Maryland opened the game on a 15-2 run, extended it to 25-7 with 10:38 left and led 51-28 at the break. The Terrapins led by at least 16 points the entire second half, which included runs of 12-0 and 9-0. Gapare scored the 10 straight points during the second-half run. Gapare threw down a highlight dunk while being fouled with 2:08 remaining to give Maryland an 89-62 lead. He was called for a technical foul after stepping over Patrick O’Brien, who was attempting to take a charge. Jayden Williams made the two free throws for Bucknell and Gapare missed his free-throw attempt that would have tied his career high of 20 points. Maryland (6-1) has won 20 consecutive home games against unranked nonconference foes with its last loss coming on Dec. 1, 2021, against Virginia Tech in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Julian Reese added 14 points and Selton Miguel scored 13 for Maryland. Gapare, a Georgia Tech transfer, reached double-figure scoring as a Terp for the first time. The Terrapins shot 50% from the field with three 3-pointers apiece by Gapare and Miguel. Ruot Bijiek led Bucknell (4-4) with 20 points and Josh Bascoe added 10. The Bison turned it over 20 times leading to 22 Maryland points. Maryland stays at home to play Alcorn State on Sunday. Bucknell returns home to play Siena on Saturday. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
Security cameras captured video of a University of Mississippi student leaving his campus apartment twice on the morning he was last seen alive, University Police Department Capt. Jane Mahan testified Wednesday in the trial of the man accused of killing the student. Jimmy “Jay” Lee, 20, was a gay man well known in the LGBTQ+ community at Ole Miss and in Oxford , where the university is located. He was last seen on July 8, 2022. Sheldon “Timothy” Herrington Jr., 24, of Grenada, Mississippi, is charged with capital murder in Lee's death, and his trial began Tuesday in Oxford. Herrington has maintained his innocence. Police said cellphone history showed conversations between Herrington and Lee on the morning Lee disappeared. Jurors on Wednesday were shown video clips of Lee leaving his own apartment shortly after 4 a.m., wearing a robe and slippers. The clips showed him returning about 40 minutes later and leaving again just before 6 a.m. When he left the last time, he was looking at his cellphone. A friend of Lee, Khalid Fears, testified Tuesday that he had a video chat with Lee while Lee left the apartment around 6 a.m. that day. Lee said he was going back to see a man he had seen hours earlier, Fears testified. Mahan testified Wednesday about the timeline of the video clips showing Lee at the campus apartment. She said campus police started searching for Lee after his mother, Stephanie Lee, called later that day to request a welfare check on her son after he didn't respond to multiple messages. Jay Lee's apartment had an electronic key card, and Mahan testified that police contacted the campus housing department to put an alert on his card, which would automatically send police an email if the card were used. An assistant district attorney, Gwen Agho, asked Mahan if Lee ever returned to his apartment after he was recorded leaving that morning. “Not that I've ever been notified of, no,” Mahan said. Lee and Herrington saw each other twice during the hours before Lee disappeared, Agho said during opening arguments Tuesday. She said the men had sexual contact during their first meeting, and Lee was upset when he left Herrington’s apartment. Herrington invited Lee back — and before Lee arrived, Herrington searched online for how long it takes to strangle someone, Agho said. Herrington “was not openly in the LGBTQ community,” she said. A witness, Kizziah Carter, testified Wednesday that he was driving home from work at about 7:30 that morning and saw Herrington jogging along a road in Oxford. Carter said he knew Herrington and honked to greet him, and Carter flagged him down to ask for a ride. The road was near an apartment complex where Lee's car was found later in the day. Carter said he drove Herrington to Herrington's apartment in another complex. Surveillance video also recorded Herrington running from where Lee’s car was found, and he was later seen picking up a shovel and wheelbarrow at his parents’ house, authorities said. Lee’s body has not been found. In October, a judge declared him dead at the request of Lee’s parents. Lee’s active presence on social media fell silent after July 8, 2022, and no transactions have appeared on his credit card since then, prosecutors said. Herrington was arrested two weeks after Lee vanished, then released five months later on a $250,000 bond. A grand jury indicted him in March 2023. Herrington’s attorney, Kevin Horan, told jurors Tuesday that prosecutors have “zero” proof that Lee was killed or that any crime happened. Both Herrington and Lee had graduated from the University of Mississippi. Lee was pursuing a master’s degree. He was known for his creative expression through fashion and makeup and often performed in drag shows in Oxford, according to a support group called Justice for Jay Lee. Prosecutors have announced they do not intend to pursue the death penalty, meaning Herrington could get a life sentence if convicted. Mississippi law defines capital murder as a killing committed along with another felony — in this case, kidnapping.Youth cricketers leave for Under 19 Asia Cup
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SEIC Stock Soars to All-Time High, Reaching $83.16RBC and National Bank both posted higher fourth-quarter profit Wednesday that exceeded analyst estimates. Mark Blinch/Reuters Royal Bank of Canada’s chief executive officer says tighter immigration and trade policies are clouding the banking industry’s outlook for next year, and political leaders need to resolve the concerns causing uncertainty. Canada’s largest lender and National Bank of Canada NA-T both reported fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday, and leaders of both cautioned of risks to the economy as the banking sector moves into a new fiscal year. The banks posted profits that beat analyst expectations on higher-than-expected revenue growth, even as provisions for loans that could default edged up. Among the risks looming in 2025, RBC RY-T CEO Dave McKay also pointed to weaker consumer spending and business conditions, as well as rising unemployment. On tariffs, he said that government leaders need to find a solution and Canada needs to explore options to reinforce its economy in the face of these threats. “This was a strong message that we have to improve certain aspects of our operations in Canada around our borders. And there are other ways of solving that without hurting both economies – the Canadian economy and the U.S. economy,” Mr. McKay said during a conference call with analysts, adding that the uncertain outlook does not affect the bank’s strategy or business operations. “I expect our political leaders to find a better path to do that. The key is not to overreact right now.” U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to impose 25-per-cent tariffs on all products from Canada and Mexico. And the Canadian government has said it will scale back its annual immigration targets. At the same time, some conditions are improving to help counteract these concerns. Mr. McKay said that consumer income and savings levels are rising, and the Bank of Canada has slashed the cost of borrowing. National Bank CEO Laurent Ferreira said Wednesday that the Canadian government needs to act quickly to get ahead of the negotiation tactics of the new U.S. administration. “We need to take this very seriously, and we need to think about what the response would be from Canada,” Mr. Ferreira said in an interview. “Whether it’s the business community or government, we should all get together, discuss and have a more united approach toward what we should do. There are growing concerns amongst everyone, including government, about productivity in our country.” Bay Street is closely watching policy developments in the U.S. as president-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office. Scotiabank CEO Scott Thomson predicted Tuesday that uncertainty prompted by government leadership changes in the U.S. and Mexico – markets that are key to his plan to rejig the bank – will ease quickly. On Wednesday, Moody’s Ratings upgraded its global outlook for banks to stable from negative, citing stabilizing economic growth and easing interest rates. But the ratings agency added that geopolitical conflicts, trade tensions and policy changes in the U.S. create significant uncertainty and risks. RBC and National both posted higher fourth-quarter profit Wednesday that exceeded analyst estimates. On Tuesday, Scotiabank reported higher net income, but missed analyst estimates . Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Montreal and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will wrap up earnings week for the Big Six lenders on Thursday. RBC has spent much of the past year integrating its takeover of HSBC Bank Canada, which includes a large book of commercial and corporate clients with ties to China and other global markets. In response to an analyst question about whether a trade war could affect the HSBC clients that RBC acquired, Mr. McKay said that the majority of the businesses are based in Canada but may do business with China. “We thought about that when we made the acquisition, but these clients are, are embedded in Canada, and are strong Canadian clients – both on the commercial and consumer side – and are very large, significant clients with the global operations, not just back to Hong Kong,” Mr. McKay said. RBC personal banking head Erica Nielsen and commercial banking head Sean Amato-Gauci both said that retention rates of HSBC clients and advisers are above expectations. Mr. Amato-Gauci added that the bank has also acquired 3,500 new small business clients. National Bank is in the midst of an acquisition of its own. Canada’s second-largest bank plans to close its takeover of Edmonton-based Canadian Western Bank early next year, extending the reach of the Montreal-based lender into Alberta and British Columbia. Mr. Ferreira said during a conference call with analysts that the deal is in the final stages of approvals, as Canada’s banking regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, is reviewing the proposal. The final step will be for Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland to greenlight the deal. Even though National Bank’s fourth-quarter earnings beat analyst expectations, investors reacted negatively. Its stock slumped 3.4 per cent at 3 p.m. in Toronto, while the S&P/TSC Composite Banks Index remained relatively flat. National Bank’s share price has been on a tear this year, surging 34 per cent and outperforming most of the other Big Six banks. The lender set aside $162-million in provisions for credit losses – the funds banks set aside to cover loans that may default. That was higher than analysts expected, and included $145-million against loans that the bank believes may not be repaid. Loan loss provisions are a key indicator of the health of the Canadian consumer and businesses. Banks have been ratcheting up reserves as high interest rates put pressure on the ability of their clients to pay off their debt. RBC set aside $840-million in provisions – higher than analysts anticipated – and included an uptick in reserves for loans that the bank believes may not be paid off. “Looking ahead to 2025, we expect the current trend of a rising unemployment rate and slower GDP growth to persist,” National Bank chief risk officer Jean-Sébastien Grisé said during the conference call. “Interest rates remain restricted and there remain significant uncertainties in the forecast of economic growth.”
Insurgents reach gates of Syria’s capital, threatening to upend decades of Assad rule