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Bengaluru: Defence PSU HAL Monday said it commemorated its 85th Foundation Day — and the first since achieving the prestigious Maharatna PSU status. Member of Parliament Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, who was the chief guest, highlighted the company's remarkable journey since its establishment by Walchand Hirachand in 1940. He stressed the importance of maintaining HAL's momentum in strengthening India's defence ecosystem. The celebration also saw the launch of a commemorative book titled ‘Flights of Inspiration, HAL's Maharatna Story.' DK Sunil, CMD of HAL, presented the company's vision for global expansion through strategic internal transformation. The roadmap includes technology-focused and people-centric programmes, operational excellence through corporate restructuring, and enhanced export capabilities. BEL secures orders worth ₹973cr Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) on Monday said it has secured additional orders worth ₹973 crore since Dec 9. "The order included platform screen doors for Metro rail, radars, communication equipment, jammers, seekers, upgraded submarine sonar, upgraded satcom terminals, test stations, spares, services, etc. With these new orders, BEL's total order for the current financial year reached ₹9,801 crore," it stated. —Krishna Meera Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , and Mini Crossword . Spread love this holiday season with these Christmas wishes , messages , and quotes.Lethbridge police investigating second sudden death in three days
UConn quarterback Joe Fagnano threw for two touchdowns and the Huskies' defense overwhelmed North Carolina for a 27-14 victory in the Fenway Bowl on Saturday in Boston. Mel Brown ran for 96 yards and the Huskies (9-4) reached the nine-win level for the third time in program history. It was a miserable day for the Tar Heels (6-7), who are in transition as they await Bill Belichick, who now takes over as head coach. Freddie Kitchens served as interim coach on Saturday following Mack Brown's departure at the end of the regular season and had praise for his team despite the loss. "I commend them for everything they've done the last three weeks. We didn't really catch any breaks today," Kitchens told reporter after the game. "You've got to make your own breaks sometimes. These guys just kept fighting." North Carolina's Chris Culliver returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown and backup quarterback Michael Merdinger threw for 86 yards. Six of the team's 10 first downs came in the final 11 minutes. Fagnano finished 16-for-23 for 151 yards for the Huskies, who were limited to a field goal in the second half after rolling up a 24-7 haltime lead. North Carolina lost starting quarterback Jacolby Criswell to an apparent shoulder injury on the team's second offensive series. The Tar Heels, who were without running back Omarion Hampton (going into NFL draft), didn't pick up a first down until less than 30 seconds remained in the first half, and that was followed by an interception. UConn's first points came on Chris Freeman's 32-yard field goal. Then, with 3:45 left in the quarter, Fagnano connected with Skyler Bell on a 38-yard touchdown. The Huskies led 10-0 before Culliver's ensuing kickoff return, the only glitch for UConn in the first quarter. Fifty seconds into the second quarter, Fagnano hit Alex Honig with a pass for a 4-yard touchdown. The final first-half touchdown came on running back Cam Edwards' leap into the end zone to complete a fourth-and-2 snap. That capped a 14-play drive that consumed almost six minutes. "I feel like a proud father towards this team," UConn head coach Jim Mora Jr. "We ran for 210 yards. That's how you win a football game." North Carolina, which lost its fifth consecutive bowl outing, was credited with 1 rushing yard in the first half. The Tar Heels drove 98 yards on eight plays to score on running back Caleb Hood's 17-yard pass to John Copenhaver with 6:46 left in the game. Hood rushed for a team-high 78 yards. UConn had gone 0-3 against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference this season, but it had no trouble in snapping that streak against the Tar Heels. --Field Level Media
After announcing he would not return to Congress, Matt Gaetz appears to be trying out a new career option: creating personalized videos for his fans on Cameo. Gaetz, a former Florida representative, joined the platform Friday, a day after he withdrew his name from consideration to serve as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general amid sexual misconduct allegations. Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are There, he’s been doling out paid holiday wishes, marriage congratulations and career pep talks. As of Sunday night, Gaetz is charging a minimum of $550 per video, which so far have averaged about a minute and a half in length. “I served in Congress,” his Cameo page reads, alluding to his recent resignation and subsequent announcement that he does not plan to retake his House seat. “Trump nominated me to be US Attorney General (that didn’t work out). Once I fired the House Speaker.” The speaker he "fired" hints at his feud with Kevin McCarthy, whom he played a pivotal role in ousting last year when Gaetz forced a House vote that led to McCarthy's removal from office. A representative for Gaetz did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gaetz announced Thursday his decision to take himself out of the running for attorney general, writing on X , “While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.” Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world. His potential appointment was overshadowed by several allegations of sexual misconduct, including allegations that he had sex with a 17-year-old at a party in 2017 . He was also investigated by the Justice Department — which he would have led had he been confirmed — related to allegations of sex trafficking and sex with a minor. Gaetz has vehemently denied allegations of sexual misconduct, and the investigation ended with no charges against him. Gaetz’s resignation last week also effectively ended a House Ethics Committee investigation into the allegations against him, which had been ongoing intermittently since 2021. From Capitol Hill to Cameo Cameo, the celebrity video message app, which launched in 2017, allows users to purchase custom shoutouts from famous figures who join the app. Fans on Cameo commonly request these videos, priced by the celebrities themselves, for special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries and graduations. Despite facing some financial trouble in recent years, Cameo has remained a fixture for some public figures seeking an extra source of income. It’s become a notorious marketplace for fan-requested videos from pop culture’s most dramatic and villainized personalities, which often go viral when posted to social media platforms like TikTok and X. In one video, Gaetz, a Republican, filmed himself congratulating a recipient for making partner at their law firm while acknowledging their political differences. “Look, I know your politics and mine may not align specifically, but you know, our career trajectories might not be either. I mean, here you are making partner, and my legal career took a little bit of a different turn this last week,” Gaetz said. “But you know what? Work hard, get paid a lot of money, do a lot of great things as a practitioner and counselor at law, and you know, you never know. You could be an attorney general nominee, too.” Other videos feature Gaetz thanking his recipients for “backing President Trump and all of our efforts to save the country” and being “there for MAGA.” He also roasted one recipient for “betting on things like... Kamala Harris to be the President of the United States. You got to get better habits for that — bet on Trump.” Gaetz is following in the footsteps of other embattled politicians such as former Rep. George Santos , who turned to the platform after he was ousted from the House late last year amid allegations of wire fraud and identity theft. Earlier this year, Santos made his drag queen persona available on the app as well. He has since pleaded guilty to a pair of felony fraud charges. Also on Cameo are Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor who was removed from office and incarcerated on charges of public corruption, and Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who was indicted on charges related to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to the charges in the Georgia election interference case. He was also found liable for defaming two Georgia election workers . Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney who pleaded guilty to and served time in prison for federal crimes, is also active on the app. Other political figures on Cameo include former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and Fox News commentator Tomi Lahren. This article first appeared on NBCNews.com . Read more from NBC News here:TikTok , the popular viral video platform, is still slated to be banned in the U.S. next year. And with 2024 coming to an end, the January 19, 2025 ban date for TikTok is fast approaching. Just weeks before Christmas, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear an appeal filed by TikTok and its parent company ByteDance. The oral arguments in that case are set to begin Jan. 10. However, President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, just one day after the pending TikTok ban, is urging the Supreme Court to just grant a stay on the TikTok ban deadline date. Why? Because Trump humbly claims that only he can solve the issue and save TikTok from being banned. Trump to SCOTUS: Let me save TikTok In his message to the Supreme Court, Trump asserts a myriad of reasons as to why he's uniquely positioned to address the supposed national security concerns tied with TikTok being owned by a China-based company while simultaneously saving the platform from a ban. In the brief, Trump drops how many followers he has on TikTok (more than 14 million) and how the platform played a crucial role in his successful reelection campaign. The president-elect makes mention of Brazil's recent ban on Elon Musk's X, formerly known as Twitter, to showcase a similar case of "historic danger" when a government bans a social media platform. In addition, Trump also cites his expertise as the founder of "another resoundingly successful social-media platform," Truth Social, to show why he has specific insight on the issues. And, of course, Trump highlights that he's the best at making deals. "President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the Government—concerns which President Trump himself has acknowledged," reads an amicus brief filed by Trump to the court on Friday. Trump did want to ban TikTok but doesn't want to anymore Readers may recall that TikTok ban talks began under the first Trump administration. In fact, Trump was on the verge of going forward with an actual TikTok ban in late 2020. TikTok went out of its way to partner with the U.S.-based Oracle to host all of its U.S.-related data to meet Trump's terms to avoid a ban. However, after Trump lost in 2020, TikTok's pending ban was basically abandoned by the first Trump administration. Under the Biden administration, the concerns regarding ByteDance's ownership of TikTok were renewed resulting in the latest move to force the China-based company to sell TikTok or lose its ability to operate in the U.S. Now, after utilizing TikTok for his winning 2024 reelection bid, Trump is singing a different tune about the platform. Earlier this month, Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Mar-a-lago. Then, right before Christmas, at an event for the conservative organization Turning Point USA, shared his views on TikTok to the crowd. "They brought me a chart, and it was a record, and it was so beautiful to see, and as I looked at it, I said, 'Maybe we gotta keep this sucker around for a little while,'" Trump said after claiming his TikTok videos receive "billions of views." It's unclear as to what stats Trump was referring to, as his highest-performing video on TikTok was the first one he posted, which received 179 million views. Trump hasn't posted on TikTok since before the polls closed on election day.
Georgia QB Carson Beck declares for 2025 NFL DraftA protestor wearing a face mask of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in a rally calling for his impeachment in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec 8. SEOUL – Traders are bracing for a period of sustained volatility in South Korean assets as markets reopen on Dec 9, with the won and stocks seen under initial pressure after a weekend of high drama deepened the political crisis. Trading desks are assessing a possibility of a prolonged stalemate after Dec 7’s impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol failed. With Mr Yoon facing intense pressure to resign, ruling People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon on Dec 8 said Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will manage the nation’s affairs while his party prepares an orderly exit plan for the President. Opposition lawmakers slammed the decision as unconstitutional and thousands took to the streets to protest. The opposition parties, which together control a majority in parliament, have said they will push quickly for another impeachment vote. The South Korean currency has crept lower in the days following Mr Yoon’s shock declaration of martial law on Dec 3, a decision he reversed within hours after parliament unanimously rejected it. “Had the impeachment motion gone through on Saturday, it would have been over, but Yoon still has control over the military,” said Mr Seo Sang-Young, a market strategist at Mirae Asset Securities. “The ruling party’s boycott will only prolong the domestic uncertainty.” That means volatility will increase, he added, with the market reacting differently by industry. Domestic demand needs an inflow of tourists, and with the tourism balance already negative, this could make things worse, he noted. Chinese tourists visiting South Korea could drop by 19 per cent to 830,000 in the first quarter of 2025 from a year ago on fears of social unrest following the brief imposition of martial law. Such concerns may linger through the Chinese New Year break, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence report. South Korea’s currency, which regained some ground after plunging on Dec 3, briefly dipped again on Dec 6 when a local newspaper reported Mr Yoon may reimpose martial law. It was the worst performing in Asia last week, down almost 2 per cent against the US dollar. “While the martial law declaration has proved short-lived, the won remains weaker than pre-announcement levels and vulnerable to a further drop,” wrote strategists at Barclays. “With the situation remaining highly fluid, the won may remain volatile in the short term.” The Kospi equity benchmark has fallen 2.9 per cent since the short-lived martial law decree, with significant intra-day swings on Dec 6 as traders weighed each political development. “This political instability will have different impacts on different sectors,” said Mr Jung In Yun, chief executive at Fibonacci Asset Management Global, who expects the drama to persist throughout next year. “Exporting companies will likely rebound soon.” “Investors will focus on corporate earnings for the next quarter and assess the impact of the weaker won,” he added. “The Kospi will likely rebound in late December as investors start to segregate political and market issues.” Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said South Korea will deploy all available measures to deal with the fallout from the political crisis. He said at a media briefing on Dec 8 that the ministry has been cooperating with the Bank of Korea to take pre-emptive measures to respond to volatility in financial and foreign-exchange markets. Intervention could reduce immediate losses for the won, said Mr Sean Callow, senior FX analyst at Intouch Capital Markets in Singapore. “There is likely to be some disappointment over the failed impeachment vote” despite Korean authorities’ efforts to calm investor nerves, he added. “Markets will fear political paralysis so long as Yoon holds on and the PPP protects him from impeachment.” Mr Callow said the underlying trend for the won is still on the downside because of risks linked to the incoming Trump administration’s vow to impose sweeping tariffs. The won was 0.5 per cednt weaker against the dollar at the close on Dec 6, before the failed impeachment attempt. BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you. Read 3 articles and stand to win rewards Spin the wheel nowGriezmann brace makes it nine straight wins to Atletico
A senator concerned about foreign interference in the Upper House is calling for Senate leaders to be granted access to an uncensored intelligence report that claims parliamentarians colluded with foreign actors. The report, released by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) on June 3, said that some parliamentarians were “semi-witting or witting” participants in foreign interference efforts against Canada, though it did not disclose the names of those allegedly implicated. “Absent from all these claims and counterclaims is any informed commentary from members of this chamber,” he said. “That is because, unlike their counterparts in the House of Commons, no leader of a recognized group in the Senate has been permitted to read the unredacted report.” Downe noted that it had been nearly six months since the initial report was released, and said the fact that no leader in the Senate had been able to see the full report during that time was “nothing short of a disgrace.” Downe further pointed out the nuance in Trudeau’s statement, noting that the prime minister did not specify “members of the House of Commons,” but rather “parliamentarians,” which includes senators. Earlier, during Senate question period on Nov. 21, Downe asked Sen. Marc Gold, the government representative in the Senate, whether any minister, political staffer, or federal government employee had informed him that senators were named in the unredacted NSICOP report. “The answer is no, I haven’t heard any such matter,” Gold said.S&P Global Market Intelligence's New Outlook Report Shows the Convergence of Public and Private Credit Markets and Expects the Trend to Continue into 2025BJT pick wins Surin PAO poll
Elon Musk vows 'war' over H-1B visa program amid rift with some Trump supportersWall Street Waits for Trump’s Treasury PickWorking with Costco Guys AJ and Big Justice has taught Tony Khan “so much” about marketing. This weekend, 48-year-old AJ Befumo — a former indie wrestler — will return to the ring for a match against QT Marshall on the AEW Full Gear pre-show. It’s been an unlikely road back to pro wrestling for Befumo, who stopped competing in the 2000s but has now become a TikTok celebrity alongside his young son Big Justice (Eric Befumo). Big Justice will accompany his father at Full Gear this Saturday night. Ahead of the PPV, Khan, Befumo, and Big Justice stopped by Fox Business for an appearance on The Claman Countdown. Host Liz Claman asked Khan what he’s learned about the importance of social media marketing through working with the Costco Guys. “So much,” the AEW boss responded. “I think that what I’ve seen with AJ and Big Justice together — first of all, this is real. Like, behind the scenes, what you see is what you get. Authenticity is important. And also, they’ve shown me the power of TikTok. Of marketing to, frankly, people that have never watched AEW or wrestling before. And we’re bringing in new fans. And AJ is a former pro wrestler making a comeback. So it’s great.” Khan posted the following tweet after the Fox Business appearance: You won’t meet a nicer more impressive father/son team than Big Boom @ajbefumo + Big Justice. Costco Guys are really good people. We are lucky to have them both in @AEW . AJ and Big Justice have become celebrities on TikTok through documenting their trips to Costco and expressing their love for the chicken bake and double chunk chocolate cookie at the Costco food court. This summer, their song “We Bring the Boom” helped the father-son duo explode in popularity. Befumo originally wrestled on the Northeast indies for 11 years from the 1990s-2000s. He’s going by the name “Big Boom AJ” for this match at Full Gear, which is being held in New Jersey. Fellow TikTok star The Rizzler (Christian Joseph), who is friends with Big Justice and frequently collaborates with the Costco Guys, will also be in Befumo’s corner at Full Gear . All three of AJ, Big Justice, and The Rizzler were guests on The Tonight Show together last month. Though he has a busy schedule with his social media work, Befumo has said that he would be honored to have more matches with AEW after Saturday’s event. SourceDunk The Halls: ESPN Refine Animated Altcast Tech and Ops with a Helping Hand From Mickey and Minnie On Christmas Day, for the second time in just 15 days, ESPN will produce a fully animated alternate broadcast when it brings Mickey, Minnie and rest of Disney’s core cast of characters to the NBA hardcourt. Coming on the heels of on Dec. 9, the altcast of the San Antonio Spurs – New York Knicks game marks the first animated presentation of an NBA game and the first NBA game to stream on Disney+ (the game can also be seen on ESPN2 and ESPN+) “The NBA specifically is an awesome opportunity for us...and opens up really wonderful visual opportunities,” says . “It’s actually the first event that we’ve done that truly sees faces on the participants playing in the game to a much greater degree than obviously we do with football and hockey. So, I think that’s going to be a really magnetic, magical experience just to see the characters that have been created for that.” The two primary driving forces behind are once again ESPN Creative Studio, which designs the look and brings the characters to life, and Beyond Sports, which provides the data processing and real-time–visualization technology. Each Spurs and Knicks player will appear as a motion-enabled, animated player for the special Christmas matchup. Through the real-time visualization technology enabled by Sony’s Beyond Sports, combined with Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations’ optical tracking, fans watching will see every three-pointer, dunk, layup, pass, and more from the real-life Spurs vs. Knicks game at Madison Square Garden in New York as it happens. The virtual, live re-creation of the Spurs vs. Knicks game will be set on iconic “Main Street, USA” in Magic Kingdom Park as the teams play while Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy, and Chip and Dale cheer them on. Shots of “Main Street, USA” and other famous landmarks within Magic Kingdom Park will be regularly shown, including Cinderella’s Castle. As was the case for , the entire live animated game production will be handled out of ESPN’s Bristol, CT campus, including all crew and talent. Gaming PCs in Bristol will receive optical tracking data from the Hawkeye system installed at Madison Square Garden and Beyond Sports will use this data to render the real time game animation. However, unlike the and productions, there is no Next-Gen Stats data from the NFL being used so all tracking will be optical. Behind the scenes in Bristol, more than 40 people will contribute to the production, including Graphics, Production, Studio Directing, Resource Coordinators, Technical Operators, Edit team, Media Replay, Talent, and Beyond Sports support staff. Several ESPN team members are operating inside the Beyond Sports system, watching the game unfold in a 360-degree animated space with access to over 30 different programmed camera angles to choose from. The live show will be driven by and with support from , and , and , and . Bristol operations are managed by , while technical Operations are led by and . Media support is provided by , and . “While this is my first time directing an animated alt-cast, I had the opportunity to observe production process,” says Ward. “As with other live productions, especially one of this nature, collaboration is key to success. With numerous moving parts and multiple departments working together, teamwork is essential to making it all happen.” “Watching our team discover which angle is best for each play is part of the fun of working with new technology,” adds McMeekin. “You have to approach this position as if you are playing a first-person video game and are exploring the environment around you.” For the first time in ESPN’s five Altcasts, Beyond Sports will not have a censor-based tracking system (like NFL Next-Gen Stats or NHL Edge) to serve as a backup. Instead, Beyond Sports will be relying wholly on Hawk Eye Innovations’ 29-point limb-tracking system. While that provides a new challenge for the technology, adds that the indoor environment will simplify things for his team (since wind, rain, and snow will not be a factor). And, while the massive size of NBA players also makes them easier to track, the mix of small animated characters with these tower figures will be challenging. “Our algorithms have to do a lot to overcome problems for a small character actually jumping really high,” he says. “With altcast, we had to make sure it ended up in their hands, but now we actually need to, in a believable way, make a small mouse get all the way up to the rim to make a dunk. That is truly unique.” “I think a lot of people know Beyond Sports for the visual side of things we’re doing,” he adds. “But I think this is time to highlight the other 50% of our company that only works on the data, only seeing data points day in and day out to make these kinds of things work for us to experience, all the way up to the short turns, the quick dribbles, and the pick and rolls. It’s so truly believable to the eye.” Orlins points out that the Disney characters range from a little over 3 feet tall to over 6 feet tall and it is up to Beyond Sports to blend these animated rigs with data real-time from the players ranging from Chris Paul (6 feet) and Jalen Brunson (6-foot-2) to Victor Wenbanyama (7-foot-3) and Karl Anthony Towns (7 feet). “I feel like Goofy looks like a solid 7-footer,” he says. “It’s really amazing, when you stop and think about it, the tracking and the fact that these Disney characters can be on the court working off the data of 6-1/2 or 7-foot NBA player, and yet the dribbles and the jumping and the dunks and all that looks so authentic and real for an animated character.” “And this happening in real time,” he continues. “This is taking data that is placing the ball where a 7-footer jumps to dunk that has to be recreated so Donald Duck with webbed feet can make the same movement. It’s really a magical thing they do.” and are also on hand in Bristol, calling the action out of voice-over via Meta Quest Pro headsets. Carter and McNutt – who will be joined by Daisy Duck as the sideline reporter – will be animated in the style of the telecast and experience the game from “Main Street, USA” thanks to Meta Quest Pro VR technology and Sony’s Beyond Sports’ Virtual Commentator Technology. “For , we’re hoping to fine-tune the talent motion capture standup process,” says Nelson. “The animated PXP and color analysts are such a dynamic and fun part of the broadcast, we’d like to put them on camera a little more than we did with broadcast.” One major modification will be new talent cues in the VO booths. Carter and McNutt will now get a visual notification via remote light switches when they’re about to be on “virtual camera” to cut down on IFB traffic. Menard credits Senior Technical Operations Manager Erik Barone – a VR technology champion and aficionado – with the idea for implementing these visual cues for talent. “We are hoping both of these stay consistent to a degree, but we have modified some workflows for the talent cues in the VO booths,” says Menard. “We learned that with so much IFB communication happening, we needed a better way to let them know what’s coming. Although many of the workflows will stay the same as they did on broadcast, this is the first league coverage (NBA) where the players aren’t wearing helmets. Because of this, the animated players on the Spurs and Knicks had to be more detailed in their body structure, including height, hair type, and so on. “We worked incredibly tightly with the NBA to create players [to make sure] that everybody was happy with it,” says . “The NBA is a very player forward league, and we wanted to represent the players, not only their scale, but also just their faces and their hairstyles. So, this is a level of detail that we’ve never done on any other broadcast.” The Creative Studio team built out 34 unique players, as well as alternative options in case a trade takes place or a new player is added to the team. “It was an incredible endeavor that we worked really, really hard in partnership with the NBA on, and I think they turned out amazing,” he adds. “It just adds to the magical nature of this broadcast. I have to say that of all of the Alt Casts that I’ve worked on, this one is just beautiful.” The storyline behind the presentation begins with Mickey’s Christmas wish to Santa Claus to bring the NBA players to “Main Street, USA” at Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort to play the first animated NBA game on Christmas Day. “We worked with the Disney Parks to get accurate 3D models of all of the storefronts that are there,” says Spargrove. “We worked very closely with them to make sure that that area was represented well. About 80-85% of the broadcast will be live-game action, but Spargrove and his team have also created a cavalcade of kid-friendly preproduced segments that will be scattered throughout the broadcast. For example, at halftime of the Spurs vs. Knicks game, the Disney characters, led by Mickey Mouse, will compete in a special slam dunk contest. In addition, Santa’s Elves will operate the cameras for the game while Santa himself will operate ESPN’s “SkyCam” during the game. The Disney characters will also deliver pregame and halftime speeches to the players and decorate a large Christmas tree during the game. Lastly, fans will also get to find out if it will snow on “Main Street, USA” and see how many churros Goofy can eat. Nelson says that every time ESPN produces another animated broadcast, the production teams find new areas to improve upon whether it be timing, camera angles, tracking, communication, music, storylines, or other elements. From an ops perspective, the ultra-short timeline being so close to and actually made some aspects were made easier because the operations team could leave the same setups in place in Bristol. However, back-to-back productions also meant there wasn’t as much time to implement the handful of necessary adjustments. Nonetheless, Menard and her team got the job done, tweaking some existing workflows and adding new ones. Among the key changes for Wednesday compared to show will be the visual talent cues as well as providing remote access to the different gaming machines around campus, which will allow Beyond Sports to work more efficiently. “These might sound like small changes but, little by little, it becomes a lot,” say Menard. “We learn something every time [we do an animated altcast].” In addition to backend operations, ESPN’s production team will need to adjust its creative and storytelling strategy in transitioning from Atoms Stadium in Springfield to Main Street, USA in Walt Disney World – especially when it comes to the pacing and cadence of the broadcast. “Delivering a production with Bart and Homer experiencing a football game will be different than Mickey and friends watching an NBA game,” says McMeekin. “From a sports perspective we have to be mindful of pace of play. With an NFL game we have time between each play to deliver a replay or creative content, in the NBA as soon as a basket is made both teams are down the court continuing with play. We will have to prioritize content and be strategic with what we want to show during a clock stoppage.” is the fifth chapter in Disney and ESPN’s real-time animated-broadcast effort, following in the footsteps of , and editions of the and . also continues ESPN and the NBA’s history of alt-cast executions using IP from The Walt Disney Co. , ESPN and the NBA teamed up with Marvel for , an alt-cast of an NBA regular-season game. It’s always incredible to see a new production like this come to fruition especially when you look back and see how much planning and prep got us to the game day moment,” McMeekin. “ESPN has a long history of being on the forefront of innovative production ideas and adds to that lineage as the first real-time animated NBA game. Being a part of any ‘ESPN first’ is an awesome opportunity and memorable experience for our team especially when you factor in the creative latitude this production introduces.” Ward adds “I’m incredibly excited and proud to work with our team to bring this experience to our viewers. The countless hours spent preparing for and broadcasts, and executing them back-to-back successfully, are a testament to this group’s skill, passion, and commitment to innovation.”
Officials celebrate Santa’s Workshop 2024 opening for the holidaysFeds blew $267M fighting ‘misinformation’ during the COVID-19 pandemic under Biden — as Trump vows to ban ‘censorship cartel’Support grows for Blake Lively over smear campaign claim
Shares of FlexShares Ultra-Short Income Fund ( NYSEARCA:RAVI – Get Free Report ) saw an uptick in trading volume on Thursday . 252,112 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 278% from the previous session’s volume of 66,780 shares.The stock last traded at $75.10 and had previously closed at $75.05. FlexShares Ultra-Short Income Fund Price Performance The company has a 50 day moving average of $75.34 and a 200 day moving average of $75.38. Hedge Funds Weigh In On FlexShares Ultra-Short Income Fund A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cim LLC boosted its stake in FlexShares Ultra-Short Income Fund by 3.3% in the second quarter. Cim LLC now owns 69,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,202,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its position in FlexShares Ultra-Short Income Fund by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 14,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,107,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its holdings in FlexShares Ultra-Short Income Fund by 44.2% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 14,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after acquiring an additional 4,459 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in FlexShares Ultra-Short Income Fund by 37.9% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 48,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,649,000 after acquiring an additional 13,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Auour Investments LLC increased its position in FlexShares Ultra-Short Income Fund by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Auour Investments LLC now owns 14,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. About FlexShares Ultra-Short Income Fund The FlexShares Ready Access Variable Income Fund (RAVI) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Bond index. The fund is an actively managed fund that invests in an ultra-short-term portfolio of investment grade public and private debt issued domestically and abroad. Read More Receive News & Ratings for FlexShares Ultra-Short Income Fund Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for FlexShares Ultra-Short Income Fund and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .Beware of fake scams relating to cottage booking in Mahakumbh 2025. There are several scams going on in the name of cottage booking in Mahakumbh 2025. According to reports, the government warned people not to trust fake letters given by fake operators. The government further urged people only to trust on official portals and verified mediums for correct information and booking. There will be as many as 2000 tents. People can book the tents in advance. A tent city of 400 tents will be made in another area also. There will be all facilities inside the tent city like those of a 5-star hotels. “People who are coming here can book the tents and avail all the facilities,” Vivek Chaturvedi ADM Mela told ANI. In this mela, millions of devotees take a holy bath in the Ganga river. The upcoming Mahakumbh 2025 in Prayagraj is expected to draw an overwhelming crowd of 40 crore pilgrims. This will surpass the previous record of 25 crore attendees during the 2019 event. The significant increase in expected pilgrims has prompted authorities to undertake extensive preparations. The preparation includes enlarging the event area and enhancing essential facilities. “The 2025 Maha Kumbh will be spread over an extensive area of 5,000 hectares. To ensure the safety and security of the pilgrims, the mela will be divided into 25 sectors. Each sector will be equipped with a dedicated police station. Over 100 police outposts will be established across the event area,” said Mela Adhikari, Vijay Kiran Anand. To accommodate the expected four lakhs vehicles daily, several parking lots will be set up both within the city and near the Mela area. Multiple entry and exit points will be designated for the mela area to facilitate easy access for the multitude of pilgrims. The tent city in Kumbh Mela will be a major attraction for tourists. The Uttar Pradesh government will use artificial intelligence-based technologies and tools for crowd management at the upcoming Maha Kumbh 2025 in Prayagraj. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed the state police department to embrace the technology for the mega event. (ANI) | Prayagraj, UP: Preparations underway for Kumbh Mela 2025; tents and huts being constructed. — ANI (@ANI)
TEHRAN – The 14th Conference on Management of Technology and Innovation is scheduled to be held on January 8 and 9 in Tehran. The Iranian Association for Management of Technology (IRAMOT) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that has been established with the aim of promoting education, training, and research in the fields of technology and innovation management. On the sidelines of the conference, an exhibition on innovation and technology will be held. Attracting over 1,000 companies and institutions engaged in innovation and knowledge-based economy, the exhibition will serve as a platform for recruiting human forces in these institutions. This exhibition is supposed to be a job fair for students of science and technology policy, and technology management. It will be an opportunity for networking and attracting experts in the technology and innovation ecosystem. Founded in 2003, IRAMOT is the country’s top scientific association, with over 5000 members. The association brings together the best of industry and academia in the field and conducts various activities including organizing conferences and workshops, publishing newsletters and books, as well as acting as a national information exchange hub on teaching and research issues in MOT. The IRAMOT Annual Conference stands as the premier gathering of leaders from industry, academia, and policy-making in the fields of Innovation and Technology Management across the West Asia. Each year, this prestigious event attracts over 500 participants, facilitating invaluable discussions and insights on the latest challenges and trends in specific sectors. High-ranking managers from national and international companies actively engage in expert panels, sharing their perspectives and experiences to drive forward the conversation on innovation and technology management. According to the 2024 edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) report, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ranking in knowledge and technology output, as well as business sophistication has improved from 55 and 117 in 2023 to 49 and 110 in 2024, respectively. Also, the country’s ranking in market sophistication and infrastructure has risen by two positions from 19 and 97 in 2023 to 17 and 95 in 2024. The Global Innovation Index ranks the world’s leading economies according to their innovation capabilities. According to this year’s report, Iran ranks second among the countries of the Central and Southern Asian region, unchanged compared with the last two years. India and Kazakhstan ranked first and third, respectively. Iran ranks 5 among the 38 lower-middle-income group economies, which has improved compared to the 2023 ranking (6). As stated in the 2024 edition, over the past four years (2020-2024), the statistical confidence interval for the ranking of Iran in the GII 2024 is between ranks 56 and 80. Iran performed better in innovation outputs (48) than in innovation inputs (85) in 2024. Published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the report ranks Iran first in Market capitalization, and Trademarks by origin. It ranks 3, 5, 8, 17, 19, 23, and 35 in Software spending, Gross capital formation, Graduates in science and engineering, market sophistication, Domestic market scale, Intangible asset intensity, and Tertiary education, respectively. Iran (Islamic Republic of) ranks highest in Market sophistication (17), Knowledge and technology outputs (49), Creative outputs (52), and Human capital and research (64). The GII has ranked Tehran as the world’s 38th–largest science and technology (S&T) cluster this year, down from 35 last year, according to a report released on Tuesday by the UN’s WIPO. MT/MGNo. 5 UCLA stuns No. South Carolina, ends 43-game streak
Published 21:46 IST, December 28th 2024 BJP President JP Nadda launched a pincer attack on the Congress stating it never wanted the last rites of ex-PM late PV Narasimha Rao to take place in Delhi. New Delhi: BJP President JP Nadda, on Saturday, launched a pincer attack on the Congress stating it never wanted the last rites of former Prime Minister late PV Narasimha Rao to take place in Delhi. Nadda's remarks came after a row erupted over a memorial for the former prime minister, with the Congress demanding that former PM Manmohan Singh's last rites be performed at a place where a memorial could be built later. In a sharp rebuke, Nadda said, "The Congress never gave respect to Manmohan Singh when he was alive now it is politicising in the name of respect." The Congress party alleged that the government led by the BJP was "deliberately insulting" the first Sikh prime minister of the country in not doing so. After the matter of a memorial to Singh took a political colour, the government clarified that a decision to build one had already been conveyed to Kharge by the Union home minister after Friday's Cabinet meeting. A government statement also said the funeral could be held as the process of setting up a trust and allotting land for the memorial could take a while. Kharge had written to Modi on Friday seeking a memorial for Singh. Several sections of the society also urged the government to confer Bharat Ratna on the late economist-prime minister. Singh died of age-related complications at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, the ace tertiary-care public establishment where the former prime minister always got admitted whenever he faced medical complications. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who led India to the path of economic liberalisation in the 1990s, was cremated with full state honours at Nigambodh Ghat in New Delhi on Saturday in the presence of top dignitaries from the country and abroad. A seven-day national mourning is being observed as a mark of respect to the former prime minister during which the national flag will be flown at half-mast across the nation, the Union home ministry has announced. (with PTI inputs) Get Current Updates on India News , Entertainment News along with Latest News and Top Headlines from India and around the world. Updated 21:46 IST, December 28th 2024
President-elect Donald Trump said outgoing first lady Jill Biden “couldn’t have been nicer,” after the pair were spotted having a very friendly encounter during the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Despite their major political differences during the past three election cycles, Trump told The Post in a wide-ranging phone interview Sunday that he had a positive interaction with President Biden’s wife. “Very nice. She couldn’t have been nicer,” Trump said of their exchange. “It’s politics. You have to get used to it,” he added about their past political spats. “She was very nice and we had a very nice conversation.” It comes after the pair were pictured engaging in some rare cross-party camaraderie while seated alongside dignitaries inside the iconic church earlier on Sunday. Trump and the first lady shared the moment while waiting for French First Lady Brigitte Macron to take the seat that separated them during the reopening ceremony. Their caught on camera side-chat inside the cathedral quickly delighted the MAGA world and sparked a frenzy of speculation online about what their conversation entailed. Some speculated that the first lady actually supported Trump during the 2024 election — despite her history of harsh words for him and the President-elect’s past history of attacking her husband. “I just want to find someone that looks at me the way Jill Biden looks at Trump,” one user posted on X . “Jill Biden looks like she’s in love with the BOSS Trump. 100% confirmed she voted for Trump!” another wrote. “She voted for him. It’s settled science,” one user chimed in.
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