#pblove

TGM MOURNS DEATH OF CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING PRINCIPAL STEVEN C. MACYCLEVELAND (AP) — Shortly after doing a face-down snow angel, firing a few celebratory snowballs and singing “Jingle Bells” on his way to the media room, Jameis Winston ended his postgame news conference with a simple question. “Am I a Brown yet?” he asked. He is now. And who knows? Maybe for a lot longer than expected. Winston entered Cleveland football folklore on Thursday night by leading the Browns to a 24-19 win over the division rival Pittsburgh Steelers, who had their five-game winning streak stopped. Winston's performance at Huntington Bank Field, which transformed into the world's largest snow globe, not only made him an instantaneous hero in the eyes of Browns fans but added another wrinkle to the team's ever-changing, never-ending quarterback conundrum. In his fourth start since Deshaun Watson's season-ending Achilles tendon injury, Winston made enough big plays to help the Browns (3-8) get a victory that should quiet conjecture about coach Kevin Stefanski's job. Some wins mean more than others. In Cleveland, beating the Steelers is as big as it gets. But beyond any instant gratification, Winston has given the Browns more to consider as they move forward. Watson's future with Cleveland is highly uncertain since it will still be months before the team has a grip on whether he's even an option in 2025, his fourth year since signing a $230 million, fully guaranteed contract that has proven calamitous. It's also possible the Browns will cut ties with Watson. They signed Winston to a one-year contract to be Watson's backup. But the unexpected events of 2024 have changed plans and led to the possibility that the 30-year-old Winston could become Cleveland's full-time QB or a bridge to their next young one. So much is unclear. What's not is that Winston, who leaped into the end zone on fourth-and-2 for a TD to put the Browns ahead 18-6 in the fourth quarter, is a difference maker. With his larger-than-life personality and the joy he shows whether practicing or throwing three touchdown passes, he has lifted the Browns. A man of faith, he's made his teammates believe. Winston has done what Watson couldn't: made the Browns better. “A very, very authentic person,” Stefanski said Friday on a Zoom call. “He’s the same guy every single day. He's the same guy at 5 a.m. as he at 5 p.m. He brings great energy to everything he does, and I think his teammates appreciate that about him.” Winston, who is 2-2 as a starter with wins over the Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, has a knack for inspiring through fiery, preacher-like pregame speeches. But what has impressed the Browns is his ability to stay calm in the storm. “He doesn’t get rattled,” said Myles Garrett, who had three sacks against the Steelers . “He’s just tuned in and focused as anyone I’ve seen at that position. Turn the page. There was a turnover, came back to the sideline, ‘Love you. I’m sorry. We’re going to get it back.’ He was already on to the next one, ‘How can we complete the mission?’ “I have a lot of respect for him. First was from afar and now seeing it on the field in front of me, it’s a blessing to have someone who plays a game with such a passion and want-to. You can’t ask for a better teammate when they take those things to heart and they want to play for you like we’re actually brothers and that’s what we have to attain. That brotherhood.” Winston has done something else Watson couldn't: move the offense. The Browns scored more than 20 points for just the second time this season, and like Joe Flacco a year ago, Winston has shown that Stefanski's system works with a quarterback patient enough to let plays develop and unafraid to take shots downfield. The conditions certainly were a factor, but the Browns were a miserable 1 of 10 on third down, a season-long trend. However, Cleveland converted all four fourth-down tries, including a fourth-and-3 pass from Winston to Jerry Jeudy with 2:36 left that helped set up Nick Chubb's go-ahead TD run. RT Jack Conklin. Garrett outplayed Steelers star T.J. Watt in their rivalry within the rivalry partly because Conklin did a nice job containing Pittsburgh's edge rusher, who was held without a sack and had one tackle for loss. Conklin has made a remarkable comeback since undergoing reconstructive knee surgery last year. Owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam. Their desire to build a dome is well intended, but an indoor game could never come close to matching the surreal setting of Thursday night, when snow swirled throughout the stadium and covered nearly all the yard lines and hash marks. “It was beautiful,” Winston said. WR Cedric Tillman is in the concussion protocol. He had two catches before taking a big hit on the final play of the third quarter. 9 — Consecutive home wins for the Browns in Thursday night games. Three of those have come against Pittsburgh. An extended break before visiting the Denver Broncos on Dec. 2. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Dolphins Dolphins DE Calais Campbell after the team’s win over the Jets: “They made it really hard on us. But we found a way. Staying alive in this hunt is huge. We have something to play for. We’re alive.” ( Joe Schad ) Dolphins TE Jonnu Smith was fined $11,248 for unnecessary roughness (striking/kicking/kneeing) in Week 13. Aaron Rodgers Jets QB Aaron Rodgers doesn’t believe the team’s ownership gives the team’s front office the support it needs. “There needs to be a return to hiring the right person at General Manager, head coach and then allowing them to do their job with full backing from the organization,” Rodgers said, via PFT . “They need the backing of the ownership, because when that backing is out there — and I’m not talking about privately, I’m talking about privately and publicly — it changes the energy of the entire team.” When asked about whether he thinks New York has been publically supportive of former GM Joe Douglas and former HC Robert Saleh, Rodgers responded the ownership needs to find the right candidates: “Is that a rhetorical question? I cited an example I’ve seen. There were other examples in Green Bay, both for and maybe not as for whoever was in charge. But I think it’s an important part of ownership to hire the right guys, set the vision and support them when the outside world is trying to tear them down.” ( Zack Rosenblatt ) When pressed on whether New York’s ownership has been publically supportive, Rodgers said: “I’d have to look. I’ll ask you guys, has there been a lot of public comments? Supportive comments?” After reporters said there hasn’t been public support by the Jets’ ownership, Rodgers said: “Yea, there’s your answer.” Jets Jets DT Solomon Thomas was fined $16,833 for unnecessary roughness (horse-collar tackle) in Week 13. With their overtime loss to the Dolphins on Sunday, the Jets were officially eliminated from playoff contention for the 14th straight season, which is the longest active drought across every major sports league. According to Rich Cimini , the team suffered their fifth loss when holding the lead in the fourth quarter, the most in the history of the franchise. Jets QB Aaron Rodgers threw for 300 passing yards in a game for the first time since 2021, per Mark Maske . Rodgers on why the Jets haven’t been able to close out games: “Everybody has some skin on that. We had our opportunities on offense. We had to get to 30 and we didn’t do it.” ( Zack Rosenblatt ) Rodgers on the Jets being eliminated from the playoffs: “The expectations were high. We didn’t reach them. Not even close.” ( Rosenblatt ) Rodgers on the Jets missing the playoffs for the 14th straight year: “I’ve started one year. So I’m a part of it one year. It’s disappointing.” ( Rosenblatt ) This article first appeared on NFLTradeRumors.co and was syndicated with permission.

Trump “takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute”, according to the submission. “Instead, he respectfully requests that the court consider staying the act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case.” This would permit permit the “incoming administration the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case”, it added. Trump’s brief noted that he officially returns to the White House a day after the law banning TikTok takes effect, calling it “unfortunate timing” that “interferes” with the president-elect’s “ability to manage the United States’ foreign policy and to pursue a resolution to both protect national security and save a social-media platform that provides a popular vehicle for 170 million Americans to exercise their core First Amendment rights”. The filing further stated that Trump “has a particularly powerful interest in and responsibility for those national-security and foreign-policy questions” and that “he is the right constitutional actor to resolve the dispute through political means”. It asserted Trump “alone possesses the consummate deal-making expertise, the electoral mandate and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national-security concerns”.

Traffic advisory issued ahead of unveiling of Telangana Thalli statueThe World Health Organization’s director-general said airstrikes on Yemen’s main airport occurred as he was about to board a flight in the Houthi rebel-held capital of Sanaa. The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the international airport as well as power stations and ports. One of the U.N. plane’s crew was wounded, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a post on X, but he and his WHO colleagues were safe. He said the strikes hit the airport's air traffic control tower, departure lounge and runway. Israel's strikes on Thursday follow several days of Houthi launches setting off sirens in Israel, and last week, Israeli jets bombed Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people. The Houthis have also been targeting shipping in the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Israel's bombardment and ground invasion in Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count. The Hamas-led militant attack on Israel in October 2023 resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people. Around 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza , although only two-thirds are believed to still be alive. Here’s the latest: UNITED NATIONS — The head of the U.N. health agency says he and his team were about to board a flight in Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa when the airport came under aerial bombardment. The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the airport as well as power stations and ports in Houthi-controlled areas. “The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters (yards) from where we were — and the runway were damaged,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X. He said one of the U.N. plane’s crew was injured but he and his WHO colleagues were safe. “We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave.” Tedros said the U.N. team was in Yemen to negotiate the release of U.N. staff detained by the Houthis and to assess the health and humanitarian situation in the country, which faces one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world. JERUSALEM — Houthi rebels in Yemen said Israeli airstrikes on Thursday targeted the rebel-held capital of Sanaa and the port city of Hodeida, following several days of Houthi launches that set off air-raid sirens in Israel. The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the international airport in Sanaa and ports at Hodeida, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib along with power stations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech on Wednesday that “the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others learned.” The Iran-backed Houthis’ media outlet reported the strikes in a Telegram post, but gave no immediate details. The U.S. military also has targeted the Houthis in Yemen in recent days. The United Nations has noted that the ports are important entryways for humanitarian aid. Over the weekend, 16 people were wounded when a Houthi missile hit a playground in Tel Aviv . Last week, Israeli jets struck Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people, calling it a response to previous Houthi attacks. The Houthis also have been targeting shipping on the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. QAMISHLI, Syria — Thousands of people in northeastern Syria attended a funeral Thursday for six fighters from a Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed force who were killed in ongoing clashes with Turkish-backed militias. The Turkish-backed groups are launching attacks to take the Arab cities west of the Euphrates River that are under the control of the Kurdish group . The Turkish-supported groups helped overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s rule of Syria, and have since kept pushing eastward against the Kurdish groups. “We thought that Syria today has entered a new stage after the fall and escape of Assad. We thought that we got rid of all of this, but this attack on us changed everything and those who came in are taking orders from Turkey,” said Nihayet Hassan, the uncle of a killed fighter. The fighters were killed during attacks on Tishreen Dam near the strategic city of Manbij in recent days. The bodies were returned to the city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria where the U.S.-backed group, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, has a strong presence. Ankara sees the SDF as an affiliate of its sworn enemy, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Turkey classifies as a terrorist organization. Turkish-backed armed groups backed by Turkish jets have for years attacked positions where the SDF are present across northern Syria, in a bid to create a buffer zone free from the group along the Turkish border. “It is obvious that Turkey’s issue is with the Kurds. It is not about an organization, or the PKK, no, their target are the Kurds,” said Ahmad Ammo, a Qamishli resident who attended the funeral. The U.S. has about 2,000 soldiers in eastern Syria to help fight the Islamic State group and protect critical oil fields there. BEIRUT — The Lebanese military said Thursday that Israeli troops encroached on areas of southern Lebanon, violating a ceasefire agreement that ended the war between Israel and the Hezbollah group. The U.S.-brokered ceasefire that went into effect a month ago called for Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops to leave southern Lebanon over a 60-day period as Lebanese army soldiers gradually deploy in the country south of the Litani River. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the reported incident. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli bulldozers are setting up dirt barricades that would close off the road between Wadi Slouqi and Wadi Hujeir. Lebanon’s military said it brought reinforcements into the areas entered by Israeli troops. NNA said the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, sent a patrol unit to an area near the southern town of Qantara where Israeli forces are present. UNIFIL in a statement expressed its “concern at continuing destruction by the IDF (Israeli military) in residential areas, agricultural land, and road networks in south Lebanon.” Lebanese army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun traveled to Saudi Arabia earlier Thursday as part of ongoing efforts by the cash-strapped military to find financial support to deploy in larger numbers. The Lebanese military and government have complained about Israeli strikes and overflights in the country to a new monitoring committee headed by the U.S. that also includes France. DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip overnight, the Health Ministry said Thursday. The Israeli army said it had targeted a group of militants. The strike hit a car outside the Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the territory. The journalists were working for the local news outlet Al-Quds Today, a television channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group. The military said it targeted a group of fighters from Islamic Jihad, a militant group allied with Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel ignited the war. Associated Press video showed the incinerated shell of a van, with press markings still visible on the back doors. The Committee to Protect Journalists says over 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza except on military embeds. This post has been corrected to show that the name of the local news outlet is Al-Quds Today, not the Quds News Network. BEIJING — China has pledged two more shipments of humanitarian aid to Gaza, in an indication of support for the Palestinian Authority, state media reported Thursday. The agreement was overseen in Cairo by Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao Liqiang and Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt Diab al-Louh. “To ease the humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, the Chinese government has continued to provide assistance to Palestine,” Liao was quoted as saying. The types and quantities of aid to be delivered via Egypt were not given, but China has previously shipped food and medicine to Gaza. China has longstanding ties with the Palestinian Authority but has also sought to strengthen economic and political relations with Israel. Al-Louh “voiced appreciation for China’s consistent and firm support for the just cause of the Palestinian people and for raising this issue on international occasions," state media said. UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday at Israel’s request to discuss recent attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Israel’s U.N. Mission said Wednesday the meeting will take place at 10 a.m. Monday. Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said he expects the council will condemn the Houthi attacks. He urged the council “to enforce international law and hold Iran, the Houthis’ patron, accountable.” Alluding to Israeli retaliation for the attacks, Danon said ”It seems that the Houthis have not yet understood what happens to those who try to harm the state of Israel.”

Essex Financial Services Inc. cut its position in NVIDIA Co. ( NASDAQ:NVDA – Free Report ) by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 191,435 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock after selling 7,818 shares during the quarter. NVIDIA comprises about 1.1% of Essex Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in NVIDIA were worth $23,248,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barnes Pettey Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in NVIDIA by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barnes Pettey Financial Advisors LLC now owns 19,737 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $2,397,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in NVIDIA by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,207,781 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $389,552,000 after purchasing an additional 180,501 shares during the period. Carret Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in NVIDIA by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 62,638 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $7,607,000 after purchasing an additional 8,981 shares during the period. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in NVIDIA by 29.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,706 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the period. Finally, Paradigm Strategies in Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in NVIDIA in the 3rd quarter valued at $265,000. 65.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Insider Buying and Selling at NVIDIA In related news, CFO Colette Kress sold 66,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.59, for a total transaction of $7,773,055.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,954,214 shares in the company, valued at $577,611,810.26. The trade was a 1.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink . Also, CEO Jen Hsun Huang sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.33, for a total value of $12,639,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 75,895,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,994,108,405.88. The trade was a 0.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders have sold a total of 1,796,986 shares of company stock worth $214,418,399 over the last ninety days. 4.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. NVIDIA Stock Performance NVIDIA ( NASDAQ:NVDA – Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The computer hardware maker reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $35.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.15 billion. NVIDIA had a return on equity of 114.83% and a net margin of 55.69%. The business’s revenue was up 93.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that NVIDIA Co. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year. NVIDIA declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, August 28th that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the computer hardware maker to repurchase up to 1.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued. NVIDIA Announces Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.03%. NVIDIA’s payout ratio is presently 1.57%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research firms recently issued reports on NVDA. Phillip Securities restated an “accumulate” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (up from $155.00) on shares of NVIDIA in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on NVIDIA from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on NVIDIA from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of NVIDIA in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Craig Hallum increased their price target on NVIDIA from $125.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NVIDIA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $164.15. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on NVIDIA NVIDIA Profile ( Free Report ) NVIDIA Corporation provides graphics and compute and networking solutions in the United States, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and internationally. The Graphics segment offers GeForce GPUs for gaming and PCs, the GeForce NOW game streaming service and related infrastructure, and solutions for gaming platforms; Quadro/NVIDIA RTX GPUs for enterprise workstation graphics; virtual GPU or vGPU software for cloud-based visual and virtual computing; automotive platforms for infotainment systems; and Omniverse software for building and operating metaverse and 3D internet applications. Featured Articles Five stocks we like better than NVIDIA Using the MarketBeat Stock Split Calculator Fast-Growing Companies That Are Still Undervalued Basic Materials Stocks Investing Top Cybersecurity Stock Picks for 2025 Roth IRA Calculator: Calculate Your Potential Returns Archer or Joby: Which Aviation Company Might Rise Fastest? Want to see what other hedge funds are holding NVDA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for NVIDIA Co. ( NASDAQ:NVDA – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for NVIDIA Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for NVIDIA and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .

Israel strikes Houthi rebels in Yemen's capital while the WHO chief says he was meters away

The justices’ decision, not expected for several months, could affect similar laws enacted by another 25 states and a range of other efforts to regulate the lives of transgender people , including which sports competitions they can join and which bathrooms they can use . The case is being weighed by a conservative-dominated court after a presidential election in which Donald Trump and his allies promised to roll back protections for transgender people, showcasing the uneasy intersection between law, politics and individual rights. The Biden administration's top Supreme Court lawyer warned a decision favorable to Tennessee also could be used to justify nationwide restrictions on transgender healthcare for minors. In arguments that lasted more than two hours, five of the six conservative justices voiced varying degrees of skepticism of arguments made by the administration and Chase Strangio, the ACLU lawyer for Tennessee families challenging the ban. Chief Justice John Roberts, who voted in the majority in a 2020 case in favor of transgender rights , questioned whether judges, rather than lawmakers, should be weighing in on a question of regulating medical procedures, an area usually left to the states. ”The Constitution leaves that question to the people’s representatives, rather than to nine people, none of whom is a doctor,” Roberts said in an exchange with Strangio. The court’s three liberal justices seemed firmly on the side of the challengers. But it’s not clear that any of the conservatives will go along. Justice Sonia Sotomayor pushed back against the assertion that the democratic process would be the best way to address objections to the law. She cited a history of laws discriminating against others, noting that transgender people make up less than 1% of the U.S. population, according to studies. There are an estimated 1.3 million adults and 300,000 adolescents aged 13 to 17 who identify as transgender, according the UCLA law school's Williams Institute. “Blacks were a much larger part of the population and it didn’t protect them. It didn’t protect women for whole centuries,” Sotomayor said in an exchange with Tennessee Solicitor General Matt Rice. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she saw some troubling parallels between arguments made by Tennessee and those advanced by Virginia and rejected by a unanimous court, in the 1967 Loving decision that legalized interracial marriage nationwide. Quoting from the 57-year-old decision, Jackson noted that Virginia argued then that “the scientific evidence is substantially in doubt and, consequently, the court should defer to the wisdom of the state legislature.” Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote the majority opinion in 2020, said nothing during the arguments. The arguments produced some riveting moments. Justice Samuel Alito repeatedly pressed Strangio, the first openly transgender lawyer to argue at the nation's highest court, about whether transgender people should be legally designated as a group that’s susceptible to discrimination. Strangio answered that being transgender does fit that legal definition, though he acknowledged under Alito’s questioning there are a small number of people who de-transition. “So it's not an immutable characteristic, is it?” Alito said. Strangio did not retreat from his view, though he said the court did not have to decide the issue to resolve the case in his clients' favor. There were dueling rallies outside the court in the hours before the arguments. Speeches and music filled the air on the sidewalk below the court’s marble steps. Advocates of the ban bore signs like “Champion God’s Design” and “Kids Health Matters,” while the other side proclaimed “Fight like a Mother for Trans Rights” and “Freedom to be Ourselves." Four years ago, the court ruled in favor of Aimee Stephens, who was fired by a Michigan funeral home after she informed its owner that she was a transgender woman. The court held that transgender people, as well as gay and lesbian people, are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace. The Biden administration and the families and health care providers who challenged the Tennessee law urged the justices to apply the same sort of analysis that the majority, made up of liberal and conservative justices, embraced in the case four years ago when it found that “sex plays an unmistakable role” in employers' decisions to punish transgender people for traits and behavior they otherwise tolerate. The issue in the Tennessee case is whether the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same. Tennessee's law bans puberty blockers and hormone treatments for transgender minors, but allows the same drugs to be used for other purposes. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, called the law sex-based line drawing to ban the use of drugs that have been safely prescribed for decades and said the state “decided to completely override the views of the patients, the parents, the doctors.” She contrasted the Tennessee law with one enacted by West Virginia, which set conditions for the health care for transgender minors, but stopped short of an outright ban. Rice countered that lawmakers acted to regulate “risky, unproven medical interventions” and, at one point, likened the use of puberty blockers and hormone treatments to lobotomies and eugenics, now thoroughly discredited but once endorsed by large segments of the medical community. Rice argued that the Tennessee law doesn’t discriminate based on sex, but rather based on the purpose of the treatment. Children can get puberty blockers to treat early onset puberty, but not as a treatment for gender dysphoria. “Our fundamental point is there is no sex-based line here,” Rice said. While the challengers invoked the 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County for support, Tennessee relied on the court's precedent-shattering Dobbs decision in 2022 that ended nationwide protections for abortion and returned the issue to the states. The two sides battled in their legal filings over the appropriate level of scrutiny the court should apply. It's more than an academic exercise. The lowest level is known as rational basis review and almost every law looked at that way is ultimately upheld. Indeed, the federal appeals court in Cincinnati that allowed the Tennessee law to be enforced held that lawmakers acted rationally to regulate medical procedures, well within their authority. The appeals court reversed a trial court that employed a higher level of review, heightened scrutiny, that applies in cases of sex discrimination. Under this more searching examination, the state must identify an important objective and show that the law helps accomplish it. If the justices opt for heightened scrutiny, they could return the case to the appeals court to apply it. That's the course Prelogar and Strangio pushed for on Wednesday, though there did not seem to be much support for it. Gender-affirming care for youth is supported by every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association. But Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh all highlighted a point made by Tennessee in its legal briefs claiming that health authorities in Sweden, Finland, Norway and the United Kingdom found that the medical treatments "pose significant risks with unproven benefits.” If those countries “are pumping the brakes on this kind of treatment," Kavanaugh said, why should the Supreme Court question Tennessee's actions? None of those countries has adopted a ban similar to the one in Tennessee and individuals can still obtain treatment, Prelogar said. Kavanaugh, who has coached his daughters’ youth basketball teams, also wondered whether a ruling against Tennessee would give transgender athletes "a constitutional right to participate in girls' sports.” Prelogar said a narrow decision would not affect the sports issue. Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst, Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville, Tennessee contributed to this report.Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Raises Stake in Sapiens International Co. (NASDAQ:SPNS)

NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees slugger Aaron Judge wins his second AL MVP award after leading MLB with 58 home runs.

Tim Keating Joins AMD as Senior Vice President, Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs

IonQ ( IONQ -9.82% ) stock is falling in Monday's trading. The quantum-computing company's share price was down 7.9% as of 3:15 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index was down 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite index was down 0.7%. IonQ stock is falling today in conjunction with an uptick in focus on potential bearish catalysts for the tech industry and broader market. In addition to concerns that upcoming inflation data could come in higher than previously anticipated, China also announced that it had launched an antitrust investigation into Nvidia . But even with today's pullback, IonQ stock is up roughly 182% this year. What will the latest inflation data mean for IonQ stock? On the heels of an impressive rally, stocks are taking a breather in Monday's trading. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release its latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data on Wednesday, and investors are looking to the upcoming report to provide insight on the state of inflation. While the Federal Reserve is broadly expected to deliver another cut for interest rates this month, some investors are feeling skittish ahead of the upcoming CPI report. If the latest update shows that prices in the basket of goods included in the CPI rose more than expected, that could cause investors to become more bearish on the Fed's timeline for rate cuts. If that winds up being the case, it could be particularly bad news for IonQ and other stocks with growth-dependent and otherwise speculative valuations. Stocks in these categories have enjoyed strong bullish momentum amid assumptions that inflation is largely under control and that the Fed will continue cutting rates, but they could face intense bearish pressures if that winds up not being the case. Nvidia news spurs an uptick in tech-sector cautiousness Nvidia has been this year's hottest and most influential stock, and news for the company has often had ripple effects for other companies in the tech sector. Today, China announced that it had launched an antitrust probe into the company. Nvidia has a dominant position in the market for high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) used to power advanced artificial intelligence ( AI ) applications. Access to its GPUs has become a divisive issue amid already rising tensions between the U.S. and China. Notably, IonQ has recently been demoing technologies using Nvidia's CUDA-Q software platform for hybrid quantum-classical computing. China's Nvidia antitrust investigation is unlikely to have any material effect on IonQ in the near term, but geopolitical dynamics and potential regulatory issues could emerge as bearish catalysts that put significant pressure on valuations for growth-dependent tech stocks.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump's supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer's comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government , weighed in, defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift. His presidential transition team did not respond to questions about positions on visas for highly skilled workers or the debate between his supporters online. Instead, his team instead sent a link to a post on X by longtime adviser and immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller that was a transcript of a speech Trump gave in 2020 at Mount Rushmore in which he praised figures and moments from American history. Musk, the world's richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump's movement but his stance on the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry's need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent," he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump's own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump's businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country" and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country," he told the “All-In" podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump's budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.