can you bet on twitch
can you bet on twitch
NoneSen. Wyden talks President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks, tariffs plans
In Oregon and around the world, volunteer crafters are ready to finish your loved one’s projectsNvidia Focuses on Robots Amid Stiffer AI Chip Competition
DUP minister rejected suggestion licensing laws could be relaxed for jubilee
Emotional moment for me: Bavuma on SA's WTC final qualificationIPL 2025 mega auction 10 ways to use pumpkin seeds 7 things that boys learn from their moms 10 Indian breakfast dishes loved across the world How to grow onion and garlic on your kitchen window Kid-friendly wildlife experiences in India How to make Chicken Chili Pakora at home 10 types of South-Indian rice dishes and how to make them 10 most beautiful offbeat places for solo travel in India (2025) Persimmon: Nutrients, health benefits of this vibrant orange colored fruit 8 animals that have more than 2 eyesOn a rare two-game skid, No. 24 Arizona faces Davidson
By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Reporter AUTOMOTIVE SALES may hit 500,000 units next year as lower interest rates and upcoming elections spur economic activity, according to the Federation of Automotive In dustries of the Philippines, Inc. “We can hit that (target) in 2025, and the growth factors will be the election, interest rates that are starting to go down, plus the economy is again most likely to grow by another 5-6%,” Vicente T. Mills, the federation’s president, told reporters last week. “But the demand for vehicles is still there because the fleet is still old, so there’s fleet replacement, and then, of course, fleet growth because gross domestic product will go up,” he added. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) started its easing cycle last August, cutting rates by 50 basis points to 6%. More cuts are expected in 2025 as inflation is expected to stay within the 2-4% target range. Economic managers are targeting 6.5-7.5% gross domestic product growth for 2025, and 6.5-8% from 2026 to 2028. Mr. Mills said that compared with Thailand and Indonesia, the local vehicle density is still lower per population, which explains the still huge local demand. “So, it will really go up; it is just that our countrymen do not have enough buying power... but now that the central bank is bringing down the interest rates, it will be more affordable,” he said. “And as business improves, they will start to buy. And naturally, as the economy improves, vehicle population improves because that’s how it is. It goes together,” he added. Mr. Mills said sales growth next year will also be driven by commercial vehicles, which comprised 73.77% of the total industry sales as of October. A joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. and the Truck Manufacturers Association showed that total industry sales reached 384,310 in the first 10 months, up 8.9% from 352,971 in the same period last year. Broken down, sales of commercial vehicles reached 283,501 units as of October, up 7.8% from the 262,875 units sold in the same period last year, while the industry sold 100,809 units of passenger cars, which represented an 11.9% increase from 90,096 last year. Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said the auto industry could reach its sales target if the BSP continues to cut policy rates. “Lower inflation and interest rates could help reach the target... as this would effectively lower the cost for borrowing across the board,” said Mr. Limlingan in a Viber message. Toby Allan C. Arce, head of sales trading at Globalinks Securities and Stocks, Inc. said that the launch of new models could drive sales growth. “Fresh and diverse vehicle offerings, including EVs (electric vehicles), hybrids, and fuel-efficient models, could attract a broader customer base and stimulate demand,” Mr. Arce said in a Viber message. “Favorable government policies or tax incentives for EVs and other eco-friendly vehicles may catalyze market growth, especially as environmental sustainability becomes a focus,” he added. Despite the positive outlook for the automotive sector, Mr. Mills said road tra ff ic remains an issue. “That is another problem. Infrastructure and mass transit must improve. But still, in all countries, vehicles for individuals and for commercial vehicles are still going up,” he said. According to Mr. Arce, the improvement of road networks will help to increase the demand for new vehicles. “Ongoing infrastructure projects improving road networks could encourage consumers to invest in private vehicles for convenience,” said Mr. Arce. “As urban areas expand, the need for personal transportation could rise, bolstering sales in the automotive sector,” he added.Zonta Club of the Pikes Peak Area has participated in the international organization’s annual initiative, “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” for years. This year, the 35 members of the local club have gone big, said President Lisa Rice. The organization that helps women and girls succeed with various projects and scholarships considered buying a billboard to raise awareness about the worldwide issue of violence against women, in homes and public places. “We started with a billboard and ended with advertising on 12 bus benches and bus shelters to reach more people in Colorado Springs and get the message out,” Rice said. The message this year, and since 1991 when the campaign originated at the Women’s Global Leadership Institute coordinated by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, is that violence against women and girls needs to be prevented and stopped. Local chapters do their part in different ways, Rice said. In addition to the bus stop promotion, the Pikes Peak Area chapter will raise awareness through social media and resource materials, she said. The campaign begins Monday and concludes on Dec. 10, however the bus stop messaging will continue through December, Rice said. The club paid $3,500 for the advertising and still has $1,500 to go toward the project. Donations can be made at zontapikespeak.org . About one in three women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime, according to the World Health Organization. And on a typical day, there are more than 20,000 phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide, as per data from the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Domestic-violence hotlines see increases as the holidays approach, Rice said, likely because the time of year is stressful for many families. “We do feel like it’s having an impact locally because we hear from people, ‘Thank you for sharing resources and books so I can learn more’ and ‘Thank you for putting up signs,’” Rice said of the upcoming campaign. Zonta Club also provides scholarships totaling $8,000 to $12,000 annually in general areas of study as well as business, aerospace and technology. Resources are available to anyone needing immediate assistance and more information: • National domestic violence crisis line: (800) 799-7233 • TESSA of Colorado Springs’ emergency hotline: (719) 633-3819 • Kingdom Builders Family Life Center in Colorado Springs: (719) 247-8190
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart's sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at U.S. companies that are revaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programs to bolster historically underrepresented groups in business. The changes announced by the world's biggest retailer followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees. The risk associated with some of programs crystalized with the election of former President Donald Trump, whose administration is certain to make dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs a priority. Trump's incoming deputy chief of policy will be his former adviser Stephen Miller , who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies. “There has been a lot of reassessment of risk looking at programs that could be deemed to constitute reverse discrimination,” said Allan Schweyer, principal researcher the Human Capital Center at the Conference Board. “This is another domino to fall and it is a rather large domino,” he added. Among other changes, Walmart said it will no longer give priority treatment to suppliers owned by women or minorities. The company also will not renew a five-year commitment for a racial equity center set up in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. And it pulled out of a prominent gay rights index . Schweyer said the biggest trigger for companies making such changes is simply a reassessment of their legal risk exposure, which began after U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2023 that ended affirmative action in college admissions. Since then, conservative groups using similar arguments have secured court victories against various diversity programs, especially those that steer contracts to minority or women-owned businesses. Most recently, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty won a victory in a case against the U.S. Department of Transportation over its use of a program that gives priority to minority-owned businesses when it awards contracts. Companies are seeing a big legal risk in continuing with DEI efforts, said Dan Lennington, a deputy counsel at the institute. His organization says it has identified more than 60 programs in the federal government that it considers discriminatory, he said. “We have a legal landscape within the entire federal government, all three branches -- the U.S. Supreme Court, the Congress and the President -- are all now firmly pointed in the direction towards equality of individuals and individualized treatment of all Americans, instead of diversity, equity and inclusion treating people as members of racial groups,” Lennington said. The Trump administration is also likely to take direct aim at DEI initiatives through executive orders and other policies that affect private companies, especially federal contractors. “The impact of the election on DEI policies is huge. It can’t be overstated,” said Jason Schwartz, co-chair of the Labor & Employment Practice Group at law firm Gibson Dunn. With Miller returning to the White House, rolling back DEI initiatives is likely to be a priority, Schwartz said. “Companies are trying to strike the right balance to make clear they’ve got an inclusive workplace where everyone is welcome, and they want to get the best talent, while at the same time trying not to alienate various parts of their employees and customer base who might feel one way or the other. It’s a virtually impossible dilemma,” Schwartz said. A recent survey by Pew Research Center showed that workers are divided on the merits of DEI policies. While still broadly popular, the share of workers who said focusing on workplace diversity was mostly a good thing fell to 52% in the November survey, compared to 56% in a similar survey in February 2023. Rachel Minkin, a research associated at Pew called it a small but significant shift in short amount of time. There will be more companies pulling back from their DEI policies, but it likely won’t be a retreat across the board, said David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at New York University. “There are vastly more companies that are sticking with DEI," Glasgow said. "The only reason you don’t hear about it is most of them are doing it by stealth. They’re putting their heads down and doing DEI work and hoping not to attract attention.” Glasgow advises organizations to stick to their own core values, because attitudes toward the topic can change quickly in the span of four years. “It’s going to leave them looking a little bit weak if there’s a kind of flip-flopping, depending on whichever direction the political winds are blowing,” he said. One reason DEI programs exist is because without those programs, companies may be vulnerable to lawsuits for traditional discrimination. “Really think carefully about the risks in all directions on this topic,” Glasgow said. Walmart confirmed will no longer consider race and gender as a litmus test to improve diversity when it offers supplier contracts. Last fiscal year, Walmart said it spent more than $13 billion on minority, women or veteran-owned good and service suppliers. It was unclear how its relationships with such business would change going forward. Organizations that that have partnered with Walmart on its diversity initiatives offered a cautious response. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, a non-profit that last year named Walmart one of America's top corporation for women-owned enterprises, said it was still evaluating the impact of Walmart's announcement. Pamela Prince-Eason, the president and CEO of the organization, said she hoped Walmart's need to cater to its diverse customer base will continue to drive contracts to women-owned suppliers even if the company no longer has explicit dollar goals. “I suspect Walmart will continue to have one of the most inclusive supply chains in the World,” Prince-Eason wrote. “Any retailer's ability to serve the communities they operate in will continue to value understanding their customers, (many of which are women), in order to better provide products and services desired and no one understands customers better than Walmart." Walmart's announcement came after the company spoke directly with conservative political commentator and activist Robby Starbuck, who has been going after corporate DEI policies, calling out individual companies on the social media platform X. Several of those companies have subsequently announced that they are pulling back their initiatives, including Ford , Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s and Tractor Supply . Walmart confirmed to The Associated Press that it will better monitor its third-party marketplace items to make sure they don’t feature sexual and transgender products aimed at minors. The company also will stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual benchmark index that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees. A Walmart spokesperson added that some of the changes were already in progress and not as a result of conversations that it had with Starbuck. RaShawn “Shawnie” Hawkins, senior director of the HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program, said companies that “abandon” their commitments workplace inclusion policies “are shirking their responsibility to their employees, consumers, and shareholders.” She said the buying power of LGBTQ customers is powerful and noted that the index will have record participation of more than 1,400 companies in 2025.Connector Market: Growth to $122.58B by 2031, 4.4% CAGRReal Madrid forward Vinícius Junior has spoken about his fight against racism, describing it as an ongoing battle that he is happy to take on, but warning that he alone “can’t fight all that Black people have been suffering”. The Brazilian footballer has been at the forefront of fighting racism in La Liga after facing abuse at more than 10 Spanish grounds. In March he laid bare the toll exacted by years of racist insults, saying that the barrage of abuse was chipping away at his desire to play. In a video published this week by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), Vinícius said he believed things were heading in the right direction. “In the last three months, we have managed to put three or four individuals behind bars and hold them accountable for the crimes they committed,” he said. “I play in Spain, where I’ve suffered so much and still sometimes suffer, but it is easing with the help of all the clubs and all the people who are doing everything to combat racism, like the CBF.” His remarks come weeks after police in Spain arrested four men accused of coordinating an online hate campaign against him. Months earlier three Valencia fans were sentenced to eight months in prison for hate crimes against the 24-year-old, in what was described as Spain’s first conviction of its kind. In 2023 four people were arrested over accusations of hanging an effigy of Vinícius from a Madrid bridge. Vinícius hailed the crackdown, describing it as “very important” when it comes to deterring others from publicly expressing racist opinions. “Any help is very welcome. Black people have been suffering for a long time, and the time has to come when all this has to end ... let’s keep going together, firm and strong, so that future generations of children will have a better life.” He described it as a battle the CBF and Fifa, along with the players, were in together. “I know how important I am, but I always say that it’s everyone’s fight, because I alone can’t fight all that Black people have been suffering.” Speaking before Brazil’s Black Consciousness Day on 20 November, Vinícius said he was content, however, to be the voice of those unable to speak out. “I know the strength I have, my speech, and I can speak for all those people who don’t have the strength, or who are afraid, or who go through many things and people don’t always believe them,” he said. “So I’m very happy to be able to help and to keep going strong in the fight, along with all the players and all the people who have been able to help us.” In October Vinícius, long tipped as one of the favourites to win this year’s Ballon d’Or, said he believed his battle against racism had led him to lose out on the prestigious award. “I will do it 10 times if I have to. They’re not ready,” Vinícius posted on social media after it was announced that Manchester City’s Rodri had won the men’s award. Sources later told Reuters that his view and that of his management staff was that “the football world is not ready to accept a player who fights against the system”. Guardian
Biden administration to loan $6.6B to EV maker Rivian to build Georgia factory that automaker pausedATLANTA (AP) — Deliberations are underway in Atlanta after a year of testimony in the gang and racketeering trial that originally included the rapper Young Thug. Jurors are considering whether to convict Shannon Stillwell and Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, on gang, murder, drug and gun charges. The original indictment charged 28 people with conspiring to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Opening statements in the trial for six of those defendants happened a year ago . Four of them, including Young Thug, pleaded guilty last month. The rapper was freed on probation. Stillwell and Kendrick rejected plea deals after more than a week of negotiations, and their lawyers chose not to present evidence or witnesses. Both seemed to be in good spirits Tuesday morning after closings wrapped the previous night. Kendrick was chatting and laughing with Stillwell and his lawyers before the jury arrived for instructions. The jury started deliberating Tuesday afternoon and was dismissed at 5 p.m. Jurors are expected to resume deliberations Wednesday morning. If they don’t reach a verdict by 3 p.m. Wednesday, the judge will send them home for the Thanksgiving weekend and they will return Monday morning. Kendrick and Stillwell were charged in the 2015 killing of Donovan Thomas Jr., also known as “Big Nut,” in an Atlanta barbershop. Prosecutors painted Stillwell and Kendrick as members of a violent street gang called Young Slime Life, or YSL, co-founded in 2012 by Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams. During closings on Monday, they pointed to tattoos, song lyrics and social media posts they said proved members, including Stillwell, admitted to killing people in rival gangs. Prosecutors say Thomas was in a rival gang. Stillwell was also charged in the 2022 killing of Shymel Drinks, which prosecutors said was in retaliation for the killing of two YSL associates days earlier. Defense attorneys Doug Weinstein and Max Schardt said the state presented unreliable witnesses, weak evidence and cherry-picked lyrics and social media posts to push a false narrative about Stillwell, Kendrick and the members of YSL. Schardt, Stillwell's attorney, reminded the jury that alleged YSL affiliates said during the trial that they had lied to police. Law enforcement played a “sick game” by promising they would escape long prison sentences if they said what police wanted them to say, Schardt said. He theorized that one of those witnesses could have killed Thomas. The truth is that their clients were just trying to escape poverty through music, Schardt said. “As a whole, we know the struggles that these communities have had,” Schardt said. “A sad, tacit acceptance that it’s either rap, prison or death.” Young Thug’s record label is also known as YSL, an acronym of Young Stoner Life. Kendrick was featured on two popular songs from the label’s compilation album Slime Language 2, “Take It to Trial" and “Slatty," which prosecutors presented as evidence in the trial. Weinstein, Kendrick’s defense attorney, said during closings it was wrong for prosecutors to target the defendants for their music and lyrics. Prosecutor Simone Hylton disagreed, and said surveillance footage and phone evidence supported her case. “They have the audacity to think they can just brag about killing somebody and nobody’s gonna hold them accountable,” Hylton said. The trial had more than its fair share of delays. Jury selection took nearly 10 months , and Stillwell was stabbed last year at the Fulton County jail, which paused trial proceedings. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker took over after Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville was removed from the case in July because he had a meeting with prosecutors and a state witness without defense attorneys present. Whitaker often lost patience with prosecutors over moves such as not sharing evidence with defense attorneys, once accusing them of “poor lawyering.” But the trial sped up under her watch. In October, four defendants, including Young Thug , pleaded guilty, with the rapper entering a non-negotiated or “blind” plea, meaning he didn't have a deal worked out with prosecutors. Nine people charged in the indictment, including rapper Gunna , accepted plea deals before the trial began. Charges against 12 others are pending. Prosecutors dropped charges against one defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case. Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramonInside the Gaetz ethics report, a trove of new details alleging payments for sex and drug use
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Tony Osburn's 23 points helped Omaha defeat Lamar 65-59 at the Akron Basketball Classic in Akron, Ohio on Sunday. Osburn shot 7 of 13 from the field, including 5 for 9 from 3-point range, and went 4 for 4 from the line for the Mavericks (3-5). Ja'Sean Glover added 14 points while going 4 of 9 from the floor, including 3 for 5 from 3-point range, and 3 for 5 from the line while they also had five rebounds. Marquel Sutton had 13 points and shot 4 of 14 from the field and 4 for 4 from the line. The Mavericks ended a five-game losing streak with the victory. The Cardinals (1-5) were led in scoring by Alexis Marmolejos, who finished with 15 points and four assists. Cody Pennebaker added 11 points and six rebounds for Lamar. Andrew Holifield finished with nine points, three steals and four blocks. NEXT UP Both teams play on Saturday. Omaha hosts Abilene Christian and Lamar hosts Our Lady of the Lake. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
NEW YORK — A judge confirmed Friday that President-elect Donald Trump won’t be sentenced this month in his hush money case, instead setting a schedule for prosecutors and his lawyers to expand on their ideas about what to do next. Amid a flurry of filings in the case since Trump’s election win this month, it had already become clear that the Nov. 26 sentencing date wouldn’t hold. Judge Juan M. Merchan’s order Friday formalized that without setting a new one. He called for more filing from both sides over the next 2 1/2 weeks about how to proceed in light of Trump’s impending return to the White House. Related Story: Trump’s Lawyers Seek Case Dismissal Trump’s lawyers want the case to be dismissed outright, and immediately. They have said that it otherwise will interfere with his presidential transition and duties. Prosecutors have indicated that they’re open to putting the case on hold, perhaps as long as he’s in office, but they don’t want it to be scrapped altogether. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, has said the solution needs to balance the obligations of the presidency with “the sanctity of the jury verdict.” Bragg’s office declined to comment on Friday’s ruling. Trump spokesperson and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung hailed it as “a decisive win” for Trump. Related Story: Background of the Hush Money Case Trump, a Republican, was convicted in May of falsifying his business’ records to disguise the true nature of a chain of payments that provided $130,000 to porn actor Stormy Daniels. She received it, through Trump’s then-lawyer, in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign. The payout was meant to keep her quiet about a sexual encounter she says she had with the married Trump a decade earlier. He denies her claim and says he did nothing wrong.Stormont minister Maurice Morrow told an official he would not raise the issue with the Northern Ireland Executive, despite similar measures being considered in England and Wales. A file on planning arrangements for the jubilee celebrations reveals a series of civil service correspondences on how Northern Ireland would mark the occasion. It includes a letter sent on January 11 2001 from an official in the Office of the First Minister/Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) to the Department of Social Development, advising that a committee had been set up in London to consider a programme of celebrations. The correspondence says: “One of the issues the committee is currently considering is the possibility of deregulating liquor licensing laws during the golden jubilee celebrations on the same lines as the arrangements made for the millennium. “It is felt that the golden jubilee bank holiday on Monday 3 June 2002 is likely to be an occasion on which many public houses and similar licensed premises would wish to stay open beyond normal closing time.” The letter said a paper had been prepared on the issue of extending opening hours. It adds: “You will note that paragraph seven of the paper indicates that the devolved administrations ‘would need to consider deregulation separately within their own jurisdictions’. “I thought that you would wish to be aware that this issue is receiving active consideration for England and Wales and to consider whether anything needs to be done for Northern Ireland.” Some months later a “progress report” was sent between officials in OFMDFM, which again raised the issue of licensing laws. It says: “I spoke to Gordon Gibson, DSD, about Terry Smith’s letter of 12 January 2001 about licensing laws: the matter was put to their minister Maurice Morrow (DUP) who indicated that he would not be asking the NIE (Northern Ireland Executive) to approve any change to current licensing laws in NI to allow for either 24 hour opening (as at the millennium) nor a blanket approval for extended opening hours as is being considered in GB. “In both cases, primary legislation would be required here and would necessitate consultation and the minister has ruled out any consultation process.” The correspondence says individual licensees could still apply for an extension to opening hours on an ad hoc basis, adding “there the matter rests”. It goes on: “DSD await further pronouncements from the Home Office and Gibson and I have agreed to notify each other of any developments we become aware of and he will copy me to any (existing) relevant papers. “Ministers may well come under pressure in due course for a relaxation and/or parity with GB.” The document concludes “That’s it so far...making haste slowly?” Emails sent between officials in the department the same month said that lord lieutenants in Northern Ireland had been approached about local events to mark the jubilee. One message says: “Lord lieutenants have not shown any enthusiasm for encouraging GJ celebrations at a local level. “Lady Carswell in particular believes that it would be difficult for LLs to encourage such activities without appearing political.”
Oregon already secured its spot in the Big Ten championship game, but the top-ranked Ducks have plenty to play for in their regular-season finale. Revenge may be on Oregon's mind when the Ducks host longtime rival Washington on Saturday in Eugene, Ore. Oregon (11-0, 8-0 Big Ten) would perhaps be closing in on its second straight College Football Playoff appearance had the Huskies (6-5, 4-4) not dealt the Ducks their only two losses last season. Washington edged Oregon 36-33 in Seattle last October, then slipped past the Ducks 34-31 in the Pac-12 title game to secure a playoff spot for the second time in school history. Both teams joined the Big Ten in August. Third-year Oregon head coach Dan Lanning is 33-5 leading the Ducks. But he remains winless against the Huskies (0-3). Oregon plots to sprint out of its late-season bye after using time to heal injuries, but Lanning doesn't believe the break should stall the flow of an undefeated season. "It's always about what we're able to do on the field. Motivation is overrated," Lanning said. "Our guys have to want to go out there and execute at a really high level. Since the beginning of the season we've talked about playing our best football at the end of November. We're there. This is our opportunity to go play our best football against a good team." The Ducks could have star wide receiver Tez Johnson back from a shoulder injury this week. Johnson has missed the past two games. That would be good news for quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who would regain the team's leader in receptions (64), receiving yards (649) and receiving touchdowns (eight). Washington, under first-year head coach Jedd Fisch, is 63-48-5 all-time against Oregon but is just 1-12-1 when facing the No. 1-ranked team in the country. The Huskies are led on offense by running back Jonah Coleman, who has racked up 1,008 yards and nine scores on the ground this season. Coleman averages 5.8 yards per carry and has 36 runs of at least 10 yards. In the passing game, wide receiver Denzel Boston is tied for the Big Ten lead with nine in touchdown catches and ranks sixth in the conference with 764 receiving yards. Whom Boston will be catching passes from is not yet known, however. Washington has not revealed whether Will Rogers or Demond Williams Jr. will start at quarterback. Rogers has started every game for the Huskies but was benched in favor of Williams two weeks ago after throwing a pair of interceptions in a 31-19 win over UCLA. Fisch said he has a "good idea" of how he will use his quarterbacks on Saturday, and while he wouldn't go as far as to name a starter, he did say Rogers responded well in practices last week. "On the same token, Demond's energy and Demond's confidence showed up. His ability to jump right in and feel really good about leading the group whenever it was his turn... he did a really nice job there as well," Fisch told Seattle Sports. "I think both guys responded well to the week of practice, and now, really, it's important for us that the guy we believe will start the game gets a significant amount of reps in practice week. But as you know, we're not afraid to play two quarterbacks." --Field Level MediaUnconvincing Canada tops Germany 3-0 at world juniors(Image: Private Media/Zennie) It is bad enough that 2024 was a record high for global greenhouse gas emissions. It is extra bad because the number we’ve ended up at is higher than all of the old projections of what this year would end up at. That is to say: we are underestimating our ability to stop using fossil fuels. There have been incredible advances in renewables and climate policies, but also, “fossil fuel subsidies remain at an all-time high and funding for fossil fuel-prolonging projects quadrupled between 2021 and 2022”. Why? What is justifying this weird refusal to back away from the fossil fuel economy? It’s many things, but a big one is the false promise of a machine that cleans up fossil fuels, rather than us needing to find a replacement for them. Is Labor’s carbon capture fantasy even dumber than Dutton’s nuclear dream? Read More Back in 2022, I contributed an essay to Greta Thunberg’s Climate Book . It was about the weaponised false promise of carbon capture and storage (CCS). I wanted to talk about it not as a technological phenomenon but a rhetorical one. A tactically deployed promise that is never meant to come true . Failure as a feature, not a bug. The second coming hasn’t come yet After a surge of planned projects in the late 2000s and early 2010s failed to turn into operational carbon capture sites, there was a lull. But since 2020, the volume of planned CCS has increased very significantly, as we can see from the latest update from the Global CCS Institute (GCCSi), a CCS reporting and advocacy group that publishes annual data: As with so many previous years, the change in “operational” CCS is small. The pipeline for CCS has been surging for a half-decade now, and the amount of operational CCS has only grown by a few megatonnes of capacity. We were promised a CCS revolution, and we aren’t getting one. Each year’s database puts an estimated “start date” on these CCS projects, so if we compile every report from each year, we can get an idea of what should be operational, and compare it to what is : In 2024, the amount of operational CCS should be several times higher than it actually is, based on the promised start dates of projects in older reports. Some projects are being cancelled, others are pushing out those dates further into the future due to frequent delays . Carbon capture isn’t a technology that likes to be built. It’s almost a cruel chart to make, but compare the percentage growth in operational CCS to the growth in wind and solar over the same time, and you get an idea of the different dynamics we’re dealing with here: Why do we keep believing the promise when it keeps failing to materialise? There are many reasons, but I want to dive into a specific one in this post: a range of different future scenarios, from a range of different sources, has leant hard on CCS as a way to minimise projected reductions in fossil fuel use, and therefore politically soften any potentially scary visions of the “disruptive” elimination of fossil fuels. What the future looks like Media has gone missing in action on Labor’s carbon capture fraud Read More Fossil fuel companies (both power generation and extractive) love using the false promise of CCS to justify massive, high-emitting projects. It’s worth diving into this incredible July 2024 investigation by Drilled’s Amy Westervelt, specifically on how fossil fuel companies were actively aware that their promises on CCS were hollow. Fossil fuel companies have, for a long time, performed a sort of strategic science fiction exercise, where they publish fossil-heavy and CCS-reliant scenarios to try and own the space of what the future looks like. Using the data made available in the latest Global Energy Outlook , I’ve made a little illustration of how fossil fuel companies use assumptions about CCS in their scenarios that are weirdly disconnected from the material realities of ultra-slow deployment: Equinor, my friendly local state-owned fossil fuel company, are comfortably the worst offender here. From 2018 to 2021, their CCS projections were verging on possible. In 2022, 2023 and 2024 , the 2030 assumptions for CCS are deeply bonkers and far exceed Shell and British Petroleum’s assumptions. This is despite Equinor being notably off track even for their own company CCS targets. Consider the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) “World Energy Outlook” , a major annual global energy system model, whose future scenarios drive investment decisions and government policies. I’ve created a compilation of each year’s recent CCS assumptions in their most-ambitious “net-zero” scenario, and you can immediately see that as far as CCS is from even realising its own pipeline of planned projects, the gap between the assumptions in the IEA’s net-zero scenario is significantly worse: If CCS development were truly following the IEA’s 2022 net-zero scenario, operational capacity today would be about 12 times what it ended up being this year. The IEA’s 2024 scenario, released a few weeks ago, assumes that CCS capacity will be around 25 times greater in 2030 than it is today. It’s worth acknowledging the IEA can be circumspect about this. Its 2020 “CCUS” report looked back on an old ambitious scenario : CCUS deployment tripled over the last decade, albeit from a low base — but it has fallen well short of expectations. In 2009, the IEA roadmap for CCUS set a target of developing 100 large-scale CCUS projects between 2010 and 2020 to meet global climate goals, storing around 300 MtCO2 per year. Actual capacity is only around 40 Mt — just 13% of the target. Can you put a number on how badly Trump will screw the climate? Yes, many. Read More The IEA’s net-zero scenario was a big deal, when they first gave it a go in 2021 after pressure from climate groups. It was the first scenario the group published that started with a temperature goal, and then solved backwards. But to solve that equation, it has consistently relied on a volume of CCS deployment that doesn’t seem to be matched by real-world manifestation — and models need to change to reflect the persistent reality. To continue the comparison with wind and solar, these two technologies exhibit the exact opposite effect: the IEA’s scenarios have historically underestimated the deployment of the technologies (across all their scenarios). The two graphics below compare the 2014 “World Energy Outlook” scenarios, and their assumptions on wind and solar power generation, to the 2024 edition’s projections, overlaid with what both actually generated each year: Again, it’s worth defending the IEA here. It is keenly aware of how the technology is being proffered particularly by the fossil fuel industry in an absurd, over-stated context. It said as much in its 2023 “oil and gas transitions” report , where it pointed out CCS in a scenario with no change to the oil and gas produced would require “26,000 terawatt hours of electricity generation to operate in 2050, which is more than global electricity demand in 2022”, and would also require “over US$3.5 trillion in annual investments all the way from today through to mid-century, which is an amount equal to the entire industry’s annual average revenue in recent years”. The IEA has also been at pains to point out it is not the worst offender when it comes to leaning on CCS to model climate ambition, showing that its reliance on CCS in net-zero models is a lot lower than the IPCC’s reliance on CCS. It’s not wrong. To give you an idea — here are 146 1.5c-aligned IPCC scenario assumptions showing the total amount captured by CCS each year, compared to the actual installed capacity from the GCCSi database: Who’s paying for our trillion-dollar climate transition, and why are there so many oil lobbyists at COP29? Read More A recent study by Tsimafei Kazlou, Aleh Cherp and Jessica Jewell published in Nature showed that if you consider a reasonable but optimistic feasibility of CCS growth, that is still significantly slower than what 90% of IPCC 1.5c mitigation pathways assume (noting that the recent AR6 report does go to some lengths to include some CCS-free scenarios). “We show how realistic assumptions about failure rates, based on the history of CCS and other historical benchmarks, can identify a feasible upper bound of CCS capacity in 2030 (0.37 Gt yr)”. That is, to give you an idea, about 10 times smaller than the amount of CCS Equinor assumes in its “ambitious” climate scenario. The net result of a heavy dose of CCS assumptions in authoritative scenarios, projections and models — one that doesn’t reflect the real-world dynamics — is a significantly increased risk of missed targets, and a false impression of ambition. I have truly lost count of the number of times a fossil fuel company references either the IPCC, or the IEA, when justifying heavy, load-bearing promises on CCS. Here’s one nice, recent example. This is from ExxonMobil’s latest “Global Energy Outlook” , showing carbon capture growing at three times the rate of wind and solar, from 2022 to 2050. This isn’t Exxon’s own scenario assumption — this is ExxonMobil referencing the IPCC’s “below two degrees” scenarios: “See?? Even the climate scientists that you love and trust agree with us that leaning heavily on carbon capture is a totally fine thing to do”. I don’t know if it’s well recognised in the climate modelling community just how widespread stuff like this is, within fossil fuel company climate and sustainability claims. This is a truncated extract of a recent blog post by Ketan Joshi. Read the full version here . Have something to say about this article? Write to us at letters@crikey.com.au . Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say . We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
DUP minister rejected suggestion licensing laws could be relaxed for jubileeMacBook Pro M4 Prices Are Getting a Major Cut, Apple’s Going All In For Black Friday
No. 24 Arizona is coming off consecutive defeats for the first time in the Tommy Lloyd era when it faces undefeated Davidson on Wednesday to begin the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas. Arizona (2-2) lost at Wisconsin 103-88 on Nov. 15 and followed that with a home loss against Duke 69-55 on Friday. The Wildcats have dropped 15 spots in the Associated Press Top 25 poll in two weeks. Arizona's record is .500 this early in a season for the first time since it was 3-3 to start the 2017-18 schedule. "I've got work to do, so let's get to work," said Lloyd, in his fourth year as Arizona's head coach. "Let's see where we're at in a month, and if we're still struggling, you know what I'll do? I still got work to do, but I'm gonna get to it." Arizona shot 39.6 percent from the field against Duke, and just 26.1 percent (6 of 23) from 3-point range. The Wildcats were outrebounded by 43-30 and their 15 turnovers led to 19 points. Jaden Bradley led Arizona with 18 points and KJ Lewis added 12. Preseason All-American Caleb Love had eight points on 3-of-13 shooting from the field, including 1-of-9 from 3-point range. Arizona made only one field goal in the last 5:39 as Duke pulled away after its lead was trimmed to six points. "We didn't play great," Lloyd said. "Now we need to take a step back and figure out why. Are there some schematic problems? Are there some problems with how our personnel is kind of put together? "We got to figure out what our certainties are, and the things we have to have, and then over the course of the next couple of days, if there's adjustments we need to make, we need to figure out what those are." Davidson is 4-0 after a 15-17 record last season, in which it lost its last six games to put an end to postseason hopes. A 93-66 win over visiting VMI on Friday followed a 91-85 win at Bowling Green and 76-70 victory over visiting East Tennessee State. The two wins by 10 points or fewer are important because Davidson was 6-12 in such games last season. It was 4-11 in games decided by five points or fewer. "The goal (is) to get better," Davidson head coach Matt McKillop said after the season opener. "We talk about fighting to win every possession. I think we had to figure out what that really felt like with the lights on." Davidson made 13 shots from 3-point range in the win over VMI. Reed Bailey had 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Bobby Durkin added 19 points, including 17 of them and a career-best five 3-pointers in the first half. Bailey leads Davidson in scoring (19 points per game) and rebounding (7.8). Durkin is shooting 57.9 percent (22 of 38) from the field and 54.2 percent (13 of 24) from 3-point range. By contrast, Arizona's Love is shooting 32 percent (16 of 50) from the field and 21.4 percent (6 of 28) from beyond the arc. Bradley leads Arizona with 15.5 points per game. He is shooting 50 percent (24 of 48) from the field and is 35.7 percent (5 of 14) from 3-point range. --Field Level MediaInside the Gaetz ethics report, a trove of new details alleging payments for sex and drug useDrake lawsuits blame Big Tech for the L he took from Kendrick Lamar’s lyrical beatdown
Caesars Entertainment Options Trading: A Deep Dive into Market Sentiment
Stormont minister Maurice Morrow told an official he would not raise the issue with the Northern Ireland Executive, despite similar measures being considered in England and Wales. A file on planning arrangements for the jubilee celebrations reveals a series of civil service correspondences on how Northern Ireland would mark the occasion. It includes a letter sent on January 11 2001 from an official in the Office of the First Minister/Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) to the Department of Social Development, advising that a committee had been set up in London to consider a programme of celebrations. The correspondence says: “One of the issues the committee is currently considering is the possibility of deregulating liquor licensing laws during the golden jubilee celebrations on the same lines as the arrangements made for the millennium. “It is felt that the golden jubilee bank holiday on Monday 3 June 2002 is likely to be an occasion on which many public houses and similar licensed premises would wish to stay open beyond normal closing time.” The letter said a paper had been prepared on the issue of extending opening hours. It adds: “You will note that paragraph seven of the paper indicates that the devolved administrations ‘would need to consider deregulation separately within their own jurisdictions’. “I thought that you would wish to be aware that this issue is receiving active consideration for England and Wales and to consider whether anything needs to be done for Northern Ireland.” Some months later a “progress report” was sent between officials in OFMDFM, which again raised the issue of licensing laws. It says: “I spoke to Gordon Gibson, DSD, about Terry Smith’s letter of 12 January 2001 about licensing laws: the matter was put to their minister Maurice Morrow (DUP) who indicated that he would not be asking the NIE (Northern Ireland Executive) to approve any change to current licensing laws in NI to allow for either 24 hour opening (as at the millennium) nor a blanket approval for extended opening hours as is being considered in GB. “In both cases, primary legislation would be required here and would necessitate consultation and the minister has ruled out any consultation process.” The correspondence says individual licensees could still apply for an extension to opening hours on an ad hoc basis, adding “there the matter rests”. It goes on: “DSD await further pronouncements from the Home Office and Gibson and I have agreed to notify each other of any developments we become aware of and he will copy me to any (existing) relevant papers. “Ministers may well come under pressure in due course for a relaxation and/or parity with GB.” The document concludes “That’s it so far...making haste slowly?” Emails sent between officials in the department the same month said that lord lieutenants in Northern Ireland had been approached about local events to mark the jubilee. One message says: “Lord lieutenants have not shown any enthusiasm for encouraging GJ celebrations at a local level. “Lady Carswell in particular believes that it would be difficult for LLs to encourage such activities without appearing political.”Fox News Politics: First Order of Business
DUP minister rejected suggestion licensing laws could be relaxed for jubileeBy Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times (TNS) Every day millions of people share more intimate information with their accessories than they do with their spouse. Wearable technology — smartwatches, smart rings, fitness trackers and the like — monitors body-centric data such as your heart rate, steps taken and calories burned, and may record where you go along the way. Like Santa Claus, it knows when you are sleeping (and how well), it knows when you’re awake, it knows when you’ve been idle or exercising, and it keeps track of all of it. People are also sharing sensitive health information on health and wellness apps , including online mental health and counseling programs. Some women use period tracker apps to map out their monthly cycle. These devices and services have excited consumers hoping for better insight into their health and lifestyle choices. But the lack of oversight into how body-centric data are used and shared with third parties has prompted concerns from privacy experts, who warn that the data could be sold or lost through data breaches, then used to raise insurance premiums, discriminate surreptitiously against applicants for jobs or housing, and even perform surveillance. The use of wearable technology and medical apps surged in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, but research released by Mozilla on Wednesday indicates that current laws offer little protection for consumers who are often unaware just how much of their health data are being collected and shared by companies. “I’ve been studying the intersections of emerging technologies, data-driven technologies, AI and human rights and social justice for the past 15 years, and since the pandemic I’ve noticed the industry has become hyper-focused on our bodies,” said Mozilla Foundation technology fellow Júlia Keserű, who conducted the research. “That permeates into all kinds of areas of our lives and all kinds of domains within the tech industry.” The report “From Skin to Screen: Bodily Integrity in the Digital Age” recommends that existing data protection laws be clarified to encompass all forms of bodily data. It also calls for expanding national health privacy laws to cover health-related information collected from health apps and fitness trackers and making it easier for users to opt out of body-centric data collections. Researchers have been raising alarms about health data privacy for years. Data collected by companies are often sold to data brokers or groups that buy, sell and trade data from the internet to create detailed consumer profiles. Body-centric data can include information such as the fingerprints used to unlock phones, face scans from facial recognition technology, and data from fitness and fertility trackers, mental health apps and digital medical records. One of the key reasons health information has value to companies — even when the person’s name is not associated with it — is that advertisers can use the data to send targeted ads to groups of people based on certain details they share. The information contained in these consumer profiles is becoming so detailed, however, that when paired with other data sets that include location information, it could be possible to target specific individuals, Keserű said. Location data can “expose sophisticated insights about people’s health status, through their visits to places like hospitals or abortions clinics,” Mozilla’s report said, adding that “companies like Google have been reported to keep such data even after promising to delete it.” A 2023 report by Duke University revealed that data brokers were selling sensitive data on individuals’ mental health conditions on the open market. While many brokers deleted personal identifiers, some provided names and addresses of individuals seeking mental health assistance, according to the report. In two public surveys conducted as part of the research, Keserű said, participants were outraged and felt exploited in scenarios where their health data were sold for a profit without their knowledge. “We need a new approach to our digital interactions that recognizes the fundamental rights of individuals to safeguard their bodily data, an issue that speaks directly to human autonomy and dignity,” Keserű said. “As technology continues to advance, it is critical that our laws and practices evolve to meet the unique challenges of this era.” Consumers often take part in these technologies without fully understanding the implications. Last month, Elon Musk suggested on X that users submit X-rays, PET scans, MRIs and other medical images to Grok, the platform’s artificial intelligence chatbot, to seek diagnoses. The issue alarmed privacy experts, but many X users heeded Musk’s call and submitted health information to the chatbot. While X’s privacy policy says that the company will not sell user data to third parties, it does share some information with certain business partners. Gaps in existing laws have allowed the widespread sharing of biometric and other body-related data. Health information provided to hospitals, doctor’s offices and medical insurance companies is protected from disclosure under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act , known as HIPAA, which established federal standards protecting such information from release without the patient’s consent. But health data collected by many wearable devices and health and wellness apps don’t fall under HIPAA’s umbrella, said Suzanne Bernstein, counsel at Electronic Privacy Information Center. “In the U.S. because we don’t have a comprehensive federal privacy law ... it falls to the state level,” she said. But not every state has weighed in on the issue. Washington, Nevada and Connecticut all recently passed laws to provide safeguards for consumer health data. Washington, D.C., in July introduced legislation that aimed to require tech companies to adhere to strengthened privacy provisions regarding the collection, sharing, use or sale of consumer health data. In California, the California Privacy Rights Act regulates how businesses can use certain types of sensitive information, including biometric information, and requires them to offer consumers the ability to opt out of disclosure of sensitive personal information. “This information being sold or shared with data brokers and other entities hypercharge the online profiling that we’re so used to at this point, and the more sensitive the data, the more sophisticated the profiling can be,” Bernstein said. “A lot of the sharing or selling with third parties is outside the scope of what a consumer would reasonably expect.” Health information has become a prime target for hackers seeking to extort healthcare agencies and individuals after accessing sensitive patient data. Health-related cybersecurity breaches and ransom attacks increased more than 4,000% between 2009 and 2023, targeting the booming market of body-centric data, which is expected to exceed $500 billion by 2030, according to the report. “Nonconsensual data sharing is a big issue,” Keserű said. “Even if it’s biometric data or health data, a lot of the companies are just sharing that data without you knowing, and that is causing a lot of anxiety and questions.” ©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Friendly reminder |
The authenticity of this information has not been verified by this website and is for your reference only. Please do not reprint without permission. If authorized by this website, it should be used within the scope of authorization and marked with "Source: this website". |
Special attention |
Some articles on this website are reprinted from other media. The purpose of reprinting is to convey more industry information, which does not mean that this website agrees with their views and is responsible for their authenticity. Those who make comments on this website forum are responsible for their own content. This website has the right to reprint or quote on the website. The comments on the forum do not represent the views of this website. If you need to use the information provided by this website, please contact the original author. The copyright belongs to the original author. If you need to contact this website regarding copyright, please do so within 15 days. |