AP Trending SummaryBrief at 5:32 p.m. ESTThe ruling Mahayuti alliance has decisively triumphed in the sugarcane belt of western Maharashtra, claiming 53 out of 70 assembly seats. The alliance, which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP, delivered a significant blow to the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition. Key districts such as Pune, Satara, and Sangli witnessed this political shift, with the Congress suffering major losses. The Congress, which had previously won 12 seats in 2019, managed to retain only two seats. Notable Congress figures like Prithviraj Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat faced defeat in pivotal constituencies. The success of the Mahayuti was marked by victories of prominent leaders like BJP's Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil in Shirdi and Chandrakant Patil in Pune's Kothrud, cementing their influence across the region. (With inputs from agencies.)Gov. Aliyu: An opposition’s perspective
Stock market today: Wall Street gets back to climbing, sending Nasdaq to a record
The Onion's bid to buy Infowars goes before judge as Alex Jones tries stopping sale The Onion's bid to buy conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' Infowars has returned to a Texas courtroom. A federal judge in Houston is hearing arguments Monday on whether a bankruptcy auction was run properly as Jones alleges collusion and fraud. The hearing is expected to continue into Tuesday. The Onion satirical news outlet was named the winning bidder last month over a company affiliated with Jones. The auction was held to help pay nearly $1.5 billion in defamation judgments that Jones was ordered to pay families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The families won lawsuits against Jones for calling the shooting a hoax. Juan Soto agrees to record $765 million, 15-year contract with Mets, AP source says DALLAS (AP) — A person familiar with the deal tells The Associated Press that star outfielder Juan Soto and the New York Mets have agreed to a record $765 million, 15-year contract. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement, first reported by the New York Post, was subject to a successful physical. Soto’s deal is the largest and longest in Major League Baseball history, topping Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Fernando Tatis Jr.’s $340 million, 14-year contract with San Diego. Soto's deal does not include deferred money, the person said. TikTok asks federal appeals court to bar enforcement of potential ban until Supreme Court review TikTok on Monday asked a federal appeals court to bar the Biden administration from enforcing a law that could lead to a ban on the popular platform until the Supreme Court reviews the case. The legal filing was made after a panel of judges on the same court sided with the government last week and ruled that the law, which requires TikTok to divest from its China-based parent company or face a ban as soon as next month, was constitutional. If the law is not overturned, both TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have said the popular app will shut down by mid-January. Pinheiro Braathen performs snow samba to celebrate Brazil's first podium in a World Cup ski race It’s not just soccer anymore. Brazil is finding World Cup success in skiing now too. Lucas Pinheiro Braathen became the first Brazilian skier to finish on a World Cup podium when he placed second in a giant slalom in Beaver Creek, Colorado, on Sunday. Pinheiro Braathen celebrated the achievement in truly Brazilian style: with a samba dance on the podium, the Brazilian flag wrapped around his waist and cowboy boots on his feet. Pinheiro Braathen’s mother is Brazilian and his father is Norwegian. He raced for Norway until switching his nationality for this season. The end of an Eras tour approaches, marking a bittersweet moment for Taylor Swift fans NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The global phenomenon that is Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is coming to an end after the popstar performed more than 150 shows across five continents over nearly two years. Since launching the tour in 2023, Swift has shattered sales and attendance records. It's even created such an economic boom that the Federal Reserve took note. But for many who attended the concerts, and the millions more who eagerly watched on their screens, the tour also became a beacon of joy. It's become a chance not only to appreciate Swift’s expansive music career, but also celebrate the yearslong journey fans have taken with her. College Football Playoff's first 12-team bracket is set with Oregon No. 1 and SMU in, Alabama out SMU captured the last open spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff, bumping Alabama to land in a bracket that placed undefeated Oregon at No. 1. The selection committee preferred the Mustangs, losers of a heartbreaker in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game, who had a far less difficult schedule than Alabama of the SEC but one fewer loss. The inaugural 12-team bracket marks a new era for college football, though the Alabama-SMU debate made clear there is no perfect formula. The tournament starts Dec. 20-21 with four first-round games. It concludes Jan. 20 with the national title game in Atlanta. Dave Parker and Dick Allen elected to baseball's Hall of Fame DALLAS (AP) — Dave Parker and Dick Allen have been elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame by the classic era committee. Parker received 14 of 16 votes and Allen got 13. A vote of 75% or more was needed for election. They will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 27 along with players voted in by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, whose balloting will be announced on Jan. 21. ‘Moana 2’ cruises to another record weekend and $600 million globally “Moana 2” remains at the top of the box office in its second weekend in theaters as it pulled in another record haul. According to studio estimates Sunday, the animated Disney film added $52 million, bringing its domestic total to $300 million. That surpasses the take for the original “Moana” and brings the sequel's global tally to a staggering $600 million. It also puts the film in this year's top five at the box office. “Wicked” came in second place for the weekend with $34.9 million and “Gladiator II” was third with $12.5 million. The 10th anniversary re-release of Christopher Nolan's “Interstellar” also earned an impressive $4.4 million even though it played in only 165 theaters. Hemingway look-alikes visit Cuba and some of the late writer's favorite places HAVANA (AP) — Eighteen white-bearded men who resemble the late U.S. author Ernest Hemingway have arrived in Havana for the weekend to visit some of the his favorite places when he lived on the island decades ago. Members of the Hemingway Look-alike Society visited the author’s favorite bar in Havana, La Floridita, where the music immediately picked up, and tourists and locals gathered around to take photos. The visit comes as Cuba and the United States are in the midst of tense relations. Hemingway lived in Cuba from 1939 to 1960. 'Reindeer' volunteers bring holiday magic to Ukrainian children living on the frontlines IZIUM, Ukraine (AP) — A volunteer group is trying to fulfill the holiday dreams of thousands of children living near the frontlines in Ukraine. The St. Nicholas’ Reindeers initiative publishes letters online detailing the children's wishes. Some ask for gifts, such as a bicycle or a pet mouse, alongside more complicated requests for their family members to be released from captivity or to be able to return to their homes. Donors fulfill the gift requests and volunteer “reindeers,” named for the magical beasts that pull Santa's sleigh, deliver them in the weeks following Dec. 6, when Ukraine celebrates St. Nicholas Day. Project co-founder Inna Achkasova says the reindeer volunteers aim to ensure that every child feels seen, heard and loved.In response to Elon Musk's involvement in the narrowly-avoided government shutdown, Phoenix Mercury guard Natasha Cloud tweeted: "So when ya’ll gonna tell Elon Musk to go back to Africa." Musk, from South Africa, was named as the co-lead to elected President Donald Trump's DOGE (Department of Government Efficient) board. "I'm so glad ALL these billionaires have no idea how the 3 branches of government work....or how a bill gets passed into law," Cloud continued. Stephen A. Smith in passionate defense of Caitlin Clark Caitlin Clark lifts lid on $1 million Unrivaled decision during WNBA offseason "Shoutout to the 38 Republicans who shot the bill down in the House while being threatened & blackmailed." The WNBA star has tweeted often about the recently elected administration (and its cabinet). President Joe Biden passed a bi-partisan bill avoiding a shutdown as politicians continued to bickle about the debt ceiling. Ultimately, Congress greenlit a provisional government expenditure strategy. "This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted," Biden said. "It ensures the government can continue to operate at full capacity. That ́s good news for the American people." The 32-year-old Cloud was selected with the 15th overall pick by the Washington Mystics in the 2015 WNBA Draft. She spent her entire career before 2024 in the American capital city. Cloud won a WNBA title with the Mystics in 2019 and led the league in assists in 2022. She's also a three-time All-Defense selection (1x First-team, 2x Second-team). She joined the Mercury in 2024, averaging 11.5 points and 6.9 assists in 33 minutes per game as Phoenix lost in the first round of the WNBA Playoffs. DON'T MISS: Jalen Rose makes drastic career change after ESPN layoffs Angel Reese shows admiration for Coco Gauff after tennis star's record success Caitlin Clark's teammate involved in wild on-court brawl during WNBA offseason Cloud has tweeted about Trump and Musk before. After the election, the Mercury guard posted: "Y’all mad that orange man lied and told yall he was gonna make shit cheaper. A bunch of billionaires now control our banking, our food, our healthcare & the info that we will receive. Look up the word oligarchy." The Mercury will open their 2025 season with an away clash with the Seattle Storm before travelling to Los Angeles to face Cameron Brink and the Sparks.
The college football transfer portal swung wide open Monday. With it, seven University of Massachusetts football players have put their names into the portal, looking for a new home next fall. The names that probably stick out are quarterback Ahmad Haston and running back Jalen John, both of whom went into the portal along with tight end Matt Smith, defensive linemen Tyson Walker, Zukudo Igwenagu and Aaron Beckwith, along with wide receiver Anthony Simpson. Simpson had left the team early in the season. "Portal open! Need them dogs. #Flagship" UMass quarterback A.J. Hairston wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Hairston seems to be staying put in Amherst, so it remains to be seen if his recruiting efforts will bear fruit. The now former Minutemen will leave while four incoming freshmen signed national letters of intent last week. Hitting the portal is all about recruiting, and new football head coach Joe Harasymiak broached that subject during his introductory press conference Friday morning in Amherst. "I think it starts where you are. Home is where your feet are. We'll have a detailed plan for that," he said. "I think what I realized at Maine is the first part about recruiting is you have to get people who believe in what you believe in. With everything that's going on in college football, I think that gets lost a little bit. "We're going to make sure, and we've already started in the last few days, we're going to make sure the people that are here believe in what we believe in." The biggest name that went into the portal on Monday belongs to Haston. The quarterback, recruited to UMass out of high school, became now former offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery's running quarterback in the two-quarterback plan. Haston and Hairston, a true freshman, stepped into the breach when Taisun Phommachanh was injured in the loss at Mississippi State. The two alternated in losses to Liberty and UConn at home and at Georgia. Montgomery's plan was predicated on an injury keeping Haston from really letting the ball fly. Haston finished the season by running 18 times for 174 yards and a touchdown. He averaged 9.7 yards per carry. Haston was also 8 for 9 for 39 yards. "I am truly grateful for all the memories, growth and battle-testing experiences I was able to share with my teammates," Haston posted on social media. "I am officially entering the transfer portal with 3 years of eligibility and ready to work." Jalen John, who followed former coach Don Brown from Arizona to UMass, carried the ball 111 times for 583 yards and five touchdowns in 2024. He averaged 5.3 yards per carry. John also had 17 receptions for 119 yards. "I also want to thank the UMass coaching staff and administration for giving me the opportunity to play football," John wrote on social media. "These last two years have been transformative for me as an athlete and an individual. After thoughtful conversations with my family, I will be entering the transfer portal with 1 year of eligibility left." As of this writing, redshirt junior Brandon Campbell and sophomore C.J. Hester lead the running back room. Hester transferred from Western Michigan and was the No. 2 rusher for the Minutemen. He ran the ball 119 times for 529 yards and caught 14 passes for 58 yards. Campbell, was a late arrival this summer from the University of Houston. Campbell had 239 yards rushing on 64 carries. Beckwith, a 6-foot-4, 300-pound redshirt junior had been at UMass for four seasons and had 32 tackles from the nose position in the last two seasons. Igwenagu is the cousin of former UMass fullback Emil Igwenagu, who spent three years in NFL training camps. Zukedo Igwenagu and Tyson Watson both transferred to UMass from Big Ten schools, Igwenagu from Rutgers and Watson from Michigan State. Neither had any tackle statistics in 2024. Smith is a 6-5, 245-pounder who transferred from Duke. The tight end had three catches for 38 yards. Simpson was UMass' leading receiver in 2023, catching 57 passes for 792 yards. The transfer from the University of Arizona was "no longer on the team" in a late-September announcement. Teams in the Mid-American Conference, UMass' home next year, have also felt the sting of players entering the portal. Five teams, led by Ball State with 13 and Akron and Northern Illinois with 12 each, had the most players in the portal as of midday Monday. MAC champion Ohio had yet to have a player enter the portal. There are four incoming freshmen who signed on the Dec. 4 early signing day. Two are defensive backs, one is a running back and one is a quarterback. The signal caller is Zach Lawrence, a 6-foot-1, 3-star recruit out of Charlotte, N.C. He played at Butler High School and was the No. 35 recruit in the state according to Rivals.com He had career numbers of 213 for 340 for 3,377 yards and 37 touchdowns. Dajoure Hollingsworth was listed as 247Sports' No. 19 recruit in Pennsylvania. The 5-8, 175-pound back ran for 2,565 yards on 277 carries in 32 high school games, scoring 38 touchdowns. Eighteen of those came as a senior at Salisbury School in Connecticut. He started at Cathedral Prep in Erie, Pa., the high school alma mater of former UMass linebacker Jerry Roberts Jr., and Roberts' younger brother Jyree, a redshirt freshman. "It starts off with being real, showing them who I am and how I'm going to run the program," Harasymiak said the day he was introduced. "Anybody that believes in that and wants to be a part of that will be here. That's okay. The transfer portal, you don't like it and you want to go somewhere else, that's awesome. If you want to be here and change something that's hard and be something that's going to be special. Stick around. That's my message to the team in the first two team meetings. A lot of things are going to change, a lot. That's evident that it needs to happen. "We're going to keep pushing forward and whoever is here, whoever believes in it, that's when we'll become as strong as we can be."
MasterClass is expanding beyond pre-recorded video lessons to offer on-demand mentorship from some of its most popular celebrity instructors. And if you’re wondering how the company has gotten some of the busiest people on the planet to field your questions, guess what? The answer is generative AI. On Wednesday, MasterClass debuted On Call , a new web and iOS app that allows people to talk with AI versions of its instructors. As of today, On Call is limited to two personas representing the expertise of former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss and University of Berkeley neuroscientist Dr. Matt Walker. In the future, MasterClass says it will offer many more personas, with Gordon Ramsay, Mark Cuban, Bill Nye and LeVar Burton among some of the more notable experts sharing their voices and knowledge in this way. “This isn’t just another generic AI chatbot pulling data from the internet,” David Rogier, the CEO of MasterClass, said on X . “We’ve built this with our experts — training the AI on proprietary data sets (e.g. unpublished notes, private research, their lessons, emails, [and] expertise they’ve never shared before).” Per Inc. , MasterClass signed deals with each On Call instructor to license their voice and expertise . Judging from the sample voice clips MasterClass has up on its website, the interactions aren’t as polished as the one shown in the ad the company shared on social media. In particular, the “voice” of Chris Voss sounds robotic and not natural at all. On Call is also a standalone product with a separate subscription from the company’s regular offering. To use On Call, users will need to pay $10 per month or $84 annually.BOULDER, Colo. — A 72-year-old lifelong Colorado fan with end-stage kidney failure waited to the side of the field in his wheelchair for Travis Hunter and the rest of the Buffaloes. One by one, players strolled over and signed a football for Riley Rhoades, his face lighting up with each signature. Standing close by and taking in the scene was Jeremy Bloom. He's become a wish facilitator for older adults. Bloom, the former Colorado wide receiver and Olympic freestyle skier, started the Wish of a Lifetime foundation in 2008, which has made thousands of aspirations turn into reality for older adults. The list of granted wishes range from taking veterans back to the beaches of Normandy to helping late-in-life authors publish a book. He's staged concerts for musicians, assisted some in daredevil feats such as jumping out of an airplane and even lined up a meeting between an Olympic medalist and former President Barack Obama. For Rhoades, his wish was simply to return to Folsom Field again, the place where he used to have season tickets but hasn't attended a game since 2004. "Everybody has somebody in their life —a grandparent, friend, neighbor — at that age where you wish you had more resources to help," said Bloom, whose college career was cut short two decades ago when the NCAA denied his reinstatement to play football and still ski professionally after receiving endorsement money to fuel his Olympic dreams. "Nothing can compare to seeing someone else's eyes light up because you helped make their dream come true." The foundation is a tribute to his grandparents. But the concept began to take root when he was a teenager. He was in Japan for a World Cup freestyle skiing competition when a woman tried to hop on a crowded bus. There was no room, but everyone in front rose from their seats to make space. That stuck with him, along with seeing these acts of kindness for older adults all over Europe and Asia as he traveled. An idea formed — bring that same level of appreciation to the United States, with a wish-granting element. Bloom's organization has been a charitable affiliate of AARP since 2020. It was the yearning of Rhoades that brought the two of them to Folsom Field last weekend. Rhoades, who had season tickets at Colorado for 27 years, wanted to see the Buffaloes in person after watching the team's resurgence on television. A few years ago, Rhoades, who was born with spina bifida, was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure. Being among the 54,646 fans Saturday stirred up plenty of emotions for Rhoades, as he watched the 16th-ranked Buffaloes (8-2, 6-1 Big 12, No. 16 CFP) beat Utah. Colorado remains in the race for not only a conference title but a spot in the College Football Playoff. "It's just great to be back here again," Rhoades said as he pointed out the section where he used to watch games. "It's just ... so cool." For Bloom, the success that coach Deion Sanders has brought to the program means more reunions with teammates as they pass through town. "I've been through many years where nobody comes to visit," Bloom said. "It's fun that Boulder has become the epicenter of college football." Leading the way for Colorado this season have been quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way star Hunter, who's the Heisman Trophy frontrunner. But what particularly pleases Bloom is that Sanders, Hunter and the rest of college football players are able to finally profit through name, image and likeness. In his day, Bloom got caught in the NCAA crosshairs for wanting to play both sports and to have sponsors in one (skiing) so he could fund his Olympic aspirations. How time have changed. "I'm just really grateful that this generation of athletes gets to monetize their skills and ability," said Bloom, who finished sixth in moguls at the 2006 Winter Games in Italy. "It's the right thing." He's thrown his passion into fulfilling wishes such as learning ballet, riding in a Formula 1 pace car or taking a flight in a fighter jet. He's also helped reconnect families and friends, including a reunion for a trio of centenarian sisters who hadn't seen each other in more than a decade. This granted wish has stuck with Bloom: A person in Alabama wasn't able to travel after being diagnosed with end-of-life emphysema. So he asked for postcards to be sent, just to learn what made someone's town so special. He received 2,000 postcards from 26 different countries. "There's no end to the things that they've done for us in the world," Bloom said of older adults. "We're one of the organizations that reminds them that their dreams still do matter and that we still appreciate them and we cherish them." Get local news delivered to your inbox!
The Game Awards 2024 live: All the announcements and awards as they happenFBI Shakeup: Wray's Resignation Sparks Political TurmoilNavigating 10 Analyst Ratings For Janux Therapeutics
Mario Games on Nintendo Switch Are Cheaper Than Ever Before
Lions CBs Terrion Arnold, Ennis Rakestraw Jr. out vs. Colts