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Sowei 2025-01-13
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3ph Qatar tribune The Amir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held an official talks session with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street on Wednesday. Both sides discussed bilateral relations and the ways to boost them, to benefit at all levels from the opportunities available to both countries, especially in economy, investment, education and defence. They also took stock of regional and international issues of common concern, particularly the developments in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories. (QNA) Copy 05/12/2024 10

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Customers Bank Named to Inc.’s 2024 Best in Business List in Financial Services CategoryMaybe 15 minutes before the Wild hosted and defeated the Nashville Predators on Saturday, general manager Bill Guerin took a few minutes to talk to the media about his first noteworthy acquisition of the season—the trade with Columbus, which will bring David Jiricek to the State of Hockey in the first few days of December. ADVERTISEMENT Maybe it’s just the pessimistic nature of a fanbase that hasn’t seen a men’s professional team play for a championship in more than three decades, but the grumbling had begun even before the collected media had reached the press box for Saturday’s game. “Seems like a lot to pay for a minor-leaguer,” was one of the comments overheard at the rink on Saturday. Indeed, to get Jiricek – the sixth overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft – and a lower-round pick, Guerin surrendered defenseman Daemon Hunt and four draft picks, including Minnesota’s 2025 first-rounder and a second round pick in 2027. He wasted no time in getting an up-close look at the new guy, calling Jiricek up to the NHL level on Sunday, and sending former Gophers forward Travis Boyd back down to Iowa. Guerin and Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell are old friends from their time working together with the Pittsburgh Penguins. But there was no discount offered from Waddell to his old pal in Minnesota. “It took awhile. Donny,” Guerin said with an exasperated grin. “He played with me. He’s one of my old mentors. He made me work for it. He’s the best.” ADVERTISEMENT Still, Guerin would not have pulled the trigger had he not believed in two things: 1) The Wild can turn all of Jiricek’s size (6-foot-4) and potential into another piece of their bright future on the blue line. 2) The price they paid was not as steep as it might look on the surface. To that second point, consider that Hunt was not really part of the Wild’s NHL-level defensive picture, even at a time like this when Jonas Brodin’s long-term viability is a serious question mark. And after getting two points with an overtime win over the Predators on Saturday, the Wild were tied for the most points in the NHL, meaning that at this pace, that 2025 first-round draft pick is going to come in the 25th spot or later. If the Wild go into a tailspin this season, the pick sent to Columbus is lottery protected, meaning the Blue Jackets will not get to pick in the top 10 at the Wild’s expense. ADVERTISEMENT To the first point, Jiricek is a player Guerin and his assistants have had their eye on for some time, even before he was named the top defenseman in the tournament while playing for Czechia in the 2023 World Juniors. “He’s not 30, he’s not a rental. He’s a 21-year-old defenseman that we can invest in. And we did. That’s how I look at it. It’s an investment,” Guerin said. In 2022, the Wild grabbed Liam Ohgren with the 19th overall pick, more than a dozen selections after Jiricek was picked by Columbus and was posing for pictures in a new red-white-and-blue sweater. ADVERTISEMENT “He was somebody that we really liked (during) his draft year. We knew we weren’t going to get him, but we liked him,” Guerin said. “And, you know, when this became available, I did my due diligence and asked our staff what they thought. They were all on board with it. So it’s good.” Perhaps in hopes of getting the fans on board, Guerin also stressed patience. Jiricek has not yet been a star in the NHL, despite his high draft stock. But the Wild are confident that their system of developing players — especially defensemen — is the change the new guy needs. “He’s a young player. He’s got a lot to learn. He’s going to continue to improve, just like all young players,” Guerin said, name-dropping two youthful every-night members of the Wild roster who still have ample room to grow. “Brock Faber’s got to get better. Matt Boldy’s still going to get better. All these guys are going to continue to improve because they’re so young. So just because they’re in the NHL doesn’t mean they’re not going to develop their game and get better. That’s our job as the coaches, management. That’s our job to help him get better.” If he has to spend some future draft capital to put those pieces in place, that is clearly a chance Guerin is willing to take. ADVERTISEMENT ______________________________________________________ This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here .American 64, UMKC 60

A gunshot rang out on a recent morning in a meadow in northern Japan. The brown bear slumped in the cage, watched by a handful of city officials and hunters. The bear had been roaming around a nearby house and eating its way through adjacent cornfields, so officials and hunters in Sunagawa city had set a trap with a deer carcass to lure the voracious creature. "For me, it's always a bit deflating when a bear gets caught," Haruo Ikegami, 75, who heads the local hunters' association, told Reuters hours beforehand. Japan is grappling with a growing bear problem. A dwindling band of aging hunters is on the front line. A record 219 people were victims of bear attacks, six of them fatal, in the 12 months through March 2024, while more than 9,000 black and brown bears were trapped and culled over that period, according to Japan's environment ministry. Both species' habitats have been expanding; the ministry estimates that the number of brown bears in Hokkaido, Japan's northern island, more than doubled to about 11,700 in the three decades through 2020. (It doesn't keep estimates on black bears, most of which live on the main island of Honshu, though a widely cited 2023 analysis by Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper estimated their numbers at roughly 44,000, a threefold increase since 2012.) Restrictions on hunting practices and greater emphasis on conservation contributed to a surge in bear sightings over recent decades, according to Japan's Forest Research and Management Organisation. With Japan's rural areas experiencing rapid demographic decline, bears are venturing closer to towns and villages and into abandoned farmland, an environment ministry expert panel said in February. But bear expertise among local governments is spotty, and Japan's reliance on recreational hunters to protect settlements looks unsustainable as its population ages, according to Reuters interviews with almost two dozen people, including experts, hunters, officials and residents. Many called for changes to the way Japan manages human-bear conflict to address safety concerns while ensuring a future for the bears. In Hokkaido cities and towns like Sunagawa, Naie, Iwamizawa and Takikawa, which Reuters visited in October, some residents wonder what will happen when hunters can no longer do the job. Toru Yoshino, a 66-year-old chicken farmer in Sunagawa, said he was "terrified" by a bear that would wander into his farm a few years ago. As local authorities weighed how to respond, they ultimately relied on the hunters' association, the Sunagawa Ryoyukai, to neutralise the threat, he said. Sunagawa's city government told Reuters that efforts to capture the bear were complicated by its proximity to homes and deliberations about what to do once the animal was trapped. Although some hunters stalk bears as a hobby, Ikegami reckons not many are thrilled about culling trapped bears for local governments. "I don't want people to think of hunting as something fashionable. What we do is difficult. It's a big burden to take a life," he said. The burden is both mental and monetary. The hunter that shot the bear in Sunagawa would get about 8,000 yen, perhaps enough to cover fuel and expenses but little else, Ikegami said. Hunters also risk clashing with authorities. Ikegami's guns were seized by Hokkaido authorities in 2019 after they deemed his attempt to shoot a bear near a house was ill-judged. He is battling in court to have the weapons returned. The Hokkaido safety officials involved in the matter declined to address Reuters questions about the case. In response to increased bear attacks, Japanese government officials this year proposed relaxing rules around gun use to make it easier for hunters to shoot bears in urban areas. Local governments of Sunagawa, Takikawa and Iwamizawa told Reuters that regional and national authorities could go further to address the problem. This could include promoting the recruitment of hunters and improving their conditions, among other ideas. Japan's environment ministry said it subsidises efforts to train local officials and conduct bear drills in towns, but added that regional differences in human-bear conflicts called for tailor-made approaches. The Hokkaido government's wildlife bureau said it ran various initiatives to incentivise and recruit hunters, including promotional events and training people in how to handle brown bears. Environmental group WWF said in an email that to preserve Japan's bear population, authorities should take actions including developing human-wildlife buffer zones and formulating a national protection and management plan. It declined to comment specifically on the culling of bears in Japan. While its numbers have been growing in Japan, the Asiatic black bear is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN's red list of threatened species globally. The brown bear is listed as least concern. GROWING OLD Bear hunting was lucrative until the 1980s, and hide and bile were traded for high prices. But with growing environmental awareness and changes to regulations and consumer tastes, the practice has fallen out of favour. Japan issued some 218,500 hunting licenses in the 2020 fiscal year, less than half of the 517,800 it issued in 1975, according to official data. While about 98% of those issued in 1975 were for shooting, that figure dropped to 42% in 2020, the most recent data. The remaining licenses are for trapping. About 60% of licence holders were aged over 60, according to 2020 data. Hunting is expensive, unappealing, and exhausting, the hunters say. Traps need to be checked daily while bears lurk nearby. Rifle owners must abide by Japan's strict firearms laws and invest in ammunition and gun storage. Those difficulties came to a head earlier this year in Naie, where hunter Tatsuhito Yamagishi, 72, accused the local government of taking hunters for granted, without investing in a longer-term solution. "Once we grow old and have no choice but to quit, this reliance on the hunters' association is not going to work," Yamagishi said. Naie's local government declined to comment on the dispute with Yamagishi but said officials were taking steps to address the bear problem, including working with licensed hunters from outside the area. Some experts, including Koji Yamazaki, a professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture who studies bears, said depopulation and a decline in the amount of managed farmland in recent decades may have led bears to become bolder about approaching towns. Clearer demarcation between habitats would help humans and bears coexist, he said. Yoshikazu Sato, professor of agriculture at Rakuno Gakuen University, said bears appeared to be raising cubs closer to human settlements, causing young bears not to fear people as much as before. Climate change-driven shifts in the ripening and flowering of fruits, nuts and leaves may drive bears to raid crops when their usual food sources are low, he added. "What we need is a daily, consistent effort to make sure that bears don't enter human areas," Sato said. MONSTER WOLF Katsuo Harada, an 84-year-old hunter, said that ultimately, Japan should create a system where hunters are paid enough to support a family. "Unless they're paid properly, we can't nurture the next generation of hunters," he said. Harada carries the scars of a bear attack more than 20 years ago, when the animal sank its teeth into his skull. "It sounded like it was munching on some raw radish," he said. He fought off the bear, and his hunting buddies called for help. The subsequent surgery took 16 hours, he said. Harada is now part of a non-profit organization, Farming Support Hokkaido, that helps communities keep problematic wildlife at bay. "If I don't keep doing my job, there may be casualties," Harada said. Japan's environment ministry in September warned about the possibility of a surge in bear attacks towards year-end, when the animals typically scavenge for food to store up fat for hibernation. In 2023, bear sightings and attacks peaked in October, according to official data. With Japan's population aging and shrinking, some companies are turning to technology to manage bears. Propped on four rods, the "Monster Wolf" robot sold by Sapporo-based Wolf Kamuy emits growls, barks and threats from a loudspeaker, triggered by a sensor. Priced at about 400,000 yen and powered by solar energy, the gleaming-eyed beast has demonstrated some success in warding off bears, though its sensor can be triggered by other animals, said company vice-president Yuji Ohta. But Yamagishi, the hunter in Naie, said it takes years of analyzing paw prints and dung and learning to read bears' signs to understand how to trap them, adding that human expertise will remain integral to managing the problem. Yamagishi thinks it would take three to five years to train a new generation of hunters. "By then, we'll all be retired," he said.Delaware judge reaffirms ruling that invalidated massive Tesla pay package for Elon Musk

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