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Horse Racing Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News. Debbie Kepitis has come up with an inspired choice of name for her $10 million Winx filly – Quinceañera. The two-year-old filly’s name is derived from a Latin American tradition that also spawned a famous animated television series. Mrs Kepitis wrote on social media that Quinceanera’s name is a “Latin American celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday, marking her passages from girlhood to womanhood, this young lady is stepping out of the shadow of her mum, Winx.’’ • PUNT LIKE A PRO : Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet’s team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW ! The owner-breeder told Racenet that both she and her family had spent many hours “researching and Googling” possible names for the two-year-old filly. “A lot of names we considered were already taken,’’ she explained. “Because Winx is a one word name we wanted her filly to have a one word name, too. “Then one day, we came across Quinceañera and the more we looked at it, the more we liked it.’’ Mrs Kepitis revealed that in the “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” animated television series, a “cute-ceañera” is a celebration for ponies who have earned their “cutie marks” or a unique symbol that is on one or both sides of their flanks. “The name is a play on the Latin American tradition of a ‘quinceañera’,’’ she said. Introducing Quinceañera (Pierro/Winx)ð Named after the Latin American celebration of a girl's 15th birthday, marking her passage from girlhood to womanhood, this young lady is stepping out of the shadow of her mum Winx. Merry Christmas from âQuinnieâ ð @DKepitis @cwallerracing pic.twitter.com/5l7ePR3ACG — Woppitt Bloodstock (@WoppittB) December 24, 2024 • Winx’s grave fight: ‘It was a rollercoaster, same as her racing career’ Quinceañera – pronounced “Kin-cea-neara” – created headlines around the racing world earlier this year when Mrs Kepitis went to $10 million to buy back the filly at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale. Mrs Kepitis had initially been prepared to sell Winx’s first live foal by Coolmore’s champion sire Pierro but in the days leading up to the sale, she had a change of heart. “We put the filly up for auction but in the last few weeks, all of my family, we started to miss our ‘daughter, granddaughter’, so we just decided if we could get her, we would,’’ Kepitis said earlier this year. There were essentially only two buyers – Mrs Kepitis, who was sitting with her family at a table inside the Inglis sale complex auditorium, and American John Stewart, bidding by phone from a restaurant in Kentucky . Bidding started at $2 million and quickly increased until Mrs Kepitis called out $10 million and the auctioneer’s gavel came down. Mrs Kepitis burst into tears at that moment, the emotion and enormity of the moment overwhelmed her. Debbie Kepitis reacts as she buys the Pierro-Winx filly for $10 million. Picture: File • ‘I’m done’: The man who bid $9m for Winx filly and still came up short “I don’t know what I was thinking – stress, anticipation, doubt, every emotion you could think of really,’’ Kepitis said. “I will never forget it when the gavel came down but mainly it was a feeling of relief. “Relief because we knew the filly was staying with us but it took a lot of determination to go to the amount we knew we may have to go to. “You are never prepared to spend that amount of money and yes we may have stretched ourselves more than we wanted to but she just tore at our heart strings.’’ Quinceañera is now in the Rosehill stables of Chris Waller, trainer of the mighty Winx, and is being prepared for a race debut later in the season. Winx, who won 37 of her 43 races including a world record 25 at Group 1 level, nearly died after losing her first foal by I Am Invincible in 2020. But Winx then got in foal to Pierro and her filly was born in October, two years ago. Winx gave birth to a colt by Arrowfield’s super sire Snitzel last month. Originally published as Quinceañera: The story behind name chosen by Debbie Kepitis for $10m Winx filly Join the conversation Add your comment to this story To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout More related stories Horse Racing Randwick, Newcastle previews: Patience paying off with Winston Hills Trainer Matthew Smith has taken it very slowly with promising gelding Winston Hills who is out to build on his record with a win at Randwick. Read more Horse Racing Randwick, Newcastle tips: Vanessi ready to go back-to-back The Chris Waller-trained Vanessi made amends for her first-up defeat with a big win at Canterbury and can make two in-a-row when she head to Randwick. Read moreFetterman says Trump deserves pardon since Hunter Biden got oneAMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. 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NoneRyan Levert, the youngest child of O’Jays lead vocalist Eddie Levert, has died. She was 22. LeMicah Levert and Carlysia Levert, grandchildren of Eddie Levert, confirmed Ryan’s death this week on Instagram. They are the children of Gerald Levert, Eddie’s late first son. “Whenever you don’t answer the phone I knew something was wrong and now I’m going to have that feeling forever,” LeMicah captioned an Instagram tribute to his late aunt . “I love you @missryanlevert! I wasn’t prepared for this,” he added. Carlysia remembered Ryan by posting a photo of her aunt accompanied by purple heart and dove emojis to her Instagram story . Neither of the social media posts revealed further information about Ryan’s death, including a cause of death. According to her Instagram biography, Ryan had been battling lupus . A representative for Eddie Lavert, 82, did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment. Ryan died nearly 20 years after her older brother Gerald died in November 2006 of a heart attack. He was 40. Sean Levert, the O’Jays singer’s second son, died in April 2008 after falling ill while carrying out a jail sentence in Cleveland. He was 39. Ryan was born in March 2002 and is the daughter of Eddie and his wife Raquel. She often shared her personal life with followers on Instagram, posting pictures of sweet moments with her father and videos of memorable moments, including her 21st birthday celebration in 2023. In her final Instagram post, Ryan looked forward to 2024. “Happy 2024,” she captioned photos from a chic photo shoot, “praying for good health, more love, and more laughter.” ©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.TORONTO, Dec. 05, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Profound Medical Corp. (TSX: PRN; NASDAQ: PROF) (“Profound” or the “Company”) today announced that it intends to offer and sell common shares (the “Common Shares”) in an underwritten public offering (the “Offering”). In addition, Profound expects to grant the underwriters of the Offering a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the Common Shares sold in the Offering. All of the securities in the Offering are being offered by Profound. The Offering is subject to market conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the Offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or terms of the Offering. The net proceeds of the Offering are expected to be used: (i) to fund the continued commercialization of the TULSA-PRO® system in the United States, (ii) to fund the continued development and commercialization of the TULSA-PRO® system and the Sonalleve® system globally, and (iii) for working capital and general corporate purposes. The Offering is expected to be completed pursuant to an underwriting agreement to be entered into between the Company and Raymond James Ltd. and Lake Street Capital Markets as co-lead underwriters and joint bookrunners, and a third underwriter. The Offering is expected to take place in each of the provinces and territories of Canada, except the province of Québec, and in the United States. The Offering is expected to close on or about December 10, 2024, subject to customary closing conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals including the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange. Profound will notify the Nasdaq Capital Market in accordance with the rules of that exchange. In connection with the Offering, the Company has filed a preliminary prospectus supplement (the “Preliminary Prospectus Supplement”) and intends to file a subsequent prospectus supplement (the “Prospectus Supplement”) to its short form base shelf prospectus dated July 10, 2024 (the “Base Shelf Prospectus”) in each of the provinces and territories of Canada relating to the proposed Offering. The Prospectus Supplement will also be filed in the United States with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) as part of the Company’s effective registration statement on Form F-10 (File no. 333-280236), as amended, previously filed under the multijurisdictional disclosure system adopted by the United States. Access to the Base Shelf Prospectus, the Prospectus Supplement, and any amendments to the documents will be provided in accordance with securities legislation relating to procedures for providing access to a shelf prospectus supplement, a base shelf prospectus and any amendment. The Base Shelf Prospectus is, and the Prospectus Supplement will be (within two business days of the date hereof), accessible on SEDAR+ at and on EDGAR at . The Common Shares are offered under the Prospectus Supplement. An electronic or paper copy of the Base Shelf Prospectus, the Prospectus Supplement (when filed), and any amendment to the documents may be obtained without charge, from Raymond James Ltd., Scotia Plaza, 40 King St. W., 54th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 3Y2, Canada, or by telephone at 416-777-7000 or by email at by providing the contact with an email address or address, as applicable. Copies of the Prospectus Supplement and the Base Shelf Prospectus will be available on EDGAR at or may be obtained without charge from Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Attention: Equity Syndicate, 880 Carillon Parkway, St. Petersburg, Florida 33716, by telephone at (800) 248-8863, or by email at , and from Lake Street Capital Markets, LLC, 920 2nd Ave S – Ste 700, Minneapolis, MN 55402, , (612) 326-1305. The Base Shelf Prospectus and Prospectus Supplement contain important, detailed information about the Company and the proposed Offering. Prospective investors should read the Base Shelf Prospectus and Prospectus Supplement (when filed) before making an investment decision. No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any province, territory, state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such province, territory, state or jurisdiction. Profound is a commercial-stage medical device company that develops and markets customizable, incision-free therapies for the ablation of diseased tissue. Profound is commercializing TULSA-PRO®, a technology that combines real-time MRI, robotically-driven transurethral ultrasound and closed-loop temperature feedback control. Profound is also commercializing Sonalleve®, an innovative therapeutic platform that is CE marked for the treatment of uterine fibroids and palliative pain treatment of bone metastases. This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Profound and its business which may include, but is not limited to, the Offering, including the Offering’s timing, pricing, underwriters, size, terms, selling jurisdictions, closing, over-allotment option, and use of proceeds; the availability and timing of the final prospectus supplement; and, the expectations regarding the efficacy and commercialization of Profound’s technology. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “is expected”, “expects”, “scheduled”, “intends”, “contemplates”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “proposes” or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Such statements are based on the current expectations of the management of Profound. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release, may not occur by certain specified dates or at all and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting the Company, including risks regarding the medical device industry, regulatory approvals, reimbursement, economic factors, the equity markets generally and risks associated with growth and competition. Although Profound has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Additional information about the risks and uncertainties of forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon which they are based is contained in the Company’s filings with securities regulators, which are available electronically through SEDAR+ at and EDGAR at . Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Profound undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, other than as required by law. Stephen Kilmer Investor Relations T: 647.872.4849
3 Korean Celebrities Named 2024’s “Worst-Mannered” By Movie Biz InsidersTORONTO — Strength in base metal stocks helped lift Canada's main stock index Tuesday, while U.S. stock markets were mixed. Markets took on a cautious tone Tuesday, said Greg Taylor, chief investment officer at Purpose Investments. “We had a super strong month of November across the board, and then yesterday was kind of a bit of a give back,” he said, noting that weakness in commodities held the TSX back on Monday. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 45.40 points on Tuesday at 25,635.73. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 76.47 points at 44,705.53. The S&P 500 index was up 2.73 points at 6,049.88, while the Nasdaq composite was up 76.96 points at 19,480.91. In Canada, Scotiabank was the first major bank to report earnings, with the rest to come in short order as the sector caps off earnings season. The bank saw its earnings rise year-over-year, and it set aside a smaller sum for loan losses than it did a year ago. However, its profit came in below analyst expectations, and Scotiabank said it expects continued pressure on loan growth in the coming months. Scotiabank’s share price fell more than three per cent, but Taylor said that was likely investors taking some profit after a strong several months for the stock. “There’s not a lot of expectations for any fireworks from the banks this week,” he said. In the U.S., a report showed U.S. employers advertised slightly more job openings at the end of October than they did the month before, ahead of the monthly jobs report at the end of the week. The U.S. Federal Reserve is set to make its last interest rate decision of the year later this month. “The payroll number Friday is going to be interesting to watch,” said Taylor. “It's certainly a case that if you did get a really strong number, you might get some people putting into question the need for another rate cut at this meeting.” But while economic strength and the promised policies of president-elect Donald Trump could mean fewer rate cuts than previously expected in 2025, Taylor said a cut from the Fed later this month is a “foregone conclusion.” In Canada, where the economy hasn’t weathered high rates as well, another cut is expected next week from the central bank, said Taylor. However, if the Fed does pull back on cuts in the coming year, Canada may have to move with more caution, he said, as the divergence could put further downward pressure on the loonie. The Canadian dollar traded for 71.14 cents US, compared with 71.14 cents US on Monday. The January crude oil contract was up US$1.84 at US$69.94 per barrel and the January natural gas contract was down 17 cents at US$3.04 per mmBTU. The February gold contract was up US$9.40 at US$2,667.90 an ounce and the March copper contract was up 13 cents at US$4.20 a pound. — With files from The Associated Press This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2024. Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD) Rosa Saba, The Canadian PressYes, it's illegal to take pictures of a movie at the theatersWASHINGTON — American Airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide Tuesday because of a technical problem just as the Christmas travel season kicked into overdrive and winter weather threatened more potential problems for those planning to fly or drive. Government regulators cleared American flights to get airborne about an hour after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a national ground stop for the airline. The order, which prevented planes from taking off, was issued at the airline's request. The airline said in an email that the problem was caused by trouble with vendor technology that maintains its flight operating system. An American Airlines employee wearing looks toward quiet check-in counters Tuesday in the American terminal at Miami International Airport in Miami. Dennis Tajer, a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, a union representing American Airlines pilots, said the airline told pilots at 7 a.m. Eastern that there was an outage affecting the system known as FOS. It handles different types of airline operations, including dispatch, flight planning, passenger boarding, as well as an airplane's weight and balance data, he said. People are also reading... Some components of FOS have gone down in the past, but a systemwide outage is rare, Tajer said. Flights were delayed across American's major hubs, with only 37% leaving on time, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company. Out of the 3,901 domestic and international American Airlines flights scheduled for Tuesday, 19 were canceled. Cirium noted that the vast majority of flights departed within two hours of their scheduled departure time. A similar percentage — 36% — arrived at their destinations as scheduled. Meanwhile, the flight-tracking site FlightAware reported that 3,712 flights entering or leaving the U.S., or serving domestic destinations, were delayed Tuesday, with 55 flights canceled. It did not show any flights from American Airlines. Cirium said Dallas-Fort Worth, New York's Kennedy Airport and Charlotte, North Carolina, saw the greatest number of delays. Washington, Chicago and Miami experienced considerably fewer delays. Travelers wait in line for security checks Tuesday at the Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles. Amid the travel problems, significant rain and snow were expected in the Pacific Northwest at least into Christmas Day. Showers and thunderstorms developed in the South. Freezing rain was reported in the Mid-Atlantic region near Baltimore and Washington, and snow fell in New York. Because the holiday travel period lasts weeks, airports and airlines typically have smaller peak days than they do during the rush around Thanksgiving, but the grind of one hectic day followed by another takes a toll on flight crews. Any hiccups — a winter storm or a computer outage — can snowball into massive disruptions. That is how Southwest Airlines stranded 2 million travelers in December 2022, and Delta Air Lines suffered a smaller but significant meltdown after a worldwide technology outage in July caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations even more disruptive than during slower periods. That is especially true for smaller budget airlines that have fewer flights and fewer options for rebooking passengers. Only the largest airlines, including American, Delta and United, have "interline agreements" that let them put stranded customers on another carrier's flights. An American Airlines employee wearing a Santa Claus hat walks through the American terminal Tuesday at Miami International Airport in Miami. This will be the first holiday season since a Transportation Department rule took effect that requires airlines to give customers an automatic cash refund for a canceled or significantly delayed flight. Most air travelers were already eligible for refunds, but they often had to request them. Passengers still can ask to get rebooked, which is often a better option than a refund during peak travel periods. Finding a last-minute flight on another airline tends to be expensive. An American spokesperson said Tuesday was not a peak travel day for the airline — with about 2,000 fewer flights than the busiest days — so the airline had somewhat of a buffer to manage the delays. The groundings happened as millions of travelers were expected to fly over the next 10 days. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 40 million passengers through Jan. 2. Airlines expect to have their busiest days on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. American Airlines employees check in travelers Tuesday in the American terminal at Miami International Airport in Miami. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations more disruptive than during slower periods. Even with just a brief outage, the cancellations have a cascading effect that can take days to clear up. About 90% of Americans traveling far from home over the holidays will be in cars, according to AAA. "Airline travel is just really high right now, but most people do drive to their destinations, and that is true for every holiday," AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said. Gasoline prices are similar to last year. The nationwide average Thursday was $3.04 a gallon, down from $3.13 a year ago, according to AAA. Charging an electric vehicle averages just under 35 cents per per kilowatt hour, but varies by state. Transportation-data firm INRIX says travel times on the nation's highways could be up to 30% longer than normal over the holidays, with Sunday expected to see the heaviest traffic. Flight nightmare? Here's how to get compensated Flight nightmare? Here's how to get compensated "It's not the destination, it's the journey," said American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ralph clearly was not among the travellers on one of more than 350 cancelled or 1,400 delayed flights after a worldwide tech outage caused by an update to Crowdstrike's "Falcon Sensor" software in July of 2023. U.S. airlines carried nearly 863 million travellers in 2023, with Canadian carriers accounting for another 150 million, many of whom experienced lost luggage, flight delays, cancellations, or were bumped off their flights. It's unclear how many of them were compensated for these inconveniences. Suffice it to say, posting a crabby rant on social media might temporarily soothe anger, but it won't put wasted money back in pockets. Money.ca shares what to know in order to be compensated for the three most common air travel headaches. Lost Luggage Bags elected to go on a vacay without you? Check off the following: If you expect a large payout, think again. Tariffs (air carrier contracts) limit the compensation amounts for "loss of, damage to, or the delay in delivery of baggage or other personal property." In the case of Air Canada, the maximum payout is $1,500 per passenger in the currency of the country where the baggage was processed. To raise that limit, purchase a Declaration of Higher Value for each leg of the trip. The charge is $0.50 for each $100, in which case the payout limit is $2,500. For Delta Air Lines, passengers are entitled to up to $3,800 in baggage compensation, though how much you'll receive depends on your flight. Delta will pay up to $2,080 for delayed, lost, and damaged baggage for international travellers, almost half of what U.S. domestic passengers can claim. If your flight is marked delayed for more than 30 minutes, approach the gate agent and politely request food and hotel vouchers to be used within the airport or nearby. Delayed/Cancelled Flights Different air carriers and jurisdictions have their own compensation policies when flights are delayed or cancelled. For example, under European Union rules, passengers may receive up to 600 Euros, even when travelling on a non-EU carrier. Similarly, the DOT states that travellers are entitled to a refund "if the airline cancelled a flight, regardless of the reason, and the consumer chooses not to travel." However, US rules regarding delays are complicated. Some air carriers, such as Air Canada, do not guarantee their flight schedules. They're also not liable for cancellations or changes due to "force majeure" such as weather conditions or labour disruptions. If the delay is overnight, only out-of-town passengers will be offered hotel accommodation. Nevertheless, many airlines do offer some compensation for the inconvenience. If your flight is marked delayed for more than 30 minutes, approach the gate agent and politely request food and hotel vouchers to be used within the airport or nearby. Flight Compensation in the U.S. In terms of cash compensation, what you'll get can differ significantly based on things like departure location, time, carrier, and ticket class. The DOT offers a helpful delay and cancellations dashboard designed to keep travellers informed about their compensation rights. The dashboard is particularly helpful because, as the DOT states on its website, "whether you are entitled to a refund depends on a lot of factors—such as the length of the delay, the length of the flight, and your particular circumstances." Flight Compensation in Canada The Canadian Transportation Agency is proposing air passenger protection regulations that guarantee financial compensation to travellers experiencing flight delays and cancellations, with the level of compensation varying depending on the situation and how much control the air carrier had. The proposed regulations include the following: The airline is obligated to complete the passenger's itinerary. If the new ticket is for a lower class of service, the air carrier would have to refund the cost difference; if the booking is in a higher class of service, passengers cannot be charged extra. If the passenger declines the ticket, the airline must give a full refund, in addition to the prescribed compensation. For overnight delays, the air carrier needs to provide hotel accommodation and transportation free-of-charge. Again, if you are unsatisfied, the Canadian Transportation Agency or Department of Transportation may advocate on your behalf. Bumped Off the Flight Passengers get bumped because airlines overbook. When this happens, the air carrier must compensate you. For international flights in the US, the rate is 200% of your one-way fare to your final destination, with a $675 maximum. If the airline does not make travel arrangements for you, the payout is 400% of your one-way fare to a maximum of $1,350. To qualify, you must check-in by the stated deadline, which on international flights can be up to 3 hours ahead. Keep in mind that if you accept the cash, you are no longer entitled to any further compensation, nor are you guaranteed to be rebooked on a direct flight or similar type of seat. Don't be too quick to give up your boarding pass. Negotiate for the best compensation deal that would include cash, food and hotel vouchers, flight upgrade, lounge passes, as well as mileage points. But avoid being too greedy—if the gate attendant is requesting volunteers and you wait too long, you'll miss the offer. According to Air Canada's tariff, if a passenger is involuntarily bumped, they'll receive $200, in cash or bank draft, for up to a two-hour delay; $400 for a 2-6 hours delay; and $800 if the delay is over six hours. (Air Canada was forced to raise its payouts in 2013 due to passenger complaints.) The new rules would raise the payout significantly: $900 for up to six hours; $1,800 for 6-9; and $2,400 for more than nine hours, all to be paid within 48 hours. Statistically speaking, Delta Airlines is the carrier most likely to bump. A few years ago, Delta raised its payout maximum to $9,950, while United Airlines tops out at $10,000. This story was produced by Money.ca and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!
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In this podcast, Motley Fool analyst Nick Sciple and host Ricky Mulvey discuss: Potential futures of and lingering questions about quantum computers . A restructuring at Warner Bros. Discovery that's pleasing its investors, and why the media conglomerate may be a falling knife. Then, Motley Fool contributor Lou Whiteman joins host Mary Long for a look at FedEx , and holiday shipping season. Visit our sponsor: Get $1,000 off Vanta at www.vanta.com/fool To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center . To get started investing, check out our beginner's guide to investing in stocks . A full transcript follows the video. This video was recorded on Dec. 12, 2024. Ricky Mulvey: We're going to the quantum verse. You're listening to Motley Fool Money. I'm Ricky Mulvey be joined today by Nick Sciple. Nick, good to see you. Nick Sciple: Great to be here with you, Ricky. Ricky Mulvey: Let's get into this Google announcement, which is a little tough to parse through anytime you're talking about quantum processes, but Alphabet announced a new quantum computing chip called Willow. The stock has jumped about 12% over the past week as Wall Street analysts pretend to understand quantum science. Now the stock is at an all time high. Google reporting that, "Willow performed a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes that would take one of today's fastest supercomputers, 10 septillion, that is 10 to the 25 years." We're getting into some logarithmic math. Sounds like this thing can get all the Bitcoin at once, Nick, but what does Google want from this research? Nick Sciple: Sure, I think Google just wants to stay on the cutting edge of new computing technology. As you laid out here, these quantum computers have the promise if they reach commercialization to do calculations that today's existing computers couldn't do in the entire history of the universe, if you are going to stretch out the time there. Just trying to push forward the state of the art of science as Google has done with their AI investments in the past and other places. This is one of the big focuses that Google has outside of their core business to just invest in innovation. Ricky Mulvey: For those who are unfamiliar with this game, and none of us are going to pretend to be quantum experts here. I don't want to put words in your mouth, Nick, but what can a quantum computer do that's so much better than a regular computer? Why are the researchers so interested in this? Nick Sciple: Yeah, without getting too deep down into the weeds, my understanding is you essentially use the fundamental particles of the universe to do the computing for you. Use atleast qubits, which is electrons, that sort of thing, which can exist in a superposition state. We're getting down into a complex physics. They can be both zero and one, at the same time, unlike classical computers, they have to be either zero or one, at any given particular time, this unlocks significant potential to perform multiple calculations at once, faster and simulate problems in large data sets you couldn't do today. However, there's lots of instability in these qubits and we haven't been able to get them to be stable enough to build these computers in a functional way, but this breakthrough that Google announced really is a sign that we're getting closer. If we do reach commercialization, then this would be a breakthrough in computing and could change the world. Ricky Mulvey: This is a bleeding edge technology, and as you mentioned, getting these chips and computers stable is a monumental challenge in and of itself because you're not dealing with ones and zeros. You're dealing with particle uncertainty at an atomic level, which sounds a little above my pay grade, but there's a lot of promise and use cases to watch. What are you going to be watching as this technology plays out? Nick Sciple: You think about a breakthrough in computing technology could touch things, healthcare, code breaking, that sort of thing. For me, the place where I think you'd see quantum computing used first is in defense. If you think about past cutting edge technologies, they all seem to find the first application in defense rockets, the Internet, drones, GPS, nuclear technology, all these things started out as defense applications. Really makes sense. The DOD isn't worried about profits or commercialization, really worried about national defense, and we've agreed as a country there is not a price we want to put on that. I'd expect quantum computing to find its first applications in the defense field. You think about code breaking certainly has been one of the earliest applications of computers going back all the way to the beginning, so you could definitely tell a story about where that could be applied in the defense realm. If we do reach something where this applies, I think defense is going to be the place where you see it used first. Ricky Mulvey: One thing I'll be watching. You mentioned code breaking, and this could fundamentally change as this tech plays out. Cybersecurity companies as cyber threats change. There's a book quantum supremacy and lays out one example where there could be two Internets where if you're trying to send secure information, you might not be able to do that along the normal broadband infrastructure we have. If you're a company doing banking information, that kind of thing. You might need laser beams to send it because otherwise it could just be so easy for these quantum computers to break into. Let's talk about the stock side because remember, a few months ago, everyone was worried about Google and how it didn't understand artificial intelligence. Well, now investors are saying. Boy oh, boy, do you understand quantum computing, and we're excited about that. Wall Street Journal columnist Dan Gallagher has a column out today saying, "Google's quantum boost doesn't really compute pointing out that basically the $250 billion that was added to the company's market cap is looking speculative at best. This is because the advertising business generates about that money in a single year." Pessimism always sounds smart, Nick, and this is something I'm excited about. Quantum computing is cool. You tell me, is this smart analysis from Mr. Gallagher? Does this belong at the Player Haters' Ball? Nick Sciple: I would say you could say both in one way or the other. It's smart analysis in the sense that is this quantum computing technology commercially ready enough to be adding that type of market cap to Google, Alphabet's stock today? No, this is only the second milestone that Google has laid out toward their quantum computing commercialization road map. I think there's seven of those milestones. There's really no guarantee that it ever gets there. I mentioned defense really being at the cutting edge, the DARPA program manager that's in charge of quantum computing and said their basic position here is skepticism. They're skeptical that we'll ever reach a quantum computer with enough of these qubits that are stable enough for this to be built. It's really a question of whether we're actually reach commercialization, although it's a huge breakthrough for Google. That said, I think some of the movement in the stock is less about hey, we're about to have a quantum computing tomorrow. It's renewed confidence in Google their leadership and their technology position. You mentioned AI earlier this year, a lot of concerns that AI could disrupt that core Google advertising business and we've seen some really exciting announcements from Google Gemini, their AI tool in recent weeks that at least have given me some confidence in the AI business. While quantum computing is a long way off as far as these frontier technologies, I do want to mention one breakthrough technology that is actually finally gaining traction for Google, and that's self driving cars. This is another technology that started out as a defense program. Twenty years ago, DARPA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency had their 2004 grand challenge, which is really kicking off the quest for self driving cars. Now we're 20 years on, and Google is finally reaching commercialization of these, according to data from California's Public Utilities Commission, where it noted 312,000 rides per month in California in August. That's double what they'd done three months before and just in recent weeks Google has announced plans to expand rapidly across the US and Austin, Atlanta, and Miami in 2025, announced partnerships with Uber to expand that in those new cities. This is an area that you really don't hear mentioned that often as a real value driver for Google. Do I think quantum computing alone is enough to move Google stock? No, but do I think there's a good argument that we should be more optimistic about Google and that, the company has brighter days ahead of it and isn't under deep threat by some of this disruption folks were worried about earlier this year, I think that's true, and I think there's a good argument to be made that Google's fairly valued here. Ricky Mulvey: The one thing in Google at about 25 times earnings right now. One thing on the self driving stuff that I'm waiting for is someone out in Colorado, Nick. You mentioned the three cities, Austin, Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, these cars are already cooking. None of those cities get snow or ice a lot. I'm very much looking forward to seeing these self driving cars artfully work in icy and winter conditions. I think that's going to be my transition point to saying, This is really going to roll out across the country, but I'm ready to get in self driving car. Nick Sciple: You left out LA there, Ricky, that's another. There's no accident. All those cities have favorable weather to the technology. Let's say that. We're not there where this is going to be commercial in every city, but we're getting there where this isn't a science project anymore. This is a real commercial business. Ricky Mulvey: Let's go to Warner Brothers . Warner Brothers Discovery, maybe taking a note from Comcast last week, announcing that it is separating its cable and streaming division. This is a week after Comcast announced that it was straight up spinning off most of its cable assets. Cynically you could say hey, it's telling private equity firms, you can easily cut here if you want to hive off this part of the company. For Warner Brothers Discovery, its global linear networks division will house its cable brands. Streaming and studios now will include Max and other streaming assets. You're seeing Warner Brothers Discovery investors get excited about this. Stock is popping more than 10% as I was looking this morning. Why are they so excited about a little restructuring, Nick? Nick Sciple: It's been a tough run for Warner Brothers Discovery down about 50% since the merger between Warner Brothers and Discovery back in 2022. I think, the market is excited about potentially a new strategy for the business. CEO David Zaslav has really been pounding the table on the need for more transactions, more consolidation in the media space, and perhaps with a change of administration, maybe those deals are a little bit more easy to do. You look at Warner Brothers Discovery today, just over $40 billion in debt. The past couple of years, the company has really had to focus on cutting costs, laying off workers to focus on cash flow. The main driver of the business continues to be cable networks. About half of the revenue close to 90% of the EBITDA comes from the cable networks, but these are really no growth businesses. Ad dollars continuing to leave traditional media streaming still on the ascendancy, just had to take a nine billion dollar write down on its cable assets. In August, if you look at the streaming business, there is some growth there, and that business has reached break even, although you have to take those numbers with a grain of salt, but still, HBO Max is a little bit of a mess, if you compare it to some of these other streaming companies, combining HBO's content with Discovery's reality TV, and that sort of thing has led them to be a little bit behind some of the folks in the market. I don't have any transaction. I guess this reorganization sets the company up to separate perhaps some of these bad linear assets from the studio and streaming assets, although they have problems, have a long term future. Zaslav on the press release said we continue to prioritize ensuring our global linear networks business is well positioned to drive free cash flow, while our streaming and studios businesses focus on driving growth by telling the world's most compelling stories, our new corporate structure better aligns organizations, and this is the big part. Enhances our flexibility with potential future strategic opportunities across an evolving media landscape. I think in April, we reached two years since that merger between Warner Brothers and Discovery, now that we're two years on from that, those transactions can take place. I think hiving off these two businesses sets that up. I think what you're likely to see is either spinning off these cable assets and attaching a lot of this debt to those assets. You can have a good co, bad co spin off or perhaps you see some consolidation with some of these other struggling cable businesses out there, whether that's the spin off from Comcast or Paramount is out there and is a under new leadership perhaps is going to be looking to sell off some pieces. Ricky Mulvey: A lot of these companies with these cable assets seem to be making moves in 2024 that maybe they know they should have been making in the mid 2010. I think Paramount is one example. We were chatting before the show where you wanted to talk about the BET Network, where the valuation falling from about 2-3 billion dollars, having bids for that to 1.6 now. I'm talking about a different company, but bringing this theme together, do you think these companies, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Discovery, have they really just missed the boat to sell these assets at a good price? Are these distressed sellers right now? Nick Sciple: I think they are distressed sellers. These companies are in a tough spot where you're heavily indebted and you need to be able to support that debt burden. However, your assets that are generating the cash flow to do that or in a difficult position, a shrinking business. As you mentioned, the valuation of these cable assets is moving down into the right. If you just look at BET, best case scenario, we're looking at 20% decline in valuation over just the course of a year. We could expect these assets to continue going down. They're no longer prestige properties that folks would be excited to buy and own, notwithstanding the Ellison family getting involved with Paramount earlier this year. I think now we're looking at vultures trying to bid up these assets and run them for cash flow. I think there's still quite a bit of cash to be squeezed out of these businesses, but the market has certainly come to the conclusion that the growth days are over. As you see things like sports abandoning cable for some of these streaming platforms, the things that were really holding the cable bundle together are finally leaving. Ricky Mulvey: If you're waiting for Netflix to come in, you had co-CEO Ted Sarandos at UBS media conference on Tuesday saying, "We're better builders than buyers." Implying we're not going to come in and take a lot of these distressed cable assets off your hands. In some cases, you're seeing these companies pick and choose how they do it. We were talking about Comcast , where they spun off pretty much every cable channel they had with the exception of the Bravo network, which has a lot of their reality programming that does quite well on Peacock. You wonder, what are they doing this for and who do they expect the buyers to be? Let's get into the valuation a little bit, because Warner Brothers Discovery right now trades at about six times free cash flow. The earnings are a little funky depending on how you add in the depreciation. We heard from Yasser El-Shimy on the show a couple of weeks back that he likes this as a value play. You have a lot of properties in there that are valuable. You have the HBO brand, which for at least me and my household, that's a must have, along with Netflix. You have a cyclical theater business that's a little bit down this year because they don't have a Barbie type movie on their hands, but maybe it can make a profit again, but when you look at this through your stock analyst lens, are you looking at a value play here or a falling knife? Nick Sciple: For me, I wouldn't call Warner Brothers Discovery a value play. I'd have to put it in the falling knife category, just in the sense that, the cable networks, as I mentioned earlier, heading to zero over time, there is cash flow to squeeze out of this business, but the long term trajectory of this business is going to be down. If you look at streaming, they've got a great library of assets. HBO Max is great, but they're far from the leader in this space. Netflix really forced everyone to follow them toward profitability a couple years ago, really set the terms of engagement in streaming. If you look at Amazon , they really seized the lead in advertising and streaming by pushing all their prime members to an ad support platform. You're behind the leading subscription video on Demand company. You're behind the leading advertising video on Demand company. You're also heavily indebted and backed into a corner with some of these better resourced, more diversified companies. For me is there a future for the Warner Brothers movie division? Of course. I think they're going to have a long term future. Does it need to be an independent company? No. Long term, I think these assets end up being held by a number of different larger companies as opposed to remaining an independent media business. Ricky Mulvey: Who wins from these content arms dealing games? Nick Sciple: We're talking about companies in the streaming race. If I had to pick a place to invest I mentioned the diversified players in a much better position than the pure plays on cable assets, so you think about the odd companies out here, Warner Bros and Paramount really I would say, distressed assets. Better companies on that layout, Comcast and Disney in a better position, given that they're more diversified, they have the Parks business to fall back on, Comcast, in their case, has the cable business. Those companies are really better position but if I'm going to invest in the media and the content space, as I've said before, I think the company that my favorite is, is TKO Group Holdings , Ticker is TKO. It's the parent company of WWE and the UFC and the reason I think they're in a good spot here is they're the arms dealer to these competing streaming platforms, they've had the ability to just to see the amount folks are paying for their content move up into the right, for a long time, WWE Raw has been the highest rated episodic cable program on TV, they've made that jump from cable to Netflix, so in January of this year will be the lead live element of Netflix's ad-supported business, you've got next year, their rights deal for the UFC is set to expire. Likely to see that be reupped with ESPN, they're looking at a 10-year deal. I think that's going to be significantly higher. This is a company that all these potential players in streaming are looking for access to the audience that TKO brings, you look at what's happening in sports where basically everybody wants a piece of this and they have the ability to sell into this market, so I think if you invest in a company like TKO or some of these other folks that are selling scarce content into these competing streaming businesses, I think those are the folks who are most best positioned to benefit from what's going on in streaming while all these other streaming competitors fight it out. Ricky Mulvey: Also, you got two top dogs in the WWE in professional wrestling in the UFC in mixed martial arts. The folks in those organizations, certainly people, I don't want to bet against or be against in any type of fight. Nick Sciple, appreciate you joining me here on Motley Fool Money. Thanks for breaking it down. Nick Sciple: Thanks, Ricky. Happy to do it again anytime? Ricky Mulvey: Holiday shipping season is upon us, and my colleague, Mary Long is taking a look at a few of the key players. She's starting off with FedEx with Motley Fool contributor Lou Whitman. Today's show is brought to you by Vanta. Whether you're starting or scaling a company, demonstrating top-notch security practices and establishing trust is more important than ever. Vanta automates compliance for SOC2, ISO27OO1 GDPR, and more, saving you time and money while helping you build customer trust plus, you can streamline security reviews by automating questionnaires and demonstrating your security posture with a customer-facing Trust Center, all powered by Vanta AI. Over 7,000 global companies like Atlassian , Flow Health, and CORA use Vanta to manage risk and proof security in real-time. My audience gets a special offer of $1,000 off Vanta at vanta.com/fool, that is V-A-N-T-A.com/fool for $1,000 off. Mary Long: Lou Whitman, it is shipping season. People are ordering gifts, most likely over the interwebs and those gifts have got to get from point A to point B, potentially with a few stops along the way, so today, we're going to shine the spotlight on a company that plays a big role in moving stuff around the world, we're talking FedEx. On the one hand, this company needs no introduction but on the other, I do think that Amazon and how speedy prime delivery is has warped our understanding of how packages move, so let's focus on that and set the table here. If the majority of packages arriving on your doorstep are from Amazon, it can be easy to forget that there are actually other movers and shakers that are playing a really massive part in this logistics puzzle. Break it down for us. FedEx splits its business into the Express segment and the freight segment. What's each of those do? Exactly. Lou Whitman: Yes so for years, they actually had broken down further between the a network for Express and a network for non-Express. As you said, this year, they combine that into one operation, which should make it more efficient but basically, there's the parcel service, which is packages and everything coming from retailers, and then to use their old slogan, the absolutely positively has to be the overnight stuff. Yes, they used to break that separate from the can wait a few days, but now they're trying to bring that together. Freight, on the other hand, that's just an LTL trucking business, less than truckload, those are the big stuff, those are the stuff you need a forklift instead of just dropped off at your door. Mary Long: Out of those two newly split segments, which is more interesting to you as an investor, where's the big story with this company? Consumers were probably more familiar with packages shipping back and forth to each other, but where's the money being made? Lou Whitman: The parcel business is 85% of total revenue, whether it's Express or can get there whenever, that's also where there is the higher potential for higher margins. Definitely, that is where your focus should be. Express actually still makes up more than half of parcel revenue, it isn't mostly just gifts from Grandma, there is still a big business shipping overnight business, that's the business where they really can and we can break down a little more just inside that business, but if they're going to generate plus margins going forward, it's probably going to be from that business and not the trucking business. Mary Long: Yes, so let's break that down a little bit more. Like, what levers can FedEx pull to grow here? If you look at average daily package volume, so the number of packages being sent, that's been pretty flat over the past year. Is increasing that number a big priority here or is it more about pricing power? Lou Whitman: Part of that is out of their control, part of it is just the economy. You can't force your customers to ship things, it is a demand-based business, and all across the board, the transports, we've seen volumes fall, it's just been a weak market. They can't really control that, what they can control, and what they are increasingly trying to do is get to those premium services and focus on that. Refrigeration is a big one, whether it's produce or medical, refrigerated shipping is a highly specialized thing, Amazon trucks don't have refrigerators in them, so you can't really compete there. There is specialized competitors, but the big guys, they're focused on things like this where they can drive higher margin, it's a lot better business for them than just getting the toys on time for the holidays or something like that. Mary Long: Between 2020 and 2022, FedEx saw some decent growth, and maybe this goes back to this stuff that's out of their control, more macro factors that you just mentioned. They had $69 billion in revenue in 2020, 83.5$billion in 2021, 93.5 billion in 2022, so decent movement but since then, revenue has been on a downward trajectory. Is it just the macro picture that caused that, or are there other things that are within FedEx's toolbox that they can use to address that? Lou Whitman: It's very much a macro story and specifically a pandemic story. We all started buying everything at home and getting it shipped, so the demand for shipping services went up, and that echoed through the system for a few years but we've seen just like I said, this broader transport slump. For one thing, e-commerce hasn't disappeared post-pandemic, but it has normalized, so you have seen just regression to the mean but as importantly, this macro idea, we've been talking for years now about hard landings, about recessions, about what's to come, that causes large corporate customers to scale back on inventory and scale back on just what they have in their warehouses, which means less demand for shipping. There has been some move around the edges. FedEx has new management, and they're trying to get rid of some of the more marginal business, so a little bit of it might be by choice but mostly, all across the board, you will see the stocks reflected this, this has just been a bad year, 18 months for these companies, FedEx included. Mary Long: FedEx got a new CEO a couple years ago, he'd been with the company for a long time, but more recently, in this new role, he's implemented some cost-cutting measures that initiative was called Drive, deliver results through innovation, value, and efficiency. What innovation, value, and efficiency are we seeing? What I think most recently this drive program led to $1.8 billion in cost savings over the 2024 fiscal year, what are we seeing cut, and what are we seeing come out on the other side as a result of those cuts? Lou Whitman: The overall goal is about four billion a year, so at 1.8 billion, you're right, they're about halfway there, which is on track. We talked at the top about consolidating business units, some of it is as simple as that, but part of it, too, is just as you consolidate these things, you can use your warehouses more efficiently. At some places, these networks had separate facilities, you can better use your jets and other big asset, things like that. A lot of this is just the slow and steady of making the network more efficient. It is a new management team, Raj Supermanian. You really have to give him some credit. He has been there forever, but he took over for Fred Smith. Fred Smith is the guy who founded the business. Smith has a reputation for being, shall we say, opinionated. He believes in himself, he is still the executive chairman of the board. It isn't easy for someone to come in following the founder and say, you know what? We need to change a lot of things here, and we need to cut a lot of things. Basically, tell your former boss, I know better. It's working, and it's to his great credit that they have come in and done this, I think it'll benefit him over time. Mary Long: What is Fred Smith's unwritten role within the company now? You mentioned he's still executive chairman, he's still involved, but is this like a Howard Schultz type of situation where he still got the era of management, what's the unwritten situation there? Lou Whitman: I can only guess. Fred has a lot of different interests, which probably helps Raj do his job, but I can only guess that Fred knew about a lot was coming before, good corporate governance as you should tell the board chairman, but I would think that they're not going to want to be surprising Fred at any meetings right now. Mary Long: We kicked off this segment by talking about Amazon. tough to talk, logistics, package delivery without mentioning Amazon. Once upon a time, FedEx was partnered up with Amazon. That relationship ended in 2019, FedEx initiated that breakup saying, hey, Amazon's developing its own delivery capabilities, and now they're a threat rather than somebody that we want to partner with. In January of this year, FedEx announced it was launching a data-driven commerce platform called FDX. Is that supposed to help FedEx better compete with Amazon in a different category? What's the state of play of that particular competition right now? Lou Whitman: The platform, if we're honest, is table stakes in 2024. You'd be shocked at how this business works and how much of logistics is still done by the office phone, with a whiteboard, with just getting things done that way but increasingly, consumers and especially these corporate customers are demanding a digital platform, so this is FedEx trying to join the century and get on board with the rest of us. As for Amazon and FedEx, in one sense, yes, it hurt FedEx because it was a huge shipping customer, and at the end of the day, you want full trucks. You make money when you have volume but it tended to be a lower margin volume, I don't know many people who have partnered with Amazon who are like, this is the high margin side of our business and most of Amazon's retail competitors aren't real keen to hand Amazon the customer data that comes with having them do their shipping form. There's plenty of business here. Yes, you lost a major customer, but they are coexisting, they went from being frenemies to just rivals but really, FedEx, there's plenty of business for FedEx and UPS and everyone else just to serve everyone, not name Amazon and it's really hard for Amazon to get that business from the retailers that they are competing with. Mary Long: Amazon also is not FedEx's only competitor, there's also UPS, which I'll be talking with Aunt Shavon about later next week. There's DHL. Within this whole logistics landscape, what grade does FedEx get? Where does it stand and stack up against its competitors? Lou Whitman: I'd say a solid B+, and the comparison with UPS is a great one, and Aunt will have great thoughts on that. UPS has a much better dividend, which I'm sure Anthony would love to talk about. It's a powerful competitor. Over time, there's plenty of room to both win. I'd note UPS is much more unionized, which gives less flexibility, they would argue it gives more predictability on cost, but costs are high. FedEx can hold its own as an investment as a more nimble company, even though it's a mature industry, they've been around for decades, but they still over the years, have done a good job getting out ahead of trends. I think they still have that entrepreneurial mindset, and I grade them pretty well on that. Mary Long: Before we wrap up, an increasingly important part of this business is reverse logistics. Apart from mere direction, how is that so different from just old regular everyday forward logistics? Lou Whitman: Yes, very literally it's returns, which returns is reverse logistics is a fancy way of saying returns, it's a huge pain for retailers, and you're dealing with the customer. The customer, you don't want to make them angry in this process, you have to deal with restocking. You have to deal with just the uncontrolled from your warehouse, shipping something, putting the label on it, very controlled environment. There's a lot more chaos when the consumer brings it back and how it's packaged and all that. The estimates I've seen indicate it can be 3-4 more times more profitable for these reverse logistics specialists than just sending out the original shipment, so it's a business you want to be good at. We talked a second ago about FedEx being more entrepreneurial. FedEx bought a company called Genco Distribution, a huge player in reverse logistics all the way back in 2015. It was a great deal then and it has made them a huge player in the space, if you as a consumer notice, lot of shipments did you get from UPS? If you have to return it, the label, they email you will say FedEx, they are a huge player into space, it's one of these areas where the business is less commoditized and you can make margin, and it's certainly the thing that they're looking to expand versus, say, just getting the package there in four or five days. Mary Long: With that Genco acquisition, has that made FedEx the key player in reverse logistics, or are there others that are maybe beating them at this game? Lou Whitman: There's a lot of them, some people do it. A company I love to talk about GXO Logistics , they do a lot of reverse for customers but of these big shipping companies, I think FedEx I probably get some nasty phone calls about this, but FedEx is the one that you're going to see getting a lot of that business among these third party working with lots of people. Mary Long: Lou Whitman, always a pleasure. Thanks so much for joining us today on Motley Fool Money. Lou Whitman: Thanks for having me. Ricky Mulvey: As always, people on the program may have interests in the stocks they talk about the Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against, so don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. All personal finance content follows Motley Fool editorial standards and are not approved by advertisers, the Motley Fool only picks products that it would personally recommend to friends like you. I'm Ricky Mulvey. Thanks for listening, we'll be back tomorrow. Thanks.
Stock market today: Wall Street inches higher to set more recordsHowever, some state workers failed to return to their jobs and a United Nations official said the country’s public sector had come “to a complete and abrupt halt”. Meanwhile, streams of refugees crossed back into Syria from neighbouring countries, hoping for a more peaceful future and looking for relatives who disappeared during Mr Assad’s brutal rule. There were already signs of the difficulties ahead for the rebel alliance now in control of much of the country. The alliance is led by a former senior al-Qaida militant, who severed ties with the extremist group years ago and has promised representative government and religious tolerance. The rebel command said they would not tell women how to dress. “It is strictly forbidden to interfere with women’s dress or impose any request related to their clothing or appearance, including requests for modesty,” the command said in a statement on social media. Nearly two days after rebels entered the capital, some key government services had shut down after state workers ignored calls to go back to their jobs, the UN official said, causing issues at airports and borders and slowing the flow of humanitarian aid. Rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, also met with Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi Jalali for the first time. Mr Jalali stayed in Syria when Mr Assad fled and has sought to project normalcy since. “We are working so that the transitional period is quick and smooth,” he told Sky News Arabia TV on Monday, saying the security situation had already improved from the day before. At the court of Justice in Damascus, which was stormed by the rebels to free detainees, Judge Khitam Haddad, an aide to the justice minister in the outgoing government, said that judges were ready to resume work quickly. “We want to give everyone their rights,” Mr Haddad said outside the courthouse. “We want to build a new Syria and to keep the work, but with new methods.” But a UN official said some government services had been paralysed as worried state employees stayed at home. The public sector “has just come to a complete and abrupt halt,” said Adam Abdelmoula, UN resident and humanitarian co-ordinator for Syria, noting, for example, that an aid flight carrying urgently needed medical supplies had been put on hold after aviation employees abandoned their jobs. “This is a country that has had one government for 53 years and then suddenly all of those who have been demonised by the public media are now in charge in the nation’s capital,” Mr Abdelmoula told The Associated Press. “I think it will take a couple of days and a lot of assurance on the part of the armed groups for these people to return to work again.” In a video shared on a rebel messaging channel, Mr al-Sharaa said: “You will see there are skills” among the rebels. The Kremlin said Russia has granted political asylum to Mr Assad, a decision made by President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Mr Assad’s specific whereabouts and said Mr Putin did not plan to meet with him. Damascus was quiet Monday, with life slowly returning to normal, though most shops and public institutions were closed. In public squares, some people were still celebrating. Civilian traffic resumed, but there was no public transport. Long lines formed in front of bakeries and other food stores. There was little sign of any security presence though in some areas, small groups of armed men were stationed in the streets.
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria's prime minister said Monday that most cabinet ministers were back at work after rebels overthrew President Bashar Assad, but some state workers failed to return to their jobs, and a United Nations official said the country's public sector came "to a complete and abrupt halt." Meanwhile, streams of refugees crossed back into Syria from neighboring countries, hoping for a more peaceful future and looking for relatives who disappeared during Assad's brutal rule. The rebel alliance now in control of much of the country is led by a former senior al-Qaida militant who severed ties with the extremist group years ago and promises representative government and religious tolerance. The rebel command said Monday they would not tell women how to dress. "It is strictly forbidden to interfere with women's dress or impose any request related to their clothing or appearance, including requests for modesty," the command said on social media. Nearly two days after rebels entered the capital, some key government services shut down after state workers ignored calls to go back to their jobs, the U.N. official said, causing issues at airports and borders and slowing the flow of humanitarian aid. Rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was long known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, also met for the first time with Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi Jalali, who stayed in Syria when Assad fled. Israel said it carried out airstrikes on suspected chemical weapons sites and long-range rockets to keep them from falling into the hands of extremists. Israel also seized a buffer zone inside Syria after Syrian troops withdrew. In northern Syria, Turkey said allied opposition forces seized the town of Manbij from Kurdish-led forces backed by the United States, a reminder that even after Assad's departure, the country remains split among armed groups that have fought in the past. The Kremlin said Russia granted political asylum to Assad, a decision made by President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Assad's specific whereabouts and said Putin did not plan to meet with him. Damascus was quiet Monday, with life slowly returning to normal, though most shops and public institutions were closed. In public squares, some people still celebrated. Civilian traffic resumed, but there was no public transport. Long lines formed in front of bakeries and other food stores. There was little sign of any security presence, though in some areas small groups of armed men were stationed in the streets. Across swathes of Syria, families are now waiting outside prisons, security offices and courts, hoping for news of loved ones who were imprisoned or who disappeared. Just north of Damascus in the feared Saydnaya military prison, women detainees, some with their children, screamed as rebels broke locks off their cell doors. Amnesty International and other groups say dozens of people were secretly executed every week in Saydnaya, and they estimate that up to 13,000 Syrians were killed between 2011 and 2016. "Don't be afraid," one rebel said as he ushered women from packed cells. "Bashar Assad has fallen!" In southern Turkey, Mustafa Sultan was among hundreds of Syrian refugees waiting at border crossings to head home. He was searching for his older brother, who was imprisoned under Assad. "I haven't seen him for 13 years," he said. "I am going to go see whether he's alive." Jalali, the prime minister, sought to project normalcy since Assad fled. "We are working so that the transitional period is quick and smooth," he told Sky News Arabia TV on Monday, saying the security situation already improved from the day before. At the court of Justice in Damascus, which was stormed by the rebels to free detainees, Judge Khitam Haddad, an aide to the justice minister in the outgoing government, said Sunday that judges were ready to resume work quickly. "We want to give everyone their rights," Haddad said outside the courthouse. "We want to build a new Syria and to keep the work, but with new methods." But a U.N. official said some government services were paralyzed as worried state employees stayed home. The public sector "has just come to a complete and abrupt halt," said U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria Adam Abdelmoula, noting, for example, that an aid flight carrying urgently needed medical supplies was put on hold after aviation employees abandoned their jobs. "This is a country that has had one government for 53 years and then suddenly all of those who have been demonized by the public media are now in charge in the nation's capital," Abdelmoula told The Associated Press. "I think it will take a couple of days and a lot of assurance on the part of the armed groups for these people to return to work again."
Syria’s prime minister said that most cabinet ministers were back at work on Monday after rebels overthrew President Bashar Assad. However, some state workers failed to return to their jobs and a United Nations official said the country’s public sector had come “to a complete and abrupt halt”. Meanwhile, streams of refugees crossed back into Syria from neighbouring countries, hoping for a more peaceful future and looking for relatives who disappeared during Mr Assad’s brutal rule. There were already signs of the difficulties ahead for the rebel alliance now in control of much of the country. The alliance is led by a former senior al-Qaida militant, who severed ties with the extremist group years ago and has promised representative government and religious tolerance. The rebel command said they would not tell women how to dress. “It is strictly forbidden to interfere with women’s dress or impose any request related to their clothing or appearance, including requests for modesty,” the command said in a statement on social media. Nearly two days after rebels entered the capital, some key government services had shut down after state workers ignored calls to go back to their jobs, the UN official said, causing issues at airports and borders and slowing the flow of humanitarian aid. Rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, also met with Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi Jalali for the first time. Mr Jalali stayed in Syria when Mr Assad fled and has sought to project normalcy since. “We are working so that the transitional period is quick and smooth,” he told Sky News Arabia TV on Monday, saying the security situation had already improved from the day before. At the court of Justice in Damascus, which was stormed by the rebels to free detainees, Judge Khitam Haddad, an aide to the justice minister in the outgoing government, said that judges were ready to resume work quickly. “We want to give everyone their rights,” Mr Haddad said outside the courthouse. “We want to build a new Syria and to keep the work, but with new methods.” But a UN official said some government services had been paralysed as worried state employees stayed at home. The public sector “has just come to a complete and abrupt halt,” said Adam Abdelmoula, UN resident and humanitarian co-ordinator for Syria, noting, for example, that an aid flight carrying urgently needed medical supplies had been put on hold after aviation employees abandoned their jobs. “This is a country that has had one government for 53 years and then suddenly all of those who have been demonised by the public media are now in charge in the nation’s capital,” Mr Abdelmoula told The Associated Press. “I think it will take a couple of days and a lot of assurance on the part of the armed groups for these people to return to work again.” In a video shared on a rebel messaging channel, Mr al-Sharaa said: “You will see there are skills” among the rebels. The Kremlin said Russia has granted political asylum to Mr Assad, a decision made by President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Mr Assad’s specific whereabouts and said Mr Putin did not plan to meet with him. Damascus was quiet Monday, with life slowly returning to normal, though most shops and public institutions were closed. In public squares, some people were still celebrating. Civilian traffic resumed, but there was no public transport. Long lines formed in front of bakeries and other food stores. There was little sign of any security presence though in some areas, small groups of armed men were stationed in the streets.WASHINGTON — American Airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide Tuesday because of a technical problem just as the Christmas travel season kicked into overdrive and winter weather threatened more potential problems for those planning to fly or drive. Government regulators cleared American flights to get airborne about an hour after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a national ground stop for the airline. The order, which prevented planes from taking off, was issued at the airline's request. The airline said in an email that the problem was caused by trouble with vendor technology that maintains its flight operating system. An American Airlines employee wearing looks toward quiet check-in counters Tuesday in the American terminal at Miami International Airport in Miami. Dennis Tajer, a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, a union representing American Airlines pilots, said the airline told pilots at 7 a.m. Eastern that there was an outage affecting the system known as FOS. It handles different types of airline operations, including dispatch, flight planning, passenger boarding, as well as an airplane's weight and balance data, he said. Some components of FOS have gone down in the past, but a systemwide outage is rare, Tajer said. Flights were delayed across American's major hubs, with only 37% leaving on time, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company. Out of the 3,901 domestic and international American Airlines flights scheduled for Tuesday, 19 were canceled. Cirium noted that the vast majority of flights departed within two hours of their scheduled departure time. A similar percentage — 36% — arrived at their destinations as scheduled. Meanwhile, the flight-tracking site FlightAware reported that 3,712 flights entering or leaving the U.S., or serving domestic destinations, were delayed Tuesday, with 55 flights canceled. It did not show any flights from American Airlines. Cirium said Dallas-Fort Worth, New York's Kennedy Airport and Charlotte, North Carolina, saw the greatest number of delays. Washington, Chicago and Miami experienced considerably fewer delays. Travelers wait in line for security checks Tuesday at the Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles. Amid the travel problems, significant rain and snow were expected in the Pacific Northwest at least into Christmas Day. Showers and thunderstorms developed in the South. Freezing rain was reported in the Mid-Atlantic region near Baltimore and Washington, and snow fell in New York. Because the holiday travel period lasts weeks, airports and airlines typically have smaller peak days than they do during the rush around Thanksgiving, but the grind of one hectic day followed by another takes a toll on flight crews. Any hiccups — a winter storm or a computer outage — can snowball into massive disruptions. That is how Southwest Airlines stranded 2 million travelers in December 2022, and Delta Air Lines suffered a smaller but significant meltdown after a worldwide technology outage in July caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations even more disruptive than during slower periods. That is especially true for smaller budget airlines that have fewer flights and fewer options for rebooking passengers. Only the largest airlines, including American, Delta and United, have "interline agreements" that let them put stranded customers on another carrier's flights. An American Airlines employee wearing a Santa Claus hat walks through the American terminal Tuesday at Miami International Airport in Miami. This will be the first holiday season since a Transportation Department rule took effect that requires airlines to give customers an automatic cash refund for a canceled or significantly delayed flight. Most air travelers were already eligible for refunds, but they often had to request them. Passengers still can ask to get rebooked, which is often a better option than a refund during peak travel periods. Finding a last-minute flight on another airline tends to be expensive. An American spokesperson said Tuesday was not a peak travel day for the airline — with about 2,000 fewer flights than the busiest days — so the airline had somewhat of a buffer to manage the delays. The groundings happened as millions of travelers were expected to fly over the next 10 days. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 40 million passengers through Jan. 2. Airlines expect to have their busiest days on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. American Airlines employees check in travelers Tuesday in the American terminal at Miami International Airport in Miami. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations more disruptive than during slower periods. Even with just a brief outage, the cancellations have a cascading effect that can take days to clear up. About 90% of Americans traveling far from home over the holidays will be in cars, according to AAA. "Airline travel is just really high right now, but most people do drive to their destinations, and that is true for every holiday," AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said. Gasoline prices are similar to last year. The nationwide average Thursday was $3.04 a gallon, down from $3.13 a year ago, according to AAA. Charging an electric vehicle averages just under 35 cents per per kilowatt hour, but varies by state. Transportation-data firm INRIX says travel times on the nation's highways could be up to 30% longer than normal over the holidays, with Sunday expected to see the heaviest traffic. "It's not the destination, it's the journey," said American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ralph clearly was not among the travellers on one of more than 350 cancelled or 1,400 delayed flights after a worldwide tech outage caused by an update to Crowdstrike's "Falcon Sensor" software in July of 2023. U.S. airlines carried nearly 863 million travellers in 2023, with Canadian carriers accounting for another 150 million, many of whom experienced lost luggage, flight delays, cancellations, or were bumped off their flights. It's unclear how many of them were compensated for these inconveniences. Suffice it to say, posting a crabby rant on social media might temporarily soothe anger, but it won't put wasted money back in pockets. shares what to know in order to be compensated for the three most common air travel headaches. Bags elected to go on a vacay without you? Check off the following: If you expect a large payout, think again. Tariffs (air carrier contracts) limit the compensation amounts for "loss of, damage to, or the delay in delivery of baggage or other personal property." In the case of Air Canada, the maximum payout is $1,500 per passenger in the currency of the country where the baggage was processed. To raise that limit, purchase a Declaration of Higher Value for each leg of the trip. The charge is $0.50 for each $100, in which case the payout limit is $2,500. For Delta Air Lines, passengers are entitled to up to $3,800 in baggage compensation, though how much you'll receive depends on your flight. Delta will pay up to $2,080 for delayed, lost, and damaged baggage for international travellers, almost half of what U.S. domestic passengers can claim. If your flight is marked delayed for more than 30 minutes, approach the gate agent and politely request food and hotel vouchers to be used within the airport or nearby. Different air carriers and jurisdictions have their own compensation policies when flights are delayed or cancelled. For example, under European Union rules, passengers may receive up to 600 Euros, even when travelling on a non-EU carrier. Similarly, the DOT states that travellers are entitled to a refund "if the airline cancelled a flight, regardless of the reason, and the consumer chooses not to travel." However, US rules regarding delays are complicated. Some air carriers, such as Air Canada, do not guarantee their flight schedules. They're also not liable for cancellations or changes due to "force majeure" such as weather conditions or labour disruptions. If the delay is overnight, only out-of-town passengers will be offered hotel accommodation. Nevertheless, many airlines do offer some compensation for the inconvenience. If your flight is marked delayed for more than 30 minutes, approach the gate agent and politely request food and hotel vouchers to be used within the airport or nearby. In terms of cash compensation, what you'll get can differ significantly based on things like departure location, time, carrier, and ticket class. The DOT offers a helpful designed to keep travellers informed about their compensation rights. The dashboard is particularly helpful because, as the DOT states on its website, "whether you are entitled to a refund depends on a lot of factors—such as the length of the delay, the length of the flight, and your particular circumstances." The Canadian Transportation Agency is proposing air passenger protection regulations that guarantee financial compensation to travellers experiencing flight delays and cancellations, with the level of compensation varying depending on the situation and how much control the air carrier had. The proposed regulations include the following: The airline is obligated to complete the passenger's itinerary. If the new ticket is for a lower class of service, the air carrier would have to refund the cost difference; if the booking is in a higher class of service, passengers cannot be charged extra. If the passenger declines the ticket, the airline must give a full refund, in addition to the prescribed compensation. For overnight delays, the air carrier needs to provide hotel accommodation and transportation free-of-charge. Again, if you are unsatisfied, the Canadian Transportation Agency or Department of Transportation may advocate on your behalf. Passengers get bumped because airlines overbook. When this happens, the air carrier must compensate you. For international flights in the US, the rate is 200% of your one-way fare to your final destination, with a $675 maximum. If the airline does not make travel arrangements for you, the payout is 400% of your one-way fare to a maximum of $1,350. To qualify, you must check-in by the stated deadline, which on international flights can be up to 3 hours ahead. Keep in mind that if you accept the cash, you are no longer entitled to any further compensation, nor are you guaranteed to be rebooked on a direct flight or similar type of seat. Don't be too quick to give up your boarding pass. Negotiate for the best compensation deal that would include cash, food and hotel vouchers, flight upgrade, lounge passes, as well as mileage points. But avoid being too greedy—if the gate attendant is requesting volunteers and you wait too long, you'll miss the offer. According to Air Canada's tariff, if a passenger is involuntarily bumped, they'll receive $200, in cash or bank draft, for up to a two-hour delay; $400 for a 2-6 hours delay; and $800 if the delay is over six hours. (Air Canada was forced to raise its payouts in 2013 due to passenger complaints.) The new rules would raise the payout significantly: $900 for up to six hours; $1,800 for 6-9; and $2,400 for more than nine hours, all to be paid within 48 hours. Statistically speaking, Delta Airlines is the carrier most likely to bump. A few years ago, Delta raised its payout maximum to $9,950, while United Airlines tops out at $10,000. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
France's iconic Notre-Dame Cathedral officially reopened its doors in Paris on Saturday evening in a global event that brought President-elect Donald Trump together with world leaders, royals, and business tycoons, marking the revival of the 861-year-old landmark five years after a devastating fire . "Here we are. The world is watching us. Let's reopen Notre-Dame!" French President Emmanuel Macron declared on X as the ceremony approached its 7 p.m. (1800 GMT) start time. The reopening celebration evolved into an unexpected diplomatic summit when Macron arranged an impromptu three-way meeting with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Élysée Palace before the cathedral ceremony. "It certainly seems like the world is going a little crazy right now," Trump remarked upon his arrival at the French presidential residence, where Macron welcomed him with full presidential honors including a grand red-carpet reception typically reserved for sitting heads of state. Newsweek contacted the Trump-Vance transition team via email on Saturday for comment. The 90-minute palace meeting, including approximately 35 minutes with Zelensky, highlighted European leaders' efforts to maintain American support for Ukraine. Trump, who takes office on January 20, has pledged to end the war in Ukraine swiftly, though without specifying how, raising concerns in Kyiv about future negotiations. The timing is particularly significant for Macron, who faces a deep political crisis at home after his government was ousted by parliament this week. The French president pursued a non-confrontational approach with Trump during his first term, though their relationship grew more fractious over time due to disagreements on climate, taxation, and Iran. Their complex diplomatic history includes Trump's attendance at France's Bastille Day military parade in 2017—an event that inspired Trump to organize his own military parade in Washington for Independence Day 2019. Macron hosted Trump for a White House state dinner in 2018, but tensions emerged the following year over Macron's comments about NATO 's status. The cathedral reopening drew an impressive array of attendees, including Britain's Prince William, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde . French luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault, whose LVMH group contributed millions to the restoration effort, attended alongside actress Salma Hayek and her husband, French businessman Francois-Henri Pinault. Macron's office emphasized that Trump was invited as president-elect of a "friendly nation," stating, "This is in no way exceptional, we've done it before." However, the red-carpet treatment highlighted European leaders' eagerness to cultivate relationships with the incoming U.S. administration, particularly given the complex global challenges ahead. President Joe Biden did not attend due to scheduling conflicts, with First Lady Jill Biden representing the United States on his behalf. Prince William is also scheduled to meet separately with both Trump and the First Lady, according to the British royal palace. French authorities mounted an extensive security operation, deploying more than 20 government security agents to work alongside the U.S. Secret Service. A special French police van provided anti-drone protection for Trump's convoy, while security was heightened around the U.S. Embassy and other Paris locations for the event. The visit marked Trump's fifth trip to France, following four visits during his 2017-2021 presidency, including D-Day anniversary ceremonies in 2019 – the same year Notre-Dame caught fire. During that crisis, Trump suggested using "flying water tankers" to combat the blaze, though French officials explained such an approach could have led to the cathedral's complete collapse. The ceremony also drew former French Presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry , outgoing French Prime Minister Michel Barnier, and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk . Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo attended as a representative of the city's commitment to the restoration project. Looking ahead, potential challenges loom for U.S.-French relations. Trump's plans for sweeping tariffs on Europe and disagreements over the Ukraine-Russia conflict could create significant friction in his second administration. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump frequently mocked Macron, imitating his accent and threatening steep tariffs on French wine and champagne if France attempted to tax American companies. Prior to the Paris visit, Zelensky's top aide Andriy Yermak met with key members of Trump's team during a two-day trip, as the president-elect's staff works to get up to speed on global crises, including Ukraine and the Middle East. Trump, who was accompanied by incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles and a small contingent of staff, arrived amid heightened diplomatic activity as his team prepares for the transition to power. This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.nVentures welcomes Mohan Belani as new limited partner
Pay first, deliver later: Some women are being asked to prepay for their babyFacebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria's prime minister said Monday that most cabinet ministers were back at work after rebels overthrew President Bashar Assad, but some state workers failed to return to their jobs, and a United Nations official said the country's public sector came "to a complete and abrupt halt." Meanwhile, streams of refugees crossed back into Syria from neighboring countries, hoping for a more peaceful future and looking for relatives who disappeared during Assad's brutal rule. The rebel alliance now in control of much of the country is led by a former senior al-Qaida militant who severed ties with the extremist group years ago and promises representative government and religious tolerance. The rebel command said Monday they would not tell women how to dress. Syrian citizens stand on a government forces tank that was left on a street Monday as they celebrate in Damascus, Syria. "It is strictly forbidden to interfere with women's dress or impose any request related to their clothing or appearance, including requests for modesty," the command said on social media. People are also reading... $100,000 Nebraska Pick 5 winning ticket sold in York Burglary targets Klute Steel near Bradshaw; suspect at large McCool Junction village board chairwoman to face recall vote Nebraska expressway system won't be done until 2042, official says York City Council approves agreement to sell land for housing development Paige Hubl, former Nebraska volleyball player and Lincoln Southeast coach, dies at age 34 Milford teen boys accused of assaulting potential child predator with gun Colleen Williams pens farewell letter to viewers after longtime stint on NTV Koch jump-starts Duke girls' win over Platteview York County deputies issue 25 tickets during Make It Click enforcement York High event promises songs, Shakespearean speech and suspense York Fire Department puts remounted ambulance through its paces Business Beat: Check out the latest on the business scene around York York's Kilgore Memorial Library deals with growing use, shrinking space Schuyler Community Schools staff arrested, no longer employed with schools Nearly two days after rebels entered the capital, some key government services shut down after state workers ignored calls to go back to their jobs, the U.N. official said, causing issues at airports and borders and slowing the flow of humanitarian aid. Rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was long known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, also met for the first time with Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi Jalali, who stayed in Syria when Assad fled. Israel said it carried out airstrikes on suspected chemical weapons sites and long-range rockets to keep them from falling into the hands of extremists. Israel also seized a buffer zone inside Syria after Syrian troops withdrew. Syrians wait to cross into Syria from Turkey on Monday at the Oncupinar border gate near the town of Kilis, southern Turkey. In northern Syria, Turkey said allied opposition forces seized the town of Manbij from Kurdish-led forces backed by the United States, a reminder that even after Assad's departure, the country remains split among armed groups that have fought in the past. The Kremlin said Russia granted political asylum to Assad, a decision made by President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Assad's specific whereabouts and said Putin did not plan to meet with him. Damascus was quiet Monday, with life slowly returning to normal, though most shops and public institutions were closed. In public squares, some people still celebrated. Civilian traffic resumed, but there was no public transport. Long lines formed in front of bakeries and other food stores. There was little sign of any security presence, though in some areas small groups of armed men were stationed in the streets. Syrian citizens celebrate Monday during the second day of the takeover of the city by the insurgents in Damascus, Syria. Across swathes of Syria, families are now waiting outside prisons, security offices and courts, hoping for news of loved ones who were imprisoned or who disappeared. Just north of Damascus in the feared Saydnaya military prison, women detainees, some with their children, screamed as rebels broke locks off their cell doors. Amnesty International and other groups say dozens of people were secretly executed every week in Saydnaya, and they estimate that up to 13,000 Syrians were killed between 2011 and 2016. "Don't be afraid," one rebel said as he ushered women from packed cells. "Bashar Assad has fallen!" In southern Turkey, Mustafa Sultan was among hundreds of Syrian refugees waiting at border crossings to head home. He was searching for his older brother, who was imprisoned under Assad. "I haven't seen him for 13 years," he said. "I am going to go see whether he's alive." Jalali, the prime minister, sought to project normalcy since Assad fled. "We are working so that the transitional period is quick and smooth," he told Sky News Arabia TV on Monday, saying the security situation already improved from the day before. Israeli soldiers sit on top of a tank Monday along the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights from Syria, in the town of Majdal Shams. At the court of Justice in Damascus, which was stormed by the rebels to free detainees, Judge Khitam Haddad, an aide to the justice minister in the outgoing government, said Sunday that judges were ready to resume work quickly. "We want to give everyone their rights," Haddad said outside the courthouse. "We want to build a new Syria and to keep the work, but with new methods." But a U.N. official said some government services were paralyzed as worried state employees stayed home. The public sector "has just come to a complete and abrupt halt," said U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria Adam Abdelmoula, noting, for example, that an aid flight carrying urgently needed medical supplies was put on hold after aviation employees abandoned their jobs. "This is a country that has had one government for 53 years and then suddenly all of those who have been demonized by the public media are now in charge in the nation's capital," Abdelmoula told The Associated Press. "I think it will take a couple of days and a lot of assurance on the part of the armed groups for these people to return to work again." World reacts to overthrow of Syria's Assad regime People wave Syrian opposition flags at City Hall Square in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) People attend a rally celebrating the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, at central Syntagma square, in Athens, Greece, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis) People wave Syrian opposition flags at City Hall Square in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) People gather to react following the fall of Syrian president Bashar Assad’s government, in Trafalgar Square, in London, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali) People wave Syrian opposition flags at City Hall Square in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) People gather to react following the fall of Syrian president Bashar Assad’s government, in Trafalgar Square, in London, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali) People attend a rally celebrating the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, at central Syntagma square, in Athens, Greece, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis) Members of the Syrian community in Finland wave a Syrian flag and celebrate in Helsinki, Finland, Dec. 8, 2024. (Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva via AP) People attend a rally celebrating the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, at central Syntagma square, in Athens, Greece, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis) Syrians wave opposition flags and give out sweets during a spontaneous rally in Wuppertal, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, following the fall of Syrian president Bashar Assad’s government. (Christoph Reichwein/dpa/dpa via AP) Syrians celebrate the fall of the Assad regime in Syria at a demonstration in Stockholm, Sweden, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (Jonas Ekstroemer/TT News Agency via AP) A Syrian man waves a flag during a spontaneous demonstration celebrating the fall of the Assad regime, in Nicosia, Cyprus, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) People gather to celebrate the Syrian government fall at Faith mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) Syrians wave Syrian opposition flags at a rally in Wuppertal, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, following the fall of Syrian president Bashar Assad’s government. (Christoph Reichwein/dpa/dpa via AP) People wave Syrian opposition flags at City Hall Square in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) Syrians living in France gather on Republique square after the Syrian government fell early today in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard) People gather to celebrate the Syrian government fall at Faith mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) People gather to celebrate the Syrian government fall at Faith mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) People gather to celebrate the Syrian government's fall, in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) Syrians living in France hug during a rally on Republique square after the Syrian government fell early today in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard) People gather to react following the fall of Syrian president Bashar Assad’s government, in Trafalgar Square, in London, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali) People gather to celebrate the Syrian government fall at Faith mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) People attend a rally celebrating the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, at central Syntagma square, in Athens, Greece, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis) A Syrian man waves a flag during a spontaneous demonstration celebrating the fall of the Assad regime in Nicosia, Cyprus, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) Get local news delivered to your inbox!
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