casino slots live
Wake Forest still experimenting ahead of Detroit Mercy game
Murdered young girl's dad reveals huge breakthrough in hunt for killer after Netflix showFirst Night Bradford to usher in 2025Nissan and Honda to attempt a merger that would create the world's No. 3 automaker TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automakers Nissan and Honda have announced plans to work toward a merger that would catapult them to a top position in an industry in the midst of tectonic shifts as it transitions away from its reliance on fossil fuels. The two companies said they signed an agreement on integrating their businesses on Monday. Smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors agreed to join the talks. News of a possible merger surfaced earlier this month. Japanese automakers face a strong challenge from their Chinese rivals and Tesla as they make inroads into markets at home and abroad. What a merger between Nissan and Honda means for the automakers and the industry BANGKOK (AP) — Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan will attempt to merge and create the world’s third-largest automaker by sales as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels. The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday and that smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors also had agreed to join the talks on integrating their businesses. Honda will initially lead the new management, retaining the principles and brands of each company. Following is a quick look at what a combined Honda and Nissan would mean for the companies, and for the auto industry. Nordstrom to be acquired by Nordstrom family and a Mexican retail group in $6.25 billion deal Century-old department store Nordstrom has agreed to be acquired and taken private by Nordstrom family members and a Mexican retail group in a $6.25 billion deal. Nordstrom shareholders will receive $24.25 in cash for each share of Nordstrom common stock, representing a 42% premium on the company’s stock as of March 18. Nordstrom’s board of directors unanimously approved the the proposed transaction, while Erik and Pete Nordstrom — part of the Nordstrom family taking over the company — recused themselves from voting. Following the close of the transaction, the Nordstrom Family will have a majority ownership stake in the company. An analyst looks ahead to how the US economy might fare under Trump WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump won a return to the White House in part by promising big changes in economic policy — more tax cuts, huge tariffs on imports, mass deportations of immigrants working in the United States illegally. In some ways, his victory marked a repudiation of President Joe Biden’s economic stewardship and a protest against inflation. It came despite low unemployment and steady growth under the Biden administration. What lies ahead for the economy under Trump? Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics spoke recently to The Associated Press. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. American consumers feeling less confident in December, Conference Board says American consumers are feeling less confident in December, a business research group says. The Conference Board said Monday that its consumer confidence index fell back in December to 104.7 from 112.8 in November. Consumers had been feeling increasingly confident in recent months. The consumer confidence index measures both Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months. The measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for income, business and the job market tumbled more than a dozen points to 81.1. The Conference Board says a reading under 80 can signal a potential recession in the near future. Stock market today: Wall Street rises at the start of a holiday-shortened week Stocks closed higher on Wall Street at the start of a holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 rose 0.7% Monday. Several big technology companies helped support the gains, including chip companies Nvidia and Broadcom. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1%. Honda's U.S.-listed shares rose sharply after the company said it was in talks about a combination with Nissan in a deal that could also include Mitsubishi Motors. Eli Lilly rose after announcing that regulators approved Zepbound as the first prescription medicine for adults with sleep apnea. Treasury yields rose in the bond market. The internet is rife with fake reviews. Will AI make it worse? Researchers and watchdog groups say the emergence of generative artificial intelligence tools that allow people to efficiently produce detailed and novel online reviews has put merchants, service providers and consumers in uncharted territory. Phony reviews have long plagued many popular consumer websites, such as Amazon and Yelp. But AI-infused text generation tools enable fraudsters to produce reviews faster and in greater volume, according to tech industry experts. The deceptive practice is illegal in the U.S. and becomes a bigger problem for consumers during the holiday shopping season, when many people rely on reviews to buy gifts. A tech company and watchdog group that uses software to detect fake reviews says AI-generated reviews have multiplied. Romanian lawmakers narrowly approve new pro-European coalition during period of political turmoil BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian lawmakers have voted narrowly in favor of a new pro-European coalition government led by incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. The move on Monday could usher in an end to a protracted political crisis in the European Union country following the annulment of a presidential election. Parliament approved the new administration in a 240-143 vote in the 466-seat legislature. The new coalition is made up of the leftist Social Democratic Party, the center-right National Liberal Party, the small ethnic Hungarian UDMR party and national minorities. President Klaus Iohannis swore in the new government on Monday night. Government regulators close investigation into Ford Focus recalls Government safety regulators are closing an investigation into two previous recalls of the Ford Focus after determining that Ford Motor Co. has satisfied its concerns. Ford recalled around 1.5 million Ford Focus sedans from the 2012-2018 model years in 2018 because they could lose power. The issue was a malfunctioning canister purge valve and software that didn’t adequately detect when it was stuck open. Ford fixed the software in two separate recalls, but after cars continued to stall, the government opened an inquiry last year. Earlier this fall, Ford offered to replace the canister purge valve on all of the vehicles, satisfying regulators' concerns. AI will eavesdrop on world's wildest places to track and help protect endangered wildlife PUERTO JIMÉNEZ, Costa Rica (AP) — A biologist hid 350 audio monitors across Costa Rica’s tropical rainforests to spy on endangered spider monkeys in order to help protect them. But she had to go back to collect the data and feed those sounds into artificial intelligence systems that can recognize monkey calls. Now tech giant Microsoft's philanthropic arm is hoping to supercharge AI-assisted wildlife research with new solar-powered devices that can capture sounds, images and other wilderness data for a year or more without human intervention. Researchers say more AI wildlife surveillance is urgently needed to monitor the health of species at risk of extinction.
Israel approves proposed ceasefire with Lebanon's Hezbollah
NEW YORK — There's a Christmas Day basketball game at Walt Disney World, featuring Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Wemby. An animated game, anyway. The real game takes place at Madison Square Garden, where Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs face the New York Knicks in a game televised on ABC and ESPN and streamed on Disney+ and ESPN+. The special alt-cast, the first animated presentation of an NBA game, will be shown on ESPN2 and also stream on Disney+ and ESPN+. Madison Square Garden is a staple of the NBA's Christmas schedule. Now it merges with a bigger home of the holidays, because the "Dunk the Halls" game will be staged at Disney, on a court set up right smack in the middle of where countless families have posed for vacation photos. Why that location? Because it was Mickey Mouse's Christmas wish. "Basketball courts often have the ability to make a normal environment look special, but in Disney it can only turn out incredible," Wembanyama said in an ESPN video promoting his Christmas debut. The story — this is Disney, after all — begins with Mickey penning a letter to Santa Claus, asking if he and his pals can host a basketball game. They'll not only get to watch one with NBA players, but some of them will even get to play. Goofy and Donald Duck will sub in for a couple Knicks players, while Mickey and Minnie Mouse will come on to play for the Spurs. "It looks to me like Goofy and Jalen Brunson have a really good pick-and-roll at the elite level," said Phil Orlins, an ESPN vice president of production. Walt Disney World hosted real NBA games in 2020, when the league set up there to complete its season that had been suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those games were played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. The setting for the Christmas game will be Main Street USA, at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom. Viewers will recognize Cinderella's castle behind one baseline and the train station at the other end, and perhaps some shops they have visited in between. Previous alternate animated broadcasts included an NFL game taking place in Andy's room from "Toy Story;" the "NHL Big City Greens Classic" during a game between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers; and earlier this month, another NFL matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys also taking place at Springfield's Atoms Stadium as part of "The Simpsons Funday Football." Unlike basketball, the players are helmeted in those sports. So, this telecast required an extra level of detail and cooperation with players and teams to create accurate appearances of their faces and hairstyles. "So, this is a level of detail that we've never gone, that we've never done on any other broadcast," said David Sparrgrove, the senior director of creative animation for ESPN. Wembanyama, the 7-foot-3 phenom from France who was last season's NBA Rookie of the Year, looks huge even among most NBA players. The creators of the alternate telecast had to design how he'd look not only among his teammates and rivals, but among mice, ducks and chipmunks. "Like, Victor Wembanyama, seeing him in person is insane. It's like seeing an alien descend on a basketball court, and I think we kind of captured that in his animated character," said Drew Carter, who will again handle play-by-play duties, as he had in the previous animated telecasts, and will get an assist from sideline reporter Daisy Duck. Wembanyama's presence is one reason the Spurs-Knicks matchup, the leadoff to the NBA's five-game Christmas slate, was the obvious choice to do the animated telecast. The noon EST start means it will begin in the early evening in France and should draw well there. Also, it comes after ABC televises the "Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade" for the previous two hours, providing more time to hype the broadcast. Recognizing that some viewers who then switch over to the animated game may be Disney experts but NBA novices, there will be 10 educational explainers to help with basketball lingo and rules. Beyond Sports' visualization technology and Sony's Hawk-Eye tracking allow the animated players to make the same movements and plays made moments earlier by the real ones at MSG. Carter and analyst Monica McNutt will be animated in the style of the telecast, donning VR headsets to experience the game from Main Street, USA. Other animated faces recognizable to some viewers include NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who will judge a halftime dunk contest among Mickey and his friends, and Santa himself, who will operate ESPN's "SkyCam" during the game. The players are curious how the production — and themselves — will look. "It's going to be so crazy to see the game animated," Spurs veteran Chris Paul said. "I think what's dope about it is it will give kids another opportunity to watch a game and to see us, basically, as characters." Get local news delivered to your inbox!Yiddá Eslava shares the result of her rhinoplasty and explains why she kept it a secret: “It changed my life” | ShowsThe Labour Party (LP) has dismissed a report on social media alleging that its leadership has agreed to work with President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general election. The LP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Obiora Ifoh, made the clarification in a statement on Friday in Abuja. He said the party has on several occasions debunked claims of an understanding with the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the 2027 election. Ifoh said: “As a matter of fact, the Labour Party is the most visible opposition party as of today and our National Chairman, Barr. Abure is the leading voice in the opposition camp and has been most critical of the present government. “After the 2023 general election, it continued to interrogate the system’s failure and has been very visible playing the role of the opposition, continuously critiquing the policies, proffering solutions and advising the government. “Recently, the party under the able leadership of Mr. Julius Abure came up with a series of programmes, including the creation of the Electoral Reform Committee. READ ALSO: Labour Party aims for 20m members ahead of 2027 elections “With it we hope to enthrone a credible, fair and transparent processes, leading to the selection of leadership in the country, Labour Party being a major victim in the 2023 general election.” The spokesman said the party had created a political education committee for reorienting citizens on the need to have positive behavioural changes towards politics in Nigeria. He added that LP had become the first party in Nigeria to attempt to deepen participatory democracy through the introduction of e-membership registration with thousands of people already subscribing. “All these efforts to reposition the party, for someone to be demarketing such a party in such an unguarded and callous manner, is most ridiculous and unfortunate. “We are, therefore, challenging Deji Adeyanju and any other person to come up with facts and proofs that either the party leadership or Mr. Abure intends to work for President Bola Tinubu or his party, the APC in 2027. “Adeyanju’s assertion which is presently trending globally has caused the Labour Party enormous harm and we are demanding that he refrains from causing the party further harm. “As a political party, we view Deji Adeyanju’s now-viral comments as a criminal defamation, a motivated ploy to ridicule our hard-earned reputation. “We are, therefore, calling on Mr. Adeyanju to without delay provide facts and evidence to prove that the Labour Party has been ‘bought’ over by President Tinubu. “He also has a choice to withdraw his ill assertions and apologize to the leadership and millions of members of the Labour Party for the great harm he has caused the party,” he stated. Opinions Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs. As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake. If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause. Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development. Donate NowGarrett's comments about his future add wrinkle to Browns' worst season since 0-16 in 2017
'I really hope that our connection is not complete': Could South Bruce be home to a different nuclear waste project?With Wall Street focused on the impact of July's global IT outage on subscription growth, ( ) on Tuesday delivered third-quarter earnings and revenue that topped estimates. CrowdStrike stock dipped as a key financial metric met views. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based cybersecurity firm reported October-ended quarterly earnings after the market close. CrowdStrike Earnings Top Estimates CrowdStrike earnings climbed 13% to 93 cents a share on an adjusted basis. Revenue, including acquisitions, rose 29% to $1.01 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet had predicted earnings of 81 cents a share, down 1%, on revenue of $983 million. With CrowdStrike, Wall Street analysts focus on annual recurring revenue, or ARR. It's a key financial metric tied to subscription services growth. Amid the , caused by a defective software update, analysts expected lower growth for "net new" ARR because of delays in signing contracts and expectations that many customers will seek price discounts when renewing contracts to help cover the cost of business disruptions. CrowdStrike Stock: Key Metric In-Line In Q3, total ARR increased 27% to $4.02 billion. Analysts had predicted total ARR of $4.01 billion. On the , CrowdStrike stock fell more than 2% to 354.24 in extended trading. Heading into the CrowdStrike earnings report, shares were up 42% in 2024, down from a 56% gain on July 9, before the IT outage. Further, CrowdStrike competes with ( ), ( ), ( ) and others in the "endpoint" market. Endpoint security tools detect malware on laptops, mobile phones and other devices that access corporate networks. Also, CrowdStrike is building a broad, threat-detection cybersecurity platform called XDR, or extended detection and response. It monitors endpoints as well as web/email gateways, web application firewalls and cloud business workloads. Palo Alto and CrowdStrike are building out . Also, CRWD stock is among .
AP Business SummaryBrief at 4:40 p.m. EST
U.S. President Joe Biden said Washington would attempt to reach a cease-fire deal in Gaza with Türkiye, Qatar, Egypt, Israel and others, as he welcomed the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Lebanon on Wednesday. "Now Hamas has a choice to make. Their only way out is to release the hostages, including American citizens, which they hold, and, in the process, bring an end to the fighting, which would make possible a surge of humanitarian relief," Biden said. "Over the coming days, the United States will make another push with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza. With the hostages released and the end of the war without Hamas in power, that becomes possible." Israel launched a brutal offensive on Gaza following an attack by Hamas in October 2023 and continues it to this day despite a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire. The offensive, now in its second year, has killed over 44,000 people and injured 104,000, also leaving most of Gaza a devastated, uninhabitable wasteland, with food, medicine and water all in short supply. Months of attempts to negotiate a cease-fire have yielded scant progress, and negotiations are now on hold. Mediator Qatar suspended its efforts until the sides were prepared to make concessions. Last week, the United States vetoed another U.N. Security Council resolution for a cease-fire in Gaza. There are disagreements over Israel's continued military presence inside Gaza, particularly along the border with Egypt, the free movement of Palestinians inside the territory and the identity and number of prisoners to be freed in a swap. Türkiye has been fiercely critical of Israel’s brutal offensive in Gaza, which it and others say amounts to genocide. It has also slammed many Western allies for their support of Israel and repeatedly called for Muslim unity to facilitate a desperately needed cease-fire. Ankara urges Israel to reciprocate the constructive approach of the Palestinians in cease-fire negotiations and the international community to pressure Netanyahu’s government. Türkiye is a staunch supporter of Hamas, which it describes as a resistance movement, unlike the Western countries, which mostly define it as a terrorist group, and hosted Haniyeh several times to discuss cease-fire efforts and the humanitarian aid crisis in the blockaded enclave. It has formally applied to join South Africa's initiative to have Israel tried for genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Do you need a VPN at home? Here are 10 reasons you doCajuns lay another postseason egg with blowout loss to TCU in New Mexico Bowl
