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President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that he wants real estate developer Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France. Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post, calling Charles Kushner “a tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker." Kushner is the founder of Kushner Companies, a real estate firm. Jared Kushner is a former senior Trump adviser who is married to Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka. The elder Kushner was pardoned by Trump in December 2020 after pleading guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations. Prosecutors alleged that after Charles Kushner discovered his brother-in-law was cooperating with federal authorities in an investigation, he hatched a scheme for revenge and intimidation. RELATED STORY | Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum are discussing tariffs. What should consumers expect? Kushner hired a prostitute to lure his brother-in-law, then arranged to have the encounter in a New Jersey motel room recorded with a hidden camera and the recording sent to his own sister, the man’s wife, prosecutors said. Kushner eventually pleaded guilty to 18 counts including tax evasion and witness tampering. He was sentenced in 2005 to two years in prison — the most he could receive under a plea deal, but less than what Chris Christie, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey at the time and later governor and Republican presidential candidate, had sought. Christie has blamed Jared Kushner for his firing from Trump’s transition team in 2016, and has called Charles Kushner’s offenses “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted when I was U.S. attorney.” Trump and the elder Kushner knew each other from real estate circles and their children were married in 2009.

THE answer to the above question is an unambiguous YES! From a youth investment forum at the beginning of this year to millions of dollars from financial institutions, including the Caribbean Development Bank, for funding youth enterprises in Saint Lucia, the significance of youth entrepreneurship cannot be overstated, particularly for a developing nation like Saint Lucia. The significance of investment in the youth goes back several years as governments, some more than others, have appreciated that nurturing young entrepreneurs presents an unparalleled opportunity to accelerate economic growth, drive innovation, and address some of the most pressing social challenges in Saint Lucia. It has been proven in other countries that youth entrepreneurship is a vital engine for economic growth as young entrepreneurs are often at the forefront of starting new businesses, creating jobs, and stimulating economic activity. In many developing nations, where unemployment rates are alarmingly high, particularly among youth, fostering entrepreneurial endeavours can catalyse economic resurgence. These young business owners create jobs for themselves and others, helping reduce unemployment and poverty levels. This much was seen at the Saint Lucia /Taiwan Partnership Trade Show held earlier this month at the Pavillion in Rodney Bay. We were warmly surprised at how young Saint Lucians were not just open to new ideas and adaptable to change, but how comfortable they were with the latest technologies and their eagerness to incorporate these into their business ventures. This propensity for innovation can only lead to technological advancements that can propel Saint Lucia forward. No doubt Saint Lucia, as a developing country, can benefit immensely from the fresh perspectives and innovative solutions that their young citizens/entrepreneurs bring to the table, driving sectors like tech, agriculture, and renewable energy. We are aware that entrepreneurship among the youth also holds the promise of significant social impact. Many young entrepreneurs are motivated by a desire to address societal issues such as education, healthcare, and environmental sustainability. By developing businesses that tackle these challenges, they not only contribute to economic development but also promote social cohesion and community development. This dual impact is essential for creating a more equitable and sustainable society. This is why we support the Youth Employment Agency, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) of the Government, the various programmes at the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, the workshops and start-up enterprises which focus on youth development in various areas, all of which to encourage youth entrepreneurship and empower young people with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to pursue their passions and ideas. This empowerment is crucial for their personal development and for fostering a generation of leaders who are equipped to drive future growth. Furthermore, entrepreneurial education and support can build capacity within the country, creating a more skilled and adaptable workforce. In a globalised economy, developing nations, like Saint Lucia must remain competitive. What we are seeing and pleading with successive governments to hold fast to and encourage is the role youth entrepreneurship can play in promoting a culture of innovation and resilience. Saint Lucia’s youth have shown that they have a global outlook and are adept at identifying international opportunities, Julien Alfred and others come to mind. By supporting the endeavours of our youth, Saint Lucia can position itself as a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship in the OECS and beyond. We have seen that youth entrepreneurship can truly flourish. For that to happen, however, it requires a supportive environment. We encourage the government to continue the active role it has played and continues to play in creating an enabling environment through access to finance, mentorship programmes, entrepreneurial education, and favourable regulatory frameworks. Investment in infrastructure and technology is also critical to support young entrepreneurs in realising their full potential. In conclusion, while some of us may think that youth entrepreneurship is just a pathway to individual success, it is more than that. Youth entrepreneurship is a strategic imperative for national development. By harnessing the energy, creativity, and resilience of young entrepreneurs, developing nations like Saint Lucia can unlock a powerful force for economic growth, social progress, and global competitiveness. The time to invest in and support youth entrepreneurial endeavours is NOW.The piece of technology sits unassumingly on top of the helmet of veteran quarterback Sam Darnold during most practices at TCO Performance Center. ADVERTISEMENT It allows the Vikings to capture footage in real time, providing a peek into the past for the man at the forefront of the future. “It’s super cool,” Darnold said. “It’s a really amazing tool to be able to use.” Though the Vikings are very much keeping the focus on this season with big goals in mind, they also have started laying the foundation for next season with the help of a GoPro camera. “This is the first time I’ve done anything like that,” Darnold said. “It doesn’t really feel like anything when it’s on my helmet.” ADVERTISEMENT That’s arguably the biggest part of its appeal. The fact that the GoPro camera weighs much less than a pound means it doesn’t interfere with anything the Vikings are trying to get done on a daily basis. It exists more or less as an accessory for Darnold at this point, taking video from his perspective whether he’s calling a play in the huddle, making a check at the line of scrimmage or scanning the field after the ball is snapped. That has been extremely useful for rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy as he continues to work his way through his recovery from a knee injury that ended his rookie campaign before it even got started. The ability to see everything through the eyes of Darnold has helped McCarthy train his brain even if he isn’t able to experience it firsthand. ADVERTISEMENT “The mental reps are of utmost importance,” McCarthy said a couple of months ago. “Just watching film from that perspective is really good.” This is the best option for the Vikings right now. Originally, after selecting McCarthy with the No. 10 pick in the 2024 draft, the Vikings hoped he would be able to get live reps himself this season. ADVERTISEMENT Instead, after McCarthy had surgery to repair a torn meniscus, the Vikings are doing everything in their power to make sure he’s ready for next season. That’s something head coach Kevin O’Connell has stressed whenever McCarthy’s name has been brought up. “We wanted to make sure we’re maximizing every moment for him,” O’Connell said. “We thought, ‘How do we make sure we’re doing the things that we need to do to ensure that he’s in the best possible position when he is healthy?'” The use of a GoPro camera is simply another resource the Vikings have at their disposal. ADVERTISEMENT “We’ve done a lot of different stuff that maybe we don’t do with a 10-year veteran quarterback,” O’Connell said. “Just to make sure that we’re farming an ideal learning environment for him to hit the ground running when he’s healthy.” As soon as the GoPro camera captures the footage from a particular practice, McCarthy can go back and watch it, getting a feel for what life is like in the huddle, at the line of scrimmage and after the ball is snapped. Sometimes the Vikings will even put it on in their war room, where there’s a gigantic screen that takes up an entire wall. That grandiose display is something offensive coordinator Wes Phillips appreciates because it makes it feel like McCarthy is inside the helmet. ADVERTISEMENT “It’s pretty cool to watch in there,” Phillips said. “It gives him a chance to see it a little bit more from that perspective.” Some of the other creative ways the Vikings have kept McCarthy on track include allowing him to be a part of the dialogue that goes on between O’Connell and Darnold during games. He was cleared to travel with the team for the first time last month, for example, so he was in attendance at SoFi Stadium when the Vikings suffered a 30-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Just getting a glimpse of what it feels like in the heat of battle will go a long way for McCarthy as he continues to develop. “I’m really excited about having him with us,” O’Connell said. “Any and all areas we can find to maximize those chances, we’re going to use it.” All the while, McCarthy has also been attending meetings, asking questions to O’Connell, Phillips, quarterback coach Josh McCown, assistant quarterbacks coach Grant Udinski and anybody else he can find in their office at TCO Performance Center. “He’s great about saving some questions he has,” Phillips said. “He’ll do that off to the side, understanding that guys are getting ready for the game.” Though the Vikings would’ve loved for McCarthy to be able to learn everything firsthand as a rookie, they are making the most of their current situation, ensuring their young quarterback of the future is completely prepared heading into next season. “Obviously he wants more than anybody to be there physically,” Phillips said. “He’s doing everything he can to be ready when his time comes.” ______________________________________________________ This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here .

For Dakota, a 17-year-old transgender high schooler from the San Gabriel Valley, it was an older trans girl at school who made the difference — who helped ease Dakota’s loneliness and give her hope. “It really just let me know that, OK, I’m not alone in this. There are other trans people. They exist,” Dakota said. “If she’s real, maybe I can be real, too.” Judith Webb, an 89-year-old grandmother raised in a progressive Hollywood film family, said she inherited her parents’ acceptance of LGBTQ+ people early in life. “I was ‘woke’ when I was 10 years old,” she said. Today, she cherishes visits at her San Pedro mobile home with her gay grandson and his husband. During one, he played the piano for her for an hour. During another, they went for an early-morning walk in the rain as his husband slept in. “We had my little dog with us. It was the first time I’d really had a chance to chat with him since they were married,” she said. “He’s just an absolutely great kid.” In the past year, LGBTQ+ people have become a favorite punching bag of the political right — including President-elect Donald Trump, whose campaign spent millions on anti-transgender ads and who has promised to roll back transgender rights during his second term. Misinformation about queer people — and especially queer youth and their healthcare — has spread, thanks in part to Trump, his followers and some of his recent picks for administration posts. But across the country, Americans are also interacting with, getting to know and learning to love LGBTQ+ people like never before. Queer communities are growing and thriving, the average American knows more about transgender people, and queer kids are coming out earlier and to wider acceptance. Young people identify as LGBTQ+ today at the highest rates in history — dwarfing the number in prior generations. The hyperpoliticization of LGBTQ+ issues is part of a broader backlash to that expansion of LGBTQ+ knowledge, understanding and community. In some parts of the country, anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is robust and getting stronger. But such retrenchment of queer rights is not the only LGBTQ+ trend at work. LGBTQ+ Americans are also having daily positive influence in the lives of those around them — strengthening America’s acceptance of LGBTQ+ folks along the way. ‘Real people, with real lives’ In June, The Times ran “Our Queerest Century,” a retrospective look at the vast and indelible contributions of LGBTQ+ Americans from 1924 to 2024 . Queer issues had swept to the center of the nation’s political discourse, and a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ laws had been proposed nationwide. Efforts to erase queer people — to ban LGBTQ+ books, drag queen performances, gender-affirming healthcare and the mere mention of LGBTQ+ identities in schools — were cropping up all over. The project placed those shifts within the broader context of our shared LGBTQ+ history. It included essays by queer writers on the contributions of LGBTQ+ people since the 1924 founding of the nation’s first known gay rights organization, and a news analysis of a national poll on LGBTQ+ issues today — which showed that people who know someone queer are less likely to hold anti-LGBTQ+ views. The project also asked readers to tell us how queer people had positively influenced their lives, and dozens wrote in, mostly about their own loved ones — their LGBTQ+ uncles and aunts, cousins and siblings, children and grandchildren and friends. “You couldn’t find more kind, loving and fun relatives if you searched the whole earth,” one respondent wrote. Another wrote that her LGBTQ+ family had “normalized the issue” for her simply by being “who they are, real people, with real lives, real emotions, real feelings, just like the rest of us.” A third wrote that her queer loved ones had taught her “to be less judgmental and more curious, not just about sexuality, but about many other human differences, such as race, family structure, faith, etc., and to put myself in other people’s shoes.” ‘Hope for the future’ Dakota — whose full name is being withheld to protect her safety — was the youngest respondent. She wrote about the “out-and-proud trans girl” at her school — who was also popular and nice — becoming “an instant role model” for her. In a recent interview, Dakota said this election cycle has been “absolutely crazy” and “very frightening” given Trump’s use of “a lot of anti-trans rhetoric.” Her mother said it’s been “terrifying as a mom of a trans kid,” too. “I try to have reassurance with the California wall we basically have — the metaphorical safety wall for all marginalized groups — and I just don’t know how strong that’s going to be two, four years from now after Trump unleashes whatever tsunami of hate he’s going to release.” Dakota said she is especially scared for her fellow trans Americans in red states, but doesn’t want to be hung up on feeling down — because there’s too much else to life. She’s been accepted socially at school, where peers have no problem with her pronouns. She’s applied to colleges — all in California — and is excited about starting a new and more independent chapter. She plans to major in political science after loving a high school course and seeing the importance of this election. “I wish people understood that being trans doesn’t define who we are as people,” she said, “because we’re still normal people and there’s so much else going on in our lives.” Webb was the oldest respondent. She wrote to The Times that she was grateful for her “long exposure” to the queer community, which began with a gay friend of her parents who visited often during her childhood. Webb wrote of being a homemaker before working at USC for decades, where she became friends with gay graduate students, and now being “the grandmother of a talented, delightful, successful grandson” who is “married to an equally delightful young man.” In an interview, Webb recalled the morning walk and the impromptu piano concert. She also noted a post-election visit, where they had a “really good conversation about what’s going on in the world” and her grandson reassured her he is happy. “He’s just the most positive person,” she said. A strong foundation Jennifer Moore, a transgender woman in her late 60s, called Trump’s victory and the anti-queer rhetoric being espoused by him, some of his nominees and other Republicans “crushing” and “a nightmare.” Queer support groups are advising transgender members to make sure their driver’s license and passport are up to date, and to consult their doctors about stocking up on transition medications, she said. She feels lucky to live in California , but has friends who are considering fleeing less progressive states or the country overall — or already have. Against that backdrop, Moore said it has been helpful to reflect on the country’s long history of queer progress — which she said was captured by “Our Queerest Century,” but also exemplified by The Times’ decision to publish it. Moore said she first started reading The Times as a kid in 1968 and was “always searching for information” about queer people like her in its pages, but only ever found negative things. That The Times today would publish a lengthy celebration of queer accomplishments “was just incredible,” she said. Moore wrote to the paper that three LGBTQ+ people had greatly helped her in her journey to transitioning in the last decade: a lesbian former Catholic nun who told her she would be “miserable” until she was authentic, a fellow trans woman who talked her through the first steps of transitioning and a gay co-worker who welcomed her on an AIDS charity bike ride and showed her that there is a whole world full of out, happy queer people. “The bravery and normality of these three LGBTQ folks taught me it was OK to live freely and authentically,” Moore wrote. Owen Renert, 24, an associate marriage and family therapist who works mostly with queer clients, said they decided to write in after their grandmother, a longtime LGBTQ+ ally who marched for AIDS awareness in the 1980s, gave them the “Our Queerest Century” section. “She brought it to lunch, and was like, ‘Here, it’s gay, you should look at it,’” Renert said with a laugh. Renert, who is nonbinary, wrote that having queer friends and mentors “dramatically shifted” how they view the world and helped tremendously in understanding their own queer identity — from “learning how I wanted to dress as a teen to finding safe places to enter life as an adult.” In an interview, they said many of their clients have voiced a similar need to be “surrounded by queer people” since the election, and “Our Queerest Century” was a good reminder that there is a strong foundation for such community to build on. “It’s going to be work, [but] that has always been the case,” Renert said. “We’ve been able to do that.” The century ahead Tony Valenzuela, executive director of the One Institute — one of the nation’s oldest LGBTQ+ organizations and a partner with The Times in hosting an “ Our Queerest Century” event in October — said highlighting queer history is “incredibly important” today, given the stakes. “Our work will be even more urgent and necessary, to remind people that it is at times where we’re embattled, when we’re attacked, that both our creativity comes out, but also when we organize, when [we] understand the importance of coalition,” he said. Valenzuela said queer leaders are eager to use this moment to build out queer networks, including by using the tactics of queer activists at the start of the AIDS epidemic . “There were activists on the streets. There were folks who were working at the policy level. There were folks who were [in] science and public health. There was this huge growth in the way we fundraise for our nonprofits. There was a call to rich people, frankly, to step up,” Valenzuela said. Craig Loftin, an LGBTQ+ scholar and history lecturer at Cal State Fullerton, agreed that queer history “provides all of the responses to the right wing politics and the Trump rhetoric” that are needed today — which is why it must be taught. It is full of hope and triumph. Years ago, Loftin uncovered and published for the first time a collection of letters that readers had submitted in the 1950s and ‘60s to One Magazine, an early gay rights publication founded in Los Angeles in 1952. As with the responses to “Our Queerest Century,” they came from all over the country, he said. Somewhat to his surprise, they were filled with as much hope and love as sadness and fear. “I was braced for gloom and doom, and I found myself riveted and inspired by how these people were existing in that environment and, despite it all, finding happiness, finding love, finding meaning,” Loftin said. “There was still a sense of humor. There was still a sense of hope. There was still a kind of affirmative spirit that taught me as a queer person that, no matter what we’re facing now with Trump and all this rhetoric, we faced much worse in the past.” “Our Queerest Century” provided a similar reminder “of the sheer abundance of LGBT history” that queer people and their allies can draw on as they chart a path forward today, he said. “In the wake of Trump’s election, in the wake of the storm that is brewing and already starting to rain on us, we need to do a lot more [to] get this history out there,” he said. “For me, knowledge of the past is the path forward.”NOTE: This post was updated at 6:45 p.m. with quotes from Sen. Casey’s concession and Sen-elect McCormick’s response. At 6:58 p.m. we loaded in Casey’s videotaped statement. U.S. Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. has conceded defeat to his Republican opponent in Pennsylvania’s 2024 Senate race, Wall Street hedge fund manager David McCormick. Casey’s concession comes after Pennsylvania’s 67 counties were already in the midst of a statewide recount, triggered by state law that authorizes a new tabulation of the votes in any statewide election when margin between the two leading candidates is less than 0.5 percentage points. At midnight Wednesday, McCormick’s lead of 16,367 votes equated to .24 percentage points. Early returns from counties that had completed their recounts were showing little to no change from their initially-reported results. “I want to thank the people of Pennsylvania for granting me the privilege of serving them for 28 consecutive years in public office,” Casey said in a video statement posted online this evening after, he said, he had spoken with McCormick. “Thank you for the trust you’ve placed in me for all these years. It’s been the honor of my lifetime,” Casey concluded. McCormick, in turn, set down the bare-knuckled language of the campaign and issued his own statement thanking Casey for his years of service. “Senator Bob Casey dedicated his career to bettering our Commonwealth. Dina and I want to extend our sincere gratitude to Senator Casey, Terese, and their family for their decades of service, hard work, and personal sacrifice,” the Senator-elect’s statement said. “I am so honored to represent every single citizen in Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and will fight for you every day. Thank you!” During my time in office, I have been guided by an inscription on the Finance Building in Harrisburg: “All public service is a trust, given in faith and accepted in honor.” Thank you for your trust in me for all these years, Pennsylvania. It has been the honor of my lifetime. pic.twitter.com/RSXEFwdge8 McCormick was declared the winner by The Associated Press’s analysts on Nov. 7. But Casey and his campaign, down by about 40,000 votes at that point, dug in for the methodical vote certification process, hanging onto slim hopes that pro-Democratic tilts in the mail-in and provisional counts could bring about a political miracle for him. Many Republicans publicly lost their patience over the last two weeks, accusing the Casey campaign and Democratic Party of trying to unlawfully expand the field of available votes, and throwing Casey’s criticisms of former President Donald J. Trump’s refusal to concede in 2020 back in his face. That fails to note two important distinctions, however: Casey has never questioned the integrity of the count, and he has never suggested that he would not accept the final results. And now, it appears, he’s done just that. Casey himself publicly leaned into the idea that he wanted to make sure every legal vote was counted. He didn’t back off of that sentiment in his concession, expressing pride Thursday that his staff helped, by their count, more than 6,000 votes cure mail-in ballots over the last two weeks. “That’s democracy,” Casey argued, stating that he was conceding now because initial counts in all counties had been completed and reported to the Pennsylvania Department of State. But the Casey campaign seemed to lose its last flicker of hope when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court stuck by its prior rulings Monday that there would be no counting of undated or incorrectly dated mail-in ballots in this election. The 2024 senate race made state political history on several levels. First, it’s on track to be the closest by percentage margin of difference between the top two candidates in a Pennsylvania senate race since U.S. senators began being directly elected by the voters in the early 20th Century. The previous record was 1958, when Democrat Joe Clark unseated Republican incumbent James Duff in 1958 by 0.39 percentage points. For Casey, 64, it’s the end of an 18-year tenure in the Senate, and 28 straight years in some sort of statewide elected office. RECOMMENDED • lehighvalleylive .com High school football scoreboard for Nov. 14-15 Nov. 16, 2024, 4:24 p.m. 2024 Colonial League football coaches' all-stars: Northwestern Lehigh sweeps MVP awards Nov. 18, 2024, 12:44 p.m. For the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, it’s the end of an era in which the Casey family held statewide office for 36 of the last 38 years, beginning with the election of the senator’s father, Robert P. Casey Sr., as governor in 1986. McCormick’s victory would give President-elect Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party a slightly more comfortable 53-47 majority in the Senate in the 2025-26 session of Congress, to go along with a narrow GOP majority in the U.S House of Representatives. McCormick will be sworn into office on Jan. 3, at the U.S. Capitol.

There was an odd atmosphere on Capital Hill . or signup to continue reading A taut electric vibe tussled with a summery last-day-of-school looseness. Haggard correspondents intoned philosophic, wearily resigned to their designation as villains in the febrile digital colosseum of political combat. With an unholy crush in the Senate - 31 bills passed on one day and 45 for the week - nervous but footloose lower house MPs killed time. Ministers floated between offices, affecting calm in that way trial lawyers do after closing arguments when everything hangs on a curmudgeonly judge or an inscrutable jury. The Speaker, Milton Dick, expressed his thanks to the sprawling complex's thousands of staff for keeping operational what Anthony Albanese described as "the most visited building in Australia". And it certainly seemed "most-visited" at Aussies on Thursday morning - the roiling social hub where over three decades, Dom Calabria and his father Tony have furnished coffee and meals to stressed press gallery journos, MPs, PMs and frontbenchers, and an infinity of lobbyists and public officials. In their ritual post-question time speeches before the summer break - a bilateral nod to civility dubbed "the hypocrisies" by one scribe - Albanese and Peter Dutton praised old Tony's 28-year stint at Aussies. "Tony is the man who did so much to enhance the seat of democracy here," Albanese remarked warmly to his fellow "Italo-Australian" looking up to the public gallery where three generations of Calabrias watched on. Dutton lauded the ailing 84-year-old's migrant story having emigrated at just 14. "He has worked every day since then, he has educated his children, he has provided a role model and has given that love to his family that has created a remarkable legacy," Dutton said. In other comments, Albanese revealed that he and Dutton did not hate each other after all. He noted that while he had visited Morrison's office only once as opposition leader (a startling factoid since the global pandemic occasioned a bipartisanship likened to wartime), Dutton had been into Albanese's prime ministerial suite, well, "more often than I'd like". Cue laughter. Yet coursing impatiently under all this ersatz chumminess, was the existential fight to come. Each knows that within months, one will be up, the other, finished. Since the Second World War, it has occupied the Treasury benches for just 29 years. Nonetheless, Labor goes into next year's election comforted by electoral history and shielded by an unofficial "Swiss G]guard" of community independents. But that historical precedent - every first-term federal government since 1932 has secured a second term - may amount to nothing in this disintermediated age of antisocial media and permanent grievance. For the 93 years since the rookie Scullin Labor government crashed along with everything else in the Great Depression, incumbency has been a winged keel. Australian voters have tended to pick and stick, at least once. Now though, around the democratic world in 2024, the vogue is to "pick then kick". But what about that Swiss guard of independents? Albanese's worst-case scenario is that one or all of the first-term teals lose. Another risk is that some back a Dutton executive. Currently Labor has 78 seats to the Coalition's 58. Dutton needs a net gain of 18 seats to govern in his own right. A huge task. Polls suggest the most likely outcome is a minority parliament. Labor could lose half a dozen seats to Dutton's Liberals and still be close enough to credibly seek crossbench commitments for supply and confidence. But what would the teal independents do - who would they prefer to form government? The lesson from the minority Gillard period is that indies who hold conservative seats but back progressive governments face extinction themselves. In this light,, it may be instructive to consult the AEC's "two-party preferred" exercise, in which it allocated all 151 "Reps" seats to either of the two major parties (irrespective of whether the seat actually fell to a third party). Unsurprisingly, it shows that preferences for either of the two majors (ahead of the other) favoured the Liberals by the following percentages in teal seats: Curtin (5.4), Goldstein (4.8), Kooyong (4.1 ), Mackellar (8.6), Warringah (1.4), Wentworth (5.9). These pro-Liberal margins may even expand in a 2025 election devoid of the unpopular Morrison. Yet this cuts both ways. In formerly safe Labor Fowler, Dai Le (assuming she survives) would have to ignore a strong Labor proclivity in her seat to back a Dutton-led minority government. Another outlier is Alexander Downer's erstwhile stronghold of Mayo, held by the centre-right indie Rebekah Sharkie. Her Adelaide Hills seat actually favoured Labor by 1.6 per cent in 2022. In all three of the Queensland seats filched by the Greens in 2022, voters preferred Labor - even the two secured from the LNP, Brisbane and Ryan. Nationally, the polls show a busy and productive Labor trailing Dutton's detail-light rhetorical assault over cost of living and immigration. The hardline Queenslander is a more effective political communicator than even his own colleagues thought when they overlooked him in 2018. In 2025, Labor remains the narrow favourite. But its hardheads recognise that no opposition leader is unelectable, no historical precedent immutable, and no seat lead impregnable. Mark Kenny is The Canberra Times' political analyst and a professor at the ANU's Australian Studies Institute. He hosts the Democracy Sausage podcast. He writes a column every Sunday. Mark Kenny is The Canberra Times' political analyst and a professor at the ANU's Australian Studies Institute. He hosts the Democracy Sausage podcast. He writes a column every Sunday. Advertisement Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date. We care about the protection of your data. Read our . Advertisement

SARAH Hadland and Vito Coppola kicked off Musicals Week on Strictly tonight with a dance to Popular from Wicked. Fans were in love with their electric performance to the song, and despite the duo receiving praise from the judges, many felt they had been underscored. 2 Strictly fans loved Sarah Hadland's performance to Popular tonight 2 Viewers felt like the actress was underscored by judges Sarah and Vito's Charleston was full of energy and included several intricate lifts. Judges commended the telly star for having the vitality to be swung around on stage so vigorously despite being 50 years old. Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse each awarded the performance a 9, while Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke gave it a perfect 10. Although the pair did quite well, several fans were frustrated that they didn't receive a perfect score. read more in Strictly strictly secrets Strictly’s JB Gill reveals behind-the-scenes secrets after partner swap two to tango Strictly fans convinced they’ve spotted new show feud One viewer took to social media, fuming: "Sarah undermarked again! Should have got 40." Another branded the scores a "joke", adding: "How was that not 4 10s for Sarah & Vito... it was absolutely BRILLIANT. "What has she got to do to get 40??" A third even questioned if the duo had done something to annoy the judges early on in the competition, asking: "So what do Sarah and Vito have to do to get 10s from Craig and Motsi? Most read in Reality health battle Married At Fight Sight star rushed to hospital with nasty illness HARD GRAFT Inside I'm A Celeb stars Maura Higgins and Olivia Attwood's ‘copycat’ careers bad blood MAFS UK’s Polly takes savage swipe at groom Adam after rumours she’s moved on show swipe Married At Fight Sight UK’s Adam continues feud with ex-wife Polly with new dig "Thinking Claudia was right last week when she asked Craig what the beef with Sarah was. Undermarked yet again." This comes after fans had previously claimed that Sarah and Vito had been given an unfair advantage by getting assigned a song from Wicked. Strictly fans spot iconic BBC sitcom actor in audience to support former co-star This is because the recent release of the highly-anticipated remake has made the song more relevant than others. Although many people predicted this selection would land Sarah at the top of the leader board, it seems judges only have eyes for the actress's actual dancing skills.

A federal appeals court panel on Friday unanimously upheld a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok in a few short months, handing a resounding defeat to the popular social media platform as it fights for its survival in the U.S. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied TikTok's petition to overturn the law — which requires TikTok to break ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned by mid-January — and rebuffed the company's challenge of the statute, which it argued had ran afoul of the First Amendment. “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” said the court's opinion, which was written by Judge Douglas Ginsburg. “Here the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.” TikTok and ByteDance — another plaintiff in the lawsuit — are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, though its unclear whether the court will take up the case. “The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue," TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people,” Hughes said. Unless stopped, he argued the statute “will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025.” Though the case is squarely in the court system, its also possible the two companies might be thrown some sort of a lifeline by President-elect Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term but said during the presidential campaign that he is now against such action. The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April, was the culmination of a years-long saga in Washington over the short-form video-sharing app, which the government sees as a national security threat due to its connections to China. The U.S. has said it’s concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. Officials have also warned the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect — a concern mirrored by the European Union on Friday as it scrutinizes the video-sharing app’s role in the Romanian elections. TikTok, which sued the government over the law in May, has long denied it could be used by Beijing to spy on or manipulate Americans. Its attorneys have accurately pointed out that the U.S. hasn’t provided evidence to show that the company handed over user data to the Chinese government, or manipulated content for Beijing’s benefit in the U.S. They have also argued the law is predicated on future risks, which the Department of Justice has emphasized pointing in part to unspecified action it claims the two companies have taken in the past due to demands from the Chinese government. Friday’s ruling came after the appeals court panel, composed of two Republican and one Democrat appointed judges, heard oral arguments in September. In the hearing, which lasted more than two hours, the panel appeared to grapple with how TikTok’s foreign ownership affects its rights under the Constitution and how far the government could go to curtail potential influence from abroad on a foreign-owned platform. On Friday, all three of them denied TikTok’s petition. In the court's ruling, Ginsburg, a Republican appointee, rejected TikTok's main legal arguments against the law, including that the statute was an unlawful bill of attainder or a taking of property in violation of the Fifth Amendment. He also said the law did not violate the First Amendment because the government is not looking to "suppress content or require a certain mix of content” on TikTok. “Content on the platform could in principle remain unchanged after divestiture, and people in the United States would remain free to read and share as much PRC propaganda (or any other content) as they desire on TikTok or any other platform of their choosing,” Ginsburg wrote, using the abbreviation for the People’s Republic of China. Judge Sri Srinivasan, the chief judge on the court, issued a concurring opinion. TikTok’s lawsuit was consolidated with a second legal challenge brought by several content creators - for which the company is covering legal costs - as well as a third one filed on behalf of conservative creators who work with a nonprofit called BASED Politics Inc. Other organizations, including the Knight First Amendment Institute, had also filed amicus briefs supporting TikTok. “This is a deeply misguided ruling that reads important First Amendment precedents too narrowly and gives the government sweeping power to restrict Americans’ access to information, ideas, and media from abroad,” said Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of the organization. “We hope that the appeals court’s ruling won’t be the last word.” Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, lawmakers who had pushed for the legislation celebrated the court's ruling. "I am optimistic that President Trump will facilitate an American takeover of TikTok to allow its continued use in the United States and I look forward to welcoming the app in America under new ownership,” said Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, chairman of the House Select Committee on China. Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who co-authored the law, said “it's time for ByteDance to accept” the law. To assuage concerns about the company’s owners, TikTok says it has invested more than $2 billion to bolster protections around U.S. user data. The company has also argued the government’s broader concerns could have been resolved in a draft agreement it provided the Biden administration more than two years ago during talks between the two sides. It has blamed the government for walking away from further negotiations on the agreement, which the Justice Department argues is insufficient. Attorneys for the two companies have claimed it’s impossible to divest the platform commercially and technologically. They also say any sale of TikTok without the coveted algorithm - the platform’s secret sauce that Chinese authorities would likely block under any divesture plan - would turn the U.S. version of TikTok into an island disconnected from other global content. Still, some investors, including Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in purchasing the platform. Both men said earlier this year that they were launching a consortium to purchase TikTok’s U.S. business. This week, a spokesperson for McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative, which aims to protect online privacy, said unnamed participants in their bid have made informal commitments of more than $20 billion in capital.None

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Tayshawn Comer scored 18 points as Evansville beat Campbell 66-53 on Sunday night. Comer had six rebounds and six assists for the Purple Aces (3-4). Cameron Haffner scored 16 points and added six rebounds. Gabriel Pozzato shot 3 for 5, including 2 for 3 from beyond the arc to finish with 10 points. Jasin Sinani led the way for the Fighting Camels (3-4) with 22 points. Colby Duggan added 11 points and Nolan Dorsey totaled eight points, seven rebounds and four steals. Evansville took the lead with 1:45 left in the first half and never looked back. The score was 34-28 at halftime, with Haffner racking up eight points. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .HETIAN, China , Nov. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 28 , good news came from Hetian Power Supply Company of State Grid Xinjiang Electric Power Co., Ltd.. Since the official launch of the company's full power outage information perception platform in July 2023 , it has been in stable operation for more than a year and has achieved remarkable results. According to the latest data, the platform has sent more than 74,000 monitoring and warning SMS work orders so far, which has greatly improved the speed of fault recovery and reduced the distribution network failure by more than 60% year-on-year, providing a more reliable guarantee for the safe use of electricity for users in the Hetian area. The company has always been committed to improving the intelligence level of the power grid and ensuring the safety and stability of power supply. By integrating advanced information technology and data analysis means, the platform can realize the perception of full voltage and all types of power outage faults in the entire distribution grid within 30 seconds, which greatly improves the timeliness and accuracy of fault handling processes. In the past year or so, the platform has not only significantly improved the accuracy of fault location, but also made the research and judgment process more efficient and scientific. Operation and maintenance personnel can quickly grasp the fault information and take targeted repair measures, thus greatly shortening the power outage time and reducing the inconvenience and losses to users.COPS are frantically hunting for a deputy head teacher who has gone missing. Leonard McKague, 62 - the longest-serving member of staff at St Aidan’s High School in Wishaw, Lanarkshire - vanished on Saturday afternoon. 1 Leonard McKague was last seen on Saturday afternoon He was last seen about 2pm on Strathaven Road, Strathaven, Lanarkshire and has not been in contact with his family since then. He is described as being 5ft 6 inches in height, slim build, short, fair, thinning hair . When last seen he was wearing jeans and a navy blue jumper. Leonard has access to a red Jeep registration SA71 YPC which he is believed to be driving . read more scottish news SNOW ALERT Exact date major snow blizzards to hit Scotland as grim New Year warning issued 'CHILLING' Seven paedos preyed on Celtic Boys Club starlets in nightmare two-year period Inspector David Connor, from Police Scotland , said: “We are becoming increasingly concerned for Leonard’s welfare and are keen to trace him as soon as possible. “I would appeal to anyone who may have seen Leonard or has any has information regarding his whereabouts to contact us. I would also appeal directly to Leonard himself, if you see this appeal, please let us know you are safe.” Leonard is listed on LinkedIn as Faculty Head of Computing, Business , Design & Vocational Technology at the well-known school. The school celebrated its 60th anniversary last year with Mr McKague honoured as its longest-serving teacher. Most read in The Scottish Sun IN FOR THE KEL Championship side make ex-Celtic starlet No1 target in new boss hunt SNOW ALERT Exact date major snow blizzards to hit Scotland as grim New Year warning issued STAR BOSS I always knew I was good enough for Celtic - the move's not as BIG as I expected JET DISASTER Moment 'bird strikes plane' before fireball crash leaving 179 dead Former pupils of the school include snooker world champion John Higgins and Scotland footballers Joe Jordan and Stephen O’Donnell.

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