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Independent MP Kylea Tink has announced she will step down from federal politics at the next election after the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) abolished her seat of North Sydney. Ms Tink made the announcement on Saturday, months after AEC presiding member Susan Kenny announced they would retire the North Sydney seat and modify the boundaries of nine electoral divisions at the 2025 federal election. The Independent MP has held the seat since 2022 - which includes Australia’s third largest business district made up of professional services, property, wholesale and retail industries. Ms Tink, the former chief executive officer of the McGrath Foundation, said she has not decided what she will do next, but was fully behind the community independent movement and believed it achieved better results in parliament. “The results of any parliament are better when you have multiple voices around the decisions that need to be made,” she said. “When it comes to 2025 there are 20 communities across the country now that have a community independent candidate identified and have already launched.” Ms Tink has thrown her support behind independent Warringah MP Zali Steggall and community independent candidate Nicolette Boele, who will run for the newly gazetted seat of Bradfield. The electorate is made up of three local government areas in northern Sydney including Ku-ring-gai, North Sydney and Willoughby. Ms Tink said Ms Beole ran in 2022 and brought that seat so close and has been committed to the community for the last few years. “I’m really excited to see what she can achieve in the 2025 election.” Originally published as Independent MP Kylea Tink to step down at the 2025 election after AEC abolished her seat of North SydneyPRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) — When the referee whistled for the free kick just outside the area, Atletico Madrid forward Julián Álvarez quickly picked up the ball and moved in position to take the shot. “When I saw the free kick, I told Rodri (Rodrigo De Paul) that I felt confident with the shot,” Álvarez said. “And it was a great goal.” Álvarez, Atletico's main signing in the offseason , has not been lacking confidence lately. The Argentina forward curled in the free kick shot in the 15th minute for the first of his two goals in the team’s 6-0 rout of Brest in the Champions League on Tuesday — the team’s biggest ever away win in European competitions. “We'll keep rotating who takes the free kicks,” said Álvarez, who also found the net in the 59th. It was Álvarez’s seventh goal in the last 10 matches, and third in his last three games across all competitions. The 24-year-old had a slow start to his first season with Atletico, scoring twice in 10 matches. “It was a matter of time before we started connecting well with each other,” said Álvarez, who joined Atletico after two seasons at Manchester City. “We have to stay on this path to keep improving.” Ángel Correa also scored two goals for Atletico, with Marcos Llorente and Antoine Griezmann adding one each. “We know that in this format of the competition we need to keep adding the three points and scoring goals," Álvarez said. "It's important to get the points and the goals.” Atletico was sitting in 13th place in the 36-team league standings. AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Buffalo Bills look to remain perfect post-bye under Sean McDermott (Post-Week 12 power rankings)EXCLUSIVE: Director Matt Tyrnauer is doing a rapid update of his new documentary Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid to reflect Donald Trump’s win in the presidential election. Deadline has learned the filmmaker quickly assembled a crew to shoot a new interview with the famed Democratic political consultant to include as a coda to the film. “The election wasn’t decided when we finished the film just a few weeks ago,” Tyrnauer explains. “We now know the outcome and I felt that I wanted to put a period at the end of the sentence.” The recut version is now streaming on Max. “There was a reshuffling of a few elements that are almost invisible,” Tyrnauer says. “Then we give the outcome the election, and then James gives what is almost like his homily — or, battle cry is maybe a better term — which is we’re an opposition party... And that brings the film up today.” The Democratic Party today is somewhere in the process of coming to terms with a decisive Electoral College loss that saw President-Elect Trump win all the battleground states, albeit by a relatively slim margin. “When you lose, everything is a mistake,” Carville says by way of an election postmortem. In the film, he is seen sounding the alarm that Pres. Biden was heading for a resounding defeat to Trump. It was in large part because of his influence in the Party (as well as a shove from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi) that the incumbent president got out of the race. But crucially, Carville advocated for some form of mini-primary to determine who should be the Democratic Party nominee to replace Biden. That didn’t happen. After Biden bowed out, VP Kamala Harris almost immediately became the presumptive nominee. “The amount of talent in the party is just staggering, it’s breathtaking. And I thought if we could get them out on the road in a kind of dog-and-pony show or town hall or something like that, it would create excitement and people would see that Democrats are more than just an old urban party,” Carville tells Deadline exclusively. “A sports metaphor I use is we had .350 hitters all over AAA [baseball], but no one ever got to see ’em. And had Harris gone through that process, it might’ve made her a better general election candidate.” As became apparent at the polls, this was a “change” election, meaning a majority of voters wanted a sharp shift from the status quo. “The only person we could pick that really couldn’t give ’em anything different was Harris,” Carville comments. He points to a telling appearance Harris made on The View when she was given an opportunity to articulate a different vision from Biden’s. “When you go on The View to say what would you do different than Biden, and you say, ‘I can’t think of anything...’ Loyalty is great, but loyalty does not trump winning.” Carville, who played a definitive role getting Bill Clinton elected president in 1992, in large part by insisting the campaign stick to the message, “It’s the economy, stupid,” praised Tyrnauer’s choice of a name for the documentary. “I love the title because the most exalted thing you can do in politics is win the election. That’s it. Everything else is secondary. It is secondary to that one single objective.” Now that it’s Trump who has accomplished that objective, he’s announcing choices for his cabinet that have raised alarms among Democrats, and in some cases Republicans too. Matt Gaetz dropped out of the running for attorney general after several Republican senators indicated they would not back a man who has been accused of sexual misconduct. But allegations of that nature apply to several other Trump cabinet picks, including Pete Hegseth, his choice to run the Defense Department. As the Washington Post reported, Hegseth “paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault as part of a nondisclosure agreement, though he maintained that their encounter was consensual, according to a statement from his lawyer.” Linda McMahon, Trump’s pick for Education Secretary who was formerly a senior executive with World Wrestling Entertainment, is facing a lawsuit accusing her and her husband Vince McMahon of criminal negligence in the alleged sexual abuse of children who worked as “ring boys” for the WWE (Linda McMahon has denied the allegation). Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tapped by Trump to run the Department of Health and Human Services, faces a sexual misconduct allegation of his own. “A woman who babysat for Kennedy and his second wife told Vanity Fair magazine that he groped her in the late 1990s, when she was 23,” the Associated Press reported. She told USA Today earlier this week of another incident in which she said a shirtless RJK Jr. asked her to rub lotion on his body. Multi-billionaire Elon Musk, tapped by Trump to run a proposed “Department of Government Efficiency,” has been sued for alleged sexual harassment by employees of his SpaceX rocket company. SpaceX reportedly settled a separate suit in 2018 that accused him of requesting an erotic massage from a flight attendant. “Now Bobby Kennedy’s babysitter has come forward,” Carville exclaims. “There’s so many things that these people are, but they’re just a pack of creepy perverts is the picture that’s emerging here. It really is. Everybody has things in their past, but Jesus, the number of sexual crimes — remember, Trump was convicted and found liable in a court of law, of which the judge said, by any definition, he raped that woman [E. Jean Carroll].” Carville continues, “Sometimes accountability takes a while. I’m as distressed as anybody is about the lack of it now. But maybe it’ll come late. I don’t know. I have to hope. What can I do? I don’t have any choice.” Tyrnauer describes Trump’s cabinet picks as going “beyond farce into tragedy. It’s hard to know which to pick — tragedy or farce.” He adds, “I think one thing that is helpful about documentary film, at least the ones that I am intent on making, is that they’re the opposite of the so-called ‘hot take.’ And as horrified as I am by these cabinet choices, we live in the world of the tweet and the hot take and I think Trump is very good at manipulating that type of media. So, I think transmitting a more considered message and ideas for how to prevail on important political issues is something that this film does pretty effectively.” Tyrnauer lauds his protagonist for having the courage to tell the Democratic Party leadership that Biden was going to lose and action needed to be taken to avoid electoral disaster. Ultimately, Harris didn’t win, but one could argue a larger political catastrophe was avoided by switching to a more viable candidate (the balance of power in the House of Representatives remains very tight; Republicans took control of the Senate, but Democrats won several very closely contested races). “If you don’t believe James can see around corners, watch the movie and see him seeing around corners and calling it right at almost every turn,” Tyrnauer insists. “And I think we should keep listening to him. I think if more people see the movie and he continues to be a voice that people turn to and listen to, I think we can only be better off.” Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid has qualified for Oscar consideration this year. The original, pre-recut version of the film aired twice on CNN; A TVOD and PVOD release of the updated doc will be announced in the future.Apartment building where viral video fueled Trump's claims about city likely will close next year
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Aries Daily Horoscope Today, December 07, 2024 predicts prosperity on the cardsThe co-hosts of Fox & Friends Weekend were faced with a tricky job on Sunday morning — navigating the feud that has broken out amongst supporters of President-elect Donald Trump over H-1B visas for highly skilled immigrants, which significantly escalated on Saturday. “America First” acolytes on the far-right want stricter, draconian immigration measures applied to both illegal and legal migrants when Trump takes office in January. Among the loudest voices pushing this argument are far-right activist Laura Loomer , and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon . In contrast, the Silicon Valley “tech bro” contingent led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy , which backed his election, wants better legal immigration routes such as the H-1B program to fill skills gaps in key sectors such as engineering, science, and technology. Yesterday afternoon, the president-elect came out in support of Musk and the latter argument, saying he had always been a “believer” in the program and had employees at his properties in the country on H-1B visas. During the campaign and in his first term he had been against it , so the about-face has confused some of his core supporters. This schism in MAGAworld, before Trump even re-enters the White House, is awkward leaving Fox News tip-toeing through something of a minefield, as Mediaite reported. Co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy noted that the president-elect coming out in favor of the H-1B visa “left a lot of people confused.” Trying to rationalize support for skilled worker visas, her colleague Charlie Hurt remarked: “The idea of having a program that allows an Elon Musk to come into the country, I don’t think anybody has a problem with that, and certainly Donald Trump doesn’t have a problem with that. The problem with the program is that it’s been so abused and turned into a system where it is designed for big tech employers to get, maybe not cheap labor, but cheaper labor.” Will Cain, who co-hosted with the two, added: “We’re not an algorithm. We’re not a company. We are a country. We’re a nation. We are a people. And that purpose of that nation is to serve Americans.” Campos-Duffy then suggested that tech CEOs such as Musk might have to pay American tech workers more attractive wages and pay themselves a little less if the talent pool was smaller through a more restrictive immigration policy. “If you limit those visas and only bring in the Elon Musks and the really exceptional people, what you’re going to see is that there’s a tighter market and the wages will have to be — you’ll have to pay wages that young math students like my son-in-law, who is married and has to support a family, would want to be part of,” she said. “And that may mean, guys, guess what? Fox News alert! It may mean that big tech bosses make a little less money and they have to pay their workers a little better. I think all of us would be okay with that.” Sounding remarkably Campos-Duffy added that the federal government should invest in educational opportunities in underserved communities to train the next generation to take the jobs currently being filled by skilled immigrants. As deft as the presenters might have tried to be in tackling what is a thorny issue, Steve Bannon was having none of it. The former Trump adviser and host of the WarRoom podcast took to the social media platform Gettr, and referencing the Mediaite article, wrote: “Stop with the ‘Tip-Toe’...” “Choose a Side: Either Stand with American Citizen Workers or with Globalist Elitist Tech Oligarchs Who Feast on Foreign Indentured Servants ...Simple.”
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Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter's in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter's path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That's a very narrow way of assessing them," Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn't suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he'd be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter's tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter's lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor's race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama's segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival's endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King's daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters' early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan's presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan's Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.
New Delhi Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday said disinformation, misinformation, mal-information, and fake news have such power that they are always ready to tear the social fabric with the use of the latest technology. Delivering the 37th Intelligence Bureau Centenary Endowment Lecture in New Delhi, Shah said, “Divisive forces are still active in the country today. Disinformation, misinformation, mal-information, and fake news have such power that they are always ready to disrupt the social fabric of our society with the help of new technology.” Addressing the gathering, the Union minister said that attacks on critical infrastructure, cyberattacks, information warfare, psychological warfare, chemical warfare, and the radicalization of youth have emerged as intensified challenges. Also read | Insult to Ambedkar: Congress to submit memo seeking Amit Shah’s removal Shah also stressed the need to develop an intelligence coordination strategy with friendly nations to detect anti-India organisations and networks. “He said merely sharing information is not enough; we must also ensure that we receive vital intelligence from them. He highlighted the need to take prompt and decisive action against hoax calls and fake emails, as enemies of the country are successfully creating an atmosphere of fear and terror among the public through these means,” a Press Information Bureau(PIB) statement quoted the minister as saying. He said that till five years back, the country faced three long-standing issues, Northeast, left-wing extremism (LWE), and Kashmir, which challenged the country’s peace, law and order, security, and future. Shah said if challenges such as left-wing extremism, terrorism, organised crime, divisive forces, communalism, narcotics, and antisocial elements are to be fully controlled, ensuring the security of society is of paramount importance. Also read | Ukraine drones strike buildings in heart of Russia in 9/11 style attack The aviation sector has been severely hit by hundreds of hoax calls about bombs in airplanes and airports. While a few cases in which the calls were made by students or those without any terror links, have been solve, the probe has hit road block in majority of the cases because the calls were made using virtual private networks. According to government data, 680 hoax calls were received, in October alone, impacting tens of thousands of passengers and causing losses to the airlines and operators. Such hoax calls about bombs have also been received at schools, malls and hospitals too. A government spokesperson, Shah’s address during the lecture also spoke on the other challenges. “He pointed out that challenges such as using misinformation to provoke separatism, communal riots, drug trade via social media, cyber espionage, and cryptocurrency-related issues have now emerged as unique challenges. He emphasized that in order to tackle these challenges, we must prepare our agencies with new methods, stepping beyond traditional approaches. He stressed that we need to think out of the box to find solutions, because as the challenges evolve, our strategies must also change,” the PIB statement said. Also read | CISF updates protocols to deal with hoax threat menace targeting airlines The home minister in his address said that till five years ago, the country faced three long-standing issues - the Northeast, Left-Wing Extremism, and Kashmir, that challenged its peace, law and order, security, and future. “He added that due to the strict policies and tough decisions of the Modi government, the upcoming generations no longer need to worry about these three threats, as we have achieved almost decisive victory over them. He mentioned that violent incidents in these three regions have dropped by 70%, and fatalities have reduced by approximately 86%...... He pointed out that with just one click of a computer, any country’s critical and digital infrastructure can be damaged. He stressed that we need to broaden the Intelligence Bureau’s concept of security and prepare for the challenges of the future,” the PIB statement said. The Intelligence Bureau is responsible for the country’s internal security. The current IB chief is Tapan Deka, a 1988 batch IPS officer. Unlike other forces, the IB is a shadow organisation and does not speak to the press or give statements but works in the background. The home minister during this work reiterated the importance of the IB, its work over the years, and its tradition of sacrifice and dedication—where credit is often passed on to others—have kept the country safe today. The IB does not have the power to arrest or investigate and always passes on its tip-offs to other agencies. “By identifying and eliminating threats in a timely manner, the intelligence ecosystem helps maintain trust and stability within society.... if we are to fully control challenges such as Naxalism, terrorism, organized crime, divisive forces, communalism, narcotics, and antisocial elements, ensuring the security of society is of paramount importance,” Shah said according to the IB statement.In an appearance on the 'Gil's Arena' podcast, former NBA shooting guard Rashad McCants revealed why Russell Westbrook has a claim to being the greatest point guard ever. According to McCants, Westbrook is statistically ahead of the field even if he has yet to win a title. "By that metric, it would make Westbrook the best guard of All-Time. Seeing that the double-double with points and assists is the one thing that is valued as much as anything from the point guard position. How many double-doubles can you get? Can you average a double-double? But Westbrook averaged a triple-double at the point guard position. He did it four times at the point guard position. So how can Westbrook not be all the way up here at 200 triple-doubles?" For most point guards in NBA history, they were judged based on their assists and points. As the primary playmaker on the floor, point guards are responsible for running the offense and all of the best players at that position have excelled in these areas of the court. Oscar Roberston was the first one to set a whole new standard for point guards after he averaged a triple-double in the 1961-62 season. It was an impressive feat at the time and he was the only point guard to pull it off for the next 40+ years. In the case of Russell Westbrook , despite impressive numbers, his standing in NBA history is highly contested among the community. After being drafted 4th overall in 2008, Westbrook rose to stardom on the Thunder where he averaged 23.0 points, 8.4 assists, and 7.0 rebounds per game on 43.4% shooting. His first triple-double season was in the 2016-17 campaign when he averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 10.4 assists per game on 42.5% shooting. He won the MVP that season but it was just a taste of what was coming. Westbrook averaged a triple-double for the next two seasons after that and then once again during the 2020-21 campaign. He's the only point guard in NBA history to average a triple-double in four separate seasons, meaning that he's managed to do something that nobody else has done at his position. Unfortunately for Westbrook, his resume doesn't quite stack up to other NBA legends. Despite 16 years in the league and a stint with six different teams, Russ has yet to win a championship and he hasn't been back to the Finals since 2012. As good as the former MVP is at stuffing the stat sheet, his case as the greatest point guard ever falls apart when you consider his lack of playoff success. Westbrook's flaws as a shooter and decision-maker seemingly always get exposed in the postseason and it's limited the impact he's had on the floor. This season, at 36, Westbrook has one last chance to find his place on a championship team but the results have been mixed so far. With averages of 10.8 points, 6.0 assists, and 4.5 rebounds per game this season, he's playing his role with humility but the Nuggets will need more if they are to move up in the standings. This article first appeared on Fadeaway World and was syndicated with permission.
Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow started the offseason by emphasizing the team's need to bolster the starting pitching staff. The front office has followed through with multiple noteworthy moves before the New Year. Boston's biggest deal thus far was in exchange for prospects Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery, Chase Meidroth, and Wikelman Gonzalez. Crochet gives the Red Sox a bona fide ace, something the rotation has lacked for the last several seasons. In free agency, the Red Sox have signed southpaw Patrick Sandoval and righty Walker Buehler. Both veterans come with injury concerns but add tremendous upside to Boston's previously lackluster rotation. So, what could the Red Sox' full starting rotation look like in 2025? Who could be the odd man out? Here's a closer look at the projected group: If Crochet proves more than a one-year wonder, he'll give the Red Sox a legitimate Cy Young contender atop their rotation. The 25-year-old has flat-out filthy stuff, including one of the best fastballs in the sport which averages 97.2 mph and tops out around 100 mph. A former reliever, Crochet took the hill 32 times last year during his first season in the White Sox rotation. He posted a 3.58 ERA (2.69 FIP) with 209 strikeouts and only 33 walks across 146 innings for the 121-loss ballclub. Chicago lightened the southpaw's workload in the second half of the campaign as he missed the entire 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery and pitched only 12.2 innings in 2023. Fear not though, Sox fans. Crochet doesn't expect to require an innings limit in 2025. “In terms of how long my leash will be, I hope to not even be wearing a collar come second half next year,” Crochet told reporters during his introductory press conference. Houck wasn't even expected to be part of Boston's 2024 rotation, but he found his way in following Lucas Giolito and Garrett Whitlock's season-ending injuries. The 28-year-old stepped up, emerging as the Red Sox' de facto ace with a 3.12 ERA and 154 strikeouts in 30 starts (178.2 innings). His efforts earned him his first career All-Star nod. If Houck can duplicate his 2024 numbers, he'll give the Red Sox' new-look starting rotation a formidable 1-2 punch. The Red Sox to a one-year, $21.05 million contract on Monday. It's a low-risk, high-reward pickup for a pitching staff that desperately needed some star power. Buehler is a two-time All-Star with plenty of postseason experience, including World Series titles with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020 and 2024. He placed fourth in Cy Young award voting in 2021 but had a down season in 2022 before undergoing Tommy John surgery that forced him to miss all of 2023. In 2024, Buehler struggled in the regular season with a 5.38 ERA across 16 starts. He found his groove in the playoffs, however, posting a 3.60 ERA (2.77 FIP) in four appearances (three starts). He didn't allow a run in his six innings pitched during the World Series. If healthy, Buehler adds a ton of upside to Boston's talented rotation. He's a fan favorite in L.A. and will become one in Boston if he can help end the club's postseason drought. Bello enters his fourth big-league season still looking to break out. The former top prospect has shown flashes of brilliance but has yet to live up to the lofty expectations that led Boston to s before the 2024 season. While his 2024 numbers leave plenty to be desired, Bello was one of three Sox starters to make 30 starts. With injury concerns throughout the rest of the rotation, he'll be counted on to do the same in 2025. Boston will hope Bello can pick up where he left off in the second half of the 2024 season, when he posted a 3.00 ERA in August and a 3.55 ERA in September. It's unclear whether Giolito will be ready for Opening Day, but he joins the list until further notice. The veteran righty signed with Boston last offseason but didn't make an appearance in 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Assuming he enters 2025 without any setbacks, Giolito gives the Red Sox another high-upside starter. The 30-year-old was an All-Star in 2019 and earned Cy Young votes in each season from 2019 to 2021. Giolito's biggest bugaboo is the long ball. He allowed a whopping 41 home runs during a rough 2023 season spent with the White Sox, Los Angeles Angels, and Cleveland Guardians. Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey will be tasked with helping him cut that number significantly in 2025. Crawford looked like the Red Sox' "ace" to start the 2024 season but eventually regressed to the mean, finishing the year with a 4.36 ERA and 4.65 FIP. He led the majors with 34 homers allowed. The way Crawford ended the campaign may have cost him a spot in the rotation for 2025. With the additions of Crochet and Buehler, plus Giolito's return from injury, someone has to be the odd man out. Don't be surprised if Crawford is traded before Opening Day. If not, he could be moved to the bullpen and used sparingly as a spot-starter. Starting pitching depth appears to be a strength for Boston as we look ahead to 2025. There are several options if any of the current pieces of the injury-prone rotation go down. Richard Fitts, a top prospect acquired from the New York Yankees in last year's Alex Verdugo deal, highlights the list. The 25-year-old notched a 1.74 ERA across his first four big-league starts. Winckowski has primarily pitched out of the bullpen but made six spot starts for Boston last season. The Red Sox will hope to use him solely as a reliever in 2025, but he's another arm they can turn to if necessary. Criswell was a pleasant surprise after signing a $1 million contract with the club last offseason. The 28-year-old posted a 4.08 ERA in 26 appearances (18 starts). Whitlock should be used out of the bullpen in his return from an elbow injury, but he could step up as an occasional spot starter. He had a 1.96 ERA in four starts before having his 2024 campaign end prematurely. Priester was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates at the 2024 trade deadline in exchange for infield prospect Nick Yorke. A former top prospect himself, Priester only adds to the rotation's high upside despite entering 2025 with an uncertain role. Sandoval is this year's James Paxton for Boston. The 28-year-old is expected to miss the first half of the 2025 season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. The Red Sox on Friday. Over six seasons with the Angels, he enjoyed his most productive campaign in 2022 as he posted a 2.91 ERA with 15 strikeouts in 148.2 innings. He has a 4.01 ERA across 107 games (100 starts).
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