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How China's Antitrust Tactics Undermine U.S. Tech LeadershipMANCHESTER NH – The REZQGO, Naloxone HCI Auto-Injector from Pirouette Medical has been named the 2024 Product of the Year by the NH Tech Alliance . Pirouette Medical is based in Portsmouth, NH. Five New Hampshire companies competed in the live and live streamed event on December 11th to an audience of nearly 800. Judges and the audience voted and the REZQGO, Naloxone HCI Auto-Injector was crowned the 2024 Product of the Year winner! About Pirouette Medical’s REZQGO, Naloxone HCI Auto-Injector: Reimagine Injections. At Pirouette, we’re pioneering the future of injectable drug delivery with an intuitive auto-injector platform that is designed to make life-saving injections as easy as pushing a button. Our patented technology focuses on simplicity, safety, and accessibility to empower patients. Built to eliminate barriers to self-administration, reduce errors, and offer peace of mind, Pirouette’s compact injection platform packs a big punch in a little package and is ideal for obesity, severe allergies, opioid overdoses, fertility, and other critical conditions. Our mission addresses the pressing needs of the $750 billion injections market. With our device’s unique ease-of-use and innovative design, 90% of surveyed patients and 75% of prescribers are ready to make the switch to Pirouette. Backed by leading venture capital firms (Y-Combinator, L2 Ventures, Safar Partners, Gaingels, etc.) and the National Institutes of Health, Pirouette boasts a robust IP portfolio with 22 awarded patents worldwide. Led by former rocket scientists from MIT, Harvard Medical School, NASA, and General Electric, our team combines unparalleled expertise in medical engineering, FDA regulatory pathways, and user-centered design. Our initial goal is to achieve the first FDA approval by 2027, bringing to market an auto-injector that’s portable, affordable, and empowering. Pirouette’s mission is to put healthcare directly in patients’ hands. By creating an intuitive auto-injector with the potential to become a standard across the injectable market, we’re opening a new era of accessible, efficient healthcare—and this is just the beginning. “Having grown up in New Hampshire, I have always loved this unique state, especially its ability to punch way above its weight class. It is an honor to now build Pirouette here, developing and manufacturing products that can help save lives throughout the state and across the country. Recognition as the NH Product of the Year is a reflection of the small, but mighty team at Pirouette, who just showed that we also punch way above our weight class.” said Conor R. Cullinane, Ph.D., Co-Founder, CEO, Pirouette Medical. Other finalists were: SportsVisio for Volleyball by SportsVisio TwiistTM by Sequel Medical Technologies The Driver App by Driver Technologies REZQGO, Naloxone HCI Auto-Injector by Pirouette Medical AG2 Trader by Atmospheric G2 “The Product of the Year competition consistently showcases the finest innovations from New Hampshire, with each year’s entries stretching the limits of what’s achievable,” said Julie Demers, executive director of the NH Tech Alliance. “We are proud to present the groundbreaking work of New Hampshire’s innovators to thousands of viewers both in the US and globally.” Past award winners include the FlexNX from Geophysical Survey Systems, TU3 from Mikros Technologies, Breast Cancer Locator by CairnSurgical, SpotOn Virtual Smart Fence by OnPoint Systems, Measured Air Performance, iCAD, Inc., Wilcox Industries, Plexxi, Prosenex, Single Digits, Nanocomp Technologies, UltraVision, InsightTech Gear, Holase Incorporated, Sky-Skan, Foss Manufacturing and Therma-HEXX. Major sponsors of this year’s POY event are: Sheehan Phinney, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Wipfli, Cross Insurance, M&T Bank, Intact Insurance, Pivot Creative, ARMI, Alexander Technology Group, Hypertherm, UNH BioLoft, Manchester Boston Regional Airport, TD Bank, Primary Bank, Enterprise Bank, BerryDunn and Geophysical Survey Systems (GSSI). Our media partner is NH Business Review. We don’t spam! You're on the list! Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.
BEIRUT (AP) — Insurgents' stunning march across Syria accelerated Saturday with news that they had reached the gates of the capital and that government forces had abandoned the central city of Homs. The government was forced to deny rumors that President Bashar Assad had fled the country. The loss of Homs is a potentially crippling blow for Assad. It stands at an important intersection between Damascus and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader’s base of support and home to a Russian strategic naval base. The pro-government Sham FM reported that government forces took positions outside Syria’s third-largest city, without elaborating. Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Syrian troops and members of different security agencies have withdrawn from the city, adding that rebels have entered parts of it. The capture of Homs is a major victory for insurgents, who have already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama , as well as large parts of the south, in a lightning offensive that began Nov. 27. Analysts said Homs falling into rebel hands would be a game-changer. The rebels' moves around Damascus, reported by the 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. For the first time in the country’s long-running civil war, the government now has control of only three of 14 provincial capitals: Damascus, Latakia and Tartus. 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. The rapid rebel gains, coupled with the lack of support from Assad's erstwhile allies, posed the most serious threat to his rule since the start of the war. 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. 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. In a statement issued late Saturday, the participants affirmed their support for a political solution to the Syrian crisis “that would lead to the end of military activity and protect civilians.” They also agreed on the importance of strengthening international efforts to increase aid to the Syrian people. 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. 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. 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. 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; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; and Josef Federman and Victoria Eastwood in Doha, Qatar, contributed to this report.MLB Is Looking To Bring Robots Into The Game, And It’s One Of Those Great Ideas Where You Don’t Fear An AI Takeover
Meta Platforms Inc., owner of Facebook, has announced its interest in nuclear power as a means to fulfill its AI and sustainability objectives. This marks a notable shift among technology giants as they anticipate an increase in electricity demand. The company is soliciting proposals to procure 1 to 4 gigawatts of nuclear energy in the United States by the early 2030s. A typical nuclear facility in the U.S. boasts a 1-gigawatt capacity. Meta believes nuclear energy will be crucial for a cleaner and more reliable energy grid. Challenges such as regulatory hurdles and community opposition loom, as illustrated by previous deals in the sector, including Microsoft's restart of a Three Mile Island plant unit. Meta's request-for-proposal process accepts applications until January 2025, aiming for careful project consideration. (With inputs from agencies.)
President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, faces scrutiny over his plans to overhaul the agency. "We are on a mission to annihilate the deep state," Patel said. Patel, a Trump ally, has criticized the FBI and pledged to shut down its headquarters in Washington on his first day. "And I'd take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals, go be cops," Patel said. Patel also plans to target media members and federal employees who leak information to reporters, separate the bureau's intelligence assets, and institute major surveillance reforms. "If you're hostile to the agency you're going to head, that can cause a lot of concerns for the people who work there, and also for the people who have to approve you in the Senate," said Todd Belt, of George Washington University. Some worry Patel could use the FBI to serve Trump's political interests. "Kash Patel is the danger because he's unqualified and because he is out for revenge on behalf of Donald Trump," said Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y. Others believe Patel is the right person for the job. "There's a lot of good people in the FBI but it needs to be overhauled just like the military. I think Kash Patel would be very good at it," said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. Analysts suggest Patel may face an easier confirmation due to other controversial nominees. "Republicans will probably not want to deny the president his administration for more than one nominee," Belt said. Current FBI Director Christopher Wray has three years left on his term. He must either resign or be fired after Trump takes office for Patel to assume the role.Every day at dawn, tens of thousands of people begin lining up at Acadia Healthcare's addiction clinics to get a cup of methadone. The daily dose staves off opioid withdrawal and keeps many from turning to dangerous street drugs such as fentanyl. The for-profit chain of 165 methadone clinics -- the country's largest -- has generated more than $1.3 billion in revenue since 2022. It is "a business that we continue to feel great about," Acadia's CEO told investors this year. That business has been built in part on deception, a New York Times investigation found. Methadone is a narcotic, and the clinics are heavily regulated by federal and state governments. In addition to handing out methadone, the clinics are required to provide counseling and other services, such as drug testing. But Acadia often fails to provide that counseling, according to five dozen current and former employees in 22 of the 33 states where the company has clinics. Instead, employees at times falsify the medical records that Acadia uses to bill insurers, according to the employees and internal emails. Sometimes a counseling session recorded in a patient's medical chart is simply a chance encounter. For example, medical records for a patient in Iowa show she had a 40-minute counseling session in December 2023, but the patient said in an interview that it was actually a hallway chat that lasted less than five minutes. Acadia's business is built on volume. Its counselors carry caseloads that are sometimes more than double the limit set by state regulators, according to employees and inspection records. With so many patients, the clinics can become assembly lines, offering little more than a cup of methadone. Clinic directors can get bonuses when their patient enrollment goes up, an incentive that has led Acadia to treat people who do not have opioid addictions but are dependent on other drugs, according to current and former executives and employees. People who are not addicted to opioids can get high from methadone. "I'm not proud of it, but our clinic has admitted patients who shouldn't have qualified for treatment because we were under pressure," said Jeannie Taylor, who was a counselor at an Acadia clinic in Oregon until she retired last year. Employees at clinics in at least 13 states warned their supervisors about Acadia's practices, according to the employees and complaints reviewed by the Times. Tim Blair, a spokesperson for Acadia, said the company did not falsify medical records, overbill insurers or pressure employees to treat patients who weren't addicted to opioids. He said that Acadia had rigorous internal controls and trained its employees on proper billing practices, and that regulators and auditors regularly reviewed its records. "We take our responsibility to our patients and the communities we serve extremely seriously and patently reject claims that Acadia places profits over patients," he said. Acadia's methadone clinics have come under investigation for other issues. In 2019, federal prosecutors in West Virginia accused Acadia of overbilling Medicaid for blood and urine tests. The company paid $17 million to resolve the allegations. Three years later, Acadia reached another settlement with federal prosecutors who accused the company of hiring counselors without proper credentials at a clinic in Virginia. The company did not admit wrongdoing in either settlement. In addition to methadone clinics, the company runs psychiatric hospitals around the country. In September, a Times investigation found that those hospitals, which account for more than half the company's revenue, often held patients against their will to maximize payments from insurers. The Times article prompted several federal agencies, including the Justice Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs, to investigate the company's practices. News of those investigations, coupled with lower than expected patient volumes, has caused Acadia's stock price to fall by 50%, knocking nearly $4 billion off its market value. Amid that gloom, its fast-growing network of methadone clinics remains a bright spot for investors. But the Times found that business is dogged by its own problems. Doctors began treating opioid addiction with methadone in the 1960s, and its use accelerated as veterans returned from the Vietnam War dependent on heroin. Research since then has found that methadone, itself an opioid, eases cravings for more dangerous opioids and lowers the risk of overdoses. Acadia got into the methadone business a decade ago when it bought a large chain of clinics from Bain Capital, a private equity firm. Acadia's investment was prescient. In 2020, the federal government started requiring that Medicaid and Medicare cover treatment at the country's roughly 2,100 methadone clinics, most of which are run by for-profit companies. Over the next couple of years, revenue from Acadia's clinics increased 30%, according to financial filings. Clinics bring in an average of roughly $3 million each in annual revenue. Those figures could soon rise. States and counties nationwide have started to get money from settlements with companies accused of fueling the opioid crisis. Acadia is angling for a slice of the settlements, which are worth at least $50 billion. This year, for example, the company successfully lobbied the Kansas Legislature to allow for-profit companies to receive grants from the settlement. Christopher Hunter, Acadia's CEO, has told investors that the settlement funds will be "a really nice tail wind" for the company. At the same time, Acadia has been trying to fend off a serious threat to its business. A bipartisan bill in Congress would allow patients to avoid clinics such as Acadia's and pick up methadone at pharmacies instead. Proponents say that although counseling may help methadone users, widening access to the drug is more important. Acadia and other companies have sought to derail the legislation by arguing that providing methadone without counseling could lead to more overdose deaths. In a letter this year to the bill's sponsors, Acadia wrote its suite of services was the "gold standard" and provided "individualized care." Yet, Acadia's counseling services are sometimes a pretense, the Times found. Brian Pagano, a counselor at an Acadia clinic in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, said he quit in August after his supervisors chided him for spending too much time with patients, including one who was hallucinating. "I was told this is not a mental health clinic, this is a methadone clinic," he said. Dozens of counselors told the Times they were overwhelmed by caseloads that were far higher than what their states allowed, with some responsible for as many as 120 patients. In September, Acadia cut the schedules of its full-time counselors and other clinic workers nationwide by up to four hours a week, further taxing their capacity, employees said. Blair, the company spokesperson, said, "Your characterization that counselors often have patient caseloads exceeding regulatory limits is false." Under pressure to meet the company's productivity goals, employees have falsified records so that it appears patients received counseling when they did not, according to employees, internal emails and complaints to regulators. Those records serve multiple purposes. They are used to bill insurers and to show regulators and outside credentialing groups that Acadia is complying with state rules dictating how much therapy clinics must provide. California, for example, generally requires that patients receive at least 50 minutes of counseling each month. Regulators check patients' files to ensure clinics are following the rules. Blair said Acadia provided tens of thousands of patients with high-quality treatment, including counseling. "We prioritize our counselors' and clinicians' spending meaningful time with patients," he said. But at many clinics, Acadia chastised or congratulated counselors depending on whether they saw enough patients, employees said. Some counselors said they were dinged in performance reviews for not hitting their productivity goals. The result was a saleslike culture that rewarded those who took shortcuts. At a clinic in Indiana, managers handed out a stuffed goat -- a play on the acronym for "greatest of all time" -- to counselors who hit their weekly targets. Two employees said a counselor who had won the prize bragged about how she simply said hello to patients who were waiting in line and then recorded a therapy session in their charts. Blair said Acadia's counselors were not compensated based on the number of patients they see. Employees in 17 states said supervisors and peers had taught them to cut corners by recycling old language from therapy notes or treatment plans without meeting with patients. In Asheville, N.C., notes from two therapy sessions in 2021 were identical, even though they happened three months apart, according to screenshots included in a court filing. Both notes said a patient "states he goes for walks and leaves his phone at home just 'to get away from the noise.'" Blair said that "Acadia's policies strictly prohibit falsifying records." He said the company carried out regular reviews of medical charts and billing records to ferret out inaccuracies. Megan Rife, who has been in treatment at Acadia's clinic in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for nine years, wanted counseling as she struggled to overcome an addiction to painkillers. But, she said, her meetings with counselors were infrequent and often lasted less than 10 minutes. One session noted in her medical records, which the Times reviewed, supposedly took place at 1:15 p.m., when the clinic was closed. (Methadone clinics often close around noon.) Iowa's Medicaid program paid Acadia $199 a week for her care, according to billing records that Rife shared with the Times . During a recent session, she said, her counselor spent the time answering emails. "Her computer is just dinging right and left," Rife said. "I don't think she heard a single thing I said to her." Acadia's practices sometimes jeopardized patients' safety. Clinic employees were discouraged from turning anyone away, even if the person did not meet the criteria for methadone treatment, according to current and former employees, including doctors, in 12 states. To be eligible for treatment at a methadone clinic, people need to meet medical criteria for being addicted to opioids. Acadia sometimes accepted patients who did not meet that standard. A former clinic director in Indiana said her manager had pressured her to boost the clinic's patient count by enrolling people who were addicted to cocaine and methamphetamine but not opioids. And a former clinic director in Georgia said she, too, had been pressured to add patients who were not addicted to opioids. Methadone cannot treat addictions to cocaine or methamphetamine. But it can produce a high -- and possibly a dependence -- for someone who is not already using opioids. Some clinic directors said they received bonuses based on the number of patients enrolled. Others said the bonuses were tied to their clinics' financial performance, which improved when their patient volumes increased. Blair said Acadia's compensation practices were consistent with those of other companies. He said medical staff, not clinic directors or counselors, decided which patients to treat, after a thorough screening process. Acadia was also trying to keep a tight lid on staffing costs -- sometimes with negative consequences. Reports filed by health inspectors in at least six states have criticized Acadia's methadone clinics for inadequate staffing. Part of the problem is that clinic employees rarely last long because they don't make much money and deal with stressful work environments. Blair denied that clinics were understaffed. He said turnover among clinic employees had declined in recent years. In the spring of 2021, inspectors who visited Acadia's clinic in Cedar Rapids learned that none of the nurses had shown up that week, leaving unlicensed workers to hand out methadone, according to an inspection report. States require methadone to be dispensed by trained medical staff. A state-appointed monitor later identified other problems. A worker's young child had briefly grabbed a cup of methadone inside a room that was supposed to be locked. Two patients were given double doses of buprenorphine, a different opioid addiction treatment, and no one checked on them to make sure they were all right. In 2020, a clinic director in Goldsboro, N.C., complained to an Acadia executive that the company refused to stop accepting new patients even though there were not enough workers, according to an email reviewed by the Times. "I have continued to request admission holds as the staff here are overly stressed," the director wrote. "Those emails are simply ignored because they would decrease revenue."
SMU is accustomed to road-like environment it’ll face in ACC championship game vs. ClemsonSports on TV for Sunday, Dec. 22
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Biden opens final White House holiday season with turkey pardons and first lady gets Christmas treeERIE, Pa. (AP) — Alex Chaikin's 20 points off of the bench helped Lafayette to a 77-73 victory against Mercyhurst on Saturday. Chaikin went 7 of 8 from the field (6 for 7 from 3-point range) for the Leopards (5-5). Justin Vander Baan added 13 points while shooting 3 of 5 from the field and 7 for 9 from the line while he also had six rebounds and five blocks. Andrew Phillips had 10 points and shot 4 of 6 from the field and 1 for 3 from the line. Shemar Rathan-Mayes finished with 21 points and four assists for the Lakers (5-6). Aidan Reichert added 18 points, six rebounds and three steals for Mercyhurst. Jeff Planutis also recorded 13 points. Chaikin scored nine points in the first half and Lafayette went into the break trailing 38-31. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by and data from . The Associated Press
Israeli drone strikes hit Kamal Adwan Hospital on Tuesday, wounding three medical staff at one of the few hospitals still partially operating in the northernmost part of Gaza , the facility’s director said. Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya said the drones were dropping bombs, spraying shrapnel at the hospital. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. In Lebanon, a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has held despite Israeli forces carrying out several new drone and artillery strikes on Tuesday, killing a shepherd in the country's south. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed keep striking “with an iron fist” against perceived Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire. Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel last year in solidarity with Hamas militants who are fighting in the Gaza Strip. The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage . Israel’s blistering retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,500 Palestinians , more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The war in Gaza has destroyed vast areas of the coastal enclave and displaced 90% of the population of 2.3 million, often multiple times . Here's the Latest: WASHINGTON — U.S. forces conducted a self-defense strike Tuesday in the vicinity of Mission Support Site Euphrates, a U.S. base in eastern Syria, against three truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers, a T-64 tank and mortars that Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said presented “a clear and imminent threat” to U.S. troops. The self-defense strike occurred after rockets and mortars were fired that landed in the vicinity of the base, Ryder said. The Pentagon is still assessing who was responsible for the attacks — that there are both Iranian-backed militias and Syrian military forces that operate in the area. Ryder said the attack was not connected to the offensive that is ongoing in Aleppo, where Syrian jihadi-led rebels taken over the country’s largest city. The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria to conduct missions to counter the Islamic Stage group. CAIRO — Israeli drone strikes hit the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza on Tuesday, wounding three medical personnel, the facility’s director said. Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya said the drones were dropping bombs, spraying shrapnel at the hospital, located in the town of Beit Lahiya. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. In comments released by Gaza’s Health Ministry, Abu Safiya said one of the injured was in critical condition and was undergoing a complex surgery. “The situation has become extremely dangerous,” he said. “We are exhausted by the ongoing violence and atrocities.” Kamal Adwan Hospital has been struck multiple times over the past two months as Israeli forces have waged a fierce offensive in the area, saying they are rooting out Hamas militants who regrouped there. In October, Israeli forces raided the hospital, saying that militants were sheltering inside and arrested a number of people, including some staff. Hospital officials denied the claim. Abu Safiya was wounded in his thigh and back by an Israeli drone strike on the hospital last month. TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli court has ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take the stand next week in his long-running corruption trial, ending a long series of delays. Netanyahu’s lawyers had filed multiple requests to put off the testimony, arguing first that the war in Gaza prevented him from properly preparing for his testimony, and later that his security could not be guaranteed in the court chamber. In Tuesday’s decision, judges in the Jerusalem district court said that following a security assessment, his testimony will be moved to the Tel Aviv district court. Israeli media said the session would take place in an underground chamber. His testimony in the trial, which began in 2020, is expected to begin on Dec. 10 and to last at least several weeks. Netanyahu is charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate scandals involving powerful media moguls and wealthy associates. He denies wrongdoing. NABATIYEH, Lebanon — In destroyed areas of southern Lebanon, residents clearing away rubble on Tuesday said they didn’t trust Israel to abide by the week-old ceasefire with Hezbollah. “The Israelis are breaching the ceasefire whenever they can because they are not committed,” said Hussein Badreddin, a vegetable seller in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, which was pummeled by Israeli airstrikes over several weeks. “This means that they (can) breach any resolution at any time.” Since it began last Wednesday, the U.S.- and French-brokered 60-day ceasefire has been rattled by near daily Israeli strikes, although Israel has been vague about the purported Hezbollah violations that prompted them. Imad Yassin, a trader who owns a clothing shop in Nabatiyeh, said Israel was constantly breaching the ceasefire because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to continue the displacement of residents of southern Lebanon. “The Israeli enemy was defeated and the truth is that he is trying to get revenge. Netanyahu is trying to displace us as citizens of southern Lebanon,” Yassin said. They spoke as bulldozers cleared streets strewn with rubble and debris from destroyed buildings. Electricians worked to fix power lines in an effort to restore electricity to the city. Both men were displaced by the war and returned to Nabatiyeh on Wednesday, the day the ceasefire went into effect. Yassin found his clothing shop had been destroyed. He said he would wait to see if the state will dispense compensation funds so that he can repair and reopen his business. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Two separate Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people in Gaza City on Tuesday, Palestinian medical authorities said. Six people, including two children, who were killed when an Israeli strike hit a school sheltering displaced people Tuesday afternoon in the Zaytoun neighborhood, according to the Health Ministry’s emergency services. A second strike hit a residential building in the Sabra neighborhood, killing at least three people, the services said. Israeli forces have almost completely isolated northernmost Gaza since early October, saying they’re fighting regrouped Hamas militants there. That has pushed some families south to Gaza City, while hundreds of thousands more live in the territory's center and south in squalid tent camps, where they rely on international aid. JERUSALEM — Israel's military confirmed it killed a senior member of Hezbollah responsible for coordinating with Syria's army on rearming and resupplying the Lebanese militant group. Syrian state media said a drone strike on Tuesday hit a car in a suburb of the capital Damascus, killing one person, without saying who was killed. Israel's military said he was Salman Nemer Jomaa, describing him as “Hezbollah’s representative to the Syrian military,” and that killing him “degrades both Hezbollah’s presence in Syria and Hezbollah’s ongoing force-building efforts.” Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years. Israel rarely acknowledges its actions in Syria, but it has said that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups. Iran supports both Hezbollah and the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, which is currently fighting to push back jihadi-led insurgents who seized the country’s largest city of Aleppo . TUBAS, West Bank — Israeli soldiers opened fire inside a hospital in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday during a raid to seize the bodies of alleged militants targeted in earlier airstrikes, a Palestinian doctor working at the hospital told The Associated Press. Soldiers entered the Turkish Hospital complex in Tubas after the bodies of two Palestinians killed and one wounded in airstrikes in the northern West Bank on Tuesday were brought there, said Dr. Mahmoud Ghanam, who works in the hospital’s emergency department. The troops briefly handcuffed and arrested Ghanam and another doctor. “The army entered in a brutal way, and they were shooting inside the emergency department,” said Ghanam. “They handcuffed us and took me and my colleague.” The military confirmed that its troops were operating around the hospital searching for those targeted in the airstrikes, which they said had hit a militant cell near the Palestinian town of Al-Aqaba in the Jordan Valley. It denied that troops had entered the hospital building or fired gunshots inside. The soldiers left after learning that the wounded man had been transferred to another hospital, Ghanam said. The soldiers wanted to take the bodies of the two men killed in the strike, but the hospital’s manager refused to hand over the bodies, Ghanam said. Israeli raids on hospitals in the West Bank are rare but have grown more common since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. In Gaza, Israeli troops have systematically besieged, raided and damaged many hospitals. About 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. Israel has carried out near-daily military raids in the West Bank that it says are aimed at preventing attacks on Israelis — attacks which have also been on the rise. Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three territories for an independent state. CAIRO — Palestinian officials say Fatah and Hamas are closing in on an agreement to appoint a committee of politically independent technocrats to administer the Gaza Strip after the war . It would effectively end Hamas’ rule and could help advance ceasefire talks with Israel. The rival factions have made several failed attempts to reconcile since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007. Israel has meanwhile ruled out any postwar role in Gaza for either Hamas or Fatah, which dominates the Western-backed Palestinian Authority . A Palestinian Authority official on Tuesday confirmed that a preliminary agreement had been reached following weeks of negotiations in Cairo. The official said the committee would have 12-15 members, most of them from Gaza. It would report to the Palestinian Authority, which is headquartered in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and work with local and international parties to facilitate humanitarian assistance and reconstruction. A Hamas official said that Hamas and Fatah had agreed on the general terms but were still negotiating over some details and the individuals who would serve on the committee. The official said an agreement would be announced after a meeting of all Palestinian factions in Cairo, without providing a timeline. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media on the talks. There was no immediate comment from Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is dismantled and scores of hostages are returned. He says Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza , with civilian affairs administered by local Palestinians unaffiliated with the Palestinian Authority or Hamas. No Palestinians have publicly volunteered for such a role, and Hamas has threatened anyone who cooperates with the Israeli military. The United States has called for a revitalized Palestinian Authority to govern both the West Bank and Gaza ahead of eventual statehood. The Israeli government is opposed to Palestinian statehood. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed. NUSEIRAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip — Palestinians lined up for bags of flour distributed by the U.N. in central Gaza on Tuesday morning, some of them for the first time in months amid a drop in food aid entering the territory. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, gave out one 25-kilogram flour bag (55 pounds) to each family of 10 at a warehouse in the Nuseirat refugee camp, as well as further south in the city of Khan Younis. Jalal al-Shaer, among the dozens receiving flour at the Nuseirat warehouse, said the bag would last his family of 12 for only two or three days. “The situation for us is very difficult,” said another man in line, Hammad Moawad. “There is no flour, there is no food, prices are high ... We eat bread crumbs.” He said his family hadn’t received a flour allotment in five or six months. COGAT, the Israeli army body in charge of humanitarian affairs, said it facilitated entry of a shipment of 600 tons of flour on Sunday for the World Food Program. Still, the amount of aid Israel has allowed into Gaza since the beginning of October has been at nearly the lowest levels of the 15-month-old war. UNRWA’s senior emergency officer Louise Wateridge told The Associated Press that the flour bags being distributed Tuesday were not enough. “People are getting one bag of flour between an entire family and there is no certainty when they’ll receive the next food,” she said. Wateridge added that UNRWA has been struggling like other humanitarian agencies to provide much needed supplies across the Gaza Strip. The agency this week announced it was stopping delivering aid entering through the main crossing from Israel, Kerem Shalom, because its convoys were being robbed by gangs. UNRWA has blamed Israel in large part for the spread of lawlessness in Gaza. The International Criminal Court is seeking to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister over accusations of using “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel rejects the allegations and says it has been working hard to improve entry of aid. JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war isn't over against Hezbollah and vowed to use "an iron fist" against the Lebanese militant group for any perceived violations of a week-old ceasefire. “At the moment we are in a ceasefire, I note — a ceasefire, not the end of the war," Netanyahu said at the start of the government meeting Tuesday. He said the military would retaliate for “any violation — minor or major.” Netanyahu also thanked U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for his recent demands for Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. Trump posted on social media Monday that if the hostages are not freed before he takes office in January there would be “HELL TO PAY.” Netanyahu convened Tuesday's meeting in northern Israel, where around 45,000 Israelis had been displaced by the war as of last week, according to the prime minister’s office. Netanyahu said the government was focused on getting them back in their homes and rehabilitating the area. BERLIN — German authorities have arrested a Lebanese man accused of being a member of Hezbollah and working for groups controlled by the militant organization in Germany. Federal prosecutors said the suspect, identified only as Fadel R. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested in the Hannover region on Tuesday. The man is suspected of membership in a foreign terrorist organization and is not accused of direct involvement in any violence. Prosecutors said he joined Hezbollah in the summer of 2008 or earlier and took part in leadership training courses in Lebanon. From 2009, he allegedly had leadership duties in two groups controlled by Hezbollah in the Hannover area, organizing appearances by preachers close to the militants. According to prosecutors, he was briefly a correspondent for a Hezbollah media outlet in 2017 and was tasked with coordinating building work at a mosque. Germany is a staunch ally of Israel. It is also home to a Lebanese immigrant community of more than 100,000. BEIRUT — The Lebanese army is looking for more recruits as it beefs up its presence in southern Lebanon after the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire. Lebanon’s army is a respected national institution that kept to the sidelines during the nearly 14-month conflict. During an initial 60-day truce, thousands of Lebanese troops are supposed to deploy in southern Lebanon, where U.N. peacekeepers also have a presence. Hezbollah militants are to pull back from areas near the border as Israel withdraws its ground forces. The army said those interested in joining up have a one-month period to apply, starting Tuesday. The Lebanese army has about 80,000 troops, with around 5,000 of them deployed in the south. DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s state news agency says a drone strike hit a car in a suburb of the capital, Damascus, killing one person. The agency did not give further details or say who was killed. It said the attack occurred Tuesday on the road leading to the Damascus International Airport south of the city. The area is known to be home to members of Iran-backed militant groups. Israel is believed to have carried out a number of strikes in the area in recent months as it has battled Iran-backed Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon. Israeli officials rarely acknowledge such strikes. JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister warned that if the shaky ceasefire with Hezbollah collapses, Israel will widen its strikes and target the Lebanese state itself. He spoke the day after Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes that killed nearly a dozen people. Those strikes came after the Lebanese militant group fired a volley of projectiles as a warning over what it said were previous Israeli violations. Speaking to troops on the northern border Tuesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said any violations of the agreement would be met with “a maximum response and zero tolerance.” He said if the war resumes, Israel will widen its strikes beyond the areas where Hezbollah’s activities are concentrated, and “there will no longer be an exemption for the state of Lebanon.” During the 14-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which came to an end last week with a ceasefire brokered by the United States and France, Israel largely refrained from striking critical infrastructure or the Lebanese armed forces, who kept to the sidelines . When Israeli strikes killed or wounded Lebanese soldiers, the Israeli military said it was accidental . The ceasefire agreement that took effect last week gives 60 days for Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon and for Hezbollah militants to relocate north of the Litani River. The buffer zone is to be patrolled by Lebanese armed forces and U.N. peacekeepers. Israel has carried out multiple strikes in recent days in response to what it says are violations by Hezbollah. Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, accused Israel of violating the truce more than 50 times in recent days by launching airstrikes, demolishing homes near the border and violating Lebanon’s airspace. Berri, a Hezbollah ally, had helped mediate the ceasefire. JERUSALEM — Palestinian officials say an Israeli airstrike in the northern West Bank has killed two Palestinians. Israel’s military said it struck a militant cell near the town of Al-Aqaba, in the Jordan Valley. It did not immediately give more details. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the two deaths and said a third person was moderately wounded. About 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. Israel has carried out near-daily military raids in the West Bank that it says are aimed at preventing attacks on Israelis, which have also been on the rise. Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for an independent state. BEIRUT — Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon made his first public appearance in Beirut since he was wounded in an attack involving exploding pagers in mid-September. Mojtaba Amani, who returned to Lebanon over the weekend after undergoing treatment in Iran, visited on Tuesday the scene south of Beirut where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sept. 27. Speaking about the airstrike that destroyed six buildings and killed Nasrallah and others, Amani said Israel should get for its act “the highest medal for sabotage, terrorism, blood and killing civilians.” Amani suffered serious injuries in his face and hands when a pager he was holding exploded in mid-September. The device was one of about 3,000 pagers that exploded simultaneously, killing and wounding many Hezbollah members. A day after the pager attack, a similar attack struck walkie-talkies. In total, the explosions killed at least 37 people and wounded more than 3,000, many of them civilians. Last month, a spokesperson for the office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the pager attack was approved by Netanyahu.
Three days before Thanksgiving, family and friends of two men killed in a crash involving a Warren police officer on Monday criticized the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office for not filing tougher criminal charges against the officer. Cedric Hayden Jr., of Warren, and DeJuan Pettis, of Detroit, died Sept. 30 after Officer James Burke crashed into their SUV on Schoenherr Road as they waited to left on Prospect Street. Burke, 28, was charged Friday with two counts of manslaughter with a motor vehicle, a misdemeanor moving violation causing serious injury and misdemeanor willful neglect of duty by a public officer. The charges were announced last week by the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office on social media. Speaking at a news conference at Fieger Law in Southfield on Monday, Cedric Hayden Sr., Hayden’s father, said he felt the charges were lighter than they should have been. He said he wants the officer who was in the passenger seat to be also charged. “If I did that, if I killed two officers, you would’ve never seen me again but in the penitentiary,” Hayden Sr. said. “And I feel that would have happened, I know that would have happened. But why is that man at home with his kids? Why did he get to go home? You’re trying to sweep this under the rug like it didn’t happen because he’s one of y’all. And that’s not right.” Close to two dozen family members and friends were at Monday’s news conference to express their frustration with the criminal charges and what they said was a lack of communication from police and the prosecutor’s office. Supporters of the victims, described as good friends, said authroties were “trying to sweep something under the rug” when they chose not to charge Burke with murder. Some also said race may have played a part in the decision. The victims were Black, while Burke is White. “Now we have a white cop who kills two people driving like a maniac and he gets $100,000 personal bond and he isn’t charged with second degree murder,” attorney James Harrington said. “It’s preferential treatment and if that doesn’t prove it, I don’t know what will...I do believe this was a preferential, racially based undercharging.” On Monday, Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido issued a statement that said: “After a thorough review of the Macomb County Sheriff’s full investigation, the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Major Crimes Unit determined that the appropriate charges in this matter are as stated in our press release.” Two separate $100 million lawsuits have been filed in Macomb County Circuit Court by the deceased men’s estates against Warren for the crash, alleging the police SUV was moving close to 100 mph when it struck a white Dodge Durango, occupied by Hayden and Pettis. According to the complaint, the officers did not activate their emergency sirens or lights, and failed to brake before the collision. “While police officers often face challenging and fast-moving situations, the decision to drive at high speeds without lights or sirens undermines the safeguards meant to protect everyone on the road. Our thoughts are with the victims’ families, and we remain committed to pursuing justice in this matter,” Lucido said last week. At Monday’s news conference, Pettis’ son Devin Hayes, and Hayden Jr.’s 16-year-old daughter Lynnira Taylor both spoke. “All I know is Thursday is Thanksgiving and me and my mom and my sister are wearing my brother for Thanksgiving,” said Taylor, noting several relatives wore T-shirts and pendants with Hayden’s image. “He don’t get to be with us. He is around my neck.” Devin Hayes, 9, said he will grow up without his father to guide him. “I think all charges should be charged because that White man killed my dad,” Devin quietly said as his mother held him up at the podium. Lakita Blakeney, Pettis’ girlfriend, said she was disappointed with the case. “They disrespected their badge the moment they drove that careless,” Blakeney said. “They treated Schoenherr as if it was a racetrack.” Officer Burke remains on paid administrative leave until the outcome of an internal investigation by Warren police to determine his employment status, per the union contract, police said. He will be offered a due process hearing. Warren police have not publicly identified the other officer in the police vehicle the day of the crash. He continues to recover from the “serious injuries” he suffered in the incident, police said. Burke has an “impeccable record” while working at Warren police for three years and five years at another law-enforcement agency, according to a statement by Warren police. He has no history of problematic driving or any prior incidents of concern, and has an “impeccable record of public service” with multiple public service awards, including a 2024 Medal of Valor for heroism in the line of duty, according to the department. Burke faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the manslaughter charge. He was also charged with willful neglect of duty by a public officer, punishable by up to one year in jail, and moving violation causing serious impairment of body function, a 93-day misdemeanor. The police department issued a statement that read in part: “The Warren Police Department recognizes the gravity of this tragic incident and extends our deepest sympathies to the victims’ family and friends. We also continue to pray for the full recovery of our injured officers.”Aaron Rodgers has opens up about his relationship with his father in his new Netflix documentary. In a new trailer for the New York Jets quarterback ’s Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, Rodgers said he felt like his emotional intelligence was “stunted” because his father refused to show emotions. The clip begins with the NFL player at an ayahuasca ceremony, as he is known for being an avid psychedelic user. “I think part of the real joy in this work, is, there is such a feminine spirit to ayahuasca,” Rodgers can be heard saying. He then begins discussing the benefits he’s experienced since beginning the ceremonies such as being able to “model a new way of thinking about masculinity, or what it means to be a man,” and helping him to be able to achieve “the balance between the divine masculine and the divine feminine.” The former Green Bay Packers quarterback transitioned to talking about his father, Ed Rodgers, as he admitted that he could only recall him crying once which was when his grandfather died. “I think I saw my dad cry when my grandfather passed. And that might have been it,” he said. “There wasn’t space for emotion, so I definitely had some stunted emotional intelligence.” He explained that he didn’t start to become more in tune with his feelings until he discovered what the public perception of him was. “People who haven’t been around me a lot have this idea of who I am or whatnot, and in these situations, you start to peel back some of those layers of who they think you are and start getting deep and getting emotional,” Rodgers said. “I think that’s what it means to be a well-balanced man,” he added. “To be able to tap into that divine feminine and be vulnerable.” The documentary, directed by Gotham Chopra and Liam Hughes, will be split into three parts as Rodgers discusses his injury during the 2023 NFL season when he tore his left Achilles only four minutes into his debut game as a Jet. The football player will also discuss his more controversial opinions such as his false claims regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. Back in May, Rodgers said in a discussion with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson : “I’ve been strong against the vax, against lockdowns, against mandates, against all of it. In the last few months, I’ve been looking at things a little bit differently. “Those people had a ton of fear. They thought they were doing the right thing, for themselves, for their friends, for their families.” He continued: “They went through all the mass-formation psychosis that we all did — the full-court propaganda against us – and are now going, ‘oh s***. Maybe that wasn’t the best. Maybe they lied to us. Maybe this wasn’t safe...’” Aaron Rodgers: Enigma will be available to stream on Netflix on December 17.A suspected Chinese spy with business ties to Prince Andrew is barred from UKWhat diversity does — and doesn't — look like in Trump's Cabinet
Trump says Republicans will try to end daylight saving timeWASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration is set to be less diverse than President Joe Biden's administration, but several people of color and women appear likely to serve in top roles. While Trump vigorously campaigned against diversity and inclusion efforts in business and government, his Cabinet selections and other high-profile staffing choices include some barrier-breaking nominations. The Cabinet, if confirmed, is set to be one-third women and include some historic firsts. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick to lead the State Department, would be the first Latino secretary of state. Scott Bessent, an American hedge fund manager and Trump’s pick to lead the Treasury Department, would be the first openly gay man in that post. Susie Wiles, Trump’s choice for White House chief of staff, will also be the first woman to serve in the position. Scott Turner, a former NFL player who led the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council in the first Trump term, will serve as secretary of housing and urban development. Turner, who is Black, will be the fourth confirmed HUD secretary of color since 2014. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who is also Black, served in that post under Trump. Trump's first administration also included some historic firsts, including Veteran spy Gina Haspel serving as the first female director of the CIA, but, overall, it still lagged behind his predecessors on diversity. The incoming administration is set to include some people of color in other high-profile roles. Vivek Ramaswamy, a former biotechnology executive and 2024 GOP presidential candidate, will co-lead an outside advisory committee on government efficiency with billionaire Elon Musk. Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, is Trump's pick to serve as director of national intelligence, the chief coordinator of the nation's intelligence departments. Gabbard is of Samoan descent and Ramaswamy is Indian American. Mehmet Oz, a former TV doctor who unsuccessfully ran for Senate in Pennsylvania, has been tapped by Trump to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. And Janette Nesheiwat, a physician and Fox News personality, is Trump's pick to serve as surgeon general. Nesheiwat is the daughter of Christian Jordanian immigrants; Oz is Turkish American and would be the first Muslim to serve in the role. Trump’s Cabinet also includes a wide breadth of ideological diversity with some nominees holding views broadly considered eccentric in Washington. Others have clashing opinions on priorities for the incoming administration like trade and foreign policy. The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here . The AP is solely responsible for all content.A 7-year-old rivalry between tech leaders Elon Musk and Sam Altman over who should run OpenAI and prevent an artificial intelligence "dictatorship" is now heading to a federal judge as Musk seeks to halt the ChatGPT maker's ongoing shift into a for-profit company. Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the artificial intelligence company earlier this year alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits. Musk has since escalated the dispute, adding new claims and asking for a court order that would stop OpenAI’s plans to convert itself into a for-profit business more fully. The world's richest man, whose companies include Tesla, SpaceX and social media platform X, last year started his own rival AI company, xAI. Musk says it faces unfair competition from OpenAI and its close business partner Microsoft, which has supplied the huge computing resources needed to build AI systems such as ChatGPT. “OpenAI and Microsoft together exploiting Musk’s donations so they can build a for-profit monopoly, one now specifically targeting xAI, is just too much,” says Musk's filing that alleges the companies are violating the terms of Musk’s foundational contributions to the charity. OpenAI is filing a response Friday opposing Musk’s requested order, saying it would cripple OpenAI’s business and mission to the advantage of Musk and his own AI company. A hearing is set for January before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland. At the heart of the dispute is a 2017 internal power struggle at the fledgling startup that led to Altman becoming OpenAI's CEO. Musk in an email outlined a plan where he would “unequivocally have initial control of the company” but said that would be temporary. He grew frustrated after two other OpenAI co-founders said he would hold too much power as a major shareholder and chief executive if the startup succeeded in its goal to achieve better-than-human AI known as artificial general intelligence , or AGI. Musk has long voiced concerns about how advanced forms of AI could threaten humanity. “The current structure provides you with a path where you end up with unilateral absolute control over the AGI," said a 2017 email to Musk from co-founders Ilya Sutskever and Greg Brockman. “You stated that you don't want to control the final AGI, but during this negotiation, you've shown to us that absolute control is extremely important to you.” In the same email, titled “Honest Thoughts,” Sutskever and Brockman also voiced concerns about Altman's desire to be CEO and whether he was motivated by “political goals.” Altman eventually succeeded in becoming CEO, and has remained so except for a period last year when he was fired and then reinstated days later after the board that ousted him was replaced. OpenAI published the messages Friday in a blog post meant to show its side of the story, particularly Musk's early support for the idea of making OpenAI a for-profit business so it could raise money for the hardware and computer power that AI needs. It was Musk, through his wealth manager Jared Birchall, who first registered “Open Artificial Technologies Technologies, Inc.”, a public benefit corporation, in September 2017. Then came the “Honest Thoughts” email that Musk described as the “final straw.” “Either go do something on your own or continue with OpenAI as a nonprofit,” Musk wrote back. OpenAI said Musk later proposed merging the startup into Tesla before resigning as the co-chair of OpenAI's board in early 2018. Musk didn't immediately respond to emailed requests for comment sent to his companies Friday. Asked about his frayed relationship with Musk at a New York Times conference last week, Altman said he felt “tremendously sad” but also characterized Musk’s legal fight as one about business competition. “He’s a competitor and we’re doing well,” Altman said. He also said at the conference that he is “not that worried” about the Tesla CEO’s influence with President-elect Donald Trump. OpenAI said Friday that Altman plans to make a $1 million personal donation to Trump’s inauguration fund, joining a number of tech companies and executives who are working to improve their relationships with the incoming administration. —————————— The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement allowing OpenAI access to part of the AP’s text archives.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas — SMU may enter Saturday’s ACC championship contest as a 2.5-point favorite over Clemson, but in many ways, the Mustangs are underdogs. They’re taking on a blue-blood program with more ACC championship game wins than any other team in the conference. And, they’re facing that team just two hours away from its home at Death Valley. Against a Clemson team with one of the most devout fan bases in college sports, SMU is preparing for another road-like environment in Charlotte. But this time of year, that isn’t a foreign concept to Rhett Lashlee’s program. “Obviously, Clemson’s got a great fan base. They travel well,” the SMU head coach said Tuesday. “We’re used to it.” Saturday’s ACC title bout will be SMU’s third straight postseason matchup that will feel like an away game. It played on the road at Tulane when it captured the American Athletic Conference title in a 26-14 win this week last year. It also played at Fenway Park against Boston College in its bowl game. Lashlee said he expects the Bank of America Stadium crowd to be less skewed than it was in those two contests. “I have no doubt based on the crowds we’ve had here in Dallas this year that our fans are going to travel extremely well,” he said. “They’re going to be fired up.” But even if it is similar to a road environment, that’s where the Mustangs thrive. They’ve won 10 consecutive away games — the longest active streak in FBS — including some of their most important wins of the season in close battles with Louisville and Duke. “When we go on the road, we don’t make it a bigger deal than it is,” Lashlee said. “Maybe that’s why our guys have been so successful doing it. If you’re a competitor, you want there to be energy in the building. You want there to be an atmosphere in the stadium. I would think there’s definitely going to be that Saturday night.” Even more so than their other five games away from Ford Stadium, Saturday’s brings extra motivation for the Mustangs. They may be favored, but as they expected, their road to a conference title runs through the team that’s been the pride of the ACC for decades. SMU may be perceived as the underdog in some sense, but it also entered this first ACC season that way — and it’s thrived in that position all season long. “It kind of bookends our season in the first year,” Lashlee said. “We started with Florida State, who won the league last year and went undefeated, and we’re ending with Clemson who’s going for their ninth conference championship, and here we are just showing up in our first. That’s what we wanted. We wanted to challenge ourselves. We wanted to see where we stood. We wanted to be on this level. We wanted to play on this stage.” ©2024 The Dallas Morning News. Visit dallasnews.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.What diversity does — and doesn't — look like in Trump's CabinetPARIS (AP) — Howling winds couldn’t stop Notre Dame Cathedral ’s heart from beating again. With three resounding knocks on its doors by Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, wielding a specially designed crosier carved from fire-scorched beams, the monument roared back to life Saturday evening. For the first time since a devastating blaze nearly destroyed it in 2019, the towering Gothic masterpiece reopened for worship, its rebirth marked by song, prayer, and awe beneath its soaring arches. The ceremony, initially planned to begin on the forecourt, was moved entirely inside due to unusually fierce December winds sweeping across the Île de la Cité, flanked by the River Seine. Yet the occasion lost none of its splendor. Inside the luminous nave, choirs sang psalms, and the cathedral’s mighty organ, silent for nearly five years, thundered to life in a triumphant interplay of melodies. The restoration, a spectacular achievement in just five years for a structure that took nearly two centuries to build, is seen as a moment of triumph for French President Emmanuel Macron, who championed the ambitious timeline — and a welcome respite from his domestic political woes . The evening’s celebration, attended by 1,500 dignitaries, including President-elect Donald Trump, US first lady Jill Biden, Britain’s Prince William, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, underscored Notre Dame’s enduring role as both a spiritual and cultural beacon. Observers see the event as Macron's, and his intention to pivot it into a fully fledged diplomatic gathering, while highlighting France’s ability to unite on the global stage despite internal political crises. As the cathedral’s largest bell, the 13-ton Emmanuel — which was not named after the French leader — tolled into the Paris night, signaling the start of the ceremony, the crowd inside Notre Dame fell into an expectant hush. Emmanuel, a legacy of King Louis XIV, had rung through centuries of French history, and its peal now resonated as a call to witness another epochal moment. Outside the cathedral’s monumental doors, Ulrich raised his fire-scarred crosier. “Brothers and sisters, let us enter now into Notre Dame,” he declared. “It is she who accompanies us on our path to peace.” With the congregation of over 2,500 people watching in silence, Ulrich struck the floodlit doors, the base of his crosier reverberating against the wood. Inside, the choir answered with soaring hymns, their voices filling the nave. Illuminations on the cathedral facade heightened the drama. On the final strike, the heavy doors swung open, revealing the glowing interior of restored blond Lutetian limestone. Adding to the ceremony’s visual splendor, Ulrich and the clergy wore vibrant liturgical garments designed by French fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. Known for his signature pop-art aesthetic, Castelbajac created 2,000 colorful pieces for 700 celebrants, blending modern elements with medieval touches. Flooded with light and song, the cathedral came alive in a moment of breathtaking spectacle. What had been a silent, soot-blackened ruin five years ago now blazed with renewed vitality, marking the culmination of a nearly $1 billion global effort to resurrect it. Speaking inside the cathedral, Macron expressed “gratitude” Saturday to those who saved, helped, and rebuilt Notre Dame, his voice reverberating through the nave. “I stand before you ... to express the gratitude of the French nation,” he said, before voices flooded the space with song, harmonies not heard in over five years. “Tonight, the bells of Notre Dame are ringing again. And in a moment, the organ will awaken,” sending the “music of hope” cascading through the luminous interior to Parisians, France, and the world beyond, he said. The celebration is expected to give a much-needed boost to the embattled French leader, whose prime minister was ousted this week , plunging the nation’s politics into more turmoil. Macron has called Notre Dame’s reopening “a jolt of hope.” Observers say he hoped the occasion would briefly silence his critics and showcase France’s unity and resilience under his leadership — a rare moment of grace in a presidency now facing a grave crisis. Inside Notre Dame, 42,000 square meters of stonework—equivalent to six soccer pitches—gleamed anew, revealing intricate carvings and luminous limestone. Above, 2,000 oak beams, nicknamed “the forest,” restored the cathedral’s iconic spire and roof. The great organ, dormant for over five years, roared back to life like a slumbering giant. With its 7,952 pipes—ranging from pen-sized to torso-wide—and a renovated console featuring five keyboards, 115 stops, and 30 foot pedals, it responded to Archbishop Laurent Ulrich’s command: “Wake up, organ, sacred instrument.” The first low rumble grew into a triumphant symphony as four organists pulled out the stops, weaving improvised responses to the archbishop’s invocations. Eight times, Ulrich addressed the organ; eight times, its voice filled the nave with breathtaking sound. Guests marveled at the spectacle, many capturing the moment on their phones. “It’s a sense of perfection,” said François Le Page of the Notre Dame Foundation, who last saw the cathedral cloaked in scaffolding in 2021. “It was somber then. Now, it’s night and day.” The Rev. Andriy Morkvas, a Ukrainian priest who leads the Volodymyr Le Grand church in Paris, reflected on his first visit to Notre Dame in over a decade. “I didn’t recognize it,” he said. “God is very powerful; He can change things.” He expressed hope that the cathedral’s revival could inspire peace in his homeland, drawing strength from the presence of Ukraine’s president. “I think that will have a big impact,” he said. “I hope Notre Dame and Mary will help us resolve this conflict.” The reopening of Notre Dame comes at a time of profound global unrest, with wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East. For Catholics, Notre Dame’s rector said the cathedral “carries the enveloping presence of the Virgin Mary, a maternal and embracing presence.′′ “It is a magnificent symbol of unity,” Olivier Ribadeau Dumas said. “Notre Dame is not just a French monument — it is a magnificent sign of hope.” The international range of dignitaries coming to Paris underline the cathedral’s significance as a symbol of shared heritage and peace. Canadian visitor Noelle Alexandria, who had traveled to Paris for the reopening, was struck by the cathedral’s ability to inspire. “She’s been nearly ruined before, but she always comes back,” Alexandria said. “Not many of us could say the same after such tragedy, but Notre Dame can.” Guests entered through Notre Dame’s iconic western façade, whose arched portals adorned with biblical carvings were once a visual guide for medieval believers. Above the central Portal of the Last Judgment, the Archangel Michael is depicted weighing souls, as demons attempt to tip the scales. These stone figures, designed to inspire both awe and fear, set the stage for a ceremony steeped in history. Inside, the hum of hundreds of guests awaiting the service filled the cathedral with human sounds once more — a stark contrast to the construction din that echoed there for years. Tuners restoring the great organ often worked through the night to find the silence needed to perfect its 7,952 pipes, ranging from pen-sized to torso-wide. Notre Dame echoed to the sound of a sustained standing ovation after the showing of a short movie that documented the gargantuan rebuilding effort. Outside, the word “MERCI” — thank you — was projected against the cathedral’s iconic western facade. The movie showed the terrible wounds left by the inferno — the gaping holes torn into its vaulted ceilings and the burned roof. But that was followed by images of all types of artisans, many using traditional handicraft techniques, who collectively restored Notre Dame to look better now than ever. "We went from night to light," said one of the workers in the movie. Security will be high through the weekend, echoing measures taken during the Paris Olympics earlier this year. The Île de la Cité — the small island in the River Seine that is home to Notre Dame and the historic heart of Paris— is closed to tourists and non-residents. Police vans and barriers blocked cobblestoned streets in a large perimeter around the island, while soldiers in thick body armor and sniffer dogs patrolled embankments. A special security detail is following Trump. Public viewing areas along the Seine’s southern bank will accommodate 40,000 spectators, who can follow the celebrations on large screens. For many, Notre Dame’s rebirth is not just a French achievement but a global one — after the reopening, the cathedral is set to welcome 15 million visitors annually, up from 12 million before the fire. Sylvie Corbet, Yesica Brumec, Marine Lesprit and Mark Carlson in Paris contributed. Associated Press religion coverage receives support through The AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
In keeping with a long-standing Thanksgiving tradition, President Joe Biden recently pardoned a pair of turkeys . During a ceremony at the White House, the birds — named Peach and Blossom — were spared from the dinner table and given a new lease on life. While it was an act of pure political pageantry, it highlights the president’s expansive pardon powers — which could be used liberally during his final two months in office. Historically, presidents have issued numerous pardons during their lame duck periods, including quite a few that have raised eyebrows. Here is what to know about presidential pardons. Presidential pardon power Article II of the Constitution enables the president to grant clemency for any federal crime, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. This authority is rooted in an old English law that permits monarchs to bestow mercy on criminals. “The president’s power to pardon is astronomical,” Taylor Stoermer, a historian at Johns Hopkins University, told McClatchy News. “The Constitution doesn’t even require an explanation. The only real limits are that it doesn’t apply to state crimes or impeachment cases.” “So the president can grant full pardons, commute sentences, or even offer amnesty, on an individual basis or for an entire class of people,” Stoermer said. How often do presidents grant clemency? Most presidents have issued numerous acts of clemency throughout their terms in office, according to historians. For example, Donald Trump, during his first term, granted 143 pardons and 94 commutations, according to the Pew Research Center. During Barack Obama’s eight years in office, he issued 212 pardons and 1,715 commutations. Among the commutations granted by both men were multiple that concerned low-level drug offenses , such as possession of marijuana. However, these acts of clemency have not typically been distributed evenly throughout a president’s tenure. Since 1945, every president — with the exception of Lyndon Johnson — granted clemency at a higher rate during the last four months of their terms, according to CRS. For example, Obama granted an average of 296 acts of clemency per month during his final four months in office, compared with an average of eight per month before that. Similarly, Trump issued an average of 50 per month during the last four months compared with an average of one per month before that. “Trump certainly kept to that pattern, and I would not be surprised if Biden does as well,” Thomas Balcerski, a presidential historian at Eastern Connecticut State University, told McClatchy News. Additionally, these 11th hour acts of mercy tend to be the most controversial ones. “Most save the big, bold pardons for the end of their terms,” Stoermer said. “And because exactly why you’d think: No voters to answer to.” Controversial acts of clemency Throughout history, presidents have issued a fair number of pardons, commutations and acts of amnesty that have received widespread scrutiny. “The most famous, of course, is Gerald Ford’s pardoning of Richard Nixon,” Vernon Burton, an emeritus history professor at Clemson University, told McClatchy News. In September 1974, following the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s resignation, Ford issued a full pardon for any crimes Nixon “committed or may have committed” against the United States. Jimmy Carter also took flak for pardoning “all of the Vietnam War draft dodgers,” Burton said. “That was huge.” This pardon, issued on Carter’s first day in office in 1977, applied to roughly 100,000 military-age men who avoided going to war , according to Politico. “Then there’s George H.W. Bush pardoning key players in Iran-Contra,” Stoermer said. With less than one month until he left office, Bush pardoned six people , including a former secretary of defense, wrapped up in the illegal arms scandal. More recently, Obama reduced the sentence of Oscar Lopez Rivera, a Puerto Rican activist whose political organization was responsible for dozens of robberies and bombings in the U.S. And Trump preemptively pardoned adviser Steven Bannon, who was charged with bilking donors out of money they gave toward the construction of a border wall. “These kinds of moves show how the pardon power can get tangled up in political strategy or personal connections—and that’s what makes it fascinating (or infuriating) to watch,” Stoermer said. Have presidents pardoned family members? Given that Biden’s son Hunter Biden has been convicted of felony offenses , some have wondered whether he will issue a pardon before he leaves office. “Would he pardon Hunter Biden? That’d be quite something,” Balcerski said. “There is some precedent.” On his last day in office, President Bill Clinton issued a pardon for his half-brother Roger Clinton, who had pleaded guilty to a cocaine distribution charge. “That was slightly less impactful because Roger Clinton had already served the time,” Stoermer said. “So that was mostly about clearing his record than dodging accountability.” Joe Biden, though, has said he has no plans to grant clemency to his son. Could Trump break the mold? Trump could break with long-standing tradition of issuing controversial pardons at the end of his term, historians said. The president-elect has vowed to pardon some of the people convicted of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot on his first day in office. “I am inclined to pardon many of them ,” he wrote on social media in March, according to ABC News. Throughout the country, about 1,500 people have been charged in connection with the riot, including about 547 who were charged with “assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees.” “It wouldn’t be surprising to see an unprecedented wave of pardons right out of the gate, particularly for January 6 rioters,” Stoermer said. “That would take the use of the pardon power into completely uncharted territory.” “Of course, there is a precedent: Carter’s first-day pardon of draft evaders of the Vietnam era,” Stoermer said. “That applied to hundreds of thousands of people. But that’s not quite the same as a coup.” Do Ukrainians still support the war against Russia? New poll finds ‘decisive shift’ Trump could impose tariffs without Congress, experts say. Here’s how it could work How are vacancies in Congress filled? What to know as Trump picks members for CabinetBEIRUT (AP) — Insurgents' stunning march across Syria accelerated Saturday with news that they had reached the gates of the capital and that government forces had abandoned the central city of Homs. The government was forced to deny rumors that President Bashar Assad had fled the country. The loss of Homs is a potentially crippling blow for Assad. It stands at an important intersection between Damascus and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader’s base of support and home to a Russian strategic naval base. The pro-government Sham FM reported that government forces took positions outside Syria’s third-largest city, without elaborating. Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Syrian troops and members of different security agencies have withdrawn from the city, adding that rebels have entered parts of it. The capture of Homs is a major victory for insurgents, who have already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama , as well as large parts of the south, in a lightning offensive that began Nov. 27. Analysts said Homs falling into rebel hands would be a game-changer. The rebels' moves around Damascus, reported by the 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. For the first time in the country’s long-running civil war, the government now has control of only three of 14 provincial capitals: Damascus, Latakia and Tartus. 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. The rapid rebel gains, coupled with the lack of support from Assad's erstwhile allies, posed the most serious threat to his rule since the start of the war. 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. In a statement issued late Saturday, the participants affirmed their support for a political solution to the Syrian crisis “that would lead to the end of military activity and protect civilians.” They also agreed on the importance of strengthening international efforts to increase aid to the Syrian people. 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. 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. 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; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; and Josef Federman and Victoria Eastwood in Doha, Qatar, contributed to this report. Bassem Mroue And Zeina Karam, The Associated Press
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