Author: Eric Mawuli DJIRACKOR

Stock Market Today: Dow Rises, Bitcoin Falls, Nvidia, and More Market Movers  Barron’s
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The jackpot of Ultra Lotto 6/58 has risen to nearly P260 million after no winners were drawn for the major jackpot draws on Christmas Eve, December 24.
The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) the combination of 38-13-14-06-17-51 that would have meant a jackpot prize of P259,406,932.80 for Ultra Lotto 6/58.
Meanwhile, the Super Lotto 6/49 prize is now at P15,840,000 after no one picked the numbers of 45-44-41-12-16-02.
There were also no winners for Lotto 6/42 and its P12,799,653.40 jackpot when no one played the combo of 29-32-31-07-16-19.
For more lotto results, visit here. —RF, GMA Integrated News

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The following Fitchburg students were named to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Dean’s List for the 2024 fall semester: Blair Atwood, Nicholas Brandenburg, Maddison Carl, Kaden Cooley, Anna Delaporte, Devin Friedrich, Ryan Howard, Reese Karvala, Alexa Stirn, Andres Temozihui and Jonah Thies.
These students have demonstrated their academic abilities by receiving a grade point average of 3.4 or above in a single semester. The Registrar’s Office reports 3,775 students were selected for the Dean’s List for the fall semester. More than 11,700 students are currently enrolled at the university’s Whitewater and Rock County campuses.
“Making the Dean’s List is a tremendous honor. It is a recognition of our students’ hard work and commitment to success,” said John Chenoweth, who serves as UW-Whitewater’s provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. “We are proud of our students and hope to see their names on the list again. Congratulations to all who were recognized!”
Centro Hispano of Dane County hosted its 41st Annual Celebration on Saturday, Dec. 7, at Calli, Centro’s new home, and City of Fitchburg Mayor…
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Honey is a popular browser extension owned by PayPal that’s at the center of a big new controversy. As a new investigative video outlines, the extension that’s meant to save users money not only misses key discounts, but also intentionally redirects affiliate funds away from creators.
PayPal Honey is a browser extension you’ve probably heard of, if not installed and used during this holiday shopping season. It’s available on Chrome, Safari, and more and has grown popular for good reason.
Honey promises to provide the best deals and coupons for any product you purchase online, all with just a simple click—but it’s now at the center of a big controversy.
As documented in a multi-year investigative video, Honey appears to have two major issues:
Essentially, YouTube channel MegaLag explains how Honey employs a variety of tactics through which it not only scams users out of finding the best deals and actually saving money, but it also steals key affiliate revenue from creators by replacing their affiliate links with its own.
Here’s the full video:
PayPal has not yet issued a formal statement regarding the video, but many of the details exposed by MegaLag seem particularly hard to refute.
Especially because in at least one case, PayPal provided confirmation to MegaLag that the extension’s behavior was working as intended.
Unfortunately, for a browser extension that seemed to promise so much to users at so little cost, the old adage seems proven once more: if it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.
What do you think of the Honey controversy? Let us know in the comments.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:
Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.
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Denzel Washington breaks down in tears over emotional religious experience  Newsweek
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Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Palestinian women and girls struggle to reach for food at a distribution center in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn over the bodies of five policemen killed Monday by an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday Dec. 24, 2024. According to witnesses at the scene, the policemen fired shots to prevent a group of bandits blocking the road from stealing aid from a truck. The Israeli army immediately struck the policemen after that.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
An Israeli soldier stands guard on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing between southern Israel and Gaza, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Humanitarian aid waiting to be picked up on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom aid crossing in the Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Palestinian women and girls struggle to reach for food at a distribution center in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinian women and girls struggle to reach for food at a distribution center in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn over the bodies of five policemen killed Monday by an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday Dec. 24, 2024. According to witnesses at the scene, the policemen fired shots to prevent a group of bandits blocking the road from stealing aid from a truck. The Israeli army immediately struck the policemen after that.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn over the bodies of five policemen killed Monday by an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday Dec. 24, 2024. According to witnesses at the scene, the policemen fired shots to prevent a group of bandits blocking the road from stealing aid from a truck. The Israeli army immediately struck the policemen after that.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
An Israeli soldier stands guard on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing between southern Israel and Gaza, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
An Israeli soldier stands guard on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing between southern Israel and Gaza, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Humanitarian aid waiting to be picked up on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom aid crossing in the Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Humanitarian aid waiting to be picked up on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom aid crossing in the Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Deaths from starvation will likely pass famine levels in northern Gaza as soon as next month owing to Israel’s “near-total blockade” of food and other aid, the U.S.-created global food-crisis monitor said on Tuesday.
The finding by the Famine Early Warning System Network appeared to expose a rift within the Biden administration over the extent of starvation in northern Gaza, with the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Jacob Lew, disputing part of the data used in reaching the conclusion and calling the stepped-up famine warning “irresponsible.”
Northern Gaza has been one of the areas hardest-hit by fighting and Israel’s restrictions on aid throughout its 14-month war with Hamas militants. Israel at one point increased the number of aid deliveries it permitted into northern Gaza under pressure from President Joe Biden.
But the U.N. and aid groups say Israel recently has blocked almost all aid again. Only nine U.N. trucks have been able to bring in food and water over the past 2 1/2 months, Oxfam says.
Israel says it has been operating in recent months against Hamas militants still active in northern Gaza. It says the vast majority of the area’s residents have fled and relocated to Gaza City, where most aid destined for the north is delivered. But some critics, including a former defense minister, have accused Israel of carrying out ethnic cleansing in Gaza’s far north, near the Israeli border.
FEWS Net said unless Israel changes its policy, it expects the number of people dying of starvation and related ailments in northern Gaza to reach between two and 15 per day sometime between next month and March.

The internationally recognized mortality threshold for famine is two or more deaths a day per 10,000 people.
Cindy McCain, the American head of the U.N. World Food Program, in a Dec. 15 appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” called for political pressure to get food flowing to Palestinians trapped in north Gaza.
“We need unfettered access. We need a ceasefire and we need it now,” she said. “We can’t … sit by and just allow these people to starve to death.”
FEWS Net was created by the U.S. Agency for International Development in the mid-1980s to warn of global food crises.
The United States, Israel’s main backer, provided a record amount of military support in the first year of the war. At the same time, the Biden administration repeatedly urged Israel to allow more access to aid deliveries in Gaza overall, and warned that failing to do so could trigger U.S. restrictions on military support. The administration recently said Israel was making improvements and declined to carry out its threat of restrictions.
Military support for Israel’s war in Gaza is politically charged in the United States. Republicans and some Democrats have staunchly opposed any effort to limit U.S. support over the suffering of Palestinian civilians trapped in the conflict. The Biden administration’s reluctance to do more to press Israel for improved treatment of civilians undercut support for Democrats in last month’s elections.
Lew, the U.S. ambassador, challenged the famine warning in a posting on social media, saying it was based on “outdated and inaccurate” data.
He pointed to uncertainty over how many of the 65,000 people remaining in northern Gaza had fled in recent weeks, saying that skewed the findings. FEWS said its famine assessment holds even if as few as 10,000 remain there.
“We work day and night with the U.N. and our Israeli partners to meet humanitarian needs — which are great — and relying on inaccurate data is irresponsible.,” Lew wrote.
AP writers Matthew Lee in Washington and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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By Wes Davis, a weekend editor who covers the latest in tech and entertainment. He has written news, reviews, and more as a tech journalist since 2020.
If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
The PayPal Honey browser extension is, in theory, a handy way to find better deals on products while you’re shopping online. But in a video published this weekend, YouTuber MegaLag claims the extension is a “scam” and that Honey has been “stealing money from influencers, including the very ones they paid to promote their product.”
Honey works by popping up an offer to find coupon codes for you while you’re checking out in an online shop. But as MegaLag notes, it frequently fails to find a code, or offers a Honey-branded one, even if a simple internet search will cover something better. The Honey website’s pitch is that it will “find every working promo code on the internet.” But according to MegaLag’s video, ignoring better deals is a feature of Honey’s partnerships with its retail clients.
MegaLag also says Honey will hijack affiliate revenue from influencers. According to MegaLag, if you click on an affiliate link from an influencer, Honey will then swap in its own tracking link when you interact with its deal pop-up at check-out. That’s regardless of whether Honey found you a coupon or not, and it results in Honey getting the credit for the sale, rather than the YouTuber or website whose link led you there.
Paypal VP of corporate communications Josh Criscoe said in an email to The Verge that “Honey follows industry rules and practices, including last-click attribution.”
MegaLag isn’t the first to make such claims. A 2021 Twitter post advises using Honey’s discount codes in a different browser to avoid it taking the affiliate credit. A Linus Media Group employee also explained in a 2022 forum reply that Linus Tech Tips dropped Honey as a sponsor over its affiliate link practices.
Honey’s convenience has resulted in the extension being recommended widely, including in almost 5,000 Honey-sponsored videos across about 1,000 YouTube channels, according to MegaLag. We’ve even recommended it here at The Verge; now we do not.
Here is Criscoe’s full statement:
Honey is free to use and provides millions of shoppers with additional savings on their purchases whenever possible. Honey helps merchants reduce cart abandonment and comparison shopping while increasing sales conversion.
/ Sign up for Verge Deals to get deals on products we’ve tested sent to your inbox weekly.
The Verge is a vox media network
© 2024 Vox Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved

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It’s Christmas Eve, and along with the big holiday coming up tomorrow, there’s also another chance to catch some of the 2024 college football bowl schedule kicking off today.
So far on the bowl front, the Mountain West and AAC have performed the best, along with the SEC and Big Ten, while the ACC is just 0-3 after a particularly dismal playoff showing.
It’s two of those conferences in action today, as the Mountain West and Sun Belt are in action for the only bowl game on the schedule as Christmas Eve football kicks off way out west.
More … 2024 college football bowl schedule
Mele Kalikimaka to you and yours on this Christmas as college football kicks off in Hawai’i. Here’s what and how you can watch as College Football Bowl Season marches on.
All times Eastern, and game lines are courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook
Hawai’i Bowl
USF vs. San Jose State
Tues., Dec. 24 | 8 p.m. | ESPN
Line: San Jose -3
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USF: While the Bulls couldn’t quite keep pace with the rest of the AAC this year, they did just enough to qualify for a bowl game, and we’ll see if this average passing offense can keep pace with what the Spartans can put on the field.
San Jose State: The Spartans rank fifth in FBS with over 325 passing yards per game, but struggle to balance things out, ranking third-worst nationally in rushing output, and don’t score as much as they should, ranking 73rd with just under 28 points per game.
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Most football analytical models project the Spartans will come through against the Bulls.
That includes the College Football Power Index, a computer prediction model that uses data points from both teams to simulate games 20,000 times and pick winners.
San Jose State is the narrow favorite in the matchup according to the index, coming out ahead in 53.5 percent of the computer’s most recent simulations of the game.
That leaves South Florida as the presumptive winner in the remaining 46.5 percent of sims.
How does that translate into an expected margin of victory in the game?
San Jose State is projected to be 1.5 points better than USF on the same field in both teams’ current composition, according to the model’s latest forecast.
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All times Eastern, and game lines are courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook
Penn State vs. Boise State
Tues., Dec. 31 | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN
Penn State made a statement in a rout against SMU at home in the first round game, inspired by a defensive effort that returned two interceptions for touchdowns.
Now, the Broncos and Heisman finalist Ashton Jeanty await the Nittany Lions in the desert to test PSU’s strong run stop.
Line: Penn State -10.5
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Texas vs. Arizona State
Wed., Jan. 1 | 1 p.m. | ESPN
Quinn Ewers had a hot start and then the Longhorns’ run game took over, fielding two 100-yard rushers in a 38-24 victory against Clemson at home in the first round.
That sets up a quarterfinal meeting with the Big 12 champion Sun Devils and tailback Cam Skattebo, who has 1,568 yards and 19 touchdowns on the ground this season.
Line: Texas -13.5
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Oregon vs. Ohio State
Wed., Jan. 1 | 5 p.m. | ESPN
The mood seemed dour in Columbus after the loss to Michigan, and then with news that Tennessee fans were apparently about to take over the Horseshoe, but the Buckeyes made the statement of the weekend by smashing one of the SEC’s best teams.
That sets up a rematch with the Big Ten champion Ducks, who beat OSU by a point back in October, and who boast one of college football’s most efficient and dynamic offenses.
Line: Ohio State -2.5
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Georgia vs. Notre Dame
Wed., Jan. 1 | 8:45 p.m. | ESPN
Notre Dame opened a big lead on Big Ten challenger Indiana in the first round, with Jeremiyah Love scoring a 98-yard touchdown, the longest score in College Football Playoff history, and then leaned on its defense to carry the way.
And that defense could find an angle against a Georgia offense that almost certainly won’t have starting quarterback Carson Beck as he considers surgery for his injured elbow, leaving the inexperienced Gunner Stockton under center to take on the Irish.
Line: Georgia -2.5
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, please call 1-800-GAMBLER.
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More college football from SI: Top 25 Rankings | Schedule | Teams
Follow College Football HQ: Bookmark | Rankings | Picks
James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He previously covered football for 247Sports and CBS Interactive. College Football HQ joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022.
© 2024 ABG-SI LLC – SPORTS ILLUSTRATED IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ABG-SI LLC. – All Rights Reserved. The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Sports Illustrated or its affiliates, licensees and related brands. All picks and predictions are suggestions only and not a guarantee of success or profit. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER.

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By Audrey Thibert | Religion News Service
In a May 2023 advisory, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called attention to the “public health crisis of loneliness, isolation and lack of connection in the U.S. today.”
In his plan to address this crisis, he listed faith groups as key players in the solution — “Religious or faith-based groups can be a source for regular social contact, serve as a community of support, provide meaning and purpose, create a sense of belonging around shared values and beliefs, and are associated with reduced risk-taking behaviors.”
While the directive was meant more generally, faith leaders and mental health experts say religious traditions and faith communities can play a key role in helping people get through the winter holidays, when rates of depression and anxiety are proven to increase. From food drives to special services, like “lessons and carols,” to extra events and gatherings (that often include a shared meal), many houses of worship are bustling with activity and opportunities to engage with community in December.
“During the holidays, we are practicing relational spirituality and engaging in our awakened brain,” said Lisa Miller, a professor of psychology and education at Columbia University’s Teachers College. “We are actually showing up for one another to be loving, to be holding, to be guiding and never leave anyone alone.”
For many, the winter holidays are a time of grief, loss or perhaps heightened levels of depression and anxiety. A poll by the American Psychological Association found 41% of adults in the U.S. say their stress increases during the holidays, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness found that 64% of people living with a mental illness reported their conditions worsen around the holidays. 
Miller, who founded the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, described the winter holiday season as the “Sabbath of the year” and said spirituality is a “clear antidote” to the unprecedented rise in so-called diseases of despair — alcoholism, drug use and suicide — in the United States.
This is the time when all those activities houses of worship engage in can really shine, Miller says: creating space for people to come share their feelings, singing together, participating in a prayer and inviting people to give back to their community through charity.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, both religion and spirituality can have a positive impact on mental health, though often in different ways. In general, religion gives people something to believe in, provides a sense of structure and typically connects people with similar beliefs. Meanwhile, the group describes spirituality as a sense of connection to something bigger, aiding in self reflection and exploration of how one fits into the rest of the world.
While the research has been mixed on the connection between religiosity and overall health, a 2019 Pew Research Study found that more than one-third of “actively religious” adults say they are “very happy” compared to a quarter of religiously inactive and unaffiliated Americans.
The Rev. Sarah Lund, the minister for Disabilities and Mental Health Justice at the United Church of Christ, echoed that faith communities are considered some of the key places to improve the mental health of Americans.
“We don’t realize what a gift it is to be connected to each other and to have weekly gatherings where we share space, share community, break bread together, have friendships and build relationships through prayer, through Bible study and through worship,” Lund said.
And for people struggling with grief, disability or mental health during the holidays, Lund said support from a community like a congregation can help. She noted that some churches offer “Blue Christmas” services — opportunities to honor people who have lost loved ones and are experiencing grief — and expressed hope that congregations might consider ways to incorporate such acknowledgements all year.
“After the holidays is when people feel that kind of letdown,” Lund said. “As people of faith, there’s an opportunity to continue the intentional work about inclusion and supporting people’s mental health and accommodating the needs of people who have disabilities.”
Ginger Morgan, too, sees that the winter holidays can be difficult for some of the students she works with at Pres House, a Presbyterian church on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. But she also noted the role the holidays can play in providing students — both religious and not religious — time for relaxation after finals season.
For example, Morgan, who is the director of candid and community initiatives at Pres House, also interacts with international students who live at Pres House Apartments — open to all students, not just churchgoers. While these students don’t typically observe the Christian holidays, they still use the time to see friends, share good food and take a break to rest.
“Those are themes of — in the Christian tradition — the Sabbath,” Morgan said, echoing Miller of Columbia.
Morgan added that students use the time before they go home for Christmas break for various types of communal activities — whether through participation in the Pres House’s Christmas choir or decorating cookies with the congregation.
“Students go above and beyond what they’re already doing for school,” Morgan said. “They like doing Christmas cookie decoration because it’s joyful and fun and it brings light and lightness. There’s a lot about holidays that brings joy even when students are facing an exhausting period of time right at the end of the semester.”
Miller said this sort of “direct, loving, transcendent relationship” — whether that’s through religion or spirituality — can have enormous protective benefits.
“A strong spiritual life is more protective against addiction, more protective against depression, more protective even against suicide than anything else known to the social or medical sciences,” Miller said. “When we look at hundreds of peer-reviewed articles, we see that the magnitude of the protective benefits of spiritual life are pointing to a way forward for our country.”
This article was produced as part of the RNS/Interfaith America Religion Journalism Fellowship.

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It’s a Christmas movie so popular that 41 years after it came out in theaters, families across the United States still watch it on repeat every holiday season.
“A Christmas Story,” the 1983 tale of a boy and his Red Ryder BB gun, had such an influence on American culture that a giant statue of a “leg lamp” has become an annual tourist attraction in the town of Chickasha, Oklahoma.
If you haven’t seen “A Christmas Story” yet, there are several opportunities to stream the film or catch it on TV this holiday season.
Like every Christmas, “A Christmas Story” airs for 24 hours straight on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
“A Christmas Story” is easy to find this Christmas season. The channels TBS and TNT will hold their usual 24-hour broadcast on Christmas Eve, but several streaming services offer it as well.
If you don’t have cable, find “A Christmas Story” streaming on Max, Apple TV, Prime Video and tru TV free for subscribers. The movie leaves Prime at the end of the month.
More:Artist duo open ‘Christmas Story’ themed Airbnb in Chickasha
It’s also available to buy or rent online at Amazon Video, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Microsoft Store, Spectrum On Demand and Plex.
More:America’s favorite Christmas movies: Where to watch ‘Elf,’ ‘Die Hard’ and more

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