Star Trek: Picard’s Ed Speleers Praises His ‘Brother’ Wil Wheaton After Jack Crusher Reveal

Associated Press
Turkey's central bank lowers key interest rate to 47.5%
Turkey’s central bank lowered its key interest rate by 2.5 percentage points to 47.5% on Thursday, carrying out its first rate cut in nearly two years as it tries to control soaring inflation. Citing slowing inflation, the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee said it was reducing its one-week repo rate to 47.5% from the current 50%. The committee said in a statement that the overall inflation trend was “flat” in November and that indicators suggest it is likely to decline in December.
Associated Press
Estonian government to meet as investigators probe interruption of undersea cable
Estonia's government was to hold an extraordinary meeting Thursday as investigators try to find out what disrupted a Baltic Sea power cable bringing electricity from Finland, Estonia's prime minister said Thursday. Officials have been on edge about undersea cables in the wake of damage to two data cables in November and Nord Stream gas pipeline, both of which have been termed sabotage.
Associated Press
How the stock market defied expectations again this year, by the numbers
U.S. stocks ripped higher and carried the S&P 500 to records as the economy kept growing and the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates. The year featured many familiar winners, such as Big Tech, which got even bigger as their stock prices kept growing. Remember when President Bill Clinton got impeached or when baseball's Mark McGwire hit his 70th home run against the Montreal Expos?
NBC News
Leaders in 'uncommitted' and 'abandon Harris' movements reflect on Trump's victory and early moves
"Uncommitted" leaders say they felt Harris didn’t do enough to distance herself from Biden or outline how she’d handle the war differently. Now, they’re closely watching Donald Trump’s early moves to see what comes next.
CNN
New York taxi driver hits 6 pedestrians, 3 taken to hospital, police say
A taxicab hit six pedestrians in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, police said, with three people — including a 9-year-old boy — transported to hospitals for their injuries.
AFP
Tears, prayers as Asia mourns tsunami dead 20 years on
Tearful mourners prayed and lit candles Thursday at ceremonies across Asia to remember the 220,000 people killed two decades ago when a tsunami hit coastlines around the Indian Ocean in one of the world's worst disasters.In Indonesia's Aceh Province, where more than 100,000 people were killed, a siren rang out at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque to kick off a series of memorials around the region, including in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, which the tsunami hit hours later.
CNN
Three babies die from cold in Gaza, as Israel’s war pushes Palestinians deep into tent camps
A newborn baby died from the cold in a tent encampment in Al-Mawasi, in southern Gaza, highlighting the stark challenges to survival faced by Palestinian children displaced from their homes amid Israel’s ongoing assault on the strip.
CNN
At least 14 security personnel killed in ‘ambush’ by former Assad forces, new Syrian authorities say
At least 14 law enforcement personnel were killed in western Syria overnight in an “ambush” by the former forces of deposed leader Bashar al-Assad, the interior ministry said on Thursday, in an indication of challenges for the country’s new government.
AFP
Record number of migrants lost at sea bound for Spain in 2024: NGO
At least 10,457 migrants died or disappeared while trying to reach Spain by sea in 2024, an NGO said Thursday, more than 50 percent more than last year and the most since it began keeping a tally in 2007.According to the interior ministry, 60,216 migrants entered Spain irregularly between January 1 and December 15 -- a 14.5 percent increase over the same period last year.
Associated Press
What is known about a plane crash in Kazakhstan that killed 38 of 67 people on board
An Azerbaijani airliner has crashed in Kazakhstan after being diverted, killing 38 of 67 people on board. Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijani capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted for reasons that aren't fully clear yet. It crashed while making an attempt to land in Aktau, Kazakhstan, after flying east across the Caspian Sea.
Associated Press
More than 10,000 migrants died this year trying to reach Spain by sea, aid group says
More than 10,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by sea this year, a report released by a Spanish migration rights group said on Thursday. On average, that means 30 migrants died every day this year attempting to reach the country by boat, Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) said. Tens of thousands of migrants left West Africa in 2024 for the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago close to the African coast that has increasingly been used as a stepping stone to continental Europe.
Associated Press
Working Well: Returning to the office can disrupt life. Here are some tips to navigate the changes
Jason LaCroix felt privileged to work from home, especially as a father to two young children. LaCroix, a senior systems engineer based in Atlanta, took time off and then worked from home while managing his son's care and appointments. “I want to be around for my kids,” LaCroix, 44, said.
Reuters
Futures lower in holiday-thinned trading
Heavyweight Nvidia dropped 1.1% in premarket trading, while Google-parent Alphabet shed 0.5%. At 05:03 a.m., Dow E-minis were down 146 points, or 0.33%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 26.75 points, or 0.44% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 118.75 points, or 0.54%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq wrapped up Tuesday's truncated session with a third straight session of gains lifted by megacap and growth stocks.
CBS News
3 shot, 1 stabbed in Christmas night dispute at Phoenix airport, police say
Gunfire rang out at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Christmas night and left three people wounded, police say. Another was stabbed. One was in critical condition.
CNN
3 shot and 1 stabbed at Phoenix airport in apparent family dispute on Christmas night, officials say
Three people were shot and another person was stabbed at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona during a family dispute in one of the terminals on Christmas night, police said.
Reuters
Lebanon hopes for neighbourly relations in first message to new Syria government
Lebanon said on Thursday it was looking forward to having the best neighbourly relations with Syria, in its first official message to the new administration in Damascus. Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib passed the message to his Syrian counterpart, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, in a phone call, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said on X. Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah played a major part propping up Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad through years of war, before bringing its fighters back to Lebanon over the last year to fight in a bruising war with Israel - a redeployment which weakened Syrian government lines.
AFP
Azerbaijan mourns 38 killed in plane crash in Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan held a national day of mourning Thursday after a passenger jet from the flag carrier crashed in Kazakhstan killing 38 people, as experts pointed to apparent shrapnel damage on the wreckage as evidence of a possible missile explosion.- Day of mourning - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared Thursday a day of mourning and cancelled a planned visit to Russia for an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of former Soviet nations.
CNN
These undersea tunnels connect remote islands halfway between Iceland and Scotland
In the Faroe Islands, wild, unpredictable weather — fierce winds and rain, and thick fog that settles like a curtain — can sometimes make travel by car or ferry problematic. No wonder the Faroese love their tunnels.
CNN
Corporate interests commit millions to celebrate Trump’s inauguration
Fortune 500 companies, burgeoning crypto firms and individual billionaires are racing to help underwrite Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration – pledging seven-figure donations apiece to next month’s festivities as they work to ingratiate themselves with the new administration.
Associated Press
China raises its estimate for the size of its economy in 2023
China's economy grew a bit more in 2023 than earlier thought, but the revision has not affected forecasts for “about 5%” growth in the GDP this year, the government said Thursday. The estimate for total economic activity, or GDP, in 2023 for the world's second largest economy was increased by about 2.7% to 129.4 trillion yuan ($17.7 trillion), based on an economic census conducted once every five years. The exact impact on China’s annual economic growth in 2023 was not given.

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