Pigeon Co. ( OTCMKTS:PGENY – Get Free Report )’s share price traded down 8% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $2.04 and last traded at $2.04. 246 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 2,816 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.22. Pigeon Trading Down 8.0 % The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $993.66 million, a P/E ratio of 25.53 and a beta of -0.07. Pigeon Company Profile ( Get Free Report ) Pigeon Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, sale, import, and export of baby and child-care products, maternity items, women’s care products, home healthcare products, and nursing care products in Japan and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Japan Business, China Business, Singapore Business, and Lansinoh Business. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Pigeon Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Pigeon and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .FRANKFURT: Rising sick leave rates may be bad news for German companies at a time the economy is already ailing—but for private eye Marcus Lentz, it has been a boon for his business. He is seeing a record number of requests from firms for his agency to check up on employees suspected of calling in sick when they are actually fit to work. “There are just more and more companies that don’t want to put up with it anymore,” he told AFP, adding his Lentz Group was receiving up to 1,200 such requests annually, around double the figure from a few years earlier. “If someone has 30, 40 or sometimes up to 100 sick days in a year, then at some point they become economically unattractive for the employer,” he said in an interview at his office in the gritty district around Frankfurt’s main train station. From auto titans to fertilizer producers, companies are ringing the alarm about the impact of high rates of sick leave on Europe’s biggest economy. While some say changes to reporting in sick have made it easier to fake illnesses, experts insist the reasons behind the rising numbers are more complex, ranging from increases in mental illnesses to more work pressure. Many agree that the trend is weighing on Germany at a time the country’s woes, from a manufacturing slowdown to weak demand for its exports, have led some to once again dub it “the sick man of Europe”. “The impact is significant and certainly affects economic activity,” Claus Michelsen, chief economist at the German association of research-based pharmaceutical companies, told AFP. The association calculated that higher rates of absenteeism at work due to illness shaved 0.8 percent off Germany’s output in 2023 -- helping push the economy into a 0.3 percent contraction. Workers in Germany on average took 15.1 days of sick leave last year, up from 11.1 days in 2021, according to federal statistics agency Destatis. The TK, one of Germany’s major statutory health insurers, reported the average number of sick days among workers it covers was 14.13 in the first nine months of the year—a record high. According to OECD data, Germans missed on average 6.8 percent of their working hours in 2023 due to illness—worse than other EU countries such as France, Italy and Spain. Some corporate leaders have been outspoken about the problem, with Mercedes-Benz chief executive Ola Kallenius lamenting that “absenteeism in Germany is sometimes twice as high as in other European countries”. Elon Musk’s electric car giant Tesla went further, reportedly sending managers worried about high illness-related absences at its German factory to personally check up on employees on sick leave at their homes. Critics say a system of allowing patients with mild symptoms to get sick notes from their doctor over the phone is providing employees who could work an easy way to take days off—or fake illnesses entirely. Some industry groups are calling for the system, first introduced during the Covid pandemic, to be abolished. Detective Lentz said in many cases where people are pretending to be sick for long periods, they are doing work on the side. He gave the example of a person who was helping out at his wife’s business while officially off sick. Others, he said, have taken long-term sick leave to renovate their properties. While it can be expensive to hire a detective, Lentz said firms will be looking to get rid of highly unproductive workers at a time of mounting economic woes. “They say, anyone who is off sick so often is not making us any money—out they go,” he said. Still, not everyone is convinced the high reported sick rates reflect the true picture. Some say a new system whereby doctors automatically transmit sick notes to patients’ insurance companies has led to more accurate reporting of sick leave, pushing up the figures. Others meanwhile take a more nuanced view of the rising trend. The Hans Boeckler Foundation’s WSI institute, which is linked to German trade unions, said blaming workers for deciding to stay home too easily or for faking sickness were “dangerous shortcuts”. “They obscure the view of the really relevant causes,” said Bettina Kohlrausch, WSI’s scientific director, who pointed instead to more stressful working conditions, increasing respiratory ailments and fraying social protections. — AFP

Life-sized nutcrackers clad in red, blue and golden yellow diligently standing watch. A cardboard cutout of wide-eyed Hermey the Elf from the 1964 classic, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Blow-up molds of “Despicable Me” minions. Naperville lawns are as festive as ever this holiday season, boasting displays that give the North Pole a run for its candy canes. Don’t want to miss a moment of yuletide? One Naperville household has a list — yes, they’ve checked it twice — of the must-see merriment around town. Thanks to Deborah Nilles, Kevin Knoth and their daughter Megan, Naperville homes dressed up for the holidays are easy to find through a holly jolly-tailored Google map. A tool of local tidings years in the making, the map is now more than 100 addresses strong. Given that the 2024 iteration has only a few days left before it’s relegated to holiday history books, grab your gloves and your hot cocoa because there’s no time like the present for a winter wonderland stroll. “(There are) dozens and dozens of spectacular, beautiful properties,” Deborah Nilles said. “People with these big hearts that share their love for Christmas and the holidays with the community.” Map-registered displays are, aptly, delineated by way of little gingerbread men symbols. Clicking the sugary icons takes visitors to a small blurb about the menu of local decor, including addresses and pictures. For years, Deborah Nilles, Kevin Knoth and their daughter Megan Knoth have decked out their house at 630 Vicksburg Court for the holidays. Their display is known as “The Believe House.” (Deborah Nilles) This year’s holiday map is an ode to both longstanding inclusions and those that are just starting to move into the spotlight, Nilles said. One burgeoning display, for instance, is the Dog House of Naperville, which says happy howlidays with decorations paying homage to man’s best friend. Located at 408 E. 11th Ave., the Dog House made the Nilles’ holiday map for the first time last year. It was small to start, composed of just a few puppy dog pieces, she said. But for 2024, the Dog House upped the ante and returned with twice the number of canine furnishings. “I’m a sucker for a theme,” Nilles said. There’s also the Scott family’s acclaimed “Swiftmas” house at 1228 Atlas Lane, which for the second year in a row decked their Naperville home in a Taylor Swift-inspired lights display. For the second year in a row, longtime Naperville residents Amy and Brian Scott have decorated their house near Atlas Lane and Tupelo Avenue with a Taylor Swift-inspired holiday lights display. (Tess Kenny/Naperville Sun) And there are the oldies but goodies. Those displays, the ones that have lit up Naperville neighborhoods for decades, are Nilles’ favorites, she said. “My heart belongs to the people that have been doing this for 20, 30, 40 years,” she said. Nilles pointed to the Hennessy family, who convert their lawn at 326 S. Sleight St. into a vintage Christmas display every year. Or the Zavoral family at 2320 Remington Drive, who have a longtime practice of handing out free candy canes to light display viewers. The tradition of it all is something that resonates with Nilles and her family. It’s what inspired them to start compiling a holiday Google map for their neighbors in the first place. In fact, the whole endeavor began with the family establishing a decorating tradition of their own. Nilles, who is originally from Chicago’s North Side but moved to Naperville in the late 1980s, caught the Christmas bug about 15 years ago when the holidays got her family through a difficult time, she said. As they faced “personal struggles,” diving head first into decorating for the season became a way to “cheer us up,” she said. They started with a few key pieces. Chief among them was a large red sign that read, “Believe,” a mainstay adornment that still stands today and earned the family’s display the name, “The Believe House.” Over the years, their display, located at 630 Vicksburg Court, has blossomed into a full-lawn spectacle. The Believe House, pictured here, is a Naperville holiday lights display located at 630 Vicksburg Court. Those behind the display — Deborah Nilles, her husband Kevin Knoth and their daughter Megan Knoth — compile a list of houses across Naperville that also go all-out for the holidays. (Deborah Nilles) Meanwhile, along the way, the family’s decoration fervor started to stretch beyond their own porch with the creation of their local holiday lights map. Born about a decade ago, it was inspired by a similar catalog of local displays that the Naperville Sun used to publish annually, Nilles said. Like their own display, the family’s map — both in breadth and notoriety — has grown in time. Today, a Facebook page for the Believe House is up to 29,000 followers. And by the end of this season, Nilles expects their 2024 online directory to hit about four million views. As for compiling the map, it’s a mutlistep process that ramps up around Thanksgiving each year, she said. It involves Nilles doing a drive-by of previously listed displays as well as putting out a call over social media for new additions. When Nilles’ daughter, now 20 and attending Purdue University, was younger, they used to compose the map together. This year though, with Megan only back from college for a short winter break, Nilles assembled the map with the help of a special guest: her mother-in-law. “That was a treat,” she said. “With my (daughter) and my husband, they’ve seen all this, you know? ... But my mother-in-law was seeing most of (the displays) for the very first time. It was just dynamite. It was almost like seeing it through a child’s eyes. It was fabulous. She loved it. I loved it.” This holiday lights display is located at 357 S. Sleight St. in Naperville. (Deborah Nilles) Other moments that have made this year one for the books are new baubles added to their lawn, Nilles said. Namely, a blow mold of Santa Claus that traveled miles — and state borders — to find a home at the Believe House. That’s right, the display now boasts a Kris Kringle hailing from none other than Florida. The family drove out to the Sunshine state to retrieve the vintage figurine earlier this fall. “We had to go get Santa. We needed to rescue him from Florida,” Nilles quipped. “He was melting.” What hasn’t changed this year is the family’s commitment to imbuing fun with philanthropy. The Believe House is an official Salvation Army Red Kettle location. Since she was little, donating to the Salvation Army around the holidays has been as much a part of her family Christmases as stockings and presents, Nilles said. It was a no-brainer to continue the tradition with the Believe House, she said. Just as it was a no-brainer to draw up a holiday map for her community. “I think it’s worth sharing the love,” she said. “The effort that so many of these homeowners put into creating just these really magical displays around town that help bring a feeling of joy to the community. I know there’s a certain kind of peace that goes with Christmas and for me, going to see Christmas lights really epitomizes that.” tkenny@chicagotribune.com

Published 4:08 pm Saturday, November 23, 2024 By Jim Gazzolo After a strong opening quarter, the Cowgirls lost their shooting touch. Then they lost their patience on offense before finally losing their game. Utah Tech, behind Aaliyah Ibarra’s 36 points off the bench, rallied from an early deficit to knock off McNeese State 79-69 Saturday afternoon inside the Legacy Center. Shooting 30 free throws to McNeese’s eight, the Trailblazers improved to 3-3 while the Cowgirls fell to the same record. “We only had one good quarter and you have to have four,” said McNeese head coach Lynn Kennedy. The Cowgirls got off to a fast start, leading 25-20 at the end of the first quarter behind some hot shooting. That was after taking a 22-20 lead with 3:25 left on Azjah Reeves’ layup. However, the Blazers closed quickly which was a sign of things to come. “I thought we settled the last three quarters,” said Kennedy. “We were not attacking like we should have. We have to be better and have to compete.” A strong second quarter for both teams kept things interesting as the Trailblazers led 48-46 at the half. However, McNeese really struggled from there as both teams had problems in the third quarter. Utah Tech led 61-60 heading into the fourth quarter. That’s when the Cowgirls went from cold to fridged, missing their first nine shots from the field. That allowed the Blazers to pull away, outscoring McNeese 13-1 over the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. Ibarra was the key as she came into the game averaging just over six points a game. “Give her credit, she came to play,” said Kennedy. “We didn’t have anybody step up to guard her though. I don’t want to take anything away from her.” Kyla Davis led McNeese with 16 points while Mireia Yespes finished with 13, all coming in the first half. The Cowgirls will try to break their three-game losing streak at home Wednesday night against St. Thomas University of Houston, Texas.No. 11 Tennessee crushes UTEP to enhance CFP chances

JEE Main 2025: The National Testing Agency (NTA) is set to release the exam city intimation slips for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2025 January session. Once available, students can access their slips by visiting the official website, jeemain.nta.nic.in. The first session of JEE Main 2025 is scheduled to be held between January 22 and January 31. JEE Main 2025: Steps To Download Exam City Slip S tep 1. Visit the official NTA JEE website, jeemain.nta.nic.in Step 2. Click on the link for the JEE Main 2025 exam city intimation slip on the homepage Step 3. You will be redirected to a new page Step 4. Enter your login credentials Step 5. View and download the advance city intimation slip Step 6. Take a printout for future reference JEE Main 2025: Examination Structure The JEE Main exam comprises two papers: Paper 1 For candidates seeking admission to undergraduate engineering programs (BE/BTech) in NITs, IIITs, and other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs), as well as universities recognised by participating state governments. Candidates qualifying in JEE Main (Paper 1) are also eligible to appear for JEE Advanced, the entrance test for admission to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Paper 2 Designed for candidates aspiring to pursue BArch and BPlanning courses at various universities across the country. Important Note For Candidates Participation in both sessions of JEE Main 2025 is not mandatory. Students who register for the January session can decide later whether to participate in the April session based on their performance and individual requirements. Track Education News , Exam updates , Campus , Study Abroad related news live on NDTV.comSkiing is one of the best ways to enjoy nature in the winter and is one of the few activities that’s as fun to do alone as it is with others. However, whether you’re an advanced skier who likes to keep the good snow to themselves or prefer skiing with a posse of friends, protecting your head is an essential part of a good day on the slopes. With so many options on the market, finding the best ski helmet can be a challenge. If you’re interested in a simple solution that you can count on to protect you at all times, regardless of the conditions, check out the Sweet Protection Grimnir 2vi MIPS Helmet . If your ski helmet is too large or too small, it won’t perform correctly and may not provide any protection at all. To find the right size, measure the crown of your head and cross reference with the helmet’s size chart. Moreover, the helmet should be about an inch above your eyebrows. Make sure to consider your helmet’s adjustability before purchasing. Unfortunately, not all goggles fit with all helmets. Although you likely won’t have an issue with this, ensure that the helmet you want to purchase will work with your preferred goggles without leaving your forehead exposed. In addition to being a good fit for your goggles, the best ski helmets are capable of handling a variety of upgrades if they aren’t standard. For example, be on the lookout for helmets that have slots for audio in the earmuffs and that allow you to strap a handy goggle cleaning cloth to the side. In addition to durable materials and standard EPS shock absorption, the best ski helmets will include additional or new technology to enhance protection. When shopping for a new ski helmet, consider models with MIPS (multidirectional impact protection system) technology, carbon fiber construction or an integrated Recco reflector to get the highest level of safety. Top-quality helmets offer the best ease-of-use technology in addition to superior protection. Features such as magnetic goggle clasps that can be used with gloves, removable linings and dynamic ventilation that allows for directed airflow make your helmet more comfortable, especially during extended wearing periods. Entry-level helmets that provide basic protection usually cost around $60, while higher-end models with innovative technology start around $180 and cost upwards of $250. A. Although this may seem counterintuitive at first, it is not always worth purchasing the most expensive, highest-tech helmet. If you don’t ski often, and find yourself sticking to the easier slopes and staying at low speeds, a traditional helmet will provide all the protection you need. On the other hand, if you ski in the woods or in the backcountry, investing in high-tech helmets is a must, since the danger level is much higher than on the slopes. Sweet Protection Grimnir 2vi MIPS Helmet What you need to know: The Grimnir 2vi helmet from Sweet Protection is made from the finest materials on the market and includes all of the latest safety and convenience technology. What you’ll love: If you like to tackle challenging terrain and push the boundaries of your skills, look no further than the Grimnir to provide the utmost protection. Constructed out of lightweight and highly impact-resistant carbon fiber and reinforced with the latest MIPS technology, you can count on this helmet to keep you safe. Plus, it’s also quite comfortable to wear thanks to its numerous vents, Occigrip dial adjustment system and audio compatibility. What you should consider: State-of-the-art technology makes this one of the more expensive offerings. OutdoorMaster Kelvin Helmet What you need to know: If you’re on a budget, or don’t push the limits while skiing, the Kelvin helmet from OutdoorMaster is perfect for you. What you’ll love: Don’t let the price tag fool you — this helmet offers far more than the bare minimum in terms of features and technology. Constructed from a reinforced ABS shell and a super-absorbent EPS core, you can count on this helmet to project your most valuable asset. Plus, the Kelvin also offers lots of adjustability and unmatched ventilation for the price. What you should consider: While this helmet offers ample protection for the ordinary skier, if you’re a hard charger and prefer off-piste shredding, this helmet likely won’t be enough. POC Meninx RS MIPS Helmet What you need to know: Featuring a sleek design, durable construction and an abundance of serious safety features, the Meninx RS MIPS helmet from POC is high performance and reliable. What you’ll love: Designed from the ground up with safety and convenience in mind, this helmet is ideal for anyone who regularly hits the slopes and will appreciate the thought given to small details. For example, the strap buckle on the back that holds your goggles securely in place is magnetic, which makes it easy to use while wearing gloves or mittens. Furthermore, in addition to the dual-layer ABS shell and MIPS protection system, the Meninx RS comes with an integrated Recco reflector, which is an essential component of safe backcountry skiing. To top it all off, the helmet has an easy-to-use adjustment dial and plenty of ventilation. What you should consider: POC helmets don’t come in individual sizing, and are only available in grouped sizes such as medium/large, which can make finding the perfect fit harder. Prices listed reflect time and date of publication and are subject to change. Check out our Daily Deals for the best products at the best prices and sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter full of shopping inspo and sales. BestReviews spends thousands of hours researching, analyzing and testing products to recommend the best picks for most consumers. BestReviews and its newspaper partners may earn a commission if you purchase a product through one of our links.Cowgirls go cold, fall to Utah Tech

How co-writing a book threatened the Carters’ marriageStocks shook off a choppy start to finish higher Monday, as Wall Street kicked off a holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 ended 0.7% higher after having been down 0.5% in the early going. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also recovered from an early slide to eke out a 0.2% gain. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 1%. Gains in technology and communications stocks accounted for much of the gains, outweighing losses in consumer goods companies and elsewhere in the market. Semiconductor giant Nvidia, whose enormous valuation gives it an outsize influence on indexes, rose 3.7%. Broadcom climbed 5.5% to also help support the broader market. Walmart fell 2% and PepsiCo slid 1%. Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan said they are talking about combining in a deal that might also include Mitsubishi Motors. U.S.-listed shares in Honda jumped 12.7%, while Nissan ended flat. Eli Lilly rose 3.7% after announcing that regulators approved Zepbound as the first and only prescription medicine for adults with sleep apnea. Department store Nordstrom fell 1.5% after it agreed to be taken private by Nordstrom family members and a Mexican retail group in a $6.25 billion deal. All told, the S&P 500 rose 43.22 points to 5,974.07. The Dow gained 66.69 points to 42,906.95. The Nasdaq rose 192.29 points to 19,764.89. Traders got a look at a new snapshot of U.S. consumer confidence Monday. The Conference Board said that consumer confidence slipped in December. Its consumer confidence index fell back to 104.7 from 112.8 in November. Wall Street was expecting a reading of 113.8. Story continues below video The unexpectedly weak consumer confidence update follows several generally strong economic reports last week. One report showed the overall economy grew at a 3.1% annualized rate during the summer, faster than earlier thought. The latest report on unemployment benefit applications showed that the job market remains solid. A report on Friday said a measure of inflation the Federal Reserve likes to use was slightly lower last month than economists expected. Worries about inflation edging higher again had been weighing on Wall Street and the Fed. The central bank just delivered its third cut to interest rates this year, but inflation has been hovering stubbornly above its target of 2%. It has signaled that it could deliver fewer cuts to interest rates next year than it earlier anticipated because of concerns over inflation. Expectations for more interest rate cuts have helped drive a roughly 25% gain for the S&P 500 in 2024. That drive included 57 all-time highs this year. Inflation concerns have added to uncertainties heading into 2025, which include the labor market's path ahead and shifting economic policies under an incoming President Donald Trump. "Put simply, much of the strong market performance prior to last week was driven by expectations that a best-case scenario was the base case for 2025," said Brent Schutte, chief investment officer at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company Treasury yields rose in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.59% from 4.53% late Friday. European markets closed mostly lower, while markets in Asia gained ground. Wall Street has several other economic reports to look forward to this week. On Tuesday, the U.S. will release its November report for sales of newly constructed homes. A weekly update on unemployment benefits is expected on Thursday. Markets in the U.S. will close at 1 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday for Christmas Eve and will remain closed on Wednesday for Christmas.

Last year, the internet mulled over the enigma that was Skibidi Toilet and found more complexity to this narrative of sentient toilets than what meets the eye. This year, the levels of absurdity were hardly different, though the memes have been equally entertaining. The internet has come a long way, especially now that it's being helmed by a generation of youngsters who have grown up hacking into their parents' phones instead of licking dirt off their fingers. But this unblinking exposure to screens did make them intelligent in their own ways. Now, memes are no longer a simple template of hasty comedy. No, no, pookies. The internet of 2024 gave us a scroll of new slang, in-depth lore, and a gaping case of brainrot. Year of the wordsmiths If you were diagnosed as chronically online this year, then congratulations! You've been promoted and you're now one of the elite employees. Of what, exactly? You may never find out. But that's okay, because you're low-key just a chill guy—or an anthropomorphic dog with your hands stuffed in your pants' pockets as the soft lull of Gia Margaret's Hinoki Wood plays in the background. If none of that makes sense to you, then you're probably of the opposite demographic and might need a little context. Except, any explanation might render you even more perplexed. But that's the fun of written memes; they are a mouthful and often accompanied by visual elements, but their appeal lies in the text. And this year, they've been a common culprit of the collective internet brainrot—which, by the way, has been deemed Word of the Year by the Oxford University Press (OUP), if you want to get a sense of the impact of memes that were born this year. From one-liners to long-form passages, these memes encourage personal touches so you too can make them hyper-specific for that extra relatability. You can credit that to X's essay-writing tweaks or the fact that everyone with a general understanding of the world wants to pen think-pieces on TikTok. But sometimes these memes are just phrases that function as social cues for like-minded individuals to find each other. A greeting, if you will. "Send it to me, Rachel" does not mean anything in isolation, but this year found teenagers echoing it like a chant all the same. A user on YouTube admitted that the source clip has "literally been my vocal stim for weeks." Lore of the new lingo Aside from their unique intelligence, the generation currently prevailing over the big web is also known for its creativity. Entire musical numbers have been created based on "brainrot" terminology, which is essentially just modern slang. Although carried over from 2023, this level of creativity dominated the digital horizon for its magical ability to incorporate an extensive vocabulary of memes into high-quality music. Internet lists and video tutorials for Gen Alpha slang are graciously at the disposal of rookies from the former generation. Words like 'mewing', 'rizz', and 'sigma' might seem like they mean nothing at first glance, but translation manuals are also available online for the nonplussed oldies. But hey, don't judge the new internet culture. That's not very demure of you. Pictorial takeover No matter how much our critical faculties continue to evolve, it seems likely that we'll always view memes as visuals that potently substitute slapstick comedy. This sentiment persisted in 2024, which saw the rise of AI-generated content, and a hoard of inexplicable memes as a result of that. This collection of memes is referred to as 'slop', a word which made it to OUP's Word of the Year shortlist before 'brainrot' took the crown. Take, for example, the AI-made graphic slides of a ludicrous story centering a cat as Bongo Cat's cover of Billie Eilish's What Was I Made For? plays in the background. The song, composed only of sorrowful instrumentals and committed meow-meows, even caught the singer's attention and made a concert debut. As you can expect, the crowd was more than eager to sing along. But AI didn't dominate the illustrative category of memes this year. For a sarcastic show of depression, Clean Bandit's Symphony was revived and an artwork of dolphins and rainbows was slapped over it to reel it in. In a similar yet grimmer fashion, Thomas Lea's painting The Two-Thousand Yard Stare depicting a dissociated soldier became symbolic of youthful angst, with the subject sometimes being replaced by a cat to really highlight what's popular with the current generation. Aside from the idiosyncrasies of cats, one thing the internet tirelessly and unanimously enjoys is absurdity. Observe memes ever since the birth of the digital sphere and you'd hardly find a consistent pattern, which is honestly the best part about this ever-changing humour. Each year, it becomes stranger and proudly so. Oh, how far we've come from stock photos and block text. COMMENTS Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive. For more information, please see ourJimmy Carter, the 39th US president, has died at 100

Giants will try to snap a 7-game losing streak when they host the Saints

Stocks shook off a choppy start to finish higher Monday, as Wall Street kicked off a holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 ended 0.7% higher after having been down 0.5% in the early going. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also recovered from an early slide to eke out a 0.2% gain. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 1%. Gains in technology and communications stocks accounted for much of the gains, outweighing losses in consumer goods companies and elsewhere in the market. Semiconductor giant Nvidia, whose enormous valuation gives it an outsize influence on indexes, rose 3.7%. Broadcom climbed 5.5% to also help support the broader market. Walmart fell 2% and PepsiCo slid 1%. Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan said they are talking about combining in a deal that might also include Mitsubishi Motors. U.S.-listed shares in Honda jumped 12.7%, while Nissan ended flat. Eli Lilly rose 3.7% after announcing that regulators approved Zepbound as the first and only prescription medicine for adults with sleep apnea. Department store Nordstrom fell 1.5% after it agreed to be taken private by Nordstrom family members and a Mexican retail group in a $6.25 billion deal. All told, the S&P 500 rose 43.22 points to 5,974.07. The Dow gained 66.69 points to 42,906.95. The Nasdaq rose 192.29 points to 19,764.89. Traders got a look at a new snapshot of U.S. consumer confidence Monday. The Conference Board said that consumer confidence slipped in December. Its consumer confidence index fell back to 104.7 from 112.8 in November. Wall Street was expecting a reading of 113.8. The unexpectedly weak consumer confidence update follows several generally strong economic reports last week. One report showed the overall economy grew at a 3.1% annualized rate during the summer, faster than earlier thought. The latest report on unemployment benefit applications showed that the job market remains solid. A report on Friday said a measure of inflation the Federal Reserve likes to use was slightly lower last month than economists expected. Worries about inflation edging higher again had been weighing on Wall Street and the Fed. The central bank just delivered its third cut to interest rates this year, but inflation has been hovering stubbornly above its target of 2%. It has signaled that it could deliver fewer cuts to interest rates next year than it earlier anticipated because of concerns over inflation. Expectations for more interest rate cuts have helped drive a roughly 25% gain for the S&P 500 in 2024. That drive included 57 all-time highs this year. Inflation concerns have added to uncertainties heading into 2025, which include the labor market's path ahead and shifting economic policies under an incoming President Donald Trump. "Put simply, much of the strong market performance prior to last week was driven by expectations that a best-case scenario was the base case for 2025," said Brent Schutte, chief investment officer at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company Treasury yields rose in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.59% from 4.53% late Friday. European markets closed mostly lower, while markets in Asia gained ground. Wall Street has several other economic reports to look forward to this week. On Tuesday, the U.S. will release its November report for sales of newly constructed homes. A weekly update on unemployment benefits is expected on Thursday. Markets in the U.S. will close at 1 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday for Christmas Eve and will remain closed on Wednesday for Christmas.

Oklahoma's Zac Alley joins Rich Rodriguez's West Virginia staff as defensive coordinatorATLANTA (AP) — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old. The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care , at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023 , spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said. “Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center said in posting about his death on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s. “My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said. A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon. Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy. Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter acknowledged in his 2020 “White House Diary” that he could be “micromanaging” and “excessively autocratic,” complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washington’s news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes. “It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent incompatibility” with Washington insiders. Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term. Ignominious defeat, though, allowed for renewal. The Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982 as a first-of-its-kind base of operations, asserting themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights. “I was not interested in just building a museum or storing my White House records and memorabilia,” Carter wrote in a memoir published after his 90th birthday. “I wanted a place where we could work.” That work included easing nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, helping to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiating cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, The Carter Center had declared at least 113 elections in Latin America, Asia and Africa to be free or fraudulent. Recently, the center began monitoring U.S. elections as well. Carter’s stubborn self-assuredness and even self-righteousness proved effective once he was unencumbered by the Washington order, sometimes to the point of frustrating his successors . He went “where others are not treading,” he said, to places like Ethiopia, Liberia and North Korea, where he secured the release of an American who had wandered across the border in 2010. “I can say what I like. I can meet whom I want. I can take on projects that please me and reject the ones that don’t,” Carter said. He announced an arms-reduction-for-aid deal with North Korea without clearing the details with Bill Clinton’s White House. He openly criticized President George W. Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also criticized America’s approach to Israel with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And he repeatedly countered U.S. administrations by insisting North Korea should be included in international affairs, a position that most aligned Carter with Republican President Donald Trump. Among the center’s many public health initiatives, Carter vowed to eradicate the guinea worm parasite during his lifetime, and nearly achieved it: Cases dropped from millions in the 1980s to nearly a handful. With hardhats and hammers, the Carters also built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The Nobel committee’s 2002 Peace Prize cites his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter should have won it alongside Sadat and Begin in 1978, the chairman added. Carter accepted the recognition saying there was more work to be done. “The world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place,” he said. “The greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect.” Carter’s globetrotting took him to remote villages where he met little “Jimmy Carters,” so named by admiring parents. But he spent most of his days in the same one-story Plains house — expanded and guarded by Secret Service agents — where they lived before he became governor. He regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined and the coronavirus pandemic raged. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world to the small sanctuary where Carter will receive his final send-off after a state funeral at Washington’s National Cathedral. The common assessment that he was a better ex-president than president rankled Carter and his allies. His prolific post-presidency gave him a brand above politics, particularly for Americans too young to witness him in office. But Carter also lived long enough to see biographers and historians reassess his White House years more generously. His record includes the deregulation of key industries, reduction of U.S. dependence on foreign oil, cautious management of the national debt and notable legislation on the environment, education and mental health. He focused on human rights in foreign policy, pressuring dictators to release thousands of political prisoners . He acknowledged America’s historical imperialism, pardoned Vietnam War draft evaders and relinquished control of the Panama Canal. He normalized relations with China. “I am not nominating Jimmy Carter for a place on Mount Rushmore,” Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s domestic policy director, wrote in a 2018 book. “He was not a great president” but also not the “hapless and weak” caricature voters rejected in 1980, Eizenstat said. Rather, Carter was “good and productive” and “delivered results, many of which were realized only after he left office.” Madeleine Albright, a national security staffer for Carter and Clinton’s secretary of state, wrote in Eizenstat’s forward that Carter was “consequential and successful” and expressed hope that “perceptions will continue to evolve” about his presidency. “Our country was lucky to have him as our leader,” said Albright, who died in 2022. Jonathan Alter, who penned a comprehensive Carter biography published in 2020, said in an interview that Carter should be remembered for “an epic American life” spanning from a humble start in a home with no electricity or indoor plumbing through decades on the world stage across two centuries. “He will likely go down as one of the most misunderstood and underestimated figures in American history,” Alter told The Associated Press. James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains and spent his early years in nearby Archery. His family was a minority in the mostly Black community, decades before the civil rights movement played out at the dawn of Carter’s political career. Carter, who campaigned as a moderate on race relations but governed more progressively, talked often of the influence of his Black caregivers and playmates but also noted his advantages: His land-owning father sat atop Archery’s tenant-farming system and owned a main street grocery. His mother, Lillian , would become a staple of his political campaigns. Seeking to broaden his world beyond Plains and its population of fewer than 1,000 — then and now — Carter won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1946. That same year he married Rosalynn Smith, another Plains native, a decision he considered more important than any he made as head of state. She shared his desire to see the world, sacrificing college to support his Navy career. Carter climbed in rank to lieutenant, but then his father was diagnosed with cancer, so the submarine officer set aside his ambitions of admiralty and moved the family back to Plains. His decision angered Rosalynn, even as she dived into the peanut business alongside her husband. Carter again failed to talk with his wife before his first run for office — he later called it “inconceivable” not to have consulted her on such major life decisions — but this time, she was on board. “My wife is much more political,” Carter told the AP in 2021. He won a state Senate seat in 1962 but wasn’t long for the General Assembly and its back-slapping, deal-cutting ways. He ran for governor in 1966 — losing to arch-segregationist Lester Maddox — and then immediately focused on the next campaign. Carter had spoken out against church segregation as a Baptist deacon and opposed racist “Dixiecrats” as a state senator. Yet as a local school board leader in the 1950s he had not pushed to end school segregation even after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, despite his private support for integration. And in 1970, Carter ran for governor again as the more conservative Democrat against Carl Sanders, a wealthy businessman Carter mocked as “Cufflinks Carl.” Sanders never forgave him for anonymous, race-baiting flyers, which Carter disavowed. Ultimately, Carter won his races by attracting both Black voters and culturally conservative whites. Once in office, he was more direct. “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over,” he declared in his 1971 inaugural address, setting a new standard for Southern governors that landed him on the cover of Time magazine. His statehouse initiatives included environmental protection, boosting rural education and overhauling antiquated executive branch structures. He proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the slain civil rights leader’s home state. And he decided, as he received presidential candidates in 1972, that they were no more talented than he was. In 1974, he ran Democrats’ national campaign arm. Then he declared his own candidacy for 1976. An Atlanta newspaper responded with the headline: “Jimmy Who?” The Carters and a “Peanut Brigade” of family members and Georgia supporters camped out in Iowa and New Hampshire, establishing both states as presidential proving grounds. His first Senate endorsement: a young first-termer from Delaware named Joe Biden. Yet it was Carter’s ability to navigate America’s complex racial and rural politics that cemented the nomination. He swept the Deep South that November, the last Democrat to do so, as many white Southerners shifted to Republicans in response to civil rights initiatives. A self-declared “born-again Christian,” Carter drew snickers by referring to Scripture in a Playboy magazine interview, saying he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” The remarks gave Ford a new foothold and television comedians pounced — including NBC’s new “Saturday Night Live” show. But voters weary of cynicism in politics found it endearing. Carter chose Minnesota Sen. Walter “Fritz” Mondale as his running mate on a “Grits and Fritz” ticket. In office, he elevated the vice presidency and the first lady’s office. Mondale’s governing partnership was a model for influential successors Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Biden. Rosalynn Carter was one of the most involved presidential spouses in history, welcomed into Cabinet meetings and huddles with lawmakers and top aides. The Carters presided with uncommon informality: He used his nickname “Jimmy” even when taking the oath of office, carried his own luggage and tried to silence the Marine Band’s “Hail to the Chief.” They bought their clothes off the rack. Carter wore a cardigan for a White House address, urging Americans to conserve energy by turning down their thermostats. Amy, the youngest of four children, attended District of Columbia public school. Washington’s social and media elite scorned their style. But the larger concern was that “he hated politics,” according to Eizenstat, leaving him nowhere to turn politically once economic turmoil and foreign policy challenges took their toll. Carter partially deregulated the airline, railroad and trucking industries and established the departments of Education and Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He designated millions of acres of Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges. He appointed a then-record number of women and nonwhite people to federal posts. He never had a Supreme Court nomination, but he elevated civil rights attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the nation’s second highest court, positioning her for a promotion in 1993. He appointed Paul Volker, the Federal Reserve chairman whose policies would help the economy boom in the 1980s — after Carter left office. He built on Nixon’s opening with China, and though he tolerated autocrats in Asia, pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy. But he couldn’t immediately tame inflation or the related energy crisis. And then came Iran. After he admitted the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979 by followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Negotiations to free the hostages broke down repeatedly ahead of the failed rescue attempt. The same year, Carter signed SALT II, the new strategic arms treaty with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, only to pull it back, impose trade sanctions and order a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Hoping to instill optimism, he delivered what the media dubbed his “malaise” speech, although he didn’t use that word. He declared the nation was suffering “a crisis of confidence.” By then, many Americans had lost confidence in the president, not themselves. Carter campaigned sparingly for reelection because of the hostage crisis, instead sending Rosalynn as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy challenged him for the Democratic nomination. Carter famously said he’d “kick his ass,” but was hobbled by Kennedy as Reagan rallied a broad coalition with “make America great again” appeals and asking voters whether they were “better off than you were four years ago.” Reagan further capitalized on Carter’s lecturing tone, eviscerating him in their lone fall debate with the quip: “There you go again.” Carter lost all but six states and Republicans rolled to a new Senate majority. Carter successfully negotiated the hostages’ freedom after the election, but in one final, bitter turn of events, Tehran waited until hours after Carter left office to let them walk free. At 56, Carter returned to Georgia with “no idea what I would do with the rest of my life.” Four decades after launching The Carter Center, he still talked of unfinished business. “I thought when we got into politics we would have resolved everything,” Carter told the AP in 2021. “But it’s turned out to be much more long-lasting and insidious than I had thought it was. I think in general, the world itself is much more divided than in previous years.” Still, he affirmed what he said when he underwent treatment for a cancer diagnosis in his 10th decade of life. “I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes,” he said in 2015 . “I’ve had a wonderful life. I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.” Former Associated Press journalist Alex Sanz contributed to this report.