WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The United States has asked Syria's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group to help locate and free missing American journalist Austin Tice as it liberates the country's prisons in the aftermath of Bashar al-Assad's overthrow, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday. Washington is telling all parties in Syria that Tice, who was abducted in Syria in 2012, is a top U.S. priority, Miller told a press briefing. Miller said that message had been sent via intermediaries to HTS, the faction that led the rebel operation that unseated Assad and which the U.S. considers to be a terror group, as well as other entities operating in Syria. "In all of our communications with parties that we know talk to HTS, we have sent very clearly the message that as they move through Syria liberating prisons, that our top priority is the return of Austin Tice," he said. "We want anyone who's operating on the ground in Syria to be on the lookout for him, and if they do find him, to return to him to us safely as soon as possible." President Joe Biden has said he believes Tice is alive and has dispatched hostage-affairs envoy Roger Carstens to the region as part of intensive efforts to free him. HTS is using the right words in its statements, but the United States would judge it by its actions, Miller said, declining to say whether Washington would change the group's designation as a foreign terrorist organization, which prevents the U.S. from assisting the group. "We have seen over the years, any number of militant groups who have seized power, who have promised that they would respect minorities, who have promised that they would respect religious freedom, promised that they would govern in an inclusive way, and then see them fail to meet those promises," Miller said. "So we really do mean it when we say what's important is watching how they actually behave in the coming weeks." Miller said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Tuesday about the situation in Syria with counterparts from Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Egypt. Earlier on Tuesday, Blinken issued a statement saying the United States fully supports Syria's political transition process and wants it to lead to credible, inclusive, and non-sectarian governance that meets international standards of transparency and accountability. Sign up here. Reporting by Simon Lewis, David Ljunggren and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Alistair Bell Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab

Knives” is slang for surgeons, so I’m referring to a meeting, conference, or congress of surgeons. I recently attended an Asian congress in cardiothoracic surgery—surgery of the heart and lungs—in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in central China. Wuhan, the political and manufacturing hub of China, is home to over 11 million people and is China’s seventh most-populous city. Historically, Wuhan was the headquarters of the Wuchang uprising which ended China’s last imperial dynasty in 1911. It was thrust into international consciousness when a citywide lockdown was imposed in January 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Wuhan has been hosting international meetings to make the city more open and inclusive, and to send out signals of its international competitiveness with a resilient economy. When I visited the 1,000-bed Huoshenshan (meaning Fire God Mountain) hospital, built in a record 10 days by 7,000 workers during the early days of the pandemic, I was told that it had been converted into a nursing facility. This temporary hospital closed on April 15, 2020, after a little over two months in operation as community transmission had stopped in China. I also learned that the seafood market where the pandemic supposedly started was permanently closed. Medicine in China has progressed from the era of barefoot doctors in rural Chinese villages in the 1970s, to surgical feats like the world’s first transplant of a genetically altered pig liver into a human, and the world’s first double-lung transplant for end-stage lung disease brought about by COVID-19. China has two of the world’s largest lung transplant programs, one in Wuxi People’s Hospital in Jiangsu province, and another in the 155-year-old Second Affiliated Hospital of the Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou. While China is catching up with the West, this progress has been shadowed by controversy. The elephant in the room is, of course, the use of organs from executed prisoners, which made China a pariah in the international transplant community. Scientific articles were denied publication in peer-reviewed medical journals, and Chinese transplant doctors had difficulty presenting their work in international medical conferences. To address this, Chinese authorities came up with the Hangzhou Resolution of October 2013, which resolved to end “donation by execution” and promote ethical and internationally recognized practices of organ donation and transplantation. The resolution also called for transparency in organ donation through a computerized waitlist of potential transplant recipients regardless of gender, social status, and religious beliefs. Furthermore, it rejects foreign patients seeking to undergo transplantation in China. During the last 40 years, China was able to lift 800 million people out of poverty, with health care and medical services also improving in its wake. In big urban hospitals and universities, small armies of Ph.D.s work in narrow fields of basic medical sciences, including research in cancer biology and genetics. This leads us to the question: Why has China not produced another Nobel Prize laureate in medicine or physiology? (China has only one in this category). That is another matter altogether. Back to why surgeons are called “knives,” a reference to the scalpel, one of the earliest surgical instruments that evolved from flint or volcanic glass cutting implements during the Stone Age, to its present modern version of tempered steel. “He who wishes to be a surgeon should go to war,” wrote the Greek physician Hippocrates in the 4th century BC. During the Middle Ages in Europe, barber surgeons accompanied soldiers into battle and took care of the injured. The barber’s pole, with a helix of red and white, and sometimes blue, dates back to the Middle Ages: red representing blood, and white symbolizing the bandages used to staunch bleeding. Wars taught early surgeons surgical techniques like amputations and wound closure. With the invention of gunpowder in China, surgeons learned a whole new way of dealing with traumatic gunshot injuries. In fact, the modern ambulance was an innovation of a surgeon in Napoleon’s army: the so-called “flying ambulances” to rapidly transport injured soldiers for treatment, thereby improving the organization of field hospitals, the forerunner of the modern mobile army hospital units. Surgeons are descendants of guilds, or medieval association of craftsmen or barber-surgeons and merchants in the pursuit of a common goal. They met and compared notes, a practice carried into the modern era. Congresses of transplant surgeons, heart surgeons, abdominal surgeons—these serve as formal and informal exchanges of knowledge, advances, and tips in the profession, the present simply repeating the past. —————- Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . Jose Luis J. Danguilan is a thoracic surgeon and is the former executive director of the Lung Center of the Philippines.United Nations, Nov 23 (AP) Myanmar's desperate military junta is ramping up attacks on villages that have fallen to opposition groups, carrying out beheadings, gang rapes and torture, with women, children and the elderly among the victims, the UN independent human rights investigator for Myanmar said in a new report. Thomas Andrews, a former US congressman from Maine, said in the report to the UN General Assembly circulated Friday that the junta has responded to military defeats and the loss of territory by using sophisticated weapons against civilians and seeking to destroy towns that it cannot control. Calling Myanmar “an invisible crisis” because the world's attention is focused elsewhere, he said, “Escalating atrocities against the people of Myanmar are being enabled by governments that allow, or actively support, the transfer of weapons, weapons materials, and jet fuel to junta forces.” Andrews didn't name the governments. But he praised Singapore for cracking down on weapons transfers that has led to a 90 per cent reduction by Singapore-registered companies, and said sanctions imposed by the United States on junta-controlled, state-owned banks have disrupted military supply chains. The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar lamented, however, that their actions remain an exception. He called on all countries to address Myanmar's “devastating human rights and humanitarian crisis” by stopping the flow of weapons to the junta, stepping up humanitarian aid to millions in need, and supporting efforts to hold perpetrators accountable for human rights violations. Myanmar is racked by violence that began when the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and brutally suppressed nonviolent protests. That triggered armed resistance and combat across the country, with the military increasingly using airstrikes to counter the opposition and secure territory. The army is on the defensive against ethnic militias in much of Myanmar as well as hundreds of armed guerrilla groups collectively called the People's Defense Forces, formed to fight to restore democracy. The military has said in the past that it only attacks legitimate targets of war and has accused the resistance forces of being terrorists. Andrews called the military junta's plan to hold an election in late 2025 “a farcical parody” and “thinly veiled attempt to create an impression of legitimacy and relieve international pressure.” He warned, “Not only is this fraudulent attempt outrageous, it is dangerous, as it could lead to even greater levels of instability and violence.” He ticked off grim statistics: Over 3.1 million people are displaced by conflict and the junta's human rights violations, and 18.6 million people need humanitarian assistance, including 13.3 million facing emergency levels of food insecurity. He said the junta's military forces have killed more than 5,800 civilians, destroyed over 100,000 homes and other civilian structures, and have kept more than 21,000 political prisoners languishing behind bars. “Junta troops have killed civilians in ground assaults, including the mass killing of individuals already in the custody of junta forces,” Andrews said. “Victims have been tortured, raped and beheaded, and their bodies burned." Andrews, a human rights fellow at Yale Law School who was appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, said the situation was most “desperate and dangerous” in Rakhine state in western Myanmar. Last November, the Arakan Army, which is seeking autonomy from Myanmar's central government, began an offensive against the military in Rakhine and has gained control of more than half of its townships. The Arakan Army, which is the well-armed wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority movement, is also a member of the armed ethnic group alliance trying to topple the military. In the report, Andrews said: “The Arakan Army has been implicated in grave human rights abuses, including indiscriminate attacks, killings, sexual violence and arbitrary arrests.” He also said the military has responded to the Arakan Army's steady losses in Rakhine by attacking civilians and raising tensions between the ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya communities. Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long considered the Rohingya Muslim minority to be “Bengalis” from Bangladesh even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982. In August 2017, attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on Myanmar security personnel triggered a brutal campaign by the military, which drove at least 740,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh. The military is accused of mass rape, killings and burning thousands of homes. Meanwhile, the military junta has conscripted thousands of Rohingya men and deployed them to the front lines to fight the Arakan Army, he said. And Rohingya militant groups have “cynically aligned with the junta” and committed human rights abuses against the ethnic Rakhine population. “Hundreds of thousands of people in Rakhine State are completely cut off from humanitarian assistance and threatened by exposure, starvation and disease,” Andrews warned. “Failure to act immediately to provide emergency humanitarian aid will be a death sentence for untold numbers of innocent men, women and children.” A month ago, he said, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, the interim leader of Bangladesh where 1 million Rohingya refugees live, called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to convene a conference with all key players in the Rohingya crisis. Yunus has pressed for their repatriation to Myanmar. Andrews urged Guterres to call a conference that could help “seize the attention of a distracted world and mobilize the resources and action necessary to save the many lives that hang in the balance.” (AP) GRS GRS (This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)

Sussex hospice group starting 'social enterprise' project

It’s alright to be concerned about one’s health, but being concerned enough to scan your urine feels a little overkill. Enter the Shanmu S1, a health tracker that sticks to the inside of your toilet bowl and scans your urine for health markers. Yes, you heard that right—your bathroom just became ground zero for cutting-edge medical technology. If it sounds a bit, well, invasive, stick with me—it gets interesting. This palm-sized device, reminiscent of an eyepatch (please don’t try placing it on your face), doesn’t scream “tech marvel” at first glance. But Shanmu, a Shenzhen-based micro-medical robot company, has packed enough innovation into the S1 to make your smartwatch jealous. Using a digital microfluidic chipset and AI, it analyzes a single microliter of urine to give you a rundown of ten critical health indicators, all in about ten minutes. It’s like having a lab technician who never leaves the restroom. Designer: On paper, it’s undeniably impressive. Creatinine levels? Checked. Urine protein? Monitored. Acid-base balance? Assessed. The list goes on. But here’s the kicker: all this happens while you go about your business—literally. Just pee, flush, and wait for your phone to buzz with a full health report. If that’s not the pinnacle of multitasking, I don’t know what is. Of course, there’s a certain absurdity in a pee scanner doubling as a household fixture. Who thought, “You know what we need? A robot in our toilet”? But, in fairness, the logic holds up. Urine has long been a reliable indicator of health, and by turning an everyday act into a diagnostic opportunity, Shanmu is flipping the script on how we engage with medical care. The device itself is a feat of engineering. Rated IPX7 waterproof and coated with a medical-grade anti-fouling layer, it’s designed to withstand the, let’s say, unique challenges of its environment. It promises to stay clean and function flawlessly, which, if true, is more than some of us can say about our fitness trackers. With a battery that lasts two months and consumables that only need replacing every six months, it’s built for longevity. Just don’t ask it to scrub the bowl for you. But while the S1 is clever, its real brilliance lies in its companion app. The app doesn’t just dump raw data on you (pun absolutely intended); it translates health markers into practical insights. A spike in ketone levels might suggest dietary tweaks, while a flagged pH value could hint at hydration issues. This isn’t tech for the sake of tech—it’s a genuine attempt to make health monitoring accessible, even for those of us who don’t know our creatinine from our cholesterol. Still, the concept invites a little side-eye. Is it hygienic? Shanmu insists its anti-fouling coating and sealed construction keep things sanitary. What about privacy? No word yet, but considering it’s handling some very personal data, Shanmu better have a rock-solid plan for security. And then there’s the big unknown: cost. With CES 2025 around the corner, we can only hope Shanmu won’t price us out of the future of toilet tech. It’s tempting to dismiss the S1 as a quirky gadget chasing headlines, but it’s more than that. It’s part of a larger movement toward seamless, passive health monitoring. No clunky devices, no painful needles, no trips to the lab—just everyday actions turned into opportunities for better care. In fact, Withings debuted a similar (albeit clunky) at CES back in 2023. That said, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There’s something undeniably dystopian about a robot critiquing your urine while you’re just trying to survive Monday morning. And the idea of a toilet health tracker might still feel like it’s edging into “Black Mirror” territory. But if the S1 delivers on its promises, it could pave the way for a future where proactive health management is as easy as a trip to the bathroom. So, will this little gizmo revolutionize healthcare or end up as a tech oddity we chuckle about years from now? Time will tell. For now, the S1 stands as a peculiar yet undeniably intriguing leap into the world of AI-powered wellness. And who knows? The next time you’re in the bathroom, you might just look down and see the future staring back at you.ASTON VILLA’S IMPRESSIVE impressive Champions League debut continued as they strengthened their chances of automatic qualification to the last 16 after a 3-2 win at RB Leipzig. Ross Barkley’s 85th-minute winner gave them victory after they had twice squandered the lead in Germany. John McGinn and Jhon Duran goals at the start of each half were cancelled out by Lois Openda and Christoph Baumgartner. But Barkley had the final say less than two minutes after coming off the bench as his deflected effort earned the points which sent his side third in the new Champions League league phase. The top eight automatically qualify for the next stage and with games against Monaco and Celtic to come, Unai Emery’s men are a good bet to avoid the need for a play-off round in their first foray in this competition. Leipzig are out, having lost all six of their games. Villa enjoyed a dream start and were ahead with less than three minutes on the clock. Matty Cash, playing in a more advanced position on the right, crossed for Ollie Watkins, who nodded down into the path of McGinn and the skipper made no mistake from close range. That gave the visitors confidence and they had enough chances in the first 15 minutes to have the game wrapped up. Lucas Digne’s cross from the left was begging to be converted but Watkins could not make contact from close range and then Morgan Rogers shot straight at Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi. Then Youri Tielemans found himself with time and space on the edge of the area from Watkins’ tee-up but the Belgium international disappointingly dragged wide. All that good work was undone in the 27th minute, though, as Emiliano Martinez was left red-faced. The Argentinian was too casual waiting to collect Nicolas Seiwald’s long ball and Openda nipped in to get the ball first and tap into an empty net. Duran was introduced at the break and needed just a couple of minutes to fire a warning when he drilled wide after a loose ball fell to him 14 yards out. But the Colombian got his goal in the 52nd minute, though it was another moment for the goalkeeper to forget. Duran was invited to drive forward and unleashed a 25-yard shot, which was hardly an Exocet, but still was too much for Gulacsi, who barely even jumped. It was his 10th goal of the season and sixth from the bench as he continues his super-sub role. The striker was not complaining and he thought he had doubled his tally shortly after when he converted Cash’s centre but the provider was ruled offside by VAR. Five minutes later, Villa found themselves pegged back again with a finish of real quality. Openda was sent clear by another long ball and his cross was perfect for Baumgartner to cushion a far-post volley back across goal and into the corner. Digne brought a save out of Gulacsi and then Openda shot straight at Martinez as both sides pushed for a winner. It was Villa who got it as Barkley saw his deflected effort wrong-foot Gulacsi and hit the back of the net. Elsewhere, Real Madrid revived their Champions League title defence by winning a tough encounter at Atalanta 3-2. Goals from Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham were enough for Madrid to win in Bergamo and move up to nine points from six matches. Bayern Munich won 5-1 away to Shakhtar Donetsk while PSG came away from RB Salzburg with a 3-0 victory.

PEP GUARDIOLA hit back at claims he has fallen out with Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgian, 33, was out of the Manchester City side for two months with a groin injury but only made the bench for the last five matches. When left out of the starting line-up in Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Liverpool, pundit Jamie Carragher said it was “sad” and “something isn’t right between those two”. But sarcastic Guardiola snapped: “People say I have a problem with Kevin. Do you think I like to not play with Kevin? “No, I don’t want Kevin to play. The guy who has the most talent in the final third — I don’t want it! “Yes, I have a personal problem with him after nine years together.” Pundit Gary Neville had claimed it was “bizarre and strange” to see KDB benched at Anfield. The ex-Manchester United star argued “something is definitely going on in the dressing room”. While Gary Lineker and former City defender Micah Richards also felt there could be an issue. But De Bruyne said last week that he was struggling as he felt pain when he kicked the ball due to his niggling problem. CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS The Belgian spent much of the last two seasons on the treatment table. And ahead of hosting Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, boss Guardiola says he cannot afford to rush him back — even though he is “desperate” to play him. The Spaniard explained: “He has delivered to me the biggest success to this club. “But De Bruyne was injured for five months last season — and two months injured. “Like last season, it’s step by step. He’ll try to do it and feel better. I’m desperate to have him back to his best.” De Bruyne feels he is now nearing full fitness — with his manager saying he took a big step forward in recent days. But Guardiola warned his return to the starting line-up will not solve all City’s problems after an extraordinary run of six defeats in seven matches. He added: “I’d love to have Kevin in his prime, 26 or 27. He’d love it, too. But he is not 26 or 27 anymore. "He had injuries in the past, important and long ones. He is a guy who needs to be physically fit for his space and energy. “But you think I’m complaining for that? It’s just normal — it’s nature. He has played ten or 11 seasons of football with a lot of games. “I know he is desperate to help us — he gives glimpses of brilliance that only he can have. “But always I have said, he himself will not solve our problems.” De Bruyne will be hoping to play some part as City look to halt their slump against Forest. Asked if the veteran was ready, Guardiola said: “He’s closer and getting better. The last few days was even better.”None

Panaji: Lt Cdr Dilna K and Lt Cdr Roopa Alagirisamy, the two women undertaking a historic circumnavigation around the Earth, cast off the mooring lines at Australia's Fremantle port on Sunday to a rousing farewell from the Indian diaspora and Indian Navy personnel. The two naval officers will now sail 3,400 nautical miles (6,300 km) in approximately 20 days as they make their way to their second stop, Lyttelton, New Zealand. The Navy said that the two will experience challenging weather conditions, including lower temperatures as they round the southwest tip of Australia. IPL 2025 mega auction IPL Auction 2025: Who got whom IPL 2025 Auction: Updated Full Team Squads During their two-week planned halt at Fremantle, Dilna and Roopa met ministers and MPs of Western Australia. During the interaction, the two women briefed the MPs about the ongoing circumnavigation expedition and their 38-day voyage from Goa to Fremantle, Perth. The Western Australian Parliament felicitated the two officers for undertaking the maritime expedition and for representing India’s progress in women’s empowerment. “Fostering cultural and historical connections between the two countries and recognising their achievements, the crew were honoured as special invitees at the Western Australia Parliament where they interacted with MPs and also attended a session of the Parliament where a statement was made in the house, acknowledging the expedition and their journey thus far,” the Indian Navy said. The duo are sailing aboard the INSV Tarini, a 56ft vessel built in Goa. During the stopover at Fremantle, the Tarini underwent checks of all systems and repairs to defects under the supervision of a shore support team from India and stocked up with provisions for the next leg. The crew was briefed by the team mentor, Cdr Abhilash Tomy (retd) on the passage ahead. The two officers also interacted with the Indian diaspora and visited the Royal Australian Naval Base HMAS Stirling and the Ocean Reef High School, where they shared their journey and experiences with the students. Phase II of the expedition will see INSV Tarini cross Cape Leeuwin, the Great Australian Bight, Tasmania, and the South Island of New Zealand before calling on at Lyttelton. According to naval officials, the INSV Tarini will encounter winds above 20kts, with choppy sea conditions.Panthers’ close call against Chiefs has coach Dave Canales excited about the direction of the team

No. 5 UCLA snaps No. 1 South Carolina's 43-game win streakHealth2sync Partners With Western Sydney Diabetes To Improve Glycemic Control Through Digital Solutions Media Outreach Newswire APACGlobal Latex Wedge Pillow Market Set For 3.5% Growth, Reaching $385.33 Billion By 2028

Visier's Agentic AI Platform makes it easy to create powerful agent-based solutions that unleash productivity by giving every manager omniscient superpowers with a 360° view of every employee and the work they do. A pillar of Visier's ongoing "Open for Builders" strategy, the new Agentic AI Platform lets customers and partners design, build and rapidly deliver their own Agentic AI solutions embedded within any custom or commercial application or workflow. VANCOUVER, BC , Dec. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Visier , the globally recognized leader in workforce AI solutions, today announced a powerful new agent-based workforce AI platform that allows HRIT leaders and peopletech product teams to create powerful and secure agentic AI solutions. Designed to give organizations a Workforce AI Edge, this first-of-its-kind agent-based AI platform provides technical teams the foundation to launch their own team of AI-based agents that brings together all the critical enterprise data across people and work. "Agentic AI is the single clearest demonstration of how AI will forever change how we work—and how we work with data," said Ryan Wong , co-founder and CEO, Visier. "Unlike other agentic AI platforms that focus on automation of workflows, we're fixated on an equally important, but distinctly different challenge: unleashing AI agents to analyze people and work data, both inside and outside an organization, to quickly deliver the answers and recommendations that drive workforce impact." Visier's approach to agentic AI puts power in the hands of citizen developers, allowing creativity to supersede technical skills with a low-code no-code development environment. These builders can create their own collections of instructions that give Visier Agents direction to perform data-driven tasks. Visier Agents then traverse any number of data sources, inside or outside of an organization, to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions. "For all the power of large language models (LLMs), they are not known to be particularly good at making sense of enterprise data," Wong continued. "Visier has built an analytic AI agent platform that's remarkably enterprise-data-capable, delivering insights and answers that you can understand and trust." Data analytics software has evolved over the past 30 years with a range of innovations designed to extract, integrate, transform, and organize data so humans can draw insights through data exploration. With Visier's Agentic AI Platform, the target focus of Visier's innovation is extracting, integrating, transforming, and organizing data so LLMs, not just humans, can understand the data. Once LLMs understand the data, they can produce richer, more useful insights back to the business. The result is better insights in the hands of everyone, not just analysts and the most data literate employees. Visier's AI Agent platform provides a panoramic view of what has happened, what is happening and can suggest best practices to create impactful change. Visier Agents can then continue to monitor and report on these actions, alerting managers to any changes or divergence so they have a real-time view of how work is translating into impact and results. With this platform, Visier customers and partners can develop their own agents to carry out any task that depends on data across any number of internal and external sources. For example: An IT organization or systems integrator could build a solution that allows managers to ask the Visier AI Agent to compile insights for understanding an employee's activity, output and achievements over a six-month period and how this compares with peers. A talent acquisition software vendor could use the platform to create a virtual assistant inside its products that automatically parses resumes, or helps to compile and distribute monthly reports with relevant insights to a diverse set of audiences at scale. An IT organization or systems integrator could use the platform to create an AI agent-based sales manager assistant to compile and present a report in advance of a sales forecast meeting; or a win/loss analysis in support of a post-mortem review, emailing updates to all relevant stakeholders. This launch comes on the heels of substantial workforce AI momentum from Visier, including: Visier's generative AI digital assistant, Vee, in its first year of commercial availability is in active use by thousands of organizations, representing one of the few examples of scaled deployment of generative AI in the HR technology ecosystem. Vee was licensed and deployed by Visier Embedded partner, Paycor, to over two million users. Vee won two major awards at this year's HR Tech conference, including Product of the Year and Top Tech Innovation, their equivalent of best in show. Visier announced major enhancements to Vee, including integration with Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Teams, document indexing; and " Vee Boards ," a brand new AI-driven product experience designed to deliver targeted workforce insights and recommendations to c-suite executives, including CHROs and CFOs. "Visier is making huge strides in the world of workforce AI," said Neal Meister , director of people data solutions at eBay. "We're excited for Vee, Vee Boards and the massive potential of this agent-based platform. Everyone talks about AI these days, of course, but few companies can walk the talk the way Visier does." Visier's Agentic AI Platform is currently available for limited customer and partner preview, and was featured as a sneak-peak to customers in November, as part of OUTSMART Local, a regional customer event held in New York City . Wider commercial availability for customers and partners is expected in the first half of next year. You can learn more about this announcement and the role of agents in workforce AI strategies by attending a public Fireside Chat on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024 at 11:00 am ET / 8:00 am PT , hosted by Stacia Garr , co-founder and principal analyst of RedThread Research; and featuring Keith Bigelow , Visier's chief product officer. Register here to reserve your spot. About Visier Visier gives organizations a Workforce AI Edge: a set of AI-powered capabilities that help leaders understand the relationship between people and work, elevate the productivity of their employees, and win by adapting to change faster. The company is the global leader in AI-powered people analytics, workforce planning, and compensation allocation. All Visier technology is underpinned by its Real-time People Data Platform, which uses AI to unlock the business-transforming potential of people data, work data, and the fusion of both. Founded in 2010 by the pioneers of business intelligence, Visier has over 60,000 customers in 75 countries—including enterprises like BASF, Panasonic, Experian, Amgen, eBay, Ford Motor Company, and more. To learn more about Visier, visit www.visier.com . Media Contact: Walker Sands [email protected] SOURCE VisierCeltics center Kristaps Porzingis slated to make season debut on Monday night vs LA Clippers BOSTON (AP) — Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis is slated make his season debut Monday night against the Los Angeles Clippers following offseason ankle surgery. Kyle Hightower, The Associated Press Nov 25, 2024 3:44 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Injured Boston Celtics' center Kristaps Porzingis claps for his teammates in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa) BOSTON (AP) — Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis is slated make his season debut Monday night against the Los Angeles Clippers following offseason ankle surgery. The 7-foot-2 Latvian center was upgraded from probable to available about an 90 minutes before tipoff, though Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said how much he'd play was to be determined. Veteran center Al Horford, who has started 14 of the Celtics 17 games this season, is out Monday with an illness. Fellow big man Luke Kornet is also sitting out as he continues to deal with hamstring tightness. “He has worked hard, he's in good shape. We'll put him in position to be healthy and be successful and do what's best for the team,” Mazzulla said. “He's been pretty consistent, just based on his work ethic and what he's done to get to this point.” Porzingis had surgery to fix a tear in the tissue that holds the ankle tendons in place. The issue limited him to seven playoff games during the Celtics' NBA championship run last season. Boston is 14-3 this season, but has missed his presence on the inside, with teams routinely outscoring the defending champions in the paint. Mazzulla acknowledged that how Porzingis plays on the offensive end, particularly how he operates sometimes out of the high and low post, will force some adjustment from how the team has played this season without him on the floor. “I think last year we had an opportunity to see how teams were guarding him,” Mazzulla said. "That'll take a little bit of time to figure out what the coverages are, just get used to that spacing. That'll take some time. ... Then we'll figure out how we go from there." The original window for Porzingis' return following surgery was five to six months. But Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said before the season that they didn't want to hold to a specific timeline because of the uniqueness of the injury. Porzingis injured his ankle in Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks and missed the next two games. He returned for Game 5, contributing five points and one rebound in 16 minutes as the Celtics beat Dallas 106-88 to clinch their record 18th title. Porzingis averaged 20 points and seven rebounds in 57 games for last season. He signed a $60 million, two-year extension with Boston in the summer of 2023 after the Celtics acquired him in a trade with Washington. ___ AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba Kyle Hightower, The Associated Press See a typo/mistake? Have a story/tip? This has been shared 0 times 0 Shares Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Get your daily Victoria news briefing Email Sign Up More Basketball Cavaliers' unexpected 17-1 start to season also produces unexpected star: reserve guard Ty Jerome Nov 25, 2024 12:56 PM Sacramento takes on Oklahoma City, aims to end 3-game skid Nov 24, 2024 11:03 PM San Antonio faces Utah on 3-game road skid Nov 24, 2024 11:03 PM

PHILADELPHIA, PA / ACCESSWIRE / December 10, 2024 / abrdn Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund, Inc. (NYSE American:AEF) announces results of a strategic review conducted by the Fund's Board of Directors (the "Board") at a meeting held today. The Board has approved multiple changes to the Fund including: (1) changes to the Fund's name and 80% non-fundamental investment policy; (2) a 20% tender offer to be offered in the first quarter of 2025; (3) a new 3-year performance-based conditional tender offer policy commencing on March 1, 2025; and (4) an increase to its annualized distribution rate from 6.5% to 10% effective with the distribution that will be declared in March 2025. Fund Name Change and Changes to Non-Fundamental Investment Policy The Fund's Board has approved changes to the Fund's name, its non-fundamental 80% investment policy, and its benchmark, as set forth below. There will be no change to the Fund's investment objective and the Fund will continue to trade on the NYSE American under ticker symbol "AEF". The name change and change to the 80% investment policy will be effective on or about February 24, 2025 (the "Effective Date") following 60 days' notice to Fund shareholders and may only be changed thereafter by the Board of the Fund following the provision of at least 60 days' written notice to the Fund's shareholders. Current New Fund Name abrdn Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund, Inc. abrdn Emerging Markets ex-China Fund, Inc. 80% Investment Policy The Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in emerging markets equity securities. Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in emerging markets (excluding China) equity securities. Benchmark MSCI Emerging Markets Index (Net Daily Total Return) MSCI Emerging Markets ex-China Index (Net Daily Total Return) In approving the strategy and name change, the Board considered, among other factors, that as the only U.S. closed-end fund currently offering the emerging market ex-China strategy, the Fund will be less driven by the policy actions of the Chinese government, and more driven by stock fundamentals, which aligns with Management's style of bottom-up investing. The Fund will remain a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company whose objective is to provide both current income and long-term appreciation. Tender Offer The Fund is also announcing approval by the Board to pay a cash tender offer which will purchase up to 20% of the Fund's issued and outstanding shares at a price per share to be equal to 98% of the Fund's NAV per share as determined by the Fund on the next business day following the expiration date of the tender offer (the "2025 Tender Offer"). This 2025 Tender Offer will replace the Fund's current conditional tender offer policy announced in May 2023. Further details and timing will be announced ahead of the Effective Date of the Fund's investment strategy changes. Update to the Fund's Conditional Tender Offer Policy As part of the Board's commitment to shareholders relating to the investment strategy changes, the Board has adopted a policy (the "Policy") pursuant to which it will cause the Fund to conduct a one-time tender offer for twenty percent (20%) of its then issued and outstanding shares of common stock on or before June 30, 2028, if the Fund's total return investment performance measured on a NAV basis does not equal or exceed the total return investment performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets ex-China Index (Net Daily Total Return) during the period commencing on March 1, 2025 and ending on February 28, 2028. The price at which shares are to be tendered and other terms and conditions of such tender offer would be determined by the Board in its discretion based on its review and consideration of the then-current size of the Fund, market conditions and other factors it deems relevant. Annualized Distribution Rate Increase and Declaration of Next Distribution The Fund is also announcing that, as part of the strategic changes, the Board approved an increase to its annualized distribution rate from 6.5% to 10%, commencing with the quarterly distribution payable in March 2025. The actual amount of the distribution will continue to be based on the average daily net asset value ("NAV") for the previous three months as of the month-end prior to declaration. The Fund intends to maintain the increased distribution rate for at least the 12 months following the effective increase, unless there is a significant and unforeseen change in market conditions. This policy will be subject to regular review by the Board. The policy is expected to provide a steady and sustainable quarterly cash distribution to Fund shareholders that may help reduce any discount to NAV at which the Fund's shares trade. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve these results. Important Information At the end of each calendar year, a Form 1099-DIV will be sent to shareholders, which will state the amount and composition of the Fund's distributions and provide information with respect to their appropriate tax treatment for the prior calendar year. You should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of the distributions. Circular 230 disclosure: To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the U.S. Treasury, we inform you that any U.S. tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein. In the United States, abrdn is the marketing name for the following affiliated, registered investment advisers: abrdn Inc., abrdn Investments Limited, and abrdn Asia Limited. Closed-end funds are traded on the secondary market through one of the stock exchanges. The Fund's investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares may be worth more or less than the original cost. Shares of closed-end funds may trade above (a premium) or below (a discount) the NAV of the Fund's portfolio. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Past performance does not guarantee future results. www.abrdnaef.com ### For More Information Contact: abrdn U.S. Closed-End Funds Investor Relations 1-800-522-5465 Investor.Relations@abrdn.com SOURCE: abrdn Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund, Inc. View the original on accesswire.com

3 reasons to involve your kids in Small Business Saturday

Iowa nonprofit helps farmers and water quality with wetland creditsData engineering predictions 2025: Data Mesh, Automation, and AINone

Stocks closed higher on Wall Street as the market posted its fifth straight gain and the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched another record high. The S&P 500 rose 0.3%. The benchmark index’s 1.7% gain for the week erased most of its loss from last week. The Dow rose 1% as it nudged past its most recent high set last week, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%. Markets have been volatile over the last few weeks, losing ground in the runup to elections in November, then surging following Donald Trump’s victory, before falling again. The S&P 500 has been steadily rising throughout last week to within close range of its record. It’s now within about 0.5% of its all-time high set last week. “Overall, market behavior has normalized following an intense few weeks,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide, in a statement. Several retailers jumped after giving Wall Street encouraging financial updates. Gap soared 12.8% after handily beating analysts’ third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations, while raising its own revenue forecast for the year. Discount retailer Ross Stores rose 2.2% after raising its earnings forecast for the year. EchoStar fell 2.8% after DirecTV called off its purchase of that company’s Dish Network unit. Smaller company stocks had some of the biggest gains. The Russell 2000 index rose 1.8%. A majority of stocks in the S&P 500 gained ground, but those gains were kept in check by slumps for several big technology companies. Nvidia fell 3.2%. Its pricey valuation makes it among the heaviest influences on whether the broader market gains or loses ground. The company has grown into a nearly $3.6 trillion behemoth because of demand for its chips used in artificial-intelligence technology. Intuit, which makes TurboTax and other accounting software, fell 5.7%. It gave investors a quarterly earnings forecast that fell short of analysts’ expectations. Facebook owner Meta Platforms fell 0.7% following a decision by the Supreme Court to allow a multibillion-dollar class action investors’ lawsuit to proceed against the company. It stems from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm. All told, the S&P 500 rose 20.63 points to 5,969.34. The Dow climbed 426.16 points to 44,296.51, and the Nasdaq picked up 42.65 points to close at 2,406.67. European markets closed mostly higher and Asian markets ended mixed. Crude oil prices rose. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.41% from 4.42% late Thursday. In the crypto market, bitcoin hovered around $99,000, according to CoinDesk. It has more than doubled this year and first surpassed the $99,000 level on Thursday. Retailers remained a big focus for investors last week amid close scrutiny on consumer spending habits headed into the holiday shopping season. Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, reported a quarter of strong sales and gave investors an encouraging financial forecast. Target, though, reported weaker earnings than analysts’ expected and its forecast disappointed Wall Street. Consumer spending has fueled economic growth, despite a persistent squeeze from inflation and high borrowing costs. Inflation has been easing and the Federal Reserve has started trimming its benchmark interest rates. That is likely to help relieve pressure on consumers, but any major shift in spending could prompt the Fed to reassess its path ahead on interest rates. Also, any big reversals on the rate of inflation could curtail spending. Consumer sentiment remains strong, according to the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index. It revised its latest figure for November to 71.8 from an initial reading of 73 earlier this month, though economists expected a slight increase. It’s still up from 70.5 in October. The survey also showed that consumers’ inflation expectations for the year ahead fell slightly to 2.6%, which is the lowest reading since December of 2020. Wall Street will get another update on how consumers feel when the business group The Conference Board releases its monthly consumer confidence survey on Tuesday. A key inflation update will come on Wednesday when the U.S. releases its October personal consumption expenditures index. The PCE is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation and this will be the last PCE reading prior to the central bank’s meeting in December.A missing Porter County woman was found dead near the Little Calumet River in Lake Station Thursday morning. An independent search team at around 10:30 a.m. found the body of 48-year-old Jamie Vlamos-Jones in the vicinity of 2100 Cass Street, according to a Case Files Chicago release. Vlamos-Jones had been reported missing on December 18. Lake Station Police Chief James Richardson confirmed in a release that officers confirmed the body was found on the east side of Clay Street. Family members also confirmed her death on social media. Vlamos-Jones was last seen around 4:30 p.m. December 18 at Palmer’s Paving, 2735 Cass St., according to social media posts by her family and friends. She parked her 2012 blue Nissan Rogue at the business but was told it was private property and needed to leave, so she took off running north into the woods, according to the posts. Family and friends described her as “confused and not herself” in posts throughout the week she was missing. Family members were at the scene late Thursday morning to assist the Lake County Coroner with identification, Case Files Chicago said. Richardson said the investigation into her death is ongoing and, because of the crime’s nature, is asking for the public’s patience. Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact the department through its tipline at http://lakestation-in.gov/hottipline. Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.After catastrophic flash floods ravaged in late October, a team of Moroccan workers has stepped in to provide critical assistance. Their task? Unclogging drainage systems, a vital service amid the aftermath of torrential rain that claimed over 200 lives. With a fleet of 36 tanker trucks, the Moroccan contingent has become an unexpected but essential presence on the streets of Alfafar, a town just south of Valencia. A Heroic effort from Morocco The 100-strong team, led by Drief Elkramar, a seasoned tanker driver, travelled 500 miles from Tangier to join the cleanup efforts. Despite language barriers, Elkramar and his crew, with their black tanker trucks proudly flying the Moroccan flag, have become a symbol of solidarity and efficiency in the wake of disaster. Elkramar’s crew works tirelessly, with no time for breaks, to clear out clogged sewage pipes that pose serious health risks in the affected neighborhoods. : The team is using high-pressure hoses to blast debris out of the pipes, while wide suction hoses are employed to extract mud and waste. Their efforts have been crucial in restoring functionality to local drainage systems. Most Read on Euro Weekly News A Global response to local tragedy This Moroccan operation is just one part of a wider international response. French and Portuguese volunteers, equipped with heavy machinery, have also joined the fray, bringing excavators, backhoes, and cargo trucks to aid in the cleanup. Local Spanish teams, including 94 trucks dedicated to sewer dredging, are working alongside them. Cross-border Support: Virginia Barcones, ‘s Director of Civil Protection, noted that the Moroccan team offered help “from the very first day after the floods,” though political red tape delayed the formal acceptance of their aid. The Challenge: Mud, Feces, and Unyielding Determination In Alfafar, the cleanup is particularly challenging. The neighborhood’s drainage system is completely overwhelmed, with pipes clogged by a mixture of mud, waste, and debris. Juan Sebastiá, the local cleanup coordinator, shared that the situation was made worse when they discovered a toilet in the sewers, illustrating the scale of the mess. : The cleanup workers have to contend not only with debris but also with the serious public health risks posed by sewage-filled streets. Fecal contamination has created hazardous conditions, requiring careful handling and disposal of the affected materials. Volunteers and Residents: A Community United While the Moroccan team’s arrival was a pleasant surprise for many, residents like Juan Madrigal and Laura Hernández are quick to praise the volunteers, who have been working around the clock. Despite the challenges, including mud mixed with fecal waste and respiratory hazards, local residents are finding hope in the persistence of the crews. Resilience Amid the Ruins: Madrigal reflects on the progress made, noting that while much of the furniture and vehicles were removed in the first few weeks, it’s the continued volunteer work that’s bringing the situation back to normal. “The first week we had cars in the streets, now we have muddy water we cannot drain,” he shared. The cleanup continues, with every passing day bringing the town closer to recovery. A Long road to recovery The scale of the disaster means that this cleanup effort is far from over. Jesús Sonera, a manager at the Desatranques Jaén sewer company, estimates that there are nearly 500 miles of blocked pipes across the affected towns. At the current rate, with each truck clearing 1,300 feet per week, it could take up to five months to restore all the systems. : Elkramar’s team, along with their international counterparts, will likely remain in the area for weeks to come, as the enormity of the task requires sustained effort.

Japanese ace Rōki Sasaki hits MLB market. Here's why phenom can only get about $7.5MIn a Dec. 22 Truth Social post , Trump announced Ken Howery as his choice for United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark and added that the U.S. should pursue control of Greenland. Greenland is an island located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans and is a territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump’s post says. While Trump hasn’t elaborated on his motivation to purchase Greenland, the territory has access to valuable natural resources and houses a large U.S. military base . Its location also provides access to the Arctic Ocean from the Atlantic. Trump first floated the idea of purchasing Greenland in 2019, during his first administration. Denmark’s prime minister called purchase discussions “absurd,” prompting Trump to cancel a planned trip to the country. Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton penned an op-ed in 2019 saying that acquiring the territory would provide a safeguard against foreign threats like what the U.S. faced during World War II and the Cold War. After Trump expressed renewed interest in Greenland on Dec. 22, Google search data shows there’s been a spike in searches about Trump’s statement and Greenland, including whether the territory is for sale. Is Greenland for sale? No, Greenland is not for sale. Greenland is not for sale, Múte Egede, the territory’s prime minister, said on Facebook . “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our years-long fight for freedom,” Egede wrote in Danish, translated into English via Google Translate. “However, we must continue to be open to cooperation and trade with the whole world, especially with our neighbours. Since all cooperation and trade cannot go through Denmark. All cooperation with us must be based on our values. Because at all times we must not squabble about our country,” Egede wrote. Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, according to the Danish national government website . It has its own government, managing most domestic affairs, while Denmark oversees foreign policy, defense and monetary matters. In 2009, Greenland's residents voted for increased autonomy , which gave the island its own parliament and independent leadership, but it is still in part controlled by Denmark. According to Greenland’s Self-Government Act in 2009 , Greenland has the option to declare full independence if it chooses to in the future. First, in order to do that, the decision regarding Greenland’s independence must be brought before the people. Greenland has a population of roughly 56,000. If Greenland’s population decides to move forward, negotiations begin between Danish and Greenland governing bodies. An agreement has to be made between the two, and if reached, Greenland’s parliament has to approve and then draft a resolution for independence. The agreement for independence ends with Denmark’s parliament approving the independence. Greenland would then become an independent nation. In response to Trump’s Dec. 22 Truth Social post, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told ABC News the “Danish Government is looking forward to welcoming the new American ambassador. And the Government is looking forward to working with the new administration.” “In a complex security political situation as the one we currently experience, transatlantic cooperation is crucial. As far as statements about Greenland, the Prime Minister's Office has no comments other than reference to what was stated by the Premier of Greenland about Greenland not being for sale, but open for cooperation.” VERIFY reached out to the Danish prime minister’s office for comment, but did not hear back at the time of publication. Danish parliament member Rasmus Jarlov rejected Trump’s interest in purchasing Greenland in a post on X. “Greenland is Danish. It has been since 1380 and it will continue to be. This is undisputed, signed in rock in treaties and not open for negotiation. At all. Dictators threaten to take control over other countries' territory. Free democratic countries do not,” Jarlov said. The U.S’s interest in Greenland did not begin with Trump. In 1946, the U.S. considered proposals to pay Denmark $100 million in gold bars for Greenland or trade oil-rich land in Alaska for some of Greenland’s territory, according to the Associated Press . Even though the sale did not go through, the United States ended up with the military bases it wanted anyway. The U.S. Air Force currently maintains two bases in Greenland, Thule and Sondestrom. Construction of the Thule base in 1952 was made possible by a defense treaty signed by the U.S. and Denmark in 1951 . Originally designed as a refueling base for long-range bombing missions, it has been a ballistic missile early warning site and satellite telemetry station since 1961. Sondestrom’s mission is in support of the base at Thule. The Associated Press contributed to this report.No. 23 Texas A&M aims to hand Oregon first loss at Players Era

Danielle Smith’s border patrol brainstorm blatantly unconstitutional