Years of training allowed Cole Callard to become Medina’s top manA stroke changed a teacher’s life. How a new electrical device is helping her moveA stroke changed a teacher’s life. How a new electrical device is helping her move
NoneSunday's 26-21 win over the Jets featured several special teams miscues, including a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by New York. On the flip side, the Seahawks got their second pick-6 in as many weeks and just enough production by Geno Smith and the offense. The Seahawks' uneven performance was characteristic of a season in which they started 3-0, then lost five of six before winning another three in a row to take command of their underachieving division. Seattle (7-5) leads Arizona by one game, with a matchup against the Cardinals looming next weekend. Zach Charbonnet gave Seattle its first lead of the day on an 8-yard touchdown run with 5:37 to go, and the Seahawks' defense capped another strong outing with a game-sealing stop on fourth down. After a sack by Leonard Williams gave the Jets a fourth-and-15 at the 34-yard line, Aaron Rodgers threw a desperation pass to Garrett Wilson that fell incomplete, giving Seattle the ball with 33 seconds left. Williams is on a tear. After losing out on NFC defensive player of the week honors last week to teammate Coby Bryant despite 2 1/2 sacks and four quarterback hits, “Big Cat” had an even better game. Williams finished with two sacks, three tackles for loss, a 92-yard interception return for a touchdown that was the longest pick-6 in NFL history by a defensive lineman, and a blocked extra point. The touchdown was the first of Williams’ career. He became the first player since 1982 with multiple sacks, an interception return for a touchdown and a blocked kick in a game. Maybe this week the league will agree he was the NFC's best defender. The special teams could not have been much worse in the first half. The Seahawks fumbled three kickoffs, losing two, and allowed Kene Nwangwu's 99-yard kickoff return for a TD. Dee Williams fumbled on a kickoff in the first quarter to give New York the ball at the 27-yard line, and four plays later, Rodgers hit Isaiah Davis for a touchdown to give the Jets a 14-0 lead. Laviska Shenault Jr. muffed two kicks and fumbled at the Seattle 38-yard line in the second quarter. Seattle also had an extra point blocked. Smith led his third game-winning drive of the season and his 11th since he became Seattle’s starting quarterback in 2022. Facing the team that drafted him in 2013, Smith went 20 of 31 for 206 yards and a touchdown. For the first time in five weeks, he was not intercepted. The Seahawks trailed by 14 points on two occasions, but Smith brought Seattle back while avoiding the untimely picks that dogged him recently. He threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Barner in the second quarter, and led the Seahawks on a go-ahead nine-play, 71-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter. Coach Mike Macdonald and his staff have to address the problem with their kick returners, Shenault and Dee Williams. Two lost fumbles and several muffs could have easily cost Seattle the game. WR DK Metcalf left the game briefly with a knee issue but returned. ... P Michael Dickson was unavailable in the fourth quarter because of back spasms. 38 — The Seahawks decided to go for it on fourth-and-6 at their own 33-yard line with 9:34 left in the game. A primary reason was that Dickson was unavailable to punt because of back spasms. The Jets were flagged for having 12 men on the field after sending a punt returner out, which gave Seattle fourth-and-1 at the 38. The Seahawks got a first down after Jets cornerback Quantez Stiggers was flagged for pass interference on Metcalf, and eight players later, Charbonnet scored to put Seattle ahead. Without going for it on fourth down from their own 38, the Seahawks likely would’ve lost. The Seahawks will seek a season sweep of the Cardinals. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Chukwuzubelu Ufodike, an assistant professor at Texas A&M University in the United States of America is one of Nigeria’s scholars who wish that the country was a better place for them to thrive. In this interview with Tony Manuaka , he draws a line between the education system in Nigeria and what obtains in America. And as technology continues to advance, Dr Ufodike explains why he is pushing for Blacks in Additive Manufacturing, a new frontier where he wants Nigerians and Africans in general to be adequately represented as it gains momentum. He also shares his experience on some of the bottlenecks that discourage Nigerian professionals living abroad from returning to the country, even when the offers seem to be better. Take us through your academic journey from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri and the University of Lagos until you arrived at the Texas A&M University I schooled in Nigeria before I went to the United States for my PhD. After that, I transitioned into academia. This is my fifth year in academia. So far, so good. I’m enjoying it. Hopefully, I will keep striving and keep inspiring young minds and young Africans so that they can become internationally acclaimed scholars. What actually gives you joy; is it the fact that you live in Texas or the job you’re doing there? My joy comes from life itself, even being at peace with myself and doing what I enjoy to do best, which is to empower and mentor young minds like myself. I’ve done a lot of mentorship because my path wasn’t too smooth. So I find myself helping people to go through the same path but without much huddles to let them know where the bottlenecks are before they get there so that they don’t screw themselves up. It’s difficult to connect the fact that you are an assistant professor at Texas A&M University at a young age with the fact that your path wasn’t smooth. How did it happen? It’s a long story but where do we start from? It all started from just being fascinated by the way things work; having an engineering mindset as a kid. I was always fascinated by physics, chemistry, and how bonds are formed and how structures come together to make up an atom. And then, I went to the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, where I got my Bachelors in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering. And then I started working in the oil and gas sector. At that time, I was going to school while I was working. I did my masters in Process Engineering at the University of Lagos while I was working and also doing an MBA. I was doing two programmes while I was working. During that time, I realized that I had a passion for research. School was just something I was drawn to. So, I went to Florida State University to further my education again, and I dumped my day-time job, which was a little bit uncomfortable at the time, and became a full-time student. That was painful, but it was very interesting because that took me to the path of getting my PhD but first of all, my third masters degree which was in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, and later my PhD from Florida A&M University in the same Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. And that was how it all started. So when I applied for academic jobs and I got offers; I chose Texas A&M University. We are the largest university in the United States of America with about 80, 000 enrolled students before 2023. For someone who began his education in Nigeria and is now an assistant professor in the United States, can you make an assessment of the Nigerian education system? Absolutely! With my experience, five degrees from five different universities from two different countries from two ends of the world, I think I’m in a good position to make such an assessment. I was explaining to someone the difference between teaching and lecturing. In Nigeria, education from the undergraduate level is very theoretical from K12, that is, what we call in the United States, nursery to secondary school; that is kindergarten to SS3. So, from K12, we do teaching. And what that encompasses is that we are teaching the kids how to understand fundamentals but when you get into the university what you get is lecturing on concepts you should know. That is why you see some students struggling in the universities. In engineering, we advise that students should take what is known in Nigeria as Further Math before they get into any engineering programme because basically you need to know your calculus. Now the Nigerian educational system is theoretical; there’s no experimentation. And there is a lack of equipment that will enable you to carry out experimentation. To cut a long story short, coming to the United States, education is not just theoretical, there is hands-on experiment, you are going to use equipment, you are going to understand why you are doing it, and you are going to understand that this is applied. But guess what, I think that the reason a lot of Nigerians do well outside the country’s university system is because they already understand the theoretical concepts. With your versed knowledge in engineering in the United States and your background back in the days as a worker in the Nigerian oil sector, don’t you think Nigeria needs you more than the United States? In fact, I’m going to be 100 per cent honest with you. When I left this country, before I got my visa, I was asked, ‘Are you going to come back to this country?’ In all honesty, I answered, ‘Yes’, not because I was planning to migrate to a different country but because I actually wanted to gain the knowledge. But the rest is history. Nigeria has lost a lot of human resources like myself not because we do not want to come back to Nigeria to reinforce that learning but because Nigeria hasn’t created the foundation or the capacity to retain us. So, at this point, until that happens, Nigeria will continue to lose its best. Unfortunately, there are people who are ready to pay 200 times...but it’s not about the money, it’s more about one’s stability. I mean, I could easily work at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, but guess what? I visited Owerri a few days ago to give a lecture at my alma mater; I gave the same talk at the University of Lagos. I’ve not been to FUTO in many years but to get there, the roads were completely in a terrible shape. But somehow we were able to manoeuvre our way through some bush path to get into the university. And this is a federal university. If I work under that kind of atmosphere, I don’t think I will be as productive as I am today. That alone is already a bottleneck for me as a researcher. So I want an environment where I can strive. You’ve been promoting educational consultancy through the Blacks in Advanced Additive Manufacturing. What is it all about? I’m not promoting educational consultancy through Blacks in Additive Manufacturing. That is rather a product of Graduate Excel. So, BiAM is a non-profit organisation that is inspired by promoting and empowering under-represented groups specifically in Advanced Additive Manufacturing. Advanced Additive Manufacturing is strictly “printing”. It’s unlike conventional manufacturing like blowing, extrusion, or casting. Additive Manufacturing is new, so there is no adequate representation of black people in Additive Manufacturing. And that is how Blacks in Additive Manufacturing started. Currently, Blacks in Additive Manufacturing is sponsored by huge manufacturing organizations like the Society for Manufacturing Engineers, which is the largest manufacturing society in the world; and some other groups like the American Society of Manufacturing Engineering. Now, specifically if you are talking about my consultancy product, which is Graduate Excel; that goes back to the roadblocks and bottlenecks that I had in the past. And that started from when I realized that I wanted to study abroad. And I wanted to get a PhD in engineering but I didn’t know how to go about that. At a point there were little or no resources. This was about 14 to 15 years ago when I wanted to explore my graduate path. So I struggled and looked for resources on my own and I realised that I had to take the Graduate Record Examination; I found how to write a Statement of Purpose (SOP). These are documents you need to submit as part of your application. I did all that without any clear resource or help or mentorship or guardian. And that was really painful. So what the Graduate Excel does is that it creates a mentorship programme for aspiring scholars who are usually international students, specifically, African international students. We mentor them in writing personal statements, guiding them in resume writing and structuring application clearly in terms of what programme fits them best. Some students who want to do a masters or PhD are not so sure if they can get into the programmes right from undergraduate level. That is me giving back specifically to people in Africa to navigate the graduate school huddles. Do you do this for a fee? Yes, I mean, it’s my time, and I want to see commitments from prospective students as well because it’s a professional consultation. Of course I’m not part of any admission committee and as such I can’t guarantee that they will get any admission but I can assist them, making sure that their package is competitive because they are competing against other people from around the globe for the same spot. So they have to come out with highly competitive applications in order to get excellent reviews from the graduate committee. What does it cost to access the Graduate Excel consultancy service? It changes, but we have a management team that takes care of pricing. I’m not entirely sure I can give you the figures but if you go on my website, the products and pricing should be listed there. The pricing compares with those offered by people who are rendering similar services, but at this point, I don’t see any competitor because I’m the only one as far as I know, who can give real professional advice on what it actually takes to write a graduate school application because I’m right at the middle of the system. Because I’m in the system, I can give those ‘insider secrets’. Does this mentorship also guarantee job opportunities for students in the United States? Good question. This mentorship is not just limited to applying to university and post graduate mentorship. I could also mentor on resume revamping, professional consultation on career path options and mentor student and see how we can say, for instance people who read Economics or Business Finance and they want to transition to IT, I’m able to tell them the right courses they should do because you know, IT is a game changer because everyone is transitioning into that. So what kind of responses have you been getting from Africa particularly from prospective scholars in Nigeria? I’m not going to brag about this, but we just launched this officially in March or April this year, and there are a lot of followers on Instagram, Facebook and our other social media platforms. You need to see what our inbox looks like in terms of inquiries on how people can come into our mentorship programme. I think generally, Nigerians, Africans are very passionate in terms of pathways and options on how to study abroad.If there’s something you’ve been thinking about buying in 2024, now is probably the time -- the after-Christmas sales are often the best of the year, and a store like Target has, literally, thousands of items on sale now. Like other stores, holiday décor represents some of the biggest sale opportunities at Target, but the retailer has much more discounted across all categories, including furniture, tech and appliances. Shoppers should browse the post-Christmas discounts AND the 2024 clearance sale , which has the most bargain basement prices and began on Dec. 26. “What I love about clearance is seeing all of the different reasons people shop at Target as the holiday season winds down,” said Rick Gomez, executive vice president and chief commercial officer, Target. “Whether you’re celebrating later, using a new gift card or getting a jump start on next year, we have deep discounts across our entire assortment to make it easy for everyone to find great deals and extend the joy of the holiday season.” To get a sense of how strong the deals are, below are a mix of our top picks: Item is discounted in the 2024 after-Christmas sale. Target.com Apple AirPods Pro 2 with Active Noise Cancellation Was: $249.99 Now: $189.99 Beats Solo 4 Bluetooth Wireless On-Ear Headphones Was: $199.99 Now: $99.99 EA SPORTS Madden 25 - PlayStation 5 Was: $69.99 Now: $34.99 SUGIFT 2 Pack Camping Cot for Adults with Carry Bag and Pad Was: $349.99 Now: $129.99 FAO Schwarz Inflatable Dome Princess Toy Tent Was: $29.99 Now: $20.99 Keurig K-Mini Go, Multicup Reservoir Single-Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker with Strong Brew Button Was: $99.99 Now: $69.99 Item is discounted in the 2024 after-Christmas sale. Target.com Gourmia 6-Qt Digital Window Air Fryer with 12 Presets & Guided Cooking Black: Stainless Steel, 1-Year Warranty Was: $69.99 Now: $34.99 Item is discounted in the 2024 after-Christmas sale. Target.com Best Choice Products Linen Sectional Sofa Couch w/ Chaise Lounge, Reversible Ottoman Bench Was: $833.99 Now: $299.99 Item is discounted in the 2024 after-Christmas sale. Target.com Mid-Century Modern Accent Chair Fabric Upholstered Armchair Wooden Sofa Chair | FIRNEWST | Beige Was: $699.99 Now: $109.99 Oval Storage Ottoman with Rubberwood Legs - ModernLuxe Was: $389.99 Now: $136.99 Item is discounted in the 2024 after-Christmas sale. Target.com SONGMICS Shoe Boxes Clear Stackable Plastic Shoe Storage Boxes with Lids 12 Pack Shoe Organizers For Closet Was: $99.99 Now: $40.99 GTPLAYER Ergonomic Gaming Chair with Footrest, Lumbar Support, Breathable Computer Chair with Pocket Spring Cushion, Chairs for Adults Was: $219.99 Now: $129.99 Item is discounted in the 2024 after-Christmas sale. Target.com Dyson V8 Origin Cordless Stick Vacuum: Multi-Surface, Cyclonic Action, Bagless, 40 Min Run Time, Lithium Ion Battery, Red Was: $429.99 Now: $259.99 iRobot Roomba Combo Essential Robot (Y01420): Smart Mapping, Cordless, Pet Hair Pick Up, Multi-Surface, Rechargeable Was: $274.99 Now: $159.99 Shark ION Wi-Fi Connected Robot Vacuum - RV765: Smart App Control, Pet Hair, Multi-Surface, 120 Min Run Time Was: $259.99 Now: $129.99 Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven Stainless Steel CTOA-122: 1800W, Convection Bake, Broiler, Cool Touch, 3-Year Warranty Was: $229.99 Now: $99.99
Women’s basketball: Short-handed CU Buffs roll past Southern Utah
NoneThey have seen him smiling on a hostel security camera, but don’t know his name. They found the backpack he discarded while fleeing, but don’t know where he's gone. As the search for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson ’s killer goes on, investigators are reckoning with a tantalizing dichotomy: They have troves of evidence, but the shooter remains an enigma. > 24/7 San Diego news stream: Watch NBC 7 free wherever you are Police don’t know who he is, where he is, or why he did it, though they are confident it was a targeted attack instead of a random act. “The net is tightening,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Saturday. Hours after he spoke, 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 bag there Friday. 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. Retracing the gunman’s steps using surveillance video, police say, it appears he left the city by bus soon after the shooting Wednesday morning outside the New York Hilton Midtown. He was seen on video at an uptown bus station about 45 minutes later, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph 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 provided no updates on the hunt Saturday, but investigators are urging patience — even with a killer on the loose. 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. “This isn’t ‘Blue Bloods.’ We’re not going to solve this in 60 minutes," Kenny told reporters Friday. “We’re painstakingly going through every bit of evidence that we can come across.” The shooter paid cash at the hostel, presented what police believe was a fake ID and is believed to have paid cash for taxi rides and other transactions. He didn't speak to others at the hostel and almost always kept his face covered with a mask, only lowering it while eating. But investigators caught a break when they came across security camera images of an unguarded moment in which he briefly showed his face soon after arriving in New York on Nov. 24. 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. On Friday evening, investigators found a backpack in Central Park that had been worn by the gunman, police said. They didn’t immediately reveal what, if anything, it contained but said it would be tested and analyzed. Another potential clue, a fingerprint on an item he purchased at a Starbucks minutes before the shooting, has so far proven useless for identifying him, Kenny said. Aided by surveillance cameras on nearly every building and block, police have been able to retrace the shooter’s movements. They know he ambushed Thompson at 6:44 a.m. 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. Where is the UnitedHealthcare CEO killer? NYPD detectives follow leads to Atlanta A timeline of the UnitedHealthcare CEO's killing and suspect's known movements FBI offers up to $50K for information as search for UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect continues Kenny said 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. Investigators know from surveillance video that the shooter fled into Central Park on a bicycle and ditched it around 7 a.m. near 85th Street. He then walked a couple blocks and got into a taxi, arriving at 7:30 a.m. at the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, which is near the northern tip of Manhattan and offers commuter service to New Jersey and Greyhound routes to Philadelphia, Boston and Washington. Investigators don't know what happened next. They are searching through more surveillance video but have yet to locate video of the shooter getting on a bus or exiting the station. “We have reason to believe that the person in question has left New York City,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told CNN on Friday. Police have determined from video that the gunman was in the city for 10 days before the shooting. He arrived at Manhattan’s main bus terminal on a Greyhound bus that originated in Atlanta, though it's not clear whether he embarked there or at one of about a half-dozen stops along the route. Immediately after that, he took a cab to the vicinity of the Hilton and was there for about a half hour, Kenny said. At around 11 p.m. on the night he arrived, he went by taxi to the HI New York City Hostel. It was there, while speaking with an employee in the lobby, that he briefly pulled down the mask and smiled, giving investigators the brief glimpse they are now relying on to identify and capture a killer.NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose to records Tuesday after Donald Trump’s latest talk about tariffs created only some ripples on Wall Street, even if they could roil the global economy were they to take effect. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to top the all-time high it set a couple weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 123 points, or 0.3%, to its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.6% as Microsoft and Big Tech led the way. Stock markets abroad mostly fell after President-elect Trump said he plans to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China once he takes office. But the movements were mostly modest. Stock indexes were down 0.1% in Shanghai and nearly flat in Hong Kong, while Canada’s main index edged down by less than 0.1%. Trump has often praised the use of tariffs , but investors are weighing whether his latest threat will actually become policy or is just an opening point for negotiations. For now, the market seems to be taking it more as the latter. The consequences otherwise for markets and the global economy could be painful. Unless the United States can prepare alternatives for the autos, energy products and other goods that come from Mexico, Canada and China, such tariffs would raise the price of imported items all at once and make households poorer, according to Carl Weinberg and Rubeela Farooqi, economists at High Frequency Economics. They would also hurt profit margins for U.S. companies, while raising the threat of retaliatory tariffs by other countries. And unlike tariffs in Trump’s first term, his latest proposal would affect products across the board. General Motors sank 9%, and Ford Motor fell 2.6% because both import automobiles from Mexico. Constellation Brands, which sells Modelo and other Mexican beer brands in the United States, dropped 3.3%. The value of the Mexican peso fell 1.8% against the U.S. dollar. Beyond the pain such tariffs would cause U.S. households and businesses, they could also push the Federal Reserve to slow or even halt its cuts to interest rates. The Fed had just begun easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high a couple months ago to offer support for the job market . While lower interest rates can boost the economy, they can also offer more fuel for inflation. “Many” officials at the Fed’s last meeting earlier this month said they should lower rates gradually, according to minutes of the meeting released Tuesday afternoon. The talk about tariffs overshadowed another mixed set of profit reports from U.S. retailers that answered few questions about how much more shoppers can keep spending. They’ll need to stay resilient after helping the economy avoid a recession, despite the high interest rates imposed by the Fed to get inflation under control. A report on Tuesday from the Conference Board said confidence among U.S. consumers improved in November, but not by as much as economists expected. Kohl’s tumbled 17% after its results for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations. CEO Tom Kingsbury said sales remain soft for apparel and footwear. A day earlier, Kingsbury said he plans to step down as CEO in January. Ashley Buchanan, CEO of Michaels and a retail veteran, will replace him. Best Buy fell 4.9% after likewise falling short of analysts’ expectations. Dick’s Sporting Goods topped forecasts for the latest quarter thanks to a strong back-to-school season, but its stock lost an early gain to fall 1.4%. Still, more stocks rose in the S&P 500 than fell. J.M. Smucker had one of the biggest gains and climbed 5.7% after topping analysts’ expectations for the latest quarter. CEO Mark Smucker credited strength for its Uncrustables, Meow Mix, Café Bustelo and Jif brands. Big Tech stocks also helped prop up U.S. indexes. Gains of 3.2% for Amazon and 2.2% for Microsoft were the two strongest forces lifting the S&P 500. All told, the S&P 500 rose 34.26 points to 6,021.63. The Dow gained 123.74 to 44,860.31, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 119.46 to 19,174.30. In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady following their big drop from a day before driven by relief following Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary. The yield on the 10-year Treasury inched up to 4.29% from 4.28% late Monday, but it’s still well below the 4.41% level where it ended last week. In the crypto market, bitcoin continued to pull back after topping $99,000 for the first time late last week. It’s since dipped back toward $91,000, according to CoinDesk. It’s a sharp turnaround from the bonanza that initially took over the crypto market following Trump’s election. That boom had also appeared to have spilled into some corners of the stock market. Strategists at Barclays Capital pointed to stocks of unprofitable companies, along with other areas that can be caught up in bursts of optimism by smaller-pocketed “retail” investors. AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Ahead of the upcoming Assembly election, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday announced a campaign to publicise the subsidised services provided by the Delhi government. The drive — ‘Revri par charcha’ — will be run from November 25 to December 10, during which party workers will hold 65,000 public meetings across the city to inform residents about the “freebies” or “revris” provided by the AAP government. The campaign takes its name from a comment made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2022, when he, in an apparent dig at AAP, said that “revri culture” had saddened the average taxpayer. Mr. Kejriwal has since raised the issue several times, connecting the rising inflation with the need for subsidised services. Last month, the former Delhi Chief Minister likened himself to a “halwai” [confectioner] “who has given six free revri s to citizens of Delhi — electricity, education, water, health care, pilgrimage for the elderly, and bus travel for women”. Addressing party workers, Mr. Kejriwal said, “We’re soon going to introduce a seventh revri : ₹1,000 per month for every woman.” He added that the party’s district and booth-level office-bearers will reach out to voters during the 19-day drive “to make people understand what these free facilities mean and how only AAP can provide them”. The AAP chief said the BJP does not provide any of the six free services in even one of the 20 States where it is in power. “Moreover, it is the BJP’s commitment to stop all the free revri s in Delhi.” He also said that AAP workers will ask voters what the BJP, which is in power at the Centre, has done for Delhi in the past 10 years as “the national capital is a half-State and the Central government has as many powers as we do”. ‘People’s right’ Attacking Delhi’s ruling party over its poll drive, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva accused the AAP government of blocking city dwellers’ access to the Central government schemes, such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, and PM Vishwakarma Yojana. “Receiving the benefits of public welfare schemes is the right of every Delhiite. If BJP comes to power, it will ensure that these rights are upheld, all Central government schemes are implemented, and the scope of the existing State government schemes is expanded,” said Mr. Sachdeva. Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav said that even after being in power for over 10 years, the AAP government is being forced to promote its schemes “as there was nothing visible to the residents of the Capital”. Published - November 23, 2024 01:46 am IST Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Delhi / election / politics / state politics / politics (general)Portland City Council has all of its 12 members for 2025Syria rebels enter strategic city of Homs
The TOI Entertainment Desk is a dynamic and dedicated team of journalists, working tirelessly to bring the pulse of the entertainment world straight to the readers of The Times of India. No red carpet goes unrolled, no stage goes dark - our team spans the globe, bringing you the latest scoops and insider insights from Bollywood to Hollywood, and every entertainment hotspot in between. We don't just report; we tell tales of stardom and stories untold. Whether it's the rise of a new sensation or the seasoned journey of an industry veteran, the TOI Entertainment Desk is your front-row seat to the fascinating narratives that shape the entertainment landscape. Beyond the breaking news, we present a celebration of culture. We explore the intersections of entertainment with society, politics, and everyday life. Read More 10 street foods to enjoy in Jaipur Charming pictures of Daisy Shah Weekend Special: How to make Multigrain Thaalipeeth 10 signs your best friend is drifting apart Keerthy Suresh’s ethnic wear styles are perfectly tailored for wedding season 10 quotes about love and loss from famous books and classics Mark Twain's timeless quotes on love and life Uttarakhand: 8 most iconic temples in Devbhoomi How to grow Kiwi from seeds in the balcony garden
After-hours movers: Zscaler, Honeywell, Microchip Technology and moreMINOT — Measure 4, a constitutional amendment to abolish taxes on property values, went down in flames last month, with more than 63% of North Dakotans saying "no." The measure campaign, called End Unfair Property Tax, was organized by former state lawmaker Rick Becker. It failed to win even a single county. The closest the measure got to a majority anywhere in the state was just over 47% of the vote in Ward County. ADVERTISEMENT It lost, I think, not because North Dakotans, who are perpetually aggrieved with their property taxes, are necessarily against change, but because of two factors. The first, and somewhat less important reason, is that the spokesman for the campaign was Becker, a deeply polarizing and unpopular political figure. The second and far more critical issue is that the proposal gave voters no inkling as to what might replace the current property tax regime. Would it be another form of property tax? Would other taxes or fees go up? Could we be assured of efficiently funding local projects and keeping some semblance of local control? In essence, voters needed to know they wouldn't be jumping out of the frying pan of the status quo and into the fires of the unknown. Becker and the Measure 4 campaign couldn't deliver any convincing assurances. So Measure 4 flopped, but we're about to have a significant debate about property tax reform during the coming legislative session. And you know what? Even though Measure 4 was a very bad idea, some of the ideas its supporters are kicking around are worth taking seriously. A reader forwarded to me the minutes from the last of the Measure 4 committee's meetings, which was held Nov. 19 in Minot. In addition to closing out the books on their campaign, the committee discussed what sort of reforms they would and would not support going forward. The things they say they'll support? And what won't the committee members support? ADVERTISEMENT I'm impressed, given what an astoundingly bad idea Measure 4 was. I should note that some of the property tax proposals that have been made public are already coalescing around some of these ideas. Rep. Scott Louser, R-Minot, for instance, is proposing legislation that would have the state take over K-12 funding (Louser estimates that this would be a 25% to 50% reduction in property tax bills, depending on where you live), coupled with a cap on taxes that could be rolled over from budget cycle to budget cycle if a governing entity doesn't use its full tax. There will be more proposals — there are already dozens of drafts ready to be filed ahead of the regular session — but what the Measure 4 committee is backing serves as a good framework for what reform should look like. "The things they support are very much in line with things I support," one person who worked on the campaign against Measure 4 told me. Caps, at this point, are a given. State lawmakers have appropriated billions to buy down property taxes, but I'm not sure many North Dakotans can say they've felt the relief. Expect lobbyists for local governing interests to fight hard against them, but every lawmaker I've spoken to since Election Day has indicated to me that caps are all but assured. But the calls for ending foreclosures and reforming tax exemptions? Those are superb ideas and should be central to any property tax package from this legislative session. Property tax foreclosures don't happen very often, but they do happen, and what happens more frequently is that someone who can't afford the property taxes voluntarily sells before reaching the point of foreclosure. Moving to liens provides adequate accountability for failure to pay without the draconian step of foreclosure. Taking a hard look at property tax exemptions, too, is a good idea. We can start with a simple question: Are they actually working? Have they had measurable success? If not, ax them, but even if they can be said to be working, are they worth the cost? Every new property tax exemption narrows the property tax base and puts upward pressure on the bills of every taxpayer who didn't receive an exemption. ADVERTISEMENT Good tax policy consists of taxes that are broad, simple and low. Property taxes in North Dakota have increasingly become narrow, complicated and high. Exemptions are a part of that problem. Again, Measure 4 was a bad idea, and I'm glad it failed, but the committee backing it has some good ideas on how we move forward. They deserve credit for that.
We have recognized before that the policy of hostility towards Cuba has been a mistake. First of all, because it never worked to achieve its objectives. But also because it was counterproductive... We know that Cuban policy does not automatically align itself with the enemies of the United States; and that it is not fair to have put Cuba on the list of terrorist countries, where none of our allies have it. If Cuba feels like a besieged fortress, and fears that its opponents are at the service of a foreign power, we would like to reiterate that it will have no reason to perceive any threat from us... That is why we have invited a group of young students and professors from public universities, doctors, farmers, businesspeople, communicators, artists, scientists, religious people from various states, some of whom have already initiated exchanges with Cuba on their own, to accompany us in this meeting, so that they may take part in this new dialogue between civil societies on both shores. A dialogue that should not be limited, naturally, to the non-state sector, but should include primary and secondary school teachers, university professors, health specialists, journalists from public media, People’s Power delegates, diplomats, experts in law and public order, leaders of the Communist Party of Cuba and the Young Communist League, all of whom also constitute the human capital of the new Cuba. We witnessed how the previous administration poisoned the atmosphere of understanding achieved in 25 months of intense negotiations, and recharged it with the sound and fury of the worst moments of the Cold War; it closed the doors of the consulate in Havana to the relatives of Cuban immigrants in the United States; it restricted air traffic between our airports and those of the Cuban provinces; it interrupted the people-to-people exchange policy; it severely limited remittances, and put the channels for their delivery in crisis; finally, it obliquely encouraged rhetoric hostile to normalization within Cuba itself. This is how I imagined, in the first hundred days of his administration, a speech by Joe Biden in Havana. I reproduce it here, not only to illustrate how one makes mistakes at the beginning of a government, but to remember the lost opportunities and the policies not rectified at the time; and how history never stops taking its toll. In all fairness, when Biden and Harris took office in January 2021, all the forecasts were optimistic, not just mine. From “anything will be better than Trump” to “he will pick up where relations left off under Obama.” And so on. But those predictions were nothing more than calculations and opinions based on the U.S.-Cuba rapprochement under Obama, of whose administration the new president and numerous appointees in his new government had been part. However, it was not known how those same people were going to act in their new roles, and in the context of a work team that was beginning its first term. The advantage we have now regarding the future is that we do know how President Trump behaved in his previous government; and how Biden’s behaved. Let’s see how much we can extract from a cold assessment, which allows us to think about the present and the foreseeable future, so as not to make mistakes again, by excess or by default. Related Posts Antidotes to Trump? 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Notes for a political sociology October 26, 2024 Notes on the far right October 12, 2024 Mexico and us September 26, 2024 var jnews_module_313515_0_673fcc88216a1 = {"header_icon":"","first_title":"Related Posts","second_title":"","url":"","header_type":"heading_1","header_background":"","header_secondary_background":"","header_text_color":"","header_line_color":"","header_accent_color":"","header_filter_category":"","header_filter_author":"","header_filter_tag":"","header_filter_text":"All","post_type":"post","content_type":"all","number_post":"4","post_offset":0,"unique_content":"disable","include_post":"","exclude_post":313515,"include_category":"34473","exclude_category":"","include_author":"","include_tag":"","exclude_tag":"","sort_by":"latest","date_format":"default","date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","force_normal_image_load":"","pagination_mode":"nextprev","pagination_nextprev_showtext":"","pagination_number_post":"4","pagination_scroll_limit":0,"boxed":"","boxed_shadow":"","el_id":"","el_class":"","scheme":"","column_width":"auto","title_color":"","accent_color":"","alt_color":"","excerpt_color":"","css":"","paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_21"}; The hostility of the Trump administration was not long in coming. Within the first 100 days, the Treasury Department put Cuba on a list of countries that favor money laundering, and just five months after taking office, the president proclaimed in Miami that he was “canceling President Obama’s completely unilateral agreement with Cuba,” “firmly limiting the money that flows to the military services” [remittances], as well as “enforcing the ban on tourism” [people-to-people individual visits and cruises ]. Trump’s changes At that gathering of “Cuban-American brotherhood” at Miami’s Manuel Artime Theater, the new president would make clear, however, that he would maintain “safeguards to prevent Cubans from risking their lives by traveling illegally to the United States” [ the cancellation of the dry foot/wet foot policy ], as well as “our Embassy open with the hope that our countries can forge a much stronger and better path.” The most radical action in Trump’s turn toward Cuba occurred in August of his first year: the affair of the “ sonic attacks ” against U.S. diplomats and representatives in Havana. This affair served to reduce the staff at its Embassy in Havana to a minimum and to suspend de facto the processing of immigrant visas, agreed since 1995. I have no space to dwell here on the boom of conspiracy speculations unleashed among many commentators on bilateral relations, attributing those strange and never verified “neurological damages” of the supposed victims to the surreptitious action of a mysterious “external” or internal factor (“the Cuban G2”). The harvest of the so-called “Havana syndrome,” harvested by respectable news agencies and periodicals, and quickly replicated in Beijing and other propitious places, with a true cloud of covert actions attributed to incarnations of the evil empire (Russia, North Korea, Iran), vanished into nothingness. However, its direct consequences in the interruption of the Cuban migratory flow to the United States and the deterrent effect among possible visitors, extended for more than five years, were very tangible. In November of that first year, 2017, the U.S. government launched its first blacklist of “prohibited Cuban organizations and companies” (179), including the Ministry of the Armed Forces and Ministry of the Interior, agencies, companies, hotels, etc. This inquisitorial index grew until it reached almost 250. I believe that, at this point, there is only one hotel in Havana where visiting Americans can legally stay. The second event that would mark the extent of Trump’s hostility towards Cuba was his failure to sign the suspension of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act in May 2019. The decision, which not even the George W. Bush administration had adopted, left the door open to a frenzy of lawsuits against third-country interests, which could be presented not only by U.S. firms nationalized in 1959-60, but by affected Cubans (who at the time were not U.S. citizens), including, say, members of the Batista dictatorship whose embezzled property was confiscated in 1959. Naturally, most experts predicted a wave of lawsuits against Cuba’s numerous foreign investors and trade partners. It is difficult to measure the psychological inhibitory effect that this application of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act could have, in 2019 and subsequently, on these potential businesses. However, expectations about the wave of lawsuits were not met; and some that seemed to be initiated were resolved by agreement between the parties. This observation does not underestimate their negative impact, it only attempts to establish the effectiveness and scope of these hostile measures. A striking example was the litigation against large Cuban-American businessmen, the Fanjul brothers, for having bought Cuban sugar from London, which the claimant finally abandoned . Subsequently, the number of remittances was again restricted, people-to-people visits and direct flights to the provinces were canceled, dozens of vessels transporting crude oil to Cuba were blacklisted, new Cuban entities were included among those prohibited, the agreement was canceled between both sides so that players residing on the island could participate in the Major Leagues, numerous European companies were fined for transactions with Cuban institutions, Cuba was classified in the worst category of countries that practice “human trafficking.” In his last year in the White House, the Trump administration banned Western Union from sending remittances to the island , put Cuba on the list of “countries that do not cooperate in the fight against terrorism,” put us on the highest “risk alert category for visits by U.S. citizens,” prohibited them from bringing rum and tobacco from the island in their suitcases, eliminated the general license to attend conferences, sports competitions, art exhibitions, etc.; extended restrictions on funds for cultural and educational exchanges, and kept us on the watch list of “governments that have participated in or tolerated systematic, continuous, and atrocious violations of religious freedom.” Ten days before leaving the presidency, Trump made sure that Cuba remained on the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism. How many of these measures have been dismantled by Biden in his first and only term, as announced just days after taking office? Very few and none of the main ones. Quite the opposite. Despite having declared himself “committed to reviewing the previous administration’s policy decisions, including that of designating Cuba as a sponsor of terrorism,” the island was never removed from that list. The regulations established would prevent supplies of spare parts for the main Cuban thermoelectric plants by European companies, as well as equipment for transportation services. About a hundred banks blocked accounts and transactions related to Cuba, including humanitarian donations; fines were imposed on accommodation agencies such as Airbnb for violating prohibitions on categories of travelers; the Cuban government was accused of nothing less than “interfering in the US elections”; the inclusion of the island on the list of countries “that do not do enough to prevent human trafficking” was maintained, alleging that “medical missions abroad” presented “strong signs of forced labor.” The blockade policy did not give way even in exceptional situations, such as the fire at the Supertanker Base in Matanzas . I have previously commented, with references from the Foreign Ministry itself and from U.S. diplomats in Havana, on the instructions and actions aimed at directly supporting the opposition, since before the demonstrations of July 11, 2021 . To a large extent, this interventionist and hostile tone, initiated under Trump, and reflected even in the discourse of President Biden himself, was further reinforced from that moment on, marking the climate of relations from then on. The Biden administration kept the flame of the “Havana syndrome” alive, granting compensation to “the victims,” without advancing a serious investigation into the problem itself, but rather prolonging the closure of consular services for visa processing, and breaching the migration agreement, until relatively recently. For four years, the Trump administration continued to “study” the exclusion of Cuba from all blacklists, in particular, those of terrorist countries, practitioners of “slave labor,” “human trafficking,” and other that were equally disconcerting, and lacking the endorsement of any of its allies. Derived from this meticulous and incomplete inventory, a couple of conclusions jump out. The first is that the Trump administration applied practically everything imaginable in the U.S. arsenal, except military force, to isolate, erode, destabilize, and subvert not only the Cuban government but the system itself. It is difficult to conceive of new measures that, in the next four years, could catch Cuba and Cubans off guard. Although the old ones can continue to cause a lot of damage, especially today, experience shows, for the hundredth time, that they do not achieve more than what dialogue does, and that they also affect not only the government and residents in Cuba but also emigrants and their descendants in the United States. The second is that the Biden administration, despite integrating decision-makers from the Obama administration, not only did not want to resume that policy but, by omission and also by conviction, in fact, adopted Trump’s logic. The explanation that its hands have been full of all kinds of global and regional conflicts and challenges is not enough to justify this fidelity to a Cold War pattern towards Cuba as the one that is maintained, not only in the facts but even in his rhetoric, very similar to that of Trump. For Cuba, in practical terms, never as now has it been more evident that the policy of force and exclusion has a bipartisan character, that it continues in the logic of the so-called deep state, the bureaucracies in charge of implementing it, regardless of who is in the White House. A week before the end of his term in January 2017, Obama signed an agreement with Cuba ending the wet foot/dry foot policy (which he had previously refused to adopt, arguing that the Adjustment Act prevented it). And less than 48 hours after handing over the presidency to Trump, a company made an export to the United States (40 tons of vegetable charcoal from that shrub known as marabú in Cuba), the first in more than half a century. This administration has only 60 days left in government. How many executive measures could it adopt to reduce some of the most irrational and counterproductive areas of this bipartisan policy, based on exclusion and force? While this remains unfulfilled, the Cuban government, political system, and society, under the shock of Trump’s sweeping victory, are experiencing the anticipated tension in the face of what is to come. Typically, the syndrome of the besieged fortress will tend to increase. From experience, we Cubans know that this syndrome is not at all favorable to change. It is time to think carefully, with a cool head, about what can be done to control this damage. Tags: donald trump featured Joe Biden Trump Measurements