Top bosses from the renewable energy sector are pushing for a greener future, urging housebuilders to fit solar panels on every new home. The call to action has been directed at Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband , with hopes they will support the so-called Sunshine Bill set for discussion in the Commons early next year. The bill, championed by Liberal Democrat MP Max Wilkinson and scheduled for debate on January 17, aims to legally require new homes to be equipped with solar panels. Wilkinson has described the initiative as "just really, really obvious", highlighting its potential to cut carbon emissions and reduce living costs. “Taking this one simple step would pay back to new homeowners, via lower energy bills, in just a few short years, helping protect homeowners from high and fluctuating energy bills,” according to the letter. It continued: “Pressure on the wider grid would be reduced and the likely outcome would be a reduction in the country’s emissions too, in line with climate change targets.” The letter, signed by figures including Ecotricity CEO Asif Rehmanwala and E. On Next's director of residential newbuild Matthew Hart, points out: "The twin crises of high energy bills and climate change present this country with many challenges, but there are also a number of solutions that could be relatively easily implemented." They believe that incorporating solar energy into new residential buildings is one such solution. Mr Wilkinson remarked: "Following the shortest day of the year (Saturday), it’s time the Government finally commits to a sunnier future." He shared with the PA news agency: "One of the things that I think is just really, really obvious is that when we’re building new homes, they should be built to high standards of energy efficiency and that they should include renewable energy generation because that’s good for the planet, but also, it’s really, really good for people’s bills." "We all know that we’ve had the energy bills crisis over the last few years and fuel bills for households remain stubbornly high, so it seems obvious that we should put solar panels on the roofs of houses, so those bills are going to be lower." The Cheltenham MP described the cost of adding solar panels as "marginal" compared to the overall cost of constructing a home, stating it "pays back to the new homeowner within five or six years anyway, so it really is a win-win". In response to questions about the potential of the Sunshine Bill – formally known as the New Homes (Solar Generation) Bill – to combat climate change, Mr Wilkinson said: "There are the big international impacts that you’re talking about on climate change, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t make those marginal gains locally where we can, particularly when they can have a really profound positive impact on people’s day-to-day lives." He expressed his Christmas wish, saying: "All I want this Christmas is for the Government to support the Sunshine Bill. Lower energy bills would be the perfect gift not just for me, but for the nation." In an October press release, a Government spokesperson stated that they "want solar panels on as many new homes as possible, because they are a vital technology to help cut bills for families, boost our national energy security, and help deliver net zero". However, the press release also confirmed that a final decision on the typical number of solar panels to be included in new homes is "yet to be made", emphasising that it is "a fundamental principle of building regulations that we do not constrain innovation by prescribing any specific technology". Mr Miliband has previously shown support for Mr Wilkinson’s proposal, stating in the Commons last Tuesday when asked about plans for "new homes to come with solar panels on the roof as standard": "I am very, very sympathetic to this, and we are in discussions with our colleagues across Government and watch this space." Looking for more from MyLondon? Subscribe to our daily newsletters here for the latest and greatest updates from across London.His heart raced as he reached out and retrieved the necklace, now tarnished and scratched from its time in the bushes. Holding it in his hands, Lucas felt a wave of relief wash over him, knowing that he had reclaimed what he had taken. But more than that, he felt a sense of redemption and reconciliation with himself.aaa jili slot game 。

The Prince George Spruce Kings have added longtime Manitoba Junior Hockey League coaching veteran Taylor Harnett to their staff as an associate coach. Harnett has three decades of coaching experience and spent seven seasons as head coach and general manager with the Waywayseecappo Wolverines from 2017-24. He led the team to a winning record in five of those seasons. The 49-year-old native of Edmonton was hired this past summer as head of the Amarillo (Texas) Wranglers of the North American Hockey League. He was relieved of his duties 20 games into the season on Nov. 20, after guiding the team to a 10-10 record. “Taylor has a wealth of coaching experience,” said Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes. “Adding him to our staff gives us another resource which assists our players and our team to be better. We’re fortunate and thrilled to add Taylor to our organization.” Harnett joins a Spruce Kings staff that includes interim head coach Brad Tesink, who took over the team from Alex Evin two weeks ago, skills and development coach Brandon Manning and goaltending coach Kris Joyce. The Spruce Kings are back on home ice at Kopar Memorial Arena this weekend for a BC Hockey League doubleheader against the Langley Rivermen. Fans coming to the rink Saturday are being asked to bring wrapped winter clothing donations on Drop The Gloves and Sock It To ‘Em night. They can toss those items over the glass when the Spruce Kings score their first goal.

As Liu Shaoang continues to defy the odds and push the boundaries of what is possible in the sport, his journey serves as a powerful reminder of the enduring power of perseverance and determination. His transformation from a former rival of the Chinese national team to a dark horse rising in the final lap of his career is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the limitless potential that lies within each of us.Aries - (21st March to 19th April) Daily Horoscope Prediction says, Do not let tremors impact the life Expect happiness in the relationship and ensure you deliver the best professional results. Keep the financial affairs steady and clean, Health is positive. Explore new dimensions of love today and also take new opportunities in your job to get the best results. Financially you will be strong today and your health will also be good. Aries Love Horoscope Today There can be changes in the relationship and some love affairs will pass through steamy time. It is wise to avoid arguments, especially in the second part of the day. Minor disagreements may take a dangerous turn if went unchecked. Do not let a third person dictate things in the relationship and ensure you have long and open conversations with the lover. Some females may receive proposals in the classroom or at the office. Do not let egos come in between you and the lover. Aries Career Horoscope Today There can be issues at work. The productivity may take a hit in the first part of the day. However, it is crucial to overcome these challenges. Do not give opinions at meetings unless asked. Your attitude is vital while doing team projects. Botanists, academicians, aviation, and media professionals will have a busy day. Lawyers will handle cases that will also invite public attention. Students looking for admission to foreign universities will have reasons to smile. Aries Money Horoscope Today Wealth will be your companion and this will help in making crucial monetary decisions. The second part of the day is good to buy electronic appliances and even vehicles. You may also try the fortune in the stock market today. However, you should be careful while lending a big amount to a relative as getting it back can be a tough task. Businessmen may have minor issues related to finance and this will require help from immediate friends. Aries Health Horoscope Today No major health issues will be there. However, you need to be careful about chest pain or viral fever. Some females will be under severe stress due to official pressure. Yoga and meditation can be helpful here. Spend more time with family and do not miss the medicines. Some seniors will have sleep-related issues and traditional methods are more fruitful here. Aries Sign Attributes Strength: Optimistic, Energetic, Sincere, Multitalented, Venturesome, generous, cheerful, curious Weakness: Reckless, Argumentative, Loud-mouthed, Impatient Symbol: Ram Element: Fire Body Part: Head Sign Ruler: Mars Lucky Day: Tuesday Lucky Color: Red Lucky Number: 5 Lucky Stone: Ruby Aries Compatibility Chart Natural affinity: Gemini, Leo, Sagittarius, Aquarius Good compatibility: Aries, Libra Fair compatibility: Taurus, Virgo, Scorpio, Pisces Less compatibility: Cancer, Capricorn By: Dr. J. N. Pandey Vedic Astrology & Vastu Expert Website: www.astrologerjnpandey.com E-mail: djnpandey@gmail.com Phone: 91-9811107060 (WhatsApp Only)Sci-fi pioneer Bae Myung-hoon wants Korea to embrace the space opera Published: 10 Dec. 2024, 07:00 LEE JIAN [email protected] [Page-turners] As translated fiction enters a more global limelight, Korean books are being discovered by a wider audience beyond its borders. With the help of the massive inventory retained by dbBooks, Korea’s oldest independent book dealer, the Korea JoongAng Daily sought out hidden gems on their shelves. In this interview series, we find them for you and talk to the creatives behind them. Author Bae Myung-hoon speaks to the Korea JoongAng Daily for an interview at Tongbang Books' office in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul. [PARK SANG-MOON] Writing was originally a hobby for author Bae Myung-hoon. He began in politics, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees in political science from Seoul National University in the early 2000s. He wasn't interested in popular science fiction, a genre in which Korean characters were few and far between at the time. Related Article Truth in tales: How illustrator Hanna Cha's dragons symbolize her Korean American experience Not just for kids: Author Lee Suzy touts benefits of picture books for all readers It wasn't until he won a university fiction contest with a short story titled “Terrorist” (2004), followed by a science fiction competition hosted by the Korea Foundation for Science and Creativity at the Dong-A Ilbo, that he realized he might have a knack for the activity — and, more importantly, that the traditionally western genre could have a place in Korean society. “In the beginning, I had no prior knowledge of the genre,” Bae told the Korea JoongAng Daily. “I just wrote about things that I knew.” The 46-year-old, now the author of more than 20 books and short stories, is considered a pioneer of Korea's modern science fiction market. His writing is known to blur the line between genre and literary fiction, touching on universal themes such as nationalism, war and resilience. Many of his works are set in Korea and feature Korean characters, a trend that was less common before he entered the scene. Still, when writing “The Proposal,” his newly translated book, Bae wasn't exactly sure how it, or he, would fit into the writing world. The book was published 11 years ago to a reaction the author describes as “lukewarm." “People, including myself, weren’t very aware of the sci-fi genre, and some even considered it a kind of low-rate,” the author said. Related Article Han Kang 'shocked' by martial law, calls it a 'return to the age of control and suppression' 'Truths will be spoken': Nobel winner Han Kang on the necessity of literature Han Kang says 1979 martial law in hometown of Gwangju still affects her Based in space ahead of an imminent war, “The Proposal” is a series of letters from a space-born protagonist to his lover in Seoul. The work reflects “on the distances that separate us—both physically and emotionally—and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit, ever striving to overcome these divides,” according to Honford Star. The space-born protagonist questions, often wittingly, humanity's tendencies, like its inherent nationalism, that draw lines in the face of a lesser-understood existence. “The most primal ethic that makes humans humans is not the taboos against cannibalism or incest but the ability to tell up from down," Bae writes in the book. Such themes tap into Korean experiences, Bae believes, in a way that sci-fi historically hasn't. “SF books require a bit of nationalistic confidence,” he said, “and Korean writers in the past didn’t have that. For example, if someone were to go to the moon, it would be odd to make that character a Korean. It would make more sense for the protagonist to be an American.” Cover of ′′The Proposal′′ by Bae Myung-hoon [HONFORD STAR] Much of sci-fi, consequently, used to be narrated by American characters, which Bae says “didn’t quite click with the readers." “It would seem obvious today that a Korean author would write in a Korean voice, but that wasn’t the case in science fiction 20 years ago.” Bae was one of the authors who paved the path for sci-fi stories with Korean protagonists, best known for “Tower” (2009) and “Launch Something!” (2022), both of which have been translated into English. “The Proposal,” translated by Stella Kim and released this fall by Honford Star, was the third of his books to be published in the language. One thing those works have in common, Bae says, is that their characters identify conflict not within themselves but rather with their surroundings. Solutions, if they exist, are also found in the environment. “There isn’t a big internal realization that happens and then changes the protagonist,” he said. “It is about how the characters interact with the world around them.” For instance, in "The Proposal," the protagonist's main dilemma with his army's corruption is a completely external problem. As he works through his conflicts, no significant mind shift or growth ensues that he comes out at the end of the novel a changed person. His love for space - his home - is left unchanged and because of that, and his sense of loyalty to his job, he is unable to travel back to his lover on Earth. They also, as is the case with some sci-fi works, don't bog readers with scientific facts and measurements. He makes heavy use of the phenomenon sci-fi critics refer to as “cognizant estrangement,” whereby a fictional setting helps the reader to better understand their empirical reality. “I’m not so interested in science and technology but how a society functions,” Bae said. “Sci-fi is how I understand the world.” He hopes that such genre-bending stories like “The Proposal” will continue to resonate in Korea's market, where he feels that, despite decades of progress, sci-fi is still considered inferior to more “traditional” works. It's a genre, after all, that chose him. “There wasn’t a specific moment that I told myself, ‘I want to be a science fiction writer,’” said Bae. “What I liked writing, it turned out, was science fiction. It was very organic in coming.” He's spent a considerable amount of time thinking about space and studying it, but it isn't a place where he would rather be. “Space is a great place for my mind to travel to limitlessly, but I like Earth,” he said, and more jokingly added, “I wouldn't be able to handle space's zero-gravity.” BY LEE JIAN [ [email protected] ]

NoneThe German government pledged Sunday to fully investigate whether there were security lapses before the Christmas market car-ramming attack that killed five people and injured over 200. Political pressure has built on the question of potential missed warnings about Saudi suspect Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old psychiatrist who had made online deaths threats and previously had trouble with the law. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and the heads of Germany's domestic and foreign intelligence services are due to answer questions at parliamentary committee hearings on December 30, a senior lawmaker told AFP. Faeser vowed Sunday that "no stone will be left unturned" in shedding light on what information had been available to security services ahead of last Friday's bloody attack in the eastern city of Magdeburg. She stressed that the attacker did "not fit any previous pattern" because "he acted like an Islamist terrorist although ideologically he was clearly an enemy of Islam". Abdulmohsen has in the past called himself a "Saudi atheist" who helped women flee Gulf countries and charged Germany was doing too little to help them. In online posts, he also strongly criticised Germany for allowing in too many Muslim refugees and backed far-right conspiracy theories about the "Islamisation" of Europe. In one post, he wrote: "Is there a path to justice in Germany without blowing up a German embassy or randomly slaughtering German citizens?... If anyone knows it, please let me know." News magazine Der Spiegel, citing security sources, said the Saudi secret service had warned Germany's spy agency BND a year ago about a tweet in which Abdulmohsen threatened Germany would pay a "price" for how it treated Saudi refugees. Die Welt daily reported, also citing security sources, that German state and federal police had carried out a "risk assessment" on Abdulmohsen last year but concluded that he posed "no specific danger". The city of Magdeburg has been in deep mourning over the mass carnage on Friday evening, when an SUV smashed through a crowd at its Christmas market, killing four women and a nine-year-old child and injuring 205 people. Surgeons at overwhelmed hospitals have worked around the clock, and one health worker told local media of "blood on the floor everywhere, people screaming, lots of painkillers being administered". Scholz on Saturday condemned the "terrible, insane" attack and made a call for national unity, at a time Germany is headed for early elections on February 23. But as German media dug into Abdulmohsen's past, and investigators gave away little, criticism rained down from opposition parties. Conservative CDU lawmaker Alexander Throm charged that "many citizens feel... that the Scholz government has completely failed in terms of internal security". He demanded greater police powers to monitor and analyse data from social media platforms, telecommunications and surveillance cameras with facial recognition technology. The far-right AfD called for a special session of parliament, and the head of the far-left BSW party, Sahra Wagenknecht, demanded that Faeser explain "why so many tips and warnings were ignored beforehand". Mass-circulation daily Bild asked: "Why did our police and intelligence services do nothing, even though they had the Saudi on their radar?... And why were the tips from Saudi Arabia apparently ignored?" It charged that "German authorities usually only find out about attack plans in time when foreign services warn them" and called for sweeping reforms after the election for a complete "turnaround in internal security". Senior MP Dirk Wiese of Scholz's Social Democrats said the December 30 hearings will summon the heads of the BND, the domestic intelligence service BfV and the Office for Migration and Refugees. Media meanwhile reported more details on Abdulmohsen, who had worked at a clinic that treats offenders with substance addiction problems, but had been on sick leave since late October. Der Spiegel reported that in 2013 a court fined him for "disturbing the public peace by threatening to commit crimes" after he had darkly referenced the deadly attack on the Boston marathon. The chairwoman of the group Central Council of Ex-Muslims, Mina Ahadi, said Abdulmohsen "is no stranger to us, because he has been terrorising us for years". She labelled him "a psychopath who adheres to ultra-right conspiracy ideologies" and said he "doesn't just hate Muslims, but everyone who doesn't share his hatred." bur/fz/gv

Published 4:15 pm Friday, November 22, 2024 By Ernest Bowker Briarfield Academy's Ryder Jones (5), Jack Woodall and Calvin Barnes (56) celebrate with the MAIS Class 1A football championship trophy after beating Wilkinson County Christian Academy 32-18 for the state title on Friday. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Wilkinson County Christian Academy's Deshun Smith tackles Briarfield Academy quarterback Brock Johnson (12) during the MAIS Class 1A championship game Friday in Jackson. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy offensive lineman Calvin Barnes (56) and his teammates run a play in the MAIS Class 1A championship game Friday against WCCA. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy cheerleaders root on their Rebels before the start of the MAIS Class 1A football championship game against Wilkinson County Christian Academy. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy's Hayden Smith (1) and WCCA's Deshun Smith (21) fight for a pass in the end zone during the MAIS Class 1A football championship game. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy football assistant coach Derrick Watson talks to Trecin Baker (9) on the sideline during the MAIS Class 1A football championship game against WCCA. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy cheerleaders stand at attention for the National Anthem before the start of the MAIS Class 1A football championship game against Wilkinson County Christian Academy. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Wilkinson County Christian Academy defensive back Charles Grezaffi (12) tackles Briarfield Academy's Jack Woodall during the MAIS Class 1A championship game Friday in Jackson. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Wilkinson County Christian Academy's Dax Doyle sacks Briarfield Academy quarterback Brock Johnson during the MAIS Class 1A championship game Friday in Jackson. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy football player Boone Sanderson (35) celebrates with a team manager after the Rebels beat Wilkinson County Christian Academy 32-18 to win the MAIS Class 1A championship on Friday. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy football head coach Beau Travis puts a gold state champion's medallion around the neck of Jack Martin after the Rebels beat Wilkinson County Christian Academy 32-18 on Friday to win the MAIS Class 1A title. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) Briarfield Academy football players and cheerleaders pose for a photo with the championship trophy and banner after beating Wilkinson County Christian Academy 32-18 on Friday to win the MAIS Class 1A title. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post) JACKSON — Briarfield Academy has had to scratch, claw and grind for most of what it’s gotten this football season. The thing it wanted most was no exception. The Rebels got off to a slow start, then had a two-score lead evaporate in the second half before pulling away late to beat Wilkinson County Christian Academy 32-18 in the MAIS Class 1A championship game on Friday. It’s Briarfield’s (12-1) fourth MAIS eight-man football championship in eight years, and first since 2020. “It feels incredible. Incredible. I’ve never felt a feeling like this. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy in my life,” said senior running back Ryder Jones, who had 125 total yards. “To get a two-score lead, and then they almost make a comeback, we get multiple penalties over and over, to go out and perform like that and put in some heart, it’s incredible. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” After a scoreless first quarter, Briarfield found the end zone three times in the second to take a 20-6 halftime lead. Jack Woodall broke off a 77-yard touchdown run, and Trecin Baker and Brock Johnson also scored. WCCA (9-4) came out of the halftme break on fire, though. It recovered an onside kick to start the third quarter, as well as a fumble on Briarfield’s first play, and cashed in both opportunities. Jacob Sessions threw touchdown passes of 23 yards to Easton Buteaux and 25 yards to Charles Grezaffi to pull the Rams to within 20-18 with 4:04 left in the third quarter. WCCA’s two-point conversion attempts failed both times, as did another following its first touchdown in the second quarter. Briarfield coach Beau Travis said he knew that could be a factor after his Rebels beat WCCA 30-28 in the regular-season finale a month ago. “We kept them out and I think we got all but two. We knew the two-points were big because last time we won by two points. Hats off to our boys,” Travis said. As it turned out, Briarfield did the rest of the scoring. The Rebels answered WCCA’s comeback with a scoring drive of their own, capped by a 10-yard TD pass from Johnson to Hayden Smith that made it 26-18 with 1:09 left in the third quarter. In the fourth, after a WCCA drive inside the 10 ended on downs, the Rebels delivered the kill shot. On third-and-17 from their own 30, Smith got behind the secondary and Johnson hit him with a deep pass down the middle. Smith took it for a 70-yard touchdown and a 32-18 lead with 3:12 to go. “That play has worked almost every time we have run it this year,” Travis said. “You set them up by throwing screens, throwing screens, throwing screens, they look for the screen and you slip him out. You lull them to sleep and then hit them over the top.” Johnson finished 4-of-13 passing for the Rebels, for 149 yards and two touchdowns. He also had one rushing touchdown. Smith caught two passes for 80 yards and two TDs, and Woodall had 91 rushing yards and one TD. Briarfield’s defense was the real star, though. It had five sacks, forced two turnovers, and got key stops when it needed to. Although Sessions passed for 158 yards and three touchdowns, WCCA had two red zone drives end with no points. The last was midway through the fourth quarter, when an injury to Sessions was followed by a fumbled snap, two pre-snap penalties, and finally a sack. Jones had two of Briarfield’s sacks and 10 total tackles. Jack Martin led the Rebels with 12 tackles and one forced fumble. “That’s the way it’s been all year. We’ve always been a second half team. We always come back in the second half. It’s what we do, and what we do best,” Jones said. “When they started closing that gap it downed us a lot. A lot of guys started hanging their heads and I was trying to tell them to keep fighting and play with some heart, and eventually we did and we made some stuff happen.” Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

Additionally, the low management fees associated with ETFs make them a cost-effective investment option, especially compared to actively managed mutual funds. This cost efficiency, combined with the transparency and tradability of ETFs, has made them an appealing choice for both retail and institutional investors looking to access the stock market.Hannah is one of thousands of children across Scotland who have been regularly missing school. Some are absent for days, others for years. Twelve-year-old Hannah missed most of her primary school education. Right from her first day she barely spoke and would get very upset, so the school would phone her mum daily to ask her to pick her up. By the time she got to primary four she refused to go altogether. She would take off her uniform, cry and scream. Psychologists say the rise in the number of children absent from school is not about bunking off but because many are too anxious to step through the school gates. And since Covid the numbers just keep rising. The latest figures from the Scottish government, to be published on Tuesday, are expected to continue that trend. Hannah's mum Ashly says her daughter, who is autistic, struggled with the noise and busyness of the school environment. "Obviously she didn't feel safe in school," Hannah says. "She didn't feel comfortable. I tried everything to get her to school." Then almost two years ago they started working with a project from the charity Quarriers called Reach, which involves a trained member of staff going to their home in Glasgow to help increase their confidence. "For the first six weeks she wouldn't even speak to her," Ashly says. The support worker began by going to the primary school with Hannah for an hour a day and sitting with her in a quiet room doing crafts and games. Over last summer, before Hannah started at secondary, she and her worker spent days in the school baking cakes and having fun. After almost two years, Hannah's worker has gradually got her to a point where she is attending her S1 secondary school class most days. Ashly told the BBC: "Even getting Hannah to school without crying and being upset was a big thing and now she gets herself ready and gets herself organised for school so that is a big difference." The latest statistics from Glasgow City Council show that every year for the past five years, school absence has increased. The council is now working on a campaign to encourage parents in particular to remember the importance of attending. A report by Reform Scotland last year found that 200,000 children in Scotland are missing more than one day a fortnight. And almost 80,000 pupils miss at least one day a week - with attendance of less than 80%. Official figures released earlier this year suggested that 22.3% of pupils in England were persistently absent in the 2022-23 academic year - roughly double pre-pandemic levels. The lead educational psychologist for Glasgow, Barry Syme, told the BBC that absence is not generally about kids skipping school. "I think the days of children just bunking off is a very simple way of looking at it," he said. "We've seen a significant increase in the number of young people with mental health concerns, particularly anxiety and stress. "That was still an issue pre-pandemic but certainly the pandemic has not helped in any way with that." Mr Syme said there had been an increase in the number of young people identified with neurodiversity and the associated challenges of the school environment such as noise and large numbers of people. He also said that children were picking up on the pressures felt by their parents, such as cost of living issues. Colin Simpson, who runs the Quarriers service, said they had seen huge benefits from offering one-to-one support to families. In the first two years, the project worked with about 200 children but there are another 400 still waiting. "There's a huge waiting list for this service because there's an awful lot of young people across the city of Glasgow and beyond who have chronic non-attendance challenges and they all deserve that kind of support," he said. "But it takes time to give a child the support that they need. "And it takes a lot of effort and energy and a really, really well established relationship." Professor Edward Sosu of the University of Strathclyde said the fall in average attendance was a serious concern and that Scotland needed to tackle the problem. He said a rise in poverty, mental health problems and additional support needs were the major reasons for the increase in absences. And he said that regardless of social class or background, it was almost impossible to make up for the lost time in school. His research looked at people who were aged between 34 and 42, and the impact their school attendance rates had on their outcomes. "What we found is that missing an average of just 10 days aged 10 was linked to not having any qualifications age 42 or not being in employment. So missing that small amount of school in that time had a negative impact," he said. "This was irrespective of their socioeconomic background, irrespective of cognitive outcomes, irrespective of all the background characteristics. "Our assumption originally was that those from middle class backgrounds will be able to help their children catch up - but what we found is that irrespective of your background, absences have a negative impact on your educational achievement."AI chatbots help holiday shoppers

Murdoch loses 'Succession' battle for son's control of media empire: reportThe scandal involving the Chief of the National Police Agency highlights the importance of upholding ethical standards and respecting the rule of law, especially during times of crisis. It serves as a reminder that no one, regardless of their position or authority, is above the law and that accountability is essential for the preservation of justice and democracy.

Title: A Heartwarming Act of Kindness: Shop Owner Gives $100 to Elderly Man Borrowing $30 for Home TicketIn conclusion, FIFA's decision to compensate Barcelona for Ousmane Dembélé's long-term injury underscores the governing body's commitment to supporting clubs in times of need. The financial restitution will assist Barcelona in managing the impact of Dembélé's absence and will help to ensure that the club can continue to compete at the highest level. This gesture of support from FIFA highlights the importance of solidarity and cooperation in the world of football, and serves as a reminder of the values that underpin the sport.

By FARNOUSH AMIRI, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Rep. Matt Gaetz said Friday that he will not be returning to Congress after withdrawing his name from consideration to be attorney general under President-elect Donald Trump amid growing allegations of sexual misconduct. “I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” Gaetz told conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, adding that he has “some other goals in life that I’m eager to pursue with my wife and my family.” The announcement comes a day after Gaetz, a Florida Republican, stepped aside from the Cabinet nomination process amid growing fallout from federal and House Ethics investigations that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed as the nation’s chief federal law enforcement officer. The 42-year-old has vehemently denied the allegations against him. Gaetz’s nomination as attorney general had stunned many career lawyers inside the Justice Department, but reflected Trump’s desire to place a loyalist in a department he has marked for retribution following the criminal cases against him. Hours after Gaetz withdrew, Trump nominated Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, who would come to the job with years of legal work under her belt and that other trait Trump prizes above all: loyalty. It’s unclear what’s next for Gaetz, who is no longer a member of the House. He surprised colleagues by resigning from Congress the same day that Trump nominated him for attorney general. Some speculated he could still be sworn into office for another two-year term on Jan. 3, given that he had just won reelection earlier this month. But Gaetz, who has been in state and national politics for 14 years, said he’s done with Congress. “I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress,” he said.