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How Peter Laviolette has helped re-inspire the first-place Capitals
Samantha Pell of The Washington Post explains how the Capitals have been rejuvenated after the switch from Todd Reirden.
Samantha Pell of The Washington Post explains how the Capitals have been rejuvenated after the switch from Todd Reirden.
The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke with bereaved relatives adding tributes to the wall in central London along with other faith leaders on Tuesday.
Apple also revealed a new purple colour variant for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Mini.
The house, owned by Tubman's father Ben Ross, was discovered amid a search that began in November 2020.
NEW YORK, April 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Halper Sadeh LLP, a global investor rights law firm, announces it is investigating the following companies: WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: WSFS) concerning potential violations of the federal securities laws and/or breaches of fiduciary duties relating to its merger with Bryn Mawr Bank Corporation. Under the terms of the agreement, stockholders of Bryn Mawr will receive 0.90 of a share of WSFS common stock for each share of Bryn Mawr common stock. If you are a WSFS shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options. RumbleOn, Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBL) concerning potential violations of the federal securities laws and/or breaches of fiduciary duties relating to its merger with RideNow. If you are a RumbleOn shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options. Intec Pharma Ltd. (NASDAQ: NTEC) concerning potential violations of the federal securities laws and/or breaches of fiduciary duties relating to its merger with Decoy Biosystems, Inc. Upon completion of the merger, Intec shareholders are expected to own approximately 25% of the combined company. If you are an Intec shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options. Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) concerning potential violations of the federal securities laws and/or breaches of fiduciary duties relating to its sale to Canadian Pacific Railway Limited. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Kansas City shareholders would receive 0.489 Canadian Pacific shares and $90.00 in cash for each Kansas City common share held. If you are a Kansas City shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options. Halper Sadeh LLP may seek increased consideration, additional disclosures and information concerning the proposed transaction, or other relief and benefits on behalf of shareholders. Shareholders are encouraged to contact the firm free of charge to discuss their legal rights and options. Please call Daniel Sadeh or Zachary Halper at (212) 763-0060 or email sadeh@halpersadeh.com or zhalper@halpersadeh.com. Halper Sadeh LLP represents investors all over the world who have fallen victim to securities fraud and corporate misconduct. Our attorneys have been instrumental in implementing corporate reforms and recovering millions of dollars on behalf of defrauded investors. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Contact Information:Halper Sadeh LLPDaniel Sadeh, Esq.Zachary Halper, Esq.(212) 763-0060sadeh@halpersadeh.comzhalper@halpersadeh.com https://www.halpersadeh.com
The world's most important semiconductor equipment maker is getting caught in the crossfire between the U.S. and China.
The jury has reached a verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer charged with the murder of George Floyd last May.
Dogecoin is now the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Dogecoin enthusiasts, also known as Shibes, will be looking to push the price even higher today. Keep reading to learn more about this cryptocurrency and why it's a good idea to tread carefully if you plan on buying.
A day after a software error wiped out wireless services for thousands of Rogers customers across Canada, consumers, telecom executives and critical public services still have questions as to what exactly happened and how it can be avoided in the future. Wireless service was offline for much of Monday for thousands of Rogers customers, along with their Fido and Chatr brands. Most impacted customers seemed to be clustered around Toronto and Montreal, but there were reports from across the country, starting early Monday morning, and the network only came back online fully after 8 p.m. eastern time. Toronto resident and communications specialist Rachael Collier, a Fido customer, said she first noticed her phone wasn't working Monday morning when she tried to make a doctor's appointment. "I thought my call wasn't going through because so many people are trying to get vaccines today," she told the Canadian Press. "Then I realized I couldn't make any calls," Collier said. "They're saying it's intermittent, but my phone hasn't worked all day. It's clearly an absolutely massive outage." Milton, Ont., resident Deep Mehta said he hadn't had service for more than 12 hours. "It's frustrating because I'm trying to operate a business from home and that's the number that everyone has," he said. "I just had to take my son to the orthodontist and I couldn't check in on my phone." WATCH | Rogers networks hit by widespread outages across country: Emergency services impacted Emergency services across the country were impacted, as some customers lost access to 911 services. While there are no reports of emergencies that couldn't be reported, Ottawa-based independent telecom consultant Russell McOrmond said losing such services illustrates the seriousness of the outage. "This was not some minor inconvenience," he said in an interview. "A lot of municipalities had to send out messages telling people to keep trying." McOrmond says he is especially concerned that the outage impacted Canada's vaccination plans for COVID-19, as many people couldn't book or find out about appointments. "Due to the Rogers outage yesterday, some vaccine clinics were forced to use paper-based reporting," a spokesperson for Ontario's Ministry of Health told CBC News in a statement Tuesday. "It was so much bigger than anyone realizes," McOrmond said. Public vs. private A software developer for more than 30 years, McOrmond has testified at numerous CRTC hearings about wireless policy, and he says the outage underlines a fundamental problem of the industry — that instead of being treated like a utility, telecommunications networks have been handed over to private companies, which own every part of the infrastructure. He isn't arguing that the solution is a government-run cellphone company, but rather that the infrastructure should be deemed a utility run by municipalities, and then companies would compete to offer services on it. "When the private sector provides all the layers we see the sort of silly failures we see in Canada," he said. Rogers is one of the three biggest telecommunications providers in Canada.(Evan Mitsui/CBC News) Rogers blamed the outage on a software update from Ericsson, one of its network equipment providers. While anything can break, McOrmond argues that allowing companies to own and operate all parts of their vertically integrated telecom networks makes those problems cascade when they happen. "Contrary to what the 'government is bad' ideologues say, with basic utilities like water and power, yes we have an outage every once in a while, but we have far less outages than the private sector services we get." Competition would 'create robust networks' Telecom executive Anthony Lacavera founded Wind Mobile more than a decade ago, and while he currently has no active role in Canada's telecom sector, he is a firm believer that competition — not more government involvement — is the way to fix any problems. "Having independent competitors would ensure that the right investments are being made to create robust networks," he said in an interview Tuesday. "I understand that public utility argument, but I think it underestimates the cost of building the networks we need," he said. Lacavera views Monday's outage as a wake up call about how important these networks are, not only in the current world where more people are working online and remotely because of COVID-19, but also because of the 5G future that will be even more dependent on connectivity. "It's one thing to lose your ability to tweet or go on Facebook but quite another when an autonomous vehicle loses connection," he said. "Imagine an outage in the next generation, with remote surgeries. "Yesterday it became clear to Canadians how important wireless networks are." Roaming arrangements Lacavera acknowledges that every technology is capable of breaking down, and he says Monday's outage is a lesson in where it needs to improve. "If I wanted to put my engineering hat on, I would say what is the most survivable network?" The answer, he says, is one where phones that are down on one network can be transferred seamlessly over to another network while the outage is repaired. If this sort of roaming arrangement had been in place Monday, then according to Lacavera, "the traffic could have moved." There's no clear answer as to why that didn't happen, which is why McOrmond is in favour of turning Canada's wireless airwaves into something more like a public utility. "There's things that should be utilities, and things that should be private sector," he said, and finding out which is which should be paramount because "the way we do our telecommunications is costing us."
Canadian lawyer and long-standing IOC member Dick Pound says the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee is firmly committed to hosting the Games. Any suggestion otherwise is simply stating the obvious — that nothing is guaranteed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, Tokyo organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto was forced to assure the world again that the postponed Games will open in just over three months. His statement came after Toshihiro Nakai, the general secretary of the ruling LDP political party, suggested cancellation was still a possibility amid surging COVID-19 rates in Japan. "It's very clear that the party in power, and the prefectures involved are quite determined to proceed with the Games . . . whether it was a member of a party saying, 'Well, yes, of course. But nothing is guaranteed," Pound said. "There could be a wave three or wave four or five that might interfere with it.' But I don't think it goes any farther than that at the moment. "They are fully committed to going ahead and they think they can create the necessary bubble for safety." Ensuring safety for athletes is obviously a top priority, but organizers also need to reassure the Japanese public. More than 80 per cent of Japanese citizens said in two polls that the Games, scheduled to open on July 23, should be cancelled or postponed. "I assume there must be some plan to try and convince the ones who are sort of just against it that we can pull this off in a way that it's not going to be threatening to public health in Japan, that this would be a great achievement for Japan, and we hope you'll understand that we're doing what we're doing based on the best science we can avail ourselves of, and that we have no desire whatsoever to add to any public health problems in Japan," Pound said. In an editorial last week, the British Medical Journal cast doubt on the ability to keep the Games "safe and secure." Despite the surge in COVID-19 cases and a slow vaccine rollout, the IOC and Tokyo organizers are pressing on. The IOC, which relies on selling broadcast rights for 73 per cent of its income, has seen its cash flow stalled by the postponement. Japan has already invested at least US$15 billion to organize the Olympics, and national audits suggest it might be twice that much. All but $6.7 billion is public money. The IOC and Japan organizers are scheduled to release updated "playbooks" on April 28 with more details about health and safety protocols in Tokyo. While no major shifts from the first playbooks released in early February are anticipated, Pound expects them to include more details around testing schedules. "There's going to be ongoing reassessment and testing within the bubble with sort of special places set aside if there happened to be any positive cases or any doubtful cases," he said. "And then the process basically is you're cleared at the airport you get onto a bus, which will take you to the Olympic Village, and you'll be checked in there. And you'll stay in the village until you get on another bus that will take you to your training or competition venue. "Nobody's going to be downtown on the Ginza (shopping area) pressing flesh." Qualifying for Tokyo remains a huge hurdle for many athletes. Canada's top boxer Mandy Bujold, an 11-time Canadian champion, learned last week that her Olympic qualifying event in Argentina had been cancelled. The spots available at that event will now go to the highest ranked athletes from events in which Bujold didn't compete. Bujold had taken time off to have a baby. The Kitchener, Ont., boxer has hired a lawyer. Pound is aware of Bujold's case. "I heard that particular story and I'm not sure what the proper resolution is," he said. "I think the idea now is to find some way that will avoid this kind of a casualty, resulting from the sole fact that the athlete is female. "I think the IOC is wrestling with this. How they'll solve it I don't know. I think at this point, with a lot of the qualification meets are getting cancelled or postponed, it's up to whoever's organizing things, either the (international federation) or the IOC in this case, to find some kind of way that will be as undisruptive as possible, in circumstances. That's what they're looking for as we speak." Partly lost among the immense challenges of hosting the Games amid the pandemic is the fact Tokyo organizers were on pace to deliver an Olympics without any major pre-Games issues. Other than some concerns about heat, the headlines were about venues finished ahead of schedule, and other good news. "Oh, I think there can't have been any doubt in anyone's mind that these would have been the best prepared Games in history," Pound said. "It was kind of picking up where Tokyo '64 left off, where there was a whole new paradigm of the Olympic organization created on that occasion, and really opened the eyes of the world about the new Japan. I think they were going to do the same thing in 2020." This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2021. Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press
KYIV, Ukraine — Belarus' Foreign Ministry on Tuesday expressed regret over sanctions that the United States reimposed on nine state-owned companies in the ex-Soviet country, citing human rights violations. Belarus has become a target of Western sanctions after authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko won his sixth term in office in a widely disputed election in August and unleashed a harsh crackdown on subsequent mass protests that demanded he steps down. More than 34,000 people have been arrested, many of them beaten, and most prominent opposition figures have fled Belarus or have since been jailed. On Monday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it was revoking a license that has allowed transactions with nine sanctioned state-owned companies in Belarus since 2015, including the oil company Belneftekhim, which accounts for 30% of the country’s industrial output. U.S. companies will have to wind up transactions with the nine entities by June 3. “This action is a further consequence of the Belarusian authorities’ flagrant disregard for human rights and Belarus’ failure to comply with its obligations under international human rights law," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Monday. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that the move is “effectively aimed at impairing the material well-being of Belarusian citizens and reducing the economic potential of our country.” “The interests of businesses, ordinary Belarusians or Americans, security and stability in the region and in the world don't mean anything to Washington in this process. Maybe because our region will be the one paying the price for the consequences of such irresponsible acts,” the ministry said, adding that it reserves the right for an “asymmetrical response.” The Belarusian government said the country's gross domestic product dropped 0.9% last year; the World Bank's forecast before the U.S. reimposed sanctions on state-owned companies said it would drop 2.7% this year. “Resumption of the sanctions will weigh heavily on Belarusian state companies amid recession and the sharp drop of the GDP,” independent economist Lev Margolin said. “Repressions are costing Lukashenko, who's running out of money, too much.” The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO, April 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hagens Berman urges Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACAD) investors with significant losses to submit your losses now. Class Period: June 15, 2020 - Apr. 4, 2021Lead Plaintiff Deadline: June 18, 2021Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/ACADContact An Attorney Now: ACAD@hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895 Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACAD) Securities Fraud Action: The complaint alleges that Defendants misrepresented facts concerning Acadia’s supplemental new drug application (“sNDA”) for NUPLAZID® (pimavanserin), which treats dementia-related psychosis (“DRP”). Specifically, on July 20, 2020, Acadia announced the FDA accepted for filing the sNDA and stated that its pivotal study for the drug showed a meaningful reduction of psychosis symptoms and a nearly 3X reduction in the risk of relapse for patients continuing on pimavanserin vs. placebo. Thereafter, the company repeatedly stated the FDA had not identified any potential review issues and reiterated the drug’s efficacy. But the truth began to emerge on Mar. 8, 2021, when Acadia announced that on Mar. 3, 2021 the FDA informed the company that it had identified deficiencies in the sNDA. Then, on Apr. 5, 2021, Acadia announced the FDA had rejected the sNDA, citing a lack of statistical significance regarding some of the subgroups of dementia and inadequate numbers of patients with some less common dementia subtypes. “We’re focused on investors’ losses and proving Acadia misled investors by concealing FDA-related review risks for the sNDA,” said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation. If you are an Acadia investor and have significant losses, or have knowledge that may assist the firm’s investigation, click here to discuss your legal rights with Hagens Berman. Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Acadia should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 844-916-0895 or email ACAD@hbsslaw.com. About Hagens BermanHagens Berman is a national law firm with nine offices in eight cities around the country and eighty attorneys. The firm represents investors, whistleblowers, workers and consumers in complex litigation. More about the firm and its successes is located at hbsslaw.com. For the latest news visit our newsroom or follow us on Twitter at @classactionlaw. Contact: Reed Kathrein, 844-916-0895
* Morgan Stanley, BlackRock bullish on EM * Latam stocks come off two-month high * Mexican peso breaks six-day winning streak (Updates prices) By Ambar Warrick and Susan Mathew April 20 (Reuters) - Most Latin American currencies fell on Tuesday as the dollar strengthened off lows, with falling oil prices knocking currencies of Colombia and Mexico. Copper prices retreated, but stayed near 10-year highs on optimism over recovering global demand. As oil prices fell on demand worries, Colombia's peso lost 0.5%.
The former Manchester United defender turned pundit has been among the competition’s most outspoken and emotional critics.
A German scientist studying extremely rare blood clots linked to AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine said on Tuesday Johnson & Johnson has agreed to work with him on the research after similar serious side effects emerged in recipients of its shot. Andreas Greinacher, a transfusion medicine expert at Greifswald University, announced the collaboration after the European Medicines Agency said it would add a label to J&J's vaccine warning of unusual blood clots with low platelet counts.
Oh, the 1980s...when broad shoulder pads and big sleeves had an unbreakable grip on closets everywhere. Here, 38 '80s fashion photos that'll bring you back to the days of perms and leg warmers and sequins. Decked out in striped leg warmers and a lycra bodysuit, Heather Locklear looked like the poster girl for the decade.
Featuring your go-to summer shirt, an unmissable spring jacket, and more.
San Francisco, California--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2021) - Hagens Berman urges Athenex, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATNX) investors with significant losses to submit your losses now. Class Period: Aug. 7, 2019 - Feb. 26, 2021Lead Plaintiff Deadline: May 3, 2021Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/ATNXContact An Attorney Now: ATNX@hbsslaw.com844-916-0895Athenex, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATNX) Securities Class Action: The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made false statements and omissions about its flagship drug candidate, an oral paclitaxel ...
Kyle Bayha says he's been a minority at all of his past jobs. But for the last five weeks, the Délı̨nę, Northwest Territories man has been working at the Nechalacho demonstration project as an employee of Det'on Cho Nahanni Construction Corporation. There, about 110 kilometres southeast of Yellowknife, the workforce is 80 per cent Indigenous he said. "Oh, it means lots," he told reporters. Cheetah Resources, which operates the project and owns the resources near the surface of the rare earth deposit, invited media for a tour of Nechalacho on Monday. The company said it will be the first in Canada to produce rare earth — there are no current producers of rare earths in Canada — and the first in Canada to contract an Indigenous business to extract materials on their own territory. Chris Pederson, senior project geologist, holds up a piece of rock. (Liny Lamberink/CBC North) Nahanni Construction, owned by the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, signed the agreement early last year. But something else that makes Nechalacho stand out from the several other mines where he's worked, said Bayha, is there aren't any tailings ponds. "With this process that we've got here, I'm pretty happy to be environmentally friendly. I think reclamation will be a lot better. It'll just be a more clean reclamation." This ore sorter will be 'married up' with an outdoor crusher, and does not use any chemicals to separate materials, said Production Manager Clarence Pyke.(Liny Lamberink/CBC North) Unique sorting process Unlike mines that harvest the earth's gold and diamonds, the rare earth mine will not use any chemicals, explained David Connelly, Cheetah's vice president of strategy and corporate affairs. The difference, he said, is they are the first in the N.W.T. to rely on a sensor-based ore sorter to do all the sorting in a single step — using x-rays and puffs of air to sort the ore into streams of waste rock and a rare earth concentrate. "We anticipate about 600-thousand tonnes of rock will come out of the ground and about 100-thousand tonnes of that will end up being valuable rock," said Connelly. Clarence Pyke, the production manager for the Nechalacho demonstration project, looks out over an expanse on Thursday that'll soon turn into the mine's pit. (Liny Lamberink/CBC North) The intent is to mine all the ore this year, from the North T Zone on the north side of Thor Lake, for the entire three-year demonstration project. The crushing and sorting, as well as the processing at a plant in Saskatchewan, will take place throughout the duration of the project. "This will give us an indication of whether we go forward with full fledged mining activities," said Clarence Pyke, the mine's manager, of Mi'kmaq heritage, while standing in the clearing of what will soon become the mine's open pit. A pair of heavy machines rumbled in the distance, as they knocked down a tree. "Right now it's a small pit and basically to see what our product is going to be. Our overburden has to come off first, get down to the hard rock, and then start our blasting." An old core library can be seen near the top of this aerial photograph of the Nechalacho Demonstration Project staging area on Thursday. It is surrounded by heavy machinery that'll soon be put to use. (Liny Lamberink/CBC North) The rare earth deposit in the North T Zone has a radius of between 150 to 200 metres, according to the project's chief geologist, Chris Pederson. "It's not going to be spiraled down like other mines in the North, that's why it's so small here. It's more like a quarry," said Pyke. Phase two of the project involves mining a much larger deposit on the other side of Thor Lake, in what's called the Tardiff Zone. Pyke said it's too early to say whether that would also be like a quarry, or a spiral. But Connelly said he has "no doubt" the project will move into its second phase. David Connelly is the vice president of corporate affairs for Cheetah Resources. The company, which is owned by Vital Metals Limited, operates the Nechalacho demonstration project and owns its near-surface resources — which refers to the first 100 metres below the surface of the ground.(Liny Lamberink/CBC North) Customers interested Vital Metals, which owns Cheetah Resources, is about to break ground on a processing facility in Saskatoon, Sask., said Connelly. It'll turn the mixed rare earth concentrate into a mixed rare earth precipitate. Crews working at the Nechalacho mine project live in these cabins, right next to Thor Lake in N.W.T. (Liny Lamberink/CBC North) From there, it'll be sold to refineries that can isolate the 17 rare earth metals combined in the precipitate and turn it into individual products for use in technology. The single largest and most important use for rare earth elements, according to Natural Resources Canada, is the manufacturing of magnets that can be used in cell phones, computers, wind turbines and electric vehicles. REEtech, a company in Norway, said Connelly, has already pre-purchased the majority of mixed rare earth precipitate that'll come from the demonstration project and has expressed interest in buying five times that amount, five years from now. Cheetah Resources owns surface-level resources at the mine, which means the first 100 metres of material below the surface of the ground. Avalon Advanced Metals, which originally developed the rare earth deposit, owns the resources founder below that. Connelly said Cheetah Resources has also had conversations with mixed rare earth refineries in Korea, Estonia, France, Japan, Malaysia, India and China so far. "We're going to have a mining process here that we think is revolutionary, in the world, in terms of respecting the land and the water," said Connelly. "The question is — at what scale."
On Tuesday, the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced two partnerships to assist in fan safety for those attending Saturday's UFC 261 pay-per-view. The event sold out the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. in minutes. The event represents the first, sold out, major sporting event with full capacity at an indoor arena in the United States since the pandemic lockdowns and restrictions. A capacity crowd of more than 15,000 fans is expected. The fight promotion has partnered with CLEAR and their Health Pass to connect fan identity with a securely linked, confidential COVID-related health questionnaire. All ticket holders are required to complete this questionnaire in advance. Ticket holders who opt not to use the electronic version of CLEAR will be directed to a kiosk outside of VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena to complete a hard copy of the health questionnaire. Jorge Masvidal not worried about ‘coward’ Kamaru Usman in UFC 261 rematch Depending on their COVID-related health information, fans are issued a red or green notification on their Health Pass app. Ticket holders who receive a red notification will not be permitted entry and will be advised to seek medical guidance, as well as information on how to obtain a refund. Along with CLEAR, UFC has also partnered with O2 Industries to provide face coverings, free of charge, to the fans attending. Fans will be offered the face coverings by UFC event staff as they enter each arena. UFC encourages fans to wear face masks at the event, but masks are not mandatory. UFC and O2 Industries are also partnering to donate more than 5,000 Tactical Respirator I (TRI) premium respirators to the American Red Cross for their use as needed in emergency situations. UFC 261 features three world title bouts. In the main event, welterweight champion Kamaru Usman faces Jorge Masvidal in a rematch, while women's strawweight champion Zhang Weili puts her belt on the line against former titleholder Rose Namajunas. The third title bout on the fight card features women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko facing former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade.
ATLANTA — A group of religious leaders is calling for a boycott of Georgia-based Home Depot, saying the home improvement giant hasn't done enough to oppose the state's new voting laws. African Methodist Episcopal Bishop Reginald Jackson said the company has remained “silent and indifferent” to his efforts to rally opposition to the new state law pushed by Republicans, as well as to similar efforts elsewhere. “We just don't think we ought to let their indifference stand,” Jackson said. The leader of all his denomination’s churches in Georgia, Jackson had a meeting last week with other Georgia-based executives to urge them to oppose the voting law, but said he’s had no contact with Home Depot, despite repeated efforts to reach the company. Home Depot did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday. The company is the largest based in Georgia by revenue, profit and number of employees. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp called the boycott “absolutely ridiculous” on Twitter. At a news conference later, he said Jackson was a “partisan” and his call for a boycott unfairly “targeted” workers at Home Depot. “They did not ask to be in this political fight,” Kemp said. He added, “This insanity needs to stop.” Opponents of the new law say it will restrict voting. It requires people to present proof of identification to request an absentee ballot, cuts the number of days for requesting an absentee ballot, shortens early voting before runoff elections, provides fewer drop boxes than allowed under emergency rules during the pandemic, allows the state to take over local election offices and bars people from handing out food and water to voters within 150 feet (45 metres) of a polling place. Supporters say the bill was demanded by Republican voters alarmed by former President Donald Trump’s claims about fraud and makes absentee balloting more secure, provides a permanent legal basis for drop boxes and expands the number of mandatory weekend early voting days. Jackson earlier trained his criticism on Coca-Cola Co., but the Atlanta soft drink titan later spoke out forcefully against the law and helped arrange Jackson's meeting with corporate leaders. “We believe that corporations have a corporate responsibility to their customers, who are Black, white and brown, on the issue of voting," Jackson said. “It doesn't make any sense at all to keep giving dollars and buying products from people that do not support you.” He said faith leaders may call for boycotts of other companies in the future. Boycotts in the past have been aimed at pressuring business leaders to push elected officials to change, but it's not clear Republicans will respond this time. Georgia lawmakers took an unsuccessful vote to strip a jet fuel tax break from Delta Air Lines after that company forcefully opposed the bill. Some Georgia lawmakers demanded that Coca-Cola, which provides free drinks at the state capitol, remove refrigerators from their offices. Gov. Brian Kemp and others have repeatedly attacked Major League Baseball for removing its All-Star Game from the Atlanta Braves stadium, blaming Democrats for economic losses. Some members of Congress propose revoking the league's antitrust exemption. Jackson acknowledged retaliation, but said that if companies stand together, “there is no way Republicans will go after them.” ___ Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy. Associated Press writer Sudhin Thanawala contributed to this report. Jeff Amy, The Associated Press