Hardly any PM would have done so much for J&K: Omar Abdullah praises Manmohan Singh for his contributionsFlood warnings were issued after heavy rainfall and melting snow caused river levels to rise rapidly in West Yorkshire, as Storm Bert swept across the region. Twelve warnings were in place along the River Calder around Hebden Bridge and Todmorden, where sirens sounded on Saturday afternoon River levels there peaked at about 16:00 GMT, according to the Environment Agency, with people advised to consider moving household valuables upstairs. A yellow weather warning for rain is in place for parts of West and South Yorkshire until 07:00 on Sunday, with the wintry weather causing travel disruption and leaving around 1,500 homes without power earlier. River levels at Todmorden and Hebden Bridge had exceeded 2.4m (7.9ft) by 17:00 on Saturday, according to the Environment Agency website. At Mytholmroyd, the river level exceeded 4.3m. The agency said flooding of properties was possible at over 4.4m. The Environment Agency said: “Our focus of attention is the Calder Valley, where flood warnings have been issued and sirens sounded. "Minor impacts are possible more widely across Yorkshire, which may continue in places until Tuesday. The overall flood risk is low. "Teams are out on the ground, clearing grids and checking flood defence assets to ensure they're ready to respond if needed." The agency added: "Consider taking appropriate steps to prepare for possible flooding, such as moving things upstairs and getting flood protection equipment ready to put in place." The A646 was closed in both directions from Shaw Wood Road in Todmorden to Church Lane in Hebden Bridge. Calderdale Council said Centre Vale Park, in Todmorden, was closed to allow flood gates to open to help manage river levels. People were advised to avoid the area. Many pubs and businesses were shut in Hebden Bridge due to the risk of flooding. Hebden Bridge Flood Action Group said the Town Hall was open to anyone who found themselves stranded and needed a place to be warm and dry. Josh Fenton-Glynn, the MP for Calder Valley, was in Hebden Bridge to speak to residents. He said: "We have seen some flooding but we're not as bad as 2020 or 2015. Hopefully if people are sensible and stay at home we'll be OK." Earlier in the day, heavy snowfall caused difficulties for motorists. On the M1, one lane was closed northbound between Junction 38 for Huddersfield and junction 39 for Wakefield, with images on social media showing a HGV, which appeared to have slid down an embankment towards the motorway. West Yorkshire Police said the lorry driver was uninjured and the road reopened at 10:15 after the vehicle was removed. Meanwhile, Northern Powergrid said about 1,500 properties had lost power across North and West Yorkshire. The company said it had been "restoring power as quickly as we can" to those affected. The runway was shut at Leeds Bradford Airport earlier. Several flights were heavily delayed, while passengers travelling to Warsaw and Belfast saw their flights cancelled. Some arrivals were diverted to other airports. Train operator Northern was also affected. In sport, Bradford City's match against Accrington Stanley and Halifax Town's clash with Sutton United were postponed. Scarborough Athletic's game against Kidderminster Harriers was also called off. "Particularly exposed parts" of the East Yorkshire coastline between Bridlington and Barmston were covered by another flood alert. Drivers and pedestrians in those areas were advised to take care.
Same glitz and glamour for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and perhaps another Verstappen championshipApollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. ( NYSE:ARI – Get Free Report ) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 10th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has raised its dividend payment by an average of 21.3% annually over the last three years. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a dividend payout ratio of 117.6% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance to earn $0.76 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 131.6%. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Stock Down 1.8 % ARI opened at $8.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 46.13, a quick ratio of 46.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.65. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a 1-year low of $8.52 and a 1-year high of $12.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of -9.67 and a beta of 1.75. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Check Out Our Latest Report on ARI About Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance ( Get Free Report ) Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that originates, acquires, invests in, and manages commercial first mortgage loans, subordinate financings, and other commercial real estate-related debt investments in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
ATLANTA — Aaron Philo scrambled for a go-ahead 18-yard touchdown run with 22 seconds remaining and Georgia Tech escaped with a 30-29 win over N.C. State on Thursday night after losing the lead with less than 2 minutes remaining. Georgia Tech (7-4, 5-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) lost the lead with 1:30 remaining when Hollywood Smothers broke free for a 53-yard touchdown run for N.C. State (5-6, 2-5). Following Philo's go-ahead scoring run, the Wolfpack moved to the Georgia Tech 41 but Collin Smith's last-second, 58-yard field goal attempt was wide left. The Wolfpack had three scoring runs by freshman quarterback CJ Bailey, but Bailey also threw three interceptions. E.J. Lightsey returned an interception 21 yards for a touchdown for Georgia Tech, which led 23-21 before Smothers' go-ahead scoring run. Bailey ran for a 2-point conversion as N.C. State (6-5, 3-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) became bowl eligible. Romello Height's interception of a Bailey pass with 6:44 remaining set up Haynes King's 3-yard scoring run. Georgia Tech capped a perfect 5-0 home schedule at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The Wolfpack fell short in their bid to become bowl eligible. Georgia Tech linebacker Trenilyas Tatum (0) blocks a pass thrown by North Carolina State quarterback CJ Bailey (16) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Atlanta. Credit: AP/Brynn Anderson Bailey showed his athleticism on his 16-yard scoring run late in the opening quarter and a 28-yard touchdown scamper on the first play of the fourth. Georgia Tech led only 13-7 at halftime after being held without an offensive touchdown. Aidan Birr kicked field goals of 44 and 41 yards. Birr added a 45-yarder in the third quarter for a 16-7 lead. The kick was set up by Aaron Philo's 49-yard pass to Eric Singleton. The takeaway N.C. State: Bailey, who became the starter when Grayson McCall retired following concussion issues, couldn't lead a consistent drive in the first half other than on his inventive scoring run. He threw two interceptions, including the one returned for a touchdown by Lightsey. ... DE Davin Vann was knocked out of the game with an injury early in the second period. Vann, who leads the nation with five forced fumbles, was escorted to the locker room. Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets struggled to establish their running game after rushing for 281 yards in their 28-23 upset of then-No. 4 Miami on Nov. 9. Jamal Haynes ran for only 36 yards on 13 carries and King ran for only 18 yards on eight carries while Philo handled most of the snaps at quarterback. Georgia Tech linebacker Trenilyas Tatum (0) blocks a pass thrown by North Carolina State quarterback CJ Bailey (16) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Atlanta. Credit: AP/Brynn Anderson Up next N.C. State: Closes its regular season at North Carolina on Nov. 30. Georgia Tech: Plays at No. 8 Georgia on Nov. 29.Japan libraries to trial book sales amid decline in bookstores
Unlocking the Hidden Potential of this Semiconductor GiantJimmy Carter, the 39th president and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, has died at 100
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has insisted that "everything that can be done" to cope with the severe pressure on hospitals is being done, as ambulances queue up outside packed A&Es across Northern Ireland. The Department of Health, in a statement on Sunday afternoon, said the health and social care system "continues to experience severe pressure on services". A Stormont spokesperson said priority will be given to "immediately life-threatening" cases as medics struggle to cope with the influx of patients. Read more: Northern Ireland ambulances queuing outside EDs as patients wait hours to be seen Read more: Details of all health and social care services available in NI over Christmas and New Year Mr Nesbitt pointed to flu and the need for "longer term solutions" including both wider reform of the health service and an increase in funding. Last night, patients waited up to nine hours on an ambulance as crews were forced to queue outside Emergency Departments to hand over patients. In a statement today, a spokesperson for the Stormont health department said: "The health and social care system continues to experience severe pressure on services. The system is working extremely hard to care for patients. Priority will always be...In a full-circle moment, Punchline will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their “Action” album with a show at the Roxian Theatre on next Saturday, less than a mile from the band’s McKees Rocks practice space where the album was written. The veteran Pittsburgh pop-punk band’s show will feature the full original band lineup, with original guitarist Paul Menotiades rejoining permanently and drummer PJ Caruso joining temporarily. The show, which includes Hot Rod Circuit, Eternal Boy and Heading North, will also see special “Action”-themed beer from Dancing Gnome and a live-show variant of the “Action” vinyl reissue. After a couple of Northeast and Midwest shows earlier this year celebrating the album, Punchline purposefully saved their hometown show for last, according to bassist Chris Fafalios. “All of these shows have been so good because it’s brought people out who we hadn’t seen in a while,” he said Wednesday. “We never stopped being a band and releasing albums, but I think this one hit a lot of people in the nostalgia feels.” The “Action” album, released in 2004 via Fueled by Ramen, is full of catchy pop-punk, laced with angsty yet lighthearted lyrics from Punchline, which also includes guitarist/singer Steve Soboslai and guitarist Trevor Leonard. “We were a young band, and I think this album really captured that moment in time, both on an emotional level and just in an energy,” Fafalios said. “There’s a lot of energy that kind of pops off the record. ... You have the upbeat, get-your-heart-racing-type songs, but you also have the really emotional sort of ballads on this one. So I think it really encapsulates not only that era, that 2004 era, but also I think kind of gets people in their feels a little bit. It’s the combination of those things.” In a call from Greensburg, Fafalios also delved more into “Action,” the logistics of the band now and a surprise cover by Fall Out Boy at PPG Paints Arena: Do the songs still evoke the same emotions for you now that they did 20 years earlier? It’s funny. We’ve been doing this documentary podcast called “A Band Called Punchline,” where each episode is a different album. On the “Action” episode, Steve from our band talked about this. I thought this was a pretty poignant thing that he said: A lot of the songs are about certain things or certain people, and it’s almost like when you play the songs now, you don’t think about the things or people that you wrote the song about. Those almost become secondary, and what comes forefront to your mind is just the experience of being in a practice space and writing these songs with your friends, and then those songs taking you all over the place to play them and then the connection you have with the people that are singing them back to you. ... The songs still do resonate with us but just in a way cooler way, if that makes sense. Is it hard to get the band together for shows? Is there a lot of scheduling to get that done? We’re all pretty easy-going as far as scheduling goes. We all have some commitments, but this becomes No. 1 priority for everyone when we have shows or any tours or even short runs. It’s just been a priority for us for — seriously, I figured out the percentage recently, definitely for Steve and I who have both been in the band the entire time — the almost 28 years now or whatever, and I’ve been in this band for like 65% of my life now. It would be impossible to not make this a priority. Once in a while, we got to decide what night of the week or whatever, but we usually practice two nights a week. We know that that’s happening. And what’s pretty awesome is, now with the technology and everything, that we can track our practices. And if you want to practice at home, you can literally take out your own tracks, take out your vocals and your instrument and play along as if you’re playing with your band. So if you want to get extra practices in, like our drummer does, he’ll take out his drums and it’s like he’s playing with us at practice. So that helps with things too a little bit. If we were in a jam and we couldn’t get together that week for some reason, then we’d still be good. If you’re still doing all these practices, it’s probably not that difficult to knock off the rust? I feel like if we haven’t practiced for a month or something, like sometimes maybe it takes a few songs to get into it, but especially these songs that we’re playing now, these are all muscle memory at this point. And it’s almost like when we get together to practice these “Action” songs that we’ve been playing forever, it’s more just thinking about the show, trying to really dial things in, maybe adding little flourishes and stuff. I could not play these songs for five years and pick up my bass and my fingers just know where to go without even thinking about it. We all said that. It’s almost like magic, the way that I could not play these songs for a year, and I wouldn’t miss a note just because they’re so ingrained into my brain at this point. • Fall Out Boy delivers arena-sized emo spectacle in Pittsburgh show • Bayside singer Anthony Raneri on the punk band's new album, unusual release cycle and songwriting styles • 2024 Pittsburgh area concert calendar At the Fall Out Boy show earlier this year, they did a cover of “Heart Transplant,” so how cool was that to hear? I wish they would have gave — that’s what we all said — I wish they would have gave us a heads up they were gonna do that, and we would have been there. (laughs) I feel bad that I wasn’t there. I feel like it was like a weeknight, and it was at the arena — which, look, I like going to concerts but sometimes arena shows, it just feels impersonal or something, so I didn’t end up going. Then all of a sudden my phone started blowing up. I swear I got like 20 text messages and Instagram DMs and stuff of people like, what is going on? It was just all these videos of that happening. And yeah, it’s super cool. Just this year — I forget what it was on — but I was listening to something where Pete Wentz talked about how we took them on their first tour. We signed to the same record label at the same time, we went to Japan together for the first time together and then as things started really catching on for them, we did a tour with them where we were like, whoa! Things have really blown up for them at that point and then it went and went, and then over the years we lost touch with them ... Sometimes I wonder because we were really good friends with those guys and then I feel like we got to a certain point where so much was going on with them, where we were like, I don’t want to bother them or make it seem like we’re trying to get something from them. That’s just like our personality to be like that. (laughs) I don’t know if it’s like a Pittsburgh thing. It felt like they got so much going on or whatever and lost touch, and sometimes I’m like ah, maybe we should have called them once in a while or been like, hey, can we open this tour or something? But after that happened, Steve reached out to Patrick (Stump, Fall Out Boy’s singer), and we’ve been talking a little bit. That was super cool. I wasn’t expecting that but, yeah, it’s pretty awesome all the success they were able to have. It’s pretty cool to see your buds make it. It sounds like Punchline made some lasting impressions. I talked to Anthony (Raneri) from Bayside earlier this year and he mentioned you guys, so it sounds like these connections are always going to be there. Especially that era of this album we’re talking about, there was like a five-year span where we were touring pretty much full-time and made a lot of lifelong friends, and a lot of bands that we toured with went on to become some of the biggest bands in our world of music. I always like it when the bands that were out there paying their dues, Bayside is the perfect example. Man, we played every hole-in-the-wall, VFW, fire hall, whatever it was, in all the small weird towns together with those guys back in the day. And then you see as things start to pick up, it’s just cool to see that. We experienced it, and bands experience it on even a larger level than we have of going from some kids setting up a show at some sort of building in this small town to then being able to play all the “A” market cities and a nice venue and it’s just a lot more comfortable. I’m always of the belief that you should have to do that. You should have to play all those weird, bad shows so you appreciate what you have when you can play a beautiful venue like the Roxian or something. You just appreciate it that much more when a lot of people come out and see you and sing along and maybe the venue feeds you and stuff. That’s always pretty nice.