live roulette tips The former ruling party of Bangladesh, the Awami League, on Thursday denounced the request made by Bangladesh’s interim government to India for extraditing former premier Sheikh Hasina and alleged that it was part of a conspiracy to “kill” the party chief “in a farcical trial”. The Awami League accused the “unconstitutional and illegal” interim government of seizing “power illegally” and being behind several conspiracies to allegedly kill Hasina. In a statement in Bengali, the party questioned the validity of Dhaka’s extradition request by contending that “false cases for political reasons” are not covered by the 2013 extradition treaty between India and Bangladesh. Bangladesh made a formal request to India on December 23 to extradite Hasina, a move that added to the strain in relations between the two sides. There was no immediate response from the interim government to the statement by the Awami League. Hasina has been living in India since she stepped down and fled Dhaka in August. The external affairs ministry confirmed it had received the extradition request but declined to comment on the issue. The Awami League’s statement said the party was deeply concerned that the “unconstitutional and illegal so-called interim government, which has seized power illegally, is involved in one conspiracy after another to kill” Hasina. “As part of this, they have recently requested the Indian government through a diplomatic note to extradite [Hasina],” it said. “They want to kill Sheikh Hasina as part of a meticulous design in the name of justice,” the statement said. The Awami League alleged that Nahid Islam, the de facto information and broadcasting minister, and other officials of the interim government have publicly stated that “they will hang Sheikh Hasina”. The Awami League also alleged that a case of genocide was filed against Hasina because of the steps she had taken to bring to justice those accused of war crimes and mass murder during the 1971 war of liberation. “The Bangladesh Awami League thinks that this extradition request of the so-called interim government...does not have any significance under the extradition treaty between the two countries because false cases for political reasons are not covered by this agreement,” the statement said. “Moreover, this agreement does not apply if there is a risk of miscarriage of justice. Today the whole world knows that there is no rule of law or justice in Bangladesh,” it added. The statement said forces backing those involved in war crimes in 1971 want to bring Hasina back to Bangladesh “through this extradition treaty for the purpose of killing her in a farcical trial”. The Awami League described the interim government as an “evil force” and repeated an earlier allegation that it was involved in killing Awami League leaders, workers and supporters, police personnel and members of the Hindu, Buddhist and Christian minorities. “According to international law, these killings fall under the category of genocide...Their murders, oppression and torture are greater than what was witnessed even in 1971,” the statement said.SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Adeia Inc. (Nasdaq: ADEA), the company whose patented innovations shape the way the world explores and experiences entertainment, today announced that Sharp Corporation, a global smart TV and consumer electronics manufacturer, has agreed to renew a multi-year worldwide license for Adeia's media intellectual property (IP) portfolio. This multi-year agreement extends the longstanding relationship between the two companies, encompassing Adeia's expansive media IP portfolio. "We are pleased to continue our 25-plus year partnership with Sharp, which, for decades, has been a global leader in consumer electronics. Sharp is a global brand that has maintained a strong reputation as a leader in entertainment technology. The company is well known for its expertise in display technologies, offering a range of smart TVs and consumer electronics that deliver high-quality experiences to consumers worldwide," said Dr. Mark Kokes, Adeia's chief licensing officer and general manager, media. About Adeia Adeia is a leading R&D and technology licensing company that accelerates the adoption of innovative technologies in the media and semiconductor industries. Adeia’s fundamental innovations underpin technology solutions that are shaping and elevating the future of digital entertainment and electronics. Adeia’s IP portfolios power the connected devices that touch the lives of millions of people around the world every day as they live, work and play. For more, please visit www.adeia.com . For Information Contact: Investor Relations Chris Chaney IR@adeia.com Media Relations JoAnn Yamani press@adeia.com

This year marked the 70th anniversary of the European Council for Nuclear Research, which is known universally as CERN. To celebrate, we have published a bumper crop of articles on particle and nuclear physics in 2024. Many focus on people and my favourite articles have definitely skewed in that direction. So let’s start with the remarkable life of accelerator pioneer Bruno Touschek. Born in Vienna in 1921 to a Jewish mother, Bruno Touschek’s life changed when Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938. After suffering antisemitism in his hometown and then in Rome, he inexplicably turned down an offer to study in the UK and settled in Germany. There he worked on a “death ray” for the military but was eventually imprisoned by the German secret police. He was then left for dead during a forced march to a concentration camp in 1945. When the war ended a few weeks later, Touschek’s expertise came to the attention of the British, who occupied north-western Germany. He went on to become a leading accelerator physicist and you can read much more about the extraordinary life of Touschek in this article by the physicist and biographer Giulia Pancheri. Today, the best atomic clocks would only be off by about 10 ms after running for the current age of the universe. But, could these timekeepers soon be upstaged by clocks that use a nuclear, rather than an atomic transition? Such nuclear clocks could rival their atomic cousins when it comes to precision and accuracy. They also promise to be fully solid-state, which means that they could be used in a wide range of commercial applications. This year saw physicists make new measurements and develop new technologies that could soon make nuclear clocks a reality. Click on the headline above to discover how physicists in the US have fabricated all of the components needed to create a nuclear clock made from thorium-229. Also, earlier this year physicists in Germany and Austria showed that they can put nuclei of the isotope into a low-lying metastable state that could be used in a nuclear clock. You can find out more here: “ Excitation of thorium-229 brings a working nuclear clock closer ”. In 2024 we launched our Physics World Live series of panel discussions. In September, we explored the future of particle physics with Tara Shears of the UK’s University of Liverpool, Phil Burrows at the University of Oxford in the UK and Tulika Bose at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the US. Moderated by Physics World ’s Michael Banks, the discussion focussed on next-generation particle colliders and how they could unravel the mysteries of the Higgs boson and probe beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. You can watch a video of the event by clicking on the above headline (free registration) or read an article based on the discussion here: “ How a next-generation particle collider could unravel the mysteries of the Higgs boson ”. Neutrinos do not fit in nicely with the Standard Model of particle physics because of their non-zero masses. As a result some physicists believe that they offer a unique opportunity to do experiments that could reveal new physics. In a wide-ranging interview , the particle physicist Juan Pedro Ochoa-Ricoux explains why he has devoted much of his career to the study of these elusive subatomic particles. He also looks forward to two big future experiments – JUNO and DUNE – which could change our understanding of the universe. “Children decide quite early in their life, as early as primary school, if science is for them or not,” explains Çiğdem İşsever – who is leads the particle physics group at DESY in Hamburg, and the experimental high-energy physics group at the Humboldt University of Berlin. İşsever has joined forces with physicists Steven Worm and Becky Parker to create ATLAScraft, which creates a virtual version of CERN’s ATLAS detector in the hugely popular computer game Minecraft . In this profile , the science writer Rob Lea talks to İşsever about her passion for outreach and how she dispels gender stereotypes in science by talking to school children as young as five about her career in physics. İşsever also looks forward to the future of particle physics and what could eventually replace the Large Hadron collider as the world’s premier particle-physics experiment. This year marked the 70th anniversary of the world’s most famous physics laboratory, so the last two items in my list celebrate that iconic facility nestled between the Alps and the Jura mountains. Formed in the aftermath of the Second World War, which devastated much of Europe, CERN came into being on 29 September 1954. That year also saw the start of construction of the Geneva-based lab’s proton synchrotron, which fired-up in 1959 with an energy of 24 GeV, becoming the world’s highest-energy particle accelerator. The original CERN had 12 member states and that has since doubled to 24, with an additional 10 associate members. The lab has been associated with a number of Nobel laureates and is a shining example of how science can bring nations together after a the trauma of war. Read more about the anniversary here . When former physicist James Gillies sat down for dinner in 2009 with actors Tom Hanks and Ayelet Zurer, joined by legendary director Ron Howard, he could scarcely believe the turn of events. Gillies was the head of communications at CERN, and the Hollywood trio were in town for the launch of Angels & Demons. The blockbuster film is partly set at CERN with antimatter central to its plot, and is based on the Dan Brown novel. In this Physics World Stories podcast , Gillies looks back on those heady days. Gillies has also written a feature article for us about his Hollywood experience: “ Angels & Demons, Tom Hanks and Peter Higgs: how CERN sold its story to the world ”. Note: The verification e-mail to complete your account registration should arrive immediately. However, in some cases it takes longer. Don't forget to check your spam folder. If you haven't received the e-mail in 24 hours, please contact customerservices@ioppublishing.org .

YEMASSEE — Greg Westergaard has built his career around monkeys, tracking their most-intimate behaviors and selling them to laboratories to serve as test subjects for cutting-edge drug development and medical procedures. His Alpha Genesis monkey farm has won more than $113 million in federal money since 2005, mostly to maintain a secure, pathogen-free environment to raise primates. But the recent escape of 43 rhesus macaques through a series of gates, over a fence and into the surrounding woods has raised questions about the safety of his business, which has grown rapidly amid increasing demands for American primate production in the name of scientific research. After the third major monkey escape in the past decade, Westergaard has put aside expansion plans and is preparing for federal agencies to investigate his sprawling campuses in Beaufort and Hampton counties. Westergaard, the company’s president, said client confidentiality keeps him from discussing much of the research that uses Alpha Genesis primates, but scientific papers and other public documents show that its monkeys have been used to address some of the largest public health challenges in the modern era. He defends this science despite the pain and premature death his animals have endured. Westergaard has heard complaints from animal rights groups, which want the recaptured monkeys moved to a sanctuary, and the harsh criticisms of S.C. Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who has questioned the safety of his facility. Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard stands in front of the entry gate of the primate research facility, Thursday, November 21, 2024, in Yemassee. He maintains that Alpha Genesis researchers work only with “low-level pathogens” that are “impossible basically to cause any bad, crazy outbreak.” Mace, the Daniel Island Republican whose district covers part of Alpha Genesis’s Lowcountry footprint, signaled that she would be supportive during a phone call soon after the escape, Westergaard said. Her negative public comments about safety risks have shocked him. She has never visited the labs, and “I don’t think she has a clue as to what we do," he said. The congresswoman staged a media event in 2021 at Morgan Island , where Alpha Genesis keeps monkeys bound for government laboratories, to bring attention to then-NIH Director Anthony Fauci and his use of animals for “cruel experiments.” Another company ran the Morgan Island operation at the time. Mace did not answer detailed questions from The Post and Courier about the interaction. Instead, her office emailed a statement. "We have been crystal clear: We oppose breeding and testing on primates — or any animals — especially when it's funded by taxpayer dollars," it read in its entirety. Lowcountry monkey CEO says escaped primates are expensive federal government property While Westergaard mulls new protocols, four monkeys that decamped to the S.C. wilderness remain at large as of Nov. 22 — a rescue mission aided by police, curious townsfolk and lines of snacks leading to harmless traps. He can identify each monkey by the tattoo on its chest and distinguishing hair dye. The early-November sabbatical created headlines around the world, which provided fodder for late-night comics Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and the "Saturday Night Live" cast, and prompted a popular Port Royal craft brewery to host a race for people dressed in monkey costumes. Many of the monkeys in the now world-famous escape are destined for experiments supported by the National Institutes of Health, a major Alpha Genesis funder. Westergaard’s company cares for 10,000 monkeys, mostly by maintaining breeding colonies that clients can pluck for research. Alpha Genesis itself owns 2,000 monkeys that it sells. A satellite view of the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee, S.C. The company also offers monkey products like blood and serum, collected by its veterinarians at a test facility on site. Westergaard said the typical test conducted at the facility might involve studying medication dosing and recording the results. His company advertises services such as pathogen screening, training and dietary acclimation, along with behavioral studies of the primates it ships to various laboratories. But monkey sales are the backbone of Alpha Genesis’s business, which caters to the federal government, pharmaceutical companies and universities. Its website says their monkeys “are immediately available to our clients for a quick study start.” A curious scientist, and a career with primates Westergaard's fascination with monkeys began when he was a psychology major at San Diego State University in the early 1980s. A professor asked him to help design the toys and structure for a small monkey enclosure. As a graduate student, he created an experiment in which capuchin monkeys developed simple tools from objects like bamboo poles that they dipped into maple-flavored corn syrup. Westergaard and his partner gave their test subjects human names. One study participant, Patty, traveled with him to South Carolina. Westergaard said she died a few years ago. She was 40. Do the last wandering Yemassee monkeys have a shot at freedom? Animal rights lawyer weighs in. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Washington before joining NIH in 1991. There, he studied monkey “handedness” — exploring whether they prefer the right hand over the left. Researchers chronicled which hand the monkeys chose to throw objects or eat, calling the exploration a “powerful research tool that can lead to a more complete understanding” of how hand preference develops. His research teams studied the reproductive performance of monkeys in cages against outdoor corrals. Rhesus macaques, the teams concluded, breed more readily outside, “probably as a result of increased individual space and relaxation of intense social stressors.” Soon after his post-doctoral fellowship, he joined the company that became Alpha Genesis, working his way to president and CEO in 2003. He eventually bought out the previous owners. Westergaard, 64, has proven adept at winning government contracts. A significant portion of the federally approved funds — more than $58 million — have been earmarked to breed monkeys for researchers studying how to minimize usage of immune system-suppressing drugs for organ transplant recipients. Escaped monkeys in SC get 15 minutes of late-night fame from Colbert, Kimmel and SNL Westergaard estimated an NIH grant currently bringing in $6 million per year to breed for the transplant study represented between a third or fourth of the company’s annual revenue. His stewardship over the company has coincided with a focus on growing the American primate development industry, which scientists say is vital to research and medical testing. Monkeys have similarities to humans' size, immune system, physiology and anatomy. Federal need for primate research has soared in recent years, a response to the growing threat of bioterrorism, the COVID-19 pandemic and China banning monkey exports, which the U.S. relied on for its research. Overall federal spending on primate research and breeding is difficult to track due to funding complexities and a lacking centralized database, a 2023 National Academy of Sciences report found . NIH saw “high demand and limited availability” for primate test subjects, which totaled around 35,000 in recent years, according to a survey. Private breeders complained in their responses that they did not have enough monkeys in stock and were having to promise future progeny. The Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center administrative building, Thursday, November 21, 2024, in Yemassee. Scientists hustled to develop and test vaccines to protect against COVID-19, and they needed primates to conduct the experiments. “It created this sort of perfect storm of a problem of the demand increasing in this country, but the supply just really going to zero,” Westergaard said, referring to the Chinese ban and the vaccine race. He wants to expand capacity at Alpha Genesis to meet the growing demand. And primate prices are soaring, with a rhesus monkey going for $5,000 to $20,000, according to Westergaard. His facility also houses more expensive monkeys, such as brown capuchins and crab-eating macaques. Probing research on pressing public health issues Beyond the company’s focus on breeding, Alpha Genesis monkeys have been used to answer pressing public health questions. Its monkeys have been subjects of studies that range from observing behaviors, separating mothers from their young and injecting animals with viruses. Westergaard said confidentiality agreements prohibit him from discussing the studies or allowing The Post and Courier to tour the sprawling, gated compound — surrounded by fencing and partially by trees — along a rural road in Yemassee, Beaufort County. A smaller Alpha Genesis campus sits a few miles away in Hampton County. Between the two cuts Interstate 95. MORGAN ISLAND: The island in Beaufort County along the South Carolina coast is home to 3,000 monkeys. (SOURCE: ESRI) Along the St. Helena Sound sits Morgan Island, home to a thousands-strong rhesus colony the company manages for the federal government. Known to locals as “Monkey Island," the undeveloped island is owned by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources with the federal National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases being responsible for the colony. Yemassee, home to the company’s main operations, is a town of about 1,000 residents named after a confederation of Native American tribes. A stop on the Amtrak train route to Savannah, its nearby attractions include Harold’s Country Club, a former filling station-turned-restaurant, and a plantation designed by famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. A sign welcomes those to the town of Yemassee next to the perimeter fence of the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center, Thursday, November 21, 2024, in Yemassee. At its three locations, Alpha Genesis's inner workings are largely hidden from passersby — even if its primates have proven pivotal in public health research. Scientific papers offer details of some aspects of the company’s research over the past two decades. A federally supported study was conducted inside Alpha Genesis and relied for support on the company’s veterinary staff. Scientists from Washington University in St. Louis wanted to understand how a night of heavy drinking affects fetal brain cells, a question already researched in rodent studies. They used Alpha Genesis monkeys for the next level of research. Great primate escape: Dozens of monkeys on lam from Lowcountry breeding facility Pregnant monkeys in their third trimester were injected with enough alcohol to simulate binge drinking. Their fetuses were delivered through a caesarian section and immediately euthanized, with the fetal brains transported from Yemassee to Washington University. There, scientists sliced and analyzed them for neuron cell death. The researchers noted that they tried to limit the total number of monkeys used in the testing to nine because of the scarcity of the animals. In another recently published study , Alpha Genesis monkeys were studied at the company test site by researchers studying a vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. The respiratory illness strikes “vulnerable populations,” and research has shown that vaccinations early in life offer protection, the study says. The disease kills an estimated 10,000 older U.S. adults each year and causes another 160,000 hospitalizations. A dozen primates aged 6 to 7 years old were used in the experiment. The monkeys were injected with an experimental vaccine, and some monkeys were exposed to the RSV virus. The vaccine’s effectiveness was studied over several months. Westergaard was especially proud of his company’s involvement in the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines. He said in a 2020 media release that his company had 50 years of vaccine experience and “was lending its considerable resources to combat this latest viral menace.” A study involving Biomere Inc. of Worcester, Mass., relied on Alpha Genesis monkeys, which were injected with “one, two or three doses” of experimental vaccines and observed after each shot, according to published research. Some monkeys were infected with the coronavirus in a high-security laboratory and studied for vaccine effectiveness, respiratory distress and weight loss. Afterward, the primates were killed through "an intravenous overdose of sodium phenobarbital,” researchers reported. A Biomere spokesman declined to comment. Grounds of the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center seen through the top of a fence, Thursday, November 21, 2024, in Yemassee. Scientists who are proponents of research on monkeys credit the animals’ participation with contributing to major medical advancements like the polio and COVID-19 vaccines, as well as HIV drug treatment. “There's been a long history, especially in vaccine research, of non-human primates playing a very important role, and it's sort of a gateway to see if the vaccine is feasible for working humans,” said Deborah Fuller, director of the Washington National Primate Research Center . Is the progress worth the pain? Opponents question whether the inflicted pain and suffering is worth the medical advancements. Susan Howell, a primatologist, biological anthropologist and University of Colorado visiting lecturer, worked at Alpha Genesis in the mid 2000s. She managed a breeding colony there. Throughout her time working in primate research, she witnessed treatment that didn’t sit right with her. Veterinarians would pump monkeys with ketamine to knock them out in order to give them physical exams, she said. Vets then would pile monkeys onto a truck and drive them to an area within the facility where they would perform the exams, she added. That was enough for her to feel uncomfortable, though her full perspective change came years later. Howell understands how primates have contributed to scientific developments. She just questions the cost to the animals. “I don’t think the point is they’re not making strides. The point is whether humans deserve those strides over the health and well-being of the animal," she said. "That’s the question." The entrance gate and cage area for monkeys as seen through the perimeter gate at Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center, Thursday, November 21, 2024, in Yemassee. Primate research, however, remains embedded in U.S. public health systems. Federal regulation requires researchers to show new drugs are safe to try in humans, typically by testing on animals — commonly monkeys. The Federal Drug Administration approves drugs that are effective and not toxic for human trials. Animal advocates push for alternatives, which scientists are trying to develop. Federal legislation signed by President Joe Biden in 2022 allows for alternatives to animal testing for new drugs. The FDA supports these options when they are available , but according to the agency and three leading primate research scientists who spoke to the newspaper, those possibilities are limited. Westergaard believes the benefits of research outweigh the costs to the monkeys he loves. "Part of my justification in my own mind is that I know that the people that employ here and myself, we really do care about the monkeys,” he said. “And if this type of work is going to be done, I would rather that we do it than really anyone else.” As the last few weeks have shown, even with layers of safety built into routine tasks and scientific experiments, intense scrutiny into the company’s work and the science it supports is just one escape away.Quest Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Xperi Inc. (NASDAQ:XPER)

Santa Claus has no need to worry about recent mystery drone sightings over New Jersey, a US Air Force general said Tuesday, as an annual tradition of "tracking" Saint Nick swung into action. General Gregory Guillot's reassurances came as the joint US-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) reported that Santa and his reindeer were making stops in Russia and Iran after visiting countries further east including Japan, North Korea and Indonesia. Santa's journey this year comes after weeks of mysterious sightings of alleged drones in the US state of New Jersey, sparking worldwide curiosity even as many of the reported incidents were debunked. "Of course we are concerned about drones and anything else in the air," NORAD commander Guillot told Fox News. "But I don't foresee any difficulty at all with drones for Santa this year." NORAD's Santa tracker dates to 1955, when a Colorado newspaper advertisement printed a phone number to connect children with Santa -- but mistakenly directed them to the hotline for the joint military nerve center. The director of operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, answered the phone and quickly realized the child calling had the wrong number. "But (he) didn't want to upset him. So he started talking to the young child and passed along information" on Santa's location, Canadian Air Force Major-General William Radiff, NORAD's current director of operations, told AFP on Tuesday. "And then afterwards, he talked to the rest of the staff there and said, 'please, we're going to get phone calls today... Let's start doing this.'" More from this section The interest has gone global. Last year NORAD's modernized Santa tracker website noradsanta.org -- which includes a 3D map displaying Santa's movements in real time and a ticker showing how many presents have been delivered -- had 20.6 million visits, and more than 400,000 calls were made to the toll-free number, according to Radiff. "We get calls from all across the world and they really want to know where Santa is," he said. When not spreading holiday cheer, NORAD conducts aerospace and maritime control and warning operations -- including monitoring for missile launches from North Korea, something perhaps on Santa's mind as he guided his reindeer-hauled sleigh over Pyongyang. Radiff, embracing the Christmas spirit, said NORAD's infrared-capable satellites could monitor Santa's progress in part because "Rudolph's nose gives off the same signature, so we use that to track him around the world." NORAD "always does a fantastic job helping us keep tabs on Santa's navigational heading and bearing in the skies above," astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second person to ever walk on the Moon, said on social media. Last Christmas, US President Joe Biden joined in the fun at NORAD, taking calls from children. As of midday Tuesday US time, some 2.5 billion presents had been delivered, according to NORAD. bur/nroDOE Releases SAF Grand Challenge Roadmap Implementation FrameworkAP Top 25: Alabama, Mississippi out of top 10 and Miami, SMU are in; Oregon remains unanimous No. 1Artificial intelligence (AI) is a new technology with tremendous long-term investment potential. But don't assume that all AI stocks are speculative or high-octane growth businesses. There are plenty of opportunities for dividend investors to add AI exposure to their portfolios, too. Some companies in the best positions to lead the AI industry pay dividends. Their core businesses are enhanced by AI or even have growth opportunities. No, they aren't high-yield stocks that income-focused investors would prefer, but their dividend growth potential makes them wealth compounders to buy and hold for the long term -- including these three AI stocks. 1. Broadcom Semiconductor giant Broadcom ( AVGO -1.47% ) specializes in chips for connectivity applications, such as networking, server storage, and broadband. And it acquired companies to build enterprise infrastructure software into about 40% of its business. This created a diversified technology company that generated $51.5 billion in revenue in its fiscal year 2024, with $19.4 billion (37%) of that in free cash flow . The company paid and raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years at an average hike of 14.7% over the past five years. The current payout ratio is only 48% of its fiscal year 2024 earnings, so investors should feel good about the dividend's security and growth potential. Analysts estimate Broadcom will grow earnings by an average of nearly 22% annually over the long term, according to Yahoo! Finance. Its promising growth expectations are mainly due to its AI-related opportunities. The company has secured deals to develop AI chips for some notable customers, which management has yet to name formally. This year, Broadcom's AI-related revenue totaled $12.2 billion, and management believes it will grow substantially as these chip deals get underway, making the long-term dividend potential sky-high. 2. Microsoft Microsoft ( MSFT -1.73% ) is on a 22-year dividend growth streak. The company has become an AI business on multiple levels, integrating the technology throughout its software products to enhance the user experience. And it owns Azure, the world's second-largest cloud computing platform, whose growth is fueled by the AI applications it deploys. Microsoft keeps growing despite its staggering size, reaching a $3.2 trillion market cap and $254 billion in annual revenue. Analysts estimate the business will grow earnings by a yearly average of 13% over the long term. That should spell inflation-beating dividend increases. The dividend is also about as safe as they come. The payout ratio is only 26% of 2024 earnings estimates, and Microsoft is one of two public companies with an AAA credit rating -- higher than the U.S. government. This ironclad balance sheet gives it the utmost financial flexibility and security. Investors looking for safety and growth should look no further than Microsoft. 3. Meta Platforms Social media titan Meta Platforms ( META -0.59% ) is new to the dividend game, initiating its payout this year. And it has the ingredients for dividend stardom. Meta is arguably the world's best advertising business, generating profits by showing digital ads to the 3.29 billion people who view Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads daily. CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushed Meta hard into AI. It created an open-source AI model (Llama) and built the data centers to support its vast computing requirements. The company is also investing billions in its Reality Labs segment , which could add to its growth if it makes money at some point. Meta's dividend is only 9% of the company's 2024 earnings estimates, so the growth potential is obvious. I probably wouldn't expect overly aggressive increases as long as the company is losing money on Reality Labs, but investors have a solid shot at double-digit dividend growth. Analysts estimate earnings will rise by an average of 17% annually over the long term, so the dividend could easily sustain high growth while keeping the payout ratio low. Meta is likely a dividend growth star in the making.

Former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh has died at the age of 92. Singh was one of India’s longest-serving prime ministers and he was considered the architect of key liberalising economic reforms, as premier from 2004-2014 and before that as finance minister. He had been admitted to a hospital in the capital Delhi after his health condition deteriorated, reports say. Among those who paid tribute to Singh on Thursday were Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who wrote on social media that “India mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders”. Modi said that Singh’s “wisdom and humility were always visible” during their interactions and that he had “made extensive efforts to improve people’s lives” during his time as prime minister. Priyanka Gandhi, the daughter of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and a Congress party member, said that Singh was “genuinely egalitarian, wise, strong-willed and courageous until the end”. Her brother Rahul, who leads Congress, said he had “lost a mentor and guide”. Singh was the first Indian leader since Jawaharlal Nehru to be re-elected after serving a full first term, and the first Sikh to hold the country’s top post. He made a public apology in parliament for the 1984 riots in which some 3,000 Sikhs were killed. But his second term in office was marred by a string of corruption allegations that dogged his administration. The scandals, many say, were partially responsible for his Congress party’s crushing defeat in the 2014 general election. Singh was born on 26 September 1932, in a desolate village in the Punjab province of undivided India, which lacked both water and electricity. After attending Panjab University he took a master’s degree at the University of Cambridge and then a DPhil at Oxford. While studying at Cambridge, the lack of funds bothered Singh, his daughter, Daman Singh, wrote in a book on her parents. “His tuition and living expenses came to about £600 a year. The Panjab University scholarship gave him about £160. For the rest he had to depend on his father. Manmohan was careful to live very stingily. Subsidised meals in the dining hall were relatively cheap at two shillings sixpence.” Daman Singh remembered her father as “completely helpless about the house and could neither boil an egg, nor switch on the television”. Singh rose to political prominence as India’s finance minister in 1991, taking over as the country was plunging into bankruptcy. His unexpected appointment capped a long and illustrious career as an academic and civil servant – he served as an economic adviser to the government, and became the governor of India’s central bank. In his maiden speech as finance minister he famously quoted Victor Hugo, saying that “no power on Earth can stop an idea whose time has come”. That served as a launchpad for an ambitious and unprecedented economic reform programme: he cut taxes, devalued the rupee, privatised state-run companies and encouraged foreign investment. The economy revived, industry picked up, inflation was checked and growth rates remained consistently high in the 1990s. Manmohan Singh was a man acutely aware of his lack of a political base. “It is nice to be a statesman, but in order to be a statesman in a democracy you first have to win elections,” he once said. When he tried to win election to India’s lower house in 1999, he was defeated. He sat instead in the upper house, chosen by his own Congress party. The same happened in 2004, when Singh was first appointed prime minister after Congress president Sonia Gandhi turned down the post – apparently to protect the party from damaging attacks over her Italian origins. Critics however alleged that Sonia Gandhi was the real source of power while he was prime minister, and that he was never truly in charge. The biggest triumph during his first five-year term was to bring India out of nuclear isolation by signing a landmark deal securing access to American nuclear technology. But the deal came at a price – the government’s Communist allies withdrew support after protesting against it, and Congress had to make up lost numbers by enlisting the support of another party amid charges of vote-buying. A consensus builder, Singh presided over a coalition of sometimes difficult, assertive and potentially unruly regional coalition allies and supporters. Although he earned respect for his integrity and intelligence, he also had a reputation for being soft and indecisive. Some critics claimed that the pace of reform slowed and he failed to achieve the same momentum he had while finance minister. (BBC News) Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, dies at 100

Are ring girls like Sydney Thomas about to get knocked out by AI?Is the artificial intelligence stock market boom still wired or tired? Top AI stocks such as ( ) and ( ) face high expectations. For many companies — such as Google parent ( ), ( ) and Facebook parent ( ) — the rise of generative AI poses both risk and opportunity. Amid the emergence of — which generates text, images, and video — it's a good time to be cautious amid the hype, especially given at ( ). Meanwhile, startups OpenAI and Anthropic are battling Google, Meta and others in developing . has gained 37% in 2024 despite growing competition in internet search. OpenAI recently laid out more details of its plans to adopt a in 2025, amid negotiations with investor Microsoft and a feud with ( ) founder Elon Musk. Tesla stock has advanced 73% this year. AI Stocks: Nvidia Cooling Off Many companies suddenly tout AI product roadmaps. 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