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After rough start under coach Mike Macdonald, the Seahawks' defense has become a strengthNowThis made deep cuts to its staff for the second time this year

Chris Temple Talks About Nickel, Lithium, $200 Uranium, US Policies And 2025 Potential Energy ShiftIs the world more dangerous than ever for travelers? A global risk expert weighs in

Formula 1 on Monday at last said it will expand its grid in 2026 to make room for an American team that is partnered with General Motors. “As the pinnacle of motorsports, F1 demands boundary-pushing innovation and excellence. It’s an honor for General Motors and Cadillac to join the world’s premier racing series, and we’re committed to competing with passion and integrity to elevate the sport for race fans around the world," GM President Mark Reuss said. "This is a global stage for us to demonstrate GM’s engineering expertise and technology leadership at an entirely new level.” The approval ends years of wrangling that launched a U.S. Justice Department investigation into why Colorado-based Liberty Media, the commercial rights holder of F1, would not approve the team initially started by Michael Andretti. Andretti in September stepped aside from leading his namesake organization, so the 11th team will be called Cadillac F1 and be run by new Andretti Global majority owners Dan Towriss and Mark Walter. The team will use Ferrari engines its first two years until GM has a Cadillac engine built for competition in time for the 2028 season. Towriss is the the CEO and president of Group 1001 and entered motorsports via Andretti's IndyCar team when he signed on financial savings platform Gainbridge as a sponsor. Towriss is now a major part of the motorsports scene with ownership stakes in both Spire Motorsports' NASCAR team and Wayne Taylor Racing's sports car team. Walter is the chief executive of financial services firm Guggenheim Partners and the controlling owner of both the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Premier League club Chelsea. “We’re excited to partner with General Motors in bringing a dynamic presence to Formula 1," Towriss said. “Together, we’re assembling a world-class team that will embody American innovation and deliver unforgettable moments to race fans around the world.” Mario Andretti, the 1978 F1 world champion, will have an ambassador role with Cadillac F1. But his son, Michael, will have no official position with the organization now that he has scaled back his involvement with Andretti Global. “The Cadillac F1 Team is made up of a strong group of people that have worked tirelessly to build an American works team,” Michael Andretti posted on social media. “I’m very proud of the hard work they have put in and congratulate all involved on this momentous next step. I will be cheering for you!” The approval has been in works for weeks but was held until after last weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix to not overshadow the showcase event of the Liberty Media portfolio. Max Verstappen won his fourth consecutive championship in Saturday night's race, the third and final stop in the United States for the top motorsports series in the world. Grid expansion in F1 is both infrequent and often unsuccessful. Four teams were granted entries in 2010 that should have pushed the grid to 13 teams and 26 cars for the first time since 1995. One team never made it to the grid and the other three had vanished by 2017. There is only one American team on the current F1 grid — owned by California businessman Gene Haas — but it is not particularly competitive and does not field American drivers. Andretti’s dream was to field a truly American team with American drivers. The fight to add this team has been going on for three-plus years and F1 initially denied the application despite approval from F1 sanctioning body FIA. The existing 10 teams, who have no voice in the matter, also largely opposed expansion because of the dilution in prize money and the billions of dollars they’ve already invested in the series. Andretti in 2020 tried and failed to buy the existing Sauber team. From there, he applied for grid expansion and partnered with GM, the top-selling manufacturer in the United States. The inclusion of GM was championed by the FIA and president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who said Michael Andretti’s application was the only one of seven applicants to meet all required criteria to expand F1’s current grid. “General Motors is a huge global brand and powerhouse in the OEM world and is working with impressive partners," Ben Sulayem said Monday. "I am fully supportive of the efforts made by the FIA, Formula 1, GM and the team to maintain dialogue and work towards this outcome of an agreement in principle to progress this application." Despite the FIA's acceptance of Andretti and General Motors from the start, F1 wasn't interested in Andretti — but did want GM. At one point, F1 asked GM to find another team to partner with besides Andretti. GM refused and F1 said it would revisit the Andretti application if and when Cadillac had an engine ready to compete. “Formula 1 has maintained a dialogue with General Motors, and its partners at TWG Global, regarding the viability of an entry following the commercial assessment and decision made by Formula 1 in January 2024,” F1 said in a statement. “Over the course of this year, they have achieved operational milestones and made clear their commitment to brand the 11th team GM/Cadillac, and that GM will enter as an engine supplier at a later time. Formula 1 is therefore pleased to move forward with this application process." Yet another major shift in the debate over grid expansion occurred earlier this month with the announced resignation of Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei, who was largely believed to be one of the biggest opponents of the Andretti entry. “With Formula 1’s continued growth plans in the US, we have always believed that welcoming an impressive US brand like GM/Cadillac to the grid and GM as a future power unit supplier could bring additional value and interest to the sport," Maffei said. "We credit the leadership of General Motors and their partners with significant progress in their readiness to enter Formula 1."

A company described as “Atlassian for the built world” has raised nearly $30 million in venture capital, defying the ongoing funding slump that continues to leave Australian start-ups struggling to raise investment. Sitemate has drawn comparisons with Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar’s tech giant Atlassian for both its growth trajectory and its product, which aims to replace Word and Excel with workflow software tools. The latest funding round has valued the Sydney-based start-up at close to $200 million. Instead of being aimed at software engineers, however, Sitemate offers software for engineers working on the “built world”, including civil, structural, mechanical and electrical projects. Sitemate chief executive Hartley Pike is a former field engineer with Lendlease. Credit: The start-up is led by chief executive Hartley Pike, a former field engineer with Lendlease who found himself buried in paperwork before deciding to start a software company to fix that problem. “We see so many ‘built world’ companies struggle to adopt and use clunky all-in-one systems, which force many of them to move back to legacy formats like Word and Excel – and even paper – because at least paper, Word and Excel are flexible and familiar,” Pike said. Loading He said Sitemate’s point of difference is its no-code “building blocks”, which can be configured and combined to meet the needs of thousands of different processes across industries, regions and compliance requirements. He said his company started booming when COVID hit, and industries moved to digitise most of their processes. “Since we launched Sitemate in August 2018, over six years ago, we have grown every single month consecutively, and our growth rate is still increasing year over year,” he said. Sitemate has closed a $27.5 million funding round led by Blackbird, with participation from existing investors Shearwater Capital and Marbruck. The company will use the money to fuel its international expansion, including opening an office in Austin, Texas that will join its offices in London, Vancouver and Toronto.10 hot-ticket gifts we predict will sell out on Black Friday 2024

Economy to face biggest test when IMF programme ends: Humayun Akhtar Economy has improved somewhat over past few months, and reason for this is IMF programme, says Humayun KARACHI: Former federal minister Humayun Akhtar has said the economy has improved somewhat over the past few months, and a major reason for this is the IMF programme, but the biggest test for the current situation would be when the IMF programme ends. Akhtar was talking to Saleem Safi during an exclusive interview on Geo News programme ‘Jirga’. When he was asked which forum he is currently active in, or if he is still affiliated with “that party”, the ex-minister said that fortunately, he was not subjected to any hardship after the May 9 events. “I was neither arrested nor told to hold a press conference. I’m son of a four-star general of the Pakistan Army who was martyred. When the incidents of May 9 occurred at the memorials of the martyrs, I distanced myself from the PTI. I remained silent.” He said that when it was time for the elections, it was not impossible for him to contest them from Lahore because he had been involved in Lahore’s politics his entire life. “I decided to contest from Faisalabad. My wish was to run as an independent candidate, but my colleagues suggested that I run from the IPP platform. I will contest future elections from the same platform.” He also said the economy has improved somewhat over the past few months, and a major reason for this is the IMF programme, but the biggest test for the current situation would be when the IMF programme ends. He pointed out that the foundations of industrial growth, such as steel, machine tools and petrochemicals, are not available in Pakistan. “Agricultural services and research are what will save us. You’ll see that when the IMF’s umbrella is removed, we’ll be standing back where we started from.” He claimed that the best dam for the agricultural sector was the Kalabagh Dam, but who knows what will happen to it now. The dam currently being built in Pakistan will be good for power generation, he said. “We don’t have any agricultural policy. It’s all left to Allah. Sometimes the sun shines, sometimes the rain comes on time, but no significant work has been done due to our policies.” When asked what changes he is observing in Europe and America after Trump’s win in the US presidential election, Akhtar said there are two or three fundamental issues in America. “They’ll make laws on immigration, etc. The judges were appointed during Trump’s first term. Duties on goods being imported in the US will be increased, which might lead to better growth for the American industry but could also increase inflation. Trump will likely prove to be better for the US economy.” As for Europe, he said problems are being observed there. The intensity of the Ukraine war will not be the same as it was during the Biden era, he added. He also said China would be taken more seriously. “A moment of reflection for Pakistan is that due to close relations between Pakistan and China, America might view Pakistan through the lens of China, which could create problems for us.” From a regional perspective, he added, Pakistan is a nuclear power, so the US would focus on things like our economic conditions, internal situations, and especially the resurgence of international terrorism. When he was asked how much weight there is in the issue of Imran Khan’s release being raised with Trump, the former minister said he does not know much about the nature of personal relationships between leaders. He said the US Congress, the executive branch and the establishment have their own interests. “The problems faced by Imran Khan are based on Pakistan’s judicial system. Will they be asked to disregard the constitution and laws? The expectations linked to Trump regarding Imran Khan are unlikely to yield significant success.” When asked if he was satisfied with the progress in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Akhtar said the infrastructure of CPEC had been developed and Pakistan’s motorway system was currently better than many countries of the world. He said a port had been established along with power plants and dams were also being built. He was of the view that in the second phase of the CPEC, projects related to industries, agriculture and IT remained to be completed. Akhtar lamented that special economic and technology zones could not be created despite talks that spanned many years. He said he often visited China and had partners in China and on the basis of his experience, he could tell that China would not be willing to invest in the absence of special economic zones. He said the Chinese were also concerned about lack of political stability that was the biggest issue in economic growth. Political stability meant continuity in policies, Akhtar said. He also called for strengthening security as all foreign investors including Chinese considered lack of security the biggest issue. When asked whether operation or negotiations were the solution to the security issue, Akhtar said it was a fact that since the United States left Afghanistan, the security situation in Pakistan had been deteriorating. He said the overall situation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan demanded strict decisions but some talks could also be held. He said a major division had been created for the security of the Chinese citizens in Pakistan and by improving the SOPs for the Chinese citizens, incidents targeting the Chinese could be thwarted. When asked to comment on some quarters’ claim that CPEC was a trap and Pakistan was going to repent over it, Akhtar said that according to the global statistics, the United States was the country with the most debt. He explained that what mattered the most was the ability to repay the loans. He added that Pakistan’s issue was that it was not able to repay the loans it had borrowed. He said around $30 billion to $32 billion sovereign debt had been accrued in the phase 1 of CPEC and so far no such direct investment had taken place that could enable the country to earn foreign exchange. He added that he was also not seeing any such strategy that could result in joint agriculture, IT and other projects through which Pakistan could earn foreign exchange and repay its loans. On whether Pakistan was able to implement the second phase of CPEC, Akhtar said security was the biggest issue for the Chinese and Pakistan would succeed in ensuring security for the Chinese. He remarked that China was leaving labour-intensive industries like textile and going towards high tech industries like e-cars. He said the labour-intensive industry that was going out of China should be shifted to Pakistan through a joint programme of Pakistan and China. He said some special economic zones should be created for such programmes.On the possible solutions to the power issue, Akhtar said Pakistan had increased its power generation capacity but was lagging behind in power transmission. He added that no improvement was taking place in the power distribution companies and the issue of power theft persisted. He said Wapda was not granted the required funds. He said four to five times more funds were spent when tariff was increased due to the IPP policies and taxes imposed to cover circular debt. To a query if there is no way other than to privatize the PIA, Akhtar said what other way could be there when the time to revamp the airline is over. Answering another question if the current government will be able to complete its tenure, he said it’s difficult to make predictions about the next five months, let alone the next five years. He said it should not be considered who is supporting whom, and the government can prolong its stay in power if it really improves the condition of the people and the country. He reiterated that the government could complete its tenure it fully focused on solving problems of the people. When asked if the PTI, which is coming to Islamabad, will succeed, Akhtar said that many people in the party are making decisions. He said marching on the federal capital is something which has been made use of several times in the past. He added that in the past 10 years, marches and raids on Islamabad were staged, but political change cannot come through these tactics. He said the PTI wants to boost its vote bank, but decisions like marching on the federal capital will not benefit the party. However, he remarked that the PTI is under compulsion to take such decisions, as the youth that supports the PTI had also backed Pervez Musharraf, who as a result had enjoyed power till 2007 and his popularity was also considerable. Nonetheless, the PTI will not have the kind of vote bank that the PPP had enjoyed in Punjab and stayed alive there for 40 to 50 years, he said, adding that this class gets disappointed soon. He was of the view that the PTI should instead make policies that while remaining part of the system it should improve its standing through future elections. Akhtar said the PTI’s decision to march on Islamabad is beyond his comprehension. He said he has done politics in this country and his father was part of the establishment, and he can say that this kind of politics does not yield any positive results. He recalled that in the Zia era, no room was given to the PPP, but time changes. When Musharraf came, both Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto were driven out of the country, he said, adding that this is the way politics in Pakistan is done. Akhtar said politics requires patience and statesmanship. He admitted that no room has been given to the PTI, but violent protests will not benefit it. He said that after each election, the opposition alleges rigging and claims the government has been formed with the support of the establishment. He said now a ‘hybrid plus’ system is being talked about, but there is no martial law in the country and a system does exist. He said the PTI, which thinks it has been besieged, can get a better result if it adopts some other method of protest.NASA Accelerates Space Exploration, Earth Science for All in 2024After rough start under coach Mike Macdonald, the Seahawks' defense has become a strength

INDIANAPOLIS — It was just a 10-yard completion, easy to overlook in the wake of a record-setting rushing day and easy to dismiss as one of just 11 pass attempts throughout the Indianapolis Colts’ 38-30 victory Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. But Anthony Richardson’s third-and-8 pass to wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. just after the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter was pivotal to holding off the visitors’ late rally. If the Colts were forced to punt in that situation, a defense that had allowed touchdowns on three consecutive drives — of 70, 55 and 71 yards — would be back on the field with tremendous pressure to prevent the game going to overtime. Richardson was cold and out of rhythm. He’d been sacked on his most recent pass attempt — on third-and-9 with 6:51 remaining — and he hadn’t gotten a pass off since throwing an incompletion intended for wide receiver Josh Downs at the 11:20 mark. With the dual-threat quarterback and running back Jonathan Taylor combining for 270 of Indianapolis’ single-game franchise-record 335 rushing yards, Richardson had not completed a pass since the 8:33 mark of the third quarter, and he was just 1-for-2 in the second half. Still, he was calm and composed on the crucial third down — hitting Pittman on a simple out pattern to move the chains and keep the clock moving. When the Colts finally did punt the ball back to Tennessee, there were only three seconds remaining for the Titans to work with, It was a forgettable play in the grand scheme of the game, but it was also the most recent evidence of the 22-year-old quarterback’s ability to raise his level of play in the clutch. He’s 3-2 as a starter since taking the role back from veteran Joe Flacco, and the other two victories featured game-winning touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. “I think that’s a special trait — obviously as a young player — that he doesn’t flinch in those times, to lead those comebacks,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said. “Obviously, the (New York) Jets, the New England (Patriots) game, I mean, those are big-time drives to go win games. “You want that out of young players, especially (when) you see the veteran guys do it around the league all the time, but to do it as a young player speaks volumes of the person that he is.” Despite Richardson’s up-and-down season, Indianapolis has maintained steadfast belief in his potential. Even when he was benched for Flacco, the organization repeatedly stated it was not giving up on the quarterback as its future leader. There’s still plenty of work to be done. Richardon has completed just 47.7% of his passes, and he’s thrown 12 interceptions in 11 starts. His rushing ability again was evident Sunday, and he’s set franchise single-season records for a quarterback with 499 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns. And he has proven his big-play ability with a league-leading 14.4 yards per completion. The Colts still believe improved consistency will come with increased reps, and they hold out hope the fourth overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft can still become the long-term answer at the game’s most important position. For now, Richardson’s late-game heroics offer the most compelling argument in his favor. “I think it’s just me just playing all the way until the clock hits zero,” Richardson said of his mindset. “I never think about fourth quarter moments or anything like that. I just try to play until the game’s over. And it just happens sometimes that most of it happens in the fourth quarter. So I just try to play through the whistle and just play through the whole game.” AWARD WORTHY After rushing for 218 yards and three touchdowns against the Titans – both the second-highest single-game totals of his career – Taylor has been named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week. It was a major bounce-back performance after Taylor’s unforced fumble just short of the goal line cost the Colts dearly in a pivotal loss against the Denver Broncos a week prior. “It’s always exciting to see that dude just do what he does,” Richardson said. “It’s fascinating, honestly, just to see him hit a gap and just take it to the house. It’s just amazing, especially thinking about what happened in the Denver game. It honestly like wiped my mind. I wasn’t even thinking about it until people were talking about him coming back and having the game he did. “It’s like ‘OK, that’s the type of player he is, the type of person he is.’ He always wants to do better for the team and for himself. And just to see him do that and get what he did on Sunday is just a blessing.” ROSTER MOVES The Colts officially signed right guard Mark Glowinski to the 53-man roster Tuesday after he’d been called up for game day in each of the past three weeks. Guard Antonio Mafi was re-signed to the practice squad after being released from the 53-man roster Monday.Party City to close its stores as company files for bankruptcy LOS ANGELES (AP) — Party City announced that it's going to “wind down” its retail and wholesale operations as it prepares to shutter nearly 700 stores nationwide. The company said Saturday it has also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection "to maximize value for the benefit of the company’s stakeholders.” The New Jersey-based retailer said it will keep more than 95% of its 12,000 employees to help with the process of closing down. Customers have flocked to Party City for Halloween costumes, favors for children’s birthday parties and decorations for New Year’s Eve celebrations for nearly 40 years. It has faced growing competition from Walmart and Target and from occasion-based pop-up stores such as Spirit Halloween. A million taxpayers will soon receive up to $1,400 from the IRS. Who are they and why now? Approximately 1 million taxpayers will automatically receive special payments of up to $1,400 from the IRS in the coming weeks. The money will be directly deposited into eligible people’s bank accounts or sent in the mail by a paper check. Most people shouldn't get their hopes up about receiving the cash. The IRS says it’s distributing about $2.4 billion to taxpayers who failed to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns after missing one of the COVID stimulus payments or receiving less than the full amount. The IRS says most taxpayers eligible for the federal stimulus payments received them. Bluesky finds with growth comes growing pains — and bots Bluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk’s X, or wanting an alternative to Meta’s Threads and its algorithms. The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter and was eventually intended to replace it. While this is still very much a pie in the sky, Bluesky’s growth trajectory could make it a serious competitor to other social platforms. With growth, though, comes growing pains. It’s not just human users who’ve been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites. 'Sonic 3' bests 'Mufasa: The Lion King' at the box office NEW YORK (AP) — In the holiday season battle of big-budget family movies, Paramount Pictures’ “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” sped past the Walt Disney Co.’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” to take the top spot at the box office. The results came just ahead of the lucrative Christmas corridor in theaters. According to studio estimates, “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” debuted with $62 million in ticket sales over the weekend. “Mufasa,” however, was humbled in its opening weekend, coming in notably shy of expectations. It returned just $35 million in domestic ticket sales. Amazon and Starbucks workers are on strike. Trump might have something to do with it Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract. Strikes during busy periods like the holidays can help unions exercise leverage during negotiations or garner support from sympathetic consumers. One expert says he thinks workers at both companies are “desperate” to make progress before President-elect Donald Trump can appoint a Republican majority to the National Labor Relations Board. Workers at Starbucks, Amazon and some other prominent consumer brands are fighting for their first contracts after several locations voted to unionize. Farmers are still reeling months after Hurricane Helene ravaged crops across the South LYONS, Ga. (AP) — Farmers in Georgia are still reeling more than two months after Hurricane Helene blew away cotton, destroyed ripened squash and cucumbers and uprooted pecan trees and timber. Agribusinesses in other Southern states saw costly damage as well. The University of Georgia estimates the September storm inflicted $5.5 billion in direct losses and indirect costs in Georgia alone. In rural Toombs County, Chris Hopkins just finished harvesting his ravaged cotton crop and figures he lost half of it, costing him about $430,000. Poultry grower Jeffrey Pridgen in Georgia's Coffee County had four of his 12 chicken houses destroyed and others badly damaged. Farmers say more government disaster assistance is needed. Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI’s strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products. But he grew disillusioned with the company and told The Associated Press this fall he would “try to testify” in copyright infringement cases against it. Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge shows price pressures eased last month WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation gauge that is closely watched by the Federal Reserve barely rose last month in a sign that price pressures cooled after two months of sharp gains. Prices rose just 0.1% from October to November. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, prices also ticked up just 0.1%, after two months of outsize 0.3% gains. The milder inflation figures arrived two days after Federal Reserve officials, led by Chair Jerome Powell, rocked financial markets by revealing that they now expect to cut their key interest rate just two times in 2025, down from four in their previous estimate. Albania to close TikTok for a year blaming it for promoting violence among children TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s prime minister says the government will shut down video service TikTok for one year, blaming it for inciting violence and bullying, especially among children. Albanian authorities held 1,300 meetings with teachers and parents following the stabbing death of a teenager in mid-November by another teenager following a quarrel that started on TikTok. Prime Minister Edi Rama, speaking at a meeting with teachers and parents, said TikTok “would be fully closed for all. ... There will be no TikTok in the Republic of Albania.” Rama says the ban will begin sometime next year. Albanian children comprise the largest group of TikTok users in the country, according to domestic researchers. Stock market today: Wall Street rises to turn a dismal week into just a bad one NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose to turn what would have been one of the market’s worst weeks of the year into just a pretty bad one. The S&P 500 rallied 1.1% Friday to shave its loss for the week down to 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped nearly 500 points, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1%. A report said a measure of inflation the Federal Reserve likes to use was slightly lower last month than expected. It’s an encouraging signal after the Fed shocked markets Wednesday by saying worries about inflation could keep it from cutting interest rates in 2025 as much as earlier thought.

Revlon Signs Lease to Relocate its New Jersey-based Science and Innovation Lab to The Northeast Science & Technology (NEST) CenterNone

Wake Forest keeps Detroit Mercy at arm's length for winUNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — (AP) — Nick Fiorillo's 20 points helped Vermont defeat Delaware 75-71 on Saturday. Fiorillo also contributed eight rebounds for the Catamounts (3-3). Shamir Bogues scored 18 points while finishing 8 of 11 from the floor and added six rebounds and three steals. TJ Hurley shot 4 of 12 from the field, including 1 for 7 from 3-point range, and went 5 for 6 from the line to finish with 14 points. Izaiah Pasha led the way for the Fightin' Blue Hens (2-3) with 20 points. John Camden added 19 points for Delaware. Cavan Reilly also had 18 points. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .