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NoneBeirut, Dec 7 (AP) Insurgents' stunning march across Syria accelerated on Saturday with news that they had reached the suburbs of the capital and that government forces had withdrawn from the central city of Homs. The government was forced to deny rumours that President Bashar Assad had fled the country. The loss of Homs is a potentially crippling blow for Assad. It stands at an important intersection between Damascus and Syria's coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader's base of support and home to a Russian strategic naval base. The pro-government Sham FM reported that government forces took positions outside Syria's third-largest city, without elaborating. Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Syrian troops and members of different security agencies have withdrawn from the city, adding that rebels have entered parts of it. The capture of Homs is a major victory for insurgents, who have already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama, as well as large parts of the south, in a lightning offensive that began November 27. Analysts said Homs falling into rebel hands would be a game-changer. The rebels' moves around Damascus, reported by the monitor and a rebel commander, came after the Syrian army withdrew from much of southern part of the country, leaving more areas, including several provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters. The advances in the past week were among the largest in recent years by opposition factions, led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaida and is considered a terrorist organisation by the US and the United Nations. In their push to overthrow Assad's government, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian army. For the first time in the country's long-running civil war, the government now has control of only three of 14 provincial capitals: Damascus, Latakia and Tartus. The UN's special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, on Saturday called for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition”. Speaking to reporters at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country is Assad's chief international backer, said he feels “sorry for the Syrian people”. In Damascus, people rushed to stock up on supplies. Thousands went to Syria's border with Lebanon, trying to leave the country. Many shops in the capital were shuttered, a resident told The Associated Press, and those still open ran out of staples such as sugar. Some were selling items at three times the normal price. “The situation is very strange. We are not used to that,” the resident said, insisting on anonymity, fearing retributions. “People are worried whether there will be a battle (in Damascus) or not.” It was the first time that opposition forces reached the outskirts of Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured the area following a years-long siege. The UN said it was moving noncritical staff outside the country as a precaution. Assad's status Syria's state media denied social media rumours that Assad left the country, saying he is performing his duties in Damascus. He has had little, if any, help from his allies. Russia, is busy with its war in Ukraine. Lebanon's Hezbollah, which at one point sent thousands of fighters to shore up Assad's forces, has been weakened by a yearlong conflict with Israel. Iran has seen its proxies across the region degraded by regular Israeli airstrikes. US President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday posted on social media that that the United States should avoid engaging militarily in Syria. Pedersen said a date for talks in Geneva on the implementation a UN resolution, adopted in 2015, and calling for a Syrian-led political process, would be announced later. The resolution calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and ending with UN-supervised elections. Later Saturday, foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran, along with Pederson, gathered on the sidelines of the Doha Summit to discuss the situation in Syria. No details were immediately available. The insurgents' march Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said insurgents were in the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. Opposition fighters were marching toward the Damascus suburb of Harasta, he added. A commander with the insurgents, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces had begun the “final stage” of their offensive by encircling Damascus. HTS controls much of northwest Syria and in 2017 set up a “salvation government” to run day-to-day affairs in the region. In recent years, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to remake the group's image, cutting ties with al-Qaida, ditching hard-line officials and vowing to embrace pluralism and religious tolerance. The shock offensive began on November 27, during which gunmen captured the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest, and the central city of Hama, the country's fourth largest city. Opposition activists said Saturday that a day earlier, insurgents entered Palmyra, which is home to invaluable archaeological sites had been in government hands since being taken from the Islamic State group in 2017. To the south, Syrian troops left much of the province of Quneitra including the main Baath City, activists said. Syrian Observatory said government troops have withdrawn from much of the two southern provinces. The Syrian army said in a statement that it carried out redeployment and repositioning in Sweida and Daraa after its checkpoints came under attack by “terrorists". The army said it was setting up a “strong and coherent defensive and security belt in the area”, apparently to defend Damascus from the south. The Syrian government has referred to opposition gunmen as terrorists since conflict broke out in March 2011. Diplomacy in Doha The foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkiye, meeting in Qatar, called for an end to the hostilities. Turkiye is a main backer of the rebels. Qatar's top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticised Assad for failing to take advantage of the lull in fighting in recent years to address the country's underlying problems. “Assad didn't seize this opportunity to start engaging and restoring his relationship with his people,” he said. Sheikh Mohammed said he was surprised by how quickly the rebels have advanced and said there is a real threat to Syria's “territorial integrity”. He said the war could “damage and destroy what is left if there is no sense of urgency” to start a political process. (AP) PY PY (This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)Assurant Inc. stock rises Wednesday, still underperforms market

At Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport, more than a year of war has taken its toll. Global airlines have canceled flights, gates are empty and pictures of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip guide the few arriving passengers to baggage claim. But one check-in desk remains flush with travelers: the one serving flights to the United Arab Emirates, which have kept up a bridge for Israelis to the outside world throughout the war. The Emirati flights, in addition to bolstering airlines' bottom lines, have shined a light on the countries' burgeoning ties — which have survived the wars raging across the Middle East and could be further strengthened as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to office. "It's a political and economic statement," said Joshua Teitelbaum, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at Israel's BarIlan University. "They are the main foreign airlines that continue to fly." Since the wars began with Hamas' initial Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, many international airlines have halted, restarted and halted again their flights into Israel's main gateway to the rest of the world. The concern is real for the carriers, who remember the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine 10 years ago and Iran shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 after takeoff from Tehran in 2020. But FlyDubai, the sister airline to the long-haul carrier Emirates, has kept up multiple flights daily and kept Israel connected to the wider world even as its other low-cost competitors have stopped flights. Abu Dhabi's Etihad has continued its flights as well. While maintaining the flight schedule remains politically important for the UAE after its 2020 diplomatic recognition of Israel, it also provided a further shot in the arm for revenues — particularly for FlyDubai. Since the Israeli's wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon started, international carriers such as Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, Germany's Lufthansa and other major airlines halted their flights. Some resumed, only to stop again after Iran's Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack on Israel and Israel's Oct. 26 retaliatory strike on the Islamic Republic. Tehran has threatened to strike Israel again. That's brought major business to Israel's national carrier El Al, which had struggled in the coronavirus pandemic and prior years. The airline posted its bestever half-year results this year, recording a $227 million profit as compared to $58 million profit in the same period last year. El Al stock has risen by as much 200% over the past year, as compared to a 29% rise in the wider Tel Aviv 125 stock market index. El Al, however, lacks the routes and connections of major international carriers. Low-cost carriers as well have stopped flying into Israel during periods of the war, sending the price of El Al tickets ever higher. Passenger numbers through Ben Gurion halved compared to the same period the year before, El Al said in its second-quarter financial results. However, FlyDubai has kept flying. The carrier has operated more than 1,800 flights to Israel since October 2023, cancelling only 77 flights overall, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company. In September alone, it flew more than 200 flights. As a line snaked toward the FlyDubai check-in counters at Ben Gurion Airport, UAE-bound Motti Eis said the flights were "a symbol that the Emirates countries decided to keep the peace." FlyDubai declined to answer questions from The Associated Press about the flights. Etihad, the flag carrier for Abu Dhabi, has kept flying into Tel Aviv, but the number of its flights has been dwarfed by FlyDubai. FlyDubai had 3.6% market share at Ben Gurion, compared to El Al's 43.2% in the second half of 2024. However, at least two of the foreign low-cost airlines with greater market, Wizz Air and Blue Bird, stopped flying for extended periods this year. Etihad said it maintains a close watch on the situation in the region, but continues its daily flights to and from Tel Aviv. "Ben Gurion International Airport remains open, employing best practices in safety and security practices, enabling Etihad and other airlines to provide essential air connectivity as long as it is secure to do so," the airline said in a statement. Beyond the financial impact, the decision also takes root in the UAE's decision to recognize Israel in 2020 under agreements brokered by President Donald Trump known as the Abraham Accords. While Abu Dhabi has repeatedly expressed concern and outrage at Israel's conduct during the wars, Israel's consulate in Dubai and embassy remain open in the country. And while Dubai, broadly speaking, remains focused on business in the country, Abu Dhabi's focus long has been on its geopolitical aims — which since the 2011 Arab Spring have been squarely focused on challenging Islamist movements and those who back them in the wider region. The UAE, a hereditary autocracy, long has viewed those groups as serious challenges to its power. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Merrimack holds Fordham to 31 yards offense in 19-3 winIn a significant economic development, Moody's upgraded Cyprus' credit rating to A3 from Baa2, as announced by President Nikos Christodoulides on Saturday. This marks an open invitation to quality foreign investment, a move poised to create new employment opportunities in the nation. Christodoulides asserted that this upgrade is a testament to Cyprus' stabilized banking sector and disciplined fiscal strategies, aimed at fortifying the country's status as a reliable investment hub. Finance Minister Makis Keravnos noted that this is the first instance of such an upgrade by Moody's since the financial upheaval a decade ago. Moody’s credits the upgrade to Cyprus' prudent fiscal policies, which have yielded substantial budget surpluses. The agency predicts continued economic growth fuelled by foreign investment in technology, finance, energy, and tourism. Nonetheless, challenges persist, with potential risks from large project cancellations and increased public spending. (With inputs from agencies.)

Ethereum has been a leader in blockchain innovation, being a foundation of decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts. The Ethereum network is going through rapid growth. This growth is resulting in it being bombarded by scalability issues , besides security and user experience challenges. In an attempt to solve the above-mentioned problems and enhance performance, Ethereum 3.0 was introduced by Vitalik Buterin . It promises a 'transformational upgrade' for the network. The completion target for the new upgrade is set in 2026. Ethereum 3.0 will take advantage of the success of the previous version, Ethereum 2.0 while filling the gaps that exist in the present system. It will be released in phases aimed at enhancing Ethereum's scalability, decentralization , and security. Let's explore the main phases that will define Ethereum 3.0 in detail. Sharding will be one of the major features of Ethereum 3.0, which will accelerate scalability. Sharding means splitting the Ethereum blockchain into smaller chains known as ‘shards.’ This will allow Ethereum to process more transactions parallelly and greatly increase its throughput. Ethereum 3.0 aims to increase transactions per second, with a possible figure reaching above 100,000 when combining both the Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks. The new enhancement will solve the network’s existing problems of high gas fees and network congestion during peak period usage. The Scourge phase will solve the problems associated with Maximal Extractable Value (MEV). MEV stands for the miners' ability to reorder transactions within a block to extract maximal value, often from network users. It has been the source of centralisation and unfair prioritisation of transactions under the Ethereum network. The proposed concept of proposer-builder separation, or PBS in Ethereum 3.0, aims at providing the much-needed separation of transactions from their proposers and the ones building the blocks. Thus, making transaction processing more fair by removing miner manipulation risks and further increasing the decentralisation of Ethereum. In the Verge phase, Ethereum 3.0 will mainly focus on reducing the resources required to run nodes. This will make it easier for people to interact with the network as validators. The innovation on stateless verification is also crucial in this phase. It will make it possible for Ethereum to operate with significantly reduced storage requirements through the introduction of Merkle Trees. This change will allow nodes to operate on lower-power devices, including smartphones, making the Ethereum network more accessible. Hence, enabling a more diverse constituency of holders to participate in its consensus mechanism. This phase will also look at streamlining the protocol of Ethereum through the removal of redundant data and is basically going to reduce data bloat. Ethereum has accumulated much data over time, which tends to make it inefficient and slow down the network. Purging the data will make Ethereum more efficient by making the network lighter and faster. This phase will ensure that Ethereum will be efficient, even as its user base and transaction volumes continue to grow. The last phase is the Splurge, which would be an improvement of UX and security. This would prepare the whole Ethereum ecosystem against cyber and phishing attacks . Ethereum will work on EVM to make it strong, safe, and ready for developers and users to work with. These upgrades will also make sure that Ethereum remains adapted to the ever-changing nature of blockchain technology in the world. The community has welcomed Ethereum 3.0 with open arms, with Ethereum researcher Justin Drake teasing ambitious plans for the upgrade. At events such as Devcon, full details for these plans will be unveiled, further fostering excitement about the project. One significant development is sharding, which has picked up momentum due to advancements in zero-knowledge technology. However, there are still skeptics in the Ethereum camp who cannot be swayed by such highly ambitious propositions. The critics have cited that at the current extensive scale of size, changes take a long time to be developed. They point out that most of Ethereum's upgrades have taken considerable periods of time to be done. Similar proposals usually need formal Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) before they move on, thus, taking longer for the upgrades to become applicable. Despite a lot of competition from other blockchain networks like Solana and BNB Chain, Ethereum keeps leading in terms of on-chain activity and usage of decentralized applications. Success will no longer depend solely on Ethereum upgrades but rather on the future trajectory of the larger blockchain ecosystem. When upgraded successfully, Ethereum 3.0 will optimise and make the network simpler, which will reinforce its status as the leading platform for dApps. Ethereum 3.0 is morphing to be one of the biggest upgrades in blockchain history, promising improvement in scalability, decentralization, and security. There's still a lot to be seen regarding the upgrade’s future. However, the Ethereum community provided a very solid foundation for the success of Ethereum 3.0.By MARY CLARE JALONICK and MATT BROWN WASHINGTON (AP) — Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Defense Department, said he had a “wonderful conversation” with Maine Sen. Susan Collins on Wednesday as he pushed to win enough votes for confirmation. He said he will not back down after allegations of excessive drinking and sexual misconduct. Related Articles National Politics | Donald Trump will ring the New York Stock Exchange bell. It’ll be a first for him National Politics | FBI director Christopher Wray will quit before Donald Trump takes office National Politics | Anthony Weiner, ex-congressman jailed in sexting scandal, files to run for NYC City Council seat National Politics | The Trump and Biden teams insist they’re working hand in glove on foreign crises National Politics | Ex-prosecutor charged with meddling in Ahmaud Arbery case appears in court ahead of trial Collins said after the hourlong meeting that she questioned Hegseth about the allegations amid reports of drinking and the revelation that he made a settlement payment after being accused of a sexual assault that he denies. She said she had a “good, substantive” discussion with Hegseth and “covered a wide range of topics,” including sexual assault in the military, Ukraine and NATO. But she said she would wait until a hearing, and notably a background check, to make a decision. “I asked virtually every question under the sun,” Collins told reporters as she left her office after the meeting. “I pressed him both on his position on military issues as well as the allegations against him, so I don’t think there was anything that we did not cover.” The meeting with Collins was closely watched as she is seen as more likely than most of her Republican Senate colleagues to vote against some of Trump’s Cabinet picks. She and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a fellow moderate Republican, did not shy from opposing Trump in his first term when they wanted to do so and sometimes supported President Joe Biden’s nominees for the judicial and executive branches. And Hegseth, an infantry combat veteran and former “Fox & Friends” weekend host, is working to gain as many votes as he can as some senators have expressed concerns about his personal history and lack of management experience. “I’m certainly not going to assume anything about where the senator stands,” Hegseth said as he left Collins’ office. “This is a process that we respect and appreciate. And we hope, in time, overall, when we get through that committee and to the floor that we can earn her support.” Hegseth met with Murkowski on Tuesday. He has also been meeting repeatedly with Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, a military veteran who has said she is a survivor of sexual assault and has spent time in the Senate working on improving how attacks are reported and prosecuted within the ranks. On Monday, Ernst said after a meeting with him that he had committed to selecting a senior official to prioritize those goals. Republicans will have a 53-49 majority next year, meaning Trump cannot lose more than three votes on any of his nominees. It is so far unclear whether Hegseth will have enough support, but Trump has stepped up his pressure on senators in the last week. “Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!” Trump posted on his social media platform last week.