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Three Sooners get SEC weekly honorsWASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill rallied around Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Pentagon pick, on Thursday even as new details surfaced about allegations that he had sexually assaulted a woman in 2017. The GOP embrace of Hegseth came as another controversial Trump nominee, Matt Gaetz, withdrew from consideration for attorney general. Gaetz said it was clear he had become a “distraction" amid pressure on the House to release an ethics report about allegations of his own sexual misconduct. An attorney for two women has said that his clients told House Ethics Committee investigators that Gaetz paid them for sex on multiple occasions beginning in 2017, when Gaetz was a Florida congressman. People are also reading... Fresh questions over the two nominees' pasts, and their treatment of women, arose with Republicans under pressure from Trump and his allies to quickly confirm his Cabinet. At the same time, his transition has so far balked at the vetting and background checks that have traditionally been required. While few Republican senators have publicly criticized any of Trump's nominees, it became clear after Gaetz's withdrawal that many had been harboring private concerns about him. Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who served with Gaetz in the House, said it was a “positive move.” Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker said it was a “positive development.” Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Gaetz “put country first and I am pleased with his decision.” After meeting with Hegseth, though, Republicans rallied around him. “I think he’s going to be in pretty good shape,” said Wicker, who is expected to chair the Senate Armed Services Committee in the next Congress. Republican senators' careful words, and their early reluctance to publicly question Trump's picks, illustrated not only their fear of retribution from the incoming president but also some of their hopes that the confirmation process can proceed normally, with proper vetting and background checks that could potentially disqualify problematic nominees earlier. Gaetz withdrew after meeting with senators on Wednesday. Sen. Thom Tillis said Gaetz was “in a pressure cooker” when he decided to withdraw, but suggested that it would have little bearing on Trump’s other nominees. “Transactions — one at a time,” he said. As the Hegseth nomination proceeds, Republicans also appear to be betting that they won't face much backlash for publicly setting aside the allegations of sexual misconduct — especially after Trump won election after being found liable for sexual abuse last year. Hegseth held a round of private meetings alongside incoming Vice President JD Vance on Thursday in an attempt to shore up support and told reporters afterward: “The matter was fully investigated and I was completely cleared, and that’s where I’m gonna leave it.” A 22-page police report report made public late Wednesday offered the first detailed account of the allegations against him. A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave. The report cited police interviews with the alleged victim, a nurse who treated her, a hotel staffer, another woman at the event and Hegseth. Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Palatore, said the incident was “fully investigated and police found the allegations to be false.” Hegseth paid the woman in 2023 as part of a confidential settlement to head off the threat of what he described as a baseless lawsuit, Palatore has said. Wicker played down the allegations against Hegseth, a former Fox News host, saying that “since no charges were brought from the authorities, we only have press reports.” Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., said after his meeting with Hegseth that he "shared with him the fact that I was saddened by the attacks that are coming his way.” Hagerty dismissed the allegations as “a he-said, she-said thing” and called it a “shame” that they were being raised at all. The senator said attention should instead be focused on the Defense Department that Hegseth would head. It's one of the most complex parts of the federal government with more than 3 million employees, including military service members and civilians. Sexual assault has been a persistent problem in the military, though Pentagon officials have been cautiously optimistic they are seeing a decline in reported sexual assaults among active-duty service members and the military academies. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, who will be the No. 2 Republican in the Senate next year, said after his meeting with Hegseth that the nominee is a strong candidate who “pledged that the Pentagon will focus on strength and hard power – not the current administration’s woke political agenda.” Senate Republicans are under pressure to hold hearings once they take office in January and confirm nominees as soon as Trump is inaugurated, despite questions about whether Trump’s choices will be properly screened or if some, like Hegseth, have enough experience for the job. Senate Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed, who will be the top Democrat on the panel next year, said the reports on Hegseth “emphasized the need for a thorough investigation by the FBI on the background of all the nominees.” It takes a simple majority to approve Cabinet nominations, meaning that if Democrats all opposed a nominee, four Republican senators would also have to defect for any Trump choice to be defeated. Trump has made clear he’s willing to put maximum pressure on Senate Republicans to give him the nominees he wants – even suggesting at one point that they allow him to just appoint his nominees with no Senate votes. But senators insist, for now, that they are not giving up their constitutional power to have a say. “The president has the right to make the nominations that he sees fit, but the Senate also has a responsibility for advice and consent,” said Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota. In the case of Gaetz, he said, “I think there was advice offered rather than consent.” Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox!Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Radio star Melvin Odoom confessed his crush on Carol Vorderman while in the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! jungle and now, former I'm A Celeb star Nicola McLean has suggested they should go on a date. Melvin, 44, spilled the beans about his crush on the maths genius during his stint in the jungle, revealing his affection to the other contestants after receiving a pillow with her image as his luxury item. After braving the Australian wilds and being the fourth celebrity to exit after 18 days, Melvin opened up about his desire to take Carol, 63, on a date, especially since he'd been too shy to approach her at the previous Pride of Britain Awards in October. Nicola, who competed in the 2008 series, believes Carol "owes" him a date. She said: "Imagine being that spoken about on I'm A Celebrity and you weren't even in the camp so I think she owes him for the air time. She should definitely go on a date with him. He's so cute as well. They'd be lovely together." This comes on the heels of news that Carol messaged Melvin with congratulations upon his show exit. Fresh out of the jungle, Melvin couldn't contain his excitement as he jumped onto his Twitter and Instagram with a lively video, declaring, "Carol is in the DMs! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !" The TV star was buzzing to dive into his messages after being unplugged from his phone while in the camp, revealing on the video: "I'm about to check my DMs. I've spotted a message from Vorders herself. Let's see what it says", reports the Mirror . Over breakfast at their hotel, Melvin’s fellow celeb Jane Moore teased him by predicting Carol's message might say "Get lost, loser," prompting a gleeful reply from Melvin: "No, no, no." He went on to share Carol’s actual words sent to his account handler: "Please give him my best. He's done so well", followed by a heart emoji. Fans who've been following I’m a Celeb were thrilled with the revelation, causing a stir on social media. Comments like "Sort a date out", "Awww, so happy for you!", "Go get your girl," and "I have been living for this day! ! ! !" started flooding in. Carol didn't miss a beat when it came to engaging in some playful banter on ITV's I'm A Celebrity Unpacked. Host Joel Dommett shared a cheeky voice note from Carol, where she flirted : "Melvin... or should I say jungle man, Melvin Vorderman. Right, question, have you been spying on me? Because only last night I had little Thai food..." She continued to encourage him: "Jungle man, keep doing what you are doing, you're doing a brilliant job. see you on other side."
The hunt for UnitedHealthcare CEO's elusive killer yields new evidence, but few answers
DWTS' Sasha Farber and Jenn Tran reunite with familiar face at Christmas marketDr. Oz Invested Millions in Companies Regulated by Agency Trump Tapped Him to Lead
Companies tighten security after a health care CEO’s killing leads to a surge of threatsAAP demands judicial probe into Sambhal violence
Asparaginase Market Global Share, Key Country Analysis and Forecasts2025 General Market Outlook: Earnings Growth To Be Main Driver Of S&P 500Stocks start week with gain of 282 points amid rally in banking sector KARACHI: Stocks closed higher by 282 points on Monday to new highs amid the rally in the banking sector on strong earnings outlook. The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index increased by 281.55 points or 0.29 per cent to 98,079.78 points against 97,798.23 points recorded in the last session. The highest index of the day remained at 99,317.48 points while the lowest level was recorded at 97,137.64 points. Analyst Ahsan Mehanti at Arif Habib Corp said that the combination of a favourable earnings outlook for banks and reduced political tension due to the court’s decision helped the stock market close on a higher note for the day. He said that upbeat economic indicators, rupee stability and surging FX reserves played a catalyst role in the bullish activity.However, mid-session challenges like volatility from futures rollover, political uncertainties related to PTI protests, and broader geopolitical concerns prevented the market from sustaining its momentum or gaining further. The KSE-30 index increased by 78.02 points or 0.26 per cent to 30,558.73 points against 30,480.71 points.Traded shares plunged by 609 million shares to 640.258 million shares from 1,249.092 million shares. The trading value dropped to Rs25.623 billion from Rs45.475 billion. Market capital expanded to Rs12.533 trillion against Rs12.518 trillion. Of the 460 companies active in the session, 220 closed in green, 185 in red and 55 remained unchanged. Naveed Nadeem, an analyst at Topline Securities, said the KSE-100 Index closed at 98,080, posting a gain of 282 points or 0.29 per cent. The market maintained a bullish trend, reaching an intraday high of 99,317. Investor confidence was buoyed by unconfirmed speculation that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) may offer relaxation to banks regarding minimum deposit rates for savers. Key contributors to the index’s rise included BAHL, UBL, MEBL, SYS, and MCB, which collectively added 555 points to the index.The highest increase was recorded in Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited, which rose by Rs117.14 to Rs19,132 per share, followed by Pakistan Services Limited, which increased by Rs46.11 to Rs941.47 per share. A significant decline was noted in PIA Holding Company Limited B, which fell by Rs95.96 to Rs902.28 per share; Rafhan Maize Products Company Limited followed it, which closed lower by Rs59.95 to Rs7,954.55 per share. Hascol Petrol remained the volume leader with 64.823 million shares which closed higher by Rs1.12 to Rs12.35 per share. Cnergyico PK followed it with 48.065 million shares, which closed higher by 22 paisas to Rs4.71 per share. Other significant turnover stocks included Fauji Foods Ltd, WorldCall Telecom, K-Electric Ltd., Sui South Gas, Treet Battery Ltd., BO Punjab, Waves Home App and Lotte Chemical.In the futures market, 310 companies recorded trading, of which 179 increased, 127 decreased and 4 remained unchanged.
We will soon put 2024 in the history books, and what a year it was for the stock market. So far, the S&P 500 index has reached a new all-time high a whopping 50 times. There are multiple reasons for the rise, like a resilient economy and expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep lowering interest rates. However, perhaps the largest reason is artificial intelligence (AI) enthusiasm. Some believe that the stock market is in a bubble, or at least overextended, and there are definitely stocks that appear overvalued. However, the AI market is massive and expanding quickly, as shown below. The AI market could more than quadruple 2024 revenues by 2030, so companies (and investors) are scrambling for a piece of it. AI covers a lot of different applications, one of which is voice recognition technology. This tech communicates with people conversationally and has many applications. One of the leading companies in the field is SoundHound AI ( SOUN 12.60% ) , whose stock has rocketed 578% in 2024 as of this writing. Will this continue in 2025? SoundHound's market opportunity The financial implications of conversational speech recognition are gigantic. Order-taking at drive-thru restaurants and automated customer service will save companies vast sums of money on employee costs. Well-known companies like White Castle, Papa John's , Applebee's, and many more are testing or deploying SoundHound's tech. SoundHound just reported that Torchy's Tacos rolled out the tech at their locations. Automotive is another massive market using SoundHound. The tech accesses a vast database to answer questions like "What's the most scenic route?" "What will the weather be like in Detroit this weekend?" or "Where is a nearby Italian restaurant, and what is the fastest way to get there?" This is a significant advancement from the days of "call so and so" and "play music." I believe that voice recognition tech like this will soon be the standard at drive-thrus and automobiles. Statista predicts the market will more than double by 2030, as you can see below. Revenue is growing faster than the market for SoundHound. Is SoundHound stock a buy now? SoundHound reported an 89% year-over-year increase in revenue to $25 million in the third quarter. It also expanded its customer base significantly in 2024. The company expects sales of $82 million to $85 million for 2024, potentially doubling sales with $165 million as the guidance midpoint of 2025. The revenue growth is incredible; however, investors should note that the company is not profitable and does not produce positive cash flow from operations. This makes the stock riskier than profitable companies. SoundHound's valuation is in question after its recent epic run that saw the stock soar 171% over the past 30 days. The company trades for 33 times its potential $165 million in sales for 2025 based on its $5.5 billion market cap at the time of this writing. That is quite high for any company, let alone one that isn't profitable. Analysts put an average price target on SoundHound of $8.07, well below the current price of $14.62. I am enthusiastic about SoundHound's future and was recently high on the stock; however, investors should consider waiting for a pullback after this run.This is the endgame to a saga that has been playing out for most of Biden’s tenure: the tension between the administration’s goal of improving public services and its habit of catering to public-service unions. It would be an exaggeration to say that public dissatisfaction with government services played a major role in President-elect Donald Trump’s victory. But the incoming administration’s fixation with government efficiency, however misguided, will certainly play a role going forward. No controversy surrounded federal workers going remote in 2020, during the pandemic, and as Biden was inaugurated in January 2021. But over the next few months, vaccines became widely available, and Americans returned to tourism, business travel and office work. By March 1, 2022, when Biden delivered the State of the Union, the clear desire was to return to normal. “It’s time for America to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again with people,” Biden said. “The vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person.” Yet it never happened. The White House issued various directives, and every political appointee I know was routinely in the office (and routinely complaining about the absence of so many civil servants making their jobs harder). But despite this widespread discontent among his own appointees, Biden never got the workers back. One reason is that civil servants overwhelmingly view the return-to-office push as a bad-faith political stunt designed to assuage critics in Congress or provide economic benefits to cities. The belief that regular presence in an office is beneficial, expressed by many managers in the private sector, doesn’t have much traction. The larger issue is that return-to-work policies need to be bargained collectively with the unions representing federal workers. The job of union leaders is to win concessions for their members, so they argue that requiring an in-office presence is burdensome and pointless. That lets them maximize financial concessions or whatever else in exchange for going to in-person work. Biden officials generally treated this collective bargaining situation as an external constraint on their ability to manage the federal workforce. But the president’s own appointees controlled the National Labor Relations Board. It’s of course appropriate that a dramatic shift in working conditions should be subject to collective bargaining. But we all lived through the pandemic and saw what happened: Employers made a dramatic shift to remote work as a result of a public health emergency. The idea that this should have also created a new bargaining chit for public-sector unions doesn’t make sense. If the White House really couldn’t persuade the NLRB to treat this more sensibly, it could have tried to work with Congress to make a statutory change to require common-sense policies. But the Biden administration didn’t do that, either. The president told the public he was going to bring federal workers back and then didn’t, because of deference to labor unions. Under Trump, America is going to get the polar-opposite approach to remote work. Instead of policies that balance the collaborative benefits of time in office with the recruiting and retention benefits of flexibility, the new regime doesn’t really care about public-sector performance and wants to purge the “deep state” of professionalism and perceived political enemies. To that end, being as strict as possible — in the hope that career civil servants will quit — will serve Trump’s ends. That’s unfortunate. The option of working remotely at least some of the time has real value to both workers and employers. Pretending that Zoom doesn’t exist would be absurd. Prudent members of Congress should push back against efforts, already apparent among the president-elect’s allies, to use return-to-work as a hammer to destroy state capacity. For Democrats, there will always be some friction between serving the public’s interest in efficient government services and its own interest in accommodating its supporters in public unions. These interests are not often aligned. Successful Democratic presidents, such as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, were especially attentive to the ways in which teachers unions could be impediments to improving public education, and made a point of standing up to them. Biden — and Biden-era Democrats — generally prioritized coalition management over such concerns. That’s why they made COVID-era work policies permanent as a giveaway to civil-service unions. It’s a decision Democrats will come to regret, as Trump now wields the very real shortcomings of the status quo as a pretext for dismantling systems that Americans very much need.
It goes without saying that we'd all like that can pay us at least $1,000 a month. While that amount might not be enough to fully retire, it certainly has the potential to free up some time and money in your working life. But reaching the point of receiving $1,000 a month in from the share market is easier said than done. Today, let's chart out this journey in five steps. Hopefully, this inspires readers to take the first step on their own journey to securing at least $1,000 in monthly passive income Five steps to $1,000 a month in passive income If you're hoping to secure a stream of passive income from the share market, you will first need to ensure your own financial house is in order. You'll have to start with any you might have. Owing money on your mortgage or your HECS account is one thing. But it's the 'bad debts' like credit cards, personal loans or car payments that you need to eliminate. These loans for unproductive assets are a major drag on anyone's financials. Once you've cleared any of these debts, you'll need to to ensure that you always spend less than you earn. You can't build a stream of passive income without disposable income in the first place. When you've got to the point when you're consistently spending less than you're bringing in, there's one more step to take before you start investing for passive income. That would be building a . Until you've secured a meaningful stream of secondary income, you're still at the mercy of life's ebbs and flows. If you get sick, crash the car or have some other kind of unexpected emergency, it's vital to have a rainy day fund there to catch you. The last thing you want to do is have to sell your shares at an inopportune moment, thanks to something out of your control. Having enough cash to cover three to six months' worth of living expenses is probably a good place to start. Once your financial house is in order and you have amassed a healthy rainy-day emergency fund, it's finally time to start investing in the stock market. Passive income from stocks comes in the form of payments. As such, you want to choose investments that pay a generous and rising stream of income, preferably too. You can always start with popular dividend shares like ( ), ( ) or ( ). Another solid choice is an income-focused . These investments bundle a wide range of dividend-paying stocks together in one easy investment. As , two solid choices, in my view, are the ( ) and the ( ). Building a passive income stream worth $1,000 a month won't happen overnight, of course. Remember, buying $1,000 worth of shares that pay a of 4% will only get you $3.33 in monthly dividend income to start with. That's why you need to ensure that you are investing as much as you can, as soon as you can. However, you can turbocharge the process by . This ensures that your capital is as quickly as it can, as well as ensuring that you don't miss that money. What you don't want to do is to take those dividends and spend them before you're enjoying that $1,000 a month in passive income. You're now well on your way to hitting that $1,000 in monthly dividend income. But, building on step four, our final step is to ensure that we are harnessing the power of compound interest as much as possible. This will take time, probably many years. To achieve $1,000 a month ($12,000 annually) in passive income, you'll need to have, for example, a portfolio worth $300,000 that yields 4% income every year. If one starts with $1,000 and invests $1,000 a month, it will take just over 13 years to hit $300,000. That's assuming an 8% rate of return and the reinvestment of all dividends. If you can somehow increase your monthly investment or achieve a higher average rate of return, this will cut down your timeframe dramatically. Remember, compounding exponentially increases your returns the longer you hold the investment. Although it will take just over 13 years to hit $100,00 with the conditions stated above, if you wait for 20, you'll have close to $600,000. Foolish takeaway As you can see, building a stream of passive income using ASX shares is not easy. However, it is still one of the most straightforward paths to a secondary income stream most of us have access to. The sooner you get started, the sooner you can start enjoying that $1,000 in effortless cash every month.Complications make life-and election predictions-interesting. Reality needn't always comply. The straightforward fashion by which BJP-Shiv Sena©-NCP© in Maharashtra, and JMM-Congress-RJD in Jharkhand, have convincingly won underlines two things: one, 'good continuity' can trump anti-incumbency; two, focusing on multiple 'ground-level' factors is the best recipe for electoral victory. Something that didn't work: polarisation. In Maharashtra, Rahul Gandhi did no favour to Congress chances by embroiling himself in a 'Savarkar controversy', with Pune and Nashik courts summoning him in defamation cases. Playing the 'Adani card' to voters was like throwing firecrackers in the water. In Jharkhand, Amit Shah conjuring up bogeys of tribals being overrun by 'infiltrators' and 'intruders' was a tactic that, similarly, found little takers. Instead, good old schemes, especially those targeted at women-Mukhyamantri-Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana providing ₹1,500 a month to women between 21 and 65 years in Maharashtra, and Maiya Samman Yojana providing ₹1,000 a month to 18-50-yr women in Jharkhand-created the right gravitational forces. Ticket distribution, groundwork and 'non-abstract' campaigning won over voters the way all consumers usually are (and should be): by showcasing past performance and making believable promises with a high 'follow-upability' quotient. BJP 's individual sterling performance in the Maha Yuti makes Devendra Fadnavis a top contender for CM. Incumbent CM Eknath Shinde and NCP chief Ajit Pawar-both who can, by mandate now, after gaining it judicially, lay claim to their legitimacy-should be okay with that arrangement. In the end, both Maharashtra and Jharkhand results show the efficacy of Electioneering 101.
NEW YORK (AP) — Police don’t know who he is, where he is, or why he did it. As the frustrating search for UnitedHealthcare killer got underway for a fifth day Sunday, investigators reckoned with a tantalizing contradiction: They have troves of evidence, but the shooter remains an enigma. One conclusion they are confident of, however: It was a , not a random one. They know he ambushed Thompson at 6:44 a.m. Wednesday as the executive arrived at the Hilton for his company’s annual investor conference, using a 9 mm pistol that resembled the guns farmers use to put down animals without causing a loud noise. They know ammunition found near Thompson’s body “delay,” “deny” and “depose,” mimicking a phrase used by . The fact that the shooter knew UnitedHealthcare group was holding a conference at the hotel and what route Thompson might take to get there suggested that he could possibly be a disgruntled employee or client, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said. Over the weekend, police divers were seen searching a pond in Central Park, where the killer fled after the shooting. Officers have been scouring the park for days for any and found his backpack there Friday. They didn’t immediately reveal what, if anything, it contained but said it would be tested and analyzed. Early Sunday afternoon, police declined to comment on the contents of the backpack, or on the results of the search in the pond, saying no updates were planned. The bag’s apparent manufacturer did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press. Investigators have urged patience, saying the process of logging evidence that stands up in court isn’t as quick as it . Hundreds of detectives are combing through video recordings and social media, vetting tips from the public and interviewing people who might have information, including Thompson’s family and coworkers and the shooter’s randomly assigned roommates at the Manhattan hostel where he stayed. Investigators caught a break when they came across security camera images of an unguarded moment at the hostel in which he briefly showed his face. Retracing the gunman’s steps using surveillance video, police say, it appears he left the city by bus soon after the shooting outside the New York Hilton Midtown. He was seen on video at an uptown bus station about 45 minutes later, Kenny said. With the high-profile search expanding across state lines, the FBI announced late Friday that it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, adding to a reward of up to $10,000 that the NYPD has offered. Police say they believe the suspect acted alone. Police distributed the images to news outlets and on social media but so far haven’t been able to ID him using facial recognition — possibly because of the angle of the images or limitations on how the NYPD is allowed to use that technology, Kenny said. Late Saturday, police released two additional photos of the suspected shooter that appeared to be from a camera mounted inside a taxi. The first shows him outside the vehicle and the second shows him looking through the partition between the back seat and the front of the cab. In both, his face is partially obscured by a blue, medical-style mask. Michael R. Sisak And Cedar Attanasio, The Associated PressAmid the ongoing allegations of crypto scam against Hailey Welch, the 22-year-old woman who rose to fame with the viral 'Hawk Tuah' clip, a bizarre claim has surfaced on social media that Welch is dead. Despite there being no confirmation of the same, several X accounts are posting that Welch has passed away. "Breaking News: Hailey Welch has been found deceased at the age of 22 years old," one user, with over 24,000 followers on X, posted. Other accounts also made similar posts, such as this one: What Is The Basis Of The Rumours? The rumors likely surfaced from the fact that Hailey Welch has not been posting on social media since the alleged scam around her $HAWK cryptocurrency broke out. Her last post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, dates back to December 5. She has since been attacked on social media over the alleged scam, which she has refrained from addressing beyond the initial statement. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US Buzz, World and around the world.
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