Trump says he can’t promise tariffs won’t raise prices and won’t rule out revenge prosecutions

Tokio Marine North America Services Named One of Computerworld's 2025 Best Places to Work in ITORONO, Maine (AP) — Christopher Mantis helped lead Maine past Holy Cross on Sunday with 17 points off of the bench in an 80-55 win. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * ORONO, Maine (AP) — Christopher Mantis helped lead Maine past Holy Cross on Sunday with 17 points off of the bench in an 80-55 win. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? ORONO, Maine (AP) — Christopher Mantis helped lead Maine past Holy Cross on Sunday with 17 points off of the bench in an 80-55 win. Mantis had five rebounds for the Black Bears (3-3). Quion Burns scored 16 points and added eight rebounds. AJ Lopez went 6 of 13 from the field (2 for 6 from 3-point range) to finish with 14 points. The Crusaders (4-3) were led in scoring by DeAndre Williams, who finished with 12 points. Joe Nugent added 11 points for Holy Cross. Caleb Kenney had 10 points. Maine took the lead with 11:42 left in the first half and did not relinquish it. The score was 35-26 at halftime, with Burns racking up nine points. Maine pulled away with a 19-3 run in the second half to extend a seven-point lead to 23 points. They outscored Holy Cross by 16 points in the final half, as Lopez led the way with a team-high 12 second-half points. NEXT UP Both teams play on Friday. Maine squares off against Elon and Holy Cross travels to play Virginia. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar. Advertisement

Michigan State CBs coach, program alum reportedly leaving for UCLANominees for Trump's administration continue to make their rounds on Capitol Hill, where they've been holding meetings and courting favor for days. Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to direct the FBI, was in meetings with lawmakers the same day that current Director Chris Wray announced he would resign at the end of President Biden's term. Patel met with Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, on Wednesday. Before the meeting, he told reporters he was ready to begin work immediately if he's confirmed. Wray's departure may make Patel's path to confirmation easier. And some Republican Senators have told Scripps News they see no reason their colleagues would object to Patel's nomination during confirmation hearings. "I think this is a great development," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO, told reporters. "I think this is long overdue and much needed. I look forward to confirming his successor." "I don't know what the opposition to Kash Patel really is," Hawley said. "I understand he is a conservative, and I understand my liberal colleagues don't like that. But a conservative just won the election." RELATED STORY | FBI Director Christopher Wray says he will resign at the end of Biden's term Meanwhile, Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for secretary of defense, continues to meet with lawmakers. There is not as much discussion of potentially replacing Hegseth as the nominee as there was last week. Sen. Susan Collins told reporters on Wednesday that she had asked Hegseth numerous questions about allegations of sexual assault. His comments on Wednesday also suggested his stance on women serving in the military has shifted. Before he was nominated to be secretary of defense, Hegseth made comments on the Shawn Ryan Show Podcast that women do not belong in combat roles. “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective. Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated,” he said at the time. On Wednesday, Hegseth told reporters "I look forward to being a leader for every single member of this Pentagon, men and women."

Ex-PM's Guwahati Years: Rs 700 Rent, Modest Apartment, And A Grand Vision Of Dr Manmohan Singh - VIDEOIt has been 16 years since the Wall Street crash in 2007-2008. Now, Wall Street is reportedly risking everything once again. The New York Times reported Friday that billionaire investor Doug Ostrover has devised a new strategy for being the cash cow for risky loans that wouldn't normally pass muster in traditional banks. "The new venture would not be a bank, but would operate almost like one — without the regulatory restrictions and government oversight that had made traditional banks skittish about this market," the Times said. Also Read: How Trump's billionaires are hijacking affordable housing "Unlike a bank, the firm would be amassing money not from individual depositors, whose savings are fiercely protected by the federal government and can be withdrawn at will, but from institutions like insurance companies and pension funds. Thus, the new firm would be legally permitted to finance tricky, highly speculative companies without reporting the details of such activities publicly," the Times continued. Ostrover and two others collected $12 billion for the venture, "undercutting their would-be competitors by promising big pension funds and others, like the investment fund run by George Soros, low investment fees if they backed the new firm." They have large investors like Brown University's endowment and New Jersey's pension fund. Over the following years, Ostrover boasted to possible clients that their fund was "much more stable, year over year, than stocks or commodities." The firm then shifted to begin offering permanent investor loans that often tie up money for years or a decade. The company, named Blue Owl, "has both caught and created a once-in-a-generation wave, one that has brought a sweeping change to Wall Street." By 2021, the company was booming, managing more than $235 billion in investor cash. Its success has inspired other copycat investor firms eager to capitalize on the idea. Rival firm BlackRock claimed, "the private credit market would more than double to $4.5 trillion by 2030." Over the past few years, private credit investment companies have raised as much as $1.8 trillion. "That money has been lent to highly indebted companies in sectors like software, insurance and health care," said the report. Now, big banks are forced to compete with lenders without regulations and operate in an investment free-for-all. The report noted that Goldman didn't meet its private credit goals for the year. It's an unregulated, high-risk environment that purportedly resembles the "subprime mortgage" market bubble that burst in 2007, leading to a global financial crisis. Last November, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who chaired the Senate Banking Committee, asked regulators about these companies that "operate in the shadows." He was just voted out of office, however, and the incoming Donald Trump administration has indicated it favors fewer regulations across the board. Read more here.

US homelessness up 18% as affordable housing remains out of reach for many people Federal officials say the United States saw an 18.1% increase in homelessness, a dramatic rise driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing as well as devastating natural disasters and a surge of migrants in several parts of the country. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said that federally required tallies taken across the country in January found that more than 770,000 people were counted as homeless. That increase comes on top of a 12% increase in 2023, which HUD blamed on soaring rents and the end of pandemic assistance. Among the most concerning trends was a nearly 40% rise in family homelessness. An online debate over foreign workers in tech shows tensions in Trump's political coalition WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in the president-elect’s political movement into public display. The argument previews fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare tensions between the newest flank of Trump’s movement — that is, wealthy members of the tech world who want more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump’s Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. A 9th telecoms firm has been hit by a massive Chinese espionage campaign, the White House says WASHINGTON (AP) — A top White House official says a ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. Administration officials said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon. But Anne Neuberger, a deputy national security adviser, said Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidance to companies about how to hunt for Chinese culprits in their networks. Israeli troops burn northern Gaza hospital after forcibly removing staff and patients, officials say DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza's Health Ministry says Israeli troops have stormed one of the last hospitals operating in the territory's north on Friday and forced many of the staff and patients outside. Then they had to remove their clothes in winter weather. It was the latest assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital. Parts of it were set on fire. Staff say it has been hit multiple times in the past three months by Israeli troops waging an offensive against Hamas fighters in surrounding neighborhoods. Israel's military says Hamas uses the hospital as a base. It did not provide evidence, and hospital officials have denied it. Azerbaijani and U.S. officials suggest plane that crashed may have been hit by weapons fire U.S. and Azerbaijani officials have said weapons fire may have brought down an Azerbaijani airliner that crashed on Wednesday, killing 38 people. The statements from Rashad Nabiyev and White House national security spokesman John Kirby on Friday raised pressure on Russia. Officials in Moscow have said a drone attack was underway in the region that the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was destined for but have not addressed statements from aviation experts who blamed the crash on Russian air defenses responding to a Ukrainian attack. The plane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to Chechnya on Wednesday when it crashed, killing 38 people and leaving all 29 survivors injured. Court rules Georgia lawmakers can subpoena Fani Willis for information related to her Trump case ATLANTA (AP) — A judge has ruled that the Georgia state Senate can subpoena Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. It's part of a inquiry into whether Willis has engaged in misconduct during her prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump. But Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram is giving Willis the chance to contest whether lawmakers’ demands are overly broad before Willis responds. A Republican-led committee was formed earlier this year and sent subpoenas to Willis in August seeking to compel her to testify during its September meeting and to produce scores of documents. Willis argued that the committee didn’t have the power to subpoena her. In states that ban abortion, social safety net programs often fail families MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee has a nearly total abortion ban and a porous safety net for mothers and young children. GOP state leaders in Tennessee and other states that banned abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 argue that they are bolstering services for families. Recent research and an analysis by The Associated Press has found that from the time a Tennessee woman gets pregnant, she faces greater obstacles to a healthy pregnancy, a healthy child and a financially stable family life than the average American mom. Maryland sues maker of Gore-Tex over pollution from toxic 'forever chemicals' Maryland is suing the company that produces the waterproof material Gore-Tex. State officials say the company's leaders kept using so-called “forever chemicals” long after learning about serious health risks. The federal complaint alleges Delaware-based W.L. Gore & Associates polluted the air and water around 13 facilities in northeastern Maryland with chemicals that have been linked to certain cancers, reproductive issues and high cholesterol. They’re nearly indestructible and can build up in various environments, including the human body. The company stopped using the harmful chemicals in 2014 and says it’s working with state regulators on testing and cleanup efforts. Man indicted in burning death of woman inside a New York City subway train, prosecutors say NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of burning a woman to death inside a New York City subway train has been indicted on state charges. A prosecutor announced Sebastian Zapeta’s indictment at a court hearing Friday. The development comes days after Zapeta’s arrest and subsequent police questioning in which they say he identified himself in photos and surveillance video showing the fire being lit. The indictment will be under seal until Jan. 7. He remains jailed. Federal immigration officials say the 33-year-old Zapeta is from Guatemala and entered the U.S. illegally. Authorities are continuing to work to identify the victim. Alex Ovechkin is on track to break Wayne Gretzky's NHL career goals record Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is chasing the NHL career goals record of 894 held by Wayne Gretzky. Ovechkin entered the season 42 goals short of breaking a record that long seemed unapproachable. He is set to play again Saturday at the Toronto Maple Leafs after missing more than a month with a broken left fibula. Ovechkin was on pace to get to 895 sometime in February before getting injured. At 868, he his 27 goals away from passing Gretzky.How much are tickets for Boise State’s Mountain West championship game? Open that wallet

Baseball World Series Market Industry Dynamics and Contributions by Incorporated, Japan Professional Baseball League, Colombian Professional Baseball League (LCBP), Mexican Pacific League (LMP), Taiwan Professional Baseball League, Australian Baseball LeaR ugby union still produces some fascinating individuals and John Dobson, the head honcho at the DHL Stormers, is very much one of them. To say “Dobbo” is not your average coach is self-evident from his CV. In addition to degrees in law and business administration from the University of Cape Town there is surely no other top-level director of rugby with a creative writing degree. As he wryly puts it: “I was the only person on the course who didn’t wear a tweed skirt.” As a player he was also, for two seasons, the only white guy in an otherwise exclusively black working-class club side. “What did I learn? How privileged us white people were.” He was conscripted into the South African army during the apartheid era, has had two novels published and is the son of a noted South African rugby writer, referee and historian. He describes himself as “an accidental coach” having started out as coach of his local university fourth XV, but has subsequently guided the Stormers, then in administration, to the inaugural 2022 URC title, the franchise’s first piece of silverware. Stitch together all these disparate strands – he also loves The Cure and the poetry of Dylan Thomas – and you have someone well worth consulting on subjects such as the soul of rugby and the sport’s current health. And once he has retrieved Norman the family dog from the garden – “He’s a lazy, obese beagle” – some nagging concerns are soon evident on the eve of the Stormers’ Champions Cup tie against Harlequins at the Stoop on Saturday. For starters the Stormers are set to field a weakened team, partly because of injuries and logistics but also because of upcoming games against their local rivals the Lions and the Sharks either side of Christmas. While Dobson’s side will be competitive – “We’ll put up a fight in Harlequins , we’re not coming to get our tummies tickled” – he would love, one day, to send up his first-choice XV. “I think we’ve got to sort out the Champions Cup. Maybe because of our presence it’s a bit unwieldy at the moment. People are a bit confused by it and it’s certainly not what it was – to my mind as an outsider – a couple of years ago. That’s what I worry about: if it becomes really vanilla with teams just going through the motions.” He cites last weekend’s pool game against Toulon in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) as a cautionary case study. “We played a Champions Cup game in a beautiful city and I didn’t speak to one Frenchman. Dan Biggar came to our changing room afterwards but we didn’t do anything for them. How is it possible that guys can come from another continent and we don’t even say hello to them? It’s really odd but it’s across the board now. “It feels to me like we’re in a curious space with some of rugby’s values. I’m sounding very old fashioned now but lying down [feigning injury] to try and get the TMO involved? Not speaking to the opposition? I think we’ve all, South Africa included, trampled over rugby’s values a little bit over the last little while. It just feels like [the sport] is a little bit lost.” It is clearly a subject close to the thoughtful Dobson’s heart. “I’m old school. I like that side of the game. When I started with the Stormers some guys weren’t showering after matches. They were just getting into their tracksuits and going home. I said: ‘Jeepers, if we don’t like people here enough to have a cold drink with them afterwards we’re in trouble’. A lot of those old values ... I reckon that’s where the future of rugby could be.” In the meantime he wants his players to appreciate what they have, rather than grumbling about commuting north to play in the freezing British gloom. “I remember last year we were playing London Irish at Brentford and we were training at the Lensbury Club. The guys were complaining having just come down on a long bus ride from Glasgow. I said: ‘Listen, you fuckers. If I’d said a year ago that you could play Champions Cup rugby in London you’d have canoed up the west coast of Africa. Don’t take all this for granted.’” A return to more parochial fixtures, he warns, would be ruinous. “Are we going to go back to playing against the Griquas and Free State like in the 1980s? We’d better behave ourselves; it would be absolutely insane. We’re playing in competitions that are absolutely suited to our DNA. Every breakdown and scrum is a contest, every lineout maul is a fight. That’s actually what winning Test rugby and World Cups are all about.” Once upon a time Dobson played hooker for Western Province and has lived through all kinds of social upheaval in his homeland. Winning World Cups cannot solve every political problem – “The country isn’t united like that for the other three years and 10 months” – but he believes rugby has helped to ease some divisions. “Remember when we had the quota system with a certain number of black players in the team? Now rugby in South Africa has realised how much the so-called disadvantaged communities of the country could bring. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion “Players are there on merit and that is where the real transformation is coming. Before there was this stigma surrounding the quota and some of the guys weren’t good enough. I’m not sure about a unified country but in rugby it’s really bedding in deep. And that does help the country, of course it does.” It is another reason why Dobson has chosen the mission statement “Make Cape Town Smile” as his team’s mantra. “What we’ve got in Cape Town is an amazing project. Rugby is so big among all races in the Western Cape so we’ve got this connection with the city. It’s almost a day-by-day version of the Springbok project. “One or two people overseas have approached me to go and coach them, especially after we won the URC. But when the Stormers fire me I’m done in coaching. Panasonic v Mitsubishi would mean nothing to me. If the Stormers win the police say that gender-based violence drops in our poorer suburbs. That makes it a bit more than a game. South African teams always draw on a little extra edge compared to some countries because you’re playing for so much. “Our players get that. If you look at our crowd these people are making amazing sacrifices. It’s not like rugby in the 1980s here when it was all smart people of my background. This team went into administration and was bankrupt. To reconnect it and give it back to the people of Cape Town is my project.” More power to Dobbo and the cause he holds so dear.