Champions League: Juventus beat Man City, Barcelona into knockout stage
In recent years, Barcelona has made concerted efforts to tap into the Asian market, with the establishment of academies and partnerships in countries such as Japan, China, and South Korea. The signing of Son Heung-min would further strengthen Barcelona's appeal in Asia and help solidify their position as one of the biggest and most popular football clubs in the region.Abu Dhabi: Qatar Media Corporation (QMC) Chairperson HE Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani participated in the third Global Media Congress opening ceremony, at the invitation of Chairman of the UAE National Media Office HE Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Butti Al Hamed. Designed to envision, engage and empower, the three-day event is held under the patronage of Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Court for Development and Fallen Heroes Affairs HH Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan inaugurated the event, organized by ADNEC Group in collaboration with the Emirates News Agency (WAM). It runs through November 28 at the ADNEC Center, Abu Dhabi. The sessions tackle numerous crucial themes, including investigative journalism, artificial intelligence (AI), digital innovation, disinformation and fake news, social media platforms, content creation, emerging news formats, international affairs, and other topics pertinent to media and communication. The congress includes several interactive sessions that review state-of-the-art media technologies, along with workshops and panel discussions with the aim of fostering innovation and participants' occupational advancement. The event intends to discuss the most salient media issues and trends, alongside an exhibition that showcases cutting-edge technologies, innovative products and services in the media world, as well as renowned international brands and emerging startups.
Rockstar Games, the renowned developer behind the Grand Theft Auto series, has recently sparked controversy with their reported request for the scriptwriters of GTA 6 to approach LGBTQ+ themes with more sensitivity. According to sources close to the production, the studio urged the writers to "lighten up" when incorporating LGBTQ+ content into the game, advising them to steer clear of being too crude or offensive.In terms of impact, the implementation of this innovative data center design by Microsoft is projected to save over 1.25 billion liters of water annually across its facilities worldwide. This significant reduction in water consumption not only reflects Microsoft's commitment to sustainability but also sets a new standard for eco-friendly data center practices in the technology industry.
Speculation and rumors have been circulating about China's relationship with the Assad regime, particularly in light of the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Syria. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reiterated that China's engagement with all parties involved in the Syrian conflict is based on the principles of non-interference in internal affairs and respect for the sovereignty of nations.
Rape is a heinous crime that can have devastating effects on the victim, particularly when the victim is a mentally ill individual. In such cases, the legal system faces unique challenges in determining the culpability of the perpetrator and in ensuring justice for the victim. As a lawyer specializing in criminal law and mental health issues, I have encountered many such cases where the nuances of mental illness intersect with the complexities of sexual violence. In this article, I will discuss the legal standards for determining and sentencing rape of mentally ill individuals, shedding light on the factors that come into play in such cases.BISMARCK — North Dakota’s new and returning lawmakers met at the state Capitol in Bismarck on Monday, Dec. 2, commencing the three-day organizational session ahead of the lawmaking season. The organizational session is the time during which lawmakers — namely those who are newly elected — familiarize themselves with the procedures and rules necessary to carry out the lawmaking process. It does not count towards the biennial lawmaking session that begins January and lasts up to 80 days. Twenty-two new lawmakers are heading into the 69th legislative session, including two members who returned after not being reelected in recent elections: Sen. Richard Marcellais, D-Belcourt, and Rep. Daniel Johnston, R-Kathryn. Day one included the speaker of the House appointment, committee designations and the swearing-in ceremony. The more menial tasks on the agenda for lawmakers involved computer training, seating arrangement and taking fresh headshots. “Times change, things are different. We have to make sure that everybody’s up to speed,” said House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson. “You’re going to have your agreements, you’re going to have your disagreements," he said. "But it’s all in the spirit of providing the best public policy that we possibly can.” Both House Republicans and Democrats unanimously agreed on nominating Rep. Robin Weisz to serve as speaker of the House. Weisz described the chamber as “the people’s house” while addressing the Legislature from the podium for the first time as speaker. District 41 newcomer Karen Grindberg, R-Fargo, was also unanimously elected by the district to replace Lt. Gov.-elect Michelle Strinden. “It’s just really exciting how welcoming everybody is and how they want to be helpful,” Grindberg said. Though the intimate details tied to lawmaking are new to the freshman legislator, coming to the Capitol has become second nature. “We used to run around the halls when we were little, that was our favorite thing to do after school," she said. Grindberg’s father was a lawmaker for 22 years and the Republican House Majority Leader. Meanwhile, her husband, Tony Grindberg, was a senator for more than 20 years. She is also the mother of North Dakota Treasurer Thomas Beadle and mother-in-law to Strinden. “I’m excited for the opportunity," Karen Grindberg said. "I want to get to work.” Tuesday’s training will be similar, paying particular attention to ethical topics like workplace harassment and social media conduct. Interim committee findings will also be briefly presented to lawmakers. The session will conclude Wednesday with the presentation and deliberations of Gov. Doug Burgum’s final budget address. Republicans maintain supermajorities in both chambers, outnumbering Democrats 83-11 in the House and 42-5 in the Senate. Neither party will see different leaders for the 2025 session. Lefor and Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, R-Minot, were reelected during Republican caucus meetings last month. Sen. Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo, and Rep. Zac Ista, D-Grand Forks, were reelected as Senate and House minority leaders during the respective state Democratic-NPL caucases.
Manchester City's crisis continued with a 2-0 defeat away to Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday, while Pep Guardiola's old club Barcelona beat Borussia Dortmund to clinch a spot in the knockout stage of Europe's elite club competition. Arsenal, AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Lille, Feyenoord and Stuttgart were also victorious, but City's latest loss in a miserable run will dominate the headlines. The 2023 European champions succumbed in Turin as Dusan Vlahovic put Juventus ahead early in the second half when goalkeeper Ederson was unable to keep out his header. Ilkay Gundogan was denied an equaliser by a fine Michele Di Gregorio save, before Weston McKennie made it 2-0 with a fine acrobatic finish in the 75th minute. The result leaves Juventus on 11 points with two games left, a tally that is expected to be enough to guarantee them at least a place in the knockout phase play-offs. City, meanwhile, have now won just once in 10 in all competitions, with seven defeats in that time. With just eight points, they currently sit 22nd in the standings, in which the top 24 advance to the knockouts. Their next game will be crucial, as they travel to a Paris Saint-Germain side who sit a point beneath Guardiola's men. "We have to get points, we'll go to Paris to try and do that and the same goes for the final match at home (to Club Brugge)," Guardiola told Amazon Prime in Italy. Barcelona are second in the standings with 15 points, behind only Liverpool, after beating Dortmund 3-2 in a thriller in Germany, with Ferran Torres their hero. Raphinha fired Barca ahead with his 17th goal of the season, early in a remarkable second half. Serhou Guirassy equalised with a penalty on the hour mark, but substitute Torres put Barca back in front on 75 minutes, converting the loose ball after Fermin Lopez's shot was saved. Guirassy scored again for a quick equaliser, only for Torres to strike once more and win the game for Barca with five minutes left. Barcelona's tally leaves them, like Liverpool, ideally placed to finish in the top eight, which means direct progress to the last 16 without having to go through the play-offs. Arsenal are third in the standings on 13 points after easing to a 3-0 win over Monaco in London. Bukayo Saka scored twice, putting the Gunners ahead in the first half and making it 2-0 on 78 minutes as the hosts pounced on disastrous Monaco defending. Saka then turned provider for the late third, with substitute Kai Havertz credited with the final touch. Mikel Arteta's team are one of six sides on 13 points, with Lille also on that tally after edging Sturm Graz 3-2 in France thanks to a fine late winner from Hakon Haraldsson. Lille were 2-0 up through Osame Sahraoui and Mitchel Bakker, only for goals by Otar Kiteishvili and Mika Biereth to bring the Austrian champions back level. However, Icelandic midfielder Haraldsson secured Lille's fourth win of the campaign. Atletico eased to a 3-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava, with Antoine Griezmann scoring twice after Julian Alvarez had opened the scoring with an excellent strike. David Strelec pulled one back for the Slovaks, who are one of three teams already eliminated having lost six games out of six. The others are RB Leipzig and Young Boys. Milan defeated Red Star Belgrade 2-1 at San Siro with Tammy Abraham grabbing the winner three minutes from time. Rafael Leao had put Milan ahead only for Nemanja Radonjic to equalise for the Serbian side, who have lost five of their six games and are surely heading out. Benfica edged closer to a play-off spot with a 0-0 draw at home to Bologna of Italy, who have scored just one goal in six games and will go no further. Feyenoord stayed on course to go through after beating Sparta Prague 4-2 in Rotterdam, with Gernot Trauner, Igor Paixao, Anis Hadj Moussa and Santiago Gimenez netting their goals. Stuttgart kept alive their hopes of progress by coming from behind to beat Young Boys 5-1. Lukasz Lakomy put Young Boys ahead but Angelo Stiller levelled before Enzo Millot, Chris Fuehrich, Josha Vagnoman and Yannik Keitel all scored in the second half. The next round of Champions League games is scheduled for January 21 and 22, with the league phase concluding the following week. as/jc
Signal 4: Global Collaboration and Connectivity
Wall Street gets back to climbing, and the Nasdaq tops 20,000
NEW YORK (AP) — lawyers urged a judge again Friday to throw out his hush money conviction, balking at the prosecution’s suggestion of preserving the verdict by treating the case the way some courts do when a defendant dies. They called the idea “absurd.” The Manhattan district attorney’s office is asking Judge Juan M. Merchan to “pretend as if one of the assassination attempts against President Trump had been successful,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a blistering 23-page response. In court papers made public Tuesday, office proposed an array of options for keeping the historic conviction on the books after Trump’s lawyers filed paperwork earlier this month asking for the case to be dismissed. They include freezing the case until Trump leaves office in 2029, agreeing that any future sentence won’t include jail time, or closing the case by noting he was convicted but that he wasn’t sentenced and his appeal wasn’t resolved because of presidential immunity. Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove reiterated Friday their position that the only acceptable option is overturning his conviction and dismissing his indictment, writing that anything less will interfere with the transition process and his ability to lead the country. The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined comment. It’s unclear how soon Merchan will decide. He could grant Trump’s request for dismissal, go with one of the prosecution’s suggestions, wait until a federal appeals court rules on Trump’s parallel effort to get the case moved out of state court, or choose some other option. In their response Friday, Blanche and Bove ripped each of the prosecution’s suggestions. Halting the case until Trump leaves office would force the incoming president to govern while facing the “ongoing threat” that he’ll be sentenced to imprisonment, fines or other punishment as soon as his term ends, Blanche and Bove wrote. Trump, a Republican, takes office Jan. 20. “To be clear, President Trump will never deviate from the public interest in response to these thuggish tactics,” the defense lawyers wrote. “However, the threat itself is unconstitutional.” The prosecution’s suggestion that Merchan could mitigate those concerns by promising not to sentence Trump to jail time on presidential immunity grounds is also a non-starter, Blanche and Bove wrote. The immunity statute requires dropping the case, not merely limiting sentencing options, they argued. Blanche and Bove, both of whom Trump has tabbed for high-ranking Justice Department positions, expressed outrage at the prosecution’s novel suggestion that Merchan borrow from Alabama and other states and treat the case as if Trump had died. Blanche and Bove accused prosecutors of ignoring New York precedent and attempting to “fabricate” a solution “based on an extremely troubling and irresponsible analogy between President Trump” who survived assassination attempts in Pennsylvania in July and Florida in September “and a hypothetical dead defendant.” Such an option normally comes into play when a defendant dies after being convicted but before appeals are exhausted. It is unclear whether it is viable under New York law, but prosecutors suggested that Merchan could innovate in what’s already a unique case. “This remedy would prevent defendant from being burdened during his presidency by an ongoing criminal proceeding,” prosecutors wrote in their filing this week. But at the same time, it wouldn’t “precipitously discard” the “meaningful fact that defendant was indicted and found guilty by a jury of his peers.” Prosecutors acknowledged that “presidential immunity requires accommodation” during Trump’s impending return to the White House but argued that his election to a second term should not upend the jury’s verdict, which came when he was out of office. Longstanding Justice Department policy says sitting presidents cannot face . Other world leaders don’t enjoy the same protection. For example, is even as he leads that nation’s wars in and . Trump has been fighting for months to reverse his May 30 conviction on . Prosecutors said he fudged the documents to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn actor to suppress her claim that they had sex a decade earlier, which Trump denies. In their filing Friday, Trump’s lawyers citing a social media post in which Sen. used profane language to criticize Trump’s hush money prosecution. The Pennsylvania Democrat suggested that Trump deserved a pardon, comparing his case to that of pardoned son Hunter Biden, who had been convicted of . “Weaponizing the judiciary for blatant, partisan gain diminishes the collective faith in our institutions and sows further division,” Fetterman wrote Wednesday on Truth Social. Trump’s hush money conviction was in state court, meaning a presidential pardon — issued by Biden or himself when he takes office — would not apply to the case. Presidential pardons only apply to federal crimes. Since the election, special counsel has , which pertained to Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and allegations that he hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. A separate in Fulton County, Georgia, is largely on hold. Trump denies wrongdoing in all. Trump had been scheduled for sentencing in the hush money case in late November. But following Trump’s Nov. 5 election victory, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed the former and future president’s sentencing so the defense and prosecution could weigh in on the future of the case. Merchan also delayed a decision on Trump’s to dismiss the case on immunity grounds. A dismissal would erase Trump’s conviction, sparing him the cloud of a criminal record and possible prison sentence. Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and the first convicted criminal to be elected to the office.By investing in infrastructure development, technological innovation, and industrial upgrading, these bonds will contribute to the creation of a more resilient and competitive economy. In particular, they will support the growth of emerging industries and sectors, known as the "two new" industries – namely, new technologies and new business models.Additionally, this case highlights the role of consumers in holding healthcare providers accountable for their actions. By speaking up and reporting suspicious practices, patients can help prevent others from falling victim to false advertising and unethical behavior. It is crucial for individuals to be vigilant and do their research before choosing a healthcare provider to avoid potential risks and ensure they receive quality care.
In the fast-evolving world of automotive technology, plug-in hybrid vehicles have emerged as a promising solution to the pressing issues of environmental sustainability and resource conservation. These vehicles, which combine the benefits of electric propulsion with the convenience of a traditional internal combustion engine, offer a compelling mix of performance, efficiency, and versatility.