Another fun matchup in the lightweight division has been added to in January. On Jan. 18 at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, lightweight No. 8 Grant Dawson will meet Diego Ferreira in the first pay-per-view of 2025. The news was first reported by . Both camps have publicly shared the matchup on social media, and MMA Junkie also confirmed the booking with a source familiar with the booking. Dawson (22-2-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) will enter the contest on a two-fight winning streak, with both wins coming in 2024. His most recent fight was a of Rafa Garcia in October, which came after a unanimous decision win over Joe Solecki in June. Ferreira (19-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) also has won back-to-back fights, although the judges were not needed for either victory. In May 2023, Ferreira Michael Johnson in the second round and followed that up with of Mateusz Rebecki. Both finishes earned $50,000 Performance of the Night bonuses. With the addition, the UFC 311 lineup includes: Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira Muin Gafurov vs. Rinya Nakamura Bogdan Guskov vs. Johnny Walker Ailin Perez vs. Karol Rosa Sedriques Dumas vs. Zach Reese Raoni Barcelos vs. Payton Talbott Bernardo Sopaj vs. Ricky Turcios
Baijiayun Announces Up To $15 Million Convertible Promissory Notes And $50 Million Standby Equity Purchase Agreement
One of my top shows of 2024 actually premiered in 2021. That’s because it took a couple of years for the Australian series “The Newsreader” to make its way Stateside. Alas, it was only legal to stream in the U.S. for a handful of weeks in September and then — pffft! — it was gone before most people had even heard of it. Well, I have great news. The show is available once again, this time via Sundance Now (accessible through the AMC+ streaming platform), which has licensed the first season. It stars Anna Torv (“Fringe”) and Sam Reid (“Interview with the Vampire”) as TV reporters in Melbourne, circa 1986. At the outset, Reid’s character exudes big loser energy, which is such an amusing contrast to his work as Lestat. The show is unexpectedly funny and terrifically Machiavellian in its portrayal of small-time office politics, and I’m thrilled audiences in the U.S. will get another shot at watching it. Overall, 2024 offered a modestly better lineup than usual, but I’m not sure it felt that way. Too often the good stuff got drowned out by Hollywood’s pointless and endless pursuit of rebooting intellectual property (no thank you, Apple’s “Presumed Innocent”) and tendency to stretch a perfectly fine two-hour movie premise into a saggy multipart series (“Presumed Innocent” again!). There were plenty of shows I liked that didn’t make this year’s list, including ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and CBS’ ”Ghosts” (it’s heartening to see the network sitcom format still thriving in the streaming era), as well as Netflix’s “A Man on the Inside” (Ted Danson’s charisma selling an unlikely premise) and Hulu’s “Interior Chinatown” (a high-concept parody of racial stereotypes and cop show tropes, even if it couldn’t sustain the idea over 10 episodes). Maybe it just felt like we were having more fun this year, with Netflix’s “The Perfect Couple” (Nicole Kidman leading a traditional manor house mystery reinterpreted with an American sensibility) and Hulu’s “Rivals” (the horniest show of 2024, delivered with a wink in the English countryside). I liked what I saw of Showtime’s espionage thriller “The Agency” (although the bulk of episodes were unavailable as of this writing). The deluge of remakes tends to make me cringe, but this year also saw a redo of Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley” on Netflix that was far classier than most of what’s available on the streamer. Starring Andrew Scott, I found it cool to the touch, but the imagery stayed with me. Shot in black and white, it has an indelible visual language courtesy of director of photography Robert Elswit, whether capturing a crisp white business card against the worn grain wood of a bar top, or winding stairways that alternately suggest a yawning void or a trap. As always, if you missed any of these shows when they originally premiered — the aforementioned titles or the Top 10 listed below — they are all available to stream. Top 10 streaming and TV shows of 2024, in alphabetical order: “Couples Therapy” (Showtime) The least cynical reality show on television remains as absorbing as ever in Season 4, thanks to the probing questions and insights from the show’s resident therapist, Dr. Orna Guralnik. Everything is so charged. And yet the show has a soothing effect, predicated on the idea that human behavior (and misery) isn’t mysterious or unchangeable. There’s something so optimistic in that outlook. Whether or not you relate to the people featured on “Couples Therapy” — or even like them as individuals — doesn’t matter as much as Guralnik’s reassuring presence. “Diarra From Detroit” (BET+) Created by and starring Diarra Kilpatrick, the eight-episode series defies categorization in all the right ways. Part missing-person mystery, part comedy about a school teacher coming to grips with her impending divorce, and part drama about long-buried secrets, it has tremendous style right from the start — sardonic, knowing and self-deprecating. The answers to the central mystery may not pack a satisfying punch by the end, but the road there is as entertaining and absorbing as they come. We need more shows like this. “English Teacher” (FX) A comedy created by and starring Brian Jordan Alvarez (of the antic YouTube series “The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo”), the show has a sensibility all its own, despite a handful of misinformed people on social media calling it a ripoff of “Abbott Elementary.” There’s room enough in the TV landscape for more than one sitcom with a school setting and “English Teacher” has a wonderfully gimlet-eyed point of view of modern high school life. I’m amused that so much of its musical score is Gen-X coded, because that neither applies to Alvarez (a millennial) nor the fictional students he teaches. So why does the show feature everything from Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” to Exposé’s “Point of No Return”? The ’80s were awash in teen stories and maybe the show is using music from that era to invoke all those tropes in order to better subvert them. It’s a compelling idea! It’s streaming on Hulu and worth checking out if you haven’t already. “Fifteen-Love” (Sundance Now) A one-time tennis phenom accuses her former coach of coercing her into a sexual relationship in this British thriller. The intimacy between a coach and athlete often goes unexplored, in real-life or fictional contexts and that’s what the show interrogates: When does it go over the line? It’s smart, endlessly watchable and the kind of series that would likely find a larger audience were it available on a more popular streamer. “Hacks” (Max) There’s real tenderness in this show. Real cruelty, too. It’s a potent combination and the show’s third and strongest season won it an Emmy for best comedy. Jean Smart’s aging comic still looking for industry validation and Hannah Einbinder’s needy Gen-Z writer are trapped in an endless cycle of building trust that inevitably gives way to betrayal. Hollywood in a nutshell! “Hacks” is doing variations on this theme every season, but doing it in interesting ways. Nobody self-sabotages their way to success like these two. “Interview with the Vampire” (AMC) I was skeptical about the show when it premiered in 2022. Vampire stories don’t interest me. And the 1994 movie adaptation starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt wasn’t a persuasive argument to the contrary. But great television is great television and nothing at the moment is better than this show. It was ignored by Emmy voters in its initial outing but let’s hope Season 2 gets the recognition it deserves. Under showrunner Rolin Jones, the adaptation of Anne Rice’s novels is richly written, thrillingly inhabited by its cast and so effortlessly funny with a framing device — the interview of the title — that is thick with intrigue and sly comedy. I wouldn’t categorize the series as horror. It’s not scary. But it is tonally self-assured and richly made, rarely focused on the hunt for dinner but on something far more interesting: The melodrama of vampire existence, with its combination of boredom and lust and tragedy and zingers. Already renewed for Season 3, it has an incredible cast (a thrilling late-career boost for Eric Bogosian) and is well worth catching up with if you haven’t already. “Nobody Wants This” (Netflix) It’s been too long since the pleasures of banter fueled a romantic comedy in the spirit of “When Harry Met Sally.” But it’s all over the place in “Nobody Wants This,” one of the best shows on Netflix in recent memory. Renewed for a second season, it stars Kristen Bell as a humorously caustic podcaster and Adam Brody as the cute and emotionally intelligent rabbi she falls for. On the downside, the show has some terrible notions about Jewish women that play into controlling and emasculating stereotypes. You hate to see it in such an otherwise sparkling comedy, because overall Bell and Brody have an easy touch that gives the comedy real buoyancy. “Nolly” (PBS Masterpiece) I suspect few people saw this three-part series on PBS Masterpiece, but it features a terrific performance by Helena Bonham Carter playing the real-life, longtime British soap star Noele “Nolly” Gordon, who was unceremoniously sacked in 1981. She’s the kind of larger-than-life showbiz figure who is a bit ridiculous, a bit imperious, but also so much fun. The final stretch of her career is brought to life by Carter and this homage — to both the soap she starred in and the way she carried it on her back — is from Russell T. Davies (best known for the “Doctor Who” revival). For U.S. viewers unfamiliar with the show or Gordon, Carter’s performance has the benefit of not competing with a memory as it reanimates a slice of British pop culture history from the analog era. “Shōgun” (FX) The year is 1600 and a stubborn British seaman piloting a Dutch ship washes ashore in Japan. That’s our entry point to this gorgeously shot story of power games and political maneuvering among feudal enemies. Adapted from James Clavell’s 1975 novel by the married team of Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, it is filled with Emmy-winning performances (for Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada; the series itself also won best drama) and unlike something like HBO’s far clunkier “House of the Dragon,” which tackles similar themes, this feels like the rare show created by, and for, adults. “Slow Horses” (Apple TV+) The misfits and losers of Britain’s MI5 counterintelligence agency — collectively known as the slow horses, a sneering nickname that speaks to their perceived uselessness — remain as restless as ever in this adaptation of Mick Herron’s Slough House spy novels. As a series, “Slow Horses” doesn’t offer tightly plotted clockwork spy stories; think too deeply about any of the details and the whole thing threatens to fall apart. But on a scene-by-scene basis, the writing is a winning combination of wry and tension-filled, and the cumulative effect is wonderfully entertaining. Spies have to deal with petty office politics like everyone else! It’s also one of the few shows that has avoided the dreaded one- or two-year delay between seasons, which has become standard on streaming. Instead, it provides the kind of reliability — of its characters but also its storytelling intent — that has become increasingly rare.
S.Sudan's Kiir holds urgent talks over shootout at ex-spy chief's homeRacing Optics® Introduces Game-Changing Twilight Tearoff to Enhance Visibility in Low-Light Racing ConditionsNone
An on-field interaction between a UW-Madison Police officer and a Nebraska football assistant coach after Saturday's game was a "misunderstanding" that ended in an apology, a police spokesperson said. Lt. Adam Boardman, one of the UWPD officers escorting University of Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell to the locker room amid fans rushing the field after a 44-25 Huskers victory , turned away to grab Nebraska offensive line coach Donovan Raiola by the arm, video posted to social media showed . Video of postgame encounter between Luke Fickell, Donovan Raiola circulates online That followed an apparent exchange of words between Raiola and Fickell and Badgers assistant offensive line coach Casey Rabach, who were walking in opposite directions. The context of the discussion wasn't apparent from the video, but Fickell and Raiola both pointed at the other, and Rabach later pointed at Raiola. Boardman and Raiola talked for about 15 seconds after Boardman pried Raiola away from a hug with Nebraska running backs coach EJ Barthel. UWPD spokesperson Marc Lovicott said it was a "misunderstanding amid a pretty chaotic scene." He said Boardman made contact with an "unknown individual who had approached" Badgers coaches as they were leaving the field. "Once it was confirmed that the individual was a member of the Nebraska coaching staff, the UWPD officer apologized for the misunderstanding," Lovicott wrote in an email Tuesday. "The interaction concluded cordially with a handshake." Lovicott said UW Police has made contact with counterparts at Nebraska "and they're also considering it a misunderstanding." Raiola played for Wisconsin from 2002 to 2005. "I don't want speculate without knowing, obviously Donny went to Wisconsin, so I don't know if there was some history there with somebody or something," said Nebraska coach Matt Rhule, who said he was shown video of the incident Monday. "When I asked Donny about it, he was like, 'No big deal.' Things happen after games and people are emotional, but he seemed to kinda brush it off." Fickell said he didn't know much about the interaction when he was asked about it at his weekly news conference Monday. "I mean, I don't know if he was talking to Casey, somebody said something, I don't know," Fickell said. "I just said it looked like maybe he said something to me, but I had no idea. And I had no idea that that was even something. So if it was, I didn't spend a whole lot of time thinking about it." BadgerExtra reporter Colten Bartholomew and Lincoln Journal Star reporter Luke Mullin contributed to this report. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Jared Birchall, Elon Musk’s money manager and the head of his family office, is listed as the chief executive officer. Jehn Balajadia, a longtime Musk aide who has worked at SpaceX and the Boring Co., is named as an official contact. But they’re not connected to Musk’s new technology venture, or the political operation that’s endeared him to Donald Trump. Instead, they’re tied to the billionaire’s new Montessori school outside Bastrop, Texas, called Ad Astra, according to documents filed with state authorities and obtained via a Texas Public Information Act request. The world’s richest person oversees an overlapping empire of six companies — or seven, if you include his political action committee. Alongside rockets, electric cars, brain implants, social media and the next Trump administration, he is increasingly focused on education, spanning preschool to college. One part of his endeavor was revealed last year, when Bloomberg News reported that his foundation had set aside roughly $100 million to create a technology-focused primary and secondary school in Austin, with eventual plans for a university. An additional $137 million in cash and stock was allotted last year, according to the most recent tax filing for the Musk Foundation. Ad Astra is closer to fruition. The state documents show Texas authorities issued an initial permit last month, clearing the way for the center to operate with as many as 21 pupils. Ad Astra’s website says it’s “currently open to all children ages 3 to 9.” The school’s account on X includes job postings for an assistant teacher for preschool and kindergarten and an assistant teacher for students ages 6 to 9. To run the school, Ad Astra is partnering with a company that has experience with billionaires: Xplor Education, which developed Hala Kahiki Montessori school in Lanai, Hawaii, the island 98% owned by Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison. Ad Astra sits on a highway outside Bastrop, a bedroom community about 30 miles from Austin and part of a region that’s home to several of Musk’s businesses. On a visit during a recent weekday morning, there was a single Toyota Prius in the parking lot and no one answered the door at the white building with a gray metal roof. The school’s main entrance was blocked by a gate, and there was no sign of any children on the grounds. But what information there is about Ad Astra makes it sound like a fairly typical, if high-end, Montessori preschool. The proposed schedule includes “thematic, STEM-based activities and projects” as well as outdoor play and nap time. A sample snack calendar features carrots and hummus. While Birchall’s and Balajadia’s names appear in the application, it isn’t clear that they’ll have substantive roles at the school once it’s operational. Musk, Birchall and Balajadia didn’t respond to emailed questions. A phone call and email to the school went unanswered. Access to high quality, affordable childcare is a huge issue for working parents across the country, and tends to be an especially vexing problem in rural areas like Bastrop. Many families live in “childcare deserts” where there is either not a facility or there isn’t an available slot. Opening Ad Astra gives Musk a chance to showcase his vision for education, and his support for the hands-on learning and problem solving that are a hallmark of his industrial companies. His public comments about learning frequently overlap with cultural concerns popular among conservatives and the Make America Great Again crowd, often focusing on what he sees as young minds being indoctrinated by teachers spewing left-wing propaganda. He has railed against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and in August posted that “a lot of schools are teaching white boys to hate themselves.” Musk’s educational interests dovetail with his new role as Trump’s “first buddy.” The billionaire has pitched a role for himself that he — and now the incoming Trump administration — call “DOGE,” or the Department of Government Efficiency. Though it’s not an actual department, DOGE now posts on X, the social media platform that Musk owns. “The Department of Education spent over $1 billion promoting DEI in America’s schools,” the account posted Dec. 12. Back in Texas, Bastrop is quickly becoming a key Musk point of interest. The Boring Co., his tunneling venture, is based in an unincorporated area there. Across the road, SpaceX produces Starlink satellites at a 500,000-square-foot (46,000-square-meter) facility. Nearby, X is constructing a building for trust and safety workers. Musk employees, as well as the general public, can grab snacks at the Boring Bodega, a convenience store housed within Musk’s Hyperloop Plaza, which also contains a bar, candy shop and hair salon. Ad Astra is just a five-minute drive away. It seems to have been designed with the children of Musk’s employees — if not Musk’s own offspring — in mind. Musk has fathered at least 12 children, six of them in the last five years. “Ad Astra’s mission is to foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in the next generation of problem solvers and builders,” reads the school’s website. A job posting on the website of the Montessori Institute of North Texas says “While their parents support the breakthroughs that expand the realm of human possibility, their children will grow into the next generation of innovators in a way that only authentic Montessori can provide.” The school has hired an executive director, according to documents Bloomberg obtained from Texas Health and Human Services. Ad Astra is located on 40 acres of land, according to the documents, which said a 4,000-square-foot house would be remodeled for the preschool. It isn’t uncommon for entrepreneurs to take an interest in education, according to Bill Gormley, a professor emeritus at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University who studies early childhood education. Charles Butt, the chairman of the Texas-based H-E-B grocery chain, has made public education a focus of his philanthropy. Along with other business and community leaders, Butt founded “Raise Your Hand Texas,” which advocates on school funding, teacher workforce and retention issues and fully funding pre-kindergarten. “Musk is not the only entrepreneur to recognize the value of preschool for Texas workers,” Gormley said. “A lot of politicians and business people get enthusiastic about education in general — and preschool in particular — because they salivate at the prospect of a better workforce.” Musk spent much of October actively campaigning for Trump’s presidential effort, becoming the most prolific donor of the election cycle. He poured at least $274 million into political groups in 2024, including $238 million to America PAC, the political action committee he founded. While the vast majority of money raised by America PAC came from Musk himself, it also had support from other donors. Betsy DeVos, who served as education secretary in Trump’s first term, donated $250,000, federal filings show. The Department of Education is already in the new administration’s cross hairs. Trump campaigned on the idea of disbanding the department and dismantling diversity initiatives, and he has also taken aim at transgender rights. “Rather than indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material, which is what we’re doing now, our schools must be totally refocused to prepare our children to succeed in the world of work,” Trump wrote in Agenda 47, his campaign platform. Musk has three children with the musician Grimes and three with Shivon Zilis, who in the past was actively involved at Neuralink, his brain machine interface company. All are under the age of five. Musk took X, his son with Grimes, with him on a recent trip to Capitol Hill. After his visit, he shared a graphic that showed the growth of administrators in America’s public schools since 2000. Musk is a fan of hands-on education. During a Tesla earnings call in 2018, he talked about the need for more electricians as the electric-car maker scaled up the energy side of its business. On the Joe Rogan podcast in 2020, Musk said that “too many smart people go into finance and law.” “I have a lot of respect for people who work with their hands and we need electricians and plumbers and carpenters,” Musk said while campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania in October. “That’s a lot more important than having incremental political science majors.” Ad Astra’s website says the cost of tuition will be initially subsidized, but in future years “tuition will be in line with local private schools that include an extended day program.” “I do think we need significant reform in education,” Musk said at a separate Trump campaign event. “The priority should be to teach kids skills that they will find useful later in life, and to leave any sort of social propaganda out of the classroom.” ©2024 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
An online debate over foreign workers in tech shows tensions in Trump’s political coalitionInside the Gaetz ethics report, a trove of new details alleging payments for sex and drug useInside the Gaetz ethics report, a trove of new details alleging payments for sex and drug use
Harris has ‘no knowledge’ anyone tried to get RTE to take down viral clipIconic sports broadcaster Greg Gumbel has died. CBS shared a statement on behalf of Gumbel’s family confirming that the longtime CBS host died at 78. Gumbel “passed away peacefully surrounded by much love after a courageous battle with cancer,” the statement said. A statement from the family of Greg Gumbel pic.twitter.com/oAkSrW8EtJ — CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) December 27, 2024 Gumbel was best known to sports fans as the CBS studio host for March Madness coverage and had hosted the annual Selection Sunday show since 1998. He was absent for last year’s tournament , the first he had missed since joining CBS, due to what was called a family health issue. He garnered many fans in that role, both because of his skills and his no-nonsense style . Beyond his March Madness coverage, Gumbel also did play-by-play for NFL games on CBS for over two decades across two stints with the network. He also spent two years as the host of the network’s “The NFL Today” studio show. Prior to that, he also did extensive play-by-play work for Major League Baseball games on both CBS and NBC and anchored coverage of various major events, including college football, the College World Series, and the Olympics. This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.
Mailbag: Why the Hotline is tough on Washington, Big Ten TV matters, options for the Pac-12, the SEC and the CFP and more
NEW YORK , Dec. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of XBiotech Inc. ("XBiotech" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: XBIT ). Such investors are advised to contact Danielle Peyton at [email protected] or 646-581-9980, ext. 7980. The investigation concerns Micron and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here for information about joining the class action] On December 23, 2024 , XBiotech announced that it was pausing a phase 2 rheumatoid arthritis program after the candidate, Natrunix, failed to meet its primary endpoint. Specifically, the Company noted that "substantial irregularities that make unequivocal interpretation of the findings difficult." On this news, XBiotech's stock price fell sharply during intraday trading on December 23, 2024 . Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York , Chicago , Los Angeles , London , Paris , and Tel Aviv , is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz , known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud , breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com . Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. CONTACT: Danielle Peyton Pomerantz LLP [email protected] 646-581-9980 ext. 7980 SOURCE Pomerantz LLP
Veea ( NASDAQ: VEEA ) filed to sell 30.06M shares of common stock for holders. This prospectus is not an offer to sell. Filing More on Veea Inc. Financial information for Veea Inc.
Nirmala Sitharaman (Agencies photo) NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday advised industry to realign its supply chain factoring in political and strategic considerations to ensure that there was no concentration of risks, a statement that appeared to be aimed at China. "When you talk of supply chains, when you want to restore supply chains to frictionless supply chains, let's not forget, it's not just economics, it's more than that. When we want to de-risk ourselves, when we want to remove certain concentrations, plus one, plus two, what are these theories? They didn't emerge out of inefficiency of economics. They emerged out of economic principles being influenced by political principles. Therefore, we have to build into our own decision making not just economic sense, but also political and strategic sense. "Supply chains will have to be restored, but you would reset it, you would realign it, you will make sure that they are spread so much that no political or geo-political or strategic risks will threaten our well-being," FM said at a CII event. The statement came amid repeated demands from industry to lift restrictions on Chinese investment and visas that came following the outbreak of Covid and the subsequent tension in Ladakh. In fact, the Economic Survey too had made a case for lifting investment curbs. While the border stand-off has eased, business ties have not normalised, and industry players are clamouring for a softer stance despite government's clear emphasis on building a resilient supply chain with other countries and locating production facilities in India through schemes such as production linked incentives. Sitharaman also used the platform to underline the need to check unnecessary expenditure and borrowings. "Responsible economies can't be run with borrowings so large that the next generation and the generation after that have to repay. All this will have to be passed through as taxation... Debt is required but in this coming decade our priority should be to manage the finances and borrow for building assets, borrow for managing better, but it cannot be such borrowings that you leave the next generation worried about how to service it." Besides, she flagged global conflict and inflation as major global concerns. "Inflation is so contagious that nowhere is any country's effort today is completely successful, because beyond its powers are inflation, forces which come in," she said amid conflicts in West Asia and Ukraine, which have disrupted supply chains and stoked inflation in several parts of the world. The comments come at a time when central banks in several countries have reduced key policy rates, while RBI has so far maintained a status quo in the wake of higher inflation. "The attempt of both industry & govts everywhere should be to restore global calm and normalcy. There can nowhere be enough justifiable reason for skirmishes or war. The global priority for this decade should be to restore normalcy. They are the main cause for disruptions in supply chain, inflation and other global challenges." Ready to Master Stock Valuation? ET’s Workshop is just around the corner!Sasha Farber reveals he’s saved sweet memento from time on DWTS with Jenn
● To commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Nov. 25, Stouffville raised a “Stop Violence, End the Silence” flag up the Town’s community flagpole. ● The Civic Square Clock Tower was also lit in purple, helping to mark the start of this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign. ● The recognition was driven by advocacy from members of the Markham-Unionville and Aurora-Newmarket CFUW Clubs, formally known as the Canadian Federation of University Women. ● CFUW members joined Mayor Iain Lovatt, Town Staff, Stouffville Fire and Emergency Services, and York Regional Police (YRP) for the flag-raising ceremony. ● Fifty-nine femicides have been reported in Ontario over the past year, and YRP calls related to domestic violence continue to rise. ● Bullet Point News recently spoke with Rhonda Seidman-Carlson and Barbara Bernabe, Co-Chairs of the Issues and Advocacy Committee for CFUW Markham-Unionville. The color purple has been chosen to show support for action on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. CFUW members attending the flag raising wore purple scarves, gloves, and other clothing to raise awareness of gender-based violence in Canada. “Whether we call it domestic violence, intimate partner violence, or gender-based violence, the end result is always the same,” Bernabe stated during the ceremony. “Current statistics show that domestic violence is on the rise in our society and needs to be addressed now.” According to Statistics Canada, women and girls account for 68% of family violence victims and 78% of intimate partner violence victims. Data from 2023 showed a 3% increase in police-reported family violence compared to 2022, with more than 139,000 total individuals affected. Intimate partner violence also rose by 1% year over year, resulting in 123,319 confirmed victims aged 12 and older. “In York Region alone, the police have reported an increase in dispatched calls for domestic related violence from 8,684 in 2019 to 10,083 in 2023,” Bernabe added. Based on data from the Ontario Association of Interval and Transitional Houses (OAITH), 59 femicides occurred in Ontario between Nov. 26, 2023, and Oct. 31, 2024. OAITH defines femicide as the “gender-based killing of a woman, child, trans woman, Two-Spirit person, or gender-nonconforming individual where a male has been charged in relation to the death.” Since 1990, Ontario has recorded more than 1,080 femicides. CFUW, founded in 1919, has more than 6,600 members and 94 local clubs across every Canadian province. Its vision is to empower women and girls through education to create transformative change throughout the world. The organization’s mission focuses on achieving educational and economic equality and promoting social justice through ongoing learning and advocacy. The Markham-Unionville CFUW Club, now in its 40th year, has 157 members. Barbara Bernabe and Rhonda Seidman-Carlson serve as co-chairs of the Club’s Issues and Advocacy Committee, which focuses on nonpartisan activism and advocating for women’s and children’s issues at all levels of government. “The Issues and Advocacy Committee of every chapter is really the core of what CFUW does,” Seidman-Carlson told Bullet Point News. She emphasized that their efforts to recognize the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women are vital for raising awareness and sparking dialogue about an ongoing and horrific problem. “We want to open up avenues for people to have safe conversations around gender-based violence,” Seidman-Carlson said. “We want victims to know they are not alone, and that dialogue can have a ripple effect leading to larger impacts.” “This has been a very silent problem. The people who are going through it are ashamed; they don’t want to talk about it,” Bernabe added. “So, I think the most important thing is to make more people aware that it’s out there, and that they need to be vigilant and look for signs. If you see something, say something, and let us share the responsibility of keeping everyone safe.” CFUW actively participates in the international 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign. Additional commemorative days include International Women Human Rights Defenders Day on Nov. 29 and the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on Dec. 6, which marks the anniversary of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre of 14 women. The campaign provides tools and encourages individual actions to address violence against women, such as writing to elected officials to raise awareness, supporting victim services through donations and volunteering, and calling out gendered violence. “We, as well as other Clubs, also continue to push for government declarations stating that violence against women is an epidemic, as statistics clearly show it fits that definition,” Seidman-Carlson said. “Sadly, not every community is willing to do so.” In her view, declaring intimate partner and gender-based violence an epidemic would trigger a public health-based response: “There would be an ability to access further funding and resources because of it, and I don’t think that everybody—at the council or provincial level—understands that.” While frustration boiled over in the Ontario Legislature during Monday’s Question Period debate over delays in making a Provincial declaration, York Region acknowledged the epidemic in September 2023. Regional Council committed to providing additional supports and published a list of available resources for victims in York Region. They also vowed to continue advocacy for further funding from other levels of government. Stouffville has yet to make the declaration. However, Mayor Iain Lovatt told Bullet Point News he would support a motion declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic in 2025. Councillor Sue Sherban also confirmed her intention to put forward the resolution. “Eliminating violence against women is not something that can be shouldered by any single individual or group. It’s a collective effort that requires involvement from all of us,” Lovatt said before raising the flag on Monday. “From individuals to communities, institutions, and government organizations, we must all come together to create a world where women are free from harm.”LKQ Corp. stock falls Friday, underperforms market