Pioneering Métis human rights advocate Muriel Stanley Venne dies at 87ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons are back in first place in the NFC South and again in control of their playoff hopes. Rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. showed the poise in his first NFL start the Falcons will need to take advantage of their opportunity to end a six-year playoff drought. Powered by a big-play defense that produced two pick-6s, a solid starting debut by Penix and two rushing touchdowns by Bijan Robinson, the Falcons cruised past the hapless New York Giants 34-7 on Sunday. On Sunday night, the Falcons (8-7) received the assist they needed when Tampa Bay lost at Dallas . Because the Falcons swept the Buccaneers, they hold the tiebreaker advantage if they remain tied atop the division. The Falcons have games remaining at Washington on Sunday night and at home against Carolina to close the regular season. If Atlanta wins both games, it would win the division and have a home playoff game. The Falcons are assured of their best record since a 10-6 finish under coach Dan Quinn in 2017, their most recent playoff season. Quinn is in his first season as Washington's coach and has led the Commanders (10-5) to three straight wins, including Sunday's 36-33 victory over Philadelphia. Penix, the No. 8 overall pick in this year's NFL draft, was promoted after coach Raheem Morris benched Kirk Cousins. Penix completed 18 of 27 passes for 202 yards with one interception on a pass that should have been caught by tight end Kyle Pitts. Penix is not a dual-threat quarterback, but he showed the ability to escape pressure in the pocket that Cousins lacks following his 2023 Achilles tendon injury. The left-hander's superior arm strength also was immediately obvious. What’s working Robinson's production provided a safety net for the offense which helped make for a smooth transition to Penix. Robinson had scoring runs of 2 and 4 yards. Robinson has rushed for 10 touchdowns this season. He's the first Atlanta player with 10 more more rushing touchdowns since Devonta Freeman during the 2016 Super Bowl season. Robinson ran for 94 yards on 22 carries and had 103 yards from scrimmage. His 11th game this season with at least 100 yards from scrimmage are the most for the Falcons since Warrick Dunn's 11 in 2005. Morris said Robinson deserves to be considered with Philadelphia's Saquon Barkley in discussions regarding the league's top running backs. “Bijan has been outstanding all year in the things that he’s able to do," Morris said. “He’s special. If it wasn’t for this other guy out in Philly, he’d get a lot more recognition across the league. But that guy is having a special year, and Bijan’s not far behind him.” What needs help With kicker Younghoe Koo on injured reserve and watching from the sideline, Riley Patterson was wide left on his first field-goal attempt from 43 yards. Patterson rebounded to make attempts from 52 and 37 yards. Stock up Jessie Bates III and Matthew Judon each had a pick-6 to highlight a day of big plays for the defense. Arnold Ebiketie had his fifth sack of the season and added a fumble recovery. Kaden Ellis added a strip-sack. He also has five sacks this season, including sacks in four consecutive games. It is the longest streak for Atlanta since Patrick Kerney had sacks in five straight games in 2001. Stock down There was some thought that a change at quarterback could be good news for Pitts, who often seemed to be missing in action with Cousins running the offense. After all, a tight end often is a natural target for quick passes from a rookie making his first start. Instead, Pitts had a poor start to the Penix era when he bobbled his first pass from the left-hander, creating an interception by cornerback Cor’Dale Flott. Pitts caught a 7-yard pass on his only other target. For the season, Pitts has 41 catches for 543 yards and three touchdowns. Injuries There will be much interest in this week's injury report after WR Drake London (hamstring) was hurt in the second half. Morris provided an optimistic postgame outlook on London. CB Antonio Hamilton (quad) did not return after leaving the game in the first half. Key number 8: Bates has four interceptions and four forced fumbles. His combined eight forced turnovers lead the NFL. Next steps The game against Jayden Daniels and the Commanders is a reminder Penix was only the fourth of six quarterbacks selected in the first round of the NFL draft. Daniels, from LSU, was the No. 2 overall pick behind Caleb Williams by Chicago. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Shares of Accenture plc ( NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report ) dropped 0.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $360.88 and last traded at $362.16. Approximately 1,657,040 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 39% from the average daily volume of 2,710,770 shares. The stock had previously closed at $363.18. Analyst Ratings Changes Several analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Mizuho upped their target price on Accenture from $352.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.23. View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Accenture Accenture Trading Up 0.1 % Accenture ( NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $16.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Accenture Increases Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.79%. Accenture declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued. Insider Activity In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. This trade represents a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website . Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . In the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,298 shares of company stock valued at $13,372,661. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock. About Accenture ( Get Free Report ) Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Accenture Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Accenture and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .U.S. District Court Awards 10x Genomics Permanent Injunction in Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Bruker Corporation's GeoMx Products
Lindsey Vonn takes another step in comeback at age 40, competes in a pair of downhills
EDMONTON, Alberta — Kasperi Kapanen stood in front of the Oilers backdrop on Saturday morning in the hallway outside the Edmonton dressing room. As he faced three television cameras, Kapanen’s former Blues teammates walked past. “Sandbagger,” one Blue said in jest. “Sup Kap,” Robert Thomas greeted him. Saturday was the first time Kapanen played against the Blues since they waived him on Nov. 18 and the Oilers claimed him a day later. Before Saturday, Kapanen had played in six games with Edmonton since the move, and had one goal and one assist. “I think it’s gone pretty well,” he said. “There is room to improve, I think, in my game. But at the same time, I’ve been playing a lot more, which is always a positive thing. You can’t complain about that. I think I’ve gotten good looks and a lot of chances. I think once I start scoring a bit more, it’ll look a lot better.” Kapanen finished his Blues career with 15 goals and 22 assists in 106 games played across parts of three seasons. They originally claimed him off waivers from Pittsburgh in Feb. 2023, then re-signed Kapanen as an unrestricted free agent to a one-year, $1 million contract over the summer. This season, he had just one goal in 10 games with the Blues while averaging 11:19 of ice time per contest. He was a healthy scratch five times, and missed four games because of a concussion. When asked whether he could sense that he was going to be waived by the Blues, Kapanen said “that’s a tough one.” “I don’t really know what to say to that one,” he said. “I knew it wasn’t really working out in St. Louis. There’s always a possibility of going on waivers or a trade or whatever. Once it happened, it never feels great getting put on waivers, but this is the business that we’re in and I ended up here. Couldn’t be happier.” In Edmonton, Kapanen has taken on a different role than the one he had in St. Louis. His two most common linemates with the Oilers? Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. On Thursday vs. Columbus, Kapanen was on a line with Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin and was expected to be with them again on Saturday. “Just be myself, play the same way, be aggressive, use my skating,” Kapanen said. “Obviously, playing Leon and Connor, just get them the puck as much as possible and go to the net and hopefully, good things happen.” When the Oilers claimed Kapanen, they were missing right wingers Zach Hyman and Viktor Arvidsson, allowing Kapanen to step right into a necessary role in Edmonton. He averaged 13:23 of ice time entering Saturday, and Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said the team was interested in Kapanen before he hit the waiver wire. “You never know what to expect from a player picked up off waivers,” Knoblauch said. “We knew him and we looked at him before and had some interest in him coming in. We were missing Zach at the time and Arvidsson, and we were really depleted on the right side and we needed some reinforcements. For him to come in, I think he’s played really well.” Had Kapanen not been claimed, he likely would have been assigned to AHL affiliate Springfield. But in the 24 hours between being put on waivers then getting claimed, Kapanen hung in limbo. “It was stressful, I’m not going to lie to you,” he said. “Just not knowing what’s going to happen, and you not having any kind of say in where you want to go is always a little nerve-wracking. Just hoping for the best, and lucky that a team like Edmonton had faith in me and picked me up.” The Blues placed Kapanen on waivers in order to create a roster spot for Thomas to return from a fractured ankle. Kapanen said he’ll return to St. Louis during the Christmas break in order to collect more of his belongings, as he’s “running low on boxers and socks and stuff like that.” The Oilers will visit St. Louis on Feb. 4. “I think just try to keep control of my emotions,” Kapanen said. “I don’t think that’ll be a problem. I think it’s going to be more fun than anything, and just try to beat these guys today.” Faulk back Defenseman Justin Faulk returned to the Blues’ lineup on Saturday night after missing two games because of an upper-body injury. Faulk did not play during the Blues’ wins in Winnipeg and Calgary earlier on the trip. On Saturday morning, Faulk said he felt “better than I have for the last few days.” “It’s something that probably stemmed (from) a couple games before that,” Faulk said. “Just building up, building up, got to a point where it wasn’t really manageable for a couple of days. Had to let it calm down and reset. Worked my way back to feeling good again.” With Faulk back, Pierre-Olivier Joseph was a healthy scratch. Joseph played 7:29 during the win over the Flames. What did the Blues want more out of Joseph’s game? “Aggressiveness, and we wanted that from the entire team,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “I didn’t think we were on top of our game in Calgary. We just need everybody to be taking away time and space, and playing on their toes.” Faulk was not included on either power-play unit during drills on Saturday morning. Scott Perunovich manned the top unit, with Philip Broberg atop the second one.
In a historic turn of events, the National Assembly of South Korea has passed a resolution to arrest President Yoon Seok-hyue following mounting allegations of corruption and abuse of power. The decision, which came after days of heated debates and discussions, marks a significant shift in the country's political landscape and has triggered a wave of reactions both domestically and internationally.The Gunners took two points out of Liverpool’s lead at the summit of the Premier League after Jurrien Timber and William Saliba struck in the second half – both from corners – to condemn Amorim to his first defeat as United boss. The hosts’ second-half strikes took their goals-from-corners tally to 22 since the start of last season – a statistic that is unmatched by any other team in the division. Asked if Arsenal are one of the best teams he has come up against on corners, Amorim replied: “If you follow the Premier League for a long time you can see that. “They are also big players and you see every occasion when (Gabriel) Martinelli and (Bukayo) Saka have one-on-ones, a lot of times they go outside and they cross, and they know that if the cross goes well, they can score, and if it is a corner they can score, too, so we have to be better on that. “You have seen in all Arsenal games that every team have had problems with that (corners). And the difference today was the set-pieces. “You see a goal and then the momentum changed, and it is really hard for us to take the full control of the game after that.” Timber leaned into Rasmus Hojlund at the front post before diverting Declan Rice’s set-piece into the back of Andre Onana’s net after 54 minutes to send Arsenal into the lead. Thomas Partey’s header from Saka’s corner then deflected in off Saliba’s shoulder with 17 minutes left. Arteta and the club’s set-piece guru Nicolas Jover embraced on the touchline as Amorim was left with his head in his hands. The Arsenal supporters cheered raucously every time they won a corner – landing 13 in all without reply. However, Arteta moved to play down the significance of Arsenal’s set-piece threat. “We need that, but we want to be very dangerous and very effective from every angle and every phase of play,” said Arteta. “Today we could have scored from open play like we did against West Ham and Sporting. Last year we scored the most goals in the history of this football club. Arsenal have won four consecutive Premier League matches against Man Utd for the first time ever! 💫 pic.twitter.com/biv1kvsJEP — Premier League (@premierleague) December 4, 2024 “Not because of only set-pieces, but because of a lot of things that we have. We want to create individual and magic moments, too.” Arsenal’s win against United – the first time they have recorded four victories in a row against the Red Devils in the league – was their fourth in succession since the international break. They will head to Fulham on Sunday bidding to keep the momentum going. Arteta continued: “The will to win is there. We try our best to do that. We won four in a row, but it doesn’t matter. We have to go to Fulham now, try to be better than them and try win the game. “It’s every three days that we play. It’s a crazy schedule. We’re going to need everybody and to mentally be very strong.”
Bryce Lindsay scores 18 to lead James Madison over Utah Valley 78-61
Alibaba's swift and transparent response to the data center fire demonstrates the company's commitment to maintaining the highest standards of data security and reliability. By promptly addressing concerns and outlining concrete steps to prevent future incidents, Alibaba aims to reassure its customers and partners that their data is in safe hands.
