Knight stops 20 shots, Florida rolls past Carolina 6-0 for 2nd win over 'Canes in as many days
Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Glaukos Co. ( NYSE:GKOS – Free Report ) by 1.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,738 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Glaukos were worth $4,917,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GKOS. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Glaukos during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Glaukos by 68.8% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $141,000 after buying an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Glaukos by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,445 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $188,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Glaukos during the 2nd quarter valued at $187,000. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Glaukos during the 3rd quarter valued at $210,000. Institutional investors own 99.04% of the company’s stock. Glaukos Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:GKOS opened at $144.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -47.86 and a beta of 1.02. Glaukos Co. has a 12 month low of $59.22 and a 12 month high of $146.09. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $132.05 and its 200 day moving average is $123.31. The company has a current ratio of 5.54, a quick ratio of 4.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Glaukos from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Glaukos from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Piper Sandler set a $140.00 price target on shares of Glaukos in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Glaukos from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Glaukos from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.55. Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Glaukos Insiders Place Their Bets In other Glaukos news, Director Gilbert H. Kliman sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.67, for a total value of $392,010.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 32,336 shares in the company, valued at $4,225,345.12. This represents a 8.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink . Also, COO Joseph E. Gilliam sold 2,275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.97, for a total transaction of $316,156.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 102,169 shares in the company, valued at $14,198,425.93. This represents a 2.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock. About Glaukos ( Free Report ) Glaukos Corporation, an ophthalmic pharmaceutical and medical technology company, focuses on the development of novel therapies for the treatment of glaucoma, corneal disorders, and retinal diseases. It offers iStent and iStent inject W micro-bypass stents that enhance aqueous humor outflow inserted in cataract surgery to treat mild-to-moderate open-angle glaucoma. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GKOS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Glaukos Co. ( NYSE:GKOS – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for Glaukos Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Glaukos and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. ( NASDAQ:VIRT – Free Report ) by 42.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 860 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $87,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Virtu Financial by 76.5% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 73,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,510,000 after buying an additional 31,884 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 3.1% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 40,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $841,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA lifted its position in Virtu Financial by 25.3% during the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 29,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $619,000 after purchasing an additional 5,945 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Virtu Financial by 5.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 48,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 2,314 shares during the period. Finally, Interval Partners LP purchased a new stake in Virtu Financial in the first quarter valued at $5,050,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of research firms have weighed in on VIRT. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Virtu Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Virtu Financial from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Virtu Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Virtu Financial from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Virtu Financial in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.50. Virtu Financial Price Performance Virtu Financial stock opened at $36.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.38. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.02 and a 1 year high of $38.09. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $32.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.14. Virtu Financial ( NASDAQ:VIRT – Get Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.03. Virtu Financial had a return on equity of 23.22% and a net margin of 7.29%. The business had revenue of $388.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $379.18 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Virtu Financial Announces Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Virtu Financial’s payout ratio is 48.24%. Virtu Financial Profile ( Free Report ) Virtu Financial, Inc operates as a financial services company in the United States, Asia Pacific, Canada, EMEA, Ireland, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Market Making and Execution Services. Its product includes offerings in execution, liquidity sourcing, analytics and broker-neutral, capital markets, and multi-dealer platforms in workflow technology. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VIRT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Virtu Financial, Inc. ( NASDAQ:VIRT – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for Virtu Financial Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Virtu Financial and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
Is it a drone? Or a plane? Here’s how to spot the difference as officials investigate mysterious sightingsCampaigners called for voters to be given a say over who replaces Senedd politicians booted out of office for bad behaviour under a proposed system of recall. Jessica Blair, director of the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) Cymru, supported calls for a recall system to allow voters to remove misbehaving politicians between elections. But Ms Blair said voters should have a say over the replacement, warning an element of personal accountability will be lost with the Senedd’s new “closed-list” electoral system. From 2026, people will vote for parties rather than individuals as Wales ditches first past the post in favour of a full form of proportional representation, with no by-elections being held. Ms Blair said: “This idea of replacing someone with the next person on the list, it could be ... from the voters’ perspective ... seen as a party being rewarded for bad behaviour.” Giving evidence to the Senedd’s standards committee, she added: “This shouldn’t be necessarily about parties keeping control, it should be about voters having their say.” Labour’s Mick Antoniw pointed out it is the person, not the party, that has transgressed. But Ms Blair said: “That could also reflect badly on the party or the way a party’s handled it, so I don't think it's necessarily as clear cut, as this is one person’s actions.” She told the committee that three of the four UK Parliament by-elections triggered by recall petitions since 2019 were won by a different party. She said: “Parties can be punished for an individual’s bad behaviour or it could be a reflection of changing political support post election. There doesn’t seem to be a real case for retaining that party’s seat, especially three years after an election, for example.” The standards committee will make recommendations on how a recall mechanism should work in Wales as part of its inquiry on Senedd members’ accountability. Hannah Blythyn, who chairs the committee, asked witnesses whether the circumstances for recalling a Senedd member should be the same as Westminster. Ms Blair suggested the triggers – a custodial sentence of less than 12 months, a suspension of at least ten sitting days, or an expenses offence conviction – make a good starting point.Pakistan's Internet Ban: Silencing Voices, Stifling Growth, And Blocking Opportunities
An Israeli airstrike flattened a multistory building in central Gaza, killing at least 25 people and wounding dozens more, according to Palestinian medical officials, after strikes Thursday across the Gaza Strip killed at least 28 others. The latest deadly strike hit the urban Nuseirat refugee camp just hours after U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters in Jerusalem that the recent ceasefire in Lebanon has helped clear the way for a potential deal to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the deadly strike in Nuseirat. Israel says it is trying to eliminate Hamas, which led the attack on southern Israel in October 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza . The Israeli military says Hamas militants hide among Gaza’s civilian population. The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine in some of the hardest-hit parts of the territory. Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and around 250 others were taken hostage. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Here's the latest: DAMASCUS, Syria — Mohammad Salim Alkhateb, an official with the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces — an internationally backed group of the opposition in exile — said his group wants to see a transitional government formed via a United Nations-backed process in the wake of Bashar Assad ouster. It is not yet clear if Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main rebel group now in control of Syria, will pursue such a process. The insurgents have said an interim government headed by Mohammad al-Bashir, who is also the head of the “salvation government” of HTS in its former stronghold in northern Syria, will oversee the country until March but have not made clear how the transition to a new, fully empowered government would take place. “The transitional governing body should be formed in Geneva to have international legitimacy,” said Alkhateb, who is now in Damascus. “The transitional governing body, whatever its form, whether it is the ‘salvation government’ or any other, what matters is that it has international recognition.” Alkhateb said that the unexpectedly rapid fall of Damascus and departure of Assad after opposition forces launched their offensive had created confusion and a governance vacuum. A day before the insurgents pushed into Damascus, diplomats from countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Iran and Russia met in Qatar to discuss the situation in Syria. Alkhateb said that they had discussed a scenario in which the rebels would halt their advance, keeping the territory they had captured so far in the north — including Syria’s largest city, Aleppo — and the opposition and Assad’s government would go to Geneva for talks on a political settlement to the conflict. However, he noted, “there were no Syrians in that meeting.” Assad fled to Russia before the rebel forces arrived in Damascus but has not officially announced his resignation, which is “why we are living in a vacuum rather than a political transition,” Alkhateb said. He added that creating a professional army should be a priority of the transitional government. “We do not want a civilian who was trained during the revolution to carry military weapons to become the military,” he said. Israel bombed hundreds of military sites in Syria this week in a wave of airstrikes that destroyed “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles” in the country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the wave of airstrikes in neighboring Syria was necessary to keep the weapons from being used against Israel following the Syrian government’s stunning collapse . WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Peirre says Austin Tice, an American journalist missing in Syria for 12 years, “is a top priority for this president.” During a briefing with reporters on Thursday, Jean-Pierre said of Tice, “There is no indication that he is not alive. There’s also no indication about his location or condition.” “What our goal is, is to bring him home. And so, we hope certainly that he is alive and, as we have stated many times before, we are talking through this with the Turks and we want to do everything we can to bring him home,” she said. BEIRUT — Amnesty International said Thursday that four Israeli airstrikes between September and October that killed at least 49 civilians in Lebanon “must be investigated as war crimes.” The rights organization said in a new report that the four strikes targeted homes in the Bekaa Valley, northern and eastern Lebanon, and municipal offices in the south. “These four attacks are emblematic of Israel’s shocking disregard for civilian lives in Lebanon and their willingness to flout international law,” said Amnesty International’s Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns. The rights group said this report was part of its ongoing investigation into violations of the laws of war in Lebanon. Amnesty International investigated four Israeli airstrikes, including one on Sept. 29 in al-Ain that killed all nine members of the same family. On Oct. 21, a strike in Baalbek city in eastern Lebanon killed six members of the same family. Another on Oct. 14 in the village of Aitou in northern Lebanon killed 23 displaced people, including a 5-month-old baby. A fragment from the attack site in Aitou was identified by an Amnesty weapons expert as likely part of a Mk-80 series aerial bomb, weighing at least 500 pounds. These munitions are primarily supplied to Israel by the United States, Amnesty said. The fourth strike Amnesty investigated was the strike that hit the municipal headquarters in Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, on Oct. 16, killing 11 civilians including the mayor. “The air strike took place without warning, just as the municipality’s crisis unit was meeting to coordinate deliveries of aid, including food, water and medicine, to residents and internally displaced people who had fled bombardment in other parts of southern Lebanon,” Amnesty said. The rights group said it interviewed survivors and witnesses, examined evidence, and found no military targets near the sites of the four strikes. The Israeli military gave no warnings and did not respond to Amnesty’s inquiries, the group said. DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike hit the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least 25 Palestinians and wounding dozens more, Palestinian medics said, just hours after President Joe Biden’s national security adviser raised hopes about a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza. Photos from the scene of the blast that circulated on social media showed a completely collapsed building with people walking through its mangled and charred remains, smoke rising from piles of belongings strewn over the rubble. Officials at two hospitals in the Gaza Strip, al-Awda Hospital in the north and al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, reported they received a combined total of 25 bodies from an Israeli strike on a multistory residential building in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp. Palestinian medics also reported that over 40 people, most of them children, were receiving treatment at the two hospitals. The al-Aqsa Hospital said that the Israeli attack also damaged several nearby houses in Nuseirat. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the deadly strike. Israel is trying to eliminate Hamas, which led the attack on southern Israel in October 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza . The Israeli military says Hamas militants hide among Gaza’s civilian population. Israel’s war against Hamas has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine. Israel says it allows enough aid to enter and blames U.N. agencies for not distributing it. The U.N. says Israeli restrictions, and the breakdown of law and order after Israel repeatedly targeted the Hamas-run police force, make it extremely difficult to operate in the territory. UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. food agency is trying to deal with massive needs in Syria not only from escalating war-related food insecurity and an upsurge in displaced people fleeing Lebanon but also the dramatically new environment following the ouster of Bashar Assad, a senior U.N. official says. “It’s a triple crisis and the needs are going to be massive,” said Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program, in an interview with The Associated Press late Wednesday. The WFP estimated that 3 million people in Syria were “acutely food insecure” and very hungry. However, that estimate was made before the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon pushed many Syrian refugees back to their home country, plus the instability caused by the overthrow of Assad. Due to funding cuts, the WFP had been targeting only 2 million of those people, he said. Because WFP has been working in Syria during the 13-year civil war, he said, it has pre-positioned food in the country. It has 500 staff in seven offices nationwide and has operated across conflict lines, across borders, and with all different parties, he said. Skau said Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main rebel group now in control of Syria, has promised to provide security for WFP warehouses. Humanitarian aid supplies had been looted at U.N. warehouses in the disorder after Assad fell. “We’re not really up and running in Damascus because of the continued kind of uncertainty there,” he said. WFP initially thought of relocating non-essential staff but the situation in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, has been “quite calm and orderly," he said. In the short term, Skau said, “what we’re seeing is that markets are disrupted, the value of the currency dropped dramatically, food prices are going up, transport lines don’t work,” and it’s unclear who will stamp required papers for imports and exports. This means that a bigger humanitarian response is needed initially, he said, but in the next phase, the U,N. will be looking at contributing to Syria’s recovery, and ultimately the country will need reconstruction. Skau said he expects a new funding appeal for Syria and urged donors to be generous. JERUSALEM — President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters in Jerusalem on Thursday that Israel’s ceasefire in Lebanon has helped clear the way for another deal to end the war in Gaza. He plans to travel next to Qatar and Egypt — key mediators in the ceasefire talks — as the Biden administration makes a final push on negotiations before Donald Trump is inaugurated. Sullivan said “Hamas’ posture at the negotiating table did adapt” after Israel decimated the leadership of its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon and reached a ceasefire there. “We believe it puts us in a position to close this negotiation,” he said. Sullivan dismissed speculation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was waiting for Trump to take office to finalize a deal. He the U.S. believes there are three American hostages still alive in Gaza, but it’s hard to know for sure. He also said “the balance of power in the Middle East has changed significantly” since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, especially with the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, a key ally of Hezbollah and Iran. “We are now faced with a dramatically reshaped Middle East in which Israel is stronger, Iran is weaker, its proxies decimated, and a ceasefire that is new and will be lasting in Lebanon that ensures Israel’s security over the long term,” he said. KHIAM, Lebanon — An Israeli strike killed at least one person Thursday in the Lebanese border town of Khiam, the Health Ministry said, less than a day after Israeli troops handed the hilltop village back to the Lebanese army in coordination with U.N. peacekeepers, Khiam is the first Lebanese town Israel has pull out of since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah militants began two weeks ago, and marks an important test of the fragile truce . Lebanon's Health Ministry and state news agency did not provide details on who was killed, and did not report airstrikes elsewhere on Thursday. The Israeli military said the airstrike in Khiam targeted Hezbollah fighters. Lebanese troops deployed in the northern section of the town on Thursday morning and were coordinating with U.N. peacekeepers to finalize Israel’s withdrawal before fully entering into other neighborhoods. An Associated Press reporter who visited Khiam on Thursday observed widespread destruction, with most houses reduced to rubble. Entire neighborhoods were flattened, with collapsed walls and debris scattered across the streets. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, sharply criticized Israel for striking the town less than 24 hours after the Lebanese army returned, saying it was “a violation of the pledges made by the parties that sponsored the ceasefire agreement, who must act to curb Israeli aggression.” The truce was brokered by the U.S. and France. Israel has previously said the ceasefire deal allows it to use military force against perceived violations. Near-daily attacks by Israel during the ceasefire, mostly in southern Lebanon, have killed at least 29 people and wounded 27 others. Khiam, which sits on a ridge less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the border with Israel, saw some of the most intense fighting during the war. The Lebanese army was clearing debris and reopening roads in the northern section of the town. Civilian access to other areas remained challenging as the army clears roads and works alongside the U.N. peacekeepers to ensure the area is free of unexploded ordnance. AQABA, Jordan -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging the many players in Syria to avoid taking any steps that could lead to further violence. Blinken spoke to reporters in Jordan on Thursday shortly after meeting King Abdullah II as he opened a trip in the region to discuss Syria's future after former President Bashar Assad's ouster. Blinken will next visit Turkey, a NATO ally and a main backer of Syrian rebel groups. Blinken called this “a time of both real promise but also peril for Syria and for its neighbors.” He said he was focused on coordinating efforts in the region “to support the Syrian people as they transition away from Assad’s brutal dictatorship” and establish a government that isn’t dominated by one religion or ethnic group or outside power. Blinken was asked about Israel’s incursion into a buffer zone that had been demilitarized for the past half century. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the move is temporary and defensive, but also indicated Israel will remain in the area for a long time. Blinken declined to say whether the U.S. supports the move, but said the U.S. would be speaking to Israel and other partners in the region. “I think, across the board, when it comes to any actors who have real interests in Syria, it’s also really important at this time that, we all try to make sure that we’re not sparking any additional conflicts,” he said. ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, arrived in Damascus on Thursday, according to Turkish media reports. Kalin was seen arriving at the Umayyad Mosque to pray, surrounded by a large crowd, according to video shown on Turkish television. The visit is highly symbolic. Turkish officials, who supported the opposition against Syria’s government, had predicted at the start of the civil war in 2011 that President Bashar Assad’s government would fall, allowing them to pray at the Umayyad Mosque. JERUSALEM — Paraguay reopened its embassy in Jerusalem Thursday, becoming one of a small handful of nations to recognize the city as Israel’s capital and marking a diplomatic victory for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel’s international isolation has increased as the war in Gaza drags on, and Paraguay was the first country to move its embassy to Jerusalem since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack that kickstarted the war. The United States, Honduras, Guatemala, Kosovo, and Papua New Guinea are among the few countries with Jerusalem embassies. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in 1967 but it wasn’t recognized by the international community, and most countries run their embassies out of Tel Aviv. Spirits were high at the ceremony marking the embassy’s inauguration Thursday, with Netanyahu and Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar lavishing praise on Paraguayan President Santiago Pena. “My good friend Santiago,” said Netanyahu, addressing Pena. “We’re a small nation. You’re a small nation. We suffered horrible things but we overcame the odds of history...we can win and we are winning.” Paraguay had an embassy in Jerusalem in 2018, under Former President Horacio Cartes. That embassy was moved back to Tel Aviv by Cartes’ successor, Mario Abdo Benitez, prompting Israel to close its embassy in Asuncion. Saar said Israel and Paraguay shared a “friendship based not only on interests but also values and principles.” He and the Paraguayan foreign minister, Rubén Ramírez Lezcano, signed a series of bilateral agreements and Saar said he would soon visit Asunción with a delegation from the Israeli private sector. “Israel is going to win and the countries we are standing next to Israel, we are going to win," Pena said. AQABA, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is renewing calls for Syria’s new leadership to respect women and minority rights, prevent extremists from gaining new footholds in the country and keeping suspected chemical weapons stocks secure as he makes his first visit to the Mideast since the weekend ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad . Making his 12th trip to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war erupted lasted year but amid fresh concerns about security following the upheaval in Syria, Blinken emphasized Thursday to Jordan’s King Abdullah II U.S. “support for an inclusive transition that can lead to an accountable and representative Syrian government chosen by the Syrian people,” the State Department said. Blinken also repeated the importance the outgoing Biden administration puts on respect for human rights and international law, the protection of civilians and stopping terrorist groups from reconstituting. Blinken met with the monarch and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Aqaba before traveling to Turkey for talks with Turkish officials on the situation in Syria and the urgency of securing a long-elusive deal to release hostages and end the fighting in Gaza that has devastated the Palestinian territory since October 2023. Abdullah told Blinken that “the first step to reach comprehensive regional calm is to end the Israeli war on Gaza." GENEVA — The U.N. envoy for Syria is calling on authorities to save evidence from detention centers that were a hub of “unimaginable barbarity” that Syrians have faced for many years and cooperate with international investigators looking into such crimes. Geir Pederson referred to new images from the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of the capital, Damascus, after President Bashar Assad fled Syria as armed groups stormed in to overthrow his government over the weekend. “The images from Saydnaya and other detention facilities starkly underscore the unimaginable barbarity Syrians have endured and reported for years,” Pedersen said in a statement. Documentation and testimonies “only scratch the surface of the carceral system’s horrors,” he added. Pedersen urged authorities to cooperate with U.N. bodies like an independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which was created in 2011, and an independent group known as the IIIM that was set up five years later to also compile evidence of crimes. ROME — Leaders of the Group of 7 industrialized nations offered their full support for an inclusive political transition in Syria and invited all parties to preserve the country’s territorial integrity. In a message released by Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office, the leaders said they were ready to support a transition that “leads to a credible government, inclusive and not sectarian, that guarantees respect for the state of law, universal human rights, including rights for women, (and) the protection of all Syrians, including religious and ethnic minorities.” The leaders also underlined the importance that ousted President Bashar Assad’s government is held responsible for crimes, citing “decades of atrocities.” They said they would also cooperate with groups working to prohibit chemical weapons “to secure, declare and destroy” remaining chemical arms in Syria. Italy currently holds the rotating presidency of the G-7, which also includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United States. JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it struck Hamas militants in two locations in the southern Gaza Strip who planned to hijack aid convoys. Palestinian Health officials had earlier said that the two strikes killed 15 men who were part of local committees established to secure aid deliveries. The committees have been organized in cooperation with the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza. It was not possible to independently confirm either account of the strikes, which occurred overnight into Thursday. Israel has long accused Hamas of hijacking humanitarian aid deliveries, while U.N. officials have said there is no systemic diversion of aid . U.N. agencies and aid groups say deliveries are held up by Israeli restrictions on the entry of aid and movement within Gaza, as well as the breakdown of law and order more than 14 months into the war between Israel and Hamas. Israel has repeatedly targeted the Hamas-run police force, which maintained internal security before the war. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, the main aid provider in Gaza, said a U.N. convoy of 70 trucks carrying humanitarian aid in southern Gaza “was involved in a serious incident,” resulting in just one of the trucks reaching its destination. It did not provide further details on the incident but said the same route had been used successfully two days earlier. Israel’s offensive, launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, leaving the territory heavily reliant on international food aid. DAMASCUS, Syria — An American who turned up in Syria on Thursday says he was detained after crossing into the country by foot on a Christian pilgrimage seven months ago. Travis Timmerman appears to have been among thousands of people released from the country’s notorious prisons after rebels reached Damascus over the weekend, overthrowing President Bashar Assad and ending his family’s 54-year rule. As video emerged online of Timmerman on Thursday, he was initially mistaken by some for Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in Syria 12 years ago. In the video, Timmerman could be seen lying on a mattress under a blanket in what appeared to be a private house. A group of men in the video said he was being treated well and would be safely returned home. The Biden administration is working to bring Timmerman home, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Aqaba, Jordan, without offering details, citing privacy. Timmerman later gave an interview with the Al-Arabiya TV network, saying he had illegally crossed into Syria on foot from the eastern Lebanese town of Zahle seven months ago, before being detained. He said he was treated well in detention but could hear other men being tortured. AQABA, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Jordan on his 12th visit to the Mideast since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year and his first since the weekend ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad that has sparked new fears of instability in a region wracked by three conflicts despite a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon. Blinken was meeting in Aqaba with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Thursday before traveling to Turkey for talks with Turkish officials on Friday. The meetings will focus largely on Syria but also touch on long-elusive hopes for a deal to end the fighting in Gaza that has devastated the Palestinian territory since October 2023. Blinken is the latest senior U.S. official to visit the Middle East in the five days since Assad was deposed as the Biden administration navigates more volatility in the region in its last few weeks in office and as President-elect Donald Trump has said the U.S. should stay out of the Syrian conflict. Other include national security adviser Jake Sullivan and a top military commander who traveled there as the U.S. and Israel have launched airstrikes to prevent the Islamic State militant group from reconstituting and prevent materiel and suspected chemical weapons stocks from falling into militant hands. Blinken “will discuss the need for the transition process and new government in Syria to respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance, prevent Syria from being used as a base of terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbors, and ensure that chemical weapons stockpiles are secured and safely destroyed,” the State Department said. The U.S. would be willing to recognize and fully support a new Syrian government that met those criteria. U.S. officials say they are not actively reviewing the foreign terrorist organization designation of the main Syrian rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, which was once an al-Qaida affiliate, but stressed they are not barred from speaking to its members. JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israeli forces will remain in a Syrian buffer zone until a new force on the other side of the border can guarantee security. After the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Israeli forces pushed into a buffer zone that had been established after the 1973 Mideast war. The military says it has seized additional strategic points nearby. Israeli officials have said the move is temporary, but Netanyahu’s conditions could take months or even years to fulfill as Syria charts its post-Assad future, raising the prospect of an open-ended Israeli presence in the country. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Thursday that Assad’s overthrow by jihadi rebels created a vacuum on the border. “Israel will not permit jihadi groups to fill that vacuum and threaten Israeli communities on the Golan Heights with October 7th style attacks,” it said, referring to Hamas’ 2023 attack out of Gaza, which ignited the war there. “That is why Israeli forces entered the buffer zone and took control of strategic sites near Israel’s border.” The statement added that “this deployment is temporary until a force that is committed to the 1974 agreement can be established and security on our border can be guaranteed.” The buffer zone is adjacent to the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed. The international community, except for the United States, views the Golan as occupied Syrian territory. JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said Thursday that the attacker who fatally shot a 12-year-old Israeli boy in the occupied West Bank overnight turned himself in to authorities. The attacker opened fire on a bus near the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit, critically wounding the boy, who hospital authorities pronounced dead in the early morning. Three others were wounded in the attack, paramedics said. The shooting took place just outside Jerusalem in an area near major Israeli settlements. JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Indonesian government has evacuated 37 citizens from Syria following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government, officials said Thursday. The evacuees were taken by land from Damascus to Beirut, where they boarded three commercial flights to Jakarta, said Judha Nugraha, director of citizen protection at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The Indonesian Embassy in Damascus said all 1,162 Indonesian citizens in Syria were safe. Indonesian Ambassador to Syria Wajid Fauzi said the situation in Syria has gradually returned to normal. “I can say that 98% of people’s lives are back to normal, shops are open, public transportation has started running,” Fauzi said, adding that most Indonesian nationals living in Syria had chosen to stay. DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian medical officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 28 people in the Gaza Strip, including seven children and a woman. One of the strikes overnight and into Thursday flattened a house in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah, where the casualties were taken. An Associated Press reporter saw the bodies at the hospital’s morgue. Two other strikes killed 15 men who were part of local committees established to secure aid convoys . The committees were set up by displaced Palestinians in coordination with the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. The Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis received the bodies and an AP reporter counted them. The hospital said eight were killed in a strike near the southern border town of Rafah and seven others in a strike 30 minutes later near Khan Younis. The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine. Israel says it allows enough aid to enter and blames U.N. agencies for not distributing it. The U.N. says Israeli restrictions, and the breakdown of law and order after Israel repeatedly targeted the Hamas-run police force, make it extremely difficult to operate in the territory. UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved resolutions Wednesday demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and backing the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees that Israel has moved to ban . The votes in the 193-nation world body were 158-9 with 13 abstentions to demand a ceasefire now and 159-9 with 11 abstentions to support the agency known as UNRWA. The votes culminated two days of speeches overwhelmingly calling for an end to the 14-month war between Israel and the militant Hamas group . General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, though they reflect world opinion. There are no vetoes in the assembly. Israel and its close ally, the United States, were in a tiny minority speaking and voting against the resolutions.
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MILAN : Meta and Serie A sealed a deal to cooperate against illegal live streaming of soccer matches, they said on Friday, as Italy's top flight league steps up efforts to protect the value of its broadcast rights. Under the deal, Serie A will obtain access to some Meta tools for real-time monitoring, reporting and fast removal of any Serie A games illegally streamed on the U.S. giant's social media platforms Facebook and Instagram. "In particular, we are helping the league to develop a software which would make the reporting process easier and faster," said Luca Colombo, country director for Meta in Italy. TV rights make up the bulk of revenue for Serie A teams including champions Inter, AC Milan, Napoli and Juventus. Online search giants and social media platforms have often been blamed by right holders for facilitating access to illegal live-streaming services. Under five-year contracts to show games in its home market until 2029, Serie A has pocketed some 4.5 billion euros ($4.7 billion) from sports streaming platform DAZN and Comcast's pay-TV unit Sky. "The cooperation with Meta is a first step, and I hope that other platforms will join our efforts," said Serie A Chief Executive Luigi De Siervo. Italian authorities have intensified efforts to counter online piracy, which is costing billion of euros to broadcasters and sports leagues globally. Rome last year approved a law which enabled the country's communication watchdog (AGCOM) to swiftly suppress pirate streaming channels with a focus on live events, including sports. This month Italian police dismantled a video piracy network which had over 22 million users across Europe, with an alleged turnover of 3 billion euros a year. ($1 = 0.9521 euros)
Victor Wembanyama went to a park in New York City and played 1-on-1 with fans on Saturday. He even lost a couple of games. Not in basketball, though. Wemby was playing chess. Before the San Antonio Spurs left New York for a flight to Minnesota, Wembanyama put out the call on social media: “Who wants to meet me at the SW corner of Washington Square park to play chess? Im there,” Wembanyama wrote. It was 9:36 a.m. People began showing up almost immediately. Washington Square Park is a known spot for chess in New York — Bobby Fischer among others have famously played there, and it's been a spot used for multiple movie scenes featuring the game. Wembanyama was there for an hour in the rain, from about 10-11 a.m. He played four games, winning two and losing two before departing to catch the Spurs' flight. Wembanyama had been trying to get somewhere to play chess for the bulk of the team's time in New York — the Spurs played the Knicks on Christmas and won at Brooklyn on Friday night. The schedule never aligned, until Saturday morning. And even with bad weather, he bundled up to make it happen. He posed for photos with a couple of dozen people who showed up, braving a morning of cold rain to play chess with one of the NBA's biggest stars. “We need an NBA players only Chess tournament, proceeds go to the charity of choice of the winner,” he wrote on social media after his chess trip was over. Wembanyama is averaging 25.2 points and 10.1 rebounds this season, his second in the NBA after winning rookie of the year last season. AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
In the increasingly competitive automotive market, automakers like General Motors Co. and Rivian Automotive have realized pairing up is not only beneficial but necessary for cost reduction and quicker technological advancement. GM has long understood the benefits of partnerships. The Detroit automaker, for example, has a longstanding partnership with Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. More recently, GM and South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. said they signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate "to reduce costs and bring a wider range of vehicles and technologies to customers faster." General Motors Chair and CEO Mary Barra takes some questions after a fireside chat at the Garden Theater in Detroit on Dec. 11, 2024. The companies haven't provided further information on the partnership, but experts and analysts have cheered it on as a smart move. They expect more mash-ups — if not outright industry consolidation — as automakers face rising expenses, a choppy transition to electric vehicles and competition from innovative, low-cost Chinese manufacturers. "It's something that I talked about for many years about the need to partner up," said Martin French, partner and managing director at Berylls by AlixPartners, a global consulting firm. "If you look at the challenges that this industry is faced with and what are the key attributes for what will make you a winning OEM, it's going to be cost efficiency and time to market. And the most effective way of doing that is through partnerships." Last week, Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan Motor Corp. announced plans to work toward a merger that would form the world’s third-largest automaker. "This is a smart deal as the writing was on the wall for Nissan," said Dan Ives, a senior equity analyst at Wedbush Securities, in a note to The Detroit News. "They had to do a deal in a consolidating EV landscape." Hyundai and GM have been mum on specific details of their alignment while they work to finalize it. Still, the companies have said that they would explore the co-development of internal combustion engines and "clean-energy" vehicles and research combining sourcing for battery raw materials and steel. Barra “GM and Hyundai have complementary strengths and talented teams," GM CEO Mary Barra said at the time of the MOU announcement in September. "Our goal is to unlock the scale and creativity of both companies to deliver even more competitive vehicles to customers faster and more efficiently.” GM had been talking to Hyundai for "a while," Barra told reporters during a fireside chat with the Automotive Press Association earlier this month. "There was a period where a lot of OEMs, everyone was talking to everyone, but we continued to have conversations. "We're very aligned at the top. We have the most senior people in each company having the conversations and setting the tone for the team. We're very pleased that we signed the MOU. There's quite a bit of work going on what will become definitive agreements, but I don't want to get ahead of those announcements." Waatti The Hyundai/GM lineup "could bring outsized synergies for both companies while remaining competitors at the core level," said Paul Waatti, director of industry analysis at market research firm AutoPacific Inc. "Partnerships accelerate technological development by pooling resources to tackle the capital-intensive nature of the advanced tech R&D the industry is embracing." On GM's third-quarter earnings call in October, Barra emphasized the importance of partnerships. "One of the things people say about the auto industry is we ... all do a lot of different things and don't always leverage where we can partner with other OEMs or with other companies," she said. "And so we're really looking to leverage that, especially across the business, as we've mentioned with the MOU that we have with Hyundai, the continuing work that we do with Honda.” GM and Honda partner on the development of hydrogen fuel cell technology and collaborated on the development of Honda's Prologue and Acura ZDX electric vehicles. The companies were also planning to jointly develop a line of affordable EVs together but nixed those plans in 2023. Ford Motor Co. in 2021 also axed its plans to develop an EV with startup Rivian Automotive Inc., which makes all of its electric pickup trucks, SUVs and commercial delivery vans in Normal. Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume and Rivian CEO and founder R.J. Scaringe pose together in a photo distributed in June 2024 alongside their announcement of joint venture plans. The company last month entered a $5.8 billion joint-venture deal with Volkswagen AG. In a news release, the German automaker said the partnership would "create cutting-edge software and electronics architectures and scale the electric vehicle platforms and architectures." Said Waatti: "Partnerships must remain flexible with room for reassessment and revision. It’s often better to adjust or kill a joint venture than to continue going down the wrong road, even if the investment is already massive." A line of unsold 2024 R1S electric utility vehicles sits at a Rivian service center Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in east Denver. At GM's October Investor Day event, Barra mentioned GM was having "ongoing discussions" with "potential partners" for its Cruise LLC autonomous vehicle unit. Two months later, GM said it would stop funding Cruise's robotaxi program after $10 billion in investment since 2017. GM, the majority owner of Cruise, is planning to combine the Cruise and GM technical teams into one to continue to work on AV tech. The automaker's focus will now be on its Super Cruise advanced driver assistance system with the goal of developing fully autonomous personal vehicles. "GM pulling the plug on the Cruise partnership to stop the bleeding and realign capital is the latest example of this challenging dynamic, particularly considering the potential revenue upside — still many billions of dollars and years down the road," Waatti said. Cruise AV, General Motor's autonomous electric Bolt EV, is displayed in Detroit on Jan. 16, 2019. Cruise's restructuring followed months of efforts by GM to restart the operation after a pedestrian accident in October 2023 with a Cruise self-driving vehicle halted operations. GM had restarted testing in several cities, and in August, Cruise and Uber Technologies LLC announced a multiyear deal for customers to book autonomous Cruise robotaxis through the Uber platform starting in 2025. It's unclear where the Cruise and Uber partnership stands after GM's move to defund the robotaxi program. Uber did not respond to a request for comment and a Cruise spokesperson deferred to GM. GM spokesperson Jim Cain said: "We've proposed a restructuring, and a lot of these potential opportunities depend on how that gets resolved." The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.Villanova vies to subdue high-powered Maryland
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Spencer Knight made 20 saves, Mackie Samoskevich scored with less than a second left in the second period, and the Florida Panthers got four goals in the third to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 6-0 on Saturday and complete a two-day sweep. Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, Evan Rodrigues and Adam Boqvist also scored for Florida, which won 6-3 at Carolina on Friday. The Panthers have won three straight — that streak following a stretch of six losses in seven games for the Stanley Cup champions. It was Knight's fourth career shutout, his first since Nov. 9, 2022 — also at home against Carolina. Spencer Martin made 23 saves on 28 shots for the Hurricanes, who have dropped four of their last six games (2-3-1). It was Martin's fourth consecutive start for Carolina. Takeaways Hurricanes: This was the first time all season that the Hurricanes failed to get a point in the game immediately following a loss. Carolina was 4-0-1 after a defeat entering Saturday. Panthers: A big day for Samoskevich — his alma mater Michigan beat Ohio State in football on Saturday, that game ending just before the Florida-Carolina game started. The Panthers are 5-0-0 when he scores this season. Sam Reinhart had each of the four most recent Florida goals at 19:59, before Samoskevich got his Saturday. Key moment The Panthers scored two goals 11 seconds apart in the third to make it 5-0, and Yaniv Perets replaced Martin in the Hurricanes' net with 8:12 remaining. It was the second NHL appearance for Perets, who came on once in relief for Carolina last season. Key stat Ekblad's goal was his first in a span of 1,045 regular-season shifts since Feb. 20. Up next Carolina starts a two-game homestand Tuesday against Seattle. Florida goes to Pittsburgh to start a two-game trip on Tuesday. ___ AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press