Dubai, United Arab Emirates- 25 November 2024: Fastex , a leading Web3 ecosystem reshaping the landscape of blockchain and digital finance, announces several key milestones in its regional expansion strategy for the MENA region. With the recent opening of its Dubai office in the Dubai World Trade Centre’s One Central and the launch of its ftNFT phygital space, Fastex aims to support the UAE’s growing position as a global hub for digital assets while enhancing its presence in the local Web3 market. Fastex’s all-encompassing ecosystem comprises advanced digital finance solutions such as Fastex Exchange, Fastex Wallet, and Fastex Card, alongside the innovative ftNFT platform; this ecosystem bridges the gap between digital and traditional finance, empowering users with secure, seamless access to a wide range of blockchain-based services. Designed to cater to the growing demand for secure, compliant, and innovative digital finance solutions in the MENA region, Fastex’s ecosystem positions it as a leader in the regional market, supporting individuals and businesses alike in embracing the future of finance. Vakhtang Abrahamyan, Fastex CEO, said: “As Fastex scales its ecosystem, we remain focused on global growth, leveraging the UAE as a foundation for entry into additional markets in the MENA region and broader international landscape. This growth strategy includes reinforcing regulatory alliances, advancing innovative solutions within our ecosystem, and expanding partnerships with industry leaders across key markets.” In line with its commitment to regulatory standards, Fastex has also achieved significant regulatory milestones, including recent pre-approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) for Broker-Dealer and Exchange operations. The company also holds multiple European licences, further validating its dedication to regulatory compliance and consumer protection and reflecting its proactive approach to securing licences that provide consumer confidence, security, and clarity in digital asset transactions. As Fastex solidifies its foundation in the MENA region, the company’s commitment to industry advancement and knowledge-sharing will take centre stage at the forthcoming Harmony Meetup VI on 13 December at the InterContinental Ras Al Khaimah. As one of the premier Web3 gatherings in the MENA region, the event will bring together thought leaders, experts, and innovators to exchange insights, share groundbreaking developments, and explore the future of decentralized finance. CoinDesk Studio and Cointelegraph will provide live on-site coverage, enhancing the event’s global reach and emphasizing its importance within the digital assets community. Fastex invites stakeholders, partners, and Web3 enthusiasts to join this journey toward a future empowered by blockchain, regulatory clarity, and innovation. As Fastex advances its strategic initiatives, the company remains dedicated to fostering a safe, compliant, and inclusive digital economy across the MENA region and around the globe. -ENDS- About Fastex: Fastex is the all encompassing ecosystem that redefines the Web3 experience. Fastex stands at the forefront of blockchain and AI technology, seamlessly blending vast opportunities within a unified and user-friendly environment, such as Fastex Exchange, Fastex Wallet, Fastex Card, and the e-commerce platform – ftNFT platform, with phygital spaces and YoHealth health-promoting mobile application. Fastex distinguishes itself by prioritizing regulatory compliance, ensuring a secure and reliable experience for all users in the evolving landscape of Web3. For more information, please contact: Sylvie Kastoun sylvie@ignitelb.com Mariam Baladyan mariam.baladyan@fastex.com RelatedKochera added five rebounds for the Wildcats (10-3). Bobby Durkin added 17 points while going 5 of 11 from the floor, including 3 for 7 from 3-point range, and 4 for 5 from the line while they also had five rebounds. Mike Loughnane shot 4 for 6 from beyond the arc to finish with 12 points. The Eagles (6-6) were led by Da'Sean Nelson, who recorded 16 points. Jalin Billingsley added 12 points and two steals for Eastern Michigan. Arne Osojnik also had 10 points. Davidson took the lead with 19:36 remaining in the first half and never looked back. The score was 41-21 at halftime, with Kochera racking up 16 points. Kochera scored 18 points in the second half to help lead the way as Davidson went on to secure a victory, outscoring Eastern Michigan by two points in the second half. Davidson plays Tuesday against George Mason on the road, and Eastern Michigan hosts Northern Illinois on Saturday. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 26, 2024-- ZP Better Together, a leading provider of video relay services (VRS) for the deaf and hard of hearing communities, announced today that it will join the Teleperformance family, a digital business services company that aligns with ZP’s principles and is the parent company of LanguageLine Solutions, a US-based global leader in interpretation, translation and localization services. To view an American Sign Language interpretation of this press release, please visit ZP . ZP Better Together has been a leader in paving the way for equitable communication through innovation and accessibility. We believe this alliance with Teleperformance will create a powerhouse partnership, opening new opportunities for ZP to deliver top-notch services, expand reach, tap into global markets and further strengthen its position as the leading solution-maker delivering the highest-quality and most innovative communication services for the deaf and hard of hearing community. “By joining forces with Teleperformance, we intend to leverage our combined expertise and resources to serve more people in more places – ensuring no one gets left behind,” said Sherri Turpin, Chief Executive Officer of ZP Better Together . “While this marks a new and exciting chapter for our organization, our focus remains on our mission and on maintaining the same passion and dedication that have been our guiding principles for more than 20 years.” “At Teleperformance, we are proud to combine our strengths with ZP Better Together to advance our shared mission of creating meaningful connections for all,” said Thomas Mackenbrock, TP’s Group Deputy CEO . “Throughout the years, we have continued to be impressed by ZP’s innovative and accessible communications solutions, which we believe are the perfect complement to TP's standard of excellence and service. This new partnership brings together leading-edge capabilities to provide best-in-class services to the communities we proudly serve.” Teleperformance was recently named one of the top 10 World’s Best Workplaces 2024 by Fortune, for the fourth consecutive year, and is known for its work blending advanced technology with human empathy to deliver enhanced customer care that is simpler, faster and safer. We believe these capabilities, mixed with ZP’s leading, innovative and trusted communication services, will redefine equitable communication and accessibility not only for deaf and hard of hearing consumers but also for some of the biggest companies in the world. Chris Michalik, Managing Director of Kinderhook Industries added: “Since 2015, I’ve had the privilege to work with ZP Better Together to drive growth, innovation and best-in-class communications solutions for the deaf and hard of hearing communities. I’m incredibly proud of ZP’s dedication and resilience. The strong culture ZP built has positioned them for this exciting chapter. Teleperformance is an ideal partner to continue ZP’s remarkable journey, and I look forward to witnessing the success they’ll achieve together.” Jefferies served as exclusive financial advisor to ZP Better Together on its sale to Teleperformance. About ZP Better Together ZP Better Together is a leading communications solution-maker dedicated to delivering the highest-quality and most innovative communication services to meet the unique needs of each deaf and hard of hearing individual. Our commitment extends across hardware, software, cloud-based, and in-person solutions, including Video Relay Service (VRS), Video Remote Interpreting (VRI), Communication Access Real-Time Translation (CART), On-Site Interpreting, CloudVP, and Scheduled Virtual Interpreting (SVI) for use with third-party videoconferencing platforms. We also provide trilingual sign language interpreting services for those who speak Spanish. These communication services are the foundation of our commitment to the belief that every conversation matters. Whether it is at home, on the go, at school, or in the workplace, our mission is to grow and bridge two worlds with innovative, accessible communication solutions, creating more opportunities in our deaf and hard of hearing community. About Teleperformance Group Teleperformance (TEP – ISIN: FR0000051807 – Reuters: TEPRF.PA - Bloomberg: TEP FP), is a global leader in digital business services which consistently seeks to blend the best of advanced technology with human empathy to deliver enhanced customer care that is simpler, faster, and safer for the world’s biggest brands and their customers. The Group’s comprehensive, AI-powered service portfolio ranges from front office customer care to back-office functions, including operations consulting and high-value digital transformation services. It also offers a range of specialized services such as collections, interpreting and localization, visa and consular services, and recruitment process outsourcing services. The teams of multilingual, inspired, and passionate experts and advisors, spread in close to 100 countries, as well as the Group’s local presence allows it to be a force of good in supporting communities, clients, and the environment. In 2023, Teleperformance reported consolidated revenue of €8,345 million (US$9 billion) and net profit of €602 million. Teleperformance shares are traded on the Euronext Paris market, Compartment A, and are eligible for the deferred settlement service. They are included in the following indices: CAC 40, STOXX 600, S&P Europe 350, MSCI Global Standard and Euronext Tech Leaders. In the area of corporate social responsibility, Teleperformance shares are included in the CAC 40 ESG since September 2022, the Euronext Vigeo Euro 120 index since 2015, the MSCI Europe ESG Leaders index since 2019, the FTSE4Good index since 2018 and the S&P Global 1200 ESG index since 2017. View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241126134360/en/ CONTACT: Laura Hernandez Smith Laura@Rokksolutions.com KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA TEXAS INDUSTRY KEYWORD: CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY AUDIO/VIDEO SOFTWARE HARDWARE PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES SOURCE: ZP Better Together Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 11/26/2024 01:26 PM/DISC: 11/26/2024 01:26 PM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241126134360/en
Trump steps into skilled-work visa clash, saying they’re ‘great’Landsea Homes Corporation Announces Proposed Secondary Offering of Common Stock
Landsea Homes Corporation Announces Proposed Secondary Offering of Common Stock
The white-bearded Christian saint whose acts of generosity inspired America’s secular Santa Claus figure is known worldwide — but Saint Nicholas’ origin story is not. The legends surrounding jolly old St. Nicholas — celebrated annually on Dec. 6 — go way beyond delivering candy and toys to children. St. Nicholas was a fourth century Christian bishop from the Mediterranean port city of Myra (in modern-day Turkey). “Much of the rest is legend. There’s not really a lot of hard historical evidence about St. Nicholas,” said the Rev. Nicholas Ayo, author of “Saint Nicholas in America: Christmas Holy Day and Holiday.” But whether the stories are true is not so much the point, said Ayo, an 89-year-old retired Notre Dame University professor named after St. Nicholas. “There’s no Santa Claus that lands on the roof, but there’s a desire in people’s heart for an unconditional love that doesn’t depend on your behavior, but the fact that you’re somebody’s child.” Devotion to St. Nicholas — also referred to as St. Nick — spread during the Middle Ages across Europe and he became a favorite subject for medieval artists and liturgical plays, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. He is the patron saint of Greece and Russia, Moscow and New York, as well as charities, children and pawnbrokers. He also is the patron saint of sailors. In 1807, Italian sailors took the remains of St. Nicholas from Myra to the seaport of Bari, on the southeast coast of the boot of Italy. They built a church in his honor; relics believed to be his are kept in Bari’s 11th century basilica of San Nicola. St. Nicholas Day is celebrated every year on Dec. 6, typically by filling the stockings and shoes children leave out overnight with sweets and toys. It also is a fitting date for the patron saint of sailors. “The December feast day of Saint Nicholas coincides with the beginning of the winter storm season on the Mediterranean,” Ayo wrote. Legends surrounding St. Nicholas’ generosity appear in texts ranging from medieval manuscripts to modern-day poems, including how he interceded on behalf of wrongly condemned prisoners and miraculously saved sailors from storms. One of the most famous legends, Ayo said, features the aging father of three young women who didn’t have means to pay for their dowry. St. Nicholas is said to have thrown gold pieces into the man’s window. “It is the quintessential Nicholas,” Ayo wrote. “It requires no miracle, no credulity from the hearer, and no superstition at any level. What is needed is only a generous heart ready to give of his wealth in a self-effacing way that others may come to know a deep love in their life.” k inspired Santa Devotion to St. Nicholas seems to have faded after the 16th century Protestant Reformation, except in the Netherlands where his legend remained as Sinterklaas. In the 17th century, Dutch Protestants who settled in New York brought the Sinterklaas tradition with them. “The Dutch had St. Nicholas on the bow of the first ship that went into New York harbor,” Ayo said. Eventually, St. Nicholas morphed into the secular Santa Claus. Artist Thomas Nast, an engraver in Morristown, New Jersey, who illustrated the front cover of Harper’s magazine for many years, played a key role in the transformation, Ayo said. “He followed the description of Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas — and Clement Clarke Moore’s ‘Twas the Night before Christmas’ poem,” Ayo said. “So, that’s how that got changed. But in Europe, the bishop shows up in bishop’s clothing at the door sometimes.”
Outbrain Shareholders Vote to Support Teads AcquisitionAP Trending SummaryBrief at 6:06 p.m. EST
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Once-promising seasons hit new lows for the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers last week. Another late-game meltdown sent the Bears to their sixth straight loss and led to the firing of coach Matt Eberflus. The 49ers suffered their second straight blowout loss and more crushing injuries to go from Super Bowl contenders to outside the playoff picture in a matter of weeks. The two reeling teams will try to get back on track on Sunday when the Bears (4-8) visit the 49ers (5-7) in Chicago's first game under interim coach Thomas Brown . “I told them a minute ago after practice there is no confidence loss at all as far as what I think about them,” Brown said Wednesday. “I don’t care what anybody else thinks about them. I think we have a very talented football team. It’s about just putting the work in every single day to give us an opportunity to win.” The Bears are hoping to get an emotional boost from the first in-season firing of a head coach in franchise history. Over the last 10 seasons, teams with interim coaches are 13-11 in their first game with the new coach. Those teams had a .284 winning percentage at the time they fired their coaches. “I wouldn’t say a new voice was needed. I would say there was change that was needed," rookie quarterback Caleb Williams said, pointing to a need for more accountability and better communication. The Niners came into the season as the favorites to get back to the Super Bowl from the NFC after losing the title game to Kansas City last season. But a series of key injuries, bad losses and spotty play have left them in last place in the NFC West with only slim hopes of even reaching the postseason. San Francisco lost 38-10 to Green Bay and 35-10 to Buffalo in back-to-back weeks and lost star running back Christian McCaffrey to a knee injury last week that will sideline him for at least the rest of the regular season. The Niners already lost key players Brandon Aiyuk and Javon Hargrave to season-ending injuries and are preparing to be without stars Nick Bosa and Trent Williams for a third straight week. “It’s just been a rocky mountain for real with the injuries and other stuff we’ve had to go through this season,” receiver Deebo Samuel said. “Our record don’t show how really good we are as a team. We're still believing in this locker room.” Chaotic education Williams described Eberflus’ firing as “interesting” and “tough” and vowed to “roll with the punches” while insisting the chaos and turnover of the past few weeks could help him handle similar situations in the future. Just 12 games into his NFL career, the prized quarterback is on his second head coach and third offensive coordinator, though Brown will continue to call plays. How does he keep the faith that his career is in good hands with this organization? “The first part is understanding I can’t control,” Williams said. “Even if I understand or don’t understand, that doesn’t matter. I have to roll with the punches like I said before. I don’t control everything.” Guerendo's chance With McCaffrey and Jordan Mason injured, the Niners running game will turn to rookie Isaac Guerendo . The fourth-round pick has 42 carries for 246 yards and two TDs this season and will be making his second start in either college or the pros. Coach Kyle Shanahan said the progress Guerendo has made since training camp makes him ready for his new role as he sees him running with more “urgency.” “I think it takes guys some time,” Shanahan said. “You start to get a feel for it the more, if you’ve got the right stuff, the more you get reps, the more you can adjust to it. How hard you’ve got to hit stuff, how quick those holes close, how when there is a hole how you have to hit it full-speed and can’t hesitate at all or it closes like that. We’ve seen that stuff get better in practice and we’ve seen it carry over into games.” Stop the run San Francisco's usually stout run defense has been anything but that this season. The Niners have struggled to slow down the opposition on the ground all year with the problem getting worse recently. The 49ers allowed 389 yards rushing the past two weeks. “It’s been so frustrating because I know what is supposed to look like,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “That’s not it.” Stopping the run also continues to be a sore spot for Chicago. The Bears rank 25th overall against the run and 29th in yards allowed per rush after another difficult outing last week. They gave up 194 yards, including 144 in the first half as the Lions grabbed a 16-0 lead. Losing veteran defensive tackle Andrew Billings to a torn pectoral muscle last month did not help. He was injured in a Week 9 loss at Arizona and is expected to miss the remainder of the season after having surgery. AP Sports Writer Andrew Seligman contributed to this report. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Veteran forward Bruce Brown's return a boost to flagging Toronto Raptors' lineupIvana Yturbe shared surprising details about her married life with Beto Da Silva during his participation in the podcast Magaly Medina . The model caused astonishment by talking about the uncomfortable messages that both have received on social networks and the large number of women who write to the footballer, going so far as to send him inappropriate messages and photos. Ivana Yturbe tells details of the messages that Beto Da Silva receives on networks from women The former reality girl detailed how they manage these types of situations as a couple, highlighting mutual trust as the basis of their relationship. One of the most surprising moments of the interview was Ivana Yturbe’s revelation about the messages that both she and Beto Da Silva they receive on their social networks. The model commented that she has access to her husband’s accounts and that they both handle these situations with total transparency. “It has happened to us that, sometimes, they send us photos that we don’t even open. I don’t know why it happens, disgusting photos. They send some strange things. Beto shows them to me and says: “Fat lady, did you see what I got?” the model explained. “There are girls who think that they see a married person and say: ‘Here I come’... They don’t realize that they are harming a family and what it costs to support a family, because it is not easy,” she expressed with annoyance. “And it helps us a lot that our worlds are not very far away, it helps us understand what we don’t do. I could get upset with him because they write to him, perhaps more chibola, but now we laugh, it’s part of, we have learned to face it. As long as he doesn’t respond, everything is fine,” he added. Ivana Yturbe throws a strong blow at Christian Cueva for romance with Pamela Franco Ivana Yturbe explained that her decision not to meet or interact with Cueva and López’s current partners is mainly due to respect for the children they both share. In his words, avoiding getting involved in these relationships is a way to protect minors and avoid possible misunderstandings. “To begin with, I don’t know them, I’ve never seen them, and the truth is that today, out of respect for the children and how everything has turned out, I don’t want to meet any person that they are hanging out with, dating, going to marry, I don’t know, anyone,” said the model, making clear her intention to prioritize the emotional stability of her friend’s children. Join our entertainment channelLenovo Legion Go S leak shows renders of the cheaper handheld gaming PC
Kochera's 34 lead Davidson over Eastern Michigan 86-64
Shrinking Colorado River puts 100M at risk as crucial water source could drastically impact nation’s food supplyRegarding that trip, he set out his aspirations in his diary entry on the day of Mrs Carter's departure on May 30, 1977: “My hope and expectation are that her conversations will both convince the people of these countries of our interest and friendship and also provide the leaders with an avenue directly to me for their problems, opportunities and requests from our own government.” He later sought and received Jamaica's support at the United Nations in a vote on Iran sanctions in 1919. Then, in 1997, the former President led the first international observer mission overseeing an election in Jamaica, held on December 18 that year. In a recorded message to the Jamaican people, five days before the polls, he extolled the virtues of the country's democratic traditions, but noted that it had been marred in recent times by political violence. The aim of his oberver mission therefore was to support the efforts of local organizations such as the then recently formed Citizens' Action for Free & Fair Elections [CAFFE] along with the political parties, "to contribute and build on this climate of peace." "You, Jamaicans, will determine who will win the election. We are impartial, with regard to the outcome of the election. Our only hope is that we will contribute to a fair, open and free process," he stressed.
ATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who tried to restore virtue to the White House after the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, then rebounded from a landslide defeat to become a global advocate of human rights and democracy, has died. He was 100 years old . The Carter Center said the 39th president died Sunday afternoon, more than a year after entering hospice care , at his home in Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died in November 2023, lived most of their lives. The center said he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. As reaction poured in from around the world, President Joe Biden mourned Carter’s death, saying the world lost an “extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian” and he lost a dear friend. Biden cited Carter’s compassion and moral clarity, his work to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless and advocacy for the disadvantaged as an example for others. “To all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning – the good life – study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith, and humility,” Biden said in a statement. “He showed that we are a great nation because we are a good people – decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong.” Biden said he is ordering a state funeral for Carter in Washington. A moderate Democrat, Carter ran for president in 1976 as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad grin, effusive Baptist faith and technocratic plans for efficient government. His promise to never deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter said. Carter’s victory over Republican Gerald Ford, whose fortunes fell after pardoning Nixon, came amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over race, women’s rights and America’s role in the world. His achievements included brokering Mideast peace by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David for 13 days in 1978. But his coalition splintered under double-digit inflation and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His negotiations ultimately brought all the hostages home alive, but in a final insult, Iran didn’t release them until the inauguration of Ronald Reagan, who had trounced him in the 1980 election. Humbled and back home in Georgia, Carter said his faith demanded that he keep doing whatever he could, for as long as he could, to try to make a difference. He and Rosalynn co-founded The Carter Center in 1982 and spent the next 40 years traveling the world as peacemakers, human rights advocates and champions of democracy and public health. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, Carter helped ease nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiate cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, the center had monitored at least 113 elections around the world. Carter was determined to eradicate guinea worm infections as one of many health initiatives. Swinging hammers into their 90s, the Carters built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The common observation that he was better as an ex-president rankled Carter. His allies were pleased that he lived long enough to see biographers and historians revisit his presidency and declare it more impactful than many understood at the time. Propelled in 1976 by voters in Iowa and then across the South, Carter ran a no-frills campaign. Americans were captivated by the earnest engineer, and while an election-year Playboy interview drew snickers when he said he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times,” voters tired of political cynicism found it endearing. The first family set an informal tone in the White House, carrying their own luggage, trying to silence the Marine Band’s traditional “Hail to the Chief" and enrolling daughter, Amy, in public schools. Carter was lampooned for wearing a cardigan and urging Americans to turn down their thermostats. But Carter set the stage for an economic revival and sharply reduced America's dependence on foreign oil by deregulating the energy industry along with airlines, trains and trucking. He established the departments of Energy and Education, appointed record numbers of women and nonwhites to federal posts, preserved millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness and pardoned most Vietnam draft evaders. Emphasizing human rights , he ended most support for military dictators and took on bribery by multinational corporations by signing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He persuaded the Senate to ratify the Panama Canal treaties and normalized relations with China, an outgrowth of Nixon’s outreach to Beijing. But crippling turns in foreign affairs took their toll. When OPEC hiked crude prices, making drivers line up for gasoline as inflation spiked to 11%, Carter tried to encourage Americans to overcome “a crisis of confidence.” Many voters lost confidence in Carter instead after the infamous address that media dubbed his “malaise" speech, even though he never used that word. After Carter reluctantly agreed to admit the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979. Negotiations to quickly free the hostages broke down, and then eight Americans died when a top-secret military rescue attempt failed. Carter also had to reverse course on the SALT II nuclear arms treaty after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Though historians would later credit Carter's diplomatic efforts for hastening the end of the Cold war, Republicans labeled his soft power weak. Reagan’s “make America great again” appeals resonated, and he beat Carter in all but six states. Born Oct. 1, 1924, James Earl Carter Jr. married fellow Plains native Rosalynn Smith in 1946, the year he graduated from the Naval Academy. He brought his young family back to Plains after his father died, abandoning his Navy career, and they soon turned their ambitions to politics . Carter reached the state Senate in 1962. After rural white and Black voters elected him governor in 1970, he drew national attention by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Carter published more than 30 books and remained influential as his center turned its democracy advocacy onto U.S. politics, monitoring an audit of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results. After a 2015 cancer diagnosis, Carter said he felt “perfectly at ease with whatever comes.” “I’ve had a wonderful life,” he said. “I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.” Sanz is a former Associated Press reporter.DOVER, Del. (AP) — A Delaware judge has reaffirmed her ruling that Tesla must revoke Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick on Monday denied a request by attorneys for Musk and Tesla’s corporate directors to vacate her ruling earlier this year requiring the company to rescind the unprecedented pay package. McCormick also rejected an equally unprecedented and massive fee request by plaintiff attorneys , who argued that they were entitled to legal fees in the form of Tesla stock valued at more than $5 billion. The judge said the attorneys were entitled to a fee award of $345 million. The rulings came in a lawsuit filed by a Tesla stockholder who challenged Musk’s 2018 compensation package. McCormick concluded in January that Musk engineered the landmark pay package in sham negotiations with directors who were not independent. The compensation package initially carried a potential maximum value of about $56 billion, but that sum has fluctuated over the years based on Tesla’s stock price. Following the court ruling, Tesla shareholders met in June and ratified Musk’s 2018 pay package for a second time, again by an overwhelming margin. Defense attorneys then argued that the second vote makes clear that Tesla shareholders, with full knowledge of the flaws in the 2018 process that McCormick pointed out, were adamant that Musk is entitled to the pay package. They asked the judge to vacate her order directing Tesla to rescind the pay package. McCormick, who seemed skeptical of the defense arguments during an August hearing, said in Monday’s ruling that those arguments were fatally flawed. “The large and talented group of defense firms got creative with the ratification argument, but their unprecedented theories go against multiple strains of settled law,” McCormick wrote in a 103-page opinion. The judge noted, among other things, that a stockholder vote standing alone cannot ratify a conflicted-controller transaction. “Even if a stockholder vote could have a ratifying effect, it could not do so here due to multiple, material misstatements in the proxy statement,” she added. Meanwhile, McCormick found that the $5.6 billion fee request by the shareholder’s attorneys, which at one time approached $7 billion based on Tesla’s trading price, went too far. “In a case about excessive compensation, that was a bold ask,” McCormick wrote. Attorneys for the Tesla shareholder argue that their work resulted in the “massive” benefit of returning shares to Tesla that otherwise would have gone to Musk and diluted the stock held by other Tesla investors. They value that benefit at $51.4 billion, using the difference between the stock price at the time of McCormick’s January ruling and the strike price of some 304 million stock options granted to Musk. While finding that the methodology used to calculate the fee request was sound, the judge noted that the Delaware’s Supreme Court has noted that fee award guidelines “must yield to the greater policy concern of preventing windfalls to counsel.” “The fee award here must yield in this way, because $5.6 billion is a windfall no matter the methodology used to justify it,” McCormick wrote. A fee award of $345 million, she said, was “an appropriate sum to reward a total victory.” The fee award amounts to almost exactly half the current record $688 million in legal fees awarded in 2008 in litigation stemming from the collapse of Enron.
If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. A small, ragtag group of coders with a big idea builds something special. It’s a smash hit, bigger than their wild expectations. Competitors emerge, and the team suddenly has to scramble to keep up. But with a little hard work (and a lot of biz dev), they manage to reassert and maintain their dominance. Then, years go by, the product , and you start to wonder if maybe a little competition was a good thing after all. You can tell this story up and down Silicon Valley, across several decades and some of the most iconic products in tech history — Google Search, Facebook, the iPhone — but few hit the marks quite as cleanly as . In a new four-part documentary on Prime Video, traces the history of one of the world’s most successful game franchises and tells it like a startup story. But by the end, is very much big tech and doesn’t seem to know what to do about it. The beats of the story are well established at this point; this isn’t even the first documentary about the rise of It all begins with Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, who had wanted to make a football video game since he was a kid. He pursued NFL superstar Joe Montana as a partner, and when that didn’t work out, he turned to the iconic coach and commentator John Madden. Madden signed up, showed up to work, and began to relentlessly push the team to build a game that felt more like NFL football. He nixed the possibility of playing 7-on-7 instead of 11-on-11 (which EA wanted to do for graphics processing reasons), rewrote the playbook, and harped on every tiny gameplay detail. The first game, released in 1988, was a mess, but the franchise took off a few years later. Madden, who died in 2021, comes off like an almost mythical figure. There’s a very Steve Jobs-like way people talk about him: he was a visionary, obsessed with details, willing to work hard but unwilling to put up with pointless work or stupid people, occasionally prone to being a total asshole, but always in service of the work. Current and former EA executives talk about wanting to build a game that “Coach” would like, above all else. spends a lot of time on the cultural impact of the game, but the most interesting parts are the moments in which we see how is actually made. The first episode tells the story of the team reverse engineering a Sega Genesis in order to make run on the console without paying Sega a license. We get a behind-the-scenes look at how motion-capture technology developed to make onscreen players move more like real ones and a long and fascinating dive into how the in-game announcers worked. (Spoiler alert: it’s a lot of sitting in a studio saying “third and four,” “third and five,” “third and six” for hours on end.) We learn about the battle between the EA employees trying to fix the game’s bugs and the gamers trying to exploit them to win games. There is lots of talk, and lots of arguing, about player ratings. It’s all good tech nerdery and good fan service for anyone who loves keeps raising but never quite answering a question: what makes a good game? For all its archives and access, though, keeps raising but never quite answering a question: what makes a good game? It seems to be taken for granted within EA that fidelity is the only goal. The team toiled to make the football more real, then added the players and logos to make it more like the NFL, then spent years making it feel more like a TV product. That’s what Coach wanted, it’s what Hawkins wanted, it’s what the NFL players like, but is that what fans are looking for? It doesn’t seem like it. How else can you explain why in which quarterback Mike Vick was so fast and so talented that he both literally and figuratively , is everyone’s favorite version of the game? Even EA employees say the Vick era was peak Over the years, many of the best things about are when the game diverts from reality. Several NFL players mention creating players with impossibly perfect stats, and having a blast with them. In its early years, the games appeared from a very different point of view than the one you might see watching a game on the couch; now, TV football has actually changed to look more like But then we flash back to 2024, and all anyone talks about is “physics-based tackling” and making tiny details more realistic. The doc does acknowledge, mostly via social media montages, that a lot of people are unhappy with the recent state of Once again, though, EA’s answer seems to be to make everything more faithful to real life, when, in fact, fans have been begging the team for years to have new ideas about how to play football. Superstar mode, in which you become a player and go through all the ups and downs of an NFL career, has been a hit. But the game needs more. And has for a long time. Practically overnight, went from having a slew of interesting competitors to having no competition at all So why does keep winning, then? On that, is actually quite clear. EA secured an exclusive license with the NFL in 2004 to use player and team information and has had it ever since. Practically overnight, went from having a slew of interesting competitors, many of which were building games with better graphics and more innovative gameplay, to having no competition at all. All the drama of the series ends with that deal. From there, the story basically skips from 2005 to the present because there’s nothing left to say. won. And then just kept doing The doc ends with the release of and frames it as a moment of victory — the franchise finding its footing again. Given that has a score of 70 on Metacritic and a 2.8 user score, that feels somewhat disingenuous. It was a strange year for the franchise, actually, because of the release of another EA game: after 11 years, came back with a bang in 2024. It made another rehash of seem even worse by comparison. “It is absolutely time for this franchise to receive a deep, substantial glow-up,” of “especially this year with its new neighbor completely eating its lunch.” Three and a half decades since its first installment, is still an unquestioned juggernaut. And it will be until the NFL allows another game to try and beat it. The last time there was competition, EA decided to make Mike Vick fun to play with, and it made the most fun it ever was. A lot of gamers — and more than a few pros — would be excited to see what happens next time. It’s in the Game /These treatments promise younger skin without the use of needles. Do they really work?
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