NEW YORK , Dec. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Report on how AI is driving market transformation - The foodservice market in US size is estimated to grow by USD 204.8 billion from 2024 to 2028, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 4.4% during the forecast period. The report provides a comprehensive forecast of key segments below- Segmentation Overview Get a glance at the market contribution of rest of the segments - Download a FREE Sample Report in minutes! 1.1 Fastest growing segment: Fast foodservice markets in the US are experiencing growth due to the convenience and diversity they offer. Numerous fast food vendors are expanding their presence by opening new stores and introducing novel food options, including vegetarian burgers. These vegetarian options cater to health-conscious consumers who require quick meals on the go. However, the rise of online food ordering applications and third-party delivery services may hinder market growth. Non-vegetarian fast food, such as burgers, sandwiches, and pizzas, remains popular among the working population. Vendors like Subway, Chick-fil-A, Dominos Pizza, and Inspire Brands offer a range of non-vegetarian options with high protein content and convenient delivery services. These strategies contribute to the growth of the fast foodservice segment in the US. Chick-fil-A ensures efficient restaurant operations, Dominos delivers pizza and pasta swiftly, and Inspire Brands provides a diverse portfolio of franchises. Marcos Franchising offers delivery, carryout, and dine-in services. These vendors' efforts have significantly driven the growth of the fast foodservice segment in the US. Analyst Review The Foodservice Market in the US is experiencing significant growth as consumers increasingly demand vegan, low-sugar, and gluten-free options. Full-service restaurants are responding by offering nutritional menus with pancakes and waffles made from alternative ingredients. Online booking and payment systems are becoming standard for reservations and ordering. Foodservice providers offer catering services, packaged food solutions, and real-time delivery for businesses and events. Quick-service and limited-service restaurants, food bars, canteens, universities, hotels, and vending machines also cater to various dietary needs. Virtual kitchens and foodservice technology are revolutionizing the industry, providing efficient and convenient solutions for consumers. The Foodservice Industry continues to evolve, meeting the diverse needs of consumers while maintaining high-quality food offerings. Market Overview The Foodservice Market in the US is experiencing a significant shift towards vegan, low-sugar, and gluten-free options as consumers prioritize taste and health-conscious choices. Fast food brands and full service restaurants are adapting to these trends, offering nutritional diets and innovative menus. Pancakes, waffles, and toast are popular items at cafes & bars, which also serve specialty tea, coffee, and other beverages. Digital ordering platforms and international cuisines, including street foods like hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches, are gaining popularity. Leading operators are leveraging digital platforms for online booking, payments, and catering services, while cloud kitchen outlets and virtual kitchens offer real-time food service. The average order value continues to rise as consumers explore chef-driven dining-out restaurants featuring professionally trained chefs and celebrity chefs. The Foodservice industry is digitalizing operations, allowing consumers to order food online for home delivery or takeaway, and experimenting with non-traditional ingredients and tastes through foodservice providers. The industry is also addressing health concerns, offering organic produce and healthy food options, and reducing sugar in fast food items, beverages, and snacks. Consumption behaviors are evolving, with millennial populations and fast lifestyles driving the demand for convenience and on-premise eating experiences. Travel and tourism are also influencing food consumption habits, as consumers explore new tastes and cuisines. Foodservice providers are expanding their offerings to include self-service restaurants, independent consumer foodservice, chained consumer foodservice, cafeterias, limited-service eating places, ice cream parlors, beverage bars, carryout sandwich shops, on-premises baking, and vending machines. The industry is also exploring new concepts like food bars, canteens, universities canteens, hotels, virtual kitchens, and ghost kitchens to meet the evolving needs and preferences of consumers. However, challenges remain, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, overweight, and unhealthy products. The industry must continue to innovate and adapt to meet the changing needs and expectations of consumers while addressing these health concerns. To understand more about this market- Download a FREE Sample Report in minutes! 1 Executive Summary 2 Market Landscape 3 Market Sizing 4 Historic Market Size 5 Five Forces Analysis 6 Market Segmentation 7 Customer Landscape 8 Geographic Landscape 9 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends 10 Venodr Landscape 11 Vendor Analysis 12 Appendix About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contacts Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media & Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-foodservice-market-to-grow-by-usd-204-8-billion-from-2023-2028--report-on-ai-powered-market-evolution---technavio-302328789.html SOURCE TechnavioLeaky roof forces Oregon Tech to cancel men's basketball exhibition Saturday with Seattle MountaineersPyxus Releases Fiscal Year 2024 Sustainability Report

Conclave takes a look behind the curtain of one of the most mysterious traditions of Catholicism, the selection of a new Pope. The film adaption from Robert Harris' novel does not disappoint, as director Edward Berger does justice to the novel along with his own take. Advertisement Ralph Fiennes plays Cardinal Lawrence, dean of the College of Cardinals, in a tense drama that s more political than papal. Lawrence finds himself thrust reluctantly into the spotlight while still grieving the Pope, who seemed to know him better than he knows himself amid a crisis of faith. However, Fiennes' character steps up to the role of holding together a fractured group of cardinals, some with corruption and self-interest in their hearts rather than the greater good of the church. Advertisement Viewers can feel the tension at times. Berger's previous film was another critical success, a German language adaption of All Quiet on the Western Front, which one four Oscars. The atmosphere in this one plays out differently, but is equally as brutal. Lawrence must manage the egos of Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci), a liberal who is more keen on the top job than he lets on, Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow) a Canadian cardinal who makes no secret of his ambition to be Pope, Cardinal Tedesco, a far-right Italian traditionalist, and Cardinal Adeyemi, a popular Nigerian candidate with conservative social views. All is not as it seems, and there is intrigue in the plotting throughout conclave. Isabella Rossellini is also brilliant in her role of Sister Agnes, a nun who knows more than some of the cardinals involved in plotting. Above all, Fiennes stands out and he may well be under consideration when Oscar season rolls around. ****Cameron Huefner scores 20 and Sam Houston beats Dallas 111-65

ZURICH (AP) — Saudi Arabia scored a major win in its campaign to attract major sports events to the kingdom when it was formally appointed as the 2034 World Cup host on Wednesday. Still, many questions remain about the tournament as well as the 2030 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with three games in South America. Here are some of the key issues that need to be answered over the next decade: Where will games be played? Saudi Arabia proposes 15 stadiums — eight still on paper — in five cities: Eight in the capital Riyadh, four in the Red Sea port city Jeddah, and one each in Abha, Al Khobar and Neom, the planned futuristic mega-project. Each would have at least 40,000 seats for World Cup games. The opening game and final are set for a 92,000-seat venue planned in Riyadh. Some designs are . In Neom, the stadium is planned 350 meters (yards) above street level and is designed to be atop a 200-meter cliff with a retractable wall of LED screens. Saudi Arabia aims to host all 104 games, though there has been speculation that some games could be played in neighboring or nearby countries. When will the World Cup be played? Surely not in the traditional World Cup period of June-July, when temperatures in Saudi Arabia routinely exceed 40 Celsius (104 degrees). FIFA moved the Qatar-hosted World Cup to November-December 2022, though those dates were not loved by most European clubs and leagues whose seasons were interrupted. Also, that slot is complicated in 2034 by the holy month of Ramadan through mid-December and Riyadh hosting the multi-sport Asian Games. January 2034 could be a possibility even though that would be just before the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The it won’t be opposed to back-to-back major events. In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Saudi World Cup bid official Hammad Albalawi said the precise dates of the tournament are up the world soccer body. “That’s a decision by FIFA. We stand ready to be part of this conversation. But ultimately it’s a FIFA decision together with the confederations,” Albalawi said. Will stadiums be segregated for men and women? Giving more rights and freedoms to women in a traditionally conservative society is fundamental to Saudi messaging around the modernization program known as Vision 2030. The kingdom to let women attend sports events, initially in major cities and separate from men-only sections. By 2034, at the promised pace of social reforms, female fans should not be restricted. Saudi Arabia launched a women’s professional soccer league in 2022 with players joining from clubs in Europe. They face no restrictions playing in shorts and with hair uncovered. Will alcohol be allowed at the venues or hotels? The Saudi prohibition of alcohol is clear and understood before FIFA signs any sponsor deals for 2034. But will there be any exceptions? The alcohol issue was problematic for the World Cup in Qatar because the expectation was created that beer sales would be allowed at stadiums even before Qatar won its bid in 2010. One year later, FIFA extended a long-time deal to have Budweiser as the official World Cup beer through 2022. Qatar then backtracked on that promise three days before the first game, causing confusion and the sense of a promise broken. In Qatar, alcohol was served only at luxury suites at the stadiums. Visitors could also have a drink in some hotel bars. But Saudi Arabia has even stricter rules on alcohol — and there is no indication that will change. Albalawi noted that Saudi Arabia has successfully hosted dozens of sports events where alcohol wasn’t served. “We’re creating a safe and secure family environment for fans to bring their families into our stadiums,” he said. How will workers rights be protected? Saudi promises to reform and enforce labor laws, and fully respect migrant workers, have been accepted by FIFA but face and trade unions. A by the U.N.-backed International Labor Organization. Protecting the migrant workers needed to build stadiums and other tournament projects — a decade after it was a defining issue for Qatar — looms as a signature challenge for Saudi Arabia. Would Israel be allowed to play if it qualified for the 2034 World Cup? had been improving when FIFA all but gave the 2034 World Cup to the kingdom on Oct. 4 last year. Three days later Hamas attacked Israel and diplomacy got more complicated. Any soccer federation bidding to host a FIFA tournament accepts a basic principle that whichever team qualifies is welcome. That did not stop Indonesia putting up barriers last year to Israel coming for the men’s Under-20 World Cup. Indonesia does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel which had qualified through a European tournament nine months before FIFA moved the entire tournament to Argentina and the Israeli team reached the semifinals. Israel played at the 1970 World Cup but has never advanced through qualifying in Europe, where it has been a member of UEFA for 30 years. Europe should have 16 places in the 48-team World Cup in Saudi Arabia. Where will the final of the 2030 World Cup be played? Most of the attention at the FIFA Congress on Wednesday was on the Saudi decision, but the soccer body and its members also formally approved the hosts of the 2030 World Cup — the most spread out and longest ever. One game each in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, the original host in 1930, will be played from June 8-9. The tournament resumes four days later for the other 101 games shared between Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Six countries, three continents, multiple languages and currencies. Fans traveling on planes, trains, automobiles and boats across about 14 kilometers (10 miles) of water between Spain and Morocco. The final is due on July 21, 2030 and a decision on where it will be played could cause some tension between the host countries. Morocco wants it in the world’s biggest soccer venue — the planned 115,000-seat King Hassan II Stadium in Casablanca. Spain, meanwhile, has proposed to host the final in either of the remodeled home stadiums of club giants Real Madrid or Barcelona. ___ Associated Press writer Baraa Anwer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, contributed to this report.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota regulators approved permits Thursday for underground storage of carbon dioxide delivered through a massive pipeline proposed for the Midwest, marking another victory for a project that has drawn fierce opposition from landowners. The governor-led Industrial Commission voted unanimously to approve permits for Summit Carbon Solutions’ three proposed storage sites in central North Dakota. Summit says construction of the project would begin in 2026 with operations beginning in 2027, but it’s expected that resistant landowners will file lawsuits seeking to block the storage plans. “With these permits, we’re one step closer to providing vital infrastructure that benefits farmers, ethanol producers, and communities across the Midwest," Summit Executive VP Wade Boeshans said in a statement. Summit’s proposed 2,500-mile (4,023-kilometer), $8 billion pipeline would transport planet-warming CO2 emissions from 57 ethanol plants in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska for underground storage. Carbon dioxide would move through the pipeline in a pressurized form to be injected deep underground into a rock formation. The company has permits for its route in North Dakota and Iowa but can’t yet begin construction. Also on Thursday, Minnesota regulators approved a permit for a 28-mile (45-kilometer) leg of the project in western Minnesota. Summit also recently applied in South Dakota, where regulators denied the company’s previous application last year. Last month, the company gained approval for its North Dakota route , and Iowa regulators also have given conditional approval. Summit faces several lawsuits related to the project, including a North Dakota Supreme Court appeal over a property rights law related to the underground storage plan. Further court challenges are likely. North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, who chairs the Industrial Commission, is President-elect Donald Trump's choice for Interior Secretary and to lead a new National Energy Council. Burgum has frequently touted North Dakota's underground carbon dioxide storage as a “geologic jackpot.” In 2021, he set a goal for the No. 3 oil-producing state to be carbon-neutral by 2030. His term ends Saturday. Summit's storage facilities would hold an estimated maximum of 352 million metric tons of CO2 over 20 years. The pipeline would carry up to 18 million metric tons of CO2 per year to be injected about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) underground, according to an application fact sheet. Jessie Stolark, who leads a group that supports the project and includes Summit, said the oil industry has long used similar technology. “We know that this can be done safely in a manner that is protective of human health and underground sources of drinking water,” said Stolark, executive director of the Carbon Capture Coalition. Summit's project has drawn the ire of landowners around the region. They oppose the potential taking of their property for the pipeline and fear a pipeline rupture releasing a cloud of heavy, hazardous gas over the land. A North Dakota landowners group is challenging a property rights law related to the underground storage, and attorney Derrick Braaten said they likely would challenge the granting of permits. “The landowners that I'm working with aren't necessarily opposed to carbon sequestration itself,” Braaten said. “They're opposed to the idea that a private company can come in and use their property without having to negotiate with them or pay them just compensation for taking their private property and using it.” Carbon capture projects such as Summit's are eligible for lucrative federal tax credits intended to encourage cleaner-burning ethanol and potentially result in corn-based ethanol being refined into jet fuel. Some opponents argue the amount of greenhouse gases sequestered through the process would make little difference and could lead farmers to grow more corn despite environmental concerns about the crop. In Minnesota, regulators granted a route permit that would connect an ethanol plant in Fergus Falls to Summit’s broader network. They attached several conditions, including requirements that Summit first begin construction in North Dakota. An administrative law judge who conducted hearings concluded in November that the environmental impacts from the Minnesota segment would be minimal and noted that Summit has secured agreements from landowners along most of the recommended route. Environmental groups that oppose the project disputed the judge’s finding that the project would have a net benefit for the environment. Iowa regulators required Summit to obtain approvals for routes in the Dakotas and underground storage in North Dakota before it can begin construction in Iowa. The Iowa Utilities Commission's approval sparked lawsuits related to the project. In Nebraska, where there is no state regulatory process for CO2 pipelines, Summit is working with individual counties to advance its project. At least one county has denied a permit. ___ Karnowski reported from Minneapolis. Jack Dura And Steve Karnowski, The Associated PressST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Joel Dahmen’s longtime caddie, Geno Bonnalie, was waiting as his boss finished a series of emotional interviews. “Here,” Bonnalie said as he offered Dahmen an adult beverage, “you get one [drink] today.” Normally on the PGA Tour, making the cut isn’t a reason to celebrate but for Dahmen, who has been the picture of bubble stress the entire fall as he has attempted to remain inside the top 125 on the FedExCup points list to secure his membership for 2025, his 5 1⁄2-footer for par at the final hole Friday at the RSM Classic — to make the cut on the number — meant much more than a weekend tee time. “It was a great putt. I was very nervous. But there’s still work to do,” said Dahmen, who finished with a second-round 68 and was tied for 49 th . “It wasn’t the game winner, it was like the half-court shot to get us like at halftime. But without that and the way I played today, I wouldn’t have anything this weekend.” Without that par on the final hole of the Seaside Course, Dahmen would have missed the cut and his status for the ’25 season would have been left in the hands of others. Instead, after starting the event at No. 124 in points, he will begin the weekend projected at 126 th on the list, but with 36 holes to improve his plight. Dahmen’s bubble roller-coaster has been a common theme this fall and after missing the cut last week at the Bermuda Championship that left this week’s stop at Sea Island Resort, the fall finale, as his last chance to salvage an otherwise forgettable season. “I think it’s by far got to be the most [stressful putt of my career],” Dahmen said. “I’ve had other stressful situations, but knowing that’s all on the line for the year was tough. To hit my lag putt to 5 or 6 feet was not great, I was hoping just to walk up and tap that one in. Just made it more stressful. But I think the culmination of everything — this is a long year and hasn’t been the way I wanted it to go — but knowing not having your best stuff you’re still kind of hanging around and to be able to grind it out today was really great.” Bonnalie and Dahmen’s family were waiting for him after the round and Dahmen admitted the toughest part of a stressful fall has been how it’s impacted those closest to him. “I’m sorry for them, I’m sorry that they’re feeling the way I’m feeling. I know my wife has been stressed,” said Dahmen as his voice cracked with emotion. “I have a lot of great people around me and so it’s hard on them, but it’s just because they love me and they care about me.” Wesley Bryan was not as fortunate. After starting the week at No. 125 on the points list, he missed the cut with rounds of 70-73 and is projected to drop to 127 th . Bryan was inside the cut line at 2 under, but played his final six holes Friday in 3 over. Zac Blair, who started the week at No. 123, also missed the cut and is currently projected at No. 125. Daniel Berger, who is tied for 17 th , is projected to jump from 127 th to No. 120, and Michael Thorbjornsen, who is tied for fourth, is set to move from No. 138 to 119 th , although his status is already secure for ’25 via the circuit’s PGA Tour University exemption.

I hid in govt house for 5 days to evade arrest – Kano Gov’s aide, TofaIt's getting harder to stay on the PGA Tour. Here's whyKey posts 7.45am Coalition MPs left confused by daylight savings mix-up 7.11am ‘Wherever the wind takes me’: Year 12 graduates celebrate top ATAR scores 6.32am Why we can’t bring you in-depth year 12 results analysis like our sister papers in Sydney and Melbourne 6.11am Coalition MPs avoid promising cheaper power bills if they win government 5.12am Residents offered sandbags as higher-than-average tides expected Hide key posts Posts area Latest 1 of 2 Oldest Latest posts Pinned post from 7.45am Coalition MPs left confused by daylight savings mix-up By Paul Sakkal A timing mess-up has left dozens of Coalition MPs scratching their heads waiting for Peter Dutton to brief them on the party’s nuclear costings. MPs were told of an online party room meeting at 10am AEST. Loading Most took this to mean 10am AEDT, or “daylight savings time”, so a big group of MPs including frontbenchers Dan Tehan and Michaelia Cash logged onto the call. Tehan and others spoke on the hook-up trying to figure out when it was starting. Chief whip Bert Van Manen, a Queensland member, then clarified in a party WhatsApp group at about 10.20am that the meeting was actually beginning at 10am Brisbane time. He told the group to come back at 11am Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania time. “Yeah we are going to build seven nuclear plants on time...” one MP said of the mess-up. Dutton was due to address the media in Brisbane at 9.30am AEST. Latest posts 7.40am Labor not keen to discuss broken power price promise By Josefine Ganko It wasn’t just the Coalition dodging questions this morning, with Labor frontbenchers Chris Bowen and Bill Shorten playing coy on the broken 2022 election promise that power bills would come down by $275 by 2023. Energy Minister Chris Bowen was asked if he regretted making the promise in 2022, but he was keen to redirect the question to discuss the cost of renewable energy. Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen “I don’t regret obviously pointing out that renewables are the cheapest form of energy,” Bowen said. “I look forward to debating the competing plans before the Australian people at the next election.” Pushed to answer the question again, Bowen said we were dealing with “a different set of circumstances internationally” post-2022. “Australia’s increase in energy prices has been less than a lot of other comparable countries. We delivered billions of dollars of energy bill relief, which has been the appropriate thing to do, which has been opposed by the Liberal and National Party.” Asked about the promise on Nine’s Today , NDIS Minister Bill Shorten also opted to pivot to the Coalition’s nuclear plan. “We know that energy prices are part of the cost-of-living pressure on families. That’s why I think that the heroic assumptions of Peter Dutton promising some fanciful solution in 25 years’ time is just a crock,” Shorten said. “The idea we’re going to come from scratch and build a whole nuclear industry in Australia is, you know, just a fantasy.” 7.11am ‘Wherever the wind takes me’: Year 12 graduates celebrate top ATAR scores By Courtney Kruk The wait is over for Queensland’s year 12 graduates, with school-leavers across the state receiving their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) results this morning. This year, 28,845 graduates received an ATAR – about 1000 more than last year – with 36 students achieving a top result of 99.95. ATARs were made available to eligible students through Queensland Tertiary Admission Centre (QTAC). Big smiles for Lachlan Howie and Kaiyu Su, two of the 36 students in Queensland to receive top ATAR scores of 99.95. Credit: QTAC Seventeen-year-old Brisbane Girls Grammar graduate Kaiyu Su was among those to achieve the top score. “I was definitely hoping for it but it’s been great to see that it’s a 99.95,” she said. “[I’m] definitely very happy and excited for where it might take me.” Read the full story. 6.45am Police Minister and Transport Minister speak to media Advertisement 6.32am Why we can’t bring you in-depth year 12 results analysis like our sister papers in Sydney and Melbourne By Felicity Caldwell Queensland year 12 graduates are getting their ATAR results this morning, providing their ticket to tertiary study. But the Queensland government has not released the full data for year 12 results for years. The information released today in Queensland will include overall figures for the state, such as how many students received an ATAR and how many got the top rank of 99.95. Hardly illuminating. In comparison, our colleagues at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age can access individual school data, which they can use to celebrate wins, including when students get great results against the odds. Queensland journalists can only get school-by-school data if they contact each school individually, and putting aside resourcing issues in stretched newsrooms for a minute, it would hardly be surprising if only the top-performing schools were happy to share – and we all know how controversial these media-created league tables are, especially if they lack context about a school’s socio-economic background. Without the full data, we can’t understand individual school data in its proper context and explain it. This was not always the case in Queensland. Before the OP system was swapped for ATARs, the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority released a more than 200-page report showing how many students received OPs in each bracket at each individual school , but this was discontinued in 2021 under the ATAR system, with a brief Queensland-wide report now produced. NSW and Victoria also use ATAR, but release more comprehensive results than the Sunshine State. Amid our constraints, Brisbane Times journalist Courtney Kruk has put together a story celebrating the achievements of this year’s graduates. We’d love to have brought you even more. 6.23am Michael Rowland and Patricia Karvelas sign off from flagship ABC shows By Kayla Olaya and Josefine Ganko Two of the ABC’s most well-known broadcasters, Patricia Karvelas and Michael Rowland, have signed off for the final time from their respective morning programs. Rowland wrapped up nearly 15 years at ABC News Breakfast helm in an emotional final bulletin surrounded by his family and colleagues. ABC News Breakfast host Michael Rowland has signed off after 15 years in the role. Credit: ABC “Thank you very much, It’s been wonderful,” said Rowland. “I have been genuinely touched and overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and affection from our viewers. One of my great achievements over the last 15 years has been building up this fantastic audience.” Meanwhile, Karvelas signed off after three years hosting ABC’s flagship morning radio show RN Breakfast. “You’ve been there with me throughout great change in our country and the world, and I want to thank you for it,” Karvelas said, thanking listeners and the Radio National team. Karvelas reflected on her “uniquely Australian” story, growing up in a household where she didn’t speak English. Patricia Karvelas has been filling in as host since Grant’s departure and will now stay in the chair until the end of the year. Credit: Scott McNaughton “Because of a strong public education system and dedicated teachers and incredible family support, I got to grow up and host a national radio show where rigour and curiosity is at the centre of what we do,” she said. Karvelas wished the best of luck to her replacement Sally Sara. “I’ll be listening because I care about this show, and I care about journalism, and I care about telling the truth in a world where the truth is not to be contested.” 6.11am Coalition MPs avoid promising cheaper power bills if they win government By Josefine Ganko Coalition frontbenchers have avoided promising energy bills will be cheaper if they win government, as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton prepares to reveal the costings of his signature nuclear policy later today. Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie and MP Barnaby Joyce were both asked if they would pledge power would be cheaper under the Coalition, but both dodged the question. McKenzie was asked on Nine’s Today , where she first said that the price is attached to the “cost of delivering something”. Loading “And our plan is absolutely cheaper than Labor’s plan to get to 2050,” she said. Asked again if the Coalition would bring down power bills, McKenzie weaved again, saying prices would come down in the longer term. “By adding net zero nuclear to firm up the renewables that we’ve got in the grid as well, is the way to actually get prices down over the long term,” she said. Joyve was asked the same question on ABC’s RN Breakfast. On the fifth iteration of the question, would power bills come down under the Coalition, Joyce finally answered: “That is asking for a hypothetical question, which I could answer you, but I would not be telling the truth, because I don’t have the facts before me.” Advertisement 5.44am Airports brace for chaos as Qantas engineers begin 24-hour strike By Josefine Ganko Airports around the country are bracing for chaos as hundreds of Qantas engineers walk off the job. But the airline has assured customers there will be no impact on their travel plans on one of the busiest travel days of the year. About 500 workers from three different unions began a 24-hour strike action at 3.30am this morning. It’s expected to impact major airports across the country, including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide, and will end at 7.30am on Saturday. Friday marks the first day of the six-week summer travel period when 13.5 million travellers pass through Australia’s domestic airports. It’s also the first day of school holidays in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. The striking workers, responsible for the towing and marshalling of planes, are calling for a 5 per cent per year pay increase over 5 years after what they say is 3.5 years of frozen wages. Qantas says it has put forward a competitive package with 3 per cent per year over three years, with negotiations now at a stalemate. Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union National Secretary Steve Murphy says industrial action was the only way to get Qantas to the bargaining table. It’s been six weeks since the last strike. “Workers have no other choice. They will be taking industrial action to bring Qantas back to the bargaining table,” Murphy said. “Qantas is to blame if there’s any disruption to commuters over the holiday period. They have had six weeks to simply do what they said they would.” A Qantas spokesperson said a number of contingencies are in place to prevent delays. “Around 160 aircraft maintenance engineers are rostered on during Friday’s industrial action, and only members of the alliance unions can take industrial action,” said Qantas. The spokesperson noted there were no delays or cancellations during the previous strikes. 5.40am Friday 13th an ‘auspicious day’ for Dutton to release nuclear costings, PM says By Karl Quinn Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took time out of his busy pre-Christmas schedule to join the farewell party for Sammy J on ABC Radio in Melbourne this morning, where he wasted no time using his appearance to go into political attack mode. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Credit: Kate Geraghty “It’s Friday the 13th, an auspicious day, I’ve got to say, for Peter Dutton to drop his nuclear nightmare policy out there,” Albanese said, bypassing the pleasantries and bonhomie in favour of dropping a bomb on the opposition leader. “Oh, so straight into it,” said Sammy J. “Have you had a sneak peek [at Dutton’s nuclear power plan]?” he asked. “I had a look at some of the fiction that’s out there,” the PM replied, claiming nuclear power would not lead to savings on the cost of household power but rather “increase bills by $1200”. “The truth is that renewables are the cheapest form of new energy. Everyone knows that’s the case. The science tells us that that’s the case. The economists tell us that’s the case.” 5.12am Residents offered sandbags as higher-than-average tides expected By Catherine Strohfeldt The Brisbane City Council has offered sandbags to residents in the city’s tidal flood areas before a predicted anomaly from Sunday through to Tuesday next week. The council advised residents that tide peaks were expected to reach similar levels to September this year, and that “minor localised flooding may be experienced in bayside, riverside, and low-lying parts of nearby suburbs”. Sandbags were also made available for locals, and those in low-lying foreshore and riverside areas were warned to avoid parking their cars on the street. The higher-than-average tides were also expected to impact creeks within bayside suburbs. Latest 1 of 2 Oldest Latest Oldest Most Viewed in National Loading

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