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Bacot Fought Back Emotion, Instead Choosing to Process LOS ANGELES – With .9 seconds left and North Carolina trailing Alabama by two points and Crimson Tide forward Grant Nelson going to the line for a pair of free throws, reality started settling in for Armando Bacot. UNC's all-time leading rebounder and second all-time leading scorer was about to see his career come to an end. As he settled in his rebounding spot, Bacot wore this reality on his face. Heavy chest-moving breathe, wide eyes, and a look away. If he wasn't fighting back a flood of emotion, it sure looked like it. "Really, it was a sense of shock…," Bacot said about 30 minutes later sitting in front of his locker at Crypto.com Arena. "It's a tough loss, I really don't know how to explain my feelings right now." The top-seed Tar Heels lost, 89-87, and with it came the conclusion of Bacot's unique career. He played two years for legendary Carolina Coach Roy Williams, three years for Hubert Davis, went through multiple levels of basketball and personal growth, and was at his all-around best this season. But for Bacot, the emotional current running through his body had nothing to do with rebounds, points, or even wins. It was about a singular loss, this one to the 4-seed Crimson Tide, but it was about a closing chapter of perhaps the most important period in his life. "It sucks knowing I won't be able to wear this uniform again," Bacot said. "I think all you guys (media) have seen me grow up for so long. And me being here in a whole different era of UNC for my five years and everything that happened. "It's tough knowing I won't be able to play here again and be in front of these fans." As for the loss, Bacot turned in the 87th double-double of his career, tying former Wake Forest great Tim Duncan for the all-time NCAA record. He went for 19 points and 12 rebounds, but says he could have done more, and carried the weight of a late-game missed dunk that could have sent the contest in another direction leading to a different result hovered over the Richmond, VA, native. "Me personally, I didn't do a good enough job boxing out," he said. "You look at the stats, I had 12 rebounds, but I feel like I gave up a lot of long rebounds. Just down the stretch I've got to be better. I missed a wide-open dunk. That was tough, and a huge momentum changer… It just sucks to go out like that." Leaning back sitting in the locker room, with his legs spread outward almost as far as they could go, Bacot answered a long series of questions asking him to reflect on the season, his career, his stats, and his emotion. He held it in quite well and quite impressively. It was as if he was standing up for the team one final time. Tears, wiped eyes, and sniffles were ever-present in the Heels' locker room. Bacot was thoughtful, processing, deliberate, and concise. His words flowed from a place of emotion, but without emotion. Perhaps that tidal wave came later into the night, or might on Friday or this weekend. It will come, though, and it should. Bacot held it back when Nelson was at the line and Alabama's fans were going crazy while many of UNC's were welling up with sorrow. He was right there with them, he just didn't let it flow. Not yet, anyway.

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Sabrina Carpenter's "Feather" has floated to the top of Billboard's Pop Airplay chart. The song, which is from the deluxe version of her 2022 album Emails I Can't Send, is #1 on the chart dated April 6. This is Sabrina's first #1 on this chart or any other radio-based ranking. "Feather" was previously Sabrina's second Pop Airplay top 10, after her song "Nonsense" reached #10 in May 2023. It's also her first top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, coming in at #26 on the most recent chart, dated March 30. "It's such an honor to have my first [airplay] No. 1 for 'Feather,' which is such a special song for me," Sabrina told Billboard. "It's rare to see records on a deluxe album impact fans the way 'Feather' has, so I feel incredibly thankful." Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland is a multi-layered tragedy: For the families and friends of those killed or presumed dead, it's a profound and personal loss. For businesses that rely on the Port of Baltimore, it's an economic nightmare. And for the federal courts, it will soon become a balance of dollars and facts, with a network of insurance companies expected to foot at least some of the bill. The disaster happened early Tuesday when a cargo ship lost power and rammed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge. Eight people were on the highway bridge when it collapsed. Two were rescued. The bodies of two more were recovered, and four remain missing and are presumed dead. The wreckage closed the Port of Baltimore, a major shipping port, potentially costing the area's economy hundreds millions of dollars in lost labor income alone over the next month, according to the economic analysis company Implan. A report from credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS predicts the collapse could become the most expensive marine insured loss in history, surpassing the record of about $1.5 billion held by the 2012 shipwreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off Italy. Morningstar DBRS estimates total insured losses for the Baltimore disaster could be $2 billion to $4 billion. Here's a look the costs, the legal claims, and the insurance companies that will pay: In federal court, the lost lives and damaged property will be stripped down to a matter of dollars and facts: Were the people or businesses who owned and operated the ship negligent in some way? Was anyone else partly responsible? How much will it cost to replace the bridge and make the families of the victims financially whole? Insurance companies will ultimately be on the hook for at least part, if not all, of the total cost. Enrique Serna, an attorney who specializes in representing immigrant laborers and others hurt on the job, said his firm was contacted by some of the victims' families shortly after the collapse, though he was not yet representing them. The crew filling potholes on the bridge had come from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico, some of them decades ago. Serna said lawsuits are inevitable, and the ship's insurers will likely soon seek a "limitation of liability," asking a judge to cap the damages they can be ordered to pay. The victims will need to quickly respond to try make sure any cap isn't set too low. "What happens is, it's a race against time for when you can present a claim for it," Serna said. Attorney Thomas Schoenbaum, a maritime law expert and professor at the University of Washington, said despite significant economic damages, impacted businesses will not be able to sue the ship's owners and operators. "There's generally bad news about that: In maritime law, pure economic loss damages are not recoverable. If you have an economic loss, losing money, or a business shuts down, or a business loses customers, unless you have some physical damage along with the economic loss, maritime law says there's no recovery," he said. The one exception is for loss caused by pollution, like an oil spill, he said, and the bridge wreckage doesn't count as pollution under maritime law. Charm City Warehouse owner Bernard Sommer, whose Baltimore-based business serves shipping companies needing to store cargo containers, expects to sustain heavy losses as long as ships are being diverted to other ports. "If they get that open in 30 days, we're going to have 60 to 90 days loss of business. And for them to do it in 30 days is pretty quick," he said. "Until this channel is open and shipping, they're not going to show any service into the port of Baltimore." Sommer said he hasn't yet contacted his insurance company to ask if his policy covers losses related to the Baltimore port's closure. "If the building caught on fire and we weren't able to operate, or something like that happened? Yeah, that's covered. But I don't know if something like this is covered," he said. "It's hard to tell. When you sign up for insurance, they give you one page of everything they cover. And that is followed by 45 pages of everything they're not going to cover." On Friday, Atlantic Maritime Ship Supply had to dispatch a truck to Newport News, Virginia, to serve a ship originally bound for Baltimore. Owner Edward Dryer also hasn't checked his insurance yet — he's waiting to see if his operations will be significantly impacted. He expects the port to gradually reopen in weeks, not months. "Let's be optimistic that they are able to reasonably quickly get the channel at least partially open," Dryer said. Experts say replacing the bridge could cost $400 million or more. Ships and other maritime vessels often have more than one type of insurance. They frequently have policies that cover damages to the hull or machinery, and might also have coverage for cargo carried by the ship. But for other very expensive losses — like major environmental damage or disasters like the bridge collapse — large vessel owners turn to something called "Protection and Indemnity" or P&I insurance. P&I insurance can be provided by "clubs" made up of several policyholder-owned insurance companies. Club members put money toward a pool of funds that can be used to cover catastrophic claims. The idea is to share the risk associated with major disasters so no company is left to bear it alone. Insurance clubs may also buy their own insurance to cover expenses that are too big for the pool to handle alone. That's called "reinsurance" — the club is the first insurance that pays out, and then the second payer is the "reinsurance." The Britannia P&I Club insures the ship involved in the collapse. The London-based club is also part of the larger International Group of P&I Clubs, which will likely help cover expenses once they exceed a pre-arranged amount. Reinsurance companies could also pick up part of the tab. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Erika Ryan is a producer for All Things Considered. She joined NPR after spending 4 years at CNN, where she worked for various shows and CNN.com in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. Ryan began her career in journalism as a print reporter covering arts and culture. She's a graduate of the University of South Carolina, and currently lives in Washington, D.C., with her dog, Millie. Linah Mohammad Prior to joining NPR in 2022, Mohammad was a producer on The Washington Post's daily flagship podcast Post Reports, where her work was recognized by multiple awards. She was honored with a Peabody award for her work on an episode on the life of George Floyd.

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Call 999 to report trouble during Eid holidays: IGP Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun has advised people to call the National Emergency Hotline "999" if they need the assistance of law enforcement during the Eid holidays in Dhaka. "Dhaka becomes almost empty during the Eid holidays. So, please let us know through our control room number or call (National Emergency Service-999) if anyone is in trouble." "We will take action as soon as possible," he told journalists after distributing the prizes of the Kirat, Hamad Naat and Azaan competition to the policemen at the Rajarbagh Central Mosque premises yesterday. "We will take the same measures that we did in the previous years, taking into account all the issues of an empty Dhaka," he said. "Do not travel at any risk to your life. Travel so that you don't have to face any kind of risk. This is what I request of all passengers." He said the Eid holiday may be long this time. Along with various places, we are taking measures to keep in mind the safety of all recreational spots. Regarding the involvement of shohoz.com with black ticket marketing, the IGP said, "We take action as soon as we receive any specific complaint. No one will be exempted who tries to harass passengers."

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Space New images shed light on the supermassive blackhole at the center of the Milky Way March 29, 20244:33 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered By Kai McNamee , Christopher Intagliata , Ailsa Chang New images shed light on the supermassive blackhole at the center of the Milky Way Audio will be available later today. NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with astronomer Sara Issaoun about the latest image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Facebook Flipboard Email

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Sep 13, 2021 / 12:00AM GMT Operator Hello, everyone, and welcome to Revasum's first half results investor presentation for the 2021 financial year. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Revasum's President and Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Rebecca Shooter-Dodd. Please go ahead. Rebecca Shooter-Dodd - Revasum, Inc. - President, CEO & Executive Director Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and good evening to our U.S. participants. Before we begin, a quick reminder that in this conference call, we will be making forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that are not guarantees of future performance or results. You're encouraged to review the safe harbor and disclaimer statements contained in today's materials as well as the other risks detailed from time to time in the company's regulatory filings with the ASX. The company reports financial results in accordance with IFRS. However, for the periods presented today, we are disclosing various Half Year 2022 Revasum Inc Earnings Call Transcript Already have an account? Log in Get the full story Access to All Earning Calls and Stock Analysis | | 30-Year Financial on one screen | | All-in-one Stock Screener with unlimited filters | | Customizable Stock Dashboard | | Real Time Insider Trading Transactions | | 8,000+ Institutional investors' 13F holdings | | Powerful Excel Add-in and Google sheets Add-on | | All data downloadable | | Quick customer support | | And much more... | 30-Day 100% money back guarantee You are not charged until the trial ends. Subscription fee may be tax deductible. Excellent 4.6 out of 5 Trustpilot

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Virginia lawmakers more to raise age of marriage to 18 VPM | By Jahd Khalil Published March 29, 2024 at 3:33 PM CDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Virginia lawmakers are moving to raise the age of marriage there to 18, something most states still have not done, which activists say has led to abuses. Copyright 2024 VPM

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It's a condition described as a living hell by sufferers, and it's marked by stigma and shame. WARNING: This story discusses suicide and drug use and may be distressing for some readers. Sheree da Costa lost her son Joey to suicide and believes he would still be alive if he hadn't developed hallucinogenic persistent perception disorder (HPPD) as a teenager. "That was the actual tipping point for Joey," she said. "It just made everything else he was battling just far too difficult. He just was exhausted by the end." HPPD results in disturbed vision, where a sufferer may constantly see visual snow, haloes or trails. Many also experience out-of-body sensations and extreme anxiety. It's triggered by the use of psychedelic drugs and has been described as the "trip that never ends". With the use of illegal drugs on the rise and the emergence of psychedelics in the treatment of mental health disorders, there are calls for greater awareness and more research into the condition. Sheree said her son's experience of HPPD was "a living hell". Joey developed HPPD after taking a psychedelic drug at the age of 17 when he was in his final year at school, affecting his vision. "Where school was concerned words were starting the slide off the page so he couldn't study, he couldn't read, and reading was something that he was very good at," she said. "He couldn't write because he couldn't really see what was on the page." Joey dropped out of school and eventually told his parents, who tried to help as much as they could. "But to be honest we were in the dark as well until we started to do research of our own," Sheree said. "Even to us it seemed hopeless because, where do you go? Especially here in Australia." Ms da Costa said she and Joey often talked about raising awareness about HPPD together. Now she is advocating on his behalf to call for more research into the condition. "What we need to know is who it will affect. Are there markers for it?," she said. What is HPPD and is there a cure? There are two types of HPPD: type 1 is characterised by brief "flashbacks"; type 2 sufferers experience chronic symptoms that can last months or a lifetime. Researcher Anneliese McConnell said HPPD was reported to affect about 5 per cent of hallucinogen users, but she thinks the real numbers are much higher. "It's not a small population we're talking about," Dr McConnell said. "Some of those people are affected really significantly. It can have a really debilitating impact on their everyday lives." HPPD is triggered by drug use, with lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, the most common psychoactive drug associated with the condition. But Dr McConnell said there were a number of drugs associated with the condition. "Psilocybin, magic mushrooms, MDMA; there are even some cases documented with marijuana involved as well," she said. Unlike flashbacks, which involve reliving aspects of a drug trip, HPPD only affects a person's vision and those with the condition are aware their perception is not normal. There is no cure for HPPD. It can be treated with a variety of different anti-epileptic and psychotropic drugs, but there are no studies to give a clear evidence base as to how effective the treatments are. Stuck in a nightmare Jack* (not his real name) developed HPPD after his drink was spiked with LSD late last year. "Some people reckon it's cool to be tripping every day, but it's terrible. You want it to stop every day." He said that while he'd tried LSD and magic mushrooms recreationally before, having his drink spiked was unlike any of his previous experiences. "This was like 100 times stronger. It was just sort of like another level," he said. When the trip ended, the visual effects of HPPD remained. He experienced seeing visual snow, "just like a TV static over everything" and afterimages, "if I move my hand in front of my face I see like 100 hands". Jack said having HPPD was like constantly wearing 3D glasses or being inside a computer game with poor graphics. "Nothing feels real. It doesn't feel like you are inside your body or that the outside world is real," he said. "It's like you are stuck in a nightmare." Jack initially experienced panic attacks that could last up to three hours. "Now that I am stuck like this and I know there is nothing I can do about it the panic attacks have stopped," he said. He said he no longer socialises and has only recently been able to work, albeit on much reduced hours. "My thoughts don't line up properly with my actions." Jack said antipsychotic medications had helped, but he believed there should be more information about the risks of taking hallucinogenic drugs. "When people take pills that are laced with rat poison … [and] a bad batch goes around they put that all over the news, but there is nothing about psychedelics at all and what they can do to you." Raising awareness and reducing stigma Madeleine Quigley's son Max has been living with HPPD for 11 years. "It's been heartbreaking, incredibly heartbreaking. My son has lost most of his 20s," she said. Max developed HPPD after taking LSD at a dance party when he was 18. As well as visual disturbances, Max has experienced other symptoms. "He's had depersonalisation … he had extreme anxiety, extreme depression, tinnitus, brain fog," she said. Ms Quigley said her son no longer went out and had to take significant breaks from work. "It's been horrendous to watch how much this has affected his life," she said. Ms Quigley is keen to raise awareness of HPPD. "I think there is a huge stigma about any sort of drug-induced condition," she said. "I'm actually not afraid to talk about it because the reality is that young people are going to continue to use drugs. "It could happen to your brother, sister, niece, nephew. It could happen to someone you know and someone you love." Ms Quigley is particularly concerned about the growing popularity of the "Cali sober" movement, which for some people involves cutting out alcohol but using marijuana or psychedelic drugs. She's also worried about the emerging use of psychedelic drugs to treat depression. "If those things are going to help people with mental health conditions … I support that, but we need to do our due diligence," she said. More research needed Much of the existing research on HPPD is focused on describing the condition. Psychiatrist Harry McConnell said a lot more research needed to be done into the basic mechanisms of how it occurred, who was at risk and treatments. He and his daughter Anneliese McConnell — a researcher at the Western Sydney University School of Medicine — have looked into whether HPPD is associated with other disorders such as migraines accompanied by visual auras or tinnitus. "It's difficult to get funding in this area. I think it's difficult to get funding in a lot of areas related to drug and alcohol use and HPPD is no exception here," he said. Harry McConnell said an investment into HPPD research was critical as the use of psychedelics for the treatment of psychiatric disorders was on the rise, along with a rise recreational drug use. "We have seen cases where this (HPPD) can occur in people taking part in randomised controlled trials and even people who are microdosing," he said. "It's really important that people understand the risks of the drugs that they're taking whether that be recreationally or therapeutically … and can make informed decisions," Anneliese McConnell said. Loading...

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Lawyers for former President Donald Trump and eight of his co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case on Friday asked a state appeals court to allow them to challenge a recent ruling that didn't disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting the case. "The Georgia Court of Appeals should grant the application and accept the interlocutory appeal for consideration on the merits," Steve Sadow, Trump's lead attorney in Georgia, told NBC News in a statement Friday. Willis' office declined NBC News' request for comment. The application comes after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee gave Trump and the others permission to seek a review from the Georgia Court of Appeals of McAfee's decision not to disqualify Willis and her office and dismiss the charges in the sprawling racketeering case. In a motion originally filed by Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, and later adopted by Trump and others, Willis is accused of financially benefitting from a personal relationship she had with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor she'd appointed to the case. The motion alleged Willis and Wade took vacations together while working on the case. Willis and Wade denied any wrongdoing. They acknowledged they'd been in a relationship, but they maintained that it began after his appointment as special prosecutor and that Willis did not benefit financially. In a decision earlier this month, McAfee found no conflict of interest but said because of an "appearance of impropriety," either Willis and her office would have to step aside, or Wade. Wade resigned shortly after McAfee's ruling — but, Sadow noted, the defense wanted the order to go further. "Defendants argues in the trial court that the indictment should have been dismissed and, at a minimum, DA Willis and her office should have been disqualified from prosecuting the case," Sadow's statement said. Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case, which alleges he conspired with others to overturn the 2020 election results in the state. With the request officially filed, the appeals court has 45 days to decide whether to take up the case. McAfee has said he will not halt proceedings in the Georgia case as the disqualification matter makes its way through the appeals court.

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TX Rangers hope for rare repeat as World Series champs By Toluwani Osibamowo Published March 29, 2024 at 12:33 PM AKDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email The Texas Rangers are still riding the high from last year's first-ever World Series win. Fans are hopeful Texas can repeat as champs as a new baseball season gets underway. Copyright 2024 NPR

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Christopher Intagliata is an editor at All Things Considered, where he writes news and edits interviews with politicians, musicians, restaurant owners, scientists and many of the other voices heard on the air. Ailsa Chang is an award-winning journalist who hosts All Things Considered along with Ari Shapiro, Audie Cornish, and Mary Louise Kelly. She landed in public radio after practicing law for a few years.

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Trump lawyer's Jan. 6 actions 'threatened our democracy,' State Bar attorney says By Tom Dreisbach Published March 29, 2024 at 4:33 PM EDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Listen • 3:45 Attorneys for the California Bar say their case against Trump lawyer John Eastman was about fighting a threat to democracy. Copyright 2024 NPR

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Texas woman sues prosecutors who charged her with murder after she self-managed an abortion Posted/updated on: March 29, 2024 at 4:19 pmMcALLEN (AP) — A Texas woman who was charged with murder over self-managing an abortion and spent two nights in jail has sued prosecutors along the U.S.-Mexico border who put the criminal case in motion before it was later dropped. The lawsuit filed by Lizelle Gonzalez in federal court Thursday comes a month after the State Bar of Texas fined and disciplined the district attorney in rural Starr County over the case in 2022, when Gonzalez was charged with murder in "the death of an individual by self-induced abortion." Under the abortion restrictions in Texas and other states, women who seek abortion are exempt from criminal charges. The lawsuit argues Gonzalez suffered harm from the arrest and subsequent media coverage. She is seeking $1 million in damages. "The fallout from Defendants' illegal and unconstitutional actions has forever changed the Plaintiff's life," the lawsuit stated. Starr County District Attorney Gocha Ramirez said Friday that he had not yet been served the lawsuit and declined comment. Starr County Judge Eloy Vera, the county's top elected official, also declined comment. According to the lawsuit, Gonzalez was 19 weeks pregnant when she used misoprostol, one of two drugs used in medication abortions. Misoprostol is also used to treat stomach ulcers. After taking the pills, Gonzalez received an obstetrical examination at the hospital emergency room and was discharged with abdominal pain. She returned with bleeding the next day and an exam found no fetal heartbeat. Doctors performed a caesarian section to deliver a stillborn baby. The lawsuit argues that the hospital violated the patient's privacy rights when they reported the abortion to the district attorney's office, which then carried out its own investigation and produced a murder charge against Gonzalez. Cecilia Garza, an attorney for Gonzalez, said prosecutors pursued an indictment despite knowing that a woman receiving the abortion is exempted from a murder charge by state law. Ramirez announced the charges would be dropped just days after the woman's arrest but not before she'd spent two nights in jail and was identified by name as a murder suspect. In February, Ramirez agreed to pay a $1,250 fine and have his license held in a probated suspension for 12 months in a settlement reached with the State Bar of Texas. He told The Associated Press at the time that he "made a mistake" and agreed to the punishment because it allows his office to keep running and him to keep prosecuting cases.

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TX Rangers hope for rare repeat as World Series champs By Toluwani Osibamowo Published March 29, 2024 at 4:33 PM EDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email The Texas Rangers are still riding the high from last year's first-ever World Series win. Fans are hopeful Texas can repeat as champs as a new baseball season gets underway. Copyright 2024 NPR

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SAYREVILLE, N.J. — A father is facing charges after his young son's body was found in a burning car following a domestic dispute Thursday evening in Sayreville, New Jersey. Sayreville Police Department said on Thursday just before 11 p.m., someone called 911 to report a fire near Sayreville High School. There was at the same time a call about a related domestic dispute. Officers went out to a house and found a woman who told them about a domestic dispute with Manuel Rivera, 43, who left their house with their 9-year-old son. Rivera was found at the scene by the high school, police said. Rivera was found near a car that was covered in gasoline and lit on fire, The Associated Press released. Rivera had some burns as well as a self-inflicted injury. Rivera has been charged with second-degree arson. According to WNBC, additional charges are pending due to an autopsy report that is expected to be conducted by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner's Office. "On this Good Friday, Sayreville is waking up to learn of a horrific incident that occurred overnight that shakes our community to its core: the loss of a nine-year-old child, allegedly at the hands of a parent. Any time such senseless violence involves one of our children, it gravely affects all of Sayreville," Sayreville Mayor Kennedy O'Brien said in a statement obtained by WCBS. "It is with great shock and sorrow that I report to you that a Wilson School student was tragically killed last night in a car fire behind Sayreville War Memorial High School," The Sayreville superintendent said in a statement obtained by the news outlet. The superintendent confirmed that the student went to Wilson School and Rivera worked for Sayreville Public Schools. The boy's name has not been released, according to The Associated Press. It is unclear if he died as a result of the fire or before it was started. © 2024 Cox Media Group

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FORT WORTH, Texas — (AP) — American Airlines is relaxing part of its pet policy to let owners bring their companion and a full-size carry-on bag into the cabin. Until this week, people who carried a pet into the cabin — which involves paying a $150 fee — could only have one other small item that fit under the seat. Anything bigger, like a carry-on bag with wheels, needed to be checked — for a $35 fee. Or they could put the pet in the cargo hold. Now American is letting passengers bring a pet in the cabin and also bring a regular carry-on bag or a personal item — just not both bags. The old policy struck some pet owners as unfair, since they were already paying a pet fee. Gary Leff, a travel blogger who first wrote about the change, recalled traveling years ago with a Yorkshire terrier. "It was always frustrating that the dog counted as the carry-on even though I was paying the extra (pet) fee that was sometimes more than the ticket for me," he said Friday. Leff said he thinks American's change will reduce the urge for travelers to falsely claim that their pet is a service animal that flies for free. An American spokeswoman confirmed that the rules change took effect Thursday. She couldn't explain the reason because the airline's corporate offices were closed for Good Friday, and decision-makers were not available.

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People struggle to cope with market prices Prof Anu Muhammad said yesterday that the majority of the people cannot cope with the current market prices given their income. "Many cannot afford medical expenses. The cost of daily essentials is gradually becoming unmanageable. Nutritious food is being replaced by cheaper alternatives…," he said. The noted economist was addressing a citizens' rally at Shahbagh, protesting the price hike of essentials, electricity, and gas. He mentioned that alongside the soaring prices, extortion is also causing hardships for low-income people. "Tea stall vendors or hawkers are forced to pay extortion money on a regular basis... The ruling Awami League, Chhatra League, and law enforcers benefit from this," said Anu Muhammad. He blamed a few companies for monopolising the market, which has affected market prices. "There are no issues in the supply chain of any product. Yet, prices continue to rise. The main reason is the influence of certain groups or individuals," he added.

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Harley Davidson Recall Check - Keeping The Motorcycle Safe Introducing the specialized Harley Davidson Recall Check Tool. Improving the way car sellers, buyers, and dealers access motorcycle information 100 WALNUT ST, CHAMPLAIN, NEW YORK, USA., March 27, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Introducing the specialized Harley Davidson Recall Check Tool. Improving the way car sellers, buyers, and dealers access motorcycle informationIt's important to know if a used motorcycle is safe before buying or selling it. That's why Detailed Vehicle History has introduced the Harley Davidson recall check tool. This tool helps people find out about any safety issues with any Harley Davidson motorcycle motorcycle. In Detailed Vehicle History's commitment to prioritizing safety, they aim to inform motorcycle owners about this vital recall information. It's important to note that recalls are addressed free of charge by authorized dealerships, ensuring owners have everything to gain and nothing to lose in prioritizing their safety. This tool changes how people get important info about motorcycles. It helps build trust and satisfaction when buying or selling. Detailed Vehicle History is leading the way in providing online motorcycle information. A safety recall is usually issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, whenever a vehicle or equipment is deemed unsafe or defective. Once a reasonable safety risk is noticed or perhaps the equipment fails to meet minimum safety standards, then a recall will be issued. Taking proactive steps to check for recalls is essential for ensuring one's safety on the road. Here's how: Find the VIN: The VIN is typically found on the steering head or down tube of the motorcycle, this may not always be the case for most bikes, also refer to the title/registration papers or insurance documents. Visit Detailed Vehicle History: use the "Motorcycle Safety Recall Information" tool and enter the VIN. Review the results: The tool will display any open recalls associated with the Harley Davidson motorcycle. "At Detailed Vehicle History, we are passionate about providing individuals with the tools they need to make informed decisions about their motorcycles," stated Imrul Kayes Customer Support Executive of Detailed Vehicle History. "The Harley Davidson Recall Check Tool represents our ongoing commitment to safety and transparency in the used motorcycle market. We believe this tool will be a valuable resource for both buyers and sellers, fostering trust and confidence during the buying and selling process." Ensuring Comprehensive Safety with Motorcycle History Reports: A Motorcycle history report, obtained using a motorcycle's VIN, can provide valuable insights into its past. Apart from recalls, this report can reveal: Accident damage: Knowing about past repairs or accidents can help one assess the motorcycle's overall condition and potential safety concerns. Recall repairs: The report may indicate whether previous recall repairs have been completed on the motorcycle. Mileage history: Mileage gives a rough estimate of the motorcycle's wear and tear. A motorcycle with lower mileage is likely in better condition than one with exceptionally high mileage. These are just some of the benefits of motorcycle VIN lookup. By utilizing safety recall information, staying informed, and using motorcycle history reports service, one can take control of their motorcycle's safety and ensure a worry-free riding experience. Remember, Harley-Davidson prioritizes customers' safety and provides various resources to empower them as responsible riders. Hence utilizing the Harley Davidson safety features while riding is a major way to stay safe on the road. Aside from the VIN lookup tool, Detailed Vehicle History also provides the Harley Davidson VIN decoder tool, which is a specialized tool for the brand's specifications. This tool provides information about the make, model, year, engine, transmission, and other information, while the Harley Davidson VIN lookup provides detailed information about the motorbike's history. Don't want to type the VIN? No problem Detailed Vehicle History also provides OCR support, enabling users to freely scan VINs and receive motorcycle history information. The free VIN decoding and vehicle history app is a quick and easy way to decode VIN and generate vehicle history for used motorcycles history. The application is available for download on the Play Store and App Store, it provides convenience and ease of use. Unsure about buying or selling a motorcycle? A VIN check is the secret weapon! This quick and easy process is also provided by Detailed Vehicle History. This makes it possible to use the motorcycle's VIN to find its entire history including accidents, thefts, ownership changes, outstanding loans, and past damage. With this knowledge, one can avoid hidden problems, ensure a clean title, and get a fair price. Whether a buyer, seller, or current owner, a VIN check empowers one to make informed decisions for a smooth and confident ride. About Detailed Vehicle History Detailed Vehicle History is a leading innovator in the automotive industry, committed to delivering cutting-edge solutions that enhance the car-buying and selling experience for consumers and streamline operations for dealerships. Focusing on transparency, accuracy, and sustainability, Detailed Vehicle History is proud to introduce VIN to Window Sticker technology as a game-changer in the industry.

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Feb 28, 2022 / 10:00PM GMT Operator Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining Revasum's investor presentation on the results for the 2021 fiscal year. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder, the conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Revasum's President and Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Rebecca Shooter-Dodd. Please go ahead. Rebecca Shooter-Dodd - Revasum, Inc. - President, CEO & Executive Director Good morning, everyone, and good afternoon to our U.S. participants. Before we begin, a reminder that in this conference call, we will be making forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that are not guarantees of future performance or results. We encourage you to review the safe harbor and disclaimer statements contained in today's materials as well as the other risks detailed from time to time in the company's regulatory filings with ASX. Company reports financial results in accordance with IFRS. However, for the periods presented today, we are disclosing various non-IFRS measures. We believe these Full Year 2022 Revasum Inc Earnings Call Transcript Already have an account? Log in Get the full story Access to All Earning Calls and Stock Analysis | | 30-Year Financial on one screen | | All-in-one Stock Screener with unlimited filters | | Customizable Stock Dashboard | | Real Time Insider Trading Transactions | | 8,000+ Institutional investors' 13F holdings | | Powerful Excel Add-in and Google sheets Add-on | | All data downloadable | | Quick customer support | | And much more... | 30-Day 100% money back guarantee You are not charged until the trial ends. Subscription fee may be tax deductible. Excellent 4.6 out of 5 Trustpilot

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Who is Maryland Governor Wes Moore? Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is the only sitting Black governor and the third ever elected in the U.S. Moore is described as a "rising star" in the Democratic party without spending much time in office. Copyright 2024 NPR

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What's the modern-day tween equivalent of stealing the keys to the family car? Just ask my friend, who tells me a sobering and instructive story of how youthful curiosity and low-level larceny can be terribly bad for your financial health. As we launch a new weekly column for you on the secret lives of our finances, this could be life or death info. My friend first started noticing the charges on her Apple account a few weeks ago. She's as busy as the rest of us, and also signed on to all those streaming services and subscriptions during the dark times. Dammit, she thought, I have to get around to closing down those streamers: they're fleecing me! The pings kept coming: $13 here, $18 there — and, one morning, a whopping $59 and she'd had enough. What on earth could she have agreed to that would be an "automatic deduction" of that amount? A search of her credit card statements revealed nothing: no identifying feature of what the money was for, just the bland "Apple payment". Her Apple account made things no clearer: in fact, there was no evidence of any of these payments at all. Time slowed and then stopped as she scrolled through her history. Oh no. Had she been hacked? She had purchased all manner of things from all manner of places in those long nights of lockdown scrolling, now someone must have her number and was stealthily clearing her out: just small amounts at a time, but they were accumulating. The phone call, the dreaded question She steeled herself for a lost day of productivity trying to find a real person at the end of the phone to talk to. Surprisingly, when she called Apple, someone picked up almost immediately. She almost dropped the phone. The nice helpful bloke logged into her history and then asked the dreaded question, the one that gave the game away: "You have family sharing turned on with this account, don't you?" A deep breath — yes. (Her husband? Porn? This was not going to be a fun night for him.) But the helpful guy had even worse news: "These are all in-game currency purchases by your daughter — she's been buying the items in her game. And it's adding up to a lot of money," he added brightly. My friend was staggered — and no, she didn't tell me exactly how much money, but it was hundreds. She happily accepted the Apple bloke's kind offer of blocking just about everything on that kid's account that she could. She said she felt like an idiot. She was well aware that these games kept dangling items to win or buy as a way of getting through the game, and of grooming the kids for a life of gambling later on. And while my friend was happy to buy one item for her girl when she started the game, she had no idea her Apple Pay details remained embedded in the game and could be accessed when the temptation got too much. How do you make any of these purchases real? You can imagine the scene later that day when the kid got home from school. The wails of shame and embarrassment, the sobs of "I didn't mean to" and the pitiful admission that she had been dreading the day her mum would find out — but she just couldn't resist the temptation once she first realised she could smash that "buy" button. Like I said, pinching dad's car and getting found out, but with a big difference: that car is either in the driveway or it's not. But your financial details are now everywhere, your capacity to buy with one click has never been more facilitated and your kids have been trained from birth to click left and right and will never even hold in their hands the money that needs to be earned before it can be spent. When almost all of life is digital, how do you make any of these purchases real? And how do you educate a child about the bad money habits that are being created for them by the digital world we made and know they will inherit? Perhaps our new Pay Day column can help: the taboos about what we do with our money are part of the problem we have in establishing good financial habits so I hope our correspondents' candour will assist with your own. Have and safe happy weekend and this is your Easter soundtrack, the joyous continuation of more and more artists revelling in the glory of pure disco. This is the British dance duo Jungle and they killed at the Brit Awards recently. Have a lovely Easter break and go well.

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Who is Maryland Governor Wes Moore? Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is the only sitting Black governor and the third ever elected in the U.S. Moore is described as a "rising star" in the Democratic party without spending much time in office. Copyright 2024 NPR

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Artificial intelligence startup OpenAI released a preview Friday of a digital voice generator that it said could produce natural-sounding speech based on a single 15-second audio sample. The software is called Voice Engine. It's the latest product to come out of the San Francisco startup that's also behind the popular chatbot ChatGPT and the image generator DALL-E. The company said in a blog post that it had tested Voice Engine in an array of possible uses, including reading assistance to children, language translation and voice restoration for cancer patients. Some social media users reacted by highlighting possible misuses, including potential fraud assisted with unauthorized voice imitation, or deepfakes. But OpenAI said it was holding off for now on a wider release of the software because of the potential for misuse, including during an election year. It said it first developed the product in late 2022 and had been using it behind the scenes in other products. "We are taking a cautious and informed approach to a broader release due to the potential for synthetic voice misuse," the company said in the unsigned post. "We hope to start a dialogue on the responsible deployment of synthetic voices, and how society can adapt to these new capabilities," it said. "Based on these conversations and the results of these small scale tests, we will make a more informed decision about whether and how to deploy this technology at scale." The 2024 election has already witnessed its first fake voice, which appeared in New Hampshire in a robocall in January imitating President Joe Biden. A Democratic operative later said he commissioned the fake voice using artificial intelligence and the help of a New Orleans street magician. After that call, the Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to ban unsolicited AI robocalls. OpenAI acknowledged the political risks in its blog post. "We recognize that generating speech that resembles people's voices has serious risks, which are especially top of mind in an election year," it said. The company said it was "engaging with U.S. and international partners from across government, media, entertainment, education, civil society and beyond to ensure we are incorporating their feedback as we build." It said its usage policies prohibit impersonation without consent or legal right, and it said broad deployment should be accompanied by "voice authentication experiences" to verify that the original speaker knowingly added their voice to the service. It also called for a "no-go voice list" to prevent the creation of voices that are too similar to prominent figures. But finding a way to detect and label AI-generated content has proven difficult for the tech industry. Proposed solutions such as "watermarking" have proven easy to remove or bypass. Geoffrey Miller, an associate professor of psychology at the University of New Mexico, responded to OpenAI on the platform X asking what it would do about potential misuse by criminals. "When millions of older adults are defrauded out of billions of dollars by these deepfake voices, will @OpenAI be ready for the tsunami of litigation that follows?" he asked. The company did not immediately reply to him.

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Virginia lawmakers more to raise age of marriage to 18 VPM | By Jahd Khalil Published March 29, 2024 at 12:33 PM AKDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Virginia lawmakers are moving to raise the age of marriage there to 18, something most states still have not done, which activists say has led to abuses. Copyright 2024 VPM

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TX Rangers hope for rare repeat as World Series champs By Toluwani Osibamowo Published March 29, 2024 at 4:33 PM EDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email The Texas Rangers are still riding the high from last year's first-ever World Series win. Fans are hopeful Texas can repeat as champs as a new baseball season gets underway. Copyright 2024 NPR

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What's Making Us Happy: A guide to your weekend viewing and reading Here's what NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour crew was paying attention to — and what you should check out this weekend. Collecting the Simpsons: The Merchandise and Legacy of Our Favorite Nuclear Family Collecting the Simpsons is a book about Simpsons merchandise — niche audience, I know, but if you're in this niche, you will love this book. I was a '90s kid. I was a Simpsons kid. This book takes you through the T-shirts, the video games, the comics, the cookie jars, all the Simpsons stuff that was being produced around the mid-'90s. It's got interviews with writers, directors and collectors. It goes into the bootleg Bart phenomenon where Bart Simpson was drawn fighting in the Gulf War and playing reggae music. It's a really fun and interesting trip into that time — and a really gorgeous book. — Jordan Morris The Angel of Indian Lake, by Stephen Graham Jones Horror novelist Stephen Graham Jones has just publishedThe Angel of Indian Lake.It's the conclusion of The Indian Lake trilogy, about Jade Daniels, a young woman who wonders if she is a final girl.She's a big slasher movie fan, and she uses all the information and knowledge that she has learned from those stories to survive — it's sort of her philosophy of living. Jones is a Native American author and he's so close to the culture when he writes about horror, and werewolves, and vampires and slashers. It is frightening and bloody, but it is also a thoughtful journey of a young woman coming to terms with the idea that she may not be a final girl, but may in fact be a trainer or a mentor for a series of final girls. He writes with such poetry and sensitivity; his books are 90% about these really beautiful, touching, complex interpersonal relationships, and 10% the best gore you ever had. — Walter Chaw The new season of Is It Cake? In a world in which you never know what you're going to get when you turn on a streaming show (Is it going to be too heavy? Is it going to be too goofy?) Netflix's Is It Cake? is a game show where people look at something and try to answer the question: Is it cake? It's hosted by Mikey Day with a very interesting collection of judges and bakers who come on. Between that, and the return of the Netflix show Physical: 100, which is just 100 people competing on all kinds of different physical tasks — I am completely happy when it comes to things that I can watch on Netflix without having to pay any attention. — Linda Holmes More recommendations from the Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter by Linda Holmes I can't believe I haven't been doing the history quiz from NPR's Throughline, but you can rest assured I am righting that wrong as we speak. This week's is about Monopoly, and as you'd expect from the Throughline team, it's a step more interesting than your average quiz. As a person who loves streaming documentaries, I'm always delighted when I come across a specific call to action that tells people about good ones to watch right now. Here are a few chosen in The New York Times. Beth Noveyadapted the Pop Culture Happy Hour segment "What's Making Us Happy" for the Web. If you like these suggestions, consider signing up for our newsletter to get recommendations every week. And listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Why the U.S. is absent from international seabed mining talks In Jamaica, international negotiations are underway over how to govern the mining of precious metals that can help fuel renewable technologies. But the U.S. isn't at the negotiating table. Copyright 2024 WBUR

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Virginia lawmakers more to raise age of marriage to 18 VPM | By Jahd Khalil Published March 29, 2024 at 4:33 PM EDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Virginia lawmakers are moving to raise the age of marriage there to 18, something most states still have not done, which activists say has led to abuses. Copyright 2024 VPM

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BALTIMORE — (AP) — A crane that can lift 1,000 tons, described as one of the largest on the Eastern Seaboard, appeared near the site of a collapsed highway bridge in Baltimore as crews prepared Friday to begin clearing wreckage that has stymied the search for four workers missing and presumed dead and blocked ships from entering or leaving the city's vital port. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore called the Francis Scott Key Bridge's collapse following a freighter collision an "economic catastrophe" and described the challenges ahead for recovering the workers' bodies and clearing tons of debris to reopen the Port of Baltimore. "What we're talking about today is not just about Maryland's economy; this is about the nation's economy," Moore said at a news conference, the massive crane standing in the background. "The port handles more cars and more farm equipment than any other port in this country." Moore went to the scene Friday and said he saw shipping containers ripped apart "like papier-mache." The broken pieces of the bridge weigh as much as 4,000 tons, Moore said, and teams will need to cut into the steel trusses before they can be lifted from the Patapsco River. Equipment on hand will include seven floating cranes, 10 tugboats, nine barges, eight salvage vessels and five Coast Guard boats, Moore said. Much of it is coming from the Navy. "To go out there and see it up close, you realize just how daunting a task this is. You realize how difficult the work is ahead of us," Moore said. "With a salvage operation this complex — and frankly with a salvation operation this unprecedented — you need to plan for every single moment." Water conditions have prevented divers from entering the river, Moore said. When conditions change, they will resume efforts to recover the construction workers, who were repairing potholes on the bridge when it fell early Tuesday. "We have to bring a sense of closure to these families," Moore said. The Coast Guard is focused on removing what's left of the bridge and the container ship that struck it in order to clear the port's shipping lanes, Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said. Teams of engineers from the Army Corps of Engineers, the Navy and the Coast Guard — along with some private-sector experts — are assessing how to "break that bridge up into the right-sized pieces that we can lift," Gilreath said. Maryland's Department of Transportation is already focused on building a new bridge and is "considering innovative design, engineering and building methods so that we can quickly deliver this project," Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld said. Adam Ortiz, the Environmental Protection Agency's mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator, said there is no indication of active releases from the ship, nor of the presence in the water of materials hazardous to human health. Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., superintendent of the Maryland State Police, said the Federal Aviation Administration has been asked to establish a tactical flight restriction area that would begin 3 nautical miles in every direction from the center span of the bridge and extend upward to 1,500 feet. Butler advised people to keep drones away from the area and said law enforcement is poised to act on any violations of that airspace. The victims of the bridge collapse were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, officials said. At least eight people initially went into the water when the ship struck the bridge column, and two of them were rescued. Divers have recovered the bodies of two men from a pickup truck in the river, but the nature and placement of the debris has complicated efforts to find the other four workers. "The divers can put their hands on that faceplate, and they can't even see their hands," said Donald Gibbons, an instructor with Eastern Atlantic States Carpenters Technical Centers. "So we say zero visibility. It's very similar to locking yourself in a dark closet on a dark night and really not being able to see anything." Baltimoreans made morning stops at vantage points to watch for the cranes. Ronald Hawkins, 71, who could see the bridge from his home, recalled watching its construction in 1972. It opened in 1977. Now, with sadness, he stopped by an overlook in search of closure. "I'm going to come up here every day, because I want to see the bridge coming up out of the water," Hawkins said. "It's a hurtin' thing." President Joe Biden's administration has approved $60 million in immediate aid, and Biden has said the federal government will pay the full cost of rebuilding the bridge, which carried Interstate 695. Ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore remains suspended, but the Maryland Port Administration said in a statement Friday that trucks were still being processed at marine terminals. Federal and state officials have said the collision and collapse early Tuesday appeared to be an accident that came after the ship lost power. Investigators are still trying to determine why. The crash caused the bridge to break and fall into the water within seconds. Authorities had just enough time to stop vehicle traffic but were unable to alert the construction crew. The cargo ship Dali, which is managed by Synergy Marine Group, had been headed from Baltimore to Sri Lanka. It is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and was chartered by Danish shipping giant Maersk. The loss of a road that carried 30,000 vehicles a day and the port disruption will affect not only thousands of dockworkers and commuters, but also U.S. consumers, who are likely to feel the impact of shipping delays. Scott Cowan, president of the International Longshoremen's Association Local 333, said the union was scrambling to help its roughly 2,400 members whose jobs are at risk of drying up. "If there's no ships, there's no work," he said. "We're doing everything we can." ___ Associated Press writers Sarah Brumfield in Washington, Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tennessee, Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed to this report.

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ROME — In order to preserve his health, the Vatican said Pope Francis did not attend a Good Friday event. Pope Francis skipped a Good Friday procession at the Colosseum, according to Reuters. It was the first Pope Francis, 87, skipped the traditional event in his 11-year papacy, The Associated Press reported. St. John Paul II skipped the same event before his death in 2005, according to the AP. "To conserve his health in view of the vigil tomorrow and Mass on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis will follow the Via Crucis at the Colosseum this evening from the Casa Santa Marta," a statement from the Vatican press office said, according to the AP. He recently also skipped delivering the traditional homily on Palm Sunday to kick off the Catholic faith's Holy Week last Sunday. However, Francis presided over the service, speaking before and after the scheduled homily in a clear voice, The New York Times reported. Francis was hospitalized in late February for the flu. For more than a year, he had been using a wheelchair and a walker because of strained ligaments in his knee. The pontiff had surgery for intestinal blockage in June 2023. That came two years after Francis had 13 inches of his colon removed because of a narrowing of his large intestine. He was hospitalized for five days at Rome's Gemelli Hospital in late March 2023 with a lung infection. Francis had part of one lung removed when he was younger. He was elected the 266th pope in history on March 13, 2013, after the surprising resignation of Pope Benedict XVI two weeks earlier. © 2024 Cox Media Group

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A timeless image A boy, barely out of childhood, holds a grenade in his hand. His gaze, although defiant, also holds a flicker of innocence, a boyish vulnerability peeking through the steely resolve. Flanking him on either side stand two older teenagers, rifles aimed towards the enemy. This image of Naib Uddin Ahmed, published in December 1971 with the title "Muktijuddhe Tin Kishore" (Three Teenage Freedom Fighters), has turned out to be one of the most iconic images of the Liberation War. It embodied the courage of the nation's youngsters, who stood up for freedom. The photograph features Abdul Khaleque, grenade in hand, flanked by his comrades Abdul Mazid and Mujibur Rahman, all wielding weapons. The three boys, all aged between 13 and 14 at the time, joined the war from Musuria village in Delduar upazila of Tangail. After independence, Mujibur Rahman became a rickshaw puller to help his family. He died of cancer in 2016. Meanwhile, Abdul Mazid is a retired officer of Ansar Battalion. RETURNING TO MYMENSINGH Three years ago, this newspaper met Abdul Khaleque, the boy with the grenade, in an event hosted in his honour in Mymensingh. After the war, he worked in a low-income private job. The allowance he received as a freedom fighter was one of his biggest sources of income. A visit to Mymensingh for Khaleque was a powerful experience, filled with nostalgia. The iconic photograph that cemented their place in history was captured right here in this very city. Recalling the events of the war with emotion, Khaleque shared, "After reaching Mymensingh in December, our company commander Khorshed Alam assigned me and two others, Mazid and Mujibur, to attack a Pakistan bunker near the Railway Bridge area. I remember asking them to be prepared with their rifles in case of an attack. We had no idea when Naib Uddin took the photograph that captured that moment." Khaleque said he has established a museum, "Muktijudhha Jadugar," on a four-decimal land in Tangail. He requested support from the government so that the museum can continue to run smoothly in the future. A FADING LEGACY Even though Naib Uddin Ahmed was an internationally renowned photographer, memories of his work are slowly fading in the minds of his own people in Mymensingh. His camera has preserved some of the most striking scenes from the Liberation War -- scenes of torture, aggression, and grave injustice. Yet, only a few of his colleagues, well-wishers, and family members remember the veteran behind the lenses today Some of his photographs are widely used on different occasions, but his name is never seen on the credits. "It's quite painful for us," said Mahmuda Nasrin Kajol, Naib's daughter-in-law. One of his most popular works, the historic photograph "Three Freedom Fighters," is displayed in the main corridor of the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, but it does not bear Naib's name, lamented Kajol. His photographs helped publicise the war to the world, and they now survive as documents of the Liberation War, said Nowab, now 78- years -old. It was his immense courage that led Naib to turn his camera towards the war. His photography captured the atmosphere of the war, like his photos of vultures circling carcasses on the bank of Brahmaputra, said Nowab.

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May 18, 2022 / 12:00AM GMT Operator Hello, everyone, and welcome to Revasum's 2022 Annual General Meeting. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now turn the conference over to Revasum's Chairman, Kevin Landis, to conduct the meeting. Please go ahead, Kevin. Kevin Michael Landis - Revasum, Inc. - Independent Non-Executive Chairman Thank you, operator. Good morning to our Australian shareholders, both of them, and good afternoon to our U.S. shareholders, and welcome to the 2022 Revasum Annual General Meeting. I'm Kevin Landis, Chairman and Nonexecutive Director of Revasum. Slightly different from last year, we're operating in a hybrid environment with both a physical and virtual meeting to enable shareholders' engagement, and we're pleased to be speaking to investors across the globe simultaneously. And by the way, today, it sounds as though we're, at times, reading from a script that's because we are, we're not professional meeting holders. So we're endeavoring to do everything just properly. Following the meeting, our Chief Executive Revasum Inc Annual Shareholders Meeting Transcript Already have an account? Log in Get the full story Access to All Earning Calls and Stock Analysis | | 30-Year Financial on one screen | | All-in-one Stock Screener with unlimited filters | | Customizable Stock Dashboard | | Real Time Insider Trading Transactions | | 8,000+ Institutional investors' 13F holdings | | Powerful Excel Add-in and Google sheets Add-on | | All data downloadable | | Quick customer support | | And much more... | 30-Day 100% money back guarantee You are not charged until the trial ends. Subscription fee may be tax deductible. Excellent 4.6 out of 5 Trustpilot

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For 12-year-old Sam Frost, the Sydney Royal Easter Show is always a fun time of year, but this year parading his Merino ewe called "Ally" felt extra special. Sam and his parents Kristen and Anthony Frost named their ewe in tribute to Ally Jaffrey from Crookwell, NSW, who passed away on February 17 after a five-year battle with myelofibrosis, a rare type of bone marrow cancer. Ms Jaffrey was well-known and respected in the Australian wool industry, working as the wool area manager for Nutrien Crookwell, Southern Tablelands Flock Ewe competition secretary, and she also won the coveted wool classing golden stencil competition at the Sydney Royal Show in 2014. Sam, who is from Thalabah Merino stud near Crookwell, NSW, said Ms Jaffrey was a close family friend and she knew a lot about his family's ram sale. "When we got the ewe we decided to name her Ally as she was a real good ewe and she stood out to us," he said. Ally the ewe reigns supreme Two-and-a-half-year-old ewe, Ally, was sashed supreme Merino ewe exhibit at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. "Luckily she won supreme, which is a nice memory to name that ewe after someone that is a really great person and meant a lot of everyone in the community," Sam said. "It means a fair bit to us and hopefully to her family." His mother Kristen Frost said to win the supreme with Ally was not just about that ribbon. "It was about paying tribute to one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. Ally Jaffrey was so incredibly special to me, as a friend, colleague and support to our stud Thalabah," she said. "Her death has had a massive effect on me and Frosty [Anthony], who was also close to her." Anthony Frost said she meant a lot to everyone. "You don't get as many people that are so community minded as Ally," he said. "Nothing was ever a problem for her. She was in every committee, going from the rugby union club right through to the flock ewe competitions, and also the show society. "She was always going above and beyond." Community rallied for Ally In 2018, Ms Jaffrey underwent a bone marrow transplant. The community of Crookwell threw their support behind Ms Jaffrey when her cancer relapsed, and in 2022 for a nude calendar calendar entitled, Crookwell Bares All. Within 48 hours more than 150 people and 56 businesses from the town of 2,600 had signed up to help raise funds. "To get the whole community to get their clothes off, you have to have a fair bit of pulling power. It's not normally something everyone lines up to do," Mr Frost said. "Ally and her husband Cody would do everything and anything for everyone else and the community just tried to give back by doing it." While Ms Jaffrey admired their efforts, she told the ABC in 2022 it was blood donations that were most needed, as she relied on regular transfusions. Ms Jaffrey's funeral was held in Crookwell on February 26. As testament to her popularity, more than 1,500 people attended and, in a mark of respect, the main street businesses closed to join the guard of honour.

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Why the U.S. is absent from international seabed mining talks In Jamaica, international negotiations are underway over how to govern the mining of precious metals that can help fuel renewable technologies. But the U.S. isn't at the negotiating table. Copyright 2024 WBUR

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Who is Maryland Governor Wes Moore? Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is the only sitting Black governor and the third ever elected in the U.S. Moore is described as a "rising star" in the Democratic party without spending much time in office. Copyright 2024 NPR

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Virginia lawmakers more to raise age of marriage to 18 VPM | By Jahd Khalil Published March 29, 2024 at 4:33 PM EDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Virginia lawmakers are moving to raise the age of marriage there to 18, something most states still have not done, which activists say has led to abuses. Copyright 2024 VPM

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Why the U.S. is absent from international seabed mining talks In Jamaica, international negotiations are underway over how to govern the mining of precious metals that can help fuel renewable technologies. But the U.S. isn't at the negotiating table. Copyright 2024 WBUR

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For Marylanders like Becky Grimes, who works at an Amazon warehouse near the eastern end of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the bridge's sudden collapse immediately changed the shape of her day — and many days ahead. She normally takes the Key Bridge to and from work, but it now takes an extra half hour each way to drive through the city of Baltimore instead of around it. "I'm not looking forward to it," she says. "There's a lot of people that already want to transfer out." The collapse of the bridge and the closure of the Port of Baltimore is upending life for countless people in the Chesapeake region. For many residents, it's the bridge closure that will shake up their daily lives, lengthening commutes and clogging the city's tunnels. "Because of the port being suspended, we don't have any traffic yesterday, today, at least for the next week or a week and a half," says Brent Howard, president of the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce. "That's money that we're losing every day because those ships are being redirected to other ports. Norfolk, Newark, Philadelphia are getting that revenue on a daily basis that was already slotted for Baltimore." And the Key Bridge is a toll bridge that last year generated 7% of the total revenue for the state's transportation authority, according to an analysis by Moody's. Howard says getting the port and bridge running again is pivotal to the region, both economically and emotionally. "We're the Chesapeake," he says. "Baltimore is really connected to the port and connected to water and connected to ships and vessels. That's something that's always been intrinsic to Baltimore's history, going back to our inception." A bustling port, now in limbo As a little girl in the 1970s, Brenda Cotsairis's father brought her to a sandy beach to see the Key Bridge under construction. She works at a local grocery store and has seen the area weather its ups and downs. "For a lot of years, good jobs were gone and then things started to come back," she says. "And now we have Tradepoint Atlantic and we have the port bustling — it's a very, very busy port and it's thriving for Baltimore. And now it's devastated." Daraius Irani, an economist at Towson University, estimates that the port's closure is costing between $10 million and $15 million a day in lost economic activity. And at least another $1 million a day in state and local taxes won't be collected while the port is closed. Still, Irani says the port — which last year had its best year ever — should fully rebound. That's in part because Baltimore's port is about a day further inland than many others on the Eastern seaboard, putting it closer to points in the Midwest. He says if the port remains closed for months, there could be some furloughs, but he doesn't expect layoffs among workers there. And Irani says the bridge's collapse will likely create some jobs. "You hate to say this, but in any kind of disaster, there's obviously the opportunity for the rebuild. So new construction jobs will likely come up because they need to build a new bridge," he says. Businesses near the bridge could see fewer customers The bridge's absence will almost certainly have a longer impact on the small businesses located near its entrances on either side of the Patapsco River. Joe Gold is the general manager of Key Brewing, a craft brewery in the town of Dundalk. Like the bridge, the brewery was named after Francis Scott Key, who wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner." "We're not shut down I mean, it's not like that," Gold said Wednesday. "It's just ... the community is going to have to readjust." With the Key Bridge closed, the traffic that would have passed by to get on I-695 is now taking alternate routes — routes that don't pass by Key Brewing's taproom. "When I came to work this morning, past 95 to our office, it was the least amount of traffic that I've ever seen on my commute," Gold says. He says that's a sign that people aren't coming that direction anymore, at least during their daily commutes. Is he worried about his business surviving? Not just yet. "It's still too early," he says. "It's still too fresh to kind of know how deep of an impact this is going to have." It all depends on how long it takes to clear the port — and rebuild a very long bridge. For the latest from member station WYPR in Baltimore head to wypr.org Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. Laurel Wamsley is a reporter for NPR's News Desk. She reports breaking news for NPR's digital coverage, newscasts, and news magazines, as well as occasional features. She was also the lead reporter for NPR's coverage of the 2019 Women's World Cup in France.

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Many cryptocurrencies plunged in 2022 as rising rates, the collapses of high-profile exchanges and tokens, and regulatory threats drove investors toward safer investments. That "crypto winter" dragged on throughout the first half of 2023. But over the past 12 months, investors gradually pivoted back toward cryptocurrencies in anticipation of lower interest rates and a warmer macro environment. So if you believe brighter days are ahead for the crypto market, it might be the right time to load up on these three cryptocurrencies. 1. Bitcoin Bitcoin's (CRYPTO: BTC) price hit a new all-time high of $73,580 on March 14. It subsequently pulled back to about $65,000, but it's still up more than 130% over the past 12 months. That rally was driven by three main catalysts. First, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first 11 spot price exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for Bitcoin this January. That approval made it much easier to directly invest in Bitcoin, which was previously only accessible through direct purchases or ETFs tethered to trusts and future contracts. Second, more investors are paying attention to the next "halving," which will reduce the rewards for mining Bitcoin in half this April. That process, which occurs every four years, will likely drive Bitcoin's price higher by tightening its available supply. Lastly, hopes for lower interest rates and a broader fear of missing out (FOMO) drew more investors back to Bitcoin. Bitcoin's price will likely remain volatile, but those tailwinds could drive its price much higher through the end of the year. 2. Ethereum Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) also rallied 90% to about $3,500 over the past 12 months. Those gains were driven by hopes for spot price ETF approvals, major upgrades for improving the Ethereum Network's operating efficiency, and the development of more decentralized tokens and apps across its blockchain. Ethereum's price recently slumped after the SEC requested more information from the Ethereum Foundation and continued its drive to reclassify Ether and other Ethereum tokens as securities. The SEC also reiterated its view that Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency that could be classified as a commodity instead of a security. That setback doused hopes for a quick approval of spot price ETFs for Ether, but it could head higher once it clears these regulatory hurdles. Ether's supply has still been steadily decreasing ever since it shifted from the "proof-of-work" (PoW) model to a more energy-efficient "proof-of-stake" (PoS) model in late 2022, and its token burns are accelerating that decline. Therefore, it might be smart to accumulate some Ethereum while the market is paying a lot more attention to Bitcoin. 3. XRP XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), the native cryptocurrency of the Ripple payment protocol network, rallied more than 40% over the past 12 months but remains more than 80% below its all-time high of $3.84 from January 2018. Like Bitcoin and Ethereum, XRP struggled with an exodus of investors as interest rates rose. However, XRP also faces unique regulatory and competitive headwinds. On the regulatory front, the SEC sued Ripple and two of its executives in late 2020 for raising $1.3 billion through an unauthorized offering of XRP tokens. The regulators argued that those tokens should have been classified as unregistered securities. But last July, a U.S. court ruled that Ripple's sales of XRP tokens didn't constitute sales of unregistered securities, and subsequently shot down an appeal by the SEC three months later. The SEC then dropped its lawsuit against Ripple's two executives, but the two parties are still headed for a final court battle in April. As for the competition, Ripple needs to keep pace with similar blockchain-powered networks like Ethereum, which serves a broader range of markets; and Solana, which processes its transactions at a faster rate. Those challenges are daunting, but If Ripple wins its case against the SEC and upgrades its network to keep pace with its competitors, its price could climb a lot higher over the next few months. Should you invest $1,000 in Bitcoin right now? Before you buy stock in Bitcoin, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Bitcoin wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. *Stock Advisor returns as of March 25, 2024

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A treasure trove of memories currently tucked away in a basement room of city hall will soon be digitized and available to the public. It's part of a new effort to preserve city history Jacksonville City Council agreed to fund this week. The detailed record of the city's collective history, documented in hundreds of books containing countless pages date back 150 years. It was just a few months ago City Council President Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large) was invited down a backdoor freight elevator by a colleague. A few steps down a hall and through an inconspicuous door, he was greeted by shelves upon shelves of city records, detailing the actions of city government going back as far as 1870. Salem was especially impressed with the flawless calligraphy in some of the older records - Handwritten accounts of council actions that now-a-days would be quickly typed up on a stenograph. "It is clear as day to read these things," said Salem. Salem noted it's not hard to uncover detailed insights shining a light on pivotal moments in the city's history. "The one that was of most interest to me was the first city council meeting after the Great Fire and the city council was planning on which buildings to build back first," said Salem. But Salem made another observation upon entering the room: Pipes lining the ceiling. "Those pipes could bust at any time and ruin everything down here," said Salem. So, Salem and staff crunched the numbers on what it would take to not only protect the records, but also make them available to the public. "I just feel strongly this stuff needs to be saved, collected for future generations to go back to," said Salem. This Tuesday, $125,000 was green-lit for the effort. Staff at the library will digitize all the records and post them to an online portal, so community members and researchers can view the documents from anywhere in the world. The digitization process is expected to take about 18 months. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] The physical records will also be moved out of the basement and into a climate-controlled room in the library, to preserve the original copies of the first draft of Jacksonville's storied history.

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The crew on flight number 6E-178 assisted the unwell passenger, the airline said. (Representational) New Delhi: An IndiGo flight, which operated from Patna to Ahmedabad, was diverted to Indore due to a medical emergency on board. The crew on flight number 6E-178 assisted the unwell passenger, the airline said. "Prioritising his well being, the captain diverted the flight en route. On arrival, the passenger was referred for further treatment. Any inconvenience caused to other passengers is regretted," the airline said in the brief statement. Further details, including name and address, about the unwell passenger was not known at the time of filing this report. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Austin Hunter Turner died in 2017, on a night that his mother has rewound and replayed again and again, trying to make sense of what happened. In Jerusalem, Palestinian Christians observe scaled-down Good Friday rituals Hundreds of Christians participated in a customary Good Friday procession through the limestone walls of Jerusalem's Old City, commemorating one of the faith's most sacred days with noticeably thinner crowds amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The procession, which normally draws thousands of foreign visitors, was unusually local -- mostly Palestinian Christians, joined by some foreigners living in Jerusalem and a few undeterred tourists. The procession passes along the Way of the Cross, or Via Dolorosa, the route believed to have been walked by Jesus to his crucifixion. Squads of Israeli police set up barricades along the path, rerouting shoppers in the Old City's bustling Muslim quarter to make way for hundreds of pilgrims. A young group of Palestinian Arab scouts led the day's procession, past the 14 stations, each marking an event that befell Jesus on his final journey. Hundreds of Palestinian Christians walked in their wake. Behind them was a small parade of the Franciscan religious order, composed mainly of foreigners who live in Jerusalem. "We wait for this every year," said Munira Kamar, a Palestinian Christian from the Old City, who waved to the cross-bearers who stopped to give her young daughter a kiss on the cheek. "Of course, this year we are unhappy because of the situation with the ongoing war." Thousands of Palestinians have been killed in Israel's ongoing offensive in Gaza, launched after Hamas' Oct. 7 killings and hostage-taking in Israel. The impact of the war was clear at the procession's final stations are inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified and laid to rest before his resurrection on Easter. There, instead of the crowds who normally queue for hours in the church courtyard, entrance to the site was easy. The city's streets were noticeably devoid of Palestinian Christians from the West Bank, who normally flock to the Holy City for Easter. Since Oct. 7, Palestinian worshippers have needed special permission to cross checkpoints into Jerusalem. Despite the thinned crowds, shopkeepers, whose heavy metal doors are usually closed on Fridays, threw them open for tourists seeking Catholic memorabilia. But shoppers were few and far between. "Comparing last year's Easter festivities with this year is like light and day," said Fayaz Dakkak, a Palestinian storeowner whose family first opened the shop in 1942. His shop stood empty. "Usually people are joyful today and kids are excited," he said. "But when you compare children here who have water and food and a family to what's happening in Gaza, how can you be happy?" An estimated 50,000 Christian Palestinians live in the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to the U.S. State Department's international religious freedom report for 2022. Approximately 1,300 Christians lived in Gaza, it said. Some Christians are also citizens of Israel. Many Palestinian Christians live in diaspora communities. A few tourists braved the day. Carmen Ros, a lawyer who lives in Jerusalem, had managed to corral a group of pilgrims from Spain to visit the country for a religious tour. The group rested in the shade outside the church. "They were afraid of the situation at first," she said, "but I told them here in Jerusalem, it's safe, we don't have violence. We are close to Gaza, but the Christian people are not the target of terrorism." The celebrations coincided with the third Friday in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with worshippers once again flocking to the revered Al-Aqsa mosque for prayer. Despite fears the ongoing war would spark clashes at the revered Al-Aqsa mosque, Ramadan has so far been peaceful, under tight Israeli security. Sister Harriet Kabaije, a pilgrim from Uganda who moved to Jerusalem three weeks ago to live in a monastery, said she was holding the people of Gaza in her prayers. She said she believed that peace could be achieved in the region. "Many people think that the war here is natural," she said. "But when Jesus was in Bethlehem, it was peaceful. We know that people are suffering in Gaza so we carry them in our prayers and pray that peace can return to this land." Elsewhere, Pope Francis skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at the Colosseum in Rome, the Vatican said, to "conserve his health in view of the vigil tomorrow and Mass on Easter Sunday." It was the first time Francis had skipped the traditional, evocative event in his 11-year papacy, an event that St. John Paul II famously skipped just before he died in 2005. In Spain, several Good Friday street processions were canceled due to storms that provided some much-needed rain to areas battling a prolonged drought. Seville's brotherhoods were forced to call off the processions of their giant floats bearing sculptures of Jesus of the Virgin for the first time in over a decade due to bad weather. In Chicago, hundreds of spectators flocked to the city's Pilsen neighborhood to witness a Good Friday tradition -- the 47th Via Crucis procession reenacting scenes from Jesus' final days. "It's the story that we all know from when we were little kids," said Jason Rodriguez, a Pilsen resident and event volunteer. "This reenactment drives home the suffering, the strength and the passion that our Lord had." Associated Press writers Teresa Crawford in Chicago, Nicole Winfield in Rome and Joseph Wilson in Madrid contributed to this report. CTVNews.ca Top Stories Niagara Region says it has declared a state of emergency 'out of an abundance of caution' as it prepares for an influx of visitors for next month's total solar eclipse. An Ontario man who built a garage on his property has been locked in a battle with his electricity provider for a year and half over a severed power line. A breakthrough discovery made by doctors at the Montreal Children's Hospital about the causes of cerebral palsy is giving new hope to one West Island family. A Filipino villager has been nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ's suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition he said he would devote to pray for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and the disputed South China Sea. A sixth suspect has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 28-year-old man and his pregnant wife in Bowmanville, Ont., police confirmed Friday. - - - - Niagara Region says it has declared a state of emergency 'out of an abundance of caution' as it prepares for an influx of visitors for next month's total solar eclipse. - An Ontario man who built a garage on his property has been locked in a battle with his electricity provider for a year and half over a severed power line. - An international environmental organization says it is concerning that at least three of the 19 North Atlantic right whale calves born this season have died this year. - Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren't supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found. - Former U.S. president Donald Trump and eight other defendants accused of illegally trying to interfere in the 2020 election in Georgia on Friday submitted a formal application to appeal a judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case. - A Filipino villager has been nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ's suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition he said he would devote to pray for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and the disputed South China Sea. - Moscow launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure Friday, with a mass barrage of 99 drones and missiles hitting regions across the country, Ukraine's armed forces said. - Hundreds of Christians participated in a customary Good Friday procession through the limestone walls of Jerusalem's Old City, commemorating one of the faith's most sacred days with noticeably thinner crowds amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. - Pope Francis skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome's Colosseum, the Vatican said, adding to concerns about his frail health during a particularly busy liturgical period. - Premier Wab Kinew and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre met at the Manitoba legislature Thursday afternoon. - Trudeau's latest pre-budget pledge targets millennial moms, vowing $1B in loans for more child-care spaces The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday. - Quebec MP Anthony Housefather remains undecided on his future more than a week after a House of Commons motion on Israel and Gaza left him questioning whether he will remain in the Liberal party. - - A breakthrough discovery made by doctors at the Montreal Children's Hospital about the causes of cerebral palsy is giving new hope to one West Island family. - The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season. - A new poll indicates 51 per cent of Canadians support banning the social media app TikTok, after a U.S. bill aiming to do just that passed in the House of Representatives. - While eclipse watchers look to the skies, people who are blind or visually impaired will be able to hear and feel the celestial event. - An Everest-size volcano hiding in plain sight on Mars? New research make waves in the science community Scientists may have pinpointed a massive, oddly shaped volcano taller than Mount Everest on the surface of Mars — and it has been hiding in plain sight for decades, according to new research. - A New Mexico judge on Friday rejected an effort by a movie set armourer to challenge her conviction of involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film "Rust." - The estate of minimalist contemporary artist Donald Judd filed a lawsuit against Kardashian this week, claiming the fashion and beauty mogul promoted 'cheap knockoffs' of his furniture designs. - Beyoncé knows how to get people talking, and her new album "Cowboy Carter," had tongues wagging long before its release date on March 29. - If you've been the victim of workplace harassment, it can be difficult to feel you're not alone - and even more difficult to know where to go with a complaint. - Canadian exports of thermal coal increased another seven per cent last year, reaching the highest level in almost a decade. - A federal judge on Thursday ordered Sam Bankman-Fried to repay more than US$11 billion as part of his sentence for defrauding customers and investors in his failed crypto exchange FTX. - - Luxury operator Regent Seven Seas Cruises is raising their price tag to eye-watering levels, with a suite on an upcoming 140-day world voyage costing US$1.7 million. - The Pennsylvania group that handles Phil, and his groundhog wife, Phyliss, says the couple have become parents. - The St. Paul Saints quickly found out that not everyone was amused by the pig's name, Ozempig, or the team's posting of a backstory about the pig's embarrassment at gaining weight and promise to try to remain trim. - The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed defenceman Simon Benoit to a three-year contract extension. - Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Strome has been fined $5,000 for cross-checking Seattle Kraken forward Tye Kartye on Thursday. - Infiniti, Nissan's luxury vehicle division, just revealed a feature in its new full-sized SUV that can allow everyone else in the vehicle to keep listening to whatever they want while the driver takes a phone call and no headphones are needed. - Xiaomi, a well-known maker of smart consumer electronics in China, is joining the country's booming but crowded market for electric cars. - Ontario has among the highest rates for auto insurance premiums in Canada -- just below Alberta and Nova Scotia -- however, the introduction of an insurance reform in the provincial budget could soon lower prices. A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff. The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season. It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help. B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack. A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year. The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised. A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn't take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs. - - - The Okanagan Connector was closed Thursday night following multiple crashes blamed on icy road conditions outside of West Kelowna. - Niagara Region says it has declared a state of emergency 'out of an abundance of caution' as it prepares for an influx of visitors for next month's total solar eclipse. - Police identified the 39-year-old victim in Thursday night's fatal shooting in North York. - Ontario's top doctor is calling on the province to immediately enact policy that will restrict access to alcohol, vapes and cannabis as the number of people who have died or visited a hospital due to using multiple substances has spiked in recent years. - The Calgary Police Service is asking for help finding a man who was last seen well over a week ago in Penbrooke Meadows. - Calgary is a top trending Canadian travel destination for those planning adventures for the summer, according to new flight data. - An Easter egg hunt held just outside of Calgary on Good Friday was not just for kids, but also for our furry friends. - One man is confirmed dead after a fatal single-vehicle collision in the early hours of Friday morning in Cumberland, Ottawa Paramedics said. - The Upper Ottawa Valley Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police says one person is facing multiple charges after a traffic complaint on Highway 17 in Head Clara Maria Township. - If you're thinking about selling your home, we have some tips for you to increase its value. - A breakthrough discovery made by doctors at the Montreal Children's Hospital about the causes of cerebral palsy is giving new hope to one West Island family. - Future Hall-of-Fame Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price's home on Montreal' South Shore has sold for $1.5 million, about $300,000 less that the original asking price. - Multiple Montreal Chinese organizations wrote an open letter to Canada's foreign election interference inquiry asking to respect the democratic rights of Chinese Canadians and oppose modern-day exclusion. - - Edmonton Fire Rescue Services respond to nearly 100,000 emergency calls every year, but most have nothing to do with fire. On April 1, that's going to change. - An RCMP detachment north of Edmonton is hoping to reunite a fuel pump with its rightful owner after it was recovered with a stolen vehicle last week. - Feed Nova Scotia says ahead of the Easter holiday, many individuals and families are facing food insecurity and festivities can amplify their struggles. - The Saint John Police Force are investigating a suspicious vehicle that was seen with a set of red and blue lights displayed in the windshield. - The price of gas decreased overnight in all three Maritime provinces. - After lengthy negotiations, a new collective agreement has been reached between Brandon University and its professors. - Hundreds of community members marked Good Friday with the 35th annual Public Way of the Cross, presented by the Archdiocese of Winnipeg. - Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded to calls on Selkirk Avenue and Keewatin Street just over six hours apart. - A Saskatoon mother says the Ministry of Social Services ignored several requests to have black mold removed from her provincial housing corporation home. - - CTV News recently got an inside look at the Regina Police Service's (RPS) Aerial Support Unit (ASU) during a fly along. - Another person has come forward claiming they were not paid what they were owed by Dutchie's Fresh Market. - - In a story of discovery and connection, two musicians from southern Ontario have found themselves not just united by music, but by blood, thanks to DNA testing. - - Heading to the Easter long weekend, the City of Saskatoon along with numerous partners hosted the very first community round dance and feast Thursday evening. - The Saskatoon Blades and Prince Albert Raiders kicked off their opening-round playoff series in Saskatoon, where Max Hildebrand's 41 saves and a three-goal second period was enough for the Raiders to take game one. - Austin Hunter Turner died in 2017, on a night that his mother has rewound and replayed again and again, trying to make sense of what happened. - A lot of concern and speculation is circulating in the small northern Ontario community of Field on Friday after a massive police search for "dangerous" suspects. - Officers in the Parry Sound area started the long weekend with an early morning call about a single-vehicle crash Friday, Ontario Provincial Police say. - An investigation by the Ontario Special Investigations Unit has determined is was reasonable for a police officer to shoot her gun at a man in Aylmer, Ont. - London police canine Hank is being credited with helping catch a robbery suspect. - Provincial police officers are asking for the public's help in a sexual assault investigation in Tillsonburg, Ont. - More than a hundred kids participated in Drysdale's annual Easter Egg hunt on Good Friday. - Huronia West OPP is asking for the public's help in identifying a suspect in a Wasaga Beach robbery. - Volunteers helped prepare over 200 free meals at the All Saints Anglican Church on Friday morning. - A city committee has backed a new gated entry for a downtown parking lot that has prompted partying complaints. - The Downtown Windsor Farmers' Market is opening this weekend. - Windsor police responded to a crash on Riverside Drive West on Thursday night. - - - Special teams proved to be the difference in a key matchup between the Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars on Thursday. - A 49-year-old man has been charged with assault, uttering threats and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose after an incident in Kelowna Monday night. - A B.C. judge has given the City of Vernon 14 days to make a decision on a business licence application it has left pending without explanation for more than a year. - A protester who unleashed a "race-based tirade" outside a vaccination clinic in B.C.'s Okanagan at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic did not cause a criminal disturbance, a judge has ruled. - A Lethbridge policy committee heard a presentation Thursday on the future of the Enmax Centre and the possibility of replacing the facility in years to come. - A Magrath, Alta., grandmother has broken a Guinness World Record for the longest time in an abdominal plank position (female). - The Lethbridge Hurricanes began preparing for their playoff run as soon as their regular season wrapped up last weekend. - Officers in the Parry Sound area started the long weekend with an early morning call about a single-vehicle crash Friday, Ontario Provincial Police say. - A complaint about a 'suspicious' snowmobiler stuck on a trail in northern Ontario has resulted in impaired driving charges against a 43-year-old woman. - You could say 22 Wing/Canadian Forces Base Commander Col. Richard Jolette was born to be in the Royal Canadian Air Force. - Brad Gushue is approaching this year's men's world curling championships like it could be his last. - Roughly 50 children will gather in a St. John's classroom for the first time on Saturday for unique lessons on Ukrainian language, culture and history. -

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During the eighth inning of the Brewers' 2024 season opener against the Mets, Hoskins riled up New York infielder Jeff McNeil with a hard slide into second base to break up a double-play attempt. McNeil already had a tough play to make, fielding a low relay throw from third baseman Brett Baty, but Hoskins coming in spikes-first over the bag prevented a throw to first base. McNeil immediately took exception to the slide and confronted Hoskins before second-base umpire Jonathan Parra stepped between them. As Hoskins jogged away, McNeil continued to yell at him, compelling players from both dugouts and bullpens to walk onto the field. The benches clear between the Mets and Brewers after Jeff McNeil takes exception to a hard slide into second base from Rhys Hoskins pic.twitter.com/NN4ee8ea0Y — SNY (@SNYtv) March 29, 2024 Players stayed on the field as McNeil and Hoskins continued to yell and point at each other. McNeil was hot and ready to fight, to which Hoskins responded with a crying gesture back in the dugout. I'm no lip-reader but I would venture to guess Rhys Hoskins called Jeff McNeil a crybaby here. pic.twitter.com/GQ3ZhVbZsf — Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) March 29, 2024 Looking at the play, McNeil was likely upset at Hoskins sliding into his left leg which was planted in the dirt. Yet Hoskins didn't run out of the baseline to collide with McNeil. Despite McNeil's objections, it appeared to be a clean slide. The Mets called for a review, contending that Hoskins made an illegal slide into McNeil, but the umpires didn't overturn the call. New York's Michael Tonkin struck out the next batter, Brice Turang, to end the inning. The Brewers went on to win the game, 3-1.

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April 2: Magic City Poetry Festival Kickoff. 6-8 p.m. Hoover Public Library. The beginning of the month-long poetry festival kicks off with readings. Poets can register to perform at magiccitypoetryfestival.org. More events are planned at places such as the Alabama Library Association Conference at the Homewood Public Library, Birmingham Museum of Art, East Village Arts, Miles College, St. Paul United Methodist Church and the Birmingham Public Library. Hoover Small Business Alliance Breakfast April 3: Hoover Small Business Alliance Breakfast. 8-9 a.m. Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel. Panel discussion on Information Technology 101. Learn tips and network with other small business owners. Panelists are: Robin Schultz, PC Medics of Alabama; Keith Keller, American Computer Consultants; and Tyler Carroll, Sawyer Solutions. Free. For more information, call Traci Fox at 205-919-0561. April 4: Washington Update Luncheon with U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Hoover. 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel. Palmer will speak on issues facing Congress this year. The luncheon is jointly sponsored by the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce, the Shelby County Chamber, Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce, Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce, Gardendale Chamber of Commerce and Montevallo Chamber of Commerce. Cost is $35 for members of those organizations and $45 for others. Reserved corporate tables for six cost $220. Register by emailing [email protected] by March 30. April 6: Roast of Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis (Benefit for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation). 6:30 p.m. Soiree Event Gallery, 2132 Lorna Ridge Lane. Roasters will be: Paul Finebaum, ESPN/SEC Network contributor and journalist; Gene Hallman, president of Eventive Sports; Carol Robinson, AL.com reporter; Frank Barefield, president of Abbey Residential and chairman of Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama; Janice Rogers, WBRC Fox 6 news anchor; and Bubba Bussey, co-host of "The Rick and Bubba Show." Individual seats cost $375; sponsor packages range from $2,500 to $25,000 (each with seating for eight people). The event is organized by Miss Hoover 2024 Abbie Stockard. Register at nickderzisroast.com. April 2: Magic City Poetry Festival Kickoff. 6-8 p.m. Hoover Public Library. The beginning of the month-long poetry festival kicks off with readings. Poets can register to perform at magiccitypoetryfestival.org. More events are planned at places such as the Alabama Library Association Conference at the Homewood Public Library, Birmingham Museum of Art, East Village Arts, Miles College, St. Paul United Methodist Church and the Birmingham Public Library. April 3: Hoover Small Business Alliance Breakfast. 8-9 a.m. Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel. Panel discussion on Information Technology 101. Learn tips and network with other small business owners. Panelists are: Robin Schultz, PC Medics of Alabama; Keith Keller, American Computer Consultants; and Tyler Carroll, Sawyer Solutions. Free. For more information, call Traci Fox at 205-919-0561. April 4: Washington Update Luncheon with U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Hoover. 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel. Palmer will speak on issues facing Congress this year. The luncheon is jointly sponsored by the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce, the Shelby County Chamber, Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce, Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce, Gardendale Chamber of Commerce and Montevallo Chamber of Commerce. Cost is $35 for members of those organizations and $45 for others. Reserved corporate tables for six cost $220. Register by emailing [email protected] by March 30. April 6: Roast of Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis (Benefit for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation). 6:30 p.m. Soiree Event Gallery, 2132 Lorna Ridge Lane. Roasters will be: Paul Finebaum, ESPN/SEC Network contributor and journalist; Gene Hallman, president of Eventive Sports; Carol Robinson, AL.com reporter; Frank Barefield, president of Abbey Residential and chairman of Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama; Janice Rogers, WBRC Fox 6 news anchor; and Bubba Bussey, co-host of "The Rick and Bubba Show." Individual seats cost $375; sponsor packages range from $2,500 to $25,000 (each with seating for eight people). The event is organized by Miss Hoover 2024 Abbie Stockard. Register at nickderzisroast.com. April 8: Murder in the Stacks. 6:30-7:30 p.m. Hoover Public Library. Attendees can use detective skills to solve a murder mystery, listen to a jazz band and partake of light refreshments and mocktails. For more information, call 205-444-7800. April 11-12: Carousel in Concert. 7 p.m. Hoover Library Theatre. This Rodgers and Hammerstein touring production stars Ciaran Sheehan and tells the story of Billy Bigelow, a swaggering, carefree carnival barker who falls in love with and marries the sweet but naïve Julie Jordan. It's a tale of hope, redemption and the power of love set in the 1870s and 1880s. The actors and singers perform the musical in the style of an old radio show. Tickets are sold out, but the Library Theatre keeps a waiting list for returned tickets. Call 205-444-7888. April 2: Magic City Poetry Festival Kickoff. 6-8 p.m. Hoover Public Library. The beginning of the month-long poetry festival kicks off with readings. Poets can register to perform at magiccitypoetryfestival.org. More events are planned at places such as the Alabama Library Association Conference at the Homewood Public Library, Birmingham Museum of Art, East Village Arts, Miles College, St. Paul United Methodist Church and the Birmingham Public Library. April 3: Hoover Small Business Alliance Breakfast. 8-9 a.m. Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel. Panel discussion on Information Technology 101. Learn tips and network with other small business owners. Panelists are: Robin Schultz, PC Medics of Alabama; Keith Keller, American Computer Consultants; and Tyler Carroll, Sawyer Solutions. Free. For more information, call Traci Fox at 205-919-0561. April 4: Washington Update Luncheon with U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Hoover. 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel. Palmer will speak on issues facing Congress this year. The luncheon is jointly sponsored by the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce, the Shelby County Chamber, Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce, Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce, Gardendale Chamber of Commerce and Montevallo Chamber of Commerce. Cost is $35 for members of those organizations and $45 for others. Reserved corporate tables for six cost $220. Register by emailing [email protected] by March 30. April 6: Roast of Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis (Benefit for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation). 6:30 p.m. Soiree Event Gallery, 2132 Lorna Ridge Lane. Roasters will be: Paul Finebaum, ESPN/SEC Network contributor and journalist; Gene Hallman, president of Eventive Sports; Carol Robinson, AL.com reporter; Frank Barefield, president of Abbey Residential and chairman of Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama; Janice Rogers, WBRC Fox 6 news anchor; and Bubba Bussey, co-host of "The Rick and Bubba Show." Individual seats cost $375; sponsor packages range from $2,500 to $25,000 (each with seating for eight people). The event is organized by Miss Hoover 2024 Abbie Stockard. Register at nickderzisroast.com. April 8: Murder in the Stacks. 6:30-7:30 p.m. Hoover Public Library. Attendees can use detective skills to solve a murder mystery, listen to a jazz band and partake of light refreshments and mocktails. For more information, call 205-444-7800. April 11-12: Carousel in Concert. 7 p.m. Hoover Library Theatre. This Rodgers and Hammerstein touring production stars Ciaran Sheehan and tells the story of Billy Bigelow, a swaggering, carefree carnival barker who falls in love with and marries the sweet but naïve Julie Jordan. It's a tale of hope, redemption and the power of love set in the 1870s and 1880s. The actors and singers perform the musical in the style of an old radio show. Tickets are sold out, but the Library Theatre keeps a waiting list for returned tickets. Call 205-444-7888. April 13: The Kingdom Philanthropy 5K Scholarship Run. 8 a.m. Veterans Park, 4800 Valleydale Road. This 3.1-mile run and walk organized by The Tower of Prayer Church raises money to provide college scholarships for high school seniors who have demonstrated exceptional academic merit and are interested in using their careers to do as much good as possible. Registration costs $25. Patton Creek Art Festival April 13-14: Patton Creek Art Festival. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Patton Creek shopping center in the former Christmas Tree Shop, 4391 Creekside Ave. About 75 artists are expected for this juried art show, including painters, jewelers, woodworkers and stained glass artists, said Jinger Glasgow, president of the Central Alabama Artist Guild. "We've got some fine artists coming in," Glasgow said. The show has always been held outdoors since it moved to Patton Creek in 2020, but "last year was horrible. It was cold and it was wet," Glasgow said. "We decided we've got to go indoors." There also will be an art competition for Hoover elementary, middle and high school students and goods for sale by Ady's Army, a nonprofit that supports people and families affected by autism, Glasgow said. State of Recycling in Alabama April 16: State of Recycling in Alabama. 6-8 p.m. Hoover Public Library. Panel discussion on the changing landscape of recycling, including current trends, what works, innovations and plans for the future. Panelists include: Patrick Byington, reporter for Bham Now; Nick Ciancio, sustainability coordinator at University of Alabama at Birmingham; Leigh Shaffer, Birmingham Recycling and Recovery; Ken Grimes, Hoover city administrator; and Paul Barber, Amwaste district manager for Alabama. April 18: Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce Luncheon. Networking at 11:15 a.m.; luncheon at noon. Cost is $25 for members and $30 for others. Call 205-988-5672. April 18-20: Aldridge Gardens Spring Plant Sale. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturday. Plants include hydrangeas for sun and shade, wildflowers, azaleas and pass-alongs. Denim & Dining Fundraiser for Hoover City April 19: Denim & Dining Fundraiser for Hoover City Schools Foundation. 6-10 p.m. Aldridge Gardens. This is a casual barbecue dinner catered by Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q that includes live music by Jenna and Ben Kuykendall and live and silent auctions. Tickets cost $85 in March and $100 in April and can be purchased at hoovercsf.org/events. Discounts available for teachers. April 26: Household Hazardous Waste Day. 8 a.m. to noon. Hoover Public Safety Center, 2020 Valleydale Road. Items accepted include old paint, pesticides, fertilizers, electronics, ammunition, firearms, medication, cooking oil, auto fluids, batteries and light bulbs. For residents of Hoover and Indian Springs Village only. No businesses allowed. No paper shredding. April 27: Celebrate Hoover Day. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Veterans Park. Citywide celebration that will include live music by the band More Cowbell, a car show by the Dixie Vintage Antique Automobile Car Club, children's games, a petting zoo, pony rides and airbrush tattoos, said Kelly Peoples, the city's events manager. The Hoover police and fire departments should have their specialty equipment and vehicles on display, and businesses and other organizations working with the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce will have an exhibitor tent, she said. The event always includes food trucks, and volunteers will be handing out servings from a 10-foot-wide apple pie cooked in a giant oven. April 27: Hope for Autumn Foundation Crawfish Boil. 3-9 p.m., Main Green at Ross Bridge. All-you-can-eat crawfish boil to raise money to assist families battling childhood cancer in Alabama and fund childhood cancer research at Children's of Alabama hospital. Crawfish will be prepared by Louisiana native John Hein, and live music will be provided by The Divines and Whiskey River Band. There will be hamburgers and hot dogs for kids, as well as bounce houses, face painting, a disc jockey and balloon artists. Soft drinks and water will be provided with tickets, but adults may bring their own adult beverages. Tickets are $50 online for teens and adults and $20 for children ages 5-12. Children younger than 5 are admitted free. Parking is at the Shades Creek Pool in the James Hill sector of Ross Bridge and the Hamptons pool in the Hamptons section of Ross Bridge, with shuttles running continuously. Visit hopeforautumnfoundation.org for more information.

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Mar 15, 2022 / NTS GMT Brendan Malone - Raiz Invest Limited - CEO Australia & Group COO Welcome, and I would like to thank the ASX and Ajita for having me here today to present at the ASX Small and Mid-Cap Conference and to also everybody that has dialed in. My name is Brendan Malone, Joint CEO of Raiz Invest Limited, on behalf of George Lucas, the MD and founder, who unfortunately cannot be with us, but fortunately for the business, he is actually in our Indonesian office driving the actual expansion and growth for us in Southeast Asia. George sends his apologies, but I'm here today. So as we go through the presentation, I might be making a few comments here and there, and I hope that these comments can entertain some questions at the end of the presentation for a healthy discussion. Now let's go. Raiz. Raiz is a micro investing platform. What does that mean? The Raiz app was first introduced to the Australian market in 2016, following a partnership with a US company called Acorns Grow, Inc. What happened next was a positive surprise. The concept of being able to save and invest virtual loose change had Raiz Invest Ltd at ASX Small and Mid-Cap Conference (Virtual) Transcript Already have an account? Log in Get the full story Access to All Earning Calls and Stock Analysis | | 30-Year Financial on one screen | | All-in-one Stock Screener with unlimited filters | | Customizable Stock Dashboard | | Real Time Insider Trading Transactions | | 8,000+ Institutional investors' 13F holdings | | Powerful Excel Add-in and Google sheets Add-on | | All data downloadable | | Quick customer support | | And much more... | 30-Day 100% money back guarantee You are not charged until the trial ends. Subscription fee may be tax deductible. Excellent 4.6 out of 5 Trustpilot

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Israeli strikes kill 42 in Syria's Aleppo A war monitor said Israeli air strikes on Syria's north killed 36 soldiers and six Hezbollah fighters yesterday, the latest deadly raid on Iran-backed forces in the country since the Israeli offensive in Gaza began. Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria since civil war there broke out in 2011, targeting army positions as well as Iran-backed fighters including Hezbollah, an ally of Damascus and Palestinian group Hamas. "Israeli strikes" targeted "a rockets depot belonging to Lebanon's Hezbollah" close to Aleppo airport, said the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of sources inside Syria. It reported "42 killed, including six from Lebanon's Hezbollah group" and "36 soldiers", the highest Syrian army toll in Israeli strikes since the offensive began. State news agency SANA, quoting a military source, reported that "at approximately 1:45 am, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of Athriya, southeast of Aleppo", adding that "civilians and military personnel" were killed and wounded. Contacted by AFP from Jerusalem, the Israeli military said it would "not comment on reports in the foreign media". The Observatory also reported strikes targeting "defence factories" controlled by pro-Iran groups elsewhere in Aleppo province. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said the strikes were a "violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and are a serious threat to regional and international peace and security". He called the attacks "a blatant and desperate attempt to continue and expand the crisis in the region". The attack came just hours after a reported Israeli strike in the Damascus countryside. Syrian state media said "two civilians" were killed in an "Israeli air attack that targeted a residential building" on Thursday, also reporting material damage. The Observatory said the Sayyida Zeinab area, a stronghold of pro-Iran armed groups including Hezbollah south of the capital, was targeted. Israeli raids in Syria also seek to cut off Hezbollah supply routes to neighbouring Lebanon. Israel has exchanged near-daily cross-border fire with Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon since the Gaza offensive began, sparking fears of a major regional conflagration.

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Are you trying to get on top of your spending? Worried your shopping habit is contributing to landfill? Or maybe you're trying to break up with fast fashion for good? Whatever your motivation, re-examining your approach buying clothes can be good for your budget and the planet. We spoke with a stylist, a sustainability advocate and a designer, to get some tips on how to maintain your personal style while being environmentally conscious. Stylist Emily Deneys Emily Deneys works part-time as a stylist in the central Victorian town of Castlemaine, on Dja Dja Wurrung country. She encourages her clients to shop their wardrobes rather by "showing them how they can restyle their clothes and view them in a different light". Her approach: Ms Deneys's philosophy is "buy less, but buy better quality". It can be more expensive, but she says you can spend time saving up for one particular item. She cares for clothing with longevity in mind, for example, by spot cleaning a garment instead of washing it. What you can try: She also recommends embracing repetition. "There's nothing wrong with re-wearing," Ms Deneys says. Ms Deneys says she always suggests clients unsubscribe from clothing companies' email marketing, which is designed to influence you to keep buying. Sustainability advocate Clare Press Gadigal/Sydney-based Clare Press is the author of Wear Next, Fashioning the Future, which explores the future of the fashion industry. She's also the host of the Wardrobe Crisis podcast. "We are drastically over-consuming and under-using our clothes," Ms Press says. She believes there's a "cultural shift" for the better taking place. Her approach: Ms Press says she can't remember when she last ordered an item of clothing online. Instead, Ms Press says she's "creative" when wanting to freshen up her outfits, borrowing from a friend or buying second-hand. What you can try: "If — like me — you've already got a big wardrobe and you're already feeling like you've maybe got too much, then I would encourage you to question the almost unexamined urge to just buy new stuff when you're feeling down or when you've got a big event coming up," she says. Ms Press also says "there's nothing wrong with buying a considered purchase that you care about" but says it should also realistically be within your budget. Fashion designer Fernanda Covarrubias Fernanda Covarrubias is a fashion designer in Naarm/Melbourne's inner north specialising in 'upcycled couture'. Originally from Mexico, Ms Covarrubias moved to Australia eight years ago and works mostly with "deadstock" fabric – a term used to describe leftover or unsold materials from textile companies and apparel manufacturers. Her approach: Ms Covarrubias's wardrobe is a mix of her own designs, second-hand op shop finds and other local independent designers. The "most important thing" is knowing your own style, she says. "You can be sustainable in any budget you have, as long as you know your personal style." She says even if you have splurged on some unique and locally made items, buying basics from op shops can help you to extend your wardrobe, and get more wears out of your more exciting items. What you can try: As a designer, she says there's nothing worse than saving items in your wardrobe for special occasions. "Wear your beautiful thing today. Make the most of them because you are investing in them." For beginner op shoppers, Ms Covarrubius recommends putting aside some time, making a list and going with a friend to avoid "[coming] home with a bunch of things you are never going to wear" or being overwhelmed and having no idea where to start. ABC Everyday in your inbox Get our newsletter for the best of ABC Everyday each week

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Why the U.S. is absent from international seabed mining talks WBUR | By Dan Ackerman Published March 29, 2024 at 12:33 PM AKDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Listen • 3:54 In Jamaica, international negotiations are underway over how to govern the mining of precious metals that can help fuel renewable technologies. But the U.S. isn't at the negotiating table. Copyright 2024 WBUR

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FAFSA problems causing delays in student financial aid Nationwide, colleges and universities are struggling to get financial aid packages to students due to problems with the federal form they must fill out to determine financial aid eligibility. Federal education department officials rolled out a new Free Application for Federal Student Aid form this year and it has been plagued with technical glitches and miscalculations. Sarah Humphries, director of undergraduate admissions at UNC Charlotte, says normally students have access to the FAFSA form in October but the new version was not available until Dec. 31. Humphries tells WFAE's Gwendolyn Glenn they are not able to send financial aid packages to students until the kinks are worked out on the new FAFSA form, which was developed to streamline the process. Sarah Humphries: It cuts down on the number of questions that students have to respond to in the FAFSA, which obviously sometimes comes from your parents information. And it was a pretty cumbersome form before, so the spirit behind this is really streamlining it and making it an easier form for students to complete and when it works, it does just that. The fact that it connects directly to an IRS tool so you don't have to go and look at your old tax returns, it connects directly to the IRS, so, in theory this is going to be a quicker and simpler FAFSA process for students it's just that the rollout in this first year has led to some delays. Gwendolyn Glenn: Tell us about some of the things that have gone wrong with it. Humphries: The timeline is really what has been the biggest challenge. We usually are able to start getting financial aid packages out to students in February, but we just received, along with a number of other UNC system schools and schools nationwide just received our first batch of federal aid data last week and I think that it just took them a long time to get the form live. But then students started submitting it and there was a lot of traffic that was happening on the website all at once. The site started crashing, people were getting errors that there were different bugs that they had to work. Glenn: So where are you now with all of this going on? Where are you now in your process and what kind of effect is it having on students who really need to know how much aid they're going to get? Humphries: As far as UNC Charlotte is concerned, we moved our commitment deadline, which is typically May 1. We just pushed it back to May 15. That was in line with many other UNC system schools — UNC Chapel Hill, NC State, a lot of schools across the country. We hope that we're able to get a new students for our incoming fall class packages out in early April. But obviously, students need to sit down with them, talk with their families to review them and have time to actually make that really important decision. So we just didn't feel like May 1 was going to give them enough time. Glenn: And my understanding is that there was also an error that involved a couple hundred thousand students or more where they were given the wrong calculations. Did that happen with you guys as well? Humphries: Yes, that happened nationwide. They forgot to account for inflation over the past few years, so they had to go back to the drawing board and kind of recalculate some of those calculations that went into who qualifies for federal Pell grants and these other really important calculations that the universities are then using to match against that information to award students those lifelines that are federal Pell grants. Glenn: Approximately how many students at UNC Charlotte were affected by that miscalculation? Humphries: We have received just over 6,000 student records that get to us after they submit their FAFSA. Glenn: So do you think May 15 is time enough for commitments to be made with the way things have been going, you think that's long enough? Humphries: I hope it is. As the weeks draw on and if there are any new challenges that we experience, then obviously we will talk not just as a university but as a system on what we plan to do for our incoming students. And then there's also our continuing student population. You know our students who rely on these financial aid packages to determine whether they're going to be able to attend next year. They have a little bit longer of a runway because bills aren't due until later in the summer so we anticipate being able to get those financial aid packages out with plenty of time for them to get registered and reenroll in everything. Glenn: How many slots do you have for the fall? Humphries: We are hoping to bring in between 4,500 and 4,600 new first year students. Glenn: Is that up or down? Humphries: It's slightly higher than last year. Last year we enrolled 4,501. We have another record-breaking year of applications. We've received over 24 applications for admission this year, and I will say the financial aid question has really put a big question mark over, you know, how are students going to behave throughout this enrollment process? But as of right now, students are committing at the same pace that they did last year. UNC Charlotte doesn't have an enrollment deposit, so we don't require students to put money down in order to secure their space in our incoming class, which I think probably has helped our students knowing that they can secure their spots without their financial aid package because it's not a financial commitment up front for them.

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Jacob Fenston is WAMU's environment reporter. In prior roles at WAMU, he was the founding producer of The Big Listen, interim managing producer of Metro Connection, and a news editor. His work has appeared on many national programs and has been recognized by regional and national awards. More importantly, his reporting has taken him and his microphone deep into muddy banks of the Anacostia River, into an enormous sewage tunnel, and hunting rats in infested alleys. His best story ever (as determined by himself) did not win any awards, even though it required recording audio while riding a bicycle the wrong way down the busy streets of Oakland, Calif.

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — New Pizza Spot in Tapestry Park Salvatore's announced its newest location, in Jacksonville. This location has an emphasis on Salvatore's Famous Rochester, NY-style pizza. It's Salvatore's first location to be fully branded PINK. Salvatore's says it supports the Breast Cancer Coalition with monthly donations and was the first pizzeria to offer pink pizza boxes year-round to continuously raise awareness for Breast Cancer. "Every month should have an emphasis on raising awareness for Breast Cancer, not just the month of October," said Kayla Kent-Moreira, President of Salvatore's. Salvatore's Pizza started as a High School Home Economics project in 1978 by Salvatore Fantauzzo. Today they have 30 locations in the Rochester, NY area and now starting their expansion outside of New York. Location: Salvatore's @ Tapestry Park, 4820 Deer Lake Drive West, Jacksonville, FL Easter Egg Hunt in Atlantic Beach Grab your basket and hop on over to Jordan Park to join us for the city's annual egg hunt. The Egg Hunt will begin at 10 a.m. Family fun activities include: - Train rides - Pony rides - A petting zoo - Bounce house - Face painting - Games - And a special visit from "Bunny" - Admission is free Art in the Park: Chalk Drawings When: MARCH 30, 2024 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM Northeast Florida's only Chalk Drawing competition, returns for a fourth year to Jacksonville. This event is presented by YaYa Productions, Friends of James Weldon Johnson Park, and made possible through a generous grant from the PNC Foundation. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

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After clinching a spot, the Boston Bruins hope to fine-tune their game for the playoffs ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — The Boston Bruins have qualified for the playoffs again nearly a year after setting NHL records for the most wins and points in a season and losing in the first round. They have eight games left before getting a chance to avenge that surprise defeat. In that time coach Jim Montgomery and his players want to fine-tune their game to be ready when that moment comes. They hope the adversity they have faced this season with injuries better prepares them for the postseason.

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Austin Hunter Turner died in 2017, on a night that his mother has rewound and replayed again and again, trying to make sense of what happened. Pope skips Good Friday event to preserve health ahead of Easter, Vatican says Pope Francis skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome's Colosseum to protect his health, the Vatican said, adding to concerns about his frail condition during a particularly busy liturgical period. Francis had been expected to preside over the Way of the Cross procession, which re-enacts Christ's Passion and crucifixion, and composed the meditations that are read aloud at each station. But just as the event was about to begin, the Vatican announced that Francis was following the event from his home at the Vatican. "To conserve his health in view of the vigil tomorrow and Mass on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis will follow the Via Crucis at the Colosseum this evening from the Casa Santa Marta," a statement from the Vatican press office said. It was the first time he had skipped the traditional, evocative event in his 11-year papacy, and recalled the Good Friday that St. John Paul II famously watched from the Apostolic Palace just before he died in 2005. The 87-year-old Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has been battling what he and the Vatican have described as a case of the flu, bronchitis or a cold all winter long. For the last several weeks he has occasionally asked an aide to read aloud his speeches and skipped his Palm Sunday homily altogether. The decision to not attend the Good Friday procession appeared to be very last-minute: Francis' chair was in place on the platform where he was to preside over the rite. His closest aide, Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza, was on hand and moved the television screen around on the platform so Francis would have a better view of what was going on inside the Colosseum itself. But at 9:10 p.m., five minutes before the official start of the procession, the Vatican press office announced on Telegram that he wouldn't show up. The chair was quickly taken away. The hasty announcement recalled Francis' last-minute decision on Palm Sunday, when the Vatican issued the pope's homily in advance to journalists, and his aide got up to give him his glasses to read it, when Francis made clear he was skipping it. Francis had appeared in good form earlier in the day for a Good Friday liturgy in St. Peter's Basilica, though he remained seated throughout and it was not a particularly taxing event that required him to speak at length. On Saturday, he is to preside over a lengthy evening Easter Vigil in St. Peter's, one of the most solemn events in the liturgical calendar. He also is due to preside over Easter Sunday Mass in the piazza and deliver his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) speech rounding up global crises and threats to humanity. In addition to his respiratory problems, Francis had a chunk of his large intestine removed in 2021 and was hospitalized twice last year, including once to remove intestinal scar tissue from previous surgeries to address diverticulosis, or bulges in his intestinal wall. In his recently published memoirs, "Life: My Story Through History," Francis said he isn't suffering from any health problems that would require him to resign and that he still has " many projects to bring to fruition." CTVNews.ca Top Stories An Ontario man who built a garage on his property has been locked in a battle with his electricity provider for a year and half over a severed power line. A Filipino villager has been nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ's suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition he said he would devote to pray for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and the disputed South China Sea. A sixth suspect has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 28-year-old man and his pregnant wife in Bowmanville, Ont., police confirmed Friday. - - - - - - An international environmental organization says it is concerning that at least three of the 19 North Atlantic right whale calves born this season have died this year. - Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren't supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found. - Former U.S. president Donald Trump and eight other defendants accused of illegally trying to interfere in the 2020 election in Georgia on Friday submitted a formal application to appeal a judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case. - - Moscow launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure Friday, with a mass barrage of 99 drones and missiles hitting regions across the country, Ukraine's armed forces said. - Hundreds of Christians participated in a customary Good Friday procession through the limestone walls of Jerusalem's Old City, commemorating one of the faith's most sacred days with noticeably thinner crowds amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. - Pope Francis skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome's Colosseum, the Vatican said, adding to concerns about his frail health during a particularly busy liturgical period. - Premier Wab Kinew and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre met at the Manitoba legislature Thursday afternoon. - Trudeau's latest pre-budget pledge targets millennial moms, vowing $1B in loans for more child-care spaces The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday. - Quebec MP Anthony Housefather remains undecided on his future more than a week after a House of Commons motion on Israel and Gaza left him questioning whether he will remain in the Liberal party. - - - The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season. - A new poll indicates 51 per cent of Canadians support banning the social media app TikTok, after a U.S. bill aiming to do just that passed in the House of Representatives. - While eclipse watchers look to the skies, people who are blind or visually impaired will be able to hear and feel the celestial event. - An Everest-size volcano hiding in plain sight on Mars? New research make waves in the science community Scientists may have pinpointed a massive, oddly shaped volcano taller than Mount Everest on the surface of Mars — and it has been hiding in plain sight for decades, according to new research. - A New Mexico judge on Friday rejected an effort by a movie set armourer to challenge her conviction of involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film "Rust." - The estate of minimalist contemporary artist Donald Judd filed a lawsuit against Kardashian this week, claiming the fashion and beauty mogul promoted 'cheap knockoffs' of his furniture designs. - Beyoncé knows how to get people talking, and her new album "Cowboy Carter," had tongues wagging long before its release date on March 29. - If you've been the victim of workplace harassment, it can be difficult to feel you're not alone - and even more difficult to know where to go with a complaint. - Canadian exports of thermal coal increased another seven per cent last year, reaching the highest level in almost a decade. - A federal judge on Thursday ordered Sam Bankman-Fried to repay more than US$11 billion as part of his sentence for defrauding customers and investors in his failed crypto exchange FTX. - - Luxury operator Regent Seven Seas Cruises is raising their price tag to eye-watering levels, with a suite on an upcoming 140-day world voyage costing US$1.7 million. - The Pennsylvania group that handles Phil, and his groundhog wife, Phyliss, says the couple have become parents. - The St. Paul Saints quickly found out that not everyone was amused by the pig's name, Ozempig, or the team's posting of a backstory about the pig's embarrassment at gaining weight and promise to try to remain trim. - The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed defenceman Simon Benoit to a three-year contract extension. - Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Strome has been fined $5,000 for cross-checking Seattle Kraken forward Tye Kartye on Thursday. - Infiniti, Nissan's luxury vehicle division, just revealed a feature in its new full-sized SUV that can allow everyone else in the vehicle to keep listening to whatever they want while the driver takes a phone call and no headphones are needed. - Xiaomi, a well-known maker of smart consumer electronics in China, is joining the country's booming but crowded market for electric cars. - Ontario has among the highest rates for auto insurance premiums in Canada -- just below Alberta and Nova Scotia -- however, the introduction of an insurance reform in the provincial budget could soon lower prices. A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff. It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help. B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack. A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year. The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised. A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn't take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs. - - - The Okanagan Connector was closed Thursday night following multiple crashes blamed on icy road conditions outside of West Kelowna. - - Police identified the 39-year-old victim in Thursday night's fatal shooting in North York. - Ontario's top doctor is calling on the province to immediately enact policy that will restrict access to alcohol, vapes and cannabis as the number of people who have died or visited a hospital due to using multiple substances has spiked in recent years. - The Calgary Police Service is asking for help finding a man who was last seen well over a week ago in Penbrooke Meadows. - Calgary is a top trending Canadian travel destination for those planning adventures for the summer, according to new flight data. - An Easter egg hunt held just outside of Calgary on Good Friday was not just for kids, but also for our furry friends. - One man is confirmed dead after a fatal single-vehicle collision in the early hours of Friday morning in Cumberland, Ottawa Paramedics said. - The Upper Ottawa Valley Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police says one person is facing multiple charges after a traffic complaint on Highway 17 in Head Clara Maria Township. - If you're thinking about selling your home, we have some tips for you to increase its value. - - Future Hall-of-Fame Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price's home on Montreal' South Shore has sold for $1.5 million, about $300,000 less that the original asking price. - Multiple Montreal Chinese organizations wrote an open letter to Canada's foreign election interference inquiry asking to respect the democratic rights of Chinese Canadians and oppose modern-day exclusion. - - Edmonton Fire Rescue Services respond to nearly 100,000 emergency calls every year, but most have nothing to do with fire. On April 1, that's going to change. - An RCMP detachment north of Edmonton is hoping to reunite a fuel pump with its rightful owner after it was recovered with a stolen vehicle last week. - Feed Nova Scotia says ahead of the Easter holiday, many individuals and families are facing food insecurity and festivities can amplify their struggles. - The Saint John Police Force are investigating a suspicious vehicle that was seen with a set of red and blue lights displayed in the windshield. - The price of gas decreased overnight in all three Maritime provinces. - After lengthy negotiations, a new collective agreement has been reached between Brandon University and its professors. - Hundreds of community members marked Good Friday with the 35th annual Public Way of the Cross, presented by the Archdiocese of Winnipeg. - Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded to calls on Selkirk Avenue and Keewatin Street just over six hours apart. - A Saskatoon mother says the Ministry of Social Services ignored several requests to have black mold removed from her provincial housing corporation home. - - CTV News recently got an inside look at the Regina Police Service's (RPS) Aerial Support Unit (ASU) during a fly along. - Another person has come forward claiming they were not paid what they were owed by Dutchie's Fresh Market. - - In a story of discovery and connection, two musicians from southern Ontario have found themselves not just united by music, but by blood, thanks to DNA testing. - - Heading to the Easter long weekend, the City of Saskatoon along with numerous partners hosted the very first community round dance and feast Thursday evening. - The Saskatoon Blades and Prince Albert Raiders kicked off their opening-round playoff series in Saskatoon, where Max Hildebrand's 41 saves and a three-goal second period was enough for the Raiders to take game one. - - A lot of concern and speculation is circulating in the small northern Ontario community of Field on Friday after a massive police search for "dangerous" suspects. - Officers in the Parry Sound area started the long weekend with an early morning call about a single-vehicle crash Friday, Ontario Provincial Police say. - An investigation by the Ontario Special Investigations Unit has determined is was reasonable for a police officer to shoot her gun at a man in Aylmer, Ont. - London police canine Hank is being credited with helping catch a robbery suspect. - Provincial police officers are asking for the public's help in a sexual assault investigation in Tillsonburg, Ont. - More than a hundred kids participated in Drysdale's annual Easter Egg hunt on Good Friday. - Huronia West OPP is asking for the public's help in identifying a suspect in a Wasaga Beach robbery. - Volunteers helped prepare over 200 free meals at the All Saints Anglican Church on Friday morning. - A city committee has backed a new gated entry for a downtown parking lot that has prompted partying complaints. - The Downtown Windsor Farmers' Market is opening this weekend. - Windsor police responded to a crash on Riverside Drive West on Thursday night. - - - Special teams proved to be the difference in a key matchup between the Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars on Thursday. - A 49-year-old man has been charged with assault, uttering threats and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose after an incident in Kelowna Monday night. - A B.C. judge has given the City of Vernon 14 days to make a decision on a business licence application it has left pending without explanation for more than a year. - A protester who unleashed a "race-based tirade" outside a vaccination clinic in B.C.'s Okanagan at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic did not cause a criminal disturbance, a judge has ruled. - A Lethbridge policy committee heard a presentation Thursday on the future of the Enmax Centre and the possibility of replacing the facility in years to come. - A Magrath, Alta., grandmother has broken a Guinness World Record for the longest time in an abdominal plank position (female). - The Lethbridge Hurricanes began preparing for their playoff run as soon as their regular season wrapped up last weekend. - - A complaint about a 'suspicious' snowmobiler stuck on a trail in northern Ontario has resulted in impaired driving charges against a 43-year-old woman. - You could say 22 Wing/Canadian Forces Base Commander Col. Richard Jolette was born to be in the Royal Canadian Air Force. - Brad Gushue is approaching this year's men's world curling championships like it could be his last. - Roughly 50 children will gather in a St. John's classroom for the first time on Saturday for unique lessons on Ukrainian language, culture and history. -

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Per the report, the Eagles will receive a conditional 2026 third-round pick in return that could be converted to a second-round pick. The 29-year old veteran will join his fourth team in his eighth NFL season. Per the report, the draft pick will convert to a second-round pick if Reddick plays 67.5% of New York's defensive snaps and records 10 or more sacks. Otherwise, it will remain a third-round selection. The move marks a substantial upgrade to New York's pass rush. Reddick has record at least 11 sacks in each of the past four seasons. He made the Pro Bowl after each of the last two seasons and was an All-Pro in 2022 after recording 16 sacks and a league-high five forced fumbles. He posted 11 sacks and 13 tackles for loss in 2023. Bryce Huff led the Jets last season with 10 sacks. No other player recorded more than 7.5.

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1 of 4 Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney. Hoover City Schools Superintendent Kevin Maddox, Hoover Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Cornett and Hoover City Administrator Ken Grimes stand at the "Welcome to Hoover" gateway sign on U.S. 31 North. 2 of 4 Photo by Jon Anderson. Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato, left, has a private chat with Hoover's new city administrator, Ken Grimes, during a Hoover City Council meeting in which Grimes was introduced in September 2023. 3 of 4 Photo courtesy of Sherea Harris-Turner, Hoover City Schools. Hoover City Schools Superintendent Kevin Maddox tests a hovercraft at Rocky Ridge Elementary School on Feb. 23. 4 of 4 Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney. Jennifer Cornett, Hoover's chief financial officer, talks with Virginia Foster, the city's revenue analyst, about departmental codes. Over the past seven months, three new people have taken key positions of leadership in the city of Hoover. Kevin Maddox was hired by the Hoover school board to take over as superintendent of the school system on Sept. 11, replacing Dee Fowler, who retired for a second time. Then on Oct. 30, Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato brought Ken Grimes on board as the new city administrator to replace Allan Rice, who retired Aug. 1 after being placed on administrative leave. The third major addition was Jennifer Cornett, who started in January as the city's new chief financial officer to replace Tina Bolt, another retiree. It's a season of change for the city, and all three of these new leaders have been busy getting more acquainted with Hoover and diving into their respective roles. With a city as big and busy as Hoover, it's been like "drinking through a fire hose," Cornett said. Photo by Jon Anderson. Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato, left, has a private chat with Hoover's new city administrator, Ken Grimes, during a Hoover City Council meeting in which Grimes was introduced in September 2023. CITY ADMINISTRATOR Grimes said while he may not have known all the inner workings of Hoover, he came into this job very familiar with the city. He grew up in Bessemer and remembers the opening of the Riverchase Galleria and the completion of Interstate 459 in the 1980s. He and his wife, Kelly, got engaged at Georgetown Lake. Grimes previously served as president of the Bessemer Area Chamber of Commerce, then became president and CEO of the Alabama Gulf Coast Area Chamber of Commerce in 2001. He next spent six years as a special projects coordinator for the city of Orange Beach and more than 14 years as city administrator and parks and recreation director there, before moving into a new role of director of external affairs in November 2022. Then Brocato came calling to gauge his interest in the Hoover job, and Grimes applied and was hired out of more than 50 applicants. Grimes said he is passionate about local government and wants to finish his career strong, and he believes Hoover would be a good place to do that. "It's kind of like coming back home." Grimes said one of the things that has impressed him the most since coming to Hoover is the level of professionalism he sees in city employees in all departments. "There is a tremendous pride when they speak of the city of Hoover," he said. "There is a tremendous history of service. People are proud to work for the city of Hoover. As an outsider coming in, seeing that is huge." It shocked him how many employees have been with the city for more than 25 years, he said. He also is impressed with the level of service given by both employees and contractors, he said. Hoover is a clean and safe city with a great school system, which are foundational building blocks for any city, he said. "The machine is very well-oiled." And, as big as Hoover is, it still has that community feel, he said. Grimes said he spent the first few months getting to know the staff, City Council, area legislators and civic and business leaders, and now he is ready to branch out more to officials in the Jefferson and Shelby county governments, though he already knows the county managers through the Alabama City/County Management Association. He also has started diving into projects, such as the Exit 9 interchange being built on I-459. Grimes, who is paid $222,086 a year, said he sees his primary role as managing the day-to-day operations of the city, overseeing personnel, resources, budgets and policies, but he also has to stay in touch with the community at large so he can help make sure city government is meeting the needs of the community. "I'm trying to improve the city every day for those who live here, those who own businesses here and invest here," he said. There are always going to be more requests for resources than there are resources available, so the key is prioritizing the needs and making sure the budget is tied to revenues and the economy, he said. He also wants to look for ways to make government more efficient, he said. Changes happening with garbage pickup right now are a prime example of that, he said. "I would love to take Hoover from good to great, but it's already great in so many areas," he said. Another goal is to make the city more transparent, he said. "You're always striving to create trust in your local government." Hoover is blessed to have a mayor who is so engaged with the community, Grimes said. "I'm very impressed with how much he loves this city and how long he's served this city," he said. "That's not the norm — staying in one place that long. His passion shines through." Grimes said he also has relationships with former longtime Hoover Executive Director Allen Pate and former Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos, who have been open and willing to share their institutional knowledge. He also has enjoyed developing a working relationship with Maddox and Cornett and is impressed with their strong morals and integrity, he said. Photo courtesy of Sherea Harris-Turner, Hoover City Schools. Hoover City Schools Superintendent Kevin Maddox tests a hovercraft at Rocky Ridge Elementary School on Feb. 23. SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT Maddox, who spent 11 years as an assistant superintendent in Homewood and five years as a principal there, said he had a phenomenal job in Homewood. "Had I stayed there and retired from there, it would have been great," he said. "But this is one of those jobs I considered an opportunity of a lifetime." Maddox said he has always had his eye on the Hoover school district. "It has such a sterling reputation for academic success and having great community schools," he said. He also knows a lot of graduates from the former Berry High School and is impressed with them and the success they have had in life, he said. Grimes said that when former Hoover schools Superintendent Kathy Murphy announced she was leaving to become president of Gadsden State Community College in 2020, he filled out an application for the Hoover superintendent job then, but he never officially submitted it. After doing some digging and realizing the Hoover school board at that time was looking for someone with superintendent experience, he decided to hold off. But when the next superintendent, Fowler, decided to retire and the school board was more open to someone without experience in the top chair and willing to interview candidates privately, Fowler decided to apply. Coming from a comparable and high-performing school district such as Homewood, "I feel like I know what success looks like and the recipe for it and the ingredients involved in the recipe, and I see all those ingredients here [in Hoover]," Maddox said. Two of the measures of a great school district are whether the kids are happy and whether the teachers love kids, and Hoover checks both of those boxes, Maddox said. "I have seen evidence of it time and time again." It's rare to see a school district as big and diverse as Hoover have the academic success that Hoover has, Maddox said. Diversity is amazing but comes with its own set of challenges, he said. Another measure of a great school system is whether all children are learning and growing academically, and the data shows that all groups of children in Hoover are growing, not just one or two, he said. "We have phenomenal people in this school district — leadership, teachers, staff, people who have been here a long time — who love this school district and who are invested and committed to this school district being successful," Maddox said. Maddox, who is paid $230,000 a year, said he's not the kind of leader who spends a lot of time behind a desk in the central office. He likes to be out in the schools, but one thing he realized early on is that he may not be able to visit each school quite as often as he did in Homewood because of the number of schools and distance between them. However, in the first six months, he has been able to spend an extended amount of time in each school at least twice, plus shorter visits for certain activities, he said. One thing that surprised him is that, despite its size, the Hoover school district still acts like a family, he said. When a student died unexpectedly in March, schools throughout the district sent staff to the schools most connected to that family, so staff members there could attend the funeral, he said. While he feels good about what he sees so far, the district in April is surveying all staff to get feedback and hear about any needs and challenges, he said. One big initiative already underway is the hiring of retired teachers to serve as academic interventionists to help kids who are at-risk or struggling. Federal COVID-19 relief money was used to hire 41 interventionists in the 2021-22 school year, but that money was temporary. Upon recommendation from Maddox, the Hoover school board in January agreed to hire 35 part-time interventionists for the rest of this school year, and 25 more are planned for next year, Maddox said. Also, the district is hiring 14 more special education teachers, two more speech language pathologists and a couple of additional counselors to help support kids, he said. The school board is digging into its healthy reserves to cover that and believes it can do that for three to five years without spending too much of those reserves, he said. "We are full-court pressing the things we need," Maddox said. "We're focusing on at-risk students." Maddox also hired a new chief talent officer in the central office to bolster the district's recruitment and retention of great teachers and started staffing plans for the 2024-25 school year at least two months earlier than was the custom in Hoover. He and his staff will continue to keep an eye on the city's growth and its impact on schools, but he believes they have the classroom space they need for the near future. "Building schools is extremely expensive right now," he said. Maddox said he appreciates the support of the mayor and City Council and is working cohesively with them. Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney. Jennifer Cornett, Hoover's chief financial officer, talks with Virginia Foster, the city's revenue analyst, about departmental codes. CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Just as Maddox had not been a superintendent before coming to Hoover, this is Cornett's first time being a chief financial officer. She began her career with more than a decade in the commercial lending business before going back to school to get a master's degree in accounting and becoming a staff accountant at Barfield, Murphy, Shank & Smith. After about 2 ½ years there, her husband, Chris, took a job at an obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Opelika, and she started teaching accounting at Auburn University. Cornett fell in love with teaching, became a full-time instructor and stayed a total of 19 years at the university. About three years ago, her husband changed careers and they moved back to the Birmingham area, this time settling in Mountain Brook, next door to their best friends. This opened up more job options for her, she said. When the Hoover chief financial officer job came open, she saw it as an opportunity for personal growth but also as a way to keep serving people, she said. "I'm really working for the citizens," she said. She has never worked in government accounting before, but as an auditor previously, some of her clients were nonprofits that used fund accounting, which is similar to government accounting, she said. Cornett, who is paid $174,829 a year, said she sees her primary responsibility as twofold: providing accurate information to decision-makers about the financial accounts of the city so they can make good decisions and ultimately providing accurate information to the public because they are dealing with public tax dollars, she said. Her team also makes sure the city is following financial reporting requirements for publicly issued debt and following laws related to public finance, she said. She is one of many voices at the table in terms of investment and economic development decisions, such as incentive packages for companies, though those decisions ultimately lie with the City Council, she said. She is supervising more functions than she has ever done before, but she has supervised more people in her other jobs, Cornett said. One of her primary goals for her first six months is to get to know the people on her team better — understanding where they want to be and helping them get there, she said. There are 15 people in Hoover's Finance Department, and probably half of them have 15 or more years with the city and bring a lot of perspective to the job, she said. Claire Hamilton, head of purchasing and budget division, did a great job of serving as acting chief financial officer after Bolt retired and kept things running smoothly, she said. Also, the City Council brought back former Chief Financial Officer Robert Yeager to serve as city treasurer, and Yeager is serving as a consultant and advisor for the city right now as well. "I feel like I'm really just scratching the surface," Cornett said. "The city is big, and we have a lot going on, a lot of irons in the fire." Cornett said she is still in somewhat of an assessment phase for now and doesn't want to cause disruption by changing things just for the sake of change, but she knows there are always opportunities for continuous improvement. "I imagine in the coming months I will be forming a strategy about what to do next," she said. She hopes she will get to add a couple of new people to the finance team so they have time and space to be more proactive, she said. She also wants to be known for transparency, she said. "Transparency isn't just about sharing the right information. It's also about timing," she said. "If you're sharing information and it's six months old, that's not as helpful in decision making or evaluating information." Cornett said she has been received extremely well by city staff and loves the spirit of city employees. "I don't think I've ever worked with a group of people that were so in concert with one another," she said. She also has developed a new appreciation for the city of Hoover and how highly utilized city services are, she said. She came into the office one Sunday, and the library parking lot was packed, she said. After taking a turn in the simulator at the police training center, she also has a better appreciation for the work of police officers, she said. As a new chief financial officer, "I expected I would have to kind of prove myself, and so I'm excited about that," Cornett said. "I'm excited about the challenge. It's been fun so far."

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May 04, 2022 / 11:30PM GMT Matthew Keane - S2 Resources Ltd. - CEO Thanks very much, Christina, and welcome, everyone, to day 3. Good to see this [today] a good crowd amongst us. It is good to hear [the members] to talk about New South Wales and development. We also have a an early-stage projects in New South Wales. We love to see those promises come to fruition. Okay. I said, S2 is to spin out the serious resources and serious discoverer of the Nova Bollinger deposit term, which led to phenomenal $1.8 billion takeover, from [IGO] group back in 2014. What I wanted to present to you today is really just the opportunity -- I'm going to be short and sharp. Look, I don't have many slides to go through, but you heard some great stories and what I want to convince you of is that S2 is amongst those investable names, which you really should be part of the journey. Okay, look, we've got a pretty simple strategy. We're looking for a company making discoveries. We're not looking for a story that we can revamp and workover. We're not looking to redevelop an old mine. We're looking for an exploration discovery that's going to S2 Resources Ltd at Vertical Events RIU Sydney Resources Round-Up Transcript Already have an account? Log in Get the full story Access to All Earning Calls and Stock Analysis | | 30-Year Financial on one screen | | All-in-one Stock Screener with unlimited filters | | Customizable Stock Dashboard | | Real Time Insider Trading Transactions | | 8,000+ Institutional investors' 13F holdings | | Powerful Excel Add-in and Google sheets Add-on | | All data downloadable | | Quick customer support | | And much more... | 30-Day 100% money back guarantee You are not charged until the trial ends. Subscription fee may be tax deductible. Excellent 4.6 out of 5 Trustpilot

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Not many Twitch streamers can say they remember playing the original Pong game, but TacticalGramma can! With more than 86,000 followers on Twitch, this Call of Duty veteran spends her days streaming the first-person shooter franchise from her kid's basement. TacticalGramma has been playing the CoD games since the first one came out — and she shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Distractify chatted with TacticalGramma to learn about her favorite games, the best parts of streaming, and more. Tell us about the first concert you ever attended. TG: The first concert that I ever attended was when I was 18 and went with my aunt to see Berlin at Irvine Meadows in Orange County. It was pretty fun. What's your most-used emoji? TG: The heart ❤️ is my most used emoji. If you had to get a tattoo right now, what would it be? TG: I would get my Grandkids names. Shout out one of your favorite fellow creators! TG: This is tough because I love so many, but I would have to say Jenntacles. She's absolutely hilarious and so sweet. If you could have any superpower, what would you pick? TG: Invisibility; people are always surprised to find out I'm an introvert. Invisibility when needed would be wonderful. Share your top three desert-island necessities. TG: Fire-starter, tarp, and a knife. Talk about the best fan interaction you've ever had. TG: I was at Magnolia Farms in Texas, and a family approached me very politely asking for a picture. They were so sweet and we visited with them for a while. I was still getting used to being recognized and it was wonderful to meet such sweet fans. Who's the most famous person who has ever DM'd you? TG: Kris Lamberson, aka Swagg . If you could switch lives with any celebrity for a day, who would it be and why? TG: I would switch lives with Alyssa Michele Naeher, the goalkeeper for the US Women's National Soccer Team. I really miss playing and competing at a high level in soccer. Share your favorite memory from one of your streams. TG: It has to be raising money for charity. The way my community comes together to support charities like St. Jude is so amazing, and those streams make such a positive impact in people's lives. How did you get into playing 'Call of Duty' games? TG: I fell in love with FPS-type games with GoldenEye. I started playing Call of Duty when the first one came out 21 years ago. I never dreamed that I would someday be streaming it as TacticalGramma, but I absolutely love it. What's your favorite video game of all time? TG: It's probably no surprise, Call of Duty is my favorite game. I've been streaming it five days a week for over four years. Sometimes I take a break after a stream then play it offline with friends. I totally love it! What is your number one distraction? TG: Video gaming is for sure my number one distraction. Being able to make it a business has helped, but it's always been difficult to manage my love for gaming with everything else. I guess it's a positive when you can make your biggest distraction become your job, LOL.

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Christopher Intagliata is an editor at All Things Considered, where he writes news and edits interviews with politicians, musicians, restaurant owners, scientists and many of the other voices heard on the air. Ailsa Chang is an award-winning journalist who hosts All Things Considered along with Ari Shapiro, Audie Cornish, and Mary Louise Kelly. She landed in public radio after practicing law for a few years. News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you.

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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed that key defensive duo Kyle Walker and John Stones will miss Sunday's title showdown with Arsenal. (More Football News) Walker suffered a hamstring injury in the early stages of England's friendly with Brazil last weekend, while Stones completed that game but then picked up an adductor problem 10 minutes into the draw with Belgium. Goalkeeper Ederson could return to the side for the first time since suffering a thigh injury when conceding a penalty against Liverpool and Manuel Akanji has recovered from a knock on international duty with Switzerland, while Guardiola will make a late decision on the fitness of Kevin de Bruyne. Advertisement "Ederson is much better but Kyle and John are out," Guardiola said. "It is what it is. "For Kyle it will be more tougher than John (in terms of recovery), but I don't know for how many games he will be out." Asked if he was surprised that Stones had started both England friendlies, Guardiola would only say: "I don't have any comments on that." Sunday's game is the last of the season between any of the top three, with Arsenal top of the table on goal difference from Liverpool and reigning champions City a point behind. Advertisement Guardiola's side remain in contention for a repeat of last season's treble, with Real Madrid their opponents in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and an FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea also to look forward to. "It's good to be here and in contention for three titles after what happened last season," Guardiola added. "We made incredible work. "We played really good the last month but the international break, the first game after you think what will happen? Yesterday we trained good and we have two more training sessions and will be ready for it again." City won all three games against Arsenal last season, including a 4-1 victory at the Etihad, but the Gunners have turned the tables this campaign with victory on penalties in the Community Shield and a 1-0 win at the Emirates in October. Asked what the difference is between Mikel Arteta's side then and now, Guardiola said: "Same manager, same players. "They control many aspects of the game and every time they are better and better. "When you have consistency in terms of ideas and the same manager, you always improve. If you change manager and players, it is more difficult."

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Setting its sight on becoming the world's Electric Vehicle (EV) capital, Tamil Nadu is making steady strides. With auto giants pivoting towards electric mobility, a substantial portion of electric vehicles sold nationwide are 'Made in Chennai'. According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' Vahan Dashboard data, 40% of electric vehicles sold in India last year (January to September 2023) were manufactured in Tamil Nadu. The ministry has set ambitious targets for the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in India, with a specific focus on different vehicle segments. By 2030, the government aims for 30% of newly registered private cars, 40% of buses, 70% of commercial cars, and a significant 80% of two-wheelers and three-wheelers to be electric and Tamil Nadu will play a key role in the transition. The state, which is vying to become the world's electric vehicle capital, has been working towards giving a big push to the EV ecosystem – manufacturing of batteries, charging infrastructure and others. It is leading the EV revolution from the manufacture of cars, buses, and two and three-wheelers, electric vehicle cells and motors to charging stations and upcoming future mobility parks. South Korean car maker, Hyundai, is investing Rs 20,000 crore over the next 10 years towards developing an electric vehicle ecosystem in the state. Unsoo Kim, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Hyundai Motor India, said that the company has finalised plans to develop and establish Tamil Nadu as a base for Hyundai's electric vehicle manufacturing in India. Hyundai is planning to set up a state-of-the-art battery pack assembly unit with an annual capacity to assemble 1.78 lakh units of batteries. It is also planning to install 100 electric vehicle charging stations at key locations on major highways, over a period of five years. Vietnam's electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast is setting up a car and battery manufacturing plant in the southern district of Thoothukudi for $2 billion. Similarly, the Renault and Nissan alliance is investing Rs 5,300 crore to modernise the Chennai plant. The investment will help the alliance shift to the manufacturing of electric vehicles. Royal Enfield is investing Rs 1,000 crore in Tamil Nadu towards an electric vehicle manufacturing facility and new product development under the Internal Combustion Engine portfolio. Royal Enfield sources said it plans to roll out the first electric vehicle from its Vallam plant by 2025. Tamil Nadu has also revised the electric vehicle policy to strengthen the Electric Vehicle (EV) manufacturing value chains, improve EV adoption across vehicular segments, increase electric public mobility solutions, improve green electricity value chains, promote rapid EV infrastructure development and leverage the synergies of the existing research and development centres in the state. Six cities of the state – Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, and Chennai– have been identified for development as electric vehicle hubs. Some of the natural advantages that aid this sector include the vast availability of a highly competent, trained workforce, an excellent network and supply chain of ancillary suppliers, a vibrant auto and auto component manufacturing ecosystem and Tamil Nadu's excellent infrastructure and logistics support systems. Industries Minister TRB Rajaa said that the EV sector in Tamil Nadu offered multiple benefits – lesser dependence on fossil fuels, increased investments with an estimated Rs 50,000 crore expected by 2025, generation of about 1.5 lakh jobs, and contribution to sustainable development goals. Women in rural areas around EV clusters would benefit a lot through the generated employment opportunities. According to the minister, Tamil Nadu is among the few states with a future-ready EV policy. The policy has paved the way for revolutionary changes in the way people will commute, backed by the 'Battery-as-a-Service' initiative. Plenty of subsidies are on offer for firms that come forward to install battery swapping stations, apart from concessions over cost on equipment and machinery purchase for setting up charging stations in public places, says the industries minister. However, the EV industry is faced with two major challenges in the state. One is the infrastructure set up for electric or hydrogen vehicles and the other is the development of technology. Charging infrastructure is one key aspect that needs to be looked at. Unlike fossil-based fuel infrastructure, this will be a major issue for those using in electric vehicles. The other challenge is developing technology like swap technology of batteries, self-charging or high speed-charging or even roof-charging like the electric train to overcome the limitations of infrastructure The Deloitte Knowledge Paper on 'Accelerating Tamil Nadu's Progress to Becoming a One Trillion Dollar Economy by 2030-31' has suggested that the state can provide government-backed financial assistance for auto drivers to acquire and operate electric vehicles via usage-based payment plans, incentivise private owners by offering public charging infrastructures and battery swap stations, and subsidise the cost of electric vehicles via rebates on the state goods and services tax. The report has also stated that electric vehicle conversion can also be achieved through retrofitting. Retrofit kits for existing autos can help with electrification goals, and battery standardisation with retrofit kits can help push battery swap infrastructure as well. These changes will increase demand and make the public more open to adopting electric vehicles. Satyakam Arya, managing director and chief executive officer of Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, said the automotive industry is undergoing a profound transformation which is getting shaped around four pillars–Connected, Autonomous, Shared Solutions and Services, and Zero Emissions (CASE). This transformation is probably the greatest disruption in the history of mobility. "We are looking at a very profound disruption led by smart manufacturing concepts, zero emissions, and self-driving technologies. The evolution of mobility solutions will be built on connected vehicles generating vast amounts of data that can be harnessed to provide greater value to the users. This is a phase where technology and R&D have once again come to the forefront with the focus not only on hardware but also on software and data," he says. "EV is going to happen, but to what extent is a question that only time will tell? Technologies are still evolving and one cannot bet everything on one particular power source. This is a significant challenge that I see for R&D companies," says Srivats Ram, Vice Chairman of CII-Tamil Nadu State Council and Managing Director of Wheels India Ltd.

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Lack of skill traps migrants in limited job market Md Hasan travelled overnight from his home district Barguna to the capital city recently for biometric data enrollment at the Visa Service Centre for Saudi Arabia, hoping to secure a low-paid job in the Kingdom. The 26-year-old man, who studied up to ninth grade, said he was trying for a job abroad for quite a while, and his family also supported the cause because of his unemployment status. "I want to go abroad to try and secure a better life for my family," Hasan said. Like him, hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi youth consider jobs abroad as a better option to change their fortune amid lack of employment opportunities at home. However, when it comes to the migration of Bangladeshi workers to foreign lands, the overseas job market remains largely limited to a few countries in two specific regions --Middle East and Southeast Asia. While the government maintains a list of 168 countries for migration of workers, on paper, most migrants only get the opportunity to migrate to the countries of these two regions. Shariful Hasan, head of BRAC Migration Programme, said countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia recruit mostly unskilled workers from Bangladesh, while countries like those in Europe and Japan in Asia demand workers with specialised skills, including language proficiency. "As such, lack of skilled workers remains a major obstacle for Bangladesh to expand its overseas job market beyond Middle East and Southeast Asia," said Shariful. Contacted, Md Ruhul Amin, secretary of the Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, recently said they have been giving priority to the migration of skilled workers. Besides, the ministry has been working to reopen overseas markets that are currently suspended for Bangladeshi workers, he said. In last two years, Bangladesh has sent over 24 lakh workers abroad. However, more than 93 percent of them were hired by five countries in the Gulf and two in Southeast Asia, according to Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET). Of the seven countries, Saudi Arabia hired 45.47 percent of the workers, followed by Malaysia (16.45 percent), Oman (12.59 percent), the United Arab Emirates (8.20 percent), Singapore (4.81 percent), Qatar (3.30 percent), and Kuwait (2.33 percent). Among the 13.05 lakh workers sent abroad last year, 50 percent were less skilled and 21 percent were semi-skilled, according to a report by Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit. Over 11 lakh workers migrated in 2022, including 73.08 percent less-skilled and 3.85 percent semi-skilled, the report adds. A total of 1.25 crore workers have migrated from Bangladesh since 2004, of which nearly 87 percent were recruited in the aforementioned seven countries, with Saudi Arabia alone intaking 38 lakh workers, according to BMET. Jordan, Lebanon, and Bahrain hired 2.14 lakh, 2.67 lakh, and 3.13 lakh workers, respectively, during this time, shows BMET data. Besides, Maldives hired around 1.30-1.40 lakh workers from Bangladesh in the past 15 years, said an official at the Bangladesh mission there. There are at least another 10 countries, including South Korea, Brunei, Italy, and Japan, that are regular destinations for Bangladeshi workers, however, none of them have hired even one lakh workers in two decades. Shariful said issues like sending more skilled workers abroad, searching for new labour markets, and reducing migration costs dominated discussions in the labour migration sector over the past two decades, but "no solution has been found yet." To explore new markets, the expatriates' welfare ministry has conducted several studies in past four years. A study on "Employment opportunities for Bangladeshi less-skilled, semi-skilled and skilled migrant workers in East European countries" reveals huge opportunities for Bangladeshi workers in East European countries in several major sectors, including construction, hotels and restaurants, shops and commercial centres, tourism, driving, garments, public health, and airlines. The study mentions high and attractive wage structures, health allowances, public health facilities, and easy access to remit money as some of the prospects of the job market. However, there are challenges, including lack of awareness of specific government services for migrants, high migration costs, language barriers, and cultural differences, the report also says. Shariful of Brac said whenever a major market suspended intaking workers, Bangladesh's overall labour migration declined, recommending upskilling workers to harness untapped overseas job markets beyond the existing ones. Syed Saiful Haque, chairman of Warbe Development Foundation, said Bangladesh missions in different countries can play an effective role in "branding" Bangladeshi workers and exploring new markets by engaging with the private sectors of those countries.

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For Marylanders like Becky Grimes, who works at an Amazon warehouse near the eastern end of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the bridge's sudden collapse immediately changed the shape of her day — and many days ahead. She normally takes the Key Bridge to and from work, but it now takes an extra half hour each way to drive through the city of Baltimore instead of around it. "I'm not looking forward to it," she says. "There's a lot of people that already want to transfer out." The collapse of the bridge and the closure of the Port of Baltimore is upending life for countless people in the Chesapeake region. For many residents, it's the bridge closure that will shake up their daily lives, lengthening commutes and clogging the city's tunnels. "Because of the port being suspended, we don't have any traffic yesterday, today, at least for the next week or a week and a half," says Brent Howard, president of the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce. "That's money that we're losing every day because those ships are being redirected to other ports. Norfolk, Newark, Philadelphia are getting that revenue on a daily basis that was already slotted for Baltimore." And the Key Bridge is a toll bridge that last year generated 7% of the total revenue for the state's transportation authority, according to an analysis by Moody's. Howard says getting the port and bridge running again is pivotal to the region, both economically and emotionally. "We're the Chesapeake," he says. "Baltimore is really connected to the port and connected to water and connected to ships and vessels. That's something that's always been intrinsic to Baltimore's history, going back to our inception." A bustling port, now in limbo As a little girl in the 1970s, Brenda Cotsairis's father brought her to a sandy beach to see the Key Bridge under construction. She works at a local grocery store and has seen the area weather its ups and downs. "For a lot of years, good jobs were gone and then things started to come back," she says. "And now we have Tradepoint Atlantic and we have the port bustling — it's a very, very busy port and it's thriving for Baltimore. And now it's devastated." Daraius Irani, an economist at Towson University, estimates that the port's closure is costing between $10 million and $15 million a day in lost economic activity. And at least another $1 million a day in state and local taxes won't be collected while the port is closed. Still, Irani says the port — which last year had its best year ever — should fully rebound. That's in part because Baltimore's port is about a day further inland than many others on the Eastern seaboard, putting it closer to points in the Midwest. He says if the port remains closed for months, there could be some furloughs, but he doesn't expect layoffs among workers there. And Irani says the bridge's collapse will likely create some jobs. "You hate to say this, but in any kind of disaster, there's obviously the opportunity for the rebuild. So new construction jobs will likely come up because they need to build a new bridge," he says. Businesses near the bridge could see fewer customers The bridge's absence will almost certainly have a longer impact on the small businesses located near its entrances on either side of the Patapsco River. Joe Gold is the general manager of Key Brewing, a craft brewery in the town of Dundalk. Like the bridge, the brewery was named after Francis Scott Key, who wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner." "We're not shut down I mean, it's not like that," Gold said Wednesday. "It's just ... the community is going to have to readjust." With the Key Bridge closed, the traffic that would have passed by to get on I-695 is now taking alternate routes — routes that don't pass by Key Brewing's taproom. "When I came to work this morning, past 95 to our office, it was the least amount of traffic that I've ever seen on my commute," Gold says. He says that's a sign that people aren't coming that direction anymore, at least during their daily commutes. Is he worried about his business surviving? Not just yet. "It's still too early," he says. "It's still too fresh to kind of know how deep of an impact this is going to have." It all depends on how long it takes to clear the port — and rebuild a very long bridge. For the latest from member station WYPR in Baltimore head to wypr.org Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. Laurel Wamsley is a reporter for NPR's News Desk. She reports breaking news for NPR's digital coverage, newscasts, and news magazines, as well as occasional features. She was also the lead reporter for NPR's coverage of the 2019 Women's World Cup in France.

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The office landscape is undergoing a profound transformation as the world embraces hybrid work models. This shift, driven by both technological advancements and changing employee expectations, underscores the need to prioritize collaboration, innovation and productivity in connected workplaces. According to a recent survey conducted by Cisco, there's an increasing demand among employees returning to physical office spaces for environments that prioritize collaboration and creativity over individual work. In fact, while the majority (72%) of employees embrace the prospect of returning to the office, only a fraction (47%) believe that their workspaces are adequately equipped for the demands of hybrid work models. A significant barrier to effective collaboration within office settings is the prevalent allocation of space toward individual workstations, according to 85% of surveyed employers. This emphasis on personal working environments inadvertently fosters individual working habits, hindering the potential for collective innovation. Moreover, technological limitations, particularly in meeting rooms, pose challenges to productive collaboration. Inadequate audio and video infrastructure emerge as primary concerns, inhibiting the effectiveness of collaborative efforts across regions. Recognizing the pivotal role of workplace design in talent attraction and retention, employers are prioritizing investments in office redesigns. According to the study, a significant majority (81%) of employers have either initiated or have plans to enhance their workspaces within the next 24 months. These initiatives may involve strategic partnerships with startups like Comfy, which offer clients such as Salesforce, Morgan Stanley and McDonald's access to data-driven insights, enabling them to craft smarter workplace strategies. Comfy's features, including "Flexible Spaces," ease the transition to hybrid work by allowing employees to designate work areas and plan schedules. The mobile app also enables personalized adjustments to temperature and lighting, enhancing comfort and productivity at the workplace. Some companies may also explore investments in emerging technologies such as smart pods — compact, modular units providing employees with secluded workspaces to focus without distractions, while maintaining connectivity with colleagues and the broader work environment. Also central to the evolution of connected workplaces is the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Employers are increasingly embracing AI-powered collaboration software, with 73% planning investments by 2025, the study noted. Additionally, nearly 70% intend to incorporate AI technologies into workspace enhancements, recognizing their potential in reshaping the future of work. However, the journey toward AI-enabled workplaces is not without its challenges. Organizations may encounter psychological barriers to adoption, such as resistance to change and fear of job displacement, as highlighted by data from PYMNTS Intelligence. Specifically, consumers are not keen on AI involvement in the workplace, especially when compared to sectors like entertainment, healthcare and banking. In fact, less than 40% show any real interest in it. Moreover, apprehensions regarding job automation persist, with 70% of workers expressing concerns about AI potentially replacing certain aspects of their professional skills. As organizations navigate the complexities of hybrid work models, addressing challenges and embracing opportunities presented by technological advancements and evolving employee expectations will be pivotal. By doing so, they can create dynamic and adaptable workspaces that effectively cater to the diverse needs of their workforce, ensuring productivity, collaboration and employee satisfaction.

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For Marylanders like Becky Grimes, who works at an Amazon warehouse near the eastern end of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the bridge's sudden collapse immediately changed the shape of her day — and many days ahead. She normally takes the Key Bridge to and from work, but it now takes an extra half hour each way to drive through the city of Baltimore instead of around it. "I'm not looking forward to it," she says. "There's a lot of people that already want to transfer out." The collapse of the bridge and the closure of the Port of Baltimore is upending life for countless people in the Chesapeake region. For many residents, it's the bridge closure that will shake up their daily lives, lengthening commutes and clogging the city's tunnels. "Because of the port being suspended, we don't have any traffic yesterday, today, at least for the next week or a week and a half," says Brent Howard, president of the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce. "That's money that we're losing every day because those ships are being redirected to other ports. Norfolk, Newark, Philadelphia are getting that revenue on a daily basis that was already slotted for Baltimore." And the Key Bridge is a toll bridge that last year generated 7% of the total revenue for the state's transportation authority, according to an analysis by Moody's. Howard says getting the port and bridge running again is pivotal to the region, both economically and emotionally. "We're the Chesapeake," he says. "Baltimore is really connected to the port and connected to water and connected to ships and vessels. That's something that's always been intrinsic to Baltimore's history, going back to our inception." A bustling port, now in limbo As a little girl in the 1970s, Brenda Cotsairis's father brought her to a sandy beach to see the Key Bridge under construction. She works at a local grocery store and has seen the area weather its ups and downs. "For a lot of years, good jobs were gone and then things started to come back," she says. "And now we have Tradepoint Atlantic and we have the port bustling — it's a very, very busy port and it's thriving for Baltimore. And now it's devastated." Daraius Irani, an economist at Towson University, estimates that the port's closure is costing between $10 million and $15 million a day in lost economic activity. And at least another $1 million a day in state and local taxes won't be collected while the port is closed. Still, Irani says the port — which last year had its best year ever — should fully rebound. That's in part because Baltimore's port is about a day further inland than many others on the Eastern seaboard, putting it closer to points in the Midwest. He says if the port remains closed for months, there could be some furloughs, but he doesn't expect layoffs among workers there. And Irani says the bridge's collapse will likely create some jobs. "You hate to say this, but in any kind of disaster, there's obviously the opportunity for the rebuild. So new construction jobs will likely come up because they need to build a new bridge," he says. Businesses near the bridge could see fewer customers The bridge's absence will almost certainly have a longer impact on the small businesses located near its entrances on either side of the Patapsco River. Joe Gold is the general manager of Key Brewing, a craft brewery in the town of Dundalk. Like the bridge, the brewery was named after Francis Scott Key, who wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner." "We're not shut down I mean, it's not like that," Gold said Wednesday. "It's just ... the community is going to have to readjust." With the Key Bridge closed, the traffic that would have passed by to get on I-695 is now taking alternate routes — routes that don't pass by Key Brewing's taproom. "When I came to work this morning, past 95 to our office, it was the least amount of traffic that I've ever seen on my commute," Gold says. He says that's a sign that people aren't coming that direction anymore, at least during their daily commutes. Is he worried about his business surviving? Not just yet. "It's still too early," he says. "It's still too fresh to kind of know how deep of an impact this is going to have." It all depends on how long it takes to clear the port — and rebuild a very long bridge. Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. Laurel Wamsley is a reporter for NPR's News Desk. She reports breaking news for NPR's digital coverage, newscasts, and news magazines, as well as occasional features. She was also the lead reporter for NPR's coverage of the 2019 Women's World Cup in France.

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Why the U.S. is absent from international seabed mining talks WBUR | By Dan Ackerman Published March 29, 2024 at 4:33 PM EDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Listen • 3:54 In Jamaica, international negotiations are underway over how to govern the mining of precious metals that can help fuel renewable technologies. But the U.S. isn't at the negotiating table. Copyright 2024 WBUR

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Brewers beat Mets 3-1 behind Yelich and Peralta as tempers flare in season opener NEW YORK (AP) — Christian Yelich homered, Freddy Peralta pitched six splendid innings and the Milwaukee Brewers threw a one-hitter to beat the New York Mets 3-1 in their contentious season opener Friday. Tempers flared at Citi Field when Brewers newcomer Rhys Hoskins — a Mets nemesis during his days with the NL East rival Phillies — slid hard into second baseman Jeff McNeil on a potential double-play ball in the eighth. McNeil was visibly angry at Hoskins, and both benches and bullpens emptied onto the field. There was no pushing and shoving as the teams stayed separated, but Hoskins rubbed his eyes as if to call McNeil a crybaby, and McNeil cursed at Hoskins from across the field. Touted prospect Jackson Chourio had a terrific major league debut for the Brewers, getting his first hit and driving in a run. He also stole a base and left his feet for an important catch at the right-field wall. Peralta (1-0) struck out eight and walked none in his first opening-day start, helping Pat Murphy to a victory in his debut as Milwaukee manager after he replaced Craig Counsell. The only hit the right-hander gave up was Starling Marte's one-out homer in the second. Trevor Megill, the brother of Mets starting pitcher Tylor Megill, worked the seventh and Joel Payamps struck out two in a perfect eighth. With star closer Devin Williams injured, Abner Uribe threw a 1-2-3 ninth for his second big league save. Mets starter Jose Quintana (0-1) was charged with two runs and six hits over 4 2/3 innings in an opener postponed a day because of rain. Carlos Mendoza lost his first game as a big league manager after replacing Buck Showalter. Yelich tied it with a leadoff homer in the fourth and finished with three hits. Chourio's first big league hit, a ground single to right field, sent Andruw Monasterio from first to third in the fifth and set up William Contreras' shallow sacrifice fly. Pinch-hitter Jake Bauers doubled leading off the seventh, advanced on Brice Turang's bunt single and scored when Chourio grounded into a forceout. Chourio beat the relay to first, avoiding a double play to earn his first RBI. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

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Trump asks appeals court to review ruling allowing Fani Willis to remain on Georgia election case Former U.S. president Donald Trump and eight other defendants accused of illegally trying to interfere in the 2020 election in Georgia on Friday submitted a formal application to appeal a judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case. Trump and other defendants had tried to get Willis and her office tossed off the case, saying her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee earlier this month found that there was not a conflict of interest that should force Willis off the case but said that the prosecution was "encumbered by an appearance of impropriety." McAfee's ruling said Willis could continue her prosecution if Wade left the case, and the special prosecutor resigned hours later. Lawyers for Trump and other defendants then asked McAfee to allow them to appeal his ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals, and he granted that request. The filing of an application with the appeals court is the next step in that process. The Court of Appeals has 45 days to decide whether it will take up the matter. The allegations that Willis had improperly benefited from her romance with Wade upended the case for weeks. Intimate details of Willis and Wade's personal lives were aired in court in mid-February, overshadowing the serious allegations in one of four criminal cases against the Republican former president. Trump and 18 others were indicted in August, accused of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn his narrow 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia. The appeal application says McAfee was wrong not to disqualify both Willis and Wade from the case, saying that "providing DA Willis with the option to simply remove Wade confounds logic and is contrary to Georgia law." Steve Sadow, Trump's lead attorney in the case, said in a statement that the case should have been dismissed and "at a minimum" Willis should have been disqualified from continuing to prosecute it. He said the Court of Appeals should grant the application and consider the merits of the appeal. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looks on during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case. (Alex Slitz/AP Photo) A spokesperson for Willis declined to comment. Willis used Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, law, an expansive anti-racketeering statute, to charge Trump and the 18 others. Four people charged in the case have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty. McAfee clearly found that Willis' relationship with Wade and his employment as lead prosecutor in the case created an appearance of impropriety, and his failure to disqualify Willis and her whole office from the case "is plain legal error requiring reversal," the defence attorneys wrote in their application. Given the complexity of the case and the number of defendants, the application says, multiple trials will likely be necessary. Failure to disqualify Willis now could require any verdicts to be overturned, and it would be "neither prudent nor efficient" to risk having to go through "this painful, divisive, and expensive process" multiple times, it says. In his ruling, McAfee cited a lack of appellate guidance on the issue of disqualifying a prosecutor for forensic misconduct, and the appeals court should step in to establish such a precedent, the lawyers argue. Finally, the defence attorneys argued, it is crucial that prosecutors "remain and appear to be disinterested and impartial" to maintain public faith in the integrity of the judicial system. CTVNews.ca Top Stories A sixth suspect has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 28-year-old man and his pregnant wife in Bowmanville, Ont., police confirmed Friday. - - - - - - An international environmental organization says it is concerning that at least three of the 19 North Atlantic right whale calves born this season have died this year. - Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren't supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found. - - - Moscow launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure Friday, with a mass barrage of 99 drones and missiles hitting regions across the country, Ukraine's armed forces said. - - Pope Francis skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome's Colosseum, the Vatican said, adding to concerns about his frail health during a particularly busy liturgical period. - Premier Wab Kinew and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre met at the Manitoba legislature Thursday afternoon. - Trudeau's latest pre-budget pledge targets millennial moms, vowing $1B in loans for more child-care spaces The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday. - Quebec MP Anthony Housefather remains undecided on his future more than a week after a House of Commons motion on Israel and Gaza left him questioning whether he will remain in the Liberal party. - A new poll indicates 51 per cent of Canadians support banning the social media app TikTok, after a U.S. bill aiming to do just that passed in the House of Representatives. - While eclipse watchers look to the skies, people who are blind or visually impaired will be able to hear and feel the celestial event. - An Everest-size volcano hiding in plain sight on Mars? New research make waves in the science community Scientists may have pinpointed a massive, oddly shaped volcano taller than Mount Everest on the surface of Mars — and it has been hiding in plain sight for decades, according to new research. - A New Mexico judge on Friday rejected an effort by a movie set armourer to challenge her conviction of involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film "Rust." - The estate of minimalist contemporary artist Donald Judd filed a lawsuit against Kardashian this week, claiming the fashion and beauty mogul promoted 'cheap knockoffs' of his furniture designs. - Beyoncé knows how to get people talking, and her new album "Cowboy Carter," had tongues wagging long before its release date on March 29. - If you've been the victim of workplace harassment, it can be difficult to feel you're not alone - and even more difficult to know where to go with a complaint. - Canadian exports of thermal coal increased another seven per cent last year, reaching the highest level in almost a decade. - A federal judge on Thursday ordered Sam Bankman-Fried to repay more than US$11 billion as part of his sentence for defrauding customers and investors in his failed crypto exchange FTX. - - Luxury operator Regent Seven Seas Cruises is raising their price tag to eye-watering levels, with a suite on an upcoming 140-day world voyage costing US$1.7 million. - The Pennsylvania group that handles Phil, and his groundhog wife, Phyliss, says the couple have become parents. - The St. Paul Saints quickly found out that not everyone was amused by the pig's name, Ozempig, or the team's posting of a backstory about the pig's embarrassment at gaining weight and promise to try to remain trim. - The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed defenceman Simon Benoit to a three-year contract extension. - Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Strome has been fined $5,000 for cross-checking Seattle Kraken forward Tye Kartye on Thursday. - Infiniti, Nissan's luxury vehicle division, just revealed a feature in its new full-sized SUV that can allow everyone else in the vehicle to keep listening to whatever they want while the driver takes a phone call and no headphones are needed. - Xiaomi, a well-known maker of smart consumer electronics in China, is joining the country's booming but crowded market for electric cars. - Ontario has among the highest rates for auto insurance premiums in Canada -- just below Alberta and Nova Scotia -- however, the introduction of an insurance reform in the provincial budget could soon lower prices. A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff. It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help. B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack. A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year. The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised. A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 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On April 1, that's going to change. - An RCMP detachment north of Edmonton is hoping to reunite a fuel pump with its rightful owner after it was recovered with a stolen vehicle last week. - Feed Nova Scotia says ahead of the Easter holiday, many individuals and families are facing food insecurity and festivities can amplify their struggles. - The Saint John Police Force are investigating a suspicious vehicle that was seen with a set of red and blue lights displayed in the windshield. - The price of gas decreased overnight in all three Maritime provinces. - After lengthy negotiations, a new collective agreement has been reached between Brandon University and its professors. - Hundreds of community members marked Good Friday with the 35th annual Public Way of the Cross, presented by the Archdiocese of Winnipeg. - Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded to calls on Selkirk Avenue and Keewatin Street just over six hours apart. - A Saskatoon mother says the Ministry of Social Services ignored several requests to have black mold removed from her provincial housing corporation home. - - CTV News recently got an inside look at the Regina Police Service's (RPS) Aerial Support Unit (ASU) during a fly along. - Another person has come forward claiming they were not paid what they were owed by Dutchie's Fresh Market. - - In a story of discovery and connection, two musicians from southern Ontario have found themselves not just united by music, but by blood, thanks to DNA testing. - - Heading to the Easter long weekend, the City of Saskatoon along with numerous partners hosted the very first community round dance and feast Thursday evening. - The Saskatoon Blades and Prince Albert Raiders kicked off their opening-round playoff series in Saskatoon, where Max Hildebrand's 41 saves and a three-goal second period was enough for the Raiders to take game one. - - A lot of concern and speculation is circulating in the small northern Ontario community of Field on Friday after a massive police search for "dangerous" suspects. - - An investigation by the Ontario Special Investigations Unit has determined is was reasonable for a police officer to shoot her gun at a man in Aylmer, Ont. - London police canine Hank is being credited with helping catch a robbery suspect. - Provincial police officers are asking for the public's help in a sexual assault investigation in Tillsonburg, Ont. - More than a hundred kids participated in Drysdale's annual Easter Egg hunt on Good Friday. - Huronia West OPP is asking for the public's help in identifying a suspect in a Wasaga Beach robbery. - Volunteers helped prepare over 200 free meals at the All Saints Anglican Church on Friday morning. - A city committee has backed a new gated entry for a downtown parking lot that has prompted partying complaints. - The Downtown Windsor Farmers' Market is opening this weekend. - Windsor police responded to a crash on Riverside Drive West on Thursday night. - - - Special teams proved to be the difference in a key matchup between the Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars on Thursday. - A 49-year-old man has been charged with assault, uttering threats and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose after an incident in Kelowna Monday night. - A B.C. judge has given the City of Vernon 14 days to make a decision on a business licence application it has left pending without explanation for more than a year. - A protester who unleashed a "race-based tirade" outside a vaccination clinic in B.C.'s Okanagan at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic did not cause a criminal disturbance, a judge has ruled. - A Lethbridge policy committee heard a presentation Thursday on the future of the Enmax Centre and the possibility of replacing the facility in years to come. - A Magrath, Alta., grandmother has broken a Guinness World Record for the longest time in an abdominal plank position (female). - The Lethbridge Hurricanes began preparing for their playoff run as soon as their regular season wrapped up last weekend. - - A complaint about a 'suspicious' snowmobiler stuck on a trail in northern Ontario has resulted in impaired driving charges against a 43-year-old woman. - You could say 22 Wing/Canadian Forces Base Commander Col. Richard Jolette was born to be in the Royal Canadian Air Force. - Brad Gushue is approaching this year's men's world curling championships like it could be his last. - Roughly 50 children will gather in a St. John's classroom for the first time on Saturday for unique lessons on Ukrainian language, culture and history. -

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Several former athletes from Ribault High School came together Friday to celebrate the life of track Coach Gwendolyn Maxwell, who was well-known and loved in the school's community. To honor her life, a bill was passed in Tallahassee to have a bridge named after her. Action News Jax Nicholas Brooks talked to some athletes who said Maxwell changed their lives. The daughter of Maxwell Chiquita Maxwell-Rivers said, "She was my mentor, she was my protector, and as I got older, she was my best friend." Family and friends paid tribute to Coach Gwendolyn Maxwell, who passed away at the age of 86 in 2020. State Representative Kimberly Daniels wanted to do something special for her track coach, who changed her life on and off the field. "We passed a house bill to name this bridge after her. I've been trying to do it for a couple of years, and we finally got it done," Daniels said. For two decades, Maxwell coached at Ribault High School, leaving her mark not only on the track but also on the lives of her athletes. Maxwell led 269 track meet victories, 15 conference meet titles, and five state titles. Maxwell's classmate Gail Wyman said Maxwell was always pushing people to go beyond what they thought was their capability. "If you needed something, she was to help you, motivate you, and she wanted you to be a better person." The bridge was named "Coach Gwendolyn Maxwell Bridge to Ribault". This is the same bridge that all the female athletes best known as "Maxwell's girls" had to run on before a track meet. Now they are walking on it in memory of her. "When I think of her, I think of coach. Coach means a lot more to us than it does to everyday people," Daniels said. "They think they are folks who wear baseball caps and tennis shoes. No, these are fathers, best friends, mothers, trainers, and folks that teach us life skills." Jacksonville City Council members were also at the event, paying tribute to Maxwell as a coach and an educator for 36 years. Friends and family told Action News Jax each time they walk this bridge they remember Maxwell's dedication to her community. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

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1 of 3 Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr. Josh Helms is the winner of the 2024 Finley Award among all the seniors at Spain Park High School in Hoover. 2 of 3 Photo courtesy of Hoover City Schools. Phanuelle Manuel is the 2024 Hoover High School senior winner of the Finley Award for outstanding character. 3 of 3 Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr. Spain Park High School math teacher Keri Ross, at right, is congratulated for winning the 2024 Finley Award for outstanding character among all faculty who work for Hoover City Schools. Glen and Kelly Helms have had two sons nominated for the senior Finley Award for character at Spain Park High School — Trey in 2020 and Josh this year. Out of all the seniors in the Jaguars' Class of 2024, Josh actually won the award, which is considered one of the most prestigious honors bestowed in the Hoover community. Josh Helms joined Hoover High senior Phanuelle Manuel and Spain Park math teacher Keri Ross in receiving the top three Finley Awards at a banquet at the Finley Center on March 21. Each year, one senior from each of the two high schools and a faculty member from Hoover City Schools are chosen for the top awards, given in honor of Bob Finley, who coached and taught at Berry High School until he died in 1994 and was known as a man of outstanding character. JOSH HELMS Helms, a member of the Jaguar basketball team, also is an Eagle Scout and on a leadership team at Riverchase Student Ministries, helping guide middle school students. One person who nominated him for the Finley Award said his most remarkable attribute is his genuine compassion for his peers. "He consistently demonstrates inclusivity by actively seeking out opportunities to partner with students who may not always feel included," science teacher Jenifer Bradley said in a letter. Spain Park parent Kwa Hatchett said Helms exhibits "immense and palpable godly character. He is that quintessential child that all parents hope will befriend their child." Boys basketball coach Chris Laatsch had three of his players, including TJ Lamar and Parker Chase, in the running for the Finley Award. He said the committee's job of picking one winner from among the host of nominees was a daunting task. "That being said, Josh is an outstanding young man and such a humble [person] and just a server and a lover of people," Laatsch said. "I'm not shocked at all that he was chosen." Helms said his path began his sophomore year, when he welcomed Jesus into his life. "Once I realized that Jesus saved me and that he cared for me while I was a sinner, that changed my whole life," he said. "If God has that much compassion and grace for a person, why can't I show that much grace for someone?" His brother, Trey Helms, is now a student at Mississippi State University, and their parents said they are proud of both of them. "We look up to them as much as they look up to us for what they do day to day," Glen Helms said. "It is amazing what kind of faith they have, what kind of character they have." Their mother said she's a little partial, but she thinks they're both wonderful boys. "It's wonderful, absolutely wonderful to see what they've accomplished," Kelly Helms said. Josh Helms said he would have to tease his older brother about being the only one to win the award, but he also credits his older brother with being a shining example for him. "I kind of look up to him a lot," Josh said. "He's a lot wiser, a lot older than me, and I see a lot of characteristics of Jesus in him that I want to follow." Photo courtesy of Hoover City Schools. Phanuelle Manuel is the 2024 Hoover High School senior winner of the Finley Award for outstanding character. PHANUELLE MANUEL Manuel was chosen from among 647 seniors at Hoover High and was among 39 nominees for the Finley Award this year. Adults who nominated her described her as an honest person of profound faith with a deep-rooted love for family, a strong sense of loyalty and a caring heart for others in the community. She is a 2022 graduate of the Youth Leadership Forum of Birmingham and has been involved with the Birmingham-area YouthServe nonprofit since 2020, currently serving as president of the Youth Philanthropy Council. In her work with YouthServe, Manuel helped direct the investment of $60,000 to a variety of initiatives, including bringing mental health coaching to public school educators, helping a foster care center provide transitional living to children aging out of state care, supplying reading help for struggling second graders in poverty and helping first-generation and second-generation immigrants gain access to secondary education. Manuel also has served as a Hoover Ambassador and Peer Helper, helped tutor her younger brother and other students and co-founded an initiative called Matronize to provide resources for women after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. She also is known for a strong work ethic and high academic achievement, ranking in the top 10 of her class, taking 14 Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes, being inducted into several honor societies and participating in the Engineering Academy, Science Olympiad, Scholars Bowl and Girls Who Code organizations. "She is self-sufficient and responsible and has good time management skills," wrote Youth Leadership Forum Executive Director Susie Abbott. "In addition, she is confident and has exceptional communication skills. She knows when to be serious and focus on a task, but she also knows how to have fun!" Sydney White, the Advanced Placement coordinator at Hoover High, wrote in a nomination letter that Manuel is one of the most deserving students she has taught in 16 years. "She's nuanced and authentic in ways that human beings typically aren't," White wrote. "Character traits that can be learned behavior for someone with enough self-reflection to achieve over a studied period of time are simply innate for her. In short, I think I would recommend her for just about anything from babysitting my child to running a small country. She is diplomatic, caring and objective." Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr. Spain Park High School math teacher Keri Ross, at right, is congratulated for winning the 2024 Finley Award for outstanding character among all faculty who work for Hoover City Schools. KERI ROSS Ross attended the initial ceremony in which Helms was informed he had won the senior Finley Award for Spain Park, but she said she couldn't believe her ears when she was announced as the faculty winner. "I was not expecting to be part of it in any form or fashion," she said, acknowledging she has been on the Spain Park committee that selects that school's student winner. "I was just stunned, stunned." Spain Park parent Susan Kendrick said in a nomination letter that Ross is able to demonstrate and convey not just her knowledge of the material she teaches but also her love for learning and excellence. "I believe her passion for the material is contagious," Kendrick wrote. "But it is her leadership that helps her students grow in responsibility. She believes in her students, expects the best from them and helps them work to make it happen." Parents Michael and Jana Lee cited the extra effort Ross gave in working with their son as he battled cancer. "Mrs. Ross stepped in that gap for our son," the Lees said in a letter. "When we were overwhelmed with chemo treatments and doctor's appointments, she made sure he was not only on top of his math assignments, but all of his assignments." Spain Park Principal Amanda Esslinger said Ross is a great teacher and great person. "When kids come into her room, they feel loved and cared for and encouraged," Esslinger said. "It is not uncommon for us to hear students say, parents say that she's firm and she sets expectations, but she does everything that she can do to help students meet those expectations and to do it in a way that they believe in themselves." The principal said Ross is quick to say that people don't sign up to take a math class. They have to take a math class. "But there are kids that sign up for AP Stats because she is the AP Stats teacher," Esslinger said, "and they've heard what a great teacher, what a great person she is and how she cares for her students."

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No matter how high the projected contracts or reported bids for outfielder Cody Bellinger or pitcher Blake Snell might have been last winter, the agent for both players said he was aware early on that the players would have to choose between a high annual salary over the short term or a lower annual salary over the long term. Bellinger hit .307 with 26 home runs for the Cubs last season, but after two consecutive seasons with the Dodgers in which he performed below league average. Snell won the National League Cy Young award last season, pitching 180 innings with a league-leading 2.25 earned-run average for the San Diego Padres, but after consecutive seasons in which he pitched 128 innings both times. "Blake Snell has $30 million a year for a couple of years to go out and just show durability," Boras said. "Blake Snell doesn't have to go out and win the Cy Young every year. He's an extraordinary pitcher. The market viewed him as, what happened in '21 and '22? "The market viewed Cody as, what happened in '21 and '22? So we knew going into this process that choices were going to be most important. You're either going to get the appropriate AAV (average annual value), but you're not going to get the length, or you're going to get the length at a much lower AAV, so what do you choose?" None did; the four signed for a total of $221 million, or more than $100 million less than the Dodgers spent on pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Boras said he did not put stock into projections made by reporters, in particular the ones made for Bellinger and Snell. "I don't think their predictions included what we were fully aware of," Boras said, "and that is, clubs were going to come to us and say, 'We're not going to look at length with premium AAVs because of what preceded their performance prior to 2023." Boras is a common target among fans and rival agents. He bristled at the notions that his strategies might no longer be as effective or that he might have misread this winter's market. He also represented South Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee, who signed for $113 million with the Giants, and negotiated a $125-million extension for infielder Jose Altuve with the Houston Astros. In three of the previous five winters, he said, his agency had negotiated more than $1 billion in contracts, and there are ebbs and flows to what owners spend each winter. In this one, he said, half the teams either cut payroll or "remained stagnant." Said Boras: "One billion dollars was removed from the ability to contract players." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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Jun 29, 2022 / 08:00AM GMT Dirk Engelbrecht - Safari Investments(RSA)Limited-CEO Good morning and welcome, everyone, to Safari Investments results presentation for the 2022 financial year ending March 31. For the last few years it almost feels like we are starting with the same opening remarks being what a tough year but we survived and we can certainly not look back at the last 12 months and not have the same sentiment. Not only that we have to transition into a post-COVID environment with a lot of uncertainties in terms of our tenants who will survive and how much more rental do we need to assist them with and the ever-continual deterioration of the municipal infrastructure and poor service delivery and who between us the retailers and the shoppers will have to ultimately pay for that. And I think that also contributed to the horrific civil unrest occurrence during last year July. And yet again, I can stand here today and say that we survived, we came out stronger, and our portfolio again showed how resilient and defensive it is. And it is truly an honor and with a lot of Full Year 2022 Safari Investments (RSA) Ltd Earnings Call Transcript Already have an account? Log in Get the full story Access to All Earning Calls and Stock Analysis | | 30-Year Financial on one screen | | All-in-one Stock Screener with unlimited filters | | Customizable Stock Dashboard | | Real Time Insider Trading Transactions | | 8,000+ Institutional investors' 13F holdings | | Powerful Excel Add-in and Google sheets Add-on | | All data downloadable | | Quick customer support | | And much more... | 30-Day 100% money back guarantee You are not charged until the trial ends. Subscription fee may be tax deductible. Excellent 4.6 out of 5 Trustpilot

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Season 2 of Summer House: Martha's Vineyard is proving to be a bit different than its inaugural season. Several Season 1 cast members, including Jason Lyke, Mariah Torres, and Silas Cooper, aren't a part of the show for various reasons. Their absences made room for a new "Southern Belle" named Noelle Hughley to join the fold. Noelle is an Atlanta-born and New York-based future entertainment lawyer who came into the house "single and ready to mingle" and was prepared for anything production threw at her. Although Noelle has a "bubbly" personality fit for reality TV, anyone working in the genre for the first time knows it isn't easy having the cameras around 24/7. And with Bravo facing several lawsuits against its production teams, filming can be even more daunting. In an exclusive interview with Distractify, Noelle shared her filming experience amid the controversies surrounding her new network home during her first season. 'Summer House: Martha's Vineyard' newbie Noelle Hughley said filming her first season felt like being around "family." Noelle joined Summer House: MV through her friend, Summer Marie Thomas. As Summer explained in the Season 2 premiere, they met through Noelle's roommate, whom Summer was dating. Eventually, Summer asked Noelle to come to Martha's Vineyard with her, which was an easy "yes" because she was a fan of Season 1 and felt the show "left its mark and was going to stay." Noelle became the only newbie of the season and said coming on the show after being a fan provided a "deeper aspect" of how filming can shift and said she's already realizing how "the audience only sees one side of you basically." However, despite the editing changes, the legal IT associate exclusively told Distractify she's "blessed" to have the team she did in her first season and said she's "loving" her time on the show — especially since she knows how rare the experience can be. "I definitely feel like God blessed me to be a part of a great cast, and a production that I feel like really does care for us," Noelle said, adding she has "friends in the entertainment industry" who didn't have a great time filming a reality series. "I felt like we really were a family," she continued. While Noelle's experience filming Summer House: MV worked for her, her Season 2 debut came after several former Bravolebrities took legal action against the network's production. In January 2024, former Real Housewives of New Jersey star Caroline Manzo sued Bravo and its affiliated companies — NBCUniversal, Shed Media, Forest Productions, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and Peacock TV for allegedly "encouraging" and "allowing" Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Brandi Glanville to sexually harass her while they filmed Season 4 of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip. Additionally, Leah McSweeney sued Andy and Bravo for "disability discrimination, hostile work environment, retaliation, sex and gender discrimination." Her case stated that, despite knowing she had a history of alcohol abuse and bipolar disorder, the network's producers encouraged her to drink on Real Housewives of New York City and Season 3 of RHUGT. Noelle said 'Summer House: MV' fans can expect "raw emotions" from her and the cast in Season 2. While Noelle admits "nobody's perfect," she can attest that no one on Summer House: MV's production team made her or the cast do or say anything they wouldn't do themselves. She confirmed to Distractify that every dramatic moment — including the double whammy arguments we saw in the season premiere from Bria Fleming and Preston Mitchum and Summer and Alex Tyree's drama — were 100 percent real. "Everything you see is the real drama, which surprises people," Noelle said. "They're like, 'How could you have this much energy?'" Noelle explains that the cast's "energy" comes from under the same gorgeous roof for "15-20 days," allowing authentic tension to rise. "You're around this person you could've avoided seeing for the past six months," she shared. "So everything is there; everything is just raw emotion." Although Noelle promises there will be even more tense and "raw" moments between her and her cast members as Summer House: MV continues, she said the show's team kept her at ease during her time there. "With our staff and who we were with, I felt like they provided a great shield," she declared. "Because I know how easy it is for false perceptions and how things can be conveyed. But that wasn't the case with my experience. And I'm very thankful for that." Catch Noelle on Summer House: Martha's Vineyard. New episodes air on Bravo on Sundays at 9 p.m. EST.

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Just four months on from making his first Premier League start, the 18-year-old put in a man-of-the-match performance in Tuesday's 2-2 draw against Belgium at Wembley. Mainoo had not even been included in the initial England squad but followed a promising debut off the bench against Brazil by potentially earning a spot at Euro 2024 with his display against Belgium. That performance has taken the midfielder's stock to new heights but Ten Hag is confident the success will not go to his head. Advertisement "I thought it was very good, but we are not surprised," the United boss said. "We have seen what he is capable of, that he can very quickly adapt to high levels. It looks very natural. "We are very happy for him and of course a little bit proud. I would say very proud. "It's great for the academy of Manchester United that they bring up a player so young going into the national team. That is a big compliment for the whole club. "I think definitely in the first place for himself because he did it. Advertisement "But also for all the ones who worked with him during his time in the academy, so it's very good news for Manchester United." Asked if he has to manage the hype around Mainoo, Ten Hag said: "Yes, but we have discussed this before and so far he handles it very well. "If he crosses the line, yeah, of course I as a manager, we as coaches, will interfere. "But so far it's not necessary because he enjoys football, he wants to win, he wants to give his best every day because he want to improve. "As I say, he just wants to have fun on the pitch. For him, it's fun to play dominant, to dictate the game and to win the game." Mainoo was conspicuous by his absence from United's training photos on Thursday as Ten Hag's side gear up for the Saturday evening trip to Brentford. The Red Devils head to the capital looking to kick on after the jaw-dropping 4-3 extra-time win against Liverpool in their FA Cup quarter-final before the international break. That win gives United a pep in their step, as does the impending return of centre-back Lisandro Martinez after two months out with a knee injury. "Yes, there is a chance (Martinez is involved on Saturday)," Ten Hag said. "We missed him every game because he brings a composure in the team, a calmness in the team. Advertisement "And at the same time, a winning attitude and he can express this very clearly, he can transfer this into the team and that contributes a lot to our levels." Questions remain over the fitness of Harry Maguire, Casemiro and Jonny Evans, among others, while Amad Diallo joins United's long-term absentees on the sidelines for the weekend. Luke Shaw is among those and faces a race against time to make England's Euro 2024 squad, but Ten Hag expects him back in a United shirt before the end of the campaign. "Yes, I expect him back before the end of the season," Ten Hag said. "That is the plan and he's still on schedule on this. He will return to our team."

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In an era of unprecedented technological progress, a commendable development has been the emergence of Tamil Nadu as the epicentre of a healthcare revolution, which is seamlessly integrating cutting-edge technology into the very essence of medical practice. However, this isn't a sudden transformation, but the latest chapter in a long history of healthcare leadership. For decades, the state has been at the forefront of healthcare in India, pioneering public health initiatives, and establishing a network of medical facilities that set benchmarks for access and quality across the nation. It is important to note that the birth of private healthcare in India also took place in Tamil Nadu, when Apollo Hospitals opened the country's first corporate hospital in 1983, in erstwhile Madras. Currently, over 70% of India's medical requirements are addressed by the private health sector and patients from around 150 countries come to the country as medical value travellers. In particular, Tamil Nadu stands tall as a preferred global destination for medical tourism, on account of its advanced medical facilities and a vibrant ecosystem for healthcare innovation. Also, in a path breaking move, the state's healthcare system, renowned for its robust infrastructure and top-tier health indicators, has embraced technological advancements to enhance healthcare delivery. Central to Tamil Nadu's innovation narrative is the Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre (HTIC) at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, serving as a beacon of collaborative efforts toward developing cutting-edge healthcare technologies. Projects like the Mobile Eye Surgical Unit (MESU) exemplify how technology can democratise access to quality healthcare, even in the most remote regions. Now, a new paradigm rapidly transforming healthcare is the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in clinical care. In keeping with its ethos as a pioneer, Apollo Hospitals has been actively integrating clinical AI into the fabric of its healthcare services, revolutionising practices with a suite of AI-driven initiatives. From sophisticated Clinical Intelligent Engines designed to assist patients and clinicians alike to AI-augmented pathways that optimise acute care settings, the endeavours in clinical AI are pivotal to the leap toward predictive healthcare and personalised patient care. Apollo's extensive clinical AI portfolio encompass a broad spectrum of applications, including disease progression models and risk scores for conditions such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. These models leverage deep learning and machine learning technologies, drawing from vast datasets to predict disease outcomes and enable early interventions. In diagnostics, collaborations with global research entities have borne fruit in the form of advanced algorithms for imaging and signal analysis, enhancing the precision and speed of medical diagnostics. Nevertheless, its ethical approach to AI in healthcare is manifest in a comprehensive framework for AI development and deployment, prioritising patient safety, data integrity and inclusivity. This ethical stance ensures the responsible realisation of AI's transformative potential in healthcare, aligning with world class patient care standards and ethical considerations. Moving forward, as Tamil Nadu steps into a new dawn of healthcare, it is inspiring that organisations like Apollo Hospitals, who made their beginnings with the support of the state, are standing as beacons of hope and a testament to the limitless possibilities of innovation. Therefore, the narrative of Tamil Nadu's healthcare transformation serves as a compelling testament to the synergy between technology and healthcare, a story of progress and a future sculpted by the indomitable spirit of human innovation. As we look to the horizon, it will be model states like Tamil Nadu that inspire a global shift toward a more technologically enriched, equitable and efficient healthcare ecosystem. The author is executive vice chairperson, Apollo Hospitals

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Laurel Wamsley is a reporter for NPR's News Desk. She reports breaking news for NPR's digital coverage, newscasts, and news magazines, as well as occasional features. She was also the lead reporter for NPR's coverage of the 2019 Women's World Cup in France.

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'Rubble': Sehri Tales selections, Day 18 I. Everyone has a bubble they feel comfortable living in, one that people often tell you to step out of and grow up; one that people depict as the root of all the reasons why people face difficulty fitting in. Little do they know, this bubble contains a land where the best of things remain—be it a playground, or a bookshelf, or a castle where endless comforting memories reside. How will they know? They too had a bubble once. It too contained everything they loved and cherished. It was the moment when the bubble popped, they grew up, and everything they had ever felt or knew were reduced into rubble. And here they are now, embedding the same doctrine on someone small, someone new... At the end of the day, we are all just a pile of rubble hidden inside the social facade of acceptance. by Shamira Tabassum Alam II. Did you know, Agatha Christie went missing for eleven days when she found out? I like to think that when they finally found her, there wasn't a scratch on her. No new frowns or eye-bags or claw-marks down her cheeks. Just a neat little hollow-out near the temporal lobe where what's-his-face used to be. It's been three days sitting here in the rubble of our last three years, and I'm still digging through it, trying to find something to do that hollowing out for me. But all I'm getting so far are papercuts from all those letters—why the eff did we write so many letters?—strewn around here that I could probably publish as your best work of fiction ever. We could make a picture book of it, with a real twist at the end, isn't that right? I wish there were some way I could put those papercuts to work, trimming my face out of all of these photos, replacing it with his instead--you'd love that, wouldn't you? Like you've loved it for the last four months apparently. Maybe if I hollow out enough of my faces from this trash pile, it'll do the trick. by Risana Nahreen Malik III. Was he angry? Father kept asking me to turn my hands to the squishy side and then the top where I once got cut and it was now like a shell, and maybe I was turning into an insect! He grabbed my face and turned it left and turned it right. Maybe he was checking which one? I hope it was a beetle, one of the shiny ones. I don't like spiders. "Next time. Whenever. Whenever you are in the ball pit and you can't see out, you need to shout. You need to shout so, so loud. So I can find you. Or anyone can find you." He sounded like he had a cold. His eyes were red. I really hope he gets well. "Yasser." He said my name so quietly. "It's not only a ball pit, okay, please? It could be pillows. Or your storybooks. It could be our… it could be anything, okay?" His hands were shaking. It made me think of when our house sometimes shook and there were loud noises outside like when Mother dropped her frying pan. But when she dropped her frying pan there were no lights. When our house shook, there were big lights that hurt to see. I didn't like that. Maybe I liked those less than spiders? - "He's somewhere in the rubble! Hurry!" Someone was so loud. But I couldn't see who and I also couldn't see out like my Father said. So I shouted for him, for anyone. by Azfarul Islam

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For Marylanders like Becky Grimes, who works at an Amazon warehouse near the eastern end of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the bridge's sudden collapse immediately changed the shape of her day — and many days ahead. She normally takes the Key Bridge to and from work, but it now takes an extra half hour each way to drive through the city of Baltimore instead of around it. "I'm not looking forward to it," she says. "There's a lot of people that already want to transfer out." The collapse of the bridge and the closure of the Port of Baltimore is upending life for countless people in the Chesapeake region. For many residents, it's the bridge closure that will shake up their daily lives, lengthening commutes and clogging the city's tunnels. "Because of the port being suspended, we don't have any traffic yesterday, today, at least for the next week or a week and a half," says Brent Howard, president of the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce. "That's money that we're losing every day because those ships are being redirected to other ports. Norfolk, Newark, Philadelphia are getting that revenue on a daily basis that was already slotted for Baltimore." And the Key Bridge is a toll bridge that last year generated 7% of the total revenue for the state's transportation authority, according to an analysis by Moody's. Howard says getting the port and bridge running again is pivotal to the region, both economically and emotionally. "We're the Chesapeake," he says. "Baltimore is really connected to the port and connected to water and connected to ships and vessels. That's something that's always been intrinsic to Baltimore's history, going back to our inception." A bustling port, now in limbo As a little girl in the 1970s, Brenda Cotsairis's father brought her to a sandy beach to see the Key Bridge under construction. She works at a local grocery store and has seen the area weather its ups and downs. "For a lot of years, good jobs were gone and then things started to come back," she says. "And now we have Tradepoint Atlantic and we have the port bustling — it's a very, very busy port and it's thriving for Baltimore. And now it's devastated." Daraius Irani, an economist at Towson University, estimates that the port's closure is costing between $10 million and $15 million a day in lost economic activity. And at least another $1 million a day in state and local taxes won't be collected while the port is closed. Still, Irani says the port — which last year had its best year ever — should fully rebound. That's in part because Baltimore's port is about a day further inland than many others on the Eastern seaboard, putting it closer to points in the Midwest. He says if the port remains closed for months, there could be some furloughs, but he doesn't expect layoffs among workers there. And Irani says the bridge's collapse will likely create some jobs. "You hate to say this, but in any kind of disaster, there's obviously the opportunity for the rebuild. So new construction jobs will likely come up because they need to build a new bridge," he says. Businesses near the bridge could see fewer customers The bridge's absence will almost certainly have a longer impact on the small businesses located near its entrances on either side of the Patapsco River. Joe Gold is the general manager of Key Brewing, a craft brewery in the town of Dundalk. Like the bridge, the brewery was named after Francis Scott Key, who wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner." "We're not shut down I mean, it's not like that," Gold said Wednesday. "It's just ... the community is going to have to readjust." With the Key Bridge closed, the traffic that would have passed by to get on I-695 is now taking alternate routes — routes that don't pass by Key Brewing's taproom. "When I came to work this morning, past 95 to our office, it was the least amount of traffic that I've ever seen on my commute," Gold says. He says that's a sign that people aren't coming that direction anymore, at least during their daily commutes. Is he worried about his business surviving? Not just yet. "It's still too early," he says. "It's still too fresh to kind of know how deep of an impact this is going to have." It all depends on how long it takes to clear the port — and rebuild a very long bridge. For the latest from member station WYPR in Baltimore head to wypr.org Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. Laurel Wamsley is a reporter for NPR's News Desk. She reports breaking news for NPR's digital coverage, newscasts, and news magazines, as well as occasional features. She was also the lead reporter for NPR's coverage of the 2019 Women's World Cup in France.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau detailed in its 2023 Consumer Response Annual Report that consumers have been the targets of fraudulent account openings, and installment loans were the most cited type of personal lending in complaints. The report, released Friday (March 29), noted that complaints about credit or consumer reporting accounted for more than 81% of all consumer complaints sent to companies — and represented, in total, more than 1.1 million complaints. "Consumers raised issues related to fraudulent activity in nearly every product category," the CFPB said. Those particular complaints focused on identity theft. Consumers reported not recognizing accounts or credit inquiries on their report. Elsewhere, the Bureau said, "in checking or savings account complaints, consumers often complained that funds were taken from their accounts through unauthorized or fraudulent transactions. These transactions often involved peer-to-peer platforms." Drilling down into personal lending, and among the report's findings: installment loans were the type of loans most frequently cited in consumer complaints, representing 65% of all reports in the personal lending segment, and accounted for about 3,300 reports. The most common compliant, at 22%, stemmed from being charged interest and/or fees that the borrowers said that they did not expect. "In their complaints, consumers stated that payments were withdrawn from their bank accounts without permission or on incorrect dates," the Bureau wrote. Also, "Consumers also reported issues with merchants that impacted their Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL), [or] point-of-sale (POS) loans … Consumers reported that they did not receive the item they purchased using their BNPL or POS loans or returned the item, so they requested a cancellation of the loan. Companies typically responded that they investigated the merchant dispute, and consumers were still responsible for their debts." In separate PYMNTS Intelligence research, 3 in 5 shoppers opted for installment plans when shopping. As many as 78% of merchants told PYMNTS Intelligence that they plan to enhance their use of installment plans, while 39% of acquirers said the same. General-purpose card installment plans were the most popular, with 45% of consumers going that route. Merchant card installment plans and BNPL plans both appealed to 37% of consumers. The appeal is widespread. PYMNTS found that 64% of shoppers who earn more than $100,000 annually paid via installments in the last 12 months, as did 61% of those who earn between $50,000 and $100,000 annually. Consumers earning less than $50,000 took advantage of the offerings, too, as 54% of them opted for split payments.

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On a Toot!: Boston Edition The Glorious Return of Eastern Standard, and More From Boston's New Cocktail Bar Boom. Welcome to the latest edition of "On a Toot!," a feature in which I try to remember some of the liquid highlights of the week, and other highlights in general. "On a Toot!" will only run on Fridays and will only be available to paid subscribers. We hope you enjoy it. "The bar is packed all day long with New York debutantes, brokers, Newport dowagers, bad women who walk good dogs on Park Avenue, chic divorcees and college boys on toots."—Daily News, 1937, describing the scene at the Ritz Bar in Paris. The outbreak of the Covid pandemic—which overtook the United States four years ago this month—led to the heartbreaking closures of many iconic cocktail bars. Few hit as hard as the demise of Eastern Standard, which was in many ways the cornerstone of Boston craft cocktail culture during its 15-year reign on Kenmore Square. If Drink—which recently closed abruptly—was the city's haute, highbrow, menu-less speakeasy, Eastern Standard was its town hall, where Red Sox fans and Red Hook drinkers alike gathered in shiny brasserie splendor, one of the first cocktail destinations to do high-volume trade right. It was something of a miracle, then, when the restaurant returned last October, still bearing the same name, the same vibe and the same beverage director, Jackson Cannon. The new Eastern Standard remains close to Fenway Park (775 Beacon Street), and close to its original aesthetic, with its long marble bar, leather banquettes, raw bar and steak tartare. But it is even larger than the first iteration, which is saying something, since the first one was sprawling. As at the old haunt, the Jack Rose cocktail—Cannon's signature drink— holds a place of honor, and Audrey Saunders' modern classic Old Cuban is on offer. I also tried, and approved of, the Bamboo Improved, a perfect version of the classic (meaning equal parts dry and sweet vermouth) made with nori-infused Sherry…

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This book explores the legacy of Pete Rose and sports gambling AILSA CHANG, HOST: LA Dodgers superstar pitcher Shohei Ohtani is adamant that he did not bet on baseball. And the mystery behind his ties to sports gambling is a sore spot before opening day tomorrow. But long before the inquiry into Ohtani's ties to betting, there was Pete Rose. The Cincinnati Red was a consistent hitter with a brash personality. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PETE ROSE: I had a style, the way I played. And most if not all fans would love my style. You know what my style was - playing hard, sliding head first, diving for this, diving for that. CHANG: In 1989, Rose was banished from baseball for life after an investigation found that he bet on the sport as a player and a manager. A new book titled "Charlie Hustle: The Rise And Fall Of Pete Rose" chronicles one of the most polarizing figures in sports. Its author, Keith O'Brien, interviewed Rose for the book in hopes of getting one of baseball's former greats to reckon with his dark past. O'Brien shared some of the tape with us when we spoke to him and drew a line from Pete Rose to today. KEITH O'BRIEN: Pete Rose was, in the second half of the 20th century, one of our most iconic athletes. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) ROSE: No one played like me. O'BRIEN: He was baseball's all-time hit leader. He still is now, 40 years later. No one is anywhere close to breaking that hit record. It will probably stand forever. And in the time in which Pete Rose played, between 1963 and 1989, he was not just a successful athlete, he was a beloved athlete. Fans loved Pete Rose not because of the hits or the World Series victories or the MVPs or anything like that. His whole persona was about hustling, and he became Charlie Hustle. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) ROSE: No one that I ever played against was Charlie Hustle except me. You understand what I'm saying? O'BRIEN: Pete Rose stood out. He would sprint down to first base on a walk. He would barrel into second base, trying to break up a double play as if he was a linebacker, not a base runner. Today, I don't even know where we would put him or how we would think about him if he was playing, because nobody knew what to do with him even back then. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) ROSE: As long as I'm baseball's all-time hit king, people will talk about me. And no one's ever going to beat that record. O'BRIEN: At the start of every baseball season, Pete Rose had the same goals. He wanted to bat 300, he wanted to have 200 hits and he wanted to score 100 runs. Those were his goals. And the miraculous thing is, by and large, he attained those goals and soon found himself, by the late 1970s, in striking distance of one of Major League Baseball's most hallowed records, you know, baseball's all-time hit record, 4,191 hits. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) MARTY BRENNAMAN: Kicks and he fires. Rose swings. JOE NUXHALL: There it is. There it is. Get out. Get out. All right. BRENNAMAN: And there it is, hit number 4,192. A line drive single into left-center field, a clean base hit. And it is pandemonium here at Riverfront Stadium. O'BRIEN: In February 1989, problems for Pete Rose start to come to a head. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) ROSE: Thirty, 40 years ago, gambling used to be a no-no. O'BRIEN: Sports Illustrated has received a tip that Pete Rose is betting on baseball and he's betting on the Cincinnati Reds, things that are in violation of Major League Baseball rules. The rumor of Sports Illustrated's investigation begins to drift across town to the offices of Major League Baseball and decide that they need to call Pete Rose to New York for a meeting to discuss the rumors of his gambling on baseball. And in this meeting, my reporting shows that if Pete was honest, the entire narrative that comes next, the next 35 years, the time we're still living in now, is different. But Pete can't be honest. And when they ask him if it's true, he lies. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) A BARTLETT GIAMATTI: By choosing not to come to a hearing before me, and by choosing not to proffer any testimony or evidence contrary to the evidence and information contained in the report of the special counsel to the commissioner, Mr. Rose has accepted baseball's ultimate sanction, which is lifetime ineligibility. O'BRIEN: They hire a former Justice Department prosecutor and in a matter of weeks unravel years and years of lies about Pete's gambling. They have his phone records. They have his bank records. They have depositions with men who placed his bets on baseball and bookies who accepted those bets. They have everything on Pete Rose, and still Pete can't be honest about what happened. Pete was indignant from the start about his banishment from baseball. He expressed no humility. He expressed very little sorrow. Between 1989 and 2004, he repeatedly said that baseball had got it wrong, that he hadn't bet on baseball and he hadn't bet on the Reds. In 2004, this narrative begins to change. Pete has received a ton of criticism in the past 35 years for not being honest in 1989, but I think it is complicated when you look at it through the prism of history. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) ROSE: Baseball is in bed with gamblers today. Everybody wants a piece of the pie with the gambling, and most all of them are getting paid by the gambling sites. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It's about time they understood that. O'BRIEN: Our culture has changed. You know, in 1989, gambling was something that happened strictly in the underworld. It was verboten in every state but the state of Nevada. If you wanted to place a bet on sports, you had to do it with a bookie. And that meant you had to know people who were bookies. That was simply not a life that most people lived. These days, in 38 states and Washington, D.C., sports gambling is legal. In many of those places, we can place bets on our phone. We can do it at the stadium. And we are doing it, gambling, at a record pace. And while all of this is happening, illegal gambling is also still happening. And for years the men who pursued Pete Rose in 1989 have been saying it's dangerous. We're going to find ourselves, they said, in another scandalous gambling situation. And there's a lot we still don't know about the allegations surrounding star Dodger player Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. There is a ton that we don't know, but what's clear even now is that with the shady outlines of this story as it exists, this is already the biggest gambling scandal that baseball has faced since 1989. It is already the biggest gambling problem that baseball has faced since Pete Rose. And that's not to equate Shohei Ohtani to Pete Rose. They are different stories. But the fact that we ended up here is not surprising at all. CHANG: Keith O'Brien, author of "Charlie Hustle: The Rise And Fall Of Pete Rose." (SOUNDBITE OF JONATHAN KREISBERG'S "CANTO DE OSSANHA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.

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Caitlin Clark says she heard about the Big3 offer on social media but focus is on Iowa and Sweet 16 ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Caitlin Clark said she found out about the Big3's offer to play for the 3-on-3 men's basketball league over social media. A social media account for Ice Cube, who founded the league of former NBA players, said the organization had made an offer to the NCAA's Division I all-time leading scorer that reportedly is for $5 million. The Big3 season runs in the summer so it would conflict with the WNBA season where Clark is expected to play as the No. 1 pick of the Indiana Fever. "I found about the Big3 thing at the exact time you all did, and my main focus is just on playing basketball," Clark said Friday as she and her Iowa teammates prepared for a Sweet 16 game against Colorado on Saturday. "I think that's the biggest thing." If the Hawkeyes beat Colorado, they will face either LSU or UCLA for a trip back to the Final Four. Iowa lost in the national championship game to the Tigers last year. "My focus is on winning these two games, and that's exactly how it should be," Clark said. "I honestly don't talk about those things with really anybody. I have other people that deal with it, and they haven't said a word to me about it." ___

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Comprehensive Vehicle History Reports for Lifted Toyotas in Hawaii Detailed Vehicle History Offers Vehicle History Reports for Lifted Toyotas in Hawaii alongside VIN Decoding Services 100 WALNUT ST, CHAMPLAIN, NEW YORK, USA., March 27, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Detailed Vehicle History, a leading provider of vehicle history reports and VIN decoding services empowers Hawaiian drivers, owners, and buyers with a tool to make confident choices when buying lifted Toyotas.Hawaii's love affair with trucks particularly lifted Toyotas, is undeniable. From navigating a rugged coastline to off-road adventures, these vehicles hold a special place in island life. However, with the increasing popularity of lifted trucks comes the need for transparency and informed decision-making, especially when considering purchasing a used vehicle. Here's why a Detailed Vehicle History Report is important: Island Terrain Takes a Toll: Hawaii's unique landscape, with volcanic rock and uneven terrain, can put additional stress on vehicles, especially lifted ones. A detailed history report reveals any past accidents or damages, or maintenance issues related to off-road use, helping you avoid hidden problems. Modified Vehicles Require Specific Attention: Lifted trucks often undergo modifications like suspension lifts, larger tires, and aftermarket parts. A comprehensive report deciphers the VIN, providing information on a window sticker which in turn gives information about factory-installed features and modifications, ensuring you understand the vehicle's true condition. Peace of Mind for Island Adventures: Owning a lifted Toyota in Hawaii is about embracing the island's spirit of adventure. Knowing the vehicle's complete history through a detailed report offers peace of mind and allows one to focus on enjoying the journey, not worrying about potential issues. An alternative way of getting a detailed vehicle history report is by running a Hawaii license plate lookup A detailed vehicle history report provides the following information and even more: Ownership History: Details about previous owners, duration of ownership, and location history. Theft Records: Information on whether the vehicle has been reported stolen by the DMV or NICB. Title Brand Records: Records indicating salvage brand, rebuilt title, flood brand, firebrand, hail brand, junk brand, and more. Accident History: Number of accident records, dates of accidents, and locations where accidents occurred. Damage History: Extent of damage on the vehicle, including primary and secondary damage. Lien & Loan Records: Verification of any existing lien or loan records associated with the vehicle. Specifications: Year, make, model, trim, engine and transmission specifications, fuel type, and more. Sales History: Details about previous sales, including online listings, sale dates, prices, retail values, mileage, condition, damage, and repair costs. Auction History: Information about any auctions the vehicle has been involved in, including auction dates, prices, seller types, locations, and available images. Odometer Rollback: Detection of mileage discrepancies that may indicate odometer tampering. Vehicle Usage: Insights into how the vehicle was used in the past, such as personal use, leasing, or rental. Recalls: Information on any recalls issued by the manufacturer and their reasons. Those who want to learn more about any used vehicle can leverage the car history report provided by Detailed Vehicle History. Detailed Vehicle History also provides the window sticker. A window sticker, also known as a Monroney sticker, is a label affixed to new vehicles that provide important information about the car, such as the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), standard equipment, optional features, fuel economy ratings, warranty details, and safety ratings. It is a valuable tool for consumers to make informed decisions when purchasing a new vehicle by offering transparency about the vehicle's specifications and pricing. This sticker might sometimes be misplaced or simply unavailable, Detailed Vehicle History gives car owners, buyers of used cars, and dealerships the privilege to reproduce these window stickers using a proprietary window sticker tool. Beyond the window sticker, understanding the full story of your lifted Toyota is essential. Detailed Vehicle History reports provide the transparency and confidence needed for informed decisions, allowing Hawaiian drivers to embrace the island's adventures with peace of mind. Detailed Vehicle History has also made it possible for those who want to conduct a VIN check to utilize the VIN scanning feature on the website, this eases the work of manually typing in the VIN into the system The free "VIN Decoding and Vehicle History" app is also now available in the Google Play Store and App Store for downloads, this app gives users the privilege to store and retrieve vehicle report data. It also embodies the VIN scanning feature setting it apart from similar apps. About Detailed Vehicle History At Detailed Vehicle History, a passionate team is dedicated to revolutionizing car buying and selling with a focus on transparency, accuracy, and sustainability. Our comprehensive vehicle history reports empower both consumers and dealerships to navigate the process with confidence and ease. We believe in fostering informed decisions, which is why we developed cutting-edge VIN to Window Sticker technology, Toyota VIN check with auction data. This innovation transforms how car information is accessed and shared, making the entire experience more transparent and efficient for everyone involved

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At the NFL Scouting Combine, Bears general manager Ryan Poles told the media he wanted to "do right by" Justin Fields, in the event the organization decided to trade him elsewhere in favor of a new quarterback. That meant one of two things. First, it meant moving Fields as soon as possible, preferably before the start of NFL free agency on March 13. Second, it meant giving Fields the chance to pick his next spot, where it would be most beneficial for his development. Poles, in essence, checked both of those boxes. He traded Fields three days after the start of free agency on March 16. And he traded Fields to the Steelers, one of his four preferred destinations, for a compromised return of a 2025 conditional sixth-round pick. Where else did Fields want to play? "The Steelers were one of four teams on Fields' radar prior to the start of free agency, along with the Vikings, Raiders and Falcons, a source familiar with Fields' thinking said," ESPN's Brooke Pryor wrote on Friday. According to the report, Fields "thought highly of Tomlin," who hasn't coached worse than a .500 season with the Steelers in 17 seasons as their head coach. There, he will play understudy to Russell Wilson but have the chance to learn and develop further. The Vikings lost Kirk Cousins in free agency, opening up their starting quarterback spot this offseason. It makes sense he wasn't traded there considering the Bears would then have to face Fields twice per year. Fields' former offensive coordinator, Luke Getsy, is now the offensive coordinator for the Raiders. They're still in search of a new signal caller, despite having added Gardner Minshew this offseason. Some thought Getsy's presence would mean crossing the Raiders off the list since that duo didn't perform up to standard together last season. The Falcons were the team most attached to Fields this offseason, as he's a Georgia native. League sources told NBC Sports Chicago's Josh Schrock the Falcons checked in with the Bears about Fields around the NFL Combine. In the end, they were able to persuade Cousins to make the lateral from Minnesota to Atlanta. Kenny Pickett's insistence to be moved to the Eagles opened up a spot for Fields to back Wilson. According to the report, the Bears had "at least one better offer from a team with an established quarterback starter," but they compromised to send Fields to his preferred destination. It was a respectful move for Poles, who will almost certainly replace Fields with USC's Caleb Williams as the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Poles could've waited past the draft and into training camp to maximize Fields' trade value. But he opted for the high road, putting the fourth-year quarterback in the best position possible. This isn't the end of Fields' story, either. He will likely play understudy to Wilson this season, but he's only on a one-year deal. The Steelers must decide on Fields' fifth-year option by May 2; either way, they can re-sign him, should they please. Some think Fields will outperform Wilson right away and earn the starting role. Either way, Fields is effectively insurance for the Steelers, should they become displeased with Wilson as their starting signal caller. So while Fields might not take over right away, the Steelers know what they have in him. "Rest assured when it's time to compete, Justin will be given an opportunity to compete," Tomlin said at the owner's meetings in Orlando. "And we'll allow those guys to sort themselves out."

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Rhys Hoskins is now playing for the Milwaukee Brewers after six seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies. But he apparently hasn't let go of the NL East rivalry with the New York Mets yet. During the eighth inning of the Brewers' 2024 season opener against the Mets, Hoskins riled up New York infielder Jeff McNeil with a hard slide into second base to break up a double-play attempt. McNeil already had a tough play to make, fielding a low relay throw from third baseman Brett Baty, but Hoskins coming in spikes-first over the bag prevented a throw to first base. McNeil immediately took exception to the slide and confronted Hoskins before second-base umpire Jonathan Parra stepped between them. As Hoskins jogged away, McNeil continued to yell at him, compelling players from both dugouts and bullpens to walk onto the field. Players stayed on the field as McNeil and Hoskins continued to yell and point at each other. McNeil was hot and ready to fight, to which Hoskins responded with a crying gesture back in the dugout. Looking at the play, McNeil was likely upset at Hoskins sliding into his left leg which was planted in the dirt. Yet Hoskins didn't run out of the baseline to collide with McNeil. Despite McNeil's objections, it appeared to be a clean slide. The Mets called for a review, contending that Hoskins made an illegal slide into McNeil, but the umpires didn't overturn the call. Milwaukee's Michael Tonkin struck out the next batter, Bryce Turang, to end the inning. The Brewers went on to win the game, 3-1.

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AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli is refusing to look any further ahead than Saturday's Serie A trip to Fiorentina as he targets a rousing finish to the season. (More Football News) The Rossoneri, who have won their last five games in all competitions, head for the Stadio Artemio Franchi sitting in second place in the table, 14 points adrift of derby rivals Inter, but only three clear of Juventus in third. With the prospect of Europa League glory still very much alive – they face compatriots Roma in the quarter-finals – the campaign could yet end on a high note, although Pioli, who will be without the suspended Theo Hernandez, will not allow his players to get ahead of themselves. Advertisement He told a press conference: "A decisive period is about to begin. We'll need to focus on playing the best football we can as we look to improve the level of our performances with two very important months in store. "We have nine league matches remaining and we hope we'll also be involved in five more Europa League fixtures. Every game will be important, starting from Fiorentina. They're a team that have often caused us problems. "It's only normal to talk about the future when there's an international break, but I'm focused on doing the best I can in the next 60 days so we can finish the season in the best way possible. Advertisement "Conclusions can only be drawn at the end, so we'll take it one game at a time." Fiorentina have proved tricky opponents in recent seasons – in the last six league encounters, the sides have been separated by just one goal, and La Viola have won the last two games they have hosted. Milan's latest visit to Florence comes with the home team still mourning the loss of general manager Joe Barone, who collapsed and died at the age of 57 as the Fiorentina party prepared to leave the team hotel for their league clash with Atalanta earlier this month. Pioli, whose side won the reverse fixture in November 1-0, said: "It's not the first time that Fiorentina have experienced a complicated situation. Florence and the team's fans are fantastic when there is a need to come together to overcome difficult moments like a bereavement. "We expect a special atmosphere at the start in memory of a person who did so much for the club." Vincenzo Italiano's side, who head into the weekend in eighth place and four points adrift of the top six, have not played since a 1-1 Europa Conference League draw with Maccabi Haifa on March 14 with the Atalanta game having been postponed after Barone was rushed to hospital. Advertisement Italiano said: "We need to restart and honour our director with all the things that were his: passion, love and attachment to this city, these colours and this club."

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Mar 27, 2024 / 04:00PM GMT Operator Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Tsakos Energy Navigation conference call on the fourth-quarter 2023 financial results. We have with us Mr. Takis Arapoglou, Chairman of the Board; Dr. Nikolas Tsakos, Founder and CEO; Mr. Paul Durham, Chief Financial Officer; and Mr. George Saroglou, Chief Operating Officer of the Company. (Operator Instructions) I must advise you that this conference is being recorded. And now, I will pass the floor to Mr. Nicolas Bornozis, President of Capital Link. Please go ahead, sir. Nicolas Bornozis - Capital Link, Inc. - IR Thank you very much, and good morning to all of our participants. I am Nicolas Bornozis of Capital Link, Investor Relations Advisor to Tsakos Energy Navigation. This morning, the company publicly released its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2023. In case, you do not have a copy of today's earnings release, please call us at 212-661-7566 or email us at [email protected], and we will have a copy for you e-mailed right away. Q4 2023 Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd Earnings Call Transcript Already have an account? Log in Get the full story Access to All Earning Calls and Stock Analysis | | 30-Year Financial on one screen | | All-in-one Stock Screener with unlimited filters | | Customizable Stock Dashboard | | Real Time Insider Trading Transactions | | 8,000+ Institutional investors' 13F holdings | | Powerful Excel Add-in and Google sheets Add-on | | All data downloadable | | Quick customer support | | And much more... | 30-Day 100% money back guarantee You are not charged until the trial ends. Subscription fee may be tax deductible. Excellent 4.6 out of 5 Trustpilot

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GI year : 2013 Madurai Malli Madurai malli is much more than just a flower. It is an intrinsic part of the culture, history and ethos of Madurai, as well as the texture of the daily lives of its people, their moods and emotions. A commonly held belief is that the goddess's love for the flower makes the unique variety of jasmine grown in and around Madurai, called Madurai Malligai. Madurai malli has thick petals, which retain a heady fragrance and moisture; its size and shape make it unique. GI year: 2013 Thanjavur Veena Made out of seasoned jackfruit tree wood, often procured from Panruti, in the last several centuries, the Thanjavur veena has gone through different modifications. Raghunatha Nayak, the ruler of Thanjavur (1614 - 1632) and his prime minister and musicologist Govinda Dikshita, modified the then-existing veena — the Saraswati Veena with 24 fixed frets (Mettur) — so that all ragas could be played, and called it the 'Thanjavur Veena'. GI year: 2013 Chettinad Kottan colourful handwoven baskets made from palmyra leaf strips, the kottans, were made by the Chettiyar women in the courtyards of their grand mansions. The kottans have also got the UNESCO stamp for their weaves — Gundumani weave (plain weave), Malayalam weave (twill weave), cross olai weave (plain weave variation) and Surul (plain weave variation with two corners, often used as money purses). GI year: 2013 Pattamadai Pai The Pattamadai pai, made out of the korai grass found on the banks of the Thamirabarani River, is primarily woven by the women from the Panchayat town's Muslim community. The korai mats are usually made for wedding ceremonies and are popularly known for interweaving the names of the bride and groom along with the wedding date. GI year: 2015 Coimbatore wet grinder Designed and manufactured by P Sabapathy in the 1950s, in Coimbatore, the wet grinder went on to become one of the most innovative food preparation appliances. Compared to other products on the GI tag list, the wet grinder was an interesting addition as it gave due credits to the roots of the indigenous idea, which made a long-drawn process easier in many households. GI year: 2017 Mahabalipuram Stone Sculptures The exquisite rock sculptures in Mahabalipuram can be traced back to the early 7th century, during the Pallava reign. A blend of aesthetics and impeccable craftsmanship, several open sculptures, relief sculptures, painting/portrait sculptures can be found. Rock-cut architecture remains the most definitive trait of the Pallava school of art, and the Mamallapuram sculptors still use the hammer and chisel technique for carving. GI tag for the stone sculptures was an important step, as the living heritage site and security of artisans needed attention. GI year: 2019 Dindigul lock Started by the Sankaralingachari brothers and spread over five villages in Dindigul district, the lock-making industry is over 150 years old. Every lock is designed and possesses a unique style, and has special names including Almirah lock, Mango lock, Export lock, Mango Nine levers lock, and Square lock. Kovilpatti Kadalai Mittai Made using groundnuts grown in the native black soil of Kovilpatti, organic jaggery and water from the Thamirabarani river, the special kadalai mittai are sold as single rectangular chunks or rather cuboids, sealed in packets. Often, a veragu aduppu (firewood stove) is used in its production. GI year: 2023 Thaikkal Rattan craft For decades, artisans of Thaikkal and Thulasiyaendirapuram villages in Anaikkaran chathiram panchayat of Mayiladuthurai have mastered the art of making furniture from rattan. The characteristics, techniques, production process, traditional knowledge, skills used, and quality of Thaikkal make it one of its kind. They are cheaper, stronger and the furniture gives a cooling effect in summer and warmth in winter due to its heat absorbing and releasing capacity. Apart from furniture, rattan mats, sital pati, baskets, trays, sieves, fishing implements and murrahs are also made. Artisans claim that rattan furniture holds medicinal properties. GI year: 2019 Thirubuvanam Silk saris Recognised by the unique sari folding called the visiri madippu, the sari is folded like a pleated angavastram. The lustre and the filature of the yarn, and the one side borders stand out in this weave. GI year: 2019 Kodaikanal Malai Poondu This hill garlic's cultivation is done twice a year – May and November, depending on the climate. The altitude of the hill, the soil in the region and the prevailing misty condition are conducive for its growth. With anti-oxidant and anti-microbial potential, the white-pale yellow garlic weighs between 20-30 g (each bulb). GI year: 2020 Kovilpatti Kadalai Mittai Made using groundnuts grown in the native black soil of Kovilpatti, organic jaggery and water from the Thamirabarani river, the special kadalai mittai are sold as single rectangular chunks or rather cuboids, sealed in packets. Often, a veragu aduppu (firewood stove) is used in its production. GI year: 2020 Thanjavur Pith work (Netti work) The Thanjavur Netti Works is made from pith obtained from a hydrophyte plant called Aeschynomene Aspera. The lakes around Pudukkottai, surrounded by marshy land, favour the growth of the hydrophytic plant. The soil found in the Thanjavur region is favourable for the growth of the plant used for this handicraft. GI year: 2020 Arumbavur Wood Carvings They are primarily made out of wooden logs of Indian siris (Poo Vaagai), mango, lingam tree, Indian ash tree, rosewood, neem tree (Vembu), sourced from the Pachamalai Hills. The scale, proportion and the fact that the entire design is carved out of a single block of wood make them unique. The design depends on tangible heritage indigenous to the region but not restricted to the religion alone. GI year: 2023 Authoor Vetrilai Finding a mention in many a temple inscription and dating back to 13th century, the Authoor vetrilai is the oft-found variant in every function of Tamil Nadu. The distinct pungency and spiciness of these leaves are attributed to the uniqueness of water in Thamirabarani River, the main irrigation source for the fields. These betel creepers are cultivated on over 500 acres in Thoothukudi's rural areas on the banks of Thamirabarani river. Chief varieties of these betel leaves are Nattukodi, Pachaikodi and Karpoori. GI year: 2019 Palani Panchamirtham Palani Panchamirtham is a combination of five components — banana, jaggery, sugar, cow ghee, honey and cardamom. For additional flavour, dates and diamond sugar candies are added to the mixture. It is prepared in a natural method without the addition of any artificial ingredients. The panchamirtham is one of the main offerings in the abisegam for Lord Dhandayuthapani Swamy, the presiding deity of Arulmigu Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple situated in Palani Hills, Dindigul. Devotees from across the globe who visit the temple, are offered this prasadam in the Hill Temple. GI year: 2023 Matti Banana The Kanniyakumari district, a wet zone with substantial rainfall, provides the perfect environment for this variant to grow. Popularly known as 'Crocodile finger banana', it is considered great baby food and is also used to treat jaundice. The fragrant, firm fruit has a mild sweetness. It has other variants like Malai matti, Thaen matti and Semmatti. GI year: 2023 Manapparai murukku One of the most popular snacks known for its crunch, these murukkus have a secret recipe. Once a traditional business followed by a few families is now followed by over 1,000 families in Manapparai who are involved in its making and selling. GI year: 2018 Nagercoil Temple Jewellery Born in Vadasery, a small village in the suburbs of Nagercoil, the process of making the temple jewellery is a labour-intensive process and requires highly skilled artisans to take up different parts of the design process. The craft can be traced back to the early 17th century when the kings and chieftains of the then Ramanathapuram district came to Nagercoil and purchased a set of gold ornaments with real diamonds as an offering to the temple in Chettinad. Now, mostly used by Bharatnatyam dancers, these jewels have started finding a market in the cities. The artisans have adapted to modern times and are involved in making cufflinks, lighter pieces like earrings and pendants for necklaces. GI year: 2019 Erode turmeric Erode is known for its cultivation of the chinna nadan, one of the important varieties of turmeric in the region. It is cultivated in areas including Kodumudi, Sivagiri, Gobichettipalayam and Thalavady. An important commercial spice crop, the turmeric can be traced back to the Sangam era when peasants are said to have grown the plants in front of their houses. GI year: 2019 Srivilliputtur Palkova A traditional milk product made in Srivilliputtur, Virudhunagar, its origins can be traced to the 1940s. In 1945, the milk cooperative societies established by the government took up palkova-making on a large scale, tapping on the existing skill of the people of the town. The petition submitted for the GI tag by the Srivilliputtur Co-operative Milk Producers' Society noted how the climatic conditions of Srivilliputtur promoted the growth of a variety of crops, which were later used as fodder for the livestock. The fodder intake of cows at Srivilliputtur and their rich grazing habit are what give high-quality flavour to the milk and this, the petition said, is reflected in the making of the sweet. GI year: 2021-2022 Kanniyakumari clove This southern spice is used for culinary and medicinal purposes. The first plantations are said to have been introduced by the British, and now Kanniyakumari contributes to 65% of India's clove production. Good rains and sea mist along with ample sunlight make this region perfect for its growth.They also add to the distinct aroma and taste. GI year: 2021-2022 Karuppur Kalamkari Kalamkari is an art that dates back 5,000 years. Widely practiced in Srikalahasti and Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradersh, quite a few artisans in Karuppur of Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu are known for this art. What sets it apart is the use of natural dyes and hand painting. It traces its origins to the Chola dynasty. The designs are made on silk or cotton materials made following a 23-step process. The colours are derived from fruits, vegetables and other natural ingredients grown along the banks of the Cauvery river. The painted fabrics form a part of temple festivities. GI year: 2021-2022 Kallakurichi wood carvings The artisans in this region have perfected the art of cutting and shaping wood to create intricate wood designs. They have been practising this craft for centuries. They use only traditional tools and techniques. The artisans create a variety of items including idols, furniture and decorative items. The fine detailing on the products makes them stand out. GI year: 2022 Narasinghapettai nagaswaram It is a classical wind music instrument that is traditionally made in a village near Kumbakonam. The artisans learnt the skills to make this wooden instrument from their forefathers and follow a specialised procedure to make them. Two-and-a-half feet long, this nagaswaram has a cylindrical body and a bell-shape at the bottom. This aids in the production of better volume and tone. GI year: 2023 Jaderi Tiruman (Namakatti) Worn by Vaishnavites as the U-shape as part of the namam, the namakatti, often the size of a finger, has medicinal significance besides religious and cultural importance and is made of hydrous silicate material. For almost 300 years, 120 families in this village in Tiruvannamalai have been involved in making the namakatti. Known to cool the forehead, its ingredients are sourced through a time-consuming process, the skills for which are transferred through generations. GI year: 2023 Vellore spiny brinjal Known as Elavambadi mullu kathirikkai, this oval, violet-coloured vegetable is considered tastier than other varieties. This brinjal is cultivated through adapted farming techniques. GI year: 2023 Ramanathapuram mundu chilli The district's very own mundu chilli or locally known as the Ramanathapuram mundu, is widely cultivated across some 14,000 hectares. Known for its spiciness, the mundu chilli has a pungency (capsaicin content) rate of 17,500 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), making it one of the spiciest chillies. It has a decent demand in the local as well as other state markets. The mundu chilli has been cultivated in Ramanathapuram for more than 200 years. GI year: 2023 Marthandam honey The beekeepers of Marthandam in Kanniyakumari district use traditional methods to extract honey. The town is known for the superior quality of wild honey from the nearby forests. The presence of pollens and nutritious propolis make this honey unique. GI year: 2023 Manamadurai pottery The potters here use mud, clay and water to make the pots. The clay from Vaigai river that runs through the village is used. Potters credit the existence of the five natural elements – air, water, fire, sun, and earth – for the pots' uniqueness. Several other elements like lead, graphite, calcium lime etc., sourced from the waterbodies of Nathapurakki, Nedukulam, Seikalathur and Sundaranadappu are used. GI year: 2023 Cumbum Paneer Grapes Located in the Western Ghats, the Cumbum valley is called the Grapes City of South India. The agricultural area spans across 10 villages. One of the most fertile regions of Tamil Nadu, Cumbum contributes to nearly 85% of the grape production in the state GI year: 2023 Salem Sago (Javvarisi) As per statistics, Tamil Nadu accounts for 40% of the sago production in the country. Locally called javvarisi, they are made using wet starch powder extracted from tapioca. Around 1 kg of sago can be produced from 5 kg of tapioca. GI year: 2023 Negamam cotton saris Also known as village cot sari, the handloom sari is famous for its thickness, which is on an average of 86 to 90 picks per inch (PPI), its length, durability, contrasting colours and multicolour thread work of motifs, checks, designs, etc. The border is woven with a rich thread work design as an extra weft. Moisture-laden wind from the Western Ghats also adds to the unique feature of this sari. They are manufactured from June to November. GI year: 2023 Myladi stone carvings This town panchayat in Kanniyakumari district is where gods are believed to come alive. Artisans from here create granite idols, and intricate carvings on pillars of temples. They categorise the rocks as 'male' and 'female' rocks. They use a hammer to hit on the rocks and listen to the sound. If a rough sound is produced, it's a male rock used for gods, and if it's a sweet sound, it's a female rock used for goddesses. GI year: 2023 Sholavandan Vetrilai Cultivated in Sholavandan in Madurai, on the banks of Vaigai river, this betel leaf variant has a unique taste as it is grown on alluvial soil. This is often preferred for paan due to its low pungency. A 5th CE inscription in the Sholavandan Jenaga Narayanasamy Perumal temple has mentions of betel vine present in the area. It is believed that this was much sought after by the Europeans. There are still farmers here who cultivate this betel leaf and send to the Kallazhagar temple following age-old traditions. GI year: 2023 Chedibutta sari These saris are made by Veeravanalur Sowrashtra Weavers Cooperative Production and Sales Society Limited in Tirunelveli. They have plant motifs on the body and pallu. The designs are made using cotton threads on silk saris. The soft texture makes it suitable for the humid weather. GI year: 2023 Ooty Varkey The flaky, layered, mildly sweet biscuit is a favourite in the hills. It traces its history to the British Raj. Made with flour, sugar, salt and mava, it is baked on medium heat in a firewood oven. Glory Awaited This year, at the state assembly, while presenting the Agriculture Budget 2024-25, Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare MRK Panneerselvam, said GI tags have been sought for Ayyampalayam Nettai Thennai (Dindigul), Sathayamangalam Red Banana (Erode), Kolli Hills Pepper (Namakkal), Meenambur Seeraga Samba (Ranipet), Urigam Puli (Krishnagiri), Bhuvanagiri Mithi Pagarkai (Cuddalore), Sencholam (Salem, Karur), Tirunelveli Senna Leaf (Tirunelveli), Odaipatti Seedless Grapes (Theni), Gloriosa Superba and Senganthal seed (Karur, Dindigul, Tiruppur).

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United States & World This North Carolina speedway discovery may have roots in prohibition By Nick de la Canal Published March 29, 2024 at 4:33 PM EDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Listen • 2:00 Workers at a racetrack in North Carolina have discovered a hidden space under the grand stand that some say was once a moonshine cave. Copyright 2024 NPR

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With trust proving to be a key factor for consumers' decisions about where they want to spend their money digitally, online merchants are cracking down on fakes. eCommerce giant Amazon, for instance, shared Monday (March 25) in announcing its 2023 Brand Protection Report that it has been removing scam products by the millions in partnership with brands and law enforcement. "Since its launch in 2020, Amazon's Counterfeit Crimes Unit has pursued more than 21,000 bad actors through litigation and criminal referrals to law enforcement," Dharmesh Mehta, the company's vice president, worldwide selling partner services, wrote in the news release. "In 2023, we identified, seized, and appropriately disposed of more than 7 million counterfeit products worldwide, preventing them from harming customers or being resold elsewhere in the retail supply chain." The scale of the issue is significant. For instance, a news release last month from U.S. Customs and Border Protection noted that officers had seized three shipments of fake luxury merchandise that would have retailed for $1.2 million altogether "had the merchandise been genuine." A Michigan State University study last year found that nearly seven in 10 people had unknowingly bought counterfeit items via eCommerce channels at least once in the previous year. Amazon is not the only eCommerce marketplace cracking down. A report earlier this year from Bloomberg said luxury giant LVMH is collaborating with TikTok and its parent company ByteDance to curb the sale of counterfeit products on the widely-used video-sharing platform. While TikTok Shop has gained traction in the U.S., attracting numerous merchants and creators, concerns persist regarding the presence of counterfeit goods and third-party sellers offering discounted items. The potential partnership between LVMH and TikTok could represent a significant step in bolstering the platform's credibility. Counterfeits on eCommerce platforms can have a negative impact on consumer spending and engagement. When buyers unknowingly purchase counterfeit products, they may feel deceived and lose confidence in the platform's ability to provide authentic goods, leading to decreased loyalty and repeat purchases. Additionally, counterfeit products often fail to meet quality standards, resulting in dissatisfied customers who may share their negative experiences, damaging the platform's reputation and deterring potential buyers. Indeed, consumers prioritize trust when shopping online, according to findings from the PYMNTS Intelligence report "The Online Features Driving Consumers to Shop With Brands, Retailers or Marketplaces," created in collaboration with Adobe. The report, which drew from a survey of more than 3,500 U.S. consumers, revealed that three-quarters of consumers consider trust to be a pivotal factor in their choice of eCommerce merchant. Additionally, research from PYMNTS Intelligence's 2022 story report "Satisfaction In The Age Of eCommerce: How Build Customer Loyalty Trust Helps Online Merchants Build Customer Loyalty," created in collaboration with Riskified, showed that 59% of online retail shoppers who have had unsatisfactory experiences with a given merchant say they are "slightly" or "not at all likely" to trust that merchant.

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The Latest from What'sUpNewp + A look at What's Up this weekend What's Up Interview: Newport Classical's Gillian Friedman Fox on the 2024 Newport Classical Music Festival; City of Newport reminds residents to renew or apply for annual dog licenses; and more What's Up Interview: Newport Classical's Gillian Friedman Fox on the 2024 Newport Classical Music Festival Annual summer festival features 27 concerts at venues around Newport Frosty Freez Thaws for 2024 Season

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Caitlin Clark thrilled by US national team training camp invite. If Iowa isn't in the Final Four Caitlin Clark is thrilled to be invited to participate in USA Basketball training camp at the Final Four. Her focus, though, is purely on getting Iowa to Cleveland for a chance at a national championship. "You always want to grow up and be on the Olympic team, but lucky for me, I have the opportunity of possibly not doing that because I want to be at the Final Four playing basketball with my team," Clark said Friday. "But if not, that's where I'll be. People that are on that roster are people that I idolize and have idolized growing up. Just to be extended a camp invite is something you have to be proud of and celebrate and enjoy." Clark's Hawkeyes play Colorado on Saturday in the Sweet 16. If they win they would play the victor of the LSU-UCLA game for a chance to go to the Final Four next Friday. "My main focus is on this team and helping us find a way to beat Colorado and hopefully win another one after that," she said. The NCAA's Division I all-time scoring leader has earned three gold medals with USA Basketball junior teams, most recently as a member of the 2021 under-19 squad. Clark, the likely No. 1 draft pick in the WNBA Draft on April 15 by the Indiana Fever, has been a ratings boon for college basketball. Nearly 5 million people watched the Hawkeyes second-round game against West Virginia on Saturday. Five-time Olympic champion Diana Taurasi is one of nine former Olympians who will participate in the camp training camp from April 3-5. The others are Ariel Atkins, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Breanna Stewart, A'ja Wilson and Jackie Young. Former WNBA Rookie of the Year winners Aliyah Boston and Rhyne Howard also will participate, along with Sabrina Ionescu and Shakira Austin. The U.S. went 3-0 last month in a FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgium. The Americans beat the host nation 81-79 on a last-second shot by Stewart. They went on to beat Nigeria and Senegal. The Americans have won the gold in every Olympics since the 1996 Atlanta Games. They will face Belgium again in pool play at the Olympics. The Americans also will play Japan in a rematch from the gold-medal game of the Tokyo Olympics, as well as Germany. The U.S. is expected to name its roster later this spring. ___ AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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Jannik Sinner Advances To Miami Open 2024 Final Advertisement Sports World Live Blog, March 30 Welcome to the live blog where we cover all the sporting action from across the globe for March 30, 2024. Cricket action sees Bangladesh take on Sri Lanka in the 2nd Test match. IPL 2024 sees Lucknow Super Giants welcome Punjab Kings in match 11. English Premier League returns with a host of fixtures with the standout being Manchester United against Brentford. In tennis, Miami Open 2024 action continues in men's singles semis. For all the live scores and updates for March 30, 2024, you can get it right here. (Cricket News | Football News)

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May 03, 2019 / 01:00PM GMT Operator Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Safaricom PLC's Full Year 2019 Earnings Release Conference Call. You're welcome to familiarize yourself with the disclaimer, which is available on the investor presentation on the Safaricom website. (Operator Instructions) Please note that this conference is being recorded. I'd like to hand the conference over to the CEO, Mr. Bob Collymore. Please go ahead, sir. Robert William Collymore - Safaricom PLC - MD, CEO & Executive Director Hello, folks. I'm Bob Collymore, CEO of Safaricom. I'm joined by Sylvia, who is the customer -- Chief Customer Officer; Sateesh, who's the Chief Finance Officer; Sylvia and Ilanna who are the Investor Relations team. This morning, we announced our full year results ending March 2019. And we're pleased to see that service revenue growth has been ahead of Kenya's GDP growth, coming in at KES 240 billion, which was 7% growth on the year. I'm pleased with the positive jaws we've seen through the 7% revenue growth and the 13% EBIT growth and EBIT coming in at 35.8 Full Year 2019 Safaricom Plc Earnings Call Transcript Already have an account? Log in Get the full story Access to All Earning Calls and Stock Analysis | | 30-Year Financial on one screen | | All-in-one Stock Screener with unlimited filters | | Customizable Stock Dashboard | | Real Time Insider Trading Transactions | | 8,000+ Institutional investors' 13F holdings | | Powerful Excel Add-in and Google sheets Add-on | | All data downloadable | | Quick customer support | | And much more... | 30-Day 100% money back guarantee You are not charged until the trial ends. Subscription fee may be tax deductible. Excellent 4.6 out of 5 Trustpilot

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To eradicate female infanticide, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa introduced the Cradle Baby Scheme in 1992 The 1965 anti-Hindi agitation was a defining moment in TN's politics Two days after the Emergency was declared, The Indian Express ran a blank editorial on June 28, 1975, to protest against press censorship

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SAN DIEGO — (AP) — A federal judge on Friday sharply questioned the Biden administration's position that it bears no responsibility for housing and feeding migrant children while they wait in makeshift camps along the U.S-Mexico border. The Border Patrol does not dispute the conditions at the camps, where migrants wait under open skies or sometimes in tents or structures made of tree branches while short on food and water. The migrants, who crossed the border illegally, are waiting there for Border Patrol agents to arrest and process them. The question is whether they are in legal custody. That would start a 72-hour limit on how long children can be held and require emergency medical services and guarantees of physical safety, among other things. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee said evidence presented by migrant advocacy groups appeared to support the definition of legal custody. "Are they free to leave?" she asked. "As long as they do not proceed further into the United States," answered Justice Department attorney Fizza Batool. Gee, who was appointed by former Democratic President Bill Clinton, acknowledged it was complicated — "like dancing on the head of a pin" — because some children arrive on their own at the camps and are not sent there by Border Patrol agents. Advocates are seeking to enforce a 1997 court-supervised settlement on custody conditions for migrant children, which includes the time limit and services including toilets, sinks and temperature controls. Gee did not rule after a half-hour hearing in Los Angeles. Children traveling alone must be turned over within 72 hours to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, which generally releases them to family in the United States while an immigration judge considers asylum. Asylum-seeking families are typically released in the U.S. while their cases wind through courts. The legal challenge focuses on two areas in California: one between two border fences in San Diego and another in a remote mountainous region east of San Diego. When the number of migrants was particularly high last year, they waited for several days to be arrested and processed by overwhelmed Border Patrol agents. From May to December, agents distributed colored wristbands to prioritize whom to process first. Advocates say the Border Patrol often directs migrants to the camps, sometimes even driving them there. Agents are often seen nearby keeping a loose watch until buses and vans arrive. The Justice Department, which rejects advocates' label of "open-air detention sites," says smugglers send migrants to camps. It says agents giving them water and snacks is a humanitarian gesture and that any agent who sends, or even escorts, migrants there is "no different than any law enforcement officer directing heightened traffic to avoid disorder and disarray." The Border Patrol generally arrests migrants at the camps within 12 hours of encountering them, down from 24 hours last year, Brent Schwerdtfeger, a senior official in the agency's San Diego sector, said in a court filing. The agency has more than doubled the number of buses in the San Diego area to 15 for speedier processing. On Friday, 33 migrants, including two small children, waited between border walls in San Diego until agents came to ask they empty their pockets, remove shoelaces and submit to weapons searches before being taken in vans to a holding station. They were primarily from China and India, with others from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Agents spoke to them in English. Pedro Rios, a volunteer with American Friends of Service Committee, delivered turkey sandwiches and hot tea and coffee through spaces in the border wall. He gave pain relievers and ointment to a limping Chinese woman who had fallen from the wall. Kedian William, 38, said she left a 10-year-old daughter with family in Jamaica because she couldn't afford the journey, including airfare to Mexico, but that asthma would have made the trip difficult for her child anyway. She planned to apply for asylum and settle with family in New York, having fled her home after her sister-in-law, her sister-in-law's husband their child were killed last year. William said she attempted to reach the camp on Wednesday but fled back into Tijuana to avoid Mexican authorities in pursuit. She tried again a day later, waiting six hours on U.S. soil for agents to pick her up for processing.

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Erika Ryan is a producer for All Things Considered. She joined NPR after spending 4 years at CNN, where she worked for various shows and CNN.com in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. Ryan began her career in journalism as a print reporter covering arts and culture. She's a graduate of the University of South Carolina, and currently lives in Washington, D.C., with her dog, Millie. Linah Mohammad Prior to joining NPR in 2022, Mohammad was a producer on The Washington Post's daily flagship podcast Post Reports, where her work was recognized by multiple awards. She was honored with a Peabody award for her work on an episode on the life of George Floyd.

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Dividend growth stocks often follow predictable patterns of when their next increases will take place. As long as their financials remain strong and there's room for a dividend hike, odds are that a business will increase its payout at around the same time as it did the year before. Based on when they last raised their dividend payments, three stocks that are likely to announce dividend hikes next month include Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG). Let's take a closer look at their track records and whether these are good dividend stocks to buy today. 1. Costco Wholesale Big-box retailer Costco doesn't offer investors the biggest yield at 0.6%, but it makes for an underrated dividend investment. That's because it occasionally surprises investors with a special dividend. Last year, it announced a $15 per share special dividend. That's massive when you consider that on an annual basis its regular dividend pays just $4.08 per share. But the other reason it makes for a good dividend play is that Costco routinely increases its payouts. In April 2023, the company announced a 13% increase to its quarterly dividend, which now pays $1.02 per share. The dividend has more than doubled since the start of 2018 when the stock was paying $0.50 per quarter. Costco's modest 27% payout ratio makes it almost a lock to announce another rate hike in April. Although its yield may seem modest, long-term investors can still generate a lot of income from its dividends as the company has shown that it is not hesitant to reward its shareholders through rate hikes and special dividend payments. Costco isn't a cheap stock, trading at 48 times earnings, but if you're buying and holding for decades, this can still be a great investment to add to your portfolio today. 2. Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson has been increasing its payouts for decades. It's a Dividend King, and it would be big news if the company didn't raise its dividend in April. Continuous dividend hikes are a key reason investors buy and hold the stock as it offers a fairly high yield of 3.1%, and the rate increases mean that investors can collect more dividend income in the future. On April 18, 2023, Johnson & Johnson announced a 5.3% increase to its quarterly dividend. It was the 61st consecutive year that the company raised its payout. Although the stock's payout ratio is near 90% (due to high litigation-related expenses in 2023), another rate hike is likely still coming in April. The healthcare giant projects adjusted operational sales growth of at least 5% in 2024 and adjusted earnings to rise by more than 6%. While a rate hike is probable, this may turn out to be one of the riskier dividend stocks to own, given the ongoing talc litigation and the risks Johnson & Johnson faces on that front. And that's the main reason why although this may seem like an otherwise great stock to own, it may not be worth investing in right now. 3. Procter & Gamble Top consumer company Procter & Gamble, which is known for popular brands such as Pampers, Bounty, and Tide, has also earned a reputation over the years as being a top dividend growth stock. Its impressive streak of dividend increases surpasses even Johnson & Johnson. Last April, the company announced a dividend hike, extending its streak to a 67th consecutive year. The 3% bump to the payout was a modest one, but in a span of five years the dividend has grown by 31%. Procter & Gamble's payout ratio is around 63%, which is where you might expect the ratio to fall for a company that prioritizes dividends but that also has a strong, growing business. At 2.3%, its yield is still higher than the S&P 500 average of 1.4% while giving investors an incentive to also stick around for the expected rate hikes. In the trailing 12 months, the company has generated $14.5 billion in earnings on sales of $83.9 billion for a solid profit margin of 17%. The stock trades at an estimated forward earnings multiple of 23, making Procter & Gamble a reasonably priced option for investors looking for a safe dividend stock to add to their portfolios today. Should you invest $1,000 in Costco Wholesale right now? Before you buy stock in Costco Wholesale, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Costco Wholesale wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. *Stock Advisor returns as of March 25, 2024 David Jagielski has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool recommends Johnson & Johnson. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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As retailers look to meet consumers' digital expectations, PYMNTS Intelligence research reveals, loyalty rewards can go a long way. Research from PYMNTS' study last year "The 2023 Global Digital Shopping Index: U.S. Edition," which drew from a survey of more than 2,800 U.S. consumers, revealed that the ability to use and earn digital rewards is a high priority for many shoppers. Specifically, 6% of consumers cited rewards as the digital shopping feature they demand above all others, and another 35% said they consider rewards to be very or extremely important, but not the most. In addition to meeting consumer demand for perks, loyalty programs also offer retailers a chance to gain vital insight into their shoppers' behaviors. Jennifer Slegers, director of customer relationship management (CRM) at Carhartt, recently told PYMNTS that the brand's rewards-based loyalty program "does allow us to connect what they've bought online and in store so that we can improve their shopper journey." Through this digital integration, she said, the brand has learned, for instance, that its softest products over-index on brick-and-mortar, where consumers can feel the fabric directly. More retailers are finding ways to reward consumers for their loyalty. Yet it is not as simple as just offering rewards. "Consumers have higher expectations of what they're going to get, ultimately, from loyalty programs," Len Covello, chief technology officer of Engage People, told PYMNTS in a conversation last month, noting that merchants are going to need to fine tune or even overhaul their rewards offerings. Consumers want these programs to be simple and straightforward to use. "We heard from some of our members that they found value in our loyalty programs, but that the multiple programs could be hard to manage. So, we've been on a journey to combine what was at one point four different programs into a single program with two tiers," said Zach Dennett, vice president of loyalty, omnichannel and Hispanic formats at CVS Health, in an interview with PYMNTS earlier this year.

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