The process of excision of the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) from the existing military area and its merger with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) area which has been underway for the past three years may soon get the central government’s approval with the director-general of defence estates’ (DGDE’s) letter dated November 14 to the Maharashtra chief secretary asking the latter to depute an officer at an appropriate level to attend a meeting with the joint secretary (land and works), ministry of defence (MoD), to be held via video conferencing on November 27. Besides Pune, the DGDE has also listed Dehu Road, Deolali, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Kamptee and Khadki cantonments. In a fresh letter from deputy director-general (cantonments) Arvind Kumar Dwivedi to the principal director of defence estates of all commands, Dwivedi has listed out the modalities for the merger of the designated cantonment board areas with the respective municipal bodies. The letter states that the proprietary rights of all assets meant for providing civic amenities and municipal services in the excised area will be transferred to the state government and municipality free-of-cost, assets and liabilities of cantonment boards will be transferred to the state municipality, and the municipal cover over leased and old grant properties in the excised area will be transferred to the state municipality. As per the guidelines, the central government will retain ownership rights over land where it currently has jurisdiction; cantonment areas will be merged with the municipal corporations of the respective states, bringing them under the jurisdiction of the state government; all assets and liabilities of the cantonment boards will be transferred to the state government; and municipal corporations will gain control over properties currently under contract within the cantonment areas. The merged cantonment areas will now be subject to municipal and state government rules and laws. However, areas under the jurisdiction of the MoD or where it functions will be excluded from this merger. According to the ministry, the changes aim to streamline the governance of civilian areas within cantonments, making municipal services more accessible and efficient for residents. The state municipalities will also be empowered to levy local taxes on these areas, integrating them more fully into the urban administrative framework. When contacted, cantonment-based social activist Rajabhau Chavan, said, “We are all hopeful about the forthcoming meeting with the joint secretary (land and works), MoD, scheduled on Nov 27 after which the decks will be cleared once and for all for the merger of Pune and other designated cantonments with the municipal bodies. The citizens of Pune cantonment have been suffering for the past one decade, and their problems are multiplying with each passing day. The merger will bring the desired infrastructural development and change the current infrastructurally-deficient face of the cantonment area.”AP Trending SummaryBrief at 6:06 p.m. ESTInfosys founder Narayana Murthy buys second luxury flat in Bengaluru’s Kingfisher Towers

Chargers rule out RB Gus Edwards (ankle) vs. Patriots

ATLANTA — Jalen Johnson had a career-high 30 points and the Atlanta Hawks rallied from a late 21-point deficit by scoring 50 points in the fourth quarter in a 141-133 win over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night. Atlanta trailed 124-107 with 6:23 remaining in the game and used a 23-2 run to take its first lead since the first quarter. Johnson added 15 rebounds and Trae Young scored 27 points, surpassing the 11,000 career point mark, and added 13 assists as the Hawks won their second straight. Zach Levine scored a season-high 37 points in the loss. Jevon Carter scored 19 of his 26 points in the first quarter as the Bulls lost their third straight despite shooting 54% (53 for 98) from the field. Takeaways Bulls: The Bulls trailed by seven points early before going on a 31-12 run in the first quarter for a 33-21 lead after a period. They held the lead until late in the fourth quarter. Hawks: De'Andre Hunter, who scored 25 points, has finished with 15 or more points off the bench in 13 consecutive games. It's the longest such streak for a reserve player in Hawks' history. Six Atlanta players scored in double figures. Key moment With three minutes to go in the game, Young hit a tying 3-pointer — the first deadlock since the opener quarter — that sent the home crowd into a frenzy. Seconds later, Johnson took a steal down the floor and scored on a jam to give Atlanta the lead. Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) grabs a rebound against Chicago Bulls forward Julian Phillips (15) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Atlanta. Credit: AP/Mike Stewart Key stat Chicago hit 22 3-pointers, good for a franchise-record 31st straight game in which the Bulls have made at least 10.3 3s. Up next Atlanta hosts the Miami Heat, and Chicago hosts the Milwaukee Bucks. Both games are Saturday.

MACON, Ga. (AP) — Myles Redding returned an interception 25 yards for a first-quarter touchdown and Whitt Newbauer threw a four-yard touchdown pass to start the fourth quarter as No. 7-seeded Mercer beat No. 10 Rhode Island 17—10 on Saturday. Mercer advances to the FCS semifinals for the first time and will face No. 2 North Dakota State, which beat No. 15 Abilene Christian 51-31. Redding swooped in front of Hunter Helms' intended receiver for his seventh interception of the season with 3:33 left in the first quarter, tying him with teammate TJ Moore for the most in the nation. Rhode Island got a 17-yard field goal from Ty Groff as time expired in the first half and took the lead late in the third quarter when Helms connected with Marquis Buchanan on a 56-yard touchdown for a 10-7 lead. Senior Dwayne McGee set up two fourth-quarter scores for the Bears, slashing through the right side for a 33-yard gain to give Mercer a first-and-goal at the Rhode Island 10. On third-and-goal from the 4, Newbauer found Adjatay Dabbs for the go-ahead touchdown. After the Bears twice forced the Rams to punt in their own half of the field, McGee ran 40 yards on first down to give Mercer a first down at the Rhode Island 25, setting up a 24-yard Reice Griffith field goal for the game's final score. McGee finished with 114 yards on 21 carries and CJ Miller added 81 yards on 10 carries for Mercer (11-2), which remained unbeaten in seven home games. Helms finished 22 of 33 passing for 266 yards and Buchanan caught 11 passes for 119 yards to lead Rhode Island (11-3), but the Rams managed just 46 yards on 26 carries on the ground. — Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Walmart's DEI rollback signals a profound shift in the wake of Trump's election victoryTIMMINS - Progress is being made on a new francophone health centre. Construction on the Centre de santé communautaire de Timmins (CSC Timmins) is set to be completed by June 2025. The facility, located at 120 Kent Ave., will enhance accessibility, expand services and provide space for community programs. In mid-December, CSC Timmins executive director Michelle Stevens said the crews were working on the interior framing work. “There were other buildings that were on that property prior. So there were a couple hurdles with regards to site work and finding some concrete and some original sewage tanks from way back,” she said. The project has stayed on track and on budget, Stevens said. Ground was broken in May of this year, with the project being funded by over $16 million from the province, including $1.1 million for early planning and $15.6 million for construction. SEE: Ground officially broken on new Timmins health centre The previous building on the site, the former École catholique St-Charles, was demolished in 2022. The medical clinic is currently operating at the Timmins Square, and the administrative staff has been working from offices on Wilson Avenue while the new facility is completed. The new facility will improve operations and accessibility for both staff and clients, Stevens said. The consolidation of services will eliminate confusion around appointment locations, reduce barriers for clients and foster stronger internal communication among team members. “It will just take away so many barriers to accessibility for clients. Remove confusion with regards to location of appointments. It will strengthen the team and the internal communication within team members. We’re counting down the days,” she said. The new space will allow the centre to offer community programming currently limited by a lack of facilities, Stevens said. Programs such as fall prevention, chair yoga and brain function activities will be held on-site rather than in rented gyms or outdoor spaces. Stevens said patients can look forward to easier parking, a single-level building with no stairs and a streamlined experience where multiple services — such as nurse practitioner visits, physiotherapy and social work — can all happen under one roof, in a safe location. “It’s stressful for clients to move around from one location to the other. Especially for the older population, parking is an issue,” she said. Stevens highlighted the benefits of the new design. “Because we don’t have sufficient exam rooms right now, we have to offer a lot of virtual appointments and structure schedules in a way that’s more complicated for staff. With the new centre, we’ll be able to open up so many more in-person appointments with access to exam rooms,” she said. The facility will also include sufficient exam rooms to offer paediatric services to the community and surrounding areas at large, as well as to accommodate “baby orphan patients.”MAPUTO, Mozambique. (AP) — At least 6,000 inmates escaped from a high-security prison in Mozambique’s capital on Christmas Day after a rebellion, the country's police chief said, as widespread post-election riots and violence are roiling the country. Police chief Bernardino Rafael said 33 prisoners died and 15 others were injured during a confrontation with the security forces. The prisoners fled during violent protests that have seen police cars, stations and infrastructure destroyed after the country’s Constitutional Council confirmed the ruling Frelimo party as the winner of the Oct. 9 elections. The escape from the Maputo Central Prison, located 14 kilometers (9 miles) southwest of the capital, started around midday on Wednesday after “agitation” by a “group of subversive protesters” nearby, Rafael said. Some of the prisoners at the facility snatched weapons from the guards and started freeing other detainees. “A curious fact is that in that prison we had 29 convicted terrorists, who they released. We are worried, as a country, as Mozambicans, as members of the defense and security forces,” said Rafael. “They (protesters) were making noise, demanding that they be able to remove the prisoners who are there serving their sentences”, said Rafael, adding that the protests led to the collapse of a wall, allowing the prisoners to flee. He called on the escaped prisoners to surrender to authorities and for the population to be informed about the fugitives. Videos circulating on social media show the moment inmates left the prison, while other recordings reveal captures made by military personnel and prison guards. Many prisoners tried to hide in homes, but some were unsuccessful and ended up being detained again. In one video, a prisoner still with handcuffs on his right wrist says he was held n the disciplinary section of the prison and was released by other inmates.

How the stock market defied expectations again this year, by the numbers

Jurors will likely never decide whether the president-elect is criminally responsible for his attempts to cling to power after losing the 2020 campaign.None

NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart's sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at U.S. companies that are re-evaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programs to bolster historically underrepresented groups. The changes announced by the world's biggest retailer on Monday followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

Ex-RNC Chair Says Republicans 'Don't Give a Damn' About Military Members

IRDAI, DFS support proposal for lowering GST on health policies for senior citizens, micro-insurance and term insurance policies - BusinessLineLisa Simpson once said during an episode of “The Simpsons:” What could be more exciting than the savage ballet that is pro football? On Monday night, the entire Simpsons universe gets to experience it in a way not many could have imagined. The prime-time matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will also take place at Springfield’s Atoms Stadium as part of “The Simpsons Funday Football” alternate broadcast. The altcast will be streamed on ESPN+, Disney+, and NFL+ (on mobile devices). ESPN and ABC have the main broadcast, while ESPN2 will carry the final “ManningCast” of the regular season. The replay will be available on Disney+ for 30 days. Globally, more than 145 countries will have access to either live or on replay. “We’re such huge football fans, and the Simpsons audience and the football audience, I feel, are like the same audience of just American families and football. And the Simpsons are so much a part of the DNA of the American family and culture that for us to, like, mush them together in this crazy video game, it’s so fun,” said Matt Selman, executive producer of “The Simpsons.” While the game is the focal point, the alternate broadcast, in some ways, will resemble a three-hour episode of “The Simpsons.” It starts with Homer eating too many hot dogs and having a dream while watching football. Homer joins the Cowboys in the dream while Bart teams up with the Bengals. Lisa and Marge will be sideline reporters. “That’s the beginning of the story, and the story continues through the entire game until Homer wakes up from his dream at the end of the game. It is like a complete story, and the NFL game will happen in between. It’s just going to be an amazing presentation with tons of surprises,” said Michael “Spike” Szykowny, ESPN’s VP of edit and animation. This is the second year ESPN has done an alternate broadcast for an NFL game. It used the characters from “Toy Story” for last year’s Sunday morning game from London between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars. “The Simpsons” has featured many sports-themed episodes during its 35 seasons. Even though “Homer at the Bat” remains the consensus favorite sports episode for many Simpsons fans, there have been football ones such as “Bart Star” and “Lisa The Greek.” There also was a Super Bowl-themed one after Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl 33 between Denver and Atlanta in 1999. Even though “The Simpsons” remains a staple on Fox’s prime-time schedule, it is part of the Disney family after their acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. All 35 seasons are on Disney+. The show’s creators have worked with ESPN and the NFL to make sure the look and sound is definitely Simpsonsesque. The theme song is a mash-up of “The Simpsons” opening and “Monday Night Football’s” iconic “Heavy Action.” There have also been pre-recorded skits and bits to use during the broadcast featuring Simpson’s legendary voices Hank Azaria, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, and Yeardley Smith. The telecast will be entirely animated, with the players’ movements in sync with what is happening in real-time on the field. That is done through player-tracking data enabled by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats system and Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology. While Next Gen Stats tracks where players are on the field with a tracking chip in the shoulder pads, there is skeletal data tracking and limb tracking data — which uses 29 points per player — to get closer to the player’s movements. The other data tracking will allow Beyond Sports and Disney to add special characters to the game. For example, there might be a play where Lisa catches the ball and goes 30 yards instead of Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins. “Lisa is much smaller than the rest of the players. So, in real life, the ball would go over her head, but now, with data processing, we can take the ball and make it go exactly into her hands. So for the viewer, it still looks believable, and it all makes sense,” said Beyond Sports co-founder Nicolaas Westerhof. The other major challenge is making “The Simpsons” two-dimensional cartoon characters into 3-D simulations. Szykowny and his team worked to make that a reality over the past couple of months. “That’s a big leap of faith for them to say, hey, we trust you to make our characters 3-D and work with it. Our ESPN creative studio team has done a wonderful job,” Szykowny said. Lisa, Krusty, Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph will be with Bart and the Bengals; while Carl, Barney, Lenny and Moe join up with with Homer and the Cowboys. The broadcast will also feature ESPN personalities Stephen A. Smith, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. ESPN’s Drew Carter, Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky will call the game from Bristol, Connecticut, and also be animated. They will wear Meta Quest Pro headsets to experience the game from Springfield using VR technology. For Kimes, being part of the broadcast and being an animated Simpsons character is a dream come true. She is a massive fan of the show and has a framed photo of Lisa Simpson — who she said is a personal hero and icon — as part of her backdrop when she makes appearances on ESPN NFL shows from her home in Los Angeles. “I didn’t have any input, and I didn’t see anything beforehand, so I wasn’t sure if it would look like me, but it kind of does, which is very funny,” said Kimes, who drew Simpsons characters when she was a kid. “To see the actual staff turn me into one was a dream.” Even though the Bengals (4-8) and Cowboys (5-7) have struggled this season, Selman thinks both teams have personalities that appeal to “The Simpsons” universe. “We were just so lucky also that the Cowboys are sort of like a Homer Simpson-type team, American team, and Mike McCarthy might be a Homer-type guy, one might imagine,” he said. ”And then you have Joe Burrow on the other side who is a cool young, spiky-haired, blonde bad boy -- he’s like Bart. And that fits our character archetypes so perfectly. “If Homer is mad at Bart and has a hot dog dream while watching ’Monday Night Football’, and then it’s basically McCarthy versus Burrow, Homer versus Bart, and that’s the simple father versus son strangling — Homer strangling Bart dynamic that has been part of the show for 35 years. I don’t know if that would have worked as well if it was like Titans versus Jacksonville. We would have found something. We would have made it work.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

What happens when 'The Simpsons' join 'Monday Night Football'? Find out during Bengals-CowboysThe by ‘s has been delayed due to technical issues during the raffle draw. Portelli, who bought all five properties from the 2024 season of the construction-based reality show, planned to give away the properties or $8 million in cash to one lucky winner on behalf of his company LMCT+. The draw was meant to take place at 8:30pm on Boxing Day. However, when it came time for the live draw of the winner on Facebook, the 75,000 people logging on to watch caused the LMCT+ systems to crash. Portelli was left to buy time on the live stream while his team worked to fix the issues. Unable to find a solution, Portellia took to the LMCT+ Instagram to announce that the draw would be postponed. “If you did miss the Livestream, I have made the decision to draw the winners tomorrow. The gates are closed, and the promotion ran as it should,” Portelli said in a video. He noted that although his team fixed the issues in time, he decided to postpone the draw so he could “personally go over everything” and “ensure that everything is running as it should” before the giveaway is continued. “This is what happens when you run things live, unfortunately, this is how you know it’s all legitimate because things like this happen,” “It’s annoying, I’m frustrated but I’d rather be safe and preserve my company’s reputation and my reputation and not disappoint you guys or break trust in any way.” Portelli announced the competition in November, two days after buying all five houses on ‘s Phillip Island houses for a whopping $15 million, making it one of the richest competitions in Australian history. “Under New Management! And as mayor of Portelli town, I would like to announce a world first. LET’S GIVE AWAY A FKN RESORT!!!” the billionaire wrote on Instagram. “One Giveaway – One Prize – Winner takes the whole resort OR take $8,000,000 Instant Tax-Free Cash! Let the games begin.” To have a chance to win the entire The Block resort, punters had to buy an entry pack which ranged from $10 for one entry and $500 for 500 entries. Although it’s a doozy of a giveaway, it’s not the first time Portelli has raffled off houses from the reality show. In 2023, he raffled off and ‘s Japandi home. However, this time around, the 35-year-old said it would be his last appearance on the show so he wanted to “go out with a bang.” Although Portelli is known for his giveaways, he is reportedly facing nine charges in South Australia for personally conducting or assisting in the conduct of an unlawful lottery, with his company, Xclusive Tech Pty Ltd, which runs under LMCT+, facing the same nine charges. These offences are in relation to multiple promotions by the entrepreneur and LMCT+ between January 2023 and May 2024, with the acting liquor and gambling commissioner alleging that Portelli and his business “did not hold a licence to conduct the lottery in South Australia”, the reports. Portelli will have a mention hearing in the South Australian Magistrate’s Court on January 15. If convicted, he could face charges of $190,000.

AP Trending SummaryBrief at 6:06 p.m. EST