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genie google BULAWAYO was abuzz with activity yesterday as last-minute Christmas shoppers thronged the city, creating a lively and bustling atmosphere while banking halls, supermarkets and beauty salons were packed. Vendors and businesses recorded brisk sales. In the central business district (CBD), long queues formed outside banks as people withdrew money to cover festive season expenses. Popular money transfer agents such as Hello Paisa, Mukuru, Homelink, and Western Union were overwhelmed with customers collecting remittances from relatives abroad. An elderly woman, Gogo Mpofu, expressed her joy after receiving money from her children overseas. “It’s heart-warming to receive something from our children abroad, especially during Christmas,” she said. Ms Sibongile Dube, who received money from her niece in Canada, said, “This will help me cover expenses and enjoy Christmas like everyone else.” Ms Joyce Muleya, a 69-year-old pensioner from Ntabazinduna, praised her bank for its reliable service. “CBZ has been consistent with pension deposits and the staff is always courteous,” she said. The city streets were heavily congested with vehicles and pedestrians while vendors at 4th Street marketplace enjoyed booming sales. “Christmas shopping has kept me busy all day. The most sought-after items are butternuts, potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers,” said a vendor. Major supermarkets like OK, Pick n Pay and Greens were bustling, with shoppers pushing trolleys laden with groceries. Pushcart operators competed for space with cars, ferrying goods to taxi ranks and bus termini. Edgars Stores chief executive officer, Mr Sevious Mushosho, noted mixed business performance. “Volumes are slightly below expectations, possibly due to the drought and delayed salary payments for civil servants. We hope for better sales as the day progresses,” he said. Fast food outlets and shopping malls were similarly crowded while hiking spots were busy as travellers jostled for transport to different destinations. Beitbridge and Plumtree border posts were teeming with activity as Zimbabweans, popularly known as injiva, returned home to spend Christmas with their families. At Beitbridge Border Post, authorities deployed additional staff to manage the influx. Statistics from the Department of Immigration revealed that between December 16 and December 21, a total of 85 846 people entered Zimbabwe, with 75 096 being returning residents. Vehicle traffic was also high, with 3 087 light vehicles, 2 403 buses and 3 525 trucks crossing into the country. Assistant Regional Immigration Officer, Mrs Canisia Magaya, said they were handling an average of 13 976 entries daily. “Although traffic has surged, statistics show a slight decline compared to last year. We’ve deployed adequate personnel to ensure travellers do not spend long hours at the border,” she said. Travellers commended the introduction of the electronic Temporary Import Permit (eTIP) system, which streamlined vehicle clearance. “This is a game-changer and has significantly reduced waiting times,” said a traveller. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Dr Takaruza Munyanyiwa, visited the border to assess operations. “Feedback from travellers has been positive. The categorisation of traffic lanes into cargo, buses, pedestrians and light vehicles has greatly improved efficiency,” he said. Plumtree Border Post saw similar activity as injiva crossed from Botswana. The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) extended operating hours to 24/7 during peak periods to expedite movement. “The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) advises members of the public who intend to use Plumtree/Ramokgwebana Border Post that operating hours have been extended to 24 hours on the dates listed below. The extension of operating hours is done to facilitate the movement of private travellers during the festive period between Zimbabwe and Botswana,”reads a Zimra statement. The 24-hour extension ended yesterday and will be operational again on the 4th and 5th of January 2025. Zimra also encouraged travellers to use the eTIP app for vehicle clearance, allowing for smoother border processes. The e-TIP is a mobile or web-based application that allows for the application of a TIP for a foreign-registered private motor vehicle prior to arriving at the port of entry. Raymond Jaravaza, MISS Princess Jira of Iminyela suburb in Bulawayo eagerly anticipates using the family’s individual toilet, constructed by the Bulawayo City Council two months ago. For years, dating back to the colonial era before Zimbabwe gained Independence in 1980, residents of Iminyela suburb relied on communal toilets shared by four families. It was [...] Thupeyo Muleya, A 37-YEAR-OLD man from Beitbridge has been arrested for smuggling 17 exotic pigeons worth US$3 400 into Zimbabwe through an illegal entry point along the Limpopo River. Peter Ncube, a resident of Dulivhadzimu suburb, was intercepted by security agents while crossing the river on a wooden raft near the ZimParks compound, which is [...] Mashudu Netsianda, THE High Court will on Monday next week hear the matter in which Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) acting president, Professor Welshman Ncube, is challenging the party’s interim secretary-general, Mr Sengezo Tshabangu’s decision to fire party leaders from parliamentary posts. Prof Ncube, through his law firm Mathonsi Ncube Law Chambers, last week [...]Erling Haaland’s failure from the penalty spot and Bruno Fernandes' latest red card compounded the woes of Manchester City and Manchester United on another tough day for the two Premier League giants. City dropped more points Thursday in its improbably poor run of form by drawing 1-1 at home to Everton, with Haaland having a spot kick saved by England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in the 53rd minute. The four-time defending champions have only won one of its last 13 games in all competitions and manager Pep Guardiola acknowledged he needs to spend in the January transfer window to reverse City's slide. “The transfer window in the winter is not easy, but even the players know that we have to add some new players,” said Guardiola, who has had to cope without a host of key players, including Ballon d'Or winner Rodri, through injury this season. While City is languishing in seventh place, United is even further adrift in 14th place after a 2-0 loss at lowly Wolverhampton. United played almost the whole of the second half with 10 men after Fernandes collected his second yellow card in the 47th minute. It was the United captain's third sending-off of the season, though one was rescinded. Second-place Chelsea also dropped points after conceding in the fifth minute of stoppage time to lose 2-1 at home to Fulham, giving Liverpool the chance to extend its lead to seven points by beating Leicester later. Nottingham Forest won 1-0 against Tottenham to go up to third, while there were also victories for Newcastle and West Ham. Sixth-place Bournemouth drew 0-0 with Crystal Palace. City secured only its fifth point in the league since the end of October but that will be scant consolation to Guardiola, whose beleaguered team squandered a winning position after going ahead through Bernardo Silva’s deflected shot in the 14th. Iliman Ndiaye equalized in the 36th. Haaland’s penalty failure means the Norway international has only scored once in his last seven games. He headed in from the rebound after his spot kick, but the goal was ruled out for offside. Haaland, who last week admitted his form had not been good enough during a run that has seen City’s season unravel, held his head in his hands after his failure to score from the spot. He still has 18 goals in 25 appearances this season, but has not scored in a win for his club since the 1-0 victory against Southampton on Oct. 26. “We shoot a lot in the 18-yard box, but unfortunately we could not get the results that we wanted,” Guardiola said. City’s damaging run has seen it slip down the standings in the league and crash out of the English League Cup. It is also in danger of missing out on the playoffs for the round of 16 in the Champions League — sitting just one point above the cut-off point with two games to play. Wolves' first goal against United came direct from a corner, with Brazil striker Matheus Cunha seeing his kick curl over the head of goalkeeper Andre Onana and into the far corner in the 58th minute. Such goals are rare, though United also conceded from a corner in its 4-3 loss to Tottenham in the English League Cup this month. Son Heung-min scored on that occasion. Wolves added a second through Hwang Hee-chan in the ninth minute of stoppage time and have won two straight games since Vitor Pereira was hired to replace Gary O'Neil. Cunha has 10 goals of the season. Chelsea dropped points for the second time in as many games, with Enzo Maresca's team drawing 0-0 at Everton last week. The Blues gave up a lead earned by Cole Palmer in the 16th as Harry Wilson equalized in the 82nd and Rodrigo Muniz grabbed the late winner for Fulham, which won at Stamford Bridge for the first time in 45 years. Arsenal can now jump from fourth to second with a win against Ipswich on Friday. Forest's remarkable season shows little sign of slowing down after Anthony Elanga's winner against Tottenham at the City Ground. Forest is a point behind Chelsea in third. Villa was already a goal down to Newcastle after Anthony Gordon's strike in the second minute when Jhon Duran was sent off in the 32nd. Alexander Isak and Joelinton added goals for the hosts West Ham had to cope with first-half injuries to defender Max Kilman and goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski , but still won 1-0 at Southampton after Jarrod Bowen's goal in the 59th. James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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The two-day meeting of the core group of Bihar BJP in Suraj Kund ended on Monday during which the BJP leaders came out strongly in support of JDU chief Nitish Kumar as the leader of the NDA in Bihar. The BJP leaders said the party is willing to contest the upcoming assembly elections under Kumar's leadership. ET Year-end Special Reads Top 10 equity mutual funds of the year. Do you have any? How India flexed its global power muscles in 2024 2024 was the year India became the talk of America "We have a leader and face of the NDA in Bihar. Nitish Kumar is the chief minister of the state and we will go for the upcoming election under his leadership," Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal told ET post the meeting. Before Jaiswal, Bihar deputy CM Samrat Choudhary also reiterated that Kumar is the leader of the alliance. Over the past few days, several BJP state leaders have reiterated that Nitish Kumar remains the leader and the CM face of the alliance. The clarification from the BJP about the CM face in Bihar came after the rumours started going on in political circles of the state that there could be another political shift before the assembly polls. The rumours emanated after the BJP formed the government in Maharashtra with Devendra Fadnavis as the CM. Political watchers in Bihar linked it to the upcoming polls in the state and observed that the Maharashtra model could well be implemented in Bihar. Entrepreneurship Building Your Winning Startup Team: Key Strategies for Success By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Web Development Intermediate Java Mastery: Method, Collections, and Beyond By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI and Analytics based Business Strategy By - Tanusree De, Managing Director- Accenture Technology Lead, Trustworthy AI Center of Excellence: ATCI View Program Marketing Digital Marketing Masterclass by Pam Moore By - Pam Moore, Digital Transformation and Social Media Expert View Program Office Productivity Excel Essentials to Expert: Your Complete Guide By - Study At Home, Quality Education Anytime, Anywhere View Program Web Development A Comprehensive ASP.NET Core MVC 6 Project Guide for 2024 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Entrepreneurship Boosting Startup Revenue with 6 AI-Powered Sales Automation Techniques By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Entrepreneurship Validating Your Startup Idea: Steps to Ensure Market Fit By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Astrology Vastu Shastra Course By - Sachenkumar Rai, Vastu Shashtri View Program Web Development Advanced C++ Mastery: OOPs and Template Techniques By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Data Analysis Animated Visualizations with Flourish Studio: Beginner to Pro By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Marketing Performance Marketing for eCommerce Brands By - Zafer Mukeri, Founder- Inara Marketers View Program Design Microsoft Designer Guide: The Ultimate AI Design Tool By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Generative AI for Dynamic Java Web Applications with ChatGPT By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Basics of Generative AI: Unveiling Tomorrows Innovations By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Data Science SQL Server Bootcamp 2024: Transform from Beginner to Pro By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Finance Value and Valuation Masterclass By - CA Himanshu Jain, Ex McKinsey, Moody's, and PwC, Co - founder, The WallStreet School View Program Data Analysis Learn Power BI with Microsoft Fabric: Complete Course By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Finance Crypto & NFT Mastery: From Basics to Advanced By - CA Raj K Agrawal, Chartered Accountant View Program Finance A2Z Of Finance: Finance Beginner Course By - elearnmarkets, Financial Education by StockEdge View Program Data Science MySQL for Beginners: Learn Data Science and Analytics Skills By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI for Everyone: Understanding and Applying the Basics on Artificial Intelligence By - Ritesh Vajariya, Generative AI Expert View Program The rumours got further wind when Union home minister Amit Shah, during a TV interview, didn't clearly name Nitish Kumar as the CM face. Though Shah didn't say anything to create doubt, him not naming Kumar became another news in Bihar. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )

Jimmy Carter, 39th US president, Nobel winner, dies at 100

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AI tool enhances wildlife image analysis for climate change insightsNAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Three African politicians seeking to head the African Union detailed their plans on Friday for regional security amid conflicts and political coups while strongly advocating for inter-Africa trade among other issues. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Three African politicians seeking to head the African Union detailed their plans on Friday for regional security amid conflicts and political coups while strongly advocating for inter-Africa trade among other issues. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Three African politicians seeking to head the African Union detailed their plans on Friday for regional security amid conflicts and political coups while strongly advocating for inter-Africa trade among other issues. Raila Odinga of Kenya, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf of Djibouti and Richard Randriamandrato of Madagascar are seeking to be elected as chairperson for the 55-member state African Union. They participated in a two-hour debate Friday in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in which they all advocated for two permanent seats for African countries in the U.N. Security Council to effectively represent the continent with the youngest population. Odinga said that two permanent seats with veto power were “a must for Africa” and that this was “only fair” since the continent has more than 50 countries. Randriamandrato urged member states to cease the opportunity and “speak with one voice on the choice of who will represent Africa in the UNSC.” The three are seeking to convince most African countries before the February election to succeed African Union Chairperson Moussa Faki, who has served for two terms. The African Union has faced several challenges that include conflict in member countries and political coups that have seen five member states expelled from the union, making regional security a major theme in Friday’s debate. Youssouf said that regional security could be enhanced if the resources for a regional standby force were increased to reduce the overreliance on foreign partnerships for resources. “When there is no unity of purpose among neighboring countries peace will be compromised,” Youseff said. Randriamandrato encouraged countries to take charge of their internal security while cautioning that foreign military bases should be “a thing of the past” because they “could be a source of conflict.” Despite the continent’s young population of 1.3 billion that is set to double by 2050, regional trade has faced challenges that were addressed in the Friday debate. Odinga said that Africa had a “huge domestic market” that it could leverage on for economic transformation by opening up opportunities for trade between African countries. Youssouf proposed a payment compensation system that would ensure countries don’t lose out while trading in different currencies adding, “are we going to have a single currency, why not?” Randriamandrato said that regional economic blocs like the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa had a huge role to play in easing inter-Africa trade. The African Union has several proposed reforms on its structure and leadership aimed at achieving its purpose, and all candidates promised to implement the reforms if elected. Youssouf said that key reforms in the union were facing a funding bottleneck and that “it has to change,” adding that he wouldn’t impose it on member states but would “advocate for it.” AdvertisementRemember the story about the elephant seen from different perspectives? Here’s a twist. A biologist with a telescope peered at the animal and said, I see a hairy grayness horizon to horizon. A toenail fungus specialist examined its feet, and prescribed antibiotics. A climate change specialist didn’t see the elephant because he was fixated on plucking the dry grass. A physicist looked at the elephant and had nothing to say. Elon Musk was there, and he told them not to waste their time standing around an elephant. We need results in quantum mechanics, he explained; we need superconductivity at room temperature, we need research piped straight to technology. We need science to serve technology, which as you know improves man’s condition. This may not be the story as you remember it, but I assure you that a few things about it are true. The people around the elephant are scientists, but even in science, we can only see with the tools we have, and we create those tools in anticipation of what we might see. As a result, we are limited in our capacity to break out of this circle. We are primed to see — or not — in a certain way. However, breakouts can and do happen — often when two incommensurate ideas meet each other. Consider what happened when homo economicus or “economic man,” theory met psychology: a new field was born, behavioral psychology. Or consider the friction between gravity and God, a meeting of concepts that caused a huge shift in human society’s relationship to astronomy and divinity. Second, it’s not by chance that the examples cross the bridge between what we call humanistic knowledge and what we call science. Their conceptual distance from each other results in the possibility for innovation. The role played by metaphors in biology introduces future paths for research. Schizophrenics have a better prognosis when they are told they’re like shamans. Darwin’s nature acts, despite herself, as a causal force — like the very God that evolution puts into question. Falling in love felt so powerful that the ancients thought seeing the love object caused a wound in your eyes. It worked well with the theory that eyes emitted rays. You cannot, it turns out, take the human out of the science. Third, in separating the humanities and science, we are voting to blind ourselves for the future and to deplete the richness of multiple perspectives on reality. Worse, our now-isolated sciences are in danger of being kidnapped and reared as technology’s handmaiden. It wasn’t always so: the Aristotles, Leonardos and al-Haythams — even the Turings — had an intellectual background that incorporated the humanities, the social sciences and the sciences, and their discoveries came out of that multifaceted approach. Now we have teams of specialists working for market-minded research that is not about truth, or even the search for truth, but for profit. Science is done at scale, and that is making a huge difference to its relationship to other fields of knowledge. There’s a place where we can intervene, but no one seems to be doing it. That place is higher education. We could teach our students that there is no hard boundary between science and humanistic learning. We could teach them how these fields influence each other. We could take down the hard walls around different fields, both bureaucratically and literally. Instead, we reproduce these unhealthy gulfs in our university’s outdated departments and divisions, which generate the kind of specialist knowledge without context that is our growing problem. If we want education to be relevant to the bigger problems we all face, this has to change. Perhaps the public feels this already, or our colleges wouldn’t be in a crisis of irrelevance. We need to put these forms of knowledge back together so that they can work with each other.Lebawit Lily Girma | (TNS) Bloomberg News When winter rolls around, travelers predictably turn their attention to beaches. And this year, it’s the destination that comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean” that’s experiencing outsize demand from Americans planning a warm island vacation. Talk about trashing stereotypes. Puerto Rico has recovered overseas visitors (excluding those from Canada and Mexico) faster than any U.S. state or territory — a staggering 85% increase over its 2019 overseas inbound visitor levels as of 2023, according to an October study from the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office. There are now more daily flights from the U.S. West Coast, and hotel bookings are 6% higher so far in this last quarter of 2024 year-over-year. It’s a trifecta of tourism growth: more visitors, but also longer stays and a higher spend that reached a record $9.8 billion in 2023, boosting small businesses as well as major brands. “We don’t have a slow season in Puerto Rico anymore,” says Brad Dean, chief executive officer at Discover Puerto Rico. Even if they’re not booking, people are dreaming about “La Isla.” By tracking flight searches for trips between November 2024 and February 2025, a measure of “inspirational” demand, tourism intelligence company Mabrian Technologies reports Puerto Rico is up 9% compared with the same period last year and leads Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Bahamas in the Caribbean proper. Only Costa Rica ranked higher in the wider region. Dean attributes Puerto Rico’s ongoing tourism growth to a strategic effort to reposition the island’s brand as more than a sun-and-sea destination, starting back in 2018. That led to the Live Boricua campaign, which began in 2022 and leaned heavily on culture, history and cuisine and was, Dean says, “a pretty bold departure” in the way Puerto Rico was showcased to travelers. He adds that at least $2 billion in tourism spend is linked to this campaign. “We (also) haven’t shied away from actively embracing the LGBTQ+ community, and that has opened up Puerto Rico to audiences that may not have considered the Caribbean before,” Dean says. Hotels are preparing to meet this growing demand: A number of established boutique properties are undergoing upgrades valued between $4 million and more than $50 million, including Hotel El Convento; La Concha, which will join the Marriott Autograph Collection; Condado Vanderbilt Hotel; and the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar. That’s in addition to ultra-chic options that are coming online in 2025, including the adults-only Alma San Juan, with rooms overlooking Plaza Colón in the heart of Old San Juan, and the five-star Veranó boutique hotel in San Juan’s trendy Santurce neighborhood. The beachfront Ritz-Carlton San Juan in Isla Verde will also be reopening seven years after Hurricane Maria decimated the island. The travel industry’s success is helping boost employment on the island, to the tune of 101,000 leisure and hospitality jobs as of September 2024, a 26% increase over pre-pandemic levels, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Efforts to promote Puerto Rico’s provinces beyond the San Juan metro area — such as surfing hub Rincón on the west coast, historical Ponce on the south coast and Orocovis for nature and coffee haciendas in the central mountains —have spread the demand to small businesses previously ignored by the travel industry. Take Sheila Osorio, who leads workshops on Afro-Puerto Rican bomba music and dance at Taller Nzambi, in the town of Loíza, 15 miles east of San Juan; or Wanda Otero, founder of cheese-producing company Vaca Negra in Hatillo, an hour’s drive west of Old San Juan, where you can join a cheese-making workshop and indulge in artisanal cheese tastings. “The list of businesses involved in tourism has gone from 650 in 2018 to 6,100, many of which are artists and artisans,” Dean says. While New Yorkers and Miami residents have always been the largest visitor demographic, Dean says more mainland Americans now realize that going to Puerto Rico means passport-free travel to enjoy beaches, as well as opportunities to dine in Michelin-rated restaurants, hike the only rainforest in the U.S. and kayak in a bioluminescent bay. Visitors from Chicago and Dallas, for example, have increased by approximately 40% from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, compared with the same period in 2022-2023, and more travelers are expected from Denver now that United Airlines Holdings Inc. has kicked off its first nonstop service to San Juan, beginning on Oct. 29. Previously, beach destinations that were easy to reach on direct flights from Denver included Mexico, Belize and California, but now Puerto Rico joins that list with a 5.5-hour nonstop route that cuts more than two hours from the next-best option. Given United Airlines’ hub in San Francisco, it could mean more travelers from the Golden State in the near future, too. In December, U.S. airlines will have 3,000 more seats per day to the territory compared with the same period last year, for a total of 84,731 — surpassing even Mexico and the Dominican Republic in air capacity, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, the island’s primary gateway, is projecting a record volume of 13 million passengers by year’s end — far surpassing the 9.4 million it saw in 2019. As for Hinchcliffe’s “floating island of garbage” line, Dean says it was “a terribly insensitive attempt at humor” that transformed outrage into a marketing silver lining, with an outpouring of positive public sentiment and content on Puerto Rico all over social media. Success, as that old chestnut goes, may be the best revenge. “It was probably the most efficient influencer campaign we’ve ever had,” Dean says, “a groundswell of visitors who posted their photos and videos and said, ‘This is the Puerto Rico that I know.’” ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

AP Business SummaryBrief at 2:15 p.m. ESTReverend Jesse Jackson has asked President Biden to pardon his son – but what do we know about former Illinois congressman Jesse Jackson Jr, and how did he end up in prison?

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Planet Fitness is opening a new location next to Shaw’s Supermarket on East Avenue in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal It’s been 10 years since there was a Planet Fitness in Lewiston. The national gym franchise is betting nearly $1 million that this time around will be a charm at 25 East Ave., in the Lewiston Crossing shopping center next to Shaw’s. The city of Lewiston approved a permit in November for an estimated construction cost of $850,000 to renovate five spaces into one at the location, which includes new partitions and finishes, new plumbing and mechanical, and new electrical among other work. Planet Fitness is touting its new gym on social media but has offered few details on what facilities and equipment will be in the new gym, when it will open and what hours it will operate under. The owners of a recently opened Planet Fitness in Plattsburgh, New York, invested about $1 million into that project, according to Sun Community News. The article states the gym added 15 new cardio pieces, 15 new strength pieces, a PF 360 functional training area, a new CryoLounge+, remodeled shower area, and 6,500 additional square feet of gym floor. Planet Fitness in Auburn remains open as the company expands into Lewiston, while next door, Big Lots is closing after a deal to buy the company fell through. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal Planet Fitness has had mixed success in the Lewiston and Auburn market. The original Lewiston Planet Fitness at 40 East Ave. closed Nov. 23, 2013, consolidating to the Auburn location on Turner Street. The Planet Fitness Auburn Mall location became Orange Circuit Fitness a year later, leaving the area with no Planet Fitness until a new location opened in Auburn in January 2016, at 730 Center St., in the Auburn Plaza. The Buzz reached out to Planet Fitness for more specifics on the Lewiston location but has not heard back from the company. Planet Fitness has locations in Bangor, Rockland, Augusta, Portland, South Portland, Falmouth, Waterville, Brunswick, Biddeford and Windham. Big Lots in Auburn is liquidating its inventory as the company undergoes bankruptcy. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal Discount retailer Big Lots is still hoping for a last-minute deal in the coming weeks, but for now it is in liquidation mode, offering 25% off prices in the entire store. There are four Big Lots stores in Maine, including one at 730 Center St., Auburn. Big Lots filed for bankruptcy protection in September and cut a deal with private equity firm Nexus Capital Management to buy the company for $620 million. That deal fell apart last week when Big Lots announced it was closing all of its 1,300 stores and not just the underperforming ones. Expect the company to announce store closing sales in the next few weeks, unless it can come to some sort of deal with Nexus or another company before the end of January. For now, the Auburn location remains open seven days a week from 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Sundays from 10 a.m.-9 p.m. The Buzz offers quick hits about trending area business happenings . Have a Buzzable tip? Contact business writer Christopher Wheelock at 689-2817 or cwheelock@sunjournal.com We invite you to add your comments. We encourage a thoughtful exchange of ideas and information on this website. By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use . More information is found on our FAQs . You can modify your screen name here . Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday as well as limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve. Please sign into your Sun Journal account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe . Questions? Please see our FAQs . Your commenting screen name has been updated. Send questions/comments to the editors. « Previous

Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president, has died at 100 ATLANTA (AP) — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has died. He was 100 years old and had spent roughly 22 months in hospice care. The Georgia peanut farmer served one turbulent term in the White House before building a reputation as a global humanitarian and champion of democracy. He defeated President Gerald Ford in 1976 promising to restore trust in government but lost to Ronald Reagan four years later amid soaring inflation, gas station lines and the Iran hostage crisis. He and his wife Rosalynn then formed The Carter Center, and he earned a Nobel Peace Prize while making himself the most internationally engaged of former presidents. The Carter Center said he died peacefully Sunday afternoon in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by his family. Jimmy Carter: Many evolutions for a centenarian ‘citizen of the world’ PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — The 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, James Earl Carter Jr., died Sunday at the age of 100. His life ended where it began, in Plains, Georgia. He left and returned to the tiny town many times as he climbed to the nation’s highest office and lost it after four tumultuous years. Carter spent the next 40 years setting new standards for what a former president can do. Carter wrote nearly a decade ago that he found all the phases of his life challenging but also successful and enjoyable. The Democrat's principled but pragmatic approach defied American political labels, especially the idea that one-term presidents are failures. The Latest: Former President Jimmy Carter is dead at age 100 Former President Jimmy Carter has died at the age of 100. The 39th president of the United States was a Georgia peanut farmer who sought to restore trust in government when he assumed the presidency in 1977 and then built a reputation for tireless work as a humanitarian. He earned a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. He died Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care, at his home in Plains, Georgia. Carter was sworn in as president on Jan. 20, 1977, after defeating President Gerald R. Ford in the 1976 general election. He left office on Jan. 20, 1981, following his 1980 general election loss to Ronald Reagan. Jimmy Carter: A brief bio Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has died at his home in Plains, Georgia. His death comes more than a year after the former president entered hospice care. He was 100 years old. Jetliner skids off runway and bursts into flames while landing in South Korea, killing 179 SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A jetliner skidded off a runway, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames in South Korea after its landing gear apparently failed to deploy. Officials said all but two of the 181 people on board were killed Sunday in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters. The 737-800 operated by Jeju Air plane arrived from Bangkok and crashed while attempting to land in the town of Muan, about 290 kilometers (180 miles) south of Seoul. Footage of the crash aired by South Korean television channels showed the plane skidding across the airstrip at high speed, evidently with its landing gear still closed. Tornadoes in Texas and Mississippi kill 2 and injure 6 as severe weather system moves east HOUSTON (AP) — A strong storm system is threatening to whip up tornadoes in parts of the U.S. Southeast, a day after severe weather claimed at least two lives as twisters touched down in Texas and Mississippi. Strong storms moving eastward Sunday are expected to continue producing gusty, damaging winds, hail and tornadoes through Sunday. That is according to National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Pereira. So far, the line of severe weather has led to about 40 tornado reports from southeastern Texas to Alabama, Pereira said, but those reports remain unconfirmed until surveys of damage are completed. Israeli hospital says Netanyahu has undergone successful prostate surgery TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — An Israeli hospital says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has undergone successful prostate surgery. Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center said his prostate was removed late Sunday and that he was recovering. Netanyahu’s office had said Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close ally, would serve as acting prime minister during the procedure. Doctors ordered the operation after detecting an infection last week. Netanyahu is expected to remain hospitalized for several days. With so much at stake, Netanyahu’s health in wartime is a concern for both Israelis and the wider world. Syria's de facto leader says it could take up to 4 years to hold elections BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s de facto leader has said it could take up to four years to hold elections in Syria, and that he plans on dissolving his Islamist group that led the country’s insurgency at an anticipated national dialogue summit for the country. Ahmad al-Sharaa, who leads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group leading the new authority in Syria, made the remarks in an interview Sunday. That's according to the Saudi television network Al-Arabiyya. It comes almost a month after a lightning insurgency led by HTS overthrew President Bashar Assad’s decades-long rule, ending the country’s uprising-turned civil war that started back in 2011. A fourth infant dies of the winter cold in Gaza as families share blankets in seaside tents DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A fourth infant has died of hypothermia in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by nearly 15 months of war are huddled in tents along the rainy, windswept coast as winter arrives. The baby's father says the 20-day-old child was found with his head as “cold as ice” Sunday morning in their tent. The baby’s twin brother was moved to the intensive care unit of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Their father says the twins were born one month premature and spent just a day in hospital, which like other Gaza health centers has been overwhelmed and only partially functions. Musk causes uproar for backing Germany's far-right party ahead of key elections BERLIN (AP) — Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has caused uproar after backing Germany’s far-right party in a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections in the Western European country, leading to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor in protest. Germany is to vote in an early election on Feb. 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revitalize the country’s stagnant economy. Musk’s guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag, published in German over the weekend, was the second time this month he supported the Alternative for Germany, or AfD.

'Slapping Lipstick on a Pig' – Investors Are Snatching Up Hurricane-Damaged Homes in Florida To Flip, But Concerns Rise Over Repair Quality( MENAFN - GlobeNewsWire - Nasdaq) Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Securities Litigation Partner James (Josh) Wilson Encourages Investors Who Suffered Losses Exceeding $100,000 In Zeta To Contact Him Directly To Discuss Their Options If you suffered losses exceeding $100,000 in Zeta between February 27, 2024 and November 13, 2024 and would like to discuss your legal rights, call Faruqi & Faruqi partner Josh Wilson directly at 877-247-4292 or 212-983-9330 (Ext. 1310) . [You may also click here for additional information] NEW YORK, Dec. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP , a leading national securities law firm, is investigating potential claims against Zeta Global Holdings Corp. (“Zeta” or the“Company”) (NYSE: ZETA) and reminds investors of the January 21, 2025 deadline to seek the role of lead plaintiff in a federal securities class action that has been filed against the Company. Faruqi & Faruqi is a leading national securities law firm with offices in New York, Pennsylvania, California and Georgia. The firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors since its founding in 1995. See . As detailed below, the complaint alleges that the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by making false and/or misleading statements and/or failing to disclose that: (1) that Zeta used two-way contracts to artificially inflate financial results; (2) that Zeta engaged in round trip transactions to artificially inflate financial results; (3) that Zeta utilized predatory consent farms to collect user data; (4) that these consent farms have driven almost the entirety of Zeta's growth; and (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. On November 13, 2024, Culper Research published a report alleging that the“integrity of the Company's data collection and reported financials” is severely undermined by two factors. First, the report alleged that“Zeta has formed 'two-way' contracts with third party consent farms wherein the Company simultaneously acts as both a supplier and a buyer of consumer data,” allowing the Company to“flatter reported revenue growth” and indicating possible“round-tripping” of revenue. Second, the report alleged that Zeta collects the majority of its customer data from a network of“sham websites that hoodwink millions of consumers each month into handing their data over to Zeta under false pretenses.” For example, the report alleged the Company and its subsidiaries operate a number of fake job boards which are designed to trick individuals into submitting personal data under the pretense of job applications. The report further alleged that the Company's“most valuable data” comes from these predatory websites, dubbed consent farms, which are“responsible for almost the entirety of the Company's growth.” On this news, the Company's stock price fell $10.46, or 37.07%, to close at $17.76 per share on November 13, 2024, on unusually heavy trading volume. The court-appointed lead plaintiff is the investor with the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class who is adequate and typical of class members who directs and oversees the litigation on behalf of the putative class. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision to serve as a lead plaintiff or not. Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP also encourages anyone with information regarding Zeta's conduct to contact the firm, including whistleblowers, former employees, shareholders and others. To learn more about the Zeta Global Holdings class action, go to /ZETA or call Faruqi & Faruqi partner Josh Wilson directly at 877-247-4292 or 212-983-9330 (Ext. 1310) . Follow us for updates on LinkedIn , on X , or on Facebook . Attorney Advertising. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular case. All communications will be treated in a confidential manner. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at MENAFN26122024004107003653ID1109033635 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.

South Korean opposition postpones decision to impeach acting presidentRAWALPINDI: Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu on Tuesday reiterated the resolve to further enhance the existing bilateral ties between Pakistani and Azerbaijan armed forces and particularly cooperation with Pakistan Air Force in operational and training domains. Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu was talking with a high level defence delegation of Azerbaijan who called on him at Air Headquarters, Islamabad. The delegation was led by Deputy Minister of Defence of the Republic of Azerbaijan-Director General Mr Agil Gurbanov, along with Lt-Gen Namig Islamzade, Deputy Minister of Defence-Commander of the Azerbaijan Air Force. During the meeting, the Chief of the Air Staff shared the recent achievements of Pakistan Air Force, symbolizing his vision of operational excellence in the realm of contemporary warfare domains. He also highlighted the importance of training cooperation; wherein, a large contingent of Azeri air and ground crew is currently undergoing training at an operational PAF base. He noted that the training program is on schedule, with over 50% of the training objectives successfully achieved. He further emphasized that the initiative is expected to culminate within one-month timeframe, reflecting the commitment of PAF to enhance the operational capabilities of Azerbaijan Air Force. The visiting dignitaries lauded the historic & exemplary professionalism demonstrated by the personnel of Pakistan Air Force and praised PAF’s notable progress in developing a thriving domestic capability in the aviation industry in a short timeframe. The dignitaries expressed satisfaction on the training imparted to 70 aircrew & technicians getting trained in PAF and expressed their desire for enhanced Air Force to Air Force collaboration between the two sides. Emphasizing on the need for adapting to the evolving landscape of modern warfare, the Azerbaijan military leadership also proposed the establishment of a more comprehensive training regimen focusing on niche and disruptive technologies, as well as cyber and electronic warfare capabilities. Later the delegation visited PAF Cyber Command, established at Air Headquarters, where it was briefed about the operational capabilities and ongoing projects of PAF’s modernization drive. The visit of this high level defence delegation from Azerbaijan to Air Headquarters Islamabad signifies a resolute commitment of both countries to reinforce their military partnership, fostering collaboration and promoting robust relations. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() );