Author: News Desk

University College Cork (UCC) looks set to record a €7m surplus less than a year after it posted an €8m deficit.Details of the remarkable financial turnaround were outlined to university staff at a town-hall style briefing by UCC president Professor John O’Halloran on Thursday.A cost cutting plan, an unexpected increase in income, and the government’s budget announcement of multi-annual funding for universities all contributed to the turnaround.In a statement, UCC confirmed that staff were informed of draft financial results “which indicate that the university has returned to a surplus” for the financial year to September 2024. Staff were told the draft…

José Luis Ábalos worked hard this Thursday in the Supreme Court to disassociate himself from the possible irregularities committed by his former advisor in the Ministry of Transportation, Koldo García, and the businessman Víctor de Aldama. The former socialist leader, currently a deputy for the Mixed Group, denied before the judge that he had collected cash or any type of compensation from companies supposedly favored by public contracts, accusations that Aldama has borne as proof of his commitment to collaborate with justice. The businessman’s legal strategy will be put to the test next Monday, when he is summoned to testify…

The leak of the reproach to Felipe VI for not going to Notre Dame when he had already begun his state visit to Giorgia Meloni’s Italy, a way of telling him that here no one jumps over the wall. Read The Kings in Italy and the ‘vendetta’ of Paiporta

Today, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Ankara to discuss the situation in Syria with his Turkish counterpart. The G-7 states also discuss. See this and other news on WELT TV.© Axel Springer Germany GmbH. All rights reserved. Now live: Change of power in Syria – Flashing to talks in Ankara – All developments – Video

CSU boss Markus Söder plays Franz-Josef Strauss. Donald Trump plans pardons for the Capitol stormers. And: Europe is in the doldrums. This is the situation on Friday morning. News: Markus Söder, Donald Trump, ECB

Homes plan at ex-private school site in Bangor given green light The ‘impressive’ Grade II listed building will now house nine residential units https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/homes-plan-ex-private-school-30572458

In a traditional custom for lame-duck presidents, Joe Biden announced he would grant a record-breaking 1,500 commutations and 39 pardons on Thursday, weeks after he controversially pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, after promising not to grant him clemency.

Opposition leader John Draman Mahama’s win in last weekend’s presidential election in Ghanais a significant milestone in African politics. Ghana’s Electoral Commission confirmed late on Monday that with vote counting complete, 66-year-old Mahama’s party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), had scored around 56% of the ballots cast in the West African country. Mahama’s victory against Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, the candidate running for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), rejuvenated opposition parties in Africa seeking change, showing that change is not only possible but attainable. After eight years with the NPP in power, Mahama’s victory further inspires opposition groups across Africa after earlier in the year, incumbent…

There is nothing futuristic about the age of artificial intelligence; it has already begun. In 2024, AI won two Nobel Prizes, one given to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for laying its foundations and the other given to Demis Hassabis, John Jumper and David Baker for applying it to biology. The five largest companies in the world are all technology companies. The company that designs AI chips, Nvidia, has multiplied its value 27 times over the past five years. But ChatGPT is only two years old, and the AI applications are still prototypes, yet millions of people are already using…

For months the bishop of Piazza Armerina Rosario Gisana has been at the center of controversy, the judges of Enna who condemned the pedophile priest Giuseppe Rugolo have slammed the monsignor for having «omitted any initiative to protect minors, facilitating the predatory activity of a prelate already subject to reporting”. “He covered a pedophile priest.” Gisana, the bishop of Piazza Armerina, is under investigation for perjury https://palermo.repubblica.it/cronaca/2024/12/13/news/piazza_armerina_vescovo_indagato_procura_enna-423883737/?rss