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On the taxpayer’s tab: Indicted Boston City Councilor assigned a public defender
Biden says he was ‘stupid’ not to put his name on pandemic relief checks like Trump did
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Northern Colorado volleyball to play Arkansas State in Great 8 at National Invitational Volleyball Championship
For most of the people of Lebanon, a ceasefire could not come quickly enough. A leading Lebanese analyst at a conference on the Middle East that I’m attending in Rome said she couldn’t sleep as the appointed hour for the ceasefire came closer. “It was like the night before Christmas when you’re a kid. I couldn’t wait for it to happen.” You can see why there’s relief. More than 3,500 citizens of Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes. Displaced people packed their cars before dawn to try to get back to whatever remains of their homes. Well over one million of them have been forced to flee by Israeli military action. Thousands have been wounded and the homes of tens of thousands of others have been destroyed. But in Israel, some feel they have lost the chance to do more damage to Hezbollah. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met the heads of Israel’s northern municipalities, which have been turned into ghost towns with around 60,000 civilians evacuated further south. Israel’s Ynet news website reported that it was an angry meeting that turned into a shouting match, with some of the local officials frustrated that Israel was taking the pressure off their enemies in Lebanon and not offering an immediate plan to get civilians home. In a newspaper column, the mayor of Kiryat Shmona, close to the border, said he doubted the ceasefire would be enforced, demanding that Israel creates a buffer zone in south Lebanon . In a poll commissioned by the Israeli station Channel 12 News those questioned were roughly split between supporters and opponents of the ceasefire. Half of the participants in the survey believe Hezbollah has not been defeated and 30% think the ceasefire will collapse. Back in late September, at the UN General Assembly in New York, a deal looked as if it was close. Diplomats from the US and UK were convinced that a ceasefire very similar to the one that is now coming into force was about to happen. All sides in the war appeared to have signalled their willingness to accept a ceasefire based on the provisions of Security Council resolution 1701, which was passed to end the 2006 Lebanon war: Hezbollah would pull back from the border to be replaced by UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese Armed Forces. As they moved in, Israeli forces would gradually move out. But prime minister Netanyahu went to the podium at the UN to deliver a fiery speech that refused to accept any pause in Israel’s offensive. Back at his New York hotel Netanyahu’s official photographer captured the moment as he ordered the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, along with most of his high command. Netanyahu’s office released the photos, in another calculated snub for American diplomacy. The assassination was a significant escalation and a blow to Hezbollah. In the weeks since, Israel’s military has inflicted immense damage to Hezbollah’s military organisation. It could still fire rockets over the border and its fighters continued to engage Israel’s invasion force. But Hezbollah is no longer the same threat to Israel. Military success is one of several factors that have come together to persuade Benjamin Netanyahu that this is a good time to stop. Israel’s agenda in Lebanon is more limited than in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories. It wants to push Hezbollah back from its northern border and to allow civilians to return to border towns. If Hezbollah looks to be preparing an attack, Israel has a side letter from the Americans agreeing that it can take military action. In a recorded statement announcing his decision, Netanyahu listed the reasons why it was time for a ceasefire. Israel, he said, had made the ground in Beirut shake. Now there was a chance ‘to give our forces a breather and replenish stocks,’ he continued. Israel had also broken the connection between Gaza and Lebanon. After the late Hassan Nasrallah ordered the attacks on Israel’s north, the day after Hamas went to war on 7th October last year, he said they would continue until there was a ceasefire in Gaza. Now, Netanyahu said, Hamas in Gaza would be under even more pressure. Palestinians fear another escalation in Israel’s Gaza offensive. There was one more reason; to concentrate on what Netanyahu called the Iranian threat. Damaging Hezbollah means damaging Iran. It was built up by the Iranians to create a threat right on Israel’s border. Hezbollah became the strongest part of Iran’s axis of resistance, the name it gave to its network of forward defence made up of allies and proxies. Just like Hezbollah’s surviving leaders, their patrons in Iran also wanted a ceasefire. Hezbollah needs a pause to lick its wounds. Iran needs to stop the geostrategic bleeding. Its axis of resistance is no longer a deterrent. Iran’s missile attack on Israel after Nasrallah’s assassination did not repair the damage. Two men, both now assassinated, designed Hezbollah to deter Israel not just from attacking Lebanon – but also from attacking Iran. They were Qasem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who was killed by an American drone strike at Baghdad airport in January 2020. The order was issued by Donald Trump in his last few weeks in the White House at the end of his first term. The other was Hassan Nasrallah, killed by a huge Israeli air strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Hezbollah and Iran’s deterrence strategy matched Israel’s own deterrence for almost 20 years after the end of the 2006 war. But among the profound changes caused by the 7th October attacks was Israel’s determination not to accept restrictions on the wars it would wage in response. America, its most important ally, also put almost no restrictions on the supply or use of the weapons it kept on providing. Nasrallah and Iran failed to see what had happened. They did not understand how Israel had changed. They sought to impose a war of attrition on Israel, and succeeded for almost a year. Then on 17th September Israel broke out of it by triggering the miniature bombs built into the network of booby-trapped pagers its intelligence services had duped Hezbollah into buying. Hezbollah was thrown off balance. Before it could react with the most powerful weapons Iran had provided, Israel killed Nasrallah and most of his key lieutenants, accompanied by massive strikes that destroyed arms dumps. That was followed by an invasion of South Lebanon and the wholesale destruction of Lebanese border villages as well as Hezbollah’s tunnel network. A ceasefire in Lebanon is not necessarily a precursor to one in Gaza. Gaza is different. The war there is about more than security of the border, and Israeli hostages. It is also about revenge, about Benjamin Netanyahu’s political survival, and his government’s absolute rejection of Palestinian aspirations for independence. The Lebanon ceasefire is fragile and deliberately paced to buy time for it to work. When the 60 days in which it is supposed to take effect ends, Donald Trump will be back in the Oval Office. President-elect Trump has indicated that he wants a ceasefire in Lebanon, but his precise plans have not yet emerged. The Middle East is waiting for the ways he might affect the region. Some optimists hope that he might want to create a moment akin to President Nixon’s sensational visit to China in 1972 by reaching out to Iran. The pessimists fear he might abandon even the hollow genuflection that the US still makes to the idea of a creating an independent Palestine alongside Israel – the so-called two state solution. That might pave the way to annexation of those parts of the occupied Palestinian territories Israel wants, including much of the West Bank and northern Gaza. What is certain though is that the Middle East has no chance of escaping more generations of war and violent death until the region’s fundamental political ruptures are faced and fixed. The biggest is the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, along with most Israelis believe it is possible to dominate their enemies by pressing on to a military victory. Netanyahu is actively using force, unrestrained by the US, to alter the balance of power in the Middle East in Israel’s favour. In a conflict that has lasted more than a century both Arabs and Jews have dreamt repeatedly of peace through military victory. Every generation has tried and failed. The catastrophic consequences of the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 ripped away any pretence that the conflict could be managed while Israel continued to deny Palestinian rights to self-determination. The ceasefire in Lebanon is a respite. It is not a solution. Top picture credit: Getty Images BBC InDepth is the new home on the website and app for the best analysis and expertise from our top journalists. Under a distinctive new brand, we’ll bring you fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions, and deep reporting on the biggest issues to help you make sense of a complex world. And we’ll be showcasing thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. We’re starting small but thinking big, and we want to know what you think - you can send us your feedback by clicking on the button below.OREGON 78, SAN DIEGO STATE 68
Huefner 1-6 2-2 5, Sakho 1-3 1-3 3, Boykin 4-13 3-4 11, Finister 4-7 1-2 10, Wilkerson 9-23 3-3 22, Hammons 0-1 0-0 0, Scroggins 4-5 0-0 8, Burns 1-3 0-0 2, Ford 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 25-64 10-14 63. Huntley 2-9 1-2 6, Beaubrun 2-3 3-4 7, Conners 4-9 9-10 19, Tate 6-14 2-4 17, Threadgill 4-11 2-2 11, Wilson 0-0 0-0 0, Muttilib 2-5 0-0 4, Dodd 0-1 0-0 0, Marcus 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-53 17-22 66. Halftime_Sam Houston St. 33-30. 3-Point Goals_Sam Houston St. 3-14 (Finister 1-1, Huefner 1-3, Wilkerson 1-8, Boykin 0-1, Hammons 0-1), Appalachian St. 7-24 (Tate 3-6, Conners 2-5, Threadgill 1-3, Huntley 1-5, Beaubrun 0-1, Dodd 0-1, Muttilib 0-3). Rebounds_Sam Houston St. 35 (Finister 7), Appalachian St. 33 (Beaubrun 9). Assists_Sam Houston St. 9 (Boykin 5), Appalachian St. 11 (Tate 4). Total Fouls_Sam Houston St. 20, Appalachian St. 15.
Penn State opened an investigation into the incident involving Jason Kelce slamming a fan’s phone to the ground outside Beaver Stadium last month. That investigation is now closed. Penn State University Police and Public Safety confirmed to PennLive on Tuesday night that the investigation around the incident involving Kelce on Nov. 2 has closed. “The individual in the video football circulating on social media has not been identified, and no one has come forward to University Police with a related complaint about damage to personal property,” a Penn State police spokesperson confirmed to PennLive. The incident occured before Penn State’s high-profile game against Ohio State. Taunts and homophobic slurs were hurled toward Kelce outside Beaver Stadium. The former Philadelphia Eagles star and current ESPN analyst appeared on “College GameDay” before the game. Videos on social media showed a fan in a Penn State sweatshirt walking behind Kelce. “Hey Kelce! How does it feel your brother is a (expletive) for dating Taylor Swift?” Kelce’s brother, Travis, is a star for the Kansas City Chiefs and dates the superstar singer. Kelce turned around, grabbed the fan’s phone and threw it on the ground. Then, he picked the phone up and continued walking with it. Another video shared on social media showed the fan chasing Kelce asking for his phone back. Kelce replied: “Who’s the (expletive) now?” Kelce addressed the altercation on ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” a couple days later, saying he was “not proud” of the situation. “In a heated moment, I chose to greet hate with hate, and I don’t think that’s a productive thing. I really don’t,” Kelce said. “I don’t think it leads to discourse and (I don’t think) it’s the right way to go about things. In that moment, I fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have.” Penn State coach James Franklin later commented on the situation when asked about fan frustrations around the Nittany Lions’ eventual loss to Ohio State. “I saw something with Jason Kelce,” Franklin said. “Jason Kelce was coming to State College. I wanted him to have a wonderful experience. I didn’t get a chance to meet him or see him. I saw something that I wasn’t very, very proud of. I wish that didn’t happen.” After the incident, Penn State University Police and Public Safety opened an investigation after an officer “observed a visitor damaging personal property” at an intersection outside of Beaver Stadium, according to Penn State police’s daily crime log. ©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit pennlive.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
By JOSH BOAK WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump loved to use tariffs on foreign goods during his first presidency. But their impact was barely noticeable in the overall economy, even if their aftershocks were clear in specific industries. The data show they never fully delivered on his promised factory jobs. Nor did they provoke the avalanche of inflation that critics feared. This time, though, his tariff threats might be different . The president-elect is talking about going much bigger — on a potential scale that creates more uncertainty about whether he’ll do what he says and what the consequences could be. “There’s going to be a lot more tariffs, I mean, he’s pretty clear,” said Michael Stumo, the CEO of Coalition for a Prosperous America, a group that has supported import taxes to help domestic manufacturing. The president-elect posted on social media Monday that on his first day in office he would impose 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada until those countries satisfactorily stop illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl into the United States. Those tariffs could essentially blow up the North American trade pact that Trump’s team negotiated during his initial term. Chinese imports would face additional tariffs of 10% until Beijing cracks down on the production of materials used in making fentanyl, Trump posted. Business groups were quick to warn about rapidly escalating inflation , while Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she would counter the move with tariffs on U.S. products. House Democrats put together legislation to strip a president’s ability to unilaterally apply tariffs this drastic, warning that they would likely lead to higher prices for autos, shoes, housing and groceries. Sheinbaum said Wednesday that her administration is already working up a list of possible retaliatory tariffs “if the situation comes to that.” “The economy department is preparing it,” Sheinbaum said. “If there are tariffs, Mexico would increase tariffs, it is a technical task about what would also benefit Mexico,” she said, suggesting her country would impose targeted import duties on U.S. goods in sensitive areas. House Democrats on Tuesday introduced a bill that would require congressional approval for a president to impose tariffs due to claims of a national emergency, a largely symbolic action given Republicans’ coming control of both the House and Senate. “This legislation would enable Congress to limit this sweeping emergency authority and put in place the necessary Congressional oversight before any president – Democrat or Republican – could indiscriminately raise costs on the American people through tariffs,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash. But for Trump, tariffs are now a tested tool that seems less politically controversial even if the mandate he received in November’s election largely involved restraining inflation. The tariffs he imposed on China in his first term were continued by President Joe Biden, a Democrat who even expanded tariffs and restrictions on the world’s second largest economy. Biden administration officials looked at removing Trump’s tariffs in order to bring down inflationary pressures, only to find they were unlikely to help significantly. Tariffs were “so new and unique that it freaked everybody out in 2017,” said Stumo, but they were ultimately somewhat modest. Trump imposed tariffs on solar panels and washing machines at the start of 2018, moves that might have pushed up prices in those sectors even though they also overlapped with plans to open washing machine plants in Tennessee and South Carolina. His administration also levied tariffs on steel and aluminum, including against allies. He then increased tariffs on China, leading to a trade conflict and a limited 2020 agreement that failed to produce the promised Chinese purchases of U.S. goods. Still, the dispute changed relations with China as more U.S. companies looked for alternative suppliers in other countries. Economic research also found the United States may have sacrificed some of its “soft power” as the Chinese population began to watch fewer American movies. The Federal Reserve kept inflation roughly on target, but factory construction spending never jumped in a way that suggested a lasting gain in manufacturing jobs. Separate economic research found the tariff war with China did nothing economically for the communities hurt by offshoring, but it did help Trump and Republicans in those communities politically. When Trump first became president in 2017, the federal government collected $34.6 billion in customs, duties and fees. That sum more than doubled under Trump to $70.8 billion in 2019, according to Office of Management and Budget records. While that sum might seem meaningful, it was relatively small compared to the overall economy. America’s gross domestic product is now $29.3 trillion, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The total tariffs collected in the United States would equal less than 0.3% of GDP. The new tariffs being floated by Trump now are dramatically larger and there could be far more significant impacts. If Mexico, Canada, and China faced the additional tariffs proposed by Trump on all goods imported to the United States, that could be roughly equal to $266 billion in tax collections, a number that does not assume any disruptions in trade or retaliatory moves by other countries. The cost of those taxes would likely be borne by U.S. families, importers and domestic and foreign companies in the form of higher prices or lower profits. Former Biden administration officials said they worried that companies could piggyback on Trump’s tariffs — if they’re imposed — as a rationale to raise their prices, just as many companies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 boosted food and energy costs and gave several major companies the space to raise prices, according to their own earnings calls with investors. But what Trump didn’t really spell out is what might cause him to back down on tariffs and declare a victory. What he is creating instead with his tariff threats is a sense of uncertainty as companies and countries await the details to figure out what all of this could mean. “We know the key economic policy priorities of the incoming Trump administration, but we don’t know how or when they will be addressed,” said Greg Daco, chief U.S. economist at EY-Parthenon. AP writer Mark Stevenson contributed to this report from Mexico City.
Shimla: In a first in many decades, the Himachal Pradesh capital and its nearby tourist resorts on Sunday evening experienced the season’s first snowfall in early December, with the hospitality industry eyeing a surge of tourists. “Shimla and its nearby areas have experienced light snowfall and this was the season’s first snowfall in Shimla town,” an official of the Meteorological Department here told IANS. Places near Shimla like Kufri and Narkanda have also been experiencing snowfall, turning the tourist destinations more picturesque. As news of the snowfall spreads, tourists may flock to Shimla, known for the imperial grandeur of its buildings that were once institutions of power when the town served as the summer capital of British India. “It’s for the first time that we witnessed the snowfall in early December. As far as my memory goes, this is the season’s first snowfall in over two decades,” said Ganesh Sud, a local resident who has been settled in Shimla since the early 1990s. “For the first time I am witnessing snowfall in early December,” his college-going daughter Radhika added. The snowy landscape in Shimla would stay for a few hours only as the minimum temperature was high, an official of the Met Office said. Reports said some of the areas in the apple belt Jubbal and Kharapathar also experienced snow. “High-altitude areas of Lahaul-Spiti, Chamba, Kullu, Kinnaur and Shimla districts have been experiencing snow,” the official said. The majestic Dhauladhar ranges in the Kangra valley got snow cover. Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district also experienced snow. Lower areas of the state like Dharamsala, Palampur, Solan, Nahan, Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur and Mandi towns received rain, bringing down the temperature considerably. The Met Office has forecast that scattered rain or snow is likely in the state till Monday. After the opening of the skies, the minimum temperature across the state could plummet by three to four notches, a weatherman said.
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Swansea boss Luke Williams thought his side were second best for the majority of the contest despite earning a 2-1 win at Derby. The Swans stunned Pride Park into silence with less than two minutes on the clock when Zan Vipotnik sent a bullet past Jacob Widell Zetterstrom before Ronald slotted home his first of the season in the 14th minute. Cyrus Christie brought Tom Barkhuizen down inside the box and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing dispatched the resulting penalty to cut the deficit in half and, despite piling on the pressure, Derby succumbed to a second home defeat of the season. Williams told a press conference: “We started the game very well, we were good up until we scored the second goal then we lost the grip on the game and I thought Derby were the better team. “The next thing for us we have to be able to maintain that level throughout the game and we weren’t able to do that to be quite honest today. “They made it difficult, reacted very well after the second goal and didn’t go under, far from it.” Swansea leapfrogged their opponents into the top half of the table with their sixth win of the season and took three points back to south Wales following two last-minute defeats by Burnley and Leeds heading into the match. Williams added: “We’ve recently conceded late goals but they’re a very resilient group and we saw it out in the end. “We’ve dominated games a lot but probably failed to score when we’ve been that dominant and tonight we managed to score the goals when we were dominant. “We scored the goals at the right time today.” Derby had been unbeaten in their last three matches coming into this one but Paul Warne put defeat down to a poor start. He said: “We conceded two and didn’t get close enough, weren’t aggressive enough, not enough body contact and looked soft, that’s my fault. “Maybe I didn’t message it properly. Sometimes it doesn’t come down to shape and tactics but I thought that was what the difference was. “Credit Swansea for the win but after the 25 mins it looked like we would score. I really enjoyed it, that’s the truth. I had 70 minutes of a team giving everything, I don’t think we’ve had that many attempts in the Championship this season. “It’s a rude awakening, last year we would’ve won that 4-2.”The year 2024 witnessed a series of remarkable IPO debuts, with several companies delivering extraordinary listing day gains, reflecting robust investor sentiment and strong market dynamics. Here are some of the standout performers: 1.Vibhor Steel Tubes Limited Topping the list, Vibhor Steel Tubes saw a staggering listing day gain of 192.72%. With an issue price of Rs 151, the stock closed at Rs 442 on February 20. The Rs 72.17 crore IPO was oversubscribed 320.05 times. 2. BLS E-Services Limited BLS E-Services recorded a 174.63% jump on its debut on February 6. Priced at Rs 135, the stock ended its first day at Rs 370.75. The Rs 310.91 crore issue garnered subscriptions worth Rs 50,484.75 crore, marking an oversubscription of 162.38 times. 3. Bajaj Housing Finance Limited Bajaj Housing Finance's IPO raised Rs 6,560 crore, making it one of the highest this year. On September 16, the shares finished at Rs 164.99, up 135.70% from its offer price of Rs 70. It was oversubscribed 67.43 times. 4. KRN Heat Exchanger and Refrigeration Limited KRN Heat Exchanger IPO Rs 341.95 crore IPO doubled investors' money with a 117.48% listing day gain. The stock, priced at Rs 220, closed at Rs 478.45 on October 3. The issue was oversubscribed 213.41 times. 5. Unicommerce eSolutions Limited The IPO debuted on August 13, Unicommerce offered a 94.49% listing day return. The stock surged from its issue price of Rs 108 to Rs 210.05. The Rs 276.57 crore IPO and it was oversubscribed 168.35 times. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Companies, Business Economy and around the world.Resounding Victory: Senegal's Ruling Party Dominates Legislative Elections