‘I’m going to Miami’ - Messi confirms move to MLS

Lionel Messi on Wednesday announced that he intends to join Major League Soccer side Inter Miami as a free agent after parting ways with French champions Paris St Germain and snubbing a lucrative contract offer in Saudi Arabia.

Messi, who played his final game for PSG over the weekend, was also linked with a return to Barcelona, but the Spanish club have had their hands tied due to LaLiga’s financial fair play rules.

“I made the decision that I’m going to go to Miami,” Messi said in an interview with Mundo Deportivo and Sport newspapers.

“I still haven’t closed it 100%. I’m still missing a few things, but we decided to go ahead. If Barcelona didn’t work out, I wanted to leave Europe, get out of the spotlight and think more about my family.”

Messi, who led Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar in December and has earned a record seven Ballon d’Or awards, won the Ligue 1 title in his two seasons with PSG as well as the French Super Cup in 2022.

“After winning the World Cup and not being able to go to Barca, it was time to go to the U.S. league to experience football in a different way and enjoy the day-to-day,” Messi said.

“Obviously with the same responsibility and desire to want to win and to always do things well. But with more peace of mind.”

OWNERSHIP STAKE

The move is also a big win for MLS, which welcomed Messi while adding that work remained to finalise the details of the formal agreement.

“The (goat) is coming,” MLS tweeted, with a goat animal emoji standing in for the phrase “greatest of all time”.

“Millions of MLS fans all over the world welcome you, Leo.”

Messi had wanted to go to a club where he could eventually have an ownership stake, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters this week, and his contract is expected to pave the way for him to do so after he retires.

He will also receive a cut of the revenue from Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass, which broadcasts the league’s games, and be able to maximize his existing sponsorship deal with Adidas.

MLS earns a flat fee of around $250 million per year from Apple until it reaches a certain threshold of subscriptions, after which point it will earn a share of the revenue from those subscriptions.

Messi’s move to MLS is expected to drive viewers to the Apple TV streaming platform given he is the world’s most recognisable soccer player.
The forward was also linked with a move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal after he received a formal offer.

The Gulf country has been looking to bring the game’s biggest players to its league and was successful in convincing Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo to join Al Nassr soon after the World Cup. French striker Karim Benzema joined Al Ittihad this week.

“If it had been a question of money, I would have gone to Arabia or elsewhere where they offered me a lot of money,” Messi said.

Inter Miami are co-owned by former England captain David Beckham, who was one of the first major European stars to move to the United States to play in the MLS, winning the MLS Cup twice with Los Angeles Galaxy.

Messi will have his work cut out in Miami, however, with the club at rock bottom of the Eastern Conference standings - six points from ninth place, the final spot which would give them a chance of qualifying for the playoffs.

The team sacked coach Phil Neville last week after a dismal run of 10 defeats and five wins this season, a stark contrast to last season when they finished sixth and qualified for the MLS Cup playoffs.

PSG EXIT

Once the crown jewel of European football, Messi has effectively been let go by two super clubs in two years - for free.

At Barcelona, Messi has several records to his name at the club he did not want to leave, in a city he had called home since he was a teenager.

But Messi had no choice in the manner of his exit from Barcelona in 2021 as the club failed to make it financially feasible to retain his services.

His move away from PSG, however, is of his own volition as he felt the French club lacked a project for the future while fan unrest hastened his exit.

The highs after winning Argentina’s first World Cup in 36 years were quickly offset by the lows he experienced in Paris.

Even before he could rest on his World Cup laurels he found himself in the eye of a storm when, for the first time in his illustrious career, his club’s fans turned against him amid PSG’s troubling form.

Supporters of PSG, owned and funded by Qatar Sports Investments, have become accustomed to winning domestic titles in the past decade. They won their ninth title in 11 seasons last month.

But the holy grail - the Champions League - remains elusive after yet another meek exit in the last 16.
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Trump to appear in Federal court on Tuesday

Donald Trump will appear in a federal court in Miami on Tuesday after being charged over his handling of classified documents, his lawyer says.

Taking to his social media – Social Truth,  Trump announced that his attorneys have informed him he has been indicted for a second time over the mishandling of classified documents.

He also said that he has been “summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM”.

Reports suggest he is facing a multi-count indictment related to retaining national defence information, and obstruction of justice. However,  The indictment – a document which details the charges against him – has not been publicly released

The former president, who is campaigning to return to the White House in 2024, says the move is “a disgusting act of election interference”.

“I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States, who received far more votes than any sitting President in the History of our Country, and is currently leading, by far, all Candidates, both Democrat and Republican, in Polls of the 2024 Presidential Election,” he wrote.

The Department of Justice has yet to put out a statement.

This will be Trump’s second court summons in a matter of months after a New York grand jury indicted him in April.
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Zelensky is Time Magazine’s 2022 Person of the Year

Time Magazine has named Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and “the spirit of Ukraine” as its 2022 Person of the Year.

The award goes to an event or person deemed to have had the most influence on global events over the past 12 months.

Other finalists included protesters in Iran, China’s leader Xi Jinping and the US Supreme Court.

The magazine’s editor said the decision was “the most clear-cut in memory”.

“In a world that had come to be defined by its divisiveness, there was a coming together around this cause, around this country,” Edward Felsenthal wrote.

He added that the “spirit of Ukraine” referred to Ukrainians around the world, including many who “fought behind the scenes”. This includes people like Ievgen Klopotenko, a chef who provided thousands of free meals to Ukrainians and medic Yuliia Payevska who was captured, then released after three months in Russian captivity.

The magazine said Mr Zelensky had inspired Ukrainians and was recognised internationally for his courage in resisting the Russian invasion.

“Zelensky’s success as a wartime leader has relied on the fact that courage is contagious,” it said.

British trauma surgeon David Nott, who went into Ukraine to help those injured in the war, is one of several others who feature on the magazine’s cover.

Women in Iran were Time’s 2022 Heroes of the year and the K-pop band Blackpink were recognised as Time’s Entertainer of the year.

American baseballer Aaron Judge has been recognised as the Athlete of the Year and Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh is the Icon of the Year.

Elon Musk, who was last year’s winner, was again listed as a finalist. In 2021, his electric car company, Tesla, became the most valuable carmaker in the world.

The tradition began in 1927 – although back then it was the Man of the Year.

Other past winners have included the former dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler in 1938, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was 2007’s Person of the Year.

(BBC News)
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New Peru president sworn in after impeachment of predecessor Pedro Castillo

Peru has a female president for the first time, after ex-president Pedro Castillo was impeached - hours after he tried to dissolve parliament.

Dina Boluarte - previously the vice-president - was sworn in after a dramatic day in Lima on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Mr Castillo had said he was replacing Congress with an “exceptional emergency government”.

But lawmakers ignored this, and in an emergency meeting impeached him. He was then detained and accused of rebellion.

Ms Boluarte, a 60-year-old lawyer, said she would govern until July 2026, which is when Mr Castillo’s presidency would have ended.

Speaking after taking the oath of office, she called for a political truce to overcome the crisis which has gripped the country.

“What I ask for is a space, a time to rescue the country,” she said.

Wednesday’s dramatic chain of events began with President Pedro Castillo giving an address on national television in which he declared a state of emergency.

He announced that he would dissolve the opposition-controlled Congress, a move which was met with shock both in Peru - several ministers resigned in protest - and abroad.

The head of the constitutional court accused him of launching a coup d’etat, while the US “strongly urged” Mr Castillo to reverse his decision.

Peru’s police and armed forces released a joint statement in which they said they respected the constitutional order.

Mr Castillo tried to dissolve Congress just hours before it was due to start fresh impeachment proceedings against him - the third since he came to office in July 2021.

In his televised address he said: “In response to citizens’ demands throughout the length and breadth of the country, we have decided to establish an exceptional government aimed at re-establishing the rule of law and democracy.”

He said that “a new Congress with constituent powers to draw up a new constitution” would be convened “within no more than nine months”.

But Congress, which is controlled by parties opposed to Mr Castillo, convened an emergency session and held the impeachment vote Mr Castillo had been trying to prevent.

The result was overwhelming: 101 voted in favour of impeaching him, with only six against and 10 abstentions.

The head of the constitutional court accused him of launching a coup d’etat, while the US “strongly urged” Mr Castillo to reverse his decision.

Peru’s police and armed forces released a joint statement in which they said they respected the constitutional order.

Mr Castillo tried to dissolve Congress just hours before it was due to start fresh impeachment proceedings against him - the third since he came to office in July 2021.

In his televised address he said: “In response to citizens’ demands throughout the length and breadth of the country, we have decided to establish an exceptional government aimed at re-establishing the rule of law and democracy.”

He said that “a new Congress with constituent powers to draw up a new constitution” would be convened “within no more than nine months”.

But Congress, which is controlled by parties opposed to Mr Castillo, convened an emergency session and held the impeachment vote Mr Castillo had been trying to prevent.

The result was overwhelming: 101 voted in favour of impeaching him, with only six against and 10 abstentions.

After the impeachment, Mr Castillo was seen on police premises.

In the photos - which were shared by police on Twitter but subsequently deleted - he could be seen sitting, seemingly relaxed, and chatting to others. Footage was then released of Mr Castillo signing papers with prosecutors.

He was later detained and accused of rebellion for breaking the constitutional order.

Peru has been going through a rocky political period, with multiple presidents ousted from office in recent years. In 2020, it had three presidents within the space of five days.

Mr Castillo, who is a left-wing former school teacher, was elected in June 2021 in a polarising election in which he defeated his right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori.

He had recently been fighting allegations of corruption, which he said were part of a plot to oust him.


Source: BBC
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Trump Organization found guilty of tax fraud scheme

Donald Trump’s real estate company was convicted on Tuesday of carrying out a 15-year-long criminal scheme to defraud tax authorities, adding to the legal woes facing the former U.S. president as he campaigns for the office again in 2024.

The Trump Organization - which operates hotels, golf courses, and other real estate around the world - was found guilty of paying personal expenses for top executives including former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, and issuing bonus checks to them as if they were independent contractors.

The company faces up to $1.6 million in fines after being convicted on all charges, including scheming to defraud tax authorities, conspiracy and falsifying business records. Trump was not charged in the case.

Justice Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial in state court in New York, set a sentencing date for Jan. 13.

While the fine is not expected to be material for a company of the Trump Organization’s size, the conviction could complicate its ability to do business.
Weisselberg, 75, testified as the government’s star witness as part of a plea deal that calls for a sentence of five months in jail.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office prosecuted the case, called the verdict “very just.”

“The former president’s companies now stand convicted of crimes,” Bragg said in the New York courthouse after the verdict, speaking of the Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation, the two units of the Trump Organization which were convicted.

Asked if he regretted not charging Trump in the case, Bragg did not respond.
He has said that the office’s investigation into Trump is continuing.

APPEAL

Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, said the company would appeal and that the criminal law governing corporate liability was vague.

“It was central to the case,” he told reporters after the verdict.
The jury deliberated for about 12 hours over two days.

The case centered on charges that the company paid personal expenses like free rent and car leases for executives including Weisselberg without reporting the income, and gave them bonuses as non-employee compensation from other Trump entities like the Mar-a-lago Club, without deducting taxes.

According to testimony during the four-week trial, Trump himself signed the bonus checks annually, paid private school tuition for Weisselberg’s grandchildren, authorized the lease for his luxury Manhattan apartment and approved a salary deduction for another executive.

“The whole narrative that Donald Trump was blissfully ignorant is just not real, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told jurors during his closing argument on Friday.
He said the “smorgasbord of benefits” was designed to keep top executives “happy and loyal.”

Republican Trump, who on Nov. 15 announced his third campaign for the presidency, said in a statement he was “disappointed” by the verdict but called the case a “Manhattan witch hunt.” Both Bragg and his predecessor who brought the charges, Cyrus Vance, are Democrats.

SEPARATE LAWSUIT

The Trump Organization separately faces a fraud lawsuit brought by New York state Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump himself is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice over his handling of sensitive government documents after he left office in January 2021 and attempts to overturn the November 2020 election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Lawyers for the Trump Organization argued that Weisselberg carried out the scheme to benefit himself, not the company. They tried to paint him as a rogue employee.

Weisselberg is currently on paid leave and testified that he hopes to get another $500,000 bonus in January. Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Nov. 19. that his family got “no economic gain from the acts done by the executive.”

Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty in August to concealing $1.76 million in income from tax authorities, testified that although Trump signed checks involved, he did not conspire with him.

He said that the company saved money by paying for his rent, utilities, Mercedes-Benz car leases for him and his wife and other personal expenses rather than raising his salary, because a wage hike would have had to account for taxes.

He said Trump’s two sons - who took over the company’s operations in 2017 - gave him a raise after they knew about his tax dodge scheme.
By then, Trump was president, and the company was preparing for greater scrutiny.

“We were going through an entire cleanup process of the company to make sure that since Mr. Trump is now president everything was being done properly,” Weisselberg testified.
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Ronaldo makes history as Portugal beat Ghana 3-2

The Portuguese star has become the first male player to score in five World Cups.
 
Cristiano Ronaldo became the first male player to score in five World Cups as Portugal opened its campaign against Ghana, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament.

Despite his recent struggles and controversies at the club level, Ronaldo spectacularly led the line for his national team in the game on Thursday, which ended in a 3-2 victory for Portugal.


After a scoreless first half, Ronaldo converted from the spot in the 65th minute to give Portugal a 1-0 lead against Ghana.

Ghana’s Andre Ayew then scored an equaliser, after which Portugal got two goals in quick succession to make the score 3-1. A goal by Ghana’s Osman Bukari made it 3-2 in the 89th minute.

Portugal’s victory puts the team at the top of Group H ahead of their next match against Uruguay on Monday. Ghana’s next match is against South Korea on Monday.

( curtesy Al Jazeera)
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Saudi Arabia jubilant after World Cup win over Argentina, declares public holiday

Saudi Arabia has said Wednesday will be a national holiday as on the Jeddah Corniche by the Red Sea, in the heart of the capital Riyadh and in towns and villages across the country its seismic 2-1 World Cup win over Lionel Messi’s Argentina was celebrated as a coming of age.

The national football side’s remarkable victory is being seen as both a triumph on the pitch and an epochal moment on a global stage, where a regional power has long sought a place in the spotlight.

Outsiders against an Argentine team on a 36-match winning streak surely delivered that and, on Tuesday afternoon and evening, it was all that mattered to Saudi leaders and the fans who circled public squares in convoys of cars, waving the country’s green flag and proclaiming a new era of international football.

The public holiday will be for all state employees “and the private sector, and male and female students in all educational stages” the government announced on Tuesday evening.

“We are so happy about the result. It was an exceptional match from our falcons,” said Ghassan Alwan, 42, marketing director at the Saudi Ministry of Housing. “Our faith in our players was in the right place. We wrote history tonight.”

“Incredible, massive, amazing, fantastic,” added Abdulrahman Abed, a sports editor. “Congratulations to everyone. This means a lot to every Saudi. This will give a huge boost to every Arabic team in the World Cup.”

Euphoria reached the inner circle of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was pictured embracing his brothers after the full-time whistle, as well as sports cafes and public parks across the country.

Universities were given the afternoon off for students to watch the game. City streets were almost abandoned. Women joined men in many cafes and restaurants – a new phenomenon in the desert kingdom – to take in the most unlikely of victories.

“What an amazing win for the Saudi national team,” said Adel Al-Akeely, a Riyadh doctor. “There’s a lot that’s been changing in our country, many new achievements and an ambitious drive to become the best that we can be. Moments like this materialise these changes and remind you of how proud we are of our youth.

Saudis have long bristled at the notion that a love of sports and a keenness to attract global events amounted to image laundering, with many sports fans insisting that they too wanted to experience international competition and pitch their national teams into the mix.

Ahead of the match, Prince Mohammed told the national team: “All I want to tell you is stay relaxed, play your game and do your thing.” Few believed that this was just another game, however. In a country battered by criticism over human rights and geopolitical positions, this was a nation-building moment, a chance to turn a political tide.

After full-time, regional rivals embraced the Saudi win. Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, tweeted congratulations. Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, meanwhile, briefly draped himself in the Saudi flag – an image that put to rest five years of enmity in the lead-up to the World Cup, in which Prince Mohammed had boycotted Qatar and severed ties.

That row is now firmly over and the Saudi victory was being received around the region as an achievement the Arab world could swing in behind. In South America, though, the reaction was markedly different.

There was shock and despair in Argentina as the final whistle went nearly 14,000km away in Qatar. The Argentinian football magazine Olé lamented what it called “a world-wide whammy”.

The newspaper Clarín said Argentina’s players had suffered “a historic walloping” after becoming “entangled in Saudi Arabia’s spider’s web”.

“Incredible,” Olé announced beside a photograph of Lionel Messi cradling his face in his hands.

The football writer Diego Macias called the result “a hammer blow … the likes of which will leave a long-lasting mark”.

“Argentina lost much more than a game against Saudi Arabia,” Macias wrote. “It forgot its footballing principles in the changing room and began the World Cup in the worst possible way.”

In neighbouring Brazil, fans rejoiced over their arch footballing rival’s dismal performance. A reworked version of Argentina’s triband flag – in which the yellow sun at the centre wept uncontrollably – went viral on social media.

“What an embarrassment, Argentina,” tweeted the football commentator Luis Felipe Freitas.

Brazilian newspapers pronounced Argentina the World Cup’s first “zebra” – a Portuguese expression that roughly translates as an unfathomable upset. “Pigs flew!” said Rio’s O Globo newspaper.

Allies of Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, meanwhile, blamed the fiasco on Argentina’s leftist leaders.

“Socialism in Argentina has shattered the behaviour of its citizens to such an extent that they lost to Saudi Arabia in the cup,” tweeted the congressman and broadcaster Bibo Nunes. “What you get with socialism/communism is a wasteland.”
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FIFA World Cup Shocker: Saudi Arabia crush mighty Argentina 2-1

Saudi Arabia shocked the football world Tuesday (22) when they defeated 2-time world champions Argentina 2-1 in the FIFA World Cup at Lusail Stadium, Qatar.

Saudi Arabia had never beaten Argentina before and the South Americans looked set to extend their domination when star Lionel Messi opened the scoring when he converted a penalty in the 10th minute of the game.

Argentina almost made it 2-0 in the 27th minute. However, an attacking player was found offside and the goal by Lautaro Martines was disallowed. At half-time Argentina led 1-0.

The Saudis came back strong in the second half and equalized with a Saleh Alshehri goal in the 48th minute.

Salem Aldawsari then scored in the 53rd minute for Saudi Arabia to take the lead in the game and held on until the end.
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Australia’s David Warner considers Test retirement after next year’s Ashes

Australia opener David Warner has hinted he will quit test cricket after next year’s Ashes series in England but plans to continue playing white-ball cricket at least until the 2024 Twenty20 World Cup.

Defending champions Australia could not make the last four in the home T20 World Cup, which England won on Sunday, and it was a particularly subdued tournament for Warner.

“Test cricket will probably be the first one to fall off,” Warner said on Triple M’s Deadset Legends show.

“Because that’s how it will pan out. The T20 World Cup is in 2024, (one-day) World Cup next year.

“Potentially it could be my last 12 months in Test cricket.”
“But I love the white-ball game; it’s amazing.”

Australia’s test schedule next year includes trips to India and England before they return to India for the 50-overs World Cup.

West Indies and the United States co-host the 20-overs World Cup in 2024.

Australia could potentially lose Warner and fellow batter, Usman Khawaja, next year when both would turn 36.

Warner endured a horrid run in the home T20 World Cup with three single-digit scores followed by 25 against Afghanistan though he remains a sought-after name in franchise cricket.

“T20 cricket – I love the game. I will be looking to get to 2024,” the left-handed batter said.

“For all those people saying I am past it and a lot of those old people are past it, look out. Be careful what you wish for.”

Australia will engage with West Indies in a two-test home series beginning on Nov. 30, before hosting South Africa for three tests and an equal number of one-day internationals.
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Prizemoney distribution confirmed for T20 World Cup teams

England will receive USD 1.6 million as prize money after beating Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2022 final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday.

The thrilling T20 event came to a thrilling climax at the MCG over the weekend and just how the total prize pool of $5.6 million will be distribution among the teams is now known.

While Jos Buttler's victorious side will receive the highest amount, all 16 teams will be rewarded for their efforts in Australia with a payout.

Runners-up Pakistan will receive exactly half the amount that England got ($800,000), while the two losing semi-finalists - India and New Zealand - will collect $400,000 apiece.

The eight teams that exited at the Super 12 stage will receive $70,000 each. Like last year at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021, a win in each of the 30 games in the Super 12 phase is worth $40,000 to each team.

The four teams that were knocked out in the first round - UAE, Scotland, Namibia and West Indies - will get $40,000 each, but each side will also receive an additional $40,000 for each win they picked up during the First Round.

The eight teams (Australia, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Afghanistan, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Netherlands, Bangladesh) that exited in the Super 12 stage will take home USD 70,000. Every win in the Super 12s is worth an additional USD 40,000.

Accordingly, the value of the total prize money received by the Sri Lankan team in this year's World Cup is USD 230,000.

The four teams (West Indies, Namibia, Scotland, UAE) that were knocked out in the first round will receive USD 40,000 each, with an additional USD 40,000 for every victory registered during the round.
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Donald Trump announces he is running for president in 2024

Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will mount a third White House campaign, launching an early start to the 2024 contest. The announcement comes just a week after a disappointing midterm showing for Republicans and will force the party to decide whether to embrace a candidate whose refusal to accept defeat in 2020 sparked an insurrection and pushed American democracy to the brink.

“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump said to an audience of several hundred supporters, club members and gathered press in a chandeliered ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago club, where he stood flanked by more than 30 American flags and banners bearing his “Make America Great Again” slogan. “I am running because I believe the world has not yet seen the true glory of what this nation can be.”

“We will again put America first,” he added.

Another campaign is a remarkable turn for any former president, much less one who made history as the first to be impeached twice and whose term ended with his supporters violently storming the Capitol in a deadly bid to halt the peaceful transition of power on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump enters the race in a moment of political vulnerability. He hoped to launch his campaign in the wake of resounding GOP midterm victories, fueled by candidates he elevated during this year’s primaries. Instead, many of those candidates lost, allowing Democrats to keep the Senate and leaving the GOP with a path to only a bare majority in the House.

Far from the undisputed leader of the party, Trump is now facing criticism from some of his own allies, who say it’s time for Republicans to look to the future, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis emerging as an early favorite White House contender.

The former president is still popular with the GOP base. But other Republicans, including former Vice President Mike Pence, are taking increasingly public steps toward campaigns of their own, raising the prospect that Trump will have to navigate a competitive GOP primary.

He’s launching his candidacy amid a series of escalating criminal investigations, including several that could lead to indictments. They include the probe into dozens of documents with classified markings that were seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago and ongoing state and federal inquiries into his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

But Trump, according to people close to him, has been eager to return to politics and try to halt the rise of other potential challengers. Aides have spent the last months readying paperwork, identifying potential staff and sketching out the contours of a campaign that is being modeled on his 2016 operation, when a small clutch of aides zipping between rallies on his private jet defied the odds and defeated far better-funded and more experienced rivals by tapping into deep political fault lines and using shocking statements to drive relentless media attention.

Even after GOP losses, Trump remains the most powerful force in his party. For years he has consistently topped his fellow Republican contenders by wide margins in hypothetical head-to-head matchups. And even out of office, he consistently attracts thousands to his rallies and remains his party’s most prolific fundraiser, raising hundreds of millions of dollars.

But Trump is also a deeply polarizing figure. Fifty-four percent of voters in last week’s midterm elections viewed him very or somewhat unfavorably, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 94,000 voters nationwide. And an October AP-NORC poll found even Republicans have their reservations about him remaining the party’s standard-bearer, with 43% saying they don’t want to see him run for president in 2024.

Trump’s candidacy poses profound questions about America’s democratic future. The final days of his presidency were consumed by a desperate effort to stay in power, undermining the centuries-old tradition of a peaceful transfer. And in the two years since he lost, Trump’s persistent — and baseless — lies about widespread election fraud have eroded confidence in the nation’s political process. By late January 2021, about two-thirds of Republicans said they did not believe President Joe Biden was legitimately elected in 2020, an AP-NORC poll found.

VoteCast showed roughly as many Republican voters in the midterm elections continued to hold that belief.

Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the 2020 election was tainted. The former president’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by numerous courts, including by judges Trump appointed.

But that didn’t stop hundreds of midterm candidates from parroting his lies as they sought to win over his loyal base and score his coveted endorsement. In the end, many of those candidates went on to lose their races in a sign that voters rejected such extreme rhetoric.

While some Republicans with presidential ambitions, like former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, have long ruled out running against Trump, others have said he would not figure into their decisions, even before his midterm losses.

They include Pence, who released a book Tuesday, and Trump’s former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, as well as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who ran against Trump in 2016. Other potential candidates include Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Trump is also likely to face challenges from members of the anti-Trump wing of the party like Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the House committee that has been investigating Jan. 6.

But the person who has most occupied Trump and his allies in recent months is DeSantis, whose commanding reelection as governor last week was a bright spot for Republicans this cycle. The former congressman, who became a popular national figure among conservatives during the pandemic as he pushed back on COVID-19 restrictions, shares Trump’s pugilistic instincts and has embraced fights over social issues with similar zeal.

Even some enthusiastic Trump supporters say they are eager for DeSantis to run, seeing him as a natural successor to Trump but without the former president’s considerable baggage.

Trump has already begun to lash out at DeSantis publicly. On Tuesday, the Florida governor shot back.

“At the end of the day, I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night,” DeSantis told reporters.

A crowded field of GOP rivals could ultimately play to Trump’s advantage, as it did in 2016, when he prevailed over more than a dozen other candidates who splintered the anti-Trump vote.

Trump’s decision paves the way for a potential rematch with Biden, who has said he intends to run for reelection despite concerns from some in his party over his age and low approval ratings. The two men were already the oldest presidential nominees ever when they ran in 2020. Trump, who is 76, would be 82 at the end of a second term in 2029. Biden, who is about to turn 80, would be 86.

If he is ultimately successful, Trump would be just the second U.S. president in history to serve two nonconsecutive terms, following Grover Cleveland’s wins in 1884 and 1892.

But Trump enters the race facing enormous challenges beyond his party’s growing trepidations. The former president is the subject of numerous investigations, including the monthslong probe into the hundreds of documents with classified markings found in boxes at Mar-a-Lago.

Meanwhile, Trump is facing Justice Department scrutiny over efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating what she alleges was “a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign” to influence the 2020 results.

And in New York, Attorney General Letitia James has sued Trump, alleging his namesake company engaged in decades’ worth of fraudulent bookkeeping by misleading banks about the value of his assets. The Trump Organization is also now on trial, facing criminal tax fraud charges.

Some in Trump’s orbit believe that running will help shield him against potential indictment, but there is no legal statute that would prevent the Justice Department from moving forward — or prevent Trump from continuing to run if he is charged.

It wasn’t any secret what he had been planning.

At a White House Christmas party in December 2020, Trump told guests it had “been an amazing four years.”

“We are trying to do another four years,” he said. “Otherwise, I’ll see you in four years.”
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Huawei’s Guo Ping: Reshaping the technological paradigm in three areas to secure mid- to long-term competitiveness

During MWC Barcelona 2022, Huawei's Rotating Chairman Guo Ping spoke on the company's plan to continue its globalization strategy and increase its strategic investment into foundational technologies. Through this investment, Huawei hopes to reshape the fundamental theories, architecture, and software that underpin its industry, increase its mid-to long-term competitiveness, and ensure the longer-term sustainability of the ICT industry.

In the keynote speech he delivered online, titled "Just Look Up, Let's Light Up the Future," Guo focused on two major sources of both challenge and opportunity in the world: digitalization and carbon neutrality.

Existing theories and architectures are unable to support explosive growth in digital demand.

Forecasts show that over 50% of global GDP will be digitalized in 2022. As the global digital economy develops rapidly, the demand for digital products and services has exceeded expectations. Guo explained that as Shannon's theorem and the von Neumann architecture continue hitting severe bottlenecks, the industry must explore new theories and architectures to reshape the technological paradigm to achieve digital sustainability.

Carbon reduction impacts the long-term vitality of the digital economy.

On carbon neutrality, Guo said, "Connectivity density and computing power determine the strength of the digital economy, but it should also maintain long-term vitality. So, we need to consider a new dimension, carbon reduction."

Huawei currently adheres to a "More Bits, Less Watts" strategy in this area. In addition to improving its fundamental digital capabilities, Huawei has committed to making its products 2.7 times more energy efficient by making breakthroughs in areas like theories, materials, and algorithms. Through advances like these, the ICT industry is able to help other industries reduce their own carbon footprints. In fact, this reduction will be 10 times larger than the carbon footprint of the ICT industry itself.

    Huawei is increasing strategic investment into foundational technologies to reshape the technological paradigm.

Guo also said that Huawei is significantly increasing strategic investment into foundational technologies and working with its partners to reshape the technological paradigm in three areas: fundamental theories, architecture, and software. This investment will gradually be reflected in the competitiveness of the company's products, which they hope will support the long-term and sustainable development of both the company and the ICT industry as a whole.

This investment is also notably focused on helping the company get closer to and maybe exceed Shannon's Limit. By exploring new theories and technologies, like next-generation MIMO and wireless AI, Huawei is able to push its technologies ever closer to Shannon's Limit. At the same time, Huawei's research into new theories like semantic communications will provide the industry with guidance on new fundamental theories.

Huawei is also developing exciting new architectures. Huawei is currently integrating photonic and electronic technologies and design peer-to-peer architectures to solve technological challenges or technique bottlenecks.

In terms of software, Huawei is building AI-centered, full-stack software and a new software ecosystem to meet the drastically rising demand for computing capacity caused by explosive growth of AI

    "Software-hardware synergies" will be the way forward.

Guo finally explained that great user experience comes from software-hardware synergies. He used two examples to show how Huawei applies this concept to ICT product development and technological innovation for network evolution. First, optimized algorithms for AHR Turbos are helping MetaAAUs consume less energy and improve performance. Second, algorithm breakthroughs in holographic optics have enabled OXCs to achieve one-hop connections.

    Huawei is the company with the most complete suite of ICT capabilities in the digital industry.

Over the last 10-plus years, network evolution has been a process of introducing the latest IT practices to CT, ranging from IP, to cloud, and then to AI today. As the company with the most complete suite of ICT capabilities in the digital industry, Guo said that Huawei is confident it will be able to gain a head start in the evolution towards future AI-native networks.

Closing out his speech, Guo said, "Huawei will continue its globalization strategy, in standards, talent, supply chain, and more. Huawei is committed to helping customers who choose it to achieve the greatest business success."

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Abans offers interest free promotions for Avurudhu season

Abans offers exciting promotions this Avurudhu season for their world’s leading brands. Enjoy interest-free installment plans, fabulous discounts, along with extended warranties on a wide range of their products from the world’s best brands.

Upgrade your home with an extensive range of recently introduced hand-picked products to make life easier and more convenient.

These products help you beat the hectic daily schedules and busy lifestyles of today. At a time when it is difficult to make time to complete their household chores, getting them done in the shortest period of time with minimum effort is a priority. Abans has always served the needs of customers by providing relevant solutions to these challenges, in the form of advanced technology that is easy to use yet highly effective and durable.

This Avurudhu season, choose from a wide array of televisions, audio systems and other options to enter a new dimension of entertainment. The laptop range brings you innovative features and convenience at your fingertips. The smart inverter technology that can be found in air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, and microwave ovens help to reduce electricity bills and save energy while conserving the environment and help sustain the planet for a greener tomorrow.

Refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, audio systems, vacuum cleaners, microwave ovens, air fryers, freestanding cookers, built-in ovens, cooker hobs and hoods, mobile phones, Apple products, air conditioners, laptops, and home appliances are amongst best-selling products on offer this Avurudhu. Prestigious brands such as Apple, LG, Electrolux, Elba, Haier, Hoover, Mistral, Mitsubishi, Titan, Pyrex, Corningware, JBL, Acer, HP, Lenovo, Oppo, Vivo, Realme, Black and Decker, Sanford, Tefal, Meyer, Russell Hobs, Ignis, Westinghouse, Circulon, Orient, Havells, Frigidaire, Jaipan, Premier, Remington, Philips, Panasonic are available during this promotion. Selected items are also available on interest-free instalments up to 12, 15, and 18 months, while you can use selected credit cards to enjoy up to 48-month interest-free instalments.

Celebrate this Avurudhu with your loved ones and enjoy buying world renowned brands all under one roof at exciting discounted prices and easy payment terms. Visit your nearest Abans or Abans Elite showroom today.
 
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Eser Marketing Fitness HQ showroom to Bambalapitiya

 
Eser Marketing Fitness headquarters and main showroom is newly established at Bambalapitiya. It is the largest fitness equipment outlet in Sri Lanka and the largest and premier retail outlet of the Eser Marketing Fitness showroom network.

Treadmill, home gym, cross trainer, weight benches, exercise bikes, recumbent bikes, rowing machines, dumbbells and all kinds of fitness equipment are available at a very reasonable price at this showroom. It is a two-story building of about ten thousand square feet and has all the equipment (such as leg press, cable cross-over, shoulder press, lat pulldown, leg curl extension, chin dip) required for a fitness center/gym. If you are planning to start a fitness center, gym or in need of any other bodybuilding equipment you should definitely visit the Eser Marketing head office & main showroom in Bambalapitiya. Whether you need to purchasefitness equipment Sri Lanka or not, Eser marketing Managing Director Harindra Eladetta invites all customers to visit this showroom to gain some insight into gym equipment.

Bodybuilding equipment which is made in China, Taiwan, USA, and Italy is also on display, so you can get a good understanding of it by using the equipment and making a very good decision by comparing its performance status with other brands.

Eser Marketing Fitness is the Sri Lankan exclusive distributor for the world's leading brands such as Spirit Fitness, Body-Solid, Concept 2 Rowing. Eser Fitness staff will also be able to deliver items purchased from the Eser Marketing Fitness showroom to any part of the island. Eser Marketing Fitness also has an experienced, well-trained set of technical officers who are capable of giving solutions for any kind of technical issues that arise during the usage of the equipment.
 
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Huawei launched new devices available now for pre-order in Sri Lanka

 
Huawei, a global innovative smartphone manufacturer unveiled Huawei Nova 8i along with many other innovative products at an exclusive launch event held recently,  adding yet another feature-packed device to the Nova line of smartphones that offer more value for a convenient price. The event was held at Hilton Colombo under the patronage of representatives of the Huawei Management Team along with Media Outlets.
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Atlas Recognised by SLIM for Facilitating Learning During the Pandemic

Atlas, the nation’s most loved stationery and learning brand, was honoured with the ‘CSR Brand of the Year' Bronze award at the SLIM Brand Excellence Awards 2021 held, recently. The company reaffirmed its position as a socially responsible corporate citizen by winning the award for the second consecutive year for their purpose led initiatives.

The organisation was recognised for its significant endeavours in creating equal learning opportunities of over 480,000 children for the financial year 2021 amidst the pandemic, where education had come to a standstill. Soon after identifying various obstacles faced by parents to keep children engaged at home, and teachers having to adapt to new ways of teaching with limited resources, Atlas altered its strategy and kickstarted initiatives to help overcome these challenges by collaborating with educators, the Ministry of Education, and other authorities.

“It is imperative that every child has the right to a quality education and so we are overjoyed to have impacted over 480,000 children, 3,500 teachers, and 175,000 parents by adding value and purpose to education. Most importantly, we helped children smoothly advance through their grades during these trying times, but our efforts won’t stop here. We have utilized technology to reach wider stakeholders in an isolation environment and continue to make learning fun, productive and accessible for every child across Sri Lanka,” said Asitha Samaraweera, Managing Director, Atlas Axillia Co. Ltd.

During the past year, Atlas successfully completed various initiatives including comprehensive teacher engagements to support the timely adaptation of online teaching through techniques to make learning interactive and effective in a virtual setting. The company also undertook to provide free online learning content, especially to support grade 5 scholarship students and creative activities such as ‘Learn Creative Skills with MyCrafts’ to keep children engaged during lockdown. Additionally, Atlas partnered with the Ministry of Education to implement the ‘Safety in Back-to-School’ Programme to ensure safety protocols were in place when schools re-opened.

“It is an honour to win the CSR Brand of the Year award, and we are grateful to SLIM for the recognition. Receiving this title would not only set the bar for Atlas in terms of brand performance, but it will also validate the brand's efforts in helping the country and its children. We are proud to be a brand that is precious to the hearts of millions of Sri Lankan children, an essential component of school life, and a helpful companion at every stage of their learning journey,” added Samaraweera.

Atlas Axillia Co. (Private) Limited, formerly known as Ceylon Pencil Company (Private) Limited, was founded in 1959 and has since grown to become Sri Lanka’s market leader in school stationery manufacturing. Fuelled by a passion for making learning fun, “Atlas” has created a strong connection with Sri Lankan consumers, being voted No. 1 School Supply Brand of the year 2020 at the People’s Choice Awards and has also recently won many national and international awards for excellence including the National Quality Award 2018 and the Global Performance Excellence Award 2019.

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