The Eagles are NFC East champions and they did it at home against the Cowboys. It doesn't get better than that, right? Granted, their dominating 41-7 victory came against a Dallas team playing without Dak Prescott or CeeDee Lamb, and saw touchdown passes for the home team from Kenny Pickett and from Tanner McKee. But it counts just the same, and Philly's 13th win of the season assures they won't need to worry about getting a 14th as their playoff fate has now been sealed. Here's a look at a player whose stock is back on the rise, and a reason for Eagles fans to lament a bit after a very convincing win on an unseasonably warm December afternoon: Stock up: 📈 Chauncey Gardner-Johnson Last week, the Eagles lost to the Commanders for two main reasons (no disrespect to Jayden Daniels and his epic performance): Jalen Hurts left in the first quarter with a concussion, and Gardner-Johnson was ejected in the third quarter after his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The Eagles' thinness at the safety position directly contributed to their inability to stop the Washington passing game. A week later, CJGJ — known around the NFL for both being a ball hawk and one of the league's most notorious trash talkers — decided to make it up to Eagles fans. CJ Gardner-Johnson PICK-6!!! 📺: #DALvsPHI on FOX 📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/3WSZb2eQzk His pick-six in the Birds' first defensive stint in the game helped to give the offense find its sea legs under a backup quarterback. He added a second interception — his sixth of the season (the second most of any NFL player) — and that led to another Eagles touchdown. A total of 14 points off of Gardner-Johnson forced turnovers, not shabby at all. Gardner-Johnson hobbled off the field with an abdomen in the fourth quarter, and the hopes are it will be a minor one (his return was officially "questionable"). Three more points off another Dallas miscue came in the first half, when Oren Burks jarred a ball loose in the second quarter that was recovered by Jordan Davis. A fourth Eagles turnover came from, who else, Zack Baun who created a Rico Dowdle fumble in the fourth. Defensively, the Eagles keep finding ways to do it. If they're not suffocating offenses at the line of scrimmage or sticking to opposing wide receivers like gloves, they're creating big plays and turnovers. This kind of play could keep them on the field deep into January (or February). Stock down: 📉 Saquon Barkley's rushing record Hoisted with their own petard. The Eagles locked up the NFC East crown, as well as the NFC's 2-seed throughout the postseason. Which means that there is almost no chance any big name starters will see the field next week against the Giants in a totally meaningless Week 18 game in South Philly. (The only circumstance that would see the Eagles with a reason to play in Week 18 is both the Lions and Vikings losing later this weekend. If they both lost there would be a shot at the 1-seed.) Which means that Barkley's epic, unforgettable season will probably end, with the running back at 2,005 yards for the 2024 regular season. He'll fall an even 100 yards short of Eric Dickerson's all-time rushing record after a 23-yard fourth quarter scamper made him the NFL's ninth ever 2,000 yard rusher. With the fanfare, handshakes and hugs after the run that got him to the 2k mark, it seemed like a fitting end to Barkley's regular season. While the 1984 record is painfully within reach, 100 yards would require Barkley to play the majority, if not all of Week 18, and the risk of injury is too great for a team with Super Bowl aspirations. Ironically, Barkley's 16 games played are right on par with the record he was chasing — as many were critical that he could theoretically be eclipsing the mark with an extra 17th game played. Dickerson set his record on 379 carries, while Barkley had 345 carries. If he had the same number of rushing attempts as Dickerson he'd be the record holder. In Sunday's win against Dallas, everything appeared to be going wrong for the running back early, as he was stuffed near the line of scrimmage repeatedly, collecting just 25 yards on his first 12 carries. But he turned it around, looking like his old shifty spry self, finishing with 167 rushing yards in the game. It was nice to see Barkley able to post solid numbers on the ground without Hurts under center. It is expected that the starting quarterback will return for the Wild card playoff round on the second weekend in January, when the Eagles host the No. 7 seed in the NFC. Follow Evan on Twitter: @evan_macy Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice SportsA melee broke out at midfield of Ohio Stadium after Michigan upset No. 2 Ohio State 13-10 on Saturday. After the Wolverines' fourth straight win in the series, players converged at the block "O" to plant its flag. The Ohio State players were in the south end zone singing their alma mater in front of the student section. When the Buckeyes saw the Wolverines' flag, they rushed toward the 50-yard line. Social media posts showed Michigan offensive lineman Raheem Anderson carrying the flag on a long pole to midfield, where the Wolverines were met by dozens of Ohio State players and fights broke out. Buckeyes defensive end Jack Sawyer was seen ripping the flag off the pole and taking the flag as he scuffled with several people trying to recover the flag. A statement from the Ohio State Police Department read: "Following the game, officers from multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in breaking up an on-field altercation. During the scuffle, multiple officers representing Ohio and Michigan deployed pepper spray. OSUPD is the lead agency for games and will continue to investigate." Michigan running back Kalel Mullings on FOX said: "For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game. It's bad for the sport, bad for college football. At the end of the day, some people got to learn how to lose, man. "You can't be fighting and stuff just because you lost the game. We had 60 minutes and four quarters to do all that fighting. Now people want to talk and fight. That's wrong. It's bad for the game. Classless, in my opinion. People got to be better." Once order was restored, officers cordoned the 50-yard line, using bicycles as barriers. Ohio State coach Ryan Day in his postgame press conference said he wasn't sure what happened. "I don't know all the details of it. But I know that these guys are looking to put a flag on our field and our guys weren't going to let that happen," he said. "I'll find out exactly what happened, but this is our field and certainly we're embarrassed at the fact we lost the game, but there's some prideful guys on our team that weren't just going to let that happen." The Big Ten has not yet released a statement on the incident. --Field Level Media

An engineering vehicle fetches ice cubes to be used in the construction of the 26th Harbin Ice-Snow World in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province on Nov 26, 2024. – Xinhua photo HARBIN (Dec 6): Trucks laden with massive ice blocks are making their way through freshly fallen snow, heading for the Ice-Snow World site in Harbin, the capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province. These massive blocks, preserved from last winter, will be transformed into spectacular sculptures for the 26th edition of Harbin Ice-Snow World, set to open in mid-December. The event marks the return of one of China’s most iconic winter theme parks, expected to draw millions of visitors and make a significant impact on the region’s winter tourism industry. In order to ensure the beauty of the ice-construction landscape, the ice blocks will go through a strict inspection on thickness, length and cleanliness before being used, said Yang Liu with Harbin Ice and Snow World Park Co Ltd. More than 10,000 ice construction workers and nearly 1,000 pieces of mechanical operation equipment will enter the park for the construction process. This year’s park will feature a large-scale upgrade and is expected to break the Guinness World Record again, reaffirming its position as the largest ice-and-snow theme park in the world. According to sources with Harbin Ice-Snow World, the park will expand from 810,000 square meters to a massive 1 million square meters. The amount of ice and snow used will also increase to 300,000 cubic meters, further enhancing its scale and grandeur. The number of popular ice slides will increase from 16 to 24, offering even more excitement for visitors, said Sun Zemin, deputy director of the sales and marketing department of Harbin Ice-Snow World Park Co Ltd. He added that the ice sculptures and snow constructions this year will feature elements from the upcoming 2025 Asian Winter Games, adding a unique touch to the experience. Harbin, known as the “Ice City,” has garnered attention on social media due to its rich ice-and-snow resources, as well as its vibrant winter tourism scene. Last year, Harbin Ice-Snow World attracted over 2.7 million visitors with its stunning ice sculptures and winter-themed attractions. The city has long been investing in winter resources and hosting events such as winter sports games and ice lantern fairs, aiming to transform these resources into a thriving economy. It serves as a vital economic hub in northeast China and as a barometer of the nation’s snow-and-ice industry. In addition to Harbin, the “Snow Town” in the city of Mudanjiang, located about 280 kilometers from Harbin, has also become a must-see destination for winter tourism. Known for its long winter season and unique mushroom-shaped snow formations, Snow Town attracted over 500,000 visitors last winter. This year, the town has expanded its offerings, adding a forest pathway and riverside commercial street, and will host snow marathons and outdoor disco-dancing competitions, providing even more activities for winter lovers. Boasting more than 50 ski trails of varying difficulty levels, the Yabuli Ski Resort is one of China’s premier ski resorts. In preparation for the upcoming Asian Winter Games, the resort has undergone significant upgrades to its ski slopes, dining facilities and infrastructure. Yang Xiaodong, head of the culture and tourism department at the Yabuli administrative committee, said that the resort is collaborating with other tourist destinations to create several “golden” ice-and-snow tourism routes. This winter, the resort will also introduce large snow-based entertainment activities, such as alpine snow circles, snow carnivals and night skiing, to attract even more tourists. According to Qi Bin, deputy director of the Heilongjiang provincial department of culture and tourism, the peak winter tourism season this year will coincide with the 9th Asian Winter Games, which is expected to further drive interest in winter sports and ice-and-snow tourism. Heilongjiang is committed to supporting the ice-and-snow economy and generating growth opportunities for the local economy, Qi added. The surge in winter tourism in Harbin is part of a broader trend across China’s booming ice-and-snow industry. Experts attribute the rising popularity of winter sports to the success of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which significantly boosted interest in winter sports and tourism. China has unveiled an ambitious plan to grow its ice-and-snow economy, targeting winter sports, tourism and equipment manufacturing as key drivers of economic growth, with a projected value of 1.5 trillion yuan (about US$208.7 billion) by 2030. – Xinhua

LSU outlasts UCF 109-102 in triple-OT affair

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco 49ers star running back Christian McCaffrey will not need surgery on his injured right knee but he will miss the rest of the regular season. Coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday that McCaffrey will be out at least six weeks after injuring his posterior cruciate ligament in a loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night . McCaffrey will be placed on injured reserve for the second time this season after previously missing the first eight games with Achilles tendinitis. “I just feel for him,” Shanahan said. “It was a real frustrating year for him. He worked his ass off to get back to this point and I think he was really feeling good and about to take off and just had that real unfortunate injury last night. I know he’s as crushed as anyone, but he’ll get through this. He’s a hell of a player, a hell of a person and an unbelievable 49er. He’ll be back stronger than ever next year to help us.” San Francisco (5-7) sits alone in last place in the NFC West standings, two wins behind division-leading Seattle, and in jeopardy of missing the playoffs a year after losing to Kansas City in the Super Bowl. The 49ers also lost McCaffrey's backup to an injury with Jordan Mason also set to go on injured reserve after suffering a high ankle sprain in the game against the Bills. It has been a frustrating season for McCaffrey, who won the 2023 AP Offensive Player of the Year then signed a lucrative contract extension in the offseason. McCaffrey injured his Achilles tendon early in training camp and missed the first eight games of the season. He rushed for just 149 yards on 43 carries in his first three games back as he struggled to get back to form. He looked much better early Sunday night with seven carries for 53 yards, including a 19-yarder that was his longest of the season. He appeared to hurt his knee on an 18-yard run in the second quarter. He then went down immediately on his next carry on a sweep to the left on a snow-slicked field for a 5-yard loss. Mason had played well as McCaffrey's replacement, rushing for 789 yards and averaging 5.2 yards per carry this season. San Francisco will now turn to rookie Isaac Guerendo and promote Patrick Taylor from the practice squad. Shanahan said the team will also look to add another running back to the mix. In other injury news from the game, defensive lineman Kevin Givens tore his pectoral muscle and will be out for the rest of the season. Shanahan said cornerback Deommodore Lenoir should be back at practice Wednesday after missing the game with a knee injury and that stars Nick Bosa (hip, oblique) and Trent Williams (ankle) will be evaluated as the week goes on. Bosa and Williams have both missed the last two games. Williams has also been dealing with family tragedy as his wife announced on Instagram that she gave birth to stillborn Trenton O’Brien Williams Jr. on Nov. 24. Sondra Williams also wrote that she was initially pregnant with twins and lost the other child earlier in the pregnancy. Shanahan said Williams spent time with his family last week but is trying to get back to play. “He was there at the hospital with her and got to meet him and say bye,” Shanahan said. “Then he had to cremate him on Friday. So he’s been dealing with that and he’s working through it. We’re all just trying to be there for him through it all.” NOTES: OL Aaron Banks and DT Jordan Elliott remain in the concussion protocol. ... LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (knee) is day to day. ... LB Dre Greenlaw will get more work this week after his practice window was opened last week for the first time since he tore his Achilles in the Super Bowl. ... S Talanoa Hufanga (wrist) will have his IR practice window opened this week. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer and little-known Georgia governor who became the 39th president of the United States, promising “honest and decent” government to Watergate-weary Americans, and later returned to the world stage as an influential human rights advocate and Nobel Peace Prize winner, has died. He was 100. When his turbulent presidency ended after a stinging reelection loss in 1980, Carter retreated to Plains, his political career over. Over the four decades that followed, though, he forged a legacy of public service, building homes for the needy, monitoring elections around the globe and emerging as a fearless and sometimes controversial critic of governments that mistreated their citizens. He lived longer than any U.S. president in history and was still regularly teaching Bible classes at his hometown Maranatha Baptist Church well into his 90s. During his post-presidency, he also wrote more than 30 books, including fiction, poetry, deeply personal reflections on his faith, and commentaries on Middle East strife. Though slowed by battles with brain and liver cancer and a series of falls and hip replacement in recent years, he returned again and again to his charity work and continued to offer occasional political commentary, including in support of mail-in voting ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Carter was in his first term as Georgia governor when he launched his campaign to unseat President Ford in the 1976 election. At the time, the nation was still shaken by President Nixon’s resignation in the Watergate scandal and by the messy end of the Vietnam War. As a moderate Southern Democrat, a standard-bearer of what was then regarded as a more racially tolerant “new South,” Carter promised a government “as good and honest and decent and competent and compassionate and as filled with love as are the American people.” But some of the traits that had helped get Carter elected — his willingness to take on the Washington establishment and his preference for practicality over ideology — didn’t serve him as well in the White House. He showed a deep understanding of policy, and a refreshing modesty and disregard for the ceremonial trappings of the office, but he was unable to make the legislative deals expected of a president. Even though his Democratic Party had a majority in Congress throughout his presidency, he was impatient with the legislative give-and-take and struggled to mobilize party leaders behind his policy initiatives. His presidency also was buffeted by domestic crises — rampant inflation and high unemployment, as well as interminable lines at gas stations triggered by a decline in the global oil supply exacerbated by Iran’s Islamic Revolution. “Looking back, I am struck by how many unpopular objectives we pursued,” Carter acknowledged in his 2010 book, “White House Diary.” “I was sometimes accused of ‘micromanaging’ the affairs of government and being excessively autocratic,” he continued, “and I must admit that my critics probably had a valid point.” Carter’s signature achievements as president were primarily on the international front, and included personally brokering the Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel, which have endured for more than 40 years. But it was another international crisis — the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by Iranian revolutionaries and the government’s inability to win the release of 52 Americans taken hostage — that would cast a long shadow on his presidency and his bid for reelection. Carter authorized a secret military mission to rescue the hostages in April 1980, but it was aborted at the desert staging area; during the withdrawal, eight servicemen were killed when a helicopter crashed into a transport aircraft. The hostages were held for 444 days, a period that spanned Carter’s final 15 months in the White House. They were finally freed the day his successor, Ronald Reagan, took the oath of office. Near the end of Carter’s presidency, one poll put his job approval rating at 21% — lower than Nixon’s when he resigned in disgrace and among the lowest of any White House occupant since World War II. In a rarity for an incumbent president, Carter faced a formidable primary challenge in 1980 from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a favorite of the Democratic Party’s liberal wing. Although Carter prevailed, his nomination was in doubt until the party’s August convention. The enmity between Carter and Kennedy, two of the most important Democratic political figures of their generation, continued throughout their lives. In Kennedy’s memoir, published shortly after his death in 2009, he called Carter petty and guilty of “a failure to listen.” While promoting the publication of “White House Diary,” Carter said Kennedy had “deliberately” blocked Carter’s comprehensive healthcare proposals in the late 1970s in hopes of defeating the president in the primary. In the 1980 general election, Carter faced Reagan, then 69, who campaigned on a promise to increase military spending and rescue the economy by cutting taxes and decreasing regulation. Carter lost in a 51% to 41% thumping — he won just six states and the District of Columbia — that devastated the man known for his toothy smile and sent him back to his hometown, an ex-president at 56. A year later, he and Rosalynn founded the Carter Center, which pressed for peaceful solutions to world conflicts, promoted human rights and worked to eradicate disease in the poorest nations. The center, based in Atlanta, launched a new phase of Carter’s public life, one that would move the same historians who called Carter a weak president to label him one of America’s greatest former leaders. His post-presidential years were both “historic and polarizing,” as Princeton University historian Julian E. Zelizer put it in a 2010 biography of Carter. Zelizer said Carter “refused to be constrained politically when pursuing his international agenda” as an ex-president, and became “an enormously powerful figure on the international stage.” When Carter appeared on “The Colbert Report” in 2014, host Stephen Colbert asked him, “You invented the idea of the post-presidency. What inspired you to do that?” “I didn’t have anything else to do,” Carter replied. He traveled widely to mediate conflicts and monitor elections around the world, joined Habitat for Humanity to promote “sweat equity” for low-income homeownership, and became a blunt critic of human rights abuses. He angered conservatives and some liberals by advocating negotiations with autocrats — and his criticism of Israeli leaders and support for Palestinian self-determination angered many Jews. A prolific author, Carter covered a range of topics, including the Middle East crisis and the virtues of aging and religion. He penned a memoir on growing up in the rural South as well as a book of poems, and he was the first president to write a novel — “The Hornet’s Nest,” about the South during the Revolutionary War. He won three Grammy Awards as well for best spoken-word album, most recently in 2019 for “Faith: A Journey For All.” As with many former presidents, Carter’s popularity rose in the years after he left office. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for “decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts” and to advance democracy and human rights. By then, two-thirds of Americans said they approved of his presidency. “Jimmy Carter may never be rated a great president,” wrote Charles O. Jones, a University of Wisconsin political scientist, in his chronicle of the Carter presidency. “Yet it will be difficult in the long run to sustain censure of a president motivated to do what is right.” The journey for James Earl Carter Jr. began on Oct. 1, 1924, in the tiny Sumter County, Ga., town of Plains, home to fewer than 600 people in 2020. He was the first president born in a hospital, but he lived in a house without electricity or indoor plumbing until he was a teenager. His ancestors had been in Georgia for more than two centuries, and he was the fifth generation to own and farm the same land. His father, James Earl Carter Sr., known as Mr. Earl, was a strict disciplinarian and a conservative businessman of some means. His mother, known as Miss Lillian, had more liberal views — she was known for her charity work and for taking in transients and treating Black residents with kindness. (At the age of 70, she joined the Peace Corps, working in India.) Inspired by an uncle who was in the Navy, Carter decided as a first-grader that he wanted to go to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. He became the first member of his family to finish high school, then attended Georgia Tech before heading for the academy, where he studied engineering and graduated in 1946, 59th in a class of 820. Before his last year in Annapolis, while home for the summer, he met Eleanor Rosalynn Smith, a friend of his sister Ruth’s. He and a friend invited the two young women to the movies, and when he returned home that night, he told his mother he had met “the girl I want to marry.” He proposed that Christmas, but Rosalynn declined because she felt she was too young (she was 18 and a sophomore in college). Several weeks later, while she was visiting Carter at the academy, he asked again. This time she said yes. Carter applied to America’s new nuclear-powered submarine program under the command of the icy and demanding Capt. (later Adm.) Hyman Rickover. During Carter’s interview, Rickover asked whether he had done his best at Annapolis. “I started to say, ‘Yes, sir,’ but ... I recalled several of the many times at the Academy when I could have learned more about our allies, our enemies, weapons, strategy and so forth,” Carter wrote in his autobiography. “... I finally gulped and said, ‘No, sir, I didn’t always do my best.’” To which Rickover replied: “Why not?” Carter got the job, and would later make “Why not the best?” his campaign slogan. The Carters had three sons, who all go by nicknames — John William “Jack,” James Earl “Chip” and Donnel Jeffrey “Jeff.” Carter and Rosalynn had wanted to have more children, but an obstetrician said that surgery Rosalynn had to remove a tumor on her uterus would make that impossible. Fifteen years after Jeffrey was born, the Carters had a daughter, Amy, who “made us young again,” Carter would later write. While in the Navy, Carter took graduate courses in nuclear physics and served as a submariner on the USS Pomfret. But his military career was cut short when his father died, and he moved back to Georgia in 1953 to help run the family business, which was in disarray. In his first year back on the farm, Carter turned a profit of less than $200, the equivalent of about $2,200 today. But with Rosalynn’s help, he expanded the business. In addition to farming 3,100 acres, the family soon operated a seed and fertilizer business, warehouses, a peanut-shelling plant and a cotton gin. By the time he began his campaign for the White House 20 years later, Carter had a net worth of about $800,000, and the revenue from his enterprises was more than $2 million a year. Carter entered electoral politics in 1962, and asked voters to call him “Jimmy.” He ran for a seat in the Georgia Senate against an incumbent backed by a local political boss who stuffed the ballot box. Trailing by 139 votes after the primary, Carter waged a furious legal battle, which he described years later in his book “Turning Point.” Carter got a recount, the primary result was reversed, and he went on to win the general election. The victory was a defining moment for Carter, the outsider committed to fairness and honesty who had successfully battled establishment politicians corrupted by their ties to special interests. In two terms in the Georgia Senate, Carter established a legislative record that was socially progressive and fiscally conservative. He first ran for governor in 1966, but finished third in the primary. Over the next four years, he made 1,800 speeches and shook hands with an estimated 600,000 people — a style of campaigning that paid off in the 1970 gubernatorial election and later in his bid for the White House. In his inaugural address as governor in 1971, Carter made national news by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” He had a portrait of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. hung in a hall at the Capitol in Atlanta. But when Carter launched his official campaign for the White House in December 1974, he was still so little-known outside Georgia that a celebrity panel on the TV show “What’s My Line?” couldn’t identify him. In the beginning, many scoffed at the temerity of a peanut farmer and one-term governor running for the highest office in the land. After Carter met with House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr., the speaker was asked whom he had been talking to. “Some fellow named Jimmy Carter from Georgia. Says he’s running for president,” O’Neill replied. In a meeting with editors of the Los Angeles Times in 1975, Carter said he planned to gain the presidency by building a network of supporters and by giving his candidacy an early boost by winning the Iowa caucuses. Until then, Iowa had been a bit player in the nominating process, mostly ignored by strategists. But Carter’s victory there vaulted him to front-runner status — and Iowa into a major role in presidential nominations. His emergence from the pack of Democratic hopefuls was helped by the release of his well-reviewed autobiography “Why Not the Best?” in which he described his upbringing on the farm and his traditional moral values. On the campaign trail, Carter came across as refreshingly candid and even innocent — an antidote to the atmosphere of scandal that had eroded confidence in public officials since the events leading to Nixon’s resignation on Aug. 9, 1974. A Baptist Sunday school teacher, Carter was among the first presidential candidates to embrace the label of born-again Christian. That was underscored when, in an interview with Playboy magazine, he made headlines by admitting, “I’ve looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me.” Carter had emerged from the Democratic National Convention in July with a wide lead over Ford, Nixon’s vice president and successor, but by the time of the Playboy interview in September, his numbers were tumbling. By election day, the contest was a dead heat. Carter, running on a ticket with Walter F. Mondale for his vice president, eked out a victory with one of the narrower margins in U.S. presidential history, winning 50.1% to 48% of the popular vote and 297 electoral votes, 27 more than needed. Many of Carter’s supporters hoped he would usher in a new era of liberal policies. But he saw his role as more of a problem-solver than a politician, and as an outsider who promised to shake things up in Washington, he often acted unilaterally. A few weeks into his term, Carter announced that he was cutting off federal funding to 18 water projects around the country to save money and protect the environment. Lawmakers, surprised by the assault on their pet projects, were livid. He ultimately backed down on some of the cuts. But his relationship with Congress never fully healed. Members often complained that they couldn’t get in to see him, and that when they did he was in a rush to show them the door. His relationship with the media, as he acknowledged later in life, was similarly fraught. Carter’s image as a reformer also took a hit early in his presidency after he appointed Bert Lance, a longtime confidant, to head the Office of Management and Budget. Within months of the appointment, questions were raised about Lance’s personal financial affairs as a Georgia banker. Adamant that Lance had done nothing wrong, Carter dug in his heels and publicly told his friend, “Bert, I’m proud of you.” Still, Lance resigned under pressure, and although he was later acquitted of criminal charges, the damage to Carter had been done. As Mondale later put it: “It made people realize that we were no different than anybody else.” When Carter did score legislative victories, the cost was high. In 1978, he pushed the Senate to ratify the Panama Canal treaties to eventually hand control of the canal over to Panama. But conservatives criticized the move as a diminution of U.S. strength, and even the Democratic National Committee declined to endorse it. Carter’s most significant foreign policy accomplishment was the 1978 Camp David agreement, a peace pact between Israel and Egypt. But he followed that with several unpopular moves, including his decree that the United States would not participate in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, as a protest against the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. It was the only time in Olympic history that the United States had boycotted an Olympics; the Soviets responded by boycotting the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Carter had taken a series of largely symbolic steps to dispel the imperial image of the presidency. After he took the oath of office on a wintry day, he and the new first lady emerged from their motorcade and walked part of the way from the Capitol to the White House. He ended chauffeur-driven cars for top staff members, sold the presidential yacht, went to the White House mess hall for lunch with the staff and conducted town meetings around the country. He suspended the playing of “Hail to the Chief” whenever he arrived at an event, though he later allowed the practice to resume. On the domestic front, he was saddled with a country in crisis. Inflation galloped at rates up to 14%, and global gasoline shortages closed service stations and created high prices and long lines. Interest rates for home mortgages soared above 14%. In his first televised fireside chat, he wore a cardigan sweater and encouraged Americans to conserve energy during the winter by keeping their thermostats at 65 degrees in the daytime and 55 degrees at night. He also proposed a string of legislative initiatives to deal with the crisis, but many were blocked by Congress. In what would become a seminal moment in his presidency, Carter addressed the nation — and a television audience of more than 60 million — on a Sunday evening in 1979, saying the country had been seized by a “crisis of confidence ... that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will.” He outlined a series of proposals to develop new sources of energy. The address, widely known as the “malaise speech” even though Carter never used that word, was generally well-received at the time, though some bristled at the implication that Americans were to blame for the country’s problems. Any positive glow disappeared two days later, when Carter fired five of his top officials, including the Energy, Treasury and Transportation secretaries and his attorney general. The value of the dollar sank and the stock market tumbled. Sensing that Carter was politically vulnerable, Kennedy moved to present himself as an alternative for the 1980 Democratic nomination, publicly criticizing the president’s agenda. But Kennedy damaged his own candidacy in a prime-time interview with CBS’ Roger Mudd: Asked why he was running for president, Kennedy fumbled his answer, and critics cited it as evidence that the senator didn’t want the job so much as he felt obligated to seek it. A few months after the malaise speech, in late 1979, revolutionaries loyal to Iran’s spiritual leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. Weeks stretched into months, with Iran refusing all efforts to negotiate a hostage release. In April 1980, Carter approved Operation Eagle Claw, a secret Delta Force rescue mission. But it ended in disaster — mechanical trouble sidelined three helicopters and, after the mission was aborted, one of the remaining helicopters collided with a transport plane on the ground, killing eight soldiers. Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance resigned before the mission, believing the plan too risky. Negotiations to free the hostages resumed, and Carter desperately tried to win their release before the November election. But the Iranians prolonged the talks and the hostages weren’t released until Jan. 20, 1981, moments after Carter watched Reagan being sworn in. The journey home for Carter was painful. Of those who voted for Reagan in 1980, nearly 1 in 4 said they were primarily motivated by their dissatisfaction with Carter. Carter faced “an altogether new, unwanted and potentially empty life,” as he later put it. He sold the family farm-supply business, which had been placed in a blind trust during his presidency and was by then deeply in debt. Then, as Rosalynn later recalled, Carter awoke one night with an idea to build not just a presidential library but a place to resolve global conflicts. Together, they founded the nonprofit, nonpartisan Carter Center. His skill as a mediator made Carter a ready choice for future presidents seeking envoys to navigate crises. Republican President George H.W. Bush sent him on peace missions to Ethiopia and Sudan, and President Clinton, a fellow Democrat, dispatched him to North Korea, Haiti and what then was Yugoslavia. Carter described his relationship with President Obama as chilly, however, in part because he had openly criticized the administration’s policies toward Israel. He felt Obama did not strongly enough support a separate Palestinian state. “Every president has been a very powerful factor here in advocating this two-state solution,” Carter told the New York Times in 2012. “That is now not apparent.” As an election observer, he called them as he saw them. After monitoring presidential voting in Panama in 1989, he declared that Manuel Noriega had rigged the election. He also began building houses worldwide for Habitat for Humanity, and he wrote prodigiously. The Nobel committee awarded Carter the Peace Prize in 2002, more than two decades after he left the White House, praising him for standing by “the principles that conflicts must as far as possible be resolved through mediation and international cooperation.” During his 70s, 80s and even into his 90s, the former president showed an energy that never failed to impress those around him. In his 1998 book “The Virtues of Aging,” he urged retirees to remain active and engaged, and he followed his own advice, continuing to jog, play tennis and go fly-fishing well into his 80s. When his “White House Diary” was published in 2010, he embarked on a nationwide book tour at 85, as he did in 2015 with the publication of “A Full Life: Reflections at 90.” When he told America he had cancer that had spread to his liver and brain, it was vintage Carter. Wearing a coat and tie and a pair of blue jeans, he stared into the television cameras and was unflinchingly blunt about his prognosis. “Hope for the best; accept what comes,” he said. “I think I have been as blessed as any human being in the world.” Former Times staff writers Jack Nelson, Robert Shogan and Johanna Neuman contributed to this report.Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who tried to restore virtue to the White House after the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, then rebounded from a landslide defeat to become a global advocate of human rights and democracy, has died. He was 100 years old . The Carter Center said the 39th president died Sunday afternoon, more than a year after entering hospice care , at his home in Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died in November 2023, lived most of their lives. The center said he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. As reaction poured in from around the world, President Joe Biden mourned Carter’s death, saying the world lost an “extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian” and he lost a dear friend. Biden cited Carter’s compassion and moral clarity, his work to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless and advocacy for the disadvantaged as an example for others. “To all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning – the good life – study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith, and humility,” Biden said in a statement. “He showed that we are a great nation because we are a good people – decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong.” Biden said he is ordering a state funeral for Carter in Washington. A moderate Democrat, Carter ran for president in 1976 as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad grin, effusive Baptist faith and technocratic plans for efficient government. His promise to never deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter said. Carter’s victory over Republican Gerald Ford, whose fortunes fell after pardoning Nixon, came amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over race, women’s rights and America’s role in the world. His achievements included brokering Mideast peace by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David for 13 days in 1978. But his coalition splintered under double-digit inflation and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His negotiations ultimately brought all the hostages home alive, but in a final insult, Iran didn’t release them until the inauguration of Ronald Reagan, who had trounced him in the 1980 election. Humbled and back home in Georgia, Carter said his faith demanded that he keep doing whatever he could, for as long as he could, to try to make a difference. He and Rosalynn co-founded The Carter Center in 1982 and spent the next 40 years traveling the world as peacemakers, human rights advocates and champions of democracy and public health. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, Carter helped ease nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiate cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, the center had monitored at least 113 elections around the world. Carter was determined to eradicate guinea worm infections as one of many health initiatives. Swinging hammers into their 90s, the Carters built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The common observation that he was better as an ex-president rankled Carter. His allies were pleased that he lived long enough to see biographers and historians revisit his presidency and declare it more impactful than many understood at the time. Propelled in 1976 by voters in Iowa and then across the South, Carter ran a no-frills campaign. Americans were captivated by the earnest engineer, and while an election-year Playboy interview drew snickers when he said he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times,” voters tired of political cynicism found it endearing. The first family set an informal tone in the White House, carrying their own luggage, trying to silence the Marine Band’s traditional “Hail to the Chief" and enrolling daughter, Amy, in public schools. Carter was lampooned for wearing a cardigan and urging Americans to turn down their thermostats. But Carter set the stage for an economic revival and sharply reduced America's dependence on foreign oil by deregulating the energy industry along with airlines, trains and trucking. He established the departments of Energy and Education, appointed record numbers of women and nonwhites to federal posts, preserved millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness and pardoned most Vietnam draft evaders. Emphasizing human rights , he ended most support for military dictators and took on bribery by multinational corporations by signing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He persuaded the Senate to ratify the Panama Canal treaties and normalized relations with China, an outgrowth of Nixon’s outreach to Beijing. But crippling turns in foreign affairs took their toll. When OPEC hiked crude prices, making drivers line up for gasoline as inflation spiked to 11%, Carter tried to encourage Americans to overcome “a crisis of confidence.” Many voters lost confidence in Carter instead after the infamous address that media dubbed his “malaise" speech, even though he never used that word. After Carter reluctantly agreed to admit the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979. Negotiations to quickly free the hostages broke down, and then eight Americans died when a top-secret military rescue attempt failed. Carter also had to reverse course on the SALT II nuclear arms treaty after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Though historians would later credit Carter's diplomatic efforts for hastening the end of the Cold war, Republicans labeled his soft power weak. Reagan’s “make America great again” appeals resonated, and he beat Carter in all but six states. Born Oct. 1, 1924, James Earl Carter Jr. married fellow Plains native Rosalynn Smith in 1946, the year he graduated from the Naval Academy. He brought his young family back to Plains after his father died, abandoning his Navy career, and they soon turned their ambitions to politics . Carter reached the state Senate in 1962. After rural white and Black voters elected him governor in 1970, he drew national attention by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Carter published more than 30 books and remained influential as his center turned its democracy advocacy onto U.S. politics, monitoring an audit of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results. After a 2015 cancer diagnosis, Carter said he felt “perfectly at ease with whatever comes.” “I’ve had a wonderful life,” he said. “I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.”

NonePublished 5:39 pm Thursday, November 21, 2024 By Data Skrive Let’s take a look at the injury report for the New Orleans Pelicans (4-12), which currently has eight players listed (including Brandon Ingram), as the Pelicans prepare for their matchup against the Golden State Warriors (11-3, two injured players) at Smoothie King Center on Friday, November 22 at 7:30 PM ET. Watch the NBA, other live sports and more on Fubo. What is Fubo? Fubo is a streaming service that gives you access to your favorite live sports and shows on demand. Use our link to sign up for a free trial. The Pelicans fell in their most recent game 128-100 against the Cavaliers on Wednesday. In the losing effort, Antonio Reeves paced the Pelicans with 34 points. The Warriors took care of business in their last game 120-97 against the Hawks on Wednesday. Andrew Wiggins’ team-leading 27 points paced the Warriors in the win. Sign up for NBA League Pass to get live and on-demand access to NBA games. Get tickets for any NBA game this season at StubHub. Catch NBA action all season long on Fubo. Not all offers available in all states, please visit BetMGM for the latest promotions for your area. Must be 21+ to gamble, please wager responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, contact 1-800-GAMBLER .

Altria Group Inc. stock underperforms Thursday when compared to competitors despite daily gainsRomania's pro-European Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu was leading in the first round of presidential elections Sunday according to exit polls, with the far right not yet assured of a place in the second round, despite a breakthrough in support. With 25 percent of the vote according to two exit polls, Ciolacu appeared to be well ahead of far-right challengers looking to capitalise on this EU member's concerns about inflation and the war in neighbouring Ukraine. The same exit polls gave second place to centre-right former journalist turned small-town mayor Elena Lasconi at 18 percent, with two far-right candidates scoring 15 and 16 percent. In the absence of an outright winner in the first round -- scoring more than 50 percent -- the top two candidates go through to a second-round run-off in the poor NATO member on December 8. Ciolacu, a Social Democrat, is leading a field of 13 contenders in the race to take over from President Klaus Iohannis in the largely ceremonial post. He welcomed the exit polls putting him in the lead, but said all the votes would have to be counted before he knew who he would face in the second round. Lasconi too, was cautious. "The scores are very tight, it's not yet time to celebrate," said the 52-year-old politician. Far-right leader George Simion, 38, who some had forecast might take second place, is for the moment in fourth. Exit polls put him just behind the 62-year-old pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu. But Simion said Sunday evening: "We'll see the results of the ballot boxes at 11:00 pm (2100 GMT)." - High stakes - Ciolacu's party has shaped Romania's politics for more than three decades, and as he voted Sunday he promised stability and a "decent" standard of living. But political analyst Cristian Parvulescu told AFP: "The far right is by far the big winner of this election." Simion saw his popularity surge by tapping into voter anger over record inflation while promising more affordable housing. Looking for a new election breakthrough for European far-right parties, Simion warned of possible "fraud" and "foreign interference" when voting. But he added: "I am happy that we are giving Romanians hope and the prospect of a better future." The stakes are high for Romania, which has a 650-kilometre (400-mile) border with Ukraine and has become more important since Russia invaded its neighbour in 2022. The Black Sea nation now plays a "vital strategic role" for NATO -- as it is a base for more than 5,000 soldiers -- and the transit of Ukrainian grain, the New Strategy Center think tank said. - Big Trump fan - Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election has further "complicated" Romania's choice, political analyst Cristian Pirvulescu told AFP. Known for his fiery speeches, Simion is a Trump fan who sometimes dons a red cap in appreciation of his idol. Simion opposes sending military aid to Ukraine, wants a "more patriotic Romania" and frequently lashes out against what he calls the "greedy corrupt bubble" running the European Union. Having campaigned hard to win over Romania's large diaspora working abroad, he said the country had only "minions and cowards as leaders". Pirvulescu predicted that if Simion reached the second round his AUR party would get a boost in the December parliamentary election. "Romanian democracy is in danger for the first time since the fall of communism in 1989," he said. - Russian 'spies' claim - "I'm really afraid we'll end up with Simion in the second round," 36-year-old IT worker Oana Diaconu told AFP, expressing concern about the far-right leader's unpredictable nature and attacks on the European Union. The campaign was marked by controversy and personal attacks, with Simion facing accusations of meeting with Russian spies -- a claim he has denied. Ciolacu has been criticised for his use of private jets. Some observers had tipped Lasconi, now mayor of the small town of Campulung and head of a centre-right opposition party, as a surprise package. Sunday's exit polls appeared to suggest they were right. During campaigning, she had said she wanted a future "where no one has to pack their suitcases and leave" the country and for "institutions that work". bur/js-jj/

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Receiving scam text messages is sadly becoming a part of life despite the implementation of the subscriber identity module card registration law and the efforts by the government and telecommunication companies (telcos) to weed out mobile numbers and SIM cards used in fraudulent activities. During the Senate plenary budget deliberations last week, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, speaking on behalf of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) as sponsor of its P7.8-billion budget request for 2025, reported that some 10.8 million mobile numbers have been blacklisted and another 2.3 million SIM cards deactivated so far this year on suspicions that these were being used in scams. He added that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) also blocked more than 2.2 billion text messages that were sent by scammers involved in various fraudulent activities. “The good thing is that the NTC managed to block a lot of SIM cards and prevented spamming and scamming from happening,” Gatchalian said. However, consumer complaints abound in social media about being victimized by text scams in various forms. One plausible reason is that fraudsters seem to always be a step ahead of regulators and telcos. Proof of this is that text scams are now being sent through the legitimate numbers used by Globe Telecom, Smart Communications Inc., and their e-wallets GCash and Maya. How is this even possible? As early as May this year, Smart has warned the public that scammers were using what it calls “fake cell towers” to send text scams to mobile users, and were even using “Smart” as the sender name. It explained that these devices are able to lock on to mobile phones within a specified radius, enabling the scammers to push messages directly to subscribers’ devices without having to go through its network. The illegal “cell site simulators” can also spoof or mimic mobile numbers to deceive subscribers into thinking that they are receiving legitimate text messages, it warned. These cell site simulators are typically used in disaster-stricken areas as temporary emergency communication platforms and their sale is regulated. How scammers gain access to these devices that are not made locally is easy to find out. The Bureau of Customs can start with the list of authorized importers, then the NTC or DICT can go over the list of their clients and check if these devices are being used for legitimate purposes. In short, it has to strictly regulate the importation and use of these types of equipment so these do not fall into the hands of scammers. Another measure is to go back to what Gatchalian had suggested last June: Telcos should be made liable whenever their registered SIM cards are used in scamming activities, or answer for the SIM cards recovered by authorities in the course of their operations against cyber criminals. Sen. JV Ejercito also agreed that telcos should be held accountable for the continued spread of text scams and the use of SIM cards in scamming activities. True, consumers need to take part of the blame. A penchant for things that are free is a problem that lies solely with the mobile users themselves. Imagine receiving a text from seemingly legitimate senders such as shopping sites and courier services with free vouchers or tracking codes for parcel deliveries you did not order. Or even a job or investment opportunity promising high salaries and returns that actually does not exist. These are very attractive baits that lure many potential victims. However, the bigger responsibility in combating this text scam problem is with the telcos, not with the government agencies or the millions of mobile users nationwide. Globe has advised its subscribers to “think before clicking on links, verify the sender’s identity, (and) report scam or spam messages to Globe or to the NTC via their scam/spam report page.” However, changing mobile numbers, reporting scams to authorities, and blocking spam calls through various security apps in mobile phones do not all seem to work. Blocking and deactivating suspicious texts and SIM cards are curative actions. What the consumers need are preventive measures on the part of the government and the telcos. One nagging question begging for an answer is: How have telcos not figured out until now how to prevent this text menace? Regulators, for their part, can look into adopting a measure similar to Singapore’s Shared Responsibility Framework (SRF), which will take effect on Dec. 16 this year. Jointly developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Ministry of Communications and Information’s Infocomm Media Development Authority, the SRF introduces a structure that requires losses from certain types of phishing scams to be shared among the victims, financial institutions, and telcos. Locally, the structure should cover all digital fraud schemes, including text scams, to put everyone on high alert about this headache. Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy .Ukraine hit with hundreds of drones and glide bombs

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Gus Malzahn is resigning as Central Florida's head coach to become Florida State 's offensive coordinator, a person familiar with the hire told The Associated Press on Saturday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Seminoles have not confirmed Malzahn's move, which is pending a state background check. ESPN first reported the decision. The Knights made official that Malzahn is leaving in a statement released a day after UCF (4-8) concluded its season with a 28-14 loss to Utah. “We would like to thank Coach Malzahn for his contributions to our football program over the past four seasons, including our transition into the Big 12 Conference," the school said. "We appreciate his professionalism and dedication to our student-athletes throughout his tenure at UCF and wish he and his wife, Kristi, the very best in their future endeavors.” Malzahn finished with a 28-24 mark in four years at UCF, the last two ending with losing records after joining the Big 12. He coached at Auburn for eight seasons before being fired in 2020. Malzahn replaces offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Alex Atkins, who was fired Nov. 10 following a 52-3 loss at Notre Dame. The Seminoles rank 131st out of 134 in total offense and scoring offense, averaging 15.8 points a game heading into Saturday night's rivalry game against Florida. The Seminoles (2-9) have dropped significantly since going 13-1 last season and winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship. The Knights, meanwhile, struggled mightily in Malzahn's fourth season — most of it because of quarterback issues. Four players took snaps from center as the Knights finished 2-7 in conference play. It was the program's worst record since going 0-12 in former coach George O’Leary’s final season in 2015. Florida State coach Mike Norvell fired Atkins, defensive coordinator Adam Fuller and receivers coach Ron Dugans amid the Seminoles' season-long skid. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football