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How missing teen's incredible rescue unfoldedSam Darnold sensed the backside pressure as soon as he dropped back with Minnesota trailing by four points late in the fourth quarter in Seattle, so he moved into a safe space in the pocket and did precisely what the Vikings would prefer him to do with the game on the line. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * Sam Darnold sensed the backside pressure as soon as he dropped back with Minnesota trailing by four points late in the fourth quarter in Seattle, so he moved into a safe space in the pocket and did precisely what the Vikings would prefer him to do with the game on the line. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Sam Darnold sensed the backside pressure as soon as he dropped back with Minnesota trailing by four points late in the fourth quarter in Seattle, so he moved into a safe space in the pocket and did precisely what the Vikings would prefer him to do with the game on the line. He threw the ball down the field to Justin Jefferson. The perfectly placed throw near the sideline beat double coverage for a 39-yard touchdown that put the Vikings back in front with 3:51 remaining in a 27-24 victory over the Seahawks on Sunday. “It was a great call,” said Jefferson, who had 10 receptions for 144 yards and two scores, all season highs. “I’m not going to say too much about that play, but something went on where me and Sam were on the same page, and he found me and we went up.” The Vikings were understandably coy about the context around the go-ahead touchdown, when Darnold made a difficult on-the-run pass just over cornerback Tariq Woolen that Jefferson deftly twisted to catch next to his backside hip so he could shield the ball from late-breaking safety Julian Love. Darnold saw Love’s shoulders initially shaded inside just enough to believe he couldn’t retreat fast enough to prevent Jefferson from getting the ball. Jefferson also applied some improvisation to his route that Darnold clearly and properly read during the play. “I want those guys to have some freedom in those moments,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “We do a lot of things with Justin and Sam, seeing the coverage and then with some route opportunities to get to at the line of scrimmage, and I think those guys have just gotten so comfortable with that stuff.” Darnold’s long-delayed breakout performance under O’Connell has been one of the stories of the NFL this season, one that wouldn’t have unfolded as neatly for the third overall pick in the 2018 draft without such synergy between him and his superstar wide receiver. If the Vikings (13-2) win their last two games, they will not only be NFC North champions for the second time in three years but also get the No. 1 seed and the lone first-round bye in the NFC for the playoffs. “Every single game we’re finding different ways to overcome adversity, overcome the different stuff defenses have thrown towards us,” Jefferson said. “Sam has done a great job being a leader.” What’s working The pass rush was strong, with Andrew Van Ginkel recording two sacks and pressure leading to both interceptions of Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith. The Vikings were credited with eight hits on Smith. What needs help The Vikings converted only three of 12 third downs, their second-worst rate of the season. Stock up Theo Jackson, who saw significant playing time at safety with Harrison Smith out, had the game-sealing interception with 49 seconds left. Stock down Tight end Josh Oliver has played 47% of the snaps the last two games, his two lowest usage rates of the season. He dropped the only pass he was thrown on Sunday. Injury report The defense ought to get a big boost this week with the expected return of the 13-year veteran Smith from his first absence in two years when he was sidelined at Seattle with a foot injury. Linebacker Ivan Pace, who has missed four games on injured reserve with a hamstring strain, is also on track to be back with his return to practice. Backup defensive lineman Jalen Redmond, who didn’t play against the Seahawks because of a concussion, has made progress through the protocol, O’Connell said. Backup cornerback Fabian Moreau, who was inactive at Seattle with a hip injury, will continue to be evaluated throughout the week. Key number Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. 13.6% — That’s the third-down conversion allowance rate for the Vikings over the last two games, with Chicago and Seattle combining to go just 3 for 22. The Vikings rank second in the NFL in third-down defense at 33.7% for the season and also rank second on fourth down at 36.7%. Up next The Vikings host Green Bay on Sunday, with the kickoff moved to the late afternoon showcase spot on Fox. If Minnesota loses to the Packers, the Lions will clinch the NFC North and the Vikings would open the playoffs on the road as the No. 5 seed at best. Even if the Lions were to lose at San Francisco on Monday night, the Vikings would need to win at Detroit on Jan. 5 to take the division title. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL Advertisement Advertisement
Bill Clinton Hospitalized After Developing High FeverSocial Security tackles overpayment ‘injustices,’ but problems remainOmolabake Fasogbon Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc said it has achieved another milestone with the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recognising an additional N75 billion in its capital raise. The approval represents the final leg of the capital injection that was achieved through a private placement in September 2024, the bank explained in a statement yesterday. Building on the private placement’s success, Sterling launched a Rights Issue in October 2024, structured to provide existing shareholders the exclusive opportunity to deepen their stakes in the company and share in its growth story. The rights issue received significant interest and participation, highlighting the confidence and trust the company has cultivated among its shareholders over the years. Regulatory approval for the process is currently underway, marking another significant step in the recapitalisation journey. “The public is eagerly awaiting Sterling’s Public Offer, which will present an exciting opportunity for individuals to invest in the company. It is anticipated that the recapitalisation process will be completed with a Public Offer early next year, allowing wider participation from the public and further strengthening its commitment to shared value creation,” the bank noted. Group Chief Executive, Yemi Odubiyi, in a statement, described the capital injection and the approval as a validation of the company’s strategic direction and operational excellence. “This milestone reflects the confidence of regulators and stakeholders in our vision to redefine financial services in Nigeria and beyond. Our enhanced capital base empowers us to pursue transformative opportunities, deliver sustainable value to all stakeholders and drive impact across critical sectors of the Nigerian economy,” he stated. Odubiyi emphasised the company’s evolution from its origins as a merchant bank to its current status as a diversified financial holdings company. Powered by cutting-edge technology and a flexible operational model, the company has consistently demonstrated its ability to navigate market difficulties and seize growth opportunities. Reflecting on Sterling’s accomplishments, Odubiyi acknowledged the instrumental role of stakeholders, including regulators, investors, and customers. “We are grateful for the unwavering support and trust in our strategy, which has been pivotal to our journey. This recapitalisation strengthens our ability to unlock new opportunities, create value, and drive economic growth,” he added. The capital boost follows a year marked by robust financial performance and significant strategic achievements for Sterling. As at the last week in December 2024, Sterling witnessed a 19 percent surge in stock price, contributing to a remarkable three-year growth of 287.42 percent. In the first half of 2024, the company recorded a 51 percent increase in profit before tax compared to the same period in 2023 and achieved a 20 percent growth in total assets. These results demonstrate Sterling’s resilience and ability to deliver superior outcomes despite the complexities of Nigeria’s economic landscape, marked by high inflation and currency volatility. “As Sterling looks ahead, its focus remains firmly on innovation, sustainability, and value creation. With a fortified capital structure, the company is well-positioned to execute its ambitious growth plans, deepen its impact across critical sectors, and set new benchmarks for excellence in Nigeria’s financial services industry. This latest milestone marks a transformative chapter for Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc as it continues to redefine the future of financial services in Nigeria and beyond,” it added.
The Christmas tradition has become nearly global in scope: Children from around the world track Santa Claus as he sweeps across the earth, delivering presents and defying time. Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command to inquire about Santa’s location. Millions more follow online in nine languages , from English to Japanese. On any other night, NORAD is scanning the heavens for potential threats , such as last year’s Chinese spy balloon . But on Christmas Eve, volunteers in Colorado Springs are fielding questions like, “When is Santa coming to my house?” and, “Am I on the naughty or nice list?” “There are screams and giggles and laughter,” said Bob Sommers, 63, a civilian contractor and NORAD volunteer. Sommers often says on the call that everyone must be asleep before Santa arrives, prompting parents to say, “Do you hear what he said? We got to go to bed early.” NORAD’s annual tracking of Santa has endured since the Cold War , predating ugly sweater parties and Mariah Carey classics . Here’s how it began and why the phones keep ringing. It started with a child’s accidental phone call in 1955. The Colorado Springs newspaper printed a Sears advertisement that encouraged children to call Santa, listing a phone number. A boy called. But he reached the Continental Air Defense Command, now NORAD, a joint U.S. and Canadian effort to spot potential enemy attacks. Tensions were growing with the Soviet Union, along with anxieties about nuclear war. Air Force Col. Harry W. Shoup picked up an emergency-only “red phone” and was greeted by a tiny voice that began to recite a Christmas wish list. “He went on a little bit, and he takes a breath, then says, ‘Hey, you’re not Santa,’” Shoup told The Associated Press in 1999. Realizing an explanation would be lost on the youngster, Shoup summoned a deep, jolly voice and replied, “Ho, ho, ho! Yes, I am Santa Claus. Have you been a good boy?” Shoup said he learned from the boy’s mother that Sears mistakenly printed the top-secret number. He hung up, but the phone soon rang again with a young girl reciting her Christmas list. Fifty calls a day followed, he said. In the pre-digital age, the agency used a 60-by-80 foot (18-by-24 meter) plexiglass map of North America to track unidentified objects. A staff member jokingly drew Santa and his sleigh over the North Pole. The tradition was born. “Note to the kiddies,” began an AP story from Colorado Springs on Dec. 23, 1955. “Santa Claus Friday was assured safe passage into the United States by the Continental Air Defense Command.” In a likely reference to the Soviets, the article noted that Santa was guarded against possible attack from “those who do not believe in Christmas.” Some grinchy journalists have nitpicked Shoup’s story, questioning whether a misprint or a misdial prompted the boy’s call. In 2014, tech news site Gizmodo cited an International News Service story from Dec. 1, 1955, about a child’s call to Shoup. Published in the Pasadena Independent, the article said the child reversed two digits in the Sears number. “When a childish voice asked COC commander Col. Harry Shoup, if there was a Santa Claus at the North Pole, he answered much more roughly than he should — considering the season: ‘There may be a guy called Santa Claus at the North Pole, but he’s not the one I worry about coming from that direction,’” Shoup said in the brief piece. In 2015, The Atlantic magazine doubted the flood of calls to the secret line, while noting that Shoup had a flair for public relations. Phone calls aside, Shoup was indeed media savvy. In 1986, he told the Scripps Howard News Service that he recognized an opportunity when a staff member drew Santa on the glass map in 1955. A lieutenant colonel promised to have it erased. But Shoup said, “You leave it right there,” and summoned public affairs. Shoup wanted to boost morale for the troops and public alike. “Why, it made the military look good — like we’re not all a bunch of snobs who don’t care about Santa Claus,” he said. Shoup died in 2009. His children told the StoryCorps podcast in 2014 that it was a misprinted Sears ad that prompted the phone calls. “And later in life he got letters from all over the world,” said Terri Van Keuren, a daughter. “People saying ‘Thank you, Colonel, for having, you know, this sense of humor.’” NORAD’s tradition is one of the few modern additions to the centuries-old Santa story that have endured, according to Gerry Bowler, a Canadian historian who spoke to the AP in 2010. Ad campaigns or movies try to “kidnap” Santa for commercial purposes, said Bowler, who wrote “Santa Claus: A Biography.” NORAD, by contrast, takes an essential element of Santa’s story and views it through a technological lens. In a recent interview with the AP, Air Force Lt. Gen. Case Cunningham explained that NORAD radars in Alaska and Canada — known as the northern warning system — are the first to detect Santa. He leaves the North Pole and typically heads for the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean. From there he moves west, following the night. “That’s when the satellite systems we use to track and identify targets of interest every single day start to kick in,” Cunningham said. “A probably little-known fact is that Rudolph’s nose that glows red emanates a lot of heat. And so those satellites track (Santa) through that heat source.” NORAD has an app and website, www.noradsanta.org , that will track Santa on Christmas Eve from 4 a.m. to midnight, Mountain Standard Time. People can call 1-877-HI-NORAD to ask live operators about Santa’s location from 6 a.m. to midnight, mountain time.Social Security tackles overpayment ‘injustices,’ but problems remainHomeland Security agent pleads not guilty to drug distribution conspiracy charge
OTTAWA — Canada will beef up its border security in time for the inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Tuesday as he appeared at a House of Commons committee. LeBlanc couldn't provide specifics on the number of extra "boots on the ground," but said the government is finalizing a plan based on advice received from the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency, and that he is now working with Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to fund it. "We haven't made, as a government, those final decisions," LeBlanc told the committee, in response to questions from Conservative MP Raquel Dancho. "There will be additional resources. Human and equipment. We will be making announcements in terms of procurement and personnel before (Jan. 20)," he said, referencing Trump's inauguration date. Last week, Trump threatened Canada with 25 per cent tariffs on all imports if Canada didn't do more to stem the passage of migrants and illegal drugs across the border. If enacted the move could critically damage Canada's economy, with more than 70 per cent of Canadian exports bound for the United States. On Friday, LeBlanc and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Florida to dine with Trump and some of his cabinet nominees at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida where they informally discussed trade and border security among other topics. Trudeau met with opposition leaders in his office on Parliament Hill on Tuesday to brief them on the situation as it stands now. An official in Trudeau's office said during the meeting Trudeau stressed the importance of not negotiating against Canada in public, and asked party leaders to state repeatedly and publicly that tariffs will raise the cost of living on both sides of the border. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who attended the meeting, said at an afternoon news conference that unity is key among premiers and federal party leaders, because successfully beating back the tariffs is "not going to happen by accident." "All of us should be putting country before party," she said. Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet said the meeting was cordial, discussions rational and constructive, and said having more of those meetings would be helpful in having a consistent approach on U.S. policy — amid a looming Canadian election. "If that tone that was used in that type of meeting could show up in Parliament, people would have more confidence in us and take us more seriously," Blanchet told reporters, in French. In English he said he was willing to wait for the government's finalized plan for the border before commenting on it, adding he's trying not to turn the issue into a partisan fight. "The parts of (the plan) are exactly what we asked for a long time ago. We asked for more people at the border and ports of entry," Blanchet said. "This is what they seem to be doing with closer collaboration with U.S. authorities. We don't have the details, we don't have the numbers. But we know about the intention, which by itself is the beginning of a good thing." Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre emerged from the meeting appearing to heed Trudeau's call to stress the impact the tariffs could have on the U.S. economy. "It should be obvious and easy to make these arguments to the Americans, because they would be doing enormous damage to their own economy," Poilievre told reporters. But he was also highly critical of Trudeau for enacting policies that Poilievre said put Canada into the position it is in now. He said his demands are for Trudeau to fix the "disorder" at the border and the immigration system, as well as reverse economic damages he says were caused by the carbon price and an emissions cap on oil and gas production. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said Trudeau told the party leaders that it would be helpful if they "didn't amplify the kind of messaging and language that the Trump administration is using to attack Canada." "When you sit around a table, there's the sense that we're all here with a shared view and goals that we share as Canadians," May told reporters. "That said, there were differences in responses as we went around afterwards how much we were willing to say 'yes, we will do whatever we can as opposition party leaders to avoid giving the Trump administration any sound bites that sound like Canadians agree with Trump.'" In a post on Truth Social Nov. 30, Trump called his meeting with Trudeau productive particularly about the drug crisis, but made no mention of whether it had moved the needle for him on tariffs. On Tuesday he posted an illustration of him standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag and the caption "O Canada" without any further explanation. Earlier Tuesday at the public safety committee, RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme said the RCMP did not have intelligence about where people might try to cross the U.S. border, which would inform where to deploy additional officers and how many. He said the challenging part is it's only a crime once people or drugs actually cross into the U.S. "There's collaboration (with U.S. Customs and Border Protection). But I think it's really important to identify those hot areas based on the position that the U.S. will take." Speaking to reporters outside the committee, Duheme said protecting the border is a shared responsibility between both countries and there are problems going both ways. "You heard fentanyl, you heard firearms are coming up from the south. So it's a shared responsibility," he said. The flow of illegal firearms is a topic LeBlanc and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised with Trump at their dinner Friday night. "The prime minister did say, when they were talking about their concerns around fentanyl and precursor chemicals and drugs, that we have for a long time worried about illegal firearms smuggled into Canada," LeBlanc told the committee. "We made that point to (Trump) that that was something we wanted to do in partnership with them." LeBlanc also told reporters on Monday that his department is mulling over expanding the CBSA's mandate to include border patrol between ports of entry. Right now, that responsibility falls on the RCMP. But LeBlanc said such a move would require a legislative change that would take some time to enact. "We’re always looking at good ideas and we’re not dismissing this one, but it’s not a priority for us in terms of arriving at the conclusion we want," LeBlanc said. Speaking to reporters following the leaders meeting with Trudeau, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said it's a change he would support. "Let's protect our borders, keep us safe, and also help in the fight against these tariffs," Singh said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2024 . -with files from David Baxter. Nick Murray, The Canadian PressGlobal stocks end mostly up with DAX crossing 20,000 for 1st time
Could this be the next domino to fall with the struggling New York Rangers? And after the volatile trade of former captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks and former No. 2 overall pick Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken, the Rangers are making an eyebrow-raising roster move. Veteran Chris Kreider, the longest-tenured member of the Rangers, is being made a healthy scratch by coach Peter Laviolette for Monday afternoon's game against the rival New Jersey Devils. The Rangers continue to be in complete disarray, having won only four times in their last 16 games. Despite getting back into the win column on Friday with a 3-1 win... Michael Whitaker
Boonsong release stirs flapAtlantic City casino earnings fall nearly 14% in 3rd quarter
( MENAFN - Newsroom Panama) Although Panama has experienced remarkable economic growth in recent years, the employment outlook is facing serious problems. Unemployment has risen alarmingly, climbing from 7.4% to 9.5% in the last year. This has left thousands of Panamanians struggling to find formal, stable jobs, and many have been forced to turn to informal employment, which offers no benefits or job protection. Despite being a country that stands out for its economic growth thanks to its strategic location, the Panama Canal and the boost in sectors such as logistics and construction, this development has not sufficiently improved the labor market. The increase in unemployment in the last year is a worrying sign for the country's economy. This situation raises a big question: how can a country grow economically while more and more people are left out of the benefits of that growth? Experts suggest that the current development model is not prioritizing the creation of formal jobs or social inclusion. To change this, it is urgent to implement policies that promote job training, support small and medium-sized businesses, and strengthen sectors such as technology and sustainable tourism. Economic growth must be inclusive, offering opportunities for all. Only in this way will Panama be able to achieve sustainable and equitable development for all its citizens. MENAFN27122024000218011062ID1109036226 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.Brookfield Business Partners Enters Gaming. A New Giant Emerges