family circus
family circus
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SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP) — Diante Smith scored 24 points and Lance Ware added a double-double as UT Arlington beat Texas State 80-72 on Sunday night. Smith shot 9 for 11 (2 for 3 from 3-point range) and 4 of 5 from the free-throw line for the Mavericks (7-7). Ware added 19 points on 8-for-10 shooting and 12 rebounds. Raysean Seamster shot 5 of 10 from the field and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line to finish with 13 points, while adding seven rebounds. Tyler Morgan led the Bobcats (8-5) with 22 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Texas State also got 17 points and two blocks from Tylan Pope. Coleton Benson had nine points. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar . For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, Data Skrive.Ognacevic added 12 rebounds for the Bisons (8-5). Charlie Williams scored 16 points while shooting 7 for 8, including 2 for 3 from beyond the arc. Will Pruitt shot 4 for 10, including 2 for 6 from beyond the arc to finish with 10 points. The Eagles were led in scoring by Cameron Jones, who finished with 19 points and seven rebounds. Johnathan Combs added 11 points for Asbury. Ben McNew also put up seven points. Lipscomb scored its most points since a 113-74 win over Asbury on Nov. 11, 2023. The Bisons topped the 100-point plateau four times last season. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
'People got to be safe:' Manitoba premier responds to fatal police shootingThis report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here . 24/7 San Diego news stream: Watch NBC 7 free wherever you are Markets rally U.S. stocks saw a broad rally on Monday, with major indexes hitting record highs. In contrast to Wall Street, Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 1.38%, while mainland Chinese and Hong Kong markets hovered around the flatline. Wall Street likes Bessent Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for U.S. Treasury secretary, has got a big thumbs up from the stock as well as bond markets . Wall Street strategists heaped praise on Bessent; global analysts also think Trump's pick is favorable for markets . More tariffs on more countries Trump vowed on Tuesday to raise tariffs on Chinese imports into the U.S. by an additional 10% , according to a post on Truth Social. In another post , Trump said he would implement a 25% tariff on goods coming from Mexico and Canada. If that happens, Trump will end a trade deal between all three countries. Safe haven appeal tarnished Gold prices fell around 3% to $2,616.80 per ounce on Tuesday amid rising sentiment for stocks. Investors are in a risk-on mood because of Bessent's perceived friendliness to Wall Street and reports of Israel and Hezbollah moving closer to a cease-fire . [PRO] Global stocks ripe for buybacks Companies buy back stocks when they want to return excess capital to investors. Even though European equity markets have been "gloomy," focusing on stocks that have buyback potential has delivered "solid outperformance" over recent months, noted Barclays. For its buyback basket, the British bank listed 10 stocks that have significant upside potential. Money Report Europe markets head for lower open as global rally stutters; investors digest Trump tariff implications Tim Cook and other U.S. executives attend China expo, meet officials as Trump tariff threat looms The Trump rally appears to be shifting into high gear. This time, it's revved up by Trump's Treasury secretary pick — Scott Bessent. Investors like Bessent because, as the founder of hedge fund Key Square Group, he brings to the job an understanding of Wall Street and is presumably supportive of markets. Moreover, Bessent has expressed that he prioritizes controlling inflation even amid policies designed to support domestic growth. "I would recommend that tariffs be layered in gradually," Bessent told CNBC earlier this month before his nomination. Unlike earlier Trump rallies, in which particular assets linked to Trump's policies — bank stocks, small-cap stocks and bitcoin — reaped disproportionate gains, yesterday's rise in markets was broad. The S&P 500 rose 0.3%, in a move that saw more than 3 of 4 stocks in the index trading higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.99%, extending its string of record highs, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.27%. It wasn't just large-caps that were lifted by Bessent's nomination. Small-cap stocks performed even better, probably because Bessent has expressed support for Trump's economic agenda, which would benefit smaller, domestically oriented companies. The Russell 2000 index of small- and mid-caps gained 1.47%, its sixth positive session in a row. It closed at a new high, exceeding its record set in 2021. The bond market also reacted positively to the news. Yield on the 10-year Treasury fell more than 14 basis points. "You can't ask for a better reception from the market," said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial. "This is the market applauding." U.S. markets will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving. Bessent might be one of the things for which investors will be grateful. — CNBC's Alex Harring and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report. Also on CNBC Investors really like Trump’s Treasury secretary pick Small- and mid-caps outperformed last week Small- and mid-caps stole the limelight last weekWASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, to be U.S. attorney general just hours after his other choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name. Bondi is a longtime Trump ally and was one of his lawyers during his first impeachment trial when he was accused — but not convicted — of abusing his power as he tried to condition U.S. military assistance to Ukraine on that country investigating then-former Vice President Joe Biden. She has been a chair at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank set up by former Trump administration staffers. Bondi is from Tampa and spent more than 18 years as a prosecutor. She was Florida's first female attorney general. Gaetz withdrew Thursday amid continued fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed as the nation's chief federal law enforcement officer. The announcement capped a turbulent eight-day period in which Trump sought to capitalize on his decisive election win to force Senate Republicans to accept provocative selections like Gaetz, who had been investigated by the Justice Department before being tapped last week to lead it. The decision could heighten scrutiny on other controversial Trump nominees, including Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth, who faces sexual assault allegations that he denies. "While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition," Gaetz, a Florida Republican who one day earlier met with senators in an effort to win their support, said in a statement. "There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I'll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump's DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1," he added. Hours later, Gaetz posted on social media that he looks "forward to continuing the fight to save our country," adding, "Just maybe from a different post." Trump, in a social media post, said: "I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General. He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!" He did not immediately announce a new selection. Last week, he named personal lawyers Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and D. John Sauer to senior roles in the department. Another possible contender, Matt Whitaker, was announced Wednesday as the U.S. ambassador to NATO. The withdrawal, just a week after the pick was announced, averts what was shaping up to be a pitched confirmation fight that would have tested how far Senate Republicans were willing to go to support Trump's Cabinet picks. The selection of the fierce Trump ally over well-regarded veteran lawyers whose names had circulated as possible contenders stirred concern for the Justice Department's independence at a time when Trump has openly threatened to seek retribution against political adversaries. It underscored the premium Trump places on personal loyalty and reflected the president-elect's desire to have a disruptor lead a Justice Department that for years investigated and ultimately indicted him. In the Senate, deeply skeptical lawmakers sought more information about Justice Department and congressional investigations into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls, which Gaetz has denied. Meanwhile, Justice Department lawyers were taken aback by the pick of a partisan lawmaker with limited legal experience who has echoed Trump's claims of a weaponized criminal justice system. As Gaetz sought to lock down Senate support, concern over the sex trafficking allegations showed no signs of abating. In recent days, an attorney for two women said his clients told House Ethics Committee investigators that Gaetz paid them for sex on multiple occasions beginning in 2017, when Gaetz was a Florida congressman. One of the women testified she saw Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old at a party in Florida in 2017, according to the attorney, Joel Leppard. Leppard has said that his client testified she didn't think Gaetz knew the girl was underage, stopped their relationship when he found out and did not resume it until after she turned 18. The age of consent in Florida is 18. "They're grateful for the opportunity to move forward with their lives," Leppard said Thursday of his clients. "They're hoping that this brings final closure for all the parties involved." Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. The Justice Department's investigation ended last year with no charges against him. Gaetz's political future is uncertain. He had abruptly resigned his congressional seat upon being selected as attorney general, a move seen as a way to shut down the ethics investigation into sexual misconduct allegations. He did win reelection in November for the new Congress, which convenes Jan. 3, 2025, but he said in his resignation letter last week to House Speaker Mike Johnson that he did not intend to take the oath of office. He transmitted a similar letter to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as the state launched a special election process to fill the vacancy. Republicans on the House Ethics Committee declined this week to release the panel's findings, over objections from Democrats in a split vote. But the committee did agree to finish its work and is scheduled to meet again Dec. 5 to discuss the matter. As word of Gaetz's decision spread across the Capitol, Republican senators seemed divided. Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who served with Gaetz in the House, called it a "positive move." Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Gaetz "put country first and I am pleased with his decision." Others said they had hoped Gaetz could have overhauled the department. Florida Sen. Rick Scott, a close ally of Trump, said he was "disappointed. I like Matt and I think he would have changed the way DOJ is run." Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said he hoped that Trump will pick someone "equally as tenacious and equally as committed to rooting out and eliminating bias and politicization at the DOJ." Gaetz is not the only Trump pick facing congressional scrutiny over past allegations. A detailed investigative police report made public Wednesday shows that a woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Hegseth, the former Fox News host now tapped to lead the Pentagon, after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave. "The matter was fully investigated and I was completely cleared," Hegseth told reporters Thursday at the Capitol, where he was meeting with senators to build support for his nomination.South Korean authorities seek warrant to detain impeached President Yoon in martial law probe
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Democrat Bob Casey concedes to Republican David McCormick in Pennsylvania Senate contest
Ukraine gets nearly $1B in new military aidStock market today: Wall Street gains ground as it notches a winning week and another Dow record
Nifty and Bank Nifty Prediction for the week 02 Dec’24 to 06 Dec’24 by BL GURU
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One of the fundamentals of good marketing is that one must understand the consumer insights to data which is seen on the table. The General Elections 2024 had 17.1 million registered voters from which 11.1 million were the valid votes casted. From this data set 61.6% of people decide to buy Brand NPP. The brand garnered a two-thirds majority in Parliament with a commanding 159 seats whilst most of the geographical areas registered a 60% plus favoured the NPP brand. Be it, Hambantota at 66.3%, Gampaha at 7.7% and Colombo at 68.6% made a pretty picture for the NPP brand. The question that one needs to ask is, what is the actual reason for 95% of districts wanting brand NPP (which included the Tamil community of Northern Province); that is the insight that we need to find backed by data. When I was managing the Dettol brand I remember my Marketing Director saying the devil is in the details. The September data from Pepper Cube research company revealed that 70% of people are faced with the reality where their income is lower than their expenditure. The savings have been dwindling month on month. Leasing companies have wiped out Sri Lanka’s household gold reserves due to pawning. Families have now turned to mortgaging their household items. 73% of the people are having two meals a day. One third of households cannot afford to buy a soft drink, 24% of homes have stopped consuming milk powder and 40% not having the purchasing power to buy malted milk. Things are rough at the household end. Companies that are manufacturing soaps, toothpaste and washing powder have been struggling to achieve their sales target in the last three months. The returned cheques from the retail trade have significantly increased in the last two months. This is the ground reality. The alleged corruption by politicians with their exuberant lifestyles with illegal flashy vehicles adds to the anger of a typical hard working parent. The landslide victory had flashes of anger-votes. Let’s accept it. It’s very clear that the reason for purchase of brand NPP was on the two attributes – reduce cost of living and stop corruption. These two attributes single-mindedly was the driving force for the landslide victory. The brand promise of NPP to the people of Sri Lanka was an ideal fit. People in 95% of the districts selected the brand NPP including Jaffna and the Vanni that had never happened in recent history. Brand Vijitha and Harini broke all records crossing a 700k and 600k preferential votes, giving us an idea of the confidence level of the consumer (in this case the voter). Now the challenge is for the product to perform and address the two key issues – cost of living and corruption. If one tracks back at Brand AKD and Brand NPP strategy it is marketing at its best. Work began as far back as two years ago with the two propositions – highlighting the cost of living issue and the corruption that was taking place. Sugar scam, visa scam just to name a few of the governance issues in the recent past that were highlighted. The AKD, NPP marketing strategy was developed on the accepted framework that an increase in the Share of Voice (SOV) with an increased marketing spend, will have a direct link to the Share of Mind (SOM) of the target consumer group. This increased SOM will reflect with a corresponding market share. The only exception of the AKD/NPP strategy was that rather than just pouring in money (SOV), the focus was on the ‘message’ and meeting people house to house explaining the two key issues – cost of living issue and corruption that was happening. It was a low cost, high impact strategy. The conversion was a slow process but it was definitive. The strategy was not a quick fix SOV= SOM= Mkt Share approach that competitors were implementing in the market. Normally the reason why an increased SOV is required if there is a hole in the overall proposition. Let’s do a deep dive to understand the AKD/NPP strategy. Given that the duration between the Presidential and General election was just a one month duration, selecting the former is appropriate. Based on the data published by the Sri Lanka Election Commission the total marketing spend by the top five candidates was Rs. 3.3 billion at the ‘Presidential Election 2024’. In marketing terminology we call this the category share of voice. From a brand perspective, Brand Sajith Premadasa has spent Rs. 1.13 billion which is a share of voice (SOV) of 34.2%. Brand Ranil has spent Rs. 936 million which is a share of voice (SOV) 28.3%. Brand AKD had spent Rs. 528 million which is a SOV of 16% whilst Brand Namal has reported a spend Rs. 389 million which is a share of 11.7%. New entrant Brand Dilith has spent Rs. 325 million with a SOV of 9.8%. The market share that each of them garnered was Brand Sajith 32.7%, Brand Ranil 17.2%, Brand AKD 42.3%, Brand Namal 2.5% and Brand Dilith 0.92%. The accepted theory of Share of Voice (SOV) that one makes based on the marketing spend will be equal to the Share of Market (SOM) that one can get in a consumer’s mind and the corresponding Market Share was the grounded theory that was followed. The theory goes on to state that the market share and ad spending are strongly correlated in a stable market place when all elements of the marketing mix are evenly balanced. For example if we take a confectionery brand like Maliban and Munchee, the share of Marketing spend can be linked to the Market share given that pricing, distribution and product in its nakedness is similar in nature. Hence, if a competitor resorts to a huge ad spend then one can expect a push in market share. As discussed earlier, this works on the premise that the other variables that impact behaviour are somewhat similar in nature such as product attributes, pricing strategies, availability of the product and the current equity of the brand. Based on this theory, Brand Sajith with a spend of Rs. 1.13 billion and share of voice of 34.2% should have garnered a share of 34% of votes. He is close with a share of 32.7% at the Presidential election with 4.3 million people voting for him. This means that the quality of decision making and the imagery that he built has got the best return that he could have achieved. It’s a positive 1:1 ROI in other words. On the other hand brand AKD has spent only a 16% on SOV but the market share he has been able to elucidate is a commanding 42.3% which means that his ROI is 1:3 which is extremely positive. If one does a deep dive on why the ROI is 300% could be the credibility of what he said (message) resonates exactly to the requirements of the consumer (in this case a voter). In simple words the ‘anti-corruption drive’ and the relief to the ‘high cost of living’ were the top two attributes that a typical voter was going to make a decision on whom they will vote for. Brand AKD is the ideal fit. Which is why from a 3% voter base in the 2020 General election, the numbers have shot up to 43.7% in 2024. In the recent Parliamentary Elections the number went up to 61.3% with a consumer choice of 6.7 million people (voters), further validating that the performance of the government in the first month was way above the expectations of the people of Sri Lanka. Once again in marketing terminology we call this the ‘Product Performance’ to be in line with consumer needs. Marketing at its best. On the other hand Brand Namal having to spend 11.7% of Share of voice (SOV) for a 2.9% of market share means that the product lacked credibility and their message was totally out of sync with the voter requirement. Technically this is what happens in the real world of marketing. If the elements of the marketing mix are not in line with the consumer requirements the money you have to invest for a consumer to buy the brand is not efficient. Hence the way forward is to ‘change the product’ to what the consumer wants and relaunch the brand. In this context Brand Namal has a five-year window to do this task. It’s a tough task given that the equity of the brand in the consumer’s mind is out of step with the consumer values and beliefs. It’s a deep rooted issue that will need a lot of work to be done. If we take a case in point from the world of business we see that the importance of the science of marketing where the relationship between advertising spending to market share is positively correlated provided that there is a competitive equilibrium situation. Meaning all elements of the marketing mix are evenly balanced. What this means is that the largest and smallest players each enjoy a share of the market (SOM) somewhat bigger than their share of ad spending (SOV). Hence we see that a small player will have to spend more to get share like what we saw like in the case of Brand Namal having to spend Rs. 389 million or a share of voice (SOV) of 11.7% to get a share of 2.9% whilst a dominant brand like Brand AKD had to spend only a 16% share of voice to get a 43.7% market share. If we analyse the marketing spend in the recently concluded Parliamentary elections 2024, the SOV will be much lower in relation to the 61.3% market share that was received. This is the power of a credible brand with a product performance which is in line to the consumer’s needs. In simple words, addressing the core issues – cost of living and corruption in the media and a lower SOV could garner a relatively higher market share. The logic of the democracy ethos is that it is marketing that brings democracy to a system for two reasons. The first being that the product/service that is offered by a candidate must be communicated effectively in a manner so that the consumer is better informed on who best fits their requirement. On this front, the complex issue of why Sri Lanka went to bankruptcy was brilliantly articulated by the NPP members, given that the party members all are from the university system of Sri Lanka and have a strong capability to explain in the Sinhala language. The tread of corruption leading to the economic crisis and challenge to the cost living came out very strongly. The second being that unless the product being advertised has credibility on the ‘performance’ the chances of it getting picked up is greater. Hence the concept ‘marketing a political candidate to high office’ can be justified. Which is exactly what happened at Presidential and Parliamentary elections 2024. Given the clear selection of the brand by a consumer of Sri Lanka – 61.5% with 159 seats and 95% of the districts voting in favour, now the challenge is the delivery of the brand at the ground – which is a reduction in cost of living and zero corruption. If the product delivery does not happen then we will see history repeating in Sri Lanka like what happens to band Gota. We must also note that the notion ‘Power corrupts power absolutely’ should not be forgotten. History can repeat itself and we must be cognisant of the same. The next 100 days are critical. The key policy changes will have to be made. The key issues in the marketplace from Nadu rice to egg prices will have to be solved. PAYE tax reduction promise and salary increase to the public sector will be key performance indicators (KPIs). In other words deliver or perish will be the order of new Sri Lanka.
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