“We’re aware of the civil allegations and Jay-Z’s really strong response to that,” NFL (National Football League) commissioner Roger Goodell said on Wednesday after the conclusion of the league’s winter meetings. “We know the litigation is happening now. From our standpoint, our relationship is not changing with them, including our preparations for the next Super Bowl.” A woman who previously sued musician Sean “Diddy” Combs, alleging she was raped at an awards show after-party in 2000 when she was 13 years old, amended the lawsuit on Sunday to include a new allegation that Jay-Z was also at the party and participated in the sexual assault. Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, said the rape allegation made against him is part of an extortion attempt. The 24-time Grammy Award winner called the allegations “idiotic” and “heinous in nature” in a statement released by Roc Nation. The NFL teamed up with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in 2019 for events and social activism. The league and the entertainment company extended their partnership a few months ago. Kendrick Lamar will perform the Super Bowl halftime show at The Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on February 9. Roc Nation and Emmy-winning producer Jesse Collins will serve as co-executive producers of the halftime show. Beyonce, who is married to Jay-Z, will perform at halftime of the Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans game at Christmas. “I think they’re getting incredibly comfortable not just with the Super Bowl but other events they’ve advised us on and helped us with,” Mr Goodell said. “They’ve been a big help in the social justice area to us on many occasions. They’ve been great partners.”CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Rafael Pinzon had 22 points in Bryant's 97-85 win over Tennessee State on Tuesday night. Pinzon shot 6 of 15 from the field, including 4 for 5 from 3-point range, and went 6 for 6 from the line for the Bulldogs (4-3). Connor Withers scored 17 points while going 6 of 14 from the floor, including 4 for 9 from 3-point range, and 1 for 4 from the line. Keyshawn Mitchell finished 7 of 10 from the field to finish with 16 points, while adding 13 rebounds. Brandon Weston led the way for the Tigers (3-5) with 24 points and six steals. Antoine Lorick III added 16 points, seven rebounds and two steals for Tennessee State. Carlous Williams had 16 points and two steals. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
Nathan Ake calls on Man City to show character after latest setback
Nathan Ake calls on Man City to show character after latest setback
By PETER SMITH A social-media tribute to Coptic Christians. A billboard in Amish country. A visit to a revered Jewish gravesite. While Donald Trump’s lock on the white evangelical vote is legendary, he and his campaign allies also wooed smaller religious groups, far from the mainstream. As it turned out, Trump won by decisive margins, but his campaign aggressively courted niche communities with the understanding that every vote could be critical, particularly in swing states. Voter surveys such as exit polls, which canvass broad swaths of the electorate, aren’t able to gauge the impact of such microtargeting, but some backers say the effort was worth it. Just one week before the election, Trump directed a post on the social-media platform X to Coptic Christians in the United States —- whose church has ancient roots in Egypt. He saluted their “Steadfast Faith in God, Perseverance through Centuries of Persecution and Love for this Great Country.” “This was the first time seeing a major U.S. presidential candidate address the community in this manner,” said Mariam Wahba, a Coptic Christian and research analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based research institute. “It was really a profound moment.” She said many Copts share the conservative social views of other Christian groups in the Republican constituency, and they may already have been Trump supporters. But the posting reinforced those bonds. Coptic bishops sent the president-elect congratulations after his victory and cited their “shared social and family values.” Some Assyrian Christians — another faith group with Middle Eastern roots — similarly bonded with Trump, whose mispronunciation of “Assyrian” at a rally created a viral video moment and drew attention to their support. Sam Darmo, a Phoenix real estate agent and co-founder of Assyrians for Trump, said many community members cited the economy, illegal immigration and other prominent voter issues. They echoed other conservative Christians’ concerns, he said, on issues such as abortion, gender identity and religious expression in public. But he said Trump supported various Middle Eastern Christians recovering from the Islamic State group’s oppressive rule. Darmo also credited Massad Boulos, father-in-law to Trump’s daughter Tiffany, for mobilizing various Middle Eastern Christian groups, including Chaldean Catholics, and other voters, particularly in Michigan, such as Muslims. “He brought all these minority groups together,” he said. “We’re hoping to continue that relationship.” But members of Middle Eastern-rooted Christian groups, and their politics, are far from monolithic, said Marcus Zacharia, founder of Progressive Copts, a program of Informed Immigrants, an organization that promotes dialogue on sensitive topics among such groups in the United States and Canada. He said many younger community members question Trump’s stances on issues such as immigration, and sense that conservatives sometimes tokenize them by focusing on the plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East while neglecting wider issues of repression in countries there that the U.S. supports. He said there needs to be more informed dialogue across the political divide in these communities. “There is no more high time than these next four years to have that way of conducting conversations,” he said. Republicans also made an aggressive push for Amish voters , particularly in the swing state of Pennsylvania, where they are most numerous at about 92,000 (many below voting age). The GOP has made similar efforts in the past, even though researchers have found that less than 10% of them typically vote, due to their separatism from society. But Republicans used billboards, mailers, ads and door-to-door campaigner to drive turnout in Lancaster County, home base to the nation’s largest Amish settlement. On Election Day, Amish voters Samuel Stoltzfus and his wife Lillian Stoltzfus said they were supporting Trump, citing their anti-abortion beliefs. “We basically look at it as murder,” Stoltzfus, 31, said outside a polling center in the Lancaster County community of New Holland, where dozens of other members of the local Amish community voted. Trump has wavered on the issue, dismaying some abortion opponents, though many have said Republicans still align more closely to their views. Stolzfus added: “Make America great again and keep the moral values,” he said. “Let’s go back to the roots.” Steven Nolt, a history professor at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster College who studies the Amish and their voting patterns, said that while it’s too early to say definitively without further research, he doesn’t see evidence of a larger turnout this year. Lancaster County as a whole — most of which is not Amish — is a GOP stronghold that Trump won handily, though both parties’ votes edged up from 2020, according to unofficial results posted by the Pennsylvania Department of State. Trump’s biggest increases were in urban or suburban areas with few Amish, while some areas with larger Amish populations generally saw a modest increase in the Trump vote, said Nolt, director of the college’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. “Bottom line, percentage-wise, not much change in the parts of Lancaster County where the Amish live,” he said. Trump directly reached out to members of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of Orthodox Judaism. Related Articles National Politics | Attorneys want the US Supreme Court to say Mississippi’s felony voting ban is cruel and unusual National Politics | Trump convinced Republicans to overlook his misconduct. But can he do the same for his nominees? National Politics | Trump gave Interior nominee one directive for a half-billion acres of US land: ‘Drill.’ National Politics | Trump’s team is delaying transition agreements. What does it mean for security checks and governing? National Politics | Judge delays Trump hush money sentencing in order to decide where case should go now On Oct. 7, the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, Trump made a symbolically resonant visit to the “Ohel,” the burial site of the movement’s revered late leader, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. Wearing a yarmulke, the traditional Jewish skullcap, Trump, who has Jewish family members, brought a written prayer to the Ohel and laid a small stone at the grave in keeping with tradition. The site in New York City, while particularly central to Chabad adherents, draws an array of Jewish and other visitors, including politicians. About two-thirds of Jewish voters overall supported Trump’s opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters. But the Trump campaign has made a particular outreach to Orthodox Jews, citing issues including his policies toward Israel in his first administration. Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowitz of Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida said it was moving for him to see images of Trump’s visit. “The mere fact that he made a huge effort, obviously it was important to him,” he said. Associated Press journalist Luis Henao contributed.Video Analytics Market 2023 Future Analysis, Demand by Regions and Opportunities with Challenges 2033Gordon Dunn Buys 122,221 Shares of Quoin Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ:QNRX) Stock
Percentages: FG .429, FT 1.000. 3-Point Goals: 11-27, .407 (Lindsay 5-8, Brown 2-6, Williams 1-1, Anderson 1-2, Ricks 1-4, Freeman 1-5, Hutchins-Everett 0-1). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 3. Blocked Shots: 3 (Hutchins-Everett 2, Smith). Turnovers: 9 (Smith 4, Ricks 2, Freeman, Lindsay, Williams). Steals: 1 (Smith). Technical Fouls: None. Percentages: FG .500, FT .692. 3-Point Goals: 7-18, .389 (Gray 3-3, Burke 1-1, Howell 1-3, Kapic 1-4, McGhie 1-6, Tait-Jones 0-1). Team Rebounds: 4. Team Turnovers: None. Blocked Shots: 1 (Rochelin). Turnovers: 5 (Gray 2, Milovich 2, Rochelin). Steals: 5 (Gray 4, Kapic). Technical Fouls: None. .The Minnesota Twins acquired infielder Mickey Gasper from the Red Sox on Tuesday, sending left-hander Jovani Moran to Boston. Gasper, 29, made his major league debut in 2024 with the Red Sox, going hitless with four walks and one run in 18 at-bats over 13 games. The switch-hitter spent most of the 2024 season at Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester, hitting a combined .328 with 27 doubles, 12 home runs and 58 RBIs in 92 games. The Red Sox selected him from the New York Yankees in the 2023 Rule 5 Draft. A 27th-round pick of the Yankees in the 2018 draft, Gasper has played four positions in the minors -- first base, second base, third base and catcher -- along with serving as designated hitter. In 407 minor league games with the Yankees and Red Sox farm systems, he has hit .275 with 48 home runs and 207 RBIs. Moran, 27, underwent Tommy John surgery after the 2023 season and didn't pitch in 2024. In 79 relief appearances with the Twins from 2021-23, Minnesota's seventh-round pick in the 2015 draft is 2-3 with one save along with a 4.15 ERA, 52 walks, 112 strikeouts and a 1.33 WHIP in 91 innings. This article first appeared on Field Level Media and was syndicated with permission.Man City blow three-goal lead in Champions League, Bayern beat PSG
UC San Diego 73, James Madison 67
This isn’t working out. Remote work policies ushered in by the COVID-19 pandemic have taken a serious toll on employees’ social and emotional well-being, a new study found. A shocking 25% of remote workers say their social skills declined since going fully remote, with millennials being the most susceptible to the harms of telecommuting, a ResumeBuilder.com survey of 1,000 US workers found. Transitioning to a remote set-up full time has many employees struggling with behaviors and norms expected in social settings, including initiating conversations (18%), maintaining eye contact (16%) and participating in group discussions (15%), the November study found. Nearly one in five remote workers reported their overall mental health has taken a nosedive, with almost two-thirds citing a lack of social connection as contributing to their psychological decline, and 57% pointing to an increased sense of isolation. Working outside of the office, however, has a positive impact for some, with about 38% reporting their mental health improved and 46% claiming it remained the same. “Some employees struggle to adapt to a fully remote work environment,” said Resume Builder’s Chief Career Advisor Stacie Haller. “This issue is particularly pronounced among those who began their careers in traditional office settings.” Beyond crippling employees’ mental and social health, the out-of-office set-up is a career killer for some. An analysis of 2 million white-collar workers by Live Data Technologies found full-time remote workers were 35% more likely to be canned and 31% less likely to get a promotion in 2023, compared with their in-office colleagues. “You never know what’s going through your boss’ mind,” Steven Lowell, a Staten Island career coach and recruiter, told The Post. “You cannot walk into a room and see the look on your boss’ face when discussing a performance review.” Working remotely can feel like you’re imprisoned in your home, he said, adding, “The ankle bracelet is replaced by the mobile phone.” Despite the drawbacks, most of the work-at-home set prefer to continue full-time remote work. The Resume Builder survey found just four in 10 would like to be in the office a least once a week, with a mere 4% gunning to commute in all five work days. “Ultimately, there is no universal solution,” Haller said. “Employees are discovering what work model suits them best.”Twins deal LHP Jovani Moran to Red Sox for INF Mickey GasperI intended to respond to two readers’ comments on my last QoL piece but had troubling connecting. “Use difficulties” Michael Caine once said, re taking advantage of things going wrong on stage. So here goes. Apropos taqiyya , one reader wrote: “...when it comes to the meaning of “taqiyya,” I understand it to be that which St Peter practiced when he disowned Christ.” Apropos relativism, another reader pointed out that violence had been committed on scale throughout history. Why pick on Islam, so to speak. I think it is safe to say that both readers are missing the point. Denying Christ was a sin for which Peter suffered great shame. It was a sin forgiven by Jesus but not countenanced. On the other hand, in Islam, taqiyya (lying and deceiving for the protection or advancement of Islam) is countenanced; no forgiveness required. Quite a difference. In fact, they are a million miles apart. “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep...his lips from speaking deceit.” (1 Peter 3:10, ESV) As to violence, history is full of it. Conquistadors, whether of the 16th century Spanish variety or of other varieties, have wreaked rape, pillage, and murder on the conquered down the ages. More generally, bad men (the odd woman) have always been around ready to commit heinous crimes. Early Christians were persecuted by Jews. And sadly, as we know, since then, Jews have been serially persecuted in the name of Christianity and under communism and, of course, under Nazism. So again, what is the difference between this kind of violence and that perpetrated in the name of Islam. You know, like the 46,485 deadly Islamic terrorist attacks since 9/11 – as reliably reported here . The difference is the source of the violence. Is it from the playbook of evil men sometimes combined with a transitory twisted creed of their own making? Hitler and Nazism is the poster child. Or, to the point, does it emerge directly and persistently from an immutable source; i.e., from a creed built on the verbatim words of Allah. VE-Day saw the end of Hitler and Nazism. Metaphorically speaking, a religious creed with 1.9 billion followers cannot be similarly bombed into oblivion. Barbary pirates operating from Muslim North Africa were creating mayhem – pillaging, killing, and enslaving – on the high seas. John Quincy Adams, US president in the late 1820s, cut to the chase : “While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth, and good will towards men.” Churchill, in The Gathering Storm (1948), drew an instructive parallel: “Here [in Mein Kampf ] was the new Koran of faith and war: turgid, verbose, shapeless, but pregnant with its message.” And from The River War (1899): “Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.” Perceptive men were Adams and Churchill. However, their perceptiveness is mostly lost on the current generation of politicians and journalists. Or, more accurately, deliberately ignored out of misplaced cultural sensitivity. A sensitivity which will bury us if it continues unabated. There is no scriptural support for killing, enslaving, or subjugating in Christianity. It can only come from men’s hearts not from scripture. The difference is that those who kill, enslave, and subjugate infidels in the name of Islam have a plethora of scriptural support in the Koran and in the hadiths. And, there are plenty of imams continually and loudly informing them of the fact. In case of doubt, have another look at Sheikh Ibrahim Dadoun disgustingly celebrating the October 7 slaughter of Israelis. Here are just few Koranic passage extracts to inspire Imams out for blood: So, choose not friends from among them...if they turn back (to enmity) then take them and kill them...and choose no friend or helper from among them. (4:89 Pickthall translation) / ...slay the idolaters wherever ye find them... (9:5) / Mohammed is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard against disbelievers and merciful among themselves... (48:29) / I will throw fear into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Then smite their necks and smite of them each finger. (8:12) / Fight against those who have been given the scripture as believe not...until they pay the tribute [jizya] readily, being brought low [read dhimmitude]. (9:29) Tuned into GB News the other day. The two breakfast hosts were interviewing a Middle-Eastern looking chap who revealed he had a “Muslim background.” Who would have guessed. The gist of his view: it was frightening if the deadly attack in Magdeburg heralded a new face of terror. To wit, Muslims disaffected with Islam mowing down people in the street. Really? None of it makes sense. But the media, apparently even GB News , is eager to lap up any fanciful tale which diverts attention from the elephant in the West. Namely, growing populations owing allegiance to the hateful elements of a creed rather than to the countries providing them a home. Multiculturalism writ clashingly.
Kimberly Guilfoyle who? Donald Trump Jr. ‘flaunts’ new romance with Palm Beach socialite: reportThe latest development came hours after thousands of his supporters, defying government warnings, broke through a barrier of shipping containers blocking off Islamabad and entered a high-security zone, where they clashed with security forces, facing tear gas shelling, mass detentions and gunfire. Tension has been high in Islamabad since Sunday when supporters of the former PM began a “long march” from the restive north-west to demand his release. Khan has been in a prison for more than a year and faces more than 150 criminal cases that his party says are politically motivated. Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, led the protest, but she fled as police pushed back against demonstrators. Hundreds of Khan’s supporters are being arrested in the ongoing night-time operation. Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters that the Red Zone, which houses government buildings and embassies, and the surrounding areas have been cleared. Leaders from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, have also fled the protest site. Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan’s army took control of D-Chowk, a large square in the Red Zone, where visiting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is staying. Since Monday, Mr Naqvi had threatened that security forces would use live fire if protesters fired weapons at them. “We have now authorised the police to respond as necessary,” Mr Naqvi said Tuesday while visiting the square. Before the operation began, protester Shahzor Ali said people had taken to the streets because Khan had called for them. “We will stay here until Khan joins us. He will decide what to do next,” Mr Ali said. Protester Fareeda Bibi, who is not related to Khan’s wife, said people have suffered greatly for the last two years. “We have really suffered for the last two years, whether it is economically, politically or socially. We have been ruined. I have not seen such a Pakistan in my life,” she said. Authorities have struggled to contain the protest-related violence. Six people, including four members of the security services, were killed when a vehicle rammed them on a street overnight into Tuesday. A police officer died in a separate incident. Dozens of Khan supporters beat a videographer covering the protest for the Associated Press and took his camera. He sustained head injuries and was treated in hospital. By Tuesday afternoon, fresh waves of protesters made their way unopposed to their final destination in the Red Zone. Mr Naqvi said Khan’s party had rejected a government offer to rally on the outskirts of the city. Information minister Atta Tarar warned there would be a severe government reaction to the violence. The government says only the courts can order Khan’s release. He was ousted in 2022 through a no-confidence vote in Parliament. In a bid to foil the unrest, police have arrested more than 4,000 Khan supporters since Friday and suspended mobile and internet services in some parts of the country. Messaging platforms were also experiencing severe disruption in the capital. Khan’s party relies heavily on social media and uses messaging platforms such as WhatsApp to share information, including details of events. The X platform, which is banned in Pakistan, is no longer accessible, even with a VPN. Last Thursday, a court prohibited rallies in the capital and Mr Naqvi said anyone violating the ban would be arrested. Travel between Islamabad and other cities has become nearly impossible because of shipping containers blocking the roads. All education institutions remain closed.China is considering softer currency