vip4dp slot One of Lincolnshire Wildlife Park's animals has been buried today (Monday), they have said in a social media post. Dehra, the park's Bengal tiger, has died of acute kidney failure, aged 16. The park said that it was a shock to lose Dehra, and described her as "loving, carefree and happy". Lincolnshire Wildlife Park said in a post: "We know this is going to come as a shock to many, it shocked us too. Dehra, our gorgeous 16 year old bengal tiger, was laid to rest today due to acute kidney failure. "Dehra was just special; She was the most loving, carefree, happy creature we have ever had the privilege of taking care of. She touched so many hearts, sprayed so many faces and was so fundamental to our lives here at LWP. "We couldn’t have loved her more if we tried and we will all carry a piece of her in our hearts always. We cannot express how devastated we are at her loss." Dehra, born in 2008, was the oldest tiger at the park, and mother to Baseera, Sajhiba and Lajuka. The park's website described her as "very excitable and runs everywhere". It added: "Loves doing big cat experiences and the attention. Very vocal. Likes scent-marking people!" Social media posters have shared their love for the big cat, with Anna Andrew saying: "Lots of love to Steve and the team, the loss of Dehra is such a devastating loss. She was definitely a special lady who will be greatly missed by all. "Dehra couldn’t have had anywhere that cared and loved her more. We are all shedding a tear for her xxx" Darlene Wise added: "So sorry for your loss. Such a beautiful and magnificent animal. Remember she is running free now over the 'Rainbow Bridge'."History Says Meta Platforms Is Primed for Massive Upside in 2025ECC concerned over delays in implementation of its decisions

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball switched a pair of series involving the Tampa Bay Rays to the first two months of the season in an attempt to avoid summer rain at open-air Steinbrenner Field, their temporary home following damage to Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay is scheduled to play 19 of its first 22 games at home and 37 of 54 through May 28, then play 64 of its last 108 games on the road. The Rays are home for eight games each in July and August. A series scheduled at the Los Angeles Angels from April 7-9 will instead be played at Tampa, Florida, from April 8-10, MLB said Monday. The second series between the teams will be played at Anaheim, California, from Aug. 4-6 instead of at St. Petersburg, Florida, from Aug. 5-7. Minnesota’s first series against the Rays will be played at Steinbrenner Field from May 26-28 and the Twins’ second will be at Target Field in Minneapolis from July 4-6. Tampa Bay heads into the All-Star break with a 10-game trip to Minnesota, Detroit and Boston, and has a 12-game trip to the Angels, Seattle, Oakland and San Francisco from Aug. 4-17. Tropicana Field, the Rays’ home since the team started play in 1998, was heavily damaged by Hurricane Milton on Oct. 9 , with most of its fabric roof shredded. The Rays cannot return to the Trop until 2026 at the earliest, if at all. RELATED COVERAGE Red Sox lefty Cam Booser wins Tony C. Award for overcoming adversity Robinson Chirinos replaces Fredi González as Baltimore Orioles bench coach Infielder Kyle Farmer guaranteed $3.25 million in 1-year deal with Colorado Rockies Tampa’s average monthly rainfall from 1991 to 2020 was 2.25 inches in April and 2.60 in May , according to the National Weather Service, then rose to 7.37 in June , 7.75 in July and 9.03 in August before falling to 6.09 in September . The Class A Tampa Tarpons, the usual team at Steinbrenner Field, had six home postponements, two cancellations and four suspended games this year from June 21 through their season finale on Sept. 8. The Rays are now scheduled to play their first six games at home against Colorado and Pittsburgh, go to Texas for a three-game series, then return for a 13-game homestand against the Angels, Atlanta, Boston and the New York Yankees. The Tarpons will play their home games on a back field. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/

N ana Backpackers Hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, is abandoned and forlorn. But until a few days ago, it was usually heaving with students in swimwear drinking at the bar, where cocktails with names like “cucumber slut” and “dark madness” are on the menu, and a sign on the wall politely discourages sex in the public dormitory. Six people have died of methanol poisoning after staying at Nana two weeks ago, when a night of fun in a small tourist town turned to tragedy and horror. They include 28-year-old Simone White , a solicitor from Orpington in Kent, Australian friends Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both aged 19, two Danish women, Frela Vennervald Sorensen, 21, and Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and the US citizen James Louis Hutson, 57.

Egypt’s Abdelatty advocates for Gaza Ceasefire at Rome Forum, meets French counterpart

Eddie Howe says ‘a lot more to come’ from Newcastle striker Alexander IsakNEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball switched a pair of series involving the Tampa Bay Rays to the first two months of the season in an attempt to avoid summer weather problems at open-air Steinbrenner Field, their following damage to Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay is scheduled to play 13 of its first 16 games at home and 47 of 59 through May 28, then play 69 of its last 103 games on the road. The Rays are home for eight of 25 games in July and eight of 26 in August. A series scheduled at the Los Angeles Angels from April 7-9 will instead be played at Tampa, Florida, from April 8-10, MLB said Monday. The second series between the teams will be played at Anaheim, California, from Aug. 4-6 instead of at St. Petersburg, Florida, from Aug. 5-7. Minnesota's first series against the Rays will be played at Steinbrenner Field from May 26-28 and the Twins' second will be at Target Field in Minneapolis from July 4-6. The Class A Tampa Tarpons, Steinbrenner Field's usual team, had six home postponements, two cancellations and four suspended games this year from June 21 through their season finale on Sept. 8. Tampa Bay is now scheduled to play its first six games at home against Colorado and Pittsburgh, go to Texas for a three-game series, then return for a 13-game homestand against the Angels, Atlanta, Boston and the New York Yankees. Tropicana Field, the Rays' home since the team started play in 1998, was heavily damaged by Hurricane Milton on Oct. 9, with most of its fabric roof shredded. The Rays cannot return to the Trop until 2026 at the earliest, if at all. AP MLB:

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball switched a pair of series involving the Tampa Bay Rays to the first two months of the season in an attempt to avoid summer weather problems at open-air Steinbrenner Field, their temporary home following damage to Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay is scheduled to play 13 of its first 16 games at home and 47 of 59 through May 28, then play 69 of its last 103 games on the road. The Rays are home for eight of 25 games in July and eight of 26 in August. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.AKRON, Ohio, Dec. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) today declared an unchanged quarterly dividend of $0.425 per share of outstanding common stock payable March 1, 2025, to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 7, 2025. FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving more than six million customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. The company's transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Follow FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com and on X @FirstEnergyCorp . Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-looking statements based on information currently available to management. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These statements include declarations regarding management's intents, beliefs and current expectations. These statements typically contain, but are not limited to, the terms "anticipate," "potential," "expect," "forecast," "target," "will," "intend," "believe," "project," "estimate," "plan" and similar words. Forward-looking statements involve estimates, assumptions, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, which may include the following: the potential liabilities, increased costs and unanticipated developments resulting from government investigations and agreements, including those associated with compliance with or failure to comply with the Deferred Prosecution Agreement entered into July 21, 2021 with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio; the risks and uncertainties associated with government investigations and audits regarding Ohio House Bill 6, as passed by Ohio's 133rd General Assembly ("HB 6") and related matters, including potential adverse impacts on federal or state regulatory matters, including, but not limited to, matters relating to rates; the risks and uncertainties associated with litigation, arbitration, mediation and similar proceedings, particularly regarding HB 6 related matters; changes in national and regional economic conditions, including recession, volatile interest rates, inflationary pressure, supply chain disruptions, higher fuel costs, and workforce impacts, affecting us and/or our customers and those vendors with which we do business; variations in weather, such as mild seasonal weather variations and severe weather conditions (including events caused, or exacerbated, by climate change, such as wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, droughts, high wind events and extreme heat events) and other natural disasters affecting future operating results and associated regulatory actions or outcomes in response to such conditions; legislative and regulatory developments, including, but not limited to, matters related to rates, energy regulatory policies, compliance and enforcement activity, cyber security, and climate change; the risks associated with physical attacks, such as acts of war, terrorism, sabotage or other acts of violence, and cyber-attacks and other disruptions to our, or our vendors', information technology system, which may compromise our operations, and data security breaches of sensitive data, intellectual property and proprietary or personally identifiable information; the ability to meet our goals relating to employee, environmental, social and corporate governance opportunities, improvements, and efficiencies, including our greenhouse gas ("GHG") reduction goals; the ability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits through establishing a culture of continuous improvement and our other strategic and financial goals, including, but not limited to, overcoming current uncertainties and challenges associated with the ongoing government investigations, executing Energize365, our transmission and distribution investment plan, executing on our rate filing strategy, controlling costs, improving credit metrics, maintaining investment grade ratings, and growing earnings; changing market conditions affecting the measurement of certain liabilities and the value of assets held in our pension trusts may negatively impact our forecasted growth rate, results of operations, and may also cause us to make contributions to our pension sooner or in amounts that are larger than currently anticipated; mitigating exposure for remedial activities associated with retired and formerly owned electric generation assets, including those sites impacted by the legacy coal combustion residual rules that were finalized during 2024; changes to environmental laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, rules finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") related to climate change; changes in customers' demand for power, including, but not limited to, economic conditions, the impact of climate change, emerging technology, particularly with respect to electrification, energy storage and distributed sources of generation; the ability to access the public securities and other capital and credit markets in accordance with our financial plans, the cost of such capital and overall condition of the capital and credit markets affecting us, including the increasing number of financial institutions evaluating the impact of climate change on their investment decisions; future actions taken by credit rating agencies that could negatively affect either our access to or terms of financing or our financial condition and liquidity; changes in assumptions regarding factors such as economic conditions within our territories, the reliability of our transmission and distribution system, generation resource planning, or the availability of capital or other resources supporting identified transmission and distribution investment opportunities; the potential of non-compliance with debt covenants in our credit facilities; the ability to comply with applicable reliability standards and energy efficiency and peak demand reduction mandates; human capital management challenges, including among other things, attracting and retaining appropriately trained and qualified employees and labor disruptions by our unionized workforce; changes to significant accounting policies; any changes in tax laws or regulations, including, but not limited to, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, or adverse tax audit results or rulings; and the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in our SEC filings. Dividends declared from time to time on FirstEnergy Corp.'s common stock during any period may in the aggregate vary from prior periods due to circumstances considered by FirstEnergy Corp.'s Board of Directors at the time of the actual declarations. A security rating is not a recommendation to buy or hold securities and is subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the assigning rating agency. Each rating should be evaluated independently of any other rating. These forward-looking statements are also qualified by, and should be read together with, the risk factors included in FirstEnergy Corp.'s Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and in FirstEnergy's other filings with the SEC. The foregoing review of factors also should not be construed as exhaustive. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all such factors, nor assess the impact of any such factor on FirstEnergy Corp.'s business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. FirstEnergy Corp. expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise, except as required by law, any forward-looking statements contained herein or in the information incorporated by reference as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/firstenergy-corp-declares-unchanged-common-stock-dividend-of-0-425-per-share-302335334.html SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.

NoneAssistance rendered to stranded tourists by locals in Gund wins praise

Parts of Scotland are bracing for a second day of disruption with high winds and localised flooding after Storm Bert swept heavy snow and rain across the country. The central belt was hit by more snow that anticipated early on Saturday, causing widespread problems on the roads. The M8 saw long traffic jams and two of the main routes south - the M74 and A68 - were closed for a time due to accidents. Lothian buses suspended all of its 70 routes across Edinburgh and surrounding areas and there was disruption to the rail network. But an amber weather warning for rain and snow in the east of Scotland was downgraded to a yellow warning for rain which will remain in place . In an unusual move, the Queensferry Crossing across the Firth of Forth was closed due to the threat of falling ice. Traffic in the area was diverted via the Forth Road Bridge. The diversion was due to remain in place until 01:00 on Sunday. David Bishop from the national road maintenance body Bear Scotland said the closure was due to concerns that ice sticking to the bridge's 70km of cable stays could fall and cause a "significant road traffic incident". It is the first time since 2021 the bridge has closed. All 700 buses in the Lothian Buses fleet ground to a halt for much of the day due to tough road conditions. The company announced services were back to normal early on Saturday evening. Edinburgh sightseeing buses were cancelled and there was disruption on Citylink, McGill's and First services. A dramatic image shared on social media showed a bus which had left the road at Buchlyvie, a village in the Stirling area. George Henry, head of road safety and road policy for Transport Scotland, said the conditions had been "challenging". He said: "We have been treating our roads around the clock, our operating companies have been out and we have used over 240 gritters. "Unfortunately there has been some impacts with various vehicles being stuck due to some vehicles losing traction at various location and we’ve tried to treat that as quickly as we can to minimise the disruption to the motoring public." Mr Henry said particular incidents had impacted the M8 near Livingston and the M74 at various points on Saturday. He added attention is now turning to the risk of localised flooding caused by the temperature rising and snow melting. "There will be lots of surface water so we urge the motoring public when they are returning to the roads to please take care and drive to the conditions they are faced with," he added. Regional flood alerts have been issued for parts of Dumfries and Galloway, west Borders, Central, Tayside, Aberdeenshire, Dundee and Angus regions. While a flood warning urging people to "act now" is in place for the Churchill Barriers in Orkney. A total of 11 were called off with kick-off times delayed on another three, including two in the Premiership. One of those called off was a league two match between Cove Rangers and Stenhousemuir, after the away team's bus got stuck in snow at Broxden Services outisde Perth. Over 3,000 homes in England and Wales are without power. Scotland has not been hit as hard, with both Scottish Power and SSE reporting just a few localised faults. The Met Office has warned a rapid thaw and subsequent rain may cause further disruption. A yellow weather warning for rain and snow remains in place for most of Scotland until 09:00 on Sunday. The Highlands and Argyll and Bute will see winds of up to 65mph on Sunday, with a yellow warning has been in place from 12:00 until 00:00. Forecasters say Storm Bert will be quite slow moving and will only start to clear from Monday.There are lots of heartfelt stories to tell about Doug Koch, a longtime downtown Victoria bookseller who passed away suddenly while commuting home. “He’s one you would remember,” said an emotional Jessica Paul, manager at Munro’s Books , where Koch worked for several decades. “He was here for 35 years. He was the most incredible man, he was so kind to everyone,” Paul told CHEK News in an interview Wednesday. “He had so many interests – music, books or politics. Locals or visitors coming through, he had that innate ability to connect with people,” she added. Earlier this week, Munro’s staff “with heavy hearts” announced Koch’s passing, saying their “beloved colleague and friend ... died suddenly” on Saturday. He had left work early that day because he wasn’t feeling well, according to Paul. On his way home, it’s believed he suffered a heart attack and died while riding a BC Transit bus in Esquimalt. The incident happened around 10:30 a.m. “We’re all feeling his loss greatly,” reads a post on Munro’s Facebook. “Always quick with a kind word and a music recommendation, Doug embodied the spirit of bookselling at Munro’s, and it’s hard to imagine the store without him.” The independent store at 1108 Government St. prides itself on having “passionate” staff and being “a destination for book lovers” for more than 60 years. Staff at the store in the post say Koch was often found “manning the front desk, giving out dog biscuits, and curating many sections in the store...” ‘We need more Dougies’ Now, tributes are pouring in, both online and in person. Wes Koch thanked people in the comments for their support and described his late sibling as “the best big brother anyone could ever ask for,” saying he “forged many great relationships over the years” and will be deeply missed. “And ‘you betcha’ (as he would often say), we need more Dougies in this world.” Kyeren Regehr wrote she “can’t imagine Munro’s, or Victoria, without Doug,” while Gillian Jones, who previously worked with Koch, said he was “a warm and thoughtful person who kept a written list of everyone’s birthdays...” “He never missed calling a co-worker to sing happy birthday, most often leaving you a voicemail. Years after I worked at Munro’s, he still called to sing.” Koch, born in 1958, didn’t always call Vancouver Island home. “If you worked by his side long enough, you would have heard his stories about working the railroads, hitchhiking across Canada and how much his rent was when he lived in Montreal,” wrote Marianne Kelly in her own Facebook post. Sister Lori Koch said it was “comforting to read these heartfelt messages. They truly shine a light on the authentic, incomparable gentle man he was.” Former BC NDP leader Carole James also commented that visiting Munro’s wasn’t complete “without a hug and conversation” with Koch. “Such sad news ... Thinking of his family and large circle of friends and book readers.” Munro’s staff are inviting people to leave a remembrance of Koch in the post comment section or stop by the store and share their memories in person.

Since its inception, smart contracts have been synonymous with Ethereum, and have brought revolution to blockchain technology through the use of self-executing agreements without the need for intermediaries. Ethereum has long established itself as the leader in decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystems, attracting developers over the years in a vast ecosystem of applications. But with time, as the technology for blockchain is improving, Ethereum is losing steam as new platforms are promising faster, cheaper, and far more scalable solutions. This article will investigate whether Ethereum will remain the dominant force or challengers will take its crown. Ethereum’s dominance stems from its early start and Ethereum Virtual Machine ( EVM ) which offers developers an environment for developing decentralized applications (dApp). As of 2023, it dominates over 49% of the smart contracts market, making it the backbone of decentralized finance. Ethereum’s network effect is another critical factor. Ethereum also has the biggest developer community in the blockchain industry, and the richest set of tools, frameworks, and decentralized applications, inspiring new decentralized innovations. Platforms like Uniswap, Aave, and OpenSea are already well-known in the crypto space helping Ethereum solidify its position as a trendsetter. Despite its success, Ethereum has suffered from long-standing problems of scalability and high-proportioned transaction fees. High network traffic emanating from increased activities has pushed up the cost of gas fees making small transactions unprofitable and out of reach for the average user. For example, in 2021, the transaction fee reached more than $50 during high traffic load. Enter the competitors : Such platforms as Solana, BSC, Cardano, and Avalanche have been receiving increasing attention. These networks are faster with transactions than Ethereum and cheaper also solving some of Ethereum’s shortcomings. Solana : With a processing power of over 65,000 transactions per second (TPS), Solana stands to be a high-performance blockchain for projects seeking efficiency and scalability. Binance Smart Chain (BSC) : BSC is one of the popular choices for developers as it has a low transaction fee and works on the EVM Cardano : Cardano has built a reputation as having strict rigorous peer-reviewed research and security-focused projects. Avalanche: With flexible and customizable subnets and transaction finality, Avalanche offers developers scalability and flexibility. Ethereum is not sitting with its arms folded either. It is perhaps one of the most groundbreaking upgrades in the entire history of blockchain technology ever, Ethereum 2.0. The change from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) is supposed to deal with the crucial problems of Ethereum’s scalability and energy intensity. When it comes to scalability Ethereum 2.0 includes shard chains that split the network into segments making the transaction processing happen in parallel hence enhancing throughput. This upgrade is said to cut transaction costs and at the same time improve the use of the software. For now, Ethereum is also planning to reach more than 100,000 TPS by 2025, coming up to the speed of the recently created platforms . However, the energy consumption of the Ethereum network is expected to reduce significantly in the next few years by about 99.95%. This is in line with global sustainability standards, or what institutional investors have in their minds. The smart contracts market is developing and it was valued at $2.14 billion in the year 2024 and topped $12.55 billion in the year 2032 at a CAGR of 24.7%. This growth is due to the integration of blockchain technology into different industries like finance, health, supply and logistics among others. This simply implies that with the growing market, there is the possibility of having many different platforms, each targeting unique categories of the market. Due to the already created environment around Ethereum and constant development, it has growth potential, although competition remains the factor by which no platform will reign over all applications . Although Ethereum still holds the largest market share in the DeFi and NFT segments, this is fragmenting. Solana is popular among high-frequency trading applications now, and Cardano is used in scientific and sponsor blockchain projects. Being cost-effective, the Binance Smart Chain has been used mostly by small-scale investors. The future is multi-chain, and connectivity is going to be a key determinant of the health of blockchains. Polkadot and Cosmos are connectivity platforms that cross over the chasms between blockchains so that assets and data can transfer from network to network. Therefore, Ethereum has to synchronize itself with this integrated environment to remain useful. Ethereum continues to be the king of smart contracts because of the first-mover advantage, a large developer community, and a fitted ecosystem. Although it has been long on top, it is no longer unparalleled. Competition threats from Solana, Binance Smart Chain, Cardano, and Avalanche are rising as they all attend to problems like scalability and cost to make them attractive destinations for developers and users. The upgrades to Ethereum 2.0 remain a necessity for Ethereum to remain on top, as explained below. If done successfully, it is likely to tackle scalability and environmental issues at the same time strengthen Ethereum as the go-to platform for decentralised development.