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Gaetz's withdrawal highlights how incoming presidents often lose Cabinet nominees MARTIN, Tenn. (AP) — Losing a Cabinet nominee to the confirmation process isn’t unheard of for incoming presidents — including for Donald Trump when he was elected the first time. Matt Gaetz’s decision to pull his name Thursday from consideration for attorney general — amid continued fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation — represents the first indication of resistance that the president-elect could face from his own party to picks facing allegations of sexual misconduct or other questions. Other Trump picks have drawn negative attention as well, including Pete Hegseth for defense secretary and Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence. Vance takes on a more visible transition role as he works to boost Trump's most controversial picks WASHINGTON (AP) — After several weeks working behind closed doors, Vice President-elect JD Vance returned to Capitol Hill this week in a new, more visible role. He's been helping Donald Trump’s most contentious Cabinet picks try to win confirmation in the Senate, where he has served for the last two years. Vance spent part of Wednesday at the Capitol with Rep. Matt Gaetz sitting in on meetings with Trump’s controversial choice for attorney general. On Thursday, Vance was back, this time accompanying Pete Hegseth. Vance is expected to accompany other nominees for meetings over the coming weeks as he tries to leverage the two years he has spent in the Senate to help push through Trump’s picks. Beyond evangelicals, Trump and his allies courted smaller faith groups, from the Amish to Chabad Donald Trump’s lock on the white evangelical vote is legendary, but he didn't focus exclusively on large religious voter blocs. He and his allies also wooed smaller religious groups, away from the mainstream. He posted a tribute to Coptic church members on social media and met with members of Assyrians for Trump — two smaller Christian communities with Middle Eastern roots. He visited the grave of the revered late leader of an Orthodox Jewish movement. His allies sought votes from the separatist Amish community. While Trump won decisively, the outreaches reflected aggressive campaigning in what was expected to be a tight race. NATO and Ukraine to hold emergency talks after Russia's attack with new hypersonic missile KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with a hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war. Ukraine's parliament canceled a session Friday over the security threat. In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech Thursday that the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was retaliation for Kyiv’s use of U.S. and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory. Putin said Russia is launching production of the Oreshnik, saying it's so powerful that several of them fitted with conventional warheads could be as devastating as a strike with strategic — or nuclear — weapons. Texas education board approves optional Bible-infused curriculum for elementary schools AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas’ education board has voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools. The approval Friday follows other Republican-led states that have pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education is optional for schools to adopt, but they’ll receive additional funding if they do so. Parents and teachers who opposed the curriculum say the lessons will alienate students of other faith backgrounds. Supporters argue the Bible is a core feature of American history and that teaching it will enrich learning. 2 men convicted of charges related to human smuggling after scheme led to an Indian family’s death FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) — A prosecution spokesperson says a jury has convicted two men of charges related to human smuggling for their roles in an international operation that led to the deaths of a family of Indian migrants who froze while trying to cross the Canada-U.S. border during a 2022 blizzard. Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel and Steve Shand each faced four charges related to human smuggling before being convicted Friday. Patel is an Indian national. Shand is an American from Florida. They were arrested after the family froze while trying to cross the desolate border during a 2022 blizzard. Northern California gets record rain and heavy snow. Many have been in the dark for days in Seattle FORESTVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A major storm with heavy snow and record rain that's moving through Northern California has toppled trees, closed roads and prompted evacuations in some areas after knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people in Washington and Oregon. Forecasters warn that the risk of flash flooding and rockslides will continue through Friday. The National Weather Service has extended a flood watch for areas north of San Francisco as a plume of moisture known as an atmospheric river inundates Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Up to 16 inches of rain is forecast in Northern California and southwestern Oregon. The storm system unleashed winds earlier this week that left two people dead and hundreds of thousands without power in Washington. Colorado funeral home owners accused of letting 190 bodies decay plead guilty to corpse abuse COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Colorado funeral home owners accused of stashing 190 decaying bodies and giving grieving families fake ashes have pleaded guilty to corpse abuse. Jon and Carie Hallford entered the plea on Friday. Prosecutors say the owners of the Return to Nature funeral home began improperly storing bodies in a building outside Colorado Springs as far back as 2019. They allege the couple gave grieving families dry concrete in place of their loved ones’ cremains. Over the years, the Hallfords spent lavishly, buying luxury cars and laser body sculpting. That ended when the bodies were discovered last year. What do hundreds of beavers have to do with the future of movies? NEW YORK (AP) — The low-budget movie “Hundreds of Beavers” has turned into a lo-fi legend. Mike Cheslik’s film, made for just $150,000 and self-distributed in theaters, has managed to gnaw its way into a movie culture largely dominated by big-budget sequels. It’s a wordless black-and-white bonanza of slapstick antics about a stranded 19th century applejack salesman at war with a bevy of beavers, all of whom are played by actors in mascot costumes. It’s been called “the future of cinema” — a proclamation that may sound extreme for a movie about a guy with a giant beaver hat. But in a shrinking movie industry, DIY microbudget filmmaking may increasingly be left to fill some of the void left by risk-adverse, corporate-driven Hollywood. Noodles and wine are the secret ingredients for a strange new twist in China's doping saga Blame it on the noodles. That's what one Chinese official suggested when anti-doping leaders were looking for answers for the doping scandal that cast a shadow over this year's Olympic swim meet. Earlier this year, reports that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned heart medication emerged. None were sanctioned because Chinese authorities determined the swimmers were contaminated by traces of the drug spread about a hotel kitchen. In a strange twist, the leader of China's anti-doping agency suggested this case could have been similar to one in which criminals were responsible for tainting noodles that were later eaten by another Chinese athlete who also tested positive for the drug.
Over the last couple of months, there have been recalls of millions of pounds of meat for listeria concerns and of carrots for potential E. coli contamination . Searches for “recalled ground beef” are trending on Google while some on social media are claiming that hundreds of thousands of pounds of ground beef have been recalled. THE QUESTION Is there a ground beef recall for potential E. coli contamination? THE SOURCES U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) Minnesota Department of Health Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) THE ANSWER Yes, there is a ground beef recall for potential E. coli contamination, but the recalled meat was not sold in grocery stores. WHAT WE FOUND Wolverine Packing Co. is recalling about 167,277 pounds of ground beef products due to potential E. coli contamination, according to a Nov. 20 announcement from the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) . The recalled beef is not sold in stores. The FSIS says the beef was shipped to restaurant locations nationwide. The FSIS did not name the restaurants where the beef was distributed. Restaurants can identify the recalled beef by looking for establishment number “EST. 2574B” inside the USDA mark of inspection. Fresh products have a “use by” date of 11/14/2024, and frozen products have a production date of 10 22 24. The FSIS has shared a list of product labels for the recalled beef. The FSIS says the problem was discovered after the Minnesota Department of Agriculture notified them of a group of people who reported eating ground beef before becoming sick. On Nov. 15, the Minnesota Department of Health urged people to contact their healthcare provider if they ate a hamburger at a table-service restaurant anytime after Oct. 31 and developed diarrhea, particularly bloody diarrhea. At the time, the Minnesota Department of Health reported that infected people ate the contaminated meat between Oct. 31 and Nov. 7. The FSIS said all 15 reported infections so far have been in Minnesota. E. coli is a kind of bacteria that can be found in many places, including the intestines of people and animals. Most kinds of E. coli are harmless and part of a healthy intestinal tract, but some E. coli can make people sick with diarrhea, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, sepsis and other illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) . The kind of E. coli found in the contaminated beef can cause dehydration, stomach cramps that last two to eight days and diarrhea that is often bloody, according to the FSIS, although the Minnesota Department of Health also notes that patients usually have no fever or a low-grade fever. Most people recover in five to 10 days, but about 5% of infections lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a severe complication that involves acute kidney failure, the Minnesota Department of Health says. HUS can occur to people of any age, but is most common in older adults and children under 5 years old, the FSIS says. Symptoms include easy bruising, pale skin and decreased urine output. People who experience these symptoms should immediately seek emergency medical care. Related Articles Yes, there is a carrot recall following an E. coli outbreak Yes, some black plastics in kitchen utensils, toys are made from recycled electronics Yes, the average Thanksgiving meal this year is more affordable than last year The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter , text alerts and our YouTube channel . You can also follow us on Snapchat , Instagram , Facebook and TikTok . Learn More » Follow Us YouTube Snapchat Instagram Facebook TikTok Want something VERIFIED? Text: 202-410-8808Gonzaga lands Virginia transfer G Jalen Warley
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.
Palantir ( PLTR 6.22% ) has been one of 2024's best-performing stocks. As of the time of writing, it has risen an astounding 340%, meaning the stock has more than quadrupled in 2024. That's an impressive performance, but anyone who doesn't own the stock is wondering if there's more upside to be had with Palantir. With 2025 right around the corner, can Palantir repeat its 2024 performance next year? Palantir's AI software is seeing huge growth in the U.S. With returns like that, you might guess that Palantir is somehow involved with artificial intelligence (AI), and you'd be right. Palantir's software gives those with decision-making authority all of the information they need to make the most informed choice possible. At first, this software was exclusively used by the government. Then, Palantir expanded its reach to the commercial sector, where it also saw strong demand. However, the biggest rise in demand occurred recently with its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP). AIP allows AI to be integrated into workflows rather than be a tool on the side. It also allows data to be maintained within the platform, so third-party generative AI models don't have access to potentially sensitive information. Palantir saw demand for its software explode in 2024, and management is extremely bullish on its future. CEO Alex Karp summarized Q3 in one sentence: "We absolutely eviscerated this quarter, driven by unrelenting AI demand that won't slow down." In the third quarter, Palantir saw revenue rise 30% year over year to $726 million. However, the U.S. saw outsized demand compared to its international counterparts, as U.S. commercial revenue rose 54% year over year to $179 million, and U.S. government revenue rose 40% year over year to $320 million. Clearly, AI has been a huge hit in the U.S., but that enthusiasm has yet to spill over to the international community. Another hallmark of Palantir's AI business is that it's actually profitable. In Q3, it posted a second consecutive quarter with a 20% profit margin. This proves that a software company doesn't need to be growth at all costs -- growth and financial responsibility can go hand in hand. But that's the past; what does the future hold? Palantir's business and stock have disconnected If you're thinking, "How can Palantir's stock be up more than 300% when revenue was only up 30%," you're not alone. While Palantir's business looked great, its stock returns are unbelievable. Most of Palantir's stock returns have come from a mechanism called multiple expansion. Multiple expansion occurs when investors are willing to pay more for a company's given financials; therefore, its valuation rises. This has happened with Palantir, as the stock now trades for 184 times forward earnings and 63 times sales. PLTR PS Ratio data by YCharts If you're familiar with either valuation metric, then you know how expensive the stock is. Even a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 63 would be expensive, yet that's what it trades at when only sales are accounted for. During its two-year run, AI leader Nvidia has never traded for more than 62 times forward earnings or 46 times sales. NVDA PS Ratio data by YCharts However, Nvidia also saw its revenue rise 320% from the start of 2023 until now, which justified the higher price tag. Palantir isn't anywhere close to that growth level, and it has no business being valued as highly as it is. Unless Palantir's growth rate accelerates to a pace where it's doubling year over year, this stock is ripe for a significant pullback, and investors need to be careful with it. As a result, I don't think there's any way for Palantir to repeat its 2024 performance in 2025. If anything, I'd expect to go backward in 2025, as even if the business does well (which I think it will do), the expectations are far too high to produce any sort of positive stock returns.India's economic transformation over the past two decades has lifted millions out of poverty. But this growth has not been evenly distributed. Persistent disparities in income, expenditure and savings highlight a fragile narrative of inequality. ET Year-end Special Reads Corporate Kalesh: Top family disputes of India Inc in 2024 The world of business lost these eminent people in 2024 Fast, faster, fastest: How 2024 put more speed into your shopping Income In 2005, income Gini coefficient was 0.48, indicating high inequality. This declined to 0.40 by 2014 and 2016 due to welfare programmes and rising rural incomes. But Covid pushed Gini to 0.53, its highest during the period undertaken by the PRICE ICE 360° income survey, as informal sector workers faced challenges while wealthier households benefited from asset price increases. By 2023, cash transfers and food subsidies reduced Gini to 0.41, reflecting partial recovery. Brazil's experience parallels India's. The Bolsa Familia cash transfer programme reduced its income inequality from 0.60 to 0.53 by 2014, but recessions and Covid reversed these gains, with inequality rising to 0.57. Both India and Brazil highlight the vulnerability of progress to external shocks and the need for sustained social policies. Expenditure This has been lower than income inequality, reflecting consumption-smoothing mechanisms like subsidies and remittances. Expenditure Gini declined from 0.36 in 2005 to 0.31 in 2011, showing improved access to essential goods and services for low-income households. But between 2014 and 2016, it plateaued at 0.33. Covid caused a spike to 0.46 in 2021, as wealthier households maintained consumption levels, while poorer households cut back. By 2023, expenditure inequality fell to 0.36, indicating recovery. South Africa provides a comparable example. While its income inequality is among the highest globally, programmes like Child Support Grant and Old Age Pension have stabilised expenditure inequality at lower levels. However, these efforts demonstrate that addressing consumption disparities alone can't resolve underlying structural inequalities. 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View Program Data Science SQL for Data Science along with Data Analytics and Data Visualization By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI and Analytics based Business Strategy By - Tanusree De, Managing Director- Accenture Technology Lead, Trustworthy AI Center of Excellence: ATCI View Program Web Development A Comprehensive ASP.NET Core MVC 6 Project Guide for 2024 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Marketing Digital Marketing Masterclass by Pam Moore By - Pam Moore, Digital Transformation and Social Media Expert View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI-Powered Python Mastery with Tabnine: Boost Your Coding Skills By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Office Productivity Mastering Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and 365 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Marketing Digital marketing - Wordpress Website Development By - Shraddha Somani, Digital Marketing Trainer, Consultant, Strategiest and Subject Matter expert View Program Office Productivity Mastering Google Sheets: Unleash the Power of Excel and Advance Analysis By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Web Development Mastering Full Stack Development: From Frontend to Backend Excellence By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Finance Financial Literacy i.e Lets Crack the Billionaire Code By - CA Rahul Gupta, CA with 10+ years of experience and Accounting Educator View Program Data Science SQL Server Bootcamp 2024: Transform from Beginner to Pro By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Savings This remains India's most pronounced and persistent challenge. In 2005, savings Gini coefficient was 0.78, highlighting severe disparities in wealth accumulation. By 2014, it improved to 0.60 due to financial inclusion programmes like Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, which brought millions into the formal financial system. Covid disrupted this progress, pushing savings Gini to 0.73 in 2021 as wealthier households saved more while poorer households struggled. By 2023, it improved to 0.56, but wealth accumulation gaps persist. Indonesia's experience echoes these challenges. Despite progress in financial inclusion, wealth disparities endure due to unequal access to investments like real estate and equities, concentrated among the wealthy. This underscores the need for policies that address systemic barriers to wealth creation. Dimensions of inequality are interconnected, influencing broader economic outcomes. Income inequality directly drives savings inequality, as higher-income households can save and invest more, compounding wealth disparities. Expenditure inequality reflects disparities in access to goods and services, further amplifying income and savings gaps. Experiences from Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia reveal that addressing only one dimension of inequality is insufficient. Policies must focus on income generation, equitable consumption and wealth accumulation to achieve inclusive growth. Structural factors underlie India's inequality trends. Economic changes have disproportionately benefited high-skilled and urban populations, leaving low-income and rural households behind. The pandemic widened these disparities, particularly for informal sector workers and marginalised groups. Financial inclusion has improved banking access, but wealth-building barriers persist. Redistribution policies like rural employment schemes and direct benefit transfers reduce inequality but require scaling up to tackle systemic challenges effectively. Expanding MGNREGA to urban areas can offer a crisis safety net. Progressive taxation, including wealth and luxury taxes, could fund redistributive programmes. Investing in education and skills is vital for low-income workers in growth sectors like tech and manufacturing. Financial inclusion must foster wealth creation via credit and investments. Targeted rural development in infra, healthcare, and education is key to reducing regional disparities and driving inclusive growth. The PRICE ICE 360° surveys reveal that while progress has been made, external shocks like the pandemic expose the fragility of these gains. Policymakers must prioritise resilience and inclusivity to ensure economic growth benefits for all. Reducing inequality is not only a moral imperative but also a prerequisite for sustainable development.
This review takes a close look the final flight of the agency’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which was the first aircraft to fly on another world. Engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and AeroVironment are completing a detailed assessment of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s final flight on Jan. 18, 2024, which will be published in the next few weeks as a NASA technical report. Designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, Ingenuity was the first aircraft on another world. It operated for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 30 times farther than planned while accumulating over two hours of flight time. The investigation concludes that the inability of Ingenuity’s navigation system to provide accurate data during the flight likely caused a chain of events that ended the mission. The report’s findings are expected to benefit future Mars helicopters, as well as other aircraft destined to operate on other worlds. was planned as a brief vertical hop to assess Ingenuity’s flight systems and photograph the area. Data from the flight shows Ingenuity climbing to 40 feet (12 meters), hovering, and capturing images. It initiated its descent at 19 seconds, and by 32 seconds the helicopter was back on the surface and had halted communications. The following day, the mission reestablished communications, and images that came down six days after the flight revealed Ingenuity had sustained severe damage to its rotor blades. “When running an accident investigation from 100 million miles away, you don’t have any black boxes or eyewitnesses,” said Ingenuity’s first pilot, Håvard Grip of JPL. “While multiple scenarios are viable with the available data, we have one we believe is most likely: Lack of surface texture gave the navigation system too little information to work with.” The helicopter’s vision navigation system was designed to track visual features on the surface using a downward-looking camera over well-textured (pebbly) but flat terrain. This limited tracking capability was more than sufficient for carrying out Ingenuity’s first five flights, but by Flight 72 the helicopter was in a region of Jezero Crater filled with steep, relatively featureless sand ripples. One of the navigation system’s main requirements was to provide velocity estimates that would enable the helicopter to land within a small envelope of vertical and horizontal velocities. Data sent down during Flight 72 shows that, around 20 seconds after takeoff, the navigation system couldn’t find enough surface features to track. Photographs taken after the flight indicate the navigation errors created high horizontal velocities at touchdown. In the most likely scenario, the hard impact on the sand ripple’s slope caused Ingenuity to pitch and roll. The rapid attitude change resulted in loads on the fast-rotating rotor blades beyond their design limits, snapping all four of them off at their weakest point — about a third of the way from the tip. The damaged blades caused excessive vibration in the rotor system, ripping the remainder of one blade from its root and generating an excessive power demand that resulted in loss of communications. This short animation depicts a NASA concept for a proposed follow-on to the agency’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter called Mars Chopper, which remains in early conceptual and design stages. In addition to scouting, such a helicopter could carry science instruments to study terrain rovers can’t reach. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech This short animation depicts a NASA concept for a proposed follow-on to the agency’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter called Mars Chopper, which remains in early conceptual and design stages. In addition to scouting, such a helicopter could carry science instruments to study terrain rovers can’t reach. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Although Flight 72 permanently grounded Ingenuity, the helicopter still beams weather and avionics test data to the Perseverance rover about once a week. The weather information could benefit future explorers of the Red Planet. The avionics data is already proving useful to engineers working on future designs of aircraft and other vehicles for the Red Planet. “Because Ingenuity was designed to be affordable while demanding huge amounts of computer power, we became the first mission to fly commercial off-the-shelf cellphone processors in deep space,” said Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity’s project manager. “We’re now approaching four years of continuous operations, suggesting that not everything needs to be bigger, heavier, and radiation-hardened to work in the harsh Martian environment.” Inspired by Ingenuity’s longevity, NASA engineers have been testing smaller, lighter avionics that could be used in vehicle designs for the Mars Sample Return campaign. The data is also helping engineers as they research what a future Mars helicopter could look like — and do. During a Wednesday, Dec. 11, briefing at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in Washington, Tzanetos shared details on the Mars Chopper rotorcraft, a concept that he and other Ingenuity alumni are researching. As designed, Chopper is approximately 20 times heavier than Ingenuity, could fly several pounds of science equipment, and autonomously explore remote Martian locations while traveling up to 2 miles (3 kilometers) in a day. (Ingenuity’s longest flight was 2,310 feet, or 704 meters.) “Ingenuity has given us the confidence and data to envision the future of flight at Mars,” said Tzanetos. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages the project for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance during Ingenuity’s development. AeroVironment, Qualcomm, and SolAero also provided design assistance and major vehicle components. Lockheed Space designed and manufactured the Mars Helicopter Delivery System. At NASA Headquarters, Dave Lavery is the program executive for the Ingenuity Mars helicopter. For more information about Ingenuity: AstrobiologyShanghai Stock Exchange Meets Virtual Reality. A Game-Changing Fusion
AP News Summary at 1:39 p.m. ESTNEW 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.
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