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Suncorp's 'digital insurer' policy transformation program will empower it to deliver improved customer and employee outcomes SYDNEY, Dec. 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Duck Creek Technologies, the global intelligent solutions provider defining the future of property and casualty (P&C) and general insurance, has announced a new partnership with Suncorp, one of Australia's and New Zealand's largest general insurers. Duck Creek will deliver cloud-native, low-code core insurance delivery solutions as part of Suncorp's recently announced 'digital insurer' policy transformation program. Duck Creek's SaaS solutions will replace multiple on-premises legacy systems and help Suncorp achieve its customer-outcome and value focused strategies. The multi-year agreement for Duck Creek policy, billing and Clarity (data, insights and AI) solutions is an important milestone, and will underpin the next era of technology modernisation and process simplification for Suncorp. Duck Creek's cohesive and comprehensive suite is expected to reduce Suncorp's technological complexity, support their ability to deliver enhanced customer value and personalisation, and improve operational efficiency. Suncorp aims to develop more customer-centric, data-driven and brand-specific propositions and experiences without the associated complexity; and deliver value to market faster and more efficiently across its personal and commercial brands in Australia and New Zealand. "Modernising our core insurance platforms will help us deliver innovative and affordable customer propositions, simplify and streamline our operations, and importantly enable our people,” said Lisa Harrison, Chief Executive Consumer Insurance at Suncorp. "Through a rigorous RFP process, we selected Duck Creek as it has a proven track record both globally and locally.” "This is a multi-year program designed to roll out new capabilities in a safe, smart and efficient way. We have assigned dedicated business and technical leadership to work alongside Duck Creek and our integration partner, with strong governance structures and oversight. "We look forward to a successful ongoing partnership with Duck Creek to help deliver this important program,” Ms. Harrison said. "Suncorp is pushing the boundaries of insurance innovation. They appreciate that they're not in the business of just insuring assets, but of delivering confidence and better experiences and outcomes for their policyholders,” said Christian Erickson, Managing Director (APAC) of Duck Creek Technologies. "Duck Creek's vision, to transform insurance technology, helping insurers be smarter, faster and more efficient, and provide the best protection for people and businesses, is aligned with Suncorp's, as a future-focused and protection-driven insurer. This makes us ideal partners and we're honored to be a part of helping deliver Suncorp's strategy. We believe Suncorp will push us to think and innovate differently and we are excited for the outcomes we will achieve together.” The unique modular architecture of Duck Creek's OnDemand platform will help accelerate Suncorp's innovation timelines, reducing new product time-to-market from months to weeks and product amendments from weeks to days. The OnDemand platform will also help Suncorp increase automation, eliminate manual processes and enhance data-driven decision making. "Our policyholder-centric solutions are designed to equip Suncorp to overcome any technological obstacles and refocus resources toward delivering new innovative customer propositions and experiences," Mr. Erickson said. About Duck Creek Technologies Duck Creek Technologies is the global intelligent solutions provider defining the future of the property and casualty (P&C) and general insurance industry. We are the platform upon which modern insurance systems are built, enabling the industry to capitalize on the power of the cloud to run agile, intelligent, and evergreen operations. Authenticity, purpose, and transparency are core to Duck Creek, and we believe insurance should be there for individuals and businesses when, where, and how they need it most. Our market-leading solutions are available on a standalone basis or as a full suite , and all are available via Duck Creek OnDemand . Visit www.duckcreek.com to learn more. Follow Duck Creek on our social channels for the latest information - LinkedIn and X . About Suncorp Group Suncorp Group is an ASX-listed Trans-Tasman insurance company, headquartered in Brisbane, Australia. With a heritage dating back more than 100 years, Suncorp provides insurance products and services through some of Australia and New Zealand's most recognisable brands. Media Contacts: Duck Creek Chris Hamilton [email protected] Suncorp James Spence [email protected]Insurgents reach gates of Syria’s capital, threatening to upend decades of Assad rule

An association of legislative aides at the Colorado state Capitol is demanding the resignation of state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, D-Longmont. Jaquez Lewis had been stripped of her ability to hire state-paid legislative aides for repeated mistreatment of those aides. In its demand for her resignation, the Political Workers Guild (PWG) asked the Senate Democrats to review the lawmaker's actions and convene an ethics committee if she refuses to sign. That — or another method that will allow for caucus discussion and decision, the aides group said. The duties that Jaquez Lewis had been asking her aides to conduct "shows a lack of respect and decency," the group wrote. "It is contrary to the values of PWG, and we hope the values of the Senate Democrats, to make aides feel pressured to do tasks out of fear of retaliation." "Jaquez Lewis has consistently shown that she does not have the ability to manage an office, sit in a leadership role as chair, and show basic respect and decency to staff and her colleagues," the group added. "Allowing Jaquez Lewis to stay in the Democratic Caucus is a reflection of the Caucus and their values." The group also asked legislative leaders to create a formal body to address grievances by aides. The group said it would help set such a body up. "For too many years, we have been reporting incidents that have been met with few repercussions for the legislator because of the lack of accountability mechanisms in the current system," the group said. "Too many aides have had to experience workplace violations met with little consequences, and we hope the Senate Democrats view this as an opportunity to send a clear message; that staff in the Capitol are to be respected." The Political Workers Guild "is an open-model minority union that represents legislative aides, campaign workers, and political organizers who want to fight for dignity in our workplaces." It is organized under the Communications Workers of America Local 37074. Outgoing Senate President Steve Fenberg, in a sternly-worded Dec. 3 email obtained by Colorado Politics, told Jaquez Lewis, who was reelected to her second and final term last month, that he had received "new concerns" about the senator's treatment of her legislative aides. "This is now clearly a recurring issue that we have tried to address with you," Fenberg wrote. Colorado Public Radio had reported during the spring that four former aides complained of their pay being withheld, that the senator set unreasonable work schedules and otherwise prohibited them from interacting with other people "in the Democratic sphere." She was removed from a bill dealing with wage theft during the 2024 session as a consequence of that behavior and barred from using Senate partisan staff to help her hire aides. Last January, she was stripped of her leadership of the Senate Local Government and Housing Committee by Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, a Democrat from Denver. Fenberg said the problems dated back to the 2023 interim, but that he has continued to receive concerns about how Jaquez Lewis treats her aides. According to the Colorado Sun , a workplace misconduct complaint filed on Nov. 15 with the Office of Legislative Workplace Relations alleged she paid an aide, who was a Hispanic man, to do landscaping work and tend bar, and that she paid him with a campaign check. She did not report those expenditures in her campaign finance reports. She also paid the aide to knock on doors for an Adams County commissioner candidate in the June primary who faced off against the wife of one of Jaquez Lewis' legislative rivals, according to reports. “Out of respect to those employees’ privacy, I do not wish to comment in detail on HR matters," Jaquez Lewis told the Sun. "I will note that all campaign work by my staff this cycle was the choice of those individuals and was fully compensated. That compensation is reflected in checks that they were paid. I regret that there was an oversight in filing these payments in TRACER. I am amending the reports to reflect these payments.” The lawmaker has not yet done so. The legislative rival is believed to be Sen. Kyle Mullica, D-Northglenn, whose wife, Julie, was elected to the Adams County Board of County Commissioners in November. The aides association called the recent incidents a clear violation of state law for campaign finance reporting, adding she had asked one of her aides to sign a nondisclosure agreement, which is prohibited by a state law passed last year , one that Jaquez Lewis and the rest of the Senate voted for unanimously. Fenberg has cut off Jaquez Lewis' state-paid legislative aide hours. "It is imperative that you do not engage in any behavior that could be reasonably perceived as retaliatory in nature towards past legislative aides or interns, legislative aides in the building, staff, or Senators. Engaging in any retaliatory behavior may constitute a violation of the Workplace Expectations policy," the president said. Jaquez Lewis can use campaign funds to pay aides during the 2025 session. She easily won her reelection bid in November. As of Oct. 28, she had just over $19,000 left in her campaign account. Jaquez Lewis is one of the more progressive members of the Senate Democratic caucus, sponsoring legislation on gun restrictions. She also pushed for a ban on new oil and gas drilling. In 2023, she sponsored the bill that originally intended to ban the carrying of firearms in almost any public place, although that measure was substantially watered down in its trip through the Colorado General Assembly. Jaquez Lewis has not responded to a request for comment as of Saturday afternoon.

SHENYANG, Dec. 25: Chinese scientists are set to engineer a lunar robot equipped with charging capabilities for the country's Chang'e-8 mission, which is slated for launch around 2028. A collaborative team of researchers from Dalian University of Technology, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Shenzhen University has proposed the design of a multifunctional lunar surface robot that also serves as a mobile charging station. It has been approved for inclusion into the Chang'e-8 lunar mission by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), according to a news release from Dalian University of Technology this week. The robot, weighing approximately 100 kilograms, is capable of conducting intricate experiments in the harsh lunar environment. It can accompany the lunar lander and monitor its operational health, according to Yu Xiaozhou, the team leader from Dalian University of Technology. The project aims to tackle technical challenges, including withstanding the extremely low temperatures of the lunar south pole and carrying out positioning, navigation and autonomous movement without relying on satellite navigation systems, said Yu Hongyu, a professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The Chang'e-8 will constitute, together with Chang'e-7, the basic model of a lunar research station. The Chang'e-7 probe is expected to be sent into space around 2026 to implement resource exploration of the lunar south pole.TORONTO (AP) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Donald Trump that Americans would also suffer if the president-elect follows through on a plan to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products , a Canadian minister who attended their recent dinner said Monday. Trump threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if they don’t stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders with the United States. He said on social media last week that he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. Get the latest need-to-know information delivered to your inbox as it happens. Our flagship newsletter. Get our front page stories each morning as well as the latest updates each afternoon during the week + more in-depth weekend editions on Saturdays & Sundays.

NoneIf you're waiting for Black Friday to score a powerful gaming laptop that won't break your wallet, that deal is already here: Best Buy has a Lenovo LOQ for just $700. That's 30 percent off its $1,000 MSRP, a phenomenal price for this RTX-powered machine. Let's start there, shall we? This would already be a pretty good price for an RTX 4050 laptop, but it's an insane price for an RTX 4060 laptop. You just don't see these going for $700, and this is a graphics card that'll let you crank up your settings on all but the... Gabriela Vatu

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Syrian opposition fighters have reached the suburbs of the capital, Damascus, and government forces abandoned the central city of Homs as the rebels' surprising offensive picks up speed. President Bashar Assad's whereabouts are unknown. Homs is an important intersection between Damascus and Syria’s coastal provinces that are the Syrian leader’s base of support. In Damascus, residents described a city on edge, with security forces on the streets and many shops running out of staple foods. The rapidly developing events have shaken the region. Lebanon said it was closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for one that links Beirut with Damascus. Jordan closed a border crossing with Syria, too. Eight key countries gathered with the U.N. special envoy on Syria on the sidelines of the Doha Summit for two hours of discussions Saturday night, and more will follow. The U.N. envoy seeks urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition.” Here's the Latest: The Syrian insurgency announced Saturday that it has taken over Homs, following reports of government forces withdrawing from the strategic city. This latest development in the rebels’ swift shock offensive in the war-torn country has left embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad effectively in control of the capital Damascus and two other cities where his key support base among the Alawite Muslim population are based. Homs is an important intersection between Damascus and Syria’s coastal provinces that are the Syrian leader’s base of support. Syrian opposition fighters have reached the suburbs of the capital, Damascus as the rebels’ offensive picks up speed. President Bashar Assad’s whereabouts are unknown. The mother of an Israeli man held hostage in Gaza and seen in a newly released video by Hamas says “enough with the games” and calls for more pressure on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Einav Zangauker told a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday night that like her son Matan, “there are a few dozen who are currently alive. Don’t allow them to be brought back dead in bags. Take to the streets.” Matan Zangauker, speaking under duress, appealed to the public to protest in front of Netanyahu’s home and “not let him sleep even for a minute.” Zangauker also referred to 420 days of being held by Hamas militants and said “isolation is killing us.” Police used a water cannon on the demonstrators as thousands took to the streets for the weekly anti-government protests. Two officials with Iran-backed Iraqi militias in Syria say the militias are monitoring the situation and have not made a decision to enter in support of Iran’s ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad. One of the officials said Iranian militias had withdrawn to Iraq from their positions in Syria. “All the militias are waiting to see what Bashar Assad will do in Damascus. If he resists and does not allow Damascus to fall, it is possible that the Iraqi factions will intervene for the purpose of support,” he said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. -- Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad Multi-country discussions on Syria have ended on the sidelines of the Doha Summit. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein says the countries will issue a statement, and there will be follow-up talks “taking into consideration the practical and real situation on the ground.” He said the talks, which lasted over two hours Saturday evening, focused on how to stop the fighting. Eight key countries including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran gathered with the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen. When asked where Syrian President Bashar Assad is, Iraq's foreign minister replied, “I don’t know.” He declined to speculate on whether Assad would be overthrown. Opposition fighters have reached the Damascus suburbs. BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Health Ministry says two Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday killed six people and wounded five others. The ministry said an airstrike on the village of Beit Leif killed five people and wounded five, while a drone strike on the village of Deir Serian killed one person. Israel’s military said it was looking into the report. Despite a ceasefire that went into effect on Nov. 27 to end the 14-month fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants that had escalated into all-out war, violations of the truce have continued. The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza says the facility came under heavy Israeli bombardment again on Saturday and three medical staff were killed. Dr. Hussam Abu Safia in a statement posted by Gaza’s Health Ministry said the hospital was hit by over 100 projectiles and bombs, and electricity was cut off. He said the surgery department and neonatal unit were hit, and he pleaded for “immediate coordination for repair operations.” Kamal Adwan is one of the last remaining hospitals in northern Gaza. Israeli forces are pressing an offensive that has almost completely sealed off the area from humanitarian aid for two months. Israel’s military said it wasn’t aware of any attack Saturday. The hospital director on Friday said Israeli strikes had killed at least 29 people including four medical staff. Israeli Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says the military is monitoring the Syrian border to make sure that “local factions do not direct actions towards us,” adding that Israel is not intervening in the events in Syria. Israel’s military has said it is reinforcing its deployment along the border with Syria. Halevi said if “confusion” arises and actions are directed toward Israel by “local factions” taking control of parts of Syria, Israel has a strong “offensive response.” The United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Syria says the U.N. is relocating non-critical staff outside the country. Adam Abdelmoula in a statement Saturday called it a precautionary measure to protect U.N. teams. “Let me emphasize—this is not an evacuation and our dedication to supporting the people of Syria remains unwavering,” Abdelmoula said. The statement did not say how many U.N. staffers were leaving Syria as opposition fighters reached the suburbs of Syria’s capital, Damascus. The statement said the fighting in Syria has displaced over 370,000 people as the humanitarian situation deteriorates, “with many seeking refuge in the northeast and others trapped in frontline areas, unable to escape.” Foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran have gathered on the sidelines of the Doha Summit along with the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, to discuss the situation in Syria. The talks continued late Saturday and no details were immediately available. Qatar, Jordan and Iraq also were part of the discussions as opposition fighters closed in on the Syrian capital, Damascus. BAGHDAD — An Iraqi government spokesperson says about 2,000 Syrian army soldiers have crossed into Iraq seeking refuge as opposition forces advance in Syria. Bassem al-Awadi said the soldiers’ equipment and weapons were registered and taken into custody by the Iraqi army. “We dealt with them according to the principle of good neighborliness and humanity,” he said Saturday. Al-Awadi also said Iraqi officials are concerned about the security of the al-Hol camp and other facilities in northeast Syria where suspected Islamic State group members and their families are detained. The facilities are guarded by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. Al-Awadi said there is “high security coordination” between Iraqi officials and those forces to “prevent the prisoners from escaping.” Syria's army says it is fortifying its positions in the suburbs of Damascus and in the country’s south, as opposition fighters close in on the capital. The army statement on Saturday also asserted that Syria is being subjected to a “terrorist” and propaganda campaign aiming to destabilize and spread chaos. The statement also said the military is continuing with operations in areas including the central provinces of Hama and Homs, and that it has killed and wounded hundreds of opposition fighters. At least two people were wounded in a car-ramming attack in the West Bank on Saturday, according to the Israeli army and rescue services. The army said the attack took place in the area of the Fawwar refugee camp, near the city of Hebron. It said a soldier was severely wounded, and security forces were looking for the attacker. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said another man in his 40s suffered light injuries from shrapnel. The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza sparked the war there. Israel has intensified its military raids in the West Bank, targeting what it says are militants planning attacks, and there has also been a rise in Palestinian attacks on Israelis. The Israeli military says it is helping United Nations forces to head off an attack on a U.N. position in Syria close to the Israeli border. The army said in a statement Saturday that an attack was carried out by “armed individuals” on a U.N. post near the Syrian town of Hader and it was “assisting U.N. forces in repelling the attack.” On Friday, Israel’s military said it would reinforce its forces in the Golan Heights and near the border with Syria, where civil war has reignited between the government and opposition fighters. Hamas has released a video showing Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker making an emotional plea for his release and describing the conditions he and other hostages face in Gaza after being seized in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. His mother, Einav, has become a symbol of the fight to bring back the hostages and is an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Matan Zangauker, speaking under duress, appealed to the public to protest in front of Netanyahu’s home and “not let him sleep even for a minute.” Zangauker also referred to 420 days of being held by Hamas militants. “We want to return before we go crazy. Isolation is killing us, and the darkness here is frightening,” he said, describing having little food and medicine and “undrinkable” water. President-elect Donald Trump has made his first extensive comments on dramatic advances by opposition fighters in Syria, saying the besieged President Bashar Assad didn’t deserve U.S. support to stay in power. “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT,” Trump posted on the Truth Social platform on Saturday. Syrian opposition activists and regional officials have been watching closely for any indication from both the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration of how the U.S. would handle the sudden advances against Syria’s Russian- and Iranian-allied leader. Trump condemned the overall U.S. handling of the 13-year civil war in Syria, but spoke favorably of the routing of Assad and Russian forces. ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that there was “now a new reality in Syria” following the rapid advance of rebel forces. Speaking in Gaziantep, a city less than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the Syrian border, Erdogan said that “increasing attacks on civilians” in Syria’s northwest Idlib province “triggered the latest events like the straw that broke the camel’s back.” It was not possible for Turkey to ignore developments in a country with which it shares a lengthy border and it would not allow any threats to its national security, he added in a televised speech. “Our wish is for our neighbor Syria to attain the peace and tranquility it has been longing for for 13 years,” he told a rally of supporters. “We want to see a Syria where different identities live side by side in peace. We hope to see such a Syria in the very near future.” Erdogan claimed President Bashar Assad had erred in rebuffing Turkey’s previous efforts to establish relations, saying Damascus “could not appreciate the value of the hand Turkey extended.” Ankara has supported anti-Assad rebel groups since the early months of the conflict and hosts 3 million refugees dislodged by the fighting. While Turkey lists HTS, the group leading the latest offensive, as a terrorist organization, the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army has worked alongside it. BEIRUT — A resident of the Syrian capital of Damascus says the city is very tense as troops and members of security agencies are deployed on main streets and intersections. The resident told The Associated Press that many shops are closed and those that are open have run out of main commodities such as sugar. He added that if food products are available, some shops are selling them for a price three times higher than usual. “The situation is very strange. We are not used to that,” the resident said on condition of anonymity, fearing retributions. “People are worried whether there will be a battle (in Damascus) or not.” — Bassem Mroue in Beirut DOHA, Qatar — Russia’s foreign minister says he has met his Turkish and Iranian counterparts in Doha and that all three countries were calling for an “immediate end to hostile activities” in Syria. Russia and Iran are the chief supporters of Syria’s government, while Turkey backs opposition fighters trying to remove President Bashar Assad from power. Speaking at the annual Doha Forum, Sergey Lavrov said Russia continues to help the Syrian army confront insurgents, military via airstrikes. Asked whether Assad’s rule is threatened by the fast-moving rebel offensive, he said, “We are not in the business of guessing what’s gong to happen.” He blamed the United States and the West for the events in Syria and said, “We are very sorry for the Syrian people who became a subject of another geopolitical experiment. “We are doing everything we can not to make terrorists prevail, even if they say they are not terrorists,” Lavrov said, referring to the de facto leader of the Syrian insurgents, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who says he has cut links with al-Qaida. His group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and United Nations. He said Russia, Iran and Turkey want the full implementation of a U.N. resolution, which endorsed a road map to peace in Syria. Resolution 2254 was adopted unanimously in December 2015. The measure called for a Syrian-led political process, starting with the establishment of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and ending with U.N.-supervised elections. Lavrov also downplayed reports that Moscow had withdrawn ships from Russia’s base in Syrian city of Tartus, saying that the vessels had left to take part in naval exercises in the Mediterranean. DOHA, Qatar — The U.S. envoy who brokered the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah says the deal has created a new opportunity for Lebanon to reshape itself. Amos Hochstein told the Doha Forum that the weakness of Hezbollah after nearly 14 months of fighting along, along with blows to its Syrian and Iranian allies, give the Lebanese military and government a chance to reassert itself. “Now is the moment with this ceasefire to rebuild Lebanon again for a much more prosperous future and stronger state institutions,” Hochstein told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the conference. He said Lebanon needs “to do its part” by rebuilding its economy, choosing a president after years of delays and strengthening its central government to attract investors. “And the international community has a requirement and a responsibility to support Lebanon after this devastating conflict and after years of Hezbollah control,” he said. Hochstein told the conference that the turning point in ceasefire efforts was Hezbollah dropping its pledge to keep fighting as long as the war in Gaza continues. He said the change in position was the result of the heavy losses inflicted on Hezbollah, and Lebanese public opinion in favor of delinking the two conflicts. He said key tests for the ceasefire will be whether Israel carries out its promised phased withdrawal from southern Lebanon over the coming two months and whether the Lebanese army is able to move into those areas. BEIRUT — Insurgents and a war monitor say opposition fighters are taking over military posts evacuated by Syrian government forces in the country’s south, bringing them closer to the capital, Damascus. An insurgent official known as Maj. Hassan Abdul-Ghani posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition fighters are now in the town of Sanamein, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the southern outskirts of Damascus, President Bashar Assad’s seat of power. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said insurgents have entered the town of Artouz, which is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) southwest of Damascus. Opposition fighters have captured wide parts of Syria, including several provincial capitals, since they began their offensive on Nov. 27. BEIRUT — Lebanon’s government has approved a plan to deploy more troops along the border with Israel, part of the ceasefire deal that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war. In a rare Cabinet meeting outside of Beirut, held Saturday at a military base in the southern port city of Tyre, the government also approved a draft law to reconstruct buildings destroyed during the Israel-Hezbollah war that broke out in October 2023 and ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire last week. Information Minister Ziad Makary told reporters after the meeting that the committee whose job is to monitor the ceasefire that went into effect on Nov. 27 will hold its first meeting on Monday. The committee is made up of military officials from the U.S., France, Israel and Lebanon as well as the U.N. peacekeeping force deployed along the border. As part of the ceasefire deal, during the first 60 days Israeli troops will have to withdraw from Lebanon, while Hezbollah will have to pull its heavy weapons away from the border area to north of the Litani river. The Lebanese army said this week it will begin recruiting more soldiers, apparently to deploy them along the border with Israel. BEIRUT — The Syrian army withdrew from much of southern Syria on Saturday, leaving more areas of the country, including two provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters, the military and an opposition war monitor said. The redeployment away from the provinces of Daraa and Sweida came as Syria’s military sent large numbers of reinforcements to defend the key central city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, as insurgents approached its outskirts. The rapid advances by insurgents are a stunning reversal of fortunes for Syria’s President Bashar Assad , who appears to be largely on his own, with erstwhile allies preoccupied with other conflicts. His chief international backer, Russia, is busy with its war in Ukraine, and Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah, which at one point sent thousands of fighters to shore up his forces, has been weakened by a yearlong conflict with Israel. Iran, meanwhile, has seen its proxies across the region degraded by Israeli regular airstrikes. JERUSALEM — Israeli security forces killed a Palestinian man after he attacked them at a border crossing in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Saturday morning, police said. The man shot firecrackers at security forces at the checkpoint and threatened them with a knife, the police statement said. The man wore a t-shirt emblazoned with a symbol of the Islamic State militant group, according to an Associated Press reporter Israeli fire has killed at least 700 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war began last year, Palestinian health officials said. In that time, Palestinian militants have launched a number of attacks on soldiers at checkpoints and within Israel. DOHA, Qatar — The prime minister of Qatar says he has seen new momentum in Gaza ceasefire efforts since the U.S. presidential election, with the incoming Trump administration seeking an end to the conflict before it takes office. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, a key mediator in the ceasefire efforts, declined to give specifics of the negotiations but told an international conference in Doha that the gaps between the sides are not large. Qatar, which has served as a mediator throughout the 14-month war, suspended its efforts last month in frustration over the lack of progress. But Sheikh Mohammed said his government has re-engaged in recent days after determining a new willingness by both parties to reach a deal. ’We have sensed after the election that the momentum is coming back,” he told the Doha Forum on Saturday. He said has been in touch with both the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration and found that while there are some differences in approach, both are committed to the same goal of ending the war. ’We have seen a lot of encouragement from the incoming administration in order to achieve a deal, even before the president comes to the office,” Sheikh Mohammed said. He declined to discuss details, saying he wanted to “protect the process,” but expressed hope for a deal “as soon as possible.” ’If you look at the gaps and the disagreements, they are not something substantial that really affects the agreement,” he said. CAIRO — At least 29 people were killed, including four medical staff, when Israeli strikes pummeled the area around one of the last remaining hospitals in northern Gaza, Palestinian officials said. The situation in and around the Kamal Adwan hospital is “catastrophic,” according to Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, the director of the hospital. The dead included five children and five women, according to the hospital casualty list, which was obtained by The Associated Press. Friday’s strikes also wounded 55 people including six children and the five women, according to the hospital. Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya is one of the few hospitals still partially operating in the Gaza’s northernmost province , where Israeli forces are pressing an offensive that has almost completely sealed off the area from humanitarian aid for two months. Israel’s military denied that its forces had struck the hospital or operated inside it. The army said that in the past few weeks, “coordinated efforts with international organizations have been underway in order to transfer patients, companions, and medical staff to other hospitals.” An Indonesian medical team which had been assisting in Kamal Adwan for the past week was forced to evacuate on foot after the area was surrounded by Israeli soldiers, according to a statement from the team. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the medical team’s expulsion. Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization representative in the Palestinian territories, said an Israeli tank approached the hospital at around 4 a.m. Friday. Although no official Israeli evacuation order was issued, “people started to climb the wall to escape, and this panic attracted IDF (Israeli) fire,” he said. He spoke by video from Gaza to journalists in Geneva. Kamal Adwan Hospital has been struck multiple times over the past two months since Israel launched a fierce military operation in northern Gaza against Hamas militants. In October, Israeli forces raided the hospital, saying that militants were sheltering inside and arrested a number of people, including some staff. Hospital officials denied the claim. MANAMA, Bahrain — Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has reiterated the kingdom’s call for an end to the war in the Gaza Strip. Prince Faisal bin Farhan described Israel as acting with “impunity and is getting away without punishment” in its war on Hamas there. The prince said that any permanent solution requires a two-state solution, with the Palestinians having east Jerusalem as their capital. After the speech, Prince Turki al-Faisal, a prominent royal in the kingdom who led Saudi intelligence for more than two decades and served as ambassador to the U.S. and Britain, took the stage. He harshly criticized Israel’s conduct in the wars. “Israel has become an apartheid, colonial and genocidal state,” Prince Turki said. “It is about time for the world to address that issue and take the necessary steps to bring those who are thus charged by the International Criminal Court to justice.” Israeli officials could not be immediately reached for comment on Prince Turki’s remarks. The Saudis spoke at the International Institute for Security Studies’ Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.

Christmas gift guide with golfers in mind, Callaway tops the listLouisville will aim to end a three-game losing streak when it hosts UTEP on Wednesday, but beating the Miners may not be an easy feat. UTEP (6-2) comes to the Derby City winners of three straight, most recently beating Seattle 88-72 on Saturday. The Miners shot 56.1 percent (32 of 57) and used a 24-2 first-half run to essentially put the game away. Coach Joe Golding said that first-half performance may have been UTEP's best in his four years leading the school. "I thought offensively and defensively the first 20 minutes we were really locked in and ready to go. (The game) never got close," he said. "We kept it at 20-plus points for the majority of the game. Our ball movement was terrific." Ahamad Bynum led the Miners with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting off the bench, while Otis Frazier III added 18 points and five assists. Frazier (13.6 points per game) and Bynum (12.1 ppg) are among four UTEP players averaging in double figures. Bynum leads the country shooting 63.3 percent from beyond the 3-point arc, though he has attempted just 30 threes, making 19. Louisville (5-4) also started hot in its last game but could not sustain its momentum in a 76-65 home loss to then-No. 9 Duke on Sunday. Coach Pat Kelsey's team, which had just seven players healthy, made 10 of its first 14 shots to build a 30-16 lead before the Cardinals' lack of depth caught up to them. Louisville shot just 9-of-37 (24.3 percent) after its hot start and was outscored 43-28 after halftime. Terrence Edwards Jr. paced the Cardinals with 21 points in his first game as a reserve this season. Edwards (11.9 ppg) is one of four Louisville scorers averaging double figures, led by Chucky Hepburn leads the team in scoring (14.3 ppg) and is second in the country with 3.2 steals per game. The Cardinals entered the season with expectations of rotating 10 or more players to utilize Kelsey's up-tempo attack. However, swingman Kasean Pryor (knee) and guard Koren Johnson (shoulder) will both miss the rest of the season, while forward Aboubacar Traore (arm) is out indefinitely. After Sunday's loss, Kelsey did not rule out adding players to the roster during the season. "Everything's on the table," he said. "I don't sleep, figuring out what buttons to push to get this team to be the best that they can be. We'll scour every inch of the Earth to figure out how we can improve our team. And whether that happens or not, I have no idea, but I'm willing to try anything." --Field Level MediaFirst downs and second guesses: Tony White leaving is no shocker. He could have left last year with the right offer. He made a difference. He helped build a good defensive culture. White is making a chess move to a future head coaching job, but it’s got a risk. He’s going to work for a Florida State head coach on the hot seat. Mike Norvell is hiring White and offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn to help save his job. FSU was a mess this season. I’m guessing the portal this off-season will make a bigger difference than the coordinators. Who should NU go after? I’d start with Syracuse defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson, who has connections with Rhule. You can hang out on my lawn (no flags please) if you want. But Old Man Football has some things to get off his chest. College football needs some adults to step up. The sport had a rough weekend. Great games were overshadowed by the images of fights and torn flags. It was ridiculous. When did planting a flag become an important thing? What does that even mean? That you conquered the field? It means winning isn’t enough. You have to rub your opponents’ nose in defeat. Hey Michigan: wasn’t that your fourth straight win over Ohio State? That means you won at Ohio Stadium two years ago, right? So why are you acting like it was Michigan’s first-ever win over Ohio State? Meanwhile, Buckeyes coach Ryan Day is watching the chaos much like Kevin Bacon in “Animal House.” Remain calm. All is well. On the flip side of this, when did the midfield logo become the sacred ground of college football? Teams stomp on the logo all game, bodies are slammed, blood spilled on it. But before and after it needs security detail? It’s part of the football field. Don’t plant a flag on it. Don’t worry if somebody steps on it. The best midfield logo I ever saw was the diamond-shaped “Big 8” logo at Memorial Stadium. Let’s go back to that. Let’s go back to respecting the game, and the opponent, too. Nebraska needs a lesson in that after the no-hand shake event on Friday. This is a generational debate. I’ve heard from both sides of Nebraska fans on this. My take: if you don’t respect your opponent, you don’t respect the game, either. Both are a problem. The handshake should be part of the Nebraska football identity. Attention to detail. Not creating needless distractions. Play the right way. All are important to the ultimate goal: winning. Is the pre-game drama the reason Iowa won? No. But it makes you wonder what are the priorities at Nebraska. Like the 2020 game when the Huskers complained about clapping while the quarterback called the signals. What’s the focus on? Lack of respect was a two-way street in Iowa City on Friday. Hawkeye linebacker Jay Higgins went up to Nebraska coach Matt Rhule and said that not shaking hands was a bad idea. I’ve never heard of a Nebraska player ever getting in the face of an opposing coach. Not Barry Switzer. Not Bill McCartney. Not any of them. I’m guessing if someone had done that to Kirk Ferentz, we’d never hear the end of it. Player entitlement is the rage in college football. They’re getting paid. That’s a good thing. But they’re also becoming bolder with their actions. Not all of it is good. Rivalries are fun. Rivalries are emotional. That’s what makes them great. It’s the extra rubbing the opponent’s face in it that crosses the line for me. Take the W, and the L, and head back to the locker room and wait until next time. The Nebraska-Iowa rivalry has never been hotter. I’d like to see coaches Ferentz and Rhule get control of it. We don’t need a flag plant or a brawl after next season’s game. I feel like we're headed that way. You know, a cool tradition to start in this rivalry would be a pre-game handshake from the teams at midfield. Oh, wait. That’s the Captains’ coin toss. There’s been a moment of civility and respect in the Iowa-Nebraska series. I saw it last January at the Outland Trophy Dinner in Omaha. The Outland honored Dan Young and Reese Morgan with the Tom Osborne Legacy Award. Both were high school coaches in Nebraska and Iowa and assistant coaches at NU and Iowa. There was a lot of love and respect in that room that night, including Ferentz and a group from Iowa City to represent Morgan. Iowa-Nebraska can be intense, nasty and emotional — and still about respect. Nebraskans and Iowans are actually a lot more alike than either side will ever admit. That’s what makes it such a good rivalry. There’s not much Creighton volleyball can do about being a No. 6 overall seed, other than winning at Nebraska or Louisville. Then again, that’s what CU is going to have to do — at Penn State — to get to the Final Four. Until the Big East gets built up in volleyball, that’s the bottom line. If Nebraska and Creighton both make the Final Four, guess who would meet in the national semifinals on Dec. 19? Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Lisa Simpson once said during an episode of “The Simpsons:” What could be more exciting than the savage ballet that is pro football? On Monday night, the entire Simpsons universe gets to experience it in a way not many could have imagined. The prime-time matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will also take place at Springfield’s Atoms Stadium as part of “The Simpsons Funday Football” alternate broadcast. The altcast will be streamed on ESPN+, Disney+, and NFL+ (on mobile devices). ESPN and ABC have the main broadcast, while ESPN2 will carry the final “ManningCast” of the regular season. The replay will be available on Disney+ for 30 days. Globally, more than 145 countries will have access to either live or on replay. “We’re such huge football fans, and the Simpsons audience and the football audience, I feel, are like the same audience of just American families and football. And the Simpsons are so much a part of the DNA of the American family and culture that for us to, like, mush them together in this crazy video game, it’s so fun,” said Matt Selman, executive producer of “The Simpsons.” While the game is the focal point, the alternate broadcast, in some ways, will resemble a three-hour episode of “The Simpsons.” It starts with Homer eating too many hot dogs and having a dream while watching football. Homer joins the Cowboys in the dream while Bart teams up with the Bengals. Lisa and Marge will be sideline reporters. “That’s the beginning of the story, and the story continues through the entire game until Homer wakes up from his dream at the end of the game. It is like a complete story, and the NFL game will happen in between. It’s just going to be an amazing presentation with tons of surprises,” said Michael “Spike” Szykowny, ESPN’s VP of edit and animation. This is the second year ESPN has done an alternate broadcast for an NFL game. It used the characters from “Toy Story” for last year’s Sunday morning game from London between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars. “The Simpsons” has featured many sports-themed episodes during its 35 seasons. Even though “Homer at the Bat” remains the consensus favorite sports episode for many Simpsons fans, there have been football ones such as “Bart Star” and “Lisa The Greek.” There also was a Super Bowl-themed one after Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl 33 between Denver and Atlanta in 1999. Even though “The Simpsons” remains a staple on Fox’s prime-time schedule, it is part of the Disney family after their acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. All 35 seasons are on Disney+. The show’s creators have worked with ESPN and the NFL to make sure the look and sound is definitely Simpsonsesque. The theme song is a mash-up of “The Simpsons” opening and “Monday Night Football’s” iconic “Heavy Action.” There have also been pre-recorded skits and bits to use during the broadcast featuring Simpson’s legendary voices Hank Azaria, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, and Yeardley Smith. The telecast will be entirely animated, with the players’ movements in sync with what is happening in real-time on the field. That is done through player-tracking data enabled by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats system and Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology. While Next Gen Stats tracks where players are on the field with a tracking chip in the shoulder pads, there is skeletal data tracking and limb tracking data — which uses 29 points per player — to get closer to the player’s movements. The other data tracking will allow Beyond Sports and Disney to add special characters to the game. For example, there might be a play where Lisa catches the ball and goes 30 yards instead of Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins. “Lisa is much smaller than the rest of the players. So, in real life, the ball would go over her head, but now, with data processing, we can take the ball and make it go exactly into her hands. So for the viewer, it still looks believable, and it all makes sense,” said Beyond Sports co-founder Nicolaas Westerhof. The other major challenge is making “The Simpsons” two-dimensional cartoon characters into 3-D simulations. Szykowny and his team worked to make that a reality over the past couple of months. “That’s a big leap of faith for them to say, hey, we trust you to make our characters 3-D and work with it. Our ESPN creative studio team has done a wonderful job,” Szykowny said. Lisa, Krusty, Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph will be with Bart and the Bengals; while Carl, Barney, Lenny and Moe join up with with Homer and the Cowboys. The broadcast will also feature ESPN personalities Stephen A. Smith, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. ESPN’s Drew Carter, Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky will call the game from Bristol, Connecticut, and also be animated. They will wear Meta Quest Pro headsets to experience the game from Springfield using VR technology. For Kimes, being part of the broadcast and being an animated Simpsons character is a dream come true. She is a massive fan of the show and has a framed photo of Lisa Simpson — who she said is a personal hero and icon — as part of her backdrop when she makes appearances on ESPN NFL shows from her home in Los Angeles. “I didn’t have any input, and I didn’t see anything beforehand, so I wasn’t sure if it would look like me, but it kind of does, which is very funny,” said Kimes, who drew Simpsons characters when she was a kid. “To see the actual staff turn me into one was a dream.” Even though the Bengals (4-8) and Cowboys (5-7) have struggled this season, Selman thinks both teams have personalities that appeal to “The Simpsons” universe. “We were just so lucky also that the Cowboys are sort of like a Homer Simpson-type team, American team, and Mike McCarthy might be a Homer-type guy, one might imagine,” he said. ”And then you have Joe Burrow on the other side who is a cool young, spiky-haired, blonde bad boy -- he’s like Bart. And that fits our character archetypes so perfectly. “If Homer is mad at Bart and has a hot dog dream while watching ’Monday Night Football’, and then it’s basically McCarthy versus Burrow, Homer versus Bart, and that’s the simple father versus son strangling — Homer strangling Bart dynamic that has been part of the show for 35 years. I don’t know if that would have worked as well if it was like Titans versus Jacksonville. We would have found something. We would have made it work.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

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