Stormont minister Maurice Morrow told an official he would not raise the issue with the Northern Ireland Executive, despite similar measures being considered in England and Wales. A file on planning arrangements for the jubilee celebrations reveals a series of civil service correspondences on how Northern Ireland would mark the occasion. It includes a letter sent on January 11 2001 from an official in the Office of the First Minister/Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) to the Department of Social Development, advising that a committee had been set up in London to consider a programme of celebrations. The correspondence says: “One of the issues the committee is currently considering is the possibility of deregulating liquor licensing laws during the golden jubilee celebrations on the same lines as the arrangements made for the millennium. “It is felt that the golden jubilee bank holiday on Monday 3 June 2002 is likely to be an occasion on which many public houses and similar licensed premises would wish to stay open beyond normal closing time.” The letter said a paper had been prepared on the issue of extending opening hours. It adds: “You will note that paragraph seven of the paper indicates that the devolved administrations ‘would need to consider deregulation separately within their own jurisdictions’. “I thought that you would wish to be aware that this issue is receiving active consideration for England and Wales and to consider whether anything needs to be done for Northern Ireland.” Some months later a “progress report” was sent between officials in OFMDFM, which again raised the issue of licensing laws. It says: “I spoke to Gordon Gibson, DSD, about Terry Smith’s letter of 12 January 2001 about licensing laws: the matter was put to their minister Maurice Morrow (DUP) who indicated that he would not be asking the NIE (Northern Ireland Executive) to approve any change to current licensing laws in NI to allow for either 24 hour opening (as at the millennium) nor a blanket approval for extended opening hours as is being considered in GB. “In both cases, primary legislation would be required here and would necessitate consultation and the minister has ruled out any consultation process.” The correspondence says individual licensees could still apply for an extension to opening hours on an ad hoc basis, adding “there the matter rests”. It goes on: “DSD await further pronouncements from the Home Office and Gibson and I have agreed to notify each other of any developments we become aware of and he will copy me to any (existing) relevant papers. “Ministers may well come under pressure in due course for a relaxation and/or parity with GB.” The document concludes “That’s it so far...making haste slowly?” Emails sent between officials in the department the same month said that lord lieutenants in Northern Ireland had been approached about local events to mark the jubilee. One message says: “Lord lieutenants have not shown any enthusiasm for encouraging GJ celebrations at a local level. “Lady Carswell in particular believes that it would be difficult for LLs to encourage such activities without appearing political.”Day 4 at the 2025 World Juniors was the best slate of games yet, with the top eight seeds coming into the tournament all in action. Here are the day’s standouts and analysis from The Athletic ’s prospects writers Scott Wheeler and Corey Pronman. • Sweden defeated Switzerland 7-5 in a chippy game that saw 18 minor penalties assessed. Red Wings prospect Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Hurricanes prospect Felix Unger Sorum, and Canucks prospect Tom Willander all had three points apiece for the Swedes. Capitals D prospect Leon Muggli had three assists for the Swiss. • Finland defeated USA 4-3 in overtime. Golden Knights prospect Tuomas Uronen scored the overtime winner and the Finns outshot the Americans 44-33. • Czechia defeated Slovakia 4-2 to improve to 3-0. Kraken prospect and Czechia captain Eduard Sale scored twice. The Czechs now have the best goal differential in the tournament (+18) heading into their New Year’s Eve matchup with Sweden. • Canada beat Germany 3-0, requiring an empty-netter for a second straight year against the Germans. Kings goalie prospect Carter George stayed perfect, pitching his second shutout of the tournament and making 25 saves. Defensemen Oliver Bonk ( Flyers ) and Caden Price (Kraken) scored for Canada. Mathieu Cataford (Golden Knights) had the empty-netter. Advertisement Canada lays another egg It took Canada 120 minutes to score a five-on-five goal against Latvia and Germany at the World Juniors. It bounced off the back boards and in off German goalie Nico Pertuch’s skate. Read that again. One five-on-five goal in six periods and an overtime. Four goals in total. Against Latvia and Germany. And in both games, almost the entire team looked aimless and disorderly, like they didn’t know where to be or how they wanted to play. The shots have been perimeter and the selection has grown increasingly forced. Their most talented players, the ones who had to make plays for them when they brought so few playmakers, don’t look like themselves. Sam Dickinson, who has dominated the OHL by playing a freewheeling style — sometimes to a fault — looks like a timid shell of himself and like he has been told not to be himself. They brought all of these mobile D and none of them are getting up in the play or killing plays early in the neutral zone, often retreating. Bradly Nadeau is in a second unfamiliar spot on the power play now (moved from the bumper to the net-front) and didn’t make his first real skill play until a flash in the offensive zone to set up a Tanner Howe chance midway through the second period of their third game. If you’re an NHL club, after how poorly things went for Matt Poitras on last year’s team and now Nadeau on this year’s, why would you want to loan your kids to play for Hockey Canada instead of for you right now? Two nights ago, head coach Dave Cameron talked about 6-8 goals worth of chances in a 3-2 overtime loss to a team they beat 10-0 a year prior. He gave “credit” and “full marks” to Latvia and their goalie. Do the Germans, who Team USA pumped 10 goals past on Boxing Day in a game they didn’t look good in themselves, also get “credit” and “full marks?” — Scott Wheeler Group A wide open We’re four days into the tournament and every team in Group A has now lost a game, leaving the door wide open for any seeding 1-3 into New Year’s Eve. Here’s where things stand: Eklund raising draft stock Hutson in early conversation for top D award The pre-tournament favourites for the top D award were undoubtedly Wild star prospect Zeev Buium and the award’s reigning winner, Swedish captain and Red Wings star prospect Axel Sandin-Pellikka. Sandin-Pellikka has had a strong tournament and leads the Swedes in goals (four), points (seven), shots (22) and plus-minus (+6) through three games. But Capitals second-rounder Cole Hutson and not Buium has been Team USA’s best defenseman. He has been outstanding with the puck on his stick all tournament long making things happen with his feet and creating the inches of space he needs to execute. After scoring a beautiful bar-down goal surfing across the offensive zone against Finland on Sunday, he now has six points of his own through three games. But it’s his calm, steady play defensively that has most impressed me. He has defended at a high level and the results match the eye test, too: Team USA has outscored the opposition 9-0 at five-on-five through three games with Hutson on the ice. The only two goals against he’s been on the ice for came on the power play on Sunday after he’d just stepped onto the ice for a bad change as Trevor Connelly turned a puck over, and at three-on-three in overtime after he blew a tire. He was still named USA’s player of the game. I know Hutson has talked, despite having 14 points in 16 games as an 18-year-old freshman at BU (tops among all under-19 D in college hockey and fifth among all under-19 skaters) about how he wants to be better than he has for the Terriers at points. But he has been good for them and excellent for Team USA here in Ottawa. He plays a more competitive style defensively than his older brother Lane does and while there are questions to ask about whether that will work against NHLers, he defends hard at this level. I’ve seen NHL upside this week. — Scott Wheeler Czechia emerges as a contender Coming into this tournament, Czechia was thought to be in the clear second-tier of teams, and likely not to challenge Sweden for the top spot in Group B. We will find out how their game goes on New Year’s Eve, but all indications are it’s going to be very competitive. Czechia’s performances against Switzerland, and today against Slovakia, have been arguably more impressive than what Sweden did to those teams. Czechia isn’t a star-studded team, but they’ve shown they have quality depth. A blue line full of mobility, size and smarts, and three lines of forwards who can make plays. On top of that they have a top-tier goalie in Michael Hrbal (Utah). Fellow Utah prospect Vojtech Hradec and Blues prospect Jakub Stancl have been surprise top scorers in the tournament to date. Czechia looks like a legit medal contender. — Corey Pronman (Photo of Canada’s Luca Pinelli and Germany’s Nico Pertuch: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump announced he will nominate Pam Bondi to be his next attorney general, in a social media post Thursday that touted the former Florida attorney general’s history as a prosecutor who “was very tough on Violent Criminals.” Bondi, if confirmed, would oversee a sprawling Department of Justice responsible for federal criminal prosecution and a wide array of law enforcement. In the role, she could advocate for certain funding priorities, implement internal changes, and shift policy on topics like immigration, voting rights and antitrust enforcement. “As Florida’s first female Attorney General, she worked to stop the trafficking of deadly drugs, and reduce the tragedy of Fentanyl Overdose Deaths, which have destroyed many families across our Country,” Trump said in the post. “She did such an incredible job, that I asked her to serve on our Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during my first Term — We saved many lives!” Trump also said he’s known Bondi for years and described her as “smart” and an “AMERICA FIRST Fighter.” “For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans. Not anymore,” Trump said in the post. “Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again.” Bondi would likely be tasked with implementing Trump’s plans to remake an agency he fumed at during the campaign trail. Trump’s announcement on Thursday came hours after his previous pick for attorney general, former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name from consideration. Bondi is a more traditional pick for attorney general than Gaetz, whose push for attorney general was dogged by sexual misconduct allegations and the specter of an unreleased ethics report. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, praised the selection on social media. “Well done, Mr. President. Picking Pam Bondi for Attorney General is a grand slam, touchdown, hole in one, ace, hat trick, slam dunk, Olympic gold medal pick,” Graham posted. “She will be confirmed quickly because she deserves to be confirmed quickly.” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, a member of the Judiciary Committee, offered Bondi congratulations on social media. “I look forward to supporting her nomination in the Senate,” Lee said. Bondi, a Florida native, was the first woman to serve as the state’s chief legal officer and held the role from 2011 to 2019, according to her biography on Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm. That bio said Bondi “was one of Florida’s most accomplished Attorneys General” and she “earned a reputation among her colleagues as one of the toughest law enforcement officials in the country.” It said her work included fighting opioid abuse and cracking down on “pill mills,” combating human trafficking and taking on Medicare fraud, among other topics. In Jan. 2020, Bondi served on Trump’s defense team on his first impeachment, on an alleged scheme to hold up military aid to Ukraine until Kyiv agreed to investigate 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. The Senate the next month acquitted Trump on two articles of impeachment. Bondi has been in Trump’s circle for years. In 2016, Bondi endorsed then-reality TV veteran Trump for president ahead of her state’s primary. “Donald and I have been friends for many years,” she said at a rally in Tampa, where he called her “the most popular person in Florida, by far.” On the national stage, she’s fought for a law banning same-sex marriage and against a ballot initiative that would have legalized medical marijuana. She also spearheaded the lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act and joined other attorneys general in fighting against Obama administration efforts on energy and environment mandates, and immigration.
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DUP minister rejected suggestion licensing laws could be relaxed for jubilee
Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: Early pickups for Week 13Victor Wembanyama plays 1-on-1 chess with fans in New York
