
The case highlights the growing importance of regulating big tech companies to ensure fair competition and protect consumers. As digital advertising continues to play a central role in the online economy, it is essential that regulators closely monitor the activities of companies like Google and Meta to prevent anti-competitive behavior and safeguard competition in the market.In the build-up to the match, speculation has been rife about which players will be included in the starting lineup for both teams. The Spanish sports newspaper AS has made its predictions for Real Madrid's starting eleven, with a particular focus on the potential duel between Kylian Mbappe and Luis Muriel.
PAY ATTENTION: Got a Minute? Complete Our Quick Survey About Legit.ng Today! Indian billionaire Gautam Adani on Saturday said "attacks" on his company made it "stronger", days after US prosecutors accused him and other officials of fraud. The November 20 bombshell indictment in New York accused the industrialist and multiple subordinates of deliberately misleading international investors as part of a multi-million-dollar bribery scheme. Addressing the allegations for the first time, the 62-year-old tycoon said his conglomerate was committed to "world-class regulatory compliance". "What I can tell you is that every attack makes us stronger and every obstacle becomes a stepping stone for a more resilient Adani Group," he said at an awards ceremony in the northern Indian city of Jaipur. Adani is suspected of having participated in a $250 million scheme to bribe Indian officials for lucrative solar energy supply contracts. The billionaire, however, said nobody from his company had been charged with any violation of corruption laws or "any conspiracy to obstruct justice". Read also UBS acquitted on appeal in Credit Suisse cocaine trial PAY ATTENTION: Follow us on Instagram - get the most important news directly in your favourite app! The US Justice Department said Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and one other official were charged "with conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud and substantive securities fraud". Five others were charged "with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act," the department said. On Thursday, Adani's company said it had suffered a loss of nearly $55 billion in market capitalisation across its 11 listed companies since the US indictment was filed. With a business empire spanning coal, airports, cement and media, Adani Group has weathered previous corporate fraud allegations, suffering a similar stock rout last year. The conglomerate saw $150 billion wiped from its market value in 2023 after a report by short-seller Hindenburg Research accused it of "brazen" corporate fraud. Adani is a close ally of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was at one point the world's second-richest man, and critics have long accused him of improperly benefitting from their relationship. PAY ATTENTION: Сheck out news that is picked exactly for YOU ➡️ find the “Recommended for you” block on the home page and enjoy! Source: AFPAfter the recent discovery of a destructive mussel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, some experts say California officials have failed to effectively enforce laws designed to protect waterways from invaders carried in ships’ ballast water. A state law enacted 20 years ago has required California officials to inspect 25% of incoming ships and sample their ballast water before it’s discharged into waterways. But the tests didn’t begin until two years ago — after standards for conducting them were finally set — and testing remains rare. State officials have sampled the ballast water of only 16 vessels out of the roughly 3,000 likely to have emptied their tanks nearshore. Experts say stronger regulations are needed, as well as better enforcement. “It’s not really a surprise that another invasive species showed up in the Delta,” said Karrigan Börk, a law professor and the interim director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. “It’s likely to continue happening.” Native to eastern Asia, the mussels — detected near the Port of Stockton, in a small San Joaquin Valley reservoir and several other Delta locations — were the first to be detected in North America. If the mollusc evades eradication efforts, it could spread over vast areas of California and beyond, crowd out native species and clog parts of the massive projects that export Delta water to cities and farms. Ted Lempert, a former Bay Area Assemblymember who authored a 1999 state law aimed at preventing ships from bringing invasive species into California, said state officials “apparently took their eyes off the ball.” “We were trying to get ahead of the game, so I’m really frustrated that after all these years some of the events we were trying to prevent have come to pass,” he said. But the prospect of an invasive species colonizing a new region frequented by ships “is a numbers game” that can happen even under the most rigorous regulations and enforcement, said Greg Ruiz, a marine ecologist with the Marine Invasions Research Laboratory at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. “This is not a failure in the system,” he said. Ballast water is stored in tanks to stabilize vessels at sea. Often taken on at the port of departure and released at the port of arrival, it is a global vector of invasive species, including pathogens that cause human diseases. To address the threat to ecosystems and water supplies, the State Lands Commission, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard enforce a suite of overlapping regulations. The goal of these state and federal rules is to reduce as much as possible the number of living organisms in discharged ballast water. Vessel operators can achieve this by exposing their ballast water to ultraviolet light, filtering it and treating it with chlorine, which is then removed before discharge. About 1,500 ships a year entering California waters release ballast water, according to Chris Scianni, environmental program manager of the State Lands Commission’s Marine Invasive Species Program. To check for compliance, officials board and inspect nearly all of them, plus another thousand vessels prioritized for inspection for other reasons, Scianni said. During these inspections, officers review ballast water logbooks and reporting forms, interview crew members, inspect water treatment equipment, and occasionally take water samples for testing. “We’re the only entity in the world that’s doing this right now,” Scianni said. A 2003 state law declares that the State Lands Commission “shall take samples of ballast water, sediment, and biofouling from at least 25% of vessels” subject to invasive species regulations. But commission officials told CalMatters they interpret it to mean that 25% of ships must be inspected, with no specific requirements for sampling. Sampling for some ships began in 2023, after the commission enacted standards for how the tests are conducted. It’s a considerable endeavor : A cubic meter of water — which weighs a metric ton — must be collected from a ship. It can take an hour to draw, and it must be done while the vessel is actively discharging. Hours more may pass before results are ready. Federal officials have their own ballast oversight program. It leans on a system of self-reporting by vessel operators — which critics consider a weak tool for ensuring compliance. An EPA spokesperson said the agency “can assess compliance with (the rules) either through a desk audit or an on-site inspection.” Many experts told CalMatters that the state and federal limits on how many organisms are allowed in discharged water are adequate but that enforcement is lacking. “We had the highest (ballast water management) standards in the world, but they were never actually enforced because the state couldn’t come up with a set of technologies to implement them,” said Ben Eichenberg, a staff attorney with the group SF Baykeeper. Ted Grosholz, a professor emeritus with the UC Davis Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute said “the standards are very exacting...The problem we have is compliance. How many ships coming in with ballast water can we really sample and verify? Enforcement officials can’t watch everyone.” Smithsonian’s Ruiz said state records show that all documented ballast discharges at the Port of Stockton since 2008 have followed state regulations. Ships that discharge, however, occasionally remain uninspected as they enter a port. And some vessel operators may cheat, filling their ballast tanks with clean ocean water to pass off a faulty water treatment system as functional. Moreover, even treated ballast water can contain high levels of zooplankton. Ruiz, who has studied California’s data on ship arrival and locations of the mussels, said it’s probable the golden mussel entered the Delta at least a year ago and even possible that it’s been there for a decade or more, adding that “it could even have happened in the pre-treatment (of ballast water) era.” Somehow, the creature slipped through the cracks and made itself a new home in what has been called one of the most invaded estuaries on the planet. It’s an outcome that Lempert as an assemblymember tried to prevent a quarter-century ago, when he authored the Ballast Water Management for Control of Non-indigenous Species Act . The law required incoming vessels to either retain their ballast water, drain it while simultaneously refilling with new water hundreds of miles out at sea, or use an “environmentally sound” treatment system. It tasked the California State Lands Commission with monitoring vessels for compliance. California has since enacted a complex system of regulations: In 2003, the Marine Invasive Species Act expanded the scope of Lempert’s legislation. Three years later, the Legislature required the commission to set limits on organism concentrations in ballast water; these “ standards of performance ” were implemented in 2022. While the standards allow minute levels of organisms in the water, the goal is “zero detectable living organisms” by 2040. Several federal laws also aim to protect U.S. waters from creatures like the golden mussel. Penalties for breaking ballast management rules have been modest. At the state level, violations have resulted in 24 fines in the past six years, totaling just over $1 million. Federal fines are rare, with just nine penalties issued amounting to about $714,000 in the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region since 2013. Commission officials said “the frequency of noncompliant discharges ... has dropped dramatically since our enforcement regulations (with penalties) were adopted in 2017.” California officials say achieving the law’s goal of zero organisms in ballast water discharged into waterways is infeasible. It would require a network of treatment plants at coastal ports, costing $1.45 billion over 30 years. The shipping industry would face another $2.17 billion in costs for installing systems capable of transferring ballast water to the floating treatment plants. But Eichenberg said some ships already use commercially available systems that consistently, and by a wide margin, outperform industry standards. He said the state’s failure to require that vessels use the most advanced treatment systems available — technology capable of nearly sterilizing ballast water — has culminated in the golden mussel’s arrival. “Something like this was bound to happen eventually,” he said. State and federal performance standards — modeled after international standards — limit the concentration of living zooplankton-sized organisms, like mussel larvae, in ballast water before discharge to 10 per cubic meter. For smaller organisms, allowances are higher. But even in ballast water that has undergone treatment in approved systems, zooplankton concentrations can be off-the-charts for reasons not always clear, according to Hugh MacIsaac, an aquatic invasive species researcher at the University of Windsor in Ontario, who has studied the spread of the golden mussel in South America and central China. Treating ballast water doesn’t necessarily work. A study in Shanghai found up to 23,000 zooplankton-sized organisms per cubic meter in the ballast water of half of ships sampled, MacIsaac said. Ruiz, at the Smithsonian research center, said the study’s sample size of 17 ships is too small to be representative and that such high concentrations are abnormal in the United States. “We sample vessels here, and that’s not what we see coming into the U.S.,” he said. Ship operators have shifted radically in the past 20 years “from no management to a nearly complete use of open-ocean exchange to, now, an almost complete transition to ballast treatment technology,” Ruiz said. The federal government, not state agencies, will soon become the key player in ballast management. That’s because new EPA rules, which are likely at least 18 months away from full implementation, will preempt state regulations. The new rules — which state officials will help enforce — will keep the existing standards for organism concentrations, but prevent states from implementing their own rules that exceed federal standards. For example, California’s goal of zero detectable organisms in ballast discharge will be nixed. Nicole Dobrosky, the State Lands Commission’s chief of environmental science, planning and management, said states can petition the federal government for changes to the rules. Shippers welcome the shift to national rules that align with international standards, said Jacqueline Moore, Long Beach-based vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association . “An international industry by nature, the maritime community always appreciates consistent standards across the board, and across the ocean in this case,” Moore said. “It’s much easier for everyone.” But the change of regulatory oversight concerns Marcie Keever, the oceans and vessels program director with Friends of the Earth. She said that to date the State Lands Commission has been the more active enforcer. Preempting state laws with federal standards that she says are too weak “will essentially give the shipping industry a free pass to pollute...These shipping companies are self-reporting pollution instances, and no one is doing anything about it except for the state.” In 1973, the EPA exempted ballast water from the Clean Water Act. Eventually forced by court rulings to comply with the act, the agency released its newest standards in October for limiting organism concentrations in ballast water. Keever said the EPA is not setting the bar as high as it should. “We’re still basically at the same place we were at 20 years ago,” Keever said. “The EPA has never set what we see as the best available technology for ballast water discharges.” More than 150 environmental groups made similar claims in a 2022 letter to President Joe Biden, arguing that the technology exists now to almost entirely sterilize ballast water. “[W]e have the technical ability to efficiently remove or kill organisms that are trapped in a tank of water,” they wrote. “For half a century federal law has required EPA to use that ability to protect the environment and public health — yet EPA still refuses to do so.” The EPA disagrees with the criticism. Joshua Alexander, press officer with the agency’s Region 9 San Francisco office, told CalMatters that “the EPA concluded that these standards (in the new rules) are the most stringent ones that the available ballast water test data can support.” October’s discovery of the golden mussel in California is being treated urgently by state and federal officials. The creatures have wreaked havoc on water supply and hydroelectric facilities in South America, and they are spreading rapidly through central China. In the Great Lakes, invasive zebra mussels cause $300 to $500 million in damages annually to power plants and other water infrastructure — the types of impacts officials in California hope to avoid. Tanya Veldhuizen, the Department of Water Resources’ special projects section manager, said officials are considering the use of chemicals to remove the creatures from pumps, intakes and pipelines of the massive State Water Project, which transports water to farms and cities. Several scientists told CalMatters that with most nonnative species, eradication is only possible early in the game — meaning management officials often have one shot at success. Biologist Andrew Chang, who works at the Smithsonian research center’s Marin County field lab, noted an old adage in invasion ecology — containing the spread of a nonnative species is like trying to put toothpaste back into a tube. “The more time that passes, the process of putting the toothpaste back in the tube gets messier and messier,” Chang said. University of Windsor’s MacIsaac thinks California may be on the cusp of an unstoppable mussel invasion. “This is an enormous problem for your state,” he said.
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — TJ Hurley scored 23 points as Vermont beat Northeastern 68-64 on Saturday. Hurley shot 6 for 14 (3 for 6 from 3-point range) and 8 of 9 from the free-throw line for the Catamounts (5-4). Jace Roquemore scored 13 points and added five rebounds. Ileri Ayo-Faleye shot 3 of 5 from the field and 3 for 4 from the line to finish with 10 points. Rashad King led the way for the Huskies (5-3) with 27 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Northeastern also got nine points and 10 rebounds from Youri Fritz. Hurley put up 13 points in the first half for Vermont, who led 35-22 at halftime. Vermont used an 8-0 run in the second half to build a 16-point lead at 47-31 with 12:26 left. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .In response to the accusations, Haidilao Store has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, stating that they have strict guidelines in place to protect the rights and well-being of their employees. They have launched an internal investigation into the matter to address the concerns raised and ensure that such incidents do not occur again in the future.
As the comedian launched into his routine, the audience chuckled at first, expecting the usual lighthearted jokes and anecdotes. However, as the comedian delved deeper into the subject, his tone shifted, and the laughter began to fade. He started recounting chilling stories of women who had fallen victim to various forms of harassment and violence, highlighting the harsh realities that many females face every day.Ayew, who currently plays for Crystal Palace, has gained notoriety this season for his dribbling success rate of just 21.6%. This statistic is the lowest among players who have attempted at least 30 dribbles in the league, highlighting Ayew's struggles in taking on defenders and breaking through defensive lines. Despite his technical abilities and attacking prowess, Ayew has found it challenging to consistently beat his opponents in one-on-one situations, leading to a low success rate in his dribbling attempts.
The Fourth China-Latin America Political Parties Forum was recently held in Beijing, aimed at contributing to the construction of a community of shared future for China and Latin America. The forum brought together political party representatives from China and various Latin American countries to discuss ways to deepen cooperation and promote mutual development.
Liu Yuning's representatives have yet to comment on the situation, leaving fans and the media to speculate about the nature of his visit to the hospital. Despite the lack of official confirmation, the photos of Liu Yuning at the hospital have already made headlines, attracting attention from fans and the public alike.
No, it is not old wine in a new bottle this time. A quick glance at the 10th Parliament of Sri Lanka, which ceremonially convened for the first time last Thursday, hints a departure from the past, giving fresh hope for a more positive political culture. By voting out the old guard, who had over time grown indifferent to the people’s sufferings and aspirations, the electorate has chosen a more dynamic and diverse group of individuals to represent them in the nation’s highest law-making body. Diversity and inclusion, as often said, are cornerstones of progress and success. From Sugath Wasantha De Silva, the first visually impaired activist to be part of the national legislature, to Ambika Samuel and Krishnan Kalaichelvi, the first two Malaiyaha Tamil (Tamils of Indian origin) women to become Parliamentarians, the new Parliament is more inclusive than it has been in decades. Breaking records Among the many firsts witnessed in the freshly concluded General Election is the record number of 22 women who entered Parliament. They will hopefully bring colour—both literally and figuratively—to an institution that was predominated by males. They are expected to bring unique perspectives that balance the debate in the August Assembly, leading to better decisions, a stronger democracy and a more just society. Nearly one in ten Members of Parliament (MPs) (9.8 percent) are women in the newly-elected Parliament, a significant increase given that female representation in all preceding Parliaments had not exceeded 13 MPs or 6 percent. All of them, except two – Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Rohini Kumari Wijeratne- are fresh faces. In fact, more than two-thirds of the new Parliament is occupied by new-comers, both male and female. The previous Parliament, elected in 2020, had only 12 women MPs (National List MP Diana Gamage was later unseated by a Supreme Court order over a dispute of her citizenship), and notably, there was no Tamil or Muslim female MP among them. Dr. Harini Amarasuriya receiving her appointment as the Prime Minister and Education Minister The credit for improved representation of women in the national law-making body largely goes to the National People’s Power (NPP) led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Twenty out of the 22 female MPs are from the NPP, which has comfortably secured a two-thirds majority in the House. Twenty-one of them were elected, while Attorney-At-Law Lakmali Hemachandra was appointed from the National List. The other two women were elected from the SJB ticket. Among the 22 women MPs are 12 attorneys-at-law and five teachers. Academic-turned- politician Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, a senior lecturer by profession, is the first-ever PhD holder to become the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. She first entered Parliament in 2020 through the sole National List seat secured by the NPP. With 655,289 votes in the ‘General Election 2024’, Dr. Amarasuriya holds the record for the highest preferential votes in Colombo and the highest by a woman. The academic-turned- politician has been entrusted with the responsibilities of the Education Ministry. Saroja Savithri Paulraj, who polled 148,379 preferential votes in the Matara District, has been appointed the Women and Child Affairs Minister. She was a teacher and a visiting lecturer before taking up politics. She is the first Tamil woman to enter Parliament from the Southern Province. Appointing NPP Gampaha District MP Hemali Weerasekara to the post of Deputy Chairman of Committees was another milestone, as no woman had previously held the positions of Speaker, Deputy Speaker, or Deputy Chairman of Committees. One might recall how MP Rohini Wijeratne’s nomination for Deputy Speaker was defeated on the floor of the House in May 2022, due to a lack of consensus. MP Hemali Weerasekara, a teacher by profession, is also a former member of the Mahara Pradeshiya Sabha. Beyond lineage For 93 years since Adeline Molamure, Sri Lanka’s first female legislator who was elected to the State Council in 1931, only about 70 women had represented the national legislature at different times, up to September 2024. Most of these women had to depend on family political lineage to win their seats for the first time. In, one may note that most of the women in the new Parliament are not related by blood or marriage to well-known male politicians. Of course, SJB MP Chamindrani Kiriella, the daughter of seasoned politician Lakshman Kiriella, SJB MP Rohini Kumari Wijeratne, the daughter of ex-Parliamentarian K. Y. M. Wijeratne Banda and widow of ex-Parliamentarian Sanjeeva Kaviratne, and NPP MP Samanmalee Gunasinghe, the wife of Minister Bimal Rathnayake, have political family backgrounds. Lady Adeline Molamure, the first female member of the State Council of Ceylon However, MP Samanmalee Gunasinghe has taken the plunge to politics as a student leader as far back as 1994, even before meeting her spouse, and has been involved in full time politics since then. MP Rohini Wijeratne has also carved her own path in politics over time, winning the hearts and minds of her electorate. Emerging stronger than her male counterparts in the party, she secured the only seat for the SJB in Matale in the ‘General Election 2024’. Likewise, first-timer Chamindrani Kiriella, an attorney-at-law, will need to prove her mettle independently of her political inheritance if she is serious about a long journey in politics. Raising the Bar Another remarkable feature of the new Parliament is the presence of two hill-country Tamil women— MP Krishnan Kalaichelvi from Nuwara Eliya and MP Ambika Samuel from Badulla. They signal the end of an era of suppression of the estate community. These trailblazing women, who have broken through barriers, will leave the door open behind them for others from marginalized communities. The newly introduced Campaign Finance Law, which limits candidates’ election expenditures and requires the disclosure of all donations received and expenses incurred, may have helped women compete with their male counterparts on a more level playing field. The electorate naturally recognizing more women for decision-making roles is far better than having to allocate a quota for their representation. Now that these women have secured their parliamentary seats, their active and progressive contributions to law and policy making and parliamentary watchdog committees matter in making their presence strongly felt. This, in turn, will encourage more professional young women, aspiring to make a positive change in the country, to take up politics. Inarguably, all voters across party lines want to see a more cultured Parliament than what was witnessed in recent years. From throwing chairs and chilli powder to flexing muscles on the well of the House, the public has seen it all with disdain. Allegations of shadowy wheeler-dealing have rocked Parliament many times, raising serious doubts about MPs’ conflicts of interest. This sorry state of affairs led to the call to ‘clean Parliament,’ which eventually became the ruling NPP’s campaign slogan. Former United States President Abraham Lincoln defined democracy as a “Government of the people, by the people and for the people”. True to this spirit, the newly-elected public representatives- both male and female, across party lines- will have to work towards winning back public faith by mending the chasm between Parliament and the common man on the street while committing to a more dignified and civilized Parliament.
During the conference, Cloud Fast Charge unveiled its latest charging solutions tailored for the needs of electric vehicle owners in Northern Anhui. The company showcased its state-of-the-art fast charging stations equipped with advanced technologies for efficient and reliable charging. Additionally, Cloud Fast Charge introduced its innovative battery replacement services, providing EV owners with a convenient and eco-friendly alternative to traditional charging methods.An eight-year-old boy from Charters Towers has become the first child in Queensland to undergo robotic-assisted surgery. Kruze Bott suffered from stomach pain for weeks that would come and go, before an ultrasound revealed one kidney was twice the size of the other. Doctors then discovered he had two ureteropelvic junction obstructions, which stopped urine flowing to his bladder. Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today “Kruze had a blockage of the plumbing system of his kidney,” Mater Private Hospital urologist, Dr Janani Krishnan told 7NEWS. “He had blood vessels crossing the plumbing system, which caused a blockage from the outside, plus he had a blockage on the inside.” She said without intervention the blockages could lead to urinary tract infections and irreversible kidney damage. Kruze was originally due to undergo open surgery, which would have meant a long recovery and a big scar for an active little boy, which his mother, Jade Bott, wasn’t keen on. After being referred to Dr Krishnan, the family was excited to learn the eight-year-old was the perfect candidate for a robotic-assisted pyeloplasty. “She rang and said, ‘Hey there’s a new surgery, can we give it a go on Kruze?” Bott said. “We were thrilled for the opportunity for him to have it.” But while his mother was excited, Kruze admits he was nervous. Paediatric robotic-assisted surgery is performed all over the world in large numbers, but only one had been performed in Australia before this and none in Queensland. The $3.3 million da Vinci XI surgical system was purchased in 2021 by the Mater Foundation, using funds donated by Queenslanders. While almost 1,000 public and private adult patients have undergone surgery using the technology, in a partnership between Mater and Townsville University Hospital, extensive approvals were needed before children could undergo robotic surgery. With support from Cairns Urologist Dr Stefan Antoniou, Dr Krishnan removed the blockage and fixed the ‘plumbing’ of Kruze’s kidneys by taking healthy parts of the ureters and putting them together. She said the robot has better magnification than a laparoscope and she was able to perform the fine suturing required for a pyeloplasty with extreme precision. “He had minimal scarring,” Bott said. “He was up and out of hospital the next day, and a couple of days later you couldn’t even tell he had surgery.” Now fully recovered, Kruze has four small scars and said he was thankful to the doctors and the game-changing surgical technology. “I definitely wouldn’t be able to ride a bike, climb a tree, or swing on rope (if I’d had open surgery).” Dr Krishnan is now eager to set up a curriculum for paediatric robotics across Australia, as a blueprint for other centres to follow. “He was the perfect case and what made it even more so perfect was Jade, his mum, was extremely keen, extremely supportive of this,” she said. “To see him come this far, I’m very grateful that his body has done magic to heal himself well.”
ORONO, Maine (AP) — Caleb Mead ran for 113 yards and a touchdown and New Hampshire beat Maine 27-9 on Saturday in a season-ending contest for both teams. The Wildcats (8-4, 6-2 Coastal Athletic Association) spotted Maine to a 9-0 lead when Joey Bryson kicked a 39-yard field and Carter Peevy threw an 8-yard touchdown to Montigo Moss, all in the first quarter. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.