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As rebels set about freeing those imprisoned by the reposed Assad regime, more missing people are being found.Earlier on Wednesday, a man who said he was locked up after crossing into Syria by foot seven months ago was found safe. There were initial suspicions it could have been missing US journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012, but he and the reporter's family have confirmed otherwise.Syria latest as commander warns ISIS coming out of hidingMeanwhile, the whereabouts of a British journalist taken hostage in Syria in the same year also remain unknown, despite the British government previously claiming he is alive in 2019. John Cantlie has appeared in videos for ISIS and is thought to be the last known British hostage held by the extremist group.He was abducted in Novembe...

President-elect Donald Trump 's picks for top regulators may not lead to a total free-for-all of corporate dealmaking, but they should be more than enough to unleash the pent-up demand for mergers and acquisitions, according to Morgan Stanley. Analyst Ryan Kenny said in a note to clients that the second Trump administration — including the choices of Andrew Ferguson to lead the Federal Trade Commission and Gail Slater to head the Department of Justice's antitrust arm — will be a welcome change for Wall Street investment bankers and CEOs after an aggressive approach to antitrust under the Biden administration. "New Trump appointments at FTC and DOJ likely come with a more traditional, lighter touch antitrust framework. This should drive up animal spirits and improve corporate clarity in an ...

GM's decision to integrate Cruise into its operations and pivot away from the development of robotaxis could have significant implications for the company and competitors and collaborators like Lyft, Uber, Waymo (Alphabet), and Tesla. I'll discuss it and lay out how to trade it with options. GM's move appears to prioritize scalable, near-term technologies over speculative long-term projects like robotaxis. A few years ago, when Meta focused massive resources toward building virtual reality at Mark Zuckerberg's direction, equity investors revolted. The stock fell sharply, and despite Zuckerberg's voting control of the company, the punishment of the stock's significant declines eventually contributed to a course correction by management, which reduced their investment in speculative endeavor...

Investors are betting that shares of the fintech company Block Inc. will rally further in the new year. Analysts at three separate Wall Street firms recently named Block, a provider of financial services through technology platforms, as one of their top ideas heading into 2025. Block is the parent company of the Square point-of-sale system for businesses, Cash App for peer-to-peer payments by consumers and the buy now, pay later company Afterpay. Shares of Block have surged almost 27% in 2024 through Wednesday, lagging behind the 27.6% gain the S & P 500. But that's not deterring the Street. Bernstein, for example, which has the lowest price target of the three firms that recently touted Square, still sees Block rising to $120 next year, almost 22% above Wednesday's close. Analyst Hars...