Pamela Turntine is the Deputy Breaking News Editor of the Bay Area News Group, which includes the Mercury News and East Bay Times.

Every Christmas, Today on BBC Radio 4 invites people from different walks of life to “guest edit” the programme, choosing the topics and interviewees they want in it. Here Helena Morrissey, non-executive chair of Newton Investment Management and a campaigner for greater gender diversity in the boardroom, gives her take on a subject close to her heart.

The Treasury Department auctioned $34 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.555 percent, up from 0.515 percent last week. Another $28 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.660 percent, up from 0.645 percent last week.

The exchange traded fund universe has steadily expanded with many new additions and strategies this year. There are now 1,961 U.S.-listed exchange traded products, which include both exchange traded funds and exchange traded notes, with a little over $2.5 trillion in assets under management.

My hand isn’t up, and I’ll bet most who follow the industry closely didn’t tap it as their top pick this year, either. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that few expected that the five best-performing large-cap energy stocks would be ONEOK, Continental Resources ONEOK’s success in 2016 was partially due to its poor performance in 2015, when the stock got cut in half over concerns about its direct exposure to commodity prices, which were in a tailspin.

Carrie Fisher, who rose to fame as Princess Leia in the “Star Wars” films and later endured drug addiction and stormy romances with show business heavyweights, died on Tuesday, her daughter said through a family spokesman. “It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8:55 this morning,” Lourd said in a statement issued by Simon Halls.

When food is past the “sell-by” date on the label, should you throw it out immediately or is it still safe to eat? The Nutrition Twins Lyssie Lakatos and Tammy Lakatos Shames clear up the mystery. “As registered dieticians I want to say that we live by ‘if in doubt, throw it out.’

Dec. 27, 2016 – 7:35 – University of Maryland economist Peter Morici on the markets, President-elect Trump’s policies and President Obama’s legacy.

As a life insurance agent, my job is to get my clients the coverage they need at the most affordable price possible. I tell clients their age, gender and desired amount of coverage are the factors that matter most in policy cost.

The Japanese company, which paid a record fine a year ago for its bookkeeping practices, warned that it may now have to take another charge of several billion dollars related to an acquisition made by U.S. unit Westinghouse Electric. The company’s shares fell 12 percent to 392 yen at the close in Tokyo on Tuesday, the biggest decline since December 2015, after earlier reports that it may book a loss of as much as 500 billion yen .

The European Central Bank said Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA needs about 8.8 billion euros to bolster its balance sheet, almost twice the amount the Italian lender had sought to raise in a failed capital increase. The calculation is based on the results of a 2016 stress test, the Italian bank said in a statement late Monday, citing two letters from the ECB.

Stock futures were slightly up on Tuesday morning as Wall Street begins trading in a slow week between Christmas and the New Year. Stock futures were higher on Tuesday morning as Wall Street prepares for a slow week between Christmas and New Year.

With the election of Donald Trump, investors are taking a hard look at the winners and losers of potential tax reform. One of his key platform measures is a reduction in the corporate tax rate, which is currently 35%.