Author: Press Room

AUGUSTA, Ga. — When the Masters begins on Thursday, there’ll be no shortage of top contenders.Scottie Scheffler is seeking to become the first back-to-back champion since Tiger Woods more than 20 years ago, and only the second to win three times in four years (Jack Nicklaus, of course, was the first.).Rory McIlroy is seeking to end an 11-year drought between major championships. A Masters victory would also complete the career grand slam. No one has played better golf this year on the PGA Tour, with wins at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Players Championship.Xander Schauffele, after breaking through…

President Donald Trump announced a handful of nominations and appointments Thursday, including a position to combat antisemitism. Trump selected Yehuda Kaploun, a prominent Miami-based businessman and longtime confidant of the president, to serve as the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism as an ambassador-at-large.”Yehuda is a successful businessman, and staunch advocate for the Jewish Faith and the Rights of his people to live and worship free from persecution,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “With Anti-Semitism dangerously on the rise, Yehuda will be the strongest Representative for Americans and Jews across the Globe, and promote PEACE. Congratulations Yehuda!”FEDERAL…

The Senate confirmed early Friday Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, the former National Guardsman and fighter pilot, to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.General Caine is replacing another Air Force fighter pilot, Gen. Charles Brown, known as C.Q., whom President Trump abruptly fired in February.The Senate’s lopsided approval of General Caine, who is retired, was expected. While Democrats had expressed concerns about the rash of firings at the Pentagon in Mr. Trump’s second term, General Caine garnered little opposition because the majority of them appeared to view him as perhaps the best possible option, given the circumstances.In his new…

Screen legend Richard Roxburgh is in Perth to promote his latest film, The Correspondent, which tells the true story of Australian journalist Peter Greste, who spent 400 days in an Egyptian prison on fabricated terrorism charges.While the movie from Red Dog director Kriv Stenders is harrowing at times, Roxburgh couldn’t be happier to show it to West Aussie audiences.“It’s really wonderful,” the actor told The West Australian.“I had a curious and magical spate of four years where I did one film in WA every one of those years in various beautiful places.“So WA did start to feel like the second…

COLOMBO: The International Monetary Fund said on Friday (Apr 11) that discussions with Sri Lanka will continue towards reaching an agreement in the near term on the fourth review of its US$2.9 billion program after a staff team visited the island nation. Sri Lanka, which plunged into a financial crisis due to a record shortage of dollars three years ago, has posted a strong recovery after securing a bailout from the global lender in March 2023. But this recovery could be affected by external shocks that are creating uncertainty for the Sri Lankan economy, the IMF said in a statement. The…

The U.S. military announced on Thursday that it had removed the commander of its Pituffik base in Greenland, adding that it would not tolerate any actions that go against President Trump’s agenda.The decision to remove Col. Susannah Meyers was announced in a statement by the U.S. Space Force that was posted on social media by Sean Parnell, the chief spokesman for the Pentagon.While the statement didn’t cite a specific reason for her removal, Mr. Parnell said that “actions to undermine the chain of command or to subvert President Trump’s agenda will not be tolerated.”Mr. Parnell’s post contained a link to…

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, an avid supporter of the Trump administration’s trade policies, not only bought stocks last week as others dumped them in a panic — she scooped up some of the biggest losers.Lululemon, Dell Computer, Amazon, the parent of Restoration Hardware and a few others hit hard by President Trump’s tariff threats were down 40% on average late last week when the Georgia Republican pounced.Data from a required three-page financial holdings document doesn’t disclose exactly how much she paid for the stocks, only ranges and dates. But however much she spent, some of her bets are working out…

North Carolina state representatives have passed legislation prohibiting those rendering emergency aid from discriminating against those they assist based on political affiliation or political speech. H.B. 251 also adds “a provision that no applicant for any State emergency assistance in the form of grants shall be required to provide any personal demographic information unless the information is necessary to award the grant or is otherwise required by law.””This came about after an incident that occurred following Helene, and word was getting out that FEMA was actually discriminating against people based on their political speech,” Republican State Rep. Kelly Hastings, R-Gaston, said…

Investment in music is critical to ensure Australian artists get the platform they deserve, say peak organisations calling for more support.

GREATER COHERENCE Indonesia’s defence ministry has also expanded its role in procurement and planning. The legislative framework allows flexibility in defining military requirements and selecting equipment.  New regulations, however, have squarely asserted the ministry’s primacy over the services in this process. Publicly available regulations show the ministry now directly manages procurement, from initial planning through to supplier negotiations.  Comparative examples correlate strong ministries with successful change in militaries, and the changes may signal greater coherence in Indonesian force planning. Expanding the procurement pipeline will however remain fiscally challenging. As a share of gross domestic product (GDP), Indonesia’s defence spending has…