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Faruqi & Faruqi Reminds Kyverna Therapeutics Investors Of The Pending Class Action Lawsuit With A Lead Plaintiff Deadline Of February 7, 2025 – KYTXA judge on Monday rejected a request to block a San Jose State women’s volleyball team member from playing in a conference tournament on grounds that she is transgender. Monday’s ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews in Denver will allow the player, who has played all season, to compete in the Mountain West Conference women’s championship opening this week in Las Vegas. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by nine current players against the Mountain West Conference challenging the league’s policies for allowing transgender players to participate. The players argued that letting her compete was a safety risk and unfair. While some media have reported those and other details, neither San Jose State nor the forfeiting teams have confirmed the school has a trans woman volleyball player. The Associated Press is withholding the player’s name because she has not commented publicly on her gender identity. School officials also have declined an interview request with the player. Crews' ruling referred to the athlete as an “alleged transgender” player and noted that no defendant disputed that the San Jose State roster includes a transgender woman player. San Jose State will "continue to support its student-athletes and reject discrimination in all forms," the university said in a statement, confirming that all its student-athletes are eligible to participate under NCAA and conference rules. “We are gratified that the Court rejected an eleventh-hour attempt to change those rules. Our team looks forward to competing in the Mountain West volleyball tournament this week." The conference did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The players filed a notice for emergency appeal with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Crews said the players who filed the complaint could have sought relief much earlier, noting the individual universities had acknowledged that not playing their games against San Jose State this season would result in a loss in league standings. He also refused a request to re-seed the tournament without the forfeited losses. The judge said injunctions are meant to preserve the status quo. The conference policy regarding forfeiting for refusing to play against a team with a transgender player had been in effect since 2022 and the San Jose State player has been on the roster since 2022 -– making that the status quo. The player competed at the college level three previous seasons, including two for San Jose State, drawing little attention. This season’s awareness of her reported identity led to an uproar among some players, pundits, parents and politicians in a major election year. Crews' ruling also said injunctions are meant to prevent harm, but in this case, he argued, the harm has already occurred. The games have been forfeited, the tournament has been seeded, the teams have made travel plans and the participants have confirmed they're playing. The tournament starts Wednesday and continues Friday and Saturday. Colorado State is seeded first and San Jose State, second. The teams split their regular-season matches and both get byes into Friday's semifinals. Story continues below video The conference tournament winner gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. San Jose State coach Todd Kress, whose team has not competed in the national tournament since 2001, has said his team has been getting “messages of hate” and that has taken a toll on his players. Several teams refused to play against San Jose State during the season, earning losses in the official conference standings. Boise State and Wyoming each had two forfeits while Utah State and Nevada both had one. Southern Utah, a member of the Western Athletic Conference, was first to cancel against San Jose State this year. Nevada’s players stated they “refuse to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes,” without elaborating. Nevada did not qualify for the conference tournament. The nine current players and others now suing the Mountain West Conference, the California State University Board of Trustees and others include San Jose State senior setter and co-captain Brooke Slusser. The teammate Slusser says is transgender hits the volleyball with more force than others on the team, raising fear during practices of suffering concussions from a head hit, the complaint says. The Independent Council on Women’s Sports is funding a separate lawsuit against the NCAA for allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports. Both lawsuits claim the landmark 1972 federal antidiscrimination law known as Title IX prohibits transgender women in women’s sports. Title IX prohibits sexual discrimination in federally funded education; Slusser is a plaintiff in both lawsuits. Several circuit courts have used a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to conclude that discriminating against someone based on their transgender status or sexual orientation is sex-based discrimination, Crews wrote. That means case law does not prove the “likelihood of success” needed to grant an injunction. An NCAA policy that subjects transgender participation to the rules of sports governing bodies took effect this academic year. USA Volleyball says a trans woman must suppress testosterone for 12 months before competing. The NCAA has not flagged any issues with San Jose State. The Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the team cancellations, citing fairness in women’s sports. President-elect Donald Trump likewise has spoken out against allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports. Crews was a magistrate judge in Colorado’s U.S. District Court for more than five years before President Joe Biden appointed him as a federal judge in January. Gruver reported from Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Hanson from Helena, Montana.Thanksgiving: A time to be grateful for our pets, wildlifeLENS: Marseille beat Lens 3-1 on Saturday to stay within touching distance of Ligue 1 table-toppers Paris Saint-Germain, while Lyon and Reims played out a 1-1 stalemate. Second-half strikes from Valentin Rongier, Luis Henrique and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg ensured Marseille remain third, nine points behind PSG and three off Monaco in second spot. After the top two both won on Friday, Marseille needed to get back to winning ways with their trip to Lens following their slump in form before the international break and anything other than a win would have meant they trailed PSG by at least 11 points. Following a flying start to life under new coach Roberto De Zerbi, Marseille have been hit-and-miss in recent weeks, losing two of the their last five in the league. These came in the form of a chastening 3-0 loss at home to arch-rivals PSG in October and then in the last matchday before the break, a surprise 3-1 home defeat to mid-table Auxerre. De Zerbi dubbed Saturday’s win “a significant response in terms of (his side’s) character”. “We managed to shake off that defeat to Auxerre, which really hurt us,” he added. The Italian will be hoping his side further prove him right next week when they welcome second-placed Monaco to the Velodrome. Lens looked the more threatening side in the first half with Marseille relying on goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli to keep the match goalless going into half-time. However, it was the south-coast side that eventually made the breakthrough four minutes into the second period through Rongier. Good centre-forward play by Neal Maupay set up the chance for the midfielder who supplied a cool finish one-on-one with the goalkeeper. On 57 minutes, Luis Henrique doubled the visitors’ lead with a rolled finish from the right-hand side of the box after a swift counter-attack caught Lens on the break. But everything seemed to unravel for Marseille in the space of five minutes at the end of the match. Angelo Fulgini pulled one back for Lens in the 80th minute, before Remy Labeau Lascary thought he had grabbed a leveller on 85 minutes. However, the home supporters’ joy was cut short when the referee decided after a VAR review that there had been a foul in the build-up and the equalizer was disallowed. Let off the hook, Marseille then sealed the three points one minute from time when Hojbjerg drilled home a fierce free-kick from the edge of the box - the set-piece stemming from the foul that caused Lens’ leveler to be ruled out. Lyon and Reims passed up the opportunity to go fourth with a 1-1 draw in the Champagne region. “For us I think it’s two points dropped,” Lyon captain Alexandre Lacazette told DAZN. “Our problem this season has been starting slowly in the second half and we paid for it again here,” the ex-Arsenal striker added. Rayan Cherki gave Lyon the lead seven minutes before the break but Oumar Diakite struck back for the hosts in the 55th minute. The result leaves Lyon provisionally level on 19 points with fourth-placed Lille, with Reims one point back in sixth. Saint Etienne ground out a 1-0 win at home to Montpellier in an encounter that could very well already have implications on the relegation battle come the end of the season. Benjamin Bouchouari’s 47th-minute strike sent Les Verts up to 13th place, while Montpellier remain rooted to the foot of the table with just two wins from 12 matches this term. — AFP
THE country’s budget deficit more than doubled in November 2024, according to the latest data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr). The budget deficit increased 128.38 percent to P213 billion in November 2024. This represented a growth of P119.7 billion from the P93.3 billion posted in November 2023. The BTr data also showed the country’s budget deficit increased to P1.18 trillion in January to November 2024, an increase of 5.92 percent or P65.7 billion from the P1.11 trillion posted in the 11-month period last year. Meanwhile, in terms of revenues, the data showed this only reached P338.3 billion in November 2024, a contraction of 0.61 percent or decline of P2.1 billion from the P340.4 billion in November 2023. While tax revenues grew 12.7 percent on the back of a 17.77-percent growth in Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collections, non-tax revenues contracted 70.7 percent in November 2024. “The YoY positive growth in the BIR collections for November 2024 can be attributed to the double-digit rise in collections from income taxes, value-added tax [VAT], excise taxes, and documentary stamp tax [DST],” the BTr said. “The increase in income tax can be attributed to the influx of taxpayers filing for their third Quarterly Income Tax Return on or before November 15 of the current taxable year,” it added. Under tax revenues, collections from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) contracted 1.69 percent or declined by P1.2 billion to P72.4 billion in November 2024 from the P73.7 billion in November 2023. Tax revenues brought in through Other Offices grew 10.4 percent or P200 million to P2.4 billion in November 2024 from P2.1 billion in November 2023. Meanwhile, non-tax revenues declined P38.4 billion to P15.9 billion in November 2024 from P54.3 billion in November 2023. The main contributor to the decline was the non-tax revenues from the BTr which contracted 80.86 percent or declined by P33.6 billion to P7.9 billion in November 2024 from P41.5 billion in the same period last year. “The BTr’s cumulative revenue for 2024 grew by 7.57 percent (P16.4 billion) from the previous year to P232.7 billion on account of higher interest on advances from GOCCs, guarantee fees, and the NG share from Pagcor income,” the BTr said. Non-tax revenues from other offices also declined 37.83 percent or by P4.9 billion to P8 billion in November 2024 from P12.8 billion in November 2023. Meanwhile, the country’s expenditures grew 27.13 percent or by P117.6 billion to P551.3 billion in November 2024 from P433.6 billion in November 2023. This was driven by the 37.29-percent growth or increase of P18.1 billion in interest payments to P66.7 billion last month compared to the P48.5 billion posted in the same month last year. “The notable expansion can be attributed to higher capital expenditures for road and defense infrastructure projects, social protection and education related programs, as well as personnel services requirements,” the BTr said. “The larger National Tax Allotment shares of local government units and the release of special shares in the proceeds of national taxes also contributed to the faster November outturn,” it added. The BTr also said the higher interest payment for November 2024 was due to “coupon payments on new domestic debt issuances and Global Bonds, as well as the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations.” Other expenditures also grew 25.85 percent or by P99.5 billion to P484.6 billion in November 2024 from P385.1 billion in November 2023. Image credits: Aquafina2015 | Dreamstime.com Cai U. Ordinario writes macroeconomic and urban development stories. She has received awards for excellence in reporting on the macroeconomy and statistics. Ordinario is also a Jefferson Fellow of the East West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. She completed her Masters degree in Communication at the University of the Philippines and Bachelor of Arts Major in Journalism from the University of Santo Tomas.Ketanji Brown Jackson & Her Family: Photos Of The Supreme Court Justice With Her Daughters & Husband
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii could be available to play against Ireland on Saturday after the Wallabies’ medical staff ruled out any structural damage to his wrist after the Test rookie appeared to injure it in Sunday’s 14-point defeat against Scotland. Suaalii hurt his right wrist after tackling Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu with only 30 minutes gone in the game. The centre immediately left the field after losing function in his arm and experiencing severe pain but is recovering well enough to take part in training this week in Dublin ahead of the Wallabies’ final Test of the year. Suaalii was only starting his second game for the Wallabies, after his impressive debut against England and an 18-minute appearance off the bench against Wales. The early loss of Suaalii made life even more difficult for the Wallabies, with three tries conceded in his absence. Second-rower Jeremy Williams is also available for selection for the Wallabies against Ireland after illness ruled him out of the matchday squad just before kick-off against Scotland. Williams’ return is timely given Will Skelton has returned to his club La Rochelle in France, due to the Ireland Test falling outside World Rugby’s designated international window. The Wallabies are the chosen opponents for the Irish Rugby Football Union’s 150th-anniversary celebrations and will hope for an improved performance after being so clinically dispatched in Edinburgh. Wallabies prop Allan Alaalatoa revealed the team’s bitter disappointment after the game in Edinburgh at losing the opportunity of playing for a Grand Slam on Saturday. “The feeling in there was tough, like no one said a word, you could see the body language of the boys straight after the game,” Alaalatoa said. “Because there was real belief, that we could win the Grand Slam and that came through the way that we prepared throughout the whole year and the way that the whole squad has contributed. “So that’s footy I guess, and it wasn’t our night ... so we push on to the next goal, which is to beat Ireland in Dublin.” Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii on the ground after getting injured. Credit: Getty Images The Wallabies conceded 14 penalties in Edinburgh, their second-highest total under coach Joe Schmidt, only bettered by 15 against South Africa in their first game of the Rugby Championship in July. Alaalatoa experienced not only the frustration of the team’s disciplinary errors, but also the failure of their defensive system, after the team missed 34 tackles. “Especially around that first half, it was probably just the quality of our tackle, just finishing off those tackles ... our discipline, which are things that we can control,” Alaalatoa said. “So that’s the message for us as leaders, and through the coaches as well, that the momentum we gave them was through things that we can control.” Like the Wallabies, Ireland have two victories and one defeat in November, winning against Fiji and Argentina and losing to New Zealand. Alaalatoa is aware of the scale of the challenge in Dublin, but is motivated by upsetting the form book. “(It’s) very important, Ireland obviously have been number one in the world for a while now, or number one and number two, and they’ve been a quality side for years, so we know how important this is, but I think more so for ourselves as well,” Alaalatoa said. “To come away three (wins) and one (defeat) will be awesome for our group. So, yeah, the boys are well aware of the challenge ahead, off the back of a short turn around. I’m sure the boys will prepare really well for it.” News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter .
A study of hot spots for collisions between ships and whales around the world, including Canadian waters, offers a map for measures to prevent the deadly strikes that could drive some species to extinction, one of the British Columbia-based authors says. Chloe Robinson said reported strikes represent a fraction of their true extent, and a lack of protection measures leaves whales vulnerable as global shipping expands. The study found shipping takes place across 92 per cent of the ranges for humpback, blue, fin and sperm whales worldwide, but measures to reduce vessel strikes have been implemented in less than seven per cent of high-risk areas. “That could really spell, you know, potential extinction for some of these species,” said Robinson,director of whales for Ocean Wise, a B.C.-based organization that provided data for the paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Science. “A recent study estimated anything up to 20,000 whales are killed a year through ship strikes, globally, and that’s just an estimate, a best-case estimate.” Robinson said she was surprised to see Swiftsure Bank, off the west coast of Vancouver Island, emerge as a risk hot spot for strikes of fin, blue and humpback whales. The area is a “migration highway” for humpbacks, she noted. The study also identified a hot spot for the same three species in the Gulf of St. Lawrence between Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland. “This is something that Ocean Wise has been looking into because a lot of the management measures occur offshore and not sort of within the Gulf of St. Lawrence itself and even the St. Lawrence Seaway, (which) leads down to the Great Lakes,” she said. “That was a huge hot spot, which was really interesting for me.” Robinson said there have been smaller studies on the risk of ship strikes in different regions, but the study published Thursday is the first to map the distribution of the four whale species, using a variety of data sources, then compare it with the Automatic Identification System, a tool used for tracking vessels worldwide. “This was really the first of its kind to map these two on top of each other,” she said. The researchers found the highest levels of risk in the Indian, western North Pacific and Mediterranean, while it also identified high-risk areas in the eastern North Pacific, North and South Atlantic Ocean along with the South China Sea. The Southern Ocean was the only region that did not contain any ship-strike hot spots due to low levels of shipping, despite high use by whales, the study found. Robinson said the findings support a strong case for maritime authorities to adopt measures such as whale alert systems, speed limits and no-go zones. “We know where there are areas where there are lots of whales and lots of ships, so this is where we need to target for management,” she said in an interview. Robinson said Canada is home to many “eyes on the water” and researchers exploring innovative techniques for monitoring whales. But the country lacks mandatory mitigation measures, and it’s not alone. “Next to none of the measures globally are mandatory. So, having voluntary measures (is) great, provided people comply,” Robinson said. Ocean Wise launched an alert system in 2018 that notifies large vessels of the presence of whales in Pacific Northwest waters, and Robinson said about 80 per cent of mariners from Washington state up to Alaska have signed up. The WhaleReport alert system mainly functions in what she describes as “inshore” waters around busy ports in Seattle, Vancouver and Prince Rupert. The Port of Vancouver has also seen a high rate of compliance for its ECHO program, Robinson noted. The program encourages vessels to take voluntary steps, such as slowing down or staying farther away from whales, in order to reduce underwater noise and the potential for strikes in busy shipping areas. Robinson favours a multi-pronged approach to reducing ship strikes, but she said one single measure she believes could have a big impact would be equipping vessels with an infrared camera to detect whales within several kilometres. “Maybe some mariners ... respond better to knowing there 100 per cent is a whale 200 metres in front of your vessel, versus, ‘slow down, there might be a whale here.’” Robinson said such cameras can cost betweenUS$50,000 and $75,000. But the cost was a “drop in the bucket” of major companies’ profits, she said. The cameras also present a public-relations opportunity for businesses to advertise themselves as operating in a more whale-friendly manner, Robinson said. “I know people who have had to go and have therapy after killing a humpback whilst at the helm,” she added. “I think there’s a lot to be said (for) the long-term benefits of this kind of technology.” The study also found areas with lower traffic that could provide refuge for whales, especially with added protections. It shows the Arctic Ocean, for example, has very few high-risk areas for vessel strikes, and Robinson said some researchers view it as potential sanctuary. But without protections, Robinson said Arctic waters could become the next high-risk hot spot as sea ice melts with climate change, opening up shipping routes. “Knowing the plans to expand shipping routes into these areas to cut shipping time, make things faster, right through prime whale habitat, I think this is a really good opportunity to get ahead of the issue before it becomes an issue,” she said. Whales play crucial roles in their ecosystems, including cycling nutrients that support other species, and they’re a boon for tourism, Robinson said. They’re also “magical” creatures that people feel connected to, she said, and they remain vulnerable after many species were hunted to the brink of extinction. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2024.Special counsel Jack Smith drops election subversion and classified documents cases against Donald Trump
