ye7 online casino The Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) is warning of “downside and upside’ to Fiji’s economy, that includes increased crime rates and illicit drug use. In their November Economic Review, the RBF states risk to the outlook continues to exist on both the downside and upside. “The downside risks include escalating geopolitical tensions, an economic slowdown in major TPEs (trading partner economy), the Trump administration’s trade protectionism policies, the persistent threat from natural disasters, ageing infrastructure, and increased crime rates and illicit drug use,” said the RBF. “However, new flight routes, the slowdown in emigration, productivity gains from imported labour, and advancements in technology can bode well for growth prospects.”’ The RBF states on the domestic front, the economy maintains momentum and is projected to grow by 3.8 percent this year, following the 7.5 percent expansion in 2023. “The projected growth is reflective of the better-than-expected visitor arrivals, increased consumption spending, and improved sectoral performance.... PACNEWS/FIJI TIMES

Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times , declared this week that he will introduce an AI-generated “bias meter” alongside the newspaper’s opinion and news coverage as part of a broader effort to give its readers “both sides” of the story. The surprising move, which comes after he axed the paper’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris and announced his intention to overhaul the Times’ editorial board to add more conservative voices, has prompted the paper’s union to publicly blast Soon-Shiong and longtime columnist Harry Litman to resign. Appearing on the podcast of right-wing CNN political commentator Scott Jennings, who is joining the Times’ editorial board, Soon-Shiong said he’s been “quietly building” the so-called bias meter “behind the scenes. Claiming that it will debut next month, the biotech entrepreneur said it uses the same artificial intelligence technology that he’s been developing at his other businesses for years. “Somebody could understand as they read it that the source of the article has some level of bias,” Soon-Shiong continued. “And what we need to do is not have what we call confirmation bias and then that story automatically — the reader can press a button and get both sides of that exact same story based on that story and then give comments.” Soon-Shiong’s remarks immediately drew an immediate rebuke from the LA Times’ union, which represents hundreds of journalists and newsroom staffers. “Recently, the newspaper’s owner has publicly suggested his staff harbors bias, without offering evidence or examples,” the guild’s council and bargaining committee said in a statement . “The statements came after the owner blocked a presidential endorsement by the newspaper’s editorial board, then unfairly blamed editorial board staffers for his decision.” The guild added that it had “secured strong ethics protections for our members, including the right to withhold one’s byline, and we will firmly guard against any effort to improperly or unfairly alter our reporting.” Litman, who had written for the Times for 15 years and been its senior legal columnist for the past three, announced on Thursday that he had tendered his resignation as a “protest and visceral reaction” against Soon-Shiong’s conduct as owner. “Soon-Shiong has made several moves to force the paper, over the forceful objections of his staff, into a posture more sympathetic to Donald Trump,” he wrote in a Substack post on Thursday. “Those moves can’t be defended as the sort of policy adjustment papers undergo from time to time, and that an owner, within limits, is entitled to influence.” Following Trump’s electoral victory, Soon-Shiong told CNN last month that he planned on “balancing” the paper’s editorial board with more conservative and centrist voices, complaining that it had “veered very left” in recent years. Following the owner’s polarizing decision to block the Times ’ Harris endorsement, which resulted in thousands of readers canceling their subscriptions, the board was reduced to just three members due to several resignations . Besides Litman and the LAT guild, roughly a dozen current and former Times staffers told media reporter Oliver Darcy that they felt “demoralized” by Soon-Shiong’s heavy-handed “meddling” in the newsroom. “The man who was supposed to be our savior has turned into what now feels like the biggest internal threat to the paper,” one staffer said. Additionally, Darcy explained why morale has plummeted at the paper in recent months — and much of it hinged on the owner’s apparent public embrace of Trump and MAGA, which they feel he is now looking to force the paper to reflect. “There certainly is plenty of cause to be alarmed. Soon-Shiong, who once fashioned himself as a Black Lives Matter-supporting vaccine proponent, has morphed into a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Jennings fanboy,” Darcy noted. “Since Trump’s victory in November, Soon-Shiong has turned to X to criticize the news media, praise Trump’s cabinet picks, and appeal to a MAGA audience. The change in behavior has confounded his journalists, who wonder what happened to the Soon-Shiong whose newspaper enforced strict Covid restrictions and emphasized its support for social justice causes.” The Independent has reached out to a Los Angeles Times spokesperson for comment.

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E-Tattoos Could Change Brain Monitoring ForeverJERUSALEM (AP) — Israel unleashed its largest wave of airstrikes across Lebanon since agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah last week, killing at least 11 people on Monday after the Lebanese militant group fired a volley of projectiles as a warning over what it said were Israeli truce violations . The projectiles were apparently the first time that Hezbollah took aim at Israeli forces after the 60-day ceasefire went into effect last Wednesday. The increasingly fragile truce aimed to end more than a year of war between Hezbollah and Israel — part of a wider regional conflict sparked by the devastating Israel-Hamas war in Gaza . In the United States, President-elect Donald Trump demanded the immediate release of Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant Hamas group in Gaza, saying on social media that if they are not freed before he takes office in January there would be “HELL TO PAY.” It was not immediately clear whether Trump was threatening to directly involve the U.S. military in Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza. The U.S. has given Israel crucial military and diplomatic support throughout the nearly 15-month conflict. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Haris killed five people and wounded two while another airstrike on the village of Tallousa killed four and also wounded two. Israel's military carried out a string of airstrikes late Monday against what it said were Hezbollah fighters, infrastructure and rocket launchers across Lebanon, in response to Hezbollah firing two projectiles toward Mount Dov — a disputed Israeli-held territory known as Shebaa Farms in Lebanon where the borders of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel meet. Israel said the projectiles fell in open areas and no injuries were reported. Hezbollah said in a statement that it fired on an Israeli military position in the area as a “defensive and warning response” after what it called “repeated violations” of the ceasefire deal by Israel. It said complaints to mediators tasked with monitoring the ceasefire “were futile in stopping these violations.” Before the Hezbollah projectiles, Israeli carried out at least four airstrikes and an artillery barrage in southern Lebanon, including a drone strike that killed a person on a motorcycle, according to Lebanese state media. Another strike killed a corporal in the Lebanese security services. Israel has said its strikes are in response to unspecified Hezbollah violations, and that under the ceasefire deal it reserves the right to retaliate. Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, accused Israel of violating the truce more than 50 times in recent days by launching airstrikes, demolishing homes near the border and violating Lebanon's airspace. Officials in the U.S. — which along with France helped broker the truce and heads a commission meant to monitor adherence to the deal — played down the significance of Israeli strikes. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said, “Largely speaking, the ceasefire is holding.” “We’ve gone from dozens of strikes down to one a day maybe two a day,” Kirby told reporters, referring to Israeli strikes. “We’re going to keep trying and see what we can do to get it down to zero.” Under the deal, Iran-backed Hezbollah has 60 days to withdraw its fighters and infrastructure from southern Lebanon. During that time, Israeli troops are also to withdraw to their side of the border. In a post on his Truth Social site, Trump called for Palestinian militants to free all of the roughly 100 Israeli hostages still held inside Gaza , around two-thirds of whom are believed to be alive. If not, Trump said, “Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!” Hours earlier, the Israeli government confirmed the death of Omer Neutra, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, whose body is still believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza, according to the Israeli government. The Biden administration is mounting a last-ditch effort to try to restart talks between Israel and Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on Trump's post though President Isaac Herzog welcomed it. In Gaza, meanwhile, alarm is mounting over increasing hunger. The amount of food allowed in by Israel has plunged over the past two months, compounded by a decision Sunday by the United Nations to halt aid deliveries from the main crossing into the territory because of the threat of armed gangs looting convoys. Experts have already warned of famine in the northernmost part of Gaza , which Israeli forces have almost completely isolated since early October, saying they're fighting regrouped Hamas militants there. Displaced families have set up tents surrounded by piles of garbage on the streets of Gaza City. Bilal Marouf, 55, said he and 11 family members fled the Israeli offensive “barefoot and naked.” “We had nothing. Hunger and thirst killed us, and we did not have a single shekel, nor clothes, nor a mattress, nor a blanket,” he said, speaking near his tent. Israel’s campaign in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, has driven almost the entire population of the territory from their homes. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians now live in squalid tent camps, relying on international aid. The Israeli military said it allowed 40 trucks carrying 600 tons of flour for the World Food Program to enter the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday night, as well as 16 other food trucks. Israel has said it is working to increase the flow of aid. November saw an increase in the average number of humanitarian trucks it let into Gaza, up to 77 daily from 57 the month before, according to official Israeli figures. But the levels are still nearly the lowest of the entire 15-month war. And the U.N. says less than half of that actually reaches Palestinians because Israeli military restrictions, fighting and robberies make it too dangerous to deliver the aid. The World Food Program was able to only deliver aid to some 300,000 Palestinians in November across the Gaza Strip due to ongoing Israeli military offensives and the looting of convoys, Carl Skau, WFP’s deputy executive director, said Monday. In a tent camp in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, Palestinians lined up at makeshift mud ovens trying to buy a few loaves of flatbread for their families. With the price of flour mounting because of scarcity, the bakers — women displaced from further north — said they could bake less bread, and families could afford far less. “They divide them to their children, one loaf every day,” said one woman baker, Wafaa al-Attar. Abou AlJoud reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Fatma Khalid in Cairo contributed to this report. Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/mideast-wars