Summit Therapeutics's SMMT short percent of float has risen 5.27% since its last report. The company recently reported that it has 16.84 million shares sold short , which is 14.17% of all regular shares that are available for trading. Based on its trading volume, it would take traders 10.62 days to cover their short positions on average. Why Short Interest Matters Short interest is the number of shares that have been sold short but have not yet been covered or closed out. Short selling is when a trader sells shares of a company they do not own, with the hope that the price will fall. Traders make money from short selling if the price of the stock falls and they lose if it rises. Short interest is important to track because it can act as an indicator of market sentiment towards a particular stock. An increase in short interest can signal that investors have become more bearish, while a decrease in short interest can signal they have become more bullish. See Also: List of the most shorted stocks Summit Therapeutics Short Interest Graph (3 Months) As you can see from the chart above the percentage of shares that are sold short for Summit Therapeutics has grown since its last report. This does not mean that the stock is going to fall in the near-term but traders should be aware that more shares are being shorted. Comparing Summit Therapeutics's Short Interest Against Its Peers Peer comparison is a popular technique amongst analysts and investors for gauging how well a company is performing. A company's peer is another company that has similar characteristics to it, such as industry, size, age, and financial structure. You can find a company's peer group by reading its 10-K, proxy filing, or by doing your own similarity analysis. According to Benzinga Pro , Summit Therapeutics's peer group average for short interest as a percentage of float is 4.49%, which means the company has more short interest than most of its peers. Did you know that increasing short interest can actually be bullish for a stock? This post by Benzinga Money explains how you can profit from it. This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and was reviewed by an editor. © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.New Zealand grants visa to controversial US pundit Candace Owensjili vs casino 。

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LONDON, Ontario, Dec. 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — (“ ”) (TSXV: PRH) announced that, due to the ongoing Canada Post strike, it has decided to cancel the annual general and special shareholders meeting currently scheduled for January 31, 2025. Certain equity compensation matters will require disinterested shareholder approval and therefore Pearl River needs to ensure that it meets the delivery obligations under applicable securities legislation. Pearl River will set a new date for the shareholders meeting once the strike is over. Pearl River also announced that its current auditor, Crowe MacKay LLP, has indicated that it will need to ‎resign due to compliance with Canadian Public Accountability Board rules, which require the ‎current auditor’s engagement partner for an audit to be turned over every seven (7) years. ‎Unfortunately, Crowe MacKay LLP does not have any other partners with sufficient capacity ‎to complete Pearl River’s audit, and therefore it is unable to comply with this requirement. Pearl River is currently in the process of engaging a new auditor, and will make a further ‎announcement once the new auditor has been appointed by the Pearl River Board of ‎Directors. ‎ Through its subsidiaries, Pearl River’s principal business is the manufacturing and distribution of plastic products in China, Australia and the United States of America. For further information please contact: George Lunick CEO T: (519) 645-0267 E: This news release may contain certain forward-looking information. All statements included herein, other than ‎statements of historical fact, are forward-looking information and such information involves various risks and ‎uncertainties. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information in respect of the date for the shareholders meeting and the appointment of a new auditor. There can be no assurance that such ‎information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those ‎anticipated in such information. This forward-looking information reflects Pearl River’s current beliefs and is based ‎on information currently available to Pearl River and on assumptions Pearl River believes are reasonable. These ‎assumptions include, but are not limited to: the ability of Pearl River to set up a new shareholders meeting in due course and the ability of Pearl River to engage a new auditor. Forward-looking information is subject to ‎known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, ‎performance or achievements of Pearl River to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such ‎forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: general business, ‎economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; capital market conditions and market prices for securities; ‎the actual results of current development or operational activities; competition; changes in project parameters as ‎plans continue to be refined; lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in ‎legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting Pearl River; timing and availability of external financing ‎on acceptable terms; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labour or loss of key ‎individuals. A description of other of other risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information ‎may be found in Pearl River’s disclosure documents on the SEDAR+ website at www.sedarplus.ca. Pearl River does not ‎undertake to update any forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws.‎

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Media Release Udupi, Dec 24: The department of mathematics in association with the faculty chapter of Indian Society of Technical Education (ISTE) of Shri Madhwa Vadiraja Institute of Technology & Management (SMVITM), Bantakal organised an invited talk on December 23 on the occasion of ‘National Mathematics Day’ to commemorate 137 th birthday of the great Indian mathematician Shri Srinivasa Ramanujan. Prashanth Beloor, lecturer of mathematics, Viveka P U College, Kota was the resource person. He said that mathematics teaches us, that every problem has a solution and sometimes it has got multiple solutions which can be applied to real life with a strong mathematical base. Also, life is a Mathematics equation which teaches how to change negatives into positives and it will be applied from the preparation of tea to science and technology. He mentioned about the importance of the National Mathematics Day by saluting the great Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan who gave Indian fame worldwide. Dr Lolita Priya Castelino, head, department of mathematics, welcomed the chief guest with a bouquet of flowers. The students who scored 100 marks in engineering mathematics were honored by the institution. The programme was compered by Kashish Kundar of first year AI&ML. Nearly 200 students, faculty and staff members attended the programme.Arguments over whether Luigi Mangione is a 'hero' offer glimpse into unusual American moment

NoneNothing's guaranteed, but Bucs need to win out to give themselves best shot to make the playoffs‘I would rather get an older Camry before going to Altima’: Expert says 2025 Toyotas are ‘trash.’ Here’s why

Iran said it will start easing some of the world’s tightest internet restrictions by lifting its ban on WhatsApp and Google Play — a sign that authorities want to placate domestic opponents as the Islamic Republic faces major economic and foreign-policy challenges. Earlier on Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace approved the lifting of blocks on “certain widely used foreign platforms” according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, which named WhatsApp and Google Play as the first two applications to be unblocked. Since the 2009 protests against the reelection of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, social media networks including Facebook, X and YouTube have been banned or restricted by authorities who’ve blamed them for facilitating protests and fomenting opposition to the state. Iran’s government has faced criticism for years from ordinary Iranians, Western governments, the United Nations and political activists for its draconian attitude toward the internet. Officials — most of whom use banned social media sites to run their own public-facing accounts — often fail to deliver on promises to reduce censorship. Instead, it’s increased significantly over the past 10 years. It’s not clear when Tuesday’s decision will come into effect. IRNA said it was reached by a unanimous vote at a council meeting attended by the head of the judiciary and reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian who’d pledged to relax internet freedoms for Iranians when he was elected in July. The move comes as the Islamic Republic, already widely unpopular at home following a nationwide 2022 uprising that was brutally suppressed, is locked in a standoff with Israel for supporting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both groups — designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. and its allies — have been crippled by Israel’s military response to the October 2023 attacks by Hamas. The ouster of Bashar al-Assad in Syria has also upended Iran’s foreign policy at a time when it’s struggling to keep the lights on for industry and households amid a major fuel and natural-gas crisis. “The process of lifting cyberspace restrictions will be multistaged and ongoing, and it won’t be limited to the removal of restrictions on one or a few platforms,” IRNA said. Complete internet blackouts have often been imposed on Iranians, including during protests in November 2019 and the 2022 nationwide uprising, which prompted the U.S. government at the time to ease restrictions on internet services to Iran, such as Elon Musk’s Starlink. The Washington-based Freedom House said Iran was among the three least free countries in the world in terms of internet access — after China and Myanmar — in its annual “Internet Freedom Scores” ranking. ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.President-elect Donald Trump ’s team is considering the possibility of withholding massive research grants from “woke” schools they claim lack academic freedom. Trump’s nominee to head the National Institutes of Health , Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a physician and economist at Stanford, reportedly wants to target so called “cancel culture” at a number of top progressive universities, according to The Wall Street Journal . Those with knowledge of Bhattacharya’s thinking told the newspaper that he’s considering linking the doling out of billions in federal research grants to a measure of “academic freedom” on campuses and punishing those that apparently don’t adequately embrace perspectives championed by conservatives. Bhattacharya wants to take on what he views as academic conformity in science, which pushed him aside over his criticism of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including his opposition to school closures and mask mandates to stop the spread of the virus. He suggested in a Wall Street Journal op ed in 2020 that only up to 40,000 Americans would be killed by the pandemic . More than 1.2 million people died. While he hasn’t yet established how to measure academic freedom, he has been looking at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and the nonprofit’s scoring of universities and their rankings based on freedom of speech. The nonprofit bases its rankings on surveys of students’ views on whether they feel comfortable sharing ideas, with schools being negatively scored if their administrators punish faculty for opinions, or if they withdraw an invitation to a speaker following a possible controversy. Some of the schools that receive NIH grants but have bad rankings, according to the nonprofit, include the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, and the University of Southern California, The Journal noted. Those at the top of the rankings include the University of Virginia, Michigan Technological University, and Florida State University. Bhattacharya also has plans to fund studies that recreate the work of other scientists in an attempt to take on scientific fraud. There are also plans to create a scientific journal to publish studies with comments by named reviewers, to urge a more open discussion. He has also suggested limiting the amount of grant money that pays for publication in journals, and he would look eastablish a pause on research which creates new viruses for study purposes. In addition, Bhattacharya has a goal of enacting term limits for those in charge of the research institutes run by NIH. He would would review a congressional Republican proposal to slash the number of institutes and centers from 27 to 15, those with a view into his thinking told The Journal. Lizbet Boroughs, associate vice president of the Association of American Universities, told The Journal: “It’s not clear why we’d roadblock the best chances of finding a cure for cystic fibrosis or cancer or Alzheimer’s by adding potentially political, nonresearch factors into medical-research grant decisions.” Former director of the National Cancer Institute Ned Sharpless told the paper that Bhattacharya might find it hard to implement his changes. While he could change the rubric used to review grant applications, it may be difficult to get grant reviewers to follow his guidelines, Sharpless told the newspaper. “It’s much more complicated than it appears from the outside,” he said of the top job at NIH. As many as 174 scientists on the NIH staff or who have received its funding have won a Nobel Prize, The Journal noted. NIH doles out as much as $25 billion in grants each year, which have led to major advances, including immunotherapy cancer treatments.

(BPT) - The holidays are almost here! It means parties and events, hustle and bustle ... and figuring out what to buy for everyone on your list. Sometimes it's hard to get inspired with great ideas that your nears and dears will love at a price you can afford, right? The good news? Inspiration + savings are covered this year. One of the top gifts of Holiday 2024 is technology, and there are a lot of deals out there right now. Done and done! Here are 5 ideas for hot tech gifts for everyone on your list. Smartphones for the family T-Mobile is running a hot deal right now. Get four new smartphones at T-Mobile — this includes Samsung Galaxy S24 and other eligible devices — and four lines for just $100/month . It doesn't get better than that! These new Galaxy phones are tech-tastic, too, with features like AI, Circle to Search with Google, which can be used to help solve math problems and translate entire pages of text in a different language, and Note Assist with Galaxy AI, which lets you focus on capturing your notes and then Note Assist will summarize, format and even translate them for you. High tech spiral notebook for students We've got to admit, this is pretty cool. The Rocketbook looks (a bit) like a regular spiral, paper notebook. Here's the high tech twist: You can take notes, capture ideas, brainstorm, draw — whatever you do on paper — on the pad, and the Rocketbook digitizes your doodles and saves to the cloud device of your choice. Then you simply wipe the pad clean and it's good to go. Look for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales at your favorite online retailer. Wrist-worthy smartwatches for athletes (or those who want to be) Everyone loves smartwatches (if you're not already tracking your sleep and heart rate, where have you been?) and the Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm & 45mm) takes it to the next level with features for athletes or anyone who may be setting fitness goals for the coming year. The watch has workout prompts like Real Time Guidance — audio and haptic cues for when to sprint, cool down or maintain pace. It gives you the ability to program your workouts and even monitors your cadence and stride. It also has Offline Maps, with driving navigation, search and maps. Here's the deal of the century: Get it for free at T-Mobile when adding a qualifying watch line. Cute wireless keyboard for people who are all thumbs Who else is annoyed by typing email or texts or social posts on a smartphone? The Logitech Multi-Device Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard solves that problem with style! It comes in sweet colors like lavender, it's wireless, it's small and portable, and it works with just about any device. Pop it into your backpack or purse and you'll never have to thumb-out a message again. Speakers perfect for hosting and giving Have a music lover in your life or need the perfect hosting gift? T-Mobile has you covered. For a limited time, you can get the JBL Clip 5 for free when you pick up a Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 9 . The JBL Clip 5 is an ultra-portable Bluetooth speaker perfect for those on the go and the Onyx Studio 9's sleek design and booming sound will take care of all your holiday hosting needs. For more tech-tastic holiday gift inspiration, check out T-Mobile's holiday gift guide at t-mobile.com/devices/tech-gifts .

EXCLUSIVE How Sophie Rain is spending her $43 million OnlyFans fortune... and her plans to get even richer in 2025 The influencer earned $43million during her first year on OnlyFans She's investing the money in real estate and a content house for her friends READ MORE: My cash-strapped dad CRIED when I paid off his tax debt By J. PETERSON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM Published: 19:47, 24 December 2024 | Updated: 19:48, 24 December 2024 e-mail View comments An OnlyFans model who earned $43 million in her first year on the platform has revealed that she's on track to do it all over again in 2025. Sophie Rain, 20, told DailyMail.com that she's investing her earnings wisely and hopes to earn 'at least' another $43 million during her second year on OnlyFans. 'It's hard to tell, but all I can hope for is at least the same amount that I made the first year,' she said. Sophie said that she has a lot of 'good plans' for next year that will make her money, including the Bop House - which is a mansion in Florida where Sophie and her influencer pals create content together to build their social media followings. 'I had this idea to get a house and get all of them together and we just want to have fun and make content,' she explained. 'It's just like a little girl group that we're all doing and we just want to uplift each other and help each other grow on TikTok ,' she continued. 'It's just really exciting and I'm excited to see where it goes.' Sophie is also investing her money into real estate, and has plans to buy huge property that her family can all live in. Social media star Sophie Rain, 20, told DailyMail.com that she's investing her OnlyFans earnings wisely and hopes to earn 'at least' another $43million in her second year on the site 'We just actually bought a property. It's 20 acres. I'm really excited about it. I'm gonna share some of it with my family in the end,' she said. 'They don't know that, so that's gonna be part of their Christmas presents. I'm really excited to show them. They're gonna literally die.' With her immense wealth and growing fame, Sophie admitted that it's becoming increasingly more difficult for her to go out in public - and that she's even becoming concerned about stalkers. 'I keep getting recognized everywhere. I was actually out last night with my family having dinner at a restaurant and I got recognized there,' she said. 'I'm always worried, honestly. I am always looking over my shoulder, but I surround myself with a really good group of people and they're always there for me no matter what, so I know I have them to fall back on if anything were to happen.' Sophie, who is a virgin and a Christian , previously said that her faith doesn't conflict with her raunchy career. The former waitress grew up on food stamps in Florida and dutifully attended church with her family every Sunday. Speaking to People magazine previously, the influencer said she's still religious and has no issue doing OnlyFans as a devout Christian. Sophie said that she has a lot of 'good plans' coming up next year that will make her money, including her content mansion, the 'Bop House' Sophie is also investing her money into real estate, and has plans to buy huge property that her family can share in 'The Lord's very forgiving and he put me here. He put me on earth for a reason and I'm just living every day,' she told the publication. 'If this wasn't meant for me, I wouldn't be here right now,' she added. Sophie also said that she still checks in on her 'home church' in Tampa by watching their services online. Despite raking in millions by selling racy content on OnlyFans, the social media star is vocal about her virginity and Christianity. 'I'm a virgin. I'm a virgin [to] this day,' she previously told YouTube streamer Kowski. 'I'm a Christian. I know it seems odd that I'm doing [OnlyFans] but I don't do anything else with anyone on my OnlyFans. It's just me.' Sophie has also insisted that she's 'waiting for the right person' to 'spend the rest of her life with.' The brunette bombshell, who turned 20 in September, has been everywhere since she announced that she'd earned $43 million on OnlyFans in the past year. Sophie, who is a virgin and a Christian , previously said that her faith doesn't conflict with her raunchy career She posted some of her OnlyFans receipts to X this month, revealing that her biggest 'sugar daddy' on the platform had forked out $4.7 million on her in less than 12 months. 'Big thank you to my top spender for being there since the beginning,' Sophie gushed. She boasts more than nine million followers on TikTok, five million on Instagram, and three million on Snapchat. Her most popular TikTok video, which shows her dancing to rapper J. Dash's hit Wop in a gaming arcade, has more than 100 million views. Florida OnlyFans TikTok Share or comment on this article: How Sophie Rain is spending her $43 million OnlyFans fortune... and her plans to get even richer in 2025 e-mail Add commentHuffman reflects on Issue 1 campaign

Tradition tells the humble sandwich was invented in Britain, yet they seem to spell trouble for some British politicians, as the leader of the Conservatives Kemi Badenoch is finding out to her cost. Lunch is for wimps, says the new leader of Britain’s beleaguered Conservative Party in an apparent bid to sound tough. “What’s decompressing, what’s that? What’s a lunch break? Lunch is for wimps. I have food brought in and I work and eat at the same time. There’s no time... sometimes I get a steak”, she told The Spectator . Fair enough, lots of people eat at their desks, except Badenoch was about to launch an assault on what is probably the most-eaten British food and to make it worse, give an excuse for that which just comes across as a little odd. Sandwiches are not “real food”, she said, declaring “I will not touch bread if it’s moist”. Right-oh then. This wouldn’t be remotely as newsworthy if having a difficult relationship with sandwiches wasn’t already very clearly signposted for anyone with any interest in British politics whatsoever as an absolute minefield for an up-and-coming politician. Unserious as it may sound, a former leader of the Labour Party during their wilderness years found his time at the top ended not by bad policy or lacklustre performance at the dispatch box — although these were certainly factors — but because he looked like trying to eat a sandwich was going to kill him. Ed Miliband (pictured, top) has only now, a decade later, made a return to front-line politics. That’s how unforgiving the British public are. And if this seems petty, remember America feels the same way about their core-national-identity foods. Bill De Blasio will forever be associated with eating a pizza with a knife-and-fork . The rest of Britain has naturally piled on Badenoch with their takes. The left-wing Prime Minister, presumably thankful to have been handed such an easy way to appear on the side of the common man — in spite of absolutely all evidence to the contrary — has stated the obvious by hailing sandwiches as a Great British Institution and listed his favourite fillings. The former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was such a fan he said they were his favourite meal. The head of the British Sandwich Association calls the discourse “rubbish” and reminds us “We eat 3.5bn commercially-made sandwiches every year, this is part of our heritage.” Nigel Farage has declared he loves lunch time, although we all knew that, given being known for having a bottle of wine in the middle of the day is a big part of his personal brand. If a bit of meat and cheese between two slices of bread does to Kemi Badenoch what it did to Ed Miliband, precedent will well and truly have been set, British politics will have a sandwich test for aspirant Prime Ministers. But is that really such a bad thing?

Arguments over whether Luigi Mangione is a 'hero' offer glimpse into unusual American moment

NoneBarring a market meltdown in the second half of December, it looks like 2024 will be a very successful year for the Mickleboro ASX share portfolio. As things stand, I am poised to record a return of over 40% for the 12 months. How did I get here? My exposure to high-quality companies in the tech, retail, and healthcare sectors helped my portfolio outperform this year. The star of the show was undoubtedly my overweight position in ( ). At the time of writing, the location technology company's shares are up 200% year to date. The now departed also gave me significant funds to reallocate elsewhere after being taken over by Renesas this year. I didn't stick around to see the takeover complete. Instead, I locked in the gains in April and reinvested them back into the tech sector through ( ) and ( ). Both of these ASX tech stocks have rocketed in value since then, compounding the funds even further. I like to buy high-quality companies when an opportunity presents itself. This proved successful with ( ) and ( ) last year. ResMed's shares were down heavily because of weight loss wonder drug concerns. They have returned approximately 50% this year. Whereas doom and gloom in the retail sector dragged youth fashion retailer Universal Store to very inviting levels. Its shares are up approximately 85% in 2024. Also contributing to the good performance were ASX share portfolio holdings such as ( ) and ( ), ( ), and the ( ). I also took advantage of a sharp pullback in the ( ) share price. This high-quality company's shares have rallied over 30% since then. It's not all sunshine and rainbows I would love to say that all portfolio holdings performed well in 2024, but that isn't the case. And will almost never be the case. This is why is so important. I was let down by ( ) and ( ), and ( ) underperformed the market. Nevertheless, I believe the quality of these companies remains high (certainly CSL!) and I expect them to perform better in 2025. I may even take advantage of this weakness to add to positions in 2025. There were also plenty of missed opportunities. ( ) and ( ) shares are two that I planned to buy and never did. They are up in the region of 45% to 70% in 2024. Another one I missed was ( ). I had intended to purchase the coffee chain giant's beaten down shares the same day I bought Disney shares. But the announcement of a new CEO that day saw Starbucks rocket 30% before I could and left me wondering what could've been. What's the plan in 2025? I'm confident in my ASX share portfolio as we head into 2025. But as always, I will look for opportunities to buy high-quality companies when they are trading at fair (or cheap) prices. I will also continue to stay clear of speculative stocks that promise the world and deliver nothing but losses. After all, it's just as important to avoid bad stocks as it is to buy great ones.For a radio station that doesn't care about ratings, 2MBS Fine Music Sydney has found an audience of loyal listeners all over the world. Veteran Drive program presenter Michael Morton-Evans even has one dedicated fan on the Isle of Wight in the UK, who sits by her fireplace to listen to his show. 2MBS was Australia's very first station on the FM radio band, hitting the airwaves at noon on December 15, 1974, beating Melbourne's 3MBS and Brisbane's 4ZZZ by a matter of months. The station in Sydney's St Leonards is celebrating 50 years of filling the airwaves with music - classical for the most part, but also jazz, blues and other genres. Morton-Evans has penned a history of 2MBS to mark the milestone, and believes it's the only volunteer-run station in the world to have lasted half a century. "It means everything to real lovers of classical music, we all love doing it, they all love listening to it," he told AAP. Ahead of a recent program, he's in the studio lining up traffic alerts and weather reports and just the right music to keep Sydney motorists calm during peak hour, starting with Russian composer Anton Arensky and Frenchman Georges Bizet. On a good day, the FM radio signal travels all the way to Newcastle and Wollongong, and Berrima in the southern highlands, while listeners further afield can tune in via the station's online stream and listening app. Three times a day the flow of classical music is interrupted by jazz programs, for those who happen to like that sort of thing, said Morton-Evans. "There's a sort of feeling around here among the jazz people that I don't like jazz, but it's not true - I do like jazz," he said. "Our jazz presenters are fantastic, they are so knowledgeable, they're almost worth listening to." One of those presenters, Jeannie McInnes, airs her popular program Jazz Rhythm with a different topic each week, ranging from Jackson Pollock's jazz playlist, to the sound of the colour green. "If you just want to hear the music, put on Spotify - if you want to learn something about the music, listen to the radio," she told AAP. Presenters such as Planet Jazz host Xavier Bichon revel in music of all kinds: a recent weekend saw him at a classical performance in the afternoon, and a Pearl Jam concert a few hours later. 2MBS does not rely on government grants and is entirely funded by its loyal listeners, some of whom have been very generous indeed. In 2010 one donor, Stefan Kruger, left the station $3 million in his will, enabling 2MBS to build a recording studio complete with grand piano, broadcast studios and a massive music library. Though most of the library is stored digitally these days, old technology is still kept on stand by including turntables, a reel to reel tape player, and a cassette deck. Before there was any of this equipment - or even a station to broadcast from - David James was the very first manager of 2MBS, helping it win a broadcast licence. Half a century later he still volunteers at the station, probably because he likes punishment, he jokes. "Radio is in my blood ... I just don't want to look at any other voluntary job anywhere." It's the people as much as the music, helped by the station's monthly wine and pizza nights, he said. There's also tea, coffee and biscuits on hand to fuel the station's 200 volunteers, such as former presenter Di Cox, 84. Cox has been volunteering at the station for 45 years and is still a regular visitor, selecting music for an upcoming program From Handel to Haydn. "Obviously I love it, because I've always said I'll never leave," she said. 2MBS is marking its milestone with a special retrospective program on Sunday at midday - exactly 50 years to the hour since its very first broadcast. It will also host a station open day on February 1, to commemorate its very first such event 50 years ago.

Ammon Mayor Sean Coletti presented community service awards to seven individuals Thursday evening at Ammon City Hall. “Every act of service that you do makes a difference,” Coletti said before handing out awards. “Someone else sees it, someone else sees it. They're inspired to act and do a little act of service as well, and one ripple at a time you make the world a better place.” After describing each awardee’s service, Coletti invited them to the front of the city council chambers to hand them their plaque and say a few words. Kyle Fielding Kyle Fielding, a sergeant in the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, was the lead sergeant for the City of Ammon for four years. Coletti said Fielding went the extra mile by attending many meetings and events to better understand and address the needs of the community. “There were times when I saw Sgt. Fielding doing his job in places where I didn't expect that he would need to be doing his job,” Coletti said. “It was a good experience, just being able to see the political science side of it and how government actually works,” Fielding said. “... Ammon is near and dear to my heart, and it was sad to leave." Rebecca and Adam DeVore Coletti said Rebecca and Adam DeVore are always helping out. He said they clean up parks, pull weeds, pick up trash and Adam has also helped with some electrical issues at parks and city events. Coleti said they also take pictures and videos at all city events and upload recaps that the city posts on social media. “We came from California before everybody came,” Rebecca said. “And I think my videos kind of say it all. It's felt like home since we moved here, we've been treated like family by the community. So that's what I try to capture. We love it here." George Watkins III Coletti said George Watkins III has served on the Ammon urban renewal board for over 30 years without any compensation or recognition. Watkins helped establish the first urban renewal district in Ammon, called the Hitt Road district. Coletti said this project replaced dilapidated structures with the shopping area where Albertsons, Target, McDonalds, and other stores are now located. Coletti said all the other members of the urban renewal board have since moved on, but Watkins has stayed to see the closeout of the Hitt Road district in 2025. “I ran for city council once back then, and I’m kind of glad I didn't get it,” Watkins said. “But helping on the board — the board really had some rough years, but you know it's done. We got the bonds paid off. Now (the city) has got us going on a new one. I thought I was done ... I’ll keep going.” Katie Howell Coletti said Katie Howell coaches two teams in Ammon’s Little League program. Howell is the head scorekeeper and runs a scorekeeper training class in the spring. Howell updates the program website with scores and pitch counts from coaches every night. Howell also works on policies and procedures, answering coaches’ questions about rules. Coletti said Howell previously asked him whether the award was going to the right person. “I didn't believe it because there are people that do more,” Howell said. “But I do love the kids. I love the program ... We're trying to just give these kids opportunities to have fun, to make friends, and to just grow roots in our city so that hopefully they'll stick around and continue it on with their kids.” Lisa Meek Lisa Meek is the manager of the La Quinta Inn located in Ammon. Coletti said she is largely responsible for the growth of the Ammon Days hot air balloon festival. She offers pilots and their families and crew members good room rates and gives them bags, towels, patches and other items personalized with the designs of their balloon. “Lisa is a big reason why hot air balloon pilots from around the intermountain west love coming to Ammon every summer,” Coletti said. “I love being able to be a part of the Ammon community,” Meek said. “And I do all the things that I do because I enjoy participating with it and trying to help our community have as many fun things as we can.” Dane Watkins Coletti said Dane Watkins, a judge in the Seventh Judicial District, always takes time to meet with youth groups such as the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council to teach about the judicial system. “I can tell he truly cares about the next generation and that they understand what happens in our courts,” Coletti said. “One time when we couldn't go to the courthouse he said, ‘I'll just come to you.’ So, he came to the city building to teach the kids.” Watkins was unable to attend Thursday. Coletti said he was at a judicial conference.Trump’s lawyers rebuff DA’s idea for upholding his hush money conviction, calling it ‘absurd’

The “dark side of K-Pop” has made headlines for everything from sexual exploitation to corrupt business practices. Unfortunately, that “dark side” still exists in Korea, but also in other countries with flourishing entertainment industries. Osaka Prefectural Police confirmed that Fuchigami Takashi , a man from Osaka, allegedly posed as a talent scout to solicit sex from a minor. At the time, Fuchigami was 46 years old and the minor in question, a high school student who dreams of debuting as an idol, was 17. “I had sexual intercourse, but I thought she was 18, and I didn’t provide any money,” Fuchigami stated after his arrest. He reportedly contacted the teen via social media. There he convinced the girl that he was a talent scout who had played an integral role in launching the successful careers of several high-school-girls-turned-entertainers. Using this rouse, Fuchigami reportedly convinced the 17-year-old to have sex with him at his home on January 17, 2021. According to news reports, he allegedly paid her 10,000 yen (approximately $65 USD) for sleeping with him. Although the teen’s mother reported the suspect to the police in March, Fuchigami wasn’t arrested on suspicion of violating Japan’s anti-child prostitution law until June 29, 2021. 5 Disturbing Stories From K-Pop’s “Dark Side”

MALAGA, Spain (AP) — The last man to face — and beat — Rafael Nadal in professional tennis, 80th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp , converted his 10th match point Friday to finally close out a 6-4, 6-7 (12), 6-3 victory over Daniel Altmaier and help the Netherlands reach its first Davis Cup final by sweeping Germany. Tallon Griekspoor, who is ranked 40th, sealed the 2-0 win for the Dutch in the best-of-three-match semifinal by hitting 25 aces and coming back to defeat Jan-Lennard Struff 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4. When it ended, appropriately, on an ace, Griekspoor shut his eyes, dropped to his knees and spread his arms wide. “We have been talking about this for two, three years,” Griekspoor said. “We believed in ourselves so much. We always felt like this was possible. To do it now feels unbelievable.” The other semifinal is Saturday, with No. 1-ranked Jannik Sinner and defending champion Italy taking on Australia . The championship will be decided Sunday. “We don’t have that top 5 player. We don’t that top 10 player. We don’t have that top 15 player,” Dutch captain Paul Harhuuis said. “But it’s a team effort. ... So proud of these guys.” In Friday's opener, van de Zandschulp was up a set and just a point away from leading 5-2 in the second when Altmaier began playing more aggressively and interacting more with the German fans, yelling and throwing uppercuts or raising his arms after key points. In the tiebreaker, Altmaier managed to save five match points before converting his own fourth set point to extend the contest. But van de Zandschulp — who upset four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz at the U.S. Open — quickly moved out front in the final set, even if he eventually needed five more match points in the last game before serving it out. “At some point, I didn’t know what to do any more on the match points,” van de Zandschulp said. “I had the toughest match of my life on Tuesday (against Nadal), so everything that comes next is maybe a little bit easier.” In the quarterfinals, van de Zandschulp outplayed Nadal for a 6-4, 6-4 result that marked the end of the 22-time Grand Slam champion’s career because the Netherlands went on to eliminate Spain 2-1. The 38-year-old Nadal announced last month that the Davis Cup would be his final event before retiring. Presumably because people purchased tickets ahead of time with plans to watch Nadal compete in the semifinals, there were hundreds of unoccupied blue or gray seats surrounding the indoor hard court at the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martina Carpena in southern Spain on Friday. Now truly a neutral site, the place was not nearly as loud and rowdy as on Tuesday, although there were shouts of “Vamos, Rafa!” that drew laughter while van de Zandschulp played the 88th-ranked Altmaier. It took Griekspoor more than 75 minutes and nearly two full sets to figure out how to break No. 43 Struff and then did it twice in a row — to lead 6-5 in the second set, and then go up 1-0 in the third. That was plenty, because Griekspoor saved the only two break points he faced. The Netherlands hadn’t been to the semifinals since 2001. The Germans — whose best current player, two-time major finalist Alexander Zverev, is not on the team in Malaga — have won three Davis Cups, but not since 1993, when 1991 Wimbledon champion Michael Stich led them to the title. AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennisAP Business SummaryBrief at 3:26 p.m. EST

Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative premier names new 21-member cabinetProminent brands struggle to adapt to an e-bike industry dominated by cheap, direct-to-consumer salesHALIFAX — Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston named an expanded 21-member cabinet Thursday during a ceremony in downtown Halifax that excluded reporters in a departure from a long-standing tradition of open coverage. In an address that was livestreamed, Houston said his newly re-elected government would continue to deal with issues that matter to Nova Scotians, including health care, housing and affordability. “This term will also be very focused on growing our economy and continuing to lower taxes,” the premier said. “We have to grow our economy to be better able to support the services that Nova Scotians have a right to expect.” Before the election, in which the Tories won 43 of the legislature’s 55 seats, Houston led a 17-member cabinet. The government allowed only one television outlet to have a pool camera at the ceremony held at the Halifax Convention Centre, citing “limited capacity” inside the building that occupies a full city block. Journalists who tried to enter Thursday were turned away by building security. Houston was asked by reporters as he arrived why the media were not being given access to the new cabinet members. “It’s all live streamed ... It’s a really exciting day, you guys have lots of access, and you guys know that,” he said. Reporters were allowed to attend the swearing-in ceremony held at the same venue after the Tories were first elected in 2021, although it was during the COVID-19 pandemic and they were placed in a separate room to monitor the event before interviewing ministers. In the new cabinet, Houston will be joined by veterans John Lohr, who becomes finance minister, Becky Druhan, who moves from education to justice, and Michelle Thompson, who continues as minister of health. There are five new members, including political newcomer Leah Martin as minister of Communications Nova Scotia and L’ nu affairs and Fred Tilley, a former Liberal who crossed the floor just before the Nov. 26 election and becomes minister of public works. The other new ministers are Dave Ritcey in the tourism portfolio, Nolan Young, who is minister of labour, and Scott Armstrong as minister of opportunities and social development — formerly the Department of Community Services. In another departmental change, veteran minister Colton LeBlanc will head the new Department of Growth and Development, which was formerly known as economic development and will now also oversee housing. Composed of 14 men and seven women, the cabinet will see Barbara Adams return as minister of seniors and long-term care and serve as deputy premier. Tim Halman retains the environment portfolio and Tory Rushton stays on in natural resources, while Kim Masland moves from public works to the Department of Emergency Management. The former community services minister, Brendan Maguire, takes over education and also assumes the duties of advanced education from Brian Wong, who was dropped from cabinet along with Susan Corkum-Greek, the former minister of economic development. Alex Marland, a political scientist at Acadia University, said the government could have found room for reporters had it wanted to. “This isn’t a new government, so there are some experienced hands who at a minimum could have been made available,” Marland said. He added that in general, there are governments that feel the need to control their message, and that also tend to be cautious with newer ministers who lack media training. “If this is a pattern and it persists, that’s going to be a problem for the Houston government,” he said. “But if this is a one off and by January things are a little different because people have gone through media training, then a lot of it will be forgotten.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2024. — With files from Lyndsay Armstrong Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press