This year, President Donald Trump has declared Christmas Eve a federal holiday and has given most federal workers the day off. This may affect the operating hours of services including USPS. However, UPS and FedEx are privately owned companies and should not be affected by this change. USPS services on Christmas Eve USPS mail will be delivered as usual on Christmas Eve and will not be affected by holiday hours....

In the spirit of the holiday many are participating in traditional American activities such as parades, cookouts and barbecues, while the day will be celebrated with parades, fireworks and in other more unconventional ways. The 4th of July, otherwise known as Independence Day, commemorates the day the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. As it is a federal holiday, this means most businesses will observe it, taking the day off and closing....

Many stores are also closed, though some stay open, often operating at reduced hours. The holiday falls on the last Thursday of the month, and if you were waiting on mail that was due to be delivered on November 24, don’t hold your breath. U.S. Postal Service Most postal operations won’t operate on Thanksgiving—only critical services will continue. United States Postal Service (USPS) services are closed on Thanksgiving, one of the 11 holidays a year it observes, which also includes Christmas and New Year’s Day....

Independence Day marks America’s independence from Britain, commemorating the day when the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Whether it’s by hosting a cookout or attending a local parade, there are plenty of ways to celebrate the holiday. However, as it is a federal holiday, it means many services, such as postal services, will observe it and will be closed. Other retailers and services will also be observing the holiday, including waste management companies....

Fifty years ago nuclear power was touted as the “fuel of the future.” Then fears of radioactive waste, contamination and safety catastrophes changed all that. These days nuclear power is increasingly attractive. Power is not monopolized as it once was, and investors want in on this supposedly cheap alternative to the high-priced fossil fuels we consume today. Dramatic improvements in power-plant safety have also been made, at least in most Western nations, quelling fears of doomsayers worldwide....

Porter Jr. has been sidelined since missing the final two games of the Western Conference Finals series against the Mavericks due to foot soreness, but he participated in team practices on Tuesday and Wednesday. Will he be available for Game 1? Here is what we know about Porter Jr.’s status. MORE: Ranking the top 15 players in the NBA Finals Is Otto Porter Jr. playing tonight vs. Celtics? Per the Warriors’ official injury report, Porter Jr....

During an appearance on the “No Pump Fakes” podcast last month, Oakley claimed Antetokounmpo wouldn’t have thrived in his era because of his lack of shooting range. Oakley, who was known as a bruising forward in the 1980s and 90s, doesn’t believe “The Greek Freak” would have even been a starter. NBA LEAGUE PASS: Sign up to unlock live out-of-market games (7-day free trial) “He wouldn’t have been a force back in the day....

Proving that fundamentalist zeal and bloodlust are no match for pettiness, the legacy terror organization posted a clip of a recruit in Yemen stumbling as he tries to renew his vows to ISIS. The video supercut shows the man repeatedly falter as he tries to renew his allegiance to the terrorist organization that had murdered more than 1,400 people globally as of 2018, according to data gathered by CNN....

TV CHANNELS & LIVE STREAM The Star Sports Network have the exclusive broadcasting rights of the ISL. The games will be telecast with the option of English and/or Hindi commentary over their bouquet of television as well as digital platforms. Commentary will also be available in vernacular languages across India. TEAM NEWS FC PUNE CITY FC Injured: None Doubtful: None Suspended: Lalchhuanmawia Fanai Key Players: Emiliano Alfaro, Marcos Tebar...

His side come up against Bengaluru FC who won their first game of the season as they defeated Mumbai City FC on their home ground. The Spanish coach lauded the Bengaluru side for their consistency on the pitch and singled them out as one of the favourites to lift the trophy this season. “They score against most teams at home and it’s good. It’s a team that is consistent, solid, compact....

Ahead of the crucial encounter against the Blasters, Bengaluru assistant coach Naushad Moosa interacted with the press in the absence of coach Albert Roca, who was not keeping well. The Blues started their debut season in Indian Super League (ISL) with a bang, winning three out of their first four matches. Unfortunately, they lost the last two matches at home against Chennaiyin FC and Jamshedpur FC and are now placed third in the league table....

While Ferran Corominas and Manuel Lanzarote have been exceptional for the Goan team through the league stages, the Spanish duo were below par over the two legs of play-offs. Although Lanzarote did score a goal in the first leg, his overall contribution wasn’t up to the standard he had set. Coach Sergio Lobera was asked if Corominas and Lanzarote were distracted with the offers they are receiving from other Indian Super League (ISL) teams and whether that had an effect on their display....

However, 30 of the team’s goals have been bagged by just two players - Ferran Corominas (18) and Manuel Lanzarote (12). “We (FC Goa) have depended on Coro and Lanza to score the goals because they play in the positions where we need them to score. I don’t expect the centre-backs or the players who are playing far away from the goal to score,” said FC Goa head coach Segio Lobera, ahead of his team’s crucial first-leg playoff against Chennaiyin FC in Goa....

Ahead of the fifth edition of ISL, a new set of rules that allows a club’s assistant coach to be promoted to the position of the head coach even if the coach is not an active AFC Pro License holder, have been introduced. These rules give us a better understanding of how an assistant coach of an ISL club can be promoted to the position of head coach. It bodes well for clubs like Bengaluru FC because as per the new set of rules, they can appoint former assistant coach Carles Cuadrat as their head coach....

When Lee serves as a screen for his Islanders teammates, a goaltender can expect one of two things to happen: either Lee scoops up the rebound of a shot the goalie barely sees or he deflects the shot in the net or off the netminder. It’s how Lee scored each of his five goals, so far, this season and it was in evidence when the Islanders played the St. Louis Blues on Oct....

While Tavares gets to return home to play for his childhood team, one that is now loaded with offensive talent and might represent Toronto’s best chance to end its five-decade Stanley Cup drought, the Islanders are left empty-handed and looking for a way to start over. The whole thing has to be depressing for Islanders fans. For nine years, they got the best hockey of Tavares’ career and were never able to build a competent team around him that could get within a stone’s throw of a championship....

Mutlaq bin Majed al-Qahtani pointed to what happened when Al-Qaeda used Afghanistan as a base to plot the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S. as to why isolation is bad policy. Qatar’s policies and perception have been closely observed since the U.S. withdrawal because the oil-rich nation has played a large role in war-torn Afghanistan. “If we are going to disengage and not to engage with them [the Taliban], I think again we are committing the same mistake that we did in 1989…when we abandoned Afghanistan, the Afghan people,” al-Qahtani said....

The plans come as part of the Israeli military’s five-year restructuring strategy called “Momentum” that aims to better counter adversaries across the region, particularly Iran, an Israeli military official told Newsweek. One of the primary goals, the official said under the condition of anonymity, is to disrupt the Lebanese Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement’s efforts to develop precision-guided munitions that would give the group a strategic edge in combat. “If you want to know where the highest probability of the next round of violence or escalation in the Middle East will be—a serious one—then my money is on us trying to preempt Hezbollah’s precision-guided munitions manufacturing capabilities,” the Israeli official told Newsweek....

The Rabbinate’s disapproval follows the release of a letter last week from a group of Orthodox Sephardic rabbis in Israel which approved of video conferencing specifically for this year’s Passover as a way for families to virtually convene despite pandemic-related social distancing measures. The Orthodox Sephardic rabbis’ letter stressed the importance of children bonding with grandparents as a way to keep close ties to Judaic tradition. The letter also said that video conferencing during Passover could help “remove sadness from adults and the elderly, to give them motivation to continue fighting for their lives, and to prevent them from succumbing to depression, which might cause them to despair of life....