Global stocks pressured ahead of Fed decision

In her new book, “We Will Rest! The Art of Escape,” the author and academic says you too can flee the toxic grind culture.FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — New York Jets kicker Greg Zuerlein will be activated from injured reserve and will play against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Interim coach Jeff Ulbrich announced Friday that Zuerlein is returning after missing seven games with a knee injury to his left, non-kicking leg. He had been shaky before the injury, but the Jets have since been unsettled at the position, with Riley Patterson, Spencer Shrader and Anders Carlson all filling in. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.NoneBOSTON , Dec. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors (the "Board") of The China Fund, Inc. (the "Fund") has declared a distribution in the amount of $0.1497 per share. The distribution is comprised entirely of ordinary income. The dividend will be payable on January 10, 2025 , to stockholders of record on December 30, 2024 , with an ex-dividend date of December 30, 2024 . The Fund has a Dividend Reinvestment and Cash Purchase Plan (the "Plan") in which each stockholder automatically participates, unless the stockholder instructs Computershare Trust Company, N.A. (the "Plan Agent"), in writing, to have all distributions, net of any applicable U.S. withholding tax, paid in cash. If the Fund's shares are trading at a premium to the net asset value ("NAV") per share of the Fund on the distribution payment date, the Plan provides that stockholders will be issued Fund shares valued at NAV. If the Fund's shares are trading at a discount to the NAV per share, stockholders will be issued shares of the Fund valued at market price. Stockholders will not be charged a fee in connection with the reinvestment of dividends or capital gains distributions. A stockholder may terminate his or her participation in the Plan by notifying the Plan Agent in writing at the address below. Stockholders who have questions regarding the distribution may contact EQ Fund Solutions, LLC at 1-888-CHN-CALL (246-2255). The Fund is a closed-end management investment company with the objective of seeking long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities (i) of companies for which the principal securities trading market is in the People's Republic of China (" China "), or (ii) of companies for which the principal securities trading market is outside of China , or constituting direct equity investments in companies organized outside of China , that in both cases derive at least 50% of their revenues from goods and services sold or produced, or have at least 50% of their assets, in China . While the Fund is permitted to invest in direct equity investments of companies organized in China , it presently holds no such investments. The Fund's shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CHN." The Fund's investment manager is Matthews International Capital Management, LLC. For more information regarding the Fund and the Fund's holdings, please call 1-888-CHN-CALL (246-2255) or visit the Fund's website at www.chinafundinc.com . For more information about the Plan or to terminate your participation in the Plan, please contact Computershare Trust Company, N.A. at c/o The China Fund, Inc. at P.O. Box 43078, Providence, Rhode Island 02940-3078, by telephone at 1-800-426-5523 or via the Internet at www.computershare.com/investor . View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-china-fund-inc-declares-distributions-302331625.html SOURCE The China Fund, Inc.

Emboldened by the view from the top of the NFC North, the Detroit Lions are out to eliminate nightmare holiday gatherings when the Chicago Bears come to town Thursday for a lunchtime division duel. The Lions (10-1) are streaking one direction, the Bears (4-7) the other in the first matchup of the season between teams on opposite ends of the division. Riding a nine-game winning streak, their longest since a 10-game streak during their first season in Detroit in 1934, the Lions are burdened by losses in their traditional Thanksgiving Day game the past seven seasons. Three of the defeats are courtesy of Chicago. The Bears and Lions get together for the 20th time on Thanksgiving -- the Bears have 11 wins -- this week in the first of two meetings between the teams in a 25-day span. Detroit goes to Soldier Field on Dec. 22. "I think there's two things," Campbell said of the Thanksgiving losing streak. "Number one -- Get a W. And it's a division win that's why this huge. Number two is because the players are going to get a couple of days off. So, they have family, friends in, it'd be nice to feel good about it when you're with everybody because it's just not real fun. It's not real fun to be around." Detroit (10-1) owns the best record in the NFC but the Lions aren't even assured of a division title. Minnesota sits one game behind them and Green Bay is two games back. The Bears (4-7) sit in last place and would likely need to run the table to have any chance of making the playoffs. The Lions have been dominant in all phases and haven't allowed a touchdown in the past 10 consecutive quarters. Detroit's offense ranks first in points per game (32.7) and second in total yardage (394.3) The Lions defense has not given up a touchdown in the last 10 quarters. Rookie placekicker Jake Bates has made all 16 of his field goal attempts, including four from 50-plus yards over the past three games. Chicago shows up in a foul mood. The Bears are saddled with a five-game losing streak and Chicago's defense has been destroyed for nearly 2,000 total yards in the last four games. The Bears failed to reach the 20-point mark four times in five outings since they last won a game. In their latest defeat, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense perked up but they lost to Minnesota in overtime, 30-27. "We have to play complementary football for us to be able to win these games," coach Matt Eberflus said. "The games we have won, we have done that. The games we have been close we've missed the mark a little bit. Over the course of the year, it's been one side or the other, this side or that side. In this league you have to be good on all sides to win. That's what we are searching for." Williams threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. The wide receiver trio of DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and Romeo Odunze combined for 21 receptions and two touchdowns while tight end Cole Kmet caught seven passes. "What I've been impressed with is just how he has grown," Campbell said. "He has grown every game but these last two I really feel like he's taken off and what they're doing with him has been really good for him and he just looks very composed. He doesn't get frazzled, plays pretty fast, and he's an accurate passer, big arm, and he's got some guys that can get open for him." Detroit's banged-up secondary could be susceptible against the Bears' veteran receivers in their bid to pull off an upset on Thursday. The Lions put two defensive backs on injured reserve in the past week and top cornerback Carlton Davis isn't expected to play due to knee and thumb injuries. Detroit offensive tackle Taylor Decker (knee) and top returner Kalif Raymond (foot) are also expected to miss the game, though Campbell expressed optimism that running back David Montgomery (shoulder), formerly of the Bears, would play. Bears safety Elijah Hicks was listed as a DNP for Tuesday's walkthrough. --Field Level MediaThis is a customer submitted press release. Submit your press release. Ontario, N.Y. — Optimax, the largest precision optics manufacturer in the United States, has announced the appointment of Joseph Spilman as CEO and Pete Kupinski as president. With a solid succession plan in place, Optimax CEO Rick Plympton will join president and founder Mike Mandina in retirement. Mandina stepped down in 2021 and passed the president title to Spilman, strategically positioning him for the role of CEO. Plympton and Mandina will now assume the title of corporate fellow. Optimax employs nearly 500 employees in Rochester and serves customers and industries worldwide. Also part of the succession plan, the company has operated since 2020 under a perpetual purpose trust that stipulates all employees share in the profit, the company cannot be sold, and leadership must pursue cutting-edge solutions for industry. Optimax’s achievements in 2024 include launching Starris: Optimax Space Systems; expanding cleanroom assembly facilities; and collaboratively developing and licensing a monolith telescope technology with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Continually innovating, the company has robust plans for expansion in advanced manufacturing and optical systems in markets spanning space exploration and astronomy, semiconductor, defense, and medical. “I believe the management team Rick and I are handing the keys to is one of the best management teams in the industry,” Mandina said. “We have worked with them over a dozen years, shoulder to shoulder. And after visiting hundreds of companies, this team is exceptionally qualified to lead this company to its future. I trust them completely.” Spilman has worked in the optics and photonics industry for 20 years. His previous roles include director of sales and marketing at Optimax, serving on the executive team at ArmorLine Corp., and roles supporting NIR and IR laser optics applications for II-VI Inc. (Coherent). Spilman holds a bachelor’s degree in optics from the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics and an MBA from Rochester Institute of Technology’s Saunders College of Business. “I am proud to foster our company mission, which is to enable customer success and employee prosperity,” Spilman said. “Rick and Mike have set us up with a resilient business model and an immensely successful company, and I am honored to further their legacy. Considering the Optimax Trust, our talent, our team, and our offerings, Optimax has an incredibly bright future.” In their roles, Spilman will focus on market strategy and Kupinski on operations. The Optimax C-suite also includes CFO Tom Starin and CTO Mike Hyman. Kupinski has served as Optimax’s chief operating officer and director of engineering. He has worked with Optimax for 13 years, with previous positions with Sony, at Kodak working on the James Webb Space Telescope, and in the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester (UR). He holds an MBA from UR’s Simon School of Business and a master’s degree in materials science and engineering from Alfred University. “Optimax strives to be the best possible place to work, offering interesting technical challenges, job security, and the opportunity for career growth,” said Kupinski, who was an Optimax customer before joining the company, drawn to the culture. “I’ve never worked with so many good people under one roof. What’s most important to me, as well as the Optimax board, is taking care of our employees.” Revered as successful business leaders locally and nationally, Plympton’s and Mandina’s honors include induction into the Rochester Business Hall of Fame in 2018. “Our intent has been to set Optimax up for 100 years of prosperity and growth, creating career opportunities for our employees,” said Plympton. “It has been important to me and Mike that we created a company where people can work their whole career, for many decades. A robust and resilient business model creates job security.” MEDIA: Dresden@BellCollaborative.com (585) 319-1812 Images at https://tinyurl.com/OptimaxNov24

CHICAGO — With a wave of her bangled brown fingertips to the melody of flutes and chimes, artist, theologian and academic Tricia Hersey enchanted a crowd into a dreamlike state of rest at Semicolon Books on North Michigan Avenue. “The systems can’t have you,” Hersey said into the microphone, reading mantras while leading the crowd in a group daydreaming exercise on a recent Tuesday night. The South Side native tackles many of society’s ills — racism, patriarchy, aggressive capitalism and ableism — through an undervalued yet impactful action: rest. Hersey, the founder of a movement called the Nap Ministry, dubs herself the Nap Bishop and spreads her message to over half a million followers on her Instagram account, @thenapministry . Her first book, “Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto,” became a New York Times bestseller in 2022, but Hersey has been talking about rest online and through her art for nearly a decade. Hersey, who has degrees in public health and divinity, originated the “rest as resistance” and “rest as reparations” frameworks after experimenting with rest as an exhausted graduate student in seminary. Once she started napping, she felt happier and her grades improved. But she also felt more connected to her ancestors; her work was informed by the cultural trauma of slavery that she was studying as an archivist. Hersey described the transformation as “life-changing.” The Nap Ministry began as performance art in 2017, with a small installation where 40 people joined Hersey in a collective nap. Since then, her message has morphed into multiple mediums and forms. Hersey, who now lives in Atlanta, has hosted over 100 collective naps, given lectures and facilitated meditations across the country. She’s even led a rest ritual in the bedroom of Jane Addams , and encourages her followers to dial in at her “Rest Hotline.” At Semicolon, some of those followers and newcomers came out to see Hersey in discussion with journalist Natalie Moore on Hersey’s latest book, “We Will Rest! The Art of Escape,” released this month, and to learn what it means to take a moment to rest in community. Moore recalled a time when she was trying to get ahead of chores on a weeknight. “I was like, ‘If I do this, then I’ll have less to do tomorrow.’ But then I was really tired,” Moore said. “I thought, ‘What would my Nap Bishop say? She would say go lay down.’ Tricia is in my head a lot.” At the event, Al Kelly, 33, of Rogers Park, said some of those seated in the crowd of mostly Black women woke up in tears — possibly because, for the first time, someone permitted them to rest. “It was so emotional and allowed me to think creatively about things that I want to work on and achieve,” Kelly said. Shortly after the program, Juliette Viassy, 33, a program manager who lives in the South Loop and is new to Hersey’s work, said this was her first time meditating after never being able to do it on her own. Therapist Lyndsei Howze, 33, of Printers Row, who was also seated at the book talk, said she recommends Hersey’s work “to everybody who will listen” — from her clients to her own friends. “A lot of mental health conditions come from lack of rest,” she said. “They come from exhaustion.” Before discovering Hersey’s work this spring, Howze said she and her friends sporadically napped together in one friend’s apartment after an exhausting workweek. “It felt so good just to rest in community,” she said. On Hersey’s book tour, she is leading exercises like this across the country. “I think we need to collectively do this,” Hersey explained. “We need to learn again how to daydream because we’ve been told not to do it. I don’t think most people even have a daydreaming practice.” Daydreaming, Hersey said, allows people to imagine a new world. Hersey tells her followers that yes, you can rest, even when your agenda is packed, even between caregiving, commuting, jobs, bills, emails and other daily demands. And you don’t have to do it alone. There is a community of escape artists, she said of the people who opt out of grind and hustle culture, waiting to embrace you. The book is part pocket prayer book, part instruction manual, with art and handmade typography by San Francisco-based artist George McCalman inspired by 19th-century abolitionist pamphlets, urging readers to reclaim their divine right to rest. Hersey directs her readers like an operative with instructions for a classified mission. “Let grind culture know you are not playing around,” she wrote in her book. “This is not a game or time to shrink. Your thriving depends on the art of escape.” The reluctance to rest can be rooted in capitalist culture presenting rest as a reward for productivity instead of a physical and mental necessity. Hersey deconstructs this idea of grind culture, which she says is rooted in the combined effects of white supremacy, patriarchy and capitalism that “look at the body as not human.” American culture encourages grind culture, Hersey said, but slowing down and building a ritual of rest can offset its toxicity. The author eschews the ballooning billion-dollar self-care industry that encourages people to “save enough money and time off from work to fly away to an expensive retreat,” she wrote. Instead, she says rest can happen anywhere you have a place to be comfortable: in nature, on a yoga mat, in the car between shifts, on a cozy couch after work. Resting isn’t just napping either. She praises long showers, sipping warm tea, playing music, praying or numerous other relaxing activities that slow down the body. “We’re in a crisis mode of deep sleep deprivation, deep lack of self-worth, (and) mental health,” said Hersey. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2022 , in Illinois about 37% of adults aren’t getting the rest they need at night. If ignored, the effects of sleep deprivation can have bigger implications later, Hersey said. In October, she lectured at a sleep conference at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, where her humanities work was featured alongside research from the world’s top neuroscientists. Jennifer Mundt, a Northwestern clinician and professor of sleep medicine, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, praises Hersey for bringing the issue of sleep and rest to the public. In a Tribune op-ed last year, Mundt argued that our culture focuses too heavily on sleep as something that must be earned rather than a vital aspect of health and that linking sleep to productivity is harmful and stigmatizing. “Linking sleep and productivity is harmful because it overshadows the bevy of other reasons to prioritize sleep as an essential component of health,” Mundt wrote. “It also stigmatizes groups that are affected by sleep disparities and certain chronic sleep disorders.” In a 30-year longitudinal study released in the spring by the New York University School of Social Work, people who worked long hours and late shifts reported the lowest sleep quality and lowest physical and mental functions, and the highest likelihood of reporting poor health and depression at age 50. The study also showed that Black men and women with limited education “were more likely than others to shoulder the harmful links between nonstandard work schedules and sleep and health, worsening their probability of maintaining and nurturing their health as they approach middle adulthood.” The CDC links sleeping fewer than seven hours a day to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and more. Although the Nap Ministry movement is new for her followers, Hersey’s written about her family’s practice of prioritizing rest, which informs her work. Her dad was a community organizer, a yardmaster for the Union Pacific Railroad Co. and an assistant pastor. Before long hours of work, he would dedicate hours each day to self-care. Hersey also grew up observing her grandma meditate for 30 minutes daily. Through rest, Hersey said she honors her ancestors who were enslaved and confronts generational trauma. When “Rest Is Resistance” was released in 2022, Americans were navigating a pandemic and conversations on glaring racial disparities. “We Will Rest!” comes on the heels of a historic presidential election where Black women fundraised for Vice President Kamala Harris and registered voters in a dizzying three-month campaign. Following Harris’ defeat, many of those women are finding self-care and preservation even more important. “There are a lot of Black women announcing how exhausted they are,” Moore said. “This could be their entry point to get to know (Hersey’s) work, which is bigger than whatever political wind is blowing right now.” Hersey said Chicagoans can meet kindred spirits in her environment of rest. Haji Healing Salon, a wellness center, and the social justice-focused Free Street Theater are sites where Hersey honed her craft and found community. In the fall, the theater put on “Rest/Reposo,” a performance featuring a community naptime outdoors in McKinley Park and in its Back of the Yards space. Haji is also an apothecary and hosts community healing activities, sound meditations and yoga classes. “It is in Bronzeville; it’s a beautiful space owned by my friend Aya,” Hersey said, explaining how her community has helped her build the Nap Ministry. “When I first started the Nap Ministry, before I was even understanding what it was, she was like, come do your work here.” “We Will Rest!” is a collection of poems, drawings and short passages. In contrast to her first book, Hersey said she leaned more into her artistic background; the art process alone took 18 months to complete. After a tough year for many, she considers it medicine for a “sick and exhausted” world. “It’s its own sacred document,” Hersey said. “It’s something that, if you have it in your library and you have it with you, you may feel more human.” lazu@chicagotribune.comEsco Technologies director Valdez sells $349,049 in stock

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet approved a temporary U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement Tuesday that will put a pause to the fighting with Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. On Tuesday, Scripps News spoke with former U.N. Ambassador and former National Security Adviser John Bolton about the agreement and its implications. Bolton said he didn't believe the agreement would cause long-lasting changes in the conflict. "The duration of the cease-fire is 60 days, meaning that it takes the government of Israel out of the Biden administration, into the Trump administration, where they expect to have a more favorable audience," Bolton said. "The provisions of the cease-fire agreement do allow Israel to take military action during this 60-day period if Hezbollah tries to infiltrate back into southern Lebanon, which I think is very highly likely." RELATED STORY | Israel's Netanyahu voices support for ceasefire deal with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon "There's some optics here, there's some American politics involved, because Netanyahu and the Israelis fear that the Biden administration may do something negative on their way out the door," Bolton told Scripps News. "I think it's a temporary accommodation and one that's really very shaky, even from the beginning." It’s not clear if the ceasefire will affect the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which is a separate conflict. Also in the interview, Bolton spoke about the possibility of new North American tariffs under the incoming Trump administration, as well as the national security implications of some of President-elect Trump's cabinet nominations. Watch the full interview with Bolton in the attached video.Nations strive for climate funding consensus as COP29 deadline nears'I worked a shift with Amazon warehouse robots – it felt like real-life Pac-Man'

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Darius Tahir | (TNS) KFF Health News President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to run the sprawling government agency that administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act marketplace — celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz — recently held broad investments in health care, tech, and food companies that would pose significant conflicts of interest. Oz’s holdings, some shared with family, included a stake in UnitedHealth Group worth as much as $600,000, as well as shares of pharmaceutical firms and tech companies with business in the health care sector, such as Amazon. Collectively, Oz’s investments total tens of millions of dollars, according to financial disclosures he filed during his failed 2022 run for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat. Trump said Tuesday he would nominate Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The agency’s scope is huge: CMS oversees coverage for more than 160 million Americans, nearly half the population. Medicare alone accounts for approximately $1 trillion in annual spending, with over 67 million enrollees. UnitedHealth Group is one of the largest health care companies in the nation and arguably the most important business partner of CMS, through which it is the leading provider of commercial health plans available to Medicare beneficiaries. UnitedHealth also offers managed-care plans under Medicaid, the joint state-federal program for low-income people, and sells plans on government-run marketplaces set up via the Affordable Care Act. Oz also had smaller stakes in CVS Health, which now includes the insurer Aetna, and in the insurer Cigna. It’s not clear if Oz, a heart surgeon by training, still holds investments in health care companies, or if he would divest his shares or otherwise seek to mitigate conflicts of interest should he be confirmed by the Senate. Reached by phone on Wednesday, he said he was in a Zoom meeting and declined to comment. An assistant did not reply to an email message with detailed questions. “It’s obvious that over the years he’s cultivated an interest in the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance industry,” said Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a watchdog group. “That raises a question of whether he can be trusted to act on behalf of the American people.” (The publisher of KFF Health News, David Rousseau, is on the CSPI board .) Oz used his TikTok page on multiple occasions in November to praise Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including their efforts to take on the “illness-industrial complex,” and he slammed “so-called experts like the big medical societies” for dishing out what he called bad nutritional advice. Oz’s positions on health policy have been chameleonic; in 2010, he cut an ad urging Californians to sign up for insurance under President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, telling viewers they had a “historic opportunity.” Oz’s 2022 financial disclosures show that the television star invested a substantial part of his wealth in health care and food firms. Were he confirmed to run CMS, his job would involve interacting with giants of the industry that have contributed to his wealth. Given the breadth of his investments, it would be difficult for Oz to recuse himself from matters affecting his assets, if he still holds them. “He could spend his time in a rocking chair” if that happened, Lurie said. In the past, nominees for government positions with similar potential conflicts of interest have chosen to sell the assets or otherwise divest themselves. For instance, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Attorney General Merrick Garland agreed to divest their holdings in relevant, publicly traded companies when they joined the Biden administration. Trump, however, declined in his first term to relinquish control of his own companies and other assets while in office, and he isn’t expected to do so in his second term. He has not publicly indicated concern about his subordinates’ financial holdings. CMS’ main job is to administer Medicare. About half of new enrollees now choose Medicare Advantage, in which commercial insurers provide their health coverage, instead of the traditional, government-run program, according to an analysis from KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. Proponents of Medicare Advantage say the private plans offer more compelling services than the government and better manage the costs of care. Critics note that Medicare Advantage plans have a long history of costing taxpayers more than the traditional program. UnitedHealth, CVS, and Cigna are all substantial players in the Medicare Advantage market. It’s not always a good relationship with the government. The Department of Justice filed a 2017 complaint against UnitedHealth alleging the company used false information to inflate charges to the government. The case is ongoing. Oz is an enthusiastic proponent of Medicare Advantage. In 2020, he proposed offering Medicare Advantage to all; during his Senate run, he offered a more general pledge to expand those plans. After Trump announced Oz’s nomination for CMS, Jeffrey Singer, a senior fellow at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, said he was “uncertain about Dr. Oz’s familiarity with health care financing and economics.” Singer said Oz’s Medicare Advantage proposal could require large new taxes — perhaps a 20% payroll tax — to implement. Oz has gotten a mixed reception from elsewhere in Washington. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, the Democrat who defeated Oz in 2022, signaled he’d potentially support his appointment to CMS. “If Dr. Oz is about protecting and preserving Medicare and Medicaid, I’m voting for the dude,” he said on the social platform X. Oz’s investments in companies doing business with the federal government don’t end with big insurers. He and his family also hold hospital stocks, according to his 2022 disclosure, as well as a stake in Amazon worth as much as nearly $2.4 million. (Candidates for federal office are required to disclose a broad range of values for their holdings, not a specific figure.) Amazon operates an internet pharmacy, and the company announced in June that its subscription service is available to Medicare enrollees. It also owns a primary care service , One Medical, that accepts Medicare and “select” Medicare Advantage plans. Oz was also directly invested in several large pharmaceutical companies and, through investments in venture capital funds, indirectly invested in other biotech and vaccine firms. Big Pharma has been a frequent target of criticism and sometimes conspiracy theories from Trump and his allies. Kennedy, whom Trump has said he’ll nominate to be Health and Human Services secretary, is a longtime anti-vaccine activist. During the Biden administration, Congress gave Medicare authority to negotiate with drug companies over their prices. CMS initially selected 10 drugs. Those drugs collectively accounted for $50.5 billion in spending between June 1, 2022, and May 31, 2023, under Medicare’s Part D prescription drug benefit. At least four of those 10 medications are manufactured by companies in which Oz held stock, worth as much as about $50,000. Related Articles National Politics | Donald Trump Jr. emerges as a political force of his own as he helps his father launch a second term National Politics | The rising price of paying the national debt is a risk for Trump’s promises on growth and inflation National Politics | What to know about Brooke Rollins, Trump’s pick for agriculture secretary National Politics | After Trump’s Project 2025 denials, he is tapping its authors and influencers for key roles National Politics | Republicans push back against Democrats’ claims that Trump intelligence pick Gabbard is compromised Oz may gain or lose financially from other Trump administration proposals. For example, as of 2022, Oz held investments worth as much as $6 million in fertility treatment providers. To counter fears that politicians who oppose abortion would ban in vitro fertilization, Trump floated during his campaign making in vitro fertilization treatment free. It’s unclear whether the government would pay for the services. In his TikTok videos from earlier in November, Oz echoed attacks on the food industry by Kennedy and other figures in his “Make America Healthy Again” movement. They blame processed foods and underregulation of the industry for the poor health of many Americans, concerns shared by many Democrats and more mainstream experts. But in 2022, Oz owned stakes worth as much as $80,000 in Domino’s Pizza, Pepsi, and US Foods, as well as more substantial investments in other parts of the food chain, including cattle; Oz reported investments worth as much as $5.5 million in a farm and livestock, as well as a stake in a dairy-free milk startup. He was also indirectly invested in the restaurant chain Epic Burger. One of his largest investments was in the Pennsylvania-based convenience store chain Wawa, which sells fast food and all manner of ultra-processed snacks. Oz and his wife reported a stake in the company, beloved by many Pennsylvanians, worth as much as $30 million. ©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

In the , we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss our choice for Electrek car of the year, NIO Day, what’s coming for EVs in 2025, and more. The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on . As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the to get your questions and comments in. After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps: We now have if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming. Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast: Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET): and subscribe to the . The Electrek Podcast is Fred Lambert and Seth We... Fred is the Editor in Chief and Main Writer at Electrek. You can send tips on Twitter (DMs open) or via email: fred@9to5mac.com Through Zalkon.com, you can check out Fred’s portfolio and get monthly green stock investment ideas. Get interesting investment ideas by Fred Lambert ChargePoint Home WiFi Enabled Electric Vehicle (EV) ChargerBy HILLEL ITALIE NEW YORK (AP) — Even through a year of nonstop news about elections, climate change, protests and the price of eggs, there was still time to read books. U.S. sales held steady according to Circana, which tracks around 85% of the print market, with many choosing the relief of romance, fantasy and romantasy. Some picked up Taylor Swift’s tie-in book to her blockbuster tour, while others sought out literary fiction, celebrity memoirs, political exposes and a close and painful look at a generation hooked on smartphones. Here are 10 notable books published in 2024, in no particular order. Asking about the year’s hottest reads would basically yield a list of the biggest hits in romantasy, the blend of fantasy and romance that has proved so irresistible fans were snapping up expensive “special editions” with decorative covers and sprayed edges. Of the 25 top sellers of 2024, as compiled by Circana, six were by romantasy favorite Sarah J. Maas, including “House of Flame and Shadow,” the third of her “Crescent City” series. Millions read her latest installment about Bryce Quinlan and Hunter Athalar and traced the ever-growing ties of “Maasverse,” the overlapping worlds of “Crescent City” and her other series, “Throne of Glass” and “A Court of Thorns and Roses.” If romantasy is for escape, other books demand we confront. In the bestselling “The Anxious Generation,” social psychologist Jonathan Haidt looks into studies finding that the mental health of young people began to deteriorate in the 2010s, after decades of progress. According to Haidt, the main culprit is right before us: digital screens that have drawn kids away from “play-based” to “phone-based” childhoods. Although some critics challenged his findings, “The Anxious Generation” became a talking point and a catchphrase. Admirers ranged from Oprah Winfrey to Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee, who in a letter to state legislators advocated such “commonsense recommendations” from the book as banning phones in schools and keeping kids off social media until age 16. Bob Woodward books have been an election tradition for decades. “War,” the latest of his highly sourced Washington insider accounts, made news with its allegations that Donald Trump had been in frequent contact with Russian leader Vladimir Putin even while out of office and, while president, had sent Putin sophisticated COVID-19 test machines. Among Woodward’s other scoops: Putin seriously considered using nuclear weapons against Ukraine, and President Joe Biden blamed former President Barack Obama, under whom he served as vice president, for some of the problems with Russia. “Barack never took Putin seriously,” Woodward quoted Biden as saying. Former (and future) first lady Melania Trump, who gives few interviews and rarely discusses her private life, unexpectedly announced she was publishing a memoir: “Melania.” The publisher was unlikely for a former first lady — not one of the major New York houses, but Skyhorse, where authors include such controversial public figures as Woody Allen and Trump cabinet nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And its success was at least a minor surprise. Melania Trump did little publicity for the book, and offered few revelations beyond posting a video expressing support for abortion rights — a break from one of the cornerstones of GOP policy. But “Melania” still sold hundreds of thousands of copies, many in the days following her husband’s election. Taylor Swift was more than a music story in 2024. Like “Melania,” the news about Taylor Swift’s self-published tie-in to her global tour isn’t so much the book itself, but that it exists. And how well it sold. As she did with the “Eras” concert film, Swift bypassed the established industry and worked directly with a distributor: Target offered “The Eras Tour Book” exclusively. According to Circana, the “Eras” book sold more than 800,000 copies just in its opening week, an astonishing number for a publication unavailable through Amazon.com and other traditional retailers. No new book in 2024 had a better debut. Midnight book parties are supposed to be for “Harry Potter” and other fantasy series, but this fall, more than 100 stores stayed open late to welcome one of the year’s literary events: Sally Rooney’s “Intermezzo.” The Irish author’s fourth novel centers on two brothers, their grief over the death of their father, their very different career paths and their very unsettled love lives. “Intermezzo” was also a book about chess: “You have to read a lot of opening theory — that’s the beginning of a game, the first moves,” one of the brothers explains. “And you’re learning all this for what? Just to get an okay position in the middle game and try to play some decent chess. Which most of the time I can’t do anyway.” Lisa Marie Presley had been working on a memoir at the time of her death , in 2023, and daughter Riley Keough had agreed to help her complete it. “From Here to the Great Unknown” is Lisa Marie’s account of her father, Elvis Presley, and the sagas of of her adult life, notably her marriage to Michael Jackson and the death of son Benjamin Keough. To the end, she was haunted by the loss of Elvis, just 42 when he collapsed and died at his Graceland home while young Lisa Marie was asleep. “She would listen to his music alone, if she was drunk, and cry,” Keough, during an interview with Winfrey, said of her mother. Meanwhile, Cher released the first of two planned memoirs titled “Cher” — no further introduction required. Covering her life from birth to the end of the 1970s, she focuses on her ill-fated marriage to Sonny Bono, remembering him as a gifted entertainer and businessman who helped her believe in herself while turning out to be unfaithful, erratic, controlling and so greedy that he kept all the couple’s earnings for himself. Unsure of whether to leave or stay, she consulted a very famous divorcee, Lucille Ball, who reportedly encouraged her: “F— him, you’re the one with the talent.” A trend in recent years is to take famous novels from the past, and remove words or passages that might offend modern readers; an edition of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” cuts the racist language from Mark Twain’s original text. In the most celebrated literary work of 2024, Percival Everett found a different way to take on Twain’s classic — write it from the perspective of the enslaved Jim. “James,” winner of the National Book Award, is a recasting in many ways. Everett suggests to us that the real Jim was nothing like the deferential figure known to millions of readers, but a savvy and learned man who concealed his intelligence from the whites around him, and even from Twain himself. Salman Rushdie’s first National Book Award nomination was for a memoir he wished he had no reason to write. In “Knife,” he recounts in full detail the horrifying attempt on his life in 2022, when an attendee rushed the stage during a literary event in western New York and stabbed him repeatedly, leaving with him a blinded eye and lasting nerve damage, but with a spirit surprisingly intact. “If you had told me that this was going to happen and how would I deal with it, I would not have been very optimistic about my chances,” he told The Associated Press last spring. “I’m still myself, you know, and I don’t feel other than myself. But there’s a little iron in the soul, I think.”

Ange Postecoglou fights on as Tottenham return to scene of Antonio Conte rantGrappling with the return of a U.S. president disdainful of reporters and the decline of newspapers in California and across the country, Berkeleyside’s Dec. 5 Idea Makers panel was billed as a discussion of “ .” The headliner for the panel was state Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, who talked about efforts in Sacramento to get tech giants to pay for the news content they use in order to fund newsrooms in California. Wicks represents Berkeley as well as Richmond and parts of Oakland — where Berkeleyside sister newsrooms Richmonside and The Oaklandside operate — along with other parts of Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Watch Berkeleyside’s full Dec. 5 Idea Makers panel. Cityside CEO and Berkeleyside co-founder Lance Knobel moderated the program last Thursday, including the first half with Wicks that focused on a funding battle that played out in Sacramento recently, and the second half with UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism professor and Lisa Armstong, San Francisco Chronicle columnist and critic and Berkeleyside Associate Editor . Around 100 people attended the event, at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive’s Barbro Osher Theater on Center Street. Between 2005 and 2022, California lost more than two thirds — 68% — of its working newspaper journalists, along with a third of its newspapers, according to a by the Northwestern Medill School of Journalism. News startups, particularly digital and nonprofit ones, have had some small successes in slowing the bleeding, according to the study. In 2023, Wicks authored an Assembly bill to compel tech giants like Google to pay fees to, or negotiate with, news outlets in California to use the outlet’s content. This year, a state Senate bill also sought to get the big tech platforms to pay for local journalism. The News Media Alliance, an industry lobbying body, should be paying publishers in excess of $10 billion a year nationally. But Google waged an $11 million lobbying blitz and threatened to end Google News Initiative (GNI) programs in California. (Cityside, Berkeleyside’s nonprofit parent organization, has received funding from GNI.) Although Wicks’ bill easily passed in the Assembly and seemed set for success in the Senate, lawmakers and Google in August in which both Google and the state will pay into a News Transformation Fund to help fund newsrooms in California. Cityside’s Knobel had testified to the Senate about both the Assembly and Senate bills and, following the agreed deal, supported the compromise. While labor unions and some publishers as settling for too little, Wicks said at the Berkeleyside panel that part of the impetus for the deal was looking at how Meta — Facebook and Instagram’s parent company — simply pulled news content from its platforms in Canada after a law was passed ordering tech companies to pay publishers. “There was sort of the art of [the] possible in politics in Sacramento this year,” Wicks said, arguing it was unlikely Gov. Gavin Newsom would have signed the bill if it had emerged from the senate. We “required [Google] not to pull out of any of their pre-existing relationships. And Meta is not going to pull out of California now.” Many of the details of the August deal remain to be resolved, but Wicks said she expected payments could be made out of the fund in 2025. The guests in the second panel discussed the perils of a second Donald Trump presidency to the news industry, how reporters can build trust with audiences in a fractured media landscape rife with misinformation and what hope, if any, is left for the news. “I worry about those independent newsrooms that don’t have giant legal war chests. ... It appears this incoming administration is sending signals that they will indeed exercise as much power as they can to get news that they do not like out of the picture,” Ho said. “You have to retain really expensive legal counsel to fight that. A smaller newspaper, or even just a newsletter or a news organization, they don’t necessarily have those resources.” The shrinking landscape of local news organizations, Armstrong said, was draining public trust in media outlets as a whole. Armstrong mentioned that she first learned that President Joe Biden had announced he was dropping his bid for reelection on Instagram and her first instinct was to question whether the letter announcing it was even real. That incident, she said, was an example of how “we can’t just keep producing news and expecting people to come to us.” She said newsrooms need to be embedded in the communities they serve. “If you go and you do one story, and then you leave, then there’s no trust,” Armstrong said. “You came, you extracted the story and then you went on your way. But if I see you all the time and you’re here not just when things are bad ... you’re seeing us as a whole community that has things that are good and that are bad, but you’re invested, then there’s trust, and I want to learn from you.” " " indicates required fields To remove this article -

Just a week before Thanksgiving, shoppers at Stop & Shop stores across Massachusetts were forced to leave empty-handed after a cyberattack against the supermarket chain's parent company led to inventory shortages. Parent company Ahold Delhaize said in a statement earlier this month, that it had alerted law enforcement about the cyber breach and had taken some systems offline. "While there may be some limited inventory for certain products, we are working to re-stock our shelves and anticipate item availability to continue to improve over the next few days," the company said. But the incident may be a sign of things to come during the holiday season, when cybersecurity crises are likely to peak. Already this year, corporate giants like AT&T , Ticketmaster and United Health have suffered paralyzing cyberattacks, and now, businesses are bracing for the holidays, a time when many cybersecurity operations rely on skeleton staffing. But the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are warning that it's no time for them to be taking a "cyber vacation." The vast majority of ransomware attacks that hobbled businesses and organizations over the past year — 86% — occurred on a weekend or holiday, according to a new global study of 900 IT and security professionals released this week by cybersecurity firm Semperis . But researchers also found that 85% of surveyed organizations — 90% in the U.S. — reduce security staffing by as much as 50% during those same periods. "This study would say that we're not making thoughtful choices," former White House "cyber czar" and Semperis strategic adviser Chris Inglis told CBS News. "If you realize that most of these attacks take place on holidays and weekends and you reduce your manning, you take away your opportunity to essentially have parity with your adversaries," said Inglis. He added, "The advantage goes to the attacker, because they're not taking a day off. They never take a day off." According to the report, organizations consistently overestimate their defenses, with 81% of respondents reporting that they believe they have the necessary expertise to safeguard their digital identities from threats. Still, 83% of participants suffered a successful ransomware attack within the past year. Organizations are beginning to sense they're more vulnerable around the holidays, but Inglis suggested consumers, too, need to be vigilant. Technologies like smart phones and tablets are now cheaper and nearly ubiquitous, but safety measures have not kept up. "We've not actually made the necessary investments to make it such that these technologies — or this system of technologies — is defensible and well defended," he said. According to the survey, mergers, acquisitions, stock launches or layoffs also functioned as "magnets" for ransomware attacks, with a majority of respondents – 63% – also experiencing a cyber attack following what's known as a "material corporate event." With financial executives predicting that President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House could usher in a wave of bank mergers and acquisitions, cybersecurity experts worry that cybercriminals will be able to take advantage of these "moments of distraction." "Our adversaries – be they criminal or foreign, rogue nations – they test the waters every day. They're conscious of the fact that our attention waxes and wanes," Inglis said. "If there's a merger or an administration transition, those are moments of distraction. So we can expect that they will do what they always do. It's not that they search at this moment, it's that they see their opportunities being perhaps more productive at this moment." In February, UnitedHealth Group suffered the biggest hack in U.S. healthcare history after its acquisition of Change Healthcare meant it inherited outdated technology , with digital systems not yet safeguarded by multi-factor authentication. Beyond an anticipated onslaught of big bank deals, changes in administration – regardless of politics – have historically enticed foreign adversaries to test the defenses of new leadership in Washington. In 2021, President Joe Biden inherited fallout from a sophisticated Russian cyberattack leveled against Texas software-maker SolarWinds and used to breach roughly 100 top U.S. companies and a dozen government agencies. In June 2017, the Russian military waged the devastating 'NotPetya' cyber attack during Trump's first year in office, unleashing a virus that crippled parts of Ukraine's infrastructure and ravaged computer systems worldwide, amounting to billions in damages. Security staffing also remains a widespread challenge across industries, with just 85% of organizations maintaining a year-round, 24-hour Security Operations Center, according to Semperis, and staffing challenges prompted by higher overtime costs when most employees are typically out of the office around the holidays. Contributing to cybersecurity staffing headaches, cybersecurity workforce growth worldwide has flatlined for the first time since 2019. With growth of just 0.1% year-over-year in 2024, budget cuts, layoffs and hiring freezes have exacerbated a global staffing shortage of cybersecurity professionals, according to a recent report released by ISC2 . The former U.S. national cyber director said that he's routinely asked what keeps him up at night. "It's not the attackers, the Russians, the Chinese or any kind of ransomware actors. It's us," Inglis said. "Sometimes, it's the complacency and the proactive ambivalence on our side that is actually, I think, more determinative of our future." Nicole Sganga is a CBS News reporter covering homeland security and justice.Factbox-What would a UniCredit-Banco BPM combination look like?

In an era where digital devices are everywhere, the term "screen time" has become a buzz phrase in discussions about technology's impact on people's lives. Parents are concerned about their children's screen habits . But what if this entire approach to screen time is fundamentally flawed? While researchers have made advances in measuring screen use, a detailed critique of the research in 2020 revealed major issues in how screen time is conceptualized, measured and studied. I study how digital technology affects human cognition and emotions. My ongoing research with cognitive psychologist Nelson Roque builds on that critique's findings. We categorized existing screen-time measures, mapping them to attributes like whether they are duration-based or context-specific, and are studying how they relate to health outcomes such as anxiety, stress, depression, loneliness, mood and sleep quality, creating a clearer framework for understanding screen time. We believe that grouping all digital activities together misses how different types of screen use affect people. By applying this framework, researchers can better identify which digital activities are beneficial or potentially harmful, allowing people to adopt more intentional screen habits that support well-being and reduce negative mental and emotional health effects. Screen time isn't one thing Screen time, at first glance, seems easy to understand: It's simply the time spent on devices with screens such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and TVs. But this basic definition hides the variety within people's digital activities. To truly understand screen time's impact, you need to look closer at specific digital activities and how each affects cognitive function and mental health. In our research, we divide screen time into four broad categories: educational use, work-related use, social interaction and entertainment. For education, activities like online classes and reading articles can improve cognitive skills like problem-solving and critical thinking. Digital tools like mobile apps can support learning by boosting motivation, self-regulation and self-control. But these tools also pose challenges , such as distracting learners and contributing to poorer recall compared with traditional learning methods. For young users, screen-based learning may even have negative impacts on development and their social environment. Screen time for work, like writing reports or attending virtual meetings, is a central part of modern life. It can improve productivity and enable remote work. However, prolonged screen exposure and multitasking may also lead to stress, anxiety and cognitive fatigue. Screen use for social connection helps people interact with others through video chats, social media or online communities. These interactions can promote social connectedness and even improve health outcomes such as decreased depressive symptoms and improved glycemic control for people with chronic conditions. But passive screen use, like endless social media scrolling, can lead to negative experiences such as cyberbullying, social comparison and loneliness, especially for teens. Screen use for entertainment provides relaxation and stress relief . Mindfulness apps or meditation tools, for example, can reduce anxiety and improve emotional regulation . Creative digital activities, like graphic design and music production, can reduce stress and improve mental health. However, too much screen use may reduce well-being by limiting physical activity and time for other rewarding pursuits. Context matters Screen time affects people differently based on factors like mood, social setting, age and family environment. Your emotions before and during screen use can shape your experience. Positive interactions can lift your mood, while loneliness might deepen with certain online activities. For example, we found that differences in age and stress levels affect how readily people become distracted on their devices. Alerts and other changes distract users, which makes it more challenging to focus on tasks. The social context of screen use also matters. Watching a movie with family can strengthen bonds, while using screens alone can increase feelings of isolation, especially when it replaces face-to-face interactions. Family influence plays a role, too. For example, parents' screen habits affect their children's screen behavior , and structured parental involvement can help reduce excessive use. It highlights the positive effect of structured parental involvement, along with mindful social contexts, in managing screen time for healthier digital interactions. Consistency and nuance Technology now lets researchers track screen use accurately, but simply counting hours doesn't give us the full picture. Even when we measure specific activities, like social media or gaming, studies don't often capture engagement level or intent. For example, someone might use social media to stay informed or to procrastinate. Studies on screen time often vary in how they define and categorize it. Some focus on total screen exposure without differentiating between activities. Others examine specific types of use but may not account for the content or context. This lack of consistency in defining screen time makes it hard to compare studies or generalize findings. Understanding screen use requires a more nuanced approach than tracking the amount of time people spend on their screens. Recognizing the different effects of specific digital activities and distinguishing between active and passive use are crucial steps. Using standardized definitions and combining quantitative data with personal insights would provide a fuller picture. Researchers can also study how screen use affects people over time. For policymakers, this means developing guidelines that move beyond one-size-fits-all limits by focusing on recommendations suited to specific activities and individual needs. For the rest of us, this awareness encourages a balanced digital diet that blends enriching online and offline activities for better well-being. Rinanda Shaleha , Doctoral student in the College of Health and Human Development, Penn State This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .Ranked squads will be on Wednesday’s college basketball schedule for six games, including the Duke Blue Devils playing the Oklahoma Sooners. Watch women’s college basketball, other live sports and more on Fubo. What is Fubo? Fubo is a streaming service that gives you access to your favorite live sports and shows on demand. Use our link to sign up for a free trial. Catch tons of live women’s college basketball , plus original programming, with ESPN+ or the Disney Bundle.Lewandowski joins Ronaldo and Messi in the Champions League century club with goal No. 100

NEW YORK (AP) — In an angry outburst in a New York courtroom, Rudy Giuliani accused a judge Tuesday of making wrong assumptions about him as he tries to comply with an order requiring him to turn over most of his assets to two election poll workers who won a libel case against him. U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman responded by saying he’s not going to let the former New York City mayor and onetime presidential candidate blurt things out anymore in court unless he’s a sworn witness. The interruption to an otherwise routine pretrial hearing in Manhattan came as the judge questioned Giuliani's lawyer about why Giuliani has not yet provided the title to a car he has relinquished in his effort to satisfy a $148 million defamation judgment won by two former Georgia election workers. “Your client was the U.S. attorney for this district,” the judge said, referring to Giuliani's years in the 1980s as the head of the federal prosecutor's office in the Southern District of New York, as he suggested it was hard to believe that Giuliani was incapable of getting a duplicate title to the car. Giuliani learned forward and began speaking into a microphone, telling the judge he had applied for a duplicate copy of the car's title but that it had not yet arrived. “The implication I’ve been not diligent about it is totally incorrect,” Giuliani said in a scolding tone. “The implication you make is against me and every implication against me is wrong.” Giuliani went on: "I’m not impoverished. Everything I have is tied up. I don’t have a car. I don’t have a credit card. I don’t have cash. I can’t get to bank accounts that truly would be mine because they have put ... stop orders on, for example, my Social Security account, which they have no right to do.” Liman responded by warning defense lawyers that the next time Giuliani interrupts a hearing, “he's not going to be permitted to speak and the court will take action.” The judge said Giuliani could either choose to represent himself or let lawyers do so, but “you can't have hybrid representation.” If Giuliani wants to speak in court again, he can be put on the witness stand and be sworn as a witness, Liman added. The exchange came at a hearing in which the judge refused to delay a Jan. 16 trial over the disposition of Giuliani’s Florida residence and World Series rings. Those are two sets of assets that Giuliani is trying to shield from confiscation as part of Liman's order to turn over many prized possessions to the poll workers. Earlier in the proceeding, defense attorney Joseph M. Cammarata asked Liman to delay the trial, which will be heard without a jury, for a month because of Giuliani's “involvement" in inauguration planning for President-elect Donald Trump. “My client regularly consults and deals directly with President-elect Trump on issues that are taking place as the incoming administration is afoot as well as (the) inauguration," Cammarata said. "My client wants to exercise his political right to be there.” The judge turned down the request, saying Giuliani's “social calendar” was not a reason to postpone the trial. Giuliani, who once served as Trump's personal attorney, was found liable last year for defaming two Georgia poll workers by falsely accusing them of tampering with ballots during the 2020 presidential election. The women said they faced death threats after Giuliani falsely claimed they sneaked in ballots in suitcases, counted ballots multiple times and tampered with voting machines.