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  • Asian Shares Mixed After Wall Street Gets a Lift From Hopes for a Fed Rate Cut

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    BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mixed on Tuesday after U.S. stocks rallied on hopes the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates soon.

    U.S. futures edged lower and oil prices also declined.

    Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was trading less than 0.1% higher, at 48,644.92, after reopening from a holiday.

    In South Korea, the Kospi also traded in a narrow range and was nearly flat at 3,848.00. Taiwan’s Taiex was up 1.4%.

    Chinese markets advanced. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng climbed 0.6% to 25,875.36, while the Shanghai Composite index jumped 1.1% to 3,880.22.

    E-commerce giant Alibaba, which was due to report its earnings late Tuesday, gained 2.4%.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX gave up 0.2% to 8,510.30.

    U.S. markets will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. A day later, it’s on to the rush of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

    The U.S. stock market rallied on Monday, at the start of a week with shortened trading because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

    The S&P 500 climbed 1.5% to 6,705.12 in one of its best days since the summer. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% to 46,448.27, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.7% to 22,872.01.

    Stocks got a lift from rising hopes that the Fed will cut its main interest rate again at its next meeting in December, a move that could boost the economy and investment prices.

    The market also benefited from strength for stocks caught up in the artificial-intelligence frenzy. Alphabet, which has been getting praise for its newest Gemini AI model, rallied 6.3% and was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500. Nvidia rose 2.1%.

    Despite all the recent fear, the S&P 500 remains within 2.7% of its record set last month.

    Several tests for the market lie ahead this week. One of the biggest will arrive Tuesday when the U.S. government will deliver data on inflation at the wholesale level in September.

    Economists expect it to show a 2.6% rise in prices from a year earlier, the same as in August. A higher-than-expected reading could deter the Fed from cutting its main interest rate in December for a third time this year, because lower rates can worsen inflation. Some Fed officials have already argued against a December cut in part because inflation has stubbornly remained above their 2% target.

    Traders are nevertheless betting on a nearly 85% probability that the Fed will cut rates next month, up from 71% on Friday and from less than a coin flip’s chance seen a week ago, according to data from CME Group.

    In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 28 cents to $58.56 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 33 cents to $62.39 per barrel.

    The dollar fell to 156.81 Japanese yen from 156.91 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1517 from $1.1521.

    Bitcoin fell 1.1% to $88,200. It was near $125,000 last month.

    AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Stan Choe contributed.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Asian Shares Mostly Gain and US Futures Also Advance After Wall St Ends With Gains

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    BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher and U.S. futures advanced Monday after Wall Street ended on an upbeat note after much drama last week.

    Markets in Japan were closed for a holiday.

    Hong Kong’s benchmark, the Hang Seng, rose 1.3% to 25,550.89. It got a boost from a 4.7% gain for e-commerce giant Alibaba, which has reported strong demand for its new Qwen AI app. Alibaba is due to report earnings on Tuesday.

    The Shanghai Composite index, one of the few regional markets to decline, fell 0.3% to 3,821.68.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.1% to 8,507.60

    In South Korea, the Kospi climbed as technology shares settled after a rough few days of volatility spurred by worries over the craze for artificial intelligence will be sustained.

    Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.4% and the Sensex in India edged 0.1% higher.

    The future for the S&P 500 rose 0.6% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3%.

    This week, U.S. markets will be closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday, which will be followed by the Black Friday and Cyber Monday retail rushes.

    After last week’s ups and downs over AI and Nvidia, traders will focus more on “the backbone of U.S. growth, the consumer, whose spending still drives two-thirds of GDP,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

    Data on the U.S. economy was scarce during the 6-week U.S. government shutdown, leaving investors struggling to parse trends in the economy.

    “This makes any sniff of holiday activity — foot traffic, discount depth, card authorizations — disproportionately important. In a data desert, even a puddle looks like a lake,” he said.

    On Friday, the S&P 500 gained 1% to 6,602.99 and the Dow climbed 1.1% to 46,245.41. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.9% to 22,273.08. Nearly 90% of stocks in the S&P 500 advanced.

    Markets took heart from a speech by the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, John Williams, who told a conference in Chile that he sees “room for a further adjustment” to interest rates.

    In the bond market, Treasury yields eased Friday on hopes for cuts from the Fed. Traders are now betting on a nearly 72% probability of a December cut, up sharply from 39% a day before, according to data from CME Group. That helped send the yield on the 10-year Treasury to 4.06% from 4.10% late Thursday.

    In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 6 cents to $58.00 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 4 cents to $61.90 a barrel.

    The U.S. dollar rose to 156.65 Japanese yen from 156.47 yen. The euro edged to $1.1519 from $1.1516.

    Bitcoin was up 3.2% at $87,350. On Friday, it briefly plunged below $81,000 before pulling back toward $85,000. That’s down from nearly $125,000 last month and brought it back to where it was in April, when markets were shaking because of President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Eurovision Plans Changes to Voting, Security After Allegations of Israeli Government ‘Interference’

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    GENEVA (AP) — Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest announced plans to change the voting system of the popular musical extravaganza to ensure fairness, a move that follows allegations of “interference” by Israel’s government.

    The European Broadcasting Union, a Geneva-based union of public broadcasters that runs the event, said Friday that the changes were “designed to strengthen trust, transparency and audience engagement.”

    Israel has competed in Eurovision for more than 50 years and won four times. But calls for Israel to be kicked out swelled over the conduct of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza.

    The allegations of Israeli government interference have added a new twist to the debate.

    In September, Dutch public broadcaster AVROTROS — citing human suffering in the Gaza war — said that it could no longer justify Israel’s participation in the contest. Several other countries took a similar stance.

    The Dutch broadcaster went on to say there had been “proven interference by the Israeli government during the last edition of the Song Contest, with the event being used as a political instrument.” The statement didn’t elaborate.

    That same month, the CEO of Israeli public broadcaster Kan, Golan Yochpaz, said that there was “no reason why we should not continue to be a significant part of this cultural event, which must not become political.”

    Kan also said then that it was “convinced” that the EBU “will continue to maintain the apolitical, professional and cultural character of the competition, especially on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Eurovision” next year.

    As part of the new Eurovision measures, in next year’s contest — scheduled to take place in May in Vienna — the number of votes per payment method will be reduced by half to 10, the EBU said.

    In addition, “professional juries” will return to the semifinals for the first time since 2022 — a move that will give roughly 50-50 percentage weight between audience and jury votes, it said.

    Organizers will also enhance safeguards to thwart “suspicious or coordinated voting activity” and strengthen security systems that “monitor, detect and prevent fraudulent patterns,” EBU said.

    Contest director Martin Green said that the neutrality and integrity of the competition is of “paramount importance” to the EBU, its members, and audiences, adding that the event “should remain a neutral space and must not be instrumentalized.”

    The EBU’s general assembly on Dec. 4-5 is poised to consider whether Israel can participate next year. A vote on that participation will only take place if member broadcasters decide the new steps are “not sufficient,” Green said.

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  • US Transportation Department Endorses a Female Crash Test Dummy That More Closely Resembles Women

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    The U.S. government on Thursday released a new crash test dummy design that advocates believe will help make cars safer for women.

    The Department of Transportation will consider using the dummy in the government’s vehicle crash test five star-ratings once a final rule is adopted, the agency said in a news release.

    Women are 73% more likely to be injured in a head-on crash, and they are 17% more likely to be killed in a car crash, than men.

    The standard crash test dummy used in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration five-star vehicle testing was developed in 1978 and was modeled after a 5-foot-9 (175-centimeter), 171-pound (78-kilogram) man. The female dummy is smaller and has a rubber jacket to represent breasts. It’s routinely tested in the passenger or back seat but seldom in the driver’s seat, even though the majority of licensed drivers are women.

    The new female dummy endorsed by the department more accurately reflects differences between men and women, including the shape of the neck, collarbone, pelvis, and legs. It’s outfitted with more than 150 sensors, the department said.

    Some American automakers have been skeptical, arguing the new model may exaggerate injury risks and undercut the value of some safety features such as seat belts and airbags.

    Lawmakers and transportation secretaries from the past two presidential administrations have expressed support for new crash test rules and safety requirements but developments have been slow.

    U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer, a Republican from Nebraska, and Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, both released statements welcoming the female crash test dummy announcement.

    “Any progress here is good because there’s simply no good reason why women are more likely to be injured or die in car crashes,” Duckworth said.

    Fischer introduced legislation, the She Drives Act, that would require the most advanced testing devices available, including a female crash test dummy. Duckworth is a co-sponsor.

    “It’s far past time to make these testing standards permanent, which will help save thousands of lives and make America’s roads safer for all drivers,” Fischer said.

    The department said the new specifications will be available for manufacturers to build models and for the automotive industry to begin testing them in vehicles.

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  • Trump Administration Announces Plan for New Oil Drilling off the Coasts of California and Florida

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced on Thursday new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production.

    The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas, including Southern California and off the coast of Florida, as a way to boost U.S. energy security and jobs. The federal government has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Florida and part of offshore Alabama, since 1995, because of concerns about oil spills. California has some offshore oil rigs, but there has been no new leasing in federal waters since the mid-1980s.

    Since taking office for a second time in January, Trump has systematically reversed former President Joe Biden’s focus on slowing climate change to pursue what the Republican calls U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. Trump, who recently called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” created a National Energy Dominance Council and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-high U.S. energy production, particularly fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas.

    Meanwhile, Trump’s administration has blocked renewable energy sources such as offshore wind and canceled billions of dollars in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects across the country.

    Even before it was released, the offshore drilling plan has been met with strong opposition from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is eyeing a 2028 presidential run and has emerged as a leading Trump critic. Newsom pronounced the idea “dead on arrival” in a social media post. The proposal also is likely to draw bipartisan opposition in Florida. Tourism and access to clean beaches are key parts of the economy in both states.


    Plans to allow drilling off California, Alaska and Florida’s coast

    The administration’s plan proposes six offshore lease sales off the coast of California.

    It also calls for new drilling off the coast of Florida in areas at least 100 miles from that state’s shore. The area targeted for leasing is adjacent to an area in the Central Gulf of Mexico that already contains thousands of wells and hundreds of drilling platforms.

    The five-year plan also would compel more than 20 lease sales off the coast of Alaska, including a newly designated area known as the High Arctic, more than 200 miles offshore in the Arctic Ocean.

    All offshore areas “with the potential to generate jobs, new revenue and additional production to advance America’s energy dominance should be considered for inclusion,” the American Petroleum Institute and other groups said in a joint letter to the Trump administration in June.

    The groups cited California’s history as an oil-producing state. “Undiscovered resources could be readily produced given the array of existing infrastructure in the area, particularly in southern California,” the letter said.


    Opposition from California and Florida

    Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican and Trump ally, helped persuade Trump officials to drop a similar offshore plan in 2018 when he was governor. Last week, Scott and fellow Florida Republican Sen. Ashley Moody’ co-sponsored a bill to maintain a moratorium on offshore drilling in the state that Trump signed in his first term.

    “As Floridians, we know how vital our beautiful beaches and coastal waters are to our state’s economy, environment and way of life,″ Scott said in a statement. “I will always work to keep Florida’s shores pristine and protect our natural treasures for generations to come.”

    A Newsom spokesman said Trump officials had not formally shared the plan, but said “expensive and riskier offshore drilling would put our communities at risk and undermine the economic stability of our coastal economies.”

    California has been a leader in restricting offshore oil drilling since the infamous 1969 Santa Barbara spill that helped spark the modern environmental movement. While there have been no new federal leases offered since the mid-1980s, drilling from existing platforms continues.

    Newsom expressed support for greater offshore controls after a 2021 spill off Huntington Beach and has backed a congressional effort to ban new offshore drilling on the West Coast.

    A Texas-based company, with support from the Trump administration, is seeking to restart production in waters off Santa Barbara damaged by a 2015 oil spill. The administration has hailed the plan by Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp. as the kind of project Trump wants to increase U.S. energy production as the federal government removes regulatory barriers.

    Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term reversing former President Joe Biden’s ban on future offshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts. A federal court later struck down Biden’s order to withdraw 625 million acres of federal waters from oil development.


    Environmental and economic concerns over oil spills

    Democratic lawmakers, including California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff and Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, warned that opening vast coastlines to new offshore drilling “would devastate coastal economies, jeopardize our national security, ravage coastal ecosystems, and put millions of Americans’ health and safety at risk.”

    Oil spills “not only cause irreparable environmental damage, but also suppress the value of coastal homes, harm tourism economies and weaken coastal infrastructure,” the lawmakers said in a letter signed by dozens of Democrats. One disastrous oil spill can cost taxpayers billions in lost revenue, cleanup costs and ecosystem restoration, they said.

    Joseph Gordon, campaign director for the environmental group Oceana, called the Trump administration’s latest plan “an oil spill nightmare.”

    Coastal communities “depend on healthy oceans for economic security and their cherished way of life,” he said. “We need to protect our coasts from more offshore drilling, not put them up for sale to the oil and gas industry. There’s too much at stake to risk more horrific oil spills that will haunt our coastlines for generations to come.”

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  • US Homes Sales Rose in October as Homebuyers Seized on Declining Mortgage Rates

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    Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes increased last month to the fastest pace since February as lower mortgage rates helped pull more homebuyers into the market.

    Existing home sales rose 1.2% in October from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.10 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

    Sales climbed 1.7% compared with October last year. The latest sales figure topped the roughly 4.09 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.

    The national median sales price increased 2.1% in October from a year earlier to $415,200, an all-time high for any October on data going back to 1999. Home prices have risen on an annual basis for 28 months in a row.

    Sales have remained sluggish this year, but have gotten a boost this fall as the average rate on a 30-year mortgage declined to its lowest level in more than a year.

    Even so, affordability and uncertainty over the economy and job market remain significant hurdles for many aspiring homeowners after years of skyrocketing home prices.

    That’s kept existing U.S. home sales stuck at around a 4-million annual pace going back to 2023. Historically, sales have typically hovered around 5.2 million a year.

    To close that gap will take a drastic increase in the number of homes on the market and a more meaningful decline in mortgage rates, said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, whose 2026 forecast calls for a 14% increase in home sales.

    “I don’t think we will get there next year,” Yun said. “We need 1 million more home sales to get us back to normal. I’m only looking at an additional half-million home sales next year.”

    Homes purchased last month likely went under contract in August and September, when the average rate on a 30-year mortgage ranged from 6.63% to 6.26%, according to Freddie Mac. The decline in mortgage rates accelerated in October, pulling the average rate down to 6.17% — its lowest level since Oct. 3, 2024. It has ticked higher in the weeks since then.

    Home shoppers who can afford to buy at current mortgage rates are benefiting from a wider selection of properties on the market this year than a year ago.

    There were 1.52 million unsold homes at the end of last month, down 0.7% from September and up 10.9% from October last year, NAR said. However, the latest inventory snapshot remains well below the roughly 2 million homes for sale that was typical before the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “To the degree pre-Covid conditions were more normal, we are still tight on inventory,” said Yun.

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  • Asian Shares Surge as Nvidia’s Strong Quarterly Earnings Lift Sentiments

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    MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Most Asian shares surged on Thursday after Nvidia reported stronger than expected quarterly earnings, soothing worries that AI-driven stock prices may have shot too high.

    U.S. futures and oil prices were higher.

    Japan’s Nikkei 225 index initially surged as much as 4.2% before giving up some early gains. By early afternoon, it was up 2.6% at 49,801.81 as technology stocks rallied, with investor sentiment boosted by Nvidia’s report of $57 billion in quarterly revenue after trading closed in the U.S., significantly above expectations.

    South Korea’s Kospi added 3% to 4,047.57, with gains led by technology and energy stocks. Investors were encouraged by Nvidia’s earnings and reports that the U.S. may delay planned semiconductor tariffs.

    Samsung Electronics gained 6.1%, while SK Hynix added 3.5%.

    Chinese markets saw more modest gains. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged 0.1% higher to 25,867.87, while the Shanghai Composite index added 0.4% to 3,961.71. Taiwan’s Taiex rose 3.2%.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.2% to 8,546.10, also led by gains for technology stocks.

    The S&P 500 rose 0.4% after veering between a small loss and a leap of 1.1% earlier in the day. That broke a four-day losing streak, the longest in nearly three months for the index, which has been shaking because of worries that stock prices have shot too high and that the Federal Reserve may not deliver as many cuts to interest rates as expected.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 47 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.6%.

    Constellation Energy led the market and rallied 5.3% after the U.S. Department of Energy said it’s lending $1 billion to help restart Constellation’s nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island. Lowe’s rose 4% after the home-improvement retailer reported a stronger profit for the summer than analysts expected.

    They helped offset a 2.8% drop for Target, which reported weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The retailer also hinted that challenges may continue through the critical holiday shopping season.

    The market’s focus, though, remained on Nvidia. Wall Street’s most influential stock climbed 2.8% as traders made their final moves ahead of the chip company’s latest profit report, which arrived after trading finished for the day. Nvidia surged 5.1% in after-hours trading.

    Nvidia is now the largest stock on Wall Street, having briefly topped $5 trillion in value. That means its movements have more of an effect on the S&P 500 than any other stock, and it can single-handedly steer the index’s direction some days.

    One way Nvidia can quiet criticism that it shot too high, which has dragged its stock down by roughly 10% from late last month, is to keep delivering bigger profits. That’s because stock prices tend to track profits over the long term.

    Nvidia has become a bellwether for the broader frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, because other companies are using its chips to ramp up their AI efforts

    Traders also made their final moves ahead of a September jobs report coming from the U.S. government on Thursday.

    The job market has been slowing enough this year that the Fed has already cut its main interest rate twice. Lower rates can give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments, and the expectation on Wall Street had been for more cuts, including at the Fed’s next meeting in December.

    In other dealings on Thursday, US benchmark crude oil added 16 cents to $59.41 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, edged 16 cents higher to $63.67 per barrel.

    The U.S. dollar rose to 157.32 Japanese yen from 157.15 yen. it has been trading at nearly the highest level this year on expectations that the government will delay efforts to rein in Japan’s national debt as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi raises spending to help spur the economy.

    The euro fell to $1.1520 from $1.1538.

    AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.

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  • Brazil’s Central Bank Shuts Down $16-Billion Bank Following Federal Fraud Investigation

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    SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s government on Tuesday shut down Banco Master, a bank worth up to $16 billion in assets, following a sprawling federal police fraud investigation.

    Central Bank executive Fabio Carlos Ferreira said in a statement that all assets belonging to Banco Master and its current and former administrators have been seized. The bank, which has faced liquidity problems for months, is now under the control of a government-appointed administrator.

    Clients and creditors will seek to recover their money from a private entity sponsored by other banks, a standard procedure in previous Brazilian bank crises.

    Hours earlier, the director-general of Brazil’s federal police, Andrei Rodrigues, told lawmakers that the force had uncovered a 12-billion Brazilian reais ($2 billion) fraud within the country’s banking system. He did not publicly confirm the case involved Banco Master or the state-run bank BRB, which had sought to acquire Banco Master months ago but was denied by authorities.

    Brazil’s federal police said Tuesday’s raid focused on financial institutions suspected of fraudulent and reckless management and involvement in a criminal organization, among other crimes. The force confirmed the arrest of six people, the freezing of billions of Brazilian reais, and the seizure of luxury cars, artworks and watches.

    The force also said the case involves one bank issuing bonds with interest rates much above the market average and another bank buying those despite liquidity risks.

    Local media reported that several executives, including a key shareholder, were arrested. Brazil’s federal police did not respond to a request from The Associated Press to confirm the names of the banks involved in Tuesday’s raid and of the executives and former executives arrested so far.

    Shortly before Banco Master was shut down, Brazilian investment group Fictor said they had agreed to buy it. The operation was called off.

    Brazil’s Finance Minister Fernando Haddad expressed confidence in the central bank’s decision, saying the shutdown was ordered after a thorough investigation.

    “The central bank is the regulatory authority of the financial system, and I’m certain that, to have reached this point, the process must have been very robust,” Haddad said.

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  • Disney Reaches New Deal With YouTube TV, Ending Dayslong Blackout for Customers

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    Disney and YouTube TV reached a new deal to bring channels like ABC and ESPN back to the Google-owned live streaming platform Friday, ending a blackout for customers that dragged on for about two weeks.

    “As part of the new deal, Disney’s full suite of networks and stations – including ESPN and ABC – have already begun to be restored to YouTube TV subscribers,” The Walt Disney Co. said in a statement.

    “We are pleased that our networks have been restored in time for fans to enjoy the many great programming options this weekend, including college football.”

    Disney content had gone dark on YouTube TV the night of Oct. 30, after two sides failed to reach a new licensing deal. In the days that followed, YouTube TV subscribers were left without Disney channels on the platform — notably disrupting coverage of top U.S. college football matchups and professional sports games, among other news and entertainment offerings.

    Beyond ESPN and ABC, other Disney-owned content removed from YouTube TV during the impasse included channels like NatGeo, FX, Freeform, SEC Network, ACC Network and more.

    At the time the carriage dispute reached its boiling point, YouTube TV said that Disney was proposing terms that would be too costly, resulting in higher prices and fewer choices for its subscribers. And the platform accused Disney of using the blackout “as a negotiating tactic” — claiming that the move also benefited Disney’s own streaming products like Hulu + Live TV and Fubo.

    Disney, meanwhile, said that YouTube TV had refused to pay fair rates for its channels. The California entertainment giant also accused Google of “using its market dominance to eliminate competition.” And executives blasted the platform for pulling content “prior to the midnight expiration” of their deal last month.

    On Nov. 3, Disney also asked YouTube TV to restore ABC programming for Election Day on Nov. 4 to put “the public interest first.” But YouTube TV said this temporary reprieve would confuse customers — and instead proposed that the entertainment giant agree to restore both its ABC and ESPN channels while the two sides continue negotiations.

    The blackout marked the latest in growing list of licensing disputes in today’s streaming world. And consumers often pay the price.

    From sports events to awards shows, live programming that was once reserved for broadcast has increasingly made its way into the streaming world over the years as more and more consumers ditch traditional cable or satellite TV subscriptions for content they can get online. But amid growing competition, renewing carriage agreements can also mean tense contract negotiations — and at times service disruptions.

    YouTube TV and Disney have been down this road before. In 2021, YouTube TV subscribers also briefly lost access to all Disney content on the platform after a similar contract breakdown between the two companies. That outage lasted less than two days, with the companies eventually reaching an agreement.

    Meanwhile, YouTube TV has removed other networks from its platform after expired agreements. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision has been unavailable on YouTube TV since Sept. 30, for example. At the time, its parent company TelevisaUnivision decried Google’s move — noting it would strip “millions of Hispanic viewers of the Spanish-language news, sports, and entertainment they rely on every day” and called on the platform to reverse course.

    YouTube TV’s base subscription plan costs $82.99 per month — which, beyond Disney content, currently includes live TV offerings from networks like NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS and more. The platform previously said it would give subscribers a $20 credit its dispute with Disney lasted “an extended period of time” — which it reportedly allowed customers to start claiming on Nov. 9.

    Disney also doles out live TV through both traditional broadcasting and its own lineup of streaming platforms. ESPN launched its own streamer earlier this year, starting at $29.99 a month. And other Disney content can be found on platforms like Hulu, Disney+ and Fubo. Disney currently allows people to bundle ESPN along with Hulu and Disney+ for $35.99 a month — or $29.99 a month for the first year.

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  • Central African Republic Leader Cleared for Third Term in Key Vote Followed Closely by Russia

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    BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The top court in the Central African Republic on Friday cleared President Faustin Archange Touadera to run in December’s election, a contest that will unfold amid a deepening security crisis and the leader’s growing reliance on Russia for protection.

    The Central African Republic’s constitutional court approved Touadera’s candidacy alongside prominent opposition leader Anicet Georges Dologuélé and five other candidates for the Dec. 28 vote.

    Touadera, who has led the country since 2016 and was reelected in 2021, is one of Russia’s closest allies in Africa. Central African Republic is one of the first countries in which the Russian mercenary group Wagner established operations with the pledge of fighting rebel groups and restoring peace.

    But disagreements around the nature of Russia’s military presence in the country have cast a shadow over the Central African Republic’s relations with Moscow.

    In August, state and military officials told The Associated Press that Russia has called on the country to replace the private Wagner mercenary group with Moscow’s state-run Africa Corps and requested payment for further security services.

    The Central African Republic’s government has been reluctant to agree to Russia’s demands, because it sees Wagner as more effective and they prefer to pay for services with minerals, not in cash.

    For years, Wagner has been protecting Touadera and his government, and helped him win a 2023 constitutional referendum that could extend his power indefinitely. In exchange, they’ve enjoyed access to the country’s rich minerals, including gold.

    The Central African Republic has been in conflict since 2013, when predominantly Muslim rebels seized power and forced the president from office. A 2019 peace deal was signed, but six of the 14 armed groups involved in the deal withdrew from it. Wagner is credited for helping prevent the rebels from retaking the capital in 2021.

    The validation of Touadera’s candidacy came on the same day as the U.N. Security Council extended its peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic for a year.

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  • A Judge Said Luigi Mangione Could Have a Laptop to View Evidence in Jail. He Still Hasn’t Gotten It

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    The delay, Mangione’s lawyers said in a court filing made public Thursday, is putting the 27-year-old suspect in a time crunch with little more than two weeks before an important hearing in his state murder case.

    Mangione, also facing a federal death penalty case, has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal jail in Brooklyn, since his December 2024 arrest. He has pleaded not guilty.

    A judge approved the defense’s request for a laptop in August, but getting it in his hands has been slow because of modifications required to prevent misuse and the volume of evidence being saved to it.

    The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the state case, didn’t want him to have a laptop. Federal prosecutors didn’t take a position, and their spokesperson declined to comment Thursday.

    “Although the federal court has previously issued a laptop order, there is a lengthy and laborious process that must be completed before Mr. Mangione receives the laptop,” defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo wrote.

    To comply with jail regulations, she said, the laptop had to be sent to an outside technology vendor to disable its connections to the internet, printers and wireless networks — a process that took “many weeks to complete.”

    The changes mean the tech-savvy Mangione, a former software engineer, won’t be able to use the laptop to view websites, send messages or post on social media.

    Now, the device is with federal prosecutors, who are loading the computer with some of the more than seven terabytes of evidence that has been collected in the case, Friedman Agnifilo said. The rest will be saved to an external hard drive that also will be provided to Mangione.

    Such evidence sharing, known as discovery, is routine in criminal cases and is intended to help ensure a fair trial. Defendants often assist their lawyers in reviewing evidence and shaping their defense.

    “Once Mr. Mangione receives the laptop and hard drive, he will need time to meaningfully review” the material before a Dec. 1 hearing on evidence and other issues in the state case, Friedman Agnifilo said.

    Mangione’s lawyers are seeking to have prosecutors barred from using certain evidence collected during his arrest, including a 9 mm handgun, a notebook in which authorities say he described his intent to “wack” an insurance executive, and statements he made to police.

    Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he arrived at a Manhattan hotel for his company’s annual investor conference.

    Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

    Mangione, the Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later while eating breakfast at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.

    As the anniversary of the killing nears, Mangione’s cases are at critical points.

    In the federal case, Mangione’s lawyers want prosecutors barred from seeking the death penalty and want at least some charges dismissed, arguing that authorities prejudiced him by turning his arrest into a spectacle and by publicly declaring their desire to see him executed. A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 9.


    Wait for laptop continues

    They told Carro that the amount of evidence being turned over by prosecutors — including video files, documents and other items — was so voluminous, Mangione couldn’t reasonably view it on the jail’s shared computers for inmates. Nor would they be able to go over it all during jail visits, they said.

    The district attorney’s office disagreed, arguing that instead of giving Mangione a laptop, his lawyers could simply show him key case material instead.

    Carro concluded that he had “no objection” as long as jail officials were on board.

    On Aug. 4, the judge in Mangione’s federal case signed an order approving Mangione for a modified, evidence-only laptop and requiring that the jail give him access to it each day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

    More than 100 days later, still no laptop.

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  • Disney Streaming and Parks Shine in Fourth Quarter, but Some TV Networks, Movies Weaker

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    Disney’s fourth-quarter performance was mixed as a weaker performance from its television networks and some films was buffered by strength in its streaming business and theme parks.

    Disney is still trying to work out a new licensing deal with YouTube after its content went dark on YouTube TV late last month, leaving subscribers of the Google-owned live streaming platform without access to major networks like ESPN and ABC.

    The Walt Disney Co. earned $1.31 billion, or 73 cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 25. It earned $460 million, or 25 cents per share, in the prior-year period.

    Stripping out one time charges and costs, earnings were $1.11 per share. That’s better than the $1.03 per share that analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research predicted.

    Revenue for the Burbank, California, company totaled $22.46 billion, short of Wall Street’s estimate of $22.86 billion.

    Revenue for Disney Entertainment, which includes the company’s movie studios and streaming service, dropped 6%, while revenue for the Experiences division, its parks, climbed 6%.

    Operating income from linear networks dropped 21% and revenue slipped 16%. Disney said that the operating income decline was driven by the Star India transaction, as Star India contributed $84 million to its year-ago results. Operating income for domestic linear networks fell 7% due to lower advertising driven by declines in viewership and political advertising.

    Disney said that its movie distribution results were weaker when compared with the same period last year, which was buoyed by “Deadpool & Wolverine” and spillover receipts from “Inside Out 2.” Films released during the most recent quarter included “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” “The Roses” and “Freakier Friday.”

    Disney’s direct-to-consumer business, which includes Disney+ and Hulu, posted quarterly operating income of $352 million compared with $253 million a year ago. Revenue rose 8%.

    The Disney+ streaming service had a 3% increase in paid subscribers domestically, which includes the U.S. and Canada. There was a 4% rise internationally, which excludes Disney+ HotStar.

    Total paid subscribers for Disney+ came to 132 million subscribers, up from 128 million in the third quarter.

    Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions totaled 196 million, an increase of 12.4 million from the third quarter.

    The strong streaming results come shortly after the entertainment company saw Disney+ and Hulu subscription cancellations climb in September when ABC briefly cancelled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!. ”

    Walt Disney Co. owns the streaming platforms and ABC. ABC pulled the show off the air for less than a week in September in the wake of criticism over his comments related to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

    Prior to the incident, Disney had said in August that it anticipated that total fourth-quarter Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions would increase more than 10 million compared with the third quarter, with most of the increase coming from Hulu due to the expanded Charter deal. The company had also expected a modest increase in the number of Disney+ subscribers in the fourth quarter.

    Disney also previously announced that it will stop reporting the number of paid subscribers for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ streaming services because the metric has become less meaningful for evaluating the performance of its businesses. The company will stop reporting the metric for Disney+ and Hulu beginning with fiscal 2026’s first quarter and no longer reports the figure for ESPN+ starting with fiscal 2025’s fourth quarter.

    The Experiences division, which includes Disney’s six global theme parks, its cruise line, merchandise and video game licensing, reported operating income climbed 13% to $1.88 billion. Operating income increased 9% at domestic parks. Operating income surged 25% for international parks and Experiences.

    Disney maintained its forecast for double-digit adjusted earnings per share growth for fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027.

    Disney’s stock fell 5% before the market open on Thursday.

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  • Exclusive-BP in Active Talks With Stonepeak Over Castrol Sale, Sources Say

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    By Amy-Jo Crowley, David French and Andres Gonzalez

    LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) -BP is in active talks with investment firm Stonepeak over the sale of its Castrol lubricants unit, two people with knowledge of the situation said, in what would be a major step in meeting the energy company’s $20 billion divestment goal.

    • Both Stonepeak and private equity firm One Rock made bids for the unit in September, one of the people and a third one said. Reuters could not establish the value or structure of Stonepeak’s consideration or if BP is currently in talks with other parties including One Rock about a deal for Castrol. A deal may not materialize, the people said. 

    • Reuters reported in May, citing sources, that BP had kicked off the sale of Castrol.

    • RBC analysts said in recent weeks that market expectations for the sale are around $8 billion.  

    • BP, Stonepeak and One Rock representatives declined to comment.  

    • The sale is part of BP’s strategy shift to refocus as it tries to boost profitability and fend off pressure from investors including activist hedge fund Elliott.  

    • BP CEO Murray Auchincloss said earlier this month the interest in Castrol is “very high” but declined to comment on specifics. He added he expects completed or announced asset sales to total around $5 billion this year. 

    (Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley and Andres Gonzalez in London and David French in New York. Additional reporting by Stephanie Kelly and Shadia Nasralla. Editing by Anousha Sakoui)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • More Than 80 Nonprofits Receive $250M for Global Women’s Health From Melinda French Gates

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    More than 80 organizations that provide health care for women all over the world received grants Wednesday totaling $250 million from Melinda French Gates after a year-long application process.

    “It will be instructive for the world to see what it looks like when organizations like this aren’t so chronically underfunded,” French Gates said in written responses to The Associated Press, which receives funding from Pivotal for news coverage.

    The grants, which range between $1 million and $5 million, were awarded through a competition that was open to nonprofit organizations from most countries. French Gates said the point of holding such an open call is to learn about organizations that aren’t already known to major funders. The Chicago-based nonprofit Lever for Change ran the application process and said more than 4,000 organizations from 119 countries applied.

    “This seems to be a topic that resonates,” said Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change, of global women’s health. “So I’m excited about helping to uplift and elevate the profile of these organizations with other funders.” Her organization often provides donors, both large and small, with advice about what organizations to support, drawing from the list of finalists who have applied to the grant competitions they run.

    This is the second largest funding competition that Lever for Change has hosted, after MacKenzie Scott gave $640 million to community-based nonprofits in the U.S. in March 2024.

    For the Likhaan Center for Women’s Health based in the Philippines, the $5 million grant represents 10 years of funding at their current annual budget.

    “I could not contain the joy of people in the room,” said executive director Junice Melgar when she and her staff learned they had been selected.

    For 30 years, Likhaan has provided primary care to very poor communities and advocated for policy changes to reflect community needs. Beyond the money, Melgar said the recognition affirms the effectiveness and sustainability of their community-based model.

    The investment in global women’s health organizations is part of a $1 billion commitment that French Gates made to support women’s rights over two years. She also gave $20 million each to 12 individuals to distribute to nonprofits of their choice and has pledged $150 million to boost gender equity in workplaces.

    Lisel Lifshitz, the executive director of the small nonprofit Mujeres Aliadas, which also received a grant, said her organization makes “magic” with every dollar they receive. Located in Michoacán, Mexico, Mujeres Aliadas trains midwives and provides education to women and teens about sexual and reproductive health.

    “You don’t know what it takes to be very creative in more rural and complicated contexts, talking about security, about poverty, about the many, many things that are missing here,” she said.

    For 16 years, her organization has advocated for greater recognition and acceptance of midwives, who blend traditional knowledge and local beliefs with professional training. The funding comes at a critical moment. In 2025, she said two grants they were expecting did not come through because of foreign aid cuts and other policy changes.

    “Having this kind of trust-based and unrestricted funding means the world to us,” Lifshitz said.

    Since 2000, many gains have been made globally in reducing the number of women who die in child birth, increasing access to contraception and decreasing cases of HIV among women, according to a 2024 report about sexual and reproductive health from the United Nations Population Fund. But the report also found that profound inequalities in health outcomes for women remain within countries and between countries.

    Rahel Nardos, director of Global Women’s Health at the Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility, University of Minnesota, said the historic exclusion of women from medical research and a lack of research into issues that impact women specifically, like menopause, contribute to women’s poor health.

    From her own practice as a specialist in treating pelvic floor conditions, Nardos said she also sees women prioritizing family members and delaying care for themselves, despite living with extreme health problems. Additionally, violence and instability have contributed to stalling progress on maternal mortality, she said, even as it is well-known what combination of treatments and approaches work to prevent these deaths.

    Some recipients of Pivotal’s funding are developing new tools to reach women who have been left behind. Sabine Bolonhini and Adriana Mallet, cofounders of SAS Brasil, use telemedicine and mobile clinics to provide specialized care to patients in Brazil, who otherwise would have to travel long distances.

    For example, in partnership with a university, they have been training an artificial intelligence model to identify likely cases of cervical cancer from images. Bolonhini said that she hopes French Gates’ giving will inspire wealthy families in Brazil to also give more to organizations like hers.

    “For us, it’s also using (the funding) responsibly and being a good role model for how this money can find solutions that no one else has found yet,” Bolonhini said.

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Asian Shares Are Mostly Higher in Cautious Trading as Wall Street Settles

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    TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly gained in cautious trading Wednesday after most U.S. stocks rose, settling back to where they were before last week’s swoon over the future of artificial intelligence.

    U.S. futures edged higher while oil prices declined. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.4% to finish at 51,063.31.

    Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.8% to 26,913.90, while the Shanghai Composite edged up less than 0.1% to 4,006.17.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.2% to 8,799.50. South Korea’s Kospi added 1.1% to 4,151.36.

    On Tuesday, the S&P 500 added 0.2% to 6,846.61. It’s been bouncing around lately, coming off Monday’s vigorous rebound following its first losing week in four.

    Helping to lead the market was Paramount Skydance, whose shares jumped 9.8% even though the entertainment giant reported revenue and profit for the latest quarter that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. It was the company’s first earnings report since Skydance closed its acquisition of Paramount in early August.

    Close behind was FedEx, which climbed 5.4% after it increased its forecast for profit in the current quarter. Instead of expecting growth from just the summer, the delivery company now also expects profit to rise in this year’s holiday-shopping season from last year’s.

    In the U.S. bond market, trading was closed for the Veterans Day holiday.

    In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude declined 21 cents to $60.83 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 21 cents to $64.95 a barrel.

    In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged up to 154.67 Japanese yen from 154.04 yen. The euro cost $1.1583, down from $1.1587.

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  • No People Thought Unaccounted for as UPS Cargo Plane Crash Toll Stands at 14, Louisville Mayor Says

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    LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The number of victims of a UPS cargo plane crash stood at 14 with nobody believed to be still unaccounted for among the missing, the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, said Saturday.

    The 13 victims located at the crash site matched the total number of missing people reported to police, Mayor Craig Greenberg said in a post on X.

    “We believe the total number of victims will be 14,” counting one person who died Friday in a hospital, Greenberg wrote.

    The Jefferson County coroner was working to identify the victims and would make their names public as soon as those identities were confirmed, Greenberg added.

    The crash Tuesday at UPS Worldport killed the three pilots on the MD-11 bound for Honolulu. A large fire developed in the left wing and an engine separated on takeoff, causing the plane to crash into businesses.

    The Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday ordered McDonnell Douglas MD-11 planes not to be flown pending further inspection. The order followed decisions Friday by UPS and FedEx to ground their fleets of MD-11 as a precaution.

    MD-11 aircraft make up about 9% of the UPS airline fleet and 4% of the FedEx fleet.

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  • Infant Botulism in 10 US States Linked to Formula Being Recalled

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    Federal and state health officials are investigating 13 cases in 10 states of infant botulism linked to baby formula that was being recalled, authorities said Saturday.

    ByHeart Inc. agreed to begin recalling two lots of the company’s Whole Nutrition Infant Formula, the Food and Drug Administration said in a statement.

    All 13 infants were hospitalized after consuming formula from two lots: 206VABP/251261P2 and 206VABP/251131P2.

    The cases occurred in Arizona, California, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington.

    No deaths were reported. The FDA said it was investigating how the contamination happened and whether it affected any other products.

    Available online and through major retailers, the product accounted for an estimated 1% of national formula sales, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    People who bought the recalled formula should record the lot number if possible before throwing it out or returning it to where it was purchased, the CDC said in a statement.

    They should use a dishwasher or hot, soapy water to clean items and surfaces that touched the formula. And they should seek medical care right away if an infant has consumed recalled formula and then had poor feeding, loss of head control, difficulty swallowing or decreased facial expression.

    Infant botulism is caused by a bacterium that produces toxins in the large intestine.

    Symptoms can take weeks to develop, so parents should keep vigilant, the CDC said.

    A ByHeart spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Saturday.

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  • Pfizer Clinches Deal for Obesity Drug Developer Metsea After a Bidding War With Novo Nordisk

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    NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer signed a deal to purchase development-stage obesity drugmaker Metsera Inc., winning a bidding war against Novo Nordisk, the Danish drugmaker behind weight-loss treatments Ozempic and Wegovy.

    Metsera, based in New York, has no products on the market, but it is developing oral and injectable treatments. That includes some potential treatments that could target lucrative fields for obesity and diabetes.

    The deal comes as Phizer is attempting to develop its own stake in that market, several months after ending development of a potential pill treatment for obesity.

    In a statement issued Friday, Metsera said Pfizer will acquire the company for up to $86.25 per share, consisting of $65.60 per share in cash and a contingent value right entitling holders to additional payments of up to $20.65 per share in cash.

    Metsera cited U.S. antitrust risks in Novo’s bid, saying in its statement that the board has determined Pfizer’s revised terms represent “the best transaction for shareholders, both from the perspective of value and certainty of closing.”

    Pfizer had also altered the offer it made in September of nearly $4.9 billion to provide more cash up front, Metsera had said.

    New York-based Pfizer said in an email that it was happy with the terms of the deal, and expects to close the transaction shortly following the Metsera shareholder meeting on Nov. 13.

    Novo’s proposed deal had involved paying $62.20 in cash for each Metsera share, up from its previous bid of $56.50. The Danish drugmaker planned to tack on a contingent value right payment of $24, another improvement from its previous bid, if certain development and regulatory milestones were met.

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  • Washington’s Struggling Economy Takes Another Economic Hit From the Government Shutdown

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    The food bank, which serves 400 pantries and aid organizations in the District of Columbia, northern Virginia and two Maryland counties, is providing 8 million more meals than it had prepared to this budget year — a nearly 20% increase.

    The city is being hit “especially hard,” said Radha Muthiah, the group’s CEO and president, “because of the sequence of events that has occurred over the course of this year.”

    The latest figures from the D.C. Office of Revenue Analysis do not account for workforce changes since the shutdown that began Oct. 1. But even the September jobs report shows that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hovers at 6%, compared with the most recent national rate of 4.3%, and has been the highest in the nation for months.

    The economic woes appear to be reverberating politically. Democrat Abigail Spanberger won election Tuesday as Virginia’s governor after focusing her campaign message on the effects of President Donald Trump’s actions on the state’s economy.

    The shutdown’s long-term impact on the regional economy will be felt long after the government reopens, experts say.


    Local businesses feeling the crunch

    Washington has the country’s largest share of federal workers — about 20%, according to official figures — and roughly 150,000 federal employees call the area home. By Monday, hundreds of thousands of federal workers across the country will have missed at least two full paychecks because of the shutdown. Nationally, at least 670,000 federal employees are furloughed, while about 730,000 are working without pay, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

    During the shutdown, the number of federal employees on Washington’s transit system each weekday has dropped by about one-quarter compared with ridership in September. Eateries that the Restaurant Association of Greater Washington says were already dealing with thin margins from seasonal declines and the fallout from Trump’s deployment of armed National Guard members on city streets are facing more challenges at a time when owners had hoped for a rebound.

    Tracy Hadden Loh, a fellow at Brookings Metro, a think tank, said that going without paychecks is causing significant cash flow issues for federal workers, potentially leading to defaults on mortgages and student loans. For local businesses, especially those reliant on federal workers’ discretionary spending, it could exacerbate the impact during the high-sales October-December quarter.

    “A lot of businesses rely on higher spending in Q4 in order to have a revenue positive year,” Loh said.

    Small businesses are feeling the loss of that spending.

    The crowd watching Liverpool’s Premier League game last weekend would have been standing room only at The Queen Vic, a bar in Northeast Washington. But that was not the case, said Ryan Gordon, co-owner of the British pub.

    “We still had seats for people, which means the bars around us who get our overflow got nothing,” Gordon said.

    Business is down about 50% compared with what it was before the shutdown, he said. He considers himself lucky in the local restaurant scene because he owns the building and does not have to pay rent.

    “To the extent to which discretionary spending by D.C. area households is limited, that could push a lot of local businesses into the red,” Loh said. The culmination of the shutdown, cut in SNAP benefits and layoffs are weighing heavy on households that have never sought help before, she added.


    A family gets squeezed out of the region

    Thea Price was fired from her job at the U.S. Institute of Peace in March of this year, part of the wave of layoffs meant to shrink the size of the federal government. Her husband, a government contractor, also lost his job at a museum. Since then, they have lived on savings, Medicaid and SNAP.

    Price, 37, recently went to a food pantry in Arlington, Virginia, for the first time recently. The shutdown halted funding for SNAP, after it took her months to get it, and the $500 payments she receives each month were set to stop. Virginia sent a partial payment but it was not enough, Price said. With her options to sustain herself and her family running out, Price is moving back to her hometown in the Seattle area.

    “We can’t afford to stay in the area any longer and hope that something might pan out,” she said. “We’re just in a much different place than when these things started in March.”

    At the Capital Area Food Bank in Northeast Washington, forklifts sped around in a controlled chaos, unloading trucks, moving food and preparing for a distribution set up for federal employees and contractors, and preparations are intensifying with the holiday season in mind. The organization is expecting to provide 1 million more meals this month than it had anticipated before the shutdown.

    “We’re very focused obviously on the immediacy of all of these impacts today and getting food to those who need it,” said Muthiah, the group’s director. But she cautioned there were long-term implications to the unfolding crisis, with people tapping their savings and retirement funds to get by.

    “People are borrowing against their futures to be able to pay for basic necessities today,” she said.

    Associated Press video journalist Nathan Ellgren contributed to this report.

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  • UPS and FedEx Grounding MD-11 Planes Following Deadly Kentucky Crash

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    LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — UPS and FedEx will ground their fleets of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 planes “out of an abundance of caution” following a deadly crash at the UPS global aviation hub in Kentucky, the companies announced late Friday.

    The MD-11 aircrafts make up about 9% of of the UPS airline fleet and 4% of the FedEx fleet, according to the companies.

    “We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer,” a UPS statement said. “Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our employees and the communities we serve.”

    FedEx said in an email that it will be grounding the aircrafts while it conducts “a thorough safety review based on the recommendation of the manufacturer.”

    Boeing, which merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press asking the reasoning behind the recommendation.

    The crash Tuesday at UPS Worldport in Louisville, Kentucky, killed 14 people, including the three pilots on the MD-11 that was headed for Honolulu.

    The cargo plane was nearly airborne when a bell sounded in the cockpit, National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said earlier Friday. For the next 25 seconds, the bell rang and the pilots tried to control the aircraft as it barely lifted off the runway, its left wing ablaze and missing an engine, and then plowed into the ground in a spectacular fireball.

    The cockpit voice recorder captured the bell, which sounded about 37 seconds after the crew called for takeoff thrust, Inman said. There are different types of alarms with varying meanings, he said, and investigators haven’t determined why the bell rang, though they know the left wing was burning and the engine on that side had detached.

    Inman said it would be months before a transcript of the cockpit recording is made public as part of that investigation process.

    Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, said the bell likely was signaling the engine fire.

    “It occurred at a point in the takeoff where they were likely past their decision speed to abort the takeoff,” Guzzetti told The Associated Press after Inman’s news conference. “They were likely past their critical decision speed to remain on the runway and stop safely. … They’ll need to thoroughly investigate the options the crew may or may not have had.”

    Dramatic video captured the aircraft crashing into businesses and erupting in a fireball. Footage from phones, cars and security cameras has given investigators evidence of what happened from many different angles.

    Flight records suggest the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, built in 1991, underwent maintenance while it was on the ground in San Antonio for more than a month until mid-October. It is not clear what work was done.

    The UPS package handling facility in Louisville is the company’s largest. The hub employs more than 20,000 people in the region, handles 300 flights daily and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour.

    UPS Worldport operations resumed Wednesday night with its Next Day Air, or night sort, operation, spokesperson Jim Mayer said.

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