Lara Trump steps down as RNC co-chair and addresses speculation about Florida Senate seatB. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Makes New Investment in Builders FirstSource, Inc. (NYSE:BLDR)Christmas is a bittersweet time for the parents of kids at the Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice. On the one hand, there is delight in seeing their sons’ and daughters’ faces light up with joy as they meet Santa. And on the other is the ever-present fear that time together may be short. Hospice founder Fiona Devine knows exactly how these parents feel – the mum of three lost her son Alexander to a rare brain tumour when he was eight. Alexander was very ill for more than half of his life, and Fiona discovered there was next to no specialist care for children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions in Berkshire, where they live. So she resolved to raise the money to pay for children’s palliative care services in the county and ultimately a hospice to help families like theirs. And this year the facility she named in honour of her beloved late son is able to make Christmas a magical time for the sixth year running. Fiona, 54, says: “I always wanted a big fireplace in the entrance to the hospice so Santa could pay the children a visit. We make Christmas special for our children, siblings and parents. We will also have real-life reindeer visiting and parties and lots of fun. “Having been a mum caring for my son, I experienced so much that when it came to building this hospice I wanted to make sure the little things that make a difference were taken care of.” Alexander was born healthy. “Our first born, very much wanted, very much loved, he was your textbook baby, he hit all his milestones beautifully,” his proud mum says. But just before his fourth birthday he became unwell. He had recurrent chest infections, headaches , nausea, and had fitted a couple of times. He was eventually diagnosed with a rare brain tumour. Fiona says: “Life within a split second was completely different and within 24 hours he was having his first round of brain surgery. “We were thrown into a world of fear and anxiety, never knowing what tomorrow might bring. You live from one hospital appointment to the next, one scan date to the next. You don’t know how quickly the cancer is growing, if it’s spreading. It just brings fear.” Over more than four years Alexander had operations, treatments and therapy to try to give him as much quality time as possible. He sadly died in 2006. For the last nine months he was looked after at home, with Fiona spending 23 hours a day caring for her son and the rest of her family. That was when she discovered there was little support available to them in Berkshire, apart from a community nursing team visiting for an hour a day. There was a children’s hospice in Oxford, but Alexander’s condition and having two other small children made travelling difficult. Fiona says: “I recognised there was a gap in the service that the NHS couldn’t provide.” In 2007 she launched the charity, and by 2009 they had raised enough money to fund a children’s community palliative care nurse and a nurse in the Royal Berkshire Hospital, known as Alexander Nurses. Fiona says: “I started very small from the dining room table. I did the banking, the thanking, the event planning, the PR and comms, every aspect of it. “We were just an ordinary family who had been blessed with an extra-ordinary boy and we didn’t have a network or connections, we just started from nothing.” The late broadcaster Sir Michael Parkinson became the charity’s founding patron and helped convince a donor to provide land for the hospice building. Fiona recalls: “Sir Michael told me to bring him to the pub for lunch. I went into that meeting thinking I would like three acres of land and we came out with six, such were his powers of persuasion.” In 2018, and after raising the £6million capital needed within two years, the completed hospice was opened by Sir Michael and then prime minister and fellow patron Theresa May – a day Fiona found “amazing and emotional”. The Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service, which still also provides community nurses so children can be looked after at home, has bedrooms, a hydrotherapy pool, sensory room, music room and self-contained apartments for families to stay in. One important aspect of the hospice is the interactive and sensory technology , donated by the charity Lifelites, to help the children find connection and fun. Lifelites is the only charity in Great Britain and Ireland that provides the technology, including the Magic Carpet – which projects interactive images around a child – Switches and iClick, to children’s hospices. Fiona says: “I love the Magic Carpet. All our children love it, as well as siblings and parents. I’ve even seen our staff have great fun on the Magic Carpet! Finding activities and technology that can bring siblings and families together is rare.” This family-oriented care is typical of the hospice, which ensures it follows the children it helps through every stage of their journey. Fiona adds: “We are with children on their journey from a baby to the age of 19. For some, the journey may be shorter than others, but the end-of-life pathway for our children can be over years.” Three-year-old Elikai Sousa is at the centre of the hospice’s Christmas appeal. He was born with a congenital brain abnormality, and parents Annicka and Politon were told he would not even survive pregnancy . Annicka says: “We treasure each day with our precious son. But the future remains uncertain. How to donate to Missing People Donate online: Visit this link or head to www.missingpeople.org.uk/mirror - read why we're supporting this campaign here. Text: To donate £5 Text HOPE5 to 70660 - To donate £10 Text HOPE10 to 70660 - To donate £15 Text HOPE15 to 70660 Terms & Conditions: *Text costs £5/£10 or £15 plus network charge. Missing People receives 100% of your donation. Obtain bill payer’s permission. Charity No England and Wales: 1020419 , Scotland: SC047419. Missing People will send regular updates via text and may contact you at any time to ask for your contact preference. Post: Please include your name and address and make cheques payable to ‘Missing People’ via free post: Freepost Plus RRKY–XSEC–XAEC. - Missing People - Roebuck House - 284 Upper Richmond Road West - London - SW14 7JE How your donation will help: £5 could help a missing child reach support - 11 could answer an urgent Helpline call from someone who is missing - £33 could give three families advice and help from a Support Worker - £110 could pay for two vital Counselling sessions to help a family to cope with the toughest of all losses How to contact Missing People - free and confidential: Call: 116 000. Text: 116 000. Email: 116000@missingpeople.org.uk How to contact Samaritans for mental health support: Call 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org “To be able to come to Alexander Devine and experience the magic of Christmas and for a while forget about what might be is precious. His condition means that Elikai’s brain didn’t develop fully. “But he is still here to enjoy another Christmas. His life is filled with complexities and he needs round-the-clock care and a closely managed routine of medications. “Simple activities that other three-year-olds enjoy, like playdates and park outings, aren’t always possible, but the hospice provides a safe space where he can play, laugh and make memories with us.” Sir Michael died in August 2023, but his widow Lady Mary and sons remain involved with the charity. Fiona adds: “He helped us a great deal and was a lovely man.” Fiona was awarded an MBE for services to children’s hospice care in the King’s Birthday Honours list in June, and received her medal last month from Prince William . “It was a hugely proud yet surreal moment,” she says. “I wasn’t quite sure why I’d got it. I attended with my children Caitlin, 21 and Harry, 20, who are hugely proud of their brother’s legacy. Everything we’ve done and do is about Alexander. I’m just Alexander’s mum at the end of the day.” For more information on the hospice’s Christmas appeal, visit alexanderdevine.org/christmasshailee.dogra@htlive.com Himachal Pradesh government has once again raised the issue of exempting state’s share in railway projects with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman at Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. Technical education minister Rajesh Dharmani, in a pre-budget meeting held at Jaisalmer, urged the finance minister that the ongoing railway — Bhanupalli-Bilaspur rail project and Chandigarh Baddi railway projects— should be purely implemented by the central government in place of joint ventures and Himachal being a hilly state and having International Border (IB) with China should be exempted from paying its share. It may be mentioned that Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had recently informed the Lok Sabha that two new rail line projects — Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri (63.5 km) and Chandigarh-Baddi (30 km) — have been affected due to non-fulfilment of commitments by the Himachal Pradesh government as ₹ 1496.75 crore is outstanding with the state government. This was stated in response to a question by MP Suresh Kumar Kashyap. The Union minister said the two new line projects falling fully/partly in Himachal Pradesh have been sanctioned on cost cost-sharing basis with the state government. Dharmani also urged the minister to provide at least 50% central share to acquire land for expansion of Kangra Airport. In the pre-budget meeting, the minister also advocated for continuing special central assistance (SCA) and enhancing RDG grants and central road infrastructural fund (CRIF), which has been decreased from ₹ 11,140 crores in 2020-21 to ₹ 3,256 crores in 2025-26. Apart from this, he also requested the Union minister to include ropeways under the PMGSY scheme and also provide the 10% state share and five five-year maintenance cost of PMGSY works and emphasised establishing skill university in the state with multi-disciplinary institutions of technical, and vocational education and research with special focus on geometrics engineering, geosciences, environment engineering, disaster-related studies, new age technology courses etc. He also urged the finance minister to increase customs duty from 50% to 100% on the import of apples to protect the interest of apple growers. ‘Compensate state as per ‘Kyoto Protocol’ norms’ In the 55th meeting of the GST council, Dharmani raised the issue of compensating the state on the analogy of the “Kyoto Protocol’, which provides for compensating low carbon emission countries in comparison to the nations with high carbon emissions. He also argued in favour of factoring in low population density. Dharmani took up the issue of GST compensation and urged to introduce some arrangements so that hilly states like Himachal could be compensated for the loss of revenue due to GST implementation. He also took up the issue of ₹ 200 crore demand notices issued by CGST authorities to toll lessees of Himachal Pradesh. As the council deliberated extensively on easing the tax burden in the insurance sector before, where Dharmani strongly advocated in favour of exempting individual health and term insurance policies, especially for women, children and senior citizens. He also argued in favour of exempting GST on research and development for an initial ten to fifteen years including for public as well as private entrepreneurs.
Dubai: Some movies captivate audiences from start to finish, while others fail to hold attention, leading viewers to leave midway. Then there are films that attract repeat visitors who come back just to watch a specific scene. Recognising these varied viewing patterns, PVR Inox in India has introduced a groundbreaking billing model that charges audiences only for the time they spend watching a movie, media outlets in the country reported. Dubbed the ‘Pay for What You Watch’ model, the concept is branded as 'FLEXI Show'. This innovative approach allows moviegoers to pay a prorated amount based on how much of the film they watch. Renaud Palliere, Chief Executive Officer of the Luxury Collection and Innovation at PVR Inox, emphasised the importance of innovation in entertainment offerings, stating that the company must continually adapt to meet the evolving expectations of its customers, Business Standard reported. Currently, the 'FLEXI Show' model is available in select cinemas across Delhi and Gurugram. In its second phase, it will roll out to additional Tier-I cities. However, viewers opting for this flexible viewing experience will incur a 10% surcharge. Explaining how the system works, Palliere said: “We will use advanced technology, such as AI-powered video analytics, to monitor who is seated in the auditorium. The ticket is linked to your seat, so the system tracks your arrival and departure. Based on this, it calculates how much of the movie you’ve watched and determines your refund according to predefined brackets.” Refunds are issued depending on how much of the movie remains unwatched. For instance: It remains to be seen how audiences respond to this flexible model and whether it will impact overall box office collections. As the initiative rolls out further, it could mark a significant shift in how cinemas engage with their patrons.Avior Wealth Management LLC Has $347,000 Stock Position in iShares Treasury Floating Rate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:TFLO)Buying a house in 2025: your how-to guide
