DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones' 21 points helped UC San Diego defeat James Madison 73-67 on Friday night. Tait-Jones also contributed six rebounds for the Tritons (4-2). Hayden Gray scored 16 points and added four steals. Nordin Kapic went 5 of 8 from the field (1 for 4 from 3-point range) to finish with 12 points. Bryce Lindsay led the way for the Dukes (3-3) with 17 points. James Madison also got 13 points and four assists from Xavier Brown. UCSD went into halftime ahead of James Madison 34-28. Tait-Jones scored 14 points in the half. UCSD took the lead for good with 5:46 left in the second half on a free throw from Tait-Jones to make it a 58-57 game. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
The Brighton vs Brentford live stream sees two out-of-sorts sides looking for a post-Christmas boost. Below we have all the information on how to watch Brighton vs Brentford from anywhere in the world with details on worldwide TV channels, broadcasters and live streams on TV screens, laptops, tablets and mobiles. Fabian Hurzeler's hot start at the Amex has ground to a jarring halt – it's now five games and more than a month since they won a match. That dire run includes a crushing home defeat to Crystal Palace and failure to beat strugglers Southampton and Leicester City. After their struggles last season, many Brentford fans will have readily accepted 12th at Christmas this time around. Thomas Frank's men are largely winning the games they should and coming a cropper against better sides. If they have any hope of working their way back into the top half, they need to start winning games like Friday's. Here's where to watch Brighton vs Brentford live streams online and catch the action from anywhere. The is starts at and you can by opting for an annual plan. Peacock is available on a wide range of devices. As web-based service on PCs and laptops, it's also compatible with: iOS, TV, Android, Android TV, Chromecast, PlayStation, Xbox, Smartcast, select smart TVs, and Xfinity Flex . Peacock subscriber but away over the holidays? You can access your subscription from anywhere by using one of the , such as . All of this year's Premier League Boxing Day fixtures on December 26 and 27 will be shown live and exclusively on in the UK. To watch all this festive footy goodness you’ll need to be an Prime subscriber. – a year’s subscription costs £95 a year or £8.99 a month. Better yet, if you don't currently have an Amazon Prime subscription, you can start a and cancel at any time, meaning you could watch the Brighton vs Brentford live stream for free. A VPN will allow you to access your usual subscription from abroad. We recommend – read our to find out why. Africa Americas Europe Asia Oceania Middle EastUtah has now fallen in their seventh straight game, this time to the nationally ranked Iowa State Cyclones in a close, drama-filled affair that has conference championship implications as both conference title game favorites Colorado and BYU lost. The Utes kicked off the scoring with a field goal in the first, but the Cyclones answered back with a touchdown to give them a 3-7 lead heading into the second quarter. Utah answered back with an early second-quarter touchdown off Lander Barton's 87-yard interception which extended the program's streak to be the longest in FBS recorded history. However, Iowa State quickly regained the lead with a touchdown three minutes later, and the two teams both kicked the pigskin through the uprights to end the first half with the Cyclones leading 13-17. State was the only team to score in the third quarter extending their lead to 11 points, but a blocked punt touchdown and a successful two-point conversion to start the fourth quarter gave the Utes some life as they were now within three points. Micah Bernard gave Utah the lead with a little under six minutes to go in the game, but the Cyclones were able to answer back with a minute and a half left in the game. The Luke Bottari-led Utes were able to drive down the field into field goal range, but an intentional grounding penalty pushed them back giving Cole Becker a tough 53-yard attempt to potentially send the game into overtime. Becker missed the kick as he shaved the uprights a little to the right, and that was the game as Iowa State lined up in victory formation, ending the game, 31-28. With the win, the Cyclones are now primed to meet the Arizona State Sun Devils in the Big 12 Championship game in a wild turn of events while the Utes fall to 4-7 on the year with a Friday night game in Orlando against UCF as the final matchup on the docket. Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images With the loss, Utah is officially out of bowl game contention, and Isaac Wilson's injury, while not serious according to Kyle Whittingham is still yet to be determined which will see Bottari under center against 'Space U' in his final game with the program. The offseason can't come soon enough for the Utah faithful and what an offseason it is shaping up to be for the program with a projected highly active transfer portal window as well as staff overhauls in the cards, the Utes seem deadset on making sure a season like this never happens again.Dr Manmohan Singh passes away MP CM Kamal Nath Digvijaya hail his contribution
New Delhi, Dec 26 (PTI) He drew the roadmap of India’s economic reform, unshackled it from the licence raj and pulled it back from the brink when even all its gold reserve was pledged. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh was the scholar and architect of the India of today who evolved into a stubbornly resolute politician. Unassuming, erudite, soft-spoken and a consensus builder, Manmohan Singh died on Thursday night at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He was 92. The Congress leader, who steered the country for 10 years from 2004-2014 and helped set up the country’s economic framework as finance minister before that, was a renowned name in the global financial and economic sectors. The man who famously spoke of studying under the dim light of kerosene lamps in his village without electricity and went on to become a storied academic was the copybook reluctant politician, almost stumbling into the rough and tumble of mainstream politics. He was the proverbial dark horse when Sonia Gandhi stepped back from taking the prime minister’s post, ignoring the clamour from her party, and chose him instead. And so Manmohan Singh the academic bureaucrat became the 14th prime minister of India in 2004. Theirs was a partnership that lasted 10 years, the equation between Sonia Gandhi and Singh often cited for its equanimity and an example of how a working relationship should really be. Notwithstanding the inevitable tensions. Singh also had to balance the interests of the United Progressive Alliance’s coalition partners. N N Vohra, a former Jammu and Kashmir governor, said Singh always “stood firm as a rock in pursuing the ethical path even if he got into trouble with the political party he represented”. In 2014, the UPA was voted out in a cloud of corruption scams, establishing BJP's unbroken rule since then. Hailed for putting India on the road to liberalisation and privatisation in the early 1990s, Singh was criticised for turning a blind eye to charges of corruption. The going often got tough. During his first tenure as prime minister, the coalition began to unravel when India signed a civil nuclear deal with the US. It almost cost his government with the Left parties pulling out of the UPA coalition. However, his government survived. On July 22, 2008, the UPA faced its first confidence vote in the Lok Sabha after the Communist Party of India (Marxist) led Left Front withdrew support over India approaching the IAEA for Indo-US nuclear deal. The UPA won the confidence vote with 275 votes to the opposition's 256, with a record thin 19-vote victory after 10 MPs abstained. During the fag end of his tenure as prime minister, when he was seen defending his government’s record and the Congress’ positions on controversial issues such as the 2G scam, Singh spoke up and declared he was not weak. "I honestly hope history would be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or for that matter, the opposition parties in Parliament," he had said famously in January 2004. More than two decades later, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge reacted to Singh's death with a poignant post on X: "Undoubtedly, history shall judge you kindly, Dr. Manmohan Singh ji!" The decade with Singh at the helm of affairs is widely believed to be an era unprecedented growth and prosperity. His journey to the acme of India’s governance and political power is unique in the annals of India’s politics. Singh, always seen in a powder blue turban, was appointed India's finance minister in 1991 in the Narasimha Rao government. His role in ushering in a comprehensive policy of economic reforms is now recognised worldwide. In January 1991, India struggled to finance its essential imports, especially of oil and fertilisers, and to repay official debt. In July 1991, the RBI pledged 46.91 tonnes of gold with the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan to raise $400 million. Manmohan Singh soon steered the economy well and was quick to repurchase it months later. Vohra, who at the time served successively as defence and home secretary said he had to be at then finance minister Singh's door daily, “literally begging for some financial relief for the department I was serving”. Born to Gurmukh Singh and Amrit Kaur on September 26, 1932, in village Gah in the Punjab province of undivided India (now Pakistan), Singh completed his matriculation examinations from the Punjab University in 1948. His academic career took him from Punjab to the University of Cambridge, UK, where he earned a First Class Honours degree in Economics in 1957. Singh followed this with a D.Phil in Economics from Nuffield College at Oxford University in 1962. He started his career by teaching in the faculty of Punjab University and the prestigious Delhi School of Economics. He also had a brief stint at the UNCTAD Secretariat and later became secretary general of the South Commission in Geneva between 1987 and 1990. In 1971, Singh joined the government of India as economic advisor in the Commerce ministry. This was soon followed by his appointment as chief economic advisor in the Ministry of Finance in 1972. Among the many governmental positions that he occupied were secretary in the Finance ministry, deputy chairperson of the Planning Commission, governor of the Reserve Bank of India, advisor of the prime minister, and chairperson of the University Grants Commission. His political career started as a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1991, where he was leader of the opposition between 1998 and 2004. Interestingly, the two time prime minister had a 33-year parliamentary innings but only as a Rajya Sabha member. He never contested a Lok Sabha election. Singh was often accused by the BJP of running a government that was marred by corruption. The party called him "MaunMohan Singh" alleging that he did not speak out against corrupt leaders in his cabinet. Notwithstanding the many epithets, Singh always maintained his dignity. He is survived by his wife Gursharan Kaur and has three daughters. It is a measure of Singh’s understated personality that the country knew little of his family who also went about their lives as low key as they could during his 10 years as prime minister. Singh was quiet but also firm. Sources close to him said Singh had almost made up his mind to quit as prime minister in September 2013 after Rahul Gandhi dubbed the Union Cabinet's decision to bring an ordinance to allow convicted politicians to contest elections “complete nonsense” and recommended it be torn. Singh was abroad at the time. Singh was highly critical of demonetisation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016 and termed it "organised loot and legalised plunder". In reply to the no-confidence motion against his government in 2008, Singh said almost prophetically, "The greatness of democracy is that we are all birds of passage! We are here today, gone tomorrow! But in the brief time that the people of India entrust us with this responsibility, it is our duty to be honest and sincere in the discharge of these responsibilities." (This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)Walker hurt his ankle in last week's loss to Minnesota and left that game after sitting out the previous two because of a calf problem. He also missed two weeks in September with an oblique issue. Walker has run for 573 yards and seven touchdowns on 153 carries. A second-round draft pick by Seattle in 2022, he has 2,528 yards rushing and 24 TDs in his career. Walker could, in theory, return if the Seahawks win two playoff games, though their postseason hopes were slim entering the game against Chicago. Seattle (8-7) trailed the NFC West-leading Los Angeles Rams (9-6) by one game with two to play. The Seahawks' best path to the postseason was to win the final two regular-season games and have Los Angeles lose to Arizona on Saturday. Seattle visits the Rams to close the regular season. With Walker out, Seattle signed rookie running back George Holani off the practice squad. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFLDavina McCall shocks The Masked Singer panel as she's unmasked weeks after brain surgery
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Having quit his first trial as he shouted “I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!” and only managed to secure two out of 10 stars in a trial with GK Barry, he was out to prove himself tonight. His third trial saw him locked in a box, similar to his two other trials, where he had to turn stars off a screw using only his mouth and tongue while being accompanied by various critters. Throughout the trial, he had to move from box to box and was met with different critters in each one. He also had to make a chemical reaction while ants were biting his hands. Since Dean is frightened of creepy crawlies and bigger critters, he asked Ant and Dec not to tell him what was joining him in the box which was secured around his head. The trial called Lethal Lab saw the BBC Radio 1 presenter take four stars back to camp. Each star means more food for the celebrity campmates while no stars means they have to eat rice and beans. Going back to camp was a much better experience for Dean this time around as he was able to celebrate with his campmates, knowing he’d supplied food for the camp’s evening meal. On arriving back to camp, Dean was ecstatic with his success in Lethal Lab and the other celebrities celebrated his win with him. After earning four stars, Dean had fish guts put inside the box with him and quit the trial with "I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!" Meanwhile, the campmates were ordered to give up their contraband after McCullough smuggled teabags into the jungle, while Tulisa Contostavlos gave up a bag of seasoning which radio presenter Melvin Odoom had distributed to her. Viewers took to social media platform X to share their thoughts on Dean’s performance. One said the trial was easy: "So they gave him the easiest challenges we’ve ever seen on I’m a Celeb so he can win some stars lol". Another person commented: “He’s actually doing it, I’m surprised." Recommended reading: A third said: "Are you serious?? On the fish guts!" The latest series of I’m A Celebrity has a wide range of popular stars including Danny Jones, Coleen Rooney, Melvin Odoom, Oti Mabuse and Barry McGuigan to name a few. I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! airs every night at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.Ojiezele Osezua Sunday, the lawmaker representing Esan South-East Constituency on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State House of Assembly, has said that his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) is in line with the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. Osezua defected to the ruling APC party in the State on Monday at the Party’s Secretariat in Benin City. The two-time lawmaker noted that Section 109, Subsection (1) G, of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, permits him to leave his party when there are irreconcilable differences. “Section 109, Subsection (1)G, is that the only reason you can leave your party is when there are irreconcilable differences. The PDP that sponsored my second tenure election is into that challenge”, he said. He said the division in his former party, PDP, had given him room to join the All Progressives Party (APC) to pay the debts owed the party. Osezua was first elected to the State House of Assembly between 2019 and 2023 on the platform of APC. He, however, defected to the PDP in 2020 alongside the immediate past governor of the State, Godwin Obaseki. He was also among the 10 lawmakers that were inaugurated by the former Governor Obaseki at night. His defection to APC came barely three months after his party, PDP lost the Governorship Election conducted on September 21, 2024, in the State to the former. Speaking during the defection, he said he was leaving his party to join the APC. While describing his defection as a homecoming, he said he was leaving the PDP due to irreconcilable differences in the State and at the national level. He also hinged his defection on the debt he owed the APC that must be paid. He, however, thanked the members of the State executive council of the party for receiving him. “In 2019, APC was the ladder that brought me to the Assembly but unfortunately we have some challenges which led us into PDP in the company of the immediate past governor. “Today, I am still indebted to the APC, because having sponsored me, I was supposed to spend four years but I only spent one year before I left, which means I am still indebted to the APC. “Today defection is the debt I have come to repay”, he added. Receiving the defected lawmaker to the party, Jarret Tenebe, the Acting State Chairman of APC, lauded the legislator for joining the party, saying “More people will defect to the party in the coming months. “It is not the fault of APC for PDP to have a crisis in their party that will make their members cross the carpet and today we are happy. You will recall that during the election campaigns, I said our doors are opened and the door is still open.”WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill rallied around Pete Hegseth , Trump’s Pentagon pick, on Thursday even as new details surfaced about allegations that he had sexually assaulted a woman in 2017. The GOP embrace of Hegseth came as another controversial Trump nominee, Matt Gaetz, withdrew from consideration for attorney general. Gaetz said it was clear he had become a “distraction" amid pressure on the House to release an ethics report about allegations of his own sexual misconduct. An attorney for two women has said that his clients told House Ethics Committee investigators that Gaetz paid them for sex on multiple occasions beginning in 2017, when Gaetz was a Florida congressman. Fresh questions over the two nominees' pasts, and their treatment of women, arose with Republicans under pressure from Trump and his allies to quickly confirm his Cabinet. At the same time, his transition has so far balked at the vetting and background checks that have traditionally been required. While few Republican senators have publicly criticized any of Trump's nominees, it became clear after Gaetz's withdrawal that many had been harboring private concerns about him. Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who served with Gaetz in the House, said it was a “positive move.” Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker said it was a “positive development.” Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Gaetz “put country first and I am pleased with his decision.” After meeting with Hegseth, though, Republicans rallied around him. “I think he’s going to be in pretty good shape,” said Wicker, who is expected to chair the Senate Armed Services Committee in the next Congress. Republican senators' careful words, and their early reluctance to publicly question Trump's picks, illustrated not only their fear of retribution from the incoming president but also some of their hopes that the confirmation process can proceed normally, with proper vetting and background checks that could potentially disqualify problematic nominees earlier. Gaetz withdrew after meeting with senators on Wednesday. Sen. Thom Tillis said Gaetz was “in a pressure cooker” when he decided to withdraw, but suggested that it would have little bearing on Trump’s other nominees. “Transactions — one at a time,” he said. As the Hegseth nomination proceeds, Republicans also appear to be betting that they won't face much backlash for publicly setting aside the allegations of sexual misconduct — especially after Trump won election after being found liable for sexual abuse last year. Hegseth held a round of private meetings alongside incoming Vice President JD Vance on Thursday in an attempt to shore up support and told reporters afterward: “The matter was fully investigated and I was completely cleared, and that’s where I’m gonna leave it.” A 22-page police report report made public late Wednesday offered the first detailed account of the allegations against him. A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave. The report cited police interviews with the alleged victim, a nurse who treated her, a hotel staffer, another woman at the event and Hegseth. Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Palatore, said the incident was “fully investigated and police found the allegations to be false.” Hegseth paid the woman in 2023 as part of a confidential settlement to head off the threat of what he described as a baseless lawsuit, Palatore has said. Wicker played down the allegations against Hegseth, a former Fox News host, saying that “since no charges were brought from the authorities, we only have press reports.” Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., said after his meeting with Hegseth that he "shared with him the fact that I was saddened by the attacks that are coming his way.” Hagerty dismissed the allegations as “a he-said, she-said thing” and called it a “shame” that they were being raised at all. The senator said attention should instead be focused on the Defense Department that Hegseth would head. It's one of the most complex parts of the federal government with more than 3 million employees, including military service members and civilians. Sexual assault has been a persistent problem in the military, though Pentagon officials have been cautiously optimistic they are seeing a decline in reported sexual assaults among active-duty service members and the military academies. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, who will be the No. 2 Republican in the Senate next year, said after his meeting with Hegseth that the nominee is a strong candidate who “pledged that the Pentagon will focus on strength and hard power – not the current administration’s woke political agenda.” Senate Republicans are under pressure to hold hearings once they take office in January and confirm nominees as soon as Trump is inaugurated, despite questions about whether Trump’s choices will be properly screened or if some, like Hegseth, have enough experience for the job. Senate Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed, who will be the top Democrat on the panel next year, said the reports on Hegseth “emphasized the need for a thorough investigation by the FBI on the background of all the nominees.” It takes a simple majority to approve Cabinet nominations, meaning that if Democrats all opposed a nominee, four Republican senators would also have to defect for any Trump choice to be defeated. Trump has made clear he’s willing to put maximum pressure on Senate Republicans to give him the nominees he wants – even suggesting at one point that they allow him to just appoint his nominees with no Senate votes. But senators insist, for now, that they are not giving up their constitutional power to have a say. “The president has the right to make the nominations that he sees fit, but the Senate also has a responsibility for advice and consent,” said Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota. In the case of Gaetz, he said, “I think there was advice offered rather than consent.”Yes, there is a ground beef recall, but not for beef sold at grocery stores
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Article content Call it the age of Twitter diplomacy. After U.S. president-elect Donald Trump spent part of Christmas Day trolling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the rest of Canada on X, Trudeau responded the next day on the same platform. It’s a strange situation watching two world leaders talk past each other on social media regarding issues such as sovereignty, trade and our shared history. Trump continues to talk about the U.S. taking over Canada, while Trudeau is responding with a reminder of the close ties between our two countries. I just left Wayne Gretzky, “The Great One” as he is known in Ice Hockey circles. I said, “Wayne, why don’t you run for Prime Minister of Canada, soon to be known as the Governor of Canada - You would win easily, you wouldn’t even have to campaign.” He had no interest, but I think... “I just left Wayne Gretzky, ‘The Great One’ as he is known in Ice Hockey circles,” Trump posted on Christmas Day . “I said, ‘Wayne, why don’t you run for Prime Minister of Canada, soon to be known as the Governor of Canada – You would win easily, you wouldn’t even have to campaign.’” Trump went on to say that Gretzky wasn’t interested, but suggested Canadians join a “draft Gretzky” movement. Look, Gretzky and his family have long been associated with conservative politics in Canada. This goes back to at least the Brian Mulroney era; Gretzky even spoke at Mulroney’s funeral and held events over the years with Stephen Harper. There is no doubt that Gretzky would be supporting Pierre Poilievre come the next election. Invoking the Great One wasn’t Trump’s only mention of Canada on Christmas Day. He also made another pitch for Canada to join the U.S., while also referring to Trudeau as governor, as if Canada was a state. Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal (where we lost 38,000 people in its building 110 years ago), always making certain that the United States puts in Billions of Dollars in “repair”... “Also, to Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada, whose Citizens’ Taxes are far too high, but if Canada was to become our 51st State, their Taxes would be cut by more than 60%, their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other Country anywhere in the World,” Trump posted. Mark Carney, the former central banker-turned-perpetual Liberal insider/Trudeau replacement slammed Trump’s message as taking the joke too far. He also criticized the message from Trump, “the casual disrespect, the poor tax math, and ignoring that workers on both sides of our border will be better off if we work together.” This is carrying the ‘joke’ too far: the casual disrespect, the poor tax math, and ignoring that workers on both sides of our border will be better off if we work together. Time to call it out, stand up for Canada, and build a true North American partnership 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 https://t.co/BO4zEMrk0B Trump’s math on taxes is off, at least for the average Canadian. An individual earning $75,000 per year in Canada would take home between the low of $56,138 in Nova Scotia and the high of $61,181 in British Columbia . That compares to a take-home income of $62,920 in California , which has one of the highest income tax rates among American states. Of course, those tax calculations don’t take the exchange rate into account. While Carney pointed to errors in Trump’s math, Trudeau took a different approach. Before jetting off on his British Columbia ski holiday, Trudeau posted a 14-year-old video produced by NBC for the Olympic coverage in 2010. Some information about Canada for Americans: https://t.co/EnI8CrF4cB The video, narrated by Tom Brokaw, details the strong ties between Canada and the United States over the last two centuries. This has been the approach of far too many Canadian politicians since Trump began his threats and online trolling of Canada about a month ago. Our leaders either appeal to our friendship or try to remind Americans of our close trading ties and how tariffs will hurt workers and consumers in both countries. Neither of these approaches will work. RECOMMENDED VIDEO Trump doesn’t care about the close ties between our two countries. He says he likes Canada, but he clearly wants a response on border issues with his tariff threat. As for claiming that tariffs will hurt American workers or consumers, that is not something that Trump or his economic advisers believe. In fact, Trump outright rejects the prevailing thought that tariffs are harmful. This is why we need a different approach to dealing with the incoming Trump administration. They either don’t care about our message or in the case of tariffs, outright reject the premise of our claim. As for the trolling Trump is doing of Trudeau by calling him governor, put it down to payback. Trudeau has spent the last few years using Trump and MAGA interchangeably as terms of insult against conservatives in Canada.
Trump has pressed for voting changes. GOP majorities in Congress will try to make that happen ATLANTA (AP) — Republicans in Congress plan to move quickly in their effort to overhaul the nation’s voting procedures, seeing an opportunity with control of the White House and both chambers of Congress. They want to push through long-sought changes such as voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements. They say the measures are needed to restore public confidence in elections. That's after an erosion of trust that Democrats note has been fueled by false claims from Donald Trump and his allies of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Democrats say they are willing to work with the GOP but want any changes to make it easier, not harder, to vote. Americans are exhausted by political news. TV ratings and a new AP-NORC poll show they're tuning out NEW YORK (AP) — A lot of Americans, after an intense presidential election campaign, are looking for a break in political news. That's evident in cable television news ratings and a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll found nearly two-thirds of Americans saying they've found the need recently to cut down on their consumption of political and government news. That's particularly true among Democrats following President-elect Donald Trump's victory, although a significant number of Republicans and independents feel the same way. Cable networks MSNBC and CNN are really seeing a slump. That's also happened in years past for networks that particularly appeal to supporters of one candidate. Israel strikes Houthi rebels in Yemen's capital while the WHO chief says he was meters away JERUSALEM (AP) — A new round of Israeli airstrikes in Yemen have targeted the Houthi rebel-held capital of Sanaa and multiple ports. The World Health Organization’s director-general said the bombardment on Thursday took place just “meters away” as he was about to board a flight in Sanaa. He says a crew member was hurt. The strikes followed several days of Houthi attacks and launches setting off sirens in Israel. Israel's military says it attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the international airport in Sanaa, power stations and ports. The Israeli military didn't immediate respond to questions about the WHO chief's statement. The US says it pushed retraction of a famine warning for north Gaza. Aid groups express concern. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say they asked for — and got — the retraction of an independent monitor's warning of imminent famine in north Gaza. The internationally Famine Early Warning System Network issued the warning this week. The new report had warned that starvation deaths in north Gaza could reach famine levels as soon as next month. It cited what it called Israel's “near-total blockade” of food and water. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Jacob Lew, criticized the finding as inaccurate and irresponsible. The U.S. Agency for International Development, which funds the famine-monitoring group, told the AP it had asked for and gotten the report's retraction. USAID officials tell The Associated Press that it had asked the group for greater review of discrepancies in some of the data. India's former prime minister Manmohan Singh, architect of economic reforms, dies aged 92 NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, widely regarded as the architect of India’s economic reform program and a landmark nuclear deal with the United States, has died. He was 92. The hospital said Singh was admitted to New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences late Thursday after his health deteriorated due to “sudden loss of consciousness at home." He was “being treated for age-related medical conditions,” the statement added. A mild-mannered technocrat, Singh became one of India’s longest-serving prime ministers for 10 years and earned a reputation as a man of great personal integrity. But his sterling image was tainted by allegations of corruption against his ministers. What is known about a plane crash in Kazakhstan that killed 38 of 67 people on board The crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan has killed 38 of 67 people on board. Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijani capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted for reasons that aren’t fully clear yet. It crashed while making an attempt to land in Aktau in Kazakhstan after flying east across the Caspian Sea. Officials in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia haven't commented on a possible cause of the crash pending an official investigation. Some commentators pointed out holes in the plane's tail section pictured after the crash as a sign that it could have been fired upon by air defense systems. Ukraine's military intelligence says North Korean troops are suffering heavy battlefield losses KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's military intelligence says North Korean troops are suffering heavy losses in Russia's Kursk region and face logistical difficulties as a result of Ukrainian attacks. The intelligence agency said Thursday that Ukrainian strikes near Novoivanovka inflicted heavy casualties on North Korean units. Ukraine's president said earlier this week that 3,000 North Korean troops have been killed and wounded in the fighting in the Kursk region. It marked the first significant estimate by Ukraine of North Korean casualties several weeks after Kyiv announced that North Korea had sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to help it in the almost 3-year war. How the stock market defied expectations again this year, by the numbers NEW YORK (AP) — What a wonderful year 2024 has been for investors. U.S. stocks ripped higher and carried the S&P 500 to records as the economy kept growing and the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates. The benchmark index posted its first back-to-back annual gains of more than 20% since 1998. The year featured many familiar winners, such as Big Tech, which got even bigger as their stock prices kept growing. But it wasn’t just Apple, Nvidia and the like. Bitcoin and gold surged and “Roaring Kitty” reappeared to briefly reignite the meme stock craze. Holiday shoppers increased spending by 3.8% despite higher prices New data shows holiday sales rose this year even as Americans wrestled with still high prices in many grocery necessities and other financial worries. According to Mastercard SpendingPulse, holiday sales from the beginning of November through Christmas Eve climbed 3.8%, a faster pace than the 3.1% increase from a year earlier. The measure tracks all kinds of payments including cash and debit cards. This year, retailers were even more under the gun to get shoppers in to buy early and in bulk since there were five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mastercard SpendingPulse says the last five days of the season accounted for 10% of the spending. Sales of clothing, electronics and Jewelry rose. Why this Mexican American woman played a vital role in the US sacramental peyote trade MIRANDO CITY, Texas (AP) — Amada Cardenas, a Mexican American woman who lived in the tiny border town of Mirando City in South Texas, played an important role in the history of the peyote trade. She and her husband were the first federally licensed peyote dealers who harvested and sold the sacramental plant to followers of the Native American Church in the 1930s. After her husband's death in 1967, Cardenas continued to welcome generations of Native American Church members to her home until her death in 2005, just before her 101st birthday.
