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North Carolina hired Bill Belichick at one of the most critical points of the college football calendar, and the six-time Super Bowl champion head coach has a lot to do in the immediate future. From evaluating the Tar Heels’ current roster to assessing the high school signees, figuring out what is needed in the transfer portal, becoming familiarized with the school’s budget for name, image and likeness and hiring a staff, everything on the to-do list is intertwined. Advertisement Texas A&M coach Mike Elko, who was hired away from Duke a week before the portal opened to all undergraduates interested in changing schools in 2023, said in March that he had to do all those things “at an extremely fast pace.” Willie Fritz was introduced as Houston ’s new head coach the day before the portal opened. “All those were top priorities in their own right,” said Wes Fritz, Houston’s general manager and Willie’s son. “They all were critical things that took management on a daily basis. The coaching carousel and portal both are very minute-to-minute.” So what should Belichick prioritize as he takes over a college program for the first time? General managers at three Power 4 programs offered insight into the most urgent roster management tasks that face a new coach, from evaluating the current roster, to attacking the portal, assessing finances and hiring staff. GO DEEPER Court Vision: Crown SEC as nation's top league. Big picture is bleak for ACC 1. Evaluate the current roster Before Belichick goes shopping in the portal, he must have an idea of what he has to work with on the current roster. Which players are worth keeping? Which positions are thin? Who fits the offensive and defensive schemes he wants to run, and who doesn’t? That process, depending on how deep the evaluation is, can take a few hours or a couple of days of watching film. Belichick has already hired a general manager: Michael Lombardi, the former Cleveland Browns GM who worked in NFL player personnel circles for four decades and was a Belichick assistant in New England. Lombardi may dictate that process, but chances are he and Belichick studied the roster ahead of time, when the hiring process was still ongoing. “You start watching film immediately,” said Alabama general manager Courtney Morgan. “If you watch enough film, you should have a grasp of who your players are in the first few days.” Advertisement Character evaluations are also necessary. That includes tapping into the expertise of people who are still employed and were part of the previous staff. “Talk to everyone in the building, your core groups: strength and conditioning, nutritionists, academic advisors, people who know the kids well and ... know who the players are as people,” Morgan said. “Who are the culture fits, the people to hold your culture together? And who are the people that want to leave that you can let go?” For those players a new coach wants to keep, reassurance is important. “Meet as many kids as you can,” Morgan said. “Call as many parents as you can. Ensure them the transition will be smooth.” But if Belichick and his new staff are like almost every other new college coaching regime, they won’t want to keep every player. Cutting or running off players , once considered taboo in college football, is a fairly standard practice now, especially for new coaches, as transfer restrictions have been loosened. Before the transfer portal existed, coaches could not turn over a roster as quickly in part because there was a 25-player limit on signees (high school recruits and transfers) that a program could accept in a year. But that rule was eliminated in 2023 , making a significant roster overhaul much more feasible. Coaches had ways to get around the 25-player limit, from counting midyear enrollees back toward the previous year’s class (if there was room under the 25) to utilizing the NCAA ’s “aid after departure of head coach” bylaw reserved for new coaches, which allows them to cut players and keep them on scholarship without counting against the 85-player scholarship limit. Once the House v. NCAA settlement takes effect, the 85-scholarship constraints for programs will give way to a 105-player roster limit , including walk-ons if a school chooses not to put every player on scholarship. Most Football Bowl Subdivision teams currently comprise around 120 players, with 85 on scholarship and the rest as walk-ons. It’s unclear whether any schools will offer 105 scholarships annually — some coaches and GMs are skeptical that schools will eliminate walk-ons completely — but everyone is working to meet that roster limit before next season. Advertisement That is still more roster flexibility than Belichick had in the NFL, which carries a 53-man active roster and a 16-man practice squad. But until the settlement takes effect next summer, FBS programs are prohibited from carrying more than 85 scholarship players on their roster, even when taking midyear transfers. GO DEEPER Why is Bill Belichick heading to North Carolina? It's all about control 2. Get transfer portal visitors scheduled ASAP Once the roster holes are known, it’s time to scour the portal, and that’s where Belichick will be playing catch-up. The transfer portal has been open for four days. Some players, including graduate transfers or members of teams that made in-season head coaching changes, have been in the portal longer. By December, college personnel staffs have spent months scouting other college rosters to identify players they want, not unlike scouting departments at the professional level in free agency. Several players who entered the transfer portal Monday have already committed to their new schools. Even new college coaches, if they came from another school, have institutional knowledge of what’s available. “You should already know who the guys are from where you were at your previous stop,” Morgan said. Belichick may not have that luxury, but he and his staff need to evaluate the available talent and mobilize quickly. That process has apparently already begun. Penn transfer running back Malachi Hosley, a former FCS freshman All-American who ran for 1,192 yards and nine touchdowns as a sophomore, posted Wednesday that he was offered by the Tar Heels . Morgan estimated a two-day turnaround from hiring to hosting transfer recruits, which can pose some logistical restrictions. “The head coach has to keep the recruiting people in the short term, or else nobody’s going to book a flight (for a recruit),” said a Big 12 general manager, granted anonymity to discuss his team’s strategy. “I can understand if he wants a new GM, a new scouting director. But there’s no way you can get rid of the recruiting operations people (immediately).” Advertisement Official visits for transfers usually last a day, not unlike a free agent visit in the NFL. The Tar Heels , like everyone else in the FBS, have until Dec. 22 to get players on campus before the start of a dead period in which no in-person on-campus or off-campus recruiting is permitted. Schools can resume hosting prospects on Jan. 6 through Feb. 3. Fortunately for North Carolina, the portal, which already has more than 1,000 FBS players in it , will remain open until Dec. 28. Players in the College Football Playoff or late bowl games will have an additional five-day window after the conclusion of their season to enter the portal. And the portal windows are only for entry; players are free to take their time to choose their new school. So opportunities abound for player acquisition. And for whatever needs aren’t filled by the time the spring semester begins in January, there’s another 10-day portal window in the spring, from April 16 to April 25, in which hundreds more players will become available. 3. Know your salary cap Big-time programs now spend millions to retain their current players and attract new ones, through the use of booster-led NIL collectives. This is right up Belichick’s alley, since he essentially served as the New England Patriots’ GM during his time there. Managing a roster and a salary cap, long the heart of NFL team operations, is becoming part of college football, too, and will become even more central when schools are permitted to share revenue with their athletes via the House settlement. “You should walk in right now and somebody should be able to give you a roster number and salary cap number,” Morgan said. “What you’re paying each player now and how much will be available to spend. Figure that out right away, then from there you divvy it up and figure out how you’re going to allocate to the different positions of need.” Mack Brown, at his final UNC news conference, said the Tar Heels’ next coach would have roughly three times as much money to work with for the roster. “He’ll have a better situation than we did with NIL, because of revenue sharing,” Brown said. “We had about $4 million. He’ll have at least $12 million.” UNC says it will pay $13 million to football players in revenue-sharing. Belichick will also have a full staff salary pool larger than the amount going to players. The $10 million assistant pool is double what UNC paid this year. pic.twitter.com/LmElWbdI0R — Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) December 12, 2024 When the House settlement takes effect, the initial cap for schools — which includes athletes in all sports, not just football — is expected to begin at around $20 million annually. Player development, which Belichick emphasized as a priority on his Monday appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show”, is also critical because when teams strike out in the portal at certain positions, they must have coaches who can get younger players ready at a moment’s notice. Advertisement “Development might matter even more now because your roster’s going to be imperfect all the time,” the Big 12 GM said. 4. Fill out your staff — and retain key members This part is already underway and was likely part of Belichick’s interview process, because that’s common practice. During interviews, schools want to know who a coach will potentially hire to his staff. Elko categorized priority staff hires into four “critical” areas: on-field coaching staff, strength and conditioning staff, operations staff and a general manager. “Those positions really drive so many levels of your program, that you’ve gotta really hit on all of them,” Elko said in March. GMs have become a more common position throughout college football in recent years , though they typically don’t have as much power as an NFL GM. The head coach has the final say in most cases. Some schools have given their GMs more autonomy in player evaluation. Stanford recently took the bold step of hiring former quarterback Andrew Luck as the program’s GM and tapping him to oversee all aspects of the program, including player personnel and the coaching staff. That’s a first-of-its-kind move in college football. But Lombardi will set the tone for player evaluation and recruiting at UNC. And recruiting staffs at Power 4 programs have grown immensely in the last decade. In the early 2010s, you could count recruiting staffers on one hand at most schools. Now, Elko said Texas A&M’s current recruiting and personnel department has 14 people. At most programs, some staff is devoted to high school recruiting, some is devoted to scouting college personnel for the portal. When asked how “hands-on” he would be with recruiting, Belichick said “the recruiting process belongs to everyone. “It belongs to Michael and his scouting staff and evaluations and setting that up the recruiting department in terms of making this an attractive destination for the athlete,” he said. “But it’s also part of the coaching job and certainly the head coach has a big role as well.” Advertisement Coordinator and on-field staff hires go hand-in-hand with recruiting because Belichick needs players who fit what he wants to run. His son, Steve Belichick — who worked under his father in New England and spent the 2024 season with the Washington Huskies — is expected to be part of the staff . Filling out the rest of the staff will take time, as it does with any coaching change. On Thursday, Belichick didn’t specify whether he would target mostly NFL coaches or college coaches for his staff, but said there will be “a strong presence of NFL people” on the staff. “We’ll hire the best coaches we can hire,” he said. He alluded to coaches in the Playoff or bowl games: “I wouldn’t interfere with the process at those schools with their commitments to their teams.” That suggests it will take some time to fill out his staff. And the college GMs say it’s worth meeting with members of Brown’s staff who are still there. Some incumbent employees, especially in team operations or recruiting operations, may have institutional knowledge of the school or the local area that is helpful to utilize. Many new head coaches clear out an entire staff, but some retain select assistants. “You can fail or not meet the standard and get let go, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t good coaches on that staff,” the Big 12 GM said. “You could have a group of really good coaches and things just don’t go your way. I think he would be smart to use whatever context he has to figure out who the good ones are, meet with them and decide who to retain.” Though Belichick is new to college football coaching, it’s unlikely he’s going into this blind. During his interview with McAfee, he seemed to have a grasp of the different areas he needs to tackle. His son’s time at Washington will inform him, and retired Alabama coach Nick Saban, who was a defensive coordinator for Belichick with the Cleveland Browns in the 1990s, has remained a close friend for 40 years. And college football’s evolution to parallel the NFL in many ways should make the transition easier. “There’s certainly some differences, but there are some parallels,” Belichick said Thursday. “And I think that’s the reason for the general structure of Michael as a general manager and myself as a coach and working together collaboratively like we have done in a professional organization.” What’s clear is that Belichick has a lot to do and little time to do it. There are 261 days until the Tar Heels host TCU in their 2025 season opener, but the building blocks of that team, from coaches to players, will be constructed in the coming days and weeks. Advertisement Wes Fritz called his initial time at Houston “very hectic” as he tried to attack the portal and shore up the recruiting class while his father hired a coaching staff. He arrived at Houston on Dec. 4, 2023 and stayed in hotels for two weeks straight while navigating the frenzy of portal and recruiting season. “There are so many different things happening in such a short amount of time,” Fritz said. “It was a total blur. ... It’s a lot of fun, though. You just have to embrace it.” More on Belichick’s unprecedented hire (Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
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Riding a 3-game win streak, the Bengals cling to playoff hopes with the Broncos nextIf you are on the hunt for new ASX dividend shares to buy, then read on. Four that have recently been given buy ratings are listed below. Here's why they could be top options for income investors right now: ( ) Analysts at Bell Potter think that Aspen Group could be an ASX dividend share to buy. It is a leading provider of quality affordable accommodation across residential, land lease, and holiday park communities. The broker currently has a buy rating and $2.75 price target on its shares. As for dividends, it is forecasting dividends per share of 9.5 cents in FY 2025 and then 10.3 cents in FY 2026. Based on the current Aspen share price of $2.47, this will mean of 4% and 4.2%, respectively. ( ) Another ASX dividend share that could be a buy according to Bell Potter is Dexus Convenience Retail REIT. It owns a quality portfolio of Australian service stations and convenience retail assets predominantly located on Australia's eastern seaboard. Bell Potter has a buy rating and $3.30 price target on its shares. In respect to income, the broker expecting the company to pay dividends per share of 20.6 cents in FY 2025 and then 21 cents in FY 2026. Based on its current share price of $2.88 this implies dividend yields of 7.15% and 7.3%, respectively. ( ) A third ASX dividend share that analysts are positive on is National Storage. It is the largest self-storage provider in Australia and New Zealand, with over 250 locations providing tailored storage solutions to in excess of 97,000 residential and commercial customers. Citi is bullish on the company and has a buy rating and $2.70 price target on its shares. As for income, it is forecasting dividends per share of 11.3 cents in FY 2025 and then 11.9 cents in FY 2026. Based on its current share price of $2.36, equates to dividend yields of 4.8% and 5%, respectively, for income investors. ( ) Finally, the team at Goldman Sachs thinks that Telstra could be an ASX dividend share to buy. Its analysts have a buy rating and $4.35 price target on the telco giant's shares. In respect to dividends, Goldman is forecasting fully franked dividends of 19 cents per share in FY 2025 and then 20 cents per share in FY 2026. Based on the current Telstra share price of $4.03, this represents dividend yields of 4.7% and 5%, respectively.
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What do the Seahawks’ playoff odds look like after Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings? And who was to blame for the game-winning touchdown scored by the Vikings? Let’s review those questions in this week’s Four Downs with Seahawks beat reporter Bob Condotta. A: Yes they do. But as everyone noted after the game, the Seahawks no longer control their own destiny, which was the biggest loss Sunday. To recap, the Rams are 9-6 after winning for the eighth time in 10 games Sunday against the Jets while the Seahawks fell to 8-7. Sunday’s results mean the Seahawks' only realistic path to the postseason is for the Rams to lose their final two — Saturday night against Arizona and the following weekend against the Seahawks, both at SoFi Stadium. That means the most important game for the Seahawks' playoff hopes is one in which they won’t be playing — the Arizona-Rams game. If the Rams beat Arizona, then regardless of a loss to the Seahawks, L.A. will almost certainly win a tiebreaker thanks to a better strength of victory — a lead that would be strengthened with a victory over Arizona which has seven wins (the Bears have only four). According to The Pro Football Network, L.A. has a nine-game edge in that tiebreaker heading into Monday night’s Saints-Packers game, 60 wins by their combined opponents to 51 wins. According to The Upshot’s playoff calculator, a win by the Saints over Green Bay Monday night — L.A. beat New Orleans earlier this year — would all but assure that the Seahawks could not overtake the Rams in strength of victory. The Seahawks have a 12% chance to win the division, via The Upshot (and hey, that number is a good omen!). Wins by the Seahawks and Cardinals this week improve the Seahawks' playoff odds to 36%, or essentially the odds The Upshot gives of the Seahawks being able to beat the Rams at SoFi Stadium. Because of the strength-of-victory tiebreaker, losses by the Rams and Seahawks this weekend leave the playoff percentages basically the same — 35%. A Rams’ loss to Arizona means the Seattle-L.A. game is winner-take-all regardless of what the Seahawks do against Chicago. That’s because if the Seahawks beat the Rams and each team finishes at 9-8, the Seahawks would get the nod. That’s because the two teams would have split the season series, which is the first tiebreaker. In that scenario the Seahawks would win the second tiebreaker, which is division record, at 4-2 to the Rams’ 3-3. We’ll know by Saturday night if there is any life left in the Seahawks' season. A: As noted, two wins and a Rams win over Arizona leaves the Seahawks with a less than 1% shot of making the playoffs, via The Upshot. Those odds are the same for the division and a wild-card spot — meaning, there remains at least a chance. At least according to The Upshot’s model. ESPN Analytics stated Monday the Seahawks have no shot at a wild card. A: Well, the Cardinals did beat the Rams in Glendale 41-10 on Sept. 15 in a result that wasn’t a fluke — Arizona outgained L.A. 489-245. That was before each team’s seasons took drastic turns. While L.A. is one of the hottest teams in the NFL, the Cardinals are one of the coldest, losing four of five, including an overtime defeat Sunday at Carolina. That loss by Arizona also ended their playoff hopes, a drastic fall when you consider that the Cardinals were 6-4 and all alone in first place in the NFC West before coming to Seattle and losing on Nov. 17. Can the Cardinals find the gumption to go to L.A. and get a win? The Vegas oddsmakers don’t think so, installing the Rams as six-point favorites. But it’s the NFL, and on any given Sunday ... A: Minnesota scored the final points of the game on a 39-yard TD pass from Sam Darnold to Justin Jefferson on a first-and-10 play that followed a face-mask penalty on Byron Murphy II that negated a sack. Jefferson broke open down the sideline, running past cornerback Riq Woolen and catching the pass at the goal line as safety Julian Love raced over in a vain attempt to break it up. Macdonald explained after the game that the Seahawks were in a Cover Two zone. He didn’t go into more detail than that, but that defense generally calls for the cornerback — Woolen — to cover the flat/sideline area of the field and for the safeties to have the deep responsibility. That’s why Woolen would allow Jefferson to run past him, assuming the safety is coming over to pick him up. Many seemed to focus their blame on Woolen — the NFL Network’s Maurice Jones-Drew, for instance, who said, “I don’t know what Woolen was doing" during a replay of the TD. It's more likely the responsibility fell on Love to get over there quickly. Pro Football Focus assigned the blame to Love. Asked about the play again Monday, Macdonald said he would not publicly assess specific blame. But he did say that he thought the called defense was appropriate for the situation. “We’ll get that fixed in house and we’ve got to move forward,’’ Macdonald said. “But (for) those chunk situations, I thought we had a good plan and we just didn’t get it done.’’ Darnold, who had to step up to avoid pressure, seemed to say that it was Love's position that compelled him to throw the ball to Jefferson. “Jeff (Jefferson) is doing a great job of feeling that zone, and feeling the crowd, to get a little bit of width to get away from the safety,’’ Darnold said. “And I felt like I needed to give him a shot, put it on his back hip and let him do the rest.’’ The tragedy for the Seahawks is that it was the team’s only big defensive breakdown in the game — it just happened to come at the worst possible time. The Vikings are averaging 5.6 yards per play for the season but had just 4.8 on Sunday and didn’t have a play of longer than 27 yards until the TD that won it.Kendrick Lamar surprises with new album 'GNX'Now and then, one needs the sobering reminder that Democrats and their establishment media minions have brainwashed millions of Americans. For instance, Sunday on the social media platform X, 32-year-old guard of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury dutifully regurgitated establishment propaganda with respect to X owner , whom Democrats have recently given the same harsh and dishonest treatment they once reserved for President-elect Donald Trump. “So when y’all gone tell Elon to go back to Africa?” Cloud posted. So when y’all gone tell Elon to go back to Africa? — Natasha Cloud (@T_Cloud4) Musk, of course, hails originally from Pretoria, South Africa. Cloud then followed up her own post with a predictably ill-informed comment about Musk’s role in helping to defeat a gargantuan, pork-filled spending bill in the House of Representatives last week. “Im so glad ALL these billionaires have no idea how the 3 branches of government work....or how a bill gets passed into law. Shoutout to the 38 Republicans who shot the bill down in the House while being threatened & blackmailed,” Cloud wrote. Im so glad ALL these billionaires have no idea how the 3 branches of government work....or how a bill gets passed into law. Shoutout to the 38 Republicans who shot the bill down in the House while being threatened & blackmailed. — Natasha Cloud (@T_Cloud4) Former Republican presidential candidate , whom Trump tapped along with Musk to help rein in government spending and tame the federal bureaucracy by leading the new temporary agency known as the Department of Government Efficiency, read the mammoth House bill — in excess of 1,500 pages — and posted his objections to it Wednesday on X. Then, helped lead a public pressure campaign against the bill. He also suggested that any House members who voted for said bill should face political consequences in two years. A significantly truncated bill eventually the House, albeit not without debt-related from . Thus, Cloud presumably had those conservatives in mind when she gave a “shoutout” to the “38 Republicans” — although it was only 34 Republican representatives who ultimately voted against the bill. Either way, it makes little difference. For one thing, WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark recently to her own league’s woke mob. Now, hopefully, conservatives can stop pretending to care about that league and its privileged, resentment-filled players. Above all, however, Cloud’s post showed the effectiveness of the establishment’s anti-Musk propaganda. Never mind the irony of Cloud using Musk’s free speech platform to call — perhaps sarcastically — for his deportation. No average American voter of even modest intelligence could have viewed the House’s pork-filled spending bill with anything but outrage. Nonetheless, rather than excoriate the thieves in Congress who tried to plunder more of Americans’ money, Cloud criticized Musk. In other words, she had no idea what abominations the bill contained. She knew only that the establishment and its media minions told her to hate , much like Trump before him. We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. . For more A.F. Branco cartoons, go to WesternJournal.com/cartoons.
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The Yomiuri Shimbun 5:00 JST, November 28, 2024 The Yomiuri Shimbun will establish a new stock price index, The Yomiuri Stock Index, in March 2025. The index, also dubbed the Yomiuri 333, will indicate the movement of stock prices and is aimed at expanding the range of options for investors by developing a new benchmark for the Japanese economy. With the new project designed to encourage domestic and foreign investment in Japanese companies, The Yomiuri Shimbun will make a contribution to a virtuous economic cycle that widely returns the fruits of corporate growth to the people in addition to investors. The Yomiuri 333 will be provided in collaboration with a major financial group, and will be composed of 333 companies that represent Japan and are among the names listed on stock exchanges in the country. Along with the Tokyo Stock Price Index (TOPIX) and the Nikkei Stock Average (Nikkei 225), the Yomiuri 333 will become a stock index demonstrating Japan’s economic strength. The unit of measurement for the new index will be the Japanese yen. The key feature of the Yomiuri 333 is that it will adopt the equal weighting method in calculating the index, in which all 333 companies’ stocks are incorporated in the same proportion. The new index will exhibit average price movements of the constituent stocks, making it less susceptible to the movements of large corporations or specific companies by equally incorporating the movements of all the 333 companies’ stocks. Equal-weighted indices have been used overseas but have not been widely adopted in Japan. TOPIX is a capitalization-weighted index, which tends to reflect the size of a company’s market capitalization, and the price movements of large companies have a significant impact on it. The Nikkei 225 is a price-weighted index, which can be influenced by the price movements of certain stocks with high share prices because it is calculated using the share price of each constituent stock. Unlike these indices, the Yomiuri 333 aims at equally reflecting the price movements of a wider range of stocks. Investors will be able to grasp the degree of economic growth in Japan through the Yomiuri 333 if the economy continues to grow over the long term. For investors, the available options for asset building will be broadened by using the Yomiuri 333 as it will become a new benchmark for understanding economic trends in the country. A major asset management company is preparing to develop financial products linked to the Yomiuri 333, including investment trusts, from the spring of 2025 or later. The Yomiuri Shimbun also aims for the Yomiuri 333 to be an index that will be used for the new NISA, or Nippon Individual Savings Account, a tax-exempt program for small investments by individuals. Investment trusts linked to the index are also expected to be created. The Yomiuri Shimbun supports long-term, stable asset creation for the people by offering an index corresponding to long-term, cumulative and diversified investments.
NBA fines Minnesota guard Edwards $75,000 for outburst“We had another outstanding quarter with record revenue and positive Adjusted EBITDA...We are very excited with our VSDHOne release and onboarding clients to increase our growth pace” - Shane Madden, CEO of Hydreight VANCOUVER, British Columbia and LAS VEGAS, Nov. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hydreight Technologies Inc. (“Hydreight” or the “Company”) ( TSXV: NURS )( OTCQB: HYDTF )( FSE: SO6 ), a fast-growing mobile clinical network and medical platform which enables flexible at-home medical services across 50 states in the United States, is pleased to announce its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024. All financial information is presented in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated. Summary of Q3, 2024 Financial Highlights: Shane Madden, CEO of Hydreight commented, “We had an outstanding quarter with record revenue, Adjusted EBITDA1 and Adjusted Revenue1. We are very excited for our “VSDHONE” products expansion and cashflow from that in the upcoming year”. Madden continues "Our balance sheet and P&L reflect a provision for US sales and use tax where we have taken the most conservative approach in recognizing a liability of uncertain timing and amount based on our internal and preliminary assessment of sales and use tax nexus under the most expansive taxability assumptions. Given the complexity of our corporate structure and State excise tax laws and regulations, we have engaged external tax professionals to prepare a detailed review of our corporate structure to determine the Company’s liability for sales and use tax by revenue stream at the State-by-State level. We anticipate the liability to be settled at an amount materially less than the provision. The Company believes the following Non-GAAP1 financial measures provide meaningful insight to aid in the understanding of the Company’s performance and may assist in the evaluation of the Company’s business relative to that of its peers: 1 Refer to Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures The table below sets out a summary of certain financial results of the Company over the past eight quarters and is derived from the audited annual consolidated financial statements and unaudited quarterly consolidated financial statements of the Company. The Company has experienced dramatic user growth over the past two years as can be seen by the consistent revenue growth over the past eight quarters. The Company continues to deliver on its mission of building one of the largest mobile clinical networks in the United States. Through its medical network, pharmacy network and proprietary technology platform that adheres to the complex healthcare legislation across 50 states, Hydreight has provided a fully integrated solution for healthcare providers to become independent contractors. Hydreight remains focused on its strategic priorities of (1) Profitability (2) adding more product and service offerings for its customers, (3) introducing Hydreight story with more potential shareholders (4) driving white label partnerships and Nurses to the platform and (5) looking for strategic tuck in M&A opportunities to scale and grow the business quickly and efficiently . Hydreight will continue to invest into its technology to ensure continuous improvements, advancements and updates adhering to changes within the healthcare industry. Please see SEDAR + for the Company's condensed interim consolidated unaudited financial statements and MD&A for the three and six months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023 and for the Company’s audited annual consolidated financial statements and MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022. About VSDHOne - Direct to Consumer Platform In a partnership with two other parties, Hydreight Technologies launched the VSDHOne (Read as VSDH-One)platform. VSDHOne simplifies the entry challenges for companies and medi-spa businesses to enter the online healthcare space compliantly. This platform will help all businesses to launch a direct-to-consumer healthcare brand in a matter of days in all 50 states. Compliant offerings include: GLP-1s (semaglutide, tirzepatide), peptides, personalized healthcare treatments, sermorelin, testosterone replacement therapy (“TRT”), hair loss, skincare, sexual health and more. Hydreight invested in technology, legal and infrastructure to launch this platform. The VSDHOne platform offers a complete, end-to-end solution for businesses looking to launch direct-to-consumer healthcare brands. From compliance and telemedicine technology to nationwide doctor and pharmacy networks, VSDHOne provides all the tools needed for a seamless entry into the online healthcare space. The platform is designed to significantly reduce the time and costs associated with launching such services, making it possible for businesses to go live in days instead of months. About Hydreight Technologies Inc. Hydreight Technologies Inc. is building one of the largest mobile clinic networks in the United States. Its proprietary, fully integrated platform hosts a network of over 2500 nurses, over 100 doctors and a pharmacy network across 50 states. The platform includes a built-in, easy-to-use suite of fully integrated tools for accounting, documentation, sales, inventory, booking, and managing patient data, which enables licensed healthcare professionals to provide services directly to patients at home, office or hotel. Hydreight is bridging the gap between provider compliance and patient convenience, empowering nurses, med spa technicians, and other licensed healthcare professionals. The Hydreight platform allows healthcare professionals to deliver services independently, on their own terms, or to add mobile services to existing location-based operations. Hydreight has a 503B pharmacy network servicing all 50 states and is closely affiliated with a U.S. certified e-script and telemedicine provider network. On behalf of the Board of Directors Shane Madden Director and Chief Executive Officer Hydreight Technologies Inc. Contact Email: ir@hydreight.com ; Telephone: (702) 970 8112 This press release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States. The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and such securities may not be offered or sold within the United States absent U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from U.S. registration requirements. Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures: This release contains references to non-GAAP financial measures Adjusted Revenue (also referred to as Topline Revenue), Adjusted Gross Margin, and Adjusted EBITDA. The Company defines Adjusted Revenue as gross cash income before adjustment for the deferred portion of business partner contract revenue and gross receipts from Hydreight App service sales. The Company defines Adjusted Gross Margin as GAAP gross margin plus inventory impairment plus the deferred portion of business partner contract revenue. The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and before (i) transaction, restructuring, and integration costs and share-based payments expense, and (iii) gains/losses that are not reflective of ongoing operating performance. The Company believes that the measures provide information useful to its shareholders and investors in understanding the Company’s operating cash flow growth, user growth, and cash generating potential for funding working capital requirements, service future interest and principal debt repayments and fund future growth initiatives. These non-GAAP measures may assist in the evaluation of the Company’s business relative to that of its peers more accurately than GAAP financial measures alone. This data is furnished to provide additional information and does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP. Accordingly, it should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with GAAP and is not necessarily indicative of other metrics presented in accordance with GAAP. Neither TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States. The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and such securities may not be offered or sold within the United States absent U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from U.S. registration requirements. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This press release contains statements which constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the plans, path to profitability, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company with respect to future business activities and operating performance. Forward-looking information is often identified by the words “may”, “would”, “could”, “should”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” or similar expressions and includes information regarding expectations for the Company's growth and profitability in 2024. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking information is not based on historical facts but instead reflects the Company’s management’s expectations, estimates or projections concerning future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements of the Company. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: the ability to obtain requisite regulatory and other approvals with respect to the business operated by the Company and/or the potential impact of the listing of the Company’s shares on the TSXV on relationships, including with regulatory bodies, employees, suppliers, customers and competitors; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; changes in applicable laws; compliance with extensive government regulation; and the diversion of management time as a result of being a publicly listed entity. This forward-looking information may be affected by risks and uncertainties in the business of the Company and market conditions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information except as otherwise required by applicable law. 1See Use of Non-GAAP Financial MeasuresAlmost five years ago we predicted that electricity sales would start to grow again and that utility capital expenditures would soar. And we said that the industry was not spending enough. Apart from patting ourselves on the back, here are the latest numbers confirming our long-held view. Figure 1 shows the five-year spending of investor-owned utilities (IOUs) on electric plants in current dollars. Note how the numbers peaked in the early eighties, fell off, and finally picked up in this century. More meaningfully, Figure 2 shows the five-year spending program as a percent of the beginning of the period electric plant in service. This figure shows the same pattern in a different way. But that is history. if(window.innerWidthADVERTISEMENTfreestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: "oilprice_medrec_atf", slotId: "oilprice_medrec_atf" });';document.write(write_html);} Figure 1. IOU electric capital spending ($ billions) Figure 2. IOU electric CAPEX as % of the beginning of period electric gross plant in service We would guess that the costs of construction have risen perhaps 30% between 2015-2019 and 2020-24. If so, industry spending barely rose in real terms. The industry’s projection for the next two years shows spending around current levels, a number that we regard as risible. Utility management has been behind in spending for years. if(window.innerWidth ADVERTISEMENTfreestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: "oilprice_medrec_btf", slotId: "oilprice_medrec_btf" });`;document.write(write_html);} All of this means higher prices. Let’s say that volume (in kWh) rises 3% a year and operating expenses (half the expense budge) also rise 3%. So far so good. But capital costs (the other half of the expense budget) rise 9%. Total costs then increase by 6% a year, so electric companies have to raise prices by 3% a year. Why should the asset base grow faster than sales.? Two reasons. First, because new equipment (whether conventional or renewable) costs a lot more than equipment purchased years ago. Second, the electric company is also adding equipment that should have been installed years ago. It is playing catch-up. Now that Trump has won the election, and concerns about climate and pollution fall by the wayside, and new data centers demand electricity (and huge amounts of water) we expect capital spending to go up even more. “This is what we have been waiting (stalling?) for”, the industry’s executives clamor gleefully. “We can build gas-fired power stations and that’s what we always wanted to do. So let’s do it.” What about utility customers? Well, new equipment costs a lot more than old equipment, interest costs are higher than they were a few years ago, and more pro-business regulators are now in charge of the chicken coop. This all leads us to anticipate higher electricity prices in the US. One thing is for sure, though. Construction/engineering firms, bond and stock dealers, and gas producers will make a lot more money in the electricity business. By Leonard Hyman and William Tilles for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.comTexans WR depth chart: How Diontae Johnson can replace injured Tank Dell for 2024 playoff run | Sporting News
DoorDash will require its drivers to verify their identities more often as part of a larger effort to crack down on unauthorized account sharing. DoorDash has been under pressure to ensure its drivers are operating legally. Over the summer, for example, it pledged to do a better job dangerous drivers after a flood of complaints of dangerous driving from cities. Officials in Boston, New York and other cities have said that in many cases, people with multiple traffic violations continue to make deliveries using accounts registered to others. The said Thursday it was requiring some drivers to complete real-time identity checks immediately after they complete a delivery. Previously, drivers were occasionally asked to re-verify their identities before or after a shift. DoorDash has introduced the new system in Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle and other cities, and said it planned a wider rollout next year. DoorDash said it also has developed an advanced machine learning system that can flag potential unauthorized account access, including login anomalies and suspicious activity. If the company detects a problem, it will require drivers to re-verify their identity before they can . U.S. drivers must verify their identities with a driver’s license or other government-issued identification, and upload a selfie that matches their identification photo before they can do work for DoorDash. They also must submit to background checks, which require a Social Security number. The company said it found that some drivers were getting around the requirements by sharing accounts with authorized users. In some cases, drivers who were not authorized to drive for DoorDash paid authorized users for access to their accounts. Some federal lawmakers have demanded that DoorDash and other delivery apps do a better job of keeping people who are in the U.S. illegally off the platforms. Republican U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Braun of Indiana and Ted Budd of North Carolina sent letters to delivery companies in April asking them to crack down on account sharing. “These illegal immigrants are delivering food directly to consumers’ doors without ever having undergone a background check and often without even using their real names,” the letter said. It added that working illegally can also be dangerous for migrants, creating the potential for exploitation and abuse. The Associated Press left messages seeking comment Thursday with Gig Workers Rising and Justice for App Workers, which both represent delivery drivers. DoorDash won’t estimate how many drivers are using shared accounts, but said its safeguards are effective. Last year, it began asking drivers to re-verify their identities monthly by submitting a selfie. The company said it is now asking more than 150,000 drivers to complete selfie checks each week, and it’s removing them from the platform if they don’t comply.
ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark took issue with De'Vondre Campbell's refusal to enter the Thursday Night Football game against the Los Angeles Rams. The veteran linebacker Campbell, who was replaced in the lineup by Dre Greenlaw entering the Week 14 game, even left the field altogether during the 49ers ' 12-9 loss to the Rams. After Greenlaw felt knee tightness in the third quarter, Campbell declined to play in the game . After the contest, 49ers players Charvarius Ward and George Kittle aired out their frustrations with Campbell's decision. Clark appeared on ESPN's Get Up and echoed their sentiments. "Why would you want him on your team?” the former Pittsburgh Steelers champion defensive back asked on the Friday edition of the program. Read More on NFL Clark also said that Campbell missed his opportunity to display his talents to the rest of the league. "I’m playing to show... that I could be a valuable piece to [a team's] locker room," he said. "It’s not just about my former All-Pro years and what I can do in the grass, it’s about the leadership that I can provide in the locker room. "It’s about having some sort of football integrity, some sort of football character. Most read in American Football "And for people like us, Bart [Scott], right? The people that weren’t entitled to anything. The people that were cut off of football teams. ... Was to go out and say, ‘Put the film on, look at 57, look at 59, and tell me who played better.' "And what he also has to remember: he has no deposits into the San Francisco 49ers’ emotional bank account. Dre Greenlaw has all of those deposits." Clark then mentioned the fact that Greenlaw tore his Achilles during last season's Super Bowl and that all of the 49ers players were "dejected" to see the team's 2019 fifth-round pick suffer the serious injury. "That’s the sort of man that you’re replacing, and you did a good job,” Clark added. "Now, do the rest of your job. And when you’re called upon again, stand up for your team. The 45-year-old finished his rant, by saying. "As a brotherhood, [Greenlaw] should never play again." 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed on Friday that Campbell will not play another down as a 49er. The team is still figuring out if they will cut Campbell from his one-year, $5 million contract or suspend him. "We're working the semantics of exactly how to deal with it," Shanahan said. "You guys heard from me last night. You guys heard from our players. "His actions from the game is not something you can do to your team or your teammates and still expect to be a part of our team." Read More on The US Sun Campbell entered the Week 14 contest with 79 tackles. He has spent time with the Atlanta Falcons , Arizona Cardinals , and Green Bay Packers .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: 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 an airstrike targeted Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon, without saying if the strike was in Khiam. 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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Lebawit Lily Girma | (TNS) Bloomberg News When winter rolls around, travelers predictably turn their attention to beaches. And this year, it’s the destination that comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean” that’s experiencing outsize demand from Americans planning a warm island vacation. Talk about trashing stereotypes. Related Articles Travel | TSA braces for more than 1 million holiday travelers at DIA Travel | Would you pay $700 a night to sleep under the stars at this Colorado resort? Travel | Thailand’s starring role in ‘The White Lotus’ is about to pay off Travel | 5 under-the-radar travel destinations the UN says you should visit Travel | Gift ideas for people planning their next trip Puerto Rico has recovered overseas visitors (excluding those from Canada and Mexico) faster than any U.S. state or territory — a staggering 85% increase over its 2019 overseas inbound visitor levels as of 2023, according to an October study from the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office. There are now more daily flights from the U.S. West Coast, and hotel bookings are 6% higher so far in this last quarter of 2024 year-over-year. It’s a trifecta of tourism growth: more visitors, but also longer stays and a higher spend that reached a record $9.8 billion in 2023, boosting small businesses as well as major brands. “We don’t have a slow season in Puerto Rico anymore,” says Brad Dean, chief executive officer at Discover Puerto Rico. Even if they’re not booking, people are dreaming about “La Isla.” By tracking flight searches for trips between November 2024 and February 2025, a measure of “inspirational” demand, tourism intelligence company Mabrian Technologies reports Puerto Rico is up 9% compared with the same period last year and leads Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Bahamas in the Caribbean proper. Only Costa Rica ranked higher in the wider region. Dean attributes Puerto Rico’s ongoing tourism growth to a strategic effort to reposition the island’s brand as more than a sun-and-sea destination, starting back in 2018. That led to the Live Boricua campaign, which began in 2022 and leaned heavily on culture, history and cuisine and was, Dean says, “a pretty bold departure” in the way Puerto Rico was showcased to travelers. He adds that at least $2 billion in tourism spend is linked to this campaign. “We (also) haven’t shied away from actively embracing the LGBTQ+ community, and that has opened up Puerto Rico to audiences that may not have considered the Caribbean before,” Dean says. Hotels are preparing to meet this growing demand: A number of established boutique properties are undergoing upgrades valued between $4 million and more than $50 million, including Hotel El Convento; La Concha, which will join the Marriott Autograph Collection; Condado Vanderbilt Hotel; and the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar. That’s in addition to ultra-chic options that are coming online in 2025, including the adults-only Alma San Juan, with rooms overlooking Plaza Colón in the heart of Old San Juan, and the five-star Veranó boutique hotel in San Juan’s trendy Santurce neighborhood. The beachfront Ritz-Carlton San Juan in Isla Verde will also be reopening seven years after Hurricane Maria decimated the island. The travel industry’s success is helping boost employment on the island, to the tune of 101,000 leisure and hospitality jobs as of September 2024, a 26% increase over pre-pandemic levels, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Efforts to promote Puerto Rico’s provinces beyond the San Juan metro area — such as surfing hub Rincón on the west coast, historical Ponce on the south coast and Orocovis for nature and coffee haciendas in the central mountains —have spread the demand to small businesses previously ignored by the travel industry. Take Sheila Osorio, who leads workshops on Afro-Puerto Rican bomba music and dance at Taller Nzambi, in the town of Loíza, 15 miles east of San Juan; or Wanda Otero, founder of cheese-producing company Vaca Negra in Hatillo, an hour’s drive west of Old San Juan, where you can join a cheese-making workshop and indulge in artisanal cheese tastings. “The list of businesses involved in tourism has gone from 650 in 2018 to 6,100, many of which are artists and artisans,” Dean says. While New Yorkers and Miami residents have always been the largest visitor demographic, Dean says more mainland Americans now realize that going to Puerto Rico means passport-free travel to enjoy beaches, as well as opportunities to dine in Michelin-rated restaurants, hike the only rainforest in the U.S. and kayak in a bioluminescent bay. Visitors from Chicago and Dallas, for example, have increased by approximately 40% from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, compared with the same period in 2022-2023, and more travelers are expected from Denver now that United Airlines Holdings Inc. has kicked off its first nonstop service to San Juan, beginning on Oct. 29. Previously, beach destinations that were easy to reach on direct flights from Denver included Mexico, Belize and California, but now Puerto Rico joins that list with a 5.5-hour nonstop route that cuts more than two hours from the next-best option. Given United Airlines’ hub in San Francisco, it could mean more travelers from the Golden State in the near future, too. In December, U.S. airlines will have 3,000 more seats per day to the territory compared with the same period last year, for a total of 84,731 — surpassing even Mexico and the Dominican Republic in air capacity, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, the island’s primary gateway, is projecting a record volume of 13 million passengers by year’s end — far surpassing the 9.4 million it saw in 2019. As for Hinchcliffe’s “floating island of garbage” line, Dean says it was “a terribly insensitive attempt at humor” that transformed outrage into a marketing silver lining, with an outpouring of positive public sentiment and content on Puerto Rico all over social media. Success, as that old chestnut goes, may be the best revenge. “It was probably the most efficient influencer campaign we’ve ever had,” Dean says, “a groundswell of visitors who posted their photos and videos and said, ‘This is the Puerto Rico that I know.’” ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Martinez parades goalkeeper awards and justifies them with wonder save for Villa in Champions League