Year: 2024

World Meditation Day: Feeling low? Here’s how to take care of mental health according to spiritual guru Ravi Shankar | Today News  Mint
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“HORIZON-X” Space Tycoon 0138-9596-2595 by cosmiccoven  Fortnite
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SAN FRANCISCO, California — Google late Friday countered a US call to sell its Chrome browser, suggesting a judge address antitrust concerns by barring the firm from making favorable treatment of its software a condition of licensing.
Google filed a 12-page proposed order banning the internet giant from requiring favorable distribution or treatment of its software on mobile devices as a condition of licensing popular apps like Chrome, Play or Gemini.
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India news: People pay last respects to former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala at Tejakhera farmhouse; last rites today at 3 pm

India news: Mayawati calls for nationwide demonstration on Dec 24 against Amit Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar

World: US Congress passes bill to avert government shutdown

World: Russian missile hits six foreign embassies in Kyiv, says Ukraine

India news: Two Naxalites with cumulative bounty of Rs 8 lakh surrender in Gadchiroli

India news: Heavy rainfall warning, yellow alert issued for four districts in Odisha

India news: We deeply value historical connection with Kuwait that has been nurtured over generations: PM Modi

India news: Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for two-day visit to Kuwait

India news: Female tiger found dead in Tamil Nadu, probe ordered

India news: Om Prakash Chautala’s mortal remains taken to Teja Khera; last rites to be held with full state honours today

India news: Fire breaks out at a software company in Madhapur, Hyderabad

India news: Four of family killed in fire at milk parlour-cum-house in Dewas, MP

India news: Death toll in fire incident that took place on Bhankrota Ajmer Road in Jaipur reaches 13

World news: Central Israel hit by Yemen-launched ‘projectile’, says Israel military

India news: NIA arrests key accused Kodaje Mohammed Sherif in Praveen Nettaru murder case, upon arrival in Delhi from Bahrain
NIA arrests key accused Kodaje Mohammed Sherif in Praveen Nettaru murder case, upon arrival in Delhi from Bahrain. Sherif, a PFI operative, had imparted arms training to the PFI team that killed Nettaru.
Watch: A thin layer of fog engulfs the national capital as coldwave grips the city

Himachal assembly adopts govt resolution demanding amendments in Forest Conservation Act
On Friday, the Himachal Pradesh Assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging the Union government to amend the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) to allow the allotment of up to 10 bighas of forest land to individuals affected by natural disasters. Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi, responding to the resolution, highlighted that natural calamities cause significant damage to land and property every year. However, due to the restrictions of the FCA, the state government, despite being the owner of forest lands, is unable to provide land to those affected.
India, ADB ink USD 350 mn loan pact for a logistics programme
On Friday, the Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a USD 350 million policy-based loan agreement to strengthen India’s multimodal and integrated logistics ecosystem under the SMILE program. The agreement was signed by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) under the Ministry of Finance, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), and ADB. SMILE is a programmatic policy-based loan initiative aimed at supporting the government in implementing significant reforms across India’s logistics sector.
GST Council to decide on cutting taxes on insurance premium; big-ticket rate rejig unlikely
In its upcoming meeting on Saturday, the GST Council is expected to decide on reducing tax rates for life and health insurance premiums. However, decisions on broader tax reforms, including higher taxes on sin goods, may be delayed. The Group of Ministers (GoM) on GST rate rationalization had suggested rate changes for 148 items, but sources indicate that further consensus is needed on some proposals, requiring more time. The 55th GST Council meeting, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, is also likely to discuss including Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) under GST, given its significant role in airline operating costs. Additionally, a proposal to reduce the tax on food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato from 18% (with input tax credit) to 5% (without input tax credit) is also on the agenda.
University of California campuses resolve discrimination complaints stemming from Gaza protests
The US Department of Education announced on Friday that it had reached an agreement with the University of California system to address complaints of discrimination and harassment by Jewish and Muslim students during protests over the war in Gaza last spring. The department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigated nine complaints against UC campuses in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Davis, and Santa Cruz, which alleged inadequate responses to antisemitic and anti-Arab harassment. As part of the agreement, the universities will enhance reporting of complaints to OCR and review past reports of harassment from the last two academic years to assess if further action is needed.
Italy fines OpenAI 15 million Euros after ChatGPT probe
Italy’s data protection authority, the GPDP, announced on Friday that it had fined OpenAI €15 million ($15.6 million) over the use of personal data by ChatGPT. The fine follows an investigation that began in March 2023 when Italy became the first Western country to temporarily block the AI chatbot due to privacy concerns. In its statement, the GPDP acknowledged OpenAI’s cooperation during the investigation but still decided to impose the penalty. OpenAI has stated its intention to appeal the decision.

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Government funding bill clears Congress and heads to President Biden, averting a shutdown  The Associated Press
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BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Common Council members were shocked Thursday to discover that the city has to use $19 million in federal pandemic funds to plug budget holes — or risk Washington taking back the funds.
“This holiday season, the ghost of Christmas past that is haunting City Hall is the Brown administration’s failure to get these funds out on the street,” said Fillmore District Council Member Mitchell Nowakowski, referring to former Mayor Byron W. Brown, who resigned in October. 
But that’s not the only bad news coming from City Hall. 
Acting Mayor Christopher Scanlon said Buffalo Water misspent another $11 million in American Rescue Plan funds, writing in a letter to the council, “Despite being approved … to forgive outstanding residential water bills, these funds were used by Buffalo Water on capital improvements. I am incredibly disheartened by this discovery.”
The shock of Common Council members like Masten District representative Zeneta Everhart turned to anger at a hastily arranged news conference on Thursday.
“Money that was supposed to be used in marginalized communities where people can’t afford to pay their water bills … that money was stolen from them,” Everhart said. “The information we received is insane. Where I’m from, in the ‘hood, it’s called robbing Peter to pay Paul. Who are we robbing? The least of us. And it’s not OK.”
Outgoing Buffalo Water Board Chair O.J. McFoy disputed that, writing in an email, “Unequivocally, there has been no miss-utilization (sic) of ARP funds.”
McFoy stressed Friday that the money was spent “in full compliance” with federal guidelines. He said former Brown finance commissioner Delano Dowell approved the use of funds to replace lead service lines. 
But that’s not what McFoy told the council in October. When University District Council Member Rasheed Wyatt asked what the $11 million was used for, McFoy said, “That was going to debt relief and arrearages for our customers. So we were able to apply that for our customers and so they have seen … their arrearages went way down.”
Scanlon on Friday said in a statement, “I am deeply disappointed to have discovered through an independent audit review undertaken at my direction that ARPA funds allocated to the Buffalo Water Board were redirected from their intended purpose.”
Nowakowski said only the council had the power to allocate and dispose of those funds.
“To not respect the Common Council and respect the sewer and water payers of this city — to then use it for something else — and we find out at the last hour, is not only disappointing, it’s disgusting,” he said. 
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The Social Security Fairness Act, which repeals provisions that reduce benefits for thousands of public service workers in Connecticut, moves to President Joe Biden’s desk after the U.S. Senate passed the bill early Saturday in the final hours of the session.
Passage was a major victory for advocates who argue the deductions unfairly hurt those who collected pensions but also worked jobs covered by Social Security. It was the culmination of a years-long effort to eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset yet on a rare fast track through Congress over the past couple of months.
The timing was also significant, given the short window of time left in the current Congress, which has been dominated by must-pass legislation. And it passed shortly before the Senate took up the year-end package to fund the federal government and avoid a shutdown.
Momentum for the stalled legislation started this fall when authors of the House version sought to circumvent normal procedures and force a vote. They used a discharge petition, requiring them to collect a majority of signatures from lawmakers in order to get a vote. The bill overwhelmingly passed the House last month, raising the stakes for proponents to get it done before the end of the year.
That put pressure on the Senate to take up the legislation in the final weeks. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., vowed last week to hold a vote before lawmakers left town. On Wednesday, the Social Security Fairness Act cleared the initial hurdle, and after a number of procedural and amendment votes this week, it moved to the last stage in the process late on Friday that stretched into the early morning hours.
The bill easily cleared final passage, 76-20, with support from both of Connecticut’s senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy. The bill now heads to the White House where Biden is expected to sign it into law.
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Support for repealing WEP and GPO brought together a range of coalitions and groups including lawmakers in both parties as well as unions representing industries like education, law enforcement, government employees and other public workers. The Fraternal Order of Police announced earlier in the week that President-elect Donald Trump backs the legislation.
“We have different political views. We have different pedagogical views,” Connecticut Education Association Vice President Joslyn DeLancey said, referring to her union, which represents thousands of teachers across the state. “So when we can find an issue that every single one of our members, all 40-plus-thousand of them, say, ‘No, this needs to be fixed,’ right? And I think that that’s what is really interesting about this issue.”
But critics raised concerns because there is no offset to pay for the repeal, and it would speed up the projected timeline of Social Security becoming insolvent, though both sides have acknowledged that Congress will need to deal with larger reforms to the program for its long-term financial health.
The bill eliminates two provisions that reduce Social Security payments to certain beneficiaries as well as spouses and surviving family members who also collect a pension from jobs that did not pay Social Security payroll taxes. That can include teachers, police officers, firefighters, government employees and others in the public sector.
The Windfall Elimination Provision can lower how much beneficiaries receive from Social Security if they also get pensions or disability benefits from uncovered work. It applies to those who paid Social Security taxes on less than 30 years of substantial earnings, which is currently set at $31,275 in 2024.
WEP affects more than 22,000 beneficiaries in Connecticut, with the vast majority of them retired workers, according to December 2023 estimates from the Congressional Research Service. Connecticut is one of 15 states where WEP applies to teachers.
The Government Pension Offset can cut Social Security spousal or survivor benefits by two-thirds of the non-covered pension from local, state or federal government employment. For some who receive a teacher’s pension, the cuts can be larger than their spousal benefits, so they essentially receive nothing through Social Security.
The bill easily passed the House last month, with support from four of the five Democratic members in Connecticut’s delegation. U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, voted against it because it does not include an offset similar to that in his own Social Security reform bill, which seeks to temporarily remove those provisions. His own bill would fund the repeal of WEP and GPO through raising the income cap on taxable earnings for Social Security.
Larson, who serves as ranking member of the Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, has been pushing for more comprehensive reforms to Social Security for years. His legislation, “Social Security 2100 Act,” has support from 188 Democrats but no GOP co-sponsors. That will become even more challenging next session when Republicans control both chambers of Congress and Trump returns to the White House.
Current estimates show the Trust Fund for old age and survivors insurance will be able to pay 100% of Social Security benefits through 2033. After that, it could result in people receiving reduced benefits, amounting to about a 20% cut.
The Congressional Budget Office projects that if the bipartisan legislation is enacted and repeals both provisions, it would cost nearly $196 billion over the next decade. 
Others warned against ending WEP and GPO without an offset, arguing that it will be a drain on the Social Security Trust Fund. U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., criticized the accelerated process for bringing up the bill, as well as concerns about having no offsets. In addition to the discharge petition in the House, Tillis noted the Senate held no committee hearings on the legislation.
“So it is something we need to fix, but this is not the way to fix it. We are 10 years away from most economists’ consensus believing that the Social Security Trust Fund is going to reach insolvency,” Tillis said earlier this week. “To right a wrong for a small percentage of people that should get fairly treated, they are going to take $200 billion over 10 years to pay for this. That pulls insolvency forward by six months.”
But those affected by the decrease in their benefits argue it unfairly affects many who have worked in public service, like teachers, police officers and firefighters, as well as survivor benefits for those who served in local, state or federal government.
A number of labor unions across industries have been at the forefront of the years-long push to repeal WEP and GPO. Groups like the Connecticut Education Association, the Connecticut chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, the Connecticut Alliance for Retired Americans and the Association of Retired Teachers of Connecticut made a big push to get a vote before the end of the session.
Those representing educators see the deductions as a particular roadblock for teachers because many of them need to work second or multiple jobs that pay into the Social Security system. And they note that it is an issue that disproportionately affects women, especially for many who raise their children and then reenter the workforce. 
Advocates argue that WEP and GPO are barriers to hiring and retaining talent in Connecticut’s workforce, especially when it comes to second-career educators who have worked in a different field and decided to transition into education. CEA President Kate Dias said it makes it challenging “to attract people when there’s such a significant consequence to their joining the profession.”

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The Connecticut Mirror/Connecticut Public Radio federal policy reporter position is made possible, in part, by funding from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation.
Lisa Hagen is CT Mirror and CT Public’s shared Federal Policy Reporter. Based in Washington, D.C., she focuses on the impact of federal policy in Connecticut and covers the state’s congressional delegation. Lisa previously covered national politics and campaigns for U.S. News & World Report, The Hill and National Journal’s Hotline. She is a New Jersey native and graduate of Boston University.

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Now
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Sat
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HEADLINE: Warm weather continues
LOW TODAY: 46NORMAL LOW: 39
HIGH TODAY: 68NORMAL HIGH: 56
What an afternoon around southern Nevada as highs once again reached the upper 60s and lower 70s.
Here are some specific highs from around southern Nevada:
UNLV: 74; Mesquite: 72; Nellis: 70; Pahrump: 73; Downtown: 70; Centennial: 69; Summerlin: 68; Henderson Executive: 67; Aliante: 70
High pressure will remain the dominant weather feature now through Christmas Eve Day resulting in continued warm days and cool nights.
A winter storm will move east across California this weekend and then across Nevada Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day.
At this point, the center of energy will remain north resulting in low chances for precipitation across southern Nevada.
A dusting of snow is possible by Christmas morning in our local mountains, but nothing significant.
The track could change, so stay tuned!
In the meantime, look for partly skies tonight with lows in the mid to upper 40s.
Plenty of sunshine Saturday with highs in the mid 60s to near 70.
By midnight tonight, Las Vegas will reach 160 consecutive days since our last measurable rainfall.
Severe to extreme drought conditions remain across ALL of southern Nevada. Most of Clark County is experiencing Extreme drought conditions.
SNOWPACK – UPPER COLORADO: RIGHT NOW: 82% A YEAR AGO: 79%
Lake Mead is currently at 1062 feet compared to 1065 feet one year ago today.
Total valley rainfall in 2024: 2.27" (-1.71" below normal)
Total valley rainfall through December 20th, 2023: 4.53" (+0.55" above normal)
AIR QUALITY – HEALTHY TO MODERATE
POLLEN COUNT:
TREES: LOW
GRASS: LOW
MOLD: LOW
WEEDS: LOW
– Bill Bellis
© 2024 Sinclair, Inc.

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