ye7com Walmart's Mexico subsidiary plans to appeal a $4.6 million fine for alleged monopolistic practices

Bill Clinton is out of the hospital after being treated for the flu

Lara Trump will step down as co-chair of the Republican National Committee as she considers a number of potential options with her father-in-law, President-elect Donald Trump , set to return to the White House. Among those possibilities is replacing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio , whom Trump tapped to be the next secretary of state. If Rubio is confirmed, his replacement — who would be chosen by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — would serve for two years until the next regularly scheduled election in 2026, at which point the seat would be up for election again. “It is something I would seriously consider,” Lara Trump told The Associated Press in an interview. “If I’m being completely transparent, I don’t know exactly what that would look like. And I certainly want to get all of the information possible if that is something that’s real for me. But yeah, I would 100% consider it.” Elected as RNC co-chair in March, Lara Trump was a key player in the Republicans retaking the White House and control of the Senate while maintaining a narrow House majority. What she does next could shape Republican politics, given her elevated political profile and her ties to the incoming president. The idea of placing a Trump family member in the Senate has been lauded in some Republican circles. Among the people pushing for her to replace Rubio is Maye Musk, mother of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk . “The Senate is an old man’s club. We desperately need a smart, young, outspoken woman who will reveal their secrets,” she posted on X. Lara Trump is 42. Elon Musk, who was with Lara Trump on election night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, responded to his mother’s post: “Lara Trump is genuinely great.” Led by chairman Michael Whatley and Lara Trump, the RNC invested heavily in recruiting roughly 230,000 volunteers and an army of lawyers for what it called its “election integrity” effort, four years after Donald Trump lost his reelection bid to Democrat Joe Biden, citing false or unproven theories about voter fraud. Outside groups such as Turning Point Action and Musk’s America PAC took a greater responsibility for advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts. While Whatley will remain RNC chairman, Lara Trump said she felt she had accomplished her goals in the co-chair role. “With that big win, I kind of feel like my time is up,” she said. “What I intended to do has been done.” President-elect Donald Trump endorsed RNC Treasurer KC Crosbie to replace Lara Trump as co-chair of the committee on Monday. “As Treasurer, she helped the RNC smash every fundraising record in History, and fortified our Party’s financial foundation. KC has been with me from the very beginning, helping REAL Republicans get elected across the Country, and would be a tremendous Co-Chair of the RNC!” President-elect Trump wrote on Truth Social. Lara Trump praised Musk’s new endeavor, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE , a nongovernmental task force headed by Musk and and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy . They’ve been tapped to fire federal workers , cut programs and slash federal regulations as part of Trump’s “Save America” agenda for his second term. “I really don’t think we’ve seen movement like this in our federal government since our country’s founding in many ways,” she said. “And I think if they are successful in what they plan to do, I think it is going to be transformative to America in a great way.” She said she expects a different presidency this time, beginning with the structure of the administration: While Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner served as White House advisers in his last administration, Lara Trump said she doesn’t see any family member taking any position in the White House this time around with her father-in-law. “He really wants to get in there and do a good job for the four years, and that’s all he wants to serve,” she said. “Four years, and he’s out.” Lara Trump also says she expects the Republican Party to be more unified than it has ever been. When she became co-chair in May, the Trump campaign and the RNC merged, with staffers fired and positions restructured. She said the result could spell trouble for GOP lawmakers who do not agree with Trump’s agenda. “The whole party has totally shifted and totally changed,” she said. “I think people are feeling a little more bold in coming out with their political views.” This story has been corrected to clarify that Rubio’s Senate seat would be filled until 2026 when an election would be held for the seat. Linderman reported from Baltimore and Mendoza from Santa Cruz, California. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Lara Trump will step down as co-chair of the Republican National Committee as she considers a number of potential options with her father-in-law, President-elect Donald Trump , set to return to the White House. Among those possibilities is replacing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio , whom Trump tapped to be the next secretary of state. If Rubio is confirmed, his replacement — who would be chosen by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — would serve for two years until the next regularly scheduled election in 2026, at which point the seat would be up for election again. “It is something I would seriously consider,” Lara Trump told The Associated Press in an interview. “If I’m being completely transparent, I don’t know exactly what that would look like. And I certainly want to get all of the information possible if that is something that’s real for me. But yeah, I would 100% consider it.” Elected as RNC co-chair in March, Lara Trump was a key player in the Republicans retaking the White House and control of the Senate while maintaining a narrow House majority. What she does next could shape Republican politics, given her elevated political profile and her ties to the incoming president. The idea of placing a Trump family member in the Senate has been lauded in some Republican circles. Among the people pushing for her to replace Rubio is Maye Musk, mother of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk . “The Senate is an old man’s club. We desperately need a smart, young, outspoken woman who will reveal their secrets,” she posted on X. Lara Trump is 42. Elon Musk, who was with Lara Trump on election night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, responded to his mother’s post: “Lara Trump is genuinely great.” Led by chairman Michael Whatley and Lara Trump, the RNC invested heavily in recruiting roughly 230,000 volunteers and an army of lawyers for what it called its “election integrity” effort, four years after Donald Trump lost his reelection bid to Democrat Joe Biden, citing false or unproven theories about voter fraud. Outside groups such as Turning Point Action and Musk’s America PAC took a greater responsibility for advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts. While Whatley will remain RNC chairman, Lara Trump said she felt she had accomplished her goals in the co-chair role. “With that big win, I kind of feel like my time is up,” she said. “What I intended to do has been done.” President-elect Donald Trump endorsed RNC Treasurer KC Crosbie to replace Lara Trump as co-chair of the committee on Monday. “As Treasurer, she helped the RNC smash every fundraising record in History, and fortified our Party’s financial foundation. KC has been with me from the very beginning, helping REAL Republicans get elected across the Country, and would be a tremendous Co-Chair of the RNC!” President-elect Trump wrote on Truth Social. Lara Trump praised Musk’s new endeavor, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE , a nongovernmental task force headed by Musk and and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy . They’ve been tapped to fire federal workers , cut programs and slash federal regulations as part of Trump’s “Save America” agenda for his second term. “I really don’t think we’ve seen movement like this in our federal government since our country’s founding in many ways,” she said. “And I think if they are successful in what they plan to do, I think it is going to be transformative to America in a great way.” She said she expects a different presidency this time, beginning with the structure of the administration: While Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner served as White House advisers in his last administration, Lara Trump said she doesn’t see any family member taking any position in the White House this time around with her father-in-law. “He really wants to get in there and do a good job for the four years, and that’s all he wants to serve,” she said. “Four years, and he’s out.” Lara Trump also says she expects the Republican Party to be more unified than it has ever been. When she became co-chair in May, the Trump campaign and the RNC merged, with staffers fired and positions restructured. She said the result could spell trouble for GOP lawmakers who do not agree with Trump’s agenda. “The whole party has totally shifted and totally changed,” she said. “I think people are feeling a little more bold in coming out with their political views.” ___ This story has been corrected to clarify that Rubio’s Senate seat would be filled until 2026 when an election would be held for the seat. ___ Linderman reported from Baltimore and Mendoza from Santa Cruz, California. Juliet Linderman And Martha Mendoza, The Associated PressIf you like this article, share it with your friends. Thousands of non-teaching staff at the NSW Department of Education have been told the giant agency plans to revise flexible work conditions in the wake of a public service-wide circular mandating "workplace presence". Education secretary Murat Dizdar has started surveying staff about their work locations and flexible work needs as the agency becomes the latest to seriously grapple with the return-to-office edict that was put into political play by the commercial property industry to bolster decimated office occupancy in the wake of the pandemic. "The department is drafting a revised flexible work procedure, which is currently being consulted on with our staff," a spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education told The Mandarin. "The draft procedure complies with the Premier's Circular on workplace presence, which requires staff to work principally from an approved department workplace." Education has around 8,700 corporate and educational support attached to state and regional offices, a figure dwarfed by 29,000 educational support staff attached to schools to assist 70,000 teachers. Education also has arguably the most distributed workforce in the state because schools are, by definition, community and location-based institutions with the department managing one of the biggest property portfolios in the nation. It's understood education staff were recently asked to attend a Town Hall-style meeting where Dizdar set out the proposed changes to flexible working arrangements. The importance of the NSW Education stance across the wider state public service is underscored by the... Julian Bajkowski

Titans QB Mason Rudolph gets another chance at starting, this time against the JagsTrump promises to end birthright citizenship: What is it and could he do it?

SOCIAL Security recipients could have their payments delayed thanks to head-aching political infighting, the administration has warned. The Social Security Administration is begging for money to retain essential employees, but some lawmakers refuse to hand out the funds. Congress is at war over Social Security spending , which, at $1.4 trillion, made up a massive 21% of the federal government's annual budget last year. Republican representatives are standing strong to try to stop the federal debt from increasing, so they stopped a funding increase for the SSA in September. That put the department on a hiring freeze, and party members are still deadlocked on how they should move forward. Now, Social Security leaders warn lawmakers that beneficiaries could see serious consequences in the new year as staffing faces a 50-year low. read more money stories "If SSA does not receive increased appropriation through March, over 2,000 additional employees will be lost through attrition in the next three months, including experienced staff," the SSA told The Hill . "Customer service will decline as wait times in our field offices and on the 800 number increase, backlogs grow, and customers experience further delays in waiting for their claims to be processed." This past year, the SSA celebrated increased productivity despite its funding being cut off. However, the administration said this would come to a screeching halt if people are laid off in the new year. Most read in Money "The Social Security Administration was forced to institute a hiring freeze on November 21," a spokesperson said. "Many of the gains we've experienced will be lost under continued flat funding." Republicans want demonstrated proof that everyone is pulling their weight before they shell out more cash. They've been at war with the department over remote work, as senators uncovered that only 39% of SSA officials in Washington report to the office at least three days a week. Others say the SSA has been given plenty of funding and needs to make the most of its existing resources. "They have the resources and should responsibly use the increase they've already been given," a Republican aide told The Hill. Social Security payments are issued on the second, third, or fourth Wednesday of each month based on the recipient's birthdate: Second Wednesday : For individuals born between the 1st and 10th of the month Third Wednesday : For those born between the 11th and 20th Fourth Wednesday : For those born between the 21st and 31st PAY DAY Social Security checks are given to retirees as well as those with disabilities and families in which a spouse or parent has died. Beneficiaries have only three more chances to get December checks. This is because payments are handed out on a schedule based on a recipient's birthday. Americans with birthdays from the 1st through the 10th of their birth month receive Social Security money on the second Wednesday of each month. Recipients born on the 11th through the 20th are paid on the third Wednesday of each month. Those whose birthdays are from the 21st through the 31st of their birth month receive their Social Security payment on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Read More on The US Sun The U.S. Sun previously spoke to a Social Security expert, who explained why delaying benefits can earn you $26,000 more annually .After-hours movers: Intuit, NetApp, Ross Stores, GAP

Global Grain Bin Management Software Market Size, Share and Forecast By Key Players-AGI SureTrack, TSGC, OPI Systems, Ergson GmbH, AGCO

Chinook Indian Nation chairman calls for U.S. lawmakers to act on promise of federal recognition

Wow! This is the cheapest OLED monitor deal we’ve ever seenDecember 24, 2024 This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlightedthe following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: fact-checked trusted source proofread by Idun Haugan, Norwegian University of Science and Technology Iceland has a long and rich literary tradition. With its 380,000 inhabitants, the country has produced many great writers, and it is said that one in two Icelanders writes books. This literary tradition stretches all the way back to the Middle Ages. "Previously, the theory was that Iceland was so dark and barren that the Icelanders had to fill their lives with storytelling and poetry to compensate for this. But Icelanders were certainly part of Europe and had a lot of contact with Britain, Germany, Denmark and Norway, among others," said Tom Lorenz, a Ph.D. research fellow at the Department of Language and Literature at NTNU. He is hunting down hidden and forgotten pieces of Iceland's Sagas' literary history and has published an article in the journal Gripla (in Icelandic). "The Icelanders were part of a common European culture, and Iceland has been a great knowledge society for a long time," he said. Royal lineage We can thank the Icelanders for our relatively good overview of the royal lineage here in Norway, right from the early Viking Age up to the death of Magnus V Erlingsson in 1184. Icelandic "skalds" were skilled and sought after, and Norwegian kings engaged skalds to ensure that their story and their feats would be told and passed on. In the Middle Ages, the Icelanders wrote down these oral traditions both in Latin and in Old Norse. Snorri Sturluson was the last and most important in a long line of saga writers who wrote down the kings' sagas in the 13th century. This is how the kings' sagas were preserved. "In addition to sagas, eddic poems, and skaldic verse, scientific literature and political treaties were also written in Iceland during the Middle Ages," Lorenz said. Valuable vellum Books and texts from this period were written on parchment , which is animal skin that has been carefully processed so it can be written on. In Iceland, only exclusive calfskin was used to make parchment. Calfskin parchment is called vellum, and it took dozens of calves to create enough vellum for one book. Vellum was a very valuable material. If a book became worn out or obsolete, the parchments were reused. Some were used to make tools, among other things, and one fragment that has been preserved was made into a miter—a type of ceremonial headgear worn by the bishop of Skálholt in Iceland. Many parchments were also reused as covers for new books. Unique to Iceland A common method for reusing old manuscript pages was to remove the original text by scraping and polishing so that the parchment could be used to create new books and manuscripts. This is called a palimpsest. "Palimpsests were common in the Middle Ages across Europe, and were particularly widespread in Iceland. Although literarily rich, Iceland was a poor country. The supply of expensive parchment was limited, while the demand was high because the Icelanders had much they wanted to communicate," said Lorenz. In Iceland, parchment was also reused for printing books after Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century. "The fact that there are printed palimpsest books in Iceland and not just handwritten palimpsest parchments is unique in a European context, and this has not been studied before," Lorenz emphasized. Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. Sign up for our free newsletter and get updates on breakthroughs, innovations, and research that matter— daily or weekly . Abandoning Latin in favor of the vernacular In Iceland, as elsewhere in Europe, texts and books were written in Latin during the Middle Ages, especially liturgical texts used in ecclesiastical contexts. Latin was the predominant written language of Catholic Europe. But then came the rebellious priest Martin Luther, the man who started the great protest movement against the powerful Catholic Church. In the wake of Martin Luther and the Reformation in 1517, many northern European countries converted to Protestantism, including Iceland between 1537 and 1550. The Reformation brought an end to ecclesiastical manuscripts and books being written in Latin. The language of the common man was now to be used. Latin script was scraped off existing parchments so they could be used for new texts written in Icelandic, and these became palimpsests. Old text shines through "In documents and books made from palimpsest parchments, fragments of the old, original text can sometimes be seen beneath the new text," said Lorenz. The texts and words that have been scraped away can also be retrieved using modern techniques, such as infrared rays, but quite a lot of the old text can often be read with the naked eye. And it is in the hidden remnants of old Icelandic parchments written in Latin that Lorenz is searching for hidden and forgotten pieces of history. He examines the preserved fragments from these ancient books and also studies the different forms of parchment recycling and reuse. "My goal is to create virtual reconstructions of some of the ancient fragments that have survived to shed new light on previous eras' culture and society," said Lorenz. However, this involves finding the remnants of the palimpsests, and they are few and far between. "Hardly any Latin books from medieval Iceland have survived. Due to their rarity, recycled parchment from disassembled Latin books is one of our most important sources in the history of medieval Icelandic books," said Lorenz. Drained Iceland of medieval literature "I follow Latin traces from Icelandic manuscripts, but the Latin written material has been forgotten. Previous research has focused mostly on texts in Old Norse in Icelandic manuscripts," he said. From the 17th century onwards, Old Norse texts became important in the building of identity, national pride and power in the Nordic countries. In Denmark, the Icelander and archivist Árni Magnússon (1663–1730) was tasked with collecting medieval documents from both Iceland and the rest of the Nordic countries. At this time, Iceland was under Danish rule in the absolute monarchy of Denmark-Norway. Árni Magnússon was particularly interested in texts about Icelandic history. He scoured the market, almost draining Iceland of medieval literature, and built a large collection of handwritten books, the Arnamagnæan Collection. The collection is now part of UNESCO's Memory of the World Program. Tracking down unknown text fragments However, Árni Magnússon was most interested in books written in Old Norse, not in Latin. He used parchments from the Latin books as covers for the Old Norse books. In the early 20th century, the book covers were removed and stored separately, and few people have shown much interest in them—until now. These ancient book covers are among the parchments that Lorenz is studying in his search for hidden and forgotten fragments of history. Between 1971 and 1997, half of Árni Magnússon's book collection was returned from Denmark to Iceland, and half of the original collection of 3,000 manuscripts is now back in its country of origin. However, some medieval manuscripts are still located in archives and museums in Norway, Denmark, and also Sweden. So, Lorenz's search has taken him on a journey through the nooks and crannies of many archives. "I have identified several previously unidentified Latin fragments related to Iceland. These new discoveries contribute to greater knowledge about which theological and liturgical texts were in circulation in medieval Iceland. The texts show that medieval Icelanders followed and participated in European intellectual culture," said Lorenz. The text fragments he has found include hymns, prayers, sermons, hagiographies and church music. It started with the Vikings Lorenz is from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, which used to be part of Denmark-Norway. He developed an interest in the Viking Age and saga literature at an early age, which led him to study Nordic languages in Kiel. He is now a Ph.D. research fellow at the Department of Language and Literature at NTNU's Center for Medieval Studies. He has also chosen to learn Norwegian Nynorsk in addition to Norwegian Bokmål. "I am fascinated by small phenomena and therefore chose to learn Nynorsk when I started my studies in Norway. It is probably also why I became fascinated and intrigued by the fragments of history that might be contained in the small, hidden and forgotten palimpsests that have remained unknown until now," said Lorenz in fluent Nynorsk. More information: Tom Lorenz, Endurvinnsla og endurnýting í íslenskum uppskafningum frá miðöldum og á árnýöld, Gripla (2024). DOI: 10.33112/gripla.35.1 Provided by Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyLara Trump stepping down as RNC co-chair and addressing speculation about Florida Senate seatOpenAI's legal battle with Elon Musk reveals internal turmoil over avoiding AI 'dictatorship'

RUKBAN CAMP, southern Syria — For almost a decade, thousands of displaced Syrians trapped in the desert struggled to survive in one of the most remote camps in the world; left without aid or medical care and largely forgotten by the outside world. The Syrians — some of them soldiers and relatives of the U.S. -backed Syrian Free Army forces against now-deposed President Bashar al-Assad — arrived fleeing ISIS when the militant group swept into Iraq and Syria in 2014. They massed in a desolate corner of southeastern Syria up against the Jordanian border and hemmed in by Syrian regime and Russian forces on the other side. With the fall of the Syrian regime this month, the more than 7,000 camp residents are finally free to leave. But the years of deprivation and isolation have taken a heavy toll. The existence of the community speaks to the complicated regional politics and the low-profile U.S. military role in Syria, as well as the possibility of dramatic transformation in seemingly unchanging conflicts. When Jordan sealed its border in 2016 after an ISIS attack killed six Jordanian soldiers, most of the Syrian civilians were trapped — unable to move forward or go back through roads controlled by the Syrian regime or even move through a desert laid with land mines. NPR traveled to the camp, about a five-hour drive from Damascus — the first journalists to ever go there, according to the main relief organization here, the U.S.-based Syrian Emergency Task Force . The camp is about 30 miles from the U.S. military's al-Tanf garrison , established in 2016. In January, Iran-backed Iraqi militia drones attacked a U.S. military support base — Tower 22 — just a few miles over a sand berm and across the border in Jordan, killing three American troops. Tanks abandoned by regime forces line the main M2 highway, the roadside dotted with cast-off uniforms. Past the U.S. base, the road turns into a rough desert trail of tracks through the black rock. "Before 2014 there were no people here at all," says Abu Mohammad Khudr, who dispenses medication from a tiny pharmacy established two years ago by Syrian Emergency Task Force. "We thought maybe the neighboring countries would help us but they didn't." The first residents came with tents, which were no match for the constant wind, searing heat and bitter cold of the desert. "After a while we decided we had to use the soil and water — so we made bricks and then we made walls and we built houses," he says. After the suicide bombing, Jordan sealed the border — preventing even aid agencies from delivering food to Rukban. Water though is still provided by UNICEF, pumped from Jordan. The sun-dried clay bricks, made by hand, are still the only building material for homes here. Instead of glass, small sheets of clear plastic cover the small window openings. With Syrian regime forces and Russian troops controlling the road out of the camp, food was in short supply and sometimes consisted only of dried bread or lentils and rice. "Most families ate just one or two meals a day," says Khudr. In one home, Afaf Abdo Mohammed says when her children were infants she used plastic bags instead of diapers. Her 16-year-old daughter, She'ala Hjab Khaled, was born with a spinal defect and spends the entire day sitting in a battered wheelchair. Syrian Emergency Task Force opened eight schools here two years ago, staffed with volunteer teachers from the camp. But She'ala has never been. "I can't get there," she says. Now free to leave, with the fall of the Syrian regime, very few residents have money for transportation to leave. Many are not sure if their homes still exist. Among Syria's many and complex tragedies, the camp has been a particular preoccupation of Mouaz Moustafa, an activist and the director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force. Two years ago he began organizing aid shipments for al-Tanf through a provision that allows humanitarian aid to be carried in unused space on U.S. military aircraft. He started bringing in American medical volunteers on two-week missions and persuaded the base commander at the time to visit the camp. Since then he says, U.S. forces have been involved in distributing aid there and when they are able, providing emergency medical care. "It really brought everyone together more," says Moustafa. Syrian Emergency Task Force is funded by donations and staffed largely by volunteers. He says some of the soldiers who helped with the aid missions came back to Rukban to volunteer after being discharged. That humanitarian assistance is not something the U.S. military publicizes. The U.S. military command over the years has declined to bring in visiting journalists to its nearby base — the only access route before the fall of the regime. Syrian fighters funded and trained by the United States raised families in Rukban, according to a senior U.S. military commander. He requested anonymity to be able to speak about the camp because he was not authorized to speak publicly about it. He said doctors on the base had delivered at least 100 of their babies at the base in the case of high-risk pregnancies. The al-Tanf garrison, originally a special forces base, is now part of the anti-ISIS mission in Iraq and Syria. The presence of the U.S. military there helped protect residents from potential attacks by regime forces, he said. Near the water pipes that supply the camp, boys come to fill up smaller tanks and to chase each other in the desert. The environment here is filled with snakes and scorpions — but no trees. Some of the children have never tasted fruit. They've never seen in real life bright flowers or butterflies like the ones painted on the walls of the mud-brick schools set up by the Syrian American organization. Winter here is particularly cruel. Those who can afford to buy sticks of wood to burn in small metal stoves for heat. In one of the clay houses, Fawaz al-Taleb, a veterinarian in his home city of Homs, said he couldn't afford to buy wood this year. "We burn plastic bags, bottles, strips of old tires," he says. "This has been our life for years." Respiratory and other diseases are rampant here. For almost a decade, without a single physician in this camp, when children died, their parents often didn't know why. Outside Taleb's home, there are the beginnings of a garden started with seeds distributed by Moustafa's organization to camp residents. There isn't much that grows in the barren ground here, but Taleb points out fledgling mint, garlic and potato plants. Next to them are lillies and a rose bush. "I've been trying to plant hope," he says. "We want to live, we don't want to say 'we were born here and might die here.' No matter how bad the situation, we still want to live."