Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward did not seem to care much for the edible mascot celebration at the conclusion of the Pop-Tarts Bowl, as he benched himself at halftime. Ward, who is widely expected to be one of the top two quarterbacks selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, decided to not return to Miami’s bowl game against Iowa State after halftime. “I think all meetings with players and decisions like that, we make them in private and we keep them private. So I’ll prefer not to answer questions as it relates to that,” Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said when asked about Ward’s decision. “I know he played his best while he was in there.” Ward was 12-of-19 passing for 190 yards and three touchdowns at half. It was a good showing in a game that had a lot of scoring, but the performance has been completely undermined by his decision. And it is weird. But let’s not pretend like this is the first time it’s ever happened. Just last year, wide receiver Malik Nabers played in LSU’s bowl game against Wisconsin just to break the program’s all-time receiving record and then sat out the entire second half, likely to preserve his health for the NFL Draft. Ward’s decision to wave the white flag at halftime just looks a little bit strange because at that point, why play in the game at all? If injuries are truly the No. 1 concern, why risk something catastrophic happening within the first two quarters? We’ve seen promising NFL careers slam on the brakes before they even get started because of severe injuries in bowl games. Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral and Michigan tight end Jake Butt are a few examples that immediately come to mind, but there are several more. These players owe it to themselves to be as healthy as possible. These bowl games are meaningless, outside of hoisting a trophy with a built-in toaster. Sure, in the era of name, image and likeness dominating the world of college football, star players like Ward and Nabers are compensated fairly for their contributions on the field. But they know a much bigger payday is coming in the NFL. It’s yet to be determined whether that decision will raise any red flags for Ward’s draft stock. NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah stated that the situation is silly , while draft analyst Todd McShay criticized the decision. The New York Giants currently have the No. 1 overall selection . While there’s no guarantee that GM Joe Schoen will be the man making the pick, he traveled to Orlando to watch Ward play in this game. As Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders showed off Giants-themed cleats before their Alamo Bowl matchup against BYU, the Giants preferred to watch Ward in person , but you have to wonder if they were caught off guard when he didn’t come out to play the second half. It surely seems like whatever conversation was had between Ward and Cristobal came to the conclusion that they did not care about the Pop-Tarts Bowl and would rather see Ward cement himself as a top 10 NFL Draft pick. Did Ward “quit on his team?” Possibly. But it’s hard to criticize that decision when literally every NFL mock draft available has him slated to make tens of millions of dollars in just a few months. It’s a decision that any sane person would have made.MENTORING Aweaver is guided by National Living Treasure and Mandaya weaver SamporoniaMadanio (right) at theWorld Ikat Textile Symposium held in Baguio City on Dec. 6. —JOEL ARTHUR TIBALDO BAGUIO CITY – Textile experts from around the world are calling for an authentication system to preserve indigenous fabrics and safeguard them from counterfeiting, as Mindanao weavers delivered a strong message during this year’s World Ikat Textiles Symposium: “Don’t steal our ikat!” Mandaya weaver Samporonia Madanlo and Tboli elders Rosie Sula and Barbara Ofong voiced their concerns about the misuse of their cultural heritage and traditional weaving knowledge during the “ikat” (a method for coloring fabric in patterns before it is woven) symposium held here on Thursday. READ: Blaan boys help keep weaving tradition alive Hosted in the Philippines for the first time, the weeklong event took place in Baguio City and featured classic and traditional weaving practices from Mindanao, Ifugao, Mountain Province, China, India, Timor-Leste, Malaysia, Uzbekistan and Japan. The symposium also brought to light the challenges of cultural misappropriation and the mass reproduction of indigenous textiles, particularly those with deep ritual significance. “What I am afraid of is how our designs are commandeered through the internet and social media and imitated so others can profit from [her community’s Tnalak weaving techniques] ... Do not copy them,” said Ofong, a South Cotabato-based weaver who was declared a national living treasure for textile weaving by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts last year. Ofong, 68, who learned her craft from her parents at age 12, underscored the importance of preserving authentic patterns handed down through generations. “Para di mawala (So they do not disappear), I will not follow new [modern weaving] patterns,” she said. Ilocano researcher Malot Ingels highlighted the significance of weaving in empowering women and giving them “a special place” in their communities, adding that changes to traditional weaving practices should evolve organically, without outside interference. Singaporean textile consultant and researcher Joseph Lo proposed the establishment of an authenticity certification system to safeguard indigenous textile traditions. “The world is big enough for everybody,” Lo said, suggesting that such a program could validate newly reproduced textiles while ensuring that artisans remain “at the driver’s seat.” Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. 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Jimmy Carter, the 39th president and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, has died at 100Snapdeal's Loss Narrows To Rs 160 Crore In FY24
PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Newly married and sworn as a Naval officer, Jimmy Carter left his tiny hometown in 1946 hoping to climb the ranks and see the world. Less than a decade later, the death of his father and namesake, a merchant farmer and local politician who went by “Mr. Earl,” prompted the submariner and his wife, Rosalynn, to return to the rural life of Plains, Georgia, they thought they’d escaped. The lieutenant never would be an admiral. Instead, he became commander in chief. Years after his presidency ended in humbling defeat, he would add a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded not for his White House accomplishments but “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” The life of James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th and longest-lived U.S. president, ended Sunday at the age of 100 where it began: Plains, the town of 600 that fueled his political rise, welcomed him after his fall and sustained him during 40 years of service that redefined what it means to be a former president. With the stubborn confidence of an engineer and an optimism rooted in his Baptist faith, Carter described his motivations in politics and beyond in the same way: an almost missionary zeal to solve problems and improve lives. Carter was raised amid racism, abject poverty and hard rural living — realities that shaped both his deliberate politics and emphasis on human rights. “He always felt a responsibility to help people,” said Jill Stuckey, a longtime friend of Carter's in Plains. “And when he couldn’t make change wherever he was, he decided he had to go higher.” Carter's path, a mix of happenstance and calculation , pitted moral imperatives against political pragmatism; and it defied typical labels of American politics, especially caricatures of one-term presidents as failures. “We shouldn’t judge presidents by how popular they are in their day. That's a very narrow way of assessing them," Carter biographer Jonathan Alter told the Associated Press. “We should judge them by how they changed the country and the world for the better. On that score, Jimmy Carter is not in the first rank of American presidents, but he stands up quite well.” Later in life, Carter conceded that many Americans, even those too young to remember his tenure, judged him ineffective for failing to contain inflation or interest rates, end the energy crisis or quickly bring home American hostages in Iran. He gained admirers instead for his work at The Carter Center — advocating globally for public health, human rights and democracy since 1982 — and the decades he and Rosalynn wore hardhats and swung hammers with Habitat for Humanity. Yet the common view that he was better after the Oval Office than in it annoyed Carter, and his allies relished him living long enough to see historians reassess his presidency. “He doesn’t quite fit in today’s terms” of a left-right, red-blue scoreboard, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who visited the former president multiple times during his own White House bid. At various points in his political career, Carter labeled himself “progressive” or “conservative” — sometimes both at once. His most ambitious health care bill failed — perhaps one of his biggest legislative disappointments — because it didn’t go far enough to suit liberals. Republicans, especially after his 1980 defeat, cast him as a left-wing cartoon. It would be easiest to classify Carter as a centrist, Buttigieg said, “but there’s also something radical about the depth of his commitment to looking after those who are left out of society and out of the economy.” Indeed, Carter’s legacy is stitched with complexities, contradictions and evolutions — personal and political. The self-styled peacemaker was a war-trained Naval Academy graduate who promised Democratic challenger Ted Kennedy that he’d “kick his ass.” But he campaigned with a call to treat everyone with “respect and compassion and with love.” Carter vowed to restore America’s virtue after the shame of Vietnam and Watergate, and his technocratic, good-government approach didn't suit Republicans who tagged government itself as the problem. It also sometimes put Carter at odds with fellow Democrats. The result still was a notable legislative record, with wins on the environment, education, and mental health care. He dramatically expanded federally protected lands, began deregulating air travel, railroads and trucking, and he put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. As a fiscal hawk, Carter added a relative pittance to the national debt, unlike successors from both parties. Carter nonetheless struggled to make his achievements resonate with the electorate he charmed in 1976. Quoting Bob Dylan and grinning enthusiastically, he had promised voters he would “never tell a lie.” Once in Washington, though, he led like a joyless engineer, insisting his ideas would become reality and he'd be rewarded politically if only he could convince enough people with facts and logic. This served him well at Camp David, where he brokered peace between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Epypt’s Anwar Sadat, an experience that later sparked the idea of The Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter's tenacity helped the center grow to a global force that monitored elections across five continents, enabled his freelance diplomacy and sent public health experts across the developing world. The center’s wins were personal for Carter, who hoped to outlive the last Guinea worm parasite, and nearly did. As president, though, the approach fell short when he urged consumers beleaguered by energy costs to turn down their thermostats. Or when he tried to be the nation’s cheerleader, beseeching Americans to overcome a collective “crisis of confidence.” Republican Ronald Reagan exploited Carter's lecturing tone with a belittling quip in their lone 1980 debate. “There you go again,” the former Hollywood actor said in response to a wonky answer from the sitting president. “The Great Communicator” outpaced Carter in all but six states. Carter later suggested he “tried to do too much, too soon” and mused that he was incompatible with Washington culture: media figures, lobbyists and Georgetown social elites who looked down on the Georgians and their inner circle as “country come to town.” Carter carefully navigated divides on race and class on his way to the Oval Office. Born Oct. 1, 1924 , Carter was raised in the mostly Black community of Archery, just outside Plains, by a progressive mother and white supremacist father. Their home had no running water or electricity but the future president still grew up with the relative advantages of a locally prominent, land-owning family in a system of Jim Crow segregation. He wrote of President Franklin Roosevelt’s towering presence and his family’s Democratic Party roots, but his father soured on FDR, and Jimmy Carter never campaigned or governed as a New Deal liberal. He offered himself as a small-town peanut farmer with an understated style, carrying his own luggage, bunking with supporters during his first presidential campaign and always using his nickname. And he began his political career in a whites-only Democratic Party. As private citizens, he and Rosalynn supported integration as early as the 1950s and believed it inevitable. Carter refused to join the White Citizens Council in Plains and spoke out in his Baptist church against denying Black people access to worship services. “This is not my house; this is not your house,” he said in a churchwide meeting, reminding fellow parishioners their sanctuary belonged to God. Yet as the appointed chairman of Sumter County schools he never pushed to desegregate, thinking it impractical after the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision. And while presidential candidate Carter would hail the 1965 Voting Rights Act, signed by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson when Carter was a state senator, there is no record of Carter publicly supporting it at the time. Carter overcame a ballot-stuffing opponent to win his legislative seat, then lost the 1966 governor's race to an arch-segregationist. He won four years later by avoiding explicit mentions of race and campaigning to the right of his rival, who he mocked as “Cufflinks Carl” — the insult of an ascendant politician who never saw himself as part the establishment. Carter’s rural and small-town coalition in 1970 would match any victorious Republican electoral map in 2024. Once elected, though, Carter shocked his white conservative supporters — and landed on the cover of Time magazine — by declaring that “the time for racial discrimination is over.” Before making the jump to Washington, Carter befriended the family of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whom he’d never sought out as he eyed the governor’s office. Carter lamented his foot-dragging on school integration as a “mistake.” But he also met, conspicuously, with Alabama's segregationist Gov. George Wallace to accept his primary rival's endorsement ahead of the 1976 Democratic convention. “He very shrewdly took advantage of his own Southerness,” said Amber Roessner, a University of Tennessee professor and expert on Carter’s campaigns. A coalition of Black voters and white moderate Democrats ultimately made Carter the last Democratic presidential nominee to sweep the Deep South. Then, just as he did in Georgia, he used his power in office to appoint more non-whites than all his predecessors had, combined. He once acknowledged “the secret shame” of white Americans who didn’t fight segregation. But he also told Alter that doing more would have sacrificed his political viability – and thus everything he accomplished in office and after. King's daughter, Bernice King, described Carter as wisely “strategic” in winning higher offices to enact change. “He was a leader of conscience,” she said in an interview. Rosalynn Carter, who died on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, was identified by both husband and wife as the “more political” of the pair; she sat in on Cabinet meetings and urged him to postpone certain priorities, like pressing the Senate to relinquish control of the Panama Canal. “Let that go until the second term,” she would sometimes say. The president, recalled her former aide Kathy Cade, retorted that he was “going to do what’s right” even if “it might cut short the time I have.” Rosalynn held firm, Cade said: “She’d remind him you have to win to govern.” Carter also was the first president to appoint multiple women as Cabinet officers. Yet by his own telling, his career sprouted from chauvinism in the Carters' early marriage: He did not consult Rosalynn when deciding to move back to Plains in 1953 or before launching his state Senate bid a decade later. Many years later, he called it “inconceivable” that he didn’t confer with the woman he described as his “full partner,” at home, in government and at The Carter Center. “We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP in 2021. So deep was their trust that when Carter remained tethered to the White House in 1980 as 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran, it was Rosalynn who campaigned on her husband’s behalf. “I just loved it,” she said, despite the bitterness of defeat. Fair or not, the label of a disastrous presidency had leading Democrats keep their distance, at least publicly, for many years, but Carter managed to remain relevant, writing books and weighing in on societal challenges. He lamented widening wealth gaps and the influence of money in politics. He voted for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and later declared that America had devolved from fully functioning democracy to “oligarchy.” Yet looking ahead to 2020, with Sanders running again, Carter warned Democrats not to “move to a very liberal program,” lest they help re-elect President Donald Trump. Carter scolded the Republican for his serial lies and threats to democracy, and chided the U.S. establishment for misunderstanding Trump’s populist appeal. He delighted in yearly convocations with Emory University freshmen, often asking them to guess how much he’d raised in his two general election campaigns. “Zero,” he’d gesture with a smile, explaining the public financing system candidates now avoid so they can raise billions. Carter still remained quite practical in partnering with wealthy corporations and foundations to advance Carter Center programs. Carter recognized that economic woes and the Iran crisis doomed his presidency, but offered no apologies for appointing Paul Volcker as the Federal Reserve chairman whose interest rate hikes would not curb inflation until Reagan's presidency. He was proud of getting all the hostages home without starting a shooting war, even though Tehran would not free them until Reagan's Inauguration Day. “Carter didn’t look at it” as a failure, Alter emphasized. “He said, ‘They came home safely.’ And that’s what he wanted.” Well into their 90s, the Carters greeted visitors at Plains’ Maranatha Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday School and where he will have his last funeral before being buried on family property alongside Rosalynn . Carter, who made the congregation’s collection plates in his woodworking shop, still garnered headlines there, calling for women’s rights within religious institutions, many of which, he said, “subjugate” women in church and society. Carter was not one to dwell on regrets. “I am at peace with the accomplishments, regret the unrealized goals and utilize my former political position to enhance everything we do,” he wrote around his 90th birthday. The politician who had supposedly hated Washington politics also enjoyed hosting Democratic presidential contenders as public pilgrimages to Plains became advantageous again. Carter sat with Buttigieg for the final time March 1, 2020, hours before the Indiana mayor ended his campaign and endorsed eventual winner Joe Biden. “He asked me how I thought the campaign was going,” Buttigieg said, recalling that Carter flashed his signature grin and nodded along as the young candidate, born a year after Carter left office, “put the best face” on the walloping he endured the day before in South Carolina. Never breaking his smile, the 95-year-old host fired back, “I think you ought to drop out.” “So matter of fact,” Buttigieg said with a laugh. “It was somehow encouraging.” Carter had lived enough, won plenty and lost enough to take the long view. “He talked a lot about coming from nowhere,” Buttigieg said, not just to attain the presidency but to leverage “all of the instruments you have in life” and “make the world more peaceful.” In his farewell address as president, Carter said as much to the country that had embraced and rejected him. “The struggle for human rights overrides all differences of color, nation or language,” he declared. “Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity and who suffer for the sake of justice — they are the patriots of this cause.” Carter pledged to remain engaged with and for them as he returned “home to the South where I was born and raised,” home to Plains, where that young lieutenant had indeed become “a fellow citizen of the world.” —- Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.
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DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops stormed one of the last hospitals operating in northern Gaza on Friday, forcing many staff and patients outside to strip in winter weather , the territory’s health ministry said. The army denied claims it had entered or set fire to the complex and accused Hamas of using the facility for cover. Kamal Adwan Hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months by Israeli troops waging an offensive against Hamas fighters in surrounding neighborhoods, according to staff. The ministry said a strike on the hospital a day earlier killed five medical staff. Israel's military said it was conducting operations against Hamas infrastructure and militants in the area and had ordered people out of the hospital, but said it had not entered the complex as of Friday night. It repeated claims that Hamas militants operate inside Kamal Adwan but provided no evidence. Hospital officials have denied that. The Health Ministry said troops forced medical personnel and patients to assemble in the yard and remove their clothes. Some were led to an unknown location, while some patients were sent to the nearby Indonesian Hospital, which was knocked out of operation after an Israel raid this week. Israeli troops during raids frequently carry out mass detentions, stripping men to their underwear for questioning in what the military says is a security measure as they search for Hamas fighters. The Associated Press doesn’t have access to Kamal Adwan, but armed plainclothes members of the Hamas-led police forces have been seen in other hospitals, maintaining security but also controlling access to parts of the facilities. The Health Ministry said Israeli troops also set fires in several parts of Kamal Adwan, including the lab and surgery department. It said 25 patients and 60 health workers remained in the hospital. The account could not be independently confirmed, and attempts to reach hospital staff were unsuccessful. “Fire is ablaze everywhere in the hospital,” an unidentified staff member said in an audio message posted on social media accounts of hospital director Hossam Abu Safiya. The staffer said some evacuated patients had been unhooked from oxygen. “There are currently patients who could die at any moment,” she said. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, denied the accusations. “While IDF troops were not in the hospital, a small fire broke out in an empty building inside the hospital that is under control,” he said Friday night. He said a preliminary investigation found “no connection” between military activity and the fire. The Israeli military heavily restricts the movements of Palestinians in Gaza and has barred foreign journalists from entering the territory throughout the war, making it difficult to verify information. “These actions put the lives of all of these people in even more danger than what they faced before,” U.N. spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay told journalists, and noted colleagues' reports of “significant damage” to the hospital. It should be protected as international law requires, she added. Since October, Israel’s offensive has virtually sealed off the northern Gaza areas of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and leveled large parts of them. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were forced out but thousands are believed to remain in the area, where Kamal Adwan and two other hospitals are located. Troops raided Kamal Adwan in October, and on Tuesday troops stormed and evacuated the Indonesian Hospital. The area has been cut off from food and other aid for months , raising fears of famine . The United Nations says Israeli troops allowed just four humanitarian deliveries to the area from Dec. 1 to Dec. 23. The Israeli rights group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel this week petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice, seeking a halt to military attacks on Kamal Adwan. It warned that forcibly evacuating the hospital would “abandon thousands of residents in northern Gaza.” Before the latest deaths Thursday, the group documented five other staffers killed by Israeli fire since October. Israel launched its campaign in Gaza vowing to destroy Hamas after the group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others. Around 100 Israelis remain captive in Gaza, around a third believed to be dead. Israel’s nearly 15-month-old campaign of bombardment and offensives has devastated the territory’s health sector. A year ago, it carried out raids on hospitals in northern Gaza, including Kamal Adwan, Indonesian and al-Awda Hospital, saying they served as bases for Hamas, though it presented little evidence. Israel’s campaign has killed more than 45,400 Palestinians, more than half women and children, and wounded more than 108,000 others, according to the Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. More than 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have been driven from their homes, most now sheltering in sprawling tent camps in south and central Gaza. Children and adults, many barefoot, huddled Friday on the cold sand in tents whose plastic and cloth sheets whipped in the wind. Overnight temperatures can dip into the 40s Fahrenheit (below 10 Celsius), and sea spray from the Mediterranean can dampen tents just steps away. "I swear to God, their mother and I cover ourselves with one blanket and we cover (their five children) with three blankets that we got from neighbors. Sea waters drowned everything that was ours,” said Muhammad al-Sous, displaced from Beit Lahiya in the north. The children collect plastic bottles to make fires, and pile under the blankets when their only set of clothes is washed and dried in the wind. At least three babies in Gaza have died from exposure to cold in recent days , doctors there have said, and the Health Ministry said an adult — a nurse who worked at the European Hospital — also died this week. Khaled and Keath reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Narions contributed to this report.A judge on Monday granted a request by prosecutors to dismiss the election subversion case against Donald Trump because of a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president. Judge Tanya Chutkan agreed to the request by Special Counsel Jack Smith to dismiss the case against the president-elect "without prejudice," meaning it could potentially be revived after Trump leaves the White House four years from now. "Dismissal without prejudice is appropriate here," Chutkan said, adding in the ruling that "the immunity afforded to a sitting President is temporary, expiring when they leave office." Trump, 78, was accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden and removing large quantities of top secret documents after leaving the White House, but the cases never came to trial. Smith also moved on Monday to drop his appeal of the dismissal of the documents case filed against the former president in Florida. That case was tossed out earlier this year by a Trump-appointed judge on the grounds that Smith was unlawfully appointed. The special counsel paused the election interference case and the documents case this month after Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 presidential election. Smith cited the long-standing Justice Department policy of not indicting or prosecuting a sitting president in his motions to have the cases dismissed. "The Government's position on the merits of the defendant's prosecution has not changed," Smith said in the filing with Chutkan. "But the circumstances have." "It has long been the position of the Department of Justice that the United States Constitution forbids the federal indictment and subsequent criminal prosecution of a sitting President," Smith said. "As a result this prosecution must be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated." In a separate filing, Smith said he was withdrawing his appeal of the dismissal of the classified documents case against Trump but pursuing the case against his two co-defendants, Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira. Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said the cases were "empty and lawless, and should never have been brought." "Over $100 Million Dollars of Taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party's fight against their Political Opponent, ME," he said. "Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before." Trump was accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding -- the session of Congress called to certify Biden's win, which was violently attacked on January 6, 2021 by a mob of the then-president's supporters. Trump was also accused of seeking to disenfranchise US voters with his false claims that he won the 2020 election. The former and incoming president also faces two state cases -- in New York and Georgia. He was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to stop her from revealing an alleged 2006 sexual encounter. However, Judge Juan Merchan has postponed sentencing while he considers a request from Trump's lawyers that the conviction be thrown out in light of the Supreme Court ruling in July that an ex-president has broad immunity from prosecution. In Georgia, Trump faces racketeering charges over his efforts to subvert the 2020 election results in the southern state, but that case will likely be frozen while he is in office. cl/smsVANCOUVER — Superstar Taylor Swift takes the stage tonight for the first of three shows in Vancouver. Here is the latest on the event: --- 1:40 p.m. The barricades are up around BC Place stadium in Vancouver as security tightens ahead of the first of three Taylor Swift concerts tonight. While it appeared many people stayed out of the downtown core in the morning, by early afternoon on Friday traffic on the key thoroughfare of West Georgia Street was backed up for more than a kilometre. Several key streets around the stadium were closed off at noon and will remain shut until midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the concerts. Security has also increased around BC Place, with dozens of guards and several men in military clothing seen walking around the stadium. --- 1:15 p.m. Fans who are still without tickets to tonight's Taylor Swift concert have not given up finding a last-minute seat to the most coveted show in town. Melissa Camp and her 15-year-old daughter from Vancouver Island were in tears outside BC Place today after failing to get tickets, despite 14 months of trying. Camp says she was almost scammed when she tried to buy tickets. But she says the effort is about "making sweet memories" with her daughter and showing her the importance of not giving up. --- 12:50 p.m. TransLink and other transportation service providers are weighing in ahead of Taylor Swift's weekend in Vancouver, with the transit agency posting a number of photos of redecorated SkyTrain stations ahead of the concerts. The agency's X account shows photos from stations at Stadium-Chinatown, Granville, Burrard and Waterfront, adorned with station names on friendship bracelet fonts, Taylor Swift-themed system maps — or both. The post also references the song "You're On Your Own, Kid" from which the friendship bracelet theme was adopted by Swift fans. BC Ferries says it has increased sailings on its route between Swartz Bay and Tsawwassen, the main link between Vancouver and Victoria, to accommodate the expected crowds. --- 12:20 p.m. While waiting for the concerts to start, many Swifties are taking part in a Taylor Swift-themed scavenger hunt after Destination Vancouver put up 13 installations across the city. Chris Waldman of San Diego, Calif., who calls herself a “senior Swiftie,” is busy exchanging friendship bracelets with other younger fans at Canada Place today. Waldman says she does not have tickets to tonight's show but wanted to familiarize herself with the city before attending Saturday's concert. She says she and her sister's accommodation expenses for one night in Vancouver are more than $1,000. --- 11:40 a.m. Vancouver police have issued a video message to Swifties ahead of tonight's show, even offering to swap friendship bracelets with fans. The video posted on X features two female officers, announcing that Vancouver police will be deploying hundreds of officers to ensure the weekend is "safe and memorable" for fans. The message also includes safety tips such as planning ahead for getting to and from BC Place, as well as setting a meeting point in case people are separate from their group. They say their officers will be wearing high-visibility yellow vests, so anyone can come say hello and perhaps swap a bracelet or two with them. --- 11:20 a.m. Fans are starting to share they experiences online as they make their way to Vancouver for tonight's Taylor Swift concert by air or by land. A video posted on TikTok shows a boarding announcement for a WestJet flight from Calgary to Vancouver, with the airline staff welcoming guests with "Taylor's version" of a boarding call, featuring instructions littered with song titles and lyrics. Boarding fans can be heard cheering loudly as each reference to Taylor Swift music was made in the announcement. Another fan posted on X that her group is driving from Prince George to Vancouver after their flight was cancelled, a distance that would take roughly nine hours to complete. --- 10:00 a.m. A large Taylor Swift Eras Tour friendship bracelet that has been seen at other tour stops hanging from concert venues has now made its way to Vancouver. Several posts made on social media by fans and BC Place management shows the bracelet attached to the side of BC Place, that reads, "Taylor Swift, The Eras Tour." The giant bracelet first appeared at Swift's shows at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans in October and has since made its way to tour stops in Indianapolis and Toronto. Swifties have taken on the friendship bracelet trend — created from either beads or braided material and exchanged between fans — after the singer referenced making them in the song "You're On Your Own, Kid." --- 8:00 a.m. Vancouver police say they're ready for one of the biggest cultural events to come to the city in years as Taylor Swift wraps up her Eras tour with three shows. Police say they're expecting more than 250,000 people in the city's stadium district this weekend alone as fans flock to Swift's concerts, as well as Canucks games tonight and Saturday, and the Cirque du Soleil show nearby. Police say 700 officers will be working to ensure a safe and comfortable environment for everyone, including the many young concertgoers. --- 7:45 a.m. It's the beginning of the end of the Eras Tour for Taylor Swift tonight in Vancouver. She's in the city for the first of three shows this weekend that wrap up a world tour, bringing thousands of fans and millions of dollars in economic benefits. Security will be tight around the venue, with barricades surrounding BC Place, and ticketless fans being told not to gather outside for traditional "Taylgate" parties. The city has asked fans who aren't attending to stay away from the area and advises those who come to the downtown core to use transit, bike or walk. --- 7:45 a.m. Vancouver-area businesses are trying to cash in on Taylor Swift's visit to the area, offering everything from tattoos to Swift-themed ice cream. Jarrett Vaughan, an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia's Sauder school of business, says such promotional events offer a "spectacular opportunity" to reach both current and new customers. He says entrepreneurs are often looking for unique opportunities to capitalize on business, and it's not often a whole city comes together to celebrate something. About 160,000 people are expected to attend the three sold-out shows at BC Place, and tourism organization Destination Vancouver has said Swift's economic boom is estimated to bring about $157 million to the city. --- This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2024. The Canadian Press
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Scientists Uncover New Way to Generate Green Hydrogen Energy From Water And Sunlight - The DebriefThe Current 14:19 Harnessing ocean waves to power your home Scientist Burke Hales says one of the things holding back the development of ocean wave energy is the lack of places to test the equipment. But he hopes his new facility off the coast of Oregon will help change that. "That's the idea, is that we provide the facility, the playing field for the developers who produce the devices to get real-time testing and figure out how to optimize and ultimately to figure out [if there's] a single design that's best for all waves," Hales, chief scientist at PacWaves, told The Current 's host Matt Galloway. As the world works toward achieving net-zero emissions to combat climate change, there's an urgent need for countries to speed up the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Ocean-based climate solutions need to be at fore, N.L. scientist says as COP29 ends How millions of oysters could protect coastlines against climate change Although ocean wave energy is staggeringly powerful—with the waves along the U.S. coasts capable of generating about 63 per cent of its utility-scale electricity in 2023 —Hales says its development is about 20 years behind that of wind energy. "When we talk about waves, we're talking about oscillatory motion, which is a completely different animal, as far as how do we convert oscillatory motion into an electrical power-producing mechanism, and that's complicated." The vessel Nautilus is seen from Driftwood State Beach where subsea cables connected to the PacWaves test site arrive on land and connect to land cables in Newport, Ore. (Craig Mitchelldyer/The Associated Press ) The PacWave facility includes two sites: PacWave North, a shallower site used for small-scale prototypes, and PacWave South, a larger site further out into the Pacific Ocean that's currently under construction. PacWave South will be the first utility-scale, grid-connected wave energy testing site in the U.S, set to begin testing in 2025. Hales say it will be a place where companies can evaluate their wave energy converter technology in actual ocean conditions. How ocean wave energy works Buckham says you can understand how ocean waves move by looking at the "wave" at a sports event. "That illusion is created by people standing up and down in sequence, and that's exactly what a water wave is," said Buckham, co-director of the Pacific Regional Institute for Marine Energy Discovery (PRIMED) at the University of Victoria. "If you were to track a water particle in an ocean wave, it's basically going through an elliptical orbit that's probably like 13 to 15 metres wide and 4 to 5 metres high. And it's going around and around that ellipse. And that's what a water wave is." According to Buckham, the basic idea behind wave energy converters is that "they're some form of oscillating machine" that sits in the water and powers a generator. The electricity is transmitted to the shore through subsea cables, which then supply power to the grid. Brad Buckham is the co-director of the Pacific Regional Institute for Marine Energy Discovery (PRIMED), the University of Victoria's research lab focused on marine renewable energy on the B.C. coast. (Submitted by Brad Buckham ) Ocean wave energy in Canada In a country flanked by two oceans, some Canadian scientists are also interested in harnessing the power of ocean waves. According to data from Natural Resources Canada , the estimated energy off the Pacific Coast is 42,000 megawatts, which represents over 60 per cent of the country's annual electricity consumption. The Atlantic coast has even higher energy, reaching 146,500 megawatts. "Stage-wise [in Canada], it's super early, so it's pre-commercial, there's no established business models ... we're largely looking at prototype devices ... smaller scale devices that are being field tested, and in dedicated test sites around the world," said Buckham. Buckham's research lab, PRIMED, is part of the university's Accelerating Community Energy Transformations program, which supports communities transitioning to sustainable energy systems. Buckham says wave energy projects involve collaboration with people from Canada, the U.S., the European Union and the United Kingdom. "It's very much an international community." The vessel Nautilus works in the Pacific Ocean near Newport, Ore. The ship helped bury the subsea cables that run 16 to 19 kilometres along the ocean floor to connect the wave energy test site to facilities on land. (Craig Mitchelldyer/The Associated Press ) Challenges of wave energy Hales says ocean energy will complement other renewable sources like wind and solar, though it still needs to develop further. "Maybe in a decade we'll see a device that has successfully tested at our facility, actually go into commercial operation or municipal operation elsewhere," said Hales. But there are some roadblocks. The ocean's harsh, corrosive and powerful conditions have made it difficult to design devices that can endure its effects. As a result, research continues to focus on finding ways to enhance the durability of these devices. The subsea power and data cables being deployed to the seafloor off the stern of the MV HOS Innovator. (Dan Hellin ) As an example, Hales says some developers are creating technology that can automatically submerge below the sea surface when it detects tension in its mooring systems, allowing it to avoid the most destructive waves. "We're talking about significant marine operational commitments to putting these devices out. You have to have the right kind of vessels. You have to have the right kind of anchoring systems. You have to have the right kind of materials," said Hales. Another challenge, says Buckham, is to reduce the cost of building wave energy converters. He says this can be achieved by either lowering the cost of equipment or by increasing the amount of energy the converters produce over time. Supporting community Switching to a new source of energy also requires meaningful engagement with local communities, says Buckham. "A community like Port Alberni, [B.C.], becomes tremendously important to a wave energy industry off the west coast of Vancouver Island, because that is an accessible, deep-water port where you can get equipment in and out," said Buckham. "But [for] the people of Port Alberni, is that something that they want? There's a whole bunch of social challenges that have to be navigated as well." At this stage, Buckham suggests that smaller projects can serve as stepping stones to help advance the field of wave energy. Researchers hope to harness ocean's power to light remote B.C. communities "If they do well, and we show an operational track record, and we show what the real world environmental impacts are, and you demonstrate ways to mitigate those and to manage those, then you take another step," said Buckham. One of those projects is being led by the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation just off the west coast of Vancouver Island, where the Yuquot Wave Energy Project is harnessing the power of ocean waves to provide renewable, clean energy to their ancestral home, Yuquot on Nootka Island. WATCH | Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation harnessing the power of waves: B.C. First Nation hopes to revive village through wave energy plan 12 months ago Duration 5:02 A B.C. First Nation is hoping that an ambitious wave energy plan will be their ticket to reviving a historic village. Radio-Canada's Camille Vernet travelled to Yuquot to hear about a project bringing hope to displaced people. Buckham's lab PRIMED is a part of the project, and they've been working to assess the feasibility of deploying a suitable wave energy converter there. "If you serve those community needs, you've created a potential to serve a future need. If we can't serve community needs, then there is no step to take," said Buckham.
Stock market today: Wall Street hits more records following a just-right jobs reportWEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump’s movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump’s Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer, a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer’s comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks, whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.” Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government, weighed in, defending the tech industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump’s world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift. His presidential transition team did not respond to questions about positions on visas for highly skilled workers or the debate between his supporters online. Instead, his team instead sent a link to a post on X by longtime adviser and immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller that was a transcript of a speech Trump gave in 2020 at Mount Rushmore in which he praised figures and moments from American history. Musk, the world’s richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect, was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump’s movement but his stance on the tech industry’s hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent,” he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump’s own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration, including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order, which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump’s businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club, and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country” and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” he told the “All-In” podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump’s budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.
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