Tabarak Holding Group has demonstrated impressive growth in 2024, with its subsidiaries achieving a 100% year-on-year increase in sales. This remarkable performance was driven by investments totaling EGP 60bn, marking a 120% year-on-year increase. The Group’s success was further reinforced by the launch of TBK Developments, its new development arm, in 2021. TBK Developments, with a land portfolio spanning 4.5 million square meters, is preparing to unveil N Residence, the final phase of its 90 Avenue project. This phase will feature serviced residential units, following the completion of the first and second phases. The third phase is currently being handed over, with the entire project expected to be completed by the end of 2025. The company is also expanding its footprint with new land acquisitions in West Cairo for a mixed-use residential, commercial, and administrative project, set to be announced in early 2025. Tabarak Holding has also expanded beyond Egypt, bolstering its regional presence through its international subsidiary, Tabarak International. In Saudi Arabia, the third phase of the A’aly AlRiyadh project is on track for completion in April 2025, with full delivery anticipated by the end of 2025 and the first half of 2026, consisting of 380 units. The Group plans to increase its investments in Saudi Arabia by acquiring additional land to meet the growing demand in this dynamic real estate market. Furthermore, Tabarak Holding aims to explore new opportunities in European markets, leveraging its strong reputation and trusted brand to attract a diverse customer base. Ali Al Shorbany, Chairperson of Tabarak Holding Group, commented, “Our goal is to double our investments and expand our land portfolio with diverse projects in Egypt and abroad. We are committed to a bright future for the Group, full of accomplishments and new challenges, while contributing to Egypt’s Vision 2030 and its comprehensive urban development.” At this year’s World Urban Forum, organized by the United Nations in Cairo, Tabarak Holding showcased its innovative approach to sustainable development in the 90 Avenue project. The company highlighted the use of eco-friendly building materials, renewable energy systems such as solar panels, waste management technologies, and plans for water treatment systems. Looking ahead, Tabarak Holding is poised for significant growth in 2025, forecasting a more than 30% increase in sales. This expansion will be supported by a further doubling of investments, a strengthened land portfolio, and strategic partnerships with trusted entities, including government bodies and international companies in the hospitality sector. The Group aims to continue developing innovative, customer-focused projects both in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Al Shorbany concluded.
In this podcast, Motley Fool analysts Matt Argersinger and Anthony Schiavone join host Mary Long to discuss: How a company enters into their "Dividend Seven." If Home Depot can still be a growth stock. The metrics that dividend investors need to understand. Companies that have raised their dividend for decades. To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center . To get started investing, check out our beginner's guide to investing in stocks . A full transcript follows the video. This video was recorded on Dec. 08, 2024. Matt Argersinger: If you think about that, how many recessions, business cycles, wars, calamities happen over a 50 year period? And yet, here's a company that's raised its dividend every year. Ricky Mulvey: I'm Ricky Mulvey and that's Motley Fool senior analyst Matthew Argersinger. Look, dominant tech companies have their own category, the Magnificent Seven. You probably already know it. But on today's show, Matthew Argersinger and Anthony Schiavone unveil their own group of seven the Dividend Seven, powerful companies that pay investors income. They joined Mary Long to discuss a big retailer that's insulated itself from Amazon , a dominant financial company with $10.7 trillion in assets under management, and what it takes for a company to enter the Dividend Seven. Mary Long: Matt and most listeners are likely already familiar with the Magnificent Seven, this basket of tech stocks that have dominated the market recently. But you two have come up with a different set of stocks. You've called it the Dividend Seven. What exactly is the criteria for making it into this group? How did you land on these requirements? There are seven of them. I'm correct. Matt Argersinger: That's right. Well, thank you, Mary. This was a fun exercise for us. We've seen, of course, the Magnificent Seven. Be this, I don't know, this major force in the market that investors have just been magnetized to. We thought, well, we talk a lot about dividends. We do a dividend show here at the Motley Fool every other week, and we thought, a fun topic would be, could we we do our own version of the Magnificent Seven and layer in dividends and come up with this Dividend Seven or DIV seven group. The Magnificent Seven was our inspiration. And so I think that's feeds into the seven criteria we use to select the stocks. We'll start with the first one, which is just dominance. If we think about the Magnificent Seven, these are some of the most dominant companies, if not the most dominant companies in the world, if you think about, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, Tesla . We thought, OK, let's start with that. Let's only pick companies that we think are dominant. Of course, sizable. They have tremendous scale, and they have leadership in the markets that they serve and in most cases, they're the leading number one market share company within that space. But then of course, since this is a Dividend Seven and not just a Magnificent Seven, we had to have some dividend criteria. The next three are dividend criteria. We have dividend growth, we wanted each of the companies to have grown their dividend by at least 100% over the last 10 years, so a doubling of their dividend. We wanted companies that were committed to a dividend. This is our third criteria, which is they had a sizable payout ratio. They were prioritizing the dividend in the way they allocate capital for the business. Then our fourth criteria was dividend yield. This is something, of course, investors are always looking for when they're looking for dividend stocks. What is the stock yield? Well, we wanted yields that were at least 50% higher. Then the current yield on the S&P 500 , which right now is around 1.2%. It's near a historic low. We were looking for a dividend yield of about 2% minimum for each of the companies that we were looking for. Then the fifth criteria we just wanted growth. In other words, we call it business growth, but we wanted confidence that this wasn't a business that was stagnating. This was a business where revenue, earnings cash flow, we can see all that moving higher in the future. In other words, the business has tailwinds to it. The sixth criteria is financial strength, so strong balance sheet, cash flows that are robust that can withstand business cycles, a company that's built to withstand unexpected circumstances or macroeconomic issues, things like that. Then the seventh and final criteria I've drone here bit was we're looking for special. Is there something with this company or the set of companies that make them unique, make them stand out, make them visible in the minds of investors, consumers, beyond just them being a corporation in the US. Those were the seven criteria we used. Mary Long: We got seven companies here today. We're going to take a moment to spotlight each of them briefly. But before we get there, thinking about this group as a whole. There's a push pull in dividend investing between yield and growth, a lot of times. Both are factors that you considered, obviously, when pulling this particular group together, as a whole, do you find that it favors growth over yield or vice versa? What's the thinking behind that here? Matt Argersinger: Yes, that's I wouldn't call it dilemma, but it is something that dividend investors in particular struggle with is do I buy companies that have big yields, yields of 3, 4, 5%? Or do I buy companies that are paying a dividend but might have a smaller yield, but are capable of growing their earnings and therefore, their dividend at a faster rate over time? The good news is with the seven companies we picked, it actually is quite balanced. The average dividend yield for the group is about 2.5%. Now, some investors might consider that low, but remember, the yield on the S&P 500 right now is 1.2%. It's a historic low. This group on average is double that yield. I think that's important. But at the same time, remember, because we were looking at companies that were growing their dividend or doubling their dividend over the last 10 years, you're still getting a lot of growth here as well. I love the list because I think each of the companies, again, on average, has a pretty nice balance between yield and growth. Mary Long: We're going to spotlight each of these companies. There's quite a varied group. We've got a REIT, a bank, a consumer goods company, a retailer, a fast food chain, drug developer, an asset manager. First up is that REIT that I mentioned. This one likely will not be a shocker to anybody who follows the dividend show or listens to a lot of Fool content pretty closely. We got Prologis . It's the world's largest REIT and a global leader in logistics, real estate, in particular. It's got more than $200 billion in assets under management. It's grown its dividend and returned over 190% in the last 10 years. Guys, the CEO and the co-founder, co-founder of Prologis' predecessor company, he's described this Prologis as "Basically the toll taker in the world of global commerce." What does he mean by that? Matt Argersinger: We're big fans of Hamid Moghadam who's the CEO and co-founder of Prologis. Well, if you think about Prologis, its size and scale. We're talking 5,600 buildings spanning 1.2 billion square feet on four continents. It really is the real estate backbone of global commerce. So much transaction, so much inventory flows through Pelagius facilities every year. The company estimates that 2.5% of global GDP, which I don't know the number off the top of my head, but that's a big, big number. 2.5% of global GDP flows through Pelagius' real estate every year. If you think about the importance of supply chain management, of inventory management, among companies today, especially companies who are doing business in omni channel ways. They might have a brick and mortars presence. They might have these days, have an e-commerce presence. The need to have physical infrastructure to support that is more critical than ever. Especially if you think about since COVID, the effect that the pandemic had on supply chains and the need for companies to have more control over their inventory and their sourcing was so huge. That's why I just think there's so many tailwinds to Prologis' business, and, of course, it's been a wonderful dividend company and one of the best REITs, if not the best REIT that Ant and I come across all the time. We had to have Prologis in our DIV seven, at least our inaugural DIV Seven. Mary Long: Matt, you mentioned these tailwinds, and I buy everything that you're saying, but you look at the stock price of Prologis, and it's down about 14% year to date. Why do you think that is? Matt Argersinger: Ant, do you want to take a crack at that? Anthony Schiavone: Yeah. Let's go back to 2017 for a minute. The Fed was raising interest rates, and on a conference call, an analyst asked Hamid Moghadam, what's the impact of higher interest rates on your business? And Hamid responded, the short term impact of higher interest rates on our business will be a 10-15% drop in our stock price. Then he continued saying, interest rates are going up because the economy is hot. It will translate into rents and growth and activity. In six months, the impact of higher interest rates on our business will be exactly zero. If we fast forward to today, the 10 year treasury rate was around 3.6% in September, and now it's around 4.2% today. Over that time period, you've seen a roughly 14, 15% decline in Prologis' share price. So that's essentially exactly what Hamid Moghadam said seven years ago. As a Prologis shareholder myself, I'm not too worried about Prologis' recent share price underperformance. You're still collecting a 3.5% dividend yield, and the payout is growing at a double digit rate. As a shareholder, I'm fine with that. Mary Long: It sounds like if you were to add smart management as an eighth checkbox for the Dividend Seven, Prologis would check that box as well, for sure. Anthony Schiavone: Good point. Mary Long: One more question here before we move on to the next in this group. Funds from Operations or FFO is a key number for REIT investors. For folks listening who are less familiar with rates or kind of newer to this space. What does FFO measure exactly? And how does Prologis stack up on that front? Matt Argersinger: REITs are a little bit of a different entity in the stock market. They're publicly traded just like stocks, but they have some special rules, which we don't have time to really get into. But the best way to measure the cash flow of REITs is not through earnings. It's really through this term funds from operations, FFO. What FFO does, it does a number of things, but the two big things it does is it excludes depreciation. If you think about the biggest cost for a real estate company is depreciation. Real estate gets depreciated over time. No matter what it is, residential real estate, commercial real estate, it depreciates over time, and that's a non cash expense that FFO adds back to earnings. Then also gains losses on property sales. REITs if you are buying and selling properties all the time, and it'd be strange if you're trying to measure the operational prowess of a company to include those because that can be volatile. A company might decide to sell a bunch of properties one quarter, buy a bunch of properties in another quarter and so smoothing that out and taking that away gets you a better idea of what the operational cash flow of the business is, and that's what FFO is. Mary Long: Up next in our DIV Seven basket, we've got JPMorgan . This is the world's largest bank by market cap, probably a very familiar name to most everybody. It is a massive company, steady dividend growth, a commitment to that dividend, dividend yield of more than 2%, which is higher than a lot of other banks. Over 200% dividend growth in the past 10 years. There's a lot of good here. And again, it seems even if you strip the numbers away, the name JP Morgan has such power? [laughs] Matt Argersinger: Yeah, that's right. Mary Long: It's like I hear all this stuff, and I'm like, OK, what is the bear case against JP Morgan is it ever going away? Why might someone not want to invest in this company? Matt Argersinger: This was a natural fit for our DIV Seven. And you mentioned, Mary, the 200% dividend growth last 10 years. That was a big draw for why we wanted to have it in the list. But, yeah, if I had to take the bear case for JP Morgan, I would say, banks have benefited finally from the higher interest rates that we've gotten over the last few years. That's done wonders for the net interest margin. Banks have still been able to pay really ultra low rates to depositors on checking accounts and savings accounts, but then turn around and lend those borrowings or that capital at much higher rates for the first time in really 15 years. That's been a huge benefit to banks. If we do get lower interest rates and the Fed has already embarked on an easing cycle, that could hurt the net interest margin for a bank like JP Morgan. You also you're talking about a bank, and for some reason, in the US, we just have thousands of banks, whereas you go to most other countries, including Canada, just up north, they have like five banks. We somehow have thousands of banks in the US. There's always competition. I think JP Morgan, of course, is the most dominant, but even JP Morgan has competition from Bank of America , Citibank , Goldman Sachs , and investment banks as well. Then there also has been a very strict regulatory environment for banks since the global financial crisis. That's really limited. The capital allocation flexibility of banks. Even JP Morgan every year has to ask permission from federal regulators to raise its dividend, to do buybacks and things like that. That's been a bit of a bit of a cloud. Who knows? This is not my area of expertise, but we do have, you've seen the rise of Bitcoin . Now over $100,000 a coin, I can't believe it. But the whole rise of decentralized finance coming out of the whole market crypto ecosphere. Also at the same time, you've had this rise of private credit, non bank lenders. That's competition for JP Morgan, so that would be my bare case, but gosh, talk about a dominant company and one that we had to have in the DIV Seven. Mary Long: Such a dominant company that we're going to just do a quick spotlight there and now move on to the next because we've got a number of companies to still get through today. The third company in the DIV Seven is another one that really needs no introduction PepsiCo . This is, again, unsurprisingly yet another steady dividend grower. One of the things that stuck out to me, it's got a payout ratio of 70%, pretty high. For the listener who again, might be newer to dividend investing, what does that number mean exactly? Anthony Schiavone: So the dividend payout ratio is one of the most important metrics for did investors. A couple of different ways you can calculate it, but one simple approach is to take the annualized quarterly dividend rate and divide it by the expected earnings per share for that year. Let's just say Pepsi is expected. I'm making this up, but let's say they pay out 70 cents in dividends this year, and management expects to generate $1 in earnings. The payout ratio will be 70%. In other words, earnings would have to fall more than 30% for the dividend payout to become unsustainable. For a company like Pepsi that has very stable recurring revenue like model, they can afford to have a relatively high payout ratio at around 70% because they have a strong balance sheet, they have predictable revenue. Earnings growth is going to occur pretty much every year, and they also have a strong track record of dividend growth. For another sector like oil and gas stocks, for example, they tend to be a lot more cyclical. You'd want to have a payout ratio that lower than 70%, preferably less than 50% because their earnings are more volatile. Generally speaking, a payout ratio less than 50% tends to be pretty safe, but companies like Pepsi can certainly pay out more than that, and a high payout ratio for a quality company like Pepsi can even signal higher earnings growth in the future. Mary Long: There's certainly a lot of quality and steadiness that you get when you invest in Pepsi. But if you zoom out and look at total returns over the past 10 years, Pepsi does beat out Coke , but it falls pretty far below the S&P 500. What's the case for investing in Pepsi specifically rather than putting your money in the S&P or an index fund? Anthony Schiavone: What's interesting is over the last 10 years, Pepsi was roughly tracking the market's return all the way up until early 2023. That's when we had the mini-banking crisis, if you want to call it that. Then we had the explosion in AI. That's when the market really started to outperform Pepsi. Pepsi is not necessarily doing anything wrong. The market is just assigning a lower earnings multiple to Pepsi and a higher earnings multiple to the S&P 500. I think as an investor, the investing case for Pepsi it's 3.4% dividend yield. Is roughly almost three times larger than the S&P's yield of 1.2%, like Matt mentioned earlier. Then it trades at a discount valuation compared to the market. Then third, Pepsi's provides a diversification away from a tech-heavy S&P 500. There's something wrong with investing in a low-cost S&P 500 index fund. But if there's an argument for investing in Pepsi, I think that's the one to make. Mary Long: The fourth stock that we're looking at today is Home Depot. Just in preparation for this episode, guys, I checked, and Home Depot is at an all-time high. Maybe this goes back to our earlier conversation about growth and yield, but this stock has been on a tear recently. It's pretty fair to say. Again, I thought this was supposed to be a dividend play. Is Home Depot one of those ones that is a growth stock, too? Matt Argersinger: I think so, Mary. It's definitely got both attributes. It's a company that has prioritized the dividend, pays has steadily grown that dividend, and the dividend has always taken up a pretty good chunk of Home Depot's earnings, so there's been a decent payout ratio. But no doubt, Home Depot's stock has been on absolute tear recently, and it's actually surprising to me because if you look at the business and how the business has performed, it's been a rough couple of years for Home Depot. Really, almost since the day the Fed started raising rates back in early 2022, Home Depot's business has struggled, and that's because the housing market, which of course is in the short term, so correlated with mortgage rates has been really stagnant. With less housing turnover, Home Depot's business has struggled. Like you mentioned, Home Depot is almost at an all-time high. I'm wondering if it's because the market is anticipating with the Fed lowering rates. Is there going to be a stronger housing market in 2025 and beyond? They're going to see a big pickup in home renovations. Maybe that's the reason, so the market is already looking ahead here, but it certainly seems a little bit stretched, in my view. Mary Long: Home Depot has grown its dividend over 280% in the past 10 years. I think that's the highest out of all of these companies that we're looking at today. Matt Argersinger: I think you're right. Mary Long: Has management's philosophy about returning cash to shareholders, has that changed at all in that time or perhaps prior to this 10-year horizon? Or has it remained pretty consistent and they were just really good at what they do? Matt Argersinger: That approach to the dividend has remained consistent. Certainly, with CEO Ted Decker, it's probably even gone more into the philosophy of what the company does. The dividend has always been a priority, and I think the steadiness of Home Depot's business, the fact that the company generates so much cash flow has such a stable revenue picture. It's so well diversified in terms of products. With a lot of retailers don't have, which is that protection against e-commerce. By the way, it is one of the biggest e-commerce companies in the country, but it has that anti, but protection from Amazon and other mass online market places because of just the nature of the products it sells, and I think that's insulated it from a lot of competition as well. It always has good visibility to its cash flow and therefore has always made the dividend a priority. Mary Long: Quick sidebar here. With the exception of Prologis, almost all of the companies that we've talked about today and more that we'll continue to talk about in just a moment. Are really big brands? Like with Home Depot, everybody knows Home Depot. You see the orange apron, you associate that with Home Depot. Pepsico. I would bet that most people have Pepsi products in their kitchen. JPMorgan. That's a name that a lot of people know. Do you make anything of that? Is there some relationship between really strong brand building and dividend payers, or is it just a product of, hey, these companies have been around for a really long time, and they represent quality? Matt Argersinger: All of the above. It's like that, Mary. Answer on this as well, but I think this you see it throughout history. How do the most dominant companies become so dominant? It's because they have such a brand presence and imprint on the minds of consumers, investors, other businesses. Home Depot as one example, nplogis in particular, serves mostly businesses, not necessarily consumers. I think that goes hand in hand with having a major company. That was part of the reason, at least maybe indirectly as to why these companies are showing up in the Div 7 because they're so recognizable, at least most of them, and made them natural fits. Anthony Schiavone: I would just echo what I said earlier about financial strength is a lot of these businesses are so big because they've been able to survive for so long. Most of these companies we're talking about today have increased their dividend for more than 25 consecutive years, 40 consecutive years, even 50 consecutive years. You have to have a strong balance sheet to be able to survive that long to get that known brand that many of these companies have. Financial strength, very important. Mary Long: Next on the list, I'll admit I was a little surprised to see just because I don't typically think of drug developers as falling into this category. The stock that I'm talking about is Abbvie. Again, it's a drug developer. Fifty-two consecutive years of dividend raises. Like Pepsi, actually, this is a dividend king. What's that distinction mean, guys? Matt Argersinger: Well, a Dividend King is a real rare distinction that a company can get if it raises its dividend for 50 or more consecutive years. If you think about that, how many recessions, business cycles, wars, calamities happen over a 50-year period and yet here's a company that's raised its dividend every year. Even through the global financial crisis or even through the COVID that we recently had. Every year, this company has raised its dividend and AV, which is, by the way, a spinout from Abbott Labs , which maybe some investors might be more familiar with, but it was able to maintain its dividend history when it was part of Abbott Labs going back, 52 years. Mary Long: When you two talked about this company on the dividend show, one of the things that you pointed out is that it has a capex ratio of less than 5%. I can hear a lot of people, and I caught myself initially doing it, too, thinking, wait hold on. This is a drug development company. They've got to spend a ton of money on research and development. But important to note, there's a distinction between capex and research and development. What is that difference, and why does that distinction between the two matter? Matt Argersinger: Well, R&D is an operating expense and it's being expensed as you're paying to conduct tests or you're paying lab technicians to do certain things. That money is spent, it's an operating expense, it goes out the door. With capex, think about things that are long term investments in the business. Building facilities, labs, acquiring other businesses, intellectual property, those things. Those are long-term investments that get expensed over time. The nice thing is, even though there's still cash going out the window, it doesn't affect your expenses in terms of your operational income. The fact that AV has such a low capex ratio means that it doesn't have to spend a lot on big capital expenses, and therefore, its free cash flow is generally a lot higher, which I think is important for a company like AV, which is in the drug development business. We know how volatile that can be. You can have successes with certain drugs or failures with certain drugs. It can be a little bit up and down. But as long as AV is generating cash flow, the business can be somewhat more stable. Mary Long: Moving on to the next stock in this group, we've got McDonald's . Like Home Depot, this is another company with a healthy focus on dividend that also seems to just keep growing. McDonald's, again, has grown its dividend for 48 years in a row, so almost at that Dividend King status, but not quite yet. Has a payout ratio of about 60%, a yield of over 2%. Again, on the growth point, they're speeding up new store openings, are growing their digital channels. They've also got a franchise model. How does that set up this franchise model come into play for a company like McDonald's? Anthony Schiavone: McDonald's has more than 41,000 stores across 100 countries. They've served hundreds of billions of burgers over the years, hundreds of billions of burgers. But somehow, like you said, they still find a way to continue to open up new stores and continue to grow. To your point, it's that franchise model? McDonald's essentially purchases the land. They purchase the building for a new store, and then they collect rent and royalties from the franchise. By franchising most of their stores, McDonald's can expand more quickly because the capital investment isn't as large compared to opening a company-owned store where they're paying for everything, and their capex will be larger. I think that franchise model is one reason why after all these years, McDonald's is still growing and opening more stores than they ever have before. Mary Long: As we continue to think about this growth piece of the equation, GLP-1 drugs have been a big story throughout the year. Surely, they'll continue to be in 25 and beyond. How do you think that might affect McDonald's growth story? Also Pepsi, I would say falls into this category of a company that could potentially be affected by if they haven't already been affected by the rise of weight loss drugs. Does that play at all into how you think about McDonald's moving forward? Anthony Schiavone: It definitely does. That is $1 million question. How do these drugs affect a lot of these food-related companies? To be honest, I don't know. I don't think anybody really knows the full impact that these drugs will have on eating habits over the long term. I have a suspicion that the drugs might not impact the food companies too much, maybe on the margin, but they won't have a devastating impact. Hypothetically speaking, let's say they do have a massive impact on eating habits. What did the second order effects on that? What happens to Pepsi's pricing power? What happens to its weaker competition? Those are all questions that need to be answered, too. There's a lot of unanswered questions right now, but one thing is true. If you look at McDonald's stock price right now, it's near an all-time high, so the market doesn't seem to be too worried about GLP-1 drugs. We'll see. I really don't know, but it will be interesting to see how this unfolds. Matt Argersinger: If I could just add also, we took a look at Hershey and considered putting Hershey on our Top 7 list as well, because Hershey is a company that has such a great history, dividend track record, etc. But we thought, well, McDonald's, Pepsi and Hershey. We're being a little bit contrarian when it comes to the whole GLP-1 story if we actually Hershey, as well, but for now, McDonald's. Mary Long: Again, you're trying to diversify a lot, and you've got a bunch of different companies within this group that play in a lot of different sectors in industry. Last but not least rounding us out, we've got the world's largest asset manager that is BlackRock . In the Dividend Show guys, you called out the iShares franchise in particular as being what makes BlackRock tick the seventh qualifier to putting it in the Dividend Seven. It's special sauce what makes it unique. What is it about the iShares brand that stands out so much? Matt Argersinger: BlackRock has always been a massive asset manager in the world. But the iShares brand is really what set the rocket fuel for this business more than a decade ago. Again, this is one of those companies where it's going to be more familiar to investors and businesses and pension funds than it is to maybe your average consumer. But BlackRock has $10.7 trillion in assets under management, which just a massive number. The GDP of the United States, I think is around 20 trillion, maybe a little more than that now. Just to put that in context, it's a massive number. ETF brand is probably by far the most recognizable ETF, I'd say, brand in the marketplace. It's where so many assets go. Many money managers around the world funds, pension funds, as I mentioned, know the iShares brand are comfortable with the iShares brand and tend to use the iShares for various strategies or for their fund management. It's just got these tentacles everywhere. If you look at, for example, BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF that they just launched recently, it's already become, the largest or the second largest Bitcoin ETF. That owes itself to the BlackRock brand, the iShares brand. It's all of a sudden investors saying, well, if I want to invest in Bitcoin, how do I want to do it? I'm going to use iShares because I know they're cheap, I know they're big, I know they're backed by BlackRock, which is one of the largest and most stable asset managers in the world. That just feeds on itself. BlackRock seems to me like this monster dominant of a company that is just going to get more and more dominant as time goes on. Mary Long: To close us out today, guys, we used the Mag 7 as a jumping-off point for this conversation. That's what inspired you to pull together this Dividend Seven group in the first place. All of those are growthy tech companies. When we think about valuation, some investors might use a PEG ratio to value some of those companies. That's maybe not the case with some of these that we've talked about today. How do you two value the companies that we've talked about today? Any stick-out is a little too pricey for your taste or on the flip side as being priced pretty attractively right now. Anthony Schiavone: I tend to just use a simple price-earnings multiple as a starting point for a lot of these companies. They're very well-established companies. They tend to have very predictable earnings, predictable revenue growth, predictable dividend growth, as well. I wouldn't say it's necessarily a valuation metric, but yield is definitely important, and it's something that Matt and I look at. Like we said, we want to look at companies that at least have a dividend yield 50% higher than the market. Preferably even higher than that is even better because as we know over the long run, I think the dividends account for. What is it Matt? Roughly 50% of the market's return over the last 100 or so years. Dividend yield is also very important. Matt Argersinger: We mentioned Prologis and had that great look back at what the CEO said a bunch of years ago. That to me seems to stand out as one particularly compelling opportunity. We did talk about Home Depot. That one feels a little stretched to me, just given where we are, where its valuation is, and the uncertainties around interest rates in the housing market. But I would say, in general, if you look at these seven companies, I would not call any of them cheap. In other words, because they're so dominant, because they are so recognizable and so they're included in so many, of course, investor portfolios and institutional portfolios. Just like the Mag 7 and however that group changes over time, I expect this Div Seven is generally going to include companies that are pretty pricey but deserve so because they deserve a premium because they aren't premium businesses. Mary Long: Matt, and always a pleasure talking to both of you. Thanks so much for the time today for walking us through the first iteration. Hopefully, the first of many different iterations of the Dividend Seven. Thanks so much, guys. Matt Argersinger: Thank you, Mary. Anthony Schiavone: Thanks. Ricky Mulvey: As always, people on the program may have interests in the stocks they talk about, and the Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against, so don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. All personal finance content follows Motley Fool editorial standards and are not approved by advertisers. The Motley Fool only picks products that it would personally recommend to friends like you. I'm Ricky Mulvey. Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.'Looking for the Weinstein of Quebec': impresario Gilbert Rozon's civil trial begins
After pulling out of the Philippines in October, foreign investors came back in November, putting money into the country's stock market and government bonds, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed. Foreign portfolio investments registered with the central bank reached $96.59 million in November, reversing the year-high net outflow of $529.68 million in October. Last month, the country recorded $96.59 million in net foreign investment inflows, with $1.86 billion entering and $1.76 billion exiting, according to BSP data. This signals improvement from October's outflow-dominated record. These foreign portfolio funds—commonly referred to as "hot money" due to their short-term, speculative nature—include tradable money market instruments. Foreign investments in November climbed 25.8 percent from October’s $1.48 billion, with 71.4 percent going to peso-denominated government securities. The remaining 28.6 percent was invested in Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE)-listed sectors, including banks, holding firms, property, transportation services, and the food, beverage, and tobacco industries. The bulk of November’s hot money inflows (90 percent) came from the United Kingdom, Singapore, the United States, Luxembourg, and Norway. Meanwhile, gross outflows in November totaled $1.76 billion, down $244.73 million (12.2 percent) from $2.01 billion the previous month. As in October, the United States remained the top destination for outflows in November, receiving $914.20 million, or more than half (51.8 percent) of total remittances. Shrinking net inflows On a yearly basis, hot money inflows last month increased by $286.55 million (18.2 percent) to $1.86 billion. However, gross outflows nearly doubled, increasing by $861.72 million (95.4 percent) from $903.10 million in November of last year to $1.76 billion. As a result, net inflows in November dropped significantly to $96.59 million, down $575.18 million (85.6 percent) from $671.77 million recorded in the same period last year. For the January-to-November period, foreign investments registered with the BSP saw net inflows of $2.59 billion, a significant turnaround from the $43.66 million net outflow during the same period in 2023. Foreign investors may choose not to register with the BSP unless they need to buy foreign currency from authorized banks to repatriate profits or capital. The BSP expects net hot money inflows to total $4.2 billion by the end of 2024 and projects $2.9 billion in 2025.BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Bethlehem marked another somber Christmas Eve on Tuesday in the traditional birthplace of Jesus under the shadow of war in Gaza . The excitement and cheer that typically descends on the West Bank during Christmas week were nowhere to be found. The festive lights and giant tree that normally decorate Manger Square were missing, as were the throngs of foreign tourists that usually fill the square. Palestinian scouts marched silently through the streets, a departure from their usual raucous brass marching band. Security forces arranged barriers near the Church of the Nativity, built atop the spot where Jesus is believed to have been born. The cancellation of Christmas festivities is a severe blow to the town's economy. Tourism accounts for an estimated 70% of Bethlehem’s income — almost all from the Christmas season. Salman said unemployment is hovering around 50% — higher than the 30% unemployment across the rest of the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Finance Ministry. Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, noted the shuttered shops and empty streets and expressed hope that next year would be better. “This has to be the last Christmas that is so sad,” he told hundreds of people gathered in Manger Square, where normally tens of thousands would congregate. Pizzaballa held a special pre-Christmas Mass in the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City. Several Palestinian Christians told the Associated Press that they have been displaced in the church since the war began in October of last year with barely enough food and water. “We hope by next year at the same day we’d be able to celebrate Christmas at our homes and go to Bethlehem,” said Najla Tarazi, a displaced woman. “We hope to celebrate in Jerusalem ... and for the war to end. This is the most important thing for us and the most important demand we have these days because the situation is really hard. We don’t feel happy.” Bethlehem is an important center in the history of Christianity, but Christians make up only a small percentage of the roughly 14 million people spread across the Holy Land. There are about 182,000 in Israel, 50,000 in the West Bank and Jerusalem and 1,300 in Gaza, according to the U.S. State Department. The number of visitors to the town plunged from a pre-COVID high of around 2 million per year in 2019 to fewer than 100,000 in 2024, said Jiries Qumsiyeh, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Tourism Ministry. After nightfall, the golden walls of the Church of the Nativity were illuminated as a few dozen people quietly milled about. A young boy stood holding a pile of balloons for sale, but gave up because there were no customers to buy them. The war in Gaza has deterred tourists and has prompted a surge of violence in the West Bank , with more than 800 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire and dozens of Israelis killed in militant attacks. Palestinian officials do not provide a breakdown of how many of the deceased are civilians and how many are fighters. Since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that sparked the war , access to and from Bethlehem and other towns in the West Bank has been difficult, with long lines of motorists waiting to pass through Israeli military checkpoints. The restrictions have prevented some 150,000 Palestinians from leaving the territory to work in Israel, causing the economy there to contract by 25%. In the Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took more than 250 Israeli hostages. Israeli officials believe that around 100 hostages remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip. Elsewhere, Christmas celebrations were also subdued. Scores of Syrian Christians protested Tuesday in Damascus, demanding protection after the burning of a Christmas tree in Hama the day before. Videos and images shared on social media showed the large, decorated tree burning at a roundabout in Suqalabiyah, a town in the Hama countryside. It remains unclear who was responsible for setting the tree on fire. In a video that circulated on social media, a representative of Syria’s new leadership, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, could be seen visiting the site and addressing the community. He said: “This act was committed by people who are not Syrian, and they will be punished beyond your expectations.” German celebrations were darkened by a car attack on a Christmas market on Friday that left five people dead and 200 people injured. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier rewrote his annual recorded Christmas Day speech to address the attack. He plans to acknowledge that “there is grief, pain, horror and incomprehension over what took place in Magdeburg,” while urging Germans to “stand together,” according to an early copy of the speech. A snowstorm in the Balkans stranded drivers and downed power lines, but some saw the beauty in it. “I’m actually glad its falling, especially because of Christmas,” said Mirsad Jasarevic in Zenica, Bosnia. “We did not have snow for Christmas for 17 years here, and now is the time for wonderful white Christmas.” American Airlines briefly grounded flights across the U.S. on Tuesday due to a technical problem just as the Christmas travel season kicked into overdrive. Winter weather threatened more potential problems for those planning to fly or drive. Meanwhile, the flight-tracking site FlightAware reported that 1,447 flights entering or leaving the U.S., or serving domestic destinations, were delayed Tuesday, with 28 flights canceled. In the port of Barcelona, Spain, volunteers from the faith-based ministry Stella Maris visited seven ships docked there on Christmas Eve to deliver Nativity scenes and the local specialty of turrón (nougat candy) to seafarers. The volunteers met seafarers from India, the Philippines, Turkey and elsewhere, said Ricard Rodríguez-Martos, a Catholic deacon and former merchant marine captain who leads Stella Maris in this major Mediterranean harbor. Associated Press writers Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
It’s that odd time of year between Christmas and New Year’s where it is easy to lose track of what day it is, what year it is, if you have to work tomorrow and other basics that are so cut and dried the other 51 weeks of the year. Maybe that explains the Minnesota Wild seemingly losing track of where they were and what they were doing for some critical minutes on Sunday, as things slipped away in a 3-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators. ADVERTISEMENT The Wild grabbed an early lead but could not add to it, as Josh Norris netted the game-winner for the Senators on a third-period power play, snapping a two-game Ottawa losing streak. Claude Giroux hit an empty-net goal in the final minute for the visitors. Freddie Gaudreau supplied the only offense for the Wild with a first-period goal. They got 33 saves from goalie Filip Gustavsson, but saw their two-game winning streak and all of the good feelings they had collected with last Friday’s come-from-behind win in Dallas disappear. The Wild’s struggling penalty kill had gone 3 for 3 versus the Stars, and killed a penalty midway through the third, only to see team captain Jared Spurgeon head to the box just seconds later. On their second consecutive man advantage, Norris popped a quick shot over Gustavsson’s left shoulder to give the visitors their first lead with 7:18 remaining in regulation. The Wild were being outshot and outplayed late in the first when Declan Chisholm caught a pass from Marcus Foligno and ripped a long-range shot that Gaudreau deflected into the upper right corner. It was just the seventh goal of the season for Gaudreau and his first since he had the only bright spot in a 7-1 home loss to Edmonton on Dec. 12. It was also the 50th goal of Gaudreau’s career. The Senators began the middle period with a strong push and forged a tie when Ridly Greig grabbed a puck that came hard off the end boards and slipped it past Gustavsson with less than two minutes gone in the second. Ottawa outshot the Wild 11-0 in the opening five minutes of the period. Ottawa goalie Leevi Merilainen, making just his third start of the season, finished with 30 saves in the game and got some assistance from the goalposts, as Matt Boldy’s deflected shot in the first period and power-play shots by Mats Zuccarello and Spurgeon all struck the iron. In the final seconds of the middle frame, another Boldy shot hit the crossbar. The Wild at least kept the home crowd engaged, moving the puck well on the power play, and via fisticuffs when fourth-liner Ben Jones and Senators winger Noah Gregor exchanged blows late in the second. ADVERTISEMENT Wild star forward Kirill Kaprizov missed his second consecutive game and third of the season with a lower-body injury. Team officials have listed him as day-to-day and are hopeful for his return soon. The Wild close out 2024 with a New Year’s Eve home game at 7 p.m. versus Nashville. ______________________________________________________ This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here .
Haiti’s online media association said two reporters were killed and several others were wounded in a gang attack on Tuesday on the reopening of Port-au-Prince’s biggest public hospital. Street gangs have taken over an estimated 85% of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and they forced the closure of the General Hospital early this year. Authorities had pledged to reopen the facility Tuesday, but as journalists gathered to cover the event, suspected gang members opened fire in a vicious Christmas Eve attack. Robest Dimanche, a spokesman for the Online Media Collective, identified the dead journalists as Markenzy Nathoux and Jimmy Jean. Dimanche said an unspecified number of reporters had also been wounded in the attack, which he blamed on the Viv Ansanm coalition of gangs. Haiti’s interim president, Leslie Voltaire, said in an address to the nation that journalists and police were among the victims of the attack. He did not specify how many casualties there were, or give a breakdown for the dead or wounded. “I send my sympathies to the people who were victims, the national police and the journalists,” Voltaire said, pledging “this crime is not going to go unpunished.” A video posted online by the reporters trapped inside the hospital showed what appeared to be two lifeless bodies of men on stretchers, their clothes bloodied. One of the men had a lanyard with a press credential around his neck. Radio Télé Métronome initially reported that seven journalists and two police officers were wounded. Police and officials did not immediately respond to calls for information on the attack. Street gangs have taken over an estimated 85% of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. They forced the closure of the General Hospital early this year during violence that also targeted the main international airport and Haiti’s two largest prisons. Authorities had pledged to reopen the facility Tuesday, but as journalists gathered to cover the event, suspected gang members opened fire. Video posted online earlier showed reporters inside the building and at least three lying on the floor, apparently wounded. That video could also not be immediately verified. Johnson “Izo” André, considered Haiti’s most powerful gang leader and part of a gang known as Viv Ansanm, which that has taken control of much of Port-au-Prince , posted a video on social media claiming responsibility for the attack. The video said the gang coalition had not authorized the hospital’s reopening. Haiti has seen journalists targeted before. In 2023, two local journalists were killed in the space of a couple of weeks — radio reporter Dumesky Kersaint was fatally shot in mid-April that year, while journalist Ricot Jean was found dead later that month. In July, former Prime Minister Garry Conille visited the Hospital of the State University of Haiti, more widely known as the General Hospital, after authorities regained control of it from gangs. The hospital had been left ravaged and strewn with debris. Walls and nearby buildings were riddled with bullet holes, signaling fights between police and gangs. The hospital is across the street from the national palace, the scene of several battles in recent months. Gang attacks have pushed Haiti’s health system to the brink of collapse with looting, setting fires, and destroying medical institutions and pharmacies in the capital. The violence has created a surge in patients and a shortage of resources to treat them. Haiti’s health care system faces additional challenges during the rainy season, which is likely to increase the risk of water-borne diseases. Poor conditions in camps and makeshift settlements have heightened the risk of diseases like cholera, with over 84,000 suspected cases in the country, according to UNICEF.Indianapolis Colts coach Shane Steichen seemed to sense the question might arise after his club was eliminated from playoff consideration Sunday with a ghastly 45-33 loss to the host New York Giants in East Rutheford, N.J. The Giants were 2-13 and had lost a franchise-record 10 straight games entering the contest and their season-high point total Sunday more than tripled their season average of 14.3 points per game. It was the type of bad loss that leads to head coaches being asked about their job security. "I control what I can control," Steichen said of the employment situation. The Colts (7-9) were outplayed all contest by the team that entered the day with the worst record in the NFL -- and with their playoff hopes on the line. Last season, Steichen's first as Indianapolis coach, the Colts also fell short, losing to the Houston Texans in the final week of the season to miss the playoffs. "It was as disappointing as it gets," Steichen said of the setback against the Giants. "As the leader of a football team, shoot, I always say I've got to be better, we've all got to be better. That's a group effort, everyone's got to chip in and do their part, so stuff like that doesn't happen." Giants quarterback Drew Lock passed for 309 yards and tied his career high of four touchdowns while also running for a score. Meanwhile, the Colts also went with a reserve quarterback in veteran Joe Flacco and he turned the ball over three times on two interceptions and a fumble. He also passed for 330 yards. Flacco started because rookie Anthony Richardson couldn't play due to back and foot injuries. Indianapolis completes the season next weekend at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars. "I know it's a tough situation, obviously, when you're out of the playoff hunt, but again, I told (the team) we've got to be professional about it," Steichen said. "That's the biggest thing. We've got to show up and do our job still with one week left." The Colts last made the playoffs in the 2020 season. Their last playoff win was two seasons earlier. --Field Level Media
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DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's prime minister said Monday that most cabinet ministers were back at work after rebels overthrew President Bashar Assad , but some state workers failed to return to their jobs, and a United Nations official said the country's public sector had come “to a complete and abrupt halt." Meanwhile, streams of refugees crossed back into Syria from neighboring countries, hoping for a more peaceful future and looking for relatives who disappeared during Assad's brutal rule. There were already signs of the difficulties ahead for the rebel alliance now in control of much of the country. The alliance is led by a former senior al-Qaida militant who severed ties with the extremist group years ago and has promised representative government and religious tolerance. The rebel command said Monday they would not tell women how to dress. “It is strictly forbidden to interfere with women’s dress or impose any request related to their clothing or appearance, including requests for modesty,” the command said in a statement on social media. Nearly two days after rebels entered the capital, some key government services had shut down after state workers ignored calls to go back to their jobs, the U.N. official said, causing issues at airports and borders and slowing the flow of humanitarian aid. Rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was long known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, also met for the first time with Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi Jalali, who stayed in Syria when Assad fled. “You will see there are skills" among the rebels, al-Sharaa said in a video shared on a rebel messaging channel. Israel said it carried out airstrikes on suspected chemical weapons sites and long-range rockets to keep them from falling into the hands of extremists. Israel also seized a buffer zone inside Syria after Syrian troops withdrew. In northern Syria, Turkey said allied opposition forces seized the town of Manbij from Kurdish-led forces backed by the United States, a reminder that even after Assad's departure, the country remains split among armed groups that have fought in the past. The Kremlin said Russia has granted political asylum to Assad , a decision made by President Vladimir Putin . Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Assad’s specific whereabouts and said Putin did not plan to meet with him. Damascus was quiet Monday, with life slowly returning to normal, though most shops and public institutions were closed. In public squares, some people were still celebrating. Civilian traffic resumed, but there was no public transport. Long lines formed in front of bakeries and other food stores. There was little sign of any security presence though in some areas, small groups of armed men were stationed in the streets. Across swathes of Syria, families are now waiting outside prisons , security offices and courts, hoping for news of loved ones who were imprisoned or who disappeared. Just north of Damascus in the feared Saydnaya military prison, women detainees, some with their children, screamed as rebels broke locks off their cell doors. Amnesty International and other groups say dozens of people were secretly executed every week in Saydnaya, and they estimate that up to 13,000 Syrians were killed between 2011 and 2016. “Don’t be afraid," one rebel said as he ushered women from packed cells. "Bashar Assad has fallen!” In southern Turkey , Mustafa Sultan was among hundreds of Syrian refugees waiting at border crossings to head home. He was searching for his older brother, who was imprisoned under Assad. “I haven’t seen him for 13 years," he said. "I am going to go see whether he’s alive.” Prime minister says government is operational, but UN official says it's paralyzed Jalali, the prime minister, has sought to project normalcy since Assad fled. “We are working so that the transitional period is quick and smooth,” he told Sky News Arabia TV on Monday, saying the security situation had already improved from the day before. At the court of Justice in Damascus, which was stormed by the rebels to free detainees, Judge Khitam Haddad, an aide to the justice minister in the outgoing government, said Sunday that judges were ready to resume work quickly. “We want to give everyone their rights,” Haddad said outside the courthouse. “We want to build a new Syria and to keep the work, but with new methods.” But a U.N. official said some government services had been paralyzed as worried state employees stayed home. The public sector “has just come to a complete and abrupt halt," said U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria Adam Abdelmoula, noting, for example, that an aid flight carrying urgently needed medical supplies had been put on hold after aviation employees abandoned their jobs. “This is a country that has had one government for 53 years and then suddenly all of those who have been demonized by the public media are now in charge in the nation’s capital,” Abdelmoula told The Associated Press. "I think it will take a couple of days and a lot of assurance on the part of the armed groups for these people to return to work again.” Britain, U.S. considering removing insurgent group from terror list Britain and the U.S. are both considering whether to remove the main anti-Assad rebel group from their lists of designated terrorist organizations. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham began as an offshoot of al-Qaida but cut ties with the group years ago and has worked to present a more moderate image. The group's leader, al-Sharaa, “is saying some of the right things about the protection of minorities, about respecting people’s rights,” British Cabinet minister Pat McFadden said, adding that a change would be considered “quite quickly.” But British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, speaking later during a visit to Saudi Arabia, said it was "far too early” to make that decision. In Washington, a Biden administration official noted that HTS will be an “important component” in Syria's future and that the U.S. needs to “engage with them appropriately.” Another administration official said the U.S. remains in a “wait and see” mode on whether to remove the designation. Both officials requested anonymity to discuss the ongoing internal deliberations. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that such designations are constantly under review. Even while it is in place, the designation does not bar U.S. officials from speaking with members or leaders of the group, he said. The U.S. also announced it was sending its special envoy for hostage affairs to Beirut to seek information about the whereabouts of Austin Tice, a journalist who vanished in Syria 12 years ago and who President Joe Biden has said is believed to be alive. Israel confirms it struck suspected chemical weapons and rockets Israelis welcomed the fall of Assad, who was a key ally of Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, while expressing concern over what comes next. Israel says its forces temporarily seized a buffer zone inside Syria dating back to a 1974 agreement after Syrian troops withdrew in the chaos. “The only interest we have is the security of Israel and its citizens," Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters Monday. Saar did not provide details about the targets, but the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they included weapons warehouses, research centers, air defense systems and aircraft squadrons. Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria in recent years, targeting what it says are military sites related to Iran and Hezbollah . Israeli officials rarely comment on individual strikes. Syria agreed to give up its chemical weapons stockpile in 2013, after the government was accused of launching an attack near Damascus that killed hundreds of people . But it is widely believed to have kept some of the weapons and was accused of using them again in subsequent years. Turkey says its allies have taken northern town Officials in Turkey, which is the main supporter of the Syrian opposition to Assad, say its allies have taken full control of the northern Syrian city of Manbij from a U.S.-supported and Kurdish-led force known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. The SDF said a Turkish drone struck in the village of al-Mistriha in eastern Syria, killing 12 civilians, including six children. Turkey views the SDF, which is primarily composed of a Syrian Kurdish militia, as an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey. The SDF has also been a key ally of the United States in the war against the Islamic State group. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday warned against allowing Islamic State or Kurdish fighters to take advantage of the situation, saying Turkey will prevent Syria from turning into a “haven for terrorism.” ___ Mroue reported from Beirut and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Mehmet Guzel at the Oncupinar border crossing in Turkey, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, and Aamer Madhani and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report. ___ Follow the AP's Syria coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/syria Sarah El Deeb, Bassem Mroue And Tia Goldenberg, The Associated PressNCAA Field Hockey: Saint Joseph’s stuns UNC, will take on Northwestern for title
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A report from the charity on hurricanes, floods, typhoons and storms influenced by climate change warns that the top 10 disasters each cost more than 4 billion US dollars in damage (£3.2 billion). The figures are based mostly on insured losses, so the true costs are likely to be even higher, Christian Aid said, as it called for action to cut greenhouse gas emissions and finance for poor countries to cope with climate change. Politicians who “downplay the urgency of the climate crisis only serve to harm their own people and cause untold suffering around the world”, climate expert Joanna Haigh said. While developed countries feature heavily in the list of costliest weather extremes, as they have higher property values and can afford insurance, the charity also highlighted another 10 disasters which did not rack up such costs but were just as devastating, often hitting poorer countries. Most extreme weather events show “clear fingerprints” of climate change, which is driving more extreme weather events, making them more intense and frequent, experts said. The single most costly event in 2024 was Hurricane Milton, which scientists say was made windier, wetter and more destructive by global warming, and which caused 60 billion US dollars (£48 billion) of damage when it hit the US in October. That is closely followed by Hurricane Helene, which cost 55 billion US dollars (£44 billion) when it hit the US, Mexico and Cuba just two weeks before Milton in late September. The US was hit by so many costly storms throughout the year that even when hurricanes are removed, other storms cost more than 60 billion US dollars in damage, the report said. Three of the costliest 10 climate extremes hit Europe, including the floods from Storm Boris which devastated central European countries in September and deadly flooding in Valencia in October which killed 226 people. In other parts of the world, floods in June and July in China killed 315 people and racked up costs of 15.6 billion US dollars (£12.4 billion), while Typhoon Yagi, which hit south-west Asia in September, killed more than 800 people and cost 12.6 billion dollars (£10 billion). Events which were not among the most costly in financial terms but which have still been devastating include Cyclone Chido which hit Mayotte in December and may have killed more than 1,000 people, Christian Aid said. Meanwhile, heatwaves affected 33 million people in Bangladesh and worsened the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, flooding affected 6.6 million people in West Africa and the worst drought in living memory affected more than 14 million in Zambia, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe, the charity said. Christian Aid chief executive Patrick Watt said: “There is nothing natural about the growing severity and frequency of droughts, floods and storms. “Disasters are being supercharged by decisions to keep burning fossil fuels, and to allow emissions to rise. “And they’re being made worse by the consistent failure to deliver on financial commitments to the poorest and most climate-vulnerable countries. “In 2025 we need to see governments leading, and taking action to accelerate the green transition, reduce emissions, and fund their promises.” Dr Mariam Zachariah, World Weather Attribution researcher who analyses extreme events in near-real time to discern the role of climate change, at Imperial College London, said: “This report is just a snapshot of climate devastation in 2024. “There are many more droughts, heatwaves, wildfires and floods not included that are becoming more frequent and intense. “Most of these disasters show clear fingerprints of climate change. “Extreme weather is clearly causing incredible suffering in all corners of the world. Behind the billion-dollar figures are lost lives and livelihoods.” And Prof Haigh, emeritus professor of atmospheric physics at Imperial College London, said: “The economic impact of these extreme weather events should be a wake-up call. “The good news is that ever-worsening crises doesn’t have to be our long-term future. “The technologies of a clean energy economy exist, but we need leaders to invest in them and roll them out at scale.” The 10 costliest climate disasters of 2024 were: – US storms, December to January, more than 60 billion US dollars; – Hurricane Milton in the US, October 9-13, 60 billion US dollars (£48 billion); – Hurricane Helene in the US, Mexico, Cuba, 55 billion US dollars (£44 billion); – China floods, June 9-July 14, 15.6 billion US dollars (£12.4 billion); – Typhoon Yagi, which hit south-west Asia from September 1 to 9, 12.6 billion US dollars (£10 billion); – Hurricane Beryl, in the US, Mexico and Caribbean islands from July 1-11, 6.7 billion US dollars (£5.3 billion); – Storm Boris in central Europe, September 12-16, 5.2 billion US dollars (£4.1 billion); – Rio Grande do Sul floods in Brazil, April 28-May 3, 5 billion US dollars (£4 billion); – Bavaria floods, Germany, June 1-7, 4.45 billion US dollars (£3.5 billion); – Valencia floods, Spain, on October 29, 4.22 billion US dollars (£3.4 billion).
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — One of the most prominent figures from against COVID-19 restrictions in 2022 has been found guilty on five counts including mischief and disobeying a court order. A judge ruled Friday that Pat King was guilty on one count each of mischief, counseling others to commit mischief and counseling others to obstruct police. He was also found guilty on two counts of disobeying a court order. He could face up to 10 years in prison. clogged the streets of the capital, Ottawa, and besieged Parliament Hill for three weeks in early 2022, demonstrating against vaccine mandates for truckers and other precautions and condemning Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government. Members of the self-styled Freedom Convoy also blockaded in protest. The prosecution alleged King was a protest leader who was instrumental to the disruption in Ottawa. The prosecution alleged King coordinated the repeated bouts of honking, ordering the protesters to lay on the horn every 30 minutes for 10 minutes at a time, and told people to “hold the line” when he was aware that police and the city had asked the truckers to leave. The prosecution's case relied mainly on King’s own videos, which he posted to social media throughout the protest to document the demonstration and communicate with those taking part. King’s lawyers argued that he was peacefully protesting and was not one of the demonstration's leaders. King was found not guilty on three counts of intimidation and one count of obstructing police himself. The truckers' convoy gridlocked downtown streets around Parliament Hill, with area residents complaining about the fumes from diesel engines running non-stop, and unrelenting noise from constant the honking of horns and music from parties. Trudeau's government ultimately to try and bring an end to the protests. Ottawa Police brought in hundreds of officers from forces across Canada. The protests were first aimed at a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers. They eventually encompassed fury over COVID-19 restrictions and dislike of Trudeau, reflecting the spread of disinformation in Canada and simmering populist and right-wing anger. The Freedom Convoy shook Canada’s reputation for civility, inspired convoys in France, and the Netherlands and interrupted economic trade. For almost a week the busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit was blocked. It carries more than 25% of trade between the countries, who are each other's largest trading partners.Mainstream Media Ignores Sectarian Killings In 'Liberated' Syria While Jolani Plays Nice For CamerasHeavy travel day starts with brief grounding of all American Airlines flights‘The Simpsons Funday Football’ LIVE STREAM (12/9/24) | How to watch, time, for animated Bengals vs. Cowboys alt-cast
US President-elect Donald Trump is expected to overturn California’s ban on new petrol and diesel light vehicles from showrooms by 2035, just months after the proposal was approved. In August 2022, California proposed the ban on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in a bid to reduce carbon emissions, with transportation responsible for approximately 50 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and 80 per cent of air pollutants in the state. While plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) are exempt from the ban they must be capable of 80km of real-world electric-only driving, and comprise no more than 20 per cent of a brand’s total sales. The rest of the vehicles must be electric vehicles (EVs). Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today The proposal was finally signed off by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week, and the framework will be adopted by 11 other states including New York. 100s of new car deals are available through CarExpert right now. Get the experts on your side and score a great deal. Browse now . However, it may be short-lived, as Mr Trump has claimed he will revoke any approvals granted by the EPA to California, having been critical of the outgoing Biden Administration’s vehicle policies. This includes axing the federal tax credit for EVs, worth up to US$7500 (A$11,625), and cutting off support for charging stations, instead sending the funds to the “national defense supply chain and critical infrastructure”. Mr Trump is also reportedly planning to wind back the EPA’s emissions and fuel economy standards to 2019 levels, undoing the recent work of the government department. The EPA has a target for EVs to account for between 35 to 56 per cent of sales on the new vehicle market by 2032, however this is not an enforcement or mandate, rather an outline of what carmakers will need to do to meet wider emissions regulations across their fleets. This target was previously as high as 67 per cent before being walked back in April this year, following cooling demand for EVs. In the lead up to the US election, Mr Trump falsely claimed the US government has mandates which will require EV sales to reach 100 per cent, promising to repeal these if he was elected. Last week, Reuters reported that if the 2019 emissions regulations are revived, vehicles will on average be allowed to emit about 25 per cent more than under the 2025 regulations, while using up to 15 per cent more fuel. John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation – a US lobby group for the nation’s carmakers – criticised California’s ICE ban and said it expects “President Trump will revoke the waiver in 2025.” “We’ve said the country should have a single, national standard to reduce carbon in transportation, but the question about the general authority of California to establish a vehicle emissions program – and for other states to follow that program – is ultimately something for policymakers and the courts to sort out. “Our concerns: first, California’s Advanced Clean Cars II is an actual electrification sales mandate and ultimately a ban on the sale of new gas-powered vehicles. “Second, most of the states that follow California are NOT ready for these requirements. Achieving the sales mandates under current market realities will take a miracle. There needs to be balance and some states should exit the program. “Third, automakers can produce electrified vehicles, but there’s a huge gap between these EV sales mandates and a customer’s (reasonable) expectation they can still choose what kind of vehicle to drive.” California’s ICE ban proposal previously included hydrogen fuel cells vehicles (FCEVs) to account for more than 10 per cent of new cars sold in 2035, however sales of the niche technology have been declining in the state. In the first half of last year, the LA Times reports 1765 FCEVs were sold on the way to the year’s total of 2968. In the first half of this year, that number has shrunk to just 298. The publication attributes the decline to the stalling of California’s hydrogen rollout plans, which are currently well behind the initial plan of 200 refuelling stations up and running by 2025.
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