'A Complete Unknown' factcheck: What some key scenes Bob Dylan movie gets right, wrong
Prospera Financial Services Inc Has $485,000 Stock Holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF (BATS:EFAV)Ayeza to share the screen with Shahrukh Khan in her next project?
OTTAWA — Parents of children who died because of online sexual extortion are urging MPs to act on online harms legislation. The online harms bill is among the legislation that’s been blocked from moving forward for months due to a parliamentary privilege debate raging between the Liberals and Conservatives. The bill targets seven categories of online behaviour, from the non-consensual sharing of intimate images to content that can be used to bully a child, and would create a new Digital Safety Commission of Canada. Justice Minister Arif Virani announced plans to split the bill into two parts this week, heeding calls from critics to separate the more controversial hate speech provisions from the child exploitation components. But the bill still can’t move forward until the privilege filibuster is over. Barbie Lavers, whose teenage son died by suicide after being extorted online over intimate images, told a House of Commons committee Thursday that she supports the online harms legislation. Lavers asked politicians from all parties to come to a temporary alliance and stop using children as political pawns to show “one party is more correct than the other.” “The longer Bill C-63 remains a political issue, the more children we will lose. We beg you to please stop wasting time and do something to help save our children,” she said. Carol Todd, whose daughter Amanda died by suicide due to online sextortion, told MPs it is hurtful to watch political arguments after waiting 12 years for legislation. The Conservatives say they won’t end the filibuster until either the Liberals hand over unredacted documents related to misspending at a now-defunct green technology fund to the RCMP, or the NDP agrees to bring down the government. The Liberals need the support of an opposition party to end or pause the privilege debate, which the NDP did last week when it allowed the government to pass legislation to enact a temporary federal sales tax holiday. But the New Democrats say they, too, want the documents handed over and will not agree to end the debate entirely. Virani said the goal of breaking the legislation into two was “to find consensus amongst parliamentarians on the things that we can agree to immediately.” Conservative justice critic Larry Brock called for Virani to “give up” on the bill and instead adopt a Conservative private member’s bill tackling online harms. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, who introduced that bill, repeatedly put it forward as a superior alternative to the government’s proposed legislation while questioning the witnesses at committee Thursday. Rempel Garner said her concern with the government bill is that it puts the social media platforms’ responsibilities “into a regulator that hasn’t been built and it gives online platforms the ability to wiggle out of this two, three, four years in the future.” “I would direct your attention to C-412,” she told Todd. The first part of the government bill, which Virani plans to prioritize, would create a new regulator to compel social media companies to outline how they plan to reduce the risks their platforms pose to users, particularly minors. It would also update rules around mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse material by internet service providers and some online services. Rempel Garner’s bill would include measures modernizing the existing law against criminal harassment so a victim can ask a judge to force social media companies to identify someone who has repeatedly harassed them online. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2024. Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press
ATLANTA (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is trying to get the Georgia election interference case against him dismissed, asserting that the state's courts will not have jurisdiction over him once he returns to the White House next month. The Georgia case against Trump and others is mostly on hold pending a pretrial appeal of an order allowing prosecutor Fani Willis to remain on the case despite what defense attorneys say is a conflict of interest. Trump's attorneys on Wednesday filed a notice with the Georgia Court of Appeals saying a sitting president is “completely immune from indictment or any criminal process, state or federal.” The filing asks the appeals court to consider before he becomes president next month whether it has jurisdiction to continue to hear the case. It says the court should conclude that it and the trial court lack jurisdiction “as the continued indictment and prosecution of President Trump by the State of Georgia are unconstitutional.” Trump's lawyers ask that the appeals court dismiss his appeal for lack of jurisdiction and instruct the trial court to immediately dismiss the indictment against him. Also Wednesday, former Trump campaign lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in the case, asked the trial court judge to invalidate that plea. Chesebro was one of four people to plead guilty in the case in the months following the indictment. Representatives for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis declined to comment on Trump's and Chesebro's requests. The Georgia case, which originally included 19 defendants and dozens of charges, was the most sprawling of four criminal cases against the once-and-future president. U.S. Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith last week told judges he was withdrawing both federal cases against Trump, citing longstanding Justice Department policy that shields a president from indictment while in office. One of those cases charged him with hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate. The other accused him of scheming to overturn the 2020 presidential election he lost. Trump on Monday asked a Manhattan judge to throw out his conviction in his hush money case , saying that continuing to pursue it would present unconstitutional “disruptions to the institution of the Presidency.“ The New York case was the only one of Trump’s four criminal indictments to go to trial, resulting in a historic verdict that made him the first former president to be convicted of a crime. In the Georgia case, Trump and some of the other remaining defendants, who have pleaded not guilty, were already seeking to have Willis removed from the prosecution or to have the indictment dismissed. They cited a romantic relationship she had with Nathan Wade , a special prosecutor she appointed to lead the case. Willis and Wade have acknowledged that they had a relationship but have said it began after he was hired and ended before the indictment against Trump was filed. Trump and other defendants argued that the relationship created a conflict of interest that should disqualify Willis and her office from continuing with her prosecution of the case. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled in March that Willis’ actions showed a “tremendous lapse in judgment,” but he did not find a conflict of interest that would disqualify Willis. He said she could continue her prosecution as long as Wade stepped aside, which he did. The appeal of that ruling remains pending but must be decided by March. Chesebro was charged in August 2023, alongside Trump and 17 others , in the sprawling indictment accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to overturn Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. He pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy count a few months later after reaching a deal with prosecutors just before he was to go to trial. His lawyer on Wednesday asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to invalidate the plea after McAfee in September tossed out the charge to which he had pleaded guilty. “In Georgia, a defendant cannot plead guilty to a charge that does not constitute a crime,” defense attorney Manny Arora wrote, adding that a failure to invalidate his plea would violate Chesebro's constitutional right to due process. Prosecutors have said Chesebro was part of a plot to have a group of 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate falsely saying that Trump had won Georgia and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. He pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents related to the the filing of that document with the federal court in Atlanta. In a September ruling, McAfee wrote that punishing someone for filing certain documents with a federal court would “enable a state to constrict the scope of materials assessed by a federal court and impair the administration of justice in that tribunal to police its own proceedings.” He concluded that the count must be quashed “as beyond the jurisdiction of this State.” Kate Brumback, The Associated Press
One of Macomb County’s major medical facilities will continue to push for placement of a powerline development in Clinton Township despite the opposition of some residents and township officials in the area. Henry Ford Hospital Macomb officials will go before the township’s Board of Trustees on Monday evening to further discuss a plan to build a series of utility poles carrying power transmission lines down 19 Mile Road, east of Hayes Road, to provide extra electricity to the hospital as well as area businesses and residents. The move follows completion of the Janet & Jim Riehl Patient Tower, a five-story, 225,000-square-foot addition featuring 160 private patient rooms. The $300 million project is the largest healthcare investment in Macomb County history, according to Henry Ford Health’s website. Much of the electricity from the new line will go to powering the new patient tower for and empowering the area’s future power needs, officials said “Our vision for the campus doesn’t stop there,” the hospital said in a statement Thursday. “We’ve always known our plans would require expanded utility capacity. Currently the powerlines to the hospital are close to capacity. The additional power lines will provide the long-term stability patients deserve and ensure we can serve our growing community now and in the future.” Monday’s meeting marks the latest effort by hospital representatives to convince township board members to approve the plans, which include a special land use application and site development for International Transmission Company (ITC). But the Clinton Township board has experienced personnel changes since the Nov. 5 election. Former township Supervisor Bob Cannon did not seek reelection and was replaced by Paul Gieleghem, and trustees Mike Keys and Tammy Patton lost their respective races. The board includes new members in Shannon King, Bruce Wade and Mike Aiello. Hospital officials said they hope to educate the new board members on the electrification project. “The transmission line project will provide our organization with the long-term ability to meet the needs of our community without any unnecessary risks along with dangerous outages,” Shana Johnson, hospital president, said at the board’s Nov. 6 meeting. According to Johnson, the hospital’s investment into the Riehl Patient Tower is approximately $300 million. Mike Markel, vice president of operations and chief nursing officer for Henry Ford Macomb, said the tower is designed to be a critical care facility in the future. If the power line project isn’t approved, additional work on the conversion will have to stop, he said. According to Markel, the power lines that run to the hospital are close to operating at capacity levels. “Critical care technology creates high demand on the power lines,” he said. “If the power lines are overloaded, we lose power and must rely on generators. If we find ourselves in a situation where we are at constant risk of overloading the powerlines, we won’t be able to fully activate the tower for critical care.” But township officials have been critical of ITC and the hospital, saying the power lines should have been already addressed. Trustee Dan Kress said the process now seems “rushed.” “A lack of planning on your part doesn’t constitute a crisis on our end,” he said. “This is a monumental decision that is going to last forever.” Kress made a motion to table the item to give board members time to review a 171-page document that was put in the board packet prior to the meeting. He said he would like the planning department and residents to weigh in on the development. The matter was tabled on a 4-3 board vote, with Kress, Keys Gieleghem and Trustee Julie Matuzak voting for the delay. Cannon, Patton and Clerk Kim Meltzer opposed the measure. Another issue centers on what route the power lines will take and whether they will be visible or buried underground. The proposed 80-acre path would cut through the Westchester Village Condominiums near the intersection of 19 Mile and Hayes Road. ITC Area Manager Gary Kirsh said all of the routes considered for the line presented their own challenges. Kirsh, a former elected official in Washington Township, said ITC’s preferred route is “the most direct route and avoids many of the challenges.” He conceded the path has “residential impacts.” “By the numbers, this route has the lowest residential impacts. But for those residents along 19 Mile, we acknowledge the impact they are feeling and their position that any impact is too much,” Kirsh said. Some township trustees suggested studying different routes, while others say they backed running the lines in a route that would cut through Macomb Community College’s Clinton Township campus. Plans call for landscaping and a decorative wall to be added to the mix to soften the visual impact of the power lines. Heather Puzan, who who lives in Westchester condos, is skeptical of those efforts. “All of the units on the second floor, every one of us, are going to have those power lines right in our line of view,” she said. “Those lines are going to be 40 to 50 feet from my livings room, from people’s bedrooms.” ITC and Henry Ford Health officials prefer a plan that would run the lines above ground. Kirsh said burying the lines present another issue. If the lines were buried, the construction area would be about 50 feet wide and 20 feet deep. He said all roads the line is crossing would be impacted and, if there’s a future disruption, the process to fix it would be difficult as the lines would have to be dug up in order to provide access to them. Officials said placing the lines underground would “significantly extend” the construction timeline, delaying the additional electrical capacity required by the hospital and township by three years or more. The underground option is also the most expensive alternative, representatives said. “Burying the lines underground is great until it isn’t great,” said Mark Corriveau, Henry Ford’s vice president and chief government relations officer. Finally, there is compensation to be paid to the Westchester residents by ITC. Therese Lenzini, whose daughter daughter lives in the condos said she has questions about the compensation. “I’d like to know, because this is obviously going to make you a lot of money, what they’re going to do for the residents of Westchester Village, whose condo complex is going to be greatly affected by this,” she said. Kirsh said the condo association’s bylaws require them to go through the state’s condemnation process. The process requires ITC to compensate residents impacted by the development in a particular way. In order to move the condemnation process forward, ITC needed to enter into individual lawsuits with affected residents. An attorney for ITC, Geoffrey Denstaedt, said the organization has deposited into escrow funds ITC deems to be the estimated just compensation. He said residents may present evidence to show whether they disagree and they believe the correct compensation should be. Heather Puzan, another resident who lives in Westerchester condos, expressed concern over how long it would take the landscaping ITC proposes to install to mature. She also said the lines likely will decrease the value of her unit and create an eyesore. “My home is now going to be somewhere I want to leave,” she said. The Clinton Township Board of Trustees meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Civic Center, 40700 Romeo Plank Road.Rihanna shares why she's proud of ‘baby daddy' A$AP Rocky
CJK Group states strategic rebranding of Kodi Collective propels Sheridan to new heightsYouth unemployment has remained persistently high as opportunities dwindle. SHENZHEN – Competition for civil service jobs in China has reached new highs, as millions of graduates in the country seek out stable employment in a difficult job market fraught with uncertainty. This past weekend, more than 2.5 million aspiring bureaucrats – the largest number in more than a decade – sat an hours-long national civil service examination at test centres across the country. It is their first hurdle in a quest to secure one of just 39,700 government jobs that begin in 2025. Broadly, this translates to an average of 65 people competing for every job. A record number of graduates in China are grappling with a labour market plagued by layoffs and wage cuts that have extended even into the public sector. Youth unemployment has remained persistently high as opportunities dwindle – the figure, at 17.1 per cent in October, is above the global level and does not account for students or the underemployed. The rush for government jobs goes back to the Covid-19 pandemic period in China, as the state mounted a regulatory crackdown on industries from property to tech that shook the private sector, a major employer. Recent graduate Zhang Shuaikang, 23, was one of the millions who sat the recent civil service exam, in the north-eastern city of Harbin. “It’s mostly because I have always dreamed of becoming a policeman,” said the design major, of his public service ambitions. Many of his university mates had also taken the exam, including four of his six roommates, he told The Straits Times. A career in government appealed to them largely because “the job is stable, pay is high, and (they) can have time to spend with family”. Civil service jobs are viewed as a good career option in China for the prestige and authority that a government official commands. These positions, which offer a stable income and benefits, are sometimes called “iron rice bowls” for the job security they afford. But since the pandemic, their popularity has skyrocketed as the economy struggled and businesses faltered. In the decade to 2020, about one million people took the national civil service exam each year, according to ST’s review of publicly available figures. Their ranks have swelled since, with 2024’s examinees more than doubling from four years prior. The journey to a government job in China typically begins with candidates applying for one of the listed openings. After an initial screening for eligibility, those who qualify can take a wide-ranging written exam that spans political theory to general knowledge. The field then winnows as successful candidates move on to interviews, health checks and background checks that include scrutiny of candidates’ “political character” and “moral quality”. Apart from civil service recruitment at the national level for openings in central government bodies and related institutions, the country’s provinces also run a separate selection process for local officials. The most oversubscribed job opening in 2024 – handling international relations at the China Vocational Education Association – attracted more than 16,700 applicants, local media reported. Competition was stiffest not in the big cities but in Tibet, China’s far-flung south-western region, where an average of 150 candidates are vying for each position there. Requirements for jobs in difficult and remote locales are typically lower in a bid to attract more applicants. The popularity of public sector jobs has persisted in spite of reports of delayed wage payouts and cutbacks in benefits for civil servants, as cash-strapped local governments struggle with their balance sheets. This suggests that the employment situation in other sectors might be worse, with fewer good and stable jobs available, said economics professor Zhu Tian of the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai. The private sector, which employs more than 80 per cent of the country’s urban labour force, has also been plagued by pay cuts and layoffs amid an economic slump. In 2023, the top 500 private companies in China axed more than 300,000 jobs from a year earlier, according to figures from the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. Boosting job prospects for a growing number of college graduates in a flagging economy has been a priority for policymakers in China. The country’s vast civil service, where openings have more than doubled from 2019, has been one repository for jobseekers. But growth in new job openings has slowed for the 2025 intake cycle, remaining roughly constant with the numbers for 2024. This slowing is understandable, Prof Zhu said, as government revenues fall. “How can you increase your job opportunities if you cannot even pay your own current workers?” In September, Beijing released a 24-point plan to boost employment, such as by incentivising businesses to expand job creation. But unless economic growth recovers, employment will remain a problem, Prof Zhu added. With the recent roll-out of stimulus and possibly more in 2025, “hopefully the economic situation might improve a bit”. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you. Read 3 articles and stand to win rewards Spin the wheel now
Biomednewsbreaks - Clene Inc. (NASDAQ: CLNN) Receives FDA Roadmap On Potential Accelerated Pathway For CNM-Au8(R)Shares of Chinese consumer -oriented names , , and rocketed higher on Monday, up 5.5%, 10.1%, and 21.9% as of noon ET. There was an across-the-board rally in Chinese stocks today, with the smaller, more economically sensitive stocks in the country rallying the most. This came after the country's Politburo met and made a dovish statement for more forceful and imminent stimulus. China is getting increasingly serious about stimulus On Monday, China's 24-member Politburo released a statement, declaring the government will have a more forceful fiscal response to the country's economic woes, and that the central bank will use a "moderately loose" monetary policy into next year. While that couched language might not scream "huge stimulus money," China's Politburo hasn't used that official language since 2008, during the Great Financial Crisis. Not only that, but the statement also came with other language vowing to be more "active" in responding to economic downturns and boosting consumer demand while stabilizing the housing market. China's downturn has been the result of the long "zero-COVID" lockdowns, the clampdown on the country's biggest tech companies, difficulties with foreign capital to get money in and out of the country, and perhaps most importantly, a big housing downturn that has decimated consumer confidence. Chinese consumers have a lot of their wealth tied up in their homes, so this has been a huge headwind to consumer demand. While Beijing had responded to the downturn somewhat this summer, most measures to date had been in the form of cuts and indirect actions, which might not have a big effect if consumers aren't willing to borrow. Some critics have decried a lack of more forceful direct fiscal responses and getting cash into the hands of consumers, while giving them the confidence to restart spending. This has been due to the government's unwillingness to take on larger deficits. However, the language in today's statement seems to suggest Beijing is now open to taking on those larger deficits to jolt the economy out of its slumber. How these stocks would benefit Better consumer spending and household wealth would benefit all three of these stocks. Tencent has a portfolio of products that span both consumer and enterprise customers, but its biggest segments are still consumer-oriented in free-to-play video games, the giant social media platform WeChat, and its digital financial payments platform Tenpay. Baidu, meanwhile, is the largest search platform in China, and is therefore dependent on the economically sensitive advertising market, while the company is also advancing AI and self-driving car technology. And Futu is an online financial brokerage that facilitates trading for stocks, derivatives, and other assets. A healthier Chinese consumer would theoretically invest and trade more. China stocks all clear? Not so fast While today's news was certainly encouraging, investors should still take care to be cautious of Chinese stocks. While all three stocks are still well below their 2021 highs, they have all had quite a run this year, as these names surged a huge amount following this summer's initial statements promising more aggressive stimulus. However, after the summer's surge, some investors had been disappointed in the actual follow-through since then, and there's still uncertainty as to how the government will follow through on today's statements. While today's announcements do indicate an incremental promise for a more forceful government response, China's lagging property sector, aging population, and likely higher tariffs on goods destined for the U.S. under the incoming Trump administration will be difficult to tackle all at once. However, for those willing to take on the significant geopolitical and policy risks, China's big tech and consumer companies still remain cheaper than their U.S. counterparts -- though that gap has narrowed quite a bit over the past few months.
Commentary: Cut undersea cables in Baltic Sea are a reminder of Asia Pacific’s vulnerability
Brandon Hall Group Announces 2024 Excellence in Technology Award WinnersElon Musk applauds India’s elections — after doubting the very system behind it; here's what he had to say
Southeastern Grocers gives customers extra jingle in their pockets with over $50,000 in free groceries
Perspective: Taxes — by another nameNone