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SUGAR LAND, Texas, Dec. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAOI) (" AOI ,” " we ,” " us ” or " our ”) expects to enter into transactions with holders of its 5.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2026 (the " 2026 Notes ”) to exchange approximately $80 million principal amount of the 2026 Notes for aggregate consideration consisting of a combination of (i) Convertible Senior Notes due 2030 (the " 2030 Notes ”), (ii) shares of our common stock (the " Exchange Shares ”) and (iii) cash representing accrued interest on the 2026 Notes and the value of fractional shares, if any (such transactions, collectively, the " Exchanges ”). Final terms for the Exchanges will be determined at the time of pricing. The 2030 Notes will be our senior, unsecured obligations and will be equal in right of payment with our existing and future senior, unsecured indebtedness, senior in right of payment to our existing and future indebtedness that is expressly subordinated to the 2030 Notes and effectively subordinated to our existing and future secured indebtedness, to the extent of the value of the collateral securing that indebtedness. The 2030 Notes will be convertible at the option of holders of the 2030 Notes under certain specified circumstances, as set forth in the indenture governing the 2030 Notes. We will settle conversions by paying or delivering, as applicable, cash, shares of our common stock or a combination of cash and shares of our common stock, at our election, based on the applicable conversion rate. Following the completion of the Exchanges, we may engage in additional exchanges or repurchase, induce conversions of, or exercise our right to redeem the 2026 Notes. Holders of the 2026 Notes that participate in any of these exchanges, repurchases or induced conversions may purchase or sell shares of our common stock in the open market to unwind any hedge positions they may have with respect to the 2026 Notes or our common stock or to hedge their exposure in connection with these transactions. These activities may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock and the 2030 Notes we are offering. There can be no assurance that the Exchanges will be completed. The issuance and sale of the 2030 Notes and the Exchange Shares pursuant to the Exchanges are being made in transactions exempt from registration pursuant to Sections 3(a)(9) and 4(a)(2) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Raymond James & Associates, Inc. is acting as AOI's exclusive financial advisor in connection with the Exchanges. Concurrently with the Exchanges, AOI announced today that it intends to commence an offering of shares of its common stock in a registered direct offering (the " Registered Direct Offering ”). We intend to use the net proceeds, if any, from the Registered Direct Offering for general corporate purposes, which may include, among other things, capital expenditures and working capital. We may also use such proceeds to fund acquisitions of businesses, technologies or product lines that complement our current business; however, we have no present plans, agreements or commitments with respect to any potential acquisition. Raymond James & Associates, Inc. is acting as the sole placement agent in connection with the Registered Direct Offering. The Registered Direct Offering is being made pursuant to an automatic shelf registration statement on Form S-3ASR (Registration File No. 333-283905), which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the " SEC ”) on December 18, 2024, and became effective immediately upon filing, including the prospectus contained therein. A preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying base prospectus relating to and describing the terms of the Registered Direct Offering was filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the " Securities Act ”) on December 18, 2024, copies of which may be obtained from Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Attention: Equity Syndicate, 880 Carillon Parkway, St. Petersburg, Florida 33716, or by telephone at (800) 248-8863, or by e-mail to [email protected] . Electronic copies of the preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus are also available on the website of the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. The Exchanges and Registered Direct Offering are expected to close concurrently on or about December 23, 2024, subject to customary closing conditions. Haynes Boone LLP is acting as legal advisor to AOI and Mayer Brown LLP is acting as legal advisor to Raymond James & Associates, Inc., in connection with the Exchanges and the Registered Direct Offering. This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor will there be any sale of any securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "believe,” "may,” "estimate,” "continue,” "anticipate,” "intend,” "should,” "could,” "would,” "target,” "seek,” "aim,” "predicts,” "think,” "objectives,” "optimistic,” "new,” "goal,” "strategy,” "potential,” "is likely,” "will,” "expect,” "plan” "project,” "permit” or by other similar expressions that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes. Such forward-looking statements reflect the views of management at the time such statements are made. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions and current expectations, which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: reduction in the size or quantity of customer orders; change in demand for our products due to industry conditions; changes in manufacturing operations; volatility in manufacturing costs; delays in shipments of products; disruptions in the supply chain; change in the rate of design wins or the rate of customer acceptance of new products; our reliance on a small number of customers for a substantial portion of its revenues; potential pricing pressure; a decline in demand for our customers' products or their rate of deployment of their products; general conditions in the internet datacenter, cable television (CATV) broadband, telecom, or fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) markets; changes in the world economy (particularly in the United States and China); changes in the regulation and taxation of international trade, including the imposition of tariffs; changes in currency exchange rates; the negative effects of seasonality; the impact of any pandemics or similar events on our business and financial results; and other risks and uncertainties described more fully in our documents filed with or furnished to the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2024, June 30, 2024 and September 30, 2024. More information about these and other risks that may impact our business are set forth in the "Risk Factors” section of our quarterly and annual reports on file with the SEC. You should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon information available to us as of the date hereof, and qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this press release to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations. About Applied Optoelectronics Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (AOI) is a leading developer and manufacturer of advanced optical products, including components, modules and equipment. AOI's products are the building blocks for broadband fiber access networks around the world, where they are used in the CATV broadband, internet datacenter, telecom and FTTH markets. AOI supplies optical networking lasers, components and equipment to tier-1 customers in all four of these markets. In addition to its corporate headquarters, wafer fab and advanced engineering and production facilities in Sugar Land, TX, AOI has engineering and manufacturing facilities in Taipei, Taiwan and Ningbo, China. Investor Relations Contacts: The Blueshirt Group, Investor Relations Lindsay Savarese +1-212-331-8417 [email protected] Cassidy Fuller +1-415-217-4968 [email protected]

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A Romanian hard-right NATO critic and leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu are neck and neck after the first round of presidential elections, in a shock result threatening Romania's staunchly pro-Ukraine stance. or signup to continue reading After nearly 90 per cent of votes were counted, Calin Georgescu, 62, was at 22 per cent, while Ciolacu had 21.7 per cent. However, ballots from the sizeable Romanian diaspora, which are not included in the main tally on Sunday, show centre-right politician, Elena Lasconi, 52, first with 33.4 per cent and Georgescu second. Romania's president has a semi-executive role with control over defence spending - likely to be a difficult issue as Bucharest comes under pressure to uphold NATO spending goals during Donald Trump's second term as US president while trying to reduce a heavy deficit. Lasconi told supporters after exit polls were released giving her a small lead over Georgescu, with Ciolacu in first place, that she was optimistic about making the runoff. "But as you can see, the results are very tight, let us wait until tomorrow's results to rejoice." Campaigning focused largely on the soaring cost of living, with Romania having the EU's biggest share of people at risk of poverty. Georgescu is a former prominent member of the hard-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians party. In 2021 he has called NATO's ballistic missile defence shield in the Romanian town of Deveselu a "shame of diplomacy" and said the North Atlantic alliance will not protect any of its members should they be attacked by Russia. Lasconi, a former journalist, joined the Save Romania Union in 2018 and became party head this year. She believes in raising defence spending and helping Ukraine, and surveys suggest she would beat Ciolacu in a runoff. Romania shares a 650km border with Ukraine and since Russia attacked Kyiv in 2022, it has enabled the export of millions of tonnes of grain through its Black Sea port of Constanta and provided military aid, including the donation of a Patriot air defence battery. "It will be a tight run-off, with the Social Democrat leader more vulnerable to negative campaigning due to him being an incumbent PM," political commentator Radu Magdin said. Advertisement Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date. We care about the protection of your data. Read our . Advertisement

After Helldivers 2 took home four awards from the Golden Joysticks earlier this week, one dev from Arrowhead Game Studios spoke on the state of the games industry and the work that needs to be done to remedy the issues currently plaguing it. During an interview at the event, Helldivers 2 production director Alex Bauwl explained that while it's currently an "amazing time" when it comes to the games that are being released, the industry as a whole is in fairly poor shape. "I think the industry these days is in such a dire state", he begins. "It's so important to take the time... Alex RaisbeckIn the last three months, 7 analysts have published ratings on 8x8 EGHT , offering a diverse range of perspectives from bullish to bearish. The following table summarizes their recent ratings, shedding light on the changing sentiments within the past 30 days and comparing them to the preceding months. Bullish Somewhat Bullish Indifferent Somewhat Bearish Bearish Total Ratings 2 0 2 3 0 Last 30D 0 0 0 1 0 1M Ago 0 0 0 1 0 2M Ago 2 0 2 1 0 3M Ago 0 0 0 0 0 Insights from analysts' 12-month price targets are revealed, presenting an average target of $2.84, a high estimate of $4.00, and a low estimate of $2.00. A 8.68% drop is evident in the current average compared to the previous average price target of $3.11. Understanding Analyst Ratings: A Comprehensive Breakdown The standing of 8x8 among financial experts becomes clear with a thorough analysis of recent analyst actions. The summary below outlines key analysts, their recent evaluations, and adjustments to ratings and price targets. Analyst Analyst Firm Action Taken Rating Current Price Target Prior Price Target Meta Marshall Morgan Stanley Raises Underweight $2.60 $2.00 Siti Panigrahi Mizuho Lowers Underperform $2.50 $2.75 Michael Turrin Wells Fargo Raises Underweight $2.00 $1.50 Siti Panigrahi Mizuho Raises Neutral $2.75 $2.50 Ryan Macwilliams Barclays Raises Equal-Weight $2.50 $2.00 Catharine Trebnick Rosenblatt Lowers Buy $3.50 $4.00 Josh Nichols B. Riley Securities Lowers Buy $4.00 $7.00 Key Insights: Action Taken: Analysts respond to changes in market conditions and company performance, frequently updating their recommendations. Whether they 'Maintain', 'Raise' or 'Lower' their stance, it reflects their reaction to recent developments related to 8x8. This information offers a snapshot of how analysts perceive the current state of the company. Rating: Gaining insights, analysts provide qualitative assessments, ranging from 'Outperform' to 'Underperform'. These ratings reflect expectations for the relative performance of 8x8 compared to the broader market. Price Targets: Gaining insights, analysts provide estimates for the future value of 8x8's stock. This comparison reveals trends in analysts' expectations over time. Considering these analyst evaluations in conjunction with other financial indicators can offer a comprehensive understanding of 8x8's market position. Stay informed and make well-informed decisions with our Ratings Table. Stay up to date on 8x8 analyst ratings. If you are interested in following small-cap stock news and performance you can start by tracking it here . All You Need to Know About 8x8 8x8 Inc provides contact-center-as-a-service and unified-communications-as-a-service software applications to approximately 2.5 million users. The company's unified platform enables omnichannel communication to assist employees in communicating across voice, video, text, chat, and contact centers. The Company also generates revenue from sales of hardware and professional services, which are complementary to the delivery of its integrated technology platform.. Geographically, it derives a majority of revenue from the United States. Financial Insights: 8x8 Market Capitalization Analysis: Above industry benchmarks, the company's market capitalization emphasizes a noteworthy size, indicative of a strong market presence. Negative Revenue Trend: Examining 8x8's financials over 3 months reveals challenges. As of 30 September, 2024, the company experienced a decline of approximately -2.16% in revenue growth, reflecting a decrease in top-line earnings. As compared to competitors, the company encountered difficulties, with a growth rate lower than the average among peers in the Information Technology sector. Net Margin: 8x8's net margin is below industry averages, indicating potential challenges in maintaining strong profitability. With a net margin of -8.03%, the company may face hurdles in effective cost management. Return on Equity (ROE): The company's ROE is below industry benchmarks, signaling potential difficulties in efficiently using equity capital. With an ROE of -13.57%, the company may need to address challenges in generating satisfactory returns for shareholders. Return on Assets (ROA): 8x8's ROA is below industry averages, indicating potential challenges in efficiently utilizing assets. With an ROA of -1.94%, the company may face hurdles in achieving optimal financial returns. Debt Management: With a high debt-to-equity ratio of 4.2 , 8x8 faces challenges in effectively managing its debt levels, indicating potential financial strain. The Core of Analyst Ratings: What Every Investor Should Know Analyst ratings serve as essential indicators of stock performance, provided by experts in banking and financial systems. These specialists diligently analyze company financial statements, participate in conference calls, and engage with insiders to generate quarterly ratings for individual stocks. Some analysts also offer predictions for helpful metrics such as earnings, revenue, and growth estimates to provide further guidance as to what to do with certain tickers. It is important to keep in mind that while stock and sector analysts are specialists, they are also human and can only forecast their beliefs to traders. Breaking: Wall Street's Next Big Mover Benzinga's #1 analyst just identified a stock poised for explosive growth. This under-the-radar company could surge 200%+ as major market shifts unfold. Click here for urgent details . This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and reviewed by an editor. © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.NUST’s new rector assumes office This image taken on December 18, 2024, shows academician Dr Muhammad Zahid Latif. — Facebook@nustofficial Islamabad: Celebrated academician Dr Muhammad Zahid Latif assumed the office of Rector National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST). googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1700472799616-0'); }); Holding a Doctorate from the prestigious Peking University, China, an MPhil degree with distinction, and four master’s degrees, Dr Zahid brings with him extensive experience of research & development and has been on the faculty of some of the leading higher education institutions at home and abroad. He is also a retired three-star general and erstwhile Federal Secretary Defence Production with hands-on experience in cutting-edge technologies and domestic as well as international defence industries. Dr Zahid also holds the honour of delivering lectures at the universities and think tanks across USA, UK, and China. He is also a former Senior Research Fellow of Beijing Foreign Studies University, China, and is currently a Senior Fellow with the prestigious Chinese think-tank Taihe Institute.

Uruguay's voters choose their next president in a close runoff with low stakes but much suspense

Intel has taken enormous pains to prevent a repeat of the driver woes that plagued its first-generation “Alchemist” GPUs inside its second-generation “Battlemage” cards, Intel fellow Tom Petersen told The Full Nerd podcast on Tuesday morning. “It’s a complex problem, but we have invested gi-namic resources into addressing it,” Petersen, also known as “TAP,” , hosted by PCWorld regulars, as “It’s like enormous, and gigantic.” The story Intel’s first A770 and A750 cards were expected to tell was one of a literal third-party competitor whose presence would force down the prices of graphics cards at a time where AMD and especially Nvidia were pushing them higher and higher. But the launch of Arc arrived a year later than expected, and the A770 and A750 followed the debut of the A380 in China that was accompanied by . was also affected by several software issues, even if some weren’t necessarily deal breakers. Still, when PCWorld ends up writing a story titled “ ” several months later, you know there were substantive problems. Our followup article showed how the driver experience improved, however, and Petersen said that Intel’s ongoing driver stack continues that trend. “Think of it as we’ve done more than 50 driver releases since we launched Alchemist,” Petersen said Tuesday. “That’s 50. And those driver releases have all gone through massive [quality assurance] cycles.” “We’ve increased our game coverage by 2.5X — so, you know, hundreds and hundreds of games are run every week looking for validation regressions,” Petersen added. “So it’s only through testing and architecture and hard work that we can get our driver quality where it needs to be. But I feel very comfortable that we are over that hump.” Petersen said that he expects “hundreds of thousands” of people to buy the Battlemage cards. “This is really going to be either earth-shattering for me as we get out, and there’s like hundreds of millions, or hundreds of thousands of people that buy this card, and I’m going to be delighted when they say this is rock solid, or it’s just going to shatter me... I don’t expect the second one, it’s a nice thing.” Not the striongest endorsement, maybe. But with , it has nowhere to go but up. Mark has written for PCWorld for the last decade, with 30 years of experience covering technology. He has authored over 3,500 articles for PCWorld alone, covering PC microprocessors, peripherals, and Microsoft Windows, among other topics. Mark has written for publications including PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Popular Science and Electronic Buyers' News, where he shared a Jesse H. Neal Award for breaking news. He recently handed over a collection of several dozen Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs because his office simply has no more room.

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Mike White’s “ The White Lotus ” will air its third season on HBO this February, Warner Bros. Discovery streaming chief JB Perrette confirmed on Tuesday. The much-anticipated Season 3 of the mysterious and satirical travel anthology series jets off to Thailand this year, and after a few teases that it would be returning early in 2025 , we now finally have a release date to mark on the calendar. Perrette spoke at the Wells Fargo TMT Summit on Tuesday, December 3 and revealed the news, and he added that “Euphoria,” which is due to begin production in January, is not likely to return until 2026. What’s more, the HBO series adaptation of the “Harry Potter” books, which is currently looking for its young Harry, Ron, and Hermoine, might also not hit screens until 2027, Perrette said. In the conference, he added that the new “Game of Thrones” series “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” would come in the summer, but it will actually come in the fourth quarter of 2025, IndieWire has learned. “The White Lotus” joins other Q1 HBO scripted series including the medical drama “The Pitt,” the crime novel adaptation “C. B. Strike: The Ink Black Heart,” the fourth season of “The Righteous Gemstones,” the third season of the “Sex and the City” revival “And Just Like That...,” and Season 5 of the animated “Harley Quinn.” Season 3 of “The White Lotus” stars Natasha Rothwell making her return to the show after starring in Season 1 as the masseuse Belinda, joining an otherwise entirely new cast that includes Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Nicholas Duvernay, Walton Goggins, Scott Glenn, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and more. The series is created, written, and directed by White, as well as executive produced by White, David Bernad, and Mark Kamine. At a press event last month, HBO chief Casey Bloys teased the new season of the show with a trailer and several other series on the network’s shows on the 2025 slate. Bloys even said that White had pitched HBO on a potential Season 4 of the show, but no word if one will actually come to fruition. Bloys at the event also dispelled a rumor that “Euphoria” would not be returning at all, assuring press that production on Season 3 is still moving forward as planned in January and that the season will be eight episodes long. Some of the other scripted highlights to look out for on HBO in 2025 include the second season of “The Last of Us,” which will debut in Q2, the return of “The Rehearsal” with Nathan Fielder, a new show from “Mare of Easttown” creator Brad Ingelsby called “Task” that will arrive in Q3, “Peacemaker” Season 2 in Q3, and a Tim Robinson comedy series called “The Chair Company” also meant for Q3. The “Game of Thrones” series “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is described as a smaller scale, more intimate story rather than a sweeping epic, and it follows a naive knight named Ser Duncan the Tall and his diminutive squire, Egg.Days ahead of their march to the national capital on December 6, farmer leaders under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-political) have announced that they will not use tractor-trailers to go to Delhi. Farmer unions said they were accused of using tractors to break barricades and indulge in violence, so they have decided to go to the national capital to press for their demands on foot. KMM convener Sarwan Singh Pandher said: “This time, we will not go on tractor-trailers. The Haryana and Union governments should allow us to proceed toward Delhi. We will peacefully march and if the government still uses tear gas and pellet guns then they stand exposed.” The Haryana government had time and again been reiterating that they won’t allow farmers to proceed on tractor trailers. “Farmers will march to the national capital in groups led by the union leaders,” he added. The protesting farmers have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13, when their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march, spearheaded by the SKM (Non-Political) and the KMM, was stopped by security forces. The farmers are agitating over a plethora of demands, including legal guarantee of MSP for their produce, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s formula, full debt waiver for farmers, pension for farmers and labourers and withdrawal of cases against farmers during the 2020-21 protest. Pandher said they were open for the talks with the Union government if invited. “We want to resolve issues with dialogue. But the government seems in no mood to hold discussions,” said Pandher. The last meeting between the Union government and farmers unions was held on February 18 this year. Elaborating on their plan to move towards Delhi, Tejveer Singh, spokesperson, BKU Shaheed Bhagat Singh, said the first group of around 50 farmers, will be led by leaders Satnam Singh Pannu and Surinder Singh Chautala. He added that the second group would be led by farmer leader Surjit Singh Phul. Meanwhile, the five-member high-powered committee appointed by the Supreme Court to address agrarian issues affecting farmers and farm workers is learnt to have completed its report. The apex court had constituted the committee on September 2 to address various demands of farmers who have been protesting since February, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops. The committee, headed by a former Punjab and Haryana high court judge, has already met various farm unions and agriculture experts before finalising the issues, people familiar with the development said. The committee has already engaged with SKM (Non-political), which had submitted a charter of demands last month to the committee while the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) had refused to hold talks with the panel.

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China is expanding its nuclear force, has increased military pressure against Taiwan and has strengthened its ties with Russia over the past year, according to a Pentagon report Wednesday that details actions accelerating key areas of conflict with the United States. The report, however, also notes that the recent rash of corruption allegations within China's powerful Central Military Commission, which oversees the People’s Liberation Army, is hurting Beijing’s military growth and could slow its campaign to modernize. The impact, said a senior defense official, is a bit of a mixed bag because while there has been progress in some programs, China has slid back in others. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the U.S. assessment, warned that Beijing is working toward developing a more diverse and technologically sophisticated nuclear force. While the expected number of nuclear warheads has maintained consistent growth, China is broadening its targeting abilities. Beijing is going to be able to go after more and different types of targets, do greater damage and have more options for multiple rounds of counterstrikes, the official said. The U.S. is urging China to be more transparent about its nuclear program, while also warning that America will defend its allies and take appropriate steps in response. According to the report, which provides the annual U.S. assessment of China’s military power and is required by Congress, China had more than 600 operational nuclear warheads as of May, and the U.S. expects it will have more than 1,000 by 2030. The Chinese Embassy, in response, said China has always “firmly adhered to a nuclear strategy of self-defense,” follows the no-first-use nuclear policy and maintains its nuclear capabilities at the minimum level required for national security. Liu Pengyu, the embassy spokesman, said such annual reports by the Pentagon are “filled with ‘Cold-War' thinking and zero-sum game mentality, which China firmly opposes.” The Biden administration has worked to maintain a balance with China, building up the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region to be ready to counter Beijing while also encouraging increased communications between the two countries at the diplomatic and military levels. That uptick in talks has coincided with a decrease in coercive and risky intercepts of U.S. aircraft since late 2023, compared with the previous two years. China still, however, does what the U.S. military considers “unsafe” flights near American and allied forces in the region. The Pentagon’s national defense strategy is built around China being the greatest security challenge for the U.S., and the threat from Beijing influences how the U.S. military is equipped and organized for the future. The corruption within the PLA has resulted in at least 15 high-ranking officials being ousted in a major shakeup of China’s defense establishment. “This wave of corruption touches every service in the PLA, and it may have shaken Beijing’s confidence," the report said. In June, China announced that former Defense Minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor, Wei Fenghe, were expelled from the ruling Communist Party and accused of corruption. Last month, another senior official, Miao Hua, was suspended and put under investigation, according to China's Defense Ministry. The U.S. report points to a persistent increased military presence by China around Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its own. It said China's navy has been in the region more and that there have been increased crossings into the island's air defense identification zone and major military exercises in the area. Just last week, a large deployment of Chinese navy and coast guard vessels in the waters around Taiwan triggered alarm as Taiwanese officials said it looked like China was simulating a blockade. Officials have said there were as many as 90 ships involved in what Taiwan described as two walls designed to demonstrate that the waters belong to China. Taiwan split from communist China in 1949 and has rejected Beijing’s demands that it accept unification. China says it will do so by force if necessary, and leaders have said they want to be ready to do so by 2027. Beijing also has demanded that Washington not interfere with the Taiwan issue, citing that it is an internal matter. The United States is obligated under domestic law to help defend Taiwan and give it weapons and technology to deter invasion. The island democracy has been the chief source of tension between Washington and Beijing for decades and is widely seen as the most likely trigger for a potentially catastrophic U.S.-China war. More broadly, the report concluded that the PLA continued its drive to develop greater military capabilities but “made uneven progress toward its 2027” milestone for modernization. One area of expansion, the report said, is with unmanned aerial systems, which officials said are “quickly approaching U.S. standards.” Regarding Russia, the report said China has supported Russia's war against Ukraine and sold Russia dual-use items that Moscow's military industry relies on. Dual use items can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

November 22 - The Philadelphia Eagles ruled wide receiver DeVonta Smith out for Sunday night's game at the Los Angeles Rams due to a hamstring injury. Smith did not practice all week and will miss his second game of the season and just the third of his four-year NFL career. He was inactive in a Week 4 loss at Tampa Bay due to a concussion. Smith, 26, leads the Eagles with 41 receptions and four touchdown catches ands ranks second with 516 receiving yards in nine starts this season. The former Heisman Trophy winner has 281 catches for 3,694 yards and 23 scores in 59 games (58 starts) since the Eagles drafted him with the 10th overall pick in 2021. NFC East-leading Philadelphia (8-2) takes a six-game winning streak to Los Angeles (5-5), which has won four of its last five games. --Field Level Media Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tabPresident-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers urge judge to toss his hush money convictionLondon: The Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani paid a visit on Tuesday, December 3, to the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the UK Parliament. Addressing both Houses of the UK Parliament, HH the Amir expressed his deep thanks and appreciation to the House of Commons Speaker, Lord Speaker, MPs and the friendly British people for the warm welcome and hospitality accorded to His Highness and the accompanying delegation during the visit. His Highness' speech started with a highlight of the State of Qatar's constitutional system update aligning with the country's traditions and cultural specificity. Moving to the Qatar-UK relations, HH the Amir said they have been growing and seeing multiple partnerships since both countries marked their first-ever interaction with the 1868 Agreement. In this regard, His Highness recalled that during a previous visit Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II commended the bilateral relations as those of two long-standing and trusted friends. The feelings of mutual affection between the two ruling families are manifested in the ties that unite the Qatari and British peoples through education, diplomacy, business, culture and tourism, HH the Amir elaborated. His Highness also spoke about his educational experience at Sherborne School and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as an opportunity to build long-lasting friendships and fond memories of training and educational sessions, which in turn inspired ongoing cooperation between the two countries. This cooperation has been exemplified in the participation of the Qatar Amiri Air Force in the joint Qatar-UK Typhoon squadron, which helped secure the country's airspace during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, HH the Amir said. His Highness elaborated that a new joint squadron is delivering jet training to Qatari pilots in the new Hawk trainer aircrafts. This visit will facilitate deliberations to boost military, defense and security cooperation by strengthening defense policies, strategies and practices, in terms of equipment and training, His Highness added. Regarding bilateral collaboration on the state level, HH the Amir said both governments have been cooperating for decades to solve many major global challenges - a particularly important unified approach with the global diplomacy on its last legs. His Highness highlighted the State of Qatar's mediation efforts alongside its partners since the first day of the war on the Gaza Strip to stop the violence, release hostages and detainees, and enable a humanitarian aid delivery. In this respect, His Highness said that further work is still needed, especially in the Gaza Strip, which was almost completely destroyed. Yet, His Highness hailed the successes accomplished over the past year. HH the Amir said the two countries share a position to settle the Palestinian issue on the basis of the two-state solution through the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state, regarding the envisioned solution as the path to achieving true peace and coveted prosperity. Regarding the Qatar-UK strategic investment partnership, HH the Amir underscored his keenness to elevate cooperation, noting that Qatari companies have invested over 100 billion Pounds in the British economy and work to pump billions of dollars annually into the tourism sector. His Highness also expressed Qatar's aspiration to increase investment in the areas of infrastructure, science and technology including AI, defense, education and healthcare technology. Commenting on the bilateral education cooperation, HH the Amir said it catalyzes long-run fruitful relations, especially with tens of thousands of Qatari students having graduated and over three thousand others currently studying at universities across the United Kingdom. His Highness also hailed the British universities operating in the State of Qatar and offering their programs to students from Qatar and beyond. In their speeches, Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle and Lord Speaker, Lord McFall of Alcluith welcomed HH the Amir and the accompanying delegation, stressing the strength of Qatari-British relations and expressing their countrys keenness to consolidate these relations across various fields and aspirations to continue close cooperation on regional security and stability. HH the Amir is accompanied by Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and Their Excellencies members of the official delegation.

Uruguay's voters choose their next president in a close runoff with low stakes but much suspense

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI should have done more to gather intelligence before the Capitol riot , according to a watchdog report Thursday that also said no undercover FBI employees were on the scene Jan. 6, 2021, and none of the bureau's informants was authorized to participate. The report from the Justice Department inspector general's office knocks down a fringe conspiracy theory advanced by some Republicans in Congress that the FBI played a role in instigating the events that day, when rioters determined to overturn Republican Donald Trump's 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden stormed the building in a violent clash with police. The review, released nearly four years after a dark chapter in history that shook the bedrock of American democracy, was narrow in scope, but aimed to shed light on gnawing questions that have dominated public discourse, including whether major intelligence failures preceded the riot and whether the FBI in some way provoked the violence. It's the latest major investigation about a day unlike any other in U.S. history, one that has already yielded congressional inquiries and federal and state indictments. The report offers a mixed assessment of the FBI's performance in the run-up to the riot, crediting the bureau for preparing for the possibility of violence and for trying to identify known “domestic terrorism subjects” who planned to come to Washington that day. But it said the FBI, in an action the now-deputy director described as a “basic step that was missed,” failed to canvas informants across all 56 of its field offices for any relevant intelligence. That was a step, the report concluded, “that could have helped the FBI and its law enforcement partners with their preparations in advance of January 6.” In addition, the watchdog found that 26 FBI informants were in Washington for election-related protests on Jan. 6, and though four entered the Capitol during the riot, none had been authorized to do so by the bureau or to break the law or encourage others to do so. Many of the 26 informants did provide the FBI with information before the riot, but it “was no more specific than, and was consistent with, other sources of information” that the FBI had acquired from other sources. The FBI said in a letter responding to the report that it accepts the inspection general’s recommendation “regarding potential process improvements for future events.” The lengthy review was launched days after the riot as the FBI faced questions over whether it had missed warnings signs or had adequately disseminated intelligence it had received, including a Jan. 5, 2021, bulletin prepared by the FBI’s Norfolk, Virginia, field office that warned of the potential for “war” at the Capitol. The inspector general found that the information in that bulletin was broadly shared. FBI Director Chris Wray, who announced this week his plans to resign at the end President Joe Biden’s term in January, has defended his agency’s handing of the intelligence report. He told lawmakers in 2021 that the report was disseminated though the joint terrorism task force, discussed at a command post in Washington and posted on an internet portal available to other law enforcement agencies. “We did communicate that information in a timely fashion to the Capitol Police and (Metropolitan Police Department) in not one, not two, but three different ways,” Wray said at the time. Separately, the report said the FBI’s New Orleans field office was told by a source between November 2020 and early January 2021 that protesters were planning to station a “quick reaction force” in northern Virginia “in order to be armed and prepared to respond to violence that day in DC, if necessary." That information was shared with the FBI's Washington Field Office, members of intelligence agencies and some federal law enforcement agencies the day before the riot, the inspector general found. But there was no indication the FBI told northern Virginia police about the information, the report said. An FBI official told the inspector general there was “nothing actionable or immediately concerning about it." A cache of weapons at a Virginia hotel as part of a “quick reaction force” was a central piece of the Justice Department’s seditious conspiracy case against Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhodes and other members of the far-right extremist group. The conspiracy theory that federal law enforcement officers entrapped members of the mob has been spread in conservative circles, including by some Republican lawmakers. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., recently suggested on a podcast that agents pretending to be Trump supporters were responsible for instigating the violence. And former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who withdrew as Trump’s pick as attorney general amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations, sent a letter to Wray in 2021 asking how many undercover agents or informants were at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and if they were “merely passive informants or active instigators.” It wasn't previously clear how many FBI informants were in the crowd that day. Wray refused to say during a congressional hearing last year how many of the people who entered the Capitol and surrounding area on Jan. 6 were either FBI employees or people with whom the FBI had made contact. But Wray said the “notion that somehow the violence at the Capitol on January 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and agents is ludicrous.” One FBI informant testified last year at the trial of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio about marching to the Capitol with his fellow extremist group members, and described communicating with his handler as the mob of Trump supporters swarmed the building. But the informant wasn't in any of the Telegram chats the Proud Boys were accused of using to plot violence in the days leading up to Jan. 6. ____ This story has been corrected to reflect that the report said four informants entered the Capitol on Jan. 6."Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." Section 1.10.32 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?" 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" To keep reading, please log in to your account, create a free account, or simply fill out the form below.