NoneNeymar's longing to reunite with his former team has been the subject of intense scrutiny ever since his world-record transfer to PSG in 2017. While his time in Paris has been filled with success on the pitch, winning multiple domestic titles and individual accolades, Neymar has always harbored a deep attachment to Barcelona, where he formed a formidable attacking trio with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez.
Food-service stocks are rarely "must have" names. Not only is it just not a high-growth business, it's a highly competitive, low-margin one as well. These are characteristics that many investors aim to avoid. Every now and then, though, a compelling restaurant stock presents itself. Domino's Pizza ( DPZ -0.69% ) is one such name, and is likely to remain one for the foreseeable future. If there's a spot in your portfolio for a steady grower, this often-overlooked ticker might be a great fit for three key reasons. 1. It boasts above-average growth Whatever the restaurant chain is doing, it's working. In 2021, it became the world's single biggest pizza chain with 18,848 locales, eclipsing Pizza Hut's then-lead. The company's put some distance between itself and the reach of Yum Brands ' rival arm in the meantime, too. This growth hasn't been expansion just for the sake of boasting a bigger footprint, either. Total revenue growth has improved at least as much as its store count has since the company went into growth overdrive in 2013. With the exception of the comparison to the swell of business during and because of the COVID-19 pandemic, same-store sales growth has remained positive for every quarter during this stretch as well. Profits have also improved at an even better overall pace, overcoming the world's recent bout with inflation. This is mostly due to good management of its growing scale. DPZ Revenue (Quarterly) data by YCharts. This persistent progress is a testament to the fact that Domino's is delivering (figuratively as well as literally) a product that people want and can afford. The same can't necessarily be said of its competitors. 2. The stock's trading at a discount Domino's Pizza stock is currently bargain-priced no matter how you measure it. One measurement, of course, is the pullback from highs reached earlier this year. Shares are currently down 17% from June's peak. That's not a huge setback although it is a sizable one for this particular ticker. The stock's weakness actually extends back to 2022,when the pandemic finally wound down and investors had their first chance to assess the pizza chain in a normal environment following a period of rapid expansion. They didn't necessarily dislike what they saw. They just weren't quite sure how to price it into the stock. The analyst community isn't dissuaded. The majority of these pros currently rate Domino's stock a strong buy, while their consensus price target of $483.57 stands roughly 12% above the ticker's present price. That's not a huge difference, but it's a relatively big one by restaurant stock standards. 3. A little income, and lots of income growth The third reason to consider nibbling on Domino's Pizza? Its dividend. The stock's forward-looking yield stands at 1.4%. Oh, you can certainly find bigger yields -- and you should if investment income is your immediate priority. This reliable dividend payment should simply be seen as an additional topping to the meatier reasons to own a stake in Domino's. That's consistent, above-average growth rooted in its well-run and well-marketed business. That being said, this stock is certainly no slouch to income-minded investors looking for reliable long-term dividend growth. Domino's Pizza has now upped its annualized quarterly payout for 11 consecutive years, from $0.20 per share in mid-2013 to $1.51 now. That's a compound annual growth rate of around 20%, which is certainly better payment growth than more familiar dividend payers can offer. DPZ Payout Ratio data by YCharts. There's also no reason to suspect that this dividend growth is in jeopardy. Only about one-third of its net earnings are dished out in the form of dividends. That's plenty of cushion. The kicker: Buffett likes it There's a fourth, less quantitative reason to consider buying a piece of Domino's Pizza sooner rather than later. This stock is now one of only a few names compelling enough to satisfy the perpetually picky Warren Buffett in an environment where he's finding little that he likes. You don't necessarily need to copy every single one of the legendary stock picker's selections just because he's Warren Buffett, to be clear. On the other hand, he's not called the Oracle of Omaha for nothing. His company, Berkshire Hathaway , reliably outperforms the S&P 500 , given enough time. That's why Berkshire's recent purchase of a stake in Domino's is such a strong vote of confidence in the company. It's a relatively small stake in the grand scheme of things -- Berkshire's 1.3 million shares are collectively only worth about half a billion dollars. That's less than 1% of Berkshire Hathaway's total stock holdings, and less than 4% of Domino's Pizza itself. Buffett and his lieutenants clearly like the company well enough to take on a fairly small position, though. That's something, particularly knowing that Berkshire's small stakes often become larger positions as the Oracle of Omaha adds to them over time.
In November, the Chinese economy has demonstrated four major characteristics in its operation, reflecting the current trends and challenges faced by the country's economic development.FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Republican senators pushed back on Sunday against criticism from Democrats that Tulsi Gabbard , Donald Trump's pick to lead U.S. intelligence services , is “compromised” by her comments supportive of Russia and secret meetings , as a congresswoman, with Syria’s president, a close ally of the Kremlin and Iran. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, a veteran of combat missions in Iraq, said she had concerns about Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's choice to be director of national intelligence . “I think she’s compromised," Duckworth said on CNN’s “State of the Union," citing Gabbard's 2017 trip to Syria, where she held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Gabbard was a Democratic House member from Hawaii at the time. “The U.S. intelligence community has identified her as having troubling relationships with America’s foes. And so my worry is that she couldn’t pass a background check,” Duckworth said. Gabbard, who said last month she is joining the Republican party, has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades. She was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait and, according to the Hawaii National Guard, received a Combat Medical Badge in 2005 for “participation in combat operations under enemy hostile fire in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III." Duckworth's comments drew immediate backlash from Republicans. “For her to say ridiculous and outright dangerous words like that is wrong," Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma, said on CNN, challenging Duckworth to retract her words. “That’s the most dangerous thing she could say — is that a United States lieutenant colonel in the United States Army is compromised and is an asset of Russia.” In recent days, other Democrats have accused Gabbard without evidence of being a “Russian asset.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, has claimed, without offering details, that Gabbard is in Russian President Vladimir “Putin’s pocket.” Mullin and others say the criticism from Democrats is rooted in the fact that Gabbard left their party and has become a Trump ally. Democrats say they worry that Gabbard's selection as national intelligence chief endangers ties with allies and gives Russia a win. Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat just elected to the Senate, said he would not describe Gabbard as a Russian asset, but said she had “very questionable judgment.” “The problem is if our foreign allies don’t trust the head of our intelligence agencies, they’ll stop sharing information with us,” Schiff said on NBC's “Meet the Press.” Gabbard in 2022 endorsed one of Russia’s justifications for invading Ukraine : the existence of dozens of U.S.-funded biolabs working on some of the world’s nastiest pathogens. The labs are part of an international effort to control outbreaks and stop bioweapons, but Moscow claimed Ukraine was using them to create deadly bioweapons. Gabbard said she just voiced concerns about protecting the labs. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri, said he thought it was “totally ridiculous” that Gabbard was being cast as a Russian asset for having different political views. “It’s insulting. It’s a slur, quite frankly. There’s no evidence that she’s a asset of another country,” he said on NBC. Sen. James Lankford, another Oklahoma Republican, acknowledged having “lots of questions” for Gabbard as the Senate considers her nomination to lead the intelligence services. Lankford said on NBC that he wants to ask Gabbard about her meeting with Assad and some of her past comments about Russia. “We want to know what the purpose was and what the direction for that was. As a member of Congress, we want to get a chance to talk about past comments that she’s made and get them into full context,” Lankford said.PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter's in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter's path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That's a very narrow way of assessing them," Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn't suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he'd be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter's tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter's lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor's race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama's segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival's endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King's daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters' early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan's presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan's Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.
Neymar Still Hopes to Join Barcelona, Unwilling to Transfer Without Registration Guarantee This SummerAs they sat together in the corner of the set, Xue Jiating couldn't help but admire Zhao Lusi's dedication and talent. She had always been impressed by her friend's work ethic and passion for acting. It was clear that Zhao Lusi poured her heart and soul into every role she took on, and it was a privilege for Xue Jiating to witness her friend's growth and success.
Doo Hoi Kem, often referred to as the "Queen of Hong Kong Table Tennis," has been making steady progress in the international table tennis scene in recent years. Her exceptional skills and determination have earned her recognition as one of the top players in the world, and her latest ranking improvement further cements her position among the elite players in the sport.
In addition to the winger, Setien has also secured the services of a solid central defender from Villarreal, who is renowned for his strength, composure on the ball, and tactical awareness. His presence is set to strengthen Beijing Guoan's defense and provide stability at the back, which will be crucial in challenging for titles next season., /PRNewswire/ -- Alpheus Medical, Inc., a private, clinical-stage oncology company pioneering sonodynamic therapy (SDT) for the treatment of solid body cancers, today announced positive results from their Phase 1/2 clinical trial in patients with recurrent or refractory high-grade gliomas. The company's proprietary therapy demonstrated a strong safety profile and extended median overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) compared to historical data. The data were presented by , MD, at the 2024 Society of Neuro-Oncology (SNO) Annual Meeting. "Glioblastomas are the most common and aggressive primary brain cancer, presenting a devasting diagnosis for patients and their familes," said , MD, Clinical Director of the Center for Neuro-Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and member of the Alpheus Medical Scientific Advisory Board. "Current treatment options are limited and often ineffective due to the diffuse spread of the disease across the blood-brain barrier and often across the entire hemisphere, making it universally fatal with a rapid timeline. The early clinical results of Alpheus's therapy are promising, offering hope for this new approach. I look forward to further exploring the potential benefits of their SDT therapy for this patient population who is in critical need of an effective solution." Alpheus Medical's non-invasive SDT treatment, which can be delivered in an outpatient setting, combines low-intensity diffuse ultrasound (LIDU ) with oral 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) to target and kill cancer cells across the entire hemisphere without the need for imaging or sedation. Key findings from the study include: "In addition to the strong safety data and early indications of efficacy, Alpheus' non-invasive SDT therapy stands out for its ease of use - a significant improvement over the uncomfortable and often toxic treatments currently available for this rapidly fatal condition," stated Dr. Schulder, Director of the Brain Tumor Center at Northwell Health, and one of the trial's primary investigators. "We look forward to expanding the ability for patients to receive this promising therapy." The Phase 1/2 trial ( ) is an open-label, multicenter, duration-escalation study evaluating the safety, optimal dose, and efficacy of Alpheus Medical's proprietary SDT platform. Twelve patients were enrolled across three cohorts, with treatment durations escalating to 60, 90, and 120 minutes per monthly session. The company plans to initiate a randomized, controlled trial at multiple centers across the U.S. in 2025. Alpheus Medical is a private, clinical-stage oncology company revolutionizing the treatment of solid body cancers with its pioneering sonodynamic therapy (SDT) platform that combines Low-Intensity Diffuse Ultrasound (LIDU ) with the sensitizing agent, oral 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA). The company's proprietary, non-invasive technology is designed to selectively target and destroy cancer cells in the brain while preserving healthy tissue. Learn more at . View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Alpheus Medical