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SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 17, 2024-- Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the world’s #1 AI CRM, today announced Agentforce 2.0: the newest version of Agentforce , the first digital labor platform for enterprises — a complete AI system for augmenting teams with trusted, autonomous AI agents in the flow of work. This release introduces a new library of pre-built skills and workflow integrations for rapid customization, the ability to deploy Agentforce in Slack, and advancements in agentic reasoning and retrieval augmented generation (RAG) . These advances will enable companies to scale their workforce with customized agents capable of handling complex, multi-step tasks with even more precision and accuracy. Why it’s relevant: Every team has more work to do than resources available, leading to poorer customer interactions and lengthy backlogs. Organizations are turning to AI to help, but have a low tolerance for inadequate solutions that provide generic responses. Existing solutions such as copilots struggle to provide accurate, trusted responses to complex requests — such as personalized guidance on a job application — and cannot take action on their own — like nurturing a lead with product recommendations. Organizations need a new type of platform designed to supply digital labor in the form of autonomous AI agents that can reason over data and tap into workflows to take action on behalf of overwhelmed teams. “Agentforce 2.0 takes our revolutionary Salesforce digital labor platform to another level, with new reasoning, integration and customization features that supercharge autonomous agents with unprecedented levels of intelligence, precision and accuracy,” said Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO, Salesforce . “The demand for Agentforce has been amazing — no other company comes close to offering this complete AI solution for enterprises. We’re seamlessly bringing together AI, data, apps, and automation with humans to reshape how work gets done. Agentforce 2.0 cements our position as the leader in digital labor solutions, allowing any company to build a limitless workforce that can truly transform their business.” How the Adecco Group Uses Agentforce to Scale Personalized Recruiting with Digital Labor: "At the Adecco Group, we are committed to creating meaningful connections between candidates and opportunities. By centralizing data across over 40 systems with Salesforce's Data Cloud and leveraging Agentforce, we’re transforming the candidate experience. Agentforce will help prequalify candidates, enhance CVs, and ensure faster job placements. Agentforce agents also operate 24/7, freeing recruiters to focus on meaningful connections while delivering speed and personalization at scale." – Greg Shewmaker, Senior Vice President of Global Operations and AI, The Adecco Group New Library of Skills Brings Agentforce to Every Team and Workflow: Time and integration challenges make it difficult to build customized agents for individual business teams or departments. Agentforce 2.0 eliminates these barriers with a new library of pre-built agent skills — tasks Agentforce can perform — spanning CRM, Slack, Tableau, and partner-developed skills on the AppExchange. This latest release empowers customers to extend Agentforce to any system or workflow using MuleSoft. It also features an enhanced Agent Builder capable of interpreting natural language instructions, such as 'Onboard New Product Managers,' to auto-generate new agents. These agents seamlessly combine pre-made skills with custom logic built in Salesforce, offering unparalleled flexibility and speed. How Accenture Uses Agentforce to Scale Sales Productivity with Digital Labor: “At Accenture, we embrace emerging technologies first so we can help our clients go fast. Our sales team within Accenture’s Salesforce Business Group and Accenture Song are starting to use Agentforce to automate contact and close plan creation, surface insights through enterprise search, and keep teams aligned with dynamic updates. It’s helping to increase time-to-effectiveness, accelerate decision-making, and is allowing them to focus on delivering innovative solutions for their clients.” – Stephanie Sadowski, Salesforce Business Group lead at Accenture Agentforce in Slack — Humans with Agents Working Together Where Work Happens: As organizations look to unlock value from AI agents , they need solutions that are embedded where their employees already are. Agentforce 2.0 is deployable in Slack, bringing customizable digital labor into the messages (DMs) and channels where work happens. How Indeed Uses Agentforce to Scale Personalized Job Seeker Engagement with Digital Labor: “Indeed is the world’s leading job site, with three people hired every second through its platform. At the heart of Indeed’s success is its ability to match the 580 million profiles created by job seekers with over 3 million hiring employers. By harnessing the power of Data Cloud, Indeed has enhanced its data architecture, creating a solid foundation for its go-to-market strategies and enhancing connections to its rich job seeker profiles,” said Indeed CIO Anthony Moisant. “By leveraging Agentforce, Indeed can stay focused on its mission to help people find jobs while advancing its goals, including reducing time-to-hire by 50% and helping 30 million individuals facing barriers to employment secure jobs by fiscal year 2030.” - Anthony Moisant, CIO, Indeed Expert Answers to Complex Questions and Execute Actions with Agentforce 2.0: The Atlas Reasoning Engine is the brain behind Agentforce, enabling it to retrieve relevant data, then reason and act. With Agentforce 2.0, Salesforce is introducing enhanced reasoning and retrieval to handle deeply nuanced questions, powered by new capabilities in Data Cloud that fuel Agentforce with greater context — complementing structured and unstructured data with business-specific metadata for greater accuracy across the most complex, multi-faceted requests. How Salesforce provides faster, more personalized customer support with Agentforce: The Salesforce Help page receives more than 60 million visits a year from customers who need assistance with product support and account queries. Agentforce on help.salesforce.com provides customers with personalized, 24/7 service, while seamlessly escalating to human reps with the full case history and context when needed. Since launching in October, Agentforce is now solving 83% of customer queries without a human, has halved the number of issues that require human intervention, and has nearly doubled its average number of weekly conversations. Customer Perspectives: “At 1-800 Accountant, we’re using Agentforce to manage service inquiries, especially during tax season. With Agentforce now managing up to 90% of incoming requests, we can automate responses to common questions like tax return statuses, freeing up our team to focus on more complex tasks. This boosts efficiency, improves customer satisfaction, and ensures fast, secure, personalized support. Plus, Agentforce adheres to strict data security standards, keeping sensitive tax information safe and accessible only to authorized personnel. It’s a game-changer, helping us scale and serve our clients better during peak times.” – Ryan Teeples, CTO, 1-800 Accountant “Embracing autonomous agents is a game-changer for Bionic. We’re on a mission to make life radically easier for Britain’s small businesses by combining smart technology with expert human service. With agentic AI, we’re streamlining tasks like meter readings and switch tracking to deliver 24/7 support. This innovation empowers our 200,000 SME customers to save time and hassle so they can focus on growing their business.” – James Lomas, Chief Technology Officer, Bionic “With Agentforce, we want to transform Capita’s recruitment process into a fast, seamless and autonomous experience that benefits candidates, our people, and our clients. With autonomous agents providing 24/7 support, our goal is to enable candidates to complete the entire recruitment journey within days as opposed to what has historically taken weeks. At Capita, we give time back to our clients so they can focus on what they do best – and Agentforce will improve our ability to do just that. This is just the start of our agentic journey with Salesforce, where we believe an Agentic Economy can drive big growth potential for UK businesses.” – Adolfo Hernandez. Chief Executive Officer, Capita “ At Finnair, we will use Agentforce to transform our customer service operations, enabling us to efficiently handle routine inquiries and improve response times. With Agentforce automating a significant share of standard inquiries, our team can focus on more complex issues, ensuring faster and more accurate support. This allows us to provide a seamless experience for both customers and customer service personnel, reducing onboarding times for our contact center teams with quicker access to vital information.” – Tiina Vesterinen, Vice President, Commerce & CX Solutions, Finnair "With Salesforce's Agentforce, SharkNinja will be able to transform customer support across more than 30 markets, empowering our agents to deliver personalized, 24/7 service. By unifying data and addressing common inquiries like 'where is my order?', we can streamline agent workloads, enabling them to focus on meaningful, high-impact interactions. This integration will ensure a seamless shopper experience, offering tailored product support, FAQs, and personalized responses that meet consumers’ unique needs – helping us to create extraordinary experiences at every touch point." – Velia Carboni, CIO, SharkNinja "The travel industry is a 24/7 business, often involving unique and urgent requests. As our website, which offers luxury travel deals, continues to grow and attract new customers, we wanted a solution that could deliver a personalized service efficiently to our 60 million European members. Agentforce uses our unified data to automate routine tasks like processing cancellations, updating booking information, or even answering common travel questions about luggage, flight information, and much more, freeing up our customer service agents to handle more complex and last-minute travel needs to better serve our members.” – Kate Donaghy, Head of Business Technology, Secret Escapes “Unity Environmental University is leveraging Salesforce’s Agentforce to expand our support beyond routine inquiries, allowing our employees to focus on learners who need more personalized guidance. By integrating agentic AI into our workflows, we can quickly address standard questions like financial aid details or class registration while freeing our team to engage more deeply with students. This balanced approach ensures that every conversation is more meaningful, as some learners can rely solely on the AI for immediate answers, while others benefit from the combined efforts of both the AI and our dedicated staff. In doing so, we’re not only scaling from 10,000 to 50,000 students, but also enhancing the quality and impact of every interaction along the way and reducing our cost of acquisition per student.” – Dr. Melik Khoury, President & CEO, Unity Environmental University "At Wellness Extract, we’re excited about all of the new possibilities Agentforce can bring to our business. As we continue to grow, scaling customer support is key, and Agentforce offers the potential to automate inquiries across all our channels while still delivering personalized, seamless experiences for all of our buyers. With Salesforce’s Data Cloud, we’ll gain deeper insights into our customers, helping us boost website conversions, strengthen connections, and reduce costs. It’s an opportunity to not just streamline our business operations, but to elevate our brand and set the stage for even greater innovation in health and wellness.” – Arvind Madakan, Program Manager, Wellness Extract Availability: Learn more: Any unreleased services or features referenced here are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. About Salesforce Salesforce helps organizations of any size reimagine their business for the world of AI. With Agentforce, Salesforce's trusted platform, organizations can bring humans together with agents to drive customer success—powered by AI, data, and action. Visit www.salesforce.com for more information. View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241217795822/en/ CONTACT: Carolyn Guss pr@salesforce.com KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: DATA MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATIONS APPS/APPLICATIONS TECHNOLOGY SOFTWARE OTHER COMMUNICATIONS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SOURCE: Salesforce Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 12/17/2024 02:01 PM/DISC: 12/17/2024 02:03 PM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241217795822/enNEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes drifted lower Tuesday in the runup to the highlight of the week for the market, the latest update on inflation that’s coming on Wednesday. The S&P 500 dipped 0.3%, a day after pulling back from its latest all-time high . They’re the first back-to-back losses for the index in nearly a month, as momentum slows following a big rally that has it on track for one of its best years of the millennium . The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 154 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.3%. Tech titan Oracle dragged on the market and sank 6.7% after reporting growth for the latest quarter that fell just short of analysts’ expectations. It was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500, even though CEO Safra Catz said the company saw record demand related to artificial-intelligence technology for its cloud infrastructure business, which trains generative AI models. AI has been a big source of growth that’s helped many companies’ stock prices skyrocket. Oracle’s stock had already leaped more than 80% for the year coming into Tuesday, which raised the bar of expectations for its profit report. In the bond market, Treasury yields ticked higher ahead of Wednesday’s report on the inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling. Economists expect it to show similar increases as the month before. Wednesday’s update and a report on Thursday about inflation at the wholesale level will be the final big pieces of data the Federal Reserve will get before its meeting next week, where many investors expect the year’s third cut to interest rates . The Fed has been easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high since September to take pressure off the slowing jobs market, after bringing inflation nearly down to its 2% target. Lower rates would help give support to the economy, but they could also provide more fuel for inflation. Expectations for a series of cuts through next year have been a big reason the S&P 500 has set so many records this year. Trading in the options market suggests traders aren’t expecting a very big move for U.S. stocks following Wednesday’s report, according to strategists at Barclays. But a reading far off expectations in either direction could quickly change that. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.22% from 4.20% late Monday. Even though the Fed has been cutting its main interest rate, mortgage rates have been more stubborn to stay high and have been volatile since the autumn. That has hampered the housing industry, and homebuilder Toll Brothers’ stock fell 6.9% even though it delivered profit and revenue for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. CEO Douglas Yearley Jr. said the luxury builder has been seeing strong demand since the start of its fiscal year six weeks ago, an encouraging signal as it approaches the beginning of the spring selling season in mid-January. Elsewhere on Wall Street, Alaska Air Group soared 13.2% after raising its forecast for profit in the current quarter. The airline said demand for flying around the holidays has been stronger than expected. It also approved a plan to buy back up to $1 billion of its stock, along with new service from Seattle to Tokyo and Seoul . Boeing climbed 4.5% after saying it’s resuming production of its bestselling plane , the 737 Max, for the first time since 33,000 workers began a seven-week strike that ended in early November. Vail Resorts rose 2.5% after the ski resort operator reported a smaller first-quarter loss than analysts expected in what is traditionally its worst quarter. All told, the S&P 500 fell 17.94 points to 6,034.91. The Dow dipped 154.10 to 44,247.83, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 49.45 to 19,687.24. In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in China after the world’s second-largest economy said its exports rose by less than expected in November. Stocks rose 0.6% in Shanghai but fell 0.5% in Hong Kong. Indexes fell across much of Europe ahead of a meeting this week by the European Central Bank, where the widespread expectation is for another cut in interest rates. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.Global 3D Printed Prosthetics Market To Reach $1.56 Billion By 2028 With A Growth Rate Of 8.4%

Collingwood will head into next season with 10 players on their list over 30 – two more than any other team, and with Scott Pendlebury leading the age bracket at 37. When the Pies won the flag in 2023, the team contained eight players over 30; the 2024 premiership Lions had six players aged above 30 and Geelong defied the critics to win the flag in 2022 with seven players aged above 30. The ultra-consistent Magpie Jack Crisp shows no signs of slowing down as he charges into his 30s. Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images But three of this year’s preliminary finalists – Geelong, the Lions and the Sydney – are the only other teams to have more than six players aged above 30 on their list. Premiership midfielder Jack Crisp, one of the 10 over-30s in Collingwood’s team, says age is just a number. At 31, the dual best and fairest winner is the ninth-oldest player on the Magpies list as the club goes all in with their veterans to win next year’s flag after injury and form derailed this year’s campaign. Though he’s over 30, Crisp is hardly a concern. He has not missed a game in 10 seasons at the Magpies to draw his consecutive games tally to 237. He is now just seven games shy of the league record, held by Melbourne legend Jim Stynes who played 244 consecutive games from 1987-1998. He finished fourth in the club best and fairest in 2024 and could break Stynes’ record against Geelong in round eight. The midfielder was speaking at Kingston Heath, where he played on Sunday ahead of the Australian Open that starts on Thursday. “Times have changed now. Blokes are really professional and look after their body and if they can keep playing at the high level, why do they have to retire?” Crisp said. It’s the question the Magpies have had to ponder as they chased Port Adelaide’s All-Australian defender Dan Houston in the trade period, giving up a first-round pick from this year and the next year in the process.When Miller Townsend's footy teammates shaved their heads to be like him, it brought a much-needed smile to his face. Login or signup to continue reading The boys, from Stockton Sharks Junior Rugby League Club, featured in a touching video posted on social media. The video showed them smiling while shaving their heads to the Kodaline song, Brother. The lyrics to the chorus are: "I've got you brother". Miller, who turned eight last Thursday, was facing "conditional chemotherapy " next month. His dad Matt Townsend, of Fern Bay , said Miller was "a bit upset at having to lose his hair". "He's a bit of a pretty boy. He loves brushing his hair and putting gel in. He loves dressing up and looking good," Mr Townsend said. "His footy teammates decided they'd cut their hair off so he wasn't alone. It was a nice little touch from them." Since birth, Miller's bone marrow hasn't produced red blood cells due to a condition called Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA). He required blood transfusions every three to four weeks since he was eight weeks old. "He was doing OK until April," Mr Townsend said. "Then they noticed a lot of iron build-up in his liver and kidneys due to the medication he was on. "He's had a lot of tests in the last couple of months and been put on new medication." He was booked in to have a bone marrow transplant from December 5. "We were going to have to move to Sydney for six months," Mr Townsend said. "He was going to start chemo before the transplant. That's to delete everything." Conditioning treatment makes room in the bone marrow for new blood stem cells to grow and helps prevent rejection of transplanted cells. It also kills any cancer cells in the body. The bone marrow donor will be Miller's 10-year-old brother, Mack. "The last few months have been really hard, preparing to know your son will go through so much sickness and pain," Mr Townsend said. "He's used to hospital. He's had well over 100 blood transfusions. He knows no different. "But to mentally prepare for it has been really hard for us all. We try to hold it together as much as we can." Mr Townsend said it was hard for Mack, too. "For a 10-year-old to know he has to help his brother stay alive would be so hard on him. "If Mack's bone marrow grafts to Miller, and it works out well, then he won't need blood transfusions." It's also been hard for the family to learn that Miller's transplant had to be delayed until March. "He was about to have an operation last week to put a central line in for meds and chemo," Mr Townsend said. "But the doctors said he had too much iron build-up in his liver. "He has to do another MRI in February to see if his iron has dropped." Mr Townsend said the family had been told "that the life expectancy of a patient with DBA is quite reduced". They hope the transplant will prolong his life. Health and medicine, science, research, nutrition. Health and medicine, science, research, nutrition. DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. WEEKLY Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. WEEKLY Get the latest property and development news here. WEEKLY Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. WEEKDAYS Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. WEEKLY Follow the Newcastle Knights in the NRL? Don't miss your weekly Knights update. TWICE WEEKLY Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday. WEEKLY Get news, reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert, ACM's exclusive motoring partner. TWICE WEEKLY Get real, Australia! Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over. AS IT HAPPENS Be the first to know when news breaks. DAILY Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! DAILY Test your skills with interactive crosswords, sudoku & trivia. Fresh daily!HOUSTON (AP) — An elaborate parody appears to be behind an effort to resurrect Enron, the Houston-based energy company that exemplified the worst in American corporate fraud and greed after it went bankrupt in 2001. If its return is comedic, some former employees who lost everything in Enron’s collapse aren’t laughing. “It’s a pretty sick joke and it disparages the people that did work there. And why would you want to even bring it back up again?” said former Enron employee Diana Peters, who represented workers in the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. Here’s what to know about the history of Enron and the purported effort to bring it back. Once the nation’s seventh-largest company, Enron filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 2, 2001, after years of accounting tricks could no longer hide billions of dollars in debt or make failing ventures appear profitable. The energy company's collapse put more than 5,000 people out of work, wiped out more than $2 billion in employee pensions and rendered $60 billion in Enron stock worthless. Its aftershocks were felt throughout the energy sector. Twenty-four Enron executives , including former CEO Jeffrey Skilling , were eventually convicted for their roles in the fraud. Enron founder Ken Lay’s convictions were vacated after he died of heart disease following his 2006 trial. On Monday — the 23rd anniversary of the bankruptcy filing — a company representing itself as Enron announced in a news release that it was relaunching as a “company dedicated to solving the global energy crisis.” It also posted a video on social media, advertised on at least one Houston billboard and a took out a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle In the minute-long video that was full of generic corporate jargon, the company talks about “growth” and “rebirth.” It ends with the words, “We’re back. Can we talk?” Enron's new website features a company store, where various items featuring the brand's tilted “E” logo are for sale, including a $118 hoodie. In an email, company spokesperson Will Chabot said the new Enron was not doing any interviews yet, but that "We’ll have more to share soon.” Signs point to the comeback being a joke. In the “terms of use and conditions of sale” on the company's website, it says “the information on the website about Enron is First Amendment protected parody, represents performance art, and is for entertainment purposes only.” Documents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office show that College Company, an Arkansas-based LLC, owns the Enron trademark. The co-founder of College Company is Connor Gaydos, who helped create a joke conspiracy theory that claims all birds are actually surveillance drones for the government. Peters said that since learning about the “relaunch” of Enron, she has spoken with several other former employees and they are also upset by it. She said the apparent stunt was “in poor taste.” “If it’s a joke, it’s rude, extremely rude. And I hope that they realize it and apologize to all of the Enron employees,” Peters said. Peters, who is 74 years old, said she is still working in information technology because “I lost everything in Enron, and so my Social Security doesn’t always take care of things I need done.” “Enron’s downfall taught us critical lessons about corporate ethics, accountability, and the consequences of unchecked ambition. Enron’s legacy was the employees in the trenches. Leave Enron buried,” she said. This story was corrected to fix the spelling of Ken Lay’s first name, which had been misspelled “Key.” Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at https://x.com/juanlozano70

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Stock market today: Indexes eke out another record close as traders brace for new economic dataThe first round of games are finally taking place for the 2024/25 Emirates NBA Cup . With eight total teams competing in the quarterfinals, only one team will eventually be awarded the In-Season tournament title, and one such NBA expert believes it will be the Oklahoma City Thunder . Headed by MVP-candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander , the OKC Thunder are looking like they are the best team in the tournament top to bottom. Here is how Loud City will eventually be crowned the second-ever champion of the NBA Cup. NBA expert picks OKC Thunder as NBA Cup champion Earlier today, Dec. 10, expert NBA writer for the Sporting News, Stephen Noh , published his ' updated picks, predictions, odds for 2024 in-season tournament '. With predictions for each round of the tournament, Noh determined that none other than the OKC Thunder would prevail. When it comes to the quarterfinals matchup of the Thunder and the Mavs , this will more likely than not be the most entertaining game of the tournament. With both teams increasing in skill levels since their last meeting during the 2023/24 Playoffs, Noh selected the Thunder to win due to their tremendous defensive acquisitions in the offseason: The Thunder are a different and better team than last year. They've added Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso, who have contributed into making them the best defense since the Bill Russell Celtics . Their 18-5 record is the best in the West. The semifinals had the Thunder playing the Golden State Warriors (with a Warriors win over the Houston Rockets). So far this season, the two teams have faced off twice and have split the series. The Thunder could have easily gone 2-0 against the Warriors, but their first matchup is where Chet went down with his hip injury . MORE: What channel is Thunder vs. Mavericks on today? Time, TV schedule, live stream for NBA Cup quarterfinal game. Since that game, Curry and other Warriors players have been facing numerous injuries and Noh believes that will be the ultimate factor in a Golden State loss: The Warriors still do have the possibility of getting an otherworldly Curry game and stealing this matchup. It happened earlier in the year, where he had 36 points in a win. But Curry has been battling some nagging injuries, and that's a tough outcome to count on. The Thunder should win this one. In the championship game, the Thunder are predicted to compete against the Atlanta Hawks. Although they would have defeated a potential New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks team, there will ultimately be very little Tre Young and his squad can do to stop Oklahoma City: The Thunder wiped the Hawks out in a 128-104 win in their third game of the season. Young had a decent game, but nobody else on the team could score. That is exactly what would happen in a rematch. As good as Young is at generating advantages, the Thunder have the best assortment of help-and-recover defenders in the league. Overall, Noh believes OKC are the favorites to come out of the West and defeat any team that would represent the East. With an assortment of possibilities and outcomes, it should be exciting to see how far the Thunder are able to go. If they do end up winning it all, it could make for a great confidence boost heading into the latter half of the season. MORE THUNDER CONTENT: Williams and Hartenstein listed as the key players to help OKC Thunder win NBA Cup Revisiting the OKC Thunder's enormous amount of draft picks: What is in store for the 2025 NBA Draft Oklahoma City Thunder boasting best net-rating since Michael Jordan's Bulls

Oregon State is retaining one of its football standouts from this season as receiver Trent Walker announced he’ll return to Corvallis for his senior season. Walker wrote on social media Monday that “Let’s run it back Beaver Nation.” Multiple sources told The Oregonian/OregonLive that Walker had a productive discussion about name, image and likeness opportunities in recent days with Oregon State’s collective, Dam Nation. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's decision to break his word and pardon his son Hunter has spurred a broader discussion about what else he should be doing with the broad clemency powers of the presidency before he leaves office in January, including whether he should be pardoning Donald Trump. Biden on Tuesday ducked questions about his son, ignoring calls for him to explain his reversal as he was making his first presidential trip to Angola . He dismissed shouted questions about the matter with a laugh during a meeting with Angolan President João Lourenço at the presidential palace, telling the Angolan delegation: “Welcome to America.” Biden was not scheduled to take questions from the press during his trip to Africa, and he has largely avoided interactions with reporters since President-elect Trump’s victory last month. Biden’s decision to offer his son a blanket pardon for actions over the past 11 years has sparked a political uproar in Washington, after the president repeatedly had said he would not use his extraordinary powers for the benefit of his family. Biden claimed that the Justice Department had presided over a “miscarriage of justice” in prosecuting his son, using some of the same language that Trump uses to describe his own legal predicaments. Biden's reversal drew criticism from many Democrats , who are working to calibrate their approach to Trump as he prepares to take over the Oval Office in seven weeks. There is concern the pardon — and Biden's claims that his son was prosecuted for political reasons — will erode their ability to push back on the incoming president’s legal moves. And it has threatened to cloud Biden's legacy as he prepares to leave office on Jan. 20. Hunter Biden is the closest presidential relative ever to be granted clemency, but other leaders have pardoned family members and close friends. Bill Clinton pardoned his brother Roger for drug charges after Roger Clinton had served his sentence. By the time Trump left office after his first term, he had issued 144 pardons, which included Charles Kushner , the father of his son-in law, Jared Kushner. He also pardoned fervent supporters Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn and other people convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. In the months after the 2020 election, Trump and his allies were trying to overturn his loss, a failed effort that culminated in the violent riot by his supporters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. There were discussions at the time over whether Trump would preemptively pardon some of those involved in the effort — and maybe even himself — before he left office. But that never happened. Now, Democrats are having similar discussions about preemptive pardons on their side because of Trump's rhetoric on the campaign trail. He's made no secret of his desire to seek revenge on those who prosecuted him or crossed him. He talks about "enemies from within." He's circulated social media posts that call for the jailing of Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former Vice President Mike Pence and Sens. Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer. He's also taken aim at Liz Cheney, a conservative Republican who campaigned for Harris, promoting a social media post that suggested he wanted military tribunals to punish her because she was guilty of treason. Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said last week on Boston Public Radio that Biden might consider broad pardons to protect people against whatever wrath Trump may seek, but also as a way to move the country past this acrimonious and divided time. “I think that without question, Trump is going to try to act in a dictatorial way, in a fascistic way, in a revengeful first year at least of his administration toward individuals who he believes harmed him,” Markey said. Presidents enjoy expansive pardon powers when it comes to federal crimes . That includes granting clemency to people who have not yet been charged, as President Gerald Ford did in 1974 when he pardoned his predecessor, Richard Nixon, over the Watergate scandal. The decision at the time caused an uproar but has been seen in the ensuing decades as a move that helped restore order. Markey cited Ford's pardon as a way for the country “just to close that chapter and move on to a new era.” Biden could do the same, Markey said, to help the country move on “to an agenda that deals with the ordinary families.” Sen. Joe Manchin, the Democrat-turned-independent from West Virginia, took it a step further and suggested Biden should even pardon Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, federal charges that are now evaporating with Trump's upcoming return to the White House. “Why don't you go ahead and pardon Donald Trump for all his charges?" he said in an interview with CNN. “It would have gone down a lot more balanced. I'm just saying, wipe them out.” At the same time, Democratic lawmakers and criminal justice reformers are pushing Biden to grant pardons to broad groups of Americans. Democrats Ayanna Pressley, Jim Clyburn and Mary Gay Scanlon wrote to Biden on Nov. 20, asking him to use his clemency powers to "address longstanding injustices in our legal system, and set our nation on the path toward ending mass incarceration.” The letter, also signed by 61 others, suggested Biden could use his powers to send a powerful message of criminal justice reform and "rectify unjust and unnecessary criminal laws passed by Congress and draconian sentences given by judges.” “We encourage you to use your clemency powers to help broad classes of people and cases, including the elderly and chronically ill, those on death row, people with unjustified sentencing disparities, and women who were punished for defending themselves against their abusers,” they wrote. So far, Biden has pardoned 25 people. Most presidents tend to grant a flurry of clemency requests at the end of their terms, and it's likely Biden will do the same. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has said Biden is “thinking through that process very thoroughly.” Weissert reported from Luanda, Angola.

A Canadian national flag flies in front of the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 22, 2017.Photo: Reuters PEACEFUL RESOLUTION:A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer 請繼續往下閱讀... Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. 請繼續往下閱讀... The strategy called for Canada to deepen its ties with Taiwan and other regional partners sharing democratic values, and oppose any unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. Ottawa should improve Taiwan’s resilience, trade ties and cooperation between the two nations’ peoples by strengthening bilateral collaboration in economics, technology, supply chains, public health, democratic governance and countering disinformation, it said. The Canadian House of Commons Special Committee on the Canada-People’s Republic of China Relationship — whose members include lawmakers from across the political divide — was created in December 2019 to review all aspects governing the two nations’ relations. Ottawa’s China policy represents substantial differences from Beijing’s “one China principle,” the special committee said in a report entitled “Canada and Taiwan: A Strong Relationship in Turbulent Times.” The Canadian Indo-Pacific Strategy should govern the nation’s relationship with Taiwan, it added. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) hailed the report as the most important development in bilateral relations since Ottawa switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. The special committee’s report last year already included a series of recommendations to improve collaboration on issues concerning diplomacy, security, trade, technology and affairs affecting indigenous people. The previous report underscored the instability in the cross-strait security situation and the importance of enhancing Taiwan-Canada relations to counter China’s growing threat toward Taiwan. Meanwhile, a statement issued after a meeting between the British foreign secretary and defence secretary and the Australian foreign minister and defence minister on Monday reiterated support for Taiwan’s international participation and opposition to unilateral change in the Taiwan Strait. “Ministers underscored the critical importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. They emphasised that differences should be resolved peacefully and not through the threat or use of force or coercion; and reaffirmed their shared opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo,” it said. “They recognised that the international community benefits from the expertise of the people of Taiwan and committed to working together to support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organisations, as a member where statehood is not a prerequisite or as an observer or guest where it is.” In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “applauds and welcomes” the UK’s and Australia’s support for Taiwan, adding that they share Taiwan’s belief in the universal values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, and that they are a force for peace in the Indo-Pacific region. Taiwan is an indispensable member of the international community and would continue to cooperate closely with like-minded nations to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, participate in international organizations, defend the rules-based international order and contribute to peace and stability in the region, it said. Additional reporting by Huang Ching-hsuan 新聞來源: TAIPEI TIMES David Lammy, UK’s foreign secretary, from left, Penny Wong, Australia’s foreign affairs minister, John Healey, UK’s defence secretary, and Richard Marles, Australia defense minister, during a news conference following a meeting in London, UK, on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024.Photo: Bloomberg 不用抽 不用搶 現在用APP看新聞 保證天天中獎 點我下載APP 按我看活動辦法After rough start under coach Mike Macdonald, the Seahawks' defense has become a strengthQuarterback Joe Burrow's home broken into during Monday night game: OfficialsEasey Street suspect to face murder and rape charges

Michigan aims to cap lost season by beating Ohio StateNEW YORK, Dec. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (the “Company”) (NYSE:ARI) today announced the Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.25 per share of common stock, which is payable on January 15, 2025 to common stockholders of record on December 31, 2024. About Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE: ARI) is a real estate investment trust that primarily originates, acquires, invests in and manages performing commercial first mortgage loans, subordinate financings and other commercial real estate-related debt investments. The Company is externally managed and advised by ACREFI Management, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and an indirect subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, Inc., a high-growth, global alternative asset manager with approximately $733 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2024. Additional information can be found on the Company's website at www.apollocref.com . Please note that our URL address has changed. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking statements as such term is defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such statements are intended to be covered by the safe harbor provided by the same. Forward-looking statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond the Company's control. These forward-looking statements include information about possible or assumed future results of the Company's business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, plans and objectives. When used in this release, the words believe, expect, anticipate, estimate, plan, continue, intend, should, may or similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Statements regarding the following subjects, among others, may be forward-looking: higher interest rates and inflation; market trends in the Company’s industry, real estate values, the debt securities markets or the general economy; the timing and amounts of expected future fundings of unfunded commitments; the return on equity; the yield on investments; the ability to borrow to finance assets; the Company’s ability to deploy the proceeds of its capital raises or acquire its target assets; and risks associated with investing in real estate assets, including changes in business conditions and the general economy. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements, and other risks, uncertainties and factors are based on the Company's beliefs, assumptions and expectations of its future performance, taking into account all information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking statements are not predictions of future events. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.Tech Startup Attorney Shield Surpasses 7,000 Paid Members, Raises Over $450,000 On Startengine

A judge has once again rejected Musk's multi-billion-dollar Tesla pay package. Now what?CORYDON, Ind., Nov. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors of First Capital, Inc. FCAP has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.29 (twenty-nine cents) per share of common stock, according to Michael C. Frederick, President and Chief Executive Officer. The dividend will be paid on December 27, 2024 to shareholders of record as of December 13, 2024. First Capital, Inc. is the holding company for First Harrison Bank. First Harrison currently has eighteen offices in the Indiana communities of Corydon, Edwardsville, Greenville, Floyds Knobs, Palmyra, New Albany, New Salisbury, Jeffersonville, Salem, Lanesville and Charlestown and the Kentucky communities of Shepherdsville, Mt. Washington and Lebanon Junction. Access to First Harrison Bank accounts, including online banking and electronic bill payments, is available anywhere with Internet access through the Bank's website at www.firstharrison.com . For more information and financial data about First Capital, Inc., please visit Investor Relations at First Harrison Bank's aforementioned website. Contact: Joshua Stevens Chief Financial Officer 812-738-1570 © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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