More Indian states and companies offer period leave
Ja Morant getting close to returnFor Iowa, it's a chance to tune up going into the bulk of its Big Ten Conference schedule. For New Hampshire, it's an opportunity to collect a nice paycheck and perhaps even pull off a memorable upset. The Hawkeyes and Wildcats will finish their nonconference schedules Monday night when they meet in Iowa City. Iowa (9-3) last played on Dec. 21, erasing an 11-point second-half deficit to outgun Utah 95-88 in Sioux Falls, S.D. Payton Sandfort scored a season-high 24 points and added eight rebounds for the Hawkeyes, while Owen Freeman added 16 despite running into foul trouble. Hawkeyes coach Fran McCaffery praised fifth-year senior Drew Thelwell, Iowa's sixth-leading scorer, who matched his season high with 15 points. "The energy in the building was phenomenal. Drew was right in the middle of that," McCaffery said. "His defense and drawing six fouls, those are stats that are critical to a team's ability to win. Get to the bonus, get to the double bonus. We do that by driving the ball and drawing fouls and that's what we did." Freeman is averaging a team-high 17.1 points and shooting 66.1 percent from the field, while Sandfort adds 16.7 ppg. Iowa has its usual high-powered attack, ranking seventh in Division I in scoring at 87.8 ppg and canning 50.2 percent from the field. The Hawkeyes could add more gaudy offensive numbers against New Hampshire (2-12), which has lost six straight games, including a 90-83 decision on Dec. 22 at Stonehill. The Wildcats have experienced trouble defensively, allowing opponents to sink 45.2 percent of their field goal attempts and score 76.5 ppg. Coming off a successful 2023-24 campaign that saw the Wildcats go 16-15 and win a game in the America East Conference tournament, New Hampshire returned just three players and had to replace AEC Player of the Year Clarence Daniels and his 19.4 ppg. It hasn't gone to the plan of second-year coach Nathan Davis, but he's still hopeful his team can figure things out in conference play. "We've improved across the board as far as our talent level," he said this summer. "I like our pieces." This is the first meeting between the Wildcats and Hawkeyes. --Field Level Media
A former McDonald's holiday cup has resurfaced on social media , inspiring jokes and confusion as users attempt to see past their initial impression of the graphic. The McDonald's cup, released the winter of 2016, shows a pair of white mittens on a read backdrop adorned with snowflakes, hearts and stars. "Warmest Greetings" is scrawled across the mittens. At the mitten thumbs, a prankster has drawn fingers to make the two thumbs resemble hands, making it appear as if the hands are placed on buttocks. McDonalds' graphic design team would benefit from having at least one 14yo boy on hand to vet final designs before they go to printing pic.twitter.com/FtNLOsha7x If I was that 14 year old boy I'd be like "approved" 😈😈😈 The addition of "hands" is a significantly cheeky alteration to the image, making the original mittens unrecognizable to many social media users. I know what I see when I look at that design. But what the hell is it actually supposed to be? What's this supposed to be? I can't unsee the ass Among plenty of quips were a few earnest best guesses at what the image could possibly represent. Well that would be the warmest greeting I've ever had? I thought they were beer mugs being clanked together Internet sleuths clarified that the "hands" were drawn on, and that the image was meant to represent a pair of cozy winter mittens. it took me like 10 minutes to realize those are mittens.... Although hilarious. That is actually an edited image from a design released in 2016. The image on the cup is mittens. The fingers were added. Still funny, though. https://t.co/dilGdINbJ4 pic.twitter.com/nFYY8fc23p The original image, posted eight years ago, was accompanied by an admission that the hands were drawn on. The cup was a viral sensation the first time around too, inspiring similar raunchy commentary. Now how the hell are Starbucks cups in the news again and no one's talking about a guy spreading his cheeks open on McDonald's cups pic.twitter.com/QmIuZiDJst (The hands are drawn on.) While the original cup was altered, the humor remains the same. Originally published by Latin Times .
Horoscope Today, December 24, 2024: Explore Astrological Insights For Your Zodiac SignMUMBAI: S&P Global Ratings lowered its outlook on three Adani Group entities to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’ on Friday, citing risks to funding access following a US indictment of the conglomerate’s billionaire founder, Gautam Adani, on bribery charges. Adani and seven other people, including his nephew Sagar, were indicted on Thursday for fraud by US prosecutors for their alleged roles in a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials to secure power-supply deals. Adani Group has said the accusations leveled by US federal prosecutors, as well as those by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a parallel civil case, are “baseless and denied” and that it will seek “all possible legal recourse.” The US indictment could affect investor confidence in other Adani Group entities, as the founder sits on the boards of other companies within the group, potentially impairing their access to funding and increasing funding costs, S&P said in a note. “The group will need regular access to both equity and debt markets given its large growth plans, in addition to its regular refinancing. We believe domestic, as well as some international banks and bond market investors, look at Adani entities as a group and could set group limits on their exposure,” S&P said. S&P revised the outlook on a unit of Adani Green Energy, the entity linked to the allegations, to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’. Adani Electricity and Adani Ports were also downgraded to ‘negative’, S&P said, adding that ratings on the three entities could go lower if allegations are proven true. Adani’s conglomerate could find it harder to get funding following a US arrest warrant for its billionaire founder, with some banks considering halting fresh credit to the Indian group due to an alleged $265 million bribery scheme. Some global banks are considering temporarily halting fresh credit to the Adani Group after the US indictment but maintaining existing loans, sources told Reuters. Senior executives at two of Adani’s global lenders said that they have had multiple calls within their respective banks to discuss exposure to the group and what the impact of the indictment would be on its financial position. Research firm CreditSights highlighted refinancing for the conglomerate’s green energy business, which is at the centre of the allegations, as its biggest near-term concern. Bonds issued by the Adani Group dropped sharply for a second day on Friday and although the shares of some Adani firms clawed back some of Thursday’s losses, the overall market value of all 10 stocks has dropped by $27.9 billion over two sessions. Adani Green Energy, which is at the centre of the US allegations, has lost nearly $7 billion of its value. US authorities have charged Adani and seven other people with agreeing to pay bribes to Indian government officials to obtain contracts that could yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years as well as to develop India’s largest solar power project. Adani Group has said the accusations as well as those leveled by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a parallel civil case are “baseless and denied” and that it will seek “all possible legal recourse”. Some analysts said the fallout was unlikely to be limited to the Adani group of companies. “India’s renewable energy sector, a critical pillar for global climate goals, may face reduced international investment as a result of this controversy,” said Nimish Maheshwari, an independent analyst who publishes on Smartkarma. “Investors may demand greater transparency and due diligence, slowing down the pace of project financing.” The Securities and Exchange Board of India, the country’s market regulator, is making preliminary checks to see if disclosures made by Adani entities were inadequate and if they breached local market regulations, a SEBI official told Reuters. SEBI did not respond to a request for comment. The regulator has completed a separate investigation into the group, but not yet issued orders, after Hindenburg Research in January 2023 alleged improper use of tax havens and stock manipulation, which the group has denied. Falls in Adani dollar bond prices on Friday included a 2.5c drop on the dollar for 2029 Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone bonds. At 87.8c, they are down more than 5c over the two sessions. Longer-dated maturities have fallen around 5c in two days and trade just below 80c. Adani Transmission and Adani Electricity Mumbai bond prices had similar declines. Investors are also watching to see if more Adani deals could be scuttled after Kenya cancelled a procurement process worth nearly $2 billion that had been widely expected to award control of the country’s main airport to the group. It also nixed a 30-year, $736-million public-private partnership deal that an Adani Group firm signed with the energy ministry last month to construct power transmission lines. Adani Green also cancelled a scheduled $600 million US bond sale. — Reuters
'When an area is cared for by the community, anti-social behaviour often reduces'Stellantis wants you to know that, even in a premium electric version, a Jeep is still a Jeep. In other words, as the title of the marketing campaign for Jeep’s first all-electric model says: “beautiful things can still get dirty.” The Jeep Wagoneer S EV is slated to arrive at dealerships in January 2025 but parent-company Stellantis aims to launch its marketing campaign on TV during Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL games. A 30-second version of the spot will also run elsewhere on television and on the Jeep brand’s social media channels, including Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. After showing off the luxurious faux-leather-seat interior, and a glimpse of its front three screens (for instrument, infotainment, and entertainment displays), the Wagoneer is seen breaking out of its cocoon and riding through some muddy roads. “Jeep vehicles, even one as stunning as the Wagoneer S, look even better when they’re muddy,” says Bob Broderdorf, senior VP of Jeep North America, in a statement. Jeep’s electric SUV, he says, breaks free from the confines of luxury stereotypes into the great outdoors, while pushing the boundaries of electric capability. The Wagoneer S can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds, and features Jeep’s Selec-Terrain options, allowing drivers to switch from auto to sport, eco, snow, and sand modes. With a 100kWh battery pack, the SUV offers 300 miles of driving range, and fast-charging from 20% to 80% in 23 minutes. In some ways, Stellantis’ media campaign for the Wagoneer S echoes similar themes used earlier this month in ads for Dodge’s first-ever EV , the Daytona Charger. That ad, while prominently featuring pro-nature themes associated with EVs, presented the Charger as an all-American “muscle car,” reminiscent of the vehicle’s 1960s version as seen in the classic movie Bullitt and the Dukes of Hazzard TV series.
The Commercial Bank of Ceylon won the Gold as Sri Lanka’s ‘Green Brand of the Year’ at the 2024 Brand Excellence Awards of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) in a fitting recognition of the Bank’s uncompromising commitment to sustainability. The award recognises the substantial investments and noteworthy progress the Bank has made in advancing the cause of sustainability beyond its own operations to encompass nationally-significant initiatives that engage with communities across the country. Prominent among these initiatives was the launch in 2023, and the completion in just 12 months, of the planting of 100,000 trees in ecologically important locations under the Bank’s ‘Trees for Tomorrow’ programme, and the Bank’s commitment to plant another 100,000. Sri Lanka’s first carbon neutral bank – an achievement of 2021 – Commercial Bank’s sustainability journey began 25 years ago and has steadily gained momentum over the last four years. It has generated several sustainability-linked firsts for the Bank as well as the country. In the year assessed for the SLIM Green Brand of the Year award, Commercial Bank reduced its CO2 emissions by a further 233,918 tonnes, reduced paper usage by 47.57%, recycled 286,240 kgs of paper, and increased the number of branches powered by solar energy to 82. Among other significant achievements of the year was the launch of Sri Lanka’s first Green Home Loans scheme and surpassing 1 million customers for its flagship ComBank Digital app, promoting sustainable banking practices. Notably, Commercial Bank commenced 2024 with the launch of its evolved logo featuring a green element to represent the Bank’s multifaceted commitment to sustainability, encompassing diversity, inclusivity, good governance, transparency, social equity, accountability and eco-friendly banking solutions.
Sorcery accusation related violence require locally relevant and sustainable soulutions
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Stuck on what to watch, read and listen to during the holidays? Our culture reporters have done the hard work for you. Here are their picks of the best shows, films, podcasts and books from 2024. If it’s good enough for them, it’s definitely good enough for you. Share your favourites in the comments below. Luca Guadagnino’s horny tennis/threesome drama has fallen out of the conversation as a main contender this , but it’s still, hands down, one of my favourite films of the year. And the – a pulsating original score of techno bangers composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – has been on my main rotation while exercising or frantically writing to deadlines since the film’s release in April. If you missed it completely (which means you’ve sadly also missed ), the film follows a 13-year love triangle between an injured tennis star turned coach (Zendaya), her husband now limping towards the end of his successful career (Mike Faist), and his one-time best friend still chasing his shot at glory (Josh O’Connor). It’s a feverish film with frenetic cuts and pounding synth melded through moments of emotional intensity. And while that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, I think it’s exactly what we need more of in cinema: original stories about somewhat regular adult relationships that take big creative swings. If nothing else, it’ll change the way you watch the Australian Open. Who would have thought a straight-to-streaming movie would top my list this year? Certainly not me, but that was before I saw Richard Linklater’s ridiculously rewatchable . Inspired by a 2001 by Skip Hollandsworth, the film sees a mild-mannered professor (Glen Powell) pick up a gig impersonating assassins for the police. However, his entire moral code is turned on its head after he falls for a woman (Adria Arjona) who hires him to kill her abusive husband. It’s a crime that this film missed out on a proper theatrical release – not only because it stars Powell (surely 2024’s Hollywood sweetheart after and ) but because of its expert weaving of comedy into a compelling examination of identity and morality. The leading pair ooze chemistry on-screen, Powell somehow makes three-quarter denim pants look hot, and the ending is entirely unpredictable. It’s refreshing to watch something this fun again. So Linklater, thanks for the hit, man. For the first couple of episodes of Steve Zaillian’s take on the chameleonic serial killer Tom Ripley, I wondered why I was watching, and why it existed. After all, Anthony Minghella’s 1999 film did such beautiful justice to Patricia Highsmith’s creation (Ripley appears not just in the 1955 novel of that name, but in another four) it was hard to see what more could be said. But by the third episode, I was completely won over by the slow accretion of detail, by the stunning black-and-white cinematography, by the lugubrious pacing, and above all by . In his hands, Ripley is not the young aspirational social climber Matt Damon gave us. Rather, he’s a mid-career petty conman almost at the end of his tether who happens to get incredibly lucky. But he’s such a bumbler that he very nearly blows it, repeatedly. The character, like the show itself, is a tightrope walk, never more than one dreadful misstep from collapse. By its end I wasn’t just grateful to Zaillian for going there, I couldn’t wait to see where he, and Ripley, might take us next. If you want a laugh or just to keep up to speed with internet culture, then the Binchtopia podcast is for you. It will have you speaking like a TikTok-addicted Gen Z after a few episodes, without having to actually TikToks. Hosted by Julia Hava and Eliza McLamb, the self-titled “girlies” will take you on a journey as they explore concepts such as doomsday prep, lead you down ridiculous Reddit threads, and take on more serious and complex issues such as eating disorders. Highly researched and organically funny, the podcast is ideal listening for lying on the beach or taking a road trip. It strikes a balance between informative and light-hearted, served with a confronting (at first) but endearing vocal fry. Beware though: It’s addictive listening. I read this more than a month ago, and I am still thinking about it; it’s the best thing I’ve read in 2024. Powers, whose 2018 novel was shortlisted for The Booker and also won the Pulitzer for fiction, has essentially written a book that, once you reach the end, has you rethinking the entire story. Longlisted for this year’s Booker, is tricky to describe without spoiling. It follows the intertwined stories of Todd, a billionaire tech giant, his college best friend Rafi, Rafi’s Polynesian girlfriend Ina and a famous oceanographer, Evie, across several decades. But it’s also a story about the climate crisis, AI, colonialism, the wonders of the ocean and human mortality. And in Powers’s hands, each of these themes are deftly rendered. I’m already thinking about a re-read. The best books you read in a year are often not from that year. So I’m happy to stretch the brief and cite Cormac McCarthy’s masterful final novels, and , which were published six weeks apart in late 2022. They tell the stories of Bobby Western and his sister Alicia respectively - complex, wounded geniuses struggling to survive in marginalised America, haunted by their father’s work developing the atomic bomb and their feelings for each other. McCarthy’s writing so staggering, so erudite, so rich with ideas and so evocative that these two interconnected novels would be the high water marks of most writers’ careers. But he has also been acclaimed for , , and . I’ve struggled to read McCarthy for years, finding his books too unsettling and emotionally bruising. But that’s changed. I’ve just started his first novel, and plan to work my way through the rest. Where the hell have you been, you might well ask when I nominate reading this Australian novel as my fave culture moment of the year; after all, it was published in 1980. But while the story of orphaned Australians Caroline and Grace Bell making new lives in England starts in the 1950s and ends some time in the 1970s, it feels absolutely timeless. Hazzard has a clear eye for personality and character, unflinching but not cruel. She captures, especially in the early pages, the sometimes uneasy relationship between Australians and the world they desperately long to be part of. And she has a deft way with plot: one character’s ultimate demise is signalled soon after we first meet him, though it lies decades in the future; another’s comes right at the end, a shock, a twist, a punch to the guts. But it’s her way with language that most impresses, especially the way she crafts sentences that are unfinished yet fully complete. Full of empathy for the desires that guide us and the wrong choices we make, and the fleeting moments of perfection that are so easy to miss, is achingly sad and blindingly beautiful.