PALO ALTO, Calif. , Nov. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- AKOOL, Inc., the global leader in generative AI video, is excited to announce its strategic partnership with Immerso AI, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eros Digital, the largest producer and distributor of Bollywood content worldwide. This partnership aims to transform the digital immersion and video markets through cutting-edge AI technologies, merging Immerso AI's extensive digital IP content libraries with AKOOL's generative AI expertise. With a vast library of over 12,000 digital titles, Eros Digital brings invaluable content assets to the collaboration. Together, the alliance will leverage this repository to deliver groundbreaking AI-driven experiences for the video and digital business and consumer markets. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, AKOOL specializes in generative AI for visual applications, renowned for its Faceswap and Avatar technologies that lead innovation in the field. The partnership will focus on developing unique AI applications, including personalized movie recommendations, AI-generated visual effects tailored for Bollywood films, and automated editing tools for content creators. Additionally, AKOOL will fine-tune AI models to meet the specific needs of the Bollywood market, enhancing content delivery and audience engagement. Jiajun Lu , CEO of AKOOL, shared, "Partnering with Immerso AI and Eros Digital is a significant milestone. Their vast media assets and market presence perfectly complement our advanced AI technology. Together, we'll create innovative solutions to revolutionize content creation and consumption. By leveraging Eros Digital's extensive video library, we can develop AI-tuned models that redefine Bollywood's digital landscape." Under the agreement, Immerso AI will lead regional business development and handle operations, while AKOOL will focus on technical development and proprietary AI innovations. Both companies will share rights to jointly developed intellectual property, fostering a collaborative approach to commercialization. For more information about AKOOL and its innovative AI solutions, visit www.akool.com . About AKOOL, Inc.: AKOOL is a leading AI technology company based in Palo Alto, CA , specializing in generative AI for visual applications. The company develops state-of-the-art AI solutions to drive innovation in video and digital immersion markets. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/akool-announces-strategic-bollywood-partnership-to-revolutionize-ai-in-digital-immersion-and-video-markets-302315726.html SOURCE AKOOL
Indiana coach Mike Woodson is happy that his team has won three straight games but concerned that it's committing too many turnovers. Limiting miscues is at the top of his wish list for Monday night's Big Ten Conference opener against visiting Minnesota in Bloomington, Ind. While the Hoosiers (7-2) shot 53.8 percent and dominated Miami (Ohio) 46-29 on the glass during a 76-57 win at home Friday night, they also had more turnovers (16) than assists (15). Having played for Bob Knight at Indiana, Woodson is fanatical about his team executing its offense without making mistakes. "We were taking chances on passes that weren't there," Woodson said. "We have to fix it. If we start Big Ten play like that, it puts you in a hole." In between careless mistakes, the Hoosiers got a huge game out of Oumar Ballo, the Arizona transfer who had 14 points, 18 rebounds and six assists. It was his 35th career double-double but his first at Indiana. Ballo (12.7 points per game, 9.3 rebounds) is one of four players averaging double figures for the Hoosiers. They're led by Malik Reneau, who's hitting for 15.4 ppg on 58.9 percent shooting. While Indiana tries to fine-tune its game, the Golden Gophers (6-4, 0-1 Big Ten) aim to get to the .500 mark in conference play after absorbing a 90-72 beating Wednesday night against visiting Michigan State. There was good news for Minnesota in that game. Mike Mitchell Jr. returned to the lineup after missing seven games with a high ankle sprain and drilled 5 of 9 3-pointers in a 17-point performance. Mitchell's shooting should aid an attack that ranks 311th in Division I in 3-point percentage at 29.7 percent as of Sunday. "He's a difference-maker in terms of being able to space the floor," Gophers coach Ben Johnson said of Mitchell. "He provides offensive firepower and a guy who can make shots and take pressure off our offense." Dawson Garcia leads the team at 19 ppg, while Lu'Cye Patterson and Mitchell are scoring 10 ppg. The Hoosiers own a 109-69 lead in the all-time series. --Field Level MediaThe new, 12-team College Football Playoff brings with it a promise to be bigger, more exciting, more lucrative. Perfect or 100% fair? Well, nobody ever believed that. The first expanded playoff bracket unveiled Sunday left a presumably deserving Alabama team on the sideline in favor of an SMU squad that finished with a better record after playing a schedule that was not as difficult. It ranked undefeated Oregon first but set up a possible rematch against Ohio State, the team that came closest to beating the Ducks this year. It treated underdog Boise State like a favorite and banged-up Georgia like a world beater at No. 2. It gave Ohio State home-field advantage against Tennessee for reasons it would take a supercomputer to figure out. It gave the sport the multiweek tournament it has longed for, but also ensured there will be plenty to grouse about between now and when the trophy is handed out on Jan. 20 after what will easily be the longest college football season in history. All of it, thankfully, will be sorted out on the field starting with first-round games on campuses Dec. 20 and 21, then over three succeeding rounds that will wind their way through traditional bowl sites. Maybe Oregon coach Dan Lanning, whose undefeated Ducks are the favorite to win it all, put it best when he offered: "Winning a national championship is not supposed to be easy.” Neither, it turns out, is figuring out who should play for it. Alabama comes up short in the bracket’s biggest debate The Big Ten will lead the way with four teams in the tournament, followed by the SEC with three and the ACC with two. The lasting memory from the inaugural bracket will involve the decision that handed the ACC that second bid. Alabama of the SEC didn't play Saturday. SMU of the ACC did. The Mustangs fell behind by three touchdowns to Clemson before coming back to tie. But they ultimately lost 34-31 on a 56-yard field goal as time expired. “We were on pins and needles,” SMU coach Rhett Lashley said. “Until we saw the name ‘SMU’ up there, we were hanging on the edge. We're really, really happy and thankful to the committee for rewarding our guys for their total body of work." The Mustangs only had two losses, compared to three for the Crimson Tide. Even though SMU's schedule wasn't nearly as tough, the committee was impressed by the way the Mustangs came back against Clemson. “We just felt, in this particular case, SMU had the nod above Alabama,” said Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the chairman of the selection committee. “But it’s no disrespect to Alabama’s strength of schedule. We looked at the entire body of work for both teams.” Crimson Tide AD gracious, but looking for answers Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne was gracious, up to a point. “Disappointed with the outcome and felt we were one of the 12 best teams in the country,” he said on social media. He acknowledged — despite all of Alabama’s losses coming against conference opponents this season — that the Tide’s push to schedule more games against teams from other major conferences in order to improve its strength of schedule did not pay off this time. “That is not good for college football," Byrne said. Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State join Oregon with first-round byes Georgia, the SEC champion, was seeded second; Boise State, the Mountain West champion, earned the third seed; and Big 12 titlist Arizona State got the fourth seed and the fourth and final first-round bye. All will play in quarterfinals at bowl games on Dec. 31-Jan. 1. Clemson stole a bid and the 12th seed with its crazy win over SMU, the result that ultimately cost Alabama a spot in the field. The Tigers moved to No. 16 in the rankings, but got in as the fifth-best conference winner. Automatic byes and bids made the bracket strange The conference commissioners' idea to give conference champions preferable treatment in this first iteration of the 12-team playoff could be up for reconsideration after this season. The committee actually ranked Boise State, the Mountain West Champion, at No. 9 and Big 12 champion Arizona State at No. 12, but both get to skip the first round. Another CFP guideline: There’s no reseeding of teams after each round, which means no break for Oregon. The top-seeded Ducks will face the winner of Tennessee-Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Oregon beat Ohio State 32-31 earlier this year in one of the season’s best games. What the matchups look like No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas, Dec. 21. Clemson is riding high after the SMU upset, while Texas is 0-2 against Georgia and 11-0 vs. everyone else this season. The winner faces ... Arizona State in the Peach Bowl. Huh? No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State, Dec. 21. The biggest knock against the Mustangs was that they didn't play any big boys with that 60th-ranked strength of schedule. Well, now they get to. The winner faces ... Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Yes, SMU vs. Boise was the quarterfinal we all expected. No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame, Dec. 20. Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti thought his team deserved a home game. Well, not quite but close. The winner faces ... Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. The Bulldogs got the No. 2 seed despite a throwing-arm injury to QB Carson Beck. But what else was the committee supposed to do? No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State , Dec. 21. The Buckeyes (losses to Oregon, Michigan) got home field over the Volunteers (losses to Arkansas, Georgia) in a matchup of programs with two of the biggest stadiums in football. The winner faces ... Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Feels like that matchup should come in the semifinals or later. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Alector Announces Results from AL002 INVOKE-2 Phase 2 Trial in Individuals with Early Alzheimer's Disease and Provides Business UpdateThe new, 12-team College Football Playoff brings with it a promise to be bigger, more exciting, more lucrative. Perfect or 100% fair? Well, nobody ever believed that. The first expanded playoff bracket unveiled Sunday left a presumably deserving Alabama team on the sideline in favor of an SMU squad that finished with a better record after playing a schedule that was not as difficult. It ranked undefeated Oregon first but set up a possible rematch against Ohio State, the team that came closest to beating the Ducks this year. It treated underdog Boise State like a favorite and banged-up Georgia like a world beater at No. 2. It gave Ohio State home-field advantage against Tennessee for reasons it would take a supercomputer to figure out. It gave the sport the multiweek tournament it has longed for, but also ensured there will be plenty to grouse about between now and when the trophy is handed out on Jan. 20 after what will easily be the longest college football season in history. All of it, thankfully, will be sorted out on the field starting with first-round games on campuses Dec. 20 and 21, then over three succeeding rounds that will wind their way through traditional bowl sites. Maybe Oregon coach Dan Lanning, whose undefeated Ducks are the favorite to win it all, put it best when he offered: "Winning a national championship is not supposed to be easy.” Neither, it turns out, is figuring out who should play for it. The Big Ten will lead the way with four teams in the tournament, followed by the SEC with three and the ACC with two. The lasting memory from the inaugural bracket will involve the decision that handed the ACC that second bid. Alabama of the SEC didn't play Saturday. SMU of the ACC did. The Mustangs fell behind by three touchdowns to Clemson before coming back to tie. But they ultimately lost 34-31 on a 56-yard field goal as time expired. “We were on pins and needles,” SMU coach Rhett Lashley said. “Until we saw the name ‘SMU’ up there, we were hanging on the edge. We're really, really happy and thankful to the committee for rewarding our guys for their total body of work." The Mustangs only had two losses, compared to three for the Crimson Tide. Even though SMU's schedule wasn't nearly as tough, the committee was impressed by the way the Mustangs came back against Clemson. “We just felt, in this particular case, SMU had the nod above Alabama,” said Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the chairman of the selection committee. “But it’s no disrespect to Alabama’s strength of schedule. We looked at the entire body of work for both teams.” Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne was gracious, up to a point. “Disappointed with the outcome and felt we were one of the 12 best teams in the country,” he said on social media. He acknowledged — despite all of Alabama’s losses coming against conference opponents this season — that the Tide’s push to schedule more games against teams from other major conferences in order to improve its strength of schedule did not pay off this time. “That is not good for college football," Byrne said. Georgia, the SEC champion, was seeded second; Boise State, the Mountain West champion, earned the third seed; and Big 12 titlist Arizona State got the fourth seed and the fourth and final first-round bye. All will play in quarterfinals at bowl games on Dec. 31-Jan. 1. Clemson stole a bid and the 12th seed with its crazy win over SMU, the result that ultimately cost Alabama a spot in the field. The Tigers moved to No. 16 in the rankings, but got in as the fifth-best conference winner. The conference commissioners' idea to give conference champions preferable treatment in this first iteration of the 12-team playoff could be up for reconsideration after this season. The committee actually ranked Boise State, the Mountain West Champion, at No. 9 and Big 12 champion Arizona State at No. 12, but both get to skip the first round. Another CFP guideline: There’s no reseeding of teams after each round, which means no break for Oregon. The top-seeded Ducks will face the winner of Tennessee-Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Oregon beat Ohio State 32-31 earlier this year in one of the season’s best games. No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas, Dec. 21. Clemson is riding high after the SMU upset, while Texas is 0-2 against Georgia and 11-0 vs. everyone else this season. The winner faces ... Arizona State in the Peach Bowl. Huh? No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State, Dec. 21. The biggest knock against the Mustangs was that they didn't play any big boys with that 60th-ranked strength of schedule. Well, now they get to. The winner faces ... Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Yes, SMU vs. Boise was the quarterfinal we all expected. No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame, Dec. 20. Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti thought his team deserved a home game. Well, not quite but close. The winner faces ... Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. The Bulldogs got the No. 2 seed despite a throwing-arm injury to QB Carson Beck. But what else was the committee supposed to do? No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State , Dec. 21. The Buckeyes (losses to Oregon, Michigan) got home field over the Volunteers (losses to Arkansas, Georgia) in a matchup of programs with two of the biggest stadiums in football. The winner faces ... Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Feels like that matchup should come in the semifinals or later. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
The AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . CLEVELAND (AP) — Tariq Francis had 23 points in NJIT’s 78-69 win against Morehead State on Wednesday night. Francis also had five rebounds for the Highlanders (1-7). Sebastian Robinson went 8 of 18 from the field (4 for 7 from 3-point range) to add 21 points. Tim Moore Jr. had 16 points and shot 4 for 8 (3 for 5 from 3-point range) and 5 of 5 from the free-throw line. Kenny White Jr. led the Eagles (2-4) in scoring, finishing with 34 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Kade Ruegsegger added 11 points. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .When I woke up the day after the U.S. election to learn that Donald Trump would, once again, become president of the United States, the temptation to panic and sell my investments kicked in as it did in 2016. Then, I’d just quit my job, joining the ranks of people who are Financially Independent and Retired Early (FIRE), and started living off the capital gains, dividends and interest of my portfolio. I don’t have nerves of steel. I get nervous during turbulence on planes. I’m terrified of heights. And as someone who grew up in China on 44 cents a day, my parents told me that only savings accounts and houses are safe. Investing feels as foreign to me as the hot showers, drinkable tap water and central heating felt when I first came to Canada. But knowing that my portfolio not only survived the calamities of the past eight years, but thrived and doubled, gives me confidence to stay the course. If you find investing in the stock market terrifying, especially given this election result, you can use the three Ds of investing to stay calm and focused. Diversification Having a diversified portfolio means that you don’t invest in individual stocks. Instead, you buy exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track specific indexes. For example, one of the ETFs I own in my portfolio is VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market Index) which tracks the entire U.S equity market and holds over 3,700 stocks, including small-, mid- and large-cap companies. Another way I diversify my portfolio is by adding an international ETF that gives me exposure to European, Asian and Australian stock markets. Global diversification, in addition to stock diversification, ensures that one country’s politics and economics can’t ruin my retirement. Dividends If you had an orange orchard, the trees would be the stocks, and the oranges would be the dividends in your portfolio. When you sell stocks, you either harvest capital gains or sustain capital losses. But selling is like digging up some of your orange trees. Dividends , however, get paid out regardless of the capital value of your stocks and you don’t need to sell anything. This is like harvesting and eating the oranges. You’re not hurting the tree, and it will continue to grow. Since I retired, I realized that you could build an additional level of retirement safety by keeping your basic living expenses (rent, food, utilities, etc.) within the dividend and interest income of your portfolio. Other “nice to have” things like travel can be paid for by selling stocks if you’ve just had a good year, but if you’ve just had a down year, you don’t have to. Living off your dividends helps you stay invested during market crashes because you’re getting paid regardless of the capital value of your stocks. Dollar-cost averaging Dollar-cost averaging is the concept of buying stocks at regular intervals, regardless of price. So instead of dumping in all your money and picking up stocks at a single price point, you are “averaging” out the cost over time. This strategy helps beginner investors get comfortable with the idea of investing because instead of jumping into the deep end and investing their life savings all at once, they are wading into these waters slowly. It also helps with market crashes. Rather than selling everything and going to cash, you keep investing as the market falls, which allows you to buy ETFs at better prices. It’s how we got through the financial crisis of 2008, and it’s how we’re going to get through future stock market crashes. According to a 10-year study done by Fidelity , the best-performing group of clients were those who’d forgotten they had accounts. The reason for this is that most investors are nervous and try to time the markets based on what they hear in the news. Despite multiple stock market dips since we’ve stopped working, our FIRE approach has not wavered. That’s because seasoned FIRE investors know that no matter what happens in the world, over the long term the stock market will keep rising, so if you’ve built a globally diversified, dividend-yielding portfolio, and use dollar-cost averaging to keep putting your savings into it, you’ll be richer over the long run. Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung retired in their 30s and are authors of the bestselling book Quit Like a Millionaire .
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I n the U.K., The Guardian newspaper announced earlier this month that it will no longer be posting on X , claiming that it is “a toxic media platform” and that its owner, Elon Musk, “has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.” Is social media a useful tool or is it becoming a threat to democratic societies? Alan Rusbridger and Pratik Sinha discuss the question in a conversation moderated by Priscilla Jebaraj . Edited excerpts: How much should a news outlet or even regular users be worried about the ownership of a social media platform in deciding where to post and where to consume news? Alan Rusbridger: It is a real dilemma because Twitter (now X) was for many years a really wonderful place for posting news, finding audiences, finding out news, and building relationships. In normal circumstances, who owns a media platform shouldn’t worry us too much. But Elon Musk has so dominated Twitter, the platform that he bought, and insisted that people follow him, that it is difficult to ignore the question of ownership. Pratik Sinha: We should be worried. One should think of online spaces just the way we think of offline spaces. Offline, we try to quit toxic spaces and some people have the privilege of being able to do so. When you are able to quit a toxic relationship, typically it is because you are financially independent. The Guardian is such a huge organisation that even if it doesn’t have traffic from X, it is okay for the newspaper. X is probably just a little more toxic than other platforms. So, it is a privilege that one is able to quit a more toxic platform and focus on others. Comment | No ‘X factor’ — reconciling freedom and accountability It is important to know who owns media organisations, but it is not the only factor. One also has to look at day-to-day reportage. Had Mr. Musk bought X and not used it as a political tool, it would have been a different matter. But not only did he buy it; he uses it as a personal tool and not just a political tool. The algorithm has been tweaked to ensure that everyone on X sees his posts. That is where the problem lies. How important is social media to disseminate content? Pratik Sinha: Very important, unfortunately. Our primary sources of information have become social media platforms which are controlled by multi-billion dollar companies. We have to use these platforms because, how else do we reach out to people? And that also makes censorship easy because the government only has to have a relationship with these two or three platforms, the kind of relationships that governments typically have with monopolies, to ensure that the information that should reach citizens is censored. We are in a tricky space because we have no free platforms where information can reach citizens without many layers of filters. Also read | Bluesky attracts millions as users leave Musk’s X after Trump win Alan Rusbridger: It used to be really important. There are about 350 million people on X, so that is a considerable audience. In the digital world, for a long time, it was really important to be able to amplify journalism through that platform. But people who analyse these things say that the number of referrals from social media, and to some extent from search engines, has declined. Are some platforms worse than others? Alan Rusbridger: I think the problem is that there is a huge mismatch between the editorial standards and values that the best news organisations represent and the editorial standards of Mr. Musk. He has none. He has abandoned all the trust and safety teams. He doesn’t believe in content moderation; he sees it as censorship. The attempts by regulators and advertisers to try and clean up X have been met with the most foul-mouthed rejection. He also holds contempt for the free press. He is constantly telling people that they shouldn’t believe anything on the legacy media and that the only place you can find the truth nowadays is X. So it is an act of peculiar masochism to keep appearing on his platform when he despises us. That is why people are thinking, well, let’s go somewhere where we are valued and where facts and truth and journalism still count for something. What alternatives do you think are better? Alan Rusbridger: There is Mastodon, which everyone found extremely hard to use, so it has not really worked. There is Threads, which has become quite popular quite quickly. And there is Bluesky, which a lot of journalists are now fleeing to. There is a view that you shouldn’t moderate anything. That is not a view that has widely brought favour in the world apart from the U.S. under Donald Trump. Most people feel that there is a lot of illegal, harmful content which should be moderated in some way. Also read | X rival Bluesky fights a flood of spam, scams, and harmful content as millions join Pratik Sinha: The problem is centralisation of information. What I consider as true alternatives are decentralised systems. Mastodon and Bluesky have been designed to be decentralised. I don’t consider Threads as an alternative because it is just another product by a monopoly which is not decentralised, though it is attempting to include some decentralisation features. Alternatives will not be as convenient to use and we should be okay with that because it is the only way that these platforms will have the opportunity to improve. Misinformation is platform-agnostic. Quantitatively, it is very difficult to say whether there is more on one platform, because it also depends on usage. For instance, in India, there is more misinformation on WhatsApp simply because the usage of WhatsApp is high in India. What is different is the amount of hate speech that is being put out on different platforms. All platforms have a policy vis-a-vis hate speech, but the question is whether these policies are being implemented or not. I don’t think there is a single X employee dedicated to moderating Indian content on the platform. Everyone was fired. So, maybe in that particular aspect, Facebook might be slightly better than X because people are moderating content there. What kind of checks should platforms be putting in place to reduce such toxicity? Pratik Sinha: They need to invest money in people to moderate content. When riots had happened in Sri Lanka, Facebook did not have a single moderator in Sri Lanka. There were a few sitting in an office in Hyderabad. When the Rohingya exodus happened, there was no moderator in a local language. If you look at the number of moderators per million of population, India would be one of the lowest in the world. In India, there are many languages and nuance. Dog whistling is different in every language. None of these platforms are able to do that because they don’t want to invest the money. Also read | X feeds monetisation of misinformation in a time of war Alan Rusbridger: The best platforms are developing systems and it is bound to involve a lot of AI to try and identify people who are trying to cause real harm. During the recent Southport riots in England, Mr. Musk himself was re-posting really dangerous stuff. You can’t have social media being used to organise murder. That should be obvious. So, whether it is human fact-checkers and moderators or AI systems and content management moderation systems, most people think that you have got to have some systems to catch the worst behaviour. Otherwise, this technology can be used to cause immense harm. What role do you think social media can play in building democracy? Pratik Sinha: We confuse a communication system with a communication system controlled by monopolies. Any communication system which works well is great for citizens and for democracy; it will be used by people to put their voice out. We know what is happening in Palestine because it is being broadcast. The number of people who died in the Iraq war was much higher than the number of people who have died in Palestine. But Iraq happened when there was no social media. But when that same communication system is subsumed by the system committing the atrocity, it is a problem. Also read | Elon Musk calls Australian government ‘fascists’ over misinformation law Alan Rusbridger: Social media at its best is marvellous. On a platform like Facebook, there are, I think, three billion people who have the ability to publish and connect with each other. They are mostly using it for good purposes to organise, or for innocent purposes. So, it would be terrible to blacken all social media, abandon it or clamp down on it. But I think it is possible to stamp out the dangerous way of using social media. Also read | X’s fact checking feature falters in India during polls, amid automation and polarisation We [news outlets] need to start by choosing a platform which is run on ethical lines and recreate the kind of reasonably civilised discourse which was good for journalism. From what I have seen of Bluesky, people are rejoicing in the fact that it feels purer. Pratik Sinha: We have to have media and information literacy classes in schools where children learn how to look at different sources of information and process them. We need to think about decentralised communication systems. There will be challenges, but those aren’t insurmountable. Listen to the conversation in The Hindu Parley podcast Published - November 22, 2024 01:31 am IST Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit technology (general) / social networkingSydney Swans coach John Longmire quits after second grand final loss in three yearsJERUSALEM (AP) — Israel approved a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon's Hezbollah militants on Tuesday that would end nearly 14 months of fighting linked to the war in the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire, starting at 4 a.m. local time Wednesday, would mark the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza , where Hamas is still holding dozens of hostages and the conflict is more intractable. Hours before the ceasefire with Hezbollah was to take effect, Israel carried out the most intense wave of strikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs since the start of the conflict and issued a record number of evacuation warnings. At least 42 people were killed in strikes across the country, according to local authorities. Another huge airstrike shook Beirut shortly after the ceasefire was announced. There appeared to be lingering disagreement over whether Israel would have the right to strike Hezbollah if it believed the militants had violated the agreement, something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted was part of the deal but which Lebanese and Hezbollah officials have rejected. Israel's security Cabinet approved the U.S.-France-brokered ceasefire agreement after Netanyahu presented it, his office said. U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking in Washington, called the agreement “good news” and said his administration would make a renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Biden administration spent much of this year trying to broker a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza but the talks repeatedly sputtered to a halt . President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to bring peace to the Middle East without saying how. Still, any halt to the fighting in Lebanon is expected to reduce the likelihood of war between Israel and Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas and exchanged direct fire with Israel on two occasions earlier this year. Israel says it will ‘attack with might’ if Hezbollah breaks truce Netanyahu presented the ceasefire proposal to Cabinet ministers after a televised address in which he listed accomplishments against Israel’s enemies across the region. He said a ceasefire with Hezbollah would further isolate Hamas in Gaza and allow Israel to focus on its main enemy, Iran. “If Hezbollah breaks the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack,” he said. “For every violation, we will attack with might.” The ceasefire deal calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border. Thousands of additional Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor compliance. Biden said Israel reserved the right to quickly resume operations in Lebanon if Hezbollah breaks the terms of the truce, but that the deal "was designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.” Netanyahu’s office said Israel appreciated the U.S. efforts in securing the deal but “reserves the right to act against every threat to its security.” Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the ceasefire and described it as a crucial step toward stability and the return of displaced people. Hezbollah has said it accepts the proposal, but a senior official with the group said Tuesday it had not seen the agreement in its final form. “After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network. “We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state," he said, referring to Israel's demand for freedom of action. “Any violation of sovereignty is refused.” Warplanes bombard Beirut and its southern suburbs Even as ceasefire efforts gained momentum in recent days, Israel continued to strike what it called Hezbollah targets across Lebanon while the militants fired rockets, missiles and drones across the border. An Israeli strike on Tuesday leveled a residential building in central Beirut — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Israel also struck a building in Beirut's bustling commercial district of Hamra for the first time, hitting a site around 400 meters (yards) from Lebanon’s Central Bank. There were no reports of casualties. The Israeli military said it struck targets linked to Hezbollah's financial arm. The evacuation warnings covered many areas, including parts of Beirut that previously were not targeted. The warnings sent residents fleeing. Traffic was gridlocked, with mattresses tied to some cars. Dozens of people, some wearing pajamas, gathered in a central square, huddling under blankets or standing around fires as Israeli drones buzzed overhead. Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a major presence, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where the U.N. peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, is headquartered. UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said peacekeepers will not evacuate. Israeli forces reach Litani River in southern Lebanon The Israeli military also said its ground troops clashed with Hezbollah forces and destroyed rocket launchers in the Slouqi area on the eastern end of the Litani River, a few kilometers (miles) from the Israeli border. Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border. Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have exchanged barrages ever since. Israel escalated its bombardment in mid-September and later sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire so tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis could return to their homes. More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members. Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate in the country’s north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive in Lebanon. ___ Chehayeb and Mroue reported from Beirut and Federman from Jerusalem. Associated Press reporters Lujain Jo and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed. ___ Find more of AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war Josef Federman, Kareem Chehayeb And Bassem Mroue, The Associated Press
Text-recognition election audit verifies voting machine count in Georgia
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Ian Schieffelin had 18 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in leading Clemson to a 75-67 win over Penn State on Tuesday and the championship of the Sunshine Slam Beach Division. Chase Hunter added 17 points, Chauncey Wiggins 14 and Del Jones 10 for the Tigers (6-1), who shot 44% and made 9 of 19 3-pointers led by Hunter's three. Ace Baldwin Jr. scored 20 points and had 11 assists, Yanic Konan Niederhauser added 14 points and Nick Kern Jr. 11 for the Nittany Lions (6-1), who shot 46% and were just 4 of 18 from the arc. Neither team had a double-digit lead in the game and it was tied with seven minutes to go. But Penn State had a six-minute drought without a field goal while committing three turnovers and the Tigers went up by six. A hook shot from Schieffelin with a minute to go made it a five-point lead and free throws sealed it from there. The eight-point final margin was the largest of the game. Konan Niederhauser's dunk to open the second half tied the game but a Hunter 3-pointer gave the lead back to Clemson. Penn State took its first lead of the second half on a 9-0 run, seven coming from Baldwin, to go up 57-54 with midway through the period. Penn State had its largest lead of seven in the first half but three consecutive 3s put Clemson ahead with three minutes to go and the Tigers led at 38-36 at halftime. Clemson had a 16-9 edge on points off turnovers. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Tafara Gapare scored 19 points, freshman Derik Queen had 15 points and eight rebounds and Maryland beat Bucknell 91-67 on Wednesday night. Maryland opened the game on a 15-2 run, extended it to 25-7 with 10:38 left and led 51-28 at the break. The Terrapins led by at least 16 points the entire second half, which included runs of 12-0 and 9-0. Gapare scored the 10 straight points during the second-half run. Gapare threw down a highlight dunk while being fouled with 2:08 remaining to give Maryland an 89-62 lead. He was called for a technical foul after stepping over Patrick O’Brien, who was attempting to take a charge. Jayden Williams made the two free throws for Bucknell and Gapare missed his free-throw attempt that would have tied his career high of 20 points. Maryland (6-1) has won 20 consecutive home games against unranked nonconference foes with its last loss coming on Dec. 1, 2021, against Virginia Tech in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Julian Reese added 14 points and Selton Miguel scored 13 for Maryland. Gapare, a Georgia Tech transfer, reached double-figure scoring as a Terp for the first time. The Terrapins shot 50% from the field with three 3-pointers apiece by Gapare and Miguel. Ruot Bijiek led Bucknell (4-4) with 20 points and Josh Bascoe added 10. The Bison turned it over 20 times leading to 22 Maryland points. Maryland stays at home to play Alcorn State on Sunday. Bucknell returns home to play Siena on Saturday. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball