Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has sharply criticized a former Rivers State governor, Dr. Peter Odili, accusing him of self-interest. Wike also asked between himself and Odili, who has turned Rivers State into his personal estate? Speaking at a thanksgiving service organised by the factional Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule, at the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Oro-Igwe/Eliogbolo Archdeaconry Church of the Holy Spirit, Eliozu Parish, Port Harcourt, on Sunday, Wike, through a statement by his media aide Lere Olayinka, lamented Odili’s alleged habit of prioritizing personal gain over statesmanship. Olayinka quoted Wike as saying that it was unfortunate that somebody who is supposed to be seen as an elder statesman and called a father can reduce himself to a sycophant and a trader. He asked; “Must you be a trader all the time? As governor for eight years, what else are you looking for?” The Minister said; “You know, I didn’t want to say anything. But somebody called me last night and told me what someone said on social media. I said until I read it myself. This morning, I read in the newspapers what our former governor, Sir Dr Peter Odili, said.“What did he say? He said that the present governor has been able to stop one man who wanted to convert Rivers State to his personal estate. Wike pointed to several appointments allegedly dominated by Odili’s family members and questioned his past contributions as governor. He said, “Between him and myself, who has turned Rivers State to his personal estate? His wife is a chairman of Governing Council, his daughter is a Commissioner, his other daughter is a Judge, and he is the general overseer. Who has now turned Rivers State to his private estate? I am sure if care is not taken, if there is a chance, he can even arrange a marriage for the governor. “It was his nephew, his late senior brother’s son that was recommended for Commissioner. He took the slot and gave it to his own daughter. Someone who didn’t remember to stand for the son of his late elder brother, is that an elder statesman? He added, “All of you here remember when I was governor, this same Odili praised me to high heaven. In fact, he said then that all past governors in Rivers State combined did not do better than me. “In 2007, after he left office, he couldn’t come near power in the State because Amaechi was the governor then. He was gone! “Like somebody said that God will use someone to lift up someone. When I came in as governor in 2015, I won’t use the word resurrected, but I brought him back to life. “All of us know about Pamo University. But for us, there wouldn’t have been anything called Pamo University. Rivers State was sponsoring 100 students per session and for every semester, each of the students was paying nothing less than N5m. Then, Rivers people were attacking me up and down. “I personally called Julius Berger to build a mansion for him to live. He was calling everyone to the house then, telling them, come and see what Wike has done for me. Wike has shown me love. He was taking them round the house. Related News You gave me encouragement, Fubara tells Rivers residents I have done more for Rivers, Wike slams Secondus, Omehia Firms award scholarships to 611 Rivers students “Now, because you have organised a Christmas Carol for the governor, I didn’t say you should not do your Christmas Carol. But why reduce yourself to such a laughing stock? People will still see it on television how he was telling the whole world then how God used me to bring him back to life politically. “Why not do your Christmas Carol, collect what you can collect and leave me alone? Wike also expressed disappointment in Odili’s recent comments praising the current Rivers State governor while undermining Wike’s achievements. “The governor that all of us made has not spent one year in office and the same Odili was already saying that the governor has beaten the records of all the past governors of Rivers State. “When I was there, he said I had surpassed the records of all the past governors, including himself. What can he even show that he did in his eight years as governor? But a governor has not spent one year, you are saying he has done more than all the past governors. “You spent eight years as governor and someone who hasn’t spent one year has surpassed your records, what manner of elder talk like that? Is that what an elder statesman should be known for? “When I was governor, my pictures were everywhere in his house. Sitting room, bedroom, kitchen, even in the toilet, my picture was everywhere. But today, all the pictures have been removed. Asking what can be learned from such an elder statesman, Wike said; “What can I learn from this kind of elder? What kind of advice can one get from him? This moment you are saying something, the next moment you are saying something else. “You see, if your children begin to ask you, is this not the same man you were praising before? What would you tell them?” On the state’s governorship issue, the Minister asked; “When I was plotting who will be governor after me, was he (Odili) there? Then, he was complaining about this governor, saying that he couldn’t stand before the public to talk. But today, he is organising Christmas Carol for the same governor he was against then. “He has forgotten all that he said in the past. I named this after you, I named that after your wife. What have I not done? “You said we should not be part of the government, we have left. We are managing, you have taken assembly money, they are not dying of hunger and they will not die of hunger. We are okay. I’m focusing on my job in Abuja and all this sycophancy won’t take him to the level I have attained. “This is a man who wanted to run for president then, he didn’t have the balls, he chickened out. Simply because Obasanjo said no, he would not contest, he ran away. Because of him, I never invited Obasanjo to Rivers State to commission projects. I felt it would humiliate him.” Click the link below to watch the video: https://x.com/MobilePunch/status/1873482169102028823?t=FkZAEo721HmMp1mbzeEjXg&s=19Now that he’s stepped back into the role of being a starter, Dalton Risner is working tirelessly to make sure he’s at his best for the Vikings. ADVERTISEMENT That could be easier said than done in the short term. After starting exclusively at left guard since entering the NFL, Risner got the start at right guard for the first time last weekend with the Vikings playing the Tennessee Titans. Though he said he was extremely grateful for the opportunity, Risner also admitted there’s a learning curve now playing a new position. Not that he’s complaining about his place on the offensive line. “It was awesome,” Risner said. “I’m really happy with how I played. A few things to clean up. I think I’ll only continue to get better.” ADVERTISEMENT After rewatching the game, head coach Kevin O’Connell praised Risner for the way he competed in the trenches. “He showed some of that veteran moxie to win some downs that were some hard downs,” O’Connell said. “There are some things he’ll continue to improve with the speed and physicality of it as he finds his groove.” The biggest hurdle for Risner is getting his mind to think in reverse. He has spent so much time at left guard throughout his career that switching over to right guard has forced him out of his comfort zone. “All of it is flip-flopped,” Risner said. “It’s not an easy process.” ADVERTISEMENT It was made even more difficult last weekend with Risner going up against the combination of star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons and rookie defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat. “That’s about as good of a pair as we’re going to find in the NFL,” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said. “We knew it was going to be a challenge up front with those guys. There are some things we could’ve done better from a technique perspective. We expect these guys to respond.” That includes Risner as the Vikings prepare for the Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon at Soldier Field. As he gains more experience at his new position, his hope is that it becomes second nature to him at some point soon. ADVERTISEMENT “I don’t know how many reps it’ll be or how many games it’ll be,” Risner said. I know I’ll consistently get more and more comfortable there.” The only player listed as a non-participant on the injury report was tight end Josh Oliver (wrist/ankle). He hasn’t practiced at all this week, so his availability for this weekend is very much up in the air. ______________________________________________________ This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here .ph365 。

Bayelsa to partner French Embassy, others on agric development

Gov Eno presents N955bn 2025 budget proposal to Akwa Ibom AssemblyQ2 GAAP Earnings per Share up 24% to $1.10 , Non-GAAP Earnings per Share up 10% to $1.47 Q2 Total Revenue $14.1 billion , up 9% in both USD and constant currency Q2 Total Remaining Performance Obligations $97 billion , up 49% in USD & 50% in constant currency Q2 Cloud Revenue (IaaS plus SaaS) $5.9 billion , up 24% in both USD and constant currency Q2 Cloud Infrastructure (IaaS) Revenue $2.4 billion , up 52% in both USD and constant currency Q2 Cloud Application (SaaS) Revenue $3.5 billion , up 10% in both USD and constant currency Q2 Fusion Cloud ERP (SaaS) Revenue $0.9 billion , up 18% in both USD and constant currency Q2 NetSuite Cloud ERP (SaaS) Revenue $0.9 billion , up 20% in USD and 19% in constant currency AUSTIN, Texas , Dec. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL ) today announced fiscal 2025 Q2 results. Total quarterly revenues were up 9% year-over-year, in both USD and constant currency, to $14.1 billion . Cloud services and license support revenues were up 12% year-over-year, in both USD and constant currency, to $10.8 billion . Cloud license and on-premise license revenues were up 1% in USD and up 3% in constant currency, to $1.2 billion . Q2 GAAP operating income was $4.2 billion . Non-GAAP operating income was $6.1 billion , up 10% in both USD and constant currency. GAAP operating margin was 30%, and non-GAAP operating margin was 43%. GAAP net income was $3.2 billion . Non-GAAP net income was $4.2 billion , up 12% in both USD and constant currency. Q2 GAAP earnings per share was $1.10 , up 24% in USD and up 23% in constant currency, while non-GAAP earnings per share was $1.47 , up 10% in both USD and constant currency. Short-term deferred revenues were $9.4 billion . Over the last twelve months, operating cash flow was $20.3 billion and free cash flow was $9.5 billion . "Record level AI demand drove Oracle Cloud Infrastructure revenue up 52% in Q2, a much higher growth rate than any of our hyperscale cloud infrastructure competitors," said Oracle CEO, Safra Catz . "Growth in the AI segment of our Infrastructure business was extraordinary—GPU consumption was up 336% in the quarter—and we delivered the world's largest and fastest AI SuperComputer scaling up to 65,000 NVIDIA H200 GPUs. With our remaining performance obligation (RPO) up 50% to $97 billion , we believe our already impressive growth rates will continue to climb even higher. This fiscal year, total Oracle Cloud revenue should top $25 billion ." "Oracle Cloud Infrastructure trains several of the world's most important generative AI models because we are faster and less expensive than other clouds," said Oracle Chairman and CTO, Larry Ellison . "And we just signed an agreement with Meta—for them to use Oracle's AI Cloud Infrastructure—and collaborate with Oracle on the development of AI Agents based on Meta's Llama models. The Oracle Cloud trains dozens of specialized AI models and embeds hundreds of AI Agents in cloud applications. For example, Oracle's AI Agents automate drug design, image and genomic analysis for cancer diagnostics, audio updates to electronic health records for patient care, satellite image analysis to predict and improve agricultural output, fraud and money laundering detection, dual-factor biometric computer logins, and real time video weapons detection in schools. Oracle trained AI models and AI Agents will improve the rate of scientific discovery, economic development and corporate growth throughout the world. The scale of the opportunity is unimaginable." The board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.40 per share of outstanding common stock. This dividend will be paid to stockholders of record as of the close of business on January 9, 2025 , with a payment date of January 23, 2025 . A sample list of customers which purchased Oracle Cloud services during the quarter will be available at www.oracle.com/customers/earnings/ . A list of recent technical innovations and announcements is available at www.oracle.com/news/ . To learn what industry analysts have been saying about Oracle's products and services see www.oracle.com/corporate/analyst-reports/ . Earnings Conference Call and Webcast Oracle will hold a conference call and webcast today to discuss these results at 4:00 p.m. Central. A live and replay webcast will be available on the Oracle Investor Relations website at www.oracle.com/investor/ . About Oracle Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL ), please visit us at www.oracle.com . Trademarks Oracle, Java, MySQL, and NetSuite are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. NetSuite was the first cloud company—ushering in the new era of cloud computing. "Safe Harbor" Statement: Statements in this press release relating to future plans, expectations, beliefs, intentions and prospects, including the expectations for converting the Remaining Performance Obligations to revenue, future total Oracle Cloud revenue this fiscal year and the scale of opportunity for Oracle trained AI models and AI Agents, are "forward-looking statements" and are subject to material risks and uncertainties. Risks and uncertainties that could affect our current expectations and our actual results, include, among others: our ability to develop new products and services, integrate acquired products and services and enhance our existing products and services, including our AI products; our management of complex cloud and hardware offerings, including the sourcing of technologies and technology components; our ability to secure data center capacity; significant coding, manufacturing or configuration errors in our offerings; risks associated with acquisitions; economic, political and market conditions; information technology system failures, privacy and data security concerns; cybersecurity breaches; unfavorable legal proceedings, government investigations, and complex and changing laws and regulations. A detailed discussion of these factors and other risks that affect our business is contained in our SEC filings, including our most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, particularly under the heading "Risk Factors." Copies of these filings are available online from the SEC or by contacting Oracle's Investor Relations Department at (650) 506-4073 or by clicking on SEC Filings on the Oracle Investor Relations website at www.oracle.com/investor/ . All information set forth in this press release is current as of December 9, 2024 . Oracle undertakes no duty to update any statement in light of new information or future events. APPENDIX A ORACLE CORPORATION Q2 FISCAL 2025 FINANCIAL RESULTS EXPLANATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES To supplement our financial results presented on a GAAP basis, we use the non-GAAP measures indicated in the tables, which exclude certain business combination accounting entries and expenses related to acquisitions, as well as other significant expenses including stock-based compensation, that we believe are helpful in understanding our past financial performance and our future results. Our non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for comparable GAAP measures and should be read only in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. Our management regularly uses our supplemental non-GAAP financial measures internally to understand, manage and evaluate our business and make operating decisions. These non-GAAP measures are among the primary factors management uses in planning for and forecasting future periods. Compensation of our executives is based in part on the performance of our business based on these non-GAAP measures. Our non-GAAP financial measures reflect adjustments based on the following items, as well as the related income tax effects: Stock-based compensation expenses : We have excluded the effect of stock-based compensation expenses from our non-GAAP operating expenses, income tax effects and net income measures. Although stock-based compensation is a key incentive offered to our employees, and we believe such compensation contributed to the revenues earned during the periods presented and also believe it will contribute to the generation of future period revenues, we continue to evaluate our business performance excluding stock-based compensation expenses. Stock-based compensation expenses will recur in future periods. Amortization of intangible assets : We have excluded the effect of amortization of intangible assets from our non-GAAP operating expenses, income tax effects and net income measures. Amortization of intangible assets is inconsistent in amount and frequency and is significantly affected by the timing and size of our acquisitions. Investors should note that the use of intangible assets contributed to our revenues earned during the periods presented and will contribute to our future period revenues as well. Amortization of intangible assets will recur in future periods. Acquisition related and other expenses; and restructuring expenses : We have excluded the effect of acquisition related and other expenses and the effect of restructuring expenses from our non-GAAP operating expenses, income tax effects and net income measures. We incurred expenses in connection with our acquisitions and also incurred certain other operating expenses or income, which we generally would not have otherwise incurred in the periods presented as a part of our continuing operations. Acquisition related and other expenses consisted of personnel related costs for transitional and certain other employees, certain business combination adjustments including certain adjustments after the measurement period has ended, and certain other operating items, net. Restructuring expenses consisted of employee severance and other exit costs. We believe it is useful for investors to understand the effects of these items on our total operating expenses. Although acquisition related and other expenses and restructuring expenses may diminish over time with respect to past acquisitions and/or strategic initiatives, we generally will incur certain of these expenses in connection with any future acquisitions and/or strategic initiatives. SOURCE Oracle

Is Walking Barefoot on Grass a Mental Health Game-Changer or Just a Myth?Vanguard Growth ETF vs. Vanguard Value ETF: Which ETF Will Outperform in 2025?In case you weren't aware (I wasn't), grand openings at Costco are treasure hunts for a certain band of whiskey lovers and wine aficionados, with certain labels getting stocked just for opening events. Costco has a deep well of connections in the wine and spirits world, and they try to put this on display whenever they have a new store opening to promote. And we have another new Costco opening tomorrow in Pleasanton, where some rare whiskey hounds tried to camp out to be first in line as early as Saturday. This Reddit thread exemplifies this enthusiasm, with several posters discussing how they got kicked off the property on Saturday after attempting to camp out for four nights — in the rain! — to be the first to get a crack at whatever hard-to-find whiskeys might appear in the booze aisle at Wednesday's opening. Buyers were looking for the kinds of labels that Costco will often only stock during an opening event and which typically sell out in a day or two — whiskeys like Pappy Van Winkle and Buffalo Trace OFC vintages that can retail for thousands of dollars, as well as lesser but still sought-after deals like Eagle Rare 10 Year Bourbon for $33, when a bottle typically goes for $60 or more. There was apparently a trespassing issue, or something, with the area where the campers were camping, and as Redditors noted, they were told to come back at 6 am on Wednesday. "I was just there and got kicked off the property," wrote one Redditor. "A guy paid me $800 to hang out in his 4 person Coleman tent and watch Netflix with him. He said it wouldn’t be weird and all I had to do was buy whiskey he had hand written on the first page of a composition book." That person continued to say that this whiskey lover, who apparently had hired several people to do his bidding, "said he’d give us all another $800 plus pay for our hotel rooms at the SpringHill Suites right by the Costco property if we promise to stay there and be back to the Costco at 5am sharp on Wednesday morning." Whiskey fans won't know exactly what the array of finds would be until the doors of the Pleasanton Costco open on Wednesday morning, as the Chronicle notes — Costcos traditionally stock a few cases of special stuff, but not always the same brands. Still, the mayor-elect of Pleasanton, Jack Balch, offered up an Instagram post and a Facebook post with photographic evidence after getting a tour inside the store. The Facebook post showed Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon on sale for $59.99, about half of what it typically retails for, and Eagle Rare 10 Year for $32.49. The Instagram post seen below also shows a special edition 10-year Whistlepig rye, dubbed Piggybank Rye, which appears to be bottled in a gold piggy bank. The price of that one is unclear, but it retails for $300 to $400 . A post shared by Jack Balch (@jbalch925) Also on sale at this new Costco is a sought-after super Tuscan wine, Sassicaia, that was set to go for $220 per bottle, versus the $300 it typically sells for. Selman Medina, who works as a wine steward at the recently opened Costco in Napa, tells the Chronicle that these opening-day events are lucrative for the company, with the Napa location selling a half-million dollars worth of wine and booze on Day One alone. We'll have to wait to see the social media evidence of the whiskey-hunters' finds at the new Costco, which may make their way to Reddit or X. For everyone else, this Costco at 7200 Johnson Drive will be open at 9 am Wednesday following a 7:30 am ribbon cutting. They'll be closed on Thanksgiving Day, but back open on Black Friday at 9 am.

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