The South African government has called on all parties in Mozambique to commit to an urgent dialogue amid ongoing violence and disruptive protests. International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola expressed the government’s concerns about the ongoing situation in the neighbouring country. The Constitutional Council of Mozambique proclaimed the final electoral results, prompting this development. On Monday, the council confirmed the disputed October election results, which extended the ruling Frelimo party’s power. Constitutional Council of Mozambique confirm election results The final results followed two months of street protests that left more than one hundred people dead. “South Africa calls on all parties to commit to an urgent dialogue that will heal the country and set it on a new political and developmental trajectory,” Lamola said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon. ALSO READ: Hundreds arrested at Lebombo for illegally attempting to cross SA-Mozambique border The minister said South Africa is ready to assist Mozambique to facilitate this dialogue. He added that the government will continue to work with the Southern African Development Community and other multilateral agencies in supporting a lasting solution to the current impasse. “South Africa calls on all parties to exercise restraint and calm,” the minister said. ‘Restraint and calm’ Amid the reports of protesting in Mozambique, Mpumalanga Premier Mandla Ndlovu visited the Lebombo Border to monitor the flow of traffic. The premier announced that, based on engagements, protestors might target trucks, not private cars or taxis entering the country. ALSO READ: BMA prepares for night shift amid Mozambique border tensions The authorities agreed to prohibit trucks from entering Mozambique until the situation stabilises. “I’m not saying there is a state of unrest, but I’m saying that currently, the situation is not that good in Mozambique,” Ndlovu told the SABC . Meanwhile, earlier on Tuesday, the ANC welcomed the official declaration of Mozambique’s election results but also called for dialogue. ANC welcomed results “The ANC underscores the importance of dialogue, mutual respect, and a steadfast commitment to the will of the people in ensuring political stability and sustainable development,” ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said in a statement. “Renewing and uniting the people of Mozambique, while strengthening the historic ties between Frelimo and the ANC, is of mutual benefit in promoting people-to-people relationships and fostering inclusive economic growth for the shared prosperity of both nations.” NOW READ: Mozambique’s highest court confirms ruling party election victory
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How can he affect a team on a six-game losing streak? How does he plan to balance offensive play calling with head coach duties on game day? How can he further quarterback Caleb Williams’ development ? How does he look at the grand opportunity in front of him to show the NFL what he’s all about? But about four minutes in, when considering the most notable changes around Halas Hall since the Bears fired coach Matt Eberflus , Brown veered down a lighthearted tangent — about weight loss. At 225 pounds early in November, Brown was trying to cut weight. It turned out being named offensive coordinator to replace Shane Waldron was just what he needed. “You increase tasks to your day, you forget about food,” Brown said later. “I went a couple days and just really didn’t eat, didn’t really think about it, wasn’t hungry. I was thinking about the next moment, what to say to this player, doing game planning and I look up and I’m almost 30 pounds down. So we’ll keep going, see how long it lasts.” Brown was told he should market the unorthodox plan that has him down to 205 pounds. “I’ll write a book and we’ll see,” Brown said. “I hope you guys buy it. I’ll probably be pretty pissed if you don’t buy it.” The ensuing laughter was a surprising sound amid all the dreariness in Lake Forest lately. It’s that presence from Brown as the Bears’ new temporary leader that has players buying into his message ahead of their road game Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers. Multiple players said Brown’s direct and clear approach to communication, his energy and his focus on accountability and unity have helped ease the transition from Eberflus, who was fired Nov. 29 after posting a 14-32 record in 21⁄2 seasons. “(Brown) is very deliberate in how he talks to us,” left guard Teven Jenkins said. “Everything he’s telling us right now is very intentional and all of us are very locked in. Everybody is sitting at the front of their seat, leaning in.” To be clear, that presence is not necessarily going to help Brown balance coordinator and head coach duties on game day. It doesn’t mean he’s going to formulate winning game plans or make better late-game decisions than the ones that ultimately led to the demise of Eberflus. That all remains to be seen. But it was Step 1 in steadying the upheaval at Halas Hall this week after the Bears fired a head coach midseason for the first time in team history. Now, Brown and the players hope to ride his spark and put an end to a maddening string of losses that have turned their season upside down . Brown doesn’t so much avoid the topic as indicate that he can’t really be concerned about it in this most hectic of all months. He interviewed for head coaching vacancies before — with the Miami Dolphins in 2022, the Houston Texans in 2023 and the Tennessee Titans in 2024. The former Los Angeles Rams assistant head coach under Sean McVay and the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator last season, Brown knows he’ll be assessed across the league for how he steps in for Eberflus. He surely knows the Bears, who promoted him twice in less than three weeks, will keep him on their candidate list for their next head coach if he handles himself well. And he knows his work between now and Jan. 6 may earn him consideration for other openings around the NFL. But he is focused on this job over the next month. “I’ve always had the thought process of every job I’ve had, try to excel at a high level,” Brown said. “What I realized about this profession is if you are bad at your job, they move on from you. If you’re good at your job, they give you an opportunity to stay around. If you’re great at your job, you get elevated. So my thought process was always to be the best I can be — not make it about myself — and let the chips fall where they may.” Bears President Kevin Warren gave Brown a strong endorsement Monday in talking about the coaching change and upcoming search, calling him bright, hardworking, talented, decisive and clear with “great leadership capabilities.” But nobody around Halas Hall will pretend that what lies ahead for Brown is easy. Interim coaches almost always are asked to step in because there are serious issues within a team — and the outcomes usually reflect that. In turn, the interims more often than not don’t return the next season. According to the Washington Post , from 1990-2021 interim coaches compiled a 111-209 record. Only 13 interim coaches — of the 46 the Post counted since 1990 — were hired into the teams’ full-time roles the next season. Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce was the only interim coach of six from 2022-23 to be hired to the full-time job when he was promoted in January 2024. And there is speculation around the league that his job could be in jeopardy after the season. Brown is one of three NFL interims this season, joining Jeff Ulbrich with the New York Jets and Darren Rizzi with the New Orleans Saints. He’s accepting of the hand he has been dealt. “I said at the beginning, I wanted to thank God for the opportunity that he’s presented me with because I can’t complain about prayers being answered in certain different orders,” Brown said. “Maybe it’s not the ideal scenario, but I live every day to be at my best for those around me. Every job I’ve had that’s led me to the future is based on the current work I do. So that’s all I care about. “I’m not worried about what happens in five weeks. ... It’s not even in my thought process. I’m focused on this very moment and how to do the best job I can for this football team to help lead these guys the right way and go have success.” How Brown leads Williams over the next month is as valuable as anything. After his second game with Brown as offensive coordinator, Williams hesitated to use the word — but then decided it fit. Brown has “a certain aura to him,” Williams said, that allows the quarterback to play free. “He knows what he wants,” Williams said. “You know he knows what he wants.” Brown was a self-described introvert growing up. He wasn’t shy as much as quiet, someone who kept to himself. But he has grown to find his voice, first through the communication required during 16 years of marriage to his wife, Jessica, then through parenting three sons, each with unique personalities that require different approaches. “It’s about still being my authentic self but also (knowing) how to deliver a message,” he said. “I’m never going to lie to you. I’m going to tell you the truth, but how I deliver it is based on what brings the best out of you.” His communication with Williams is key as the Bears try to help the quarterback squeeze the most out of the rest of his rookie season. In three games with Brown as his play caller, Williams has completed 64% of his passes for 827 yards and five touchdowns. He hasn’t thrown an interception in six games. And he has made clutch fourth-quarter plays to keep the Bears in games late. Those are promising results against three solid NFC North defenses and certainly a step up from the previous three games that helped prompt the Waldron firing. Williams didn’t throw for more than 217 yards in a game, and the Bears totaled just 27 points in those three contests. There are still issues to iron out. The Bears offense, which has been slow to start games for much of the season under Williams, didn’t score in the first half and totaled just 53 yards before halftime against the Detroit Lions in Eberflus’ last game. Williams said Wednesday that he wasn’t moving with enough urgency at the end of the game, when the Bears got just one play off in the final 32 seconds despite having a timeout. He said he also wasn’t on the same page as coaches about the play they wanted to run to set up a potential tying field goal. But there have been more reasons than not to believe the union is working. Quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph said Brown’s clear and concise communication methods have helped to simplify things for Williams, “the way it hits Caleb’s brain, the way he sees it.” And Joseph believes the confidence with which Brown delivers his plans — and his emphasis on how they prepare — have rubbed off on Williams in the right way. Brown has stated more than once that he wants Williams to play with “no fear.” “When you have that as a player, you feel that,” Joseph said. “As coaches around him, you feel that — just that, ‘Hey, you can run through that wall if you choose to.’ That’s the confidence and command he’s brought in the room. It’s infectious. It spreads. He has put his DNA on it, and guys are walking in and believing in it.” Williams said last month that he didn’t have a lot of one-on-one talks with Brown when he was the passing game coordinator. The Bears, while trying to limit the number of voices in Williams’ ear in his rookie season, instead stressed his relationships with Eberflus and Waldron. When Brown took over for Waldron, he called the quarterback to lay out what Williams could expect from him and vice versa. He said the relationship required some “blind trust” to get moving so quickly in the middle of the season. Williams didn’t initially have the comfort that comes with working with a coordinator for months, for example being at ease with expressing when he doesn’t like a play call. They’re working on getting more comfortable. “I’m a pretty direct person,” Brown said. “That can come off different ways to different people. But he is not soft, which I appreciate. Me and soft people sometimes don’t always see eye to eye, get along. But he likes being challenged, likes being coached. “I’m definitely all about encouraging, uplifting our guys when it comes to doing things the right way, but it’s finding a balance (between) we have made some great improvements, great strides, but being good is not to be confused with good enough. So I can be better. He can be better. The entire group can be better.” Williams has been appreciative of how demanding Brown is of young players and veterans alike. “One of the most important things is accountability,” Williams said. “He’s done a solid job so far with that and holding me accountable, holding all the guys accountable. And just how he is. He’s a lead-by-example type of guy, and that’s been great.” Now the Bears must see if the leadership extends to the whole team on game day. A few days ago, McVay reached out to Brown to talk with him about his new opportunity. Brown worked for three seasons under McVay from 2020-22, first as the running backs coach, then as the assistant head coach and tight ends coach. He was a part of the 2021 Rams Super Bowl-winning team. Brown, a former running back at Georgia, listed a few coaches who have made an impact on him over his 14 seasons of coaching at the collegiate and NFL levels. He was the running backs coach under offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig at Wisconsin and studied how to marry the run and pass. He learned from Mark Richt as the running backs coach at Georgia and the offensive coordinator at Miami. He valued his time learning how to be a communicator, leader and teacher with senior assistant Jim Caldwell in Carolina last year. But McVay is his biggest influence, both in how to design an offense and use personnel but also how to lead. He learned “the really good stuff” about how to be consistent and own the room but also lean on the people around him. Brown obviously made an impression on McVay, who at 38 years old is the same age and played against Brown in high school in Georgia. He told Los Angeles reporters last week that he always thought Brown would be a head coach at some point. “There are just certain people when you watch (them), you’re like, ‘Man, they’re a little different’ in terms of the competitiveness, the spirit, the never-say-die attitude,” McVay said. “And then just his overall presence in general is impressive. A good way to articulate it is he commands respect by the way he handles himself, and he gives it back.” That command will be put under a much bigger spotlight when he takes on his first game as interim head coach Sunday. Brown was matter of fact in the week leading up to his debut about how he is handling his expanded duties. He is not a micromanager, he said, so he will not do a lot of meddling with defensive coordinator Eric Washington and his staff as they navigate their first game without Eberflus as defensive play caller. Brown already has been working closely with newly named offensive coordinator Chris Beatty, also the wide receivers coach, over the last three games. But they’ve added discussions about in-game situations , such as clock management, over the last week as they try to purge some of the issues of the past. Wide receiver Keenan Allen said Thursday that late-game decisions — and accountability from the coaching staff on some of those decisions — were some of the biggest frustrations for players under Eberflus. When asked if he thinks accountability will be better under Brown, Allen said, “We’ve got to wait to see, but yeah, I do.” That’s the hopeful attitude many players have taken this week as they deal with the change and try to finish the season off right. Defensive end DeMarcus Walker believes in Brown’s direct, transparent, “grown men” approach to communication. And he’s behind Brown as he tries to help them put an end to a losing streak they think is not indicative of their talent. “We love his energy and his demeanor and attitude he brings for us as a team,” Walker said. “Obviously ever since he’s been calling plays, he’s brought a different level to it. And we’ve got his back.” When Brown considered what he wants the Bears’ identity to be under his leadership, he said he has “more of a defensive mentality, even as an offensive guy.” He wants players to understand the physicality they need to play with and the discipline they need to have when they apply themselves. And he wants them to maximize their next opportunity. “Life isn’t guaranteed; this game isn’t guaranteed,” Brown said. “It’s a privilege to be here, so I want us to maximize it every single day in the building. And when we have an opportunity to excel on game day, go cut it loose, man. Play with no fear.” Brown is approaching his big moment the same way.
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“Player 456, welcome back to the game.” Netflix dropped a new trailer for Season 2 of “ Squid Game ,” which unveils terrifying new challenges in the colorful death match. In the second installment of the hit Korean thriller series, premiering Dec. 26, the winning Player 456 (played by Lee Jung-jae) returns to the sadistic competition to put an end to Squid Game and save lives. Back inside, he tries to coach the other 455 participants through a fatal round of Red Light, Green Light — but his pleas are ignored as bullets go flying. The trailer for Season 2 sees 456 and co. fighting against the guards and trying to survive new, deadly challenges. Lee stars in Season 2 of “Squid Game” alongside returning cast member Wi Ha-jun as Hwang Jun-ho, and Lee Byung-hun as the mysterious Front Man. Hwang Dong-hyuk is the creator of the series and serves as directed and executive producer, with Kim Ji-yeon also serving as an EP. It was previously announced that “Squid Game” would return for a third season, which will also be the show’s last . “Squid Game” originally premiered in 2021 and quickly became the most-watched show in Netflix history. It currently has more than 2.2 billion hours viewed, which equates to approximately 265 million views according to Netflix’s all-time top TV chart . Season 1 was also nominated for 17 Emmys, with the show winning six, including one for best actor in a drama for Lee and another for best guest actress in a drama for Lee You-mi. Watch the new trailer for Season 2 below.Level Up Your iPhone: 8 Essential Tweaks After Updating to iOS 18.2
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Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen returns to a tournament after a dispute over jeans is resolvedAcademy Award winner Leonardo DiCaprio is receiving a lot of criticism on social media this week because of the way he conducted himself at a hotel in Fiji. DiCaprio, 50, was wearing black clothes with shades and a hat while leaving his hotel in Nadi, which is located on Fiji's main island. It appeared people at the hotel were giving him a traditional Fiji reception as he was walking through the lobby. Footage of this incident showed several people singing and applauding as the "Titanic" actor kept his focus locked in on a car waiting for him out front. Although the full details regarding this incident haven't been released yet, DiCaprio is getting crushed online for how he handled himself. Of course, some people are defending the legendary actor. "The lesson here is stop worshiping celebrities," one person said after seeing this video. "Hey Leo you're arrogance is showing," a second person wrote on X. "Was the reception for him? If not, then he didn’t do anything disrespectful. He didn’t draw attention to himself, just walked past," another person claims. "There weren't enough 'young girls' around for him to pay close attention," a social media user joked. Leonardo DiCaprio blasted as ‘disrespectful’ for ignoring traditional welcome reception at Fiji hotel in viral video https://t.co/JdxdQK5ojB pic.twitter.com/Pu3seRDPjx The tourists in Nadi seemed very happy to see DiCaprio in public. We can't say for certain he feels the same way about seeing them. Maybe, just maybe, DiCaprio will address this situation in the future. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images DiCaprio, a longtime activist for climate change, has been fairly quiet since starring in "Killers of the Flower Moon," which released in 2023. We'll see if DiCaprio makes an announcement in the future regarding his endeavors on and off the silver screen. Related: Leo Dicaprio's Ex-Girlfriend Posed For Stunning 'Body Paint' Photo
Wayne Rooney hailed his wife’s performance on the show (Peter Byrne/PA) Wayne Rooney has encouraged I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! viewers to vote for his wife to do a Bushtucker Trial as he feels she would want to “put herself to the test”. The former England footballer, 39, said he was “proud” of how Coleen was doing in the Australian jungle in a post on social media on Saturday. The couple, who first met at school and began dating aged 16, share four sons – Kai Wayne, Klay Anthony, Kit Joseph and Cass Mac. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. “Proud of @ColeenRoo on @imacelebrity she’s doing great”, he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, alongside a collage of photos of her on the show. “Me and the boys would love to see her doing a trial and we know she’d want to put herself to the test. “If you can download the #ImACeleb and let’s get voting!” During the first task of the series, BBC Radio 1 presenter Dean McCullough chose to partner up with TV personality Coleen as he hailed her as “Wagatha Christie”. Rooney, 38, was given the nickname when she accused Rebekah Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, of leaking her private information to The Sun in a viral post on social media. In July 2022, a judge at the High Court found the post was “substantially true”. During Vardy’s stint on I’m A Celebrity, she became the third celebrity to leave, saying the series helped her become more tolerant. Earlier this week, Liverpool-born Coleen told her fellow campmate that going to court over her feud with Vardy was her “worst nightmare” as she felt she was “putting on a show for the whole world”. However, she said she was not scared about making the viral post which kicked off the dispute, saying: “I just didn’t think it would have the impact it did, because I was just that sick and tired of it, it was draining.” Later in the episode, Rooney became emotional over the loss of her sister Rosie, after boxing star Barry McGuigan spoke about the death of his daughter. I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! continues on ITV1 and ITVX.Qatar tribune Agencies President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated on Saturday the main priority of the government’s economic program to lower inflation as he said that there would be more interest rate cuts in 2025 after the central bank cut its key rate by 250 basis points to 47.5% earlier this week. The Turkish central bank trimmed the one-week repo rate on Thursday after an 18-month tightening effort to tackle elevated prices. “Priority in our economy program is to lower inflation ... We will hopefully reduce inflation to the required level by using other tools at our disposal in addition to the monetary policy,” Erdoğan told members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in the northwestern city of Bursa. “We will definitely start lowering the interest rates; 2025 will be the landmark year for this,” he said.“Interest rates will decrease so that inflation will decrease. We will take this step. This is now indispensable for us.” The annual inflation rate dipped to 47.1% in November compared to around 75% in May, marking the lowest since mid-2023. Inflation is seen declining further to 45.2% in December, according to a recent Reuters poll which saw the annual rate falling to 26.5% by the end of 2025. The central bank earlier announced that it had reduced the number of scheduled policy meetings next year to eight from 12 in 2024. According to a Reuters poll’s median, the central bank is expected to ease rates to about 28.5% by the end of 2025, with forecasts ranging between 25% and 33%.“The main purpose of our ecnomic program is to compensate for the welfare loss, which our nation, our fixed-income citizens in particular, has been experiencing due to the imbalances in exchange rates and inflation, as soon as possible. To that end, we must, first of all, eliminate such matters as inflation used as an excuse for the high cost of living,” Erdoğan said at the congress of AK Party in Bursa. “The arbitrary pricing habits of greedy opportunists, which cannot be explained by inflation, exchange or interest rates, of course, do not make our job easier, they make it harder. There is a group that perceives the free market economy as disorder and exploits it to the fullest, but we will overcome them,” he added. “In fact, the most effective method in this regard is for our nation to boycott products and services that increase prices excessively,” he outlined. Furthermore, drawing attention to housing and rental prices, which he said play an important role in inflation rise and the perception of the cost of living, President Erdoğan stressed that they are in preparation for taking a step that will prevent this, and added: “As of the summer months, during which the construction activities in the earthquake zone will be completed to a great extent, we are planning to launch a social housing mobilization.” Like this, he noted that they will take steps aimed at enabling fixed-income citizens to own their own houses. Separately, at another event in Bursa on Saturday, the president also highlighted the confidence in the economic program as he pointed out to improvement in the economy, stating that the goals for 2024 have been achieved “to a large extent.” “We have full confidence and support for our economic program. We have achieved our goals for 2024 to a large extent despite the crises that resurfaced in our region and the elections. International capital inflow to our country has accelerated, our reserves have strengthened, foreign exchange volatility has decreased, and financing circumstances have improved,” said Erdoğan. “Our country’s credit risk premium has also fallen significantly. We are the only country whose rating has been increased twice by the three credit rating agencies,” he noted. “We have also taken realistic steps and a common future vision in the 2025 budget. This year, we have allocated TL 1.57 trillion (nearly $44.7 billion) for investments,” he added. “In addition to the reconstruction of the earthquake zone, we have given priority to investments in irrigation, investments that will connect organized industrial zones with ports by rail, and investments that will quickly complete the industrial infrastructure,” he said. Speaking at the Award Ceremony for Contributors to Economy, the president also highlighted the importance they attached to maintaining the competitive strength in the apparel, textile, leather and furniture sectors. Copy 30/12/2024 10
WASHINGTON: NASA’s pioneering Parker Solar Probe made history Tuesday, flying closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft with its heat shield exposed to scorching temperatures of more than 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit (930 degrees Celsius). Launched in August 2018, the spaceship is on a seven-year mission to deepen scientific understanding of our star and help forecast space-weather events that can affect life on Earth. Tuesday’s historic fly-by should have occurred at precisely 6:53am (1153 GMT), although mission scientists will have to wait until Friday for confirmation as they lose contact with the craft for several days due to its proximity to the Sun. If the distance between Earth and the Sun is the equivalent to the length of an American football field, the spacecraft should have been about four yards (meters) from the end zone at the moment of closest approach - known as perihelion. SpaceX to launch more private astronaut missions to ISS “This is one example of NASA’s bold missions, doing something that no one else has ever done before to answer longstanding questions about our universe,” Arik Posner, Parker Solar Probe program scientist said in a statement on Monday. “We can’t wait to receive that first status update from the spacecraft and start receiving the science data in the coming weeks.” So effective is the heat shield, that the probe’s internal instruments remain near room temperature – around 85F (29C) – as it explores the Sun’s outer atmosphere, called the corona. Parker will also be moving at a blistering pace of around 430,000 mph (690,000 kph), fast enough to fly from the US capital Washington to Tokyo in under a minute. “No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star, so Parker will truly be returning data from uncharted territory,” said Nick Pinkine, mission operations manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. “We’re excited to hear back from the spacecraft when it swings back around the Sun.” By venturing into these extreme conditions, Parker has been helping scientists tackle some of the Sun’s biggest mysteries: how the solar wind originates, why the corona is hotter than the surface below, and how coronal mass ejections – massive clouds of plasma that hurl through space – are formed. The Christmas Eve flyby is the first of three record-setting close passes, with the next two – on March 22, 2025, and June 19, 2025 – both expected to bring the probe back to a similarly close distance from the Sun.