The Biden administration announced on Monday a last-minute trade investigation into older Chinese-made "legacy" semiconductors that could heap more U.S. tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from autos to washing machines to telecoms gear. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the probe aims to protect American and other semiconductor producers from China's massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. The "Section 301" probe, launched four weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, will be handed over to his administration in January for completion, Biden administration officials said.J.K. Dobbins and Alohi Gilman are placed on injured reserve by ChargersA new political chapter has opened in Syria. President Bashar al-Assad has fled to Moscow, where he has been granted asylum. And the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Abu-Mohammed al-Golani, the nom de guerre of Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, has captured Damascus, barely ten days after launching its offensive on 27 November. Brace for numerous theories about why Assad’s regime fell suddenly, with little more than a whimper, and even claims that its downfall was inevitable. In truth, no one predicted HTS’s lightning advance from its redoubts in the northwestern province of Idlib, adjacent to Turkey – not Assad, not Iran and Russia, his principal patrons, perhaps not even Golani himself. The House of Assad was built in 1971by Bashar’s ironfisted father, Hafez, who ruled until 2000. Having brought it down, Golani has a country to run – most of it anyway. HTS’s military success achievement was breathtaking. From Idlib, it moved southward, taking Aleppo, Hama, and Homs, the capital cites of eponymous provinces, and entered Damascus’s outskirts by 7 December, sweeping a hapless Syrian army from its path. Elsewhere, the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) attacked Kurdish positions in the north, and rebel militias overran Daraa in the southwest. And the American-supported, Kurd-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by Mazloum Abd – who presides over the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), located across the northeast bank of the Euphrates River – chased Assad’s army from Deir ez-Zor province, which abuts Iraq and has been a conduit used by Iran and the Iraqi Shia’s militias backing Assad. This is a remarkable development considering that in recent years, Assad’s political position seemed to have strengthened. The nationwide rebellion he sparked in 2011 following a bloody crackdown on protestors in Daraa during Syria’s version of the Arab Spring might have sealed his fate. But the Syrian army, supplemented by Russian airpower and fighters from Iran’s Quds Force and allied Shi’a fighters from Hezbollah and the Hashd al-Shaabi, a clutch of Iraqi militias, saved the day for the Assad regime. From 2016 onward, Assad consolidated his position. His fellow Arab leaders gradually welcomed back him to the fold – even those Gulf monarchies that had funded his Islamist opponents – and Syria rejoined the Arab League. Russia, Iran, and Turkey, convenors of the multi-round Astana peace talks , initiated in 2017, couldn’t persuade him to reach a political settlement with the armed opposition. As Assad saw it, he controlled about 70 percent of Syria and didn’t have to compromise; his enemies did. The United Sates, Europe, and Israel, scarcely Assad’s fans, reconciled themselves to his survival. Some analysts even saw him as a bulwark against jihadist groups, including the Islamic State. Israel disliked his alliance with Iran, but during the Israeli war in Gaza and the related military operations in the West Bank, Assad kept Syria’s southern border regions quiet and also did not aid Hamas, as Iran, Hezbollah, and Yemen’s Houthis did. Still, life after 2011 became even harder for the Syrians Assad ruled. Because of American sanctions and the continuing war, their per capita income plunged from $1,121 in 2018 to $421 by 2022. By 2022, the civil war was estimated to have killed almost 307,000 civilians , 7.2 million were internally displaced ( more than in any ongoing civil war), and five million had become refugees: 3.6 million in Turkey alone. Assad’s regime is dominated by his Alawite community (though Alawites have also joined the opposition), which comprises 10-13 percent of Syria’s population, and it relied on corruption and repression, including mass detentions, and torture , to ensure obedience. But the intermittent revolts in Daraa, especially in 2021 , were proof of simmering resentment. Assad’s fall leaves a vacuum. We cannot know who will fill it and with what consequences. Russia is out of the picture, at least for now. In 2015-16, Russian warplanes, plus ground forces from Iran and assorted Shi’a militias, prevented Assad’s defeat. But with Iran and Hezbollah weakened by their confrontation with Israel, and the Syrian army unraveling, Putin knew that this time Russian airstrikes couldn’t turn the tide. In recent days, Putin ordered Russian personnel to exit Syria, along with the warships docked at the Russian naval base at Tartus and the planes parked at Khmeimim airbase. For Iran, Syria has been a conduit for supplying Hezbollah; Tehran will still have a stake in the country but no longer the sway it had under Assad. The erosion of Moscow’s and Tehran’s power in the region makes the vacuum left by Assad’s demise even bigger. For now, after careful preparation, Golani has filled the void. He used the fragile ceasefire Turkey and Russian brokered in Idlib in March 2020 to better equip and train HTS forces and had already begun refashioning his own image by jettisoning a militant narrative in favor of one suffused with moderation. This was a stark metamorphosis. Golani had fought in Iraq following the 2003 American invasion and even spent five years in American prisons there. The State Department US government designated him a terrorist – it still does – and, in 2017, even offered a $10 million bounty for information leading to his identification or location. After the uprising against Assad began, Golani ran Jabhat al-Nusra, the Islamic State’s (IS) Syrian branch. He then split with IS and aligned with Al Qaeda, but soon cut ties with it as well. He created Jabhat al-Sham in 2016 and HTS, an ensemble of resistance groups, the following year. He now presents himself as an amalgam of Islamist and nationalist, disavows trans-national millenarian ambitions, and promises efficient governance and respect for Syria’s various minorities, among them Alawites, Druze, Kurds, Christians, Assyrians, and Armenians. Some worry that this is an opportunistic makeover designed to gain power, not a genuine conversion. If so, Syria could be in for a new phase of violence. Apart from the challenges of governing, Golani will face hard choices on the international front. Turkey’s influence in Syria has now increased, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will seek greater leeway to attack the Kurdish enclave in north and northeastern Syria. He may succeed if Donald Trump, true to his words , withdraws the American troops based in Syria since 2014 – nominally as part of a multi-state coalition – to help Mazloum Abdi’s SDF fight IS. Trump already ordered US troops out of Northern Syria in 2019, and could now could cut a deal with Turkish president Erdogan, who considers the SDF part of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), which has waged a secessionist war in Turkey’s southeast since 1984. Will Golani then allow Erdogan have his way or decide to resist Turkish military incursions into the Kurdish-dominated AANES – which included the seizure of Afrin, Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn in 2019 – by backing Abdi? And if Golani lasts, will he stick with by his professed ideal of a decentralized Syria featuring local autonomy, or eventually seek to control the AANES? And what of Golani and Israel? A Sunni Islamist, Golani won’t align with Iran, Hezbollah, or Hashd al-Shaabi, all backers of Assad. That will please Israel. But Golani’s family fled the Golan Heights after Israel captured it following the 1967 Six-Day War: his choice of nom de guerre (typically spelled Jolani) isn’t coincidental. Moreover, his political awakening occurred after the Second Intifada erupted in 2000. Will Golani focus on effective governance and political reconciliation within Syria and shelve his sympathy for the Palestinians’ resistance against Israel’s occupation? Or will he, in time, decide to support it, setting the stage for a confrontation with Israel? Post-Assad Syria raises many questions. Considering what has happened since November 27, it is prudent to avoid predictions. Related
OrthoPediatrics stock hits 52-week low at $22.39EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — J.K. Dobbins will miss at least the next four games after the Los Angeles Chargers placed the running back on injured reserve Saturday. The team also placed safety Alohi Gilman on injured reserve and signed safety Tony Jefferson to the active roster. Dobbins sprained the MCL in his left knee late in the first half of the Chargers’ 30-23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday. Dobbins is fourth in the AFC in rushing with 766 yards and averages 4.8 yards per carry, third highest among AFC running backs with at least 100 carries. He has been considered among the candidates for AP Comeback Player of the Year after suffering a torn Achilles tendon in last season’s opener. Gus Edwards will be counted on to be the lead back in Dobbins' absence. Edwards missed four games during the middle of the season because of an ankle injury and has 25 carries for 93 yards in three games since returning to the lineup. The Chargers are 7-4 and hold the sixth seed in the AFC going into Sunday's game at NFC South leader Atlanta (6-5). Los Angeles is at Kansas City (10-1) in a prime-time game on Dec. 8, hosts Tampa Bay (5-6) on Dec. 15 and Denver (7-5) on Dec. 19. Gilman suffered a hamstring injury in the loss to the Ravens. He has 47 tackles, which is fifth on the team, along with one sack. Los Angeles also elevated cornerback Dicaprio Bootle and linebacker Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste from the practice squad for Sunday’s game. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
WINNIPEG — Mike O’Shea stood in front of reporters Friday and kept his cool while answering questions about the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ 41-24 Grey Cup loss to the Toronto Argonauts last weekend. The head coach was asked if he made a mistake keeping injured quarterback Zach Collaros in the game, why star running back Brady Oliveira didn’t get the ball more and whether a flawed game plan led to Winnipeg’s third consecutive championship loss. “As an entire team, we didn’t have our best game,” O’Shea said in his end-of-the-season press conference. “We didn’t lack effort. We didn’t lack desire. “We didn’t have our best game as an entire team. Three phases. Coaches — everybody. Me especially.” O’Shea admitted he missed calling a timeout in the fourth quarter when there were only 11 Blue Bombers on the field instead of 12. “I don't get the count over the headset as quickly as I probably need to, we can't count. As I'm seeing a guy come off, that's the right time for that timeout that I should have used,” O’Shea said. He also said he should have used a challenge flag earlier on a play he didn’t identify, and checked on his players more during the game. But hindsight wouldn’t change his decision to put Collaros back in the game after the index finger on his throwing hand was cut deep when it hit a defender’s helmet. “He absolutely deserves every opportunity to lead this team,” O’Shea said. “From what I saw and from chatting with him very briefly, I felt really comfortable with that. I didn't think it was going to be easy, but I thought it's Zach, so...” The injury to Collaros’s finger happened late in the third quarter when the Blue Bombers were trailing the Argonauts 17-10. The veteran left the game and returned with a bandaged finger that needed five stitches and a numbing agent. He wore a glove on the hand and told reporters earlier this week it was difficult to grip the ball. Collaros said he warned receivers in the huddle his throws might not have the usual zip and they should be prepared to come back for the ball. “(I) saw him delivering the ball on the sidelines. Then you see him deliver a couple balls out there and some of them are pretty damn good, right?” O’Shea said. “The awareness of Zach to say to the receivers, ‘hey, work a little harder for me,’ I think it’s natural and what should be said. I think they already know that.” When Collaros re-entered the game, he threw interceptions in back-to-back series. “On one of them he got rid of the ball and I thought it was a good ball and the defensive player made a good play,” O’Shea said of the picks. “One slipped right out of his hand or I don't know if it got tipped or not. You've got to give him that opportunity.” Oliveira was questioning his lack of opportunities in the game when he spoke to reporters earlier in the week. The CFL’s newly minted most outstanding player and top Canadian only had 11 carries for 84 yards and one late touchdown. About 17 or 18 run plays were called, O’Shea said. “One starts off with a procedure penalty in the first and then six of those get pulled because there's X number of guys in the box or the read says this is not a run play anymore, this is now a pass play,” he said. “You call that many runs and then a pile of them get pulled because of the structure of the defence. That's OK with me at that point.” O’Shea said Bombers offensive co-ordinator Buck Pierce has been granted permission to talk to CFL teams with head-coaching job openings. The B.C. Lions are reportedly interested in Pierce. The Edmonton Elks also have a vacant head coach spot. If Pierce doesn’t become a head coach, O’Shea said he wants him to stay in Winnipeg. He believes Pierce had the offence “extremely well-prepared” for the Grey Cup. “I’m never going to question the play-calling, and I think what’s going on here is we’re questioning,” O’Shea said. “We’re trying to find blame and fault when that’s nowhere in our DNA of how we built this eight, nine, 10 years ago. We’re starting to try and find all these answers and question all these people that were 0-4 and 2-6 and then 10-1, and we just didn’t play our best game.” The Bombers finished 11-7 and claimed the West Division title that earned them a fifth consecutive trip to the Grey Cup. They won the championship in 2019 and ’21, but lost 28-24 to the Montreal Alouettes last year and 24-23 to Toronto in 2023. “We're the same group that got there, that went on a phenomenal run after a bad start, and a bad start for a lot of reasons that we overcame,” O’Shea said. “I just, I don't question any of it. I look for answers, too. I watch the film over and over and over again. And look to already make notes on how we're going to be better, how we're going to get back there again.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2024. Judy Owen, The Canadian Press
5 takeaways from Trump's 'Meet the Press' interviewCharleston Southern grabs late lead, stuns host Miami
Omnicell, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMCL) Stock Position Reduced by BNP Paribas Financial Markets
None
