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Maschmeyer’s 34 saves carry Ottawa Charge past New York Sirens, 3-1Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info As we begin the countdown to the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, it’s time to deck the halls, start thinking about what you will eat on the big day and make a dent in the Christmas shopping. The Royal Family is notorious for their special festive traditions, from opening presents on Christmas Eve to allegedly banning the game Monopoly. But the best unique tradition is surely how the family buy one another joke presents each year. Among funny stories of leather toilet seats, singing hamsters and shower caps, one gift Kate Middleton bought Prince Harry before he married surely takes the crown. Adding to the long list of almost unbelievable gifts the royals have exchanged, one year saw the Princess of Wales triumph with what she bought her brother-in-law before he met his wife, Meghan Markle . She bought him a rather awkward ‘Grow-your-own girlfriend kit’. The item can be bought cheaply online and grows to six-times its normal size. It seems the Duchess was mocking the then-bachelor’s love life. Prince Harry did not only receive funny gifts, but gave them too. It was reported that one year he opted for a shower cap which read "ain't life a b****" for none other than the late Queen . As for how Christmas will be spent at Sandringham, there are many traditions which stretch back to the Royal Family's German roots. For decades, they have continued to follow the festive tradition of opening presents on Christmas Eve - but that isn't the only way members of the family honour their historic ties. Speaking ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's death, royal expert Robert Jobson told The Express: “On Christmas Eve when all the clan are together, the Queen’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren put the finishing touches to the 20ft Christmas tree in the White Drawing Room. “Presents will be opened that day at tea time as the royals still keep to the German practise of opening their gifts on Christmas Eve.” He continued: “Gifts are laid out in the Red Drawing Room on a white linen-covered trestle table, with cards marking exactly where the piles of gifts should be put. "Once everyone has arrived, the royal guests enjoy a traditional Christmas that includes putting the finishing touches on the Christmas tree and the giving of cheap and humorous gifts.”
Luke Doty did not walk Nov. 23 for South Carolina’s senior day, a strong indication he’d be back on the Gamecocks’ roster in 2025. Doty confirmed that decision Sunday: He’ll return to South Carolina for the 2025 season, which will be his sixth year at USC. “Absolutely,” Doty said when asked after bowl practice if he’d be a Gamecock again for one final season. Doty, who came to South Carolina as a four-star quarterback out of Myrtle Beach High in 2020, has switched positions and seen his playing time decrease almost every year ... and he wants to remain on Shane Beamer’s football team. Heading into the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl against Illinois on Tuesday, Doty has appeared in 11 games for South Carolina (starting one) with just three catches for 17 yards. So many players in Doty’s position would have hit the transfer portal 10 seconds after the regular season ended. And, yet, he’ll return to South Carolina as a leader in the locker room and a phenomenal teammate. He will be the only member of South Carolina’s 2020 recruiting class still on the 2025 roster. Doty has one more semester to complete his master’s degree. And his goals for a final season are no different from how he’s approached his college career. “Just continue to be me, be who I am on a day-to-day basis,” he said Sunday, “a great teammate a guy that’s going to show up every day and be consistent. No matter what it is, whether I’m playing receiver, quarterback, running back, special teams, offense, just being consistent and being the best version of myself every single day, putting myself and my teammates in the best position to succeed.” Doty is also one of the most visible athletes at South Carolina. He has NIL deals with Midas, local apparel company Granger Owings, Columbia-based Goings Law Firm, a Myrtle Beach clothing store called Native Sons and hosts his own podcast through The Garnet Trust called “ Whole 9 Yards with Luke Doty.” While NIL money can influence players leaving their school, it’s part of the reason Doty keeps sticking around. Thought he admitted “money is in high demand right now with the way things are going,” he added: “I’m not all about the money. It’s never been about the money for me. I came in 2020 when this whole thing was just an idea. I came to school because it was a place that I loved and knew I could get a great education and set myself up for 40 years down the road. “With the NIL stuff, it’s all about the relationships you make with whoever you’re dealing with. That’s how I’ve always felt about it. It’s not always about how much you’re getting paid. It’s how that can affect your life later on down the road. Doty will graduate in May and joked that he’ll have to take “golf or yoga” in the fall semester to stay eligible. “Being able to come away with two degrees from this university is something I’m extremely grateful for,” he said. This story was originally published December 29, 2024, 4:39 PM.
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Boxing Day shopper footfall was down 7.9% from last year across all UK retail destinations up until 5pm, MRI Software’s OnLocation Footfall Index found. However, this year’s data had been compared with an unusual spike in footfall as 2023 was the first “proper Christmas” period without Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, an analyst at the retail technology company said. It found £4.6 billion will be spent overall on the festive sales. Before the pandemic the number of Boxing Day shoppers on the streets had been declining year on year. The last uplift recorded by MRI was in 2015. Jenni Matthews, marketing and insights director at MRI Software, told the PA news agency: “We’ve got to bear in mind that (last year) was our first proper Christmas without any (Covid-19) restrictions or limitations. “Figures have come out that things have stabilised, we’re almost back to what we saw pre-pandemic.” There were year-on-year declines in footfall anywhere between 5% and 12% before Covid-19 restrictions, she said. MRI found 12% fewer people were out shopping on Boxing Day in 2019 than in 2018, and there were 3% fewer in 2018 than in 2017, Ms Matthews added. She said: “It’s the shift to online shopping, it’s the convenience, you’ve got the family days that take place on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.” People are also increasingly stocking-up before Christmas, Ms Matthews said, and MRI found an 18% increase in footfall at all UK retail destinations on Christmas Eve this year compared with 2023. Ms Matthews said: “We see the shops are full of people all the way up to Christmas Eve, so they’ve probably got a couple of good days of food, goodies, everything that they need, and they don’t really need to go out again until later on in that week. “We did see that big boost on Christmas Eve. It looks like shoppers may have concentrated much of their spending in that pre-Christmas rush.” Many online sales kicked off between December 23 and the night of Christmas Day and “a lot of people would have grabbed those bargains from the comfort of their own home”, she said. She added: “I feel like it’s becoming more and more common that people are grabbing the bargains pre-Christmas.” Footfall is expected to rise on December 27 as people emerge from family visits and shops re-open, including Next, Marks and Spencer and John Lewis that all shut for Boxing Day. It will also be payday for some as it is the last Friday of the month. A study by Barclays Consumer Spend had forecast that shoppers would spend £236 each on average in the Boxing Day sales this year, but that the majority of purchases would be made online. Nearly half of respondents said the cost-of-living crisis will affect their post-Christmas shopping but the forecast average spend is still £50 more per person than it was before the pandemic, with some of that figure because of inflation, Barclays said. Amid the financial pressures, many people are planning to buy practical, perishable and essential items such as food and kitchenware. A total of 65% of shoppers are expecting to spend the majority of their sales budget online. Last year, Barclays found 63.9% of Boxing Day retail purchases were made online. However, a quarter of respondents aim to spend mostly in store – an 11% rise compared with last year. Karen Johnson, head of retail at Barclays, said: “Despite the ongoing cost-of-living pressures, it is encouraging to hear that consumers will be actively participating in the post-Christmas sales. “This year, we’re likely to see a shift towards practicality and sustainability, with more shoppers looking to bag bargains on kitchen appliances and second-hand goods.” Consumers choose in-store shopping largely because they enjoy the social aspect and touching items before they buy, Barclays said, adding that high streets and shopping centres are the most popular destinations.DENVER , Dec. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- TTEC Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTEC ), a leading global CX (customer experience) technology and services innovator for AI-enhanced CX with solutions from TTEC Engage and TTEC Digital , today announced that TTEC Digital has been recognized as the Cisco Reimagine Customer Experiences Partner of the Year – Americas. "In collaboration with Cisco, TTEC Digital is helping industry leaders in banking, healthcare, insurance, government services, and more improve their customer experiences with a strong mix of CX strategy and technology. We are honored to be recognized by Cisco for our shared success and look forward to continued partnership," said John Wolf , global Cisco lead at TTEC Digital. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
The year 2025 will see a new era in home entertainment, with more advanced Hi-Fi and home cinema systems redefining how we enjoy music and movies. Cutting-edge technology has created immersive audio-visual experiences boasting breathtaking visuals and profound soundscapes. As the next generation of home entertainment equipment emerges, get ready to elevate your leisure time to unprecedented heights. Smarter audio systems for added sound technology will focus more on integrity and intelligence in 2025. Higher-fidelity audio systems will use AI to balance sound quality and room acoustics. Driven by consumer demand for smarter, more immersive systems, the latest market data shows that global Hi-Fi audio market growth is expected to accelerate at 11.2% annually. Promising to immerse listeners in a 360-degree soundscape, companies such as Sony and Bang & Olufsen are developing sound systems that offer spatial audio. This blurs the lines between home listening and live events, making every song or soundtrack lifelike. Visual technology will also make a more-than-notable step in the home theatre space in 2025. Noteworthy improvements will be led by higher resolution and unparalleled color richness, spearheaded by OLED and micro-LED display technologies. The "Crystal Vision" 8K from LG, which boasts AI-enhanced images and cinema experiences without a match with its ultra-thin form, is among the most anticipated devices. Market analysts claim that mostly thanks to advancements of this sort, consumer interest in 8K home entertainment systems will grow by about 20% over three years. The company is also rumored to introduce a home theatre product based on Quantum Dot for better and more vibrant color representation. This will depict rising requirements for visually immersive solutions, turning homes into personal theaters. One of the trends in 2025 would be the interaction of smart home gadgets and Hi-Fi. Many coming Hi-Fi devices are compatible with virtual assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant , allowing easy control over audio-visual configurations. Also promising improved accessibility are smart technologies, which let users run systems hands-free using voice-activated tools. Experts say more than forty percent of homes will invest in home entertainment by 2025 in items that offer immersive audio-visual experiences. It's a break-out year for Hi-Fi and home cinema , as leading businesses focus on bringing together modern technology with user-friendly design. From lifelike soundscapes to theatre-grade images, the impending releases will immensely interest readers who demand quality and imagination. It is the era when home entertainment competition, if not surpassing, definitely overtakes traditional provisions.Cricket: Gavaskar’s call to sack Siraj is not justifiedBeyoncé wins the holidays with an ultra-clever Netflix joke
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President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. The request came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court, in which the company argued the court should strike down a law that could ban the platform by Jan. 19 while the government emphasized its position that the statute is needed to eliminate a national security risk. “President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute. Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case,” said Trump’s amicus brief, which supported neither party in the case and was written by D. John Sauer, Trump’s choice for solicitor general. The argument submitted to the court is the latest example of Trump inserting himself in national issues before he takes office. The Republican president-elect has already begun negotiating with other countries over his plans to impose tariffs, and he intervened earlier this month in a plan to fund the federal government, calling for a bipartisan plan to be rejected and sending Republicans back to the negotiating table. Trump has also reversed his position on the popular app, having tried to ban it during his first term in office over national security concerns. He joined the app during his 2024 presidential campaign and his team used it to connect with younger voters, especially male voters, by pushing content that was often macho and aimed at going viral. He said earlier this year that he still believed there were national security risks with TikTok, but that he opposed banning it. This month, Trump also met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. The filings Friday come ahead of oral arguments scheduled for Jan. 10 on whether the law, which requires TikTok to divest from its China-based parent company or face a ban, unlawfully restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment. The law was was signed by President Joe Biden in April after it passed Congress with broad bipartisan support. TikTok and ByteDance filed a legal challenge afterwards. Earlier this month, a panel of three federal judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld the statute , leading TikTok to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. The brief from Trump said he opposes banning TikTok at this junction and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.” In their brief to the Supreme Court on Friday, attorneys for TikTok and its parent company ByteDance argued the federal appeals court erred in its ruling and based its decision on “alleged ‘risks’ that China could exercise control” over TikTok’s U.S. platform by pressuring its foreign affiliates. The Biden administration has argued in court that TikTok poses a national security risk due to its connections to China. Officials say Chinese authorities can compel ByteDance to hand over information on TikTok’s U.S. patrons or use the platform to spread or suppress information. But the government “concedes that it has no evidence China has ever attempted to do so,” TikTok’s legal filing said, adding that the U.S. fears are predicated on future risks. In its filing Friday, the Biden administration said because TikTok “is integrated with ByteDance and relies on its propriety engine developed and maintained in China,” its corporate structure carries with it risk.Final crystal triangles installed on Times Square ball ahead of New Year's Eve