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2025-01-11   

https t me jilibay_official Trump selects longtime adviser Keith Kellogg as special envoy for Ukraine and RussiaSocial media firms raise 'serious concerns' over Australian U-16 ban

ALDI is selling a handy kitchen gadget that costs just 8p to run and cooks delicious winter meals. The budget supermarket's Ambiano Slow Cooker, available for £24.99, is a cheaper alternative to airfryers - and won't require too much energy. 1 The Ambiano Slow Cooker is available for £24.99 Credit: Aldi It has three different heat settings, depending on what you're cooking and how long you want to cook it for, and numerous safety features including a tempered glass life and cool touch handles. It is also easy to wash up - with a removable non-stick ceramic cooking pot. And, it has a three-year warranty in case anything goes wrong. You can simply turn the 6.5- litre machine on in the morning and return home to a slow-cooked meal. Read more Money News ERA ENDING One of the UK's oldest comic book shops announces closure after 'epic' 43 years SHOP TO IT Dunelm slashes prices by up to 75% in huge Black Friday sale It is available on the Lidl website and in stores across the country. How much does it cost to run? At 320W, the Ambiano Slow Cooker costs about 8p to run for 60 minutes based on the current price cap. So if you use it three times a week for one hour each time, you will spend just £12.48 over the course of a year. This is cheaper than the average airfryer, which costs around 51p per hour due to higher wattage. Most read in Money CAMERA, ACTION Much-loved Glasgow cinema to reopen as music venue & community hub next year ISLE SAY Stunning home with panoramic views for sale for just £135k - but there's a catch FRESH FACE First look inside MAC store opening this week - plus all the freebies on offer HO HO NO! ‘Rip off’ ride at popular Scots Christmas market slammed by furious parents However, bear in mind that you are less likely to run an airfryer for long periods of time. Both options are cheaper than an oven - which costs between 45p and £1.50 to run per hour depending on the wattage and your electricity rate. Many households may be thinking about ways to limit their energy bills this winter, after prices rose by 10% last month and are set to climb again in January. Bills increased for millions of households in October after the energy regulator Ofgem increased the maximum price suppliers can charge consumers for energy. 'Oh boy!’ foodies scream as Aldi drops brand new air fryer in the middle aisle... and it has 3l capacity The energy regulator Ofgem confirmed the new price cap yesterday, which comes into effect on January 1, 2025. The average dual fuel bill for those not on a fixed deal will rise from its current rate of £1,717 a year to £1,738 . As more households feel the pinch, investing in an efficient cooker could be a great way to cut their energy use and save precious pounds. How does it compare? The Ambiano Slow Cooker is cheaper than the Cookworks Slow Cooker of the same size, sold at Sainsbury's fpr £33. The two have the same wattage and are therefore about the same price to run. It is also cheaper than the Morphy Richards Sear & Stew version sold in Tesco - which is a steeper £69.99. However, at 163 W, this is cheaper to run - at only 4p per hour. Aldi's version is slightly more expensive than the Daewoo Stainless Steel Slow Cooker - currently on sale at Asda for £23. However, at 300 W, the Asda one is more expensive to run - at about 7p per hour. What energy bill help is available? There's a number of different ways to get help paying your energy bills if you're struggling to get by. If you fall into debt, you can always approach your supplier to see if they can put you on a repayment plan before putting you on a prepayment meter. This involves paying off what you owe in instalments over a set period. If your supplier offers you a repayment plan you don't think you can afford, speak to them again to see if you can negotiate a better deal. Several energy firms have schemes available to customers struggling to cover their bills. But eligibility criteria vary depending on the supplier and the amount you can get depends on your financial circumstances. For example, British Gas or Scottish Gas customers struggling to pay their energy bills can get grants worth up to £2,000. British Gas also offers help via its British Gas Energy Trust and Individuals Family Fund. You don't need to be a British Gas customer to apply for the second fund. EDF, E.ON, Octopus Energy and Scottish Power all offer grants to struggling customers too. Thousands of vulnerable households are missing out on extra help and protections by not signing up to the Priority Services Register (PSR). The service helps support vulnerable households, such as those who are elderly or ill. Some of the perks include being given advance warning of blackouts, free gas safety checks and extra support if you're struggling. Get in touch with your energy firm to see if you can apply. How to save money at Aldi Unlike other major grocers, Aldi does not have a rewards or point card system but that does not mean you cannot save on your shop. Every week the store releases a list of special buys, which are unique bargain products you find online at Aldi and in-store. The store releases a fresh range of deals every Thursday and Sunday, so be sure to check regularly to see what's new. Read more on the Scottish Sun 'DISAPPOINTED' Harry Potter steam train blasted by passengers who 'dreaded' return journey COLD BEERS SPFL side spotted going for a PINT after their bus got stuck in the snow Meanwhile, the store also regularly sells fruit and vegetables at highly discounted prices, as part of its ‘super six’ deal. It also does weekly saving offers on typically pricey items such as meat and fish. How to bag a bargain SUN Savers Editor Lana Clements explains how to find a cut-price item and bag a bargain... Sign up to loyalty schemes of the brands that you regularly shop with. Big names regularly offer discounts or special lower prices for members, among other perks. Sales are when you can pick up a real steal. Retailers usually have periodic promotions that tie into payday at the end of the month or Bank Holiday weekends, so keep a lookout and shop when these deals are on. Sign up to mailing lists and you’ll also be first to know of special offers. It can be worth following retailers on social media too. When buying online, always do a search for money off codes or vouchers that you can use vouchercodes.co.uk and myvouchercodes.co.uk are just two sites that round up promotions by retailer. Scanner apps are useful to have on your phone. Trolley.co.uk app has a scanner that you can use to compare prices on branded items when out shopping. Bargain hunters can also use B&M’s scanner in the app to find discounts in-store before staff have marked them out. And always check if you can get cashback before paying which in effect means you’ll get some of your money back or a discount on the item.None

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Within a day of their $25 billion merger’s falling apart in court , Kroger and Albertsons were each planning to move forward with share repurchases to boost their stock prices and reward investors. America’s two largest grocery store operators had argued that they’d be better able to lower prices for shoppers by joining forces. Doing so, they said, would boost their negotiating power with suppliers and make it easier to take on much bigger retailers that compete with them in grocery sales, such as Walmart, Costco and Amazon. > Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are The Biden administration disagreed, with the Federal Trade Commission saying in a lawsuit countering the merger that the deal threatened to drive down workers’ wages and bargaining power and reduce industry competition, potentially pushing food prices higher. With the deal now dead, it’s impossible to know whether any of that would have happened. But U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson of Oregon sounded a note of skepticism, writing in her decision Tuesday that the chains’ promises to invest in lower prices were “neither merger-specific nor verifiable, so there is no guarantee” that shoppers would benefit. “The promise to make a price investment is not legally binding, and the Court must give limited weight to a non-binding promise made during these proceedings,” she said. A Superior Court judge in Seattle agreed with Nelson’s ruling and issued an injunction against the merger Tuesday. On Wednesday, Albertsons terminated the deal and sued Kroger , alleging its erstwhile partner didn’t do enough to secure regulators’ blessing. The drama unfolded just as the federal government released new inflation data for November showing grocery prices continue to inch higher. The costs of food eaten at home were 1.6% higher last month than they were the same time last year — a smaller uptick than the 2.7% annual inflation rate overall but accelerating 0.5% from the previous month after a 0.1% rise from September to October. Food prices tend to be volatile, but a broad range of items from produce to poultry notched increases in a wholesale inflation report that came in hotter than expected Thursday. Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world. Kroger on Wednesday reiterated its “commitment to lower prices,” saying it has invested billions in cost reductions over the past two decades. The chain also said it has spent $2.4 billion on pay hikes since 2018 and up to $3.8 billion in annual store improvements. Albertsons similarly promised to stay focused on “improving our value proposition with customers.” Neither company offered more details about their price-cutting plans, and Albertsons declined to comment further. Kroger said only that it provides value to customers “through competitive pricing, loyalty discounts, personalized offers, fuel rewards and a unique private label portfolio.” At the same time, both grocery chains said this week that they’d be pouring billions of dollars into moves that will benefit their shareholders. Kroger said it would repurchase $7.5 billion of its shares after a more than two-year pause, with $5 billion of that to be repurchased in an accelerated fashion — the same sum that Kroger estimated Wednesday it has spent to lowering prices over the past 21 years. Albertsons said it would repurchase $2 billion of its shares and increase the dividend it pays to owners of its stock by 25%. Stock repurchases — which reduce the number of shares available, driving up the value of those that remain — and dividend payments benefit all investors but especially those with the biggest stakes. Top shareholders typically include large Wall Street firms with the financial firepower to buy and hold millions of shares of publicly traded companies. The Vanguard Group, the country’s largest mutual fund provider, and BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, with over $11.5 trillion under its supervision, have the largest stakes in Albertsons. Wall Street investment firm Cerberus Capital Management, Vanguard, BlackRock and billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate are the top owners of Kroger shares. “With both of these companies, there was a lot of hope [put] into the merger — that it was a way of generating growth. Those things aren’t happening now,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of the retail consultancy GlobalData. Repurchasing shares could help inject more “optimistic sentiment” among investors, effectively reassuring them “‘we’ll generate good returns for you,’” he said. Kroger’s stock has been trading roughly 3% higher since Wednesday, while Albertsons’ had clawed back roughly all its losses following the ruling by late Thursday. In the meantime, consumer groups and labor advocates are hailing the blocked merger as a victory for shoppers and workers and as a vindication of the Biden administration’s antitrust efforts during its final weeks in office. The judges in the case “correctly saw the merger as a huge threat to the jobs and benefits of thousands of their members working for those chains and the communities in which they live,” said Seth Harris, a law and policy professor at Northeastern University and a former top labor adviser in the Biden White House. Thomas Gremillion, director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America, said, “Combining two of the four largest food retailers would have also reduced consumer choice, leading to fewer alternatives to low-quality, ultra-processed foods.” “Unfortunately, the Trump administration seems unlikely to build on this important step towards restoring competition in food retail,” Gremillion said, citing President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Andrew Ferguson to replace Lina Khan atop the FTC. That’s a sign that “Big Food will only be getting bigger over the next four years,” he predicted. In a September campaign stop at a grocery store in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, Trump slammed the Biden-Harris administration over the costs of everything from eggs and cereal to ground beef. “Bacon is through the roof,” he said. Trump said Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange that increasing oil and natural gas drilling would help lower inflation, including for food prices, a promise energy analysts have viewed skeptically . But in a Time magazine profile published Thursday, he said of groceries: “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard.” This article first appeared on NBCNews.com . Read more from NBC News here:None

NoneShare to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin This is the published version of Forbes' Future of Work newsletter, which offers the latest news for chief human resources officers and other talent managers on disruptive technologies, managing the workforce and trends in the remote work debate. Click here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday! TOPSHOT - A migrant worker works on a farm in Homestead, Florida on May 11, 2023. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed an immigration bill that creates stricter laws for undocumented immigrants in the state of Florida. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images) W hat impact will the incoming Trump Administration’s policies on immigration have on staffing and hiring for needed jobs—particularly the less desirable ones that immigrants, and especially undocumented ones, have long filled in this country? It’s a question that has caused much consternation and fear , and has led to warnings about troubling economic consequences. The New York Times , for instance, reported that when economists studied the effects of 400,000 deportations of unauthorized immigrants between 2008 and 2013, they found that for every 100 people removed from the labor market because of deportations, there were nine fewer jobs for U.S.-born workers. That may very well prove to be the case. But Forbes’ Brandon Kochkodin reports that, at least in Florida, the impact was different . A law in the Sunshine State that took effect last summer required businesses with 25 or more employees to use E-Verify, an online system run by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration, to confirm the immigration status of new hires. Part of a broader effort to crack down on undocumented workers in the state, the law was criticized for placing extra burdens on small businesses, especially in agriculture, construction and hospitality, where finding workers was already difficult. But Kochkodin reports that so far, the critics have been wrong . According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the state’s gross domestic product increased by 9.2% last year, tops in the nation and outpacing the national average by nearly 3 percentage points. Of course, Trump has promised an immigration policy that's harsher than Florida’s, including mass deportations—something the state can’t do. The economic impact could be much, much bigger. But Kochkodin notes that Trump is a negotiator known for pushing for more to get what he wants or will settle for, and if deportations are more targeted—and at this point, it’s still anyone’s guess—Florida’s law and its impact could provide some insight. Read more of Kochkodin’s story here . ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE The Department of Justice filed sweeping proposals last week that would force Google to sell off its popular Chrome browser, ban distribution contracts like the one Google has with Apple, or potentially bar Google from requiring Android phone makers to include Google apps on their devices, Forbes’ Richard Nieva reports . But there was more to the news: The government also included provisions that could hobble Google’s role in the future of AI, Nieva reported. Read more here . Can artificial intelligence be a decent manager? New research from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania says yes. The study, conducted by professor Lindsey Cameron, looked at an existing example of workers overseen by an AI-powered manager: ride-hail drivers responding to apps such as Uber or Lyft. While mechanized management may seem like it lacks empathy, it works well for some roles, Cameron reported. Ride-hail drivers, for instance, actually enjoy working with their AI-driven apps, the research found. HUMAN CAPITAL Donald Trump’s incoming administration aims to make major cuts to the powers of the federal agency that protects unions, with corporations such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX hitting the National Labor Relations Board with lawsuits, and allies of the president-elect considering firing the board’s Democratic members, the Washington Post reported . Last week, SpaceX and Amazon, which is the nation’s second-largest private employer, argued in federal court that the NLRB’s structure is unconstitutional. HYBRID WORK Think hybrid work innovations are just for small, cutting-edge companies? Think again. Bloomberg examined how Allstate, the nearly 100-year-old insurance giant, has ditched two-thirds of its office space and sold its Chicago headquarters, replacing it with offices for about a quarter of the company’s employees that are booked by the day through a coworking platform known as LiquidSpace. “Allstate is trying to thread the needle with a mix of options that keep flexibility a priority,” writes Bloomberg’s Matthew Boyle. WHAT’S NEXT: MERCOR COFOUNDER BRENDAN FOODY Mercor cofounder Brendan Foody. Forbes spoke recently with Brendan Foody, 21, one of the cofounders of AI-powered jobs marketplace Mercor, which recently raised a $32 million Series A led by Benchmark with high-profile investors like Peter Thiel, Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. Mercor uses AI to vet and interview job candidates in hopes of building what Foody calls a “global unified labor market,” and he says it’s on track to grow 5000 percent this year. (No, there’s not an extra zero there.) Excerpts from the interview below have been edited for length and clarity. Let’s start with getting just a big picture idea of some of the ways you see tools like this changing the way people go about searching for a new role. The heart of the inefficiency in how people find jobs is that a given candidate only applies to a couple dozen jobs or even a handful, and a given company only considers a fraction of a percent of the people in the market. The reason for that is there’s this matching problem that needs to be solved manually. People need to manually review resumes, manually conduct interviews, and have these conversations to figure out who's a good fit to go where. But when you're able to build technology that can solve this matching problem at the cost of software, it makes way for a global unified labor market that's far more efficient, where every candidate takes an interview with one company and every company hires from that one centralized platform. We have a strong conviction in this centralization thesis. It'll make sense that in ten years everyone's applying to one platform. Every company is hiring from one platform, and we want to be that platform. The secret sauce behind our business is predicting how well some will perform in a job better than a human can. ... We collect all the data on who's getting promoted, who's getting dismissed, who's getting bonuses because all of that is flowing through our platform. So LinkedIn is seen as a competitor, right? Yeah, I think in a lot of ways. But LinkedIn is only focused on this very thin layer of what are the companies [where] someone's worked. Our focus is how can we build—get so much information on someone—that we we're able to predict how well they [will] perform on a job. What kind of roles do you hire for? We're still very focused on contract roles because that's where there’s a high ratio of the cost of assessing talent proportional to how long they're in the role. ... The top [job category] is code, but we also have a very significant presence in finance, consulting, law, accounting, PhDs in various disciplines like biology, physics, chemistry. How often are humans not part of the interview process? Very frequently. That's the way we do most hiring. Where do you go next after contract roles? The way that you would hire a great contract consultant is not that different from the way you would hire a great full-time consultant. ... We’re very much planning on moving into all full-time roles. Everything that you could assess via a Zoom interview the models will be good at assessing. This includes software engineering, and most knowledge work. The thing it might not include is executive jobs. [One of our investors] has studied a lot of labor marketplaces and he's realized that there's a 50 to 1 ratio of applicants relative to people that get jobs in the average labor marketplace. It creates this challenge as your scaling: Most people aren't getting jobs. But if you're able to create intrinsic value for the applicant, regardless of whether they get a job, it allows you to grow much more quickly and allow hundreds of millions of people to come onto the platform but still have good experiences. So we’re pumping a lot of money into giving away free AI mock interviews, free AI resumé feedback and eventually, free AI career advice. How does it work? They would pay us per hour that someone works. We take a percentage, then we pay the contractor that's working with [the company] on this staffing arrangement. It might be they're paying $100 an hour for [a consulting job], and we take a 30% fee and then pay $70 [an hour] to the person. The reason we're so focused on that structure is that for us, the North Star is predicting who's going to perform well on jobs. So we want all the business logic of who's getting bonuses for what reasons and who's getting promoted for what reasons, which translates into better predictions. FACTS + COMMENT The New York Times examined a new report from the Burning Glass Institute that looks at so-called “ launchpad jobs ,” or promising starter jobs that opened doors to larger career paths. The report examined job-site profiles, government data and surveys to compile career histories of more than 65 million American workers, the Times reported. The research was commissioned by the nonprofit American Student Assistance, which offers online career readiness tools and information. 1 in 5: The ratio of workers with only a high school diploma that earned more than $70,000 a year—above the median income of college graduates—by the age of 40 73 : The number of “launchpad jobs” identified by the report, which include bank teller, pharmacy aide, telemarketer and flight attendant “The real power of a launchpad job is what it can lead to, the next job and the one after that”—Matt Sigelman, president of the Burning Glass Institute, to the New York Times STRATEGIES + ADVICE Open enrollment season is almost over. Here are five resources to craft competitive work-family employee benefits next year. A professor of ethics and finance shares how businesses can prepare for the incoming Trump Administration and balance the pursuit of profit with ethical practices. Here are three skills leaders can use to navigate post-election tension at work. VIDEO QUIZ In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, who called for a full-time return to office for federal employees? Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and CEO William Lewis Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy President-elect Donald Trump Vice President-elect JD Vance Check out if you got the answer right here . Editorial Standards Forbes Accolades Join The Conversation One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. Forbes Community Guidelines Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space. In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site's Terms of Service. We've summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil. 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Courtland Sutton's surge is helping rookie Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos make a playoff pushMike Lindell says he has no money and was duped into 409% interest rate loan

Sundog Theatre to perform ‘A Christmas Carol’ at the Empire Outlets Dec. 7Coordinator to Prime Minister Rana Ihsan Afzal on Wednesday said that leaders of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI), are still promoting politics of agitation and spreading chaos in the country through public meeting ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Nov, 2024) Coordinator to Rana Ihsan Afzal on Wednesday said that leaders of Tehreek e Insaf ( ), are still promoting of agitation and spreading chaos in the country through public meeting. PTI leaders are avoiding talks with main political parties, he said while talking to a private channel. PTI is responsible for halting economic and activities in the country, he said. No one would be allowed to create hindrance in the economic of the country, he warned. negative agenda and tactics for spreading chaos in the country has failed, he said. To a question, he said the is taking possible measures to achieve high economic growth target in near future.WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen Keith Kellogg, a highly decorated retired three-star general, to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg, who is one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for the incoming administration, will come into the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year in February. Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social account, and said “He was with me right from the beginning! Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!” Kellogg, an 80 year-old retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence , was chief of staff of the National Security Council and then stepped in as an acting security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned. As special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Kellogg will have to navigate an increasingly untenable war between the two nations. The Biden administration has begun urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilization laws to allow for the conscription of troops as young as 18. The White House has pushed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more to Kyiv before Biden leaves office in less than months. Trump has criticized the billions that the Biden administration has poured into Ukraine. Washington has recently stepped up weapons shipments and has forgiven billions in loans provided to Kyiv. The incoming Republican president has said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. As a co-chairman of the American First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security, Kellogg wrote several of the chapters in the group’s policy book. The book, like the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” is a move to lay out a Trump national security agenda and avoid the mistakes of 2016 when he entered the White House largely unprepared. Kellogg in April wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.” Trump's proposed national security advisor U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) tweeted Wednesday that “Keith has dedicated his life to defending our great country and is committed to bringing the war in Ukraine to a peaceful resolution.” Kellogg was a character in multiple Trump investigations dating to his first term. He was among the administration officials who listened in on the July 2019 call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump prodded his Ukrainian counterpart to pursue investigations into the Bidens. The call, which Kellogg would later say did not raise any concerns on his end, was at the center of the first of two House impeachment cases against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate both times. On Jan. 6, 2021, hours before pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Kellogg, who was then Pence’s national security adviser, listened in on a heated call in which Trump told his vice president to object or delay the certification in Congress of President Joe Biden ’s victory. He later told House investigators that he recalled Trump saying to Pence words to the effect of: “You’re not tough enough to make the call.” Baldor reported from Washington. AP writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

BRASILIA, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Harley Sandoval, an evangelical pastor, real estate agent and mining entrepreneur, was arrested in July 2023 for illegally exporting 294 kilos of gold from Brazil's Amazon to the United States, Dubai and Italy. On paper, the gold was sourced from a legal prospect Sandoval was licensed to mine in the northern state of Tocantins. But police said not an ounce of gold had been mined there since colonial times. Using cutting-edge forensic technology, along with satellite imagery, Brazil's Federal Police said it was able to establish that the exported gold did not come from the Tocantins prospect. Instead, it had been dug up from three different wildcat mines in neighboring Pará, some on protected Indigenous reservation lands, according to previously unreported court documents dated November 2023 seen by Reuters. The prosecution is one of the first in Brazil using the new technology to tackle clandestine trading that may account for as much as half of the gold output of Brazil, a major producer and exporter of the precious metal. Illegal gold mining has surged at thousands of sites in the Amazon rainforest, bringing environmental destruction and criminal violence to the region. Seizures of illegally mined gold have surged seven-fold in the past seven years, according to Federal Police records obtained exclusively by Reuters. Sandoval, who has been released pending trial and continues to preach with his wife at a Pentecostal Evangelical church in the central Brazilian city of Goiania, denies the allegations. He maintains there is no way to establish where the gold was mined once it is melted down into ingots for export. "That's impossible. To export gold one always has to melt it down," he told Reuters by telephone. Historically, gold is notoriously difficult to trace, especially once metal from different sources has been melted together, erasing the original signatures. After that, it can easily be traded as a financial asset or be used in the jewelry industry. But investigators say that's starting to change. A police program called "Targeting Gold" is creating a database of samples from across Brazil that are examined with radio-isotope scans and fluorescence spectroscopy to determine the unique composition of elements. The technique, long used in archaeology, was pioneered in mining by University of Pretoria geologist Roger Dixon to help distinguish between legal and stolen gold. The program developed in partnership with university researchers includes the use of powerful light beams from a particle accelerator at a Sao Paulo lab to study nano-sized impurities associated with gold, be it dirt or other metals like lead or copper, that help trace its origins. Humberto Freire, director of the Federal Police's recently-created Environment and Amazon Department, said the technology allows scientists to analyze "the DNA of Brazilian gold." "Nature has marked the gold with isotopes and we can read these unique fingerprints with radio-isotope scans," Freire said. "With this tool we can trace illegal gold before it gets refined for export." The program has helped fuel an increase in gold seizures since leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office last year — up 38% in 2023 from 2022, according to government numbers seen by Reuters. New Brazil central bank gold market regulations, including mandatory electronic tax receipts for all trades and tightened monitoring of suspect transactions, have also helped, according to Freire. "We estimate that around 40% of the gold that is extracted in the Amazon is illegal," he told Reuters. Brazil exported 110 tonnes of gold in 2020 worth $5 billion, according to official data, ranking among the world's top 20 exporters. Last year, exports were 77.7 tonnes, a drop the government attributes to improved enforcement of illegal mining. Lula's predecessor, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro weakened environmental controls in the Amazon. That triggered a new gold rush in Brazil, spurred by record world gold prices that were driven up by geopolitical tensions and central bank purchases , led by China. Prices have continued to new highs, trading at around $2,650 per ounce on Friday. Gold rushes have been a hallmark of mineral-rich Brazil from its Portuguese colonial past. But the latest surge in wildcat mining beginning during Bolsonaro's administration has been unprecedented. Satellite images show there are some 80,000 such prospects today in the Amazon rainforest, more than ever registered before. Once dominated by prospectors with gold pans, artisanal mining in Brazil has become an industrial-scale activity with heavy excavating machinery and million-dollar river dredgers. Criminal organizations fly people, equipment and gold into and out of the region with helicopters and planes that land at clandestine airstrips. Their excavations often leave behind gaping ponds of sludge contaminated with mercury , used to separate the gold from dirt and other minerals. Last year, thousands of miners who invaded the Yanomami territory, the country's largest Indigenous reservation on the northern border with Venezuela, brought violence and disease that caused malnutrition and a humanitarian crisis among the tribe, prompting Lula to send in troops. But many returned this year after the military pulled out. Lula, who has pledged to stamp out illegal gold mining, tried to fight back by deploying special forces of the environmental protection agency Ibama into Indigenous reservations and forest conservation parks. Police say cracking down on the organized crime gangs that back the wildcat miners is the next step in staunching an illegal trade that feeds the jewelry and watch industry in Switzerland, which buys 70% of Brazil's exported gold, according to government trade data. Amazon neighbors, including Colombia and French Guiana, are considering adopting the Brazilian gold analysis method to deal with their illegal gold trade and European governments have shown interest, including Switzerland and Britain, the top importers from Brazil after Canada, police and diplomats said. Brazil accounts for just 1% of gold imported by Switzerland, a global trade hub for the metal, and "measures are in place to import only legally mined gold," a Swiss embassy statement said. The embassy said it has set up a working group with other importing countries to study traceability and anti-counterfeiting tools. A 2022 study by non-profit watchdog Instituto Escolhas found that 52% of the gold exported from the Amazon was illegal, nearly all from protected Indigenous reservation lands or national conservation parks. A vibrant lobby for informal gold mining has survived Bolsonaro in Brazil's Conservative Congress, where pending bills propose legalizing wildcat mining. For now, though, gold samples from across Brazil are being added to a database with the help of scientists at the Federal Police's criminology institute lab in Brasilia, where forensic expert Erich Moreira Lima oversees microscopic scanning of gold nuggets that are kept in a safe. "Now that we have a team set up, we hope to analyze the 30,000 gold samples the Brazilian Geological Service has collected. In a few years, we should have mapped all Brazil's 24 gold producing regions," he told Reuters. Geologist Maria Emilia Schutesky and her team at the National University of Brasilia's geosciences lab conduct mass spectrometry scans on gold samples to identify associated molecules, such as lead, to place the gold's origins. "We researchers seek a 100% ability to trace gold, but that is more than what the police needs to prove a crime, which is just to establish that the gold does not come from where a suspects claims it is from," Schutesky said. Sign up here. Reporting by Ricardo Brito and Anthony Boadle; Editing by Christian Plumb and Claudia Parsons Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab Thomson Reuters Anthony has covered Brazilian politics since 2012, the narrow 2022 election of leftist President Lula following four years of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, and the turbulence faced by Brazilian democracy. He has reported from Chile under General Pinochet and from Havana under Fidel Castro. He has also covered U.S.-Latin American affairs from Washington 1995-2002. Anthony holds an M.A. in Politics from Essex University.University of Phoenix Leadership Presents at 1EdTech

DETROIT – If President-elect Donald Trump makes good on his threat to kill federal tax credits for electric vehicle purchases, it's likely that fewer buyers will choose EVs. Yet tax credits or not, auto companies show no intention of retreating from a steady transition away from gas-burning cars and trucks, especially given the enormous investment they have already made: Since 2021, the industry has spent at least $160 billion on planning, designing and building electric vehicles, according to the Center for Auto Research. Recommended Videos In campaigning for the presidency, Trump condemned the federal tax for EV buyers — up to $7,500 per vehicle — as part of a “green new scam” that would devastate the auto industry. His transition team is reportedly working on plans to abolish the tax credits and to roll back the more stringent fuel-economy rules that were pushed through by the Biden administration. It is far from clear, though, that the Trump administration could actually rescind the credits. Trump's argument — one that most economists dispute — is that a rapid U.S. shift toward electric vehicles would lead to most EVs being made in China and would swell prices for America’s auto buyers. He has said he would redirect federal revenue recaptured from a canceled tax credit to build roads, bridges and dams. Ending the credits, which were a key provision of President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, almost certainly would reduce EV sales, which have been growing in the United States this year, though not nearly as fast as automakers had expected. The slowing growth has forced nearly all auto companies to scale back EV production and delay construction of battery factories that are no longer needed to handle a more gradual transition. Jonathan Chariff, an executive at Midway Ford in Miami, one of the company's top EV-selling dealers, said he thinks ending the tax credits would severely hurt sales. The credits reduce monthly payments, he noted, making an EV closer in price to a gasoline counterpart. “It becomes more affordable,” he said. “Otherwise, those individuals won't be able to afford the payments.” Chariff calculated that the $7,500 credit could shrink a buyer's monthly payment by between $200 and $250, allowing many to afford an EV. On average, electric vehicles sell for about $57,000, compared with around $48,000 for a gasoline vehicle, according to Cox Automotive. (Though they cost more up front, EVs generally are cheaper to operate because maintenance costs are lower, and in most cases electricity is much cheaper than gasoline.) To qualify for the credits, EVs must be built in North America. EVs that contain battery parts or minerals from China or any other nation that is deemed an economic or security threat to the United States qualify for only half the federal credit. Because of that restriction, most of the 75 EV models on sale in the U.S. are not eligible for the full credit. All EVs, though, can receive the full credit toward a lease — a benefit that Trump likely will target. Some plug-in gas-electric hybrids qualify for the credits, too. Asked about the president-elect's opposition to EV tax credits, Trump's transition team would say only that he has “a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail.” Elon Musk, a close adviser to Trump and co-leader of a commission that intends to identify ways to vastly shrink the federal government, appears to be aligned with the president-elect in canceling the tax credits. Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla who spent an estimated $200 million to help elect Trump, has said that ending the credits would hurt his rival companies more than it would Tesla, the U.S. sales leader in EVs by far. “I think it would be devastating for our competitors and would hurt Tesla slightly,” he said. Even so, it might prove difficult for Trump to rescind the credits without help from the new Republican-led Congress, many of whose members represent districts where the EV credit is popular. Trump has floated the idea of using a constitutional theory by which a president could decide whether or not to spend money Congress has appropriated. The president-elect has promoted the concept of “impoundment,” under which congressional appropriations set a ceiling — but not a floor — for spending federal money. John Helveston, an assistant professor at George Washington University who studies electric vehicles and policies, said that in his view, the impoundment theory wouldn't apply in this circumstance because the EV tax credits affect government revenue and are not an appropriation. In any case, Helveston said he doubts Trump could persuade Republican lawmakers to remove the credits from the Inflation Reduction Act because so many congressional districts benefit from the tax breaks. “Cutting the EV tax credit makes it harder for the battery factory in their town to sell their product,” he noted. A 1974 federal law bars a president from substituting his own view of spending programs, said David Rapallo, associate law professor at Georgetown University. If Trump cancelled the tax credits, Rapallo said, it would be challenged in court. Research by J.D. Power shows that once people know about the tax credits, they're far more likely to consider an electric vehicle. In the meantime, federal subsides, not only for buyer tax credits but also for converting factories to EV production, are helping General Motors, Ford and Stellantis make the enormously expensive transition away from gasoline vehicles. It's also helping Detroit's Big Three compete with foreign rivals, notably Chinese automakers that received government subsidies and had a head start in developing EVs, said Sam Fiorani, a vice president at the consultancy AutoForecast Solutions. At present, Ford and GM, while profitable overall, are losing money on EVs, unlike Tesla, though both expect their electric-vehicle operations to generate positive earnings in the coming years as costs ease and more vehicles are sold. Eliminating the federal tax credits, Fiorani suggested, would “hurt the Detroit Three in the long run as they become less competitive against global players making the technological leaps” for electric vehicles, GM, Ford and Stellantis all declined to comment, though their executives have said in the past that they will continue to develop EVs while still selling gasoline vehicles and hybrids. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group that represents most automakers, has written to Trump in support of the tax credits, arguing that they help ensure that the U.S. “continues to lead in manufacturing critical to our national and economic security.” Hyundai, the Korean automaker, which has spent more than $7 billion on an EV factory in Georgia, could also suffer. The company sped up construction of the huge plant near Savannah and is now building EVs in the United States to try to capitalize on the tax credits for buyers. In the end, most automakers say their ambitious plans for transitioning to electric vehicles won't change regardless of policy changes in Washington. “We plan for the long term, so political considerations aren’t a factor in how we approach product development or capital investments,” said David Christ, vice president of Toyota North America, which is building a battery factory in North Carolina. ____ AP writers Fatima Hussein in Washington and Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Polkadot (DOT) or Lightchain AI—Who Will Lead the Next Blockchain Revolution?Opposition to move impeachment motion against HC judge in Rajya Sabha todayWith more and more industries switching to digital transformations, coding skills have indeed become a necessity for 2025. For aspiring developers, career changers, and tech enthusiasts, coding bootcamps have become the go-to resource for acquiring in-demand skills in a fraction of the time traditional degrees require. Here’s a look at the most popular coding bootcamps in 2025 and why they’re making waves in the tech education space. Next Cohort Start Date: February 5, 2025 Register Here: Flatiron School Registration Even in 2025, the Flatiron school has continued to hold status as the best coding bootcamp. Known for its robust rules and strong career support, the school offers software engineering, data science, and cybersecurity programs. With a commitment to personalized learning pathways and industry-aligned projects, Flatiron ensures its students graduate job-ready. The school's ability to mix off-campus and on-campus learning options makes it flexible to learners worldwide. Next Cohort Start Date: February 20, 2025 Register Here: App Academy Registration The unique tuition payment model of App Academy—which allows students to pay only when they have a job—is indeed a differentiating factor. Furthermore, their software engineering program offers a curriculum ranging from algorithms to full-stack development for intensive study. The job placement rate and the successful alumni of App Academy are thus enticing to ambitious students. Next Cohort Start Date: March 1, 2025 Register Here: Springboard Registration Springboard is known for its mentorship-driven approach to online learning. The courses are focused on software engineering, data science, and UI/UX design , and students work with industry mentors to build skills. Flexible schedules and a job guarantee make Springboard a favorite option for busy professionals. Next Cohort Start Date: January 30, 2025 Register Here: Ironhack Registration Ironhack stands for hands-on, project-based learning. Boot camps in web development , UX/UI design, and data analytics prepare students for real-world challenges. In addition, the global presence and partnerships with the technology industry have further established Ironhack as an excellent place to advance one's career in the tech world. Next Cohort Start Date: February 25, 2025 Register Here: Thinkful Registration Maintaining its top-ranking position, Thinkful is focused on its career outcomes. Thinkful programs are available in engineering, data analytics, and product design. Thinkful offers one-on-one mentorship, flex pacing, and a tuition refund promise in these fields. Thinkful also provides great career coaching and mock interviews that help thousands of graduates land their dream jobs. Next Cohort Start Date: February 8, 2025 Register Here: CareerFoundry Registration CareerFoundry has set a few benchmarks for achieving recognition through a simple online platform alongside very career-oriented approaches to study. It provides boot camps in UX/UI design, web development, and data analytics while offering a one-to-one mentorship model, flexible timelines, job placement guarantees, and alumni support that arguably makes it one of the best online boot camps for career changes. Reasons Why Bootcamps Are Popular in 2025 The coding bootcamps held up pretty well as they adapted to industry demands. Unlike conventional institutions and courses, these programs do not stop updating their study patterns to use current emerging technologies like blockchain, AI, and Web3 development. Boot camps also include students through flexible timing, mixed learning models, and diverse budgetary modalities. What Makes These Bootcamps Unique All the top bootcamps have common attributes in 2025: strong mentorship, experiential learning, and a focus on career outcomes. Employers trust these programs to produce skilled graduates, and many bootcamps have established hiring partnerships with top companies. In addition, soft skills such as communication and teamwork are emphasized in boot camps, making graduates wholesome professionals. Conclusion The need for skilled developers and designers will only grow as the tech landscape evolves. The most popular coding bootcamps in 2025 have risen to the challenge, offering students the tools and experience they need to succeed. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced professional, these bootcamps offer a fast track to a rewarding tech career.

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