Revolutionizing Finance: The Benefits of Adopting Smart Contract Platforms2 / 8 Bitcoin price might stall in 2025, but the good news is the risk of recession is low, strategist says Bitcoin price might stall in 2025, but the good news is the risk of recession is low, strategist says Off English Jason Trennert, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Strategas, spoke with Quartz for the latest installment of our “Smart Investing” video series. Read More 3 / 8 Bitcoin, Bitget, Dogecoin, Solana, and more: Cryptocurrencies to watch this week Bitcoin, Bitget, Dogecoin, Solana, and more: Cryptocurrencies to watch this week The cryptocurrency market is experiencing a decline as the holiday season begins. With many investors pausing their usual spending and investment activity, the market is experiencing a temporary lull. However, this slowdown is likely temporary, and investors are expected to return with renewed energy as the new year brings fresh opportunities. Read More 4 / 8 GameStop gets a holiday boost as Roaring Kitty’s festive post surges stock price GameStop gets a holiday boost as Roaring Kitty’s festive post surges stock price Shares of the popular meme stock GameStop ( GME ) (GME) increased on Thursday afternoon after Keith Gill, the investor popularly known as “Roaring Kitty,” shared an image of a wrapped Christmas present on X. Read More 5 / 8 AI ignited a private market boom. Now wealthy investors want more AI ignited a private market boom. Now wealthy investors want more Wealthy investors are flocking to artificial intelligence startups — and fueling a private market renaissance. To get a piece of today’s pioneering AI firms, investors have to go through private markets, where most tech startups still reside. Waves of new technology have long meant new companies and eager investors hoping to be among the first to pour money into the next big thing. But the AI boom comes at a time where there are significantly more private companies, and they are tending to wait longer to go public. The draw of getting in on AI is serving as a gateway for well-heeled investors to pour more money into a wider array of private companies, wealth managers and others say. Read More 6 / 8 What Santa’s tax returns would look like, according to H&R Block What Santa’s tax returns would look like, according to H&R Block For as long as children have dreamed about Santa Claus, they’ve also bombarded their parents with a flurry of questions about the magical man: How does he travel around the world in one night? If I stay up late enough, will I catch him? Does he really exist? Read More 7 / 8 Bitcoin’s rapid rise could stall as the dollar gains strength in 2025, strategist says Bitcoin’s rapid rise could stall as the dollar gains strength in 2025, strategist says Off English Jason Trennert, CEO and Chairman of Strategas, makes big predictions for the stock market, Bitcoin, gold, and treasuries for the new year 8 / 8In the , we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss big charging news, Tesla FSD v13, our Audi A6 first drive, an interview with Climatize’s CEO, and more. The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on . As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the to get your questions and comments in. After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps: We now have if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming. Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast: Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET): and subscribe to the . The Electrek Podcast is Fred Lambert and Seth We... Fred is the Editor in Chief and Main Writer at Electrek. You can send tips on Twitter (DMs open) or via email: fred@9to5mac.com Through Zalkon.com, you can check out Fred’s portfolio and get monthly green stock investment ideas. Get interesting investment ideas by Fred Lambert ChargePoint Home WiFi Enabled Electric Vehicle (EV) ChargerYPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) — On a damp Wednesday night with temperatures dipping into the 30s, fans in sparsely filled stands bundled up to watch Buffalo beat Eastern Michigan 37-30 on gray turf. The lopsided game was not particularly notable, but it was played on one of the nights the Mid-American Conference has made its own: A weeknight. “A lot of the general public thinks we play all of our games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, not just some of them in November,” MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said in a telephone interview this week. “What it has done is help take what was a pretty darned good regional conference and has given it a national brand and made it a national conference.” When the conference has played football games on ESPN or ESPN2 over the last two seasons, the linear television audience has been 10 times larger than when conference schools meet on Saturdays and get lost in the shuffle when viewers have many more choices. The most-watched MAC game over the last two years was earlier this month on a Wednesday night when Northern Illinois won at Western Michigan and there were 441,600 viewers, a total that doesn’t include streaming that isn’t captured by Nielsen company. During the same span, the linear TV audience has been no larger than 46,100 to watch two MAC teams play on Saturdays. “Having the whole nation watching on Tuesday and Wednesday night is a huge deal for the MAC,” Eastern Michigan tight end Jere Getzinger said. “Everybody wants to watch football so if you put it on TV on a Tuesday or Wednesday, people are going to watch.” ESPN has carried midweek MAC football games since the start of the century. ESPN and the conference signed a 13-year extension a decade ago that extends their relationship through at least the 2026-27 season. The conference has made the most of the opportunities, using MACtion as a tag on social media for more than a decade and it has become a catchy marketing term for the Group of Five football programs that usually operate under the radar in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and New York. Attendance does tend to go down with weeknight games, keeping some students out of stadiums because they have class or homework and leading to adults staying away home because they have to work the next morning. “The tradeoff is the national exposure,” Buffalo coach Pete Lembo said. “You know November nights midweek the average fan is going to park on the couch, have a bowl of chips and salsa out in front, and watch the game from there." When the Bulls beat Ball State 51-48 in an overtime thriller on a Tuesday night earlier this month, the announced attendance was 12,708 and that appeared to be generous. There were many empty seats after halftime. “You watch the games on TV, the stadiums all look like this,” Buffalo fan Jeff Wojcicki said. “They are not packed, but it’s the only game on, and you know where to find it.” Sleep and practice schedules take a hit as well, creating another wave of challenges for students to attend class and coaches to prepare without the usual rhythm of preparing all week to play on Saturday. “Last week when we played at Ohio in Athens, we had a 4-four bus ride home and got home at about 3:30 a.m.,” Eastern Michigan center Broderick Roman said. “We still had to go to class and that was tough, but it's part of what you commit to as an athlete.” That happens a lot in November when the MAC shifts its unique schedule. During the first two weeks of the month, the conference had 10 games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays exclusively. This week, there were five games on Tuesday and Wednesday while only one was left in the traditional Saturday slot with Ball State hosting Bowling Green. Next week, Toledo plays at Akron and Kent State visits Buffalo on Tuesday night before the MAC schedule wraps up with games next Friday and Saturday to determine which teams will meet in the conference title game on Dec. 7 in Detroit. In all, MAC teams will end up playing about 75% of their games on a Saturday and the rest on November weeknights. When the Eagles wrapped up practice earlier this week, two days before they played the Bulls, tight end Jere Getzinger provided some insight into the effects of the scheduling quirk. “It's Monday, but for us it's like a Thursday,” he said. Bowling Green coach Scot Loeffler said he frankly has a hard time remembering what day it is when the schedule shift hits in November. “The entire week gets turned upside down,” Loeffler said. “It’s wild, but it’s great for the league because there’s two days a week this time of year that people around the country will watch MAC games.” AP freelance writer Jonah Bronstein contributed to this report. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
New novel "Secretary of Faith" by K.C. Boyd is released, a dystopian tale that reflects the urgent need to resist the threat to American democracyIAEA chief: Iran poised to 'quite dramatically' increase stockpile of near weapons-grade uraniumStocks wavered on Wall Street in afternoon trading Thursday, as gains in tech companies and retailers helped temper losses elsewhere in the market. The S&P 500 was down less than 0.1% after drifting between small gains and losses. The benchmark index is coming off a three-day winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 6 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 1:52 p.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite was down less than 0.1%. Trading volume was lighter than usual as U.S. markets reopened after the Christmas holiday. Chip company Broadcom rose 2.9%, Micron Technology was up 1% and Adobe gained 0.8%. While tech stocks overall were in the green, some heavyweights were a drag on the market. Semiconductor giant Nvidia, whose enormous valuation gives it an outsize influence on indexes, slipped 0.1%. Meta Platforms fell 0.7%, Amazon was down 0.6%, and Netflix gave up 1.1%. Tesla was among the biggest decliners in the S&P 500, down 1.9%. Health care stocks helped lift the market. CVS Health rose 1.7% and Walgreens Boots Alliance rose 3% for the biggest gain among S&P 500 stocks. Several retailers also gained ground. Target rose 2.8%, Best Buy was up 2.2% and Dollar Tree gained 2.7%. Retailers are hoping for a solid sales this holiday season, and the day after Christmas traditionally ranks among the top 10 biggest shopping days of the year, as consumers go online or rush to stores to cash in gift cards and raid bargain bins. U.S.-listed shares in Honda and Nissan rose 4% and 16%, respectively. The Japanese automakers announced earlier this week that the two companies are in talks to combine. Traders got a labor market update. U.S. applications for unemployment benefits held steady last week , though continuing claims rose to the highest level in three years, the Labor Department reported. Treasury yields turned mostly lower in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.57% from 4.59% late Tuesday. Major European markets were closed, as well as Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. Trading was expected to be subdued this week with a thin slate of economic data on the calendar. Still, U.S. markets have historically gotten a boost at year’s end despite lower trading volumes. The last five trading days of each year, plus the first two in the new year, have brought an average gain of 1.3% since 1950. So far this month, the U.S. stock market has lost some of its gains since President-elect Donald Trump’s win on Election Day, which raised hopes for faster economic growth and more lax regulations that would boost corporate profits. Worries have risen that Trump’s preference for tariffs and other policies could lead to higher inflation , a bigger U.S. government debt and difficulties for global trade. Even so, the U.S. market remains on pace to deliver strong returns for 2024. The benchmark S&P 500 is up roughly 26% so far this year and remains near its most recent all-time high it set earlier this month — its latest of 57 record highs this year. Wall Street has several economic reports to look forward to next week, including updates on pending home sales and home prices, a report on U.S. construction spending and snapshots of manufacturing activity. AP Business Writers Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott contributed.All ahead AI: fresh risk, different rules, new features
Marsh & McLennan Cos. stock underperforms Wednesday when compared to competitors
Following thefall of Assad's regime in Syria, efforts are underway to determinethe exact number and whereabouts of Azerbaijani citizens in thecountry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan said in itsreport for 2024, reports. The Ministry noted that, in accordance with the "Rules forrepatriation, rehabilitation of Azerbaijani minor citizens livingin difficult conditions abroad," approved by the PresidentialDecree of the Republic of Azerbaijan on October 28, 2023,repatriation of Azerbaijani citizens continued throughout 2024. "From 2020 through 2024, the number of Azerbaijani citizensrepatriated from Syria reached 224, including 172 children and 52women. At the same time, after the fall of Assad's regime, effortsare being made to determine the exact number and location ofAzerbaijani citizens in Syria. Following the instructions of thePresident of the Republic of Azerbaijan, a total of 295 Azerbaijanicitizens were repatriated from the Republic of Iraq in recent years– 288 children and 7 women. Consular consultations were held throughout the year betweenAzerbaijan and Iraq, Hungary, Türkiye, Montenegro, Kazakhstan,Tajikistan, Luxembourg, Russia, Iran, Uzbekistan, Colombia, andGeorgia. Memoranda of Understanding were signed between the Ministry ofForeign Affairs of Azerbaijan and the foreign ministries ofHungary, Tajikistan, and Pakistan regarding cooperation in consularaffairs, along with bilateral agreements in this area with Albania,Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Gambia," the ministry said.Can Trump save TikTok? The ‘Art of the Deal’ President wants to try
Pakistan becomes 3rd largest sesame exporter Pakistan and Turkiye agree to strengthen agricultural cooperation, aiming to enhance bilateral trade An image of sesame seeds. — Unsplash/File ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has become the world’s third-largest exporter of sesame, achieving annual exports exceeding $1 billion, the government announced Thursday. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1700472799616-0'); }); Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain lauded sesame as a high-value cash crop with vast export potential during an international sesame investment conference here Thursday. “Sesame’s success highlights its role as a transformative crop for Pakistan’s economy,” Hussain said, emphasizing the government’s commitment to further boosting production and exploring global markets for the crop. He highlighted Pakistan’s remarkable progress in sesame production over the past five years, noting a 455 percent increase that brought annual production to 1.119 million tons. Export volumes also soared by 327 per cent, reaching 0.760 million tons annually, while the export value climbed by 366 per cent to $1.073 billion per year, positioning Pakistan as the world’s third-largest sesame exporter. Hussain credited the transformation of sesame from a neglected crop into a vital contributor to the economy to its inclusion in the National Oilseeds Enhancement Program (NOEP). “This success is the result of collaboration between the federal ministry and provincial agriculture departments,” he remarked. The minister urged stakeholders to focus on improving processing technology, adding value to sesame products, and exploring new international markets. He also called on the Ministry of Commerce to play a pivotal role in promoting Pakistani sesame products globally. “Increasing sesame production will not only reduce edible oil imports but also significantly enhance the agricultural sector’s contribution to the economy,” he stated, emphasizing the crop’s strategic importance in bolstering Pakistan’s export portfolio. Meanwhile, Pakistan and Turkiye agreed to strengthen agricultural cooperation, aiming to enhance bilateral trade and technology transfer under the Strategic Economic Framework (SEF). Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain held talks with the Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan here Thursday, emphasizing the mutual benefits of collaboration in agriculture. Key agreements include joint ventures in agricultural mechanization, aquaculture breeding and advanced irrigation systems. Both sides committed to improving trade through adherence to international Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) standards and facilitating Turkish investment in Pakistan’s agriculture and livestock sectors. Minister Hussain highlighted Pakistan’s ability to supply quality agricultural products, including rice, wheat, mangoes, dry fruits and livestock products to the Turkish market. The Turkish delegation acknowledged the potential for increased economic ties and expressed interest in expanding cooperation. “Pakistan is ready to not only expand exports but also create long-term partnerships with Turkiye to boost agricultural productivity and economic opportunities for both nations,” Hussain said after the meeting. The two countries agreed to develop an actionable plan to achieve these objectives, focusing on technology transfer, disease control and improved agricultural trade.