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Connor Gaydos, a man connected to an apparent parody project to relaunch the energy company Enron and become its new CEO , was hit in the face with a pie this week as he was entering a building in New York City. The incident was caught on video and went viral on social media Thursday. The clip shows Gaydos exiting an SUV shortly before an older man slams the pie into his face as two bodyguards intervene. The bizarre incident mirrored one from more than two decades earlier, when a California woman tossed a pie into the face of Enron’s then-CEO Jeffrey Schilling . Earlier this month, a group announced the scandal-plagued Texas company was returning exactly 23 years after filing for bankruptcy amid massive fraud. “With a bold new vision, Enron will leverage cutting-edge technology, human ingenuity, and the spirit of adaptation to address the critical challenges of energy, sustainability, accessibility and affordability,” the company said in a press release that raised questions about its legitimacy. The announcement was reportedly joined by billboards in the Houston area, a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle and a video promoting the company’s comeback. An investigation conducted by Houston station KHOU turned up a disclaimer on the company’s website that read, “The information on the website is First Amendment-protected parody , represents performance art and is for entertainment purposes only.” Many have speculated the company’s reemergence is merely a publicity stunt promoting cryptocurrency .

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The presence of federal investigators in Natick on Monday has been connected to an investigation into a drone strike that killed three U.S. service members overseas last year. U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy confirmed the law enforcement activity on Woodland Street was related to federal charges filed against two men for conspiring to violate export laws and providing material support to Iran, in connection with a Jan. 28 deadly drone strike in Jordan near the Syrian border . One of the men charged, 42-year-old Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen, is a Natick resident, Levy said. He worked for a Massachusetts-based microelectronics manufacturer. Jodi Cohen, FBI Boston special agent in charge, said Sadeghi is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He was arrested on Monday without incident and held pending a detention hearing scheduled for Dec. 27. His purported co-conspirator Mohammad Abedininajafabadi, 38, an Iranian citizen who faces the more serious charges of the two, was arrested in Milan, Italy. Federal authorities say Abedininajafabadi conspired with Sadeghi across 4,000 miles to “illegally procure sophisticated U.S. technology made right here in Massachusetts.” “We often cite hypothetical risk when we talk about the dangers of American technologies getting into dangerous hands,” Levy said. “Unfortunately in this situation, we are not speculating. As alleged in this criminal complaint, the grave potential damage from the leak of American technology overseas came to fruition.” In January, after the drone strike occurred, the Department of Defense called it an “uncrewed aerial system attack.” In addition to killing three U.S. soldiers — Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, all from Georgia — 40 others were injured. On Monday afternoon, the Natick Police Department informed residents there was increased police activity on Woodland Street and in the area of Juniper and Clover lanes. “At this time, there is no immediate threat to the community,” the department’s Facebook post read. “...We appreciate your cooperation and understanding during this time. Updates will be shared as soon as they become available. Please avoid calling the department for additional information.” Additionally, people wearing FBI jackets were outside a home on Woodland Street, NBC 10 Boston reported. The FBI told the news station that agents were conducting a “court-authorized activity” and that there was no threat to the public. MassLive reporter Ryan Mancini contributed to the reporting of this story. More public safety stories

MUMBAI: The increasing digitalisation of investments and credit is creating new challenges for monetary authorities, RBI deputy governor Michael Patra said. "The shift from traditional modes of savings can affect the transmission of monetary policy impulses to the real economy. Second, central banks need to be vigilant about the possibilities of debt escalation and risk build-up at the household level," he said, while addressing a Maldives Monetary Authority conference. "The proliferation of digital consumption has been accompanied by a shift in saving and investment decisions such as online brokerage accounts, robo-advisers, investment apps and the like, as they are easier, faster and more informed," the deputy governor said. He added that digitalisation has also influenced borrowing patterns of households, with greater and easier access to fintech companies for digital loans , and by reducing information asymmetries through a wide range of sources, including tax returns, electronic toll collection, and bill payments. "The rapid progress in information and communication technology is contributing significantly to shortening the 'space-time flow' of circulation of capital - allowing it to move faster and grow larger," Patra said. Ready to Master Stock Valuation? ET’s Workshop is just around the corner!

Supreme Facility Management Ltd. to Launch Rs 50 Crore IPO on NSE EmergeActor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut on Sunday hit out at Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray to a ‘daitya’ (satan), saying that the Maha Vikas Aghadi was trounced in the Maharashtra assembly elections because it disrespected women. “I expected such a bad failure of Uddhav Thackeray. We can identify who is a 'devta (god)' and who is a 'daitya (satan)' depending on if they respect women or work for their welfare,” PTI quoted Ranaut as saying in the national capital. The National Award-winning actor had a showdown with then Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in 2020. The undivided Shiv Sena-led Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) demolished alleged illegal alterations at Ranaut's Bandra bungalow. "He faced the same fate as "daitya. Those who do not respect women can never win. They demolished my home and verbally abused me," the BJP MP from Mandi said. Ahead of the demolition drive at her bungalow, Kangana Ranaut said she feared the Mumbai Police more than the “movie mafia”, and compared India's financial capital to Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. ALSO READ: Kangana Ranaut clarifies she didn't enter politics because BMC demolished her home: ‘Negativity drains me’ Mahayuti sweeps Maharashtra elections The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance retained power in Maharashtra, winning 230 of the 288 assembly seats. The Congress-led MVA's dream of wresting power fizzled, with the opposition combine managing to garner just 46 seats. None of the MVA constituents secured the minimum number of seats mandatory to claim the post of leader of opposition in the assembly. Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) could bag just 20 seats, Congress at 16 and Sharad Pawar's NCP(SP) reduced to 10 seats. On the assembly election debacle, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said,"We are not disappointed, we are people who fight. We are Shiv Sainiks of Balasaheb Thackeray. Balasaheb Thackeray has also seen many defeats and victories in his life. We are not sad that we lost or lost power. We will fight against the injustice in Maharashtra." (With PTI inputs)

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Gisèle Benoit still gets goosebumps when she remembers the first time she saw a family of eastern wolves emerge from the forests of the Mauricie National Park, under the backdrop of a rising moon. It was 1984 and Benoit, then in her early 20s, had been using a horn to try to call a bull moose when she instead heard a long howl, followed by an adult wolf stepping out to a rocky shore accompanied by a half-grown youth and four pups. “I will never forget that,” she said of the magical moment. “It’s anchored in my heart forever.” It was only later that Benoit, an artist and documentary filmmaker, learned that the wolves she saw weren’t grey wolves but rather rare eastern wolves. The species, whose population is estimated at fewer than 1,000 mature adults, could soon be further protected by new measures that are raising hopes among conservationists that attitudes toward a once-feared and maligned animal are shifting. In July, the federal government upgraded the eastern wolf’s threat level from “status of special concern” to “threatened,” based on a 2015 report by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. That report found the population count may be as low as 236 mature individuals in its central Ontario and southern Quebec habitat. The eastern wolf is described as medium-sized canid with reddish-tawny fur that lives in family groups of a breeding pair and their offspring. Also known as the Algonquin wolf, it is largely restricted to existing protected areas, including Algonquin Park in Ontario. The federal Environment Department said in an email that development of a recovery strategy is underway, adding it would be “written in collaboration with provincial governments, federal departments responsible for the federal lands where the eastern wolf is found as well as First Nations groups and Indigenous organizations.” The order triggers protection for the species on federal lands and forces Ottawa to prepare a recovery plan. However, the fight for protection could be an uphill battle in Quebec, which does not even recognize the eastern wolf as a distinct species. A spokesperson for Quebec’s Environment Department said Quebec considers the eastern wolf a “genetic group” rather than its own species. “Recent study shows that the eastern wolf is a distinct entity, even if it comes from several crosses between the grey wolf and the coyote,” Daniel Labonté wrote in an email. “However, scientific knowledge does not demonstrate that this genetic grouping constitutes a species in its own right.” Labonté added that this lack of recognition was not a barrier to protecting the animal, since the law also allows for protection of subspecies or wildlife populations. In October, Quebec launched a program to collect samples to improve knowledge on the distribution of large canines, including the eastern wolf. The government said it is currently “impossible to assert that there is an established population” in Quebec due to low numbers — amounting to three per cent of analyzed samples — and the “strong hybridization that exists among large canids.” Véronique Armstrong, co-founder of a Quebec wildlife protection association, says she’s feeling positive about both the Canadian and Quebec governments’ attitudes. While wolves were once “stigmatized, even persecuted,” she said, “we seem to be heading in the direction of more protection.” Her group, the Association québécoise pour la protection et l’observation de la faune, has submitted a proposal for a conservation area to protect southern Quebec wolves that has already received signs of support from three of the regional municipalities that would be covered, she said. While it’s far from settled, she’s hopeful that the battle to protect wolves might be easier than for some other species, such as caribou, because the wolves are adaptable and can tolerate some human activity, including forestry. John Theberge, a retired professor of ecology and conservation biology from the University of Waterloo and a wolf researcher, spent several years along with his wife studying and radio-collaring eastern wolves around Algonquin Park. Back in the 1990s and 2000s, they faced a “huge political battle” to try to expand wolf protection outside park boundaries after realizing that the far-ranging animals were being hunted and trapped in large numbers once they left the protected lands. Conservationists, he said, faced resistance from powerful hunter and trapper lobbies opposed to protecting the animals but in the end succeeded in permanently closing the zones outside the park to hunting and trapping in 2004. Theberge says people who want to save wolves today still face some of that same opposition — especially when governments including Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia kill wolves to protect endangered caribou. But he believes the public support for protecting wolves has increased from when his career began in the 1960s, when they were treated with fear and suspicion. “Nobody wore T-shirts with wolves on them back then,” he said. Over the years, there have been questions about whether the eastern wolf may be a grey wolf subspecies or a coyote-wolf hybrid. But in the order protecting the wolves, the federal government says genetic analyses have resolved that debate, showing that it is a “distinct species.” Benoit, Theberge and Armstrong all believe that while it’s important to protect the eastern wolf from a genetic diversity perspective, there is value in protecting all wolves, regardless of their DNA. Wolves, they say, are an umbrella species, meaning that protecting them helps protect a variety of other species. They kill off weak and sick animals, ensuring strong populations. They’re also “highly developed, sentient social species, with a division of labour, and strong family alliances,” Theberge said. Benoit agrees. After years spent watching wolves, she has developed great respect for how they live in close-knit families, with older offspring helping raise new pups. “It’s extraordinary to see how their way of life is a little like humans’,” she said.New Delhi, Nov 23 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hailed the BJP-led alliance's sweeping victory in Maharashtra as popular endorsement of its governance model and rejection of the Congress' "lies and deceit", as he accused the Gandhi family of spreading the "poison of casteism and divisiveness". Buoyed by the NDA's unprecedented scale of win in the politically prized state, Modi flayed the Congress for "betraying" the Constitution's secular principals and cited the Waqf Act, which his government is seeking to amend, as an example of its "appeasement politics". The Congress has tried to inflict capital punishment on true secularism, he claimed, asserting that the Waqf law has no place in the Constitution. Reiterating his call for "ek hain to safe hain" (we are safe if united), he said this is the biggest message from Maharashtra after the Haryana polls and it has become the country's "mahamantra". It is becoming increasingly difficult for the Congress to come to power on its own, he said, dubbing the opposition party as parasitic. The Congress and its allies tried to divide people with lies and deceits, he said in an apparent reference to their claim of threat to the Constitution from the BJP, a plank which harmed the ruling party in the Lok Sabha polls in a few states, but were rejected. The Congress' priority is only family, he said in a swipe at the party's Gandhi family and not people of the country. The royal family is now spreading the poison of casteism, he added. A family's hunger for power has gone up so much that it has eaten up the party, he said, claiming that fire of disaffection is surging with the Congress as many of its own leaders no longer identify with its existing values. When it comes to good governance, people trust only the BJP, he said, noting that the party has also put up an impressive show in the bypolls held across the country. It is a historic stamp on the BJP's governance model, he said. "Development, good governance and true social justice have won. Lies, deceit, divisive forces, negative politics and nepotism have suffered a big defeat," he said of the Maharashtra poll results. People have preferred stability and the state has broken all records in its support of the BJP-led alliance, he added. In a swipe at the longtime BJP ally-turned-bitter rival Uddhav Thackeray, who heads a Shiv Sena faction, he said the leaders who resorted to betrayal and tried to create instability have been roundly rejected by people. He said the Congress allied with Uddhav Thackeray but the party and its leaders could not speak in support of the policies of his father Bal Thackeray, a leading Hindtutva voice of his time. With the Delhi Assembly polls round the corner, Modi highlighted the popular support for the BJP in major cities in many states and emphasised on his party's agenda for making Indian cities among the best in the world. His government has been working to boost urban infrastructure by launching new metro trains, highways and electric buses, he said, describing cities as engines of development that also strengthens villages. The urban region's support to the BJP is a message for modern India and a rejection of those putting obstacles in its development, said Modi. Urban India wants ease of living and it trusts the BJP, he added. The prime minister noted that Maharashtra has become the sixth state where people have elected the BJP to power for a third straight term, stressing that it underscores people's truth in its good governance model. The BJP-led alliance had won a majority in the 2019 assembly polls in Maharashtra but its then ally Thackeray joined hands with the opposition to form government, which fell in 2022, paving the way for the saffron party to power as it allied with the faction headed by Eknath Shinde, who became the chief minister. "The Congress and its ecosystem had thought that by spreading lies in the name of the Constitution, they could divide the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in small groups. This is a solid slap on their faces," said Modi. The Congress and its allies have failed to grasp the changed realities of the country's mood, as voters do not want instability and believe in "nation first" and not in those preferring "kursi first". The voters in Maharashtra also evaluated the Congress on the basis of the false promises made in other states like Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh, he added. "Neither their false promises nor their dangerous agenda worked in Maharashtra," Modi said. The prime minister said the Maharashtra election also shows that only one Constitution will work in India and that was given to the people of the country by B R Ambedkar. The Congress and its allies were again trying to create a wall of Article 370 of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir, he said. "I want to say this to the Congress and its allies that no force in the world can bring back Article 370 and insult our Constitution," Modi said. His party has respected the country's values and traditions, and India will now advance with the mantra of "vikas aur virasat" (development and heritage), Modi said. The Congress, he said, has been stoking divides in the name of region and caste, and that its espousal of urban naxalism has become a challenge for the country. The remote control of this urban naxalism is outside the country, he said. (This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)Some Educated Guesses About Trump’s Second Term

Alarm grew in France on Friday over the fate of a prominent French-Algerian novelist detained in the country of his birth, with his publisher urging his immediate release and President Emmanuel Macron closely following the case. Boualem Sansal, a major figure in francophone modern literature, is known for his strong stances against both authoritarianism and Islamism as well as being a forthright campaigner on freedom of expression issues. His detention by Algeria comes against a background of tensions between France and its former colony which have also appear to have spread to the literary world. The 75-year-old writer, granted French nationality this year, was on Saturday arrested at Algiers airport after returning from France, according to several media reports including the Marianne weekly. The Gallimard publishing house, which has published his work for a quarter of a century, in a statement expressed "its very deep concern following the arrest of the writer by the Algerian security services", calling for his "immediate release". There has been no confirmation from the Algerian authorities of his arrest and no other details about his situation. Macron is "very concerned by the disappearance" of Sansal, said a French presidential official, asking not to be named. "State services are mobilised to clarify his situation," the official said, adding that "the president expresses his unwavering attachment to the freedom of a great writer and intellectual." A relative latecomer to writing, Sansal turned to novels in 1999 and has tackled subjects including the horrific 1990s civil war between authorities and Islamists. His books are not banned in Algeria but he is a controversial figure, particularly since making a visit to Israel in 2014. Sansal's hatred of Islamism has not been confined to Algeria and he has also warned of a creeping Islamisation in France, a stance that has made him a favoured author of prominent figures on the right and far-right. Prominent politicians from this side of the political spectrum rushed to echo Macron's expression of concern for the writer. Centre-right former premier and candidate in 2027 presidential elections Edouard Philippe wrote on X that Sansal "embodies everything we cherish: the call for reason, freedom and humanism against censorship, corruption and Islamism." Far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen, another possible 2027 contender, said: "This freedom fighter and courageous opponent of Islamism has reportedly been arrested by the Algerian regime. This is an unacceptable situation." In 2015, Sansal won the Grand Prix du Roman of the French Academy, the guardians of the French language, for his book "2084: The End of the World", a dystopian novel inspired by George Orwell's "Nineteen-Eighty Four" and set in an Islamist totalitarian world in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. His publisher said that Sansal's novels and essays "exposed the obscurantisms of all kinds which are tragically affecting the way of the world." The concerns about his reported arrest come as another prominent French-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud is under attack over his novel "Houris", which won France's top literary prize, the Goncourt. A woman has claimed the book was based on her story of surviving 1990s Islamist massacres and used without her consent. She alleged on Algerian television that Daoud used the story she confidentially recounted to a therapist -- who is now his wife -- during treatment. His publisher has denied the claims. The controversies are taking place in a tense diplomatic context between France and Algeria, after Macron renewed French support for Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara during a landmark visit to the kingdom last month. Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is de facto controlled for the most part by Morocco. But it is claimed by the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, who are demanding a self-determination referendum and are supported by Algiers. Daoud meanwhile has called for Sansal's release, writing in the right-wing Le Figaro: "I sincerely hope that my friend Boualem will return to us very soon", while expressing his bafflement in the face of the "imprudence" that Sansal allegedly showed in going to Algeria. dax-vl-sjw/givNew Coquitlam SkyTrain maintenance facility construction cost soars to $1.3 billionGenerative AI tools snuck into the pockets of millions more Australians this week as Apple launched its big push into the technology. or signup to continue reading The software updates delivered to smartphones, computers and tablets promise to help users compose stories and messages, edit images or create them and identify objects from the real world. But Apple's AI tools come almost a full year after its biggest rival launched artificial intelligence in smartphones and four months after one of the world's biggest tech companies made its AI play. Industry experts say Apple may still have one big drawcard for consumers, however, and it relies on keeping its promise to keep their personal information private. Apple Intelligence features arrived inside software updates delivered to the company's devices on Thursday. Rather than appear in a single app, the US tech giant has scattered AI tools throughout its menus, offering writing assistance in its own apps like Notes, for example, as well as those from third parties, and notification summaries from all apps as they arrive. Apple's AI additions also offer a photo-editing tool that removes objects in images and Visual Intelligence that uses photos to search for real-world objects. The company's AI tools have taken longer to arrive than many expected, University of the Sunshine Coast computer science lecturer Dr Erica Mealy says, but Apple could not avoid making an investment in the popular technology. "Apple had to put AI in their devices or they were definitely going to be left behind but I don't think that's necessarily a disadvantage because Apple often does that and does it better," she says. "They are more of an everyman's technology company, whereas some of the others tend to bring out the technology really soon." Apple's biggest rival, Samsung, launched Galaxy AI in its devices in January and Google followed in August, bringing more Gemini-powered tools to the latest generation of Pixel smartphones for rewriting text, producing images and even swapping faces in photographs. The iPhone's AI delay might not be the drawback it seems on paper, Dr Mealy says, if the company can convince customers their take on the technology is more practical and private. "Their approach is refreshing because a lot of the others are saying, 'AI is here, let's give all the data to AI,' and they're forgetting the fact that for the AI to be aware it needs to watch us constantly," she says. "If (Apple) can tell users a story about keeping more privacy or about how they are doing AI better that will be interesting to see." Apple's AI approach is different in that features are not only spread across apps but use two models: the company's own Apple Intelligence system and OpenAI's ChatGPT. In the first instance, AI requests on Apple devices are handled by the company's own platform, with processing on the device itself or on a Private Cloud Compute server that does not retain the data. More complex AI tasks such as composing stories or answering challenging queries posed to Siri can be handed over to ChatGPT but only if the user grants permission. Tasks handed over to ChatGPT remain anonymous, unless the user decides to sign into the service. The partnership of Apple and OpenAI is an unexpected one, Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi says, but could prove beneficial for both parties if it's handled well. "It's pulling Apple out of its comfort zone," he says. "Going out to ChatGPT was probably a very difficult decision for Apple to have made and it's to indicate to users Apple features are not going to be behind the times or antiquated." Apple will face significant challenges to ensure its own AI system keeps pace with that of standalone apps, such as Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Meta AI, Mr Fadaghi says but consumers will demand it. One in five Australian consumers say they will consider AI when upgrading their smartphone, according to Telyste research, and that figure rises to one in four for consumers who regularly use AI tools. "Consumers are thinking about what they might need in four or five years' time when buying handsets now," Mr Fadaghi says. "Devices that don't have AI-ready hardware are going to be less attractive." The additional of AI features is a key consideration for some phone buyers, Kantar Worldpanel global consumer insights director Jack Hamlin says. Twelve per cent of Google Pixel buyers say AI features are key to their choice, he says, even though sales of the smartphones did not rise this year. AI IN YOUR POCKET: 5 APPLE INTELLIGENCE FEATURES Smarter Siri: The AI-boosted voice assistant can respond to queries posed in natural language, features a new glowing light, more voice choices and can summon assistance from ChatGPT if users permit it. AI images: A dedicated app called Image Playground can generate cartoons or illustrations based on themes or inspired by photographs, while a feature called Image Wand can turn a sketch in the Notes app into a polished image. Photo editing: Apple takes a light touch to photographic AI. Its Clean Up feature lets users select visual distractions to remove them, recording its use in metadata and it supports more detailed photo voice searches. Word-wrangling: An AI-powered feature called Writing Tools appears across apps including Notes, Pages, Mail and Messages. It can proofread, summarise or rewrite text in different styles. Additional text-generation is available using ChatGPT. Summaries: Useful if a group chat gets too chatty, Apple Intelligence can summarise notifications from apps including Mail and Messages and provide a summary of what is yet to be read. Advertisement Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date. We care about the protection of your data. Read our . Advertisement