Iron ore futures prices declined on Tuesday, as increased shipments from major suppliers Australia and Brazil weighed on sentiment, although lingering hopes of steelmakers in top consumer China restocking cargoes limited the loss.
The most-traded May iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) TIO1! closed trade 0.44% lower at 789 yuan ($112.86) a metric ton. The contract touched its highest level since December 3 on Monday.
The benchmark January iron ore (SZZFF6) on the Singapore Exchange was 0.17% lower at $105.65 a ton by 0717 GMT. It hit its highest level since November 27 at $106.55 in Monday’s session.
Iron ore shipments from Australia and Brazil, the world’s two-largest suppliers, rose 8.6% week-on-week during December 22-28, data from consultancy Mysteel showed.
Chinese steel mills are expected to book more cargoes in the coming weeks to meet production needs over the week-long Lunar New Year holiday break in February, said analysts.
Meanwhile, Chinese developer Vanke’s 000002 bondholders approved its proposal to extend the grace period for the repayment of a 3.7 billion yuan bond, temporarily removing a default risk.
The property market was the largest steel consumer in China, but protracted woes in the sector hit steel consumption, weighing on prices of steel and the feedstocks.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE gained ground, with coking coal NYMEX:ACT1! and coke (DCJcv1) up 0.99% and 0.44%, respectively.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange moved sideways. Rebar RBF1! lost 0.1% and hot-rolled coil EHR1! nudged down 0.33%. Stainless steel HRC1! firmed 1.28% and wire rod gained 0.32%. Source: Reuters
The Postal Service Has Exciting Career Opportunities
HAYWARD, CA — The U.S. Postal Service is hosting several free hiring events to help future employees create their online profile and immediately start applying for jobs.
As part our innovative 10-year-plan, Delivering for America, the Postal Service is focused on building a more stable and empowered workforce. Our employees are our greatest asset, and we are investing in our new employees by providing robust training and on-the-job support.
If you enjoy taking walks, breathing in fresh air, and serving your community, the Postal Service is a great place to work, with job security, career advancement opportunities and benefits. The Postal Service has an immediate need for the following positions to be filled:
Mail Processing: Clerks and Mail Handlers
Delivery: City and Rural Carriers
Transportation: Tractor Trailer Operators
Maintenance: Mechanics, Laborer Custodian and Automotive Technician
A complete list of job fair locations can be found here.
Applicants must be 18 years or older. All applicants must be able to pass drug screening and a criminal background investigation. Some positions require an exam. Any position that has a driving requirement will also require a valid driver license and clean DMV two-year driving history. Citizenship or permanent resident status is required.
The Postal Service is an equal opportunity employer offering a fast-pace, rewarding work environment with competitive compensation packages, on-the-job training, and opportunities for advancement.
The water tower at The Walt Disney Company headquarters in Burbank, California, features the character Mickey Mouse.
The Walt Disney Company will pay $10m (£7.4m) to resolve claims that it broke children’s privacy laws by failing to label some YouTube videos as made for children, allowing for targeted advertising.
Disney had agreed to a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission in September to resolve an inquiry into its collection of children’s personal data.
The FTC had argued that, as a result of Disney’s alleged failure to properly label children’s videos, kids received targeted advertising and had their data collected without parental notice and consent.
The entertainment giant also agreed to create a program to comply with children’s data protection laws, the US Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
“The Justice Department is firmly devoted to ensuring parents have a say in how their children’s information is collected and used,” Brett Shumate, an assistant attorney general in the justice department’s civil division, said in a statement announcing the federal court order.
A Disney spokesperson confirmed that the company has agreed to the terms initially announced in September.
The company had previously noted that the settlement is limited to the distribution of some of its content on YouTube and does not involve Disney-owned and operated digital platforms.
The agreement with regulators involves Disney Worldwide Services Inc and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC.
Following a 2019 settlement between the FTC and YouTube’s parent company Google, YouTube started requiring content creators to place labels on uploaded videos that were directed toward kids.
The rule was intended to avoid targeted advertising and personal data collection on kids’ content, which is banned under the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
The law requires creators that make content for children under 13 to notify parents and obtain their consent before gathering personal information.
But regulators claimed that Disney did not identify certain videos – many of them uploaded to YouTube during the pandemic – as being made for children, in violation of the law.
Since 2020, Disney has uploaded videos to more than 1,250 YouTube channels through several subsidiaries, the Justice Department said in its complaint, filed in California. Many of the videos have been “extremely popular”, the complaint stated, and viewership soared in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Disney was aware of failures to properly mark videos made for children as early as June 2020, according to the legal filing.
At the time, YouTube allegedly told Disney that the platform had changed the labels on more than three hundred videos, including videos from The Incredibles, Toy Story and Frozen.
Disney’s alleged misclassification “results in YouTube collecting personal information and placing targeted advertisements on child-directed videos on Disney’s behalf,” lawyers for the government alleged.
MENLO PARK, Calif., Dec. 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — PacBio (NASDAQ: PACB), a leading developer of high-quality, highly accurate sequencing solutions, announced today that management will be presenting at the 44th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Monday, January 12, 2026, at 10:30 AM PT (1:30 PM ET) in San Francisco, California.
A live webcast of the event can be accessed at the company’s investors page at investor.pacificbiosciences.com. A replay of the webcast will be available for at least 30 days following the event.
About PacBio
PacBio (NASDAQ: PACB) is a premier life science technology company that designs, develops, and manufactures advanced sequencing solutions to help scientists and clinical researchers resolve genetically complex problems. Our products and technologies, which include our HiFi long-read sequencing, address solutions across a broad set of research applications including human germline sequencing, plant and animal sciences, infectious disease and microbiology, oncology, and other emerging applications. For more information, please visit www.pacb.com and follow @PacBio.
PacBio products are provided for Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.
Market leading eDiscovery and data management services.
eMerge’s lawyers and technologists work together to deliver strategic end-to-end eDiscovery and data management solutions for litigation, investigations, due diligence, and compliance matters. We help clients discover the information necessary to resolve disputes, respond to investigations, conduct due diligence, and comply with legal requirements.
UT Health Science Center Colllege of Medicine alumnus Eiman Jahangir, MD, was chosen for the opportunity to travel into space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shephard rocket in 2024. He has fulfilled his lifelong passions for medicine and space, and now hopes to share his passions with others. Photos courtesy of Blue Origin and Dr. Eiman Jahangir.
A spring break trip to the Kennedy Space Center 20 years ago set University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine alumnus Eiman Jahangir, MD, on a trajectory that eventually launched him into space.
“I always had two passions,” says Dr. Jahangir, 45, now a professor of medicine and radiology and the director of the sections of general cardiology and cardio-oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “It was medicine and it was space, and I was able to pursue the second passion once I became a doctor.”
A 2005 graduate, he says the College of Medicine was the launchpad for both.
On August 29, 2024, Dr. Jahangir was a member of a six-person team of commercial astronauts onboard Blue Origin’s New Shephard rocket for a 12-minute, sub-orbital flight that climbed approximately 70 miles into space before returning to earth. He was selected by MoonDAO, an organization that supports space exploration, from more than 2,200 applicants for the life-changing excursion.
“I was the 704th person to ever go into space, and still less than 800 people, I think, have ever done it,” he says. “I was actually the first physician on a commercial spaceflight.”
It was a wild ride, for sure. Here’s how Dr. Jahangir describes it.
“It was surprisingly smooth going up; the rockets light up, and the whole inside of the capsule reflects the orange flame of the rocket,” he says. “It takes about seven seconds before the thing has enough power and thrust to lift off. So, you’re sitting on top of that rocket, you hear the countdown, it gets down to one and then zero, and then you hear the engine roar, and after seven seconds you just start lifting off into space.”
Dr. Jahangir says while the short flight was a bit shaky, the view was breathtaking.
“I think maybe it’s a little shaky, but you’re probably so excited that you don’t know it,” he continues. “It didn’t feel particularly shaky coming back down. It definitely sounded loud. You could hear kind of like the whooshing as you’re coming back into the atmosphere. And it felt like an elephant sitting right on my chest. And you’re just saying, ‘OK, let’s hope these parachutes open up.’”
Dr. Jahangir is equally descriptive when he speaks of UT Health Science Center’s pivotal role in setting the course that led him to space.
“In 2005, right before I was graduating medical school, my family and I went down to the Kennedy Space Center, and I was looking at the rockets, and it just kind of rekindled that interest and desire,” he says. “I ran back to the hotel room, looked online to see what the requirements were to become an astronaut, and realized I met the requirements because of my training at the University of Tennessee. By getting the medical degree, that was enough to be able to apply.” He waited until 2008, when the first application cycle became available, and applied, making it as far as the finals.
In total, Dr. Jahangir has applied to NASA five times to become a U.S. astronaut and made it to the finals twice.
Dr. Jahangir says his training in the College of Medicine equipped him to think independently and keep a level head and steady heart when faced with complex situations — all assets on his Blue Origin trip.
Dr. Jahangir, right, credits his medical training at UT Health Science Center with instilling in him a strong sense of independence that has served him well as a physician and an adventurer. He is shown above at this white coat ceremony.
“When I was in medical school, we did a lot of work at The Med (now Regional One Health). So, you had a lot of experience managing patients and figuring out complex situations, because people would come in who had not had medical care for a long time and they’d come in with just very progressed or complex diseases,” he explains.
The proximity to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and opportunity to participate in research as a medical student helped guide him toward his specialty in cardio-oncology.
“One of the biggest things that the University of Tennessee did, that I don’t think happens at all health science centers or medical schools, is it gave a very strong sense of independence in both learning and practicing as a student,” Dr. Jahangir says. “That independence leads to increased confidence. And that leads to, hopefully, becoming a better physician.”
He says the College of Medicine also provided him with a group of friends who have stayed in touch, even 20 years since graduation. “I think it is very important that you have those people that can support you through good times and bad, tell you that maybe your idea is crazy, but still be there to lift you up,” Dr. Jahangir says. “And I think the University of Tennessee Health Science Center provided that, because it was very collegial environment, and it was a place that we could all learn together, work hard together, and build those connections and community together.”
One friend from medical school, Joe Mobley, MD, MPH, a urologist and chief of staff at West Tennessee Healthcare – Henry County Medical Center in Paris, Tennessee, says he and Dr. Jahangir bonded early in medical school over outside activities that helped them de-stress.
“Medical school can be challenging in and of itself, and for the most part, each of us was laser focused on the next step ahead: the next exam, the next lab, the next clinical task,” Dr. Mobley explains. “Despite this, Eiman had a variety of alternative interests and did communicate early on his love for space and a desire to be a future astronaut.
“Beyond his initial space flight, he is using his intelligence, kindness, and charisma to share his passion and path with children and others who have high aspirations,” Dr. Mobley says. “He is the perfect role model for balancing a career, while still chasing your dreams and creating the life that you’ve dreamed of.”
Dr. Jahangir is proud to have pursued his dream of space travel, and he encourages the next generation to work hard to pursue their own dreams.
Back on terra firma in Nashville, Dr. Jahangir’s spaceflight has served as a vehicle for outreach to promote STEM education and careers in medicine. “I just got back from Brazil. We spent a week down there with a not-for-profit and went to hospitals with kids with cancer, and we did art with them. All that art is going to be sent up to space on a Soyuz rocket in November.”
Dr. Jahangir worked for Blue Origin for six months after the spaceflight as an astronaut trainer and in Mission Control doing capsule communication. In addition to his clinical duties at Vanderbilt, he speaks to students, works with companies on aerospace technologies, and lectures on aerospace medicine.
“It’s great, because it’s always been one of my goals to excite kids and motivate the next generation.”
NORTHBROOK, Ill., Dec. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Stepan Company (NYSE: SCL) today announced that it has successfully closed the previously disclosed sale of its manufacturing assets located in Lake Providence, LA. This transaction follows Stepan’s most recent divestiture of its plant in the Philippines, representing the Company’s ongoing footprint optimization efforts and focus on core growth opportunities.
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Corporate Profile
Stepan Company is a major manufacturer of specialty and intermediate chemicals used in a broad range of industries. Stepan is a leading merchant producer of surfactants, which are the key ingredients in consumer and industrial cleaning and disinfection compounds and in agricultural and oilfield solutions. The Company is also a leading supplier of polyurethane polyols used in the expanding thermal insulation market, and CASE (Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants, and Elastomers) industries.
Headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, Stepan utilizes a network of modern production facilities located in North and South America, Europe and Asia.
The Company’s common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol SCL. For more information about Stepan Company please visit the Company online at www.stepan.com
More information about Stepan’s sustainability program can be found on the Sustainability page at www.stepan.com
Certain information in this news release consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements include statements about Stepan Company’s plans, objectives, strategies, financial performance and outlook, trends, the amount and timing of future cash distributions, prospects or future events and involve known and unknown risks that are difficult to predict. As a result, Stepan Company’s actual financial results, performance, achievements or prospects may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “may,” “could,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “seek,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “guidance,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “likely,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “illustrative” and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Stepan Company and its management based on their knowledge and understanding of the business and industry, are inherently uncertain. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, and stockholders should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
There are a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors, many of which are beyond Stepan Company’s control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. Such risks, uncertainties and other important factors include, among other factors, the risks, uncertainties and factors described in Stepan Company’s Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K reports and exhibits to those reports, and include (but are not limited to) risks and uncertainties related to accidents, unplanned production shutdowns or disruptions in manufacturing facilities; reduced demand due to customer product reformulations or new technologies; our inability to successfully develop or introduce new products; compliance with laws; our ability to identify suitable acquisition candidates and successfully complete and integrate acquisitions; global competition; volatility of raw material and energy costs and supply; disruptions in transportation or significant changes in transportation costs; downturns in certain industries and general economic downturns; international business risks, including currency exchange rate fluctuations, legal restrictions and taxes; unfavorable resolution of litigation against us; maintaining and protecting intellectual property rights; our ability to access capital markets; global political, military, security or other instability; costs related to expansion or other capital projects; interruption or breaches of information technology systems; our ability to retain executive management and key personnel; and our debt covenants.
These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and Stepan Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
The Maritimes suffered through intense drought conditions this summer that left farmers with lower crop yields and, in some cases. feeling already set back as they look ahead to the coming year.
Among those who saw lower yields is Kent Coates, owner of Nature’s Route Farm near Sackville in southeastern New Brunswick.
“We’ve got about half as much storage crop going into the storage facilities as we would have normally had or as we wanted,” said Coates, whose farm produces carrots and potatoes, among other vegetables,
Coates said he’s used to relying on 20 to 25 millimetres of rain a week from mid-June to mid-September, but this year the area didn’t get 30 mm that entire stretch.
In what proved a difficult twist, Coates had a record year for sales, and he couldn’t fulfil them all.
“We’ve got a whole bunch of new clients on board, and now we don’t have enough product to hold us through the winter. So it’s rather unfortunate.”
Greg Donald, the P.E.I Potato Board general manager, says yields are down for farmers across the Island. (Nicola MacLeod/CBC)
Elsewhere in the Maritimes, potato growers took a hit.
Greg Donald, the general manager of the P.E.I. Potato Board, said that across the Island, yield was down between 15 and 20 per cent and for some farms, 30 per cent.
“We had very little rain and it was hot, dry, windy and it was, I’ll say, a stark reminder how vulnerable we are … when we get conditions like that,” Donald said.
Look at new year
Coates hopes for a better 2026 season but having to constantly irrigate has set him back for next year.
He didn’t get the time to cultivate his farm, meaning the ground isn’t ready to go for next season.
He’ll also start with no vegetables in storage for customers.
“We’re anticipating 2026 to be much more challenging to start off than 2025. We didn’t have enough time to get some strategic projects done last summer because we were watering so much.”
Coates said the water table is low after he used irrigation ponds on his crops. Half a week’s worth of water is left in one pond, and the other pond is still below where it should be.
Danny Dill’s giant pumpkins came in at about half the size they usually do. (Carolyn Ray/CBC)
For P.E.I., Donald said about 10 per cent of potato crops are irrigated.
He said more potatoes could be irrigated, but the startup cost for a system could be hundreds of thousands of dollars, and there’s no guarantee of usefulness.
“Some years, we don’t need irrigation and other years we do — like last summer — and other years, you know, you only use a little bit,” said Donald.
Some squash varieties ‘did pretty good’
Nova Scotia farmer Danny Dill made some observations during the drought conditions in Windsor.
Dill, the owner of Dill Family Farm, said different varieties of gourds and squash with shorter maturity time fared better.
“Some did pretty good and what I noticed, which may be a trend for next year, the future if we’re going to go through this, is some of these varieties only take 85, 90 days to maturity,” he said.
Varieties that take more than 110 days to mature didn’t fare as well. He thinks it’s because the shorter-growth plants established themselves better in the soil before the drought came.
LISTEN | Maritime farmers weigh in on the impact of drought:
Information Morning – Saint John17:30Farming during drought
How some farmers New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island made it through the drought this year.
The 61-year-old Dill hasn’t seen farming conditions this dry in his life, and it especially affected the giant pumpkins he grows.
“They only got about half the size they usually do … I guess that they were in the 500 to 700-pound range, where they could be 1,200 pounds or bigger.”
Proposed Relocation San Diego Hillcrest Post Office
What:
The U.S. Postal Service has mailed a postcard announcing a proposed relocation of the San Diego Hillcrest Post Office located at 3911 Cleveland Avenue San Diego, CA 92103 to the impacted community. The postcard provides information about the public comment period.
Who:
USPS Real Estate Specialist Erik Setter
Background:
Due to a loss of lease for the current Post Office location, the USPS proposes relocating retail services within the 92103 ZIP Code area to a building of +/- 6353 SF with 48 parking spaces. The proposed new facility will maintain the same level of service. Delivery services will not be impacted.
The relocation project will consist of procuring a suitable substitute location as close as reasonably possible to the existing location. Customers may continue to access Retail Services at the Hillcrest Post Office until all necessary preparations are completed at the new location.
We are inviting comments on the proposal and request they be sent to the following address within the next 45 days: United States Postal Service, ATTN: SAN DIEGO HILLCRES STA Relocation, PO BOX 27497, Greensboro, NC 27498-1103.
Indiana, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and Bridging Pennsylvania Constructors (BPC) are announcing an upcoming traffic switch on I-80 westbound from the median side to the completed outside portion of the bridge over Jenks Street in support of the I-80 North Fork Bridges Project in Jefferson County.
The traffic switch is weather permitting and is scheduled to occur on January 7, 2026, at 7:00 AM. As the switch is weather dependent, it may be delayed to later that week or into the following week if necessary.
Motorists traveling through the area should expect changes in traffic patterns and are reminded to follow all posted signage and use caution while driving through the work zone.
This project is part of the ongoing PennDOT Major Bridges P3 Program. Bridging Pennsylvania Developers – I (BPD-I) is led jointly by Shikun & Binui Ltd and Macquarie Capital as Lead Project Developers and Equity Members. The Bridging Pennsylvania Constructors (BPC) joint venture (JV) consortium includes the design & construction expertise of S&B USA Construction (Pittsburgh, PA) and FCC Construction. S&B USA Construction is the construction arm of Shikun & Binui Ltd and is also the parent company of Fay, S&B USA Construction (Pittsburgh, PA), one of the four BPC Major Bridge subcontractors. Other Major Bridge subcontractors include the H&K Group (Skippack, PA), Kokosing Construction Company (Pittsburgh, PA), Wagman Heavy Civil (York, PA), and Lead Designer, Michael Baker International (Pittsburgh, PA).
Motorists can check conditions on major roadway miles by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information, and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras.
511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional Twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.
Subscribe to PennDOT news in in Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Indiana, and Jefferson counties at www.penndot.pa.gov/District10.
