Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. W e know what you’ll be thinking as soon as your eyes finish glazing across this list in its entirely: not one Taylor Swift album made the cut. Not a one! Let us explain: this is the problem with asking people to select their top 10 albums from across 25 years. It’s a lengthy period and everyone had a different favourite Taylor Swift era, thus splitting the vote and meaning she missed out. It’s a travesty, but that’s how the cookie crumbles. More importantly, the albums on this list – chosen by our critics with an eye to quality, influence and legacy – offer an interesting snapshot of this millennium’s pop developments to date: the death of rock, the ever-increasing influence of dance and electronic music, and the, um, cult of Lin-Manuel Miranda. Leave your furious comments below. Since I Left You, The Avalanches (2000) Since I Left You is pure joy. The debut of Melbourne electronica savants The Avalanches is a sparkling celebration of music itself – a sonic saturnalia dedicated to music’s endless delights. The Avalanches began as obsessive music fans, spending countless hours raiding op-shop record bins and chopping up thousands of sounds, storing them on a clutter of floppy disks. They stitched together the raggedly beautiful quilt that became Since I Left You on the fly, mad geniuses reinventing music with reckless, casual abandon. They sampled ’80s pop, old-school hip-hop, spaghetti westerns, forgotten comedy skits, wildlife recordings and even Sesame Street , and somehow transformed them into a coherent piece of manic surrealism. The wonderfully bizarre Frontier Psychiatrist and dreamy title track became unlikely hits, but the album is best consumed as a long, wandering journey – a fantastical odyssey to nowhere in particular. Impossibly layered but eminently accessible, complex but freewheeling and a little unhinged. It’s made by fanatics, but it’s for everyone. Tom W Clarke Is This It, The Strokes (2001) New York was about to change in 2001. Two planes flew into the twin towers, forever altering the city’s skyline and psyche. And The Strokes released their debut album, igniting the city’s music scene in a way that hadn’t happened since the heady days of CBGBs in the ’70s. They looked drop-dead cool, all stick-figure limbs in tight jeans, leather jackets and sneakers, like the Ramones before them. The duelling, intertwined guitars of Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. provided the bedrock for Julian Casablancas’ distorted, sinewy vocals, telling bleary-eyed tales of the city that never sleeps. These clarion calls from the streets of downtown Manhattan reverberated around the world, announcing that rock was back. Drugs, alcohol and musical drift would soon change The Strokes, but on Is This It they are forever preserved as the band that put the spotlight back on New York City and kicked down the door for other guitar-wielding groups to burst through in the Noughties. Barry Divola Discovery, Daft Punk (2001) Gun to head, Homework (1997) is a better album than Discovery , but Daft Punk still made a mockery of the “second album syndrome” with their disco-inspired record that spawned enormous hits One More Time and Harder Better Faster Stronger , and a couple of their loveliest downtempo moments in Something About Us and Veridis Quo . Even Daft Punk’s so-called album tracks are peerless examples of their dazzling artistry, from the energy rush of Superheroes to the infectious dance-funk of High Life to the soulful disco house of Too Long , featuring Romanthony’s indelible vocals (he sung on One More Time , too). On Discovery , Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo changed the electronic music landscape for the second time in four years, incorporating samples in ingeniously inventive ways and trading raw and gritty Chicago-inspired house for euphoric disco-pop that at once evoked the nostalgic wonder of childhood and romantic adventures in outer space. Annabel Ross Fever, K ylie Minogue (2001) Fever is our greatest pop artefact and the epitome of Kylie as queen of reinvention. After the misunderstood swing that was Impossible Princess (1997), an alt-pop pivot so disastrously received that she was dropped from her record label, Kylie had already dipped her toe into Euro-inflected dance-pop on Light Years (2000), producing the improbable comeback hits Spinning Around and On a Night Like This . But Fever upped the sophistication, eschewing the campy winks (we still love you sometimes, Light Years ′ Your Disco Needs You ) and delivering a masterpiece of sultry, slinky, romantic dancefloor euphoria. Beyond the no-skips tracklist – including Love At First Sight , Can’t Get You Out of My Head and Come Into My World - it’s ridiculous how well the album holds up almost 25 years on: with Fever , Kylie took the temperature of the next two decades of pop music, preempting a wave of club-centric stars from Robyn to Carly Rae Jepsen to Dua Lipa. I think this is what people actually mean when they call their favourite pop star mother . Robert Moran Back to Black, Amy Winehouse (2006) Amy Winehouse’s second and final album is a true time capsule, and a potent reminder of a talent and a life gone too soon. Hers was a once-in-a-generation voice that recalled the smoky jazz clubs of the 1960s, belied by her young age – 22 when this album was released – and the tumultuous personal life that the press preyed upon until (and beyond) her tragic death in 2011. Produced by Mark Ronson, Back to Black has some of Winehouse’s finest songs, such as the triumphant Tears Dry On Their Own and the sadly ironic Rehab . It’s all buoyed by bright, colourful musical backing that takes its cues and influences from across genres and eras – everything from doo-wop and ’60s girl groups to soul and R&B. But it’s the title track that’s the defining sound of this particular moment in 2000s history – a heart-wrenching, heartbroken performance that’s simultaneously infused with a quiet strength and fury. Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West (2010) Made during a period of exile imposed on (the artist formerly known as) Kanye West following his stage-bombing of a young Taylor Swift at the VMAs, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy captures a celebrity at war with fame, a genius tortured by his singular vision, believing he’d never be truly understood or appreciated. This album changed everything. It is populist maximalism, totally unrelatable and deeply human. The keys on Runaway , the Chris Rock skits and Bon Iver sample, Nicki Minaj’s barn-storming turn on Monster . And the closer, the voice of Gil Scott-Heron asking, from 1970, “Who will survive in America?” Ye no longer has the answers or even the hypothesis. His relationship to fame and reality has become more protracted and upsetting in recent years. But for a moment in 2010, he went to hell and back, found bravery in his bravado, stole fire from the gods and handed it over to the world. Brodie Lancaster Emotion, Carly Rae Jepsen (2015) In a 2019 interview with Time , Carly Rae Jepsen shrugged her shoulders and said, “I think it’s very cool to be uncool and just shamelessly feel it all”. Shamelessly feeling it all has been the Canadian popstar’s MO, right from her 2012 breakthrough hit Call Me Maybe . The single was so impossibly huge that many people (not unfairly) slotted her into the file of “one-hit wonders.” But Jepsen returned in 2015 with EMOTION , an album that boiled over with yearning and lust and love and confusion and every other human feeling that Jepsen could conjure. Its lush, pristine ’80s synthpop production underscored Jepsen’s exceptional songwriting, with rushing, full-throated verses and choruses that lifted like an A380. Run Away With Me , with its now-iconic saxophone riff and screamable “take me to the feeling” refrain, and the aching title track, are high points in an album with no low ones. One of the most acclaimed pop records of the decade, it was an album that helped usher in the era of “poptimism” and unexpectedly cemented Jepsen as a cult pop hero. Jules LeFevre Hamilton, Original Broadway Cast Recording (2015) Having launched his hip-hop revolution of musical theatre with In the Heights , Lin-Manuel Miranda dared to dream higher still. What better subject for a transformational musical than that key revolutionary, Alexander Hamilton? Miranda uses rap to solve a problem faced since recitative faded from operatic fashion: communicating swathes of story rapidly, without resorting to dialogue (given that songs more efficiently communicate emotion). Rapping doesn’t just accelerate the dissemination, it lends the whole show momentum, and with Miranda brilliantly playing Hamilton, the performing matches the writing. His songs shame much new-century composing for musicals. My Shot has the anthemic “Rise up!” refrain, Helpless is an R&B classic, The Duel Commandments is frighteningly visceral, and The Room Where it Happens is wickedly catchy. High art meets thrilling music as the rhymes, among the most dazzling since Byron, fly at you with the velocity of grapeshot from a cannon. John Shand Lemonade, Beyonce (2016) Watching Beyoncé‘s visual album Lemonade for the first time felt like witnessing a pivotal shift in the singer-songwriter’s career. Beyoncè’s music often depicted female empowerment, but with Lemonade she got personal and political, tapping into darker emotions fuelled by betrayal and survival and explored themes of womanhood, blackness in America and her southern roots. It showcased her ability to transcend genres, incorporating gospel intro Freedom , a tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement; bringing country tones into Daddy Lessons , a song about her relationship with her father; and integrating electro beats into Sorry , which detailed an incident of infidelity and brought the phrase “Becky with the good hair” into popular use. Unsurprisingly, it was a commercial and critical success, earning nine Grammy nominations (famously missing out on album of the year to Adele) and becoming the best-selling album globally in 2016. Fans even co-opted the lemon emoji to showcase their appreciation. Vyshnavee Wijekumar Brat, Charli XCX (2024) Charli XCX’s sixth studio album, Brat , is the high point for an artist whose underdog refusal to quit has made her the most consistently risk-taking pop star of her generation. Unlike her revisionist contemporaries, Charli XCX’s discography is entirely rooted in the 21st Century. Brat reflects our third millennium club-cultural zeitgeist, with executive producer A.G. Cook mischievously blitzing this century’s dominant dance music styles (electro house, techno and EDM) into three-minute bangers. Unlike most pop stars, who wrap themselves in an untouchable aura, Charli makes her ridiculous life feel relatable, like you’ve been invited into her stretch Hummer to pop bottles with Lorde, Billie Eilish and Troye Sivan (whose definitive remix appearances have supplanted the album versions). The Brat ethos says that simply by existing you’re worthy of having some fun in this life – and it doesn’t make you any less of a thoughtful, caring, intelligent person for doing so. Nick Buckley Honourable mentions Stankonia , Outkast (2000) 1989 , Taylor Swift (2014) To Pimp a Butterfly , Kendrick Lamar (2015) Melodrama , Lorde (2017) Norman F—ing Rockwell! , Lana Del Rey (2019) What albums do you think deserve a place on the list? Tell us in the comments.
An online spat between factions of Donald Trump 's supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer's comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks, whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government, weighed in, defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment. Musk, the world's richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect, was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump's movement but his stance on the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry's need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent," he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump's own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration, including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order, which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump's businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club, and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country" and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country," he told the “All-In" podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump's budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Scottie Scheffler birdied every hole but the par 3s on the front nine at Albany Golf Club on Friday and finished his bogey-free round with an 8-under 64 that gave him a two-shot lead in the Hero World Challenge. Two months off did nothing to slow the world's No. 1 player. Scheffler already has eight victories this year and is in position to get another before the end of the year. Scheffler was at 13-under 131, two ahead of Akshay Bhatia (66) and Justin Thomas (67), both of whom had to save par on the 18th hole to stay in range going into the weekend. Scheffler started with a lob wedge to 2 feet for birdie and never slowed until after he went out in 29 to seize control of the holiday tournament against a 20-man field. Scheffler cooled slightly on the back nine, except it didn't feel that way to him. “Front nine, just things were going my way. Back nine, maybe not as much,” Scheffler said. “A couple shots could end up closer to the hole, a couple putts go in, just little things.” Asked if he felt any frustration he didn't take it lower — he once shot 59 at the TPC Boston during the FedEx Cup playoffs — Scheffler sounded bemused. “I think in this game I think a lot of all y’all are looking for perfection out of us,” he said. “Today I shot 8 under on the golf course, not something I hang my head about. A lot of good things out there — clean card, bogey-free, eight birdies. Overall, I think I'm pretty pleased.” Thomas felt his 67 was stress-free, particularly the way he was driving the ball. The wind laid down again, rare for the Bahamas, though it is expected to pick up on the weekend. Thomas wasn't concerned to see Scheffler get off to a hot start, especially with three par 5s on the front nine and a short par 4 that at worst leaves a flip wedge to the green. “You literally can birdie every hole as soft as the greens are,” Thomas said. “He's a great player, a great wedge player, and you have a lot of birdie holes to start. I'm honestly surprised he only shot 8 under. It's a sneaky course because if you fall asleep on some shots, you can get out of position. But if you're on and focused and really in control of everything — like these last two days with no wind — you can just make so many birdies.” Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley had a 67 and was four shots behind. No matter how benign the conditions, it wasn't always easy. Cameron Young, who opened with a 64 for a two-shot lead, followed with a 75 despite making five birdies. That included a double bogey on the final hole when his approach tumbled down the bank into the rocks framing the lake that goes all the way down the 18th hole. Patrick Cantlay was trying to keep pace playing alongside Scheffler, but he had three bogeys over the final seven holes and fell seven shots behind with a 71. The tournament, hosted by Tiger Woods, is unofficial but offers world ranking points to all but the bottom three players because of the small field. It's the weakest field in 25 years, but Scheffler at No. 1 gives it enough cachet. He is the first player since Woods in 2009 to start and finish a year at No. 1 in the world. And even after a layoff — giving him time to tinker with a new putting stroke — it looks like it might be a while before anyone changes that. AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Pro Picks: Eagles will beat Steelers in a close one and Bills will upset the Lions
PONTIAC—Simeon and Peoria Manual have a combined 12 state titles and 26 Pontiac Holiday Tournament champions. Both had legendary stretches of four consecutive state titles, the only teams to pull off that feat. The Rams and Wolverines are Illinois high school basketball royalty, so the matchup in the Pontiac quarterfinals on Friday brought out a big crowd and garnered some extra media attention. “Two of the most storied programs in the state,” Simeon coach Tim Flowers said. “We both have younger coaches and are trying to rebuild and restructure our programs.” The Wolverines were ready for the big stage and produced their best game of the season, beating Manual 68-52. Simeon (7-3) led 23-12 after one quarter and was never challenged. “It’s the same message that [former Simeon coaches Bob] Hambric and [Robert Smith] had,” Flowers said. “Defense will always give you a chance to win and defense travels.” I’m happy to see it is starting to come together.” Peoria Manual guard Dietrich Richardson, who scored 39 in the tournament opener against Plainfield North on Thursday, scored 18 points. He’s a Bradley recruit that is generally considered the top senior in the state. Simeon senior Julien Doyle is having a breakout season one year behind schedule. Flowers expected Doyle to be a major factor last season, but he was limited to just a handful of games the end of the season due to an injury. He’s been one of the Wolverines’ most consistent players this season and had 16 points and five rebounds against Manual (8-4). “I’m just doing what I can to help us win,” Doyle said. “I’m trying to be a leader and help the team believe we can win every game.” Simeon was 13-for-23 from three-point range. Isiah Coleman had 13 points and seven rebounds and Kamari Hamlin added 10 points for the Wolverines. Senior Lorenzo Shields was the catalyst for Simeon with nine points, nine rebounds and11 assists. “They got hot from outside,” Peoria Manual coach Marvin Jordan said. “I knew they were capable of that but we didn’t see that on film. They have fiery guys that go out and play with passion. You just hope that game doesn’t happen to you.” Simeon will face Benet, a winner against Bloom, in the semifinals on Saturday.It's been five years since the devastation of the bushfires. or signup to continue reading There were no parts of the east coast left untouched by the terrifying fires of 2019 and 2020, which raged on for months and months as drought and record temperatures combined to create a perfect storm. Communities were wiped out, habitats were lost and major cities were choked by an unbearable smoke haze. Thirty-three people lost their lives, 24 million hectares were razed, more than 3000 homes were destroyed and nearly 3 billion animals were killed or displaced. Bushfires have always been a part of the Australian landscape but Black Summer was truly unprecedented, as noted by , prompted by the fires. "Every state and territory suffered to some extent. The fires did not respect state borders or local government boundaries. On some days, extreme conditions drove a fire behaviour that was impossible to control," the royal commission's report said. Worryingly, the royal commission has warned such events are likely to be repeated in the future and may even be more severe. "A future where such events will, regrettably, be more frequent and more severe. Consecutive and compounding natural disasters will place increasing stress on existing emergency management arrangements," the commission's report said. In the summers since the 2019/20 bushfires, the weather across the east coast has not reached the blistering heights of that dreadful summer. There has been a lot more rain over this time and many parts of the east coast are not in drought like they were during that summer. But authorities are warning against complacency because while the conditions might not be the same as Black Summer, the threat remains present. Every season AFAC, the national council for fire and emergency services in Australia and New Zealand, releases an outlook on the bushfire risk. The damaging Black Summer bushfires were foreshadowed in fire season outlooks in 2019. That year, rainfall was very much below average over most of the continent, and it was the second-driest year since rainfall records began in 1990. Most of the east coast of Australia had above-normal fire potential. These forecasts turned out to be right, with very few areas left unaffected by the fires. AFAC chief executive Rob Webb said in the lead-up to the Black Summer bushfires, there had been a dry summer in 2018-19 followed by a very dry winter. He said the fires started much earlier than anticipated and had settled into the landscape. "Heading into Christmas of Black Summer, there were already fires in the landscape... and once they're in those remote areas until it rains they can't get around them," he said. "There's not the same dryness in the vegetation over such a wide area ... when the vegetation is really dry it means when lightning strikes in there, once the fire goes it will go more rapidly so it's harder to get around." NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner Rob Rogers reflected on the five-year anniversary of the fires. He sent out a message on the anniversary of the deaths of NSW RFS volunteers from the Horsley Park Brigade who were killed while fighting the fires. "The Black Summer bushfires tested us in ways we could never have imagined," Commissioner Rogers said. "We saw unprecedented fire behaviour, destruction and loss, but we also witnessed the extraordinary dedication of our members and the support of people from across Australia and the world. "We remember our fallen colleagues with deep sadness and pride. Their sacrifices remind us of the importance of the work we do and why we all must remain vigilant and prepared as we face future fire seasons." For the 2024-25 summer seasons, most of the east coast has an average risk of bushfire for the summer. However, there are parts of central northern and central southern NSW at an increased risk. This includes an area west of Griffith and north of Dubbo and Cobar. A lot of Victoria is at risk, including the Mornington Peninsula and south-west Gippsland. A massive blaze has already engulfed ranges at the time of writing. The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast both a warmer-than-average and wetter-than-average across most of the country. But the bushfire seasonal outlook warns that fires can occur anywhere. "Communities are encouraged to be vigilant and stay alert this summer even if in areas of Australia showing normal risk of fire as catastrophic fires can still occur during normal bushfire seasons," the outlook said. Mr Webb said a fire could wreak havoc in one afternoon if the weather allowed for it. "The important thing with any of these outlooks and it's a really challenging story to tell around preparedness, is that we know a normal fire season in Australia still gets fires," he said. "It doesn't take too much when you've got 45 degrees and lots of strong wings to get a fire going. It may not be as strong as it would be with bone-dry vegetation, but it will still go." It is a message shared by the head of the . "The last four years we've been very lucky since the 2019/20 season where that was our last real danger period. We've had wet seasons since," ACT Rural Fire Service chief officer Rohan Scott said. "When we say average fire conditions, that means we are still going to get fires [but] they're not going to be the fires we had in 19/20 due to the state of the fuel." Mr Webb said one of the most vital things going into any fire season was the ability for states to share and coordinate resources. He said this had become more streamlined over recent years. "The resources to train, the ability to share... that is one of the things that is absolutely vital that we're going to have to rely on in future years," he said. The Royal Commission into Natural Disaster Arrangements made a series of recommendations around national coordination in responding to natural disasters. It found a national approach was needed and Australians expected , despite states and territories holding primary responsibility for emergency management. "Achieving an effective national approach to natural disasters requires a clear, robust and accountable system capable of both providing a comprehensive understanding of, and responding to, the aggregated risks associated with mitigation, preparation for, response to and recovery from natural disasters," the report said. "Unprecedented is not a reason to be unprepared. We need to be prepared for the future." Lucy Bladen has been a journalist at The Canberra Times since 2019. She is an ACT politics and health reporter. Email: l.bladen@canberratimes.com.au Lucy Bladen has been a journalist at The Canberra Times since 2019. She is an ACT politics and health reporter. Email: l.bladen@canberratimes.com.au Advertisement Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date. We care about the protection of your data. Read our . Advertisement
‘Piano to Zanskar’ Conducts a Musical Journey Across the Himalayas on Documentary Showcasehe put on quite the show on Christmas Day with several exciting finishes to keep fans interested on the holiday. Fans were also treated to an ABC special titled "NBA OGs Convo" featuring the trio of The special was created to celebrate the legacies of the three all-time greats, and while basketball fans were excited by what they saw, fans of other sports also weighed in. After the NBA's Instagram account posted a picture from the special, soccer fans let it be known they weren't all that impressed. "They can't even crack 1M likes...They could never have the streets like footy," wrote one fan. "Basketball is just America. And they call it the world champion," wrote another fan. Another wrote: "I like both sports but I ain't trying to watch an NBA game where both teams shoot 50 3's each every game...I will gladly watch football over basketball," added another. NBA fans stick up for the league It didn't take long for basketball fans to hit back and defend their league. "These guys are so insecure about American sports," wrote one fan. Another added: "NBA generates more money than soccer who cares about instagram likes." A third wrote: "Tbh Regardless of the argument in the comments section, the NBA saw strong viewership numbers for its Christmas Day schedule. The game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors averaged 7.76 million viewers, with the entire five-game slate averaging 5.25 million viewers. "I wish there were more of our great players who had a chance to play on that stage on Christmas Day," NBA commissioner Adam Silver said shortly before Christmas. "It's been an interesting turnaround from certainly my earlier days in the league when we got a lot of complaints about playing on Christmas - and now it comes the other way, which is, 'Why aren't we playing on Christmas?'"
Reality TV personalities and tourist photoshoots: Outside Mar-a-Lago with Trump’s new fan club
Harry and Meghan’s polo docuseries to highlight ‘grit behind the glamour’ATLANTA — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old. The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care , at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023 , spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said. “Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center said on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. As reaction poured in from around the world, President Joe Biden mourned Carter’s death, saying the world lost an “extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian” and he lost a dear friend. Biden cited Carter’s compassion and moral clarity, his work to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless and advocacy for the disadvantaged as an example for others. “To all of the young people in this nation and for anyone in search of what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning – the good life – study Jimmy Carter, a man of principle, faith, and humility,” Biden said in a statement. “He showed that we are a great nation because we are a good people – decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong.” Biden said he is ordering a state funeral for Carter in Washington. Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s. “My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said. A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon. Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy. Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter acknowledged in his 2020 “White House Diary” that he could be “micromanaging” and “excessively autocratic,” complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washington’s news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes. “It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent incompatibility” with Washington insiders. Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term. Ignominious defeat, though, allowed for renewal. The Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982 as a first-of-its-kind base of operations, asserting themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights. “I was not interested in just building a museum or storing my White House records and memorabilia,” Carter wrote in a memoir published after his 90th birthday. “I wanted a place where we could work.” That work included easing nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, helping to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiating cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, The Carter Center had declared at least 113 elections in Latin America, Asia and Africa to be free or fraudulent. Recently, the center began monitoring U.S. elections as well. Carter’s stubborn self-assuredness and even self-righteousness proved effective once he was unencumbered by the Washington order, sometimes to the point of frustrating his successors . He went “where others are not treading,” he said, to places like Ethiopia, Liberia and North Korea, where he secured the release of an American who had wandered across the border in 2010. “I can say what I like. I can meet whom I want. I can take on projects that please me and reject the ones that don’t,” Carter said. He announced an arms-reduction-for-aid deal with North Korea without clearing the details with Bill Clinton’s White House. He openly criticized President George W. Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also criticized America’s approach to Israel with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And he repeatedly countered U.S. administrations by insisting North Korea should be included in international affairs, a position that most aligned Carter with Republican President Donald Trump. Among the center’s many public health initiatives, Carter vowed to eradicate the guinea worm parasite during his lifetime, and nearly achieved it: Cases dropped from millions in the 1980s to nearly a handful. With hardhats and hammers, the Carters also built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The Nobel committee’s 2002 Peace Prize cites his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter should have won it alongside Sadat and Begin in 1978, the chairman added. Carter accepted the recognition saying there was more work to be done. “The world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place,” he said. “The greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect.” Carter’s globetrotting took him to remote villages where he met little “Jimmy Carters,” so named by admiring parents. But he spent most of his days in the same one-story Plains house — expanded and guarded by Secret Service agents — where they lived before he became governor. He regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined and the coronavirus pandemic raged. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world to the small sanctuary where Carter will receive his final send-off after a state funeral at Washington’s National Cathedral. The common assessment that he was a better ex-president than president rankled Carter and his allies. His prolific post-presidency gave him a brand above politics, particularly for Americans too young to witness him in office. But Carter also lived long enough to see biographers and historians reassess his White House years more generously. His record includes the deregulation of key industries, reduction of U.S. dependence on foreign oil, cautious management of the national debt and notable legislation on the environment, education and mental health. He focused on human rights in foreign policy, pressuring dictators to release thousands of political prisoners . He acknowledged America’s historical imperialism, pardoned Vietnam War draft evaders and relinquished control of the Panama Canal. He normalized relations with China. “I am not nominating Jimmy Carter for a place on Mount Rushmore,” Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s domestic policy director, wrote in a 2018 book. “He was not a great president” but also not the “hapless and weak” caricature voters rejected in 1980, Eizenstat said. Rather, Carter was “good and productive” and “delivered results, many of which were realized only after he left office.” Madeleine Albright, a national security staffer for Carter and Clinton’s secretary of state, wrote in Eizenstat’s forward that Carter was “consequential and successful” and expressed hope that “perceptions will continue to evolve” about his presidency. “Our country was lucky to have him as our leader,” said Albright, who died in 2022. Jonathan Alter, who penned a comprehensive Carter biography published in 2020, said in an interview that Carter should be remembered for “an epic American life” spanning from a humble start in a home with no electricity or indoor plumbing through decades on the world stage across two centuries. “He will likely go down as one of the most misunderstood and underestimated figures in American history,” Alter told The Associated Press. James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains and spent his early years in nearby Archery. His family was a minority in the mostly Black community, decades before the civil rights movement played out at the dawn of Carter’s political career. Carter, who campaigned as a moderate on race relations but governed more progressively, talked often of the influence of his Black caregivers and playmates but also noted his advantages: His land-owning father sat atop Archery’s tenant-farming system and owned a main street grocery. His mother, Lillian , would become a staple of his political campaigns. Seeking to broaden his world beyond Plains and its population of fewer than 1,000 — then and now — Carter won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1946. That same year he married Rosalynn Smith, another Plains native, a decision he considered more important than any he made as head of state. She shared his desire to see the world, sacrificing college to support his Navy career. Carter climbed in rank to lieutenant, but then his father was diagnosed with cancer, so the submarine officer set aside his ambitions of admiralty and moved the family back to Plains. His decision angered Rosalynn, even as she dived into the peanut business alongside her husband. Carter again failed to talk with his wife before his first run for office — he later called it “inconceivable” not to have consulted her on such major life decisions — but this time, she was on board. “My wife is much more political,” Carter told the AP in 2021. He won a state Senate seat in 1962 but wasn’t long for the General Assembly and its back-slapping, deal-cutting ways. He ran for governor in 1966 — losing to arch-segregationist Lester Maddox — and then immediately focused on the next campaign. Carter had spoken out against church segregation as a Baptist deacon and opposed racist “Dixiecrats” as a state senator. Yet as a local school board leader in the 1950s he had not pushed to end school segregation even after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, despite his private support for integration. And in 1970, Carter ran for governor again as the more conservative Democrat against Carl Sanders, a wealthy businessman Carter mocked as “Cufflinks Carl.” Sanders never forgave him for anonymous, race-baiting flyers, which Carter disavowed. Ultimately, Carter won his races by attracting both Black voters and culturally conservative whites. Once in office, he was more direct. “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over,” he declared in his 1971 inaugural address, setting a new standard for Southern governors that landed him on the cover of Time magazine. His statehouse initiatives included environmental protection, boosting rural education and overhauling antiquated executive branch structures. He proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the slain civil rights leader’s home state. And he decided, as he received presidential candidates in 1972, that they were no more talented than he was. In 1974, he ran Democrats’ national campaign arm. Then he declared his own candidacy for 1976. An Atlanta newspaper responded with the headline: “Jimmy Who?” The Carters and a “Peanut Brigade” of family members and Georgia supporters camped out in Iowa and New Hampshire, establishing both states as presidential proving grounds. His first Senate endorsement: a young first-termer from Delaware named Joe Biden. Yet it was Carter’s ability to navigate America’s complex racial and rural politics that cemented the nomination. He swept the Deep South that November, the last Democrat to do so, as many white Southerners shifted to Republicans in response to civil rights initiatives. A self-declared “born-again Christian,” Carter drew snickers by referring to Scripture in a Playboy magazine interview, saying he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” The remarks gave Ford a new foothold and television comedians pounced — including NBC’s new “Saturday Night Live” show. But voters weary of cynicism in politics found it endearing. Carter chose Minnesota Sen. Walter “Fritz” Mondale as his running mate on a “Grits and Fritz” ticket. In office, he elevated the vice presidency and the first lady’s office. Mondale’s governing partnership was a model for influential successors Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Biden. Rosalynn Carter was one of the most involved presidential spouses in history, welcomed into Cabinet meetings and huddles with lawmakers and top aides. The Carters presided with uncommon informality: He used his nickname “Jimmy” even when taking the oath of office, carried his own luggage and tried to silence the Marine Band’s “Hail to the Chief.” They bought their clothes off the rack. Carter wore a cardigan for a White House address, urging Americans to conserve energy by turning down their thermostats. Amy, the youngest of four children, attended District of Columbia public school. Washington’s social and media elite scorned their style. But the larger concern was that “he hated politics,” according to Eizenstat, leaving him nowhere to turn politically once economic turmoil and foreign policy challenges took their toll. Carter partially deregulated the airline, railroad and trucking industries and established the departments of Education and Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He designated millions of acres of Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges. He appointed a then-record number of women and nonwhite people to federal posts. He never had a Supreme Court nomination, but he elevated civil rights attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the nation’s second highest court, positioning her for a promotion in 1993. He appointed Paul Volker, the Federal Reserve chairman whose policies would help the economy boom in the 1980s — after Carter left office. He built on Nixon’s opening with China, and though he tolerated autocrats in Asia, pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy. But he couldn’t immediately tame inflation or the related energy crisis. And then came Iran. After he admitted the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979 by followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Negotiations to free the hostages broke down repeatedly ahead of the failed rescue attempt. The same year, Carter signed SALT II, the new strategic arms treaty with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, only to pull it back, impose trade sanctions and order a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Hoping to instill optimism, he delivered what the media dubbed his “malaise” speech, although he didn’t use that word. He declared the nation was suffering “a crisis of confidence.” By then, many Americans had lost confidence in the president, not themselves. Carter campaigned sparingly for reelection because of the hostage crisis, instead sending Rosalynn as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy challenged him for the Democratic nomination. Carter famously said he’d “kick his ass,” but was hobbled by Kennedy as Reagan rallied a broad coalition with “make America great again” appeals and asking voters whether they were “better off than you were four years ago.” Reagan further capitalized on Carter’s lecturing tone, eviscerating him in their lone fall debate with the quip: “There you go again.” Carter lost all but six states and Republicans rolled to a new Senate majority. Carter successfully negotiated the hostages’ freedom after the election, but in one final, bitter turn of events, Tehran waited until hours after Carter left office to let them walk free. At 56, Carter returned to Georgia with “no idea what I would do with the rest of my life.” Four decades after launching The Carter Center, he still talked of unfinished business. “I thought when we got into politics we would have resolved everything,” Carter told the AP in 2021. “But it’s turned out to be much more long-lasting and insidious than I had thought it was. I think in general, the world itself is much more divided than in previous years.” Still, he affirmed what he said when he underwent treatment for a cancer diagnosis in his 10th decade of life. “I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes,” he said in 2015 . “I’ve had a wonderful life. I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.”Emanuel Wallace, 27, from east London, is better known as Big Manny by his 1.9 million followers on TikTok, where he shares videos explaining various science experiments from his back garden while using Jamaican Patois phrases and London slang. In early December, Mr Wallace won the Education Creator of the Year award at the TikTok Awards ceremony, which he said is a “symbol that anything that you put your mind to you can achieve”. The content creator began making videos during the coronavirus pandemic when schools turned to online learning but has since expanded his teaching from videos to paper after releasing his debut book Science Is Lit in August. He believes his “unconventional” teaching methods help to make his content relatable for younger audiences by using slang deriving from his Jamaican and British heritage. “The language that I use, it’s a combination between Jamaican Patois and London slang because I have Jamaican heritage,” the TikToker, who holds a bachelors and masters degree in biomedical science, told the PA news agency. “That’s why in my videos sometimes I might say things like ‘Wagwan’ or ‘you dun know’. I just want to connect with the young people more, so I speak in the same way that they speak. “The words that I use, the way that I deliver the lesson as well, I would say that my method of teaching is quite unconventional. I speak in a way that is quite conversational.” Examples of his videos include lithium batteries catching fire after being sandwiched inside a raw chicken breast, as well as mixing gold with gallium to create blue gold, earning millions of views. Mr Wallace hopes his content will help make the science industry more diverse, saying “the scientists that I was taught about, none of them look like me”. “Now me being a scientist is showing young people that they can become one as well, regardless of the background that they come from, the upbringing that they’ve had,” he said. “I just want to make it seem more attainable and possible for them because if I can do it, and I come from the same place as you, there’s no reason why you can’t do it as well.” The TikToker has seen a shift in more young people turning to the app as a learning resource and feels short-form videos will soon become a part of the national curriculum in schools. “I’m seeing (young people) using that a lot more – social media as a resource for education – and I feel like in the future, it’s going to become more and more popular as well,” he said. “I get a lot of comments from students saying that my teacher showed my video in the classroom as a resource, so I feel like these short form videos are going to be integrated within the national curriculum at some point in the near future.” He also uses his platform to raise awareness of different social issues, which he said is “extremely important”. One of his videos highlighted an anti-knife campaign backed by actor Idris Elba, which earned more than 39 million views, while his clip about the banning of disposable vapes was viewed more than 4.6 million times. He said there is some pressure being a teacher with a large following online but hopes he can be a role model for young people. “I’m aware that I am in the public eye and there’s a lot of young people watching me,” he said. “Young people can be impressionable, so I make sure that I conduct myself appropriately, so that I can be a role model. “I always have the same message for young people, specifically. I tell them to stay curious. Always ask questions and look a little bit deeper into things.” His plans for 2025 include publishing a second Science Is Lit book and expanding his teaching to television where he soon hopes to create his own science show.
Ange Postecoglou: Cristian Romero has said sorry after controversial comments
AP Trending SummaryBrief at 5:03 p.m. EST
The much-criticized healthcare skeptic has been mentioned for jobs in the Trump administration. Trump's nominee for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has also called to end community fluoridation.On pardons, Biden weighs whether to flex presidential powers in broad new ways