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2025-01-13
The gunman who stalked and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fled New York City by bus, police officials told CNN on Friday. Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of the shooting Wednesday showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. Here's the latest: The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer may have fled the city on a bus, New York City police officials told CNN on Friday. Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of the shooting Wednesday showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. “We have reason to believe that the person in question has left New York City,” Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer made sure to wear a mask during the shooting yet left a trail of evidence in view of the nation’s biggest city and its network of security cameras that have aided authorities piecing together his movements and his identity. A law enforcement official said Friday that new surveillance footage shows the suspect riding the subway and visiting establishments in Manhattan and provided more clues about his actions in the days before he ambushed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson . The gunman’s whereabouts and identity remain unknown Friday, as did the reason for Wednesday’s killing. New York City police say evidence firmly points to it being a targeted attack . ▶ Read more about the search for the gunman In many companies, investor meetings like the one UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was walking to when he was fatally shot are viewed as very risky because details on the location and who will be speaking are highly publicized. “It gives people an opportunity to arrive well in advance and take a look at the room, take a look at how people would probably come and go out of a location,” said Dave Komendat, president of DSKomendat Risk Management Services, which is based in the greater Seattle area. Some firms respond by beefing up security. For example, tech companies routinely require everyone attending a major event, such as Apple’s annual unveiling of the next iPhone or a shareholder meeting, to go through airport-style security checkpoints before entering. Others forgo in-person meetings with shareholders. ▶ Read more about how companies protect their leaders Those images include New York’s subway system, a law enforcement official said. In establishments where the person was captured on camera, he always appeared to pay with cash, the official said. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. — Mike Balsamo Medica, a Minnesota-based nonprofit health care firm that serves 1.5 million customers in 12 states, said it’s temporarily closing all six locations. The firm has offices in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and North Dakota, and employs about 3,000 people. Employees will work from home, Medica spokesman Greg Bury said in an email Friday. “The safety of Medica employees is our top priority and we have increased security both for all of our employees,” a statement from Medica said. “Although we have received no specific threats related to our campuses, our office buildings will be temporarily closed out of an abundance of caution.” Bury also said biographical information on the company’s executives was taken down from its website as a precaution. The insurer cited the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in its announcement about the Dec. 12 event. “All of us at Centene are deeply saddened by Brian Thompson’s death and want to express our support for all of those affected. Health insurance is a big industry and a small community; many members of the CenTeam crossed paths with Brian during their careers,” Centene CEO Sarah M. London said in a news release. “He was a person with a deep sense of empathy and clear passion for improving access to care. Our hearts are with his family and his colleagues during this difficult time.” Centene Corp. has grown in recent years to become the largest insurer in Medicaid, the state- and federally funded program that covers care for people with low incomes. Insurers manage Medicaid coverage for states, and Centene has more than 13 million people enrolled in that coverage. The insurance company also said it’s focused on ensuring the safety of employees and assisting investigators. “While our hearts are broken, we have been touched by the huge outpouring of kindness and support in the hours since this horrific crime took place,” the company said. But he said Friday that he’s confident police will arrest the shooter. “We are on the right road to apprehend him and bring him to justice,” Adams said on TV station WPIX. Later, it removed their names and biographies entirely. Police and federal agents have been collecting information from Greyhound in an attempt to identify the suspect and are working to determine whether he purchased the ticket to New York in late November, a law enforcement official said. Investigators were also trying to obtain additional information from a cellphone recovered from a pedestrian plaza through which the shooter fled. The fatal shooting of Brian Thompson while walking alone on a New York City sidewalk has put a spotlight on the widely varied approaches companies take to protect their leaders against threats. Experts say today’s political, economic and technological climate is only going to make the job of evaluating threats against executives and taking action to protect them even more difficult, experts say. Some organizations have a protective intelligence group that uses digital tools such as machine learning or artificial intelligence to comb through online comments to detect threats not only on social media platforms such as X but also on the dark web, says Komendat. They look for what’s being said about the company, its employees and its leadership to uncover risks. ▶ Read more about the steps companies take to protect their leadership Police said Thursday they found a water bottle and protein bar wrapper from a trash can near the scene of the ambush and think the suspect bought them from a Starbucks minutes before the shooting. The items were being tested by the city’s medical examiner.REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 06, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pattern Computer®, Inc. (“Pattern” or “the Company”) today announced that it has entered into a multi-target partnership with Phenome Health, a Seattle-based nonprofit research organization led by CEO Lee Hood, MD, PhD. Delivering value through health innovation. Phenome Health employs a data-driven approach to wellness and disease that integrates diverse types of health data. “Pattern is a pioneer in finding novel patterns in complex data that cannot be discovered using other techniques or tools. The speed of AI innovation is accelerating and is rapidly emerging as a strategic imperative. Pattern is optimally positioned to leverage the expertise of our Pattern Discovery EngineTM (PDE) into the next worlds of trustworthy, transparent computing. Since its founding, Pattern has been on a strategic path with a roadmap largely focused on building our PDE and using it to generate world-class, high-value assets. These include and are not limited to seven combination cancer drugs, and new diagnostic advances, against the world’s top five cancers. We seek to partner with firms to bring these therapeutic and diagnostic technologies – such as our ProSpectral TM device, a game-changing medical diagnostic tool and research instrument – into clinical trials,” said Mark Anderson, Chair and CEO. The Partnership will integrate Pattern’s technologies with multi-omics time-course data on individuals with the goal of discovering new drivers of human health and longevity – seeding novel strategies to make these discoveries actionable as part of the standard of care. “By measuring how lifestyle choices impact our short, medium, and long-term health, we will identify genes, pathways, and microbes that can be targeted at a molecular level to improve health, rather than merely treat disease. Our goal in this project is to be instrumental in Phenome Health’s mission to develop the tools and insights that power data-driven personalized health,” Anderson added. Further, the ProSpectral platform will be used to develop surrogate measurements for expensive multi-omics. ProSpectral makes rapid measurements on two drops of saliva that capture rich biochemical information about the individual and their oral microbiome. An early goal will be to determine the extent to which patterns of gene expression, metabolism, and changes in the microbiome can be reconstructed from ProSpectral’s non-invasive, reagent-free assay. Anderson noted, “Success in the integration of ProSpectral with existing multi-omic technologies would reduce the cost of collecting longitudinal molecular data by orders of magnitude – opening precision medicine to regions and economies that are currently priced out of state-of-the-art care. The lightweight, portable nature of our platform ensures that data can be collected anywhere, anytime, without supply chain or economic constraints The rapidity of measurements – seconds instead of hours or days – stands to enable real-time decision support for medical professionals in a way that has never been possible before.” “We are enthusiastic about a partnership with Pattern and the possibilities of identifying non-invasive, rapid, and cost-effective approaches to data-driven personalized health,” added Lee Hood, CEO of Phenome Health. “We envision a world where everyone is empowered by their own data to improve wellness and prevent disease. We see technologies like those developed by Pattern as facilitating this reality.” About Phenome Health Phenome Health was established by internationally acclaimed scientist and entrepreneurial visionary, Lee Hood, to contribute solutions to major challenges causing a crisis in healthcare. The aging population and other factors are driving an explosion of chronic disease that largely contribute to increasing costs at an unsustainable rate in a healthcare system not equipped to solve these problems without a radical paradigm change - namely shifting from a reactive system that focuses on treating disease to a proactive system focused on optimizing health. Economic analysis predicts such a paradigm change would drive trillions of dollars in resources upstream, creating massive opportunity in the health and wellness marketplace. We strive to accelerate this shift through a systematic approach to define health, develop a disease-agnostic discovery framework to understand how and why people transition to disease, and identify new approaches to prevent and reverse disease development. Our ambitious strategy leverages advancements in biotechnologies and computer science to capture and interpret high dimensional health data in order to invent the solutions needed to solve the healthcare crisis. https://phenomehealth.org/ About Pattern Pattern Computer, Inc. uses its Pattern Discovery EngineTM to solve the most important and intractable problems in industry, business and medicine. These proprietary mathematical techniques in advanced AI can find complex patterns in very-high-order data that have eluded detection by much larger systems. As the Company applies its computational platform to the challenging fields of drug discovery and diagnostics in cancer, it is also making major Pattern Discoveries for partners in other sectors, including extended biotech, materials science, aerospace manufacturing quality control, veterinary medicine, air traffic operations, and energy services. See www.patterncomputer.com . CONTACT: Laura Guerrant-Oiye (808) 960-2642 – laura@patterncomputer.com The foregoing contains statements about Pattern Computer’s future that are not statements of historical fact. These statements are “forward looking statements” for purposes of applicable securities laws and are based on current information and/or management’s good faith belief as to future events. The words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “project,” “should,” “could,” “will,” and similar expressions signify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risk and uncertainties, which change over time, and actual performance could differ materially from that anticipated by any forward-looking statements. Pattern Computer undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement. Copyright © 2024 Pattern Computer Inc. All Rights Reserved. Pattern Computer, Inc., Pattern Discovery Engine, PatternBio, TrueXAI, and ProSpectral are trademarks of Pattern Computer Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners.slot game demo
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Islanders host the Red Wings after Palmieri's 2-goal game
When Carmen Wageman started a home staging business out of her Richmond Hill garage 22 years ago, she had a hard time convincing sellers she could make their properties look bigger, brighter and newer — leading to faster and more profitable sales. “I was escorted out of houses a couple of times in the beginning because I told them to paint out their gum wood,” Wageman says. “Now, when I go in, one of the first things people say is, ‘You can tell me anything. Tell me to get rid of anything. Just make me some money.’” It’s been a turbulent year in Toronto’s real estate market with housing prices going down and the number of new listings going way up. Despite the downturn — or some say because of it — realtors have relied more than ever on a highly specialized but growing segment of the industry to compete and clinch sales. Staging has never been more popular or lucrative. “This is our best year yet,” says Wageman. “We’ve added more than 20 per cent to our bottom line.” Wageman recently expanded her operation into a 50,000-square-foot warehouse in East York to accommodate a growing inventory: more than 100 neutral sofas and sectionals in many shapes and sizes, large-scale original artwork, and tens of thousands of chairs, coffee tables, linens and toss cushions. With her daughter Jessica Steinman, Wageman this year launched a rental arm to her Stage Right Home business, making all of their inventory available to realtors and home sellers who don’t have the budget for full-service staging. S “This is our best year yet,” says home stager Carmen Wageman. “We’ve added more than 20 per cent to our bottom line.” There is no scientific data that home staging actually nets sellers more money. But there is a growing body of academic research that shows buyers experience a “cognitive deficit” in their hunt for a home. Their ability to make rational decisions is hampered by high emotions. A sparkling clean home, with high-end furniture and counters cleared of any sign of bill payments, is powerful bait for picky buyers, especially in a sluggish market. “We’ve never invested more in staging than in the last year,” says Christina Pinelli, a real estate agent with Heaps Estrin. “There are actually still a lot of buyers out there. It’s just that buyers are taking longer to make a decision and in general they prefer a turnkey home. So if you can provide as close the image of that as possible, it’s easier for them to visualize their life there.” In late September, Pinelli hired a team to transform her client Julie Tyas’s Leaside home. Over just a few days, the traditional two-storey brick house that Tyas, a lawyer, her husband and their three kids called home for 15 years was ripped apart and reset to get it ready for sale. Some of the furniture and most of the bedding was a rented prop brought in by a professional stager, including 13 pillows for Tyas’s bed and comforters piled so high her Jack Russell terrier could barely spring up to his usual spot. Heaps Estrin real estate agent Christina Pinelli arranged for a contractor, home stager and professional organizer to glow up this Leaside home before it went to market in the fall. The property sold in a few days for $2.64 million, nearly $150,000 over its asking price. “It’s hard to not take it personally when your own items have been replaced with items not to your taste but I trusted Christina (the agent) and knew it was being done for a reason,” Tyas says. Alyssa Douglas was part of the small army that Pinelli called up to Tyas’s home. Until last year, organizing and decluttering was a side hustle to her full-time corporate job. But when the number of calls to organize homes for sale grew exponentially, Douglas took a leap into her “dream job,” starting Tidy Rabbit Organizing. “This spring was very, very busy,” says Douglas, who generally charges between $75 $100 hourly, depending on scope. “We were working seven days a week to fit clients in.” Helping people get organized to leave their homes, not live in them, is a high-pressure process that involves working on a tight deadline with the buyer to make quick decisions on what items stay and what needs to go. “It requires a different mindset,” Douglas says. She works room by room, starting with the basement, which typically has the most “stuff,” and goes through every closet and drawer, paring back clothes to a limited wardrobe that matches the season as “buyers want to see a lot of storage space.” Douglas budgets to spend one day on each floor. In Tyas’s home, piles of paperwork and clutter vanished into storage boxes. The tchotchkes that were on display shelves were carefully boxed and replaced with seagrass baskets, leather-bound books and a few objets d’art. A couch the kids like to play on went into storage. Ditto the chairs in their living room, which were swapped for more modern, Scandinavian-style ones. A new coffee table arrived along with spotless area rugs. When she saw the listing photos, Tyas says, “I got it. It was pleasing for the masses.” The first offer landed the same day the house was listed. By the weekend, five buyers sparked a bidding war. Less than a week after hitting the market, the house sold for $2.64 million, $145,000 over asking. Staging a residential property in Toronto can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $18,000 for the first month, depending on the size of the space and how much furniture is required, Wageman says. That amount includes service fees. The standard average cost runs between $5,000 and $8,000. The cost for a second or third month is reduced, reflecting rental fees on the borrowed items. When she started out, homeowners would generally cover the bill for staging. But as competition for lucrative listings increased, many realtors began offering to foot or split the cost. It’s tricky to quantify staging’s impact on sales because there are so many variables but Wageman says she’s confident the work she does increases the home’s appeal to buyers and its ultimate value. “If you pay $7,000 for staging, you know you’re going to get more than $7,000 back. You know, you’re probably going to get more than $14,000, which is doubling your money. You know, you’re probably going to get more than $21,000. Where in investment can you put in a dollar and get three? Staging is probably the last area of investment where you can make a ton of money like that.” Patrick Rocca, a broker with Bosley Real Estate, has tapped Wageman to stage his listings for the past 15 years and credits her with houses routinely selling $150,000 to $300,000 over asking. Rocca will occasionally cover the cost of staging if he’s charging full commission, but more often his clients pay Wageman directly. A few years ago, Rocca took over a stale listing on Bessborough Road near Sunnybrook Hospital that had sat for three months with no bites. He told the clients they needed Wageman to work her magic. “So I come in and I’m the bad cop,” she says. Wageman’s to-do list for the clients was extensive and expensive. “There was a leak in the bedroom from the Juliet balcony so the carpet was all stained,” she says. “It had been fixed but sent red flags everywhere. The colour of the house was all wrong. It was too dark. The colours of the interior were so rich and vibrant but it’s not a mass appeal. As a matter of fact, it was a little oppressive. They needed to paint the entire house, kitchen cabinets included, change the knobs, change all the lighting, get rid of their furniture. And they did it.” While these sellers were highly motivated to co-operate, Wageman says they encounter those who invite them in but then push back. It happens often enough across the industry that Wageman says the average “shelf life” of a home stager is three to five years until burnout. The pandemic didn’t help. “Some sellers have become angrier, they have no filter. They say whatever they want and apologize later.” The Bessborough property owners’ support, though, resulted in a record payday. The house sold for $1 million over asking, a figure Rocca calls a “once in a lifetime” event. The most important part of staging any property, Wageman says, is getting the “money room” right — the first space a buyer sees when walking in the house. There are different statistics on how quickly a potential buyer decides whether or not to make an offer on a home. “Some say 30 seconds, I think it’s more like five,” Wageman says. “If somebody is not wowed within the first five seconds they’re in the house, it’s really hard to get their attention back.” Not everyone agrees staging is worth the cost. Barry Cohen, who is currently listing the most expensive residential property in Toronto — a $34.5 million manse near Casa Loma with its own indoor parking lot complete with built-in turntable and car wash — uses stagers sparingly. While he says “good staging can move buyers across the finish line,” the Re/Max broker generally works with the seller’s furniture. “It costs money,” he says. “Every once in a while I have a seller who says ‘I want to physically stage.’ That seller quickly doesn’t want to pay for the second or third month.” Wageman is mindful that many in the industry are trying to cut costs. In late October, she and Steinman went on a major buying trip to High Point Market in North Carolina. They’re expanding their stock to accommodate the growing rental business. They’re also widening their sales business so realtors and homeowners can purchase furniture, lighting packages, linens and art directly from them through another arm of their business called Hive Society. It’s the first trade store for real estate agents and their clients. In the new year, they’re launching a staging school for realtors who want to learn how to do it properly themselves. Stage Right Home is expanding to teach classes on home staging for realtors who want to save money by doing it themselves. One of the lessons Wageman is eager to teach is that Benjamin Moore’s Chantilly Lace is not everyone’s answer for walls. “My God, if I see this colour one more time,” Wageman says. “We’ll teach them how to choose paint colours and provide them with the selections we choose over and over and over that seem to be successful across the board no matter what.” Cohen predicts the future of staging is virtual. One of his clients recently toured a three-dimensional rendering of his new 7,000-square-foot home at an architect’s office using a virtual reality mask. “He walked into the living room, went to sit on the sofa and fell on the floor,” Cohen says with a laugh. “It’s only a matter of time before the technology is part of every real estate office,” Cohen says. “People won’t need to leave the office.” Wageman isn’t convinced.Geminid meteor shower captured lighting up night skies across EnglandChicago mayor's senior adviser voted in Texas in November 2024 electionNEW YORK — U.S. stocks rose to records after data suggested the job market remains solid enough to keep the economy going, but not so strong that it raises immediate worries about inflation. The S&P 500 climbed 0.2%, just enough top the all-time high set on Wednesday, as it closed a third straight winning week in what looks to be one of its best years since the 2000 dot-com bust. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8% to set its own record. Treasury yields eased after the jobs report showed stronger hiring than expected but also an uptick in the unemployment rate. WASHINGTON — America’s job market rebounded in November, adding 227,000 workers in a solid recovery from the previous month, when the effects of strikes and hurricanes had sharply diminished employers’ payrolls. Last month’s hiring growth was up considerably from a meager gain of 36,000 jobs in October. The government also revised up its estimate of job growth in September and October by a combined 56,000. Friday’s report also showed that the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.1% in October to a still-low 4.2%. The November data provided the latest evidence that the U.S. job market remains durable even though it has lost significant momentum from the 2021-2023 hiring boom, when the economy was rebounding from the pandemic recession. A federal appeals court panel on Friday unanimously upheld a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok in a few short months, handing a resounding defeat to the popular social media platform as it fights for its survival in the U.S. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the law – which requires TikTok to break ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned by mid-January – is constitutional, rebuffing TikTok’s challenge that the statute ran afoul of the First Amendment and unfairly targeted the platform. TikTok and ByteDance — another plaintiff in the lawsuit — are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court. The U.S. government has ordered testing of the nation’s milk supply for bird flu to better monitor the spread of the virus in dairy cows. The Agriculture Department on Friday said raw or unpasteurized milk from dairy farms and processors nationwide must be tested on request starting Dec. 16. Testing will begin in six states — California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania. The move is aimed at eliminating the virus, which has infected more than 700 dairy herds in 15 states. LANSING, Mich. — Democrats in Michigan are pressing to pass reproductive health care legislation before the party loses its majority with the new legislative session next year. A bill to protect digital reproductive health data including data logged on menstrual cycle tracking apps is a Democratic priority as lawmakers meet this month. Democratic women and supporters of the legislation say they are acting with new urgency before President-elect Donald Trump takes office because they don’t believe his campaign promise to leave abortion to the states. The rush is also a reaction to Republicans taking control of the state House in January. Democrats kept control of the state Senate in the November election. KASHIMA, Japan — The signs at Nippon Steel read: “The world through steel,” underlining why Japan’s top steelmaker is pursuing its $15 billion bid to acquire U.S. Steel. Japan’s domestic market isn’t growing, so Nippon Steel has its eyes on India, Southeast Asia and the United States, where populations are still growing. Nippon Steel gave reporters a tour of one of its plants in Japan on Friday. The bid for U.S. Steet is opposed by President-elect Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and American steelworkers. If the deal goes through, U.S. Steel will keep its name and its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but become subsidiary of Nippon Steel. BANGKOK — China has banned exports of key materials used for a wide range of products, including smartphones, electric vehicles, radar systems and CT scanners, swiping back at Washington after it expanded export controls to include dozens of Chinese companies that make equipment used to produce computer chips. Both sides say the controls are justified by national security concerns. Analysts say they could have a much wider impact on manufacturing in many industries and supply chains, depending on the ability of each side to compensate for loss of access to strategically important materials, equipment and components. Here’s why this could be a tipping point in trade conflict between the two biggest economies.
STRIKES could cause travel chaos for Brits across Europe this winter, including one at a major UK airport. Disruption is scheduled at a range of European airports, with some airlines also at risk of pilots and other employees striking. Tanker drivers employed by North Air at Edinburgh Airport are set to walk out for over two weeks, according to Scotland's largest union Unite. The strike will begin at 5am on Wednesday, December 18 and will end at the same time on Monday, January 6. The routes most likely to be affected include United Airlines' flights to New York, as well as Emirates' to Dubai, according to the union. It added that Loganair's domestic routes to the Scottish islands could also be "directly impacted". However, a spokesperson for the airport told The Independent that it is "working with airlines to understand their contingencies to minimise passenger disruption." United and Emirates are likely to be affected as they cannot store enough extra fuel from their incoming flights, due to their long distance, without exceeding safe landing limits. Loganair may be able to load extra fuel at locations such as the Isle of Man , Stornoway, Orkney, and Shetland to reduce the impact the strike may have on its flights. However, its more than 350 mile route to Southampton could prove more difficult due to runway payload restrictions. When fuel has not been available at an airport, long-haul carriers have previously flown short distances, such as London Heathrow to Stansted , to refuel. Those due to travel to Italy are also expected to suffer from disruption on and around Sunday December 15. Techno Sky employees, who manage the technological infrastructure for Italy's air navigation service, are set to strike for the entire 24 hours of Sunday. In addition, Techno Sky personnel at Milan Control Center, Linate Airport Center and Monte Settepani CRT will strike for four hours, from 13:00 to 17:00, on Sunday too. The company oversees operations at 45 Italian airports, and the industrial action is also being backed by two of Italy’s major transport unions: FILT-CGIL and UILT-UIL. Also joining the four hour walkout are air traffic controllers operating across Milan's three airports and Palma Airport, as well as workers from Aviation Services at Catania-Fontanarossa Airport. Finland has already been hit by strikes this winter, with walkouts on December 9 and 13 affecting 33,000 people after around 300 flights were cancelled. Action by the Finnish Air Line Pilots Association caused major disruption to Finnair operations, with one in three of its flights being cancelled on Friday. A look at your rights if a flight is delayed or cancelled, when your entitled to compensation and if your travel insurance can cover the costs. What are my rights if my flight is cancelled or delayed? Under UK law, airlines have to provide compensation if your flight arrives at its destination more than three hours late. If you're flying to or from the UK, your airline must let you choose a refund or an alternative flight. You will be able to get your money back for the part of your ticket that you haven't used yet. So if you booked a return flight and the outbound leg is cancelled, you can get the full cost of the return ticket refunded. But if travelling is essential, then your airline has to find you an alternative flight. This could even be with another airline. When am I not entitled to compensation? The airline doesn't have to give you a refund if the flight was cancelled due to reasons beyond their control, such as extreme weather. Disruptions caused by things like extreme weather, airport or air traffic control employee strikes or other ‘extraordinary circumstances’ are not eligible for compensation. Some airlines may stretch the definition of "extraordinary circumstances" but you can challenge them through the aviation regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Will my insurance cover me if my flight is cancelled? If you can't claim compensation directly through the airline, your travel insurance may refund you. Policies vary so you should check the small print, but a delay of eight to 12 hours will normally mean you qualify for some money from your insurer. Remember to get written confirmation of your delay from the airport as your insurer will need proof. If your flight is cancelled entirely, you're unlikely to be covered by your insurance. Since September, EasyJet employees in France have been striking in protest against the closure of the operator’s Toulouse hub, scheduled for March 2025. It’s thought that 125 employees could be affected, and the strike is set to continue until Monday December 16. This comes as Brits have been warned to brace for busy Christmas travel period which could cause chaos. Heathrow Airport has said it is preparing for its busiest ever Christmas Day. It expects the number of passengers travelling through its terminals on December 25 to be 21 per cent higher than on the same day last year. The airport also predicts that passenger numbers for the month as a whole will exceed the previous record of 6.7 million in 2023. It made the forecast after confirming it served 6.5 million passengers last month in the "busiest ever November". Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye said: “As we embrace the festive season, our focus remains on ensuring smooth, joyful journeys – whether it is helping passengers get away for Christmas to reunite with their loved ones, or making sure cargo reaches its destination on time.” Meanwhile, those travelling by rail may also face delays after West Coast train managers voted to strike for three days over the Christmas period. The RMT union said that walkouts have been scheduled for 22, 23 and 29 December for Avanti services after rejecting the train company's proposals for "rest day working arrangements". Train managers usually work a 41-hour week but due to staff shortages can be asked to work on their days off - but the RMT said that the current arrangements were "unacceptable". A spokesperson for Avanti West Coast said that at "one of our busiest and most important times of the year" customers "will now face significant disruption because of these strikes". Rail services on all three days are expected to be limited. A revised timetable for 22 and 23 December should be made available from today. Around 300 train managers are expected to join the walkout. Drivers travelling over Christmas have been warned to check their preferred route before setting off - with delays expected at five major motorways. It is expected that some 16 million cars will take to the roads on December 23 and Christmas Eve. Brits could be forced to queue for hours, while demand for electric vehicle charging stations is set to soar. As the festive period gets ever-closer, the M1, M5, M6, M60 and M25 are all expected to be hit by severe traffic - especially on the final weekend before Christmas.
SAN FRANCISCO , Nov. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Smodin, a trailblazer in AI-powered tools for students, educators, and professionals, is thrilled to announce an exciting development: www. contemplativeinquiry.org and www. freshu.io now redirect to Smodin.io, creating a single, unified hub for innovation and productivity. This move marks a significant step forward in Smodin's mission to make advanced AI tools more accessible than ever. By integrating these domains into Smodin.io, users will enjoy seamless access to a broader range of resources, from AI writing assistance to content analysis, all on a single platform designed to meet diverse needs. "This isn't just about redirection—it's about transformation," said the founder of Smodin. "By bringing everything under the Smodin umbrella, we're creating a one-stop solution for anyone seeking smarter, faster, and more effective tools to achieve their goals." Visitors from contemplativeinquiry.org and freshu.io will now have direct access to Smodin's continually expanding suite of features, including plagiarism detection, essay generation, and tools tailored to enhance productivity and creativity. This evolution ensures users can focus on what truly matters: creating, learning, and growing. The consolidation is part of Smodin's vision to innovate and deliver an unparalleled user experience while solidifying its position as a global leader in AI technology. Discover the future of AI-driven solutions at www.smodin.io . About Smodin Smodin is a leading AI-powered platform dedicated to empowering users worldwide with smart tools for writing, research, and productivity. With a focus on innovation and accessibility, Smodin transforms the way students, educators, and professionals work and create. View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smodin-unites-powerful-domains-to-deliver-an-all-in-one-ai-platform-302314508.html SOURCE SmodinDRINK-spiking is to become a specific criminal offence, with predators more likely to be jailed, PM Sir Keir Starmer will announce today. The aim is to simplify the current system where spiking comes either under assault, or part of the Offences Against the Person Act . Workers across the night-time economy will be taught how to prevent incidents, support victims and help cops collect evidence. This will allow officers to provide a quicker and more effective response for victims. The training will be rolled out to 10,000 bar staff by the end of the year. Nearly 7,000 incidents were reported in England and Wales last year but the real figure is understood to be significantly higher. Read More on Politics Sir Keir said: “We know it can be incredibly difficult for victims to come forward to report this awful crime, and these cases can be very hard to prosecute. "I made a promise that, if elected, I’d make spiking a new criminal offence. "Today, I am proud to have come good on that pledge. “Today, I will bring together police chiefs, heads of industry and transport bosses to demand coordinated action to stop women being targeted, whether they are out with friends or simply travelling home. Most read in The Sun “Cracking down on spiking is central to that mission. “We must do more to bring the vile perpetrators who carry out this cowardly act, usually against young women and often to commit a sexual offence, to justice." Home Office minister Jess Phillips said: “Spiking is a diabolical act. “While the risk may be heightened during the festive season, it’s a threat that exists year-round." By JESS PHILLIPS, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls AS Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, one of the threats I’m most concerned about is spiking . It is a diabolical act, and while the risk may be heightened in the festive season, it’s a threat all year round. Let there be no doubt — it is a crime whether it is in a bar, club or friend’s house. The effects can last a lifetime. For too long, spiking has not been treated with the seriousness it merits. It is time to change that.SHAREHOLDER INVESTIGATION: Halper Sadeh LLC Investigates LBRDA, CFB, NBR on Behalf of Shareholders
SYM INVESTOR ALERT: Symbotic Inc. Investors with Substantial Losses Have Opportunity to Lead Investor Class Action LawsuitSHAREHOLDER INVESTIGATION: Halper Sadeh LLC Investigates LBRDA, CFB, NBR on Behalf of Shareholders
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