1 of 5 | Officials gather at the site of an explosion in downtown Beirut that killed seven people, including former Lebanese Minister Mohamad Chatah, on December 27, 2013. File Photo by Mohamad Sultan/UPI | License Photo
Dec. 27 (UPI) — On this…
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Your Full Moon Guide For 2026 — All 13 Dates For Your Diary – Forbes
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Ticket fees: UK gig-goers fight back against new wave of charges | Ticket prices
Gig-goers who bought tickets for Gorillaz at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in June next year have been refunded some of their booking fee by the ticket seller Gigantic after the Guardian queried the pricing.
A reader contacted us asking why he had…
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New MongoDB Flaw Lets Unauthenticated Attackers Read Uninitialized Memory
A high-severity security flaw has been disclosed in MongoDB that could allow unauthenticated users to read uninitialized heap memory.
The vulnerability, tracked as…
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Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves increase by 16 mln USD-Xinhua
ISLAMABAD, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) — Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased by 16 million U.S. dollars during the past week, the central bank said on Friday.
During the week ending Dec. 19, the central bank’s…
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China industrial profits plunge as weak demand and deflation bite
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China’s industrial profits fell at their fastest pace in more than a year last month, as Xi Jinping’s economic planners struggled to contain the fallout from industrial overcapacity and lacklustre consumer confidence.
Profits at industrial companies with annual revenues of more than Rmb20mn ($2.8mn) fell 13.1 per cent in November compared with a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Saturday, deepening from a 5.5 per cent decline in October.
The November slump brought profit growth for the year to date down to 0.1 per cent above the same period in 2024, down from 1.9 per cent growth in the January-to-October period.
China’s economy has struggled to find long-term drivers of strong growth in the wake of the collapse of the debt-fuelled property sector, which is now entering its fifth year of crisis.
While China has relied on exports of low-cost goods to boost headline growth, the world’s second-biggest economy has been wracked by deflationary pressure, weak domestic demand and falling investment. The producer price index has been mired in negative territory for three years.
The latest factory data highlights the challenge for Chinese policymakers to boost confidence among the country’s companies and consumers, despite a truce in the US-China trade war and a boom in high-tech manufacturing exports.
Yu Weining, NBS chief statistician, said China’s economy faced “structural adjustment pressures” as it transitioned from “old to new” growth drivers, adding that the international environment was also marked by “many unstable and uncertain factors”.
The central government in Beijing has long resisted calls from economists — both inside and outside China — to unleash broad-based stimulus and roll out deep social security reforms to boost sentiment and kick-start the economy.
It has also increasingly taken aim at what authorities call neijuan, or “involution” — excessive industrial competition that they blame in part for overproduction that is driving down prices.
In an article published in Qiushi, the flagship magazine of the Communist party’s central committee, Xi this month urged officials to work more urgently to address the problem of insufficient domestic demand.
“Expanding domestic demand is related to both economic stability and economic security; it is not an expedient measure but a strategic move,” he said.
Xi also reiterated calls for officials and companies to exercise more discipline over investments, following earlier criticism of industrial over-investment, which has resulted in brutal price wars and unfair supplier treatment.
Earlier this month, the NBS reported that fixed asset investment declined 2.6 per cent for the January-November period on a year earlier. Retail sales, seen as an indicator of household demand, expanded 1.3 per cent in November on a year earlier, the slowest pace of growth since December 2022. Both data points were below analysts’ expectations.
The latest NBS data highlighted some bright spots in China’s manufacturing industries. High-tech manufacturing and the auto industry posted year-on-year improvements of 10 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively.
Additional contributions from Tina Hu in Beijing
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NRMA Insurance Boxing Day Test concludes on Day 2
The 2025 NRMA Insurance Boxing Day Test between Australia and England has concluded after Day 2. As a result, no further play will take place on the remaining scheduled days (Days 3–5).
Ticket refunds
Tickets purchased for…
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Roadrunners erase early deficit, roll past Florida International in SERVPRO First Responder Bowl – UT San Antonio Today
- Roadrunners erase early deficit, roll past Florida International in SERVPRO First Responder Bowl UT San Antonio Today
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What can we expect from the 2026 motorcycle road racing season?
Dunlop continues to be a dominant force at the Isle of Man TT, taking doubles in the Supersport and Supertwins events this year to continue his winning streak in those classes, his sequence in the former standing at eight races in a row.
Adding to…
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Minister for Health highlights improved outcomes as a result of Virtual Care Initiatives
The Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD has today highlighted the significant progress in the implementation and expansion of Virtual Care across Ireland, delivering enhanced patient outcomes and relieving pressure on hospital capacity.
Since the commencement of two pilot acute virtual wards at St. Vincent’s University Hospital and in University Hospital Limerick, over 1,500 patients have been admitted, equating to more than 13,800 virtual bed days, freeing up vital hospital space.
Four new virtual wards have now opened in Our Lady of Lourdes Drogheda, Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore, Mercy Hospital Cork, and St Luke’s Hospital Kilkenny, with plans to launch another acute virtual ward in Galway University Hospital in early 2026.
Virtual care is becoming an increasingly vital approach to the delivery of acute care at home to patients who would otherwise need to be hospitalised. Community virtual wards have also been established, which, along with a variety of Seedling Projects, are harnessing digital technology to deliver clinically led healthcare to patients across the country.
Minister Carroll MacNeill said:
Building on this success, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is expanding all types of virtual ward models nationwide. Letterkenny has been at the forefront of Virtual Care and was one of the first areas to adopt the virtual ward concept. Focusing initially on respiratory disease, the Letterkenny virtual ward has demonstrated remarkable results, including an 18% reduction in acute admissions to Letterkenny Hospital in 2025. Other initiatives include the Community Virtual Ward in Cherry Orchard, which primarily serves older adults who would otherwise require hospital care, allowing patients to receive high-quality care at home while protecting them from hospital-acquired infections.
The Chief Nursing Officer, Rachel Kenna noted:
Expanding the delivery of virtual care is central to the Department of Health’s mission to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Ireland. “Digital for Care: A Digital Health Framework for Ireland 2024-2030” sets out a roadmap to digitally transform health services in Ireland and improve access for patients. Establishing and scaling virtual wards is part of wider efforts to revolutionise and modernise the health service, while ensuring high quality services and getting the best value from health system resources.
The paper on “Ireland’s Future Health and Social Care Workforce”, published by the Minister for Health on 23 December 2025, forms part of the long-term health workforce planning projections and the work underway for future workforce needs. It is essential that new and innovative solutions, such as digital health technologies, artificial intelligence, and virtual care, are maximised to enhance care delivery, optimise resources and overall health system performance.
Virtual wards are supporting the development of innovative models of care as envisaged under Sláintecare and equipping the right mix of healthcare professionals with the right skills, supported by digital technology is essential to ensuring a sustainable workforce of the future.
The Department of Health remains committed to expanding clinician-led and innovative virtual care initiatives to every region in Ireland, ensuring equitable access to quality healthcare. By embracing a variety of approaches, regions can tailor solutions to address their unique challenges, population demographics, and resource needs, ensuring that the right care is truly delivered in the right place, at the right time.
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