SINGAPORE: No doubt policymakers in Tehran and Moscow are asking who lost Syria. In a tectonic rewrite of the Middle East’s geopolitical map, Bashar al-Assad was ousted on Sunday (Dec 8) after 24 years as president, leaving his principal backers struggling to limit their losses. Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to preempt the debate by firing Sergei Kisel, the commander of Russian forces in Syria, a week earlier – as soon as the rebels captured Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city. The Kremlin has since confirmed that Putin personally decided to grant asylum to Assad and his family, who fled the capital Damascus for Moscow. Similarly, Iran quickly contacted the new rebel leadership to prevent what one official described as “a hostile trajectory" between the two countries. Iran’s state television said Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the largest, best-armed rebel group, had guaranteed there would be no disturbance to the Sayyida Zeinab and Sayyida Ruqayya Shiite Muslim shrines in Damascus. "The main concern for Iran is whether Assad's successor will push Syria away from Tehran's orbit,” said a second Iranian official. The end of Assad’s reign is an existential threat to Iran, less so to Russia. That was evident in the contrast between the ransacking of the Iranian embassy in Damascus and the calm around Russia's Hmeimim air base and Tartus naval facility. RUSSIA MAKES THE BEST OF A BAD SITUATION Assad’s toppling will probably deprive Moscow of its two foremost military bases in the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean and undermine its positioning as a major regional powerbroker. "What Tartus meant for Russia was the ability to project maritime power and political influence relatively uncontested in the Middle East and allowed it to punch above its weight," wrote retired Belgian naval officer Fredrik Van Lokeren. Leased to Moscow for 49 years in return for military assistance in 2015 during the Syrian civil war, the bases also allowed Russia to use Syria as a transit hub for Russian mercenaries operating in Africa. As Assad arrived in Moscow, Russian state television announced that the rebels had guaranteed the security of the military bases – from which Russian aircraft attacked as they advanced towards Damascus – and diplomatic missions in Syria. The rebel assurances helped soften the blow to Russian prestige. Russia can claim that it stuck by its friends while ensuring that the former president would be limited in his ability to attempt a comeback. In return, state-run Russian media have changed their tone. The press stopped describing the rebels as "terrorists", referring to them instead as the "armed opposition that has taken power in Syria". The Syrian embassy in Moscow raised the opposition flag even as Assad set foot on Russian soil. HIGHER EXISTENTIAL STAKES FOR IRAN The stakes are much higher for Iran. One of the three pillars in its defence strategy is now crippled. Lacking an air force and navy of any repute because of decades of United States and United Nations economic sanctions, Iranian defence relied on Syria and an alliance of non-state actors – dubbed the Axis of Resistance – for its forward defence, alongside the development of ballistic missiles and nuclear programme. The ousting of Assad and the weakening of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia – which reached a recent ceasefire agreement with Israel just weeks ago – have all but neutralised the alliance’s deterrence element along two of Israel’s borders. Even starker, the alliance could have turned from asset into liability. Iran-backed Iraqi politicians and militia officials rejected Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s request that they send reinforcements to Syria in support of Assad. Iran and its allies will no longer be able to maintain a military presence in Syria or use the country as a support hub for Hezbollah. It will be forced to revisit its strategy and broader regional policies. FEARS OF A POPULAR UPRISING The fact that a popular armed insurrection toppled Assad has set off alarm bells in Moscow and Tehran. Russia has long viewed popular revolts in Ukraine and other East European nations as US-engineered efforts to destabilise Russia’s neighbourhood, while Iranians have repeatedly taken to the streets in mass anti-government protests over the years. “The situation in the Islamic Republic is not comparable to Syria at all. Nevertheless, one should take note of public opinion,” said conservative politician and journalist Naser Imani to an Iranian media outlet. Critics removed without explanation social media postings in which they asserted that Iran had wasted resources on supporting an unpopular leader in Syria, an implicit criticism of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, a friend and staunch supporter of Assad. Even so, some fear that the collapse of the Assad regime could strengthen the hand of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its hardline supporters. IRGC members asserted that "abandoning" Assad constituted a "betrayal" that would have serious consequences for Iran. Kasra Aarabi, a Washington-based anti-Iranian activist, quoted a younger IRGC member as saying: “We zealous youth will not forget the cowardice of the decision-makers.” For Russia and Iran, the silver lining is that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham appears more interested in focusing on Syria’s rehabilitation and reconstruction rather than retaliation. In doing so, the rebels may help Assad’s backers save face while taking out one of their foremost regional assets. Dr James M Dorsey is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and the author of the syndicated column and podcast, The Turbulent World with James M Dorsey .OTTAWA - The dismissal of a class-action lawsuit over rules governing the cross-border live bee trade is casting a spotlight on political division within Canada’s beekeeping community. A federal judge has ruled against awarding commercial beekeepers damages from a decades-old partial ban on shipping live honeybees across the Canada-U.S. border, which is in place out of concerns that could bring in aggressive pests and diseases. Beekeepers from Western Canada involved in the suit claim the government’s risk assessments that inform the tight restrictions are hurting their businesses and are blown out of proportion. Michael Paradis of Paradis Honey Ltd., a seven-generation family beekeeping business based in Girouxville, Alta., and one of the representative plaintiffs in the case, said he’s disappointed with the ruling, saying it puts beekeepers in a “dangerous position” since the industry is already in crisis mode. “Canada does not have enough bees and cannot replenish its own stock at all,” he said. “It’s going to mean a lot more hardship for the industry if we cannot get access to the U.S. bees.” Beekeepers were slammed during the COVID-19 pandemic, when fewer airline flights made it harder to import bees and they suffered a nightmare year of winter losses in 2022. Manitoba commercial beekeeper Brent Ash, one of the witnesses in the case, said the ruling will hamper the industry, and makes it especially tough for apiaries in colder parts of the country like the Prairies, where most of Canada’s beekeepers are located. “Climate makes the regional divide difficult to keep those bugs alive over the course of the winter,” he said, noting honeybees are not native to North America. But Steve Moore, president of the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association, said his group worries about the risks of accidentally bringing in antibiotic resistant mites, the import of Africanized honeybees commonly known as killer bees, and a small hive beetle that’s capable of damaging colonies. “In Ontario here, we feel quite strongly that we don’t want to take the risk of it becoming even more challenging if some of these new and emerging threats come into the country in packages,” he said. But he empathizes with the plaintiffs. “When we go into our apiaries, we get stung by our bees. When we come home, we might be stung by a low honey price, stung by rising cost of production or stung by high overwintering losses, with the threat of new and emerging pathogens. So, we’re all facing the same challenges and it’s a challenging time to be a beekeeper,” he said. Even though a ban on U.S. live bee imports expired in 2006, Ottawa has not issued permits for the live worker bee boxes to be brought over the border since. The plaintiffs argued Ottawa owes them duty of care — and hundreds of millions in damages. The judge disagreed. “There is no duty of care owed and no negligence,” Justice Cecily Strickland wrote in a lengthy ruling, adding the plaintiffs failed to establish that Ottawa hurt their businesses. The case has a long history, dating back to a court filing from 2012, and was only certified as a class action in 2017. The problem is even older. Headlines from the 1980s screamed about fears that deadly infectious mites from U.S. states could level Canadian bee populations. Risks to bee health have only compounded since then. A 2003 risk assessment by the regulator found that importing queen bees was less risky, since they are easier to inspect. So, Canada allows imports of queen bees and their worker-bee attendants from the U.S., Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Italy and Malta. “Bee packages carry a higher risk of disease introduction because they are shipped with the contents of their hive, which may include mites, parasites and bacteria,” said a statement from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that welcomed the judge’s ruling. Canada does, however, also allow imports of worker bee packages from Italy, Chile, Australia and New Zealand, which sent Canada some 69,364 kgs of packaged bees in 2023, according to statistics from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. But importing from these countries also dramatically drives up import costs due to transportation. One of the plaintiffs, John Gibeau, wrote to CFIA a decade ago complaining that importing more than 1,200 packages for $170,000 would have cost half that if he could have purchased them from California instead. Gibeau said he wasn’t ready to comment since he hasn’t yet digested the ruling. Paradis said the larger issue for him than cost, though, is the quality of the bee stock and the timing of when shipments arrive. “We are looking at bees in the U.S. that are spring bees — young, invigorated bees,” he said, adding that gives them longer lifespans in Canada. While he was disappointed, Paradis said one of the main reasons for the lawsuit was to “bring CFIA to the table and to actually have some discussions” on the import ban, something he said has only happened recently. Canada’s honeybee pollination is estimated to contribute $3.18 billion directly to the economy, but that rises to $7 billion a year when canola pollination is factored in. Canada has some 794,341 beehives. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2024.

US President-elect Donald Trump filed a brief Friday urging the Supreme Court to pause a law that would ban TikTok the day before his January 20 inauguration if it is not sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance. "In light of the novelty and difficulty of this case, the court should consider staying the statutory deadline to grant more breathing space to address these issues," Trump's legal team wrote, to give him "the opportunity to pursue a political resolution." Trump was fiercely opposed to TikTok during his 2017-21 first term, and tried in vain to ban the video app on national security grounds. The Republican voiced concerns -- echoed by political rivals -- that the Chinese government might tap into US TikTok users' data or manipulate what they see on the platform. US officials had also voiced alarm over the popularity of the video-sharing app with young people, alleging that its parent company is subservient to Beijing and that the app is used to spread propaganda, claims denied by the company and the Chinese government. Trump called for a US company to buy TikTok, with the government sharing in the sale price, and his successor Joe Biden went one stage further -- signing a law to ban the app for the same reasons. Trump has now, however, reversed course. "Now (that) I'm thinking about it, I'm for TikTok, because you need competition," he recently told Bloomberg. "If you don't have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram -- and that's, you know, that's Zuckerberg." Facebook, founded by Mark Zuckerberg and part of his Meta tech empire, was among the social media networks that banned Trump after attacks by his supporters on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The ban was driven by concerns that he would use the platform to promote more violence. Those bans on major social media platforms were later lifted. In the brief filed on Friday, Trump's lawyer made it clear the president-elect did not take a position on the legal merits of the current case. "President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute," John Sauer wrote in the amicus curiae -- or "friend of the court" -- brief. "Instead, he respectfully requests that the court consider staying the act's deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case, thus permitting President Trump's incoming Administration the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case." ft/aha

What happens when 'The Simpsons' join 'Monday Night Football'? Find out during Bengals-Cowboys(Bloomberg) — US President-elect Donald Trump warned the so-called BRICS nations that he would require commitments that they would not move to create a new currency as an alternative to using the US dollar and repeated threats to levy a 100% tariff. “The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER,” Trump said in a post to his Truth Social network on Saturday. “We require a commitment from these Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy,” he added. Trump on his campaign trail pledged that he would make it costly for countries to move away from the US dollar. And he’s threatened to use tariffs to ensure they complied. Saturday’s threat took on new relevance as the president-elect prepares to retake power in January. Trump and his economic advisers have been discussing ways to punish allies and adversaries alike who seek to engage in bilateral trade in currencies other than the dollar. Those measures include considering options such as export controls, currency manipulation charges and levies on trade, according to people familiar with the matter. Trump has long stressed that he wants the US dollar to remain the world’s reserve currency, saying in a March interview with CNBC that he “would not allow countries to go off the dollar” because it would be “a hit to our country.” The BRICS nations — as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are collectively known — discussed the issue of de-dollarization at a summit in 2023. Backlash against the dollar’s dominance gained traction in 2022 when the US led efforts to impose economic sanctions on Russia. Economic advisers to Trump and his campaign have spoken in particular about targeting the BRICS effort. Earlier: Trump Aides Discuss Penalties for Nations That De-Dollarize “There is no chance that the BRICS will replace the U.S. Dollar in International Trade, and any Country that tries should wave goodbye to America,” Trump said Saturday. The president-elect has already rattled world markets ahead of his second term with threats to levy an additional 10% tariffs on goods from China and 25% tariffs on all products from Mexico and Canada if those countries do not do more to stem the flow of illegal drugs and undocumented migrants across US borders. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Trump on Friday to discuss trade and border issues in a bid to tamp down tensions between the two allied nations after the tariff threat.is the biggest shopping event of the year in the U.S. and an excellent opportunity to bag yourself a TV deal. Plenty of high-quality TVs are on sale this weekend, so you’re sure to nab a bargain if you act fast. Amazon makes an event out of Black Friday and often has throughout Cyber Monday. Best Black Friday TV deals 2024 Thanks to its NanoCell technology, this TV offers exceptionally rich color, with a sharp and clear 4K display. It’s easy to control with your voice, with built-in Alexa and compatibility with Google Assistant, Apple AirPlay and Apple HomeKit. You can choose from six sizes between 43 and 86 inches. You’re bound to get a decent discount on this high-end TV. The OLED screen contains millions of pixels that are independently lit, for incredibly rich and lifelike color. It has some great features, such as a gallery mode for displaying art when you’re not watching TV, a powerful a9 AI Processor that can do AI Super Upscaling and built-in voice control support. The impressive OLED display lights pixels individually to give you true blacks and more lifelike color reproduction. The gaming mode is especially beneficial for anyone with a next-gen console, like the PS5 or Xbox Series X. With dynamic crystal color, an ultrapowerful processor and 4K upscaling, this is a TV you’ll be pleased to own — especially if you get a decent Black Friday deal. It works with multiple voice assistants, or you can use a standard remote to control your TV the old-fashioned way. Its Airslim sleek profile will even help it blend in with the rest of your decor. Perfect for anyone who thinks their TV ruins the decor in their living room, The Frame from Samsung can display a static picture so that it looks like a frame art print when not in use. It also has a certified glare-free matte display to make the artwork look printed on the screen. When the TV is being used, it has great picture quality thanks to a 4K resolution, Pantone Validated ArtfulColor (exclusive to The Frame series TVs) and quantum dot technology. This TV has some great high-end features, including an ultraslim design (at only 1.1 inches deep), HDR ULTRA with Dolvy Vision IQ for rich color and QLED PRO Quantum Dot technology for enhanced contrast and accurate colors. The Game Accelerator 240 and Auto Game Mode provide low-latency gameplay, meaning gamers never need to miss a thing during fast-paced games.

The best Black Friday TV deals still availableNigeria needs listening leaders who don’t act like they know it all – Peter Obi

Higher oil prices in 2021 led to a healthy rebound in global drilling activity the following year, helping production in areas such as the USA and Brazil reach new heights. Indications of a softening drilling market in certain areas were seen in 2023 but became more prominent in 2024 with lagging rig activity onshore USA and high-profile rig contract suspensions onshore and offshore Saudi Arabia. With OPEC+ agreeing on 5 December to extend its voluntary output cuts into 2025, there are indications that the market may shrink further as we enter 2025. Westwood’s latest Wells & Production Outlook indicates that, although there are undoubtedly some downward pressures for drilling, especially in the short-term, the global picture still has significant positives. Over the 2025-2031 period, Westwood forecasts an average of 53,000 wells to be spud annually. On a regional level, the Americas is expected to lead drilling activity, driven by the USA (68% of regional activity), followed by Asia, where China dominates with 81%. Africa and Europe will be driven by activities in Russia, which will account for 79% of wells spud in the region, while drilling activities in the Middle East are more even spread, with the largest country, Oman, representing 27%. Proportion of Global Wells Drilled by Region 2025-2031 Source: Westwood Wells & Production Outlook 2025-2031 Back in 2018, the first year covered by this edition of the report, 59,000 wells were drilled globally. This is more than any year since, and any year expected over the forecast. Indexing this year to 100, it becomes clear that Asia and the Middle East are both expected to improve on 2018 levels throughout the forecast, with the number of wells drilled 18% and 26% higher over the forecast respectively. For Asia, this will be driven by China, which is expected to continue drilling >10,000 wells per year, while other countries, such as Indonesia and Thailand, drill at greater rates. The Middle East is expected to see the largest improvement, averaging over 4,000 wells per year, as NOCs ramp up drilling operations in onshore unconventional projects and brownfield offshore projects. Conversely, Africa and Europe, which are collated into one region for this report, are expected to average 9,360 wells over the forecast, down 4% on 2018. The region that stands out most clearly however is the Americas – the largest driller but also the one with little to no forecast growth. Taking 2018, when 26,300 wells were drilled as 100, the average indexed rate of drilling over the forecast will be 72, with an average of 19,000 wells drilled per year. This compares to 95 (Africa and Europe), 118 (APAC) and 126 (Middle East). Regionally, North America (Canada and the USA) is expected to dominate, with drilling in the Lower 48 remaining the key driver of regional activity. However, the USA is not expected to return to previous drilling levels. Instead, the country is forecast to continue to be dominated by the theme of capital efficiency and profit over pure production growth. 2024, a year with low natural gas prices and high supply costs, has shown that if market conditions aren’t right, operators will not hesitate to reduce rig activity until market conditions improve. Drilling in 2024 is estimated to be 7% lower than 2023 and 40% below 2018. Indexed Change in Wells Drilled by Region 2018-2031 Source: Westwood Wells & Production Outlook 2025-2031 Technological and drilling advancements are likely to be a major theme over the forecast, with operators drilling longer laterals and U-turn wells to further extract maximum value from each well. This is expected to continue to put downward pressure on the number of wells required annually, with an annual average of 12,400 onshore development wells over the forecast, 2% below an annual average of 12,700 wells in a hindcast impacted by the COVID-19 demand destruction in 2020. The election of Donald Trump and his “drill baby drill” slogan is unlikely to receive much of a reaction from operators predicted to continue with their capital conscious approach. However, the expected rescinding of Biden’s pause on approvals of new LNG export agreements should support an uplift in drilling in the shale basins with a higher gas content, which has been hit particularly hard this year. Activity in the USA has settled into a new normal – with the previous levels of drilling highly unlikely to be seen again. For those service companies and rig contractors who can offer the technologies and rigs that are growing increasingly important to operators in the shale plays, there remains huge opportunities despite the reduction in the volume of wells drilled. Another reason for the decline in drilling activities in the Americas since 2018 is onshore Latin America, where there is a limited positive outlook except for Argentina. The entire region is on a downward curve over the forecast as dwindling reserves, poor economic factors and political unrest impact drilling activity. In Mexico, 52 onshore wells were drilled in 1H 2024, compared to 88 in 1H 2023, a 41% decline YoY. This comes despite several promising condensate discoveries in recent years (Ixachi, Quesqui and Baktegas) and the delivery of 10 newbuild land rigs. It is unclear what impact the new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, will have on an industry that subsequent governments have failed to materially improve. However, Westwood does expect some improvement on the low 2024 figure (estimated at 85 for the year), with an average of 126 onshore wells over the forecast. Americas Drilling Outlook by Country Source: Westwood Wells & Production Outlook 2025-2031 Other regional players, including Colombia and Peru, have consistently recorded drilling numbers below historic levels in recent years, and there is little indication of improvement. This is despite some bullish production forecasts and new schemes in most countries to raise production – something that has failed to translate into material production improvement in the past. Despite this, there are several areas of the Americas predicted to see major growth over the forecast, including Argentina, where activity has ramped up from a low of 430 well spuds in 2020 to 1,071 in 2023. Operators pledged investments of US$9 billion into the Vaca Muerta shale play in 2024 and is on track to beat 2023 with 546 development wells drilled in 1H 2024, up 11% YoY. Removing restrictions on investment has become the centrepiece of the current government, given historic issues. This, coupled with increased offtake routes, should see the number of wells drilled increase YoY to almost 1,500 by 2031, a potentially conservative number but one reflective of the challenges that remain. Latin America Onshore Drilling Outlook (Excl. Argentina) Source: Westwood Wells & Production Outlook 2025-2031 Argentina remains beset by economic problems, while any potential changes in the government could disrupt the industry as they have in the past. On a more practical level, a significant increase in both equipment, including onshore rigs, and export infrastructure is vital to ensuring that growth can be maintained. Another key bright spot is in the subsea sector, where the Americas is forecast to lead global demand for subsea development wells, accounting for 47% over the forecast period, a 37% increase on the hindcast. This reflects the increase in activity in the well-established Brazilian deepwater sector, which will lead subsea development with 360 wells spud. Guyana will also have an increase in activity, with 220 subsea development wells expected over the forecast. Furthermore, the recently sanctioned GranMorgu will kickstart an era of deepwater development drilling offshore Suriname. Petronas’ discoveries in Suriname’s Block 52, as well as Petrobras’ and Shell’s gas discoveries offshore Colombia, add further interest and upside potential in the buoyant deepwater region. Proportion of Global Subsea Tree Installations (RoW vs Americas) Source: Westwood Wells & Production Outlook 2025-2031, SubseaLogix Continued strong investment in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico will also boost regional activity, with approximately 115 subsea trees installed over the forecast. At the same time, the first deepwater fields in the Falkland Islands, Mexico and the aforementioned Suriname are expected online, adding a combined 84 subsea development wells to this already dominant region for subsea activity. With more than 133,000 wells to be drilled over the forecast, the Americas continues to represent a major area for drilling. The region is expected to remain a bright spot for deepwater drilling, led by Brazil and Guyana, while onshore North America is expected to remain in high demand, albeit with activity in the Lower 48 settled into a new normal. Argentina is expected to be a bright spot in what is otherwise a more negative outlook onshore Latin America. Source: Westwood Global Energy GroupBy MATTHEW BROWN and JACK DURA BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Donald Trump assigned Doug Burgum a singular mission in nominating the governor of oil-rich North Dakota to lead an agency that oversees a half-billion acres of federal land and vast areas offshore: “Drill baby drill.” That dictate from the president-elect’s announcement of Burgum for Secretary of Interior sets the stage for a reignition of the court battles over public lands and waters that helped define Trump’s first term, with environmentalists worried about climate change already pledging their opposition. Burgum is an ultra-wealthy software industry entrepreneur who grew up on his family’s farm. He represents a tame choice compared to other Trump Cabinet picks. Public lands experts said his experience as a popular two-term governor who aligns himself with conservationist Teddy Roosevelt suggests a willingness to collaborate, as opposed to dismantling from within the agency he is tasked with leading. That could help smooth his confirmation and clear the way for the incoming administration to move quickly to open more public lands to development and commercial use. “Burgum strikes me as a credible nominee who could do a credible job as Interior secretary,” said John Leshy, who served as Interior’s solicitor under former President Bill Clinton. “He’s not a right-wing radical on public lands,” added Leshy, professor emeritus at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. The Interior Department manages about one-fifth of the country’s land with a mandate that spans from wildlife conservation and recreation to natural resource extraction and fulfilling treaty obligations with Native American tribes. Most of those lands are in the West, where frictions with private landowners and state officials are commonplace and have sometimes mushroomed into violent confrontations with right-wing groups that reject federal jurisdiction. Burgum if confirmed would be faced with a pending U.S. Supreme Court action from Utah that seeks to assert state power over Interior Department lands. North Dakota’s attorney general has supported the lawsuit, but Burgum’s office declined to say if he backs Utah’s claims. U.S. Justice Department attorneys on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to reject Utah’s lawsuit. They said Utah in 1894 agreed to give up its right to the lands at issue when it became a state. Trump’s narrow focus on fossil fuels is a replay from his 2016 campaign — although minus coal mining, a collapsing industry that he failed to revive in his first term. Trump repeatedly hailed oil as “liquid gold” on the campaign trail this year and largely omitted any mention of coal. About 26% of U.S. oil comes from federal lands and offshore waters overseen by Interior. Production continues to hit record levels under President Joe Biden despite claims by Trump that the Democrat hindered drilling. But industry representatives and their Republican allies say volumes could be further boosted. They want Burgum and the Interior Department to ramp up oil and gas sales from federal lands, in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Alaska. The oil industry also hopes Trump’s government efficiency initiative led by billionaire Elon Musk can dramatically reduce environmental reviews. Biden’s administration reduced the frequency and size of lease sales, and it restored environmental rules that were weakened under Trump . The Democrat as a candidate in 2020 promised further restrictions on drilling to help combat global warming, but he struck a deal for the 2022 climate bill that requires offshore oil and gas sales to be held before renewable energy leases can be sold. “Oil and gas brings billions of dollars of revenue in, but you don’t get that if you don’t have leasing,” said Erik Milito with the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents offshore industries including oil and wind. Trump has vowed to kill offshore wind energy projects. But Milito said he was hopeful that with Burgum in place it would be “green lights ahead for everything, not just oil and gas.” It is unclear if Burgum would revive some of the most controversial steps taken at the agency during Trump’s first term, including relocating senior officials out of Washington, D.C., dismantling parts of the Endangered Species Act and shrinking the size of two national monuments in Utah designated by former President Barack Obama. Officials under Biden spent much of the past four years reversing Trump’s moves. They restored the Utah monuments and rescinded numerous Trump regulations. Onshore oil and gas lease sales plummeted — from more than a million acres sold annually under Trump and other previous administrations, to just 91,712 acres (37,115 hectares) sold last year — while many wind and solar projects advanced. Developing energy leases takes years, and oil companies control millions of acres that remain untapped. Biden’s administration also elevated the importance of conservation in public lands decisions, adopting a rule putting it more on par with oil and gas development. They proposed withdrawing parcels of land in six states from potential future mining to protect a struggling bird species, the greater sage grouse. North Dakota is among Republican states that challenged the Biden administration’s public lands rule. The states said in a June lawsuit that officials acting to prevent climate change have turned laws meant to facilitate development into policies that obstruct drilling, livestock grazing and other uses. Oil production boomed over the past two decades in North Dakota thanks in large part to better drilling techniques. Burgum has been an industry champion and last year signed a repeal of the state’s oil tax trigger — a price-based tax hike industry leaders supported removing. Burgum’s office declined an interview request. In a statement after his nomination, Burgum echoed Trump’s call for U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. The 68-year-old governor also said the Interior post offered an opportunity to improve government relations with developers, tribes, landowners and outdoor enthusiasts “with a focus on maximizing the responsible use of our natural resources with environmental stewardship for the benefit of the American people.” Related Articles National Politics | Judge delays Trump hush money sentencing in order to decide where case should go now National Politics | Gaetz’s withdrawal highlights how incoming presidents often lose Cabinet nominees National Politics | What to know about Pam Bondi, Trump’s new pick for attorney general National Politics | Democrat Bob Casey concedes to Republican David McCormick in Pennsylvania Senate contest National Politics | Democrats strike deal to get more Biden judges confirmed before Congress adjourns Under current Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the agency put greater emphasis on working collaboratively with tribes, including their own energy projects . Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe in New Mexico, also advanced an initiative to solve criminal cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous peoples and helped lead a nationwide reckoning over abuses at federal Indian boarding schools that culminated in a formal public apology from Biden. Burgum has worked with tribes in his state, including on oil development. Badlands Conservation Alliance director Shannon Straight in Bismarck, North Dakota, said Burgum has also been a big supporter of tourism in North Dakota and outdoor activities such as hunting and fishing. Yet Straight said that hasn’t translated into additional protections for land in the state. “Theodore Roosevelt had a conservation ethic, and we talk and hold that up as a beautiful standard to live by,” he said. “We haven’t seen it as much on the ground. ... We need to recognize the landscape is only going to be as good as some additional protections.” Burgum has been a cheerleader of the planned Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota. Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

CP NewsAlert: Trump calls Florida meeting with Trudeau productive

Financial Inclusion Through Islamic Fintech: A Path to Sustainable DevelopmentBenzinga examined the prospects for many investors’ favorite stocks over the last week — here’s a look at some of our top stories. The U.S. stock market continued its upward momentum, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq marking their third consecutive week of gains, rising 0.96% and 3.34%, respectively, while the Dow edged down 0.6%. Technology and consumer discretionary sectors drove the rally, supported by strong performances from mega-cap tech names like Apple Inc. AAPL , Amazon.com Inc. AMZN , and Meta Platforms Inc. META . November’s labor market data showed a notable rebound, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by 227,000, surpassing expectations and significantly outpacing October’s revised 36,000 figure. Meanwhile, consumer sentiment, as measured by the University of Michigan, improved to a seven-month high, despite heightened inflation concerns influencing some consumers to expedite purchases of durable goods. Benzinga provides daily reports on the stocks most popular with investors. Here are a few of this past week’s most bullish and bearish posts that are worth another look. The Bulls “ ‘Big Short' Trader Danny Moses Gives Up On Shorting Tesla, Says It Is ‘Very Difficult To Short A Name That Is Not Trading On Fundamentals’ ,” by Anan Ashraf , explains that Danny Moses , known from “The Big Short,” stopped shorting Tesla Inc. TSLA , citing its stock's reliance on narrative-driven promises like autonomous driving rather than financial fundamentals. “ Crypto Analyst Foresees Potential 212%-260% Upswing In Dogecoin's Value ,” by Aniket Verma , highlights an analyst’s bullish projection for Dogecoin DOGE/USD , predicting a surge to $1.30-$1.50 as a key macro target, which would reflect a 212%-260% increase, citing historical patterns and market momentum. “ GameStop Rockets As Roaring Kitty Returns To X: What Does His Tweet Signal Ahead Of Q3 Earnings? ,” by Chris Katje , reports a surge in GameStop Corp. GME stock following Roaring Kitty’s ( Keith Gill ) return to X (formerly Twitter), sparking investor speculation with cryptic posts tied to meme stock momentum ahead of the company's earnings. For additional bullish calls of the past week, check out the following: Michael Saylor Says Bitcoin Could Boost Microsoft’s Valuation By Nearly $5 Trillion And Add $584 To The Stock By 2034 Andrew Left’s Citron Research Says Nvidia-Backed Nebius Is The Next ‘AI Wall Street Darling’ — Stock Moves Up 14% JPMorgan Bets On Natural Gas For 2025: Upgrades ConocoPhillips, Lowers 3 Energy Stocks The Bears “ Trump’s Tariff Plan Risks Economic Pain For North America, Goldman Sachs Warns ,” by Piero Cingari , notes Goldman Sachs’ warning that Donald Trump's proposed 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports could shrink Canada's GDP by 4%, Mexico's by 3.5%, and the U.S.'s by 0.4%, hitting firms like General Motors Co. GM and spiking inflation. “ Biden Targets China With New Chip Restrictions, Nvidia Slides ,” by Anusuya Lahiri , reports on the U.S. imposing stricter export controls on 140 Chinese semiconductor firms, including memory chip tools, impacting NVIDIA Corp. NVDA , Lam Research Corp. LRCX , and Applied Materials Inc. AMAT , as part of a national security strategy. “ Peter Schiff Challenges Jim Cramer’s Bullish Bitcoin Take, Says Such Statements Are Made At Market Tops ,” by Aniket Verma , highlights Peter Schiff’s critique of Jim Cramer’s enthusiastic support for Bitcoin BTC/USD after it surpassed $100,000, calling such remarks indicative of a market peak, while Cramer defended Bitcoin as a portfolio hedge akin to gold. For more bearish takes, be sure to see these posts: Shift4 Payments Stock Drops After CEO Jared Isaacman’s NASA Nomination: What’s Going On? How A Potential Fallout Between Elon Musk And Trump Could Impact Tesla And SpaceX: Cathie Wood Weighs In Sony-Honda EV Dream Collides With Trump-Backed Policy Shift Reality Ahead Of 2026 US Launch Keep up with all the latest breaking news and trading ideas by following Benzinga on Twitter . Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney. This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.McGill runs for 2TDs and North Texas becomes bowl eligible by beating Temple 24-17PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Makenzie McGill II ran for 155 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns and North Texas ended a five-game losing streak beating Temple 24-17 on Saturday in a regular-season ender for both teams. The win helped North Texas (6-6, 3-5 American Athletic Conference) reach bowl eligibility. Prior to Saturday, the Mean Green hadn't won since Oct. 12 when they beat Florida Atlantic 41-37. The game's scoring outcome was settled by halftime. Chandler Morris threw a 14-yard touchdown to DT Sheffield on the game's opening drive for a 7-0 UNT lead. Kali Nguma added a 36-yard field 19 seconds later following a Temple turnover. The Owls (3-9, 2-6) got on the board with Maddux Trujillo's 44-yard field goal. McGill made it 17-3 with a 39-yard scoring run. Eight seconds into the second quarter, McGill ran 51 yards to the end zone for a 24-3 edge. Temple got two touchdowns before the half ended when Joquez Smith and Evan Simon each ran it in from the 1 to reduce the deficit to 24-17. North Texas clinched a bowl berth for the 15th time in program history and eighth time since 2013. It's the first time in the Eric Morris era North Texas has qualified for a bowl. Temple hasn't posted a winning season since 2019 when it went 8-5 and ended the season with a 55-13 loss to North Carolina in the Northrop Grumman Military Bowl. The Owls have ended the last four seasons with records of 3-9. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

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Lisa Simpson once said during an episode of “The Simpsons:” What could be more exciting than the savage ballet that is pro football? On Monday night, the entire Simpsons universe gets to experience it in a way not many could have imagined. The prime-time matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will also take place at Springfield’s Atoms Stadium as part of “The Simpsons Funday Football” alternate broadcast. The altcast will be streamed on ESPN+, Disney+, and NFL+ (on mobile devices). ESPN and ABC have the main broadcast, while ESPN2 will carry the final “ManningCast” of the regular season. The replay will be available on Disney+ for 30 days. Globally, more than 145 countries will have access to either live or on replay. “We’re such huge football fans, and the Simpsons audience and the football audience, I feel, are like the same audience of just American families and football. And the Simpsons are so much a part of the DNA of the American family and culture that for us to, like, mush them together in this crazy video game, it’s so fun,” said Matt Selman, executive producer of “The Simpsons.” While the game is the focal point, the alternate broadcast, in some ways, will resemble a three-hour episode of “The Simpsons.” It starts with Homer eating too many hot dogs and having a dream while watching football. Homer joins the Cowboys in the dream while Bart teams up with the Bengals. Lisa and Marge will be sideline reporters. “That’s the beginning of the story, and the story continues through the entire game until Homer wakes up from his dream at the end of the game. It is like a complete story, and the NFL game will happen in between. It’s just going to be an amazing presentation with tons of surprises,” said Michael “Spike” Szykowny, ESPN’s VP of edit and animation. This is the second year ESPN has done an alternate broadcast for an NFL game. It used the characters from “Toy Story” for last year’s Sunday morning game from London between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars. “The Simpsons” has featured many sports-themed episodes during its 35 seasons. Even though “Homer at the Bat” remains the consensus favorite sports episode for many Simpsons fans, there have been football ones such as “Bart Star” and “Lisa The Greek.” There also was a Super Bowl-themed one after Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl 33 between Denver and Atlanta in 1999. Even though “The Simpsons” remains a staple on Fox’s prime-time schedule, it is part of the Disney family after their acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. All 35 seasons are on Disney+. The show’s creators have worked with ESPN and the NFL to make sure the look and sound is definitely Simpsonsesque. The theme song is a mash-up of “The Simpsons” opening and “Monday Night Football’s” iconic “Heavy Action.” There have also been pre-recorded skits and bits to use during the broadcast featuring Simpson’s legendary voices Hank Azaria, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, and Yeardley Smith. The telecast will be entirely animated, with the players’ movements in sync with what is happening in real-time on the field. That is done through player-tracking data enabled by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats system and Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology. While Next Gen Stats tracks where players are on the field with a tracking chip in the shoulder pads, there is skeletal data tracking and limb tracking data — which uses 29 points per player — to get closer to the player’s movements. The other data tracking will allow Beyond Sports and Disney to add special characters to the game. For example, there might be a play where Lisa catches the ball and goes 30 yards instead of Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins. “Lisa is much smaller than the rest of the players. So, in real life, the ball would go over her head, but now, with data processing, we can take the ball and make it go exactly into her hands. So for the viewer, it still looks believable, and it all makes sense,” said Beyond Sports co-founder Nicolaas Westerhof. The other major challenge is making “The Simpsons” two-dimensional cartoon characters into 3-D simulations. Szykowny and his team worked to make that a reality over the past couple of months. “That’s a big leap of faith for them to say, hey, we trust you to make our characters 3-D and work with it. Our ESPN creative studio team has done a wonderful job,” Szykowny said. Lisa, Krusty, Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph will be with Bart and the Bengals; while Carl, Barney, Lenny and Moe join up with with Homer and the Cowboys. The broadcast will also feature ESPN personalities Stephen A. Smith, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. ESPN’s Drew Carter, Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky will call the game from Bristol, Connecticut, and also be animated. They will wear Meta Quest Pro headsets to experience the game from Springfield using VR technology. For Kimes, being part of the broadcast and being an animated Simpsons character is a dream come true. She is a massive fan of the show and has a framed photo of Lisa Simpson — who she said is a personal hero and icon — as part of her backdrop when she makes appearances on ESPN NFL shows from her home in Los Angeles. “I didn’t have any input, and I didn’t see anything beforehand, so I wasn’t sure if it would look like me, but it kind of does, which is very funny,” said Kimes, who drew Simpsons characters when she was a kid. “To see the actual staff turn me into one was a dream.” Even though the Bengals (4-8) and Cowboys (5-7) have struggled this season, Selman thinks both teams have personalities that appeal to “The Simpsons” universe. “We were just so lucky also that the Cowboys are sort of like a Homer Simpson-type team, American team, and Mike McCarthy might be a Homer-type guy, one might imagine,” he said. ”And then you have Joe Burrow on the other side who is a cool young, spiky-haired, blonde bad boy -- he’s like Bart. And that fits our character archetypes so perfectly. “If Homer is mad at Bart and has a hot dog dream while watching ’Monday Night Football’, and then it’s basically McCarthy versus Burrow, Homer versus Bart, and that’s the simple father versus son strangling — Homer strangling Bart dynamic that has been part of the show for 35 years. I don’t know if that would have worked as well if it was like Titans versus Jacksonville. We would have found something. We would have made it work.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflNets fall to 76ers in NBA Cup play despite another big night from Cam JohnsonBJP Barnala ex-head in AAP

Foreign H-1B visa workers received starting salaries about 10 percent less than their American counterparts at Deloitte, a multinational accounting firm whose wage data was hacked and published. The H-1B visa program, created by former President George H.W. Bush, allows companies to import hundreds of thousands of foreign workers — primarily from India and China — to take white-collar American jobs under the guise that there is a “labor shortage,” particularly in STEM occupations. For years, Breitbart News has chronicled the abuses against white-collar American professionals as a result of the H-1B visa program. Americans are often laid off in the process and forced to train their foreign replacements, as highlighted by Breitbart News. Research, published in the September issue of the Journal of Business Ethics, reviewed wage data that was hacked from Deloitte to compare starting wages for foreign H-1B visa workers with their American counterparts. Deloitte paid foreign H-1B visa workers about 10 percent less than Americans doing the same line of work, the results showed. “We observe that relative to U.S. citizen new hires — matched on office, position, and time of hire — newly hired accountants with H-1B visas receive starting salaries that are lower by approximately 10%,” the researchers found: We find, in line with the cost savings argument, that a Big 4 firm pays H-1B visa holders in tax and audit lower starting wages than U.S. citizen peer hires. There are several other explanations besides a desire to save on wage costs that could drive this wage discount (such as a difference in English communication skills or an attempt to recoup the considerable filing fees involved in hiring an H-1B worker). We are unable to identify the exact driver of this discrepancy, but our results are at least consistent with the pattern predicted by H-1B critics. In our secondary tests, we find no evidence that H-1B workers are substitutes for U.S. citizens in accounting, but rather some weak evidence of complementarities. That is, controlling for office size and growth, U.S. citizen new hires are paid slightly more in offices that have recently hired an H-1B visa holder in a peer role. [Emphasis added] The wage data confirms accusations that the H-1B visa program is used across several industries to cut labor costs for companies while crowding American professionals out of jobs that would otherwise go to them. About a year ago, laid-off American professionals — who say they were replaced with Indian H-1B visa workers — scored a $4.65 million settlement against Indian outsourcing firm Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI). The initial lawsuit brought by the laid-off Americans said LTI deployed a “four-pronged policy” of anti-American discrimination to ensure that jobs went to Indian H-1B visa workers: First, LTI allegedly maintains an “inventory” of “visa ready” workers from India to fill positions at the company by petitioning the federal government’s lottery program to obtain a large amount of H-1b visas , and preferences hiring from this pool of applicants over U.S. citizens and visa-ready individuals not from South Asia (in particular, India). [Emphasis added] ... Second, LTI’s internal and third-party recruiters in the United States disproportionately select South Asian and Indian applicants located in the United States over non-South Asian, non-Indian applicants located in the United States, even if applicants are less qualified. [Emphasis added] Third, LTI promotes South Asian, Indian, visa holders at disproportionately high rates, in particular by giving these workers higher scores on their quarterly and annual employee appraisals. [Emphasis added] Fourth, and finally, LTI terminates non-South Asian, non-Indian, and non-visa holders at disproportionately higher rates , in part because these workers are relegated to the “bench” more often and then are not staffed on more projects. [Emphasis added] Most prominently, the Department of Justice (DOJ) settled with Facebook over its lawsuit that the tech corporation had discriminated against qualified Americans for jobs, preferring to hire foreign H-1B visa workers. Recently, Americans detailed to Bloomberg News how Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation discriminated against Americans using the H-1B visa program. One such insider at Cognizant was Abby Israel, who was hired to ensure that federal anti-discrimination laws were being followed. What she discovered was shocking: In 2018, Israel’s team produced an internal report that found large racial disparities in rates of “involuntary terminations” at Cognizant over the first eight months of the year. Black employees were let go at a rate 23 times that of Asian [mostly Indian] workers, the data showed. For Hispanic or Latino employees, the rate was 16 times the rate of their Asian counterparts. For White workers, it was eight times as high. (The Asian workers were overwhelmingly from India and were working on [H-1B and other] visas, according to the report.) Israel told the jury that those were some of the most extreme racial disparities she’d ever seen. She also said that when she reached out to Cognizant’s hiring managers with those findings, her supervisor told her to stop sharing the data beyond HR leaders. [Emphasis added] In December 2022, the DOJ announced a settlement with Secureapp Technologies, whose Fortune 500 clients include Pfizer, Comcast, Deloitte, JPMorgan Chase, FedEx, and Nike, after the firm was found to have discriminated against qualified Americans, hiring foreign H-1B visa workers from India instead. Another infamous case involved the defunct biotech corporation Theranos, whose founder and CEO, Elizabeth Holmes, was convicted of fraud and conspiracy. Holmes, along with her partner and former boyfriend Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, had raked in billions in investments from 2003 to 2015 by claiming that Theranos’s nanotechnology could retrieve tiny blood samples from patients and test them for a myriad of illnesses and diseases. Holmes and Balwani used the H-1B visa program to keep their employees quiet and compliant, even as the fraud scheme unraveled, according to John Carreyrou’s bombshell reporting. “For the dozens of Indians Theranos employed, the fear of being fired was more than just the dread of losing a paycheck. Most were on H-1B visas and dependent on their continued employment at the company to remain in the country,” Carreyrou reported in his book. “With a despotic boss like Sunny holding their fates in his hands, it was akin to indentured servitude,” Carreyrou reported. “Sunny, in fact, had the master-servant mentality common among an older generation of Indian businessmen. Employees were his minions.” John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here .Georgia QB Carson Beck takes hit on throwing arm before halftime, leaving status uncertain

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