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p777 “The first term, everybody was fighting me,” Trump said in remarks at Mar-a-Lago . “In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.” Tech companies and leaders have now poured millions into his inauguration fund, a sharp increase — in most cases — from past pledges to incoming presidents. But what does the tech industry expect to gain out of their renewed relationships with Trump? A clue to what the industry is looking for came just days before the election when Microsoft executives — who’ve largely tried to show a neutral or bipartisan stance — joined with a close Trump ally, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, to publish a blog post outlining their approach to artificial intelligence policy. “Regulation should be implemented only if its benefits outweigh its costs,” said the document signed by Andreessen, his business partner Ben Horowitz, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the company's president, Brad Smith. They also urged the government to back off on any attempt to strengthen copyright laws that would make it harder for companies to use publicly available data to train their AI systems. And they said, “the government should examine its procurement practices to enable more startups to sell technology to the government.” Trump has pledged to rescind President Joe Biden’s sweeping AI executive order, which sought to protect people’s rights and safety without stifling innovation. He hasn’t specified what he would do in its place, but his campaign said AI development should be “rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing.” Trump's choice to head the Interior Department, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, has spoken openly about the need to boost electricity production to meet increased demand from data centers and artificial intelligence. “The AI battle affects everything from defense to healthcare to education to productivity as a country,′′ Burgum said on Nov. 15, referring to artificial intelligence. “And the AI that’s coming in the next 18 months is going to be revolutionary. So there’s just a sense of urgency and a sense of understanding in the Trump administration′′ to address it. Demand for data centers ballooned in recent years due to the rapid growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence, and local governments are competing for lucrative deals with big tech companies. But as data centers begin to consume more resources, some residents are pushing back against the world’s most powerful corporations over concerns about the economic, social and environmental health of their communities. “Maybe Big Tech should buy a copy of ‘The Art of The Deal’ to figure out how to best negotiate with this administration,” suggested Paul Swanson, an antitrust attorney for the law firm Holland & Hart. “I won’t be surprised if they find ways to reach some accommodations and we end up seeing more negotiated resolutions and consent decrees.” Although federal regulators began cracking down on Google and Facebook during Trump’s first term as president — and flourished under Biden — most experts expect his second administration to ease up on antitrust enforcement and be more receptive to business mergers. Google may benefit from Trump’s return after he made comments on the campaign trail suggesting a breakup of the company isn’t in the U.S. national interest, after a judge declared its search engine an illegal monopoly . But recent nominations put forward by his transition team have favored those who have been critical of Big Tech companies, suggesting Google won’t be entirely off the hook. Cook’s notoriously rocky relationship with the EU can be traced back to a 2016 ruling from Brussels in a tax case targeting Apple. Cook slammed the bloc’s order for Apple to pay back up to 13 billion euros ($13.7 billion) in Irish back taxes as “total political crap.” Trump, then in his first term as president, piled on, referring to the European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who was spearheading a campaign on special tax deals and a crackdown on Big Tech companies, as the “tax lady” who “really hates the U.S.” Brussels was eventually vindicated after the bloc’s top court rejected Apple’s appeal this year, though it didn’t stop Cook from calling Trump to complain, Trump recounted in a podcast in October. Trump hosted Cook for a Friday evening dinner at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly. Neither Apple nor the Trump transition team has commented on the nature of their discussions. Altman , Amazon and Meta all pledged to donate $1 million each to Trump’s inaugural fund. During his first term, Trump criticized Amazon and railed against the political coverage at The Washington Post, which billionaire Bezos owns. Meanwhile, Bezos had criticized some of Trump’s past rhetoric. In 2019, Amazon also argued in a court case that Trump’s bias against the company harmed its chances of winning a $10 billion Pentagon contract. More recently, Bezos has struck a more conciliatory tone. He recently said at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York that he was “optimistic” about Trump’s second term, while also endorsing president-elect’s plans to cut regulations. The donation from Meta came just weeks after Zuckerberg met with Trump privately at Mar-a-Lago. During the 2024 campaign, Zuckerberg did not endorse a candidate for president, but voiced a more positive stance toward Trump. Earlier this year, he praised Trump’s response to his first assassination attempt. Still, Trump in recent months had continued to attack Zuckerberg publicly. And Altman, who is in a legal dispute with AI rival Elon Musk, has said he is “not that worried” about the Tesla CEO’s influence in the incoming administration. Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the artificial intelligence company earlier this year alleging that the maker of ChatGPT betrayed its founding aims of benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits.Martin scores 17, Southeast Missouri State beats Westminster (MO) 88-39

The accident happened on the same crossing between Miami and Orlando in Florida where three people have already died this year. A high-speed passenger train collided with a fire engine at a crossing on Saturday in Florida, injuring three firefighters and at least a dozen train passengers, authorities said. The crash happened at 10.45am in crowded downtown Delray Beach, multiple news outlets reported. The Brightline train was stopped on the tracks, its front destroyed, about a block away from the Delray Beach fire rescue truck, its ladder ripped off and strewn in the grass several yards away, The Sun-Sentinel newspaper reported. The Delray Beach Fire Rescue said in a social media post that three Delray Beach firefighters were in stable condition at a hospital. Palm Beach County Fire Rescue took 12 people from the train to the hospital with minor injuries. Emmanuel Amaral rushed to the scene on his golf cart after hearing a loud crash and screeching train brakes from where he was having breakfast a couple of blocks away. He saw firefighters climbing out of the window of their damaged truck and pulling injured colleagues away from the tracks. One of their helmets came to rest several hundred feet away from the crash. “The front of that train is completely smashed, and there was even some of the parts to the fire truck stuck in the front of the train, but it split the car right in half. It split the fire truck right in half, and the debris was everywhere,” Mr Amaral said. Brightline officials did not immediately comment on the crash. A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board said it was still gathering information about the crash and had not decided yet whether it will investigate. The NTSB is already investigating two crashes involving Brightline’s high-speed trains that killed three people early this year at the same crossing along the railroad’s route between Miami and Orlando. More than 100 people have died after being hit by trains since Brightline began operations in July 2017 – giving the railroad the worst death rate in the United States. But most of those deaths have been either suicides, pedestrians who tried to run across the tracks ahead of a train or drivers who went around crossing gates instead of waiting for a train to pass. Brightline has not been found to be at fault in those previous deaths.What does Big Tech hope to gain from warming up to Trump?When Luigi Mangione was arrested in the killing of the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, he was hailed in some corners of the internet as an anti-capitalist folk hero. In a document said to be a “manifesto” found with Mangione, published online by journalist Ken Klippenstein, the 26-year-old former data engineer condemned UnitedHealthcare for abusing “our country for immense profit.” “Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming,” Mangione wrote . “A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy.” But Mangione was not a straightforward, left-leaning Robin Hood figure avenging what he sees as the brutality of the U.S. health care system or, as one right-wing critic alleged, “ just another leftist nut job .” The political ideology he articulated online — on social media platforms from X and Reddit to Goodreads — defied neat left-right binaries and showed a young man steeped in a hodgepodge of online Silicon Valley philosophy and heterodox ideas. Mangione’s internet postings, along with accounts from people he knew and talked to online, offer a complex view. Mangione’s last post on X was in June, nearly six months before he allegedly traveled to Manhattan to kill, and he appeared to disconnect from his family and friends around the same time. But his digital footprint offers a glimpse into his ideological journey, documenting some of his deepest hopes and anxieties about the future of technology and humanity. The former valedictorian of an elite Baltimore prep school and Ivy League graduate shared posts on social media from an eclectic stream of populists, entrepreneurs, neuroscientists, centrists and disruptors. On X, he followed comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan; President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; liberal columnist Ezra Klein; and democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. On a now-private Goodreads account that authorities reportedly identified as belonging to Mangione, he included a biography of tech billionaire and GOP megadonor Elon Musk — now a close Trump adviser — in his favorites list and rated Republican Vice President-elect J.D. Vance’s memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” three out of five stars. A computer science major with an interest in rationalism, self-improvement and effective altruism — a philosophical movement that uses evidence and reason to help others — Mangione enthused about technological innovation. But he also worried about how corporations and ordinary people used tech, sharing a stream of posts on smartphones’ effect on mental health , the downside of Netflix and Doordash , and an AI chatbot’s threats to carry out revenge. Mangione appeared skeptical of some of the core tenets of left-leaning “identity politics.” Two years ago, he shared a post from British Indian writer Gurwinder Bhogal challenging the idea that asking “Where are you from?” is impolite: “If wokeism teaches minorities to be traumatized even by friendly gestures, it cannot claim to bridge divides.” In April, Mangione retweeted a blogger who complained that modern-day atheists “disprove[d] God” only to end up “worshipping at the DEI shrine” and “using made-up pronouns like religious mantras.” Some on the left are now dubbing Mangione right-wing, but they do not seem to agree on whether he is a “center-right biohacking Thiel-loving tech bro” or “ another far right MAGA Trumper Terrorist .” Bhogal, who chatted and emailed with Mangione online after the American became a founding member of his Substack, said Mangione was neither. “He was left-wing on some things and right-wing on others,” Bhogal wrote in an email. “He was pro-equality of opportunity, but ... he opposed wokeism because he didn’t believe it was an effective way to help minorities.” Bhogal said Mangione first reached out to him in April while on a trip in Asia. Mangione asked him about a 2023 article Bhogal wrote exploring the rise of the NPC, or Non-Player Character, a term referring to video game characters that some online subcultures now use to describe humans who behave in predictable, scripted ways. The article resonated with Mangione, Bhogal said, probably because he felt he did not fit into a political tribe. Bhogal described Mangione as curious and well-read, with “mostly quite tame” intellectual interests in “brain rot, indoctrination, declining birth-rates, gamification and corporate greed.” On X, Mangione praised conservative commentator Tucker Carlson as “spot on” in recognizing that “modern architecture kills the spirit” and shared a video of a talk by venture capitalist and GOP megadonor Peter Thiel on why people with Asperger’s syndrome excel in tech. On Goodreads, he gave “Industrial Society and Its Future” by the late Theodore Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, a four-star review. Kaczynski was “rightfully imprisoned,” he wrote, but he also noted: “it’s simply impossible to ignore how prescient many of his predictions about modern society turned out.” At the end of his review, Mangione quoted a random Reddit user, Bosspotatoness: “These companies don’t care about you, or your kids, or your grandkids. They have zero qualms about burning down the planet for a buck, so why should we have any qualms about burning them down to survive?” According to Bhogal, Mangione seemed disillusioned with status quo politics, but he appeared to dislike Trump. “He believed corporate greed for short-term profits was causing tech companies to saturate society with mind-rotting entertainment,” Bhogal wrote. “He asked me how to maximize agency in a world constantly trying to deprive us of it.” Those who got to know Mangione in 2022 when he lived at the Surfbreak co-working community near Honolulu described him as a normal, affable guy. “He did not seem hardcore in any direction,” said Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for Surfbreak owner and founder R.J. Martin. “No one really knows what his political views were. He seemed balanced, young and curious, without a noticeable ideology.” Though Mangione came off as anti-capitalist and anti-corporate in his manifesto, Brian Levin, founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and professor emeritus of criminal injustice at California State San Bernardino, said that didn’t necessarily make him hard-left. Increasingly, Levin noted, anti-corporate and anti-institutional subcultures operate across the ideological spectrum. “We’re seeing a diversification of these types of extremism, as well as an a la carte construction of idiosyncratic beliefs that are sometimes hooked into an ideology,” Levin said, noting that two years ago, a mass shooter who killed eight people at a mall in Allen, Texas, was a Latino with a Nazi tattoo. “Let’s see where the defendant falls.” Mary Beth Altier, a clinical professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs who studies political violence and behavior, said it was becoming more common for political violence to be largely motivated by a single issue, in this case the healthcare industry. “They’re not necessarily fitting into a larger group or ideology,” she said, “but rather have a personal grievance with a particular issue.” Online, some pundits and extremism experts have suggested that Mangione expressed views associated with “the gray tribe,” a term coined a decade ago by Bay Area psychiatrist and blogger Scott Alexander, to refer to an online collective of rationalists, online tech enthusiasts, atheists and free thinkers who fall outside conventional left- or right-wing tribal thinking. “Increasingly looks like we’ve got our first grey tribe shooter,” journalist and extremism expert Robert Evans posted on X the day Mangione was charged. “Boy howdy is the media not ready for that.” As Alexander described it, the gray tribe espouses “libertarian political beliefs, Dawkins-style atheism, vague annoyance that the question of gay rights even comes up, eating paleo, drinking Soylent, calling in rides on Uber, reading lots of blogs, calling American football ‘sportsball,’ getting conspicuously upset about the War on Drugs and the NSA...” As obscure as Mangione’s views might seem to Americans who do not dwell in the same online spaces, Evans wrote on his Substack that “his interest in Gray Tribe-adjacent thinkers and self-help books written by productivity hackers ... is incredibly common among young men.” Other observers of internet subcultures suggested Mangione was a “ new tech centrist ” or “TPOT adjacent,” an acronym for This Part of Twitter, another loose offshoot of Silicon Valley “post-rationalism” that developed online during the COVID-19 lockdown and focuses on ideas, technology, spirituality and conspiracy theories. Some joked about the difficulty of attributing motivation to Mangione in an era of increasingly in-the-weeds online subcultures. “Tried explaining that the shooter wasn’t a far left radical but actually a right wing tpot adjacent ted k reading lindyman following, rfk pilled upenn grad,” one poster wrote on X . “Got kicked out of the family group chat.” Typically, Levin said, those who engage in public acts of symbolic violence are motivated by one, or a combination of, three factors: ideology, which could be religious or political; a psychological condition or mental instability; a sense of personal benefit or revenge. “The bottom line here is this is someone who experienced a grievance, and that grievance resonated,” Levin said of Mangione. “The combination of grievance, idiosyncrasies, personal psychological distress, withdrawal from support systems and the glorification of violence that exists generally in our society will have a special effect on individuals who feel an unjust grievance or who feel the system doesn’t work.” Mangione’s last post on X appears to be June 10. By November, his mother filed a missing-person report for her son in San Francisco. A fitness buff, he had suffered health setbacks. The top banner of his X profile, next to a photo of him posing shirtless and smiling atop a mountain, was an image of an X-ray showing four screws in a spine, a sign that he had gone through lumbar spinal fusion surgery. Posts from a since-deleted Reddit account, with details matching Mangione’s biographical details, showed that Mangione suffered from chronic back pain resulting from spondylolisthesis — a condition in which a vertebra in the spine, usually in the lower back, slips out of place. Mangione wrote that his condition was exacerbated by a surfing accident. “My back and hips locked up after the accident,” he wrote in July 2023. “I’m terrified of the implications.” Mangione wrote that he underwent spinal surgery weeks later, which appeared to have improved his symptoms. When Bhogal chatted with Mangione via video for two hours in May, he did not get the impression that he was in pain or on painkillers. “He seemed lucid, relaxed, and cheerful,” Bhogal wrote. But Bhogal said Mangione may have felt isolated. He complained the people around him were on a “different wavelength” and seemed eager to join a community of like-minded people. He urged Bhogal to schedule group video calls to discuss rationalism, Stoicism and effective altruism. That never happened. The last time Bhogal heard from Mangione was June 10, when he received a message in which Mangione asked him how to curate his social media feeds. Bhogal forgot to get back to him. A part of him wonders, now, if he could have averted the apparent outcome if he had replied. ©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.2024 was a brutal year for the Amazon rainforest, with rampant wildfires and extreme drought ravaging large parts of a biome that’s a critical counterweight to climate change. A warming climate fed drought that in turn fed the worst year for fires since 2005. And those fires contributed to deforestation, with authorities suspecting some fires were set to more easily clear land to run cattle. The Amazon is twice the size of India and sprawls across eight countries and one territory, storing vast amounts of carbon dioxide that would otherwise warm the planet. It has about 20% of the world’s fresh water and astounding biodiversity, including 16,000 known tree species. But governments have historically viewed it as an area to be exploited, with little regard for sustainability or the rights of its Indigenous peoples, and experts say exploitation by individuals and organized crime is rising at alarming rates. “The fires and drought experienced in 2024 across the Amazon rainforest could be ominous indicators that we are reaching the long-feared ecological tipping point,” said Andrew Miller, advocacy director at Amazon Watch, an organization that works to protect the rainforest. “Humanity’s window of opportunity to reverse this trend is shrinking, but still open.” There were some bright spots. The level of Amazonian forest loss fell in both Brazil and Colombia. And nations gathered for the annual United Nations conference on biodiversity agreed to give Indigenous peoples more say in nature conservation decisions. “If the Amazon rainforest is to avoid the tipping point, Indigenous people will have been a determinant factor," Miller said. Forest loss in Brazil’s Amazon — home to the largest swath of this rainforest — dropped 30.6% compared to the previous year, the lowest level of destruction in nine years. The improvement under leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva contrasted with deforestation that hit a 15-year high under Lula's predecessor, far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, who prioritized agribusiness expansion over forest protection and weakened environmental agencies. In July, Colombia reported historic lows in deforestation in 2023, driven by a drop in environmental destruction. The country's environment minister Susana Muhamad warned that 2024's figures may not be as promising as a significant rise in deforestation had already been recorded by July due to dry weather caused by El Nino, a weather phenomenon that warms the central Pacific. Illegal economies continue to drive deforestation in the Andean nation. “It’s impossible to overlook the threat posed by organized crime and the economies they control to Amazon conservation,” said Bram Ebus, a consultant for Crisis Group in Latin America. “Illegal gold mining is expanding rapidly, driven by soaring global prices, and the revenues of illicit economies often surpass state budgets allocated to combat them.” In Brazil, large swaths of the rainforest were draped in smoke in August from fires raging across the Amazon, Cerrado savannah, Pantanal wetland and the state of Sao Paulo. Fires are traditionally used for deforestation and for managing pastures, and those man-made blazes were largely responsible for igniting the wildfires. For a second year, the Amazon River fell to desperate lows , leading some countries to declare a state of emergency and distribute food and water to struggling residents. The situation was most critical in Brazil, where one of the Amazon River's main tributaries dropped to its lowest level ever recorded. Cesar Ipenza, an environmental lawyer who lives in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, said he believes people are becoming increasingly aware of the Amazon's fundamental role “for the survival of society as a whole." But, like Miller, he worries about a “point of no return of Amazon destruction.” It was the worst year for Amazon fires since 2005, according to nonprofit Rainforest Foundation US. Between January and October, an area larger than the state of Iowa — 37.42 million acres, or about 15.1 million hectares of Brazil’s Amazon — burned. Bolivia had a record number of fires in the first ten months of the year. “Forest fires have become a constant, especially in the summer months and require particular attention from the authorities who don't how to deal with or respond to them,” Ipenza said. Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Guyana also saw a surge in fires this year. The United Nations conference on biodiversity — this year known as COP16 — was hosted by Colombia. The meetings put the Amazon in the spotlight and a historic agreement was made to give Indigenous groups more of a voice on nature conservation decisions , a development that builds on a growing movement to recognize Indigenous people's role in protecting land and combating climate change. Both Ebus and Miller saw promise in the appointment of Martin von Hildebrand as the new secretary general for the Amazon Treaty Cooperation Organization, announced during COP16. “As an expert on Amazon communities, he will need to align governments for joint conservation efforts. If the political will is there, international backers will step forward to finance new strategies to protect the world’s largest tropical rainforest,” Ebus said. Ebus said Amazon countries need to cooperate more, whether in law enforcement, deploying joint emergency teams to combat forest fires, or providing health care in remote Amazon borderlands. But they need help from the wider world, he said. “The well-being of the Amazon is a shared global responsibility, as consumer demand worldwide fuels the trade in commodities that finance violence and environmental destruction,” he said. Next year marks a critical moment for the Amazon, as Belém do Pará in northern Brazil hosts the first United Nations COP in the region that will focus on climate. “Leaders from Amazon countries have a chance to showcase strategies and demand tangible support," Ebus said.

( MENAFN - Asia Times) Donald Trump's cabinet appointments and policy pronouncements have been dominating the headlines and many of these appointments and pronouncements have dire implications for China. The Chinese have noticed. They're signaling some of the ways they will react if trump tries to shut China out of the US market. You might even say they're reacting pre-emptively. Trump has chosen China hawks for his secretary of state (Marco Rubio), national security advisor (Mike Walz) and ambassador to China (David Perdue). He has repeated his promises to impose 60% tariffs on Chinese products. The other day, he threatened the nine members of the BRICS bloc, which include China, with 100% tariffs if they attempt to replace the US dollar as the world's reserve currency. The BRICS countries aren't seriously threatening to do that – any time soon, at least. For the Chinese yuan – the obvious candidate – to play the reserve-currency role, China would have to liberate its controls on flows of capital. It doesn't want to do that. But BRICS is an important part of China's reaction to the risk of severe limitations on its access to the US market. The idea is diversification – relying more on other trading partners for both imports and exports. As US farmers can easily imagine, Brazil – the B in BRICS – is near the top of China's dance card. The other reaction China is signaling is retaliation. When the Biden administration added new restrictions on chip technology exports to China in early December, it took China less than 24 hours to respond with a ban on exports to the US of four critical minerals that China mainly supplies. Diversification, though, may prove a particularly important part of the strategy. China is already the largest trading partner of more than 100 nations. What it needs to compensate for the loss of the US market is more trade with countries that have relatively large economies. Some of the BRICS nations are in that category. The bloc members are Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia are applying to join and other countries may well follow. India would be the big prize for China. It has the world's largest population and, by one measure, the fifth largest gross domestic product. But India and China are rivals. India is wooing many of the foreign investors that are leaving China. The two countries have a long-running border dispute. Although they've made progress recently in de-escalating tensions, their diplomatic relationship has been described as “frosty.” Brazil has a population over 200 million and the world's ninth largest economy, bigger even than Russia's. China has been its largest trade partner since 2009. According to the Economist , Brazil is one of the few countries running a trade surplus with China. During Trump's first term, the Economist calculates, Brazil's exports to China nearly doubled. Ag exports played a leading role as China reacted to Trump's tariffs by switching more of its ag-product purchases from the US to Brazil. That switch could become even more pronounced in Trump's second term. A study by the American Soybean Association and National Corn Growers Association predicts aggressive new US tariffs against Chinese products would cost American soybean farmers $8 billion in lost value and corn farmers $5 billion. China also hopes to export more to Brazil. Its car makers are already selling electric vehicles there and two of them, BYD and Great Wall, are planning to open electric-car factories in Brazil next year. Those factories will doubtless import a lot of parts from China. SpaceSail, a Chinese challenger to Elon Musk's Starlink in satellite telecommunications, recently signed an agreement to do business in Brazil. China and Brazil are drawing closer diplomatically, too. China recently upgrade d the status of its relationship with Brazil. Brazil's left-wing president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, joins Chinese President Xi Jinping in supporting the BRICS' aspirations for what one expert delicately call s“a world order independent of US hegemony.” Last year, China and Brazil experimented with trading in their own currencies rather than in dollars. The value of the transaction was tiny but others could follow. If they do, they'll test whether Trump is serious about those 100% tariffs for countries that reject the dollar. Brazil isn't the whole answer for China, to be sure. But it would go some ways toward making up for lost market opportunities in the US. American farmers and ranchers must hope the US will find a market of similar size to compensate for what they could lose in China in the years ahead. Former longtime Wall Street Journal Asia correspondent and editor Urban Lehner is editor emeritus of DTN/The Progressive Farmer. This article, originally published on December 12 by the latter news organization and now republished by Asia Times with permission, is © Copyright 2024 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved. Follow Urban Lehner on X @urbanize. Thank you for registering! An account was already registered with this email. Please check your inbox for an authentication link. MENAFN17122024000159011032ID1109004645 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. 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Taiwan’S Smart Technology And Innovative Economy Core To National Development Plan And Development StrategiesThe green energy revolution is transforming even unlikely states despite political divisions, Bloomberg Opinion columnist Mark Gongloff writes. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to share on X (Opens in new window) Most Popular Chinese student’s drone got stuck in tree near Newport News Shipbuilding, leading to Espionage Act prosecution Chinese student’s drone got stuck in tree near Newport News Shipbuilding, leading to Espionage Act prosecution Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter dies at 100 Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter dies at 100 Candidates who ran against Sen. Christie New Craig say they tried to investigate residency concerns Candidates who ran against Sen. Christie New Craig say they tried to investigate residency concerns Longtime Phoebus Auction Gallery to close after New Year’s Day event Longtime Phoebus Auction Gallery to close after New Year’s Day event Column: Visiting America’s battlefields? Show some respect Column: Visiting America’s battlefields? Show some respect James City County officer, 17-year-old injured in Christmas Eve crash James City County officer, 17-year-old injured in Christmas Eve crash Norfolk State coach Michael Vick gains commitment from former UTSA defensive lineman Norfolk State coach Michael Vick gains commitment from former UTSA defensive lineman Journey of self: Williamsburg-area massage therapist helps others heal Journey of self: Williamsburg-area massage therapist helps others heal Column: Democrats take aim at Virginia’s marriage amendment Column: Democrats take aim at Virginia’s marriage amendment Juvenile humpback whale washes ashore on Outer Banks Juvenile humpback whale washes ashore on Outer Banks Trending Nationally Body found in wheel well of plane from Chicago to Maui How Diddy and Luigi Mangione spent Christmas in Brooklyn jail Massive invasive python is freed into the Palm Beach County wilderness. Here’s why ‘Baby Driver’ actor Hudson Meek dead at 16 Pregnant woman stabbed multiple times by pizza deliverer disgruntled about tip, sheriff says

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{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "NewsArticle", "dateCreated": "2024-12-09T22:42:15+02:00", "datePublished": "2024-12-09T22:42:15+02:00", "dateModified": "2024-12-10T13:15:56+02:00", "url": "https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/22480/news/politics/what-keeps-rutaremara-awake-at-night-the-other-side-of-the-veteran-politician", "headline": "What keeps Rutaremara awake at night: The other side of the veteran politician", "description": "Mention the name Tito Rutaremara and many in Rwanda will picture a politician, an important figure in the country’s history over the past four decades...", "keywords": "", "inLanguage": "en", "mainEntityOfPage":{ "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/22480/news/politics/what-keeps-rutaremara-awake-at-night-the-other-side-of-the-veteran-politician" }, "thumbnailUrl": "https://www.newtimes.co.rw/thenewtimes/uploads/images/2024/12/09/66046.jpg", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://www.newtimes.co.rw/thenewtimes/uploads/images/2024/12/09/66046.jpg" }, "articleBody": "Mention the name Tito Rutaremara and many in Rwanda will picture a politician, an important figure in the country’s history over the past four decades and a stalwart in the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Rutaremara’s life has been shaped by political struggle and leadership, and he helped shape the country’s recovery from its darkest chapter in history – the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Rutaremara, 80, took part in the liberation of the country, has been a Senator, and Ombudsman, in addition to being a senior member in the RPF, which he helped create in 1987. ALLSO READ: Mzee Tito on his 'greatest pleasure', Kagame, and his surprise 80th birthday bash But beyond his political career, who is Tito Rutaremara, or Mzee Tito as he is fondly called? What is his life like when he is not working? From his daily routine to his favorite foods and the simple pleasures that keep him grounded, this is the story of the man behind the politician—a man whose choices and experiences go far beyond the headlines. In an exclusive interview with The New Times, a few days after celebrating his 80th birthday on November 23, Rutaremara opened up about his personal time, favorite food, what his day looks like, his favorite social media, among other things. Early Life Tito Rutaremara was born in 1944 in Gatsibo, which was in Kibungo territory at that time, in today’s Eastern Province. His family was forced to flee the country in the early 1960s and escaped to Uganda after the persecution of the Tutsi, which had begun in 1950. When I went back home from school, I found that my parents had left, and I had become a refugee myself. That time started with big problems. In any refugee camp, you were not well received, and they would help you only for three months; afterwards, you depended upon yourself, Rutaremara recalled. “As I was the eldest son, the struggle of trying to get food for the family started with me; later on, we happened to get some schools, he said. Growing up as a refugee, Rutaremara didn’t have the luxury of dreaming about his future. Life as a refugee made it impossible to think about anything beyond daily survival; for him, dreaming about a career or future ambitions was out of the question. “You can't have a dream. You don't even have life; how can you have a dream? You have a dream when you are having a stable life. But for someone living in a refugee camp, with no certainty about even the most basic needs, there was no space for such aspirations,” he said. Hobbies, dreams, and aspirations Thirty years after the end of liberation struggle and the Genocide against the Tutsi, Rutaremara says the country has come a long way – though the journey ahead even longer. He has hope for the future in which every child can have a dream that can come true. Though he didn’t have the chance to dream when he was young, his vision now is focused on the growth and progress of his country. “I started dreaming when we reached here in Rwanda. At that time, I was dreaming about how we could make our country really develop like other countries. And now, looking at where other countries are, for example, in terms of artificial intelligence (AI), I wish Rwanda could participate in making all these advancements in every sector,” he said. When asked about his regrets in life, Rutaremara expressed that his only regret was that he was getting old when things are getting better and when Rwandans have more opportunities today than they ever had. He said wished he was 20 so that he could fully engage in the current era of advancements, particularly in the field of AI. He believes it’s a time of great progress, but it has only come late in his life. Although he cannot run kilometres, he said he enjoys walking a long distance and he can visit people in any part of the country, thanks to the infrastructure and easier means of transport available today. What could keep Mzee Tito awake at night? For a Chairperson of the Rwanda Elders Advisory Forum, one might wonder what keeps Rutaremara awake at night. Are his thoughts consumed by national matters, family issues, or perhaps both? He revealed that during times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the uncertainty about the country’s future weighed heavily on him. “During the Covid-19 pandemic, I could not sleep; I kept wondering, What if what we have built until now is collapsing? What if this thing is going to take us back? But Rwanda was able to navigate the pandemic with fewer casualties than most other countries,” he said. On a more personal level, Rutaremara’s thoughts also turn to his family. With many children, he feels the responsibility of helping them through their problems. “Well, usually one of my many children has a problem. So, I stay awake saying, what is the problem? How can we go about this?” His favorite food, social media and reading books Rutaremara’s day usually starts around 9 a.m., and his work begins at 10 a.m. Before his meetings, he often checks social media. He explained that he uses social media to check what is going on around the world, educate the youth by sharing his knowledge. “I found that the one which is easier to use, Twitter, which became X, and YouTube – well, there is also Instagram and so on – but those the two, X and YouTube, I use them to teach and contribute ideas on various subjects,” he said. ALSO READ: Bonding with youngsters, telenovelas, and dancing: The other side of Tito Rutaremara Rutaremara also added that in his free time he used to enjoy reading books, but now social media has taken over much of his time as he spends time exploring ideas and finding interesting content, especially on YouTube. “I used to read two books a week, but nowadays I can go three months without finishing a book, yet I always carry a book everywhere I go,” he added. Asked about his favorite food, Rutaremara said he liked French fries and orange soda. Rutaremara’s message to Rwandans His thoughts are dominated by a wish for the country’s development. He said Rwandan youth have an opportunity to dedicate their time to technology, particularly through AI, machine learning and the Internet of Things. He envisions a future where these technologies have improved everyday life, from agriculture to security. He said Rwanda, like any other African country, should be able to manufacture cars and make products which are imported. Rutaremara’s message to young people in Rwanda is summarized in his own slogan: “Fight the good fight with all your might.” He encouraged them to recognize the unique opportunities they have, thanks to the hard work of the previous generation. “They are in the hands of a state that was made by young people who created themselves into leaders. I would like to urge the youth to take full advantage of this rare opportunity for education, leadership, and involvement in decision-making,” Rutaremara said.", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jessica Agasaro" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "The New Times", "url": "https://www.newtimes.co.rw/", "sameAs": ["https://www.facebook.com/TheNewTimesRwanda/","https://twitter.com/NewTimesRwanda","https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuZbZj6DF9zWXpdZVceDZkg"], "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "/theme_newtimes/images/logo.png", "width": 270, "height": 57 } }, "copyrightHolder": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "The New Times", "url": "https://www.newtimes.co.rw/" } }Jaipur: With the excise department maintaining strict vigilance over venues, farmhouses, and hotels, the number of applications for occasional liquor licences has surged in the state capital. Organisers of private events are proactively applying for the requisite permits to avoid any possibility of disruptions. According to official records, 27 private organisers have obtained the licences, while applications from 30 more are in process, as of Dec 28. This year, the number of applications is 42.5% higher compared to the same period last year. District excise officer Devika Tomar stated, "The number is expected to increase further by Dec 31. Organisers are now coming forward to apply. Before Christmas eve, the department conducted raids in city circles to check liquor stocks and documents. However, there were negligible defaulters at that time. The teams are constantly monitoring the licences and illegal stock." Within the city's municipal limits, there are 412 hotels and restaurants licensed to serve liquor, while others can apply for occasional licences. As per excise rules in Rajasthan, establishments hosting parties where liquor is served must procure an occasional bar licence. This licence, valid for one day, can be applied for online. The fee for hosting a party at home is Rs 2,000, while for commercial venues, like gardens and halls, it is Rs 12,000. Commercial venues are also required to pay a one-time registration fee of Rs 20,000. For subsequent events at the same venue, only the Rs 12,000 occasional licence fee applies. An official said the excise oommissioner has ordered strict measures to monitor alcohol served at New Year's parties. Some licensed parties reportedly serve liquor sourced from other states, which is illegal. Under the Rajasthan Excise Act, 1950, those found selling illegal liquor can face up to three years in jail. Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss yearly career horoscopes 2025 for Aries , Taurus , Gemini , Cancer , Leo , Virgo , Libra , Scorpio , Sagittarius , Capricorn , Aquarius , and Pisces .Rucker's 27 lead Army past UTSA 78-75

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Malek Abdelgowad scored 26 points as UMass beat UMass-Boston 86-52 on Saturday. Abdelgowad also contributed 14 rebounds for the Minutemen (4-7). Daniel Rivera added 11 points while going 4 of 6 and 3 of 7 from the free-throw line while they also had 10 rebounds. Jaylen Curry had 10 points and finished 4 of 7 from the field. The Beacons were led in scoring by Cameron Perkins, who finished with 13 points, six rebounds and two steals. Xavier McKenzie added 13 points, two steals and two blocks for UMass-Boston. Raphel Laurent also recorded eight points. UMass took the lead with 15:49 remaining in the first half and did not relinquish it. The score was 47-24 at halftime, with Abdelgowad racking up 18 points. UMass extended its lead to 66-36 during the second half, fueled by a 14-2 scoring run. Abdelgowad scored a team-high eight points in the second half as their team closed out the win. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — Amarion Dickerson had 27 points and 15 rebounds to help Robert Morris hold off Northern Kentucky 97-93 in triple overtime on Sunday. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — Amarion Dickerson had 27 points and 15 rebounds to help Robert Morris hold off Northern Kentucky 97-93 in triple overtime on Sunday. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — Amarion Dickerson had 27 points and 15 rebounds to help Robert Morris hold off Northern Kentucky 97-93 in triple overtime on Sunday. Dickerson blocked five shots and had three steals for the Colonials (9-5, 1-2 Horizon League). Sophomore Alvaro Folgueiras scored 21 points and added a career-high 19 rebounds and six assists. DJ Smith had 13 points. The Norse (7-7, 2-1) were led by LJ Wells, who finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds and two steals. Northern Kentucky also got 17 points and six rebounds from Trey Robinson. Randall Pettus II had 17 points. The Norse saw a five-game win streak come to an end. Dickerson’s dunk gave Robert Morris a 94-92 lead with 26 seconds left in the third OT. Dilen Miller made two free throws with 3 seconds left to wrap up the victory. Josh Dilling made the second of two free throws with 8 seconds left for the Norse, forcing a second OT tied at 80. Wells hit a 3-pointer with 2:05 left and neither team scored after that, forcing the third OT tied at 86. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar. AdvertisementBoeing struggles to make best-selling plane again

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Malek Abdelgowad scored 26 points as UMass beat UMass-Boston 86-52 on Saturday. Abdelgowad also contributed 14 rebounds for the Minutemen (4-7). Daniel Rivera added 11 points while going 4 of 6 and 3 of 7 from the free-throw line while they also had 10 rebounds. Jaylen Curry had 10 points and finished 4 of 7 from the field. The Beacons were led in scoring by Cameron Perkins, who finished with 13 points, six rebounds and two steals. Xavier McKenzie added 13 points, two steals and two blocks for UMass-Boston. Raphel Laurent also recorded eight points. UMass took the lead with 15:49 remaining in the first half and did not relinquish it. The score was 47-24 at halftime, with Abdelgowad racking up 18 points. UMass extended its lead to 66-36 during the second half, fueled by a 14-2 scoring run. Abdelgowad scored a team-high eight points in the second half as their team closed out the win. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here . ••• I found a certain amount of irony and hypocrisy in the front-page article in the Christmas Eve edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune, “37 of 40 U.S. death row inmates spared.” I am not here to debate whether the death sentence is a justifiable consequence for criminals who commit horrific crimes. That is a subject of significant ethical, moral and legal debate. What I did find troubling was the statement, “Some pleas also invoked Biden’s Catholic faith.” It is well known that President Joe Biden’s stance on abortion has evolved over time. Early in his career following the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which established a constitutional right to abortion, Biden, a practicing Catholic, expressed reservations. He believed the court’s ruling was too expansive and he supported measures that allowed states to overturn Roe. Fast-forward to his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden fully embraced a pro-choice platform and ensured that there was federal funding for abortion services. In fact, in July 2022 he signed an executive order aimed at safeguarding access to reproductive health care services, including abortion and contraception. So, in essence, he has spared people guilty of serious crimes from the death penalty but continues to support abortion and terminating a pregnancy and an innocent baby before the fetus can survive outside the womb. I don’t believe these actions are congruent in the Catholic religion. Tim Rubash, Apple Valley The DOJ is also culpable I woke up early on Friday, and as one of those people who deliberately avoided cable and network news after the election and is not a user of social media, I decided to read about the House Ethics Committee report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz. And lo and behold, there were multiple letters in the Strib Voices section that day that commented on the report, with all three writers commenting on Rep. Michelle Fischbach’s cowardice in voting to keep the report private ( Readers Write , Dec. 27). After reading about Gaetz’s “exploits” — all seemingly well documented in the report — I came to the conclusion that this cowardice extended to the Department of Justice by refusing to indict this guy back in 2020. After reading the report and its conclusions, it seemed pretty clear to me that charges could have been brought, even notwithstanding the character of the potential witnesses. Aside from the appalling conduct of Gaetz and his “bros,” his behavior in blocking, ignoring and obfuscating the committee was all par for the course in the last eight years. If any readers decide to read the report, my advice is to prepare to take a shower and wash your hands after reading about the disgusting activities it describes. As for Fischbach, don’t think too badly of her. After all, it’s likely any of Minnesota’s other three Republican House members, had they been on the committee, would have also voted not to release the report. Mike Cassidy, Wayzata ••• Gaetz isn’t quite there yet. But if he can get convicted of some financial crimes, bankrupt a few companies and try to overturn a free and fair election, he could become presidential material. Karl Karst, Woodbury ‘Vindicated’ isn’t quite the word Thursday’s 2024 in review article states that Rep. Dean Phillips was vindicated by President Biden ultimately stepping aside from this year’s campaign, with Donald Trump subsequently ascending to the presidency ( “Year was defined by Walz’s VP bid, legislative chaos,” Dec. 26). Aside from the question of however much or little effect Phillips’ efforts actually had on the results of this year’s election, as compared to the achievements of the Trump fog machine and a complicit corporate media, “vindicated” is a narrow and limited word to apply to such substantial results. A more comprehensive and accurate adjective might be “culpable.” Peter Hill, Minnetonka It’s not that serious Editors: What is the purpose of “ ‘We hate them, they hate us’ ” — a really inflammatory headline in the Dec. 27 paper? Is it to encourage some nut case to do some mayhem on either the Vikings or Packers? Football is only a game. We have enough violence in our country and we surely don’t need more. Trash talk like that should never appear in a newspaper like the Star Tribune. Florian Lauer, St. Paul Help us out here We’re feeling more division than ever in our local politics, and I’m writing to suggest the Star Tribune play a bigger role in brokering true objectivity through some kind of weekly “Fact Check” column. It’s going to be especially important as we head toward what could be the most important local elections in the history of Minneapolis next fall. Case in point: the completely different “facts” shared by Mayor Jacob Frey and our Ward 7 representative Katie Cashman in their weekly newsletter updates. The newsletters are generally a great way to stay up-to-date on local happenings — but the versions they each shared about the recent 2025 budget details could not have been more confusing to unpack. The mayor made very convincing points about the unhealthy depletion of rainy day funds, cuts in police-recruiting budgets and other safety programs that have been proven for years. Cashman claimed no cuts were made to MPD policing and safety, and asserted the council’s budget increased that support. Who to believe — especially without time in the day to dig into the nuances of all those claims. But you, the Star Tribune, can do just that — and we need the help! The key to a functioning democracy (do we still have one?) is everyone debating from a core set of actual facts. Hope is all but lost nationally on this topic — but locally, the Strib could be a powerful force for clarity and objectivity as we deal with a radical left steering us closer to a Portland-esque dumpster fire and a real need to get our city back on track. It is likely both sides are cherry-picking, exaggerating or obfuscating important facts we need to understand, so please help shine a less-biased light! Starting with that budget that just passed despite the mayor’s veto — was recruiting for critically needed police recruiting actually cut or not? Did we dive into a critical budget reserve that may be needed should the new federal administration cut us deeply next year? It would help to see a side-by-side comparison by line item of the mayor’s budget and the one the City Council passed, with highlights of the biggest differences. Doug Moore, Minneapolis ••• I have friends and family who get all their information from FOX News. When they share tidbits with me, I wonder if any mainstream media bother to shed daylight on the outrageous commentary. The latest is that President Biden sold Trump’s wall materials — materials Trump would use during his second coming ... the analogy intentional on my part — for pennies on the dollar to spite the president-elect, wasting our tax dollars. The reality is that the sale of those leftover materials was included in the Department of Defense budget prepared by the DOD and approved by Congress in 2023. The sale was not ordered by President Biden. It seems silly that the mainstream media needs to counter this nonsense but somebody has to do it. JoAnn Wright, New Hope(The Center Square) – State and national officials lauded former President Jimmy Carter for his public service after learning of his death Sunday afternoon at the age of 100. President Joe Biden said an official state funeral would be held for Carter in Washington. "He was a man of great character and courage, hope and optimism," Biden said. "We will always cherish seeing him and Rosalynn together. The love shared between Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter is the definition of partnership and their humble leadership is the definition of patriotism." President-elect Donald Trump urged everyone to keep the Carter family in their thoughts and prayers. "The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans," Trump said in a statement released from his campaign. "For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude." Former president Bill Clinton gave Carter and his wife Rosalynn the Medal of Freedom in 1999. "From his commitment to civil rights as a state senator and governor of Georgia; to his efforts as President to protect our natural resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, make energy conservation a national priority, return the Panama Canal to Panama, and secure peace between Egypt and Israel at Camp David; to his post-presidential efforts at the Carter Center supporting honest elections, advancing peace combating disease, and promoting democracy; to his and Rosalynn's devotion and hard work at Habitat for Humanity--he worked tirelessly for a fairer, better world," Clinton and his wife Hillary said in a statement. More from this section Former president George W. Bush hailed Carter as a man of deeply held convictions. "President Carter dignified the office," Bush said on social media. "And his efforts to leave behind a better world didn't end with the presidency. His work with Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center set an example of service that will inspire Americans for generations." Carter served as Georgia's governor from 1971-1975 before becoming president. Under his leadership, the European and Japanese state trade offices were launched, as well as the Georgia Film Commission," Gov. Brian Kemp said. "He and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter's support of the civil rights movement in the place of its birth is also remembered with deep appreciation." Lt. Gov. Burt Jones said Carter exemplified what it meant to be a public servant. "I had the honor of meeting him and his wife, and I will never forget that day," Jones said. "They were kind, wonderful, accepting and exactly what they portrayed every day, two people devoted to lifting up those in their community who needed help the most. President Carter's legacy will live on in the numerous nonprofits, charities and organizations Rosalynn, his family and him started."

A day after the US allegations of bribery involving Adani group and the previous YS Jagan Mohan Reddy administration in Andhra Pradesh surfaced, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday promised action based on evidence as he offered his comments on the issue. Speaking in the state assembly, he termed the allegations "damaging" to Andhra Pradesh's reputation and said necessary steps would be taken. The allegations stem from court filings by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has alleged that industrialist Gautam Adani met the then CM Reddy in August 2021 after the state did not sign a power supply agreement with the government-run Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The US Justice Department claimed that an unnamed Andhra Pradesh government official was offered kickbacks of ₹1,750 crore to facilitate purchase of solar power by state distribution companies from SECI. Political tightrope "More facts are yet to come to light. The government is also thinking about what steps to take as facts are being unravelled as we speak. We will take stock of the situation, see what needs to be done and will take action accordingly," Naidu said in the assembly. "If there is wrongdoing, action must be taken. That's the only way to ensure the same mistake is not repeated." He further said, "The issue that has come out today has badly damaged brand Andhra Pradesh in the public forum. It makes me very sad." 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The state BJP too took a stronger stand than on the previous day. The BJP X handle posted a photograph of Reddy waving goodbye with the caption "Namapally to New York" (alluding to Reddy being on his way from Namapally jail to New York). Contractual liability Naidu's apparent reluctance to initiate serious action appeared to be in stark contrast to his government's white paper on power which has red-flagged the power purchase agreements, according to people familiar with the matter. Under "inefficient governance", the white paper stated that the agreements would result in a financial burden of ₹62,000 crore over 25 years. "On 1st December 2021, Government of Andhra Pradesh, APDISCOMS and SECI entered into a tripartite agreement for procurement of solar power for a capacity of 7,000 MW from SECI at a tariff of ₹2.49/unit This solar capacity shall be connected to inter-state network and is scheduled to be commissioned in phases with 3,000 MW in September 2024, another 3,000 MW in September 2025 and the balance 1,000 MW in September 2026," said the white paper, released on July 9. "Considering the lowest tariff of ₹1.99/unit discovered at the time of signing of tripartite agreement, the additional tariff burden on consumers is around ₹850 crore per year... the total additional burden due to procurement of solar power from SECI is around ₹3,850-4,350 crore per year. Net present value of additional burden due to this for 25 years is around ₹62,000 crore." If the state government scraps the agreement, it would need to pay ₹25 lakh per MW as penalty to Adani group for 7,000 MW. However, it can be saved by the integrity pact that the private group has signed with SECI, said experts. In case of any violation of the pact (which includes the private company indulging in malpractices), the state government would not need to pay the penalty, they said. Focus On other projects Following the US indictment, trade unions brought into focus other projects including award of Krishnapatnam and Gangavaram port projects. CPI general secretary D Raja told ET, "There is deeper connivance here. The trade unions have been raising the issue of government resources like land being given away practically free or at very nominal rates to Adani group." (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )

The crash happened at 10.45am in crowded downtown Delray Beach, multiple news outlets reported. The Brightline train was stopped on the tracks, its front destroyed, about a block away from the Delray Beach fire rescue truck, its ladder ripped off and strewn in the grass several yards away, The Sun-Sentinel newspaper reported. The Delray Beach Fire Rescue said in a social media post that three Delray Beach firefighters were in stable condition at a hospital. Palm Beach County Fire Rescue took 12 people from the train to the hospital with minor injuries. Emmanuel Amaral rushed to the scene on his golf cart after hearing a loud crash and screeching train brakes from where he was having breakfast a couple of blocks away. He saw firefighters climbing out of the window of their damaged truck and pulling injured colleagues away from the tracks. One of their helmets came to rest several hundred feet away from the crash. “The front of that train is completely smashed, and there was even some of the parts to the fire truck stuck in the front of the train, but it split the car right in half. It split the fire truck right in half, and the debris was everywhere,” Mr Amaral said. Brightline officials did not immediately comment on the crash. A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board said it was still gathering information about the crash and had not decided yet whether it will investigate. The NTSB is already investigating two crashes involving Brightline’s high-speed trains that killed three people early this year at the same crossing along the railroad’s route between Miami and Orlando. More than 100 people have died after being hit by trains since Brightline began operations in July 2017 – giving the railroad the worst death rate in the United States. But most of those deaths have been either suicides, pedestrians who tried to run across the tracks ahead of a train or drivers who went around crossing gates instead of waiting for a train to pass. Brightline has not been found to be at fault in those previous deaths.2025 budget reflects Qatar’s commitment to boost economy, foster sustained developmentThe 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 . JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Robert McCray scored 22 points as Jacksonville beat East Tennessee State 60-52 on Saturday. McCray added five rebounds, five steals, and four blocks for the Dolphins (6-5). Zimi Nwokeji scored 15 points while going 5 of 6 (4 for 5 from 3-point range) and added five rebounds. Kendall Munson shot 3 of 4 from the field and 2 for 3 from the line to finish with eight points. The Buccaneers (6-5) were led by John Buggs III, who recorded 15 points. East Tennessee State also got 13 points and five assists from Quimari Peterson. Jaden Seymour also put up nine points and two blocks. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .