Voice Evacuation Systems Market to Grow by USD 1.1 Billion (2024-2028), Real Estate and Construction Boosts Growth, AI Impact on Trends - TechnavioDana Hull | (TNS) Bloomberg News Jared Birchall, Elon Musk’s money manager and the head of his family office, is listed as the chief executive officer. Jehn Balajadia, a longtime Musk aide who has worked at SpaceX and the Boring Co., is named as an official contact. Related Articles National Politics | Biden will decide on US Steel acquisition after influential panel fails to reach consensus National Politics | Biden vetoes once-bipartisan effort to add 66 federal judgeships, citing ‘hurried’ House action National Politics | A history of the Panama Canal — and why Trump can’t take it back on his own National Politics | President-elect Trump wants to again rename North America’s tallest peak National Politics | Inside the Gaetz ethics report, a trove of new details alleging payments for sex and drug use But they’re not connected to Musk’s new technology venture, or the political operation that’s endeared him to Donald Trump. Instead, they’re tied to the billionaire’s new Montessori school outside Bastrop, Texas, called Ad Astra, according to documents filed with state authorities and obtained via a Texas Public Information Act request. The world’s richest person oversees an overlapping empire of six companies — or seven, if you include his political action committee. Alongside rockets, electric cars, brain implants, social media and the next Trump administration, he is increasingly focused on education, spanning preschool to college. One part of his endeavor was revealed last year, when Bloomberg News reported that his foundation had set aside roughly $100 million to create a technology-focused primary and secondary school in Austin, with eventual plans for a university. An additional $137 million in cash and stock was allotted last year, according to the most recent tax filing for the Musk Foundation. Ad Astra is closer to fruition. The state documents show Texas authorities issued an initial permit last month, clearing the way for the center to operate with as many as 21 pupils. Ad Astra’s website says it’s “currently open to all children ages 3 to 9.” The school’s account on X includes job postings for an assistant teacher for preschool and kindergarten and an assistant teacher for students ages 6 to 9. To run the school, Ad Astra is partnering with a company that has experience with billionaires: Xplor Education, which developed Hala Kahiki Montessori school in Lanai, Hawaii, the island 98% owned by Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison. Ad Astra sits on a highway outside Bastrop, a bedroom community about 30 miles from Austin and part of a region that’s home to several of Musk’s businesses. On a visit during a recent weekday morning, there was a single Toyota Prius in the parking lot and no one answered the door at the white building with a gray metal roof. The school’s main entrance was blocked by a gate, and there was no sign of any children on the grounds. But what information there is about Ad Astra makes it sound like a fairly typical, if high-end, Montessori preschool. The proposed schedule includes “thematic, STEM-based activities and projects” as well as outdoor play and nap time. A sample snack calendar features carrots and hummus. While Birchall’s and Balajadia’s names appear in the application, it isn’t clear that they’ll have substantive roles at the school once it’s operational. Musk, Birchall and Balajadia didn’t respond to emailed questions. A phone call and email to the school went unanswered. Access to high quality, affordable childcare is a huge issue for working parents across the country, and tends to be an especially vexing problem in rural areas like Bastrop. Many families live in “childcare deserts” where there is either not a facility or there isn’t an available slot. Opening Ad Astra gives Musk a chance to showcase his vision for education, and his support for the hands-on learning and problem solving that are a hallmark of his industrial companies. His public comments about learning frequently overlap with cultural concerns popular among conservatives and the Make America Great Again crowd, often focusing on what he sees as young minds being indoctrinated by teachers spewing left-wing propaganda. He has railed against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and in August posted that “a lot of schools are teaching white boys to hate themselves.” Musk’s educational interests dovetail with his new role as Trump’s “first buddy.” The billionaire has pitched a role for himself that he — and now the incoming Trump administration — call “DOGE,” or the Department of Government Efficiency. Though it’s not an actual department, DOGE now posts on X, the social media platform that Musk owns. “The Department of Education spent over $1 billion promoting DEI in America’s schools,” the account posted Dec. 12. Back in Texas, Bastrop is quickly becoming a key Musk point of interest. The Boring Co., his tunneling venture, is based in an unincorporated area there. Across the road, SpaceX produces Starlink satellites at a 500,000-square-foot (46,000-square-meter) facility. Nearby, X is constructing a building for trust and safety workers. Musk employees, as well as the general public, can grab snacks at the Boring Bodega, a convenience store housed within Musk’s Hyperloop Plaza, which also contains a bar, candy shop and hair salon. Ad Astra is just a five-minute drive away. It seems to have been designed with the children of Musk’s employees — if not Musk’s own offspring — in mind. Musk has fathered at least 12 children, six of them in the last five years. “Ad Astra’s mission is to foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in the next generation of problem solvers and builders,” reads the school’s website. A job posting on the website of the Montessori Institute of North Texas says “While their parents support the breakthroughs that expand the realm of human possibility, their children will grow into the next generation of innovators in a way that only authentic Montessori can provide.” The school has hired an executive director, according to documents Bloomberg obtained from Texas Health and Human Services. Ad Astra is located on 40 acres of land, according to the documents, which said a 4,000-square-foot house would be remodeled for the preschool. It isn’t uncommon for entrepreneurs to take an interest in education, according to Bill Gormley, a professor emeritus at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University who studies early childhood education. Charles Butt, the chairman of the Texas-based H-E-B grocery chain, has made public education a focus of his philanthropy. Along with other business and community leaders, Butt founded “Raise Your Hand Texas,” which advocates on school funding, teacher workforce and retention issues and fully funding pre-kindergarten. “Musk is not the only entrepreneur to recognize the value of preschool for Texas workers,” Gormley said. “A lot of politicians and business people get enthusiastic about education in general — and preschool in particular — because they salivate at the prospect of a better workforce.” Musk spent much of October actively campaigning for Trump’s presidential effort, becoming the most prolific donor of the election cycle. He poured at least $274 million into political groups in 2024, including $238 million to America PAC, the political action committee he founded. While the vast majority of money raised by America PAC came from Musk himself, it also had support from other donors. Betsy DeVos, who served as education secretary in Trump’s first term, donated $250,000, federal filings show. The Department of Education is already in the new administration’s cross hairs. Trump campaigned on the idea of disbanding the department and dismantling diversity initiatives, and he has also taken aim at transgender rights. “Rather than indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material, which is what we’re doing now, our schools must be totally refocused to prepare our children to succeed in the world of work,” Trump wrote in Agenda 47, his campaign platform. Musk has three children with the musician Grimes and three with Shivon Zilis, who in the past was actively involved at Neuralink, his brain machine interface company. All are under the age of five. Musk took X, his son with Grimes, with him on a recent trip to Capitol Hill. After his visit, he shared a graphic that showed the growth of administrators in America’s public schools since 2000. Musk is a fan of hands-on education. During a Tesla earnings call in 2018, he talked about the need for more electricians as the electric-car maker scaled up the energy side of its business. On the Joe Rogan podcast in 2020, Musk said that “too many smart people go into finance and law.” “I have a lot of respect for people who work with their hands and we need electricians and plumbers and carpenters,” Musk said while campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania in October. “That’s a lot more important than having incremental political science majors.” Ad Astra’s website says the cost of tuition will be initially subsidized, but in future years “tuition will be in line with local private schools that include an extended day program.” “I do think we need significant reform in education,” Musk said at a separate Trump campaign event. “The priority should be to teach kids skills that they will find useful later in life, and to leave any sort of social propaganda out of the classroom.” With assistance from Sophie Alexander and Kara Carlson. ©2024 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.NORAD’s Santa tracker was a Cold War morale boost. Now it attracts millions of kids7xm review 。

Not another revival of Band Aid's 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'Elon Musk’s preschool is the next step in his anti-woke education dreams

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines hunger as an uncomfortable or painful physical sensation caused by insufficient consumption of dietary energy. The World Bank says that the hunger rate in Africa are especially acute, with one out of five people going hungry each day. For more than a decade, conflict and economic hardship have remained the key drivers of hunger in Nigeria. Ongoing violence causes disruptions in markets and farming, severely limiting people’s ability to earn income and forcing families to leave their homes. In the 2024 Global Hunger Index (GHI), Nigeria ranks 110th out of the 127 countries surveyed. With a score of 28.8% in the 2024 GHI, the country’s level of hunger is severe. Global Hunger Index is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels. GHI scores are based on four components: undernourishment- the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake; child stunting :-the share of children who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic under nutrition; child wasting: the share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute under nutrition; child mortality: the share of children who die before their fifth birthday, partly showing a fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments. Based on the values of the four indicators, GHI score is calculated on a 100-point scale, reflecting the severity of hunger, where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst. Each country’s GHI scores is classified by severity, from low to extremely alarming. Recently a joint report of the Federal government and the United Nations says Nigeria faces one of its worst hunger crises with more than 33.1 million expected to be food insecure next year, compared with 24.8 million this year. Finance Minister, Wale Edu, says 5 million households in Nigeria have so far received cash handout of 25,000 Naira each as part of the government’s program to help the most vulnerable families. But Chi Lael, the World Food Program spokesperson in Nigeria, reportedly said that ‘’economic decisions felt like a direct attack on people’s wallet, hitting hardest every time they try to buy food.’’ Nigeria’s food insecurity has been worsened by economic sanctions imposed against Russia by Western countries since its military operation in Ukraine. In fact the world food security is currently in danger due to the disruption of international supplies by the United States and its allies through the imposition of various prohibitions. The European Union, EU, import tariff is common to all EU countries but the rates of duty differ from one kind of import to another depending on what they are, and where they come from, depending on the economic sensitivity of the products. Unfair business practices such as illegal contacts and agreements, price fixing and market sharing, though prohibited under EU competition rules, remain rampant. In her mission letter recently to the incoming EU Competition Commissioner-designate, Teresa Ribera, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, begins with ‘’Europe needs a new approach to competition policy – one that is more supportive of companies to scale up their global markets...’’ Observers say In noting that competition policy should help companies scale up, Von der Leyen seems to advocate a significant departure from past practice and favor more state intervention in markets, and support for industrial policy that allows anticompetitive mergers that could threaten food security. For Africa, a new colonial threat stares in the form of European dominance of African policy on genetically modified organisms, GMO, and its imposition of GMO production standards. A coalition of academics and civil society organizations has said GMO foods pose severe risks to human health and the environment with a claim MO crops have created novel and alarming problems, including genetic contamination and uterine fibroids in women of young ages. In Nigeria uterine fibroids reportedly account for 3.2-7.8% of gynecological cases and 68.1% of hysterectomy cases. Across the country farmers have complained that GMOs reduce productivity in the second planting season, meaning farmers can not replant these seeds but must purchase new ones to plant in the next planting season. . Analysts see the EU position on GMOs as jihad against Africa’s food and environmental health, and against its Agricultural sovereignty . In like manner their proliferation of military bases on the continent today may have been based on self-serving and hypocritical motives. But this is not receiving attention in parts of Africa. Global food insecurity has been worsened by Western sanctions against Russia because Nigerians industry reportedly accounts for around 20% of the global fertilizer trade market, thereby ensuring food security for 1.5 billion people in the world. The West’s sanctions policy is resulting in food becoming scarcer and costing more in Africa and other developing nations as Brazil which depend on Russian products to produce soy bean oil. According to projections by the World Bank, the current world food shortages would certainly lead to large political crises, with the proliferation of civil wars and armed conflicts over food resources. Now there are far scarier predictions about this problem. Considering a possible situation of generalized famine in emerging countries on all continents, we can be close to some of the greatest cases of political and military instability in history. That is why that President Tinubu must activate all known social safety nets to enable Nigerians survive the current deepening food insecurity in the land now the World Bank has said that Nigerians would wait for 10 to 15 years to reap the benefits of his economic reform.UTAH VALLEY 77, WEST GEORGIA 74

Despite travels through Mexico City, South America, and the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador, Luca Guadagnino ’s movie adaptation of “ Queer ,” William S. Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical novel, was surprisingly shot almost entirely on the famed Cinecittà soundstages in Rome, Italy. Speaking on the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast , Guadagnino said that was necessary to allow the film’s production design to capture the complex and unspoken emotions between William Lee ( Daniel Craig ) and Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), an expat former soldier who makes the heroin-addicted Lee believe he might be finally able to establish an intimate connection with someone. “We conceived the movie not as a period drama, but as a visualization of the imagination of William S. Burroughs, and the possibility that cinema could let us to play with space as a mirror, as a box, as a canvas that could make us feel the power of the connection more,” Guadagnino said in what was his fifth appearance on Toolkit. The connection required the power of cinema, because on the surface, the younger Allerton often acts indifferent to the older Lee. While not quite an unrequited love story, Lee struggles to read Allerton’s emotions and at times wonders if he is even gay. It’s a connection (and misconnection) expressed in movement. Choreographers Sol Léon and Paul Lightfoot (Nederlands Dance Theater) worked with Craig and Starkey for two month, creating a heightened sense of emotionally-charged reality within the artifice of the film’s sets. Guadagnino drew direct inspiration from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s “The Red Shoes,” “Tales of Hoffman,” and particularly “Black Narcissus,” a colorful fever dream set inside a convent of nuns atop the Himalayas. “The movie is entirely shot on stage like a Powell and Pressburger fantasy, like a ‘Black Narcissus’ fantasy,” Guadagnino said. “The fate, and the contrast of culture, here is the desire, longing, and love.” Guadagnino even wanted to adopt those film’s use of old-school matte painting as a backdrop. But early on, he realized this would be at odds with how he worked with actors to stage a scene. “The way I like to shoot is that I like to have the actors own the scene before anything else. I give them the place, the space, and I look at them moving in the space. Once they do that, I then know where to put the camera,” said Guadagnino. “But in order to use a painted backdrop, you have to make sure that the camera is only in one place, which would have forced the actor to be in that place, and I didn’t like that. And that’s where 21st century technology comes to help.” While on the podcast, Guadagnino admitted his opinions of the latest digital technology had evolved considerably in recent years, having realized what he initially disliked about it was the “lazy” ways in which he believed many filmmakers had used it. On “ Queer ,” Guadagnino was liberated by CGI. The film went through hundreds of iterations in the concept phase, giving him the ability to find the exact amount of visible brush strokes and precise color to evoke the emotion of a scene. “The cold sameness of CGI can become uniqueness and warmth,” he said. It’s a surprise then that Guadagnino hired a first-time production designer, Stefano Baisi, to help him execute such a complicated concept and process. Baisi, a trained architect, had collaborated with Guadagnino in his interior design studio, working on projects like a home for Yoox founder Francesco Marchetti, prior to becoming the production designer on “Queer.” Baisi told IndieWire he initially met Guadagnino in 2017 when a colleague needed some help on a project they were doing. “I met Luca and passed an entire day discussing, designing a staircase railway, and then after a few months I joined the team,” said Baisi, who would go on to regularly work with Guadagnino for six years prior to “Queer.” “When he asked me [to design ‘Queer’] I was very surprised, I [couldn’t’] believe it, because for me something like working on a movie was impossible.” Baisi found the transition easier than he imagined because movies, unlike architecture, had a script and a longer concept phase that supplied far more direction about the overall vision. For his part, Guadagnino watched Baisi manage enormous architectural projects with ease and had a gut instinct he would have a strong cinematic sensibility. Any concerns about Baisi making the jump were outweighed by knowing Baisi wouldn’t be confined by preconceived notions about how movies are normally made. “With Stefano we drew all of these backdrops, the color palette was drawn, the clouds, the skies, the buildings, everything was really designed on paper in the months before shooting,” Guadagnino said of the months-long post-production process during which Baisi stayed on as a supervisor. “Stefano’s work ended basically a few weeks before presenting the movie at the [Venice Film] festival because this CGI work was not just CGI people putting up some backdrop or plates, it was taking these drawings and making them digital matte paintings of it.” While Baisi said Guadagnino had a very clear concept of how the backdrop related to the emotion of the scene, which was fine-tuned with concept artists in creating dozens of variations for each scene, it was necessary to find the film’s balance between artifice and the real world environments it was recreating. As part of the pre-production process, Baisi went on a research trip that mirrored (but in reverse order) Burroughs’ real-life journey from Mexico City to Ecuador, seeing many of the real locations that inspired the author’s imagination. “The work of Burroughs is filled with this imaginary world he created; this is the first reason why Luca decided to create everything from scratch,” Baisi said. “We wanted to give the movie that kind of texture that comes from lighting [a movie shot in] technicolor.” The film’s painted backdrops of Mexico City, in particular the skies, use predominantly “acidic colors” that speak to the drug-fueled, dream-like haze Lee lives in. One notable exception: the quiet scene between Lee and Allerton after they make love in Lee’s ramshackle apartment. The set was complete with a red carpet directly inspired by Dorothy Vallens’ (Isabella Rossellini) look in “Blue Velvet.” “They are sitting in the couch, they’re reading their books, but they clearly are distracted by the desire within each other for each other,” said Guadagnino. “And they start to kiss and behind them there is this beautiful window that is like a big eye opening on them. There you have these incredible glowing, candied-colored, gold gilded sunset over Mexico City... that hugs and embraces the lovers in that moment. I’m very proud of the way the production design really became a protagonist of the story without being decorative.” Shooting against green and blue screens, part of what sells the scene and makes it soar is how cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom painted the sets with an additional expression layer of light that both aligns with the emotions and supplies a real light to match the backdrop’s artifice. “Sayombhu is a master,” said Baisi. “Luca gave him a lot of references for the lighting, one of the main references was Michaël Borremans, the Flemish painter, and we wanted to replicate that kind of light in his work.” Even Lee and Allerton’s journey to heart of the Amazon to find the Ayahuasca plant was shot at Cinecittà. The original concept was to shoot inside on a soundstage, but that proved to be a technical impossibility. Instead, Baisi found a hill of dirt from previous site work on the Cinecittà grounds and had a path dug through it to create the jungle pass. Then, with guidance from a botanical professor in Ecuador, Baisi’s team would surround it with plants that looked similar to what would be found in the Amazon, while blocking the Mediterranean pine trees of Rome and using visual effects set extensions for what could be seen beyond their make shift jungle-dirt pile. Besides the brief shots on the ocean beach late in the film, the only scene not shot at Cinecittà was when Lee visits the botanist to beg for information about where to locate the Ayahuasca plant. That scene was shot at a botanical garden in Palermo, Sicily. “I was born there and I grew up in Palermo, and then I left at the age of 22 just a few years after I bumped into this book,” said Guadagnino. “When we started to conceive this place where he meets the botanist... I brought to the table the memory of these gardens and I said, ‘I think those botanical gardens are really perfect and ready. We don’t need anything.’” For a movie in which so much is digitally drawn, Guadagnino takes pride in how little they altered this location rooted in his memory. “Behind Lee, when he sits outside and the guy tells him, ‘Okay, I’ll give you the map,’ there is a writing on the dust of the window, ‘Fox and Badger.’ This was written there by somebody and we kept it,” said Guadagnino with a grin. You can subscribe to the Toolkit podcast on Apple , Spotify , or your favorite podcast platform.WASHINGTON — Donald Trump said he can't guarantee that his promised tariffs on key U.S. foreign trade partners won't raise prices for American consumers and he suggested once more that some political rivals and federal officials who pursued legal cases against him should be imprisoned. The president-elect, in a wide-ranging interview with NBC's “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday, also touched on monetary policy, immigration, abortion and health care, and U.S. involvement in Ukraine, Israel and elsewhere. Trump often mixed declarative statements with caveats, at one point cautioning “things do change.” A look at some of the issues covered: Trump hems on whether trade penalties could raise prices Trump has threatened broad trade penalties, but said he didn’t believe economists' predictions that added costs on those imported goods for American companies would lead to higher prices for U.S. consumers. He stopped short of a pledge that U.S. households won't be paying more as they shop. “I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow,” Trump said, seeming to open the door to accepting the reality of how import levies typically work as goods reach the retail market. That's a different approach from Trump's typical speeches throughout the 2024 campaign, when he framed his election as a sure way to curb inflation. In the interview, Trump defended tariffs generally, saying they are "going to make us rich.” He has pledged that, on his first day in office in January, he would impose 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada unless those countries satisfactorily stop illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl into the United States. He also has threatened additional tariffs on China to help force that country to crack down on fentanyl production. ”All I want to do is I want to have a level, fast, but fair playing field,” Trump said. Trump suggests retribution for his opponents while claiming no interest in vengeance He offered conflicting statements on how he would approach the justice system after winning election despite being convicted of 34 felonies in a New York state court and being indicted in other cases for his handling of national security secrets and efforts to overturn his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden. “Honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump said of members of Congress who investigated the Capitol riot by his supporters who wanted him to remain in power. The president-elect underscored his contention that he can use the justice system against others, including special prosecutor Jack Smith, who led the case on Trump’s role in the siege on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump confirmed his plan to pardon supporters who were convicted for their roles in the riot, saying he would take that action on his first day in office. As for the idea of revenge driving potential prosecutions, Trump said: “I have the absolute right. I’m the chief law enforcement officer, you do know that. I’m the president. But I’m not interested in that." At the same time, Trump singled out lawmakers on a special House committee who had investigated the insurrection, citing Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. “Cheney was behind it ... so was Bennie Thompson and everybody on that committee,” Trump said. Asked specifically whether he would direct his administration to pursue cases, he said, “No,” and suggested he did not expect the FBI to quickly undertake investigations into his political enemies. But at another point, Trump said he would leave the matter up to Pam Bondi, his pick as attorney general. “I want her to do what she wants to do,” he said. Such threats, regardless of Trump's inconsistencies, have been taken seriously enough by many top Democrats that Biden is considering issuing blanket, preemptive pardons to protect key members of his outgoing administration. Trump did seemingly back off his campaign rhetoric calling for Biden to be investigated, saying, “I’m not looking to go back into the past.” Swift action on immigration is coming Trump repeatedly mentioned his promises to seal the U.S.-Mexico border and deport millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally through a mass deportation program. “I think you have to do it,” he said. He suggested he would try to use executive action to end “birthright” citizenship under which people born in the U.S. are considered citizens — although such protections are spelled out in the Constitution. Asked specifically about the future for people who were brought into the country illegally as children and have been shielded from deportation in recent years, Trump said, “I want to work something out,” indicating he might seek a solution with Congress. But Trump also said he does not “want to be breaking up families” of mixed legal status, “so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.” Trump commits to NATO, with conditions, and waffles on Putin and Ukraine Long a critic of NATO members for not spending more on their own defense, Trump said he “absolutely” would remain in the alliance “if they pay their bills.” Pressed on whether he would withdraw if he were dissatisfied with allies’ commitments, Trump said he wants the U.S. treated “fairly” on trade and defense. He waffled on a NATO priority of containing Russia and President Vladimir Putin. Trump suggested Ukraine should prepare for less U.S. aid in its defense against Putin’s invasion. “Possibly. Yeah, probably. Sure,” Trump said of reducing Ukraine assistance from Washington. Separately, Trump has called for an immediate ceasefire . Asked about Putin, Trump said initially that he has not talked to the Russian leader since Election Day last month, but then hedged: “I haven’t spoken to him recently.” Trump said when pressed, adding that he did not want to “impede the negotiation.” Trump says Powell is safe at the Fed, but not Wray at the FBI The president-elect said he has no intention, at least for now, of asking Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to step down before Powell's term ends in 2028. Trump said during the campaign that presidents should have more say in Fed policy , including interest rates. Trump did not offer any job assurances for FBI Director Christopher Wray, whose term is to end in 2027. Asked about Wray, Trump said: “Well, I mean, it would sort of seem pretty obvious” that if the Senate confirms Kash Patel as his pick for FBI chief, then “he’s going to be taking somebody’s place, right? Somebody is the man that you’re talking about.” Trump is absolute about Social Security, not so much on abortion and health insurance Trump promised that the government efficiency effort led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will not threaten Social Security. “We're not touching Social Security, other than we make it more efficient,” he said. He added that “we're not raising ages or any of that stuff.” He was not so specific about abortion or his long-promised overhaul of the Affordable Care Act. On abortion, Trump continued his inconsistencies and said he would “probably” not move to restrict access to the abortion pills that now account for a majority of pregnancy terminations, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. But pressed on whether he would commit to that position, Trump replied, “Well, I commit. I mean, are -- things do -- things change. I think they change.” Reprising a line from his Sept. 10 debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump again said he had “concepts” of a plan to substitute for the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which he called “lousy health care.” He added a promise that any Trump version would maintain insurance protections for Americans with preexisting health conditions. He did not explain how such a design would be different from the status quo or how he could deliver on his desire for “better health care for less money.”Cam Carter put LSU ahead for good with a jumper 1:08 into the third overtime and the Tigers came away with a wild 109-102 win over UCF on Sunday in the third-place game of the Greenbrier Tip-Off in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Carter's make sparked a 5-0 spurt for LSU (5-1), which mounted a ferocious second-half rally that began after Darius Johnson drilled a 3-pointer to put the Knights up 52-34 with 12:57 to play in regulation. UCF (4-2) got back within two in the third overtime, but it never found a way to draw even. Vyctorius Miller and Jordan Sears sealed the victory, combining for three buckets down low that gave the Tigers a 106-99 cushion with 17 seconds remaining. Carter was the late-game hero for LSU, scoring the final four points of regulation to forge a 70-70 tie. He also knocked down a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:19 left in the first extra session to give the Tigers a 76-75 advantage. Sears gave LSU a four-point edge with a triple of his own with 2:10 to go, but the Tigers failed to stay in front, and UCF's Keyshawn Hall kept the game going by sinking two free throws with six seconds remaining to make it 82-82. Neither team led by more than three in the second overtime, with Hall again coming to the Knights' rescue. He made two layups in the final 52 seconds of the frame to knot things at 93 and send the teams to a third OT. Few could have predicted 15 minutes of extra basketball after UCF put together a 25-3 first-half run that lifted it to a 38-18 advantage with 2:12 left until the break. LSU responded with seven unanswered points, but the Knights still led comfortably, 40-25, at intermission. Sears finished with a game-high-tying 25 points to go along with nine boards, while Jalen Reed recorded a 21-point, 13-rebound double-double for the Tigers. Carter netted 20 points, Miller had 16 and Dji Bailey chipped in 14. Johnson collected 25 points, six rebounds, eight assists and five steals for UCF. Hall totaled 21 points and 10 boards, and Jordan Ivy-Curry supplied 20 points. LSU outshot UCF 43.2 percent to 40.7 percent and had narrow advantages from behind the arc (12 made shots to 10) and the free-throw line (21-18). --Field Level Media

Bryce Lindsay scores 18 to lead James Madison over Utah Valley 78-61Tehran, Dec 25 (AP) Iran's government on Tuesday said it had lifted a ban on access to WhatsApp and Google Play after more than two years, the official IRNA news agency reported. The report said the country's Supreme Council of Cyber Space made the decision in a meeting led by reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who has vowed to remove restrictions on social media. Iran's telecommunication minister Sattar Heshemi in a post on X called the decision a “first step” in removing restrictions and said “the path will continue" — indicating the possibility of unblocking other services. Many people reached by The Associated Press across the capital, Tehran, and other cities said they had access to the services on computers but not yet on mobile phones. WhatsApp has been the third most popular messaging platform in Iran after Instagram and Telegram. The ban on WhatsApp and Google Play was put in place in 2022 during mass protests against the government over the death of a woman held by the country's morality police for allegedly violating the strictly enforced dress code. The protests calmed in 2023 after a crackdown by police and security forces that led to the death of hundreds of people and the imprisonment of thousands. Iran has blocked access to various social media platforms over the years but many people in the country use proxies and VPNs to access them. (AP) AS AS (This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)LA Lakers star opens up on new role, reveals how tough Pistons ‘All-Star level’ player isVirgo – (23rd August to 22nd September) Daily Horoscope Prediction says, Emotions should be cared Spend more time in love and engage in activities that are romantic. Professional success will be there and money will also come in. You must pay special attention to your health. Have a great life in terms of romance. Your efforts to prove diligence at work will receive better results. You should get professional help for financial decisions. Health may develop minor issues. Virgo Love Horoscope Today Do not let egos influence the love affair. Sit together today to share your emotions. Your lover will mature in nature and this will also help you heal the wounds of the past. Today is also good to patch up with an ex-flame. However, married natives should avoid this as their marital life will be in danger. Single natives can pick up the first part of the day to propose and receive a positive response. Those who are traveling must connect with their lover over the call to express their feelings. Virgo Career Horoscope Today Utilize communication skills while at the negotiation table with clients. Professionally, multiple-tasking will win appreciation and if you’ve got proficiency in multitasking, you can breathe easy. Keep the management happy and always show the willingness to take up new responsibilities. Some professionals may need to travel for official reasons today. The second part of the day is also good to attend job interviews. Students looking for admission to foreign universities will have good news. Virgo Money Horoscope Today Go for safe monetary decisions and avoid blindly helping a needy friend or relative. Ensure you have proper guidance while trying your fortune in stock, trade, and speculative business. Some senior natives will also distribute wealth among the children. You may need to contribute to a celebration at the college or office. Businessmen will get foreign funds which would help in crucial financial decisions. Virgo Health Horoscope Today You should be careful about your health. Those who have asthma must avoid venturing out, especially in dusty areas. Pregnant females should not ride a two-wheeler and seniors must avoid staircases. Children may develop a viral fever and seniors may have sleep-related issues. Some Virgos will also have pain in joints or vision-related issues. Virgo Sign Attributes Strength: Kind, Elegant, Perfectionist, Modest, Strong-willed Weakness: Picky, Over-possessive Symbol: Virgin maiden Element: Earth Body Part: Intestine Sign Ruler : Mercury Lucky Day: Wednesday Lucky Color: Gray Lucky Number: 7 Lucky Stone : Sapphire Virgo Sign Compatibility Chart Natural affinity: Taurus, Cancer, Scorpio, Capricorn Good compatibility: Virgo, Pisces Fair compatibility: Aries, Leo, Libra, Aquarius Less compatibility: Gemini, Sagittarius By: Dr. J. N. Pandey Vedic Astrology & Vastu Expert Website: www.astrologerjnpandey.com E-mail: djnpandey@gmail.com Phone: 91-9811107060 (WhatsApp Only)