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Marler to retire from rugby on Friday, a month after quitting international duty with EnglandThe Minnesota Vikings are looking to improve their record to 10-2 in week 13 when they host the Arizona Cardinals. They will be doing so without both tight end Josh Oliver and safety Jay Ward, as they will miss the game due to injury. To fortify the roster on Sunday, the Vikings made two elevations by elevating tight end Nick Muse and cornerback Nahshon Wright from the practice squad. Both moves are being made to mainly help with special teams, especially in the case of Wright, who was mainly used in that role during his three seasons with the Dallas Cowboys . Muse will play plenty of special teams, as he usually does, but he will likely see some snaps on offense like he did against the Chicago Bears. The Vikings have made a habit of using the practice squad to fortify their gameday roster so they can keep young players on the active roster without having to play them. It's a smart strategy for the Vikings and they continue to take advantage. This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.
ATLANTA (AP) — Even the woeful NFC South, where no team has a winning record, can’t hide the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive shortcomings. Three straight setbacks, including an ugly 17-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, has left the Falcons 6-6 and feeling the pressure. Only a tiebreaker advantage over Tampa Bay has kept the Falcons atop the division. Now the Falcons must prepare to visit streaking Minnesota, which has won five straight . Veteran defensive tackle Grady Jarrett knows the Falcons must solve the flaws which have been exposed in the losing streak. “It’s now or never,” Jarrett said. “You have to flip the mindset fast.” Kirk Cousins threw four interceptions in the loss, matching his career high. Coach Raheem Morris said he didn’t consider playing rookie Michael Penix Jr. against the Chargers and won’t think about benching Cousins this week. Morris acknowledged the Falcons can’t expect to win when turning the ball over four times. It was the latest example of Atlanta’s offensive decline. In the three-game losing streak, Cousins has thrown six interceptions with no touchdowns. The Falcons were held under 20 points in each loss. What’s working If not for the rash of interceptions which has contributed to the scoring problems, more attention would be devoted to the surge of big plays on defense. The defense forced two fumbles and set a season high with five sacks, including two by Arnold Ebiketie. The Falcons ranked last in the league with only 10 sacks before finding success with their pass rush against Justin Herbert. Herbert was forced to hold the ball while looking for an open receiver, so some credit for the pass-rush success belongs to Atlanta’s secondary. The Falcons gave up only two first downs in the second half and 187 yards for the game. The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . What needs help Cousins, 36, was expected to be the reliable leader on offense after he signed a four-year, $180 million contract. The four interceptions were his most since 2014 with Washington. Cousins now will be in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons as he returns to Minnesota, his NFL home from 2018-23. Cousins has thrown 13 interceptions, one shy of his career high set in 2022. His passer rating of 90.8 is his lowest since his 86.4 mark as a part-time starter in 2014 with Washington. “Certainly when you haven’t played at the standard you want to a few weeks in a row, you know, you do want to change that, turn it around,” Cousins said. Stock up Running back Bijan Robinson had his busiest day of the season, perhaps in an attempt to take heat off Cousins. Robinson’s 26 carries set a career high. He ran for 102 yards with a touchdown, his third 100-yard game of the season. He also was heavily involved as a receiver with six catches for 33 yards. With 135 yards from scrimmage, Robinson has eight games this season with more than 100 yards combined as a rusher and receiver, the second-most in the league. Stock down Tight end Kyle Pitts had no catches on only two targets. He has only six catches in the last four games after appearing to establish momentum for a big season with two seven-catch games in a span of three weeks in October. Morris noted the Falcons have “so many people that we’ve got to get the ball to” but noted he’d like to see Pitts more involved. Injuries Younghoe Koo’s hip issues were such a concern that kicker Riley Patterson was signed to the practice squad on Friday and added to the active roster Saturday. Patterson was on the inactive list as Koo was good on two of three field goals, missing from 35 yards. Koo has made 21 of 29 attempts this season. He did not have more than five misses in any of his first five seasons with Atlanta. Key number 70 — WR Drake London had nine receptions for 86 yards, giving him 70 catches for the season. London, a 2022 first-round draft pick, is the first player in team history with at least 65 receptions in each of his first three seasons. While Ray-Ray McCloud III led the team with a career-best 95 yards on four catches against the Chargers and Darnell Mooney has had some big games, London has been the most consistent receiver. Next steps The Falcons face a difficult test Sunday in their visit to Minnesota (10-2), which has five straight wins and is 5-1 at home. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
When the sing-along screenings of “ Wicked ” go down beginning Christmas Day, I’ll be there — but not because I have any intention of personally raising my voice in song. (Or maybe I’ll join in just with Dr. Dillamond, the goat professor, whose glottal peculiarities probably come closest to the sounds I could produce.) I do have a natural curiosity about what luck a full house of fans will have in singing along with musical-theater songs this sophisticated... this full of stops and starts and sudden shifts from major to minor chords. There’ll surely be some trained singers and actors filling the AMC seats who can keep up with these tunes. For the rest of us, there may come a realization: I’m not that girl , and probably neither are you. So what other reason is there to look forward to the official multiplex sing-alongs, if not, like, singing along? That’s easy: the subtitles. Which is to say: The songs in “Wicked” are so good — some of the best that musical theater has ever produced, to my mind — that there’s a benefit in enjoying a setting that allows you to focus in on the songcraft without having your attention waylaid by all the visual distractions the film is very understandably providing. As a 20-year aficionado of “Wicked” as a show, my only problem with “Wicked” as a movie is how director John Chu and editor Myron Kerstein are sometimes redirecting our attention to something else charming or dazzling that’s happening on screen, when what I most want is two-and-a-half hours of nonstop closeups of Ariana Grande or Cynthia Erivo delivering classic lyrics. This isn’t a serious complaint, on my part; I get that it’s a movie musical. But I’ll be pleased to see every one of lyrics popping up on the bottom of cinema screens, come Dec. 25. Because for a select subset of “Wicked” fans, the star isn’t really Erivo or Grande, grand as they both are — it’s Stephen Schwartz . Of course, there is a way to have the crux of the experience I’m anticipating without waiting for Christmas. It’s to stream or buy “ Wicked: The Soundtrack ” while settling in at Genius.com or some other lyric site to follow the bouncing ball, as it were. Even if you feel like you’ve gotten the basic grist of the lyrics through the theatrical presentation, there’s a lot of richness and nuance that’s easy to miss amid the cross-cutting, CGI, razzle-dazzle and diva-ness of it all. The album puts a further exclamation point on Schwartz’s rare brilliance as both melodist and lyricist, a la Sondheim. It’s not heresy to say that Schwartz feels like a populist Sondheim with what he did with “Wicked.” The whole score is dark, convoluted, unwieldy and subversive ... and if it sometimes comes out as something that feels to people like bubblegum, that’s just further testifies to the massiveness of the accomplishment. The first and most basic thing to say about the soundtrack is that they didn’t blow it. You don’t have to use too much of your imagination to think about how a score like this could have been egregiously updated. (Raise your hand if you imagined for a second that the Ozdust Ball could have adopted an EDM beat for a few bars. It does not.) With Schwartz himself co-producing the album with Greg Wells (“Greatest Showman”) and original music-director/arranger Stephen Oremus, it simply sounds like what the legit version would if it had something like double the pit size. And for a young audience of budding theater kids, it’s going to open them up for good (no pun intended) to the sound as well as form of traditional Broadway, even with content that might feel to them as fresh as a combination of Taylor Swift and today’s headlines. There’s not much that Grande and Erivo do that doesn’t squarely follow the template established by Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel two decades ago. But their vocal performances still manage to sound surprising in small and important ways. The epic opening number, “No One Mourns the Wicked,” allows Grande to run a hell of a gamut — foretelling the moments of both dumb-blonde comedy and operatic tragedy she’ll get to hit thoughout the duration of the score. I knew she could go high-and-nasal in the pursuit of mirth (hey, I saw “Sam & Cat”), but hearing her repeat the completely ironic line “Good news” at full Sarah Brightman sopranic strength is an immediate tip-off she’ll be nailing the full range of stuff to come, too. Erivo takes longer to fully prove herself, by design. Actually, she holds back enough that it’s not till halfway through “Defying Gravity” that it feels like she’s giving it her full belt. Even though the movie has already given her “The Wizard and I” as a showstopper a whole lot earlier than that, Erivo seems to be holding just a little of her full power in reserve, for the moment when she’s fully awakened. The brilliance of those songs as first-act twins is that “The Wizard and I” is a classic “I want” song, whereas “Gravity” has to go above and beyond it as — literally — an I don’t want song. Erivo and those working with her on the vocals have been wise here: You’ve got to hold a little back, even if it’s just 5%, when you have probably the greatest middle-finger number in Broadway history on the horizon. While we all wait for that, what pleasures Erivo provides in some of the build-up numbers, by having lots of low-ley, conversational and even naïve-sounding vocal moments that establish her as a lovable innocent before she’s a righteously pissed goddess. Having just reaffirmed the case for “Defying Gravity” as an all-time corker, which Erivo delivers flawlessly, is it weird to say that I reserve an even slightly greater fondness for her tender rendition of “I’m Not That Girl”? Even if it is, here’s making the case for “I’m Not That Girl” as “Wicked’s” sleeper song, the one that’s never going to be as uber-popular as... well, you know, but will knock you down flat if you hear it at the right, forlorn time in your life. Its mid-first-act stage placement, or mid-movie here, marks it as a time-passer for some people, close to completely un-integral when it comes to advancing the plot. By Schwartz’s standards, it’s simple and un-ambitious, being the only song in the entire score without a single key change, let alone multiples. It’s also the only one that doesn’t include the slightest bit of narrative information, interpolations of other themes, or any other complicating factors keeping it from being a stand-alone. And standing alone is what it’s about, all right. You don’t even have to be a Swiftie to bask in the emo grief of lines like “Don’t wish, don’t start / Wishing only wounds the heart.” Playing this ballad for all the gentle fatalism it’s worth, Erivo is 100% That Girl. Other songs bear singling out. Jonathan Bailey does a fine job of sliding down the surface of things with “Dancing Through Life,” which — in one of “Wicked’s” many usurpings of expectations — seems to be setting Fiyero up to be a Gaston- or Prince Hans-style hunk-villain. Before that rug gets pulled to give him his humanity, he gives callow a good name. And “Life’s more painless for the brainless” (and the follow-up “thoughtless/fraughtless” coupling) would be a good line even if Schwartz weren’t foreshadowing his fate in the next act/movie. The revolving library sets during this sequence are a marvel of production design, but another example of how badly you need to hear the soundtrack on its own to catch every bit of the lyrics’ amusing nihilism. “What Is This Feeling?” delivers two things everyone wants: it’s a patter song, or as close to one as “Wicked” gets — and, more important, it’s the first chance to see how well Grande and Erivo harmonize as frenemies, before the much heavier vocal pas de deux they do in debating the merits of “Defying Gravity.” (Spoiler alert ahead.) Then, the originators of that song, Menzel and Chenoweth, show up in new verses Schwartz has penned to afford them a celebrated cameo in “One Short Day.” Schwartz’s all-new additional compositions won’t come till Part 2, but the interstitial bit he added here offers a good omen for bigger musical surprises in a year. “Popular” has that overt Ronald Reagan allusion that everybody picked up on when the show first opened, but that few newcomers to the song probably would now, 20 years later — the reference to “Great Communicators,” who come up for mention by Galinda as being more powerful than bright. It’s just a passing bit of political subtext, embedded almost unnoticeably in the frothiest number, a joke that already had a little dust on it when it first appeared, while everyone’s focused on Ariana Grande being pretty — and pretty spectacular — in pink. But the opening and closing numbers of Part 1 of “Wicked”? This is music that’s so inherently political, these bookends practically count as protest songs. “Defying Gravity” is a paean to activism, as Glinda and Elphaba debate and then sorrowfully settle their differences across the complacency/risk divide. Here, it’s as deeply moving and stirring as ever — a song for anyone who ever had to make the conscious decision in life to take the red pill and deal with the consequences, or admired someone else who did. Yet the song that always gets me the most is the one that’s almost innocuously hidden in plain sight right at the outset: “No One Mourns the Wicked.” On first listen, it feels like a standard, fairly innocuous musical scene-setter, even if, watching the film, that Wicker Woman being set up for burning does look ominious. On second or third listen, and beyond, it can feel devastating. Schwartz and his collaborators are framing the story with an Oz that is populated by an angry, self-righteous, deluded and even bloodthirsty mob... led by a woman who is going along with the great lie, in hopes of eventually rebuilding a land that fell into genocide and fascism under corrupt leadership. Light-hearted holiday fare to let us forget all about America’s problems, right? It’s in “No One Mourns the Wicked” that we get the score at its most haunting, with a cast of seeming thousands calling for retribution while Grande rolls through piercing high notes, pretending to put her approving stamp on the national travesty before her. If this doesn’t give you a chill, you’re not really listening. But who is, at the beginning of a film, as coats and popcorn are still being shuffled and a movie has barely begun to reveal its cards? That’s one more way in which “Wicked: The Soundtrack” becomes an essential post-movie listen, to really take in all the groundwork Schwartz and company have laid in foreshadowing what is actually at least as much a sociopolitical tragedy as a fantasy musical-comedy. It’s the ability to encompass all these elements, so masterfully, that makes “Wicked” not just the greatest song score of our time (or at least tied with “Hamilton” for that) but one of the greats of all time. And listen, if you just want to forego the darker, societally allegorical stuff and just spin “Popular” over and over and over again until you’ve worn the grooves off the stream, that’s OK, too. We’ve all been there. And thanks to how well Erivo and Grande deliver this material, we’ll stay in that female-friendship-trumps- everything mode a lot longer. See you at the sing-along.
Private schools attended by Tory members of Kemi Badenoch’s top team are sitting on half a billion pounds in cash reserves, research has revealed. Despite Conservative shadow ministers complaining private schools are at risk of poverty when they lose their generous tax breaks, the posh schools they went to enjoy fully staffed horse-riding departments, shooting ranges, golf courses and a vineyard. Nine members of the shadow cabinet attended private schools which are each able to call on an average of £45 million in ‘unrestricted reserves’ – which they can spend on anything. For the first time ever, no members of Keir Starmer ’s cabinet were privately educated. Ms Badenoch has promised her “first act” as Prime Minister would be to give tax breaks to private schools by reversing the Labour government’s changes. From January 1st, private schools will have to pay VAT on their income from fees. Sarah Smith, Labour’s MP for Hyndburn, said: “The Conservatives are completely out of touch. While they were busy voting down billions of pounds of investment in our schools in the Budget , Labour has taken immediate action to improve life chances for all children.” Shadow Leader of the House Jesse Norman attended Eton. Analysis of the school’s latest annual report, covering the year to August 2023, show £194.6 million in reserves. Eton made headlines in October when it was revealed that headmaster, Simon Henderson, saw a 40 per cent pay increase to £370,000. In total, 47 staff at the school earn a six-figure sum. Wolverhampton Grammar School, where Robert Jenrick attended, has more than £17 million at its disposal. Helen Whately studied A-Levels at Westminster School, which reported reserves of over £88.5 million in the year to June 2023. The school received a further £5m donation to partially fund the purchase of a new 3,266 square metre school building in central London. Ms Whately, The Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary also went to a private primary school - Woldingham school in Surrey, which in 2023 opened a vineyard on its 700-acre estate. Woldingham’s most annual accounts show it has £22.5 million in reserve. Alex Burghart was educated at Millfield School, which has more than £55 million in its coffers. The school boasts an equestrian centre with nearly 30 full-time staff members and stables for 90 horses, as well as a shooting range and a golf course. Mr Burghart, the Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary has claimed withdrawing tax breaks enjoyed by elite schools was ‘punishment’ meted out by Labour. Shadow Chief Whip Rebecca Harris attended Bedales. Boarding fees at the Hampshire school will increase to more than £52,000 in January 2025. Bedales head Will Goldsmith has accused Labour of ‘levelling down’ while his institution can count on reserves of more than £25 million. Shadow Leader of the House of Lords Lord True attended Nottingham High School. The school’s annual report to August 2023 show it had more than £11 million in reserves, while at the same time looking to open ‘several’ overseas schools under its branding over the next decade. Ms Smith added: “The Tories’ opposition to our plans would deprive schools like Hyndburn Academy in my constituency, of extra funding and support that they desperately need. "For Kemi Badenoch to prioritise tax breaks for wealthy private schools while state schools face unprecedented staff shortages, shows that the Tories have learned nothing after 14 years. “As part of our Plan for Change, Labour will end private schools’ tax breaks to improve standards and opportunities for the over nine in ten children attending state schools.” Be the first with news from Mirror Politics BLUESKY: Follow our Mirror Politics account on Bluesky here . And follow our Mirror Politics team here - Lizzy Buchan , Jason Beattie , Kevin Maguire , Sophie Huskisson , Dave Burke , Ashley Cowburn , Mikey Smith POLITICS WHATSAPP: Be first to get the biggest bombshells and breaking news by joining our Politics WhatsApp group here . We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you want to leave our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice . NEWSLETTER: Or sign up here to the Mirror's Politics newsletter for all the best exclusives and opinions straight to your inbox. PODCAST: And listen to our exciting new political podcast The Division Bell , hosted by the Mirror and the Express every Thursday.
Leicester set to appoint Van Nistelrooy: reports
TOR Minerals International, Inc. (OTCMKTS:TORM) Short Interest Update
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 28, 2024-- Halper Sadeh LLC, an investor rights law firm, is investigating whether the sale of Avid Bioservices, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDMO) to funds managed by GHO Capital Partners LLP and Ampersand Capital Partners for $12.50 per share in cash is fair to Avid shareholders. Halper Sadeh encourages Avid shareholders to click here to learn more about their legal rights and options or contact Daniel Sadeh or Zachary Halper at (212) 763-0060 or sadeh@halpersadeh.com or zhalper@halpersadeh.com . The investigation concerns whether Avid and its board of directors violated the federal securities laws and/or breached their fiduciary duties to shareholders by failing to, among other things: (1) obtain the best possible consideration for Avid shareholders; (2) determine whether GHO and Ampersand are underpaying for Avid; and (3) disclose all material information necessary for Avid shareholders to adequately assess and value the merger consideration. On behalf of Avid shareholders, Halper Sadeh LLC may seek increased consideration for shareholders, additional disclosures and information concerning the proposed transaction, or other relief and benefits. We would handle the action on a contingent fee basis, whereby you would not be responsible for out-of-pocket payment of our legal fees or expenses. Halper Sadeh LLC represents investors all over the world who have fallen victim to securities fraud and corporate misconduct. Our attorneys have been instrumental in implementing corporate reforms and recovering millions of dollars on behalf of defrauded investors. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241228459950/en/ CONTACT: Halper Sadeh LLC One World Trade Center 85th Floor New York, NY 10007 Daniel Sadeh, Esq. Zachary Halper, Esq. (212) 763-0060 sadeh@halpersadeh.com zhalper@halpersadeh.com https://www.halpersadeh.com KEYWORD: NEW YORK UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT PROFESSIONAL SERVICES LEGAL SOURCE: Halper Sadeh LLC Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 12/28/2024 03:24 PM/DISC: 12/28/2024 03:24 PM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241228459950/enLovebird ballet dancers to perform at Macy’s Thanksgiving parade — months after engagement
LONDON (AP) — Barely a month after quitting international rugby, former England prop Joe Marler has brought forward his retirement plans and will end his time in the sport completely this week. Marler’s last match will be for Harlequins, his team since 2009, at home to Bristol in the English league on Friday. The 34-year-old Marler had indicated he would continue playing club rugby until the end of the season. He has made 285 appearances for Harlequins since arriving in 2009 and retires with two English league winners medals. “The time has come to finally jump off the rollercoaster and walk away from this beautifully brutal game,” he said Wednesday. The charismatic Marler announced on Nov. 3 that his 95-cap test career was over, days after he left England’s camp ahead of the November internationals because of personal reasons. He had baited New Zealand in the build-up to England’s first autumn test match by criticizing the Haka, stating on social media that it is “ridiculous” and “needs binning.” He later for the comments. ___ AP rugby: