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Mr Biden told African leaders the resource-rich continent of more than 1.4 billion people had been “left behind for much too long”. “But not anymore,” Mr Biden added. “Africa is the future.” Mr Biden used the third and final day of a visit to Angola – his long-awaited, first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as president – to travel to the coastal city of Lobito and tour an Atlantic port terminal that’s part of the Lobito Corridor railway redevelopment. Mr Biden described it as the largest US investment in a train project outside America. The US and allies are investing heavily in the project that will refurbish nearly 1,200 miles of train lines connecting to the mineral-rich areas of Congo and Zambia in central Africa. The corridor, which likely will take years to complete, gives the US better access to cobalt, copper and other critical minerals in Congo and Zambia that are used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies that Mr Biden said would power the future. China is dominant in mining in Congo and Zambia. The US investment has strategic implications for US-China economic competition, which went up a notch this week as they traded blows over access to key materials and technologies. The African leaders who met with Mr Biden on Wednesday said the railway corridor offered their countries a much faster route for minerals and goods – and a convenient outlet to Western markets. “This is a project that is full of hope for our countries and our region,” said Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, whose country has more than 70% of the word’s cobalt. “This is not just a logistical project. It is a driving force for economic and social transformation for millions of our people.” The leaders said the corridor should spur private-sector investment and improve a myriad of related areas like roads, communication networks, agriculture and clean energy technologies. For the African countries, it could create a wave of new jobs for a burgeoning young population. Cargo that once took 45 days to get to the US – usually involving trucks via South Africa – would now take around 45 hours, Mr Biden said. He predicted the project could transform the region from a food importer to exporter. It’s “something that if done right will outlast all of us and keep delivering for our people for generations to come,” he said. The announcement of an additional $600 million took the U.S.’s investment in the Lobito Corridor to 4.0 billion dollars (£3.15 billion).East Carolina cornerback Shavon Revel Jr., a potential first-round pick, declared for the 2025 NFL Draft on Friday. Revel, who sustained a torn left ACL in practice in September, had one season of eligibility remaining. "After an incredible journey at East Carolina, I am officially declaring for the 2025 NFL Draft," the senior posted on social media. "... Pirates nation, thank you for your unwavering energy and support every game. Representing ECU is an honor, and I look forward to continuing to do so on Sundays!" Revel recorded two interceptions in three games this season, returning one 50 yards for a touchdown on Sept. 14 against Appalachian State. Over three seasons with the Pirates, Revel had three interceptions, 15 passes defensed and 70 tackles in 24 games. He was a second-team All-American Athletic Conference selection last season. ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. ranked Revel as the No. 2 cornerback and No. 23 overall prospect in the 2025 draft class. --Field Level MediaAP News Summary at 2:33 p.m. ESTNone

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The Buffalo Bills will look to build on their six-game win streak when they host the San Francisco 49ers at Highmark Stadium for "Sunday Night Football." With the season getting deeper into the winter months, temperatures are beginning to drop, especially in Buffalo. Now, it seems that Sunday night is set to be a classic snow game in New York. According to the National Weather Service in Buffalo , temperatures are expected to reach below freezing with winds that exceed 20 mph. They're also projecting a high chance of lake-effect snow, and with the matchup happening at night, the temperature will likely reach its lowest point during the game. © Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports Bills players are used to playing in snow and below-freezing temperatures at this point, but San Francisco players aren't. If the weather forecasts hold up, it could give Buffalo an even bigger home-field advantage than they already had going into the game. Related: Bills ‘99-Percent’ Path to Title Perfectly Clear at Thanksgiving Although the 49ers are coming off a Super Bowl appearance last season, they have failed to live up to expectations so far. At 5-6, Sunday night could be a must-win scenario for San Francisco. Meanwhile, if the Miami Dolphins lose their game on Thanksgiving, the Bills will have the opportunity to clinch the AFC East on Sunday, making the game just as important for them. Buffalo is also just one game behind the Kansas City Chiefs for the No. 1 seed in the AFC, so getting a win in the snow would ensure that they're still in contention for a first-round bye. Related: It's Bills’ Josh Allen vs. 'The Unknown Mystery' of the 49ersAP News Summary at 2:33 p.m. EST

DNAKE Unveils H616 8" Indoor Monitor with Vertical Design and Premium FeaturesLawfare against Israel − the travesty of the ICC warrants 4 December 2024 I draw extensively, here, on a discussion between Dan Senor and British barrister Natasha Hausdorff, an expert on international law, foreign affairs, and national security policy, on Senor’s podcast series, Call Me Back, with a few clarificatory comments of my own . It is worth noting the quality of his guests, particularly Israeli journalists and commentators whose historical and political knowledge, as well as their access to military information, is comprehensive. As background In his introduction, Senor referred to an article in 2012 in the New York Times written by Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority. Abbas issued his “Declaration of lawfare”, calling

Uniswap Labs and Fireblocks Collaborate to Bring DeFi Innovation to TradFiFidelity Precious Metals IRA Reviews, Complaints And Fees Analysis 2025 Released On IraempireThe arms race in large language artificial intelligence (AI) is heating up. Can the Gulf countries play a leading role in the sector, given the high savings, cheap energy and good political ties with the US? The tech billionaire Elon Musk has alarmed competitors, and intrigued customers and observers, by rapidly building a supercomputer, appropriately known as Colossus, in just 120 days, in Memphis Tennessee in a new data centre. Its purpose is to power his xAI technology, and it will be of an unprecedented scale: Some 100,000 graphics processing units supplied by Nvidia. Competitors are nervous. There is no guarantee that this formidable scaling up of computer power will give his xAI a superior edge, but no certainty that it won’t. Industry experts reckon that the tools at the rival OpenAI are currently superior, but the sheer computing muscle of Colossus may help xAI close the gap or overtake. What does this mean for the economic world, including the Gulf? The impact of AI is already being felt, will continue and likely intensify. You could say that there has been much hype around AI, accidents such as ‘hallucinations’ in large language models and technical glitches. But you could have made similar criticisms about the aviation sector in the early 20th century – there were crashes and failed models, but it still proceeded to transform long-distance travel around the globe. AI is at a similar stage 100 years on. And just as you need a skilled pilot for an aircraft, similar principles apply with AI. Harvard Business Review in its September-October edition refers to the development of ‘fusion skills’ – the most intelligent applications of AI in which human and artificial intelligence is most effectively combined. For example, breaking a complex problem down into sequential parts, and priming the large language model to address each challenge sequentially, beginning with the simplest, is more effective than asking it to solve a complex problem in one go. Researchers at Google DeepMind have found that this ‘least-to-most’ approach improves the accuracy of AI output from 16% to 99%. Research by the Boston Consulting Group has found that only a minority of firms gain substantial value from AI, and that the most successful companies ensure that the people, skills and processes are optimal. This is the 70-20-10 principle: 70% of the investment is in people and processes; 20% is in technology and data, and just 10% in the algorithms. The most effective companies used AI for growth and revenue generation, not just process efficiencies. In this rapidly developing technology, how should the Gulf countries invest and position themselves? It is likely that China and the US will remain the primary providers of AI, given the scale of the technological investment required, as illustrated by the examples of Elon Musk and his rivals. The response of the Gulf sovereign wealth funds and other key players has been promising. Rather than trying to compete with the US and China in a direct way, they are developing strategic support roles within the existing industry, while identifying niche opportunities for growth. Arabic language models constitute a promising industry. AI specialist companies within the region report that it costs around one third more to train an English large language model and then translate into Arabic, than to train one using Arabic inputs. Doing so can eliminate some of the western biases of English-language models. For Gulf economies, cheap energy offers another competitive advantage in developing AI hubs. Saudi Aramco has calculated that the cost of power locally is around 13% cheaper than the cost per kilowatt hour in the US. Given the considerable computing power needed for large language models, this is significant. Geopolitical considerations are of paramount importance. The Gulf states are political allies of the US, which does not want technological know-how falling into the hands of Iran or China. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF has announced a strategic partnership with Google Cloud to develop a specialist hub, which will be a research and education centre, including for Arabic language models, and a base for global enterprises and startups. It will be based near Dammam. This year the United Arab Emirates launched the fund MGX, totalling $100bn, with investors including BlackRock and Microsoft, dedicated to investing in AI companies. The AI revolution is well underway, and there will be significant returns for both providers and users. So far, the key players in the Gulf have made some smart strategic calls. The author is a Qatari banker, with many years of experience in the banking sector in senior positions. Related Story 61 countries to compete in 8th Katara Award for Reciting Holy Qur’an Sheikha Al Mayassa unveils 'The Race Is On' exhibition

In fact, he argued, it could have been a culinary conspiracy concocted by criminals, whose actions led to the cooking wine used to prepare the noodles being laced with a banned heart drug that found its way into an athlete's system. This theory was spelled out to international anti-doping officials during a meeting and, after weeks of wrangling, finally made it into the thousands of pages of data handed over to the lawyer who investigated the case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for that same drug. The attorney, appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, refused to consider that scenario as he sifted through the evidence. In spelling out his reasoning, lawyer Eric Cottier paid heed to the half-baked nature of the theory. "The Investigator considers this scenario, which he has described in the conditional tense, to be possible, no less, no more," Cottier wrote. Even without the contaminated-noodles theory, Cottier found problems with the way WADA and the Chinese handled the case but ultimately determined WADA had acted reasonably in not appealing China's conclusion that its athletes had been inadvertently contaminated. Critics of the way the China case was handled can't help but wonder if a wider exploration of the noodle theory, details of which were discovered by The Associated Press via notes and emails from after the meeting where it was delivered, might have lent a different flavor to Cottier's conclusions. "There are more story twists to the ways the Chinese explain the TMZ case than a James Bond movie," said Rob Koehler, the director general of the advocacy group Global Athlete. "And all of it is complete fiction." Something in the kitchen was contaminated In April, reporting from the New York Times and the German broadcaster ARD revealed that the 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine, also known as TMZ. China's anti-doping agency determined the athletes had been contaminated, and so, did not sanction them. WADA accepted that explanation, did not press the case further, and China was never made to deliver a public notice about the "no-fault findings," as is often seen in similar cases. The stock explanation for the contamination was that traces of TMZ were found in the kitchen of a hotel where the swimmers were staying. In his 58-page report, Cottier relayed some suspicions about the feasibility of that chain of events — noting that WADA's chief scientist "saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities." But without evidence to support pursuing the case, and with the chance of winning an appeal at almost nil, Cottier determined WADA's "decision not to appeal appears indisputably reasonable." But how did the drugs get into the kitchen? A mystery remained: How did those traces of TMZ get into the kitchen? Shortly after the doping positives were revealed, the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations held a meeting on April 30 where it heard from the leader of China's agency, Li Zhiquan. Li's presentation was mostly filled with the same talking points that have been delivered throughout the saga — that the positive tests resulted from contamination from the kitchen. But he expanded on one way the kitchen might have become contaminated, harkening to another case in China involving a low-level TMZ positive. A pharmaceutical factory, he explained, had used industrial alcohol in the distillation process for producing TMZ. The industrial alcohol laced with the drug "then entered the market through illegal channels," he said. The alcohol "was re-used by the perpetrators to process and produce cooking wine, which is an important seasoning used locally to make beef noodles," Li said. "The contaminated beef noodles were consumed by that athlete, resulting in an extremely low concentration of TMZ in the positive sample. "The wrongdoers involved have been brought to justice." New information sent to WADA ... eventually This new information raised eyebrows among the anti-doping leaders listening to Li's report. So much so that over the next month, several emails ensued to make sure the details about the noodles and wine made their way to WADA lawyers, who could then pass it onto Cottier. Eventually, Li did pass on the information to WADA general counsel Ross Wenzel and, just to be sure, one of the anti-doping leaders forwarded it, as well, according to the emails seen by the AP. All this came with Li's request that the noodles story be kept confidential. Turns out, it made it into Cottier's report, though he took the information with a grain of salt. "Indeed, giving it more attention would have required it to be documented, then scientifically verified and validated," he wrote. Neither Wenzel nor officials at the Chinese anti-doping agency returned messages from AP asking about the noodles conspiracy and the other athlete who Li suggested had been contaminated by them. Meanwhile, 11 of the swimmers who originally tested positive competed at the Paris Games earlier this year in a meet held under the cloud of the Chinese doping case. Though WADA considers the case closed, Koehler and others point to situations like this as one of many reasons that an investigation by someone other than Cottier, who was hired by WADA, is still needed. "It gives the appearance that people are just making things up as they go along on this, and hoping the story just goes away," Koehler said. "Which clearly it has not."

Declassified Documents Show Romanian Elections Targeted By 'Aggressive Hybrid Russian Action'No, The Heritage Foundation’s director of finance doesn’t own Hobby Lobby

By AAMER MADHANI, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A top White House official on Wednesday said at least eight U.S. telecom firms and dozens of nations have been impacted by a Chinese hacking campaign. Deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger offered new details about the breadth of the sprawling Chinese hacking campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. Neuberger divulged the scope of the hack a day after the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued guidance intended to help root out the hackers and prevent similar cyberespionage in the future. White House officials cautioned that a number of telecommunication firms and countries impacted could still grow. The U.S. believes that the hackers were able to gain access to communications of senior U.S. government officials and prominent political figures through the hack, Neuberger said. “We don’t believe any classified communications has been compromised,” Neuberger added during a call with reporters. She added that Biden has been briefed on the findings and that the White House “has made it a priority for the federal government to do everything it can to get to the bottom this.” The Chinese embassy in Washington on Tuesday rejected the accusations that it was responsible for the hack after the U.S. federal authorities issued new guidance. “The U.S. needs to stop its own cyberattacks against other countries and refrain from using cyber security to smear and slander China,” embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said. The embassy did not immediately respond to messages on Wednesday. Associated Press writer David Klepper contributed reporting.

Lawmaker calls for adding ‘teeth’ to Kentucky’s new curbs on underage vaping

(The Center Square) - With the state legislature’s new priority on reducing the state’s high cost of living, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers are rolling out proposals to reduce the cost of energy and drug prescriptions. Democrats have held a trifecta in state government since 2010, including supermajorities in the State Assembly and Senate. “It’s clear we must chart a new path forward and renew the California dream by focusing on affordability,” said Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Salinas, in his opening floor speech of the new legislative session. Republicans in the State Senate and Assembly unveiled bills to repeal the state’s new Low Carbon Fuel Standards, which will increase fuel costs by $162 billion to fund clean transportation fuel credits that include $105 billion in electric vehicle charging credits and $8 billion in hydrogen credits. The new LCFS standard, approved by the California Air Resources Board — all but two of whose voting members are appointed by the governor — is expected to add up to 65 cents to the cost of each gallon of gasoline next year. Once factoring in other regulations, such as new refinery regulations passed by the governor, Californians will pay up to $1.15 more for gas next year, meaning the average California driver will need to make up to $1,000 more per year in pre-tax income to break even. “Californians already pay the highest gas prices in the nation, and Gavin Newsom’s political agenda is about to make them even higher,” said Senate Minority Leader Jones, R-San Diego, in a statement. “Our Day 1 priority is protecting Californians at the pump. SB 2 will immediately repeal the Newsom Administration’s 65 cent gas price hike and put an end to their most recent price gouging scheme.” State Senator Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, also unveiled a new proposal to reduce drug prices by regulating pharmacy benefit manager middlemen, building on his work from the prior legislative session. Wiener’s office says that “the share of total spending on prescription drugs that goes to drug manufacturers has declined, while over half of every dollar spent on brand medicines goes to pharmaceutical industry middlemen like PBMs.” According to the California Department of Managed Care, prescription drug costs have risen 5 percentage points per year over the last five years, suggesting most of the increases are being accrued by PBMs. Wiener's new bill, SB 41 , would ban “spread pricing,” in which PBMs charge health insurance plans more for drugs than what they pay to reimburse pharmacies, keeping the difference as profit. SB 966, his bill signed into law last year, ensures patient cost-sharing is based on actual drug costs and requires manufacturer rebates to be passed through to reduce patient costs. “When basic life necessities like medication become unaffordable in blue states, working people pay the price,” said Wiener in a statement. “As Democrats, we should be leading on making people’s lives better and more affordable. It’s past time California caught up with other states and put basic protections in place to contain the astronomical cost of basic medications.”