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Titans kicker Nick Folk dealing with soreness so Tennessee added insuranceNEW YORK (AP) — The Buffalo Sabres can carry the good cheer of ending the longest losing streak in the NHL this season into their holiday break. Buffalo routed the New York Islanders 7-1 on Monday night, scoring twice in the first, three times in the second and twice more in the third to snap a 13-game (0-10-3) month of futility. After the win, there was palpable relief heading into the break as the Sabres are off until Saturday, when they host the Chicago Blackhawks. Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin had four assists, the most by a defenseman this season. He stressed that achieving victory is satisfying for the moment, but only a step in a long process ahead. “We battled for a long time and finally it went our way,’’ said Dahlin, the first Buffalo defenseman with four assists in a game since February 2008. “Now, it’s up to us to keep this thing going.” The Sabres last won at San Jose, 4-2, on Nov. 23. What followed was a vexing run in which they dropped six one-goal games and were outscored 53-28. The low point was a 5-4 loss to Colorado on Dec. 3 in which Buffalo became the 90th team in NHL history to squander a four-or-more goal lead. Buffalo is last in the Eastern Conference with 28 points. Against the Islanders and following a hard-fought 3-1 loss at Boston on Saturday, the Sabres were solid from start to finish in scoring seven goals for the first time this season. They were so dominant, that boos rained down on the host Islanders at UBS Arena. “It was huge to score some goals, and it was good to have a complete game,’’ said forward Jason Zucker, who scored Buffalo’s third goal. “It’s really hard not to overthink when you’ve lost that many in a row, so I give our guys credit. It was fun to get that win going into the break." The Sabres started their season 4-7-1, then won seven of nine games before the skid began. That led to renewed angst in Buffalo because the Sabres haven't reached the playoffs since 2011. Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff, who returned to the team last summer, was supportive during his squad's month of frustration. The 64-year-old Ruff previously coached the Sabres from 1997-2013 and has seen virtually everything in his long coaching career. He was succinct in praising his club after their dedicated road effort. “We denied a lot of plays in our end. It was a determined game,’’ Ruff said. “The bench had a lot of life. It’s a weight off our shoulders.” Tage Thompson, who leads the Sabres with 17 goals, said Monday's win proved that focused hard work is the way forward for his team. "Tonight we said shift after shift we're going to do the right things and let the chips fall when there they may," he said.

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk caused uproar after backing Germany's far-right party in a major newspaper ahead of key parliamentary elections in the Western European country, leading to the resignation of the paper's opinion editor in protest. Germany is to vote in an early election on Feb. 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revitalize the country's stagnant economy. Musk's guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag —a sister publication of POLITICO owned by the Axel Springer Group — published in German over the weekend, was the second time this month he supported the Alternative for Germany, or AfD. "The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country," Musk wrote in his translated commentary. He went on to say the far-right party "can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality." The Tesla Motors CEO also wrote that his investment in Germany gave him the right to comment on the country's condition. The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with the far-right party. The technology billionaire challenged in his opinion piece the party's public image. "The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party's leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!" Musk's commentary has led to a debate in German media over the boundaries of free speech, with the paper's own opinion editor announcing her resignation, pointedly on Musk's social media platform, X. "I always enjoyed leading the opinion section of WELT and WAMS. Today an article by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag. I handed in my resignation yesterday after it went to print," Eva Marie Kogel wrote. A critical article by the future editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Jan Philipp Burgard, accompanied Musk's opinion piece. "Musk's diagnosis is correct, but his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong," Burgard wrote. Responding to a request for comment from the German Press Agency, dpa, the current editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Ulf Poschardt, and Burgard — who is due to take over on Jan. 1 — said in a joint statement that the discussion over Musk's piece was "very insightful. Democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of expression." "This will continue to determine the compass of the "world" in the future. We will develop "Die Welt" even more decisively as a forum for such debates," they wrote to dpa. Musk waded heavily into the 2024 U.S. presidential election, putting millions into electing President-elect Donald Trump. Trump rewarded him after the election by naming Musk to head the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, with Vivek Ramaswamy. Musk and Ramaswamy were embroiled over the weekend on X, the social media platform Musk owns, over H-1B visas, which are applied to highly skilled workers. Musk, who came to the U.S. on a H-1B visa, defended the use of the policy amid backlash from Laura Loomer and other Trump supporters who endorse hardline immigration policies. In an interview with the New York Post , Trump said he "always liked the visas," although he tried to change the program during his first time. "I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I've been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It's a great program," Trump told the newspaper.Bryce Thompson scores 17 points and Oklahoma State beats Miami 80-74 in the Charleston Classic

Another View: Trump’s pick for education shows he understands the assignmentOilers Defenceman Evan Bouchard isn't having the best start to this season, and reporter Jason Gregor is noticing that he could be mentally struggling after some direct criticism. Bouchard is on pace to break the NHL record for most shot attempts blocked by a defenceman . It's a significant concern that Bouchard isn't finding ways to get pucks onto the net, and it often causes the play to turn in the other direction. Recently, Oilers broadcaster Louie DeBrusk revealed that Coach Paul Coffey aware of Bouchard nearing this record, and that Coffey had a chat with Bouchard . Since then, Bouchard's troubling trend hasn't relented. Last night was Bouchard's 6th game that had 6 shot attempts blocked, and he still leads the league in that undesirable category. Jason Gregor thinks Bouchard's confidence has taken a hit. Bouchard's confidence does look visibly lower when he's on the ice right now. Specifically on getting shots through. The Oilers defender is rushing shooting decisions instead of showing his usual poise to walk the blue line in search of a shooting lane. It's interesting that he's actually scoring goals at a higher pace though this year than last year. The drop in confidence is reflected in the raw stats this year. After scoring a career high of 82 points last year, Bouchard is now on pace for only 50 points - but almost every Oilers' scoring is down too. Evan Bouchard is a restricted free agent at the end of this season, and insiders believe he'll be signed to a long-term contract for $10M or more annually . That's a massive investment into a player, and fans want to see him play well in all areas to continually prove the worth of the upcoming major contract. The Oilers took a light practice today after a disappointing effort against the Minnesota Wild last night , and after their next game, will get nearly a week long break before their next game. The entire roster badly needs this upcoming break to rest, recover, and then beginning building up their game back to the standard they set last season. Right now, this Oilers team simply doesn't look as good as the iteration from last year. This article first appeared on Oilers Daily and was syndicated with permission.Japan’s record deal-making activity this year isn’t giving foreign firms much holiday cheer: For now, the field remains mostly dominated by the local mega banks and law firms with deep ties to the corporate world. At roughly $200bn, the volume of transactions including mergers and acquisitions in the country is up 48% this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That compares with a 17% increase across Asia Pacific and a 19% slump for China, which remains the biggest market in the region with $271bn in volume. The sheer amount of activity is reshaping the battleground for investment bankers seeking to earn the often lucrative fees that come with these transactions. Just as the year winds down, one deal has left bankers scrambling to take part in: Honda Motor Co’s acquisition talks with Nissan Motor Co. The tie up could potentially form the world’s third-largest carmaker. But while the big international investment banks win advisory roles on some deals, Japanese firms historically have a big hometown advantage, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. And among law firms, the preference for Japanese involvement is even more stark with local firms taking the top five spots. “While some foreign banks have been relatively successful in Japan and they continuously pitch and work on many deals, the reality is the Japanese megabanks have much more access to companies due to their lending and underwriting relationship,” said Akio Katsuragi, co-founder and chief executive officer of investment banking boutique Crosspoint Advisors. Partly, this reflects the industries prominent in some recent deals in strategically important sectors such as technology, which makes it even harder for foreign buyers, where global investment banks may have an edge over their local rivals. One such example is Japan Industrial Partners’ $15bn takeover of conglomerate Toshiba Corp, in which Katsuragi’s firm was a lead adviser. Other banks that worked on the deal included Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc, Mizuho Financial Group Inc, Nomura Holdings Inc, as well as overseas banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co and UBS Group AG. The planned union of Honda and Nissan is one of those evergreen deals that has been talked about for years, according to Katsuragi, who was previously CEO of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc’s Japan office. The time is right for the deal to happen, he added, otherwise they might struggle to survive in a very competitive global market. The two companies earlier this week reached a tentative agreement to set up a joint holding company that will aim to list shares in August 2026. While their executives have been careful to paint the transaction as a merger of equals, Honda will take the lead in forming the new entity and nominate a majority of its directors. “There is still a preference to find a Japanese solution when it comes to big deals, especially if there is a possibility of combining two national champions or finding local investors as a way to preserve some of the national-trophy assets,” said Takeshi Nakao, managing partner at law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in Tokyo. Other deals receiving foreign interest but facing local resistance in Japan include Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc’s pursuit of the owner of 7-Eleven convenience stores. Banks working on the potential cross-border deal include Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley and Nomura. After the operator of Circle K stores made its intentions known, Seven & i Holdings Co considered a management buyout to take itself private with funding from banks, Itochu Corp and the founding Ito family in a transaction that could be worth around $58bn, Bloomberg News reported. Banks that may provide financing for what could be the largest-ever such deal in Japan include Sumitomo Mitsui, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc and Mizuho. “If Seven & i is possible, then anything could get done, other than certain assets in strategic and sensitive industries,” said Nakao of Freshfields. Nippon Life Insurance Co has done more than $12bn in deals this month alone, and Japan’s biggest insurer isn’t finished yet. There’s also Bain Capital’s ongoing plans to buy shares of software developer Fuji Soft Inc without the support of the Japanese company’s board, setting the stage for a rare hostile bid in its battle with KKR & Co for the Yokohama-based firm. “This is the busiest ever we have seen in Japan dealmaking,” Nakao said. “Deals in Japan are going to get even bigger, both inbound and outbound.” The deal bonanza has also been buoyed by a strong stock market, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 index reaching an all-time high in July. It has gained more than 20% this year. Outside of Japan, India was the other hot spot for deals this year, with a record $20bn raised in initial public offerings and $97bn in other transactions including M&A. Investment bankers in Japan have also been busy on equity capital markets transactions as global investors continue to pile into Japanese stocks. About $6.3bn was raised via IPOs in Japan since January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Kings fire coach Brown less than halfway through his third season

Elon Musk backs Germany's far-right party ahead of upcoming elections

Jimmy Carter was a fan of NASCAR, but the possibility of peace in the Middle East got in the way when several drivers came to the White House for ham and cornbread in 1978. Carter, the 39th president of the United States, died Sunday in Plains, Georgia . He was 100. While governor of Georgia in the 1970s, Carter attended races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and hosted racers at the governor’s mansion. In the previous decade, he had worked speedway events as a ticket vendor. Upon running for president in 1976, he pledged to bring NASCAR to the White House for dinner if elected. But when the dinner bell eventually rang, in the summer of 1978, Carter was at the Camp David presidential retreat, where he was working on a breakthrough peace accord with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. In the president’s absence, First Lady Rosalynn Carter hosted the NASCAR contingent, which included many drivers, including Hall of Famers Cale Yarborough, David Pearson and Benny Parsons, as well as NASCAR leaders Bill France Jr. and Sr. The night was capped off with a Willie Nelson concert. And no, this wasn’t Willie's high-rollin' White House visit – it wasn’t until two years later that Nelson famously joined Carter’s son Chip atop the White House roof and smoked weed . Carter and his son confirmed the widely shared rumor in " Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President ," a documentary released in 2020. After serving a single term in the White House, Carter, the onetime peanut farmer and Navy submariner, became among the most durable figures in modern American politics. Evicted from the White House at age 56, he would hold the status of former president longer than anyone in American history, and in 2019 he surpassed the late George H. W. Bush as the nation's oldest living ex-president. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, 22 years after he had left the White House. Contributing: Susan Page and Richard Benedetto, USA TODAYDodgers blockbuster trade pitch lands All-Star CF to replace Teoscar Hernández | Sporting News

White House says at least 8 US telecom firms, dozens of nations impacted by China hacking campaignLate Ferran Torres double lifts Barcelona to second place in Champions League

Cool, awesome and gimmicky gifts to make your life more fun this year and beyond. 1. Xiaomi 14T Pro (21,990 baht) This top-of-the-line, competitively priced phone combines advanced AI capabilities with high-end hardware and Leica-engineered camera technology. It features a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2712x1220 pixels, supporting a refresh rate of up to 144Hz and a peak brightness of 4,000 nits, ensuring clear visibility even under direct sunlight. You may not get all the bells and whistles as on Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra, but you are getting 90% of what the S24 Ultra offers at about half the price. Moreover, it charges at 120W which is four times faster than Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max (which can only do 30W). 2. Galaxy Ring (14,900 baht) Bored of fitness trackers and smartwatches but still want a health tracker? This titanium ring can deliver a holistic view of your health. It tracks sleep, heart rate and physical activities and then gives you advice to improve your health accordingly. It only needs to be charged once a week. 3. Ugreen 145W Power Bank 25,000mAh (2,691 baht) If you want a power bank that charges fast, real fast, can charge three devices at the same time, can go on planes and is not too big to carry, this is a great pick. 4. 3D holographic fan (2,450 baht) If you want to live your Star Wars dream of having a holographic projector, this can project still or moving pictures from your phone. 5. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (42,900 baht) If you want a phone that has the best AI capability, best screen, solid speed and battery longevity, metallic build, seven years of guaranteed updates, great zoom capability, together with the best stylus on any phone, you can't go wrong with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. 6. Govee Curtain Light (6,990 baht) Illuminate your boring curtains with 520 customisable and programmable LED lights. The lights can show images, patterns or interact with the music you play, which can be controlled with a phone app. 7. Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo (9,000 baht) This crazy expensive interactive alarm clock responds to your body's movement with game sounds, so you can feel like you're waking up in the game world itself. Set an alarm inspired by five Nintendo games, with more on the way as free updates later on. 8. JBL Go3 (990 baht) This small cheap waterproof Bluetooth speaker is a great pick for anyone who does not have a speaker yet. It produces sound that punches way above its pay grade. 9. MOFT Snap Phone Tripod Stand (1,290 baht) This handy magnetically attachable phone stand can transform into a selfie stick on a whim and is a must-have for phones that have magnetic capability (or you can get a phone case that has it). 10. Tomtoc Explorer T21 sling bag (1,390 baht) The T21 is a sling bag small enough to be portable but spacious enough for essentials, making it ideal for everyday carry. The bag has multiple compartments, including a main compartment for larger items (like a small tablet or book). I have been carrying a phone, a Nintendo Switch, a wallet, a keychain, multiple cards and a set of wireless earphones in this bag with no issues at all.

THE use of cash has grown for the second year in a row, amid worries that more businesses are refusing to accept notes and coins. Cash was used in 19.9 per cent of all UK transactions in 2023 — up from 18.8 per cent the previous year, according to British Retail Consortium figures. The increase is a shift from a long-running trend of people switching to digital payments and debit cards. The BRC credited the rise to the cost-of-living crisis — with many people finding it easier to budget their outgoings in physical cash. The Treasury Select Committee is examining if there should be rules to force businesses to accept cash, amid a rise in the number of outlets that have already switched to contactless only. There are growing concerns they exclude many vulnerable people. A submission to the inquiry by VISA found that in 2019 over 15 per cent of people with an income under £10,000 a year relied completely on cash to pay for goods and services, compared with less than 2.5 per cent of all higher income groups READ MORE BUSINESS NEWS But there are also warnings that cash-only businesses such as nail bars and car washes are fuelling modern slavery and illegal immigration . Bas Javid, director general of immigration enforcement at the Home Office , said at the weekend some businesses rejected card payments to disguise illegal working. The Select Committee yesterday heard that physical cash is essential for victims and survivors of economic and domestic abuse . Deidre Cartwright, of Surviving Economic Abuse, told MPs: “It’s a means for them to escape an abuser — especially when that abuser can track them through a bank account.” Most read in Business Concerns have also been raised about a growing number of council car parks that only accept payments made using unreliable phone apps . Ron Delnevo, of the Payment Choice Alliance, told the hearing: “I know older friends who’ve stopped going to places because they couldn’t park without an app.” By Dame Meg Hillier SHOULD there be rules to force certain businesses and services to always accept physical cash? My committee heard from a carer to a wife with MS, who relies on cash to put money aside for bills. A supermarket worker told of the difficulty partially sighted customers have paying digitally at checkouts. Charity Mencap stressed how people with learning disabilities often use cash to guard from card scams. But corner shops have argued they should make their own decisions, and stress the cost of handling cash. The previous Government said no to rules for cash. We are yet to hear if this Government feels the same. NUKE KID ON THE BLOCK A 500-ton steel reactor was fitted into Britain’s first nuclear power station in 30 years yesterday. The 42ft reactor pressure vessel was installed at Hinkley Point C in Somerset , which EDF says will generate power for three million homes . The project, which is due to start generating power in 2029, has been hampered by political wrangling, Covid and supply chain problems. The delayed start has caused concerns about Britain’s energy security. EDF and Centrica yesterday said they will keep four ageing nuclear power stations running to ensure there is a low blackout risk. Chris O’Shea, chief executive of Centrica, said: “Power generation that doesn’t depend on the sun shining and the wind blowing is essential to keeping the lights on.” BURBERRY has launched legal action against B&M in a trademark dispute. B&M had sold “Furberry” branded pet items, including dog bowls, toys, blankets, mats and beds this year. The items featured a print with red, white and black checks on a beige background, strikingly similar to Burberry’s famous check print. It says the discount chain was falsely representing its goods as Burberry, Sky News reported. OZ CALL FOR MINE GIANT RIO MINING giant Rio Tinto has come under fresh attack from an activist investor pushing it to scrap its main London listing and focus on Australia instead. Palliser Capital yesterday published an open letter to Rio Tinto’s board arguing the dual-listed structure has been a “failure for shareholders”. The UK hedge fund, which has a £197million stake in the miner, urged it to follow BHP and drop its dual listing. The loss of Rio Tinto would be a big blow to the London Stock Exchange and many pension tracker funds would be forced to sell stock if it was no longer in the FTSE 100 . The Exchange is in crisis after facing the worst exodus of firms in 14 years, with 45 companies removed from the market in takeovers, according to Bloomberg. The value of the UK PLC market is shrinking because there have not been any big listings to replace the losses. BRITAIN has hit “peak petrol” and the number of cars needing to be filled up at the pumps will almost halve over the next decade, says a report. Auto Trader estimates there were 18.7million petrol cars this year, but that will slump to 11.1million by 2034. It predicts a “seismic shift” towards electric vehicles as they become cheaper, from 1.25million EVs to 13.7million in the next decade. It expects the share of EVs to rise to 23 per cent next year, below the Government’s eco-mandate of 28 per cent. Budget gloom THE services industry has almost ground to a halt since the Budget, with firms hiking prices and freezing hiring and investment to cover costs, a survey found. READ MORE SUN STORIES Business confidence has slumped to its lowest in two years, the influential S&P UK services purchasing managers index revealed yesterday. S&P Global's Tim Moore said: “Worries about the impact of policies in the Budget were widely reported as leading to a gloomier assessment of investment prospects and the broader UK economic outlook.”

Article content VANCOUVER — Online predators are becoming increasingly resourceful in trolling media platforms where children gravitate, prompting an explosion in police case loads, said an officer who works for the RCMP Integrated Child Exploitation Unit in British Columbia. Data show the problem spiked during COVID-19 when children began spending more time online — but rates did not wane as police anticipated after lockdowns ended. In B.C., they soared, almost quadrupling from 2021 to 2023. Const. Solana Pare is now warning exploitation of children is likely here to stay, as a technological race between police and predators gains momentum. “Technology is becoming more and more available, and online platforms and social media sites are being used by children younger and younger, which provides an opportunity for predators to connect with them,” Pare said in an interview. Police say child exploitation cases in B.C. went from about 4,600 in 2021 to 9,600 in 2022 to 15,920 reports last year. The upwards trend is seen nationally, too. Statistics Canada says the rate of online child sexual exploitation reported to police rose by 58 per cent from 2019 to 2022, and police data show cases have continued to rise. The RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Crime Centre reported that from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024, it received 118,162 reports of suspected online child sexual exploitation offences — a 15 per cent increase compared with the previous year. Online child sexual exploitation, Pare explained, includes offences such as sextortion, child luring and the creation or distribution of sexually explicit images of a minor. “We don’t see these types of reports going away,” Pare said. “We only see them increasing because the use of electronic devices and social media, and kids being online earlier and earlier is becoming more common. There’s going to be more opportunity for predators to target children online.” Monique St. Germain, general counsel for the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, said the most common type of child luring is communicating with a youth online in order get them to produce sexual abuse material. She said “the pandemic accelerated those types of cases, and it hasn’t slowed down.” “The tools (Canadian authorities) have to deal with this type of behaviour are inadequate for the scope and the scale of what’s going on,” she said. THE RISE OF ‘SEXTORTION’ Online exploitation gained international attention in 2015 in the case of Port Coquitlam, B.C., teenager, Amanda Todd, who died by suicide after being blackmailed and harassed online by a man for years, starting when she was 12. The month before the 15-year-old died, she uploaded a nine-minute video using a series of flash cards detailing the abuse she experienced by the stranger and how it had affected her life. It’s been viewed millions of times. Dutch national Aydin Coban was extradited to Canada for trial and, in October 2022, he was convicted of charges including the extortion and harassment of Todd. Since then, the term “sextortion” has made its way into the vernacular as more cases come to light. Among them was Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old Prince George, B.C., boy who died by suicide in October 2023 after falling victim to the crime. In New Brunswick that same month, 16-year-old William Doiron took his own life after falling victim to a global sextortion scheme. Mounties across Canada have issued news releases warning of increased cases in their communities, noting that the consequences for the victims can include self-harm and suicide. St. Germain said technology, such as artificial intelligence, is also becoming more user-friendly. “The existence of that technology and its ease of use and ready accessibility is a problem, and it is going to be an increasingly large problem as we move forward,” she said. Pare said police are also adapting to technological advancements in order to keep up with the ever-changing online landscape. “Police are constantly obtaining training on digital technologies to increase our knowledge and understanding of all the intricacies involving their use and how to capture any digital evidence,” she said. Pare said the true rates of the crime are impossible to determine, but pointed to increased social awareness and legislation across North America around mandatory reporting of child abuse material from social media companies as a potential reason for the increase. It’s not going undetected any longer, she said. “Additionally, there’s been a lot of use in artificial intelligence to detect child exploitation materials within those platforms.” Pare said “it’s up to each individual platform” to ensure there is no child sexual abuse material on their sites or apps. “With mandatory reporting, it’s putting the onus back on the electronic service providers to ensure they have measures in place to prevent this from happening, and if it is happening that it is being reported,” she said. “That being said, there are times when things don’t get located.” That is why the Canadian Centre for Child Protection has been advocating for the adoption of the Online Harms Bill that the federal government introduced in February, St. Germain said. “It’s shocking that up until now, we’ve relied on companies to self regulate, meaning we’ve just relied on them to do the right thing,” she said. “What we are seeing in terms of the number of offences and in terms of all the harm that is happening in society as a result of online platforms is completely tied to the decision not to regulate. We need to have rules in any sector, and this sector is no different.” ‘CANADA IS REALLY BEHIND’ The Online Harms Bill covers seven types of harms, from non-consensual sharing of intimate images to content that can be used to bully a child. Earlier this month, Justice Minister Arif Virani announced the Liberal government will split the bill into two parts: dealing with keeping children safe online, and combating predators and issues related to revenge pornography. “We are putting our emphasis and prioritization and our time and efforts on the first portion of the bill,” Virani told reporters on Dec. 5. Such measures would include a new Digital Safety Commission of Canada, which would compel social media companies to outline how they plan to reduce the risks their platforms pose to users, particularly minors. It would have the power to levy fines and evaluate companies’ digital safety plans. St. Germain said such a split “makes sense,” noting that most objections to the bill are related to changes to the Criminal Code and not measures around curbing harms to children. “There obviously are differences of opinion in terms of what is the best way forward, and what kind of regulatory approach makes sense, and who should the regulator be, but there does seem to be consensus on the idea that we need to do more in terms of protecting children online,” she said, adding that the organization is still in support of the second half of the bill. She said the United Kingdom previously passed its own Online Safety Act that will come into effect in 2025, which includes requiring social media firms to protect children from content such as self-harm material, pornography and violent content. Failure to do so will result in fines. “Canada is really behind,” she said. “The amount of information that has come out of the U.K., the amount of time and care and attention that their legislatures have paid to this issue is really quite remarkable, and we really hope that Canada steps up and does something for Canadian children soon.” In the absence of national legislation, province’s have filled the void. In January, B.C. enacted the Intimate Images Protection Act, providing a path for victims to have online photos, videos or deep fakes expeditiously removed. Individuals are fined up to $500 per day and websites up to $5,000 a day if they don’t comply with orders to stop distributing images that are posted without consent. B.C.’s Ministry of the Attorney General said that as of Dec. 11, the Civil Resolution Tribunal had received a total of 199 disputes under the Intimate Images Protection Act. It said the Intimate Images Protection Service had served more than 240 clients impacted by the non-consensual distribution of intimate images, adding that four awards of $5,000 each and one for $3,000 had been supplied as of mid-December. Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta and Saskatchewan have also enacted legislation targeting unauthorized distribution of intimate images. St. Germain said the use of provincial powers is also necessary, but it’s not enough. “A piece of provincial legislation is going to be very difficult to be effective against multiple actors in multiple countries,” she said, noting that the online crime is borderless. “We need something bigger — more comprehensive. We need to use all tools in the tool box.”Fun Ville unveils latest destination at Abu Sidra Mall

Baum is a urologist. The healthcare profession has done an admirable job controlling infectious epidemics and pandemics, such as AIDS and COVID-19 (special shout-out to Operation Warp Speed for the creation of COVID vaccines in record time). Now, we need to move on to social media epidemics. I believe the epidemic of social media has the potential to be as dangerous as infectious epidemics. Mental health should be treated with the same urgency as physical health. The time has arrived for physicians to take an active role in recognizing the dangers of social media, especially for youth, and to have discussions with young patients and their parents about the impact of social media on the growth and development of children. Over the last decade, growing evidence has identified the potential negative impacts of social media on adolescents. According to a study of American teenagers ages 12 to 15, those who used social media more than 3 hours per day faced double the risk of having adverse mental health outcomes, including depression and anxiety symptoms. While most social media platforms require users to be a minimum of 13 years old in order to sign up (per Congress' Children's Online Privacy Protection Act), users are often younger than this. Moreover, experts suggest even 13 is too young for kids to be on these platforms. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, issued an advisory in 2023 emphasizing the growing evidence that social media is harming young people's mental health. Meanwhile, the American Psychological Association issued its own health advisory calling attention to the potential harms of social media and... Neil Baum, MDQatar National Archives in first participation in Darb Al SaaiA big change in the ration system is coming in the new year. You will no longer need to show your ration card to collect various items from the ration dealer. A new system is being introduced. The ration card is one of the most important identity documents or government documents for Indian citizens. But now the importance of ration cards is going to decrease. Most people have smartphones these days. With a special mobile app on this smartphone, various items can be obtained from the ration dealer. A mobile app called Mera Ration 2.0 is being launched for the convenience of ration consumers. Various items can be collected from the ration dealer through this app. You don't have to carry a ration card with you. Download the Mera Ration 2.0 app on your smartphone and verify your Aadhaar. Then this app will become active. If you have the ration card information in the Mera Ration 2.0 app, just take your smartphone to the ration dealer. With the help of this app, the ration dealer can check the customer's information and give various items.