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2025-01-08   

lucky casino 7 The Tampa Bay Rays have had six of their 2025 regular-season games shifted to the early season due to weather issues from playing outside, Major League Baseball announced Monday. The Rays' usual home, domed Tropicana Field, was damaged by Hurricane Milton last month with almost all of its roof shredded and no possibility of playing there next year. As a result, the Rays moved their 2025 home games from St. Petersburg to the New York Yankees training complex at nearby Tampa, which has an 11,000-seat outdoor stadium. An April series scheduled against the Los Angeles Angels that had been set for California will instead be played April 8-10 in Florida. A series between the two which had been set for August in Florida will now be hosted by the Angels on August 4-6. A Rays series against the Minnesota Twins planned in Minneapolis from May 26-28 will instead be played on the same dates in Tampa while a series that had been set for Tampa on July 4-6 will now be played in Minnesota. Florida summers can bring extreme heat and rain. js/bspFormer UCF head coach Gus Malzahn hired as Florida State OC

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ISTANBUL Bayern Munich defeated Barcelona 100-78 and jumped to third place Friday in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Andreas Obst led the German club with 34 points and Carsen Edwards added 25 at Sap Garden. Obst broke the record for 3-pointers in a single game with 36 seconds left to play in the fourth quarter, having made 10 three-pointers at the end of the third, which had him tied with Shane Larkin (twice), Andrew Goudelock and Marcus Eriksson "Somebody told me that I was near the record, so I was aware of it, so it was a great night also because of the team’s win," Obst said after the game. Nick Weiler-Babb had 14 points and five boards for Bayern. For the Spanish club, Jabari Parker finished with 26 points and Willy Hernangomez had 10 points in the loss. Bayern Munich have an 8 - 3 record while Barcelona are in eighth place at 7 - 3. In another Friday game, Zalgiris Kaunas defeated reigning champ Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens 84-77 to end a four-game skid in the EuroLeague at Zalgirio Arena.Moon Ga-bi refutes speculation about relationship with Jung Woo-sung

ISTANBUL Bayern Munich sealed a 3-0 victory Friday against Augsburg in the German Bundesliga week 11. Harry Kane showcased his scoring prowess at Allianz Arena, converting penalties in the 62nd and 93rd minutes before sealing the victory with a header in the 95th minute to complete a hat-trick. The English striker converted his 25th consecutive penalty for club and country. Bayern Munich are at the top of the table after 11 matches, with 29 points, Augsburg are 13th with 12 points.HNB General Insurance (HNBGI) has demonstrated its excellence by securing three prestigious awards at the National Sales Awards 2024, organised by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM). Reflecting HNBGI’s exceptional sales achievements during the 2023–24 period, the company’s Channel Development Manager Danidu T. Galappaththi, clinched the coveted Silver award under the National Sales Manager category. Danidu’s multifaceted contributions have been instrumental in driving HNBGI’s sales success. His leadership encompassed managing a dynamic sales team to achieve enhanced performance, leveraging innovative technologies, and adopting strategies such as product diversification and bundling to penetrate new market segments. In the Territory Manager category, HNBGI Malabe Branch Manager Pulasthi Bandara was honoured with a Gold award for his strategic planning capabilities, financial acumen, and strong communication skills which were pivotal in achieving sales targets and implementing best practices. In the same category, HNBGI Cluster Manager – Colombo South Ranga Deshan won a Merit award for his outstanding efforts in overseeing branch performance. His expertise in branch-level strategy, target achievement, and team development were critical to HNBGI’s consistent growth. HNBGI CEO Sithumina Jayasundara said: “The steady sales growth we have achieved over the last few years is a testament to the dedication and exceptional performance of our sales force. At HNBGI, we ensure their hard work is recognised and celebrated internally but seeing them honoured on a national stage is incredibly rewarding. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to our award winners for their outstanding contributions to the company.” These accolades underscore HNBGI’s commitment to fostering a culture of excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement within its sales force. The recognition at SLIM National Sales Awards 2024 solidifies HNBGI’s position as a leader in the industry, driven by a passionate and high-performing team.ONE Gas to Participate in Jefferies, Mizuho, and Wells Fargo Utility ConferencesRuud van Nistelrooy ‘disappointed’ and ‘hurt’ after cutting ties with Man Utd

The much-hyped Mike Tyson fight against YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul showed the potential power of Netflix to create live, global sports events on streaming video. For many people though, it also demonstrated the limitations of the technology. Thousands of Netflix users reported technical difficulties while trying to watch the fight. Frustrated viewers contended with buffering and blurry video, a result of tens of millions of households trying to watch the bout at once. It’s the kind of thing that, if the event were aired on a traditional network, would have provoked angry calls to cable companies. Live sports is considered one of the great opportunities for streamers, including Netflix, which need mass audiences tuning in to please advertisers. Companies including Amazon and Apple are spending big, driving up the price of live sports rights and encroaching further on the turf of legacy network rivals. But sports are also a challenge for tech firms. Even without buffering or grainy feeds, live streams are typically delayed compared with cable and satellite broadcasts, which means streaming audiences risk seeing spoilers on social media if the events are simulcast. For Netflix, the stakes are high. The company will host its first live NFL games on Christmas, including one featuring a halftime show from Beyoncé. Netflix is also preparing to air WWE’s “Raw” pro-wrestling franchise starting next year. Brandon Riegg, Netflix’s vice president of nonfiction series and sports, said he has “full faith” in the company’s engineering team, which learned much from the Paul vs. Tyson live match and will adjust before the NFL games. Netflix said it worked quickly to stabilize the viewing for a majority of its subscribers during the boxing event, in which the 27-year-old Paul defeated the 58-year-old Tyson. “We were overwhelmed in the sense of the expectation — it far exceeded our expectations in terms of how many people came to the fight,” Riegg told The Los Angeles Times. “It’s as simple as that. As much as we forecast how many people would come, many, many more people came. It’s impossible for our engineering team to test that magnitude of traffic and viewership unless they have a real, live thing, which is what happened.” On the bright side, Netflix showed that it can be a big draw for sports fans, with an average audience of 108 million live viewers globally tuning in for the fight. Netflix said there were 65 million live concurrent streams, calling it the “most-streamed global sporting event ever.” Industry observers say the day is coming when streamers could place their own bid to host the Super Bowl on their platforms, as long as they can handle the traffic. “Once they prove that they’re capable of delivering a consistent, robust, top-of-the-line, premium experience for these events that consumers have grown to expect, then I have no doubt that we’re going to get there,” said Rob Rosenberg, a former Showtime Networks executive and founder of New York-based Telluride Legal Strategies. The technological challenges aren’t unique to Netflix. Glitches have arisen during other live events streamed on competitors’ platforms, including on YouTube during an NFL game last year and on Amazon’s Prime Video during a Thursday Night Football game in 2022. There are various reasons why buffering occurs, particularly with a highly-anticipated program. When a sporting event is being live streamed, the captured video is released in smaller segments of a few seconds in length that are then transmitted to streaming subscribers and decoded by the users’ devices. If too many devices are seeking those video segments at the same time, it can cause a backlog. Streamers can try to solve the problem by rerouting traffic, but even that sometimes isn’t enough. Streaming services can try to prepare ahead of time by buying more bandwidth capacity from the internet service providers, but it can be difficult to guess how many people will watch, especially if the streamer is new to a particular type of content. There may be limits on how much bandwidth companies can buy. For example, Australia has much less available bandwidth compared with the United States, said Simon Wistow, a co-founder and vice president of strategic initiatives at cloud computing company Fastly. Wistow added that if streamers buy too much capacity and it isn’t used, that’s wasted money. “There’s a lot of complexities, a lot of things go on,” Wistow said. “The scale of internet traffic just gets bigger and bigger every year.” Netflix said it will improve its systems to better handle live events at unprecedented scale and work with ISPS to continue increasing its capacity. The company has been steadily putting on more live events, such as a hot dog eating competition, Screen Actors Guild Awards and a tennis exhibition match. The company’s first live event was a Chris Rock comedy special last year, which has drawn 23.5 million views. An early effort at live streaming, a “Love Is Blind” reunion special, encountered technical trouble due to a bug that went unnoticed until people tried to watch the program. The Paul vs. Tyson event was a new milestone for Netflix’s live streaming efforts. For some viewers, like Florida resident Malcolm Scott, the streamer’s issues were unacceptable. Scott even sued Netflix for breach of contract last week, alleging that Netflix viewers missed large portions of the fight. Netflix declined to comment on the lawsuit. Brian Comiskey, a futurist at the trade group Consumer Technology Assn., chalked Netflix’s problems up to technological growing pains. “At the end of the day this is content being delivered from thousands of miles away via files,” said Comiskey, calling himself a millennial who remembers what it was like pre-smartphone. “This is a tremendous step in technology, but it only gets better from there.” Brian Rolapp, the NFL’s chief media and business officer said he believes Netflix will be ready to stream its games. “I think it shows the power of their global platform, their international reach, which is one reason why we did this deal,” Rolapp said during the Sports Business Journal Media Innovators Conference. “So, I think what they did was pretty extraordinary.” Get local news delivered to your inbox!What diversity does — and doesn't — look like in Trump's CabinetIf the thought of a cranberry vodka slush or frozen hot chocolate raises your holiday spirits high, then Walmart might have exactly what you want to see underneath your Christmas tree . The Ninja SLUSHi 3-in-1 Professional Frozen Drink Maker is back in stock at Walmart, and it doesn’t come with the typical $300 price tag that you’ll see on the Ninja website (or at retailers like Kohl’s and Target, when it’s actually in stock). This Walmart-exclusive special edition SLUSHi is marked down from $300 to $249, for a total $51 savings, and you can’t find it anywhere else. Shop Walmart’s full Black Friday sale now. With Ninja’s proprietary RapidChill Technology, you can turn your favorite cold drinks into frosty delights in just 15 minutes. The machine works by swirling liquids around a chilling cylinder and adjusting the temperature and texture to get a perfect, smooth consistency without any ice. The 72-ounce version is perfect for smaller kitchens, but also just as suitable for people who can appreciate a frozen bevvy once in a while, but don’t need to have everything they’re drinking on the frozen side. Instead of the larger 88-ounce iteration that has five presets — Slush, Spiked Slush, Milkshake, Frappé and Frozen Juice — this one just has the Slush, Spiked Slush and Milkshake. So, if you’re not a frozen ‘snow salt chococcino’ connoisseur or a fan of icy juices, then you definitely don’t need to have the bigger slush machine. You can still everything from cranberry orange slushies to candy cane mocha iced martinis and even gingerbread milkshakes or fizzy and frozen pomegranate champagne floats. Whether you’re hosting a party or just enjoying a cozy night in during the busy holiday season, your Ninja SLUSHi will be the biggest conversation piece in your kitchen. I say this, too, because it has been a major hit in mine ever since I got it in August. I can’t wait to make some “toasted elves” (think: amaretto, coffee liquor, vodka and chocolate syrup) when we’re putting up our tree in the next few weeks! Shop the Ninja SLUSHi 72 oz. 3-Programs Professional Frozen Drink Maker for $249 at Walmart here. And keep these other Ninja deals in mind, as well. Ninja Blast 16-Ounce Personal Portable Blender for $40, instead of $50 Ninja THIRSTi Drink System for $119, instead of $169 Ninja 5-Preset CREAMi Ice Cream Maker for $149, instead of $199 The Best Black Friday Deals in 2024 Amazon is having a secret sale on the GE Profile smart indoor smoker that makes it even cheaper for Black Friday Amazon has this enormous 77-inch Samsung OLED 4K TV on sale for $900 off in an unbeatable Black Friday deal Walmart has this giant JBL Partybox speaker on sale for a whopping $201 off for Black Friday — but this deal won’t last 31 Black Friday mattress sales to shop, including holiday deals from Walmart, Amazon, Sealy, Serta and more Amazon has Hey Dude sneakers on sale for up to 59% off for Black Friday Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com . 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PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter's in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter's path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That's a very narrow way of assessing them," Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn't suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he'd be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter's tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter's lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor's race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama's segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival's endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King's daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters' early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan's presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan's Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s decision to go back on his word and issue a categorical pardon for his son, Hunter , just weeks before his scheduled sentencing on gun and tax convictions was a surprise that wasn't all that surprising. Not to those who had witnessed the president’s shared anguish over his two sons after the boys survived a car crash that killed Biden's first wife and a daughter more than a half-century ago. Or to those who heard the president regularly lament the death of his older son, Beau , from cancer or voice concerns — largely in private — about Hunter’s sobriety and health after years of deep addiction. But by choosing to put his family first, the 82-year-old president — who had pledged to restore a fractured public’s trust in the nation’s institutions and respect for the rule of law — has raised new questions about his already teetering legacy. “This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation,” Colorado's Democratic Gov. Jared Polis wrote in a post on X. He added that while he could sympathize with Hunter Biden’s struggles, “no one is above the law, not a President and not a President’s son.” Biden aides and allies had been resigned to the prospect of the president using his extraordinary power in the waning days of his presidency to ensure his son wouldn't see time behind bars, especially after Donald Trump ’s win. The president's supporters have long viewed Biden's commitment to his family as an asset overall, even if Hunter's personal conduct and tangled business dealings were seen as a persistent liability. But the pardon comes as Biden has become increasingly isolated since the loss to Trump by Vice President Kamala Harris , who jumped in to the race after the president’s catastrophic debate against Trump in June forced his exit from the election. He is still struggling to resolve thorny foreign policy issues in the Middle East and Europe. And he must reckon with his decision to seek reelection despite his advanced age, which helped return the Oval Office to Trump, a man he had warned time and again was a threat to democratic norms. Trump has gleefully planned to undo Biden’s signature achievements on climate change and reverse the Democrat's efforts to reinvigorate the country’s alliances, all while standing poised to take credit for a strengthening economy and billions in infrastructure investments that are in the pipeline for the coming years. And now, Biden has handed the Republican a pretext to carry through with sweeping plans to upend the Department of Justice as the Republican vows to seek retribution against supposed adversaries. “This pardon is just deflating for those of us who’ve been out there for a few years yelling about what a threat Trump is,” Republican Joe Walsh, a vocal Trump critic, said on MSNBC. “‘Nobody’s above the law,’ we’ve been screaming. Well, Joe Biden just made clear his son Hunter is above the law.” Jean-Pierre said Monday from Air Force One that the president wrestled with the decision but ultimately felt his son’s case had been tainted by politics, though she tried to thread the needle — insisting he had faith in the Justice Department. “He believes in the justice system, but he also believes that politics infected the process and led to a miscarriage of justice,” she said. But Trump has already made very clear his intent to disrupt federal law enforcement with his initial nomination of outspoken critics like former Rep. Matt Gaetz to be attorney general and Kash Patel to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray , who nominally still has more than two years left in his term. (Gaetz ended up quickly withdrawing his name amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations.) Reacting to the pardon, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement: “That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people." In a social media post, the president-elect himself called the pardon “such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice.” “Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” Trump asked. He was referring to those convicted in the violent Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol by his supporters aiming to overturn the 2020 presidential election result. Biden and his spokespeople had repeatedly and flatly ruled out the president granting his son a pardon. In June, Biden told reporters as his son faced trial in the Delaware gun case, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.” In July, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters: “It's still a no. It will be a no. It is a no. And I don’t have anything else to add. Will he pardon his son? No." In November, days after Trump's victory, Jean-Pierre reiterated that message: “Our answer stands, which is no." Neither Biden nor the White House explained the shift in the president's thinking, and it was his broken promise as much as his act of clemency that was a lightning rod. He is hardly the first president to pardon a family member or friend entangled in political dealings. Bill Clinton pardoned his brother Roger for drug charges after he had served his sentence roughly a decade earlier. In his final weeks in office, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner , the father of his son-in law, Jared Kushner, as well as multiple allies convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Yet Biden held himself up as placing his respect for the American judicial system and rule of law over his own personal concerns — trying to draw a deliberate contrast with Trump, who tested the bounds of his authority like few predecessors. Inside the White House, the timing of the pardon was surprising to some who believed Biden would put it off as long as possible, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. It came just after Biden spent extended time over the past week with Hunter and other family members on Nantucket in Massachusetts, a family tradition for Thanksgiving. “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further,” Biden said in a statement announcing the pardon. Some in the administration have privately expressed anguish that the substance of Biden’s statement, including his claim of an unfair politically-tinged prosecution of his son resembled complaints Trump — who faced now-abandoned indictments over his role in trying to subvert the 2020 election — has been making for years about the Justice Department. Biden said the charges in his son's cases "came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election.” Many legal experts agreed that the charges against the younger Biden were somewhat unusual, but the facts of the offenses were hardly in dispute, as Hunter wrote about his gun purchase while addicted to illegal drugs in his memoir and ultimately pleaded guilty to the tax charges. The pardon too was unusual, coming before Hunter Biden was even sentences and covering not just the gun and tax offenses against his son, but also anything else he might have done going back to the start of 2014. It's a move that could limit the ability of the Trump Justice Department to investigate the younger Biden's unsavory foreign business dealings, or to find new ground on which to bring criminal charges related to that time period. Biden, in his statement, asked for consideration: “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision." Associated Press Writer Aamer Madhani in Washington and Will Weissert aboard Air Force One contributed to this report. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Prime Minister leads tributes to former US president Jimmy Carter

The United States called Monday for de-escalation in Syria, where an Islamist-led rebel alliance has wrested swathes of territory from the control of President Bashar al-Assad's government in a lightning offensive. The European Union also called on "all sides to de-escalate", while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "alarmed" by the violence and called for an immediate halt to the fighting. Syria has been at war since Assad cracked down on democracy protests in 2011. The conflict has since drawn in foreign powers and jihadists, and left 500,000 people dead. The conflict had been mostly dormant with Assad back in control of much of the country, until last week when the Islamist-led rebel alliance began its offensive. The attack has seen swathes of Syria fall to rebel control, including second city Aleppo for the first time since the start of the civil war. "We want to see all countries use their influence -- use their leverage -- to push for de-escalation, protection of civilians and ultimately, a political process forward," US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. In a statement issued by EU foreign affairs spokesperson Anouar El Anouni, the European Union also called for de-escalation and the protection of civilians, while also condemning Assad backer Russia for conducting air strikes in his support. Russia first intervened directly in Syria's war in 2015 with strikes on rebel-held areas. Its help, along with that of Iran and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, were instrumental in propping up Assad's rule. On Monday President Vladimir Putin and Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian both pledged "unconditional support" for their ally, according to the Kremlin. - Panic in Aleppo - Aleppo is home to two million people and saw fierce fighting earlier in the war. The Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies took the city at the weekend, except for neighbourhoods controlled by Kurdish forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. They also seized Aleppo International Airport. HTS, led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria branch, has faced accusations of human rights abuses including torturing detainees. Abu Sufyan, a rebel commander, told AFP: "God willing, we will continue, go into Damascus and liberate the rest of Syria." One Aleppo resident spoke of panic. "There were terrible traffic jams -- it took people 13 to 15 hours to reach Homs" in central Syria, which is under government control. Normally, he said, it would take a couple of hours. AFPTV footage showed rebels patrolling the streets, some burning a Syrian flag and others holding the flag of the revolution. On Monday, Assad branded the rebel offensive led by HTS an attempt to redraw the regional map in line with US interests. His comments came in a call with Iran's Pezeshkian, who in turn pledged continued support and said Iran hoped "Syria will pass through this stage with success and victory". - Deadly attacks - On Monday, Syrian and Russian air raids on several areas of Idlib province in the northwest killed 11 civilians including five children, the Observatory said. "The strikes targeted... families living on the edge of a displacement camp," said Hussein Ahmed Khudur, a 45-year-old teacher who sought refuge at the camp from fighting in Aleppo province. Other strikes in Aleppo killed four civilians, two of them children, the Observatory said, adding that air raids also targeted a Christian-majority neighbourhood. AFPTV footage showed rebels pushing into Hama province in central Syria. Syria's defence ministry said troops were clashing with "terrorist organisations" in the northern Hama countryside. Islamist-led rebels killed six civilians on Monday in a rocket attack on the government-held city of Hama, the Observatory said. - 'Instability' - Aron Lund of the Century International think tank said a major question hangs over possible Turkish involvement. "I have a hard time imagining that Turkey-backed groups could launch a major rebel offensive out of Turkey-held areas without Turkey being very significantly involved," he said. "But I also don't think Turkey necessarily wanted the rebels to get this far." Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an end to the "instability" in Syria and an agreement to stop the civil war. On a visit to Ankara, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said it was crucial "to protect the achievements" of the so-called Astana process to end Syria's civil war, which involves Turkey, Russia and Iran. Several hours later, he said the respective foreign ministers would meet on the matter next weekend in Qatar. "We will try to activate this process again," he said. - 'Limited utility' - While the current fighting is rooted in a war that began more than a decade ago, much has changed since then. Millions of Syrians have been displaced, with about 5.5 million now in neighbouring countries. Most of those involved in the initial anti-Assad protests are either dead, in jail or in exile. Russia is at war in Ukraine, and Iran's militant allies Hezbollah and Hamas have been massively weakened by more than a year of conflict with Israel. Lebanon's Hezbollah played a key role in backing government forces particularly around Aleppo, but it withdrew from several positions to focus on fighting Israel. HTS and its allies launched their offensive on Wednesday, the day a Lebanon ceasefire began. The violence in Syria has killed 514 people, mostly combatants but also including 92 civilians, according to the Observatory. burs-srm-ser/smwPhoto: RNZ By Natalie Akoorie of RNZ Letters sent to IT employees at Te Whatu Ora Waikato, outlining a proposed restructure and possible disestablishment of their jobs, included the wrong job titles. Some of the employees were assigned job titles that did not exist within the team, prompting calls to scrap the process and start again. Health New Zealand has confirmed plans to cut almost 1500 jobs within the National Public Health Service. Union the Public Service Association union says 1120 will go from the data and digital team. Acting chief information technology officer Darren Douglass wrote to those data and digital staff on November 22, outlining the restructure consultation process which included sharing the proposed new structure last Wednesday. Before that, anyone whose job was impacted or significantly affected would be invited to a briefing session, followed by a group webinar and the chance to provide feedback on a "What Say You" consultation platform. "No decisions will be made this side of Christmas. Subject to your feedback, we anticipate being able to release a decision document some time in mid-to-late January 2025," Douglass wrote. "We are a large business unit, and we are proposing some significant changes. Our starting point is balancing support for regional devolution with driving efficiency and productivity to get back to budget as a national function. "We know we won't have everything right, so it's important that you let us know in your feedback if you see something amiss or have ideas on better ways of doing things." It is understood an "impacted" position faces a change of role or new reporting manager under the proposal, while a "significantly affected" job holder was likely to be made redundant. A second email from Douglass said the job inaccuracies were a result of Health NZ's payroll system. "We do not yet have a joined-up payroll system across the organisation, so we may not have totally accurate information on position titles and people. "If you see anything that isn't accurate, please let us know as soon as possible through WSY (What Say You). We will correct it and assess how that may impact you and your colleagues." Te Manawa Taki Waikato District infrastructure team leader Hugh Field emailed the Waikato team on Friday. "We are aware that many of you are not happy with the job titles you have been defined as currently holding. The net result is the options you are being presented with are not appropriate for your skill set." Field said a case would be made collectively to "have your mappings adjusted". The partner of one of the letter recipients, who can not be named for fear of reprisals, said the Waikato group was unhappy with the incorrect job titles. They questioned whether the inaccurate information was used to assess not only roles but role groups, which were also inaccurate. "What sort of country has a national health system that does not have an integrated payroll system with accurate information including employee job titles? "And how deplorably disrespectful, unprofessional and all round sloppy is it of a government organisation to send out letters to affected employees conveying very upsetting information that not only once but twice refers to a wrong title?" The partner was also concerned at how those selected for redundancy, who had the same job title as others who were only selected as being impacted, were chosen. Douglass said in a statement to RNZ that Health NZ was aware of four instances where data and digital staff impacted by the consultation had questioned the job title used. "Where concerns have been raised, we will check the details against employment agreements and respond to those employees directly. "We recognise this is an unsettling time for impacted staff and we are committed to continuing to talk with staff and unions as the change processes progresses."

Berlin: Tech billionaire Elon Musk caused uproar after backing Germany’s far-right party in a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections in the Western European country, leading to the resignation of Welt am Sonntag’ s opinion editor in protest. Germany is to vote in an early election on February 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revitalise the country’s stagnant economy. Elon Musk has involved himself deeply in US politics - now he’s turned his attention to Germany. Credit: AP Musk’s guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag — a sister publication of POLITICO owned by the Axel Springer Group — published in German over the weekend, was the second time this month he supported the Alternative for Germany, or AfD . “The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country,” Musk wrote in his translated commentary. He went on to say the far-right party “can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality”. The Tesla Motors chief executive also wrote that his investment in Germany gave him the right to comment on the country’s condition. The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with the far-right party. An ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, the technology billionaire challenged in his opinion piece the party’s public image. “The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!” Musk’s commentary has led to a debate in German media over the boundaries of free speech, with the paper’s own opinion editor announcing her resignation, pointedly on Musk’s social media platform, X. “I always enjoyed leading the opinion section of WELT and WAMS. Today an article by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag . I handed in my resignation yesterday after it went to print,” Eva Marie Kogel wrote. Eva Marie Kogel, the editor who quit in protest after her paper ran an Elon Musk opinion piece. Credit: Martin U. K. Lengemann The newspaper was also attacked by politicians and other media for offering Musk, an outsider, a platform to express his views, in favour of the AfD. Candidate for chancellor, Friedrich Merz, of the Christian Democratic Union, said on Sunday that Musk’s comments were “intrusive and presumptuous”. He was speaking to the newspapers of the German Funke Media Group. Supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany political party hold a placard that reads: “Germany First!” at an AfD campaign rally in Thuringia. Credit: Getty Images Co-leader of the Social Democratic Party, Saskia Esken said that “Anyone who tries to influence our election from outside, who supports an anti-democratic, misanthropic party like the AfD, whether the influence is organised by the state from Russia or by the concentrated financial and media power of Elon Musk and his billionaire friends on the Springer board, must expect our tough resistance,” according to the ARD national public TV network. “In Elon Musk’s world, democracy and workers’ rights are obstacles to more profit,” Esken told Reuters. “We say quite clearly: Our democracy is defensible and it cannot be bought.” Musk’s opinion piece in the Welt am Sonntag was accompanied by a critical article by the future editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Jan Philipp Burgard. “Musk’s diagnosis is correct, but his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong,” Burgard wrote. A general view of The Reichstag, which houses the German lower House of Parliament or Bundestag. Snap elections are scheduled for February 23. Credit: Getty Images Responding to a request for comment from the German Press Agency, dpa, the current editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Ulf Poschardt, and Burgard — who is due to take over on January 1 — said in a joint statement that the discussion over Musk’s piece was “very insightful. Democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of expression.” “This will continue to determine the compass of the “world” in the future. We will develop “ Die Welt ” even more decisively as a forum for such debates,” they wrote to dpa. AP, Reuters Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here .

IF you're planning a tasty creamy mash for your Christmas dinner, look no further. A cooking expert has shared her tips for perfecting the festive side dish. Advertisement 3 Calling all mashed potato fans - if you want to know how to make the creamiest side dish, you'll need to listen up Credit: Tiktok / @177milkstreet 3 A food guru has shared her simple trick to making the best mash, and it turns out you need to stop boiling your potatoes in water and use milk instead Credit: Tiktok / @177milkstreet The chef revealed that you've probably been making your mash all wrong. According to the expert, we need to stop boiling our spuds in water if we want it to be extra creamy - yes, you heard that correctly. If you want to make the best mashed potatoes, you need to boil your potatoes in milk. Rosie Gill, director of Milk Street Cooking School, took to social media to share her mashed potatoes recipe - leaving many open-mouthed. Advertisement Read More On Food OH NO Foodie makes festive mashed potatoes using sour cream PRINGLES Mash made in heaven Top tips to reheat mashed potatoes She explained that it’s time to stop boiling your potatoes in water - as you’ll need to use milk instead. She revealed: “We simmer your mashed potatoes in milk, not water! And here’s why. “Potatoes are like pasta, they release starches into their cooking liquid. “That becomes liquid gold - allowing us to get lush, silky, creamy, mashed potatoes. Advertisement Most read in Fabulous FEELING FISHY I've been left with two black eyes after trying bizarre new beauty treatment JAB MANIA From sunken eyes to bulldog features - the scary things Ozempic does to your face Exclusive FACE THE TRUTH My fiance had the first face transplant, I'm accused of gold digging SON'S STRUGGLE Katie Price shares heartbreaking message from Harvey as he begs to come home “When you throw out water that you cook your potatoes in, you throw all that starch down the drain, so you’re wasting it. “The milk becomes our cooking liquid - and a replacement for heavy cream.” I tried the M&S Christmas cafe menu, the gravy dip is a festive revelation As she showed off her finished side dish, she added: “We just mash the potatoes directly in the pot - no mixer needed. “And that is how we get still creamy, but not too heavy, mashed potatoes.” Advertisement Rosie later confirmed: “In the case of pasta, you want to reserve some of that liquid to give the sauce a luscious shine and bind it to the noodles. “In mashed potatoes, cooking in milk, and preserving that starchy liquid, gives your potatoes a natural creaminess and allows you to skip the weighty heavy cream.” The TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @177milkstreet, has clearly left many stunned, as it was shared just one day ago, but has quickly gone viral, and has racked up a staggering 3.3 million views. Fridge or cupboard? The essential food storage guide Foods must be stored correctly to keep them fresh and prevent the spread of bacteria. Nutrition expert Birgit Brendel said bread will last longer when stored in the fridge or freezer. However, this can compromise the flavour. Storing in ceramic or pottery containers is an alternative that allows for air to flow easily and slow the growth of mould. Robert Morris, managing director of food safety consultants, Complete Food Safety, revealed the best place to store fresh fruit and vegetables. He said salad foods should be stored in the fridge drawer, but away from anything grown in the soil such as carrots, parsnips and beetroot. Tomatoes are an exception to the rule as fridges can alter the natural ripening process and diminish their taste. He also advised against putting avocados and bananas in the fridge as this will cause them to blacken quicker. But social media users were divided at the cooking tip - while some were impressed, not everyone was as keen. Advertisement One person said: “Awesome tip! I’m married to this from now on!” Another added: “Brilliant.” A third commented: “Genius.” Whilst another food fan beamed: “Great idea.” Advertisement 3 This hack, according to this foodie, will ensure you get the best tasting mash Credit: Tiktok / @177milkstreet However, not everyone was impressed with the foodie’s hack and many revealed that they didn’t actually think her mash looked that great. One user claimed: “Tried it - weird mush. Prefer chicken broth or chicken stock with water.” A second penned: “Looks v lumpy.” Advertisement Someone else chimed in: “They don't look smooth though.” Read more on the Scottish Sun COMIC'S CASTLE Still Game star takes £150,000 hit to offload luxury £4m Scots castle HITTING THE HIGH NOTES Much-loved pub named best music bar in Scotland Whilst another wrote: “That mash looks way too wet.” Fabulous will pay for your exclusive stories. Just email: fabulousdigital@the-sun.co.uk and pop EXCLUSIVE in the subject line .

Malware-poisoned versions of the widely used JavaScript library @solana/web3.js were distributed via the npm package registry, according to an advisory issued Wednesday by project maintainer Steven Luscher. An advisory , covering CVE-2024-54134 (CVSS-B: 8.3 High), explains that a hijacked @solana account with permission to publish the library was used to add malicious code. The library typically sees almost half a million weekly downloads. It’s used in decentralized apps, or dapps , tied to the Solana blockchain, which is not itself affected. The compromised npm account gave an attacker the opportunity "to publish unauthorized and malicious packages that were modified, allowing them to steal private key material and drain funds from dapps, like bots, that handle private keys directly," the advisory states, before explaining that non-custodial wallets should not be affected. Two affected versions (1.95.6 and 1.95.7) of the library have since been unpublished. Solana dapps that fetched the @solana/web3.js library as a direct or transitive dependency while those versions were available – a window from 3:20pm UTC to 8:25pm UTC on Tuesday, December 3, 2024 – may have downloaded the malicious code. Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius Labs, which makes Solana tools, estimated that the financial loss to unspecified persons "is roughly 130K USD so far." "In general, wallets should not be affected since they don't expose private keys – the biggest effect would be on people running JavaScript bots on the backend (ie, not user facing) with private keys on those servers if they updated to this version within the timeframe (last few hours until the patch)," wrote Mumatz in a social media post . Solana research and development firm Anza has posted a root cause analysis of the incident that suggests the attack began with a spear phishing email on Tuesday, December 3, at 1520 UTC, to an @solana npm org member with publish access. The phishing gambit is said to have captured the victim's username, password, and two-factor authentication details. Anza's analysis indicates that the attack came to light after "a core contributor of @solana/web3.js was alerted of the exploit by an ecosystem team that had installed one of the malicious versions into their application and had deployed it." The affected individual is said to have noticed the unauthorized transfer of assets from unspecified digital wallets to another account. In a social media post , Christophe Tafani-Dereeper, a security researcher for Datadog, wrote: "The backdoor inserted in v1.95.7 adds an 'addToQueue' function which exfiltrates the private key through seemingly-legitimate Cloudflare headers." Socket.dev, a software security biz, advises developers to run its free command-line tool to check for the presence of compromised packages. ®The United States called Monday for de-escalation in Syria, where an Islamist-led rebel alliance has wrested swathes of territory from the control of President Bashar al-Assad's government in a lightning offensive. The European Union also called on "all sides to de-escalate", while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "alarmed" by the violence and called for an immediate halt to the fighting. Syria has been at war since Assad cracked down on democracy protests in 2011. The conflict has since drawn in foreign powers and jihadists, and left 500,000 people dead. The conflict had been mostly dormant with Assad back in control of much of the country, until last week when the Islamist-led rebel alliance began its offensive. The attack has seen swathes of Syria fall to rebel control, including second city Aleppo for the first time since the start of the civil war. "We want to see all countries use their influence -- use their leverage -- to push for de-escalation, protection of civilians and ultimately, a political process forward," US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. In a statement issued by EU foreign affairs spokesperson Anouar El Anouni, the European Union also called for de-escalation and the protection of civilians, while also condemning Assad backer Russia for conducting air strikes in his support. Russia first intervened directly in Syria's war in 2015 with strikes on rebel-held areas. Its help, along with that of Iran and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, were instrumental in propping up Assad's rule. On Monday President Vladimir Putin and Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian both pledged "unconditional support" for their ally, according to the Kremlin. Aleppo is home to two million people and saw fierce fighting earlier in the war. The Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies took the city at the weekend, except for neighbourhoods controlled by Kurdish forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. They also seized Aleppo International Airport. HTS, led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria branch, has faced accusations of human rights abuses including torturing detainees. Abu Sufyan, a rebel commander, told AFP: "God willing, we will continue, go into Damascus and liberate the rest of Syria." One Aleppo resident spoke of panic. "There were terrible traffic jams -- it took people 13 to 15 hours to reach Homs" in central Syria, which is under government control. Normally, he said, it would take a couple of hours. AFPTV footage showed rebels patrolling the streets, some burning a Syrian flag and others holding the flag of the revolution. On Monday, Assad branded the rebel offensive led by HTS an attempt to redraw the regional map in line with US interests. His comments came in a call with Iran's Pezeshkian, who in turn pledged continued support and said Iran hoped "Syria will pass through this stage with success and victory". On Monday, Syrian and Russian air raids on several areas of Idlib province in the northwest killed 11 civilians including five children, the Observatory said. "The strikes targeted... families living on the edge of a displacement camp," said Hussein Ahmed Khudur, a 45-year-old teacher who sought refuge at the camp from fighting in Aleppo province. Other strikes in Aleppo killed four civilians, two of them children, the Observatory said, adding that air raids also targeted a Christian-majority neighbourhood. AFPTV footage showed rebels pushing into Hama province in central Syria. Syria's defence ministry said troops were clashing with "terrorist organisations" in the northern Hama countryside. Islamist-led rebels killed six civilians on Monday in a rocket attack on the government-held city of Hama, the Observatory said. Aron Lund of the Century International think tank said a major question hangs over possible Turkish involvement. "I have a hard time imagining that Turkey-backed groups could launch a major rebel offensive out of Turkey-held areas without Turkey being very significantly involved," he said. "But I also don't think Turkey necessarily wanted the rebels to get this far." Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an end to the "instability" in Syria and an agreement to stop the civil war. On a visit to Ankara, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said it was crucial "to protect the achievements" of the so-called Astana process to end Syria's civil war, which involves Turkey, Russia and Iran. Several hours later, he said the respective foreign ministers would meet on the matter next weekend in Qatar. "We will try to activate this process again," he said. While the current fighting is rooted in a war that began more than a decade ago, much has changed since then. Millions of Syrians have been displaced, with about 5.5 million now in neighbouring countries. Most of those involved in the initial anti-Assad protests are either dead, in jail or in exile. Russia is at war in Ukraine, and Iran's militant allies Hezbollah and Hamas have been massively weakened by more than a year of conflict with Israel. Lebanon's Hezbollah played a key role in backing government forces particularly around Aleppo, but it withdrew from several positions to focus on fighting Israel. HTS and its allies launched their offensive on Wednesday, the day a Lebanon ceasefire began. The violence in Syria has killed 514 people, mostly combatants but also including 92 civilians, according to the Observatory. burs-srm-ser/smw

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here . ••• Two points to add to Jill Burcum’s Dec. 22 column regarding concerns over the possible leader of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and his skepticism of vaccines ( “A troubling pick to lead HHS” ). First, I recently attended the burial of a long-lived cousin, and a family member commented, “A good way to assess the effectiveness of vaccines is to walk through an older cemetery and count the number of children’s graves per decade.” Starting in the 1950s and 1960s when vaccines started to be common, it’s easy to see that many more children lived to adulthood. Second, a simple web search brought up a 2023 CDC report , “Progress Toward Measles Elimination — Worldwide, 2000-2022.” Quoting from that: “During 2000-2022, estimated measles vaccination prevented approximately 57 million deaths worldwide. However, millions of children missed vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in an 18% increase in estimated measles cases and a 43% increase in estimated measles deaths in 2022 compared with 2021. Large or disruptive outbreaks were reported in 37 countries.” Unfortunately, only about 33,000 people have looked at that report, according to its metrics . So yes, more accessible and transparent vaccine data is needed, including in this newspaper and all media. 57 million people saved is a very large number. I trust none of us want to see that number reduced due to political posturing. Peter Hairston, St. Paul Nominate serious candidates As someone who has voted for both Republicans and Democrats over the years, I would like to offer some advice to Jim Schultz after reading his commentary ( “Five New Year’s resolutions for the state government,” Dec. 22). The Republican Party has not elected a candidate to statewide office in Minnesota since 2006. It’s not because the entire state is progressive; it’s because the Republican Party keeps nominating extremists. Royce White — their nominee to run against Amy Klobuchar for her Senate seat in 2024 — has publicly stated he thinks “the bad guys won in World War II.” Their last candidate for lieutenant governor, Matt Birk, has alluded to believing that women who become pregnant through rape must deliver the baby. This state ain’t Texas, Mr. Schultz. I agree with Schultz that this state has a bloated government. That our taxes are too high. That crime is a serious problem. And that the DFL is too progressive. Nominate a moderate candidate for governor or attorney general, and I will strongly consider voting for such a person. But I think the right side did win World War II. So if you want a serious change in government, you must start nominating serious candidates. Jim Piga, Mendota Heights ••• I have two resolutions for Schultz and the GOP in response to his Dec. 22 commentary: First, fat cat billionaires need a diet. Schultz is right, math is undefeated. It tells us the richest keep getting a larger slice of the pie chart. So he wants a tax cut of $4 billion to add to our $5 billion deficit so the wealthy don’t have to pay taxes on their first $50,000. Since many of the lowest-income earners don’t pay taxes, guess who benefits? Instead I suggest means-testing the free school meal program to benefit only those who really need that. Second, crime. Math says it’s down across the board. And any party who thinks the treasonous attack on the Capitol and its police was anything less than that has no credibility on the subject, not to mention ignoring the crimes of their party leader and his hand-picked cronies, including Supreme Court justices. Third, while I agree that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives have gone too far, that doesn’t mean we should ignore, pooh-pooh, or outright lie about our state and country’s oppression of minorities and others who aren’t straight, white and Christian. Karl Samp, Brainerd, Minn. ••• In his opinion piece on Sunday, Schultz trotted out the same, tired Republican talking points. Cut taxes, cut spending, stir up old grievances about defunding the police and removing “wokeness” from the government (particularly education). Yes, let’s go back to the days when state government jobs favored white applicants, ignore the realities of what life has been like over our country’s history for people of color as we teach our children, let the rich keep more of their money, and ignore the fact that much of the spending in 2023 was making up for underspending for what Minnesota families needed during previous years. Clearly he wants 2025 to move backward, not forward. Cyndy Crist, St. Paul Stop picking on charter schools Now that the Minnesota Star Tribune wants to provide its readers with all sides of issues and stories, I expect to see a front-page article about the truly successful charter schools in Minnesota. You can start with the Math and Science Academy located in Woodbury ( mnmsa.org ). It provides an excellent learning environment, routinely has the highest test scores in the state and was named the best high school in Minnesota two years running by U.S. News and World Report (Nova Classical Academy and St. Croix Preparatory Academy, also charter schools, came in second and third). Yes, I’m biased. I was a member of the original staff and served on its board of directors multiple times. Now retired, I consider myself lucky to have been part of a remarkable school that started serving students back in 1999. I’ll just sit back and wait for your positive headline! Ken Thielman, Woodbury This happened on your watch The fulmination by Gov. Tim Walz about the fraud that has been revealed in state and federally funded programs like Feeding Our Future and now the autism program is pitiful ( “Frustrated lawmakers taking aim at fraud,” Dec. 22). His lamentation that this massive abuse “pisses” him off overlooks that these incidents happened on his watch — or lack of watch — underneath the noses of his administrators who sniffed nothing while all this wrongdoing was occurring. During his campaign for vice president, he said he was too busy to sleep. But it looks like he and his administration have been sleeping on the job. Had he — or it — been doing even a halfway decent job, the governor could conserve his bodily fluids or, at least, address these concerns with more than barnyard eloquence. Marshall H. Tanick, Minneapolis Thanks, Karen! Just a note of praise for Karen Tolkkinen and her columns. As someone born and raised in rural Minnesota and an urban Minnesotan for many more years, it is refreshing to read her columns. Family and friends that I dearly love in rural Minnesota and I often have differing opinions in regard to politics but we have all put that aside to remain close and not lose contact during these very divisive times. I feel her columns may be helpful for urban folks to understand the rural way of life a bit better by way of describing her and her neighbors’ lives and experiences. Keep up the good work! Vicky Swanson, Excelsior Keep them on the ground, please Responding to the Dec. 22 article “Friends, family celebrate lives of women killed in north Mpls. crash” : Releasing balloons is a lovely sentiment and visually impactful, but balloons are not biodegradable and cause all kinds of problems. A quick search for supporting information brings up this article from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “Please Don’t Release Your Balloons” ( tinyurl.com/wildlifeballoons ). Danette Hudoba, Isanti, Minn.Lessons I've Learned From Writing 5,000 Articles For Seeking Alpha

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A plan to change insurance coverage for anesthesia that concerned doctors is no longer happening. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield said Thursday afternoon it was canceling the policy change. This came after backlash from policy holders, doctors, and politicians. Sometimes surgery takes longer than expected, and Anthem proposed that for claims processed after Feb. 1, 2025 , surgeries with times longer than what the company said were OK would be denied in certain places, including New York. Last month, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield announced that starting in February, it would no longer cover the cost of anesthesia if the surgery went longer than a specific time limit for people insured by the company in New York, Connecticut, and Missouri. The only exclusions would be for people under 22 and maternity-related care. But late Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield sent 2 On Your Side a statement saying, "There has been significant widespread misinformation about an update to our anesthesia policy. As a result, we have decided to not proceed with this policy change. To be clear, it never was and never will be the policy of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to not pay for medically necessary anesthesia services. The proposed update to the policy was only designed to clarify the appropriateness of anesthesia consistent with well-established clinical guidelines." Before it was canceled, the President of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Dr. Donald Arnold , called the proposed move "a cynical money grab by Anthem, designed to take advantage of the commitment anesthesiologists make thousands of times each day to provide their patients with expert, complete and safe anesthesia care." Chair of the American Society of Anesthesiologists' Committee on Economics Dr. Jonathan Gal also had major concerns and says his group met with Anthem about two weeks ago, which led to more questions than answers. 2 On Your Side interviewed him before Anthem announced it would not be changing anything. "In talking with Anthem, this seemed like a blatant money grab on their behalf. Anthem just wants to pad their annual $6-billion profits while passing costs onto patients and their physicians," said Dr. Jonathan Gal, Chair of the American Society of Anesthesiologists' Committee on Economics. This story unfolded quickly. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul weighed-in on the issue Wednesday, posting on social media that she's going to make sure New Yorkers are protected and called the proposal outrageous. Early Thursday afternoon, our sister station in Hartford, Connecticut reported that after hearing from lots of people who were upset, the Connecticut State Comptroller announced he spoke with Anthem and the insurance company told him it would no longer be implementing the coverage limit in Connecticut. Then, around 3:30 p.m., Anthem sent 2 On Your Side a statement saying it wasn't going through with the policy change. We also need to point out that this has nothing to do with Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for Highmark told 2 On Your Side that Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield does not have any policies in place that restrict its members' anesthesia coverage based on duration.

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