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The expanded Big Ten is poised to be a major player in this season's College Football Playoff. The 18-team conference had three of the top-four teams in the AP poll this week — No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Ohio State and No. 4 Penn State. A one-loss Indiana team is ranked 10th but is still very much a contender to make the playoff, given how many Southeastern Conference teams have three defeats or more. Indiana's rise has been perhaps the Big Ten's biggest story this season. Much of the spotlight was on newcomers Oregon, Southern California, UCLA and Washington, but aside from the top-ranked Ducks, that foursome has struggled to impress. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers won their first 10 games under new coach Curt Cignetti before losing at Ohio State last weekend. Oregon beat Ohio State 32-31 back in October, and if the Buckeyes beat rival Michigan this weekend, they'll earn a rematch with the Ducks for the Big Ten title. And it's entirely possible another matchup between those two teams awaits in the CFP. Dillon Gabriel has quarterbacked Oregon to an unbeaten record, throwing for 3,066 yards and 22 touchdowns in 11 games. But don't overlook Iowa's Kaleb Johnson and his 21 rushing TDs, and quarterback Kurtis Rourke has been a big part of Indiana's improvement. Penn State's Abdul Carter has eight sacks and two forced fumbles and could be one of the top edge rushers drafted this year. Oregon (11-0, 8-0), Ohio State (10-1, 7-1), Penn State (10-1, 7-1), Indiana (10-1, 7-1), Illinois (8-3, 5-3), Iowa (7-4, 5-3), Michigan (6-5, 4-4), Minnesota (6-5, 4-4), Washington (6-5, 4-4), Southern California (6-5, 4-5), Nebraska (6-5, 3-5) and Rutgers (6-5, 3-5) have already reached the six-win mark for bowl eligibility. Michigan State (5-6, 3-5) and Wisconsin (5-6, 3-5) can join them. There may not be many firings in general at the top level of college football. The prospect of sharing revenue with athletes in the future might lead schools to be more judicious about shedding one coach and hiring a new one. Who should be most worried in the Big Ten? Well, Lincoln Riley is struggling to stay above .500 in his third season at USC. Purdue is 1-10, but coach Ryan Walters is only in his second season. Maryland's Mike Locksley has been there six years and his Terrapins are 4-7, but this was his first real step backward after guiding the team to three straight bowl wins. Cignetti has shown it is possible for a coaching change to push a previously moribund program to some impressive heights in a short amount of time — but the improvement has been more incremental at Michigan State following Jonathan Smith's arrival. Sherrone Moore wasn't a completely unknown commodity at Michigan after he won some massive games in place of a suspended Jim Harbaugh last year. But in his first season completely at the helm, the Wolverines have declined significantly following their national title a season ago. The Big Ten is home to one of the most dynamic freshmen in the country in Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith. He has 52 catches for 899 yards and nine touchdowns. Highly touted quarterback Dylan Raiola has teamed up with fellow freshman Jacory Barney (49 catches) to lead Nebraska to bowl eligibility. Ohio State is on track to land the Big Ten's top class, according to 247 Sports, but the big news recently was quarterback Bryce Underwood flipping from LSU to Michigan. If the Wolverines do in fact keep Underwood in his home state, that would be a big development for Moore. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Brainy, 'normal guy': the suspect in US insurance CEO's slaying

NoneWhen President Joe Biden visited Angola last week, one of the highlights was his pledge of hundreds of millions of dollars for an ambitious trans-Africa rail project that would bring copper and cobalt from central Africa to the Atlantic port of Lobito. The project is possible because of the commitment of a $553 million direct loan from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, created in 2019 during the first Trump administration to counter China’s expansion of its global reach through infrastructure projects, such as the mega-port in Chancay, Peru, inaugurated just last month. On Monday, the U.S. agency celebrated its five-year milestone by vowing to advance U.S. foreign policy and strategic interests through projects around the world such as the one in Angola. It also seeks re-authorization from Congress and a greater ability to invest in more countries when there’s a strategic need to compete with China. “We need to be good partners while offering an alternative based on our values,” said Scott Nathan, the chief executive officer of the development agency, who was in Angola last week with the president. “Quite simply, we need to continue to show up.” Nathan is set to leave the post. President-elect Donald Trump is yet to name his pick to lead the agency. Over its first five years, the agency has developed a portfolio of more than $50 billion in 114 countries, including solar panel manufacturing in India, a power plant in Sierra Leone, and digital infrastructure in South America. To do that, the agency has leveraged government funding to partner with private investments. Last year, the agency committed to $12 billion in new transactions, using the roughly $800 million in appropriations, Nathan said. Investments by the agency are having a “transformational impact on economic development while concretely advancing U.S. strategic interests,” Nathan said. In Angola, for example, the rail project would help secure the supply chain by cutting both time and cost in transporting critical minerals. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the agency was created when the U.S. was “ceding the field” to China in a new era of geopolitics. The U.S. needed a vision “calibrated to new geopolitical realities” and that matched ”the scope of the transformational challenges we faced.” It was in 2013 when Beijing launched the massive Belt and Road Initiative to gain markets and influence around the world by building roads, railways, power plants, transmission lines and ports, usually in less-developed regions. A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office said China provided $679 billion for international infrastructure projects such as those in transportation and energy between 2013 and 2021, compared with the $76 billion the U.S. provided in the same period. Western politicians have criticized these Beijing-backed projects for creating debt traps, but Beijing argues that they have brought tangible and much-needed economic benefits to the host countries. In 2018, Congress passed a bipartisan bill that created the U.S. development agency, aimed at bringing private investments into low- and middle-income countries through tools such as equity investment, loan guarantee and political risk insurance. On Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the agency for “reimagining how the U.S. does development” and said, through its work, the U.S. has “shown countries that they don’t have to resort to projects that are poorly built, environmentally destructive, that import or abuse workers, that foster corruption or burden countries with unsustainable debt.” “We really are the partner of choice,” Blinken said. As challenges lie ahead, Blinken said the agency needs to do even more and in more countries than before. When President Joe Biden visited Angola last week, one of Missouri business groups announced Monday that they have filed a A Massachusetts judge dismissed criminal charges Monday against a backer A federal appeals court panel on Friday unanimously upheld a

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha voiced grave concerns over the current political actions in Bangladesh, condemning attempts by those in power to rewrite history and overlook the nation's shared past with India. Speaking at an event in Rabindra Bhaban, Saha highlighted the significant role Tripura played during the 1971 liberation war and urged people to protest against recent minority attacks in Bangladesh. He emphasized the need for immediate corrective measures from the Bangladeshi authorities. He pointed out that while Durga Puja celebrations continue in India, instances of idol desecration in Bangladesh should mobilize citizens to stand united against these atrocities. (With inputs from agencies.)‘End of an era’: What’s next for Matt Gaetz?

TSA Unleashes its 2025 Canine Calendar: Download Now!Facebook is banning ads for a game based on the history of the United States... again. Ads for the Kickstarter campaign of Fort Circle Games’ First Monday in October — a board game by Talia Rosen about the history of the United States Supreme Court — have been rejected by Facebook, according to an article by BoardGameWire . Fort Circle had allocated roughly $25,000 on Meta advertising, estimating that amount would convert to $100,000 in Kickstarter contributions from Facebook ads alone. As of this story’s publication, the Kickstarter had raised roughly $73,000, with only 14 days left. This marks the second instance the board game company has been subjected to this level of advertisement suppression by Facebook over its historical games. A Kickstarter campaign for the second printing of Votes for Women , Fort Circle’s game about the battle for women’s suffrage and the passage of the 19th amendment, faced similar issues on the social media platform in January. Fort Circle founder Kevin Bertram was informed at the time on Facebook’s business platform that Fort Circle’s ads had been rejected, according to BoardGameWire coverage from January. The language used in the rejection claimed it was because Votes for Women ’s ads were about “sensitive social issues” and their presence on the platform could “influence how people vote and may impact the outcome of an election or pending legislation.” For clarity, the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920 and women’s suffrage was not on the ballot in 2024, though Bertram said he believes the notice he received is generic and not related to the then-impending 2024 election. In mid-November, Fort Circle once again received a takedown notice for its ads about First Monday in October , which likewise is about historical events, focusing on the history of the United States Supreme Court from 1789 to 2010. In an email to Polygon, Bertram stated the reasoning Meta provided was the same as in the January notice. Meta did not reply to a request for comment. This news comes days after Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs told reporters that “error rates” and “ moderation failures ” for the company’s automated tools, which were initiated during the early phase of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, are “still too high.” During the press call, Clegg said, “Too often, harmless content gets taken down, or restricted, and too many people get penalized unfairly.” These moderation issues come after years of public outcry and legal action targeting Meta’s alleged lack of action regarding disinformation , child abuse , and suppression of political speech — which includes political and historical content like First Monday . “At Fort Circle, we have a very clear idea of the role we want to play in our hobby, in our society and within our democracy,” Bertram told Polygon. “What Meta has made clear is that the world’s largest social media company does not know what role it wants to play in our society and in our democracy. It is so disinterested, it’s handed over that responsibility to algorithms and bots. So rather than helping, they’re hurting. But it makes Fort Circle that much more determined to accomplish what we’ve set out to do.” When asked if he would use different advertising methods due to these recurring issues, Bertram told Polygon that this has forced his hand. “[It] is unfortunate because no other platform allows advertisers to reach their desired audience with such precision. A board game — particularly a board game on legal history — has a pretty niche audience.” While board games are primarily an entertainment medium, Bertram also stated that Fort Circle’s mission is also one of political education. “We know people are not going to start diving into academic tombs on the role of the Supreme Court in our democracy. Most non-lawyers won’t even recognize the names of many of the landmark cases in the game,” he said, noting that Fort Circle partners with non-profits like the Supreme Court Historical Society to ensure historical accuracy in its games. “We think Faulkner was right when he said, ‘The past is never dead. It’s not even past.‘ Whether we’re talking about women’s rights and the century long struggle depicted in Votes for Women or First Monday in October ’s study of the evolving role of the Supreme Court in shaping American freedoms, the events of the past are living breathing things we’re contending with in 2024. You only need to glance at the headlines to understand that.” Gaming News Tabletop GamesAlgert Global LLC Acquires 48,240 Shares of Kronos Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:KRO)

Shaq Barrett retired in July after signing with Dolphins in March. Now, he wants to play again.

Path Of Exile 2: Release Date, Early Access, And Eveything We Know

Authored by Jonathan Turley via jonathanturley.org , The recent election produced an outpouring of anger and angst on the left, from pledging to leave the country to not having sex with men for four years . For others, the response was to retreat deeper into the echo chamber of the left. Many liberals are leaving X for a Bluesky , which promises the censorship and monitoring that was reduced after Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter. Despite having most of the media and social media as allies, the opposing views of X have become intolerable for many after the election. One such aggrieved user appears to be New York Times tech reporter Kevin Roose , who wrote a column heralding the site as a deliverance for liberals left confused and afraid by the popular vote.Roose writes “After an hour or so of scrolling through Bluesky the other night, I felt something I haven’t felt on social media in a long time: free. Free from Elon Musk and his tedious quest to turn X into a right-wing echo chamber where he and his friends are the permanent, inescapable main characters.” Because Musk dismantled the censorship system, the New York Times reporter now considers it a “right-wing echo chamber.” So, what does that make Bluesky? Over at X, there is no shortage of trolls from the left and the right. However, it is hardly an echo chamber. Many liberals are among the most influential and criticize the right and others, including Musk and X. It also has its share of far-left trolls. However, it is the fact that it also allows such voices from the right that seems to produce the gasping, hypoxic response of liberals. Back in the day of Twitter, it was just like the Allman Brothers song: “BluebirdsSinging a songNothing but bluebirdsAll day long” Many have shared their own “I can breathe now” take on Bluesky and how it is great to be again among friends — and watched over by social media guardians. Just like the old days. Notably, Roose admits that the site is no X and is unlikely to replace it. Roose admitted when he first joined Bluesky, it was more annoying than liberating: “It was also, frankly, kind of annoying. The most active posters on my feed were all left-wing Twitter discontents, united in their hatred of Mr. Musk yet unable to stop talking about him. My account went dormant, and I moved on to other platforms.” To his credit, Roose appeared to miss the diversity of thought in less “moderated” spaces. Nevertheless, it is now a godsend for those seeking greater insulation from opposing views. Ironically, one lesson from this election is the danger of both the press and pundits in becoming increasingly out of touch with most of the country. The shock expressed by many is due to a lack of exposure to opposing views — not the need for further ideological isolation. That cathartic effort is evident in many subscribers who are now boycotting the Washington Post and MSNBC. MSNBC contributor and Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin appears to support such efforts. Rubin is an avowed Marxist. Groucho Marxist, that is. Marx famously said, “I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members.” Before supporting resignations at her newspaper (for not endorsing a presidential candidate) or the boycott of Morning Joe (for the hosts speaking to Donald Trump), Rubin was the self-identified Republican columnist of the Post before she called for the party to be burned down. Liberals would prefer to leave the Post if it is going to introduce opposing views . For the Post owner and publisher, the newspaper is facing an utter disaster after alienating over half of the country by becoming an echo chamber. Publisher and CEO William Lewis put it bluntly by telling the staff , “Let’s not sugarcoat it...We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. Right? I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.” The response from the Post staff was calls for Lewis to be fired. These reporters and columnists would prefer to lose their jobs than their bias. Obviously, Roose and others have every right to shelter in place within hardened liberal silos. However, it will do little to bring back readers to the media or voters to the Democrats by creating safe spaces for liberals to avoid being triggered by opposing views. Now, it is different: “Never saw the sun shining so brightNever saw things going so rightNoticing the days hurrying byWhen you’re in love, my how they fly” Different except that things are not “going so right” on Bluesky.

ALTOONA, Pa. — After UnitedHealthcare’s CEO was gunned down on a New York sidewalk, police searched for the masked gunman with dogs, drones and scuba divers. Officers used the city's muscular surveillance system. Investigators analyzed DNA samples, fingerprints and internet addresses. Police went door-to-door looking for witnesses. When an arrest came five days later, those sprawling investigative efforts shared credit with an alert civilian's instincts. A Pennsylvania McDonald's customer noticed another patron who resembled the man in the oblique security-camera photos that New York police had publicized. Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry speaks during a press conference regarding the arrest of suspect Luigi Mangione, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in Hollidaysburg, Pa., in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey) Luigi Nicholas Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, was arrested Monday in the killing of Brian Thompson, who headed one of the United States’ largest medical insurance companies. He remained jailed in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. By late evening, prosecutors in Manhattan had added a charge of murder, according to an online court docket. He's expected to be extradited to New York eventually. It’s unclear whether Mangione has an attorney who can comment on the allegations. Asked at Monday's arraignment whether he needed a public defender, Mangione asked whether he could “answer that at a future date.” Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after the McDonald's customer recognized him and notified an employee, authorities said. Police in Altoona, about 233 miles (375 kilometers) west of New York City, were soon summoned. This booking photo released Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections shows Luigi Mangione, a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (Pennsylvania Department of Corrections via AP) They arrived to find Mangione sitting at a table in the back of the restaurant, wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a laptop, according to a Pennsylvania police criminal complaint. He initially gave them a fake ID, but when an officer asked Mangione whether he’d been to New York recently, he “became quiet and started to shake,” the complaint says. When he pulled his mask down at officers' request, “we knew that was our guy,” rookie Officer Tyler Frye said at a news conference in Hollidaysburg. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Manhattan news conference that Mangione was carrying a gun like the one used to kill Thompson and the same fake ID the shooter had used to check into a New York hostel, along with a passport and other fraudulent IDs. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione also had a three-page, handwritten document that shows “some ill will toward corporate America." A law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said the document included a line in which Mangione claimed to have acted alone. “To the Feds, I’ll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone,” the document said, according to the official. It also had a line that said, “I do apologize for any strife or traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.” Pennsylvania prosecutor Peter Weeks said in court that Mangione was found with a passport and $10,000 in cash — $2,000 of it in foreign currency. Mangione disputed the amount. Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday as he walked alone to a midtown Manhattan hotel for an investor conference. Police quickly came to see the shooting as a targeted attack by a gunman who appeared to wait for Thompson, came up behind him and fired a 9 mm pistol. Investigators have said “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on ammunition found near Thompson’s body. The words mimic a phrase used to criticize the insurance industry. A poster issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows a wanted unknown suspect. (FBI via AP) From surveillance video, New York investigators gathered that the shooter fled by bike into Central Park, emerged, then took a taxi to a northern Manhattan bus terminal. Once in Pennsylvania, he went from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, “trying to stay low-profile” by avoiding cameras, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said. A grandson of a wealthy, self-made real estate developer and philanthropist, Mangione is a cousin of a current Maryland state legislator. Mangione was valedictorian at his elite Baltimore prep school, where his 2016 graduation speech lauded his classmates’ “incredible courage to explore the unknown and try new things.” He went on to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a spokesperson said. “Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s family said in a statement posted on social media late Monday by his cousin, Maryland lawmaker Nino Mangione. “We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved.” An NYPD police officer and K-9 dog search around a lake in Central Park, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) Luigi Nicholas Mangione worked for a time for the car-buying website TrueCar and left in 2023, CEO Jantoon Reigersman said by email. From January to June 2022, Mangione lived at Surfbreak, a “co-living” space at the edge of Honolulu tourist mecca Waikiki. Like other residents of the shared penthouse catering to remote workers, Mangione underwent a background check, said Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for owner and founder R.J. Martin. “Luigi was just widely considered to be a great guy. There were no complaints,” Ryan said. "There was no sign that might point to these alleged crimes they’re saying he committed.” At Surfbreak, Martin learned Mangione had severe back pain from childhood that interfered with many aspects of his life, from surfing to romance, Ryan said. “He went surfing with R.J. once but it didn’t work out because of his back," Ryan said, but noted that Mangione and Martin often went together to a rock-climbing gym. NYPD officers in diving suits search a lake in Central Park, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) Mangione left Surfbreak to get surgery on the mainland, Ryan said, then later returned to Honolulu and rented an apartment. Martin stopped hearing from Mangione six months to a year ago. Although the gunman obscured his face during the shooting, he left a trail of evidence in New York, including a backpack he ditched in Central Park, a cellphone found in a pedestrian plaza, a water bottle and a protein bar wrapper. In the days after the shooting, the NYPD collected hundreds of hours of surveillance video and released multiple clips and still images in hopes of enlisting the public’s eyes to help find a suspect. “This combination of old-school detective work and new-age technology is what led to this result today,” Tisch said at the New York news conference. ___ Scolforo reported from Altoona and Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Contributing were Associated Press writers Cedar Attanasio and Jennifer Peltz in New York; Michael Rubinkam and Maryclaire Dale in Pennsylvania; Lea Skene in Baltimore and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu. Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Eagles receivers Smith and Brown complain about vanishing pass offense during winning streak

New Jersey Devils Stock Up/Stock Down: Mom’s Trip EditionNoneNone