Seven-year-old Mariam was excited. Her mother had dressed her up in her favourite powder pink frock, with her hair in two pigtails held with butterfly clips, and had told her she would be going to a surprise birthday party for her cousin. Instead, her aunt took Mariam, holding hands, to a worn-down building with layers of peeling walls and a cold metal table waiting inside. There, a curly-haired old woman softly murmured reassurances that Mariam didn’t understand, grabbed her and restrained her on the table. Then the pain started – it was sharp, searing, unforgettable. The next 20 minutes would…
Author: Team_NationalNewsBrief
The Lions kept pace with the division-rival Vikings for first in the NFC with a come-from-behind, 40-34, win over the 49ers.Here are five takeaways from the last Monday night game of the 2024 regular season.Lions keep their foot on the gasBesides avenging last season’s NFC Championship game loss, Detroit had little incentive to win Monday’s game. Even had they lost to the 49ers (6-10), the Lions (14-2) would clinch the NFC’s No. 1 seed with a win in Week 18 against the Vikings (14-2). The stakes for this Sunday’s game couldn’t be higher. The loser will drop to fifth in…
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. If you’ve ever wondered how some websites consistently appear at the top of search results while others don’t, you’re not alone. SEO has evolved beyond just keywords and backlinks. Today, structured data is helping businesses climb the search rankings by making it easier for search engines to understand exactly what each webpage offers.Think of structured data as a map for search engines — guiding them to key information on your site. This data can help your site appear in rich search results: those enhanced snippets that show extra details, like product prices,…
A Chinese deep-sea mining vehicle during a trial in the Pacific Ocean in July 2024Credit: Shanghai Jiao Tong University/Handout via Xinhua/Alamy Mining companies are hoping that 2025 will be the year they can finally start harvesting valuable minerals from the ocean floor. For over two decades, the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the UN-affiliated body charged with regulating deep-sea mining in international waters, has been unable to finalise a code for the harvesting of minerals found on the ocean floor. With negotiations remaining deadlocked, the impasse could see states going ahead without a global agreement. Source link
A son of Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., was sentenced to 28 years in prison Monday in connection with the death of a sheriff’s deputy during a law enforcement chase last year.Ian Cramer, 43, pleaded guilty in September to nine charges, including homicide while fleeing a peace officer, reckless endangerment and drug possession, tied to a pursuit last year that ended in a crash that killed Deputy Paul Martin, who was 53.State District Judge Bobbi Weiler, who handed down the sentence, said in court Monday that Cramer was unlikely to serve the full 28 years, according to The Associated Press.“These are not mandatory…
Getty ImagesAn immigration row has erupted between Donald Trump’s supporters over a long-standing US visa programme.The feud is about H-1B visas, which allow US-based companies to bring in skilled workers from abroad into certain industries.Some immigration hardliners say the scheme undercuts American workers – but proponents say the visas allow the US to attract the best expertise from around the world.The president-elect has weighed in, saying he supports the programme – despite being critical of it in the past – and tech billionaire Elon Musk has also defended it, saying it attracts the “top ~0.1% of engineering talent”.Here’s what the…
This article is an on-site version of our Trade Secrets newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every Monday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newslettersWelcome to the final Trade Secrets of 2024. Today I’m looking back at the events of the past year through what I wrote about it at the time. To summarise: geopolitical tensions are threatening to knock globalisation off course, but each year brings more evidence of the world trading system’s resilience to them. Charted Waters is on Europe’s economic prospects. I’ll be back a week…
The release of previously undisclosed photos showing then-Vice President Joe Biden meeting with his son Hunter Biden’s Chinese business partners in 2013 has reignited discussions about transparency and potential conflicts of interest. These images, which surfaced after being withheld by the National Archives, depict then vice president Joe Biden introducing Hunter to influential figures like Chinese President Xi Jinping during an official visit, contradicting earlier statements from Biden about not interacting with his son’s business associates. The delay in the release of these photos has led to implications of a cover-up, with critics arguing that the timing was strategically managed…
SZA has never been one to shy away from speaking her truth, and this time, she’s calling out body-shamers for crossing the line.This follows the release of “Lana” last Friday, December 20, nearly a year after SZA first began teasing it. Instead of being a separate project, “Lana” serves as a deluxe edition of her acclaimed 2022 album, “SOS.”In addition to calling out the body-shamers, SZA also clapped back at haters who attacked her singing capabilities online.Article continues below advertisementSZA Addresses Body-Shamers In New Social Media PostMEGAAfter a fan page shared a throwback photo of the “S.O.S.” singer embracing wanderlust…
GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday (Dec 30) implored China to share data and access to help understand how COVID-19 began, five years on from the start of the pandemic that upended the planet. COVID-19 killed millions of people, shredded economies and crippled health systems. “We continue to call on China to share data and access so we can understand the origins of COVID-19. This is a moral and scientific imperative,” the WHO said in a statement. “Without transparency, sharing, and cooperation among countries, the world cannot adequately prevent and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics.” The WHO…