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Meta seeks nuclear power developers for reactors to start in early 2030sPune: Lakhs of vehicles flooded the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Saturday, sparking massive gridlock during the extended New Year weekend. The congestion was particularly severe on the Pune carriageway, with bumper-to-bumper traffic stretching for several kilometres, with some travellers claiming of taking up to 7 hours to reach Pune from Mumbai, as against a normal of three hours. The surge in traffic comes as many officegoers opted to take Monday and Tuesday (Dec 30-31) off, creating a five-day weekend till Jan 1. "We are experiencing heavy congestion on the Pune carriageway, with queues of vehicles extending up to 6-7km. Though we diverted vehicles from the Pune lane to the Mumbai carriageway, the situation remained challenging throughout Saturday afternoon. Lakhs of vehicles took the route on Saturday, both heavy and light. They were either stuck or moving at a snail's pace," an officer with the highway police said. The officer said tourist destinations like Khandala and Lonavla were seeing exceptionally high footfall, contributing significantly to the expressway congestion. "We anticipate similar trend on Sunday," he said. The impact of the traffic was felt by frequent travellers and transport operators alike. Akshay Nagane, owner of Wheelocity Taxi service, said one of his clients endured a gruelling seven-hour journey from Mumbai to Pune on Friday. "It was quite a harrowing experience for them," Nagane said. The congestion affected both directions of travel. Prakash Pawar, owner of Veer Travels, said, "Even around 10am, our clients took four-and-a-half hours to reach Mumbai from Pune as against 3 hours." Siddhu Holi, who travelled from Mumbai to Mahabaleshwar via NH48, said he was stuck for 1 hour on the highway. "When I reached near Khandala where NH48 meets the expressway, I was caught in another jam near Amrutanjan bridge, which took one-and-a-half hours to clear. The entire Khandala ghat section was packed with vehicles. I completed the trip from Mahabaleshwar to Pune in four-and-a-half hours, instead a normal of 3 hours," he said. Cab driver Vishal Shinde, who was returning to Pune from Mumbai on Saturday, said, "I encountered severe congestion from the start of the ghat section till Amrutanjan bridge. The traffic stretched nearly 5km, with vehicles moving bumper-to-bumper at a snail's pace." A regular commuter said, "I needed to reach Pune early to meet my elderly father, and son. I've been stuck on the expressway for long now, with no sign of ease in traffic so far." Amitabh Roy, another Mumbai-Pune traveller, said, "The congestion stretched 50km before Lonavla and continued 20km after it. The tourist influx owing to the long weekend had the entire stretch packed with vehicles. We faced 20-30 minute delays every 1-2km. What's typically a three-hour journey took us five-and-a-half hours. While I was travelling for leisure, I wonder how people with business commitments or urgent appointments endured the traffic situation." Krushna Pandhare, another cab driver on the route, said, "There was an extensive queue through the ghat section that extended all the way to Lonavla. Having started from Mumbai, we expected to reach Pune an hour or more behind schedule." Social media users also expressed their frustration over the traffic situation. Vijaya Choudhary took to X and posted about the heavy vehicles moving in all the three lanes on Mumbai-Pune expressway. "What the hell is police doing?" he posted, while tagging Union minister Nitin Gadkari and CMO. RTI activist Sanjay Shirodkar highlighted the worsening traffic situation even on other key routes on Saturday. "I travelled 395km from Khanapur-Belgaum (Karnataka) to Kolhapur, Karad, Satara, and Pune. It took me 10 hours, with a couple of breaks. The main issue is the poor execution of the six-lane upgrade project between Belgaum-Kolhapur and the Kagal-Satara stretch. Earlier, this journey on the four-lane highway would take a maximum of six hours, but now it takes no less than 10 hours." The traffic woes extended beyond the expressway, with devotees heading to Bhimashankar temple facing similar challenges. "The severe traffic congestion near the temples had made it impossible for devotees to reach the temple. Several of our customers had to abandon their pilgrimage midway and return," said another travel agent.

, It was only a matter of days, but, somehow, losing the usual week between Thanksgiving and the start of December compressed the holiday marathon into a 100-yard dash. I was winded by the time I pulled the first batch of cookies out of the oven, and now it’s time to host another feast? After all of the gift wrapping and party hopping, there’s something wonderful about slowing down to prepare a big meal, especially when the centerpiece leaves you time to sip eggnog (or just lie down and rest). A pork shoulder roast rivals a standing rib roast or beef tenderloin in richness, but it’s more foolproof (and costs far less). This one tastes and smells like the holidays, savory with the scent of rosemary, cozy with a caramelized crust and warming with black pepper. Even though the marinade has only four ingredients, the cut of meat and miso carry a natural complexity that becomes even more nuanced over time, so the roast wows like a restaurant dish without demanding medium-rare perfection. But what exactly is a pork shoulder roast? It goes by at least half a dozen names, so it helps to know where it’s from. If you imagine a pig standing on all fours, the shoulder starts at the top of its front legs and extends up behind its neck. That upper portion is confusingly sometimes known as Boston butt or, simply, butt, because preserved pork shoulders were shipped in the colonial era from Boston in barrels with the size designation “butt.” The lower part is (more obviously) labeled shoulder, shoulder roast, picnic shoulder or blade roast. At most supermarkets, you get what you get in the meat case. If you’re lucky enough to have options, pick the part you want: This recipe works with any part of the shoulder, whether it has bone or skin, both or neither. The well-marbled butt is often cut into a tidy rectangle with the bone in and a thick cap of fat, so much of its flavor comes from its own richness. The cut labeled shoulder usually comes in boneless triangles or trapezoids and has slightly less fat. If it’s sold already tied, unfurl it to slather the marinade all over both sides to permeate throughout, then reroll and tie it. No matter how the pork is butchered, tying it gives it the structure to end up sliceable. Otherwise, it’ll collapse like shreddable pulled pork — also tasty, but not sturdy enough to carve. If this pork overcooks a little, it’ll still taste great, thanks in part to the miso. Because it’s primarily soybeans fermented with salt, miso both deeply seasons the meat and keeps it moist and tender. Aka (red) miso has a higher proportion of soybeans and ferments for longer than paler miso, which gives it a robustness that works well with fatty shoulder. Time is the final ingredient. The hours the marinade fuses into the meat yield a glistening roast run through with the tingle of pepper and pine. Like its accompanying cranberry sauce, it can all be prepared ahead. However exhausted you may feel at the end of this race to the holidays, you can cross the finish line with this winning showstopper. By Genevieve Ko 12 to 16 servings 4 3/4 hours, plus 4 hours’ marinating 1. Prepare the roast: Mix the miso, sugar, minced rosemary and black pepper until well combined. Unfurl the pork if it’s boneless and cut along its natural breaks to butterfly the meat without cutting all the way through. Rub the marinade all over the meat in an even layer. 2. If needed, roll the pork back into a somewhat cylindrical shape. Use kitchen twine to tie it in 1-inch intervals. Refrigerate in an airtight container for 4 to 8 hours. 3. If you’re making the sauce, bring all of the ingredients to a boil in a large pot, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium-high and continue boiling, skimming off and discarding any pink foam that rises to the surface, for 10 to 12 minutes. The liquid should be syrupy and the pears tender. The sauce can be refrigerated in jars or airtight containers for up for up 1 week. You’ll have about 6 cups. 4. Remove the pork from the refrigerator an hour before you want to start cooking (about 4 1/2 hours before you want to serve it). If the sauce has been refrigerated, let it sit at room temperature as well. 5. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Wipe off any thick patches of marinade from the pork and place on a roasting pan or sheet pan. Scatter the onion and rosemary sprigs around the meat and pour in 1/4 cup water (or wine or stock). 6. Cook for 1 hour, then baste with the pan juices. Continue cooking, basting every 30 minutes, until an instant read thermometer registers 165 degrees in the thickest part, about 2 hours longer. Tent with parchment paper when the pork is dark brown. 7. Let rest on a cutting board for at least 30 minutes. Slice and serve, with the sauce, if you’d like. Red miso, generally made with a higher proportion of soybeans and fermented for a longer period, is strong and savory, making it ideal for meat. If you can find only milder white or yellow miso, which is also sweeter, you can use it instead and reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup. Pork shoulder, which comes from the upper portion of a pig’s foreleg, is usually split into the fattier top, known as Boston butt, pork butt or just butt, and the lower portion, called the picnic shoulder, blade roast or picnic roast. They all can be labeled pork shoulder and they all work in this recipe.

Saudi’s $1.2bn investment to create more jobs for Nigerians – FGNEW YORK (AP) — Daniel Penny chose not to testify and defense lawyers rested their case Friday at his trial in the death of an agitated man he choked on a subway train. Closing arguments are expected after Thanksgiving in the closely watched manslaughter case about the death of Jordan Neely , 30. The encounter between Penny, a white Marine veteran, and Neely, a homeless Black man with mental health and drug problems, has been drawn into U.S. political divides over race, public safety and cities’ ability to handle mental illness and social ills. Penny, 26, has pleaded not guilty. Many criminal defendants don't take the stand, and juries are routinely instructed that they cannot hold defendants' silence — a constitutional right — against them. One of Penny’s lawyers, Daniel Kenniff, noted after court that jurors did hear from Penny, in the form of his recorded statements to police minutes and hours after he put Neely in a chokehold. “Virtually everything he said then is consistent with credible testimony of his fellow passengers," Kenniff said. Penny told police that he wrapped his arm around Neely's neck, took him to the floor and “put him out” because he was angrily throwing things and making threatening comments. Penny said on police video that he hadn't wanted to injure Neely but rather to keep him from hurting anyone else. A number of other passengers testified that they were scared of Neely and relieved that Penny grabbed hold of him. A man who later stepped in and held down Neely's arms, however, told jurors that he urged Penny to let go but that the veteran kept choking Neely for a time. Prosecutors say Penny meant to protect people but recklessly used too much force, overlooking Neely's humanity and making no effort to spare his life. City medical examiners ruled that the chokehold killed Neely. A pathologist hired by Penny's defense disputed that finding . Prosecutors, defense lawyers and the judge are set to meet Monday to hash out jury instructions. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Daniel Penny doesn't testify as his defense rests in subway chokehold trialIn the not so distant future, both China and the United States , triggering the most significant global crisis since World War Two. Tensions between the two global superpowers have been steadily escalating, as Beijing prepares its military . In response, Washington’s generals have been steeling themselves for a fight, devising new war-fighting strategies and building new military alliances. While we’ve not yet reached the stage of a “hot war” just yet, is well and truly underway. On Tuesday, China retaliated against US chip export curbs by banning shipments of materials critical to the production of weapons in the other direction. The commerce ministry in Beijing announced the export of “dual-use” items related to gallium, germanium, antimony and superhard materials to the US had been suspended. Most commonly the materials are like solar panels, batteries and semiconductors. But they also play a role in the production of key military hardware, including missiles, communications systems and armour-piercing bullets. On Monday, Washington announced restrictions on the export of critical semiconductor manufacturing tools and a ban on shipments of advanced high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which are used in artificial intelligence systems, to China. Antimony is the material that is likely to be looked at most closely. The lesser-known heavy metal is used for all manner of military production, from basic ammunition, night-vision goggles to infrared-guided missiles and nuclear weapons. The technologies, especially missiles, are expected to be key in any . Last year, China accounted for 48 per cent of the globally mined antimony, creating the risk of shortages elsewhere around the world if exports are shut down. “Everyone will dig in their backyard to find antimony. Many countries will try to find antimony deposits,” an anonymous metals trader in Europe told the Reuters news agency, highlighting the material’s importance. But crucially for China, the export ban gives its leaders the chance to evaluate just how reliant the US is on its supply of the material. According to figures for 2023, 63 per cent of the 22,000 tons of antimony imported by the US came from China. If there are to be any more exports heading in the direction of Washington, Beijing will sign off on permissions. This will hand the Chinese Communist Party indirect information on what industries in the US are most reliant on the materials leaving the country. It could also be seen as a move to hamper US weapons production at a time because of wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. If those shortages are not addressed, it could prove fatal for Washington in an . It is unlikely that the US will be able to replace China as its principal supplier of antimony, considering that Russia is the world’s second-largest producer of the material. Like many Western countries, the US is scouring the world for new supplies of these rare materials. But this process is slow, and means is outpacing US efforts at a rate of five times faster. In a war game carried out by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the US launched 5,000 missiles in the first three weeks of a conflict with China. “In every iteration of the war game, the United States expanded its inventory of long-range anti-ship missiles within the of the conflict, creating a critical problem of ‘empty bins’,” the think tank wrote in a subsequent report. Beijing’s latest restrictions were introduced in response to policies enforced by Joe Biden, the outgoing US president, who is considered a moderate when it comes to challenging China. Relations are only expected to deteriorate when Donald Trump starts his second term in the White House on Jan 21. The Republican president-elect has said he will on goods arriving from China. China has vowed to hit back with its own counter-measures, including even more restrictions on shipments of rare and critical materials. What Mr Trump does when he takes over will be crucial to narrowing the growing military production gap ahead of what could be an armed conflict between the two superpowers.China curbs exports of key chipmaking components to US