January 1, S&P, NASDAQ END AT RECORD HIGHS AFTER ROUGH 7 MONTHS

(Reuters) – Equity markets in Asia rose on Wednesday morning after upbeat earnings helped the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes reach record closing highs on Wall Street overnight, while oil retreated from its near six-month highs.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1 percent in early trade in Asia. The gains followed a strong performance on Wall Street, driven by robust results from Coca-Cola, Twitter, United Technologies and Lockheed Martin.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.52 percent to 26,647.97, the S&P 500 gained 0.91 percent to 2,934.31 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.35 percent to 8,123.25.

‘Perversion Files’ Reveal Thousands of Accused Sexual Abusers in Boy Scouts

Nearly 8,000 adults are suspected of sexually abusing more than 12,000 children in the Boy Scouts over the years, according to a new report.

NBC New York reported Tuesday that thousands of people are facing allegations of sexual abuse against minors.

“For many, many years there’s been an excavation of what are called the ‘perversion files’ — those are files held and hoarded at the Boy Scouts of America headquarters,” victims’ rights attorney Jeff Anderson said.

“Those ‘perversion files’ that they’ve had reflect that they have removed thousands of offenders of childhood sexual abuse over the years and they’ve kept that in files secretly.”

Tampa Selects 1st Openly Gay Mayor

Voters in Tampa, Florida voted their first openly gay mayor into office Tuesday night by a significant margin.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, retired police chief Jane Castor earned 73 percent of the vote to claim victory in the runoff. Neither Castor or her opponent David Straz ran under a political party affiliation.m Castor served as Tampa’s police chief from 2009-2015.

“No matter what we went through, no matter what obstacle was put in our way, we never lost our focus on the issues that mattered,” Castor said, according to the Times.

Straz, a retired banker, told his supporters Tuesday night it is time to stand with the city’s new mayor.

‘Avengers: Endgame’ Could Gain Record $850M-$900M in Opening Weekend

(Hollywood Reporter) – The only game in town at the box office this weekend is Avengers: Endgame — and then some.

Marvel Studios and Disney’s superhero juggernaut is virtually assured of shattering records with a projected global launch of $850 to $900 million, if not more. That could include a potential all-time best of $270 million to $300 million in North America, where it unfurls in 4,600 theaters, the widest release ever.

The big caveat is the tentpole’s running time of three hours and 58 seconds. That means a reduction in showtimes. So far, Disney and theater owners appear to be making up the difference by adding additional screens and showtimes. And online ticket service Fandango says 4,000 shows are sold out.

Brothers Sue Jussie Smollett’s Lawyers, Claiming Defamation

(AP) – Two brothers who say they helped Jussie Smollett stage a racist and homophobic attack against himself sued the “Empire” actor’s attorneys on Tuesday, accusing them of defamation by continuing to insist publicly that the brothers carried out a real, bigoted attack on Smollett despite knowing that was untrue.

Abimbola “Abel” Osundairo and Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo said in a joint statement issued after their lawsuit was filed in federal court in Chicago that Smollett’s legal team has spread false accusations that have hurt their reputations and undermined their career prospects.

“We have sat back and watched lie after lie being fabricated about us in the media only so one big lie can continue to have life,” they said. “These lies are destroying our character and reputation in our personal and professional lives.”