Month: September 2025

National news refers to events or issues that have a significant impact on the whole country. These may include political issues, foreign policy and other matters of national interest. While many national news outlets focus on global topics, they can also cover local stories with relevance to the entire nation. The distinction between local and national news often depends on the proximity of a story’s subject and its ability to capture people’s attention. This can result in different news values that influence the selection of local and national stories.

The first nationwide cable TV news channel was CNN, which launched in 1980. The channel became famous in 1991 for its coverage of the Persian Gulf War, which was the first time that a television network was able to communicate with people inside a war zone and broadcast live from within it. Other national news channels that have since been created include Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, Bloomberg Television and NBC Sports Network.

In addition to these nationally available channels, some regional television stations have their own 24-hour news channels as well. These channels typically feature a mix of local and national news as well as local weather forecasts (which are normally provided by individual cable providers at randomized times throughout the day, usually about ten times an hour). Examples of these television news networks include New York 1 and News 12 Networks, which operate in upstate New York; Spectrum News, which operates across five states in the northeast; and New England Cable News, which covers six states in the northwestern United States.

The right to asylum, both a form of protection and an immigration status granted by the government, is available to those who have been genuinely persecuted in their home countries for political reasons. To qualify for asylum, a person must prove they have both past persecution on one or more of the five protected grounds (race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, and political opinion) and a well-founded fear of future persecution.

Although the United States does not guarantee legal representation for people seeking asylum, many nonprofit and faith-based organizations offer free or low-cost legal services to individuals displaced by violence or other disasters in their native countries. For some, this is their only hope of regaining stability and safety in the United States.

An individual may apply for asylum by filing Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, with USCIS. The applicant must submit a full personal statement that includes their background and how they were harmed or persecuted, along with supporting evidence that demonstrates their claims.

Generally, the interviewer will ask the applicant to explain why they believe their fears are well-founded and what they would do if returned to their country of origin. The interviewer will also ask if there is any evidence that supports their statements. It is important for the applicant to be able to answer these questions in their own words. This is the most powerful way to prove that they have a well-founded fear of persecution.

Economic growth is the increase in the production of goods and services, measured using estimates such as gross domestic product (GDP). This increases incomes, inspiring consumers to spend more, driving a rising material standard of living and overall quality of life. Economic growth is vital to countries of all sizes. It’s why economists study it and why policy makers are always striving to achieve it.

The growth rate varies by country and is influenced by a multitude of factors. For example, the incentives that encourage people to save or invest differ across nations. The cost of resources, such as the price of oil or gold, are also a factor in how quickly an economy can grow. But, a nation’s leaders can design its institutions in ways that maximize its economic growth potential.

Increasing the quantity of physical capital in an economy, such as by adding new buildings or machinery, can speed up economic growth. However, achieving sustained economic growth depends more on the growth of human and technological capital. The more knowledge workers have, the more productive they can be. For example, a computer built today may require the same amount of physical materials as one from 10 years ago but a computer with faster processing power produces more output per hour of labor than the previous model.

The most important driver of growth is increased productivity, or output per hour worked. The best way to stimulate this growth is to reduce barriers to technology adoption, such as by improving the skills of laborers and increasing the quality of tools they use.

Late Breaking is the act of braking later than the car you are trying to pass. It’s a hard move to master and one that often has devastating consequences. Brake too early and you may miss the other car and get re-passed or slide wide and hit your noggin – both of which are bad. Brake too late and you could end up with your wheels off the track or in a ditch.

While the importance and popularity of the “Late Breakers” at SRI are well founded, it is worth considering whether or not a pendulum has swung too far. The focus on this group of original research presentations casts a shadow over many other clinically important and relevant studies that occur in other sessions and might undermine the credibility of those other findings.

The LBW category provides an opportunity to present preliminary and/or exploratory data that demonstrates significant potential for impact, identifies new avenues of inquiry or advances the field in general. This includes work that is hypothesis generating and/or mechanistic and is intended to lay the foundation for future study or application; research that is at the pre-specified, post-hoc or follow-up stage of a trial (primary, subgroup or meta-analysis); and laboratory or device-based studies with potential clinical impact. LBW submissions should not have been presented or published in another venue prior to the time of submission and must be accompanied by a statement from the authors documenting their reasons for eligibility in this category.

Breaking news is an urgent event that requires immediate reporting to keep the public informed. These events can be natural disasters, political upheavals, or other major incidents that are considered significant enough to interrupt normal programming. Unlike regular news reporting, which can allow time for thorough research and fact-checking, breaking news usually demands that journalists report quickly so they can inform audiences as developments happen. This urgency often results in incomplete stories that are updated continuously as new information becomes available.

In the past, if an event occurred that warranted breaking news coverage, television and radio stations would typically interrupt non-news or regularly scheduled programming with a “News Alert” or a special break in which the network feed is temporarily paused and a countdown sequence appears to allow affiliated stations to switch over to the live news broadcast. Breaking news is often identified by a distinctive opening graphic and a unique music cue.

Digital platforms have transformed how breaking news is disseminated, allowing for rapid sharing of eyewitness accounts and public reactions to events. This can sometimes cause challenges in verifying information as it spreads and leads to rumors that must be addressed by journalists.

It is also important for breaking news teams to prepare ahead of time when an emergency occurs. Having an emergency news plan in place will help ensure the organization can serve its community with accurate and complete information while following RTDNA ethics and professional standards. This includes being sure to notify the closed captioning company so they can immediately provide services when needed.

GDP is the measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in one year. It is the “benchmark” of a nation’s economy, and its growth or contraction is widely followed by investors, analysts, and policymakers. “Real” or “chained” GDP estimates adjust for inflation, allowing comparisons of economic output over time. The BEA publishes these figures for the United States, as well as for metropolitan areas, states, countries and territories around the world.

What is excluded from GDP?

A number of activities are not included in the calculation of GDP, including some types of household production and bartering. Some work is also excluded that is not performed for market exchange (as measured by the gross domestic product) but for private or public consumption or investment. This includes activities like growing vegetables, brewing beer, or building houses for personal use. The buying and selling of corporate shares and bonds is also not counted as a part of GDP because it is viewed as a swapping of ownership claims rather than an investment in products.

The White House and Congress monitor GDP to gauge the health of the economy, and state and local governments rely on these numbers when planning spending and taxation. Businesses watch GDP trends to decide on investments and expansions. Central banks, such as the Federal Reserve, often use GDP data when setting monetary policies. If GDP is growing too quickly, they might raise interest rates to slow down the economy and ward off inflation.

A special report is an in-depth investigation of a particular subject. It can be a political story, such as exposing wrongdoing or corruption, or it could be a more technical subject matter that requires a high level of expertise to understand. Special specialized reporting can increase a journalist’s credibility and provide valuable insight into complex subjects for their audience.

A type of auditor’s report that attempts to explain, elaborate, or present in a prescribed manner certain sections, accounts, or items of a financial statement; compliance with aspects of contractual agreements or regulatory provisions related to audited financial statements; financial presentations to comply with the requirements of a comprehensive basis of accounting other than gaap; and internal audits performed by a firm for clients or governmental entities. Special reports require an understanding of user needs and reporting objectives while maintaining professional standards and clarity.

Research reports are a form of special report that presents the results of a systematic investigation. They typically include quantitative data and are written in a formal language. They should be readable and concise, and they should also contain relevant illustrations. Graphs and pie charts are commonly used in research reports to provide a visual representation of the information. They can be written for either a general or specialized audience, and the tone will differ depending on the target audience. Special reports should be thoroughly vetted to ensure that they are accurate and factual, as well as free of any bias.

A political campaign is an operation designed to support the election of a candidate or passage of a ballot initiative. The operations vary in size, with some involving only a few volunteers and others employing hundreds of paid and volunteer staff. Every two years (a “cycle”), campaigns are organized to fill a wide range of offices, including 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 100 U.S. Senators, tens of thousands of state legislators, and local mayors and city councilmembers.

Identify key issues and develop a stance on those issues. The stances serve as the central messaging during voter and donor outreach, speeches, debates, interviewing and more. Ensure the message is simple, clear and repeatable. Use the party registration data from your local elections office to help target the messages and find your audience.

Start volunteering on the campaign early in the cycle. This provides an opportunity to gain valuable experience and connections and gives you the time to understand how the campaign works. Often, senior campaign staff will reward those who have made a commitment to the campaign by offering them jobs later in the cycle.

Assess your career goals and needs, including work-life balance, and determine if campaign work is the best fit for you. Consider the political parties with which you want to affiliate and be prepared for the limited space in most campaigns for substantive policy work. Many positions are partisan, and switching to another party may carry significant reputational or career costs.

A good economic forecast is one of the most important inputs for policy makers. It is an art and science that is constantly evolving. At the core are the basic time series methods. Those range from judgmental methods that use expert judgement to adjust forecasts produced by a suite of models to dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models that use modern economic theory.

At the most basic level, these methodologies predict the behavior of a set of economic variables—for example GDP, consumption, investment, interest rates, and industry employment—viewed as statistical time series. This approach requires a large amount of knowledge of the behavioral patterns of these variables, and not a little faith that the estimated behavioral patterns will persist.

As a practical matter, economic forecasts are typically reported on a quarterly basis. However, for a number of reasons it is often more useful to have information on an annual basis—particularly if the information is being used to inform policies that will impact the economy over several years.

Real GDP growth is expected to slow this year and next in response to a rise in trade barriers and heightened policy uncertainty. Global economic activity is projected to pick up over the longer term, reflecting an expected recovery in oil-producing countries and a stabilization of armed conflicts. However, downside risks include the possibility that global trade tensions reescalate or that inflationary pressures resurge. In addition, higher delinquency rates on credit cards and auto loans could restrain consumer spending.

An exclusive report is an article that gives one journalist or media outlet first dibs on a story. It can be a powerful tool for PR pros to use to drive attention and engagement for impactful news or initiatives.

This strategy can be especially effective for brands that are concerned their announcements may fall on deaf ears amid the din of competing messages and events. With an exclusive, journalists typically have more time to work closely with you and your team to thoroughly understand the story and its nuances, which can result in more thorough coverage than a broadly distributed press release might generate.

It’s important to keep in mind, however, that exclusives do carry risks. It’s essential to use this approach only for genuinely newsworthy moments and to be transparent about the exclusivity of your pitch with journalists. Otherwise, you could burn bridges with other members of the media and damage your reputation moving forward.

To write a good exclusive report, start by doing your research and gathering all of the relevant information on the topic, including facts and figures. You can find this information through a variety of sources, including interviews and public records. Once you have all of your information together, focus on writing a clear and concise summary that is easy for readers to read and digest. Also, be sure to include any upcoming events or timelines related to your topic. Then, check the spelling and grammar to make sure your report is as error-free as possible.