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Barrister cleared of misconduct calls on head of Bar Standards Board to resign

LeBron James will miss his second consecutive game after being excused from the team earlier in the week for “personal reasons.” The Los Angeles Lakers star, 39, missed the team’s Sunday, December 8 game against the Portland Trail Blazers due to a left foot injury — the first game James had skipped this season. At the team’s practice on Wednesday, December 11, Lakers head coach JJ Redick explained James’ noticeable absence. “LeBron is not with the team right now,” Redick, 40, told reporters. “He’s out for personal reasons, excused absence.” Redick said James was “taking some time” away from the team as the four-time MVP attempts to get his body right for the rest of his 22nd NBA season. On Thursday, December 12, the Lakers announced James would not play in the team’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, December 13. The power forward is officially listed out with “left foot soreness.” Sources told ESPN that James did not accompany the Lakers on their flight to Minnesota. The Lakers are scheduled to return to the court on Sunday, December 15, at home against the Memphis Grizzlies. James’ status for that game has not yet been announced. First-year Lakers coach Redick told reporters on Wednesday that James has been admittedly fatigued lately. He last played in the Lakers’ overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, December 6. “In game, he’s asked for a sub a couple times because he’s gassed,” Redick said. “For us, we have to be cognizant as we play more and more games, just the cumulative effect of playing a lot of minutes, and Sunday, being banged up with the foot thing, it felt like a good opportunity for him to get some rest.” Things have not been going smoothly for LeBron or the Lakers over the last month. Heading into Friday’s game against the Timberwolves, the team has lost seven of its last 10 games. James, who will turn 40 on December 30, is averaging 23 points, 9.1 assists and 8.0 rebounds on the season. You have successfully subscribed. By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive emails from Us Weekly Check our latest news in Google News Check our latest news in Apple News Following the Lakers loss to the Hawks, James vented about how injuries to the team’s depth players were making things difficult. “Mismatching with lineups, we’re trying to figure out ways, obviously,” he said. “So it’s very challenging. We don’t have much room for error. ... It’s big, big, big, big pieces.” James added, “I don’t know as far as what will get us over the hump. We just got to just not drown. Don’t drown and we’ll be alright.”

NEWPORT PROVIDES CORPORATE UPDATE

BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Verona Pharma plc ( NASDAQ:VRNA – Free Report ) by 176.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 60,211 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 38,434 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.08% of Verona Pharma worth $1,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Verona Pharma by 77.0% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 105,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,025,000 after acquiring an additional 45,741 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in Verona Pharma in the 3rd quarter worth $31,966,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Verona Pharma by 54.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,740,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,085,000 after purchasing an additional 612,854 shares during the period. First Turn Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma during the 3rd quarter valued at about $16,483,000. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verona Pharma during the third quarter valued at about $209,000. 85.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several analysts have commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Verona Pharma from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. HC Wainwright upped their price target on Verona Pharma from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Verona Pharma from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Verona Pharma has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.83. Verona Pharma Stock Performance Verona Pharma stock opened at $40.50 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $35.74 and its 200 day moving average is $26.28. The company has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.09 and a beta of 0.46. Verona Pharma plc has a twelve month low of $11.39 and a twelve month high of $40.76. The company has a quick ratio of 12.88, a current ratio of 13.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Verona Pharma ( NASDAQ:VRNA – Get Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $5.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.18) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verona Pharma plc will post -2.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Insider Activity at Verona Pharma In related news, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 110,456 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total value of $483,797.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,894,464 shares in the company, valued at $65,237,752.32. The trade was a 0.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website . Also, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 12,936 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total value of $64,680.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,276,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,380,000. This represents a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,094,432 shares of company stock valued at $9,748,833. 4.80% of the stock is owned by insiders. Verona Pharma Profile ( Free Report ) Verona Pharma plc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of respiratory diseases with unmet medical needs. The company's product candidate is ensifentrine, an inhaled and dual inhibitor of the phosphodiesterase (PDE) 3 and PDE4 enzymes that acts as both a bronchodilator and an anti-inflammatory agent in a single compound, which is in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and cystic fibrosis. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VRNA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Verona Pharma plc ( NASDAQ:VRNA – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for Verona Pharma Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Verona Pharma and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .Dickey’s Barbecue Pit in Chillicothe, OH, Serves Up Smoky Flavors and Swinging Fun with New Golf Simulator

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — “My Driver and I” was supposed to be made in 2016, but was scuttled amid Saudi Arabia’s decades-long cinema ban. Eight years later, the landscape for film in the kingdom looks much different — and the star of “My Driver and I” now has an award. Roula Dakheelallah was named the winner of the Chopard Emerging Saudi Talent award at the Red Sea International Film Festival on Thursday. The award — and the glitzy festival itself — is a sign of Saudi Arabia’s commitment to shaping a new film industry. “My heart is attached to cinema and art; I have always dreamed of a moment like this,” Dakheelallah, who still works a 9-5 job, told The Associated Press before the awards ceremony. “I used to work in voluntary films and help my friends in the field, but this is my first big role in a film.” The reopening of cinemas in 2018 marked a cultural turning point for Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy that had instituted the ban 35 years before, under the influence of ultraconservative religious authorities. It has since invested heavily in a native film industry by building theaters and launching programs to support local filmmakers through grants and training. The Red Sea International Film Festival was launched just a year later, part of an attempt to expand Saudi influence into films, gaming, sports and other cultural fields. Activists have decried the investments as whitewashing the kingdom’s human rights record as it tightly controls speech and remains one of the world’s top executioners. With FIFA awarding the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia this week, Lina al-Hathloul, a Saudi activist with the London-based rights group ALQST, said Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman “has really managed to create this bubble where people only see entertainment and they don’t see the reality on the ground.” RELATED COVERAGE Saudi Arabia’s plans to host the men’s World Cup will harm the climate, experts warn 2034 World Cup visitors will live in ‘a bubble’ and not see real life, Saudi rights activist says Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup. But when exactly? These efforts are part of Vision 2030, an ambitious reform plan unveiled in 2016 to ease the economy’s dependence on oil. As part of it, Saudi Arabia plans to construct 350 cinemas with over 2,500 movie screens — by this past April, across 22 cities, it already had 66 cinemas showing movies from the local film industry, as well as Hollywood and Bollywood. (The Red Sea International Film Festival attracts a host of talent from the latter industries, with Viola Davis and Priyanka Chopra Jonas also picking up awards Thursday.) The Red Sea International Film Festival (AP Photo/Baraa Anwer) The Red Sea International Film Festival (AP Photo/Baraa Anwer) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More The country’s General Entertainment Authority last month opened Al Hisn Studios on the outskirts of Riyadh. As one of the largest such production hubs in the Middle East, it not only includes several film studios but also a production village with workshops for carpentry, blacksmithing and fashion tailoring. “These facilities, when they exist, will stimulate filmmakers,” said Saudi actor Mohammed Elshehri. “Today, no writer or director has an excuse to imagine and say, ‘I cannot implement my imagination.’” The facilities are one part of the equation — the content itself is another. One of the major players in transforming Saudi filmmaking has been Telfaz11, a media company founded in 2011 that began as a YouTube channel and quickly became a trailblazer. Producing high-quality digital content such as short films, comedy sketches and series, Telfaz11 offered fresh perspectives on Saudi and regional issues. In 2020, Telfaz11 signed a partnership with Netflix to produce original content for the streaming giant. The result has been movies that demonstrate an evolution on the storytelling level, tackling topics that were once off-limits and sensitive to the public like secret nightlife in “Mandoob” (“Night Courier”) and changing social norms in “Naga.” One of the Middle East’s fastest-growing film festivals opened last Thursday in Saudi Arabia, attracting filmmakers and stars from around the world, to present over 120 films from 81 countries in Jeddah’s historic Al-Balad district. (Dec. 7) “I think we tell our stories in a very simple way, and that’s what reaches the world,” Elshehri says of the changing shift. “When you tell your story in a natural way without any affectation, it will reach every person.” But the films were not without their critics, drawing mixed reaction. Social media discoursed ranged from pleasure that Saudi film were tackling such topics to anger over how the films reflected conservative society. As Hana Al-Omair, a Saudi writer and director, points out, there are still many stories left untold. “We certainly have a long time ahead of us before we can tell the Saudi narrative as it should be,” she said, acknowledging that there are still barriers and rampant censorship. “The Goat Life,” a Malayalam-language movie about an Indian man forced to work without pay in Saudi Arabia, is not available on Netflix’s platform in the country. Movies that explore political topics or LGBTQ+ stories are essentially out of the question. Roula Dakheelallah and Mustafa Shehata, stars of “My Driver and I,” at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 7, 2024 (AP Photo/Baraa Anwer) Roula Dakheelallah and Mustafa Shehata, stars of “My Driver and I,” at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 7, 2024 (AP Photo/Baraa Anwer) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Even “My Driver and I,” featured at the Red Sea festival alongside 11 other Saudi feature-length films, was initially too controversial. It centers on a Sudanese man in Jeddah, living away from his own daughter, who feels responsible for the girl he drives as her parents are absent. It was initially blocked from being made because of the relationship between the girl and the driver, filmmaker Ahd Kamel has said, even though it’s not a romantic relationship. Now in 2024, the film is a success story — a symbol of the Saudi film industry’s evolution as well as the growing role of women like Kamel behind the camera and Dakheelallah in front of it. “I see the change in Saudi cinema, a very beautiful change and it is moving at a wonderful speed. In my opinion, we do not need to rush,” Dakheelallah said. “We need to guide the truth of the artistic movement that is happening in Saudi Arabia.”

Prayagraj: A 44-member delegation from Andhra Pradesh was accorded a warm welcome by the Indian Institute of Information Technology , Allahabad, at its Jhalwa campus on Wednesday. The delegation is on a visit to the institute as a part of Yuva Sangam Phase V , a flagship programme of the ministry of education (MoE), govt of India under ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.' Notably, IIIT-A, Prayagraj and its pairing institute, SPA Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, have been nominated as the nodal institutes for the programme in 2024. The delegation, comprising 40 students, and four faculty coordinators from SPA Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh visited the IIIT-A on Nov 25 and will be here till Dec 2, while the IIIT-A, Prayagraj delegation will visit SPA Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, from Dec 16 to Dec 24. Nodal officer Sanjay Singh said that around 5,000 applications across Uttar Pradesh of which 44 will be selected for the delegation to visit Andhra Pradesh. During the visit, the youth will have a multi-dimensional exposure under five broad areas: Paryatan (tourism), Parampara (traditions), Pragati (developments), Paraspar Sampark (people-to-people connect), and Prodyogiki (technology). In a function organised at IIIT-A, acting director, IIIT-A, Prof O P Vyas, welcomed the delegation and said that Yuva Sangam aims to provide an immersive experience of numerous facets of life, development landmarks, recent achievements, and a youth connect in the host state. This Sangam focuses on conducting exposure tours for the youth, consisting mainly of students studying in higher educational institutions and some off-campus youngsters from across the nation in various states of India. Prof Shekhar Verma, dean, Prof Pawan Chakarborty, programme coordinator, and Prof Mandar Subhash Karyakarte, registrar, IIIT-A, shared their views on the exchange programme. From the AP delegation, Dheeraj, Pushpendra Kumar, Naina Gupta, and A Sharifunnisa (all from SPA Vijayawada) spoke on the occasion. The delegation will visit Prayagraj, Varanasi, and Ayodhya during their stay in UP.

TASUED VC appeals to Ogun govt for increased subvention

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson sued CNN on Tuesday over its recent report that he made explicit racial and sexual posts on a pornography website’s message board, calling the reporting reckless and defamatory. The lawsuit, filed in Wake County Superior Court, comes less than four weeks after a report that led many fellow GOP elected officials and candidates, including presidential nominee Donald Trump, to distance themselves from Robinson's gubernatorial campaign. Robinson, who announced the lawsuit at a news conference in Raleigh with a Virginia-based attorney, has denied authoring the messages. CNN “chose to publish despite knowing or recklessly disregarding that Lt. Gov. Robinson’s data — including his name, date of birth, passwords, and the email address supposedly associated with the NudeAfrica account — were previously compromised by multiple data breaches,” the lawsuit states, referencing the website. Robinson, who would be the state’s first Black governor if elected, called the report a “high-tech lynching” on a candidate "who has been targeted from Day 1 by folks who disagree with me politically and want to see me destroyed.” CNN declined to comment Tuesday, spokesperson Emily Kuhn said in an email. The CNN report, which first aired Sept. 19, said Robinson left statements over a decade ago on the message board in which, in part, he referred to himself as a “black NAZI,” said he enjoyed transgender pornography, said he preferred Hitler to then-President Barack Obama, and slammed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as “worse than a maggot.” The network report said it matched details of the account on the message board to other online accounts held by Robinson by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name. CNN reported that details discussed by the account holder matched Robinson’s age, length of marriage and other biographical information. It also compared figures of speech that were used in his public Facebook profile and that appeared in discussions by the account on the pornographic website. Polls at the time of the CNN report already showed Democratic rival Josh Stein, the sitting attorney general, with a lead over Robinson. Early in-person voting begins Thursday statewide, and over 57,000 completed absentee ballots have been received so far. Robinson also in the same defamation lawsuit sued a Greensboro punk rock band singer who alleged in a music video and in an interview with a media outlet that Robinson, in the 1990s and early 2000s, frequented a porn shop the singer once worked at and purchased videos. Louis Love Money, the other named defendant, released the video and spoke with other media outlets before the CNN report. Robinson denies the allegation in the lawsuit, which reads, “Lt. Gov. Robinson was not spending hours at the video store, five nights a week. He was not renting or previewing videos, and he did not purchase ‘bootleg’ or other videos from Defendant Money.” Money said in a phone interview Tuesday that he stands by his statements and the music video's content as truthful: “My story hasn't changed.” The lawsuit, which seeks at least $50 million in damages, says the effort against Robinson “appears to be a coordinated attack aimed at derailing his campaign for governor.” It provides no evidence that the network or Money schemed with outside groups to create what Robinson alleges are false statements. Robinson’s lawyer, Jesse Binnall, said that he expects to find more “bad actors,” and that entities, which he did not identify, have stonewalled his firm's efforts to collect information. “We will use every tool at our disposal now that a lawsuit has been filed, including the subpoena power, in order to continue pursuing the facts,” said Binnall, whose clients have included Trump and his campaign. In North Carolina courts, a public official claiming defamation generally must show a defendant knew a statement was false or recklessly disregarded its untruthfulness. Most of the top staff running Robinson’s campaign and his lieutenant governor’s office quit following the CNN report, and the Republican Governors Association, which had already spent millions of dollars in advertising backing Robinson, stopped supporting his bid. And Democrats from presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris to downballot state candidates began running ads linking their opponents to Robinson. Robinson's campaign isn't running TV commercials now. He said that “we’ve chosen to go in a different direction” and focus on in-person campaign stops. Robinson already had a history of inflammatory comments about topics like abortion and LGBTQ+ rights that Stein and his allies have emphasized in opposing him on TV commercials and online. Stein spokesperson Morgan Hopkins said Tuesday in a statement that “even before the CNN report, North Carolinians have known for a long time that Mark Robinson is completely unfit to be Governor." Hurricane Helene and its aftermath took the CNN report off the front pages. Robinson worked for several days with a central North Carolina sheriff collecting relief supplies and criticized Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper — barred by term limits from seeking reelection — for state government's response in the initial stages of relief. Trump endorsed Robinson before the March gubernatorial primary, calling him “Martin Luther King on steroids” for his speaking ability. Robinson had been a frequent presence at Trump’s North Carolina campaign stops, but he hasn’t participated in such an event since the CNN report. This story was first published on Oct. 15, 2024. It was updated on Nov. 22, 2024 to correct which of Robinson’s social media accounts CNN cited in a comparison to language in messages from a pornographic website message board. CNN cited his public Facebook account, not his Twitter account.JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — “My Driver and I” was supposed to be made in 2016, but was scuttled amid Saudi Arabia's decades-long cinema ban. Eight years later, the landscape for film in the kingdom looks much different — and the star of “My Driver and I” now has an award. Roula Dakheelallah was named the winner of the Chopard Emerging Saudi Talent award at the Red Sea International Film Festival on Thursday. The award — and the glitzy festival itself — is a sign of Saudi Arabia's commitment to shaping a new film industry. “My heart is attached to cinema and art; I have always dreamed of a moment like this,” Dakheelallah, who still works a 9-5 job, told The Associated Press before the awards ceremony. “I used to work in voluntary films and help my friends in the field, but this is my first big role in a film.” The reopening of cinemas in 2018 marked a cultural turning point for Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy that had instituted the ban 35 years before, under the influence of ultraconservative religious authorities. It has since invested heavily in a native film industry by building theaters and launching programs to support local filmmakers through grants and training. The Red Sea International Film Festival was launched just a year later, part of an attempt to expand Saudi influence into films, gaming, sports and other cultural fields. Activists have decried the investments as whitewashing the kingdom’s human rights record as it tightly controls speech and remains one of the world’s top executioners. With FIFA awarding the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia this week, Lina al-Hathloul, a Saudi activist with the London-based rights group ALQST, said Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman “has really managed to create this bubble where people only see entertainment and they don’t see the reality on the ground.” These efforts are part of Vision 2030, an ambitious reform plan unveiled in 2016 to ease the economy's dependence on oil. As part of it, Saudi Arabia plans to construct 350 cinemas with over 2,500 movie screens — by this past April, across 22 cities, it already had 66 cinemas showing movies from the local film industry, as well as Hollywood and Bollywood. (The Red Sea International Film Festival attracts a host of talent from the latter industries, with Viola Davis and Priyanka Chopra Jonas also picking up awards Thursday.) The country's General Entertainment Authority last month opened Al Hisn Studios on the outskirts of Riyadh. As one of the largest such production hubs in the Middle East, it not only includes several film studios but also a production village with workshops for carpentry, blacksmithing and fashion tailoring. “These facilities, when they exist, will stimulate filmmakers,” said Saudi actor Mohammed Elshehri. “Today, no writer or director has an excuse to imagine and say, ‘I cannot implement my imagination.’” The facilities are one part of the equation — the content itself is another. One of the major players in transforming Saudi filmmaking has been Telfaz11, a media company founded in 2011 that began as a YouTube channel and quickly became a trailblazer. Producing high-quality digital content such as short films, comedy sketches and series, Telfaz11 offered fresh perspectives on Saudi and regional issues. In 2020, Telfaz11 signed a partnership with Netflix to produce original content for the streaming giant. The result has been movies that demonstrate an evolution on the storytelling level, tackling topics that were once off-limits and sensitive to the public like secret nightlife in “Mandoob” (“Night Courier”) and changing social norms in “Naga.” “I think we tell our stories in a very simple way, and that’s what reaches the world,” Elshehri says of the changing shift. “When you tell your story in a natural way without any affectation, it will reach every person.” But the films were not without their critics, drawing mixed reaction. Social media discoursed ranged from pleasure that Saudi film were tackling such topics to anger over how the films reflected conservative society. As Hana Al-Omair, a Saudi writer and director, points out, there are still many stories left untold. “We certainly have a long time ahead of us before we can tell the Saudi narrative as it should be,” she said, acknowledging that there are still barriers and rampant censorship. “The Goat Life,” a Malayalam-language movie about an Indian man forced to work without pay in Saudi Arabia, is not available on Netflix's platform in the country. Movies that explore political topics or LGBTQ+ stories are essentially out of the question. Even “My Driver and I,” featured at the Red Sea festival alongside 11 other Saudi feature-length films, was initially too controversial. It centers on a Sudanese man in Jeddah, living away from his own daughter, who feels responsible for the girl he drives as her parents are absent. It was initially blocked from being made because of the relationship between the girl and the driver, filmmaker Ahd Kamel has said, even though it's not a romantic relationship. Now in 2024, the film is a success story — a symbol of the Saudi film industry's evolution as well as the growing role of women like Kamel behind the camera and Dakheelallah in front of it. “I see the change in Saudi cinema, a very beautiful change and it is moving at a wonderful speed. In my opinion, we do not need to rush,” Dakheelallah said. “We need to guide the truth of the artistic movement that is happening in Saudi Arabia.” Baraa Anwer, The Associated Press

ZF Group sells 4.3 pc stake in Indian subsidiary for Rs 1,022 crore