7xm withdrawal
PM hails cut in weekly inflation
High-End Living And Personalized Touch By Bijou Builds In AustinShort Interest in Eaton Vance Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund (NYSE:EVT) Expands By 55.8%US Foodservice Market to Grow by USD 204.8 Billion from 2023-2028, Report on AI-Powered Market Evolution - Technavio
CBC resurrects plans for live New Year’s Eve broadcast specialsA childhood friend of the Quebec man killed in a Florida boat explosion earlier this week says one of the victim’s sisters was among the other six passengers injured in the blast. Thi Cam Nhung Lê says she grew up with Sebastien Gauthier in Quebec City and considered him her best friend. Lê says Gauthier’s older sister was also on the boat in Florida’s Broward County when it exploded and she was taken to a hospital. She says Gauthier’s family was in Florida to celebrate the holidays and that his sudden death feels “unimaginable.” A video posted on social media Monday shows the vessel engulfed in flames following the explosion, with a thick column of black smoke billowing into the sky. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has confirmed that Gauthier died of his injuries, saying a preliminary investigation shows the 37-foot vessel exploded after its engines were started. Lê remembers Gauthier as someone who was always smiling and says she is waiting for answers about what led to her friend’s death.
Eurovision 2025: Basel votes yes to funding song contestKey posts 7.45am Coalition MPs left confused by daylight savings mix-up 7.11am ‘Wherever the wind takes me’: Year 12 graduates celebrate top ATAR scores 6.32am Why we can’t bring you in-depth year 12 results analysis like our sister papers in Sydney and Melbourne 6.11am Coalition MPs avoid promising cheaper power bills if they win government 5.12am Residents offered sandbags as higher-than-average tides expected Hide key posts Posts area Latest 1 of 2 Oldest Latest posts Pinned post from 7.45am Coalition MPs left confused by daylight savings mix-up By Paul Sakkal A timing mess-up has left dozens of Coalition MPs scratching their heads waiting for Peter Dutton to brief them on the party’s nuclear costings. MPs were told of an online party room meeting at 10am AEST. Loading Most took this to mean 10am AEDT, or “daylight savings time”, so a big group of MPs including frontbenchers Dan Tehan and Michaelia Cash logged onto the call. Tehan and others spoke on the hook-up trying to figure out when it was starting. Chief whip Bert Van Manen, a Queensland member, then clarified in a party WhatsApp group at about 10.20am that the meeting was actually beginning at 10am Brisbane time. He told the group to come back at 11am Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania time. “Yeah we are going to build seven nuclear plants on time...” one MP said of the mess-up. Dutton was due to address the media in Brisbane at 9.30am AEST. Latest posts 7.40am Labor not keen to discuss broken power price promise By Josefine Ganko It wasn’t just the Coalition dodging questions this morning, with Labor frontbenchers Chris Bowen and Bill Shorten playing coy on the broken 2022 election promise that power bills would come down by $275 by 2023. Energy Minister Chris Bowen was asked if he regretted making the promise in 2022, but he was keen to redirect the question to discuss the cost of renewable energy. Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen “I don’t regret obviously pointing out that renewables are the cheapest form of energy,” Bowen said. “I look forward to debating the competing plans before the Australian people at the next election.” Pushed to answer the question again, Bowen said we were dealing with “a different set of circumstances internationally” post-2022. “Australia’s increase in energy prices has been less than a lot of other comparable countries. We delivered billions of dollars of energy bill relief, which has been the appropriate thing to do, which has been opposed by the Liberal and National Party.” Asked about the promise on Nine’s Today , NDIS Minister Bill Shorten also opted to pivot to the Coalition’s nuclear plan. “We know that energy prices are part of the cost-of-living pressure on families. That’s why I think that the heroic assumptions of Peter Dutton promising some fanciful solution in 25 years’ time is just a crock,” Shorten said. “The idea we’re going to come from scratch and build a whole nuclear industry in Australia is, you know, just a fantasy.” 7.11am ‘Wherever the wind takes me’: Year 12 graduates celebrate top ATAR scores By Courtney Kruk The wait is over for Queensland’s year 12 graduates, with school-leavers across the state receiving their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) results this morning. This year, 28,845 graduates received an ATAR – about 1000 more than last year – with 36 students achieving a top result of 99.95. ATARs were made available to eligible students through Queensland Tertiary Admission Centre (QTAC). Big smiles for Lachlan Howie and Kaiyu Su, two of the 36 students in Queensland to receive top ATAR scores of 99.95. Credit: QTAC Seventeen-year-old Brisbane Girls Grammar graduate Kaiyu Su was among those to achieve the top score. “I was definitely hoping for it but it’s been great to see that it’s a 99.95,” she said. “[I’m] definitely very happy and excited for where it might take me.” Read the full story. 6.45am Police Minister and Transport Minister speak to media Advertisement 6.32am Why we can’t bring you in-depth year 12 results analysis like our sister papers in Sydney and Melbourne By Felicity Caldwell Queensland year 12 graduates are getting their ATAR results this morning, providing their ticket to tertiary study. But the Queensland government has not released the full data for year 12 results for years. The information released today in Queensland will include overall figures for the state, such as how many students received an ATAR and how many got the top rank of 99.95. Hardly illuminating. In comparison, our colleagues at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age can access individual school data, which they can use to celebrate wins, including when students get great results against the odds. Queensland journalists can only get school-by-school data if they contact each school individually, and putting aside resourcing issues in stretched newsrooms for a minute, it would hardly be surprising if only the top-performing schools were happy to share – and we all know how controversial these media-created league tables are, especially if they lack context about a school’s socio-economic background. Without the full data, we can’t understand individual school data in its proper context and explain it. This was not always the case in Queensland. Before the OP system was swapped for ATARs, the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority released a more than 200-page report showing how many students received OPs in each bracket at each individual school , but this was discontinued in 2021 under the ATAR system, with a brief Queensland-wide report now produced. NSW and Victoria also use ATAR, but release more comprehensive results than the Sunshine State. Amid our constraints, Brisbane Times journalist Courtney Kruk has put together a story celebrating the achievements of this year’s graduates. We’d love to have brought you even more. 6.23am Michael Rowland and Patricia Karvelas sign off from flagship ABC shows By Kayla Olaya and Josefine Ganko Two of the ABC’s most well-known broadcasters, Patricia Karvelas and Michael Rowland, have signed off for the final time from their respective morning programs. Rowland wrapped up nearly 15 years at ABC News Breakfast helm in an emotional final bulletin surrounded by his family and colleagues. ABC News Breakfast host Michael Rowland has signed off after 15 years in the role. Credit: ABC “Thank you very much, It’s been wonderful,” said Rowland. “I have been genuinely touched and overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and affection from our viewers. One of my great achievements over the last 15 years has been building up this fantastic audience.” Meanwhile, Karvelas signed off after three years hosting ABC’s flagship morning radio show RN Breakfast. “You’ve been there with me throughout great change in our country and the world, and I want to thank you for it,” Karvelas said, thanking listeners and the Radio National team. Karvelas reflected on her “uniquely Australian” story, growing up in a household where she didn’t speak English. Patricia Karvelas has been filling in as host since Grant’s departure and will now stay in the chair until the end of the year. Credit: Scott McNaughton “Because of a strong public education system and dedicated teachers and incredible family support, I got to grow up and host a national radio show where rigour and curiosity is at the centre of what we do,” she said. Karvelas wished the best of luck to her replacement Sally Sara. “I’ll be listening because I care about this show, and I care about journalism, and I care about telling the truth in a world where the truth is not to be contested.” 6.11am Coalition MPs avoid promising cheaper power bills if they win government By Josefine Ganko Coalition frontbenchers have avoided promising energy bills will be cheaper if they win government, as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton prepares to reveal the costings of his signature nuclear policy later today. Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie and MP Barnaby Joyce were both asked if they would pledge power would be cheaper under the Coalition, but both dodged the question. McKenzie was asked on Nine’s Today , where she first said that the price is attached to the “cost of delivering something”. Loading “And our plan is absolutely cheaper than Labor’s plan to get to 2050,” she said. Asked again if the Coalition would bring down power bills, McKenzie weaved again, saying prices would come down in the longer term. “By adding net zero nuclear to firm up the renewables that we’ve got in the grid as well, is the way to actually get prices down over the long term,” she said. Joyve was asked the same question on ABC’s RN Breakfast. On the fifth iteration of the question, would power bills come down under the Coalition, Joyce finally answered: “That is asking for a hypothetical question, which I could answer you, but I would not be telling the truth, because I don’t have the facts before me.” Advertisement 5.44am Airports brace for chaos as Qantas engineers begin 24-hour strike By Josefine Ganko Airports around the country are bracing for chaos as hundreds of Qantas engineers walk off the job. But the airline has assured customers there will be no impact on their travel plans on one of the busiest travel days of the year. About 500 workers from three different unions began a 24-hour strike action at 3.30am this morning. It’s expected to impact major airports across the country, including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide, and will end at 7.30am on Saturday. Friday marks the first day of the six-week summer travel period when 13.5 million travellers pass through Australia’s domestic airports. It’s also the first day of school holidays in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. The striking workers, responsible for the towing and marshalling of planes, are calling for a 5 per cent per year pay increase over 5 years after what they say is 3.5 years of frozen wages. Qantas says it has put forward a competitive package with 3 per cent per year over three years, with negotiations now at a stalemate. Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union National Secretary Steve Murphy says industrial action was the only way to get Qantas to the bargaining table. It’s been six weeks since the last strike. “Workers have no other choice. They will be taking industrial action to bring Qantas back to the bargaining table,” Murphy said. “Qantas is to blame if there’s any disruption to commuters over the holiday period. They have had six weeks to simply do what they said they would.” A Qantas spokesperson said a number of contingencies are in place to prevent delays. “Around 160 aircraft maintenance engineers are rostered on during Friday’s industrial action, and only members of the alliance unions can take industrial action,” said Qantas. The spokesperson noted there were no delays or cancellations during the previous strikes. 5.40am Friday 13th an ‘auspicious day’ for Dutton to release nuclear costings, PM says By Karl Quinn Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took time out of his busy pre-Christmas schedule to join the farewell party for Sammy J on ABC Radio in Melbourne this morning, where he wasted no time using his appearance to go into political attack mode. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Credit: Kate Geraghty “It’s Friday the 13th, an auspicious day, I’ve got to say, for Peter Dutton to drop his nuclear nightmare policy out there,” Albanese said, bypassing the pleasantries and bonhomie in favour of dropping a bomb on the opposition leader. “Oh, so straight into it,” said Sammy J. “Have you had a sneak peek [at Dutton’s nuclear power plan]?” he asked. “I had a look at some of the fiction that’s out there,” the PM replied, claiming nuclear power would not lead to savings on the cost of household power but rather “increase bills by $1200”. “The truth is that renewables are the cheapest form of new energy. Everyone knows that’s the case. The science tells us that that’s the case. The economists tell us that’s the case.” 5.12am Residents offered sandbags as higher-than-average tides expected By Catherine Strohfeldt The Brisbane City Council has offered sandbags to residents in the city’s tidal flood areas before a predicted anomaly from Sunday through to Tuesday next week. The council advised residents that tide peaks were expected to reach similar levels to September this year, and that “minor localised flooding may be experienced in bayside, riverside, and low-lying parts of nearby suburbs”. Sandbags were also made available for locals, and those in low-lying foreshore and riverside areas were warned to avoid parking their cars on the street. The higher-than-average tides were also expected to impact creeks within bayside suburbs. Latest 1 of 2 Oldest Latest Oldest Most Viewed in National Loading
The South African Teachers Union (SAOU) supports the public publication of matric results because matriculants are not personally identifiable, as only their examination numbers are disclosed. SAOU executive Officer Paul Sauer said they also supported the current modus operandi of the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to disseminate the results. “However, we are aware that with the new trends in technology, as well as the switch-off of print media, this problem will become less in the future,” he added. Information Regulator order Earlier this month, the DBE said it would go ahead with the publication of matric results in newspapers on 14 January. This is despite an order from the Information Regulator (IR) that the results should not be published in newspapers. DBE spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said the department was no longer releasing the names and surnames of the candidates, and therefore not contravening the Popi Act. “They are saying by releasing the results we are contravening with the Popi Act, but we argued that we are only using examination student numbers, not names like we did last time,” said Mhlanga. “Exam numbers are not identifiable, I mean you cannot know who the number belongs to. That is where we are standing,” he explained. Afriforum join case This has resulted in a dispute between the IR, DBE and AfriForum over the release of the matric results. Last month, the IR announced that it would fine the DBE R5 million for failing to comply with an enforcement notice in November, which ordered the department to make an undertaking that it would not publish the 2024 matric results in the media. ALSO READ: Gwarube takes charge of Bela Act amid Sadtu criticism However, AfriForum Head of Cultural Affairs Alana Bailey said the civil rights organisation was ready to oppose IR’s urgent court application regarding matric results. “AfriForum’s legal team has informed the IR that it is ready to take legal action if the IR proceeds with an urgent application to prevent the publication of the 2024 matric results. In a letter to the IR’s legal representative, AfriForum requested to be added as a co-respondent if the IR goes ahead with the case against the Department of Basic Education on 7 January 2025,” she said. Bailey said the request was based on compliance with the court order issued on 18 January 2022, which recommended the publication of matriculation results. “At the time, AfriForum and other parties brought the case to ensure that the 2021 matric results could be published on public platforms. The court order confirmed AfriForum’s opinion that the publication of examination numbers without names provided sufficient protection of the privacy of the matriculants while also being in the public interest,” she added. ALSO READ: Language barriers in education affecting pupils’ performance, says Gwarube Bailey said this past week, the IR not only announced that it was fining the DBE for the intended publication of the results but also approached the court on an urgent basis to try to stop the publication thereof. “Based on the court order, AfriForum considers the enforcement order of the IR invalid and is therefore ready to oppose any action against the DBE and the publication of the results. Matriculants have a right to privacy, but also the right to access their results on public platforms, provided that their names are not published. This is an established practice, and the court has already conceded that this is in everyone’s interest,” she said. Popi Act breach claims In November, the IR spokesperson Nomzamo Zondi said the DBE was issued with an enforcement notice on 4 November 2024. The IR found that the department was not compliant with Section 11 of the Popi Act. It was found to be in breach of the conditions for the lawful processing of personal information, specifically by failing to obtain consent from either the pupils or their parents or guardians, for publishing the results of the 2023 National Senior Certificate examinations. Zondi said the IR has directed the DBE to obtain consent from parents or guardians of pupils who will write the matric examination in 2025 before publishing their results in newspapers. NOW READ: Class of 2024: Matric results, re-markings and rewrites — everything you need to know
I ndia, with its rich history of academic excellence, now stands at a crossroads, poised to transform its higher education system into a global powerhouse. However, if we look at the status of higher education in the country, India is still far from these ambitious goals. As of May 2024, India’s gross enrolment ratio in higher education was 28.4%, with over 4.3 crore students enrolled in almost 1200 institutions. However, this is far below the current global average of 36.7%. According to the Ministry of Education, almost nine lakh students went abroad for higher education last year. These students have spent $60 billion (₹5.1 lakh crores) on acquiring an education abroad in 2023. This figure has almost doubled from the $37 billion spent in 2019, the year before the pandemic. This is more than 10 times the annual budget allocated by the Union Government for Higher Education (₹ 44,090 crores or $5.2 billion) in 2023-24. Clearly, current Indian students seeking higher education prefer to go abroad if they had the resources. Yet we aspire to become the destination of choice for higher education for students of the world in the coming decades. Key focus areas To achieve this ambitious goal, there are several key areas on which the country needs to focus, including fostering interdisciplinarity in fundamental areas of teaching and research, enhancing the quality of faculty at all levels, promoting global partnerships, ensuring the internationalisation of the curriculum followed, improving governance and autonomy, enhancing access and equity, and embracing technology and innovation. By addressing these areas, India can cultivate a new generation of global leaders equipped to tackle the complex challenges of the 21st century. Education has been one of the core defining values of Indians. It has never been a secondary option, regardless of background, religion, ethnicity or era of existence. Since education is so central to our identity, now is the time to align our education system with the 21st-century goals of inclusivity, innovation, and global competence. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 provides a promising framework to provide a first step to achieve this vision. Several key developments are needed in Indian higher education to empower the system for global leadership. Education needs to focus on transferrable skills. In an age where information is widely available, and is mixed up with bewildering layers of misinformation, higher education has to highlight the crucial skills of critical thinking, problem-solving and communication. Universities need to become the locus of both teaching and research; collaborative research and innovation need to span across disciplines to address complex global challenges; and strong partnerships need to emerge in both teaching and research with industry and international partners. Importance of faculty All this is possible if Indian institutions of higher education can attract and retain top-notch faculty from around the world. Currently only the top tier institutions can declare that their faculty are comparable to the best of the world. However, these academics interact with only a small number of our students. Easier faculty mobility and collaboration across the world can partially address this. Empowering a wider range of institutions to develop online degree programmes, particularly in conjunction with international universities, can help achieve this goal. Currently only a handful of elite universities are allowed to offer formal online education and develop joint degree programmes with international partners. As 2024 comes to a close, it can be viewed as a year marked by the first signs of the implementation of the path-breaking flexibilities that the NEP-2020 provides to the higher education landscape. The academic bank of credits enables students to pause education to get a taste of employment, or to move between institutions according to the availability of courses in their individual education plan. Towards the end of the year, we learnt that biannual admissions will become possible, making mobility between states, as well as for international students, much easier. Accessibility of primary sources for research has been too expensive for most researchers in the country. The recently announced One Nation, One Subscription policy is a crucial step that enables researchers to access high-quality research articles and foster an environment that supports innovation. As we look ahead, the trends that defined 2024 are poised to evolve further. Views expressed are personal. The writer is the Vice Chancellor, Ashoka University Published - December 28, 2024 06:30 pm IST Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit The Hindu Education Plus / education / higher education / universities and colleges / students / teaching and learningTOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — A U.S. senator has called for mysterious drones spotted flying at night over sensitive areas in New Jersey and other parts of the Mid-Atlantic region to be “shot down, if necessary,” even as it remains unclear who owns the unmanned aircraft. “We should be doing some very urgent intelligence analysis and take them out of the skies, especially if they’re flying over airports or military bases,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said Thursday, as concerns about the drones spread across Capitol Hill. People in the New York region are also concerned that the drones may be sharing airspace with commercial airlines, he said, demanding more transparency from the Biden administration. The White House said Thursday that a review of the reported sightings shows that many of them are actually manned aircraft being flown lawfully. White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said there were no reported sightings in any restricted airspace. He said the U.S. Coast Guard has not uncovered any foreign involvement from coastal vessels. “We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus,” Kirby said, echoing statements from the Pentagon and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh has said they are not U.S. military drones. In a joint statement issued Thursday afternoon, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said they and their federal partners, in close coordination with the New Jersey State Police, “continue to deploy personnel and technology to investigate this situation and confirm whether the reported drone flights are actually drones or are instead manned aircraft or otherwise inaccurate sightings.” The agencies said they have not corroborated any of the reported sightings with electronic detection, and that reviews of available images appear to show many of the reported drones are actually manned aircraft. “There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air space,” according to the statement. The drones appear to avoid detection by traditional methods such as helicopter and radio, according to a state lawmaker briefed Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security. The number of sightings has increased in recent days, though officials say many of the objects seen may have been planes rather than drones. It’s also possible that a single drone has been reported more than once. The worry stems partly from the flying objects initially being spotted near the Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. military research and manufacturing facility, and over President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster. In a post on the social media platform X, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia described the drones as up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) in diameter and sometimes traveling with their lights switched off. Drones are legal in New Jersey for recreational and commercial use but are subject to local and Federal Aviation Administration regulations and flight restrictions. Operators must be FAA certified. Most, but not all, of the drones spotted in New Jersey appeared to be larger than those typically used by hobbyists. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said he was frustrated by the lack of transparency, saying it could help spread fear and misinformation. “We should know what’s going on over our skies,” he said Thursday. John Duesler, president of the Pennsylvania Drone Association, said witnesses may be confused about what they are seeing, especially in the dark, and noted it’s hard to know the size of the drones or how close they might be. “There are certainly big drones, such as agricultural drones, but typically they are not the type you see flying around in urban or suburban spaces,” Duesler said Thursday. Duesler said the drones — and those flying them — likely cannot evade detection. “They will leave a radio frequency footprint, they all leave a signature," he said. "We will find out what kind of drones they were, who was flying them and where they were flying them.” Fantasia, a Morris County Republican, was among several lawmakers who met with state police and Homeland Security officials to discuss the sightings from the New York City area across New Jersey and westward into parts of Pennsylvania, including over Philadelphia. It is unknown at this time whether the sightings are related. Duesler said the public wants to know what's going on. “I hope (the government agencies) will come out with more information about this to ease our fears. But this could just be the acts of rogue drone operators, it’s not an ‘invasion’ as some reports have called it,” Duesler said. “I am concerned about this it but not alarmed by it.” ___ Associated Press reporters Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and reporter Darlene Superville and videojournalists Serkan Gurbuz and Nathan Ellgren in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report. 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Insurgents' stunning march across Syria gained speed on Saturday with news that they had reached the suburbs of the capital and with the government forced to deny rumors that President Bashar Assad had fled the country. The rebels' moves around Damascus, reported by an opposition war monitor and a rebel commander, came after the Syrian army withdrew from much of southern part of the country, leaving more areas, including several provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters. The advances in the past week were among the largest in recent years by opposition factions, led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaida and is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the United Nations. In their push to overthrow Assad's government, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian army. For the first time in the country's long-running civil war, the government now has control of only four of 14 provincial capitals: Damascus, Homs, Latakia and Tartus. The U.N.’s special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, on Saturday called for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition.” Speaking to reporters at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country is Assad's chief international backer, said he feels “sorry for the Syrian people.” In Damascus, people rushed to stock up on supplies. Thousands went to Syria's border with Lebanon, trying to leave the country. Many shops in the capital were shuttered, a resident told The Associated Press, and those still open ran out of staples such as sugar. Some were selling items at three times the normal price. “The situation is very strange. We are not used to that,” the resident said, insisting on anonymity, fearing retributions. “People are worried whether there will be a battle (in Damascus) or not.” It was the first time that opposition forces reached the outskirts of Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured the area following a yearslong siege. The U.N. said it was moving noncritical staff outside the country as a precaution. Syria’s state media denied social media rumors that Assad left the country, saying he is performing his duties in Damascus. He has had little, if any, help from his allies. Russia, is busy with its war in Ukraine . Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which at one point sent thousands of fighters to shore up Assad's forces, has been weakened by a yearlong conflict with Israel. Iran has seen its proxies across the region degraded by regular Israeli airstrikes. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday posted on social media that that the United States should avoid engaging militarily in Syria. Pedersen said a date for talks in Geneva on the implementation a U.N. resolution, adopted in 2015, and calling for a Syrian-led political process, would be announced later. The resolution calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and ending with U.N.-supervised elections. Later Saturday, foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran, along with Pederson, gathered on the sidelines of the Doha Summit to discuss the situation in Syria. No details were immediately available. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said insurgents were in the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. Opposition fighters were marching toward the Damascus suburb of Harasta, he added. A commander with the insurgents, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces had begun the “final stage” of their offensive by encircling Damascus. HTS controls much of northwest Syria and in 2017 set up a “salvation government” to run day-to-day affairs in the region. In recent years, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to remake the group’s image, cutting ties with al-Qaida, ditching hard-line officials and vowing to embrace pluralism and religious tolerance. Syria’s military, meanwhile, sent large numbers of reinforcements to defend the key central city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, as insurgents approached its outskirts. The shock offensive began Nov. 27, during which gunmen captured the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest, and the central city of Hama , the country’s fourth largest city. Opposition activists said Saturday that a day earlier, insurgents entered Palmyra, which is home to invaluable archaeological sites had been in government hands since being taken from the Islamic State group in 2017. To the south, Syrian troops left much of the province of Quneitra including the main Baath City, activists said. Syrian Observatory said government troops have withdrawn from much of the two southern provinces and are sending reinforcements to Homs, where a battle loomed. If the insurgents capture Homs, they would cut the link between Damascus, Assad’s seat of power, and the coastal region where the president enjoys wide support. The Syrian army said in a statement that it carried out redeployment and repositioning in Sweida and Daraa after its checkpoints came under attack by “terrorists." The army said it was setting up a “strong and coherent defensive and security belt in the area,” apparently to defend Damascus from the south. The Syrian government has referred to opposition gunmen as terrorists since conflict broke out in March 2011. The foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey, meeting in Qatar, called for an end to the hostilities. Turkey is a main backer of the rebels. Qatar's top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to take advantage of the lull in fighting in recent years to address the country’s underlying problems. “Assad didn’t seize this opportunity to start engaging and restoring his relationship with his people,” he said. Sheikh Mohammed said he was surprised by how quickly the rebels have advanced and said there is a real threat to Syria’s “territorial integrity.” He said the war could “damage and destroy what is left if there is no sense of urgency” to start a political process. ____ Karam reported from London. Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report.WASHINGTON — When Elon Musk first suggested a new effort to cut the size of government, Donald Trump didn’t seem to take it seriously. His eventual name for the idea sounded like a joke too. It would be called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a reference to an online meme featuring a surprised-looking dog from Japan. But now that Trump has won the election, Musk’s fantasy is becoming reality, with the potential to spark a constitutional clash over the balance of power in Washington. Trump put Musk, the world’s richest man, and Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate, in charge of the new department, which is really an outside advisory committee that will work with people inside the government to reduce spending and regulations. Musk and Ramaswamy said they would encourage Trump to make cuts by refusing to spend money allocated by Congress, a process known as impounding. The proposal goes against a 1974 law intended to prevent future presidents from following in the footsteps of Richard Nixon, who held back funding that he didn’t like. “We are prepared for the onslaught from entrenched interests in Washington,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. ”We expect to prevail. Now is the moment for decisive action.” Trump has already suggested taking such a big step, saying last year that he would “use the president’s long-recognized impoundment power to squeeze the bloated federal bureaucracy for massive savings.” It would be a dramatic attempt to expand his powers, when he already will have the benefit of a sympathetic Republican-controlled Congress and a conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court, and it could swiftly become one of the most closely watched legal fights of his second administration. “He might get away with it,” said William Galston, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank. “Congress’ power of the purse will turn into an advisory opinion.” Musk and Ramaswamy have started laying out their plans Right now, plans for the Department of Government Efficiency are still coming into focus. The nascent organization has put out a call for “super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.” Applicants are encouraged to submit their resumes through X, the social media company that Musk owns. In the Wall Street Journal, Musk and Ramaswamy provided the most detailed look yet at how they would operate and where they could cut. Some are longtime Republican targets, such as $535 million for the Corp. for Public Broadcasting. Other plans are more ambitious and could reshape the federal government. The two wrote that they would “identify the minimum number of employees required at an agency for it to perform its constitutionally permissible and statutorily mandated functions,” leading to “mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy.” Civil service protections wouldn’t apply, they argue, because they wouldn’t be targeting specific people for political purposes. Some employees could choose “voluntary severance payments to facilitate a graceful exit.” But others would be encouraged to quit by mandating that they show up at the office five days a week, ending pandemic-era flexibility about remote work. The requirement “would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome.” Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said such cutbacks would harm services for Americans who rely on the federal government, and he suggested that Musk and Ramaswamy were in over their heads. “I don’t think they’re even remotely qualified to perform those duties,” he said. “That’s my main concern.” Kelley said his union, which represents 750,000 employees for the federal government and the city of Washington, D.C., was ready to fight attempts to slash the workforce. “We’ve been here, we’ve heard this kind of rhetoric before,” he said. “And we are prepared.” Federal regulations would be targeted for elimination There was no mention in the Wall Street Journal of Musk’s previously stated goal of cutting $2 trillion from the budget, which is nearly a third of total annual spending. Nor did they write about “Schedule F,” a potential plan to reclassify federal employees to make them easier to fire. Ramaswamy once described the idea as the “mass deportation of federal bureaucrats out of Washington, D.C.” However, Musk and Ramaswamy said they would reduce regulations that they describe as excessive. They wrote that their department “will work with legal experts embedded in government agencies, aided by advanced technology,” to review regulations that run counter to two recent Supreme Court decisions that were intended to limit federal rule-making authority. Musk and Ramaswamy said Trump could “immediately pause the enforcement of those regulations and initiate the process for review and rescission.” Chris Edwards, an expert on budget issues at the Cato Institute, said many Republicans have promised to reduce the size and role of government over the years, often to little effect. Sometimes it feels like every budget item and tax provision, no matter how obscure, has people dedicated to its preservation, turning attempts at cuts into political battles of attrition. “Presidents always seem to have higher priorities,” he said. “A lot of it falls to the wayside.” Although DOGE is scheduled to finish its work by July 4, 2026, Edwards said Musk and Ramaswamy should move faster to capitalize on momentum from Trump’s election victory. “Will it just collect dust on a shelf, or will it be put into effect?” Edwards said. “That all depends on Trump and where he is at that point in time.” Ramaswamy said in an online video that they’re planning regular “Dogecasts” to keep the public updated on their work, which he described as “a once-in-a-generation project” to eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse.” “However bad you think it is, it’s probably worse,” he said. Musk and Ramaswamy will have allies in Congress House Republicans are expected to put Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Trump ally from Georgia, in charge of a subcommittee to work with DOGE, according to two people with knowledge of the plans who were not authorized to discuss them publicly. Greene and Rep. James Comer, the Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, have already met with Ramaswamy, the two people said. Musk brought up the idea for DOGE while broadcasting a conversation with Trump on X during the campaign. “I think we need a government efficiency commission to say, like, ‘Hey, where are we spending money that’s sensible. Where is it not sensible?’ ” Musk said. Musk returned to the topic twice, volunteering his services by saying “I’d be happy to help out on such a commission.” “I’d love it,” Trump replied, describing Musk as “the greatest cutter.” Musk has his own incentives to push this initiative forward. His companies, including SpaceX and Tesla, have billions of dollars in government contracts and face oversight from government regulators. After spending an estimated $200 million to support Trump’s candidacy, he’s poised to have expansive influence over the next administration. Trump even went to Texas earlier this week to watch SpaceX test its largest rocket. DOGE will have an ally in Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who has railed against federal spending for years. He recently told Fox News that he sent “2,000 pages of waste that can be cut” to Musk and Ramaswamy. “I’m all in and will do anything I can to help them,” Paul said. Megerian writes for the Associated Press.
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John Parker Romo made a 29-yard field goal to lift the Minnesota Vikings to a 30-27 overtime win against the host Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon. Romo buried the game-winning kick in his third career game for Minnesota (9-2), which won its fourth game in a row. The score capped a 10-play, 68-yard drive for the Vikings after the Bears went three-and-out on the first overtime possession. Sam Darnold completed 22 of 34 passes for 330 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Vikings. Wideout Jordan Addison finished with eight catches for a career-high 162 yards and a touchdown. The overtime defeat spoiled an impressive performance from rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, who completed 32 of 47 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns for Chicago (4-7). D.J. Moore had seven catches for 106 yards and a touchdown, and Keenan Allen finished with nine catches for 86 yards and a score. Chicago erased an 11-point deficit in the final 22 seconds of regulation to send the game to overtime. Romo had put Minnesota on top 27-16 when he made a 26-yard field goal with 1:56 remaining in the fourth quarter. Williams trimmed the Bears' deficit to 27-24 with 22 seconds to go. He rolled right and found Allen wide open in the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown, and moments later he fired a strike to Moore for a two-point conversion. The Bears recovered an onside kick on the next play to regain possession at their 43-yard line with 21 seconds left. Cairo Santos' onside kick bounced off the foot of Vikings tight end Johnny Mundt, and Tarvarius Moore recovered it. D.J. Moore put the Bears in field-goal position with a 27-yard reception across the middle of the field, and Santos made a 48-yarder as time expired to even the score at 27-all. Minnesota led 24-10 after three quarters. Romo made a 40-yard field goal early in the third quarter, and Aaron Jones punched in a 2-yard run with 1:22 left in the period to put the Vikings on top by two touchdowns. Addison and Jalen Nailor each had receiving touchdowns in the first half for Minnesota. Roschon Johnson scored on a 1-yard run for the Bears' only touchdown of the first half. Chicago trailed 14-10 at the break. --Field Level Media
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy ruled out vs. PackersJulia Bradbury said she has become more focused on her health than she has ever been after “death looked her in the eyes”. The 54-year-old TV presenter revealed in 2021 that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and later underwent a mastectomy during which her breast plus two lymph glands were removed before reconstruction took place. Bradbury has since stopped drinking alcohol and has changed the priorities in her life, but revealed she has received some pushback on social media from sharing her approach. She told The Times Weekend magazine: “I wasn’t close to death, but death looked me in the eyes. So I am more focused on my health than I ever have been. “I don’t drink, I eat a healthy diet and exercise every day. “When I came home from my mastectomy, I promised I would spend time outside every day, and that is my mantra, however poor it might be in this shitty winter.” Bradbury, who has since been given the all-clear, said a doctor recently helped her reframe how she utilises her energy. She recalled: “He said, ‘This drive that you have – you’re running on a credit card. You can push through all sorts of things. But is that the best thing for you?’. “I realised you don’t have to win every race. You don’t have to overcome everything. I don’t want to max out the credit card.” The presenter previously discussed her experience in an ITV documentary, Julia Bradbury: Breast Cancer And Me, which followed her as she came to terms with her diagnosis and prepared to undergo her single mastectomy. She also regularly shares her wellness and fitness tips with her more than 270,000 Instagram followers. However, she revealed she has had pushback from people saying, “I was healthy, I go to the gym, I got cancer, and now its metastasised and I’ve got secondary cancer. So are you blaming me for my illness?”. Responding to the accusations, she added: “No. All I’m saying is, this is what I went through. It was a wake-up call, and it made me look at life differently. “It made me prioritise my sleep, emotional health, and give more time to my loved ones. “If I drink more than four units of alcohol a week, my risk of reoccurrence goes up by 28%. But people find me giving up drinking infuriating.” Bradbury, who has a 13-year-old son Zephyr, and nine-year-old twins Xanthe and Zena, said having children later in life has caused her to not be as “patient” as she feels she should be at times after becoming more set in her own ways. “People think that after you’ve got a cancer diagnosis, you become this beautiful angel with a halo, and a super mum and do everything right”, she added. “But no, you make the same mistakes. I lose my temper, and I can hear myself saying things that I can’t believe I’m saying. “None of us know what we’re doing, really. We’re just doing our best. I know they do have lots of love. They are told that they’re loved every day.”Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer the stuff of science fiction. It’s right here influencing our daily lives in every passing minute. AI has become a silent yet powerful force shaping the modern world from the way we work to how we interact and live. Its presence is both exhilarating and unsettling as it offers possibilities we couldn’t have imagined a decade ago. But what exactly does this transformation look like? Redefining the workplace In any workplace, AI is not a mere a tool; it’s a game-changer. Across industries, it’s reshaping jobs and creating new opportunities while simultaneously making others obsolete. Across the globe, businesses use AI to automate repetitive tasks, analyse data at lightning speed, and improve efficiency. Applications such as customer service chatbots, predictive analytics in marketing, or automated inventory systems save time and reduce human error, giving companies a competitive edge. It is vital to note that the integration of AI doesn’t stop at efficiency. It’s enabling workers to focus on more creative and strategic aspects of their roles. For example, architects can rely on AI-driven design tools to model buildings faster, leaving more time for innovation. Likewise, doctors now use AI for diagnosing diseases with unprecedented accuracy, transforming healthcare into a more personalised and precise field. Yet, the rise of AI also sparks anxiety. Many fear that automation will lead to job losses, especially in industries like manufacturing, logistics, and retail. While it’s true that some roles will disappear, AI is also creating demand for new skills. Jobs in AI development, ethical programming, and robotics are growing rapidly. The challenge lies in adapting, reskilling, and ensuring that people are equipped to thrive in this evolving landscape. AI in everyday life AI’s influence isn’t limited to offices or factories—it’s everywhere. Voice assistants such as Siri or Alexa rely on AI to answer questions, play music, and control smart devices in your home. Netflix recommends movies based on what you’ve watched, while shopping platforms predict what you might want to buy next. These conveniences are powered by algorithms that learn human preferences, making daily tasks easier and more enjoyable. AI in transportation Transportation is another area where AI shines. Self-driving cars, once a futuristic fantasy, are becoming a reality. Companies like Tesla are pushing boundaries with vehicles that can navigate roads using AI-powered sensors and cameras. AI is also behind the navigation apps that provide real-time traffic updates, saving us time and frustration on our commutes. But what we should know is that convenience comes at a cost. The more we rely on AI, the more data we share. From our online searches to our shopping habits, AI systems thrive on data to improve their performance. This raises concerns about privacy and how companies use our information. Striking a balance between leveraging AI’s benefits and safeguarding personal data is a challenge society must address. Revolutionising communication AI has certainly redefined how we communicate, connecting people across the globe in ways that were unimaginable a few decades ago. Translation apps powered by AI make it easy to break down language barriers. AI ensures your message gets across wherever you go – whether you are a local or global traveller. Social media platforms rely heavily on AI to curate content, recommend connections, and filter out harmful material. Algorithms decide what appears on your feed, tailoring the experience to your interests. While this personalisation keeps us engaged, it also creates echo chambers, where we’re exposed only to ideas and opinions that align with our own. This can limit critical thinking and deepen societal divides. AI also plays a role in creative communication. Tools like ChatGPT or DALL-E generate text and images, opening up new possibilities for storytelling, marketing, and education. These innovations are fascinating, but they also blur the lines between human creativity and machine-generated content. As AI-generated art, music, and literature become more common, society must grapple with questions about authenticity and ownership. Future of AI The future of AI is as exciting as it is uncertain. Its potential to solve global problems is immense. In medicine, AI is already being used to identify cancerous cells and develop new treatments. In environmental science, it helps predict weather patterns and track deforestation. As these technologies evolve, they could play a critical role in addressing climate change, improving disaster response, and creating sustainable solutions for a growing population. However, this future isn’t without challenges. Ethical concerns loom large. Who decides how AI should be used? How do we prevent biases embedded in algorithms from perpetuating inequality? What happens when machines surpass human intelligence in certain areas? These questions demand thoughtful answers as AI continues to advance. Another pressing issue is accessibility. While AI holds promise for improving lives, its benefits aren’t evenly distributed. Wealthier countries and corporations dominate AI research and development, leaving others at risk of falling further behind. Bridging this gap is crucial to ensuring that AI’s advantages are shared globally, rather than exacerbating existing inequalities. AI has brought us to a turning point in human history. It’s transforming how we work, live, and communicate at a unique pace. While the changes it brings are enormous, what we should not forget is that they’re not without complications. It is the responsibility of us, the humans to make use of AI responsibly, ensuring that it enriches lives rather than undermining them. The choices we make today will shape the world of tomorrow, making this an era of great responsibility as well as great possibility.