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ps 78 Showers and a few storms are possible Thanksgiving DayJulián Álvarez picking up the scoring pace with Atletico Madrid

Saskatchewan NDP MLA Jared Clarke tore into Premier Scott Moe during a speech in the legislature on Tuesday, criticizing Moe's actions during the recent provincial election campaign and demanding an apology for a proposed policy Clarke believes was targeted at his children. "[The Saskatchewan Party's] legacy is attacking vulnerable kids. Prove me wrong," Clarke said. Clarke's speech during question period Tuesday lasted roughly 13 minutes, much of it spent taking Moe to task for a policy the Saskatchewan Party leader touted during the campaign as his "first order of business" if re-elected . Moe said his government would establish a policy restricting students' use of change rooms in schools to their sex assigned at birth. Throughout the announcement Moe frequently used the term "biological boys," which can be used to imply that transgender people are still their assigned sex at birth, despite their identity. WATCH | Sask. MLA says premier 'put a target on the back' of his trans kids with proposed change room policy: Sask. MLA says premier 'put a target on the back' of his trans kids with proposed change room policy 9 minutes ago Duration 4:37 Sask. NDP MLA Jared Clarke criticized Premier Scott Moe and demanded an apology for a proposed policy that would restrict students' use of changerooms in the province's schools to their sex assigned at birth. Clarke's transgender children were singled out in a newspaper story about the policy. The policy was not part of the party's election platform, which had been released just days before Moe's announcement. It was immediately flagged by experts and families who said it would put transgender children at risk . Before Moe announced the policy, news outlet the Western Standard published a story featuring a parent saying their daughter had been uncomfortable in a change room with two other students who identified as female, but were assigned male at birth, at a south Saskatchewan school. Sask. Party's '1st order of business' to be gendered change room policy in schools: Scott Moe Premier Scott Moe unveils new, smaller Sask. cabinet and says change room policy no longer 1st priority In his comments Tuesday, Clarke confirmed that the two children referenced in the Western Standard story were his. "The premier put a target on the back of my two 12-year-old kids," Clarke said. In response to a request for comment on Clarke's speech, a government spokesperson provided a statement. "The Minister of Education and then the Premier commented on this matter in response to questions from the media," it said. "At no point did they identify any students. The Premier and his campaign consistently stated that, 'the identity of individual minors should never be part of any political debate.'" Gendered change room policy in Sask. schools would put trans kids at risk, say advocates, families Teachers were sent degrading messages after Sask. Party promised change room ban: STF Clarke said his children's photos were circulated on social media and his family was targeted by hateful comments. The Saskatchewan Teachers Federation says teachers received degrading messages in response to the news in the following days . Clarke described the proposed policy as part of the premier's "legacy" and demanded an apology from Moe. "Transgender kids are not scary. Transgender people are not scary. They are not people that we should be afraid of. They are people who deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and love," he said. Moe backed off the policy after securing another majority government , saying it would be part of discussions held between elected school boards and Minister of Education Everett Hindley.Running back Jace Clarizio flipped his commitment from his local team, Michigan State, to Alabama. The decision, announced by Clarizio on social media Tuesday, comes after the East Lansing (Mich.) High standout visited head coach Kalen DeBoer's Crimson Tide on Nov. 16. "Great program," Clarizio told On3. "Playing on the biggest level. ... All the people and coaches I met and interacted with were all great people. The atmosphere was crazy." The 5-foot-11, 195-pounder is ranked as the No. 33 running back by On3 and tabbed No. 35 in their industry ranking. In May, he had verbally committed to the Spartans, where his father, Craig Johnson, was a running back and defensive back who was a member of the 1987 Rose Bowl-winning squad under coach George Perles. --Field Level MediaOpeyemi Bamidele, the Leader of the Senate, has dismissed claims of an altercation between himself and the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, as unfounded. Jackson Ude shared on his X handle that Senator Bamidele allegedly raised his voice at Akpabio, accusing him of marginalizing lawmakers from the South by assigning lucrative committee positions to his associates in the North. In response, an unsigned statement from the Media Office of the Senate Leader labeled Ude as a known serial blackmailer and a “cash-and-carry” journalist. The statement addressed the alleged incident, asserting that there was no physical fight between Senator Opeyemi Bamidele and Senator Godswill Akpabio on Wednesday. “For the record, it is a verifiable fact that Senator Bamidele has never been involved in physical assault in over two decades of his political trajectory, not even when he was a young man leading the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) as President. “It is surprising that the purveyor of this misleading information in his selfish agenda and unprofessional conduct threw ethos of Journalism into waste bin and decided to feast on roadside gists to tarnish the image of the Senate Leader. “We are aware that the fake news is meant to cause disaffection within the Senate and by extension; heating up the political system. “To think that the Senate Leader, President of the Senate and other principal officers of the Senate together received the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. YU Dunhai and his delegation few minutes after leaving the plenary on Wednesday is a significant testimony against Ude’s imagination. “Further to this, photographs of the Chinese envoys with the leadership of the Senate were widely published in today’s major national newspapers. It is equally verifiable that the Senate Leader and the Senate President both drove out of the National Assembly premises in the same vehicle yesterday. “This time again, the Senate Leader is sounding a note of warning to all attention seekers in the ilk of Ude to be careful and not take the Leader’s gentlemanliness for granted. “Henceforth, the Leader will be forced to use the instrumentality of the law to protect himself and his office as enshrined in the CyberCrime Act 2015. We, therefore, urge the public to disregard this misinformation and treat it with the disrespect it deserves. Nigeria’s disruptive fifth columnists have been failing. This is another remarkable failure. The 10th Senate is a uniquely united assembly of noble and patriotic Nigerians, hence no subterfuge can alter the bond.” READ MORE FROM: NIGERIAN TRIBUNE Get real-time news updates from Tribune Online! Follow us on WhatsApp for breaking news, exclusive stories and interviews, and much more. 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SMU has plenty to play for when it closes the regular season against California on Saturday afternoon in Dallas. The Mustangs (10-1, 7-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), who checked in at No. 9 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday, would like to send their seniors off the right way. They would also like to complete a perfect regular season before appearing in the ACC title game in their first year in the conference. Most importantly, they want to continue to strengthen their playoff case. "You've got the College Football Playoff, so every game matters. That's what's so cool about it now. The regular season is important," SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. "We'd like to finish well in everything we do, particularly on Saturday, to finish off the regular season, continue our momentum into the following week. Hopefully, continue to show the committee and others that we're worthy of continuing to play this year." The Mustangs are a worthy playoff team to date. Kevin Jennings has established himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the country, throwing for 2,521 yards with 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also has rushed for 315 yards and four TDs. Brashard Smith has been another standout, rushing for 1,089 yards and 13 TDs. Defensively, the Mustangs rank tied for 14th in the country with 20 takeaways. "Obviously they've had a phenomenal season," Cal coach Justin Wilcox said of SMU. "As soon as you turn the tape on, it doesn't take very long to see why their record is what it is. They're very, very good really in every phase of the game - extremely explosive and quick and fast. They've got a dominant D-line. We've got a lot of challenges in front of us and our guys are excited for that." Cal (6-5, 2-5) is coming off an emotional win, defeating rival Stanford 24-21 on Saturday to secure a bowl berth. The Golden Bears will appear in consecutive bowls for the first time since 2018-19 and are now looking to clinch their first winning season since 2019. SMU is not overlooking Cal, as all five of the Golden Bears' losses have come by one score. "You'd be hard-pressed to find a better 6-5 team in America," Lashlee said. "I think you can conservatively say they very, very easily could be 9-2." Cal is led by quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who has thrown for 3,004 yards with 16 touchdowns and six interceptions. Tight end Jack Endries leads the team with 555 yards receiving, while wide receiver Nyziah Hunter has caught a team-leading five touchdowns. Defensively, Cal has the ACC's top scoring defense (20.7 points per game) and is tied with Clemson for the ACC's best turnover margin (plus-13). Defensive back Nohl Williams is the star of the group -- he leads the country with seven interceptions. Even though oddsmakers are heavily favoring SMU, Cal is going into the game with a simple mindset. "Our task at hand is to make the best bowl game right now," Mendoza said. "And the way to do that is to go into Dallas, give it our best and ruin SMU's season." Saturday will mark the first conference meeting between these ACC newcomers, and just the second meeting between the programs all time. SMU won a 13-6 game back in 1957. --Field Level MediaCHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes continues to build great chemistry with his tight end — just not the one you might think. Mahomes threw two touchdown passes to Noah Gray for the second straight week as the on Sunday. A week after losing at Buffalo, the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs (10-1) maintained their position atop the AFC. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content.FORT WASHINGTON, Pa., Dec. 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Toll Brothers, Inc. TOL ( TollBrothers.com ), the nation's leading builder of luxury homes, today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend to shareholders. The dividend of $0.23 per share will be paid on January 24, 2025 to shareholders of record on the close of business on January 10, 2025. ABOUT TOLL BROTHERS Toll Brothers, Inc., a Fortune 500 Company, is the nation's leading builder of luxury homes. The Company was founded 57 years ago in 1967 and became a public company in 1986. Its common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "TOL." The Company serves first-time, move-up, empty-nester, active-adult, and second-home buyers, as well as urban and suburban renters. Toll Brothers builds in over 60 markets in 24 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington, as well as in the District of Columbia. The Company operates its own architectural, engineering, mortgage, title, land development, insurance, smart home technology, and landscape subsidiaries. The Company also develops master-planned and golf course communities as well as operates its own lumber distribution, house component assembly, and manufacturing operations. In 2024, Toll Brothers marked 10 years in a row being named to the Fortune World's Most Admired CompaniesTM list and the Company's Chairman and CEO Douglas C. Yearley, Jr. was named one of 25 Top CEOs by Barron's magazine. Toll Brothers has also been named Builder of the Year by Builder magazine and is the first two-time recipient of Builder of the Year from Professional Builder magazine. For more information visit TollBrothers.com. Toll Brothers discloses information about its business and financial performance and other matters, and provides links to its securities filings, notices of investor events, and earnings and other news releases, on the Investor Relations section of its website (investors.TollBrothers.com). From Fortune, ©2024 Fortune Media IP Limited. All rights reserved. Used under license. CONTACT: Gregg Ziegler (215) 478-3820 gziegler@tollbrothers.com © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Our castrated world

Russian food prices are soaring — but no one dares blame Putin and the warMACON, Ga. (AP) — Myles Redding returned an interception 25 yards for a first-quarter touchdown and Whitt Newbauer threw a four-yard touchdown pass to start the fourth quarter as No. 7-seeded Mercer beat No. 10 Rhode Island 17—10 on Saturday. Mercer advances to the FCS semifinals for the first time and will face No. 2 North Dakota State, which beat No. 15 Abilene Christian 51-31. Redding swooped in front of Hunter Helms' intended receiver for his seventh interception of the season with 3:33 left in the first quarter, tying him with teammate TJ Moore for the most in the nation. Rhode Island got a 17-yard field goal from Ty Groff as time expired in the first half and took the lead late in the third quarter when Helms connected with Marquis Buchanan on a 56-yard touchdown for a 10-7 lead. Senior Dwayne McGee set up two fourth-quarter scores for the Bears, slashing through the right side for a 33-yard gain to give Mercer a first-and-goal at the Rhode Island 10. On third-and-goal from the 4, Newbauer found Adjatay Dabbs for the go-ahead touchdown. After the Bears twice forced the Rams to punt in their own half of the field, McGee ran 40 yards on first down to give Mercer a first down at the Rhode Island 25, setting up a 24-yard Reice Griffith field goal for the game's final score. McGee finished with 114 yards on 21 carries and CJ Miller added 81 yards on 10 carries for Mercer (11-2), which remained unbeaten in seven home games. Helms finished 22 of 33 passing for 266 yards and Buchanan caught 11 passes for 119 yards to lead Rhode Island (11-3), but the Rams managed just 46 yards on 26 carries on the ground. — Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

(BPT) - The holidays are almost here! It means parties and events, hustle and bustle ... and figuring out what to buy for everyone on your list. Sometimes it's hard to get inspired with great ideas that your nears and dears will love at a price you can afford, right? The good news? Inspiration + savings are covered this year. One of the top gifts of Holiday 2024 is technology, and there are a lot of deals out there right now. Done and done! Here are 5 ideas for hot tech gifts for everyone on your list. Smartphones for the family T-Mobile is running a hot deal right now. Get four new smartphones at T-Mobile — this includes Samsung Galaxy S24 and other eligible devices — and four lines for just $100/month . It doesn't get better than that! These new Galaxy phones are tech-tastic, too, with features like AI, Circle to Search with Google, which can be used to help solve math problems and translate entire pages of text in a different language, and Note Assist with Galaxy AI, which lets you focus on capturing your notes and then Note Assist will summarize, format and even translate them for you. High tech spiral notebook for students We've got to admit, this is pretty cool. The Rocketbook looks (a bit) like a regular spiral, paper notebook. Here's the high tech twist: You can take notes, capture ideas, brainstorm, draw — whatever you do on paper — on the pad, and the Rocketbook digitizes your doodles and saves to the cloud device of your choice. Then you simply wipe the pad clean and it's good to go. Look for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales at your favorite online retailer. Wrist-worthy smartwatches for athletes (or those who want to be) Everyone loves smartwatches (if you're not already tracking your sleep and heart rate, where have you been?) and the Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm & 45mm) takes it to the next level with features for athletes or anyone who may be setting fitness goals for the coming year. The watch has workout prompts like Real Time Guidance — audio and haptic cues for when to sprint, cool down or maintain pace. It gives you the ability to program your workouts and even monitors your cadence and stride. It also has Offline Maps, with driving navigation, search and maps. Here's the deal of the century: Get it for free at T-Mobile when adding a qualifying watch line. Cute wireless keyboard for people who are all thumbs Who else is annoyed by typing email or texts or social posts on a smartphone? The Logitech Multi-Device Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard solves that problem with style! It comes in sweet colors like lavender, it's wireless, it's small and portable, and it works with just about any device. Pop it into your backpack or purse and you'll never have to thumb-out a message again. Speakers perfect for hosting and giving Have a music lover in your life or need the perfect hosting gift? T-Mobile has you covered. For a limited time, you can get the JBL Clip 5 for free when you pick up a Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 9 . The JBL Clip 5 is an ultra-portable Bluetooth speaker perfect for those on the go and the Onyx Studio 9's sleek design and booming sound will take care of all your holiday hosting needs. For more tech-tastic holiday gift inspiration, check out T-Mobile's holiday gift guide at t-mobile.com/devices/tech-gifts .Will TikTok be banned in January? Here's where things stand as deadline nears

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Building the current crop of artificial intelligence chatbots has relied on specialized computer chips pioneered by Nvidia, which dominates the market and made itself the poster child of the AI boom. But the same qualities that make those graphics processor chips, or GPUs, so effective at creating powerful AI systems from scratch make them less efficient at putting AI products to work. That’s opened up the AI chip industry to rivals who think they can compete with Nvidia in selling so-called AI inference chips that are more attuned to the day-to-day running of AI tools and designed to reduce some of the huge computing costs of generative AI. “These companies are seeing opportunity for that kind of specialized hardware,” said Jacob Feldgoise, an analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. “The broader the adoption of these models, the more compute will be needed for inference and the more demand there will be for inference chips.” It takes a lot of computing power to make an AI chatbot. It starts with a process called training or pretraining — the “P” in ChatGPT — that involves AI systems “learning” from the patterns of huge troves of data. GPUs are good at doing that work because they can run many calculations at a time on a network of devices in communication with each other. However, once trained, a generative AI tool still needs chips to do the work — such as when you ask a chatbot to compose a document or generate an image. That’s where inferencing comes in. A trained AI model must take in new information and make inferences from what it already knows to produce a response. GPUs can do that work, too. But it can be a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. “With training, you’re doing a lot heavier, a lot more work. With inferencing, that’s a lighter weight,” said Forrester analyst Alvin Nguyen. That’s led startups like Cerebras, Groq and d-Matrix as well as Nvidia’s traditional chipmaking rivals — such as AMD and Intel — to pitch more inference-friendly chips as Nvidia focuses on meeting the huge demand from bigger tech companies for its higher-end hardware. D-Matrix was founded in 2019 — a bit late to the AI chip game, as CEO Sid Sheth explained during a recent interview at the company’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California, the same Silicon Valley city that’s also home to AMD, Intel and Nvidia. “There were already 100-plus companies. So when we went out there, the first reaction we got was ‘you’re too late,’” he said. The pandemic’s arrival six months later didn’t help as the tech industry pivoted to focus on software to serve remote work. Now, however, Sheth sees a big market in AI inferencing, comparing that later stage of machine learning to how human beings apply the knowledge they acquired in school. “We spent the first 20 years of our lives going to school, educating ourselves. That’s training, right?” he said. “And then the next 40 years of your life, you kind of go out there and apply that knowledge — and then you get rewarded for being efficient.” The product, called Corsair, consists of two chips with four chiplets each, made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. — the same manufacturer of most of Nvidia’s chips — and packaged together in a way that helps to keep them cool. The chips are designed in Santa Clara, assembled in Taiwan and then tested back in California. Testing is a long process and can take six months — if anything is off, it can be sent back to Taiwan. D-Matrix workers were doing final testing on the chips during a recent visit to a laboratory with blue metal desks covered with cables, motherboards and computers, with a cold server room next door. While tech giants like Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft have been gobbling up the supply of costly GPUs in a race to outdo each other in AI development, makers of AI inference chips are aiming for a broader clientele. Forrester’s Nguyen said that could include Fortune 500 companies that want to make use of new generative AI technology without having to build their own AI infrastructure. Sheth said he expects a strong interest in AI video generation. “The dream of AI for a lot of these enterprise companies is you can use your own enterprise data,” Nguyen said. “Buying (AI inference chips) should be cheaper than buying the ultimate GPUs from Nvidia and others. But I think there’s going to be a learning curve in terms of integrating it.” Feldgoise said that, unlike training-focused chips, AI inference work prioritizes how fast a person will get a chatbot’s response. He said another whole set of companies is developing AI hardware for inference that can run not just in big data centers but locally on desktop computers, laptops and phones. Better-designed chips could bring down the huge costs of running AI to businesses. That could also affect the environmental and energy costs for everyone else. Sheth says the big concern right now is, “are we going to burn the planet down in our quest for what people call AGI — human-like intelligence?” It’s still fuzzy when AI might get to the point of artificial general intelligence — predictions range from a few years to decades. But, Sheth notes, only a handful of tech giants are on that quest. “But then what about the rest?” he said. “They cannot be put on the same path.”

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ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO). “This acquisition of Marathon Oil is a perfect fit for ConocoPhillips, adding to our deep, durable and diverse portfolio while meeting our strict financial framework,” said Ryan Lance, chairman and chief executive officer. “Marathon Oil adds high-quality, low cost of supply inventory adjacent to our leading U.S. unconventional position. We have a strong history of seamlessly integrating assets and we expect to deliver synergies of over $1 billion on a run rate basis in the next 12 months.” In accordance with the terms of the merger agreement, each share of Marathon Oil common stock was converted into the right to receive 0.255 shares of ConocoPhillips common stock at the effective time of the merger, with cash in lieu of fractional shares. Source: ConocoPhillipsWatson and Loyola Chicago defeat South Florida 74-72

Ally Louks could be considered the antithesis of “extremely online.” The low-key literature scholar is generally more focused on her research and supervising undergrads at Cambridge University than on growing her once-small social media following or posting on X more than a few times a year. But last week, the 26-year-old shared a happy photo and a breezy caption on X, unaware that her post - and the niche focus of her PhD thesis - would become a lightning rod in the sprawling culture war against elite institutions and the nebulous concept of “woke.” Louks had successfully defended her thesis months earlier, but the results were made official in late November when she decided to share a post celebrating an important final step in earning her PhD. She shared the photo of her smiling and hugging the bound volume of her research and wrote, “Thrilled to say I passed my viva with no corrections and am officially PhDone.” “Honestly, I mostly shared it just so that my colleagues in academia would know that I’m finished and open for [postdoctorate opportunities],” Louks told The Washington Post on Thursday. “I didn’t do it for any other reason than that, and I didn’t expect it to be seen by anyone outside of my close circle.” The attention to Louks’s thesis, both from people looking to read it and trash it, has had the singular effect of pushing her obscure academic research to a massive audience. Louks shared the abstract to her thesis, which has been viewed more than 8 million times on X. More than 600 people have contacted her through her university to request a preview to read her pre-published work. With her thesis still under embargo, Louks said it’s too early to know exactly what this sudden strike of social media interest will yield. “What I will say is that the 600 people in my inbox requesting my thesis doesn’t even scratch the surface of all of the people who have expressed interest in reading my [work],” Louks said. “I have thousands and thousands of people across loads of different platforms saying that they would love to read the thesis or anything that I write about it, so I think that can only bode well.” That rosy outlook wasn’t as clear in the days after Louks’s post jumped from her small circle of followers to the vast expanse of the internet. Immediately, the post started to draw more traction than Louks said she ever anticipated. A round of congratulations followed from people acknowledging the challenge of earning a PhD, and Louks’s even rarer achievement of defending a thesis without drawing corrections. Soon after, Louks began receiving a flood of replies from total strangers who were alternately intrigued and incensed by the subject of her research, titled “Olfactory ethics: The politics of smell in modern and contemporary prose.” Louks traced the moment that her replies flipped from positive to negative to when she noticed her post had been re-shared by a several right-wing accounts. A new crop of overwhelmingly hostile responses emerged. Critics denigrated Louks’s intelligence, called her work “pretentious” and lobbed sexist digs about the worthlessness of a woman burnishing academic credentials rather than having babies. A common thread in the criticism, almost entirely from men, argued Louks’s research topic was too “woke,” and somehow made society worse off. While Louks took the unprovoked backlash via social media in stride, one man tracked down her personal email address (“it’s not freely available online,” she notes) to threaten her with gang rape. “I felt that was so severely inappropriate that it needed to be reported,” Louks said. The experience has been at times bewildering, even as Louks is keenly aware of the social media hive-mind and of the culture of misogyny that is especially intense for high-achieving women. She also understands that her thesis will be misinterpreted, especially since no one apart from her advisers and a few friends has read it in its entirety while it remans under embargo. The thesis itself looks at how the importance of smell is represented in modern literature, and more specifically how literary works invoke smell to communicate attitudes of desire and disgust, Louks said. An example is the notion of “funk,” which Louks said she briefly mentions in her paper, which invokes a smell with different varying interpretations. “It can mean both: a kind of negative smell, but also a sense of coolness,” Louks said, noting how “funk” conjures different ideas when, for instance, associated with Black communities. “I really don’t feel that my work is above criticism,” Louks said. “It’s just that the criticisms levied at me were not based in reality.” With her PhD secured, Louks said she is looking ahead to her graduation ceremony next year, as well as writing a book proposal and articles on her research more suitable for a nonacademic audience. She may pursue a postdoctorate program, but at the moment is still marveling at how the random lightning strike of social media fame ultimately exposed her work to a far bigger audience than she could have ever imagined. Alex Zawacki, a fellow academic who lectures on medieval history at the University of Göttingen in Germany, summed up Louks’s achievement with a post on X: “Congratulations both for finishing and for very possibly being the first person in recorded history whose dissertation will be read by someone who is not their mom or on their committee.” Related Content

Running back Jace Clarizio flipped his commitment from his local team, Michigan State, to Alabama. The decision, announced by Clarizio on social media Tuesday, comes after the East Lansing (Mich.) High standout visited head coach Kalen DeBoer's Crimson Tide on Nov. 16. "Great program," Clarizio told On3. "Playing on the biggest level. ... All the people and coaches I met and interacted with were all great people. The atmosphere was crazy." The 5-foot-11, 195-pounder is ranked as the No. 33 running back by On3 and tabbed No. 35 in their industry ranking. In May, he had verbally committed to the Spartans, where his father, Craig Johnson, was a running back and defensive back who was a member of the 1987 Rose Bowl-winning squad under coach George Perles. --Field Level Media

RUTH SUNDERLAND: Chancellor in business rate betrayal By RUTH SUNDERLAND FOR THE DAILY MAIL Updated: 21:50 GMT, 24 November 2024 e-mail 1 View comments Betrayal: Chancellor Rachel Reeves This is meant to be the golden time of the year for retailers. But festive spirit is in dangerously short supply. To invoke Scrooge comes nowhere near doing justice to the effect Rachel Reeves' Budget is having on High Streets around the country. The Chancellor has piled on the misery for shops and restaurants that have already battled to survive the pandemic, the rise of online retail and a business rate system that has been grotesquely unfair for years. Rather than anger petering out after the Budget as Reeves will have hoped, rage is rising to boiling point as the implications of her triple whammy become clear. Shops and other venues are faced with higher minimum wage costs, a hike in employers' National Insurance plus an abject failure by the Government to deliver on its promise to reform business rates. Reeves' budget is also a betrayal of her own sex: she is letting down the millions of women who work in these sectors, often for low pay. The row over National Insurance has taken precedence but there is simmering unrest over business rates. In its manifesto, Labour pledged to reform the system. Reeves talked about 'first steps' at the Budget, with a plan to introduce permanently lower rates for High Street businesses operating out of less valuable properties. This is to be funded by a higher rate on bigger premises, which Labour paints as capturing the warehouses used by online giants. It will, however, also hit larger bricks-and-mortar retailers such as supermarkets. This may be reasonable enough in itself – but it is a case of jam tomorrow, if ever. The 'intention' – a weasel word if ever there was one – is for these changes to come in from the tax year April 2026/27. In the meantime, smaller High Street businesses will see their rate relief slashed from 75 per cent to 40 per cent in 2025/26 with a cap of £110,000, so will have to pay significantly more. Labour is cynically pretending this latter move is a benefit by claiming the Tories would have scrapped the relief entirely. Silly point-scoring won't help small shopkeepers, who will have to find thousands of pounds extra regardless. Business rates raise £26billion of much needed cash for local economies so reform does need to be sustainable. RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 Next Bosses demand urgent business rates shake-up John Lewis boss calls for shake-up of business rates after... Share this article Share HOW THIS IS MONEY CAN HELP How to choose the best (and cheapest) stocks and shares Isa and the right DIY investing account But the Mail and Mail on Sunday have been campaigning for fairer business rates for years. The Government had plenty of time in opposition to formulate its plans. It should not need to delay for at least another year. That will be too late for many, including long-standing family businesses, which will pull up the shutters before the wondrous new regime arrives. The UK has already lost 6,000 shops in the last five years: in two-thirds of these closures, business rates were a factor in the decision, according to the British Retail Consortium. Without action, the BRC estimates another 17,300 shops could close over the next decade. Those that remain open are likely to cut staff, scale back on hiring and push up prices, fuelling inflation. Reeves seems obsessed with molly-coddling public sector workers so it may have escaped her notice that retail is the biggest private sector employer, offering work to millions, most of them women. One bitter irony is that this country's first female Chancellor – who wants to be seen as a role model for young girls in their careers – risks being responsible for putting large numbers of other women out of work. DIY INVESTING PLATFORMS AJ Bell AJ Bell Easy investing and ready-made portfolios Learn More Learn More Hargreaves Lansdown Hargreaves Lansdown Free fund dealing and investment ideas Learn More Learn More interactive investor interactive investor Flat-fee investing from £4.99 per month Learn More Learn More Saxo Saxo Get £200 back in trading fees Learn More Learn More Trading 212 Trading 212 Free dealing and no account fee Learn More Learn More Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. 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We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.Ninth Circuit Does Flip Turn, Reversing Antitrust Case Against World Aquatics In a decision that is making waves through the world of competitive swimming, the Ninth Circuit reversed a California district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Fédération Internationale de Natation (“FINA”), now known as World Aquatics, on antitrust claims brought by a group of professional swimmers and the International Swimming League (the “ISL”). ( Shields v. World Aquatics , No. 23-15092 (9th Cir. Sept. 17, 2024) (unpublished)). As we covered in a prior edition of Three Point Shot , this legal battle first began in December 2018, when the plaintiffs – a group of professional swimmers and the ISL – filed antitrust claims against FINA, contesting the organization’s rules that effectively barred national swimming federations from collaborating with “non-sanctioned” competitions such as the ISL. These rules placed national federations in a difficult position, as their cooperation with unsanctioned events could result in penalties. FINA, first established in 1908 during the Olympic Games in London, is a Swiss organization recognized as the global governing body for aquatic sports, including swimming, and its membership includes 209 national federations. The national federations, by virtue of their membership, agree to comply with FINA rules and enforce FINA rules and penalties against swimmers. FINA sets the qualifying criteria for swimmers to participate in the Olympics and recognizes only qualifying times from competitions held or sanctioned by FINA. Swimmers themselves, however, are not members of FINA and are not required to swim in FINA-sanctioned events exclusively. FINA keeps a calendar of and holds its own international competitions, and if member federations also want to hold international competitions on their own or in partnership with independent organizations, they are required to seek FINA’s prior approval. In 2017, a nascent ISL sought to organize international competitions among the world’s best swimmers, and structure them as a more traditional sports league. The ISL initially sought to hold competitions officially sanctioned by FINA (which comes with a spot on the FINA calendar alongside events such as the FINA World Championships and allows times to be official for purposes of Olympic qualification and world records). When negotiations with FINA stalled, however, the ISL went to the individual national federations to host their events. However, facing potential sanctions, the national federations declined to take the risk of getting in the water with the ISL. Back in December 2018 the swimmers and the ISL brought a medley of antitrust claims alleging that FINA and its member federations conducted an illegal group boycott of the ISL by refusing to cooperate with the ISL. The essence of the complaint was that FINA used its control over Olympic aquatic sports to determine the terms of compensation and competition for international swimming events outside of the Olympic Games and FINA’s own competitions, thus engaging in anticompetitive conduct. As the Ninth Circuit stated in its decision reversing summary judgement in favor of FINA, while FINA never imposed sanctions on any swimmers for participating in non-FINA events, plaintiffs introduced evidence that all interested parties understood FINA rules might expose swimmers to suspensions, including from competing at the Olympics and World Championships, if they participated in unaffiliated ISL events. In the ISL’s view, this cut off its access to the very top-tier talent it needed to compete in the marketplace. Notably, in 2019, following the filing of the suit, FINA issued a statement that clarified it “recognizes the right of athletes to participate in any swimming event” but that if the event does not receive prior FINA approval, the “results of the competition would not be recognized by FINA.” In the meantime, the ISL hosted seasons in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and sought and obtained FINA's approval for some events in which ISL partnered with member federations. In January 2023, the district court cleared the pool and ruled in favor of FINA. In its decision, the lower court granted summary judgment on the grounds that FINA’s rules, which stated “no affiliated Member shall have any kind of relationship with a non-affiliated... body [like the ISL]” without risking suspension or having the results be unrecognized internationally, did not unreasonably restrain trade under Section 1 of the Sherman Act. According to the district court, the rules did not expressly prevent swimmers from competing in unsanctioned events but instead they “prevented... member federations from affiliating with the ISL and other non-sanctioned entities.” The district court further reasoned that the ISL could – and did – hold its own top-tier competitions without requiring any formal affiliation with member federations, and therefore found that there was no evidence of anticompetitive effects. Generally, Section 1 of the Sherman Act prohibits “contracts, combinations, or conspiracies that unreasonably restrain trade.” There are three standards for determining if restraints are unreasonable: (1) per se ,if they always or almost always tend to restrict competition and decrease output, (2) “rule of reason” (most common), if not per se and following a fact-specific assessment of “‘market power and market structure...to assess the [restraint]’s actual effect’ on competition” or (3) “quick look,” if they are not per se but “where it is clear that the challenged restraints’ principal or only effect is anticompetitive.” In a reversal, the Ninth Circuit changed strokes and found the district court’s conclusions were merely “one interpretation of the evidence,” giving new life to the plaintiffs’ claims. Applying a de novo review, the appellate court found that there were several triable issues that the district court had overlooked. Most notably, the Ninth Circuit concluded that the plaintiffs had raised a legitimate question as to whether FINA’s rules constituted a per se violation of antitrust law (i.e., unlawful group boycott) by preventing member federations and swimmers from doing business with the ISL without risking severe sanctions. According to the appeals court, a rational jury could find that the pre-amended rule concerning federations participating in unsanctioned events had “no purpose other than to disadvantage FINA’s competitors.” The Ninth Circuit also found that the plaintiffs created a triable issue under the “quick look” standard and determined that there was enough evidence to suggest that FINA’s rules may have imposed a “naked restraint on price and output” in the market for professional swimming competitions. Significantly, the Ninth Circuit rejected the district court’s conclusion that the more lenient “rule of reason” antitrust analysis was necessary. While FINA argued that the rule of reason should apply because “sports leagues and joint venture restrictions are unique antitrust contexts that are generally analyzed under the rule of reason,” the Ninth Circuit instead found that (1) “FINA and its members are not a joint venture sports league, but an association of independent national federations,” and (2) while “ some restraints are necessary to create or maintain a league sport [that] does not mean all aspects of elaborate interleague cooperation are.” Applying this rationale, the appeals court stated that “a rational trier of fact could conclude that FINA can organize swimming competitions and maintain its calendar of events without restricting participation in non-affiliated events.” In addition, even though the appeals court affirmed the ruling that the plaintiffs failed to define the “relevant market” under a rule of reason analysis, the court stated that “a plaintiff is not required to define a particular market for... a rule of reason claim based on evidence of the actual anticompetitive impact of the challenged practice.” In this case, the court found that, drawing all reasonable inferences in plaintiffs’ favor, “a rational trier of fact could conclude that by threatening to sanction swimmers, [FINA’s rules] prevented the ISL from holding events in 2018 and thereby reduced output and wages.” In the end, although the Ninth Circuit decision in the FINA case is unpublished and lacks precedential authority, it still may have an impact on future similar challenges to restrictions placed on athletes participating in non-league or governing body-sanctioned events. Regardless of the outcome of this litigation, there are bigger issues at play concerning the state of the league, as the ISL, whose founder is Ukrainian, most recently postponed its 2022 season due to the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war. There have been no reported announcements about its return. Child’s Play: Roblox Must Face Tort Claims over Minors Gambling Robux in Online Casinos “No dice,” ruled a judge in the Northern District of California, denying technology and entertainment company Roblox Corp.’s (“Roblox”) motion to dismiss negligence and unjust enrichment claims alleging that it failed to shield minors from third-party casino sites that use the Roblox platform’s in-game currency system. ( Colvin v. Roblox Corp. , No. 23-04146 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 19, 2024)). The claims originally arose last August when the parents of minor children brought a putative class action against the makers of popular gaming platform Roblox and three online virtual casino operators (the “Gambling Website Defendants” and, together with Roblox, the “Defendants”). The parent-Plaintiffs alleged that the Defendants “maintain and facilitate an illegal gambling ecosystem, targeted at children, through Roblox’s online gaming ecosystem and digital currency.” Roblox is an online gaming platform where users can create their own games, or play games created by others, using Roblox Studio, a game development engine that enables users to design virtual environments, characters and gameplay mechanics, even for those with no programming experience. The platform, which experienced a surge in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, offers games in a variety of genres, such as adventure, role-playing and simulation. It also has a social multiplayer element where users create or join groups and chat with each other. According to the complaint, over 70% of Roblox users are under 18, and more than half of all users are under 13, making the platform’s audience predominantly minors. Roblox is free-to-play and offers in-game purchases through a virtual currency called Robux, which can have real-world value. Users may acquire Robux in one of several ways: either by purchasing them with real-world currency (via credit card, digital payment services, or gift cards), selecting a paid Roblox Premium membership (that comes with a monthly Robux stipend), or by developing games or selling virtual creations, game assets, or other items to other Roblox users. Through Roblox’s Developer Exchange Program (the “Program”), creators can convert their earned Robux into real-world money. Only those who meet certain eligibility requirements set forth by Roblox and who register for the Program may participate. Roblox has skin in the game, profiting from currency conversions by taking at least a 30% marketplace fee on all in-game, user-to-creator transactions for virtual content on the platform, and setting the exchange rate when developers cash out Robux through the Program. All three Gambling Website Defendants were allegedly members of the Program, which is central to the Plaintiff’s claims. The Plaintiffs allege that, through the Program, the Gambling Website Defendants aren’t just cashing in their chips—or rather, their Robux—for real-world monetary gains, but also spinning the wheel by enticing minor users to convert their Robux to gambling credits to use at off-platform online casinos, which are not licensed and which are promoted online as places to gamble Robux. This gambling operation allegedly occurs through a multi-step process (Roblox, in its first amended answer , denies allegations that Plaintiffs “lost” or “wagered” Robux on third party sites and states that any purported use of Robux to engage in “gambling” on such sites violates Roblox’s terms of service). After acquiring Robux, the user navigates to one of the Gambling Website Defendants’ virtual casinos (which exist outside the Roblox ecosystem). The user then links their Robux wallet on Roblox’s website to the gambling site and, according to the Plaintiffs’ amended complaint , “the user’s Robux do not leave the Roblox platform, but instead are transferred to another Roblox account controlled by a Gambling Website Defendant.” The gambling website then “converts” the minor user’s Robux into credits to be wagered. A crucial step for purposes of Roblox’s purported culpability comes into play at this point. Because Robux cannot be transferred to other users in the absence of a transaction or removed from the Roblox platform, a Roblox account controlled by a Gambling Website Defendant sells the user an otherwise worthless object or experience for the amount of Robux the user wishes to deposit as gambling credits on the relevant Gambling Website Defendant’s online casino. By doing so, the Gambling Website Defendants “take control” of, but do not truly convert, the user’s Robux. If the user wins, the Gambling Website Defendant can transfer back their winnings in Robux via a similar transaction as described above. If the user loses, the Gambling Website Defendant retains the user’s Robux and can convert them into real-world currency under the Program. According to the Plaintiffs’ complaint, the house always wins, as “Roblox collects a 30% fee on every transaction that deposits or withdraws funds... [thereby] earning Roblox millions in real-world revenue.” Roblox, in its first amended answer , denies that it “profits” from the alleged transactions and has asserted various cross-claims against the Gambling Website Defendants and seeks injunctive relief barring them from obtaining unauthorized access to Roblox users’ accounts. Plaintiffs contend that Roblox’s liability arises from its role in facilitating these transactions “under [its] virtual roof” and that Roblox maintains a level of oversight such that it ought to possess knowledge of suspicious activities (e.g., the third-party gambling transactions) that violate the platform’s terms of service. As a result, the Plaintiffs claim Roblox should have located and banned the outside gambling sites’ Roblox accounts and prevented future transactions. Roblox counters that it has managed its platform reasonably, and that the gambling sites evade detection by using sophisticated tactics. Roblox also argues that Plaintiffs fail to identify any affirmative act on Roblox’s part that directly increased minors’ risk of gambling. It also argues that Plaintiffs’ alleged harm is “not reasonably foreseeable from Roblox’s operation of its own platform,” where gambling is prohibited, and that to impose such a duty to police millions of user accounts for possible illegal off-platform conduct would be “untenable.” In the original complaint, Plaintiffs brought nine causes of action against the Defendants, including negligence, fraud, and consumer protection-related claims. Back in March 2024, the district court dismissed some ancillary claims, but rejected Roblox’s defense under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), finding that the Plaintiffs’ claims do not treat Roblox as a publisher or speaker of third-party content on its platform. Rather, the court found that the claims focus on Roblox’s alleged “facilitating transactions between minors and online casinos that enable illegal gambling.” The court also declined to create an exception to a general duty of reasonable care, ruling that Roblox has a duty to “use reasonable care in its conduct, the creation and management of its platform, to avoid creating an unreasonable risk of harm to others.” Based on this, the court allowed the negligence claims to proceed. The Plaintiffs subsequently upped the ante with an amended complaint , sparking another round of motion practice. In September 2024, the court issued another ruling that partially granted Roblox’s motion to dismiss (axing the fraud-based claims and requests for injunctive relief), while preserving the Plaintiffs’ negligence-related claims. The amended negligence claims, which the court again allowed to proceed, rest on the contention that Roblox violated its duty of care by enabling, failing to detect and, ultimately, profiting from minors’ gambling activities facilitated through Robux transactions. The court characterized Plaintiffs’ negligence claims as misfeasance—an affirmative act that created a dangerous situation—rather than nonfeasance, or a mere failure to prevent harm, a distinction that was pivotal (“True, the complaint uses language about Roblox's failure to act and failure to prevent harm, which sounds more like nonfeasance. But the plaintiffs allege more than that—they allege that these deliberate design decisions by Roblox created the risk of harm to the minor plaintiffs who otherwise would not have been exposed to the virtual casinos”). The fact that the overwhelming majority of Roblox users are minors is central to both the allegations and the court’s conclusions. The Plaintiffs argued that Roblox, given its young audience, had a heightened duty of care, especially concerning activities like gambling, which minors cannot legally engage in. The court rejected the imposition of a heightened duty of care, but still swept aside Roblox’s argument that public policy factors should narrow its legal duty in this case. The court stated that the complaint “adequately alleges that it was foreseeable that minor users would navigate to virtual casinos and gamble away their Robux.” This foreseeability analysis played a role in the court’s decision to allow the negligence claims to proceed, with the court finding plausible Plaintiffs’ claims that the burden to monitor millions of transactions is not too great for Roblox in this instance, at least based on the allegations in the complaint as to how Roblox oversees its platform. In a footnote, the court did recognize that Roblox is in fact trying to upset the operation of the online casinos and that the online casinos are engaged in a “cat and mouse game” of hiding from Roblox, such that perhaps Roblox could successfully argue in future proceedings that it is already taking reasonable care to prevent minors from gambling at outside virtual casinos (Robox’s first amended answer outlines some of the evasive tactics of the Gambling Website Defendants and Roblox’s efforts to detect and moderate accounts that violate its policies). As the focus will now shift to whether Roblox took reasonable steps to prevent the alleged harms and whether it can be held liable under a negligence theory, Roblox may bolster its defense in its answer to the amended complaint and as the record develops through discovery. No matter how the chips fall in this case, the court’s ruling will likely spur other online gaming and metaverse platforms like Roblox to reexamine in-game currency structures and monitoring procedures to ensure they are playing their cards right when it comes to users who are minors. Roller Rink Scissors and Dips Out of Skater’s Injury Claims A California appellate court affirmed the dismissal of negligence and premises liability claims against roller rink owner Skateland Enterprises, Inc. (“Skateland”) over injury claims brought by a skater, Plaintiff Geraldine Myers (“Myers” or “Plaintiff”), with the court finding that roller skating is “inherently risky” and Plaintiff failed to show that Skateland increased the risks of injury beyond those inherent to skating. ( Myers v. Skateland Enterprises Inc. , No. B328404 (Cal. App. 2 nd Dist. Sept. 23, 2024) (unpublished)). Hence, this appeal—a “couples-only slow skate” of sorts between Skateland and Myers—is over and Skateland’s initial summary judgment award stands. Plaintiff was injured at Skateland in December 2019 during a Sunday evening public skating session after another skater clipped her arm and caused her to fall after the rink had issued a “stop skating” instruction to allow workers to remove gum from the floor. Plaintiff was wearing her own roller skates. Evidence suggested that at the time of the fall, there were around 150 skaters on the floor, and camera footage showed at least two floor guards in referee shirts in the vicinity of Plaintiff skating with the patrons and monitoring for unsafe behavior (or perhaps groups of friends skating a bit overzealously in a “ train ”); the rink also had a program director/DJ in an elevated booth who could supervise the rink and make rink-wide announcements. Testimony suggested Skateland exceeded safety standards, as industry guidelines recommend only one floor guard for every 200 skaters. Apparently, on the day of the incident, floor guards had admonished one skater after receiving a complaint about his skating that night (the man did not receive any further complaints), but later in the evening it was this same skater who bumped into Plaintiff‘s outstretched arm at a slow speed and caused her to fall. In March 2021, Myers wheeled into California Superior Court in Los Angeles and filed her complaint against Skateland and the other skater (who was not involved in the appeal), advancing negligence and premises liability claims. While Plaintiff conceded that skating is an inherent risky activity, she alleged that Skateland unreasonably increased the risks of injury by failing to properly regulate the skating floor, failing to provide trained skating supervisors, and failing to prevent a rogue skater from injuring Plaintiff. Skateland countered in its motion for summary judgment that Myers assumed the risk of injury, that the “incidental contact” between Myers and the other skater “is endemic in the activity” and that Skateland followed industry safety protocols and did nothing to increase the risk associated with roller skating. In January 2023, the trial court granted Skateland’s motion for summary judgment, finding that falling is an inherent risk of roller skating and that Plaintiff failed to meet her burden to prove that Skateland did anything to unreasonably increase that risk. The trial court pointed to CCTV footage from the day in question that bolstered the defense: an adequate number of skate guards on the floor, the supposedly “reckless” skater skating in control, and depicting the incident as a “low-speed interaction.” Thus, the trial court ruled that Skateland was not liable for what is an ordinary risk of roller skating: “[B]umping into other skaters and falling is an inherent risk of roller skating, especially in a group setting....” Lacing up their quad skates, the California appellate court affirmed Skateland’s award of summary judgment and concluded the assumption of risk doctrine foreclosed Myers’ claims. The court stated that a defendant has no duty to eliminate or protect against risks inherent in a sport or recreational activity but cannot unreasonably “increase the risks to a participant over and above those inherent in the sport.” The court also pointed out that several states in fact have enacted statutes limiting the liability of roller rink operators for the inherent risks of skating (see e.g., New Jersey, N.J.S.A. §5:14-6: “Roller skaters and spectators are deemed to... assume the inherent risks of roller skating... [which include] injuries which result from incidental contact with other roller skaters or spectators....”). Noting that collisions between skaters in a rink are an intrinsic risk of skating that could not be prevented by more skate guards or warnings, the court found that Plaintiff’s claims do not raise a triable issue because there was no evidence that Skateland increased the inherent risks of the skating: “It is inevitable that a skater may move unexpectedly, or throw out an arm, resulting in unintended contact... and Skateland had no duty to decrease that inherent risk.” In affirming dismissal, the court added: “Short of fundamentally changing skating by encasing skaters in a mound of bubble wrap, the possibility of injury cannot be avoided as skaters turn, slow, and speed up while maneuvering around the rink, creating an inherent risk of collisions.” Having notched a win on appeal, Skateland can now take a victory lap around the oval and “ Shoot the Duck .” Though, it should be noted, that since the filing of this litigation, the Skateland Northridge location has closed and been sold to a local community organization. Contributors include Eric Zilber, Caroline E. Rimmer and Jonathan P. Mollod.

How to Watch Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Games – Thursday, November 28

House approves $895B defense bill with military pay raise, ban on transgender care for minorsIsrael has agreed to a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon that will take effect at 4 a.m. Wednesday. Moments after U.S. President Joe Biden announced the ceasefire deal , which Israel's Cabinet approved late Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike slammed into the Lebanese capital. Residents of Beirut and its southern suburbs have endured the most intense day of Israeli strikes since the war began nearly 14 months ago, as Israel's nationwide onslaught of bombings signaled it aims to keep pummeling Hezbollah before the ceasefire is set to take hold. At least 42 people have killed by Israeli strikes across Lebanon on Tuesday, according to local authorities. Hezbollah also fired rockets into Israel on Tuesday, triggering air raid sirens in the country’s north. An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire would mark the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza. Hezbollah began attacking Israel a day after Hamas’ attack. The fighting in Lebanon escalated into all-out war in September with massive Israeli airstrikes across the country and an Israeli ground invasion of the south. In Gaza, more than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 wounded in the nearly 14-month war between Israel and Hamas, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Here's the Latest: BEIRUT — The Health Ministry in Lebanon says 18 more people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes across the country, bringing the total death toll on Tuesday to at least 42 people. Eleven people were killed by Israeli bombing in eastern Lebanon, four were killed by strikes on border crossings between northern Lebanon and Syria, and three people were killed in southern Lebanon, the Health Ministry said early Wednesday. In the hours before a ceasefire with Hezbollah was to take effect, Israel launched its most intense wave of strikes on the capital Beirut and its southern suburbs since the start of the conflict. Strikes have targeted what Israel said were Hezbollah-related targets in several other parts of the country as well. Israel’s military issued a record number of evacuation warnings in Beirut, sending people fleeing from their homes. Hezbollah also fired rockets into Israel on Tuesday, triggering air raid sirens across the country’s north. UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations chief welcomes the announcement of a ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, and hopes it can end the violence and suffering of people in both countries, the U.N. spokesman says. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Israel and Hezbollah to swiftly implement all commitments under the agreement, and take immediate steps toward fully implementing the 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the last Israel-Hezbollah war, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said late Tuesday. Resolution 1701 called for the deployment of Lebanese forces throughout the south, which borders Israel and is now mainly controlled by Hezbollah, and it calls for all armed groups including Hezbollah to be disarmed. Neither has happened in the past 17 years. Dujarric said U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon “both stand ready to support the implementation of this agreement, in line with their respective mandates.” WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s senior national security team was briefed by the Biden administration as negotiations unfolded, according to the senior U.S. official. The official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity in a White House-organized call, added that the incoming Trump administration officials were not directly involved in the talks, but that it was important that the incoming administration knew “what we were negotiating and what the commitments were.” The official said “all fire will stop from all parties” at 4 a.m. local time. The next step would be what the official described as a “phased withdrawal” by the Israeli military. As the Israelis pull back, Lebanese national forces will occupy the territories. The process is slated to finish within 60 days. Lebanese forces is supposed to patrol the area and remove Hezbollah weaponry and infrastructure there. “Hezbollah is incredibly weak at this moment, both militarily and politically,” the official said. “And this is the opportunity for Lebanon to re-establish its sovereignty over its territory.” The official said the ceasefire agreement will strengthen what’s known as the “tripartite mechanism” by including the United States and France. The goal is to address violations of the ceasefire without a return to hostilities. UNITED NATIONS – The top U.N. envoy for Lebanon welcomed the ceasefire announcement and urged Israel and Hezbollah militants to take concrete actions to fully implement the 2006 agreement that ended their last war. U.N. Special Coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said the agreement “marks the starting point of a critical process” that must see both sides fully implement U.N. Security Council resolution 1701. It called for the deployment of Lebanese armed forces in the south bordering Israel and the disarmament of all armed groups including Hezbollah – neither of which has happened in the past 17 years. “Nothing less than the full and unwavering commitment of both parties is required,” Hennis-Plasschaert said. “Neither side can afford another period of disingenuous implementation under the guise of ostensible calm.” She commended the parties for “seizing the opportunity to close this devastating chapter,” stressing that “Now is the time to deliver, through concrete actions, to consolidate today’s achievement.” UNITED NATIONS — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is calling for urgent international intervention to stop what he described as “an ongoing genocidal war” in Gaza. Abbas heads the Palestinian Authority which has limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, but not Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas. The U.S. and others want a reinvigorated Palestinian Authority to run Gaza when the war ends. In a speech on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Abbas accused Israel of repeating what happened to the Palestinians in 1948 and 1967 – displacing them and seizing their land and resources. Abbas demanded to know how long the world will remain silent and refuse to compel Israel to abide by international law. The speech to U.N. member nations was read by Palestinian U.N. ambassador Riyad Mansour. “The only way to halt the halt the dangerous escalation we are witnessing in the region, and maintain regional and international stability, security and peace, is to resolve the question of Palestine,” Abbas' speech said. This must be done in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions which call for a two-state solution, he said. BEIRUT -- Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the U.S.-brokered ceasefire proposal between Israel and Hezbollah, describing it as a crucial step toward stability, the return of displaced people to their homes and regional calm. Mikati made these comments in a statement issued just after U.S. President Joe announced the truce deal. Mikati said he discussed the ceasefire agreement with Biden by phone earlier Tuesday. The prime minister reaffirmed Lebanon’s commitment to implementing U.N. resolution 1701, strengthening the Lebanese army’s presence in the south, and cooperating with the U.N. peacekeeping force. He also called on Israel to fully comply with the ceasefire and withdraw from southern Lebanon in accordance the U.N. resolution. JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security Cabinet has approved a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah, clearing the way for the truce to take effect. Netanyahu’s office said the plan was approved by a 10-1 margin. The late-night vote came shortly before President Joe Biden was expected to announced details of the deal in Washington. Earlier, Netanyahu defended the ceasefire, saying Israel has inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah and could now focus its efforts on Hamas militants in Gaza and his top security concern, Iran. Netanyahu vowed to strike Hezbollah hard if it violates the expected deal. WASHINGTON — Rep. Mike Waltz, President-elect Donald Trump’s designate to be national security adviser, credited Trump’s victory with helping bring the parties together toward a ceasefire in Lebanon. “Everyone is coming to the table because of President Trump,” he said in a post on X on Tuesday. “His resounding victory sent a clear message to the rest of the world that chaos won’t be tolerated. I’m glad to see concrete steps towards deescalation in the Middle East.” He added: “But let’s be clear: The Iran Regime is the root cause of the chaos & terror that has been unleashed across the region. We will not tolerate the status quo of their support for terrorism.” BEIRUT — Israeli jets targeted a building in a bustling commercial area of Beirut for the first time since the start of the 13-month war between Hezbollah and Israel. The strike on Hamra is around 400 meters (yards) from the country’s central bank. A separate strike hit the Mar Elias neighborhood in the country’s capital Tuesday. There was no immediate word on casualties from either strike, part of the biggest wave of attacks on the capital since the war started. Residents in central Beirut were seen fleeing after the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings for four targets in the city. Meanwhile, the Israeli army carried out airstrikes on at least 30 targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs Tuesday, including two strikes in the Jnah neighborhood near the Kuwaiti Embassy. Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that 13 people were injured in the strikes on the southern suburbs. BEIRUT — Hezbollah has said it accepts the ceasefire proposal with Israel, but a senior official with the group said Tuesday that it had not seen the agreement in its final form. “After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network. “We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state.” of Lebanon, he said. “Any violation of sovereignty is refused.” Among the issues that may remain is an Israeli demand to reserve the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations under the emerging deal. The deal seeks to push Hezbollah and Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon. JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he would recommend his Cabinet adopt a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, as Israeli warplanes struck across Lebanon, killing at least 23 people. The Israeli military also issued a flurry of evacuation warnings — a sign it was aiming to inflict punishment on Hezbollah down to the final moments before any ceasefire takes hold. For the first time in the conflict, Israeli ground troops reached parts of Lebanon’s Litani River, a focal point of the emerging deal. In a televised statement, Netanyahu said he would present the ceasefire to Cabinet ministers later on Tuesday, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting. Netanyahu said the vote was expected later Tuesday. It was not immediately clear when the ceasefire would go into effect, and the exact terms of the deal were not released. The deal does not affect Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which shows no signs of ending. BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state media said Israeli strikes on Tuesday killed at least 10 people in Baalbek province the country’s east. At least three people were killed in the southern city of Tyre when Israel bombed a Palestinian refugee camp, said Mohammed Bikai, a representative of the Fatah group in the area. He said several more people were missing and at least three children were among the wounded. He said the sites struck inside the camp were “completely civilian places” and included a kitchen that was being used to cook food for displaced people. JERUSALEM — Dozens of Israeli protesters took to a major highway in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening to call for the return of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, as the country awaited news of a potential ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah. Protesters chanted “We are all hostages,” and “Deal now!” waving signs with faces of some of the roughly 100 hostages believed to be still held in Gaza, at least a third of whom are thought to be dead. Most of the other hostages Hamas captured in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack were released during a ceasefire last year. The prospect of a ceasefire deal in Lebanon has raised desperation among the relatives of captives still held in Gaza, who once hoped that the release of hostages from Gaza would be included. Instead of a comprehensive deal, the ceasefire on the table is instead narrowly confined to Lebanon. Dozens of Israelis were also demonstrating against the expected cease-fire, gathering outside Israel’s military headquarters in central Tel Aviv. One of the protesters, Yair Ansbacher, says the deal is merely a return to the failed 2006 U.N. resolution that was meant to uproot Hezbollah from the area. “Of course that didn’t happen,” he says. “This agreement is not worth the paper it is written on.” FIUGGI, Italy — Foreign ministers from the world’s industrialized countries said Tuesday they strongly supported an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and insisted that Israel comply with international law in its ongoing military operations in the region. At the end of their two-day summit, the ministers didn’t refer directly to the International Criminal Court and its recent arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister over crimes against humanity . Italy had put the ICC warrants on the official meeting agenda, even though the G7 was split on the issue. The U.S., Israel’s closest ally, isn’t a signatory to the court and has called the warrants “outrageous.” However, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said all the other G7 countries were signatories and therefore obliged to respect the warrants. In the end, the final statement adopted by the ministers said Israel, in exercising its right to defend itself, “must fully comply with its obligations under international law in all circumstances, including international humanitarian law.” And it said all G7 members — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – “reiterate our commitment to international humanitarian law and will comply with our respective obligations.” It stressed that “there can be no equivalence between the terrorist group Hamas and the State of Israel.” The ICC warrants say there's reason to believe Netanyahu used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza — charges Israeli officials deny. BEIRUT — An Israeli strike on Tuesday levelled a residential building in the central Beirut district of Basta — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near the city’s downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded in Beirut, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. It was not immediately clear if anyone in particular was targeted, though Israel says its airstrikes target Hezbollah officials and assets. The Israeli military spokesman issued a flurry of evacuation warnings for many areas, including areas in Beirut that have not been targeted throughout the war, like the capital’s commercial Hamra district, where many people displaced by the war have been staying. The warnings, coupled with fear that Israel was ratcheting up attacks in Lebanon during the final hours before a ceasefire is reached, sparked panic and sent residents fleeing in their cars to safer areas. In areas close to Hamra, families including women and children were seen running away toward the Mediterranean Sea’s beaches carrying their belongings. Traffic was completely gridlocked as people tried to get away, honking their car horns as Israeli drones buzzed loudly overhead. The Israeli military also issued warnings for 20 more buildings in Beirut’s suburbs to evacuate before they too were struck — a sign it was aiming to inflict punishment on Hezbollah in the final moments before any ceasefire takes hold. TEL AVIV, Israel — The independent civilian commission of inquiry into the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel has found Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly responsible for the failures leading up to the attack, alongside former defense ministers, the army chief and the heads of the security services. The civil commission presented its findings today after a four-month probe in which it heard some 120 witnesses. It was set up by relatives of victims of the Hamas attack, in response to the absence of any state probe. The commission determined that the Israeli government, its army and security services “failed in their primary mission of protecting the citizens of Israel.” It said Netanyahu was responsible for ignoring “repeated warnings” ahead of Oct. 7, 2023 for what it described as his appeasing approach over the years toward Hamas, and for “undermining all decision-making centers, including the cabinet and the National Security Council, in a way that prevented any serious discussion” on security issues. The commission further determined that the military and defense leaders bear blame for ignoring warnings from within the army, and for reducing the army’s presence along the Gaza border while relying excessively on technological means. On the day of the Hamas attack, the report says, the army’s response was both slow and lacking. The civil commission called for the immediate establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7 attack. Netanyahu has opposed launching a state commission of inquiry, arguing that such an investigation should begin only once the war is over. JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military says its ground troops have reached parts of Lebanon’s Litani River — a focal point of the emerging ceasefire. In a statement Tuesday, the army said it had reached the Wadi Slouqi area in southern Lebanon and clashed with Hezbollah forces. Under a proposed ceasefire, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the Israeli border. The military says the clashes with Hezbollah took place on the eastern end of the Litani, just a few kilometers (miles) from the border. It is one of the deepest places Israeli forces have reached in a nearly two-month ground operation. The military says soldiers destroyed rocket launchers and missiles and engaged in “close-quarters combat” with Hezbollah forces. The announcement came hours before Israel’s security Cabinet is expected to approve a ceasefire that would end nearly 14 months of fighting. BEIRUT — Israeli jets Tuesday struck at least six buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs Tuesday, including one that slammed near the country’s only airport. Large plumes of smoke could be seen around the airport near the Mediterranean coast, which has continued to function despite its location beside the densely populated suburbs where many of Hezbollah’s operations are based. The strikes come hours before Israel’s cabinet was scheduled to meet to discuss a proposal to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The proposal calls for an initial two-month ceasefire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the southern border south of the Litani River. There were no immediate reports of casualties from Tuesday’s airstrikes. FIUGGI, Italy — EU top diplomat Josep Borrell, whose term ends Dec. 1, said he proposed to the G7 and Arab ministers who joined in talks on Monday that the U.N. Security Council take up a resolution specifically demanding humanitarian assistance reach Palestinians in Gaza, saying deliveries have been completely impeded. “The two-state solution will come later. Everything will come later. But we are talking about weeks or days,” for desperate Palestinians, he said. “Hunger has been used as an arm against people who are completely abandoned.” It was a reference to the main accusation levelled by the International Criminal Court in its arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister. Borrell said the signatories to the court, including six of the seven G7 members, are obliged under international law to respect and implement the court’s decisions. Host Italy put the ICC warrants on the G7 agenda at the last minute, but there was no consensus on the wording of how the G7 would respond given the U.S., Israel’s closest ally, has called the warrants “outrageous.” Italy, too, has said it respects the court but expressed concern that the warrants were politically motivated and ill-advised given Netanyahu is necessary for any deal to end the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. “Like it or not, the International Criminal Court is a court as powerful as any national court,” Borrell said. “And if the Europeans don’t support International Criminal Court then there would not be any hope for justice,” he said. Borrell, whose term ends Dec. 1, said he proposed to the G7 and Arab ministers who joined in talks on Monday that the U.N. Security Council take up a resolution specifically demanding humanitarian assistance reach Palestinians in Gaza, saying deliveries have been completely impeded. “The two-state solution will come later. Everything will come later. But we are talking about weeks or days,” for desperate Palestinians, he said. “Hunger has been used as an arm against people who are completely abandoned.” It was a reference to the main accusation levelled by the International Criminal Court in its arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister. Borrell said the signatories to the court, including six of the seven G7 members, are obliged under international law to respect and implement the court’s decisions. Host Italy put the ICC warrants on the G7 agenda at the last minute, but there was no consensus on the wording of how the G7 would respond given the U.S., Israel’s closest ally, has called the warrants “outrageous.” Italy, too, has said it respects the court but expressed concern that the warrants were politically motivated and ill-advised given Netanyahu is necessary for any deal to end the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. “Like it or not, the International Criminal Court is a court as powerful as any national court,” Borrell said. “And if the Europeans don’t support International Criminal Court then there would not be any hope for justice,” he said. (edited)

Existing investment is fantastic, economy moving in right direction: Finance MinisterNova Scotia Liberal vote crumbles because of 'damaged' brand, leader tied to Trudeau HALIFAX — A day after Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston led the Progressive Conservatives to a massive majority win, the Liberals were licking their wounds and wondering why their party was almost wiped off the political map. Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press Nov 27, 2024 12:35 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Nova Scotia Liberal Leader Zach Churchill speaks to reporters following a televised leaders' debate in Halifax, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese HALIFAX — A day after Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston led the Progressive Conservatives to a massive majority win, the Liberals were licking their wounds and wondering why their party was almost wiped off the political map. On Wednesday morning, once all the ballots were counted, the incumbent Tories had secured 43 of the 55 seats in the legislature, an increase of nine. The NDP won nine seats, an increase of three, and the Liberals fell to only two seats, a dozen less than when the campaign started. One Independent candidate held her seat — a first for the province. Liberal Leader Zach Churchill, a 40-year-old former cabinet minister, lost his seat after a long, see-saw battle with his Tory rival in the riding of Yarmouth — Churchill's hometown on Nova Scotia's southwestern shore. The Liberals had to give up their role as official opposition and the party barely held on to official party status. "At the end of the day, this falls on my shoulders," Churchill said afterwards. "This loss belongs to me and me alone." But it would be wrong to blame Churchill for his party's collapse at the polls, says Tom Urbaniak, a political science professor at Cape Breton University in Sydney, N.S. "Zach Churchill was dealing with a damaged Liberal brand — damaged in large part by the current standing of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau," Urbaniak said in an interview Wednesday, adding that Houston took advantage of that weakness. "(Churchill) was portrayed as Justin Trudeau's junior protege. And that stuck with some Nova Scotians." Throughout the campaign, Houston and his Tory colleagues tried to link Trudeau — whose Liberals are trailing the federal Tories by about 20 points in the polls — with Churchill, a well-spoken career politician who was elected to lead the provincial party in July 2022. "We know Zach Churchill defends his federal cousins at every turn,” provincial Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Kent Smith said in a statement early in the campaign. “Once again, when Zach Churchill had the choice to stand up for Nova Scotians or stand with Justin Trudeau, he chose Trudeau.” Churchill was also hobbled by a relatively low provincial profile, Urbaniak said. Despite the fact that he had held the riding of Yarmouth for the past 14 years and served in the cabinet of former Liberal premier Stephen McNeil, Churchill failed to leave much of an impression on the electorate, he said. Part of the problem was that McNeil, who served as premier from 2013 to 2021, rarely let his ministers spend much time in the limelight. "Stephen McNeil, at times, ran a one-person government," the professor said. "The premier made the big decisions .... That came back to hurt Zach Churchill." As well, Houston's decision to call an early election also stung the Liberals and the NDP, both of which were still nominating candidates when the campaign started. On another front, the Liberals in southwestern Nova Scotia were hurt by the fact that residents in several fishing communities had long complained about what they said was the federal Liberal government's failure to stop the illegal fishing of lobsters and baby eels. "The perceived federal mismanagement was a factor in some ridings," Urbaniak said, pointing to the Acadian riding of Clare, which had been held by the Liberals for the past 31 years. Liberal candidate Ronnie LeBlanc, a local fisherman, lost the riding to rookie Tory candidate Ryan Robicheau on Tuesday night by more than 1,000 votes. During the campaign, Churchill promised to establish an inquiry into illegal fishing, but voters on the South Shore were unimpressed. The Tories won all nine ridings in the region. It was Churchill's first election as leader. On Tuesday night, he declined to say if he would stay in the role. Neither Churchill nor Houston were available for an interview Wednesday. As for the NDP, party leader Claudia Chender said she was looking forward to taking on the large Tory majority. "I think what we take away from being the official Opposition is that people are looking for a strong voice and they are looking for a different voice,” said Chender, a 48-year-old lawyer. It was also her first election as leader. She said her priorities include pushing for more protection for renters, and reducing the number of people still seeking a doctor. The three additional seats won by the NDP are all in the Halifax area, part of the party’s traditional power base. Chender said the election results showed her party has room to grow, particularly along the South Shore and in Cape Breton. “In many ridings across this province there were tight two- or three-way races and we are building,” she said. “I think that work has started and will continue.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2024. Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press See a typo/mistake? Have a story/tip? This has been shared 0 times 0 Shares Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message More National News Canada didn't live up to its values on immigration in recent years, Carney says Nov 27, 2024 12:43 PM NDP ready to open 'gates' to pass Liberal GST holiday bill separate from $250 rebate Nov 27, 2024 12:42 PM Lawyers, loyalists and Wall Street executives: a look at who's on Trump's tariff team Nov 27, 2024 12:12 PM Featured Flyer

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