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Darren Sanders describes the past few years as “a bit of a blur”. He and wife Fiona certainly kept up a demanding pace when it came to making improvements on the sprawling West Wimmera farm they bought in 2021. The couple purchased Wallowa Downs to expand their family’s irrigated cropping enterprise but are now selling to aid their succession planning. Carrying two titles, the property is located 62km north of Kaniva and features extensive irrigation infrastructure, high-quality underground water and multiple accommodation options. Darren and Fiona are based at Keith while their daughter, son and son-in-law live at Wallowa Downs and manage it. “All the new shedding is our work, plus 65km of new internal fencing, renovating the shearers’ quarters, building workmen’s quarters, cosmetic upgrades to the homestead, upgrades to the stock water system, drainage works, maintenance on the centre pivots, turning 10 paddocks into nearly 30 and adding a 4000-head confinement lot,” Darren said. With gently undulating land easing into open flats of grey sandy loams over clay, the property includes established shelter belts and around 250ha of preserved native vegetation. The Sanders family are selling their irrigated cropping and grazing property, Wallowa Downs, at Telopea Downs in the West Wimmera. TELOPEA DOWNS WALLOWA DOWNS Property: irrigated cropping, grazing Size: 2942ha Sale: private Price: about $13 million Agent: Nutrien Harcourts SA Contact: Geoff Watts, 0427 717 515 and Michael Hodges, 0418 380 879 Cropping rotations over the past six seasons have included lucerne, barley, lupins, ryecorn, vetch and wheat, with 525ha now planted to established winter-active lucerne varieties and improved pastures of dryland lucerne mixed with chicory. The property is currently running around 4200 Merino ewes, including replacements, joined to Merino and White Suffolk rams. This year, they trucked an extra 1300 crossbred lambs from Keith for finishing on Wallowa Downs. Water for crops is sourced from four diesel-powered bores which provide 650ha of irrigation via six centre pivots across 13 50ha sites, all interconnected by 10km of underground main line piping, plus a 2000ML water licence. A fifth bore has a brand-new electric submersible pump to meet domestic needs, channelled through three 30,000-litre tanks and reticulated to house and grounds via a pressure pump and to stock troughs via 22,500-litre satellite tanks and 12km of new 50mm poly pipe. The brick-bluestone homestead offers five bedrooms, galley-style kitchen, large dining area, formal lounge and two-car carport. Other infrastructure includes the new two-bedroom workman’s cottage, eight-bedroom shearers’ quarters, six-stand woolshed, two workshops with concrete floors, sheep yards with drenching and draft races, machinery shed, grain storage capacity exceeding 1200 tonnes and machinery loading ramp. The property also offers extensive farm roads – including a small aircraft landing strip – and a large high-quality rubble pit. The Baker family are selling their 1015ha cropping property at Donald. Meanwhile, from its colourful beginnings with a banished convict, the story of the Baker family and its farming connection to Victoria’s northwest spans six generations and a varied mix of enterprises. Offered as one contiguous aggregation or four separate parcels, Brackengrae is located on the fringe of Donald township. Dennis Baker said the first of his ancestors to arrive in Australia was “a convict in the English prison hulks who was taught bricklaying as a trade and sent out here with instructions not to come back”. “He and his son came to this area and bought farms to put their sons on and from there it was my grandfather, father, myself and our son,” he said. “My parents, Jean and Max, started their married life here with 120ha and worked hard to build it up from there. “I came home when I was 15 and have been farming for 50 years, joined by my wife, Jen, 35 years ago. “We’ve used the property for a mix of purposes, including 40 years with 10,000 laying hens, up to 3000 wool sheep, fat lambs and a Lowline cattle stud, but now just run agistment stock and focus on crop rotation.” Other improvements at Brackengrae include three sets of solar panels and rainwater tanks on the houses, machinery sheds, workshop, shearing shed, sheep yards, undercover cattle yards and multiple silos. DONALD BRACKENGRAE Property: cropping Size: 1015ha Sale: expressions of interest closing December 4 at noon Price: $11.2-$12.3 million Agent: Elders Wycheproof Contact: Jason Rice, 0417 087 019 Home block (385ha) includes the main residence of rammed earth built in 1996 with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, open-plan kitchen, lounge and dining area, large office and family room, double garage and greenhouse. A second two-storey residence comprises four bedrooms, three bathrooms, large open-plan kitchen, dining and lounge, billiards room, office and double garage. Home block has been sown to 180ha of barley, 130ha of canola and 50ha of faba beans for the 2024 season. Coats (249ha) is currently sown to 145ha of wheat and 95ha of barley while Donnellon’s (313ha) has 90ha under faba beans, 84ha sown to barley and 120ha lying chemical-fallow for the 2024 season. Gallagher’s (68ha) is chemical-fallow ready for the 2025 season. Soils on the property are self-mulching grey and red loams and some lighter sandy loams, boosted by a fertiliser regime including gypsum, zinc and mixed blends. “We have the pressurised Wimmera-Mallee pipeline running through the farm and numerous stock troughs and there’s a fenced bush block on the property which is a haven for birds,” Dennis said. He and Jen plan to retire to the coast. More Coverage Casual pub conversation drives three-fold productivity increase Nikki Reynolds Canadians, Victorian family sell Western District farms for $20 million Tallis Miles Originally published as Victorian farms list for more than $24 million-combined Victoria Don't miss out on the headlines from Victoria. Followed categories will be added to My News. More related stories Police & Courts ‘Legacy of selflessness’: 12yo killed on e-scooter saves four lives A 12-year-old boy killed in an e-scooter crash in Mill Park has been remembered for his “infectious enthusiasm” and his family praised for donating his organs in an act that has saved four lives. Read more Victoria Wind farm interfering with weather radar A wind farm in Western Victorian appears to be interfering with the Bureau of Meteorology’s radar, creating a false impression of rain. Read more

The man tasked with running the under-administration Queensland construction division of the CFMEU has called on the new state government to engage with him to ensure the safety of workers while hitting out at recent LNP attacks. In his first public comments in the role, Travis O’Brien called a media conference outside the union’s Bowen Hills state headquarters late yesterday to express “deep disappointment” in statements made by Police Minister Dan Purdie a day earlier. Purdie had accused the state union of being in “lockstep” with outlaw motorcycle gangs after its national administrator arranged security for the Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne offices in response to threats from bikies and others ostracised from it. “The minister’s comments have jeopardised the safety not only of organisers and staff, they are just plain wrong,” O’Brien said, confirming threats had been made against Queensland officials, but noting it would be “irresponsible” to go into detail. “I have to be responsible enough to not look for column-inches in the gossip column, and I ask the police minister to take the same approach,” he said. “To be clear, and I want to be as clear as I can be, the CFMEU [in Queensland] is not in lockstep with bikies. That is just wrong. If the new government is opposed to organised crime in the construction industry, I suggest they have a look at some of the building companies currently engaged on government-funded projects.” O’Brien criticised the LNP’s dumping of the former Labor government’s Best Practice Industry Conditions procurement policy as a way to ensure projects were kept on time and budget – noting some under such conditions were. With the LNP making clear they would refuse to deal with the union, despite it still operating under administration for its more than 20,000 members in the state after allegations of organised crime links and corruption against Victorian and NSW figures, O’Brien called on the government to “stop playing politics”. “Stop looking for clickbait, and instead sit down with me to talk about how we can ensure that construction workers in Queensland are staying safe,” he said. “I am convinced that the actions of this government are going to lead to increased risks on site that will include workers being killed.” It was only a matter of time before billionaire X owner Elon Musk weighed in on Australia’s bid to ban social media for children under 16. Last night, Musk reposted a statement from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about the introduction of the ban to the parliament, writing that the move “seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians”. The ban is being fast-tracked through parliament, with Albanese saying the government wanted this “action to happen as soon as possible”, as the opposition confirmed it would work constructively to see the bill passed next week. A teenage girl has been reported missing in Ipswich. The 14-year-old was last seen on Thursday at a property in Bell Street about 8am. The teenager was last seen in Bell Street, Ipswich. Credit: QPS The girl is about 160 centimetres tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and was wearing a black hoodie and tracksuit pants when she was last seen. She is known to frequently visit Collingwood Park and Redbank. Police are calling for anyone with relevant information to come forward. Townsville City Mayor Troy Thompson had been suspended from his position. Thompson had been the subject of investigation for almost 250 days, following allegations of suspected voter fraud during his March 2024 mayoral election campaign, including a claim he served five years in the army. In an interview on Nine’s A Current Affair* earlier this year he acknowledged misleading voters about his military record, blaming “100-plus” concussions. Minister for Local Government Ann Leahy said in a statement yesterday that she had signed off on regulation to suspend Thompson for 12 months on full pay. “During his suspension Mr Thompson cannot perform any of the duties of a councillor or mayor,” Leahy said. “This result is a win for the residents of Townsville who deserve stability and a functioning local government.” In a statement released on October 21, when Thompson was required to submit evidence for the ongoing investigation, Thompson said he would not step down of his own accord. “Should I be suspended by the minister, I will respect her decision at this time, but I will challenge this and look to a high court injunction, if required,” his statement read. During Thompson’s suspension, Deputy Mayor Paul Jacob was expected to assume the role of acting mayor. *Nine also owns this masthead. As the government continues to delay its gambling ad policy announcement, opposition communications spokesperson David Coleman said it was “remarkable” that Communications Minister Michelle Rowland conceded no decision had been made. It’s now been well over a year since a parliamentary inquiry chaired by late Labor MP Peta Murphy recommended a ban on all gambling ads across television, radio, newspapers and online within three years. “The prime minister is scared that whatever he announces on gambling advertising is going to upset people, so he’s taking the weak option and basically doing nothing,” Coleman told ABC’s RN Breakfast . “So the position he’s taken is do nothing, and that has very real consequences. And it’s well past time that action was taken.” Coleman was pushed repeatedly on whether the Coalition would go one step further and commit to a full ban on gambling ads. Coleman avoided the question, deferring to a promised response to any policy the government announces. “We’ve got a policy that we put in place already... The next step is for the government of Australia to have an opinion on this issue.” Foreign Minister Penny Wong has responded to the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence chief Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. “Australia respects the independence of the ICC and its important role in upholding international law,” Wong wrote in a statement posted to X. “Australia is focused on working with countries that want peace to press for an urgently needed ceasefire.” The man tasked with running the under-administration Queensland construction division of the CFMEU has called on the new state government to engage with him to ensure the safety of workers while hitting out at recent LNP attacks. In his first public comments in the role, Travis O’Brien called a media conference outside the union’s Bowen Hills state headquarters late yesterday to express “deep disappointment” in statements made by Police Minister Dan Purdie a day earlier. Purdie had accused the state union of being in “lockstep” with outlaw motorcycle gangs after its national administrator arranged security for the Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne offices in response to threats from bikies and others ostracised from it. “The minister’s comments have jeopardised the safety not only of organisers and staff, they are just plain wrong,” O’Brien said, confirming threats had been made against Queensland officials, but noting it would be “irresponsible” to go into detail. “I have to be responsible enough to not look for column-inches in the gossip column, and I ask the police minister to take the same approach,” he said. “To be clear, and I want to be as clear as I can be, the CFMEU [in Queensland] is not in lockstep with bikies. That is just wrong. If the new government is opposed to organised crime in the construction industry, I suggest they have a look at some of the building companies currently engaged on government-funded projects.” O’Brien criticised the LNP’s dumping of the former Labor government’s Best Practice Industry Conditions procurement policy as a way to ensure projects were kept on time and budget – noting some under such conditions were. With the LNP making clear they would refuse to deal with the union, despite it still operating under administration for its more than 20,000 members in the state after allegations of organised crime links and corruption against Victorian and NSW figures, O’Brien called on the government to “stop playing politics”. “Stop looking for clickbait, and instead sit down with me to talk about how we can ensure that construction workers in Queensland are staying safe,” he said. “I am convinced that the actions of this government are going to lead to increased risks on site that will include workers being killed.” Another wet one is forecast for Brisbane today, so don’t forget your umbrella. The bureau predicts a high chance of showers, both in the morning and in the afternoon. It should be a clearer weekend, however, with the chance of showers much lower on both days. And today the maximum temperature should top out at a cool 25 degrees, before higher daily maximums for much of next week. Here’s the outlook into the weekend and beyond: Here’s what’s happening beyond Brisbane this morning: Simone White, the 28-year British lawyer who died in the suspected methanol poisoning incident in Laos. Credit: Facebook A British woman who fell ill after drinking contaminated alcohol in Laos has died, the fifth foreign national now suspected to have died in the incident. Four other tourists – including Australian Bianca Jones , two Danes and an American – have died in the incident. Some households face spending more than their entire income to keep a roof over their head. Far-right Republican Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his bid to become Donald Trump’s attorney-general amid ongoing revelations of alleged sexual misconduct involving an underage girl. Black Friday can be both tempting and overwhelming, so here are a few ways to get the most out of any bargain . And in sport, the WA premier and $500m went to Sydney . The Perth Bears dream is alive and well. The mood in India: Complacency and anxiety, but this Test battle will decide the series. Good morning, thanks for joining us for Brisbane Times’ live news blog. It’s Friday, November 22, and we’re expecting showers today and a top temperature of 24 degrees. In this morning’s local headlines: A busy Riverside Expressway off-ramp has closed to traffic at least four times this week because debris from the Queen’s Wharf development caused the road to flood. The off-ramp may need to close again today, for a more extensive investigation into the blockages. Transport workers clear the Margaret Street off-ramp debris. Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt A report has found households in the four outer urban councils forming Greater Brisbane have less than half the access to frequent public transport than their more central city neighbours. As Brisbane-born Nathan McSweeney prepares to take on India as Australia’s new opening batsman, his old junior teammate and Brisbane Heat paceman Xavier Bartlett says McSweeney has the makings of a Test star. And are you strong on current affairs, or just good at guessing? Try out the weekly Brisbane Times Quiz.

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Hyundai Motor’s bold experiment has begun (KOR) Published: 27 Nov. 2024, 08:01 José Muñoz, the chief of Hyundai Motor’s U.S. operation and the company’s global chief operating officer set to become the first foreign national CEO of the Korean automaking conglomerate from January, vowed to leverage the ppalli, ppalli (fast, fast) and miri, miri (proactively, proactively) code of conduct to address to the fast-changing times. Ppalli, ppalli — a unique Korean habit of getting things done speedily — is embedded in Hyundai Motor culture, Muñoz said in an interview during an Los Angeles Auto Show on Nov. 21. The ppalli, ppalli ethos helped drive Korea’s staggering progress, but not without accompanying negative outgrowths. As a result, Korea is now home to a myriad of regulations. Global trade and industrial prospects have become murky due to Trump 2.0. Moreover, technology is evolving at a dizzy pace due to AI. Korea’s competitiveness can be supercharged if its innate velocity is paired with readiness. The governing People Power Party (PPP) has motioned a special act on the semiconductor industry, proposing to exempt the universal statutory 52-hour workweek for the research and development (R&D) work force in the chip sector. But the legislation is in limbo due to a negative response from the main opposition Democratic Party (DP). If regulations are not redressed to become up-to-date, companies cannot make headway or speed. Foreign talents must be broadly used. Muñoz, a native of Spain and a U.S. citizen, had served in Toyota and Nissan before joining Hyundai Motor in 2019. Under his command, Hyundai’s North American operations have flourished. His promotion to groupwide co-CEO comes amid expectations of significant changes in the United States under Trump. An economy heavily reliant on external trade requires a global eye to survive in the global market. As seen with Elon Musk from South Africa and Jensen Huang from Taiwan, the United States relies on talents to drive its innovation-led economy regardless of their country of origin. High-profile examples of foreign leadership are few in Korea — Guus Hiddink as the national football coach and now a CEO in a major conglomerate. Muñoz said he would be spending 70 percent of his time in Korea and 30 percent in the United States and elsewhere as desired by his boss and Hyundai Motor Chairman Euisun Chung. “Synchronization with employees by standing on the same ground is essential,” he said. The success of foreign CEO recruitment can depend on the domestic environment and mood as much as individual capabilities. The perspectives and communication style of a foreign CEO may not always match domestic styles, but efforts must go both ways. Hyundai Motor’s experiment with Muñoz should be a refreshing awakening for the rest of Korea Inc. ‘빨리빨리 미리미리’ 강조한 현대차 외국인 CEO의 성찰 불확실성 큰 트럼프 시대 대응하려면 신속성 중요 해외 인재 폭넓게 등용하고, 낡은 규제도 혁파해야 현대차 차기 대표이사로 내정된 호세 무뇨스 글로벌 최고운영책임자(COO) 겸 북미권역본부장(사장)이 “격변의 시대를 ‘빨리빨리, 미리미리’ 정신으로 유연하게 대응하겠다”고 말했다. 무뇨스 사장은 지난 21일(현지시간) 오토쇼가 열린 미국 로스앤젤레스에서의 언론 인터뷰에서 “현대차의 특징 중 하나가 '빨리빨리' 문화인데 굉장한 강점이다. 나는 이를 '빨리빨리, 미리미리' 문화로 발전시켰고 이 정신을 계속 활용할 것”이라고 강조했다. 빨리빨리는 고도성장의 원동력이었지만 부실 공사로 상징되는 부작용을 낳기도 했다. 이 때문에 갖가지 규제도 생겼었다. 하지만 도널드 트럼프 미국 대통령 당선인의 취임을 앞두고 전 세계 산업계의 불확실성이 커진 데다 인공지능(AI) 등 핵심 분야 기술은 분초 단위로 진화하고 있다. 뮤뇨스 사장의 말대로 미리미리 준비한다면 빨리빨리는 엄청난 경쟁력이다. 지금 국민의힘이 반도체 연구개발 분야에서 주 52시간 예외를 두는 반도체 특별법안을 발의했지만, 더불어민주당이 부정적 입장이라 법안 통과는 불투명한 형국이다. 지금 수준으로도 잘해 왔다는 것은 안이한 생각이다. 이런 규제를 걷어내지 않으면 기업이 미리 대비할 수도, 속도도 낼 수 없다. 낡은 관념 때문에 우리가 가진 장점을 스스로 포기하고 있는 것이 아닌지 되돌아봐야 한다. 해외인재도 폭넓게 등용할 필요가 있다. 스페인 출신으로 토요타·닛산 등에서 근무한 무뇨스 사장은 2019년 현대차에 합류해 미국 시장에서 입지를 확대하는 데 공헌했다. 트럼프 2기를 맞아 미국시장에 밝은 외국인을 대표이사로 발탁한 것은 파격적 선제조치라고 평가할 만하다. 수출로 먹고사는 나라가 순혈주의를 고집하면 글로벌 시장에서 살아남기 어렵다. 테슬라의 일론 머스크(남아프리카공화국)나 엔비디아의 젠슨 황(대만) 사례에서 보듯 미국은 출신지에 관계없이 최고의 인재들이 혁신을 주도한다. 한국은 거스 히딩크 같은 축구 국가대표 감독에 이어 이제 대기업 CEO를 등용한 정도다. 무뇨스 사장은 정의선 현대차 회장이 “한국에서 일하는 시간이 좀 더 많았으면 좋겠다”고 당부한 사실도 소개했다. 그는 “앞으로 한국에서 70%, 미국 등 다른 대륙에서 30%를 보낼 것 같다”며 “임직원과 같은 선상에서 이해하는 동기화(synchronization)가 중요하다”고 말했다. 외국인 CEO의 성공 여부는 개인 역량의 문제이기도 하지만, 이를 받아들이는 국내 환경과 분위기도 중요하다. 외국인 CEO의 관점과 소통 방식이 항상 수용되지 못할 수도 있다. 주파수는 함께 맞춰가야 한다. 글로벌 스탠더드에 기반한 개방적인 태도가 꼭 필요한 이유다. 현대차와 뮤노스 사장의 새 실험이 국내 다른 기업에도 신선한 자극이 되길 기대한다.How to Watch Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Games – Tuesday, November 26

ATLANTA — On Jan. 18 and 19 the AT&T Playoff Playlist Live! will be held at State Farm Arena in advance of the College Football Playoff national championship on Jan. 20. The star-studded lineup was announced Thursday at a news conference at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Performances will include Lil Wayne and GloRilla on Saturday; and Camila Cabello, Myles Smith and Knox on Sunday. On game day, the Allstate Championship Tailgate, taking place just outside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the Home Depot Backyard, will feature country acts on the Capital One Music Stage, including global superstar Kane Brown and iHeartCountry “On The Verge” artist Ashley Cooke. The concerts are just two of the festivities visiting fans can enjoy in the days leading up to the big game. The fan experience for both ticket holders and the general public has been a focus for event planners. All weekend long, an estimated 100,000 people from across the country are expected to attend fan events preceding kickoff. “It will be an opportunity for fans of all ages to come together to sample what college football is all about, and you don’t have to have a ticket to the game to be a part of it,” said Bill Hancock, executive director of the CFP in a press release. “We’ve worked closely with the Atlanta Football Host Committee to develop fan-friendly events that thousands will enjoy come January.” On Saturday, Jan. 18, Playoff Fan Central will open at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. The free, family-friendly experience will include games, clinics, pep rallies, special guest appearances, autograph signings and exhibits celebrating college football and its history. That day, fans can also attend Media Day, presented by Great Clips, which will feature one-hour sessions with student-athletes and coaches from each of the College Football Playoff national championship participating teams. ESPN and social media giants X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will be taping live broadcasts from the event. On Sunday, Jan. 19, the Trophy Trot, both a 5K and 10K race, will wind its way through the streets of downtown Atlanta. Each Trophy Trot participant will receive a T-shirt and finisher’s medal. Participants can register at atlantatrackclub.org . On Sunday evening, the Georgia Aquarium will host the Taste of the Championship dining event, which offers attendees the opportunity to indulge in food and drink prepared by local Atlanta chefs. This premium experience serves as an elevated exploration of local cuisine on the eve of the national championship. Tickets to the Taste of the Championship event are available on etix.com . Atlanta is the first city ever to repeat as host for the CFP national championship. The playoff was previously held in Atlanta in 2018. “We are honored to be the first city to repeat as host for the CFP national championship and look forward to welcoming college football fans from around the country in January,” said Dan Corso, president of the Atlanta Sports Council and Atlanta Football Host Committee. “This event gives us another opportunity to showcase our incredible city.” The College Football Playoff is the event that crowns the national champion in college football. The quarterfinals and semifinals rotate annually among six bowl games — the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl. This year’s quarterfinals will take place on Dec. 31, 2024 and Jan. 1, 2025, while the semifinals will be Jan. 9-10, 2025. The CFP national championship will be Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. For additional information on the College Football Playoff, visit CollegeFootballPlayoff.com . Get local news delivered to your inbox!Rev. Isaac Omolehin, founder of the Word Assembly Ministries, Offa Garage, Ilorin, Kwara State, is a revered Bible teacher, conference speaker, mentor, philanthropist and outspoken minister of God. EJIKEME OMENAZU caught up with him during a recent National Convention of Total Gospel Bible Church, Fola-Agoro, Lagos, during which he spoke on issues concerning the church and ministries. Excerpt: Are you satisfied with the level of Christianity today? No, I am not, and I cannot be because I did not only witness what you can call the First House in the 70s. I was part of the building that built the first house in this country. There is no big name in the ministry you call in this country that happened behind me. No, there is no big name you can call in this country that is doing church and Christianity that I know nothing about.Whatever is happening that they are doing now, they call it Christianity, this is not how it was in the 70s, and this was not how it was in the 80s. What is the missing link? The missing link is a serious deviation by the fathers from the foundation handed over to them. We were all in scripture union when we started. We all started with discipleship, not with signs and wonders. Christianity cannot be developed and built on signs and wonders. It begins with discipleship, Scripture Union was the baseline in this country when the Christian union was teaching and doing discipleship. What is missed is discipleship ? When a Christian does not know the difference between sin and righteousness, there is the complete absence of discipleship and playing down on discipleship. Where will you find discipleship? Is it where you are having the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth services without Sunday School, and no Bible Study? Christians don’t grow on crusade grounds and Christianity cannot develop on a first come, first serve. What is your opinion on the trend of false prophets in Nigeria Christianity? It is a sign of the End-Time and there is nothing much anyone can do about it. The more you try to correct it, the more it blows further. The more you try to repair the damage, the more damage is done. It is a frustrating effort on the side of repairers, trying to repair the damage. Those damages are more than those repaired. The damage keeps amplifying and has now become hard-headed. You don’t know where to stop it.The doctrines are false, the prophets are false, and the teachers are false. From this point of view, if you want to contend with the false teachers, the false prophets are on the prowl, and if you want to go after the false prophets, the false teachers are on the prowl. It has become intractable and many of us have let it be and take it as a sign of the end-time that Jesus spoke about. Do you support the establishment of a Censors Board for pastors and ministries? The Censor’s Board is a good idea; they can uphold product quality in different industries. Every industry has a quality control unit that enforces the standards. It is there in all the pharmaceutical products, consumer goods, and other products. If they are not there, then the contents can be contaminated. But, you also know that NAFDAC is contending with all the fake drugs, adulterated medicines, and contaminated products that are all over the place. It is not the same in religious organisations to establish quality control units. Other religions are fairly better because they are more united, there are fewer sects, so they are easier to manage. Christianity has sects and denominations that are beyond numbering. Other religions also have their different doctrines, sects, and brands. But, Christianity is worse. Nigerian Christians refused to grow a quality control unit to define the tenets of practice and to control those who are devious. Even CAN is made up of five blocs that are not the same. Roman Catholicism contrasts the white garments, the Evangelical, and the Pentecostals. They are different from the Orthodox churches, the Anglican, Methodist, and Presbyterian, all these form a block. Then, you get to the white garments, and find St. Moses Orimolade, St. John the Baptist, St. John the Saint. In the same white garment, there are many sects. CAC has many sects, it has broken into uncountable mountains where everyone is developing their mountains of prayer, yet, they are not the same. The divisions in the body of Christ have made it difficult to develop a policy of control. This is how it will be until Jesus comes. We have had to bear it. What should be the solution to these disunity activities? There has to be a father figure. The matters are becoming worse when there are no fathers anymore. The solution is in a father, who has to be the one who gives back to us all. But we don’t have that anymore. The people we look up to, to further Christianity in Nigeria, have themselves become denominational lords, promoting divisions and are only interested in the excellence of their denomination over others. When a father is telling some of the children that they will be slaves to another child, that father will preach equity and will want equilibrium, and unity. Also, a father will want to bring everyone together. So, the absence of a father in Nigerian Christianity gave birth to these divisions. And no matter who you are, everybody cannot be in RCCG, Deeper Life, Mountain of Fire, or any church or denomination. We have to accept that God has produced many children in different denominations. But, we need a father who will be in the centre and cannot be an extremist.Right now in this country, there is no such person. The absence of fathers is what is giving birth to this recklessness. There must be somebody who can call things to order, sanitise, and unify. But we don’t have that now in this country. What is the place of discipleship and mentorship in Christian ministry? Discipleship and mentorship are the same. Discipleship tells you, you are a student and you are a student because there is a teacher. But, where there are no teachers and students, there is no school. And whoever you are today, a certain school made you one. If you are a doctor, you went to medical school, if you are a lawyer, you went to law school. Some schooling makes you who you are. But, the church also has its school; we have Sunday School, where you can become a disciple. But, Sunday Schools are abandoned. When they do not do schooling, then you don’t have professionals. The church also has no school, the schools have been wiped out by miracles and anointing services. Our Bible studies are taken over by breakthrough service, and the school is almost not there.When a service is only one hour, and inside that one hour, you do the announcement, choir special number, sing praises, preaching, and of course, the blessing time for tithe and offering, within an hour or so. In the end, you are not going to have strong Christians, but weak and kwashiorkor Christians, who are not well nourished, not well fed, half baked, ill-equipped, and unprepared Christians are what you are going to have. Unfortunately, in the past 40 years of Christianity in Nigeria, those fellows produced under those atmospheres, are now the Jews who are also ordaining pastors under them. It is a very sorry case that Christianity in Nigeria has lost its foundation, and that is why we are where we are today. What is your advice to Nigerians at this period? I am sorry, I don’t have one. Let each person manage himself. Behave yourself as if there is no government to give you light, go and find a way to put light in your house, there is solar. Go and find out how you get water into your home, sink a borehole, and don’t expect water, there will be no waterworks. Manage your own life, go and grow your food. Find a space near your house to plant what your family can eat. There will be no government to supply anything. If the government is in charge of the air today, people will suffocate. Because it won’t go around, some people will bottle it somewhere and it will not get to your house because you are not a ruling party member. If the government were in charge of sunlight today, many people would live in perpetual darkness. They would not allow the light to shine in their compound because they are not card-carrying party members. Our politics is cruel, our politicians are wicked. Even though our style of religion is spiteful, they have no human welfare concept. It is selfish and does not carry humanity. During the last Ramadan, some Muslims came to my house and said, sir, we don’t have water to do ablution. And I asked: Why don’t you go and tell your people in the government to provide you with water? They said, we have told them, but they did not answer. And I went there to sink a borehole for them. I did not care whether they were Muslim or not. What concerns me was, they are human beings. Jesus said if people ask you for water, even if they are your enemy, you have to give them. If they ask you for food, you give them. I was in Doha, one of the most important Arab countries, I see how they do Islam there, but our own here, I don’t understand it. You are putting a knife on someone’s neck and saying Allahu-Akbar before you slaughter him.One night last month, near the end of the Chicago International Film Festival, a particularly long line of moviegoers snaked down Southport Avenue by the Music Box Theatre. The hot ticket? This fall’s hottest ticket, in fact, all over the international festival circuit? Well, it’s a 215-minute drama about a fictional Hungarian Jewish architect who emigrates to America in 1947 after surviving the Holocaust. The film’s title, “The Brutalist,” references several things, firstly a post-World War II design imperative made of stern concrete, steel, and a collision of poetry and functionality. Director and co-writer Brady Corbet, who wrote “The Brutalist” with his filmmaker wife, Mona Fastvold, explores brutalism in other forms as well, including love, envy, capitalist economics and how the promise of America eludes someone like the visionary architect László Tóth, played by Adrien Brody. Corbet, now 36 and a good bet for Oscar nominations this coming January, says his unfashionable sprawl of a picture, being distributed by A24, is also about the “strange relationship between artist and patron, and art and commerce.” It co-stars Felicity Jones as the visionary architect’s wife, Erzsébet, trapped in Eastern Europe after the war with their niece for an agonizingly long time. Guy Pearce portrays the imperious Philadelphia blueblood who hires Tóth, a near-invisible figure in his adopted country, to design a monumental public building known as the Institute in rural Pennsylvania. The project becomes an obsession, then a breaking point and then something else. Corbet’s project, which took the better part of a decade to come together after falling apart more than once, felt like that, too. Spanning five decades and filmed in Hungary and Italy, “The Brutalist” looks like a well-spent $50 million project. In actuality, it was made for a mere $10 million, with Corbet and cinematographer Lol Crawley shooting on film, largely in the VistaVision process. The filmmaker said at the Chicago festival screening: “Who woulda thunk that for screening after screening over the last couple of months, people stood in line around the block to get into a three-and-a-half-hour movie about a mid-century designer?” He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with Fastvold and their daughter. Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length. Q: Putting together an independent movie, keeping it on track, getting it made: not easy, as you told the Music Box audience last night. Money is inevitably going to be part of the story of “The Brutalist,” since you had only so much to make a far-flung historical epic. A: Yeah, that’s right. In relation to my earlier features, “The Childhood of a Leader” had a $3 million budget. The budget for “Vox Lux” was right around $10 million, same as “The Brutalist,” although the actual production budget for “Vox Lux” was about $4.5 million. Which is to say: All the money on top of that was going to all the wrong places. For a lot of reasons, when my wife and I finished the screenplay for “The Brutalist,” we ruled out scouting locations in Philadelphia or anywhere in the northeastern United States. We needed to (film) somewhere with a lot less red tape. My wife’s previous film, “The World to Come,” she made in Romania; we shot “Childhood of a Leader” in Hungary. For “The Brutalist” we initially landed on Poland, but this was early on in COVID and Poland shut its borders the week our crew was arriving for pre-production. When we finally got things up and running again with a different iteration of the cast (the original ensemble was to star Joel Edgerton, Marion Cotillard and Mark Rylance), after nine months, the movie fell apart again because Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We couldn’t get any of the banks to cash-flow the tax credit (for location shooting in Poland). It’s completely stable now, but at that time the banks were nervous about whether the war would be contained to Ukraine or not. And then we finally got it up and running in Budapest, Hungary. Q: That’s a long time. A: Every filmmaker I know suffers from some form of post-traumatic stress (laughs). It sounds funny but it’s true. At every level. On the level of independent cinema, you’re just so damn poor. You’re not making any money, and yet from nose to tail, at minimum, a movie always takes a couple of years. With bigger projects, you might have a little more personal security but a lot less creative security with so many more cooks in the kitchen. Either route you choose, it can be an arduous and painful one. Whether you’re making a movie for a million dollars, or $10 million, or $100 million, it’s still “millions of dollars.” And if you’re concerned about the lives and livelihoods of the people working with you, it’s especially stressful. People are constantly calling you: “Is it happening? Are we starting? Should I take this other job or not?” And you have 250 people who need that answer from you. Every iteration of the project, I always thought we were really about to start in a week, two weeks. It’s just very challenging interpersonally. It’s an imposition for everyone in your life. And then there’s the imposition of screening a movie that’s three-and-a-half-hours long for film festivals, where it’s difficult to find that kind of real estate on the schedule. So essentially, making a movie means constantly apologizing. Q: At what point in your acting career did you take a strong interest in what was going on behind the camera? A: I was making short films when I was 11, 12 years old. The first thing I ever made more properly, I guess, was a short film I made when I was 18, “Protect You + Me,” shot by (cinematographer) Darius Khondji. It was supposed to be part of a triptych of films, and I went to Paris for the two films that followed it. And then all the financing fell through. But that first one screened at the London film festival, and won a prize at Sundance, and I was making music videos and other stuff by then. Q: You’ve written a lot of screenplays with your wife. How many? A: Probably 25. We work a lot for other people, too. I think we’ve done six together for our own projects. Sometimes I’ll start something at night and my wife will finish in the morning. Sometimes we work very closely together, talking and typing together. It’s always different. Right now I’m writing a lot on the road, and my wife is editing her film, which is a musical we wrote, “Ann Lee,” about the founder of the Shakers. I’m working on my next movie now, which spans a lot of time, like “The Brutalist,” with a lot of locations. And I need to make sure we can do it for not a lot of money, because it’s just not possible to have a lot of money and total autonomy. For me making a movie is like cooking. If everyone starts coming in and throwing a dash of this or that in the pot, it won’t work out. A continuity of vision is what I look for when I read a novel. Same with watching a film. A lot of stuff out there today, appropriately referred to as “content,” has more in common with a pair of Nikes than it does with narrative cinema. Q: Yeah, I can’t imagine a lot of Hollywood executives who’d sign off on “The Brutalist.” A: Well, even with our terrific producing team, I mean, everyone was up for a three-hour movie but we were sort of pushing it with three-and-a-half (laughs). I figured, worst-case scenario, it opens on a streamer. Not what I had in mind, but people watch stuff that’s eight, 12 hours long all the time. They get a cold, they watch four seasons of “Succession.” (A24 is releasing the film in theaters, gradually.) It was important for all of us to try to capture an entire century’s worth of thinking about design with “The Brutalist.” For me, making something means expressing a feeling I have about our history. I’ve described my films as poetic films about politics, that go to places politics alone cannot reach. It’s one thing to say something like “history repeats itself.” It’s another thing to make people see that, and feel it. I really want viewers to engage with the past, and the trauma of that history can be uncomfortable, or dusty, or dry. But if you can make it something vital, and tangible, the way great professors can do for their students, that’s my definition of success. “The Brutalist” opens in New York and Los Angeles on Dec. 20. The Chicago release is Jan. 10, 2025. Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

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Column: Brady Corbet’s epic movie ‘The Brutalist’ came close to crashing down more than once

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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WKBW) — There's no love lost between Buffalo Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins and the New York Jets. Dawkins has never shied away from his disdain for the Bills division rival and he's using that as motivation again this week. "These are like some of the hardest games of the season against the Jets, Patriots, and Dolphins, no matter when it is, no matter the order it's in, they are the hardest games of our season every single year," Dawkins said. "It's always great competition, the rivalry is great, the intensity is up, and I like to think and live in the aura that we hate each other, and that keeps us going." "I think these division games there's always a bit more flare to it," quarterback Josh Allen said. "They're a physical team, they've got a really good defense." Allen has struggled against the Jets over the last several years and cites failing to protect the ball as a key reason why. That said, Allen was very efficient in their first matchup of the season against New York, completing 19 of 25 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown. With one more win in the final two regular-season games, the Bills will clinch the No. 2 seed in the AFC. It's something they understand is important with the playoffs just around the corner. "I think locking up the No. 2 seed is the No. 1 priority," Allen said. "All that does is guarantee us two home playoff games, but you've got to win the first one to get the second one, so that's all we're caring about is going out there this week and just trying to play good, sound football in our type of brand that we know we can play." "It's a division game, and I know they aren't playing for a spot in the playoffs but we are and we want to go into the playoffs confident," cornerback Taron Johnson said.

Formula 1 expands grid to add General Motors' Cadillac brand and new American team for 2026 seasonA man convicted as an accomplice to a 2007 murder asked a judge Monday afternoon to have the remaining seven years of his sentence suspended. Michael Soto, 35, appeared in court wearing a green prison jumpsuit and smiled at his mother, sister and two friends at the beginning of the hearing. He was found guilty of giving a handgun to a friend who shot and killed Aaron Kar on Jan. 2, 2007. He was originally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was 17 at the time of the crime. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a life without parole sentence for someone under the age of 18 violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. A judge resentenced him in 2019 to 25 years to life after a hearing. The New Hampshire Supreme Court later ruled the decision could be applied retroactively. Prosecutor Benjamin Agati objected to giving Soto any relief from the sentence, which had been reduced about five years ago in 2019. “The defendant has not taken responsibility for loading the gun, wiping down the gun, handing it to Roscoe White and then disposing of the gun afterward,” White said. Soto’s lawyers, Charles Bookman and Ghazi Al-Marayati, filed a nine-page request for the suspension back in July. They mentioned he earned his GED in 2013 and is in group sessions on post-traumatic stress disorder, socialization, social skills and coping mindfully. Soto told Judge Daniel Will during a brief statement that he is truly sorry about what he did. “The prosecutor said I didn’t take responsibility, but back then, I was just a child. I was a juvenile,” he said. “I didn’t trust nobody.” He said he took responsibility in 2019 during resentencing and continues to do so. “I am really just looking for you to just have faith in me and to give me an opportunity to show the man that I became now that I strive every day to be a better version of myself.” Soto received mental health counseling during a stay at a prison in Kansas in 2015 where he reported many years of childhood abuse and trauma. “This is really about a 17-year-old and now a man in his 30s,” Bookman said. “We have someone who has gone through a process. He had a difficult upbringing.” Soto has conducted everything offered at the prison and he continues to improve himself, his attorneys said. Earlier this year, he took a course called “Dealing with Feelings” at the prison, according to court documents. “When we look to the future, things look very good for Mr. Soto to be a productive member of society,” Bookman said. Most of Soto’s rehabilitation efforts were brought up during the 2019 sentencing, Agati said. “We are encouraged by the work that he has done and we think that will reflect once it gets to his parole hearing,” Agati said. “He will get to live the years of life that Aaron never gets to have.” Agati said Kar family members object to the request for early release. Judge Will took the request under advisement. jphelps@unionleader.com