Trump asks Supreme Court to delay TikTok ban so he can weigh in after he takes office President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. Trump's request Friday came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court. Oral arguments are 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 brief said Trump opposes banning TikTok at this junction and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.” Stock market today: Wall Street slips as the 'Magnificent 7' weighs down the market NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing lower as Wall Street ends a holiday-shortened week on a down note. The S&P 500 fell 1.1% Friday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 333 points, or 0.8%. The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.5%. The “Magnificent 7” stocks weighed on the market, led by declines in Nvidia, Tesla and Microsoft. Even with the loss, the S&P 500 had a modest gain for the week and is still headed for its second consecutive annual gain of more than 20%, the first time that has happened since 1997-1998. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.62%. 10 tips from experts to help you change your relationship with money in 2025 NEW YORK (AP) — As the calendar changes to 2025, you might be thinking about how to approach your relationship with money in the new year. Whether you’re saving to move out of your parents’ house or pay off student loan debt, financial resolutions can help you stay motivated. If you’re planning to make financial resolutions for the new year, experts recommend that you start by evaluating the state of your finances in 2024. Then, set specific goals and make sure they’re attainable for your lifestyle. Janet Yellen tells Congress US could hit debt limit in mid-January WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says her agency will need to start taking “extraordinary measures,” or special accounting maneuvers intended to prevent the nation from hitting the debt ceiling, as early as January 14th, in a letter sent to congressional leaders Friday afternoon. The department has taken such action in the past. But once those measures run out the government risks defaulting on its debt unless lawmakers and the president agree to lift the limit on the U.S. government’s ability to borrow. An online debate over foreign workers in tech shows tensions in Trump's political coalition WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in the president-elect’s political movement into public display. The argument previews fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare tensions between the newest flank of Trump’s movement — that is, wealthy members of the tech world who want more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump’s Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. A 9th telecoms firm has been hit by a massive Chinese espionage campaign, the White House says WASHINGTON (AP) — A top White House official says a ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. Administration officials said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon. But Anne Neuberger, a deputy national security adviser, said Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidance to companies about how to hunt for Chinese culprits in their networks. Canadian Cabinet ministers meet with Trump's nominee for commerce secretary in bid to avoid tariffs TORONTO (AP) — Two top Canadian Cabinet ministers have met with President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary at Mar-a-Lago as Canada tries to avoid sweeping tariffs when Trump takes office. New Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly met with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, as well as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department. The meeting was a follow up to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month. Trump has threatened to impose sweeping tariffs if Canada does not stem what he calls a flow of migrants and fentanyl into the United States. Most Americans blame insurance profits and denials alongside the killer in UHC CEO death, poll finds WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials share responsibility for the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO — although not as much as the person who pulled the trigger. So says a new poll from NORC at the University of Chicago. It finds that about 8 in 10 Americans say that the person who committed the killing has “a great deal” or “a moderate amount” of responsibility for the Dec. 4 shooting of Brian Thompson. Still, some see suspect Luigi Mangione as a heroic figure. About 7 in 10 adults say coverage denials or health insurance profits also bear at least “a moderate amount” of responsibility for Thompson’s death. Another jackpot surpasses $1 billion. Is this the new normal? Remember this moment because it probably won’t last: A U.S. lottery jackpot has soared above $1 billion, and that’s still a big deal. After three months without anyone winning the top prize, a ticket worth an estimated $1.22 billion was sold in California for the drawing Friday night. The high number has evoked headlines and likely lured more people to convenience stores with dreams of private spacewalks above the Earth. Jonathan Cohen is the author of the book “For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America.” He says he expects jackpots to continue to grow in size. Larger payouts attract more media attention, increase ticket sales and bring in new players. How the stock market defied expectations again this year, by the numbers NEW YORK (AP) — What a wonderful year 2024 has been for investors. U.S. stocks ripped higher and carried the S&P 500 to records as the economy kept growing and the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates. The benchmark index posted its first back-to-back annual gains of more than 20% since 1998. The year featured many familiar winners, such as Big Tech, which got even bigger as their stock prices kept growing. But it wasn’t just Apple, Nvidia and the like. Bitcoin and gold surged and “Roaring Kitty” reappeared to briefly reignite the meme stock craze.fish vending 。

Texas files first lawsuit against out-of-state abortion provider

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged Filipinos to live a life of meaning and purpose as he joined the nation in celebrating Christmas. "As Filipinos take this highly anticipated chance to come home, reconnect with loved ones, and relish the blessings of the past year, I call on everyone to reflect on what is truly important: living a life of meaning and purpose," Marcos said in his Christmas message on Tuesday. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and is pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. It’s the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history. The commutations announced Thursday are for people who have served out home confinement sentences for at least one year after they were released. Prisons were uniquely bad for spreading the virus and some inmates were released in part to stop the spread. At one point, 1 in 5 prisoners had COVID-19, according to a tally kept by The Associated Press. WRAY RESIGNS: FBI Director Christopher Wray told the bureau workforce Wednesday that he will resign at the end of President Joe Biden’s term in January. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated loyalist Kash Patel to lead the FBI. ECONOMY: The Labor Department reported Wednesday that consumer prices rose 2.7% in November from a year earlier, up from a yearly figure of 2.6% in October. And on Thursday, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said the average rate on a 30-year mortgage dropped to 6.6% from 6.69% last week. SUBWAY DEATH: Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran who used a chokehold on an agitated subway rider, was acquitted on Monday in a death that became a prism for differing views about public safety, valor and vigilantism. A Manhattan jury cleared Penny of criminally negligent homicide in the 2023 killing of Jordan Neely. Syrian leader flees as rebels take over Ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad fled to Moscow last Sunday, Russian media reported, hours after a stunning rebel advance took over the capital of Damascus and ended the Assad family’s 50-year iron rule. The Russian agencies Tass and RIA cited an unidentified Kremlin source on Assad and his family being given asylum in Moscow by his longtime ally. Assad reportedly left Syria early Sunday, and Syrians poured into streets echoing with celebratory gunfire. The swift events raised questions about the future of the country and the wider Middle East region. TRUMP STAFF: President-elect Donald Trump made another flurry of job announcements on Tuesday, selecting Andrew Ferguson as the next chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Ron Johnson for ambassador to Mexico, Kimberly Guilfoyle for ambassador to Greece and Tom Barrack for ambassador to Turkey. INFOWARS SALE: U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez of Houston rejected the auction sale of Alex Jones’ Infowars to The Onion satirical news outlet late Tuesday, criticizing the bidding process as flawed. GROCERY MERGER: The proposed merger between supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons floundered on Tuesday after judges overseeing two separate cases both halted the merger. The companies proposed in 2022 what would be the largest grocery store merger in U.S. history, but the Federal Trade Commission sued to stop the deal. — Associated Press 17.29M Average viewers for the Dec. 5 football game between the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, which Detroit won 34-31. It was the most-streamed NFL regular-season game in history. This looks like every other set of dietary guidelines since 1980: eat your veggies and reduce consumption of foods high in salt, sugar and saturated fat.” — Marion Nestle, a food policy expert, after the 2025 federal dietary guidelines were released Tuesday. GOLDEN GLOBES: Nominations for the 82nd Golden Globes were announced Monday, and Jacques Audiard’s audacious musical “Emilia Pérez” led with 10 nods, more than other contenders like the musical smash “Wicked” and the papal thriller “Conclave.” The awards show will be televised by CBS and streamed on Paramount+ on Jan. 5. MERRIAM-WEBSTER: Merriam-Webster announced Monday that its word of the year is “polarization.” Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, said the choice reflected the nation’s political climate. “Polarization means that we are tending toward the extremes rather than toward the center,” he said. CONTRACT RECORD: Star outfielder Juan Soto and the New York Mets agreed last Sunday to a record $765 million, 15-year contract, a deal that could escalate to $805 million and is believed to be the largest contract in team sports history. Soto’s deal, which equals $314,815 per game, is the largest and longest in Major League Baseball history. GEORGE J. KRESGE JR. (1935-2024): George Joseph Kresge Jr., who was known to generations of TV watchers as the mesmerizing entertainer and mentalist The Amazing Kreskin, died Tuesday at his home in Caldwell, New Jersey, according to his former road manager Ryan Galway. He was 89. SUSPECT ARRESTED IN DEATH OF UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO

NTPC Ramagundam wins four awards at 9th Apex India HR and Safety Excellence Awards

Miami Heat player tears Achilles after recovering from torn ACLPeaky Blinders creator teases the upcoming film ‘won’t be the end’ for the dramaCalifornia’s card rooms lost a costly legislative fight this year as they sought to kill a bill that would allow their competitors, tribal casinos, to sue them. But that didn’t stop the gambling halls from punishing a handful of lawmakers for their votes after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the gambling bill into law. In an extraordinary display of political retribution, California’s card room industry spent more than $3 million in the lead up to the November election to oppose four lawmakers who played key roles in the bill’s passage. Three of the candidates targeted by the card rooms ended up losing, including the rare defeat of an incumbent Democratic senator. “We really don’t want to be the sort of, you know, the Rodney Dangerfield of industries. We want to be respected,” said Keith Sharp, a lawyer for the Hawaiian Gardens Casino, a card room in Los Angeles County. “We (will) work hard to continue to gain respect and protect our employees, protect our cities, protect our businesses.” To the card rooms, the three defeats were a sign their money was well spent, even if the cash went to purely punitive purposes. Case in point: Two of the lawmakers who lost their races were vacating their Assembly seats and were running in non-legislative races. Had they won, it’s unlikely they’d deal very often with card room related issues. Tribes have long outspent card rooms in state politics. Tribes have given candidates for state office more than $23.5 million since 2014. That’s more than double what oil companies have given the state’s politicians during the same years. Card rooms have spent only a fraction as much. More recently, tribes have contributed $6.3 million to candidates since January 2023 while card rooms have donated at least $1.3 million. Those funds don’t include the $3 million the card rooms spent targeting the four candidates this fall. The cash the card rooms poured into the four races sends a message to lawmakers that they’re also capable of spending big, including on political vengeance, said former Democratic Assemblymember Mike Gatto. “Any time you have a group essentially announcing to the world that they are going to do vengeance spending, it does cause lawmakers to pay attention,” he said. The bill Newsom signed, Senate Bill 549 , gives tribes the ability to ask a judge to decide whether card rooms are allowed to operate table games such as black jack and pai gow poker. The tribes, which will be able to sue beginning Jan. 1, say California voters gave them exclusive rights to host those games, but they’ve been unable to sue the state’s 80 or so card rooms because tribes are sovereign governments. The stakes are high since some cities receive nearly half of their budgets from taxes on card rooms, meaning a tribal victory in court could jeopardize money for police, firefighters and other local services. The card rooms insist their games are legal, but they also worry the cost of court fights could force them out of business. Facing what they saw as an existential threat, card rooms responded to the bill’s introduction last year with a massive lobbying blitz. Hawaiian Gardens Casino alone spent $9.1 million on lobbying, the second highest amount reported to state regulators last year. Only the international oil giant, Chevron Corp., spent more. Despite losing the legislative battle, card rooms spent more than $3 million on attack ads, text messages, mailers and other outreach to voters targeting the four candidates. The card rooms also bought ads supporting candidates running against them. The ads came from independent expenditure committees funded by the card rooms. Under state and federal election rules, organizations not affiliated with a candidate can spend unlimited amounts of money supporting or opposing candidates through advertisements and other tactics as long as the actions are not coordinated with the candidate’s campaign. Only one candidate, Laurie Davies , a Republican from Oceanside, won her race for reelection despite the card room’s cash onslaught. And just barely. Only 3,870 out of 230,546 total votes separated her from her Democratic challenger, Chris Duncan. The card rooms spent at least $1.3 million on outreach boosting Duncan and slamming Davies, according to state campaign finance reports. One mailer said she was aligned with “anti-choice radicals,” “MAGA extremists” and “Big Oil.” Davies infuriated card rooms when she cast a vote that let the gambling bill advance out of a committee this summer, despite having a cardroom in her district. Outgoing Democratic Assemblymember Evan Low of Cupertino faced similar attacks in his failed congressional bid. Low sat on the same Assembly committee as Davies and voted this summer for the gambling bill. Low also had a major cardroom in his Assembly district. Low’s campaign didn’t return a message seeking comment. The card rooms spent at least $500,000 on ads attacking Low, according to the card rooms. The card rooms also went after termed-out Democratic Assemblymember Brian Maienschein in his failed bid for San Diego city attorney. The card rooms spent at least $443,000 opposing Maienschein. He got on the card rooms’ bad side when he cast a key vote that let the bill advance from the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which Maienschein chaired. Sharp, the lawyer for Hawaiian Gardens, said Maienschein also refused to meet with him and other card room representatives before the vote. Maienschein didn’t return messages. A TV ad from the card rooms attacked Maienschein for his voting record before he switched his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat in 2019. Fullerton Democratic Sen. Josh Newman, the lead author of the gambling bill , wasn’t spared even though he represented a competitive district that was important to the Democratic Party. The card rooms spent at least $900,000 in that race that paid for ads and mailers opposing Newman and supporting his Republican opponent, Steven Choi, according to the card rooms and campaign finance reports. Newman, the state’s most vulnerable senator who’d been recalled from office once before, ended up losing to Choi by 6,075 votes out of the 458,615 cast in the race. It was the first time since 1980 that a Republican flipped a Democratic senate seat in a presidential election. Newman had a $6 million fundraising advantage over Choi. Choi raised just $856,000. In one card-room funded TV ad, Newman was portrayed as being soft on crime, and it attacked him for voting to give benefits to “illegal immigrants” In an interview with CalMatters, Newman said he didn’t think the card room ads made as much of an impact on the race as another independent expenditure committee that opposed him with more than $1 million from a prominent public employee union . But Newman acknowledged the card rooms probably did send at least some voters to Choi. “The margins probably matter in a race as close as mine,” Newman said. Still, Newman told CalMatters he has no regrets about introducing the bill despite the blowback and the possible impact the card rooms had in his senate race. Newman said he believes the tribes deserve their day in court. But he said he doesn’t see the logic in the card rooms spending so much money on races after they already lost their fight in the Legislature. “The question really is: If you shut the barn door after the horse is out, who are you really punishing?” he said. CalMatters data reporter Jeremia Kimelman contributed to this story.

As the video game industry’s equivalent of the Oscars, Thursday’s Game Awards took a decidedly inward turn after years of letting Hollywood in. TGA has always stood out for how much it doesn’t emulate the entertainment industry’s topline awards shows, allowing the public to vote on its categories and chucking traditional commercial blocks for gaming announcements and trailers. Yet Hollywood has always flocked to it, with Game Awards organizers consistently signing big actors and filmmakers to promote films and TV shows — often at the expense of time devoted to the show’s actual winners. On one hand, the global livestream’s ever-increasing viewership of more than 100 million makes it a bonanza for those in any media industry seeking easy promotion, which keeps the ceremony well funded. The 2023 show saw the likes of Matthew McConaughey and Timothée Chalamet grace the stage as presenters, with the latter doing so on the verge of Warner Bros.’ “Wonka” hitting theaters. But last year’s bombardment of actors struck a sour note with the video game industry, which saw the show as undercutting awards recipients during an increasingly challenging time for the industry. The 2023 Game Awards capped a year that saw a sharp uptick in industry layoffs, which worsened significantly in 2024. Video gaming has lost just under 15,000 jobs this year, the latest cuts of which came from Warner Bros. Montreal on Thursday. WB Montreal worked on February’s “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League,” a costly flop that WB Games stopped supporting with new content earlier this week. Accepting an award for best VR/AR game, “Batman: Arkham Shadow” publisher Oculus Studios made it a point to shout out both “Suicide Squad” studios, which worked on previous “Arkham” games. Industry layoffs were further addressed through Amir Satvat, who accepted the inaugural Game Changer honor for helping beleaguered workers find new jobs. Swen Vincke, whose Larian Studios won game of the year in 2023 for “Baldur’s Gate 3,” also acknowledged the difficulties the industry is facing when he presented the game of the year award, which went to Sony’s “Astro Bot.” While poking fun at how his prior acceptance speech was cut short in the last ceremony, Vincke criticized publishers for prioritizing sales targets over creativity and games people want to play, playfully citing his grievances as coming from an “oracle” he spoke to. As much as “Astro Bot” legitimized Sony’s strength in games, winning four awards in total, PlayStation’s year was still soured by “Concord,” a pricey live service that debuted to very poor engagement in August before it was permanently shuttered less than two weeks later. As for the arenas of Hollywood that were part of the 2024 Game Awards, they were all gaming adjacent. Harrison Ford presented an award early in the show but was there to support “Indiana Jones and the Great Circle,” a Bethesda release that bowed Tuesday, having granted his likeness to Troy Baker’s voice performance . Aaron Paul, of “Breaking Bad” fame, also showed up to reveal a trailer for “Dispatch,” a new game he lent his voice to, alongside prominent voice actor Laura Bailey. Netflix constituted the sole big push from the Hollywood side, teasing the upcoming second season of “Squid Game,” but even that was secondary to “ Squid Game: Unleashed ,” the streamer’s own gaming take on its biggest series. “Unleashed” is out this Tuesday and will be free for non-subscribers for a limited time in the run-up to the show’s second season, which streams Dec. 26. Likewise, a reveal trailer for video game “Game of Thrones: Kingsroad” was shown, but there was no subsequent promotion of HBO’s “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” the next “Game of Thrones” prequel series, due in 2025. Beyond that, Amazon’s “Fallout” got some love, winning for best adaptation after becoming one of the year’s biggest streaming hits. Netflix’s “Arcane” was nominated for the same award, with music from the “League of Legends” adaptation comprising a performance from 21 Pilots.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A scruffy little fugitive is on the lam again in New Orleans, gaining fame as he outwits a tenacious band of citizens armed with night-vision binoculars, nets and a tranquilizer rifle. Scrim, a 17-pound mutt that's mostly terrier, has become a folk hero, inspiring tattoos, t-shirts and even a ballad as he eludes capture from the posse of volunteers. And like any antihero, Scrim has a backstory: Rescued from semi-feral life at a trailer park and adopted from a shelter, the dog broke loose in April and scurried around the city until he was cornered in October and brought to a new home. Weeks later, he'd had enough. Scrim leaped out of a second-story window, a desperate act recorded in a now-viral video. Since then, despite a stream of daily sightings, he's roamed free. The dog’s fans include Myra and Steve Foster, who wrote “Ode to Scrim” to the tune of Ricky Nelson’s 1961 hit, “I’m a Travelin’ Man.” Leading the recapture effort is Michelle Cheramie, a 55-year-old former information technology professional. She lost everything — home, car, possessions — in Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and in the aftermath, found her calling rescuing pets. “I was like, ‘This is what I should be doing,’” Cheramie said. “I was born to rescue.” She launched Zeus’ Rescues, a nonprofit shelter that now averages 600 cat and dog adoptions a year and offers free pet food to anyone who needs it. She helped Scrim find the home he first escaped from. It was Cheramie's window Scrim leaped from in November. She's resumed her relentless mission since then, posting flyers on telephone poles and logging social media updates on his reported whereabouts. She's invested thousands of dollars on wildlife cameras, thermal sensors and other gear. She took a course offered by the San Diego Zoo on the finer points of tranquilizing animals. And she's developed a network of volunteers — the kind of neighbors who are willing to grid-search a city at 3 a.m. People like writer David W. Brown, who manages a crowd-sourced Google Map of all known Scrim sightings. He says the search has galvanized residents from all walks of life to come together. As they search for Scrim, they hand out supplies to people in need. "Being a member of the community is seeing problems and doing what you can to make life a little better for the people around here and the animals around you," Brown said. And neighbors like Tammy Murray, who had to close her furniture store and lost her father to Parkinson's Disease. This search, she says, got her mojo back. “Literally, for months, I’ve done nothing but hunt this dog,” said Murray, 53. “I feel like Wile E. Coyote on a daily basis with him.” Murray drives the Zeus' Rescues' van towards reported Scrim sightings. She also handles a tactical net launcher, which looks like an oversized flashlight and once misfired, shattering the van's window as Scrim sped away. After realizing Scrim had come to recognize the sound of the van's diesel engine, Murray switched to a Vespa scooter, for stealth. Near-misses have been tantalizing. The search party spotted Scrim napping beneath an elevated house, and wrapped construction netting around the perimeter, but an over-eager volunteer broke ranks and dashed forward, leaving an opening Scrim slipped through. Scrim's repeated escapades have prompted near-daily local media coverage and a devoted online following. Cheramie can relate. “We’re all running from something or to something. He's doing that too,” she said. Cheramie's team dreams of placing the pooch in a safe and loving environment. But a social media chorus growing under the hashtag #FreeScrim has other ideas — they say the runaway should be allowed a life of self-determination. The animal rescue volunteers consider that misguided. “The streets of New Orleans are not the place for a dog to be free,” Cheramie said. “It’s too dangerous.” Scrim was a mess when Cheramie briefly recaptured him in October, with matted fur, missing teeth and a tattered ear. His trembling body was scraped and bruised, and punctured by multiple projectiles. A vet removed one, but decided against operating to take out a possible bullet. The dog initially appeared content indoors, sitting in Cheramie's lap or napping beside her bed. Then while she was out one day, Scrim chewed through a mesh screen, dropped 13 feet to the ground and squeezed through a gap in the fence, trotting away. Murray said Cheramie's four cats probably spooked him. “I wholeheartedly believe the gangster-ass cats were messing with him,” Murray said. Cheramie thinks they may have gotten territorial. Devastated but undeterred, the pair is reassessing where Scrim might fit best — maybe a secure animal sanctuary with big outdoor spaces where other dogs can keep him company. Somewhere, Murray says, “where he can just breathe and be." Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96Creative Biolabs: A Specialist In Lipid-Based Drug Delivery System Development

The 25-year-old Sweden international took his goal tally for the season to 12 in the 3-0 Boxing Day win over Aston Villa at St James’ Park, 10 of them in his last 10 Premier League games, after a challenging start to the new campaign. Isak managed 25 goals in a black and white shirt last season to further justify the club record £63million the club paid to bring him to Tyneside from Real Sociedad during the summer of 2022, but as delighted as he is with his big-money signing, head coach Howe is confident there is even more to come. Murph 🔗 Alex Isak Different game. Same link up. 💪 pic.twitter.com/OMhZf7dtKZ — Newcastle United (@NUFC) December 27, 2024 Asked where the former AIK Solna frontman currently ranks in world football, he said: “My biggest thing with Alex is I am evaluating his game on a daily and weekly basis and I just want to try to push him for more. “Everyone else can say where he is in the pecking order of world football. His game is in a good place at the moment. “My job is to not sit back and appreciate that, my job is to try and find areas he can improve, push him towards that and never stop pushing him. He has all the ingredients in there. Football never stops evolving and changing and he has to evolve with it. “There is a lot more to come from him. Our job is to help him deliver that. “Of course the main responsibility is for Alex to keep his focus, ignore the plaudits and keep helping the team, not be selfish. It is about Newcastle and he plays his part.” It is no coincidence that Newcastle have prospered as Isak has rediscovered his best form, and they will head for Manchester United – where they have won only once in the top flight since 1972 – on Monday evening looking for a fifth successive win in all competitions. He has scored in each of the last five league games having grown into the mantle of the Magpies’ main man, a role performed with such distinction in the past by the likes of Jackie Milburn, Malcolm Macdonald and Alan Shearer, and he has done so with the minimum of fuss. Asked about his character, Howe said: “He is calm, cool – he is what you see on the pitch. “He doesn’t get overly emotional, which for a striker is a great quality because that coolness you see and calmness in front of goal is part of his personality, part of what he is. He seems to have an extra half a second when other players don’t. “With Alex, the beauty of his attitude is that he wants to improve. We give him information and he is responsive. He is not a closed shop. “He is in no way thinking he has arrived at a certain place. He knows he has to keep adding to his game. The challenge is great for him to keep scoring freely as he is now.”