How the stock market defied expectations again this year, by the numbers

Hail Flutie: BC celebrates 40th anniversary of Miracle in Miami

Inquirer files MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has issued a new set of rules and regulations implementing Republic Act No. 9006, or the Fair Election Act of 2001, to enhance the holding of free, orderly, honest, peaceful and credible midterm polls next year. Comelec Resolution No. 11086, issued on Dec. 9 but released to the media on Wednesday, contains more or less the same provisions concerning fair election practices in Resolution No. 10730, which was promulgated for the 2022 elections. It, however, introduces new items on political campaigns. READ: Candidates’ online campaign platforms due by Dec. 13 Candidates and political parties will now have at least 72 hours before the campaign period starts to remove all prohibited forms of propaganda, including names, images, logos, brands, insignias, initials and other forms of graphical representations on all public structures and in all public places. The campaign period for senatorial and party-list candidates starts on Feb. 11, 2025, and on March 28 for congressional, provincial, city and municipal hopefuls, including those running for the Bangsamoro Parliament. The new resolution also regulates the duration and location of campaign propaganda displayed on outdoor static and light-emitting diode (LED) billboards. Candidates running for national positions shall not have more than two months of outdoor advertisement in a certain static or LED billboard whether by purchase or donation. Candidates or parties are not allowed to have billboard advertisements within a radius of 1 kilometer from each other. For local candidates, the duration of billboard advertisement is limited to one month while the radius limit is 500 meters. Political parties and candidates are also now required to indicate in their printed campaign materials the declaration: “This material should be recycled or disposed of responsibly.” They must also comply with local government legislation governing plastic and other similar materials. The new resolution also provides additional protection to newsmen covering the elections. Section 13 states that any person who commits violence against any member of the news media, such as torture, physical harm, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, intimidation, harassment, threat and other analogous forms of violence, shall be additionally liable for election offense. Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . The Omnibus Election Code defines an election offense as a crime punishable by up to six years in jail, perpetual disqualification from holding elective or appointive public office, and deprivation of the right to vote.

Home Alone’s ‘pigeon lady’ looks worlds away from character 32 years after iconic Christmas movieCORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Miami probably was one win away from getting into the College Football Playoff. Iowa State definitely was one win away. Their consolation prize of sorts: playing one another. The Hurricanes and Cyclones — a meteorological matchup — have accepted bids to the Pop-Tarts Bowl, to be played Dec. 28 in Orlando, Florida. Iowa State (10-3) is looking for its first 11-win season in the program's 133-year history, and Miami (10-2) is seeking its first 11-win season since 2003. Miami's loss at Syracuse to close the regular season wound up being the game the Hurricanes could point to as the reason they missed out on the CFP. Iowa State could have played its way in and lost the Big 12 title game to CFP-bound Arizona State on Saturday. “I think everyone that doesn't get in feels disappointment,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “We feel the onus of just doing better. Just do better, go forward, have an opportunity to get better.” It's essentially the same task for both teams: regrouping after seeing the playoff slip away. “I think that’s what’s made Iowa State football really special is our ability to have great resiliency," Cyclones coach Matt Campbell said. "And I know our kids are super-excited about the opportunity to finish off. Obviously (Saturday) was disappointing. But this group and this football team has the opportunity to just continue to fight.” A big question for Miami: whether quarterback Cam Ward will play. The likely Heisman Trophy finalist has thrown for 155 touchdown passes in his career at Incarnate Word, Washington State and Miami. That’s tied for the most by anyone in Division I (FBS and FCS) history; Case Keenum threw 155 in his career at Houston. Many draft-bound players not in the playoff will be opting out of bowl games over the coming weeks. There's been no indication from Miami yet that Ward or any other draft-bound player has made a decision. “I think it’s important that our guys, anyone playing and closing out the season, understands the importance of that next step for a program like ours," Cristobal said. "And I think our guys do.” Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballImpatience over polls hurting reform efforts

The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — What a wonderful year 2024 has been for investors. U.S. stocks ripped higher and carried the S&P 500 to records as the economy kept growing and the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates. The year featured many familiar winners, such as Big Tech, which got even bigger as their stock prices kept growing . But it wasn’t just Apple, Nvidia and the like. Bitcoin , gold and other investments also drove higher. Here’s a look at some of the numbers that defined the year. All are as of Dec. 20. Remember when President Bill Clinton got impeached or when baseball’s Mark McGwire hit his 70th home run against the Montreal Expos? That was the last time the U.S. stock market closed out a second straight year with a leap of at least 20%, something the S&P 500 is on track to do again this year. The index has climbed 24.3% so far this year, not including dividends, following last year’s spurt of 24.2%. The number of all-time highs the S&P 500 has set so far this year. The first came early, on Jan. 19, when the index capped a two-year comeback from the swoon caused by high inflation and worries that high interest rates instituted by the Federal Reserve to combat it would create a recession. But the index was methodical through the rest of the year, setting a record in every month outside of April and August, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. The latest came on Dec. 6. The number of times the Federal Reserve has cut its main interest rate this year from a two-decade high, offering some relief to the economy. Expectations for those cuts, along with hopes for more in 2025, were a big reason the U.S. stock market has been so successful this year. The 1 percentage point of cuts, though, is still short of the 1.5 percentage points that many traders were forecasting for 2024 at the start of the year. The Fed disappointed investors in December when it said it may cut rates just two more times in 2025, fewer than it had earlier expected. That’s how many points the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by the day after Election Day, as investors made bets on what Donald Trump’s return to the White House will mean for the economy and the world . The more widely followed S&P 500 soared 2.5% for its best day in nearly two years. Aside from bitcoin, stocks of banks and smaller winners were also perceived to be big winners. The bump has since diminished amid worries that Trump’s policies could also send inflation higher. The level that bitcoin topped to set a record above $108,000 this past month. It’s been climbing as interest rates come down, and it got a particularly big boost following Trump’s election. He’s turned around and become a fan of crypto, and he’s named a former regulator who’s seen as friendly to digital currencies as the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, replacing someone who critics said was overly aggressive in his oversight. Bitcoin was below $17,000 just two years ago following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. Gold’s rise for the year, as it also hit records and had as strong a run as U.S. stocks. Wars around the world have helped drive demand for investments seen as safe, such as gold. It’s also benefited from the Fed’s cut to interest rates. When bonds are paying less in interest, they pull away fewer potential buyers from gold, which pays investors nothing. It’s a favorite number of Elon Musk, and it’s also a threshold that Tesla’s stock price passed in December as it set a record. The number has a long history among marijuana devotees, and Musk famously said in 2018 that he had secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 per share . Tesla soared this year, up from less than $250 at the start, in part because of expectations that Musk’s close relationship with Trump could benefit the company. That’s how much revenue Nvidia made in the nine months through Oct. 27, showing how the artificial-intelligence frenzy is creating mountains of cash. Nvidia’s chips are driving much of the move into AI, and its revenue through the last nine months catapulted from less than $39 billion the year before. Such growth has boosted Nvidia’s worth to more than $3 trillion in total. GameStop’s gain on May 13 after Keith Gill, better known as “Roaring Kitty,” appeared online for the first time in three years to support the video game retailer’s stock, which he helped rocket to unimaginable heights during the “ meme stock craze ” in 2021. Several other meme stocks also jumped following his post in May on the social platform X, including AMC Entertainment. Gill later disclosed a sizeable stake in the online pet products retailer Chewy, but he sold all of his holdings by late October . That’s how much the U.S. economy grew, at annualized seasonally adjusted rates, in each of the three first quarters of this year. Such growth blew past what many pessimists were expecting when inflation was topping 9% in the summer of 2022. The fear was that the medicine prescribed by the Fed to beat high inflation — high interest rates — would create a recession. Households at the lower end of the income spectrum in particular are feeling pain now, as they contend with still-high prices. But the overall economy has remained remarkably resilient. This is the vacancy rate for U.S. office buildings — an all-time high — through the first three quarters of 2024, according to data from Moody’s. The fact the rate held steady for most of the year was something of a win for office building owners, given that it had marched up steadily from 16.8% in the fourth quarter of 2019. Demand for office space weakened as the pandemic led to the popularization of remote work. That’s the total number of previously occupied homes sold nationally through the first 11 months of 2024. Sales would have to surge 20% year-over-year in December for 2024’s home sales to match the 4.09 million existing homes sold in 2023, a nearly 30-year low. The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. A shortage of homes for sale and elevated mortgage rates have discouraged many would-be homebuyers.Dismiss Trump taunts, expert says after 'churlish' social media posts about Canada

PM Internship Scheme: 6.21 lakh applications received for 1.27 lakh opportunities

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jake Evans scored for the career-high fifth consecutive game and the surging Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 on Sunday night. Christian Dvorak, Joel Armia, Brendan Gallagher and Alex Newhook also scored to help the Canadiens win for the fifth time in six games. Sam Montembeault made 21 saves. Nikita Kucherov and Brandon Hagel scored for Tampa Bay. Jonas Johansson stopped 31 shots. Newhook opened the scoring on a one-timer midway through the first period. Hagel tied it 37 seconds into the second period, but Dvorak and Evans scored 5:54 apart in the period for a two-goal Montreal lead they would not relinquish. Canadiens: Montreal has scored four or more goals in six consecutive games. ... The Canadiens snapped a four-game losing streak to Tampa Bay. Lightning: LW Jake Guentzel missed the game because of an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. ... Tampa Bay fell to 0-7-1 when scoring fewer than three goals. After Hagel tied it 7 seconds into the second period, the Canadiens' Lane Hutson took a hooking call 13 seconds later to give Tampa Bay a power play. But Montreal’s penalty kill held the Lightning without a shot during the man advantage. Evans' five-game goals streak is tied for the longest active run in the NHL. Montreal is at Vegas on Tuesday. Tampa Bay is at San Jose on Thursday night. AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Tyrese Haliburton had 31 points, six rebounds and seven assists as the visiting Indiana Pacers pulled away late for a 123-114 victory over the Boston Celtics on Sunday night. Six players scored in double figures for Indiana, which beat Boston in two of the teams' three regular-season meetings. Andrew Nembhard returned from a one-game absence (left knee) and added 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Pacers, who also got 17 points, eight boards and six assists from Pascal Siakam. Bennedict Mathurin scored 14 points, Myles Turner netted 13 and Jarace Walker contributed 12 points off the bench to help Indiana snap its two-game losing streak. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 31 points and six assists. Jayson Tatum added 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists but was just 2-of-10 from 3-point range. Al Horford went just 1-of-10 from deep and finished with five points. Reserve Payton Pritchard scored 19 of his 21 points in the first half for Boston, which has lost three of its last four games. A three-point play by Tatum completed a 9-0 spurt that pulled the Celtics within 105-103 with 7:38 left, but the Pacers scored the next 13 points to put the game out of reach. Although Indiana led by 11 early, Boston had a 29-27 advantage after one quarter. The Pacers scored 38 points in the second quarter and had a 65-58 halftime lead. Indiana shot 59.5 percent from the field in the first half (25-of-42). Each team scored 33 points in the third quarter, which gave the Pacers a 98-91 edge entering the fourth. The Celtics were again without Jrue Holiday (right shoulder impingement) and Kristaps Porzingis (left ankle), both of whom didn't play in Friday's 142-105 home victory over Indiana. Holiday has missed the last three games, and Porzingis turned his angle during a loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday. The Pacers' Obi Toppin missed his second straight game with a left ankle sprain. This article first appeared on Field Level Media and was syndicated with permission.Print Morning Briefing: Dec. 26, 2024

Rajnath Singh Lauds Army Training Institutes During Mhow VisitVatican Removes Baby Jesus With Keffiyeh From Nativity

Just two days after their Week 16 game in Buffalo, the New England Patriots were back at practice on Tuesday. Among the players spotted during the media portion of the in-stadium session was rookie linebacker Curtis Jacobs. Jacobs has officially been designated to return from injured reserve, opening the 21-day window for him to return to the active roster. Given that there are only two games left on the Patriots’ schedule, however, that timeline is effectively irrelevant. The team can bring Jacobs back to its 53-man roster at any time between now and its season finale on the weekend of January 4. Jacobs, 22, arrived in New England as a waiver wire pickup in late August. The Penn State product, who had entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with the Kansas City Chiefs , went on to carve out a regular role on special teams. In total, he was on the field for 136 kicking game snaps plus 23 more on defense until sustaining a head injury in Week 11. That injury eventually prompted the Patriots to send him to IR in mid-November. Now, Jacobs is back on the practice fields — a positive sign for his recovery, if nothing else. The Patriots will host the Los Angeles Chargers at Gillette Stadium on Saturday. Kickoff for the standalone game is set for 1 p.m. ET.HEARTBROKEN Kate Cassidy has posted about 'sadness and grief' at Christmas following Liam Payne's tragic death. Former One Direction star Liam, 31 died in October after falling from a hotel balcony while on holiday in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 3 Kate Cassidy has opened up about dealing with 'grief' at Christmas following Liam's death Credit: Getty 3 She took to Instagram to share the message as she wished her followers a 'healthy holiday season' Credit: Instagram 3 Liam tragically died in October His death came just days after girlfriend Kate, 25, returned home to the US following their trip together. Devastated Kate has posted about dealing with grief at Christmas time to her fans. Taking to Instagram, she said: "As the holidays are here, I realize it is a time for happiness and joy, but it is also a time of sadness and grief for so many. "Be gentle with those around you this time of year, as the holidays can feel different for everyone." more on liam payne her angel Liam Payne's girlfriend Kate Cassidy reveals new tattoo following star's death PAL'S SILENCE Major update in Liam Payne death probe as pal 'refuses to answer questions' She continued: "Sending all my love to those carrying grief this holiday. I hope the seasons bring you comfort and peace. "Wishing everyone a love-filled and healthy holiday season this year." Kate recently shared her new tattoo with fans as a tribute to Liam, which is on her middle and index fingers. Its design features an angel wing on each digit, with Kate posting the snap along with a love heart. Most read in Celebrity REFFIN' HELL KMI panel reveals FIVE more VAR blunders including THREE mistakes in one game ON PAR Ex-Rangers star 'in line' to take charge of his last club's bitter rivals TRAGIC LOSS Olympic snowboarder Sophie Hediger dead aged 26 after being caught in avalanche IN THE DOCK Suspect appears in court charged with murder of man near Scots nightclub Meanwhile, last week it was reported that a close friend of tragic Liam has refused to answer questions over his death. Zayn Malik pays poignant tribute to Liam Payne as he performs first gig since ex-One Direction bandmate’s tragic death Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores declined to testify and will submit a written statement to the investigating judge. He has denied claims he abandoned Liam before he fell from his balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel . Liam Payne's sad death On October 16, 2024, Liam Payne sadly died, leaving family, friends and fans devastated. Here we take you through the biggest stories to unfold since his tragic passing: Liam's death is announced. The star's family release a heartbreaking statement . Liam's cause of death revealed after he fell from a balcony. The singer's One Direction bandmates pay tribute. Cheryl Cole describes ‘earth shattering’ agony following the death of son's father. Mourners gather at vigils around the world to honour the late star. Liam's girlfriend Kate Cassidy makes an emotional tribute . Liam's body is flown back to the UK with his family. Zayn Malik reschedules his tour dates due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’ following Liam's death. Liam's family announce his funeral .

Jake Evans scores for the career-high 5th consecutive game, surging Canadiens beat Lightning 5-2

Lifeline above: PTR canopy bridge to save wildlife from road fatalitiesSWITZERLAND, — Sophie Hediger, a member of Switzerland's snowboard cross team at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, has died following an avalanche at a mountain resort, the country's skiing federation said on Tuesday. The incident occurred on Monday at the Arosa resort in Switzerland. Hediger, 26, competed at the Beijing Games in the women’s snowboard cross and the mixed team version of the same event. Hediger achieved her first two World Cup podium finishes in the 2023-24 season. Her best result was a second place in St. Moritz in January. “We are shocked and our thoughts are with Sophie’s family, to whom we offer our deepest condolences,” said Swiss-Ski CEO Walter Reusser in a statement. “(She lost her life) tragically, brutally and far too soon.”