Gem

For more than a decade, the conflict in Syria appeared too intense, too complex, and too intertwined in geopolitics to be resolved, with the international community choosing to prioritize managing and containing the symptoms rather than seeking to resolve their root causes. However, that all changed in late 2024, when armed opposition groups toppled the Assad regime in 10 days. Today, the country remains extraordinarily fragile and marked by the debilitating effects of a lengthy civil war. Despite a widespread national consensus on the need to reunify Syria, malign and destabilizing actors remain active, including ISIS, Iran, and pro-Assad loyalist insurgents. Nevertheless, there is now a historic opportunity to reshape Syria for the first time in more than half a century. And engagement by the international community will be critical to the country’s success.

The evidence from proprietary MyinTuition data is consistent with that obtained from net price calculators for the category of highly endowed private colleges. This correspondence suggests that data gathered from net price calculators is reasonably reliable as well. Collectively, these data indicate that the perception of rising college costs in the last five to ten years is not accurate.

But that does not mean that college is broadly affordable. Whether or not a student whose family earns $300,000 or more per year can afford a $90,000 price tag is an open question. But at many institutions, families earning $40,000 are still expected to come up with $15,000 to $20,000 per year. It seems clear that amount is not affordable. Only the highly endowed institutions charge a price that these low-income families can afford through, say, limited student employment. A large tax on the endowments of these institutions may imperil their ability to offer that level of financial aid.

It is not difficult to understand why there is such uncertainty regarding college pricing. The system is sufficiently complicated that it is difficult for a student or family to know how much it will cost them to attend college. Politicians and those in the media similarly face information constraints in setting policy and reporting on college costs. We need to improve the transparency of college pricing if we are to increase awareness of its true cost. Transparency and affordability in our college pricing system are critical issues. The emphasis on rising sticker prices should not be our focus.

"My first message would be, if you're not comfortable, don't let your kids be on Roblox. That sounds a little counter-intuitive, but I would always trust parents to make their own decisions," the company's director noted.

"My first message would be, if you're not comfortable, don't let your kids be on Roblox. That sounds a little counter-intuitive, but I would always trust parents to make their own decisions," the company's director noted.

"My first message would be, if you're not comfortable, don't let your kids be on Roblox. That sounds a little counter-intuitive, but I would always trust parents to make their own decisions," the company's director noted.

"My first message would be, if you're not comfortable, don't let your kids be on Roblox. That sounds a little counter-intuitive, but I would always trust parents to make their own decisions," the company's director noted.

‘People are going to die’ if cuts continues, mental health workers warn

Chinese officials also want consumers to spend more to spur economic growth, but they're not willing to provide a lot of support.

• OCCRP article.

At the beginning of March 2022, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Union imposed sanctions against the Russian state television channel RT (formerly Russia Today) for “playing a significant role in instigating and supporting military aggression against Ukraine, as well as in destabilizing its neighboring countries.” At the same time, American streaming services disconnected RT from their networks, and RT America announced its closure. Google blocked the YouTube channels of RT and Sputnik (RT’s news agency) worldwide. In September 2024, the U.S. imposed sanctions against the channel, and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, blocked the holding’s accounts.

Attempts to bypass the blocks by creating copies of the channels did not work: YouTube blocked them for violating hosting rules within just a few hours.

Likely after this, the television channel chose a different strategy — releasing content via blogs which are formally unconnected to the editorial staff. IStories discovered several channels linked to RT — they publish old videos of the television channel under the guise of their own, advocate in support of the war in Ukraine, criticize the policies of Western governments, and actively promote the relocation of foreigners to Russia — for “traditional values.”

Armed groups outside state control compete to seize power the day after. What is the relationship between them and which countries support them?

• While new game downloads plateaued in 2024, in-app purchases grew 3.8 percent compared to 2023.
• The game that drew in the highest revenue based on in-app purchases for 2024 was Monopoly Go.
• However, Tencent continues to dominate the mobile gaming space with the company drawing in over $10 billion in revenue from mobile games.