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Cosco Capital Inc. and its Thai partner have dropped plans to establish a P500-million joint venture amid a challenging environment for the home improvement segment. The liquor and supermarket holding company led by billionaire Lucio Co said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday that the decision to terminate its agreement with Siam Global House Public Co. Ltd. was “mutually arrived at after strategically reviewing the current market conditions.” Cosco entered into the multimillion-peso joint venture agreement with Siam Global in June 2022 to establish a retail shop or warehouse for building construction-related materials, home and garden decorative goods, home improvement goods, construction equipment and tools. READ: Cosco hits double-digit earnings growth Cosco was supposed to own 45 percent of the joint venture, and Siam Global the remaining 55 percent. This comes amid the current weakness in the home improvement market, as seen in the dip in earnings of the sector’s listed firms. The market’s popularity skyrocketed during the pandemic, when stringent health restrictions allowed customers to pursue do-it-yourself home projects. The deal would have paved the way for Cosco, which has interests in supermarkets, liquor, real estate and energy, to enter a new business segment. “The transaction is in line with the expansion program of Cosco Capital which would enable it to invest through a joint venture with a foreign group into a new line of business that will be accretive in terms of investment income for the company,” Cosco said in an earlier disclosure. In the first nine months of the year, Cosco booked a 10-percent growth in earnings to P10 billion on the continued recovery of consumer spending. Revenues likewise rose by 9.1 percent to P164 billion in the January to September period. Grocery retail under Puregold Price Club and S&R Membership Shopping Club inched up by 4.5 percent to P6.9 billion due to higher foot traffic. Both contributed a combined 69 percent to Cosco’s net income. Net sales reached P151.97 billion, up by 9.1 percent, on the back of store expansion and higher same-store sales. In September, Co completed the takeover of a second renewable energy firm via a P1.02-billion deal for a hydroelectric power plant in Nueva Vizcaya. Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . The company also took over Catuiran Hydropower Corp. for P551.88 million in March, marking Co’s entry in the sector and joining big tycoons already in the renewable energy market.Former Prime Minister of India and veteran Congress leader Manmohan Singh passed away on Thursday, December 26. He was 92. Singh, who breathed his last at AIIMS, New Delhi, is credited for opening the Indian economy to global competition and often regarded as architect of India’s economic liberalisation as Finance Minister in 1991. Singh went on to become Prime Minister of the Congress-led UPA government. Singh has not been keeping well for quite some time and has stayed away from public appearances. His only public appearance in 2024 was at the book launch of his daughter at the India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi, in January, 2024. Political Life Singh never won Lok Sabha elections. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha for the first time by the Congress party in October 1991, four months after he became the Union Finance Minister . He represented Assam for five terms in the Rajya Sabha and shifted to Rajasthan in 2019, his last term that ended in April this year. Singh was Prime Minister for two successive terms – from May 22, 2004 to May 22, 2009. The two UPA regimes led by Manmohan Singh are credited with the launch of social welfare initiatives such as guaranteed job schemes - Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNREGA) - and right to education for every child. Reforms including Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and national identity number, Aadhaar were also launched during Manmohan Singh’s term as PM. One of the biggest highlights of Singh's regime was securing the India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement, which opened up civilian nuclear cooperation. Manmohan Singh-led UPA government delivered about 8.5 per cent GDP growth. Singh's years as Prime Minister were, however, marred with scams- 2G, CWG and Coal block allocations – which eventually paved away for Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to take over the reins. He also faced accusation of being a ‘remote control’ and ‘accidental’ prime minister. Academician par excellence Singh was born on September 26, 1932, in a village in the Punjab province of undivided India. He completed his class X from Punjab. In 1957, Singh earned a First Class Honours degree in Economics from University of Cambridge , UK. In 1962, he o completed D Phil in Economics from Nuffield College at Oxford University. Singh has also worked as faculty ay Punjab University and Delhi School of Economics. In 1971, Singh joined the government of India as an economic advisor in the commerce ministry. In 1972, he was appointed as Chief Economic Advisor in the ministry of finance in 1972. Among other positions, Singh has been secretary in the ministry of finance, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), advisor of the Prime Minister and chairman of the University Grants Commission. Singh also had a brief stint at the UNCTAD Secretariat as well. He was Secretary General of the South Commission in Geneva between 1987 and 1990. Finance Minister Singh spent five years between 1991 and 1996 as India's finance minister under Prime Minister Narasimha Rao government. It was under Manmohan Singh’s Finance Ministry term that Indian economy saw a turning point since independence. Singh leaves behind a legacy of economic achievements by contributing in ushering in economic reforms in the country. A renowned economist,Singh role includes devaluing the rupee, reducing import tariffs, and privatising state-owned enterprises. Manmohan Singh-led UPA government delivered about 8.5 per cent GDP growth. But the term was marred with scams- 2G, CWG and Coal block allocations – which eventually paved away for Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to take over the reins.
The Los Angeles Chargers attempted to claim wide receiver Diontae Johnson off of waivers, according to ESPN's Field Yates . After Johnson was waived by the Baltimore Ravens on Dec. 20, he was ultimately acquired by the Houston Texans on Monday. The Chargers and Texans were the only two teams to submit claims for the 28-year-old, but Houston had priority over Los Angeles in the waiver order and was able to land the wideout (via Yates). This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis. For more from Bleacher Report on this topic and from around the sports world, check out our B/R app , homepage and social feeds—including Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and TikTok .
New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) Markets regulator Sebi on Friday proposed diversifying and widening the ownership of the clearing corporations, which are at present wholly-owned subsidiaries of stock exchanges. Sebi rules prohibit clearing corporations (CCs) from listing publicly but allow stock exchanges (their parent entities) to list, indirectly exposing CCs to market pressures. Also Read | Latest Government Jobs Notifications: SBI Begins Recruitment Drive For 169 SCO Posts; Know Eligibility Criteria, Salary and How To Apply. "While looking to broad base and diversify the ownership of CCs, it is important to ensure that such a transition is fair to all stakeholders (including to the current shareholders of the parent exchange) and causes minimal disruption to the capital markets ecosystem," Sebi said in its consultation paper. Considering this, one approach could be a pro-rata distribution of 49 per cent of shareholding of a CC to the existing shareholders of the parent exchange and the balance 51 per cent of shareholding would remain with the parent exchange to start with. Also Read | Kolkata Fatafat Result Today: Kolkata FF Result for November 22, 2024 Declared, Check Winning Numbers and Result Chart of Satta Matka-Type Lottery Game. The parent exchange could then be given 5 years to bring down this holding to 15 per cent or lower, by selling down their stake to other exchanges. This approach would mean that CCs would remain majority-owned by exchanges in line with the SECC norms. "Alternatively, the entire shareholding of a CC could be allotted to the existing shareholders of exchanges, who would then be free to trade their shares in the CC. This would allow for a clean break of the CC from its parent exchange, in a manner that is fair to the existing shareholders of the parent exchange," Sebi has proposed. Further, it has been suggested that CCs will continue to be prohibited from listing. Jyoti Prakash Gadia - Managing Director at Resurgent India, a Sebi-registered merchant bank, said the discussion paper correctly highlights the fact that with the widening and steep growth of the capital markets, the role of clearing corporations should be to function independently without any conflict of interest or bias in favour of the parent stock exchange. Two divergent propositions have been proposed to spread and widen the shareholding of the CCs. Additionally, the regulator has suggested CCs should operate as profit-making public utilities, reinvesting in technology, infrastructure, and risk management. Besides, fee structures should remain reasonable without increasing costs for investors. The regulator has suggested encouraging multi-asset CCs while maintaining multiple CCs to reduce reliance on a single entity and enhance systemic resilience. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sought public comments on these proposals by December 13. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)Eagles QB Jalen Hurts is in the NFL’s concussion protocol. His status for Sunday is uncertainResearchers from Iowa State University have partnered with Michigan State University to develop a robot that would detect nitrates and monitor tile health to help farmers keep their land productive. Nearly half of Iowa’s harvested cropland has tile drainage, according to ag census data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The underground drainage systems help to boost crop productivity, but environmental and water groups have pointed out they can also deliver excessive amounts of nitrate and other nutrients downstream. Mike Castellano, a professor of soil science at ISU, said the robots and nitrate sensors could help farmers detect where, how and how much nitrate they are losing. Castellano spoke at a virtual field day with Iowa Learning Farms Dec. 19. “That allows farmers to better manage their field at a precision scale, to improve both productivity and environmental performance of our crop production systems,” Castellano said. Castellano said current technologies limit nitrate testing to the end of the tile pipe, but the robot would be able to pinpoint “exactly when and where those nutrients are being lost.” Liang Dong, the director of the microelectronics research center at ISU has worked with Castellano to develop the nitrate sensor portion of this technology. Dong said the sensor is completed and is being commercialized to be an affordable technology for farmers. “When the sensor is small enough and the price is low enough, farmers can put the sensors into their drainage tile, and then they will know what is the waterflow and what is the nitrate loss from their field,” Dong said. The end goal is to put the nitrate sensor, along with a camera and a waterflow sensor, onto a robot that can crawl through an entire tile drainage system and store the information for farmers. The robot, which is being developed by team led by Xiaobo Tan, a professor of electrical engineering at Michigan State University, is still a prototype. Christian Luedtke, a graduate researcher working with Tan on the project, spoke at the virtual field day and demonstrated the current prototype. The nearly two-foot long robot is currently designed to use several fin-like barbs on the front and back to move through corrugated pipes. Luedtke said he has learned through this project that not all tile is corrugated and it often will change diameters across a field, which present additional challenges to creating the robot. “We do not know that being engineers and not farmers,” Luedtke said. These are things he learned while in Iowa this summer while talking about the project with farmers, many of whom have clay or concrete tiles that were installed many generations prior. Luedtke said the robot also needs to be quicker at moving through the pipes, have a battery life of at least a couple of hours and be waterproofed before the research team can begin practical tests in actual tile. “The water quality issues here in Iowa, if we can help provide a cheap and easy solution for farmers to make decisions to help that, I think that’d be a great effect for our work to have,” Luedtke said.
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Trump has pressed for voting changes. GOP majorities in Congress will try to make that happen ATLANTA (AP) — Republicans in Congress plan to move quickly in their effort to overhaul the nation’s voting procedures, seeing an opportunity with control of the White House and both chambers of Congress. They want to push through long-sought changes such as voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements. They say the measures are needed to restore public confidence in elections. That's after an erosion of trust that Democrats note has been fueled by false claims from Donald Trump and his allies of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Democrats say they are willing to work with the GOP but want any changes to make it easier, not harder, to vote. Americans are exhausted by political news. TV ratings and a new AP-NORC poll show they're tuning out NEW YORK (AP) — A lot of Americans, after an intense presidential election campaign, are looking for a break in political news. That's evident in cable television news ratings and a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll found nearly two-thirds of Americans saying they've found the need recently to cut down on their consumption of political and government news. That's particularly true among Democrats following President-elect Donald Trump's victory, although a significant number of Republicans and independents feel the same way. Cable networks MSNBC and CNN are really seeing a slump. That's also happened in years past for networks that particularly appeal to supporters of one candidate. Israel strikes Houthi rebels in Yemen's capital while the WHO chief says he was meters away JERUSALEM (AP) — A new round of Israeli airstrikes in Yemen have targeted the Houthi rebel-held capital of Sanaa and multiple ports. The World Health Organization’s director-general said the bombardment on Thursday took place just “meters away” as he was about to board a flight in Sanaa. He says a crew member was hurt. The strikes followed several days of Houthi attacks and launches setting off sirens in Israel. Israel's military says it attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the international airport in Sanaa, power stations and ports. The Israeli military didn't immediate respond to questions about the WHO chief's statement. The US says it pushed retraction of a famine warning for north Gaza. Aid groups express concern. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say they asked for — and got — the retraction of an independent monitor's warning of imminent famine in north Gaza. The internationally Famine Early Warning System Network issued the warning this week. The new report had warned that starvation deaths in north Gaza could reach famine levels as soon as next month. It cited what it called Israel's “near-total blockade” of food and water. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Jacob Lew, criticized the finding as inaccurate and irresponsible. The U.S. Agency for International Development, which funds the famine-monitoring group, told the AP it had asked for and gotten the report's retraction. USAID officials tell The Associated Press that it had asked the group for greater review of discrepancies in some of the data. India's former prime minister Manmohan Singh, architect of economic reforms, dies aged 92 NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, widely regarded as the architect of India’s economic reform program and a landmark nuclear deal with the United States, has died. He was 92. The hospital said Singh was admitted to New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences late Thursday after his health deteriorated due to “sudden loss of consciousness at home." He was “being treated for age-related medical conditions,” the statement added. A mild-mannered technocrat, Singh became one of India’s longest-serving prime ministers for 10 years and earned a reputation as a man of great personal integrity. But his sterling image was tainted by allegations of corruption against his ministers. What is known about a plane crash in Kazakhstan that killed 38 of 67 people on board The crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan has killed 38 of 67 people on board. Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijani capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted for reasons that aren’t fully clear yet. It crashed while making an attempt to land in Aktau in Kazakhstan after flying east across the Caspian Sea. Officials in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia haven't commented on a possible cause of the crash pending an official investigation. Some commentators pointed out holes in the plane's tail section pictured after the crash as a sign that it could have been fired upon by air defense systems. Ukraine's military intelligence says North Korean troops are suffering heavy battlefield losses KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's military intelligence says North Korean troops are suffering heavy losses in Russia's Kursk region and face logistical difficulties as a result of Ukrainian attacks. The intelligence agency said Thursday that Ukrainian strikes near Novoivanovka inflicted heavy casualties on North Korean units. Ukraine's president said earlier this week that 3,000 North Korean troops have been killed and wounded in the fighting in the Kursk region. It marked the first significant estimate by Ukraine of North Korean casualties several weeks after Kyiv announced that North Korea had sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to help it in the almost 3-year war. How the stock market defied expectations again this year, by the numbers NEW YORK (AP) — What a wonderful year 2024 has been for investors. U.S. stocks ripped higher and carried the S&P 500 to records as the economy kept growing and the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates. The benchmark index posted its first back-to-back annual gains of more than 20% since 1998. The year featured many familiar winners, such as Big Tech, which got even bigger as their stock prices kept growing. But it wasn’t just Apple, Nvidia and the like. Bitcoin and gold surged and “Roaring Kitty” reappeared to briefly reignite the meme stock craze. Holiday shoppers increased spending by 3.8% despite higher prices New data shows holiday sales rose this year even as Americans wrestled with still high prices in many grocery necessities and other financial worries. According to Mastercard SpendingPulse, holiday sales from the beginning of November through Christmas Eve climbed 3.8%, a faster pace than the 3.1% increase from a year earlier. The measure tracks all kinds of payments including cash and debit cards. This year, retailers were even more under the gun to get shoppers in to buy early and in bulk since there were five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mastercard SpendingPulse says the last five days of the season accounted for 10% of the spending. Sales of clothing, electronics and Jewelry rose. Why this Mexican American woman played a vital role in the US sacramental peyote trade MIRANDO CITY, Texas (AP) — Amada Cardenas, a Mexican American woman who lived in the tiny border town of Mirando City in South Texas, played an important role in the history of the peyote trade. She and her husband were the first federally licensed peyote dealers who harvested and sold the sacramental plant to followers of the Native American Church in the 1930s. After her husband's death in 1967, Cardenas continued to welcome generations of Native American Church members to her home until her death in 2005, just before her 101st birthday.MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins were ready to deal veteran defensive tackle Calais Campbell to the Baltimore Ravens ahead of the Nov. 5 trade deadline until Mike McDaniel stepped in. “I may or may not have thrown an adult temper tantrum,” Miami's coach said, confirming the news first reported by NFL Network Sunday morning. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.No. 16 Iowa State falls short in Big 12 title game again, this time with CFP at stakeCLEVELAND (AP) — Two days before recording another milestone, resume-building sack on Sunday at Cincinnati, Myles Garrett delivered a jarring hit — on the Browns. In this case, any roughness could be deemed necessary. Garrett piled on to what has been a painful and puzzling season in Cleveland by saying he doesn’t have any interest in going through another rebuild and wants to know exactly what the organization’s offseason plans are to fix things. If that wasn’t enough, Garrett indicated for the first time that he would consider leaving the Browns if his vision doesn’t mesh with the team’s ambitions. “It’s a possibility,” he said of playing elsewhere. “But I want to be a Cleveland Brown. I want to play my career here.” It’s unclear how Garrett’s comments were received by owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam, who have plenty to consider as the Browns (3-12) head into the final two weeks of a season that began with playoff expectations and could be followed by upheaval. The Browns haven’t been this bad since going 0-16 in 2017. Garrett, who reached 100 career sacks by taking down Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow late in the first half of Sunday’s 24-6 loss , may have either added to the Haslams’ long list of concerns — the Deshaun Watson contract situation is a priority — or brought them clarity. RELATED COVERAGE The Darnold-Jefferson connection is thriving for the surging Vikings Patriots coach Jerod Mayo believes narrow loss to Bills shows potential of his young team Giants’ 10th straight loss showed once again that they need a young QB There’s no denying that Garrett’s remarks carry substantial weight, which is partly why he spoke up. He’s the Browns’ best player, a franchise cornerstone, a future Hall of Famer and arguably the most disruptive defensive force in the game today. He’s also leading with actions. Garrett showed extraordinary effort in chasing down and tackling Burrow before tumbling out of bounds and crashing into Cleveland’s bench and some portable heaters. He might be frustrated, but he’s not giving up. “A testament of who he is as a player and who he is as a person,” linebacker Jordan Hicks said. What the reigning Defensive Player of the Year says matters. It will be interesting to see if the Haslams listen. At this point, there are indications the Browns intend to stick with coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry, whose major misses in recent drafts have become more magnified with each loss. There will be changes; it’s just a matter of how drastic and if they’ll be enough to satisfy Garrett’s wishes. He turns 29 on Dec. 29 and has two years left on a $125 million contract extension. The All-Pro is in his prime and doesn’t want to waste another season in a pointless pursuit of a Super Bowl title. His goal is to win a championship with Cleveland — or someone. Garrett’s serious. He’s asking the Browns to show him they are, too. What’s working Cleveland’s defense is doing its part. For the second week in a row, the Browns contained one of the NFL’s most talented offenses, holding the Bengals and their top-ranked passing game below most of their season averages. Burrow did throw three TD passes — for the seventh game in a row — but Cincinnati scored fewer than 27 points for the first time in seven games. What needs help The Browns continue to beat themselves with costly turnovers, some more costly than others. They drove to the Cincinnati 1-yard line in the opening minutes only to have D’Onta Foreman fumble as he neared the goal line. The Bengals capitalized by driving 99 yards to take a 7-0 lead that could have been Cleveland’s. Stock up Running back Jerome Ford is making the most of a heavier workload and finishing strong. He ripped off a 66-yard run on the game’s first play and finished with 131 all-purpose yards, including 92 on 11 carries and scored Cleveland’s only TD. Ford’s emergence as a potential No. 1 back — Nick Chubb’s injuries have clouded his future — gives the team one less thing to worry about as it retools the roster. Stock down Kicker Dustin Hopkins hasn’t shaken a startling slump. After being benched for a week to work through his struggles, Hopkins missed his only kick, pushing an extra point to the right. Hopkins felt confident going in, but he’s back to trying to identify issues that could be equally mechanical and mental. He’s just 16 of 25 on field goals, 16 of 19 on PATs and the Browns’ decision to sign him to a three-year, $15.9 million extension this summer looks worse every week. Injuries QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson injured his calf early in Sunday’s game, leaving his status in doubt for a second straight start this week. If Thompson-Robinson can’t go, the Browns could go back to Jameis Winston, but he’s dealing with a sore right shoulder. ... Tight end David Njoku is dealing with yet another injury after hurting his knee. The team is awaiting results on an MRI, perhaps a sign of the severity. Njoku has missed time with injuries all season. He finished with eight catches for 66 yards. Key number 20 — Interceptions for the Browns this season. Thompson-Robinson’s two picks on Sunday gave the team 10 in the last four games. What’s next Probably a half-empty stadium for a final home game on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, who are still in the hunt for a wild-card spot. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Manmohan Singh: technocrat who became India's accidental PMAnother one! The Container Store files for bankruptcy; this is what we know
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts is in the NFL’s concussion protocol. His status for Sunday is uncertainBEIRUT — Insurgents’ stunning march across Syria accelerated Saturday with news that they had reached the gates of the capital and that government forces had abandoned the central city of Homs. The government was forced to deny rumors that President Bashar Assad had fled the country. The loss of Homs is a potentially crippling blow for Assad. It stands at an important intersection between Damascus and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader’s base of support and home to a Russian strategic naval base. The pro-government Sham FM reported that government forces took positions outside Syria’s third-largest city, without elaborating. Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Syrian troops and members of different security agencies have withdrawn from the city, adding that rebels have entered parts of it. The capture of Homs is a major victory for insurgents, who have already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama, as well as large parts of the south, in a lightning offensive that began Nov. 27. Analysts said Homs falling into rebel hands would be a game-changer. The rebels’ moves around Damascus, reported by the monitor and a rebel commander, came after the Syrian army withdrew from much of southern part of the country, leaving more areas, including several provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters. For the first time in the country’s long-running civil war, the government now has control of only three of 14 provincial capitals: Damascus, Latakia and Tartus. The advances in the past week were among the largest in recent years by opposition factions, led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaida and is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the United Nations. In their push to overthrow Assad’s government, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian army. The rapid rebel gains, coupled with the lack of support from Assad’s erstwhile allies, posed the most serious threat to his rule since the start of the war. The U.N.’s special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, on Saturday called for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition.” Speaking to reporters at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country is Assad’s chief international backer, said he feels “sorry for the Syrian people.” In Damascus, people rushed to stock up on supplies. Thousands went to Syria’s border with Lebanon, trying to leave the country. Many shops in the capital were shuttered, a resident told The Associated Press, and those still open ran out of staples such as sugar. Some were selling items at three times the normal price. “The situation is very strange. We are not used to that,” the resident said, insisting on anonymity, fearing retributions. “People are worried whether there will be a battle (in Damascus) or not.” It was the first time that opposition forces reached the outskirts of Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured the area following a yearslong siege. The U.N. said it was moving noncritical staff outside the country as a precaution. Assad’s status Syria’s state media denied social media rumors that Assad left the country, saying he is performing his duties in Damascus. He has had little, if any, help from his allies. Russia, is busy with its war in Ukraine. Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which at one point sent thousands of fighters to shore up Assad’s forces, has been weakened by a yearlong conflict with Israel. Iran has seen its proxies across the region degraded by regular Israeli airstrikes. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday posted on social media that that the United States should avoid engaging militarily in Syria. Pedersen said a date for talks in Geneva on the implementation a U.N. resolution, adopted in 2015, and calling for a Syrian-led political process, would be announced later. The resolution calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and ending with U.N.-supervised elections. Later Saturday, foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran, along with Pederson, gathered on the sidelines of the Doha Summit to discuss the situation in Syria. In a statement issued late Saturday, the participants affirmed their support for a political solution to the Syrian crisis “that would lead to the end of military activity and protect civilians.” They also agreed on the importance of strengthening international efforts to increase aid to the Syrian people. The insurgents’ march Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said insurgents were in the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. Opposition fighters were marching toward the Damascus suburb of Harasta, he added. A commander with the insurgents, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces had begun the “final stage” of their offensive by encircling Damascus. HTS controls much of northwest Syria and in 2017 set up a “salvation government” to run day-to-day affairs in the region. In recent years, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to remake the group’s image, cutting ties with al-Qaida, ditching hard-line officials and vowing to embrace pluralism and religious tolerance. The shock offensive began Nov. 27, during which gunmen captured the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest, and the central city of Hama, the country’s fourth largest city. Opposition activists said Saturday that a day earlier, insurgents entered Palmyra, which is home to invaluable archaeological sites had been in government hands since being taken from the Islamic State group in 2017. To the south, Syrian troops left much of the province of Quneitra including the main Baath City, activists said. Syrian Observatory said government troops have withdrawn from much of the two southern provinces. The Syrian army said in a statement that it carried out redeployment and repositioning in Sweida and Daraa after its checkpoints came under attack by “terrorists." The army said it was setting up a “strong and coherent defensive and security belt in the area,” apparently to defend Damascus from the south. The Syrian government has referred to opposition gunmen as terrorists since conflict broke out in March 2011. Diplomacy in Doha The foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey, meeting in Qatar, called for an end to the hostilities. Turkey is a main backer of the rebels. Qatar’s top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to take advantage of the lull in fighting in recent years to address the country’s underlying problems. “Assad didn’t seize this opportunity to start engaging and restoring his relationship with his people,” he said. Sheikh Mohammed said he was surprised by how quickly the rebels have advanced and said there is a real threat to Syria’s “territorial integrity.” He said the war could “damage and destroy what is left if there is no sense of urgency” to start a political process. Karam reported from London. Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; and Josef Federman and Victoria Eastwood in Doha, Qatar, contributed to this report. Updated at 4 p.m.
Allegations of vote-buying surface amid Malawi’s voter registration processRelief, defiance, anger: Families and advocates react to Biden's death row commutations
