Australian Senate begins debate on world-first social media ban for children under 16UMass marching to the top: Minutemen band getting star turn in Macy’s paradeVIENNA, Nov 21 (Reuters) - The U.N. atomic watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution on Thursday again ordering Iran to urgently improve cooperation with the agency and requesting a "comprehensive" report aimed at pressuring Iran into fresh nuclear talks. Britain, France, Germany and the United States, which proposed the resolution, dismissed as insufficient and insincere a last-minute Iranian move to cap its stock of uranium that is close to weapons-grade. Diplomats said Iran's move was conditional on scrapping the resolution. Iran tends to bristle at such resolutions and has said it would respond in kind to this one. After previous criticism at the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board, it has stepped up its nuclear activities and reduced IAEA oversight. China, Russia and Burkina Faso voted against the text, diplomats in the meeting said. Nineteen countries voted in favour and 12 abstained. The IAEA and Iran have long been locked in standoffs on a range of issues including Tehran's failure to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites, its barring last year of most of the agency's top uranium-enrichment experts on the Iran inspection team, and its refusal to expand IAEA monitoring. The resolution seen by Reuters repeated wording from a November 2022 resolution that it was "essential and urgent" for Iran to explain the uranium traces and let the IAEA take samples as necessary. The resolution in June of this year did the same. The new text asked the IAEA to issue "a comprehensive and updated assessment on the possible presence or use of undeclared nuclear material in connection with past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran's nuclear programme, including a full account of Iran's cooperation with the IAEA on these issues". Western powers hope that report, due by spring 2025, will pressure Iran into negotiations on fresh restrictions on its nuclear activities, albeit less far-reaching ones than in a 2015 deal with major powers that unravelled after then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from it in 2018. With Trump due to return to office in January and Iran having taken its uranium enrichment far beyond the deal's limits, it is far from clear whether Trump would back negotiations aimed at setting new limits before the 2015 deal's ones are lifted on "termination day" in October of next year. If no new limits are agreed before then, the report could be used to strengthen the case for so-called "snapback", a process under the 2015 deal where the issue is sent to the U.N. Security Council and sanctions lifted under the deal can be re-imposed. Last week IAEA chief Rafael Grossi visited Tehran , hoping to convince new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is seen as relatively moderate, to improve Iran's cooperation with the agency. Grossi formally reported to member states on Tuesday that "the possibility of Iran not further expanding its stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60% U-235 was discussed" in his meetings with Iranian officials, and that the IAEA had verified Iran had "begun implementation of preparatory measures". Iran already has enough material enriched to that level, close to the roughly 90% purity that is weapons grade, for four nuclear weapons if enriched further, according to an IAEA yardstick. It has enough material enriched to lower levels for more bombs, but Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons. Grossi said on Wednesday he had asked Iran to cap that stock of 60% material and Iran had accepted his request. He told a news conference that day that it was "a concrete step in the right direction", suggesting that he felt a resolution could undermine that progress. With the resolution passed, Iran is likely to respond. Moments after the vote, Iranian state media cited a joint statement by the foreign ministry and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran saying Iran's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami has issued orders for measures like activating various new and advanced centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium. "If there is a resolution, it (Iran) will either increase its activities or reduce the agency's access," a senior diplomat said before the vote. Sign up here. Writing by Francois Murphy; additional reporting by John Irish in Paris and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Marguerita Choy Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab

George Kresge Jr., who wowed talk show audiences as the The Amazing Kreskin, diesTORONTO — The Toronto Raptors have signed guard AJ Lawson to a two-way contract, the NBA team announced Wednesday. The six-foot-six, 185-pound guard from Toronto averaged 24.0 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 35.1 minutes in 11 games (all starts) this season with the Long Island Nets, the G League affiliate of the Brooklyn Nets. Lawson has career averages of 3.4 points, 1.2 rebounds and 7.4 minutes in 57 career NBA games with the Dallas Mavericks and the Minnesota Timberwolves over the last two seasons. During this span, he also averaged 21.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 34.1 minutes in seven games with the Texas Legends in the 2023-24 G League season and 20.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 31.9 minutes in 22 games with the Legends, Iowa Wolves and the College Park Skyhawks in the 2022-23 campaign. Lawson played three collegiate seasons (2018-21) at South Carolina where he posted averages of 14.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 30.2 minutes in 81 career games. The signing comes with the Raptors dealing with injuries to all-star Scottie Barnes and point guard Immanuel Quickley. The Raptors return to action Thursday against the Heat in Miami. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2024. The Canadian Press

High-flying holidayEighteen states passed laws this year against sexual deepfakes that depict minors, government relations firm MultiState Associates. That number is up from just two states in 2023, as lawmakers rush to close legal loopholes around this new kind of crime. Deepfakes are photos, videos or audio recordings that are not real but appear authentic due to advances in artificial intelligence. They often involve a real person’s image or voice without their consent. When that person is under 18, the deepfake depicts a minor. Laws against child sexual abuse material (CSAM), the for child pornography, have long been on the books, but those enacted prior to the rise of AI do not mention deepfakes specifically. While prohibits CSAM, including computer-generated images that “appear to depict an actual, identifiable minor," it does not narrowly address deepfake CSAM and how courts should handle in which a minor’s face has been superimposed on a sexually explicit image. Meanwhile, such cases are on the rise. The number of sexual deepfakes that depict minors on one dark web forum more than doubled to 5,547 images from September to March, according to a by the U.K.-based Internet Watch Foundation. However, lack of legal clarity can make it harder to prosecute cases that involve deepfake CSAM, according to Max Rieper, director and counsel for technology and privacy at MultiState Associates. “It’s a computer-generated image that may be based on real people, but it’s not a real person, and usually the statutes say you can’t have sexual content of a known minor, which implies a real person,” Rieper said. “It’s difficult for prosecutors to navigate, so just tightening that up, making sure there aren’t any loopholes, I think has been a priority for lawmakers in several states.” Among the 20 states that now have laws that specifically prohibit sexual deepfakes of minors, most simply added AI-generated images to the definition of CSAM in existing statutes and extended their criminal penalties to include fines and jail time for people who create, possess or distribute these images. The punishments tend to be the same for real and deepfake CSAM but vary from state to state. In , for example, a first-time offender who possesses real or deepfake CSAM is to receive up to one year in jail, a fine of not more than $2,500 or both. Fines and prison time increase based on prior CSAM convictions, the number of images found, whether the minors depicted appear under age 12, whether the images portray sexual sadism or masochism, and whether the material is exchanged with or sold to anyone. In , the law states that anyone convicted of creating or possessing a sexual deepfake that depicts a minor is to receive at least five years in prison, a fine of not more than $10,000 or both. If the deepfake CSAM is exchanged with or sold to anyone, the penalty increases to at least 10 years in prison, a fine of not more than $50,000 or both. have enacted laws that ban only sexual deepfakes of adults, typically by expanding existing “revenge porn” statutes to include AI-generated images. These laws do not address cases where the sexual deepfake depicts a minor and, therefore, leave potential legal loopholes, Rieper said. Experts say schools should follow the footsteps of the 20 states that have specifically addressed deepfake CSAM by updating their own policies to account for the fact that these AI-generated images are in U.S. schools. In the past year, 15 percent of high school students have heard about sexual deepfakes that depict someone from their school, according to a by the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). If schools fail to manage such incidents properly, they could be found in of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which requires schools that receive federal funding to protect their students against sexual harassment. An April 2024 to the law changed the definition of sexual harassment to include “the nonconsensual distribution of intimate images (including authentic images and images that have been altered or generated by artificial intelligence technologies).” The CDT report suggests training for teachers and Title IX coordinators on how to report deepfake CSAM and support victims of these images. CDT also advises school leaders to educate staff, students and families on the dangers of deepfakes. , a lawyer for school districts in California, echoed that recommendation, especially for students. “Just informing students of the potential consequences and also of the potential impact of deepfakes on those who are depicted in the videos and the images is one way to reach students who may be doing this as a prank without understanding the gravity of their actions,” he said. Whether students who make and spread deepfake CSAM are suspended, expelled, sent to counseling or given other consequences is up to school leaders, Le said, but school leaders must report the issue to law enforcement immediately. Given that the perpetrators of deepfake CSAM in schools are often minors themselves, he said how police choose to deal with these cases will depend on the details of the situation and the laws of the state.

I’m A Celeb live chaos as viewers spot a string of awkward editing blundersStock market today: Wall Street gets back to climbing, and the Nasdaq tops 20,000

BUIES CREEK, N.C. (AP) — Tyrell Greene Jr. ran for three touchdowns, Devin Matthews added 134 yards on the ground with a score and Towson beat Campbell 45-23 on Saturday. Greene scored on a 7-yard run with 12:55 remaining, and after Tigers’ Will Middleton intercepted a Mike Chandler II pass, he broke loose for a 30-yard touchdown that stretched the Towson lead to 35-16 about 30 seconds later. Green also had a 3-yard TD run in the second quarter and finished with 41 yards rushing on nine carries. Matthews carried the ball 15 times and scored on a 54-yard run for Towson (7-5, 5-3 Coastal Athletic Association). Seth Brown completed 10 of 15 passes for 156 yards with a touchdown and Christopher Watkins added a late TD run. Mark Biggins had a 1-yard touchdown run for Campbell (3-9, 1-7). Chandler was 13-of-27 passing for 135 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Connor Lytton made 3 of 5 field goal attempts for the Camels. The Tigers secured their second winning season in three seasons and its first seven-win season since 2019. It was the first meeting between the teams. __ Get alerts on the latest AP Top 25 poll throughout the season. Sign up here ___ AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

North America’s top professional sports leagues have issued warnings to their players about a growing threat from high-tech, organized burglary rings, whose tools of choice are passports, cutting-edge technology and a 90-day calendar. The NBA memo, citing FBI intelligence, specifically linked the crimes to “transnational South American Theft Groups” that target “professional athletes and other high-net-worth individuals.” These groups are known for using “advanced techniques” such as pre-surveillance, drones, signal-jamming devices and other cutting-edge technology. The NFL highlighted the risks posed by what it called “organized and skilled groups” of burglars targeting wealthy athletes. Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are While the warnings did not name victims, they were issued after the homes of athletes including Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce and Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis were recently burglarized. The tactics described in the memos bear a striking resemblance to a wave of break-ins targeting affluent residents in Southern California . Federal and local officials from Los Angeles and Orange County have reported a spike in break-ins by what they call “burglary tourists” — criminals from Central and South America who legally enter the U.S. on 90-day tourist visas under the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). But instead of packing swimsuits and sunscreen, police said these individuals are armed with disguises, video equipment, trail cameras and Wi-Fi jammers. They target wealthy neighborhoods and gated communities before moving on to avoid detection. These “burglary tourists” have been at work for at least five years, but their operations have intensified in recent times as information about addresses and even pictures of properties have become increasingly accessible. “Transnational gangs might not know everything about the house that they are breaking into,” LAPD Chief of Detectives Alan Hamilton told NBC News on Friday. “But there’s always a possibility these suspects know who they are and monitor the athletes’ social media and movements.” Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley’s home was also burglarized in September while he was attending an NFL game, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported . Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world. Portis posted on Instagram on Nov. 3 saying his “prized possessions” were stolen from his home during his team’s game the previous day. Kelce’s and Mahomes’ homes in Kansas City were broken into hours apart in October. The burglars made off with $20,000 in cash and caused $1,000 in damage to Kelce’s home, according to a police report obtained by NBC affiliate KSHB of Kansas City . Mahomes has called the ordeal “frustrating” and “disappointing.” This trend has spread to other cities including Chicago, Houston and Dallas. “Law enforcement has long recognized this pattern of crimes across the Midwest,” Hamilton said. “It’s not something they have been immune to.” Law enforcement from coast to coast, including the FBI, has been tracking these criminal networks for years, with suspects linked to South American gangs appearing in nearly every state, Hamilton said. “It’s totally military”-level technology, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer told NBC News over the summer. “People we’ve arrested here in Orange County have criminal records coming from the country of Chile.” If Southern California law enforcement has made progress in reducing these crimes, it may be driving more of these operations to other regions of the country. The NBA and NFL urged players to take preventive measures, such as activating alarm systems and surveillance cameras, securing valuables in safes and avoid oversharing on social media. “The FBI reported that, in most of the incidents, the homes were equipped with alarm systems that were not activated,” reads the NBA memo obtained by NBC News on Friday. “The FBI also reported that the homes were all unoccupied and, in most cases, no dogs were present.” This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

On Wednesday, at Sednaya, a political prison in Syria, hundreds of people prowled the grounds. It was the third day after an astonishing rebel offensive deposed Bashar al-Assad, who had ruled as a tyrant during thirteen years of vicious civil war. After the rebels swept into Damascus, the jailers had fled Sednaya, and the prisoners had been set free. The visitors on Wednesday were relatives of men who were known to have been held there but had not reappeared. On the grass outside, burned black in places by recent fires, groups of them camped out in a grim limbo. That morning, a Turkish search-and-rescue team in blue coveralls was busy with shovels inside the darkened administration block, working at a small rectangle of dirt where a concrete slab had been torn away. Rumors persisted that there was a buried hatchway to a “red prison”—a secret underground facility where hundreds, or even thousands, of prisoners might still be alive but dying of hunger, thirst, or asphyxiation. Whether or not the rumors were true, most everyone at Sednaya seemed to believe them, and several relatives approached me to ask whether, as “a Westerner,” I could provide the technology to peer through the floors. The leader of the Turkish team told me that his group had nothing but shovels. “We are here because we want to show solidarity,” he explained, gesturing at the desperate people around him. Being entombed alive is an apt metaphor for a populace that had its civic freedoms squashed by the Assad dynasty for half a century. Hafez al-Assad, a secular nationalist from the minority Alawite sect, ran Syria tyrannically from 1971 until his death, in 2000. He was succeeded by his son Bashar, a former ophthalmologist who proved no less repressive than his father. The civil war erupted in 2011, after Bashar responded to a peaceful demonstration with deadly force. Since then, it has been estimated that six hundred thousand Syrians have been killed; some six million, nearly a third of the population, have fled into exile. Throughout the decades of the Assads’ rule, resistance of any kind was brutally quashed, and offenders were detained and tortured in a network of dozens of facilities across the country. Sednaya was the most infamous. Built in the late eighties, on a barren limestone hilltop forty minutes from downtown Damascus, it acquired such a fearsome reputation that many Syrians refused to utter its name aloud. In the first days of the war, I visited the hills nearby and spotted the complex. When I asked my driver what it was, he shook his head. Asked again, he whispered, “Sednaya” but would add only that it was a “terrible” place. Since then, as the war intensified, the prison became, by all accounts, even more terrible. In 2021, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights calculated that as many as thirty thousand people had been executed there since the war began. But the number of people who survived within the prison’s walls was, like most everything else about it, impossible to know. When Sednaya was liberated, last weekend, some of those freed had been there for decades. One inmate had reportedly been imprisoned since 1981; he had entered as a young man of twenty-seven and emerged, a ghastly Rip Van Winkle, at seventy. The searchers who gathered on Wednesday morning, moving through dank stairwells and across the flat prison roof, were traversing a place that they could have seen only in their horrified imaginations. A militiaman in camouflage played me a cell-phone video—sent, he claimed, by a former jailer—that purportedly showed the layout of the prison and of a set of tunnels. The militiaman held out his hands uncertainly; even with the video, no one could find the tunnels. No one had even found a registry of prisoners who had been held there. I met an elderly couple from Aleppo—a man in a red-and-white-checked kaffiyeh and a woman in a dark hijab. “Where are the lists?” the man asked, and then answered himself: “There are no lists.” Moving away, he said, “All I want to know is if they are alive or dead.” For the family members who have come to Sednaya—after enduring years with no news about their fathers, brothers, sons, and nephews—any bit of evidence stirs a despairing hope, which shows plainly in their body language and on their faces. The crowd that gathered around the Turks shovelling at the floor resembled relatives of people buried in earthquakes; they watched avidly, helplessly, for any indication of life. Other visitors wandered through cellblocks, some stooping to examine the documents on prison stationery that lay everywhere. I asked one dazed-looking man about a paper in his hands. Studying it as if for the first time, he said that it had to do with food allocation—not for the prisoners but for the guards. “It says the guards have been transferred, so they don’t need the food anymore,” he said. Another visitor thrust his phone in my face. It was playing a video of a young man in shorts being beaten in a cell at Sednaya. There were vicious red welts on his body; he whimpered in fear and pain as guards struck him. For years, as reports of atrocities filtered out, Bashar al-Assad remained in power, propped up by Russian and Iranian allies. As I entered one hallway, a woman in a robe began shouting, “Now you come to look. Why didn’t you come before? Why didn’t you believe us? Why didn’t you hear us when we said they were killing us!” After a moment, she moved on, but a nearby man began shouting, too. He wanted revenge, nothing less or more. He would get a weapon and kill the Alawites—Assad’s sect, which some members of Syria’s Sunni majority see as complicit in his repression. The man vowed to kill every man, every woman, and every child he saw. A boy in a turban stood inside the barred steel door of a cell. He was looking for his brother, who had been taken, at the age of fifteen, from their family’s home in the northeastern city of Deir ez Zor. He had been gone for nine years, which would make him twenty-four now, the boy calculated. The cell floor, like all the others, was covered with unidentifiable stains and strewn with grimy gray blankets and bits of clothing. The boy looked intently at the refuse, as if expecting to see something that would help him find his brother. Up on the roof, three men pointed at a reinforced hatchway, from which a pipe protruded. Perhaps, they suggested, it was an air vent to the secret underground prison. There was a rank smell seeping from it, but it seemed like the stench of sewage, not of bodies. As I prepared to climb back down into the prison through a hole bashed through the concrete, they called out again, pointing to a hatch at the far end of the roof. Another vent there had an even worse smell—but that, too, seemed like nothing more than waste. The men went on, aimlessly looking for whatever they could find. Everywhere I went in Sednaya, it was the same story. The Syrian people had been so terrorized and disenfranchised, so thoroughly cut off from their missing relatives, that they were reduced to a kind of ad-hoc forensic anthropology. One man, who had lost two brothers and three cousins to Sednaya, told me that he had been able to visit them once, back in 2016. But he was told afterward that he could not return, and since then there had been only silence. I asked if he had tried to come back, despite the order, to check on his family members. He replied, with a stricken look, “My relatives told me not to ask about them, that it could be bad for them, and so I stopped.” As I walked down a stairwell, a young man beckoned to me, cupping his other hand over his mouth and nose. A friend of his had made a hole in the wall about six feet up and was crouched in the opening. “Please smell,” the young man asked me. This time, I thought, it did possibly smell like death. The man in the hole began tearing at the masonry and hurling aside debris. A knot of onlookers gathered, looking up through the bars of a locked doorway below. For the moment, their faces were hopeful. ♦ New Yorker Favorites A man was murdered in cold blood and you’re laughing ? The best albums of 2024. Little treats galore: a holiday gift guide . How Maria Callas lost her voice . An objectively objectionable grammatical pet peeve . 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Trump Adviser Boris Epshteyn Investigated For Allegedly Seeking Payments From Admin Hopefuls—What To Know About HimBritish Columbia Premier David Eby says 25-per-cent U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods would be "devastating" for the province's lumber and forestry industries. He made the comment ahead of a meeting with fellow first ministers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Eby was scheduled to participate in the virtual meeting on Wednesday to discuss U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's threat to impose the tariffs unless Canada and Mexico stop illegal border crossings and prevent illicit drugs from entering the United States. Eby said the lumber and forestry sectors are already strained by a recent increase in duties amid the ongoing U.S.-Canada dispute over softwood lumber. He said after the first meeting of his new cabinet in Victoria that the tariffs are "unjustified," and they would hurt Americans as much as they would Canadians. The premier said B.C. is a source of natural gas, wood products, minerals and other products that U.S. businesses depend on, and the tariff would hinder jobs and opportunities in the province while making "life more expensive for Americans." Eby and Ottawa have called for a united front dealing with Trump's tariff plan, which he announced on social media on Monday. Eby said B.C. officials had repeatedly raised concerns with Ottawa over organized crime and illicit drugs, such as fentanyl, in relation to border security. "It's a priority for us. It has been for a while, we've written to Ottawa about it. Doesn't justify the tariffs, but it does mean that we can talk about those issues as well." Eby said Trump's proposed tariff "doesn't make economic sense," and the measure is not necessary to address issues at the border. The premier said he believes B.C. has a strong case to make for the tariff being "badly placed" if Trump's priority is to reduce costs for Americans. "I think the premiers are unified," Eby said. "There are 13 of us plus the prime minister. It's a big group of people with different political perspectives, but on this issue of ensuring that we're protecting the people in our country from these unjustified tariffs, I believe we're completely in line on that question."

Reiterates Commitment to Investing in America to Lower Grocery Prices, Raise Associate Wages, and Support Local Communities Highlights Resilience of Value Creation Model and Strong Momentum to Drive Long-term, Sustainable Growth Board of Directors Authorizes $7.5B Share Repurchase Program including $5B Accelerated Share Repurchase CINCINNATI , Dec. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) today terminated its merger agreement with Albertsons after the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon granted the Federal Trade Commission's request for a preliminary injunction to block the proposed merger. After reviewing options, the company determined it is no longer in its best interests to pursue the merger. "Kroger is moving forward from a position of strength. Our go-to-market strategy provides exceptional value and unique omnichannel experiences to our customers which powers our value creation model. We look forward to accelerating our flywheel to grow our alternative profit businesses and generate increased cash flows. The strength of our balance sheet and sustainability of our model allows us to pursue a variety of growth opportunities, including further investment in our store network through new stores and remodels, which will be an important part of our 8 – 11% TSR model over time," said Rodney McMullen , Kroger's Chairman and CEO. America's Grocer is Committed to Lowering Grocery Prices & Investing in Associates "Kroger has an extraordinary track record of investing in America," said McMullen. "We are at our best when we serve others – our customers, associates, and communities – and we take seriously our responsibility to provide great value by consistently lowering prices and offering more choices. When we do this, more customers shop with us and buy more groceries, which allows us to reinvest in even lower prices, a better shopping experience and higher wages. We know this model works because we've been doing it successfully for many years, and this is exactly what we will continue to do." Kroger's ongoing investments in America include: "I appreciate our associates who remained focused on taking care of our customers, communities and each other throughout the merger process," added McMullen. Share Repurchase Program Including Accelerated Share Repurchases Now that Kroger has terminated the merger agreement, the company is ready to deploy its capacity. With its strengthened balance sheet, Kroger will resume share repurchases after a more than two-year pause. Since announcing the merger, Kroger used its strong free cash flow and debt financing to build meaningful balance sheet capacity while maintaining its investment-grade rating. Kroger's Board of Directors approved a new share repurchase program authorizing the repurchase of up to $7.5 billion of common stock. The new repurchase authorization replaces Kroger's existing $1 billion authorization which was approved in September 2022 . Kroger intends to enter an accelerated share repurchase ("ASR") agreement for the repurchase of approximately $5 billion of common stock. "Our strong balance sheet and free cash flows position us to deliver on our commitment to grow the business and return capital to shareholders, maintaining capacity to invest in lower prices and higher associate wages," McMullen said. Kroger expects to continue to generate strong free cash flow and remains committed to its capital allocation priorities including maintaining its current investment grade debt rating, investing in the business to drive long-term sustainable net earnings growth, and returning excess free cash flow to shareholders via share repurchases and a growing dividend over time, subject to board approval. Looking forward, Kroger plans to host an Investor Day event in late spring of 2025 to share an update on its strategic priorities, future growth prospects and long-term financial outlook. Merger Debt Redemption In connection with the termination of the merger agreement, Kroger will begin the process of redeeming the $4.7 billion of its senior notes issued on August 27, 2024 , that include a special mandatory redemption provision in accordance with their terms. The notes will be redeemed at a redemption price equal to 101% of their principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the special mandatory redemption date. Termination of Exchange Offers In connection with the termination of the merger agreement, Kroger has also elected to terminate its previously announced offers to exchange (collectively, the "Exchange Offers") any and all outstanding notes (the "ACI Notes") issued by Albertsons Companies, Inc., New Albertsons, L.P., Safeway Inc., Albertson's LLC, Albertsons Safeway LLC and American Stores Company, LLC (collectively, the "ACI Issuing Entities"), for up to $7,441,608,000 aggregate principal amount of new notes to be issued by Kroger and cash. Kroger has also elected to terminate the related solicitation of consents (the "Consent Solicitation" and, together with the Exchange Offer, the "Exchange Offer and Consent Solicitation") on behalf of the ACI Issuing Entities to adopt certain proposed amendments to the indentures governing the ACI Notes (the "ACI Indentures"). As a result of the Exchange Offer being terminated, the total consideration, including any consent fee, will not be paid or become payable to holders of the ACI Notes who have validly tendered and not validly withdrawn their ACI Notes for exchange in the Exchange Offer, and the ACI Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn for exchange pursuant to the Exchange Offer will be promptly returned to the tendering holders. As a result of the Consent Solicitation being terminated, the proposed amendments to the ACI Indentures and the supplemental indentures previously entered into reflecting such proposed amendments will not become operative. About the Exchange Offers Global Bondholder Services Corporation served as exchange agent and information agent for the now terminated Exchange Offer and Consent Solicitation. You should direct questions and requests for assistance to Global Bondholder Services Corporation at (855) 654-2015 (toll-free) or (212) 430-3774 (banks and brokers), or by email at contact@gbsc-usa.com . About Kroger At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are dedicated to our Purpose: to Feed the Human SpiritTM. We are, across our family of companies nearly 414,000 associates who serve over eleven million customers daily through a seamless digital shopping experience and retail food stores under a variety of banner names , serving America through food inspiration and uplift, and creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and investor relations site. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains certain statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" about Kroger's financial position and the future performance of the company. These statements are based on management's assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. Such statements are indicated by words or phrases such as "achieve," "committed," "confidence," "continue," "deliver," "expect," "future," "guidance," "model," "outlook," "strategy," "target," "trends," "well-positioned," and variations of such words and similar phrases. Various uncertainties and other factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. These include the specific risk factors identified in "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K for our last fiscal year and any subsequent filings, as well as the following: Kroger's ability to achieve sales, earnings, incremental FIFO operating profit, and adjusted free cash flow goals may be affected by: the termination of the merger agreement and our proposed transaction with Albertsons and related divestiture plan; labor negotiations; potential work stoppages; changes in the unemployment rate; pressures in the labor market; changes in government-funded benefit programs; changes in the types and numbers of businesses that compete with Kroger; pricing and promotional activities of existing and new competitors, and the aggressiveness of that competition; Kroger's response to these actions; the state of the economy, including interest rates, the inflationary, disinflationary and/or deflationary trends and such trends in certain commodities, products and/or operating costs; the geopolitical environment including wars and conflicts; unstable political situations and social unrest; changes in tariffs; the effect that fuel costs have on consumer spending; volatility of fuel margins; manufacturing commodity costs; supply constraints; diesel fuel costs related to Kroger's logistics operations; trends in consumer spending; the extent to which Kroger's customers exercise caution in their purchasing in response to economic conditions; the uncertainty of economic growth or recession; stock repurchases; changes in the regulatory environment in which Kroger operates, along with changes in federal policy and at regulatory agencies; Kroger's ability to retain pharmacy sales from third party payors; consolidation in the healthcare industry, including pharmacy benefit managers; Kroger's ability to negotiate modifications to multi-employer pension plans; natural disasters or adverse weather conditions; the effect of public health crises or other significant catastrophic events; the potential costs and risks associated with potential cyber-attacks or data security breaches; the success of Kroger's future growth plans; the ability to execute our growth strategy and value creation model, including continued cost savings, growth of our alternative profit businesses, and our ability to better serve our customers and to generate customer loyalty and sustainable growth through our strategic pillars of fresh, our brands, personalization, and seamless; the successful integration of merged companies and new strategic collaborations; and the risks relating to or arising from our proposed nationwide opioid litigation settlement, including our ability to finalize and effectuate the settlement, the scope and coverage of the ultimate settlement and the expected financial or other impacts that could result from the settlement. Our ability to achieve these goals may also be affected by our ability to manage the factors identified above. Our ability to execute our financial strategy may be affected by our ability to generate cash flow. Kroger assumes no obligation to update the information contained herein unless required by applicable law. Please refer to Kroger's reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a further discussion of these risks and uncertainties. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kroger-reiterates-its-commitment-to-lower-prices-and-initiates-new-7-5b-share-buyback-program-302329493.html SOURCE The Kroger Co.European Central Bank set to deliver final rate cut of the year: Live updatesA pile of welcome shifts in the plate tectonics of local politics

NFL will consider replay assist for facemask penalties and other playsLONDON, Nov 28 –– YouTubers KSI and IShowSpeed have joined forces with Ronaldinho, Gary Lineker and Luis Figo to launch the British and American versions of Baller League. First introduced in Germany by footballers Mats Hummels and Lukas Podolski, in conjunction with entrepreneur Felix Starck, the six-a-side format is going global in 2025 with a host of stars attached to the project. Baller League’s unique selling point will be the involvement of social media influencers with huge reach. KSI, who has 24.8 million YouTube subscribers, will be president of the UK tournament. Streamer IShowSpeed, who has over 60 million followers across multiple platforms, was named as president of the US competition on Tuesday. Miniminter and Tobi, both part of YouTube group Sidemen, plus streamer AngryGinge are set to try their hand at management in the British event. Former Brazil and Barcelona icon Ronaldinho, a World Cup winner in 2002, is also part of the American tournament. Former England captains Lineker and John Terry, as well as ex-Barcelona and Real Madrid forward Luis Figo, have been lined up as team managers in the UK. Micah Richards, Alan Shearer, Freddie Ljungberg, Jens Lehmann and Robert Pires have also been signed up as coaches. Baller League UK will run from March 3 to May 19 next year, featuring matches every Monday on indoor pitches with 12 teams competing. Trials to find players for the event are due to take place in London and Manchester. Former professionals, futsal players, free agents and released academy players are among those eligible to take part. Each match will be live streamed, with YouTuber Chunkz hosting a weekly show. “Sport is no longer as easy as just saying ‘look, we’re here now, come and watch us’,” Starck told the BBC. “That’s just not how sport works any more. It needs to be exciting, and it needs to be authentic. Those are the two words that we always use at Baller League.” –– AFP

From burn marks on her leg to teachers spotting bruises – 15 missed chances to save murdered Sara Sharif