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SUNNYVALE, Calif., Dec. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ceribell, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBLL) ("Ceribell”), a medical technology company focused on transforming the diagnosis and management of patients with serious neurological conditions, today announced that Jane Chao, Ph.D., CEO and Co-founder, will present at the upcoming 43 rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. The presentation will take place on Monday, January 13, 2025, at 7:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. Event: 43 rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference Date: Monday, January 13, 2025 Time: 7:30 a.m. PST A live and archived webcast of the presentation will be available in the "Investor Relations" section of the Ceribell website at https://investors.ceribell.com/ . About Ceribell, Inc. Ceribell has developed the Ceribell System, a novel, point-of-care electroencephalography ("EEG”) platform specifically designed to address the unmet needs of patients in the acute care setting. By combining proprietary, highly portable, and rapidly deployable hardware with sophisticated artificial intelligence ("AI”)-powered algorithms, the Ceribell System enables rapid diagnosis and continuous monitoring of patients with neurological conditions. The Ceribell System is FDA 510(k) cleared for indicating suspected seizure activity and currently utilized in intensive care units and emergency rooms across the U.S. Ceribell is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, please visit www.ceribell.com or follow the company on LinkedIn . Investor Contact Brian Johnston or Laine Morgan Gilmartin Group [email protected] Media Contact Corrie Rose [email protected]Jimmy Carter, 39th US president, Nobel winner, dies at 100Active investing fares well in small-cap space

Nigeria’s military and security forces have delivered a crushing blow to the shadowy illegal oil trade. By dismantling 56 bunkering sites, authorities are attempting to drain the lifeblood of this underground economy. Despite being Africa’s biggest crude oil producer, Nigeria has faced significant setbacks due to large-scale oil theft and pipeline sabotage. These issues have slashed output, reduced exports, crippled government finances, and posed a serious challenge for President Bola Tinubu. In a recent crackdown, the country’s army and other security agencies have also seized at least 88 cooking drums and recovered 1.2 million liters (317,000 gallons) of stolen crude oil. Authorities have destroyed at least 15 illegal refining sites in the Okorodia forest of Yenagoa, Bayelsa state. Thousands of liters of stolen crude oil and illegally refined automotive gas oil were also recovered. Seventeen suspects were also arrested and vehicles and oil refining equipment seized. Between 2009 and 2020, Nigeria lost approximately 620 million barrels of crude oil, valued at $46 billion (€42 billion), according to the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which promotes accountability in managing the nation’s oil, gas, and mining revenue. Oil theft in Nigeria is nothing new, but its scale and sophistication have increased in recent years. The oil-rich Niger Delta is considered the main hot spot. According to Umaru Ahmadu, a financial consultant on oil and gas, oil theft will continue unless the government first tackles social and economic justice in the region. He told DW that successive governments had neglected the residents in the oil-producing areas. “They don’t have the infrastructure, they don’t have the basic social and economic support. There are no social safety nets. They’ve lost their means of livelihood. Their environment has been jeopardized and obliterated completely,” he said. Ahmadu believes that as long as the government continues to extract the mineral resources without caring for the local community, “the chances and the propensity to continually sabotage the government by stealing crude oil by refining in an illegal refinery would not stop.” “As long as we continue to pay lip service to their issues and nobody is interested and we just come extract their crude oil, destroy their their environment and they don’t get any reasonable financial reward, They will always resort to self help through either stealing the crude or refining it illegally,” Ahmadu stressed, adding that by addressing these issues, the government can find a lasting solution to the problems caused by crude production. Benjamin Boakye, executive director at Africa Centre for Energy Policy in Ghana, told DW that the situation in Nigeria is a case of people getting away with crimes and only looking out for money and not responding to regulation and protecting the environment. Boakye noted that the issue persists because the same politicians and security agencies responsible for preventing environmental pollution and enforcing the law often operate within the same circles. “Unless there is a political will to clean up the mess and get people accountable. We would just be speaking about this and not get a solution to the bigger picture,” he added. He further emphasized the need to hold people accountable for the power and mandate given to them to protect state resources and ensure that they do not allow individuals driven by profit to destroy the environment. Studies have shown that oil theft has contaminated the air, land, and water, leading to devastating effects on residents’ health and livelihoods. Ahmadu shared similar sentiments, saying that illegal mining significantly impacts the environment “because these guys are not experts; they are not specialists.” “They go about doing this thing in the most crude form. As a result, the environment gets affected,” he said. In extreme cases, fire outbreaks have occurred due to oil theft. Ahmadu noted that the Nigerian government is losing massive revenue due to the ongoing destruction of pipelines and other oil infrastructure, hindering progress. Source: Deutsche WelleTest Your Cyber Skills With the SANS Holiday Hack ChallengeBad actors are seeking cryptocurrency in almost every scheme tracked by the FBI. From fraudulent investments to tech support and romance scams, and most recently, a surge in employment scams. And as Bitcoin reaches record highs, Special Agent David Paniwozik with FBI Baltimore sees more people wanting to capitalize on cryptocurrency. “The fear of missing out. So, they want to get involved, try to make money, and it seems like a quick, easy way to do it,” said SA Paniwozik. But a major problem is this technology is still unfamiliar to investors, making them more susceptible to scams. “There is no cap on whether you want to move $1 to hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. You can just seamlessly move that from a wallet controlled in the United States to a wallet controlled overseas, in, you know, a matter of seconds,” SA Paniwozik warned. Scammers set up their own cryptocurrency exchanges, making you believe your investment has grown exponentially, or they say you must make cryptocurrency payments to “unlock work” that offers high payouts. The FBI Internet Crime Complaint issued an alert in June about this work-from-home scam. “It's this confusing compensation structure that the scammers try to tell them, and it looks like, hey, if I pay $10 to rate this product, I'll get $15 in return, so then once they do that round, the scammer says, okay, well, you need to deposit more money to get to the next round of work,” said SA Paniwozik. And when victims go to cash out, they’re told they can’t. SA Paniwozik has seen a huge spike in reports of employment scams involving cryptocurrency. Reported losses in Maryland went from $32,033 in 2023 to $3.8 million between January and October of this year. “So you're looking at about $15,000 to $20,000 per person on average that has fallen victim in Maryland alone to these scams,” said SA Paniwozik. Cryptocurrency is desired by scammers because transactions are instant and irrevocable, but that doesn’t mean they’re untraceable. “On the blockchain, we can look up those addresses, and then if we wanted to reverse trace it, we could find, let's say it's a certain exchange that paid into this wallet, we can then serve legal processes to say, hey, can you give us a list of all user accounts that paid into this address and possibly contact those victims live and say, hey, you're currently being the victim of one of these scams,” SA Paniwozik detailed. It’s a new proactive approach by the FBI as these scams become more prevalent and costly. According to the FBI’s 2023 Cryptocurrency Fraud Report , cryptocurrency-related complaints only made up around 10 percent of total financial fraud complaints, however, the stolen value accounted for almost 50 percent of total losses. Click here to see the other 12 Scams of Christmas. This story was originally published by Mallory Sofastaii at Scripps News Baltimore .PEP GUARDIOLA is really finding Manchester City’s current slump difficult to swallow. The Catalan admitted a run like this can affect everything — from the amount of sleep he gets to his diet. Recently, he has just been having soup for his evening meal as he is struggling to digest much else due to the nerves. With his kids grown up and his wife Cristina back in Barcelona, Pep admits it can be a lonely business being a coach during a bad run. He said this week: “You have people by your side but the pain of defeat only happens to one. “It’s true your friends are there but when you go to sleep and you turn off the light, there’s no consolation possible. Read More in Football “You have to swallow on it, spend a day or two and then come back.” But by and large Guardiola says his frame of mind is not much different to how it was in the spring, when his team were crowned champions for a fourth straight year. That is despite a run of seven defeats in the last ten matches — the same number as City suffered in the previous 105 games up until the end of April. The decline in his all-conquering team has been sudden and alarming and left many people scratching their head. Most read in Football FOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS That includes Pep himself, who showed up for his press conference after the draw with Feyenoord last month with marks on his head and a cut on his nose. At the time he put it down to his nails getting too long — although he explained this week there was another factor. PEP GUARDIOLA admitted he is having sleepless nights as he endures his worst-ever spell as a manager. Here are the three-time defending Premier League champions' nightmare last 10 games... Oct 30: Tottenham 2 Man City 1 - DEFEAT Nov 2: Bournemouth 2 Man City 1 - DEFEAT Nov 5: Sporting Lisbon 4 Man City 1 - DEFEAT Nov 9: Brighton 2 Man City 1 - DEFEAT Nov 23 - Man City 0 Tottenham 4 - DEFEAT Nov 26: Man City 3 Feyenoord 3 - DRAW Dec 1: Liverpool 2 Man City 0 - DEFEAT Dec 4: Man City 3 Nottingham Forest - WIN Dec 7: Crystal Palace 2 Man City 2 - DRAW Dec 11: Juventus 2 Man City 0 - DEFEAT TOTAL - WINS 1, DRAWS 2, DEFEATS 7 He said: “I have a skin problem. I have to take antihistamine for the last two or three years. The nails, yes, I did them on my nose. But the rest was that.” Guardiola turns 54 next month and said in a recent interview he does not have the energy to take another club job after he leaves the Etihad. The question some have been asking since is whether he has enough within him for the rebuilding job needed at City. Some of the older players who have achieved so much for him — the likes of Kevin De Bruyne , Kyle Walker and Ilkay Gundogan — are reaching the end of the road. And having achieved pretty much everything he set out to — and even more — with City, some wonder if he has the drive to go again. Yet is easy to forget amid the chaos of the last seven weeks, that he signed a new two-year contract at the Etihad in the middle of it all. It was Pep who indicated he was ready to talk — despite a run of four straight losses before then — and the deal was concluded in a couple of hours. Given what has happened since and the problems he is facing, he may be asking himself whether he did the right thing. Those around him say he has no regrets and is more determined than ever to turn the season around. He accepted the challenge of staying on less than four weeks ago and there is no way he has changed his mind already. I have a skin problem. I have to take antihistamine for the last two or three years. The nails, yes, I did them on my nose. But the rest was that. His feeling all season has been that this was not the right time for him to hand over the keys to his successor and three months in, he was sure of it. The imminent verdict on the 130 charges of financial wrong-doing was a factor, as he has previously said he would not desert the club he loves in their hour of need. But the Club World Cup in the USA in the summer was also a consideration, as it will make the start of next season extremely difficult to navigate. Guardiola felt he wanted to navigate City through this tricky period and he remains determined to do that. In any case, Pep had predicted this would be a tough start to the season — partly due to strain of their recent success and the summer of international duty at Euro 2024 for most of his stars. He did not quite expect it to be this tough, though, as the injuries have made the early months of the season even more challenging. But he remains convinced that once his trusted players are back, he will be able to turn them back into a force. Nothing that has happened since things started to unravel at the end of October has changed his mind. He said: “I have learned with football, not to go against feelings, what you feel at that moment. READ MORE SUN STORIES “If I am sad, I am sad but I know it will pass. That’s how I see it.” A derby win over United on Sunday would help it to pass very quickly.

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Ghana counted ballots on Saturday after a tight election with the ruling party's Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia trying to shake off anger over economic woes and rebuff a challenge by opposition party candidate ex-president John Mahama. Ghana's struggling economy dominated the election, after the west Africa gold and cacao producer went through a debt default, high inflation and negotiations for a $3 billion IMF bailout. Voters were choosing a successor to Bawumia's boss, President Nana Akufo-Addo, who steps down after serving the maximum of two four-year terms. They will also elect the country's new parliament. Voting was mostly calm, but one person was shot dead and four people arrested at a polling station in Nyankpala in the country's northern region, police and local media said. After polls closed at 1700 GMT, election teams immediately began tallying ballots under the watch of agents from political parties before sending them to collation centres. Preliminary results are expected early Sunday, with full presidential results scheduled by Tuesday. "Everyone is complaining prices are high. So I want a change, I want a good president who will bring in changes," Abdullah Mohammed, a student said after voting in Accra's Nima district. With a history of political stability, Ghana's two main parties, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC), have alternated in power equally since the return to multi-party democracy in 1992. Touting the slogan "Break the 8" -- a reference to going past the usual two terms in power -- the NPP hopes Bawumia can lead them to an unprecedented third term. But he struggled to break away from criticism of Akufo-Addo's economic record. "I think we have done a lot of work with our message to the people and the message has been well received," Bawumia said after voting in his northern home Walewale. A UK-educated economist and former central banker, he points to an economy turning a corner and the government's continued plans for digitalisation to ease business, as well as free education and health programmes. But though inflation slowed from more than 50 percent to around 23 percent, and other macro-economic indicators are stabilising, the economic pain was still a clear election issue. Many Ghanaians still say they struggle with the cost of living, scarce jobs and a depreciated cedi currency. Frustration over the economy has opened the way for a comeback challenge from Mahama, who was president from 2012 to 2017 but has since failed twice in presidential bids. The NDC flag-bearer says he will "reset" Ghana and introduce a "24-hour economy", extending industrial hours to create jobs, and also renegotiate parts of the IMF deal. "Other elections have not been as obvious," Mahama said voting in his northern hometown. "With this one, everybody can tell the direction because of the abysmal performance of the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government." Some analysts gave him an edge because of voter dismay with NPP, but the former president faced criticism from those who remember financial woes and massive power cuts during his time in office. Shoe saleswoman Esther Adobea said the economic situation hurt, but she was willing to give Bawumia a chance to make things better. "I can see he can handle the country for us. Our economy is not good, but he can do better," she said. Both major candidates are from the north of the country -- traditionally an NDC stronghold, but now more fragmented -- making the region a key battleground. While the economy was key, Ghana also faces an increasing risk of spillover in its northern regions from jihadist conflicts in Niger and Burkina Faso, where military juntas rule. The spread of illegal gold mining also became an election issue. Akufo-Addo promised to stop illegal mining, but it has expanded, poisoning riverways and impacting cacao farmlands -- a major source of export income. bur-pma/jmMASTERCHEF star Gregg Wallace has told friends he expects to be sacked following an investigation into his alleged sexual harassment and groping. Several women have come forward about his behaviour , prompting the review . 4 Gregg Wallace has quietly conceded his time on MasterChef is over and that he will be stepping aside Credit: Paul Edwards 4 Wallace's co-host John Torode is expecting to continue on the BBC show Credit: BBC Wallace has stopped using his pricey legal team as he resigns himself to the MasterChef sack. The under-fire presenter has also turned down crisis-publicity teams in the weeks after several women complained he groped or harassed them. The BBC1 show’s production firm Banijay UK launched a probe last month and Wallace, 60, has strongly denied any wrongdoing . But those close to him said he understood his position on MasterChef was no longer tenable . READ MORE GREGG WALLACE 'I WAS A VICTIM' Penny Lancaster hits out at Gregg Wallace after Rod Stewart's furious post perfect fit MasterChef bosses eye up ‘ideal replacement’ for Gregg Wallace after scandal A source said: “Gregg’s conceded he has lost everything. To put it bluntly, he’s told people, ‘I’m f***ed’. “He came out swinging but he has quietly conceded that he knows his time on MasterChef is over and that he will be stepping aside. “He has contested the sexual ­allegations and insisted any jokes he made were just jokes. He said he never meant to cause any offence. “Gregg has been under a huge amount of pressure since the allegations came to light and tried his best to fight his corner. Most read in News TV A GOOD SPORT BBC star QUITS show after seven years - admitting morning alarms ‘are brutal’ SCREEN TIME STV reveals Hogmanay lineup including Lorraine Kelly and Still Game OFF THE AIR 'Gutted to hear this', fans cry as BBC Scotland series axed after 19 years CHECK OUT NC500 B&B owners star on hit Channel 4 show - but guest moans of 'awful' sleep “The BBC and Banijay UK have now spoken to a number of different individuals and they know they must be seen to take action. “Gregg knows the time will come when he has to step aside and as much as that pains him, it seems he has come to terms with it.” Fury as BBC had complaints about Gregg Wallace’s ‘sexual remarks’ on Strictly 10yrs ago but was allowed to stay on show The Sun understands co-host John Torode, 59, will keep his role. The Aussie has hosted alongside Wallace since 2005. Insiders say a female star is likely to take Wallace’s place , with the new partnership to be announced in the New Year. Work on the next series of Celebrity MasterChef is under way, with the BBC show’s talent booker already making calls to line up the next run of stars. A second source said: “MasterChef is a juggernaut of a show and the wheels don’t stop turning. “Not long after the probe into Gregg’s conduct, casting started for the celebrity series. “While the probe is ongoing, it has been made clear to production that John is going to be staying and that a female will step into Gregg’s role.” 4 Monica Galetti has been tipped as a successor for Wallace, but may not take the role Credit: BBC Search for replacements Cooks including Angela Hartnett and Nigella Lawson have been named as possibles. Monica Galetti , 49, who appears on MasterChef: The Professionals, has also been touted. However, those close to Wallace said she would be unlikely to take the position. This week, singer Sir Rod Stewart’s wife Penny Lancaster spoke out about working with Wallace on Celebrity Masterchef in 2021. She claimed on Thursday: “I most definitely was witness — and victim — to some of the bullying and harassment behaviour of Gregg Wallace. “And, unfortunately, a lot of those involved in the production team were also witness to that.” She added: “I really feel that he used his position of power to, I believe, intimidate and cause distress to a lot of people on set. “It’s unfortunate that someone like him is allowed to get away with that, while others sort of stand by and let it happen at the same time.” At the start of this month, The Sun revealed how the BBC received complaints about Wallace’s behaviour from as early as 2014. He was accused of making sexual remarks during his 2014 stint on Strictly Come Dancing when paired with pro Aliona Vilani. The Sun also reported how John Torode repeatedly raised concerns about Wallace’s behaviour on MasterChef but no action was taken. John publicly distanced himself from Gregg in 2017 and said in an interview they were no longer pals. Since the latest allegations came to light, Wallace unfollowed John and his wife Lisa Faulkner on Instagram . At the time, pals told us Gregg was upset John did not publicly back him amid the scandal. 4 The Sun revealed how the BBC received complaints about Wallace’s behaviour from as early as 2014 Credit: Olivia West Wallace Investigation The Sun was the first publication to report concerns over Wallace’s conduct on MasterChef. This October we revealed a ­complaint was made about his conduct on BBC gameshow Impossible Celebrities in 2018. They included him “boasting about this sex life” and making “inappropriate sexual comments”. It can be hard to come forward, but we want to assure everyone who does that we will treat anything raised with us with the greatest possible care. Banijay UK Then last month ex-Newsnight host Kirsty Wark and 13 other people came forward to say they had raised concerns. Kirsty, 69, said she spoke to MasterChef after Wallace made “sexualised jokes” when she was on the show in 2011. Other allegations include Wallace talking openly about his sex life , taking off his top in front of a junior staffer and telling another young colleague he was not wearing any pants. One woman told The Sun Wallace was made to apologise after making a “joke” about rape in 2017. Another alleged Wallace groped he r when she appeared on MasterChef. And Emma Kenny, the 2012 MasterChef winner, said she witnessed him touching another contestant and raised a complaint. Banijay UK launched its inquiry and on November 28 confirmed to The Sun that Wallace was stepping away pending the review. Gregg Wallace - MasterChef scandal in Brief GREGG Wallace has stepped down from his MasterChef hosting role after a probe into alleged inappropriate behaviour. But what's the situation? Regular MasterChef host Gregg Wallace is currently the subject of a probe after an investigation was launched into his alleged misconduct over a number of years. Gregg has been accused of making sexual remarks to 13 colleagues including Beeb anchor Kirsty Wark - accusations he denies. The 60-year-old has now stepped away from the BBC show while historical misconduct allegations against him are investigated. Yet the former greengrocer spoke out on social media to blast the "women of a certain age" who he claimed were behind the allegations. The cooking show’s production company, Banijay UK, has said law firm Lewis Silkin would lead the investigation into Wallace’s alleged misconduct. A BBC spokesperson later told The Sun: “In recent days there have been concerning allegations made about the alleged conduct of Gregg Wallace, many of which relate to shows made for the BBC. “These media stories are running alongside an independent investigation , which was instigated after formal complaints were made direct to the BBC and referred to Banijay UK for further investigation. “We’d like to thank those who have had the courage to speak out. “It can be hard to come forward, but we want to assure everyone who does that we will treat anything raised with us with the greatest possible care. "Banijay UK launched the review because they have the direct contractual relationship with Gregg Wallace. He is not employed by the BBC. “When issues have been raised with the BBC we have taken action, referring issues to the ­relevant production company and challenging his behaviour directly as has been widely reported. Read more on the Scottish Sun BATTY WEATHER Record-breaking snow & temps on the way for Scotland as expert issues warning GER KIDDING Tottenham fans blast ex-Spurs star as he's spotted wildly celebrating Gers goal “We hope Banijay UK’s independent investigation can be concluded rigorously and as swiftly as ­possible. "We want the review to follow due process and ensure fairness to all involved.”

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani is keeping elite company. The Japanese superstar caps 2024 by winning The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the third time, tying him with basketball great Michael Jordan. He trails only four-time winners Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods and LeBron James. “I’m very honored,” Ohtani said through translator Matt Hidaka in an exclusive interview with the AP. ”Obviously all the hard work has paid off. Maybe next year, I’ll get the award again.” In balloting by 74 sports journalists from the AP and its members, Ohtani received 48 votes. He previously won the award in 2023 and 2021, when he was with the Angels. “Growing up in Japan, I did follow Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods,” he said. “I would see their accolades and how they were successful in the United States.” The AP honor has been given out since 1931. Golfer Babe Didrikson won six times, the most by a man or woman. Swimmer Léon Marchand of France, who won four gold medals at the Paris Olympics, was second with 10 votes in balloting announced Monday. Golfer Scottie Scheffler, whose victories this year included the Masters and an Olympic gold medal, was third with nine. The AP Female Athlete of the Year will be announced Tuesday. Moving from the beleaguered Los Angeles Angels to the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers, Ohtani won his third Most Valuable Player award and first in the National League, led his new team to its eighth World Series championship and created Major League Baseball’s 50/50 club by hitting 54 home runs and stealing 59 bases. Ohtani signed a then-record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers in December 2023. Already a two-way superstar, he embellished his reputation even further despite not pitching all season while he rehabilitated from a second major right elbow surgery he had in September 2023. Ohtani went wild on offense, making every at-bat a must-see moment. The 6-foot-4 designated hitter batted a career-high .310 while easily surpassing his previous career highs in home runs and stolen bases. In September, he reached the previously unheard of 50/50 mark in a performance for the ages. Against the Miami Marlins in Florida, Ohtani went 6 for 6 with three homers, 10 RBIs, two stolen bases and 17 total bases. "It wouldn’t shock me if he went 60/60 and 20 wins a year from now,” Brad Ausmus, who managed the Angels in 2019 during Ohtani’s second season in Anaheim, said recently. “This guy is the greatest athlete to ever play the sport of baseball and there’s not a close second.” Ohtani said he knew the Dodgers' franchise record for most homers in a season was 49. His previous best was 46, set in 2021. "I kind of wanted to get over that bar,” he said. “I was pleasantly surprised I was able to pass that record.” Ohtani carried the Dodgers offensively during the regular season, and he stayed healthy until Game 2 of the World Series. He injured his left shoulder trying to steal second base against the New York Yankees and finished the Series playing hurt. He underwent surgery a few days after the Dodgers celebrated their championship in early November. "I don’t have full range of motion yet, but it feels a lot better,” he told the AP. “There’s no pain. There’s obviously still a little bit of tightness, but slowly but surely it’s getting better.” Ohtani recently received an updated rehab schedule, and he’s focused on the near-term. “It’s the small steps that I think are very important to get me to the ultimate goal, which is to just get back healthy,” he said. Ohtani is also throwing in the 70 mph range, which is typical for pitchers early in the offseason. "I’m going to continue to ramp up slowly,” he said. The Dodgers’ rotation for next season is in flux, and Ohtani is waiting to see how it shakes out. "We may go with a five-man rotation with a bullpen [game], which is what we did a lot during this season or we may have a six-man rotation,” he said. “But it’s all about balancing out when we can get rest and recuperate. We’ll see where that takes us along the playoff chase. I’ve got to obviously pace myself, but again that situation will guide us to how we get there.” The Dodgers open the 2025 season in Japan, where Ohtani is even more closely watched. "My personal goal is to be fully healthy by the time the opening games do start,” he said. “To be able to pitch and hit would be great, but the situation will kind of guide itself.” Each time Ohtani comes to the plate or steps on the mound, there’s great pressure and expectation for him to perform spectacular feats. "I just go out there and try to stay within myself,” he said. “I can only control what I can control and that’s where you trust your teammates. The guys behind me, you trust they’re going to make the plays for you. I don’t really try to overthink it.” Ohtani generated big bucks for the Dodgers off the field, too. Fans traveled from Japan in droves to see him play around the U.S. At Dodger Stadium, they paid extra for tours of baseball’s third-oldest venue narrated by Japanese-speaking guides and to be on the field during pre-game batting practice. A majority of the fans bought Ohtani-branded merchandise, especially his No. 17 jersey. Ohtani’s presence also helped the Dodgers land a bevy of new Japanese sponsors. Because Ohtani prefers to speak Japanese and use an interpreter with the media, he is shrouded in a bit of mystique. Asked before his first postgame series if he was nervous, he dropped a one-word answer in English: “Nope,” which drew laughter. Japanese-born Dodgers manager Dave Roberts observed Ohtani’s behind-the-scenes interactions with his teammates, coaches and staff, and came away impressed. "I really do believe that as good of a ballplayer as he is, he’s a much better person. He’s very kind, considerate, he cares,” Roberts told the AP. “I’m just proud of any fame or glory or award that he receives because he just does it in such a respectful and humble way.” Ohtani relishes his privacy and rarely shares details about himself off the field. That’s why his February announcement via Instagram that he had wed Mamiko Tanaka, a former basketball player, stunned his new teammates and the rest of the world. The following month, after the Dodgers arrived in South Korea to open the season, he was enveloped in scandal when his longtime interpreter and friend, Ippei Mizuhara, was fired by the Dodgers after being accused of using millions of dollars of Ohtani’s money to place bets with an illegal bookmaker. His new teammates rallied around Ohtani, who was found to have no part in the wrongdoing, and publicly it didn’t seem to affect him even if he was privately distressed by it. By June, the uproar had subsided. Mizuhara pleaded guilty to federal bank and tax fraud charges and admitted to stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani. The public got a glimpse of Ohtani’s softer side in August, when his dog Decoy delivered a first pitch to his owner on their shared bobblehead night. The Nederlandse Kooikerhondje exchanged an endearing high-five with Ohtani at the plate. As a result, Decoy became a celebrity in his own right, with his breed (pronounced COY-ker-HUND-che) making the list of the most mispronounced words of 2024. He and Ohtani were mentioned during the telecast of last month’s National Dog Show, where the small Spaniel-type breed was among the competitors. "The number of the breed has kind of dwindled, so by him gaining a little bit of popularity hopefully that brings up the number of his breed,” Ohtani said. “I do feel like we were able to, in a small way, contribute to the popularity of the dog and I’m sure Decoy himself would be happy about that.” Ohtani will be looking to top himself next year while eyeing a repeat World Series title. "It’s almost like right now you can lock in the Most Valuable Player in the National League award because no one has that ability or talent,” Roberts said. "I’m just excited to see what '25 has for Shohei Ohtani.”

SEOUL, Dec 7 (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces the greatest challenge of his brief but chequered political career, despite surviving a bruising impeachment challenge, as members of his own party called for him to resign for imposing martial law. Yoon was regarded as a tough political survivor but became increasingly isolated, dogged by personal scandals and strife, an unyielding opposition and rifts within his own party. After he narrowly won election in 2022, his recent battles have left him increasingly bitter and have drawn out a recklessness that a former rival said was his defining trait. By the time Yoon attempted to impose martial law on Tuesday, he was badly bruised politically. An impeachment motion against him failed late on Saturday when members of his ruling party boycotted the National Assembly session, but even some of them said he was unqualified for office and should resign. The opposition vowed to try again, while Yoon's party said it would find a "more orderly, responsible" way to resolve the crisis. Some analysts said Yoon, a former prosecutor who had never held elected office before his presidential election, showed signs of being in "extreme rage" when martial law was in effect, citing the language he allegedly used to order the arrests of some members of parliament who had clashed with him. A top spy agency official told a parliament intelligence committee that Yoon said, "Grab them all and round them up," according to panel member Kim Byung-kee. Ihn Yohan, a physician and member of parliament for Yoon's People Power Party considered an ally of the president, said the martial law decree was "extreme" but not entirely unjustified given the endless political attacks against Yoon."I hope we remember how the opposition party has incredibly and viciously pushed the president and his family into the corner with threats of special prosecutors and impeachment," he said at a party meeting on Thursday. The past year of Yoon's presidency has been heavily overshadowed by a scandal involving his wife, who was accused of inappropriately accepting a pricey Christian Dior handbag as a gift and his stubborn refusal to fully own up to it. Only after the scandal was blamed as a major reason for a crushing parliamentary election defeat his party suffered in April did he apologise. But he continued to reject calls for a probe into the scandal and into an allegation of stock price manipulation involving his wife and her mother. The prosecutors office that investigated the allegations decided not to press charges against the first lady. Yoon's struggles at home have overshadowed the relative success he has had on the international stage. His bold push to reverse a decades-long diplomatic row with neighbouring Japan and join Tokyo in a three-way security cooperation with the United States are widely seen as his signature foreign policy legacies. Yoon's ability to bond on a personal level, seen as the trait that gave him his early success, was on full display at a White House event last year, when Yoon took the stage and belted out the pop song "American Pie" for an astounded President Joe Biden and a delighted crowd. Born to an affluent family in Seoul, Yoon was an easygoing youth who excelled at school. He entered the elite Seoul National University to study law, but his penchant for partying led him to repeatedly fail the bar exam before passing on the ninth try. Yoon, who turns 64 on Dec. 18, shot to national fame in 2016 when, as the chief investigator probing then-President Park Geun-hye for corruption, he told a reporter that prosecutors are not gangsters, when asked if he was out for revenge. Three years earlier, Park had suspended Yoon, then fired him from a team investigating a high-profile case against the spy agency. That move was widely considered punishment for challenging her authority. The role he played in jailing the sitting president and his dramatic comeback as head of the powerful Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, marked the start of a dizzying rise to power. Two years later, he became prosecutor general and spearheaded a corruption probe against a close ally of the next president, Moon Jae-in. That made him a darling of conservatives frustrated with Moon's liberal policies, setting him up to be a candidate for the presidency in 2022. Yoon beat Lee Jae-myung, the current opposition leader who led the impeachment move against him, by a margin of less than 1%. But Yoon's presidency got off to a rocky start when he pushed ahead with moving the presidential office out of the Blue House compound to a new site, facing questions whether it was because of a feng shui belief that the old presidential compound was cursed. Yoon at the time denied any involvement by himself or his wife with a shaman. When Yoon refused to fire top officials after a 2022 Halloween night disaster, in which 159 people were killed in a crowd crush in Seoul's night-life district of Itaewon, he was accused of protecting "yes men". One of them was Safety Minister Lee Sang-min, a close confidant and fellow graduate of Yoon's high school. Another alumnus of the Choongam High School in Seoul was Kim Yong-hyun, the man who spearheaded the presidential office move, then became the presidential security service, and in September was appointed defence minister. Kim was one of the two people who recommended that Yoon declare martial law, a senior military official said. Lee was the other, according to local media reports. Sign up here. Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Michael Perry and William Mallard Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab

"The bounce has got less and more inconsistent": Marnus LabuschagneA Toast to Nagpur: Sipping, Savouring, & Celebrations Galore At The Wine And Food FestivalThe North Pole is on the verge of a civil war. Santa is missing. It’s elf vs. elf. Factions have formed, and it's up to you to save the day, block a ransomware attack, and untangle multiple cybersecurity snafus to ensure this year's holiday gifts don't get buried under a mountain of snowballs. No, it's not a children's story with a cyber twist. The Holiday Hack Challenge from SANS Institute is back for another season of wintery fun. Open to players of all skill levels, the online competition with real-world cybersecurity problems is set in the world of Santa, elves, and Christmas mayhem. This year's competition is open and will run through Jan. 3, 2025. "There's some really good stuff in there with ransomware analysis, Web application penetration testing, incident response and incident analysis," says Ed Skoudis, founder of the Holiday Hack Challenge and president of the SANS Institute. Skoudis calls the Holiday Hack Challenge, now in its 21st year, SANS's gift to the cybersecurity community. The goal is to provide a learning environment that is freely available to everyone in the world to learn skills while having fun, as well as to build a community where people work together and get to know each other. Players don't have to play through the game in one sitting or in order. Anyone who needs help can ask the elves in the game — the elves are very promiscuous hint-givers, Skoudis says — or join the Discord server to chat with other players. Many of the challenges are taken from real-world cybersecurity incidents. Each challenge is ranked by difficulty, from one to five snowballs, with five being the most difficult. What's new this year is that every challenge can be solved in two ways: an easy mode and hard mode. Players don't know which mode they are in, but if their solution took the easy method, they'll "receive" a silver trophy. Solving the hard way results in a gold trophy. And skipping a challenge gives them a bronze participation trophy. A certain number of points are assigned for bronze, silver, and gold for each challenge, which are then summed into the player's score. A leaderboard displays player scores — and people who signed up as a cohort have their own private scoreboard. "All year long, we're canvassing, looking for ideas of novel attacks that everybody should know about and know how to investigate, know how to do penetration tests for, and we're pulling those ideas together and putting them in holiday hack at the highest quality we can," Skoudis says. This year's challenges fall into the following categories: Winners will be announced in a webcast on Jan. 16, 2025. The grand prize winner will get a free SANS on-demand course, though some previous winners have found themselves with something more: a full-time job. Janusz Jasinski first participated in the Holiday Hack Challenge in 2018 and was hired as a senior technical engineer by Counter Hack in 2023 after networking with people he encountered in the community. He is now involved with the challenge as a game designer. Finding the sweet spot of something that's not too easy yet not too hard is the greatest challenge in designing the game, Jasinski said. He designed this year's mobile app penetration test challenge. "My challenge this year was [a difficulty level of] two or three out of five,” Jasinski says. "It's easy to do [create] a very easy challenge, it's easy to do a very hard challenge. It's very hard to do those in the middle, and just getting the right amount of complexity in there was a bit challenging. But further this year, we had the gold and silver, i.e., easy and hard routes. So to bake that in was now an extra level of difficulty." But the fun part, he says, is having people in the real world playing and actually succeeding in the challenge, then sharing their solutions on Discord or social media. Participating in the Holiday Hack Challenge and joining the community also led Kyle Parrish to a role behind the scenes. Parrish first played the Holiday Hack Challenge in 2018, winning an honorable mention early in his cybersecurity career. "I played it and absolutely loved it — the practical application of the challenges and the just goofy video game feel," he says. "It was a ton of fun. I learned a lot of tools that I literally was able to start using in my work and help me progress as a young security engineer." Parrish says he enjoyed the competition and sense of community so much that he played annually and volunteered to be a concierge in Discord, helping others with the challenges, in 2023. In January 2024, he joined the Counter Hack team as a senior technical engineer and is also now involved in designing the challenges. "My favorite part is how, basically, the entire game is run off an Excel spreadsheet, which just kind of blew my mind," Parrish says. "And to see the skill that was put into it by some of our other teammates on building this game engine ... to create these environments in this virtual world where players can interact with these challenges. It's so much fun." It's also exciting to see how people solve his challenge, he adds. "Somebody found an exploit in it and was able to get root against the challenge, which was awesome," Parrish says. "It was really cool to see that I had an intended path, but you were able to have an alternate path and were able to escalate your privileges. And that just makes for an even better write-up and a better learning experience for everybody involved." Though it may come cloaked in snowball fights and elf espionage, real-world training and building a peer community is the real point of the challenge. "I hope players develop cybersecurity skills that they can use in their actual job," Skoudis says. "That's the bottom line. And at the same time, I hope we have spoonfuls of holiday sugar that helps make the medicine go down, you know?" Jennifer Lawinski is a writer and editor with more than 20 years experience in media, covering a wide range of topics including business, news, culture, science, technology and cybersecurity. After earning a Master's degree in Journalism from Boston University, she started her career as a beat reporter for The Daily News of Newburyport. She has since written for a variety of publications including CNN, Fox News, Tech Target, CRN, CIO Insight, MSN News and Live Science. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and two cats.‘Enron CEO’ Connor Gaydos hit in the face with pie in New York City

12th day of Dallewal fast unto death, but no word on resumption of talksBy CLAIRE RUSH President-elect Donald Trump has once again suggested he wants to revert the name of North America’s tallest mountain — Alaska’s Denali — to Mount McKinley, wading into a sensitive and decades-old conflict about what the peak should be called. Related Articles National Politics | An analyst looks ahead to how the US economy might fare under Trump National Politics | Many Americans have come to rely on Chinese-made drones. Now lawmakers want to ban them National Politics | Polio survivor Francis Ford Coppola cautions against vaccine skepticism National Politics | House approves funding bill hours before shutdown deadline National Politics | Paris Hilton-backed troubled teen reform bill passes House Former President Barack Obama changed the official name to Denali in 2015 to reflect the traditions of Alaska Natives as well as the preference of many Alaska residents. The federal government in recent years has endeavored to change place-names considered disrespectful to Native people. “Denali” is an Athabascan word meaning “the high one” or “the great one.” A prospector in 1896 dubbed the peak “Mount McKinley” after President William McKinley, who had never been to Alaska. That name was formally recognized by the U.S. government until Obama changed it over opposition from lawmakers in McKinley’s home state of Ohio. Trump suggested in 2016 that he might undo Obama’s action, but he dropped that notion after Alaska’s senators objected. He raised it again during a rally in Phoenix on Sunday. “McKinley was a very good, maybe a great president,” Trump said Sunday. “They took his name off Mount McKinley, right? That’s what they do to people.” Once again, Trump’s suggestion drew quick opposition within Alaska. “Uh. Nope. It’s Denali,” Democratic state Sen. Scott Kawasaki posted on the social platform X Sunday night. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski , who for years pushed for legislation to change the name to Denali, conveyed a similar sentiment in a post of her own. “There is only one name worthy of North America’s tallest mountain: Denali — the Great One,” Murkowski wrote on X. Various tribes of Athabascan people have lived in the shadow of the 20,310-foot (6,190-meter) mountain for thousands of years. McKinley, a Republican native of Ohio who served as the 25th president, was assassinated early in his second term in 1901 in Buffalo, New York. Alaska and Ohio have been at odds over the name since at least the 1970s. Alaska had a standing request to change the name since 1975, when the legislature passed a resolution and then-Gov. Jay Hammond appealed to the federal government. Known for its majestic views, the mountain is dotted with glaciers and covered at the top with snow year-round, with powerful winds that make it difficult for the adventurous few who seek to climb it. Rush reported from Portland, Oregon.

Davion Williams speaks at the Dec. 17 Champaign city council meeting. To pitch a ‘My Turn’ guest column, email jdalessio@news-gazette.com . To subscribe, click here. To submit a letter to the editor, click here. Want to purchase today’s print edition? Here’s a map of single-copy locations. Sign up for our daily newsletter here CHAMPAIGN — Mayor Deb Feinen said she condemns antisemitic and anti-Palestinian statements made at last Tuesday's city council meeting. During the meeting, council member Davion Williams made a statement that has been criticized as antisemitic, while a public commenter who identified himself as "Uncle Ken" made comments that have been criticized as anti-Palestinian. For about 10 minutes, Williams spoke in response to public commenters who, as they have at numerous meetings, called for the city to make pro-Palestinian statements and cut ties to any company or organization that may have connections with Israel. After saying that the U.S. has many domestic issues to be concerned with and that a statement about Palestine wouldn't be anything more than a "token," Williams said that the issue goes deeper than "belief." "There's Jews, there's Gentiles, there's all the group of individuals that believe in peace, but there's a small element of individuals who have a lot of control over a whole lot — over music, over food, over media, over a whole lot of things," he said. "We somewhat hold a blind eye to it, and I know this might be uncomfortable to some of us, and I'm sorry, but it's the truth, and we don't know it. I just found out — I love Pringles. They're kosher. I just found that out. I stopped eating them." Williams went on to ask if people were truly prepared to divest from any ties to Israel, as well as to places like Sudan and the Congo, which activists have also accused of genocide or at least inequitable treatment. He continued on other topics — about why people would attack each other and whether people are accurately being educated about history. Williams said someone recently gave him a lot of information about "what's really going on." "Not to say that I have anything against people from Israel or Jewish individuals," he said. "I said there's an element. There's an element — listen to what I'm saying — there's an element of individuals upon that group. It's not everybody, but I understand. I agree, but we can't sit here and say certain things and not know. There's a history behind it." Prior to Williams' statement, during the public-comment portion of the meeting, a man who identified himself as "Uncle Ken" and said he was a longtime resident of Champaign-Urbana spoke about the Israel-Hamas war. He wore a top hat and white wig, which he said was intended to imply the image of Uncle Sam, who he said would want to "fight." "It dawned on me that everyone is concerned about genocide," he said. "I'm for it. Get it over with. Kill the (expletives)." He claimed that Israel is simply defending itself from Palestine and suggested that the city should communicate with President-elect Donald Trump to end the violence "quickly and decisively." "They aren't victims; they started it," he said. "Finish it off." He also claimed that anyone who supported Palestine supported "political rapists" and murderers. Pointing at the list of previous public comments, he said, "There's a list. Find out who is against us." In a statement Monday, Feinen said the language used during that meeting does not reflect the values of the city of Champaign or the city government. "As elected officials, we are called to work with and listen to those on all sides of an issue, even if we disagree," she said. "However, there is a vast distinction between a difference of opinion and comments that are anti-Palestinian and antisemitic." Feinen said conversations about varying viewpoints and ideas must be rooted in civility and statements that make people feel unsafe or unwelcome are not acceptable. "I encourage our residents to continue to foster the type of community we all want to live in, and I applaud those who embrace our community’s diversity and show respect for one another even, when they disagree over issues," she said. "May we all learn from their example. I want everyone in Champaign to know they are welcome here and to feel at home."