Analysis: Protecting QBs from violent late hits like the one that leveled Trevor Lawrence isn't easyVolkswagen To Debut Proactive Safety System, Rivian Technology Coming Soon
Israel committed genocide against Palestinians: Amnesty
GUADALAJARA, Mexico, Dec. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, S.A.B. de C.V., (NYSE: PAC; BMV: GAP) (“the Company” or “GAP”) announces preliminary terminal passenger traffic figures for November 2024, compared with November 2023. For November 2024, the total number of terminal passengers at GAP’s 12 Mexican airports increased by 2.5%, compared to November 2023. Tijuana, Guadalajara, Los Cabos, and Puerto Vallarta airports presented an increase in passenger traffic of 5.3%, 5.0%, 0.5%, and 0.1%, respectively, compared to November 2023. On the other hand, Montego Bay presented a decrease in passenger traffic of 7.4%, compared to November 2023. Domestic Terminal Passengers (in thousands): International Terminal Passengers (in thousands): Total Terminal Passengers (in thousands): *Passengers in Tijuana who use CBX in both directions are classified as international. CBX users (in thousands): Highlights for the month: Seats and load factors : The seats available during November 2024 decreased by 1.0%, compared to November 2023. The load factors for the month went from 82.8% in November 2023 to 85.2% in November 2024. New routes: Hermosillo – Monterrey: Volaris La Paz – Los Angeles: Alaska Los Mochis – Monterrey: Volaris Morelia – Monterrey: Volaris Mexicali – Monterrey: Volaris Los Cabos – Frankfurt: Condor Los Cabos – Winnipeg: WestJet Manzanillo – Atlanta: Aeromexico Montego Bay – Nassau: Bahamasair Montego Bay – Hartford, Connecticut: Avelo Company Description Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, S.A.B. de C.V. (GAP) operates 12 airports throughout Mexico’s Pacific region, including the major cities of Guadalajara and Tijuana, the four tourist destinations of Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, La Paz and Manzanillo, and six other mid-sized cities: Hermosillo, Guanajuato, Morelia, Aguascalientes, Mexicali, and Los Mochis. In February 2006, GAP’s shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “PAC” and on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “GAP”. In April 2015, GAP acquired 100% of Desarrollo de Concessioner Aeroportuarias, S.L., which owns a majority stake in MBJ Airports Limited, a company operating Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica. In October 2018, GAP entered into a concession agreement for the Norman Manley International Airport operation in Kingston, Jamaica, and took control of the operation in October 2019. In accordance with Section 806 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Article 42 of the “Ley del Mercado de Valores”, GAP has implemented a “whistleblower” program, which allows complainants to anonymously and confidentially report suspected activities that involve criminal conduct or violations. The telephone number in Mexico, facilitated by a third party responsible for collecting these complaints, is 800 04 ETICA (38422) or WhatsApp +52 55 6538 5504. The website is www.lineadedenunciagap.com or by email at denuncia@lineadedenunciagap.com. GAP’s Audit Committee will be notified of all complaints for immediate investigation.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) says its data transfer terminal offering has gone online. The terminals, announced in a blog post on Sunday (Dec. 1), provide a physical location where users can bring storage devices to upload data more quickly to the AWS cloud. The first terminals are based in New York City and Los Angeles, with plans to add more locations around the world. Users can reserve a time slot to visit their closest location and upload data to AWS public endpoints, such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) or Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) using a high throughput connection. “Using AWS Data Transfer Terminal, you can significantly reduce the time of ingesting data with high throughput connectivity in the location nearby you,” the blog post said. “You can upload large datasets from fleets of vehicles operating and collecting data in metro areas for training machine learning (ML) models, digital audio and video files from content creators for media processing workloads, and mapping or imagery data from local government organizations for geographic analysis,” the post added. Once data is uploaded to AWS, users can explore the company’s services to generate value from that data, and can also bring AWS Snowball devices to the terminals for uploading. They can then retain their device for continued use without depending on traditional shipping methods. The announcement comes as AWS is debuting a number of new products and services as it holds its re:Invent conference, such as the new generative artificial intelligence enhancements to the company’s cloud contact center solution, Amazon Connect . “These enhancements allow users to segment their audience to deliver personalized and timely communications, improve the self-service experience with a generative AI-powered assistant, add customizable AI guardrails and gain AI-driven insights to help managers improve service quality,” PYMNTS wrote Monday (Dec. 2). Also Monday, the company said that automaker Lotus had chosen it as its preferred cloud provider. In addition, AWS and Orbital Materials teamed to develop new data center decarbonization and efficiency technologies, while Oracle Database@AWS became available in limited preview. Meanwhile, PYMNTS spoke last month with AWS Global Head of Institutional Payments Nilesh Dusane and FIS General Manager of Enterprise Payments Rijuta Jain about their companies’ joint efforts to help businesses handle cash flow management. “If you’re a corporate in the telecom industry, they’d rather focus on the telecom part of their business, not being a payments company ... and because of that, they’re looking at different things to improve their payments operations,” Dusane said at the time.
Losing to older brother John Harbaugh and seeing the Los Angeles Chargers' four-game winning streak snapped Monday night might be the least of Jim Harbaugh's problems this week. The Chargers are holding their breath that running back J.K. Dobbins isn't seriously hurt after he left with a knee injury late in the first half of the Chargers’ 30-23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens . Harbaugh, who dislikes discussing injuries and eschews questions about any player's status with the tried and true “I'm not a doctor” answer, will get plenty of inquiries about Dobbins' health this week. There were no updates on Dobbins' status Tuesday. The Chargers return to practice on a short week before having to travel cross-country to Atlanta. After injuries derailed Dobbins' four years with the Ravens, the 2020 second-round pick decided to bet on himself by signing only a one-year deal with the Chargers. Though the first 10 1/2 games, the bet appeared to be paying off. Dobbins had 40 yards on six carries when he was wrenched backward by linebacker Malik Harrison and then gang-tackled on a play for no gain on third-and-1 at the 50-yard line. Dobbins is fourth in the AFC in rushing with 766 yards and averages 4.8 yards per carry, third highest among AFC backs with at least 100 carries. He has been considered among the candidates for AP Comeback Player of the Year after suffering a torn Achilles tendon in last season’s opener. Dobbins' production throughout the season has made the offense more balanced. Los Angeles had 14 rushes for 68 yards before he was injured. They had seven carries for 15 yards the rest of the game. Without Dobbins and a 14-13 deficit at halftime, the Chargers tried to count on Justin Herbert and the passing game to rally back. Herbert was 11 for 22 for 125 yards and sacked three times in the five drives after Dobbins' departure and didn't get back into the end zone until Gus Edwards' 1-yard run with 46 seconds remaining. Edwards will be counted on to be the lead back if Dobbins has to miss games. Edwards missed four games during the middle of the season because of an ankle injury and has 25 carries for 93 yards in three games since returning to the lineup. Hassan Haskins and rookie Kimani Vidal will be counted on to provide depth. “Obviously, I’m hoping J.K. is OK. Gus has been an awesome addition, being able to run and go and get some yards,” Herbert said. "We just got to stay with it. I think that offensive line has done a great job all year. It didn’t go our way today, but we’re going to keep pounding the ball and keep getting after it.” Dobbins' injury also could not come at a worse time for the Chargers. They are 7-4 and hold the sixth seed in the AFC, but have tough upcoming tests against playoff contenders Atlanta (6-5), Kansas City (10-1), Tampa Bay (5-6) and Denver (7-5) the next four weeks. Herbert on the run. Herbert has at four scrambles of at least 12 yards in the past five games and got his second rushing touchdown of the season on the opening drive with a 5-yard carry up the middle. Not giving up big-play touchdowns. Rashod Bateman's 40-yard touchdown late in the second quarter (which would have been pass interference on Kristian Fulton if it wasn't completed) marked the third straight game the Chargers allowed a passing TD of at least 40 yards. They had allowed only two in the first nine games. LB Joey Bosa had four tackles, his most since he had seven in Week 1 against the Raiders. Bosa missed three games earlier in the season because of a hip injury, but had only two tackles in the four games since his return until Monday night. WR Quentin Johnston is the second Chargers receiver since 2009 to be targeted at least five times and not have a catch according to Sportradar. Travis Benjamin also had five targets and no receptions against the Jets in 2017. Besides being held without a catch, Johnston had two critical drops during the second half. In addition to Dobbins, CB Eli Apple suffered a hamstring injury in the first half and did not return. CB Cam Hart was inactive because of an ankle injury and was in a walking boot. LB Denzel Perryman (groin) and TE Hayden Hurst (hip) were also inactive because of injuries. 57 — Points allowed by the Chargers in the past two games. They had given up 68 in their first five games after their bye week. 73 — Games it took for Herbert to reach 1,800 completions, tying him with Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes as the fastest players in NFL history to reach that mark. 6 — Games where Daiyan Henley has had double-digit tackles. The second-year linebacker had 10 tackles (four solo) on Monday night. The Chargers will make their second trip in three years to Atlanta on Sunday. They won the 2022 meeting in Week 9 when Cameron Dicker hit a 37-yard field goal on the last play of the game. Los Angeles is 2-0 against the NFC South this season and has a four-game winning streak against teams in the division. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFLLooks like National Conference decided to perform Umrah. Good. But it is not parties that perform a certain worship it is persons that connect to the divine. Umrah is an obligation for an individual not for a party, much less a political party. God in any case knows all, sees all; who are we relaying these pictures and videos to! When light falls on a worshipper it doesn’t illuminate, it fades. But this is not something specifically true for Omar and his team. We see almost all people doing it these days. A selfie with Ka’ba is becoming a profile picture of our journey to Mecca. Well, commenting on individuals is not a nice thing to do. It is not desired and it has a moral side to it. One can never peep into someone’s heart. What is between an individual and his God is only between the individual and his God. Others should shut their mouth. I shut my own. But here the pictures weren’t about an individual, they were nothing less than party postcards. Given the political background, it carries a certain message. It’s akin to drawing on the religious sensibilities of the people back home. National Conference has carried this contradiction in brazen ways, though they might presume it as their mastery over a craft. One the one hand, the National Conference takes pride in it being a secular party that made a Muslim majority state, J&K, join a Hindu majority country, India, at a time when the whole sub-continent was divided on the basis of religious identity. The party still boasts of it being pluralistic in its application of power by carrying along all faiths and regions of the J&K in the government. At a time when Indian politics is completely polarised along religious lines, the National Conference repeatedly talks about the secular recovery of India, and then a place in it for a Muslim majority like J&K. If that is the essential character of the National Conference, the pictures viraled from Mecca don’t fit in the frame. That is one. Two, this time rightwing politics is on the throne. It looks like not just a dust-up on the surface but even underneath the rightwing drills are lifting the earth upside down. The answer to this situation is not to create another communal symbolism. We don’t need to tell the community that we are a party that is embedded in you. What we need is to rise above this strain of politics and work for the principals that are applicable in the larger frame of humanity. We can be rooted in our faith, tied to our community, yet do a politics that transcends parochialism. That is two, but the third one is more important when it comes to National Conference. And that is the political character of this party. In a changed situation where the elections reflected a clear division along religious and regional lines, National Conference needs to revisit its history, and determine what is the political character, and political limits, of this party. When it comes to talking to Delhi or the people outside Kashmir, this party always underlines its ‘secular’ character. It even, at different points of our political journey, wanted to convince the Muslims of Kashmir of the ‘virtues of secularism’. After all that is the only way it could explain its decision to join the Union of India. Where has that landed the Kashmiri Muslims as a political collective is something this party needs to seriously debate over. The pictures sent from Mecca may do little to compensate the damage that National Conference did to the Kashmiri Muslim community, as a political collective, by robbing it of its democratic value. On this, someone like Omar Abdullah needs to think seriously. An even more profound thinking is needed to apply the lessons in a changed situation. One wouldn’t expect it from a person like Omar Abdullah to play such photo-op that can easily be labelled as theatrics. Besides, it has a political undertone and that is not what the Muslims of Kashmir need in the name of political identity. Our problems are rooted in real difficulties and it needs an approach that is equally rooted in reality. We cannot, and should not consolidate our community in the name of a superficial sense-of-identity, but the deeper appreciation of the content-of-community. Tailpiece : Jinnah and the current politics in India cannot sit together. That is like fire and fire. But may be National Conference for a while, in the changed circumstance, can. Jinnah was spotted in his car by a group of Muslims standing by the road side. They started raising slogans, and one of them chanted, Maulana Jinnah . The man accused of communal politics drove back the car, and addressing the pack of people sternly dropped a message: “ Mr. Jinnah, I am plain Mr. Jinnah.” In a politics that was driven by community anxieties, he didn’t want to take any advantage from Muslim symbolism. Any lessons for today’s politicians?NEW YORK , Nov. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Why: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of securities of iLearningEngines, Inc. (NASDAQ: AILE) between April 22, 2024 and August 28, 2024 , both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), of t the important December 6, 2024 lead plaintiff deadline. So what: If you purchased iLearningEngines securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. What to do next: To join the iLearningEngines class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=28305 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than December 6, 2024 . A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Why Rosen Law: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company at the time. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers. Details of the case: According to the lawsuit, during the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) iLearningEngines' "Technology Partner" was an undisclosed related party; (2) iLearningEngines used its undisclosed related party Technology Partner to report "largely fake" revenue and expenses; (3) as a result of the foregoing, iLearningEngines significantly overstated its revenue; and (4) as a result of the foregoing, defendants' positive statements about iLearningEngines' business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages. To join the iLearningEngines class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=28305 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm , on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/ . Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Contact Information: Laurence Rosen, Esq. Phillip Kim, Esq. The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. 275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 686-1060 Toll Free: (866) 767-3653 Fax: (212) 202-3827 case@rosenlegal.com www.rosenlegal.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aile-deadline-aile-investors-have-opportunity-to-lead-ilearningengines-inc-securities-fraud-lawsuit-302318967.html SOURCE THE ROSEN LAW FIRM, P. A.
This was the best part, when you think about it: The Columbia Lions were unimpressed with themselves. Here they were, dying moments of a basketball game that would soon be the source of bewilderment for college basketball fans everywhere — “Wait, that score’s backward, isn’t it?” — and the least surprised people inside Finneran Pavilion were the Lions themselves. “Honestly,” Geronimo Rubio de la Rosa says, “it wasn’t that big a surprise to us.” Everywhere else? Yes. Columbia 90, Villanova 80, that was a surprise. That was a stunner. Maybe Villanova isn’t where it was a few years ago under Jay Wright, but this was still a Big East team vs. an Ivy League team, still inside the Cats’ lair, and the Lions seized a 10-point lead midway though the second half and simply eased on home. That was Nov. 6.( MENAFN - Investor Brand Network) PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) and Mollie have joined forces to improve payment solutions for marketplace platforms in the European Union and the United Kingdom. This partnership allows Mollie to integrate PayPal as a payment option, streamlining the process for marketplaces by removing the need for separate PayPal integrations and re-onboarding of sellers. This collaboration aims to simplify payments by outsourcing technical complexities to Mollie. Mollie's offerings, like Mollie Connect, help SaaS platforms and marketplaces manage payments, onboard users and handle funds efficiently. This reduces operational costs and technical burdens. PayPal's senior director of partnerships in Europe, Guillaume Démier, notes the growing demand and expected continued strength from this collaboration. The combination of Mollie's capabilities with PayPal's secure consumer experiences is ideal for the marketplace segment. PayPal's financial metrics provide insight into its market position. With a price-to-earnings (“P/E”) ratio of 19.74 , the market values PayPal's earnings positively. The price-to-sales ratio of 2.75 and enterprise value to sales ratio of 2.83 reflect the company's market value relative to its revenue and total value compared to sales. These figures suggest a strong market presence. PayPal's earnings yield of 5.07% offers a return on investment for shareholders. The debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49 indicates a moderate level of debt relative to equity, suggesting a balanced financial structure. Additionally, the current ratio of 1.25 shows that PayPal has a reasonable level of liquidity to cover its short-term liabilities, ensuring financial stability. Mollie has previously engaged in strategic partnerships, such as with JTL-Software and Riverty, to enhance its payment services. These collaborations, along with the launch of Mollie Terminal in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, demonstrate Mollie's commitment to expanding its in-person payment offerings and strengthening its presence in Europe. To view the company's latest earnings release, visit About PayPal Holdings Inc. PayPal has been revolutionizing commerce globally for more than 25 years. Creating innovative experiences that make moving money, selling and shopping simple, personalized and secure, PayPal empowers consumers and businesses in approximately 200 markets to join and thrive in the global economy. For more information, visit . About CurrencyNewsWire CurrencyNewsWire (“CNW”) is a state-of-the-art digital hub that aggregates and disseminates news and information covering the fast-moving financial markets. 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( MENAFN - Jordan Times) LONDON - As the Western world emerges from a holiday season made less festive by COVID-19, millions of children in Afghanistan are starting 2022 facing the prospect of famine, illness and a lost education. Seldom has a human tragedy been so extensively foretold. But the same governments now rushing to apply humanitarian bandages to Afghanistan's open wounds are steadfastly refusing to switch on the economic life-support systems needed to avert catastrophe. Even before the Taliban returned to power last August, Afghanistan topped the global roster of humanitarian emergencies. Successive droughts and escalating conflict had left one-third of the country's population facing acute food insecurity. Aid agencies warned that they were in a race against time as winter approached. Now, the United Kingdom's Disasters Emergency Committee believes that the race is close to being lost. The numbers are harrowing. Some 23 million people in a country of 39 million are in a state of humanitarian emergency. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that over one million Afghan children are at risk of dying from malnutrition and hunger-related disease. Human development is in freefall as the gains of the last two decades unravel. The donor-financed Sehatmandi health program, which provides vital child and maternal health services across 31 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, is under immense pressure, putting fragile gains in child survival at risk. An education system that had served nine million children, including 3.6 million girls, and provided employment opportunities to female teachers now is crumbling. Some of the blame for Afghanistan's unfolding crisis rests squarely with the new Taliban government. Policymaking is mired in abject confusion, and factional disagreements have stymied the humanitarian response. The decision to prohibit girls from attending secondary school, which the Taliban now denies is official policy, undermines the national self-interest, and mixed messages on women's employment have compounded poverty. But government incompetence is only part of the story. When the Taliban took power, the foreign aid that financed three-quarters of all government spending was stopped overnight, leaving millions of teachers, health workers, water and sanitation engineers and public officials unpaid. The entirely predictable collapse of social infrastructure has fuelled the humanitarian catastrophe. In the name of denying the Taliban recognition, Afghanistan has been subjected to an economic blockade. The US has frozen $9 billion of Afghanistan's foreign-currency reserves and invoked sanctions legislation to prevent banks from transferring funds to the country. Citing“guidance from the international community” (which means strictures from the United States and Europe) the International Monetary Fund suspended a planned emergency loan and withheld access to a new issue of special drawing rights, the Fund's reserve asset. Support through the World Bank-administered Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (IMF), which had been the largest funding source for the government budget, hasall but dried up. The consequences have been entirely predictable. According to the IMF, the Afghan economy is set to contract by around a third. The banking system has all but collapsed, leaving businesses without capital and farmers without markets. Liquidity has been sucked out of the economy, destroying livelihoods. Inflation is rampant, while currency devaluation has left the country unable to finance imports of medicine, machinery, and food. Over half the population already was living on less than $1.90 a day, the international poverty line, before the Taliban takeover. That figure now could surge to a world-beating 97 per cent. The UN has responded to the crisis by issuing a“flash appeal” for humanitarian aid. Donors have now pledged over $1 billion. But even if the money arrives, it only will be a band-aid on a bullet wound. Without economic recovery and restored public services, Afghanistan will become trapped in a downward spiral of hunger, poverty, and human-development reversals. Beyond a desire to punish the Taliban, the motives behind the economic blockade are unclear. Western governments have insisted on a representative government that guarantees a broad spectrum of human rights, many of which were not upheld by previous Afghan governments. Meanwhile, sanctions designed to counter an insurgency are now being applied to a country in crisis. There is no sign that the Taliban is responding to pressure. As the situation has worsened, Western governments have dragged their feet. The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution allowing organisations a bit more space to deliver humanitarian aid without violating sanctions. But the sheer scale of the crisis demands a surge in development financing. As China has argued, the IMF and the World Bank should be instructed to resume operations, with a focus on the provision of safety nets, health financing, and payment of teachers. The idea that fragmented humanitarian projects can bypass the state is a fiction that will cost lives. Demonstrating solidarity with Afghan people, especially the women, girls, and minorities whose basic freedoms are under threat, is a human-rights imperative. Yet, withholding aid and enforcing an economic blockade that is pushing the country into famine, creating near universal poverty and destroying hard-won development gains in education, is as morally indefensible as it is politically short-sighted. Western governments urgently need a plan for supporting recovery that goes beyond humanitarian aid. The US should unfreeze Afghanistan's foreign-currency reserves. Sanctions regimes should be amended to facilitate non-humanitarian aid, the recovery of the country's banking system, and the operations of Afghanistan's central bank. None of this implies full normalisation of diplomatic relations. But it does require recognising the simple fact that no credible alternative to the Taliban exists. Whatever their theocratic instincts, pragmatists know that aid is vital to social and economic recovery. That constitutes a basis for dialogue. Instead of issuing unenforceable edicts, Western governments should set clear conditions for long-term support, starting with the protection of women's rights, recognition of the rights of girls to education at all levels, and the reopening of secondary schools. Inevitably, some will argue that restoring aid to Afghanistan will give succor to a brutal regime that is constitutionally hostile to Western values. Perhaps it will. But how would those values be defended if, in a bid to punish the Taliban, Western governments allowed people to starve, public-health systems to collapse, and Afghan children, including millions of girls, to be robbed of the hope that comes with education? After two decades of war in Afghanistan, the international community must now unite to win a fragile peace. That means ending an economic blockade that is violating vulnerable Afghans' human rights no less than the edicts of armed religious zealots are. Kevin Watkins, a former CEO of Save the Children UK, is a visiting professor at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at the London School of Economics. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2022. MENAFN02122024000028011005ID1108949053 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.
OTTAWA — The House of Commons Speaker has intervened to end a parliamentary impasse, ruling that members of Parliament must debate and vote on opposition motions and government spending before returning to a Conservative filibuster that has dragged on for two months. Speaker Greg Fergus made the ruling Monday afternoon as a deadline for those motions and spending votes to happen just one week away. "This is a situation that Parliament has never been in before," Liberal House leader Karina Gould told reporters on Monday. Last week, the Conservatives signalled an intent to introduce a non-confidence motion quoting NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh's criticism of the Liberals, in a bid to get his caucus to vote to bring down the minority government. That would be the third non-confidence motion the Conservatives have introduced this fall sitting. No opposition days have been held since early October because the House has been bogged down in debate over a matter of privilege, which has consumed most of the sitting time for nearly two months and is jeopardizing the government's ability to get spending approved. The filibuster stems from a Conservative demand that the Liberals provide unredacted documents to the RCMP about allegations of misspending at a now-defunct green technology fund. Monday morning, Gould offered to hold opposition days this week if members of Parliament unanimously agreed to temporarily suspend the filibuster, but the Tories rejected that. Gould characterized the Conservatives' tactics as "disappointing or pathetic," saying all other parties had agreed to move forward. "They’re talking of a big game and all this stuff, and when the rubber hits the road they’re actually too afraid to move forward," she told reporters on Parliament Hill. Eventually, Fergus told the Commons he had scheduled opposition days for Thursday and Friday, meaning the government could face another non-confidence vote as early as Monday. Gould's office later said the first motion to be heard Thursday will come from the Conservatives, and is set for a vote Monday after question period. The second motion, set to be heard Friday, will come from the NDP and would receive a vote around the same time. Another two Conservative motions would be heard Monday and Tuesday, with both set for a vote on Tuesday, barring changes to those plans. Voting on departmental spending would likely follow. Fergus said his ruling was a way to balance the opposition's right to have its motions debated and Parliament's prerogative to scrutinize government spending. He said he had asked the parties to find a solution to the gridlock, for which "the discussions do not seem to have been productive." Opposition parties must be given four days to introduce their own motions before Dec. 10. That is also the deadline for the House to vote to approve billions of dollars in spending, without which some government departments risk running out of money. Treasury Board President Anita Anand introduced a request last month for $21.6 billion to fund programs including housing, dental care and the national school food program. Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer wrote in a statement that Gould's proposal amounted to a coverup of the misspending allegations. "The Liberals tried a sneaky procedural trick today to suspend questions into their scandal," he said in a statement. "Even the Liberal Speaker has ruled that Justin Trudeau must face opposition debate on nine years of his failures," he wrote, confirming the Conservatives will put forward three non-confidence motions. The Tories say they will only end their filibuster if the Liberals provide documents they're demanding, or if the NDP agrees to vote non-confidence in the government. Two Conservative opposition motions declaring non-confidence in the government were defeated in September with the Bloc Québécois and the NDP voting against them. The Bloc has since pledged to work with the other opposition parties to defeat the government after the Liberals refused to adopt a Bloc bill to raise old age security payments for seniors under age 75. However, Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet said his party would only vote in favour of non-confidence motions that are deemed to be in the best interests of Quebec. Singh has said his party will take each non-confidence vote on a case-by-case basis, and has said that while his party is ready for an election it does not want to push for one immediately. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 2, 2024. Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
A 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook a large area of Northern California on Thursday, knocking items off grocery store shelves, sending children scrambling under desks and prompting a brief for 5.3 million people along the U.S. West Coast. The quake struck at 10:44 a.m. west of Ferndale, a small city in coastal Humboldt County, about 130 miles (209 km) from the Oregon border, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was felt as far south as San Francisco, some 270 miles (435 km) away, where residents felt a rolling motion for several seconds. It was followed by multiple smaller aftershocks. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury. The tsunami warning was in effect for roughly an hour. It was issued shortly after the temblor struck and covered nearly 500 miles (805 km) of coastline, from the edge of California’s Monterey Bay north into Oregon. “It was a strong quake, our building shook, we’re fine but I have a mess to clean up right now,” said Julie Kreitzer, owner of Golden Gait Mercantile, a store packed with food, wares and souvenirs that is a main attraction in Ferndale. “We lost a lot of stuff. It’s probably worse than two years ago. I have to go, I have to try and salvage something for the holidays because it’s going to be a tough year,” Kreitzer said before hanging up. The region — known for its redwood forests, scenic mountains and the three-county Emerald Triangle’s — was struck by that left thousands of people without power and water. The northwest corner of California is the most seismically active part of the state since it’s where three tectonic plates meet, seismologist Lucy Jones said on the social media platform BlueSky. Shortly after the quake, phones in Northern California buzzed with the tsunami warning from the National Weather Service that said: “A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you. You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters. Move to high ground or inland now. Keep away from the coast until local officials say it is safe to return.” Numerous cities urged people to evacuate to higher ground as a precaution, including Eureka. In Santa Cruz, authorities cleared the main beach, taping off entrances with police tape. Aerial footage showed cars bumper-to-bumper heading to higher ground Thursday morning on California highways 1 and 92 in the Half Moon Bay area south of San Francisco. “I thought my axles had fallen apart,” said Valerie Starkey, a Del Norte County supervisor representing Crescent City, a town of fewer than 6,000 near the Oregon border. “That’s what I was feeling ... ‘My axles are broken now.’ I did not realize it was an earthquake.” Cindy Vosburg, the executive director for the Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce, said she heard alarms sound just before shaking began and the city’s cultural center downtown started to creak. “The earthquake seemed to go on for quite a few seconds. It was a rolling earthquake,” Vosburg said. “Just as it would start to subside, the building would roll again.” Vosburg, a former resident of the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Valley, said it was the strongest earthquake she felt since the struck Northern California. Gov. Gavin Newsom said he has signed off on a state of emergency declaration to quickly move state resources to impacted areas along the coast. State officials were concerned about damages in the northern part of the state, Newsom said. White House Spokesperson Jeremy Edwards said President Joe Biden was briefed on the earthquake and that FEMA officials are in touch with their state and local counterparts in California and Oregon. Crews in Eureka, the biggest city in the region, were assessing if there was any major damage from the quake, Eureka Mayor Kim Bergel said. Bergel, who works as a resource aid at a middle school, said lights were swaying and everyone got under desks. “The kids were so great and terrified. It seemed to go back and forth for quite a long time,” she said. Some children asked, “Can I call my mom?” The students were later sent home. In nearby Arcata, students and faculty were urged to shelter in place at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. The campus in was not in the tsunami hazard zone and after inspections, “all utilities and building systems are normal and operational,” the university said in a statement. Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said residents experienced some cracks in their homes’ foundations, as well as broken glass and windows, but nothing severe. There also have been no major infrastructure problems, building collapses or roadway issues, and no major injuries or deaths have been reported, he said. Honsal said he was in his office in the 75-year-old courthouse in downtown Eureka when he felt the quake. “We’re used to it. It is known as ‘earthquake country’ up here,” he said. “It wasn’t a sharp jolt. It was a slow roller, but significant.” Michael Luna, owner of a Grocery Outlet in Eureka, said that besides a few items falling off shelves, the store on Commercial Street was unscathed by the earthquake. “We didn’t have any issues but a couple of deodorants fall off.... I think the way the earthquake rumbled this time, it was a good thing for our store because the last earthquake was a huge mess,” he said. They evacuated customers and closed their doors temporarily until officials lifted the tsunami warning, he said, rushing off the phone to attend to a growing line of customers at check-out. The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, known as BART, stopped traffic in all directions through the underwater tunnel between San Francisco and Oakland, and the San Francisco Zoo’s visitors were evacuated. Dave Snider, tsunami warning coordinator for the Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska, said the computer models indicated that this was the type of earthquake that was unlikely to cause a tsunami and gauges that monitor waves then confirmed it, so forecasters canceled the warning. This quake was a strike-slip type of temblor that shifts more horizontally and is less prone to cause tsunamis, unlike the more vertical types, said National Weather Service tsunami program manager Corina Allen in Washington state. The California Geological Survey says the state’s shores have been struck by more than 150 tsunamis since 1800, and while most were minor, some have been destructive and deadly. On March 28, 1964, a tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake in Alaska smashed into Crescent City hours later. Much of the business district was leveled and a dozen people were killed. More recently, a tsunami from a 2011 earthquake in Japan caused about $100 million in damages along the California coast, much of it in Crescent City.Falcons QB Cousins is looking to avoid interceptions, have bounce-back game in Minnesota homecomingFive-star quarterback commit Bryce Underwood took to social media to celebrate Michigan ’s upset win over rivals Ohio State . On Saturday at Ohio Stadium, the Wolverines stunned the No. 2 Buckeyes thanks to game-changing plays on special teams alongside a resolute defensive performance to come away 13-10 victors. The result stunned the fans, with the stuttering Michigan offense doing just enough to move into Ohio State territory to set up Dominic Zvada’s game-winning 21-yard field goal. The defeat severely damaged Ohio State’s chances of reaching the Big Ten championship game, and Michigan players went to celebrate by planting a large flag with a Block M at midfield. Their actions sparked a mass brawl in the middle of the field, which lasted several minutes. Ashton Jeanty shows class after making Boise State history in final Heisman push Michigan vs. Ohio State erupts into mass brawl as cops intervene, pepper spray used Underwood is a Michigan native who recently hit headlines as he flipped his commitment from LSU to the Wolverines . He has already ingratiated himself among the team’s fans, but the 17-year-old certainly garnered more support by posting the Michigan logo on his Instagram story. Underwood represents the first five-star player to sign with the Wolverines since cornerback Will Johnson, who established himself as one of the best defensive backs in college football and will likely be a premier selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. Michigan has missed out on high-profile in-state quarterbacks in recent years and desperately needed a strong prospect to overhaul the offense under first-year head coach Sherrone Moore. Underwood, the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2025 ESPN 300 recruiting rankings , announced the news with a video posted to Instagram with the caption "Hometown Hero." With his flip, the teenager becomes the highest-rated commit in Michigan program history and the top prospect in Moore's inaugural recruiting class. Follow us on X for the best and latest in sports news While starring for Belleville High School, Underwood has led the Tigers to back-to-back state titles in his first two seasons under center, then earned Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year honors as a junior in 2023 while completing 64.8 percent of his passes for 3,329 yards and 44 touchdowns. With only one regular-season loss since Sept. 2021, Underwood and Belleville entered the state playoffs this month as favorites to claim the program's third state championship in four years. Underwood had been committed to LSU since January 2024, only for Michigan to entice him thanks to a competitive NIL package . The Wolverines’ successful pursuit of the No. 1 ranked recruit was ultimately boosted by Larry Ellison, the world's second-richest man. Once Underwood signs with the Wolverines, he will become the first No. 1 overall recruit to join the program since defensive tackle Rashan Rary in 2016. Underwood also would join Gary and defensive backs Jabrill Peppers (2014 class) and Dax Hill (2019) as the only five-star prospects to land in Ann Arbor since 2006, while he represents the Wolverines' highest-ranked quarterback pledge since Ryan Mallett in the 2007 class. Michigan, the defending NCAA champions, is 7-5 following the dramatic win over Ohio State. Meanwhile, the No. 2 Buckeyes could now miss out on a meeting with No. 1 Oregon in the Big 10 Championship, with Penn State likely to clinch a berth. However, Ohio State will certainly be in the inaugural edition of the expanded College Football Playoff bracket. Want to watch more live sports? Peacock has your favorite sports, shows, and more all in one place. Peacock offers plans starting at $7.99 so you can stream live sports like NFL, Premier League, and Big Ten Football.