It was described as one of the best games of the season as Premier League leaders Liverpool drew 3-3 with Newcastle in an enthralling match at St James' Park. The Reds twice trailed and then led thanks to a double from the ever-reliable Mohamed Salah, and looked set to extend their winning run in the league to five games. But Fabian Schar's 90th-minute equaliser earned Newcastle a deserved point at the end of an exhausting encounter. "One of the best [games] I've seen this season," said former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin on BBC Radio 5 Live at full-time. "We have seen it ebb and flow. Both sides will be happy with the point in the end." But they will not be the only sides happy with the draw, with Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City - second, third and fourth respectively - all picking up wins on Wednesday. Fifth-placed Brighton, meanwhile, play Fulham on Thursday. It means Liverpool's lead is cut from nine points to seven at the start of a busy December that could see things change dramatically at the top of the table. Historically, Liverpool were already in a title-winning position before a ball was kicked on Wednesday. After beating Manchester City on Sunday they were nine points clear of second place after 13 league games. Only two teams in Premier League history have had a lead of at least nine points after the same number of matches - Manchester United in 1993-94 and Chelsea in 2005-06 - and both went on to win the title. Despite that, many are still urging caution in the battle at the top. Reds boss Arne Slot said before the Newcastle game that 19 matches would be a better barometer of how the title battle is shaping up, an opinion that will have only been galvanised after the 3-3 draw with Newcastle. Manchester City's loss to Liverpool left them 11 points adrift of the Reds but that has been cut to nine, and history suggests they are more than capable of overturning such a deficit. In 2018-19, they trailed Liverpool by 10 points after a poor run of form in December but then won 18 of their 19 matches from the 30th of that month to go on and clinch the title. "I think we know Man City are not out of the title race - they are going to have a say," former Manchester City player and manager Stuart Pearce said on Amazon Prime. "There are going to be a lot of twists and turns in the title race. That's what makes the Premier League so good." Former Arsenal forward Theo Walcott added: "This is where you get a feel for where you will end up at the end of the season. It is a period where you can make up a lot of points." Former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov, a Premier League champion with them in 2008–09 and 2010–11, said his former manager Sir Alex Ferguson would never entertain title talk at this stage of the season. "He would say if we stay first after the Christmas period we win the league," he told Amazon Prime. "He was always very strict around this time of the year - 'stay at home and don't go out'. It was worth it - it is about winning the title at the end of the day." Liverpool's next match is the unpredictability of a Merseyside derby, while they also face Tottenham on 22 December - with both those games away. Chelsea also have a trip to London rivals Spurs, but after that the highest-placed team they face is Brentford, currently ninth. All Arsenal's opponents are currently in the bottom half of the table, whereas Manchester City have a derby against Manchester United on 15 December and must also go to Aston Villa. Brighton, who play on Thursday night and could go fourth with a win, only have two home games in the rest of December - against Crystal Palace and Brentford. Top five's upcoming fixtures: Liverpool: 7 Dec Everton (a); 14 Dec Fulham (h); 22 Dec Tottenham (a); 26 Dec Leicester (h); 29 Dec West Ham (a) Chelsea: 8 Dec Tottenham (a); 15 Dec Brentford (a); 22 Dec Everton (a) 26 Dec Fulham (h) 30 Dec Ipswich (a) Arsenal: 8 Dec Fulham (a); 14 Dec Everton (h); 21 Dec Crystal Palace (a); 27 Dec Ipswich (h) Man City: 7 Dec Crystal Palace (a); 15 Dec Manchester United (h); 21 Dec Aston Villa (a); 26 Dec Everton (h); 29 Dec Leicester (a) Brighton: 5 Dec Fulham (a) 8 Dec Leicester (a); 15 Dec Crystal Palace (h); 21 Dec West Ham (a); 27 Dec Brentford (h); 30 Dec Aston Villa (a) Liverpool boss Arne Slot after the Newcastle draw: "A great game to watch. This is what we do lately but with the exception of us not winning this game. There were moments in the game where I was happy about it but then at 3-2 up [to draw 3-3] it is a disappointment." Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, on Liverpool dropping points on Wednesday: "I didn't know as I was so happy celebrating in the dressing room [after Arsenal beat Manchester United]. "We got that news, but it is difficult to win this league. It is still very early." Gunners midfielder Declan Rice: "When you have a blip in the league you get written off. People get carried away. You just need to be around it in February time. Liverpool have dropped points - they're seven away so we will see what happens." Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola on if Wednesday's win against Nottingham Forest will prove a turning point: "I don't know. We have to prove it again. It's just one game but it was important to break this run." Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca on his side's form: "We are focused on that [performing] since the start. I think that the results, for sure, helps a lot - calms down a little bit of noise around the club. "It's a good feeling, especially to see the fans happy because after the last two years, you know better than me, many things happened. The feeling from them now is good and it is a good feeling also for us."

Economists at two Southern California universities see new reasons to worry ahead, namely policies from the nation’s next president. They warn in new forecasts released this week that the economy may stumble in 2025 because of controversial policies promised by President-elect Donald Trump. Economist James Doti, president emeritus at Chapman University, said the economy “still appears to be strong,” even though a long period of declining inflation could reverse course under Trump. A year ago, Doti’s reading of the tea leaves showed “very slow growth” and no recession in 2024. Today, he’s sticking to a similar tale of “slow growth” that now extends through 2025. New to the mix is “some upward pressure” on inflation due to proposed tariffs and mass deportations Trump has vowed to launch after his inauguration in January. Economist Jerry Nickelsburg at UCLA agreed with Doti’s analysis. “The underlying fundamentals of the economy are strong. They have been for some time, which is why we did not say that we were going to have a recession in 2023 or 2022,” said the director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast. “Now, that doesn’t mean that geopolitical events or different policies from Washington that are not in our forecast couldn’t generate a recession. It’s just not in the data right now.” Both economists said Trump is inheriting a strong economy that will grow more slowly than previously forecast while it adjusts to new national economic policies. The clarity of post-presidential election forecasts at Chapman and UCLA are clouded by Trump’s plans to implement several economic policies promised during his 2024 campaign. Among the most controversial policies are new or increased tariffs on the nation’s largest trading partners – including Canada, China and Mexico. Policies also include mass deportations, tax cuts and deregulation. Doti believes Trump’s vow to deport of 500,000 to 1 million undocumented immigrants and 10%-25% tariffs on imported goods could push inflation closer to 3% than the Fed’s desired 2% level. How these policies manifest is not necessarily clear, considering practical, legal and political constraints on implementation, according to Nickelsburg. The UCLA professor of economics said this month’s forecast was one of the most difficult ones he’s ever written, with the exception of a recession prediction four years ago as the COVID-19 pandemic began. “When we did our March forecast in 2020, we had no idea how the pandemic was going to play out, and so there was a great deal of uncertainty then as well as now,” he said. “Economic policy in Washington is changing in a pretty fundamental way, so that increases uncertainty until we get some clarity as to what policies are going to be implemented.” Meanwhile, UCLA predicts a slowdown in interest rate cuts as the federal government grapples with those new policies. Nickelsburg sees the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 25 basis points at its board of governors meeting Dec. 18. He expects a pause on cuts until 2026 when the economy has absorbed the impacts of tariffs. The Fed could end up with interest rates hovering between 4% and 4.25% in 2026, he said. Doti has a different take, saying the Fed won’t cut rates in December and will instead take a wait-and-see approach. He expects the central bank will make only two, 25 basis-point cuts in 2025. “The reason we don’t think there’ll be a cut in rates next week is because we still have high inflation (2.7% for the year ended in November 2024), and it’s above the Fed’s target range of 2%, and GDP growth is at 2.8%, and job growth has still been very strong,” Doti said. “Given the Fed’s cautious approach, it’ll hold back on making further cuts.” Growth in gross domestic product, used to measure the nation’s economic health, is expected to fall to 1.4% by the end of 2025 from 2.8% in the 2024’s third quarter, he said. Both economists said the state of housing in California is showing financial strain. On the construction front, residential permits in California are forecast to rise by 12.9% in 2025, despite continuing high mortgage rates, Doti said. He argued that high mortgage rates may indirectly spur new construction. “There is a paucity of resale homes on the market because homeowners don’t want to sell and lose their sweetheart locked-in mortgages,” he said. “That has led to a sharp drop in resale home sales. The dearth of resale homes on the market is buttressing demand for new homes, often available for sale at heavily subsidized financing rates.” Nickelsburg said normalization is slowly returning to the California housing market, but potential construction cost increases due to tariffs and labor shortages could slow that process. “Builders should be responding with new development given existing homes sales are at depression levels,” said Nickelsburg. Both forecasts raised concerns about the jobs picture. Doti sees economic growth in California hampered by population losses, which he blames on the state’s regulatory and tax burdens, which have led people and businesses to leave for cheaper states like Florida and Texas. California’s job growth is forecast to rise 4.6% to 18.2 million in 2025, up from 17.4 million in 2019, but trailing U.S. job growth of 5.9% over the same period. The flight of people from the state also has lowered retail sales tax revenue, prompting some cities to raise sales tax rates in order to replenish budgets left with financial gaps. Data from Chapman showed fewer people are shopping, which translates to less tax revenue for cities. For the year-period that ended June 30, 2024, retail sales fell 4% in Orange County, 2.3% in Los Angeles County, 1.2% in the Inland Empire and 0.8% in San Diego County. For Nickelsburg, the big unknown on jobs will be the mass deportation and tariff policies of the incoming president, and their impact on a wide of industries including agriculture, construction, leisure and hospitality, retail trade and transportation and warehousing industries. Taken together, the deportations and tariffs will raise the prices for many goods and services, and potentially cause product shortages and higher labor costs as jobs go unfilled, he argued. “The uncertainty regarding the future path of unemployment is more elevated than usual because the impact of mass deportations on unemployment is not well understood due to limited empirical research on the subject,” according to Nickelsburg. Economist James Doti, the President Emeritus and Rick Muth Family Chair in Economics at Chapman University, delivers his annual economic forecast, using various graphs and charts to explain his predictions and projections, at the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer) Economist James Doti, the President Emeritus and Rick Muth Family Chair in Economics at Chapman University, delivers his annual economic forecast, using various graphs and charts to explain his predictions and projections, at the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer) Economist James Doti, the President Emeritus and Rick Muth Family Chair in Economics at Chapman University, delivers his annual economic forecast, using various graphs and charts to explain his predictions and projections, at the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer) Economist James Doti, the President Emeritus and Rick Muth Family Chair in Economics at Chapman University, delivers his annual economic forecast for the U.S., California and Orange County at the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer) Economist James Doti, the President Emeritus and Rick Muth Family Chair in Economics at Chapman University, delivers his annual economic forecast for the U.S., California and Orange County at the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer) Economist James Doti, the President Emeritus and Rick Muth Family Chair in Economics at Chapman University, delivers his annual economic forecast for the U.S., California and Orange County at the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer) Economist James Doti, the President Emeritus and Rick Muth Family Chair in Economics at Chapman University, delivers his annual economic forecast for the U.S., California and Orange County at the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer) Economist James Doti, the President Emeritus and Rick Muth Family Chair in Economics at Chapman University, delivers his annual economic forecast for the U.S., California and Orange County at the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer) Economist James Doti, the President Emeritus and Rick Muth Family Chair in Economics at Chapman University, delivers his annual economic forecast, using various graphs and charts to explain his predictions and projections, at the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Contributing Photographer)Firefighters and passengers hurt after train hits fire truck on crossingThere Is No Pardoning The Biden Administration

PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain retained a six-point lead at the top of Ligue 1 after a labored 3-0 home win over Toulouse on Friday. The defending champion dominated the first half but it took until the 35th minute to open the scoring. Young Portuguese midfielder João Neves spun to meet a cross from the right and struck a superb half volley from just outside the box. Lucas Beraldo got a second with six minutes remaining when he pounced on loose ball and fired home. Vitinha made it 3-0 in stoppage time when he showed fine footwork inside the box to finish off a quick counterattack. The scoreline was harsh on Toulouse, which came into the game in a more even second half. Only Vitinha’s last-gasp tackle stopped Zakaria Aboukhlal from equalizing after 69 minutes and then Shavy Babicka blazed over from close range a minute later when he should have hit the target. The win was a confidence boost for Luis Enrique’s side ahead of next Tuesday’s Champions League encounter at Bayern Munich. PSG lies in 25th place in the 36-team Champions League table with one win in four matches and outside the playoff spots. The win came immediately after second-placed Monaco beaten Brest 3-2 to briefly close the gap at the top to three points. Brest, which faces Barcelona next week in the Champions League, turned in another inconsistent French league performance and not the sparkling form it has shown in Europe. Brest has struggled in Ligue 1, where it remains 12th, but shone with three wins from four in its first ever Champions League campaign. It was behind after just five minutes on Friday when Maghnes Akliouche scored with a superb airborne volley, and 2-0 down after 24 minutes thanks to Aleksandr Golovin. The Russian striker seized on a poor pass just outside the Brest penalty area and his low shot was perfectly placed to sneak in off the post and give him his first goal in nine league appearances. On-loan Brighton striker Abdallah Sima used his 1.88-meter frame to outjump the Monaco defense four minutes into the second half and cut the deficit but Akliouche restored Monaco’s two-goal cushion when he brilliantly finished a quick counterattack in stoppage time. Ludovic Ajorque got a second for Brest in the sixth minute of added time but it was not enough in a second half most notable for the red card shown to Brest coach Éric Roy. AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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Nebraska medical marijuana petitions ruled valid; law set to go into effect Dec. 12The Giants were on the wrong end of another lopsided loss on Sunday and things were just as ugly in the locker room as they were on the field. Rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers ripped the team for being “soft as fuck” in their 30-7 loss to the Buccaneers and said it was obvious that quarterback Daniel Jones wasn’t the issue with the team based on how things played out against Tampa. Some of Nabers’s older teammates shared similar sentiments. Edge rusher Brian Burns said, via Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com, that he spoke to the team after a performance he described as “ass” and left tackle Jermaine Eluemunor said that he doesn’t “think everybody is giving 100 percent.” Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence said his frustration is at a 10 and used the same word to describe the team as Nabers. “We played soft and they beat the shit out of us today,” Eluemunor said, via SNY. Lawrence suggested he wasn’t on board with the decision to bench Jones this week and Jones was waived on Saturday. He seems likely to wind up with a new team and it will likely be one with a lot more to play for than the Giants, who will have to balance an unhappy locker room with a short turnaround to their Thanksgiving game against the Cowboys.Trio Elected To PNZ Athletes’ CouncilSedgwick shares major trends in Forecasting 2025 report