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Seibert misses an extra point late as the Commanders lose their 3rd in a row, 34-26 to the CowboysWhen Nathan Hecht ran for the Texas Supreme Court in 1988, no Republican had ever been elected to the state’s highest civil court. His election foreshadowed a coming transformation of the court, civil legal procedure and Texas itself. Hecht is the longest tenured Supreme Court justice in Texas history. He won six reelections and led the court as chief justice for more than a decade. He heard more than 2,700 oral arguments, authored 7,000 pages of opinions, and retires now not because he’s had enough, but because state law requires him to. Late on a Friday afternoon, just two weeks before he hung up his robe, he was still in his office, his mind mired in the work that was left to be done. “This is always a really busy time for us because the opinions are mounting up to be talked about,” he said. “It’ll be busy next week.” Hecht began as a dissenter on a divided court, his conservative positions on abortion, school finance and property rights putting him at odds with the Democratic majority and some moderate Republicans. But as Texas Republicans began dominating up and down the ballot, his minority voice became mainstream on one of the country’s most conservative high courts. In his administration of the court, Hecht has been a fierce advocate for the poor, pushing for more Legal Aid funding, bail reform and lowering the barriers to accessing the justice system. "If justice were food, too many would be starving," Hecht told lawmakers in 2017. "If it were housing, too many would be homeless. If it were medicine, too many would be sick.” Hecht’s departure leaves a vacancy that Gov. Greg Abbott, a former justice himself, will get to fill. He may elevate a current justice or appoint someone new directly to the chief justice role. Whoever ends up in the top spot will have to run for reelection in 2026. In his typical understated manner, so at odds with the bombast of the other branches of government, Hecht told The Texas Tribune that serving on the court has been the honor of his life. “I have gotten to participate not only in a lot of decisions shaping the jurisprudence of the state, but also in trying to improve the administration of the court system so that it works better and fosters public trust and confidence,” he said. “So I feel good about the past,” he said. “And I feel good about the future.” Born in Clovis, New Mexico, Hecht studied philosophy at Yale before getting his law degree from Southern Methodist University. He clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and returned to Texas, where his reputation preceded him. As a young lawyer, Tom Phillips, a former chief justice and now a partner at Baker Botts, reached out to a Dallas law firm that had promised to hire him the next chance they got. “I called them a few months later and said, ‘So I assume you never got a vacancy,’” Phillips recalls. “And they said, ‘Well, we did, but we had a chance to hire Nathan Hecht, so you’ll understand why we went ahead and did that.’” Hecht was appointed to the district court in 1981 and quickly made a name for himself, pushing the court to modernize their stenography practices and taking the unusual step of writing opinions as a trial judge. He was elected to the court of appeals in 1986 and ran for Texas Supreme Court two years later. From left, pictured are Texas Supreme Court Justices Craig Enoch, John Cornyn, Nathan Hecht, Raul Gonzalez, Tom Philips and Jack Hightower in the Texas House chamber in 1993. Republican dominance swept through the Supreme Court as swiftly as it did Texas writ large. The last Democrat would be elected to the court in 1994, just six years after the first Republican. But even among Bush-era Republicans filling the bench, Hecht’s conservatism stood out. In 2000, he wrote a dissent disagreeing with the majority ruling that allowed teens in Texas to get abortions with a judge’s approval if their parents wouldn’t consent, and a few years earlier, ruled in favor of wealthy school districts that wanted to use local taxes to supplement state funds. His pro-business bent stood out next to the court’s history of approving high dollar payouts for plaintiffs. Alex Winslow, the executive director of Texas Watch, a consumer advocacy group, told the New York Times in 2005 that Hecht was “the godfather of the conservative judicial movement in Texas." "Extremist would be an appropriate description,” Winslow said. “He's the philosophical leader of the right-wing fringe." The only other justice who regularly staked out such a conservative position, according to the New York Times , was Priscilla Owen, who President George W. Bush appointed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2005. Hecht and Owen, who now goes by her maiden name, Richmond, wed in 2022. Wallace Jefferson, Hecht’s predecessor as chief justice, said Hecht’s sharp intellect and philosophical approach to the law improved the court’s opinions, even when he ultimately didn’t side with the majority. “He was a formidable adversary,” said Jefferson, now a partner at Alexander Dubose & Jefferson. “You knew that you would have to bring your best approach and analysis to overcome Nathan’s approach and analysis ... You had to come prepared and Nathan set the standard for that.” Hecht briefly became a national figure in 2005 when he helped Bush’s efforts to confirm Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court. As her longtime friend, Hecht gave more than 120 interviews to bolster Miers’ conservative credentials, jokingly calling himself the “PR office for the White House,” Texas Monthly reported at the time. This advocacy work raised ethical questions that Hecht fought for years, starting with a reprimand from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. Hecht got that overturned. The Texas Ethics Commission then fined him $29,000 for not reporting the discount he got on the legal fees he paid challenging the reprimand. He appealed that fine and the case stretched until 2016, when he ultimately paid $1,000. Hecht has largely stayed out of the limelight in the decades since, letting his opinions speak for themselves and wading into the political fray mostly to advocate for court reforms. While Democrats have tried to pin unpopular COVID and abortion rulings on the justices in recent elections, Republicans continue to easily win these down-ballot races. Hecht is aware of the perception this one-party dominance creates and has advocated for Texas to turn away from partisan judicial elections. In his 2023 state of the judiciary address, Hecht warned that growing political divisions were threatening the “judicial independence essential to the rule of law,” pointing to comments by both Democratic politicians and former President Donald Trump. But, in an interview, Hecht stressed that most of the cases the Texas Supreme Court considers never make headlines and are far from the politics that dominate Austin and Washington. “There's no Republican side to an oil and gas case. There's no Democrat side to a custody hearing,” he said. “That's the bread and butter of what we do, and that's not partisan.” Unlike its federal counterpart, the Texas Supreme Court is often a temporary port of call on a judge’s journey. Many, like Abbott, Sen. John Cornyn and U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, leave for higher office. Others, like Owen and 5th Circuit Judge Don Willett, leave for higher courts. Most, like Phillips, leave for higher pay in private practice. But Hecht stayed. “I didn’t plan it like this,” Hecht said. “I just kept getting re-elected.” Hecht had been considering retirement in 2013 when Jefferson, the chief justice who replaced Phillips, announced he would be stepping down. “He wanted me to consider being his successor,” Hecht said. “So I did, and here I am. I didn’t say, ‘Let's spend 43 years on the bench,’ but one thing led to another.” In 2013, Hecht was sworn in as chief justice by then-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, another great dissenter whose views later became the majority. Nathan Hecht is sworn into office by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in the House Chamber on Nov. 11, 2013. Hecht's sister Helen is holding the Sam Houston Bible. While the Texas Supreme Court’s political makeup has changed largely without Hecht’s input, the inner workings of the court have been under his purview. And that, many court watchers say, is where his greatest legacy lies. Hecht ushered in an era of modernization, both to the technology and the rules that govern justice in Texas. He led a push to simplify the appellate rules, removing many of the trapdoors and procedural quirks that led to important cases being decided on technicalities. The court scaled back how long cases could drag on by limiting discovery, including how long a deposition can go. And he ensured every case was decided before the term ended, like the U.S. Supreme Court. “I think people generally don't understand the impact the rules can have on the equitable resolution of disputes, but they're enormous,” Jefferson said. “Nathan recognized that at an early juncture in his career.” Hecht pushed Texas to adopt e-filing before many other states, which proved prescient when COVID hit. Hecht, who was then president of the national Conference of Chief Justices, was able to help advise other states as they took their systems online. Hecht also dedicated himself to improving poor Texans' access to the justice system, pushing the Legislature to appropriate more funding for Legal Aid and reducing the barriers to getting meaningful legal resolutions. He helped usher through a rule change that would allow paraprofessionals to handle some legal matters like estate planning, uncontested divorces and consumer debt cases, without a lawyer’s supervision. “Some people call it the justice gap. I call it the justice chasm,” Hecht said. “Because it’s just a huge gulf between the people that need legal help and the ability to provide it.” Hecht said he’s glad this has been taken up as a bipartisan issue, and he’s hopeful that the same attention will be paid even after he leaves the court. “No judge wants to give his life's energy to a work that mocks the justice that he's trying to provide,” he said. “For the judiciary, this is an important issue because when the promise of equal justice under law is denied because you're too poor, there's no such thing as equal justice under the law.” Despite the sudden departure of their longtime leader, the Texas Supreme Court will return in January to finish out its term, which ends in April. Among the typical parsing of medical malpractice provisions, oil and gas leases, divorce settlements and sovereign immunity protections, the high court has a number of more attention-grabbing cases on its docket this year. Earlier this year, the court heard oral arguments about the Department of Family and Protective Services’ oversight of immigration detention facilities, and in mid-January it'll consider Attorney General Ken Paxton’s efforts to subpoena Annunciation House, an El Paso nonprofit that serves migrants. Justices will also hear arguments over Southern Methodist University’s efforts to cut ties with the regional governing body of the United Methodist Church. Other cases will be added to the schedule before April. Phillips, who has argued numerous cases before the Texas Supreme Court since leaving the bench, said Hecht’s loss will be felt, but he expects the court to continue apace. “It’s not a situation like it might have been at some point in the past where if one justice left, nobody would know what to do next,” he said. “It’s an extremely qualified court.” As for Hecht, he’s tried to put off thinking too much about what comes next for him. He still has opinions to write and work to finish. He knows he wants to stay active in efforts to improve court administration nationally and in Texas, and he’s threatened his colleagues with writing a tell-all book, just to keep them on their toes. But beyond that, he’s waiting for the reality of retirement to sink in before he decides on his next steps. “We’ve got 3,200 judges in Texas, plus adjuncts and associate judges and others,” he said. “I really think it’s such a strong bench, and I am proud to have been a part of it. I look forward to helping where I can.” Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request.
RAINN Named Winner of 2024-2025 Amazon Web Services IMAGINE Grant for NonprofitsBurt died over the weekend, the Crocosaurus Cove reptile aquarium in Darwin, Australia, said. He was at least 90 years old. “Known for his independent nature, Burt was a confirmed bachelor – an attitude he made clear during his earlier years at a crocodile farm,” Crocosaurus Cove wrote in social media posts. The aquarium added: “He wasn’t just a crocodile, he was a force of nature and a reminder of the power and majesty of these incredible creatures. While his personality could be challenging, it was also what made him so memorable and beloved by those who worked with him and the thousands who visited him over the years.” A saltwater crocodile, Burt was estimated to be more than 16 feet long. He was captured in the 1980s in the Reynolds River and became one of the most well-known crocodiles in the world, according to Crocosaurus Cove. The 1986 film stars Paul Hogan as the rugged crocodile hunter Mick Dundee. In the movie, American Sue Charlton, played by actress Linda Kozlowski, goes to fill her canteen in a watering hole when she is attacked by a crocodile before being saved by Dundee. Burt is briefly shown lunging out of the water. But the creature shown in more detail as Dundee saves the day is apparently something else. The Internet Movie Database says the film made a mistake by depicting an American alligator, which has a blunter snout. The Australian aquarium where Burt had lived since 2008 features a Cage of Death which it says is the nation’s only crocodile dive. It said it planned to honour Burt’s legacy with a commemorative sign “celebrating his extraordinary life and the stories and interactions he shared throughout his time at the park”.
Washington, Nov 22 (AP) After several weeks working mostly behind closed doors, Vice President-elect JD Vance returned to Capitol Hill this week in a new, more visible role: Helping Donald Trump try to get his most contentious Cabinet picks through Senate confirmation in the Senate, where Vance has served for the last two years. Vance arrived at the Capitol on Wednesday with former Rep. Matt Gaetz and spent the morning sitting in on meetings between Trump's choice for attorney general and key Republicans, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Also Read | Hush Money Case: Judge Postpones US President-Elect Donald Trump’s Sentencing Indefinitely. The effort was for naught: Gaetz announced a day later that he was withdrawing his name amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations and the reality that he was unlikely to be confirmed. Thursday morning Vance was back, this time accompanying Pete Hegseth, the “Fox and Friends Weekend” host whom Trump has tapped to be the next secretary of defense. Hegseth also has faced allegations of sexual assault that he denies. Also Read | France Shocker: Man Rapes Daughter For Years, Offers Her to Strangers For Sex; Sentenced to 20 Years in Jail. Vance is expected to accompany other nominees for meetings in coming weeks as he tries to leverage the two years he has spent in the Senate to help push through Trump's picks. Vance is taking on an atypical role as Senate guide for Trump nominees The role of introducing nominees around Capitol Hill is an unusual one for a vice president-elect. Usually the job goes to a former senator who has close relationships on the Hill, or a more junior aide. But this time the role fits Vance, said Marc Short, who served as Trump's first director of legislative affairs as well as chief of staff to Trump's first vice president, Mike Pence, who spent more than a decade in Congress and led the former president's transition ahead of his first term. ”JD probably has a lot of current allies in the Senate and so it makes sense to have him utilized in that capacity,” Short said. Unlike the first Trump transition, which played out before cameras at Trump Tower in New York and at the president-elect's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, this one has largely happened behind closed doors in Palm Beach, Florida. There, a small group of officials and aides meet daily at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort to run through possible contenders and interview job candidates. The group includes Elon Musk, the billionaire who has spent so much time at the club that Trump has joked he can't get rid of him. Vance has been a constant presence, even as he's kept a lower profile. The Ohio senator has spent much of the last two weeks in Palm Beach, according to people familiar with his plans, playing an active role in the transition, on which he serves as honorary chair. Mar-a-Lago scene is a far cry from Vance's hardscrabble upbringing Vance has been staying at a cottage on the property of the gilded club, where rooms are adorned with cherubs, oriental rugs and intricate golden inlays. It's a world away from the famously hardscrabble upbringing that Vance documented in the memoir that made him famous, “Hillbilly Elegy”. His young children have also joined him at Mar-a-Lago, at times. Vance was photographed in shorts and a polo shirt playing with his kids on the seawall of the property with a large palm frond, a US Secret Service robotic security dog in the distance. On the rare days when he is not in Palm Beach, Vance has been joining the sessions remotely via Zoom. Though he has taken a break from TV interviews after months of constant appearances, Vance has been active in the meetings, which began immediately after the election and include interviews and as well as presentations on candidates' pluses and minuses. Among those interviewed: Contenders to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray, as Vance wrote in a since-deleted social media post. Defending himself from criticism that he'd missed a Senate vote in which one of President Joe Biden's judicial nominees was confirmed, Vance wrote that he was meeting at the time "with President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI Director”. “I tend to think it's more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45,” Vance added on X. “But that's just me.” Vance is making his voice heard as Trump stocks his Cabinet While Vance did not come in to the transition with a list of people he wanted to see in specific roles, he and his friend, Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who is also a member of the transition team, were eager to see former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. find roles in the administration. Trump ended up selecting Gabbard as the next director of national intelligence, a powerful position that sits atop the nation's spy agencies and acts as the president's top intelligence adviser. And he chose Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, a massive agency that oversees everything from drug and food safety to Medicare and Medicaid. Vance was also a big booster of Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who will serve as Trump's “border czar.” In another sign of Vance's influence, James Braid, a top aide to the senator, is expected to serve as Trump's legislative affairs director. Allies say it's too early to discuss what portfolio Vance might take on in the White House. While he gravitates to issues like trade, immigration and tech policy, Vance sees his role as doing whatever Trump needs. Vance was spotted days after the election giving his son's Boy Scout troop a tour of the Capitol and was there the day of leadership elections. He returned in earnest this week, first with Gaetz — arguably Trump's most divisive pick — and then Hegseth, who has was been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017, according to an investigative report made public this week. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing. Vance hosted Hegseth in his Senate office as GOP senators, including those who sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, filtered in to meet with the nominee for defense secretary. While a president's nominees usually visit individual senators' offices, meeting them on their own turf, the freshman senator — who is accompanied everywhere by a large Secret Service detail that makes moving around more unwieldy — instead brought Gaetz to a room in the Capitol on Wednesday and Hegseth to his office on Thursday. Senators came to them. Vance made it to votes Wednesday and Thursday, but missed others on Thursday afternoon. Vance will draw on his Senate background going forward Vance is expected to continue to leverage his relationships in the Senate after Trump takes office. But many Republicans there have longer relationships with Trump himself. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, said that Trump was often the first person to call him back when he was trying to reach high-level White House officials during Trump's first term. “He has the most active Rolodex of just about anybody I've ever known,” Cramer said, adding that Vance would make a good addition. “They'll divide names up by who has the most persuasion here,” Cramer said, but added, “Whoever his liaison is will not work as hard at it as he will.” Cramer was complimentary of the Ohio senator, saying he was “pleasant” and ” interesting” to be around. "He doesn't have the long relationships," he said. "But we all like people that have done what we've done. I mean, that's sort of a natural kinship, just probably not as personally tied.” Under the Constitution, Vance will also have a role presiding over the Senate and breaking tie votes. But he's not likely to be needed for that as often as was Kamala Harris, who broke a record number of ties for Democrats as vice president, since Republicans will have a bigger cushion in the chamber next year. (AP) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Seibert misses an extra point late as the Commanders lose their 3rd in a row, 34-26 to the Cowboys
Several times following New England’s 24-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills, Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said he wanted to review the game film before making a final assessment of his team’s performance. He did, and on Monday he said the overarching feeling he was left with was one of pride. Going toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the NFL is commendable. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Get updates and player profiles ahead of Friday's high school games, plus a recap Saturday with stories, photos, video Frequency: Seasonal Twice a weekI hope you had a peaceful and enjoyable Christmas Day. These few days in between Christmas and New Year can really seem to drag on for some people, for others it’s a time for full speed as they may be back in work or rushing around the sales looking for bargains; others are still in full family visiting or hosting mode. Perhaps you’re off to a pantomime or a family night at the cinema. I always use these days as a chance for some self-reflection. As the festive frenzy subsides, it’s a chance to pause, take stock, and contemplate. Self-reflection is a powerful tool that can help us gain insights into ourselves, our experiences, and our goals. By taking the time to look back on the past year, we can identify our successes, learn from our mistakes, and set intentions for the future. So, as we look forward to the next few days of eating turkey sandwiches and eating the last of the chocolates off the tree, why not settle yourself down somewhere, and ponder over the following. • What were the highlights of the past year? Take your time with this one, it’s easy to forget all the good things which have happened over a 12-month long period. Try to allow yourself a few minutes to ‘get in the moment’ and remember all the good things that have happened. • What were the challenges you faced? Life throws lemons at all of us from time to time, so don’t dwell on this one too much. • What lessons did you learn? Thinking back to how you faced those challenges, which ones were you able to bounce back from, and how did you deal with them. Perhaps you surprised yourself with how well you dealt with a certain situation that arose. • What are your hopes and dreams for 2025? This is my favourite one, allow yourself as long as you like to think of all the great things you could do in the year ahead. It’s always good to take some time to reflect, if there is anything you wish you had done differently in the past 12 months, then use it as a guide for the future, not as a source of regret from the past. This will allow you to start to think about the New Year with excitement and purpose. I’ll be back next week, so whatever you are doing on New Year’s Eve, take care and have a good one. Martin Furber is a therapist qualified in various modalities and an Instructor Member of Mental Health First Aid England. Please remember the Samaritans are open 24/7 throughout the Christmas period on 116 123. NHS 111 (Option 2) You can also to text SHOUT to 85258 Papyrus Hopeline for people under 35 – Open 24/7 0800 068 4141 Campaign Against Living Miserably 0800 58 58 58 Service for Men Open 5pm – Midnight
The Facebook and Instagram owner says its defences were able to prevent AI-driven misinformation operations from gaining an online foothold. Despite fears that artificial intelligence (AI) could influence the outcome of elections around the world, the United States technology giant Meta said it detected little impact across its platforms this year. That was in part due to defensive measures designed to prevent coordinated networks of accounts, or bots, from grabbing attention on Facebook, Instagram and Threads, Meta president of global affairs Nick Clegg told reporters on Tuesday. “I don’t think the use of generative AI was a particularly effective tool for them to evade our trip wires,” Clegg said of actors behind coordinated disinformation campaigns. In 2024, Meta says it ran several election operations centres around the world to monitor content issues, including during elections in the US, Bangladesh, Brazil, France, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the European Union. Most of the covert influence operations it has disrupted in recent years were carried out by actors from Russia, Iran and China, Clegg said, adding that Meta took down about 20 “covert influence operations” on its platform this year. Russia was the number one source of those operations, with 39 networks disrupted in total since 2017, followed by Iran with 31, and China with 11. Overall, the volume of AI-generated misinformation was low and Meta was able to quickly label or remove the content, Clegg said. That was despite 2024 being the biggest election year ever, with some 2 billion people estimated to have gone to the polls around the world, he noted. “People were understandably concerned about the potential impact that generative AI would have on elections during the course of this year,” Clegg told journalists. In a statement, he said that “any such impact was modest and limited in scope”. AI content, such as deepfake videos and audio of political candidates, was quickly exposed and failed to fool public opinion, he added. In the month leading up to Election Day in the US, Meta said it rejected 590,000 requests to generate images of President Joe Biden, then-Republican candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz. In an article in The Conversation, titled The apocalypse that wasn’t , Harvard academics Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders wrote: “There was AI-created misinformation and propaganda, even though it was not as catastrophic as feared.” However, Clegg and others have warned that disinformation has moved to social media and messaging websites not owned by Meta, especially TikTok , where some studies have found evidence of fake AI-generated videos featuring politically related misinformation. Public concerns In a Pew survey of Americans earlier this year, nearly eight times as many respondents expected AI to be used for mostly bad purposes in the 2024 election as those who thought it would be used mostly for good. In October, Biden rolled out new plans to harness AI for national security as the global race to innovate the technology accelerates. Biden outlined the strategy in a first-ever AI-focused national security memorandum (NSM) on Thursday, calling for the government to stay at the forefront of “safe, secure and trustworthy” AI development. Meta has itself been the source of public complaints on various fronts, caught between accusations of censorship and the failure to prevent online abuses. Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch accused Meta of silencing pro-Palestine voices amid increased social media censorship since October 7. Meta says its platforms were mostly used for positive purposes in 2024, to steer people to legitimate websites with information about candidates and how to vote. While it said it allows people on its platforms to ask questions or raise concerns about election processes, “we do not allow claims or speculation about election-related corruption, irregularities, or bias when combined with a signal that content is threatening violence”. Clegg said the company was still feeling the pushback from its efforts to police its platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in some content being mistakenly removed. “We feel we probably overdid it a bit,” he said. “While we’ve been really focusing on reducing prevalence of bad content, I think we also want to redouble our efforts to improve the precision and accuracy with which we act on our rules.” Republican concerns Some Republican lawmakers in the US have questioned what they say is censorship of certain viewpoints on social media. President-elect Donald Trump has been especially critical , accusing its platforms of censoring conservative viewpoints. In an August letter to the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he regretted some content take-downs the company made in response to pressure from the Biden administration. In Clegg’s news briefing, he said Zuckerberg hoped to help shape President-elect Donald Trump’s administration on tech policy, including AI. Clegg said he was not privy to whether Zuckerberg and Trump discussed the tech platform’s content moderation policies when Zuckerberg was invited to Trump’s Florida resort last week. “Mark is very keen to play an active role in the debates that any administration needs to have about maintaining America’s leadership in the technological sphere ... and particularly the pivotal role that AI will play in that scenario,” he said.Contractor death: Case registered against six people, including Minister Priyank Kharge's close aideShopian, Nov 22: A recent snowfall along the heritage Mughal Road turned the entire area into a wonderland. The snow covered pine trees dotting the awe- inspiring mountains offer a spell-casting view in different hues of season. However, amidst this natural beauty, the halting stations—Sukh Saria and Aliabad Sarai—along the road, which have always been a major attraction for the tourists and travellers, remain in a state of disrepair. These crumbling halting stations reflect the government’s apathy and neglect in preserving the cultural heritage. Located at an altitude of 2700 meters, barely a 40-minute drive from Shopian town, the Sukh Sarai is a Mughal marvel. The halting station occupies a vast 9,600 square feet and is situated in the middle of a serene meadow. This Mughal era mud, brick and stone structure is lying in a run-down state with its entrance walls completely damaged. A short drive away along the road is located Alibad Sarai. The rectangular is situated on the banks of the River Panchal. The Sarai was constructed by the Mughal Emperor Akbar and was later restored by Emperor Jahangir through his Governor Ali Mardan Khan. The halting station was among the 14 such structures from Delhi to Lahore enroute to Srinagar. The Saria was designated as a monument under the central protection of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and managed according to the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act of 1958. However, the dilapidated and decaying Sarai, which is now covered by thick overgrown vegetation, speaks volumes of the government’s indifference. “The authorities are hardly bothered about preserving our heritage. It has been our long-standing demand to initiate steps to protect these historic monuments,” said Mitha Gatoo, a social activist from the area. Gatoo said that civil society members took up the matter with higher authorities umpteen times but nothing was done about it. He said that preserving such sites would not only help the next generation connect with their history, but also give a boost to the local economy. The Department of Culture launched a scheme aimed at revival, restoration and preservation, maintains and of the architecture and heritage in Jammu and Kashmir in 2021. The Sarai was included in the scheme, but nothing has been done so far. An official, however, said that District Development Commissioner, Shopian Mohammad Saleem Shahid Dar convened a high-level meeting of officials including officials from the ASI and forest department, to discuss the preservation and restoration of the glory of these Sarais. He said that a host of possibilities were discussed to preserve these monuments. “Some eco-friendly steps will be initiated to build an approach to Aliabad Saria,” added the official.
AP Sports SummaryBrief at 6:25 p.m. ESTZUO Stock Alert: Halper Sadeh LLC Is Investigating Whether the Sale of Zuora, Inc. Is Fair to Shareholders
Cheers and beers for Ruud van Nistelrooy as Leicester reign starts with winArne Slot heaps praise on 'extraordinary' Mohamed Salah after Liverpool star inspired Reds to 5-0 drubbing of West Ham Arne Slot hailed Mohamed Salah after continued his scoring run on Sunday However, the Egyptian star remained coy on his contract situation with Liverpool LISTEN NOW: It's All Kicking Off! New formation, some new faces, but the optimism has gone at Old Trafford By LEWIS STEELE Published: 17:08 EST, 29 December 2024 | Updated: 17:08 EST, 29 December 2024 e-mail View comments Arne Slot hailed ‘extraordinary’ Mohamed Salah after he took his goal tally to 20 for the eighth successive season. Salah, who said a new contract was ‘far away’, scored one and assisted another as five-star Liverpool thrashed West Ham to end 2024 on a high and extend their lead at the top of the Premier League . Luis Diaz , Cody Gakpo , Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota also scored in the 5-0 rout to pile pressure on Hammers boss Julen Lopetegui . And Slot said: ‘Mo and the word extraordinary is something I’ve heard a lot in the last six months — he truly deserves this. ‘We know what a player he is and we know what he's able to do. But apart from that, he works really hard for the team also when the other team has the ball and yeah, we can only hope that he can keep bringing these performances in. ‘But I would like to add that if he scores, there's also a lead up to him scoring. So there are also other players that bring him in these positions, but if you bring Mo in these positions, he's extraordinary. Definitely.’ Arne Slot labelled Mohamed Salah 'extraordinary' after he scored again against West Ham The Egyptian has logged the most goals (17) and assists (13) in the Premier League this season Liverpool moved eight points clear of Nottingham Forest in second place after their 5-0 win Salah is of course out of contract at the end of this season and when asked about this, he said: ‘We are far away from that. I don't want to put something in the media and people start saying things.’ Read More Trent Alexander-Arnold's 'move to Real Madrid is almost complete', claims bombshell report in Spain Meanwhile, Hammers boss Lopetegui was frustrated after his side succumbed to the leaders to end a decent run of results over the Christmas period. The Spaniard said: ‘We did not compete as we were thinking to today or as the opponent Liverpool demands. Today has been a tough day for us.’ The only negative for Liverpool was when defender Joe Gomez went down injured and had to be substituted in the first half. Gomez told reporters after the game that it was a hamstring injury and Liverpool will await news on the severity of the blow with scans in the next 24 hours. Fellow defender Ibrahima Konate is also injured and is hoping to step up his recovery in the coming week or so. Mohamed Salah Liverpool Arne Slot Share or comment on this article: Arne Slot heaps praise on 'extraordinary' Mohamed Salah after Liverpool star inspired Reds to 5-0 drubbing of West Ham e-mail Add comment