A�’��}�c�ˆ���5�g7r,�)Pֱ��OE��9+ɯX�4y�(��uȰprf+]/E�@�$ʣ���+*�e��z��$��!Xז�lv��_�|ē�����

A�’��}�c�ˆ���5�g7r,�)Pֱ��OE��9+ɯX�4y�(��uȰprf+]/E�@�$ʣ���+*�e��z��$��!Xז�lv��_�|ē�����Israel approved a United States-brokered with Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Tuesday, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting linked to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. In the hours leading up to the Cabinet meeting, Israel carried out its most intense wave of strikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs and issued a record number of evacuation warnings. At least 24 people were killed in strikes across the country, according to local authorities, as Israel signaled it aims to keep pummeling Hezbollah in the final hours before any ceasefire takes hold. Israel’s security Cabinet approved the ceasefire agreement late Tuesday after it was presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his office said. U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking in Washington, called the agreement “good news” and said his administration would make a renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza. An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire would mark the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to bring peace to the Middle East, but neither he nor Netanyahu have proposed a postwar solution for the Palestinian territory, where Hamas is still holding dozens of hostages and the conflict is more intractable. Still, any halt to the fighting in Lebanon is expected to reduce the likelihood of war between Israel and Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas and exchanged direct fire with Israel on two occasions earlier this year. Israel says it will ‘attack with might’ if Hezbollah breaks truce Netanyahu presented the ceasefire proposal to Cabinet ministers after a televised address in which he listed a series of accomplishments against Israel’s enemies across the region. He said a ceasefire with Hezbollah would further isolate Hamas in Gaza and allow Israel to focus on its main enemy, Iran, which backs both groups. “If Hezbollah breaks the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack,” he said. “For every violation, we will attack with might.” Netanyahu’s office later said Israel appreciated the U.S. efforts in securing the deal but “reserves the right to act against every threat to its security.” It was not immediately clear when the ceasefire would go into effect, and the exact terms of the deal were not released. The deal calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border. would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor all sides’ compliance. But implementation remains a major question mark. Israel has demanded the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations. Lebanese officials have rejected writing that into the proposal. Biden said Israel reserved the right to quickly resume operations in Lebanon if Hezbollah breaks the terms of the truce, but that the deal “was designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.” Hezbollah has said it accepts the proposal, but a senior official with the group said Tuesday that it had not seen the agreement in its final form. “After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network. “We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state.” of Lebanon, he said. “Any violation of sovereignty is refused.” Warplanes bombard Beirut and its southern suburbs Even as Israeli, U.S, Lebanese and international officials have expressed growing optimism over a ceasefire, Israel has continued its campaign in Lebanon, which it says aims to cripple Hezbollah’s military capabilities. An Israeli strike on Tuesday leveled a residential building in the central Beirut district of Basta — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near the city’s downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs killed at least one person and wounded 13, it said. Three people were killed in a separate strike in Beirut and three in a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. Lebanese state media said another 10 people were killed in the eastern Baalbek province. Israel says it targets Hezbollah fighters and their infrastructure. Israel also struck a building in Beirut’s bustling commercial district of Hamra for the first time, hitting a site that is around 400 meters (yards) from Lebanon’s Central Bank. There were no reports of casualties. The Israeli military said it struck targets in Beirut and other areas linked to Hezbollah’s financial arm. The evacuation warnings covered many areas, including parts of Beirut that previously have not been targeted. The warnings, coupled with fear that Israel was ratcheting up attacks before a ceasefire, sent residents fleeing. Traffic was gridlocked, and some cars had mattresses tied to them. Dozens of people, some wearing their pajamas, gathered in a central square, huddling under blankets or standing around fires as Israeli drones buzzed loudly overhead. Hezbollah, meanwhile, kept up its rocket fire, triggering air raid sirens across northern Israel. Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a major presence, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where the U.N. peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, is headquartered. UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told The Associated Press that peacekeepers will not evacuate. Israeli forces reach Litani River in southern Lebanon The Israeli military also said its ground troops clashed with Hezbollah forces and destroyed rocket launchers in the Slouqi area on the eastern end of the Litani River, a few kilometers (miles) from the Israeli border. Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border. Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have been exchanging barrages ever since. Israel escalated its campaign of bombardment in mid-September and later sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire so tens of thousands of evacuated Israelis could return to their homes. More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members. Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to in the country’s north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground offensive in Lebanon. ___

In a letter to the Prime Minister, shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel and shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick claimed the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had “no proper basis in international law”. They said the UK’s refusal to explicitly say whether or not the Israeli premier would be detained if he arrived in the country “opens the farcical spectre of your Government trying to sanction the arrest” of an ally to Britain. Criticising the ICC warrant, the shadow ministers said: “It is hard to escape the conclusion this is an activist decision, motivated by politics and not the law.” They argued the court was established to pursue cases in instances where countries do not have robust and independent judiciaries, which could not be said of Israel. “The UK Government’s response to the decision has been nonsensical,” they said. “On Friday, the Home Secretary refused to say whether Mr Netanyahu would be detained if he travelled to the UK. “This opens the farcical spectre of your Government trying to sanction the arrest on UK soil of the leader of an ally of the UK, while you continue a diplomatic charm offensive with the Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. “It falls to you to clarify the Government’s position – now. The Government must make clear that it does not support an arrest warrant being issued which has no proper basis in international law.” Downing Street on Friday indicated that Mr Netanyahu could face arrest if he entered the UK, refusing to comment on “hypotheticals” but saying Britain would always follow its “legal obligations”. The International Criminal Court Act 2001 states that a Secretary of State must, on receipt of a request for arrest from the ICC, “transmit the request and the documents accompanying it to an appropriate judicial officer”. Asked whether the UK would comply with requirements under the Act, Sir Keir’s spokesman said: “Yes, the Government would fulfil its obligations under the Act and indeed its legal obligations.” The ICC has issued a warrant for Mr Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Number 10 previously said the domestic process linked to ICC arrest warrants has never been used to date by the UK because no-one wanted by the international court had visited the country. It added that Israel remained a “key partner across a range of areas”. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It is important that we have a dialogue with Israel at all levels to reach the ceasefire that we all want to see, to bring an end to the violence, to protect civilians and ensure the release of hostages.” The ICC also issued a warrant for Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’s armed wing, over the October 7 2023 attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza. A domestic court process would be required before Mr Netanyahu faced arrest if he set foot in the UK. The ICC said there are “reasonable grounds to believe” Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant were responsible for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts”. The court’s pre-trial chamber also found “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”. The impact of the warrants is likely to be limited since Israel and its major ally, the US, are not members of the ICC.CDC chief urges focus on health threats as agency confronts political changesFlorida State continues torrid star with rout of UMass

Robert Lewandowski has become just the third player to score 100 goals in the European Cup/ Champions League , after Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi . It is, clearly, a hugely impressive achievement and one that puts the Pole in the most esteemed company imaginable. Lewandowski scored his first goal in the competition as a 23-year-old in October 2011, for Borussia Dortmund against Olympiacos, and, now aged 36, reached 101 with his brace against Brest on Tuesday for Barcelona. Advertisement Which club has the former Bayern Munich striker scored against the most often in the Champions League? How many of his goals have come in the knockout phase? Who has provided the most assists for him? And has he got to three figures in fewer games than it took either Ronaldo or Messi? The Athletic answers all those questions and more in a detailed breakdown of Lewandowski’s century of Champions League goals. Firstly, here are the 10 top goalscorers in the competition’s history: Of these men, only Alfredo Di Stefano (0.84) has a better goals-per-game rate than Lewandowski’s 0.81. This means the Polish striker has the best scoring rate in the competition among the eight players to have scored 50 times or more in it. Lewandowski has played for three clubs in the Champions League, first appearing in the competition for Dortmund in September 2011. He debuted in it for Bayern in September 2014 and for Barcelona in September 2022. The only time he has won the competition was with Bayern, in 2019-20. He lost in the final as a Dortmund player, to Bayern, in 2012-13. Here is the number of goals Lewandowski has scored in the Champions League for each of his clubs. He is one of just two players in the history of the European Cup/Champions League — a tournament which started in 1955 and was rebranded with the latter name in 1992 — to score 10+ goals in it for three different clubs. The other is Ronaldo, who got 21 for Manchester United , 105 in a Real Madrid shirt and 14 with Juventus . Only three players have scored more goals in the competition for a single club than the 69 Lewandowski registered for Bayern. He has scored against 37 teams in the competition, with those sides coming from 17 countries. Four of Lewandowski’s seven goals against Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) came in one game in November 2019 for Bayern; a feat he also achieved during his time at Dortmund when, at the age of 24, he stunned Jose Mourinho’s Madrid in a semi-final first leg in April 2013. As a result, he is one of just five players to score four goals in two different games in the European Cup/Champions League. The other four are: Di Stefano, for Madrid against both Sevilla in January 1958 and Wiener Sport-Club in March 1959, Ferenc Puskas, also for Madrid against both Eintracht Frankfurt in May 1960 and Feyenoord in September 1965, Marco van Basten, for Milan against both Levski Sofia in October 1988 and IFK Gothenburg in November 1992 and Messi, for Barcelona against both Arsenal in April 2010 and Bayer Leverkusen in March 2012 (a night when he scored five times). Advertisement The six clubs Lewandowski has played in the Champions League but never scored against are Sevilla, Liverpool, CSKA Moscow (all two games) and Monaco, Celtic and Lokomotiv Moscow (all one game). The most Champions League goals he has scored in a season is the 15 he netted in 2019-20 — one in which Bayern won the treble, as they also took the Bundesliga title and the DFB-Pokal, Germany’s equivalent of the FA Cup in England. He was, unsurprisingly, the top scorer in the competition that season — that is the only time he has achieved this honour. Lewandowski scored in every Champions League game he played in during that campaign, except the final. Only Ronaldo (17 in 2013-14 and 16 in 2015-16) has scored more than 15 times in a season in the history of the European Cup/Champions League, though Bayern had two fewer fixtures than was usual for the competition’s winners in 2019-20 because the pandemic led to the quarter-finals and semi-finals being reduced to single-leg ties. Here is the full breakdown of Lewandowski’s goals by season: As you can see, he has scored 13 goals or more in a season twice. Ronaldo is the only other player in the European Cup/Champions League to have done it more than once. Here is every instance of a player scoring 13 goals or more in a season in the competition. Lewandowski’s 13 goals in 2021-22, when Bayern were knocked out in the quarter-finals, is the only instance on the above list of a player representing a team who didn’t reach at least the semis. He has scored in 14 consecutive Champions League campaigns, which is comfortably the longest ongoing scoring run by season in the competition. The next graphic shows every player to have netted in at least each of the competition’s past five seasons: It is worth comparing Lewandowski’s record in the competition with those of the two other players to reach the century mark — Ronaldo and Messi. Firstly, this is how their respective roads to 100 Champions League goals measure up. (If you click/press/hover over the lines, each player’s total games and goals at that point will appear.) The Poland captain has reached three figures in just two more games than it took Messi (Lewandowski: 125; Messi: 123) and he has got there an impressive 12 matches faster than Ronaldo did (137). The Portuguese superstar, remarkably, took 27 games to score his first goal in the competition. Ronaldo scored his 100th Champions League goal, at the age of 32, in April 2017 for Madrid against Bayern and Messi reached his century, aged 30, in March of the following year for Barcelona against Chelsea . Lewandowski, who has reached three figures in the competition at 36, scored for Bayern in that match seven and a half years ago where Ronaldo got to 100. Advertisement As mentioned at the start of the article, Lewandowski’s goals-per-game figure in the Champions League is 0.81 — which is marginally superior to both Ronaldo’s (0.77) and Messi’s (0.79). He is the only one of the three still playing in the competition, though, so his rate of scoring will continue to fluctuate while he does so. Lewandowski is also the only one of the trio to have scored more Champions League goals after turning 30 than before reaching that age. Lewandowski’s 56 goals in his thirties have come in just 53 games, while Ronaldo’s 68 were scored in 74 matches. Messi’s 35 goals after turning 30 came in 48 appearances. Ronaldo scored his last Champions League goal in November 2021 and Messi’s was the following October. This is how Lewandowski’s 101 goals break down by round of the competition. Unlike Ronaldo (four goals) and Messi (two), he has never scored in the Champions League final (in his two appearances): Four of his seven semi-final goals came in the space of 58 minutes against Madrid at Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park in 2013. Overall, 32 of his 101 have come in the knockout rounds. Breaking his Champions League games down into 15-minute segments, the period where Lewandowski has scored most often is between the 76th and 90th minutes. Though, as you can see from the graphic below, the timing of his goals in the competition is very evenly spread across the matches. The earliest goal came after four minutes for Dortmund against Marseille in the group stage in December 2013 and the latest is the 92nd-minute goal he scored for Barcelona on Tuesday against Brest. Next, we have a breakdown of Lewandowski’s goals by body part. The one credited to his back was scored for Bayern against Manchester City in November 2014, when he stooped for a header and connected with the ball just below his neck before it bounced into the net. None of his 17 Champions League goals for Dortmund were headers but his first goal in the competition after moving to Bayern was one. Since leaving Dortmund, he’s used his head to score 19 of his 84 Champions League goals. Of the 101 goals, 97 of them have come from inside the box — a figure which includes 17 penalties. He has only missed from the spot once in the competition, for Bayern against Benfica in November 2021 when Odysseas Vlachodimos guessed the right way to save after Lewandowski’s stuttering run-up. He got a hat-trick in that match, so that penalty save denied him the outright record in the European Cup/Champions League of scoring four goals or more in a single game the most times (he, Di Stefano, Puskas, Van Basten and Messi have all done it twice). GO DEEPER Robert Lewandowski: My Game In My Words Lewandowski has scored one free kick in the Champions League — a curling effort against Atletico Madrid for Bayern in December 2016 that proved the only goal of the game. Here are the 39 players to have provided an assist for Lewandowski in the competition. Thomas Muller (a team-mate at Bayern) and Mario Gotze (a colleague at both Dortmund and Bayern) are the only men to have set him up more than three times. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer’s assist was a punt up the pitch which Lewandowski capitalised on to complete that hat-trick against Benfica in November 2021. That Benfica match saw the fourth of Lewandowski’s six hat-tricks in the Champions League. Only Ronaldo and Messi (both eight) have scored more of them in the competition. But Lewandowski is the only player to score a hat-trick in the Champions League with three different clubs. The Barcelona forward is now 28 goals behind second-placed Messi on the all-time list of top scorers in the competition. Having turned 36 in August it is unlikely, but by no means impossible, that he will catch the Argentinian. Lewandowski will be helped by the fact the new, expanded format of the Champions League provides more games each season for him to score in. It is highly improbable, however, that he will surpass Ronaldo’s mammoth total of 140. GO DEEPER Robert Lewandowski interview: 'Noisy' Barcelona, 'fearless' youngsters and making an impact in Messi-Ronaldo era Who, if anyone, will be the next player to join the competition’s 100 Club? Muller (54 goals), Kylian Mbappe (49), Erling Haaland (46) and Mohamed Salah (45) are the only other men playing in the Champions League this season to have scored more than 40 times in it. Muller, who is 35, and the 32-year-old Salah are already at ages that mean they probably won’t even get close to three figures, but Madrid’s Mbappe (25) and Manchester City’s Haaland (24) will be confident of getting there — and maybe even of eventually overhauling Ronaldo. If they do get to 100 Champions League goals, they will be in very good, and highly exclusive, company. (Top photo: Javier Borrego/Europa Press via Getty Images)Lawmakers Question US Banking Relationship With Hong Kong

Bendigo real estate agents have cast doubt on new data that suggests many city dwellers are considering a move to the regions. or signup to continue reading According to the Regional Australia Institute (RAI), found two in five capital city residents are considering a move to the regions. The survey reportedly shows 40 per cent of capital city dwellers are looking to move to regional Australia - up from 20 per cent in May 2023. The has not sighted a survey report confirming these figures, and when they were put to local real estate agents the results were mixed. Damien O'Shannessy, director of Bendigo Real Estate, called the institute's claim "poppycock". "I'd like to know what documentation they've had because we haven't seen it here," he said. Mr O'Shannessy said Bendigo had strong housing demand from capital cities during the COVID-19 pandemic, but this had largely subsided. Brad Hinton, principal at PH Property, also cast doubt on demand for housing from Melbourne residents, saying most sales were from out-of-town investors or local owner-occupiers. He estimated less than 10 per cent of house sales were going to residents from the Victorian capital. On the rental side, Mr Hinton's colleague said costs were driving Melbourne residents to look elsewhere. PH Property director and head of property management, Catherine Beecroft, said Melbourne's vacancy was "extremely low". "I think people are starting to, more and more, move to the regional areas, looking for more affordable places to live," she said. "You certainly get those people who want the lifestyle move as well, but I think there's a real financial push behind it." The new figures coincide with the release of the RAI's latest progress report, showing data on regional Australia's movement on indicators of social and economic prosperity. rental vacancy rates in regional areas have dropped from 1.5 per cent in 2023 to 1.3 per cent in 2024. Despite high migration levels during the pandemic, the number of migrants opting to move to the bush has declined since 2022. Building approvals also fell by 9.4 per cent between May 2023 and May 2024. According to the latest Regional Movers Index (covering data to June this year), migration from capital cities has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. In the June quarter, 27.2 per cent more Australians moved from the capitals to the bush than the opposite direction, according to the index. Brock Pinner, marketing manager at McKean McGregor, said they were seeing a "healthy level" of enquiries from people outside of Bendigo, but it was difficult to measure demand from only city dwellers. Nevertheless, Mr Pinner pointed out that Bendigo's population is expected to increase to around 211,000 people by the middle of the century, according to the City of Bendigo's latest projections. The council's managed growth strategy says migration, increasing life expectancy, and local births will all contribute to around 87,000 new residents by 2056. "That's close enough to 100,000 more occupants in Bendigo, and and a lot of new home builds need to happen in that time," Mr Pinner said. Brodie Everist is a Bendigo-based journalist who joined the Bendigo Advertiser in 2024 after covering news in North East Victoria for two years. Reach out with news or updates to brodie.everist@austcommunitymedia.com.au Brodie Everist is a Bendigo-based journalist who joined the Bendigo Advertiser in 2024 after covering news in North East Victoria for two years. Reach out with news or updates to brodie.everist@austcommunitymedia.com.au DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. WEEKLY Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. WEEKLY Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. WEEKDAYS Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. TWICE WEEKLY Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday. WEEKLY Get news, reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert, ACM's exclusive motoring partner. TWICE WEEKLY Get real, Australia! Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over. AS IT HAPPENS Be the first to know when news breaks. DAILY Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! DAILY Test your skills with interactive crosswords, sudoku & trivia. Fresh daily!GALLERY: Were you among the 1000 at BSO's sold-out final concert of 2024?Nebraska plans not to get caught sleeping vs. South Dakota

Christopher Nolan is the genius director behind a few blockbuster movies, like Inception and Oppenheimer, who is next set to tackle one of the most fantastic stories of literary history. Universal Pictures announced on Monday that it will produce Nolan’s new movie-an adaptation of the epic poem, The Odyssey, an iconic work attributed to the legendary poet Homer. It chronicles Odysseus’s homecoming adventures after the Troy War. Universal announced Christopher Nolan’ s next film, The Odyssey, as “a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology.” The film will bring Homer’s foundational saga to IMAX film screens for the first time and opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026. Star-Studded Cast The ambitious project has an ensemble cast featuring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Anne Hathaway, and Charlize Theron. This powerhouse lineup has set the fans and critics buzzing with anticipation for what promises to be a cinematic spectacle. A departure for Nolan, who has a track record of exploring complex subjects and realistic stories, to adapt The Odyssey is indeed bold. This epic is a product of the 8th century BC from Homer, whose story has gods, goddesses, and monstrous creatures inhabiting a mythological world. While such material seems beyond Nolan’s expertise, there is a pattern with his ability to interweave fantastic elements into realistic stories. From bringing Batman into a post-9/11 world with The Dark Knight trilogy, to interstellar travel with Interstellar and shared dreams with Inception, it has been consistently redefining genres for Nolan. Now, he is geared to combine his signature realism with the grandeur of mythology in The Odyssey. Monumental Year For Nolan This marks the culmination of an impressive year for the filmmaker. Nolan began 2024 with his first Oscar wins, having taken Best Picture and Best Director awards home for Oppenheimer-a film based on the origins of the atomic bomb-and ended it with another great honor: being knighted by King Charles III to recognize his contributions to the cinema. Nolan’s The Odyssey will now come alive on the giant screens using state-of-the-art IMAX technology for a completely unmatched cinematic experience. Viewers are going to wait in anticipation at how the director will try to remake Odysseus’s famous journey; and, indeed, all this has begun with July 17, 2026 being fixed as the date for this epic. ALSO READ | Who Is Aaron Rodgers’ New Girlfriend? American Football Star Reveals Romantic UpdateMission will be the first RCMP detachment in B.C. to roll out the use of body-worn cameras, beginning the week of Nov. 25. It's the first of the six initial rollouts and will be followed by Ucluelet, Tofino (including Ahousaht), Prince George, Cranbrook and Kamloops, B.C. RCMP said during a news conference in Surrey Thursday (Nov. 21). In total in B.C., 3,000 officers in 144 detachments serving 150 municipalities will be using body-worn cameras. RCMP did not provide specific dates yet for the first six rollouts, but said a release would go out from each detachment to inform the public. B.C. RCMP commanding officer Dwayne McDonald said this represents the "largest and most ambitious rollout of body-worn cameras in the province." He said the body-worn cameras is "expected to promote transparency, to strengthen accountability and to enhance officer and public safety." "Basically, how this works is that when one of our members responds to a call for service and begins to engage with a person, the camera is activated and you will see frontline officers wearing the cameras in front of their vests on a regular basis." Officers are expected to activate their body-worn camera before exiting their vehicle. Body-worn cameras are expected to be activated for crimes in progress, investigations, public disorder and protests, mental health calls, interactions with people in crisis and "to record information to support the performance of their duties." McDonald said the while the cameras are worn, they are on standby, which means they're always buffering and capturing 30 seconds of video without audio. He said it's "essentially writing over that 30 seconds constantly," but once the camera is activated it attaches the 30 seconds without audio to the rest of the video. "It's in the best interest of our officers to capture the video," McDonald said. "I think it's important to remember that in addition to calls from public for greater transparency ... and accountability for police, it's also in police's best interest to give the objective viewpoint of what's happening in interactions with the public." In B.C., police agencies have watchdogs including, the Independent Investigations Office and the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner. Nationally, there is the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission, which is an independent agency tasked with examining RCMP conduct. The Independent Investigations Office, which investigates police's actions or inactions into incidents of death or serious harm, doesn't force an officer under investigation to be interviewed or submit notes, reports or data. McDonald said the IIO would absolutely have access to the even if the officer chooses to not submit anything. He added those agencies will have access to unvetted – generally redacted – versions of the footage to conduct oversight investigations. "That's where the transparency and accountability comes from." He said he completely understands the "public's desire, and in some cases, curiosity to know right away what happens, but we do have to respect the privacy legislation." The RCMP's federal headquarters announced the national rollout Nov. 14. Over the next nine months, 1,000 officers will start using the body-worn cameras each month. Ninety per cent of the RCMP officers will be using the cameras in the next year, with the full rollout completed within 18 months. The RCMP is not the first to rollout body-worn cameras in B.C. The Delta Police Department, in the Lower Mainland, has been using the technology for more than two years. At a news conference in January 2024, the department anticipated it would have about 37 body-worn cameras in operation.

Nebraska will be trying to preserve its perfect in-state record when it hosts South Dakota on Wednesday night in a nonconference game in Lincoln, Neb. The Cornhuskers (4-1) are 3-0 at home and also won Friday at then-No. 14 Creighton, beating their in-state rivals on the road for the second straight time. But the last time they did that, in 2022, they followed that win with a 16-point loss at Indiana to open Big Ten Conference play. "Believe me, we've addressed a lot of things," Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. "A lot of people are saying some really positive things. You've got to find a way to put that behind you. I've liked how our team has responded and come back to work after that great win at Creighton." Brice Williams leads the Cornhuskers with 18.2 points per game and was one of five players in double figures against Creighton. Juwan Gary topped the list with 16. South Dakota (6-2) comes to town off a 112-50 home win Monday night over Randall, the third non-Division I school it has beat. The Coyotes' last game against a D1 opponent was Friday at Southern Indiana, resulting in a 92-83 loss. This will be South Dakota's second nonconference game against a Big Ten opponent, after a 96-77 loss at Iowa on Nov. 12. In December, the Coyotes also visit Santa Clara, hovering near the top 100 in KenPom adjusted efficiency, before jumping into Big Sky play. "The schedule is very good and that should help us," third-year South Dakota coach Eric Peterson said before the season. "We have some good nonconference games that should help prepare us for the end of the season." Nebraska has held four of its opponents to 67 or fewer points, with Saint Mary's the only one to top that number in the Cornhuskers' lone loss. Opponents are shooting 38.1 percent this season. South Dakota shot below 40 percent in its two previous games before shooting 62 percent against Randall. Isaac Bruns, who scored 20 to lead South Dakota in the Randall game, paces the Coyotes with 12.9 points per game. --Field Level Media

Prayers are pouring in for the family of a young cheerleader found dead in the woods. A 13-year-old cheerleader was found dead by her father on a hiking trail near her home. The cheerleader reportedly went for a walk with a 15-year-old boy on a hiking trail near her home. The young man allegedly stabbed the cheerleader to death, using a pocket knife. Prosecutors are reportedly pushing for the 15-year-old boy to be charged as an adult. Savannah Copeland, a 13-year-old cheerleader at Powell United Methodist Church, was the one found dead. It's unclear how the two teenagers knew each other. “I think it was a lack of compassion and a lack of empathy that drove the hand that took my daughter’s life,” his father, Michael Copeland, told 8 WVLT. UCG/Getty Images The 13-year-old girl was involved in cheerleading, karate, gymnastics and art, according to an obituary posted by her family. She reportedly dreamed of attending the University of Tennessee. Prayers are pouring in for her family. "At the age of 15 he knew what he was doing was wrong. Clearly he doesn’t care about right and wrong and doesn’t belong in human society," one fan wrote. "Tragically,and yet again,we are presented with another opportunity to have a national conversation about common sense knife control," one fan added. "All felony crimes need to be prosecuted in adult courts. Juveniles should not be exempt," another person wrote. "Back in the olden days, if a troubled boy wanted to ask a young girl to sneak out of her house late at night, he had to call her on the family phone that hung on the wall in the kitchen, where appropriately nosey parents could hear at least half the conversation. Now, thanks to supposedly "smart" phones and social media apps that are ubiquitously available to tweens and minor teens with zero-to-little supervision, the troubled boys and the billionairetechkweerswho destroy their minds are silently in charge. It's high time Congress acted to limit minors' access to phones and apps, just as we limit their access to booze and cigarettes," another person suggested. Icon Sportswire/Getty Images Our thoughts are with her friends and family members during this difficult time.Malique Ewin finished with team highs of 17 points and seven rebounds to lead the Florida State Seminoles to a 92-59 victory over the Massachusetts Minutemen in each team's final game of the Naismith Hall of Fame Tip-Off on Sunday afternoon in Uncasville, Conn. The Seminoles (6-1) won their third consecutive game and went 2-0 in the event as they pulled away in the second half, leading by as many as 36 points. It's Florida State's best start since the 2019-20 season when it went 7-1. UMass (1-5) dropped its fifth in a row following a season-opening win over New Hampshire despite a strong game on Sunday from Jaylen Curry, who scored 17 points. Curry, with six free throws, helped propel the Minutemen on a 10-0 run over a four-plus minute span in the first half to take a 24-23 lead with 4:22 left. FSU closed the half on a 13-3 run to lead 37-27 at halftime. A 15-4 surge to open the second half helped the Seminoles break the game open. Florida State's defense frustrated UMass shooters throughout the contest, especially on the perimeter, limiting the Minutemen to 3-for-24 shooting (12.5 percent) from 3-point range and 18-for-58 (31 percent) overall. The Seminoles finished with 22 points off 17 UMass turnovers. On the flipside, Florida State had one of its best shooting games of the season. The Seminoles moved the ball well throughout the game and finished with 25 assists while only turning the ball over 10 times. The Seminoles shot 33 for 58 (57 percent) from the field and made 9 of 18 three-pointers to put together a season-high scoring output. Once again, Florida State shined thanks to its depth as 10 players scored and four scored in double figures. The Seminoles were able to have 16 players participate in the game as well. Jamir Watkins finished with 14 points while Jerry Deng and Justin Thomas each had 10 points. For UMass, Daniel Rivera finished with 12 points and six rebounds while Nate Guerengomba had 10 points. Daniel Hankins-Sanford collected a game-high 13 rebounds. --Field Level MediaNearly a month into a federal investigation of unexplained aircraft witnessed nightly in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York, the White House and FBI have minimized concerns about the reports of suspected drones. Federal authorities “have not been able to corroborate any of the reported visual sightings," which number in the hundreds since the middle of November, White House spokesperson John Kirby said Thursday at a press briefing . MORE : Monopoly-themed boutique hotel to be built in Atlantic City "We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus," Kirby said. Federal investigators have used various electronic detection methods to gain a better understanding of the aircraft, which have been reported to appear in clusters during the night. Kirby said state and local law enforcement also have not been able to conclusively explain the sightings, and federal officials believe many of the sightings are routine air traffic. "Upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully," Kirby said, adding the U.S. Coast Guard has not found any evidence that foreign vessels are involved in deploying aircraft. Feds say people are mistaking airplanes for drones In a joint statement, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security echoed many of the remarks that came from the White House on Thursday. "Historically, we have experienced cases of mistaken identity, where reported drones are, in fact, manned aircraft or facilities," the agencies said . "We take seriously the threat that can be posed by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), which is why law enforcement and other agencies continue to support New Jersey and investigate the reports. To be clear, they have uncovered no such malicious activity or intent at this stage." The statement appears to backtrack from comments made by the FBI's Newark office, which said witnesses had spotted "the cluster of what look to be drones and a possible fixed wing aircraft" at various points along the Raritan River in North Jersey. Kirby said reports about the aircraft highlight "gaps in authorities" that point to the need for Congressional action to boost preparedness against threats that drones could pose to critical infrastructure. During a Wednesday press briefing, the Pentagon said the aircraft seen on the East Coast are not U.S. military drones. Pentagon officials also shot down claims by U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) that the aircraft are coming from an Iranian ship off the Atlantic coast. Van Drew, who represents much of South Jersey, including the shore, had called for the aircraft to be shot down, a measure only the federal government would have the authority to do. N.J., Pa. politicians demand 'more concrete' info aircraft sightings Some elected officials in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York have grown increasingly alarmed by the lack of answers about the aircraft entering their communities. U.S. Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who was sworn into office this week, spent Thursday night in Hunterdon County observing dozens of aircraft in the sky over a two-hour period. He posted videos of the aircraft he saw Friday morning on social media. Last night I went out with local police to spot drone flying over New Jersey, here’s what I saw. We drove to Round Valley Reservoir and the officer pointed to lights moving low over the tree line. Sometimes they were solid white light, others flashed of red and green.THREAD pic.twitter.com/ly7kUUDWDn "This has gone on for weeks. It's hard to understand how with the technology we have we aren't able to track these devices to determine origin and this makes me much more concerned about our capabilities more broadly when it comes to drone detection and counter measures," Kim said. Earlier in the week, Kim joined Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in sending a letter requesting more help from the FBI, DHS and the Federal Aviation Administration. On Friday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he wrote to President Joe Biden seeking increased federal resources for the investigation. "New Jersey residents deserve more more concrete information about these (unmanned aircraft system) sightings and what is causing them," the letter said. "The continued reporting of UAS activity has raised more questions than answers and prompted an outcropping of conspiracy theories across social media and other platforms." Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro spoke briefly about the unidentified aircraft during an unrelated event in Scranton on Friday. He said he's directed Pennsylvania State Police to fly helicopters to observe any unusual activity, adding that the agency has been conducting exercises focused on the aircraft. "I can't speak for the rest of the nation, but we're focused on it here in Pennsylvania. We've been told, again, by our federal partners, it does not pose any kind of national security or personal security risk," Shapiro said. "But you know, as the old saying goes, trust but verify." In New Jersey, state and local lawmakers met Wednesday at New Jersey State Police Headquarters for a law enforcement briefing on New Jersey's probe of drone activity. In a social media post , state Rep. Dawn Fantasia (R-24) recapped the meeting and said it was premature to conclude there are no threats to the public. "We know nothing. PERIOD," Fantasia wrote. "To state that there is no known or credible threat is incredibly misleading, and I informed all officials of that sentiment." Fantasia said reports of suspected drones ranged between four and 180 sightings per night, usually from dusk until 11 p.m. She said many of the aircraft appear large — up to 6 feet in diameter — and seem to avoid detection by traditional methods. In Pennsylvania, where sightings have increased since the start of December, U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-1) said Friday he was concerned about reports of drone activity overseas near a U.S. military base in Ramstein, Germany. Unidentified drones also were spotted late last month above U.S. bases in the United Kingdom, the BBC reported. Fitzpatrick had called Wednesday for more transparency from federal investigators. "(It's) an unacceptable threat to our security," Fitzpatrick said. "Enough is enough. We need answers. We need action. Now."