Passengers on Surat-Bangkok flight finish entire stock of liquor, snacks, drink 15 litre alcohol worth Rs...WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump offered a public show of support Friday for Pete Hegseth, his embattled choice to lead the Defense Department, whose confirmation by the Senate is in doubt as he faces questions over allegations of excessive drinking, sexual assault and his views on women in combat roles. Hegseth, a former Fox News Host, Army National Guard major and combat veteran, spent much of the week on Capitol Hill trying to salvage his Cabinet nomination and privately reassure Republican senators that he is fit to lead Trump’s Pentagon. “Pete Hegseth is doing very well,” Trump posted on his social media site. “He will be a fantastic, high energy, Secretary of Defense.” The president added that “Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!” The nomination battle over Hegseth is emerging not only as a debate about the best person to lead the Pentagon, but an inflection point for a MAGA movement that appears to relish a public fight over its hard-line push for a more masculine military and an end to the “woke-ism” of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Get it before it's gone: LG's B4 OLED drops to $599.99 in unbelievable Black Friday deal
General Hospital fans slam Kristina as 'cruel and vindictive' in this encounter with her sister Molly
CHANGCHUN , Chine , 14 décembre 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Lors de la 22e édition d'Auto Guangzhou 2024, HONGQI, la marque automobile du « nouveau luxe mondial », a fièrement dévoilé sa dernière création, la Guoya. Avec un design qui allie tradition et modernité, un savoir-faire méticuleux et de puissantes performances, la Guoya a suscité des discussions animées parmi les participants à l'événement. La HONGQI Guoya mesure 5,32 mètres de long, avec un empattement de 3,26 mètres, ce qui lui confère une présence imposante sur la route et un intérieur spacieux. Le bouclier avant se caractérise par une calandre verticale flanquée de minces phares à LED, créant un look à la fois moderne et reconnaissable. Le profil latéral épuré met l'accent sur l'aérodynamisme, ce qui contribue à améliorer l'efficacité et la stabilité à des vitesses plus élevées. À l'arrière, les feux arrière horizontaux dotés de bandes LED offrent un design homogène et contemporain. Cette combinaison de proportions réfléchies et de détails fonctionnels garantit que la Guoya est à la fois visuellement frappante et conçue dans un but précis. À l'intérieur, la Guoya privilégie le confort des passagers et la praticité. Des matériaux de haute qualité, y compris des surfaces douces au toucher et du cuir de première qualité, sont associés à un agencement bien pensé pour créer un espace accueillant et fonctionnel. Les sièges réglables et le système d'éclairage d'ambiance modulable ajoutent une touche de personnalisation, tandis que l'habitacle spacieux assure le confort de tous les passagers pendant les longs trajets. La Guoya intègre des technologies de conduite intelligente de pointe, offrant un mélange harmonieux de sécurité, de performance et de plaisir de conduire. Son système avancé de transmission intégrale assure une traction et une tenue de route optimales dans toutes les conditions. De son côté, l'AR-HUD (Augmented Reality Heads-Up Display) projette des données de conduite en temps réel sur le pare-brise, améliorant à la fois la sécurité et la navigation intuitive. Ces innovations, associées à d'autres caractéristiques de pointe, élèvent l'expérience de conduite de la Guoya à des niveaux inégalés de sophistication et de commodité. Sous le capot, la Guoya est propulsée par le groupe motopropulseur V6TD/V8TD + HEV le plus puissant de sa catégorie et par un système intelligent à quatre roues motrices, offrant des performances exaltantes et un contrôle de la conduite sans effort. Sa transmission automatique à 8 rapports renforce la dynamique de conduite, tandis que les dispositifs de sécurité avancés, notamment les neuf airbags et l'aide à la conduite intelligente, donnent la priorité à la sécurité de tous les occupants. La Guoya, qui a fait ses débuts au Festival de vitesse de Goodwood et au Mondial de l'automobile de Paris 2024, a déjà attiré l'attention des médias du monde entier. Chef-d'œuvre d'artisanat, elle souligne la force de HONGQI dans la conception et la production de véhicules de luxe. En ce qui concerne l'avenir, la marque HONGQI s'apprête à présenter ses modèles phares dans un plus grand nombre de salons automobiles internationaux, ce qui accélérera l'expansion de sa présence sur les marchés étrangers et permettra au public mondial de découvrir le luxe avant-gardiste de l'innovation automobile chinoise. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2580740/image_5028817_38742528.jpgNick Fuentes facing battery charge after ‘your body, my choice' confrontation at his Illinois home
Churchill Resources Closing of First Tranche of $2M Private Placement
Vikings waive former starting cornerback Akayleb Evans in another blow to 2022 draft classExpert-level meetings for the seventh session of the Egyptian-Uzbek Joint Committee for Economic, Scientific, and Technical Cooperation began on Sunday in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital. The meetings are in preparation for a ministerial committee meeting later this week. Rania Al-Mashat, the Egyptian Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, and Laziz Kudratov, the Uzbek Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade, will co-chair the upcoming ministerial meeting. The joint committee, which is meeting for the first time since 2009, aims to strengthen relations between Egypt and Uzbekistan. This session demonstrates Egypt’s commitment to fostering relationships with allied nations across various sectors. The meeting reflects the keen interest of both countries’ leaderships to bolster bilateral ties, particularly following Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s visit to Uzbekistan in September 2018. This highlights Egypt’s increasing focus on Central Asia, with Uzbekistan as a central partner. The expert meetings will cover areas of mutual interest, with Egypt aiming to enhance bilateral relations across the board. A key objective is to promote and develop economic ties in all sectors, remove barriers to growth, and increase inter-investment. Al-Mashat stated that the joint committee intends to strengthen economic relations, to meet the aspirations of both countries and to foster cultural and scientific ties. She emphasized Egypt’s use of joint committees with other nations to establish clear frameworks for bilateral cooperation and achieve mutual interests at all levels. The Egyptian delegation to the expert meetings includes representatives from the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones. Representatives from major Egyptian pharmaceutical companies, such as “ACDIMA,” are also participating. The Uzbek delegation includes representatives from the Ministries of Investment, Industry, Trade, Culture, Transport, Energy, Higher Education, Tourism, and the Pharmaceutical Industries. The agenda for the seventh session includes the Egyptian-Uzbek Business Forum, which will see the participation of businesspeople from both countries. The forum aims to discuss ways to increase economic cooperation, with a focus on the role of the private sector. It will also address opportunities for investment in sectors in both countries, including pharmaceuticals, construction, food industries, tourism, technology, and logistics services. The Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation is leading the expert meetings. The ministry oversees 54 joint committees between Egypt and other countries, including 30 with European nations. These committees are vital to the Egyptian government’s programme to enhance economic relations with its partners. These committees serve as important mechanisms to strengthen Egypt’s economic ties at both the bilateral and multilateral levels.
The gunman who stalked and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fled New York City by bus, police officials told CNN on Friday. Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of the shooting Wednesday showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. Here's the latest: The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer may have fled the city on a bus, New York City police officials told CNN on Friday. Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of the shooting Wednesday showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. “We have reason to believe that the person in question has left New York City,” Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer made sure to wear a mask during the shooting yet left a trail of evidence in view of the nation’s biggest city and its network of security cameras that have aided authorities piecing together his movements and his identity. A law enforcement official said Friday that new surveillance footage shows the suspect riding the subway and visiting establishments in Manhattan and provided more clues about his actions in the days before he ambushed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson . The gunman’s whereabouts and identity remain unknown Friday, as did the reason for Wednesday’s killing. New York City police say evidence firmly points to it being a targeted attack . ▶ Read more about the search for the gunman In many companies, investor meetings like the one UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was walking to when he was fatally shot are viewed as very risky because details on the location and who will be speaking are highly publicized. “It gives people an opportunity to arrive well in advance and take a look at the room, take a look at how people would probably come and go out of a location,” said Dave Komendat, president of DSKomendat Risk Management Services, which is based in the greater Seattle area. Some firms respond by beefing up security. For example, tech companies routinely require everyone attending a major event, such as Apple’s annual unveiling of the next iPhone or a shareholder meeting, to go through airport-style security checkpoints before entering. Others forgo in-person meetings with shareholders. ▶ Read more about how companies protect their leaders Those images include New York’s subway system, a law enforcement official said. In establishments where the person was captured on camera, he always appeared to pay with cash, the official said. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. — Mike Balsamo Medica, a Minnesota-based nonprofit health care firm that serves 1.5 million customers in 12 states, said it’s temporarily closing all six locations. The firm has offices in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and North Dakota, and employs about 3,000 people. Employees will work from home, Medica spokesman Greg Bury said in an email Friday. “The safety of Medica employees is our top priority and we have increased security both for all of our employees,” a statement from Medica said. “Although we have received no specific threats related to our campuses, our office buildings will be temporarily closed out of an abundance of caution.” Bury also said biographical information on the company’s executives was taken down from its website as a precaution. The insurer cited the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in its announcement about the Dec. 12 event. “All of us at Centene are deeply saddened by Brian Thompson’s death and want to express our support for all of those affected. Health insurance is a big industry and a small community; many members of the CenTeam crossed paths with Brian during their careers,” Centene CEO Sarah M. London said in a news release. “He was a person with a deep sense of empathy and clear passion for improving access to care. Our hearts are with his family and his colleagues during this difficult time.” Centene Corp. has grown in recent years to become the largest insurer in Medicaid, the state- and federally funded program that covers care for people with low incomes. Insurers manage Medicaid coverage for states, and Centene has more than 13 million people enrolled in that coverage. The insurance company also said it’s focused on ensuring the safety of employees and assisting investigators. “While our hearts are broken, we have been touched by the huge outpouring of kindness and support in the hours since this horrific crime took place,” the company said. But he said Friday that he’s confident police will arrest the shooter. “We are on the right road to apprehend him and bring him to justice,” Adams said on TV station WPIX. Later, it removed their names and biographies entirely. Police and federal agents have been collecting information from Greyhound in an attempt to identify the suspect and are working to determine whether he purchased the ticket to New York in late November, a law enforcement official said. Investigators were also trying to obtain additional information from a cellphone recovered from a pedestrian plaza through which the shooter fled. The fatal shooting of Brian Thompson while walking alone on a New York City sidewalk has put a spotlight on the widely varied approaches companies take to protect their leaders against threats. Experts say today’s political, economic and technological climate is only going to make the job of evaluating threats against executives and taking action to protect them even more difficult, experts say. Some organizations have a protective intelligence group that uses digital tools such as machine learning or artificial intelligence to comb through online comments to detect threats not only on social media platforms such as X but also on the dark web, says Komendat. They look for what’s being said about the company, its employees and its leadership to uncover risks. ▶ Read more about the steps companies take to protect their leadership Police said Thursday they found a water bottle and protein bar wrapper from a trash can near the scene of the ambush and think the suspect bought them from a Starbucks minutes before the shooting. The items were being tested by the city’s medical examiner.This image provided by the City of Bend, Oregon, shows a a set of googly eyes placed on a public art sculpture in Bend, Ore. (City of Bend, Oregon, via AP) This image provided by the City of Bend, Oregon, shows a pair of googly eyes placed on a public art sculpture in Bend, Ore. (City of Bend, Oregon, via AP) This image provided by the City of Bend, Oregon, shows damage cardboard and tape following the removal of a pair of googly eyes that were placed on a public art sculpture in Bend, Ore. (City of Bend, Oregon, via AP) This image provided by the City of Bend, Oregon, shows a a set of googly eyes placed on a public art sculpture in Bend, Ore. (City of Bend, Oregon, via AP) PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Googly eyes have been appearing on sculptures around the central Oregon city of Bend, delighting many residents and sparking a viral sensation covered widely by news outlets and featured on a popular late-night talk show. On social media, the city shared photos of googly eyes on installations in the middle of roundabouts that make up its so-called “Roundabout Art Route.” One photo shows googly eyes placed on a sculpture of two deer, while another shows them attached to a sphere. It’s not yet known who has been putting them on the sculptures. “While the googly eyes placed on the various art pieces around town might give you a chuckle, it costs money to remove them with care to not damage the art,” the city said in its posts. The Facebook post received hundreds of comments, with many users saying they liked the googly eyes. “My daughter and I went past the flaming chicken today and shared the biggest laugh,” one user said, using a nickname for the “Phoenix Rising” sculpture. “We love the googly eyes. This town is getting to be so stuffy. Let’s have fun!” Another Facebook user wrote: “I think the googly eyes on the deer specifically are a great look, and they should stay that way.” Others said the city should focus on addressing more important issues, such as homelessness, instead of spending time and money on removing the googly eyes. Over the years, the city’s sculptures have been adorned with other seasonal decorations, including Santa hats, wreaths, leis. The city doesn’t remove those, and views the googly eyes differently because of the adhesive, Bend’s communications director, Rene Mitchell, told The Associated Press. “We really encourage our community to engage with the art and have fun. We just need to make sure that we can protect it and that it doesn’t get damaged,” she said. The post and its comments were covered by news outlets, and even made it on a segment of CBS’s “The Late Show with .” The city regrets that its post was misunderstood, Mitchell said. “There was no intent to be heavy-handed, and we certainly understand maybe how that was taken,” she said. “We own this large collection of public art and really want to bring awareness to the community that applying adhesives does harm the art. So as stewards of the collection, we wanted to share that on social media.” The city has so far spent $1,500 on removing googly eyes from seven of the eight sculptures impacted, Mitchell said, and has started treating some of the art pieces, which are made of different types of metal such as bronze and steel. The “Phoenix Rising” sculpture might need to be repainted entirely, she said. For some, the googly eyes — like the other holiday objects — provide a welcome boost of seasonal cheer. “I look forward to seeing the creativity of whoever it is that decorates the roundabouts during the holidays,” one social media commenter said. “Brings a smile to everyone to see silliness.”
30,000 Australians Back Petition to Halt Misinformation and Disinformation BillCanadians warned to use caution in South Korea after martial law declared then lifted
If you are on the hunt for the best ASX dividend stocks to buy, then it could be worth listening to what Bell Potter is saying about the two in this article. They have been named on the broker's Australian's equities panel this month. These are its favoured Australian equities that it believes offer attractive risk-adjusted returns over the long term. Here's what the broker is saying about them: ( ) Bell Potter thinks that investors should be buying Eagers Automotive shares. It notes that it is the dominant player in the automotive retail market in Australia, with a market share >10%. It also highlights that this ASX dividend stock has been around for over 100 years, which it believes shows longevity, good stewardship by the board, and the ability to withstand market downturns. Commenting on its buy recommendation, the broker said: APE should continue to grow revenue via a mix of inorganic and organic growth. The company is also looking to drive margin expansion by buying existing dealership properties (to reduce rent), increasing penetration in finance and insurance (F&I) (higher margin) and through productivity initiatives (technology). Together, management are expecting ~200bps of margin improvement from these initiatives, which would be extremely material (pre-COVID margins of 2.9%). The company is also in a strong financial position with core net debt of around $495m and a property portfolio worth around $727m as at 30 June 2024. As for dividends, its analysts are forecasting fully franked dividends of 66.5 cents in FY 2024 and then 73 cents in FY 2025. Based on the current share price of $11.45, this will mean of 5.8% and 6.4%, respectively. Bell Potter has a buy rating and $13.00 price target on its shares. ( ) Another ASX dividend stock that could be one of the best to buy right now according to Bell Potter is Premier Investments. It is the owner of the Peter Alexander and Smiggle brands, which the broker believes have long growth runways. It is also positive on the proposed divestment of its non-core brands. It said: In addition to Premier Investment's market share of ~6% in the apparel vertical and ~15% in the stationary space in Australia, the Smiggle brand is also a large player in the UK market. As the Smiggle brand looks to grow its presence in the Middle East & Indonesia via a low-risk wholesale model and Peter Alexander into the UK, we think the two brands have a long runway ahead. With the divestment of the non-core Apparel Brands to Myer (MYR) in an all-script deal expected to be completed in January 2025, we see PMV retaining the higher margin Smiggle and Peter Alexander earnings base post-demerger. We view the highly profitable retail business with domestic:offshore exposure of 70:30 (BPe) growing at ~13% (BPe, FY26e), ~26% stake in Breville Group (BRG), together with property assets valued at cost and a strong cash balance (~$327m, BPe), as worthy of a re-rate in the multiple. Bell Potter is forecasting fully franked dividends per share of 111.7 cents in FY 2025 and then 122.6 cents in FY 2026. Based on the current Premier Investments share price of $32.17, this equates to dividend yields of 3.5% and 3.8%, respectively. The broker has a buy rating and $38.00 price target on its shares.