BBC gives women's sports award to player who failed sex eligibility test, inciting J.K. Rowling's wrath

CNN Let a Conservative Join Its Network: He's Tearing Them to Pieces

Sumeet Bagadia, Executive Director at Choice Broking, believes that PSU bank stocks such as and (SBI) may stage a recovery, while private lender ICICI Bank may do well, in case Nifty Bank shows positive momentum this week. He noted that Nifty Bank on the weekly chart sent sideways to bearish signals, as the index struggled to sustain higher levels, indicating a potential trend reversal. It formed a small-bodied bullish candle this past week with a higher wick, highlighting indecision in the market and selling pressure at elevated levels. This pattern underscores weakening bullish sentiment, suggesting a strong likelihood of continued bearish pressure in the upcoming sessions, Bagadia said. "A 'sell on rise' strategy is recommended as long as the index remains below 52,000, with downside targets at 50,700 and 50,200," he said. For the week, Nifty Bank closed at 51,311.30, up 1.09 per cent. On the weekly timeframe, Nifty Bank has closed below its short-term (20-day) Exponential Moving Average (EMA), which could lead to further downside testing at the medium-term (50-day) EMA, the expert said. "The Relative Strength Index (RSI) stands at 50.33, reflecting a recent decline and signaling weakening momentum. The index may encounter significant resistance in the 51,500–51,800 range. If Bank Nifty rises, ICICI Bank from the private banking sector is likely to perform well, while Canara and SBI from the public sector may show potential for a reversal from lower levels," Bagadia said. For the ongoing expiry, Put options showed the highest concentration near the 51,000 and 50,500 strikes, indicating potential support levels. Conversely, Call strikes at 51,500 and 52,000 have significant open interest, marking potential resistance and suggesting a trading range of 50,500–52,000 for the week. Bagadia advised traders to exercise caution, maintain strict stop-loss levels, and avoid overnight long positions to manage risks amid market volatility.

Gonzaga lands Virginia transfer G Jalen WarleyNoneLOS ANGELES – The Biden administration plans on reducing part of Intel's $8.5 billion in federal funding for computer chip plants around the country, according to three people familiar with the grant who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. The reduction is largely a byproduct of the $3 billion that Intel is also receiving to provide computer chips to the military. President Joe Biden announced the agreement to provide Intel with up to $8.5 billion in direct funding and $11 billion in loans in March. Recommended Videos The changes to Intel’s funding are not related to the company’s financial record or milestones, the people familiar with the grant told The Associated Press. In August, the chipmaker announced that it would cut 15% of its workforce — about 15,000 jobs — in an attempt to turn its business around to compete with more successful rivals like Nvidia and AMD. Unlike some of its rivals, Intel manufactures chips in addition to designing them. Two years ago, President Biden hailed Intel as a job creator with its plans to open a new plant near Columbus, Ohio. The president praised the company for plans to “build a workforce of the future” for the $20 billion project, which he said would generate 7,000 construction jobs and 3,000 full-time jobs set to pay an average of $135,000 a year. The California-based tech giant's funding is tied to a sweeping 2022 law that President Biden has celebrated and which is designed to revive U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. Known as the CHIPS and Science Act , the $280 billion package is aimed at sharpening the U.S. edge in military technology and manufacturing while minimizing the kinds of supply disruptions that occurred in 2021, after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when a shortage of chips stalled factory assembly lines and fueled inflation . The Biden administration helped shepherd the legislation following pandemic-era concerns that the loss of access to chips made in Asia could plunge the U.S. economy into recession. When pushing for the investment, lawmakers expressed concern about efforts by China to control Taiwan, which accounts for more than 90% of advanced computer chip production. In August, the administration pledged to provide up to $6.6 billion so that a Taiwanese semiconductor giant could expand the facilities it is already building in Arizona and better ensure that the most advanced microchips are produced domestically for the first time. The Commerce Department said the funding for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. meant the company could expand on its existing plans for two facilities in Phoenix and add a third, newly announced production hub. The administration has promised tens of billions of dollars to support construction of U.S. chip foundries and reduce reliance on Asian suppliers, which Washington sees as a security weakness. _____ Boak reported from Washington.

Former Virginia guard Jalen Warley is transferring to Gonzaga, according to several reports Monday. Gonzaga appeared to confirm the transfer by reposting the news on social media. Warley, who has 96 college games (58 starts) under his belt, will use a redshirt this year and spend 2025-26 in Spokane, Wash. Warley played three seasons at Florida State before transferring to Virginia before the 2024-25 season. He was allowed to enter the transfer portal again following the surprise retirement of coach Tony Bennett just three weeks before the season. With the Seminoles, Warley averaged 6.0 points, 2.9 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. His junior year was his best, as he put up 7.5 points, 2.8 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game over 33 appearances (32 starts). --Field Level Media

No. 25 Illinois rebounds in big way, blasts UMES 87-40

London, Dec 16 (AP) Edinburgh Airport was shut down by an unspecified information technology issue Sunday afternoon, causing headaches for passengers at the start of the busy holiday travel season. All flights into and out of Scotland's busiest airport were grounded at 4:15 pm local time, with some incoming flights diverted to Glasgow Airport about 50 miles away. Also Read | Anura Kumara Dissanayake's on 3-Day India Visit: 'Had Productive Discussions With FM Sitharaman, EAM Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval', Says Sri Lankan President. Edinburgh airport said engineers were working to resolve the issue. “Passengers are asked to check the status of their flight with the airline they are flying with before travelling to the airport," the airport said in a statement. (AP) Also Read | Anura Kumara Dissanayake's India Trip: In First Foreign Visit After Assuming Office, Sri Lankan President Lands in Delhi, Will Hold Bilateral With PM Narendra Modi (Watch Video). (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)FedEx employees embrace BDS movement against Israel in shocking displaySAGE 2025 game showcase confirms exhibitor lineup

By SARAH PARVINI, GARANCE BURKE and JESSE BEDAYN, Associated Press President-elect Donald Trump will return to power next year with a raft of technological tools at his disposal that would help deliver his campaign promise of cracking down on immigration — among them, surveillance and artificial intelligence technology that the Biden administration already uses to help make crucial decisions in tracking, detaining and ultimately deporting immigrants lacking permanent legal status. While immigration officials have used the tech for years, an October letter from the Department of Homeland Security obtained exclusively by The Associated Press details how those tools — some of them powered by AI — help make life-altering decisions for immigrants, including whether they should be detained or surveilled. One algorithm, for example, ranks immigrants with a “Hurricane Score,” ranging from 1-5, to assess whether someone will “abscond” from the agency’s supervision. The letter, sent by DHS Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Eric Hysen to the immigrant rights group Just Futures Law, revealed that the score calculates the potential risk that an immigrant — with a pending case — will fail to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The algorithm relies on several factors, he said, including an immigrant’s number of violations and length of time in the program, and whether the person has a travel document. Hysen wrote that ICE officers consider the score, among other information, when making decisions about an immigrant’s case. “The Hurricane Score does not make decisions on detention, deportation, or surveillance; instead, it is used to inform human decision-making,” Hysen wrote. Also included in the government’s tool kit is a mobile app called SmartLINK that uses facial matching and can track an immigrant’s specific location. Nearly 200,000 people without legal status who are in removal proceedings are enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program, under which certain immigrants can live in the U.S. while their immigration cases are pending. In exchange, SmartLINK and GPS trackers used by ICE rigorously surveil them and their movements. The phone application draws on facial matching technology and geolocation data, which has been used before to find and arrest those using the app. Just Futures Law wrote to Hysen earlier this year, questioning the fairness of using an algorithm to assess whether someone is a flight risk and raising concerns over how much data SmartLINK collects. Such AI systems, which score or screen people, are used widely but remain largely unregulated even though some have been found to discriminate on race, gender or other protected traits. DHS said in an email that it is committed to ensuring that its use of AI is transparent and safeguards privacy and civil rights while avoiding biases. The agency said it is working to implement the Biden administration’s requirements on using AI , but Hysen said in his letter that security officials may waive those requirements for certain uses. Trump has publicly vowed to repeal Biden’s AI policy when he returns to the White House in January. “DHS uses AI to assist our personnel in their work, but DHS does not use the outputs of AI systems as the sole basis for any law enforcement action or denial of benefits,” a spokesperson for DHS told the AP. Trump has not revealed how he plans to carry out his promised deportation of an estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally. Although he has proposed invoking wartime powers, as well as military involvement, the plan would face major logistical challenges — such as where to keep those who have been detained and how to find people spread across the country — that AI-powered surveillance tools could potentially address. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump, did not answer questions about how they plan to use DHS’ tech, but said in a statement that “President Trump will marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation” in American history. Over 100 civil society groups sent a letter on Friday urging the Office of Management and Budget to require DHS to comply with the Biden administration’s guidelines. OMB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Just Futures Law’s executive director, Paromita Shah, said if immigrants are scored as flight risks, they are more likely to remain in detention, “limiting their ability to prepare a defense in their case in immigration court, which is already difficult enough as it is.” SmartLINK, part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, is run by BI Inc., a subsidiary of the private prison company The GEO Group. The GEO Group also contracts with ICE to run detention centers. ICE is tight-lipped about how it uses SmartLINK’s location feature to find and arrest immigrants. Still, public records show that during Trump’s first term in 2018, Manassas, Virginia-based employees of BI Inc. relayed immigrants’ GPS locations to federal authorities, who then arrested over 40 people. In a report last year to address privacy issues and concerns, DHS said that the mobile app includes security features that “prohibit access to information on the participant’s mobile device, with the exception of location data points when the app is open.” But the report notes that there remains a risk that data collected from people “may be misused for unauthorized persistent monitoring.” Such information could also be stored in other ICE and DHS databases and used for other DHS mission purposes, the report said. On investor calls earlier this month, private prison companies were clear-eyed about the opportunities ahead. The GEO Group’s executive chairman George Christopher Zoley said that he expects the incoming Trump administration to “take a much more aggressive approach regarding border security as well as interior enforcement and to request additional funding from Congress to achieve these goals.” “In GEO’s ISAP program, we can scale up from the present 182,500 participants to several hundreds of thousands, or even millions of participants,” Zoley said. That same day, the head of another private prison company told investors he would be watching closely to see how the new administration may change immigrant monitoring programs. “It’s an opportunity for multiple vendors to engage ICE about the program going forward and think about creative and innovative solutions to not only get better outcomes, but also scale up the program as necessary,” Damon Hininger, CEO of the private prison company CoreCivic Inc. said on an earnings call. GEO did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, CoreCivic said that it has played “a valued but limited role in America’s immigration system” for both Democrats and Republicans for over 40 years.

A former Carpetright store taken over by Bensons for Beds looks set to be transformed into a charity superstore. The Canterbury branch of the doomed retailer was taken on as part of Bensons’ plans to save some of the business in a move revealed in August. The carpet and flooring giant closed over 200 shops UK-wide and laid off more than 1,500 employees when it was bought out by rival Tapi upon entering administration. Now, Cancer Research has submitted papers to the city council detailing its intention to move into the Vauxhall Road site and open a charity “superstore”. If the building changes hands, it will offer primarily donated goods such as furniture, homeware, fashion, books and technology. It will also act as a donation centre for supporters to drop off similar second-hand items. In documents sent to Canterbury City Council, bosses said the importance of its ability to receive and sell donated goods “cannot be underestimated”. “The larger stores must have convenient parking and offer a retail area which can display a wide range of products including furniture, homeware, fashion, books, DVDs and CDs and small electrical items,” they add. “The majority of the items displayed and sold have been previously used.” The charity estimates moving into the retail park would bring in more than £1 million a year and would be the fourth such superstore in Kent. Cancer Research also operates similar sites in Strood, Thanet and the Isle of Sheppey. A total of 10 jobs would be created alongside 20 volunteering opportunities, while trading hours would be 9am to 8pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sundays. Canterbury was among 10 Carpetright stores in Kent which closed this year, with Bensons’ acquisition of some Kent shops forming part of a wider scheme across the country. Bensons for Beds and Cancer Research have been contacted for comment regarding the Canterbury store.A high-altitude communications balloon flies over Taichung in October.Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Digital Affairs DIY: The domestically developed balloon network can provide telecommunication services in a disaster without having to negotiate with other countries, an official said By Hsu Tze-lin and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer 請繼續往下閱讀... The nation is developing a fleet of high-altitude balloons and drones to bolster Taiwan’s communications resiliency, the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) said. The high-altitude communications balloons and drones would serve as the backbone of an Internet network under the nation’s exclusive control, it said. In October, Taiwan launched its first high-altitude communications balloon carrying hydrogen fuel cells and mobile base stations, MODA Department of Resource Management Director Niu Hsin-jen (牛信仁) told the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) in a recent interview. 請繼續往下閱讀... The program is a collaboration of the ministry, TH Aero Tech (天興航太), the Industrial Technology Research Institute, the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, the National Taipei University of Science and Technology and the nation’s three main telecoms, Niu said. The domestically developed and manufactured system is designed to control telecommunications networks across a 380km2 area during a military conflict or natural disaster, he said. Balloons offer important advantages over other platforms, such as being inexpensive and easy to mass produce, making them resilient to attrition, he said. Unlike satellite deployments that require negotiations with foreign governments on orbits and the usage of frequencies, balloons can use any frequency and be deployed at will within Taiwan’s airspace, he said. The key technologies of the high-altitude balloons’ design and manufacturing are primarily sourced from the US, the UK, Japan and the Czech Republic, none of which pose a potential national security threat, Niu said. Airships, balloons and drones are the main types of high-altitude station platforms that can be used for wireless communications, he said, adding that balloons were selected for their superior payload, loiter time and technological maturity. The government did not develop airships due to the heavy energy consumption required for their deployment, Niu said. The ministry is next year to increase the operational ceiling of balloons to 800m or higher, enable linkage between balloon-run networks to mimic the capability of satellite constellations and develop a drone-based platform station, he said. The balloon-based, high-altitude platform station remains an experimental technology, but the potential for commercialization is substantial and could be achieved if a certification system is created, he said. 新聞來源: TAIPEI TIMES 不用抽 不用搶 現在用APP看新聞 保證天天中獎 點我下載APP 按我看活動辦法

It’s been a long road back to the highest levels of motorsport for Canadian driver Robert Wickens. Six years after he was paralyzed in a violent wreck, Wickens will again be behind the wheel against some of the best drivers in North America. Wickens, from Guelph, Ont., was named the newest driver for DXDT Racing earlier this week, moving the 35-year-old up to IMSA GTD competition for 2025, the highest class on the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series. His promotion was made possible by a new hand control braking system created by Bosch Electronics, with help from GM Motorsports and Corvette Racing/Pratt Miller. “It’s not going to be easy but I wanted to get to the highest levels of motorsport again because, frankly, that’s where I was when I was injured,” said Wickens, who crashed at Pocono Raceway in 2018 during IndyCar’s ABC Supply 500. “But not only that, I want to prove to myself and other generations of people with disabilities that you can really do anything. “Maybe you’re having a hard time getting back to your place of work after a life-altering accident and — whatever your discipline, it doesn’t even have to be athletics — but I know it’s possible as long as you align yourself with a strong support system.” For Wickens, that’s been his wife Karli Wickens, his family and, in his professional life, organizations like Bosch and GM. Wickens’s crash left him with a thoracic spinal fracture, a neck fracture, tibia and fibula fractures to both legs, fractures in both hands, a fractured right forearm, a fractured elbow, four fractured ribs, a pulmonary contusion, and an indeterminate spinal injury that combined to make him a paraplegic. As he has slowly recovered some movement in his legs, Wickens has eased back into motor racing. He drove the parade lap of the 2019 Honda Indy Toronto, competed in the IndyCar iRacing Challenge during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then in January 2022 it was announced he would drive in the Michelin Pilot Challenge for Bryan Herta Autosport. He and co-driver Mark Wilkins won twice in the Michelin Pilot Challenge’s TCR category with three podiums in 2022. In 2023 the pairing didn’t win, but they reached the podium seven times to earn the TCR championship. All of Wickens’s post-accident cars have been fitted with hand controls. Those conventional systems rely on paddles around the steering wheel that activate pneumatics that then press the foot pedals. Hand controls like that are acceptable for regular road vehicles and even lower levels of motorsports but in the highest classes, like IMSA GTD where cars top out at more than 280 kilometres, the lag between the driver toggling the paddle and the car responding is unacceptably slow. That’s where the Bosch electronic system comes in, with the controls linked directly to the car’s braking system, removing the pneumatics as an intermediary. “When you hit the brakes to slow the car down for each corner that was always a big challenge for me where (with) the Bosch electronic system, the latency is milliseconds not tenths of a second,” said Wickens. “It’s basically as accurate as I would be if I was an able-bodied driver wanting to apply the brake. “Honestly, it’s just better in every facet imaginable. It’s just been a true blessing.” Advances in physical rehabilitation from spinal cord injuries as well as the ongoing development of vehicle technology has made Wickens’s return to competitive motorsport possible. “I’m very fortunate in the timing of my paralysis and my career,” Wickens said Wednesday from Tampa, Fla. “If this was even a decade ago we’d be having a very different conversation today.” The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has four classes of vehicles: two sports prototype categories and two grand tourer classes. GTD is considered the highest of the four classes because each team must have at least a silver or bronze driver and more than one platinum-rated driver on a team is prohibited. “I want to win,” said Wickens. “I think the big thing for me on this journey back was I wanted to race again because I truly felt like I could still win. “I want to raise awareness for spinal cord injury and disability, not by just being a participant, but by being the guy. I want to win races, fight for podiums, win championships, every time I’m sitting in the car.” Wickens said he won’t just be a role model for people living with paralysis or other mobility disabilities, but the technology his car will employ in 2025 will likely become commercially available for use in road vehicles. “Motorsports and the automotive racing industry were founded to be a proving ground for everyday automotive vehicles,” he said. “From there you make road cars and road safety better. “Hopefully we can provide the technology and have regularly available components that can make any race car accessible for anyone that needs hand controls or any other form of disability.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2024. Follow jchidleyhill.bsky.social on Bluesky.With new GPUs coming from AMD, Intel, and Nvidia soon here are the four graphics cards I believe are still worth buying this Black Friday

AP Sports SummaryBrief at 11:52 p.m. EST

Insurtech startups that wanted to change the way India buys insurance seem to have fallen back on the tried and tested model. The likes of Policybazaar had built a business around selling insurance virtually, instead of relying on agents to sell insurance policies through doorstep visits. But this same crop of players is now setting up an army of field agents, or point-of-sales personnel, to sell insurance products. Policybazaar has around 250,000 physical agents, and according to the results of its parent PB Fintech , the Gurugram-based insurance aggregator posted nearly Rs 400 crore of revenue from this business in the quarter ended September 30. InsuranceDekho , another major player in this segment has more than 200,000 agents on the ground. The business has grown too, with the company which is set to acquire smaller rival Renewbuy reporting total revenue of Rs 743 crore for the financial year 2024 with a net profit of Rs 85 crore. Mumbai-based Turtlemint claims to have around 400,000 physical agents. Web Development Intermediate Java Mastery: Method, Collections, and Beyond By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Marketing Digital marketing - Wordpress Website Development By - Shraddha Somani, Digital Marketing Trainer, Consultant, Strategiest and Subject Matter expert View Program Marketing Modern Marketing Masterclass by Seth Godin By - Seth Godin, Former dot com Business Executive and Best Selling Author View Program Strategy Succession Planning Masterclass By - Nigel Penny, Global Strategy Advisor: NSP Strategy Facilitation Ltd. View Program Web Development Advanced C++ Mastery: OOPs and Template Techniques By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Entrepreneurship Crafting a Powerful Startup Value Proposition By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Web Development 12-Factor App Methodology: Principles and Guidelines By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Web Development A Comprehensive ASP.NET Core MVC 6 Project Guide for 2024 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 Java 21 Essentials for Beginners: Build Strong Programming Foundations By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Office Productivity Excel Essentials to Expert: Your Complete Guide By - Study At Home, Quality Education Anytime, Anywhere View Program Design Microsoft Designer Guide: The Ultimate AI Design Tool By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Basics of Generative AI: Unveiling Tomorrow's Innovations By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Finance A2Z Of Money By - elearnmarkets, Financial Education by StockEdge View Program Entrepreneurship From Idea to Product: A Startup Development Guide By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience 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 Crypto & NFT Mastery: From Basics to Advanced By - CA Raj K Agrawal, Chartered Accountant 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 Artificial Intelligence(AI) Generative AI for Dynamic Java Web Applications with ChatGPT By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer 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) Collaborative AI Foundations: Working Smarter with Machines By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) 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 Data Analysis Animated Visualizations with Flourish Studio: Beginner to Pro By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Finance Financial Literacy i.e Lets Crack the Billionaire Code By - CA Rahul Gupta, CA with 10+ years of experience and Accounting Educator View Program Web Development Maximizing Developer Productivity: The Pomodoro Technique in Practice By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program The strong uptick in agent count for intermediaries shows up in the industry figures as well, where insurance companies have not grown their agent base at that pace. Data from the Insurance and Regulatory Development Authority of India ( IRDAI ) show that between financial years 2023 and 2022, intermediaries increased their agent count by 300,000 to more than a million. Insurance companies had 700,000 agents in the same time frame. The regulator has yet to release the figures for FY24. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Intermediaries say working with them allows agents to provide more options to their customers. “The agent wants the choice or options from multiple insurance companies to offer to their clients and we as a broking platform have aggregated insurers and their products. We have also built technology which has made it easier for our agents to manage these policies and to service their clients,” said Turtlemint cofounder Anand Prabhudesai. ETtech The challenging part While the insurtech industry has been growing at a fast speed, there are challenges of sustainability around this growth rate. Industry insiders pointed out that the physical distribution business is primarily a volume-led business with margins being squeezed due to aggressive competition. PB Fintech group chief executive officer Yashish Dahiya, while addressing the company’s September quarter analyst call, spoke about business sustainability. “A confident market leader who's a marathon runner has to be countercyclical. He does not start sprinting just because some kids are sprinting for 5 kms; he waits (for) them to tire out. When they tire out, he tells them that you're tired, and I'm going fast now,” he said. For a business which is generating almost 40% of the revenue for a group like PB Fintech, why is the insurance veteran taking a contrarian stance — that he doesn’t want to grow very fast by burning cash. “Growth of agents in this sector is being achieved through offers of lucrative commissions mostly; add to that a technology stack which can help them manage sales and on-time pay-outs of commissions,” said an insurtech founder on the condition of anonymity. While competition among well-funded players means higher pay-outs to business partners and perhaps better deals for the consumers, there are questions about whether it is helping insurance penetration in the country or are brokers eating into the agent network of insurers with promises of lofty pay-outs? Industry insiders pointed out that the average commission paid to the field agent has gone up significantly and it could eventually hurt insurance companies. Motor commissions which should have been around 15% have shot up to around 30% and life and health commissions can go as high as 45%, they said. Also, insurance brokers are paying higher commissions to the agent by dipping into their own share of the revenue in some cases, which raises questions of sustainability in the long run, the insurtech founder cited earlier said. "The strategy for us is to go deep into the country where you can make more money per insurance sale, beyond tier one two cities, we are getting around 80% of our business from tier two cities and beyond and around 60% from tier three and beyond," said Ankit Agrawal, chief executive officer, InsuranceDekho. Regulatory scrutiny The question around brokers’ commissions and the aggression in this agent-driven market did attract regulatory attention. This question was raised last year in the Regulations Review Committee of the IRDAI, which suggested that agents be allowed to work only with insurers and intermediaries be allowed to sell insurance only through their on-roll employees. The Insurance Brokers Association had defended the role played by brokers in taking insurance to the masses. According to it, by offering choices from multiple insurance companies, they were actually helping customers get better products with a higher degree of clarity on the products. The committee’s proposal, though debated last year, seems to have been put on the backburner as of now. So the question that remains is the financial viability of these businesses. “We have stayed away from higher pay-outs to agents, we want them to work with us for our technology stack and timely pay-outs, we want to be seen as a reliable partner,” Prabhudesai of Turtlemint commented. Even PB Fintech’s Dahiya at the September analyst call pointed out that this business would never make a lot of money for his company in terms of margin percentage, but at scale it would have a significant contribution to the overall business. The wild card in all of this is Bima Sugam , the IRDAI’s attempt to create a digital public infrastructure which can connect all insurance companies through a common technology platform. If turned into a reality and at scale, it could play a significant role in stabilising prices and competition in the insurance distribution market. “As of now we are yet to see any significant achievement on that front. While insurance companies will love to have a regulator-managed online platform, the amount of capital required and the efforts needed will be huge and it will be a test for the sector to come together to build it,” said one of the founders. The Business Standard newspaper wrote on November 24 that the capital requirement for this platform has shot up to Rs 500 crore, significantly higher than previously anticipated. So whether it is an IRDAI order to restrict brokers from appointing agents, or an industry initiative to democratise technology or high burn which results in ultimate slowdown in growth, the fast growing insurance distribution industry needs to grapple with many challenges. In the meantime, every player is looking to build its own business moats, either through a war chest of venture dollars or through a network of possibly loyal agents.

Cotabato City–On Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, Sen. Robinhood Padilla filed Senate Bill No. 2879, which aimed to establish another autonomous region to be composed of three island provinces–Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi or the BaSulTa region. Upon hearing this news, top leaders of the current Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) expressed their dismay that one of their ”idols” and perceived champion in the Senate has dropped another bombshell to an already beleaguered region. Many of them consider this move as “ill-advised” and insensitive to the current problems the region is facing due to the Supreme Court decision last Sept. 9 removing Sulu as a component province of the region. To recall, the Supreme Court announced its final and executory ruling that the province of Sulu is no longer part of the fledgling BARMM, to be implemented after it was announced. This news spread like wildfire, making all functionaries and leaders in the region, and several civil society organizations confused and bewildered at this sudden turn of events in the already checkered brief history of the transitional BARMM government. Padilla’s new bill is a complicated proposal to address the already complex problems faced by the region as well as its constituencies. This proposed legislation is another political “mistake” on top of another one–the exit of Sulu from the BARMM. SB 2879 is not only “ill-advised,” it is fueling another firestorm already generating powerful flames of division in the region. Such divisive national-based policies and decisions hark back to the reign of our two main colonizers–Spain and the United States of America–and these are all referred to as “divide and rule” policy. The two colonizers easily instigated divisions among clan-based communities in Mindanao and its islands many of which have been Islamized starting in 1380 AD, long before the Spaniards came here in the early 16th century. By filing this bill, Padilla is manifesting his cluelessness of the entire range of dynamics–political, social, and cultural–that gave rise to what the BARMM is now. He may be a Muslim by conversion, but he has not embedded himself in the communities of the Bangsamoro, especially those who are leading the region now as the government of the day–the leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. He has not seen the suffering of the communities left behind by their heads who had to answer the call for the struggle for self-determination. He has not known how it is to be fighting a war of attrition for more than four decades without being assured of victory at the end. He has not known war on a personal level, since he has not been a part of the Bangsamoro history of struggle. He has only known war as part of his make-believe world as an actor on the big screen. He may be an effective and charismatic actor. Unfortunately, these are not the main traits required of a legislator, and a national one at that. He may be effective in playing his roles on the reel, make-believe world on the silver screen, but he has not gone through the needed training and experience of how to craft legislation, even at the barangay level. I would like to believe that as a Muslim convert, he is concerned with the dismal quality of life of many Bangsamoro Muslims in the region. He claimed this during his campaign sorties that convinced Bangsamoro voters to give their vote of confidence to him. Many of these voters have become part of the BARMM bureaucracy and consider him their champion in promoting more favorable legal instruments to benefit them in the region. The proposed BaSulTa region is not new; it is an arbitrary creation among nongovernment and religious-based organizations to come up with a way to delineate their respective initiatives by location, to distinguish the unique contexts of island communities vis-à-vis the “mainland” provinces of Lanao del Sur and now, the two Maguindanao provinces. But making it another autonomous region will raise a host of various problems, making it another set of kindling wood to an already existing conflagration that started with the exit of Sulu from the BARMM. First, the proposal will run counter to the 1987 Constitution that allows for only two autonomous regions–the ARMM, now BARMM, and the Cordillera Autonomous Region. While several sectors have advocated for reconsideration to reinstate Sulu as part of the BARMM, here is a proposal to divide the region once again. This has also raised questions on Padilla’s motives and his avowed concern and empathy for the Bangsamoro. This bill proves otherwise. Most of all, it is a proposal that spells another figurative firestorm in the region. Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . [email protected]

EDMONTON — Joe Iginla scored a hat trick and the Edmonton Oil Kings thumped the Red Deer Rebels 8-2 on Sunday night in the Western Hockey League. Iginla, the 16-year-old son of Hockey Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla, buried his fifth, sixth and seventh goals of the season. The hat trick goal came at 18:19 of the third period. Roan Woodward added two goals and an assist while Gracyn Sawchyn had three helpers for Edmonton. Gavin Hodnett, Marshall Finnie and Kayden Stroeder also scored. Alex Worthington made 20 saves. Carson Birnie and Ollie Josephson replied for Red Deer. Chase Wutzke allowed seven goals on 33 shots and Peyton Shore stopped eight of nine. HITMEN 4 TIGERS 3 (OT) CALGARY — Ben Kindel scored twice, including the overtime winner, and the Calgary Hitmen edged the Medicine Hat Tigers. Ethan Moore and Maxim Muranov also scored for Medicine Hat. Anders Miller stopped 22 shots. Ryder Ritchie replied twice and Bryce Pickford also scored for Medicine Hat. Jordan Switzer made 36 saves. GIANTS 3 ROCKETS 1 LANGLEY, B.C. — Ty Halaburda scored twice, including a short-handed game-winning goal, and the Vancouver Giants beat the Kelowna Rockets. Jaden Lipinski also scored for Vancouver and Matthew Hutchison made 22 saves. Max Graham replied for Kelowna. Rhett Stoesser stopped 24 shots. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2024. The Canadian PressThe Latest: State funeral for Jimmy Carter will be Jan. 9