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OTTAWA — Canadian border officials told members of Parliament Thursday that Canada is not a significant source of fentanyl headed into the United States. Aaron McCrorie, vice-president of intelligence and enforcement at the Canada Border Services Agency, made that comment to a parliamentary committee studying the impact of president-elect Donald Trump's plans for border security and migration. CBSA President Erin O'Gorman also said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has characterized the amount coming from Canada as "slippage" — small amounts sent over for personal use, mostly by post. Trump has threatened 25 per cent tariffs against Canada and Mexico unless the two countries step up on border security to tamp down on flows of illicit fentanyl. During the presidential race, Trump also threatened to deport millions of undocumented people, stirring fears that could trigger an influx of migrants into Canada. Ottawa is compiling new measures to bolster border security through more staff and equipment in the face of Trump's tariff threats. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shared his border plan with the premiers during a Wednesday evening meeting, and Ottawa plans to add their suggestions into the soon-to-come package of measures. Several media outlets have reported that the tab for that could surpass $1 billion, citing confidential sources. RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme said he was surprised to see that figure bandied about in headlines, and that he's not clear on whether Ottawa will actually put that much into beefing up the border. He said he plans to use any additional resources coming his way for the RCMP to rely more on modern technology to enforce the Canada-U.S. border. An RCMP official said the police force currently has over 900 drones and nine helicopters located across the country, with six helicopters that occasionally provide border surveillance. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2024. Kyle Duggan, The Canadian PressTrump is named Time's Person of the Year and rings the New York Stock Exchange's opening bell NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange after being recognized by Time magazine as its person of the year. The honors Thursday for the businessman-turned-politician are a measure of Trump’s remarkable comeback from an ostracized former president who refused to accept his election loss four years ago to a president-elect who won the White House decisively in November. At the stock exchange, Trump was accompanied by his wife, Melania Trump, daughters Ivanka and Tiffany and Vice President-elect JD Vance. Trump grinned as people chanted “USA” before he opened the trading day and raised his fist. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers formally asked a judge Monday to throw out his hush money criminal conviction, arguing that continuing the case would present unconstitutional “disruptions to the institution of the Presidency.“ Read this article for free: Already have an account? As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $14.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers formally asked a judge Monday to throw out his hush money criminal conviction, arguing that continuing the case would present unconstitutional “disruptions to the institution of the Presidency.“ Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers formally asked a judge Monday to throw out his hush money criminal conviction, arguing that continuing the case would present unconstitutional “disruptions to the institution of the Presidency.“ In a filing made public Tuesday, Trump’s lawyers told Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan that anything short of immediate dismissal would undermine the transition of power, as well as the “overwhelming national mandate” granted to Trump by voters last month. They also cited President Joe Biden’s recent pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, who had been convicted of tax and gun charges. “President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,’ and ‘treated differently,’” Trump’s legal team wrote. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, they claimed, had engaged in the type of political theater “that President Biden condemned.” Prosecutors will have until Dec. 9 to respond. They have said they will fight any efforts to dismiss the case but have indicated a willingness to delay the sentencing until after Trump’s second term ends in 2029. In their filing Monday, Trump’s attorneys dismissed the idea of holding off sentencing until Trump is out of office as a “ridiculous suggestion.” Following Trump’s election victory last month, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed his sentencing, previously scheduled for late November, to allow the defense and prosecution to weigh in on the future of the case. He also delayed a decision on Trump’s prior bid to dismiss the case on immunity grounds. Trump has been fighting for months to reverse his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels to suppress her claim that they had sex a decade earlier. He says they did not and denies any wrongdoing. The defense filing was signed by Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who represented Trump during the trial and have since been selected by the president-elect to fill senior roles at the Justice Department. Taking a swipe at Bragg and New York City, as Trump often did throughout the trial, the filing argues that dismissal would also benefit the public by giving him and “the numerous prosecutors assigned to this case a renewed opportunity to put an end to deteriorating conditions in the City and to protect its residents from violent crime.” Clearing Trump, the lawyers added, would also allow him to “to devote all of his energy to protecting the Nation.” Merchan hasn’t yet set a timetable for a decision. He could decide to uphold the verdict and proceed to sentencing, delay the case until Trump leaves office, wait until a federal appeals court rules on Trump’s parallel effort to get the case moved out of state court or choose some other option. An outright dismissal of the New York case would further lift a legal cloud that at one point carried the prospect of derailing Trump’s political future. Last week, special counsel Jack Smith told courts that he was withdrawing both federal cases against Trump — one charging him with hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate, the other with scheming to overturn the 2020 presidential election he lost — citing longstanding Justice Department policy that shields a president from indictment while in office. The hush money case was the only one of Trump’s four criminal indictments to go to trial, resulting in a historic verdict that made him the first former president to be convicted of a crime. Prosecutors had cast the payout as part of a Trump-driven effort to keep voters from hearing salacious stories about him. Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels. Trump later reimbursed him, and Trump’s company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses — concealing what they really were, prosecutors alleged. Trump has said the payments to Cohen were properly categorized as legal expenses for legal work. A month after the verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that ex-presidents can’t be prosecuted for official acts — things they did in the course of running the country — and that prosecutors can’t cite those actions to bolster a case centered on purely personal, unofficial conduct. Trump’s lawyers cited the ruling to argue that the hush money jury got some improper evidence, such as Trump’s presidential financial disclosure form, testimony from some White House aides and social media posts made during his first term. Prosecutors disagreed and said the evidence in question was only “a sliver” of their case. If the verdict stands and the case proceeds to sentencing, Trump’s punishments would range from a fine to probation to up to four years in prison — but it’s unlikely he’d spend any time behind bars for a first-time conviction involving charges in the lowest tier of felonies. Because it is a state case, Trump would not be able to pardon himself once he returns to office. ___ Advertisement Advertisement

BALTIMORE — Maryland lawmakers tasked with resolving a daunting multibillion-dollar budget deficit in the coming months will enter those negotiations without any last-minute curveballs — at least on one side of the equation. The state is on track to collect about the same as previously expected — north of $25 billion — in taxes and other revenues in the current 2025 fiscal year and the next one that begins July 1, the Maryland Board of Revenue Estimates said Thursday. The update doesn’t change the dynamics ahead for Gov. Wes Moore and members of the Maryland General Assembly, who are wrestling with the largest budget hole in recent memory and the worst five-year outlook in two decades. But it’s also not the whole picture. Comptroller Brooke Lierman, who chairs the three-member revenue board, warned that the incoming Donald Trump administration could significantly increase the state’s financial pressures if the president-elect and his allies follow through on promises like reducing large portions of the federal workforce , which makes up 5.9% of Maryland jobs and almost 10% of wages. Maryland relies heavily on federal jobs and contracts compared to other states because of its proximity to Washington, D.C., and its role as the home of agencies like the Social Security Administration and the National Institutes of Health. Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy are aiming to slash the number of federal jobs , and government spending generally, through a new Department of Government Efficiency that Trump tapped them to lead. Major cuts could mean a hit to a key portion of the state’s tax base. “States across the country have different industries that they rely on. Texas has oil and gas; we have the federal government,” Lierman said. She added that the state needed a more robust private sector in order to be less dependent on federal jobs. Tough choices are ahead either way. The 2026 fiscal year budget, which the governor and legislature will craft during the annual 90-day session that begins Jan. 8, has a projected $2.7 billion deficit. Moore has preferred to cut from existing programs and use temporary revenue measures during his first two years in office, but the worsening picture is expected to ignite more robust discussions about both cuts and tax increases. Slow growth in the private sector and the uncertainty at the federal level are creating a hazy outlook for revenues ahead, though. “The risks ahead for Maryland’s economy during this period of federal transition overshadow what might otherwise be some reason for guarded optimism,” Secretary of Budget and Management Helene Grady said. Moore must present his budget proposal to lawmakers by Jan. 15. That will kick off months of negotiations between Democrats who control a supermajority of the legislature and will amend the governor’s plan through early April. House and Senate leaders clashed earlier this year over whether to raise money through ideas like higher corporate income taxes or legalizing online gambling – though Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Democrat who opposed such efforts, has recently said “everything is on the table” this time around. Onetime fixes, sluggish economic growth and increasing expenses have driven the dimming budget outlook. The governor’s office is also evaluating the potential impact of the transition to Trump. Beyond the workforce and federal contracting issues, the state receives about $20 billion in federal revenue annually, which is roughly a third of the state budget. Billions of dollars in other funding the state is hoping to collect for future projects like the Red Line light rail project in Baltimore are also up in the air. Before Thursday’s meeting, the Board of Revenue Estimates last revealed a “modest” increase in anticipated revenue in September. The roughly $88 million bump in the current 2025 fiscal year was a reversal after five consecutive meetings of the board in which expectations were downgraded. The latest update is another positive sign, though officials remained guarded in their outlook. “Compared to prior times, it is less well equipped,” BRE Executive Secretary Robert Rehrmann said of Maryland’s economic ability “to absorb a potential negative impact from the federal government.” The state is anticipating $25.3 billion in revenue in the 2025 fiscal year, an increase of 1.6%, and $25.4 billion in 2026, a roughly 0.4% increase that officials have described as slow. That funding comes mainly from personal income taxes, corporate and sales taxes and lottery revenues. Lawmakers have so far focused primarily on higher corporate taxes and personal income taxes for the biggest earners in discussions about where to find new revenue, though some have also talked about changing the state’s 6% sales tax. Moore has said only that he has a “high bar” for new taxes and will maintain that thinking throughout his time in office. The Spending Affordability Committee, a legislative group that sets the budget deficit projections, is scheduled to meet Tuesday to finalize the parameters for the upcoming budget talks with Thursday’s new revenue numbers. The revenue board, meanwhile, will meet again in March, when lawmakers can make mid-session adjustments as they continue to negotiate over the budget. “I am optimistic about Maryland’s economy and the resilience of our economy,” Lierman said. ©2024 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.In conclusion, "Black Myth: Wukong" has proven itself to be a standout title that has exceeded expectations and captured the hearts of players around the world. With its unique blend of captivating gameplay, rich storytelling, and breathtaking visuals, it stands as a shining example of what can be achieved through passion, creativity, and dedication. 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Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is not escalating a war of words with Mexico, after the Mexican president criticized Canada’s culture and its framing of border issues. “I fundamentally believe that many conversations, when it comes to diplomacy, are always better when they remain private,” Joly said Monday during a teleconference from Brussels. The rift between the two trading partners started with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s declaration that he plans to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all goods from both countries unless they stop the flow of migrants and illegal drugs into the U.S. Several federal and provincial officials in Canada responded by saying the issues at the Canadian border are vastly different from the Mexican border. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, for example, has voiced concerns that the level of Chinese investment in Mexico goes against the economic-security goals of Ottawa and Washington. Some premiers have called on Canada to negotiate a trade deal with Washington independent from Mexico, ahead of the 2026 review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, which replaced NAFTA during Trump’s last tenure in the White House. In a Monday press conference, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico “must be respected, especially by its trading partners.” She also noted that Canada has “a very serious problem with fentanyl consumption,” more than Mexico, and possibly as a result of some drug-decriminalization measures. “We are not going to fall for a provocation of which country is better,” she said, chalking some criticism from Canada up to political pandering. “Mexico should not be used as part of (Canadian) electoral campaigns,” she said. Yet Sheinbaum also said Canada “could only wish they had the cultural riches Mexico has,” saying her country has civilizations dating back thousands of years. Asked to respond, Joly said she is reaching out to Mexican officials after speaking with the U.S., including about the “very important trade agreement” that includes all three countries. “I know there has been many conversations in Canada about how we can work together and how we can, at the same time, protect our interests,” she said. “We have a positive relationship with Mexico, and we need to work with the country; that’s definitely my goal.” Christopher Sands, director of the Canada Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, said tensions between both countries played out in the NAFTA renegotiation, when there was limited communication between Ottawa and Mexico City. “The Canada-Mexico relationship has always been the weakest part of the triangle of North America,” he said. “There was a lot of feeling during the (CUSMA) negotiations that Mexico was willing to go it alone, and that Canada particularly toward the end was on the outside looking in, and had to fight its way back to the table.” He said Washington would rather have a trade pact with all three countries so it can limit the time and attention it needs on continental issues. “The U.S. is probably the most trilateral of all three countries,” he said, with a caveat. “I think Donald Trump looks at this going into 2026 and says, ‘Great, divide and conquer.’” Sands added that Sheinbaum and her predecessor have implemented nationalist policies that have been at odds with Washington. “The Mexican government has been moving in a direction which is antithetical to the North American project (through) nationalizing parts of the economy, by reversing energy reforms, by doing deals with the cartels. (They are) sometimes working co-operatively with the Americans in the borders, and sometimes not.” Sheinbaum indicated a week ago that she would be writing a letter to Trudeau. That has not been made public, although she did release a letter she had sent to Trump.Making games “cool.” After 30 years of PlayStation , it’s sometimes tough to remember how much of a game changer the new platform was to the world at the tine. Sony, a new hardware competitor up against the already-established Sega and Nintendo, approached things with a new vision. According to a former PlayStation executive , one of the most important ways the company lapped the competition was by peddling its games and hardware with a flair for innovation. Just in time for the brand’s landmark anniversary, Sony lifer and a former chairman for PlayStation Worldwide Studios Shawn Layden spoke with Eurogamer about the unorthodox and surprisingly successful ways Sony bullied its way into the gaming market in its early days. Layden explains that without a dedicated team for marketing games and brokering conversations with publishers and developers, Sony surprisingly leaned on employees in the company’s music division to reach new partners and audiences. “When they decided they were getting into the game business, they knew they had the technology, the engineers. [Sony] said 'Let's be honest, we sell electronics'. Sony knew that without entertainment DNA, we would not be successful,” Layden explained. “So the initial stage was made a joint venture between Sony Electronics and Sony Music.” Sony’s approach to marketing the original PlayStation was a game-changer for the games industry. Leaving that responsibility to people with almost zero game experience ended up being a major boon when presenting PlayStation as something avant-garde. Layden recalled “Sony Music guys” pulling up to the offices later than the engineering team “hungover, sunglasses, cigarettes hanging out their mouths.” The team would study the Japanese stock market for an hour before pursuing leads. While the charismatic group of mysteryious employees couldn’t be more different from the prim-and-proper hardware team innovating on the technical side of the console, the music team produced major results in its new role. “Those were the guys who would go out with the people at SquareSoft [known today as today SqureEnix] and ply them with whiskey until the wee hours of the morning to finally get Final Fantasy VII off of Nintendo and onto PlayStation,” Layden said. “That was really the 'oh my god' moment. 'Sony's really serious about this now.' And that's down to the music guys, the doggedness of just trying to get a deal over the line. They were amazing.” While some of it could be considered cringe today, earlier PlayStation marketing was a massive departure from how games were advertised in the mid to late 90s. Layden had joined Sony in 1987, nine years before the launch of the PlayStation. Layden would move to the PlayStation team in 1996, just a few years after the tech company shifted its CD-drive peripheral for Nintendo’s SNES to a fully-fledged console. The former executive said that top brass within Sony wasn’t convinced that the PlayStation would be the success it would become. “Within Sony, a lot of the leadership at the time didn't take it seriously,” he told Eurogamer . “They thought: ‘Oh my god, Sega and Nintendo own this thing [the console industry]. You think Sony’s going to come in sideways and try to divvy that thing up into a three-piece pie?’ It was a fool's errand.’” But snatching a piece of that pie took a gutsy move from Sony Music’s star team of cigarette-smoking dealmakers. At the time, both Nintendo and Sega used tried-and-true contemporary gaming marketing to sell games to younger audiences. Most games would show an action-packed art asset in print ads. Television ads were more creative , with live-action elements or even the occasional dig at the competition. But they mostly boiled down to what had worked well for years. Organized efforts to appeal to older players, like Nintendo’s “Play It Loud” ad campaign, came off as weird, inauthentic, and grating. Before PlayStation shook things up, there was no mistaking a commercial for video games for something more mainstream. While PlayStation had its fair share of edgy ads making fun of the other side (it was still the 90’s after all), it was also on the cutting edge of what was actually cool to wider audiences at the time. “Gaming advertising had been really straightforward,” Layden said. “But the advertising team at PlayStation came from Sony Music, so we were marketing games like you market rock bands - with a little of the mystery, a little of the sexy.” Layden pointed out the cover of games like the first Wipeout , which looked a lot like an EDM album cover. Television ads in Japan used music from then-popular U.S. bands like Chemical Brothers and Prodigy. Ads for games like Tomb Raider , Crash Bandicoot , and Wipeout helped make gaming cool to the mainstream. Of course, it also helped that these games were genuinely impressive and pretty fun to play. Conflating Wipeout’s gameplay with the party drugs was an edgy concerted effort to find a new audience for video games. And according to Shawn Layden, it worked. “We'd be going to clubs during that time and see PlayStation 1 kiosks with Wipeout in nightclubs,” Layden said. “You've got your vodka Red Bull in one hand, and you're playing Wipeout with the other. It was the beginnings of making gaming into a lifestyle, the beginnings of making it something where gaming is more than just a distraction.” “Gaming became less something whispered about in pubs and more you overhearing someone saying, ‘oh I'm playing Tomb Raider,” he concluded. The rest is , of course, history. Sony’s cutting-edge way of marketing games was replicated by Sega and Nintendo when advertising their next consoles. Microsoft would also take a similar approach when jumping into the gaming market with the first Xbox in 2001, targeting adults almost exclusively. It’s pretty metal to show nothing by an eyeball in a jar to advertise one of the most influential survival horror games ever. The tonal change of marketing across the games industry can also be credited to the advertising world catching up to the cultural shift of the late 90’s and early 2000’s. But PlayStation was ahead of the curve in proving that the old ways of selling games had become archaic. It’s a cyclical occurrence in most of the entertainment world. Nintendo would change the game once more in the late 2000’s getting the likes of Beyoncé and Robin Williams playing its systems for TV commercials. For PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, it’s easy to overlook how revolutionary Sony’s approach to game marketing was for its time. While some of it has aged poorly, there’s no denying how pivotal it was in changing the perception of gaming and the soon-to-be billion-dollar industry forever. And in many ways, that’s just as important as the iconic games we all remember fondly three decades later. Video Games Internet Culture PlayStation

As the club navigates through these troubled waters, one thing is clear - unity and solidarity will be key to Barcelona's ability to weather the storm and emerge stronger on the other side. Only by standing together as a team can they hope to turn the tide and reclaim their status as one of the top teams in world football.

The inaugural AIGC Director's Collaborative Program University Tour has kicked off in China, showcasing the latest developments in film and television production facilitated by the cutting-edge AI technology "Ke Ling AI." This initiative marks a significant milestone in the realm of creative storytelling, with the potential to revolutionize the way directors approach their craft.

During the 30-minute haircut session, Xiaohua meticulously assessed Xiang Zuo's hair texture, face shape, and personal style preferences. With a keen eye for detail, he expertly wielded his scissors to trim and shape the actor's hair with precision. Every snip and combing motion was executed with finesse, showcasing Xiaohua's mastery of the craft.Australian stock exchange targets 2029 for Phase 2 of trading software overhaulHamas Relents On Israeli Troops In Gaza, Paves Way For Potential Hostage ReleaseIn conclusion, the incident involving the Chairman of Greenland Group and the spread of indecent photos serves as a stark reminder of the challenges posed by false information and online rumors. It underscores the importance of vigilance, swift action, and transparency in addressing such situations to protect the reputation and credibility of individuals and organizations. Greenland Group's proactive response to the rumors demonstrates its unwavering commitment to upholding integrity, honesty, and professionalism in all aspects of its business operations.