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garage door opener genie SAN FRANCISCO – Several times during timeouts in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s game against the Houston Rockets, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green implored Jonathan Kuminga to get the ball. Kuminga did exactly that in a monumental way. > Watch NBC Bay Area News 📺 Streaming free 24/7 The No. 7 overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft , Kuminga scored 14 of his career-high 33 points in the fourth quarter, including a crucial driving layup with 16.9 seconds remaining to help the Warriors to a 99-93 victory over the Rockets. “They trusted me, and that kind of helped me to get confident,” Kuminga said. “I took a deep breath and just went out there and took care of the ball.” Kuminga was brilliant in the fourth quarter. He repeatedly made good on his patented powerful drives, connected on a par of middys and had an assist in the final 12 minutes. In essence, Kuminga filled the role of closer while Golden State's go-to closers – Curry and Green – watched and cheered from the bench. “He showed that he can do it,” Warriors center Kevon Looney said. “He showed that he can score, get to the rim, get to the foul line when we need him to. That’s going to be a part of our evolution as a team, him stepping up and (Andrew Wiggins) stepping up to be able to score for us in the fourth quarter and not depending on Steph the whole time." Houston went into the night with the second-best record in the Western Conference while the Warriors were riding a five-game losing streak. With Curry and Green nursing injuries and unavailable to play, the Warriors were minus their two best players in crunch time. Passes that would normally go to those two for clutch shots wound up in Kuminga’s hands, and he delivered first class. “A good learning lesson,” Kuminga said. “Obviously we go to Steph most of the time. Just havig that experience of knowing what you need to do out there anytime, even when Steph comes back and Draymond comes back. You never know when moments like that will come around.” For a good chunk of the season the Warriors have had a tough time closing out games, and for a few moments it looked like the Rockets would add another disappointing chapter when the closed a seven-point lead to 77-76 early in the fourth quarter. That’s when Kuminga began his scoring blitz but it wasn’t until the final minute that he really shined. After Houston got within 96-93 in the final minute, Warriors coach Steve Kerr called timeout and drew up a play for Kuminga. Career-high 33 for JK 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/ipW1G2Za9m Kuminga once again got the ball and attacked, driving right between Rockets’ defenders Fred Van Vleet and Dillon Brooks to score. “He was having a great night and it was a no-brainer to get him the ball,” Kerr said. “JK just made the play. He got a couple of ghost screens, one from Buddy (Hield), one from Brandin (Podziemski), just to try to confuse the switch a little bit. JK just attacked, and that was the play of the game. “It was just a beautiful drive and capped off a phenomenal night for him. He was brilliant.” Download and follow the Dubs Talk PodcastTrump team signs transition agreement with White House

The Denver Gazette sports business insider is a reader’s guide to understanding the influence of money, politics and power behind their favorite leagues, teams and players: Sports business insider: The ticket price for Senior Day games played on Friday is much higher for Colorado vs. Oklahoma State compared to Colorado State vs. Utah State. Short version: The bowl-eligible Buffaloes (8-3) and Rams (7-4) conclude the regular college football season on Friday at their respective home venues. Here’s a breakdown of what a seat costs as of late Tuesday. —CU vs. OSU, 10 a.m. at Folsom Field Least expensive ticket: $87 (section 214, Ticketmaster) Most expensive ticket: $2,421 (section 105, Ticketmaster) —CSU vs. USU, 1:30 p.m. at Canvas Stadium Least expensive ticket: $22 (section 215, Ticketmaster) Most expensive ticket: $300 (outdoor club, CSU) Folsom Field beer sales nearly double with CU football coach Deion Sanders | Sports Business Insider Long version: The Buffaloes have sold out of season tickets in consecutive seasons under coach Deion Sanders. CU has a limited supply of premium tickets against OSU on its website, but the majority are available on verified secondary markets. Demand is high considering it will be the final home game for star quarterback Shedeur Sanders and cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter. Ticket price does not reflect the quality of opponent with OSU struggling at 3-8 this season. CU still has a narrow path to the Big 12 title game with a win and multiple losses by conference frontrunners. The Rams still have tickets available on their website, however, the cheapest seats are listed on verified secondary markets. CSU’s on-field success has been reflected in attendance this season with sellouts in four of its past six home games. The Rams set a program and stadium record with 40,099 fans for the Rocky Mountain Showdown earlier this season. But filling up Canvas Stadium for lesser opponents — like USU (4-7) — on a weekday afternoon remains a challenge. That’s good news for Rams faithful on a budget. Not so much for the crowd atmosphere in Fort Collins to honor senior players. Key context: The cost of in-state college football tickets is a relative bargain compared to other places. Imagine being a University of Texas or Texas A&M fan. They play on Saturday with the winner advancing to the SEC championship game against Georgia. Tickets for UT vs. TAMU are being sold for an average of $1,072 per seat — according to online marketplace TickPick — as the most expensive college football game ever. The cheapest ticket at A&M’s Kyle Field is reportedly still more than $700. Looking ahead: The Rams and Buffaloes are college football relevant at the same time, finally, after both programs endured dark times in recent years. CU will contend for Big 12 titles so long as Sanders remains in Boulder. CSU is finding success in year three with Jay Norvell at the helm. Will it continue into 2025? Stick with The Denver Gazette sports business insider for a unique perspective on what unfolds.Will US allow Lebanese Army to deter Israeli violation of national sovereignty?

House rejects Democratic efforts to force release of Matt Gaetz ethics report

A Nov. 14 Instagram post ( , ) uses a meme with an image of former President Jimmy Carter to claim U.S. educational achievement has plummeted. “In 1979 I created the Department of Education,” reads on-screen text in the image. “Since then America went from 1st to 24th in education.” X owner Elon Musk made the same claim in a on X, formerly Twitter, that was reposted 98,000 times. The claim also circulated widely on . How we pick and research claims | | There is no evidence to support the claim. While multiple studies have compared U.S. students to their peers in other countries, none show they ranked first in 1979, nor do any say they ranked 24th in 2024. There isn’t a definitive way to rank a country’s education quality, but multiple studies show results contrary to the trend claimed in the post. , a professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, told USA TODAY that the claim is “completely inaccurate.” “These are very rough comparisons, but it can be said that U.S. middle school and secondary students have always done poorly on international tests of mathematics compared to students in other developed countries and have done better in science and reading,” Carnoy said. Many U.S. adults believe the country is either average or below average at teaching students science, technology, engineering and math, according to a released in April. : But the measuring students' reading, math and science skills from countries show more of a mixed bag. In 2022, the test – called the – found five education systems with higher average reading scores than the U.S., 25 with higher math scores and nine with higher science scores. The test has , when 32 countries participated. That year, eight countries had higher math scores than the U.S. and seven countries had higher science scores. U.S. students performed “about as well on average” in reading compared to students in other participating countries. U.S. News & World Report ranked the U.S. as the in 2024 as part of its , which are based on an international survey of nearly 17,000 people who were asked “whether a country has a well-developed public education system, whether respondents would consider attending university there and if that country has a reputation for top-quality universities.” The news outlet has only ranked countries in that way for . There is no evidence of any widespread decline in student achievement in the U.S. since 1979, Carnoy said. U.S. math scores have been below many other countries for decades. In the mid-1960s, U.S. 13-year-olds were outperformed in math by students in all but one of the 11 other countries that participated in the First International Mathematics Study, while U.S. students in their last year of high school were ranked last, according to a published in 1992. A similar study of math skills conducted in the early 1980s broke the results down by category, and found the U.S. was near the bottom in most of them. A different published by the National Center for Education Statistics in 1993 analyzed two decades of results. It says “overall trends in science, mathematics and reading suggest few changes in levels of educational achievement.” National Center for Education Statistics charts of reading and math scores for and in the U.S. don’t show significant declines since 1979. Rather, math scores are up since then while reading is at about the same level, according to the latest test results from 2022 and 2023. The rate in the U.S. for the 1979-80 school year was 71.5%, far below the 87% reported for the . The college enrollment rate for those who completed high school has risen from to , according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is important to recognize the U.S. doesn’t have only one education system – instead, each state has its own, Carnoy said. “Student performance in some states has increased greatly in the past 30 years, and not so much in other states,” he said. Carter that created the Department of Education on Oct. 17, 1979, the federal government had “for too long failed to play its own supporting role in education as effectively as it could.” It wasn’t the first time that the U.S. had a Department of Education, though. In 1867, President Andrew Johnson signed a bill that created the country’s first Department of Education, but it was in the Department of the Interior about a year later “due to concern that the department would exercise over local schools,” according to the current Education Department website. President-elect Donald Trump has eliminating the Department of Education, calling it a “bloated and radical bureaucracy.” USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response. also debunked the claim. , Nov. 19, Email exchange with USA TODAY Pew Research Center, April 24, National Center for Education Statistics, accessed Nov. 20, National Center for Education Statistics, accessed Nov. 20, National Center for Education Statistics, accessed Nov. 20, National Center for Education Statistics, accessed Nov. 20, National Center for Education Statistics, accessed Nov. 20, National Center for Education Statistics, accessed Nov. 21, National Assessment of Educational Progress, accessed Nov. 21, U.S. News & World Report, accessed Nov. 20, Bureau of Labor Statistics, April 23, Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed Nov. 21,

Jonah Goldberg: What if most Americans aren't bitterly divided?

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The House of Assembly will be in session on Friday [Dec 6] and statements listed on the Order Paper include the tabling of Amendments to the Clean Air Act 2024, the Bermuda College Annual Report 2023-2024, the Cruise Ship Season 2025 and the 2023-2024 Annual Report of the Department of Financial Assistance. : , ,

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(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) , (THE CONVERSATION) As President-elect Donald Trump announces his prospective Cabinet nominations, The Conversation U.S. Politics Editor Jeff Inglis spoke with about how the U.S. attorney general – the head law enforcement officer of the executive branch of government – deals with federal judges, who are part of the judiciary, a different branch of government. Jones is the president of Dickinson College and a retired federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed unanimously by the Senate in 2002. The transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity. To what extent does the U.S. attorney general or their subordinates directly interact with federal judges? Most federal judges rarely see the attorney general, if ever – although the attorney general does tend to visit different U.S. attorneys’ offices. But judges always see the U.S. attorney in their district. There are , presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed. They’re an extension of the attorney general, who sets broad policies for the U.S.’s law enforcement priorities. For example, if an attorney general wants to focus on prosecuting fentanyl distribution, that work is typically carried out by U.S. attorney offices nationwide. Underneath the U.S. attorneys, who are political appointees, you have the careerists, assistant U.S. attorneys called “line prosecutors.” They present cases to grand juries and try those cases, and therefore also interact often with federal judges. Are there actions or policies an attorney general can set that really affect federal judges around the country? To me, an important example is where prosecutors seek to intercept electronic communications, formerly known simply as wiretaps. Before 1968, you had people like just wantonly tapping people’s phones, . They didn’t need to get a warrant to wiretap someone. Wiretaps were dropped on people in the worst cases for prurient or political reasons. It was like the Wild West. It’s well established that , for example, just looking to sully his reputation. Then Congress passed the , which includes rules about what is called a . As opposed to wiretaps, this law applies to all kinds of electronic surveillance, including texts. The Title III law and Justice Department policies hold that if a local U.S. attorney or assistant U.S. attorney want to conduct electronic surveillance on a person, that application must – the Justice Department offices in Washington – before it can be submitted for a federal judge to consider and approve or reject. Not every prosecutorial decision or every investigative decision is vetted this way. But electronic surveillance is, because it involves the most sensitive personal information that individuals have. It’s an invasion, by judicial license, of the privacy rights of individuals. So before a judge even sees an application, the professional career folks at Main Justice – who stay in their positions from presidential administration to presidential administration – review it according to the law and the highest investigatory standards. When it’s presented to a judge, we know then that the application has already been carefully reviewed and authorized by Main Justice. We always had a certain sense of comfort. We would look for all the legal touchstones that were necessary to make sure that probable cause was established. But we knew that there was somebody who had put some eyes on this before and made sure it was legally sound. I never saw an application over my 19 years as a judge that was ill-brought or in bad faith. They’re very, very well done, typically. You would see a packet of information that would be inches thick in support of the attempt to intercept somebody’s communications. If anything, I found the Department of Justice would almost go to excessive lengths to make sure that they made their case. They understood the gravity of it. In an intercept, you’re literally listening into or reading what the speakers or the communicators believe is a confidential conversation, and for an extended period of time. Once the genie leaves the electronic bottle in an intercept, it’s much graver than evidence from a single search. That’s an invasion of somebody’s right to privacy. There’s untoward amounts of information that you could gain to blackmail or get a political advantage over someone. That’s why there’s this additional process for obtaining judicial permission, to ensure the judiciary is a check against this power. It’s an area of super-close interaction between the central Justice Department and federal judges around the country. Are there risks to that type of collaboration based on who the attorney general is? Judges have had a fundamental degree of trust that generally, when they deal with the Department of Justice, there are adults in the room who are people of reasonably good judgment. We have had some U.S. attorneys general with priorities that people may disagree with, but in the end, you want the person at the top to be professional and set standards that are ethical and in accord with the laws and the Constitution. If that person isn’t professional, the Justice Department could become like a secret police agency. When I was a judge, I never failed to be amazed by the awesome power of prosecutors. They can, as has been said, . That formidable power can destroy lives if abused. Do you think federal judges are willing to increase their scrutiny over Department of Justice actions, or if they feel they need to? I really hate to typecast because people did that to me, and it turned out it wasn’t right. But there are Trump-appointed judges, particularly in the appellate courts, who are more conservative. I still have confidence in the judiciary to do its job. I didn’t agree with the Supreme Court , granting broad criminal immunity to presidents for official actions. I tended to agree more with . But it did not carry the day, and that’s the way the system works. I worry that my former colleagues in the federal judiciary may need to be more vigilant than ever before. Regardless of which president appointed them, they cannot simply roll over if there are abuses of the system for retaliatory or political ends. I fervently hope they will be up to the task, without fear or favor. Our democracy will be at risk if they don’t. This story is part of a of Cabinet and high-level administration positions. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: .Published 4:42 pm Tuesday, November 26, 2024 By Data Skrive Six games on the Wednesday college basketball schedule feature a ranked team, including the matchup between the Ole Miss Rebels and the UConn Huskies. Watch women’s college basketball, other live sports and more on Fubo. What is Fubo? Fubo is a streaming service that gives you access to your favorite live sports and shows on demand. Use our link to sign up for a free trial. Catch tons of live women’s college basketball , plus original programming, with ESPN+ or the Disney Bundle.

WASHINGTON — The House shut down Democrats' efforts Thursday to release the long-awaited ethics report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, pushing the fate of any resolution to the yearslong investigation of sexual misconduct allegations into further uncertainty. The nearly party-line votes came after Democrats had been pressing for the findings to be published even though the Florida Republican left Congress and withdrew as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., was the sole Republican to support the effort. Most Republicans have argued that any congressional probe into Gaetz ended when he resigned from the House. Speaker Mike Johnson also requested that the committee not publish its report, saying it would be a terrible precedent to set. While ethics reports have previously been released after a member’s resignation, it is extremely rare. Shortly before the votes took place, Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., who introduced one of the bills to force the release, said that if Republicans reject the release, they will have “succeeded in sweeping credible allegations of sexual misconduct under the rug.” Gaetz has repeatedly denied the claims. Earlier Thursday, the Ethics panel met to discuss the Gaetz report but made no decision, saying in a short statement that the matter is still being discussed. It's unclear now whether the document will ever see the light of day as lawmakers have only a few weeks left before a new session of Congress begins. It's the culmination of weeks of pressure on the Ethics committee's five Republicans and five Democrats who mostly work in secret as they investigate allegations of misconduct against lawmakers. The status of the Gaetz investigation became an open question last month when he abruptly resigned from Congress after Trump's announcement that he wanted his ally in the Cabinet. It is standard practice for the committee to end investigations when members of Congress depart, but the circumstances surrounding Gaetz were unusual, given his potential role in the new administration. Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., the committee chairman, said Wednesday that there is no longer the same urgency to release the report given that Gaetz has left Congress and stepped aside as Trump's choice to head the Justice Department. “I’ve been steadfast about that. He’s no longer a member. He is no longer going to be confirmed by the Senate because he withdrew his nomination to be the attorney general,” Guest said. The Gaetz report has also caused tensions between lawmakers on the bipartisan committee. Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the panel, publicly admonished Guest last month for mischaracterizing a previous meeting to the press. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and said last year that the Justice Department’s separate investigation against him into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls ended without federal charges. His onetime political ally Joel Greenberg, a fellow Republican who served as the tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County, admitted as part of a plea deal with prosecutors in 2021 that he paid women and an underage girl to have sex with him and other men. The men were not identified in court documents when he pleaded guilty. Greenberg was sentenced in late 2022 to 11 years in prison.Thousands of Syrians gathered in Damascus’ main square and a historic mosque for the first Muslim Friday prayers since former President Bashar Assad was overthrown , a major symbolic moment for the country’s dramatic change of power. The rebels are now working to establish security and start a political transition after seizing the capital on Sunday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Friday, pressing ahead with efforts to unify Middle East nations in support of a peaceful political transition in Syria. It’s part of Blinken’s 12th trip to the Mideast since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year in Gaza but his first after Assad was ousted. The U.S. is also making a renewed push for an ceasefire in Gaza, where the war has plunged more than 2 million Palestinians into a severe humanitarian crisis. Israel’s war against Hamas has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The October 2023 attack by Hamas in southern Israel that sparked the war killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and around 250 others were taken hostage. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Here's the latest: WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has transported out of Syria an American who disappeared seven months ago into former President Bashar Assad’s notorious prison system and was among the thousands released this week by rebels, a U.S. official said Friday. Travis Timmerman was flown out of Syria on a U.S. military helicopter, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation. Timmerman, 29, told The Associated Press he had gone to Syria on a Christian pilgrimage and was not ill-treated while in Palestine Branch, a notorious detention facility operated by Syrian intelligence. He said he was freed by “the liberators who came into the prison and knocked the door down (of his cell) with a hammer.” Timmerman said he was released Monday morning alongside a young Syrian man and 70 female prisoners, some of whom had their children with them. He had been held separately from Syrian and other Arab prisoners and said he didn’t know of any other Americans held in the facility. — By Lolita C. Baldor THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch court on Friday rejected a bid from human rights groups to block weapons exports to Israel and trading with the occupied territories, after finding there were sufficient checks already in place to comply with international law. The ten organizations told The Hague District Court last month that they thought the Netherlands was in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention, drawn up following World War II, by continuing to sell weapons to Israel more than a year into the conflict in Gaza. “The government uses my own tax money, that I pay, to kill my own family. I’ve lost 18 members of my own family,” Ahmed Abofoul, a legal adviser for the pro-Palestinian organization Al-Haq, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit, told the court during a hearing in November . The court ruling said that “it is not up to the interim relief judge to order the state to reconsider government policy. That is primarily a political responsibility.” Lawyers for the government argued it wasn’t up to a judge to decide foreign policy for the Netherlands. The activist groups pointed to several emergency orders from another court, the International Court of Justice, as confirming the obligation to stop weapons sales. In January, the top U.N. court said it was plausible Palestinians were being deprived of some rights protected under the Genocide Convention. The coalition said it will review the court’s ruling and is considering an appeal. CAIRO — Israeli attacks in and around a hospital in northern Gaza wounded three medical staff overnight into Friday and caused damage to the isolated medical facility, according to its director. Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya said Israeli quadcopter drones carrying explosives deliberately targeted the emergency and reception area of Kamal Adwan Hospital, where one doctor was wounded for a third time. Abu Safiya said “relentless” drone and artillery strikes throughout the night exploded “alarmingly close” to the hospital, heavily damaging nearby buildings and destroying most of the water tanks on the hospital’s roof and blowing out doors and windows. Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya has been hit multiple times over the past two months since Israel launched a fierce military operation against Hamas in northern Gaza. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes. “We demand international protection for the hospital and its staff,” Abu Safiya said in a statement released via the U.K.-based aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians, “as well as the entry of delegations with surgical expertise, medical supplies, and essential medications to ensure we can adequately serve the people we are treating.” Abu Safiya said there were 72 wounded patients at the hospital, one of the few medical facilities left in northern Gaza. He said he expected Israeli forces would allow a World Health Organization aid convoy to bring supplies to the hospital on Friday or Saturday, as well as a team of doctors from Indonesia. Israel has allowed almost no humanitarian or medical aid to enter the three besieged communities in northern Gaza — Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and the urban Jabaliya refugee camp — and ordered tens of thousands to flee to nearby Gaza City. Israeli officials have said the three communities are mostly deserted, but the United Nations humanitarian office said Tuesday it believes around 65,000 to 75,000 people are still there, with little access to food, water, electricity or health care. Experts have warned that the north may be experiencing famine . BAGHDAD — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced stop in Iraq on Friday on his latest visit to the Middle East aimed at stabilizing the situation in Syria to prevent further regional turmoil. Blinken met in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani as part of the hastily arranged trip, his 12th to the region since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year but his first since the weekend ouster of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad. Blinken has already been to Jordan and Turkey on his current tour and will return to Jordan for urgent meetings on Saturday with Arab foreign ministers to try to unify support for an inclusive post-Assad transition that does not allow the Islamic State group to take advantage of the political vacuum in Syria and secures suspected chemical weapons stocks. In Baghdad, Blinken “will underscore U.S. commitment to the U.S.-Iraq strategic partnership and to Iraq’s security, stability, and sovereignty,” the State Department said. “He will also discuss regional security opportunities and challenges, as well as enduring U.S. support for engagement with all communities in Syria to establish an inclusive transition,” it said in a statement. His trip comes as the Biden administration winds down with just over a month left before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump has been highly critical of Biden’s approach to the Middle East and skeptical of the U.S. military presence in both Iraq and Syria. The U.S. and Iraq agreed in September to wrap up U.S.-led military operations against the Islamic State in Iraq next year, although Assad’s ouster and the potential for the group taking advantage of a political vacuum in Syria could complicate the timing of the withdrawal, according to American officials. DAMASCUS — The kingdom of Bahrain sent a message Friday to Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of the insurgency that toppled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It said Bahrain is “fully prepared to consult with you continuously and to provide support in regional and international organizations to achieve what is in the interest of the brotherly Syrian people.” It added, “We look forward to Syria regaining its authentic role in the Arab League.” Bahrain is the current head of the Arab summit. Syria was readmitted to the Arab League last year after 12 years of ostracization. It is still unclear how the international community will deal officially with the new interim government in Syria. JERUSALEM - Israel’s defense minister told troops to prepare to remain through the winter months on the peak of Mount Hermon, Syria’s highest point, located in a swath of southern Syria that Israeli troops moved into after the fall of Damascus to insurgents. The comments by Defense Minister Israel Katz signaled that the military will extend its occupation of the zone along the border, which Israel says it seized to create a buffer zone. In a statement Friday, Katz said that holding the peak was of major importance for Israel’s security and that it would be necessary to build facilities there to sustain troops through the winter. The summit of Mount Hermon, the highest peak on the eastern Mediterranean coast at 2,814 meters (9,232 feet), gives a commanding view over the plains of southern Syria. It also positions Israeli troops about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the center of Damascus. The mount is divided between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Lebanon and Syria. Only the United States recognizes Israel’s control of the Golan Heights. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israeli troops would remain in the zone until another force across the border in Syria could guarantee security. Israeli troops moved into the zone -– set as a demilitarized area inside Syrian territory under truce deals that ended the 1973 Mideast war -- after the regime of Bashar al-Assad fell last weekend. ANKARA, Turkey -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday there was “broad agreement” between Turkey and the United States on what they would like to see in Syria following the ouster of President Bashar Assad. “There’s broad agreement on what we would like to see going forward, starting with the interim government in Syria, one that is inclusive and non-sectarian and one that protects the rights of minorities and women” and does not “pose any kind of threat to any of Syria’s neighbors,” Blinken said in joint statements with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. The insurgent groups that toppled Assad in Syria have not made clear their policy or stance on Israel, whose military in recent days has bombed sites all over the country, saying it is trying to prevent weapons from falling into extremist hands. Blinken also said it was crucial to keep the Islamic State group under control. “We also discussed the imperative of continuing the efforts to keep ISIS down. Our countries worked very hard and gave a lot over many years to ensure the elimination of the territorial caliphate of ISIS to ensure that that threat doesn’t rear its head again,” Blinken said. The Turkish foreign minister said the two discussed ways of establishing prosperity in Syria and ending terrorism in the country. “Our priority is establishing stability in Syria as soon as possible, preventing terrorism from gaining ground, and ensuring that IS and the PKK aren’t dominant,” Fidan said, in a reference to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party. Blinken said: “We’re very focused on Syria, very focused on the opportunity that now is before us and before the Syrian people to move from out from under the shackles of Bashar al-Assad to a different and better future for the Syrian people, one that the Syrian people decide for themselves.” Blinken and Fidan said they had also discussed a ceasefire for Gaza. “We’ve seen in the last couple of weeks more encouraging signs that (a ceasefire) is possible,” Blinken said. Blinken, who is making his 12th trip to the Mideast since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year but first since the weekend ouster of Assad, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan late Thursday. The outgoing Biden administration is particularly concerned that a power vacuum in Syria could exacerbate already heightened tensions in the region, which is already wracked by multiple conflicts, and create conditions for the Islamic State group to regain territory and influence. Later Friday, Blinken is to return to Jordan for meetings on Saturday with Arab foreign ministers and senior officials from the European Union, the Arab League and the United Nations. ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey has appointed a temporary charge d’affaires to reopen its embassy in Syria, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported. The Turkish Embassy in Damascus had suspended operations in 2012 due to the escalating security problems during the Syrian civil war and embassy staff and their families were recalled to Turkey. The Anadolu Agency said late Thursday that Turkey appointed Burhan Koroglu, its ambassador in Mauritania, to the post. UNITED NATIONS- – Two U.N. aid convoys were violently attacked in Gaza, making it virtually impossible for humanitarian agencies to operate without putting staff and civilians at risk, the U.N. food agency says. On Wednesday, a 70-truck convoy from Kerem Shalom was waiting for personnel to safeguard the food and other aid destined for central Gaza when there were reported attacks by Israeli forces in the nearby humanitarian zone, the U.N. World Food Program said Thursday. More than 50 people are now estimated to have died in the attacks, including civilians and local security personnel who had been expected to ensure the convoy’s safety, WFP said. The Rome-based agency said the convoy was forced to proceed from Kerem Shalom to central Gaza without any security arrangements, using the Philadelphi corridor, an Israeli-controlled route that had been recently approved and successfully utilized twice. On the way, WFP said, conflict and insecurity led to a loss of communication with the convoy for more than 12 hours. ”Eventually, the trucks were found but all food and aid supplies were looted,” the U.N. agency said. In a second incident, Israeli soldiers approached a WFP convoy moving out of the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza, fired warning shots, conducted extensive security checks, and temporarily detained drivers and staff, the agency said. “As the trucks were delayed, four out of the five trucks were lost to violent armed looting,” WFP said. UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations chief has a message for Israel: Stop the attacks on Syria. Secretary-General António Guterres is particularly concerned about several hundred Israeli airstrikes on several Syrian locations and stresses “the urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday. The Israeli military said Tuesday it carried out more than 350 strikes in Syria over the previous 48 hours, hitting “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles” in the country to stop them from falling into the hands of extremists. Israel also acknowledged pushing into a buffer zone inside Syria following last week’s overthrow of President Bashar Assad. The buffer zone was established after Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1973 war. Dujarric said Guterres condemns all actions violating the 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two countries that remain in force. And the U.N. chief calls on the parties to uphold the agreement and end “all unauthorized presence in the area of separation” and refrain from any action undermining the ceasefire and stability in the Golan Heights, the spokesman said.

TROY, N.Y. — The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers (5-5-1) men’s hockey team faced a tall task as they hosted the No. 5 University of Maine Black Bears (9-2-2) at Houston Field House on Saturday afternoon in Troy. In the first of a two-game set, the Black Bears slowly built up a lead and busted it [...]Panic among spectators at soccer game kills at least 56 in the West African nation of Guinea CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Officials and witnesses say chaos erupted at a soccer game in Guinea after fans protested a referee’s call and thousands of panicked spectators tried to flee the stadium, leaving at least 56 people dead in the West African nation. Local news website Media Guinea reported that security forces used tear gas. A journalist covering the game for a local sports website tells The Associated Press many of the dead were crushed as they tried to escape through the stadium gates. The world’s latest sports crowd disaster unfurled Sunday in the second-largest city in the military-run nation. Information there is sparse and government-controlled at the best of times. It was not immediately clear how much the death toll could grow. Houston's Al-Shaair apologizes for hit on Jacksonville's Lawrence that led to concussion HOUSTON (AP) — Houston’s Azeez Al-Shaair took to X to apologize to Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence after his violent blow to the quarterback’s facemask led to him being carted off the field with a concussion. Back in the starting lineup after missing two games with a sprained left shoulder, Lawrence scrambled left on a second-and-7 play in the second quarter of Houston’s 23-20 win on Sunday. He initiated a slide before Al-Shaair raised his forearm and unleashed on the defenseless quarterback. In the long post, Al-Shaair says "To Trevor I genuinely apologize to you for what ended up happening.” Mollie Marcoux Samaan stepping down as LPGA commissioner after 3 1/2 years of record prize money Mollie Marcoux Samaan is leaving after more than three years as LPGA commissioner. In a surprise announcement Monday, Marcoux Samaan says she will step down in January, just three weeks before the LPGA starts its 75th season. Liz Moore is the chief legal and technology officer. She'll be serving as interim commissioner until a search committee can find a permanent replacement. Marcoux Samaan was the athletic director at Princeton when she took over the LPGA in May 2021. Prize money has soared during her tenure. She also has faced criticism for the LPGA not gaining in popularity during a rise in women's sports. Jets are sticking with struggling Aaron Rodgers as their starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers will remain the New York Jets’ starting quarterback despite speculation the team could bench him in what has been a disappointing season. Interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said during a video call that he still believes Rodgers, who turned 41 on Monday, gives the Jets their best chance to win. Rodgers was 21 of 39 for 185 yards and touchdown passes to Davante Adams and Isaiah Davis but also had an interception returned 92 yards for a touchdown by Leonard Williams in the Jets’ 26-21 loss to Seattle on Sunday. College playoff bracket offers last dress rehearsal and one more chance to see where the SEC stands The next set of College Football Playoff rankings will be released Tuesday night under heavy scrutiny before the final bracket is set on Sunday. It will be one last chance to see just how much the selection committee loves the Southeastern Conference. The best gauge will be whether Miami, which suffered its second loss over the weekend, is placed behind any or all three SEC teams with three losses — Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina, all of which are coming off wins. Whatever happens, the SEC is likely to have at least five teams in the 12-team field when the final bracket comes out. Kansas holds off Auburn for No. 1 in AP Top 25 as SEC grabs 3 of top 4 spots; UConn slides to No. 25 Kansas continues to hold the No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll. Auburn is pushing the Jayhawks in the latest poll after winning the Maui Invitational and checked in at No. 2. Two-time reigning national champion UConn nearly fell out entirely after an 0-3 week at Maui, falling from No. 2 to 25th. The Southeastern Conference had three of the top four teams with No. 3 Tennessee and No. 4 Kentucky behind the Tigers. The poll featured six new teams, headlined by No. 13 Oregon, No. 16 Memphis and No. 18 Pittsburgh. Ryan Poles to remain Bears general manager and lead search for new head coach LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Chicago Bears president Kevin Warren said Ryan Poles will remain the general manager and serves as the point person in the search for a head coach to replace the fired Matt Eberflus. He says Poles will have the “final say” if the two have differing opinions on who should get the job. Chicago had never fired a coach during a season. But a six-game losing streak marked by questionable coaching decisions spurred the founding NFL franchise to change course. The Bears let Eberflus go Friday and replaced him on an interim basis with offensive coordinator Thomas Brown. TCU, Duke climb into top 10, Notre Dame drops in women's AP Top 25; UCLA and UConn remain 1-2 TCU has its best ranking ever in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll after a convincing win over Notre Dame. The Horned Frogs jumped eight spots to No. 9, the first time the school has ever been in the top 10. The Fighting Irish, who were third last week, fell seven spots to 10th after losses to TCU and Utah. UCLA remained No. 1, followed by UConn, South Carolina, Texas and LSU. USC, Maryland and Duke are next. Michael Andretti's Formula 1 dream comes to bittersweet fruition without his involvement Michael Andretti has been sidelined from his namesake motorsports organization and won’t have any role with the Formula 1 program he spent the last four years desperately trying to launch. His effort to get a program partnered with General Motors into F1 was approved last week, a month after he stepped aside from his teams. F1’s decision to expand its grid for Cadillac F1 came amidst a federal antitrust investigation into why Liberty Media refused to admit Andretti Global and after Andretti partners Dan Towriss and Mark Walter claimed controlling interest of the fledgling effort. Guardiola hits 'reset' with Man City floundering in the Premier League The season starts now for Pep Guardiola. The Manchester City manager saw his team extend its remarkable winless run to seven matches and drop 11 points off the pace in the Premier League by losing 2-0 to Liverpool on Sunday. But that is all in the past for Guardiola. He says “Reset. There’s a feeling we start from here this season.” How he intends to move on from the worst run of results in his managerial career remains to be seen. It all starts Wednesday with a home game against Nottingham Forest. The midweek round of games also sees Liverpool travel to Newcastle and Arsenal host Manchester United.A 20-second clip of Vivek Ramaswamy discussing a possible method of cutting the U.S. federal workforce based on employees’ social security numbers has been mis-described as showing the former Republican presidential candidate proposing a 75% cut to Social Security benefits. The caption of a Threads post , opens new tab sharing the clip states, in part: “Is He Bloody Serious?? They gonna start Ending Social Security with 50% and then 75% of all Social Security?” The caption then includes a transcript that shows Ramaswamy proposing a federal-employee screening process based on their Social Security numbers. The clip was shared online after President-elect Donald Trump tasked Ramaswamy and billionaire Elon Musk to co-lead a new commission to find deep cuts in the $6 trillion federal budget. But the video has been taken out of context from a nearly three-hour interview in which Ramaswamy talked about ways to streamline the government. The clip shared on social media corresponds with Ramaswamy’s September interview , opens new tab with podcast host Lex Fridman from timestamp 27:06: “If your Social Security Number ends in an odd number, you're out. If it ends in an even number, you're in. There's a 50% cut right there. Of those who remain, if your Social Security Number starts in an even number, you're in. And if it starts with an odd number, you're out. Boom, that's a 75% reduction, then literally, sarcastically, okay.” Immediately after the quote, Ramaswamy said: “It's a thought experiment, not a policy prescription.” The quote originated from a section of the interview titled “government efficiency” and several minutes prior to the quote, Ramaswamy proposed , opens new tab a “75% headcount reduction across the board in the federal bureaucracy, send them home packing, shut down agencies that shouldn’t exist. Rescind every unconstitutional regulation that Congress ever passed.” (Timestamp 24:22) Since he has been tasked to slash government employees and cut costs, Ramaswamy has proposed firing 50% of the 2 million-strong U.S. civilian federal workforce. Reuters reported that the plan would only save about 2% in federal salaries and would risk resulting in insufficient essential workers. The incoming Trump administration has proposed ending taxes on Social Security benefits. Trump has also vowed to shield Social Security and Medicare from future budget cuts. Ramaswamy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Missing context. The video shows Vivek Ramaswamy discussing a numeric algorithm to cut the federal workforce, not to cut Social Security benefits. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab