The military's tradition of tracking Santa Claus on his gravity-defying sweep across the globe will carry on this Christmas Eve, even if the U.S. government shuts down, officials said Friday. Read this article for free: Already have an account? As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $14.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! The military's tradition of tracking Santa Claus on his gravity-defying sweep across the globe will carry on this Christmas Eve, even if the U.S. government shuts down, officials said Friday. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? The military’s tradition of tracking Santa Claus on his gravity-defying sweep across the globe will carry on this Christmas Eve, even if the U.S. government shuts down, officials said Friday. Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command to inquire about Santa’s location. Millions more follow online. “We fully expect for Santa to take flight on Dec. 24 and NORAD will track him,” the U.S.-Canadian agency said in a statement. On any other night, NORAD is scanning the heavens for potential threats, such as last year’s Chinese spy balloon. But on Christmas Eve, volunteers in Colorado Springs, Colorado, are fielding questions like, “When is Santa coming to my house?” and, “Am I on the naughty or nice list?” The endeavor is supported by local and corporate sponsors, who also help shield the tradition from Washington dysfunction. Bob Sommers, 63, a civilian contractor and NORAD volunteer, told The Associated Press that there are “screams and giggles and laughter” when families call in, usually on speakerphone. Sommers often says on the call that everyone must be asleep before Santa arrives, prompting parents to say, “Do you hear what he said? We got to go to bed early.” NORAD’s annual tracking of Santa has endured since the Cold War, predating ugly sweater parties and Mariah Carey classics. Here’s how it began and why the phones keep ringing. The origin story is Hollywood-esque It started with a child’s accidental phone call in 1955. The Colorado Springs newspaper printed a Sears advertisement that encouraged children to call Santa, listing a phone number. A boy called. But he reached the Continental Air Defense Command, now NORAD, a joint U.S. and Canadian effort to spot potential enemy attacks. Tensions were growing with the Soviet Union, along with anxieties about nuclear war. Air Force Col. Harry W. Shoup picked up an emergency-only “red phone” and was greeted by a tiny voice that began to recite a Christmas wish list. “He went on a little bit, and he takes a breath, then says, ‘Hey, you’re not Santa,’” Shoup told The Associated Press in 1999. Realizing an explanation would be lost on the youngster, Shoup summoned a deep, jolly voice and replied, “Ho, ho, ho! Yes, I am Santa Claus. Have you been a good boy?” Shoup said he learned from the boy’s mother that Sears mistakenly printed the top-secret number. He hung up, but the phone soon rang again with a young girl reciting her Christmas list. Fifty calls a day followed, he said. In the pre-digital age, the agency used a 60-by-80-foot (18-by-24-meter) plexiglass map of North America to track unidentified objects. A staff member jokingly drew Santa and his sleigh over the North Pole. The tradition was born. “Note to the kiddies,” began an AP story from Colorado Springs on Dec. 23, 1955. “Santa Claus Friday was assured safe passage into the United States by the Continental Air Defense Command.” In a likely reference to the Soviets, the article noted that Santa was guarded against possible attack from “those who do not believe in Christmas.” Is the origin story humbug? Some grinchy journalists have nitpicked Shoup’s story, questioning whether a misprint or a misdial prompted the boy’s call. In 2014, tech news site Gizmodo cited an International News Service story from Dec. 1, 1955, about a child’s call to Shoup. Published in the Pasadena Independent, the article said the child reversed two digits in the Sears number. “When a childish voice asked COC commander Col. Harry Shoup, if there was a Santa Claus at the North Pole, he answered much more roughly than he should — considering the season: ‘There may be a guy called Santa Claus at the North Pole, but he’s not the one I worry about coming from that direction,'” Shoup said in the brief piece. In 2015, The Atlantic magazine doubted the flood of calls to the secret line, while noting that Shoup had a flair for public relations. Phone calls aside, Shoup was indeed media savvy. In 1986, he told the Scripps Howard News Service that he recognized an opportunity when a staff member drew Santa on the glass map in 1955. A lieutenant colonel promised to have it erased. But Shoup said, “You leave it right there,” and summoned public affairs. Shoup wanted to boost morale for the troops and public alike. “Why, it made the military look good — like we’re not all a bunch of snobs who don’t care about Santa Claus,” he said. Shoup died in 2009. His children told the StoryCorps podcast in 2014 that it was a misprinted Sears ad that prompted the phone calls. “And later in life he got letters from all over the world,” said Terri Van Keuren, a daughter. “People saying ‘Thank you, Colonel, for having, you know, this sense of humor.’” A rare addition to Santa’s story NORAD’s tradition is one of the few modern additions to the centuries-old Santa story that have endured, according to Gerry Bowler, a Canadian historian who spoke to the AP in 2010. Ad campaigns or movies try to “kidnap” Santa for commercial purposes, said Bowler, who wrote “Santa Claus: A Biography.” NORAD, by contrast, takes an essential element of Santa’s story and views it through a technological lens. In a recent interview with the AP, Air Force Lt. Gen. Case Cunningham explained that NORAD radars in Alaska and Canada — known as the northern warning system — are the first to detect Santa. He leaves the North Pole and typically heads for the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean. From there he moves west, following the night. “That’s when the satellite systems we use to track and identify targets of interest every single day start to kick in,” Cunningham said. “A probably little-known fact is that Rudolph’s nose that glows red emanates a lot of heat. And so those satellites track (Santa) through that heat source.” NORAD has an app and website, www.noradsanta.org, that will track Santa on Christmas Eve from 4 a.m. to midnight, mountain standard time. People can call 1-877-HI-NORAD to ask live operators about Santa’s location from 6 a.m. to midnight, mountain time. Advertisement AdvertisementThe large mysterious drones reported flying over parts of New Jersey in recent weeks appear to avoid detection by traditional methods such as helicopter and radio, according to a state lawmaker briefed Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security. In a post on the social media platform X, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia described the drones as up to 6 feet in diameter and sometimes traveling with their lights switched off. The Morris County Republican was among several state and local lawmakers who met with state police and Homeland Security officials to discuss the spate of sightings that range from the New York City area through New Jersey and westward into parts of Pennsylvania, including over Philadelphia. The devices do not appear to be The dronees wereffffflown by hobbyists, Fantasia wrote. Dozens of mysterious nighttime flights started last month and have raised growing concern among residents and officials. Part of the worry stems from the flying objects initially being spotted near the Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. military research and manufacturing facility; and over President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster. Drones are legal in New Jersey for recreational and commercial use, but they are subject to local and Federal Aviation Administration regulations and flight restrictions. Operators must be FAA certified. Most, but not all, of the drones spotted in New Jersey were larger than those typically used by hobbyists. The number of sightings has increased in recent days, though officials say many of the objects seen may have been planes rather than drones. It’s also possible that a single drone has been reported more than once. Gov. Phil Murphy and law enforcement officials have stressed that the drones don’t appear to threaten public safety. The FBI has been investigating and has asked residents to share any videos, photos or other information they may have. Two Republican Jersey Shore-area congressmen, U.S. Reps. Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew, have called on the military to shoot down the drones. Smith said a Coast Guard commanding officer briefed him on an incident over the weekend in which a dozen drones followed a motorized Coast Guard lifeboat “in close pursuit” near Barnegat Light and Island Beach State Park in Ocean County. Coast Guard Lt. Luke Pinneo told The Associated Press Wednesday “that multiple low-altitude aircraft were observed in vicinity of one of our vessels near Island Beach State Park.” The aircraft weren't perceived as an immediate threat and didn't disrupt operations, Pinneo said. The Coast Guard is assisting the FBI and state agencies in investigating. In a letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Smith called for military help dealing with the drones, noting that Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst has the capability "to identify and take down unauthorized unmanned aerial systems.” However, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters Wednesday that “our initial assessment here is that these are not drones or activities coming from a foreign entity or adversary.” Many municipal lawmakers have called for more restrictions on who is entitled to fly the unmanned devices. At least one state lawmaker proposed a temporary ban on drone flights in the state. “This is something we’re taking deadly seriously. I don’t blame people for being frustrated," Murphy said earlier this week. A spokesman for the Democratic governor said he did not attend Wednesday's meeting. Republican Assemblyman Erik Peterson, whose district includes parts of the state where the drones have been reported, said he also attended Wednesday's meeting at a state police facility in West Trenton. The session lasted for about 90 minutes. Peterson said DHS officials were generous with their time, but appeared dismissive of some concerns, saying not all the sightings reported have been confirmed to involve drones. So who or what is behind the flying objects? Where are they coming from? What are they doing? “My understanding is they have no clue,” Peterson said. A message seeking comment was left with the Department of Homeland Security. Most of the drones have been spotted along coastal areas and some were recently reported flying over a large reservoir in Clinton. Sightings also have been reported in neighboring states. James Edwards, of Succasunna, New Jersey, said he has seen a few drones flying over his neighborhood since last month. “It raises concern mainly because there's so much that's unknown,” Edwards said Wednesday. “There are lots of people spouting off about various conspiracies that they believe are in play here, but that only adds fuel to the fire unnecessarily. We need to wait and see what is really happening here, not let fear of the unknown overtake us." —— AP reporters Mike Catalini in Morrisville, Pennsylvania; and Wayne Parry in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
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One of the promises of the next era of generative AI is that the technology will be agentic, or have the ability to perform tasks autonomously on behalf of us chaotic humans. That means AI agents will theoretically be able to “reason” about the next steps they should take, allowing them to execute multiple actions from a single query. The possibilities are endless, if you believe the hype—think maximum efficiency and productivity, plus a host of other buzz word-latent phrases that one might hear during a tech giant’s quarterly earnings call. All I want AI to do for me, however, is to shop. I understand that some people find shopping to be a pleasurable act, but the options overwhelm me, whether I’m in an actual store or stuck in an endless scroll. In the lead up to the December holidays, the pressure mounts even more: How do you convey to someone exactly how much you’ve appreciated them this year—all the years—and capture that appreciation in something more thoughtful than a soy wax candle? I was ready to let AI take the wheel. Over the last few weeks, I’ve offloaded my gift shopping to Perplexity AI, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, and Amazon’s Rufus to find out whether I could finally delegate one of the tasks I despise the most to AI. I used the apps as pure utilities; for literal fulfillment, means to a commercial end. I set the generative AI bots loose and burned planet Earth in a quest to find the perfect baking equipment. Spoiler: I quickly learned that none of these apps can autonomously shop, at least not yet. They are glorified search tools that have the ability to parse and summarize product descriptions, as well as compare different items. I still had to write and rewrite prompts for what kinds of gifts I was looking for, and for the most part, I also needed to enter in my payment information and go through the purchasing process on each individual retailer’s website. I used the bots to shop for five people, ranging in age from 6 months to 49 years old. A close friend who is extremely into baking became one of my primary test cases. I also tried to drum up holiday gift ideas for my 16-year-old niece, who once complimented me in a text message by saying, “Don’t worry, you’re not mid.” (I have the screenshot saved.) Another person on my shopping list was an editor and musician friend with eclectic taste who’s celebrating a milestone birthday just after the new year. One of the AI apps I tested has a feature specifically designed for shopping. Perplexity AI, a well-funded generative AI search startup that has been criticized for allegedly lifting content from news publishers , rolled out a new service last month called Buy with Pro, which comes with a $20 per month subscription to Perplexity Pro. Buy with Pro is described as a “ first-of-its kind AI commerce experience ” that promises to make shopping online “10x more easy and fun.” This immediately sounded like an AI hallucination to me, because online shopping isn’t fun in the first place. (In terms of disclosure, Buy with Pro and other AI gift guides are also technically competitors with WIRED, which earns affiliate revenue from our entirely human-produced, human-reviewed, and human-edited gift guides.) When you run a shopping-related query on Perplexity Pro, the app shows that it’s “reading” sources like The New York Times, The Food Network, Reddit, and others. Several seconds later, it presents a cascade of products, along with prices and retailers. Some of the listings now have buy buttons, powered either by Shopify or by Perplexity’s own payment processing service. If you click on one and order something, the shipping is free. There’s also a visual search tool within the Perplexity app, which lets you take pictures of things and look for similar items for sale online. (Perplexity says it isn’t collecting affiliate revenue from sales made through its platform.) I tried searching Perplexity Pro for the “ideal holiday gift for a close friend who likes to bake but already has everything.” The AI produced a list of items that mostly fell on what I would describe as the lowbrow-useless approval matrix , with occasional bits of brilliance. It included a $10 Tasty Tinies miniature baking set for children (not applicable), a $120 Bakken-Swiss stackable 8-piece bakeware set (possibly useful), and a $35 sweatshirt with the phrase “My Buns Are Gluten-Free” printed on it (just no). Tweaking the prompt to add words like “luxury” or “customized” did improve the outputs slightly, but not by much. Using Perplexity’s shopping feature quickly started to feel not much different from browsing Amazon or Walmart’s websites—or maybe a product reviews site—just wrapped in a C-3PO, let-me-compute-for-you skin. Amazon’s Rufus AI also provides this kind of service right on Amazon’s website and in its mobile app, where there’s a bot that can answer questions, compare products, and help you mainline more junk from Amazon. When I asked the same baking gift prompt to Rufus, it immediately suggested that I purchase my friend a KitchenAid Stand Mixer that costs upwards of $300. (Rufus seemingly assumes you have Jeff Bezos bucks.) I then turned to the three other AI chatbots, none of which have standalone ecommerce features. But one of the main selling points of tools like ChatGPT is that they are supposed to help people brainstorm and come up with ideas—exactly what I wanted. When I asked the same question about what to get my friend who loves baking, ChatGPT’s responses were the most thoughtful and inventive. It provided 15 different gift ideas, categorized by themes like Baking-Theme Gifts, Luxe Home Items, and Personalized. A handmade ceramic mixing bowl? A premium tea or coffee sampler to go with baked goods? A recipe journal to document adventures in baking? This was the good stuff. In its initial responses, ChatGPT didn’t provide any links to products. But it easily supplied them when I asked, and while I didn’t click on every single one, none appeared to be hallucinations . Claude, on the other hand, apologized and said that it “cannot actually link to websites or products directly.” Anthropic hasn’t released a web search feature for Claude yet, but the company says it’s working on it. That technically made Claude the least useful chatbot I tested for shopping. But it also means that Anthropic has so far avoided wading into the ethically murky territory of allowing its AI chatbots to scrape human-written product reviews from the web. Instead, Claude bases its product comparisons on its existing data set. Perplexity, on the other hand, says that thanks to Buy with Pro, people “no longer have to scroll through countless product reviews.” When I asked Perplexity what I should get for my editor/musician friend, it recommended a solar bike light set (I also noted he was a cyclist). It wasn’t a bad idea, but not exactly a milestone-birthday worthy gift. I kept tweaking my prompt. What about a personalized leather guitar strap? Down the rabbit hole I went. Perplexity’s goal in hyping up its shopping features, I was beginning to understand, wasn’t just to help me brainstorm fresh ideas or come up with supremely thoughtful gifts. Perplexity is playing the long game, slowly siphoning our attention away from competing corners of the web, gaining a better understanding of how people like me are using its platform, and funneling that data into its ever-evolving AI models. Each time I needed to refine my searches because the initial results were often lacking, I remained in Perplexity’s app, which meant I was not on Amazon and not on Google (though I ended up on both of those sites eventually). Perplexity Pro is not a full-fledged ecommerce site, nor is it “agentic” in any real way yet, but I am one of millions of people supplying the information it needs to become those things. When I turned to Google’s Gemini, I found the gifts it suggested for my 16-year-old niece weren’t bad, per se, just uncreative and, in one instance, confusing. It said I should buy her a “cat blanket for snuggling up with a good book,” but it wasn’t clear if the blanket was for her or her cat. A Kindle was a fine idea. But I’m terrified of what she would text me if I sent her the SAT prep book Gemini suggested (probably “thx,” and nothing else). The app’s ideas for my editor/musician friend were equally uninspiring, among them “Vinyl records,” and “High-quality headphones.” I was using the year-old version of Gemini , but earlier this month, Google started rolling out a newer version, Gemini 2.0, to developers and limited testers. The new AI model will “think multiple steps ahead, and take action on your behalf,” the company says . For now, this means taking action on behalf of developers—executing the next step in their coding workflows—but I’m eagerly awaiting the day it can plow through my shopping list. ChatGPT eventually led me to an online spice store where I bought a few specialty baking ingredients for my friend, who at this point, I had built up in my mind to be a finalist in The Great British Bake-Off. In the end, I chatted with the AI bots for so long that many of the gifts I picked won’t arrive until after Christmas. My niece will be getting cash in a card. My search for a friend’s milestone birthday gift was inconclusive. I decided to kick the task down the road until January, a month full of newness and agentic resolve.Mastercard Now Offering Kount Payment Fraud Prevention and Chargeback Mitigation to Payment Providers and Merchants ATLANTA and NORTHAMPTON, Mass. , Dec. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Equifax ® (NYSE: EFX) and Mastercard (NYSE: MA) have joined forces to empower Latin American financial institutions, payment service providers, acquiring banks, and merchants to overcome payment fraud challenges without disruption to the customer experience. Enhanced fraud management tools, including Mastercard Identity, Ethoca Alerts and Ethoca Consumer Clarity are now available to Mastercard business customers in Latin America through the Kount Payment Fraud solution from Equifax. The combined solutions protect the entire digital payments environment through identity verification and fraud risk assessment while preventing chargebacks through order validation and alerting services. Latin America has one of the highest fraud rates globally, with studies showing that merchants are losing upward of 4.6% of their e-commerce revenue to payment fraud . With e-commerce revenue expected to nearly double in the region from $85 billion in 2021 to $160 billion by next year , Equifax and Mastercard are helping empower businesses to achieve their full growth potential by stopping threats in real time. The Kount Payment Fraud solution from Equifax is used by more than 20,000 businesses operating in more than 40 countries around the world due to its real-time fraud prevention capabilities during transactions. "As a global leader in fraud prevention, we are thrilled to work with Mastercard to help Latin American merchants and partners combat fraud and continue to innovate across the financial sector," commented Chris Jones , President of Equifax Latin America. "This strategic alignment will provide safer payment transactions and reduce chargebacks, enabling businesses of all sizes in Latin America to improve their bottom line." "Adding to our existing capabilities, this collaboration is the next step in our journey to make the digital economy safe and more seamless for payment providers and merchants in the region," said Ana Lucia Magliano , Executive Vice President, Services, Mastercard Latin America and the Caribbean . "By working together, we're advancing our shared goal of not only meeting the payments ecosystem security needs, but also addressing a broader effort to enhance the consumer's digital experience." The Kount Payment Fraud solution is available in collaboration with Mastercard to financial institutions, payment service providers, acquirers, merchants and others across Latin America , excluding Brazil . For more details, visit https://kount.com/equifax-mastercard . ABOUT EQUIFAX INC. At Equifax (NYSE: EFX ), we believe knowledge drives progress. As a global data, analytics, and technology company, we play an essential role in the global economy by helping financial institutions, companies, employers, and government agencies make critical decisions with greater confidence. Our unique blend of differentiated data, analytics, and cloud technology drives insights to power decisions to move people forward. Headquartered in Atlanta and supported by nearly 15,000 employees worldwide, Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America , Central and South America , Europe , and the Asia Pacific region. For more information, visit Equifax.com . ABOUT MASTERCARD Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Mario Arrua ( Latin America ) or Tiffany Smith (US) for Equifax mediainquiries@equifax.com Andrea Denadai for Mastercard Andrea.denadai@mastercard.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/equifax-and-mastercard-join-forces-to-combat-payment-fraud-in-latin-america-302322882.html SOURCE Equifax Inc. 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SHAREHOLDER INVESTIGATION: Halper Sadeh LLC Investigates AE, STAF, NBR, ALVR on Behalf of ...WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday passed a $895 billion measure that authorizes a 1% increase in defense spending this fiscal year and would give a double-digit pay raise to about half of the enlisted service members in the military. The bill is traditionally strongly bipartisan, but some Democratic lawmakers opposed the inclusion of a ban on transgender medical treatments for children of military members if such treatment could result in sterilization. It passed by a vote of 281-140 and next moves to the Senate, where lawmakers sought a bigger boost in defense spending than the current measure allows. Lawmakers are touting the bill's 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for others as key to improving the quality of life for those serving in the U.S. military. Those serving as junior enlisted personnel are in pay grades that generally track with their first enlistment term. Lawmakers said service member pay failed to remain competitive with the private sector, forcing many military families to rely on food banks and government assistance programs to put food on the table. The bill also provides significant new resources for child care and housing. "No service member should have to live in squalid conditions and no military family should have to rely on food stamps to feed their children, but that's exactly what many of our service members are experiencing, especially the junior enlisted," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "This bill goes a long way to fixing that." The bill sets key Pentagon policy that lawmakers will attempt to fund through a follow-up appropriations bill. The overall spending tracks the numbers established in a 2023 agreement that then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reached with President Joe Biden to increase the nation's borrowing authority and avoid a federal default in exchange for spending restraints. Many senators had wanted to increase defense spending some $25 billion above what was called for in that agreement, but those efforts failed. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who is expected to serve as the next chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the overall spending level was a "tremendous loss for our national defense," though he agreed with many provisions within the bill. "We need to make a generational investment to deter the Axis of Aggressors. I will not cease work with my congressional colleagues, the Trump administration, and others until we achieve it," Wicker said. House Republicans don't want to go above the McCarthy-Biden agreement for defense spending and are looking to go way below it for many non-defense programs. They are also focused on cultural issues. The bill prohibits funding for teaching critical race theory in the military and prohibits TRICARE health plans from covering gender dysphoria treatment for children under 18 if that treatment could result in sterilization. Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the ranking Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee, said minors dealing with gender dysphoria is a "very real problem." He said the treatments available, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, have proven effective at helping young people dealing with suicidal thoughts, anxiety and depression. "These treatments changed their lives and in many cases saved their lives," Smith said. "And in this bill, we decided we're going to bar service members' children from having access to that." Smith said the number of minors in service member families receiving transgender medical care extends into the thousands. He could have supported a study asking medical experts to determine whether such treatments are too often used, but a ban on health insurance coverage went too far. He said Speaker Mike Johnson's office insisted on the ban and said the provision "taints an otherwise excellent piece of legislation." Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, called the ban a step in the right direction, saying, "I think these questions need to be pulled out of the debate of defense, so we can get back to the business of defending the United States of America without having to deal with social engineering debates." Smith said he agrees with Roy that lawmakers should be focused on the military and not on cultural conflicts, "and yet, here it is in this bill." Branden Marty, a Navy veteran who served for 13 years, said the loss of health coverage for transgender medical treatments could prompt some with valuable experience to leave the military, affecting national security because "we already struggle from a recruiting and retention standpoint." He also said the bill could regularly force service members into difficult choices financially. "It will be tough for a lot of them because of out-of-pocket expenses, especially enlisted members who we know already struggle with food insecurity," said Marty, the father of a transgender teenager. "They don't get paid very much, so they're going to be making a lot of choices on a day-to-day, tactical level." Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, said his team did not tell Democrats how to vote on the bill. "There's a lot of positive things in the National Defense Authorization Act that were negotiated in a bipartisan way, and there are some troubling provisions in a few areas as well," Jeffries said. Overall, 81 Democrats voted for the bill and 124 against it. On the Republican side, 200 voted for the bill and 16 against it. "It's disappointing to see 124 of my Democrat colleagues vote against our brave men and women in uniform over policies that have nothing to do with their intended mission," Johnson, R-La., said. The defense policy bill also looks to strengthen deterrence against China. It calls for investing $15.6 billion to build military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region. The Biden administration requested about $10 billion. On Israel, the bill, among other things, includes an expansion of U.S. joint military exercises with Israel and a prohibition on the Pentagon citing casualty data from Hamas. The defense policy bill is one of the final measures that lawmakers view as a must-pass before making way for a new Congress in January.The Andhra Pradesh government has signed two MoUs– for partnering with the Tony Blair Institute to modernise higher education; and with the Physics Wallah educational platform to set up an Innovation University. During a ceremony at Undavalli on Friday, Education and IT Minister Nara Lokesh oversaw the signing of the agreements. TBI's country director Vivek Agarwal and associate Munjaluri Raghini Rao attended the event. Lokesh stated, “Under this collaboration, TBI will advise the HRD minister in driving transformative change in Andhra Pradesh’s higher education system. Specifically, TBI will work on identifying opportunities to boost employment outcomes for its youth by improving the tertiary education landscape especially in the government-run universities, poly techniques, colleges, and for diploma courses.” TBI would work with the state government to benchmark global best practices and identify critical skill gaps in the current system. Based on this, TBI will help develop a comprehensive roadmap to build a future-ready education ecosystem. “The Innovation University is expected to act as a hub for academic excellence and innovation, addressing crucial challenges in research, education and employment. It will adopt a hub-and-spoke model to offer contemporary, hybrid education to students from diverse backgrounds and regions,” the minister said. The university plans to integrate online and in-person learning experiences facilitated by industry partners like Amazon Web Services. TBI representatives explained, “With a team of over 800 professionals, including political strategists, policy experts, delivery practitioners, and technology specialists, TBI operates in more than 40 countries across five continents. The institute manages over 100 projects addressing pressing global challenges.” Regarding University of Innovation, Lokesh emphasized the commitment to cultivating the youth of AP into top-tier professionals in AI. “Our goal is to advance innovative technology while equipping the youth of AP to meet industry demands.” He said the University of Innovation would focus on skill development aligned with market requirements. Alakh Pandey, founder and CEO of Physics Wallah, said US-based GSV Ventures and other investors would invest up to Rs 1000 crore in this venture. The University of Innovation aims to blend academic learning with industry needs, he said. PW co-founder Prateek Bhoob, Deborah Quazzo, managing partner at GSV Ventures and others spoke.
SIR Mo Farah has allegedly been hounded for money by the man whose name he took. The Olympic hero, 41, offered to help the other Mo, after a 2022 TV show but it ended in emotional blackmail, it is claimed. A source said: “It’s so sad.” Sir Mo claims he has had to change his phone number after “incessant demands” for cash from his namesake. The four-time Olympic gold medallist took the name of a child called Mo Farah when he was illegally trafficked to the UK aged nine. Sir Mo promised to stay in touch, and it is understood he has sent up to £5,000 to his namesake. READ MORE ON SIR MO FARAH But the other Mo, 40, and around ten others are alleged to have hassled him for money after getting hold of the long-distance star’s mobile number. Sources say Sir Mo sees it as emotional blackmail, and has not spoken to his namesake for months. A source said: “Sir Mo felt he was being harassed and hounded. “He has taken a step back. He didn’t want to make a big fuss but thought it better to not engage. Most read in Athletics “He has had to change his phone number. It’s unfair Sir Mo is having to deal with this. “He feels he’s the victim. He is just tired, and thinks it’s so sad.” The pair were brought together in BBC’s The Real Mo Farah in which Sir Mo revealed he was trafficked to the UK after his dad died in Somalia’s civil war and his mum sent him and twin Hassan to live with family. The athlete revealed his name is actually Hussein Abdi Kahin and that he took “Mo Farah” from a child’s passport used to fly him to Heathrow in 1993 . He has had to change his phone number. It’s unfair Sir Mo is having to deal with this. He feels he’s the victim Later in the show, Sir Mo tracked his namesake to Istanbul, Turkey, where he was studying. But the real Mo now says they have not spoken since December 2023 and claims Sir Mo reneged on a promise to get him a visa. Speaking from his home in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, the other Mo said: “Mo got what he wanted and now he doesn’t care whether I live or die. He made a lot of promises and said he would stop using my name and give me my name back. “He told me he wanted to stop living a lie, but he is still living a lie. “He said he would help me get a tourist visa so I could visit my mum in England , but I’ve spent two years waiting and nothing has happened.” Sir Mo became the world’s greatest long-distance runner winning double golds in London 2012 and Rio 2016, and shares four children with wife Tania. But his namesake’s life has been beset with tragedy. The other Mo said: “My mother left, I was left with her older sister Amina in Nairobi, and when she died from kidney failure in 2005, my world fell apart. “I wanted to become a cricketer. I went for trials for Kenya under-19s and would have had much more opportunity if I’d taken the visa and moved to England .” The other Mo only discovered his link with Sir Mo after the 2012 Olympics. He said: “Some uncles were visiting from the UK, they said, ‘Do you know the athlete, Mo Farah? Do you know he is using your name?’ I couldn’t believe it. “I’d watched him on TV and clapped for him when he was heading to the finish saying, ‘Go, Mo’. “I was a big fan. But even then I didn’t try to get in touch with him. “The first time we spoke was when Sir Mo’s adopted aunt Kinsi contacted me on Facebook and said, ‘‘Mo is looking for you. He is going to give you everything. He’s going to give you back your name and take you abroad’. It is not Mo’s responsibility to be looking after the son of people who mistreated him and trafficked him to the UK “We kept in touch by phone after that and, after the documentary came out the TV crew kept me hidden in a hotel for six weeks to make sure no one could find me. “One BBC producer even discussed making a second documentary in which I would get to meet Sir Mo in London, but that didn’t happen.” Last night sources close to Sir Mo painted a different picture of why the relationship has broken down. An insider said: “Sir Mo has sympathy. This man was also a casualty of events out of his control as a child. But it is not Mo’s responsibility. The people who were adults and responsible for them clearly didn’t do their jobs properly. “But it certainly wouldn’t be appropriate for Mo to use his influence on any UK immigration policy or process. Quite the opposite. “This isn’t Mo’s job to sort out. That said, on a personal level, Mo has been in contact with Somali Mo for a number of years. “Communication ceased in the summer when Mo had to distance himself. Anytime there’s something on Mo’s socials, when it might look like he has had some kind of financial gain, a deal with Nike or whatever, they are demanding why has he not sent money.” Last night the other Mo insisted: “I’m not a bad person. There is no way I would tell anyone to hound him. I didn’t give anyone his number so I don’t know who has been doing this. It’s not anyone in my family. Read More on The US Sun “The last time I messaged him I said, ‘If you don’t want to answer my call, it’s OK. You do what is best for you, I’ll do what’s best for me’.” Sir Mo was approached for comment. By Joe Morgan NATIONAL treasure Sir Mo Farah shocked the country when he admitted lying about his identity all his life, saying: “The truth is I’m not who you think I am.” He revealed on TV two years ago that his real name was Hussein Abdi Kahin and he was trafficked into the UK as a child after his dad was killed in Somalia’s civil war. The running great and father of three told BBC1 documentary The Real Mo Farah: “I want to feel normal and not feel like you’re holding on to something.” The Sun, right, reported Sir Mo feared being stripped of his citizenship for lying on his application but politicians joined celebrities in rallying round.Shocking Insights: The Hidden Cost of AI Data Centers that Investors Must Know
Chandigarh, December 30 : Farmers have announced a 'Punjab Bandh' on Monday leading to the expected closure of all shops across the state and disruptions in road and rail services. However, emergency services will continue to operate. There will also be no supply of milk, fruits, and vegetables until the protest ends on Monday evening as several trade organisations lent their support to the bandh. "Farmer union leaders will enforce a chakka jam on roads and rail lines from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Government and private institutions are requested to stay closed. Only emergency vehicles, such as ambulances, marriage vehicles, or anyone in a dire emergency, will be allowed to pass," reports quoted a senior farm leader as saying. Tripura: Protest Rally by Samyukta Kisan Morcha Held in Agartala to Support Farmers' Demands. SKM, KKM Call for Bandh The decision to give a call for a 'Punjab bandh' was taken last week by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM). Sarwan Singh Pandher -- who happens to be the coordinator of both forums -- said traders, transporters, employees unions, toll plaza workers, labour, ex-servicemen, Sarpanches and teachers' unions, social and other bodies, and some other sections have lent their support to the bandh. Farmers under the banner of SKM (Non-Political) and KMM have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces. With Jagjit Singh Dallewal's indefinite hunger strike entering its 34th day on Sunday, farmer leaders at Khanauri said they have been following the Gandhian way to continue their protest and it is up to the government to decide whether it wants to use force to evict their senior leader. Farmers Protest: ‘Fight Will Last Till Last Breath’, Says Jagjit Singh Dallewal Whose Fast Completes 28 Days for Kisan’ Rights. Roads and Railway Services To Remain Closed He further said the farmers wanted to make it clear that whatever situation arises the responsibility will lie with the Centre and the constitutional bodies. Rail movement and road traffic will remain closed on Monday. In support of the farmers' Bandh call, bus services in Punjab will remain suspended on Monday. While the PRTC bus services will be shut for four hours, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the private bus operators have announced their full support, thus declaring the suspension of services across the state from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday. Besides a legal guarantee on the MSP for crops, the farmers are demanding a debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in the electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence. Reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21 are also part of their demands. This bandh, the farmer leader said, will force the Centre to accept the demands of farmers. He slammed the Union government for failing to accept the demands of farmers. Farmers under the banner of SKM (Non-Political) and KMM have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 after security forces stopped their march to Delhi. A "jatha" (group) of 101 farmers made three attempts to enter Delhi on foot on December 6, December 8, and again on December 14. Security personnel in Haryana prevented them from proceeding. There will be a complete bandh on December 30, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said. However, emergency services will remain operational. Punjab farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said the call for a 'Punjab bandh' on December 30 is getting good support from various sections. The decision to give a call for a 'Punjab bandh' was taken last week by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha. To ensure the success of the bandh, SKM (Non-political) and KMM convened a meeting of transporters, employees, traders and others at the Khanauri protest site last Thursday. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 30, 2024 08:35 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com ).Musk Endorsed Kids Online Safety Act—It Still Faces Challenges Ahead
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