Keeshawn Barthelemy lands with the Ducks

USA TODAY
Starliner astronauts won't return home until at least March after latest NASA delay
The Starliner astronauts have had their homecoming delayed yet again after NASA postponed the launch of the mission whose crew would replace them.
The Wall Street Journal
The Last-Ditch Efforts to Win Over Critics of the Nippon-U.S. Steel Deal
The Japanese company continues to doggedly campaign for support from mayors, governors and especially members of the steelworkers union.
Yahoo Finance
Nvidia is on a collision course with a $5 trillion valuation: Analyst
If Nvidia were an all-night party, this would be 10 p.m., argues Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.
Reuters
US single-family housing starts rebound in November
U.S. single-family homebuilding rebounded in November as the drag from hurricanes faded, but the threat of tariffs on imported goods and potential labor shortages from mass deportations could hamper new construction next year. Single-family housing starts, which account for the bulk of homebuilding, jumped 6.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.011 million units last month, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Wednesday. Homebuilding has struggled for much of this year after benefiting from a severe shortage of previously owned homes for sale.
CBS News
Here's what to expect from the Fed's interest rate decision today
The Federal Reserve will announce a rate decision today, Wednesday, Dec. 18. Economists are now expecting fewer cuts in 2025.
Reuters
US House speaker defends stopgap spending as some Republicans, Musk balk
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson defended a stopgap measure aimed at funding the federal government through mid-March and averting a partial government shutdown despite complaints from some fellow Republicans and Donald Trump ally Elon Musk. Johnson, in an interview on Fox News, said the bill was necessary to keep the government operating until U.S. President-elect Trump and his fellow Republicans had full control of Congress and could fully enact promised bigger spending changes. Tesla founder Musk, who along with fellow businessman Vivek Ramaswamy were tasked by Trump to lead an outside advisory panel that they say will make the government more efficient, balked at the spending bill and urged lawmakers to reject it.
Reuters
Congo lawyers say Apple's supply chain statement must be verified
International lawyers for the Democratic Republic of Congo welcomed Apple's decision to stop sourcing minerals from there due to worsening conflict, but said they would press ahead with their cases against the company in Europe. Criminal complaints were filed against Apple subsidiaries in France and Belgium this week on behalf of Congo, accusing the tech firm of using conflict minerals in its supply chain. Congo is a major source of tin, tantalum and tungsten, so-called 3T minerals used in computers and mobile phones.
Associated Press
Democracies across the globe are at a crossroads, as authoritarians seek to chip away at freedoms
In November, the world's most powerful democracy elected as its next president a man who schemed to overturn its last presidential election. Incumbent parties and leaders were battered in elections that covered 60% of the world's population, a sign of widespread discontent in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. From Asia to Africa to the Americas, it produced examples of democracy working and citizens standing up against attempted coups or authoritarians.
USA TODAY
Are your plastic kitchen utensils toxic? An alarming study gets an update.
A recent study found black plastic kitchen tools had high levels of toxins - but researchers admit they overestimated the risk.
Associated Press
Prayerful, playful, mystical: Some of AP's most compelling religion photos of 2024.
Photographs are an essential aspect of how The Associated Press covers religion and spirituality around the world, as evidenced by this gallery featuring some of 2024’s most compelling images. In Lakeland, Florida, a more intimate joy is palpable as Sam and Tori Earle watch their infant daughter, Novalie, swing in their backyard.
AFP
Three 'transformations' for nature, according to UN experts
Human societies need a radical overhaul to stop the destruction of the planet, according to the UN biodiversity expert panel's "transformative change" report released Wednesday. The assessment, the second by the expert panel this week, says overconsumption in richer countries, a concentration of wealth and power, and a society increasingly disconnected from nature, were driving ecological destruction.
NBC News
Trump says his inaugural will be about unity. It might be a tough sell.
In what would be a political makeover for the ages, Donald Trump says that moments after taking the oath of office next month, he'll cast himself as something notably off-brand: a unifier.
USA TODAY
'Nothing nefarious': Biden rejects Trump claim that feds hiding drone info
No threat of national security or public safety has been determined from more than 5,000 reported sightings, federal officials say.
AFP
Russian oil spill contaminates 50km of Black Sea beaches
Russia Wednesday expanded an operation to clean up thousands of tonnes of oil that spilt into the sea and contaminated 50 kilometres of beaches after tanker ships were wrecked in a storm.It said they had collected about 80 tonnes of oil and cleaned up more than eight kilometres (five miles) of beach.
Yahoo Finance
Wall Street is betting the Fed will deliver a final 2024 rate cut and get more cautious about 2025
Investors widely expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates Wednesday by a quarter percentage point, but their bigger question is whether the central bank is ready to scale back its expected cuts for 2025.
CNN
After investigating January 6, House GOP sides with Trump and goes after Liz Cheney
Wrapping up their own investigation on the January 6, 2021 US Capitol attack, House Republicans have concluded GOP former Rep. Liz Cheney should be prosecuted for probing what happened when then-President Donald Trump sent his mob of supporters as Congress was certifying the 2020 election.
AFP
Blistering barnacles! Tintin-linked tomb gets historic listing
A 17th-century English tomb linked to the beloved Tintin comics has been granted official protection as a "remarkable" historic place by heritage chiefs.Mary Haddock's tomb is "notable as a single monument dedicated to a named woman in a period of gender inequality", according to Historic England, which announced "17 remarkable and unusual historic buildings and places" listed this year on Wednesday.
AFP
Climate change made Cyclone Chido stronger: scientists
Climate change intensified Cyclone Chido as it barrelled toward the Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte, said a preliminary study by scientists studying the link between global warming and tropical storms.In the absence of conclusive studies, France's weather service has stopped short of attributing Chido's intensity to global warming, but says warmer oceans driven by human-caused climate change have made storms more violent.
CNN
New York prosecutors may have trouble proving first-degree murder charge against Luigi Mangione, legal experts say
The indictment of UnitedHealthCare CEO shooting suspect Luigi Mangione for murder as an act of terrorism involved multiple factors, prosecutors say, including a “frightening, well-planned, targeted” killing, as well as an outpouring of praise for the suspect and the tangible fear reported by executives since the shooting – but some legal experts caution the charge may be an overreach.
Reuters
Return of NASA astronauts from space station further delayed until late March
The duo had traveled to the ISS in June for the test mission, but their return was extended by eight months to February, after the Boeing Starliner capsule they arrived on was deemed unfit to return them to Earth. NASA said Williams and Wilmore, along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, would return to Earth after the four-member Crew-10 mission, now expected to take off in late March, reaches the space station.

Keeshawn Barthelemy lands with the Ducks

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Buffs in the NBA: Year in Review

Latest Stories

Starliner astronauts won't return home until at least March after latest NASA delay

The Last-Ditch Efforts to Win Over Critics of the Nippon-U.S. Steel Deal

Nvidia is on a collision course with a $5 trillion valuation: Analyst

US single-family housing starts rebound in November

Here's what to expect from the Fed's interest rate decision today

US House speaker defends stopgap spending as some Republicans, Musk balk

Congo lawyers say Apple's supply chain statement must be verified

Democracies across the globe are at a crossroads, as authoritarians seek to chip away at freedoms

Are your plastic kitchen utensils toxic? An alarming study gets an update.

Prayerful, playful, mystical: Some of AP's most compelling religion photos of 2024.

Three 'transformations' for nature, according to UN experts

Trump says his inaugural will be about unity. It might be a tough sell.

'Nothing nefarious': Biden rejects Trump claim that feds hiding drone info

Russian oil spill contaminates 50km of Black Sea beaches

Wall Street is betting the Fed will deliver a final 2024 rate cut and get more cautious about 2025

After investigating January 6, House GOP sides with Trump and goes after Liz Cheney

Blistering barnacles! Tintin-linked tomb gets historic listing

Climate change made Cyclone Chido stronger: scientists

New York prosecutors may have trouble proving first-degree murder charge against Luigi Mangione, legal experts say

Return of NASA astronauts from space station further delayed until late March