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One week into a new Syria, rebels aim for normalcy and Syrians vow not to be silent again DAMASCUS (AP) — A transformation has started to take place in the week since the unexpected overthrow of Syria’s President Bashar Assad. Suddenly in charge, the rebels have been met with a mix of excitement, grief and hope. And so far the transition has been surprisingly smooth. Reports of reprisals, revenge killings and sectarian violence are minimal, looting and destruction has been quickly contained. But there are a million ways it could go wrong. Syria is broken and isolated after five decades of Assad family rule. Families have been torn apart by war, former prisoners are traumatized, and tens of thousands of detainees remain missing. The economy is wrecked, poverty is widespread, inflation and unemployment are high. Corruption seeps through daily life. Christians in Syria mark country's transformation with tears as UN envoy urges an end to sanctions DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — In churches across long-stifled Syria, Christians have marked the first Sunday services since Bashar Assad’s ouster in an air of transformation. Some were in tears, others clasped their hands in prayer. The U.N. envoy for Syria is calling for a quick end to Western sanctions as the country’s new leaders and regional and global powers discuss the way forward. The Syrian government has been under sanctions by the United States, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war. Israel will close its Ireland embassy over Gaza tensions as Palestinian death toll nears 45,000 DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel says it will close its embassy in Ireland as relations deteriorate over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian medical officials say new Israeli airstrikes have killed over 30 people including children. Israel's decision to close the embassy came in response to what Israel’s foreign minister has described as Ireland's “extreme anti-Israel policies.” Ireland earlier announced that it would recognize a Palestinian state. And the Irish cabinet last week decided to formally intervene in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The Palestinian death toll in the war is approaching 45,000. The GOP stoked fears of noncitizens voting. Cases in Ohio show how rhetoric and reality diverge AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Ohio's Republican secretary of state and attorney general sought to reassure voters before the November election that the state's elections were being vigorously protected against the possibility of immigrants voting illegally. That push coincided with a national Republican messaging strategy warning that potentially thousands of ineligible voters would be voting. The officials' efforts in Ohio led to charges against just six noncitizens in a state with 8 million registered voters. That outcome and the stories of some of those now facing charges show the gap both in Ohio and across the United States between the rhetoric about noncitizen voting and the reality that it's rare and not part of a coordinated scheme to throw elections. South Korean leaders seek calm after Yoon is impeached SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s opposition leader has offered to work with the government to ease the political tumult, a day after the opposition-controlled parliament voted to impeach conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol over a short-lived attempt to impose martial law. Liberal Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, whose party holds a majority in the National Assembly, urged the Constitutional Court to rule swiftly on Yoon’s impeachment and proposed a special council for policy cooperation between the government and parliament. Yoon’s powers have been suspended until the court decides whether to remove him from office or reinstate him. If Yoon is dismissed, a national election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days. Storms across US bring heavy snow, dangerous ice and a tornado in California OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Inclement weather has plagued areas of the U.S. in the first half of the weekend, with dangerous conditions including heavy snow, a major ice storm and unusual tornado activity. An ice storm beginning Friday created treacherous driving conditions across Iowa and eastern Nebraska. More than 33 inches of snow was reported near Orchard Park, New York, which is often a landing point for lake-effect snow. On Saturday, a tornado touched down in Scotts Valley, California, causing damage and several injuries. In San Francisco, a storm damaged trees and roofs and prompted a tornado warning, which was a first for a city that has not experienced a tornado since 2005. Small businesses say cautious shoppers are seeking 'cozy' and 'festive' this holiday season With a late Thanksgiving, the holiday shopping season is five days shorter than last year, and owners of small retail shops say that people have been quick to snap up holiday décor early, along with gifts for others and themselves. Cozy items like sweaters are popular so far. Businesses are also holding special events to get shoppers in the door. But there’s little sense of the freewheeling spending that occurred during the pandemic. Overall, The National Retail Federation predicts retail sales in November and December will rise between 2.5% and 3.5% compared with same period a year ago. US agencies should use advanced technology to identify mysterious drones, Schumer says After weeks of fear and bewilderment about the drones buzzing over parts of New York and New Jersey, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer is urging the federal government to deploy better drone-tracking technology to identify and ultimately stop the airborne pests. The New York Democrat is calling on the Department of Homeland Security to immediately deploy advanced technology to identify and track drones back to their landing spots. That is according to briefings from his office. Federal authorities have said that the drones do not appear to be linked to foreign governments. West Africa regional bloc approves exit timeline for 3 coup-hit member states ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — West Africa’s regional bloc ECOWAS has approved an exit timeline for three coup-hit nations. It comes after a nearly yearlong process of mediation to avert the unprecedented disintegration of the grouping. The president of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray, said in a statement: “The authority decides to set the period from 29 January, 2025 to 29 July 2025 as a transitional period and to keep ECOWAS doors open to the three countries during the transition period." In a first in the 15-nation bloc’s nearly 50 years of existence, the military juntas of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso announced in January that they decided to leave ECOWAS. Pope Francis makes 1st papal visit to France's Corsica awash in expressions of popular piety AJACCIO, Corsica (AP) — Pope Francis on the first papal visit ever to the French island of Corsica on Sunday called for a dynamic form of laicism, promoting the kind of popular piety that distinguishes the Mediterranean island from secular France as a bridge between religious and civic society. The one-day visit to Corsica’s capital Ajaccio, birthplace of Napoleon, on Sunday is one of the briefest of his papacy beyond Italy’s borders, just about nine hours on the ground, including a 40-minute visit with French President Emmanuel Macron. It is the first papal visit ever to the island, which Genoa ceded to France in 1768 and is located closer to the Italian mainland than France.Russian presence in Syria remains. But it's unclear for how long"M�Ye}ǒ-��Ր�_��ؖHF+'[VX�I-�ɷ�WRBI�lRQ�]�� 4Ũ�>i�
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Home for the holidays? Show relatives you care with some tech supportPay first, deliver later: Some women are being asked to prepay for their baby

NEW YORK, Dec. 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading securities law firm Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP announces that a lawsuit has been filed against Symbotic Inc. SYM and certain of the Company's senior executives for potential violations of the federal securities laws. If you invested in Symbotic, you are encouraged to obtain additional information by visiting https://www.bfalaw.com/cases-investigations/symbotic-inc . Investors have until February 3, 2025, to ask the Court to be appointed to lead the case. The complaint asserts claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on behalf of investors in Symbotic securities. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and is captioned Decker v. Symbotic Inc., et al. , No. 24-cv-12976. What is the Symbotic Class Action Lawsuit About? Symbotic Inc. develops and operates robotics systems to automate and optimize warehouse and supply chain operations for major retailers and distributors. During the relevant period, the company represented that its financial statements were accurate and that its internal controls over financial reporting were effective. In contrast with these representations, on November 27, 2024, Symbotic announced a delay in filing its Form 10-K for its fiscal year 2024 due to identified errors in revenue recognition and announced material weaknesses in its internal controls over financial reporting. Symbotic revealed that it discovered issues related to premature expense recognition and unbillable cost overruns, which affected system revenue recognition in multiple quarters of its fiscal year 2024. The company estimated a $30–$40 million reduction in system revenue, gross profit, and adjusted EBITDA for its fiscal year 2024 and reduced its revenue outlook for the first quarter of fiscal 2025 to $480–$500 million, from $495–$515 million, and adjusted EBITDA of $12–16 million, from $27–$31 million. This news caused the price of the company's stock to decline over 35% during the course of trading on November 27, 2024. Click here if you suffered losses: https://www.bfalaw.com/cases-investigations/symbotic-inc . What Can You Do? If you invested in Symbotic you may have legal options and are encouraged to submit your information to the firm. All representation is on a contingency fee basis, there is no cost to you. Shareholders are not responsible for any court costs or expenses of litigation. The firm will seek court approval for any potential fees and expenses. Submit your information by visiting: https://www.bfalaw.com/cases-investigations/symbotic-inc Or contact: Ross Shikowitz ross@bfalaw.com 212-789-3619 Why Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP? Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP is a leading international law firm representing plaintiffs in securities class actions and shareholder litigation. It was named among the Top 5 plaintiff law firms by ISS SCAS in 2023 and its attorneys have been named Titans of the Plaintiffs' Bar by Law360 and SuperLawyers by Thompson Reuters. Among its recent notable successes, BFA recovered over $900 million in value from Tesla, Inc.'s Board of Directors (pending court approval), as well as $420 million from Teva Pharmaceutical Ind. Ltd. For more information about BFA and its attorneys, please visit https://www.bfalaw.com . https://www.bfalaw.com/cases-investigations/symbotic-inc Attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.NoneTrump’s crypto team takes shape but questions remain over who will drive policy WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump’s crypto policy is taking shape with the announcement of a White House crypto czar and a new securities watchdog, but questions remain over who will drive policy and whether too many cooks could slow down changes. Trump on Thursday appeared to make good on his campaign pledge to be a ‘crypto president’, announcing he would make former top PayPal executive and crypto evangelist David Sacks “White House AI & Crypto Czar”. A day earlier, Trump said he would nominate pro-crypto Washington attorney Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. While crypto executives cheered the news, saying the pair would end the Biden administration’s crypto crackdown and promote innovation, some Washington analysts said the creation of a crypto czar, a new role, sowed ambiguity over who would drive crypto policy and flagged the potential for policy clashes. “One big question is whether the policy will be driven by Sacks himself. A czar appointed by Trump is going to want to see changes fairly quickly, but the SEC has processes and you can’t just snap your fingers at the SEC and have new rules,” Ian Katz, managing director of Capital Alpha Partners, said in an email to Reuters. “Personalities will be important,” he added. A Silicon Valley venture capitalist and friend of Trump billionaire backer Elon Musk, Sacks was an early bitcoin investor. In a 2017 CNBC interview, he said cryptocurrencies were revolutionising the internet, but he acknowledged there were also scammers in the sector. He does not appear to have any experience writing or leading policy, according to a Reuters review of his background. Atkins, meanwhile, is a former SEC official and respected veteran of Washington policy circles who has said he supports crypto innovation as way to boost financial services competition, and has helped crypto companies in their dealings with regulators via his consultancy Patomak Global Partners. “Atkins is kind of a known quantity,” said Lene Powell, senior legal analyst at financial consultancy Wolters Kluwer. Sacks is from “a different sphere”. Both have called for regulators to be more accommodating of crypto companies, but neither appear to have taken a position on whether and under what circumstances crypto tokens should be considered securities, commodities or utilities -- a core issue that will ultimately decide how the industry is regulated. “I think we’ll see more constructive regulation. Obviously, that includes some clarification around what is (a) security or not,” said Chen Arad, co-founder of Solidus Labs, a crypto compliance company. Atkins and Sacks did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, surged past the $100,000 milestone for the first time after Trump announced Atkins as his pick to lead the SEC, buoyed by hopes that the new administration would usher in softer crypto policies. Under President Joe Biden, the SEC has sued dozens of crypto companies, alleging they broke securities laws, while bank regulators discouraged lenders from dabbling in crypto and Congress failed to pass legislation that would help promote mainstream crypto adoption. The crypto industry is pushing for an ambitious raft of policies that would promote adoption of digital assets, including the creation of a crypto regulatory framework which would address when tokens can be classified as securities or commodities. Trump said in a Thursday post on his Truth Social platform that Sacks would “guide” crypto policy and “work on a legal framework so the Crypto industry has ... clarity,” leaving it unclear whether Sacks would lead the incoming administration’s crypto policy. It was also unclear whether Sacks will lead Trump’s crypto advisory council, which is also expected to play a key role in shaping crypto policy. Reuters previously reported the crypto czar was expected to lead that body and coordinate policy among the various regulatory agencies. That coordination will be crucial, since a crypto legal framework would need extensive input from the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, whose new chair has yet to be announced, and may also require congressional approval, said lawyers. Regulations on less contentious non-crypto issues such as proprietary bank trading and capital have been snarled up for years by inter-agency squabbles, they noted. “It definitely would be a lot of cooks,” Powell said. In an email on Friday, a Trump transition spokesperson reiterated the President-elect’s Thursday announcement in which he said Sacks would guide crypto policy, and did not answer Reuters questions seeking more details on how the role would work. Some consumer protection advocates have expressed concern that the Trump administration’s crypto agenda might create gaps that would leave investors at risk, a fear the industry has largely dismissed. “I don’t think there will be under-regulation,” said Anthony Scaramucci, the founder of asset manager SkyBridge, who briefly served in Trump’s first administration. “I don’t think it will create fraud, but I think it will help the United States maintain what it should be, which is our mantle of financial services leadership.”

Emerging tech skills in high demand, says surveyThe Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria ( KACRAN) has described the proposed state police as too expensive and risky to implement. Alhaji Khalil Bello, KACRAN National President, said this in a statement in Damaturu on Friday. He said the cost of establishing state police, depending on a state’s population, was between N10 billion to N30 billion, while monthly salaries and operational cost would gulp about N3 billion. “These expenditures could divert critical resources from essential public services such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure, which are vital for the development and well-being of the region,” he said. Bello said there were also concerns over abuse of state police by the politicians. “There is a risk that these forces could be used to serve the interests of local political leaders rather than the broader public, leading to the victimisation of opposition parties and creating an environment of lawlessness and anarchy. “Such a scenario could undermine the rule of law and erode public trust in law enforcement,” he said. He recommended redirecting resources toward initiatives that would promote sustainable development and long-term prosperity for the country. Bello listed the initiatives to include agriculture investment, youth employment as well as industrial and infrastructure development. The president also proposed the establishment of a security foundation fund in which monthly donation would be made to support the police. “KACRAN calls on the Arewa Consultative Forum, Northern Consultative Forum, emirs, and all northern leaders to oppose the establishment of State Police. “We believe that focusing on social services and economic development will yield greater benefits for the region than the creation of State Police, which may ultimately exacerbate existing challenges. “ By investing in sustainable initiatives, Northern states can create a more secure, prosperous, and harmonious society for all citizens,” he said

Amid uncertainty about the future, more Minnesotans seek long-acting birth controlMajor high street retailer with 130 UK branches to CLOSE popular store for good as shoppers warned ‘all stock must go’

College football has ‘offseason’ in name only, but solutions are elusive | Michael LevThe MFA in Media Arts at UCLA offers a rigorous environment for the sustained exploration of contemporary arts practice in the context of media and technology. Through technical and theoretical seminars, group critiques, and individual tutorials with faculty, each student questions conventional ideas about art, technology, and new media while developing a critical awareness about their own work. The program has been reimagined to take place over three years, tailored to students who want to deeply challenge their own expectations and pursue new forms and ideas within their work. Located within UCLA’s prestigious School of the Arts and Architecture, students in the Department of Design | Media Arts work closely with the department’s world-renowned faculty, which includes Jenna Caravello, Erkki Huhtamo, Peter Lunenfeld, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Chandler McWilliams, Rebeca Méndez, Romi Ron Morrison, Casey Reas, Mindy Seu, Eddo Stern, Victoria Vesna, Steve Anderson, Ramesh Srinivasan, and Danny Snelson. Students also have the opportunity to take full advantage of the resources UCLA provides as a leading research university. Students are offered robust financial aid packages, the opportunity to apply for paid teaching and research assistantships, and access to numerous grants and fellowships. Other resources include 24-hour access to a state-of-the-art shop and digital fabrication lab, UCLA Game Lab , UCLA Social Software , Art|Sci Center , CounterForce Lab , and UCLA Arts Conditional Studio . The application deadline is January 4, 2025. We are especially interested in candidates with diverse backgrounds and/or fields of study that may expand the conception of a “media artist.” To learn more or register for a virtual info session, visit mfa.dma.ucla.edu . Share Copied to clipboard Mail Bluesky Threads LinkedIn Facebook

Clay scores 16, Morehead State defeats Kentucky Christian 86-63