide By - CA Raj K Agrawal, Chartered Accountant View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI-Powered Python Mastery with Tabnine: Boost Your Coding Skills By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Web Development Java 21 Essentials for Beginners: Build Strong Programming Foundations By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Generative AI for Dynamic Java Web Applications with ChatGPT By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Design Microsoft Designer Guide: The Ultimate AI Design Tool By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Data Science MySQL for Beginners: Learn Data Science and Analytics Skills By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program The exact whereabouts of Assad, his wife Asma, and their two children remain unknown. Celebrations Erupt as Assad’s Regime Collapses The end of Assad’s decades-long rule sparked widespread celebrations across Syria. In Damascus, citizens toppled statues of Assad’s late father, Hafez al-Assad, a symbol of the regime’s 50-year grip on the nation. Similar scenes were reported in Aleppo, where residents dismantled statues of both Hafez and Bassel al-Assad, Bashar’s late brother. In Daraa, often referred to as the cradle of Syria’s 2011 uprising, rebel fighters were seen dragging a toppled statue of Hafez al-Assad through the streets. Images of jubilant Syrians ransacking presidential palaces, including the Al-Rawda Palace and Muhajreen Palace, also emerged, with furniture and ornate decorations being carried away by mobs. Rebel Forces Take Control The rebel coalition, spearheaded by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, launched a swift offensive that began with the capture of Aleppo and culminated in the seizure of Damascus. The group announced its intention to work with Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, who is expected to oversee public institutions temporarily. Al-Jalali, in a statement, confirmed that he had not spoken to Assad since Saturday. He expressed his commitment to cooperating with the new leadership to stabilize the country during this transitional period, as mentioned in the Hindustan Times report. The Assad Legacy Bashar al-Assad inherited power in 2000 following the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who rose to leadership through a 1970 coup. For decades, the Assad family maintained a firm grip on Syria, characterized by allegations of oppression and suppression of dissent. The civil war, which erupted in 2011 after peaceful protests against Assad’s regime were violently quashed, has left the country in ruins, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives and displacing millions. The dramatic fall of the Assad regime raises questions about Syria’s future and the international community’s role in its reconstruction. As celebrations continue, the nation braces for what lies ahead in this new chapter of its history. What’s Next for Syria? While Bashar al-Assad’s departure signals the end of an era, the path to rebuilding Syria is fraught with challenges. Rebel leaders and international actors must now navigate a delicate transition to restore stability and address the humanitarian crisis left in the wake of the civil war. FAQs Who runs Syria now? The position has been vacant since December 8, 2024, following the overthrow of former president Bashar al-Assad after the success of the 2024 Syrian opposition offensives. What is the currency of Syria? The Syrian Pound (SYP), symbolized by £, serves as the official currency of Syria. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
Learning from PHL eagle Chick#30’s deathNone
The New York Giants currently sit in the driver's seat for the top pick in the draft with a 2-13 record and their $160 million quarterback is on the Minnesota Vikings’ practice squad. Putting aside any allegations of “tanking” for the top pick in the draft, the Giants are left in a precarious spot with a relatively weak pool of quarterback prospects and plenty of holes to plug on their roster. The consensus top two quarterback options, Miami’s Cameron Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders , both likely would have been late first rounders or second rounders in last year's class. While both are projected as top 5 picks due to quarterback demand, they lack the traditional level of scout interest that top passers have seen in recent years. It's reminiscent of the 2022 NFL Draft, where many pundits projected former Liberty QB Malik Willis in the top ten overall before he fell to the third round. While there's little indication that General Manager Joe Schoen will be shown the door after this season, the decision to leave him in charge or replace him will loom large over the quarterback decision. If he takes Ward or Sanders and gets fired next year, it could lead to years of organizational struggles, as whoever replaces Schoen may disagree at the quarterback position and give their “would-be” franchise quarterback less room for error. Supposing that Schoen does stay, he’ll have to roll the dice again on a quarterback sooner rather than later, and there’s no guarantee next year that he'll either get the first dart throw or that any of the quarterbacks available will be better than Ward or Sanders. If he believes in either of the two top passers in this year's class, he'll likely feel obligated to swing or risk never drafting a first-round quarterback in his GM tenure. The decision to draft a quarterback rather than trade back and acquire resources would be a divisive one, as research on draft strategy suggests that teams both overvalue top draft picks and that the quarterback market in the draft is uniquely different from every other position. With the number of positional holes that the Giants have, it would make a lot of sense for them to simply stock up on early-round selections for the next couple of years, but it would leave Schoen potentially setting up his successor rather than taking a shot at saving his job. Another dilemma they'll face if the Giants do keep Schoen and he decides to swing at quarterback is who to choose between Ward and Sanders. It's a decision that could be influenced to some degree by ownership. For the last 20 years, the Giants have had mild-mannered and “out of the spotlight” quarterbacks in Eli Manning and Daniel Jones, and the selection of Sanders would be a strong departure from that mold. The New York market is infamous for its ability to tear at athletes and constantly poke at big personalities. Sanders’ temperament will be put under the microscope after some of the spectacles during his time at Colorado. The most likely outcome seems to be Schoen staying, the Giants taking Ward with the first overall pick, and the front office entertaining offers in hopes of landing something that is simply too good to pass up. But the most likely outcome isn't necessarily the most promising one.Thunder rout short-handed Grizzlies 130-106 for their 11th straight victory
IND vs AUS 2nd Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Adelaide Registers Record of Fewest Balls Bowled in a Test Match Between India and AustraliaOne of my top shows of 2024 actually premiered in 2021. That’s because it took a couple of years for the Australian series “The Newsreader” to make its way Stateside. Alas, it was only legal to stream in the U.S. for a handful of weeks in September and then — pffft! — it was gone before most people had even heard of it. Well, I have great news. The show will be available once again, this time via Sundance Now (accessible through the AMC+ streaming platform), which has licensed the first season. Premiering Dec. 19, it stars Anna Torv (“Fringe”) and Sam Reid (“Interview with the Vampire”) as TV reporters in Melbourne, circa 1986. At the outset, Reid’s character exudes big loser energy, which is such an amusing contrast to his work as Lestat. The show is unexpectedly funny and terrifically Machiavellian in its portrayal of small-time office politics, and I’m thrilled audiences in the U.S. will get another shot at watching it. Overall, 2024 offered a modestly better lineup than usual, but I’m not sure it felt that way. Too often the good stuff got drowned out by Hollywood’s pointless and endless pursuit of rebooting intellectual property (no thank you, Apple’s “Presumed Innocent” ) and tendency to stretch a perfectly fine two-hour movie premise into a saggy multi-part series (“Presumed Innocent” again!). There were plenty of shows I liked that didn’t make this year’s list, including ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and CBS’ “Ghosts” (it’s heartening to see the network sitcom format still thriving in the streaming era), as well as Netflix’s “A Man on the Inside” (Ted Danson’s charisma selling an unlikely premise) and Hulu’s “Interior Chinatown” (a high-concept parody of racial stereotypes and cop show tropes, even if it couldn’t sustain the idea over 10 episodes). Maybe it just felt like we were having more fun this year, with Netflix’s “The Perfect Couple” (Nicole Kidman leading a traditional manor house mystery reinterpreted with an American sensibility) and Hulu’s “Rivals” (the horniest show of 2024, delivered with a wink in the English countryside). I liked what I saw of Showtime’s espionage thriller “The Agency” (although the bulk of episodes were unavailable as of this writing). The deluge of remakes tends to make me cringe, but this year also saw a redo of Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley” on Netflix that was far classier than most of what’s available on the streamer. Starring Andrew Scott, I found it cool to the touch, but the imagery stayed with me. Shot in black and white, it has an indelible visual language courtesy of director of photography Robert Elswit, whether capturing a crisp white business card against the worn grain wood of a bar top, or winding stairways that alternately suggest a yawning void or a trap. As always, if you missed any of these shows when they originally premiered — the aforementioned titles or the Top 10 listed below — they are all available to stream. Top 10 streaming and TV shows of 2024, in alphabetical order: The least cynical reality show on television remains as absorbing as ever in Season 4, thanks to the probing questions and insights from the show’s resident therapist, Dr. Orna Guralnik. Everything is so charged. And yet the show has a soothing effect, predicated on the idea that human behavior (and misery) isn’t mysterious or unchangeable. There’s something so optimistic in that outlook. Whether or not you relate to the people featured on “Couples Therapy” — or even like them as individuals — doesn’t matter as much as Guralnik’s reassuring presence. Created by and starring Diarra Kilpatrick, the eight-episode series defies categorization in all the right ways. Part missing-person mystery, part comedy about a school teacher coming to grips with her impending divorce, and part drama about long-buried secrets, it has tremendous style right from the start — sardonic, knowing and self-deprecating. The answers to the central mystery may not pack a satisfying punch by the end, but the road there is as entertaining and absorbing as they come. We need more shows like this. A comedy created by and starring Brian Jordan Alvarez (of the antic YouTube series “The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo”), the show has a sensibility all its own, despite a handful of misinformed people on social media calling it a ripoff of “Abbott Elementary.” There’s room enough in the TV landscape for more than one sitcom with a school setting and “English Teacher” has a wonderfully gimlet-eyed point of view of modern high school life. I’m amused that so much of its musical score is Gen-X coded, because that neither applies to Alvarez (a millennial) nor the fictional students he teaches. So why does the show feature everything from Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” to Exposé’s “Point of No Return”? The ’80s were awash in teen stories and maybe the show is using music from that era to invoke all those tropes in order to better subvert them. It’s a compelling idea! It’s streaming on Hulu and worth checking out if you haven’t already. A one-time tennis phenom accuses her former coach of coercing her into a sexual relationship in this British thriller. The intimacy between a coach and athlete often goes unexplored, in real-life or fictional contexts and that’s what the show interrogates: When does it go over the line? It’s smart, endlessly watchable and the kind of series that would likely find a larger audience were it available on a more popular streamer. There’s real tenderness in this show. Real cruelty, too. It’s a potent combination and the show’s third and strongest season won it an Emmy for best comedy. Jean Smart’s aging comic still looking for industry validation and Hannah Einbinder’s needy Gen-Z writer are trapped in an endless cycle of building trust that inevitably gives way to betrayal. Hollywood in a nutshell! “Hacks” is doing variations on this theme every season, but doing it in interesting ways. Nobody self-sabotages their way to success like these two. I was skeptical about the show when it premiered in 2022 . Vampire stories don’t interest me. And the 1994 movie adaptation starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt wasn’t a persuasive argument to the contrary. But great television is great television and nothing at the moment is better than this show. It was ignored by Emmy voters in its initial outing but let’s hope Season 2 gets the recognition it deserves. Under showrunner Rolin Jones, the adaptation of Anne Rice’s novels is richly written, thrillingly inhabited by its cast and so effortlessly funny with a framing device — the interview of the title — that is thick with intrigue and sly comedy. I wouldn’t categorize the series as horror. It’s not scary. But it is tonally self-assured and richly made, rarely focused on the hunt for dinner but on something far more interesting: The melodrama of vampire existence, with its combination of boredom and lust and tragedy and zingers. Already renewed for Season 3, it has an incredible cast (a thrilling late-career boost for Eric Bogosian) and is well worth catching up with if you haven’t already. It’s been too long since the pleasures of banter fueled a romantic comedy in the spirit of “When Harry Met Sally.” But it’s all over the place in “Nobody Wants This,” one of the best shows on Netflix in recent memory. Renewed for a second season, it stars Kristen Bell as a humorously caustic podcaster and Adam Brody as the cute and emotionally intelligent rabbi she falls for. On the downside, the show has some terrible notions about Jewish women that play into controlling and emasculating stereotypes. You hate to see it in such an otherwise sparkling comedy, because overall Bell and Brody have an easy touch that gives the comedy real buoyancy. I suspect few people saw this three-part series on PBS Masterpiece, but it features a terrific performance by Helena Bonham Carter playing the real-life, longtime British soap star Noele “Nolly” Gordon, who was unceremoniously sacked in 1981. She’s the kind of larger-than-life showbiz figure who is a bit ridiculous, a bit imperious, but also so much fun. The final stretch of her career is brought to life by Carter and this homage — to both the soap she starred in and the way she carried it on her back — is from Russell T. Davies (best known for the “Doctor Who” revival). For U.S. viewers unfamiliar with the show or Gordon, Carter’s performance has the benefit of not competing with a memory as it reanimates a slice of British pop culture history from the analog era. The year is 1600 and a stubborn British seaman piloting a Dutch ship washes ashore in Japan. That’s our entry point to this gorgeously shot story of power games and political maneuvering among feudal enemies. Adapted from James Clavell’s 1975 novel by the married team of Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, it is filled with Emmy-winning performances (for Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada; the series itself also won best drama) and unlike something like HBO’s far clunkier “House of the Dragon,” which tackles similar themes, this feels like the rare show created by, and for, adults. The misfits and losers of Britain’s MI5 counterintelligence agency — collectively known as the slow horses, a sneering nickname that speaks to their perceived uselessness — remain as restless as ever in this adaptation of Mick Herron’s Slough House spy novels. As a series, “Slow Horses” doesn’t offer tightly plotted clockwork spy stories; think too deeply about any of the details and the whole thing threatens to fall apart. But on a scene-by-scene basis, the writing is a winning combination of wry and tension-filled, and the cumulative effect is wonderfully entertaining. Spies have to deal with petty office politics like everyone else! It’s also one of the few shows that has avoided the dreaded one- or two-year delay between seasons, which has become standard on streaming. Instead, it provides the kind of reliability — of its characters but also its storytelling intent — that has become increasingly rare. Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.11 graves with 15 bodies found near Mexican border with GuatemalaA new year will be upon us in less than a month, and investors are thinking about how they want to invest during 2025. Trends can change quickly, which is why the most important factor in making a decision about any investment should always be its underlying fundamentals. If you're looking for excellent stocks that are also benefiting from strong tailwinds right now, Amazon ( AMZN 2.94% ) , SoFi Technologies ( SOFI 2.36% ) , and Carnival ( CCL 0.60% ) ( CUK 0.54% ) would be great picks. 1. Amazon: Driving AI innovation Amazon is leading innovation in artificial intelligence (AI). Ever since it unveiled its AI technology two years ago, it has remained at the forefront of the revolution, launching a large selection of services for Amazon Web Services (AWS) clients and even developing its own graphics processing units (GPUs) to compete with Nvidia 's. Business is booming. Not only is the AI business itself already producing billions of dollars in revenue, but the AWS platform is attracting new clients who want to use Amazon's AI services. CEO Andy Jassy has emphasized his view that this is just the beginning, noting that 90% of global IT spending still goes toward on-premises systems, while 10% goes to the cloud. He expects those proportions to flip over the long haul. Amazon is positioned to enjoy windfall gains as that shift happens. Amazon is using AI throughout its business, such as offering generative AI solutions like product descriptions based on prompts for third-party sellers and data analytics for advertising clients. These services are elevating the entire enterprise. It's not easy for a megacap company to achieve double-digit percentage revenue growth, but Amazon continues to demonstrate robust growth. It's also highly profitable. It has incredible long-term opportunities, but 2025 could be particularly strong as the AI trend drives it forward. 2. SoFi: The lending business is rebounding For SoFi, the driving trend will be falling interest rates. SoFi stock was down for most of this year because of pressure on its core lending business. But lower interest rates are helping the lending segment, and the rest of its business is already in fantastic shape. Several years ago, SoFi developed a strategy to increase engagement through cross-selling and upselling, and it acquired Golden Pacific Bancorp to get a banking charter. It now has three business segments: lending, financial services, and tech platform. The lending segment still accounts for more than half of total revenue and most of the company's profits, and its growth is accelerating again. Its revenue increased 14% in the third quarter, and contribution profit was up by 17%. Financial services is the standout segment and includes non-lending services like bank accounts and investments. Revenue from that unit increased 102% year over year in the quarter, while contribution profit improved from $3 million to $100 million. Tech platform is a white-label business-to-business platform; its revenue was up 14% in the quarter, with contribution profit up 2%. On a consolidated basis, SoFi has reported four straight quarters of positive net income, and management is guiding for that to continue into 2025. With strong engagement, hundreds of thousands of new customers, and now a reignited lending business, SoFi stock could be a standout performer in 2025. 3. Carnival: Unprecedented demand Carnival's tailwind is lower inflation, although it's also benefiting from lower interest rates. Carnival has made a huge comeback after having to shut down its operations for more than a year during the pandemic, but it continues to see unprecedented demand that seems like more than a rebound. However, it's still recovering from that hiatus in two crucial ways. It hasn't yet had a full year of positive net income since 2019, and it has a huge amount of debt to pay off after taking out loans to stay in business while it was unable to generate revenue. Profitability is improving. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased 25% year over year to $2.8 billion in its fiscal 2024 third quarter, which ended Aug. 31. Management also raised its guidance. It now anticipates a 40% adjusted EBITDA increase for the fiscal year. Operating income increased by $554 million in the quarter to $2.2 billion, and the company reported $1.7 billion in net income. Wall Street is looking for earnings per share of $1.33 for 2024. As for the debt, Carnival still has nearly $30 billion, but it has been paying it down efficiently, and lower interest rates should make that process easier. With inflation largely back in check, people should have more money to spend on expensive cruise tickets, and Carnival is coming into 2025 in its best-ever booked position, with more than half of its inventory sold out for the year. It's already seeing these trends continue into 2026 bookings. As demand for cruises remains strong, Carnival is well-positioned to move toward a full recovery in 2025, and the stock should reflect that journey.
Giants players react to possibility of losing out on No. 1 pick: ‘We don’t care’One of my top shows of 2024 actually premiered in 2021. That’s because it took a couple of years for the Australian series “The Newsreader” to make its way Stateside. Alas, it was only legal to stream in the U.S. for a handful of weeks in September and then — pffft! — it was gone before most people had even heard of it. Well, I have great news. The show will be available once again, this time via Sundance Now (accessible through the AMC+ streaming platform), which has licensed the first season. Premiering Dec. 19, it stars Anna Torv (“Fringe”) and Sam Reid (“Interview with the Vampire”) as TV reporters in Melbourne, circa 1986. At the outset, Reid’s character exudes big loser energy, which is such an amusing contrast to his work as Lestat. The show is unexpectedly funny and terrifically Machiavellian in its portrayal of small-time office politics, and I’m thrilled audiences in the U.S. will get another shot at watching it. Overall, 2024 offered a modestly better lineup than usual, but I’m not sure it felt that way. Too often the good stuff got drowned out by Hollywood’s pointless and endless pursuit of rebooting intellectual property (no thank you, Apple’s “Presumed Innocent” ) and tendency to stretch a perfectly fine two-hour movie premise into a saggy multi-part series (“Presumed Innocent” again!). There were plenty of shows I liked that didn’t make this year’s list, including ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and CBS’ “Ghosts” (it’s heartening to see the network sitcom format still thriving in the streaming era), as well as Netflix’s “A Man on the Inside” (Ted Danson’s charisma selling an unlikely premise) and Hulu’s “Interior Chinatown” (a high-concept parody of racial stereotypes and cop show tropes, even if it couldn’t sustain the idea over 10 episodes). Maybe it just felt like we were having more fun this year, with Netflix’s “The Perfect Couple” (Nicole Kidman leading a traditional manor house mystery reinterpreted with an American sensibility) and Hulu’s “Rivals” (the horniest show of 2024, delivered with a wink in the English countryside). I liked what I saw of Showtime’s espionage thriller “The Agency” (although the bulk of episodes were unavailable as of this writing). The deluge of remakes tends to make me cringe, but this year also saw a redo of Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley” on Netflix that was far classier than most of what’s available on the streamer. Starring Andrew Scott, I found it cool to the touch, but the imagery stayed with me. Shot in black and white, it has an indelible visual language courtesy of director of photography Robert Elswit, whether capturing a crisp white business card against the worn grain wood of a bar top, or winding stairways that alternately suggest a yawning void or a trap. As always, if you missed any of these shows when they originally premiered — the aforementioned titles or the Top 10 listed below — they are all available to stream. Top 10 streaming and TV shows of 2024, in alphabetical order: The least cynical reality show on television remains as absorbing as ever in Season 4, thanks to the probing questions and insights from the show’s resident therapist, Dr. Orna Guralnik. Everything is so charged. And yet the show has a soothing effect, predicated on the idea that human behavior (and misery) isn’t mysterious or unchangeable. There’s something so optimistic in that outlook. Whether or not you relate to the people featured on “Couples Therapy” — or even like them as individuals — doesn’t matter as much as Guralnik’s reassuring presence. Created by and starring Diarra Kilpatrick, the eight-episode series defies categorization in all the right ways. Part missing-person mystery, part comedy about a school teacher coming to grips with her impending divorce, and part drama about long-buried secrets, it has tremendous style right from the start — sardonic, knowing and self-deprecating. The answers to the central mystery may not pack a satisfying punch by the end, but the road there is as entertaining and absorbing as they come. We need more shows like this. A comedy created by and starring Brian Jordan Alvarez (of the antic YouTube series “The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo”), the show has a sensibility all its own, despite a handful of misinformed people on social media calling it a ripoff of “Abbott Elementary.” There’s room enough in the TV landscape for more than one sitcom with a school setting and “English Teacher” has a wonderfully gimlet-eyed point of view of modern high school life. I’m amused that so much of its musical score is Gen-X coded, because that neither applies to Alvarez (a millennial) nor the fictional students he teaches. So why does the show feature everything from Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” to Exposé’s “Point of No Return”? The ’80s were awash in teen stories and maybe the show is using music from that era to invoke all those tropes in order to better subvert them. It’s a compelling idea! It’s streaming on Hulu and worth checking out if you haven’t already. A one-time tennis phenom accuses her former coach of coercing her into a sexual relationship in this British thriller. The intimacy between a coach and athlete often goes unexplored, in real-life or fictional contexts and that’s what the show interrogates: When does it go over the line? It’s smart, endlessly watchable and the kind of series that would likely find a larger audience were it available on a more popular streamer. There’s real tenderness in this show. Real cruelty, too. It’s a potent combination and the show’s third and strongest season won it an Emmy for best comedy. Jean Smart’s aging comic still looking for industry validation and Hannah Einbinder’s needy Gen-Z writer are trapped in an endless cycle of building trust that inevitably gives way to betrayal. Hollywood in a nutshell! “Hacks” is doing variations on this theme every season, but doing it in interesting ways. Nobody self-sabotages their way to success like these two. I was skeptical about the show when it premiered in 2022 . Vampire stories don’t interest me. And the 1994 movie adaptation starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt wasn’t a persuasive argument to the contrary. But great television is great television and nothing at the moment is better than this show. It was ignored by Emmy voters in its initial outing but let’s hope Season 2 gets the recognition it deserves. Under showrunner Rolin Jones, the adaptation of Anne Rice’s novels is richly written, thrillingly inhabited by its cast and so effortlessly funny with a framing device — the interview of the title — that is thick with intrigue and sly comedy. I wouldn’t categorize the series as horror. It’s not scary. But it is tonally self-assured and richly made, rarely focused on the hunt for dinner but on something far more interesting: The melodrama of vampire existence, with its combination of boredom and lust and tragedy and zingers. Already renewed for Season 3, it has an incredible cast (a thrilling late-career boost for Eric Bogosian) and is well worth catching up with if you haven’t already. It’s been too long since the pleasures of banter fueled a romantic comedy in the spirit of “When Harry Met Sally.” But it’s all over the place in “Nobody Wants This,” one of the best shows on Netflix in recent memory. Renewed for a second season, it stars Kristen Bell as a humorously caustic podcaster and Adam Brody as the cute and emotionally intelligent rabbi she falls for. On the downside, the show has some terrible notions about Jewish women that play into controlling and emasculating stereotypes. You hate to see it in such an otherwise sparkling comedy, because overall Bell and Brody have an easy touch that gives the comedy real buoyancy. I suspect few people saw this three-part series on PBS Masterpiece, but it features a terrific performance by Helena Bonham Carter playing the real-life, longtime British soap star Noele “Nolly” Gordon, who was unceremoniously sacked in 1981. She’s the kind of larger-than-life showbiz figure who is a bit ridiculous, a bit imperious, but also so much fun. The final stretch of her career is brought to life by Carter and this homage — to both the soap she starred in and the way she carried it on her back — is from Russell T. Davies (best known for the “Doctor Who” revival). For U.S. viewers unfamiliar with the show or Gordon, Carter’s performance has the benefit of not competing with a memory as it reanimates a slice of British pop culture history from the analog era. The year is 1600 and a stubborn British seaman piloting a Dutch ship washes ashore in Japan. That’s our entry point to this gorgeously shot story of power games and political maneuvering among feudal enemies. Adapted from James Clavell’s 1975 novel by the married team of Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, it is filled with Emmy-winning performances (for Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada; the series itself also won best drama) and unlike something like HBO’s far clunkier “House of the Dragon,” which tackles similar themes, this feels like the rare show created by, and for, adults. The misfits and losers of Britain’s MI5 counterintelligence agency — collectively known as the slow horses, a sneering nickname that speaks to their perceived uselessness — remain as restless as ever in this adaptation of Mick Herron’s Slough House spy novels. As a series, “Slow Horses” doesn’t offer tightly plotted clockwork spy stories; think too deeply about any of the details and the whole thing threatens to fall apart. But on a scene-by-scene basis, the writing is a winning combination of wry and tension-filled, and the cumulative effect is wonderfully entertaining. Spies have to deal with petty office politics like everyone else! It’s also one of the few shows that has avoided the dreaded one- or two-year delay between seasons, which has become standard on streaming. Instead, it provides the kind of reliability — of its characters but also its storytelling intent — that has become increasingly rare. Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.After upset win, Penn State out to extend Rutgers' woes
Point Bridge America First ETF ( BATS:MAGA – Get Free Report )’s share price rose 0.2% on Friday . The company traded as high as $48.52 and last traded at $48.49. Approximately 1,581 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, The stock had previously closed at $48.42. Point Bridge America First ETF Trading Down 0.7 % The company has a fifty day moving average of $50.19 and a 200-day moving average of $47.88. The company has a market capitalization of $22.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.94 and a beta of 0.83. Point Bridge America First ETF Company Profile ( Get Free Report ) The Point Bridge America First ETF (MAGA) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the Point Bridge America First index. The fund tracks an index of US large-cap companies whose employees and political action committees are highly supportive of Republican candidates. MAGA was launched on Sep 6, 2017 and is managed by Point Bridge Capital. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Point Bridge America First ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Point Bridge America First ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .IBC has helped banks recover Rs 10 lakh crore stuck in bad debt: RBI Deputy GovernorGiants players react to possibility of losing out on No. 1 pick: ‘We don’t care’TAPACHULA, Mexico -- Eleven clandestine graves with the bodies of 15 men were located in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, where a dispute between the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación drug cartels is taking place, local authorities said Sunday. Chiapas Gov. Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar said on his social media channels that the findings came as the result of a raid in the city of La Concordia, near Mexico 's border with Guatemala . He said four people connected to the case had been arrested with weapons and drugs. The state prosecutor’s office said in a statement that the raid took place in two different properties. The first site had three bodies in three graves and in the second, eight graves with 12 bodies. “It is worth mentioning that for these operations technological tools such as drones and geo-radars were used, in addition to aerial overflight, ground search, field forensics, back-excavation and drills,” it said. Chiapas Prosecutor General Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca said last week that another clandestine grave with charred bodies was found in Emiliano Zapata, neighboring La Concordia, but did not give more details because of the poor state of the bodies for identification. The dispute over drug routes, migrant trafficking and weapons has left more than 10,000 people displaced in recent years, including Mexicans fleeing to Guatemala, according to reports from humanitarian organizations.
Editor’s note: The Texas A&M baseball team’s run to the College World Series finals, followed by the departure of Jim Schlossnagle and hiring of Michael Earley, is The Eagle’s No. 2 sports story of 2024. This is part of a daily series of the top 10 stories in Bryan-College Station and the Brazos Valley this year. Stories will appear daily with No. 1 running in the Dec. 31 edition. The Texas A&M baseball team’s run to the College World Series finals and the two weeks that followed was a rollercoaster ride of emotions to say the least. Head coach Jim Schlossnagle’s departure to rival Texas the day after A&M’s loss to Tennessee in the CWS finals almost caused a mass exodus of A&M’s most successful team in school history. But the Aggies' hiring of assistant coach Michael Earley — who originally left Schlossnagle — circled the wagons, kept the roster intact and now has one of the nation’s best teams going into 2025. Hours after the Aggies returned home from Omaha on the heels of a heartbreaking loss to Tennessee in a winner-take-all Game 3 of the championship series, Schlossnagle stunned Aggieland with his departure to Texas. Rumors had swirled of the possibility, but the reality of his decision was a gut-punch and came less than a day after Schlossnagle berated a reporter for asking about his name being linked to the Longhorns’ opening during a postgame press conference. In one of the wildest coaching changes in A&M’s, and possibly college baseball’s history, Schlossnagle explained how leaving Aggieland for Austin was mainly rooted in his friendship with Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte, whom he worked with at TCU from 2009-17. “All I can say is: I have a career, too,” Schlossnagle said in his introductory press conference in Austin. “I have a personal life as well that I have goals I just simply felt like, no negative at A&M, just the positives of the alignment and frankly my relationship with Chris. There wasn’t anybody at Texas A&M that I couldn’t trust, I just know that I can trust Chris. I know that. And as hard as that decision was, I could not walk away from it.” Animosity from Aggies about Schlossnagle’s decision was loud. Fans and even players aired their grievances on social media. A&M utility player Travis Chestnut told The Eagle he was treated poorly by Schlossnagle during his tenure with the Aggies. “I’m blown away by the disrespect of Schlossnagle,” Chestnut said. “Not once in my career was he a respectable man to me. I stuck with him because I wanted to be an Aggie and in the SEC. But quite frankly, I didn’t stick to him. I stuck to [assistant coaches] Mike Earley and Nolan Cain.” That animosity turned into a groundswell of support for A&M to hire Earley, the Aggies' hitting coach. A number of current and former A&M players expressed their support for the Aggies to hire Earley. "Nobody more deserving, no more questions need to be asked," A&M first baseman Ted Burton wrote in a social media post. "One of the brightest, young baseball minds out there and a genuine love for his guys. Any player would run through a wall for this man.” A&M athletic director Trev Alberts conducted a full search, which he said included conversations with nine candidates. But after Alberts’ first interview with Earley, he said the assistant coach became a serious candidate. And while player support and respect was a key component to Alberts’ decision, he said Earley’s vision for the program, plan to build a staff and self-awareness of his “blindspots” and solutions for those caught his attention. “I was very, very pleasantly surprised,” Alberts said. “I didn’t know what to expect. I would say that he knocked it out of the ballpark on the initial Zoom.” A week that began with sadness of losing a championship that turned into bitter disgust of Schlossnagle’s decision to leave ended with elation and excitement of where the program could go under Earley. “We got our guy that we wanted,” A&M pitcher Brad Rudis said at Earley’s introductory press conference. “And he’s going to be here to stay for a long time.” That concluded a memorable spring for the Aggies, who won an NCAA regional at Blue Bell Park and then defeated Oregon 2-0 in a best-of-three regional at home that ended with a 15-9, come-from-behind win. The Aggies opened the CWS at Omaha, Nebraska, with a late-night 3-2 victory over Southeastern Conference rival Florida before Ryan Prager's pitching gem against another SEC foe, Kentucky, sent A&M to the semifinals. The pitching staff came through again in a 6-0 win over Florida that sent A&M to its first championship series in school history. Another SEC opponent, top-ranked Tennessee, stood in the Aggies' path in the best-of-3 final. Buoyed by a five-run third inning, the Aggies won Game 1 9-5 before the Volunteers responded by allowing just seven hits in a 4-1 Game 2 victory. Tennessee took a 6-1 lead in the decisive Game 3 before A&M scored twice in the top of the eighth and two more in the ninth to close the gap to 6-5. But the Volunteers held on for their first national championship and set in motion a wild week off the field.
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1 2 3 Kolkata: Online violence against women was cited as one of the "upcoming" threats against the dignity and safety of women by Amrita Dasgupta of NGO Swayam during a discussion organised by the Bengal Obstetric and Gynaecology Society (BOGS). In response to the question of moderator Dr Jaita Chakrabarti's question — if there was a change in how violence against women takes place in their respective fields of expertise — Dasgupta stressed the use of technology on social media platforms to threaten women. Morphing of women's images and using it for " revenge porn " was one of the examples cited by Dasgupta as means used by predators to cause harm. A report published by the United Nations Women in 2022 stated that the prevalence of online and technology-facilitated violence against women and girls ranges from 16% to 58% across the globe. According to the report, such acts of violence include sexual harassment, stalking and zoom bombing, which is the practice of disrupting a video-conference call and showing "racially charged or sexually explicit material to the unexpecting participants". A human rights practitioner at Calcutta High Court, Mrinalini Majumdar, highlighted the need for a legislative mechanism to manage an individual's behaviour on social media platforms.