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baccarat free demo 1 2 3 Ludhiana: A protest by residents of Jain Colony and Bhagya Homes , who blocked the main road, sent the area around Rahon Road into a tizzy at around 8am on Monday. The irate residents were protesting against the demolition of the main gate and boundary wall of their housing complexes, both of which shared a gate and boundary wall. They alleged that this had been done to benefit a realtor developing another colony. IPL 2025 mega auction IPL Auction 2025: Who went where and for how much IPL 2025: Complete list of players of each franchise Fuming over the MC action, they claimed that it had jeopardised at least 800 families of residents. The MC demolition drive allegedly started in the wee hours, when most residents were still asleep. Supported by police personnel, civic body teams started demolishing the main gate and boundary wall with machines, tippers and fire brigade. They were through before residents could make sense of what was going on. When residents came to know, they gathered in large numbers and even gheraoed the machinery brought by MC teams. As they questioned the drive, asserting that the colonies had been developed legally, the MC officials allegedly beat a hasty retreat. Colonisers Manmohan Kumar and Rakesh Kumar said that at least 800 families lived in both colonies. They claimed that for the past over one year, attempts were being made to dismantle the wall to facilitate the colony being developed at the backside. Meanwhile, protesting women said that since they go out to work, leaving their children at home, a walled and gated community was a vital security measure. They rued that with the gates and wall removed, they would not be able to go to work with a free mind and that vehicles would pass through the area freely, further endangering children. Citing safety concerns, residents started constructing the boundary wall demolished by authorities. The Leisure Valley, which had been constructed by LIT, was also damaged in the process. A senior MC official said that the demolition was done to open an alternative route and ease traffic snarls at Rahon Road, Tibba Road and Tajpur Road. He added that if the wall was removed, people would get easy access to Tajpur Road from Tibba Road and further till Chandigarh Road. He denied that the demolition drive had been carried out to help a realtor. According to him, if the colony was part of a government regularisation process and the MC was providing basic amenities, then it had a right on the site under the MC Act. Political blame game starts When news of the drive reached political parties, local leaders turned up at the spot. Former MLA from Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Ranjit Singh Dhillon arrived at the site and condemned the ruling party for the act. Claiming that officials were acting under political pressure, he said that he had never seen MC teams bringing material to construct the road after dismantling the wall to give access to the colony. He demanded a probe into the matter saying that officials were positing different theories to prove that the demolition drive was legal. He also asked CM Bhagwant Mann to take action. Former MLA from Congress and district Congress Committee president Sanjay Talwar asked how MC officials could give access to any private colony from Leisure Valley, which was developed at a cost of Rs 8 crore by Ludhiana Improvement Trust. Meanwhile, MLA from East constituency, Daljit Singh Grewal said, “This step has been taken to come up with an alternate route for public welfare. People waste a lot of time after getting stuck in traffic jams in these areas. We have no concern with any private colony.”Central Regional finished with two title winners and three finalists to take the top spot in the team race of the Rumble in the Pines, hosted by Lakewood. JayAnna Hahn took the 132-pound title with a 9-2 decision win over Clayton’s Sophia Holmdes and Jade Hahn outlasted Gateway’s Shaelie Young for a 1-0 decision win in 185-pound final. Liliana Alicea took the runner-up spot at 165, falling to Ridgewood’s Kamila Castro in the final. 12/29 - 9:30 AM Girls Wrestling Final Becton 36 Lakewood 105 Ridgewood got another first place finish out of Francesca Gusfa, who earned an 11-1 major over Emely Diaz Santos (Morris Hills) in the 100-pound final. Trenton’s Princessstorm Woody (107), Bordentown’s Madison Blumenthal (114), Paramus Catholic’s Abby Naddeo (120), Garfield’s Faustyna Przedworski (126), Ocean City’s Danna Ramirez (138), North Brunswick’s Gabrielle Roberts (145), Clayton’s Alexus Paden (152) and Palmyra’s Samantha Domask (235) also won titles. The N.J. High School Sports newsletter is now appearing in mailboxes 5 days a week. Sign up now! Follow us on social: Facebook | Instagram | X (formerly Twitter)Nvidia logo is seen during Impact'24 congress in Poznan, Poland on May 16, 2024. (Photo by ... [+] Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images) If you’ve never heard of Nvidia Edify and its 3D modeling capability, now is the time to find out. The Nvidia company, widely hailed as the largest of its kind on the American Stock exchange, is well known for its hardware and data center solutions, but professionals there are also putting together some interesting consumer-facing technologies, too. One of those is a neat feature that will create 3D images from two-dimensional inputs or text. You can bring anything to life with Edify, whether it’s a vehicle, a cartoon character, a comfy sofa, or anything else. This platform is being used for gaming, and for virtual reality and augmented reality projects, as well as in various retail applications. The company notably cooperated with Shutterstock using some of that firm’s data to develop the model. Under the Hood Nvidia Edify uses something called ‘quad mesh’ models where 3D objects are made up of quadrilateral or four-sided polygons. This enables natural edge flow for objects, versatility in subdivision modeling, and rigging for animations. The process also synthesizes RGB values and surface contours, using a diffusion model. Another component is built on using ‘physically based rendering materials,’ which refers to a method of defining surfaces in 3D, with lighting conditions under consideration. 60+ Early Black Friday Deals Worth Shopping Right Now 10 Unofficial Hoka Black Friday Sales You Don’t Want To Miss Using attributes like base color, roughness and mapping, the program simulates the impact of natural light on its 3D objects. More from Nvidia Experts point out that Nvidia Edify gets deployed through something called Nvidia NIM or Nvidia Inference Microservices. NIM is officially part of the Nvidia AI enterprise platform, and has various API tools for container orchestration and working with Kubernetes clusters. in addition to NIM, Nvidia AI Enterprise has GPU-accelerated libraries, something called a NGC catalog with tools for deployment, and a ‘base command manager’ that helps to handle workload management and container operations. Enterprise clients also get Nvidia network operator, an AI workflows tool and various infrastructure components. Who’s Using Edify? Going back to the consumer side of things, people are getting interested in putting together 3D objects digitally with Edify. Brands are, too. In addition to all kinds of independent gamers and developers, companies are using Edify to their advantage. When I did some basic research into what’s on the web, I found that there’s some brand alignment for the platform already. “Some huge names are already using Getty’s AI service to explore new creative horizons in marketing,” writes Ivanna Atti at AI Secrets . “Marketing firm WPP and Coca-Cola are collaborating to use Getty Images Generative AI to create custom visuals that meet brand style and guidelines.” Atti also mentions Adobe, which is rumored to be using Edify 3D in Adobe Firefly. There’s more, too, on the Nvidia blog, where spokespersons note that Mattel is also using Edify for helping toy designers to be able to visualize their products. And then there’s this from the Accenture newsroom – “Accenture has collaborated with NVIDIA and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to enhance the client experience for the Defender vehicle line through advanced generative AI and real-time graphics. This initiative involves Accenture Song utilizing NVIDIA's Omniverse platform to create high-fidelity digital twins of Defender vehicles from computer-aided design data.” When I looked into this, it turns out the Defender is a vehicle model produced by Jaguar Land Rover, a brand that was typically manufactured in Britain. The Defender was first built in 1948, and officially named in 1990. Now the marketing company is building high-resolution, digital twins of these vehicles in order to show them off to the world. That gives you sort of a flavor of what people are doing with this brand new technology. First, we had stable diffusion and image creation tools in early Generative AI. Now we have 3D capability, and more firepower to create the Metaverse and VR/AR environments of the future.Adams has 19 as CSU Northridge defeats Denver 89-60

Donald Trump on Sunday attacked someone he said he considers a "friend," calling out former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for what the president-elect says is "one of the dumbest political decisions made in years." McCarthy was booted from his position heading the House Republicans after former GOP lawmaker Matt Gaetz and others voted for his removal. After an extended process of votes for a new Speaker, the Republicans ultimately selected Mike Johnson , who was relatively unknown at the time. On Sunday, Trump weighed in on a move by McCarthy when McCarthy was still in power. ALSO READ: Poor Trump supporters are about to get a rude awakening — but we shouldn't be celebrating "The extension of the Debt Ceiling by a previous Speaker of the House, a good man and a friend of mine, from this past September of the Biden Administration, to June of the Trump Administration, will go down as one of the dumbest political decisions made in years," Trump said. "There was no reason to do it - NOTHING WAS GAINED, and we got nothing for it - A major reason why that Speakership was lost." Trump then added, "It was Biden’s problem, not ours." "Now it becomes ours. I call it '1929' because the Democrats don’t care what our Country may be forced into. In fact, they would prefer 'Depression' as long as it hurt the Republican Party," he said next. "The Democrats must be forced to take a vote on this treacherous issue NOW, during the Biden Administration, and not in June. They should be blamed for this potential disaster, not the Republicans!"

Wind Power Balsa Wood Market Analysis By Top Keyplayers - 3A Composites Group, DIAB, Gurit, Maricell, CoreLite, Auszac, The Gill Corporation, Carbon-Core Corporation, Evonik, Nord Compensati, Shanghai Yue Ke new materialThe software company behind Starbucks' payment and scheduling system has been experiencing a dayslong ransomware attack, causing outages that are disrupting employee pay. The attack on Blue Yonder, the company that makes the software, began on November 21 and has caused outages in Starbucks's system for tracking employee hours and payments. According to documents reviewed by Business Insider, Starbucks has issued guidance to its employees about how to handle pay disruptions caused by the Blue Yonder outage. Starbucks told its employees that payment for the period ending on November 17 would be unaffected, but there may be discrepancies in the following pay period. "We will ensure partners who receive less than their worked hours or intended sick and/or vacation time will be paid correctly, as soon as possible," the internal documents read. The outage has forced employees to track their shifts using pens and paper, according to Bloomberg. The documents viewed by BI indicate that employees who are missing pay from their checks should notify their store managers as soon as possible. Any underpayment will be resolved in the next pay period. Any payment overages resulting from an employee being paid for a scheduled shift from November 18 through November 24 that they did not report to work for will not be required to be paid back, the documents say. A Starbucks partner in the South said their manager told them on Monday that employees who had paid time off planned for the affected weeks won't be paid for that time until the outage has been fixed. That's "potentially very bad for some partners taking vacation around the holidays," the partner told Business Insider. A spokesperson for Starbucks told Business Insider that the company is working to ensure its partners are paid for their hours worked with limited disruption, and indicated the outage has not disrupted customer-facing technology or service in any of its locations. Blue Yonder's software is also used by major grocery store chains and Fortune 500 firms, reported. Similar cyber attacks have previously left companies like and across America using pen and paper for administrative tasks and sales transactions. "Blue Yonder experienced disruptions to its managed services hosted environment, which was determined to be the result of a ransomware incident," a spokesperson for the company told Business Insider in a statement. "Since learning of the incident, the Blue Yonder team has been working diligently together with external cybersecurity firms to make progress in their recovery process. We have implemented several defensive and forensic protocols." The software company does not currently have a timeline for resolution of the issue, according to a the company has published for customers impacted by the attack. Read the original article on

One thing nearly all former presidents have in common is a love of sports. For Donald Trump, the game was golf. For Barack Obama, the sport was basketball. President George W. Bush owned Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers. For Jimmy Carter, the sport was tennis. At the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park is a clay tennis court. The tennis court was installed during Carter’s childhood on the family farm. The farm and his childhood home later became the location for the park in Plains, Georgia. In his 1975 book “Why Not the Best?” Carter described how he would play against his father as a teenager. “My father ... was an excellent tennis player,” Carter wrote. “I could never beat my father. He had a wicked sliced ball which barely bounded at all on the relatively soft dirt court.” RELATED STORY | Former President Jimmy Carter dies at age 100 Carter was able to upgrade his court when he entered the White House in 1977. The complex had a court installed during President Theodore Roosevelt’s tenure. But during his time in the White House, the use of the tennis courts became political fodder. Staffer James Fallows wrote in The Atlantic that Carter would personally sign off on when the White House tennis court could be used, and by which staffers. “The in-house tennis enthusiasts, of whom I was perhaps the most shameless, dispatched brief notes through his secretary asking to use the court on Tuesday afternoons while he was at a congressional briefing, or a Saturday morning, while he was away,” Fallows wrote. “I always provided spaces where he could check Yes or No; Carter would make his decision and send the note back, initialed J.” Carter was asked by Bill Moyers about whether he personally signed off on the tennis court’s use. Carter told Moyers he delegated the task to a secretary. Carter’s love of tennis came home to Plains in 1977 during his first year in the White House. World Team Tennis staged a match in the small Georgia town, which was attended by Carter’s mother Lillian. The competition was between a team of Soviet Union stars against top Americans playing on the Phoenix Racquets.Jimmy Carter Children: All About John, James, Donnel And Amy Carter

Indiana edges Winthrop despite horrid 3-point shootingJust as they did in 2024, Democrats lost the White House and both chambers of Congress in 2016. But they made historic gains in the first midterm election after Donald Trump's first victory. One member of Congress who was part of that midterm class is offering words of wisdom for the Democratic Party if they hope to repeat the successes of 2018. In a post to Bluesky , Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), also known by her initials "AOC," noted that her party "elected the largest class to Congress since Watergate" in the 2018 midterms. CNN reported that when the dust settled Democrats had a net gain of 40 seats . The only two larger midterm victories were the Tea Party-fueled 2010 midterms and the 1994 Republican wave during former President Bill Clinton's administration. AOC argued that a major part of that victory was "backlash" to Trump's presidency. But she emphasized that anti-Trump sentiment wasn't the entire story. "[T]he winners also had another thing in common, despite a wide range of differences: most rejected corporate PAC money," she weote. "It’s a hugely compelling factor to voters & underdiscussed." A 2018 article from Open secrets expands on Ocasio-Cortez's point. The article acknowledged that even though many Democrats were running in expensive and competitive races, they still managed to prevail over their Republican opponents despite losing the money race. ALSO READ: Multiple Republicans reveal plan to boot Mike Johnson as speaker "Fifty-two members of the 116th Congress — including 50 Democrats and 35 new members — pledged to reject money from corporate PACs before, during or soon after the 2018 election cycle," Opensecrets' Karl Evers-Hillstrom wrote. "Of the Democrat-dominated list, 32 members received little-to-no money — less than $10,000 each — from business-related PACs during the 2018 election cycle, according to new data from the Center for Responsive Politics." In a response to her initial skeet [the term used for Bluesky posts], AOC theorized that the reason the success of Democrats who rejected corporate PAC money isn't often discussed is because of the pervasive influence corporate money has on the American political system. "[L]ots of money and influence relies on pressuring electeds into taking corporate money and rejecting/reversing these no-lobbyist [money] pledges," she wrote. "I know members who went back on their promise and later lost seats to GOP. Voters want [people] who stand up to corruption." "It is hard to counter this combo of cynicism and lying without bonafide candidates who can throw a punch," she continued ., acknowledging that far-right conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. managed to tap into a groundswell of anger at the pharmaceutical lobby. "If we want to beat a right wing that weaponizes (justified!) public anger at Big Pharma to destroy the social safety net + spread conspiracies, we can’t run Dems who take money from Big Pharma." Click here to read AOC's thread in its entirety. President-elect Donald Trump’s signature economic plan of raising tariffs on imported goods could cause more harm to the economy than good, and offer a pathway toward a corrupt second administration , a columnist wrote Wednesday. Trump has long considered increased tariffs on certain foreign countries a “brilliant” strategy, but the reality is they could lead to disastrous effects and showcase how his first administration “could pale in comparison to his second” in terms of corruption, Paul Waldman wrote for MSNBC . “Trump believes that tariffs can do almost anything — force other countries to their knees, bring prosperity to the nation, even restore your sense of manly virility,” Waldman wrote. “Best of all, they can provide an avenue for him to reward those who please him, hurt those who fail to bend the knee, and maybe even use his office to make a few more bucks.” ALSO READ: Merrick Garland and his 'Justice' Department should never be forgiven The columnist built his case in his Friday opinion piece by offering readers as an example the “uneven rollout of tariffs” in Trump’s first term when the administration became “besieged by lobbyists, who filed thousands of requests for special exemptions and carve-outs to allow their clients to import goods and parts without paying the tariffs.” Waldman said Trump’s new proposal on tariffs, which promises to be more comprehensive than what he’s seen through in the past, “is a preview of the corruption to come.” “In a second term, Trump won’t just be doling out favors; he’ll also deliver punishments,” Waldman wrote. He concluded by reminding readers that the public is familiar with how personal Trump's views are toward companies and their CEOs, with the “determining factor” being “whether they treat him like the king he imagines himself to be.” “Firms looking at this history might reasonably decide that making good products isn’t enough to succeed; they also must win the goodwill of a petty and mercurial president, just as companies do in dictatorships around the world,” he wrote. Washington, D.C., residents are already concerned about Donald Trump coming after their city he's called a "filthy and crime-ridden embarrassment to our nation." Some are striking back, The Washington Post reported. Trump will host his inauguration outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, followed by a parade and several balls and events throughout the city. City residents have suggested blacking out rentals, leaving only expensive hotels and places in Virginia or Maryland. ALSO READ: The America-attacking Trump is coming for our military — and then he's coming for us Resident Stacy Kane began the movement along with friends, speaking to community groups and city council members. The goal is “to show Trump supporters who are coming into the DMV that we do not welcome hate, misogyny, or intentions to take over DC.” In 2020 , Trump's supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol and planted bombs at the Republican and Democratic Party headquarters. Both locations are nested in Capitol Hill neighborhoods. Jan. 6 endangered residents , terrorizing families and those who work in the area. Inaugurations are typically joyous events with "much-needed January boost[s] for the District’s hospitality businesses at an otherwise slow period as crowds flock to the nation’s capital." But people who scared Washingtonians four years ago are returning along with a "president who has made more threats to D.C.’s autonomy than any other chief executive in modern history," the Post noted. “We have been discussing and planning for many months in the case that the district has to defend itself and its values,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters at a news conference after Trump was declared the winner. Kane wanted to “try to make any kind of difference that we can in the situation we find ourselves in as D.C. residents and just as human beings right now,” she told the Post. She has a day job but also operates a two-bedroom rental apartment in her home less than four miles from the Capitol. When Trump was inaugurated in 2017, the women's march against him resulted in a 94% occupancy rate, the Post cited Destination DC . “With a Harris win, the historic perspective would have brought in a huge number of people to the city,” said the group's CEO, Elliott Ferguson. He explained that first-term inaugurations generate more interest than repeats. As for Trump's second, "We’ll have to see," he said. While he expects some protest, Ferguson said that most won't be willing to give up the revenue. The destruction of Jan 6. cost $2.7 billion, according to a 2023 Government Accountability Office report . Read the full report here. Donald Trump is reportedly planning to go after the career prosecutors who worked under special counsel Jack Smith in the two federal cases against him — which legal experts have called a gross violation of precedent . But at least one Republican senator is laying the groundwork to cheerlead Trump's move, according to MSNBC's Steve Benen. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) said on last weekend's "Meet the Press," that "First and foremost, the people involved with this should be fired immediately," and that those prosecutors investigated Trump "because they didn’t like his politics," noted Benen. Schmitt did not provide evidence for his statement. This is somewhat in line with what Trump's team has pushed, Benen wrote, with his incoming press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying, “President Trump campaigned on firing rogue bureaucrats who have engaged in the illegal weaponization of our American justice system, and the American people can expect he will deliver on that promise. One of the many reasons that President Trump won the election in a landslide is Americans are sick and tired of seeing their tax dollars spent on targeting the Biden-Harris Administration’s political enemies rather than going after real violent criminals in our streets.” ALSO READ: Merrick Garland and his 'Justice' Department should never be forgiven Everything in this statement is wrong, Benen continued. "Members of the special counsel’s team aren’t 'rogue bureaucrats'; they’re law enforcement professionals who pursued highly credible criminal cases based on voluminous evidence. Meanwhile, there’s literally no evidence of 'illegal weaponization of our American justice system' — at least not from the last four years ." Additionally, Trump's win wasn't a "landslide" — just a narrow plurality — and crime has fallen under the Biden administration. Schmitt's endorsement of the plan, however, is a sign that Republicans in Congress aren't likely to be a check on how Trump interferes with the Justice Department, Benen concluded. Indeed, he wrote, Schmitt's language shows he "sees law enforcement as the bad guys in this story, and the defendant as the victim." "Keep this in mind if/when the incoming president starts targeting Smith’s colleagues early next year," he said.

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Earlier this month, the American people provided a clear referendum on the policies and governance of the Biden administration. While the election result may have surprised political pundits and the media, for many state regulators with experience dealing with the administration’s gross ineptitude, it came as no real surprise. While there are plenty of examples, perhaps none encapsulates the abject failure of leadership more than the Department of the Interior’s management of grant funding for orphan wells, which was included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. When signed into law, the orphan well grant provisions enjoyed broad bipartisan support. The well-intentioned grant program was designed to supplement state efforts and reduce the growing backlog of orphan wells. If it were only so simple. Things looked promising initially. Many states, including Texas, were able to access and quickly deploy the initial tranche of funding that was available after the legislation was signed into law. Texas plugged 762 wells utilizing $25 million in initial grant funding, in addition to the over 1,000 wells plugged annually with state resources. Unfortunately, that initial success was short-lived, as the Interior Department piled a litany of added requirements and reviews through the newly created Orphaned Wells Program Office. The subsequent formula grant has not led to similar success due to added terms, conditions and requirements that substantially increase costs and significantly delay completing each plugging. Methane monitoring raises plugging costs by more than 10% on average. Compliance with the Endangered Species Act and the National Historic Preservation Act delays plugging approval by a minimum of 30 days and necessitates the hiring of biologists, archaeologists and “cultural monitors,” further increasing plugging costs. For Texas, these delays have resulted in approximately 50% fewer plugged wells in the first eight months of the formula grant despite having three times as much grant funding available. As of this writing, Texas has not received approval for a single plugging project since Aug. 9, more than 100 days ago. Delays have real-world consequences. Earlier this year, it was discovered that the site of a soon-to-be-constructed manufacturing facility, which is to bring 1,500 new manufacturing jobs to San Antonio, contained two unknown orphan wells. Despite the site having already undergone an extensive archaeological survey required by the city and findings by the Texas Historical Commission in August that no historic properties would be affected, the Interior Department continued to delay. By Nov. 6, these delays had become untenable and risked delaying the construction schedule, requiring the state to step in and complete the plugging. It is worth remarking that the 310 wells plugged by Texas under this formula grant serve as a bright spot for the program, accounting for all but two of the wells plugged nationwide using formula grants through the end of the fiscal year. Unsurprisingly, this fact was excluded from the Interior Department’s annual report to Congress published earlier this week. Clearly, this program is ripe for reform. I am confident that President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the interior, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, will make the necessary changes to pull this program back from the brink of failure and give states the autonomy and flexibility originally intended by Congress. Mr. Burgum can start by immediately calling for a review of the Interior Department solicitor’s interpretation of implementation requirements to ensure compliance with the law and congressional intent, revise existing guidance and grant awards to follow the Initial grant precedent and look to the Department of Energy’s implementation of the marginal well-plugging program. He should move next to eliminate the new Orphaned Wells Program Office created by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and return program administration to the department’s Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance or enter into an agreement with the Department of Energy to transfer management of these state grants. This action would align with the incoming Trump administration’s focus on government efficiency while placing oversight of grant funding with an office with proven experience in these matters. Finally, Mr. Burgum should direct staff to adhere to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s initial intention of plugging as many wells as possible by allowing states to utilize voluntary carbon markets to offset plugging costs. This would allow states to stretch taxpayer dollars further to plug more wells. These decisive actions will not only significantly reduce our nation’s orphan well population but also demonstrate to the American people what reasonable, commonsense governance regarding our nation’s energy and environmental policies can look like. Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. . Click to Read More and View Comments Click to HideOnline auction of confiscated booze features hard-to-find bottles of Kentucky bourbonsOur community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info NBA superstar LeBron James is taking a break from social media over "hate and negativity" spread online. James, the NBA's oldest active player – he turns 40 next month – is a four-time NBA champion and a three-time Olympic gold medallist, the most recent of those coming earlier this year at the Paris Games. But despite his success, the criticism from the media has sparked a backlash. The league's all-time leading scorer and Los Angeles Lakers forward posted the announcement on X and Instagram...

Author sheds light on James Dean’s secret life in new book(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Anna Nisi , University of Washington (THE CONVERSATION) Imagine you are a blue whale swimming up the California coast, as you do every spring. You are searching for krill in the Santa Barbara Channel , a zone that teems with fish, kelp forests, seagrass beds and other undersea life, but also vibrates with noise from ship traffic . Suddenly, the noise gets louder. You start to make a slow, shallow dive, but without much urgency – after all, your species evolved over millions of years without this mysterious noise, so why would you know what to do when you hear it? A minute later, you are fatally struck by a container ship. Your body slowly sinks to the bottom of the ocean, where it will nourish deep-sea creatures for decades but will never be seen by humans again. Indeed, your death goes unnoticed ; the vessel barely registers the impact of hitting a member of the largest animal species on Earth. Collisions with ships are a critical threat to many large whale species. While these events are difficult to study, scientists estimate that thousands of whales are killed by ships yearly . In some regions, whales die from vessel strikes at rates that exceed what is considered sustainable after decades of whaling. Collisions with vessels threaten some critically endangered species . Research and experience show that simple measures can reduce these collisions – for example, rerouting shipping lanes to avoid important areas for whales, or reducing vessel speeds. But to implement these interventions, scientists and policymakers need to know where whales are most at risk. Mapping risk to whales In a newly published study in Science, colleagues and I mapped global ship-strike risk for four species of Earth’s largest whales: blue, fin, humpback and sperm. Within each species’ range, we found that vessels traveled the equivalent of thousands of times the distance to the moon and back every year. Our maps reveal widespread risk of vessel collisions in areas including the U.S. West Coast, the Mediterranean Sea and the northern Indian Ocean. These zones already have documented high levels of ship strikes . We also found many other regions with similar levels of risk that are less studied and recognized. They include several stretches along the coastlines of South America and southern Africa, and the area around the Azores off the coast of Portugal. Most high-risk areas are unprotected Whales are largely unprotected from vessel collisions around the world. We identified collision-risk hot spots – areas in the top 1% of predicted risk globally that represent the riskiest places for each species. We found that fewer than 7% of collision-risk hot spots had put measures in place to reduce collisions, such as limiting vessel speeds or requiring ships to avoid certain areas. Exceptions include the west and east coasts of North America, as well as the Mediterranean, which have higher levels of ship-strike management. Where such measures exist, they often are voluntary. Mandatory restrictions on speed cover just 0.54% of collision-risk hot spots for blue whales, 0.27% for humpback whales and none of the hot spots for fin or sperm whales. For each species, we found that ship-strike risk was higher within exclusive economic zones – areas up to 200 nautical miles from coastlines, in which each country has exclusive jurisdiction over marine resources – than on the high seas. This can make it easier to implement conservation and management measures in these areas. Within exclusive economic zones, individual countries can either adopt voluntary vessel measures or propose mandatory changes through the International Maritime Organization , which regulates international shipping. There is a lot of opportunity for countries to protect whales in their national waters. However, since political boundaries mean nothing to whales, the most effective approach would be for neighboring countries to coordinate efforts to reduce ship-strike risk across whale migratory routes . We also found high levels of ship-strike risk within existing marine protected areas – zones where countries have adopted various measures to conserve and manage sea life. Most of these marine protected areas were created to protect sea life from fishing, but very few place any restrictions or regulations on shipping. When marine protected areas contain high levels of ship-strike risk, governments could add such measures to the protected areas’ missions. Benefits of protecting whales Protecting whales from ships would benefit other species too. Vessels can strike many marine species , including seals, sea turtles, sharks, fish, penguins and dolphins. Marine shipping is the top source of underwater noise , which is a major threat to marine life . Underwater noise can disrupt feeding, interfere with communication and cause stress for many species. Vessels run more quietly at slower speeds, so speed-reduction measures can reduce noise pollution as well as collision risk. Humans can also benefit from slowing down and rerouting ships. When vessels travel more slowly, their fuel efficiency increases, reducing their greenhouse gas emissions . The marine shipping industry currently produces carbon emissions comparable to those from aviation . Slowing vessels down also reduces emissions of harmful air pollutants that threaten human health in coastal areas and are estimated to contribute to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths annually. In 2023, for example, vessels cooperating with a voluntary slowdown in California cut 45,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions and 1,250 metric tons of nitrogen oxides, and they reduced the risk to whales by more than half. Changing vessel routes can make waters safer for local fishermen. In Sri Lanka, for example, heavy ship traffic hugs the coast, overlapping with local fishermen as well as with foraging blue whales. Collisions with cargo ships have killed several fishermen there in recent years. In response, some shipping companies are voluntarily shifting their lanes farther offshore to reduce the risk of colliding with humans and whales. In our interconnected world, 90% of consumer goods travel by ship before they get to market. Most items that consumers in wealthy nations purchase in their daily lives have traveled across the ocean at some point. Our study shows that ship-strike risk is widespread – but in our view, protecting whales from these collisions is a solvable issue. And by protecting whales, humans can also protect themselves. This article has been updated to add a video showing areas of the ocean that are used by whales, mapped in combination with global ship traffic. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/new-maps-show-high-risk-zones-for-whale-ship-collisions-vessel-speed-limits-and-rerouting-can-reduce-the-toll-242267 .

Fire Country Season 3: Here’s Episode 7 release date, plot and upcoming episode scheduleThanksgiving Weekend Sports Guide: Your roadmap to NFL matchups, other games, times, oddsThe Tampa Bay Rays have had six of their 2025 regular-season games shifted to the early season due to weather issues from playing outside, Major League Baseball announced Monday. The Rays' usual home, domed Tropicana Field, was damaged by Hurricane Milton last month with almost all of its roof shredded and no possibility of playing there next year. As a result, the Rays moved their 2025 home games from St. Petersburg to the New York Yankees training complex at nearby Tampa, which has an 11,000-seat outdoor stadium. An April series scheduled against the Los Angeles Angels that had been set for California will instead be played April 8-10 in Florida. A series between the two which had been set for August in Florida will now be hosted by the Angels on August 4-6. A Rays series against the Minnesota Twins planned in Minneapolis from May 26-28 will instead be played on the same dates in Tampa while a series that had been set for Tampa on July 4-6 will now be played in Minnesota. Florida summers can bring extreme heat and rain. js/bspThe Tampa Bay Rays have had six of their 2025 regular-season games shifted to the early season due to weather issues from playing outside, Major League Baseball announced Monday. The Rays' usual home, domed Tropicana Field, was damaged by Hurricane Milton last month with almost all of its roof shredded and no possibility of playing there next year.

Sir Keir Starmer has led a host of tributes to former US president Jimmy Carter, saying he “redefined the post-presidency with a remarkable commitment to social justice and human rights at home and abroad”. The Prime Minister said Mr Carter, who died aged 100, will be remembered for the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, as well as his “decades of selfless public service”. He added that it was the Democrat’s “lifelong dedication to peace” that led to him receiving the Nobel Peace prize in 2002. Sir Keir was joined in paying tribute to the 39th president by other leaders including the King, current President Joe Biden, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey and former PM Tony Blair. The King remembered former US president Jimmy Carter’s 1977 visit to the UK with “great fondness” and praised his “dedication and humility”. In a message to Mr Biden and the American people, Charles said: “It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of President Carter. “He was a committed public servant, and devoted his life to promoting peace and human rights. “His dedication and humility served as an inspiration to many, and I remember with great fondness his visit to the United Kingdom in 1977. “My thoughts and prayers are with President Carter’s family and the American people at this time.” Mr Biden said that Mr Carter was an “extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian”. He said his fellow Democrat was a “dear friend”, as he announced that he will order a state funeral to be held for him in Washington DC. “Today, America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian,” he said. “Over six decades, we had the honour of calling Jimmy Carter a dear friend. But, what’s extraordinary about Jimmy Carter though is that millions of people throughout America and the world who never met him thought of him as a dear friend as well. “With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among us. He saved, lifted and changed the lives of people all across the globe. “He was a man of great character and courage, hope and optimism.” Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said Mr Carter “will be remembered for generations”. “Jimmy Carter was an inspiration,” Mr Davey wrote on X. “He led a truly remarkable life dedicated to public service with a genuine care for people. “My thoughts are with his family, friends and all those who loved him. He will be remembered for generations.” Mr Blair said: “Jimmy Carter’s life was a testament to public service; from his time in office, and the Camp David Accords, to his remarkable commitment to the cause of people and peace round the world over the past 40 years,” he said. “I always had the greatest respect for him, his spirit and his dedication. He fundamentally cared and consistently toiled to help those in need.”

Australian Senate begins debate on world-first social media ban for children under 16