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Phone Case Market to grow by USD 13.9 Billion from 2024-2028, driven by rising smartphone penetration, with AI redefining the market landscape - Technavio

Large crowd celebrates at 2025 New Year’s Eve music concert in Nay Pyi Taw

In the increasingly competitive automotive market, automakers like General Motors Co. and Rivian Automotive have realized pairing up is not only beneficial but necessary for cost reduction and quicker technological advancement. GM has long understood the benefits of partnerships. The Detroit automaker, for example, has a longstanding partnership with Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. More recently, GM and South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. said they signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate "to reduce costs and bring a wider range of vehicles and technologies to customers faster." General Motors Chair and CEO Mary Barra takes some questions after a fireside chat at the Garden Theater in Detroit on Dec. 11, 2024. The companies haven't provided further information on the partnership, but experts and analysts have cheered it on as a smart move. They expect more mash-ups — if not outright industry consolidation — as automakers face rising expenses, a choppy transition to electric vehicles and competition from innovative, low-cost Chinese manufacturers. "It's something that I talked about for many years about the need to partner up," said Martin French, partner and managing director at Berylls by AlixPartners, a global consulting firm. "If you look at the challenges that this industry is faced with and what are the key attributes for what will make you a winning OEM, it's going to be cost efficiency and time to market. And the most effective way of doing that is through partnerships." Last week, Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan Motor Corp. announced plans to work toward a merger that would form the world’s third-largest automaker. "This is a smart deal as the writing was on the wall for Nissan," said Dan Ives, a senior equity analyst at Wedbush Securities, in a note to The Detroit News. "They had to do a deal in a consolidating EV landscape." Hyundai and GM have been mum on specific details of their alignment while they work to finalize it. Still, the companies have said that they would explore the co-development of internal combustion engines and "clean-energy" vehicles and research combining sourcing for battery raw materials and steel. Barra “GM and Hyundai have complementary strengths and talented teams," GM CEO Mary Barra said at the time of the MOU announcement in September. "Our goal is to unlock the scale and creativity of both companies to deliver even more competitive vehicles to customers faster and more efficiently.” GM had been talking to Hyundai for "a while," Barra told reporters during a fireside chat with the Automotive Press Association earlier this month. "There was a period where a lot of OEMs, everyone was talking to everyone, but we continued to have conversations. "We're very aligned at the top. We have the most senior people in each company having the conversations and setting the tone for the team. We're very pleased that we signed the MOU. There's quite a bit of work going on what will become definitive agreements, but I don't want to get ahead of those announcements." Waatti The Hyundai/GM lineup "could bring outsized synergies for both companies while remaining competitors at the core level," said Paul Waatti, director of industry analysis at market research firm AutoPacific Inc. "Partnerships accelerate technological development by pooling resources to tackle the capital-intensive nature of the advanced tech R&D the industry is embracing." On GM's third-quarter earnings call in October, Barra emphasized the importance of partnerships. "One of the things people say about the auto industry is we ... all do a lot of different things and don't always leverage where we can partner with other OEMs or with other companies," she said. "And so we're really looking to leverage that, especially across the business, as we've mentioned with the MOU that we have with Hyundai, the continuing work that we do with Honda.” GM and Honda partner on the development of hydrogen fuel cell technology and collaborated on the development of Honda's Prologue and Acura ZDX electric vehicles. The companies were also planning to jointly develop a line of affordable EVs together but nixed those plans in 2023. Ford Motor Co. in 2021 also axed its plans to develop an EV with startup Rivian Automotive Inc., which makes all of its electric pickup trucks, SUVs and commercial delivery vans in Normal. Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume and Rivian CEO and founder R.J. Scaringe pose together in a photo distributed in June 2024 alongside their announcement of joint venture plans. The company last month entered a $5.8 billion joint-venture deal with Volkswagen AG. In a news release, the German automaker said the partnership would "create cutting-edge software and electronics architectures and scale the electric vehicle platforms and architectures." Said Waatti: "Partnerships must remain flexible with room for reassessment and revision. It’s often better to adjust or kill a joint venture than to continue going down the wrong road, even if the investment is already massive." A line of unsold 2024 R1S electric utility vehicles sits at a Rivian service center Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in east Denver. At GM's October Investor Day event, Barra mentioned GM was having "ongoing discussions" with "potential partners" for its Cruise LLC autonomous vehicle unit. Two months later, GM said it would stop funding Cruise's robotaxi program after $10 billion in investment since 2017. GM, the majority owner of Cruise, is planning to combine the Cruise and GM technical teams into one to continue to work on AV tech. The automaker's focus will now be on its Super Cruise advanced driver assistance system with the goal of developing fully autonomous personal vehicles. "GM pulling the plug on the Cruise partnership to stop the bleeding and realign capital is the latest example of this challenging dynamic, particularly considering the potential revenue upside — still many billions of dollars and years down the road," Waatti said. Cruise AV, General Motor's autonomous electric Bolt EV, is displayed in Detroit on Jan. 16, 2019. Cruise's restructuring followed months of efforts by GM to restart the operation after a pedestrian accident in October 2023 with a Cruise self-driving vehicle halted operations. GM had restarted testing in several cities, and in August, Cruise and Uber Technologies LLC announced a multiyear deal for customers to book autonomous Cruise robotaxis through the Uber platform starting in 2025. It's unclear where the Cruise and Uber partnership stands after GM's move to defund the robotaxi program. Uber did not respond to a request for comment and a Cruise spokesperson deferred to GM. GM spokesperson Jim Cain said: "We've proposed a restructuring, and a lot of these potential opportunities depend on how that gets resolved." The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.

Mhow (MP), Dec 29: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday termed India a “not very lucky” nation on the security front and urged soldiers to keep a sharp eye on internal and external foes who he said are always active. He was addressing Army personnel at the more-than-two-century-old Mhow cantonment in the Indore district of Madhya Pradesh. “Taking the security scenario into account, Bharat is not a very lucky country because our northern border and western border continuously face challenges,” said Singh, who is on a two-day tour of the state. Mhow cantonment, 25 km from Indore, is home to premier training institutes Army War College (AWS), Military College of Telecommunication Engineering and Infantry School other than the Infantry Museum and Army Marksmanship Unit. Singh is visiting the facilities. “We also face challenges on the internal front. In the backdrop of this, we can’t sit quietly, unconcerned. Our enemies, whether internal or external, remain active always. In these circumstances, we must keep a close eye on their activities and take appropriate and timely effective steps against them,” he told the Armymen. To make Bharat a developed and self-reliant country by 2047, the role of the Army is very crucial, said the defence minister. “.. as the country’s defence minister, I would like to tell you that we should be alert always. This patch of time, though often referred to as peacetime, struck me deeply when I arrived and witnessed the discipline and dedication with which you are undergoing training. Your regimen is no less than that of a war,” he told the gathering. “To maintain such a level of discipline, dedication and firm conviction are needed,” he added. Singh said he was impressed by the cleanliness at the Army establishments and cantonments across the country. “Your dedication to work inspires me. I can say that the most appealing thing is your devotion towards work and sense of responsibility. It is inspiring to all of us,” Singh said. He told the Army personnel that the country and its borders are becoming increasingly secure and strong due to their hard work and commitment. The defence minister also lauded the valuable contribution of the training institutions of the Indian Army in making their personnel proficient in military strategies and warfare skills. Singh was briefed by the Officiating Commandant on the establishment of Advanced Incubation and Research Centre and the various MoUs towards enabling the absorption and transformation of technologies, a release by the Press Information Bureau said. He visited the Army Marksmanship Unit to witness their contribution towards national sports, it said. The minister also visited the Infantry Museum, where he was briefed on the history of infantry as well as the induction of modernised equipment into the infantry. Earlier, Singh along with the Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi paid floral tributes at the memorial of Dr B R Ambedkar at Mhow. The memorial of Ambedkar, the chief architect of India’s Constitution, has been built at his birthplace in the Kali Paltan area of Mhow cantonment.NASSAU, Bahamas — Justin Thomas was long off the tee and made a few long putts on the back nine to overtake Scottie Scheffler with a 6-under 66 and build a one-shot lead Saturday over golf's best player going into the final round of the Hero World Challenge. Thomas is trying out a 46-inch driver — a little more than an inch longer than normal — that he previously used for practice at home to gain speed and length. He blasted a 361-yard drive to 8 feet on the par-4 seventh hole and led the field in driving distance. But it was a few long putts that put him ahead of Scheffler, who had a 69. Thomas was on the verge of falling two shots behind when he made an 18-foot par putt on the par-3 12th hole. On the reachable par-4 14th, he was in a nasty spot in a sandy area and could only splash it out to nearly 50 feet. He made that one for a most unlikely birdie, while behind him Scheffler muffed a chip on the 13th hole and made his lone bogey of a windy day. Scheffler never caught up to him, missing birdie chances on the reachable 14th and the par-5 15th. Thomas hit his approach to 3 feet for birdie on the 16th after a 343-yard drive. Scheffler made an 18-foot birdie putt on the 16th to close within one. Scheffler missed birdie chances on the last two holes from the 10-foot and 15-foot range, while Thomas missed an 8-foot birdie attempt at the last. "I had a stretch at 13, 14, 15 where I felt like I lost a shot or two there, but outside of that I did a lot of really good things today," Scheffler said. Thomas hasn't won since the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills, and a victory at Albany Golf Club wouldn't count as an official win. But the two-time major champion has made steady progress toward getting his game back in order. "I'm driving it great. I've had a lot of confidence with it," Thomas said of his longer driver. "I feel like I've been able to put myself in some pretty good spots going into the green. I'm still not taking advantage of some of them as much as I would like, but that's golf and we're always going to say that." Thomas was at 17-under 199 and will be in the final group Sunday with Scheffler, who is trying to end his spectacular season with a ninth title. Tom Kim put himself in the mix, which he might not have imagined Thursday when he was 3 over through six holes of the holiday tournament. Kim got back in the game with a 65 on Friday, and then followed with 12 birdies for a 62. He had a shot at the course record — Rickie Fowler shot 61 in the final round when he won at Albany in 2017 — until Kim found a bunker and took two shots to reach the green in making a double bogey on the par-3 17th. Even so, he was only two shots behind. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley (68) was four back. "Feel like I've been seeing signs of improvement, which is what you want and that's all I can do," Thomas said. "I can't control everybody else or what's going on, I've just got to keep playing as good as I possibly can and hope that it's enough come Sunday." Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Nobel laureate in Physics Geoffrey E. Hinton receives his award from Sweden's King Carl Gustaf at the Nobel Prize ceremony in the Konserthuset in Stockholm, on Dec. 10. Pontus Lundahl/TT/Reuters Ryan Khurana is a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation and a contributing author to the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. A Canadian, Geoffrey Hinton, has won the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics for his groundbreaking work in artificial intelligence – largely conducted in domestic institutions – but we face a stark paradox. While celebrating this historic recognition, new Stanford University AI vibrancy rankings reveal that Canada fell from third in the world, behind only the United States and China in 2017, to 14th in 2023 over a wide range of AI metrics. This dichotomy reflects a troubling pattern: Canada excelled at foundational research but struggles to maintain leadership in advancement, commercialization and deployment. The federal government’s recent investment of as much as $240-million in Cohere, a Toronto-based AI leader, furthers Canada’s $2-billion Sovereign AI Compute Strategy. But when it comes to the regulatory environment, the recently proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) threatens to exacerbate Canada’s challenges, potentially stifling adoption while failing to provide the clarity our AI ecosystem desperately needs. AIDA’s approach to regulation, while well-intentioned, raises several red flags. The legislation’s broad introduction of “high-impact” AI systems is to be defined in regulation. Yet the guidance that it will aim for interoperability with the European Union’s AI law indicates a propensity toward a similar lack of specification on the harms to be avoided, with significant penalties for not avoiding them. The proposed legislation attempts to exempt the development of open-source AI from the high-impact designation – something AI researchers criticized the EU for not distinguishing – based on the fact that “these models alone do not constitute a complete AI system.” The boundaries, however, between research and commercial application are increasingly blurred in modern AI development, with firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic engaging in both. Supporting research while restricting applications prevents the virtuous cycle of commercial-directed development that accelerates leadership and has been pivotal in enabling other countries to leapfrog Canada’s AI ecosystem. The solution isn’t to abandon regulation entirely. Rather, we need to fundamentally rethink AIDA’s approach. The goal should be to ensure that AI is developed safely, avoiding the catastrophic risks that the likes of Prof. Hinton and many others have increasingly worried about, while allowing for the practical use of current systems to expand. California’s AI safety bill, vetoed by the Governor after divided takes from Silicon Valley, demonstrated how to address legitimate AI safety concerns while maintaining a vibrant innovation ecosystem. Unlike AIDA’s focus on high-impact systems, California’s bill, SB-1047, focused specifically on “frontier” AI models, those requiring massive computing resources that could pose existential risks. The harms to be avoided are those that are caused by AI itself, of which there are potentially many. Where use could cause harm rather than the AI itself, SB-1047 leverages existing regulatory frameworks, such as consumer protection and privacy legislation. In Canada, there is an opportunity to take seriously AI safety concerns about alignment and AI failure that would provide leadership in ethical AI development. By focusing instead on improving Canada’s ability to build frontier models in line with values we would like to see embedded in AI systems, the downstream worries about potential harms in use can be further mitigated. We risk chilling adoption of AI if we regulate use based on unspecified potential harms and further limit Canada’s ability to support cutting-edge development. AI is a critical economic necessity, promising to kick-start a new era, with global consulting firm McKinsey forecasting as much as US$4.4-trillion in annual global GDP gained through AI-enabled productivity growth. Similarly, health care breakthroughs enabled by AI, such as AlphaFold, which earned DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis the 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry, promise to redefine the future of health care and healthy societies. Canada has an incredible need for both productivity and health care advancement, given our rapidly aging population, and with our historical investment in this field, we should not allow this technology to be defined by the highest bidder. We’ve already demonstrated our capacity for world-changing innovation through the work of researchers such as Prof. Hinton. Now we need policy that builds on this legacy rather than constrains it. As the federal government considers AIDA, it must recognize that effective AI regulation should enable innovation while protecting against genuine harms. The current draft risks achieving neither and stifling the value of new investments. Without significant revision, we may find ourselves celebrating past achievements while watching our future leadership slip away.

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INSIDE WINNIPEG POLITICS: Ballooning debt may lead to economic disasterZonta Club of the Pikes Peak Area has participated in the international organization’s annual initiative, “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” for years. This year, the 35 members of the local club have gone big, said President Lisa Rice. The organization that helps women and girls succeed with various projects and scholarships considered buying a billboard to raise awareness about the worldwide issue of violence against women, in homes and public places. “We started with a billboard and ended with advertising on 12 bus benches and bus shelters to reach more people in Colorado Springs and get the message out,” Rice said. The message this year, and since 1991 when the campaign originated at the Women’s Global Leadership Institute coordinated by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, is that violence against women and girls needs to be prevented and stopped. Local chapters do their part in different ways, Rice said. In addition to the bus stop promotion, the Pikes Peak Area chapter will raise awareness through social media and resource materials, she said. The campaign begins Monday and concludes on Dec. 10, however the bus stop messaging will continue through December, Rice said. The club paid $3,500 for the advertising and still has $1,500 to go toward the project. Donations can be made at zontapikespeak.org . About one in three women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime, according to the World Health Organization. And on a typical day, there are more than 20,000 phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide, as per data from the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Domestic-violence hotlines see increases as the holidays approach, Rice said, likely because the time of year is stressful for many families. “We do feel like it’s having an impact locally because we hear from people, ‘Thank you for sharing resources and books so I can learn more’ and ‘Thank you for putting up signs,’” Rice said of the upcoming campaign. Zonta Club also provides scholarships totaling $8,000 to $12,000 annually in general areas of study as well as business, aerospace and technology. Resources are available to anyone needing immediate assistance and more information: • National domestic violence crisis line: (800) 799-7233 • TESSA of Colorado Springs’ emergency hotline: (719) 633-3819 • Kingdom Builders Family Life Center in Colorado Springs: (719) 247-8190

NEW YORK , Nov. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the Sexual and Reproductive Justice Hub (SRJ Hub) at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) launched the newest iteration of the civil society-led Global 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-based Violence campaign. For more than 30 years, feminist activists and movements around the world have used the 16 days between the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women ( November 25 ) and Human Rights Day ( December 10 ) to advocate for an end to gender-based violence. With the help of the SRJ Hub, the campaign now will transition into a year-round initiative, reflecting the 365-days-a-year efforts of feminist activists to shift norms, secure accountability, and transform power structures that oppress women, girls, and gender-diverse people. The 2024 campaign responds to requests from grassroots organizers who asked for more flexible and diverse campaign messages, illustrations, and resources. Their perspectives are complemented by insights from the campaign's Advisory Council composed of scholars and organizers with deep experience in gender, economic, racial, reproductive, and environmental justice. Bodily autonomy, the 2024 campaign theme, makes visible the ways different causes and manifestations of gender-based violence are linked. By avoiding a uniform, standardized approach, the campaign will enable local partners to adapt materials according to their unique needs, prioritizing authenticity and safety in local activism. "Women's and feminist gender justice organizations and movements have always been at the forefront of the push for bodily autonomy, and now more than ever we need to support the efforts of grassroots organizers who know what works in their contexts," said CUNY SPH Senior Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs Terry McGovern . "The campaign materials will allow organizers to mix and match sample images and messages or use their own." The SRJ Hub continues to encourage funders to support the requests of grassroots organizers for multi-year, trust-based core funding that advances their efforts to promote bodily autonomy and end gender-based violence. This includes support for local events and strategic resources or organizers in restrictive environments. Addressing Urgent Global Trends A confluence of global trends threaten previously enshrined protections and push equality farther out of reach for far too many women, girls, and gender-diverse people across the globe. These include femicide and restrictions on abortion access; exclusion and marginalization of LGBTQI+ people; growing gender inequality as debt crises, austerity measures, and corruption crowd out social expenditures; conflict and occupation enabled by disregard for international law; increasingly frequent and devastating climate crises; and failure to fully engage with patriarchal practices driving the popularity of anti-gender movements. Bodily Autonomy Theme Connects Movements At a time when equality remains out of reach for far too many women, girls, and gender-diverse people across the globe and many previously enshrined protections are being rolled back, the 2024 campaign theme will amplify the efforts of feminist grassroots groups to resist and counter the impacts of gender-based violence by framing bodily autonomy as a fundamental human right. The campaign defines bodily autonomy as the freedom to express every thought, feeling, need, and desire through our bodies, each uniquely shaping who we are . "Too often campaigns focus on suffering and victimization," said SRJ Hub consultant Oriana López Uribe, who led the campaign strategy design process. "We want people to imagine what life could be like if everyone had the power and right to make choices about our physical selves, and to feel empathy and solidarity with others who want the same thing." This approach is reflected in the campaign's principles, which emphasize positivity, bravery, and collective care for all: Grassroots organizers who reviewed and contributed to the sample messages told us, "I like the different levels of messaging, the intentional counter-messaging for some of the more dominant narratives, and some really simple questions that can lead to rich conversations. Many messages were a refreshing change from NGO comms which I appreciate," and "I appreciate the nuances in the design of the framework and in the messaging. It has been a long time since I encountered those layers in a global campaign. And I love that the messaging is evoking emotions and not dictating policy solutions. I think this is a tactic that progressive movements have abandoned and that anti-rights groups are good at." The campaign is on Instagram, 'X' and TikTok as @365toEndGBV and c ampaign materials are available for download after submitting individual or collective information in this form . The campaign materials include sample templates, illustrations, and messages in Arabic, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian, as well as tips for designing campaigns and activities, and examples from other campaigns. The SRJ Hub plans to update and expand materials throughout the year based on user feedback. Media contact: Clarisa Bencomo Clarisa.Bencomo@sph.cuny.edu 917-702-0998 About the Sexual and Reproductive Justice Hub In 2024, the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) began hosting the Global 16 Days Against Gender-Based Violence campaign following the closure of its founding host, the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University . The campaign is housed at the Sexual & Reproductive Justice Hub (SRJ Hub) at CUNY SPH, which coordinates solutions-oriented scholarship, training, and advocacy, centering the lived experiences of women of color and funding their and other marginalized people's work. Our work is informed by our experience as part of the United States' largest, oldest, and most diverse urban public university system, with faculty, staff, and students connected to communities and populations around the world. Origin of the Global 16 Days Campaign The Global Campaign was launched in 1991 at the first Women's Global Leadership Institute held by the Center for Global Women's Leadership (CGWL), with the goal of raising awareness of GBV as a human rights violation. From the beginning, the Campaign brought together a diverse group of activists and researchers working at all levels from grassroots to international, and united in their belief that ending GBV requires local and global work to change the norms and systems that drive GBV in all its manifestations. Under CGWL's stewardship the Global Campaign gained traction in more than 187 countries, with participation from over 6,000 organizations and a reach of over 300 million. It played a pivotal role in gaining recognition of GBV as a human rights violation in the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Program of Action and the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action . Early campaign themes addressed health impacts of GBV, cultural drivers, racism, sexism, and militarism, among others. More recent campaign themes have included femicide (2021-2022), violence against women working in the informal economy (2020), and violence and harassment in the world of work (2018 – 2019). The latter included advocacy in support of the adoption of the historic International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 190 , concerning the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work (2019). In August 2022 , CGWL sadly closed its doors after 31 years of collaborative and transformative global work. The 16 Days Campaign is now housed at CUNY SPH, ensuring that the important work of CGWL will continue going forward. About CUNY SPH The CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) is committed to promoting and sustaining healthier populations in New York City and around the world through excellence in education, research, and service in public health and by advocating for sound policy and practice to advance social justice and improve health outcomes for all. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/16to365-new-resources-for-year-round-activism-to-end-gender-based-violence-and-strengthen-bodily-autonomy-for-all-302314570.html SOURCE CUNY SPH

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