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6. Pearl River MansionsI had completely forgotten about an old 401(k), so I asked a financial planner what to do with itStock market today: Wall Street rises toward records despite tariff talk
SLOWLY shaking her head with disgust, Birhan Woldu is seething that her beloved Band Aid has come under attack. “That song helped keep me and thousands of others alive,” said the mother of two, with the grace and poise of an Ethiopian princess. Speaking to me at her rented apartment in the highlands of Tigray, Birhan is naturally protective over the 40-year-old pop song that has proved a constant milestone in her life. And the 43-year-old is also quick to defend the 1970s punk rocker whose sense of injustice created a social movement that defined a generation. Sir Bob Geldof calls Birhan “the daughter of Band Aid”. She considers him a second father. As a starving child, her image in a TV report helped alert the world to the tragedy unfolding in Africa. Today — 40 years after she almost perished in Ethiopia’s biblical famine — she has a heartfelt message for the Boomtown Rats frontman. Speaking down the lens of Sun man Louis Wood’s video camera, she told Geldof: “Hello my dad, how are you? I’d like to meet you again. “I need to introduce my husband and kiddies to you one day. “I hope we will meet again. I love you. Thank you, Bob.” As for the notion that the re-released Do They Know It’s Christmas? is tarnishing Africa’s image, she says of critics: “They are very wrong. “It’s a misunderstanding, misconception, a misrepresentation of Bob Geldof’s work. It’s not true. “I know the truth. Band Aid’s money has helped fund schools and hospitals. It’s very important for Tigray, Ethiopia and Africa.” Shortly after meeting Birhan on the day the new Band Aid single was released, my phone rings with an unmistakable Dublin accent on the other end. Some 3,700 miles away, Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof, 73, is about to go on BBC’s The One Show to push the latest remixed incarnation of Do They Know It’s Christmas? “Birhan is what Band Aid’s all about,” he told me. Hello my dad, how are you? I’d like to meet you again. I need to introduce my husband and kiddies to you one day. I hope we will meet again. I love you. Thank you, Bob The first time Geldof met Birhan was in a meeting engineered by The Sun in Ethiopia in 2004. Recalling our suggestion that Do They Know It’s Christmas? should be re-released that year, he said now: “I was tired. I told you, ‘If you f***ing organise it, I’ll do’.” So The Sun’s then-editor Dominic Mohan got Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Fran Healy from Travis on board and it was a goer. The 2024 version is a mash-up of the four previous incarnations of the song — including 2004’s rendition — remixed by producer Trevor Horn. As Geldof enthused when he told Live Aid viewers to “give us your f***in’ money” in 1985, he tells me: “The new version is really fantastic, absolutely beautiful. “ Zoe Ball was sobbing when she played it on Radio 2. She had to stop and put on another track. “All the f***ing hard nuts in the control room, I swear to you, they were crying. Trevor Horn has made this scrap of a song a work of art.” Not everyone agrees. Ed Sheeran said he would not have allowed his vocals from the 2014 version to be used had permission been sought. Geldof’s 1984 lyrics have come under intense scrutiny. It’s a f***ing pop song, not a doctoral thesis Sheeran endorsed a statement by British-Ghanaian rapper Fuse ODG who blamed Band Aid for “perpetuating damaging stereotypes” of Africa and “destroying” the continent’s “dignity, pride and identity”. But Geldof’s having none of it, telling me: “It’s a f***ing pop song, not a doctoral thesis.” Meanwhile, in her neat living room, Birhan performs Ethiopia’s coffee ceremony for us with daughters Claire, 13, and ten-year-old Ariam handing out popcorn. Her dad Woldu, 73, and husband Birhane, 43, proudly look on from the sofa. Incense is burned, mingling with the aroma of the roasting coffee beans. Dressed in a traditional white embroidered dress and shawl, Birhan looks back on an astonishing life. Born into this world on a dried ox skin splayed across the earthen floor of a mud-walled hut, she would go on to greet Madonna on the Live 8 stage in 2005 watched by billions around the world. Along the way she has met Brad Pitt, the Beckhams and Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates and appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Both her and Geldof’s lives are inextricably entangled with Band Aid. Bob was determined to do something after seeing BBC correspondent Michael Buerk’s harrowing 1984 reports from Ethiopia of thousands starving in a “hell on Earth”. Among the suffering masses, Birhan — stick-thin with her forlorn milky eyes rolling back into her head — was filmed apparently dying by a Canadian CBC film crew led by Brian Stewart. Her dad Woldu remembers: “Birhan was dying in my hands. I didn’t notice people were filming me.” A ragged funeral shroud had been laid out for three-year-old Birhan and her grave had already been dug at a clinic run by nuns on the outskirts of Tigrayan capital Mekele. Yet, by some miracle, her pulse returned and she survived. The CBC crew later returned to the clinic and to their amazement found Birhan alive. Today, she has little memory of famine times, saying: “Just to see my picture from then is upsetting.” Her mother Alemetsehay and big sister Azmera perished in the famine. Back in Britain, Geldof had rallied 80s pop and rock royalty — including Bono, Sting and Boy George — to sing his lyrics which Ultravox’s Midge Ure had put to music. The catchy pop record captured a public mood. Some bought boxes of the single to send as Christmas cards. Others bought 50 copies, kept one and put the others back. Geldof told me on Monday: “The bloke driving me around to all the studios today is a Serbian called Vlad. “He was watching Live Aid as a 21-year-old and thought Britain was so amazing, so exciting, that he just left his home and came here.” At the Wembley Stadium Live Aid concert the following summer in 1985, CBC’s desolate footage of starving Birhan was played on the big screens with The Cars’ haunting track Drive. The camera lingered on Birhan’s apparent final moments on Earth. It was the centrepiece of the gig watched on 85 per cent of the world’s TVs. After her unwitting brush with fame, Birhan carried on with her life, herding the family’s goats in the parched mountains of Tigray. Appearing on documentaries by CBC and the BBC, she studied plant science at college. Then in 2004, I travelled to Tigray and interviewed Birhan for a Band Aid anniversary piece. Geldof and Sir Tony Blair were in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa for a conference at the same time. What would happen if The Sun arranged for the father of Band Aid to meet its daughter for the first time? When Bob and the then Prime Minister clapped eyes on her, they both appeared close to tears. Birhan presented Blair with a cross from Lalibela, Ethiopia’s holiest Christian site. Today she recalls: “He was very happy. He said he’d keep it at home. “Bob hugged me and called me his daughter.” Sun Editor Dominic had called me moments before the meeting with the idea to ask Bob if he would re-record the Band Aid song. Geldof gave his expletive-laden affirmative without missing a beat. The Sun then flew Birhan over for the London recording and then for the massive Live 8 concert. Backstage a host of celebrities queued up to meet her. Brad Pitt quietly introduced himself, as did a chatty David and Victoria Beckham. Then the world’s richest man, Bill Gates, said hello. At the time she did not realise who most of the famous faces were. But when Jeremy Clarkson ambled past at the Hyde Park, London, supergig she shrieked with recognition. Top Gear was hugely popular in Ethiopia. Back in Ethiopia, she married and had her two daughters. Her marriage would break down, while she had to put up with assumptions from some in her community that fame had brought her wealth. Then, in 2020, a civil war broke out in Tigray with widespread atrocities, including massacres of civilians and rape, in the following two years. It resulted in famine and starvation again stalking the land. Birhan recalled: “Artillery was often passing over our heads.” To support her family, Birhan sold coffee beans on the street. Some three years ago she met new husband Birhane while working for the World Food programme where he was a supervisor. Today Birhan says she’s “happy and healthy”. Now the woman who has been an inspiration to so many wants to start her own charity to help children with disabilities. To date, Band Aid Charitable Trust has raised almost £150million, with Geldof adding: “The song’s vigour after 40 years is astonishing. “An American newspaper said recently it’s probably the most powerful song ever written in rock and roll.” Birhan now hopes Do They Know It’s Christmas? will be a huge hit once more and that another Live 8-style concert will follow. “I want my daughters to come and see me take part,” the daughter of Band Aid says. “It would make me so proud.”
Josh Pascarelli scores 24 to propel Marist to 82-75 victory over ManhattanMassive EU-South American free trade pact would reduce tariffs, but some farmers are opposedNone
So mark your calendars and get ready to join Sonic on his next epic adventure when "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" races into theaters in Mainland China on January 10th next year. Get your popcorn ready, because this is one movie event you won't want to miss!
If U.S. president-elect lives up to his word and imposes a 25 per cent tariff on all imports from Canada, it would have a catastrophic impact on both sides of the border, throw an already-sputtering Canadian economy into a recession, and put the long-term future of the auto industry in this country into question, economists and trade experts say. The two countries’ economies are so intertwined — particularly in the manufacturing and energy sectors — that hitting Canada would also have a heavy impact on the U.S., argued Pedro Antunes, chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada. “This will be devastating for the Canadian economy, and devastating for the U.S. economy as well,” said Antunes. While manufacturers aren’t likely to shut down Canadian production or shift plants to the U.S. immediately, in the longer-term, they’ll likely be taking a hard look at whether they want to risk access to American consumers. “We’re going to see a deterioration of our attractiveness as an investment destination, because a lot of it is based on our access to the American economy,” said Antunes. “I think this could shut down the automotive industry in Canada.” The first impact American consumers would be likely to face is increased prices at the gas pump — particularly in the Midwest, where Canadian crude oil keeps refineries going at full-tilt, said Antunes. “There’d be an almost immediate impact on gasoline prices in the U.S., because they import a lot of Canadian crude. And we know how sensitive consumers in Canada and U.S. are to gasoline prices,” said Antunes. If the tariffs are 25 per cent across the board on all Canadian imports, the Canadian economy would shrink by 2.6 per cent, University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe estimated. “And that’s just the straight impact of the tariffs, without any of the knock-on effects, or uncertainty, so it’s almost surely an underestimate,” said Tombe. “That’s basically a recession. The typical retraction is about three per cent in a recession.” Earlier this year, Tombe had prepared a tariff impact paper for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, based on 10 per cent tariffs. After updating the numbers hastily following Trump’s Monday evening announcement on his Truth Social site, he found the potential impact to be even more grim. That 2.6 per cent drop in economic output translates into an annual loss of $78 billion for the Canadian economy, Tombe estimated. Tombe added that the tariffs would cause significant job losses, particularly in the hardest-hit sectors. “No question, there will be job losses. The tariff will result in reduced output in these heavily affected sectors, and with less production, they’re naturally going to lay off workers,” said Tombe. The U.S. market accounted for roughly 75 per cent of Canadian exports, a BMO report from economist Robert Kavcic found, making up about a quarter of Canada’s GDP. Canada sent $173 billion to the U.S. in energy exports alone last year, Kavcic’s report found, and tariffs would mean an immediate impact of higher oil and consumer gas prices in the U.S. The higher prices on goods from Canada flowing into the U.S. could depress demand for them, which could drag down an already shaky Canadian economy, Kavcic added. For the manufacturing sector, the impact of a full 25 per cent tariff would be devastating, warned Dennis Darby, CEO of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters. While it might not happen in exactly the form Trump has threatened, Darby said Canada can’t afford to take the sabre-rattling lightly. “When the incoming president says he’s going to do that on Day 1, you have to take that as credible,” said Darby. In the auto sector, supply chains are so intertwined across the border that it’s hard to believe Trump would implement tariffs across the board, argued Flavio Volpe, CEO of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association. “It would be like taking a sledgehammer to his own foot,” said Volpe, who estimated that roughly half of the parts going into Canadian-made cars are sourced from U.S. producers. “We’re so integrated in the automotive industry. So there’s no way to separate the American interests from the Canadian interests here,” said Volpe. While acknowledging that Trump isn’t immune from cutting off his nose to spite his face, his first term in office shows at least some glimmer of hope for rational economic action — at least eventually, Volpe added. “He did put a national security tariff on aluminum from Quebec that U.S. defence interests need. So for a while, he taxed his own military to make a point. But I’ll remind everybody that that was also a short-term point. And that we have leverage,” said Volpe. That leverage, says Volpe, comes from desperately needed Canadian critical minerals and energy resources such as oil and gas. Both of those, said Volpe, would help the U.S. loosen its trade ties with China. “You need independence from the Chinese sphere. And that comes from the resources we have in this country,” said Volpe. “We’ll be inside the tent by the time it’s all said and done, if we put in our best efforts to demonstrate that their best interests extend to this side of the border.” Laura Dawson, executive director of the Future Borders Coalition, doesn’t expect the tariffs to hit across the board. “I feel pretty confident that Canada can negotiate its way out of many of these tariffs because, for example, the U.S. imposing a tariff on Canadian oil and gas will have an immediate effect on U.S. consumers,” Dawson said. “What we know from Trump 1.0 is he does what he says. If he has a plan, he usually acts on it, but he doesn’t act on it with the magnitude that he could.” The worst case could see tit-for-tat retaliatory tariffs, a stalemate and the same politics that led to the Great Depression, Dawson warned.Alisyn Camerota, whose steadying presence on air helped make her a prominent face of CNN during the first Trump administration, is leaving the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed outlet, she disclosed via social media on Sunday. "Big News, Everyone! — today is my last day on CNN. Tune in at 4:50p (et) for my sign off. Keep it here for updates!" she posted on Instagram. Camerota joined CNN in 2014 after a long stint at Fox News Channel. She served more than six years as a co-anchor on "New Day," a flagship morning program that a previous management team led by former CNN chief Jeff Zucker had hoped would be more competitive not only with MSNBC's "Morning Joe," but mainstay morning-news programs on broadcast TV, such as NBC's "Today" and ABC's "Good Morning America." Her exit comes as CNN and corporate parent Warner Bros. Discovery... Brian SteinbergManson Market, a notorious hub for illegal goods and services on the dark web, has long been a target for law enforcement agencies across Europe. The platform facilitated the sale of a wide range of cybercriminal products, including stolen data, malware, hacking tools, and counterfeit documents. It served as a marketplace where hackers and cybercriminals could conduct their illicit activities with relative anonymity.The incident took place during a charity gala event in New York City, where Anderson, a prominent figure in the healthcare industry, was gunned down in cold blood. Witnesses reported seeing Montgomery fleeing the scene, leaving behind a trail of chaos and confusion.
Title: Graduates from Prestigious University Sentenced to 10 Years for Selling National SecretsGood news for Chelsea fans! Following the recent 4:3 victory, there is even more reason to celebrate as the club has secured a new signing who is being compared to Neymar. The €61 million transfer fee may seem steep, but many are saying it is a bargain considering the player's potential.
As the world stands at a critical juncture in shaping its economic future, the revelations from the Wells Fargo meeting and the forthcoming public documents from the Economic Work Conference are likely to set the tone for policy discussions and market sentiment in the near term. The stakes are high, and the need for decisive action is imperative to chart a path towards economic resurgence and resilience.Student marches, traffic blockades in Serbia as protests persist over concrete canopy fallAs the world stands at a critical juncture in shaping its economic future, the revelations from the Wells Fargo meeting and the forthcoming public documents from the Economic Work Conference are likely to set the tone for policy discussions and market sentiment in the near term. The stakes are high, and the need for decisive action is imperative to chart a path towards economic resurgence and resilience.
In conclusion, while the drone crash during the performance may have cast a shadow of disappointment, it also illuminated the resilience and grace of both the artist and the audience in the face of adversity. As the exhibition closed and the lights dimmed, the echoes of Cai Guo-Qiang's plea lingered in the air, a poignant reminder of the delicate balance between artistic ambition and human safety in the ever-evolving landscape of contemporary art.In conclusion, the retrial of the Yu Hua Ying case on December 19th promises to be a pivotal moment in the ongoing legal battle between the two parties. With high stakes and intense emotions at play, the outcome of the hearing is sure to have far-reaching consequences. As the world waits with bated breath, one thing is certain: the truth will eventually come to light, and justice will prevail.
By LOLITA C. BALDOR and MATTHEW LEE WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is expected to announce that it will send $1.25 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Friday, as the Biden administration pushes to get as much aid to Kyiv as possible before leaving office on Jan. 20. The large package of aid includes a significant amount of munitions, including for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and the HAWK air defense system. It also will provide Stinger missiles and 155 mm- and 105 mm artillery rounds, officials said. The officials, who said they expect the announcement to be made on Monday, spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public. The new aid comes as Russia has launched a barrage of attacks against Ukraine’s power facilities in recent days, although Ukraine has said it intercepted a significant number of the missiles and drones. Russian and Ukrainian forces are also still in a bitter battle around the Russian border region of Kursk, where Moscow has sent thousands of North Korean troops to help reclaim territory taken by Ukraine. Earlier this month, senior defense officials acknowledged that that the Defense Department may not be able to send all of the remaining $5.6 billion in Pentagon weapons and equipment stocks passed by Congress for Ukraine before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in. Trump has talked about getting some type of negotiated settlement between Ukraine and Russia, and spoken about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin . Many U.S. and European leaders are concerned that it might result in a poor deal for Ukraine and they worry that he won’t provide Ukraine with all the weapons funding approved by Congress. The aid in the new package is in presidential drawdown authority, which allows the Pentagon to take weapons off the shelves and send them quickly to Ukraine. This latest assistance would reduce the remaining amount to about $4.35 billion. Officials have said they hope that an influx of aid will help strengthen Ukraine’s hand, should Zelenskyy decide it’s time to negotiate. One senior defense official said that while the U.S. will continue to provide weapons to Ukraine until Jan. 20, there may well be funds remaining that will be available for the incoming Trump administration to spend. According to the Pentagon, there is also about $1.2 billion remaining in longer-term funding through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which is used to pay for weapons contracts that would not be delivered for a year or more. Officials have said the administration anticipates releasing all of that money before the end of the calendar year. If the new package is included, the U.S. has provided more than $64 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.