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baccarat super 6 WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Wednesday passed a $895 billion measure that authorizes a 1% increase in defense spending this fiscal year and would give a double-digit pay raise to about half of the enlisted service members in the military. The bill is traditionally strongly bipartisan, but some Democratic lawmakers opposed the inclusion of a ban on transgender medical treatments for children of military members if such treatment could result in sterilization. The bill passed the House by a vote of 281-140 and will next move to the Senate, where lawmakers had sought a bigger boost in defense spending than the current measure allows. Lawmakers are touting the bill's 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for others as key to improving the quality of life for those serving in the U.S. military. Those serving as junior enlisted personnel are in pay grades that generally track with their first enlistment term. Lawmakers said service member pay has failed to remain competitive with the private sector, forcing many military families to rely on food banks and government assistance programs to put food on the table. The bill also provides significant new resources for child care and housing. “No service member should have to live in squalid conditions and no military family should have to rely on food stamps to feed their children, but that's exactly what many of our service members are experiencing, especially the junior enlisted,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. “This bill goes a long way to fixing that.” The bill sets key Pentagon policy that lawmakers will attempt to fund through a follow-up appropriations bill. The overall spending tracks the numbers established in a 2023 agreement that then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached with President Joe Biden to increase the nation’s borrowing authority and avoid a federal default in exchange for spending restraints. Many senators had wanted to increase defense spending some $25 billion above what was called for in that agreement, but those efforts failed. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who is expected to serve as the next chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the overall spending level was a “tremendous loss for our national defense," though he agreed with many provisions within the bill. “We need to make a generational investment to deter the Axis of Aggressors. I will not cease work with my congressional colleagues, the Trump administration, and others until we achieve it,” Wicker said. House Republicans don't want to go above the McCarthy-Biden agreement for defense spending and are looking to go way below it for many non-defense programs. They are also focused on cultural issues. The bill prohibits funding for teaching critical race theory in the military and prohibits TRICARE health plans from covering gender dysphoria treatment for children under 18 if that treatment could result in sterilization. Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the ranking Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee, said minors dealing with gender dysphoria is a "very real problem." He said the treatments available, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, have proven effective at helping young people dealing with suicidal thoughts, anxiety and depression. “These treatments changed their lives and in many cases saved their lives,” Smith said. “And in this bill, we decided we're going to bar servicemembers' children from having access to that.” Smith said the number of minors in service member families receiving transgender medical care extends into the thousands. He could have supported a study asking medical experts to determine whether such treatments are too often used, but a ban on health insurance coverage went too far. He said Speaker Mike Johnson's office insisted upon the ban and said the provision “taints an otherwise excellent piece of legislation.” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, called the ban a step in the right direction, saying, “I think these questions need to be pulled out of the debate of defense, so we can get back to the business of defending the United States of America without having to deal with social engineering debates.” Smith said he agrees with Roy that lawmakers should be focused on the military and not on cultural conflicts, “and yet, here it is in this bill.” Branden Marty, a Navy veteran who served for 13 years, said the loss of health coverage for transgender medical treatments could prompt some with valuable experience to leave the military, affecting national security because “we already struggle from a recruiting and retention standpoint.” He also said the bill could regularly force service members into difficult choices financially. “It will be tough for a lot of them because of out-of-pocket expenses, especially enlisted members who we know already struggle with food insecurity,” said Marty, the father of a transgender teenager. “They don’t get paid very much, so they’re going to be making a lot of choices on a day-to-day, tactical level.” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, said his team was not telling Democrats how to vote on the bill. “There's a lot of positive things in the National Defense Authorization Act that were negotiated in a bipartisan way, and there are some troubling provisions in a few areas as well,” Jeffries said. Overall, 81 Democrats ended up voting for the bill and 124 against it. On the Republican side, 200 voted for the bill and 16 against. “It’s disappointing to see 124 of my Democrat colleagues vote against our brave men and women in uniform over policies that have nothing to do with their intended mission,” Johnson said. The defense policy bill also looks to strengthen deterrence against China. It calls for investing $15.6 billion to build military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region. The Biden administration had requested about $10 billion. On Israel, the bill, among other things, includes an expansion of U.S. joint military exercises with Israel and a prohibition on the Pentagon citing casualty data from Hamas. The defense policy bill is one of the final measures that lawmakers view as a must-pass before making way for a new Congress in January.

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Push to salvage climate talks after poor nations bristle at cashFBI warns NBA players to ramp up US home security as sophisticated theft rings target starsGREEN LAKE, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man who this summer and left his wife and three children has been located in Eastern Europe and is communicating with law enforcement, but he has not committed to returning home, authorities said. Ryan Borgwardt began communicating with authorities Nov. 11, after they tracked him down, Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said Thursday. The sheriff showed a video that Borgwardt sent police that day from an undisclosed location. The sheriff said no charges have been filed and that he doesn't think they will be necessary while authorities “keep pulling at his heartstrings” to come home. Here are some things to know about Borgwardt and his disappearance: Borgwardt, who is in his mid-40s, lived with his wife and children in Watertown, a city of about 23,000 people northwest of Milwaukee that is known for its German heritage, parochial schools and two dams on the Rock River. The sheriff has said his department was told Aug. 12 that Borgwardt had not been heard from since the previous day, when he traveled about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home to Green Lake to go kayaking. Borgwardt’s wife said he texted her at 10:49 p.m. to say he was heading to shore. Deputies found Borgwardt’s vehicle and trailer near Green Lake. His kayak was discovered on the lake, overturned and with a life jacket attached to it, in an area where the water is about 200 feet (60 meters) deep. An angler later found Borgwardt’s fishing rod. The search for his body continued for more than 50 days, with divers scouring the lake on several occasions. Clues — including that he reported his passport lost or stolen and obtained a new one a few months before he disappeared — led investigators to speculate that he made it appear that he had drowned to go meet a woman he had been communicating with in the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan. Podoll declined to comment when asked what he knew about the woman, but he said law enforcement contacted Borgwardt “through a female that spoke Russian.” His identity was confirmed through asking him questions that the sheriff said only Borgwardt would know and by a video he made and sent them Nov. 11. He has spoken with someone from the sheriff's department almost daily since. However Podoll said Thursday that Borgwardt's exact location in Eastern Europe was not known. Podoll said Chief Deputy Matt Vande Kolk has been the one communicating with Borgwardt and their conversations have all taken place via email. Vande Kolk told The Associated Press in an email Friday that authorities are trying to determine Borgwardt's exact location. But that might not be easy even with modern surveillance technology. Scott Shackelford, executive director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research at Indiana University, said authorities should be able to locate Borgwardt through his device's internet protocol address, a unique number assigned to every device connected to the internet. But he said it's very easy to mask an IP address and make it appear as if the device is in one country when it's really in another. Software exists that can route your IP address across the globe, Shackelford said. Police may not have the expertise, the manpower or any interest in digging through multiple layers of cyber deception, he said. Wearing an orange T-shirt, Borgwardt, unsmiling, looks directly at the camera, apparently filmed on a cellphone. Borgwardt says he is in his apartment and briefly pans the camera, but mostly shows a door and bare walls. “I’m safe and secure, no problem,” he says. Borgwardt has told authorities he overturned his kayak on the lake, dumped his phone in it and paddled an inflatable boat to shore. He told authorities he chose Green Lake because it is Wisconsin's deepest at 237 feet (over 72 meters). He then rode an electric bike stashed by a boat launch about 70 miles (110 kilometers) through the night to Madison, the sheriff said. From there, by Borgwardt's account, he traveled by bus to Detroit and then Canada, where he boarded a plane. Police are still verifying Borgwardt’s description of what happened, Podoll said. Borgwardt faked his death and fled because of “personal matters,” thinking it was the right thing to do, the sheriff said. Investigators found that he took out a $375,000 life insurance policy in January for his family. “He was just going to try and make things better in his mind, and this was the way it was going to be,” Podoll said. Borgwardt has not yet decided to return home, and if he does it will be of his own free will, according to Podoll. Deputies are stressing to him the importance of returning home and cleaning up the mess he made. The sheriff suggested that Borgwardt could be charged with obstructing the investigation into his disappearance, but so far no counts have been filed. The search for Borgwardt, which lasted more than a month, is said to have cost at least $35,000. Borgwardt told authorities that he did not expect the search to last more than two weeks, Podoll said, and his biggest concern is how the community will react to him if he returns. This story was updated to correct the spelling of Scott Shackelford’s last name, which had been misspelled “Shackleford.” Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly!ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Cornerback Riley Moss is “good to go” for the Denver Broncos' crucial game at Cincinnati on Saturday. “He's doing good,” coach Sean Payton said Thursday. “He'll be ready to go.” The Broncos (9-6), who would end their eight-year playoff drought with a win or a tie against the Bengals (7-8), have sorely missed the second-year pro from Iowa since he sprained an MCL against Las Vegas in Week 12. The Broncos allowed 26.3 points per game during his absence. With Moss in the lineup opposite superstar Patrick Surtain II, Denver gave up just 16.8 points per game. Aside from allowing defensive coordinator Vance Joseph to go back to employing more man coverage, Riley's return is expected to give the Broncos defense back its bite. “I think he's got an awfully competitive juice, yeah, I would say you definitely felt his absence, not just physically as a player but also his presence," Payton said. Earlier this week, Surtain said, “it’s great to have him back” at practice. “I mean, you talk about a guy who was playing lights-out before the injury, but to see him back out there with confidence, out there practicing, getting his mojo back, it brings a lot of confidence to the team.” Moss has enjoyed a breakout season in Denver with 71 tackles, eight pass breakups and an interception. He played in 14 games as a rotation player his rookie season after recovering from core muscle surgery that relegated him to special teams and spot duty in 2023. Moss wasn't available for comment Thursday as he was receiving treatment during the locker room access period. Moss has been the perfect complement to Surtain because of the physical play, bravado and the production he provides as opposing offenses shy away from Surtain. “It's going to be really good” having him back on the field, outside linebacker Nik Bonitto said. “I mean, I know the work that he's been putting in to get back and just knowing the type of season that he's had I'm just happy that he's going to be able to come back against an opponent like this.” Denver's defense hasn't been the same without Moss. The Broncos when former teammate Jerry Jeudy caught nine passes for a career-best 235 yards. as he was about to score a 41-yard touchdown and give Indianapolis a 20-3 lead saved the Broncos in Week 15 and allowed Denver to seize momentum and get the victory. And Denver , who led the Los Angeles Chargers back from a double-digit third-quarter deficit for a 34-27 win last week. AP NFL:

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BEIRUT (AP) — Insurgents' stunning march across Syria gained speed on Saturday with news that they had reached the suburbs of the capital and with the government forced to deny rumors that President Bashar Assad had fled the country. The rebels' moves around Damascus, reported by an opposition war monitor and a rebel commander, came after the Syrian army withdrew from much of southern part of the country, leaving more areas, including several provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters. The advances in the past week were among the largest in recent years by opposition factions, led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaida and is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the United Nations. In their push to overthrow Assad's government, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian army. For the first time in the country's long-running civil war, the government now has control of only four of 14 provincial capitals: Damascus, Homs, Latakia and Tartus. The U.N.’s special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, on Saturday called for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition.” Speaking to reporters at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country is Assad's chief international backer, said he feels “sorry for the Syrian people.” In Damascus, people rushed to stock up on supplies. Thousands went to Syria's border with Lebanon, trying to leave the country. Many shops in the capital were shuttered, a resident told The Associated Press, and those still open ran out of staples such as sugar. Some were selling items at three times the normal price. “The situation is very strange. We are not used to that,” the resident said, insisting on anonymity, fearing retributions. “People are worried whether there will be a battle (in Damascus) or not.” It was the first time that opposition forces reached the outskirts of Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured the area following a yearslong siege. The U.N. said it was moving noncritical staff outside the country as a precaution. Assad's status Syria’s state media denied social media rumors that Assad left the country, saying he is performing his duties in Damascus. He has had little, if any, help from his allies. Russia, is busy with its war in Ukraine . Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which at one point sent thousands of fighters to shore up Assad's forces, has been weakened by a yearlong conflict with Israel. Iran has seen its proxies across the region degraded by regular Israeli airstrikes. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday posted on social media that that the United States should avoid engaging militarily in Syria. Pedersen said a date for talks in Geneva on the implementation a U.N. resolution, adopted in 2015, and calling for a Syrian-led political process, would be announced later. The resolution calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and ending with U.N.-supervised elections. Later Saturday, foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran, along with Pederson, gathered on the sidelines of the Doha Summit to discuss the situation in Syria. No details were immediately available. The insurgents' march Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said insurgents were in the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. Opposition fighters were marching toward the Damascus suburb of Harasta, he added. A commander with the insurgents, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces had begun the “final stage” of their offensive by encircling Damascus. HTS controls much of northwest Syria and in 2017 set up a “salvation government” to run day-to-day affairs in the region. In recent years, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to remake the group’s image, cutting ties with al-Qaida, ditching hard-line officials and vowing to embrace pluralism and religious tolerance. Syria’s military, meanwhile, sent large numbers of reinforcements to defend the key central city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, as insurgents approached its outskirts. The shock offensive began Nov. 27, during which gunmen captured the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest, and the central city of Hama , the country’s fourth largest city. Opposition activists said Saturday that a day earlier, insurgents entered Palmyra, which is home to invaluable archaeological sites had been in government hands since being taken from the Islamic State group in 2017. To the south, Syrian troops left much of the province of Quneitra including the main Baath City, activists said. Syrian Observatory said government troops have withdrawn from much of the two southern provinces and are sending reinforcements to Homs, where a battle loomed. If the insurgents capture Homs, they would cut the link between Damascus, Assad’s seat of power, and the coastal region where the president enjoys wide support. The Syrian army said in a statement that it carried out redeployment and repositioning in Sweida and Daraa after its checkpoints came under attack by “terrorists." The army said it was setting up a “strong and coherent defensive and security belt in the area,” apparently to defend Damascus from the south. The Syrian government has referred to opposition gunmen as terrorists since conflict broke out in March 2011. Diplomacy in Doha The foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey, meeting in Qatar, called for an end to the hostilities. Turkey is a main backer of the rebels. Qatar's top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to take advantage of the lull in fighting in recent years to address the country’s underlying problems. “Assad didn’t seize this opportunity to start engaging and restoring his relationship with his people,” he said. Sheikh Mohammed said he was surprised by how quickly the rebels have advanced and said there is a real threat to Syria’s “territorial integrity.” He said the war could “damage and destroy what is left if there is no sense of urgency” to start a political process. ____ Karam reported from London. Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report. Bassem Mroue And Zeina Karam, The Associated Press

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None of us like higher prices, but that's exactly what we could be in for next year. I'm going to be analyzing the impact of Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on the price of PC hardware in the future, using not only some estimates that are available now, but also the historical context of tariffs during Trump's first administration. My point is not to say anything political in nature, but instead to take a serious look at just how much these tariffs will affect PC hardware pricing. Recommended Videos The target of these tariffs is the world's second-largest economy in China, and the latest reports indicate the tariffs could be as high as 40% come early next year. That will undoubtedly impact the price of PC components, as both chips and hardware are largely manufactured in China. Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming ReSpec Subscribe Check your inbox! Some background We've been here before. During the first Trump administration, tariffs ranging from 7.5% to 25% were imposed on various goods imported from China. Graphics cards and other PC components were originally spared from the import tax. However, as the pandemic started to peak, supply chains were disrupted, and the GPU shortage got underway, tariffs on China's largest semiconductor firm, SMIC, went into effect. The original tariffs that were supposed to go into effect in 2019 didn't manifest at first, thanks to an exclusion that was offered as the pandemic ramped up. In early 2021, however, the exclusion expired. Not only did the tariffs keep GPU prices high, but Asus, at the time, also said that it would be raising the prices of its motherboards, and other companies followed suit. The context of the pandemic is very important here, as the tariffs imposed in 2019 largely didn't impact PC hardware until the supply chain was already disrupted. Because of that, it's hard to attribute the rise in GPU prices — and PC hardware prices overall — solely to the tariffs. Regardless, they made an... Jacob RoachRhode Island beats Bryant 35-21 to claim its first Coastal Athletic Association titleDALLAS — The Mets are leaving the Winter Meetings with only one new player, though that one player, star outfielder Juan Soto , arguably makes them the winners of the week. While they were hoping to land a few others, the market has been more sluggish than expected, especially when it comes to the high-end position players. This makes it tricky to determine what first baseman Pete Alonso is worth. According to sources, a market for the Polar Bear has not yet emerged. However, his agent, Scott Boras, said he is meeting with teams. “Pete Alonso is open to listening to a lot of teams, and has been doing so,” Boras said Wednesday at the Hilton Anatole during his annual press conference. “His experiences with the Mets were extraordinary, both for them and him.” Some in the industry expect him to return to the Mets, but some just aren’t sure how to gauge a fair contract for a 30-year-old right-handed hitting first baseman like Alonso. However, the other position players in Alonso’s tier haven’t signed either and there doesn’t appear to be much movement. That could be changing soon. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said there is plenty of talk between agents and teams about that group, even if there has been little movement outside of the Soto deal. “I think there’s ongoing dialog,” Stearns said Wednesday before departing Dallas. “Tough for me to contextualize exactly where it is, but in all segments of the free agent market, top or or lower tiers, I think this was a very active Winter Meetings in terms of discussion. And we probably have a little surprise that throughout the industry, there hasn’t been more actual signings, but I think it was a pretty active discussion meetings.” As for why there hasn’t been a ton of signings, Stearns isn’t exactly sure. “I have no idea,” he said. “I think both sides are always trying to operate with as complete information as possible. From the player side, he wants to know what his complete market is so that he can make the best choice. From the club side, we also want to know what our complete market is and what our choices are. Sometimes that leads to a lot of information gathering and a lot of discussion, and that seems to be where the industry is.” Alonso is a unique case study. A four-time All-Star, the NL Rookie of the Year and the league’s home run leader in 2019, Alonso was a perennial MVP candidate until 2023, when his production dropped off. That was the year he hit only .217, a career-low average, but he still smashed 46 home runs, surpassing the 40-homer threshold for the third time. Last season, he set out to improve his average, and brought it up to .240, but his power numbers were down. Alonso hit only 34 home runs and posted a career-low .788 OPS. Even more concerning, a once-prolific run producer drove in only 88 runs and hit .232 with runners in scoring position. He finished both seasons with an OPS+ of 123 and a wRC+ of 121 and 122. He went from being a 4.7 fWAR player in 2019 to a 2.1 fWAR player in 2024. However, he did play 162 games last season, and has never played fewer than 152 in a full season. He was also an emotional leader for the Mets and a postseason hero . The Mets are aware that Alonso is a fan favorite and a cursory glance at social media shows fans begging the team to bring him back. He’s marketable, active in the community and well-liked by teammates and coaches. But the Mets have to separate their personal feelings about Alonso when looking at the numbers. “We all have emotions. I mean, I have emotion, Steve [Cohen] has emotion, we all have emotions. It’s one of the reasons we’re drawn to this game,” Stearns said. “While making decisions, it’s also my job to try to strip that away a little bit and try to implement processes and systems within our organization that allow us to make the best decisions possible, both near- and long-term.” The Mets know Alonso better than any other team and have their own valuations. Still, it’s fair for them to want to find out how other teams value him and other free agent first basemen like Christian Walker. While yes, they might need more lineup protection for Soto, it’s possible that it comes from somewhere else. The waiting game does little to comfort fans, but sometimes it’s necessary. “I think we’ve made ourselves better,” Stearns said. “We have been in play in a number of different situations, we talked about starting pitching being a priority, and we’ve been able to add multiple starters already and are still engaged in starting pitching. I think, clearly, we’re working hard to add to our position player group as well.”

Hegseth meets with moderate Sen. Collins as he lobbies for key votes in the SenateILLINOIS STATE 84, UAB 83SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s federal police said Thursday they indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 other people for allegedly attempting a coup to keep him in office after his defeat in the 2022 elections. Police said their sealed findings were being delivered Thursday to Brazil’s Supreme Court, which will refer them to Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet, who decides either to formally charge Bolsonaro and put him on trial, or toss the investigation. Bolsonaro told the website Metropoles that he was waiting for his lawyer to review the indictment, reportedly about 700 pages long. But he said he would fight the case and dismissed the investigation as being the result of “creativity.” The former right-wing president has denied all claims he tried to stay in office after his narrow electoral defeat in 2022 to his rival, leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro has faced a series of legal threats since then. Police said in a brief statement that the Supreme Court had agreed to reveal the names of all 37 people who were indicted “to avoid the dissemination of incorrect news.” Dozens of former and current Bolsonaro aides also were indicted, including Gen. Walter Braga Netto, who was his running mate in the 2022 campaign; former Army commander Gen. Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira; Valdemar Costa Neto, the chairman of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party; and his veteran former adviser, Gen. Augusto Heleno. Other investigations produced indictments for Bolsonaro's roles in smuggling diamond jewelry into Brazil without properly declaring them and in directing a subordinate to falsify his and others’ COVID-19 vaccination statuses. Bolsonaro has denied any involvement in either. Another probe found that he had abused his authority to cast doubt on the country's voting system, and judges barred him from running again until 2030. Still, he has insisted that he will run in 2026, and many in his orbit were heartened by the recent U.S. election win of Donald Trump, despite his own swirling legal threats. But the far-reaching investigations already have weakened Bolsonaro’s status as a leader of Brazil’s right wing, said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo. “Bolsonaro is already barred from running in the 2026 elections,” Melo told the The Associated Press. “And if he is convicted he could also be jailed by then. To avoid being behind bars, he will have to convince Supreme Court justices that he has nothing to do with a plot that involves dozens of his aides. That’s a very tall order,” Melo said. An indictment over the alleged coup attempt means the investigation has gathered indications of "a crime and its author,” said Eloísa Machado de Almeida, a law professor at Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Sao Paulo. She said she believed there was enough legal grounds for the prosecutor-general to file charges. Bolsonaro's allies in Congress have been negotiating a bill to pardon individuals who stormed the Brazilian capital and rioted on Jan. 8, 2023 in a failed attempt to keep the former president in power. Analysts have speculated that lawmakers want to extend the legislation to cover the former president himself. However, efforts to push a broad amnesty bill may be “politically challenging” given recent attacks on the judiciary and details emerging in investigations, Machado said. On Tuesday, Federal Police arrested four military and a Federal Police officer, accused of plotting to assassinate Lula and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes as a means to overthrow the government following the 2022 elections. And last week, a man carried out a bomb attack in the capital Brasilia . He attempted to enter the Supreme Court and threw explosives outside, killing himself.

Everything you need to know about California government in two stories

There was fury across the airwaves and social media following a traffic fuelled gridlock storm across Belfast on Thursday evening. Yes, there were some traffic lights down while a crash, gigs and Christmas traffic no doubt added to the problem. But this is a storm of our and our politicians' own making - and it's time we had a major rethink about how people travel around Northern Ireland. According to official statistics, Northern Ireland spends much less on public transport than any other part of the UK and Ireland - so it's not surprising we've landed here after years of inaction and unspent active travel funding amid blatantly obvious and attainable solutions. I cycled home from the office on Thursday, and while I could pass the traffic hell many motorists were jammed in - it still wasn't a pleasant experience on a bike. Anger rang out in the form of blaring horns while cars and lorries blocked crossings, yellow boxes and more in a bid to edge a little bit closer to their final destination. The roundabouts were a nightmare - and they're hard on a bike even when the traffic was flowing freely but they were especially dangerous on a bike - despite transport chiefs urging us to rethink how we get around. Meanwhile, the underpass at Knocknagoney that's supposed to provide a safe route for cyclists and pedestrians under a very busy roundabout was flooded so much it was impassable - cue me having to head out onto the road in the dark with cars going up to 60mph and maybe more in some cases. In short, our traffic systems are a debacle and there's little to no joined up thinking on how to fix it. Every project gets it's own business case and even when major roads like the Sydenham bypass are upgraded - those works completely ignore the cycle lanes that are supposed to be delivered along that route by the end of next year because DfI is still putting a plan together on how to deliver those, they say. It's not good enough. I'm sick to the back teeth of how long it takes the government to catch up with the people and deliver the changes we need to make everyone's lives better - including those who might need to use a car for whatever reason. It all starts with the proper funding to deliver the changes needed to get people out of their cars and into active travel and onto public transport. Translink needed £691m to deliver service as usual in 2023-2024 and got 14% less at £523m. In 2024/2025, DfI equality impact assessment on the resource budget also outlined how Translink faced a 19.4% reduction to funding against its forecast requirements posing "a real risk this will impact directly on the level of services provided". They've been given a few additional million here and there, but it's clearly not fixing our transport issues, which need a major funding boost to deliver the sorts of changes we need to reduce traffic on the roads. We need cheaper transport fares, more frequent and less sparse services to get more people to leave their car at home and take a bus or train. We also need the Belfast Cycle Network plans to be delivered at speed to keep cyclists safe on the road and encourage more people to take up the health, climate and congestion friendly mode of transport as well. When transport systems don't work, the economy suffers - and it's time the Executive woke up to that reality? Where are we with the All-Island rail review plans? Not very far on as it happens. Minister O'Dowd said in answer to an Assembly question from Justin McNulty, SDLP, at the end of November feasibility studies on the reopening of Antrim-Lisburn (with a link to Belfast International Airport); Armagh-Portadown; Electrification of Belfast to the Border and Portadown-Derry are due next spring/summer and that they have started developing hourly train services to Dublin while "procurement has also started on a new, faster, more sustainable Enterprise train fleet". Those shifts are important, but they are not happening fast enough - we need changes on the ground across NI now and with the Northern Ireland Executive is set to get in Rachel Reeves' budget - I would suggest that Stormont should be looking at a massive funding boost for active travel and delivering public transport services that work for people. We still have just 2 miles of safe cycle routes through Belfast and DfI has spent just £3.3m of the £16m promised up to 2025 for Belfast's cycle lane network in the past four years. We reported how £2.1m of active travel funding was being used to fix roads in March this year - that's a disgrace - but highlights perfectly where DfI's priorities lie. It seems to me that they are happy to continue with business as usual, no matter the consequences for traffic, air quality, the climate crisis and people's health. Does our minister care about these things? If he did, why isn't he making changes like Eamon Ryan did in Ireland that have delivered over 1 million public transport journeys a day? ROI’s Transport Minister cut fares by 20%, gave rural areas new BusConnect routes which have had hugely positive impacts in the areas where they are being rolled out. Dublin’s Dart and Luas are getting more funding than ever, with routes being extended and journeys made more frequent. Kids now go free on public transport in the south while routes for public buses only have cut journey times between 25-32% through parts of Dublin. These are the changes we need to see along a major cycle infrastructure roll out if we are to have any hope of reducing the gridlock that has now reached crisis levels in NI cities - it's time the government started investing in our futures. I still think the Glider should have been light rail with its own tracks, that would not get stuck in traffic... but instead of investing for a better future DfI chose the cheap option and it has added to the problem. Bus lanes should be for buses only and evening trains to places just outside Belfast should not be offering just an hourly service if we want people to use them - it’s a joke. We should also have late night services in all our public transport offerings - not just at Christmas. That’s how we make the changes that will get more people onto public transport, it’s not rocket science, and surely even our politicians can see the benefits these changes would deliver? To remove this article -

Buddies in the barracks and outsideSome 700 youngsters from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including 375 women, learnt critical market-driven vocational and technical skills through a three-month-long training programme that had been supported by the government of Japan, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP). The training programme was designed to empower youth from the Kurram and Orakzai erstwhile tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The programme's closing ceremony was held in Islamabad earlier in the week to mark its successful completion. During the programme, the youth were equipped with skills such as cell phone repair, LED bulb assembly, eco-friendly packaging, jewellery-making, motorcycle repair, electrical works, plumbing, solar system installation and maintenance, and installing universal power supply (UPS) systems. Upon completion of the programme, the graduates received certificates and customised toolkits to help them apply their skills and start small businesses or secure employment opportunities. The initiative is part of an ongoing project worth $4.1 million and is supported by the government of Japan and UNDP. It aims to stabilise and help revive economic recovery in Kurram and Orakzai districts through a people- and institution-centred approach. Focusing on social cohesion, local governance, and livelihood creation, the project places youth and women at its core as key agents of change and is expected to benefit over 200,000 people, including 50% of women. Speaking at the occasion, Rana Mashood, the chairman of Prime Minister's Youth Programme, said: "Women's empowerment is a key focus of Prime Minister's Youth Programme. I am delighted to see that 375 women have been trained in hands-on skills under this initiative." He expressed gratitude to the Japanese government, the UNDP and SRSP for contributing to the skills training programme in remote areas. Security Threats And State Response In Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa UNDP Pakistan Deputy Resident Representative Van Nguyen expressed gratitude for the collaboration and said: "We are grateful to the government of Japan for their long-standing partnership with UNDP. Through their support, this programme has demonstrated the potential of young people in Kurram and Orakzai." He added that by empowering young women and men with skills for income generation, they were confident that this project would foster gender-sensitive economic recovery in the region and contribute to its long-term stability. Japanese Embassy's Charge d' Affaires ad interim Ito Takeshi, stated, "The long-standing partnership between Japan and UNDP has enabled us to support projects that build strong communities and bring positive change. Our key initiatives have focused on creating safe spaces for women to engage in community decision-making and access economic opportunities. Through these interventions, we have enabled women to take on more active roles contributing to social cohesion and economic stability. Our development partnership is based on the principle of 'Leave No One Behind'". Climate adaption dialogue As part of a broader effort to develop youth leadership, empower young women, and generate actionable strategies to build climate resilience, youth from Kurram and Orakzai also participated in a grand dialogue on "Climate Adaptation and Girls' Education" during the closing ceremony.

In a significant move, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is all set to host the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 player auction, marking its first significant venture into cricket . The auction will be held on Sunday, November 24, and Monday, November 25, at Abady Al Johar Arena, also known as Benchmark Arena, in Jeddah . A total of 574 players have been selected from an initial pool of 1,574 names. Of the 574 players, 366 are Indian, while 208 are overseas, including three from associate nations. The auction will see 318 Indian uncapped players and 12 uncapped overseas players in contention. Featuring notable players such as Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, veteran England fast bowler James Anderson, and New Zealand all-rounder Rachin Ravindra. Saudi Arabia’s holding of the IPL auction signals its intention to elevate cricket alongside football , golf, and boxing in its sports investment portfolio under the Vision 2030 project. This is not the first time the player auction is venturing out of India. In 2023, the player auction was held at the Coca-Cola in Dubai .Strictly Come Dancing viewers call out judges for ‘unfair’ scoring