747 jiliko Jennison Associates LLC Sells 780 Shares of Sanmina Co. (NASDAQ:SANM)BEIRUT — Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in one of the militant group's heaviest barrages in months, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut while negotiators pressed on with cease-fire efforts to halt the all-out war. An Israeli bomb squad policeman carries the remains of a rocket that was fired from Lebanon on Sunday in Kibbutz Kfar Blum, northern Israel. Some of the rockets reached the Tel Aviv area in the heart of Israel. Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on an army center killed a Lebanese soldier and wounded 18 others in the southwest between Tyre and Naqoura, Lebanon's military said. The Israeli military expressed regret, saying that the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah and that the military's operations are directed solely against the militants. Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon's military has largely kept to the sidelines. Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an assault on U.S.-led cease-fire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war. Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups. The Israeli police bomb squad inspects the site after a missile fired from Lebanon hit the area Sunday in Petah Tikva, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes at Hezbollah, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war as Israel launched airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli military said about 250 projectiles were fired Sunday, with some intercepted. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated seven people, including a 60-year old man in severe condition from rocket fire on northern Israel, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast in the central city of Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, and a 70-year-old woman who suffered smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire there. In Haifa, a rocket hit a residential building that police said was in danger of collapsing. The Palestine Red Crescent reported 13 injuries it said were caused by an interceptor missile that struck several homes in Tulkarem in the West Bank. It was unclear whether injuries and damage were caused by rockets or interceptors. Sirens wailed again in central and northern Israel hours later. Israeli airstrikes without warning on Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 29 people and wounding 67, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. A flock of birds flies above the smoke from Israeli airstrikes Sunday in Dahiyeh, Beirut. Smoke billowed above Beirut again Sunday with new strikes. Israel's military said it targeted command centers for Hezbollah and its intelligence unit in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, where the militants have a strong presence. Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,700 people in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population. On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardment in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north. The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for an "immediate ceasefire" in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to the Lebanese c... The European Union’s top diplomat called Sunday for more pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to reach a deal, saying one was "pending with a final agreement from the Israeli government.” U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week. Josep Borrell spoke after meeting with Mikati and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has been mediating with the group. Borrell said the EU is ready to allocate $208 million to assist the Lebanese military. But Borrell later said that he did not “see the Israeli government interested clearly in reaching an agreement for a cease-fire" and that it seemed Israel was seeking new conditions. He pointed to Israel’s refusal to accept France as a member of the international committee that would oversee the cease-fire's implementation. The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the monthlong 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol with the presence of U.N. peacekeepers. With talks for a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza stalled, freed hostages and families of those held marked a year since the war's only hostage-release deal. “It’s hard to hold on to hope, certainly after so long and as another winter is about to begin," said Yifat Zailer, cousin of Shiri Bibas, who is held along with her husband and two young sons. Around 100 hostages are still in Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead. Most of the rest of the 250 who were abducted in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack were released in last year's cease-fire. Talks for another deal recently had several setbacks, including the firing of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who pushed for a deal, and Qatar’s decision to suspend its mediation. Hamas wants Israel to end the war and withdraw all troops from Gaza. Israel has offered only to pause its offensive. The Palestinian death toll from the war surpassed 44,000 this week, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. On Sunday, six people were killed in strikes in central Gaza, according to AP journalists at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. How often do you ? A couple of times a month? A couple of times a week? A couple of times a day? Everybody's answer will be different, but collectively, it's done a lot: Online retail accounted for over $1 trillion of purchases in the U.S. in 2022 and a record $277.6 billion in the second quarter of 2023 alone. Retailers ranging from titans like and Walmart, down to local small-town shops work very hard to land their share of that business. Sadly and inevitably—so do criminals and scammers. At any given moment, they operate millions of bogus sites. So how can you spot those fake online shopping sites? provides a guide. In the early days of the , it took some genuine skills to set up a website, but those days are gone. A quick search will show that there are lots of apps and services offering websites on a prefabricated "fill in the blanks" basis, and most web hosts provide those tools as part of the service when someone signs up with them. It's even easier on . If you were opening a "side hustle" business tomorrow from your home, you could set up your own Facebook page tonight in under an hour, with exactly zero knowledge of websites. Once that page is set up, you just need to throw a few dollars in the direction of Facebook's advertising department, and they'll start advertising your page to users. It's no harder to promote a website, except in that case, you'd give your advertising dollars to Google. This is a simplified overview, but the main point holds: Establishing a presence online has become a very democratized process, open to anyone with minimal skills and even the smallest budget for advertising. That's been a boon for legitimate entrepreneurs, but it also makes life very easy indeed for scammers. There are multiple types of . Some are imposters, created to look very much like a legitimate commercial or government site that you're familiar with, such as Amazon or Netflix. Others don't imitate a specific site, but instead attempt to capture the look and feel of those sites in general (whether that be a retail site, a government or bank page, or even something relatively shady like a gambling or porn site). Next, scammers find ways to drive traffic to their site. Often that's through phishing texts or emails, but deceptive ads on social media or search engines like Google and Bing work just as well. Once a browser arrives at the criminals' site (or, in some cases, downloads their app), any number of bad things can happen. One is that they'll download malware onto your devices, which can capture passwords or steal personal information. A more straightforward risk is that the browser will cheerfully enter their personal and banking/credit card information, thinking they're making a legitimate purchase. That's largely why fake online shopping sites are so dangerous, and so useful to scammers and identity thieves. Most bogus sites share some or all of those characteristics, but shopping sites are a very specific type of bogus site with some quirks of their own. One characteristic to count on—whether the website directly impersonates a major retailer like Amazon, a niche retailer like MEC, or just positions itself as an anonymously general retail site—is that it will offer unusually low pricing on high-demand products. That might be a mass-market item like the latest gaming console, a suddenly in-demand item that's unavailable through normal channels (remember trying to get masks and sanitizing wipes during COVID-19?), or something as mundane as disposable diapers or high-capacity computer drives. Whatever the product, the advertised price will be low enough to get attention. The bogus site will have any number of ways to transfer a browser's money to its coffers, depending on the scammers' intentions and skillset. A few of the most common include: These are all aside from the potential to infect devices or steal . Sites focused on identity theft might consider a faux purchase to be just the added gravy. How common is online shopping fraud? Well, the news is pretty bad. The FTC's recorded over 327,000 online shopping complaints, the fourth-highest category for overall complaints and second among fraud categories. You would expect these sites to be more prevalent during the final quarter of the year, corresponding to the holiday gift-giving season—Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas itself—and they are, but that doesn't mean you can relax during the other nine months of the year. The Anti-Phishing Working Group, or APWG, identified during the first quarter of 2022 alone (not a busy time of year for shopping), for example. To be clear, only 14.6% of those were eCommerce sites, but that still translates to well over 140,000 bogus shopping sites. The true number is almost certainly higher because the APWG only tracks the ones that use a phishing approach. Many opt to simply buy advertising instead (or as well), and those won't be captured in the APWG's statistics. However you slice it, there's a definite risk of encountering these sites when you shop. The good news is that bogus shopping sites aren't hard to spot, once you're aware of the risk. They aren't built for permanence; scammers pull them together quickly and cheaply and then abandon them once they stop producing.That "just good enough" approach leaves plenty of visible signs you can detect. Below, here's what to look for when recognizing fake online shopping sites. Bogus sites don't have direct access to the real products' manufacturing images, so they resort to copying and pasting from legitimate sites. \That means bogus sites' product images (and often their fake logos, if they impersonate a legitimate site) are fuzzy and low-res. Imposter sites obviously can't have the same URL as the legitimate site, so they'll usually have a URL that looks right, but isn't quite. They might have a typo in the name, or incorporate the real company's name into their URL in a non-standard way ("myfakesite.amazon.com.123xyz.com"), or—sneakiest of all—use , which looks the same to the eye, but not to the computer. The scammers may have simply copied and pasted user interface elements from a legitimate site, in which case many links on the site may be broken (or simply not clickable). A legitimate retail website will have several pages of legalese, often starting with a pop-up about its cookie policy or privacy policy. You should certainly expect to see a detailed document spelling out shipping policies, return and refund policies, and similar details. If those are missing or brief and vapid, it's probably a fake site. Sites that plan to take your money and run will often show oddly specific payment options, from wire transfers to gift cards to cryptocurrency. The thing those payment methods have in common is that it's very difficult to get money back once it's spent. Sites geared around capturing your personal or payment information, on the other hand, may insist on getting your credit card. Simple, silly language errors are often a red flag. Scammers may not be native English speakers, and it shows up in awkward or sometimes inappropriate phrasing. Errors in actual product listings aren't necessarily a smoking gun—you'll see them frequently on real Amazon pages—because they come from the manufacturers, who are often not English speakers. Language errors on the rest of the site are more of a concern. In the address bar of your browser, a legitimate retail site's URL will start with HTTPS, rather than HTTP, and will show a closed lock symbol. The majority of fake sites now also have an HTTPS URL and will show the lock (so this isn't as helpful as it used to be), but less-sophisticated scammers may miss that detail. You can automatically rule those ones out. And, of course, the biggest red flag of all is an unrealistically low price on the product you're looking for. We all want to get a really good deal, but that impulse will often lead you astray. If a shopping site fails those basic "eyeball" tests, the smart thing to do is just close that browser tab and walk away. If you want to dig deeper, or if you aren't sure, there are a few quick and easy ways to verify a site's legitimacy. Remember those really sneaky fake URLs that use a letter from another alphabet? The best way to check those (and other problematic elements in a URL) is through a URL verifier/website reputation service, like the ones from and . Just copy (don't click!) the link, and paste it into the checker. If the site is sketchy, they'll tell you. Domain names all need to be registered and there are several lookup tools to check this, like (think of it as Spokeo for websites). If a site claims to be Amazon but was registered just a few weeks ago, that's a really big red flag. Similarly, if the site isn't located where it should be, or if the ownership data is obscured, that's grounds for concern. If you have a bad feeling about a particular site, do a quick Google or Bing (or whatever) search that pairs the site's name with keywords like "scam," "fraud," "bogus" or "ripoff" and see what comes up. If you get a lot of hits, that's definitely grounds for concern. If a given site fails any or all of those tests, then keeping your wallet in your pocket is definitely the smart choice. Instead of making the purchase, report the site instead to the FBI's and the FTC's website. That will get the investigative wheels turning and may help protect someone less wary from falling victim to the scammers. As always, wariness and skepticism are your friends when it comes to avoiding scams. Don't click on links in emails, , or social media messages; instead, go to the company's site by typing the URL directly. If you search a company's page on Google, scroll down through the actual search results until you find it instead of clicking on the sponsored results or advertisements at the top. Most of all, remember the golden rule of scam avoidance: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Keeping those principles in mind, and using the tips given here to screen out dubious sites means you'll be able to shop 'til you drop (safely), despite the vast number of scammers out there. And that—as the credit card ads like to say—is priceless. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Even with access to blockbuster obesity drugs, some people don't lose weightWorld oil prices advanced Monday on moves by China to boost its economy as traders tracked an uncertain future for Syria and the wider crude-rich Middle East. Major stock markets diverged as investors reacted to political crises in South Korea and France, and tracked the perspectives for interest rate cuts.

By REBECCA SANTANA WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has promised to end birthright citizenship as soon as he gets into office to make good on campaign promises aiming to restrict immigration and redefining what it means to be American. But any efforts to halt the policy would face steep legal hurdles. Birthright citizenship means anyone born in the United States automatically becomes an American citizen. It’s been in place for decades and applies to children born to someone in the country illegally or in the U.S. on a tourist or student visa who plans to return to their home country. It’s not the practice of every country, and Trump and his supporters have argued that the system is being abused and that there should be tougher standards for becoming an American citizen. But others say this is a right enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, it would be extremely difficult to overturn and even if it’s possible, it’s a bad idea. Here’s a look at birthright citizenship, what Trump has said about it and the prospects for ending it: During an interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Trump said he “absolutely” planned to halt birthright citizenship once in office. “We’re going to end that because it’s ridiculous,” he said. Trump and other opponents of birthright citizenship have argued that it creates an incentive for people to come to the U.S. illegally or take part in “birth tourism,” in which pregnant women enter the U.S. specifically to give birth so their children can have citizenship before returning to their home countries. “Simply crossing the border and having a child should not entitle anyone to citizenship,” said Eric Ruark, director of research for NumbersUSA, which argues for reducing immigration. The organization supports changes that would require at least one parent to be a permanent legal resident or a U.S. citizen for their children to automatically get citizenship. Others have argued that ending birthright citizenship would profoundly damage the country. “One of our big benefits is that people born here are citizens, are not an illegal underclass. There’s better assimilation and integration of immigrants and their children because of birthright citizenship,” said Alex Nowrasteh, vice president for economic and social policy studies at the pro-immigration Cato Institute. In 2019, the Migration Policy Institute estimated that 5.5 million children under age 18 lived with at least one parent in the country illegally in 2019, representing 7% of the U.S. child population. The vast majority of those children were U.S. citizens. The nonpartisan think tank said during Trump’s campaign for president in 2015 that the number of people in the country illegally would “balloon” if birthright citizenship were repealed, creating “a self-perpetuating class that would be excluded from social membership for generations.” In the aftermath of the Civil War, Congress ratified the 14th Amendment in July 1868. That amendment assured citizenship for all, including Black people. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” the 14th Amendment says. “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” But the 14th Amendment didn’t always translate to everyone being afforded birthright citizenship. For example, it wasn’t until 1924 that Congress finally granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S. A key case in the history of birthright citizenship came in 1898, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Wong Kim Ark, born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrants, was a U.S. citizen because he was born in the states. The federal government had tried to deny him reentry into the county after a trip abroad on grounds he wasn’t a citizen under the Chinese Exclusion Act. But some have argued that the 1898 case clearly applied to children born of parents who are both legal immigrants to America but that it’s less clear whether it applies to children born to parents without legal status or, for example, who come for a short-term like a tourist visa. “That is the leading case on this. In fact, it’s the only case on this,” said Andrew Arthur, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports immigration restrictions. “It’s a lot more of an open legal question than most people think.” Some proponents of immigration restrictions have argued the words “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in the 14th Amendment allows the U.S. to deny citizenship to babies born to those in the country illegally. Trump himself used that language in his 2023 announcement that he would aim to end birthright citizenship if reelected. Trump wasn’t clear in his Sunday interview how he aims to end birthright citizenship. Asked how he could get around the 14th Amendment with an executive action, Trump said: “Well, we’re going to have to get it changed. We’ll maybe have to go back to the people. But we have to end it.” Pressed further on whether he’d use an executive order, Trump said “if we can, through executive action.” He gave a lot more details in a 2023 post on his campaign website . In it, he said he would issue an executive order the first day of his presidency, making it clear that federal agencies “require that at least one parent be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident for their future children to become automatic U.S. citizens.” Related Articles National Politics | Trump has flip-flopped on abortion policy. His appointees may offer clues to what happens next National Politics | In promising to shake up Washington, Trump is in a class of his own National Politics | Election Day has long passed. In some states, legislatures are working to undermine the results National Politics | Trump taps his attorney Alina Habba to serve as counselor to the president National Politics | With Trump on the way, advocates look to states to pick up medical debt fight Trump wrote that the executive order would make clear that children of people in the U.S. illegally “should not be issued passports, Social Security numbers, or be eligible for certain taxpayer funded welfare benefits.” This would almost certainly end up in litigation. Nowrasteh from the Cato Institute said the law is clear that birthright citizenship can’t be ended by executive order but that Trump may be inclined to take a shot anyway through the courts. “I don’t take his statements very seriously. He has been saying things like this for almost a decade,” Nowrasteh said. “He didn’t do anything to further this agenda when he was president before. The law and judges are near uniformly opposed to his legal theory that the children of illegal immigrants born in the United States are not citizens.” Trump could steer Congress to pass a law to end birthright citizenship but would still face a legal challenge that it violates the Constitution. Associated Press reporter Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.

Trump's casting call as he builds out his administration: TV experience preferred

No. 1 South Carolina women stunned by fifth-ranked UCLA 77-62, ending Gamecocks' 43-game win streakThe Louisville Cardinals host a ranked team for the second time this week when the No. 9 Duke Blue Devils pay a visit on Sunday, and the Cardinals hope for a better outcome in the teams' Atlantic Coast Conference opener. Louisville (5-3) has lost two straight, including an 86-63 thrashing at home by No. 23 Ole Miss in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Tuesday. The visiting Rebels shot 56.7 percent and dominated inside with a 48-26 edge on points in the paint. Tuesday's game was the first for coach Pat Kelsey's team without Kasean Pryor, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against Oklahoma in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game. The 6-foot-10 senior wing, a transfer from South Florida, was a key player early on for Louisville, averaging 12 points and 6.1 rebounds per game and blocking eight shots in seven games. Pryor is the latest Cardinals player to go down with an injury. Before the season started, the school announced center Aly Khalifa and guard Kobe Rodgers would redshirt due to injuries. Then just two games into the season, Aboubacar Traore broke his arm and Koren Johnson injured his shoulder. Traore is expected back this season, but Johnson announced earlier this week that he would also redshirt this season and undergo surgery. Besides the injuries, the Cardinals are also struggling to hit 3-point shots, a key facet to Kelsey's offense. Louisville entered Saturday 340th nationally in 3-point shooting percentage at 27.3 percent and seventh nationally averaging 31.6 attempts per game. Despite the woes, Kelsey told reporters after the Ole Miss loss that he doesn't plan to change his offense, adding that he believes in his players. "The percentages even themselves out," he said. "This has happened before. I just don't want our guys to lose confidence, because I really, really believe in them. They'll bounce back and be better on Sunday." The Blue Devils (6-2) won their SEC/ACC Challenge game on Wednesday, beating No. 2 Auburn 84-78 in Durham. Duke overcame a 13-2 deficit to get the Quadrant 1 victory on its resume. Coach Jon Scheyer's team shot 50 percent from the field and committed just four turnovers. It was just the 14th time in program history the Blue Devils had four or fewer turnovers in a game. Freshman Cooper Flagg, a preseason All-American and a contender for national player of the year awards, leads the Blue Devils in scoring (16.6 ppg), rebounding (8.6 rpg), assists (4.1 apg) and blocked shots (1.4 per game). He scored 22, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out four assists in the win against the Tigers, but it was another freshman who stole the show. Isaiah Evans came off the bench to score 18 points and hit 6 of 8 3-point shots. The guard averages 9.4 points per game but has only played in five games and has yet to play more than 17 minutes in a contest. Scheyer told reporters after the win that Evans provided a "special moment" when his team needed a lift. "To have that amazing courage to come into this game and do what he did -- I'm not sure if I've ever been a part of something like that in my years here," Scheyer said. --Field Level MediaEven with access to blockbuster obesity drugs, some people don't lose weight

Stocks drifted higher leading into the shortened trading week that includes the Thanksgiving holiday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI ) gained nearly 2% for the week while the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC ) added over 1.5%. In the week ahead, a fresh reading on the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, will highlight the economic calendar. Updates on third quarter economic growth and housing activity are also on the schedule. In corporate news, quarterly results from Zoom ( ZM ), Dell ( DELL ), Best Buy ( BBY ), CrowdStrike ( CRWD ), and Macy's ( M ) are likely to catch investor attention. Markets will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving, and Friday's trading session will end early at 1 p.m. ET. Recent sticky inflation readings have raised questions about whether the Fed will cut interest rates in December and how much the central bank will lower rates over the next year. Earlier this month, the "core" Consumer Price Index (CPI), which strips out the more volatile costs of food and gas, showed prices increased 3.3% in October for the third consecutive month. Meanwhile, the "core" Producer Price Index (PPI) revealed prices increased by 3.1% in October, up from 2.8% the month prior and above economist expectations for a 3% increase. On Wednesday, Federal Reserve governor Michelle Bowman expressed concern that the Fed’s progress toward 2% inflation has “stalled” and the central bank should proceed "cautiously" when lowering interest rates. "We have seen considerable progress in lowering inflation since early 2023, but progress seems to have stalled in recent months," Bowman said in a speech at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches. Read more: Jobs, inflation, and the Fed: How they're all related Economists expect more signs of that stalling in Wednesday's Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) release. Economists expect annual "core" PCE — which excludes the volatile categories of food and energy — to have clocked in at 2.8% in October, up from the 2.7% seen in September. Over the prior month, economists project "core" PCE at 0.3%, unchanged from September. Bank of America Securities US economist Stephen Juneau wrote in a research note that a print in line with expectations will "certainly lead Fed participants to reassess their inflation and policy outlook." "That said," he added, "we still expect the Fed to cut rates by 25bp in December, but the risk appears to be tilting towards a shallower cutting cycle given resilient activity and stubborn inflation." On Friday, markets were pricing in a 44% chance the Federal Reserve doesn't cut interest rates at its December meeting, up from a 29% chance seen a month prior, per the CME FedWatch Tool. While a holiday-shortened trading week will limit stock action, one of Wall Street's hottest trades since election night is likely to keep surging. Bitcoin has shot up nearly 50% since Donald Trump won the election as crypto enthusiasts have cheered a changed regulatory outlook. On Thursday, SEC Chair Gary Gensler announced he will be stepping down on Jan. 20, and bitcoin quickly rose to nearly $100,000 per coin for the first time ever. FedWatch Advisors chief investment officer Ben Emons told Yahoo Finance the rise of bitcoin is another sign of the risk-on mood in markets present since Trump won the election. "We may not be so much in an environment like 2021 when it was frothy," Emons said. "This is more about we're going to potentially really go into a different environment next year with the economy, with faster growth, and more liquidity. [So] then, yes, bitcoin should be trading at higher levels. So breaking $100,000 [per coin] is quite likely here." Read more: Bitcoin clears another record: Is now the time to invest? Wall Street research firms are beginning to issue 2025 outlook s for the equity market. Largely, these reports have been bullish. Research teams tracked by Yahoo Finance have projected the benchmark index will finish as low as 6,400 next year or as high as 7,000. But as DataTrek co-founder Nicholas Colas pointed out, many of the current targets fall in line with the traditional average annual return of the S&P 500 over the last century. And that roughly 11% annual return rarely ever comes over a one-year period. "While the mean long run return is a comforting anchor for expectations, much less discussed is that the range around that average is very wide," Colas wrote. He pointed out that the standard deviation from the 11.7% average annual return is 19.6 percentage points meaning any return from a 7.8% decline to a 31.2% increase could be considered "entirely consistent with historical norms." This brings Colas to the true takeaway from Wall Street's recent bullish calls. It's more about the direction of the market than the actual projection strategists slap on the S&P 500. And Colas largely agrees with the upside many have been pointing to for 2025. "The most important issue for anyone invested in the US equity market is the stability of the US economy in 2025," Colas wrote. He cited the US labor market's solid footing , lower interest rates , and an incoming administration that's expected to bring tax cuts and deregulation as reasons the economy will remain resilient in 2025. "We remain positive and believe the S&P 500 can rally more than its long-term average over the coming year," Colas wrote. "The setup going into 2025 more closely resembles exceptionally strong years rather than weak ones. We therefore expect the S&P 500 to gain around 15 percent in 2025, ending the year at 6,840 based on [Thursday's] close." Economic data: Dallas Fed manufacturing activity, November (-3 prior) Earnings: Bath & Body Works ( BBWI ), Zoom ( ZM ) Economic data: S&P CoreLogic 20-city year-over-year NSA, August (5.20% prior); New home sales month-over-month, October (-1.8% expected, 4.1% prior); Conference Board Consumer Confidence, November (112.5 expected, 108.7 prior); Richmond Fed manufacturing index, November (-14 prior); FOMC Meeting Minutes (November meeting) Earnings: Abercombie & Fitch ( ANF ), Autodesk ( ADSK ), Best Buy ( BBY ), Burlington Stores ( BURL ), CrowdStrike ( CRWD ), Dell ( DELL ), HP ( HPQ ), Kohl's ( KSS ), Macy's ( M ), Manchester United ( MANU ), Urban Outfitters ( URBN ), Workday ( WDAY ) Economic data: Personal income, October (0.3% expected, 0.3% prior); Personal spending, October (0.4% expected, 0.5% prior); PCE index month-over-month, October (0.2% expected, 0.2% prior); PCE Index year-over-year, October (2.3% expected, 2.1% prior); Core PCE Index month-over-month, October (0.3% expected, 0.3% prior); Core PCE Index, year-over-year, October (2.8% expected, 2.7% prior); MBA mortgage applications, Nov. 22 (0.5% prior); GDP annualized quarter-over-quarter, third quarter second estimate (+2.8% expected, +2.8% prior); Core PCE Price Index quart-over-quarter, third quarter second estimate (2.2% prior); Wholesale inventories month-over-month, October (+0.8% prior); Initial jobless claims, week ending Nov. 23 (213,000 prior); Pending home sales month-over-month (7.4% prior) Earnings: No notable earnings releases. Markets are closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. Friday Economic data: MNI Chicago PMI, November (41.6 prior) Earnings: No notable earnings releases. Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X @_joshschafer . Click here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

After leaving the I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here camp, Alan Halsall has revealed he has signed a new contract to remain on the Coronation Street cobbles. The actor, 42, has played the role of Tyrone Dobbs on the ITV soap for 27 years. And now he has revealed his delight after confirming he has penned a 12-month extension - and will neck a pint of Guinness to celebrate. Alan had constantly described his pride at his role on the long-running soap while chatting with campmates Down Under. And now he has described how his on-going role is a sense of achievement for himself, who grew up as a Corrie fan in Salford. Speaking to the Sun in Australia , Alan said: "I'm thrilled to bits. That's the job I love, so long may it continue. I'll maybe have a couple of pints of Guinness to toast it." He even continued to joke that some of the celebrities in camp with him would be at home on the Corrie cobbles. During his time on the show, Alan said Coleen Rooney had a great acting career ahead if she wanted it. After the pair tried to trick their campmates into thinking they had failed a task, Alan said: "We managed to drag it out. Coleen was fantastic, a proper leading actress. I believed Coleen - and I was in on the joke. "She was absolutely fantastic as an actress. I said, 'I think she could be a barmaid of the Rovers Return.' She was absolutely brilliant." Meanwhile, he also seemed to take aim at another former campmate as he branded them a performer. He claimed radio DJ Dean McCullough played up to the cameras in the jungle. After Alan and social media star GK Barry were voted off the show, the actor made his true feelings known towards Dean. During an interview on the show's spin-off show Unpacked, host Sam Thompson asked Alan if there were any "performers" in the camp. Alan then responded saying: "Dean! He's got a story written all over his face. It's ridiculous!" While in the jungle, avid viewers will remember that Dean was seen snapping at Alan. On one occasion, Alan had tried to get Dean to wake up and help Loose Women star Jane Moore with chores. However, Dean blasted Alan for trying to make him look bad by making out he didn't want to pull his weight in camp. Alan was quick to say sorry, but the tense interaction was picked up by viewers at home. Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and ThreadsShares of Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. (FET) rose nearly 10% on Monday after the company announced a share repurchase program and the completion of sale-leaseback transactions. Forum Energy services the oil, natural gas, industrial, and renewable energy industries, providing value-added solutions that increase the safety and efficiency of energy exploration and production. The company said its board of directors has authorized a program to repurchase up to $75 million worth outstanding shares of its common stock. The firm said that under the terms of the company’s outstanding senior secured bonds, share repurchases are subject to a leverage ratio of 1.5x. “Until such time as FET’s Leverage Ratio is less than 1.5x, the company will not repurchase its common stock,” it clarified. Meanwhile, the firm also said that in the fourth quarter, it completed selling two manufacturing facilities in Texas. Net proceeds from the sale totaled approximately $20 million, it added. Forum Energy said the properties remain an integral part of its operations, and long-term lease agreements were executed in connection with the transaction. CEO Neal Lux noted that the firm is committed to maintaining conservative net leverage by using a meaningful portion of its free cash flow to reduce debt further. "In addition, FET is focused on returning cash to its shareholders. The size of our share repurchase program reflects our confidence to generate consistent free cash flow in 2025 and beyond,” he said. Retail chatter on Stocktwits indicated optimism on the stock. Despite the rally on Monday, Forum Energy shares have lost over 30% since the beginning of the year. For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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ELECTION watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) is confident that next year's elections will be one of the country's most transparent electoral exercises. "I feel that this election cycle is one of the most transparent. We have been allowed to observe nearly every electoral process," said PPCRV's IT Director Director William Yu during The Manila Times-DZRH TownHall. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.CNBC Daily Open: Small- and mid-caps stole the limelight last weekJefferies on tanker stocks following U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports

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Poonch (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], November 24 (ANI): The Prime Minister Vishwakarma Scheme has helped in revitalising the lives of people in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district by helping the locals to upgrade their skills, become self-dependent. and venture into entrepreneurship. Vishwakarma Scheme, launched in September 17, 2023, has provided end-to-end support to the barbers, tailors, masons, carpenters and blacksmiths of Poonch by offering them a Rs 15,000 modern toolkit to enhance their business. Also Read | Shiv Sena MLAs Feel Eknath Shinde Should Continue As Maharashtra CM, Says State Minister Deepak Kesarkar. The scheme, aimed at reviving the life of workers, provides basic training of five to seven days and Advanced training of 15 days or more, while significantly providing a stipend of Rs 500 per day so the people can comfortably attend the training program while reaping benefits. PM Vishwakarma Scheme was launched on September 17, 2023, by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Also Read | Angul Shocker: 23-Year-Old Man Kills Mother With Wooden Plank for Refusing To Give Money for Liquor in Odisha, Arrested. In Poonch's Industrial Training Institute, people expressed their happiness that the PM Vishwakarma Scheme has brought to them. The trainees at ITI expressed their pleasure over being able to upgrade their skills while learning new ways to expand their business. They also thanked PM Modi for providing loans on less interest rate to them so they could finally overcome the hardships in their life. Basid Chowdery, who is currently part of the ongoing tailors batch, expressed his satisfaction on upskilling his sewing skills. "We came here for training under the PM Vishwa Karma Scheme. The training will be completed in 5 to 7 days. All the Skillman like tailors, plumbers and others will be given toolkit around Rs 15000. They will also be given loans with less interest. I come here for training and they have promised me Rs 500 per day. I am being taught how to use the sewing machine," he said. Meanwhile, another lady named Shabnam said she is looking forward to become self-dependent from the toolkit she received under this scheme. "I am learning sewing technology under the Vishwakarma Scheme. We'll be given a toolkit of Rs 15000 and Rs 500 daily for our commutation. This scheme is helping is to end unemployment. From the toolkit, I can be self-dependent. I can start the business at home. PM Vishwakarma scheme is making sure that no one remains unemployed," Shabnam said. Tabraiz Ahemed Khan, the instructor in ITI Poonch informed that around 205 tailors, 130 barbers, more than 50 masons and around 12 to 13 carpenters and blacksmiths have upgraded their skills through this scheme. "The scheme was launched on September 2023. Under this scheme, there are 18 kinds of trades. We have 5 trades barber, mason, tailor, blacksmith and carpenter. Currently, the tailor batch is going on. We have trained 205 tailors already 130 barbers are trained. More than 50 masons are trained and around 12-13 blacksmiths and carpenters are trained respectively," Khan said. He also highlighted the benefits like toolkits, stipends and loans provided by the government. "The scheme has a lot of benefits, The government provide support to workers, and they get a toolkit and stipend of Rs 500 per day. The government is also providing a loan of Rs 1 lakh for basic training for their business. Earlier people used to work with their hands now they are receiving advanced toolkits. The people who weren't skilled now have skills that have been upgraded," he said. He further noted that people under this scheme also learn about other skills that benefit them to enhance their business and make them self-dependent. "They also learn about how to stand their business, how to market, how to create groups, how to sell on Facebook. We have also thought them of Google Pay, and Paytm to upgrade their skills so they can increase their business," he said. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)Bottle shop gets a cheer from leading planner ahead of decision day

Superheroes can save the day, but when it comes to business, it may be a bit of a struggle. At Collected: Your Pop Culture Headquarters, a small business in southwest Fort Worth, owner Ron Killingsworth said his retail store has maintained its steady customers, although sales are down 15% from last year. Inflation — including rising prices of food and other necessities — has prompted customers to scale back on their discretionary purchases such as comic books and graphic novels. “You can’t really eat comics, so people have cut back on some items,” he said. “Traffic is still pretty steady, but sales are down quite a bit from last year.” The 13-year-old business at 2823 Alta Mere Drive is gearing up for Small Business Saturday, set for Nov. 30, with a slew of pre-holiday sales on new and vintage comics, action figures, games and other products intended to prompt customers to buy items as gifts for themselves and others. “We follow the retail trends of Black Friday sales and Small Business Saturday, so those do help us,” Killingsworth said. Get essential daily news for the Fort Worth area. Sign up for insightful, in-depth stories — completely free. Comic books are still the No. 1 seller at Killingsworth’s store, which also buys collectible pop culture items. However, the sales decline has prompted him to carefully monitor his stock since the new comics he buys at wholesale are nonreturnable items. “We’re always buying but you only have so much shelf space, so we have to make smart choices,” he said. “You have to listen to your customers. You have to make sure you’re ordering for your customers and not yourself.” Killingsworth, 61, said he recently purchased several Golden Age comics — including The Marvel Family No. 36 , printed in 1949 — to add to his stock. Board game sales, which soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, are now down, but other items related to anime have brought in more female customers, as books and TV shows in that popular genre have created demand for mainstream audiences. Small Business Saturday, which started in 2010 to help local stores and restaurants recover from the Great Recession, has become a Thanksgiving weekend tradition. The U.S. Small Business Administration, which became a co-sponsor in 2011, said the special retail event has boosted holiday sales — totaling $17 billion in 2023 — for small businesses nationwide. Jeff Burdett, Texas state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said small businesses play a vital role in shaping and enriching local communities. “In addition to creating good-paying jobs and strengthening the local economy, small businesses shape our communities by volunteering their time and financially supporting charitable organizations,” Burdett said in a statement. “A recent NFIB report highlights how small business owners and their employees benefit their communities, beyond operating their business.” As the holiday retail season starts, he said, “I encourage all Texans to shop small, especially on Small Business Saturday, and thank a small business owner for how they enrich your community.” Fort Worth chambers of commerce also encourage residents to shop local on Nov. 30. “Small Business Saturday is more than just a day of shopping — it’s a celebration of the hard-working entrepreneurs who form the backbone of our local economy,” Anette Landeros, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said. “Small businesses create jobs, spark innovation and foster a sense of community that large retailers often cannot replicate.” “In Fort Worth, where our diverse small business community reflects our city’s unique culture and talent, supporting these enterprises means investing in our neighbors, friends and families, said Landeros, who will leave the Hispanic chamber Dec. 13 to become chief strategic officer of the Trinity Metro transit agency . “Small Business Saturday is a reminder to think local and to recognize that every customer plays a vital role in helping our small businesses thrive, not just during the holiday season but year-round.” Mia Moss, who recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of opening Black Coffee at 1417 Vaughn Blvd. in east Fort Worth, said Small Business Saturday helps shine a light on local businesses. “It has been great for Black Coffee because people go out of their way to support us by grabbing coffee before they shop with other local businesses or grab gifts with us for the coffee lover in the family,” Moss said. “This day lets people know that they have options and we love it!” For Killingsworth, adapting to economic trends is a priority for his pop culture business. That includes advertising and posting videos on social media platforms such as TikTok and Facebook. “You just have to change, although it may not be what you planned,” he said. “You just want to keep going and adapt. For me, it is a fun industry.” Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org . News decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here . Your support makes TWICE the impact today. As November draws to a close , time is running out to double your impact. Thanks to the generosity of the Nicholas Martin Jr. Family Foundation, every dollar you give will be matched—up to $15,000. Will you give today to help trusted, local reporting thrive in Fort Worth and Tarrant County? Related Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative for adhering to standards for ethical journalism . Republish This Story Republishing is free for noncommercial entities. Commercial entities are prohibited without a licensing agreement. Contact us for details. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License . Look for the "Republish This Story" button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS). Do not copy stories straight from the front-end of our web-site. You are required to follow the guidelines and use the republication tool when you share our content. The republication tool generates the appropriate html code. You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. You can’t sell or syndicate our stories. Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization. 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You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection. Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization. If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @FortWorthReport on Facebook and @FortWorthReport on Twitter. by Eric E. Garcia, Fort Worth Report November 23, 2024Serve Robotics Announces Appointment of Lily Sarafan to its Board of DirectorsFor 36-year-old Farhan Pauzi, who spent time in prison for drug charges, securing a job was tough when he was released. SINGAPORE – More employers are giving former offenders a chance in the workplace, but social stigma remains a hindrance for some in their reintegration journey. The number of employers that have hired former offenders in partnership with Yellow Ribbon Singapore (YRSG) rose from 5,603 in 2019 to 6,516 in 2023. Close to 700 employers also benefited from a government scheme that was rolled out in April 2023, to offer firms that hire former offenders wage offsets for their first nine months on the job. Between April and December 2023, about $2 million was disbursed to these employers for hiring more than 1,500 former offenders as part of the Uplifting Employment Credit scheme, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in response to queries from The Straits Times. While there seem to be more opportunities now for former offenders to gain employment after their release, other issues such as social stigma and personal challenges can affect how long they stay on. The career retention rate among former offenders who got a job with the help of YRSG has dropped over the years. The percentage of former offenders who remained employed for three months dropped from 87 per cent in 2020 to 79 per cent in 2023. Those who remained employed for six months also dipped from 70 per cent in 2020 to 60 per cent in 2023. YRSG told ST it does not have sufficient data to accurately identify the specific reasons behind the lower retention rates among employed former offenders. Challenges in gaining and retaining employment YRSG career coach Ashish Ben said former offenders may need more time to relearn old skills, which have become rusty, or learn new skills when returning to work after a long time in prison. Some employers may not have the capacity to give them time to gain proficiency due to operational and industry demands. Ingeus Singapore, an agency that offers career retention support to former offenders, said they may need a longer learning curve than a typical three-month adjustment period. The agency has eight career coaches dedicated to supporting former offenders, each managing an average caseload of 65 people. Mr Ashish said some former offenders may also have difficulty expressing themselves, and employers may mistake that for a lack of commitment or suitability for a role. They are also subject to more scrutiny, which may lead to quick assumptions. In one incident, a former offender was seen taking a white tablet when he arrived at work. During the day, he overheard a senior colleague commenting that he looked “stoned”. The company’s management, which heard about the incident, jumped to the conclusion that he might be using drugs. It was later discovered that the white pill was Panadol, recounted Mr Ashish. The former offender had taken it as he had been dealing with family issues that disrupted his sleep, and he wanted to alleviate a headache when he arrived at work. “A released ex-offender will leave the first physical prison and find himself entering a second social prison,” Mr Ashish said. “The stigma of incarceration might mean they are looked upon with suspicion.” For 36-year-old Farhan Pauzi, who spent time in prison for drug offences, securing a job was tough when he was released, as employers would turn him away when they learnt he was still under a supervision order, which requires former drug abusers to report for regular urine tests. One pest control company also rejected him as it was afraid his criminal record would affect his access to government offices that may hire its services. He managed to land a job months later with a carpark management company. “It gave me its trust and we had mutual respect. I finally felt like I met people who didn’t just judge me for my mistakes,” he said. “Having a stable job helped me to stay on the right track and not go back to prison.” The Industrial and Services Co-operative Society, a group that helps former offenders, said they may feel inherently “flawed” or “unworthy”, which creates a mental barrier when applying for jobs or prevents them from interacting with colleagues. For 35-year-old Hirzi (not his real name), being very careful about what he shares with colleagues is important to him. He was previously jailed for 10 months on drug-related charges, and considered lying about his past to secure a job. He decided to be honest with his managers about his history, but refrained from telling his colleagues. “One day, I asked some of them about what they thought of ex-offenders generally and got a negative response. I immediately knew I couldn’t tell them about my past as I felt some of them were not ready to work with an ex-offender.” Singapore After-Care Association director Prem Kumar said that despite the significant progress made in terms of societal acceptance, many former offenders will always be worried about how they are viewed by colleagues. “The desire to keep as low a profile as possible and hope that no one at work finds out about their past continues to hold true to this day,” he said. Overcoming negative perceptions For John (not his real name), his view of former offenders changed only after he himself was jailed for criminal breach of trust. “Before I went to prison, I was also someone who had a negative opinion of ex-offenders. I doubted that they could really be trusted,” said the 54-year-old. “But when I was inside (prison), you get to see how life is there, what their stories are, and that changed my perception a lot.” For John (not his real name), his view of ex-offenders shifted only after he himself was jailed for criminal breach of trust. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI Chia & Thai Food Supplies director Samuel Koh said his company started employing former offenders in 2006 owing to a tight labour market. Hiring from traditional sources had been challenging, so it decided to tap the pool of candidates among former offenders, he said. “We were concerned about theft, violence, poor attitude and performance at work, but we recognised that these issues are not specific to ex-offenders,” he said. The company made efforts to ensure harmony between the former offenders and other employees, which included not mentioning the former offenders’ background at work. After 18 years, the company went from hiring two to three former offenders a year to hiring 12 to 15 now. Sociologist Julia Wong from the Singapore Institute of Technology said it can be challenging for the public to accept that society needs to help former offenders, and this includes taking personal action. “It is common to hear people saying, ‘Yes, we should help ex-offenders’, but when asked whether they would be willing to work or live with an ex-offender, the answer may be less encouraging,” she said. Among the small gestures one can make are treating former offenders like any other new colleague instead of prying into their past, and getting back in touch with them after their incarceration, she noted. “Society needs to recognise that ex-offenders have already paid their dues and served their punishment,” she said. “You’ll be surprised how such small acts can make a difference to another person’s life.” Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads. 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