The shocking murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has prompted health insurance companies to reassess executive security strategies. Both UnitedHealth and CVS Health quickly removed leadership team photos from their websites, indicating the gravity of the situation. This action comes amid rising tensions in the healthcare sector, particularly towards insurers. Thompson was killed in a targeted attack outside a Manhattan hotel, where he was attending a conference. The gunman remains at large, and motives for the crime are still unclear. Security experts suggest this incident could lead to a significant overhaul of protection protocols for top executives. Amid increasing hostility, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry sees growing demand for enhanced security. Experts emphasize the need for comprehensive risk assessments, including social media monitoring, to preempt potential threats against high-profile executives. (With inputs from agencies.)Salomon is known for its high-performance outdoor gear that seamlessly combines functionality with style. From hiking boots to ski jackets, Salomon's products are designed to withstand the elements while still looking sleek and fashionable. By partnering with Bai Jingting, Salomon is able to tap into the growing trend of outdoor fashion, appealing to a new generation of consumers who value both performance and aesthetics.

Jaland Lowe, Pitt charge past LSU in second half to move to 6-0

A ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed group Hezbollah will take effect on Wednesday after both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the United States and France, U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday. The accord cleared the way for an end to a conflict across the Israeli-Lebanese border that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year. Biden, who made remarks at the White House shortly after Israel's security cabinet approved the agreement in a 10-1 vote, said he had spoken to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Fighting would end at 4 a.m. local time (0200 GMT), he said. "This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities," Biden said. "What is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not be allowed to threaten the security of Israel again.” Israel will gradually withdraw its forces over 60 days as Lebanon's army takes control of territory near its border with Israel to ensure that Hezbollah does not rebuild its infrastructure there, Biden said. "Civilians on both sides will soon be able to safely return to their communities," he said. French President Emmanuel Macron cheered the signing of the deal on social-media platform X, saying it was “the culmination of efforts undertaken for many months with the Israeli and Lebanese authorities, in close collaboration with the United States.” Lebanon's Mikati issued a statement welcoming the deal. Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib earlier said the Lebanese army would be ready to have at least 5,000 troops deployed in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops withdraw. Netanyahu said he was ready to implement a ceasefire deal and would respond forcefully to any violation by Hezbollah. Netanyahu, who faces some opposition to the deal from within his coalition government, said the ceasefire would allow Israel to focus on the threat from Iran, replenish depleted arms supplies and give the army a rest, and to isolate Hamas, the militant group that triggered war in the region when it attacked Israel from Gaza last year. "We will enforce the agreement and respond forcefully to any violation. Together, we will continue until victory," Netanyahu said. "In full coordination with the United States, we retain complete military freedom of action. Should Hezbollah violate the agreement or attempt to rearm, we will strike decisively." Netanyahu said Hezbollah, which is allied to Palestinian militant group Hamas, was considerably weaker than it had been at the start of the conflict. "We have set it back decades, eliminated ... its top leaders, destroyed most of its rockets and missiles, neutralized thousands of fighters, and obliterated years of terror infrastructure near our border," he said. The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, welcomed the ceasefire deal in a statement, commending the parties to the agreement. "Now is the time to deliver, through concrete actions, to consolidate today’s achievement." A senior U.S. official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. and France would join a mechanism with the UNIFIL peacekeeping force that would work with Lebanon's army to deter potential violations of the ceasefire. U.S. combat forces would not be deployed, the official said. The Lebanon ceasefire came after a change of attitudes on both sides in late October, the official said. Biden, who leaves office in January, said his administration would continue to push for an elusive ceasefire and hostage-release deal in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas, as well as for a deal to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. HOSTILITIES CONTINUED ON TUESDA Y Despite the diplomatic breakthrough, hostilities raged as Israel dramatically ramped up its campaign of airstrikes in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, with health authorities reporting at least 18 killed. The Israeli military said it struck "components of Hezbollah’s financial management and systems" including a money-exchange office. Israel issued more evacuation warnings late on Tuesday, just hours before the ceasefire was due to take effect. Hezbollah also kept up rocket fire into Israel. Israel's air force intercepted three launches from Lebanese territory, the military said, in an extensive missile barrage on Tuesday night that led to warning alarms in approximately 115 settlements. Alia Ibrahim, a mother of twin girls from the southern village of Qaaqaiyat al-Snawbar, who had fled nearly three months ago to Beirut, said she hoped Israeli officials, who have expressed contradictory views on a ceasefire, would be faithful to the deal. “Our village – they destroyed half of it. In these few seconds before they announced the ceasefire, they destroyed half our village,” she said. “God willing, we can go back to our homes and our land." A poll conducted by Israel's Channel 12 TV found that 37% of Israelis were in favor of the ceasefire, compared with 32% against. Opponents to the deal in Israel include opposition leaders and heads of towns near Israel's border with Lebanon, who want a depopulated buffer zone on Lebanon's side of the frontier. Both the Lebanese government and Hezbollah have insisted that a return of displaced civilians to southern Lebanon is a key tenet of the truce. Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a right-wing member of Netanyahu's government, said on X the agreement does not ensure the return of Israelis to their homes in the country's north and that the Lebanese army did not have the ability to overcome Hezbollah. "In order to leave Lebanon, we must have our own security belt," Ben-Gvir said. (Writing by Tom Perry, Michael Georgy, Angus McDowall and Simon Lewis; additional reporting by Gabriel Stargardter in Paris, Steven Scheer, Emilie Madi, Laila Bassam, Emma Farge, John Irish, Emily Rose, Adam Makary, Humeyra Pamuk and Cecile Mantovani; Editing by Ros Russell, Angus MacSwan, William Maclean and Rod Nickel)Texas House committee demands that attorney general allow Roberson to testify

NoneThe woman, whose identity remains undisclosed, was said to have gone missing and ended up in the village where she has been residing ever since. Some villagers claim that they found her wandering aimlessly in the mountains, while others insist that she sought refuge in their village voluntarily. The conflicting testimonies have raised questions about the true circumstances surrounding the woman's presence in the village.South China Sea clashes between Philippines and China spark money-making disinformation

MASON, Ohio — 16 Lots Brewing Company is closing its doors to both its Mason and Newport locations, the brewery announced Thursday night. "Well, friends, the sun has set at 16 Lots Brewing Company and 16 Lots Southern Outpost," the company said in a social media post. "As of today, we are permanently closed." The Mason location opened in 2017, with the "Southern Outpost" in Newport opening in 2023. The spot at Newport on the Levee had a 2,000-square-foot outdoor patio, live music and a full-service restaurant until January, when the brewery had to close its kitchen and cut back on staff in hopes it could stay afloat. RELATED | 16 Lots Brewing's Newport location closes kitchen, could fully close in a week "Shout out to our landlords and Eclipse Bank for doing everything in their power to support us and give us the opportunity to make this work. We gave it our best shot, but unfortunately, the biz just wasn't sustainable," 16 Lots said in its post. Mad Monks Pizza, which sublet from 16 Lots at its flagship location, will also be closed at this time. The pizza company said in a social media post it is in negotiations with the landlord to try to rebrand the space as Mad Monks Pizza and Taproom which would feature their pizza menu, a full bar and 15 draft beers. "We want to thank everyone for the last seven years and will keep you posted on all updates," Mad Monks said on social media.

Immigration, Social Security, abortion rights: Gov. addresses Idahoans' key questions

OpenAI unveils Sora Turbo: From text to video in secondsBig Oil wants to help Big Tech power artificial intelligence data centersBy ALEXANDRA OLSON and CATHY BUSSEWITZ NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart’s sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at U.S. companies that are revaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programs to bolster historically underrepresented groups in business. The changes announced by the world’s biggest retailer followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees. The risk associated with some of programs crystalized with the election of former President Donald Trump, whose administration is certain to make dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs a priority. Trump’s incoming deputy chief of policy will be his former adviser Stephen Miller , who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies. “There has been a lot of reassessment of risk looking at programs that could be deemed to constitute reverse discrimination,” said Allan Schweyer, principal researcher the Human Capital Center at the Conference Board. “This is another domino to fall and it is a rather large domino,” he added. Among other changes, Walmart said it will no longer give priority treatment to suppliers owned by women or minorities. The company also will not renew a five-year commitment for a racial equity center set up in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. And it pulled out of a prominent gay rights index . Schweyer said the biggest trigger for companies making such changes is simply a reassessment of their legal risk exposure, which began after U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2023 that ended affirmative action in college admissions. Since then, conservative groups using similar arguments have secured court victories against various diversity programs, especially those that steer contracts to minority or women-owned businesses. Most recently, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty won a victory in a case against the U.S. Department of Transportation over its use of a program that gives priority to minority-owned businesses when it awards contracts. Companies are seeing a big legal risk in continuing with DEI efforts, said Dan Lennington, a deputy counsel at the institute. His organization says it has identified more than 60 programs in the federal government that it considers discriminatory, he said. “We have a legal landscape within the entire federal government, all three branches — the U.S. Supreme Court, the Congress and the President — are all now firmly pointed in the direction towards equality of individuals and individualized treatment of all Americans, instead of diversity, equity and inclusion treating people as members of racial groups,” Lennington said. The Trump administration is also likely to take direct aim at DEI initiatives through executive orders and other policies that affect private companies, especially federal contractors. “The impact of the election on DEI policies is huge. It can’t be overstated,” said Jason Schwartz, co-chair of the Labor & Employment Practice Group at law firm Gibson Dunn. With Miller returning to the White House, rolling back DEI initiatives is likely to be a priority, Schwartz said. “Companies are trying to strike the right balance to make clear they’ve got an inclusive workplace where everyone is welcome, and they want to get the best talent, while at the same time trying not to alienate various parts of their employees and customer base who might feel one way or the other. It’s a virtually impossible dilemma,” Schwartz said. A recent survey by Pew Research Center showed that workers are divided on the merits of DEI policies. While still broadly popular, the share of workers who said focusing on workplace diversity was mostly a good thing fell to 52% in the November survey, compared to 56% in a similar survey in February 2023. Rachel Minkin, a research associated at Pew called it a small but significant shift in short amount of time. There will be more companies pulling back from their DEI policies, but it likely won’t be a retreat across the board, said David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at New York University. “There are vastly more companies that are sticking with DEI,” Glasgow said. “The only reason you don’t hear about it is most of them are doing it by stealth. They’re putting their heads down and doing DEI work and hoping not to attract attention.” Glasgow advises organizations to stick to their own core values, because attitudes toward the topic can change quickly in the span of four years. “It’s going to leave them looking a little bit weak if there’s a kind of flip-flopping, depending on whichever direction the political winds are blowing,” he said. One reason DEI programs exist is because without those programs, companies may be vulnerable to lawsuits for traditional discrimination. “Really think carefully about the risks in all directions on this topic,” Glasgow said. Walmart confirmed will no longer consider race and gender as a litmus test to improve diversity when it offers supplier contracts. Last fiscal year, Walmart said it spent more than $13 billion on minority, women or veteran-owned good and service suppliers. It was unclear how its relationships with such business would change going forward. Organizations that that have partnered with Walmart on its diversity initiatives offered a cautious response. The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, a non-profit that last year named Walmart one of America’s top corporation for women-owned enterprises, said it was still evaluating the impact of Walmart’s announcement. Pamela Prince-Eason, the president and CEO of the organization, said she hoped Walmart’s need to cater to its diverse customer base will continue to drive contracts to women-owned suppliers even if the company no longer has explicit dollar goals. “I suspect Walmart will continue to have one of the most inclusive supply chains in the World,” Prince-Eason wrote. “Any retailer’s ability to serve the communities they operate in will continue to value understanding their customers, (many of which are women), in order to better provide products and services desired and no one understands customers better than Walmart.” Walmart’s announcement came after the company spoke directly with conservative political commentator and activist Robby Starbuck, who has been going after corporate DEI policies, calling out individual companies on the social media platform X. Several of those companies have subsequently announced that they are pulling back their initiatives, including Ford , Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s and Tractor Supply . Walmart confirmed to The Associated Press that it will better monitor its third-party marketplace items to make sure they don’t feature sexual and transgender products aimed at minors. The company also will stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual benchmark index that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees. A Walmart spokesperson added that some of the changes were already in progress and not as a result of conversations that it had with Starbuck. RaShawn “Shawnie” Hawkins, senior director of the HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program, said companies that “abandon” their commitments workplace inclusion policies “are shirking their responsibility to their employees, consumers, and shareholders.” She said the buying power of LGBTQ customers is powerful and noted that the index will have record participation of more than 1,400 companies in 2025.

In the world of football, the retirement of a player marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new chapter. The recent retirement of a 34-year-old Brazilian defender, who spent 7 years with Manchester United, has left fans reminiscing about his contributions on the field and the memories he created during his illustrious career. However, what makes this retirement even more poignant is the fact that just 3 days prior, his twin brother also announced his decision to hang up his boots, marking the end of a remarkable footballing journey for the talented siblings.The impact of Zhang’s actions goes far beyond the monetary value of the bribes he accepted. The reputation of the entire school has been tarnished, casting a shadow over the hard work and dedication of the teachers and staff who strive to provide a quality education to their students. Parents and community members are understandably outraged by this betrayal of trust, as they had placed their faith in Zhang to uphold the values of honesty and integrity in his role as a school leader.Erik Thun Group are proud to announce the delivery of our second groundbreaking vessel, the Lake Vanern Max, named MV Spiken. This innovative new generation of dry cargo vessels are designed to set new standards in the shipping industry with its advanced technologies and eco-friendly features; a plug-in hybrid designed to minimise emissions and maximise cargo. The latest addition to Erik Thun Group’s fleet, MV Spiken, was delivered this Tuesday and has now reached Wismar, Germany for her very first loading. Spiken is the second sister of six vessels ordered in the same series, to be incorporated into Erik Thun Group’s fleet. Spiken heading for Wismar photo by Jaap Dijkhuis Named after the fishing village Spiken, one of Europe’s largest freshwater harbours with its rich marine life located just north of Lidköping, the village symbolizes tradition and innovation, much like our new vessel. This connection underscores our commitment to honouring local heritage while advancing modern maritime technology. Our Lake Vanern Max, Spiken, represents a significant leap forward in maritime technology, addressing our clients’ top priorities of fuel efficiency, electrical innovation, maximum cargo capacity, while helping them achieve their sustainability goals. The design focuses on maximising cargo capacity, enabling us to handle more cargo within restricted waterways like Lake Vanern. The optimised bow design also allows the vessel to carry significantly more cargo with lower energy consumption. – We are making a substantial investment to support our customers’ transportation needs and thereby strengthening our position even further on the short-sea market and on the Lake Vänern traffic, says Senior Charterer Jens Bäckström. At Erik Thun Group, we understand that the maritime industry plays a crucial role in global trade and environmental stewardship. As we continue to innovate and lead the way in maritime solutions, we remain focused on providing efficient, reliable, and sustainable shipping services that meet the needs of our clients. We are committed to being a sustainable Swedish partner over generations. Source: Erik Thun GroupIn conclusion, the journey from CCTV host to actor is a testament to the resilience and adaptability of the individual. Embracing new challenges and stepping out of their comfort zone, they are charting a new course in their career, driven by passion and a love for the performing arts. As they continue to navigate the complexities of the stage, one thing is certain – the former host's transition into acting is a bold and inspiring move, marking the beginning of an exciting new chapter in their professional journey.

John Elway: remorse over bypassing Josh Allen in draft mitigated by watching Broncos rookie Bo Nix

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission. Set the alarm on your voice-activated home assistant and set your smart home thermometer up a few degrees, because it’s tiiiiiiiiime. Mariah Carey’s back on the radio, gift suggestions are popping up all over your feed, and the tree is ready to be taken home in the back of a stereotypically red pickup truck. Your notes app list of things to prepare for is getting longer by the day — but this doesn’t have to be the most stressful time of the year. While yes, there might not be such a thing as a one-size-fits-all gift (except maybe “ the one true candle “), one thing you can always count on this time of year is the release of hot tech gear. Some of the coolest gadgets are debuting for the season, and they’re probably on your giftee’s list already. Who wouldn’t love a new smartwatch to track their miles for their new running obsession, or an upgrade for their constantly-tangled wired earbuds? If you’re feeling like going all out on a gift for your favorite people in your life, take our advice — it can be hard to tell if a new shirt is going to fit someone’s style, and a gift card can feel a little impersonal, but a portable tablet? A home speaker? Those are bound to be a pretty big hit across the board. The good news is that AT&T is like an electronics Santa with the hottest tech gifts of the season in stock, along with some pretty great wireless deals for both new and existing customers. Ready to check off some folks on your holiday shopping list early? We’ve put together a guide with some of our personal favorite picks that are available now at AT&T online.None

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As the World Cup draws near, all eyes will be on Mbappé and the French national team, waiting to see if their efforts to address the internal issues plaguing the squad will pay off. Regardless of the outcome, one thing is certain: Mbappé's leadership and courage in the face of adversity have set a powerful example for his teammates and fans alike.Upon receiving these complaints, law enforcement officers initiated a thorough investigation to uncover the truth behind the institution's marketing strategies. They examined the advertisements, promotional materials, and online content used by the institution to attract patients and generate business. What they found was a systematic pattern of false and deceptive advertising, designed to lure in unsuspecting consumers with promises of quick fixes and miraculous results.

Passing the Buck: Macron Refuses Responsibility for Fall of Government, Rejects Calls to ResignWhat Trump’s plan to replace the current IRS chief could mean for the agency