Nearly five years since the pandemic hit, many people still haven’t finished refreshing their Covid-era closets.Many did so over the holidays, taking advantage of this season’s competitive discounts to buy a few things for themselves alongside gifts for others.“This was a very solid holiday season for retailers,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of the retail consultancy GlobalData. “Consumers dug deep and boosted spending. Retailers also worked hard to secure trade by offering discounts that were slightly more generous than last year.”Clothing, footwear and jewelry posted some of the biggest spending growth, according to recent data from Visa and Mastercard.Now that…
Author: Team_NationalNewsBrief
An unpaid group of billionaires, tech executives and some disciples of Peter Thiel, a powerful Republican donor, are preparing to take up unofficial positions in the U.S. government in the name of cost-cutting.As President-elect Donald J. Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency girds for battle against “wasteful” spending, it is preparing to dispatch individuals with ties to its co-leaders, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to agencies across the federal government.After Inauguration Day, the group of Silicon Valley-inflected, wide-eyed recruits will be deployed to Washington’s alphabet soup of agencies. The goal is for most major agencies to eventually have two DOGE…
QUESTION: Why will people not listen to you? You warned that we were turning not to global warming but to cooling and that the reduction of supply of energy would lead to hardship, disease, and war. Here is Britain, the gas company informed us that they are running out of fuel because it has been so cold. You offer historical data to provide the answer. Others provide nothing but wild opinions based on gossip. I am not sure what keeps you going. I supposed if I was ignored, I would say stuff it, you are on your own. MV ANSWER:…
Liberal talk host Bill Maher appeared on CNN this weekend and told Jake Tapper that he doesn’t think history will be kind to Joe Biden. Maher’s criticism stems mainly from Joe Biden’s decision to run for a second term before ultimately bowing out. Maher compares Biden to late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was hailed as a hero by the left until she died during Trump’s first term, giving him the opportunity to name her replacement. While Maher is likely right about Joe Biden and history, his criticism is solely about what Biden has done to the Democrat…
Anderson plays a single mother juggling her career and motherhood in the new film, “The Last Showgirl,” and both actresses opened up about their struggles balancing careers and raising children.”The Last Showgirl” with Pamela Anderson and Jamie Lee Curtis is currently in theaters.Article continues below advertisementStars Say ‘There’s No Perfect Way’ To Balance Career And MotherhoodPamela Anderson and Jamie Lee Curtis were interviewed for Parade, and both actresses said that “there’s no perfect way” to balance being a mom while also working on a career.Anderson has two children — Brandon, 27, and Dylan, 26 — with her ex-husband, Mötley Crüe…
RIYADH: Foreign ministers and top diplomats from Western and Middle Eastern countries are meeting Syria’s new foreign minister in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Sunday (Jan 12) at the first such regional meeting on Syria since President Bashar al-Assad was ousted last month. German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Riyadh on Sunday morning ahead of the meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani. British foreign minister David Lammy was also expected to join the talks, according to a statement issued by the UK Foreign Office. Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq,…
The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area has risen to 16 as firefighters struggled to contain the blaze that threatens the city’s most famous landmarks. New evacuation orders were placed as firefighters raced against time to stop the fires from spreading before potentially strong winds returned. The fires that began on Tuesday just north of downtown Los Angeles have scorched tens of thousands of acres and more than 12,000 structures. Firefighters for the first time made progress on Friday afternoon on the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, which has burned more than 7,000 structures, a term…
Duke forward Cooper Flagg gave the NBA’s worst teams something to hope for with his strong effort in an 86-78 win over Notre Dame on Saturday.The outstanding freshman, a leading contender for the Wooden Award, given annually to the country’s best college basketball player, had 42 points on 11-of-14 shooting, six rebounds, seven assists and a steal to lead Associated Press No. 4 Duke (14-2, 6-0 ACC) to its 10th consecutive win, the program’s first regular-season 10-game win streak since the beginning of the 2017-18 season (11-0). Per the ESPN broadcast, Flagg became the first Duke player with at least…
I’d like to put forth January for worst month of the year. February requires you to trudge through only 28 or so frigid days, with the promise of spring on the other side. December had parties and procrastination and excuses to suspend conventions like meals per day (third dinner) and portion size (a cocktail fit for Ina Garten). In January, you’re staring down 31 bleak days, the legal limit, with no hope of things turning around any time soon.Ideally, I’d like to see January wiped off the calendar, but one must endure it. Over the years, from my berth in…
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Small business owners closed out 2024 wondering if their tech stack could handle not just the holiday rush, but the challenges of 2025. While 40% of SMBs admit to experiencing “AI FOMO,” according to a survey by my company Builder.ai, they’re hitting real roadblocks: budget constraints, integration headaches and that nagging question: “Is this the right time to jump in?”Nearly a decade ago, software development was an unplanned route for my professional journey and not something that I anticipated. I was co-founding my photography company and found myself frustrated at software developers…