Around 20 people have been taken into custody following the alleged stone-pelting and clashes that erupted during a survey of a mosque in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal on Sunday morning, police said. The incident left three people dead and around two dozen others, including policemen and senior officials, injured. Officials said that those responsible for the violence will be charged under the National Security Act (NSA). As a precaution, internet services across the district have been suspended for a day. "We have taken 20 people into custody. The survey was conducted as per court orders, with adequate police deployment at the site. Some individuals made children stand in front and started pelting stones at the police. The police tried to control the situation and also appealed to anti-social elements to maintain peace. They also set some vehicles on fire. The police used anti-riot measures, including tear gas, to disperse the crowd," Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Moradabad Range, Muniraj G told ANI. Sambhal Superintendent of Police (SP) Krishna Kumar Bishnoi said that additional police personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order. He further said that the alleged firing, in which a police PRO was injured, was done by using a country-made weapon. "The situation is under control, and more forces have been deployed. Internet services have been suspended for a day...Some people started pelting stones at the police and the police also retaliated. They torched some vehicles and the police were targeted...Police dispersed the crowd...When DM and DIG were patrolling, two women pelted stones at them and firing was done through a country-made weapon and a PRO got shot in the foot," SP Bishnoi said. "It is very unfortunate...An FIR has been filed under relevant sections, and strict action will be taken under the NSA. We are also investigating whether there was a conspiracy by examining the mobile phones of the people detained in connection with the violence," the SP added. In view of the violence, the district administration issued a notice prohibiting citizens from buying or collecting stones, soda bottles, or any flammable or explosive materials on their roofs. The notice, issued by local SDM, warns that strict action will be taken against anyone found violating this order. Additionally, instructions were given to the Municipal Corporation to confiscate any construction material lying on roads immediately. The stone-pelting incident occurred when a team arrived at the Shahi Jama Masjid to conduct a fresh survey of the mosque. Locals, including those protesting the survey, allegedly pelted stones at survey team and security personnel. Moradabad Divisional Commissioner Aunjaneya Kumar Singh explained, "After the survey was completed, three groups started pelting stones from different directions. The mob also set vehicles on fire and opened fire. The police responded with tear gas and plastic bullets to control the situation." "The police PRO was shot in the foot during the firing. The deputy collector's foot was fractured. The Circle Officer (CO) was injured. A total of three people are confirmed dead in the firing. The situation is under control, and we are speaking to with their representatives," he said. The deceased have been identified as Nayeem, a resident of Court Karvi; Bilal, a resident of Sarai Tareen, Sambhal; and Noman, a resident of Hayatnagar Sarai Tareen, he added. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered to investigate the incident.Officials said that an ASI team had arrived at the Shahi Jama Masjid to conduct a fresh survey of the structure. The survey of the mosque was being conducted peacefully in presence of police force, following court orders, when a mob gathered at the site and started pelting stones at the survey team and security personnel. "The survey was conducted between 7 am and 11 am, as per court directions. The process was initially peaceful with adequate police deployment. However, some people started stone-pelting, and the police dispersed them. Then, a larger mob of 2000-3000 people gathered and started stone-pelting again," Divisional Commissioner Singh told ANI earlier. The survey was part of a legal process following a petition filed by senior advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, who claimed the mosque was originally a temple.A similar survey was carried out on November 19 in the presence of the local police and members of the mosque's management committee. Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from ANI.West Virginia knocks off No. 3 Gonzaga 86-78 in overtime in the Battle 4 Atlantisslot machine online 。

The alleged Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) question paper leak has sparked protests, with students rejecting negotiations with the Patna district administration and demanding talks with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Patna District Magistrate Chandrasekhar Singh has warned against organizing demonstrations, such as the 'Chatra Sansad' called by Prashant Kishor, stating that gatherings near Mahatma Gandhi's statue at Gandhi Maidan are banned. Amidst the stalemate, authorities are monitoring coaching centers for any involvement, while political figures such as CPI (M-L) Liberation and Guru Rahman are facing scrutiny for allegedly inciting protesters. (With inputs from agencies.)Shohei Ohtani is a three-time MVP and a World Series champion . Now he’s about to add another title. Daddy. Ohtani posted to his Instagram account Saturday, announcing the upcoming birth of his and wife Mamiko’s first child. “Can’t wait for the little rookie to join our family soon!” he posted under a photo of a pink onesie and baby shoes – with the family dog, Decoy, lying next to the baby gear. A post shared by Shohei Ohtani | 大谷翔平 (@shoheiohtani) Ohtani offered no more details about the baby’s expected arrival – in keeping with the way he guards his private life. In February, Ohtani announced his marriage on Instagram without including any details about the wedding, not even the date, nor his wife’s name, referring to her only as “a normal Japanese woman.” “She is a Japanese woman,” Ohtani said through an interpreter when he announced the marriage during spring training. “I don’t really feel comfortable talking about when I got married exactly, but she’s a normal Japanese woman.” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts joked at the time that Ohtani had kept the marriage such a secret even from his teammates that no one had a chance to shop for wedding gifts. Mamiko Tanaka’s identity was eventually uncovered by the media and she was photographed with Ohtani during the Dodgers’ March trip to South Korea. The couple made occasional appearances together at events throughout the season and were recently spotted together at a Lakers game. Tanaka turned 28 earlier this month and has an athletic background of her own. She played college basketball in Japan and played four seasons professionally for the Fujitsu Red Wave. Ohtani underwent surgery on his left shoulder shortly after the end of the World Series. He partially dislocated the shoulder on a slide during Game 2 against the Yankees. The injury is not expected to prevent him from opening the 2025 season in the Dodgers’ lineup as their designated hitter. But the interruption of his throwing program necessitated by the shoulder rehab will prevent him from being ready to return to pitching until after the season starts. The Dodgers are again scheduled to start the season overseas. They will play two games against the Chicago Cubs at the Tokyo Dome on March 18 and 19. The domestic opener is scheduled for March 27 at Dodger Stadium against the Detroit Tigers.Western Michigan beats Eastern Michigan 26-18 to become bowl eligible

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President-elect Donald Trump has filled the key posts for his second term in office, prioritizing loyalty to him after he felt bruised and hampered by internal squabbling during his first term. Some of his choices could face difficult confirmation fights in the Senate, even with Republicans in control, and one candidate has already withdrawn from consideration. Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz was Trump's initial pick for attorney general, but he ultimately withdrew following scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation he was embroiled in. Here's a look at Trump's choices: Trump would turn a former critic into an ally as the nation's top diplomat. Rubio , 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate before the slot went to JD Vance. Rubio is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His selection punctuates the hard pivot Rubio has made with Trump, whom the senator once called a “con man" during his own unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House. Hegseth , 44, was a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends Weekend” and had been a contributor with the network since 2014. He developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. Hegseth served in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021, deploying to Iraq in 2005 and Afghanistan in 2011 and earning two Bronze Stars. He lacks senior military and national security experience and would oversee global crises ranging from Europe to the Middle East. A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report recently made public. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and has denied any wrongdoing. Bessent , 62, is a former money manager for George Soros , a big Democratic donor, and an advocate for deficit reduction . He founded the hedge fund Key Square Capital Management after having worked on and off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, Bessent would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending. Gabbard, 43, is a former Democratic House member from Hawaii who has been accused of echoing Russian propaganda. She unsuccessfully sought the party’s 2020 presidential nomination and left the party in 2022. Gabbard endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him. Gabbard has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades and deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. If confirmed she would come to the role as an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, spent several years in top national security and intelligence positions. Bondi , 59, was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Considered a loyalist , Bondi also has served with the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-allied group that has helped lay the groundwork for his future administration. Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush-money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appeared on Fox News and has been critical of the criminal cases against him. The Republican U.S. House member narrowly lost her reelection bid on Nov. 5 but had received strong backing from union members in her district. As a potential labor secretary, Chavez-DeRemer would oversee the department's workforce and budget and put forth priorities that affect workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities. Chavez-DeRemer is one of a few House Republicans to endorse the “Protecting the Right to Organize” or PRO Act that would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and penalize companies that violate workers’ rights. The act would also weaken “right-to-work” laws in more than half the states. Lutnick heads the brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and is a cryptocurrency enthusiast. He is co-chair of Trump's transition operation, charged along with Linda McMahon, a former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration, with helping the president-elect fill key jobs in his second administration. As secretary, Lutnick would play a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs. He would oversee a sprawling Cabinet department whose oversight ranges from funding new computer chip factories and imposing trade restrictions to releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. Noem is a well-known conservative who used her two terms as South Dakota's governor to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions like other states, instead declaring South Dakota “open for business.” More recently, Noem faced sharp criticism for writing in her memoir about shooting and killing her dog. She is set to lead a department crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda as well as other missions. Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports. Ratcliffe , a former U.S. House member from Texas, was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump’s first term. He led U.S. government’s spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. If confirmed, Ratcliffe will have held the highest intelligence positions in the U.S. Kennedy , 70, ran for president as a Democrat, then as an independent before he dropped out and then endorsed Trump . He's the son of Democratic icon Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential campaign. Kennedy's nomination alarmed people who are concerned about his record of spreading unfounded fears about vaccines . For example, he has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Rollins , 52, is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for Trump's second administration. She is a Texas attorney who was Trump's domestic policy adviser and director of his office of American innovation during his first term. Rollins previously was an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry , who also served in Trump's first term. Rollins also ran the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Duffy is a former House member from Wisconsin who was one of Trump's most visible defenders on cable news. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years , sitting on the Financial Services Committee and chairing the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 for a TV career and has been the host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business. Before entering politics, Duffy was a reality TV star on MTV, where he met his wife, “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. They have nine children. Collins is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential campaign, but was acquitted by the Senate. Collins also served in the armed forces himself. He is a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command. The North Dakota governor , 68, is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump after he dropped out of the running. Burgum then became a serious contender to be Trump’s vice presidential choice in part because of his executive experience and business savvy. He also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs. Trump said Burgum would chair a new National Energy Council and have a seat on the National Security Council, which would be a first for the Interior secretary. A campaign donor and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking — a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. He also has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. Wright said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. McMahon, a billionaire professional wrestling mogul , would make a return appearance in a second Trump administration. She led the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019 in Trump’s first term and twice ran unsuccessfully in Connecticut as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University. She has expressed support for charter schools and school choice. Zeldin does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on X , “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI" and "we will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.” Trump often attacked the Biden administration’s promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referred to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often said his administration would “drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration. Turner is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.” Greer is a partner at King & Spalding, a Washington law firm. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be responsible for negotiating directly with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes, as well as memberships in international trade bodies such as the World Trade Organization. He previously was chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, who was the trade representative in Trump's first term. Wiles , 67, was a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager. She has a background in Florida politics , helping Ron DeSantis win his first race for Florida governor. Six years later, she was key to Trump’s defeat of him in the 2024 Republican primary. Wiles’ hire was Trump’s first major decision as president-elect and one that could be a defining test of his incoming administration considering her close relationship with him. Wiles is said to have earned Trump’s trust in part by guiding what was the most disciplined of Trump’s three presidential campaigns. Waltz is a three-term Republican congressman from east-central Florida. A former Army Green Beret , he served multiple tours in Afghanistan and worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population. Hassett, 62, is a major advocate of tax cuts who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Trump term. In the new role as chairman of the National Economic Council, Trump said Hassett will play an important role in helping American families recover from inflation as well as in renewing and improving tax cuts Trump enacted in 2017, many of which are set to expire after 2025. Homan, 62, has been tasked with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history. He led the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Trump's first administration. Democrats have criticized Homan for defending Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings in the first term, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border. Vought, 48, held the position during Trump’s first presidency. He the founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God.” Vought also was closely involved with Project 2025 , a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that Trump tried to distance himself from during the campaign. Miller, an immigration hardliner , was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump’s priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump’s first term. Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump’s policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation’s economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people living illegally in the U.S. Scavino was an adviser in all three of the president-elect's campaigns and was described by the transition team as one of “Trump’s longest serving and most trusted aides." He will be deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president. Scavino previously ran Trump’s social media profile in the White House. Blair was political director for Trump’s 2024 campaign and for the Republican National Committee. He will be deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs and an assistant to the president. Blair was key to Trump’s economic messaging during his winning White House comeback campaign. Budowich is a veteran Trump campaign aide who launched and directed Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC that supported Trump’s 2024 campaign. He will be deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel and assistant to the president. Leavitt , 27, was Trump's campaign press secretary and currently a spokesperson for his transition. She would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump's first term. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas. McGinley was Cabinet secretary during Trump's first administration and was outside legal counsel for the Republican National Committee's election integrity effort during the 2024 campaign. The 67-year-old Witkoff is the president-elect's golf partner and they were golfing at Trump's club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination. Trump also named Witkoff co-chair, with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of his inaugural committee. Kellogg , 80, is a highly decorated retired three-star general and one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for Trump's second term. He has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues and served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence . Kellogg also was chief of staff of the National Security Council under Trump and stepped in as an acting national security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned the post. Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel and his intended nomination comes as Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests. Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, has been a popular figure among evangelical Christian conservatives, many of whom support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God’s chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland. Huckabee has rejected a Palestinian homeland in territory occupied by Israel. His daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, served as White House press secretary in Trump's first term. Stefanik, 40, is a U.S. representative from New York and one of Trump's staunchest defenders dating to his first impeachment trial. She was elected chair of the House Republican Conference in 2021, the third-highest position in House leadership, after then-Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after she publicly criticized Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election. Stefanik’s questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile. A former acting attorney general during Trump's first administration and tight end on the University of Iowa football team, Whitaker , 55, has a background in law enforcement but not in foreign policy. A fierce Trump localist, Whitaker, is also a former U.S. attorney in Iowa and served as acting attorney general between November 2018 and February 2019 without Senate confirmation, until William Barr was confirmed for the role. That was when special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference was drawing to a close. Whitaker also faced questions about his past business dealings, including his ties to an invention-promotion company that was accused of misleading consumers. A Republican congressman from Michigan who served from 1993 to 2011, Hoekstra was ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump's first term. Oz , 64, is a former heart surgeon who hosted “The Dr. Oz Show,” a long-running daytime TV talk show. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 2022 and is an outspoken supporter of Trump, who endorsed Oz’s bid for elected office. Makary is a Johns Hopkins surgeon and author who argued against pandemic lockdowns. He routinely appeared on Fox News during the COVID-19 pandemic and wrote opinion articles questioning masks for children. He cast doubt on vaccine mandates but supported vaccines generally. Makary also cast doubt on whether booster shots worked, which was against federal recommendations on the vaccine. Nesheiwat is a general practitioner who serves as medical director for CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. She has been a contributor on Fox News. Weldon is a former Florida congressman who recently ran for a Florida state legislative seat and lost; Trump backed Weldon’s opponent. In Congress, Weldon weighed in on one of the nation’s most heated debates of the 1990s over quality of life and a right-to-die and whether Terri Schiavo, who was in a persistent vegetative after cardiac arrest, state should have been allowed to have her feeding tube removed. He sided with the parents who did not want it removed. Bhattacharya , 56, is a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. As head of the NIH, the leading medical research agency in the United States, Trump said Bhattacharya would work with Kennedy Jr. to direct U.S. medical research and make important discoveries that will improve health and save lives. Bhattacharya is professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and was one of three authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 open letter maintaining that lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic were causing irreparable harm. Gaetz, 42, withdrew from consideration to become the top law enforcement officer of the United States amid fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed by the Senate. In choosing Gaetz, Trump had passed over more established lawyers whose names had been floated as possible contenders for the job. Gaetz resigned from Congress after Trump announced him on Nov. 13. The House Ethics Committee has been investigating an allegation that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old. Gaetz has denied wrongdoing. Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Zeke Miller, Farnoush Amiri, Lolita C. Baldor, Jill Colvin, Matthew Daly, Edith M. Lederer, Adriana Gomez Licon, Lisa Mascaro, Chris Megerian, Michelle L. Price, Will Weissert and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.Leinster Club SHC final: Na Fianna (Dublin) 2-22 Kilcormac-Killoughey (Offaly) 2-16 A couple of hours after Cuala had become the first ever club in Leinster to win both senior titles, Na Fianna matched the achievement. AJ Murphy drilled the killer goal for the powerhouse Glasnevin club who impressively made amends for last year's one-point final defeat to O'Loughlin Gaels. Just one point separated the sides after Conor Mahon's goal for 2012 champions Kilcormac-Killoughey in the 39th minute. The Offaly outfit had strong momentum at that stage too having cut a half-time deficit of five points to the minimum. But Murphy's goal shortly after the Mahon strike put back-to-back Dublin champions Na Fianna in pole position again and they sped to a famous victory from there. Free-taker Colin Currie struck 0-8 for Na Fianna while captain Donal Burke, who missed last year's final through injury, rose to the occasion with seven excellent points from play. The result means that manager Niall O Ceallachain, recently appointed as Dublin boss, will double job for another couple of weeks at least. Na Fianna will face Loughrea in an All-Ireland semi-final on the weekend of December 14/15. Remarkably, having taken over 50 years for a club, Cuala, to secure both senior and football titles, their Dublin counterparts then matched that very achievement in the subsequent game. Na Fianna looked like a team intent on not leaving Croke Park with more painful memories following last year's narrow final defeat on the same sod. They were 0-5 to 0-1 up inside eight minutes this time, retained that five-point lead at the 20 minute mark and stretched the gap to seven points when Sean Currie netted after 27 minutes. Burke gave his best 30 minutes of the campaign in the opening half and his fifth point of the half approaching the break left Na Fianna with a commanding 1-12 to 0-8 lead. But Kilcormac-Killoughey closed it out strongly with points from Adam Screeney, Conor Mahon and goalkeeper Conor Slevin to leave Na Fianna with a 1-13 to 0-11 half-time lead. Boy wonder Adam Screeney grabbed his second point from play, and three points in all, as Kilcormac-Killoughey turned up the heat after the restart in front of 9,209. Things got even better in the 39th minute when Conor Mahon capitalised on a Screeney 65 that hit the woodwork and fell kindly for him to strike to the net. Suddenly, just a point separated the teams at 1-15 to 1-16 but Na Fianna quickly reasserted their authority with a goal themselves inside 90 seconds, Stacey setting Murphy free for the crucial score. Na Fianna looked the better side from there on, even if Leigh Kavanagh was unfortunate to see a shot for Kilcormac-Killoughey come crashing off the crossbar in the 45th minute. Na Fianna piled on the misery in the closing minutes to open up a seven-point lead by the hour, allowing them to absorb the blow of a second Kilcormac-Killoughey goal when Screeney struck. Scorers for Na Fianna : Colin Currie 0-8 (0-7f), Donal Burke 0-7, AJ Murphy 1-2, Sean Currie 1-0, Jack Meagher 0-2, Brian Ryan 0-2, Ciaran Stacey 0-1. Scorers for Kilcormac-Killoughey : Adam Screeney 1-8 (0-6f), Conor Mahon 1-2, Charlie Mitchell 0-3, Conor Slevin 0-2 (0-2f), Colin Spain 0-1. NA FIANNA : Jonathan Tracey; Kevin Burke, Sean Burke, Conor McHugh; Donal Ryan, Liam Rushe, Peter Feeney; Brian Ryan, Sean Currie; Gavin King, Donal Burke, Jack Meagher; Colin Currie, AJ Murphy, Ciaran Stacey. Subs : Sean Ryan for King h/t, Diarmuid Clerkin for Rushe 49-50, Shane Barrett for Meagher 58 KILCORMAC-KILLOUGHEY : Conor Slevin; Oisin Mahon, Tom Spain, James Mahon; Jordan Quinn, Brecon Kavanagh, Enda Grogan; Colin Spain, Damien Kilmartin; Jack Screeney, Conor Mahon, Leigh Kavanagh; Adam Screeney, Charlie Mitchell, Daniel Hand. Subs : Cillian Kiely for Grogan 39, James Gorman for Hand 42, Peter Geraghty for Jack Screeney 45, Cathal Kiely for Leigh Kavanagh 57, Alex Kavanagh for Kilmartin 59. Referee : Padraig Dunne (Laois).

Article content Saskatchewan political leaders and commentators characterize a potential U.S. import tariff or retaliatory Canadian export tax on potash as “destructive” and “damaging.” The industry’s financial reports tell a different story. Nutrien, the largest potash company, sold nearly four million tonnes to the U.S. and seven million tonnes offshore in the first nine months of 2024. Because sanctions exclude Russian and Belarusian potash from the U.S. market, Nutrien was able to charge an average price per tonne of $287 there versus $183 offshore. Both markets were lucrative because it costs the company only $102 per tonne to extract potash from Saskatchewan. If Nutrien had to pay a tariff or export tax of 25 per cent on U.S. sales, it would have received $215 per tonne, still above what it accepts offshore. At that price, profitable production would continue for the American market as it does for the offshore market. A border levy would simply redirect most of the extra profit on U.S. potash sales to Washington or Ottawa. This profit should go to Saskatchewan people who own the resource. In the first nine months of 2024, Nutrien collected profits of $1.3 billion from Saskatchewan potash, but paid only one-fifth to the province: $62 million of royalties and $210 million of mining taxes. Rather than railing against a hypothetical export tax on potash, we might insist that Ottawa return the proceeds of any such levy to the province. More fundamentally, stronger provincial royalties and taxes are needed to collect a fair return from potash without federal assistance. Erin Weir, Regina (The letter above was originally published in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.) SaskPower collecting carbon tax on electricity Your recent article regarding SaskPower’s announcement to increase carbon charges beginning in 2025 does not tell the whole story and is misleading to readers. The national pollution pricing benchmark is increasing from $80 to $95 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. However, this federally mandated increase is much more than the average 2.9 per cent increase for carbon charges on customer bills announced by SaskPower. Has SaskPower previously been overcharging customers with respect to pollution pricing? As SaskPower modernizes the power grid with $256.7 million of federal funding to support clean power generation, customers can expect to pay much less in carbon charges. SaskPower recently removed important information from their webpage explaining where all this money goes. The blurb that was removed clearly states that Saskatchewan’s output-based performance standards program includes electricity generation: “ As a result, the 2023-2030 carbon tax revenue SaskPower collects is paid to the provincial government, effective January 1, 2023.” For the past two years, the Saskatchewan government has been collecting its own carbon tax on SaskPower bills. The provincial government should be held accountable for reinvesting these carbon funds back into Saskatchewan; however reports indicate that 11 of the 13 recipients of the $25 million funding from the Saskatchewan Technology Fund are oil and gas companies based in Calgary. SaskPower and our Saskatchewan government continue to blame the federal government for pollution pricing and clean energy regulations rather than being honest and transparent with residents about the Saskatchewan carbon tax. All of us together will benefit from a clean power grid. Shannon Wright, Vanscoy (The letter above was originally published in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.) The Regina Leader-Post has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe. With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark leaderpost.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe. Share this Story : Letters: Potash tax threat exposes meagre return for Sask. resource Copy Link Email X Reddit Pinterest LinkedIn TumblrOver the last year, I’ve come to believe there is a platonic ideal for an NBA tank job. It’s courtesy of the newest mechanism in the league: the NBA Cup, an in-season tournament that transforms four regular season games into a group stage, then offers teams a chance to fly to Las Vegas to battle for a whole lot of money and a trophy that, allegedly, fans and players will begin to truly care about in the near future. As a longtime soccer fan, the concept of interrupting the regular season for a tournament with a funky name is neither unfamiliar nor unwelcome. And this year, it feels like the tournament is hitting its stride, producing some genuinely competitive games in a stretch of the season typically occupied by snoozers. This is why the NBA Cup provides the most fun option for a team like the Chicago Bulls attempting to nosedive its way to a lottery pick without fully losing morale. This year, the obvious stakes of a stacked draft highlighted by Duke standout Cooper Flagg have sent most middling teams in the league scrambling for a lower rung in the standings. And it’s in that context that I present the most amusing way to tank a season: win the NBA Cup and lose everything else. This is, of course, a bit of an absurd idea. No team bad enough to be tanking is also good enough to compete in a major tournament. But the general formula — go hard for the NBA Cup, don’t worry about anything else — is a sound one. It allows a team to provide a good product for fans early in the season, maybe even compete for a little hardware, and then pack it in to protect their picks. The Bulls have somewhat followed this pattern in the early weeks of the season, winning consecutive NBA Cup group stage games to position themselves to advance to Las Vegas with either a win on Friday over the Boston Celtics (unlikely) or a loss that preserves enough of a point differential to earn a wild card spot (much more likely). This is exciting, even if fans still aren’t completely on board with the tournament. Outside of play-in games, this team hasn’t competed for much over the past five (make that 10?) seasons. And with a new high-scoring system and revitalized veterans like Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević, the Bulls are better poised than ever to pull off an upset. Coby White of the Chicago Bulls dribbles in front of Carlton Carrington of the Washington Wizards during the first half of an NBA Cup game on Nov. 26, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images) So yes, Las Vegas is still a long shot, but it’s in the cards — and that would be a nice boost for beleaguered Bulls fans who miss watching their team play in meaningful games. The problem is the Bulls aren’t exactly following the second half of the program. Nineteen games into the season, the Bulls don’t seem to be tanking. In fact, tanking seems to be a foreign concept to coach Billy Donovan and the entire roster, who have been piecing together competitive games even as their defense fumbles its way through 140-point messes. On paper, that’s not a bad thing. Teams obviously can’t express an outright desire to follow this road map. Deliberate tanking is strongly discouraged by the NBA and teams like the Dallas Mavericks have been hit with significant fines for purposeful losses. It’s up to front office leaders like executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas to thread the needle of creating a realistic road map to lose enough games to compete for a pick. Still, it’s hard to understand how the Bulls have allowed themselves to teeter on the edge of losing their draft pick even at this early juncture of the season. The stakes here are simple. The Bulls have a top-10 protected lottery pick in one of the most influential NBA drafts in recent memory. If they finish among the worst 10 teams in the league, they keep that pick. If they make the play-in tournament (or, worse, the playoffs) they send that pick to the San Antonio Spurs. But nearly a quarter of the way into the season, the Bulls are still 10th in the Eastern Conference. The only thing currently separating them from losing that lottery pick is a single loss by the Sacramento Kings. And this dangerously thin margin is enough to ask a demoralizing question after every win: what are they doing? Tanking is harder than ever in a season plagued by the disparity between the two conferences and an unfettered competition for the bottom rung. This year, an Eastern Conference team will need to lose well over 50 games to guarantee they miss the playoffs. At this rate, the Wizards might not win more than 12 games — and they’ll be thrilled about it. 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But this is not a season in which the Bulls can afford to gamble for the sake of “competitiveness.” They already spent two years treading water after the loss of Lonzo Ball functionally ended all dreams of the DeMar DeRozan-led roster creating any playoff success. This year, the Bulls are positioned to accomplish multiple seasons’ worth of progress in one fell swoop — offload multiple veteran contracts, load up on draft value and begin to plan for the future. But if that’s the strategy for Karnišovas, it’s not evident at this point in the season. And every time the Bulls beat a team with a lower rank, they mire themselves deeper in this miserable catch-22 of showing marginal gains with their current roster while ruining their ability to improve the roster through the draft. It’s still early. The front office has time to adjust. But when this tournament comes to an end, the Bulls either have to change course or risk wrecking their plans completely. Ultimately, this season will force Karnišovas to answer a question that will define his executive career. Is a little glory — in the NBA Cup or the in-season tournament — really worth the long-term viability of a franchise? That question will be answered in the next month — and maybe even in Las Vegas.