Govt To Establish Criminal Punishments To Protect Whistleblowers; Will Penalize Their Dismissal And Unfair Treatment By Organizations And IndividualsMinistry of Commerce People's Republic of China (In Chinese)
U.S. stocks rose to records after data suggested the job market remains solid enough to keep the economy going, but not so strong that it raises immediate worries about inflation. The S&P 500 climbed 0.2%, just enough top the all-time high set on Wednesday, as it closed a third straight winning week in what looks to be one of its best years since the 2000 dot-com bust. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8% to set its own record. Treasury yields eased after the jobs report showed stronger hiring than expected but also an uptick in the unemployment rate. On Friday: The S&P 500 rose 15.16 points, or 0.2%, to 6,090.27. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 123.19 points, or 0.3%, to 44,642.52. The Nasdaq composite rose 159.05 points, or 0.8%, to 19,859.77. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 12.83 points, or 0.5%, to 2,408.99. For the week: The S&P 500 is up 57.89 points, or 1%. The Dow is down 268.13 points, or 0.6%. The Nasdaq is up 641.61 points, or 3.3%. The Russell 2000 is down 25.73 points, or 1.1%. For the year: The S&P 500 is up 1,320.44 points, or 27.7%. The Dow is up 6,952.98 points, or 18.4%. The Nasdaq is up 4,848.42 points, or 32.3%. The Russell 2000 is up 381.92 points, or 18.8%.
Jharkhand election result live updates: Election Commission to count votes today. Can Hemant Soren govt retain power?Entering Saturday's game against Appalachian State, it was a must-win game for JMU football in order to make the Sun Belt title game. In the conversation with the Dukes were Marshall and Georgia Southern. JMU, third in the Sun Belt East Division, needed to Beat App State and Marshall to mathematically have a chance. The Thundering Herd have one conference loss and the Eagles have two. But, on Saturday, the second quarter saw Dukes miscues and a massive momentum shift en route to the 34-20 loss to the Mountaineers. JMU's lead fell out of grasp before halftime, along with its chances of reaching the title game. JMU led 14-0 early on. The Dukes defense, even without linebacker and leader Jacob Dobbs, shut out the Mountaineers in the first quarter. JMU scored on its opening possession, with redshirt sophomore quarterback Alonza Barnett III connecting with sophomore Yamir Knight, who caught the ball under the App State defender, and just kept his feet in bounds in by the pylon. JMU scored again in the second quarter on a play that looked like a rush up the middle. After selling the play-action fake, Barnett turned and hurled the ball downfield where tight end Josh Phifer was standing unguarded for a 37-yard score. It looked like JMU would run away with it. That was until a Barnett fumble on a play-action attempt to receiver George Pettaway. App State recovered on the 50-yard line and scored a touchdown a few plays later, cutting the Dukes' lead to 14-10. The result of letting App State hang around? A bad two minutes for JMU. First, in front of a rowdy crowd in Boone, North Carolina, Mountaineers QB Joey Aguilar launched a pass to Makai Jackson for a 64-yard touchdown, tying the game at 17 with 1:23 to go in the half. Momentum shifted fast. "You feel it a little bit," Barnett said post game. "In a situation like that, you got to kill that with a sledgehammer. We go up 14-0, they make a great special teams play and that's great adjustments by their team." That special teams play came with under a minute to go. JMU's Ryan Hanson had a punt blocked by Mountaineer Cahari Haynes. He ran straight up the middle and App State recovered the blocked kick, and returned it for a touchdown. "We let a guy run right through the A-gap," Chesney said about the blocked punt. "We just watched him run by for a punt block so, not ideal." JMU only managed to add one more field goal by halftime, and trailed 24-17. Appalachian State's Shawn Collins recovers a fumble from James Madison's quarterback Alonza Barnett III in the first half of a game on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, North Carolina. Until Saturday, JMU had won the turnover battle in each game it played. The Dukes have a Sun Belt-high 17 interceptions with 265 return yards and four touchdowns. The turnover battle is something Chesney has emphasized. The team seems to have bought in, as 10 different players have a pick this season. For the first time in 2024, against App State, JMU didn't win the turnover battle. It didn't have a fumble recovery or interception in the loss, compared to the Mountaineers' two. Late in the game, down 34-20, Barnett threw an interception to App State's Jason Chambers. The Dukes quarterback was looking for senior Omarion Dollison on a deep pass, but Chambers ran in front of the Dukes receiver and hauled it in. The other turnover for JMU was the Barnett fumble, one that significantly shifted momentum in App State's direction. Penalties are a part of football. However, when you take nine penalties and your opponent takes zero, that's a tough hill to climb and for the Dukes, it was the task at hand. The Dukes had nine penalties for 69 yards in the loss, which isn't insurmountable but the infractions were especially poorly timed. JMU's offense was flagged six times, including a back-breaker late in the fourth quarter as the Dukes were trying to tie it. On that call, Cam Ross had a big catch at the App State 32-yard line. A holding call brought it back to the JMU 20. When trying to come up with points in the second half, it was those mental mistakes for the Dukes that proved costly. “It’s just the little things that we have to work on and continue to fix,” Barnett said postgame. JMU's regular-season finale and senior day festivities are Saturday, when it hosts Marshall at Bridgeforth Stadium. The Thundering Herd sit in first place in the Sun Belt East Division. The Dukes are 1-3 all-time against Marshall, their first win coming last season on the road. They are 0-1 at home, the loss coming in 2022. Marshall's Jaden Yates enters the game leading the league in total tackles, with 104. Only a sophomore, the linebacker has been the stud of the Thundering Herd this year. With a division title on the line, Yates and company will look to spoil senior day. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. on ESPNU. Savannah Reger (804) 649-6772 sreger@timesdispatch.com @SavannahReger17 on X Get local news delivered to your inbox!
As drink-spiking and date-rape drugs cases continue to stoke emotions, Victoria council is looking for answers The conversation re-entered the spotlight recently when the 2021 death of Victoria 18-year-old Samantha Sims-Somerville — who ingested a lethal dose of the well-known date-rape drug GHB — was re-classified a homicide by the Coroner's Service of B.C. Additionally, this month, a 16-year-old girl and her mom spoke with local media about her experience allegedly being drugged at a Vancouver Island party. Victoria police chief Del Manak spoke at council's Nov. 21 meeting about Somerville's death, which was initially ruled an accidental overdose. "This is an extremely tragic situation," he said. Manak explained that investigations like this can be tough, and some evidence, including second or third-hand evidence, can't always be admissible evidence to the court. He also mentioned that though the coroner's office deemed Somerville's death a homicide, there may not be enough evidence to prove anyone's culpability. "We aren't doubling down. This is an extremely serious case with just a horrific outcome and we're doing everything we can," Manak told the council. "I can't make up the evidence though, right? The evidence is the evidence and the courts will decide, not on a balance of probabilities, but on beyond a reasonable doubt if there's enough evidence that meets the charge-approval standard." Following the re-classification of Somerville's case, VicPD said it has since requested more information from the coroner about why. In the meantime, "out of an abundance of caution," it has forwarded the case to the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit, which looks after all suspicious deaths and homicide cases, for review. Council members put forward a motion to request an update from VicPD, the Greater Victoria School District, and the provincial government about any efforts being undertaken to raise awareness and prevent the use of date-rape drugs like GHB or Rohypnol. "What are we doing in Victoria about these crimes? What can city council do about these crimes? And likewise, what are high schools doing about these crimes? What are our not-for-profits, our social services agencies doing about these drugs? And what is VicPD doing?" asked councillor Matt Dell. Dell explained he recently talked to nightclub owners in the city, who said that they put up awareness posters, have safe drink spots where people can leave their drinks and offer free lids to cover the top of drinks, though other council members felt that it isn't enough. "I think we are doing our due diligence to let parents and victims know we're on their side and we want to do everything we can to educate the community and make sure that everything that could happen to prevent this is happening; that when there is a case, that charges are laid when they need to be laid that we're not just letting this slip through the system," Coun. Krista Loughton said. Stacey Forrester, a co-founder of Good Night Out, whose goal is to create safer spaces and prevent sexual violence in Vancouver and Victoria's nightlife, says suspected drink spiking is not a rare sight for their street-teams, which works in the cities' entertainment districts on Friday and Saturday nights. "A big part of our work is actually educating the public, not just on signs of drink spiking, but signs of predatory behaviour," Forrester explained in an interview in the summer. "We can only saturate women so much with 'cover your drink, don't leave it alone, don't [take] drinks from strangers.' Whereas, we need to educate bar staff and patrons, especially men, on signs that someone is being predatory." She explained red flags to watch for in bars and nightclubs include individuals targeting the most intoxicated person in the room, lingering around unattended drinks, buying drinks with a sense of entitlement or expectation, and trying to separate an intoxicated person from their friends. "Good Night Out has a three-hour training that includes all aspects of nightlife safety, including preventing drink spiking," Forrester said. "Talking about drink spiking is really important, but we also have to be aware that the most commonly used drug to render people incapacitated is alcohol. It just doesn't make the headlines." Coun. Stephen Hammond explained that he didn't support the motion because he felt it would be a waste of time for the province, the school district and VicPD to put a report together. He thought it would be better to encourage the parties to make sure people are being educated about the issue. "What I want is for the school district and for the police to be educating young men that they have no right over the bodies of young women, nor do they have the right to drug young women," Hammond said. "I would also prefer they spend the time educating young women about the harms, and that tragically, today, you can never leave a drink alone or out of your sight."