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SHOPPERS are gutted to see another major high street shop close for good, with the retailer shifting "all stock" before Christmas. This seductive store will shut shop on Christmas eve so customers have been urged to get their naughty stocking fillers now. 1 Ann Summers is closing down after being part of Doncaster city centre for decades Credit: Alamy Ann Summers in Doncaster city centre has been a staple on the high street for several decades and residents are devastated to see it go. Known for its provocative lingerie and collection of risque bedroom toys, the shop is now offering a "warehouse clearance event" and a 70 per cent off sale. An Ann Summers spokesperson said "As part of the normal course of business, we regularly review the location of our stores, which occasionally results in new site openings, renovations, relocations, and store closures. "Unfortunately, the lease on our Doncaster store will come to an end in December 2024 and we will be closing the store." Read more Money DON'T BANK ON IT Map reveals 57 locations where locals took on bank branch closures and won BRIGHT SPARK I’ve saved £1k on my energy bills this year – I haven’t turned down my heating "Any employees affected by the closure have been consulted and informed throughout the process, as their welfare is a priority for us." Thankfully, Doncaster city residents can get their hands on some in-store closing down deals as a final farewell. An online post stated: “All stock must go. "Head down for your final chance and shop for amazing products at discounted prices.” Most read in Money VAN GO Inside Glasgow's hidden cocktail bar with new art inspired immersive menu TOP SPOTS Unassuming Scots suburb named as one of the UK's poshest SELL ON HMRC warns Vinted sellers over new ‘30 item rule’ coming in weeks 'WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?' Shoppers fuming after Rowntree's sweets left 'tasting like soap' For those who will sorely miss the racy retailer, the next nearest shop is in Sheffield which is a half an hour drive away from Doncasters' Baxter Gate store. The closure follows other big changes within the popular chain, which boasts 130 UK branches. Primark reveals sexy Santa lingerie range from £4 for Christmas & shoppers are running to their nearest store Shoppers were disappointed when Ann Summers on Glasgow's Argyle street closed down last year. It was another high street favourite that was forced to shut after the landlord closed three units in the area. However the brand promised to pop back up nearby and vowed that they weren't gone for good but simply "relocating." Luckily, lovebirds also had another branch in the city if they couldn't wait for the relocation name to drop. Alternatively, fantasies can be fulfilled on the retailers website which can deliver directly to your home for an extra cost. This December, Ann Summers super fans have been getting their Christmas fix through their three naughty advent calendars. Read more on the Scottish Sun POT SHOT Hendry lifts lid on feud with snooker icon as he admits ace gets under his skin TRAVEL CHAOS Trains CANCELLED and do not travel warning issued as Storm Darragh strikes As one of the only calendars you open before you go to bed, rather than when you wake up, it's caused quite a stir on social media. The 12 Nights of Exploration, 12 Nights of Paradise, and 12 Nights of Wonder sold from £80 to £200. Why are retailers closing shops? EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline. The Sun's business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors. In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping. Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed. The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing. Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns. Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead. Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent. In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few. What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online. They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same placesAppalachian St. 34, James Madison 20

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In August, the EU’s Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson gave a rousing speech about a soon-to-launch “smart” border system that would track the movements of hundreds of millions of travelers in and out of the bloc using fingerprints and facial recognition. “Soon, we will switch on the most modern digital border management system in the world,” said Johansson, announcing a Nov. 10 launch date for the so-called Entry/Exit System. But a month before the scheduled debut, Johansson announced that EES wouldn’t be operational until 2025. It was the fourth time the project had been delayed in five years. And, according to internal correspondence between EU officials and contractors viewed by Bloomberg, a trio of companies with Atos at the center was largely responsible. The French IT firm, in consortium with International Business Machines Corp. and Leonardo SpA, won the €142 million contract in 2019 to build EES, but Atos was in charge of the bulk of the work—and at the center of many of the problems, according to hundreds of pages of documents seen by Bloomberg and investigative newsroom Lighthouse Reports as well as people familiar with the matter. The documents, whose contents haven’t been previously reported, represent years of internal reports and emails from EU-Lisa, the EU agency that oversees large-scale information technology projects, as well as communication between the agency and the companies in the consortium. They show how Atos effectively slowed work by only partially installing equipment, misplacing parts, taking weeks to fix bugs and often sending teams lacking in experience, leading to missed deadlines and millions in additional maintenance costs. These claims were corroborated by three people involved in the project. Representatives for Atos, IBM and Leonardo said they couldn’t comment due to confidentiality obligations. The EES is intended to radically change the EU’s approach to policing its borders. By integrating the immigration systems of the 29 countries in the Schengen area under a common technological umbrella for the first time, it will transform border control from a national to a European issue. Yet at a moment in which migration is upending the bloc’s political landscape, the documents raise questions about whether the EU will be able to introduce a unified border system effective enough to keep countries from implementing their own protectionist policies. The problems with EES have already had knock-on effects. One hundred and thirty staffers hired by EU border management agency Frontex to work on the European Travel Information and Authorization System, a €200 million visa waiver system built on the same underlying technology, had to be reassigned because of delays, according to two people familiar with the matter. EU-Lisa declined to comment on the setbacks, or any of the findings of the investigation. It said it did not “currently have access” to the documents or its communications with the consortium. Publicly, the EU has blamed the holdup on technical issues and contractor delays. Yet the documents paint a much more tense and chaotic picture, corroborated by people involved with the contract, who asked not to be identified discussing private business matters. A key supplier to both the French nuclear industry and the recent Paris Olympic Games, Atos has been on the brink of bankruptcy after a series of setbacks and profit warnings sent its market value from €8.2 billion euros ($8.6 billion) at the end of 2020 to about €74 million today. The company has cycled through seven CEOs since 2021 as it has grappled with debt and failed rescue plans. Last month, a French commercial court approved a restructuring strategy that will see its creditors take control of the troubled business and wipe out existing shareholders. Grand ambitions Currently, the EU has no automated way of tracking how long non-EU citizens without visas stay inside the bloc. Individual countries stamp visitors’ passports when they arrive, but have no way of knowing whether people travel to other EU countries, and when—or if—they leave. “No one has the faintest idea what the irregular or illegal population of third-country nationals in the EU is,” said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels-based economic think tank. “If you are a government, this is a deeply dissatisfying state of affairs and one that provides political ammunition for far-right anti-immigration parties.” The European parliament moved to establish the EES in 2017, describing it as a “priority initiative” with a planned launch date in 2022. The plan was to replace border agents stamping passports with an automated biometric system that uses self-service kiosks to capture faces and fingerprints, and which connects to a central registry that tracks cross-border movement. The consortium’s inability to meet deadlines became clear early on. Central and back-up data centers were completed eight months after a July 2020 deadline, according to an EU-Lisa letter addressed to the companies dated April 11, 2022. After that, the consortium “missed all milestones,” EU-Lisa’s Executive Director Krum Garkov wrote in that letter, even after a new timeline was established. While IBM developed some of the system’s overall architecture and managed the project, Atos was tasked with building EES’s hardware and software. A former senior executive at Atos, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter, said the French IT company was responsible for the core part of the project, which represented about two-thirds of the work. Leonardo provided cybersecurity. In the April 11 letter, EU-Lisa complained that the consortium often sent “young teams with no experience to perform complex tasks,” and that the companies had regularly been “unable to mobilize the necessary resources to provide fixes within the agreed schedules.” In one case, the consortium took more than six weeks to “deploy a single bug fixing release team,” illustrating its “lack of competence” in critical moments. “Despite all the efforts deployed by EU-Lisa and member states,” the letter continued, the consortium “still repeatedly missed deadlines, performed partial installations and/or mixed delivery sites.” It cited “missing cables, misconfigured devices, transportation returned from border for missing delivery documentation” and having hardware retained by border police as among the problems. Two people with direct knowledge of the matter said these issues were Atos’s responsibility. Excluding ESS, the EU has stumbled on several ambitious tech infrastructure projects in recent years. A 2020 initiative to modernize the bloc’s customs operations was beset by financial and logistical problems. Gaia-X, a cloud computing platform for Europe intended to challenge the market dominance of US companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon, never managed to gain momentum. (Gaia-X’s Chief Executive Officer Ulrich Ahle said that his organization’s core mission was to enhance data sovereignty, not compete directly with cloud companies.) Maegan Hendow, a senior researcher at International Centre for Migration Policy Development, a Vienna-based think tank, noted that the EES delays were perhaps not surprising given the system’s complexity. It not only has to seamlessly integrate the immigration systems of all member states, but also be able to cross-reference other biometric databases such as Eurodac, which monitors asylum seekers. “If any of those elements don’t function across any member state,” she said, “the whole thing doesn’t function.” Troubled start In the early months of 2022, the situation became so dire that EU-Lisa established daily “war room” meetings to troubleshoot EES problems, according to the documents. Those highlighted tensions as IBM, Atos and Leonardo would argue amongst themselves in front of their client. Meetings devolved into EU representatives adjudicating disputes between companies, rather than working on the project together. In its April 11 letter to the consortium, EU-Lisa accused the trio of having “failed completely in its role.” By June, the consortium proposed cutting corners on testing parts of the system in order to meet a 2023 launch date, according to a letter it sent EU-Lisa that month. Overall, the former Atos executive said, the company badly managed the EES project. He added that it was flagged to the chief executive that year as one that needed more careful supervision. Two EU-Lisa officials affirmed this view, saying they held Atos mostly responsible. Atos declined to comment. Still, two EU officials who asked not to be named discussing private matters said that EU-Lisa needs to shoulder some of the blame. While building an incredibly complex database system does require outsourcing, they noted that the small agency outsourced everything, even project management. EU-Lisa and the consortium were also under pressure from outgoing Home Affairs Commissioner Johansson to complete and implement the entire system before her tenure was up. Johansson delivered her speech announcing the Nov. 10 launch date against the objections of members states, according to an EU official, as they were concerned that the system was still too buggy and should be introduced country-by-country. A representative for Johansson declined to comment. Responding to a public information request about the delays, Garkov, who left EU-Lisa in late 2022, declined to single any company out. However, he wrote in a public letter that the consortium “substantially underestimated the complexity of the work for development and implementation of EES,” and that the “quality of key deliverables did not meet requirements.” Payment disputes After missing the first few milestones, the consortium asked the EU to waive penalties on late deliveries, while also requesting an early payment of about €2.5 million. Although EU-Lisa described the demand as “outrageous” in annotations on the request letter from the consortium that was shared internally, the EU did agree to allow the companies to pay their late fees at the end of the project in order to ensure that work on the system wouldn’t be interrupted. In a report published earlier this year on the spending practices of EU agencies in 2023, the European Court of Auditors noted that the three members of the consortium “refused to cover the extra cost of maintenance for certain IT products.” That added about €20 million in additional costs for EU-Lisa, according to internal documents seen by this investigation. By the end of 2023, a rollout the following year was looking plausible. But as the November launch date loomed, new problems emerged. A system set up over the summer to allow member states to test EES couldn’t handle more than one country using it at a time, two of the people said. Member states had to book slots to test it. An October dress rehearsal for the launch of EES was chaotic, with some member states struggling to connect to the central database. The November deadline was missed a month later after France, the Netherlands and Germany said the technology wasn’t ready. The project, still overseen by the consortium, has now been postponed to 2025, with no fixed launch date. A spokesperson for the European Commission said that despite initial plans to simultaneously launch EES across all member states, it would now take a progressive approach to allow for a “period of adjustment for authorities and travelers.” “The EU can’t afford to get this wrong, for obvious political reasons,” Kirkegaard said. “Nobody wants chaos at the airports or external borders.” With assistance from Gian Volpicelli and Benoit Berthelot/Bloomberg

Israeli airstrikes killed a hospital director at his home in northeastern Lebanon and six others, while at least five paramedics were killed by Israeli strikes in the country's south on Friday, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. The United Nations reported heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon. Four Italian peacekeepers were lightly wounded when a rocket, likely fired by Hezbollah, hit their base, the U.N. said. A full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah erupted in September after nearly a year of lower-intensity conflict. More than 3,640 people have been killed in Lebanon and 15,350 wounded, the majority following Israel’s escalation and ground invasion, the Health Ministry said Friday. In Gaza, Israeli strikes hit Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few hospitals still partially operating in the northernmost part of the territory, wounding nine medical staff and damaging its generator and oxygen systems, the hospital director said Friday. More than 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, the Health Ministry said. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children. Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250 . Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Here’s the Latest: DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes hit Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few hospitals still partially operating in the northernmost part of Gaza, wounding nine medical staff and damaging its generator and oxygen systems, its director said Friday. Hossam Abu Safiya said strikes before dawn Friday hit the entrance of the emergency unit as well as in the hospital courtyard. He said six staff were wounded, including two critically. Friday night, he said an armed drone hit the entrance again, wounding three staffers. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Abu Safiya said the strikes caused damage to the functioning of the generator and disrupted oxygen supplies. The hospital is currently treating 85 wounded, 14 children in the pediatric ward and four newborns in the neonatal unit, he said. During the past month, Kamal Adwan Hospital has been hit several times, was put under siege and was raided by Israeli troops, who are waging a heavy offensive in the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp and towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya. The Israeli military says it detained Hamas fighters hiding in the hospital, a claim its staff denies. BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike killed the director of a university hospital and six others at his home in northeastern Lebanon, state media said. The strike targeted Dr. Ali Allam’s house near Dar Al-Amal Hospital, the largest health center in Baalbek-Hermel province, which has provided vital health services amid Israel's campaign of airstrikes, the Health Ministry said. State-run media reported that the strike came without warning. The ministry described his death as a “great loss,” and provincial governor Bachir Khodr said in a post on X that, “Mr. Allam was one of the best citizens of Baalbek.” In two separate episodes on Friday, Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed five paramedics with Hezbollah's medical arm, the Health Ministry said, describing it as “war crime.” The militant group provides extensive social services, including running schools and health clinics. In a report published Friday, the World Health Organization said nearly half of all attacks on health care in Lebanon since Oct. 7, 2023, have resulted in fatalities. “This is a higher percentage than in any active conflict today across the globe,” WHO said. In Lebanon, 226 health workers and patients were killed and 199 were injured between Oct. 7, 2023, and Nov. 18, 2024, the report said. The Health Ministry said Friday that 3,645 people have been killed in nearly 14 months of war between Hezbollah and Israel, while 15,356 were wounded, the majority following Israel’s escalation in late September. The death count includes 692 women and 231 children. UNITED NATIONS – Two rockets hit a headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, injuring four Italian peacekeepers, the United Nations says. U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the rockets were likely launched by Hezbollah militants or by affiliated groups Friday, impacting a bunker and a logistics area in the southwest headquarters at Chamaa. One of the structures that was hit caught fire, and the blaze was swiftly put out by U.N. staff, he said. According to Italy’s Defense Ministry, some glass shattered due to the explosion, hitting the four soldiers. Dujarric said the four injured peacekeepers were receiving treatment at the medical facility of the mission, known as UNIFIL. “Thankfully, none of the injuries are life-threatening,” he said. Italy’s Defense Minister Guido Crosetto called the attack on the UNIFIL base “intolerable.” He reiterated that the Italian contingent remains in southern Lebanon “to offer a window of opportunity for peace, and cannot become hostage to militia attacks.” Dujarric said Friday’s attack was the third on Chamaa in a week and came amid heavy shelling and ground skirmishes in the Chamaa and Naqoura areas in recent days. UNIFIL’s main headquarters is in Naqoura. Friday’s attack follows a rocket attack on a UNIFIL base east of the village of Ramyah on Tuesday that injured four peacekeepers from Ghana. Dujarric said UNIFIL strongly urges Hezbollah and its affiliates and Israel to avoid fighting near its positions, which are supposed to be protected. “We remind all parties that any attack against peacekeepers constitutes a serious violation of international law” and the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, he said. BEIRUT — Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs and the southern port city of Tyre on Friday, after the Israeli army issued several evacuation warnings saying it is targeting Hezbollah sites. The strikes in Beirut came dangerously close to central Beirut and Christian neighborhoods. One strike hit a building housing a gym and medical and beauty clinics, located just meters (yards) from a Lebanese army base. “What is there in the building to target? This attack they carried out on us in this building is a criminal and vile act,” resident Hassan Najdi told The Associated Press. “Because if their intention is targeting Hezbollah, this building has nothing to do with Hezbollah.” Najdi said he purchased an apartment in the building last year but had not yet moved in. He allowed a displaced family to move in and urgently asked them to evacuate after receiving the Israeli warning. The blasts sent plumes of smoke into the air and shattered glass in the vicinity. No casualties have been reported, but the strikes caused damage to nearby infrastructure and a key road connecting central Beirut to its southern suburbs. “We remain steadfast,” said Ali Daher, an employee at a mall facing the targeted building. “Everything that is lost can be replaced, and whatever is destroyed can be rebuilt in (no time).” In Tyre city, the Israeli military conducted multiple airstrikes after a series of warnings, claiming the targets belonged to Hezbollah’s Aziz unit, accusing it of firing projectiles into Israel. The Israeli military carried out other airstrikes across Lebanon, many without warnings, as heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in villages along the Lebanon-Israel border intensified. ROME — Italy said Friday it plans to discuss the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court over the Israel-Hamas war when it hosts Group of Seven foreign ministers next week. Premier Giorgia Meloni insisted that one point remained clear for Italy: “There can be no equivalence between the responsibilities of the state of Israel and the terrorist organization of Hamas.” Italy is a founding member of the court and hosted the 1998 Rome conference that gave birth to it. But Meloni’s right-wing government has been a strong supporter of Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, while also providing humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza. In a statement Friday, Meloni said Italy would study the reasonings behind the decision to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Italy respects the ICC and supports it. “But at the same time we are also convinced that the court must have a judicial role, and should not take up a political role.” Tajani will host G7 foreign ministers Monday and Tuesday outside Rome for the final meeting of the Italian G7 presidency. “As far as decisions are concerned, we will take them together with our allies,” Tajani said. During the G7 meetings, “we will talk about this with my allies there, and we will see what to do next.” Another member of the governing coalition, the outspoken Transport Minister Matteo Salvini was more defiant in supporting Israel. “If Netanyahu comes to Italy he will be welcomed,” Salvini was quoted by Italian media as saying. This item has been updated to correct that Salvini spoke of a potential Netanyahu visit to Italy, not Israel. ROME — Four Italian soldiers were slightly injured after two exploding rockets hit the United Nations' peacekeeping mission base on Friday in Chamaa in southern Lebanon, Italy's defense ministry said. Initial information suggested that two rockets hit a bunker and a room of the mission base, damaging the surrounding infrastructure, the ministry said. Shattered glass hit the four soldiers. The incident was the latest in which UN peacekeeping posts have been hit since Israel began its ground invasion of Lebanon on Oct. 1, leaving a number of peacekeepers wounded. Defence Minister Guido Crosetto called Friday's attack “intolerable.” He said he will try to speak to the new Israeli Defense Minister to ask him “to avoid using the UNIFIL bases as a shield.” Crosetto said the conditions of the four Italian soldiers “did not cause concern.” He reiterated that the Italian contingent remains in southern Lebanon “to offer a window of opportunity for peace and cannot become hostage to militia attacks.” Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni on Friday said she learned about the new attack with “deep indignation and concern.” Meloni reiterated that “such attacks are unacceptable,” renewing her appeal for the parties on the ground “to guarantee, at all times, the safety of UNIFIL soldiers and to collaborate to quickly identify those responsible.” GENEVA — The World Health Organization says nearly half of the attacks on health care in Lebanon have been deadly since the Middle East conflict erupted in October last year, the highest such rate anywhere in the world. The U.N. health agency says 65 out of 137, or 47%, of recorded “attacks on health care” in Lebanon over that time period have proven fatal to at least one person, and often many more. WHO’s running global tally counts attacks, whether deliberate or not, that affect places like hospitals, clinics, medical transport, and warehouses for medical supplies, as well as medics, doctors, nurses and the patients they treat. Nearly half of attacks on health care in Lebanon since last October and the majority of deaths occurred since an intensified Israeli military campaign began against Hezbollah militants in the country two months ago. The health agency said 226 health workers and patients have been killed and 199 injured in Lebanon between Oct. 7, 2023 and this Monday. JERUSALEM — Israel’s new defense minister said Friday that he would stop issuing warrants to arrest West Bank settlers or hold them without charge or trial — a largely symbolic move that rights groups said risks emboldening settler violence in the Israeli-occupied territory. Israel Katz called the arrest warrants “severe” and said issuing them was “inappropriate” as Palestinian militant attacks on settlers in the territory grow more frequent. He said settlers could be “brought to justice” in other ways. The move protects Israeli settlers from being held in “administrative detention,” a shadowy form of incarceration where people are held without charge or trial. Settlers are rarely arrested in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has spiraled since the outbreak of the war Oct. 7. Katz’s decision was celebrated by far-right coalition allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. National Security Minister and settler firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir applauded Katz and called the move a “correction of many years of mistreatment” and “justice for those who love the land.” Since Oct. 7, 2023, violence toward Palestinians by Israeli settlers has soared to new heights, displacing at least 19 entire Palestinian communities, according to Israeli rights group Peace Now. In that time, attacks by Palestinian militants on settlers and within Israel have also grown more common. An increasing number of Palestinians have been placed in administrative detention. Israel holds 3,443 administrative detainees in prison, according to data from the Israeli Prison Service, reported by rights group Hamoked. That figure stood around 1,200 just before the start of the war. The vast majority of them are Palestinian, with only a handful at any given time Israeli Jews, said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked. “All of these detentions without charge or trial are illegitimate, but to declare that this measure will only be used against Palestinians...is to explicitly entrench another form of ethnic discrimination,” said Montell. BERLIN — A German official has suggested that his country would be reluctant to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. The ICC’s warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant put Germany, a staunch ally of Israel, in an awkward position. The government said in a statement Friday that it is one of the ICC’s biggest supporters, but “at the same time, it is a consequence of German history that unique relations and a great responsibility connect us with Israel.” The government said it takes note of the arrest warrants and that “we will examine conscientiously the domestic steps.” It said that any further steps would only be an issue if a visit by Netanyahu or Gallant were “foreseeable.” Government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit was pressed repeatedly at a regular news conference on whether it would be conceivable to arrest an Israeli prime minister. He replied: "It’s hard for me to imagine that we would carry out arrests in Germany on this basis.” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday refused to comment on the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others, saying that the court's rulings are “insignificant” for Russia, which doesn’t recognizes the court’s jurisdiction. The ICC last year issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and a number of other top Russian officials, accusing them of war crimes in Ukraine. The Kremlin has brushed off the warrants, saying that in Moscow’s eyes they’re “null and void.” Asked if the ICC warrants for Netanyahu and others can help resolve the tensions in the Middle East, Peskov said: “Well, in general, the actions of the ICC are unlikely to help anything. That’s the first thing. And secondly, we don’t see any point in commenting on this in any way, because for us these rulings are insignificant.” DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Large crowds of displaced people crammed themselves in front of a bakery in the Gaza Strip for the second day in a row, desperate to get their share of bread after bakeries closed for five days due to a flour shortage and the lack of aid. “I am a 61-year-old man. This is the third day that I have come to Zadna Bakery and I still cannot get bread ... I have children to feed,” said Majdi Yaghi, a displaced man from Gaza City. The price of a small bag of pita bread increased to $16 by Friday, a stark increase from about 80 cents last month. A bag of pasta now costs $4 and a small bag of sugar costs nearly $14. That has left many Palestinian families surviving on one meal a day and reliant on charitable kitchens to survive. In Khan Younis, women and children lined up at the al-Dalu charitable kitchen for bulgur, the only food available at the makeshift charity. One of the workers there, Anas al-Dalu, told the AP that they cook ten pots every day of either rice, beans, or bulgur. But that hardly fills the need for the thousands of people displaced in the area. “The charity here is in a difficult situation. It is a drop in the ocean, and there is no aid or charities. There is nothing," said Nour Kanani, a displaced man from Khan Younis. “It is a crisis in every sense of the word. There is no flour, no charities, and no food.” BEIRUT — Israeli troops fought fierce battles with Hezbollah fighters on Friday in different areas in south Lebanon, including a coastal town that is home to the headquarters of U.N. peacekeepers. A spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL told The Associated Press that they are monitoring “heavy clashes” in the coastal town of Naqoura and the village of Chamaa to the northeast. UNIFIL’s headquarters are located in Naqoura in Lebanon’s southern edge close to the border with Israel. “We are aware of heavy shelling in the vicinity of our bases,” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said. Asked if the peacekeepers and staff at the headquarters are safe, Tenenti said: “Yes for the moment.” Several UNIFIL posts have been hit since Israel began its ground invasion of Lebanon on Oct. 1, leaving a number of peacekeepers wounded.

THE proposed $24.6 billion merger between Kroger and Albertsons has been blocked. A federal judge made the ruling in court on Tuesday in agreement with concerns from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Since the merger was announced in October 2022, the FTC has argued that the deal would eliminate competition in the supermarket industry and filed a lawsuit against the companies. US District Judge Adrienne Nelson said the plan proposed by Kroger and Albertsons did not adequately address the concerns over reduced competition, per Fox Business . Judge Nelson also noted that the merger could negatively impact prices on goods for consumers and wages for workers. These concerns were also echoed by the FTC, but contested by Kroger and Albertsons, who claimed the opposite would be true should the deal be approved. Read More on Kroger It's important to note that Judge Nelson's ruling only temporarily stops the merger. The FTC asked the judge to block it only until an in-house administrative judge with the commission could have time to consider the deal's implications, as it would be the biggest grocery store merger in United States history. It's effectively a pause rather than a complete stop of the merger. Still, the ruling comes after a full three weeks of court hearings with the FTC, Kroger, and Albertsons in Portland, Oregon. Most read in Money Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen pleaded the company's case during those hearings, insisting "the day that we merge is the day that we will begin lowering prices," per the Associated Press . "We know that pricing is going to continue to go down." McMullen emphasized that together Kroger and Albertsons could better compete with retail giants like Amazon, Costco, and Walmart, providing more competition and consequently lower prices. The FTC still wanted to know more about pricing and asked Andy Groff, Kroger's senior director for pricing, additional questions during the hearing. Groff admitted that Kroger had increased costs on eggs and milk above inflation rates earlier in the year after an internal email from March was shown. "On milk and eggs, retail inflation has been significantly higher than cost inflation," the email read. Kroger intended to "pass through our inflation to customers," per Groff's statement in court. A spokesperson for Kroger later said the email was "cherry-picked" from other documents and only covered a select period, not reflecting the retailer's "decades-long business model to lower prices for customers by reducing its margins," per Bloomberg . More to follow... For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos . Like us on Facebook at TheSunUS and follow us on X at @TheUSSun

It was a jam-packed Saturday (November 23), with the Assembly election results of Maharashtra and Jharkhand being announced. Maharashtra witnessed a historic victory for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, which dominated the Assembly elections by winning 234 of the 288 seats, leaving the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) trailing far behind. The BJP alone secured an impressive 132 seats, with a 26.22 per cent vote share. Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction, a key ally in the NDA, contributed 57 seats with a 12.38 per cent vote share. The NCP won 41 seats, garnering 9 per cent of the vote share. In stark contrast, the MVA alliance faced a crushing defeat. Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena faction managed to win only 20 seats, with a 9.96 per cent vote share. Congress secured 16 seats, receiving a 12.42 per cent vote share, while Sharad Pawar’s NCP, which remained with the MVA, won just 10 seats with an 11.28 per cent vote share. The Jan Mukti Morcha-led INDIA coalition stormed to power for the second time in a row in Jharkhand, decisively defeating the BJP-headed NDA by winning 56 seats in the 81-member Assembly. In the 2019 elections, the INDIA alliance, which includes the Congress, claimed victory in 47 seats. The JMM emerged as the single-largest party with 34 seats, while its alliance partners Congress and RJD won 16 and four constituencies, respectively. The CPI(ML) Liberation secured two seats. The NDA, on the other hand, managed just 24 seats, with the BJP winning 21. Its allies—AJSU Party, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), and JD(U)—secured one seat each. Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who is currently out on bail in a money-laundering case, ran a campaign centred on his government’s social welfare schemes while alleging a conspiracy by the BJP-led central government. The BJP, in contrast, focused its campaign on allegations of corruption within Soren’s administration and infiltration from Bangladesh. While it is decided that Hemant Soren will the Chief Minister in Jharkhand, who will lead Maharashtra is yet to be revealed. With inputs from agenciesNone

By KELVIN CHAN, Business Writer LONDON (AP) — Looking for a new social media platform because X, Threads and Mastodon just aren’t cutting it? You could try Bluesky . People seeking to avoid chaos, noise and political bluster in the aftermath of the U.S. elections are noticing a different mood on the Bluesky social platform, where the vibe is seemingly welcoming and there are noticeably fewer trolls. The site announced it had rapidly added more than a million new users in the week after Election Day, and has emerged as one of the fastest growing rivals to Elon Musk’s X and similar platforms. If you’re tempted to check out the new space, here’s a guide on how Bluesky works: Getting started Maybe you’re not ready to commit to adding yet another social media account. No problem — you can still look around on Bluesky without signing up because all posts and profiles are public. You might get a sense of deja vu because the platform’s look and feel are very similar to X. That should be no surprise because Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was an early Bluesky champion. (Dorsey’s no longer involved with Bluesky, which is owned and run by its executive team as a public benefit corporation.) If you take the plunge and get an account, you’ll need a username. You’ll notice Bluesky handles are a little bit different because they end by default in the site’s domain, .bsky.social. You can personalize your handle to make it more memorable, by using your own website’s domain or buying a custom one through Bluesky. But it might not be something most newbie users need or want to do right away. How do I find interesting people? Bluesky boasts that it gives users “algorithmic choice” to tailor the content they’re shown instead of leaving it up to the whims of a centralized system. “Our online experience doesn’t have to depend on billionaires unilaterally making decisions over what we see,” it says . What it means is that you can follow custom feeds set up by other users, or design your own. If you tap #Feeds in the menu on the left, you’ll see some default offerings like Cat Pics and Gardening. My Bangers is a list of your most popular posts by likes and Catch Up shows the site’s most popular posts from the past 24 hours. You can find more by doing a search and tapping the Feeds button. There’s also the usual “Discover” feed of suggested posts and a chronological feed of accounts that you follow. To help new users settle in, Bluesky has starter packs of recommended feeds and accounts to follow, which anyone can create and share. They don’t show up in Bluesky’s search results but can be found in directories online . Or someone might share one with you. After I signed up, a colleague pointed me to one for major news outlets . There are tens of thousands of starter packs, ranging from broadly appealing topics like Taylor Swift to niche interests like cargo bikes or U.K. comedians . You can follow the whole pack or scroll down the list to choose individual accounts. What about people you followed on X? There’s a browser extension tool called Sky Follower Bridge that will help you find X users who’ve migrated to Bluesky. But check before clicking the follow button to make sure it’s not a different user using the same display name or handle. How to post Ready to join the conversation? You can write posts or reply to others but keep it short because there’s a limit of 300 characters — 20 more than on X. You can also upload photos and videos, though videos can’t be longer than 60 seconds. GIFs and emojis are, of course, available too. You can still @ people by typing in their username, like posts by tapping a heart icon or use hashtags to highlight a theme. Bluesky has added a menu to hashtags, so when you click on one you’ll get different options for seeing, or muting, posts on that topic. What about trolls? Bluesky’s decentralization ethos extends to the content control options it offers. For starters, users can choose in their settings menu whether to see replies, reposts or quote posts in their feed. Specific words or tags can be muted temporarily, or forever, while accounts can be muted or blocked individually, or in bulk by adding them a moderation list. You can even fine tune the level of adult content that shows up in your feed. Bluesky has a team of content moderators to police the site for material that’s illegal or breaks the rules. But it’s also taking a different approach by open sourcing its content moderation system in an attempt to resolve problems with traditional moderation services which it says “lack transparency and user control.” So, individuals or groups can set up their own content filters, or labelers, that go beyond what Bluesky offers. These labelers can be used to categorize content or users, which can then be blocked or hidden. But they could also be used for informational or creative purposes, like curating or verifying content. There are labelers to identify images generated by artificial intelligence or to fact check news posts. You can find lists of labelers online. After I subscribed to a U.S. politics labeler, some posts in my feeds were flagged “!Donald Trump” or “!Democrat politician” and hidden unless I click Show. Follow Kelvin Chan on Bluesky Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

NYPD Community Response Team lacks defined mission, transparency, report saysNetwork completed in partnership with Escambia River Electric Cooperative brings high-speed internet to more than 12,000 rural homes and businesses KANSAS CITY, Mo. , Nov. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Conexon Connect , the internet service provider (ISP) formed by rural fiber broadband leader Conexon , has completed its first fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) project in the state of Florida , a 2,000-mile network launched in partnership with Escambia River Electric Cooperative (EREC). The Connect, powered by Escambia River Electric Cooperative, network marks the ISP's sixth FTTH network completion. With this milestone, Conexon Connect has successfully delivered fiber internet access to 12,000 EREC members across rural Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in northern Florida , bringing world-class, high-speed internet service to homes and businesses previously lacking reliable connectivity. The newly completed network enables residents to access essential online services including telemedicine, remote education and modern work opportunities. "Completing the fiber network across EREC's service area is another major step forward in our mission to bring connectivity to underserved communities nationwide," said Randy Klindt , Conexon Founding Partner and co-CEO. "We're proud to empower these areas with digital access to help drive innovation, opportunity and growth in Florida ." The Connect, powered by Escambia River Electric Cooperative, network provides members access to multi-gigabit-speed symmetrical internet capabilities, offering the same fast download and upload speeds, as well as reliable phone service. Fiber broadband technology also enables the benefits of smart grid capabilities to the co-op's electrical infrastructure. "Over the past two years, we've worked tirelessly to bring this critical infrastructure to every EREC member in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties," said Ryan Campbell , CEO of EREC. "Today, every member of our cooperative has access to fast, reliable internet, which is not just about improving connectivity – it's about enhancing quality of life, fostering economic growth and ensuring that no one in our community is left behind in the digital age. This project represents our commitment to providing not just electricity, but the tools that empower our members to thrive in an increasingly connected world. By partnering with Connect, we've been able to make a lasting impact on our community." Conexon's current impact in Florida spans five electric cooperatives' service territories – delivering Connect high-speed internet to members of Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Glades Electric Cooperative and EREC – and partnering with Central Florida Electric Cooperative and Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative as those co-ops build FTTH networks to serve their members with broadband. Collectively the co-ops' broadband project investment totals more than $260 million , with nearly 9,000 miles of fiber built to date, reaching well over 70,000 rural Floridians. "In rural areas across the state, there is only one group of people who truly care about getting broadband to every home in every rural area – not the telephone companies that have abandoned rural Florida , not the cable companies that never built to rural Florida – it is the rural electric cooperatives that have been serving their communities for over 85 years," said Conexon co-CEO Jonathan Chambers . "We are proud of the partnership we formed with Escambia River Electric Cooperative. In just eighteen months, we built a fiber broadband network to serve every member of the cooperative, a network that will last for decades to come." About Conexon Connect Conexon Connect, the fiber-to-the-home internet service provider (ISP) formed and operated by Conexon, is an emerging local broadband leader in rural communities across the country. Connect works predominantly with electric cooperatives and communities, building networks using Conexon's proven methodology and architecture that leverage existing infrastructure to power reliable and affordable 100 percent fiber broadband service for rural homes and businesses. Connect currently operates in Colorado , Florida , Georgia , Kentucky , Louisiana , Mississippi , and Missouri . About Escambia River Electric Cooperative Founded in 1939, Escambia River Electric Cooperative (EREC) is a member-owned electric distribution cooperative serving approximately 12,000 residents in northern Escambia County and Santa Rosa County, Florida . Headquartered in Jay, Florida , with an additional location in Walnut Hill , EREC has a long-standing commitment to providing affordable, reliable electric power to its members. In recent years, the cooperative has expanded its service offerings, including the successful deployment of high-speed fiber internet to every member in its service area. EREC's mission is to provide dependable electric and broadband services at competitive rates while enhancing the region's quality of life through community-driven initiatives. These include supporting economic development, promoting safety and environmental education, and generously contributing time, energy, and resources to charitable organizations, schools, and community events. Cindy Parks 913-526-6912 [email protected] SOURCE Conexon Connect

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Hidalgo leads No. 6 Notre Dame over JuJu Watkins and third-ranked USC 74-61 in big matchup out West

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ( NYSE:ANF – Free Report ) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 1,881 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000. Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ANF. Matrix Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch in the second quarter valued at $35,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Abercrombie & Fitch by 81.5% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 274 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Abercrombie & Fitch by 156.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 279 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Abercrombie & Fitch by 242.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 531 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Abercrombie & Fitch by 39.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 788 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several research analysts recently issued reports on ANF shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Abercrombie & Fitch from $155.00 to $147.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $194.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Citigroup raised shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Abercrombie & Fitch from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Abercrombie & Fitch has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.43. Insider Activity In other news, EVP Samir Desai sold 19,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.36, for a total value of $2,501,225.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,676,109.60. The trade was a 40.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website . Also, CFO Scott D. Lipesky sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.80, for a total transaction of $1,321,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 106,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,627,594. This trade represents a 7.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders have sold 31,541 shares of company stock valued at $4,310,256 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.58% of the company’s stock. Abercrombie & Fitch Stock Performance Shares of ANF stock opened at $152.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.10 and a beta of 1.50. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a 52 week low of $72.13 and a 52 week high of $196.99. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $142.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $152.96. Abercrombie & Fitch ( NYSE:ANF – Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The apparel retailer reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.36. Abercrombie & Fitch had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 47.35%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Analysts forecast that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will post 10.35 earnings per share for the current year. Abercrombie & Fitch Company Profile ( Free Report ) Abercrombie & Fitch Co, through its subsidiaries, operates as an omnichannel retailer in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and internationally. The company offers an assortment of apparel, personal care products, and accessories for men, women, and kids under the Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie kids, Hollister, and Gilly Hicks brands. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ANF? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ( NYSE:ANF – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for Abercrombie & Fitch Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Abercrombie & Fitch and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Will Howard passed for two touchdowns and rushed for another, TreVeyon Henderson ran for a score and No. 2 Ohio State beat previously undefeated No. 5 Indiana 38-15 on Saturday. All Ohio State (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten) has to do now is beat Michigan at home next Saturday and it will earn a return to the Big Ten championship game for the first time since 2020 and get a rematch with No. 1 Oregon. The Ducks beat Ohio State 32-31 in a wild one back on Oct. 12. The Hoosiers (10-1, 7-1) had their best chance to beat the Buckeyes for the first time since 1988 but were hurt by special teams mistakes and disrupted by an Ohio State defense that sacked quarterback Kurtis Rourke five times. “In life, all good things come to an end,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said. Late in the first half, Indiana punter James Evans fumbled a snap and was buried at his own 7-yardline with the Buckeyes taking over. That turned quickly into a 4-yard TD run by Henderson that gave the Buckeyes a 14-7 lead. Early in the second half, Caleb Downs fielded an Evans punt at the Ohio State 21, raced down the right sideline, cut to the middle and outran the coverage for a touchdown that put the Buckeyes up 21-7. It was the first time a Buckeye returned a punt for a touchdown since 2014. Howard finished 22-for-26 passing for 201 yards. Emeka Egbuka had seven catches for 80 yards and a TD. “Our guys just played with a chip today, and that’s the way you got to play the game of football,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. Indiana scored on its first possession of the game and its last, both short runs by Ty Son Lawson, who paced the Hoosiers with 79 rushing yards. Rourke was 8-for-18 passing for 68 yards. “We had communication errors, pass (protection), every time we dropped back to pass, something bad happened,” Cignetti said. Indiana’s 151 total yards was its lowest of the season. And it was the most points surrendered by the Hoosier’s defense. The Hooseries’ special season was blemished by the Buckeyes, who beat Indiana for the 30th straight time. The Hoosiers were eyeing its first conference crown since sharing one with two other teams in 1967. That won’t happen now. “Ohio State deserved to win,” Cignetti said. “They had those (third quarter scores), and we just couldn’t respond.” Ohio State didn’t waste the opportunities presented by the Hoosiers when they got sloppy. The Buckeyes led 14-7 at the break and took control in the second half. An offensive line patched together because of multiple injuries performed surprisingly well. “We know what was at stake,” Day said. “We don’t win this game, and we have no chance to go to Indianapolis and play in the Big Ten championship. And that’s real. We’ve had that approach for the last few weeks now, more than that.”