Marrakech Film Festival bestows Palestinian film ‘Happy Holidays’ with top awardAsia stocks mostly fell in thin holiday trade on Monday after tech losses killed off the traditional year-end lift on Wall Street at the end of last week. The "Santa Claus rally" got off to a good start but US stocks then fell across the board on Friday, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both dropping more than one percent. Tech stocks led the way, with Elon Musk's electric car giant Tesla closing around five percent lower and AI chipmaker Nvidia shedding around two percent. Weighing on investor sentiment were worries about the pace of US interest rate cuts and possible higher import tariffs under incoming US president Donald Trump. "As US stock markets concluded with a downturn on Friday, Asia-Pacific markets are bracing for a slippery penultimate trading day of 2024," said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management. "With US (bond) yields climbing and liquidity essentially non-existent, there's always the potential for outsized moves. This comes during a critical phase of year-end rebalancing, intensified by hefty equity positions across portfolios," Innes said in a note. In Tokyo, the Nikkei was down 0.75 percent at 40,020.00 points on the last day of trading until January 6. The yen was little changed after hitting 158.08 against the dollar on Thursday, the lowest in almost six months. That came after Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda failed to give a clear signal on a possible interest rate increase next month. In Seoul, Jeju Air shares tumbled more than eight percent after one of its planes crashed in South Korea on Sunday, killing all but two of the 181 people on board. South Korea's transport ministry said on Monday it was "reviewing plans to conduct a special inspection on (Boeing) B737-800 aircraft" after the crash. South Korea was also hit with further political turmoil, with authorities issuing an arrest warrant for suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol. Yoon briefly imposed martial law this month and was then impeachment by parliament. Lawmakers also impeached his acting successor Han Duck-soo last week. Chinese stocks also opened lower on Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.09 percent at 3,397.12. China's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for manufacturing was due on Tuesday. The reading was expected to stay at 50.3, above the 50 line dividing expansion and contraction, according to Bloomberg. Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.75 percent at 40,020.00 points Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.40 percent at 20,001.00 Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,397.12 Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0423 from $1.0429 on Friday Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2577 from $1.2579 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 157.82 yen from 157.89 yen West Texas Intermediate: UP at $70.63 per barrel Brent North Sea Crude: UP at $74.23 per barrel
The Lagos State Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Hon Mobolaji Ogunlende, and Director General, Lagos State Sports Commission, Lekan Fatodu, along with other invited dignitaries will be in attendance to watch the inaugural edition of the Mainland Unity Cup scheduled to kick off today at the Ojoniyu Sports Center, Ebute-Metta, Lagos. The competition is being organised by the Damilola Taylor Foundation and sponsored by cup donor, Hon Adekunle Adebanjo, popularly known as Froggie. All the nine wards in Mainland Local Government are expected to partake in the competition and only footballers who are 40 years above are eligible to play in the tournament. The opening match would be played between the Ward A football team and the Ward B football team. Adebanjo in his welcome address at the draw ceremony announced that Commissioner For Youth and Social Development, Hon Ogunlende and Hon Lekan Fatodu had promised to be in attendance and declare the tournament open. He said the purpose of the tournament is to empower the youths through football in the community and also give back to society as a way of contributing to the football development in the state. “This tournament is only organised for footballers who are 40 years above in the Mainland LG and secondly this competition would foster unity among youths in the East and West in Mainland. “People are saying that both East and West cannot do things together but we are using this medium to say the Mainland Unity Cup would bring both of them together for the progress and peace of Mainland,” he said.
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JERUSALEM (AP) — A new round of Israeli airstrikes in Yemen on Thursday targeted the Houthi rebel-held capital of Sanaa and multiple ports. The World Health Organization's director-general said the bombardment occurred close to where he was at the time, getting ready to board a flight in Sanaa and that a crew member was injured. “The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on the social media platform X. He added that he and U.N. colleagues were safe. “We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave,” he said, without mentioning anything about the source of the bombardment. The Israeli strikes followed several days of Houthi launches setting off sirens in Israel. The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the international airport in Sanaa and ports in the cities of Hodeida, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib, along with power stations. It didn't immediately respond to questions about Tedros' statement. The latest strikes came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others learned" as his military has battled those more powerful proxies of Iran. Netanyahu monitored Thursday's strikes along with military leaders, his government said. The Iran-backed Houthis' media outlet confirmed the strikes in a Telegram post but gave no immediate details. The U.S. military also has targeted the Houthis in Yemen in recent days. The United Nations has noted that the targeted ports are important entryways for humanitarian aid for Yemen, the poorest Arab nation that plunged into a civil war in 2014 . Over the weekend, 16 people were wounded when a Houthi missile hit a playground in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv . Last week, Israeli jets struck Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people, calling it a response to previous Houthi attacks. The Houthis also have been targeting shipping on the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Meanwhile, an Israeli strike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip overnight , the territory's Health Ministry said. The Israeli military said that all were militants posing as reporters. The strike hit a car outside Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The journalists were working for the local news outlet Al-Quds Today, a television channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group. Islamic Jihad is a smaller and more extreme ally of Hamas and took part in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel, which ignited the war. The Israeli military identified four of the men as combat propagandists and said that intelligence, including a list of Islamic Jihad operatives found by soldiers in Gaza, had confirmed that all five were affiliated with the group. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militant groups operate political, media and charitable operations in addition to their armed wings. Associated Press footage showed the incinerated shell of a van, with press markings visible on the back doors. Sobbing young men attended the funeral outside the hospital. The bodies were wrapped in shrouds, with blue press vests draped over them. The Committee to Protect Journalists says more than 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war. Israel hasn't allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza except on military embeds. Israel has banned the pan-Arab Al Jazeera network and accused six of its Gaza reporters of being militants . The Qatar-based broadcaster denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its war coverage, which has focused heavily on civilian casualties from Israeli military operations. Separately, Israel's military said that a 35-year-old reserve soldier was killed during fighting in central Gaza early Thursday. A total of 389 soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ground operation more than a year ago. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border in an attack on nearby army bases and farming communities. They killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. About 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead. Israel's air and ground offensive has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry. It says more than half the fatalities have been women and children, but doesn't say how many of the dead were fighters. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The offensive has caused widespread destruction and driven around 90% of the population of 2.3 million from their homes. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps along the coast, with little protection from the cold, wet winter. Also Thursday, people mourned eight Palestinians killed by Israeli military operations in and around the city of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israeli military said that it opened fire after militants attacked soldiers, and it was aware of uninvolved civilians who were harmed in the raid. Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. A previous version of this story was corrected to show that the name of the local news outlet is Al-Quds Today, not the Quds News Network. Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-warFans are waiting with bated breath for the trailer of global superstar Ram Charan's film Game Changer. The makers have so far just dropped the teaser and songs of the films. As part of the promotional campaign, the makers recently hosted a spectacular pre-release event in Dallas, marking the first time such an event was organized in the USA for an Indian film. The event garnered tremendous success and enthusiasm. Producer Dil Raju shared the news about the trailer at the pre-release event that recently took place in Dallas, USA. A grand event will be held on January 1 to launch the film's trailer. 'RIP Letter': Ram Charan's fan threatens to die by suicide over delay in Game Changer trailer Amid the wave of promotions fans have taken to social media and asked the makers to speed up the release of the trailer. A fan of Ram Charan has written an open letter to the makers of his upcoming movie, Game Changer. In the note titled 'RIP Letter', the fan asked the makers to release the trailer of the movie on priority. He stated that if the makers of Game Changer fail to do so, he will die by suicide. "You are not even considering the sentiments of the fans. Suppose you do not release a teaser or update by the end of this month or fail to share the trailer by New Year's occasion. In that case, I regret to inform you that I will be forced to take drastic measures, including ending my life," the letter, dated December 28, reads, as quoted by the Free Press Journal. Game Changer is directed by S Shankar. A teaser released earlier this year revealed that Ram Charan will play an IAS officer who takes on a corrupt system, bringing both brains and brawn to his role. #Dhop is Charan & Thaman Combo mark Song in #GameChanger Both went Beast mode ❤️? pic.twitter.com/TEfEkAy105 Recently, Pushpa 2: The Rule director Sukumar gave his first review of Game Changer. The filmmaker was speaking at an event in Dallas when he said, "I watched Game Changer with Chiranjeevi sir. I want to give the first review. First half, was awesome. Interval, blockbuster. Trust me. Second half, the flashback episode gave me goosebumps—phenomenal. I was so sure Charan would receive a National Award for Rangasthalam, and so did others. But the way he essayed emotions in the film's climax, I got the feeling again. He performed so well, he will definitely get a National Award for it." Game Changer will finally hit theatres on January 10, 2025, in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi. 'Is Kartik Aaryan mimicking Akshay Kumar': Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 drops on OTT; fans call it 'waste of time' Mom-to-be Athiya Shetty flaunts baby bump as she heads to watch Ind vs Aus match with Anushka Sharma 'Flirted for fun with Avinash': Kashish answers Salman Khan rudely; Bhai gets angry, says 'Don't be like that with me...'Jacobs scores 19 as Southern defeats Tulsa 70-66