The S&P 500 fell less than 0.1% after spending the day wavering between small gains and losses. The tiny loss ended the benchmark index’s three-day winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1%. Trading volume was lighter than usual as US markets reopened following the Christmas holiday. Semiconductor giant Nvidia, whose enormous valuation gives it an outsize influence on indexes, slipped 0.2%. Meta Platforms fell 0.7%, and Amazon and Netflix each fell 0.9%. Tesla was among the biggest decliners in the S&P 500, finishing 1.8% lower. Some tech companies fared better. Chip company Broadcom rose 2.4%, Micron Technology added 0.6% and Adobe gained 0.5%. Health care stocks were a bright spot. CVS Health rose 1.5% and Walgreens Boots Alliance added 5.3% for the biggest gain among S&P 500 stocks. Several retailers also gained ground. Target rose 3%, Ross Stores added 2.3%, Best Buy rose 2.9% and Dollar Tree gained 3.8%. Traders are watching to see whether retailers have a strong holiday season. The day after Christmas traditionally ranks among the top 10 biggest shopping days of the year, as consumers go online or rush to stores to cash in gift cards and raid bargain bins. US-listed shares in Honda and Nissan rose 4.1% and 16.4% respectively. The Japanese car makers announced earlier this week that the two companies are in talks to combine. All told, the S&P 500 fell 2.45 points to 6,037.59. The Dow added 28.77 points to 43,325.80. The Nasdaq fell 10.77 points to close at 20,020.36. Wall Street also got a labour market update. US applications for unemployment benefits held steady last week, though continuing claims rose to the highest level in three years, the Labour Department reported. Treasury yields mostly fell in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.58% from 4.59% late on Tuesday. Major European markets were closed, as well as Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. Trading was expected to be subdued this week with a thin slate of economic data on the calendar.

Tait-Jones scores 21 as UC San Diego defeats James Madison 73-67Percentages: FG .379, FT .895. 3-Point Goals: 7-24, .292 (Tomley 6-7, Vartiainen 1-3, Burris 0-1, Hennig 0-1, Vucinic 0-1, Threatt 0-3, Koehler 0-8). Team Rebounds: 5. Team Turnovers: 1. Blocked Shots: 1 (Hennig). Turnovers: 12 (Tomley 3, Koehler 2, Tew 2, Threatt 2, Moore, Vartiainen, Vucinic). Steals: 10 (Tew 2, Threatt 2, Vartiainen 2, Burris, Hennig, Koehler, Tomley). Technical Fouls: None. Percentages: FG .327, FT .625. 3-Point Goals: 4-14, .286 (Bethea 3-6, Todorovic 1-4, Odum 0-4). Team Rebounds: 2. Team Turnovers: None. Blocked Shots: 5 (Coulibaly 2, Dozic, Faure, Mager). Turnovers: 14 (Todorovic 5, Odum 3, Mager 2, Bethea, Dozic, Faure, Olvera). Steals: 7 (Bethea 2, Butka, Coulibaly, Dozic, Odum, Olvera). Technical Fouls: Waves, 14:00 second; Bethea, 13:18 second. .

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts to a mixed close even as S&P 500 ekes out another recordWhy Overlooking Public Criticism Could Be UnitedHealth’s Big Mistake - ForbesEfforts on to install Alluri Sitaramaraju statues in Vijayawada, Hyderabad: Minister

Timberwolves push back start time vs. Spurs because of issue with game court MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves delayed their game against the San Antonio Spurs by one hour on Sunday night due to an issue with the court at Target Center. Canadian Press Dec 29, 2024 3:26 PM Dec 29, 2024 3:35 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Minnesota Timberwolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker (9) works toward the basket as New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves delayed their game against the San Antonio Spurs by one hour on Sunday night due to an issue with the court at Target Center. The Timberwolves announced the decision about three hours before the originally scheduled tipoff time. The Spurs discovered the problem during their morning shootaround, Timberwolves spokesman Patrick Rees said. The team decided to delay the game so arena staff had enough time to install the replacement court that had to be delivered from elsewhere. The Timberwolves have played at Target Center since 1990. ___ AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA The Associated Press See a typo/mistake? Have a story/tip? This has been shared 0 times 0 Shares Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Get your daily Victoria news briefing Email Sign Up More Basketball Edwards fined $100,000 for profane language, NBA takes into account his history of profanity Dec 29, 2024 3:26 PM Lakers send D'Angelo Russell to Nets in trade for Dorian Finney-Smith, Shake Milton Dec 29, 2024 2:22 PM Raptors-Knicks trade a year ago reshaped both teams, but who won the trade? Dec 29, 2024 10:34 AM

Percentages: FG .333, FT .706. 3-Point Goals: 7-26, .269 (Carpenter 2-6, McCubbin 2-6, Burries 1-2, Lax 1-2, Hammer 1-4, Gaines 0-1, Brookshire 0-2, Thomas 0-3). Team Rebounds: 3. Team Turnovers: None. Blocked Shots: 1 (Lax). Turnovers: 10 (Brookshire 3, Thomas 2, Carpenter, Gaines, Lax, Loos, McCubbin). Steals: 5 (Lax 2, McCubbin 2, Thomas). Technical Fouls: None. Percentages: FG .476, FT .647. 3-Point Goals: 8-21, .381 (Buggs 3-5, Sisk 2-3, Johnson 2-4, Boyd 1-3, Jones 0-1, Seymour 0-2, Peterson 0-3). Team Rebounds: 3. Team Turnovers: None. Blocked Shots: 3 (Boyd, Seymour, Wheeler). Turnovers: 9 (Boyd 3, Buggs, Fasehun, Hughes, Peterson, Seymour, Sisk). Steals: 5 (Strothers 2, Seymour, Sisk, Wheeler). Technical Fouls: None. A_3,467 (6,149).Matvei Michkov did it again in overtime. The prized rookie winger scored his third OT winner, lifting the Flyers to a 3-2 decision Saturday night over the Blues at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are Travis Konecny made an outstanding play to spring the 19-year-old for a breakaway goal. Last season, the Flyers won only four games in overtime. Owen Tippett and Tyson Foerster also scored for the Flyers (12-10-3), who are 8-2-2 in their last 12 games. They've gone to OT in eight of those 12 games. The Flyers are also 11-5-2 since Oct. 26. In that span, only two teams have more points than their 24: the Hurricanes and Capitals, each with 25. John Tortorella's club picked up its first win when playing on the second night of a back-to-back set. The Flyers were 0-3-0 in such situations and had been outscored 16-9 before beating St. Louis. They were able to build off their 3-1 Black Friday win over the Rangers . Complete coverage of the Philadelphia Flyers and their rivals in the NHL from NBC Sports Philadelphia. In this busy stretch of three games through four days, the Flyers won all three and allowed just five goals. The Flyers swept the two-game regular-season series from the Blues (11-12-2). They beat St. Louis, 2-1, on Halloween . This time, they handed Jim Montgomery his first loss as the Blues' head coach. Montgomery, now 2-0-1 with St. Louis, was fired by the Bruins last week. • Michkov's former development coach called him a "spotlight player" and we're seeing why. The youngster from Russia just seems to have a flair for the dramatic. And the Flyers have needed that type of talent. Michkov also had an assist on Tippett's marker. He leads all rookies in goals (nine), points (19), power play goals (four), power play assists (five) and overtime goals (three). "When the game's on the line, when something needs to happen, some players sort of like to hide in those situations," Daniel Bochner said in July 2023 . "Where he sort of likes to be the guy that says, 'Hey, give me the puck, I'm going to do something here.'" • Aleksei Kolosov was huge for the Flyers, converting 25 saves on 27 shots. He couldn't have done much more on Jake Neighbours' game-tying goal with 20 seconds left in regulation. The Blues had a 6-on-4 as they emptied their net on a power play. Kolosov made back-to-back saves right before Neighbours scored. St. Louis cracked Kolosov with 8:49 minutes remaining to draw even at 1-1. Prior to that, Kolosov twice upheld the Flyers' 1-0 lead with excellent saves on breakaways. The first came on Jordan Kyrou in the final three minutes of the first period and the second on Mathieu Joseph in the opening five minutes of the second period. Foerster regained the Flyers their lead 51 seconds after Dylan Holloway tied things up. Over his last three starts, the 22-year-old Kolosov has gone 3-0-0 with 69 saves on 75 shots. Samuel Ersson, recovering from a lower-body injury, missed a ninth straight game. Could he be nearing a return? More on that here . Blues netminder Jordan Binnington was spectacular, stopping 28 of the Flyers' 31 shots. He absolutely robbed Sean Couturier with just under a minute left in the second period on a sprawling glove save. A post shared by St. Louis Blues (@stlouisblues) • How about Konecny? Since Oct. 23, he's among the top five scorers in the NHL with 27 points (11 goals, 16 assists) over 19 games. More: Konecny has quietly been 'terrific' while also helping Michkov • Jamie Drysdale was out for a 10th straight game with an upper-body injury. After sitting the last four games as a healthy scratch, Egor Zamula drew back into the lineup for Helge Grans. He finished as a minus-1 in 14:39 minutes. • The Flyers go the next four days without a game before hosting the Panthers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP). Subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts | Youtube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Simplecast | RSS | Watch on YouTube

IOWA CITY — The Iowa women’s basketball team got back on track with an 84-63 win over Purdue on Sunday. The Hawkeyes (11-2, 1-1 Big Ten) outshot and outrebounded the Boilermakers (7-6, 0-2 Big Ten) to claim the blowout victory and the first conference victory for first-year head coach Jan Jensen. Iowa's Taylor Stremlow orchestrates the offense during an NCAA women's basketball game against Washington State in Iowa City at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday, Nov. 24. ETHAN PETRIK, Quad-City Times Despite the resounding victory, Jensen told the Hawkeye Radio Network that the team fell just shy of meeting a challenge she gave to them. “I secretly challenged them to hold them to 60,” Jensen said. “Then, we let up that three at the end, which we should not have done, but it was below their average, which we wanted to do. I thought it was a solid defensive game today. We could have even done a little better. ... But, overall, I am not going to complain too much because that was a pretty good effort.” Iowa won the battle on the glass 42-27 and shot 34-of-62 (54.8%) from the floor while holding Purdue to 25-of-61 (41%) from the floor. The Hawkeyes also recorded an assist on 21 of their 34 made field goals. Iowa built a 7-4 lead over the first two minutes before capitalizing on a Purdue shooting slump with an 18-5 run to close out the opening quarter, bookended by three-pointers from Taylor Stremlow and Teagan Mallegni. The Boilermakers went just 2-of-9 from the field over the final five minutes of the quarter as the Hawkeyes took a 27-13 lead into the second quarter. A similar 15-3 surge to close out the second quarter gave Iowa an 18-point, 50-32 lead at half. Stremlow led all players with nine points in the first half on 4-of-4 from the field. A 13-0 Purdue run in the third quarter allowed the Boilermakers to trim the gap to an eight-point 55-47 lead, but the Hawkeyes again closed the quarter on a scoring run, managing an 11-0 run of their own to lead 66-47 with one quarter to play. A back-and-forth fourth quarter ended with Iowa outscoring Purdue 18-16 to earn the 21-point victory. Addison O’Grady led the Hawkeyes with 12 points. Destini Lombard matched O’Grady with 12 points to lead the Boilermakers. Iowa returns to action on Wednesday with a road matchup against Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania at noon. Broadcast coverage will be provided by Big Ten+ (subscription required). Iowa's Teagan Mallegni, left, gathers the ball before a layup attempt during an NCAA women's basketball game against Washington State in Iowa City at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday, Nov. 24. ETHAN PETRIK, Quad-City Times Five freshmen saw action in Sunday’s win and painted an exciting picture for the future of the program. In addition to her nine points, Stremlow grabbed four rebounds, managed three steals and dished two assists in 19 minutes off the bench. Aaliyah Guyton scored nine points in 20 minutes. Ava Heiden scored nine points on 4-of-4 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds and picked up two blocks in 15 minutes of action. Teagan Mallegni finished with eight points and two rebounds in 12 minutes. Despite accounting for just 34.5% of Iowa’s minutes on Sunday, the freshman quintet represented 42% of points, 50% of blocks, 42% of steals and 36% of rebounds. During a postgame interview with the Hawkeye Radio Network, Mallegni described it as “so cool” to see the success of Iowa’s freshman class. “At one point, there was four of us out there at the same time,” Mallegni said. “So, it is just really fun. They are a great group of girls. I has been super fun to learn alongside (them).” Iowa's Ava Heiden, left, backs down her defender during a game against Toledo on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. ETHAN PETRIK, Quad-City Times As evidenced by the production of Iowa’s freshmen, the Hawkeyes beat the Boilermakers behind a whole team effort as 12 different players scored in the win. Of those dozen players, nine made more than one basket in the win while seven scored nine or more points in the win as O’Grady finished as the only player in double figures for Iowa. Sydney Affolter posted an impressive stat line with nine points, seven rebounds and six assists. Hannah Stuelke managed nine points and six boards while Lucy Olsen added six points, her first game below double figures as a Hawkeye, and six assists. While Iowa dominated on the glass, the Hawkeyes also found plenty of success scoring and defending in the paint. Iowa scored 48 points in the paint and 12 second-chance points, on 13 offensive rebounds, while limiting their opponents to just 22 points in the paint and just five second-chance points. Caitlin Clark's Rise: Former Iowa coach Lisa Bluder details guard's journey to stardom Former Iowa women’s hoops coach Lisa Bluder details life in retirement, new venture Iowa sets a date for Caitlin Clark jersey retirementYourUpdateTV speaks with the Travelers Institute: Putting the Brakes on Distracted DrivingNone

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Across the Middle East and beyond, the fall of Syria’s authoritarian government at the hands of jihadi fighters set off waves of jubilation, trepidation and alarm. Expatriate Syrians and many residents across the Middle East exulted at the overthrow of a leader who led his country through 14 years of civil strife that left half a million Syrians dead and displaced millions to countries around the world. Others worried about still more instability rocking a region in turmoil. Governments — whether allies or opponents of Assad — scrambled to absorb the sudden, stunning development and assess the implications for the Middle East and the world. In Lebanon, thousands of Syrians headed for the Masnaa border crossing to return to their home country, despite the uncertainty. “Anything is better than Bashar,” said Sami Abdel-Latif, a refugee from Hama who was heading back to join his wife and four children. “This is a feeling we’ve been waiting 14 years for,” said Malak Matar, who was preparing to return to the capital Damascus. Now, he said, “Syrians have to create a state that is well organized and take care of their country.” Many citizens in Syria’s neighboring countries reacted with joy to news Assad was gone. In Jordan’s capital, Amman, resident Muhab al-Majali said his fall marked the end of “unjust and tyrannical rule.” “I believe that the future is beautiful and prosperous for the Syrians,” he said. Others were not so sure, in a region that saw the energy of the 2011 Arab Spring democracy movement collapse into conflict and authoritarian rule. Saeed Sawy, an engineer in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, predicted that Syria’s rebel groups would descend into infighting over the country’s future. “We saw this happen before,” he said. “We saw this in Libya, in Tunisia, in Yemen and Sudan. People rejoice over the fall of tyrants, then they disagree and fight, and a civil war starts.” Syria’s neighbors stepped up security along their borders. Lebanon said it was closing all but one of its land border crossings with Syria. Jordan also closed a border crossing. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces had — temporarily, he said — seized a buffer zone in the Golan Heights established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement, after Syrian troops abandoned their positions. Airstrikes were reported on a military airport near Damascus, which has previously been targeted by Israel, and on other Syrian military sites. Iran, a key ally of Assad, said the Syrian people should decide their country’s future “without destructive, coercive foreign intervention.” The Foreign Ministry in Tehran said Iran supports Syria’s unity and national sovereignty, and hopes to see “the end of military conflicts, the prevention of terrorist activities and the start of a national dialogue” with the participation of all groups. The Iraqi government, which is close to Iran, said it “supports all international and regional efforts seeking to open a dialogue” for Syria. Egypt’s foreign ministry urged a “comprehensive political process” to establish a new era of peace in the war-torn county. The head of Yemen’s internationally recognized government welcomed the fall of Assad as “a historic moment.” Yemen’s government is at war with the Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran. Turkey has backed anti-Assad fighter groups in Syria, and could play a key role in what happens next. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the fall of Assad brought “hope.” He called on the world to help “unite and reconstruct” Syria. Fidan, who met in Qatar on Saturday with diplomats from Russia and Iran, the main backers of the Assad regime, said regional and global powers should try “to act with prudence and calm.” The war sent millions of Syrians fleeing to Europe and expatriates took to the streets in celebration in cities including Paris, London, Stockholm, Helsinki and Athens. Many European governments welcomed Assad’s departure while urging a rapid return to stability. “The end of Assad’s dictatorship is a positive and long-awaited development,” said Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s newly appointed foreign policy chief, in a post on X. “Our priority is to ensure security in the region. I will work with all the constructive partners, in Syria and the region.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a statement that the end of Assad’s rule was “good news,” adding that “what matters now is that law and order are quickly restored in Syria.” France’s foreign ministry welcomed the fall of Assad, saying “the Syrian people have suffered too much.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also welcomed the end of Assad’s “barbaric regime.” “We call on all sides to protect civilians and minorities and ensure essential aid can reach the most vulnerable in the coming hours and days,” he said. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also called for calm and urged work to ensure an “orderly political transition to renewed institutions.” Russia, which backed Assad with troops and warplanes, said it has been following the “dramatic events” in Syria “with extreme concern.” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha of Ukraine, which is at war with Russia, wrote on X that the ousted Syrian leader had suffered the fate of “all dictators who bet on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. He always betrays those who rely on him.” In Washington, President Joe Biden was meeting with his national security team Sunday for an update on the situation in Syria. President-elect Donald Trump said in a social media post Saturday, before Assad’s fall was confirmed: “Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!” The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria, including U.S. forces working with Kurdish allies in the opposition-held northeast to prevent any resurgence of the Islamic State group.YourUpdateTV speaks with the Travelers Institute: Putting the Brakes on Distracted Driving