What to consider when exchanging currencyDALLAS (AP) — More than 60 years after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated , conspiracy theories still swirl and any new glimpse into the fateful day of Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas continues to fascinate . President-elect Donald Trump promised during his reelection campaign that he would declassify all of the remaining government records surrounding the assassination if he returned to office. He made a similar pledge during his first term, but ultimately bended to appeals from the CIA and FBI to keep some documents withheld. At this point, only a few thousand of the millions of governmental records related to the assassination have yet to be fully released, and those who have studied the records released so far say that even if the remaining files are declassified, the public shouldn't anticipate any earth-shattering revelations. “Anybody waiting for a smoking gun that’s going to turn this case upside down will be sorely disappointed,” said Gerald Posner, author of “Case Closed,” which concludes that assassin Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Friday's 61st anniversary is expected to be marked with a moment of silence at 12:30 p.m. in Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy's motorcade was passing through when he was fatally shot. And throughout this week there have been events marking the anniversary. When Air Force One carrying Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy touched down in Dallas , they were greeted by a clear sky and enthusiastic crowds. With a reelection campaign on the horizon the next year, they had gone to Texas on political fence-mending trip. But as the motorcade was finishing its parade route downtown, shots rang out from the Texas School Book Depository building. Police arrested 24-year-old Oswald and, two days later, nightclub owner Jack Ruby fatally shot Oswald during a jail transfer. A year after the assassination, the Warren Commission, which President Lyndon B. Johnson established to investigate the assassination, concluded that Oswald acted alone and there was no evidence of a conspiracy. But that hasn't quelled a web of alternative theories over the decades. In the early 1990s, the federal government mandated that all assassination-related documents be housed in a single collection in the National Archives and Records Administration. The collection of over 5 million records was required to be opened by 2017, barring any exemptions designated by the president. Trump, who took office for his first term in 2017, had boasted that he'd allow the release of all of the remaining records but ended up holding some back because of what he called the potential harm to national security. And while files have continued to be released during President Joe Biden's administration, some still remain unseen. The documents released over the last few years offer details on the way intelligence services operated at the time, and include CIA cables and memos discussing visits by Oswald to the Soviet and Cuban embassies during a trip to Mexico City just weeks before the assassination. The former Marine had previously defected to the Soviet Union before returning home to Texas. Mark S. Zaid, a national security attorney in Washington, said what's been released so far has contributed to the understanding of the time period, giving “a great picture” of what was happening during the Cold War and the activities of the CIA. Posner estimates that there are still about 3,000 to 4,000 documents in the collection that haven’t yet been fully released. Of those documents, some are still completely redacted while others just have small redactions, like someone's Social Security number. There are about 500 documents where all the information is redacted, Posner said, and those include Oswald's and Ruby’s tax returns. “If you have been following it, as I have and others have, you sort of are zeroed in on the pages you think might provide some additional information for history,” Posner said. Trump's transition team hasn’t responded to questions this week about his plans when he takes office. From the start, there were those who believed there had to be more to the story than just Oswald acting alone, said Stephen Fagin, curator of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, which tells the story of the assassination from the building where Oswald made his sniper's perch. “People want to make sense of this and they want to find the solution that fits the crime," said Fagin, who said that while there are lingering questions, law enforcement made “a pretty compelling case” against Oswald. Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said his interest in the assassination dates back to the event itself, when he was a child. “It just seemed so fantastical that one very disturbed individual could end up pulling off the crime of the century," Sabato said. “But the more I studied it, the more I realized that is a very possible, maybe even probable in my view, hypothesis.”
Trump voices support for Hegseth, says he's "doing very well" President-elect Donald Trump took to social media Friday to defend his embattled pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth. CBS News political reporter Olivia Rinaldi has the latest on Hegseth's effort to be confirmed for the job.
New York Medical Cannabis Industry Challenges The State's System: $20M Fee Per Operator At StakeThe President of the Vanua’aku Pati (VP), Johnny Koanapo, has called on all Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC) chairpersons to submit proposed candidate lists for the upcoming election. A press statement issued by the VP office confirmed that this resolution was made during the National Executive meeting held on Friday, 22 November 2024. Koanapo, who is also the caretaker Minister of Finance and Economic Management, said the submission deadline is essential to ensuring timely preparation and compliance with electoral regulations. All proposed candidate lists must be submitted no later than 10am on Friday, 29 November 2024. He reiterated that the VP National Executive is committed to conducting the elections in strict accordance with the VP election regulations. This resolution follows the pending constitutional court decision regarding the dispute between the former opposition and the President of the Republic over the dissolution of parliament. Article 28(4) of the Constitution specifies that general elections must be held no earlier than 30 days and no later than 60 days after dissolution. The VP executive is aligning its plans with the party constitution while preparing for a possible snap election in 2025, should the court rule in favour of the President of the Republic. Other political parties are also preparing for an anticipated snap election in January 2025.Lamar Advertising Company Announces Cash Dividends on Common Stock
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NDP will not support Liberal GST holiday bill unless rebate expanded: SinghCHICAGO — With a wave of her bangled brown fingertips to the melody of flutes and chimes, artist, theologian and academic Tricia Hersey enchanted a crowd into a dreamlike state of rest at Semicolon Books on North Michigan Avenue. “The systems can’t have you,” Hersey said into the microphone, reading mantras while leading the crowd in a group daydreaming exercise on a recent Tuesday night. The South Side native tackles many of society’s ills — racism, patriarchy, aggressive capitalism and ableism — through an undervalued yet impactful action: rest. Hersey, the founder of a movement called the Nap Ministry, dubs herself the Nap Bishop and spreads her message to over half a million followers on her Instagram account, @thenapministry . Her first book, “Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto,” became a New York Times bestseller in 2022, but Hersey has been talking about rest online and through her art for nearly a decade. Hersey, who has degrees in public health and divinity, originated the “rest as resistance” and “rest as reparations” frameworks after experimenting with rest as an exhausted graduate student in seminary. Once she started napping, she felt happier and her grades improved. But she also felt more connected to her ancestors; her work was informed by the cultural trauma of slavery that she was studying as an archivist. Hersey described the transformation as “life-changing.” The Nap Ministry began as performance art in 2017, with a small installation where 40 people joined Hersey in a collective nap. Since then, her message has morphed into multiple mediums and forms. Hersey, who now lives in Atlanta, has hosted over 100 collective naps, given lectures and facilitated meditations across the country. She’s even led a rest ritual in the bedroom of Jane Addams , and encourages her followers to dial in at her “Rest Hotline.” At Semicolon, some of those followers and newcomers came out to see Hersey in discussion with journalist Natalie Moore on Hersey’s latest book, “We Will Rest! The Art of Escape,” released this month, and to learn what it means to take a moment to rest in community. Moore recalled a time when she was trying to get ahead of chores on a weeknight. “I was like, ‘If I do this, then I’ll have less to do tomorrow.’ But then I was really tired,” Moore said. “I thought, ‘What would my Nap Bishop say? She would say go lay down.’ Tricia is in my head a lot.” At the event, Al Kelly, 33, of Rogers Park, said some of those seated in the crowd of mostly Black women woke up in tears — possibly because, for the first time, someone permitted them to rest. “It was so emotional and allowed me to think creatively about things that I want to work on and achieve,” Kelly said. Shortly after the program, Juliette Viassy, 33, a program manager who lives in the South Loop and is new to Hersey’s work, said this was her first time meditating after never being able to do it on her own. Therapist Lyndsei Howze, 33, of Printers Row, who was also seated at the book talk, said she recommends Hersey’s work “to everybody who will listen” — from her clients to her own friends. “A lot of mental health conditions come from lack of rest,” she said. “They come from exhaustion.” Before discovering Hersey’s work this spring, Howze said she and her friends sporadically napped together in one friend’s apartment after an exhausting workweek. “It felt so good just to rest in community,” she said. On Hersey’s book tour, she is leading exercises like this across the country. “I think we need to collectively do this,” Hersey explained. “We need to learn again how to daydream because we’ve been told not to do it. I don’t think most people even have a daydreaming practice.” Daydreaming, Hersey said, allows people to imagine a new world. Hersey tells her followers that yes, you can rest, even when your agenda is packed, even between caregiving, commuting, jobs, bills, emails and other daily demands. And you don’t have to do it alone. There is a community of escape artists, she said of the people who opt out of grind and hustle culture, waiting to embrace you. The book is part pocket prayer book, part instruction manual, with art and handmade typography by San Francisco-based artist George McCalman inspired by 19th-century abolitionist pamphlets, urging readers to reclaim their divine right to rest. Hersey directs her readers like an operative with instructions for a classified mission. “Let grind culture know you are not playing around,” she wrote in her book. “This is not a game or time to shrink. Your thriving depends on the art of escape.” The reluctance to rest can be rooted in capitalist culture presenting rest as a reward for productivity instead of a physical and mental necessity. Hersey deconstructs this idea of grind culture, which she says is rooted in the combined effects of white supremacy, patriarchy and capitalism that “look at the body as not human.” American culture encourages grind culture, Hersey said, but slowing down and building a ritual of rest can offset its toxicity. The author eschews the ballooning billion-dollar self-care industry that encourages people to “save enough money and time off from work to fly away to an expensive retreat,” she wrote. Instead, she says rest can happen anywhere you have a place to be comfortable: in nature, on a yoga mat, in the car between shifts, on a cozy couch after work. Resting isn’t just napping either. She praises long showers, sipping warm tea, playing music, praying or numerous other relaxing activities that slow down the body. “We’re in a crisis mode of deep sleep deprivation, deep lack of self-worth, (and) mental health,” said Hersey. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2022 , in Illinois about 37% of adults aren’t getting the rest they need at night. If ignored, the effects of sleep deprivation can have bigger implications later, Hersey said. In October, she lectured at a sleep conference at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, where her humanities work was featured alongside research from the world’s top neuroscientists. Jennifer Mundt, a Northwestern clinician and professor of sleep medicine, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, praises Hersey for bringing the issue of sleep and rest to the public. In a Tribune op-ed last year, Mundt argued that our culture focuses too heavily on sleep as something that must be earned rather than a vital aspect of health and that linking sleep to productivity is harmful and stigmatizing. “Linking sleep and productivity is harmful because it overshadows the bevy of other reasons to prioritize sleep as an essential component of health,” Mundt wrote. “It also stigmatizes groups that are affected by sleep disparities and certain chronic sleep disorders.” In a 30-year longitudinal study released in the spring by the New York University School of Social Work, people who worked long hours and late shifts reported the lowest sleep quality and lowest physical and mental functions, and the highest likelihood of reporting poor health and depression at age 50. The study also showed that Black men and women with limited education “were more likely than others to shoulder the harmful links between nonstandard work schedules and sleep and health, worsening their probability of maintaining and nurturing their health as they approach middle adulthood.” The CDC links sleeping fewer than seven hours a day to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and more. Although the Nap Ministry movement is new for her followers, Hersey’s written about her family’s practice of prioritizing rest, which informs her work. Her dad was a community organizer, a yardmaster for the Union Pacific Railroad Co. and an assistant pastor. Before long hours of work, he would dedicate hours each day to self-care. Hersey also grew up observing her grandma meditate for 30 minutes daily. Through rest, Hersey said she honors her ancestors who were enslaved and confronts generational trauma. When “Rest Is Resistance” was released in 2022, Americans were navigating a pandemic and conversations on glaring racial disparities. “We Will Rest!” comes on the heels of a historic presidential election where Black women fundraised for Vice President Kamala Harris and registered voters in a dizzying three-month campaign. Following Harris’ defeat, many of those women are finding self-care and preservation even more important. “There are a lot of Black women announcing how exhausted they are,” Moore said. “This could be their entry point to get to know (Hersey’s) work, which is bigger than whatever political wind is blowing right now.” Hersey said Chicagoans can meet kindred spirits in her environment of rest. Haji Healing Salon, a wellness center, and the social justice-focused Free Street Theater are sites where Hersey honed her craft and found community. In the fall, the theater put on “Rest/Reposo,” a performance featuring a community naptime outdoors in McKinley Park and in its Back of the Yards space. Haji is also an apothecary and hosts community healing activities, sound meditations and yoga classes. “It is in Bronzeville; it’s a beautiful space owned by my friend Aya,” Hersey said, explaining how her community has helped her build the Nap Ministry. “When I first started the Nap Ministry, before I was even understanding what it was, she was like, come do your work here.” “We Will Rest!” is a collection of poems, drawings and short passages. In contrast to her first book, Hersey said she leaned more into her artistic background; the art process alone took 18 months to complete. After a tough year for many, she considers it medicine for a “sick and exhausted” world. “It’s its own sacred document,” Hersey said. “It’s something that, if you have it in your library and you have it with you, you may feel more human.” lazu@chicagotribune.comNDP will not support Liberal GST holiday bill unless rebate expanded: Singh
DALLAS (AP) — More than 60 years after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated , conspiracy theories still swirl and any new glimpse into the fateful day of Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas continues to fascinate . President-elect Donald Trump promised during his reelection campaign that he would declassify all of the remaining government records surrounding the assassination if he returned to office. He made a similar pledge during his first term, but ultimately bended to appeals from the CIA and FBI to keep some documents withheld. At this point, only a few thousand of the millions of governmental records related to the assassination have yet to be fully released, and those who have studied the records released so far say that even if the remaining files are declassified, the public shouldn't anticipate any earth-shattering revelations. “Anybody waiting for a smoking gun that’s going to turn this case upside down will be sorely disappointed,” said Gerald Posner, author of “Case Closed,” which concludes that assassin Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Friday's 61st anniversary is expected to be marked with a moment of silence at 12:30 p.m. in Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy's motorcade was passing through when he was fatally shot. And throughout this week there have been events marking the anniversary. When Air Force One carrying Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy touched down in Dallas , they were greeted by a clear sky and enthusiastic crowds. With a reelection campaign on the horizon the next year, they had gone to Texas on political fence-mending trip. But as the motorcade was finishing its parade route downtown, shots rang out from the Texas School Book Depository building. Police arrested 24-year-old Oswald and, two days later, nightclub owner Jack Ruby fatally shot Oswald during a jail transfer. A year after the assassination, the Warren Commission, which President Lyndon B. Johnson established to investigate the assassination, concluded that Oswald acted alone and there was no evidence of a conspiracy. But that hasn't quelled a web of alternative theories over the decades. In the early 1990s, the federal government mandated that all assassination-related documents be housed in a single collection in the National Archives and Records Administration. The collection of over 5 million records was required to be opened by 2017, barring any exemptions designated by the president. Trump, who took office for his first term in 2017, had boasted that he'd allow the release of all of the remaining records but ended up holding some back because of what he called the potential harm to national security. And while files have continued to be released during President Joe Biden's administration, some still remain unseen. The documents released over the last few years offer details on the way intelligence services operated at the time, and include CIA cables and memos discussing visits by Oswald to the Soviet and Cuban embassies during a trip to Mexico City just weeks before the assassination. The former Marine had previously defected to the Soviet Union before returning home to Texas. Mark S. Zaid, a national security attorney in Washington, said what's been released so far has contributed to the understanding of the time period, giving “a great picture” of what was happening during the Cold War and the activities of the CIA. Posner estimates that there are still about 3,000 to 4,000 documents in the collection that haven’t yet been fully released. Of those documents, some are still completely redacted while others just have small redactions, like someone's Social Security number. There are about 500 documents where all the information is redacted, Posner said, and those include Oswald's and Ruby’s tax returns. “If you have been following it, as I have and others have, you sort of are zeroed in on the pages you think might provide some additional information for history,” Posner said. Trump's transition team hasn’t responded to questions this week about his plans when he takes office. From the start, there were those who believed there had to be more to the story than just Oswald acting alone, said Stephen Fagin, curator of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, which tells the story of the assassination from the building where Oswald made his sniper's perch. “People want to make sense of this and they want to find the solution that fits the crime," said Fagin, who said that while there are lingering questions, law enforcement made “a pretty compelling case” against Oswald. Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said his interest in the assassination dates back to the event itself, when he was a child. “It just seemed so fantastical that one very disturbed individual could end up pulling off the crime of the century," Sabato said. “But the more I studied it, the more I realized that is a very possible, maybe even probable in my view, hypothesis.”In her new book, “We Will Rest! The Art of Escape,” the author and academic says you too can flee the toxic grind culture.
Daily Post Nigeria Oil production: Nigeria targets 2m barrels per day by December 31 — NNPCL Home News Politics Metro Entertainment Sport Business Oil production: Nigeria targets 2m barrels per day by December 31 — NNPCL Published on November 25, 2024 By Matthew Atungwu The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, said it is working closely with relevant stakeholders to boost crude oil production to over two million barrels per day, bpd, by the end of 2024. NNPCL Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, made this known in a statement on Monday while debunking reports on production disparity figures supplied by the company and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Company, NUPRC. There were reports earlier alleging that the 1.54 million bpd for September cited by NUPRC was far below the 1.8 million bpd for November cited by NNPCL. However, Soneye said there was no disparity between production given by both stakeholders. The statement further explained that the seeming disparity is a result of the difference in the period of coverage in the reports—whereas the NNPCL figure was the peak production for October 2024, the NUPRC figure was the average production for September 2024. “The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has clarified that there is no discrepancy between its crude oil production figures and those supplied by the regulatory agency, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Company (NUPRC),” the statement read in part. According to the statement, the Chief Executive Officer of NUPRC, Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, confirmed this at the recent 42nd Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists Annual International Conference & Exhibition in Lagos, where he disclosed that Nigeria’s crude oil output, including condensate, increased by 16.56 per cent to 1.8m bpd in October 2024, from 1.54 million bpd in September 2024. Represented by the Executive Commissioner, Development & Production, Enorense Amadasu, the CEO of NUPRC was quoted as saying: “This represents an increase of 253,710 bpd to reach 1.8 million bpd in October, up from 1.54 million bpd in September 2024, representing 16.56 per cent month-on-month rise. NUPRC also confirmed at the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists event that the 1.8m bpd feat pushed Nigeria’s production beyond the 1.5m bpd quota of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). “There is, therefore, no disparity or discrepancy in the production figures by NNPCL and the regulator,” the statement added. Related Topics: NNPCL oil production Don't Miss Nigerian govt excited over GDP growth of 3.46% despite inflationary trends You may like FIRS, Customs, NNPCL, other agencies exceed 2024 revenue target Import licence: NNPCL asks court to strike out Dangote Refinery’s suit Energy group laments high importation of fuel amid NNPCL decision to patronise local refineries Coalition demands probe of alleged N3tn fuel importation fraud by NNPCL, business partners NNPCL vows to hit 2mbpd crude production in Nigeria by December South-South group reacts to Tinubu’s latest appointments in NNPCL Advertise About Us Contact Us Privacy-Policy Terms Copyright © Daily Post Media Ltd
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Ulefone has unveiled its latest Android smartphone- Armor X31 Pro and this is the first 5G rugged smartphone from the manufacturer. The device is powered by a Dimensity 6300 SoC and offers some excellent features. Ulefone Armor X31 Pro gets a 6.56′′ HD+ 120Hz LCD screen along with 800 nits peak brightness. The protection offered on the screen is Gorilla Glass 5 protection. In terms of camera, we get 16MP camera for taking selfies and attending video calls. The rear camera includes 64MP primary camera, 25MP Night Vision camera and 2MP macro. There are two IR LEDs, LED flash and an independent glare flashlight. The glare flashlight offers max brightness of 120 lumens that can be turned on/off with side key placed on the left side. Important specifications of the Ulefone Armor X31 Pro include 6050 mAh battery, NFC, IR blaster, side-mounted fingerprint scanner, 18W charging, IP68/69K rating, MIL-STD-810H certification and much more. The device will be offered with Armor Case. The device also gets accessories like Armor Mount, Armor Mount Pro, and a Sports Armband. The colour options that are offered on the Ulefone Armor X31 Pro are Classic Black, Few Orange, and Lightsome Green. In terms of pricing, the device is priced at $399.99. It will be sold via AliExpress from January 1, 2025.NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma appears to have borrowed from the past to cure its recent offensive ills. The Sooners , best known this century for a passing prowess that has produced four Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks, took it back to the 20th century against then-No. 7 Alabama. Oklahoma ran 50 times for 257 yards while only throwing 12 times in a 24-3 win over the Crimson Tide that took coach Brent Venables off the hot seat. The Sooners more resembled Barry Switzer’s squads that dominated the old Big 8 with the wishbone offense in the 1970s and ’80s than the more recent Air Raid teams. Venables said the change was a matter of necessity for a unit that has been besieged by injuries at receiver and offensive line. “I think this staff has done a really good job with trying to figure that out, get better every week, put together a great gameplan but also figure out, ‘OK, what does this group of guys, what does this team — what do we need to do?'” Venables said. To make it work, Oklahoma needed to trust that such a change would work in the modern Southeastern Conference. They had to implement it with an interim play-caller in Joe Jon Finley, who stepped in after the Sooners fired Seth Littrell last month. Oklahoma (6-5, 2-5 SEC) pulled it off, and LSU coach Brian Kelly has taken notice ahead of their game on Saturday. “This is now much more about controlling the football, running the football, playing with physicality," Kelly said. "They've got perimeter skill, but I think it's centered around much more of a run-centric, quarterback run and take care of the football." The Sooners started to see success on the ground against Maine. They ran 52 times for 381 yards in a 59-14 win that got the wheels turning. Jovantae Barnes ran for career highs of 203 yards and three touchdowns that day. Venables said the timing of the opportunity to play that non-conference game against Maine in early November and figure some things out was perfect. “Everybody has some degree of vulnerability and maybe some self-doubt,” he said. “And just developing some confidence and putting something on tape other than practice, like, ‘Man, look, see what you’re capable of?’ And executing against, again, a well-coached team — certainly, we played off of that in all the right ways like you would expect us to. And so there’s a real place for that.” After a bye week, the Sooners tried the same approach against Missouri. It wasn't as successful — they ran 36 times for 122 yards — but they hung tough before losing 30-23 . The Sooners went all in against Alabama. Jackson Arnold — the same guy who threw 45 times in the Alamo Bowl last year, ran 25 times for 131 yards and threw just 11 passes. The Sooners found something in running back Xavier Robinson. With Barnes out with an injury, Robinson carried 18 times for career highs of 107 yards and two touchdowns. Suddenly, a team that had been forcing the pass and getting sacked at an alarming rate was moving the line of scrimmage and controlling the tempo. Oklahoma had the ball for more than 34 minutes against the Crimson Tide, lending support to a talented defense that had been spending way too much time on the field. The new approach could be helpful on Saturday — LSU (7-4, 4-3) ranks 14th out of 16 conference teams against the run. Venables said the Sooners still need to throw the ball well to win, but he's glad to know his squad can run with force when necessary. “I think that’s the art of having a system that’s adjustable, flexible, adaptable, week in and week out, but also has an identity — toughness, physicality," he said. "You’ve got to be able to run the ball at every level of football, but you do have to throw it. You can’t just do one thing. But we need to be efficient.” 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
Oklahoma's throwback offensive approach against Alabama gets LSU's attentionUS stocks rose Monday, with the Dow finishing at a fresh record as markets greeted Donald Trump's pick for treasury secretary, while oil prices retreated on hopes for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The Dow climbed one percent to a second straight all-time closing high on news of the selection of hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to lead the critical economic policy position. A widely respected figure on Wall Street, Bessent is seen as being in favor of growth and deficit reduction policies and not known overly fond of trade tariffs. The market "breathed a sigh of relief" at Bessent's selection, said Art Hogan from B. Riley Wealth Management. But after an initial surge Monday, the gains in US equities moderated somewhat. While investors are enthusiastic about the possibility of tax cuts and regulatory relief under Trump, "we do have to face the potential for tariffs being a negative as well as a very tight market around immigration, which is not positive for the economy," Hogan said. Earlier, equity gains were limited in Europe as growth concerns returned to the fore with Germany's Thyssenkrupp announcing plans to cut or outsource 11,000 jobs in its languishing steel division. Currently around 27,000 people are employed in the steel division, which has been battered by high production costs and fierce competition from Asian rivals. Elsewhere, crude oil prices fell decisively as Israel's security cabinet prepared to decide whether to accept a ceasefire in its war with Hezbollah, an official said Monday. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have all pushed in recent days for a truce in the long-running hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which flared into all-out war in late September. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Israeli official told AFP the security cabinet "will decide on Tuesday evening on the ceasefire deal." And bitcoin's push toward $100,000 ran out of steam after coming within a whisker of the mark last week, on hopes that Trump would enact policies to bring the cryptocurrency more into the mainstream. Bitcoin was recently trading under $96,000, having set a record high of $99,728.34 Friday -- the digital currency has soared about 50 percent in value since Trump's election. This week's data includes a reading of consumer confidence and an update of personal consumption prices, a key inflation indicator. Those reporting earnings include Best Buy, Dell and Dick's Sporting Goods. - Key figures around 2140 GMT - New York - Dow: UP 1.0 percent at 44,736.57 (close) New York - S&P 500: UP 0.3 percent at 5,987.37 (close) New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.3 percent at 19,054.84 (close) London - FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 8,291.68 (close) Paris - CAC 40: FLAT at 7,257.47 (close) Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.4 percent at 19,405.20 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.3 percent at 38,780.14 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.4 percent at 19,150.99 (close) Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,263.76 (close) Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0495 from $1.0418 on Friday Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2564 from $1.2530 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 154.23 yen from 154.78 yen Euro/pound: UP at 83.51 pence from 83.14 pence West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 3.2 percent at $68.94 per barrel Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.9 percent at $73.01 per barrel bur-jmb/dw