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Stock market today: Nasdaq hits a record as Wall Street drifts ahead of Federal Reserve's meeting
Self-employment offers individuals the freedom to shape their own futures, innovate, and contribute meaningfully to the economy. It serves as a powerful driver of economic progress and personal fulfillment, particularly in an era where traditional employment structures face constant disruption. To realise its full potential, self-employment must be nurtured through a supportive framework that lifts barriers and provides opportunities for growth. Key challenges The path to self-employment often comes with significant obstacles. One of the most pressing challenges is access to finance. Aspiring entrepreneurs frequently struggle to secure the funds needed to launch their ventures. Banks and other financial institutions often consider small-scale enterprises too risky, leaving many without viable options. Another hurdle is the lack of essential skills and training. While enthusiasm and creativity drive many individuals toward entrepreneurship, they often lack the technical know-how and business acumen necessary to sustain their endeavors. This skills gap is particularly severe in rural and underserved regions, where training opportunities remain scarce. Regulatory complexities further discourage self-employment. Lengthy bureaucratic processes, high compliance costs, and inconsistent policies create unnecessary burdens that deter many from starting their own ventures. Strategies for success Addressing these challenges requires a coordinated effort from governments, private sector players, and community organisations. By creating an enabling environment, stakeholders can help self-employment flourish as a sustainable option for individuals across all walks of life. Expanding access to finance Financial barriers often hold back even the most promising entrepreneurs. Governments and financial institutions must prioritise low-interest loans, grants, and microfinance programs tailored to small businesses. Crowdfunding platforms and peer-to-peer lending models also provide alternative financing options, empowering individuals to bypass traditional barriers. Education and training lie at the heart of successful self-employment. Governments and NGOs can establish vocational training centers that focus on practical skills like marketing, financial management, and digital literacy. Online learning platforms can complement these efforts, offering flexible and cost-effective ways for aspiring entrepreneurs to gain knowledge. Innovation fuels the growth of self-employment. Incubation centers and mentorship programs can provide entrepreneurs with the resources and guidance needed to refine their ideas and bring them to market. Communities can establish local innovation hubs to encourage collaboration and tailor solutions to specific industries. Simplifying business registration processes and reducing compliance costs can significantly ease the burden on self-employed individuals. Governments should aim to provide clear, accessible guidelines and establish one-stop centers where entrepreneurs can handle all regulatory requirements efficiently. Leveraging technology Technology has revolutionised self-employment by opening global markets and streamlining business operations. e-commerce platforms allow small business owners to reach customers worldwide, while digital marketing tools help them connect with their target audiences. Ensuring widespread access to affordable digital tools and reliable internet is essential for empowering self-employed individuals. Building networks Networking is critical for self-employed individuals to thrive. Local business associations, cooperatives, and online communities create spaces where entrepreneurs can share resources, learn from one another, and collaborate. Shared workspaces and resource pooling further reduce costs while fostering innovation and solidarity. Changing perceptions Cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset is just as important as providing financial and technical support. Schools and universities should integrate entrepreneurship into their curricula, emphasizing creativity, problem-solving, and resilience. Societal attitudes toward self-employment must also shift, recognizing it as a legitimate and respected career path. A vision for the future Empowering self-employment is more than an economic strategy; it is a transformative approach to individual empowerment and community development. When entrepreneurs succeed, they not only create jobs but also contribute to innovation and local economic growth. Achieving this vision requires collaboration. Governments must create policies that strengthens entrepreneurship, financial institutions must innovate to support small-scale ventures, and communities must rally behind their local entrepreneurs. Together, these efforts can transform self-employment from a challenging path to an accessible and rewarding journey.Josh Norris scores late power-play goal in the Senators' 3-1 victory over the WildElection battlelines are being drawn – and not by Albanese
What we know about the mysterious drones reported over the USOne week into a new Syria, rebels aim for normalcy and Syrians vow not to be silent again DAMASCUS (AP) — A transformation has started to take place in the week since the unexpected overthrow of Syria’s President Bashar Assad. Suddenly in charge, the rebels have been met with a mix of excitement, grief and hope. And so far the transition has been surprisingly smooth. Reports of reprisals, revenge killings and sectarian violence are minimal, looting and destruction has been quickly contained. But there are a million ways it could go wrong. Syria is broken and isolated after five decades of Assad family rule. Families have been torn apart by war, former prisoners are traumatized, and tens of thousands of detainees remain missing. The economy is wrecked, poverty is widespread, inflation and unemployment are high. Corruption seeps through daily life. Christians in Syria mark country's transformation with tears as UN envoy urges an end to sanctions DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — In churches across long-stifled Syria, Christians have marked the first Sunday services since Bashar Assad’s ouster in an air of transformation. Some were in tears, others clasped their hands in prayer. The U.N. envoy for Syria is calling for a quick end to Western sanctions as the country’s new leaders and regional and global powers discuss the way forward. The Syrian government has been under sanctions by the United States, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war. Israel will close its Ireland embassy over Gaza tensions as Palestinian death toll nears 45,000 DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel says it will close its embassy in Ireland as relations deteriorate over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian medical officials say new Israeli airstrikes have killed over 30 people including children. Israel's decision to close the embassy came in response to what Israel’s foreign minister has described as Ireland's “extreme anti-Israel policies.” Ireland earlier announced that it would recognize a Palestinian state. And the Irish cabinet last week decided to formally intervene in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The Palestinian death toll in the war is approaching 45,000. The GOP stoked fears of noncitizens voting. Cases in Ohio show how rhetoric and reality diverge AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Ohio's Republican secretary of state and attorney general sought to reassure voters before the November election that the state's elections were being vigorously protected against the possibility of immigrants voting illegally. That push coincided with a national Republican messaging strategy warning that potentially thousands of ineligible voters would be voting. The officials' efforts in Ohio led to charges against just six noncitizens in a state with 8 million registered voters. That outcome and the stories of some of those now facing charges show the gap both in Ohio and across the United States between the rhetoric about noncitizen voting and the reality that it's rare and not part of a coordinated scheme to throw elections. South Korean leaders seek calm after Yoon is impeached SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s opposition leader has offered to work with the government to ease the political tumult, a day after the opposition-controlled parliament voted to impeach conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol over a short-lived attempt to impose martial law. Liberal Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, whose party holds a majority in the National Assembly, urged the Constitutional Court to rule swiftly on Yoon’s impeachment and proposed a special council for policy cooperation between the government and parliament. Yoon’s powers have been suspended until the court decides whether to remove him from office or reinstate him. If Yoon is dismissed, a national election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days. Storms across US bring heavy snow, dangerous ice and a tornado in California OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Inclement weather has plagued areas of the U.S. in the first half of the weekend, with dangerous conditions including heavy snow, a major ice storm and unusual tornado activity. An ice storm beginning Friday created treacherous driving conditions across Iowa and eastern Nebraska. More than 33 inches of snow was reported near Orchard Park, New York, which is often a landing point for lake-effect snow. On Saturday, a tornado touched down in Scotts Valley, California, causing damage and several injuries. In San Francisco, a storm damaged trees and roofs and prompted a tornado warning, which was a first for a city that has not experienced a tornado since 2005. Small businesses say cautious shoppers are seeking 'cozy' and 'festive' this holiday season With a late Thanksgiving, the holiday shopping season is five days shorter than last year, and owners of small retail shops say that people have been quick to snap up holiday décor early, along with gifts for others and themselves. Cozy items like sweaters are popular so far. Businesses are also holding special events to get shoppers in the door. But there’s little sense of the freewheeling spending that occurred during the pandemic. Overall, The National Retail Federation predicts retail sales in November and December will rise between 2.5% and 3.5% compared with same period a year ago. US agencies should use advanced technology to identify mysterious drones, Schumer says After weeks of fear and bewilderment about the drones buzzing over parts of New York and New Jersey, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer is urging the federal government to deploy better drone-tracking technology to identify and ultimately stop the airborne pests. The New York Democrat is calling on the Department of Homeland Security to immediately deploy advanced technology to identify and track drones back to their landing spots. That is according to briefings from his office. Federal authorities have said that the drones do not appear to be linked to foreign governments. West Africa regional bloc approves exit timeline for 3 coup-hit member states ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — West Africa’s regional bloc ECOWAS has approved an exit timeline for three coup-hit nations. It comes after a nearly yearlong process of mediation to avert the unprecedented disintegration of the grouping. The president of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray, said in a statement: “The authority decides to set the period from 29 January, 2025 to 29 July 2025 as a transitional period and to keep ECOWAS doors open to the three countries during the transition period." In a first in the 15-nation bloc’s nearly 50 years of existence, the military juntas of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso announced in January that they decided to leave ECOWAS. Pope Francis makes 1st papal visit to France's Corsica awash in expressions of popular piety AJACCIO, Corsica (AP) — Pope Francis on the first papal visit ever to the French island of Corsica on Sunday called for a dynamic form of laicism, promoting the kind of popular piety that distinguishes the Mediterranean island from secular France as a bridge between religious and civic society. The one-day visit to Corsica’s capital Ajaccio, birthplace of Napoleon, on Sunday is one of the briefest of his papacy beyond Italy’s borders, just about nine hours on the ground, including a 40-minute visit with French President Emmanuel Macron. It is the first papal visit ever to the island, which Genoa ceded to France in 1768 and is located closer to the Italian mainland than France.
FORT WORTH, Texas — David Seymour’s job over the next couple of weeks is to make sure that American Airlines flights take off on time and fly safely during one of the busiest travel periods of the year. Seymour is American’s chief operating officer, which means he oversees flight and airport operations for a carrier that figures to make about 6,500 flights a day between now and New Year’s Day. A West Point graduate and former U.S. Army infantry officer, Seymour joined America West Airlines in 1999. America West became US Airways, then merged with American in 2013. Seymour has held a variety of operations-related jobs and was promoted to his current post in 2020. Seymour spoke with The Associated Press recently about managing huge passenger numbers during the holidays and preventing people from getting on a plane before their boarding group is called. The answers have been edited for length and clarity. Q. How are you going to make sure American flights run on time during the holidays? A: There are many thousands of people running the airline every day. My job, honestly, over this period isn’t so much about managing the chaos, it’s managing really all the challenges, and we’ll call it the headwinds that come our way. And I would say the vast majority of those are the uncontrollable. Q. Such as? A: What’s going on the (air-traffic control) system around us. If there weren’t weather that we have to deal with and other complications that sometimes arise, running an airline would be pretty easy. Q. How will you recover from disruptions? A: Before the pandemic, we would have a big storm in the DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) area or the Charlotte (North Carolina) area, and it would take us a couple of days (to recover). We set about coming through the pandemic and coming out that we are going to recover better than any carrier out there. Q. And how will you do that? A: By anticipating the weather. My team looks out constantly at what the weather is, looking at multiple weather forecasts to understand what’s coming, what could it do, and how are we prepared for that. Q. How much do you learn from big cancellation events? And how much do you learn from meltdowns at other airlines? A: The team here, they do an after-action review. We will look at it and say, ‘What could we have done better?’ And we archive that information. Now, to your other question about competitors. I’m not inside the other competitors’ operations centers and looking at how they do that. Their networks are set up differently than ours. We do ask ourselves, ‘OK, if something similar were to happen to us, what would we do?’ Q. With Christmas travel, what what are the big things you’re looking for? Is it weather? Air-traffic control problems? A: Weather is always a tough thing to predict. That’s really going to be one of the largest things because it has the potential for having the most impact. Controller-wise, we stay in touch with (the Federal Aviation Administration). We have a team out here that is in constant communication with the FAA, looking at what’s happening in the system, and we’re building contingency plans if they think there are going to be some challenges. Q. You need to deice planes. A: The only difference between summer and now is we have to deal with winter weather in some locations. So, deicing. But we’re ready for that. The technology we have right now with the deicing vehicles ... we’ve been able to reduce our throughput time on deicing by half and still meeting all the requirements that we need to in terms of adequately deicing the aircraft, but having one person do it. Q. Are the delays in deliveries of new planes from Boeing affecting your holiday season planning? A: No. Boeing needs to be successful, they need to be able to deliver quality aircraft, but we haven’t built our schedule for the holiday period that is dependent on getting any deliveries. We have enough buffer built in. Q. American recently expanded the rollout of technology to catch people who try to board the plane before their boarding group is called. What went into that decision? A: Our frequent and premium travelers look at (the technology to catch line-jumpers) as a benefit of being loyal to American Airlines. It’s a huge plus for our gate agents because they do like order. Q. Were people boarding out of order slowing down the boarding process? A: No. We just want a steady stream (of passengers) going in. The ability to get overhead bin space ... has gotten a lot better with some of the upgrades that we’ve done with larger overhead bins on the vast majority of our aircraft. We’re going to finish up the rest of the fleet in the next couple years with the large overhead bins. So that won’t be the issue, but that used to be a bit of that driver there.Monday, December 16, 2024 The Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul’s most iconic landmarks, is undergoing a monumental restoration aimed at preserving its structural integrity and historical character. The focus of this extensive project is the restoration of its iconic dome, a defining feature of this globally renowned site. This effort aligns with broader conservation initiatives aimed at maintaining Istanbul’s position as a major travel and tourism destination. 1. The Need for Restoration Recent assessments of the Hagia Sophia’s dome revealed structural issues that required immediate attention. Irregularities in the lead covering and the impact of cement-based materials have contributed to the dome’s deterioration over time. Experts determined that a comprehensive restoration was essential to prevent further damage and ensure the dome’s longevity. The structural interventions are being guided by a scientific committee, with Ahmet Gulec, a key member of the team, emphasizing the importance of focusing on the dome’s exterior. Given the intricate mosaics on the dome’s interior, any internal intervention would be nearly impossible. Instead, the team will concentrate on the lead covering and cement-based materials that have caused significant wear and tear. 2. Restoration Process and Timeline The restoration process will begin with the removal of the existing lead cover, followed by an evaluation of the dome’s structural components. This crucial step will allow conservation experts to determine the extent of the repairs required. The project is expected to commence in March or April, pending approval from authorities. To ensure uninterrupted progress, a temporary roof will be installed over the dome, shielding the site from weather elements. This approach allows for consistent work while protecting the interior mosaics from potential damage. Additionally, restoration efforts will extend beyond the dome to address damage on the north and east facades. This phase will involve replacing non-original materials with traditional “Ottoman” materials, ensuring alignment with the site’s historical and architectural heritage. 3. Use of Traditional Methods and Materials The restoration team is committed to using materials and techniques consistent with Hagia Sophia’s original construction. By adhering to traditional methods, they aim to preserve the monument’s authenticity. This approach not only strengthens the structural integrity of the dome but also enhances its cultural and historical value. Traditional Ottoman materials, known for their durability and compatibility with the original structure, will replace modern materials that have contributed to degradation. The goal is to restore the Hagia Sophia to a state that closely resembles its original form, thereby preserving its status as a symbol of historical and cultural significance. 4. Impact on Tourists and Worshippers Hagia Sophia is one of Istanbul’s most visited tourist attractions, drawing millions of visitors annually. As a functioning mosque and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it serves as both a place of worship and a cultural landmark. Given its importance, the restoration project aims to minimize disruptions for visitors and worshippers. Authorities have assured that while work on the dome is ongoing, the rest of the site will remain accessible to tourists. Special pathways and designated observation areas may be established to ensure visitor safety and maintain the overall visitor experience. 5. Addressing the Minarets and Other Structures The restoration of the dome is part of a larger initiative to conserve Hagia Sophia’s structural elements. At least two of the four minarets, which were added to the structure following the Ottoman conquest, have already undergone intervention. Restoration of these minarets ensures the overall stability of the monument and addresses issues caused by environmental factors such as weathering and erosion. 6. Preservation of Cultural Heritage The restoration of Hagia Sophia’s dome is not merely a structural endeavor—it is a broader effort to safeguard the monument’s cultural and historical legacy. By preserving its architectural integrity, Turkish authorities aim to ensure that future generations can continue to appreciate and learn from this global heritage site. This project reflects a growing trend in cultural tourism, where the conservation of historical sites plays a vital role in promoting tourism. Restoring Hagia Sophia’s iconic dome is a significant step in safeguarding one of the world’s most cherished cultural treasures. 7. The Role of Technology and Expertise Advancements in restoration technology and expert craftsmanship are crucial to the success of this project. The restoration team is employing cutting-edge techniques to analyze structural elements and determine optimal repair strategies. Digital imaging, 3D modeling, and materials analysis are all being utilized to guide the restoration process. These technological tools enable a more precise approach to preservation, ensuring the restoration work aligns with historical standards. By combining traditional craftsmanship with modern technology, the restoration team can achieve the highest level of accuracy and quality. 8. The Broader Impact on Tourism and Travel The restoration of Hagia Sophia’s dome is expected to have a positive impact on Istanbul’s tourism industry. As one of the city’s most prominent tourist attractions, the monument’s ongoing preservation enhances its appeal to travelers seeking authentic cultural experiences. News of the restoration has sparked interest among history enthusiasts and cultural tourists, potentially increasing visitor numbers. Tour operators and travel agencies may leverage the project’s progress to promote cultural tours and heritage tourism. Visitors will have the chance to witness a historic restoration in real-time, offering a unique perspective on the process of preserving an architectural wonder. The restoration of Hagia Sophia’s iconic dome is a monumental undertaking aimed at preserving its structural integrity and cultural significance. From dismantling the lead cover to using traditional materials and methods, every effort is being made to maintain authenticity. The broader conservation initiative reflects Istanbul’s commitment to preserving its cultural heritage while enhancing its status as a premier travel destination. Tourists and worshippers can continue to appreciate this iconic landmark, even as it undergoes one of the most significant restorations in its history.