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bet99 ph Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices gained this week, the first rise after three weekly declines, as the imminent expiry of a transit deal for Russian gas through Ukraine to Europe lent support to prices. The average LNG price for February delivery into north-east Asia (LNG-AS) was $14.10 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), up 6% from $13.30/mmBtu last week, industry sources estimated. Asian LNG prices have gained 20% this year and averaged $11.97/mmBtu in 2024. “The biggest thing people are keeping an eye on is TTF’s upward movement,” said Masanori Odaka, senior analyst at Rystad Energy, referring to the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) hub. He added that some industry participants were taking the expiry of a Russia-Ukraine gas transit contract at the end of this year as bullish news. Russian gas supply into Europe could affect prices on the TTF, which also has an impact on Asia LNG prices. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday there was no time left this year to sign a new Ukrainian gas transit deal, and blamed Ukraine for refusing to extend the agreement that also brings gas to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria. “The other thing is a cold front potential in the U.S. which could end in a deep freeze like it did in 2021,” Rystad’s Odaka added. “Asia seems relatively well stocked, so below average to normal winter will not likely cause China, Korea or Japan to buy significant volumes in the spot market.” In Europe, delivered prices turned higher this week, mostly on continued uncertainty about the agreement to continue gas transit to Europe through Ukraine after the current deal expires, said Martin Senior, head of LNG pricing at commodity pricing agency Argus. “Weak wind generation forecasts in northwest Europe during the Christmas break and into the weekend also supported gas-fired generation demand,” he added. S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed its daily North West Europe LNG Marker (NWM) price benchmark for cargoes delivered in February on an ex-ship (DES) basis at $13.76/mmBtu on Dec. 24, a $0.20/mmBtu discount to the February gas price at the Dutch TTF hub. Argus assessed the price at $13.745/mmBtu, while Spark Commodities assessed the price for January delivery at $13.753/mmBtu. The U.S. arbitrage to Northeast Asia via the Cape of Good Hope for January is still currently closed due to the recent TTF rally, providing more incentive for U.S. cargos to deliver to Northwest Europe instead, said Spark Commodities analyst Qasim Afghan. In LNG freight, Atlantic rates held steady at $23,500/day, while Pacific rates fell to $21,500/day, added Afghan. Source: Reuters

As rumors of her sightings spread, whispers of sympathy and curiosity followed in their wake. What had led this once esteemed actress to such a desperate state? Why did she refuse offers of food, yet continued to roam the streets in search of help?College Football Playoff's first 12-team bracket is set with Oregon No. 1 and SMU in, Alabama out

Under-5 Mortality: Paediatrician Advocates Community-oriented Training for PractitionersMeteorologists have been closely monitoring the progression of this cold air mass, tracking its movements and predicting its impact on the region. With advanced technology and forecasting techniques, they are able to pinpoint the exact timing of the temperature drop and provide accurate information to the public.This story is from an installment of The Oeno Files , our weekly insider newsletter to the world of fine wine. Sign up here. Imagine walking to the hostess stand at a nearly empty restaurant, requesting a table for two, and being asked if you have a reservation. As you look around at all the available tables and inform the hostess that you don’t, she scrolls through her tablet, makes a faint huffing noise, cranes her neck, peers into the practically unoccupied dining room, and then tells you that she may have something in 30 minutes if there is a no-show or cancellation. She takes your cell number and you and your companion reluctantly go to a nearby bar to wait for her call, or, more likely, have a drink and scroll through your phones looking for alternatives in the area. This has happened to us, and we’re pretty sure that no matter who you are, it has happened to you as well. Since restaurants are not our regular beat, we are not here to delve into solutions to this problem but rather to an analogous situation in the world of wine: allocations and limited availability. It seems that more and more wineries that sell direct to consumer are still using an old-school technique to move bottles, forcing potential clients to sign up to join a list and being informed when a new vintage is ready for shipment. On an almost daily basis we are amazed at how many wine brands, even brand-new ones, employ this archaic tactic. In an attempt to create an aura of scarcity or exclusivity, it may put off potential customers who heard about a wine and simply want to buy a bottle rather than be “alerted when new bottles are in stock” or “notified when club memberships are available.” We even had this experience in preparation for this article. To give you a little insight into our process, when sample wines are sent for potential inclusion in roundups, we blind-taste them as a group—say a few flights of Brunello di Montalcino or Napa Cabs from the Oakville AVA —and choose the top contenders for inclusion. After evaluating the wine and writing a tasting note based on our impressions, we check and see if the wine is available via an online retailer or the winery website so our readers can buy a bottle. We also receive wines for potential editorial consideration that do not fit neatly into a category we’re currently reviewing, like Ovid 2021 Hexameter from Napa Valley , a luscious Pritchard Hill Cabernet Franc that we tasted among a lineup of Cabernet Francs from around the globe. We were both bowled over by its combination of intensity and elegance and thought it would make a great “Wine of the Week” to run with The Oeno Files newsletter. One click on the “acquire” tab on the Ovid Napa Valley website was all it took to discover that to purchase a bottle one has to first join the list, buy wines from Ovid’s Experiment series, and then wait to become a tenured member before being granted access to Hexameter. For us and our Robb Report readers, that’s a no-go; in this fast-moving digital age there is no reason for us to write about a wine that our readers are unable to purchase on demand. While we are certain that Ovid has found a large audience—it is, after all, a sister property to the Duncan family’s Silver Oak —this sort of gatekeeping is rampant in the wine world but especially so among high echelon brands in Napa Valley, Sonoma, and even Walla Walla. We have mentioned this before, but wine sales are down and are expected to continue their decline, so barriers to purchase just don’t make sense. According to data released in October by the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association ( WSWA ), wine sales for the 12 months through August 2024 decreased by 8 percent, with wine sales at the $100-plus level (the tier we mainly cover) falling by 8.5 percent. Younger people are drinking less or are consuming other beverages, and it just doesn’t make sense to have the digital equivalent to a night-club bouncer and red velvet rope on the homepage—or very close to it—of a winery website. We understand that at a certain level, winery owners—especially those making small lots of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon or red blends from legacy fruit with a superstar winemaker—want to exhibit an air of exclusivity and rarity. We also understand that among a small group of cult wines such as Screaming Eagle, Harlan, Bond, or Hundred Acre, a long-standing reputation, high demand, and limited quantities add up to a situation that requires selling almost all your bottles to existing customers and only adding new ones when older members drop out of the market. After all, the No. 1 spot on Promontory’s club list (along with one case a year for 10 years plus a few large format bottles) was bid up to $600,000 at Auction Napa Valley in 2014. So we get that being on these lists can be a status symbol, too. But that said, there are a lot of seemingly under-the-radar producers who maintain an air of secrecy about their pricing and sales, as well as requiring a signup or membership to purchase bottles. We’ve seen it with brands that are fresh out of the gate, and while all the elements add up to there being potentially high demand, we think that maybe, just maybe, they would actually sell more wine if there were just a price and a “click here to buy” button rather than a complicated process and a wait list. If we want to buy a bottle—or a case—of wine right now, it’s highly likely that when one of us receives an email or a call in two weeks, or six months, or a year and a half, we may have fulfilled that desire elsewhere and not even want that particular bottle anymore. And as engaged consumers indicate a preference for across-the-board transparency in the businesses they patronize, it seems that maintaining a veil of secrecy and a barrier to entry is a risky proposition. Just sell them the bottle already! Do you want access to rare and outstanding reds from Napa Valley? Join the Robb Report 672 Wine Club today .

Title: Ferdinand: Manchester United Should Be Ruthless When Dealing with Underperforming Players

During his speech, Jack Ma emphasized the importance of embracing AI technologies to unleash new opportunities for businesses and individuals. He highlighted the significant impact that AI is already having on traditional industries, such as retail, finance, and healthcare. According to Ma, AI has the potential to drive innovation, improve efficiency, and create new business models that were previously unimaginable.The new, 12-team College Football Playoff brings with it a promise to be bigger, more exciting, more lucrative. Perfect or 100% fair? Well, nobody ever believed that. The first expanded playoff bracket unveiled Sunday left a presumably deserving Alabama team on the sideline in favor of an SMU squad that finished with a better record after playing a schedule that was not as difficult. It ranked undefeated Oregon first but set up a possible rematch against Ohio State, the team that came closest to beating the Ducks this year. It treated underdog Boise State like a favorite and banged-up Georgia like a world beater at No. 2. It gave Ohio State home-field advantage against Tennessee for reasons it would take a supercomputer to figure out. It gave the sport the multiweek tournament it has longed for, but also ensured there will be plenty to grouse about between now and when the trophy is handed out on Jan. 20 after what will easily be the longest college football season in history. All of it, thankfully, will be sorted out on the field starting with first-round games on campuses Dec. 20 and 21, then over three succeeding rounds that will wind their way through traditional bowl sites. Maybe Oregon coach Dan Lanning, whose undefeated Ducks are the favorite to win it all, put it best when he offered: "Winning a national championship is not supposed to be easy.” Neither, it turns out, is figuring out who should play for it. The Big Ten will lead the way with four teams in the tournament, followed by the SEC with three and the ACC with two. The lasting memory from the inaugural bracket will involve the decision that handed the ACC that second bid. Alabama of the SEC didn't play Saturday. SMU of the ACC did. The Mustangs fell behind by three touchdowns to Clemson before coming back to tie. But they ultimately lost 34-31 on a 56-yard field goal as time expired. “We were on pins and needles,” SMU coach Rhett Lashley said. “Until we saw the name ‘SMU’ up there, we were hanging on the edge. We're really, really happy and thankful to the committee for rewarding our guys for their total body of work." The Mustangs only had two losses, compared to three for the Crimson Tide. Even though SMU's schedule wasn't nearly as tough, the committee was impressed by the way the Mustangs came back against Clemson. “We just felt, in this particular case, SMU had the nod above Alabama,” said Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the chairman of the selection committee. “But it’s no disrespect to Alabama’s strength of schedule. We looked at the entire body of work for both teams.” Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne was gracious, up to a point. “Disappointed with the outcome and felt we were one of the 12 best teams in the country,” he said on social media. He acknowledged — despite all of Alabama’s losses coming against conference opponents this season — that the Tide’s push to schedule more games against teams from other major conferences in order to improve its strength of schedule did not pay off this time. “That is not good for college football," Byrne said. Georgia, the SEC champion, was seeded second; Boise State, the Mountain West champion, earned the third seed; and Big 12 titlist Arizona State got the fourth seed and the fourth and final first-round bye. All will play in quarterfinals at bowl games on Dec. 31-Jan. 1. Clemson stole a bid and the 12th seed with its crazy win over SMU, the result that ultimately cost Alabama a spot in the field. The Tigers moved to No. 16 in the rankings, but got in as the fifth-best conference winner. The conference commissioners' idea to give conference champions preferable treatment in this first iteration of the 12-team playoff could be up for reconsideration after this season. The committee actually ranked Boise State, the Mountain West Champion, at No. 9 and Big 12 champion Arizona State at No. 12, but both get to skip the first round. Another CFP guideline: There’s no reseeding of teams after each round, which means no break for Oregon. The top-seeded Ducks will face the winner of Tennessee-Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Oregon beat Ohio State 32-31 earlier this year in one of the season’s best games. No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas, Dec. 21. Clemson is riding high after the SMU upset, while Texas is 0-2 against Georgia and 11-0 vs. everyone else this season. The winner faces ... Arizona State in the Peach Bowl. Huh? No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State, Dec. 21. The biggest knock against the Mustangs was that they didn't play any big boys with that 60th-ranked strength of schedule. Well, now they get to. The winner faces ... Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Yes, SMU vs. Boise was the quarterfinal we all expected. No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame, Dec. 20. Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti thought his team deserved a home game. Well, not quite but close. The winner faces ... Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. The Bulldogs got the No. 2 seed despite a throwing-arm injury to QB Carson Beck. But what else was the committee supposed to do? No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State , Dec. 21. The Buckeyes (losses to Oregon, Michigan) got home field over the Volunteers (losses to Arkansas, Georgia) in a matchup of programs with two of the biggest stadiums in football. The winner faces ... Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Feels like that matchup should come in the semifinals or later. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballThe breakthrough in the case came after a crucial piece of evidence was discovered by a diligent team of detectives, who had been tirelessly working to piece together the events leading up to the CEO's tragic demise. The suspect, who had managed to evade capture for months, was finally tracked down to a remote location in the outskirts of the city, where he was found attempting to flee the authorities.