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fb777 vip login registration Wall Street sees another positive year aheadPLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter's in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter's path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That's a very narrow way of assessing them," Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn't suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he'd be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter's tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter's lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor's race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama's segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival's endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King's daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters' early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan's presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan's Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.Govt insulted Manmohan Singh by not holding last rites at a designated spot: Congress

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's brief imposition of martial law marks a new warning for the worldwide fragility of democracy, even in a country hailed as a model of political transformation. Yoon's overnight attempt to shut down political activity, censor media and lock out opposition lawmakers stunned South Korea's longtime ally, the United States, which said it had no advance warning and issued a statement of concern. South Korea's transition to elected rule since a mass uprising in 1987 had been seen as so thorough that the United States increasingly spoke of its ally as a global partner. Meanwhile, Seoul billed itself as a new, ideal hub for international media as China clamped down on Hong Kong. President Joe Biden had even chosen Yoon as the host in March of his final Summit for Democracy -- a signature initiative of the outgoing US leader, who sought to champion liberal values globally, in an unstated repudiation of Donald Trump, who returns to the White House next month. But observers, while stunned by Yoon, said there were warning signs. Danny Russel, a top US diplomat for Asia under former president Barack Obama and who earlier served in South Korea, pointed to the deadlock in parliament where the opposition repeatedly sought impeachments against Yoon's administration. Yoon's move "was a complete surprise to me (but) yes, there were very obvious structural forces at work," he said. "There is a radically polarized political scene in Korea. The opposition has been pursuing scorched-earth political obstruction tactics," he said. But he pointed to the quick, large-scale protests that erupted after Yoon's declaration as a sign of a vibrant civil society ready to defend democracy. "One certainly would hope that this would serve as a wake-up call to both the ruling conservative party and the progressive opposition that both sides have gone too far and that there needs to be some process of reconciliation, of dealing with legitimate differences and grievances." Yoon himself had earlier shown signs of authoritarianism. In a national address last year, Yoon raged against supposed communists who have "disguised themselves as democracy activists, human rights advocates or progressive activists." A prosecutor, Yoon narrowly won the 2022 election on a platform of economic reform and advocated close ties with the United States as well as historic rival Japan. But his popularity swiftly slid and the opposition won the National Assembly. Celeste Arrington, a Korea expert at George Washington University, noted that Yoon had never held elected office before and had become increasingly frustrated. "This is really an extreme move that may signal, I think, the president's lack of political experience," she said. She said that martial law showed "some cracks in democracy" but that the quick reversal "gives me hope in the health and strength and vibrancy of democracy in South Korea." Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, expected Yoon's career to be over after attempting martial law, which constitutionally can only be imposed for wars or other emergencies. "Yoon's action is a damning reversal to decades of South Korean efforts to put its authoritarian past behind it," he said. The number of democracies worldwide soared starting in the late 1980s as the Soviet Union collapsed and student-led uprisings brought reforms elsewhere. But globally, democracy has been in retreat for the last 18 straight years, according to the Washington-based group Freedom House, which promotes political liberty. Democratically elected leaders have taken increasingly authoritarian steps in countries as diverse as India, Turkey and Hungary. V-Dem, another closely watched democracy index, had most recently ranked South Korea third in Asia after Taiwan and Japan. In the United States, Trump has rejected long-held norms, refusing to accept he lost to Biden four years ago -- culminating in his supporters violently rampaging through the US Capitol. Trump's rejection of democracy ultimately worked out for him: campaigning on the rage of 2020, he won last month's election. But experts said Yoon's power play -- and its reversal -- could in fact show a victory for democratic values. "Yoon is a deeply unpopular and ineffectual leader, but there was nothing I saw of people being dissatisfied with the way government runs," Alan Yu, a senior vice president at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, said after a recent trip to Seoul. Darcie Draudt-Vejares of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that with the swift response to Yoon, "this crisis may ultimately strengthen Korean democracy by reaffirming civilian control and demonstrating institutional resilience." sct/nro

The 2025 Grammy Nominations have officially been unveiled, sparking excitement, debates, and predictions across the music world. With a mix of fresh faces and industry titans, this year’s nominations celebrate groundbreaking achievements, unexpected collaborations, and historic milestones. Artists like Sabrina Carpenter, Beyoncé, and The Beatles are at the center of this year’s buzz, making the upcoming Grammy Awards a must-watch event. Table of Contents Sabrina Carpenter Leads the New Generation Sabrina Carpenter has solidified her place as one of the breakout stars of the year, earning an impressive six nominations. The 25-year-old artist’s album has propelled her into all four major categories, including Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Record of the Year (for her hit single “Espresso”), and Song of the Year (for her heartfelt ballad “Please Please Please”). This marks a transformative year for Carpenter, who has gained recognition for her ability to blend catchy melodies with emotional depth. Her nominations reflect not only her musical versatility but also her growing influence in the industry. Another standout newcomer, Chappell Roan, also garnered six nominations. Her critically acclaimed album has struck a chord with listeners, with her single “Good Luck, Babe!” earning nods for Record and Song of the Year. Roan’s ability to infuse storytelling with a modern pop sensibility has made her a force to be reckoned with among the 2025 Grammy Nominations. Beyoncé’s Historic Achievements While newcomers shine, Beyoncé continues to reign supreme. With a staggering 11 nominations, she leads all artists this year. Her album is up for Album of the Year, while her single “Texas Hold ‘Em” has been recognized in both the Record and Song of the Year categories. This year’s nominations push Beyoncé’s career total to 99, surpassing her husband Jay-Z for the most Grammy nominations in history. She is now on the brink of becoming the most-awarded artist of all time, further cementing her legacy as an icon in music. For the first time, Beyoncé has earned Grammy nominations in the country and Americana categories. Her ability to seamlessly cross genres showcases her innovative artistry and broad appeal. If she wins Album of the Year, she would become the first Black woman to achieve this honor in over two decades, following Lauryn Hill’s victory in 1999 with . Heavy Hitters: Post Malone, Billie Eilish, and Taylor Swift Among the year’s most-nominated artists are Post Malone, Billie Eilish, and Kendrick Lamar, each receiving seven nods. Taylor Swift follows closely with six nominations, continuing her reign as one of the most celebrated artists of her generation. Despite her 14 Grammy wins, Swift has yet to secure a victory in the Song of the Year category. With seven prior nominations, including last year’s “Anti-Hero,” she remains a top contender with her latest track. Could 2025 finally be her year? The Beatles Make History In a surprise twist, The Beatles are back in the Grammy spotlight. Their track “Now and Then” is nominated for Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance, nearly three decades after their last Grammy nods. This groundbreaking nomination is also the first to involve artificial intelligence in its creation. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr used AI technology to isolate John Lennon’s vocals from a decades-old demo, breathing new life into the legendary band’s sound. The use of AI in “Now and Then” demonstrates how technology is reshaping the music landscape. The technique, known as “stem separation,” highlights how innovation can preserve and amplify the legacy of iconic artists. This development could pave the way for future collaborations between technology and creativity in the industry. The Big Four Categories: A Closer Look This year’s nominees for Album of the Year span genres and generations, reflecting the diversity of today’s music scene. From pop anthems to timeless rock, the Record of the Year category showcases some of the biggest hits of 2025. Notable contenders include: The Song of the Year nominees spotlight lyrical excellence and emotional resonance. Leading the pack are: Best New Artist: The Future of Music This year’s Best New Artist category is packed with talent, from Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan to emerging stars across genres. These artists represent the next generation of musical innovation and creativity. Other Notable Moments from the 2025 Grammy Nominations Charli XCX has more than tripled her previous Grammy nominations with seven nods this year. Her album and hit single “360” have earned recognition in categories like Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Music Video, showcasing her evolution as an artist. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who turned 100 this year, is nominated for Best Audiobook, Narration, and Storytelling Recording. His work stands alongside nominees like Dolly Parton and Barbra Streisand, proving that the Grammys celebrate artistry in all its forms. Dave Chappelle is vying for his sixth Grammy with a strong contender for Best Comedy Album. A win would further solidify his legacy as one of the most celebrated comedians in Grammy history. When and Where to Watch the 2025 Grammy Awards The 2025 Grammy Awards will take place on February 2 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Fans can tune in live on CBS or stream the event on Paramount+. With a lineup of nominees that spans generations and genres, this year’s ceremony promises to be an unforgettable celebration of music. The 2025 Grammy Nominations have set the stage for a night of milestones, surprises, and groundbreaking achievements. From Sabrina Carpenter’s breakthrough success to Beyoncé’s historic run and The Beatles’ innovative comeback, the nominations showcase the evolving landscape of the music industry. As the countdown to February begins, one thing is clear: the 2025 Grammy Awards will be a night to remember.

Pick to Light Market Expected To Reach USD 1217.7 Billion by 2032, Growing at a CAGR of 8.8% From 2024-2032.NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks tiptoed to more records amid a mixed Tuesday of trading, tacking a touch more onto what’s already been a stellar year so far. The S&P 500 edged up by 2 points, or less than 0.1%, to set an all-time high for the 55th time this year. It’s climbed in 10 of the last 11 days and is on track for one of its best years since the turn of the millennium. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 76 points, or 0.2%, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.4% to its own record set a day earlier. AT&T rose 4.6% after it boosted its profit forecast for the year. It also announced a $10 billion plan to send cash to its investors by buying back its own stock, while saying it expects to authorize another $10 billion of repurchases in 2027. On the losing end of Wall Street was U.S. Steel, which fell 8%. President-elect Donald Trump reiterated on social media that he would not let Japan’s Nippon Steel take over the iconic Pennsylvania steelmaker. Nippon Steel announced plans last December to buy the Pittsburgh-based steel producer for $14.1 billion in cash, raising concerns about what the transaction could mean for unionized workers, supply chains and U.S. national security. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden also came out against the acquisition. Tesla sank 1.6% after a judge in Delaware reaffirmed a previous ruling that the electric car maker must revoke Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package. The judge denied a request by attorneys for Musk and Tesla’s corporate directors to vacate her ruling earlier this year requiring the company to rescind the unprecedented pay package. All told, the S&P 500 rose 2.73 points to 6,049.88. The Dow fell 76.47 to 44,705.53, and the Nasdaq composite gained 76.96 to 19,480.91. In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady after a report showed U.S. employers were advertising slightly more job openings at the end of October than a month earlier. Continued strength there would raise optimism that the economy could remain out of a recession that many investors had earlier worried was inevitable. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.23% from 4.20% from late Monday. Yields have seesawed since Election Day amid worries that Trump’s preferences for lower tax rates and bigger tariffs could spur higher inflation along with economic growth. But traders are still confident the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate again at its next meeting in two weeks. They’re betting on a nearly three-in-four chance of that, according to data from CME Group. Lower rates can give the economy more juice, but they can also give inflation more fuel. The key report this week that could guide the Fed’s next move will arrive on Friday. It’s the monthly jobs report , which will show how many workers U.S. employers hired and fired during November. It could be difficult to parse given how much storms and strikes distorted figures in October. Based on trading in the options market, Friday’s jobs report appears to be the biggest potential market mover until the Fed announces its next decision on interest rates Dec. 18, according to strategists at Barclays Capital. In financial markets abroad, the value of South Korea’s currency fell 1.1% against the U.S. dollar following a frenetic night where President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law and then later said he’d lift it after lawmakers voted to reject military rule. Stocks of Korean companies that trade in the United States also fell, including a 1.6% drop for SK Telecom. Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.9% to help lead global markets. Some analysts think Japanese stocks could end up benefiting from Trump’s threats to raise tariffs , including for goods coming from China . Trade relations between the U.S. and China took another step backward after China said it is banning exports to the U.S. of gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications. The counterpunch came swiftly after the U.S. Commerce Department expanded the list of Chinese technology companies subject to export controls to include many that make equipment used to make computer chips, chipmaking tools and software. The 140 companies newly included in the so-called “entity list” are nearly all based in China. In China, stock indexes rose 1% in Hong Kong and 0.4% in Shanghai amid unconfirmed reports that Chinese leaders would meet next week to discuss planning for the coming year. Investors are hoping it may bring fresh stimulus to help spur growth in the world’s second-largest economy. In France, the CAC 40 rose 0.3% amid continued worries about politics in Paris , where the government is battling over the budget. AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

NASHVILLE — The Supreme Court on Wednesday will consider for the first time whether states can ban certain gender transition medical treatments for young people – a closely watched case brought by three transgender teens, their parents and a doctor, all seeking to ensure health care access they say is critical. At issue is a Tennessee law barring transgender minors from using puberty blockers and hormones, treatments the state characterizes as risky and unproven. Lawmakers said the state should instead encourage adolescents to “appreciate their sex, particularly as they undergo puberty.” The court’s ruling might have implications for the more than 100,000 transgender adolescents living in Tennessee or one of the 23 other states that has banned using the drugs to treat minors with gender dysphoria. The question of whether and how to medically treat young people whose gender identity is different than their sex assigned at birth has become a polarizing issue, one President-elect Donald Trump seized on in advertisements targeting transgender people during his campaign. The Supreme Court in 2020 extended employment protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers, but it has yet to rule on the constitutionality of lower court decisions involving bathroom access, athletes and medical treatment for transgender minors like 16-year-old L.W., one of the Tennessee teens behind the case at the high court. Her parents, Brian and Samantha Williams, now drive her five hours to receive care in North Carolina. The teen started gender care treatments when she was 12 and said they have allowed her to “get to be myself a little bit more.” “It took a huge stressor off my back,” L.W. said in an interview. “I have more friends now because I’m more confident, and I’m more able to socialize.” The Biden administration and the American Civil Liberties Union are representing the parents and teens, who are referred to in court filings by their initials or a pseudonym to protect their identity. The families say the Tennessee law amounts to unconstitutional sex discrimination and a broad restriction on treatments that nearly every major medical association says are appropriate and effective for minors. ACLU attorney Chase Strangio, who is arguing on behalf of the families, will be the first openly transgender lawyer to present a case before the Supreme Court. Tennessee’s Republican attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti says in court filings that states have long had the power to regulate medicine and that there is nothing unconstitutional about restricting the use of a drug for certain purposes, even when it can be used for treating other conditions, or imposing age limits for health treatments when the risks and rewards are too uncertain. One potential wild card in the resolution of the case is the incoming Trump administration and the possibility that the next solicitor general will flip the federal government’s position to align with Tennessee’s view. If that were to happen, the court could allow the ACLU to continue challenging the law on its own, which would keep the justices on track to issue a ruling by the end of June. Trump transition officials did not immediately respond to questions about the case before the court, but his team has said Trump intends to fulfill his campaign promises, which included a crackdown on gender transition care for minors. PATIENTS AND LAWMAKERS CLASH L.W. said she began to suspect she was trans in 2019, when she was 11. She’d long felt as if she were “drowning,” but she didn’t understand why. She wore baggy clothes to obscure her body, and she panicked the first time she saw a few facial hairs above her lip. She was so uncomfortable in boys bathrooms, she avoided ever using one at school. Eventually, she developed urinary tract infections. After a cousin came out as trans, L.W. began researching on YouTube and Google. But she was scared, so she didn’t tell her parents she thought she was trans until just after Thanksgiving in 2020, more than a year after she’d first put a name to her feelings. Brian and Samantha Williams both had gay friends, and they told L.W. they supported her, but neither felt comfortable immediately taking her to a doctor. L.W. was 12, and Brian worried the distress she felt might be normal puberty angst. “It’s not like we took this thing lightly and just did it,” Brian said. The family went to a progressive church, and the church had a therapist on staff who specialized in trans youth, so Samantha and Brian signed L.W. up for counseling. After roughly six months, the therapist diagnosed L.W. with gender dysphoria and recommended a team of doctors at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. At Vanderbilt, L.W. underwent tests, then, in the summer of 2021, her doctors prescribed the drug Lupron to stop her body from going through male puberty. The medication, which has been used for at least 30 years on patients who start puberty too early, is largely reversible, but it can affect a young person’s bone density if taken long term without hormone therapy. The teen said she felt instantly relieved. To her, the benefits “strongly outweighed” any side effects. At the time, no state had banned trans adolescents from receiving the kind of care Vanderbilt’s team offered. Doctors nationwide had been treating a few thousand young people a year with hormones and puberty blockers, according to data compiled for Reuters – a tiny fraction of America’s adolescent population. They faced little pushback. Multiple peer-reviewed studies have found that a majority of trans adolescents experience “satisfaction,” “confidence” and “improvements in psychosocial functioning” after such treatment. Almost as soon as L.W. left her first appointment, she asked to start estrogen, but her doctors and her parents decided to wait. L.W. went in for regular evaluations, and in September 2022, more than a year after she started Lupron, her doctors agreed to prescribe estrogen. Hormone therapy made life feel possible in ways it never had before, L.W. said. She started hugging her family. She recorded music and built Lego models. She and her younger brother staged Airsoft matches with other teenagers. Neighbors even told Samantha that L.W. talked to them for the first time. L.W.’s journey felt personal to her, a singular distress followed by her own unique wins. But her time at Vanderbilt coincided with a historic rise in gender dysphoria diagnoses. In 2021, about 42,000 young people nationwide received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, nearly triple the number in 2017, according to data the technology company Komodo Health Inc. compiled for Reuters. The vast majority were not prescribed hormones or puberty blockers, the data shows. Still, as the numbers rose, lawmakers and activists across the country began to raise questions about gender clinics and the treatments doctors were offering. The same month L.W. started estrogen, the conservative podcast host Matt Walsh accused Vanderbilt of castrating, sterilizing and mutilating children for profit. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) promised to investigate the hospital. That fall, Walsh and a group of Republican state legislators held a “Rally to End Child Mutilation” in downtown Nashville. Only Arkansas and Alabama had passed bans on transition-related care at that point. But lawmakers in other conservative states signaled that they intended to prioritize similar restrictions. In March 2023, Tennessee adopted the legislation now before the Supreme Court. The law, known as SB 1, prohibits health-care providers from prescribing any puberty blocker or hormone for the purpose of enabling a minor to identify or live as “a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex.” Providers who violate the law can be fined $25,000 for each prohibited treatment and are subject to disciplinary measures and potential civil liability in private lawsuits. Throughout the hearings on the legislation, Republican lawmakers treated gender dysphoria as if it were an illusion. A co-sponsor of the House bill described transitioning as a “fiction” and “fantasy.” Another representative said, “If you don’t know what you are, a boy or girl, male or female, just go in the bathroom and take your clothes off and look in the mirror and you’ll find out.” The Williams family watched the hearings, and Brian was infuriated. The lawmakers didn’t know his daughter. He and Samantha had taken L.W. to experts. They’d had what felt like a million hard conversations, and they’d followed the best evidence available. “All of a sudden to have a state come down and say that that’s not the right thing to do, that’s it’s abusive, that it’s wrongheaded, it’s just infuriating because I feel like I’m doing all the right stuff,” Brian said. EXPERIMENTATION OR DISCRIMINATION? After the bill became law, everyone in the Williams family agreed that discontinuing care wasn’t an option. L.W. was happy in ways she’d never been before she transitioned. If she stopped taking puberty blockers and estrogen, her body would begin to go through male puberty. She told her parents that was too painful to contemplate, let alone experience. Moving didn’t feel possible either. L.W.’s brother sobbed every time he thought about leaving his friends, and Brian’s elderly parents live in Nashville and rely on his help. That spring, Samantha saw an ACLU form that invited families to describe how they’d been affected by the legislation. She didn’t imagine, as she filled out the form, that she was signing up for a lawsuit that would eventually make its way to the Supreme Court. She only knew that she wanted to protect her daughter and she didn’t want to feel helpless anymore. Tennessee gave families four months to wean kids like L.W. off the medications, but in June, before the ban even took effect, Vanderbilt shut down its clinic. In June 2023, a District Court judge temporarily blocked the law, saying it discriminates based on sex and treats some teens differently because they are transgender. The judge said the benefits of the treatments are well-established and noted that Tennessee’s law bans the medications for a small subset of minors while making them available for adolescents who use them for other health issues. “If Tennessee wishes to regulate access to certain medical procedures,” wrote U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson, a Trump nominee, “it must do so in a manner that does not infringe on the rights conferred by the United States Constitution, which is of course supreme to all other laws of the land.” A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit soon reversed Richardson’s decision, rejecting the families’ claims of discrimination and allowing the state to enforce the law while litigation continues. Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton said the law regulates gender transition treatments for all minors, regardless of sex, and concluded that Tennessee lawmakers could have rationally determined that the law was an appropriate response to perceived risks associated with the treatments. Sutton, a nominee of George W. Bush, also said courts should be wary of intervening in a highly contested political dispute. Judge Helene N. White, another Bush nominee, agreed with the majority that the Constitution envisions states acting as laboratories for democracies to resolve political debates, but dissented from the majority ruling. “When a fundamental right or freedom from discrimination is involved, experimentation has no place,” she wrote. At the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar is asking the justices to return the case to the 6th Circuit to apply a more stringent level of review, which she says should be triggered by a law that discriminates based on sex. The state, she wrote, ignores the benefits of gender-transition care and overstates the health risks. She also said the law’s stated goal of having teens “appreciate their sex” is based on stereotypical understandings of gender and cannot be used to justify the ban. Skrmetti, the Tennessee attorney general, said the state has the authority to protect minors from the risks of gender-transition treatment, and the federal government should not discount lawmakers’ concerns. He also objected to Prelogar’s characterization of the law as driven by stereotypes. It is not unconstitutional discrimination, Skrmetti argued, to say that drugs can be prescribed for one reason, but not another. L.W. will be in the courtroom on Wednesday, but she said she can’t comprehend the gravity of the case she’s a part of. Mostly, she has tried to continue to live the life gender care has made possible. The day the ACLU filed its petition, she went to high school, and she only told a few people in the Gender-Sexualities Alliance, or GSA, about the case. That night, she worried, briefly, that her name would be on a case that might be remembered along the same lines as Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 Supreme Court case that ruled it was constitutional for states to enact segregation laws. Eventually, L.W. decided it was out of her control, and plus, she had the drivers’ test for her learner’s permit to worry about, so she set aside her fears and let her lawyers handle the hard parts. She is a junior in high school now. She DJed a party this Halloween. She has broadened her social life, and she adopted a kitten the family named Mushroom. She wants to spend her free time traveling to look at colleges with aviation programs, but for now, she and her mother still make regular trips to get treatment in North Carolina. Traveling out of state for health-care she’d rather get at home is arduous. Until recently, her mother had to take unpaid time off work, and L.W. has to call in sick to the magnet high school where she takes three Advanced Placement classes. “I hate taking days off school, it’s, like, the worst thing ever,” she said. “I have very, very difficult classes. So I’ve got a lot to catch up on if I miss a single day.” The drive used to take five hours each way, but Hurricane Helene washed out one of the roads they take, and now, the journey will be much longer. Comments are not available on this story. Send questions/comments to the editors. « Previous Next »MILLWALL'S clash with Sunderland was stopped twice due to medical emergencies in the crowd. The Championship game was halted at The Den in the 41st minute as players called on the medics to attend to a supporter. Advertisement 2 Millwall's clash with Sunderland was stopped near the end of the first half Credit: PA 2 The players were taken off the field following the medical emergency Credit: PA The referee then led the players off the field in stoppage time after they had been waiting by the technical area. Millwall 's medical staff were stood down by paramedics as home fans gave the supporter a round of applause when they were lifted onto a stretcher. Millwall tweeted: "The players have left the pitch following a medical emergency in the crowd. "We send our best wishes to those receiving attention." Advertisement As the players waited for a resolution, there was then a second medical emergency which further delayed the match. The game was 1-0 to Sunderland at the time of the first incident - with Aaron Connolly having put the visitors ahead in the 10th minute. Reacting to the news, one social media user said: "Fingers crossed for the fan involved." While another added: "Hope all ends up well 🙏🏼 Never want to see this." Advertisement Most read in Sport Live Blog RANGERS VS DUNDEE UTD Teams as Dujon Sterling comes in for James Tavernier at right back WAITING GAME Rangers-Dundee Utd kick off DELAYED amid Storm Bert chaos as new time revealed COLD SNAP Full List of Storm Bert chaos with TEN games off and THREE Prem matches delayed SNOW JOKE Shock moment SPFL team coach gets stuck in snow amid Storm Bert travel chaos And a third replied: "Hope the people are well and sending best wishes 💙⚽️💙😀🙋‍♀️." Sunderland came into the game knowing a win or draw would take them back to the top of the Championship table. Earlier in the day, Sheffield United were held to a 2-2 draw against Coventry . Meanwhile, Millwall came into the game two points adrift of the play-off places. Advertisement

is a man of many talents on the basketball court, but he proved in a New York City park he's also trying to be talented on the chessboard too. On Saturday morning, hours after the star had 19 points, seven rebounds and six blocks in , Wembanyama asking if anyone wanted to meet him at the popular southwest corner Washington Square Park in Manhattan to play chess. Well sure enough, the 7-foot-3-inch big man showed up − even in the rain. People on social media took photos of Wembanyama playing chess with people, and it wasn't hard to spot him considering his height. A small crowd gathered to watch him play against some local competition. POV: You’re playing chess with on a Saturday morning in Washington Square Park ♟️🗽 — NBA (@NBA) A good day for chess ♟️ — San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) Victor Wembanyama is playing Chess in NY! — PJ Hoops (@RealPjHoops) Wemby pulled up to NYC to play chess ♟️ — Chess.com (@chesscom) x.com Wembanyama later with the people that came out to play with and watch him. "Thanks for everyone who pulled up in the rain," he said. Thanks for everyone who pulled up in the rain 😂🔥 — Wemby (@wemby) Clearly the Spurs had some free time to spend in New York City after Friday night's win. San Antonio is currently on a four-game road trip that concludes on Sunday at the Minnesota Timberwolves.

I’m stretching Christmas this year. And I think it needs to be stretched every year. It’s the jovial spirit that appears to affect everybody at this time each year. People are smiling and hugging – even guys are hugging each other. It’s a spirit that we need to see continue indefinitely. Maybe I should have brought my camera to our last bowling night of the year the week before Christmas. Because then I might have captured the joy and warmth that surrounded me as so many folks displayed their brotherly love. It’s definitely the smile-ingest time of the year; accompanied by a sparkling in the eyes. I’m easily moved into that spirit because of a particular gift I received about 25 years ago. It always affects me that way. It’s a singing Santa given to me by a special lady friend. It stands about 16 inches high and wears a black cowboy hat. I used to have a black one, too. When I turn Santa on, he starts to swing his hips back and forth as he sings: “Have a holly jolly Christmas; It’s the best time of the year. Now I don’t know, if there’ll be snow, But have a cup of cheer. Have a holly jolly Christmas; And when you walk down the street Say hello to friends you know And everyone you meet.” The gal who gave me that singing Santa said she just couldn’t help herself when she saw it – because it immediately reminded her of me. That was back when I was driving 18-wheelers coast-to-coast. They were big red trucks with matching all-red trailers. And during those last two 10-day runs between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I dressed a bit like Santa with a red jacket and typical Santa-style red stocking hat. Quite frequently, when cars with kids in them would pass by on the interstates, the kids would notice me and start pointing up at me. Sometimes, they apparently told the driver to go slower and drive beside me so they could get a better look. And I drew more attention at the truck stops, where I had a spiel ready to explain to the parents with young children. I told them Santa can’t carry enough gifts in that sleigh of his, so he needs helpers like me to drop off more gifts at special locations along his route. That seemed to satisfy the tots and smiling parents. Each year, we pull my singing Santa out from its closet storage and mount it on a table in the living room. I turn it on for visitors – and occasionally just to listen to it myself. It definitely helps create that “best time of the year” atmosphere. And I hope this item with photos help you to stretch those feelings of joy, warmth and brotherly love from Christmas into the new year.Pope to skip Notre Dame opening in Paris for Corsica visit

ORLANDO, Fla. — It was a season of Iowa State comebacks. And fittingly, that's how it ended for the Cyclones. Game MVP Rocco Becht scored from a yard out on fourth-and-goal with 56 seconds remaining and No. 18 Iowa State capped the best season in school history by rallying past No. 15 Miami 42-41 in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Saturday. Becht finished with 270 passing yards and three touchdowns for Iowa State (11-2), a program that entered this season — the 133rd year of Cyclone football — never having won more than nine games in a year. “If you look at this team, it’s really who they’ve been all year,” coach Matt Campbell said. The win marked the fourth time in 2024 that Iowa State got a winning score with less than two minutes remaining. For this one, the Cyclones rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half — with Miami quarterback Cam Ward watching after a record-setting first half — to get win No. 11. Carson Hansen rushed for a pair of touchdowns for Iowa State. And as the MVP, Becht got the honor of choosing which flavor Pop-Tart was to be sacrificed in a giant toaster. “There's only one,” Becht said. “Cinnamon roll.” Ward passed for three touchdowns in his final college game, while Damien Martinez rushed for a career-high 179 yards for Miami (10-3), which dropped its sixth straight bowl game and lost three of four games to end the season — those three losses by a combined 10 points. "Disappointed that we couldn't pull out a victory," Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “These guys have always fought and always competed and this was no exception. ... It's painful. It's as painful as it gets when you don't win. But there's a lot to build on.” NEBRASKA 20, BOSTON COLLEGE 15: Dylan Raiola passed for 228 yards and a touchdown as Nebraska built an 18-point lead through three quarters and hung on for its first bowl victory since 2015. Raiola hit Emmett Johnson with a 13-yard TD pass on fourth down with 3:02 remaining in the third quarter for a 20-2 edge and the Cornhuskers (7-6) held on for the win at Yankee Stadium. Raiola completed 23 of 31 passes in front of a sizable Nebraska crowd that celebrated the team's first bowl win since topping UCLA in the 2015 Foster Farms Bowl and first winning season since 2016. Raiola completed passes to 10 receivers, including Jahmal Banks, who finished with four receptions for 79 yards. Grayson James finished 25 of 40 for 296 yards as Boston College (7-6). UCONN 27, NORTH CAROLINA 14: Joe Fagnano threw for 151 yards and two touchdowns to help the Huskies (9-4) beat the Tar Heels (6-7) at Fenway Park, embarrassing incoming coach Bill Belichick's new team in his old backyard. Mel Brown rushed for 96 yards for UConn and Skyler Bell caught three passes for 77 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown that gave the Huskies a 10-0 first-quarter lead. Chris Culliver returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, but that would be Carolina's only production in the first half. TCU 34, LOUISIANA 3: Josh Hoover passed for four touchdowns as the Horned Frogs (9-4) routed the Ragin' Cajuns (10-4) in Albuquerque. Hoover was 20 for 32 for 252 yards with an interception. Eric McAlister had eight catches for 87 yards and a TD for the Horned Frogs. TCU's defense also had a solid day, holding Louisiana-Lafayette to 209 yards, including 61 on the game's final possession. LATE FRIDAY LAS VEGAS BOWL USC 35, TEXAS A&M 31: Jayden Maiava threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kyle Ford with eight seconds left to give Southern California the victory over Texas A&M (8-5) in the Las Vegas Bowl. A graduate of Liberty High School in nearby Henderson and a transfer from UNLV, Maiava helped the Trojans (7-6) overcome a 17-point deficit. Get local news delivered to your inbox!President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers urge judge to toss his hush money conviction

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde along with his deputies, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, on Saturday, thanked the people of the state for the MahaYuti's resounding success, accepting the development politics and rejecting the anti-growth and negative politics. He said the three MahaYuti parties would sit together and decide on the Chief Minister’s post. CM Shinde took a swipe at the Maha Vikas Aghadi, especially, SS(UBT) for repeatedly claiming that the MahaYuti government would collapse. The CM said that they did not respond to this by making counter-allegations. Terming the poll performance "historical", the Chief Minister said that MahaYuti’s responsibility to boost the pace of development has further increased. "We have won the hearts and not the votes of people," he claimed. He took a dig at his former boss Uddhav Thackeray saying, "The poll results have proved that the government cannot be run by sitting at home or through Facebook but by mingling with the people and working 24x7." The CM said the people have decided whose Shiv Sena is the real Shiv Sena. NCP President Ajit Pawar also determined whose NCP is the real NCP. The Chief Minister also took a swipe at the opposition for criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'Ek Hai To Safe Hai' call saying that it was given for unity. Fadnavis said that the 'Ek Hai To Safe Hai' call given by the Prime Minister was for unity among various sections of the society and today’s mandate was a befitting reply to those doing communal, divisive politics and appeasement politics. "The election was contested based on the development plank and welfare schemes. People want development. They do not want vindictive politics," he said. The Chief Minister said the government launched the welfare and development schemes after considering the state’s financial position and also adhering to the Central and RBI norms. "Opposition questioned the MahaYuti government about how the funds will be made available for Ladki Bahin Yojana but later they announced financial aid through Mahalakshmi yojana," he said. The CM also criticised the opposition for terming financial aid under the Ladki Bahin Yojana as a bribe but said the government undeterred by such allegations focused on its implementation. He thanked the Centre for giving funds and clearing a slew of projects for Maharashtra, including the Rs 76,000 crore Vadhvan port project. "During the UPA government, the Centre gave Rs 2 lakh crore while the BJP-led government released over Rs 10 lakh crore in the last decade," he said. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Dy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar ridiculed Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut's allegation of poll results as "fraud".PHILADELPHIA – Eagles quarterback Kenny Pickett has seen limited action this season, mostly appearing in mop-up duty when games were already decided. Those moments allowed him to stay sharp. With starting quarterback Jalen Hurts ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys, Pickett finally got his chance to start, marking his first start since Dec. 3, 2023, when he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pickett’s backup, Tanner McKee, had also never played in a regular-season game. Together, the two quarterbacks formed an unlikely duo to lead the Eagles to an NFC East title. On Sunday, they combined for 197 net passing yards in the Eagles’ 41-7 win , clinching the division and ensuring the team will finish no lower than the No. 2 seed in the NFC. Pickett completed 10 of 15 passes for 143 yards, including a touchdown to wide receiver DeVonta Smith , and added a rushing touchdown. However, his day ended in the third quarter when Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons re-injured Pickett’s ribs with a hard hit. “I just wanted to come in and do my part,” Pickett said. “I told the quarterbacks in the tunnel before warm-ups, ‘Just win at all costs. That’s it. That’s all I care about.’ All I wanted to accomplish today was to get the win for the team and for the city. I also wanted to keep the momentum we’ve had going this season.” Pickett, who wore extra padding in his flak jacket to protect his injured ribs, admitted the “Brotherly Shove” play and earlier hits during the game aggravated the injury. The Parsons hit ultimately forced him out of the game. Despite the discomfort, Pickett expressed optimism about his recovery. “I’ll undergo more tests, but I don’t believe they’ll show anything significant,” he said. “Of course, you want to finish the game, but I left it all out there. I did everything I could to play today and stayed as long as I could. I have no regrets. We got the win, and that’s all that matters.” Smith saw Pickett gut it out on the field after taking the shots he did with his banged-up ribs and said he and his teammates respected Pickett for the toughness that he showed. “It did not go unnoticed,” Smith said. “To see him fight through the things he was fighting through, he’s a very tough guy.” BUY EAGLES TICKETS: STUBHUB , VIVID SEATS , TICKETMASTER After serving as the emergency quarterback this season, McKee was elevated to the backup role and made the most of it replacing the injured Pickett, although he did not know how long he was going to play. “They were saying to just stay ready,” McKee said. “They’re great. They’re very positive with things like that. During that moment, we didn’t really know if I was going to go in or if Kenny was going to come back. so Nuss (quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier) asked me if I was prepared and ready for this. He also told me to stay warm, so I was excited.” In very limited work, McKee completed three of his four passes for 54 yards and two touchdown passes, becoming the first player to throw for multiple touchdowns with fewer than five attempts in their first career game. “It was great. Before the game, I was thinking that this could be my shot. Then going out there and just being on the field, it’s great because you’re just playing football. You realize you’ve been here before and had reps multiple times in practice. I was running through it in my bedroom last night. Once you finally get in the field, all you’re doing is playing football.” Head coach Nick Sirianni said he was happy that they both came in and played “clean” football and limited their mistakes, helping the Eagles come away with the win. “They deserve all that credit. You can’t go out there and play that position without the greatness of other people, and they had some greatness from other guys out there. Starting with their coaches...who really did a good job of getting them ready. Then the plays that they got from Smitty (Smith), Saquon (Barkley), Grant Calcaterra, A.J. [Brown] and the offensive line. That’s what a team is. A team steps up in adversity and steps up and has each other’s backs.” Having two quarterbacks who are capable of coming in and playing in a short-term capacity is important for a team with much higher aspirations than winning the division title. Either Pickett or McKee will likely play a lot in next week’s regular-season finale against Giants if the Eagles are eliminated from the race for the top seed if either the Minnesota Vikings or Detroit Lions win their games this weekend. It could also help them this offseason if the team wanted to recoup a few draft picks from teams that is desperate to add a quarterback because of an injury. For now, the Eagles will make sure that they are prepared to step in if anything else were to happen to Hurts this season. MORE EAGLES COVERAGE Why Eagles’ offensive lineman is ‘all in’ if Saquon Barkley wants to chase record against Giants Eagles secure NFC East title behind Kenny Pickett as Saquon Barkley eclipses major milestone Eagles’ Saquon Barkley becomes 9th player in NFLto rush for 2,000 yards: Will he set record vs. Giants or get rested? Eagles down to 3rd-string QB who has never played in a regular-season game after Kenny Pickett injury Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription. Chris Franklin may be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com .

Credit: Adobe Stock/ Onephoto A study showed an inverse correlation between the non-HDL cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio and the prevalence of anemia in US adults. 1 “[This suggests] that lower [non-HDL cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio] could be a factor in the heightened occurrence of anemia,” wrote investigators, led by Nengneng Cao, MS, from the department of hematology at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, in China. “Concurrently, the study unveiled a threshold effect value of 4.28 for the NHHR when assessing its connection with anemia.” The non-HDL cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio is a newly developed metric that can assess the risk for atherosclerosis, chronic kidney disease, metabolic syndrome, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The association between non-HDL cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio and anemia was under-evaluated. Prior studies have shown the correlation between blood lipid abnormalities and anemia, with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor activity in anemic patients negatively correlated with plasma cholesterol levels. 2 Research has suggested underlying mechanisms of this correlation include the change in serum cholesterol levels include altered absorption, abnormal synthesis, and changes in excretion, dilution, and redistribution. Studies have also indicated that high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) may contribute to iron-induced damage to kidney tissues in patients with diabetes, which can lead to chronic anemia. 3 Investigators sought to investigate the connection between non-HDL cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio and the prevalence of anemia, along with their potential interactions. 1 Leveraging data from 4 NHANES cycles spanning from 2009 – 2010 to 2015 – 2026, the study included 17,019 participants with anemia defined by a hemoglobin level (g/dL) of DEPAUL 98, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 52Georgia quarterback Carson Beck has played his last college football game. The redshirt senior announced his intentions to enter the 2025 NFL Draft on his Instagram account , foregoing a final year of eligibility. Beck's season was cut short during the SEC Championship Game against Texas when he sustained an injury to his right elbow on the final play before halftime. He was replaced by Gunner Stockton until the final play in overtime; Stockton's helmet came off, forcing Beck back onto the field for a game-winning handoff to running back Trevor Etienne . Following UCL surgery, Beck was ruled out for the College Football Playoff. Stockton will lead the No. 2 seed Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal against No. 7 seed Notre Dame on Jan. 1. Beck's 2024 season was full of ups and downs. The preseason Heisman hopeful threw for nearly 3,500 yards and 28 touchdowns, but all 12 of his interceptions were thrown during a six-game midseason stretch. Injuries and general shuffling along the offensive line, coupled with the offseason losses of safety blankets like Ladd McConkey and Brock Bowers in the passing game, clearly affected Beck's confidence and productivity, but he nevertheless took a step back from preseason expectations. Beck's NFL Draft stock Beck was considered a potential first-round prospect at the start of the 2024 season after earning All-SEC second-team honors in 2023 and throwing for nearly 4,000 yards. His inconsistent follow-up has dropped him from first-round consideration, however. None of CBS Sports' NFL Draft insiders have Beck as a first-round selection, and he is listed as the No. 55 overall prospect by CBS Sports draft rankings, likely putting him somewhere in the Day 2 (Rounds 2 and 3) conversation. Where Georgia turns next Stockton was serviceable coming off the bench for Beck against the Longhorns in Atlanta, throwing for 71 yards and a pick on 12 of 16 passing, but how he plays against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl -- and potentially beyond should the Bulldogs make a run in the CFP -- may provide more insight into whether he is the long-term answer in 2025 and beyond. Also on the roster are Ryan Puglisi and Jaden Rashada . The latter is a one-time blue-chip prospect whose winding recruiting journey ultimately took him to Arizona State before he later transferred to Georgia. The transfer portal also always remains an option if coach Kirby Smart feels the future of the offense isn't currently on the team.

In the first glimpse of Summer House season 9, Lindsay Hubbard put her costars to the test with their knowledge of pregnancy. “The winner gets to put the contraction simulator on the losing team,” Lindsay, 38, said in the trailer, which debuted on Saturday, November 23, during Bravo Fan Fest in Miami. “The loser is Kyle [Cooke] and Paige [DeSorbo]!” The cast was participating in an array of baby shower games, which saw Kyle, 42, strapping melons onto his chest to replicate the weight of a baby bump and Jesse Solomon wearing a diaper and sucking on a pacifier. Ciara Miller, meanwhile, was at the control panel for the labor simulation machine. “We’re in this together,” Kyle, who is married to costar Amanda Batula, told Paige after the labor simulator pads were applied to their respective stomachs. “Something’s tingling. ... Ow, f—! Jesus Christ, stop.” Paige, 32, immediately burst out laughing at her roommate’s misfortune and noted that “it didn’t hurt.” An immediate serotonin boost: Activated. 📣THIS JUST IN📣 from #BravoFanFest , here’s a first look at an all-new season of #SummerHouse ! pic.twitter.com/noSxtS8L1f — Bravo (@BravoTV) November 23, 2024 “I was just surprised that’s what it was,” Paige explained of her feelings. The rest of the cast, including Lindsay’s ex Carl Radke, also laughed at Paige and Kyle. Lindsay announced her pregnancy in July, revealing that she is expecting a baby girl with her boyfriend. (Lindsay’s partner is a doctor, but she has not publicly confirmed his identity.) While Lindsay’s mystery man did not join her on Summer House , she has not slowed down her appearances on the Bravo hit. Season 9 will be the first full one since Carl, 39, called off his and Lindsay’s wedding in 2023. The breakup aired during the season 8 finale. “Obviously, in most normal situations — if you could call any of it normal — you break up and you won’t go then live in a house on the weekends with your ex-fiancé,” Lindsay exclusively told Us Weekly in August. “But here we are, you know, modern age, modern people.” You have successfully subscribed. By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive emails from Us Weekly Check our latest news in Google News Check our latest news in Apple News She added, “There’s a little drama because you don’t just act like everything is fine and nothing happened. There are past and residual feelings that come up that you need to address ... but for the most part, I think it’s been OK.” While Lindsay — one of Us Weekly ’s Reality TV Stars of the Year — remains unsure whether she and Carl can “get back to a friendship,” she wasn’t uncomfortable filming season 9 in his presence. Summer House season 9 also stars Gabby Prescod and West Wilson. A premiere date has not yet been announced.