Emanuel Wallace, 27, from east London, is better known as Big Manny by his 1.9 million followers on TikTok, where he shares videos explaining various science experiments from his back garden while using Jamaican Patois phrases and London slang. In early December, Mr Wallace won the Education Creator of the Year award at the TikTok Awards ceremony, which he said is a “symbol that anything that you put your mind to you can achieve”. The content creator began making videos during the coronavirus pandemic when schools turned to online learning but has since expanded his teaching from videos to paper after releasing his debut book Science Is Lit in August. He believes his “unconventional” teaching methods help to make his content relatable for younger audiences by using slang deriving from his Jamaican and British heritage. “The language that I use, it’s a combination between Jamaican Patois and London slang because I have Jamaican heritage,” the TikToker, who holds a bachelors and masters degree in biomedical science, told the PA news agency. “That’s why in my videos sometimes I might say things like ‘Wagwan’ or ‘you dun know’. I just want to connect with the young people more, so I speak in the same way that they speak. “The words that I use, the way that I deliver the lesson as well, I would say that my method of teaching is quite unconventional. I speak in a way that is quite conversational.” Examples of his videos include lithium batteries catching fire after being sandwiched inside a raw chicken breast, as well as mixing gold with gallium to create blue gold, earning millions of views. Mr Wallace hopes his content will help make the science industry more diverse, saying “the scientists that I was taught about, none of them look like me”. “Now me being a scientist is showing young people that they can become one as well, regardless of the background that they come from, the upbringing that they’ve had,” he said. “I just want to make it seem more attainable and possible for them because if I can do it, and I come from the same place as you, there’s no reason why you can’t do it as well.” The TikToker has seen a shift in more young people turning to the app as a learning resource and feels short-form videos will soon become a part of the national curriculum in schools. “I’m seeing (young people) using that a lot more – social media as a resource for education – and I feel like in the future, it’s going to become more and more popular as well,” he said. “I get a lot of comments from students saying that my teacher showed my video in the classroom as a resource, so I feel like these short form videos are going to be integrated within the national curriculum at some point in the near future.” He also uses his platform to raise awareness of different social issues, which he said is “extremely important”. One of his videos highlighted an anti-knife campaign backed by actor Idris Elba, which earned more than 39 million views, while his clip about the banning of disposable vapes was viewed more than 4.6 million times. He said there is some pressure being a teacher with a large following online but hopes he can be a role model for young people. “I’m aware that I am in the public eye and there’s a lot of young people watching me,” he said. “Young people can be impressionable, so I make sure that I conduct myself appropriately, so that I can be a role model. “I always have the same message for young people, specifically. I tell them to stay curious. Always ask questions and look a little bit deeper into things.” His plans for 2025 include publishing a second Science Is Lit book and expanding his teaching to television where he soon hopes to create his own science show.NBA Spread and Total Picks for Today, December 30SAN FRANCISCO , Nov. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Smodin, a trailblazer in AI-powered tools for students, educators, and professionals, is thrilled to announce an exciting development: www. contemplativeinquiry.org and www. freshu.io now redirect to Smodin.io, creating a single, unified hub for innovation and productivity. This move marks a significant step forward in Smodin's mission to make advanced AI tools more accessible than ever. By integrating these domains into Smodin.io, users will enjoy seamless access to a broader range of resources, from AI writing assistance to content analysis, all on a single platform designed to meet diverse needs. "This isn't just about redirection—it's about transformation," said the founder of Smodin. "By bringing everything under the Smodin umbrella, we're creating a one-stop solution for anyone seeking smarter, faster, and more effective tools to achieve their goals." Visitors from contemplativeinquiry.org and freshu.io will now have direct access to Smodin's continually expanding suite of features, including plagiarism detection, essay generation, and tools tailored to enhance productivity and creativity. This evolution ensures users can focus on what truly matters: creating, learning, and growing. The consolidation is part of Smodin's vision to innovate and deliver an unparalleled user experience while solidifying its position as a global leader in AI technology. Discover the future of AI-driven solutions at www.smodin.io . About Smodin Smodin is a leading AI-powered platform dedicated to empowering users worldwide with smart tools for writing, research, and productivity. With a focus on innovation and accessibility, Smodin transforms the way students, educators, and professionals work and create. View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smodin-unites-powerful-domains-to-deliver-an-all-in-one-ai-platform-302314508.html SOURCE Smodin
Equality, Social Justice top priority for govt: LG Jammu: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today paid tributes to the brave warrior and India’s greatest military strategist, General Zorawar Singh, on his Martyrdom Day. Addressing a commemorative event organized by General Zorawar Singh Memorial Educational and Charitable Trust, at Gulshan Ground Jammu, the Lieutenant Governor spoke on General Zorawar Singh’s military campaigns in Ladakh, Baltistan, Tibet and highlighted his immense contribution to the expansion of the Dogra Empire. “The life and work of great persons always inspire others. General Zorawar Singh’s leadership inspired millions to unite for the cause of equitable path of growth. His vision and values guiding us to work for those sections of the society who have got left behind,” the Lieutenant Governor said. The Lieutenant Governor shared the efforts of the Government, under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to honour the contributions of great personalities like General Zorawar Singh. He also spoke on the transformation taking place in J&K in the past few years. The Lieutenant Governor reiterated that Equality and Social Justice is top priority for the government. “Public welfare is my ‘Dharma’ and ‘Kartavya’. It is being ensured that the benefits of the development reach all the sections of the society without any discrimination,” he said. He highlighted that the progressive and citizen-centric policies of the government have strengthened the faith of the common man in the governance system. Speed of infrastructure development was accelerated manifold in the last five years and hundreds of projects stalled for decades were fast-tracked. Now, the ideals of democracy and the values enshrined in the Constitution have become an integral part of the governance process, the Lieutenant Governor further added. On the occasion, the Lieutenant Governor appreciated the members of General Zorawar Singh Memorial Educational and Charitable Trust for their endeavours to make young generation aware of the inspiring saga of General Zorawar Singh. He also called upon the youth to selflessly serve the society and contribute towards nation building. “I have full faith that together we will realize the resolve of Developed India,” he said. Ms Shagun Parihar, Member of Legislative Assembly from Kishtwar; Sh Ramesh Kumar, Divisional Commissioner Jammu; Sh Devinder Singh Kaluria, Chairman, General Zorawar Singh Memorial Trust and Trustees-Ms Riya Kaluria and Diksha Kaluria; senior officials of Army, Civil and Police Administration; prominent citizens and students in large number were present.President James Earl “Jimmy” Carter Jr. died on Sunday, December 29, 2024 at his home in Plains, Georgia, at 100 years old. Carter will be remembered as a consummate humanitarian and Nobel Prize winning statesman who spent his retirement years building houses with Habitat for Humanity and all but eradicating a truly terrible parasite, the guinea worm, from the planet. He will also be rather unfairly remembered as a weak, ineffectual leader, relegated to a single four-year stint in the White House; a rarity among modern presidents. It’s a reputation pushed by the Greed-is-Good Reaganites who immediately followed Carter’s single-term presidency. But looking back, it’s clear that Carter’s presidency included plenty of far-reaching changes that could have drastically altered the course of America — specifically, our dependency on cars and foreign oil, and our rate of toxic pollution output — if only we had stuck with his plans. It is far beyond anyone’s ability to sum up such a man, even with a few thousand words to work with, but here’s how Carter biographer Jonathan Alter describes his subject : With skills ranging from agronomist, land-use planner, nuclear engineer and sonar technologist to poet, painter, Sunday School teacher and master woodworker, Carter was the first president since Thomas Jefferson who could rightly be considered a Renaissance Man. He was also the first since Jefferson under whom no blood was shed in war. And his record of honesty and decency — once seen as minimum qualifications — have loomed larger with time. At a farewell dinner just before leaving office, his vice-president, Walter F. Mondale, whose job Carter turned from punchline into a position of real responsibility, toasted the Carter Administration: “We told the truth. We obeyed the law. We kept the peace.” Carter later added a fourth major accomplishment: “And we championed human rights.” Carter served as president from 1977 to 1981, during a time when the U.S. alone consumed one-third of the entire planet’s energy production — much of that going towards fueling the large, criminally inefficient cars of the era. Carter created ground-breaking policies that attempted to reverse this trend, many of which Regan dismantled quicker than a solar panel on the White House roof. Even so, there were some deeply-felt lasting effects of his administration. Carter wrote in his autobiography: The Congressional Quarterly reported that since 1953 Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy and I ranked in that order in obtaining approval of legislation proposed to Congress. The Miller Center reported that my record exceeded Kennedy’s. Indeed, he got his legislative way in Congress 76.6 percent of the time, according to Politifact . He left a deep mark on this country, especially when it comes to the environment and the automotive industry. Carter was the first president to bail out an American automaker, Chrysler, with a $1.5-billion Treasury loan. He was the first to attempt to get oil companies to pay their fair share of taxes during times of record profits (and record gas-pump prices) and the first leader in the world to address global warming, and humanity’s role in it, as a reality. Carter looked at our wasteful, energy-hungry American culture and struck a solemn — occasionally scolding — chord, imploring us to build toward a brighter future. But such a vision is not sexy, and it’s not fun. It’s certainly not part of what we think of as the go-go 1980s culture. Instead of seriously investing in innovations that would reduce our dependence on carbon-emitting oil from hostile countries, America chose to proceed in an entirely different direction, made clear when the electorate chose Ronald Regan by a landslide in the 1980 presidential election. “Carter also envisioned electric cars by the mid-1980s, and would have used his power to push automakers in that direction, as he did on CAFE standards,” Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told Jalopnik. Alter believes that a second Carter term would have been much better in a lot of ways. “Starting with more compassion domestically and less saber-rattling abroad, where he would have likely completed the unfinished business of Camp David, namely some comprehensive Mideast peace deal that included an eventual Palestinian state. Carter told me this was his biggest regret about losing.” Carter won the Nobel Peace Price in 2002, the committee citing his groundbreaking work towards peace throughout his career, both as president and as a private civilian. The Camp David Accords ended 30 years of hostility between Egypt and Israel and remain the longest-lasting peace agreement since World War II. That’s not to say Carter was without fault. As president, Carter saved Chrysler (and the automaker paid off its debt to the American people seven years early), but the Carter administration also helped establish an emboldened corporate America where workers still regularly bear the burden of highly-paid CEOs’ mistakes. He created a new tax that would directly result in the rise of the SUV, inspiring automakers to revamp their ’70s gas-guzzler shortsightedness for the 21st century. And he led a White House that seemed chaotic and directionless when America yearned for strong leadership. Let’s take a look at where this influential president went right — and where he went wrong — in his dealings with the American automotive industry. Taking on Fuel Economy and Big Oil By 1977, the concept of the modern suburb was only about 25 years old, but had overtaken the American way of life. By the 1970s, the number of cars on American roads had quadrupled in two decades, to 118 million vehicles, and the number of miles traveled by car had doubled. This was the Malaise Era of cars — a time of inefficient, poorly built, uninspired land yachts. The rise of in-car air conditioning shaved even more miles off the U.S. economy average, costing new car owners about two and a half miles per gallon. Carter addressed this waste in his first address as president: We have learned that “more” is not necessarily “better,” that even our great Nation has its recognized limits, and that we can neither answer all questions nor solve all problems. We cannot afford to do everything, nor can we afford to lack boldness as we meet the future. So, together, in a spirit of individual sacrifice for the common good, we must simply do our best. The country was still reeling from the 1973 Gas Crisis, caused after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries placed an embargo on U.S. oil sales in response to the U.S. re-supplying Israel during the Yom Kippur War. This caused a spike in gas prices and shortages in fuel across the country. OPEC ended its embargo in May of 1974, but fuel prices remained high while oil companies profited immensely. To prevent another painful energy crisis, Carter’s predecessor, Gerald Ford, had signed into law the first Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard. This policy would eventually be expanded by the energy bill Carter promised in his inaugural address. Passed in 1978 as the National Energy Act, the collection of eight bills created the Department of Energy, pushed renewable energy goals, raised fleet average MPG requirements, reduced oil imports by supporting the U.S. oil industry, and imposed a gas guzzler tax which would increase as CAFE standards tightened. Carter called the previous administration’s energy crisis the “...moral equivalent of war,” and he planned to come out with both guns blazing. His new Department of Energy would be put to the test just a year after its creation when, in 1979, Carter faced the moral war of his own energy crisis. The Iranian Revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis sent oil prices soaring from $13 per barrel in mid-1979 to $34 per barrel by mid-1980 — despite the loss in oil supply being estimated at only four to five percent. Long lines at fuel pumps were once again angering Americans. But folksy Carter was famous for facing moral struggles. The president sequestered himself at Camp David for 10 days to consider the energy problems facing America. He met with leaders in business, science and faith, and spent hours alone studying and writing. After this period of reflection, Carter believed he had identified the problem. In what would later become known as Carter’s Malaise Speech , he cut to the heart of U.S. consumerist culture: The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America. . . . In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose. The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five years. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. The productivity of American workers is actually dropping, and the willingness of Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other people in the Western world. While certainly not wrong, saying as much is kind of a bummer. Amazingly, Carter’s incredibly low approval numbers received an 11-point bump after the speech, which was squandered a few days later when Carter fired five cabinet members. His presidency seemed scattered and chaotic heading into the 1980 presidential election. In order to bring down gas prices, Carter would begin to deregulate domestic fuel markets even as he imposed a large tax on oil company windfalls during the nationwide gas shortages and price hikes. His policies would initially lead to an increase in domestic oil production of nearly 1 million barrels a day between 1980 and 1985, according to the Miller Center. However, the price of oil plummeted in the mid ’80s, and the tax became a significant hindrance to domestic oil production, while not raking in all that much dough for the federal government. It was repealed in 1988; politicians have been twitchy over the idea of taxing massive oil company profits ever since. President Joe Biden recently floated the same idea, which was almost universally panned as being doomed to repeat Carter’s failure. Carter’s regulation of the auto industry wasn’t perfect, either. During his time in office, Carter expanded a tax on Japanese light-trucks in order to prop up domestic sales. Reagan would build on this policy in 1981, pressing Japanese automakers into “voluntary” export restrictions. Further, light trucks were exempt from Carter’s strict new MPG standards, and continue to be exempt to this day. These little favors for the automakers would lead directly to the rise of deadly, dangerous and wasteful SUVs and trucks on America’s roads, setting us up for yet another energy crisis in 2022, when gas prices and inflation once again reared their ugly heads. Carter told the Harvard Business Review he was proactive with automakers about building more fuel-efficient cars even before his own oil crisis. The heads of the Big Three were hesitant to get on board, however: [...] I called in to my cabinet room the chief executive officers—the chairmen of the board and the presidents of every automobile manufacturer in the nation—along with the autoworkers’ union representatives. I told them we were going to pass some very strict air pollution and energy conservation laws. My hope was that they would take the initiative right then and commit themselves to producing energy-efficient automobiles that would comply with these strict standards. Their unanimous response was that it simply was not possible. I told them that automakers in Sweden and in Japan were doing it, so it was possible. But they insisted that they just couldn’t make a profit on it because their profit came from the larger automobiles. So they refused to modify their designs. Eventually we passed a law that required them, incrementally and annually, to improve their automobiles’ efficiency and to comply with environmental standards. In the meantime, American manufacturers lost a lot of the domestic market. That was a case of the automobile industry being unwilling to look to the future. They could not see the long-run advantage, even though it might prove to be costly in the close-in years. That delay would cost Chrysler dearly. The 1979 Chrysler Bailout That lack of long-term foresight Carter spoke of in his Malaise speech would send Chrysler spiraling towards something unimaginable in the post-war United States: The bankruptcy of a major American automobile manufacturer. And yet, in 1979 Chrysler faced half a billion dollars in losses. At a time of rising gas prices and the emergence of stringent federal fuel economy standards, the American automaker was still churning out those poorly-built road yachts. No automaker built them quite as big (or as wasteful) as the Chrysler corporation. At the time, Chrysler was the third-largest automaker in the country, and the 10th-largest industrial manufacturer. By the time Carter took office, America had waded through five years of energy ups and downs, but Chrysler hadn’t changed its vehicles all that much. When the second gas crisis hit, along with the new regulations put in place by Carter’s energy policy, Chrysler fumbled. The company had recently scooped up celebrity CEO Lee Iaoccoa , fresh off eight years of making money hand over fist for Henry Ford II. Iacoccoa was the fall guy for the Ford Pinto disaster, but had made few friends with his desire to push the company towards more fuel-efficient vehicles. As a sign of the serious situation Chrysler was in, Iacoccoa took a salary of only $1 in his first year as CEO. Iacocca then tried to move Chrysler towards smaller vehicles, but quickly realized his new employer would not be able to weather this financial storm alone. Iacocca reached out to the feds for help. He persuaded lawmakers that Chrysler was too big to fail. Carter’s Treasury Department was on board, but in order to get enough support in Congress for a loan, the Carter administration would ask the company, and the UAW, to make deep concessions. Treasury Secretary G. William Miller proposed a $1.5 billion loan, then the Carter Administration’s Council on Wage and Price Stability testified before the Senate Banking Committee that such a loan would be consumed in three years flat, thanks to the automaker’s obligations to the UAW. After a summer of bad press and congressional cajoling, the UAW eventually agreed to $525 million in concessions in late October 1979, along with a three-year wage freeze. Just before Christmas, Chrysler got its $1.5 billion loan in the form of the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act. The act did more than just bail out Chrysler. While Chrysler would be subject to more government oversight while paying off the debt — including $2 billion in cost-cutting measures and a three-year plan approved by Congress to get the company back on track — the special act also relaxed the brand-new gas mileage requirements updated by the 1978 National Energy Act. That alone gave Chrysler a much-needed boost, which Iacocca used to springboard the company-saving K-cars and, eventually, the minivan, which came to define the brand in the 1980s and 1990s. This bailout would be used as a blueprint by the Obama administration in 2008 when General Motors and Chrysler found themselves in the same situation Chrysler had faced in 1979. While Chrysler employees weren’t the ones who made the bad business decisions in the ’70s, they would bear a great burden in the plan to right the company’s course. As they accepted major concessions, union members were painted by the media as selfish and lazy, willing to kill Chrysler to get their golden retirement funds. Even with steep concessions and wage freezes in the middle of historic inflation, Chrysler laid off 57,000 of its 134,000-strong production workforce, the Washington Post reported in a retrospective on the bailout published in 1984. All told, the auto industry as a whole would lay off 239,000 workers in one month in 1980 . Still, Carter biographer Jonathan Alter says saving Chrysler was worth it. “It was a binary decision: Save Chrysler and thousands of jobs or not, and he clearly made the right call for workers, for whom he had much more respect than did Reagan,” Alter told Jalopnik The damage to unions would last much longer than Chrysler’s debt. The automaker managed to pay off its loan seven years early — mostly to get out from under federal oversight. The U.S. made $300 million on its investment in the company. While Chrysler would thrive in the ’80s and ’90s thanks to Iacocca’s simple, fuel-efficient K-cars and the popular minivan, union membership in America dropped precipitously as Right-to-Work laws swept the nation. And as union memberships stagnate, so do wages . Carter Was Right The energy crisis was a key issue to voters who tossed Carter out in favor of Ronald Reagan in a legendary landslide. Having fellow democrat Ted Kennedy challenge the sitting president for his party’s nomination was just one more nail in the coffin of Carter’s re-election campaign. His shaky administration didn’t look any more solid when the president lost consciousness during a 10K run. Reagan didn’t chide the American public for their gas-guzzling cars. He didn’t ask Americans to spend less, or look deep within themselves and question consumerist culture — Reagan promised wealth, abundance and a revitalization of the American dream (for some, anyway). Once he took office, Reagan stripped the Carter-installed solar panels off the roof of the White House and tossed them in a basement. The dismantling served as a symbol of America rejecting Carter’s old energy policies wholesale. When the solar panels were found in 2010, they still worked . Carter’s concerns about the U.S. didn’t disappear — we just put them on the back burner for a few decades. Now we’re facing challenges similar to what Carter attempted to address with his time in office: climate change; oil companies profiteering on the back of sky-high fuel prices; the runaway popularity of giant, inefficient vehicles; and detrimental consumerism on a scale familiar to anyone who lived through the 1970s. So what if Reagan had lost the 1980 election? According to a New York Times op-ed, we might be living in a very different world: According to a recent report by Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, if the United States had continued to conserve oil at the rate it did in the period from 1976 to 1985, it would no longer have needed Persian Gulf oil after 1985. Had we continued this wise course, we might not have had to fight the Persian Gulf war, and we would have insulated ourselves from price shocks in the international oil market. Just before Carter left office in 1981, a member of his White House Council on Environmental Quality, Gus Speth, authored a presidential report as part of Global 2000, a process recommending action on global warming. It was the first such policy pronouncement anywhere in the world. “Speth’s recommendations for tackling climate change in 1981 would be almost identical to the Paris Climate Accords some 34 years later. Such a report would have become part of Carter’s legislative agenda in 1980,” Alter told Jalopnik. With Jimmy Carter’s death, America didn’t just lose an exemplary humanitarian who doubled the size of the National Parks system and signed 15 major pieces of environmental legislation, including the first toxic waste cleanup. We lost a reminder that our nation once had a head-start on solving some of the greatest problems we face today: environmental pollution, runaway oil consumption, rampant consumerism, a mental health crisis, climate change and Middle East violence. Carter envisioned a different, more responsible America, and he was rejected for it. Carter’s most enduring legacy will be this: He tried to leave America a little better than he found it. He attempted to warn Americans about the challenges we’d face over the next five decades. Our own legacy shows we were completely unwilling to heed those warnings.2025 budget: 13 states commit N3.8tn on salaries, others
Jimmy Carter: Many evolutions for a centenarian ‘citizen of the world’Trump is named Time's Person of the Year and rings the New York Stock Exchange's opening bell NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange after being recognized by Time magazine as its person of the year. The honors Thursday for the businessman-turned-politician are a measure of Trump’s remarkable comeback from an ostracized former president who refused to accept his election loss four years ago to a president-elect who won the White House decisively in November. At the stock exchange, Trump was accompanied by his wife, Melania Trump, daughters Ivanka and Tiffany and Vice President-elect JD Vance. Trump grinned as people chanted “USA” before he opened the trading day and raised his fist. YouTube TV is hiking its monthly price, again. Here's what to know NEW YORK (AP) — Are you a YouTube TV subscriber? Your monthly bills are about to get more expensive again. YouTube has announced that it’s upping the price of its streaming service’s base plan by $10 — citing rising content costs and other investments. The new $82.99 per month price tag will go into effect starting Jan. 13 for existing subscribers, and immediately for new customers who sign up going forward. YouTube TV has rolled out a series of price hikes over the years. When launched back in 2017, the going price of its streaming package was $35 a month. By 2019, that fee rose to $50 — and has climbed higher and higher since. Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre's brotherhood is still strong after 30 years with new album 'Missionary' LOS ANGELES (AP) — When it comes to music, there’s one person in particular Snoop Dogg trusts to steer the ship without question: hit-making producer Dr. Dre. Their bond, built over 30 years of brotherhood, began when Dr. Dre shaped Snoop’s game-changing debut, “Doggystyle,” a cornerstone of hip-hop history. From young dreamers chasing stardom to legends cementing their legacies, the duo has always moved in sync. Now, the dynamic pair reunites for Snoop’s “Missionary,” his milestone 20th studio album, which releases Friday. The 15-track project features several big-name guest appearances including Eminem, 50 Cent, Sting, Method Man, Jelly Roll, Tom Petty, Jhené Aiko and Method Man. Country star Morgan Wallen sentenced in chair-throwing case NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Country music star Morgan Wallen has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment. He had been charged for throwing a chair from the rooftop of a six-story bar in Nashville and nearly hitting two police officers with it. Wallen appeared in court alongside his attorney on Thursday. He was sentenced to spend seven days in a DUI education center and will be under supervised probation for two years. According to the arrest affidavit, Wallen was accused of throwing a chair off the roof of Chief’s bar on April 7. The chair landed about a yard from the officers. Witnesses told police they saw Wallen pick up a chair, throw it off the roof and laugh about it. Indian teen Gukesh Dommaraju becomes the youngest chess world champion after beating Chinese rival NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju has become the youngest chess world champion after beating the defending champion Ding Liren of China. Dommaraju, 18, secured 7.5 points against 6.5 of his Chinese rival in Thursday's game which was played in Singapore. He has surpassed the achievement of Russia’s Garry Kasparov who won the title at the age of 22. Dommaraju is now also the second Indian to win the title after five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand. The Indian teen prodigy has long been considered a rising star in the chess world after he became a chess grandmaster at 12. He had entered the match as the youngest-ever challenger to the world crown after winning the Candidates tournament earlier this year. 'Vanderpump Rules' star James Kennedy arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic violence BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — Police say “Vanderpump Rules” star James Kennedy has been arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic violence. Police in Burbank, California, say officers investigated reports of an argument between a man and a woman at a residence late Tuesday night and arrested the 32-year-old Kennedy. He was released from jail after posting bail. A representative of Kennedy did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The Burbank city attorney will decide whether to file charges. Kennedy is a DJ and reality TV star who has appeared for 10 seasons on “Vanderpump Rules” — the Bravo series about the lives of employees at a set of swank restaurants. The wife of a Wisconsin kayaker who faked his own death moves to end their marriage MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The wife of a Wisconsin kayaker who faked his own drowning so he could abscond to Europe has filed a court action to end the couple's marriage. Online court records indicate Emily Borgwardt filed a petition in Dodge County Circuit Court on Thursday seeking to annul her marriage to Ryan Borgwardt. A hearing has been set for April. According to court documents, Ryan Borgwardt staged his own drowning by leaving his overturned kayak floating on Green Lake. He flew to Eastern Europe, where he spent several days in a hotel with a woman before taking up residence in the country of Georgia. He is charged with misdemeanor obstruction in Green Lake County. San Francisco names street for Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic Iwo Jima photo SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A block in downtown San Francisco has been renamed for acclaimed photojournalist Joe Rosenthal, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his iconic photo of U.S. Marines raising the flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during WWII. The longtime staff photographer for the San Francisco Chronicle, who died in 2006 at age 94, is also remembered for the 35 years he spent documenting the city's famous and not so famous for the daily newspaper. He photographed a young Willie Mays getting his hat fitted as a San Francisco Giant in 1957. He also photographed joyous children making a mad dash for freedom on the last day of school in 1965. Nearly half of US teens are online 'constantly,' Pew report finds Nearly half of American teenagers say they are online “constantly,” despite concerns about the effects of social media and smartphones on their mental health. That's according to a new report published Thursday by the Pew Research Center. As in past years, YouTube was the single most popular platform teenagers used — 90% said they watched videos on the site, down slightly from 95% in 2022. There was a slight downward trend in several popular apps teens used. For instance, 63% of teens said they used TikTok, down from 67% and Snapchat slipped to 55% from 59%. Wander Franco's sex abuse trial has been postponed 5 months PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic (AP) — The trial against Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco, who has been charged with sexually abusing a minor, sexual and commercial exploitation against a minor, and human trafficking, has been postponed until June 2, 2025. Dominican judge Yacaira Veras postponed the hearing Thursday at the request of prosecutors because of the absence of several key witnesses in the case. Franco’s lawyers asked the court to reconsider the postponement, arguing Franco must report to spring training in mid-February. The judge replied that Franco is obligated to continue with the trial schedule and his conditional release from detainment.Jet crash disaster in South Korea marks another setback for Boeing WASHINGTON (AP) — A machinists strike. Another safety problem involving its troubled top-selling airliner. A plunging stock price. 2024 was already a dispiriting year for Boeing, the American aviation giant. But when one of the company’s jets crash-landed in South Korea on Sunday, killing all but two of the 181 people on board, it brought to a close an especially unfortunate year for Boeing. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and aviation experts were quick to distinguish Sunday’s incident from the company’s earlier safety problems. Alan Price, an airline consultant, said it would be inappropriate to link the incident Sunday to two fatal crashes involving Boeing’s troubled 737 Max jetliner in 2018 and 2019. 'Sonic 3' and 'Mufasa' battle for No. 1 at the holiday box office Two family films are dominating the holiday box office, with “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” winning the three-day weekend over “Mufasa” by a blue hair. According to studio estimates Sunday, the Sonic movie earned $38 million, while “Mufasa” brought in $37.1 million from theaters in the U.S. and Canada. The R-rated horror “Nosferatu” placed third with an unexpectedly strong $21.2 million. Thanksgiving release holdovers “Wicked” and “Moana 2” rounded out the top five. Christmas Day had several big film openings, including the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” the Nicole Kidman erotic drama “Babygirl” and the boxing drama “The Fire Inside.” Big Lots reaches deal to keep hundreds of US stores open The discount chain Big Lots has reached a deal that will keep hundreds of its stores open. Big Lots said it will be sold to Gordon Brothers Retail Partners, which specializes in distressed companies. Gordon Brothers will then transfer Big Lots’ stores to other retailers. Variety Wholesalers, which owns more than 400 U.S. discount stores, plans to acquire between 200 and 400 Big Lots stores and operate them under the Big Lots brand. Big Lots filed for bankruptcy protection in September, saying inflation and high interest rates had cut back on consumer demand for its furniture and other products. Charles Dolan, HBO and Cablevision founder, dies at 98 Charles F. Dolan, who founded some of the most prominent U.S. media companies including Home Box Office Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp., has died at age 98. Newsday reports that a statement issued Saturday by his family says Dolan died of natural causes. Dolan’s legacy in cable broadcasting includes founding HBO in 1972, Cablevision in 1973 and the American Movie Classics television station in 1984. He also launched News 12 in New York City, the first U.S. 24-hour cable channel for local news. Dolan also held controlling stakes in companies that owned Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers. Trump asks Supreme Court to delay TikTok ban so he can weigh in after he takes office President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. Trump's request Friday came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court. Oral arguments are scheduled for Jan. 10 on whether the law, which requires TikTok to divest from its China-based parent company or face a ban, unlawfully restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment. The brief said Trump opposes banning TikTok at this junction and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.” Stock market today: Wall Street slips as the 'Magnificent 7' weighs down the market NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing lower as Wall Street ends a holiday-shortened week on a down note. The S&P 500 fell 1.1% Friday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 333 points, or 0.8%. The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.5%. The “Magnificent 7” stocks weighed on the market, led by declines in Nvidia, Tesla and Microsoft. Even with the loss, the S&P 500 had a modest gain for the week and is still headed for its second consecutive annual gain of more than 20%, the first time that has happened since 1997-1998. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.62%. 10 tips from experts to help you change your relationship with money in 2025 NEW YORK (AP) — As the calendar changes to 2025, you might be thinking about how to approach your relationship with money in the new year. Whether you’re saving to move out of your parents’ house or pay off student loan debt, financial resolutions can help you stay motivated. If you’re planning to make financial resolutions for the new year, experts recommend that you start by evaluating the state of your finances in 2024. Then, set specific goals and make sure they’re attainable for your lifestyle. Janet Yellen tells Congress US could hit debt limit in mid-January WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says her agency will need to start taking “extraordinary measures,” or special accounting maneuvers intended to prevent the nation from hitting the debt ceiling, as early as January 14th, in a letter sent to congressional leaders Friday afternoon. The department has taken such action in the past. But once those measures run out the government risks defaulting on its debt unless lawmakers and the president agree to lift the limit on the U.S. government’s ability to borrow. An online debate over foreign workers in tech shows tensions in Trump's political coalition WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in the president-elect’s political movement into public display. The argument previews fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare tensions between the newest flank of Trump’s movement — that is, wealthy members of the tech world who want more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump’s Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. A 9th telecoms firm has been hit by a massive Chinese espionage campaign, the White House says WASHINGTON (AP) — A top White House official says a ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. Administration officials said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon. But Anne Neuberger, a deputy national security adviser, said Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidance to companies about how to hunt for Chinese culprits in their networks.
Lopetegui came into the game under pressure following some poor displays from the Hammers in recent weeks but they earned a hard-fought victory to end the Magpies’ three-game winning spell. Despite a promising opening from the hosts, Tomas Soucek headed West Ham in front before Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s first goal for the club after the break wrapped up victory. Lopetegui was pleased with his side’s display following a “tough match”. He said: “I am happy for the three points and am very happy against a good team like Newcastle, who have good players and a fantastic coach. “I think today was a tough match and we were able to compete as a team. “I think we deserved to win. Today they had many moments in the first half, but I think the second half we deserved to win and we are happy because you have to do these kind of matches against this type of team if you want to overcome them.” Newcastle started brightly and had plenty of chances in the first half especially, but the visitors responded after the break by retaining possession well. The win eases the pressure on Lopetegui, whose West Ham side face Arsenal on Saturday, and he believes the victory is an important feeling for his players. He said: “I think the only thing that is under our control is to play football, to improve, to defend well, to convince the players we are able to do better. “Today we did, but I think the only thing we can do is to do the things that are under our control, not today but every day. “So we had to keep with this mentality, but above all let me say we are happy for the players because they need this kind of feeling as a team to believe that we are able to do well as a team, to put the best for each player of the team.” Newcastle boss Eddie Howe admitted defeat was a missed opportunity for his side. The Magpies missed a series of chances in the first half, including efforts from Joe Willock and Sean Longstaff, before Alexander Isak blasted a chance off target. Anthony Gordon also rolled an effort just wide of the post after the break and Isak headed wide of goal. Three points could have seen Newcastle move into the top six and Howe admitted his side need to learn from the match. “Yes, massive because the league is so tight that a couple of wins and the whole picture looks very different,” Howe said. “We’ll kick ourselves tonight because we knew the opportunity we had, a home game, Monday night, a great moment for us potentially in our season, so we have to learn from that and come back stronger.”
Online shoppers bombarded with scam shipping notifications this holiday season
Alex Ovechkin has a broken left fibula and is expected to be out four to six weeks, an injury that pauses the Washington Capitals superstar captain’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record. The Capitals updated Ovechkin’s status Thursday after he was evaluated by team doctors upon returning from a three-game trip. The 39-year-old broke the leg in a shin-on-shin collision Monday night with Utah's Jack McBain, and some of his closest teammates knew it was not good news even before Ovechkin was listed as week to week and placed on injured reserve. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Multiplicity is a software KVM for Windows 10 and 11 built with robust functionality and modern encryption to support enterprise workloads. PLYMOUTH, Mich. , Dec. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Stardock released Multiplicity 4 1.0 today, a powerful application that allows you to control multiple PCs with a single mouse and keyboard. Known as a software KVM, Multiplicity 4's innovative new features to let you use any Windows laptop as a native secondary display, stream multiple monitors at the same time, and introduces support for ARM devices. Powered by our proprietary ControlStreamTM v4 technology, Multiplicity 4 can stream multi-monitor configurations to the primary device within a single viewing window. And with the advanced compression technology that can easily be configured, Multiplicity 4 is designed to provide a full fidelity experience but can also be optimized to preserve bandwidth with a single setting. New with Multiplicity 4 is Seamless DisplayTM, a feature that makes it simple to use a laptop or other Windows PC as a native secondary display with Windows. With this feature, you can make a laptop, tablet, or other Windows PC act as a secondary monitor that functions as a native display – this enables the ability to drag apps and windows to the secondary device as if it was plugged directly into your computer. Seamless, a powerful feature that lets you move effortlessly between multiple devices, has been enhanced to support resolution-aware monitor placement to improve movement across multiple devices and displays with improved precision. "Multiplicity is trusted by emergency call centers around the globe and is used extensively by our manufacturing partners," said Brad Sams , General Manager of Stardock Software. "With this release, Multiplicity 4 will help our partners use a single solution for all of their KVM and remote desktop needs for the modern workplace." With the 1.0 release, Multiplicity 4 is now ready for corporate deployments and takes advantage of Stardock's deployment tooling and the license key management portal. Multiplicity 4 is available today starting at $29.99 and is also included as part of Object Desktop , the award-winning suite of applications from Stardock that includes productivity and personalization applications. Screenshots: ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) Please contact press@stardock.com for all media inquiries. About Stardock: Stardock Software is the world's leading developer of desktop enhancements. For over 30 years, Stardock has developed software including Fences ® , Start11TM, WindowBlinds ® , Groupy ® , DeskScapes ® , Multiplicity ® , and more. View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/stardock-releases-multiplicity-4-with-seamless-display-arm-support-and-more-302330679.html SOURCE Stardock Software
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Quinton Morton-Robertson's 16 points helped Purdue Fort Wayne defeat Green Bay 83-67 on Sunday night. Morton-Robertson had three steals for the Mastodons (10-5, 3-1 Horizon League). Jalen Jackson added 15 points while going 6 of 11 from the field and had five assists. Trey Lewis shot 3 for 6 (3 for 5 from 3-point range) and 3 of 4 from the free-throw line to finish with 12 points. The Phoenix (2-13, 0-4) were led in scoring by Preston Ruedinger, who finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Green Bay also got 11 points from Ryan Wade. The loss is the 10th in a row for the Phoenix. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Latest Market News Today Live Updates December 30, 2024: JSW Energy’s O2 Power acquisition tells us buying is better than building assetsJimmy Carter obituary: Former US president was unwavering champion of civil rights and a peace broker in the Middle East
BOSTON (AP) — Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis is slated make his season debut Monday night against the Los Angeles Clippers following offseason ankle surgery. The 7-foot-2 Latvian center was upgraded from probable to available about an 90 minutes before tipoff, though Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said how much he'd play was to be determined. Veteran center Al Horford, who has started 14 of the Celtics 17 games this season, is out Monday with an illness. Fellow big man Luke Kornet is also sitting out as he continues to deal with hamstring tightness. “He has worked hard, he's in good shape. We'll put him in position to be healthy and be successful and do what's best for the team,” Mazzulla said. “He's been pretty consistent, just based on his work ethic and what he's done to get to this point.” Porzingis had surgery to fix a tear in the tissue that holds the ankle tendons in place. The issue limited him to seven playoff games during the Celtics' NBA championship run last season. Boston is 14-3 this season, but has missed his presence on the inside, with teams routinely outscoring the defending champions in the paint. Mazzulla acknowledged that how Porzingis plays on the offensive end, particularly how he operates sometimes out of the high and low post, will force some adjustment from how the team has played this season without him on the floor. “I think last year we had an opportunity to see how teams were guarding him,” Mazzulla said. "That'll take a little bit of time to figure out what the coverages are, just get used to that spacing. That'll take some time. ... Then we'll figure out how we go from there." The original window for Porzingis' return following surgery was five to six months. But Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said before the season that they didn't want to hold to a specific timeline because of the uniqueness of the injury. Porzingis injured his ankle in Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks and missed the next two games. He returned for Game 5, contributing five points and one rebound in 16 minutes as the Celtics beat Dallas 106-88 to clinch their record 18th title. Porzingis averaged 20 points and seven rebounds in 57 games for last season. He signed a $60 million, two-year extension with Boston in the summer of 2023 after the Celtics acquired him in a trade with Washington. AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nbaJames Harden's impressive stat sheds negative light on 76ers signing Paul George | Sporting NewsTrump Jr. didn’t like Kimberly Guilfoyle’s ‘style,’ family happy to see her go: reports
Alex Ovechkin is expected to miss 4 to 6 weeks with a broken left leg
Burglars broke into NBA star Luka Doncic's home and stole $30,000 worth of jewelry on Friday. The FBI said it is investigating a series of burglaries at the homes of pro athletes in the US. The NBA said the FBI has connected the break-ins to a "transnational" South American crime group. Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic's home was the latest residence to be burglarized in a monthslong string of break-ins targeting the houses of professional athletes across the country. Advertisement Doncic's business manager, Lara Beth Seager, told reporters on Saturday that Doncic's home was targeted by thieves on Friday, according to The Dallas Morning News. A police report obtained by the outlet said the criminals got away with about $30,000 worth of jewelry. Tyler Seguin, a player for the Dallas Stars hockey team, was also the target of a break-in earlier in the year, sources confirmed to the outlet. Seguin is the highest-paid player for the Stars, signing an eight-year, $78.8 million contract in 2018. Related Video The Dallas sports stars aren't the first professional athletes to face residential burglaries this year. The NFL issued a security alert on November 21 to the player's union and teams' security directors after break-ins at the homes of Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce, who is also Taylor Swift's boyfriend. Sources told NFL.com at the time that the FBI was investigating the break-ins, which the agency believes are connected to a South American crime organization. "It's legit," one source familiar with the situation told NFL.com . "It's a transnational crime ring, and over the last three weeks, they've focused on NBA and NFL players, and it's all over the country." Advertisement The NBA also warned players in November to take additional security precautions following break-ins at the houses of Milwaukee Bucks star Bobby Portis and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley. The home of Celtics star Jaylen Brown's mother was also burglarized. The NBA sent a memo to league officials, which The Associated Press obtained, that said the FBI has connected some of the burglaries to "transnational South American Theft Groups" that are "reportedly well-organized, sophisticated rings that incorporate advanced techniques and technologies, including pre-surveillance, drones, and signal jamming devices." The FBI and Seager did not immediately return requests for comment from Business Insider.Trump's Bold Tariff Move: Shaking Trade Tides
AP Trending SummaryBrief at 6:29 p.m. EST