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With Bill Skarsgård as the "horrible old vampire", Robert Eggers's remake of FW Murnau's silent 1922 classic stars Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, and has its "share of gruesome shocks". Many people have seen plenty of vampire films , but what if we hadn't seen any? What if we'd never heard of Dracula, and we had only the vaguest idea of what a vampire might be? Welcome to the world of Nosferatu, written and directed by Robert Eggers. A remake of FW Murnau's silent classic – which in itself was a fairly faithful, if unofficial, adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula – this is a film that restores the mystery and magic to the concept of an undead bloodsucker by stripping away all of the vampire clichés that have built up since Murnau's original was released in 1922. Eggers is the ideal man for the job. Before he made The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman , he was so obsessed with Murnau's Nosferatu that he staged it as a school play when he was a teenager. He is also known for putting his own stamp on horror films by shooting them as if they were arthouse period dramas – and that's what he does here. The costumes and props are all true to the 19th-Century setting, the spectacular outdoor scenes are shot on location in the Czech Republic and Romania, and some of the indoor scenes are illuminated only by candlelight. At the start, when a top-hatted Thomas Hutter is hurrying through the bustling streets to his musty office, you could easily mistake him for Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol . If you're not familiar with the name Hutter, that's because the makers of 1922's Nosferatu changed some of the details of Stoker's story, in a vain attempt to get around copyright issues ( Stoker's widow sued them, anyway ): much of the action takes place in the fictional German harbour town of Wisborg in 1838, rather than London in the 1890s. But the outline of the plot is unmistakably Stoker's. Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is a callow solicitor who works for a cackling weirdo named Knock (Simon McBurney on hilariously frenzied form). In order to secure a promotion, Hutter agrees to journey to distant Transylvania for a meeting with a certain count. His new bride Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) begs him not to take the trip, but Hutter insists, and leaves Ellen in the care of his wealthy friend Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Harding's wife Anna (Emma Corrin). Before long, they'll need the help of a diligent doctor named Sievers (Ralph Ineson), and his mentor, a professor of the occult who was called Van Helsing in Stoker's novel, but is renamed Von Franz (Willem Dafoe) in Nosferatu. Hutter's lone horse ride through wintry forests and over rocky mountains is full of breathtakingly beautiful vistas, and Eggers makes the terrain seem so wild and inhospitable that Hutter would have earned his promotion whatever the destination. But, of course, the destination is a crumbling castle occupied by the Dracula-like Count Orlok. He is played by Bill Skarsgård (It, The Crow, John Wick: Chapter Four ), not that anyone could recognise him underneath all the prosthetic make-up and the layers of heavy clothing. Eggers wisely keeps him at a distance and in the shadows during his first scenes, but the creature we're eventually shown is more like a maggoty walking corpse than the suave seducer seen in most vampire films. Rumoured to be a sorcerer who sold his soul to Satan in return for eternal life, Orlok has the fashion sense of Vlad the Impaler, a booming, vowel-mangling voice which makes it sound as if he is always at the far end of a tunnel, and the loudest wheeze since Darth Vader. He may never be as iconic as his 1922 counterpoint, and he doesn't seem as tragically lonely as he was when Max Schreck played him in Murnau's film, but the imposing (and decomposing) fiend that Eggers and Skarsgård have created is a Dracula/ Orlok unlike any other, which is quite an achievement after more than a century of on-screen vampires. When Orlok begins his reign of terror in Wisborg, Eggers seems to be influenced by The Exorcist and Alien , two films that visit unearthly ordeals on grounded human characters. True, there are smatterings of camp humour, some more deliberate than others. Dafoe is enjoying himself a little too much as a hearty, moustache-twirling eccentric who goes around chirping: "The night demon has supped of your good wife's blood." And Taylor-Johnson's strained attempt at an upper-crust English accent may have you chuckling through the film's gravest scenes. But overall, Eggers takes his doom-laden tale bracingly seriously. Almost everyone commits themselves to the mood of gothic melodrama, and no one makes any ironic wisecracks about garlic or bats. Hoult is especially poignant as Hutter, a would-be hero who is reduced to a feverish wreck by his Transylvanian excursion – and by his own desperate desire to move up to a higher social and economic class. Depp, meanwhile, is a revelation as the troubled Ellen. The uncanny connection between the count and the heroine echoes the one in Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula film, but Eggers places it at the dark heart of Nosferatu. Ellen is deeply in love with her husband, but she has been haunted for years by nightmarish yet erotic visions of another man. As Orlok preys on the people of Wisborg, she is tormented by the question of whether he is an actual monster or just the embodiment of her own emotional instability and unfulfilled yearnings. In contrast with most vampire films, then, this one is about sex rather than sexiness, ie, it's not about vampires being devilishly attractive, it's about men controlling women's bodies. One shrewd point made by Eggers is that the doctors of the period could be vampire-like themselves. When Ellen starts to have fits, Sievers's diagnosis isn't that she is possessed by an evil spirit, but that this hysterical female simply has "too much blood" in her veins. Still, however multi-layered and innovative Nosferatu is, there's no escaping the fact that it's still a Dracula film, which means that familiar things keep happening to familiar characters, and the inevitability of it all makes it more sad than scary. As Eggers proceeds steadily and methodically through the events in Murnau's masterpiece, you may admire the intelligence and painstaking craft that has gone into it, but you may also have the feeling that you're watching actors playing time-honoured roles rather than real people in mortal danger. Horror fans needn't worry, though: Nosferatu has its share of gruesome shocks. And after so many years of cool teen vampires, it's refreshing to see a horrible old vampire again. But what really separates Eggers' Nosferatu from the flock is how deeply it explores the images and themes of vampire lore. There aren't many Dracula films that give you so much to sink your teeth into. ★★★★☆ Nosferatu is released on 25 December in the US and 1 Jan in the UK. -- If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news delivered to your inbox every Friday. 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Troy scores 21 points in less than 2 minutes in the fourth quarter to beat Southern Miss 52-20WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders to his inauguration next month — an unorthodox move that would fold U.S. allies and adversaries into a very American political tradition. Trump said Thursday during an appearance at the New York Stock Exchange , where he was ringing the opening bell to kick off trading for the day, that he’s been “thinking about inviting certain people to the inauguration” without referring to any specific individuals. “And some people said, ‘Wow, that’s a little risky, isn’t it?’” Trump said. “And I said, ‘Maybe it is. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens.’ But we like to take little chances.” His comments came soon after his incoming White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed during a Thursday morning appearance on “Fox & Friends” that Trump had invited Xi and other world leaders to attend his inauguration. No head of state has previously made an official visit to the U.S. for the inauguration, according to State Department historical records. The unprecedented invitations come at a moment when much of the world is bracing for what comes next when Trump and his “America First” worldview return to the White House. The president-elect has vowed to levy massive tariffs against the United States' chief economic competitor, China, as well as neighbors Canada and Mexico unless those countries do more to reduce illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl into the United States. Trump's also pledged to move quickly to end Russia's nearly three-year war in Ukraine and press NATO allies who are spending less than 2% of their GDP on defense to step up or risk the United States not coming to their defense, as required by the transatlantic alliance's treaty, should they come under attack. “We’ve been talking and discussing with President Xi some things, and others, other world leaders, and I think we’re going to do very well all around,” Trump said. “We’ve been abused as a country. We’ve been badly abused from an economic standpoint, I think, and even militarily, you know, we put up all the money, they put up nothing, and then they abuse us on the economy. And we just can’t let that happen.” Xi is likely to see the invitation as too risky to accept, and the gesture from Trump may have little bearing on the increasingly competitive ties between the two nations as the White House changes hands, experts say. Danny Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Xi would not allow himself to “be reduced to the status of a mere guest celebrating the triumph of a foreign leader — the U.S. president, no less.” Still, Leavitt saw it as a plus. “This is an example of President Trump creating an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just our allies, but our adversaries and our competitors, too,” she said on "Fox & Friends." “We saw this in his first term. He got a lot of criticism for it, but it led to peace around this world. He is willing to talk to anyone, and he will always put America’s interest first.” Asked at a Chinese Foreign Ministry briefing Thursday about Trump's invitation, spokesperson Mao Ning responded, “I have nothing to share at present.” Leavitt did not detail which leaders beyond Xi have been invited. But Trump's decision to invite Xi, in particular, squares with his belief that foreign policy — much like a business negotiation — should be carried out with carrots and sticks to get the United States' opponents to operate closer to his administration's preferred terms. Jim Bendat, a historian and author of “Democracy’s Big Day: The Inauguration of Our President,” said he was not aware of a previous U.S. inauguration attended by a foreign head of state. “It's not necessarily a bad thing to invite foreign leaders to attend,” Bendat said. “But it sure would make more sense to invite an ally before an adversary.” Edward Frantz, a presidential historian at the University of Indianapolis, said the invitation helps Trump burnish his “dealmaker and savvy businessman” brand. “I could see why he might like the optics," Frantz said. “But from the standpoint of American values, it seems shockingly cavalier." White House officials said it was up to Trump to decide whom he invites to the inauguration. “I would just say, without doubt, it's the single most consequential bilateral relationship that the United States has in the world,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said. “It is a relationship both fraught with peril and responsibility.” It's unclear which leaders, if any, might show. A top aide to Hungarian President Viktor Orban, one of Trump's most vocal supporters on the world stage, said Thursday that Orban isn't slated to attend the inauguration. “There is no such plan, at least for the time being," said Gergely Gulyás, Orban's chief of staff. The nationalist Hungarian leader is embraced by Trump but has faced isolation in Europe as he's sought to undermine the European Union's support for Ukraine, and routinely blocked, delayed or watered down the bloc’s efforts to provide weapons and funding and to sanction Moscow for its invasion. Orban recently met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Every country's chief of mission to the United States will also be invited, according to a Trump Inaugural Committee official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Such invitations to diplomats stationed in Washington has been customary during past inaugurations. Xi, during a meeting with President Joe Biden last month in Peru, urged the United States not to start a trade war. “Make the wise choice,” Xi cautioned. “Keep exploring the right way for two major countries to get along well with each other.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also pushed back on Trump's threats, warning that such tariffs would be perilous for the U.S. economy as well. Trudeau earlier this week said Americans “are beginning to wake up to the real reality that tariffs on everything from Canada would make life a lot more expensive” and said he will retaliate if Trump goes ahead with them. Trump responded by calling Canada a state and Trudeau the governor. In addition to the tariff dispute, U.S.-China relations are strained over other issues, including what U.S. officials see as Beijing's indirect support of Russia's war on Ukraine. The Biden administration says China has supported Russia with a surge in sales of dual-use components that help keep its military industrial base afloat. U.S. officials also have expressed frustration with Beijing for not doing more to rein in North Korea's support for the Russian war. China accounts for the vast majority of North Korea’s trade. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dispatched thousands of troops to Russia to help repel Ukrainian forces from the Kursk border region. The North Koreans also have provided Russia with artillery and other munitions, according to U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials. Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration is set to take place a day after the U.S. deadline for ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of social media giant TikTok, to sell the social media app or face a ban in the United States. Associated Press writers Didi Tang in Washington and Balint Domotor in Budapest, Hungary, contributed to this report.Pacers waive former Celtics center amid disappointing start

“ Dawson’s Creek ” star James Van Der Beek is selling movie-themed merchandise to help finance his and others’ cancer treatment. The 47-year-old actor, who revealed his colorectal cancer diagnosis last month, took to social media to unveil his crowd-funding initiative. He shared images wearing a “Varsity Blues” jersey while holding a football on his official Instagram account. A post shared by James Van Der Beek (@vanderjames) “100% of my net proceeds will go to families recovering from the financial burden of cancer (including my own 😇),” he wrote in the caption. The limited-edition jerseys bear the number 4, worn by Jonathon “Mox” Moxon, the Texas high school quarterback Van Der Beek portrayed in the 1999 sports movie. Autographed jerseys are $80 and unsigned jerseys are priced at $40 on his official website . “Order one and get a signed one in time for Christmas,” the “Pose actor encouraged his 1.6 million followers with the hashtag “#cancerisexpensive.” But his fundraising goals aren’t limited to social media. Van Der Beek is among several male celebrities featured in “ The Real Full Monty, ” a new take on the Oscar nominated 1997 British comedy “ The Full Monty, ” in which a group of unemployed men in England do a Chippendales-style striptease to score extra cash. He joins fellow actors Anthony Anderson, Tyler Posey and Taye Diggs , “Dancing With the Stars” judge Bruno Tonioli and Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones to raise awareness for prostate, testicular and colorectal cancer testing and research. In early November, the married father of six revealed he had been diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer. “I’ve been privately dealing with this diagnosis and have been taking steps to resolve it, with the support of my incredible family, ” Van Der Beek told People magazine . He went on to detail how differences in his bowel movements led him to consider diet changes to cure potential issues. After not noticing a change, he scheduled a colonoscopy and later “went into shock” when his gastroenterologist gave him the results.California to consider requiring mental health warnings on social media sites

Trump threatens 100% tariff on BRICS countries over currency plansSARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — A late rally wasn’t enough as the Skidmore College Thoroughbreds (5-3-0) men’s hockey team fell to the Lake Forest College Foresters (3-5-1), 5-4, Saturday afternoon at the Saratoga City Rink, in the opening game of the Skidmore Thanksgiving Invitational.The Foresters struck first in the first frame. Foresters junior forward Colin Bella [...]

ORLANDO, Fla. — UCF coach Gus Malzahn is resigning after four seasons with the school. ESPN’s Pete Thamel was the first to report the move, which will see Malzahn to leave to take the offensive coordinator job at Florida State. Malzahn previously worked with FSU coach Mike Norvell during their time at Tulsa under then-coach Todd Graham from 2007-08. The Knights ended a disappointing 4-8 season in which they lost eight of their last nine games, the longest losing streak since 2015. Malzahn, 59, was in the fourth year of a contract through 2028. His buyout, it is reported, would have been $13.75 million. He finished 27-25 at UCF but lost 16 of his last 22 games and was a dismal 4-14 in two seasons in the Big 12. After back-to-back nine-win seasons in 2021-22, the Knights went 6-7 in 2023 and 4-8 in 2024. This season started with high expectations as Malzahn made sweeping changes to the program. He retooled the strength and conditioning department and hired Ted Roof and Tim Harris Jr. as defensive and offensive coordinators, respectively. He also added nearly 50 new players to the roster, leaning heavily on the transfer market. UCF started by winning its first three games against New Hampshire, Sam Houston and a thrilling comeback at TCU, but offensive struggles saw the Knights tumble through a TBD-game losing streak to finish the season. Terry Mohajir hired Malzahn on Feb. 15, 2021, six days after he was hired to replace Danny White. The move came eight weeks after Malzahn had been fired at Auburn after eight seasons of coaching the Tigers. The two briefly worked together at Arkansas State in 2012 before Malzahn left for the Auburn job. “When he [Mohajir] offered the job, I was like, ‘I’m in.’ There wasn’t thinking about or talking about ...,” Malzahn said during his introductory press conference. “This will be one of the best programs in college football in a short time. This is a job that I plan on being here and building it.” UCF opened the 2021 season with non-conference wins over Boise State and Bethune-Cookman before traveling to Louisville on Sept. 17, where quarterback Dillon Gabriel suffered a fractured collarbone in the final minute of a 42-35 loss. Backup Mikey Keene would finish out the season as Gabriel announced his intention to transfer. The Knights would finish the season on the plus side by accepting a bid to join the Big 12 Conference in September and then by defeating Florida 29-17 in the Gasparilla Bowl. Malzahn struck transfer portal gold in the offseason when he signed former Ole Miss quarterback John Rhys Plumlee. Plumlee, a two-sport star with the Rebels, helped guide UCF to the American Athletic Conference Championship in its final season. However, Plumlee’s injury forced the Knights to go with Keene and freshman Thomas Castellanos. The team finished with losses to Tulane in the conference championship and Duke in the Military Bowl. Plumlee would return in 2023 as UCF transitioned to the Big 12 but would go down with a knee injury in the final minute of the Knights’ 18-16 win at Boise State on Sept. 9. He would miss the next four games as backup Timmy McClain took over the team. Even on his return, Plumlee couldn’t help UCF, on a five-game losing streak to open conference play. The Knights got their first Big 12 win at Cincinnati on Nov. 4 and upset No. 15 Oklahoma State the following week, but the team still needed a win over Houston in the regular-season finale to secure a bowl bid for the eighth straight season. From the moment Malzahn stepped on campus, he prioritized recruiting, particularly in Central Florida. “We’re going to recruit like our hair’s on fire,” Malzahn said at the time. “We’re going to go after the best players in America and we’re not backing down to anybody.” From 2007 to 2020, UCF signed 10 four-star high school and junior college prospects. Eight four-star prospects were in the three recruiting classes signed under Malzahn. The 2024 recruiting class earned a composite ranking of 39 from 247Sports, the highest-ranked class in school history. The 2025 recruiting class is ranked No. 41 and has commitments from three four-star prospects. Malzahn has always leaned on the transfer market, signing 60 players over the past three seasons. Some have paid huge dividends, such as Javon Baker, Lee Hunter, Kobe Hudson, Tylan Grable, Bula Schmidt, Amari Kight, Marcellus Marshall, Trent Whittemore, Gage King, Ethan Barr, Deshawn Pace and Plumlee. Others haven’t been as successful, such as quarterback KJ Jefferson, who started the first five games of this season before being benched for poor performance. Jefferson’s struggles forced the Knights to play musical chairs at quarterback, with true freshman EJ Colson, redshirt sophomore Jacurri Brown and redshirt freshman Dylan Rizk all seeing action at one point or another this season. This season’s struggles led to several players utilizing the NCAA’s redshirt rule after four games, including starting slot receiver Xavier Townsend and kicker Colton Boomer, who have also entered the transfer portal. Defensive end Kaven Call posted a letter to Malzahn on Twitter in which he accused the UCF coaching staff of recently kicking him off the team when he requested to be redshirted. Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Ken Sugiura: Georgia Tech’s 8-overtime defeat reveals a new reality in rivalry with GeorgiaNEW YORK (AP) — The man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was not a client of the medical insurer and may have targeted it because of its size and influence, a senior police official said Thursday. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York in an interview Thursday that investigators have uncovered evidence that Luigi Mangione had prior knowledge UnitedHealthcare was holding its annual investor conference in New York City. Mangione also mentioned the company in a note found in his possession when he was detained by police in Pennsylvania. “We have no indication that he was ever a client of United Healthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest healthcare organization in America. So that’s possibly why he targeted that company,” said Kenny. UnitedHealthcare is in the top 20 largest U.S. companies by market capitalization but is not the fifth largest. It is the largest U.S. health insurer. Mangione remains jailed without bail in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested Monday after being spotted at a McDonald's in the city of Altoona, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City. His lawyer there, Thomas Dickey, has said Mangione intends to plead not guilty. Dickey also said he has yet to see evidence decisively linking his client to the crime. Mangione's arrest came five days after the caught-on-camera killing of Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel. Police say the shooter waited outside the hotel, where the health insurer was holding its investor conference, early on the morning of Dec. 4. He approached Thompson from behind and shot him before fleeing on a bicycle through Central Park. Mangione is fighting attempts to extradite him back to New York so that he can face a murder charge in Thompson's killing. A hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 30. The 26-year-old, who police say was found with a “ ghost gun ” matching shell casings found at the site of the shooting, is charged in Pennsylvania with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. Mangione is an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family. In posts on social media, Mangione wrote about experiencing severe chronic back pain before undergoing a spinal fusion surgery in 2023. Afterward, he posted that the operation had been a success and that his pain had improved and mobility returned. He urged others to consider the same type of surgery. On Wednesday, police said investigators are looking at his writings about his health problems and his criticism of corporate America and the U.S. health care system . Kenny said in the NBC interview that Mangione's family reported him missing to San Francisco authorities in November.

SCOTT McTOMINAY has been hogging the Serie A headlines for some outstanding performances for Napoli this season. Some brilliant goals too. 3 Scott McTominay has settled in quickly to Serie A life - and even scored against his Soctland team-mate's Torino side this month Credit: Getty 3 But Che Adams scored a goal against Empoli that will take some beating Credit: Getty 3 He found the net from the halfway line six minutes after coming on as a substitute Credit: x.com/seriea_en But Scotland team-mate Che Adams might just have eclipsed the former Manchester United man this weekend. While Napoli swooped for McTominay and Billy Gilmour this summer , Che Adams made the same move to Italy , but stayed in the northern city of Turin - and joined Torino. Early in the season they had a bright start, and established a spot at the top of the Serie A table, but since then have slowly fallen down the pecking order as Antonio Conte and his Scottish double-act lead the way instead. The growing Scottish contingent in the Italian top flight began with ex-Hibs midfielder Liam Henderson , and he came face to face with his fellow countryman when Empoli met Torino this evening - but Adams came out on top. Read More Serie A stories LOVE LANGUAGE McTominay's new skill has fans saying 'I'll love you till my heart breaks' STAR COMPARISON Billy Gilmour paid ultimate compliment by Napoli fans With an absolute screamer of a strike . The forward was only on the park six minutes as a substitute but launched what turned out to be the match winner from around 45 yards. It was a sensational goal and an important one too - Torino have only won ONCE since September 20 before this evening. And after four goals in 14 games Adams is also beginning to find his feet and show signs he's settled in. Most read in Football GAME ON Scotland's World Cup qualifying fixture dates and kick-off times in full LEVEL HEAD Clement shrugs off Celtic record as Rangers boss warns against Hoops' mind games BOOKIE BASHER Jim Delahunt's Celtic v Rangers League Cup Final verdict & 12/1 weekend acca LEAVE IT OUT Rodgers makes something clear about Clement 'financially out our league' claim The effort was lauded as a 'crazy idea' by relieved fans of his new club, but it's not the first time he's tried it. Rangers can't drop Tavernier vs Celtic after Spurs heroics, insists Kris Boyd And it's not the first time it's come off either. At Southampton he scored from the halfway line against Manchester City in one of the most memorable goals of the Covid season. This time though there were fans to witness and applaud it. And more filed praise on social media after it. One wrote: "Sorry if I ever doubted you Che". Another added: "Beautiful goal, the rest was a cry. But winning mattered." A third said: "Fabulous idea from Che, splendid goal, which gives us 3 points, for a crazy idea. Goal not from open play, but that's okay." And the strike made it's way to Southampton fans too. But fans from his former side were blase about it all. One replied: "What again! (Anyone remember the city game during lockdown)" Another added: "Nothing special he basically did it against Man City ." A third Saint said: "And how many tap ins did he miss for us?" Read more on the Scottish Sun BATTY WEATHER Record-breaking snow & temps on the way for Scotland as expert issues warning GER KIDDING Tottenham fans blast ex-Spurs star as he's spotted wildly celebrating Gers goal Adams' confidence and a return to goalscoring form would be a boost for Steve Clarke who will have him in his thoughts ahead of Scotland's crucial Nations League play-off double-header with Greece in March. The boss has struggled for firepower lately with neither Adams, Lawrence Shankland nor Lyndon Dykes finding form in front of goal. Keep up to date with ALL t h e latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football pageAEW Rampage’s ratings and audience rose following last week’s preemption-enforced low. Friday’s show garnered a 0.04 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic and 177,000 viewers per Wrestlenomics . Those numbers were up a tick and 40.5% from the previous week’s 0.03 demo rating and audience of 126,000. While those numbers were up from last week’s Saturday episode that was up against Survivor Series, the demo rating was the lowest for the show’s regular timeslot. The total audience was the lowest in the timeslot since the November 1st episode brought in 172,000 viewers. Rampage was up against the UNLV vs. Boise State game on FOX (0.70 demo rating, 3.005 million viewers) and the AAC Championship game on ABC (0.28/1.991 million) Rampage is averaging a 0.098 demo rating and 300,000 viewers in 2024 to date, compared to a 0.117 demo rating and 380,000 for the same point in 2023.WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders to his inauguration next month — an unorthodox move that would fold U.S. allies and adversaries into a very American political tradition. Trump said Thursday during an appearance at the New York Stock Exchange , where he was ringing the opening bell to kick off trading for the day, that he’s been “thinking about inviting certain people to the inauguration” without referring to any specific individuals. “And some people said, ‘Wow, that’s a little risky, isn’t it?’” Trump said. “And I said, ‘Maybe it is. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens.’ But we like to take little chances.” His comments came soon after his incoming White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed during a Thursday morning appearance on “Fox & Friends” that Trump had invited Xi and other world leaders to attend his inauguration. No head of state has previously made an official visit to the U.S. for the inauguration, according to State Department historical records. The unprecedented invitations come at a moment when much of the world is bracing for what comes next when Trump and his “America First” worldview return to the White House. The president-elect has vowed to levy massive tariffs against the United States' chief economic competitor, China, as well as neighbors Canada and Mexico unless those countries do more to reduce illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl into the United States. Trump's also pledged to move quickly to end Russia's nearly three-year war in Ukraine and press NATO allies who are spending less than 2% of their GDP on defense to step up or risk the United States not coming to their defense, as required by the transatlantic alliance's treaty, should they come under attack. “We’ve been talking and discussing with President Xi some things, and others, other world leaders, and I think we’re going to do very well all around,” Trump said. “We’ve been abused as a country. We’ve been badly abused from an economic standpoint, I think, and even militarily, you know, we put up all the money, they put up nothing, and then they abuse us on the economy. And we just can’t let that happen.” Xi is likely to see the invitation as too risky to accept, and the gesture from Trump may have little bearing on the increasingly competitive ties between the two nations as the White House changes hands, experts say. Danny Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Xi would not allow himself to “be reduced to the status of a mere guest celebrating the triumph of a foreign leader — the U.S. president, no less.” Still, Leavitt saw it as a plus. “This is an example of President Trump creating an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just our allies, but our adversaries and our competitors, too,” she said on "Fox & Friends." “We saw this in his first term. He got a lot of criticism for it, but it led to peace around this world. He is willing to talk to anyone, and he will always put America’s interest first.” Asked at a Chinese Foreign Ministry briefing Thursday about Trump's invitation, spokesperson Mao Ning responded, “I have nothing to share at present.” Leavitt did not detail which leaders beyond Xi have been invited. But Trump's decision to invite Xi, in particular, squares with his belief that foreign policy — much like a business negotiation — should be carried out with carrots and sticks to get the United States' opponents to operate closer to his administration's preferred terms. Jim Bendat, a historian and author of “Democracy’s Big Day: The Inauguration of Our President,” said he was not aware of a previous U.S. inauguration attended by a foreign head of state. “It's not necessarily a bad thing to invite foreign leaders to attend,” Bendat said. “But it sure would make more sense to invite an ally before an adversary.” Edward Frantz, a presidential historian at the University of Indianapolis, said the invitation helps Trump burnish his “dealmaker and savvy businessman” brand. “I could see why he might like the optics," Frantz said. “But from the standpoint of American values, it seems shockingly cavalier." White House officials said it was up to Trump to decide whom he invites to the inauguration. “I would just say, without doubt, it's the single most consequential bilateral relationship that the United States has in the world,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said. “It is a relationship both fraught with peril and responsibility.” It's unclear which leaders, if any, might show. A top aide to Hungarian President Viktor Orban, one of Trump's most vocal supporters on the world stage, said Thursday that Orban isn't slated to attend the inauguration. “There is no such plan, at least for the time being," said Gergely Gulyás, Orban's chief of staff. The nationalist Hungarian leader is embraced by Trump but has faced isolation in Europe as he's sought to undermine the European Union's support for Ukraine, and routinely blocked, delayed or watered down the bloc’s efforts to provide weapons and funding and to sanction Moscow for its invasion. Orban recently met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Every country's chief of mission to the United States will also be invited, according to a Trump Inaugural Committee official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Such invitations to diplomats stationed in Washington has been customary during past inaugurations. Xi, during a meeting with President Joe Biden last month in Peru, urged the United States not to start a trade war. “Make the wise choice,” Xi cautioned. “Keep exploring the right way for two major countries to get along well with each other.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also pushed back on Trump's threats, warning that such tariffs would be perilous for the U.S. economy as well. Trudeau earlier this week said Americans “are beginning to wake up to the real reality that tariffs on everything from Canada would make life a lot more expensive” and said he will retaliate if Trump goes ahead with them. Trump responded by calling Canada a state and Trudeau the governor. In addition to the tariff dispute, U.S.-China relations are strained over other issues, including what U.S. officials see as Beijing's indirect support of Russia's war on Ukraine. The Biden administration says China has supported Russia with a surge in sales of dual-use components that help keep its military industrial base afloat. U.S. officials also have expressed frustration with Beijing for not doing more to rein in North Korea's support for the Russian war. China accounts for the vast majority of North Korea’s trade. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dispatched thousands of troops to Russia to help repel Ukrainian forces from the Kursk border region. The North Koreans also have provided Russia with artillery and other munitions, according to U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials. Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration is set to take place a day after the U.S. deadline for ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of social media giant TikTok, to sell the social media app or face a ban in the United States. Associated Press writers Didi Tang in Washington and Balint Domotor in Budapest, Hungary, contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON It’s no surprise that a jury of his peers acquitted Daniel Penny, 26, Monday on a charge of criminally negligent homicide that stemmed from a May 1, 2023, encounter with fellow New York subway passenger Jordan Neely. Neely reportedly had been yelling that he was going to kill people on the train, that he was willing to go to jail for life, and that he was willing to die. Penny put Neely in a chokehold and Neely died. Penny clearly did not intend to kill Neely. The former Marine, surfer and world traveler thought he was being a good guy. “I’m not trying to kill the guy,” Penny later told two detectives whom he allowed to question him, according to a video posted on The Free Press. “I’m just trying to keep him from hurting anybody else.” While the New York medical examiner claimed the cause of Neely’s death was Penny’s chokehold, Neely, 30, appeared to be high on something, agitated and mentally ill. As The Free Press reported, Neely had been arrested more than 40 times and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was on a “Top 50” roster of New Yorkers “who have a history of resisting help despite the most dire need,” the New York Times reported. Medical examiner Cynthia Harris cited the choke hold as the cause of death before toxicology tests were completed. It turns out, CBS News reported, the toxicology report found K2, a synthetic cannabinoid, in Neely’s system. Harris also told the jury “no one can say how much” K2 was in his system because current testing does not quantify it; it only determines if it’s present since synthetic cannabinoids “change like fashion trends.” According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Research shows use of illicit synthetic cannabinoids is associated with severe health problems and can be life-threatening.” Also, Harris testified that she would have ruled the cause of death was compression of the neck even if she had found fentanyl in his system. So she’s hardly a model of impartiality. “He scared the living daylights out of everybody,” witness Althea Gittings told an NYPD officer whose body cam recorded her saying that Neely seemed “totally drugged out” and that Penny did not employ “a hard chokehold.” Penny maintained that he did not want to kill Neely, which is why he did not use a “textbook chokehold” that lasted some six minutes. Another factor that turned this awful story into a national controversy was race. Penny is white and Neely was black. Assistant District Attorney Jillian Shartrand repeatedly referred to Penny as “the white man” during the trial. The Rev. Al Sharpton posted on social media, “Jordan was in the middle of a mental health crisis, but instead of being offered a helping hand, he got an arm around his neck. This verdict represents the blatant legalization of civilian vigilantism, sending a dangerous message that citizens can now take matters into their own hands, even if it leads to someone’s death.” How threatening was Neely? I would imagine that his tone and volume signaled to others how much of a threat he posed. The New York Times reported that two of the 11 witnesses testified that Neely’s presence amounted to the scariest experience they’d had on a subway. Before the verdict, New York Mayor Eric Adams called the Big Apple’s mental health system “a complete failure.” Adams, a former NYPD officer, also recognized, “You have someone on that subway who was responding, doing what we should have done.” Vice President-elect JD Vance was a voice of reason after the verdict. “I have not said much about this case out of fear of (negatively) influencing the jury,” he posted on social media. “But thank God justice was done in this case. It was a scandal Penny was ever prosecuted in the first place.”

Xavier aims to rebound from a tough week and get one more critical tune-up for a rivalry matchup when it hosts Morgan State on Tuesday night in Cincinnati. The Musketeers (7-2) were ranked No. 22 in the AP poll two weeks ago but fell out after a 25-point loss to Michigan in the Fort Myers Tip-Off tournament final on Nov. 27. Xavier then barely escaped with a 71-68 home win over South Carolina State on Dec. 1 before losing 76-72 at TCU on Thursday. Dante Maddox Jr. came off the bench to score nine points in 20 minutes on three 3-pointers against the Horned Frogs. He also grabbed six rebounds before fouling out. The Musketeers have been waiting for the Toledo transfer to add a punch to an underwhelming bench cast that many thought would be a strength for Xavier coming into the season. "I really feel like you can almost be baited into a false sense of how deep your team is because you're around guys every day and have a good, older group, which we do," Musketeers coach Sean Miller said. "You see the good in a lot of different guys. It's not until you get 8 to 10, 10 to 15 games in when you truly understand how deep your team is." Maddox hit a 3-pointer and started a fastbreak with a steal that gave Xavier a 60-54 lead with 7:28 remaining, but the Musketeers faded down the stretch and lost for the second time in three games. Maddox is averaging 4.7 points per game, while Ryan Conwell leads the team with 16.6. Tuesday's game will be the last chance for Xavier to straighten up before visiting No. 22 Cincinnati on Saturday for the teams' annual intense crosstown showdown. Morgan State (5-7) is coming off a 102-81 road loss at Bowling Green on Saturday. Preseason All-MEAC First Team selection Will Thomas led the Bears with 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field, while Kameron Hobbs scored 12 points off the bench. Amahrie Simpkins made all five of his field-goal attempts to add 11 points and Wynston Tabbs had 10 points, six rebounds and six assists. Tabbs leads Morgan State in scoring this season at 16.8 points per game, while Simpkins (12.8) and Thomas (12.2) round out the Bears' double-digit scorers. The Bears have struggled away from home, losing all five road contests this season. --Field Level MediaAbacus Life Completes Acquisition of FCF Advisors

Undercover FBI agents had no role in US Capitol attack: reportSarina Wiegman said the Lionesses showed they have improved defensively in their stalemate against the USA. England earned a goalless with Emma Hayes ’s reigning Olympic champions at Wembley on Saturday evening. While the Lionesses created little by way of scoring chances, they were markedly better defensively than in October’s matches against Germany and South Africa, when lax passes out from the back were seized upon. “I thought it was a very intense game,” said Wiegman. “We know the USA is very dynamic, very explosive. I thought our defence was solid. “We were defending as a team very strongly. They were trying to create overloads; I think we defended that well. “What we had last month is that we had moments where we would just pass and lose it when there was no pressure at all. I think we still had some moments [tonight] when we lost the ball where we really shouldn’t lose it. But that’s also football. “I think we did [defend] a lot better. When you lose it and you’re very expansive, of course you become very vulnerable. We could not afford that today, so I think we did that a lot better.” The official attendance of 78,346 fans at Wembley was a new world record for a women’s international friendly. Wiegman lauded the support, saying: “Of course, that is incredible. I will never take that for granted. It’s so special to be here at Wembley, playing the USA. A high-intensity game, a huge crowd. These are the games you want to play.”

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State on Saturday elected Chief Tony Okocha as its new chairman. He was elected unopposed alongside other members of the APC executive committee at the party’s state delegate congress held in Port Harcourt. Okocha was the chairman of the APC caretaker committee in Rivers State before the congress. The exercise was conducted through a voice vote and was supervised by the party’s official from the national secretariat in Abuja, Dr. Adoye Omalez. The APC National Vice Chairman, South-South, Chief Victor Giadom, who was also at the congress, commended the party delegates for the peaceful exercise. He urged the party members to support the new executive to move the party forward in the state. In his acceptance speech, Okocha said the congress would silence doubters who believe APC cannot peaceful election in the state. He said: “If you know me very well, I’m an emotional person. Our joy is that our members came on their own volition. Nobody cajoled anybody to come and nobody bamboozled anybody to come here for the state primary election. “They came to show their love for the All Progressives Congress. I like to reassure you I’m sure you are seeing the indices and the variables already. “Those who said APC cannot conduct elections lied. APC will conduct and win elections and be in charge of government in Rivers State. Our business with you supporting us is to ensure that we route out a rudderless government in Rivers State.” Opinions Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs. As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake. If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause. Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development. Donate Now

Undercover FBI agents had no role in US Capitol attack: report

Vaccination expansion crucial to boost health outcomes