There are times when a postseason bowl seems like the first game of next year for the participating teams. That cliche means something a little different for NC State and East Carolina. The Wolfpack and Pirates face each other in the Military Bowl on Saturday in Annapolis, Maryland. Then they'll see each other again in about eight months. NC State opens the 2025 season at home against ECU on Aug. 30. There is certainly plenty of familiarity between these two programs, even though NC State (6-6) is in the ACC and East Carolina (7-5) is in the AAC. The teams — located about 80 miles apart — have met 32 times, most recently in 2022 when the Wolfpack won 21-20. From 1970-87, these teams played each other every year. Since 2004, they haven't gone more than two consecutive seasons without meeting. “Hour and a half down the road and you're playing — whether you play every year or don't play every year — I think it's still a rivalry," East Carolina coach Blake Harrell said. "Our fans still get excited. They still think that's a rivalry. Our players still think that's a rivalry.” NC State leads the series 19-13 and has won three straight — but East Carolina won three in a row before that. “It's weird playing a team that we open with next year,” Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said. “We don't play them that much. We play them every three years, so it's really a roster turnover. Every time we see them, it's a different ballclub for the most part. But yeah, finishing with who you open with is unique.” NC State and East Carolina met in the Peach Bowl in 1992 — during an eight-year hiatus in their regular-season series. ECU scored three touchdowns in the final 7:26 to win 37-34. “We had that time during COVID, we obviously all had some down time. I remember searching through YouTube, just past games to check out. That game did pop up," Harrell said. "That was a special moment for that team and that program at the time, and this could be a special moment for this team and this program.” NC State is playing in the Military Bowl for the first time. East Carolina was supposed to participate in 2021, but the game was canceled. The Pirates lost to Maryland in the 2010 edition. Harrell took over on an interim basis in the middle of the season when Mike Houston was fired. After leading the Pirates to four straight wins, Harrell had the interim tag removed . Freshman CJ Bailey took over at quarterback for NC State this season after concussion problems ended Grayson McCall's career. Bailey has completed 64.1% of his passes. Only Philip Rivers and Russell Wilson threw for more touchdowns as a freshman for the Wolfpack than Bailey, who has 14 TD tosses. “He's a really good player. Doesn't play like a freshman to me,” Harrell said. "Makes really good throws down the field, has a really good arm, and then if he takes off scrambling or if the quarterback-designed run game, he's a long strider. He can eat up some ground. Nobody ever catches him." 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
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NoneApple AAPL-Q has asked to participate in Google’s upcoming U.S. antitrust trial over online search, saying it cannot rely on Google to defend revenue-sharing agreements that send the iPhone maker billions of dollars each year for making Google the default search engine on its Safari browser. Apple does not plan to build its own search engine to compete with Alphabet’s GOOGL-Q Google, whether or not the payments continue, the company’s lawyers said in court papers filed in Washington on Monday. Apple received an estimated $20-billion from its agreement with Google in 2022 alone. Apple wants to call witnesses to testify at an April trial. Prosecutors will seek to show Google must take several measures, including selling its Chrome web browser and potentially its Android operating system, to restore competition in online search. “Google can no longer adequately represent Apple’s interests: Google must now defend against a broad effort to break up its business units,” Apple said. The Department of Justice’s prosecution of Google is a landmark case that could reshape how users find online information. Google has proposed to loosen its default agreements with browser developers, mobile-device manufacturers and wireless carriers, but not to end its agreements to share a portion of ad revenue Google generates from search. A spokesperson for Google declined to comment on Tuesday.Blockchain founder Justin Sun has invested $30 million into President-elect Donald Trump's crypto project, World Liberty Financial. The platform aspires to be a sort of digital asset bank, where customers will be encouraged to borrow, lend and invest in digital coins. It also launched the WLFI token. Trump's company, DT Marks DEFI LLC is entitled to 75% of any revenue over $30 million. Before Sun's investment, the platform had sold $21 million of tokens. Now it has sold $51 million. Tron blockchain founder Justin Sun has invested $30 million into Donald Trump's crypto project, World Liberty Financial, he announced Monday. "We are thrilled to invest $30 million in World Liberty Financial @worldlibertyfi as its largest investor," Sun wrote in a post on X . Sun recently made national headlines when he spent $6.2 million at a Sotheby's auction for a banana duct-taped to a wall . World Liberty Financial, the Trump-branded crypto platform, aspires to be a sort of digital asset bank, where customers will be encouraged to borrow, lend and invest in digital coins. Trump has licensed his name and promotional considerations to the venture through an LLC, with no assumption of liability. In exchange, Trump's LLC received billions of tokens and the right to 75% of revenues above a $30 million threshold. The platform launched a WLFI token last month , and said in a roadmap that it was looking to raise $300 million at a $1.5 billion valuation in its initial sale. Before Sun's investment, $21.2 million worth of the token had been sold. As of Monday afternoon, $51.2 million worth of the token had been sold, according to its website. Sales now appear to have crossed the $30 million threshold to trigger revenue distribution to Trump's LLC. "The U.S. is becoming the blockchain hub, and Bitcoin owes it to @realDonaldTrump ! TRON is committed to making America great again and leading innovation. Let's go!" added Sun. WLFI co-founder Zachary Folkman has said "well over 100,000 people" are on the whitelist to invest in the token. But as of Monday afternoon, only about 20,400 unique wallet addresses hold the token, according to blockchain data tracked by Etherscan, representing roughly 20% of the total number of people who registered. "There have been a number of similarly significant purchases in recent weeks, and we are confident about future success and building out something that helps to make finance freer and fairer," Folkman said in a statement. "We expect more such developments to happen in the coming weeks and months." While Trump does not take office until January, Sun's investment in WLFI, and the revenue it appears to direct to Trump's LLC under the terms disclosed, highlights the way Trump's newer business ventures, like his social media company Trump Media Technology Group and this crypto venture, could offer more direct opportunities for individuals to enrich the president-elect than Trump's hotels and office buildings did. During Trump's first term in office, there were near constant questions about whether foreign governments' lavish spending on rooms and banquets at Trump's Washington, D.C. hotel amounted to violations of the Constitution's "emoluments clause." The clause bars federal office holders from accepting payments or things of value from foreign governments and their representatives. But Trump's hotel rooms and office space have relatively fixed prices, and costs that cut into total profits. By contrast, the investors in Trump's newer ventures — as demonstrated by Sun's token purchase — can inject tens of millions of dollars, instantly, with little to no cost to Trump. Spokespeople for the Trump presidential transition, World Liberty Financial and Sun's Tron did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Sun's purchase comes as Trump actively works to assemble his list of appointees. The president-elect wrapped up cabinet appointments over the weekend and has since moved on to other agency and department leaders. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong reportedly met with Trump to discuss appointments on Nov. 18. Within a day, conversations swirled about the potential for Trump to create the White House's first crypto czar . By the end of the week, longtime crypto foe and SEC chairman Gary Gensler, whose term doesn't expire until June 2026, announced he would be retiring on Inauguration Day. Trump has yet to select a nominee to lead the SEC in Gensler's place. Under new leadership, the securities regulator could choose to drop some of its enforcement actions against major crypto ventures. It's unclear how Tron's case could be impacted. In March 2023 , the commission unveiled fraud and unregistered securities charges against Sun, alongside separate violations against the celebrity backers of his Tronix and BitTorrent crypto assets, which included Jake Paul, Lindsay Lohan and Soulja Boy. The SEC alleged that Sun engaged in fraud by manipulating the trading activity of the two tokens, creating the appearance of active trading when it did not exist. The unregistered offer and sale charges, on the other hand, are similar to charges the SEC has unveiled against other crypto offerings and exchanges, including Genesis, Gemini , Coinbase , Binance, and Kraken. The crypto industry showed up in force this election cycle. Several notable sector leaders including Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, as well as multiple C-suite executives from crypto firms battling the SEC, donated to PACs supporting the Trump campaign.
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TV’s Dr. Oz invested in businesses regulated by agency Trump wants him to leadAs a critic, I'm sometimes asked about my note-taking habits: Do you take a lot of notes? (Almost always; my memory can get fuzzy fast.) How do you do this in a dark theater? (Absolutely no phone screens! I scribble furiously with a pen and paper and hope for the best.) What do you usually take notes about? To that last question, it truly varies, but I can say that I'm consistently being pulled in by words, spoken and unspoken. The profound, the funny, the relatable, the subtext-laden; the lines that reveal some kind of truth about the world on screen and thus the world we're existing in now. When I think of some of my most memorable film-going experiences of 2024 – a great year for movies! – these are some of the moments and performances that have moved me, and stuck even many months later. Gendered inequities become glaringly obvious very quickly in Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine's fascinating documentary about the long-running high school program known as Girls State. Like many before them, the ambitious civic-minded teens profiled here set out to build their own government from the ground up. But the film was shot in 2022, the first time the Missouri chapter hosted both the girls and boys programs on the same campus at the same time, and the girls spend much of their time observing how much attention is paid to the enforcement of dress codes and how little is given to discussing more substantial and urgent political issues. (Meanwhile, there's ample evidence the boys' ambitions are taken far more seriously. Among their advantages: being "sworn in" to "office" by the state governor.) In one scene some of the girls commiserate over their disappointment with the tenor of the program, with one of them calling it out as distracting "fluff." The moment speaks to the obstacles that still persist for women in politics and is a sobering depiction of young hopefuls getting an early taste of political disillusionment. The final lines of Jane Schoenbrun's challenging and mesmerizing transgender allegory are a wallop of a denouement, proffering both sadness and hope. The sadness comes from everything we've learned about the meek protagonist Owen (Justice Smith) to this point – how, out of paralyzing fear, they've made a deliberate choice to deny their true self, and live a depressing and unfulfilling life. Now working at the kind of job that can only be described as the stuff of nightmares – a Chuck E. Cheese-like amusement center – the crushing weight of their denial finally hits, and sends them into a panic attack in the middle of a child's birthday celebration. The beauty of Megan Park's coming-of-age dramedy is that it never attempts to explain how 18-year-old Elliott (Maisy Stella) comes to encounter her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza), beyond a hallucinogenic mushroom trip the first time she appears. The obvious and more pressing question then is, What does my future hold? When older Elliott delivers the sobering news to younger Elliott – that life rarely plays out exactly as planned – the reality of many millennials and Gen Zers the world over is succinctly and wittily acknowledged. Own a house? Work a fulfilling job that also pays at least a living wage? LOL. Park's film mercifully doesn't dwell on such cynicism, but it is all the better for those little nuggets of pointed commentary peppered throughout, blending a healthy dose of lived wisdom with the energy of youthful optimism. Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Zora is unquestionably relatable — what person wouldn't do everything in their power to ward off a loved one's impending death, especially their child's? But ultimately, Zora's impulses are more harmful than good for her terminally ill daughter Tuesday (Lola Petticrew), who's already come to terms with her own fate. It takes several extreme attempts at "killing" Death, imagined here as a majestically baritone macaw voiced by Arinzé Kene, before Zora understands she must set aside her own fears of what's to come and live in the present. One night, inquisitive tween Lacy (Zoe Ziegler) asks her mom Janet (Julianne Nicholson) if she'd be "disappointed" if she dated a girl when she's older. Janet, an acupuncturist and total hippie, admits she'd be neither disappointed nor shocked if that came to pass. The clarity of the observation about her daughter reveals that Janet sees a quality in Lacy that doesn't exist within herself, namely that "forthrightness," a lack of interest in tamping down any part of who she is. There is nothing subtle about this movie, but in a sparse script overflowing with bluntly obvious points about the horrors of sexism and misogyny, this line is the most apt thesis statement. What makes Coralie Fargeat's astounding, seismic body horror so unique is that the external forces – men, the patriarchy writ large — are on the periphery. Instead, Fargeat is preoccupied with what those forces stir within Elisabeth (Demi Moore), a TV aerobics star resorting to the most desperate of measures to regain her youth, and Sue (Margaret Qualley), the other, younger half she gruesomely expels from her body with the aid of "the substance." There's so much narrative possibility packed into this throwaway line, spoken by tennis star-turned-coach Tashi (Zendaya). She's a ruthless striver wedged in the middle of a homoerotic love triangle because she married Art (Mike Faist) after first having dated his best friend Patrick (Josh O'Connor). Does she love either of them as much, if not more, than she loves the thrill of a little green ball connecting with a swinging racket in a game of "good tennis"? Doubtful. But she's dedicated her life to making sure Art does what she wasn't able to accomplish on her own after a career-ending injury, and she'll be damned if she'll let Patrick humiliate him on the court. Look, I never said this was a list of the best movies of 2024. M. Night Shyamalan's nepo-baby project starring Josh Hartnett as a hot and doting dad who's also a serial killer is truly one of the dumbest, most nonsensical things to come out of Hollywood in recent memory. But it's fun as hell, and the commitment to such a ridiculous premise is weirdly audacious: The F.B.I., led by a serial killer "profiler" played by Haley Mills, has trapped thousands of people at a pop star's concert to catch a guy who could be literally anyone. (That pop star is played by Shyamalan's daughter Saleka.) What does this killer look like? Who knows! Except if you've seen this movie and made it through to the end, you eventually realize that everyone hunting this guy down should've absolutely known. It makes no sense. The plot holes are abundant. This is cinema. Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit npr.org .We’re Hearing Whispers of an Apple “AI Wall Tablet”
Hyderabad: The Kalapather police arrested a couple who had stolen valuables and cash from a house at Ramanathapura under Kalapather police station limits. The arrested persons are identified as Zakiya Sultana, 46 years old and Mohd Abdul Saleem, 47 years old, both residents of Mailardevpally. ACP Falaknuma, Mohd Jaweed said on December 14, Sultana and Saleem came to Kalapather and observed the gate of a house open. Sultana went outside the house and on noticing no one was around in the building went inside, Saleem, went away and stood at a distance watching the movement of people. “Sultana went into a room in the house and opened the cupboard. She gave away gold ornaments that included bangles, necklace and gold chains and escaped,” said ACP Jaweed. The theft came to light later and the family lodged a complaint with Kalapather police. The crime team under the supervision of Kalapather Inspector Mohd Asif collected footage of the closed circuit and after examination identified the woman. The police arrested Sultana and Saleem. The property was recovered from them. They are previously involved in eight cases in Bhavaninagar, Madannapet, Santoshnagar and Kamatipura police station limits.
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Teladoc Health CFO Mala Murthy sells $104,754 in stockPARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) — Kailyn Gilbert scooped in a layup with 1.6 seconds remaining and then stole the ball on the last play of the game to give No. 7 LSU a 68-67 win over Washington in the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship first round on Monday. Flau’Jae Johnson had to save the ball from going into the backcourt during a scramble that ended in Gilbert's go-ahead basket. Gilbert corralled the loose ball over a diving Washington player, sliced through the defense and tossed up a shot that hung on the back of the rim before falling through. Gilbert's ensuing steal sealed it. Aneesah Morrow had her 80th career double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Tigers (7-0). Johnson also had 19 points and Sa'Myah Smith added 16 with a career-high 15 rebounds. Sayvia Sellers had a career-high 24 points for the Huskies (6-2). Ellie Ladine had 14 points and nine rebounds. Washington, 16-15 last year, 6-12 in its final Pac-12 season, showed a lot of grit. LSU also showed a lot of grit in pulling out a win despite shooting a season-low 33%, going 3 of 19 from 3-point range. Sellers hit a tough step-back 3-pointer to bump the Washington lead to 62-57 with 4:31 to play and 18 seconds later she fouled out. The Husky reserves played 27 minutes and didn't score. LSU was 15 of 21 from the foul line as two Husky starters had four fouls in addition to Sellers fouling out. Washington shot 7 of 10 from the line. The Tigers also had 26 second-chance points off of 27 offensive rebounds. LSU plays N.C. State or Southern on Wednesday in the tournament's championship game. Washington will play before that game against the loser of N.C. State-Southern. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketballQatar tribune Melbourne: Opener Sam Konstas is set to become Australia men’s youngest Test batting debutant in 71 years in the Boxing Day Test against India. The 19-year-old was called up to replace Nathan McSweeney last week after he managed only 72 runs across six innings at an average of 14.40. The series is currently tied at 1-1 with two matches left to play. “He’s composed, relaxed, knows his game is in a good place at the moment, he’ll play Boxing Day,” said Australia coach Andrew McDonald.We’re really excited for him, Boxing Day, the biggest stage. He might as well get that one out of the way early.” New South Wales’ Konstas will be Australia’s youngest batting debutant since Ian Craig in 1953. New South Wales’ Konstas will be Australia’s youngest batting debutant since Ian Craig in 1953. (Agencies) Copy 25/12/2024 10