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Retakes, accepting late assignments among proposed changes to Arlington schools’ grading policy

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:05:29 GMT

Arlington Public Schools in Virginia is proposing a plan that would enable middle and high school students to retake or redo certain assignments and reduce the weight that homework has on a student’s overall grade.Under proposed changes to school system policies, all teachers would provide “retakes” and “redos” for all students on certain class assignments, and the higher grade would be recorded for the student. The change also calls for a decrease in the percentage of homework in the calculation of a student’s overall grade.And, assignments turned in after the due date but before the end of a teaching unit would have to be accepted for credit, though a student may still be penalized up to 10% for the late submission.The proposed changes, which also include tweaks to the elementary school standards-based grading policy, are part of Arlington’s new approach to grading that emphasizes equity.The Northern Virginia school district has worked to ...

Stock market today: Global shares dip, markets eye inflation

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:05:29 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares declined in muted trading Wednesday as investors awaited an upcoming report on inflation in the United States, an important indicator for where interest rates and global growth might go in the coming months.France’s CAC 40 shed 0.2% in early trading to 7,382.48. Germany’s DAX declined 0.3% to 15,914.55. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2% to 7,752.65. U.S. shares were set to drift lower with Dow futures down 0.1% at 33,599.00. S&P 500 futures fell 0.1% to 4,128.25.Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.4% to finish at 29,122.18. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 inched down 0.1% to 7,255.70. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.5% to 2,496.51. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped 0.5% to 19,762.20, while the Shanghai Composite shed 1.2% to 3,319.15.Market watchers are also worried about any signs of economic woes in China after recent data showed imports were lagging, even as exports continued to grow, although at a slower pace than before.F...

Mountain Province: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:05:29 GMT

TORONTO (AP) — TORONTO (AP) — Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. (MPVDF) on Tuesday reported net income of $20.9 million in its first quarter.On a per-share basis, the Toronto-based company said it had profit of 10 cents.The diamond mining company posted revenue of $95.2 million in the period._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MPVDF at https://www.zacks.com/ap/MPVDFSource

Telefonica Brasil: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:05:29 GMT

SAO PAULO-SP, Brazil (AP) — SAO PAULO-SP, Brazil (AP) — Telefonica Brasil SA (VIV) on Tuesday reported profit of $160.7 million in its first quarter.On a per-share basis, the Sao paulo-Sp, Brazil-based company said it had net income of 10 cents.The telecommunications company posted revenue of $2.45 billion in the period._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on VIV at https://www.zacks.com/ap/VIVSource

Multi-car crash leads to NB Turnpike closure in Davie

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:05:29 GMT

A crash on the Turnpike has led to serious traffic delays as roads had to be shut down while police investigated the scene.On Wednesday morning, the Florida Highway Patrol announced a fatality in the collision that occurred near the exit onto Interstate 595.Live video footage showed at least four vehicles involved in the crash that included a produce truck turned on its side. Another vehicle appeared to be demolished with its roof completely torn off by the impact. As a result of the incident, the entrance ramp onto the northbound lanes of the Turnpike has been closed until crews clear the scene. Drivers approaching the area from the Turnpike will be redirected into the westbound or eastbound lanes of I-595.Morning commuters looking for an alternate route should take either Interstate 95, US-441 or University Drive.

Webb telescope spies evidence of hidden planets around nearby star

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:05:29 GMT

(CNN) — Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe the first asteroid belt seen outside of our solar system and unveiled some cosmic surprises along the way.The space observatory focused on the warm dust that encircles Fomalhaut, a young, bright star located 25 light-years from Earth in the Piscis Austrinus constellation.The dusty disk around Fomalhaut was initially discovered in 1983 using NASA’s Infrared Astronomical Satellite. But the Webb researchers weren’t expecting to see three nested rings of dust extending out 14 billion miles (23 billion kilometers) from the star — or 150 times the distance of Earth from the sun.Webb’s new view revealed Fomalhaut’s two inner belts for the first time, which didn’t appear in previous images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope or other observatories.The detailed image of the dust belts, captured in infrared light that is invisible to the human eye, showed that the structures are more complex...

Twitter is adding calls and encrypted messaging

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:05:29 GMT

(CNN) — Twitter is adding encrypted messaging to the platform Wednesday, and calls will follow shortly, CEO Elon Musk tweeted late Tuesday.“Release of encrypted DMs [direct messages] V1.0 should happen tomorrow. This will grow in sophistication rapidly. The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if there was a gun to my head,” he said.“Coming soon will be voice and video chat from your handle to anyone on this platform, so you can talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them your phone number.”The move comes as Musk, who took control of Twitter six months ago, looks for ways to return the platform to growth. Its future looks increasingly uncertain in the face of dwindling advertising revenue and increased competition from rivals such as Mastodon and BlueSky, developed by Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey.Adding calls and encrypted messaging could allow Twitter to compete with Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, which owns Face...

DeSantis takes steps to again send migrants to Democratic-led cities

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:05:29 GMT

(CNN) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking steps to once again send migrants to Democratic-led cities as an affront to the Biden administration’s immigration policies, joining other Republican governors who have bussed people north.Florida has selected multiple companies to execute the next phase of DeSantis’ migrant relocation program, according to a source familiar with the process, setting in motion plans to transport migrants to other cities just as he did last year.The new contracts come as the Biden administration grapples with an influx of migrants at the US-Mexico border in anticipation of a Covid-era border restriction, known as Title 42, expiring this week. And it sets up DeSantis to once again thrust himself into the country’s fierce immigration debate just as he is expected to launch a 2024 presidential campaign.In a statement to CNN, Florida Division of Emergency Management spokeswoman Alecia Collins confirmed the state had “selected multi...

Ex-Tory MP kicked out for making vaccine-Holocaust link joins anti-woke party

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:05:29 GMT

LONDON — Andrew Bridgen, the former Conservative MP who was booted out of the party for likening the COVID-19 vaccine to the Holocaust, is joining a political party set up by a controversial anti-woke actor.Speaking at an event in Westminster on Wednesday, Bridgen confirmed he was switching to Laurence Fox’s Reclaim Party — and hit out what he called the “chasm” between politicians and the people.Reclaim, he said, respects “free speech as the basis for every aspect of our democracy and our society.”Bridgen represented the Tories as the MP for North West Leicestershire from 2010 until earlier this year.He was expelled from the Conservatives last month after using Twitter to share a link to a vaccine-related article on far-right blog ZeroHedge, accompanied by a claim that coronavirus jabs represented “the biggest crime against humanity since the holocaust.”In a statement announcing his switch Wednesday, Bridgen said he would cross the floor of the H...

Wagner chief: We’ll rip out Macron’s teeth

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:05:29 GMT

Yevgeny Prigozhin is fuming — again. This time he was triggered by the French parliament designating his Wagner Group of mercenaries as a terrorist organization — and on Wednesday he threatened French President Emmanuel Macron directly. Responding to a question from Russian journalists, Prigozhin claimed that Wagner was saving people in Central Africa — where Wagner has gained a strong foothold and squeezed France’s presence in the region — from French soldiers, who “simply mocked them.”“We can pull out rotten teeth from those bad mouths with pliers,” Prigozhin added. “We can pull out Macron’s teeth and, generally, everyone’s teeth who spill pathogenic filth (about Wagner).”On Tuesday, French lawmakers called on the EU to register Wagner on the bloc’s list of terrorist groups and enforce more legal tools to make Wagner’s financial activity in Europe impossible. The EU sanctioned Prigozhin himself in A...