Brazilian police indict former President Bolsonaro and aides over alleged 2022 coup attemptFBI director Christopher Wray has said he plans to resign at the end of President Joe Biden’s term in January, an announcement that came a week and a half after President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate loyalist Kash Patel for the job. At a town hall meeting with the bureau workforce, Mr Wray said he would be stepping down “after weeks of careful thought”. Mr Wray’s intended resignation is not unexpected considering that Mr Trump had picked Mr Patel for the role in his new administration. Mr Wray had previously been named by Mr Trump and began the 10-year term — a length meant to insulate the agency from the political influence of changing administrations — in 2017, after Mr Trump fired then-FBI director James Comey. Mr Trump had demonstrated his anger with Mr Wray on multiple occasions, including after Mr Wray’s congressional testimony in September. “My goal is to keep the focus on our mission — the indispensable work you’re doing on behalf of the American people every day,” Mr Wray told agency employees. “In my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work.” Mr Wray continued: “It should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway — this is not easy for me. I love this place, I love our mission, and I love our people — but my focus is, and always has been, on us and doing what’s right for the FBI.” Mr Wray received a standing ovation following his remarks before a standing-room-only crowd at FBI headquarters and some in the audience cried, according to an FBI official who was not authorised to discuss the private gathering and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press. Mr Trump applauded the news on social media, calling it “a great day for America as it will end the weaponisation of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice” and saying that Mr Patel’s confirmation will begin “the process of Making the FBI Great Again”. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr Patel would herald a radical leadership transformation at the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency. He has advocated shutting down the FBI’s Washington headquarters and called for ridding the federal government of “conspirators”, raising alarm that he might seek to wield the FBI’s significant investigative powers as an instrument of retribution against Mr Trump’s perceived enemies. Mr Patel said in a statement Wednesday that he was looking forward to “a smooth transition. I will be ready to serve the American people on day one”.UK reaches landmark deal with Germany to prosecute gangs behind small boat crisisJuniper Networks Inc. stock rises Wednesday, still underperforms market
After strong first game under new coach, Blues meet red-hot DevilsBy MARY CLARE JALONICK and MATT BROWN WASHINGTON (AP) — Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Defense Department, said he had a “wonderful conversation” with Maine Sen. Susan Collins on Wednesday as he pushed to win enough votes for confirmation. He said he will not back down after allegations of excessive drinking and sexual misconduct. Related Articles National Politics | Donald Trump will ring the New York Stock Exchange bell. It’ll be a first for him National Politics | The Trump and Biden teams insist they’re working hand in glove on foreign crises National Politics | ‘You don’t know what’s next.’ International students scramble ahead of Trump inauguration National Politics | Trump is threatening to raise tariffs again. Here’s how China plans to fight back National Politics | Trump won’t be able to save the struggling US beef industry Collins said after the hourlong meeting that she questioned Hegseth about the allegations amid reports of drinking and the revelation that he made a settlement payment after being accused of a sexual assault that he denies. She said she had a “good, substantive” discussion with Hegseth and “covered a wide range of topics,” including sexual assault in the military, Ukraine and NATO. But she said she would wait until a hearing, and notably a background check, to make a decision. “I asked virtually every question under the sun,” Collins told reporters as she left her office after the meeting. “I pressed him both on his position on military issues as well as the allegations against him, so I don’t think there was anything that we did not cover.” The meeting with Collins was closely watched as she is seen as more likely than most of her Republican Senate colleagues to vote against some of Trump’s Cabinet picks. She and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a fellow moderate Republican, did not shy from opposing Trump in his first term when they wanted to do so and sometimes supported President Joe Biden’s nominees for the judicial and executive branches. And Hegseth, an infantry combat veteran and former “Fox & Friends” weekend host, is working to gain as many votes as he can as some senators have expressed concerns about his personal history and lack of management experience. “I’m certainly not going to assume anything about where the senator stands,” Hegseth said as he left Collins’ office. “This is a process that we respect and appreciate. And we hope, in time, overall, when we get through that committee and to the floor that we can earn her support.” Hegseth met with Murkowski on Tuesday. He has also been meeting repeatedly with Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, a military veteran who has said she is a survivor of sexual assault and has spent time in the Senate working on improving how attacks are reported and prosecuted within the ranks. On Monday, Ernst said after a meeting with him that he had committed to selecting a senior official to prioritize those goals. Republicans will have a 53-49 majority next year, meaning Trump cannot lose more than three votes on any of his nominees. It is so far unclear whether Hegseth will have enough support, but Trump has stepped up his pressure on senators in the last week. “Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!” Trump posted on his social media platform last week.
Greenwave technology director Henry Sicignano buys $65,900 in shares
SINGAPORE: South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol has terrible timing. His declaration of martial law has tested the resilience of his country’s democracy, at a time when the economy is under pressure, and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has been furthering his nuclear weapons ambitions. A little stability would have been nice. Yoon managed to avoid impeachment over the weekend by just a handful of votes, but pressure for him to step down is intensifying. On Monday (Dec 9), the justice department banned the president from travelling overseas, while he is under investigation for leading an insurrection. Beyond this turmoil, he is facing a number of challenges to an economy already in jeopardy. At home, unionised workers at auto factories, railroads, public schools and hospitals are saying they won’t go to work if Yoon doesn’t step down. Another group plans to hold a candlelight vigil everyday in front of parliament to get the president to resign. This could be a huge potential blow to the trade-reliant economy, at a time when it is already struggling with slower exports and a declining growth rate. Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has steered South Korea away from economic dependence on China and boosted trade ties with the US, its main security treaty ally. Putting aside historical tensions with Japan, he’s pushed for closer military, diplomatic and economic ties with Tokyo, part of President Joe Biden’s push to build a network of partners to help combat Beijing’s increased assertiveness in the region. But those relationships are now under pressure in the leadup to Yoon’s inevitable, messy exit. A LEADERSHIP VACUUM Internationally, things are complicated, too. The political crisis, now in its second week, will dilute the government’s ability to navigate difficult foreign policy issues and to address outstanding national security threats from across the border. It is a precarious picture. There’s a war in Ukraine, a crisis in the Middle East, and now the rebuilding of Syria. China has launched military exercises in the waters around Taiwan this week, a timely reminder of the potential of a conflict breaking out in the Strait. Skirmishes escalating in the South China Sea between Beijing and Manila are also worrying Asian policymakers. And there’s always the prospect of Kim Jong Un launching new missiles over South Korea and Japan, the most recent in November just hours ahead of the US election. A leadership vacuum in South Korea is the last thing Washington needs right now. A July report from the Commission on the National Defense Strategy determined the US is facing a growing anti-American alliance unhappy with the status quo. “China and Russia are major powers that seek to undermine US influence,” it notes. “They want more control over their regions than they now have.” South Korea’s Ministry of National Defence confirmed that the president retains command of the armed forces. That means in the event of any foreign policy incidents, including a possible threat from North Korea, Yoon is still able to make executive decisions. Still, it’s hardly the image of a well-run country, at a time when the deepening relationship between Pyongyang and Moscow is also a new headache for Seoul, as Chung Min Lee, senior fellow for the Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace notes. In return for the use of Pyongyang’s soldiers, Russia may feel obliged to transfer more modern weapons to North Korea, such as advanced combat jets and missile technologies. A weakened government just as more North Korean soldiers join the fight alongside Russia in the Ukrainian war, and the potential for worsening US-China trade wars as Donald Trump prepares to re-enter the White House, will both have critical ramifications for Seoul, he adds. SOUTH KOREA’S REPUTATION TARNISHED Yoon’s vanishing political capital following his brief declaration of martial law has diminished South Korea’s growing brand as a responsible player in global affairs. It has had its fair share of flipflopping, both in terms of policy as well as presidents, but it is still considered a strategic and reliable partner for Washington and Tokyo in the region. That reputation has now been tarnished by the president’s cynical actions. The opposition is exploiting the situation for its own benefit. On Tuesday, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, Lee Jae-myung, sought to force through a highly contested budget in a show of political clout designed to put even more pressure on Yoon ahead of another impeachment vote. Rather than use this moment for political gain, parties should work together to ensure the country keeps running smoothly and protests don’t expand to paralyse institutions as they did in 2016 during the impeachment of former president Park Geun-hye. Voters should be reassured that they can trust the resilience of their core institutions. One of the key priorities will be ensuring that national security issues remain stable until difficult political impasse is resolved. Working with the new Trump administration, but also leveraging the goodwill Seoul has built with Tokyo, would be a sensible approach. Yoon’s miscalculations have put South Koreans at risk, and they face considerable political instability ahead. Their experience is a stark reminder: Democracy is always a work in progress.It looked like a recipe for disaster. So, when his country's swimmers were being accused of doping earlier this year, one Chinese official cooked up something fast. He blamed it on contaminated noodles. In fact, he argued, it could have been a culinary conspiracy concocted by criminals, whose actions led to the cooking wine used to prepare the noodles being laced with a banned heart drug that found its way into an athlete's system. This theory was spelled out to international anti-doping officials during a meeting and, after weeks of wrangling, finally made it into the thousands of pages of data handed over to the lawyer who investigated the case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for that same drug. The attorney, appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, refused to consider that scenario as he sifted through the evidence. In spelling out his reasoning, lawyer Eric Cottier paid heed to the half-baked nature of the theory. "The Investigator considers this scenario, which he has described in the conditional tense, to be possible, no less, no more," Cottier wrote. Even without the contaminated-noodles theory, Cottier found problems with the way WADA and the Chinese handled the case but ultimately determined WADA had acted reasonably in not appealing China's conclusion that its athletes had been inadvertently contaminated. Critics of the way the China case was handled can't help but wonder if a wider exploration of the noodle theory, details of which were discovered by The Associated Press via notes and emails from after the meeting where it was delivered, might have lent a different flavor to Cottier's conclusions. "There are more story twists to the ways the Chinese explain the TMZ case than a James Bond movie," said Rob Koehler, the director general of the advocacy group Global Athlete. "And all of it is complete fiction." In April, reporting from the New York Times and the German broadcaster ARD revealed that the 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine, also known as TMZ. China's anti-doping agency determined the athletes had been contaminated, and so, did not sanction them. WADA accepted that explanation, did not press the case further, and China was never made to deliver a public notice about the "no-fault findings," as is often seen in similar cases. The stock explanation for the contamination was that traces of TMZ were found in the kitchen of a hotel where the swimmers were staying. In his 58-page report, Cottier relayed some suspicions about the feasibility of that chain of events — noting that WADA's chief scientist "saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities." But without evidence to support pursuing the case, and with the chance of winning an appeal at almost nil, Cottier determined WADA's "decision not to appeal appears indisputably reasonable." A mystery remained: How did those traces of TMZ get into the kitchen? Shortly after the doping positives were revealed, the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations held a meeting on April 30 where it heard from the leader of China's agency, Li Zhiquan. Li's presentation was mostly filled with the same talking points that have been delivered throughout the saga — that the positive tests resulted from contamination from the kitchen. But he expanded on one way the kitchen might have become contaminated, harkening to another case in China involving a low-level TMZ positive. A pharmaceutical factory, he explained, had used industrial alcohol in the distillation process for producing TMZ. The industrial alcohol laced with the drug "then entered the market through illegal channels," he said. The alcohol "was re-used by the perpetrators to process and produce cooking wine, which is an important seasoning used locally to make beef noodles," Li said. "The contaminated beef noodles were consumed by that athlete, resulting in an extremely low concentration of TMZ in the positive sample. "The wrongdoers involved have been brought to justice." This new information raised eyebrows among the anti-doping leaders listening to Li's report. So much so that over the next month, several emails ensued to make sure the details about the noodles and wine made their way to WADA lawyers, who could then pass it onto Cottier. Eventually, Li did pass on the information to WADA general counsel Ross Wenzel and, just to be sure, one of the anti-doping leaders forwarded it, as well, according to the emails seen by the AP. All this came with Li's request that the noodles story be kept confidential. Turns out, it made it into Cottier's report, though he took the information with a grain of salt. "Indeed, giving it more attention would have required it to be documented, then scientifically verified and validated," he wrote. Neither Wenzel nor officials at the Chinese anti-doping agency returned messages from AP asking about the noodles conspiracy and the other athlete who Li suggested had been contaminated by them. Meanwhile, 11 of the swimmers who originally tested positive competed at the Paris Games earlier this year in a meet held under the cloud of the Chinese doping case. Though WADA considers the case closed, Koehler and others point to situations like this as one of many reasons that an investigation by someone other than Cottier, who was hired by WADA, is still needed. "It gives the appearance that people are just making things up as they go along on this, and hoping the story just goes away," Koehler said. "Which clearly it has not." Get local news delivered to your inbox!
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AP Trending SummaryBrief at 6:13 p.m. ESTFiorentina midfielder Edoardo Bove is to have a removable heart-starter device implanted following his recent collapse in a Serie A game, Italian media reports say. Bove collapsed on the pitch during Fiorentina's home game with Inter Milan on December 1, leading to the abandonment of the match. He will have the operation on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), which is part of the medical protocol before he can be discharged from hospital. The Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD), a type of pacemaker that can prevent fatal cardiac arrests by discharging a jolt to restore a regular heart rhythm, is not permitted in Serie A. Once all the results of the medical examinations carried out in recent days on the 22-year-old Italian have been collected, Bove can then decide whether to have the device removed, which would allow him return to play in the Italian league. Denmark's Christian Eriksen was unable to continue playing for Inter Milan after having an ICD fitted following a cardiac arrest in 2021 during a European Championship match. Eriksen later joined English club Brentford after the Serie A club terminated his contract.
Support independent journalism that matters — become a Vox Member today.The twists and turns in the ongoing story of Hannah Kobayashi, who went missing in Los Angeles last month after failing to get on her connecting flight to New York, have kept the public riveted for nearly a month. But now, amid a family tragedy that includes the death of Kobayashi’s father by apparent suicide, police have determined Kobayashi might have walked away from her life voluntarily.Los Angeles police announced Monday that they’d reviewed surveillance video showing a woman they believed to be Kobayashi on November 12, the day her family reported her missing. Kobayashi, who is from Hawaii, had failed to complete a flight from her home state to New York City. The footage shows a woman who appears to be Kobayashi at a Los Angeles bus station, buying a ticket to the border. Police say she used her passport to make the purchase, then crossed over into Mexico from San Ysidro. The investigation is the second high-profile missing persons case in recent weeks to take an unexpected turn after the person turned up seemingly unharmed. On November 11, the day before Kobayashi’s family reported her missing, a Wisconsin man resurfaced after being missing for months to admit that he had faked his own death in a dramatic kayaking incident in order to escape his life and start over in Eastern Europe. Los Angeles investigators felt that Kobayashi had likewise walked away from her own life and that, until she decided to resurface, there was little they could do. “To date, the investigation has not uncovered any evidence that Kobayashi is being trafficked or is the victim of foul play. She is also not a suspect in any criminal activity,” Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell stated during a news conference. “She has a right to her privacy, and we respect her choices but we also understand the concern her loved ones feel for her.”There are several alarming differences between the two cases, beginning with the sharp and sudden turn in Kobayashi’s trajectory. The 30-year-old Maui resident was a free spirit with a love of art, photography, and the outdoors before she boarded a flight to visit a relative on November 8. It was supposed to be her first trip to the New York City — something she’d had on her “bucket list” of places to see — and she had plans to see a Broadway show with a friend before traveling upstate. She was sharing the flight with an ex-boyfriend, though they reportedly sat in different parts of the plane, and he doesn’t appear to have had anything to do with her disappearance. Kobayashi didn’t join him on their connecting flight out of LAX. Instead, she left the airport. Security footage caught her getting on the Metro headed toward downtown Los Angeles. After her family reported her missing, multiple people reported having seen her at The Grove shopping mall on November 9 and 10. Eagle-eyed web sleuths spotted her appearing on camera 31 seconds into a video shot at a LeBron James Nike event held there. Hannah even uploaded a photo from the event to her own Instagram — the last post she’s made there to date.During her days spent in the city, she sent a series of alarming texts to family and friends. One text spoke of “Deep Hackers” who “wiped my identity, stole all of my funds, & have had me on a mind fuck since Friday,” while another claimed she’d been “tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds. From someone I thought I loved.” She also told family she’d missed her flight to New York but reportedly used language that family members thought didn’t sound like her. One such suspect text, containing odd endearments she didn’t typically use, said, “I’m just really scared love & the redwoods if calling me & I know I’m meant to be there, I’m being guided there, like you have before ... I risk my freedom if this goes wrong for me hun.” Another spoke of her having “just finished a very intense spiritual awakening.” In one text, Kobayashi reportedly claimed that she was scared and afraid to go home. “Even though she was in contact with us, she wasn’t in contact with us in her right mind,” her aunt, Larie Pidgeon, told USA Today.“I just need to rest & I’ll think better,” one text to her mother, sent on November 11, reportedly read. “But it’s very complicated Matrix underworld shit.” It was one of her final communications to her family. Her final texts indicated she was returning to the airport and promised to keep her family posted. Although she did return to the airport, she ultimately only picked up her luggage, which she’d requested to have flown back from New York to LA. That evening, according to a Facebook post made by her family, she was spotted getting off the Metro near Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center). Her family claimed in the post that they’d seen footage of the sighting which indicated that Hannah “does not appear to be in good condition” and she is not alone.After November 11, her phone was turned off, and by the following week, Kobayashi had fallen off the grid — she’d stopped sending text updates, and family and friends fanned out across the city to search for her. We now know that she had already crossed the border into Mexico, but her family claimed they had only radio silence from LAPD about what, if anything, they had learned, leaving them to search for answers alone. After the family held a public rally on November 21, police finally got in touch with them, though it would still be another week before any answers arrived.In the middle of the family’s fear that she’d been abducted or trafficked, and amid enormous and growing public speculation about what happened to her, her father Ryan Kobayashi was searching for her. On November 15, he told KHNL Hawaii News Now that he’d experienced a “lot of worrying, a lot of confusion. Everything is just a blur it seems, because I haven’t slept well since I’ve heard the news.” He went on to ask Hannah to get in touch with the police or with her family. “There’s a lot of people out there that care and love you, Hannah,” he said. “If you can just get to somebody, whatever you can do ... just let us know that you’re okay.”At some time around 4 am on November 24, Ryan Kobayashi died by suicide in Los Angeles. “I’m going to continue to stay strong for you,” Hannah Kobayashi’s sister Sydni wrote on social media. “We’re going to find Hannah.”Despite indications that Kobayashi may have been suffering from a mental break or another form of mental illness, Pidgeon pushed back on this possibility. “She has no record on that,” she told NBC on November 15. “She is not on medication. Hannah’s someone that we can call and she’s going to call us back within an hour.” Pidgeon further criticized the public speculation about Hannah’s disappearance for pushing her father to a breaking point. Conspiracy theories online abounded about what happened to her, everything from run-ins with the Twin Flames new-age cult to bad drug trips gone haywire. “If Ryan is looking at all this shit, imagine that weighing on him?” she told the New York Post, which had previously reported sensationalized details like Kobayashi having paid for a tarot reading while she was out and about in LA.In their announcement that they would be changing Kobayashi’s status to that of a “voluntary missing person,” the LAPD claimed that Kobayashi had evinced a desire to “step away from modern connectivity.” This included old social media posts she’d made where she seemed to want to “disconnect from her phone,” according to Missing Persons investigator Lt. Douglas Oldfield. Still, the family continued to press for answers, vowing that the search for Hannah would continue. It won’t, however, be continuing as publicly as before. The burgeoning Facebook group “Help Us Find Hannah,” which grew to over 25,000 members, went private after the announcement on Monday, with family members reportedly claiming to have received “threats against their lives and the lives of their small children.” It’s unclear what if anything provoked the threats, but it is clear that public speculation and scrutiny surrounding Kobayashi’s disappearance had spiraled in the weeks since she first left LAX. On Tuesday, moderators of Reddit’s r/Hawaii subreddit locked their post about the disappearance because it was “starting to see a lot of baseless conspiracy theories.”However complicated Kobayashi’s story is, it seems abundantly clear that her family is right to be alarmed for her safety. It’s also increasingly evident that while the era of social media and heightened public scrutiny over police investigations can be uniquely beneficial, it can also be extremely overwhelming, obfuscatory, and frustrating to family, friends, and officials trying to find loved ones. While the huge number of eyes on Hannah as she went on her journey was undoubtedly helpful in locating her, false sightings and far-fetched rumors may have made it harder on the family. Hannah Kobayashi’s situation, however alarming, was and is potentially resolvable. It’s impossible to know whether the tragedy of her father’s suicide could have been avoided if her disappearance hadn’t become headline-grabbing news, but it almost certainly didn’t help.Still, while it’s tempting to blame Ryan Kobayashi’s death on the media and public frenzy, the real stressors might have been much closer to home. He had told CNN that he and Hannah had not been close when she was growing up and that they “hadn’t had contact for a while.” “I’m just trying to make up,” he said. “I’m trying to get her back. That’s my main focus.”The grim but less complicated takeaway from this series of tragic events might be just this: The mighty apparatus of true crime theorizing and crowdsourced web sleuthing can often make family tragedies into labyrinthine mysteries when they aren’t. Sometimes, the answers may be undramatic and unsatisfying — but perhaps the simpler they are, the less they lead us astray.
Sorry, Gavin. This time you’re going to have to settle for the bronze.Police say searchers don’t expect to find woman in Pennsylvania sinkhole alive UNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — The search for a woman who is believed to have fallen into a sinkhole in western Pennsylvania has become a recovery effort after two treacherous days of digging through mud and rock produced no signs of life. Pennsylvania State Police spokesperson Trooper Steve Limani said during a news conference Wednesday that authorities no longer believe they will find 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard alive, but that the search for her remains continues. Limani says crews have seen "no signs of any form of life or anything.” Pollard was last seen alive Monday evening when she went out looking for her cat in the village of Marguerite, about 40 miles east of Pittsburgh. WWE is seeking a bigger stage and Netflix, pushing for more live events, is providing it WWE will perform on a stage next month that could be vastly larger than its current home on cable television when it makes its “Raw” debut on Netflix. The sports entertainment company is moving to a platform with about 283 million subscribers worldwide as it departs its current home on the USA Network, which averaged 688,000 viewers in prime-time last year, according to the Nielsen company. For Netflix, onboarding the WWE is part of strategic move to air more live events on the heels of a hugely successful fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul that was viewed by more than 60 million people. Michigan court upholds light sentence for woman who killed dad in dispute over ride DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Court of Appeals has declined to overturn a light jail sentence for a young woman who killed her father by burning him with a dangerous powder. Prosecutors said Megan Imirowicz was upset when her father couldn’t drive her to a hair appointment before her 18th birthday party. Imirowicz was sentenced to only a year in jail in 2023. She actually spent more than a year in custody because she was locked up before trial and while awaiting her punishment in suburban Detroit. Sumo wrestlers bring 1,500 years of tradition to London as the sport has an international moment LONDON (AP) — London’s Royal Albert Hall is preparing to host a different kind of spectacle: Sumo wrestling. Wrestlers put on an exhibition of heavyweight grappling to promote a tournament scheduled for next October. It marks only the second time an elite five-day tournament will be held outside Japan. The first was held in 1991 at the same venue. Organizers are hoping to whip up the kind of excitement that was generated three decades ago, when the deeply ritualistic sport attracted sell-out crowds and a national television audience. The end of an Eras tour approaches, marking a bittersweet moment for Taylor Swift fans NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The global phenomenon that is Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is coming to an end after the popstar performed more than 150 shows across five continents over nearly two years. Since launching the tour in 2023, Swift has shattered sales and attendance records. It's even created such an economic boom that the Federal Reserve took note. But for many who attended the concerts, and the millions more who eagerly watched on their screens, the tour also became a beacon of joy. It's become a chance not only to appreciate Swift’s expansive music career, but also celebrate the yearslong journey fans have taken with her. Jury revisits key videos in NYC subway chokehold death trial NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors have asked to review police and bystander video at the heart of the New York City chokehold manslaughter case against Daniel Penny. The request came during a second day of deliberations Wednesday. The anonymous jury also asked to rehear part of a city medical examiner’s testimony. The request included testimony about her decision to issue a death certificate without getting toxicology test results for Jordan Neely. He was the agitated subway rider whom Penny held him around the neck for roughly six minutes. Penny has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Prosecutors say he recklessly killed Neely. Penny's defense maintains he was justified in acting to protect fellow subway riders from Neely. Relatives hunt for the missing after Guinea stadium crush amid fears official death toll is too low CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Kambaly Kouroumah was searching a local morgue for his teenage brother, Adama, who died after chaos erupted at a soccer game in southern Guinea’s Nzerekore city. Adama, 15, was among 56 people that officials said were killed in Sunday's crush, although rights groups reported a death toll nearly three times higher. Local media, rights groups and witnesses say security forces used tear gas to respond after fans began to throw stones to protest a referee's decision during the soccer game that was organized in honor of Guinea's junta leader, Col. Mamadi Doumbouya. Many of the dead were crushed as they tried to escape through the stadium gates, videos showed. Power shortages in Ecuador are melting away the future of a small town’s ice-cream industry SALCEDO, Ecuador (AP) — Ice-cream production in this quiet Ecuadorian town began in the mid-20th century in a convent for Franciscan nuns. The nuns sold their creamy popsicles in town to gather funds for the poor. But the people of Salcedo saw a business opportunity and began experimenting with new flavors and techniques, establishing a thriving popsicle industry that has made their small town famous among ice-cream lovers. But now, the South American nation is struggling with a relentless wave of power cuts that threaten the future of Salcedo’s ice-cream industry, melting away its dreams of a more prosperous future. Senegalese artisans in the spotlight as they exhibit for the first time at a prestigious art event DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — For the artistic and cultural elites of the West African nation of Senegal, the monthlong Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Arts is a celebratory moment. But it wasn’t until this year that the local artisans in the Soumbedioune crafts market, just off the Corniche and at the doorstep on the Medina working-class neighborhood, realized what the Biennale was. Craftsmanship is deeply rooted in the country’s culture, but its role has declined in recent years. As living costs rise, many Senegalese opt for cheaper, Chinese-imported products. And those that can afford it buy Western clothes and furniture to mark their social status. Eminem's mother Debbie Nelson, whose rocky relationship fueled the rapper's lyrics, dies at age 69 Debbie Nelson, the mother of rapper Eminem whose rocky relationship with her son was known widely through his song lyrics, has died. She was 69. Eminem’s longtime representative Dennis Dennehy confirmed Nelson’s death in an email on Tuesday. He did not provide a cause of death, although Nelson had battled lung cancer. Nelson’s fraught relationship with her son, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, has been no secret since the Detroit rapper became a star. Nelson brought and settled two defamation lawsuits over Eminem’s statements about her in magazines and on radio talk shows. In her 2008 book, “My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem,” she attempted to set the record straight.S&P/TSX composite ticks lower, U.S. markets rise after latest Trump tariff threat
No. 24 Arizona is coming off consecutive defeats for the first time in the Tommy Lloyd era when it faces undefeated Davidson on Wednesday to begin the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas. Arizona (2-2) lost at Wisconsin 103-88 on Nov. 15 and followed that with a home loss against Duke 69-55 on Friday. The Wildcats have dropped 15 spots in the Associated Press Top 25 poll in two weeks. Arizona's record is .500 this early in a season for the first time since it was 3-3 to start the 2017-18 schedule. "I've got work to do, so let's get to work," said Lloyd, in his fourth year as Arizona's head coach. "Let's see where we're at in a month, and if we're still struggling, you know what I'll do? I still got work to do, but I'm gonna get to it." Arizona shot 39.6 percent from the field against Duke, and just 26.1 percent (6 of 23) from 3-point range. The Wildcats were outrebounded by 43-30 and their 15 turnovers led to 19 points. Jaden Bradley led Arizona with 18 points and KJ Lewis added 12. Preseason All-American Caleb Love had eight points on 3-of-13 shooting from the field, including 1-of-9 from 3-point range. Arizona made only one field goal in the last 5:39 as Duke pulled away after its lead was trimmed to six points. "We didn't play great," Lloyd said. "Now we need to take a step back and figure out why. Are there some schematic problems? Are there some problems with how our personnel is kind of put together? "We got to figure out what our certainties are, and the things we have to have, and then over the course of the next couple of days, if there's adjustments we need to make, we need to figure out what those are." Davidson is 4-0 after a 15-17 record last season, in which it lost its last six games to put an end to postseason hopes. A 93-66 win over visiting VMI on Friday followed a 91-85 win at Bowling Green and 76-70 victory over visiting East Tennessee State. The two wins by 10 points or fewer are important because Davidson was 6-12 in such games last season. It was 4-11 in games decided by five points or fewer. "The goal (is) to get better," Davidson head coach Matt McKillop said after the season opener. "We talk about fighting to win every possession. I think we had to figure out what that really felt like with the lights on." Davidson made 13 shots from 3-point range in the win over VMI. Reed Bailey had 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Bobby Durkin added 19 points, including 17 of them and a career-best five 3-pointers in the first half. Bailey leads Davidson in scoring (19 points per game) and rebounding (7.8). Durkin is shooting 57.9 percent (22 of 38) from the field and 54.2 percent (13 of 24) from 3-point range. By contrast, Arizona's Love is shooting 32 percent (16 of 50) from the field and 21.4 percent (6 of 28) from beyond the arc. Bradley leads Arizona with 15.5 points per game. He is shooting 50 percent (24 of 48) from the field and is 35.7 percent (5 of 14) from 3-point range. --Field Level MediaIreland fans face nightmare journey and ticket crunch as Bulgaria venue is confirmed
Scratching an itch. Age of Empires 2 is unequivocally one of the most important strategy games ever made — a defining title that shaped the future of real-time strategy, and launched an obsession with history for thousands of players, myself included. In particular, the campaigns of Age of Empires 2 were fantastic examples of a hand-designed single-player experience, while weaving in real events and characters that can spark curiosity. But robust RTS campaigns have nearly vanished as the genre changed and lost popularity, simultaneously grappling with the rise of multiplayer . It’s almost ironic, then, that Age of Empires 2 has come full circle and given me that campaign experience I’ve been craving, with its surprise Battle For Greece expansion. In 2019, World’s Edge and Xbox Game Studios released Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition , an updated version of the classic that completely overhauled the visuals and applied a variety of changes and fixes. Since then, the studio has liberally updated the game with new content and campaigns, but nothing quite on the scale of Battle For Greece — an expansion that feels like it follows in the footsteps of another beloved game, Age of Mythology — my personal favorite RTS campaign of all time. Battle For Greece has a sweeping historically-based tale that plays out across hundreds of years. Most of the campaigns in AoE 2 are short affairs consisting of just a handful of missions, and are intentionally designed this way. Battle For Greece , on the other hand, is what could be seen as a “grand campaign,” telling a continuous story that takes place across 21 missions and has persistent elements on top of that. It’s the first instance of the game’s “Chronicles” series, with an epic story that focuses on the dominance of the Persian Empire, spanning the Ionian Revolt and Greco-Persian Wars. You aren’t going to find any super complex storytelling here, but it’s a fun romp with some quirky characters to keep the action moving. And, yes, there’s plenty of detail for the history nerds. It all sounds good on paper, but the execution makes Battle for Greece even better — an enthralling experience with hand-designed missions that all feel unique and distinct. It’s honestly surprising how different this expansion feels from the base game, despite using the same gameplay foundations. The presentation is exceptional with animated cutscenes, full voice acting, and a retooled aesthetic that fits the new Persian civilizations better. Battle For Greece’s missions play out on a massive scale, with humongous maps that are filled with multiple objectives (including optional ones), and generally more than one way to achieve victory. The actual mission design really shines through here, with diverse challenges that really make you adjust your strategies. In one mission, you’re racing the clock to save districts of your city before they burn down, even though braving the smoke-filled streets saps your unit's health. In another, you find a visiting Empress’ lost horse to gain her aid, gaining the ability to direct her forces for a combined siege. The scale of battles in this expansion can be staggering, and quite demanding for your strategies. As you go through missions, there are also opportunities to get permanent buffs to a specific kind of unit, like foot soldiers or archers, and those bonuses carry over across the entire campaign — meaning it's in your best interest to explore the map. Each and every level feels distinct, both in its design and objectives, and it’s that sense of variety that really makes this expansion compelling. It reminds me a lot of Age of Mythology , or even StarCraft 2 , in terms of how there’s such an emphasis put on making each mission feel distinct. I can’t get over how ambitious and experimental the whole thing feels, especially in a game that’s technically over 20 years old. Battle For Greece practically feels like a completely different game, with smart tweaks that play into the single-player strategy — like being able to tweak if your town center focuses on resource acquisition or military projection, or options to gather more resources using sea vessels. Even the scale of the maps themselves feel far grander than anything else in AoE 2 , forcing you to juggle multiple armies and plans of attack at once. It’s a serious strategic challenge, on top of everything else. Battle For Greece features entirely unique civilizations some technology and units that can’t be found anywhere else in the game. Over the last decade, I can count the number of RTS campaigns I’ve truly enjoyed on one hand, and that hand doesn’t even get full. For years, I’ve been so disappointed that a key reason I grew to love the genre has just been entirely absent. Battle For Greece gives me hope that there’s still an audience, and third to make, this kind of ambitious single-player strategy campaign. It’s also clearly the first part of a larger plan, and I hope that future Chronicles entries can double down even more on persistent elements that carry across the entire campaign. Battle For Greece is good in its own right, but it’s incredibly promising as a foundation for AoE 2 to continue building on. Every few months I try and find a new RTS campaign to play, and usually end up defaulting back to the same handful of games because nothing holds my interest. Battle For Greece is the most fun I’ve had with this kind of experience in nearly ten years, and it genuinely makes me excited for the future of a game that ten years ago was just a fond memory. Video Games Xbox
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