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download online games Bright sunshine can be a gift to the photographer, creating deep shadows and contrast that accentuate shapes and forms and lend your images a vivid intensity. But the flat, gray light of an overcast day has its own special ambiance and mood that can be a better fit for more contemplative scenes. There’s nothing like bright sun shining in a clear blue sky to inspire the urge to grab your camera and head outdoors to take pictures. By contrast, nothing so reinforces the urge to stay indoors and hunker down on a comfy couch as the bleak, windswept damp of a gray, overcast day. There’s a natural tendency to view such weather as doubly disagreeable for outdoor photography, offering, as it does, the potential misery of getting cold and wet for the reward of struggling to create compelling images in a flat, unforgiving light that seems to suck the texture out of every scene. But this perspective may underscore a failure of the imagination—an unwillingness to step outside of a creative comfort zone that could cost the photographer some wonderful photographic opportunities. That is the theme of the thoughtful, personal perspective presented in this new video from . This video really resonated with me, as I have realized a great deal of enjoyment and creative opportunity in my own photography, shooting in the flat, gray light of the kind of overcast days that it describes. There is a sort of quiet, subtle, and understated stillness to this light that can really complement some subjects, the broken-down and abandoned farm buildings featured in the video being a perfect example. This video serves as a very gentle exhortation to reconsider the often-overlooked allure of the subtle light that a cloudy, overcast day can bring to your photography. It nicely demonstrates how a willingness to reframe your photographic perspective can yield new creative opportunities that you might have previously missed. Gordon Webster is a professional photographer based in New England. He has worked with clients from a wide range of sectors, including retail, publishing, music, independent film production, technology, hospitality, law, energy, agriculture, construction, manufacturing, medical, veterinary, and education.NEW YORK (AP) — Same iconic statue, very different race. With two-way star Travis Hunter of Colorado and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty leading the field, these certainly aren't your typical Heisman Trophy contenders. Sure, veteran quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel from top-ranked Oregon and Cam Ward of No. 15 Miami are finalists for college football's most prestigious award as well, but the 90th annual ceremony coming up Saturday night at Lincoln Center in New York City offers a fresh flavor this year. To start with, none of the four are from the powerhouse Southeastern Conference, which has produced four of the past five Heisman winners — two each from Alabama and LSU. Jeanty, who played his home games for a Group of Five team on that peculiar blue turf in Idaho more than 2,100 miles from Manhattan, is the first running back even invited to the Heisman party since 2017. After leading the country with 2,497 yards rushing and 29 touchdowns, he joined quarterback Kellen Moore (2010) as the only Boise State players to be named a finalist. “The running back position has been overlooked for a while now," said Jeanty, who plans to enter the 2025 NFL draft. "There's been a lot of great running backs before me that should have been here in New York, so to kind of carry on the legacy of the running back position I think is great. ... I feel as if I'm representing the whole position.” With the votes already in, all four finalists spent Friday conducting interviews and sightseeing in the Big Apple. They were given custom, commemorative watches to mark their achievement. “I'm not a watch guy, but I like it,” said Hunter, flashing a smile. The players also took photos beneath the massive billboards in Times Square and later posed with the famous Heisman Trophy, handed out since 1935 to the nation's most outstanding performer. Hunter, the heavy favorite, made sure not to touch it yet. A dominant player on both offense and defense who rarely comes off the field, the wide receiver/cornerback is a throwback to generations gone by and the first full-time, true two-way star in decades. On offense, he had 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns this season to help the 20th-ranked Buffaloes (9-3) earn their first bowl bid in four years. On defense, he made four interceptions, broke up 11 passes and forced a critical fumble that secured an overtime victory against Baylor. Hunter played 688 defensive snaps and 672 more on offense — the only Power Four conference player with 30-plus snaps on both sides of the ball, according to Colorado research. Call him college football’s answer to baseball unicorn Shohei Ohtani. “I think I laid the ground for more people to come in and go two ways,” Hunter said. “It starts with your mindset. If you believe you can do it, then you'll be able to do it. And also, I do a lot of treatment. I keep up with my body. I get a lot of recovery.” Hunter is Colorado's first Heisman finalist in 30 years. The junior from Suwanee, Georgia, followed flashy coach Deion Sanders from Jackson State, an HBCU that plays in the lower level FCS, to the Rocky Mountains and has already racked up a staggering combination of accolades this week, including The Associated Press player of the year. Hunter also won the Walter Camp Award as national player of the year, along with the Chuck Bednarik Award as the top defensive player and the Biletnikoff Award for best wide receiver. “It just goes to show that I did what I had to do,” Hunter said. Next, he'd like to polish off his impressive hardware collection by becoming the second Heisman Trophy recipient in Buffaloes history, after late running back Rashaan Salaam in 1994. “I worked so hard for this moment, so securing the Heisman definitely would set my legacy in college football,” Hunter said. “Being here now is like a dream come true.” Jeanty carried No. 8 Boise State (12-1) to a Mountain West Conference championship that landed the Broncos the third seed in this year's College Football Playoff. They have a first-round bye before facing the SMU-Penn State winner in the Fiesta Bowl quarterfinal on New Year’s Eve. The 5-foot-9, 215-pound junior from Jacksonville, Florida, won the Maxwell Award as college football’s top player and the Doak Walker Award for best running back. Jeanty has five touchdown runs of at least 70 yards and has rushed for the fourth-most yards in a season in FBS history — topping the total of 115 teams this year. He needs 132 yards to break the FBS record set by Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders at Oklahoma State in 1988. In a pass-happy era, however, Jeanty is trying to become the first running back to win the Heisman Trophy since Derrick Henry for Alabama nine years ago. In fact, quarterbacks have snagged the prize all but four times this century. Gabriel, an Oklahoma transfer, led Oregon (13-0) to a Big Ten title in its first season in the league and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. The steady senior from Hawaii passed for 3,558 yards and 28 touchdowns with six interceptions. His 73.2% completion rate ranks second in the nation, and he's attempting to join quarterback Marcus Mariota (2014) as Ducks players to win the Heisman Trophy. “I think all the memories start to roll back in your mind,” Gabriel said. Ward threw for 4,123 yards and led the nation with a school-record 36 touchdown passes for the high-scoring Hurricanes (10-2) after transferring from Washington State. The senior from West Columbia, Texas, won the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Year award and is looking to join QBs Vinny Testaverde (1986) and Gino Torretta (1992) as Miami players to go home with the Heisman. “I just think there's a recklessness that you have to play with at the quarterback position,” Ward said. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire and fellow entrepreneur and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer's comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." Musk and Ramaswamy, , weighed in, defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment. Musk, the world's richest man who has , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump's movement but his stance on the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry's need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent," he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump's own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump's businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country" and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country," he told the “All-In" podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump's budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty give this year's Heisman Trophy ceremony a different vibeMcCray scores 21 as Jacksonville knocks off Siena 75-64

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is expected to announce that it will send $1.25 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Friday, as the Biden administration pushes to get before leaving office on Jan. 20. The large package of aid includes a significant amount of munitions, including for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and the HAWK air defense system. It also will provide Stinger missiles and 155 mm- and 105 mm artillery rounds, officials said. The officials, who said they expect the announcement to be made on Monday, spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public. The new aid comes as Russia has launched a barrage of attacks against Ukraine’s power facilities in recent days, although Ukraine has said it intercepted a significant number of the missiles and drones. Russian and Ukrainian forces are also still in a bitter battle around the Russian border region of Kursk, where Moscow has to help reclaim territory taken by Ukraine. Earlier this month, senior defense officials acknowledged that that the all of the remaining $5.6 billion in Pentagon weapons and equipment stocks passed by Congress for Ukraine before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in. Trump has talked about getting some type of negotiated settlement between Ukraine and Russia, and spoken about . Many U.S. and European leaders are concerned that it might result in a poor deal for Ukraine and they worry that he won’t provide Ukraine with all the weapons funding approved by Congress. The aid in the new package is in presidential drawdown authority, which allows the Pentagon to take weapons off the shelves and send them quickly to Ukraine. This latest assistance would reduce the remaining amount to about $4.35 billion. Officials have said they hope that an influx of aid will help strengthen Ukraine’s hand, should Zelenskyy decide it’s time to negotiate. One senior defense official said that while the U.S. will continue to provide weapons to Ukraine until Jan. 20, there may well be funds remaining that will be available for the incoming Trump administration to spend. According to the Pentagon, there is also about $1.2 billion remaining in longer-term funding through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which is used to pay for weapons contracts that would not be delivered for a year or more. Officials have said the administration anticipates releasing all of that money before the end of the calendar year. If the new package is included, the U.S. has provided more than $64 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.

For many people, this time of year is all about the shopping. And there's a fair chance many feel less than joyful about the prospect. If fulfilling your lengthy list feels overwhelming, learning what brain science and evolutionary psychology say about shopping and gift-giving might help you understand exactly why you're stressed – and even point you toward a healthier, happier holiday season. Our reactions are encoded into our nervous system, said Dr. Beth Frates, a part-time associate professor in the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School in Boston. "By understanding these brain responses, people can develop strategies to manage stress better, such as setting realistic expectations, focusing on mindfulness and simplifying holiday preparations," said Frates, who also is the immediate past president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. The idea of exchanging gifts at this time of year can be traced back to pagan solstice celebrations. But the drive to share with another is as old as humanity itself, said Dr. Diego Guevara Beltran, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at the University of Arizona in Tucson who studies cooperation and generosity. The science of generosity is more about survival than stocking stuffers, Guevara Beltran said. Sharing food gave early humans an evolutionary advantage. "Generosity is just one of the ways by which we can accumulate resources, be it wealth itself or friendships or work partners or more attractive, more intelligent mates," he said. Sharing with other people, Guevara Beltran said, is "a signal that communicates how much you value them, their welfare, your relationship with them." Research has shown that helping people makes us feel good. Part of that, he said, is because when someone is part of a community, they feel protected. One way this manifests is through the act of giving gifts. But to derive happiness from gift-giving, the giver needs to feel both that it was not an obligation and that it was effective, according to the 2019 World Happiness Report . That means it could be stressful to be in a culture where gift-giving feels mandatory, or if we can't see that a gift helped someone, Guevara Beltran speculated. It also might be stressful if gift-giving becomes a competition to show that you care about somebody more than the others around them. Our brains on shopping Stressful shopping can cause several physiological responses to kick in, Frates said. First is the "fight or flight" reaction that comes with stress. The release of chemicals that increase our heart rate, raise our blood pressure and intensify our breathing evolved to give us bursts of energy to escape danger. Frates said that while holiday stressors are not life-threatening, they can still trigger the stress response. The pressure to stay within budget could create a sense of scarcity, she said. "This taps into an evolutionary response, where the fear of losing resources like money can feel urgent and distressing." The holiday season also involves a lot of choices. "The brain has limited capacity for decision-making, and making multiple decisions can lead to decision fatigue," Frates said. "This fatigue reduces the ability to self-regulate and cope, which can lead to heightened stress responses when confronted with even minor setbacks, like a long line or out-of-stock item." The stress of needing to complete tasks within a limited time can intensify the fight-or-flight response, she said, as the brain interprets the ticking clock as a sense of urgency or threat. Meanwhile, Frates said, holiday shopping can also trigger brain chemicals that affect our feelings. "Dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward, is released when we anticipate something exciting or enjoyable, like finding a great gift or finding a good deal," she said. "This anticipation can feel rewarding even before any actual purchase is made." For some people, this dopamine boost can make shopping a relaxing experience. "It provides a temporary distraction from other stressors and allows them to focus on something positive, creating a 'holiday high,'" Frates said. For some people, that can be problematic. "When shopping becomes a way to chase that next dopamine hit, it can lead to excessive spending or impulsive purchases," she said. "This can become a trap, particularly during the holidays, when deals, sales and gift-giving pressures are everywhere." Understanding how all these processes work can help people recognize why they feel the way they do and adopt strategies to cope, Frates said. Here are some of her suggestions. 1. Start with self-care before shopping Prioritizing self-care means people can be their best selves and make good decisions, Frates said. So, "eat food that is delicious and nutritious. Get seven to nine hours of sleep. Make sure to enjoy physical activity. Take walks when you can and invite friends along. Practice stress reduction like meditation or yoga to help you calm your body and mind." Before going shopping, try taking deep breaths using stress-relieving techniques such as 4-7-8 breathing (inhale through your nose for four counts, hold for seven counts, and exhale through your mouth for eight) or box breathing (inhale through the nose for four counts, hold your breath for four, exhale for four, then hold for four). 2. Be strategic Don't shop when you're hungry, tired, lonely or stressed, Frates said. And don't start shopping 15 minutes before a store closes or a website's online deals end, she said. That's setting yourself up for triggering the fight-or-flight response. 3. Be mindful Before making a purchase, take a moment to consider whether it's truly needed or whether it's an impulsive choice. To avoid overindulging, set a specific budget or limit yourself to a couple of hours or specific shopping days. "This keeps dopamine-driven spending in check while still allowing for the enjoyable aspects of holiday shopping," Frates said. Look for post-shopping activities that provide rewards without the financial cost. That can satisfy your brain's desire for more dopamine in a healthier way. "Plan enjoyable, stress-relieving activities after shopping, like going for a walk, spending time with friends or indulging in a hobby," she said. 4. Bring a friend Not only does this support healthy social connections, Frates said, but if things start feeling stressful, "you have a buddy, and you have a support system right there for you." 5. Rethink the focus of the season "With gift-giving, we need to change mindsets in order to be able to manage the stress," Frates said. The holidays could be used to emphasize social connections, she said. "Thinking about the connection with the person and making gift-giving more about deepening the connection than anything else, I think, will really help to reduce the stress around the process," she said. So instead of scouring shops and websites for the "perfect" gift, think about making a meaningful and personal one, she suggested. It could be a poem, a painting, a song or a framed photograph that captured a special time. 6. Lessons for children It's easy to get caught up in the hunt for a hard-to-get item, Frates said. But ask yourself what the holiday means in your family's traditions. "Is it about getting that perfect gift for the child? Or is it about celebrating the meaning of that holiday?" So instead of having children ask for one specific toy, or a specific brand of clothing, teach them to leave a little leeway on their lists. "It is a good reminder to express to children that this season is about giving and sharing what we can in the best way that we can," she said, "and sometimes the exact gift is not available." Encouraging such an attitude can be a tall order, Frates said, but it's a place to start. "A simple mindset shift could be the difference between a stressful holiday shopping season or a joyful journey to find meaningful gifts for people you care about." American Heart Association News covers heart and brain health. Not all views expressed in this story reflect the official position of the American Heart Association. Copyright is owned or held by the American Heart Association, Inc., and all rights are reserved.MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The only emperor penguin known to have swum from Antarctica to Australia was released at sea 20 days after he waddled ashore on a popular tourist beach, officials said Friday. The adult male was found on Nov. 1 on Ocean Beach sand dunes in the town of Denmark in temperate southwest Australia — about 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) north of the icy waters off the Antarctic coast, the Western Australia state government said. He was released from a Parks and Wildlife Service boat on Wednesday. The boat traveled for several hours from the state’s most southerly city of Albany before the penguin was released into the Southern Ocean, but the government didn’t give the distance in its statement. He had been cared for by registered wildlife caregiver Carol Biddulph, who named him Gus after the first Roman emperor Augustus. READ MORE: Rare loggerhead turtle rescued off Victoria returned to waters off San Diego “I really didn’t know whether he was going to make it to begin with because he was so undernourished,” Biddulph said in video recorded before the bird’s release but released by the government on Friday. “I’ll miss Gus. It’s been an incredible few weeks, something I wouldn’t have missed,” she added. Biddulph said she had found from caring for other species of lone penguins that mirrors were an important part of their rehabilitation by providing a comforting sense of company. “He absolutely loves his big mirror and I think that has been crucial in his well-being. They’re social birds and he stands next to the mirror most of the time,” she said. Gus gained weight in her care, from 21.3 kilograms (47 pounds) when he was found to 24.7 kilograms (54 pounds). He stands 1 meter (39 inches) tall. A healthy male emperor penguin can weigh more than 45 kilograms (100 pounds). The largest penguin species has never been reported in Australia before, University of Western Australia research fellow Belinda Cannell said, though some had reached New Zealand, nearly all of which is further south than Western Australia. The government said with the Southern Hemisphere summer approaching, it had been time-crucial to return Gus to the ocean where he could thermoregulate. Emperor penguins have been known to cover up to 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) on foraging journeys that last up to a month, the government said.

Symbotic Announces Acquisition of OhmniLabsAn online debate over foreign workers in tech shows tensions in Trump's political coalition

Former Clovis Superintendent Says She’s Running for County Schools SuperintendentOn a painted wall outside Damascus's Mustahed Hospital are photographs of the faces of dead men. A constantly changing crowd of people examine them, squinting against the low winter sun at men who look as if they died in great pain. Noses, mouths and eye sockets are twisted, damaged and squashed. Their bodies are in the hospital, brought to the city centre from another on the outskirts of Damascus. The medics say the dead were all prisoners. A stream of wives, brothers, sisters and fathers come to the hospital looking for information. They're hoping most of all to find a body to bury. They get as close as possible to the photos looking hard for anything on the faces that they recognise. Some of them video each picture to take home for a second opinion. It is a brutal job. A few of the men had been dead for weeks judging by the way faces have decomposed. From the wall of photos, relatives go on to the mortuary. Mustahed Hospital received 35 bodies, so many that the mortuary is full and the overflow room packed with trolleys loaded with body bags. Inside the morgue, bodies were laid out on a bare concrete floor under a line of refrigerated trays. Body bags had been opened as families peered inside and opened the refrigerators. Some corpses were wrapped loosely in shrouds that had fallen away to expose faces, or tattoos or scars that could identify someone. One of the dead men was wearing a diaper. Another had sticky tape across his chest, scrawled with a number. Even as they killed him, his jailors denied him the dignity of his own name. All the bodies were emaciated. The doctors who examined them said they had signs of beating including severe bruising and multiple fractures. Dr Raghad Attar, a forensic dentist, was checking dental records left by families to try to identify bodies. She spoke calmly about how she was assembling a bank of evidence that could be used for DNA tests, then broke down when I asked her how she was coping. "You hear always that prisoners are lost for a long time, but seeing it is very painful. "I came here yesterday. It was very difficult for me. We hope the future will be better but this is very hard. I am really sorry for these families. I am very sorry for them." Tears rolled down her face when I asked her if Syria could recover from 50 years of the Assads. "I don't know. I hope so. I have the feeling that good days are coming but I want to ask all countries to help us." "Anything to help us. Anything, anything..." The families and friends coming in went silently from body to body, hoping to find some end to the pain that started when their loved ones were picked up at one of the regime's checkpoints or in a raid on their homes and thrown into the Assad's gulag. A woman called Noor, holding a facemask over her mouth and nose, said her brother was taken in 2012, when he was 28. All they had heard since was a mention in a Facebook post that he had been in the notorious Sednaya prison, where the regime left prisoners to rot for decades. "It is painful," said Noor. "At the same time, we have hope. Even if we find him between the bodies. Anything so long as he's not missing. We want to find something of him. We want to know what happened to him. We need an end to this." One couple told a doctor their son was hauled away for refusing to open his laptop for inspection. That was 12 years ago. He hasn't been heard from since. During the years I have reported from Syria I have heard many similar stories. On my phone I have a photo of the haunted face of a woman I met in July 2018 at a camp for people displaced just after the rebel stronghold of Douma in the Damascus suburbs was forced to surrender. Her son, a young teenager, disappeared after he was taken at a checkpoint by one of the intelligence agencies. More than 50 years of the Assads means 50 years of disappearances, of incarceration, of killing. It means pitiless cruelty to the prisoners, to the families trying to find them and to the Syrian people who were outside the Assad's circle of trust. At the photo wall and in the mortuary at Mustahed hospital they wanted to find what had happened, some information and if they were very lucky, a body. They needed a reckoning and many wanted revenge. Most of all, they dreamed and hoped for a life without fear. A woman at the hospital said that even though she knew Bashar al-Assad was in Russia, the regime had drilled so much fear into her that she was still terrified of what it might do. Maybe every Syrian who feels like her should go to the crag overlooking Damascus where Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, ordered the construction of a presidential palace, to check that that the monumental, marble edifice is empty. Our driver gathered his own video evidence. He took out his phone to start filming when the car turned into the palace's long ceremonial driveway. During the years of the regime, ordinary Syrians made sure they did not slow down near the palace gates in case they were arrested and thrown into prison as a threat to the president. Mobile phones stopped working as you approached the palace's security bubble. The palace looks down on Damascus, visible from most of the city. It told the people that the Assads were always present and always watching via the regime's web of intelligence agencies. The system was designed by Hafez, the first Assad president. His secret police spied on each other and spied on the people. A businessman I knew in Homs told me once that one intelligence branch approached him when he was developing a hotel, asking for the designs early in the project so they could incorporate all the listening devices they needed into the rooms. They explained it was easier than retrofitting them after the building was finished. The Assad family never lived at the palace. It was for ceremonial occasions, and upstairs there were some workaday offices. I went there a lot in 2015, to negotiate the terms of an interview with Bashar al- Assad. I had interviewed him twice before, some years before the uprising against him started in 2011. That was when he was still tantalising Syrians with talk of reform, which turned out to be lies. He was also encouraging western leaders to believe he might be separated from Iran and if not join the western camp exactly, then be persuaded that it was worth his while not to oppose it. The US, Israel and the UAE were still trying to persuade him to dump Iran in the weeks before he was forced to flee to Moscow. Now that Assad has gone, my target at the palace was an opulent villa in the grounds. I wanted to go there because it was where I met Assad for the interviews. The villa, much more luxurious than the state rooms at the palace, was built, I was told, as a private residence for the Assad family. Its floors and tables are marble, the wood is polished walnut and the chandeliers are crystal. The Assads did not like it, so it was used as a guest house and for Bashar's rare interviews. I could see why they might have preferred their existing residence, a beautiful French colonial mansion that stands behind a screen of pine trees. It feels like an aristocrat's retreat on the Riviera. Until less than two weeks ago in the souk in old Damascus you could buy fridge magnets of Bashar al-Assad and his siblings as children, playing on bikes in a garden as their indulgent parents looked on. Presumably the photo was taken on the villa's spacious, immaculate lawns. The extended Assad family treated Syria as their own personal possession, enriching themselves and buying trust with their followers at the expense of Syrians who could be thrown into jail or killed if they stepped out of line, or even if they didn't. A fighter called Ahmed, who had taken up arms against the regime in 2011, survived the rebel defeat in Damascus, and fought his way back from Idlib with the rebels of Hayat Tahrir al Sham was inspecting the way the Assads lived with his three brothers, all rebel fighters. "People were living in hell and he was in his palace," Ahmed said calmly. "He didn't care about what they were going through. He made them live in fear, hunger and humiliation. Even after we entered Damascus people would only whisper to us, because they were still afraid." I found the marble guesthouse, and walked through the walnut-panelled, marble-floored library where I had interviewed Assad when the regime was fighting for survival in February 2015. The highlight of the interview were his denials that his forces were killing civilians. He even tried to joke about it. Now, rebel fighters were on the door and patrolling the corridors. Some of the books had fallen off the library shelves, but the building was intact. I walked across to an ante room where Assad would grant 10 or 15 minutes of private conversation before the interview. He was unfailingly polite, even solicitous, enquiring about my family, and the journey to Syria. Bashar al-Assad's slightly awkward demeanour made some western observers believe he was a lightweight who might bend to pressure. In private I found him self-confident to the point of arrogance, convinced he was the all-knowing spider at the heart of the Middle East web, tracking his enemies' malign intentions and ready to strike. His father Hafez al-Assad was a kingpin of the Middle East. He was a ruthless man who built the police state that lasted for over fifty years, using fear, guile and a willingness to destroy any threat to impose stability on Syria, a country that had been a byword for violent changes of government until he seized sole power in 1970. I had the impression that Bashar wanted to be his father's son, perhaps even to outdo him. He killed many more Syrians than Hafez and broke the country to try to save the regime. But Bashar's stubbornness, refusal to reform or negotiate and his willingness to kill sealed his fate and condemned him to a last terrified drive to the airport with his wife and children on their last flight out of Syria to Moscow. In a scruffy, bustling neighbourhood not far from the grace and beauty of the old city of Damascus, I had a front row seat as some of the pressures facing Syria and its new rulers surged through an excited crowd. They had heard that the man who until less than a week ago was the local boss, the mafia-style godfather of their suburb was going to be executed. The man, known as Abu Muntaja, was one of the military intelligence officers considered responsible for the Tadamon massacre in 2013 of at least 41 local men. The crowd grew until thousands blocked the streets, delighted that a notorious regime killer was going to be executed in in front of them in the main square that he used to swagger across. The atmosphere throbbed with excitement, expectation and anger. Justice meant watching their enemy die, not just because of his crimes, but because of the boundless cruelty of the Assad regime. An elderly women called Muna Sakar, dressed in a neat coat and hat, was there to see him die as a thief as well as a killer. "He stole my house and money. Of course I want to see him dead. I would have done it myself with my own hands. But I couldn't find a way. I wanted to kill him." When rumours flew around that the execution was starting, the crowd surged back and forth, jostling for the best position, phones held high in outstretched arms for the video. No one wanted to miss a thing. When they decided the execution was happening down the street, they stampeded over fences and cars stuck in traffic to get there. In the end there was no execution, at least not yet. It was probably a rumour, that thousands wanted to be true. If Syria's new rulers do not want change to be measured in blood, they will need to control the desire for revenge. When the weight of dictatorship is lifted, powerful forces are unleashed. How Syria's new rulers deal with them will shape what comes next.Global equities retreat after ECB cuts rates; gold, oil fall

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MLB NOTESLotus Wireless Technologies (LWT) India, in collaboration with the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), has developed India's first commercial-scale Medium Voltage Solid State Transformer (SST) technology. The innovation aims to support applications such as megawatt-scale medium voltage input superfast chargers for electric vehicles (EVs). The breakthrough is poised to transform EV charging from hours to minutes. Technology demonstration and inauguration LWT demonstrated the SST technology at their Autonagar, Aganampudi plant recently. Dr. Friederich Kupzog, Head of Energy at AIT, Vienna, inaugurated the Power Electronics (PE) lab. Dr. Kupzog emphasized the significance of the technology, said: “This collaborative success highlights the synergy between India’s detailed engineering and mass manufacturing capabilities and Austria’s innovative expertise, advancing transformative and sustainable energy technologies globally.” The inauguration event was also attended by Dr Kaushik Basu, power electronics expert from the Indian Institute of Science, and Binu S. Pillai, Director R&D, LWT. Speaking about the innovation, Dr Kaushik Basu said: “This marks the beginning of medium-voltage Solid State Transformer development in the country. It is an excellent example of leveraging global partnerships between institutes and industry to create indigenous capabilities in advanced technologies.” Office Productivity Excel Essentials to Expert: Your Complete Guide By - Study At Home, Quality Education Anytime, Anywhere View Program Office Productivity Mastering Google Sheets: Unleash the Power of Excel and Advance Analysis By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Web Development 12-Factor App Methodology: Principles and Guidelines By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Entrepreneurship Validating Your Startup Idea: Steps to Ensure Market Fit By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Mastering C++ Fundamentals with Generative AI: A Hands-On By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Web Development C++ Fundamentals for Absolute Beginners By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI-Powered Python Mastery with Tabnine: Boost Your Coding Skills By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI and Analytics based Business Strategy By - Tanusree De, Managing Director- Accenture Technology Lead, Trustworthy AI Center of Excellence: ATCI View Program Finance Value and Valuation Masterclass By - CA Himanshu Jain, Ex McKinsey, Moody's, and PwC, Co - founder, The WallStreet School View Program Finance Financial Literacy for Non-Finance Executives By - CA Raja, Chartered Accountant | Financial Management Educator | Former AVP - Credit, SBI View Program Entrepreneurship Crafting a Powerful Startup Value Proposition By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Office Productivity Microsoft Word Mastery: From Beginner to Expert By - CA Raj K Agrawal, Chartered Accountant View Program Data Science MySQL for Beginners: Learn Data Science and Analytics Skills By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Web Development Intermediate C++ Skills: Master Pointers, Structures and File Stream By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Entrepreneurship Startup Fundraising: Essential Tactics for Securing Capital By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Office Productivity Zero to Hero in Microsoft Excel: Complete Excel guide 2024 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Office Productivity Advanced Excel Course - Financial Calculations & Excel Made Easy By - Anirudh Saraf, Founder- Saraf A & Associates, Chartered Accountant View Program Entrepreneurship Building Your Winning Startup Team: Key Strategies for Success By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Basics of Generative AI: Unveiling Tomorrows Innovations By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Office Productivity Mastering Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and 365 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Web Development Advanced C++ Mastery: OOPs and Template Techniques By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Marketing Performance Marketing for eCommerce Brands By - Zafer Mukeri, Founder- Inara Marketers View Program Data Analysis Animated Visualizations with Flourish Studio: Beginner to Pro By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) ChatGPT Mastery from Zero to Hero: The Complete AI Course By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Finance Tally Prime & GST Accounting: Complete Guide By - CA Raj K Agrawal, Chartered Accountant View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Master in Python Language Quickly Using the ChatGPT Open AI By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Web Development Master RESTful APIs with Python and Django REST Framework: Web API Development By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Data Science SQL for Data Science along with Data Analytics and Data Visualization By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program “The medium-voltage-based solid-state transformer jointly developed addresses the global demand for efficient, scalable solutions in fast charging, marine electrification, and aviation systems. It also reflects our commitment to make-in-India world-class solutions that drive sustainable energy transitions,” Binu S. Pillai, Director R&D, LWT, added. Nominations for ET MSME Awards are now open. The last day to apply is December 15, 2024. Click here to submit your entry for any one or more of the 22 categories and stand a chance to win a prestigious award. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )