slot vip yono
Fontaines DC 3Arena, Dublin It has been a remarkable year for Fontaines DC, what with a change of musical direction on their critically adored and Grammy-nominated fourth album, Romance , and sold-out shows across the UK and Europe. Could there be a better way to celebrate than with a pair of hometown shows? Seven years ago, they played their first gig in front of 25 people. On Friday night, there are 14,000 present, although many more would be here if capacity obliged, and they play with a strut and confidence befitting a band considered by many to be one of the contemporary greats. Being a formidable live proposition was the band’s stock in trade even in the early days but, still, one can only marvel at how they have grown to easily command this sizeable venue. Grian Chatten is a born frontman, right down to the bug-eyed shades he sports for the first part of the show. He keeps chatter to a minimum, preferring to let the music speak. Unlike many of today’s bands, Fontaines DC is not simply a vehicle for the singer. This is very much a full band affair All but one track from Romance is played and the songs bristle with energy. The show starts with the stark title track, before fan favourite Jackie Down the Line and a raucous Televised Mind raise the temperature. Unlike many of today’s bands, Fontaines DC is not simply a vehicle for the singer. This is very much a full band affair, with guitarist Conor Curley and multi-instrumentalist Carlos O’Connell putting in quite the shift, while Conor Deegan on bass and drummer Tom Coll ensure the performance has a thrilling muscularity. The robustness of the sound is augmented by English touring musician Chilli Jesson, who flits from keys to guitar. The full force of the band’s energy is captured on a gloriously frenetic Hurricane Laughter while Big , the opening song on their much admired debut album Dogrel , is rapturously delivered. The best is yet to come, however. Ever since its 2019 release, Boys in the Better Land , has been hailed as a classic, one that’s very much part of the canon of the best Irish rock songs. And it’s delivered with gusto here, the crowd keeping pace with Chatton’s rapid-fire singing. It’s straight into another of their best songs, but their rendition of Favourite feels a little off and doesn’t quite capture the majesty of the recorded version. It’s not the only song that doesn’t quite connect, but on the whole, they’re in exemplary form. A Palestine flag is draped from the keyboard at the front of the stage and, at one point, it’s deliberately captured on the big screens while the band stamp out a beat and the audience chant “Free Palestine”. Politics of a more local hue arrives during the encore with a furious rendition of I Love You . It’s notable that one line in particular — “the gall of Fine Gael and the fail of Fianna Fáil” — is especially loudly sung by the predominately young crowd. Although each member lives outside Ireland now, their pride in their Irishness is clear — from the green, white and orange tape on Chatton’s microphone to the Monaghan GAA crest on Curley’s guitar and the braided Mayo red and green that’s tied to the neck of Deegan’s bass. The set finishes with the startling Starburster — a nu-metal creation that’s far better than mention of that lame genre suggests. It was inspired by Chatton’s experience of a frightening panic attack. There’s no such worries here, and as the performance reaches its end, it feels like a Fontaines victory lap.In August, the EU’s Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson gave a rousing speech about a soon-to-launch “smart” border system that would track the movements of hundreds of millions of travelers in and out of the bloc using fingerprints and facial recognition. “Soon, we will switch on the most modern digital border management system in the world,” said Johansson, announcing a Nov. 10 launch date for the so-called Entry/Exit System. But a month before the scheduled debut, Johansson announced that EES wouldn’t be operational until 2025. It was the fourth time the project had been delayed in five years. And, according to internal correspondence between EU officials and contractors viewed by Bloomberg, a trio of companies with Atos at the center was largely responsible. The French IT firm, in consortium with International Business Machines Corp. and Leonardo SpA, won the €142 million contract in 2019 to build EES, but Atos was in charge of the bulk of the work—and at the center of many of the problems, according to hundreds of pages of documents seen by Bloomberg and investigative newsroom Lighthouse Reports as well as people familiar with the matter. The documents, whose contents haven’t been previously reported, represent years of internal reports and emails from EU-Lisa, the EU agency that oversees large-scale information technology projects, as well as communication between the agency and the companies in the consortium. They show how Atos effectively slowed work by only partially installing equipment, misplacing parts, taking weeks to fix bugs and often sending teams lacking in experience, leading to missed deadlines and millions in additional maintenance costs. These claims were corroborated by three people involved in the project. Representatives for Atos, IBM and Leonardo said they couldn’t comment due to confidentiality obligations. The EES is intended to radically change the EU’s approach to policing its borders. By integrating the immigration systems of the 29 countries in the Schengen area under a common technological umbrella for the first time, it will transform border control from a national to a European issue. Yet at a moment in which migration is upending the bloc’s political landscape, the documents raise questions about whether the EU will be able to introduce a unified border system effective enough to keep countries from implementing their own protectionist policies. The problems with EES have already had knock-on effects. One hundred and thirty staffers hired by EU border management agency Frontex to work on the European Travel Information and Authorization System, a €200 million visa waiver system built on the same underlying technology, had to be reassigned because of delays, according to two people familiar with the matter. EU-Lisa declined to comment on the setbacks, or any of the findings of the investigation. It said it did not “currently have access” to the documents or its communications with the consortium. Publicly, the EU has blamed the holdup on technical issues and contractor delays. Yet the documents paint a much more tense and chaotic picture, corroborated by people involved with the contract, who asked not to be identified discussing private business matters. A key supplier to both the French nuclear industry and the recent Paris Olympic Games, Atos has been on the brink of bankruptcy after a series of setbacks and profit warnings sent its market value from €8.2 billion euros ($8.6 billion) at the end of 2020 to about €74 million today. The company has cycled through seven CEOs since 2021 as it has grappled with debt and failed rescue plans. Last month, a French commercial court approved a restructuring strategy that will see its creditors take control of the troubled business and wipe out existing shareholders. Grand ambitions Currently, the EU has no automated way of tracking how long non-EU citizens without visas stay inside the bloc. Individual countries stamp visitors’ passports when they arrive, but have no way of knowing whether people travel to other EU countries, and when—or if—they leave. “No one has the faintest idea what the irregular or illegal population of third-country nationals in the EU is,” said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels-based economic think tank. “If you are a government, this is a deeply dissatisfying state of affairs and one that provides political ammunition for far-right anti-immigration parties.” The European parliament moved to establish the EES in 2017, describing it as a “priority initiative” with a planned launch date in 2022. The plan was to replace border agents stamping passports with an automated biometric system that uses self-service kiosks to capture faces and fingerprints, and which connects to a central registry that tracks cross-border movement. The consortium’s inability to meet deadlines became clear early on. Central and back-up data centers were completed eight months after a July 2020 deadline, according to an EU-Lisa letter addressed to the companies dated April 11, 2022. After that, the consortium “missed all milestones,” EU-Lisa’s Executive Director Krum Garkov wrote in that letter, even after a new timeline was established. While IBM developed some of the system’s overall architecture and managed the project, Atos was tasked with building EES’s hardware and software. A former senior executive at Atos, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter, said the French IT company was responsible for the core part of the project, which represented about two-thirds of the work. Leonardo provided cybersecurity. In the April 11 letter, EU-Lisa complained that the consortium often sent “young teams with no experience to perform complex tasks,” and that the companies had regularly been “unable to mobilize the necessary resources to provide fixes within the agreed schedules.” In one case, the consortium took more than six weeks to “deploy a single bug fixing release team,” illustrating its “lack of competence” in critical moments. “Despite all the efforts deployed by EU-Lisa and member states,” the letter continued, the consortium “still repeatedly missed deadlines, performed partial installations and/or mixed delivery sites.” It cited “missing cables, misconfigured devices, transportation returned from border for missing delivery documentation” and having hardware retained by border police as among the problems. Two people with direct knowledge of the matter said these issues were Atos’s responsibility. Excluding ESS, the EU has stumbled on several ambitious tech infrastructure projects in recent years. A 2020 initiative to modernize the bloc’s customs operations was beset by financial and logistical problems. Gaia-X, a cloud computing platform for Europe intended to challenge the market dominance of US companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon, never managed to gain momentum. (Gaia-X’s Chief Executive Officer Ulrich Ahle said that his organization’s core mission was to enhance data sovereignty, not compete directly with cloud companies.) Maegan Hendow, a senior researcher at International Centre for Migration Policy Development, a Vienna-based think tank, noted that the EES delays were perhaps not surprising given the system’s complexity. It not only has to seamlessly integrate the immigration systems of all member states, but also be able to cross-reference other biometric databases such as Eurodac, which monitors asylum seekers. “If any of those elements don’t function across any member state,” she said, “the whole thing doesn’t function.” Troubled start In the early months of 2022, the situation became so dire that EU-Lisa established daily “war room” meetings to troubleshoot EES problems, according to the documents. Those highlighted tensions as IBM, Atos and Leonardo would argue amongst themselves in front of their client. Meetings devolved into EU representatives adjudicating disputes between companies, rather than working on the project together. In its April 11 letter to the consortium, EU-Lisa accused the trio of having “failed completely in its role.” By June, the consortium proposed cutting corners on testing parts of the system in order to meet a 2023 launch date, according to a letter it sent EU-Lisa that month. Overall, the former Atos executive said, the company badly managed the EES project. He added that it was flagged to the chief executive that year as one that needed more careful supervision. Two EU-Lisa officials affirmed this view, saying they held Atos mostly responsible. Atos declined to comment. Still, two EU officials who asked not to be named discussing private matters said that EU-Lisa needs to shoulder some of the blame. While building an incredibly complex database system does require outsourcing, they noted that the small agency outsourced everything, even project management. EU-Lisa and the consortium were also under pressure from outgoing Home Affairs Commissioner Johansson to complete and implement the entire system before her tenure was up. Johansson delivered her speech announcing the Nov. 10 launch date against the objections of members states, according to an EU official, as they were concerned that the system was still too buggy and should be introduced country-by-country. A representative for Johansson declined to comment. Responding to a public information request about the delays, Garkov, who left EU-Lisa in late 2022, declined to single any company out. However, he wrote in a public letter that the consortium “substantially underestimated the complexity of the work for development and implementation of EES,” and that the “quality of key deliverables did not meet requirements.” Payment disputes After missing the first few milestones, the consortium asked the EU to waive penalties on late deliveries, while also requesting an early payment of about €2.5 million. Although EU-Lisa described the demand as “outrageous” in annotations on the request letter from the consortium that was shared internally, the EU did agree to allow the companies to pay their late fees at the end of the project in order to ensure that work on the system wouldn’t be interrupted. In a report published earlier this year on the spending practices of EU agencies in 2023, the European Court of Auditors noted that the three members of the consortium “refused to cover the extra cost of maintenance for certain IT products.” That added about €20 million in additional costs for EU-Lisa, according to internal documents seen by this investigation. By the end of 2023, a rollout the following year was looking plausible. But as the November launch date loomed, new problems emerged. A system set up over the summer to allow member states to test EES couldn’t handle more than one country using it at a time, two of the people said. Member states had to book slots to test it. An October dress rehearsal for the launch of EES was chaotic, with some member states struggling to connect to the central database. The November deadline was missed a month later after France, the Netherlands and Germany said the technology wasn’t ready. The project, still overseen by the consortium, has now been postponed to 2025, with no fixed launch date. A spokesperson for the European Commission said that despite initial plans to simultaneously launch EES across all member states, it would now take a progressive approach to allow for a “period of adjustment for authorities and travelers.” “The EU can’t afford to get this wrong, for obvious political reasons,” Kirkegaard said. “Nobody wants chaos at the airports or external borders.” With assistance from Gian Volpicelli and Benoit Berthelot/Bloomberg
Former presidential candidate Nikki Haley was among the many users on social media condemning the Biden administration's decision to give $1 billion to Africa, arguing the United States is continuing to recover from hurricane season. President Joe Biden announced the aid on Tuesday during a visit to Angola, stating that doing so was “the right thing for the wealthiest nation in the world to do.” The financial aid , given in the wake of “historic droughts” in the African country, comes about two months after North Carolina was among several states that were hit by hurricanes in late September. “This is infuriating,” Haley wrote on X. “After pardoning his son and fleeing to Africa, Biden gives a BILLION of our tax dollars to rebuild homes in Africa when we still have people homeless from the hurricane! Completely tone deaf and insulting.” This is infuriating. After pardoning his son and fleeing to Africa, Biden gives a BILLION of our tax dollars to rebuild homes in Africa when we still have people homeless from the hurricane!Completely tone deaf and insulting. https://t.co/NrcZK2OJ71 — Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) Many other users on social media similarly condemned the aid, with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) writing, “I beg your biggest pardon?”, in reposting the footage of Biden’s announcement. I beg your biggest pardon? https://t.co/Q4jFnbXkJH — Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) "With this administration, it's always America last," women's sports activist and Outkick host Riley Gaines wrote. With this administration, it's always America last https://t.co/PlKzVjwiaV — Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) "Remember those hurricanes that ravages Florida and North Carolina?" actor Kevin Sorbo wrote. "Those people got $750." Remember those hurricanes that ravaged Florida and North Carolina? Those people got $750. https://t.co/M8oBojxC3l — Kevin Sorbo (@ksorbs) "I really want this to be a typo," actress Justine Bateman wrote. I really want this to be a typo. #NorthCarolina https://t.co/qFly3KYpgB — Justine Bateman (@JustineBateman) "Joe Biden announces $1 BILLION in handouts to victims of AFRICAN natural disasters," musician Chad Prather wrote. "Meanwhile, hurricane victims in North Carolina are still struggling to survive. Can this America LAST clown show leave already?!?" Joe Biden announces $1 BILLION in handouts to victims of AFRICAN natural disasters Meanwhile, hurricane victims in North Carolina are still struggling to survive. Can this America LAST clown show leave already?!? pic.twitter.com/FaVVzw061k — Chad Prather (@WatchChad) CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER The $1 billion to Africa comes right after the United States announced it would provide Ukraine with an additional $725 million in military weapons on Monday . Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) deemed the move as “America LAST,” writing that the money ought to go toward North Carolina residents “who are homeless and sleeping in tents.” "America LAST again!!" Greene wrote. "This money should be spent helping the people in Western North Carolina who are homeless and sleeping in tents!" America LAST again!! This money should be spent helping the people in Western North Carolina who are homeless and sleeping in tents! https://t.co/VBek4hZuak — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) On Sunday, Gov.-elect Josh Stein (D-NC) stated that he was "eager" to work with incoming President-elect Donald Trump on hurricane relief , citing the “unimaginable devastation” Hurricane Helene left earlier this year. Over 100 North Carolina residents were killed by the hurricane as of Nov. 26.
NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Justin Thomas was long off the tee and made a few long putts on the back nine to overtake Scottie Scheffler with a 6-under 66 and build a one-shot lead Saturday over golf's best player going into the final round of the Hero World Challenge. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Justin Thomas was long off the tee and made a few long putts on the back nine to overtake Scottie Scheffler with a 6-under 66 and build a one-shot lead Saturday over golf's best player going into the final round of the Hero World Challenge. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Justin Thomas was long off the tee and made a few long putts on the back nine to overtake Scottie Scheffler with a 6-under 66 and build a one-shot lead Saturday over golf’s best player going into the final round of the Hero World Challenge. Thomas is trying out a 46-inch driver — a little more than an inch longer than normal — that he previously used for practice at home to gain speed and length. He blasted a 361-yard drive to 8 feet on the par-4 seventh hole and led the field in driving distance. But it was a few long putts that put him ahead of Scheffler, who had a 69. Thomas was on the verge of falling two shots behind when he made an 18-foot par putt on the par-3 12th hole. On the reachable par-4 14th, he was in a nasty spot in a sandy area and could only splash it out to nearly 50 feet. He made that one for a most unlikely birdie, while behind him Scheffler muffed a chip on the 13th hole and made his lone bogey of a windy day. Scheffler never caught up to him, missing birdie chances on the reachable 14th and the par-5 15th. Thomas hit his approach to 3 feet for birdie on the 16th after a 343-yard drive. Scheffler made an 18-foot birdie putt on the 16th to close within one. Scheffler missed birdie chances on the last two holes from the 10-foot and 15-foot range, while Thomas missed an 8-foot birdie attempt at the last. “I had a stretch at 13, 14, 15 where I felt like I lost a shot or two there, but outside of that I did a lot of really good things today,” Scheffler said. Thomas hasn’t won since the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills, and a victory at Albany Golf Club wouldn’t count as an official win. But the two-time major champion has made steady progress toward getting his game back in order. “I’m driving it great. I’ve had a lot of confidence with it,” Thomas said of his longer driver. “I feel like I’ve been able to put myself in some pretty good spots going into the green. I’m still not taking advantage of some of them as much as I would like, but that’s golf and we’re always going to say that.” Thomas was at 17-under 199 and will be in the final group Sunday with Scheffler, who is trying to end his spectacular season with a ninth title. Tom Kim put himself in the mix, which he might not have imagined Thursday when he was 3 over through six holes of the holiday tournament. Kim got back in the game with a 65 on Friday, and then followed with 12 birdies for a 62. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. He had a shot at the course record — Rickie Fowler shot 61 in the final round when he won at Albany in 2017 — until Kim found a bunker and took two shots to reach the green in making a double bogey on the par-3 17th. Even so, he was only two shots behind. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley (68) was four back. “Feel like I’ve been seeing signs of improvement, which is what you want and that’s all I can do,” Thomas said. “I can’t control everybody else or what’s going on, I’ve just got to keep playing as good as I possibly can and hope that it’s enough come Sunday.” ___ AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf Advertisement Advertisement
PHOENIX — Traditionally, the holiday season is one of the hardest times of the year for food banks to meet the growing needs of the community. But that need gave birth to Turkey Tuesday 32 years ago, one of our favorite events of the year here at 12News. RELATED: Turkey Tuesday: Donate to help feed Arizona families for the holiday season This year we are thrilled to continue our annual Turkey Tuesday drive, where we partner with St. Vincent de Paul and Bashas’ to help those in need. Your generosity and the hard work of dedicated volunteers truly make an impact in the lives of thousands of families across Arizona. >> Download the 12News app for the latest local breaking news straight to your phone. It’s that time of year, family, food, and football, a time we come together to remember all that we’re thankful for. It’s also a time of giving and events like Turkey Tuesday are the perfect opportunity to get involved. One of the places your donations go is St. Mathew’s Conference food pantry in Phoenix, where Vincentian volunteers Luis Garcia and Elisabet Rios try to meet as many needs as possible. “The majority of us that volunteer came from a family at one time that needed help,” said Luis Garcia, a Vincentian volunteer. Garcia and Rios are paying it forward. “We give out food boxes to the families that are requesting help with food,” he said. Garcia says sometimes families request help with utilities or rentals. “...any kind of form they need... we never say no if we have the funds,” he added. At St. Mathews they stay busy, sorting food they’ve received from St. Vincent de Paul’s Food Reclamation Center. They fill out the food boxes according to each family’s needs. “If it’s a big family, we’ll give them two big banana boxes... and we’ll fill out the dry goods from here, and then for my other room is all our frozen,” said Rios. “... milk, eggs, meats, bread...” Rios is passionate about doing this incredible work and about helping others. “It’s just amazing,” she said. “This organization is beautiful.” Rios says one of her favorite things about volunteering is meeting the families they serve. “...going out and meeting the families... doing the home visits and you get to go one-on-one and meet the families,” Rios said. “That’s what I love the most.” They visit at least 15-20 homes twice a week, depending on the calls they receive. With each delivery, they include prayer cards. As soon as they parked, the Hairston family in Phoenix came outside and greeted them with smiles and hugs. “It’s so special,” said 11-year-old Yahweh. “I cannot believe that it’s happening today.” The visit means so much to him. “They’re very nice, loving and helpful...” he said. And his 9-year-old sister Yulan. “Yeah, they’re my best friends,” she said. Their mom Katherine Dillard and grandma Sandra Hairston are more than grateful for the generosity of others. “Because I’m on a fixed income and it has been so many months to where I’m robbing Peter to pay Paul in order to get groceries for my grandkids and my daughter,” said Hairston. “They have been angels sent for real." “I feel tears coming, because the way everything is right now, it’s hard to trust anybody,” said Dillard. “The economy is high and just them – they always help us... so I am grateful for them.” Every visit concludes with an extra special moment. “We ask them if they want to say a prayer with us,” said Garcia. He says sometimes it’s spoken by the volunteers and other times, by the families they’re visiting. “...and some of them do... they have beautiful, beautiful prayers,” said Garcia. He says sometimes it’s that powerful moment – that blessing – they’re in need of the most. “Maybe they haven’t gone to church in a long time and when we go, we represent Christ,” he said. “So, we get a lot more out of it than the families do sometimes.” The beautiful and important mission behind St. Vincent de Paul is truly making an immense difference in the lives of so many Arizonans. “It lifts my spirits, and it lets me know that god is real,” said Hairston. “Not only are they feeding our bellies, but they help feed our soul as well.” More than 168,00 food boxes are delivered every year to families experiencing food insecurity in central and northern Arizona. Watch 12News+ for free You can now watch 12News content anytime, anywhere thanks to the 12News+ app! The free 12News+ app from 12News lets users stream live events — including daily newscasts like "Today in AZ" and "12 News" and our daily lifestyle program, "Arizona Midday"—on Roku and Amazon Fire TV . 12News+ showcases live video throughout the day for breaking news, local news, weather and even an occasional moment of Zen showcasing breathtaking sights from across Arizona. Users can also watch on-demand videos of top stories, local politics, I-Team investigations, Arizona-specific features and vintage videos from the 12News archives. Roku : Add the channel from the Roku store or by searching for "12 News KPNX." Amazon Fire TV : Search for "12 News KPNX" to find the free 12News+ app to add to your account , or have the 12News+ app delivered directly to your Amazon Fire TV through Amazon.com or the Amazon app. More ways to get 12News On your phone: Download the 12News app for the latest local breaking news straight to your phone. iTunes Google Play On your streaming device: Download 12News+ to your streaming device The free 12News+ app from 12News lets users stream live events — including daily newscasts like "Today in AZ" and "12 News" and our daily lifestyle program, "Arizona Midday"—on Roku and Amazon Fire TV. 12News+ showcases live video throughout the day for breaking news, local news, weather and even an occasional moment of Zen showcasing breathtaking sights from across Arizona. On social media: Find us on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and YouTube .Make December a Christmas to cherish with Lexus