Real Madrid’s big stars turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering Champions League title defense on Tuesday. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win at Italian league leader Atalanta. But Madrid still had to ride its luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage time when handed a golden chance to level the game. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champion in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. “It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins here. We suffered and competed. In the Champions League, you have to suffer,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “It’s still difficult to finish in the top eight, but we have two games left to earn points.” Six-time champion Liverpool leads the way after maintaining its perfect record in Europe this season with a 1-0 win against Girona. Like Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain also picked up a much-needed win, beating Salzburg 3-0 to sit in the last playoff spot in 24th place. Bayer Leverkusen is second after a 1-0 win over Inter Milan, while Aston Villa beat Leipzig 3-2 and is third. The top eight teams advance directly to the round of 16. Positions nine to 24 face a playoff to reach the next phase. After three losses in its opening five games of the league phase, the pressure was mounting on Madrid. Questions were also being asked of Mbappe after his uncertain start since his offseason move from PSG. But he produced a moment of class to fire Madrid 1-0 up after 10 minutes at Gewiss Stadium — controlling the ball with his left foot and then finishing low with his right. It was the 25-year-old Mbappe's 50th Champions League goal . Lionel Messi is the only player to have reached that number at a younger age. Mbappe was substituted off before halftime with an apparent physical issue and Charles De Ketelaere leveled the game before the break from the penalty spot. But two goals inside three second-half minutes from Vinicius Junior and Bellingham put Madrid in control. Ademola Lookman's goal made it 3-2, but Madrid survived Retegui's late effort and held on. Mohamed Salah’s 50th Champions League goal maintained Liverpool’s perfect record in the competition this season. The Egypt forward struck a 63rd minute penalty to seal the win in Spain that kept Liverpool atop the 36-team league. But even after a sixth straight win for the Merseyside club, head coach Arne Slot was critical of his players in a game that saw goalkeeper Alisson pull off several saves to keep Girona out. “If you ask me about all the six games, I’m really pleased with all the results, I am really pleased with the five (other) games with the way we played. I’m far from pleased about the performance tonight,” he said. Salah’s goal was his 16th in 22 appearances overall this season. Girona was 30th with just one win from six games. “I almost feel sorry for them because they deserved so much more in this Champions League campaign than the three points they have until now. But we have an incredible goalkeeper,” said Slot, whose team also leads the Premier League. Liverpool’s two remaining games are against Lille at home and PSV Eindhoven away in January. U.S. international Christian Pulisic is the only player to have scored against Liverpool in this season’s Champions League in a 3-1 loss for Milan in September. Bayern Munich routed Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 to move into the automatic qualifying positions for the round of 16. Michael Olise scored a wonderful solo goal by dribbling past a host of players for his first of two in the game. Bayern's win came after going 1-0 down inside five minutes to a goal from Brazilian winger Kevin. PSG is not done yet. A miserable start to the league phase saw the French giant pick up just four points from five games as it adjusted tp life without stars like Mbappe, Messi and Neymar, who have all departed in the past two seasons. But victory at Salzburg moved PSG up into the playoff positions. Goncalo Ramos, Nuno Mendes and Desire Doue all scored. Leverkusen is back on a roll after struggling to repeat the success of last season's stunning German league and cup double. It's now six straight wins in all competitions, with Nordi Mukiele's 90th minute goal securing victory against Inter and moving Leverkusen into second on 13 points — five behind Liverpool. Villa, Inter and Brest are all on 13 points as well. Inter dropped to fourth after conceding for the first time in this season's competition. Villa is third after its own resurgence in form. Victory against Leipzig was its third in a row after an eight-game winless run. Brest is one of this season’s surprise packages on its Champions League debut and is fifth after beating PSV Eindhoven 1-0. Sporting Lisbon, in 12th, couldn’t build on taking a third-minute lead at Club Brugge — losing 2-1 in Belgium. Brugge is 14th. Dinamo Zagreb drew 0-0 with Celtic and both teams remain in the playoff positions. James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Joe Burrow's home broken into during Monday Night Football in latest pro-athlete home invasionJoe Burrow's home broken into during Monday Night Football in latest pro-athlete home invasion
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Workday Announces Fiscal 2025 Third Quarter Financial ResultsKnox Prowash Offering Pressure Washing Services to Knoxville, TN 12-10-2024 10:32 PM CET | Politics, Law & Society Press release from: ABNewswire Knoxville, TN - Knox Prowash, [ https://www.knoxprowash.com/ ] a small business in Knoxville, TN that specializes in pressure washing, [ https://www.knoxprowash.com/pressure-washing-company-in-knoxville-tn/ ] is proud to provide the community with many exterior cleaning services. Residential and commercial clients alike may reach out to the company to schedule services for needs ranging from driveway washing to parking lot cleaning and property exterior cleaning. Pressure washing adds beauty to these surfaces as well as others. Additionally, pressure washing removes harmful debris from properties, allowing them to last longer with a reduced risk of damage. Knox Prowash's mission is to provide the helpful benefits of pressure washing to the largest number of clients possible. This lends to the overall beauty of the community, making Shreveport a more beautiful, appealing place to be. Furthermore, clean homes and businesses lead to happier, more fulfilled people. Services Provided By Knox Prowash To ensure that all residential and commercial clients receive the help they need, Knox Prowash maintains a fully trained and flexible team capable of providing many services, including the following: House Washing: House exteriors build up debris such as moss, mold, and dirt over time. Knox Prowash removes this grime using a technique known as soft washing. Soft washing utilizes warm, low-pressure water to gently remove debris from fragile surfaces such as home exteriors without causing damage. Roof Cleaning: Roof cleaning should be performed annually to maintain the health and beauty of a roof whether it is made of clay, asphalt, metal, or another material. Knox Prowash uses warm water as well as treatment chemicals to remove debris and restore the overall health and appeal of the roof structure. Gutter Cleaning: Rain gutters gather debris as time passes, and gutter cleaning from Knox Prowash helps residential and commercial clients reverse this. The company can brush gutters to remove layers of grime, and it can also remove large pieces of debris that have filled the gutters' interiors as well. About Knox Prowash Knox Prowash is a locally owned and operated company that specializes in quality pressure washing services in Knoxville, TN. [ https://maps.app.goo.gl/sfrVFTYQJ3BufiqY9 ] Through the use of high-pressure water and precise techniques, the company restores surfaces at homes, businesses, and rental properties throughout the region, helping structures look better, last longer, and delight more people. For more information about Knox Prowash, visit their website [ https://www.knoxprowash.com/pressure-washing-company-in-knoxville-tn/ ] or call (865) 214-6610. Media Contact Company Name: Knox Prowash Contact Person: Bryce Flynn Email:Send Email [ https://www.abnewswire.com/email_contact_us.php?pr=knox-prowash-offering-pressure-washing-services-to-knoxville-tn ] Phone: (865) 214-6610 City: Knoxville State: Tennessee Country: United States Website: https://www.knoxprowash.com/ This release was published on openPR.RALEIGH (AP) — CNN wants a court to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson that attacks its report that he made explicit posts on a pornography website’s message board. The network says Robinson presented no evidence that the network believed its story was false or aired it recklessly. The September report says Robinson, who ran unsuccessfully for governor this month, left statements over a decade ago on the message board in which, in part, he referred to himself as a “black NAZI" and said he enjoyed transgender pornography. The report also says he preferred Adolf Hitler to then-President Barack Obama and slammed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as “worse than a maggot.” Robinson, who was seeking to become the state's first Black governor, said he didn’t write those posts and sued in October, just before early in-person voting was to begin. While filing a dismissal motion Thursday in Raleigh federal court, attorneys for CNN said Robinson’s arguments suggesting he was the likely victim of a computer hacking operation that created fake messages would require a series of events that is not just “implausible, it is ridiculous.” Generally speaking, a public official claiming defamation must show a defendant knew a statement it made was false or did so with reckless disregard for the truth. “Robinson did not and cannot plausibly allege facts that show that CNN published the Article with actual malice,” attorney Mark Nebrig wrote in a memo backing the dismissal motion, adding that the lawsuit “does not include a single allegation demonstrating that CNN doubted the veracity of its reporting.” For Robinson, who already had a history of inflammatory comments about topics like abortion and LGBTQ+ rights , the CNN story nearly led to the collapse of his campaign. After the report's airing, most of his top campaign staff quit, advertising from the Republican Governors Association stopped and fellow Republicans distanced themselves from him, including President-elect Donald Trump. Robinson lost to Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein by nearly 15 points and will leave office at year-end. Robinson's lawsuit was initially filed in state court. It says, in part, that CNN chose to run its report based on data from the website NudeAfrica, which had been hacked several years ago and ran on vulnerable, outdated software. His suit claims the network did nothing to verify the posts. He's seeking monetary damages. Thursday's memo highlights the network's story, including a section where the CNN journalists showed how they connected Robinson to a username on the NudeAfrica site. As the CNN story said previously, the memo says the network matched details of the account on the message board to other online accounts held by Robinson by comparing usernames, an email address and his full name. The details discussed by the account holder matched Robinson’s length of marriage, where he lived at the time, and that both Robinson and the account holder had mothers who worked at a historically Black university, the memo says. CNN also said it found matches of figures of speech used by both the NudeAfrica account holder and in Robinson’s social media posts. “This is hardly a case where, as Robinson alleges, CNN ‘disregarded or deliberately avoided the truth’ rather than investigate,” Nebrig said, adding later that the network “had no reason to seriously doubt that Robinson was the author” of the posts. Robinson's attorneys didn't immediately respond to an email Friday seeking comment. The lawsuit says anyone could have used Robinson's breached data to create accounts on the internet. His state lawsuit also sued Louis Love Money, a former porn shop worker who alleged in a music video and a media interview that for several years starting in the 1990s, Robinson frequented a porn shop where Money was working and that Robinson purchased porn videos from him. Robinson said that was untrue. Money filed his own dismissal motion in the state lawsuit. But since then, CNN moved the lawsuit to federal court, saying that it's the proper venue for a North Carolina resident like Robinson and a Georgia-based company like CNN and that the claims against Money are unrelated.
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Trump names Andrew Ferguson as head of Federal Trade Commission to replace Lina KhanWASHINGTON (AP) — Matt Gaetz withdrew Thursday as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general amid continued fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed as the nation's chief federal law enforcement officer. The announcement caps a turbulent eight-day period in which Trump sought to capitalize on his decisive election win to force Senate Republicans to accept provocative selections like Gaetz, who had been investigated by the Justice Department before being tapped last week to lead it. The decision could heighten scrutiny on other controversial Trump nominees, including Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth , who faces sexual assault allegations that he denies. “While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz, a Florida Republican who one day earlier met with senators in an effort to win their support, said in a statement. “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1," he added. Trump, in a social media post, said: “I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General. He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!” He did not immediately announce a new selection. Last week, he named personal lawyers Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and D. John Sauer to senior roles in the department. Another possible contender, Matthew Whitaker, was announced Wednesday as the U.S. ambassador to NATO. The withdrawal, just a week after the pick was announced, averts what was shaping up to be a pitched confirmation fight that would have tested how far Senate Republicans were willing to go to support Trump’s Cabinet picks. The selection of the fierce Trump ally over well-regarded veteran lawyers whose names had circulated as possible contenders stirred concern for the Justice Department's independence at a time when Trump has openly threatened to seek retribution against political adversaries. It underscored the premium Trump places on personal loyalty and reflected the president-elect's desire to have a disruptor lead a Justice Department that for years investigated and ultimately indicted him. In the Senate, deeply skeptical lawmakers sought more information about Justice Department and congressional investigations into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls, which Gaetz has denied. Meanwhile, Justice Department lawyers were taken aback by the pick of a partisan lawmaker with limited legal experience who has echoed Trump's claims of a weaponized criminal justice system. As Gaetz sought to lock down Senate support, concern over the sex trafficking allegations showed no signs of abating. In recent days, an attorney for two women said his clients told House Ethics Committee investigators that Gaetz paid them for sex on multiple occasions beginning in 2017, when Gaetz was a Florida congressman. One of the women testified she saw Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old at a party in Florida in 2017, according to the attorney, Joel Leppard. Leppard has said that his client testified she didn’t think Gaetz knew the girl was underage, stopped their relationship when he found out and did not resume it until after she turned 18. The age of consent in Florida is 18. "They’re grateful for the opportunity to move forward with their lives,” Leppard said Thursday of his clients. “They’re hoping that this brings final closure for all the parties involved.” Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. The Justice Department’s investigation ended last year with no charges against him. Gaetz’s political future is uncertain. He had abruptly resigned his congressional seat upon being selected as attorney general, a move seen as a way to shut down the ethics investigation into sexual misconduct allegations. He did win reelection in November for the new Congress, which convenes Jan. 3, 2025, but he said in his resignation letter last week that he did not intend to take the oath of office. There are plans for a special election in Florida for his seat. Republicans on the House Ethics Committee declined this week to release the panel's findings, over objections from Democrats in a split vote. But the committee did agree to finish its work and is scheduled to meet again Dec. 5 to discuss the matter. As word of Gaetz's decision spread across the Capitol, Republican senators seemed divided. Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who served with Gaetz in the House, called it a “positive move." Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Gaetz “put country first and I am pleased with his decision.” Others said they had hoped Gaetz could have overhauled the department. Florida Sen. Rick Scott, a close ally of Trump, said he was “disappointed. I like Matt and I think he would have changed the way DOJ is run.” Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said he hopes Trump will pick someone “equally as tenacious and equally as committed to rooting out and eliminating bias and politicization at the DOJ.” Gaetz is not the only Trump pick facing congressional scrutiny over past allegations. A detailed investigative police report made public Wednesday shows that a woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Hegseth, the former Fox News host now tapped to lead the Pentagon, after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave. “The matter was fully investigated and I was completely cleared,” Hegseth told reporters Thursday at the Capitol, where he was meeting with senators to build support for his nomination. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick and Adriana Gomez Licon contributed to this report. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
Singapore startup Sapient enters global enterprise AI race with new model architecturesThe head of UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, is responding to the "vitriol" that's been lodged — both on- and offline — against the health insurance industry and its workers. In an op-ed published in on Friday, UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty expressed his grief over the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week, as well as his appreciation for the "outpouring of support" for Thompson. He then condemned the mounting rhetoric that he said has glorified violence against health insurance workers. "We also are struggling to make sense of this unconscionable act and the vitriol that has been directed at our colleagues who have been barraged by threats," Witty wrote. "No employees — be they the people who answer customer calls or nurses who visit patients in their homes — should have to fear for their and their loved ones' safety," he wrote. Witty acknowledged growing criticism that the healthcare industry is flawed and defended his company's place within it. "We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people's frustrations with it," Witty wrote, adding that UHG's mission is to build a system that works better for everyone. And Thompson, he added, advocated for ideas "aimed at making health care more affordable, more transparent, more intuitive, more compassionate — and more human." The fatal shooting of Thompson outside a midtown Manhattan hotel last week sparked a nationwide conversation about the state of the health insurance industry in the US, with many criticizing the system's ability to provide life-saving care. Social media has been inundated with , praising the shooting suspect, and calling out other healthcare CEOs. Some executives have sought out greater , though and charged in connection with Thompson's murder. Witty's op-ed in the Times had received more than 2,400 comments as of Friday afternoon, many of which ridiculed his statement and condemned what they said were UHG's practices of denying insurance claims. A number of commenters called out Witty for saying the system is flawed without providing any tangible solutions to fix it. Others criticized the for-profit health insurance system as a whole, with some acknowledging that businesses are meant to make a profit and others advocating for nonprofit healthcare. UnitedHealth didn't respond to a request for comment from BI. Read the original article on
A Republican senator has blocked the promotion of a general who oversaw troops in Kabul during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, a Senate aide told NBC News . The move by Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin follows threats from President-elect Donald Trump to fire senior officers and officials who oversaw the chaotic pullout from Afghanistan in 2021. It also comes as Trump’s transition team weighs possible court-martial proceedings against current and former officers involved in the withdrawal, as NBC News previously reported. Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are Army Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue was nominated for promotion to become a four-star general and to oversee U.S. Army forces in Europe. His nomination was among more than 900 proposed nominations sent to the Senate but Donahue’s was put on hold by Sen. Mullin, according to the Senate aide. Mullin’s office declined to comment. Donahue was the last American service member to board the final U.S. military plane out of Afghanistan in 2021. A night-vision photograph of Donahue boarding a cargo plane went viral, capturing the symbolism of the end of America’s 20-year-long war. After the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan fell to Taliban militants, Donahue — then commander of the 82nd Airborne Division — was ordered to Kabul to oversee the withdrawal of U.S. forces, American embassy staff and Afghans who fought alongside American troops. Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world. Retired Gen. Tony Thomas, former head of Special Operations Command, said in a social media post that the decision was a “disgrace” and that Donahue was being treated as a “political pawn.” Heather Nauert, who worked for the State Department in Trump’s first presidential term, said in a social media post that she is a Trump supporter and likes Sen. Mullin but disagreed with the hold put on Donahue’s promotion. “Unless there are facts I don’t know, holding up military promotions bc of our disgraceful Afghanistan withdrawal is wrong,” she wrote. Donahue is currently commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. His promotion could now be at risk as the current Senate will soon go into recess and the new Republican-controlled Congress will start its work in 2025. This article first appeared on NBCNews.com . Read more from NBC News here:
The rivalry between Threads and Bluesky continues to heat up as Meta steps into Bluesky's territory to reveal a new feature. On Thursday, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri announced that Meta, which owns Threads , is testing a feature that enables users to "find and easily follow collections of profiles that post about popular topics on Threads." These collections will be suggested both when new users sign up for the site and in their For You feed. Also: Instagram just beat TikTok to new feature creators will love Meta spokesperson Alec Booker explained to The Verge that users can find collections built around topics like "basketball, style and fashion, food, books, pop culture, and more." If you've been following the ascent of Bluesky, you'll probably think this new Threads feature sounds similar to Bluesky's starter packs . These packs are a customizable collection of accounts grouped by a particular area of interest or topic. If you're familiar with Bluesky, you'll probably find this new Threads feature resembles Bluesky's starter packs -- customizable collections of accounts grouped by a particular area of interest or topic. Also: You'll be able to reset your Instagram algorithm soon - here's how Users interested in a particular subject can follow anyone in that pack. For example, you might find a local news starter pack or a Twitch code strimmers starter pack . You can check out Bluesky's starter pack directory here . Meta's Booker detailed how this new Threads feature is "based on learnings from the test, and [we] hope to expand the functionality to more people soon." This isn't the first time a social media site has released a feature or update similar to a rival's. In fact, this kind of strategy has been an instrumental part of the tech landscape for quite some time. As Mashable culture reporter Christianna Silva explains , Instagram and other Meta-owned apps "swallow their enemies" by appropriating their features in an attempt to leapfrog the competition. Also: 8 Bluesky tips every new user should know Meta has been building out Threads' features over the past few weeks with new improvements, such as post metrics , custom feeds , advanced search, the option to choose a default feed , AI-powered summaries of trending topics, and more. Bluesky has 25 million users , a increase of five million from a month ago . Threads saw 35 million new users flock to the site in November , maintaining an edge over its rival. Drowning in spam? Stop giving out your email address - do this instead Apple Vision Pro finally delivers a killer feature justifying the VR headset's price Do wind power generators actually work at home? I tested one, and the results blew me away The 11 best holiday tech gifts under $100
Like its predecessor, “Gladiator II” is inspired by history. That doesn’t mean it’s bound by actual historical facts, however. Now in theaters, Ridley Scott’s follow-up to his 2000 epic “Gladiator” follows Lucius (Paul Mescal), the son of Russell Crowe’s warrior Maximus, during the reign of twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). It features characters based on real historical figures as well as those created for the film. Much like its predecessor, “Gladiator II” centers on spectacular gladiatorial games held at the Colosseum, which pits captive warriors like Lucius against other men as well as animals in combat. In honor of the wild contests featured in the film, we asked experts what types of outrageous events actually happened in the Colosseum. There may not have been sharks, but there were sea battles The Colosseum today might not appear to be a site that could have hosted water battles, but experts say they happened. “Sometimes there would be a naval battle that was staged” as part of the games, says Andrew Scott, a professor of classical studies at Villanova University. “That was maybe a little bit rare, but there is a lot of attestations of that.” He explained that when the Colosseum was opened during the reign of emperor Titus, historical reenactments of naval battles from the 5th century BC were staged. But even before then, the first Roman emperor Augustus is said to have staged sea battles involving thousands of participants at a different venue. The presence of sharks at these battles (called naumachiae) is quite unlikely, however. “I can’t think of an instance where an ancient source talks about that sort of wildlife,” says Scott. According to the book “The Colosseum,” by Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard, historian Cassius Dio wrote that “horses and bulls and other domesticated animals” were brought out as part of Titus’ aquatic show. Semi-aquatic wildlife, such as crocodiles, were involved in other spectacles: “The Colosseum” mentions Dio’s account of one of Augustus’ animal hunts featuring “36 crocodiles.” In fact, all sorts of animals were part of the show Historians say many more animals than humans were involved in entertainment events at arenas like the Colosseum. They were generally used in staged hunts, as well as public executions. They were also pitted against each other. According to Scott, such events allowed an emperor to show off what sort of animals could be procured from the far reaches of the empire that people in Rome had never seen before. The animals said to have been featured in Roman spectacles include hippopotamuses, elephants, rhinoceroses, bears, ostriches and big cats like lions and tigers. “Historian Cassius Dio talks about an animal that he refers to as a cameleopard,” says Scott. A cameleopard may evoke the image of a mysterious exotic big cat, but it’s what ancient Romans called giraffes based on their appearance. Sometimes emperors were gladiators, too Generally, emperors sponsored gladiatorial games to boost their popularity and to showcase their might. But at least one emperor participated in the arena spectacles in order to further bask in the public’s attention. Commodus, the emperor who was the basis for the character in “Gladiator” (2000), was “an emperor we are told actually performed in the arena,” says Scott. “There’s this long section in a book by the Roman historian Cassius Dio where he talks about how Commodus participated in the hunting games [and] performed as a gladiator.” The real-life counterparts to “Gladiator II’s” emperors were a slightly different story. “I don’t think we have direct evidence of Caracalla participating in the games, but there’s a lot of talk in the ancient sources about how he liked to drive his chariot,” said “I think in this period, there can be sort of a melding of this emperor persona with the popularity of an arena performer.” Hollywood has nothing on ancient Romans’ own Colosseum stories It’s no surprise that blockbusters like “Gladiator II” embellish historical facts to make sure audiences are entertained. But Hollywood storytellers aren’t the only ones. Ancient Roman historians and poets alike wrote about the thousands of people and animals involved in various arena events. But the most shocking (at least to modern sensibilities) might not have been a combat or hunting simulation. According to “The Colosseum,” the ancient Roman poet Martial wrote that the opening events of the amphitheater included reenactments from mythology. Supposedly, the story of how the half-human/half-bull Minotaur came to be was acted out in the arena between a woman and a live animal. But whether Martial meant this literally or was using a little creative license of his own is up for readers to debate.
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Former Newfoundland and Labrador premiers say a draft energy agreement signed Thursday with Quebec marks a historic break in a long-standing political standoff. Brian Tobin, who was premier from 1996 to 2000, describes the sweeping new energy contract as a long-awaited "breaking of political gridlock" between Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec. Tobin says he has no doubt that ending the 1969 deal that gave Quebec nearly free electricity from Labrador was a top priority for every premier since Joey Smallwood, the man who signed the contract. Roger Grimes ran the province between 2001 to 2003, and he says all of the province's premiers wished they had found a willing partner in Quebec to reshape the agreement. Pointing to the province's unsuccessful attempts to challenge the deal in court, he says Quebec Premier François Legault had no obligation to throw out the contract but saw a good opportunity and showed political will. The two provinces signed an agreement in principle Thursday under which Quebec will pay higher rates for power and partner with Newfoundland and Labrador on new hydroelectric projects in Labrador. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2024. Sarah Smellie, The Canadian PressHry cops bust ₹18cr captcha fraud targeting remote workers