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Arsenal climbed to second in the Premier League table with a 1-0 victory over Ipswich Town on Friday night. It wasn't a straightforward victory by any means and the Gunners were made to work hard for the three points. It wasn't pretty, but they got the job done and several players stepped up. One player in particular who shone against the Tractor Boys and is rewarding Mikel Arteta for his recent trust in him is Myles Lewis-Skelly. The youngster made his third league start in a row for Arsenal against Ipswich and showed why he was being handed the opportunity, with a fine display. It was far from a classic but Arsenal finished off their 2024 home fixtures with three points Myles Lewis-Skelly Against Ipswich Throughout his time as a prospect, Lewis-Skelly was known more for his work as a midfielder, but he's earned an opportunity with Arsenal playing at left-back. He's adapted to the position very well. His performance against Ipswich was indicative of that as he did a superb job keeping Omari Hutchinson quiet. Throughout the game, he recorded two clearances, three tackles, won eight of his nine ground duels and finished with a pass success rate of 98%. He rarely put a foot wrong and justified Arteta's decision to start him at left-back over the more experienced Oleksandr Zinchenko and Riccardo Calafiori. In terms of his SofaScore rating, only Jurrien Timber (8.0) earned a higher score than Lewis-Skelly (7.9). The performance caught the attention of Arsenal fans too and they were quick to jump on social media and share their excitement and appreciation for the youngster. The Emirates faithful couldn't hide their excitement about his potential. One fan simply posted: "Myles Lewis-Skelly. What a player." Another supporter was filled with superlatives for him and said: "Myles Lewis-Skelly is a perfect blend of bravery, doggedness and strength, and an incredibly smooth technician on top. Few players can protect the ball like him, and he confidently stamped his passing identity on the game. Every Arsenal player trusts him; 18 going on 28." A third fan claimed the youngster was seizing control of the left-back position and Calafiori had a lot of work to do to earn a spot in the starting lineup again, saying: "Myles Lewis-Skelly with this current tremendous performances in the defence will definitely cement his position in the Left-Back. Calafiori isn't ready." Arsenal have a very deep squad this season, but the 18-year-old is emerging as one of the club's most promising players. It takes some serious talent to keep the likes of Calafiori, who was one of the Gunners' marquee signings in the summer, out of the side. All statistics courtesy of SofaScore and accurate as of 27/12/2024
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2024 Year in Review: The best of New York theaterAn online debate over foreign workers in tech shows tensions in Trump's political coalitionGlobal efforts to end violence against women: The Philippines joins the fightWEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump's supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer's comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government , weighed in, defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift. His presidential transition team did not respond to questions about positions on visas for highly skilled workers or the debate between his supporters online. Instead, his team instead sent a link to a post on X by longtime adviser and immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller that was a transcript of a speech Trump gave in 2020 at Mount Rushmore in which he praised figures and moments from American history. Musk, the world's richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump's movement but his stance on the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry's need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent," he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump's own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump's businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country" and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country," he told the “All-In" podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump's budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.
With the completion of Seguin High School’s new baseball/softball complex, the school board wanted to ensure that its name encompassed all those who helped shape the programs. During a recent meeting of the Seguin ISD Board of Trustees, board members approved naming the new sports facility Matador Legends Ballpark, while moving forward with naming the softball batting cages in honor of Chloe Belicek and the baseball batting cages in honor of Manuel Rodriguez.Escaped Convicted Murderer Puts California Town on Edge
ChatGPT parent OpenAI is exploring restructuring its corporate framework in 2025, transforming it into a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation (PBC). Sam Altman ‘s artificial intelligence company initially focused on advancing AI without financial constraints. However, by 2019, it became clear that developing large-scale language models required substantial investments, prompting the company to introduce a hybrid structure. OpenAI raised $1 billion from Microsoft Corp MSFT . The company highlighted the need for “hundreds of billions of dollars” in capital to sustain its mission. Also Read: Elon Musk’s xAI To Expand With New Chatbot App The current valuation of $157 billion and competition from Microsoft, Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG , and Anthropic , prompted OpenAI to issue traditional equity through its new structure, CNBC reports . Transitioning to a PBC will allow OpenAI to attract conventional equity investments, while the nonprofit arm will focus on charitable initiatives in education, healthcare, and science. Under the proposed model, OpenAI’s nonprofit will hold a significant interest in the for-profit PBC, valued by independent financial advisors. However, OpenAI’s move has sparked opposition from co-founder Elon Musk , who has filed legal challenges against the restructuring. Musk, owner of OpenAI’s rival xAI, charged OpenAI of ditching its nonprofit roots. Internal challenges have also emerged, with key executives like Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati and Research Chief Bob McGrew exiting the company. Developing and scaling generative AI models like ChatGPT requires massive resources, including high-powered processors from Nvidia Corp NVDA and cloud infrastructure provided by key backer Microsoft. OpenAI expects $5 billion in losses on $3.7 billion in revenue in 2024. Interestingly, OpenAI recently revealed old emails from Musk that depicted his advocacy for a profit-making business model. Musk’s AI company, xAI, announced on Monday that it raised $6 billion in funding, marking its second major funding round in 2024 . The investment features strategic backing from Nvidia Corp NVDA and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc AMD . xAI plans to use the funding to expand its Colossus supercomputer, which currently runs on 100,000 Nvidia Hopper GPUs. The company aims to double its capacity to 200,000 GPUs. Also Read: Netflix’s NFL Debut Brings Record Streams But Lags Traditional TV: Report Photo via Shutterstock © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden's administration announced Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Energy will make a $6.6 billion loan to Rivian Automotive to build a factory in Georgia that had stalled as the startup electric vehicle maker struggled to become profitable. It's unclear whether the administration can complete the loan before Donald Trump becomes president again in less than two months, or whether the Trump administration might try to claw the money back. Trump previously vowed to end federal electric vehicle tax credits , which are worth up to $7,500 for new zero-emission vehicles and $4,000 for used ones. Rivian made a splash when it went public and began producing large electric R1 SUVs, pickup trucks and delivery vans at a former Mitsubishi factory in Normal, Illinois, in 2021. Months later, the California-based company announced it would build a second, larger, $5 billion plant about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Atlanta, near the town of Social Circle. The R1 vehicles cost $70,000 or more. The company plans to produce R2 vehicles, a smaller SUV, in Georgia with lower price tags aimed at a mass market. The first phase of Rivian’s Georgia factory is projected to make 200,000 vehicles a year, with a second phase capable of another 200,000 a year. Eventually, the plant is projected to employ 7,500 workers. But Rivian was unable to meet production and sales targets and rapidly burned through cash. In March, the company said it would pause construction of the Georgia plant. The company said it would begin assembling its R2 SUV in Illinois instead. CEO RJ Scaringe said the move would allow Rivian to start selling the R2 sooner and save $2.25 billion in capital spending. Since then, German automaker Volkswagen AG said in June it would invest $5 billion in Rivian in a joint venture in which Rivian would share software and electrical technology with Volkswagen. The money eased Rivian's cash crunch. Tuesday's announcement throws a lifeline to Rivian's grander plans. The company said its plans to make the R2 and the smaller R3 in Georgia are back on and that production will begin in 2028. “This loan would enable Rivian to more aggressively scale our U.S. manufacturing footprint for our competitively priced R2 and R3 vehicles that emphasize both capability and affordability,” Scaringe said in a statement. The Energy Department said the loan would substantially boost electric vehicles made in the United States and support Biden’s goal of having zero-emission vehicles make up half of all new U.S. sales by 2030. “As one of a few American EV startups with light duty vehicles already on the road, Rivian’s Georgia facility will allow the company to reach production volumes that make its products more cost competitive and accelerate access to international markets,” the department said in a statement. The loan includes $6 billion, plus $600 million in interest that will be rolled into the principal. The money would come from the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, which provides low-interest loans to make fuel-efficient vehicles and components. The program has focused mostly on loans to new battery factories for electric vehicles under Biden, but earlier helped finance initial production of the Tesla Model S and Nissan Leaf, two pioneering electric vehicles. The loan program, created in 2007, requires a "reasonable prospect of repayment" of the loan. Under Biden, the program has announced deals totaling $33.3 billion, including $9.2 billion for massive battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky for Ford’s electric vehicles. Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff , who has been a vocal supporter of electric vehicle and solar manufacturing in Georgia, hailed Tuesday's announcement as “yet another historic federal investment in Georgia electric vehicle manufacturing.” Ossoff had asked Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to support the loan in July. “Our federal manufacturing incentives are driving economic development across the state of Georgia,” Ossoff said in a statement. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp says his goal is to make Georgia a center of the electric vehicle industry. But the Republican has had a strained relationship with the Biden administration over its industrial policy, even as some studies have found Georgia has netted more electric vehicle investment than any other state. Kemp has long claimed that manufacturers were picking Georgia before Biden's signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, was passed. Efforts to bring Rivian to Georgia predated the Biden administration and "our shared vision to bring opportunity to Georgia will remain no matter who resides in the White House or what party controls Congress,” Kemp spokesperson Garrison Douglas said Tuesday. The loan to Rivian could rescue one of the Kemp administration's signature economic development projects even as Biden leaves office. That could put Rivian and Kemp in the position of defending the loan if Trump tries to quash it. State and local governments offered Rivian an incentive package worth an estimated $1.5 billion in 2022. Neighbors opposed to development of the Georgia site mounted legal challenges. State and local governments spent around $125 million to buy and prepare the nearly 2,000-acre (810-hectare) site. The state also has completed most of $50 million in roadwork that it pledged. The pause at Rivian contrasts with rapid construction at Hyundai Motor Group’s $7.6 billion electric vehicle and battery complex near Savannah. The Korean automaker said in October that it had begun production in Ellabell, where it plans to eventually employ 8,500. Associated Press writer Matthew Daly in Washington contributed to this story.
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Has there ever been a more eagerly-anticipated League of Ireland campaign? We head into 2025 knowing for certain that history will be made on a number of fronts, and believing the record books can be rewritten elsewhere too. For the first time since the birth of European club football, an Irish outfit is still involved post-Christmas, with Shamrock Rovers set for a February Europa Conference League knockout clash with Molde. READ MORE: Damien Duff's decision not to impose 'ridiculous' booze ban is reaping rewards READ MORE: The good, the bad and the ugly of Ireland's international year Despite their 2022 home and away defeats to the Norwegians, the Hoops will fancy their chances of making the last-16 and adding to their unprecedented €6.5m earnings to date. In between the away and home legs, Rovers will be involved in another big first for the League of Ireland - a Dublin derby against Bohemians at the Aviva Stadium. Interest in that one is expected to be huge, with the two cross-city rivals kicking off their campaigns in a fixture unparalleled in the Irish game. That game, taking place in a 50,000-capacity stadium, could be the perfect platform to set more records in 2025. The 2024 season saw attendances at games involving League of Ireland clubs hit one million-plus for the first time ever. In total, 1,001,630 fans walked through turnstiles up and down the land to watch games in the men's Premier Division and First Division, women’s Premier Division, men's and women's FAI Cups, the All-Island Cup and in Europe. The pressure is now on to beat that number and keep the interest in the game here growing. If all goes to plan, 2025 will be the last season for the historic Dalymount Park as we know it. That fact alone should be enough to guarantee full houses every other weekend. It is expected that redevelopment work will begin in 2026, with Bohs moving to a temporary home while their new 8,000-capacity UEFA Category Three stadium is built. The Dalymount project was the biggest recipient of money in a historically generous Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) handout to League of Ireland sides in November. The €24.7m awarded to the Phibsborough redevelopment dwarfed the massive €16.4m given to Sligo Rovers for their own ambitious stadium plans, while Wexford received €2m. Millwall were the latest club to take a close look at Stephen Bradley’s remarkably successful spell as Shamrock Rovers manager - and it’s only a matter of time before the Hoops are on the lookout for a new manager. Our prediction is that a different man will be in the dugout by the end of 2025. Bradley has achieved everything in the Irish game, winning four Premier Divisions and an FAI Cup. He is the first manager to qualify for two European group stage campaigns and to lead a club into the new year knockout rounds. “I have had a number of approaches over the last 18 months from clubs, but I have also made it very clear that my son has been battling cancer and that’s my number one priority and has been,” said Bradley last week when quizzed on the Millwall interest. He added that brave Josh was “nearly finished” his three years of treatment. As for their next manager? We could see former midfielder Stephen Rice - with Premier League (Crystal Palace) and international (Ireland) coaching experience - fitting into the role. First off, the biggest lesson to take from 2024 should be - write off Damien Duff at your peril. Right from when he first took the Shelbourne job, folk were suggesting that he wouldn’t last the course. Three seasons later, he delivered the biggest prize in Irish football. Even on their way to glory, predictions that they would fall away were plentiful, but when it came to the crunch they delivered. With five minutes to go on the final night, Shamrock Rovers were on course for a historic five-in-a-row, but up popped Harry Wood with a title-clinching goal at the Ryan McBride Brandywell. 2025 will be even tougher for Duffer and his players. Derry City are under new management, with Tiarnan Lynch coming in after winning two NIFL Premierships with Larne, and securing a first ever European group/league phase qualification for a Northern Irish side. Rovers are on a mission to reclaim their crown and St Patrick’s Athletic are on the ascendancy under Stephen Kenny. If last year’s title race was tight, 2025 could deliver an even tenser finale. Shelbourne are going through something of a title drought in the women’s game, with Peamount United and current champions Athlone Town claiming League of Ireland gold in the last two seasons. Their FAI Cup crushing of Athlone, who subsequently lost manager Ciaran Kilduff, may well be a sign of things to come as Eoin Wearen’s side aim for a return to the top. Premier Division: St Patrick’s Athletic FAI Cup: Shamrock Rovers European qualification: Shelbourne and Derry City Relegation: Cork City Women’s Premier Division: Shelbourne Women’s FAI Cup: Galway United Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts .Gratitude to the Almighty is the theme of Thanksgiving and has been ever since the Pilgrims of Plymouth brought in their first harvest. “Instead of famine, now God gave them plenty,” their leader, Governor William Bradford, would later write in “Of Plymouth Plantation,” his celebrated history of the colony’s first decades, “and the face of things was changed to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God.” The annual presidential Thanksgiving proclamations always invoke God, and they frequently itemize the favors for which we owe Him thanks. “For all the blessings that have been bestowed upon our nation during the past 12 months, it is a small thing to give thanks to Almighty God,” declared Lyndon Johnson in 1965, to mention just one example. “Our nation is rich and strong and united in the cause of liberty and justice. Our physical comforts are unmatched anywhere in the world. Our medicine has conquered ancient diseases. ... We have broadened the horizons of opportunity for our poor. And all the while, we have enjoyed the greatest prosperity in history.” This week, in millions of homes across the nation, God will be thanked for many gifts — for the feast on the table and the company of loved ones, for health and good fortune in the year gone by, for peace at home when there is so much war abroad, for the incalculable privilege of having been born — or having become — American. But it probably won’t occur to too many of us to give thanks for the fact that the local supermarket had plenty of fresh turkey for sale this week. Even the devout aren’t likely to thank God for airline schedules that made it possible for some of those loved ones to fly home for Thanksgiving. Or for the arrival of “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” at the local movie theater in time for the holiday weekend. Or for that great salted caramel pecan pie recipe in the food section of the newspaper. Those things we take more or less for granted. It hardly takes a miracle to explain why grocery stores stock up on turkey before Thanksgiving, or why Hollywood releases big movies in time for big holidays. That’s what they do. Where is God in that? And yet, isn’t there something wondrous — something almost inexplicable — in the way your Thanksgiving weekend is made possible by the skill and labor of vast numbers of total strangers? To ensure supermarkets would be stocked with turkey for Thanksgiving required the efforts of thousands of far-flung people. An astonishing level of coordination was required to pull it off. Even more astonishing is that there was no coordinator. (Photo: Nam Y. Huh/AP) To bring that turkey to the dining room table, for example, required the efforts of thousands of people — the poultry farmers who raised the birds, of course, but also the feed distributors who supplied their nourishment and the truckers who brought it to the farm, not to mention the architect who designed the hatchery, the workers who built it, and the technicians who keep it running. The bird had to be slaughtered and defeathered and inspected and transported and unloaded and wrapped and priced and displayed. The people who accomplished those tasks were supported in turn by armies of other people accomplishing other tasks — from refining the gasoline that fueled the trucks to manufacturing the plastic in which the meat was packaged to scheduling the shifts of the cashiers who rang up customers’ sales. The activities of countless far-flung men and women over the course of many months had to be intricately choreographed and precisely timed, so that when you showed up to buy a fresh Thanksgiving turkey, there would be one — or more likely, a few dozen — waiting. The level of coordination that was required to pull it off is astounding. But what is even more astounding is this: No one coordinated it. No turkey czar sat in a command post somewhere, consulting a master plan and issuing orders. No one rode herd on all those people, forcing them to cooperate for your benefit. And yet they did cooperate. When you arrived at the supermarket, your turkey was there. You didn’t have to do anything but show up to buy it. If that isn’t a miracle, what should we call it? Adam Smith called it “the invisible hand” — the mysterious phenomenon that leads innumerable people, each working for his own gain, to promote ends that benefit many and enrich society. Out of the seeming chaos of millions of uncoordinated private transactions emerges the spontaneous order of the market. Free human beings freely interact, and the result is an array of goods and services more immense than the human mind can comprehend. No dictator, no bureaucracy, no supercomputer plans it in advance. Indeed, the more an economy is planned, the more it is plagued by shortages, dislocation, and failure. It is commonplace to speak of seeing God’s signature in the intricacy of a spider’s web, the grandeur of a mountain range, or the ethereal beauty of a rainbow. But even they pale against the kaleidoscopic energy and productivity of the free market. If it is a blessing from Heaven when seeds are transformed into grain, how much more of a blessing is it when our private, voluntary exchanges are transformed — without our ever intending it — into prosperity, innovation, and growth? The social order of freedom, like the wealth and the progress it makes possible, is an extraordinary gift from above. On this Thanksgiving Day and every day, may we be grateful.Birla may extend tenure of Waqf JPC: Oppn after meeting Speaker
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